Kiri(Baku?)Kami I probably won't finish

Chapter Twenty

"What's with the long faces, guys?" Sero and Mina bounced over to us, hand in hand. They're so cute. And... now you're jealous of them. "I know I'm moving into the other dorms today, but don't be too glum! I'm still hanging out with you guys all the time."

"I know, some stuff is just hard to get over," I shrugged. "Like, you're not gone, but I'll miss you, and I'll want to be friends with Shinso and all that because he's awesome too but—"

"Ei, you're rambling," Denki mumbled, blushing a tiny little bit upon realizing that I was accidentally spilling my heart out. You just let too much slip sometimes.

"Shinso's a lot of fun once you get to know him, don't worry about it," Mina laughed. "He might look like he's a tough nut to crack, but I'm sure he'll be like family in no time."

"Yeah, I hope that's the case," I shrugged.

"Oh, calm down. It'll be awesome. Different from me, but so totally awesome that you might not even have to miss me! And like I said, I'll still be here, just not here. Y'know?"

"Yeah, I know. Honestly, if it could work out that I were still super close with you both, it would be awesome." I glanced at Denki, who was staring really intensely in the opposite direction. He sighed, then looked at me, grinning like always.

"If you wanna be friends with Shinso, then do your best not to think of him as Mina's replacement. Just think of him as Shinso," he said. "I know you're not doing that on purpose but try to fix it anyway."

"Yeah, I'm working on that. It's just difficult to stop something that's just... there. Like a roadblock," I scratched the back of my head, returning his grin.

I knew I had hurt him earlier. I shouldn't have rejected him like that. But I wanted to help him know that I was doing my best.

"Smash through it. If you can do it with physical stuff, you could totally do it with something imaginary," Sero suggested.

I raised an eyebrow. "Imaginary?"

"Well, something mental. Just go for it, bro. There's no reason this figurative roadblock should be able to stop you. Since when do roadblocks stop people who are walking around? They can just jump over them. That's even easier than smashing it."

"So... instead of destroying the issue, just pretend it's not there?" I tilted my head. "That doesn't seem like the best way to go about it, either."

"Don't ignore it, just... move past it. Besides, anything is a better option than sitting down in the road and waiting for a car do drive up and squish you just because you see a roadblock in the distance," Sero pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right," I nodded. Well, fuck, I've been letting cars drive all over me, haven't I?

"Well, we should get something to eat," Mina said. "That was actually a really good analogy, Hanta," she giggled.

"I pride myself on my good analogies," he smiled. "What'd you two wanna eat? And stop being so sad," he nudged us both.

"Huh? Sorry," Denki apologized sheepishly. "Um... I don't care. Ei?"

"Meh. Something easy, I guess. I don't really feel like cooking something," I shrugged.

"That's good. Last time you tried to cook something we had to evacuate," Mina joked.

"It wasn't that bad! Just because the fire alarm goes off doesn't mean it was bad! That happens for loads of people," I crossed my arms.

"Loads of people whose houses burn down," she mumbled. "D'you think Bakugo could make us something? He's a great cook."

"Nah, he'll probably just think we're making fun of him somehow. After yesterday, just talking to him could count as making fun of him," Denki pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right. You never know with the guy," Sero shrugged. "Cereal?"

"Cereal," we all agreed simultaneously.