Set Me Free

Chapter 16. The Challenge

A/N: Oml, we have so many readers now. Hi there, I see you!

---I-AM-A-LINE---

"Fate is like a strange, unpopular restaurant filled with odd little waiters who bring you things you never asked for and don't always like."

---I-AM-A-LINE---

The days that followed flowed together, and though only filled with what most would see as simple pleasures, Kirishima couldn't have been happier.

Her blonde companions' irritated yell caught her attention, and she spotted a pair of increasingly familiar figures hanging close by with an impish aura about them.

Bakugou's guild was always entertaining, and she often ended up caught up in their antics, significantly more so since she had met Kaminari and Sero. Though she had only known them for a short time, she had already formed a kinship with the two, easily fitting into their little group. To her surprise, they formed their own little gang, with Bakugou acting as their centre; that was the main reason she had gotten acquainted with them so quickly.

The two men in question suddenly popped up in front of her, and the redhead felt amusement bubble up in her chest as she soon found herself being dragged along for the ride.

"Kirishima, you want to do it too, right?" Kaminari prompted her with a seemingly innocent smile as he pushed her towards Bakugou.

"Eh?" The redhead looked at Sero, who was sporting a less-than-innocent grin to match his companion. Maybe she should have been listening instead of daydreaming because whatever they had been talking about had gone right over her head.

"We were just talking about 'that', you remember righhhhhht?" Kirishima raised an eyebrow as an oddly shaped elbow nudged her in the side, and she saw him mouth the words 'play along'.

"O-oh yeah, 'that'." Kirishima grinned skittishly at the blonde, who was obviously unconvinced.

"I mean, of course, she's interested in Bakugou; it's like a tradition, a right of passage." Kaminari did a small pose as if he were making an inspirational speech. "We've all done it."

Sero quickly whispered in her ear, "It's a guild raid; we send a letter of challenge to another guild, and the winner claims territory; it's like a guild-wide brawl."

Kirishima felt a wave of excitement; that would mean she would get the chance to see Bakugou fight again, even fight side by side with him. Of course, she wanted to do that! She shot the two a wide grin of thanks before turning to Bakugou.

"Can we?" Kirishima bounded up to the blonde with a grin, once again forgoing personal space.

Bakugou barely caught himself from taking a step back when she got close to his face, making a slight tinge over his nose, thankfully only noticeable to someone with proximity as close as the redhead had been. Catching himself, he pushed past her and the moron duo before raising his voice.

"Guild raid. Send the challenge, Deku." He was only doing it because he didn't want the other guilds to think they had gotten weaker because of their silence, not because of the redhead.

Bakugou had been hoping to train the redhead a little more before doing something like this, which is why he was initially putting it off. It looks like what he taught her was going to have to be enough. If worse came to worse, she could just transform into her draconian form, though the aftermath would be a serious pain in the ass.

Damn it all to hell.

"Finally a guild raid; I've been meaning to get my name out there; the ladies were forgetting my name." Kaminari puffed his chest, and excited chatter passed over the guildhall.