MANIA - Katsuki Bakugou

changed ━

chapter 47

Despite the damp weather, Shimamura and Bakugou still went to get ice cream. Although it was a tradition between Shimamura and Shinsou to get the frozen dessert—Shimamura and Shinsou only—Shimamura still decided to take Bakugou with her without Shinsou's presence. It was disappointing that Shinsou couldn't be there with them, but maybe Shimamura was saving him the pain of having to mediate the interaction between her and Bakugou.

Shimamura dipped into her strawberry and mint swirl with her spoon, stirring it up a bit. The two walked along the sidewalk silently, headed to one of the nearby parks to sit down at. Neither drove cars to the reunion so they had to walk wherever they went. Bakugou came in a cab originally while Shinsou drove Shimamura—but he took the car back with him so that's a problem.

They were completely quiet through the entire walk, until Shimamura decided to spark a conversation.

"Kirishima was telling me about how you're merging yours and Cold War's agencies together. How come?" She asked him.

Bakugou looked at her in the corner of his eye, biting into his cookies and cream ice cream without cringing. Just looking at him bite into the ice cream made Shimamura's teeth hurt. Shinsou did that too. How the hell—?!

"I'm absorbing his agency, not merging them."

Shimamura blinked. "Is that even... allowed?"

He snapped at her, biting into his ice cream again. "Of course it's allowed! I'm doing it!"

Shimamura licked the ice cream off her spoon, not the slightest bit fazed by his outbursts. "Just because you're doing something, Bakugou, doesn't mean it's legal."

Bakugou growled under his breath and huffed. He caved in to telling her his actual plans. "The agencies are merging but I'll have full control over primary work for all sectors. It was an agreement—"

'An agreement or a threat?' Shimamura thought to herself.

"—between us since he's ready to retire. He has a family now or some shit like that. He wants his agency to be in better hands than his own employed pro heroes."

"Are his heroes no good?" She asked.

Bakugou scoffed. "They're all dumbass heroes. I'm the only real hero at the agency."

"But for his standards?" She ignored his last comment.

He furrowed his brows. She knew exactly when he was buffing up his pride and she knew when and how to evade his comments. She'd always been able to do that with ease when they were dating.

"They know how to follow directions and that's it. He can't trust any of them to actually lead his agency—so he's passing the responsibility of dragging around his lap dogs off to me."

Shimamura nodded, humming to herself. She had somehow mixed up the strawberry swirl so it was just a solid pastel pink color. He wondered if she just got those flavors so she could make it look pretty. He wouldn't put it past her to do it.

"That's a huge agency to run, Bakugou. Are you sure you're up for it?"

He frowned, glaring at her. He stopped in his tracks and she stopped a foot in front of him, turning back to him with a raised eyebrow. Shockingly, she was completely sincere with her question. She was curious and somewhat worried. And she wasn't wrong to worry either. Having to take care of such a large agency was often damaging on the hero in charge of it all. It required work and a lot of determination to keep it afloat. All eyes were on the hero to perform to the best of their ability.