0𝙁𝙇𝙐𝙊𝙓𝙀𝙏𝙄𝙉𝙀ˢʰⁱⁿˢᵒᵘ

𝕓𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕙ᵗʷᵉˡᵛᵉ

BENCH —

chapter twelve

"Gran, can I stay with Shinsou again? I have to be at school before class starts and the train doesn't run until four. I'd be late. It's just...smarter to do it like this," Korei spoke into the phone, kicking her feet back and forth as she sat on the bench outside of the locker rooms. Shinsou was taking a little bit longer than usual but she was sure he had a good reason for it. "I have a change of clothes and everything. I was trying to talk to you about it last night but...we went to bed early." Gran had gotten upset at Korei for spending too much time with Shinsou and coming home late, even though Korei was his tutor.

"My apologies, duvshanit. Do you have clothes for the weekend as well? I'm sure you'll be staying—" Korei's eyes darted up when she heard some guys talking and laughing amongst themselves. Shivers danced down her spine when she heard one of the guys talk. His voice sounded so...right? Like she was meant to be hearing it. "—so you better stay safe. I doubt he's dumb enough to do anything but teenage boys'll screw a jar of peanut butter."

"U-uh, screw a jar of peanut butter? What does that mean, Gran?" Korei's brows furrowed together as she tried to understand what was being said. Her grandmother had never talked like that before. As Gran rambled on the other side of the phone about how Korei wouldn't have to worry about it, the green-haired girl's backpack fell off of the bench and spilled its contents all over the ground. "Hang on, Gran. I'll have to call you back. I just...dumped my books on the ground." With that said, the phone was hung up and Korei was on her knees, collecting her notebooks.

"But yeah man, I'm totally gonna win this thing tomorrow. With a quirk like mine? I was built for this, dude. I could even stop Todoroki!"

"Yeah, alright, man. We'll see that tomorrow. We both know that I'm the real winner."

"Dude, you're stupid. Oh, woah. Hey! Do you need any help?" Korei was halfway underneath the bench, grabbing the pencils that were rolling away from her. Her midsection burned from the stretches she had done earlier but she didn't mind that much.

"O-oh, no! I-it's okay! I've got it! Thank you!" She strained out, reaching for the last pencil. There was a chuckle and both of the guys agreed that it wasn't a problem before helping collect some of the stuff. "I-i appreciate it. Thank you very much!"

"It's nothing. Hey, we've gotta catch the train so we'll just see ya around or something. You'll be at the Sports Festival, right?" His voice was so familiar and Korei grew flustered when she couldn't recognize it.

"Yeah! Yeah, I'll be there. Um, repping Class 1-C," she said, shuffling out from under the bench. She accidentally dropped her pens again, hurriedly collecting them. "G-good luck out there!"

"Yeah, good luck to you too!"

After the two guys were gone, Korei finally climbed out from under the bench and put the rest of her stuff into her backpack. As she stood up and dusted her knees off, Shinsou came out of the locker room with his bag slung over his shoulders. He spotted her standing by the benches, her skirt hiked up a little in the back, showing off more skin than usual. It wasn't enough to be considered indecent but it was enough to make Shinsou's ears go red.

"Hey! Shin-kun! Gran told me that it's okay for me to stay with you for the weekend and everything. Is that okay with you?" She smiled at him, flattening out her skirt before waving to him. She lifted her bag onto her shoulders and walked towards him, skipping slightly.

"That's cool with me. Um, my mom might be coming home tomorrow afternoon so just...keep that in mind. She'll probably leave us alone but she might ask you some questions," he sighed as they walked together. Korei linked her arm through his like she's been doing the past few days. "She shouldn't get too invasive but if you feel uncomfortable, let me know."

"It's fine. I can't wait to meet your mom! She looks so pretty in all of those pictures. I bet she's super nice!" Shinsou smirked, nodding gently. "I hope she likes me."

"She'll love you."

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