Chapter 14

Akane slowly shuffled out of the room down the hallway to the elevator. Both her weighted hands were tucked inside her hoodie and her eyes were glued to the floor. She didn't want to look up unless she needed to. At this level, her hair parted over just enough to cover up the scar on her face. After pressing the down button, she waited. It dinged open, and to no one's surprise, someone else was there.

This guy was someone she hadn't formally met, but his physical characteristics definitely made him stand out. His hair, face, and eyes seemed to split dramatically in two different colors, right down to his neckline. Without a word between them, he stepped away from the middle of the platform to give her some space to get on with him. As soon as the door closed, they averted their eyes to the buttons.

"Going down?" he asked, to which she nodded.

The button was already lit, which meant that he must have come from one of the upper levels. With no further commands, the elevator did what it does and shifted all the way down to the lobby. When it finally opened, she stepped out first, then he followed shortly behind and they made their way into the common area. She walked through the small crowd of students and into the kitchen where the ingredients for tonight's selected dish were all set on top of the kitchen island, ready to be prepped. Judging by everything on the table, it looked like they were going to have red beef curry, with the typical rice and vegetable stir fry. Seemed easy enough.

If it wasn't for Midoriya's text reminding her that she was on cooking duty tonight, she would've forgotten, especially now that her mind was elsewhere, or to be more specific, it was all over the place. Perhaps a good distraction was in order to give it a rest.

"You cooking tonight too?" asked a voice from behind, that nearly stopped her heart.

Quickly turning, she saw the same boy from the elevator. He was so close, how did she not hear him? Akane immediately held a hand to her chest to ease the adrenaline as she took a step back.

"You're Hattori, right?"

She quietly nodded, trying to calm herself down.

"Oh good, you're already here." Commented another voice from behind him.

He stepped to the side to greet one of the dorm girls. This one, she had dark blue hair, and an alternative rock look, but like the other students, she could not remember her name.

"I was about to come get you two."

"So how should we do this?" asked the boy.

"Well, the menu says we're supposed to make curry. I guess we should each do something, like someone prep, another to cook, and the other to clean. Sound good?" she asked.

"Yea." He replied.

Both of them turned to Akane for an answer, but she remained in her nervous silence.

"Hattori, which do you want to do?"

Her free hand fiddled with the bottom lining of her shirt thinking about it. It didn't really matter all that much to her, so she rolled it off her shoulders with a shrug.

"Well, I could cook, if that's ok?" said the girl.

"That sounds fine. Should I prep?" he asked.

"Well, you see, Todoroki… You're not exactly the most experienced one in the kitchen. The last time you cooked, you burned water. I don't even know how that's possible." She explained.

Todoroki let his head droop down in defeat. "Then I guess I'll just clean…"

"Good, so Hattori, you good to prep the vegetables?"

With a nod, she went over to the sink to wash her hands before rinsing and scrubbing the produce. When they were all clean, she took the cutting board out from the nook underneath the cabinets and grabbed a knife to begin. Todoroki took a seat on one of the bar stools to watch as the other girl went to work preparing the rice cooker.

Akane peeled the carrots quietly, but eventually found herself becoming increasingly uncomfortable, feeling his eyes on her. Several minutes went by and he still didn't stop. It was getting really weird, but she did her best to bear with it. He could've been staring at the scar on her cheek, but that didn't sound reasonable considering he had an even bigger scar on his left eye. She wondered how he got it.

"You're just like Koda." He said, which drew her attention temporarily. Who's Koda? "You're very quiet. Is something wrong?"

She shook her head no, now feeling even more anxious. Was it that obvious?

"I guess it's normal, considering you're surrounded by people you're not used to living with."

"She doesn't have to talk if she doesn't want to." Interrupted the girl. She closed the rice cooker, set the timer, and pushed the start button before joining beside them. "I'm Jiro, by the way, Kyoka Jiro. That's Todoroki." She nodded over to him.

Akane smiled and offered a respectful bow. Jiro's gaze was instantly drawn to her torso. It was one of her favorite band hoodies from many years back.

"Nice merch. Have you heard their new album? They just released it last Friday."

In response, she shook her head again. It was a bit surprising to know that there were girls out there who actually liked to listen to the same heavy metal stuff as she. Sadly, she didn't have the album.

"Come by my room after dinner, I'll let you borrow it." She smiled and turned back around to continue cooking.

It was good to know that she was nice, which allowed Akane to be a little at ease, but the tension didn't completely go away, thanks to Todoroki's constant staring. His handsome features didn't cover the unusual feeling she received from his eyes. An idea then came to her on how to get him to stop.

She paused from slicing the onions and offered him the back end of the blade. His complexion read confused.

"Would you like me to show you how to do it?..." she quietly asked.

The color in his eyes became lighter.

"Sure." He took the knife and joined her side.

After rearranging her station, she placed one peeled carrot in the middle of the cutting board.

"Do you know how to do a roll cut?"

He shook his head, to which she gestured for him to give back the knife. She angled it diagonally across the end of the veggie and cut it, switched the diagonal line oppositely before cutting again and again and again in a zig-zag motion. When the entire carrot was in pieces, she pushed it aside, pulled another carrot, and handed the blade back to him. He tried to mimic her actions, but put too much weight into a chop instead of a slice. She held out her hand to stop him.

"You don't need to put so much force behind it… May I?"

He held out the blade for her to take once again, but instead she placed her hand around his wrist and showed him the proper way to handle it. The feel of her palm was warm against his cold skin.

"Keep your thumb close to the tang and bend your fingers above the vegetable. Don't lay them out flat or you'll end up cutting your fingers. This will guide the blade, so it won't flay the skin… You don't have to force the knife directly down to get a straight cut, that's mostly for chopping things, like meat. Use your wrist like a wave and curve the pressure to the back of the knife, so that it slices all the way through and doesn't strain your arms so much…"

He heard everything she said, but couldn't stop himself from gazing at her unusually red hands. She let go of him to give him one more try on his own. As she did so, her sleeve slipped back, revealing the edges of the strapped weights. How curious…

He faintly remembered her quirk, including that she was able to turn her body red and muscular, but at the moment, he couldn't tell if it was her quirk doing that or if those things were cutting off circulation in her hands. If that was the case, she would definitely be in pain, but oddly, she didn't seem to mind it, so Shoto put it in the back of his mind for now. His first cut was a little uneven, but the next one was better and then the next until he felt confident enough to smile about it. The creepy intensity between them had vanished as they spent the next few minutes slowly taking turns cutting.

It wasn't until a few minutes later that Jiro called them to hurry up. The time was set for everyone to eat before seven pm and it was already half past six, so from there, Akane took over her station and diced everything up in an instant. Once it was done, she passed it along for Jiro to cook.

"If you could do it that fast, why ask me to help you?" he asked her as he gathered up the dirty utensils to put in the kitchen sink.

"You seemed like you wanted to help… Even if you lack skills in the kitchen, it doesn't mean you can't learn…" she said quietly, turning on the hot water faucet. She couldn't bluntly say aloud that it was actually because of him staring so much. That would have been rude.

She put the soap in the water and let the water run until it had a nice bubbly layer on top before placing it in the dishes.

"You don't have to do that." He stated, but she ignored it.

"It's alright. You helped me…"

She rolled up her sleeves and he was able to see the cuffs more clearly. Her entire forearm was alarmingly red, especially around her wrists. Now he had to ask.

"What are you wearing?"

She followed his gaze to her arm. "My weights?…"

"Yea, why are you wearing them now? Shouldn't you take them off when doing something like this?"

"I'm not supposed to take them off…" she explained.

"Why?" he asked, and as soon as he did, the tension that she assumed to have drifted away came seeping back into her. The spark in his eyes faded more seriously, which drove her to focus back on the dishes. She didn't like being put in the spotlight, especially when others wanted to pry into her personal business, so she kept quiet.

"What's wrong?" asked Jiro, finally taking a break to join in on the conversation. When she took a glance at her hands, she became just as concerned. "Woah, is that normal?" She pointed.

Akane pulled down her sleeves. "It's fine. It's just my quirk…"

"Who said you can't take them off? They look like they hurt." She said,

"It's part of my training. I can take them off, I'm just not supposed to… according to Bakugo…"

"That figures…" said Shoto.

"It doesn't really hurt, it just appears that way…" Now she was starting to sound like a bad liar.

"I didn't think he'd make you do this kind of stuff outside the training time." She commented, taking a couple of steps forward until she was too close for comfort. Her head cocked when her eyes drifted to her face. "Did he do that to you too?" She pointed again.

Now feeling cornered, Akane took a few steps around the kitchen island to give herself some breathable room. It didn't help much because she felt her stomach churn in knots. Turns out, hiding it behind her hair was a wasted effort. Jiro and Todoroki grew even more concerned watching her.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"D-do you need me for anything else?..." she asked out of the blue.

"For cooking? Ummm, no, not really." Said Jiro.

Without a second thought, Akane walked out of the kitchen, through the common area, being sure to keep her head down. As soon as she passed through the doorway and turned, her head instantly bumped into something that was as stiff as a brick wall. She groaned from the annoying pain as she rubbed her forehead.

"Sorry about that. Oh hey, it's you, Hattori."

Looking up, her eyes were instantly linked to his soft red pupils. He gave her a smile and held out a hand to help her off the ground.

"You're not hurt, right?"

From his neckline down, it looked as if his body was contorted into a bunch of flesh colored rocks. Even his hand had sharp, spiky rock claws. How unusual.

As soon as he noticed, he shut off his quirk and transformed it back to a normal human hand. Akane proceeded to take it and stood back up.

"Where're you off to? I was just about to text you."

That immediately reminded her of what she was about to do. Anxiously, she hung her head down again.

"My room…"

That tone didn't sound right. She tried to move around him, but he stepped along with her.

"Hey, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

"I'm fine."

"You don't seem like it. C'mon, you can tell me." He insisted, but she only grew more unsteady. Even when they texted, she didn't talk much. Kirishima just couldn't help his curiosity. He wanted to know more about her, as he did with all his friends.

"Akane?"

They both turned to see Yuto stepping down the hall over to them. It didn't take long for him to notice her strange behavior.

He quickly sent Kirishima a death glare. "Is this guy bothering you?"

"No way, man, I wouldn't do that." Said Kirishima.

"I wasn't asking you." Yuto turned to her. Kirishima followed his movements and the moment he stopped to pay attention to her, he started to understand.

"Hey, I didn't mean to upset you."

She shook her head. "It's not you… They wouldn't stop staring at me…"

"Who?" They both asked in unison.

"… Everyone." Her fingers brushed against the uneven scar tissue on her cheek. "Because of this…"

"Why wouldn't they? It looks badass!"

She raised her head up to the bold young redhead.

"Bakugo gave that to her." Yuto pointed out.

"Yea, so what? That just shows how tough she is. If she can come out still standing after going against him, then she's more manly than anyone here." Said Kirishima. Although it was weird for him to call her manly, he meant it in a good way, and she could appreciate that.

Such a weird comment led Yuto to reconsider him, that maybe he had him all wrong. Maybe he wasn't as bad as his explosive friend.

"I don't normally say this, but he's right. You're still you, Akane. You're still the strongest girl I know. Who cares about them?"

"Scars always mark the strongest of heroes, so you should own it. Besides, it didn't really change your face that much. You're still just as pretty."

They both nearly snapped their necks at Kirishima's comment.

"I mean it, strong women are totally plus ultra! So don't pay attention to those guys, okay?"

The color in her face turned a soft pink as a smile curved at the edge of her lip. He really was a nice guy.

"Thanks, you two."

"By the way, how're your arms?" Yuto asked, completely changing the subject.

"It's not as bad as you think…"

"He shouldn't be making you do this shit outside of class."

"I can take them off whenever I want, Yuto." She said, not wanting to deal with his petty attitude again. "Besides, this resistance training isn't a bad option…"

"Our training time is over for the day. If you can take them off, take 'em off."

"No, it's fine. I like a challenge."

That comment only frustrated Yuto more.

"That just leaves me wondering what else he'll have in store for you later. Probably nothing good."

"It would be nice for you to just support me…"

"I am supporting you. Why else would I be worried about you?"

"She's right, man. I think you're looking at this all wrong." Kirishima began "I can see why your beef with Bakugo can make it hard for you to see him as a helpful trainer, but take it from me, I've been in the same class with him for two years. I know how he can be, but that's just how he is, he pushes people to their limit, almost like a military CO. He wouldn't be so hard on others if he didn't want them to do better."

"That, I have a hard time believing at all." Said Yuto, and as much as Akane hated to admit it, she agreed with him.

"He's really not what you think." He said again, but none of his words would get through to them.

"I'll believe it when I see it." He turned to Akane. "Take care of yourself, okay?"

She sighed through her nose as he walked back into the common area. The way he left like that, it was almost as if he had given up trying on her. An invisible weight was placed onto her shoulders thinking about it. Was it because she was choosing to believe Kirishima's word over Yuto's, or was it the realization that Kirishima was wrong about Bakugo all along? Perhaps if she had taken the time to overcome her social anxiety, she would have been able to understand sooner, but that wasn't the case.

"You still need to go up to your room?" Kirishima asked, immediately pulling her out of her own mind and into reality.

"Actually, I'm not really feeling good…" she lied.

"Maybe you just need some food. Didn't you cook tonight?"

She nodded.

"Don't you want to eat what you made? Or at least sit with your friends?" he asked.

She was hesitant to answer because in truth, she really didn't want to have to lie to him. He was such a nice person, and it would suck if he ended up taking her actions the wrong way, thinking that she didn't want to be around him. In reality, she just wanted some time to herself somewhere where she couldn't be stared at or possibly run into Bakugo. Without her sketchbook to calm her down, there was no telling if she'd be able to handle her own emotions. Yuto's actions weren't exactly helping it either.

"Is it because of those guys who stared at you? 'Cuz if anything, they were probably staring because of your eyes."

"My eyes?" she raised her brow questionably. Kirishima placed a hand behind his head and averted his eyes down the hallway.

"Well yea. I've never met someone with eyes so green. They're really pretty."

Her heart began to thump aggressively. "Thanks, but unfortunately, that's not what they said… The way they looked at me reminded me of what Bakugo said earlier, that I had a fucked up face."

"He said that?" As if he was surprised.

She nodded. "It's fine… I've been called worse."

"That doesn't make it okay though. Look, I'll talk to him." Kirishima turned to head to the elevator when Akane pulled his arm back.

"Please don't… Whatever happens is between me and Bakugo." She began, loosening her grip. "To be honest, I'm still unsure if he's the guy you say he is… Maybe it's because you two are friends and he treats you differently. I'll try and give it some time, like you said, so please don't get between us. If I have a problem with him, I'll talk to him myself…"

"But Hattori-"

"It's okay… If I'm supposed to become a Hero, I can't have others fighting for me all the time, even if it keeps me from getting scarred up like this..."

"Well alright, if you're sure about it." Kirishima gave in.

"I am… Thanks for trying to help me."

"Sure." He smiled. "Wanna eat with me?"

"Maybe some other time. I really do want to go up to my room for the night…" she said.

"But what about dinner?"

"I have protein snacks in my room."

"Okay. Hope you feel better."

She gave him a faint smile before turning to the elevator. Right when she pushed the button, the door dinged and opened. Speak of the devil… His fiery stare shot through her like bullets, causing her to avert her gaze elsewhere and quickly move aside. Without a word, he stepped off the platform, but she could still feel his sinister eyes following her on his way.

Akane immediately stepped into the box and hit the close button. Kirishima waved a hand to Bakugo before looking back to her one more time. His warming smile was no longer plastered across his face as it normally was. As soon as the doors closed again, she closed her eyes and exhaled a deep breath through her nose. Why did all these people insist on getting involved in her problems? And then to become angry with her for choosing to handle it differently than they would? There was no end to it.

Once she made it to her floor, she went to her room and sprawled her body down on the comforter of the twin bed. She laid there for a few minutes in silence thinking of all the little things in life that led her to being in this very situation. She thought about how things would have ended differently if she hadn't come to U.A., or if the villains never attacked the school, or if she didn't meet Mae when she was little, and how her life would have been if her real mom was still alive. It seemed fate defined the lives of individuals based on opportunities and events. The events weren't entirely under her control, but opportunities were, and it's because of her own choices that she got to where she was today. Sadly, she wasn't certain if all her decisions were worth it, or if she was worth it.

Thinking this in depth of herself, she knew that it was her own mind toying with her emotions. It would constantly replay the events and decisions of her life in a way that would make her second-guess herself and who she aspired to be. It sucked, but then again, what human being doesn't think back from time to time like this? It was in these moments that even her own sketchbook couldn't provide relief. However, it's not like she could actually draw properly with these damn cuffs on. The only thing she could really look forward to was knowing that tomorrow was a new day, and it was Friday, nonetheless. The only drawback was that she would have to deal with that asshole again.

Hopefully, she would have the patience to get through whatever bullshit obstacle he had in store for her and they would go their separate ways after class. To be honest, she didn't even want to deal with him tomorrow. She had enough confidence in the chore schedule that everyone would go home on the weekend. If she was lucky, he would do the same, but that wasn't going to change his shitty attitude in the long run.

Turning over, she grabbed onto her pillow and let out a frustrated groan within it. She tried to understand Bakugo a little more through Kirishima and Midoriya's texts, but their stories didn't make any sense. Maybe because they were from two completely different people that Bakugo treated separately, or maybe because they don't quite know him as well as they thought. From what Deku said, he was an asshole from the start, thinking that he was better than everyone else because of his flashy quirk, and treated them all, especially Midoriya, like trash. He wouldn't go into details as to why Bakugo held a personal grudge against him, but then again, maybe he just didn't know either.

Kirishima admitted to not liking his petty attitude at first, but later came to simply accept him, especially considering that he noticed Bakugo hardly ever had friends around him. Both of them didn't come to U.A. just to become a great hero, they also wanted to make good memories with some new friends. Oddly, Kirishima wanted Bakugo to be one of them, but when he pushed him away, it only drove him to work harder and earn his respect man to man. All those stories told many things about Bakugo that she didn't know, but the main question still remained unanswered in the back of her mind.

Why? Why did he think he was so much better than everyone when he's surrounded by so many students with the same amount of raw talent and power level as he? Why did he lash out at others when he himself couldn't take criticism? Why was he so quick to anger? And proving himself to others? Just why?

Thinking it all over, she concluded that there were two ways that she could answer those questions. One, she could either ask Bakugo himself, or she could study from an actual psychologist. Comparing the two, the second choice sounded less miserable. Akane reached into her pocket to pull out her phone and clicked on the search engine app. She looked up the best up-to-date psychology books she could download and bought one. For the next hour, she read through a few chapters that went over the cognitive aspect of psychological behavior. It wasn't until the door opened that she had to put it on pause.

Ochako entered the room, but this time, she held the door open for someone else to come in behind her. Akane put down her phone at the sight of the dark-haired girl from the kitchen, Jiro. She had a small square CD case nestled in her hands. Their eyes met briefly and then shifted away because of the awkward tension.

"We figured you'd be in here. You didn't come down to dinner." Said Uraraka.

Jiro then took a dose of bravery and decided to step up to her.

"Listen, Hattori, I'm sorry for what I said. Whatever goes on, you don't have to tell if you don't want to, and if I had known that it'd upset you, I wouldn't have asked. Todoroki and I were just worried, that's all."

Akane accepted her apology with a nod. Jiro proceeded to hand her the CD.

"Here's the new album I talked about earlier. I thought you'd like to borrow it."

When she took it, she looked over the fantastic art cover with warmth. The reviews said that this track was meant to be even greater than the last and seeing it now in her hands made her all the more excited. A small curl curled the edges of her lips.

"Thank you…" At that moment, Akane felt guilty for avoiding such nice people. "I'm sorry, I'm not the most open person… Meeting new people has always been a big adjustment for me."

"That's okay. Just know that you can always come to us whenever you're comfortable, okay? 'Cuz in Class 1-A, we always look after each other." Uraraka said confidently, clenching her hands into fists.

"I'm not in your class, though…"

"That doesn't make you less important than the rest of us." Added Jiro.

"Thank you again…"

"If it's not too much for you, may we ask what happened between you and Bakugo?" asked Ochako.

"I…" She began, but started to trail off. "I'm sorry…"

"Hey, it's alright. We just want to make sure you're okay." Said Jiro.

"I am…" At least physically.