Aesthete

Chapter 35 - Bakugo 3

He scowled at my words while I chuckled, shifting myself back to relaxing against the bus seat, but I caught Katsuki's eyes on me. He had a mixture of anger and confusion on his face, watching me as I gave him a warm smile. The annoyance lessened and he only gave me a half-smile back, turning to listen to whatever Kirishima was telling him.

That's weird, usually he'd keep the grouchy look on his face.

We arrived at the Takoba National Stadium, and I got off the bus with my brief case in hand. Absentmindedly, I drifted near Bakugo while the class shuffled awkwardly in place, waiting for further instruction from Shota. I scanned the area, watching hundreds of students with different uniforms standing all throughout the sidewalks and strolling around the grass casually. A woman approached Mr. Aizawa, offering an immediate marriage proposal that made me grin while Izuku turned into a fanboy and explained that it was Ms. Joke, the Smile Hero. I returned back to looking around my environment. It was so loud, so many voices were buzzing with excitement, and I shut my eyes, attempting to drown out the sound. I was coping fairly well with dismissing any images of those days with the League, but their taunts and degradation were flooding my mind at the moment while I pressed my foot into the ground to remind myself that I wasn't with them anymore.

I felt two warm pressures at my ears and I opened my eyes slightly, turning to see that Bakugo had placed both of his hands to the sides of my head while he watched me with a pained expression. I pulled his hands away, releasing one as I held on to the other, "I'm fine, the noise is just a lot."

"Then let me help." His words made my chest ache, I gave him a look, one letting him know that if he continued acting so kind, I would embarrass the living hell out of him in front of our classmates. He stared back blankly, refusing to give in. "Okay." I relented, and he turned back to pressing his hands against my head. I watched as students from other schools began to approach us, there was this one guy who was fond of shaking everyone's hands, he had dark hair that was similar to Izuku's.

Kirishima had tugged on Bakugo in excitement, causing him to release his hold on me as Bakugo began yelling at his best friend. Kirishima was talking about the statistics of us passing the exam and I listened, eyes zoning in on the roots of black that were beginning to show in Eijiro's hair.

I'm going to have to help him re-dye it, I thought, but a touch on my palms and a surprisingly strong force pulled me away from the two's conversation.

My head was whipped to see gray eyes only inches away from mine. Instinctively, I began to pull away, but the guy who greeted everyone pressed closer to me.

"Hello, Florence Reyna, I'm Yo Shindo from Ketsubutsu Academy! Let me just tell you that I think you're a true heroine, fighting off villains and saving almost 200 people out there in Kamino Ward? That was the coolest thing I've seen, and your scar actually looks really good on you! We should definitely get acquainted." Shindo finished, squeezing both of my hands lightly in an attempted friendly gesture. I was confused, he had an odd glint to his countenance despite the huge grin he shot towards me, it was like he was putting up a pretense of some sort.

"Thank you, Shindo. It's nice to meet you." I mumbled out, tugging my hands away from him as he released. He surprised me, reaching to poke at the scar that was visible above my collared uniform shirt. I was stuck, right in front of Izuku and he wouldn't back away, too confused by the situation, and I couldn't move to the sides due to the large crowd of my own classmates.

I don't want him touching my scar.

Before Shindo's finger could trace it, a hand slapped it away roughly as I was gripped by two people to move behind Bakugo. Katsuki stood in front of me, seething at the Izuku-lookalike who was ahead of him. "What makes you think you can touch her? Don't act like a fucking creep." Shindo's eyes widened as he bowed in an apologetic manner.