Inches Away // Bakugo Katsuki X OC

20. Provisional License Exam

On the morning of the license exam, Katsumi woke up early. The digital clock near her bed had just struck 5:15 when she realized she was wide awake, so, she decided to go for a jog.

After taking a light breakfast, she set outside. The sun of early November was still hiding behind the clouds, letting the cool breeze flow. Katsumi shivered when she began, but when her body adjusted to the cold, she sped up.

It was 6 when she completed the halfway mark or the ground. Morning workouts were always liberating in a sense for her. There was a weird sense of freedom knowing most of the world was still fast asleep (in her timezone of course.)

She remembered that one week in the beginning of the semester when she'd wake up at 5 in the morning deliberately to annoy Bakugo and brag about being earlier than him. That would piss off his cranky ass even more and there was nothing more entertaining than watching him pout and stomp out.

Katsumi wondered if he had liked her then too. Having feelings for someone was such a spiralling concept for her. Love was a textbook concept, romanticised exponentially by the media and entertainment biz. She didn't know the reality of love, the expectations that come with it, the burden that it carries, and the turmoil of emotions it'd cost her.

There was just so much negative feelings attached to one feel good hormone that Katsumi felt nauseated.

But whenever he showed up even his scowling face, blood red eyes, and always yelling voice would strung Katsumi heart in various melodies.

The obsession for Bakugo skyrocketed after the little sparring they did in the gym a few nights ago. He had jammed her mind completely, blocking all other thoughts. She had always found him interesting but from the last couple of days, he was all she could think about. His smile and laugh that she had the privilege to hear sang sweet melodies in her mind.

So, hitting pause on all the second thoughts and unsettling emotions, she decided to ask him out after the exams.

Class 1A reached the exam centre in a bus and followed Aizawa inside. They changed into their costumes and stood in a large hall with over a thousand people, most of them older than Katsumi's class. Even though Katsumi was pretty confident, the grown crowd sent a series of nervous jitters in her body and it didn't help when the instructor announced that only a few percent of the students were going to pass.

After explaining the exam rules, the instructor gestured to begin. The roof of the hall flew open and walls crashed on the floor. Everyone was given balls to hit the target other people were wearing.

Thank god I did target practice.

Class 1A gathered together as they observed the surrounding. Endless terrain of rock, some buildings at a distance and other posts as far as the eyes went.

"We need to stay together!" Midoriya shouted.

"Screw that! I'm going on my own." Bakugo marched off.

That idiot.

Kirishima and Kaminari followed him and Todoroki set off on his own too.

"Are these guys empty in the head or something?" Katsumi asked.

Her body jolted suddenly when her nose tingled with an overwhelming smell of sodium. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her.

"We're being attacked, " She spoke softly, loud enough for her peers to hear, "Be ready on my mark."

She let her hair fly above her head, working as her antennae, counting attackers around them. The rise of their heartbeats indicated they were about to attack so Katsumi shouted, "Out of the way!"