𝘙𝘦𝘥𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘺

Chapter 26

"No, please." I get up, grabbing her hand softly as I turn her towards me. She doesn't fight against me which causes me to falter on what I was going to say next. I expected to have to raise my voice and beg her to let me take her place. I expected her to fight and shove like a toddler throwing a tantrum to get herself into the arena. I can only stare at her, unsure of what to do next.

"I'll be okay, Izuku. I just need to get my vigilante name and face out there for Dabi. Only one or two fights. I promise. Please," She begged. Her eyes soften and she squeezes my hand for reassurance. I had never seen her so soft. It makes me want to fall to my knees.

My sweet Asami. My sweet girl.

I can't let them take her away from me again. I won't.

"I'll fight too. I'll only register for one or two fights and maybe if Dabi hears that you were down here with someone new he'll come around and see who you were with. I'm sure he'd want to know who you're bringing into what he thinks is his territory. You were right when you said he had some kind of possessive feeling toward you." She chewed on her bottom lip and tilted her head to the side, thinking it over. "He's impossible to track down. You're right about having to lead him to us."

She thinks it over, digging the toe of her shoes into the floor beneath her."There are double tournaments. We can sign up for one and we can stay together but we'll be fighting another duo." She led me towards a bench where we sat down and began speaking in hushed tones. "We haven't fought alongside each other without our quirks before. I'm not very strong without One For All. It... it's really painful to fight without it for the first time. It feels like there are weighted chains locked onto your arms and legs. It's like trying to fight someone underwater. It's not easy."

"As long as we go in there together, we should be fine. You said someone managed to slip through regulations with your old quirk and use it in the ring before?"

"Yes." She nods and looks away from me as she remembers their fate. "Look- nobody needs to die tonight. If someone shows any sign of a quirk then we need to jump out of the ring and run. I can't be there if Dabi appears and kills someone else. I'll have to kill him." She looks back up at me as she begins rolling out her shoulders and wrapping her arms with white wrap. "Should we go in with a plan?"

"I think no plan is the best plan. You take one person and I'll take the other. For now, Asami, let me take the stronger of the two. I know close combat is your thing but it'll be good for both of us if I can get the training." I take some wrap and begin wrapping my arms, carefully wrapping my scars. I watch her from the corner of my eye, afraid of her rebuttal speech about how she wants to be the ringleader in the fight.

She stares at me for a long time. She pinches her brow, her eyes glaring up at me from under her eyelashes. "Okay. Okay, you can take the lead but if I think the fight seems like you're going to lose, I'm going to snap each of their fingers in three different spots."

I laugh, "Okay."

A girl with cat ears appears at the mouth of the locker bank with two metal syringes in her hands. She sees Asami and quickly looks down, her face burning and her ears twitching as she quickly approaches me. She pinches at the skin of my bicep before she injects me with the suppressant serum faster than I can even process. I glance over, finding Asami watching the girl so harshly that both of us are startled by her intense gaze.

She goes to move toward Asami but she looks like she's trying to talk herself into it. "I don't bite," Asami attempts to lighten the mood. "Anymore."

She fails.

"Uh," I laugh. "She means she'll be nice," I explain.

The girl only nods and swallows the knot in her throat. Her hands shake as she slowly and gently pokes at the muscles on Asami's biceps. She shakes so terribly that Asami shakes her off before she pinches her own skin and picks up the syringe to administer the suppressant to herself. "Thanks," Asami hands the woman her things and she nods as she quickly collects them and turns to speed-walk out of the locker room. I watch her go with wide eyes before I turn to ask what my mind is wondering.