𝓐 𝓜𝓮𝓪𝓷𝓼 𝓽𝓸 𝓪𝓷 𝓔𝓷𝓭 | Katsuki Bakugou x Male Reader

Chapter 5

"I mean, you put her in a bad position. Making her give Katsuki and the others immunity when we don't even know what sort of damage they might cause," Shoto said.

"So I should've just gone with the programme and let the other tributes take their chances? Not that it matters, because that's what we're all doing anyway!" (M/N) slammed the door in Shoto's face. He hadn't sat with him during breakfast, and when Kan sent him down to training, (M/N) let him go without a word. (M/N) knew Shoto was only speaking out of concern, but he really needed Shoto on his side, not Kaina's. How could he not understand that?

After lunch, Shoto and (M/N) were scheduled to go down to Special Defence to meet Tenya. As they rode the lift, Shoto finally spoke. "You're still angry."

"And you're still not sorry," (M/N) replied.

"I still stand by what I said. Do you want me to lie about it?" Shoto asked.

"No, I want you to rethink it and come up with the right opinion," (M/N) told him. But that just made Shoto chuckle to himself. (M/N) had to let it go. There was no point in trying to dictate what Shoto thought. Which, to be honest, was one reason (M/N) trusted him.

The Special Defence level was situated almost as far down as the dungeons where they found the prep team. It was a beehive of rooms full of computers, labs, research equipment and testing ranges.

When they asked for Tenya, they were directed through the maze until they reached an enormous plate-glass window. Inside was the first beautiful thing (M/N) had seen in the District 13 compound; a replication of a meadow, filled with real trees and flowering plants, and alive with hummingbirds. Tenya sat motionless in a wheelchair at the centre of the meadow, watching a spring-green bird hover in mid-air as it sipped nectar from a large orange blossom. His eyes followed the bird as it darted away, and he caught sight of (M/N) and Shoto, giving a friendly wave for them to join him inside.

The air was cool and breathable, not humid and muggy. From all sides came the whirr of tiny wings, which (M/N) used to confuse with the sound of insects in their woods at home. He had to wonder what sort of fluke allowed such a pleasing place to be built here.

Tenya still had the pallor of someone who was recovering, but behind those glasses, his eyes were alight with excitement. "Aren't they magnificent? Thirteen has been studying their aerodynamics here for years. Forward and backwards flight, and speeds up to a hundred kilometres per hour. If only I could build you wings like these, (M/N)!"

"Doubt I could manage them, Tenya," (M/N) laughed.

"Here one second, gone the next. Can you bring a hummingbird down with an arrow?" Tenya asked.

"I've never tried. Not much meat on them," (M/N) answered.

"No. And you're not one to kill for sport," Tenya said. "I bet they'd be hard to shoot, though."

"You could snare them maybe," Shoto said. His face took on that distant look he had when he was working something out. "Take a net with a very fine mesh. Enclose the area and leave a mouth of a square metre. Bait the inside with nectar flowers. While they're feeding, snap the mouth shut. They'd fly away from the noise but only encounter the far side of the net."

"Would that work?" Tenya asked.

"I don't know. Just an idea," Shoto said. "They might outsmart it."

"They might. But you're playing on their natural instincts to flee danger. Thinking like your prey... that's where you find their vulnerabilities," Tenya said.

(M/N) remembered something he didn't like to think about. In preparation for the Quell, he saw a tape where Tenya, who was still a boy, connected two wires that electrocuted a pack of kids who were hunting him. The convulsing bodies, the grotesque expressions. Tenya, in the moments that led up to his victory in those long-ago Hunger Games, watched the others die. Not his fault. Only self-defence. They were all acting only in self-defence...