Technical Support

Chapter 17

Bakugou blushed at her forward words and extreme confidence. He quickly turned around, back to his little sandcastle, to hide the blush. "Th-That's right! I'll definitely be the number one hero! And the number one hero wouldn't need any support items because I'm already amazing by myself..." He peeked at her over his shoulder.

"...But...I guess I could...hold onto this for you..." Ayano gave him the widest smile she could manage. "See you tomorrow, Kacchan!!"

Over time, the two became very close, Ayano often bringing him new tools to test out. Although Bakugou wouldn't admit it, he would never reject her efforts. He made a show of not wanting to test her machines, saying a hero wouldn't need them, but he always did in the end.

He didn't like that Ayano was also friends with Deku and that she sometimes even made things for him, but he was willing to deal with it. After all, most of her attention was focused on Bakugou and most of her machines were made for him anyways.

At one of her most recent inventions, Bakugou was particularly astonished. "This is amazing, Ayano!" He continued to inspect, but realized she was silent. He shifted his gaze to her, seeing a shocked Ayano.

It was the first time that he had openly called one of her inventions amazing. It was the first time he didn't just try to brush it off.

"No, Kacchan. You're the amazing one!!" She laughed, earning him a faint blush that he quickly tried to hide. Amazing? Of course, he was!

But so was she.

With how amazing he was and how amazing she was, there was no way he wouldn't become the number one hero!

He already had his quirk, so they would become even more amazing when she got hers! He couldn't wait to see what it would be. He was confident that it wouldn't be as good as his, but it would be pretty amazing because she was amazing. He was absolutely sure that she would always stand by his side like this, supporting him.

That is, until one day.

"Did you hear? Deku doesn't have a quirk!" "Eh?" "Right! It's called being 'quirkless.'" "Sucks to be him."

The blond laughed. Ha! Deku. He's...not awesome at all!

Ayano would stop being friends with Deku for sure! Then, she could spend all her time with him!

His eyes widened when she walked up to Midoriya and kneeled in front of him, giving him a compassionate look. The green-haired boy still held a devastated look with soulless eyes. He was jolted out if it when he felt Ayano slipping gloves onto his hands. It was the gloves they used to increase their grip. "A-Aya-chan...?" He questioned.

"Do you remember these gloves? It's the ones I made so that you and Kacchan could do the monkey bars. They're even better now!" The boy flipped his hands around, noticing that they were indeed a bit different from before. "You...You're giving these to me...?" She nodded, prompting him to ask, "Why?"

"You said you're going to be a hero, right?" Bakugou's hands clenched at the familiar question. Midoriya looked down in sadness. "...Yeah, but I can't anymore." "Why not?" He just looked at her in confusion, as if the answer should be obvious. "W-Well...because I'm quirkless!" "So?"

Even the rest of the class was looking at Ayano incredulously. She was supposed to be a smart one, yet she couldn't logically figure out something this simple?

"S-So I can't become a hero!" She frowned at him. "Sure you can!" He was feeling worse from talking about it. At his silence, Ayano continued. "I'm quirkless too, you know."