Technical Support

Chapter 43

Aizawa walked up to Junk Master, the two of them observing Ayano's actions. "How is she?"

Her homeroom teacher sighed. "Definitely much better...but there's still something missing in her." Aizawa glanced at him, looking for an explanation.

The burly man's concern was beginning to increase the sharpness of his features. "She's perfectly fine when it comes to making support items. Capture items, defense items, stealth items, surveillance items, you name it. When it comes to weapons though...items that cause physical harm..." He shook his head, not even wanting to finish his sentence.

"She doesn't have a panic attack or an episode or anything, which is good. It's just...it's like she refuses to even acknowledge their existence. She wants absolutely nothing to do with them." The man grit his teeth, ashamed that he could do nothing to help his student get over this hurdle. Aizawa pat the man's shoulder in a comforting gesture. "She just needs time." He reassured him.

Their conversation did not go unnoticed by a certain blonde.

His brows furrowed deeply, anger and concern seeping into him. Looking back at Ayano, he saw that she was even approached by some of his own classmates.

"Aya-chan!" Greeted an enthusiastic Kaminari. Since when had he gotten so close to her?! First Kirishima and now him?!

"I was wondering if you could make me a weapon tha—" "I refuse." She cut him off, immediately turning away to help one of her classmates. "You didn't even let me finish!" The electric boy wailed, completely baffled by her response. He was sure that she'd be ecstatic about creating more support items! Well, as ecstatic as her face would show.

"I did not need to. I still refuse." She gave him one of her usual deadpan stares, but there seemed to be something a little off about it. It seemed much colder than he remembered.

Kirishima tried backing up his friend. "Hey, Aya-chan! It wouldn't hurt to just hear what he has to say, right?" Kaminari brightened at that. "Yeah! I think you'd totally love to make th—OW! What the hell was that for, Bakugou?!"

The ash blond had shoved the two boys aside, making room for himself. Except, it was more like he punched Kaminari's shoulder rather than shoved him out of the way. "Out of my way, dunce face." "Will you stop calling me that!?"

He made his way towards Ayano without any further acknowledgement of his classmate. Without a word even to her, he grabbed her wrist and dragged her away. Ayano was about to protest when she saw the look on his face, understanding dawning on her.

Her strange behavior was, no doubt, due to the words that Kaminari used. The conversation Bakugou heard their homeroom teachers having only served to confirm this.

The second she heard the word 'weapon,' her head went through all the negative thoughts. Bakugou knew that was what set her off. He saw the slight twitch of her face upon hearing that word. The nearly unnoticeable darkening of her eyes. The unusually quick dismissal of the idea.

He was angry. Not at her, but at himself. Angry that he was the reason for all of this. Angry that he still let her feel this way about the support items she used to love making so much. Angry that he couldn't help her – hadn't helped her all this time.

Eventually, they reached their destination. They were perched atop one of the artificial cliffs made by Cementoss. Several of the rocks were chipped or damaged in some way, displaying the results of Class 1-H's testing.

Bakugou flexed his hand underneath the thick glove. Beginning his self-training, he blasted at some of the surrounding rocks.

Leaning against one of the rock slabs, Ayano watched him with careful eyes as he darted here and there. His movements were quick, but far from precise. His anger was beginning to show itself in his training, causing his movements to be more reckless than usual.

"Are you not going to call me pathetic?" She asked in a rather quiet voice, although he had heard her perfectly clearly. He immediately stopped his movements. "There's nothing pathetic about you." He mumbled, not looking at her. His fists clenched and his jaw tightened.

She could never be pathetic to him. Not after what she went through.

Ayano didn't respond. She just stared at him. When he looked back at her, she averted her eyes. It was as if she couldn't meet his eyes. As if she thought she didn't have the right to.

He could see the shame in them and it angered him. Once again, he was angry at himself and not her.

There was nothing he could do though. He was never good with words, and that was especially true around her. It seemed like all he ever did was either hurt, disappoint, or anger her.

It was like that when they were children, and it was still like that now.

Then and now, he turned to one of the only things he was good at: Violence.

"I want to increase the scale of my explosions." He declared, causing Ayano to look at him hesitantly. She immediately looked away again after seeing his determined gaze.

Her brows furrowed. This was exactly what she was afraid of. Having made his costume, of course he would come to her if he ever needed any adjustments. She had hoped that it would never come to that, but Bakugou was always trying to improve. Always looking to be the number one.

She just couldn't help him with that. Not anymore, at least.

His costume is by far one of the most destructive things she has ever created. She wouldn't take it away from him. Not again. But there was no way she would ever work on it.

He was going to be a hero. She knew that, but she just couldn't bring herself to do it.

"Bakugou I really do not t—" She was interrupted by Bakugou's fist making contact with the rock slab behind her, his fist merely an inch away from the left side of her face.

"You're not making me a weapon, okay?! You're just modifying my costume! You're making something to help me use my quirk! It's not going to be a weapon! It's a support item!! Okay?!!" He growled at her, his face directly in front of hers. Even then, she refused to look at him.

Growing more frustrated, Bakugou continued. "Didn't you say that you'd reach the top some day?! How are you going to do that if you can't even do this for me!? You picked me that day, remember? You said that only you could make a costume for me! A costume that was best for me! You said that you would be the one to help me reach the top! So prove it!!!"

The frown on Ayano's face deepened. She knew that his anger wasn't entirely directed at her. Despite his rough speech, she knew that this was his way of comforting her. It was far from gentle, but it was the only way he knew how to do things.

He knew that she was still struggling over going back to how things were. He knew that she needed help. This was his way of doing it.

Ayano sighed, her hand running through her hair and jostling it around. Finally, after taking a deep breath, she willingly looked up into his eyes. "What did you have in mind?"

For a second, Ayano thought she saw the smallest of smiles grace Bakugou's face.

"I wanted to make my explosions stronger, but I don't want to have to wait for the bracers to fully fill up just to do that. The gloves make my hands sweat more, so it makes the explosions stronger over time. I want something that can make my explosions stronger right from the start." He explained, detaching the grenadier bracer from one of his arms and setting it on the ground.

He stretched out his arm, palm up. Ayano took his hand, poking and prodding at the glove. She carefully inspected it, noticing that it had held up quite well for all the times that he's used it. For a moment, a sense of pride filled her.

While she was inspecting the glove, Bakugou was carefully examining her face. She was clearly reluctant at first, but gradually, she became more and more engrossed in aspects of the costume.

He saw a fire kindling within her. Her eyes were slowly returning to the ones she used to have. The ones full of mirth at the prospect of doing something she truly loved. Of creating support items.

It wasn't quite there yet, but it was definitely somewhere. She had the passion. She always did. She just needed to find it again.

Ayano had saved him countless times before.

This time, he only hoped that he'd be able to do the same for her.