Patchwork Hearts {Kiribaku}

Courage

{Past}

-9 years earlier-

-Eijirou-

"Hey... do you guys know why that kid always sits alone?"

"Huh? Who?" Simultaneously, Ishida and Sato twisted in their seats to see where Kirishima's eyes were pointing. It only took them a second to realize who he was talking about; it was blatantly obvious. The only person in that corner of the cafeteria, surrounded by an entire table of empty seats while others had crowded around nearby tables in an evident effort to remain distant from him, was a spiky-haired blonde kid with a semi-permanent indignant frown twisting up his whole face. In front of him was a tattered blue lunch box that he was shuffling through, yanking lunch items out of it like the poorly made sandwich and bag of crushed up potato chips had personally offended him.

The same way Ishida and Sato had turned to see him, they swiveled back in perfect unison, eyes wide. "Dude, you seriously don't know?" Sato asked, appalled.

Kirishima felt himself frown as his eyes landed back on his friends. "Should I?"

"Yes!" Ishida practically squeaked. "That's Bakugou. Literally everybody knows better than to sit next to him."

"What? Why? What did he do?"

"Well, nothing's confirmed of what he's done yet. Right now it's just a buncha rumors. But the one thing we do know is about his Quirk," Sato began, voice hushed.

Growing impatient, Kirishima brought his palms down onto the table. "What about his Quirk? And why are you guys whispering?" he demanded.

"Shh!" the two others hissed, again at the same time. "They say if he hears you talking about him he'll blow your brains out," Ishida said.

"What the hell are you guys talking about?!"

"Alright, alright! Don't lose your shit, man," Sato said, holding his hands up.

"So then what's his Quirk?"

Sato and Ishida exchanged a look, and one that had Kirishima deciding that if they didn't tell him within the next two seconds, he was going to go ask this 'Bakugou' personally what his damn Quirk was.

"You tell him," Ishida mumbled to Sato. "I don't wanna say it."

Sato's eyes finally met Kirishima's again. "Explosion," he said in an eerie voice. "That's his Quirk."

"Really?" Kirishima mumbled, his back straightening, his eyes sliding over to the blonde across the room. He was halfway through chomping through that sandwich, keeping his angry glare pointed straight down at the table as if expecting to burn a hole through it.

"Yeah, man."

"Like, that Explosion?"

"Yup," Ishida said with a visible shudder. "The exact same one."

"How did you not know about that, man? Rumors were flying all over campus the first couple weeks of school when he was transferred here."

"Kiri was out sick the first two weeks of school, remember?" Ishida said. "And once that thing went down with Midoriya, everyone was too scared to keep talking about it. It's no wonder he didn't hear anything until now."

"Wait, what thing went down with Midoriya? Why are you guys being so vague?"

"'Cause like I said, man, if he hears you, he'll try and blow your brain out," Sato said. It seemed as though with every sentence their voices became more and more hushed, and with the chatter echoing through the cafeteria, Kirishima was leaning forward so far his shirt was nearly in his food just to make out their words.