There were three reasons why the sports festival was amazing.
One: Kuri had gotten to spend some precious time with Bakugo. Not like she had any shortage of him nowadays. They already hung out plenty. Well, that is if you can call walking to and from school together "hanging out". Plus, their impromptu chats in between classes or when lounging in the dorms.
Two: she had been a freaking badass in the last round of the sports festival and subsequently got first place. She couldn't help but grin with pride whenever she thought about her victory.
And the last reason why the sports festival was amazing was the week-long break they got afterward to heal from any injuries they'd sustained. Kuri relished in the time she got to relax and play video games as her sprained ankle healed.
Unfortunately, all good things must come to an end, which brings Kuri back to class. But maybe this ending brings about a new opportunity? Find out next week!
Just kidding.
Anyways, it was homeroom, which meant it was time for Mr. Aizawa to give some announcements.
"I'm sure you are all aware that the pro hero draft picks have begun in earnest ever since the sports festival," he said. "Like last year, regardless of whether an agency requested you or not, you will be doing a work study; however, this time for the rest of the school year."
A work study? For the rest of the school year?!
Work studies weren't something she was unaccustomed to, but they sure weren't something she liked. Then again, what did she like about hero work?
The constant fearing for the lives of her and her loved ones? The fact that you're useless when it comes to problems that can't be solved by beating up someone? What about the amount of corruption and injustice within hero society?
None of it was appealing to her.
Midoriya handed her a stack of papers, which snapped Kuri out of her internal monologue. Since Mineta had been expelled, his seat was free, and now she was no longer in that awkwardly placed extra desk.
Kuri took her papers, passed the rest of them to Momo, and began to read. It was a list of the agencies that had drafted her. Her eyes skipped to where it said the number of requests.
2438.
Woah.
That's pretty freaking cool.
Kuri was happy that so many agencies were interested in her; but, she did not want to have to look through the ridiculously long list of requests. Unfortunately for her, she didn't have time to get a headstart on looking at who picked her since Mr. Aizawa started class right away. It looked like things would have to wait until later...
-----
Bakugo had gotten 2291 offers from different hero agencies across Japan. Only 2291. All because he'd gotten fourth place.
What. The. Fuck.
Despite this embarrassment, he was still sure that the best of the best had drafted him. The offers had been sorted by agency, from most to least reputable.
At the top of the list, of course, was Endeavor Agency.
Even though he was currently the number one hero in Japan, Bakugo had some qualms about joining Endeavor's agency due to the things Todoroki had said before. I mean, who would wanna work with an abusive piece of shit?
Maybe he could go back to Best Jeanist's agency? He did want to get a different experience, though... And not have to wear jeans again.
"So, Bakugo, where do you think you're gonna go?"
"Huh?" Bakugo's train of thought was interrupted by Nakano.
"What agency are you gonna go to?" she asked again, moving her backpack to the front of her body and pulling out her draft list.
"Not sure," he said, looking at the ground as they walked.
"Well, I don't blame you. You probably have a lot to choose from," Nakano said, flipping through the pages of requests.
"As if you don't, too," he scoffed.
"Well, I've more or less made my decision already. See," Nakano said, holding up her stack.
Next to the first listed agency, there was a hand-drawn star in purple ink.
She'd chosen Endeavor Agency.
"You're going to Endeavor's place?" Bakugo asked judgmentally.
"Yup, Todoroki asked if I wanted to go with him, so I said yes."
Bakugo's eye twitched.
"So you're going there because of Half and Half?" he asked, a bit mad for some reason.
"Kind of," Nakano said. "During break, we were talking about the draft, and Todoroki said his dad would make him go to his agency and that he at least wanted to have someone he knew there. He asked if I wanted to go, and it's not like I really had a preference, so I agreed."
"It's just gonna be you and him alone?" Bakugo asked, his anger growing exponentially. Nakano seemed a bit put-off by his behavior, raising an eyebrow.
"No, Midoriya said he'd go too since he wants to work with the number one hero and whatnot."
Bakugo was silent.
Though he had no idea why there seemed to be a significant part of him that didn't want to let Nakano go to Endeavor's agency. Maybe it was because he was attached to her as a friend? Or he wanted to keep her safe from Deku and Todoroki in case they tried something weird. Not that he thought they ever would, but you could never be too sure.
Whatever the case he wasn't going to let her go to Endeavor Agency.
At least, not without him.
"Fine," he muttered.
"Fine... what?"
"I'll go to Endeavor Agency."
Nakano grinned, making clear how excited she was that he was going to go too.
"Yay! I didn't think you would actually wanna go considering it's a bunch of people you hate..."
"Plus you," Bakugo said, making Nakano laugh.
Ah, shit, was that weird of me to say? Whatever, she liked it.
"I hope I can make the experience more tolerable for you," she smiled.
"We'll see about that..."
-----
About a week had passed, and it was finally time for their first day of the work study. Since there were fewer classes in second-year, they were let out of school early to go to whatever agency they had agreed to work with.
Kuri, Bakugo, Midoriya, and Todoroki all walked together towards the train station. On the long trek there, Kuri and Midoriya chatted to pass the time. Sometimes, she caught Bakugo side-eyeing them and frowning. Maybe he was just annoyed by Midoriya or something. She loved him, but he really needed to resolve things with Midoriya already.
Eventually, they arrived at the station and hopped on the train. By that time, other schools nearby had let out already, so the train car was mostly occupied by students.
The four of them stood by a door, holding on to the bars since their stop was close. Kuri couldn't help but notice that Bakugo grabbed the same bar that she was holding on to. Kuri leaned her forehead on her hand that was holding the bar, tired from all the walking.
"Excuse me," someone said, tapping her arm. Kuri opened her eyes and looked towards the person who had addressed her.
It was a young woman with wavy pink hair. Another young woman in a blue dress (and blue braids that matched) was sitting next to her, eyes closed and presumably asleep.
"You're Kuri Nakano, right?" the person asked. Kuri glanced at Bakugo, who raised an eyebrow.
"Yeah, I am..." she said, unsure what this was about. The woman looked at her for a strangely long amount of time before speaking again.
"Congrats on the sports festival," she said. Bakugo cleared his throat, and the woman looked up at him. "Oh, you too, kid."
"Thank you," Kuri said, hoping that their stop was close. There was something weird about this lady, and even if she had no ill-intentions, she still made Kuri uncomfortable. She inched closer to Bakugo, his presence a steady comfort to her as always.
The lady looked like she wanted to say something more, but the train gradually started to slow down, and a wave of relief flooded over Kuri.
"This is our stop," she croaked out, then quickly followed the others out of the train car. Kuri glanced back as the doors closed, only to see the woman looking at her through the window. Kuri whipped her head back around, grabbing onto Midoriya's sleeve, knowing that Bakugo would yell at her if she tried to get comfort from him.
"Did you hear my conversation with that lady?" Kuri asked him.
"Oh, yeah. She was... interesting," Midoriya replied. Todoroki nodded.
"More like fucking weird," Bakugo said.
Bakugo was certainly right; that lady had been quite weird. She tried to not let it bother her, though, since it had been inconsequential, and dropped the topic.
As they approached Endeavor Agency, Todoroki visibly stiffened.
"Do you think your dad is going to be there to greet us?" Midoriya asked.
"No. He was probably dispatched somewhere," Todoroki said. "His sidekicks will likely be the ones to greet us."
Waiting at the front entrance of Endeavor Agency were four people: the Flaming Sidekickers (or so they say). Kuri felt guilty since she didn't know of them, but then again, she wasn't that informed on Japan's heroes. Especially not sidekicks.
The four welcomed Kuri and the others and brought them up to a large room with dark wood paneling on the walls. They gave a brief rundown of what the daily workload was like and showed them where they would wait to be dispatched when they're not out patrolling.
Then, they were ushered into another room, and the door was shut behind, the sidekicks abandoning them. Kuri looked ahead and realized where they were; it was Endeavor's office.
And there was Endeavor. Fiery costume and all.
He was sitting on one of two couches facing each other, drinking tea from a set of cups. A set of only two cups.
"Come, sit down," he said, taking a sip of tea.
The four of them shuffled over and awkwardly tried to squeeze themselves onto the same couch. Luckily for Kuri's heart, she didn't have to experience the pulse-pounding ordeal of sitting next to Bakugo and was seated on the end of the couch next to Midoriya.
"Shoto, you may sit over here," Endeavor said.
"I'm good, Endeavor," Todoroki said as he sat on the arm of the couch. Endeavor placed his cup down, seemingly a bit hurt, but nonetheless began talking.
"Normally, I wouldn't have drafted anyone but Shoto," Endeavor said. "But this year, he said that he wouldn't come back unless I let his friends come too, so that's why the rest of you are here."
The four of them stayed silent. This revelation really made Kuri wonder what she was doing there. What was she doing with her life? Not only did she not feel particularly inclined to be a hero, but she had gotten this job because of nepotism. It's not like she had any other option, though...
Endeavor cleared his throat.
"I have many capable sidekicks already and really have no need for you all, excluding Shoto, of course," Endeavor continued. "However, since I am required to include and teach all four of you, I have arranged it so that you four will be working on a special investigation for the time being."
The four of them noticeably perked up at the sound of a "special investigation".
"You will be briefed on that tomorrow, but for now, you can go home." Endeavor then stood up and sent them out of the room, saying goodbye to Shoto—who ignored him—before shutting the door.
"Well," Kuri said, not knowing where to go with the rest of her sentence. The four of them began to walk towards the elevator.
"Hm," Midoriya said, probably experiencing something similar.
"You can say you don't like him," Todoroki said. "I don't either."
"I fucking hate your dad," Bakugo said.
"Well," Kuri said, ready to continue her initial statement. "Even though your dad isn't the best person, let's try to do our best." She made a pathetic thumbs up just as the elevator doors opened.
"Bunny, that is the most cliche shit you've ever said," Bakugo said, stepping inside and pressing the button for the first floor. Kuri laughed as she joined him.
"I'm sure I've said worse."
"She's right though," Midoriya said. "Let's make the most of this. Besides, we've got this 'special investigation' to work on now."
Todoroki looked up to the ceiling and sighed.
"It could be worse, I guess. I could've had no one to keep me company," Todoroki said. Midoriya smiled, giving him a pat on the shoulder.
Kuri sighed, leaning back against the wall as they descended. For better or for worse, she was a hero. She was born to be one, whether she liked it or not. Her circumstances had led her here.
She glanced at Bakugo.
But maybe here wasn't so bad.