~~~
Kira had her arm cast in a sling for the time being, but due to her second Quirk, she doubted she would even need it for long. Now, Bakugou was the only person who knew about it, except her father, of course. She wondered how that would effect their relationship in the future. Would he tell anyone? Or keep it a secret? Perhaps he would see it as even, seeing as she knows about his confession to her. It's as if they have a way to blackmail each other if need be and Kira hated viewing it that way.
"You should keep it."
"Huh?"
"The dress," Kirishima adds, as they walk back to their dorms after having spent hours informing the police of their situation. "It suits you."
"Maybe. If it wasn't so torn up."
"I'm sure Yaoyorozu would be willing to fix it up," he says.
They finally arrived at their dorms, Bakugou entering first without so much as another word to them or the other classmates.
"You should both go see Recovery Girl," Kirishima suggests. "Especially you, Akira."
Kira and Bakugou lock eyes momentarily, as everybody else finally come out of their hiding places and bombard the three of them with a dozen questions.
"What happened?" Mina shakes Kira by the one good shoulder.
"Tomorrow," Kira yawns. "I need a shower and then bed."
"Is it true that there's other worlds?" Sero questions.
"Ho- how do you know about that already?" She frowns.
Kirishima reveals his phone, having informed everyone about their wellbeing over the past couple of hours.
She glares at the red-head before turning back to Sero. "It's true, but trust me, they're not as exciting as you might think."
Bakugou watches the scene commence as he waits for the lift to arrive, a dissatisfied look on his face. Kira catches his eye and wonders if he's worried about her spilling their time together in the alternate reality. She nearly laughs to herself - when she puts it that way, it sounds like she and him were involved in some sort of scandal.
The lift eventually arrives with a ding and Bakugou shoves his hands in his pockets as he enters. Kira ignores the questioning from her curious classmates and rushes over to the lift, squeezing through the crowd and only just managing to fit through the gap of the closing doors.
"What the hell do you want?" Bakugou grunts in disgust, as Kira cradles her unwell arm.
"I wanted to talk," she replies, removing the sling over her head and screwing it up into a ball.
"I don't wanna talk to you."
"Because of what happened?"
"No!" He barks, looking at her sharply. "I'm tired."
"Yeah, the past few hours were pretty intense with that villain," she says quietly, keeping her attention focused on the ball of bandages in her hands.
"That villain was stupid and weak," Bakugou argues.
Kira sighs heavily, before looking up at Bakugou hastily. "Are you incapable of not arguing with someone for five minutes so we can have a civilised conversation?"
"Tch." He crosses his arms as the lift arrives at floor four with a ding.
He gets out first and Kira hesitates before pursuing after him.
Her classmate grunts irritably suddenly. "Quit following me!" He yells. "You're pissing me off."
"Are you worried I might tell someone?" She asks bluntly.
"Worried?" He turns on her, quicker than she would have liked. "I'm not worried. Besides, there's nothing to tell."
"Not even your little breakdown back at Light Bringer's house?" She frowns, not backing down.
He pauses, staring down at Kira with hatred blazing in his eyes. "The way I see it, we're even," he says, finally, his voice oddly quiet for him.
"I thought you might say that," she returns the audible note.
"You keep my secret... and I'll keep yours."
With that, he turns on his heel, slamming his dorm room door behind him. Kira stares at the door for a few seconds, watching the light switch on through the gap.
"Such an asshole," she mutters to herself before entering her own room, in search of a much needed fresh outfit to relax in as the evening sets in.
She looks down at the silk dress, the strap hanging down her shoulder. Kirishima's right - it certainly was a pretty dress before her battle with that Reality Villain. Reality Villain? Giving him a title now, are we? She thinks to herself. She scoffs as she grabs a spare towel from the rack in her room. A shower is definitely needed.
Akira makes her way to the girls bathing area, her limbs suddenly feeling heavy - fighting that villain is dawning on her. She throws the towel over the edge of the glass shower door, and runs the water, checking and waiting for the correct temperature.
She spends a good forty five minutes just allowing the lush water to travel down her skin and dampen her hair. Her shoulder is certainly better already, though a tiny bit stiff. Her healing Quirk is going to come in such handy in the future, especially if she can improve it in some way, perhaps make it work instantly, so whatever injuries she may sustain in upcoming battles will end up being a piece of cake.
Kira raises her once dislocated shoulder, spinning it round to loosen up the joint before finishing up and turning the shower off. She dries off her hair best she can, stepping out with the towel draped around her body. In the mirror, all clean, she suddenly notices how much she resembles Light Bringer - the same green eyes, long black curls with a green tint at the ends. Her hair reaches her lower back now.
Sighing in exhaustion, Kira dresses in her clothes of her choice: leggings and an oversized plain shirt. She wasn't expecting to do anything for the rest of the evening, so what better than to sleep off her adrenaline and shock from her fight. The police said they would keep in touch with her, Bakugou and Kirishima should they have any more questions, but she doubted they would ever find that villain again. With his Quirk, he could be anywhere. Literally.
Kira grabbed the dress and stepped out when she hesitated, staring at the silky outfit in her hand. It would be a shame to get rid of it, especially since she stole it to begin with. She probably shouldn't tell her classmates about such a villainous heist that her and Bakugou did in the other world - they'll definitely look at her in a new light. She'll have to lie. That didn't sit right with her either.
Kira grumbles to herself, storming to her room and grabbing any other dirty laundry she might have, including the dress. If she washes it, she might be able to salvage something from it. Kirishima did suggest asking Momo to maybe create something but, she can't ask that of her. Something that requires using her friends Quirk for her own pleasure. Kira shakes her head as she loads her clothes into one of the washers. There's so much on her mind, that the beginning of a headache starts to creep its way forwards, pinching her temples annoyingly.
Kira reaches up for the powder for the machine when she pauses, feeling arms on her. She tenses and slowly looks down, seeing a purple head.
"So tender," Mineta practically salivates.
Kira frowns down at her classmate and her anger starts to boil over. With everything that's recently happened from Bakugou to the villain; to Kirishima; to the police; the dress; her splitting headache and even figuring out what her next ultimate move may be for tomorrow's lesson, the last thing she wanted to do was deal with the little creep that so happened to be in her class.
As she reached up to grab the powder to clean her clothes with, her shirt had ridden up, allowing whoever is small enough a decent look underneath her shirt.
Kira seethes with rage, ripping her classmate off her leg like a piece of velcro and booting him so hard, he flies across the room, rolling as he goes, before slamming into the glass window on the other side of the room.
"You little perv, Mineta!" She screams, absolutely repulsed by his actions.
Kira advances on him, her hands balled into fists at her side. She's ready to beat him to a bloody pulp for his actions. Meanwhile, Mineta is too dazed to do anything. Kira raises a hand to fire a devastating blast of light at him that will surely reduce him to ashes when Kyoka comes out of nowhere, standing in the line of fire. Kira's about to question when a pair of arms wrap around her waist and Kira looks down to find them pink.
"Mina! Kyoka!" Kira frowns at her classmates.
"I heard the commotion through my earphones!" Kyoka explains, raising her hands and blocking whenever Kira tries to go around her.
Tsu also arrives, leaping over and standing beside Kyoka. "It's not worth it, Akira. Ribbit."
"My ass," Kira mumbles, managing to step forwards even though Mina holds her back.
She raises her other hand to seek an advantage above the heads of her shorter classmates in front of her, when tape envelopes her limb completely. She brightens her arm, burning through the tape immediately, but it's instantly replaced.
Kira roars in frustration. "Why the hell are you girls stopping me!? You know what a little creep he is."
"If you kill him, Aizawa will expel you for sure," Mina replies, her voice muffled slightly as her face is squished against Kira's back in her determined attempt to prevent her from reaching Mineta.
"I think he'll understand," Kira mutters, managing another step forward, even with both Mina and Sero keeping her at bay.
She reaches her spare arm up, her shoulder still ever so slightly sore, but she bares through the pain if it means ridding the world of one little twerp. Her Quirk brightens through her arm, flashing green and then white. Just before she fires off a beam, a hand grips her palm.
"Akira!" Kirishima's hardened arm takes the full blow of her Quirk and she snaps her head to him in concern.
She instantly relaxes at the sight of the red-head in which Kirishima seeks the opportunity to get Mineta to safety.
"Denki!" He orders, his eyes still locked onto Kira's. "Get him outta here!"
Behind Kirishima, Mineta is half-dragged, half-carried out of the room and Kira's fury blazes at the sight of the little perv again.
"Hey!" She barks, struggling against her friends once more. "If you wanna get up close and personal so bad, then how about I string you up in my room and use you as a personal punching bag!"
"What the hell is going on?" Bakugou's voice breaks the tension as he arrives around the corner. "You idiots are being way too loud."
He stops dead at the sight of everyone struggling to hold Kira back.
"A little help, Bakubro?" Kirishima asks, his hand still clutched with Kira's.
"Stay out of it, Bakugou," Kira cuts in. "I'm just trying to kill one of our classmates, so I don't think you'll mind."
"Who?" He frowns.
"That little freak: Mineta."
He scoffs, leaning against the wall. "You'll be doing him a favour, the idiot will be lucky enough to score as a sidekick with that useless power of his."
The others finally release her now that Kaminari and Mineta should be long gone in their rooms.
"Next time I see that bastard, he's dead," Kira fumes.
~
Kira had time to relax in her dorm over the course of the evening. Her room had steadily become darker as the sun set only to be replaced by the moon. One of these days, Mineta will get what's coming to him. She's just shocked that the other girls stopped her - they've been violated by him just as much as she has.
It made her blood boil once more, so Kira swung her legs off her bed and sat there for a while, breathing heavily to calm her frazzled nerves. So much has happened over the course of a few days: figuring out ultimate moves; her new costume; her confession to Aizawa and Principal Nezu; the party; the Reality Villain; Bakugou's sudden confession and now Mineta. It hurt her head to think about.
She always had that one, particular person she could spill her guts to. Kira always assumed she would be close to the other girls in her class, but it turns out the person she was closest to understood her in ways she never thought possible.
Kira opens her door, its usual squeak encouraging her headache. She approaches Kirishima's door with a light knock. No answer. She tries harder. Still no reply. Perhaps he's downstairs with Kaminari and Shoji. She looks to the lift as if he would magically appear at that moment when she decided against that theory. The other classmates were adamant on learning about this alternate reality that her and Bakugou journeyed on. Kirishima probably wanted piece and quiet from all that racket.
"Kirishima?" She questions as she hesitantly opens his dorm room door.
She notices the curtain blowing gently as she hears a faint reply. "Akira?"
Smiling in success, Kira scoops the curtain out of her way as she greets a surprised Kirishima.
"I never got to tell you how much I love your room," she decides to say, as she rests her arms on the banister of his balcony.
"Oh, you like it?" He rubs the back of his head as a wide, toothy grin spreads, but it doesn't quite reach his eyes.
"I'm sorry about earlier," she says quickly. "I got you, didn't I?"
Kirishima raises his hand, revealing an unscathed arm. "Beauty of my Quirk," he looks at his arm as he hardens it. "I don't get hurt that easily."
"Oh, good," she breathes a sigh of relief, resting her head on the cool, metal banister. "I don't think I could forgive myself if I ever hurt you."
They're silent for a moment and Kira can feel Kirishima's eyes on her. She doesn't know what she can say to break the tension.
"How's your shoulder?" Kirishima says instead.
She raises her head finally. "Fine, really." She wriggles it around as if she had to prove herself to her classmate.
As she stares at him, clad in his mint shirt from earlier, some more comfortable bottoms than before and his white headband to keep any stray hairs from resuming their original position, she can't stop picturing the other Kirishima in his stead. The one with black hair and suicidal tendencies.
He's listened to her complain on multiple occasions, but has anyone really been there for him?
"What are you doing out here?" She asks him.
"Psh, nothing really," he replies almost shyly, turning and resting his forearms on the banister. "Thinking to myself, talking to the moon."
Kira looks up, the moon barely even halfway. She remembers something about it, the shape it's called right now. Something like a-
"Waxing crescent." Kira turns her head to her classmate, noticing him staring up at the moon too, it twinkling in the reflection of his wide, red eyes. He notices her staring and shrugs a little. "Call it a hobby of mine, I guess."
"Glad to learn something new about you," she chuckles quietly, trying to lighten the fragile atmosphere.
He returns the laughter half-heartedly, his mind clearly elsewhere. Should she push it like she did with Bakugou in the other reality? Or wait? If she waited, would he keep it bottled inside until it overflowed and end up like black-haired Kirishima?
"It happened again," he says suddenly, sighing heavily as if he might break. She doesn't want to reply, afraid he may close off entirely. "You were in danger. Again. First the training camp... and now this."
Kira doesn't know what to say, as he looks up from the banister, the moonlight causing his tears to glisten as they nest in his eyes. Her heart nearly snaps in two at the sight of her usually enthusiastic classmate choking back his sadness.
"You know that's not your fault," she says dumbly, her lips numb. "In fact, it was I who made the mistake. Again." Kirishima frowns ever so slightly. "I jumped out in front of you. Without thinking. And I got caught."
Kirishima straightens from the banister and Kira had forgotten how tall he is - other world Kirishima was much smaller, skinnier. Weak.
"You and Bakugou. Taken again," Kirishima adds, this time without so much grief. "And I was sat on my ass, like an idiot."
Seeing her classmate unravel before her pained her more than Dabi and Toga could ever achieve. Is this only the beginning? Will Kirishima spiral more and more until he can't take it any longer?
Kira steps closer, her hand sliding across the banister until it's nearly touching his. "I don't want you to doubt yourself." He looks down and she dips her head to catch his eye. "Or your Quirk."
"I can't help thinking if it was me and you taken instead of Bakugou, how much help would I really be?" He sniffs slightly and a single tear drops from his dipped head onto the balcony. "You two are both so strong. You fought that villain and came back home."
"Trust me, it wasn't easy," she chuckles nervously, as she remembers the torture she imbued on the villain. "I did some things I'm really not proud of when I was over there." Kirishima looks up slowly, his eyes now filled with curiosity. "I'll tell you about it some other time. I don't wanna think about it right now."
There's so much more she wished she could share. Everything. Her second Quirk. Her father. Even Bakugou's outburst in the other world, but she can't betray him that way. Besides, who knows how he'll react to Kirishima were he to know about his 'act of weakness.' She even wanted to spill about what happened that day at Kamino ward - she killed that little boy and potentially the father too, as she left him for dead. Her heart split in two once more at the memory, as it clouded her mind. The gore. The sounds it made. It made her sick that she was capable of leaving him behind. Is that the kind of person she is? And now, back in the other reality, she easily strangled that innocent civilian until they were unconscious and stole all her belongings, only to end up torturing the villain. Just like Dabi did to her.
"-ira? "Akira?"
She blinks quickly, noticing she's been staring at Kirishima this whole time and hasn't said a word. "Huh?" She grunts.
Kirishima keeps his eyes on her, his expression laced with concern. That's when she notices his hand cupping her cheek, as he's tried to snap her back to reality. She tenses at realising how close they truly are, as Kirishima's bent over ever so slightly so he can gaze directly into her eyes.
He seems to sense her sudden uncertainty and starts to slide his hand away, but Kira's hand moves to rest on top of his, keeping it there. Kirishima's eyes widen ever so slightly at the motion, but he complies.
"Just cold, is all," Kira mumbles, a pathetic excuse for her tensing.
A flicker of a smile grazes Kirishima's lips as he continues to lock eyes with Kira. "I've been out here a while," he says.
A grin spreads across her features too at the sight of his witty charisma returning. They stay still, staring at each other for so long that Kira's worried they'll get stuck like that. Not that that'll be such a bad thing.
She nearly missed it, but Kirishima's eyes flash down to her lips in an instant. If she were to have blinked right then... The red-head gulps, almost nervously, as he shuffles his feet a little closer to hers, and gazes down at her, his eyes unbelievably soft. His fingers start to tickle the back of her ear and tangle in one of her curls as he slowly but surely leans his head down to hers. He hesitates though, his lips brushing hers, as if offering her the chance to refuse his motion if she so wanted to.
But she didn't want to.
A small smile graced his lips before they met hers and the world went still. As if it was just them in their own reality. For those few seconds, no one else existed. It was the two of them and the - what did he call it? - the waxing crescent high above them.
In the movies, they always described their first kiss as fireworks, or bright lights, or explosions. But to her, it was as still and as silent as the night. With nothing but the moon to keep them company as they embraced one another.
Kira squeezed Kirishima's hand that was cupping her cheek and he welcomed the touch as he seemingly relaxed more into the kiss, as if her contact comforted him in a situation they were both unfamiliar with.
And just like that, they broke apart, each one lost in their partner's eyes, as the loudness of the outside world returned. The cicadas chirping and an owl hooting.
Kirishima's lips part finally, as if he's out of breath and Kira's completely speechless. That moment, those few fleeting seconds, were unbelievable.
"That was nice," Kirishima says suddenly and Kira blinks at him.
"Nice?" She repeats, finally finding her voice and frowning at her classmate.
"Uh..." He panics. "Better than nice! Amazing! Miraculous! Incredible!"
Kira shushes him while trying to contain her own laughter as Kirishima throws his arms about in an attempt to find a satisfactory adjective to describe their moment. She jumps for his arms as he spins them around like a windmill, finally catching them as she snorts with amusement, keeping them tight in front of her.
"I liked incredible," she whispers to him, hoping to God that they didn't wake Bakugou in the next dorm room over.
Kirishima beams down at her, as Kira releases his hands. He brushes a strand of hair from her face and Kira feels a flush creep up her neck.
"Incredible, it is."
~~~