Mina and Kaede sat on the couch in the entrance area and talked while the rain pattered against the window from outside. The door was pulled open. Katsuki entered the room, completely soaked. His hair hung in his face and his clothes were tight against his body as he dripped all over the floor. "Kaede are you listening to me?" "Yes, yes I am listening!" But she continued to stare at Katsuki as he took off his tshirt and wrung it out. "What a shit!" He threw the Tshirt into the puddle. The girls laughed. "What are you laughing at?!" They only laughed harder. "I hate you, damn you!" He took his shirt and trudged up the stairs. "Don't forget to clean up your puddle!" they shouted after him. "Well? Was Katsuki's naked torso more exciting than what I just told you?" "What, no-" "Yes Kaede, don't lie to me. You do like Katsuki!" "No, well, not like that..." "Your stuttering gives you away, my dear." "Mina, no." Mina saw that her friend meant it first. "I can't... I can't let something like that get me off track." "You know what helps with that?" "No." Mina grinned. "A shower!" She tried to drag Kaede from her chair, but she resisted and turned the tables on her. "Why don't you take a shower?!" They both hurried to the door in an endless shove until they both rolled outside onto the lawn. They laughed as the rain pelted their faces. Kaede tried to get up, but Mina grabbed her leg and made sure she fell right back down. When Mina tried to get up afterwards, she slipped and landed on the ground again. "That's what you get!" Mina threw herself at Kaede. "What did you say?" They laughed as they rolled each other through the meadow, which was getting muddier and muddier. Footsteps sounded and they looked up. Eijiro stared at the two of them. "What-" "Were you jogging with Katsuki?" "Yes, but-" Seeing that they were about to throw themselves at him, he still tried to make a run for it, but he had no chance. "Aaargh!" They pulled him to the ground. He too was lying in the mud. "Well, I need a shower anyway." "That's the spirit!" Eijiro watched Kaede and Mina dance through the rain, which slowly washed away the mud. They held hands, spun and jumped while constantly looking up towards the sky. All three of them came into the dormitory soaking wet, where Katsuki was wiping away his puddle. "You've got to be kidding me." He eyed the three. "What are you waiting for? We're not going to wring out our shirts here." "I'm not wiping your shit!" He stomped off. "Did I miss something?" Eijiro looked at the rag. "Just a half-naked Katsuki."
"So we're doing it tonight?" "Yes, I already told you that when you were so distracted." "Oh, I'm sorry." "I asked everyone so no one would feel left out. Tenya tried to talk me out of it, of course, but what can you do." "So who's coming?" "Hear me out: Shoto,-" "Shoto?!" "Yes, Shoto, I was surprised too, but I think he's in his rebellious phase. Eijiro, of course. He insisted on asking Katsuki, by the way, even though he said no anyway. Then there's Denki, Hanta, and Kyoka." "And Toru?" "She wouldn't." Kaede rubbed her forehead thoughtfully. "I think I'll ask her again."
"Are you sure you don't want to go? I'm sure it'll be terrific." "Yes Kaede, I don't want to." Kaede turned to her and looked her in the eye. "Oh sorry!" "What are you apologising for?" "You know, normally my Quirk activates at a touch but lately I've been wondering if even eye contact creates a slight connection. I was just looking for eye contact, so I'm sorry." Toru laughed and shook her hand. "Here, then use your Quirk and you'll know I'm serious." Kaede closed her eyes at the touch and smiled sadly as she broke the connection. "You want to come with me Toru." "What, no-" "Yes. You want to come. But you're split because you think with your Quirk there's no point. But Toru, we're all here and we want to have fun together with you. I want you there, and you want to be there, so come on." Kaede knew Toru was unsure. She had always known that Toru often felt forgotten and lonely. That was why she was often so loud and present. "I know you are there Toru, even if you are quiet. You are my friend and I support you in everything, but this is an easy decision. I know your feelings, you will regret not coming." Kaede took her hand. "Come on, Mina wants to pick out outfits for us."
"Dark blue or beige?" Mina looked at Kaede's selection. "The beige and lots of gold jewellery, you can have my bag." "Toru, do you want the red with the cute sleeves or dark green with the hot back?" "Give me the green one." "I'll go with black." "You look hot in black Kyoka." Kaede had put the dress on and was eyeing herself. "Doesn't it look weird with the scars?" "The scars just show how strong you are sweetie. You look wonderful. Well, not quite yet." Mina pulled out a pair of necklaces, earrings, rings and bracelets. "Here, put these on and it will be perfect." They stood in the entrance area of the dormitory waiting for the boys. "Denki, Shoto, Eijiro and Hanta, what's taking them so long?" "Sorry for the delay guys!" Hanta Denki and Shoto joined them. "Where's Eijiro?" "He's still sorting something out with Katsuki." "He's coming?" Kaede and Mina looked at each other in wonder. Hanta answered with a short, "Yes," and looked conspicuously at Denki. When Eijiro and Katsuki finally arrived, Denki asked the question of all questions, "So, um.... So how do we sneak out now?" Kaede sighed loudly. "Let me worry about that. As long as you do what I say, there will be no problems." "But there are nine of us, can you handle that?" "It will be exhausting, but possible."
So, you all have to touch my skin with your skin and hold your breath until I say otherwise, then we'll go through the gate together. Eijiro stood behind her and touched her shoulders while the others grabbed her arm. "If we go now you must not let go or hold your breath or the alarm will go off, understand?" With slow steps they walked down the path. Kaede's head vibrated from inside, groaning from the effort of hiding 9 people. Quickly she wiped off the blood before the others could see it. "You can breathe." Eijiro stopped her from falling over. "Are you okay?" "Yeah, I was just a little dizzy." "And now?" "Haunt dog roams around here." She pulled a perfume bottle out of her bag, which was eyed critically by Katsuki. "What the-" "This is Midnights perfume. He won't ask questions if he smells that instead of student smell. It's pretty strong and should cover everything." Sullenly, they sprayed the perfume first on themselves and then on the entire path in front of and behind them. "Mhh. We smell good." They trudged down the hill until they came to an intersection where a limousine was parked. "For real now?!" Excitedly Denki jumped up and down, Kaede just smiled mysteriously. "With Hawk's credit card, anything is possible." The limo parked right in front of the club the group was going to. They were inside very quickly and mingled together with the crowd. "Bar?" The girls went to the bar and sat down. "Look how quickly the boys disappeared." "They're probably on the dance floor upstairs." "Let's dance too." They moved to the rhythm and merged with the crowd, which was wrapped in colourful lights. After a while, Kaede grew tired. "Bar?" Toru came with her. They sat down at the bar and ordered a drink. A boy approached Kaede. He had black hair and green eyes that studied Kaede from top to bottom. He tried to sit down next to her, but she held her arms in front of Toru. "Someone is already sitting here." His gaze lingered on her scars before he saw Toru's dress. "Oh, sorry, I didn't see you in the light here." He smiled at Kaede. She appreciated that he apologised directly to Toru. His gaze fell on her scars again because her arm was still hovering in front of Toru. Slowly she lowered it, but his gaze lingered on it. "You should get out of the habit of staring like that." Suspiciously, she waited for his reaction, but he looked her in the eye. "Oh, I'm sorry. My gaze always lingers on scars like that." Such scars. He knew it. She could see it in his eyes that he knew. And she saw that he had similar scars to hers. If not on his body, they were at least clearly visible in his eyes, if you looked deep enough. "Can I take your friend to a dance?" "As long as you bring her back safely." Toru smiled. kaede knew perfectly well. Though she couldn't see it, kaede knew her friend was staring after her, smiling. He only touched her hands as they danced. He smiled at her. It was a gentle, benevolent smile. His hands slid over her forearms and pulled her closer to him. His thumbs ran up and down her scars. "Please stop." He stroked another scar. "I told you not to touch my scars." He quickly let go of her arms and grabbed her waist instead. He pulled her so close that her chest brushed his. His breath was warm on her ear. "Would you rather I touch you here?" His lips brushed her ear and yes, it felt nice. His rough lips against her ear felt wonderful and gave her goosebumps, but something wasn't right. And no matter how much she pushed the thought aside and felt his hands on her, rushing deeper and deeper, she couldn't shake the thought that she would regret it.