~~~
Akira was able to avoid getting too wet when she made it back to the cabin, though the patter of the rain on the old wood above her was growing more intense by the second. If it gets too bad, then their hike will most definitely be called off - it won't be safe for any of them.
"Come on, rain," Kaminari pleads, clutching the curtain with a death grip as he stares out the window. "Please stop."
"Where have you been?" Kyoka scolds Kira, her hands on her hips. "The fog came in so fast. I couldn't see anything!"
"I'm here now, aren't I?" Kira replies, throwing her arms up dramatically.
The last thing she wanted was for anyone to know about her and Shoji - she couldn't betray his trust in her after being so open and honest about his feelings, though some part of her tells her that he won't actually mind if anyone were to find out about his feelings for Kira. The people Kira could tell was actually Kirishima and Mina. However, Kira isn't really on speaking terms with the former, so it could just make things incredibly awkward. Kira may have to just hold her tongue for now.
"What the hell are you wearing?" Kyoka adds, staring up and down at the poncho. "Is that Shoji's?"
"Yeah," Kira says, nodding slightly, as she too marvels at the clothing. "I bumped into him- well, he helped me when the fog rolled in, and gave me his poncho for the cold."
"Why?"
"Why what?" Kira repeats, noting Kyoka's slow, suspicious drawl. "He said it's because I have no shoes."
Kira looks down at her feet, wiggling her toes, now sprinkled with damp dirt and Kyoka nearly bursts out laughing. "Are you kidding?" She covers her mouth with her hands. "You haven't brought a spare with you?"
"No," Kira mutters. "If I did, I would be wearing them by now."
"Aha!" Kaminari bellows, pointing at Kyoka from by the window. "I'm not the only one that isn't prepared."
"Oh, shut it, Kaminari!" She yells, threatening to lob one of the sofa cushions at his head.
"Have you got a spare?" Kira asks her friend meekly.
Kyoka freezes. "Uh... no, actually. I forgot an entire bag of stuff."
"You what?"
"I can see it sitting on my bed back at the dorms now." Kyoka pretends to envision it, her head in her hands. "It had all my spare and extra stuff in it, so luckily it wasn't, like, a super important bag, but still annoying."
"Well, what am I supposed to do?" Kira moans, on the brink of accepting defeat. "I can't go hiking with no shoes on. I'm gonna have to sit this one out, I think."
"Did nobody here bring an extra pair of damn shoes with them?" Kyoka spins to both Kirishima and Kaminari who raise their hands in surrender.
"You guys go have fun," Kira whines, as she drags herself up the stairs of the cabin.
"Would you knock it off, Akira?" Kyoka snaps, picking up on her behaviour. "Stop being so dramatic. I'll go and see if the girls have any spare shoes. I'll be damned if Momo doesn't have another pair with her."
"You can't go out there now!" Kira calls after her from the middle of the staircase. "You'll catch a cold."
"I'll be fine," she argues. "I'd rather risk a cold than listen to you mope."
"Alright, alright!" Kira pleads. "I'll shut up, just don't go out there. Are you crazy?"
Kyoka looks up at Kira, one foot in her shoe. "As soon as the rain stops, I'll go and ask for you, okay?"
Kira nods gratefully for her friend, willing to face the battling rain for her. It's hard to believe that the other groups have decided to go hiking out in this weather. So, hopefully it'll just be a quick downpour, then they can get out of this shabby cabin to go and explore.
Kyoka goes and re-joins the two boys as they rifle through some more of those chests that Kaminari recently discovered hiding away in this cabin. She was exceedingly giddy as she perched beside Kaminari, eager to learn more secrets. Kira took one step down the stairs, but paused. She's not going to join them. They were having fun, such a simple, yet rare occurrence and that would all be spoiled if Kira were to join in. She'd transform that cheery, easy-going atmosphere into one of tension and awkwardness, because of her and Kirishima. Kira's smile slowly dropped as she took a step back up, following the stairs to the top of the landing. She was able to spot the trio from the banister above on the next floor, a chorus of happy laughter travelling up to her on a wave of echoes.
It was contagious as Kira found herself scoffing at a snide comment from Kaminari, followed by a fierce whack. Kira watched Kyoka clobber him round the head with a cushion.
"This whole thing is ridiculous."
Kira felt her soul jump out of her body and run down the stairs and out the front door at the sound of Bakugou's quiet voice. He had been lurking somewhere near his door, though that section of the cabin was eerily shrouded in darkness, as if Bakugou had purposely made it so. Kira turned her head in his direction, but kept her body peering over the banister.
"Thought you'd be sulking in your room, or something," she murmurs, not really in the mood for banter.
"I was." His tone is harsh, snappish. "Until you idiots decided to turn into a bunch of even louder idiots. I had to see what the hell was going on. Turns out it's just you."
"Uh huh," she keeps her melancholy tone. "It's just me."
She could feel eyes on her back and she immediately hated the tension. She wanted Bakugou to scream at her - something - just to rid her from the uncomfortableness of the situation.
"What are you wearing?" He sounded so genuinely curious, it made her heart skip a beat.
"I-It's Shoji's," she decides to respond honestly, looking down at the material, feeling it's softness in-between her fingers.
"Shoji's?" He suddenly scoffs. "What - has arms got a crush on you, or something?"
Kira looks up slowly, turning to Bakugou. She doesn't mind it when he insults her, she can take it. But, she refuses to let him insult someone else in front of her, if that is indeed where this conversation is going.
"Actually, yes. He does," she says plainly. "He was very mature about it. And kind," she quickly adds.
Bakugou scoffs again, crossing his arms over his chest. "You sure got over shitty hair fast, if you're-"
"I'm not-" Kira can feel herself start to grow irritable and wills herself to take a calming breath. Bakugou always makes her mad. "We talked. He told me how he felt, then I... let him know how I feel," she explains. "The only reason I'm wearing his poncho is because he was kind enough to let me borrow it from the cold." Kira turns back to her friends, leaning over the banister as they dig through a silver looking chest. "No reason to get so mad, Bakugou," she adds, mumbling slightly. "I get that you're protecting Kirishima, but it's not like that."
"This isn't about shitty hair," she barely hears him reply, so Kira turns back to him just as he returns to his room, but he instead leaves the door open, rather than slamming it shut behind him.
"Then what-" Kira starts to question, when Bakugou holds something up in her face.
"Here," he says, staring past the dangling pair of shoes at her.
He holds them up by the laces right infront of her face, not really giving her the chance to refuse the offer.
"Oh," Kira says awkwardly. "Don't worry about that," she tries to explain. "Momo will probably have a spare pair for me."
"And if she doesn't?" Bakugou wonders, tilting his head to glare at her past the shoes. "Just take the damn things already, before I change my mind."
In fear of Bakugou potentially losing his cool, Kira takes the shoes and she marvels on their cleanliness.
"If you're worried about hygiene or some shit," he says, as if reading her mind. "I only bought them just for this stupid week, so I haven't even worn them yet."
"So, you do care?"
"Huh?"
"You said you didn't care about this week off, but you bought a new pair of shoes for it."
"I don't care about this damn holiday," he argues. "The only reason I bought them was to be prepared, so I don't end up looking like an idiot like you."
"So, if you need a spare pair," Kira adds. "What are you going to wear, if I'm wearing these?"
"Ugh, I don't know!" He retorts, resting his head in his hand in annoyance. "Just put them on already - you're gonna get an infection or something, you idiot."
Kira uses the banister for support, brushing off any loose dirt from her feet and slotting the shoes on.
"Hm," she ponders, staring at the shoes on her feet. "They're big for me."
"Well, what the hell did you expect?" Bakugou frowns at her. "Are you stupid or something?"
"No worries." Kira shrugs. "I can just wear all my socks to fill it out."
Bakugou looks dumbfounded. "You are stupid."
"Hey-"
"If you wear all your socks in one go, what the hell are you gonna wear for the rest of the week?"
"I'll just use your spare shoes for today's hike," she tells him. "After that, I'll wear Momo's pair - she'll have definitely packed an extra."
"And if she doesn't?"
"Then I'll ask her to create me some, okay?" Kira snaps, sick of the questions. "It's not like it's my fault my shoes are now living on the bottom of the lake."
Kyoka's voice calls up to her all of a sudden. "Akira!"
Both her and Bakugou step backwards away from the banister simultaneously, trying to avoid Kyoka's prying eyes.
"Bakubro!" Kirishima's voice carries up to them.
"The rain's stopped now, Akira!" Kyoka adds. "Let's go!"
Kira looks back at Bakugou one more time and races down the steps in her oversized shoes. She completely forgets about her plan of padding it out with socks, wanting to leap away from Bakugou as quickly as possible in fear of being spotted by her classmates. It's not like she was doing anything bad, she just didn't want to be found out talking to Bakugou semi-normally.
Why?
"Look what I found!" Kira gushes, having to make up a lie on the spot. It's not like she cares that they came from Bakugou, it's the fact that she wants to protect him from her nosy classmates. "I completely forgot I had packed these!"
"Those... are yours?" Kyoka sounds uncertain.
Kira nods feverishly. "They were my dad's, but he never got to wear them because he- well..." She trails off. The guilt card always works.
Though, Kirishima now looks unsure, having just learnt the whole truth about Kira and her father. The shoes very well may have been her father's, but to use it to her guilt her friends doesn't sit right with Kirishima, because there's simply no point. Kira could have just said that the shoes belonged to her father and she forgot she had packed them. Even so, Kirishima didn't press the issue as he called for Bakugou again.
"Yeah, yeah, shitty hair!" He bellows back. "I heard you!"
"You're actually coming too?" Kira wonders.
Bakugou shrugs on his coat, a deep green colour and throws on his bag, prepped and ready to go with all the essentials needed for a hike.
He pauses when he spots them, staring back at him. "Where the hell are your bags?" Bakugou questions his cabin mates.
Kira looks at her friends, shrugging lightly, with puzzled expressions.
"Have any of you gone hiking before?" Bakugou asks, narrowing his eyes at them all.
Still, the same light-hearted shrugs and confused looks.
"You're all morons," he says plainly. "Were you planning on heading out there with nothing at all?"
"Well, I have my wits-"
Kaminari couldn't even finish cracking his joke, before Bakugou had whacked him on the head - it looked like it genuinely hurt too.
Like a parent scolding a child, Bakugou sent all four of them back to their room to pack any essentials that they may have brought with them for hiking. Admittedly, Kira doesn't have much. Were she to get into any trouble, her Quirks would be very helpful to both heal her and help her find her way. Even so, Kira was able to fill her smaller hiking bag with a bottle of water, rope, a first aid kit, her phone and a few snacks. She didn't forget to pad out her - Bakugou's - shoes with all of her socks so they'd fit her a little bit easier. She then ensured she stayed warm with her hat, gloves and scarf. Kira decided to keep Shoji's poncho on.
With a roll of his eyes, Bakugou led the others out of the camp and towards the smaller cabin atop of the slope.
"We still have to sign our names on that stupid sheet of paper, don't we?"
The question was rhetorical, as Bakugou just wanted to voice his annoyance out loud. All five of them trudged up the now slippery slope, the freshly drenched mud making the short climb unnecessarily tedious. The other cabin groups were already at the small cabin, queueing up to sign their names down on the paper.
After Kirishima had discovered Kira and Bakugou already inside earlier this morning, she had to come up with a quick lie that Bakugou sort of helped her with. She had scurried to get rid of the older papers that contained the names of those that existed in this reality, but how was she supposed to explain to him about the oldness of its words or the lack of students names? Best to just keep the whole thing hidden, a secret. One that only her and Bakugou share.
Once Kira's group had jotted down their names, Iida had a firm set of rules and instructions for the giddy students. It was the standard stuff: stay in your groups, don't wander off, no running through the woods... You'd have to be an idiot not to know all of it already. Each group took a direction to wander off in - Kira's followed a very faint track that vanished up higher into the woods and further away from the lake.
"Okay, let's not get lost in these woods," Kaminari says out loud, as if he's mostly reassuring his own nerves.
"We're not gonna get lost, dunce-face," Bakugou retorts. "Have you got no sense of direction or something?"
"Hey." Kaminari genuinely looks offended. "I've never gone hiking before, or really gone anywhere without my family, okay? Usually, they deal with the navigation and stuff."
"Well then you can think of this as just another dumb lesson, can't you?" Bakugou says, taking the lead up the path. "You think your brain can handle that?"
"There's no need to be so rude about it," Kaminari sulks quietly, but sticks close to Bakugou.
Heck, they all do. Even Akira. It's clear that Bakugou knows what he's doing and no one else in the group has gone hiking before, at least not independently. Kira never really had time for luxuries, as her mother was constantly pushing her and training her to be the best version of herself. Kyoka honestly doesn't seem the type to go hiking, or be involved in anything outdoorsy. As for Kirishima, Kira actually doesn't know about him. It's not like she can ask him now - she's lost that privilege.
"Listen, you idiot," Bakugou starts, turning around atop the trail to point across the lake. "No matter where you are, the sun will always rise in the east and set in the west. That's simple common knowledge."
"But, you can barely see the sky in these woods, because of these trees and there's this fog that came out of nowhere!" Kaminari interjects.
"Don't interrupt me, moron," Bakugou grits his teeth to stop himself from whacking his paranoid classmate. "Normally, we'd have a map for this shit, but we'll have to make do without one." Bakugou continues up the thin trail until he approaches a tree. "You can always mark where you've been," he adds, marking the trunk with a small explosion from his fingertips, charring the wood black and splintering bits off from the tree. "But, the most obvious rule that even an idiot like you can follow is to never leave this path."
Bakugou points down to the ground underneath them, as the dense fog rests around their calves, keeping the air moist from its recent downpour.
"If we do get lost, we can just use our Quirks to find each other, or even get back to our cabin," Kaminari suggests, fully satisfied with Bakugou's brief lesson.
"Sure," Bakugou replies quietly, though he doesn't sound all that confident in the idea. "Now, come on, you idiots. We're losing daylight."
With an irritable groan from the others, Bakugou resumes the lead as he climbs the trail, the dirt path getting steeper and steeper as it continues. The woodland around them only seems to darken as they advance, the trees become more and more dense and shrouding them in the eeriness of the wildlife. But, it was silent. There were no birds squawking, no insects chirping, even the trees were motionless, as if any sound at all would fracture the world. It was strange. Unsettling.
"Isn't this forest just amazing?" Kyoka ushers to Kira's left, her eyes shimmering as she takes in her surroundings.
"I guess so." Kira shrugs. "It's a little quiet, is all."
"That's what makes it so amazing," she says. "It's peaceful."
"Never really took you for the kind of person who admired the outdoor scenery," Kira admits. "Thought you were more introverted than that."
"I am." She nods. "I guess it's nice to have the quiet every once in a while. I've either got my head stuck in my music or stuck in my schoolwork, so I don't think I've fully appreciated what was there all along."
"How incredibly deep of you, Kyoka," Kira jokes. "Think it's given you a new view on life?"
"You know what?" Kyoka sighs with a smile. "I think it has."
"You guys hear that!?" Kirishima yells from further up the trail, before he dashes off, securing his bag to his back tightly.
"Oi, shitty hair!" Bakugou hollers, before muttering a series of harsh curses under his breath. "One damn, stupid rule."
Kira tries to listen to what caught Kirishima's attention and she hears it - the faint trickle of water, like a distant stream.
"Is that water?" Kyoka asks rhetorically, though with her Quirk could have detected it sooner.
"Kirishima!" Kaminari calls after him. "Bakugou said we're supposed to stay on the path!"
Bakugou groans in annoyance when it's clear that Kirishima is now out of earshot. With the consuming fog and the unknown landscape, Kirishima should know better than to dart off into the abyss.
"Come on, already!" Bakugou hollers for the others to follow him as he heads off the path and follows the sound of water, desperate to catch up to Kirishima.
The once trickling sound of water grows louder and more thunderous as Kira sticks close behind Bakugou, with Kaminari behind her and Kyoka covering the back. All the while, Bakugou is beckoning to Kirishima, calling him a number of rude and insulting nicknames, but for his behaviour, Kira can't help but agree with them. With a mad final dash through some shrubbery, the group manage to catch up to Kirishima, where he's stopped to admire the waterfall that he'd heard earlier.
"I was hoping we'd find one," Kirishima gushes, panting slightly from his sudden sprint.
He'd tossed his bag carelessly in the muddy grass, gawking up at the waterfall. It was quite a pretty sight, the roar of the water booming in the silence of the woods - it was no wonder Kirishima heard it way back from the trail. Up here, the mist was thinner. It would naturally be thicker, seeing as they're all higher in the air, having scaled the mountain for about half an hour now with non-stop, vigorous climbing. But, there was merely a glazy haze above the small pool of water that gathered under the waterfall. The plunge pool trickled down a small, broken log, like a slide, vanishing down the mountainside - maybe it eventually connected with the lake. Tall grass enveloped the small collection of water, keeping it hidden and separated from the woodland, like it was a precious, treasured miracle.
"Well done, shitty hair," Bakugou says sarcastically - a clear sign that he's furiously mad. "You found a waterfall."
"Don't be like that, Bakugou," Kirishima replies, when he recognises Bakugou's tone. "We're all okay, still."
"There's just that one rule that you were supposed to follow," Bakugou fumes, before pointing his arm directly at Kaminari. "Even this idiot was able to do it."
"You're worrying over nothing," Kirishima says nonchalantly, still gazing up at the waterfall as the spray of water scatters droplets over his red shirt. "Those two heroes and our teachers sent us to this different reality because they knew it was safe."
"Yeah, from the villains," Bakugou argues. "Not from getting lost in these damn woods."
Kirishima scoffs at the comment. "No one's getting lost," he continues to push. "Akira's got her light Quirk to act as a beacon and Jiro can listen in."
Kira winces at the mention of her Quirk - the way he phrased it, as if he had to make it clear which Quirk he was insinuating. The way Kirishima's acting... something's wrong, like being in this reality has hurt him from the very beginning. Maybe he feels like he's missed out on something big, important as he hasn't been transported to another world like Kira and Bakugou have. That's no reason to act out, though.
"Shitty hair," Bakugou warns. "Don't make me come over there and drown you in that stupid waterfall."
Despite the useless argument between Bakugou and Kirishima and the deafening waterfall, Kira didn't miss the dangerous rustling that followed them through the shrubbery. Kira turned slowly, catching the ghastly stench of the intruder before actually spotting it. The two continued to bicker, Bakugou now hurling death threats, while Kaminari tried his best to calm the situation down.
"Kyoka," Kira whispers, tugging gently on her friends jacket, before nodding at the bushes moving chaotically.
Her friend copied her motion, sensing the incoming danger. Kira's hair on the back of her neck stood on end as the invader made itself known, destroying the shrubbery with ease and brushing the mist away with an easy swoop. As it stood tall, its fur matted with a harsh lifestyle and its body strong and capable, Kira felt herself frozen. With all her experiences and her Quirk at hand, ready to fight back, Kira felt paralysed before the bear. It was a deep brown and towered above her and Kyoka, its jaws open, ready to tear apart the flesh that stood petrified before it, its claws sharp and glistening, even with the lack of sunlight. It let out an almighty roar, finally signalling its presence to the noisy teenagers and Kirishima and Bakugou silenced immediately.
With murder in its soulless eyes, the bear readied a swipe, one that would take Kyoka's head clean off her shoulders. She too shared Kira's paralysed shape, as she refused to move in its presence. But, Kira had seemed to find some escape back to reality - hearing her three cabin mates bellowing their names, willing them to run away. How could a simple animal be just as terrifying if not more so than those stupid League of Villains?
Kira wouldn't let this animal hurt any of her friends and so she snapped herself back to the present, shoving her entire body weight into Kyoka and issuing a light shield at the same time. With the sunlight cowering behind the tree tops, her defence was weak against the monstrous bear that stood ominously before her. It slashed through her shield with ease, though it seemed a little shocked by the heat of her Quirk. Its dangerous claws, longer than her forearm, carved its way through her shirt, and she felt the searing pain, white hot.
It was the worst pain she'd ever felt. Wasn't it? No - Dabi was worse. The intensity of his heated Quirk made it hard to eat, drink or breathe from the moment she was scarred, though she didn't tell anyone about that and simply dealt with the discomfort. This came second though, as Kira could feel her insides squirm at the sudden gaping wound in her side.
Kyoka had Kira's head in her lap, crying for her to keep her eyes open, her hands gripping her cheeks tightly to urge her to consciousness, but she could feel herself barely hanging on - the pain was too intense. Why was it always her to end up in these situations? On death's door? Kira sighed heavily, as she saw the sun's rays poking through a gap in the trees above. Her ears have tuned out the sounds of fighting, the sound of Bakugou cursing and exploding the bear into oblivion, the sound of Kirishima's ultra hardened state: Unbreakable, as his skin grinds against itself, the sound of Kaminari's electricity crackling in her eardrums, causing the ground to shake and making Kira's hair stand on end. With those thunderous noises drowned out by the blood pumping in her ears, it allowed her to appreciate the soft, gentle sun on her face, as it peeked out, almost shyly.
Kyoka's right - the forest is peaceful.
~~~