Previously on Latibule:
"Yeah, go ahead," Bakugou nodded. "I'll wait for Kirishima."
I smiled. "See you around, Katsuki."
"See you."
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Latibule — Chapter 38///Party Prepping
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"Hey, kiddo," my father smiled as I reached them back at the café. "Have fun?"
"Yeah," I nodded. "You know what, turns out that half of my class is here."
"Half of your class from U.A.?" mom asked, as if to clarify.
"Mhm," I hummed, nodding as I sat down. "Did you order anything?"
"Yes, we'll have lunch here. We ordered you a plate of fav./food."
"Good, thanks," I nodded. "After that we'll go to the hotel?"
"Yes, but I'm afraid we're gonna have to leave you alone there," mom frowned.
I smiled to reassure her. "It's alright. I'm 15 and this is the safest island in the world. By the way, Uraraka mentioned something about the evening. What's up with that?"
"Oh, they're holding a reception party for everyone who got invited to be here before the official opening of the Expo," dad explained. "We did tell you to pack something formal, didn't we?"
"I have an outfit, don't worry," I smiled.
Then a waiter came, holding three plates and a tray with our drinks. We thanked the young man and he left, leaving us to our devices.
The food was delicious, but I'd expected nothing less of it, and soon we were at the hotel, my one-person room connected to my parents' two-people via a door.
"Don't forget your phone if you go to look around," mom reminded.
"But don't call us unless it's completely necessary," dad added.
"We might not see you before the party but it's at the Central Tower and starts at seven. Your name is on the guest list so you don't have to worry about getting in," mom continued, ignoring dad's comment.
I smiled at them fondly. "I'll see you there, mom, don't worry."
"Alright, but—"
"You can go," I cut in. "You don't want to be late."
"Oh, right, right," mom stammered and dad ushered her out the door, giving me one last smile.
I waved at them until the door closed and then fell back onto the bed, the mattress of it softer than the mattress I had at home. That seemed to be a thing all hotels I'd ever visited had in common.
I lay there for a few minutes, just staring at the ceiling.
Everything was a peaceful white and I felt myself drifting off until...
Buzz! Buzz!
A short pause.
Buzz! Buzz!
I pulled myself up, picking up the phone. "Hello?" Horrified, I realized how groggy I sounded. The room was painted over in an embarrassed beige color in the split second I waited for Bakugou's answer.
"Hey," the boy drawled from the other side of the line. "The spiky haired idiot's gone somewhere so I was thinking that maybe we could hang out."
My heart skipped a beat at the offer and I felt my face heat up as the air around me colored pink in the blink of an eye. I paid it no mind as I glanced at the clock, only to realize that I'd actually dozed off for a while. It was almost six. "I don't know, Katsuki..." I quickly looked at the message Iida had sent me not so long ago. "I have to meet the others for the party in 45 minutes and I should probably start getting ready... You're coming to the party, too, aren't you?"
"Nah, I think I'll pass. It's probably just a bunch of people I don't care about giving speeches that I also don't care about. I didn't bring any fancy clothes with me either."
I felt a bit sad at the answer, my feelings coloring blue stripes into the pink around me. "Oh, alright. That's a pity."
"Hm."
"But I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"
"Yeah, whatever."
The boy hung up.
I sighed, looking around at the swirls of blue, pink and orange. I really should tell mom and dad, I thought. I'll do it at the party, I then decided. What better place to do that than the I-Island? There's a bunch of quirk scientists here, they can tell me what's going on. If my assumptions are wrong, that is.
With that in mind, I started preparing myself for the reception party.
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It was suddenly the time to meet up with the others and I was running late, to put it lightly. Thus, I messaged Iida and the others to go ahead without me and entered the Central Tower, walking purposefully through the halls.
I checked the doors but none led where I wanted to go so, as my last resort, I pulled out my phone and started searching for the file my parents had sent me on the floor maps.
Then, suddenly, I heard a voice. "Moron. You're absolutely positive we're going in the right direction?"
I picked up the pace at the familiar voice, my feet tapping on the floor of the tower lightly.
"Yeah, I mean I'm pretty sure we are," Kirishima's voice answered Bakugou's.
Then I finally got near enough to see them and called out. "Hey, guys! Are you lost, too?"
"Oh, hey, L/n," Kirishima greeted. "Yeah, sort of."
I fixated my eyes on Bakugou, trying to ignore the way any clothes seemed to suit him. "I thought you didn't have any formal wear."
"I packed double," Kirishima cut in. "Say, Y/n, do you have your phone with you?"
"Uh, yeah, it's right here." I showed it to them. "I was about to open the floor maps when I heard you. Give me one second..."
"The dress suits you," Bakugou complimented lowly, making my face flush as I looked down at the knee-length fav./color gown with sewn-in details.
"Thanks, Katsu..." I clicked a few more places on the screen before getting to the file. "Here. I think we should be around—"
"This is an announcement from the I-Island security system," a robotic voice cut in. "We have received a report that an explosive device was discovered somewhere on the I-Expo grounds. I-Island will now be in high alert mode. Your safety is our top priority. Residents and tourists should..."
The air swirled with black, brown and gray as we listened to the following instructions, frozen in our places. The windows that paned the walls were suddenly dark and my heartrate picked up as I realized what was going on. "I think they're shutting off the island," I breathed before looking back at the maps on my phone. The signal was gone but luckily I'd managed to download the pictures to my gallery. "Come on, let's go find the others."
The boys gave determined nods and we sped off, walking hastily through the halls.