"Fujiyoshi-san..." Ayano slowly breathed out. With the whirlwind of emotions she had been experiencing lately, her concerns about Fujiyoshi Yuudai had been at the very back of her mind. Now that he was right here before her very eyes, all of those thoughts were rushing back to her. She began calculating what she would like to say first, seeing as Fujiyoshi seemed reluctant to begin.
Bakugou's hands tightened into fists, his face growing into a deeper scowl. He didn't quite know the boy, but he recognized him to be the one that was always trying to pick a fight with Ayano some way or another. Was this bastard trying to start something again?!
Ayano broke the silence. "...I am glad that you appear to be unharmed." "STOP!" She tilted her head a bit at that.
"S-Stop!" Fujiyoshi repeated. "...Just...Just stop..." He put his head in his hands out of frustration, tightly gripping strands of his hair. "I don't deserve to hear those words...especially not from you." He mumbled the last part, but the room was so quiet that everyone had heard him.
Ayano raised an eyebrow at him, uncertain of his actions. When she had revealed to him what she knew about his father and had appreciated his skill, he had said similar words to her. This time, however, his words were laden with more guilt than anger.
She chose to give him as much time as he needed since he was having trouble gathering his thoughts. "Perhaps we should transfer to a more private location?" She suggested, seeing as they were still in the lobby with much of Class 1-A. Fujiyoshi appeared to be battling the emotions within him, and Ayano thought it best to let him do so in peace.
With his head still in one of his hands, Fujiyoshi used the other to wave around. "No! No...it's fine. I just...I just need some time to think." He gave a long sigh, revealing the fatigue in his voice.
Ayano would have offered to have him sit on one of the couches in the lobby, but once again, she thought it best to let him figure things out before interfering.
Once he sorted out his feelings, Fujiyoshi's head shot straight up. He looked at Ayano, his eyes full of conviction. "I was the reason you were kidnapped by the villains!"
Everyone's eyes widened, and Ayano's own eyes enlarged marginally. The room was deathly quiet for the amount of people in it.
Fujiyoshi continued. "It was because of me that y—MPH!!" His voice was immediately muffled and cut off from Ayano lunging forward and covering his mouth with her hand.
With her hand still silencing him, Ayano spoke slowly and cautiously. "Under normal circumstances, I would not care about anybody listening to us. However, given the severity of this potential conversation, I believe it would be in our best interest to move to a more private location as I suggested previously."
She took a glance behind her at all of the Class 1-A students. Many of them looked away nervously, desperately trying to avoid her watchful gaze. Some of them tried to whistle innocently, as if they didn't hear what Fujiyoshi just said. Others uneasily excused themselves, trying to get away from the situation.
Fujiyoshi forced Ayano's hand away, gripping her wrist tightly. "It doesn't matter! They can listen if they want! I'm going to tell the principal everything anyways!" He looked down, as if in shame. "I just wanted to tell you first..."
Ayano slowly lowered her hand. Her mind raced through everything that she knew.
"You know, I wouldn't be surprised if real villains came here and recognized him as a potential ally."
Ayano was surprised. Not because he was here, but because he had chosen this time to come. Ayano and Mei were the first ones to sign up for time slots in the Development Studio and training grounds. There was no way Fujiyoshi had failed to see that she would be the only one here at this time.
"Just...Just shut up!! Why do you have to make this so difficult for me!"
He had left all of his belongings in the studio. One of which, included his current project. A red light was blinking on the surface of the metal.
"Believe what you want. I'm just telling the truth. How do you think we knew you were going to be at U.A. at exactly that time and how do you think we knew you were going to be alone?"
Ayano's eyes darted all over Fujiyoshi. "So, you were working for them from the time of the incident at USJ?" He quickly looked up at her, the shock and fear in his eyes very evident. She continued. "The machine you left in the Development Studio right before I got kidnapped...I suppose that was some sort of signal for the villains? Or perhaps a jamming device that allowed them to bypass security?"
"...You...You knew all along?" The boy shakily breathed out.
"I had my suspicions, but..." She trailed off. Fujiyoshi grimaced. "But what? You had no proof, so you didn't say anything?"
Ayano furrowed her brows. She looked like she was offended that he would assume such a thing. "That was most definitely not the case. I had my suspicions that you may have been working for the villains, but I believed it to be against your will."
Once again, Fujiyoshi was shocked. "W-What?! Why would you think that? Literally everything I've ever done should make you hate me! Why would you take my side?! Why would you defend me?!"
"That has no bearing on his will. I am certain that you must hold something against him, if he even did do the things you are suggesting."
"You're really grasping at strings here, you know. You've got some faith in a guy you said you don't like."
"I may dislike him, but that does not mean I cannot have rational judgments. Fujiyoshi Yuudai is not the kind of boy you say he is."
Ayano looked at him with her normally impassive face. "It is true that I may dislike you, but that does not mean I cannot have rational judgments." She repeated what she told the villains. "Just as I stated before, your disagreeable attitude is due to your past and is not attributable to your true feelings. You are not the kind of person who would agree to work with villains. At least, not of our own free will."
Fujiyoshi just stared at her, not knowing in the slightest what to say. He gave a small breathy laugh that soon turned into a full-on cackle. He couldn't believe what he was hearing!
He fell to the ground, sitting with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees. "You! You...You're incredible. You know that?" He peered through his fingers and up at her after his question.
She raised a brow at him. "I simply make my judgments based on observations and facts. That is hardly incredible."
He shook his head. "No, you are. I don't know how you do it." He looked up at her again. "How can you have so much faith in me?"
She kneeled so that she could meet his eyes on the same level. "Well, if you absolutely will not take my words earlier for truth, I would say that you coming here is an excellent indicator of your personality."
At his confused gaze, she elaborated. "The fact that you were so distraught about your actions that you felt the need to come over here and explain it to me tells me enough. Even if you are not completely innocent, your actions here at least show that you have some semblance of justice."
Fujiyoshi sighed, looking down again. "Clearly not as much as you though..."
Ayano furrowed her brows again. "Whether or not a person has morals has nothing to do with the next person. Comparing yourself to me does not change that you know the difference between right and wrong."
He looked at her with disbelief once again. There was no way she was this nice of a person! If not nice, then naïve! He decided to let it go for now, seeing as they were going around in circles. He needed to do what he came here for.
"The League of Villains...they came to me before the attack on USJ, just like you said. They looked into my past just like you did. They knew everything about my father, and how he trained me. About how my quirk was not suited for becoming a hero."
He stared at Ayano, making sure to meet her eyes when he continued. "But they didn't make the same conclusion that you did. You saw right through me! I never hated heroes! I wanted to be one for the longest time! But I ended up finding something I wanted to do even more than becoming a hero. Something that my dad didn't accept."
He gave a small laugh, thinking on what Ayano had told him before. "It's just like you said. You were right about all of it! The villains...they thought the complete opposite. They thought I was like them—that I hated heroes because my quirk was rejected. So, they came to me and asked me to join them."
"Obviously, I declined the offer! There's no way I would work with villains! B-But what could I have done? They threatened me! My mom...my dad...the rest of my family...my friends...everyone! I didn't know what to do! I-I couldn't fight all of them! I didn't even know how many there were!"
He was breathing more heavily, remembering their threats. The fear was coming back to him. He took a deep breath to calm himself before speaking again. "I accepted, and for a while, everything was fine. They didn't make me do anything that bad. Just some information gathering about U.A. and the faculty. For a long time, I thought that these guys were just all talk because they hadn't done anything for so long. Then, the USJ incident happened. When I heard about it, I was so scared. These guys were serious, and I was involved!"
"The reason why I was such a jerk to you all this time...I guess I was just jealous. You had everything that I wanted!" He paused, shaking his head. "No, that's not right. You were everything that I wanted to be. So, I was mean to you. I thought that if I was an asshole and made you hate me, then it'd make me feel better. But it didn't! Not only did you not hate me, you even supported me!"
"You knew what you wanted. You had your goals set from the beginning and you didn't let anyone give you any shit for it. The complete opposite of me—someone who took the cowardly route for everything. For my father...for the villains..."
Ayano finally spoke up. "You are not a coward, Fujiyoshi Yuudai. You were threatened by the villains. You were only protecting yourself and the ones you love."
"Well, did that stop you?!?" He shouted in response, the frustration getting to him. "You were kidnapped and tortured!! They did way more to you than they ever did to me! And yet, you fought until the very end! Even the support items you made for them were your way of fighting back! That's something I never even came close to doing!"
"That does not mean I do not regret my actions and that does not mean that I stayed true to myself either." Ayano firmly denied his allegations. He looked at her with complete confusion.
Ayano glanced at Bakugou, thinking about her regrets.
"What the fuck was that shoddy performance?!"
"I don't know what fucking game you were playing, but is that what you call 'aiming for the top'?!!?"
She didn't show it, but Ayano was ashamed. She had already felt disappointed about her actions earlier, but seeing Midoriya's determination to be number one was a slap in the face. For someone who had such strong convictions as her, she sure wasn't showing it. Bakugou's words were entirely justified. She needed to follow what she preached.
"If that's your attitude, and if you care about her this much, then why not just pretend that we'd won you over? I don't understand."
"If I'm not feeling something, I ain't gonna lie about it. I'm not in the mood to hang around this boring dump for much longer, and I'm taking her with me."
If Fujiyoshi thought that Ayano always fought to the end and always stayed true to herself, then Bakugou completely outclassed her. People may think that he is simple-minded, but his way of doing things is the way that lets him be the most true to himself.
He truly does what he wants, and doesn't let anybody else give him shit for it.
There were so many instances that Ayano deviated from her true self—even if only a little—and she regretted every single one of them. Looking at Bakugou and comparing herself to him, it made everything so clear. All of her flaws and all of his strengths.
She assumed that this was probably how Fujiyoshi was feeling towards her, and she suddenly realized why he was so frustrated with himself. He was just like her. He was feeling the guilt of all the things he could've done but didn't. Just like Bakugou did for her, Ayano would do for him. She needed to pull him out of this way of thinking.
She placed her hands on his shoulders. "Fujiyoshi. There is no reason for you to feel guilty. Yes, you could have fought them, but at what cost? Your life? How would your friends feel about that? Your family? Do you honestly think that your dead body would be better than you alive?"
He bit his lip in frustration, but didn't answer her. At his silence, she continued. "Bad people do not feel guilt. Especially not to the degree that you are feeling. Do not let yourself be consumed by this."
"Then do something!! Get mad at me! Get angry! Hit me! Anything!!! I don't deserve compassion from you!" He begged her. Ayano just shook her head at him. "I am not going to do that."
"Sasaki, please! I need this! I can't get off scot-free like this! I can't accept that!!" At his insistence, Ayano raised her hand. Fujiyoshi quickly shut his eyes, bracing for impact.
He quickly opened them again upon feeling her hand gently resting on the top of his head. "I am not going to hit you. Fujiyoshi-san, you did nothing wrong and nothing is going to change my mind about that."
The boy hung his head. Just how many times could she surprise him today? Just like always, she did what she wanted without letting anyone else tell her different.
He brushed her hand away. "Alright, fine! It doesn't matter. I'm going to tell the principal, anyways." He was sure that he would receive some sort of punishment from the school.
"Ah, yes. We should do that." Ayano remarked. Fujiyoshi grew confused. Was she going to turn him in? Well, he was going to do that anyways, but at least he would be getting what he wanted: Ayano getting mad at him rather than sympathizing with him.
"We need the school to figure out some way to protect you as well as your family. Considering all that has happened, the villains will surely try to contact you again. We have to take the proper measures in order to counteract this. Perhaps transferring your family to an undisclosed location or a new security system..." She began mumbling to herself, thinking of ways to protect Fujiyoshi and his family.
Once again, her actions were astounding. This was not what Fujiyoshi was expecting at all. He laughed in disbelief for what seemed like the tenth time. "I can't believe you...Just stop...Please, just stop." He said through his humorless laughter.
"...I can punish you in some way if you genuinely insist. If that is what you are into." Ayano joked, although it did not exactly come off as a joke with that poker face of hers.
Some of the 1-A students tried holding back their laughter. The sound of Tsuyu's tongue was heard slapping Mineta for getting too excited at Ayano's comment.
The brown-haired girl lifted up two fingers in a peace sign. "Two weeks...Since all of the students are now living in the dorms, we have much easier access to the Development Studio. As a result of the increasing demand, the Support Department has required us to sign up for time slots. The time they have allowed us to sign up for, however, is simply not sufficient. So, I want two weeks of your time slots."
Fujiyoshi stared at her. She couldn't be serious. At his bewilderment, Ayano raised an eyebrow at him. "What? Is that not enough of a punishment? Three weeks?"
"I...I...Y-You know what, yeah! Three weeks is fine! That's perfect!" He relented, seeing as she was serious. He just couldn't win against her.
"Let us go to the principal's office then, shall we?" Ayano turned around to walk through the main entrance, when she felt a tug at her wrist.
Fujiyoshi had stopped her, forcing her to look at him. "Sasaki, I...Thank you...Thank you so much..."
"...I have done nothing that requires your thanks." He smiled at that, beginning to understand that he should expect the unexpected from her.
He took both of her hands in his, gripping them tightly. "No. Really, thank you." They stared at each other for a few moments before Bakugou interrupted.
"HEY, FUCKER! YOU GONNA GO TO THE PRINCIPAL'S OFFICE OR NOT?!" He tore Fujiyoshi away from Ayano, shoving him towards the door.
Ayano just smiled, shaking her head and following them out.