"Hey, (Y/n)-chan, why don't you come sit over here with us today?" You turned your body away from where you had been headed - your usual spot at what had been dubbed "The Baku-Squad Table" by Kaminari and Sero - and faced towards the cheery voice of Ochako, who was waving at you with a bright smile on her face.
You cast a quick glance back to where your usual group was already laughing and shrugged. Switching tables for one day wouldn't make them feel bad, right? So, you gave the brown haired girl a light smile in return and walked over, placing your tray on the table in the seat next to Midoriya. Next to him sat Iida and then Ochako, and across from you were Hagakure, Tsuyu, and - surprisingly - Shouto.
"What's up, guys?" You asked, sliding into the seat. Midoriya gave you a nervous smile, although it was really just normal for him. Tsuyu chewed on her rice as she put her finger on her chin.
"We were talking about the finals," she replied slowly. "Mostly about the exercise test."
Although she was invisible, you could tell Hagakure was nodding along. "Yeah, even though I'm not ranked that high in the class, it's kinda scary that we don't know what we're gonna be doing for that part."
Shouto put his chopsticks down, furrowing his eyebrows. "Yes, even I am a bit worried at that prospect. You never know what a school like Yuuei will throw at you."
Just as you were about to agree with them, Midoriya's head launched forward into the table, and you turned to the side to see what had happened. To your not-so-happiness, you saw Monoma standing there, holding a tray that he had just bashed into the poor green haired boy, a smug grin on his face. "Ah- terribly sorry," he smirked, obviously not sorry whatsoever.
Midoriya rubbed his head, looking back at the blond boy. "O-oh, it's all right, just please watch wh-."
Monoma cut him off, meeting your eyes and grinning. "Wow, it's you four, isn't it? The ones that fought the Hero Killer: Stain?" You shot him a light glare, but he continued. "You made your class popularity rise even more, huh? One day you all are going to get into danger. It'll be super scary, and you'll all get hurt!" It sort of sounded like a threat, but it also looked like he enjoyed saying it.
Suddenly, he collapsed onto the ground, his tray being caught by a large hard, as well as his collar. You looked up to see Kendou sheepishly grinning at the group. "Heh-sorry about that you guys," she muttered, turning to the boy. "You shouldn't be making fun of something like that, Monoma, it was really serious."
Everyone at the table looked a bit concerned at Monoma, who seemed to be only partially conscious. Kendou turned back to you guys and smiled. "Hey, I couldn't help but overhear you guys talking about the exercise on the final exam. I heard from my friend who's an upper-classman that it was going to be fighting robots like the entrance exam."
You frowned. Would that really make sense? I mean, in a normal year, maybe, but with everything that had been going down with the League of Villains recently, would fighting robots really be what the teachers gave you as a final exam?
From the floor, Monoma spoke up. "Man, Kendou, why'd you have to tell them that? I wanted to use that hidden knowledge to derail class 1-A and finally beat them to the ground!" You sweatdropped at his seriousness, and you felt Midoriya tense up beside you.
Kendou rolled her eyes. "Remember, Monoma, we don't detest class A." She sighed and turned to you a final time. "Sorry you guys, again. And I'm glad you're all okay." She was looking at all of you, but you could have sworn that her eyes flickered just to you for a split second. Then, as if nothing had happened, she dragged the blond away, still scolding him.
The rest of lunch continued on with the topic of the final exams, but there was still something weighing on your mind. It was the thing that All Might had told you: that people thought the horrible Nomu creatures that attacked everyone in Hosu were Pokemon. It made you sick to your stomach to think that one, people thought that in the first place, and two, that it meant the creatures were getting their reputation worsened just when you had been improving it. Sure, the idea hadn't really hit the media yet, but if All Might had told you about it, it couldn't be far off. All you could do was try to put it out of your mind until finals were over.
Back in class, at the end of the day, you couldn't help but chuckle at the reactions of Mina and Kaminari to Midoriya's words. He had told them of what Kendou had said during lunch, and they both seemed incredibly relieved to hear the news.
"Man, it's just robots?" Kaminari grinned, leaning back in his chair and putting his head in his hands. "And here I was, all worried for nothing."
Mina pumped her hand in the air in excitement. "Yeah! Robots are easy, I'll take 'em down any day!"
You couldn't help but grin as Shouji chimed in, saying they were only happy because they wouldn't have to adjust their quirks, to which they shuffled away awkwardly. It was moments like this that you lived for: happy ones. And to think, if you hadn't been chasing that Arbok that night and met Aizawa, you wouldn't even be here.
To your surprise, Bakugou joined in on the conversation. "I don't care what or who we're fighting," he sneered. "I'll blow them away, no matter what." Still looking as pissed off as usual, he stood up and crossed over to where Midoriya was standing.
The poor green haired boy looked incredibly frightened, but before he could say anything, the blond walked up to him, mere inches from his face. "Listen here, Deku," he growled. "You're really starting to get on my nerves."
From behind you, a small voice spoke up that only you and a few others could hear. "I think he's talking about Deku-kun's moves in the Hero Studies earlier today," Ochako muttered, putting her finger to her chin. "It's true they were really similar." That made sense, the two had grown up together, after all. It was entirely possible that Midoriya had been observing Bakugou the whole time; he tended to do that.
"I don't want the same hollow result from the Sports Festival," he said, his eyes flickering to Todoroki and then you, but only for a moment. "We'll determine who the better man is through our grades, which means I'll finally be able to show you the power gap and prove that I'm stronger than all of you!" His voice rose up to an increasingly loud level at the end of his sentence.
Positively seething, he turned to Todoroki. "I'll defeat you too, you half and half bastard." Then, his demeanor seemed to calm down, and he kept his eye contact with the poor dual haired boy. "Poke-bitch, Shitty Hair, we're meeting at the Sunset Cafe tomorrow. Don't be late or I'll beat both of your asses."
It took you a moment to register that he said the "Sunset Cafe," and another moment to remember where you knew that name from, but then you froze. You were hoping Kosho either wouldn't be working that day or would be calmer, since you didn't need another Hitoshi incident, especially with Bakugou. But instead of saying anything like that, you mumbled out a "yeah sure," and the blond turned and stormed angrily out of the room.
Kirishima rubbed the back of his neck. "Man, I haven't seen Bakugou-kun this angry for a while."
"Yes," Tokoyami nodded, his arms crossed over his chest. "His animosity is getting the better of him."
"It's gotten worse," Shouto deadpanned, putting his stack of papers into his backpack. You couldn't help but kind of agree with them, though. Bakugou had seemed calmer recently, but most likely due to Midoriya and his new moves, he was back to the regular old hot headed boy you knew.
As you walked out of the classroom door, chatting with Tsuyu and Mina, you felt a tap on your shoulder. When you turned, you were greeted with the bright smiling face of a red headed, shark-toothed boy. "Hey, (Y/n)-chan, can I ask you something real quick?"
Mina raised her eyebrows, but gave you a small smirk and dragged a rather clueless Tsuyu away. You rolled your eyes at her reaction, but gave Kirishima a smile. "Yeah, sure, what's up?"
He scratched his head nervously. "Well, Bakugou-kun said something about meeting up at the Sunset Cafe, right? But I, uh, I have no idea where that is. Do you?"
You nodded, a sigh escaping your lips. You couldn't help but wonder if Bakugou somehow knew you worked there, and he was just saying to meet there to piss you off, because no one ever really came to that part of town. But Kirishima's eyes brightened. "Ah, nice! Do you think you could show me? I-If you have time, of course," his cheeks turned a light shade of pink and his words trailed off.
"Hmm? Yeah, sure," you shrugged. It wasn't like you had anything else to do, and you could just wait with Kosho until your shift started later that night. "It's kinda sketchy, not gonna lie, but it'll be quiet at least."
The two of you left the school, laughing and talking about whatever small topic Kirishima came up with, his mind working a million miles a minute. As you walked down the streets, you couldn't help but notice just how precious this boy was. His eyes lit up at any word you said and his smile seemed to grow every time you laughed. Besides that, he was pretty cute, that much you could admit to yourself.
The part of town where you lived had always seemed pretty run down to you, but for some reason, as you brought Kirishima there, it seemed even worse. Your eyes had always drifted past the broken down buildings and you had only been mugged twice since you lived there, but you couldn't help but move a bit closer to the red headed boy as you walked. Luckily, the Cafe wasn't too far, and your heart seemed to calm down as soon as you stepped inside to the familiar smell of baking bread and Earl Grey tea.
"Ah- this place is kinda cute," Kirishima said. However, you didn't hear him, because you had made eye contact with Kosho, who had a wide grin on his face as soon as you walked in with a new boy. "Do you want anything?" You turned back to him as he asked you.
"Huh? Oh, I guess some (f/drink) would be nice," you said softly. Kirishima smiled and pulled out his wallet.
"I'm on it!" He grinned.
You tilted your head. "Oh, no, dude, I can pay, don't worry about it." You tried to convince him, but he shook his head.
"No, no," he said. "I insist." He practically had to force you to sit down at the booth, where Kosho made eye contact with you, a smirk on his face. You watched as the two boys talked, although it was most likely Kosho flirting with Kirishima to see if he was a good guy for you.Burying your face in your hands, you tried to ignore the obviousness of him butting into your personal life.
A few minutes later, after Kirishima had joined you at the table, Kosho came over with the drinks, sliding them onto the table. "One (f/drink) and one thai milk tea." He wiggled his eyebrows as the two of you took your drinks. "So... how do you know our lovely little (Y/n)-chan?"
You almost spit out your drink, but began to cough instead. Kirshima raised an eyebrow. "Hmm? What do you mean?"
Kosho slid into the seat next to you, ignoring the fact he almost made you choke to death. "(Y/n)-chan works here, after all. Or did she not tell you that?"
Kirishima tilted his head cutely. "Oh, you do? Is that why Bakugou-kun wanted to meet here tomorrow?"
"You're coming tomorrow, too?" Kosho didn't give you a chance to respond. "With another boy? And here I thought Hitoshi-kun was the one for you."
"Alright, we're done here," you muttered, shoving him off onto the floor. "Yes, Kosho, we're coming here tomorrow, to study, and you can't bother us, okay? Because I'm pretty sure if we end up failing, Bakugou-kun will kick all three of our asses, and he doesn't even know you yet."
Kosho frowned from his spot on the floor. "Ugh, fine. But at least bring Hitoshi-kun back, the Best Friend Gang needs to reunite!"
The rest of the day was mostly filled with you having to continuously shove Kosho off of the booth and Kirishima laughing at any stupid jokes that were told. But eventually, it got dark, and you walked him out of the area. You couldn't let him leave by himself, considering the massive amount of sketchyness that was present. But once you made it to a safer part of town, the two of you parted, and you waited until he was out of sight to turn back. Sure, he knew you worked over there, but he didn't need to know you lived there too.
As you went home, something caught your eyes. Or to be more precise, someone. It was the guy with staples in his skin, and as soon as you saw him, you felt your heart beat faster. He was the one who had kidnapped Eevee that day and tried to put him in a Pokemon fighting ring. You kept your head trained to the ground and avoided eye contact. In all honesty, you half expected him to come up to you and start talking about how you looked familiar, but the two of you simply passed by each other with no words exchanged.
But little did you know of what was to come.