Chapter 58: Lunchtime
In a shadowy corridor, Izuku Midoriya stood nervously before Shoto Todoroki, who had called him out. After waiting for a while, he couldn't help but speak. "Todoroki-kun, is there something you need? The cafeteria should be really crowded right now. If we're late..."
"Midoriya."
"Yes!" Midoriya swallowed nervously, cold sweat beading on his forehead.
Shoto Todoroki's silent coldness was different from Bakugo's explosive aggression or Kira's gentle demeanor. It put him under a great deal of pressure.
After another moment of silence, Todoroki spoke. "You're All Might's secret love child, aren't you?"
"...Eh?"
Yoshikage Kira pulled Ibara Shiozaki through the crowd, finally reaching the Hero Course building. The walk, which normally took only five minutes, had taken them a full fifteen, and that was with a relatively low amount of foot traffic in this area.
"There are so many people..."
Kira shielded his eyes from the sun with his arm and squinted.
U.A. was known as the nation's number one cradle for heroes, but until today, Kira had never felt that it was much different from any other school, aside from being more luxurious and having a higher standard of teaching. In terms of environment, any private elite school could surpass it.
But today, he realized that the school had been protecting its students far too well, never allowing them to be subjected to the scrutiny of the outside world.
Just now, he had seen no fewer than ten reporters interviewing students participating in the festival, asking them how they felt. This had never happened before; no reporter had ever been able to get past the U.A. Wall.
The reporters must have prepared a lot for this open day, firing off questions like a machine gun.
Kira even spotted Tetsutetsu rubbing his head and laughing as he was being interviewed by a female reporter. When he saw Kira, he shot him a triumphant look.
You may have beaten me, but I'm the one getting interviewed by a reporter! How about that? Jealous!?
Yes, that was probably what he meant.
Kira looked at Ibara, who was standing obediently behind him. She was being led by one hand, while the other held a candy apple she was licking in small bites, her soft lips stained red.
Seeing her pale hand against the red of the candy apple, Kira couldn't help but swallow.
It was a bit shameless, but he...
Ibara looked up, puzzled as to why Kira had suddenly stopped. She glanced back and forth between the candy apple and his gaze, then said warily, "Are you hungry? I'm not giving you any."
Who would want a candy apple you've already licked...? Kira rolled his eyes. "I'm the one who bought you that apple, wasn't I? If I had wanted to eat it, I wouldn't have given it to you in the first place."
While passing by the food stalls, Kira had seen the second-year Class A president, Yuta Togashi, furtively tailing the patrolling Student Council Secretary.
In the spirit of friendly mutual assistance, Kira had greeted him, only to have his mouth quickly covered as Togashi pulled him down behind a stall. They waited until a suspicious Erina Nakiri had turned a corner before he let go.
"Togashi-senpai, are you stalking her?" Kira had asked.
Yuta Togashi's expression shifted several times before he settled on an awkward smile. "Ah, it's you, Kira-kouhai. Congratulations on qualifying. I was just passing by, about to buy something to eat."
"Is that so? I seem to recall you saying you were going to confess to the Secretary."
Under Kira's scrutinizing gaze, Togashi was defeated. He hung his head. "After the match, I heard from a classmate that the red-haired hedgehog who was locked up in the Student Council office escaped and came back to the stalls. The Secretary didn't want to trouble the other council members, so she's looking for him by herself. I was worried she might get hurt, so I'm secretly protecting her from the shadows."
Kira didn't really understand what he was talking about. He had always been dense when it came to matters of romance; otherwise, he wouldn't have been single his entire life.
The pleasantries were over. Kira figured it was time to retreat. But as he stood up, he saw that Ibara, whom he was still holding by the hand, was staring intently at the candy apple stall in front of them.
"...Listen, neither of us has any money. Can we please stop looking?"
Kira sighed and tried to pull her away, but she wouldn't budge. He turned and saw that a few of her vines had wrapped themselves tightly around the stall's support beams, threatening to pull the whole thing apart.
Seeing the stall owner's growing look of terror, Kira sighed again, looked at Yuta Togashi, and placed a hand on his shoulder.
"Senpai, you wouldn't want the Secretary to find out you've been following her, would you...?"
Yuta Togashi's body went rigid.
In short, Kira had used blackmail to get the money for the candy apple out of Yuta Togashi. But then again, it wasn't money he should have had to pay in the first place, right?
Kira led her to the door of the Class 1-A classroom and opened it with his student ID card.
The room was, of course, empty. Everyone else was probably at the cafeteria, not running back to the classroom during the only one-hour break they had. (Incidentally, the cafeteria was quite close to the stadium.)
"Here. Ten thousand yen." Kira took a bill from his wallet, walked to the door, and stuffed it into her hand.
With the transaction complete, Kira closed the door and turned to leave without another word. The break wasn't long, and he still wanted to grab a bite to eat.
Ibara stared at his retreating back, looking as if she wanted to say something but couldn't. She clutched the bill tightly and looked down at the half-eaten candy apple.
Actually, she...
Kira bought a serving of fried noodles and ate as he leisurely walked back toward the stadium.
He had to admit, even though the red-haired senpai who was making it had been hiding under the counter the whole time, only popping his head up a few times and cooking with his outstretched hands, his culinary skills were quite good.
(...Though he had no idea why the guy would immediately hide whenever a girl with blond hair walked by.)
Kira saw a white tent near the stadium entrance. He hesitated for a moment, then shoveled the last few bites of noodles into his mouth, wiped his mouth with a napkin, and walked toward it.
The moment he lifted the flap, he was hit by the smell of disinfectant. A pink-haired girl in a lab coat was sitting at a table, earnestly questioning a student sitting next to her while taking notes.
Her name was Ryanne Barniel, Recovery Girl's granddaughter, and the person in charge of medical treatment for the first-years.
Although Kira still had his doubts about the strange way Recovery Girl had been speaking before, at this moment, he didn't notice anything out of the ordinary.
The boy who had been holding his finger stood up, bowed emotionally to Ryanne with a red face, and then ran out of the tent.
"How are you feeling? Is the work keeping you busy?" Kira asked.
Both Recovery Girl and Aizawa had highly praised Ryanne's abilities, but Kira felt that this job was still too much of a burden for a first-year girl.
Ryanne paused, and a charming smile slowly spread across her calm face. She stood up, walked over to Kira, and flicked her hair. "I never thought the esteemed Class President who made it to the finals would ask such a question. Can I take that to mean you're concerned about me?"
To provide timely aid, the tent was only a few meters from the stadium gate. She could easily hear the cheers from inside, so she had naturally heard Kira's name announced as a qualifier.
Kira didn't answer directly. "Your grandmother did ask me to look after you, after all."
Ryanne's smile didn't waver. She wrapped her hands around Kira's arm. "You must be tired after the competition. Would you like me to give you a full-body check-up?"
Kira raised an eyebrow. While he had vaguely sensed that she was interested in him, this was no longer a hint; it was an overt invitation.
"Doctor! Sorry to bother you!" A head of green hair burst into the tent. "I was hoping you could take a look at my arm..."
Midoriya's words trailed off as he froze, seeing Kira tangled up with a girl. Was this a bad time?
Am I going to be silenced? That was the only thought left in Midoriya's mind.
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