"Begin!"
Himiko rushed toward Bakugo, who pushed her back with a blast of explosions, raising a massive column of smoke.
From within the smoke, a Rinkaku tentacle slashed horizontally, aiming for Bakugo's legs.
He reacted quickly, lifting himself into the air with explosions.
Bakugo circled the smoke from above, only descending when it finally dissipated, revealing Himiko, now transformed into me, with the four Rinkaku tentacles positioned in front of her.
Bakugo grinned and shot toward Himiko, using his explosions as propulsion.
Himiko leapt to the side to evade, but Bakugo changed trajectory mid-air, already firing another explosion toward her.
Himiko positioned her Kagune defensively in front, taking the blast.
She was pushed backward by the force, gritting her teeth from the pain as the explosion scorched her Rinkaku.
I clenched my fists.
The Kagune has pain receptors, even if they are duller than the rest of the body.
Himiko charged again, lashing her Kagune at Bakugo.
He blocked the attacks by blasting the tentacles, but one slipped through and struck his ribs before he could react.
He rolled across the ground, grunting in pain, but quickly got back up using an explosion, dodging the entwined Rinkaku that smashed into the spot where he had been.
She unraveled her Kagune and extended it again to intercept Bakugo's second charge.
This time, he used explosions to weave around the tentacles while trying to close the distance, aiming for a point-blank blast.
When he got too close, Himiko tried to strike him with a punch, but Bakugo exploded the ground in front of him, launching himself into the air above her before opening his palm.
BOOOM!!
A massive explosion erupted in the center of the arena, nearly at full power.
The smoke slowly cleared.
Bakugo stood on one side of the arena, rubbing his wrist and scanning around for his opponent.
On the other side, beyond the arena's boundary, another figure appeared, Himiko, with half of my face and the other half her own, the rest of her quirk slowly dissolving.
She struggled to stand, her four Kagune tentacles completely charred, likely used to shield herself.
TEC!!
I glanced at my freshly broken finger, which snapped back into place almost immediately.
Himiko could no longer stay upright and fell onto her back in the arena.
I stood up from the bench and walked out of the stands.
"Victory to Katsuki Bakugo."
─── ◆ ───
In the tunnel leading to the arena, I passed by Bakugo.
He seemed to stare at me for a moment but kept walking, still rubbing his wrist.
I didn't stop, nor did I look at him. I had priorities.
Ahead, two rescue robots were about to enter the arena.
I placed my hand on the metallic head of one of them, making both stop and turn toward me.
"I'll take care of her," I said, adjusting a sheet I had taken from the locker room.
The robots stood still for a few seconds, likely requesting confirmation from their superiors. Then, they performed something like a bow and stepped back.
I entered the arena and approached Himiko, who lay on the ground, her transformation slowly fading.
She opened her eyes when she felt the light being blocked by my body, then closed them again with a soft smile.
I covered and wrapped her body with the sheet, then lifted her in a princess carry, carrying her out of the arena.
She finished undoing her transformation with a sigh of relief, resting her head against my chest and wrapping her arms around my neck.
Once we were in the tunnel, Himiko looked up at my face. I met her gaze, making her blush slightly.
"Do you come here often, handsome?~" she teased, making me feel a pleasant warmth.
"Only when someone cute like you shows up," I shot back, earning a silly smile from her.
"Dummy~" she purred, burying her face in my chest afterward.
"…I lost." Her voice came out muffled and slightly tearful.
"You did great." She looked up at me again.
Himiko lifted herself a bit, and I helped her while carefully adjusting the sheet.
She gave me a soft peck, gazing at me with shining eyes before kissing me more deeply, then returning to her resting position in my arms.
I continued carrying her through the corridors, but she tugged gently at my arm.
"Love~… Can I drink a little? I'm a bit dizzy." I nodded and headed to the locker room, there shouldn't be anyone there right now.
─── ◆ ───
"Are you sure we should go, Uraraka-chan?" Tsuyu leaned forward, looking at the girl leading the group.
"Of course! Himiko-chan is one of us, and she helped us a lot when we were feeling down after losing!" Uraraka raised her fist with conviction, and Momo nodded in agreement.
"It's just that she's already with Kaneki-kun…" Tsuyu placed a finger on her lip, thinking.
"That shouldn't be a problem."
The group stopped by the infirmary but didn't find the couple, so they headed to the next obvious place: the locker room.
When they arrived, Uraraka opened the door and the group followed her inside.
Looking toward the corner of the room, they let out soft gasps of surprise.
Some covered their faces with their hands (though still peeking through their fingers), while others tried to look away but couldn't.
Kaneki stood with his back to them, Himiko wrapped in a sheet in his arms.
Himiko had her fangs sunk into Kaneki's clavicle, eyes closed, cheeks flushed.
Slowly, Himiko pulled away from his neck, breathing heavily. Blood flowed briefly before the wound closed.
She extended her tongue to lick the remaining blood when her eyes met the group in front of her.
She froze, her face rapidly turning bright red.
She let out a "KYAA!" and hid behind Kaneki.
"S-sorry, w-we d-didn't—" Momo tried to speak, failing miserably.
Himiko gathered some courage and lifted half her face, just up to her eyes.
"We were looking for you two, we wanted to see if you were okay, Himiko-chan," Toru recovered quickly and said.
"Ahem, it is quite inappropriate to do s-such things in public places," Momo added, still flustered, saying the first thing that came to mind.
"We weren't!" Himiko raised the rest of her face, taking a breath before continuing.
"It wasn't anything inappropriate, I swear! It was just…" She began to tremble slightly, stopping when she felt Kaneki's gentle, encouraging touch on her back.
"I was just… drinking a little blood…" She lowered her gaze as some bad memories resurfaced.
Himiko took a deep breath, trying to push away the anxiety, and slowly looked back at the girls.
Her eyes began to tear up when, instead of disgust or fear, she found understanding in their expressions.
"Ah, right, because of your quirk?" Jiro said gently.
"Man, that scared me! I thought you two were making out!" Mina sighed in relief.
Their reactions encouraged Himiko to continue.
They were her friends, they deserved to know.
Kaneki's reassuring pats on her back also helped her find courage.
"Both of us… need to drink from each other sometimes. It's a necessity, like drinking water…"
The girls nodded in understanding.
They noticed the storm of emotions within Himiko and realized how important and delicate this topic was for her.
"You… don't feel disgusted? Or scared?" Himiko already had her answer from their reactions, but she needed to hear it.
"…"
"Why would we? You're our friends," Uraraka stepped forward, smiling. The others nodded as well, smiling gently.
"Sniff… Thank you so much." Himiko let her tears fall, returning a wide smile to her friends.
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]:
The first 13 chapters of my upcoming Demon Slayer fanfic will be available on P @ t r 3 0 n this week.
The public launch here on WebNovel will be on August 2nd (Sunday).
I would greatly appreciate it if you could take a look at the story :)
Thank you for your support <3
If you'd like to support my work and receive bonuses such as 5 to 10 advanced chapters, spoilers, early access to my new books, polls, and more, check out:
P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7