Chapter 90: A Leisurely Holiday
"Katsuki! You've been moping around the house all day yesterday. Aren't you going to go out and play with your friends today? Go find Izuku, or that boy who came over the other day."
Katsuki Bakugo was sitting cross-legged on the sofa, holding an oval-shaped throw pillow as he stared blankly at some boring, tacky drama on TV.
"Shut up! You're so annoying, you old hag!" he roared back. "I'm not going out!"
"What!? Who are you calling an old hag, you little brat!? Just because you won some sports festival, you think you're hot stuff!?"
A pair of hands suddenly appeared from behind Bakugo, the palms balled into fists, and began to grind into his temples, making him howl.
"Ow! It hurts! I'm sorry, okay!? Let go!"
Hearing this, the person released Bakugo, walked around the sofa with a glass of milk, and sat down.
"Hey, Mom. What the hell are you wearing?" Bakugo's eye twitched as he looked at his mother, who had changed into a pair of rivet-studded pants and a long duster coat with a Ukiyo-e style painting on the back. "Are you planning to rob a bank? Or are you getting back into your old business as a biker-gang grandma?"
"Don't you know how to talk to your mother? And besides, I don't look old at all!"
"If you're talking about that guy next door, he's a salesman. He only says nice things to you because he wants you to buy his insurance."
Katsuki Bakugo's mother, Mitsuki Bakugo. Her Quirk was Glycerin, which had a whitening and moisturizing effect. As a result, she looked more like his older sister. The salesman next door hadn't been lying against his conscience—though his comments about her looking "like she was in her prime" were probably best taken with a grain of salt.
Mitsuki suddenly put on an expression as if she didn't recognize her son. She held her hands up in a defensive pose and leaned back dramatically. "Who are you? You are definitely not my son! My idiot son is a raging psycho who thinks no one can beat him except All Might! If he had won the Sports Festival, his ego would be so big by now it would be scraping the ceiling!"
"Oh," Bakugo grunted noncommittally.
Mitsuki dropped her hands and sighed. She then suddenly grabbed his face in a vicious pinch. "Hey! Stop acting like you won the battle but lost your whole life! If something pisses you off, just go find a rematch and settle it! Moping around here is just a waste of life!"
A light suddenly flashed in Bakugo's eyes. A savage grin spread across his face. "You're right. If I don't accept this victory, then I'll just have to do it again, and I'll keep doing it until I'm satisfied!"
"..." Watching the durian-headed boy suddenly regain his vitality, his mother suddenly felt... she might have done something wrong.
Bakugo slapped her hand away. "By the way," he asked, annoyed, "where the hell are you going? Didn't you say you weren't going joyriding anymore?"
Ah, it's probably time for an introduction. Mitsuki Bakugo, before she fell in love with his father, Masaru Bakugo, was the "Special Attack Captain" of a biker gang. To put it simply, she was the leader of a group of delinquent girls who had nothing better to do. Although she had decided to leave that world behind after marrying Masaru, she still frequently got together with the partners she used to ride with.
Sounds pretty cool, right? But in reality, it was just a bunch of housewives discussing mind-numbing topics like "my kid is so amazing" or "what's on special at the grocery store today." Even if they occasionally got nostalgic for their carefree days, the conversation would inevitably drift back to the same old topics.
Bakugo's grades had always been excellent, and his mom had often used him as a bragging point and dragged him to these gatherings a few times. But he couldn't stand pretending to be a good little boy in front of a bunch of old women and had refused to go ever since.
"A band that one of your mother's friends really loves is performing tonight. It was your Aunt Shoko who suggested we all wear our old uniforms to the concert."
Aunt Shoko? Bakugo thought for a moment. Right, that's the auntie who's almost forty but still fawns over any handsome guy, constantly spends her husband's money at those host clubs in Shibuya, and... If it's a band she recommended, there's no doubt the members are all pretty boys.
"I'm not going!" Bakugo said, disgusted. "And I'd advise you not to get your hopes up."
"Well, don't say I didn't warn you," Mitsuki said, leaving him with those parting words as she left the house.
Bakugo stared at the TV, where two characters were exchanging nauseatingly cheesy lines. After a few minutes, he couldn't take it anymore. He rolled off the sofa, grabbed his phone, and dialed the first number.
"Yo, Bakugo? It's rare for you to call me. What's up?" a cheerful, sunny voice came from the other end.
"You've got 20 minutes. Get to my house." Bakugo hung up before he could even reply.
Eijiro Kirishima looked at the dead phone with a helpless sigh. He was wearing shorts and a sleeveless tank top, currently working out at a gym near his house.
"Hey, Tetsutetsu, sorry, but I gotta go." Kirishima stood up from the floor, grabbed his bag, and headed for the door.
To his right, a man with a body of steel was doing a plank, with one hand behind his back and the other supporting his entire body on a single index finger.
He shouted through gritted teeth, "Hey, Kirishima! You can't just run off! Didn't we say we'd see who caved first!? Does this mean you forfeit!?"
Kirishima looked back with a grin. "Tetsutetsu, thanks for being my training partner! But I have to go. A certain stubborn guy is calling me."
With that, he turned and left without hesitation, leaving Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu behind.
"Whatever! It's not like I care if he leaves! I was just going to train anyway!" Tetsutetsu snorted in disdain and resumed his workout.
U.A. High, Principal's Office.
Principal Nezu placed his paws on the desk, pressing his toe beans together, looking completely relaxed. "What do you think of this person?" he asked with a smile. "Does he meet your standards?"
Opposite him, a man had his long, slender legs propped up on the desk, his body buried deep in a chair as he watched the projection screen, which was showing scenes from the Sports Festival. It was clearly a modified recording, because the protagonist it was focused on was always the same person: Yoshikage Kira.
"Not enough. Not nearly enough. This kid has no drive, no passion," the man said, dropping his legs. A face as furry as a rabbit's leaned in close to Nezu. He revealed sharp incisors. "And why did you recruit him to U.A. in the first place? More importantly, why are you showing him to me? Don't you know I hate this kind of person the most?"
Principal Nezu just smiled, not at all intimidated. "You can't judge his character just from these simple observations. Why don't you stick around and watch a little more?"
The recording had only just reached the end of the cavalry battle. But the rabbit-headed man stood up and walked to the door, clearly having lost interest.
"Forget it. I would never take on someone like him. Besides, I'm not here for you today."
"Then what are you here for?"
"For a concert!" The rabbit hero's face split into an excited grin.
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