31: Cool Down

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The bags under Chiharu's eyes seemed to be making his whole face droop. Or at least that's how he felt. 

Let him be the first to tell, you screaming at your best friend of over a decade did not let you have a good nights sleep. 

He had spent the whole night confused, both over emotional and numb. His heart was aching at the thought of Izuku hating him and how he had basically announced that they should never have become friends in the first place. Every second he thought about it made him want to sob uncontrollably. 

On the other hand, he was so fucking angry. He had never been an emotional person before this year. He had never felt anger like this before. Not even when Izuku was unfairly bullied. He was just so furious. He wanted to punch Izuku in the jaw and never speak to him. Maybe scream at him more. He wanted to scream at everyone actually. 

Living in the dorms with your entire class didn't give you a lot of space and that morning it had felt like everyone was ticking him off. Like every little move was done just to make him even madder. 

"Iwamoto, do you know the answer?". 

The boy's eyes snapped open, he hadn't even noticed they'd closed. He looked up at Ectoplasm with a bewildered expression before his eyes scanned the board. 

"The slope is eight over three?" He tried, his answer sounding more like a question. 

Ectoplasm seemed to take pity on him, clearly having not realized Chiharu was half asleep when he called on him at random. "Eight point five over three, but yes correct." The teacher nodded, writing the solution down on the board. 

Chiharu breathed a sigh of relief and laid his head down on his desk, his eyes slipping closed again. He could tell some of his classmates were staring at him, but that was to be expected. He and Midoriya were escorted back to the dorms in the middle of the night after having a fight. They were like the token best friends, of course everyone was weirded out. 

He stayed like that, eyes closed and thoughts drifting until the bell rang for lunch. The classroom emptied out quickly but for some reason when Chiharu opened his eyes there was someone standing above him. 

"Oi, get the fuck up." Katsuki shouted, kicking the desk. Chiharu snapped upright and glared at him. 

"Not in the mood asshole." He snapped, turning to leave. He trudged out of the classroom only to be stopped by Mina and Kirishima. 

"Oh sweet, are you eating with us today?" Kirishima asked, a bright smile on his face. 

"Ah, no I was just-" "Hell yeah! You're sitting next to me." Mina interrupted. 

"Hey, I wanna sit next to him." Kaminari whined, popping out from behind Kirishima. 

"If you're all gonna be this fucking noisy you can all sit next to him in match GRAVES!" Katsuki shouted, kicking his idiot friends so he could get through the doorway. 

"Hey, don't be mean to Iwamoto!" Kirishima said, putting his arm around the boy. "He's actually nice. Unlike some people.". 

"That piece of shit is the furthest thing from nice." The blond said resolutely. 

"The fuck did you just say to me?" Chiharu asked, moving away from Kirishima so he could square up with Bakugou. 

It was strange really. In middle school Chiharu was much shorter than him, not there was barely a centimeter's difference. Bakugou seemed to notice too, because he immediately looked ticked off. 

"Alright, keep moving big guy." Sero said, grabbing Bakugou and hauling him away from Chiharu. Kaminari did the same thing to Haru and they were both dragged into the lunch room like that. 

The so called Baku-squad basically pulled Chiharu through lunch time. He was listless and would probably have just slept in class if they didn't show up but the group pushed him through the lunch line and 'forced' him to sit at their table with them.

He didn't really feel like talking to anyone or eating or doing much in general, but he had to admit it made him feel better. By the end of lunch he had at least eaten and felt more awake, if nothing else. 

As they all walked back up the stairs to their classroom, Sanyu caught sight of Bakugou staring at him. He wasn't glaring, just squinting, like he was trying to figure something out. Then it clicked. 

Katsuki had been worried about him.

The idea was so shocking he stopped in the middle of the hallway, nearly causing Kaminari and Jiro to fall down the steps because they had been messing around. Chiharu managed to grab them before they did, but still. 

Never before in his life had he put the words 'Bakugou Katsuki' and 'mature' together in the same sentence, but now he realized that he actually had matured. 

It was kind of freaky. In like a nice way though. But still freaky. 

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"Iwamoto!". 

Chiharu was starting to get annoyed at all the teachers calling his name. 

"I need you to head to the support department. They wanted to see you." All Might explained. Haru sighed and put his hero outfit back in its case. 

He quickly left the room and walked towards the basement where the support course labs were. 

The boy dreaded coming down there, mostly because he was sick of being a lab rat. One person learns your invulnerable and then suddenly everyone needs you to test their new gadget or taser. 

"Hello?" He called out, poking his head in through the first year lab door. "I was told someone needed me?". 

Immediately he was tugged into the lab by none other than Hatsume Mei. "Perfect!" The girl cheered, "You're just on time to see my newest baby!". 

"Hey, after the glitter landmines were more landmine and less glitter I thought I told you I wasn't testing anything else for you ever again." The boy reminded her, his voice nervous as she pushed him through the lab. 

"So overdramatic. They were fine." Hatsume defended, "But no, this is even better! My newest baby is perfect!". 

"TADA!". 

Chiharu's eyes landed on a case, identical to the one his current hero suit was in. "Open it!" The girl instructed. 

He obeyed and opened the case, his eyes widening as he saw the teal and grey fabric inside. He reached out to touch it, marveling at the strange texture. 

"The grey parts are covered with the same material as knife proof gloves." The girl gushed. "Its so much sturdier than the last one.". 

"I didn't even request a new one." Chiharu said, unable to stop a smile from creeping onto his face as he pulled the suit out. 

"I was sick of patching up the only one. You don't get hurt, but you sure do destroy my babies pretty often." She explained. "Now go! Try it out! And if you like it, help me test my upcoming baby!". She gestured to a giant tarp at the back of the room. God knows what was under that. 

"As long as there are no explosive parts." Chiharu said. Hatsume pouted but agreed. 

"I'll take that part off then." She sighed, getting back to work. Chiharu took that as his cue to leave. 

"Thank you so much Hatsume." He said honestly. The girl crawled under the tarp and gave him a thumbs up. 

Quickly he put the suit back in the case and headed for the door, hoping he hadn't missed too much hero training. 

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I'd like to first say sorry. 

Following that I'd like to say that the muppets did 9/11 and after that I think I'd like to say that strawberries are the best berries even tho their not berries and that must really suck for all the berries that actually are berries. 

Figured if I was going to say something first I had to say things after that. 

(I'm not as funny as I think I am in my head) 

So, how have you guys been? 😊

I've been very busy. Life moves so quickly these days and it seems like whole days just disappear through all the work I have to do and stuff. 

This chapter was supposed to be part of a double update but I figured that it was better just out there than sitting in drafts for any longer, you know? 

I know it doesn't address chapter 30 a lot, but Chiharu's trying to block that out right now. He's also seemingly switching sides from Dekusquad to the Bakusquad so that's interesting. 

But here's what I really wanted to show you guys! 

Chiharu's new hero outfit design is finally here! 

Chiharu has such an interesting thing going on because I actually designed his first outfit with a reimagine in mind. I plan ahead, so I already knew I wanted to give him a completely different, new suit to compliment his change in character. 

I really like the outfit, and I hope you guys do too! I considered a cape for a little while, just to sell the new heroic look but really they are impractical. Mirio's the exception tho cause his can phase through things just like he can. Can't get caught in anything. 

Anyways thank you so much for your enduring patience and love for this story! 

Stay Tuned! 


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