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On a sunny day at UA, it was a day like any other. Jirou sat at her desk, fiddling with her pen as she listened to Present Mic's instruction on some new English tense. Why did all those names have to be so similar? Jirou sighed. Figuring she could ask Momo if she could borrow her notes later, Jirou tuned out Present Mic's voice to try and string together some chords in her head, searching for a rhythm fit for a new song.
Just as she put together a good base, something pierced through the mental sound.
Click. Click. Click.
Jirou glanced to her right. It seemed like Kaminari wasn't doing any better focusing on the lecture, continuously clicking his pen out of boredom. His golden eyes were fixed on the chalkboard, but it was clear he wasn't processing any of it. Jirou could only wonder what was going on in his brain instead.
After tuning that sound out too, Jirou focused on imagining the music being played once more. She scribbled down a couple of guitar chords in her notebook. The only thing Jirou could hear at the moment was the music linking together in her head. That was, until her enhanced hearing picked up on something.
She could hear a quiet, nearly inaudible cracking. Lifting her head, Jirou looked around the classroom. Nobody else had caught the sound yet.
Am I just imagining it?
Jirou wasn't sure. She turned her gaze up to the ceiling, where the noise seemed to originate from. The hushed sound slowly but surely grew louder. No, she definitely wasn't imagining it. The louder it got, the more Jirou started to feel concern. She ultimately decided to raise her hand.
Present Mic paused his lecture to face Jirou. He nodded, prompting her to speak.
"I'm not sure what it is," Jirou explained, "but I hear rumbling. Up there."
Jirou pointed up at the ceiling with one of her earphone jacks. Present Mic looked up, listening for a moment before his eyes widened.
"That's not good," He muttered before speaking up urgently. "Little listeners, leave the classroom. Something's wrong."
And so the students stood up, prepared to leave the classroom at once. The rumbling increased in volume significantly, so much so that it was starting to hurt Jirou's ears. Everyone scrambled to try and leave on time. Jirou made a run for the door. A hard rumble sounded.
Just in time, Jirou dove through the door, landing on the ground with a grunt. The rumbling stopped. She slowly got back on her feet with Kirishima and Mina's help. Not a lot of people were outside the classroom, Jirou noted. Just them, Todoroki, Midoriya and Uraraka.
What she also noticed was everyone's expressions. Horrified, filled with terror, frozen in place. Staring straight into the classroom.
Slowly, Jirou turned around to see what everyone was so affected by and saw it. The classroom's ceiling had collapsed, a thick layer of rubble covering the room with dust still coming from it. What was worse, though, was the abundance of dark crimson staining the former ceiling, splattered all over and forming pools from beneath.
Only six people made it out. The other got crushed.
Were they able to form a shield and protect themselves? No, there wouldn't be this much blood if that were the case… What if they're badly hurt? What if…
Jirou scrambled over to the debris as fast as she could. She looked around to check for any visible body parts, but found none.
So everyone is trapped beneath… No, please…
"Hey!" Jirou called out. "Can anyone hear me?"
Yet not a single sound emerged from the bloody sight. Jirou's breath started to quicken, hands starting to tremble.
"Anyone!"
The silence persisted, only the sound of blood running past her shoes filling her ears.
"Kaminari! Yaomomo!" Jirou called out, voice shaking. "Toru! Tsu! Tokoyami!"
As much as Jirou prayed for a response, her cries were left unanswered.
No. This can't be happening.
"Hey! Answer me!"
That was when the faintest rumble sounded, paired with a groan. Jirou climbed over the debris, followed by Kirishima, to the source of the noise. Once there, Kirishima lifted the debris off, only to freeze in sheer shock.
"What?" Jirou asked in a quiet voice. "What… did you find?"
Kirishima slowly turned his gaze over to her. His eyes were filled with several emotions. Panic. Sorrow. Grief.
"They're…" he managed to say, his voice breaking. "They're all gone."
Jirou looked down. Some of her friends were there. Kaminari. Yaomomo. Tokoyami. Except they weren't in the state she wished.
They were nearly unrecognizable, their bodies covered deeply in blood, scraps, bruises and gashes. There was no denying it: they were gone. Forever. Taken away early by a very painful death.
Jirou stumbled back a few steps before she fell. This couldn't be happening… Yet it was. Het friends were gone. And there was nothing she could do about it.
***
Jirou's eyes spread open wide as she shot up into a sitting position. Her heart was pounding in her chest, her breathing was accelerated and her skin was covered in goosebumps. Her sweaty palms wrapped around her arms, holding herself as she tried her best to calm down.
"Just a nightmare…" she muttered to herself. "Nothing to worry over…"
Yet Jirou couldn't not worry. The adrenaline was still coursing through her veins, her entire body on high alert. She picked up her phone from next to her pillow. 2:47.
What if it wasn't a dream… I should call Yaomomo. No, she's probably asleep… Kaminari? No, he's probably asleep too.
Jirou didn't want to go back to sleep out of fear she'd end up in the same nightmare once more, so she decided on leaving her room to clear her head. She pushed the blanket off her and got out of bed, taking a second to orient herself before moving to the door.
She left her room, quietly closing the door behind her to avoid unintentionally waking anyone on the same floor up. Slowly, Jirou went down the stairs while making sure her steps were as silent as possible. It took a bit, but when Jirou finally reached the ground floor, she let out a sigh. The fear the nightmare had brought onto her was still present.
Her body was still tense. Her palms remained sweaty, body ready to spring into action at any given time. Nevertheless, Jirou entered the dark common room. The silence was deafening yet peaceful.
Maybe I'll watch some television or scroll on my phone until morning. Tomorrow is a Sunday, anyway.
But first, Jirou needed some hydration. She made her way over to the kitchen where she grabbed a glass from the cabinet and filled it with tap water. She took a couple of sips from it. The cool liquid ran soothingly down her throat. Jirou felt somewhat better now, but was unfortunately not yet over the nightmare.
Not that she expected that to happen, but it still wasn't very pleasant. Jirou walked over to the couches and took a seat. It was difficult to see in the dark still, so Jirou had a hard time finding the remote. Before she could continue her search, Jirou could hear footsteps. They came from the hallway. Jirou turned her head to try and catch a glimpse of her classmate but, once again, it was too dark.
"Who's there?" Jirou called out. The footsteps stopped.
"Jirou?" responded the person. "Is that you?"
"Yeah," she answered. "You?"
The person made their way over towards her. Once they were close enough, Jirou recognized them with ease. It was none other than Kaminari.
"Hey," he greeted properly. "Why are you up at this hour?"
Jirou didn't answer. She was just relieved that her nightmare was only in her mind. Kaminari was safe, so all their classmates were unharmed too. Kaminari took a seat next to her on the couch, not too close yet not too far.
"You okay?"
Jirou could see his face from here. His mouth was pressed into a frown, eyes silently watching her, attempting to read her.
"…"
Kaminari leaned back when Jirou didn't respond, folding his arms behind his head despite keeping his gaze fixed on her.
"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though."
Jirou shook her head, looking for the right words. She did want to tell him, but the nightmare, despite being proven to be fake, still hurt to think about. All of her friends dead was a sight Jirou never wished to see.
"No, it's… I had a nightmare."
Kaminari's eyes seemed to soften in the dim light provided by the street lanterns outside of the dorm building. He sat up straight once more, turning to face her.
"Oh… I see," he responded. After a moment of silence, Kaminari spoke up once more.
"It was just a nightmare. You're safe."
Jirou nodded to that.
"I know," she responded. "But it felt so… real, y'know?"
Kaminari nodded in comprehension, still watching her closely.
"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked, the unusual gentleness in his tone strikingly different from his usual upbeat, energetic tone. Then again, he did seem more gentle around Jirou lately…
"It's hard," Jirou responded.
"Take all the time you need."
"Thanks."
Jirou readied herself, searching for the right words to explain her troubles, all while Kaminari patiently waited for her.
"Well… We were in class when I heard rumbling… It kept getting louder, so I told the teacher. He instructed us to get out of the classroom as soon as possible, but…" Jirou began trailing off, pushing past her lingering fear to explain the situation.
"A few of us got out, but almost everyone in our class… The ceiling collapsed, and…"
Jirou could feel her tone growing shaky as her eyes went damp. Forcing back tears, Jirou forced herself to go on.
"Everyone… They…"
As much as she wanted to, Jirou couldn't finish her sentence. The discomfort of having to remember all the blood she saw in her nightmare was overwhelming. Kaminari seemed to sense that.
"I'll go fill your glass," he said, getting up.
He probably meant well, wanting to give her some space to gather her feelings and thoughts.
But Jirou refused to let him out of her sight. Not now.
"Wait," she said. "Don't go."
Kaminari halted his motion to look over at her. Seeing the distress in her expression was enough for him to rethink his decision. He took a seat once more and scooted over to her a bit. His presence was comforting to her in that moment, more than she'd like to admit.
"I'll… I'll tell you."
"Okay… Just don't push-"
"No!" Jirou interrupted Kaminari, unintentionally startling him in the process.
"Sorry…"
"Don't worry about it."
"Okay."
Jirou took a deep breath, finally allowing herself to explain the difficult part of the nightmare.
"Everyone that was still in the classroom was crushed by the ceiling," she explained, attempting and failing to keep her voice from cracking. "There… there was blood everywhere."
Despite her best efforts, recalling the nightmare brought tears to her eyes, slipping down her cheeks without permission. Kaminari's hands twitched, wanting to reach out to comfort her. Yet he didn't, unsure if Jirou would appreciate it.
He wasn't judging her. He was listening, his being filled with empathy and compassion at that moment. It overwhelmed Jirou in a good way. She felt safe. Safe enough to drop her guard.
She remembered finding the horrific sight of her friends' dead bodies in the nightmare, and that was the final straw. She scooted closer to Kaminari, not caring about her image nor being fully conscious of her decision, and pressed her face against his chest, arms wrapping around him.
At that moment, he was the safest thing around. His body was radiating warmth, which comforted her deeply. Her tears grew in pace. She didn't have to hide from him. She knew that.
"All of them… Dead…" she sobbed into his chest. Kaminari, who was rightfully surprised, placed a gentle hand on her head, slowly running his fingers through her short, purple hair in a soothing motion.
Jirou allowed herself to let go even more, sobbing into his chest, her hands clenching the back of his shirt as tightly as she could. One of his arms wrapped around her gently as he shushed her, holding her close and secure.
"All of my friends…" Jirou continued, burying her face in his chest, hiding away from the rest of the world and focusing solely on the guy holding her.
"Yaomomo… Tokoyami…" she listed, taking a deep breath.
"And you."
Kaminari seemed to freeze at that, his fingers stilling in Jirou's hair. She grasped the back of his shirt tighter.
"Kaminari, I… I'm glad you're safe."
Jirou didn't hear a response. Confused as to why he was silent, she looked up. He was starting to tear up too.
"Jirou…" he whispered. "I'm really sorry you had to experience that…"
Jiroi held him tighter, not only looking for comfort but also giving it. Kaminari wrapped his arms around her in return, both of them holding each other tight.
"It's okay…" Kaminari spoke quietly, ensuring he wasn't harming her sensitive ears because of the short distance between them.
"I'm here. And I'm not dead, right?"
Jirou nodded silently, lowering her head against him once more. Kaminari tensed a little. Jirou could understand why: she was resting her face in his neck. It wasn't intentional, but it was comfortable.
Ignoring the blush forming on her cheeks, Jirou made herself more comfortable against him. Kaminari shifted a bit.
"Hey, Jirou?" he began, having stopped crying.
"Yeah?"
"Can I… lay down a bit more?"
"Why would you need permission to-"
Jirou stopped herself and became more aware of their position. Very close. The blush from earlier tinted her entire face redder than it already was from crying.
"Uhm… w-well…"
Kaminari waved his hands quickly.
"D-don't agree if you don't want to."
If anyone found them like this, they would never hear the end of it. But on the other hand… he was so comfortable…
"Go ahead," Jirou finally blurted out. Kaminari waited a few seconds, ensuring she didn't change her mind the last second, then moved.
He slid down into a more comfortable laying position, taking Jirou down with him. He grabbed the blanket left on the backrest and put it over them.
"Is this okay?" he asked, to which Jirou nodded.
"Yeah… But one word-"
"I know!"
The two of them lay there, keeping each other warm and comfortable.
"By the way…" Jirou started. "You know why I'm awake, but what are you doing up at this hour?"
"Couldn't sleep," Kaminari answered. "Then I got hungry and went for a midnight snack. That's when I found you here."
Jirou snorted at his response before shutting her eyes. Yes… no nightmare could befall her now, for she was in his arms, safe and secure.
Drifting off, Jirou whispered quietly against him.
"G'night, dork…"
Kaminari fixed the blanket over them.
"Goodnight, Jirou-jack."
Jirou finally managed to fall asleep, resting peacefully in a deep, undisturbed slumber while being held by the friend she didn't know she harboured such strong feelings for.