XIII

                                    

                                          

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"It's about time someone dealt with him," a girl said as Aeri packed up for lunch. She swivelled to the voice's owner, taking in her appearance. She had lilac hair that almost reached her knees tied up into two loose French braids, one red eye and one completely white eye and she clutched her backpack in one hand. "His ego has been through the roof since the beginning of our first year."
"I can tell." Aeri nodded. "I feel kinda bad for him though, he's clearly overshadowed by his sisters, so much so that we didn't even know he existed despite our families being so closely linked."
"Yeah, he acts out because he needs attention to fill that void." The girl agreed. "I'm Byeol by the way, Kim Byeol."
"Moon Aeri." Aeri reached out for a handshake and the girl took it with a smile.
"I know that."
"Yes, but it felt awkward not to introduce myself back." Aeri chuckled.
"Do you wanna sit with me at lunch? I know a good sunny spot in the gardens where no one really goes." Byeol offered.
Aeri's eyes lit up and she smiled brightly. "Sure! Can my brother come too?" 
"Fine by me, he's cute. Looks like he's made friends with my best friend Kyungmin anyway." Byeol pointed to Jungwon who was speaking shyly to a boy with brown hair and flame orange eyes.
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"So how come you two switched schools? There's a bunch of rumours going around but no one knows which one is true." Kyungmin shoved an apple slice into his mouth as he looked between the twins, who were picking at their bento boxes.
"Um..." Jungwon stuttered. He didn't know what to tell them. He didn't want to lie to them but also didn't want to leave them hanging so he looked to his sister to answer.
"The war messed us up. They sent us here for a change of scenery," Aeri said vaguely.
"So you didn't kill anyone, break up with the pretty blond and you're not escaping a fraud charge?" Byeol asked.
"No, definitely not, and I've never committed fraud." Aeri chuckled as she tossed a blueberry into her mouth.
"You're still with him even though you're in different countries? I couldn't do that," Kyungmin said.
"We're not here for long, only a month or two and then we're heading back to UA. Our relationship can survive that long," Aeri said, though she had her doubts, she wouldn't let anyone else know that.
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"I already told you a million times, I can't do this long-distance shit," Bakugou said down the line and Aeri's heart sunk to her stomach.
"So what? Do you want to break up with me for something I can't control? I don't want to be here either, Katsuki. It's not for long and I'll be back at UA with you." Aeri raised her voice without meaning to as she stood from her bed and began pacing the length of her room.
"What? Why the fuck would I break up with you?" Bakugou yelled back.
"Then why do you keep saying that you can't do long distance? It's like you're hinting that if I can't be in Japan all the time, you don't want to be together at all!" Aeri ran a hand through her hair, frustrated tears pricking at her eyes.
"That's not what I meant, Aeri," Bakugou sighed, equally as frustrated as she was. "I only said it because I want you to come back."
"I can't come back, you know that, and mentioning that fact every time we speak isn't helping either of us... I'm gonna go now. I'll talk to you tomorrow." Aeri didn't give him the chance to say anything back before she ended the call and crumpled to the floor, her knees against her chest and her back against the wall.
She heard the shuffling and whispering outside her door and knew her brothers had been listening in, so she wiped at her eyes to get rid of the tears that threatened to fall and teleported outside to confront them.
"For stealth heroes you guys sure are loud." She joked, feigning a smile.
"We weren't listening in or anything, we just got stuck here because we all tried to walk through the hallway at the same time." Hyoseop stuttered out his excuse. Jinyoung and Jungwon glared at him as if he was stupid.
"Uh-huh, sure," Aeri said, unconvinced. She walked down the stairs to the kitchen and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge. She flinched when she turned around and all three of them stood behind her. "Now you want to be sneaky?" 
"We, uh, just wanted to ask if you wanted to go get barbecue with us." Jinyoung cleared his throat and leant nonchalantly against the counter.
"Okay... are we going to the usual place?" Aeri asked as she sipped on her water. She petted Nari as the feline walked along the countertop.
"Anything you want." Hyoseop nodded.
"Stop being weird, you're making it worse." Aeri frowned. "I'll go get changed. C'mon Jungwon."
"Can you do me a favour and act really sad so we can go to that new bakery after dinner?" Jungwon whispered as they made their way up the stairs.
Aeri chuckled, her mood lifting slightly. "Yeah, I kinda want to go there too."
Jungwon blew her a kiss and ran to his bedroom to change out of his uniform and into a proper outfit. "What are we wearing?" He stopped outside of his door, his hand on the door knob.
"Did we even bring the same things? We packed separately."
"I'll look in your closet and tell you what I have the same of." Jungwon left his doorway and walked to Aeri's. She nodded in agreement and stepped to the side so he could get in. "Okay... okay, I have my brown leather jacket too, you have a Chanel baby tee and I have a Chanel T-shirt... Do you have a nude skirt or shorts?"
"I have nude baggy jeans, will that work?" Aeri asked, pulling the jeans from the bottom drawer of the dresser.
"Yeah, I think I have the same ones. Let's wear that, I'll meet you in the living room." Jungwon teleported to his own bedroom to change.
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y'all i promise that conversation is not what you think it is, there's no need to hunt me down with torches and pitchforks.