A Chance for the Better: Chapter 5

## Chapter 5: November

Katsuko had made sure to keep talk of her baby bump silent, considering the last time they talked about her baby bump, it resulted in Dimitrios threatening her students. Today, however, she wasn't even supposed to be at work. Toshinori had made it a point to not even bring her to work. She came on the bus and that was that, so he didn't even know she was here - which was why she was where she was, stuck, with a coffee mug on the floor. She needed that mug, but she couldn't let anyone know she was there.

Her only solace against the rumors was tea, but she could't have her goddamn tea if she couldn't reach her damn mug!

She eventually ended up in the cafeteria getting a plastic cup to drink her tea in, leaving the mug for someone else to pick up. She remained in the cafeteria, stopping to take a break and sit, but she was one high alert for Toshinori. He couldn't see her here.

Atsuko, meanwhile, was sitting at a nearby table with Tomoe, holding hands as they ate quietly. A month had gone by since she had told him about their baby, which had drastically changed their relationship. While before it, they were stuck giving each other awkward glances and unspoken reproaches, that had themselves steamed from that one night they spent together, they were now closer than ever, only having each other to hold in periods of trouble. They were the only ones to know Miss Sato's secret, and they had theirs to keep now, slowly being shaped into a tiny human.

Atsuko still had trouble eating, with the nausea plaguing her body every hour of the day, but the bare research both of them had done specified that it wouldn't last much longer, considering she was in the midst of her third month. She was glad to hear it – the morning sickness was getting harder to hide with the days, even with Tomoe covering her up – but also felt somehow dejected and anxious, caught up in a situation that she didn't have the strength to fight back against. They had gone over the twelfth week mark. They were too late to abort. Which meant that even if she ended up giving the baby for adoption, she still had to go through the birthing process, and it honestly terrified that.

On top of that, both the guilt and shame were growing bigger inside of her with the day – along with her baby of course, to a much more noticeable yet unremarked level – and this, because of the fault they've commited: they were the source of the rumors on Miss Sato. They knew, and they had slipped up, and let it out while they were supposed to keep their mouth shut. How could they ensure their own secrecy when they couldn't even keep the others'? Plus, she knew how falling victim to rumors felt. She had, after all, experienced it herself.

"So, what do you say we should do now?" Tomoe asked her, taking her out of her daydreaming. "You're starting to show, and I don't think we can handle 'this' just by ourselves. We're still kids! We don't have money, well, we do but not enough, we got school and a demanding one on top of that! We can't just keep going like this, Akko!" he almost sobbed quietly, careful to not be heard at all.

"I know, don't worry. We'll figure it out." she replied, then left their table out of the sudden. "Where are you going?" Tomoe inquired. But she only smiled weakly at him, and went to meet her homeroom teacher, randomly sitting at her table. Wait, what was she doing again?! Were the mood swings responsible for this or something, or was it any weird pregnancy-related thing that she wasn't aware of that made her so bold? ...Or maybe it was just her stupid persona acting up again, dammit. She'd have to find a way to get rid of this thing.

"Hey, uh, Miss Sato." she said awkwardly, not knowing what else to say.

Katsuko looked and held a finger over her lips. "Quiet, I'm not really supposed to be working." She narrowed her eyes at Atsuko, noticing that something just seemed very off about her. "You ok there, kid?You look awfully pale."

While she was still a bit upset about the rumors getitng out, there was no reason for her to take her anger out on a student, regardless of why. She took a rather long sip of her tea and leaned back, a hand resting on her stomach. She set the cup down on her belly, finding it amusing that she can rest stuff on her belly and till do stuff. She shook her head.

"If something's wrong, you can talk to me about it. I'm here for you."

"Are you sure?" Akko asked quietly, not sure herself of where she was going with that. "After all I've done to you, both individually and as a member of 2-A... I don't think I deserve your kindness... I mean, I-we did... No, it all steams from me. I don't have the right to pretend I wasn't the one to start this." Akko took a deep breath, gently putting a hand over her belly. "I... may have told Tomoe about the father of your child inadvertently. And... it may have slipped into a conversation with our classmates while he was worried about something. This is what started the rumors. I'm sorry."

She looked down toward her stomach in shame, not wanting to confront Miss Sato's disapprouving gaze. She'd never what her to say anything to her anymore now, for sure. After all the kind acts her teacher had ever done for her, she had done nothing but screw up. It was time she paid for the consequences of her choices. Suddenly, her stomach cramped and she bent over in pain, holding herself while on the verge of tears.

Katsuko was besides her quickly, or as quickly as she could given her belly. "Hey, what's wrong? Something's clearly wrong." She murmured, blowing past her confession - that could be delt with later but for now, her main concern was Atsuko's health.

She was a little disappointed to know that it was her who had told, but it wasn't her fault. She had walked in on them cuddling. That wasn't her fault either.

"You did nothing wrong. Relationships are hard to keep secret, especially here." She sighed gently, holding her hand.

"You're not- You're not mad?" Atsuko breathed between her tears, still clutching her midsection. She wasn't worried about it as much as she was afraid of her teacher's wrath. "I thought that I'd have to- for you to-" But as she spoke, she noticed students staring at her, and felt uncomfortable – well, more so that with her cramped stomach – so uncomfortable that she quietly asked. ""Can we go somewhere private? There's something else I need to tell you."

"I'm kind of stuck. Kneeling is not something you should do eight months pregnant." She manuevered rather awkwardly to get back up to her feet and not be stuck. She cleared her throat and lifted Atsuko up slightly and led her to an empty classroom.

"What's wrong, Atsuko?" She questioned once more.

Once again, Akko took a deep breath, partly to chase away the unbearable cramps – that had begun to ease, thankfully – and to gather the courage to tell what she needed to. Straightening to the best of her ability, she begun to openly sob – *thank you, useless hormones* – in front of her teacher, unable to keep the dam closed any longer. The news too heavy to bear for a sixteen year old, the sickness, the bickering, the class' atmosphere that had turned sour, all of it had tired her so greatly that barely three months in, she could barely bear it anymore.

"I feel like such an hypocrite, such a loser, for not being targeted and for feeling glad that I'm not while we're the same, Miss. It feels so awful to admit it, but whenever I heard these rumors going around about you, I was essentially glad not to be the one endangered by them. But now... Now I may get targeted as well, with how stupid I've been! It's my punishment, isn't it, for taking advantage of my teacher's suffering? I never meant to, but now I'm gonna be the same, and I'm sorry of all the bad things I ever thought about you while you were pregnant, because you didn't deserve it! But I'm deserving what's going to happen. So I'll let you in this information. You can start rumors about me yourself, as revenge if you want, I had it coming anyways... And I'd rather let it be by your hand rather than by some bimbos with only two active braincells!"

She took a second to regain her breath, panting heavily with stress as she was on the verge of hyperventilating. Yet, despite her shaky intakes of breaths, she managed to choke out what she had been meaning to say this whole time, closing her eyes in wait as she lifted her shirt to expose her barely swollen stomach:

"Miss Sato, I'm three months pregnant with Asahina-kun's baby and I can't get an abortion anymore, it's too late."

Katsuko listened to what she had to say before nodding. "While I should punish you for doing such a thing, breaking my trust is just not something you should do. But you and Asahina are in serious trouble.You're sixteen and pregnant with a fellow student's baby. There is a dangerous risk to something like that."  She shook her head with a sad sigh. "I'll have to speak to Nezu about this, but you also don't have a good paying job that will support you and the baby...Ah! I know! Toshinori and I can help you! We all know with his title as Symbol of Peace, it has earned him quite a lot, and I can chip in some too. I am very angry with you, but it can't be helped, but I can at least help you be able to take care of your baby. With Baby Might on the way, my family did send a lot of baby supplies, despite not knowing the gender of our child." She smiled at Atsuko.

"Point is, kid, you should probably think about the consequences to some things.I mean, with me being pregnant with Toshinori's baby, I have to worry about safety. I can't exactly use my quirk without hurting myself. It's both wonderful, yet an issue." She sighed softly, rubbing her stomach. "I can't exactly scold you, as Baby Might here was rather...unexpected as well. A result of a long awaited...United States Smash....Anywho! Point is, again, you should be careful with what you do. Actions can have severe consequences. You will need to have a dorm room to yourself, or with Asahina, so the baby does not disturb the other students. I'd offer my place, but Asahina wouldn't be welcome, unfortunately."

Atsuko was unable to answer, struck in awe by her teacher's calm take on the situation, and could only mouth "I understand" as she was overwhelmed with the informations given to her so suddenly. So she could only stare, mouth agape, as she breathed out: "You're one amazing woman."

Katsuko blinked at the sudden compliment. "R-Really? I mean..I don't do much...heh...I'm not as great as I could be.." Her face was red and she was clearly embarassed. It was a small relief from the stress she had been subjected to. "We'll talk later about this, okay? That way I have enough time to put my complete attention on your situation." She was *really*happy now. A student *liked* her!

It had been a few days later, when Katsuko hadn't been seen for a while. Hizashi had been subbing for her class and even he wouldn't open up about where she had gone. It didn't help that Toshinori was in and out frequently and none of the other teachers would share why. Which might explain why the staff had called every student into the auditorium.

Dimitrios was standing at the podium, a small single hand gun being loosely held in one hand with a sniper rifle slung across his back. There was a mighty threatening aura coming off of him that challenged the very being of every student here.

Nezu was off to the side, waiting for the murmurs to quiet down before they could commence with the meeting. Though, when Dimitrios fired the gun at the ceiling, he didn't need to wait any longer for silence.

"Listen up, mother fucking buttercups," He shouted, though the microphone did enough for him anyways. "If any of you open your mouth, I'll shoot you. Got it? I need a verbal agreement on this, kids!"

"Y-Yes sir," they trembled, clearly shaken by the sight of a gun. Much like most of their fellow students, Tomoe and Atsuko were admist the crowd made of the entirety of the student body, all departments and grades alike, ordered in lines in front of the podium much like during the entrance ceremony or any assembly for that matter. The lovebirds were holding hands, unsure of what the meeting was for, but seeing that Dimitrios was there, it certainly didn't bode well for their teacher Miss Sato, that they hadn't seen since Akko had entrusted her secret to her.

Some irrational, ugly part of her couldn't help but being convinced that it was her fault, that she was at the origin of whatever had gotten to their teacher. If the meeting was about what she thought it was, then it clearly was her fault. Maybe Miss Sato had told the teachers that she started the rumors. Or maybe she had gotten in trouble for letting a student of hers get pregnant! All of this made her terribly nervous, and she was almost on the verge of being sick again with nervousness, Tomoe gently trying to ease her worries.

"It's okay, Akko, she's pregnant, maybe she finally took a maternity leave." he hushed her gently.

"Overnight? Without Mic-sensei telling us?"

"Don't worry so much. We'll find out somehow. Now quiet, it's starting."

Dimitrios cleared his throat. "It has come to my attention that y'all losers have being spreading rumors, nasty little rumors, about my dear friend. You may know her as Miss Sato. She is pregnant, due next month actually and what do you losers do?" He waved the gun around to accentuate his anger.

"Dimitrios, the gun." Nezu frowned,

"Right," He set the gun down. "Anyways, you see every single one of your teacher's up here, plus me, except Miss Sato. Do you guys wanna guess why?" He lifted the gun up again. "Fucking guess."

"Did something bad happen to her?" Miki, the meek student in Atsuko's class that had collapsed the first time Dimitrios brought a gun in class, spoke up in an unsure tone. Horror painted her face as a realization dawned on her. "We're the reason she's absent? Did someone push her down the stairs? Or- or did she hurt herself and her baby in some way because of us?!" She panicked, dissolving into a nervous frenzy, prompting her fellow students to fuss anxiously as well.

Atsuko and Tomoe looked at each other in both worry and relief, glad that the meeting wasn't about them, but also extremely worked up by their teacher's unknown cause of disappearance. If Dimitrios had mentionned the rumors, it meant it had to with them. Being the ones who started them, the couple was choking under the weight of their mistakes and glanced at the podium in wait, linked hands resting atop Atsuko's stomach.

"No one pushed her down the stairs! God, what is wrong with you?" Dimitrios snapped before banging his head on the poidum. "She's in the hospital under careful watch. She *did*take a small tumble, unrelated, but she's fine....hopefully...the point is, you're high school students. Harassing and spreading lies about a Pro Hero to the point where it's taking a toll on the ba -" Dimitrios was cut off by a phone ringing, he looked behind him to see Toshinori. They shared a knowing look as Toshinori listened to the call before panic set in.

"I must go." Was pretty much all he said before running out of the auditorium. He had never been so fast, not even as All Might.

Dimitrios turned to the student body, a deathly  glare on his face. "Watch your back, kids. You keep them rumors up and I'll tranq you. Maybe I'll shoot you with real bullets, who knows?"

At this rate, everyone in the school was gonna die.

The students gathered before the podium were frantic by the time the meeting got called off, young minds imprinted with the terror of getting shot in a school building they presumed inviolable. Miki had fainted, which had prompted Recovery Girl to arrive on the scene to escort her to the nurse's office. The fact that she did not spare a glance to Atsuko, which was standing within eye range of her and her collapsed classmate – and the same could be said about Nedzu – reassured her and Tomoe that the word of her pregnancy hadn't gotten out just yet, which would mean that Miss Sato's tumble had happened after they had spoken during lunch period.

But what she didn't realize had, in fact, gotten out, was the other secret she had entrusted to her homeroom teacher and how it would soon impact her.

When she pushed open the door to her classroom, the entire class – minus Miki, still at the infirmary, and Tomoe, who had gotten an urgent call and went somewhere quieter to answer it – suddenly turned toward her, serious expressions twisting their features into something vile and eerie, that she had never seen mark their faces so distinctively prior to the meeting. Something twisted in her gut, paralyzing her where she stood.

"Uh, what's going on everyone?" she choked out, suddenly feeling as if she had just stepped on a trap that was closing onto itself. Sweat started pouring out of her hands and on the makeup on her face.

"I dunno, think for yourself *Akko*. What do you think you did that will put all of us in trouble, hm?" a female student, Kaori, spitted out, not even bothering to look at Atsuko, but rather at her manicured nails painted in baby blue tones. The door suddenly closed behind Atsuko, and was locked. She forgot to breathe, perfectly aware of where this was going.

"I- uh, this is about Miss Sato, right?" she struggled to say, heart beating so loudly in her ears that she felt on the verge of fainting. Maybe doing so would prevent her from being subjected to anything, who knew. Before her, a male classmate slammed his hand on a desk. "Wow~ for someone with such good grades, you sure took a long time to get that. What gave it out, the fact that we look furious after getting threatened with guns for something you did?" he claimed in a sickly sweet voice.

"What do you mean, that I did?! I never took place in the rumors at all! I stayed out of it after inadvertantly starting them, that's all, unlike all of you here did! I already excused myself to Miss Sato!" Atsuko cried out in anger, the conglomerate of unfriendly students instilling blinding terror into her body. "Now you're shifting the blame on us?! Wow, I didn't know you were such a bitch Akko. Doing this to Miss Sato and then ganging up on us like this... I think she deserves to know her place, don'tcha think?" Kaori told the class, now looking straight at Atsuko as she uttered these words in the most venomous tone Akko had ever heard her speak with.

Immediately, students were grabbing her arms and legs, pinning her down as Kaori approached slowly, typing on her phone before showing it to Atsuko with a devilish smile and whispering into her ear in a tone that made shivers crawl down her spine and her face blanch with absolute terror. "Now, you're going to do everything I tell you if you don't want me to release that online, alright? Or else I'll be sure to prepare more blackmail material for you... And if I were you, I wouldn't doubt my ability to find some juicy blackmail on you, because bitches like you always have some..."

At the hospital, Katsuko was anything but relaxed. Her daughter, baby Asako, had been born a month early, though, the doctors said she was still pretty healthy, but they had to keep her for a few more weeks to monitor her health. For now, however, Asako was in her loving mother's arms.

Toshinori was taking pictures of his two favorite people, making sure he had enough to start a new memory in his scrapbook. He may not have been All Might anymore, but the grin on his face was just as big as the one he used to wear.

Katsuko looked at Toshinori. "Does Daddy want to hold is little girl?" She questioned, blinking as she watched him with a rather amused yet tired smile.

He jumped at the opportunity and set his phone down. He wasn't all too sure how to hold Asako, but when Katsuko guided him, he easily got the hang of it. He looked down at the tiny baby in his arms. He didn't care if she was tinier than she should've been, but she was here and that was what mattered to him.

Katsuko looked at Toshinori, watching him before she noticed something. He was crying. "I love you both." She sighed, actually glad to be away from school and just realize with her family.

There was a knock on the door.

"Uh, hello, sorry to disturb you, can we get in?" came Tomoe's unsure voice from the other side of the door.

Katsuko looked up and sighed. "Yes! You can come in." She quickly returned the gaze to Toshinori and Asako.

Tomoe slidded the door open, a blush covered his pale cheeks, that didn't look so pale anymore compared to the white of the hospital room. He was glancing sideaways nervously and fidgetting on the spot, a hand gripping his UA uniform. "We were told that you were staying in this room, a-and we thought that we could visit you to see how you were going..." he shyly ranted, still looking away, before he finally dared to and his eyes lit up at the sight of the tiny blonde baby his teacher. "Oh! Akko, come and see that!" He then ran to the bed to see the little baby's chubby face from closer.

Behind him, from the hallways, came Atsuko, looking somber and grim as she walked it, but her face was soon lit up with a small smile at Tomoe's antics and the little thing he was contemplating, and she stepped closer as well. "Is it a boy or girl? What are you gonna name them? Can I hold them?" Tomoe was happily asking the parents, hands held up in excitement, before he seemed to regain a form of shyness and sputtered out. "O-Oh, sorry! It may be rude of me to ask after we were the source of your hospitalization, miss. I just couldn't quite contain myself... T-Thinking that we're gonna have one of our own in a few months..."

Toshinori choked, spitting out blood, then looked at Katsuko. "What."

Katsuko waved her hand dismissively. "We'll talk about this later." She smiled and looked at Asako. "Her name's Asako Yagi. You can hold her, but only for a little while. She was born a bit early so skin contact with me is rather important."

Toshinori furrowed his brow, but nothing could ruin the good mood. Except maybe Dimitrios, but he's not here.

Tomoe nodded furiously, carefully picking the baby up with expertise, as he had done countless times with his baby siblings back at home. The habit yet didn't him from marvelling over the infant's tiny hands, ears, eyelashes and round, chubby body, barely able to move as it was. He cooed at Asako, stroking her tiny baby hair very gently, and beamed at both the adults and Atsuko with tears in his eyes.

That instant, Atsuko knew she had made the right choice. Even if it would require her to go through all the bullying in the world, she'd give this man a child so he could always smile like the sun, guiding her very steps farther from the darkness she had bathed in before meeting him.

And this, at any price.