Chapter Text
Nobody noticed winter ending.
One day it was raining, the next it wasn't.
And somehow, somewhere in between, an entire school year had disappeared.
The realization arrived on a Monday morning.
Unfortunately, it arrived in the form of a countdown.
**43 DAYS REMAINING**
The number appeared on every academy screen at exactly eight o'clock.
Hallways, classrooms, training facilities, common rooms.
Everywhere.
By lunch, the entire school was losing its mind.
Class 1-A included.
----
"No." Kaminari stared at the screen like it had personally betrayed him.
"No?" Aizawa looked up from his coffee.
"No." "Compelling argument."
"We just got here."
"You've been saying that since February."
"Because it's true."
"It objectively isn't." Kaminari looked wounded, Aizawa looked tired.
Nobody was surprised.
The countdown remained.
The students suffered, life continued.
----
The strange thing wasn't the number, not really.
It was what the number represented.
Forty-three days.
Forty-three mornings in the dorms.
Forty-three days of classes.
Forty-three days of seeing everyone every day before summer scattered them in different directions, the future had stopped being abstract.
It had become measurable.
Suddenly everyone talked about summer.
Constantly.
Lunch became discussions about internships, training programs, vacation plans, family trips, career goals and future opportunities.
Nobody seemed capable of discussing anything else.
Even the group chat wasn't safe.
Especially the group chat.
Kaminari discovered countdown stickers, Ashido encouraged him.
The situation escalated immediately.
Meanwhile, Shouto's phone had developed a routine of its own, one that had somehow become completely normal.
'Garage?'
'Five minutes.'
Or:
'Meeting moved.'
'Saw.'
Or:
'Track closed.'
'I know.'
Tiny conversations.
Barely conversations at all, yet they happened almost every day.
Without effort.
Without thought.
Like muscle memory.
----
Months ago she would've found that strange, now she barely noticed.
The messages simply existed.
Part of the day.
Part of the routine.
Unfortunately, Ashido noticed.
Of course she did Ashido noticed everything.
It happened during lunch.
One notification appeared on Shouto's screen.
Just one.
Ashido saw the name.
Then immediately smiled a dangerous smile.
"What."
"I didn't say anything."
"You were going to."
"I absolutely was."
"Don't."
"No promises."
The conversation ended only because Bakugou walked into the cafeteria.
Ashido immediately forgot how to function.
Again.
----
Friday arrived faster than it should have, the weather had changed completely.
No rain.
No heavy jackets.
No excuses to stay indoors.
Spring had quietly become early summer.
Garage Three stood open to the afternoon sunlight.
Warm air drifted through the building the distant sound of engines echoed from the track.
Everything felt calmer somehow.
Shouto sat on her usual toolbox Bakugou occupied his usual workbench.
Neither was technically working.
A recurring issue.
For a while they simply existed in the comfortable silence they'd built over the year.
No pressure to fill it.
No reason to.
Then her eyes drifted toward one of the monitors mounted near the door.
**36 DAYS REMAINING**
The number looked wrong, far too small.
She stared at it "That's weird."
Bakugou glanced up "What is."
"The countdown."
A pause.
"Yeah."
Nothing else.
No explanation.
No elaboration.
Somehow he understood immediately, the number wasn't sad.
It wasn't exciting.
It was just...
strange.
---
The year had become something finite.
Something that could be counted. Neither liked it.
Outside, a car passed along the track, the sound faded into the distance.
Summer came up eventually.
It always did now.
People leaving, programs, placements, plans.
The future.
"You still doing Ferrari?" Shouto asked.
"Yeah." the answer came instantly.
Without hesitation, without thought.
Something eased in her chest.
Immediately.
She hated that he noticed because of course he did.
"You?"
"Yeah."
A pause.
"Good."
The word settled between them.
Simple, ordinary.
Yet somehow it felt important.
Neither commented on it.
The conversation moved on, as it always did.
Thirty-six days.
Then thirty-five.
Then thirty-four.
The countdown continued.
The year continued.
Life continued.
Yet for the first time, Shouto found herself paying attention.
To the garage, to the track.
To the people around her.
To the routine she'd built without noticing.
Because suddenly it had an ending.
Later that evening, she crossed campus beneath a sky painted gold by the setting sun.
Students filled the walkways, some talking, some laughing.
Planning for futures that seemed to be arriving far too quickly.
Her phone vibrated.
One message.
Bakugou.
'35 now.'
She stopped walking.
Stared at the screen, then laughed softly.
Because somehow he had understood exactly what she meant earlier.
The countdown, the weirdness.
The feeling that everything was moving too fast.
Without thinking, she typed back.
'Still illegal.'
The reply arrived almost immediately.
'Agreed.'
For a moment she stared at the conversation.
At how normal it felt.
Then she locked her phone and continued walking.
Above the academy, the last light of spring slowly disappeared beyond the horizon, and for the first time all year, summer felt close enough to touch.