Chapter Text
The announcement happened on a Thursday, which was unfortunate.
Because Thursday afternoons were already dangerous.
Nobody wanted to be in class nobody wanted to be responsible.
Nobody wanted to hear Aizawa speak.
Yet somehow, Aizawa continued speaking anyway, "Final evaluations conclude next week."
Silence.
"Summer placement confirmations will be distributed the week after."
More silence.
"The end-of-year beach weekend begins Friday."
The room exploded.
"No way."
"YES."
"WE'RE GOING TO THE BEACH?"
"THAT'S THE IMPORTANT PART?"
Apparently it was.
Aizawa watched the class descend into chaos with the expression of a man who had expected exactly this, Kaminari looked ready to cry.
Ashido looked ready to throw a party, Kirishima was already planning activities nobody had asked him to.
He did it anyway, "Volleyball tournament."
"No." Jirou answered immediately.
"Beach race."
"No."
"Sandcastle competition."
"Why are you like this?"
Kirishima took that as encouragement, the discussion continued for the remainder of class.
Aizawa regretted everything.
----
The dorms somehow became worse, students packed days in advance.
Ashido created a checklist.
The checklist somehow became color-coded.
Momo approved.
Nobody else survived.
Every conversation circled back to the same topic. Summer, the beach.
The future.
The fact that there were only thirty days left.
Thirty.
The number felt offensive.
Shouto found herself in Garage Three by instinct, some habits were difficult to break.
The large doors stood open.
Warm afternoon sunlight stretched across the concrete floor.
The air smelled faintly of fuel and summer.
Bakugou was already there. Of course he was.
For a moment neither spoke.
The silence settled naturally between them.
Comfortable.
Easy, built over months.
"Kirishima challenged me to beach volleyball."
Shouto looked up "Why."
"I don't know."
A pause.
"He challenged me too."
Bakugou looked offended "Why is he challenging everyone."
"Enthusiasm."
"That's a disease."
She laughed. A small one.
The kind that happened more often these days.
---
Outside, another car circled the track, the sound echoed briefly before fading away.
Summer lingered in the air now.
Visible.
Close.
The season had changed completely, no rain, no jackets.
No reason to rush back indoors.
The academy felt different beneath the sunlight.
Older somehow.
Like the year was beginning to fold itself away.
"Thirty days."
The words escaped before she realized she was saying them.
Bakugou glanced toward the monitor.
**30 DAYS REMAINING**
"Yeah."
A pause.
"That's stupid."
"It is."
Neither argued, the countdown felt objectively unreasonable.
There was simply no way an entire year had passed already, yet somehow it had.
The conversation drifted naturally after that.
Beach plans, Ferraris summer programs.
Ferrari.
The future, the usual things.
Neither seemed particularly worried about summer itself.
The academy, that was different.
The routine they'd built here that was harder to ignore.
----
Eventually the sun began dipping lower.
Golden light filled the garage, long shadows stretched across the floor.
Another day ending.
Another one gone.
The countdown continued, whether anyone liked it or not.
That night the dorm common room looked like a disaster zone.
Bags occupied every available surface, snacks covered the tables.
Kaminari had somehow packed enough food for a small nation.
Nobody questioned it. At this point they were too tired.
The class gathered together naturally, some on couches.
Some on the floor, some pretending to pack.
Most failing.
For a while the room filled with laughter.
Arguments.
Stories.
Plans for the weekend.
Normal.
Perfectly normal.
Yet every now and then, someone would glance at the countdown displayed on the television.
**29 DAYS REMAINING**
The number hung there quietly.
A reminder.
The beach trip wasn't really about the beach.
Not entirely.
It was one last chance, one last weekend before summer scattered everyone in different directions.
One last memory before first year became something they talked about instead of something they lived.
For the first time all evening, the room grew a little quieter.
Not sad.
Just thoughtful.
The realization settling over everyone at once, tomorrow wasn't just a trip.
Tomorrow was the beginning of the end.
And somehow, none of them felt ready for that.