The sun cast bright rays from where it hung in the sky bathing the playground in a pleasant warmth. Cicadas and birds alike were chirping loudly. The beautiful day did nothing to change the scene going on at the edge of said playground where a little girl stood with tears in her eyes, hands balled into angry fists even as she trembled with fear and struggled to keep her voice even. She had to sound brave if she would ever be a hero. "That's mean, Kacchan! You made him cry!" A round boy was cowering behind her as she faced his attackers on his behalf. Kacchan was small, they were all only children after all. He stared blankly at her heroics, clearly unimpressed. "I-If you keep hurting him, I-I'll st-stop you myself!" Pathetic. His lips quirked into a wicked smirk.
"You want to play at being a hero?" He knew the boys behind him were activating their quirks, proud of their individualities and eager to show them off, not that he was terribly different in that regard. His quirk was the strongest and the most impressive. That made him the best. He slammed his fist against his palm, activating a threatening blast of fire in the process. "You think you stand a chance without a quirk, Deku?" The question was rhetorical. They all knew she didn't. That didn't mean any of them would go easy on her. People were not created equal. Laying on the ground, beaten and bruised, it was a lesson Izuku learned well, but all the same refused to accept.
Katsuki hadn't spoken to Deku since the sludge incident. In fact he'd been avoiding her altogether since then. He was generally trying to not think about his soulmate at all and, with every passing day, was proving less and less successful. The scourge of his existence herself was making it increasingly difficult to ignore her. It was the little things. Suddenly she was sitting up straighter, wearing her hair up in a myriad of colorful ties, working out discreetly during class, and scribbling away furiously in her notebooks. He knew they weren't class notes. They were always in that dumb, charred Hero Notebook of hers. The sight of crisp edges made him feel sick. Everything about her made him feel sick. Worst of all was the glimmer in her eyes that hadn't been there since they were children, dreaming of being hero partners. Together against the world. Why hadn't she given up after what happened? How was it that she seemed more determined than ever to be a hero? He couldn't wrap his head around it. The ordeal had made him feel powerless. It had made him realize he wasn't even strong enough to defend himself, let alone Deku. The whole thing had proven how little either of them could do in the face of even one real villain. So why and how did shitty, useless Deku seem to think that as powerless as she was, she could still be a hero? He couldn't fathom it. She was going to wind up hurt and broken, and it was infuriating that the thought of her like that bothered him as much as it did. Regardless he refused to be shown up by her. If she wasn't giving up, he sure as hell wasn't either. If she was training all day, he'd train even harder.
As if to make matters worse his soulmark was still in full bloom. The vines that had brought constant pain for years, had receded. They weren't gone, but they were smaller than ever before and additionally hidden under the multicolored foliage of Deku's flowers. What had changed? Why, all of a sudden, was his soulmark different when nothing between him and Deku had happened? The only difference was that he wasn't bullying her anymore, and thus their classmates largely seemed to stop as well, but the flowers had come back before then, the day of the sludge incident. Like a switch had been flipped. Logically he knew that whatever it was that his mark actually represented was what had changed, but he'd never known what they meant in the first place. He hadn't cared to know. He didn't want to know. So, much as he was trying and failing to ignore his soulmate herself, he tried, and largely failed, not to think about his mark.
He'd been training like a man possessed. It was the only thing that could keep thoughts of her out of his head for more than a few minutes. Besides that, it was something productive to put his energy into. He was brimming with confidence. Today was the day. The day of the UA Entrance Exam. He was going to prove how much stronger he was now. He'd never be useless like he'd been back then ever again. He'd never let himself feel helpless ever again. Today was the day he started on his journey to being a hero. People were going to look back and say that he stood out from the start, from this day onward. He was so fucking ready. Nothing could dampen his mood.
Nothing but seeing obnoxiously familiar green curls in front of the testing facility. She'd fucking done it. Deku had actually signed up for and was taking the entrance exam. Did she have any clue how dangerous this thing was supposed to be? So much for being calm and cool, now he was just plain infuriated. If there was one word to describe how he thought of her, that would probably be it. Infuriating. "Outta my way, Deku!" She jumped, reflexively moving out of his way as he stormed past her. "Don't stand in my way. I'll kill you." He could see her arms flailing out of the corner of his eye and heard her stammering out some sort of apology and wishing him luck. Dumbass. This was a competition. What kind of idiot wishes their competitors luck? Of course he knew Deku was that kind of idiot; he'd expect nothing less from her, really. There were murmurs and whispers on either side of him, too. Extras gossiping about if he was really the kid from the sludge incident, how amazing he'd been. Katsuki wished everyone would stop being so impressed by that. He'd been a hostage, nothing more. Just another victim. He hadn't done anything to warrant praise or respect. Yet. Wait and see. He was going to blow them all away from here on out.
He wasn't really sure how, but he'd managed to wind up next to Deku once he got into the auditorium. He was still racking his brain over how exactly this fucking happened when some blond guy showed up on stage and started talking. Deku was mumbling about Present Mic and the radio, "Shut up." Her voice was grating and he really didn't need to hear it on top of Present Mic. Present Mic was supposed to be a pretty good Pro, but Katsuki wasn't terribly impressed by his work. He was no All Might. Present Mic went about explaining the practical exam, "-you'll head to the assigned battle areas." Katsuki suddenly felt a lump in his throat. He looked down at his registration card before glancing to his side at Deku as she looked at her own.
"He's right. Even though our numbers are consecutive, we're in different blocks." He suddenly felt his shoulders relax despite not having noticed he'd tensed up in the first place. He'd never even considered that they might have to face each other in the entrance exam. Suddenly realizing they didn't have to after all was oddly relieving as much as it was somewhat disappointing. The prospect of not having to directly compete with her wasn't something he knew if he liked or disliked, but the thought of her in a battle, even a mock battle, was unnerving. She'd be a distraction if she were anywhere near him. Deku would only be a hindrance to his shining success. Yes, that was it. He was glad they weren't in the same block because she would get in his way. The only downside was that he wouldn't be able to watch her fail. Even with that thought, though, his gut twisted. He wouldn't be there when she was in danger. The thought didn't sit well with him, but he brushed it aside. It didn't matter what happened to his soulmate. He didn't need her to be a hero.
"Excuse me, sir! May I ask a question?" Katsuki's eyes darted over to where a spotlight appeared over some tall, blocky looking kid as he spoke. "On the printout there are four types of villains, not three. If this is an error on official UA documents than it is a shameful mistake." What a prick. The blocky kid kept rambling for a bit before turning around suddenly and pointing right at him. "-You! With the curly hair!" Oh. He was pointing at Deku. She jumped slightly beside him, looking anxious and confused. Somehow Katsuki was mad. No, he was furious. The fuck did this square think he was? Picking on Deku like that- he was the only one allowed to do that! No, wait that wasn't right either. Whatever. He was pissed, but Rectangles didn't seem to notice the daggers being glared into him as he continued, "You've been muttering this entire time. If you cannot bother to take this seriously then you should leave posthaste. You're distracting the rest of us." He saw Deku clap her hands over her mouth, cheeks turning pink as the auditorium broke out in laughter. Something ugly twisted in his gut as he realized this was exactly like what had happened the day of the sludge incident during class. Izuku had been called out, by him, for wanting to be a hero. He'd accused her of not taking it seriously, and everyone had laughed. This revelation only served to make him angrier. A bitter reminder of what he'd done to her. Deku was still pathetic and useless, but he doubted anybody else in this room had thrown themselves at some hentai monster for someone who only ever treated them like shit. This wasn't a joke to her. He ground his teeth as he turned away. Being near Deku only ever served to get him riled up. He didn't need to be wasting energy on getting mad for her, especially not when she wasn't even willing to stand up for herself anyway. He had to ace this test. He was aiming for first place, and he was determined to get it. He turned and left the auditorium along with the rest of the shuffling crowd, leaving Deku behind somewhere in the masses of other UA hopefuls. That's all she was. A hopeful who wouldn't get in. He had to leave her behind.
Katsuki was wrong. Again. He was going to kill her for proving him wrong. Again. Deku had gotten accepted into UA. He hadn't a fucking clue how, but she'd done it. Part of him, some very small part of him that he would continue to willfully ignore, was impressed beyond belief that quirkless Deku had managed to compete on the same level of hundreds of other kids with powerful quirks and beat them back to stand at the top among the best of the best. She really was competing on the same level as him. Since he was ignoring how impressed he was by this though, Katsuki chose to be pissed about it instead. Pissed and confused. Yes, that was better than being impressed. After all he was used to being angry and perplexed by the curly-haired menace. Being impressed by her was new, like the flowers stretching further across his skin than they had even when they were children. He didn't like new. He'd take the familiar hatred and annoyance. So he told himself.
His parents had insisted on celebrating his acceptance ever since he got the news, but he had no interest in some dumbass party his parents put together to get drunk with their friends and brag about their precious son. He'd rather gag on a spoon. Although he needed a distraction rather desperately. Something- anything at this point- to keep his mind off Deku. He hated that he couldn't get her out of his head lately. WIth any luck she wouldn't be in his class at least. Instead of subjecting himself to his parents' celebratory bullshit, Katsuki decided to take a walk. Try to clear his head. The walk turned into a jog not long after he left the house. Just as well, he had to keep up his training. Getting accepted was just the first step, and he was going to have to keep getting stronger from here on out. Someday he was going to be even better than All Might, and that wasn't about to happen without some hard work on his part. Katsuki knew he was a prodigy, he wasn't dumb enough to think that natural talent alone would keep him ahead of his peers. At least not anymore. That damned sludge bastard had cleared up any misconceptions about that. Katsuki glanced around to see where his run had brought him and let out a sigh at the sight. It was the boardwalk. The beach, that had for as long as he could remember, been covered in literal mountains of junk, was clear. The waves rolling up on the beach accompanied by the soft pastels that streaked across the sky in the late hours of the day made a picturesque image. He heard some seagulls squawk as they circled around and took a deep breath, tasting the salt in the air. Whoever'd cleaned up the shitshow of a beach had done a great job. It was beautiful and serene. Maybe he'd come out here more often in the future. He could probably adjust the route he took for his morning run to take him past this spot. He might be able to catch the sunrise if he did that. It could be nice. Katsuki closed his eyes and muttered a quick thank you to whoever cleaned up the beach before spinning on his heel and starting the run back toward his house. His mom was probably already a few glasses deep which meant he wouldn't have to deal with her cooing and pinching his cheeks in front of her friends as she had a habit of doing. She really was so annoying sometimes.
Fuck.
By the time the first day of school rolled around Katsuki was itching to start. He felt a bit like his first day of school when he'd been little, eager to meet people and compare quirks. Naturally he knew his would be the best as it always was, but still, maybe at UA his peers wouldn't be quite as pathetic as before. He woke up early, scrubbed his teeth clean, and pulled on the UA uniform. The gray blazer and pants were lame, but he looked fine anyway. There was a tie that he didn't even bother with and then he yanked his shoes on and headed out the door as his mother came bustling out to try and kiss him and say something stupid. She misses out on the kiss but still managed to shout after him, "Don't fuck up! These kids don't know what an asshat you are so try to put in an effort towards making some friends for once!" Katsuki rolled his eyes, who cared if he made friends or not? They were all going to be his rivals, and he was wholeheartedly ready to grind each and every one of them to dust under his heel.
By the time he reached UA he was still a tad on the earlier side, but whatever. He could scope out the competition. He leisurely made his way to the gigantic entrance to class 1-A while observing the huddles of students moving around him and through the halls. A few noticed him and murmured about him being the kid from the sludge incident to their friends. After the third time that happened he was too pissed off to pay attention to anyone else so just stormed the rest of the way to his classroom, angrily throwing the door open and taking a seat far away near a window. The handful of students already there spared him no more than a glance before returning to either their inane chatter or sitting there quietly. Gratefully none seemed to make any connection between him and the incident, or if they did, none made to comment on it.
After sitting there and letting some of his frustrations simmer down he looked to his peers. Only one or two more had walked in since his own arrival, and they were only half the class now at most. The rest would probably show up in the next 10 minutes or so, as class was meant to start in just under 15. There weren't many that stood out, just a spiky haired redhead and a girl with an unnaturally large ponytail. Oh. And that guy. He didn't recognize him or the ponytailed chick during the entrance exam, though he had seen the redhead. The boy that caught his attention was difficult not to notice if only due to his dual colored hair. One half was a crisp, snowy white while the other was a vivid red. His eyes, much like his hair, were mismatched and most noticeable of all was the blotchy red scar that covered half his face. The scar itself nearly matched his hair in shade and only made his blue eye stand out that much more among the sea of bloody red scar tissue. If this boy had been at the exam, Katsuki is sure he would have seen him. That meant he was some fucking elite. He'd gotten in on recommendation then. There were supposed to be two kids that got in that way per class. He immediately hated him. What was so special about this half-and-half bastard? Katsuki placed him on the top of his list of people to crush.
He propped his feet up onto his desk as he hung his head back, thinking. What if Deku was in his class? Would he crush her along with the rest? It wouldn't be difficult. He could probably just sit back and watch her fail miserably all on her own. Did he want to see her fail?
"Please remove your feet from that desk immediately."
Katsuki cracked one of his eyes open to glare at the source of the demanding tone. It was the blocky glasses dick that yelled at Deku in the auditorium. He ground his teeth. This guy was on his list, too. "Don't feel like it."
Rectangles' mouth hung open like a gaping fish. Was it really so hard to believe someone would no to him? Katsuki smirked inwardly. Rectangles tried again, more aggressively, "Take your feet off that desk!"
"Haah?" Rectangles' face was turning all sorts of interesting colors.
"Don't you think that's disrespectful to our upperclassmen and to the school?!"
Well that was just stupid. How was his kicking back while waiting for their teacher to show the fuck up disrespectful? "Nope," then something clicked, "What school'd you come from? They shove a stick up your ass or were you just born with it?" Katsuki could feel the eyes of everyone is the room on the two of them by now. It was probably just about the whole class at this point, the teacher would be showing up in a few minutes, but he didn't care. This guy was pissing him off. Acting all high and mighty- he'd been the same back in the auditorium- jumping to conclusions about UA and about Deku.
Rectangles seemed to pause and took a moment to look at him as if he were measuring him up. "Let's start over. I'm Tenya Iida." He stuck out his hand to shake and Katsuki peered at it suspiciously. Introductions aside, he didn't like this guy. Didn't like the way he looked or talked or walked or felt. "I attended Somei Private Academy-"
"Somei?" There it was. The reason this prat thought he was so much better than him and Deku. "You're a damn elite! Bet you think you're better than me! I'm gonna have fun crushing you!"
"You would threaten your own classmate? Are you sure you're aiming to be a hero?" Katsuki scoffed at him and turned away. Turned right into big, blinking green eyes. His eyes widened at the sight of her. Deku's hair was tied up neatly with one of her stupid ribbons. It was a bright red, matching her sloppily done tie and those bulky red sneakers she always insisted on. The blazer wrapped neatly around her small body and the uniform skirt hung just so. Not that he was paying any attention whatsoever to how cute she looked in the uniform. None at all. All the same his heart stuttered in his chest at the sight of her. She was looking at them, him and Rectangles, looking somewhere between exasperated and terrified. Right. This bastard had yelled at her earlier, so she was probably scared of him.
"It's you!" His head snapped to the side at Rectangles' voice. Deku seemed frozen to the spot by the door, gaping like a fish. "Good morning!" Rectangles started towards her and Katsuki felt his legs twitch, ready to chase after him, but he stayed put instead. "I am from Somei Private Academy! I-"
"I-I heard all that! I'm Izuku Midoriya. It's very nice to meet you." Why the hell was she being so polite to him? Why was she always such a complete and total pussy? This guy had been a jerk to her before, so why was she playing nice?
Rectangles started going off about her realizing something about the exam, but not a lick of it made sense. He stared on in bafflement at the two of them, the chaotic interaction only becoming stranger upon the arrival of some round faced girl that seemed to know Deku. The two of them started twirling around like a couple of buffoons until Deku screamed. She didn't go eep or anything like when he used to bully her. She screamed. His fingers clenched at the edge of the desk as she stooped down, clutching her arms to her body. What was wrong with her? Rectangles was crouched in front of her worriedly, only serving to further make Katsuki want to bash his four-eyed face in.
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you! Gosh I was so excited, I didn't think I grabbed you that hard! I'm so, so sorry!"
"No, I'm fine, really. You didn't hurt me." But she still looked like she was in pain. Deku glanced around the classroom before standing up. The trio seemed to be chattering again and he shook his head. He didn't care about any of them. The teacher was going to be late if they didn't show up soon.
It was immediately after this thought that the condescending worm showed up, proclaimed himself their teacher, and told them all to put on the track uniforms and meet outside. Good. He was ready to get started crushing these extras.
So once or twice a month seems to be as consistent as I can manage. That said, I'll try to make it at least twice a month instead of once. Also! This is only Part 1 of Chapter 10! I just figured, it is about as long as most of my individual chapters are already, and you guys deserve and update! This is mostly just recap of everything so far, but from Kacchan's POV. The rest of chapter 10 will cover the quirk test, their battle simulation, and that moment they have afterwards where Deku tried to explain the quirk situation. I'm going to hopefully have it to you soon. My work schedule has been keeping me busy, but after labor day, we're only open 3 days a week, so I won't be full-time anymore. That should help speed things along. I have, against my better judgement, been writhing all sorts of stuff for future chapters, so as a fun heads-up, know that you'll be getting another All Might chapter as well as a Todoroki chapter. The Todoroki chapter is the one that's the furthest along right now, but that's still a while away chronologically.
As usual, thanks to absolutely everyone who commented. Like I said, I've been busy, so I haven't gotten to respond to people through PM like usual, so here goes.
KookierThanFiction - Yes! That is definitely already happening on Kacchan's end, largely because he is a piece of garbage. The garbage king of misinterpreting absolutely everything about Izuku.
A shout out to that one guest who always just comments with 'update'. You are the light of my life.
Also shout out to that guest that tried to link me to fem!Deku art even though the links didn't work! Your effort is appreciated!
Lazyreader288 - Thanks a bunch! To keep things vague, Deku's dad is a mystery, Todo is just an awkward asshole baby, and Izuku loves cooking for everyone. Also thanks so much for the critical review. I always worry my paragraphs aren't long enough, especially because of the way things look once uploaded to . I'll try to keep in mind that walls of text are a chore to read because I can definitely see that being a problem.
flowerpower55 - Thanks for commenting! That seems to be the general consensus so far as far as shipping goes. Since I'm multi-shipper garbage, and personally a Poly person, OT3 is still a pretty viable ending, so don't lose hope. There's no telling where I'm going to steer this flaming garbage train of a story.
D0uble - Thank you. Just thank you. I laughed for I kid you not like minimum 5 minutes straight at your comment. Ya Bastard!
Ganrano - Def going to have Kacchan and Deku fight, but I do plan on mixing up their partners. Id you have any ideas for that, let me know! (That goes for anyone else, too)
Jaravic - Your comments have lead to a whole Dad Might excursion coming up soon, this is all your fault, please enjoy it.
Sachi Kameko- I'm so glad that you like my Katsuki portrayal! I think he's one of the trickier characters to write, but I hope I do him justice. This chapter especially I worry he might be OOC. That said thanks for the critique! It's a solid point. Almost everyone reading this had already read or watched the series, so I probably don't have to labor through too much of the canon. There will be some original content coming up, so I hope you will enjoy that!
viovel - Shout out for being the only one to care about poor, sweet Ochako in the reviews! Also Endeavor is certainly going to have words.
MylaUchiha- I'm going to try to give everyone a happy ending! Except Mineta. I might kill him.
SnowyWyvern - I hadn't even thought of that! It would have been golden! Someone should write that story, since it's not the direction this one is headed. I definitely like the idea though.
OKAY, I think that's about everyone that needed a response of some sort. As always, pleas, please, PLEASE feel free to send me ideas for this story, or others, and always feel free to chat me up. I'm always happy to receive critique, so long as it actually is constructive (as in you tell me something I'm doing and a way to potentially make it better. Again, Thanks to Lazyreader288 and Sachi Kameko for their critiques, and to everyone else for telling me what they like about the story! Comments are the surest way to a fic writer's heart!