DEER

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Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia belongs to Horikoshi Kohei

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Genre(s): Adventure/Hurt/Comfort

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Warning(s): Typo is my most loyal fan, spelling mistakes because English is not my mother language, Possibly OOC. NO BETA, so beware of grammar mistakes

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Summary: Shota thought discovering their 'Nightwalker' to be a kid was bad enough. Not to mention how the said kid is literally Quirkless, meaning the law cannot touch him.

"I don't wanna be a Hero. It's too troublesome"

And then this?

Maybe it's not too late to ask Nezu for a raise this year…

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Or, being a good citizen and stopping an illegal back-alley transaction resulted in him getting some High-Ranking Villain's attention. He didn't even raise a hand at those A-holes. Just glaring at them hard enough, they turned tail.

This second-chance of life is so not worth it. What a drag…

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Eijiro got whisked away by Utsushimi Camie to the other side of the ruined battlefield, wanting to have a private one on one fight out of curiosity. The red-haired boy was forced to leave two of his classmates to face Shisikura Seiji by themselves. Fortunately, Mina was near. She decided to help Katsuki and Denki in fighting the Shiketsu student.

Or that was her intention. When it came to the exam itself though, her gaze was split between 'making sure that creepy guy didn't come near them because, meatball human? Euurgh!' and 'what's wrong with Bakugo? He looked distracted.'

Actually, she knew. At least, had an incline of what was it that nagged the brash blonde's mind, he didn't even curse since the start of the competition. It's been a week, since the kidnapping, along with the disappearing incident of Midoriya Izuku. After the botch invasion of the Training Camp, Katsuki was the first one who was ready to fly away from the safe haven of their school and searched for his childhood friend to the end of the world. They have a hard time restraining him. And even Shota-sensei had to smack him down across the nape, forcing him to sleep. Momo's plan in rescuing the green-haired boy was shot down too when Inko asked them not to be reckless. She knew how her son work. He didn't want his classmate slash friend to get hurt because of his sake. Leave this to the professionals. Even if it took time, they'll surely save him.

(It's been a week, though. And there's still no news of him. No report, no ransom note)

Class 1-A didn't want to do any exam today, they really didn't. That heartfelt confession from Izuku caused them to questioned their choice of profession. Afraid that when they become a hero themselves, the glory and fame, the media's attention will make them forget the true meaning of being a hero.

But this is a school. They won't cancel any study schedule just because the students didn't want to be a part of it.

When Seiji attacked using clump of meats as his projectiles and it took Katsuki a second to respond, Mina had to create an acid wall to protect the absentminded boy from being caught in his Quirk, she decided. Alright.

Enough is enough.

So, she ordered Denki to be the distraction (and maimed the arrogant teen along the way, if he wanted to. He'd been talking bullcrap about UA being a weak school, couldn't even protect one of their students. Katsuki's orbs shadowed by the bangs after that comment. And electricity rolling off Denki's shoulders in agitation. Their class clown must've been itchy to smack him down a peg, if that evil smirk was any indication) while Mina tried to have a conversation with Katsuki. Ignoring blondie's aggressive protest, she dragged him down to the nearest pillar for their impromptu cover. She stared at him, looking over his figure with narrowed eyes. It seems her defense was a tad bit too late just now. One of the meats must've grazed his cheek and upper arm, judging from the blood seeping out from the graze. He really must be out of his mind, getting caught by that simple attack. Katsuki was Izuku's daily training partner, frontal attacks won't affect him too much.

The acid girl called for his name, asking if he was okay. Ignored that painful scream coming from Seiji's mouth, Denki was just having a bit too much fun electrifying him. Katsuki can talk to her now, everything will be okay. Midoriya Izuku will be okay.

Mentioning Greeny's name seems to be a bad move of her part, however. As Katsuki let out a random pop of his Quirk, jolting her away from his personal attention. Eyebrows drew closer, teeth gnashed in annoyance and…is that tear on his eyes?

Katsuki? Crying? That brash, swearing all the time, and stubborn like a brick…is crying?

Mina was torn between worry and disbelief.

"How?" Katsuki croaked, brittle and almost heart-wrenching, the pink-skinned girl gulped. The sound of the battle happening behind them was forgotten. Like the world decided to mute every sound around and for them to concentrated on their private conversation. He opened and closed his palm in an attempt to calm himself down but to no avail. It only made his explosive even bigger. Uncontrollable, "how can he be okay if that fucking bastard gets ahold of him? UA promised. That as long as Izu attended this school, then he'll be okay. That that man will never, ever lay a hand on him."

"But look! UA failed and Izu is now GONE!" Katsuki screamed. To Mina or to the UA staff, who were watching the exam from the hidden camera, she didn't know. The eyes kept getting redder and redder. The tears never fall, his pride didn't allow it to, "they failed to protect him. I failed to protect him," he hiccupped, then choked on his own breath, "some fucking friend that I am. Can't even be a pillar for him to hold onto. Didn't even know about his past. Did he—"

"Did he even consider me as his friend in the first place?"

As Katsuki dashed past her and blasted through the air, helping Denki in subduing Seiji by using the power-up uppercut, Mina could only stand in shock.

They never knew the reason why Izuku attended UA. He may wear the school uniform, yet he was never a student. He never joined their classes, he usually busy with his own work, extremely chummy with UA's staff, especially the headmaster. She knew Izuku is a weird kid. Although she didn't mind about it and guessed that he was just shy. That he wasn't serious about his hatred towards the Hero-Villain society, stuck in his emo phase like Hitoshi does (the purple-haired teen denied this vehemently).

Then the breakdown on the live broadcast happened. And Katsuki's word echoed.

Are... Are the villains who killed Izuku's friend still searching for him? To discard the last piece of evidence of their wrongdoing? Was that why the greenette was here? That, in a pretense of being a student of a Hero school, he is hiding from the cruelty of the world?

Did…did the disappearance of Izuku was because they managed to capture him?

Is Izuku dead?

Mina shook her head hard. No. No, no, no. Izuku is strong. He won't go down that easy. He'll definitely, surely be okay.

(Or so she hoped)

(Please, please. Be okay)

But then what happened? Now that UA's version of protective custody had failed, the skeptical must've come back full force. About whether the staff could care for him or not. Does Izuku want to be saved by the heroes after this? Knowing that they didn't do anything when his (late) friends were asking for help. They weren't there when he needed them the most. What chance it will be that they'll care about him now that he was gone?

Does he want his friends—his new friends—to save him, even? To be there with him? When Izuku never even talked about his traumatic experience to his oldest, closest, childhood friend?

That must be lonely, she thought as she nudged the unconscious Seiji with her foot, she surreptitiously watched Denki thanking Katsuki for the save. To be surrounded by a bunch of people but never confided in them.

Ashido Mina swore right there and then. That she'll be a hero. Even if Izuku will push her away because of her title, not trusting her genuine offer because of the past betrayal, she swore.

That she'll save him from the darkness of the ravine of night terror.

And maybe…maybe she could save Katsuki too.

(Beneath all the bravado and overconfidence, he really just wanted to relieve his friend from all the painful burden)

(A/N): You are, Bakugo. You are Izu's friend. Don't worry about it TwT

Small detail: Because Yoarashi knew that Todoroki was a victim of abuse by his own father. And it was clear from Todoroki's talk about saving IzuShika that he actually cares and not as cold as his father was, Yoarashi's view toward him changes. He immediately apologized to him at the very first chance they met, have a fair fight, and got their hero license. Bakugo too.