Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Bakugo Expelled
Chapter ten: What he was up to in the meantime
Katsuki Bakugo felt rather annoyed that he had extended time off from his classes over at Vulcan High. He looked up at the ceiling in his bedroom, having finished his off-time studies to make sure he didn't fall behind the standard set by the hero academy that had kicked him out. It was a matter that still made him sore, how U.A. chose an unrepentant pervert over him, but at this point how much the matter made him sore was becoming less and less of a bother, given that a lot of his contacts at U.A, still had his back.
Honestly, the only parts that still grinded on the explosive teen were how that aloof assfuck Aizawa, in his high and mighty infallible attitude, said during the recent tournament between Vulcan and U.A. that Bakugo was a 'lost cause', as well as how the aforementioned unrepentant pervert not only got off scot-fucking-free, but had clearly shown that he had not learned his lesson from when Bakugo and Todoroki had shit-stomped him in the U.A. cafeteria that fateful day. Seriously, where was the justice in all of that assholery, Bakugo asked?
Bakugo rolled over on his bed to look to the side of his bedroom where his closet was located, giving an annoyed scowl. The explosive teen missed all the good that the top hero academy had for him. How he got to regularly see his circle of friends, known collectively as the Baku-squad. How he would be in the same school as his now girlfriend Pony, the cutest girl that ever lived. He was at Vulcan while she was at U.A., away from him and his ability to safeguard her from the perverted intentions of that-
*Knock* *Knock*
Bakugo perked up when he heard his dad Masaru knock on the door. "Hey Katsuki, are you available to talk, son?" the brown-haired man called from the other side. The ashy-haired teen called out for his dad to come in while he sat up on his bed. The bedroom door opened, and Masaru walked in. "Sorry to bother you, sport, but that girlfriend of yours is actually down in the living room asking for you," Masaru said.
Bakugo instantly came to attention when his father mentioned that Pony came by to see him. Masaru went into further detail that the half-American girl had brought some of her friends from school with her. Curious, Bakugo got up and left his bedroom, followed by his father. Heading down the stairs, the explosive teen did indeed find Pony waiting for him. The other girls that were in U.A.'s class 1-B were there as well, all of them dressed casually.
"Vulcan High must be pretty generous in handing out time off to its students," Itsuka remarked, an amused look on her face as she and the other 1-B girls watched Bakugo finish going down the stairs and make his way over to them.
Bakugo gave an annoyed scoff. "Principal Hojo is freaking out because of a stomach flu bug that's going around the student populace, mostly because her precious little princeling is one of the students who caught it."
Pointing to Bakugo, Itsuka continued, "Well it's actually a good thing that your school has a tendency to give time off to students, because the girls here and I need your help with a little something that we want to do, something that we want to set up for when your class-" Itsuka suddenly winced out of embarrassment, realizing what she had said. "-Sorry, I mean your former class, gets back from their field trip to the United States."
The explosive teen didn't necessarily like to be reminded about how he had been kicked out of Japan's top hero academy, but he wasn't going to hold Itsuka's slip-up against her. Instead, he merely gestured to Itsuka. "So what does all of this have to do with me?"
"I wonder if you like to help me and girls with big something we do for 1-A," Pony said, "You know them better than me or any in 1-B. You can help make big something more special."
Bakugo understood what his girlfriend was getting at; he did know everyone in class 1-A, with the exception of his practical replacement Shinso, better than most if not all of class 1-B. He'd be able to provide an insight on his former classmates that the girls of 1-B could definitely make use of in order to make their surprise all the more special for 1-A when they got back home to Japan. There was one thing, however, that Bakugo wanted to know.
"Why are you going to do what I assume will be throwing a party for my former class's return from their field trip? I'm just curious."
The 1-B girls all looked a bit uncomfortable as they regarded one another, before Setsuna said, "Well, when our class got back from our international field trip, we were all pretty shaken up by what we had experienced. Your former class had done a lot to help us feel better, help us get over what had happened." Shrugging, Setsuna went on, "We…just wanted to pay them back for the courtesy that they had shown us."
The other 1-B girls all concurred with what Setsuna had said, with Pony adding that part of the reason she wanted to include Bakugo in the process of setting up something special for 1-A is due to how he comforted and reassured her when she was rattled and came to see him for any measure of reassurance and feelings of safety that he would offer her. Bakugo found himself appreciating the reasoning the 1-B girls had, and he felt a little bit proud of himself to learn that what he did for Pony when she felt scared had done as much as it did.
Cracking his neck, Bakugo remarked, "Well let me get some shoes on before I go with you girls." The 1-B girls were elated to know that they had gotten the explosive teen to come along with them on the excursion that they would go on to get what they need to set up the special thing for class 1-A for when they got back from the United States. There were some feelings of regret among the 1-B girls that Bakugo, who was not a U.A. student anymore, would not be able to take part in said special something himself.
Although Bakugo, in a way, was going to be taking part, given that he was being brought along as something of an expert consultant to help the 1-B girls get what they needed to make things all the more sweeter for when 1-B's rival class returned to Japan.
The first thing that the 1-B girls wanted to do was get the necessary snacks and sodas for what Bakugo knew all along was going to be a party. The typical party fare was a generally accepted idea, but Bakugo was able to help the 1-B girls make things more personalized for his former classmates, at least to the extent that he knew about the ones outside of his squad. For those in the Baku-squad, the explosive teen was able to provide exact details on what they liked, which allowed the 1-B girls to pick out a few specialized options for them.
"Yeah, if you girls want to try and spring for one of those chicken wing platters, then get at least one of the buffalo chicken wing platters," Bakugo explained, "Mina's been on a bit of a buffalo chicken kick as of late, and the boys can tolerate that level of hotness." Bakugo held his hands behind his head, his fingers locked into each other. "I like buffalo chicken myself, although most options that I find tend to be a bit on the mild side for my tastes personally." The 1-B girls all gave the ashy-haired teen curious looks, aside from Pony who had seen the levels of hotness and spiciness that her boyfriend can wolf down without complaint.
It actually impressed the half-American girl, if she were to be honest with herself. She had seen some pepper-eating contests in her youth while she was in the United States, and she bet that Bakugo would be able to place very high, if not flat out win, such a contest no problem.
A few chicken wing platters, including one with buffalo chicken wings, were picked up. A number of other party foods were collected as well, with Bakugo suggesting to get a few sweet items because the guy who liked to bake sweets (Bakugo forgot his name) would like it. After that came picking out the selection of sodas. In the soda aisle of the food store that Bakugo and the 1-B went to, he was asked by Kinoko if there was a specific soda that Eijiro liked.
"Kinoko," Ibara began, getting both Kinoko and Bakugo to turn to face her, "Who is this Eijiro fellow that you speak of again? I'm sorry, but I don't recall there being someone in 1-A by that-"
"She's talking about Kirishima, Vine Hair," Bakugo said to the devout Christian of 1-B while he jerked a thumb at Kinoko, "Kirishima's first name is Eijiro." Turning back to face Kinoko, the ashy-haired teen said, "First off, Kirishima's favorite soda is Sunhoney Root Beer. He has a sort of connoisseur-level of appreciation for that specific brand of root beer, even going so far as to get a glass root beer mug with the soda's logo on it, the kind of mugs you see at those Sunhoney restaurants over in the States."
Kinoko nodded in appreciation to Bakugo for the information, and she immediately turned around to look for a twelve-pack of Sunhoney Root Beer. However, the mushroom expert was immediately turned back around when Bakugo placed a hand on her shoulder from behind and spun her back around to face him. He gave Kinoko a look that was thirty percent suspicious and seventy percent curious.
"…Second off, what's with the extensive interest in Kirishima? Every time we look for a specific thing for the party you girls are throwing for 1-A, you ask me for what thing along those lines Kirishima would like. Also, whenever you mention Kirishima, you always refer to him by his first name." The explosive teen crossed his arms over his chest, gave Kinoko a serious look as he looked down at her. "I don't suppose that there's something that you would like to share with the rest of us here, is there Shrooms?"
Kinoko felt a bit nervous under Bakugo's expectant look, unable to respond to his questions as she was blushing profusely while trying to stammer out something that vaguely resembled a verbal answer. Luckily for Kinoko, Pony stepped in, a knowing and mildly amused look on her face as she got her boyfriend's attention. "Kinoko say she very much in love with Kirishima, wants him to like her like how you like me." Kinoko let out an embarrassed yelp as she covered her face with her hands, further highlighting the aura of embarrassment she was giving off.
Bakugo, for his part, looked utterly surprised. "…You're kidding me. Shrooms here has a crush on Kirishima? Huh." The explosive teen crossed his arms over his chest, a look of contemplation on his face. "…He may actually be ecstatic to hear that a girl likes him."
"Huh?" Kinoko remarked, surprised to hear what Bakugo had said.
Turning to face the 1-B girls as a whole, Bakugo explained, "The truth is that Kirishima doesn't feel all that confident about himself when it comes to getting a girl to like him. Invisible Girl did him no favors at all by saying that his room at the U.A. dorms would place second in a contest of rooms that girls wouldn't want their boyfriends to have." Bakugo gently shook his head, showing a level of disappointment that stemmed from seeing someone trample over the feelings of a close friend of his.
Looking to the 1-B girls, Kinoko specifically, Bakugo went on, "Kirishima actually wants to try and win over a girl's feelings, to have what other boys at U.A. such as Deku, Bird Head and Tail Boy have. Rest assured that Kirishima won't be a perverted fuck like about it that perverted fuck Grape Head, given that Kirishima said that, and I'm quoting him on this one, 'it's a totally un-manly way to behave towards girls'."
"Well I would figure that he'd be a gentleman to his girlfriend if he ever got one," Itsuka remarked as she crossed her arms over her chest, a mildly amused smile on her face, "After all, I overheard him saying that being a gentleman towards one's romantic partner is the manly way to go about being in a relationship. I'm glad to see that Kirishima's pursuit of being 'manly' isn't just limited to being strong and a tough fighter."
Bakugo gave Itsuka an agreeing nod, before he turned back and focused on Kinoko. "You got a bit of a long road ahead of you, given that Kirishima's confidence in his odds of getting a girl to like him are pretty shot right now." Kinoko looked a bit downcast at the prospect of getting the boy that she was in love with to notice her, but then Bakugo cracked a bit of a smirk. "…Luckily for you, I happen to know that red-haired idiot. He and I are pretty tight, with even me getting expelled from U.A. having no effect to dampen that. I can also get Kaminari, Sero and Mina to help me get Kirishima worked into the right spot for you to make your move."
The 1-B girls were all shocked at Bakugo, of all people, declaring that he's help Kinoko win over the heart of the red-haired hardening quirk user. "You would really go so far to help Kinoko like that, Bakugo?" Itsuka remarked, clearly amazed.
The ashy-haired teen gave Itsuka a wry look. "…I'm also doing this for Kirishima, you know. He was there when I was freaking out over how to get Pony to like me. The least I can do for him in return is to show him in the direction of a girl that has the hots for him." The 1-B girls all understood the logic behind Bakugo's reason, appreciating it for what it meant. Pony was the most touched by how far her boyfriend would go for someone who had helped him when he was wracking his brain trying to come up with how to win her over.
Clapping his hands together, Bakugo said, "Anyway, we're wasting time just standing here and being a roadblock for others in the store who want to get soda. I say that we move this along, keep walking and talking." The 1-B girls all got the memo, and proceeded to continue with the selecting of sodas for the party, with Kinoko making sure to get a twelve-pack of the specific root beer that Bakugo said that Kirishima liked.
Bakugo and the 1-B girls had finished their shopping for the food and snacks for the party that they were planning for 1-A's return from their international field trip. Luckily for the teens, they had someone who was available to help them get all of the stuff over to the class 1-B dorms, although Bakugo had to break off from the group at that point since they would be going onto U.A. grounds; given that he had been expelled from Japan's most prestigious hero academy, he wouldn't be allowed onto the campus, even if it's to help the girls unload their shopping.
Figuring that he had done his part for the day, Bakugo decided to go to a nearby gym, figuring that he would get in a good workout. The explosive teen actually had to go to a different gym than the one that he was used to going to. Bakugo's prior usual gym is very pro-U.A., and Bakugo having been expelled from U.A., plus how Bakugo had helped his current hero high school Vulcan humiliate U.A. in the recent tournament between the two hero academies, had completely soured the folks who ran that gym towards the ashy-haired boy. The explosive teen wasn't blind; he was able to tell that he was no longer welcomed there (outside of being part of a visiting school, that is).
Bakugo's new usual gym was one of those older numbers that had been around for decades, with very little (if at all) modern exercise equipment like fancy treadmills. It was just some punching bags that had been set up, some weight lifting gear and benches to lay down on while pumping iron, some very basic exercise machines that could help with leg day, and one area of the gym was dominated by a boxing ring. The gym's owner, who was the only person running a gym in that area that didn't turn away the quirkless, did not have the sort of fanatical reverence for U.A. that practically every other place in that area of the city had, so Bakugo was able to find a place for himself at that gym.
Bakugo laid on one of the bench-pressing benches, lifting a barbell that had twenty pounds of weight on each end. He lifted it, pushing it up before letting it down so he could push it up again. He did this for so long that he lost track of time, up until he stopped short when he heard his phone go off with the tone that told him that he was getting a call. He set the barbell up, sat up on the bench and bent over to the side to fish his phone out of a gym bag; checking the time, he saw that he had been going for the better part of forty-five minutes. The ashy-haired boy also saw that the call was coming from his (lone actual) friend at Vulcan, Akuma.
The explosive teen answered the call, and right away he heard Akuma's voice on the other end say, "Something happened that I agree you'll think is total fucking bullshit."
"What the hell happened?" The way Akuma spoke before Bakugo could, the tone that the satanist had used and was using as they spoke, what Akuma said first thing, all of that had set off alarms in Bakugo's head.
"Get this," Akuma began, "I saw this one news article on the internet that said something about a class from U.A. High School visiting some city over in the United States being involved with some matter of assassins trying to kill one of the students. Both of the assassins were caught, but an investigation is going to be launched into the matter when the assassins are extradited back to Japan, as it was discovered that they're both Japanese and had secretly trailed the U.A. class all the way over to the States just so they could kill the one student that they were targeting."
Right away, Bakugo became alarmed; he knew for a fact that the class in question had to be his former class at U.A., class 1-A, given that he had seen them off very recently. Bakugo asked for more details, and Akuma told him that both assassins were defeated by that Izuku guy who the ashy-haired teen had defeated during the recent tournament between U.A. and Vulcan. As he just got irrefutable confirmation that class 1-A was involved, Bakugo became even more worried.
Bakugo asked for more details, but Akuma was unable to provide any; the only specific detail that he got was confirming that it was Izuku who defeated the two assassins, and that they had failed to kill whichever 1-A student that they were targeting. Bakugo felt a wave of relief wash over him; sure, he was no longer a member of that class, or even a student at U.A., but there was still a part of Bakugo, buried deep down, that cared about his former classmates. Bakugo was especially worried that something might have happened to one of his friends, one of the members of the Baku-squad. But that wasn't the case.
Bakugo thanked Akuma for the info, as well as asked him to keep him posted on anything else related to the story that he found. The satanist agreed, and told Bakugo one other tidbit that had nearly made him explode with anger; apparently, Principal Hojo found out about how Sakaki was dating Shinso and was fit to suspend the fat cat girl for dating a U.A. student, under the idea that it was 'fraternizing with the enemy', and was even considering the idea of expelling Sakaki unless she agreed to end her relationship with the brainwasher of U.A.
Akuma, hearing about this, was able to convince the principal of Vulcan against it, spinning a story on how Sakaki didn't start dating Shinso until after Vulcan had absolutely beaten U.A. in the recent tournament, where Sakaki actually came in third. Akuma further said that Sakaki, who developed a fondness for Shinso, decided to 'claim him' as her 'spoils of war', with the idea that as she was out with him, she was actually parading him around while she was silently telling others who saw them out and about something along the lines of 'my school beat his, now I own him'. This actually amused Principal Hojo, who decided to rescind her ideas concerning possibly suspending, with threat of expelling, Sakaki for dating someone from U.A.
It didn't sit right with Bakugo at all how Vulcan was trying to control the lives of its students as much as it was. The ashy-haired teen thought that he had escaped total fucking bullshit when he had gotten expelled from U.A., but he now knew that he had been wrong on that front. At least thanks to Akuma, if Principal Hojo found out about Bakugo dating Pony, Bakugo had an excuse that he could give to appease the principal of Vulcan so that he wouldn't have to resort to him and Pony continuing their relationship in secret.
Bakugo also had a passing, worrying thought of if U.A. tried to pull a similar stunt, but he knew better that that; U.A., despite how asshole-ish it's been as of late, didn't forbid its students from dating students from outside of U.A., or from dating period. Hell, prior to getting expelled from U.A., Bakugo heard a rumor that Tamaki-sempai of the Big Three is dating a quirkless girl from a regular public high school. If there was one thing he can't discredit his former school for, it's that it left the personal lives of its students be, unless intervention is seriously warranted.
With that thought in mind, Bakugo started to wonder why, given that it would intervene in the personal life of one of its students if push came to shove, U.A. has still yet to do anything at all to discipline that perverted little fuck Grape Head. He was seriously hoping like hell that U.A. would finally get its shit together at last and do something about Mineta's perverted behavior before it was too late, before too much damage had been done.
The short-statured teen always thinking with just his lower horn has already resulted in another U.A. student being expelled.
When Bakugo got home from the gym, he sent a call to Pony, telling her about what he had discussed on the phone with Akuma while at the gym earlier. She agreed with his plan if Hojo found out about their relationship, even offering to act like Bakugo's 'prize' from the recent tournament to help sell the idea. The explosive teen didn't honestly like how the half-American girl would be forced to put up an act around those from Vulcan so that she could continue to go out with him, but given the kind of character that Principal Hojo was, the two teens knew that chances could not be taken.
After he finished his phone call with Pony, Bakugo decided to do some checking on the news story on the internet that Akuma told him about. Sure enough, Bakugo saw the story about how two assassins had tried to bother U.A.'s class 1-A during their field trip in the United States, and saw the bit on how Izuku single-handedly defeated both of them and then proceeded to help with bringing them both in. Bakugo failed to learn which 1-A student was the one who was the target of the assassin duo, as the person who wrote the article failed to get a name, but the article writer did confirm that the target student is one of the girls.
Leaning back in his seat as his desk while the internet news article illuminated his computer's screen, Bakugo was juggling a few ideas around in his head. Since it was confirmed that one of class 1-A's girls was the target, and that Izuku defeated both assassins and helped to bring them both in, the most likely candidate to be the assassins' target would have to be Uraraka, who Izuku was in a relationship with.
Knowing Izuku the way that he did, Bakugo figured that the green-haired cinnamon roll would defend any of the 1-A girls, or anyone in 1-A period for that matter, from a pair of assassins if it came down to it; that was just the kind of person that Bakugo knew Izuku to be. But given all of the facts, the explosive teen figured that the brown-haired gravity girl was the most likely person to be the target of the pair of assassins. With that in mind, a rather pertinent question popped up into Bakugo's mind as he mulled over all of the facts, both confirmed and, on his part, theoretical at the present moment.
Who the fuck would want Uraraka dead, and why the fuck do they want do they want to see her put six feet under?
Class 1-A was still out of the country, although Bakugo got a text from Itsuka (Pony must have given her his number) telling him that class 1-A was indeed on their way back to Japan as they spoke. He would have to wait until he got ahold of one of his former classmates, probably one of his friends in the squad or maybe Izuku himself since he was the one who stopped the assassins, and confirm whether or not it really was Uraraka that was being targeted. Until then, he would have to wait.
A short while later, Bakugo and his father Masaru had dinner. They watched some TV, Bakugo brushed his teeth (he had long since stopped his aggressive brushing habits and now brushed his teeth like a normal person), then he got into a sleep outfit that consisted of a men's tank top and pair of sweatpants, crawled into bed, and promptly clocked out. Bakugo had had a bit of a trying day, and now he wanted nothing more than to sleep.
…
It was around three-forty-two in the morning when Bakugo woke with a start. He was sweating a bit, a rattled, alarmed look on his face. The explosive teen couldn't explain why, but for some odd reason he felt that something bad either has happened already, or was going to be happening really soon. Bakugo looked to the time on his nightstand's clock, decided to flop back down onto his bed and try to will himself back to sleep for the remaining couple of hours before a time in the morning that wasn't ungodly for people to wake up at.
Even so…Bakugo couldn't help but worry, especially given that he had work up from a rather alarming dream where he was in a cityscape where there was mass rioting and fighting going on all over, and the dead from that fighting was littering the streets, their rich, warm blood staining the roads and sidewalks a deep, macabre crimson that was only seen in either horror films or a very violent action flick.
The ashy-haired teen found himself lying awake in bed for the better part of an hour before he was finally too tired for what had alarmed him to keep him awake any longer. With his sheer exhaustion and tiredness driving him, Bakugo was able to settle back down to sleep, even though it was not a sleep that had come easy to him. As he was drifting back off to sleep, Bakugo found himself worrying about those that he cared about.
END, CHAPTER TEN
Author's notes;
This chapter might be a bit shorter than some of the others, but it did still cover the job of exploring what Bakugo was up to while his former class were over in the United States on their international field trip. Bakugo also learned a little bit about what had happened, but that won't be coming into play for a little while yet, as there is something that has to happen first before Bakugo can get some definite answers to his questions.
Adapting the monster siege mini-arc to this AU story's setting.
In the main story 'ACTWGDIL', Bakugo was among the U.A. students air-dropped into the thick of the fighting, and his efforts while helping some of his classmates fight the warmongers over at Azu-Daioh High played a big role in U.A.'s efforts in stopping/repelling the monster threat. However…Bakugo isn't a U.A. student in this setting. His absence will change up how the moves made by those from U.A. are done, as well as what moves end up being made.
Granted, Bakugo will still be taking part in the fighting, and he'll even bring along a few of his classmates from Vulcan for the ride. But Bakugo not being part of the initial efforts will have a major impact on what goes on for the heroes taking part in repelling the hordes of Hirajo. It is going to be a hell of a lot more violent for the pro heroes than it was in the main story, that much I can tell you right now.
