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 nineteen: Taking it worse than expected

Katsuki Bakugo was laying on one of those lounge things in Hound Dog's office one day at U.A. The day was one of those kinds of days that was seemingly well enough. But the truth was far from that, given the reason why Bakugo was visiting Hound Dog to seek his help to figure out what all he needed to do to deal with how he felt about things that have been going on as of late, all of those things building up until they became an avalanche that affected not just Bakugo, but most all of the students in both 1-A and 1-B.

Granted, the students that had been enrolled into U.A. very recently due to various circumstances aren't as affected as the original members of those two classes, but they felt some sting as well. But then again, given what all had happened, starting so long ago roughly around the time of the fated tournament where U.A. ultimately lost to the now shut-down Vulcan, how can there be even a single person among the first year hero course classes who felt no sting from any of the atrocious events that had transpired?

Bakugo in particular was there to see all of it, given that his tale started back when he was initially expelled from U.A., only to be scooped up by the aforementioned Vulcan a short while after that fact. Granted, he was among the new students that were enrolled into U.A. following the shutdown of Vulcan, but his tale nonetheless began the day he felt that his dreams of being the greatest pro hero had ended.

"Why don't we start with what all had prompted Aizawa and Edgeshot to mandate that you and all of your schoolmates in your class and class 1-B all see me," Hound Dog said, sounding oddly calm as he spoke to the troubled ashy-haired teen, given the kind of hero Hound Dog is.

Bakugo let out a troubled sigh before he turned his gaze to regard the counselor. He turned his gaze back to look straight up at the ceiling in the counselor's office. "…I don't think it has to do alone with the specific event that you're talking about," Bakugo remarked, "But rather, it has to do with a number of things that I've noticed about some of the girls in my class and in 1-B as of late, all culminating in what Pinky and Cat Girl discovered last evening before everyone in our dorm building otherwise would have gone to bed."

The explosive teen, the airs that he was giving off being the exact opposite of what one would expect when they hear 'explosive teen', moved to sit up on the lounge thing he was sitting on, turned to face Hound Dog. "…I think that everything that has really bothered all of us as of late really started to occur since around the time my class went on that field trip while I was still expelled from U.A.," Bakugo said, his tone sounding a bit subdued, "When the twenty of them came back…" Bakugo stopped short, breathed a bit shakily as he shuddered a bit. He let out a troubled sigh before continuing.

"…Came back as fifteen."

The quirked counselor regarded Bakugo with a sympathetic look. "…You speak of how Iida, Ojiro, Tokoyami, Kirishima and Kaminari were all killed during the field trip."

Bakugo gently nodded in the affirmative. "That was the first massive dump that was taken on the collective psyche of everyone in 1-A and 1-B, I believe. After that, a parade of bullshit kept on marching on by to flip all of us off. The monster attack on the city, everyone finding out what happened on that field trip, and those mercenary fuckers that tired besieging U.A. because they all wanted to kill Round Face." He let out a sigh, as if also letting out a breath that he was holding in for a long time. "I'm sure that a lot of us all have specific issues. I know I do, since I'm still pissed at that lizardman villain fucker. But we're discussing everything that has made everyone in both classes uncomfortable at large here."

Hound Dog nodded in the affirmative. "Yes, and if we have time at the end I am open to discussing things that trouble you personally, Bakugo." The quirked counselor leaned forward a bit, resting his forearms on his knees as he regarded the ashy-haired boy. "But we do need to get back on track like you said. Now, you said that you feel everything started back when five of your former classmates were all killed? You believe that it relates to what both Yamamaya and Ashido came upon when they saw Jiro-"

"Yes." Straightening up a bit, Bakugo turned his head to look up at the ceiling. "…Earplugs, I would say, is one of the four out of everyone in 1-A and 1-B who took things ever since the field trip the hardest, with the other three being Invisible Girl, Shrooms and Frog Face."

Once more, Hound Dog nodded. "Yes, I had been informed Jiro, Hagakue, Asui and Komori all were connected in some way to four of the five boys who were killed."

Bakugo nodded in confirmation. "Yeah, they all reacted in different ways to learning whatever guy they had in their sights was killed." Gesturing a bit with his right hand, Bakugo said, "I'd say that Frog Face took things the best, given that she's apparently coping by putting extra focus into helping to keep an eye on her younger siblings." Shrugging, the explosive teen remarked, "My guess is that she's trying to forget about losing Bird Head by focusing on her siblings."

"That is a constructive way to try to forget the pain," Hound Dog admitted with a nod.

"What's not constructive is what Invisible Girl has been doing to cope," Bakugo said, "As she's taken to trying to find a new guy by flirting with literally any guy in 1-A and 1-B that catches her interest. She even flirted with Deku once and got a slap from Round Face for the trouble."

A hint of concern entered Hound Dog's expression has he heard Bakugo explain what Hagakure had been up to as of late ever since Ojiro had been killed during the field trip. "That…that is a bit disconcerting, I will admit. Now I have a decent idea as to why Aizawa looked a bit bemused when he mentioned that Hagakure would be among the first he'd have come to see me for some counseling." He shook his head a bit at what sort of pain Hagakure must be going through.

Similarly, Bakugo also shook his head. "At least Frog Face and Invisible Girl aren't being self-destructive when dealing with how they feel, unlike Shrooms and Earplugs." Bakugo let out another sigh as he looked back up at the ceiling. "…I feel particularly bad for Shrooms, given that she never got to tell Kirishima how she felt. I bet that Kirishima, knowing him, would have been over the moon with joy to learn that a girl was honestly in love with him, but he died before ever getting to hear it."

Hound Dog nodded in agreement, even taking a moment to wipe a stray, single tear from the corner of his right eye. "…You said that Komori is also self-destructive, like Jiro?"

Bakugo nodded once in confirmation. "Yeah, but in a different way. I got it from my girlfriend who's also in 1-B that Shrooms, ever since she found out that Kirishima had been killed, has taken to stuffing herself with snacks and the like, probably in some attempt to try to fill some void that was left in her after she went to that service for the five guys that were killed during the field trip that 1-A took. Pony told me that she can tell Shrooms has gained some weight."

"Yes, Edgeshot did mention to me with some concern that Komori is now visibly overweight," Hound Dog remarked, "Edgeshot also noted to me that Komori has stopped using certain hygiene methods, mostly in regards to keeping her face clear, but she was seen being told by Kendo to take a shower yesterday, a few hours before what Ashido and Yamamaya discovered. It's a bit concerning that Komori has stopped taking such care for herself."

"At least Shrooms isn't in the hospital right now," Bakugo remarked, barely able to fight back the tears that were threatening to run freely down the sides of his face, "Unlike with what's going on with Earplugs." He gently shook his head, conveying how he was rattled by what all had happened that had compelled both Aizawa and Edgeshot to order their respective students to all see Hound Dog for counseling. "…I still can't believe what Earplugs tried doing last night," the ashy-haired boy said as he fell back, laid on the lounge in Hound Dog's office as the tears that had threatened were now running down towards his ears rather towards his chin.

"Earplugs tried to fucking kill herself last night, Hound Dog-sensei."

The quirked counselor nodded in understanding to how Bakugo felt; but then again, it's not every day that a student at U.A. had to deal with one of their classmates trying to attempt suicide. It was clear that, out of everyone at U.A. who had suffered in some way ever since class 1-A took that fateful field trip, Kyoka Jiro suffered the most, given that she had tried to take her own life the previous evening, and would have succeeded if it hadn't been for Mina and Sakaki going up to gather her for a 1-A girl's powwow.

"From what Pinky and Cat Girl told me," Bakugo said in a somber tone, "They had never seen so much blood. Pinky even found the razor blades that Earplugs had used, apparently. Not only that, but Pony's classmate Vine Hair almost made things worse by trying to go on about how 'suicide is blasphemy' and all of that good stuff, but Fist Girl shut her up before she had been able to get more than three words out."

Bakugo gently shook his head, let out a troubled sigh. "…I think that the guilt she felt over how badly she had rejected Kaminari due to falling for Grape Head's words, the regret she feels due to throwing away a chance to have something special with Kaminari, then finding out that he was killed before she had a chance to do anything respectable enough to atone for what she had done to fuck up, played a major role in leading her to consider taking her life. It wasn't the final straw, as Earplugs was just as horrified and shaken up by all of the other bullshit that has taken place as of late, but the few bits involving the dude did do a lot of damage."

Hound Dog considered what Bakugo had just said, found himself agreeing with the notion. He came to the same conclusion himself after he had been filled in on everything major that had popped up in Kyoka's life ever since the field trip. The quirked counselor still couldn't believe that the rock music lover had gone through so much; it was more than what he would have been expecting, let him tell you.

"…It will take a long time for her to recover," Hound Dog said to Bakugo, "A long time for you and everyone in your class, as well as everyone in 1-B, to recover. None of you can go through all of what you have gone through and be expected to be in tip top shape afterwards. That would be asking for way too much. But let me tell you this." Hound Dog got Bakugo to focus squarely on him before he spoke up. "…She will get the help she needs. All of you will. All that you guys have to do is let those who wish to help you do so."

Bakugo sighed, a bit shakily, before he nodded in understanding. "…Yeah, I knew full well that all of us were going to need help because of all of the bullshit that had happened as of late, knew that I still needed help with what all is going on. It's part of why, when Aizawa-sensei said that everyone in class was going to be ordered to do all of this counseling stuff, I volunteered to be the first to go."

Hound dog gave a bit of a wry smile as the ashy-haired teen explained himself. "…Yeah, Aizawa did mention to me how he was a bit surprised that, out of all of his students, you were the first to volunteer to go to counseling. And not because you simply wanted to get it over with." The quirked counselor turned to look at the clock on the wall in his office. "…We don't really have a lot of time before the next student I have to see, so we're going to have to resume things to cover how you feel about your personal issues later."

Bakugo nodded a few times in understanding, getting up from the lounge in Hound Dog's office as he did so. "…Thanks for your time, Hound Dog-sensei. Maybe I can see you later?" A nod in the affirmative from Hound Dog got a bit of a small, appreciative smile out of the explosive teen. "…Thanks." With that last word, Bakugo left the office, letting one of the five new random boys in class 1-B go in after him.

The following day, all of the students in class 1-A (aside from the absent Kyoka) and 1-B were in the classroom where they took the big joint math exam. They were gathered there by Aizawa, Hizashi, Nemuri and Edgeshot, who told all fifty of them that starting today, the U.A. staff would be increased by four. As such, they called for someone to come in. After that call, the students turned around when they heard the door open; to the collective surprise of all of the students, the pro heroes Pixie-Bob, Mt. Lady, Mirko and Ryukyu walked into the classroom and went up to stand next to the four teachers who were already there.

The students were assured that the extra teachers were here in order to compensate for the increases to the student body, and that there was nothing too bad to worry about. After Aizawa had told Ryukyu about how Hound Dog would be needing her help in getting U.A.'s recently established department for special needs students up and running (even though Eunice was the only student at U.A. who qualified as special needs), the students as a whole were told about how they would be beginning some special sparring under Pixie-Bob, sparring that would help them in times to come.

Said special training ended up being nothing more than Pixie-Bob having free reign to use her quirk to fight the combined forty-nine of the 1-A and 1-B students, while said student were not allowed to do even one thing to so much as attack or otherwise hinder the Wild, Wild Pussycats member. By the end of the first round of the training, only Bakugo, Izuku, Todoroki, Artemis, Akuma and Tetsutetsu weren't totally exhausted or totally beaten. They were still in fairly bad shape, however.

None of them, none of anyone in either 1-A or 1-B had any idea what the point of all of that training under Pixie-Bob was.

The following day, all of 1-A and 1-B were permitted a day of rest, something that all of them were in desperate need for given how they had been forced to allow Pixie-Bob to toss them all about like ragdolls. Bakugo, as well as Izuku and Todoroki, were still in respectable shape, so they agreed to play along with Setsuna's idea of taking care of Pony, Uraraka and Reiko, all three of the girls being worse for wear.

It was Reiko who first proposed the idea of a triple date, something Bakugo only went along with because the idea excited Pony. At one point during the triple date, the boys and the girls came across Monoma lecturing the five random new boys in 1-B about something. "…that she has no shame at all," the blonde boy said to his juniors in 1-B, "She needs to learn that her actions have consequences that others won't-"

"Oi, Monoma," Reiko called out, a firm hint of annoyed suspicion on her face. After Monoma and the five new 1-B boys all turned to see her and the others, the ghost girl of 1-B said in a scolding like manner, "You aren't telling the new guys about Kyoka making everyone needlessly upset with what she tried to do, are you?"

The blond boy of 1-B arched a wry eyebrow as he regarded his classmate; similarly, Pony was looking at him the same as how Reiko was doing it. "…Actually, I was telling them about how Ibara is making a lot of us upset with her actions," Monoma replied, "Or at the very least rather annoyed. Honestly, I feel that Ibara's trying to shame Jiro for trying to take her own life is the last thing that she or anybody else wants or needs right now." Both 1-B girls that were with students in 1-A became rather surprised by Monoma's explanation, which was further enforced when all of the new guys in 1-B nodded in confirmation.

Monoma then arched a wry eyebrow as he regarded Reiko and Pony hanging out with four members of class 1-A. "…I assume this is some sort of triple date?" Monoma asked as he gestured to the six of them

"That's not a problem now, is it?" Todoroki asked as he looked at the blond holler monkey.

Gently shaking his head, Monoma said, "My personal hang-ups about you sorry 1-A lot aside, there's honestly nothing wrong right now. We've all suffered a lot, so the last thing any of us needs is for us to bust each other's chops." Monoma crossed his arms over his chest. "That's part of why I've decided to ease up on you guys."

Bakugo gave off an amused chuckle. "Well now, aren't you the textbook definition of fucking generous," the explosive teen snarked. The two groups exchanged a few more pleasantries before the triple date group continued on their own way, leaving Monoma to do his thing with the five new boys in class 1-B.

A few days later, everyone in 1-A was sitting in class alone, as Aizawa was attending some manner of meeting and left his twenty-five brats more or less to their own devices. During the time everyone was sitting around in the classroom, the intercom speaker came to life, and to their surprise two female voices spoke through, clearly belonging to students at U.A. After going on for a bit about how people at U.A. would like to know what all went on in the heads of the girls in the hero courses, they proceeded to begin reading from what were clearly the personal diaries of various female students in the hero course.

The first diary, to the piqued interest of the 1-A students, sounded like it belonged to Nejiri-sempai. "I had a really weird dream last night where Tamaki took a bite out of Mirio's ass, then he turned into a second Mirio, which meant that there were two goofballs going around the place," one of the girls read over the intercom system, "When I woke up and thought about it, I began to wonder if, in real life, Tamaki really could turn into others by eating ass, given how his quirk works."

A few of the students in 1-A all laughed, although Uraraka and Tsuyu both told everyone who was laughing to zip it, given that they were laughing at the secret thoughts of their fellow intern under Ryukyu being aired. After everyone had settled down enough, another diary was read by those girls over the intercom system. It quickly became apparent to those in 1-A that it was the diary that belonged to Hagakure.

"Some of the new guys in my class are looking pretty fine right now," the second girl on the intercom system said as she read from Hagakure's diary, "And since I figured I was free, I would try going to the market, if you know what I mean. I ran into a bit of trouble at first since I forgot that Uraraka is dating Izuku and she slapped me when she saw me try to flirt with him, but I get the feeling that I can bounce back from that setback. I'm also really digging the dark, dangerous look that Akuma's got. Kurama's pretty cute too, I would say."

Hagakure froze up when those girls on the intercom revealed who she had scoped out; in a similar manner, both Akuma and Kurama turned to face where their invisible classmate sat, and the looks on their faces made it clear that they were both a bit creeped out to have been scoped out by Hagakure in such a fashion, given that the invisible girl, in a sense, has essentially become the girl version of Mineta; whereas the purple pervert ogled the girls, Hagakure was having one hell of a craving for some man-cake.

Hagakure being permanently invisible made her a bit worse in that regard than Mineta was if one were to think about it.

After the girls on the intercom system finished their bit with Hagakure's dairy, they got to work on diary number three, which soon ended up becoming apparent that it belonged to Kinoko in class 1-B. Overall, Kinoko's diary was a rather depressing read as it soon became abundantly clear that the mushroom girl didn't care about how she had stopped taking care of herself, a very clear sign that her psyche had been wrecked by all of the troubled that she and everyone else had been exposed to as of late.

"That…that's a bit disheartening to hear," the second girl said, sounding a bit disturbed about what all her partner in crime had just read aloud.

"Yeah, I have to admit that kind of took the wind out of my sails," the first girl admitted, her tone making it clear that the wind had been knocked from her sails.

The two girls proceeded to carry on, skimming through the diaries they had to try and find one that was less depressing, but they were interrupted when Aizawa and Edgeshot burst into the room that they were using for the announcements. The two girls were quickly detained, and Aizawa said over the intercom for everyone to disregard what all the two girls had said as they had read from the private diaries of hero course girls.

That wasn't going to stop Bakugo from taking actions he felt needed to be taken later, though.

As it turned out, the two girls that had gotten ahold of the diaries of various hero course girls were a pair of second year gen ed course girls. The second year gen ed homeroom teacher, from the sounds of it, was unwilling to do more to punish those two girls than a week of afterschool detention, and that was after Aizawa and Edgeshot had argued with her on the matter. Luckily, as principal of U.A. Nezu had ultimate say in matters that were big enough, and he agreed with Aizawa and Edgeshot that more had to be done to punish those two gen ed course girls.

But that was beside the point. After classes that day, and after all girls who had their diaries taken received their respective collections of private thoughts back, Bakugo asked Pony if he could go with her to the 1-B dorm building, given that he wanted to speak to Kinoko about something. When he saw her up in her dorm room with Pony, the explosive teen was surprised to see just how terribly Kinoko had stopped taking care of herself.

Bakugo, out of concern, tried to ask Kinoko why she was very clearly destroying herself, saying that she was trying to attempt what Kyoka had done, but in a much slower (and somewhat gross, not that Bakugo said that part out loud) fashion. Bakugo was in the middle of asking her what Kirishima, his old friend and the boy that she had fallen in love with, would say if he had seen her in the state that she was in.

But he was cut off when Kinoko, in a clearly upset manner, yelled that the crimson-haired boy was dead and that he couldn't see her. The mushroom girl then hung her head and shuddered a bit before she started to cry her eyes out. This prompted Pony to move to give her suffering friend a hug, wrapping her arms around the shorter, brown-haired girl. The half-American girl gently stroked her friend's back as she proceeded to try and calm her down, try to reassure her that everything would be okay.

Bakugo wanted to do the same thing his girlfriend was doing, but honestly wasn't too entirely sure if everything was going to be okay. So much bullshit has taken place already, so who's to say there won't be anymore?

Hell, for all that Bakugo knew, things might very well end up getting a hell of a lot worse.

END, CHAPTER NINETEEN

Author's notes;

This chapter adapts parts of the thirty-first, thirty-second, and thirty-third chapters of the main story. Additionally, things related to how everyone is dealing with what all has happened is explored in further detail, while exploring the idea that, given what all has happened over the course of the story, at least one person is bound to break. Some deal with their grief differently than others, and sometimes, sadly enough, some feel that they've been pushed beyond the edge. As upsetting as it is, things like that simply just happen.