Bakugou wasn't sure what to do until the time that he needed to meet Eraserhead at that cafe, so he ended up wandering around for an hour or so. As the hour continued on, however, his impatience was becoming too great. He impulsively checked the time on his phone every few minutes as he walked a large perimeter around the cafe he was supposed to meet at. He didn't know what else he was supposed to do for the several hours that remained until the given time.

As he waited, the world seemed to fade out, the typical sounds of traffic and people bustling about their day blurred into background noise as his world became sort of distant. At some point, he couldn't tell you when exactly, he made a left instead of a right turn and followed wherever his feet took him. By the time he focused back on the world around him, he found himself staring at the stream that he couldn't seem to leave behind.

This was the place where he used to play without a care as a child. This was the place where he had realized that Deku was an asshole who looked down on him for the first time. This was the place where he had sat with Deku as the last of his warmth faded away.

Was this loop meant to tell him something? Was there some, "moral" bullshit that he needed to learn? He was going to be a hero, he didn't need anybody to tell him shit.

If someone needed something from him, they should just ask upfront. This roundabout bullshit was getting old, fast. But that didn't matter anymore, he would save Deku from being an idiot and then he could ignore whatever the hell he was supposed to "learn" from this nightmare. Yeah, that would work. He could ignore whatever the hell had happened a few loops ago and everything would be fine. Just like it always was.

Suddenly, the urge to check his phone for the time returned, and he scrambled to pull it out. In his haste, he fumbled with the device and after a few failed attempts to juggle it back into his grip, it fell. He watched helplessly as it rolled down the small hill and into the stream with a loud plop that made his eye twitch.

Without any remorse he exclaimed, "FUCK!"

He half tripped, half slid down to the bank in an attempt to save it before it got too much water inside. Whispering no repeatedly under his breath with a few expletives thrown in for good measure, he fished it out of the water and tried to dry it off with his shirt. Bakugou pushed the button to turn it on once, twice, and a third time before smashing it repeatedly with his thumb in frustration. But it was completely waterlogged and the screen remained black as though to mock him.

With passion he said, "Well, fuck. Now I don't know what time it is. Fuck."

He took in a deep breath, released it, and stuffed his dead phone in his pocket. Bakugou tried to estimate the time based on the sun, but all that did was make his eyes hurt and wound his pride. Instead, he began to jog back in what he thought was the general direction of the cafe.

Once he managed to end up back in familiar territory, he tried to figure out how he could tell the time. It wasn't like he could just ask some stranger, he wasn't weak!

"Fuck this!" he exclaimed to himself, garnering some irritated looks from a passerby, whom he promptly flipped off.

After a few minutes of increasing irritation, he decided that he would just loiter around the cafe until he saw the pro hero down the street. Bakugou suddenly had the urge to figure out who the hell this hero was, because he sure as hell hadn't ever heard the name "Eraserhead" before. Unfortunately, by the time he had reached into his pocket, he remembered that his phone was completely waterlogged, dead, and useless.

He let out another string of curses, drawing attention from more people which only served to irk himself further. The only other source was Midoriya, he supposed. That damned nerd would probably recognize the hero on sight or something. But obviously he couldn't just go up to the damned idiot and ask out of the blue, plus that would require going back to school. And then this would all be for nothing. Yeah, no. Fuck that.

And so, he made his way to the address, confirming the cafe name to be the same as he had looked up that morning. Refusing to linger by the front door like some beggar, he leaned against the alleyway that was conveniently the side of the building. Lucky him. Wow, okay his own thoughts made him want to punch his own face in, he really needed to get out of this damned loop before he went crazy like De-Midoriya.

Waiting seemed to stretch on forever, several yawns escaped his mouth against his will and it took all of his effort to resist sitting down like some homeless person. He hoped that that Pro Hero hadn't been lying to him just to get him off of his back. Wait, fuck. He couldn't have been... no but it made sense, he appeared to be a traumatized child, it was possible that this had all just been an attempt to placate and soothe him. Fuck. Shit, no oh no please no.

His chest tightened in worry, but before he could work himself into dizziness like that one time at school, he spotted a familiar tired-looking man dressed in black meandering toward the cafe. Taking a deep breath in relief, he jogged over to the door, timing it just right to make it in the line before Eraserhead. Someone walked in right behind him, and he felt his eye twitch. After a very awkward and strained encouragement for that person to just get the hell in front of him in the damned line, everything was set.

But just before he reached the register, he looked around and realized that he was at a cat cafe. WAS HIS LIFE A FUCKING JOKE?!

Slightly seething, he deliberately stretched out his back and was met with a satisfying series of pops down his spine. Fine, fuck it. He was gonna do this and then probably reset. There was probably no way that he and this random hero he had never heard of could save Midoriya today, so then nobody would know that he went into a cat cafe. There, ha! Take that whoever tries to laugh at him!

Once he reached the front of the line, he ordered a random drink and pastry off of the menu and went over to the area most populated with cats and least populated with people. Well, if the pro hero went to a cat cafe, he probably liked cats and disliked sitting with other people. Especially with how tired-looking he was, the hero was most likely to avoid "concerned" people who questioned his sleeping habits.

And sure enough, the pro hero ordered black coffee without anything in it and literally nothing else. As he made his way toward Bakugou, he seemed to look around nervously... no, more alert and cautious. As though he were expecting an attack at any moment and wanted to be ready for it.

About halfway across the room, the pro hero stopped in his tracks, apparently the pro had noticed him staring and locked eyes with him. Staring deep into those eyes, Bakugou could only think of the distinct difference between his eyes and Midoriya's eyes. He looked away and broke the eye contact first, though the hero walked directly towards him immediately after.

Eraserhead sat down next to him and no words exchanged for several moments.

"What do you w-"

"I can explain just-"

The both started and stopped at the same time.

The tired hero gave him a lazy nod to encourage him to talk, "This is going to sound crazy, but I need to... to ask... I need... your help." Dammit that was not what he had planned to say!

Bakugou noticed that the man's lax appearance had disappeared, and although his eyes stayed as sharp as they had been, his posture had become more attentive looking and serious. Good, it seems like he was going to listen.

"I woke up this morning, exactly two minutes before my alarm as always. I went through my day, went to school, dealt with all the bullshit. But when I got home, my... uh... my classmate was dead. Suicide apparently."

Bakugou carefully studied the hero's nonverbal response, the pinched eyebrows and the tightening of his lips. He was concerned, and he looks like he's trying to figure this out, that's good. There's a chance he could actually h...assist him.

"I don't remember falling asleep, but then, I woke up. Same day. Two minutes before my alarm as always. I thought it was a prank or something, but no. Same thing, he committed suicide in a different way that day, in the park. Again, slept, woke up, and then I finally realized that this was really happening. He had died again. Another day and it was jumping off a roof, another and dead, and then dead and more dead," his voice got shakier and faster the longer he spoke, and tears gathered in his eyes despite his efforts, "I tried to fix it! I did, but he just keeps dying and Ican'tfixitpleasehelpme."

He refused to look up and meet the pro hero's eyes. He was unsure of whether he would find a supportive gaze, or a look that implied he was crazy.

He wasn't crazy. He wasn't.

"I believe you," Bakugou's eyes widened at the calm reassurance, shit he said that out loud. Wait shit, how loud was he, did anybody hear him?

"Nobody heard you, at least that I noticed. Unless you count the cats," he picked one up, the cat meowed in either encouragement or protest, and deposited him in Bakugou's lap, "Good job picking the most isolated corner, kid. But that doesn't answer how you knew I would be here, or how you know of me in the first place."

Staring at the cat that rubbed against his shaking arm—when did his arm start shaking?—tears fell onto the cat's fur, making the poor cat flinch and meow up at him with a questioning gaze.

He felt like the cat stared into his soul, and realized that he, too, really needed help. Not just Midoriya.

After scrubbing at his eyes, he tried to continue with a scratchy voice, "...Th-the last loop. I, you... my classmate was wandering around so I... I followed him hoping that I could stop him from whatever he was planning. But instead, I lost sight of him and my phone broke and by the time I caught up with him, a mugger had stabbed him and he was bleeding out. Then you came and caught the mugger with your... scarf thingy? And I... uh, I ended up telling you everything. And you told me a time and scribbled down this address," his voice tapered off into a tired whisper at the end.

"Well, you're here for solutions, let's brainstorm," Eraserhead deadpanned before popping his neck. Bakugou frantically nodded in agreement.

Finally, maybe he could escape this awful nightmare he was trapped in. Maybe he could escape and save Midoriya. Maybe he could be Midoriya's hero.

"First, tell me everything about these loops, we need to figure out what kind of quirk is causing this," Eraserhead began.

A sick feeling settled in Bakugou's gut, "My classmate, he commits suicide every day in a different way. I listed some of them but..."

Noticing that the kid looked like he wanted to throw up, he decided that those details could wait, "Okay, that's fine, we will only talk about that if it's necessary... You said his actions were different, has anybody else done anything different?"

At that, Bakugou blinked and tried to remember, "I mean, nothing drastic... except... those shitty extras had locked D-Midoriya into a supply closet that one time, I'm still not sure why. They haven't done it since. Anything else has been different because I did different things."

Eraserhead's brows furrowed in deep thought, "Have you done anything drastic enough to make this Midoriya kid decide to change how he planned to die?" Bakugou shook his head at that, "Then, is it possible that he remembers the loops as well?"

Now that, was something he hadn't considered, not once. That thought was horrific. To die once, and then decide that you still wanted to keep trying to die. There was no way.

"Woah, calm down kid, you're probably right. I don't think that anybody would be willing or even able to do that. Sorry, it was just a thought."

Taking a shaky breath, Bakugou continued, completely ignoring the fact that he must have gotten into the habit of saying things out loud that he didn't mean to (just like Deku), "But now that you brought it up, I can't stop thinking about it. But at the same time, he had been confused that last time when I had tried to stop him..." he trailed off, deep in thought, "I don't believe he remembers, it's possible, but... I doubt it."

The finality of that statement seemed to convince Eraserhead, "Alright, then. I am going to move forward with a few assumptions. First, that this is the doing of a quirk. Second, you're the only one that remembers, besides the possibility of the quirk-user remembering as well. Is that logical to you?"

Bakugou nodded.

"Alright then, I have a few thoughts that come to mind. My quirk is Erasure. I can disrupt a person's quirk factor. I could try it on you, however I don't believe that will do anything. It is worth trying later, at the very least," he paused, "Do you know why someone would target you? And even then, what would the purpose be of all of this. It seems to do nothing except give mental and emotional stress."

"I..." Bakugou couldn't bring himself to voice his thoughts, so he stared at the cat purring in his lap. Maybe someone was doing this to tell him that he was a piece of shit for what he had done to D-Midoriya over the years. But nobody he knew had a quirk or even the connections to get someone with such a powerful quirk. Regardless, he was starting to question if he deserved this or not. If he was weak enough to suffer from this flimsy type of pain, then he sure as hell deserved it. But he wasn't going to admit that to this hero's face.

Eraserhead's eyes narrowed at Bakugou's hesitation, but he decided to let it slide for now, "I suppose if you can't think of any reason, then there's nothing we can do about that for now. I have a plan that may or may not work, but it's worth a shot. But for it to work, I need a few things from you."

Bakugou looked back up at him and nodded.

"First of all, I don't even know your name kid," he huffed a small laugh, "and second of all, I'm going to need the name of your school and the address."

At this, Bakugou's face scrunched up in confusion and he could feel the cat shifting in his lap, "The name's Bakugou Katsuki, my classmate is Midoriya D... Izuku, and the school I go to is Aldera junior high," he listed the address and tried to figure out what this plan of his could be.

"Alright. I assume you skipped today?" Eraserhead accused with... was that amusement in his tone? Taking Bakugou's scowl as confirmation, he continued, "What I can do, is I can go to your school and attempt to pull this Midoriya friend of yours out of class. As a pro hero, as long I give probable cause, it's possible that they will let me with no questions asked. If that happens, then I would be able to stand guard and make sure nothing happens to him. Then, the looping could end. It's not perfect, and it may be a long shot, but I could try at the very least."

Bakugou's eyes had widened after every word. This could actually work? This could actually work! Holy shit!

The hero released an ungraceful snort.

"Ah, fuck. I swear I've never done this before the loops! What the hell!" Bakugou complained as the hero merely raised an eyebrow.

"If you say so, kid. But regardless, just in case this plan fails, we need a backup for the next loop," he said, disregarding the amused tone and once again expressing complete seriousness. At that, Bakugou flinched, making the cat on his lap meow in protest and leap off of his lap. His legs were cold without the warm, soft, purring company.

"Look, I know it's good to be optimistic, but it's more important to be realistic and prepared. Are you wanting to become a hero, Bakugou-kun?" Aizawa questioned.

"Hell yeah! I'm going to be number one and nobody can stop me!" He announced, attempting to portray the confidence that he had seemed to lose from all of the loops. He couldn't tell if he pulled it off or not, but it didn't seem to matter to the hero in front of him.

"Well, kid. You've at least taken the first few steps, keep holding on. But seriously, if this fails, it'd be better to have our plan written down. What time do you wake up in the morning?"

"Ah, um... 07:23?"

"Hrm... Alright kid, if today is a bust," he pulled a scrap of paper and a pen seemingly from nowhere again and scribbled down an address, "Then this is my house. Knock on my door around or after 08:15 if possible."

He paused, handed Bakugou the piece of paper, and rubbed his neck awkwardly, "I don't want to wake up, but I'll do what I have to, alright? Knock four times, twice then wait a few seconds and then knock two more. I shouldn't attack you, but you will need to explain this again in a slightly better way. Maybe you should take notes about our conversation today to give to me as well. It might speed things up."

Bakugou nodded once before finally taking a sip of his (now) cold drink. He immediately spat it out, "Augh, what the hell is this shit?" Another muffled snort came from the hero, and he tried to ignore it, "Nevermind, what should I do while you go do your thing?"

After completely downing his (now) cold, black coffee in one sip, he spoke, "I'm not sure kid, I don't think it would be a good idea if you came with me back to the school, especially since you skipped today, kid."

That knowing smirk really got on Bakugou's last nerve, but he could understand the logic there, "Fine, where were you planning on bringing D-Midoriya to if this plan works? Keeping him at school isn't exactly a smart choice."

"That's a fair point, probably that address then."

"Your house? You'd bring that shitty nerd to your apartment?" Bakugou exclaimed in surprise, standing up from his chair.

"What, do you have a better option? It's not like I know your address, and somehow I have the feeling that your parents might not appreciate it," Shit, Eraserhead had gotten him there. He supposed that he could stay at the hero's apartment while the plan was put into action. Ha, that would probably annoy him right back, but it was a logical decision! Suck on that!

"I guess that's where I'm waiting this out then!" he announced as he sat back down in his chair arrogantly, arms crossed and one propped up on his other leg.

The extreme tried look returned in the pro hero's expression as he breathed a deep, exhausted, and utterly done with life sigh, "Fine, just... don't touch anything. Here's the key, you better not rob me brat. And if you do, well, let's just say you'll regret it."

As he slid him the key, Bakugou once again wondered how or why the pro hero even believed him at all. He believed him enough to give him the key to his home and didn't even question the validity of anything he said. He hadn't even said anything when Bakugou had obviously purposefully left something out. But Bakugou was slightly glad because he didn't want to admit the fact that he himself had killed Midoriya in one of the loops.

Bakugou didn't know what to think or how to feel as they parted ways. They had exchanged directions, he was grateful for that, because his phone was shot. As he made his way over to the house, he hoped that this would work despite the odds. But despite that...

He just wasn't sure if he deserved to make it out of this time loop.