Bakugo lets go of Rose's shoulders and plops down on his bed to think.

Midoriya has become the thing he wants to protect. He understands that fully now.

He understands this feeling. Why he was so afraid of losing her, why it hurt so much when she fell apart, why he was so desperate to do whatever it took to save her in the first place, why he feels like he can't be a hero if he can't save her. The feeling is just so new to him, he didn't recognize it. But if this is the "desire to save" then… he understands why she and All Might talk so highly of it. Bakugo has never been pushed to his limits this way before. The "desire to save" is definitely a force to be reckoned with.

But how can he convince Midoriya that he feels it now? Obviously just telling her isn't going to be enough. She'll come up with any number of arguments as to why he's mistaken, why he's wrong or confused… or maybe even lying just to make her feel better. No, he has to show her. But how? Does he have to save her from something? Something other than herself? But what?

…Ah. Their team move. He's supposed to save her (the hostage) from a villain. But that wouldn't count, would it? Since it's staged? He'd have to save her from a real villain. But he obviously can't set up something like that! It'd be too dangerous anyways! He has to prove it without putting her in real danger! But can he prove it without a real danger? Would it be worth it to try? No! Of course it wouldn't! Putting her in danger just to prove a point wouldn't really prove anything! So then—

"I think using your team move is a good idea, actually."

"Hah?!" He stops to look up at her, freaked out that she actually read his mind that far. Creepy…

She gets confused at how freaked out he looks. "Is that… not a good idea? You sound like you want to make it work."

Huh? Sound?

At the next look of confusion on his face, she realizes something. "You… didn't notice you were thinking out loud?" He stares at her blankly. "I'm surprised… It was… just like Midoriya-kun…"

He… He was muttering to himself? Like Midoriya?

His whole face turns brighter than a stop light in an instant. He leaps to his feet again and screams in her face, "I…! I was NOT!"

She doesn't flinch and instead just stares at him in surprise. "…Is it that embarrassing?"

"I'm telling you I didn't! You're just weird! Goin' around reading people's minds! Get the fuck out already!" He points aggressively at the door.

"No."

Ah. He forgot. She's not afraid of him.

"I think it's a good idea to use your team move somehow. Midoriya-kun talks about it every day. He's been looking forward to it, and I'm sure he'd feel even worse if you got a failing grade because of him. If you ask him to, he'll definitely do it."

He grits his teeth. "If it were that easy, I would've tried that already." He glares downward, discouraged. "It's not enough."

"Midoriya-kun… He would probably say… 'If it's you, it's enough.'"

He pauses, eyes widening a bit. He can actually picture it. Midoriya saying that. Telling him that he's special, that she believes in him. His head drops, avoiding Rose's eyes as he blushes again. If there's a chance that Midoriya might really think that… then he has no choice… "Fine… I'll try it." He sighs. "One more time…"

Satisfied with that, and seeing the slight blush creep into his ears, she nods to him and finally turns to leave. But as she opens his door, she pauses in shock in front of a familiar figure looming down on her. "Mic-sensei…" From across the room, Bakugo pauses in surprise as well.

Of all the people they could've sent to apprehend her, it had to be him, the man who had been working hard to protect and guide her since finding out the truth about Taka. She can tell from his face that he has questions, but more than that… he glares at her with disappointment in his eyes.

She doesn't bother defending herself to him and instead asks, "How much did you hear?"

"…Just got here actually."

She can see he's telling the truth. For a moment, she thinks about how quickly he got here just to apprehend her, how he must've run part of the way, trying to figure out exactly where she went, but how he doesn't look tired at all. Not like her, not like she did when she ran to Midoriya-kun's side. She thinks about how much she still has to learn from him, how she might've burned her bridge with him by being so reckless and breaking an obvious rule. She understands and takes a moment to accept that. "…I won't resist."

He only looks more bitter as his eyes narrow. He sighs. "All right. Let's go."

"Hey," Bakugo interrupts. Realizing that this is partly his fault, he can't help but feel a little guilty about getting her in trouble. But he has to think for a moment to figure out what to say. "…I'll pay you back."

She realizes that he's trying to thank her, but it irks her that he can't just say that and instead has to put so much pressure on himself and consequently pressure on her to accept his token of appreciation whenever he figures out what to give. "Don't. I'm doing this to help Midoriya-kun. Not you."

"…Still, I'll repay it."

"You don't understand." She turns around to stare him straight in the eye, and for once Bakugo can actually see how angry she is. "You're making it worse." He looks confused, then frustrated for a moment until she continues. "Midoriya-kun… also can't accept kindness from people. He feels like he has to repay people all the time, or else he's just a burden." Bakugo's eyes widen a bit as he realizes what she means, as he remembers Midoriya talking about dying if she couldn't be of use to him or deciding to simply support him and 'stay out of his way'. "It may be part of his nature, but it's also partly what he learned. He can't trust or accept kindness from anyone… Do you not understand how much he's learned from you?"

He starts to shiver as he grits his teeth. That same horrible feeling creeps up on him again, the feeling that he's done something irreversible, something he can never forgive himself for. Something that leaves him frozen in place, frozen in time even, unable to move forward.

Seeing the sudden horror on his pale face, she feels somewhat empowered, not feeling much remorse for him. "If you understand even a little bit, then for Midoriya-kun's sake, you have to change. Become someone he would be proud to call his hero… someone he'd be proud to look up to… And don't be anything you wouldn't want him to be." She thinks carefully just once more and decides to be honest with him about her own feelings. "I want him… to love himself. The way I love him. And the way all of his friends and family love him. I don't want him to tell himself that he's not worth it." She thinks she might cry again, but she holds herself together. "So if you're going to save him, take responsibility… Don't let him make those same mistakes again… Don't be the one… who pushes him into those mistakes again."

She says that. But he has no idea where to start. What can he do other than their team move? He's the one who still has a long way to go to catch up to Midoriya's kindness. What can he do?

"If you mess up again, I won't forgive you." She turns back around to leave once and for all. "For all you know, you really only have one more chance." And with that, she closes his door and leaves.

She leaves him there, feeling like he wants to cry again.

As she walks with Present Mic down the hall, she doesn't look at him and instead tries to calm herself. Seeing Katsuki Bakugo struggle with his emotions so much that Midoriya-kun ends up getting hurt by it, she can't help but be biased against him.

"Hey," Present Mic starts, "You of all people have some nerve sayin' that to him, ya'know."

She flinches a bit. "…Yes… I know."

"The hell you did. Did'ja have to go and do everything by yourself?"

She's a bit embarrassed but still tries to keep her cool. "Are you saying you would've helped me? You wouldn't have gotten in my way?"

"I'm sayin' your way isn't the only way."

"…Then what would your suggestion have been?" They reach the elevator.

"Don't know."

He throws her off with that response, and she finally looks at him with open frustration. "Then—!"

"But I still wouldn't have let you do it!" She pauses to stare at him, then pouts a bit. She turns away in a huff, and they both begrudgingly step into the elevator to head back down. "You still don't get it, because you're still a kid after all, but a hero… No, an adult can't afford to go around acting on their emotions like that. You really think stealing memories from a quirkless old bat was the right thing to do? Then you've got a lot of growing to do, both as a hero and an adult."

After becoming something of an apprentice under him, she quickly realized he had a tendency to launch into long lectures, especially when he was upset. After all, he did like to talk. But after a while, it would be clear he was just rambling, getting out all of his emotionally charged thoughts, expecting her to listen because she was a child and he knew better. …It was something she had never really experienced with her parents, let alone her own father. She had always been quiet and well-behaved, so there was rarely ever a need for this form of punishment. But as unfamiliar as it was to her, she found herself well-equipped to handle it. After all, she did like to listen.

As they exit the elevator, Uraraka tries to ask her what happened, just trying to glean even a little bit of hope, even a tiny sign that Rose succeeded at whatever it is she did up there, but Mic shuts her down (apologizing to one of his favorite students) and tells them that Rose can't stay to talk because she's in trouble.

"It's okay," Rose tells them without explaining further, "Things will get better." The two continue to the front door, but before they exit, she remembers to ask, "The paired assignment… Presentations are on Saturday, right?"

"Y-Yes!"

"Then please wait until then. Midoriya-kun… Bakugo-kun too… They'll appreciate it if you wait." She leaves them with those mysterious last words.

As her and her teacher walk down the path back to the school, Mic continues his lecture. "You know you probably won't be seeing them for at least a week."

He's talking about the probability that she'll be suspended. Their situation with Taka Nobita was already bad enough. The school had to really double down on punishments now and make sure everyone knows about their zero tolerance policy for someone quirkless getting attacked by a quirk-user. It was a preexisting rule of course, but obviously it matters more now than ever. And one of the very victims of such a horrid attack has now become the first quirk-user after that attack to violate this one rule. The irony could not be overstated.

"Worst-case scenario, you get expelled. You know that? Did you stop to think about that first? You wanna throw away the chance you finally got to be a hero? You think this was worth it?"

"I am a hero."

He stops. His eyes bolt from the concrete path in front of him straight to her. And when she looks straight back at him, he finally notices her eyes. He was too angry to really notice them before, but now… she actually looks… fine. She looks… alive. And once again, he's almost struck speechless by how quickly she's growing up. "You… When did you…?"

Even from behind his glasses, she can read that face. "…Thank you, sensei." She smiles warmly, glowing. "Thank you for believing in me."

And that quiet voice, that quiet smile, and those quietly shining eyes are as loud as a blaring siren to his heart. He fights the urge to hug her, to pat her on the back and tell her she did good. Despite how well-adjusted she always looks on the outside, he knows that she might never be comfortable with any man touching her for the rest of her life. Plus he's supposed to be mad at her, dammit. She put herself and others at risk. And if she had just asked for help, he would've helped her. He would've talked her down from doing anything drastic, would've guided her in the right direction like a teacher was supposed to. That's right. He's angry. She won't get away with this, not with that little smile, not even if she looks more peaceful than she's ever been.

But as if she can read his mind, she wraps her arms around his torso and gives a quick but heartfelt squeeze. Before he really has time to react, she lets go, awkwardly clutches her own hands, and says again, "Thank you."

She really means it. When all of this is over, she just wants to thank everyone who helped her on this journey, everyone who told her exactly what she needed to hear and helped her become a newer, better version of herself than she could've possibly imagined. She'd be lying if she said she didn't want to repay them somehow, but she knows that the best payment she could give is to stay like this, to keep being this better version of herself for all of them.

Now… for Midoriya-kun's sake… if only Katsuki Bakugo could do the same…