~I0I~

1: So you're dead

~I0I~

"Sero, you're just guessing."

"Think about it. He somehow managed to turn a fight completely around in seconds. Shoto's not just strong man, he might be the craftiest outta all of us. Certainly smarter than Queen Explosion murder." he said earning a few chuckles.

"Careful man, I think she can hear you," Kirishima said just loud enough for someone nearby to hear.

Her ears caught wind of what Hanta was saying. Was someone muttering about her?

Growling quietly, she slammed her locker so loudly the entire hallway's attention snapped to her. "Did you say some shit about me?"

Clearing his throat, her classmate pulled lightly on his collar while his friends gave him some space. "Uh! No. No Katsuyi I didn't."

"Because it sounded like you said that half and half guy did better against 1-B than I did!" the girl might as well have been setting off one of her grenades by Hanta's feet.

Clearing his throat again, Hanta tried to step back only to nearly trip over his own backpack. "I was um. I mean I just said Shoto was crafty that's all."

"Craftier than me. Call me crazy but you implied he was smarter than me in a fight. So just admit it. Okay?"

Hanta gulped. "Yeah, I might've said that."

Brushing Hanta's shoulders with a smile, Katsuyi gave him a smile. "See? There. No harm done."

Before she left, Katsuyi sent her elbow into a hook so strong that it knocked Hanta flat onto his rear on the floor of the school.

Standing up, Hanta grumbled to his friends. "Man, Bakugo never changes does she?"

~0~

"It was an insult. I had to do something." Katsuyi chewed her fried dumpling quietly away from any other UA students. "Not that you'd know, having a stick shoved so far up your ass it'd probably come out of your nose."

Tenya crossed his arms. "Insult or not. Striking our classmates is not allowed. As your class president, I'll-"

"What? Report me? So do it." Katsuyi shrugged. "I did better than all of you in those battles. Todoroki tied when you four had a huge advantage. It was like I was the only person who really won. Besides Deku I guess."

"And it means nothing. I simply won't allow it. Besides, we gained a win from Shinso helping us."

"Yeah, he's not part of our class. And I won't allow people to badmouth me either. Excuse me for being the only one sick of being trash-talked."

Katsuyi watched Tenya storm off with a quiet chuckle.

Dang. This tempura is good.

"Any luck?" asked Izuku.

Tenya sighed. "You know her better than any of us. What gets her in a mood like this?"

"I have no idea. I thought she was doing better." Izuku frowned. "I'll go talk to her."

"Ah. Round two." Katsuyi crossed her legs before eating more of her lunch seeing Izuku approach. "The old good cop bad cop routine huh? I'd laugh but yeah. You really don't seem to get the message don't you?"

"And what message is that?" asked Izuku. "This kind of came out of nowhere. Even for you."

"So I'm the only one with a perfect win against 1-B right? And Icy Hot's the one getting all the praise for tying a match that was easily his."

"You're really underselling it Kacchan. Testutestu had him against the ropes, I was barely able to figure out just how he pulled that off."

Katsuyi closed her lunch tray with a plastic lid. "And yet he still was forced to take a draw. Against only one really strong fighter. I didn't even have Iida or anyone close to the level of his team, and still I won 4 to nothing."

"So did I. But I don't try to use it as an excuse to shove our friends into the ground."

"Whatever. You're just jealous I made it look easy."

"Where is this coming from?"

Katsuyi stood up off the cement bench she was using to eat her lunch. "Maybe it's none of your business."

"Well, it is my business. Hey." Izuku turned as she began to walk right past him. "I wasn't-" the moment he placed his hand on her shoulder, Katsuyi flicked it off.

"Careful." Katsuyi's expression changed from bored to defensive. "The last time we fought things didn't end well for either of us. I don't feel like cleaning the entire dorms again."

Izuku looked off after her. What has her in a mood like this?

~0~

In class, Katsuyi watched as Aizawa called on Shoto, the class muttering quietly about the sharpness of his response.

Special fire technique. Ridiculous. What an idiot. I don't need to come up with any flashy moves to claim I'm perfect or whatever.

Checking the clock above the chalkboard, Katsuyi nearly breathed a sigh of relief. We move from the most interesting part of Classical Studies to the most boring in just four days.

Katsuyi squinted behind her shoulder quickly at Hanta. Damned nerve.

She remembered learning of Izuku's inheritance of One for All.

All Might chose him.

Almost grunting quietly, Katsuyi restrained herself from snapping her pencil in half. Right. As if I needed to be reminded.

As the bell rang, Katsuyi quickly put her notebook away wanting to run from the class as fast as possible.

"Bakugo," Aizawa said from his desk.

As the rest of the class spoke and chattered Katsuyi crossed her arms in front of her teacher's desk. "Yes?"

"I heard there was an incident in the hallway between you and Sero."

"I might've nudged him."

Aizawa looked unimpressed by this. "Right. Your detention is to help maintain the school grounds today from four to seven o'clock. Your duties will be posted on the maintenance shed after classes."

Katsuyi breathed in quietly. "Yes sir."

~0~

"Fuckin' bullshit. That's all this is."

Katsuyi read the list she had torn off the shed's old metal door.

1. Fix the lawnmower.

2. Mow both fields.

3. Adjust the bleachers to the other side of the field.

(Use of your quirk is not allowed)

-Mr. Aizawa

Katsuyi felt like blasting the list into a million pieces.

Yeah no shit I can't use my quirk. Otherwise, I could've finished moving the bleachers in a half-second. Only two of these damned things seem doable.

When Katsuyi stepped into the shed, she was greeted by the sight of tools that were clearly many years old. The lawnmower looked especially old too.

Blowing the dust off the old book, Katsuyi flipped a few pages into the old lawnmower's instruction manual.

I can't understand any of this. Might as well move on to the next item. Wait.

Katsuyi put her hands on her hips seeing the size of the bleachers she had to move into the shady part of the fields from the sunny one.

If I could just grab it and blast forward I could move this damn thing instantly.

Grunting, Katsuyi put as much effort as possible into moving the bleachers only to look at her progress. Her eyes widened, seeing how little the bleachers had moved. She balled her fists. Aizawa knew how hard this shit would be. Either I use my quirk or ask someone for help. But I can't do either really.

Katsuyi went back to reading the old manual in the shed.

After about fifteen minutes Katsuyi decided she could in fact do it herself.

Checking the underside of the lawnmower, it appeared the blades were fine.

It has to be the motor.

Katsuyi pulled the string to start up the engine. After hearing it run for a moment, the mower's motor sputtered until it no longer ran.

Using the manual again, Katsuyi just had to replace a few bolts tightening the battery assembly to the motor to help keep it alive. Even though she had gotten a large amount of grease all over her hands and elbows, she had finished her first task.

Beneath the late Spring sun, Katsuyi was pushing the old lawnmower back and forth across the grounds. Every time the damned thing stopped or hit a rock, Katsuyi had to restrain herself from exploding the entire machine to pieces.

Instead she rolled the mower back, moved the rock, and got back to work.

Seeing the shapes of a few students appear in the window of the dorms, Katsuyi felt like flipping them off for watching her but instead got back to work.

It was already six o'clock by the time Katsuyi was finished. Covered in sweat, Katsuyi turned to the bleachers panting quietly.

Fuck you Mr. Aizawa.

She had spent the better part of a half-hour just trying to get the bleachers a quarter of the way across the field before Katsuyi kicked the metal rim holding the bleachers up so hard the entire frame shook. "Damnit!"

Sighing, Katsuyi began to think. My best bet is to blast this thing from one side of the field to the other. Then quickly repair the damage done to the field with the tools in the shed. But Aizawa will probably know what I did and make me do it again. Or worse give me even more detention.

"Need some help?"

Katsuyi was surprised to see Izuku had approached the bleachers. "No." Katsuyi turned away from him in an instant. "This is detention. Can't be helped."

"I mean. It looks like a two-person job." Izuku said.

Katsuyi spoke honestly. "I'd rather do this myself for the next couple hours than have you of all people help me."

Izuku ignored this, moving to the part of the bleachers where he could start to move them.

"What're you doing?" asked Katsuyi.

"Trying to," Izuku grunted. "Help you."

Too proud to let him do it alone, Katsuyi went with the easiest option.

Katsuyi looked around, specifically at the window of the dorms knowing people could've seen this. Turning so that she wouldn't have to be facing him when shoving the bleachers forward, Katsuyi dug in to move them.

"If you tell anyone about this I'll kill you. Literally, kill you, I'll throw you through a window and your neck will be snapped."

Smiling at this, Izuku dug in with Katsuyi to move the bleachers.

Izuku and Katsuyi moved the bleachers in only a few minutes. Katsuyi found that by having both sides of the bleachers be moved at the same time, they moved much easier.

"Well that wasn't so bad was it?" Izuku said wiping his hands quickly.

Katsuyi instantly began to leave.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"To get a cold drink," Katsuyi said.

~0~

"What are you doing?" Izuku gasped watching Katsuyi fiddle with the lock to the school cafeteria using her hairclip.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm getting a soda." Katsuyi said before throwing the doors to the cafeteria open quietly.

"Can't we just get a water bottle from the fridge in the dorm?" Izuku was nervous, reluctantly following her.

Katsuyi snorted. "Fuck that. If Aizawa's gonna sentence me to hard labor he better pay me back somehow."

Katsuyi moved to the door to the refrigerator where sodas were stored and pulled herself one.

Izuku was simply watching her guzzle it down silently.

"What?" Katsuyi crushed the now empty can instantly under her foot while speaking. "You want one too?" she asked making sure to store it in her sweatshirt pocket.

"No I just had no idea. You steal from here?" Izuku asked.

"Of course I do," Katsuyi said. "Don't act so surprised. I've been breaking rules since pre-school."

Izuku looked at the can Katsuyi was offering him. After about five seconds of not reacting, Katsuyi sighed. "It's soda pop. Not poison. Jesus Deku, calm down."

"I'm good thanks."

"God." Katsuyi was already finishing her third can of soda. "They never notice anyway. You just gotta mess with their inventory count and you're good."

"Inventory count?"

"Wow I gotta explain all this to you." Katsuyi crushed the soda can before jumping over the front counter of one of the food court's small restaurants.

Flicking the light to a backroom on, Izuku watched the lines and lines of boxes Katsuyi had no issue with showing him. "There's all sorts of stuff here. Chips, even some fried meats. As long as you don't take enough to get caught and make sure to always fuck with their count you're good. Here watch."

As if she'd done this dozens of times, Izuku watched as Katsuyi copied the exact page and signature of Lunch Rush to account for the soda she'd stolen.

"So you just normally break rules like this?"

Katsuyi shrugged. "I haven't been caught yet. This detention I got for shoving Sero and the one I got for fighting you a few months ago have been the only ones I've gotten."

"Are you even serious right now-"

"We should get going," Katsuyi said. "Any more rule-breaking and your head would probably explode."

~0~

Entering the dorms, Eijiro Kirishima was quietly studying in the lounge area watching Izuku and Katsuyi approach. "Hey guys. Where have you-"

"Fuck off," Katsuyi grumbled while heading off in the directions of the showers.

"Man she's moodier than usual," Kirishima mumbled while flipping a page over in his book. "How're you man?"

"Huh?" Izuku shook his head quickly. "What oh, I'm fine."

"I totally saw you helping Bakugo out with the bleachers." Kirishima winked. "Don't worry Midoriya. Your secret's safe with me."

"What?" Izuku drew a water bottle from the fridge. "What do you mean by secret?"

Kirishima laughed. "Look I don't care. Just letting you know that's all."

Izuku realized how much dirt he had gotten over himself moving the bleachers earlier that day. "I gotta go shower."

Kirishima squinted in Izuku's direction. Hell's up with him and Bakugo coming back to the dorms together like that? I know they've known each other longer than anyone else in the class. But she's pricklier than a porcupine. Oh well, it could be nothing.

~0~

When Izuku returned to his room, he realized there was a rectangular package placed on his desk.

First he read the note in handwriting he recognized very well.

Again. Tell anyone and I'll kill you.

Curious to see what Katsuyi had sent him, Izuku was surprised by what it was.

An All Might figurine. I have a million of these- Wait!

His eyes widened when it hit him.

These were one of the first limited editions ever made! How did she find these?

Izuku put his new figurine in one of his desk drawers.

What is Kacchan trying to tell me? Is it about her desire to become a hero? It makes a lot of sense that she would give me something like this. I remember the first thing she did when we moved into the dorms is payback Kaminari for being given night vision goggles. She hates being in debt I guess, and helping her today must've hurt that famous pride of hers.

I don't really know what she meant by sending me this. Especially if she knew how much it meant to me. But still, I appreciate the gift.