"And the winner is...!"
Bakugou lifted his head with difficulty, but once he was able to look up at the lock of silver hair that covered the face of his enemy. His red eyes wide with horror and hatred as Midnight's hand started gesturing towards the small frail figure that towered before him in slow motion. If only he could move his body. If only he could-
He froze in horror as the figure looked down at him. Their grey, bored looking eyes slowly meeting his piercing red orbs. Don't you dare look at me like that! Bakugou wanted to scream at them but nothing came out. All he could do was lay on the ground, stomach facing down, with his head looking up in horror as Midnight's hand pointed to the person before him. NO! Midnight's mouth opened, and-
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Bakugou shot up from the bed, gasping for air. Back drenched in his own sweat, he looked around only to realize that he was in his own bedroom. It's that dream again. Bakugou groaned as he grabbed a fistful of his hair. It's been a good three years and he still can't forget that day. The digital clock on his bedside table kept ringing, reminding the ash blonde it's time he get his ass out of the bed.
The blonde man slammed his fist on the clock, got out of his bed and dragged his feet to the bathroom. Today was another work day. After his morning routine and breakfast, Bakugou headed out of his apartment. The doorknob made a click sound as he locked the door. Soon, the blonde hero trotted down the stairs of his apartment building in a grey hoodie and black face mask.
A lot has changed in the past few years. Now, Bakugou is a professional hero, striving for the spot as number one. He has his own agency and sidekicks. As a hero rising in popularity he must be careful of paparazzi. If his address was leaked into the public, then who knows what kind of creeps would show up in front of his house?
He was greeted by his manager, Inazumari Wataru, when he got to his agency. The Ground Zero hero agency consists of only Bakugou, his manager, and his one sidekick. Like celebrities, heroes also need managers to manage their agency. Inazumari is mainly in charge of making sure Bakugou receives the credit for his work and that media doesn't write any false scandals of him. Essentially he is working two jobs of a manager and a lawyer. Originally Bakugou despised the idea of a sidekick. He said he didn't need one and that he himself was more than enough. In the end, however, he decided to hire Clearvo, his current sidekick.
Clearvo is two years his junior, a fresh graduate from UA high school; his real name is Tenmoku Senri. His quirk is clairvoyance, so he serves as Bakugou's support during patrol and battles, notifying Bakugou the location of his enemies.
"Yo boss! As always you're so early!" Clearvo chirped when he walked into the changing room.
"You're just late," Bakugou hissed with a glare. Clearvo immediately shut up. Hmm... That scowl on his face. Constantly clicking his tongue... Clearvo recognized the symptoms. Aha...
Bakugou took off his hoodie, along with the long sleeved shirt from underneath, revealing his proud muscular upper body. He tossed his clothes into his locker and grabbed the suit that hung neatly on the clothe hanger. It was still in the midst of Spring, so he was in his long sleeve gear. After the hero and the sidekick changed into their costumes and got out of the changing room, Inazumari came up to Bakugou. "Ground Zero, about the public property destruction last-"
"Shut up! I'll deal with that later!"
Inazumari closed his mouth and watched Bakugou walk out of the building to go on his patrol. He raised a brow and looked back at Clearvo, pointing his thumb at the direction Bakugou had left. "What's up with him?" It's not like Bakugou needs to hear about the property destruction bill, since it's technically Inazumari's job to deal with it, but he would have to explain to Bakugou about the money missing from his paycheck this month later when it's pay day.
"Ah ignore him Mari-san, he's just menstruating." Clearvo walked up to Inazumari with his hands behind his head.
"I though Ground Zero was a man."
"Exactly why it's called menstruating, not womenstuating."
"Sometimes I wonder why the boss hasn't beaten you up yet." Inazumari's lips curled slightly as he looked at Clearvo in amusement. The high school graduate shrugged with a smirk on his face. He walked towards the front door, and made a salute sign to Inazumari, and mouthed 'peace out' before leaving to go on patrol too.
Bakugou strolled on the street with his usual scowl on his face. "Hey Ground Zero!" a civilian greeted as Bakugou walked by.
"What do you want?!" Bakugou shouted. The civilian who greeted him simply laughed as he walked on. Bakugou has been in this city for a while, and the people here all know him pretty well. Despite his explosive attitude that matches well with his quirk, the man is actually a very well received hero. At first the people around were afraid of him due to his aggressive demeanor, but after a few events, people gradually began to understand him for the way he is. Sometimes people would even dig out videos from the sports festival of his first year at UA to poke fun at him.
"Ground Zero! Ground Zero!" Takumi, the third grader who commutes to school on the route Bakugou always patrols, came running up to him.
"What do you want squirt?" Bakugou asked, coming to a stop. He towered over the elementary school student, crossing his arms in a very annoyed fashion.
"Yesterday, I did the arm twisting thingy you showed me, and the bullies ran away!" Takumi exclaimed as he waved his arms around trying to demonstrate the movement.
"Is that so." Bakugou walked on, seemingly disinterested. Heh, pussies. Takumi kept rambling on about the things that happened at school this week, even though Bakugou wasn't listening. The kid is a big fan of heroes, and was probably the only kid his age who didn't get intimidated by Ground Zero's aggressive demeanor.
"...and then, and then-"
CRASH!
"Squirt get back!" Bakugou stepped in front of Takumi, shielding him from the glass shards flying towards them. A truck just broke out of the bank a few meters in front of them.
As the truck drove away, the banker came running out, yelling, "Robbery!"
"Tch! MOVE IT!" Bakugou screamed as he blasted himself into the air, making sure his first blast wasn't too big, so it wasn't enough to hurt Takumi, who stood behind him. The truck was fast, but Bakugou was faster. "Come back here you fuckers! Imma kill you!"
"It's Ground Zero!" some people shouted as they saw Bakugou fly by.
"Shit!" the robber driving the truck stepped on the gas, going at full speed. The people and cars on the road all kept to the side. There were screams and panics, but all and all the road was clear. The robber had done his research and picked the street he knew had the least traffic at this time. However, Ground Zero was getting closer and closer. The light at the intersection turned red, but there's no way he's gonna stop. Just as he was about to run that light a figure came walking out in front of the truck. "MOVE IT!"
"Huh?" The figure turned its head, finally noticing the truck.
The robber jammed his foot into the break, but it was too late. He's gonna hit her! The robber closed his eyes, bracing himself for his first road kill. Just as the truck was about to hit the young woman walking before it, Ground Zero blasted in and knocked her to the side of the road she was headed for. He wrapped his arms around her, shielding her from the impact as they hit and rolled on the pavement.
"Ngh." Bakugou groaned. He definitely scraped his skin somewhere, he can feel the burn. "WATCH THE FUCK WHERE YOU'RE-" He paused. His eyes widened, for he recognized the face of the woman in his arms.
"Ow..." She let out a soft groan as she winced in pain. When her eyes opened, shock too came crossing over her face. Her jaws dropped a little as she recognized the man holding her.
"It's you!" Bakugou shouted.
"Geh!"
Bakugou will never, never, forget that face. Those dazed cold grey eyes, bored looking face. She continued to haunt him in his dreams even up till this day. To think he'd meet her again after all those years. The one and only person he's ever officially lost to in an fight, Iki Kamiko!
"Behind you!" Kamiko shouted as she patted Bakugou on the shoulder, signalling for him to let go. The robber began to step on the gas again as Bakugou was distracted. However, Bakugou shoved Kamiko away and blasted himself onto the front window of the truck. Kamiko landed on the ground with an 'oof', but she didn't get hurt.
Bakugou glared at the robber from the window, a big evil grin on his face that would put any villain to shame. "Where do you think you're going huh?!"
"S-Spare me!" the robber cried. "I'm sorry! I won't do it again!"
"Fuck yeah you won't! You'll be sitting in prison!" Bakugou growled at him. He blasted the window to pieces and pulled the man out of the driver's seat, tossing him onto the streets. Soon, the police arrived on sight, and they cuffed the robber.
"Thank you for your help Ground Zero. We will be reporting your work to the hero society," Megure, the chief of police, saluted to Bakugou.
Reporters started filing in, snapping pictures of the robber and Bakugou. As always, whenever heroes do their job, whether it's big or not there will always be a ton of reporters flocking to the area. Bakugou ignored Megure and the reporters, and looked back to where Kamiko once was, only to find that she was nowhere to be found.
"Outta my way!" he pushed the reporters away and ran to the cross walk where she once was, and looked around every direction. He couldn't even find a hair.
"Grrrrrrrr..." A low growl rumbled in the depth of Bakugou's throat. "Fucking bitch where the fuck did you go?!"
. . . Four Years Ago . . .
"I...give up." Tokoyami laid on the ground unable to move.
"Ladies and gentlemen now this is unexpected situation!" Present Mic's voice resonated throughout the entire arena. The entire class 2-A stared at the stage in shock. Standing before Tokoyami is a girl they've never met before.
"Winner, Iki Kamiko of Class 2-C!" Midnight gestured towards the girl with shoulder length silver hair. She was a very small statured girl, standing at no more than 150 cm.
"W-Was someone like that always in Class C?" Uraraka asked.
"Yeah, she was always in Class C," Shinsou, who transferred to Class A this semester, answered.
"What?! Why isn't she in the hero course?!" exclaimed Midoriya as he whipped his head at Shinsou, who sat next to him.
"Well, to put it simply Iki just doesn't want to. Unlike the rest of us who came to UA with the hopes of getting into hero course, she never wanted to be in hero course."
"T-To think someone like her didn't receive a recommendation into hero course..." Yaoyozoru placed a hand over her agape mouth.
"And the next one facing her is..." Kirishima gulped as he looked at the ash blonde sitting besides him. If looks could kill Kamiko should have been dead by now. Bakugou stared at the girl from the normal class with his brows nearly touching against each other. His eyes were wide with aggression. Even blind people could tell Bakugou was completely fired up.
After a few rounds of some Class A and B students battling, it was finally Bakugou and Kamiko's turn. "And now, coming out from the blue side, is the first place winner of last year's tournament, the former champion, Bakugou Katsuki of Class 2-A!" Present Mic's voice lit up the entire arena. The crowd cheered for the former champion, king of explosion murders. "And on the red side is the dark horse of this year! From Normal Course, Class 2-C, IKI KAMIKO!" The crowd cheered even louder at Kamiko's entrance, much to Bakugou's annoyance. Everyone in the arena was eager to see this match.
Nobody expected someone like Iki Kamiko to suddenly appear out of thin air and steal the spot light of this year's sports festival. Midoriya was already scribbling away in his notebook.
"Iki Kamiko, quirk: Realm! She can form a bubble like territory, and within that territory she is essentially a god like existence, able to control anything! However, if she uses this territory for too long, she will start experiencing anxiety attacks from the stress of the responsibility! Not everyone is cut out to be God!" Present Mic explained.
"I've seen your quirk once so it won't work on me!" Bakugou declared.
"Mmm...we'll see about that." Kamiko replied with a questioning look. Taking her response as provocation, Bakugou was already dying to charge at her.
"Ready...BEGIN!" Midnight raised her flogger in the air.
A dark sphere immediately started emerging from Kamiko, and started spreading towards Bakugou. The explosion king blasted himself in the air to avoid the dark sphere. "I know your territory has its limits! As long as I don't get in that territory of yours you can't control me!" Bakugou shouted confidently.
"Mmm, you have a point." Kamiko placed a hand on her chin. "That would indeed be a problem." Her sphere stopped spreading. "But will you just stay up there the whole day?"
"What do you take me for you dipshit?!" Bakugou placed a hand in Kamiko's direction. "Take this!" One of Bakugou's giant blasts came firing at Kamiko. The blast was enough to cover her entire territory, making it unable to escape even if she could control the inside of the territory. At that instant, the only thing that could be heard in the arena was BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! And then smoke filled the arena.
"..cough...cough...Bakugou that guy! He used his special attack right up the bat!" Kirishima breathed inside the dust.
"Considering Iki-san's quirk, that's Kacchan's only way of securing the win," Midoriya analyzed. If it were me, I'd do the same.
The dust and smoke slowly faded away. Everyone gasped in shock when they saw the current situation on the stage. Bakugou laid on the ground, face flat. Kamiko stood in front of him, completely unscathed, and the stage was completely unharmed. However, the ground around the stage was completely burnt and blown to bits and pieces of cement. Cementos would surely have some trouble patching that up. "H-How come? The territory isn't affected at all!" Midoriya gasped.
On the stage, Bakugou struggled to lift his body. It was as if his body was magnet, stuck to the ground. He used all the strength in his body to push himself up just a little, only to be sucked back to the ground. The only thing he could do was tilt his head up to look at the girl towering before him. He was 175 cm, and she was only 150 cm, yet she dared to look down at him. The girl yawned, seemingly bored by the match. Bakugou felt as if she had just stepped on his pride, leaving a muddy, deep dent in it.
"My quirk is space type. The edges of my territory works like a warp. Any attack coming from one side will pass through and come out directly from the other side. It's an absolute defense," Kamiko explained to the confused looking Bakugou. "Plus..." She pointed up. Bakugou's eyes widened. The sphere... The sphere has covered the entire arena! "I never said the limit of my territory was that little."
"Bakugou unable to move! Winner..." Midnight's hand raised in the air. No! Bakugou couldn't believe it. He lost? No! It can't be. There's no way he'd lose. Especially not to her! In fact nobody predicted that Bakugou would lose. Nobody would have thought that the former champion would lose to some random girl from the normal course. "...Iki Kamiko of Class 2-C!"
"Ngghhh...DAMN IT!"
Hope you liked the first chapter!
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