There was definitely something off about Katsuki Bakugo.

This was not to say the young man had ever been in a state that resembled a sane or even typical human being, he was infamous for flying off the rails, insulting anyone who came close and occasionally committing one or two good old fashioned attempted murders on his peers. To say he had ever been stable was a stretch.

However, even by his usual low standards, Bakugo had been acting odd as of late. It started demonstrating itself in little ways. He would be even more eager than usual to suddenly snap at people, even Aizawa-sensei himself on one terrifying occasion. This was relatively normal behaviour, but even he normally held some sort of restraint when it came to teachers. From there, things only escalated. He lashed out during training exercises, almost put numerous peers in a more critical state, in a way he had not done since that first ill-fated training session with All Might.

"There's definitely something off about him." Minoru Mineta noted as he stretched his hands up high behind his head. Well, as high as the short-statured creep could stretch, which was still quite a distance below his fellow classmates as they shuffled down the halls. School had ended for the day, and that meant the rest of the day was theirs to do with as they pleased. "He almost blew the door off the hinges when he left."

"When even you're noticing someone's being weird, that's a really scathing realisation." Jiro muttered, keeping her hands dug in the pockets of her waistcoat. "Not that you're wrong, per se..."

The young man with the purple hair shrugged. "What can I say? I can spot a wrong 'un from a mile away."

"I guess it takes one to know one." With a playful smirk dancing upon his lips, Denki Kaminari slapped the bobble-headed peer over the back of the head. Pulling his hand, now forcefully clasped with a round purple ball from Mineta's hair, he grimaced. "Dude, these things are as gross as your personality."

Jiro managed to stifle her snickers with her hands before they left her mouth. "Dumbass."

"Hey, come on, how was I s'posed to know they stuck so easily?" Denko protested as he struggled to detach the object from his hands. "How do I get these off?"

"It's a unique power, Kaminari." Minoru grinned. "It's called patience."

Kaminari looked like he was fully ready to smash the gnome-esque student through the window running alongside them, as Kyoka doubled over. "You little shit-"

"Careful, you might just start sounding like Bakugo. Which kinda brings us back to the original point. There's something weird going on with him."

Jiro seemed mostly apathetic about this as the small trio reached the stairwell and started heading down to the lower floor. "Weirder than usual? I don't see it. He's always been a bit of… You know…"

"A psychopath?" Kaminari suggested, finally prying the ball loose and jamming it to the wall for somebody else to deal with later on.

"Something along those lines, yeah. I couldn't say if he's been getting more violent or anything, it's always just a base level with him."

"Well, okay then, how about we ask someone who knows him?" Minoru pondered for a moment. "Kirishima, maybe?"

Denki made a face. "Dude, that guy won't hear a word against Bakugo nowadays. He's totally indoctrinated. He'll say the same stuff as Jiro, but in a significantly more defensive manner."

"Well okay then, if that isn't to your liking, mi'lord, maybe we could go talk to someone like… I dunno, Midoriya?"

Kaminari and Jiro each took a moment to consider this. "You know, that isn't a half bad idea." Denki realised. "They've known each other since childhood, if anyone would have noticed any weird behaviour, it would be him."

"I'd be down to go down that line." Kyoka added. "As long as you guys aren't colossal idiots about it."

"Like that would happen." Kaminari was perhaps a little too quick to dismiss this concern. "C'mon then, he'll probably be back at the dorms, we could still catch up to him."

[-]

"Huh?" Izuku Midoriya asked, slightly half-heartedly as he worked on sweeping the floor of the dormitory's central lounge. "Kacchan? Odd?"

"Yeah, that's what we were thinking." Kaminari confirmed, sitting on one of the couches that made up the centre zone and resisting the urge to plant his feet up on the coffee table. "Something about that creep's weirder than usual. He isn't just more violent or aggressive, he's more sullen too. Doesn't it strike you as bizarre?"

Kyoka nodded as she leaned forward on the arm of the sofa, hands clasped on her lap. "Yeah. You've known him longer than anyone else here, Midoriya. Would you have any idea what his deal is?"

As he continued sweeping, the young man seemed to lament on what he had just been told, processing the details in his head. "I mean, now that you actually mention it, I guess you might have a point. He does seem different…"

"Yeah." Mineta added. "He's always been a violent jerk, but he seems to be taking it even further than usual here. Hey, you think there's something going on in his personal life?"

"Just because your parents don't love you doesn't mean the same can be said for anyone who acts like a freak." Kaminari pointed out snidely, to which he received a well-deserved punch on the arm from Jiro.

Izuku, for his part, seemed far more thoughtful and contemplative. "I don't know… I mean, sure, the dorms have been a pretty large switch up in routine, but… We've been here for months now. If he was homesick, it would have shown earlier… As for his family, again I don't think anything's going on. My mom keeps in contact with his and it seems like everything's okay."

Ms. Jiro sighed as she wiped her brow. "Maybe we're getting a little ahead of ourselves here. This isn't exactly our business that we're poking into here. Maybe we should just drop it. I mean, no offense, Midoriya, but none of us are really his friends, aside from you. I know I don't like him much-"

"Seconded." Kaminari cut in.

"- So it might be better if we just left it as is."

"Someone mention poking noses into the business of others?" It was in a completely silent flash that a puffy, pink face appeared on the headrest of the couch, the sudden nature of it forcing Kaminari to recoil back and Jiro to nearly fall right off the arm.

"Yeah, you'd know something about that, Ashido." Minoru noted, seemingly trying to figure out just where she had snuck onto them from. "What is it you want?"

"Wellll…." The girl started as she started to clamber over to the front of the sofa, stepping right onto Denki's leg and prompting a short grunt of pain from him as she used one hand to sweep some of that messy hair out of her dark eyes. "I overheard you guys talking there." Mina Ashido always had been something of a gossip machine, so to speak. She was a deadly viper, latching onto any potentially exploitable information that she could. None of them had any right to be surprised over her sudden appearance. "So then, what are you on about?"

Kaminari rolled his eyes as he rested the sides of his cheeks in his hands grumpily, forced right into the corner of the couch by the second lowest performer in the class' attempts to get over. "Yes, guys, thanks for letting me in on this conversation. Guess that sentence is too much to ask from you…"

The pink-skinned future hero made a very good point of completely ignoring this and carrying right on. "Anyway, what are you on about exactly?"

"Bakugo." Was Jiro's controlled response. "We've just been thinking there's something up with him."

Mina's face split into a wide beam. "Oooh, him? Yeah yeah, it just so happens you've asked the right girl to solve your problems."

"We didn't ask you shit."

Fair play to Ashido, she reacted with momentary shock at Kaminari's words for only a split second before her normal demeanour returned and it was to never be brought up again. "Well, I bet he wouldn't appreciate if I went around telling you guys..." She gave a very unconvincing fake stretch, reaching her arms up above her head and threading her fingers within one another.

Her trap had somehow managed to work on Mineta, of all people. "Hey, I wouldn't mind if you gave us some info." His head snapped around to Deku, who had finished up his chore and had set the brush down in the corner of the room. "Midoriya, you wanna hear what she has to say, right?"

Izuku shrugged as he wandered back over to the rapidly expanding group. "I suppose so. If it's no problem, then I wouldn't mind hearing what it is you have to say."

With this new development, Ashido took on a new expression of mock contemplation, as if she were debating what to do, although every last one of them, including herself, knew full well that she had already made up her mind and was primarily focused on milking it, the drama queen that she was. "I dunno. This is pretty secretive stuff. Bakugo might turn me inside out if he were to find out I told you. I'd definitely need some payment for my troubles-" This pondering was broken in an instant as Denki pinched the back of her neck and a burst of electricity streaked through her body, causing her to bolt upright, that messy, curly hair almost seeming to stand right on end and her horn appearing to unfold just a little. Her golden pupils went small in their inky black sockets.

"Point noted." She muttered gingerly, throwing a weak, half-hearted punch at Kaminari, who dodged it with startling ease despite barely moving. "Okay, so basically, last Sunday, I saw him sloping off somewhere. Like, out of the dorms."

"Really?" Midoriya tilted his head; He didn't recall Kacchan leaving at all that day, he seemed to have spent the whole weekend in his room.

Mina nodded, trying her best to flatten her hair back down a little. "Yeah. He left the dorm about lunch time. He came back, like, an hour later. Seemed kinda shifty too. Maybe he's up to something."

"Huh. You have any idea where he went?" In spite of her own previous advice to leave it be, Jiro's own curiosity was getting the better of her.

As she took the necessary time to ponder and reflect on the question, Ashido slowly shook her head, appearing more melancholy than anything else at her own lack of insight to this specific occurance. "No, I don't think so..." She let out a little disappointed huff. "Not like he would just come and tell me, is it? You guys know what he's like."

For the first time since this discussion had started, Midoriya was suddenly stricken with a desire to say something, and he knew exactly what that something was to be. "Come on guys." He urged, feeling four pairs of eyes settle upon him as he stood there. "Jiro has a point, it would be best if you maybe dropped this." He shrugged. "It's not like Kacchan would react well to knowing you're investigating him." That was the reason he gave; It was not to be the one he truly believed in or at least not the one he believed in the most.

Kyoka was made all the more curious by this, pulling herself down from the armrest and dusting down her sleeves as she tangled a length of her extended earlobes around one finger. "Really?" More than anything else, she seemed a little shocked that someone else had considered her musings from earlier. "I mean, yeah. You have a point." She shivered, although this was mostly for dramatic effect. "I don't want to know what he'd do if he knew we were even talking about him right now."

Instinctively, Kaminari reached from his back pocket to ensure his wallet remained in place while Mineta sighed. "Do you guys have no spine? I thought I was meant to be the coward."

"There's a world of difference between cowardice and not wanting to die, I thought you knew that." Denki lamented as he pulled out his phone and started to disentangle his headphones. "By the way. Jiro, I returned your CD last night." He gave a thumbs up. "Great stuff."

What followed was a few seconds of silence, followed up by the startling image of Kyoka's hands wrapped around Denki's neck for just a second, Ashido starting to slip away while giggling.

"You were in my room, you toad?" She asked, her voice just hard enough to strike fear into the two onlookers as she threatened to throttle her friend right there and then.

"No, no, nothing like that…" Kaminari gasped as he struggled to break free. It was a teasing choke more so than anything harmful, but the irritation in the girl's sentiment was more than genuine. "Slipped it under the door… Probably should've been more specific..."

"I'd say." Minoru rolled his eyes as he began to head away himself, waving his farewell to the others. "Anyway, see ya. I've got important stuff to do upstairs."

"Dude, watching porn isn't important." The yellow-haired compatriot to the young pervert pointed out, massaging his throat as Jiro had released her playful grip.

"It's not that." Was the weak response that came as Mineta disappeared up the stairs, leaving just the three remaining students down in the lounge, Kyoka having taken a step back and planting herself on the couch properly this time. As Izuku looked over the two, he felt a tinge of anxiety. Why were they so interested in investigating Kacchan? It just didn't make any sense to him. He knew there was something wrong, something more wrong than usual, with him, that was blatant. But why were they showing an interest? Did they not understand that looking deeper may only hurt the explosive blond further? Whatever the reason, he was glad to hear that they were dropping the subject, for he knew nothing good would come of them pursuing it further, for anybody.

[-]

"Hey, Midoriya. We've given it some more thought, and I've come up with an idea!"

"What?" In this situation, there wasn't much Izuku could do. A few days had passed since the previous discussion in the dormitory lounge and he had held out hope that it had been the end of things. None of the four who had expressed previous interest in digging a little had said any more on the matter, and this was not for a mere lack of him meeting them, as they had spoken since then. But finally, it had struck, in the form of Kaminari and Ashido cornering him just after a training session. This was one of the worst possible times to confront him as he was tired from the events of the training. Kacchan had gone a little harder than usual, knocked his green-haired alleged friend a bit more. It was as he stood backed against the wall, a towel draped over the shoulders of his blue track jacket to wipe the sweat, that he had been accosted by the two biggest underperformers of 1-A. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Bakugo, of course." Mina rolled her eyes as if this was painfully obvious. "We were thinking about for a while..."

"... And we've got an idea of where to take things." Denki finished. For how at odds the two often were, they sometimes seemed in perfect sync in more than just their grades. "C'mon, dude, go get changed and we can talk about this somewhere in private." He cast a glance over his shoulder, checking to ensure that nobody was listening in, for that would be the last of what they needed at this point. It would be annoying if someone like Hagakure got her hands on the information and they had to try to silence her; It would be downright disastrous if Kirishima or even Bakugo himself were to listen in on the plan. They'd be dead in an instant.

What really could Midoriya do other than give a shrunken "Okay..." and agree to come with them.

"Great." Mina pumped her fist. "We'll meet up again at the Height's Alliance courtyard in twenty. No one would be there at this time, trust me."

[-]

And so, without much of Izuku's consent, it had been decided. And this was why, twenty-five minutes later, the group reunited around a polished wooden bench in the yard of the dormitories, back into their regular uniforms.

In total, excluding Midoriya, Kaminari and Ashido, Mineta and a reluctant Jiro had come back into the fray. And all of them, regardless of their interest in continuing, were at least curious to see what would come next.

"Well, here we are again..." Kyoka sighed. "It appears that despite my efforts, we're gonna go through with this."

With far too much enthusiasm, Ashido draped an arm over her friend's shoulder. "Hell yeah, we are. Just hear us out, Kaminari and I had a damn good brainstorming session."

"Well, you two would certainly need it." The purple-haired young woman snickered. The others made a distinct attempt to ignore this ribbing, as it probably came from Jiro's own irritation at this whole thing more than anything else. Surprisingly for him, Kaminari was all business, standing while most of his peers sat on the bench, his hands clasped together as he addressed them.

"Right, so the thing is..." He started. "... Bakugo's been acting weird recently. Like, stuff that goes beyond anger. There's something going wrong with him, something very wrong. So we've been thinking about how to get to the bottom of it. And finally, it came to me." He snapped his fingers. "Yaoyorozu can be the key here,"

Midoriya tilted his neck, wondering where they were going with this, ignoring the subtle gleam that came into Mineta's eyes, as did everyone else. "What are you thinking of here?"

"Over the Summer, at the camp." Mina took over, remaining seated, but wringing her hands in quite the animated fashion. "I know we weren't there for it, but later on at the hospital, we realised she attached a tracker to that Nomu back then." A momentary shudder rose through the group. None of them had met it, but all had heard of the pure dread and horror inspired by the Chainsaw Nomu, perhaps one of the most terrifying aspects of a night already filled with muscle-augmented murderers, death row degenerates and pint-sized psychopaths, among others. "If she could do it then, she could do it now."

"So, your plan..." Kyoka started to acknowledge, putting her fingers together. "... Is to get Yaoyorozu to create another tracker and, assuming she actually agrees to this, use it to follow Bakugo? How the hell are we gonna get away with that?"

Denki smirked. "We know she'll accept it. She owes me a favour after I helped her renovate her room."

"What, those extra study sessions aren't enough of a favour?"

Ashido was just as dismissive as her male counterpart. "Psht, that's out of necessity. Wouldn't do it if we didn't have to. This is a more casual favour we'll ask."

"Come to think of it, that isn't too bad." Minoru confessed. "Yeah. I'll go ask her, she can make the tracker, someone plants it on Bakugo and then-"

"Ah." Kaminari cut in. "Don't even think about it. I'll ask Yaoyorozu, and you're gonna plant the bug."

Mineta's face froze in temporary fear. "You what?"

Mina wore a smile that suggested she was not very concerned for Minoru's wellbeing. "Think about it. You can stick the device to the inside of his bag or something. It'll be great."

Mineta was already in the process of scanning for reasons why he shouldn't be the one to plant the bug. "My- The balls lose their stickiness after a while."

"It won't be a problem." His electric compadré pointed out. "We'll do this on Sunday, since that seems to be when he disappears. You do it in the morning, it should be able to hold out until dinner, right?"

"But then-" His head snapped up, eyes trembling. "If he catches me, he will tear my head off and kick it down the entry path."

Denki shrugged. "And?"

"Yeah." Mina added. "Better you than us."

"Why are you so cruel?!"

This complaint was largely ignored as the group shifted to the next point of discussion. "If there are five of us all following after him, that's gonna look suspicious." Denki pointed out. "So I think it would be best if three people tailed him." He brought up three fingers for added emphasis. "And I have an idea of who it should be."

"Who's that, then?"

"Jiro, Ashido and Midoriya." Was the simple answer. He continued, even as Mineta let out a great sigh of relief. "In the event that something goes wrong, if he finds you, you three are the most capable if he tries to fight you." He rubbed his elbow gingerly. "I'd be pretty useless if we got into a proper fight. I'll hang back with Mineta as support." He then looked over to Izuku. "And you… well, you're this dude's childhood friend, right?"

Midoriya's mouth ran dry as he nodded. He desperately needed some water. "Yeah..."

"I thought so. If worst comes to worst, maybe you could try to talk him down. I dunno much about your history with him, but it seems to me like you could talk him down if worst comes to worst." He then shook his head rapidly, as if suddenly making a stark realisation. "Oh, of course, you don't have to do it. Sorry for forcing you into it."

"No, it's okay..." Izuku sighed. He started to stand up. He had already made his decision. "Look. I get what you're doing here. I don't really get why, but I know that you mean well. I just can't help you here." He felt his gut tighten, as if he was doing the wrong thing, letting the others down, by doing this. But he couldn't resist his better judgement. He knew in the moment that he had thoroughly made his choice, and he had no reason to change his mind. He was certain that they were just getting worked up over nothing. "Why would you guys even care, anyway? Sorry, I'm out."

There was nothing more to be said. If the others were to carry on, they would be doing it alone. Placing his hands into his pockets, Midoriya quickly left, heading back inside, with the falling sun shining golden rays on his back. There was nothing more to be said. He just couldn't support going against Kacchan, the person he had spent so much of his life with, like this. He couldn't.

And nothing would change his mind.

[-]

"Come on, you damn bastard!" Katsuki Bakugo roared as he launched himself across the wide, open gymnasium, throttling towards his opponent. Another few days had flown by since the meeting the yard, and it was now a Saturday, the day before the plans had been made to see what was going on with Bakugo, if the remaining members of the plot had seen any reason to carry on. Either way, Midoriya had involved himself no further and thankfully, they had not tried to talk to him about it again. In fact,he had even held a pleasant conversation with Kaminari and Mineta over upcoming exams just the previous day, with no mention of the plan. He was glad that they were, if still continuing their scheme, at least respecting his decision. Now, he sat on the side benches alongside most of his peers in Gym Gamma, watching a sparring match play out, Bakugo against Kaminari of all people. According to Aizawa-sensei, it was key to sometimes test out unusual pairings, since villains wouldn't wait around to fight a hero they could easily counter or vice versa. One had to ge prepared for the unexpected, he said, and that was why such an atypical matchup was occurring.

"You gonna put up a fight or what?!" Bakugo was, quite frankly, his usual self. As Izuku examined him, he couldn't see anything particularly out of the ordinary. He twisted and curled as he flung himself through the air, propelled by the blasts from his hands, as he always did. He was drawing close to Denki, already at the point of reaching out to deliver a swift explosion to the student's face, enough to knock him just a bit and win Bakugo the round. Nit that it was about winning or losing in theory, but then again, it always was to Kacchan. "Christ, I've fought dementia patients who could move faster!"

"That doesn't surprise me!" Kaminari yelped, clearly out of his element. Perhaps it was the oncoming plan of his that made him exceptionally nervous to tousle face-to-face or maybe this was just any normal person's reaction to facing down such a force, but whatever the reason, he was completely terrified. As Bakugo closed in, he just barely sidestepped the attack, reaching out and sending a small bolt travelling up the chest of his foe. The shock was just enough to stun Katsuki for a few seconds, sending him spiralling off course, with a sharp intake of breath from the onlookers.

Landing on his feet, Bakugo held his head low for a few seconds, his back to the spectators. Because of this, neither Midoriya nor anyone else saw his face as he raised his head back up again. But Kaminari, who had created a force field of sorts out of thin beams of pure electricity, saw it clearly. And he tensed up even further.

"You're dead..." The explosive young man growled as sparks flew from his hands. Just looking at them, Izuku noted how they seemed bigger than usual. And then, he raised one hand. "I'll blow you to kingdom come! You think that shitty minefield will keep you safe?! I'll show you, fucker!" And as he reached out with his hand, he did the impossible.

Bakugo's arm gauntlets allowed him to store up the nitroglycerin he produced. This store allowed him to create even bigger and more powerful blasts, as Midoriya knew well from that ill-fated training session near the start of the year. But that was the thing. The tremendous, deadly explosion that the boy had fired back then had required the gauntlets. But now, everyone wore not their hero gear,but their PE uniforms. And yet, the result was all the same as Bakugo let out a grunt and fire all he could.

The ears of all in the area were ringing, especially Izuku's. He couldn't even see what had happened, as the flash had been far too bright, and now smoke started to rise up, clouding the gym. He could hear the sounds of something crumbling. And slowly, it started to part.

"Jesus..." One of the other students whispered as the dust started to settle and they all saw what had happened. A whole segment of the wall, torn down, giving a wide view of the open fields beyond, early afternoon sunlight peering in. Bakugo sat on his knees, seemingly dazed by his own blast, his arms pinned to his sides by Aizawa's binding cloth. And beyond that…

"Shit." Jiro covered up her mouth to mask the pure shot. For there, just by the largehole in the wall, sat Denki Kaminari. He was in a bad way, everybody could tell that much already. His face was bloodied, at least one shoulder appeared dislocated and as he lay in a sitting position, more crimson liquid oozed from a hole in his gut. Was he breathing? Midoriya couldn't tell from this angle. He at least seemed to be moving, if only a little. Izuku paid no attention to the teacher's angered shouting, not even to the destruction around them. All he focused on were the two young men who had been standing mere seconds prior. Kaminari, wounded and bloodied, and Bakugo, restrained and very oddly quiet.

It was in that moment that he realised, something really was wrong.

[-]

In the end, not even Recovery Girl had the power to help out Kaminari's injuries. And so, he had been taken directly to a proper hospital. And there he had laid for almost a week. Sunday came and Sunday went, with no plans enacted. Whether this was due to them quitting earlier or recent events, was unknown to Izuku. But finally, next Friday came. And visitors were permitted.

"Hey guys." Even with the time that had passed, Demki was a sight. His entire left arm was cast up, unable to move aside from a simple up and down motion, like an action figure. He wore a patch over his right eye and his usually spiked and energetic hair was dishevelled and tired. It hurt to see him in such a state. And yet, he seemed to hold no resentment towards his condition, smiling as best as he could once his friends arrived.

On this particular day, four had come to visit. Midoriya plus the three remaining members of the plan. As they filed in, it could be noted that Kyoka had brought down her hair to cover her eyes a little. She didn't want anyone to see them.

Mineta was the first to speak, as he planted a whole watermelon on the bed. "We, uh… Pooled our money, got this for you."

That brought a chuckle to Kaminari's lips. "Thanks. I appreciate that." His voice was as withered and exhausted as his appearance, and no attempts to cover it up with cheery smiles and appreciation could hide that. "Damn, he did a number on me..."

"I'd say." Ashido replied. "He took most of your stomach out, from what we heard."

"Eh, that stuff grows back, doesn't it?" Denki's push to add some humour to the situation failed; Nobody was in the mood for smiling. The room fell into silence for a while, the only noise coming from the bleep of his heart rate monitor. He settled down, suddenly seeming more morose with his next words. "So, what comes now?"

"Bakugo was suspended." Jiro muttered, speaking for the first time since her arrival. "He'll probably be back around the same time as you. UA couldn't cover for him this time."

"Could they not? Shocker."

It was at this point that Kyoka seemed to lose all restraints, flying into a sudden rage. "Shocker?! What the fuck, Kaminari? After all he did, all you can do is- is make stupid puns?!" She had worked herself into quite a rage, all the emotions spilling out like oil from an upturned tanker. "Take a look in a mirror, look at what happened to you! This is serious, it really is!"

Mina set a hand on the other girl's shoulder. "Hey, Jiro… Come on. Do you need some fresh air?"

This appeared to settle her at least a little, as she calmed. "No. No, I'm happy here." She approached the side of the bed and looked down at her friend. "This is unforgivable..."

Kaminari gave a spluttering cough before his next words. "Then… Did you guys carry on?"

Mineta shook his head. "After what happened, we put it on hold. More than anything else, he's back home right now. How could we even get close?"

"I see." Kaminari stared down. "I think you guys should carry on."

"Huh?" Mina was surprised. "But I thought you wanted to-"

"No, it's the best chance, now. With him at home, sure it's harder, but he'll also have more time to go out, more time for us to follow him. 'Course, I'm not gonna force you guys into this. I know things have changed..."

Kyoka's fist shook violently as she stood, otherwise placid. "Things have changed. There's definitely something wrong with him. Maybe now more than ever, a part of me wants to do this. Even if you're still here, I want to find out the truth. He's gone too far… Whatever he's doing, it feels like a twisted look at his previous self… But I just don't know."

"I do." Izuku held his trembling voice as he stepped forward. He too had given the situation a great deal of thought and he had reached a conclusion. "What we saw at the gym wasn't Kacchan. I know now what you guys were talking about. It's not just the behaviour. His Quirk is more powerful than anything I've ever seen…" His heart was heavy, but his spirit was steadfast. "Jiro's right. We need to put an end to this. We need to stop him."

"Yeah." Ashido agreed. "He's hurting people, now. If we wanna be heroes, we can't let that slide."

Even Minoru at that moment, took a stand alongside the others. "This isn't fun anymore. It used to be about finding out what he was up to. Hell, I used to think he was just seeing a girl or something. But now, we need to figure out what's really going on." He took a deep swallow. "I'll plant the bug."

Denki continued to stare at the ceiling. And then, his face broke into another smile. "Great." He wheezed. "That's great. Thanks guys. I'm sorry I can't help anymore-"

"Don't give us that crap for a second." Kyoka was having none of it. "You need to rest. Besides, you already got us the tracker, didn't you?"

Kaminari nodded weakly, for he had successfully procured the device the day before everything went south. "Yeah. It's still in my room. Just under the bed. You've got it."

"Yeah, we have." On Kyoka's face, a new look of pure determination was etched. "We'll find out what he's up to, and we'll do it on Sunday. We'll stop him." That was the moment Izuku was fully assured that the decision he made was not the wrong one. They hadn't been trying to hurt Kacchan at all; It was quickly becoming clear that all of them, even Ashido, were now interested solely in protecting others. Even if it was unpleasant.

He was right with them on that.

[-]