When I walked outside the next morning Katsuki was waiting for me. He looked up when he heard the door close.
"Took you long enough," He grunted. "Well?"
"What?" I cocked my head. "Oh! Yeah, I can continue going to UA. Inko convinced Mom to let me stay."
"Good," he looked away. "School would be terrible without you. You're the only decent person there."
"Aw Katsuki, is that a compliment?" I nudged his side.
"Take it how you want." He didn't meet my gaze. "Come on we're going to be late."
I smiled and followed him to the train station. We ran into Izuku at the train station, Katsuki's mood immediately shifted from calm to irritated. Izuku tensed like he was ready for an attack. I smiled at Izuku and pushed Katsuki to the other side of the train. He relaxed a bit after we were away from Izuku. I wanted to talk to him about it but one glare made me shut my mouth. We rode in silence. I glanced over at Izuku several times but he seemed engrossed in his phone. When the train stopped Katsuki was first off, Izuku and I not far behind. We walked to UA in silence, no one said a word. When we neared the entrance I slowed my pace so I could walk with Izuku.
"Thanks for talking to your mom." I smiled at him.
"No problem. I wouldn't want you to give up on your dream so soon and after all the work you put in. I'm glad you can still become a hero." He grinned.
I felt my smile slipping. If I lived long enough… Tomura wouldn't let me go without a fight. I was tied to him, I was stuck. I wouldn't get out of this unharmed. If I survived others wouldn't. Could I really become a hero after that? After I let him kill everyone I loved?
"Koneko?"
I looked up, I had stopped walking. Katsuki and Izuku stood in front of me.
"Neko? Are you okay?"
My thoughts were jumbled, the world was blurry, my chest hurt, my hands were shaking. I tried to speak but I felt like I was being choked. Someone put a hand on my shoulder. I pushed them away. My normal senses were dulled, everything looked weird, there was a ringing in my ears. There were several people surrounding us now. Someone pulled me into a hug. I struggled for a moment but I recognized the scent. Katsuki. I relaxed, crying softly. Everything slowly went back to normal. I could breath again, the shaking subsided, and I could hear again. I looked up and noticed the group of people around us. Most were my classmates but there were a few people I didn't know.
"Please back up. Give them some space." Iida was trying to control the crowd.
I shakily stood up, I had apparently fallen to my knees. "I'm—I'm alright now."
Iida turned to look at me. "Are you sure? If you're not, it's okay."
"No, I'm fine really." I nibbled on my lip.
"If you say so." Iida looked at the rest of the class. "Come on, we're going to be late."
Everyone started to disperse. The girls walked up to me.
"Are you okay?" Uraraka asked.
"Yeah, I'm fine now." I swayed a little and Katsuki wrapped an arm around my waist to steady me.
"It looked like you had a panic attack." Yaoyorozu said.
"I—I did. At least I think I did." I shifted uneasily.
"Do you know what triggered it?" Mina asked carefully.
My mind flashed back to Tomura. I started shaking again. Katsuki immediately pulled me close. The sound of his heartbeat calmed me.
"Judging by her reaction, I think she knows." Katsuki growled.
"I'm sorry. I just wanted to know so we could avoid them." Mina replied.
"I don't think she can tell us." Uraraka said softly.
I begrudgingly pulled away from Katsuki's embrace. "I'll be okay. You guys should head to class before you're late. You too Katsuki."
"What about you?" Uraraka asked concerned.
"I'll go to Recovery Girl, see if she has anything." I managed a smile. "I'll see you in class."
The girls nodded and headed to class. Katsuki hesitated a moment.
"Are you really okay?" He genuinely looked concerned.
"I'll be fine Katsu. Don't worry." I touched his arm. "Go. Both of us don't need to be late."
He reluctantly left. I headed to Recovery Girl's office. I passed several students in the hall. A few stopped and started whispering.
"Isn't that a girl from 1-A?"
"Yeah, she was also on the news a year ago."
"She must think she's so special."
"Just because you survived two villain attacks doesn't make you special."
"I heard she just had a panic attack in front of the school."
"Someone who has panic attack will never make it as a hero."
I swallowed and flattened my ears against my head, trying to block out the sound. It didn't help. The whispers swirled around me and soon so did the floor. Tears filled my eyes and the tightness in my chest came back. I began shaking again. I tried to continue walking but everything looked weird. I couldn't think straight.
"Excuse me miss? Are you alright?"
A new voice brought my out of my hole. I was still shaking but I managed to look up. I had fallen again. A boy with purple hair and dark circles was squatted next to me.
"W—what?" I managed.
"Are you okay?" He repeated.
"I—I don't know." My breathing was uneven.
"Let me help you." He offered a hand.
I shakily took it. He pulled me up, I stumbled and fell against him. He caught me but stumbled back himself. I pushed myself off him and tried to keep my balance.
"Are you going to Recovery Girl?" He asked.
"Yes, I just didn't make it that far." I was feeling a little better now.
"You're from Class 1-A right?"
"Yeah," I shifted uncomfortably.
"I heard you got attacked by villains during training."
"Yeah," my tail twitched slightly.
He paused, studying me for a moment. "Let me walk you to Recovery Girl."
"Oh um thank you." I managed a smile.
We walked in silence for a few moments until the boy broke it.
"I'm Hitoshi Shinso."
"Koneko Chino."
It got quiet again.
"So are you really okay?" He asked. "I'm pretty sure you were having a panic attack."
"Oh um I guess so." I looked down. "I'll be fine."
My tail twitched. I just had to keep telling myself that. I'll be fine. Maybe one day it would become true.
"So I'm gonna guess your quirk has something to do with cats."
I looked up in surprise. "What? Oh, no actually. My quirk is copy. I guess you could say I have two quirks. The cat-like features were from my grandmother, she had a cat quirk."
"Cool. My quirk is Brainwashing." He glanced away.
"Awesome! How does it work?" The inner fan girl side of me came out.
"Well if someone answers my question I can control them."
"That amazing! How does it work if the person is deaf?" I couldn't help my grin.
"I—" he paused. "I've never thought about that. I guess it wouldn't work."
"I guess there's always something to work on when you have a quirk." I mentally began taking notes.
"But you said you have a quirk." He looked confused.
"I do but it's hard to work on it. I'm not even sure how to. I guess maybe try to hold more than one quirk." I mused.
Shinso opened a door. "Well I hope you can."
I looked up and discovered we had made it to Recovery Girl's office. "Oh thanks for walking me here."
"No problem. I'll see you around." He waved.
"Yeah," I smiled and walked inside.
"Oh hello, how can I help you?" Recovery Girl was sitting in her chair.
"Um," I realized I didn't even know what I needed. "I was wondering if you had anything for panic attacks."
"Well nothing on hand but I can give you some pain killers and some chocolate." She opened a drawer and rummaged around.
"Okay," I sat down on a bed.
She handed me some pain killers and a small bar of dark chocolate. "Do you want to talk about it? Sometimes that helps."
"I don't know." In reality I knew I couldn't talk about it. "I guess I'm still a little shaken up about the villain attack yesterday. And my mom was talking about taking me out of UA but I think that's solved now."
"Well that's good." She patted my hand. "As for the villains, it's alright to be scared. You're a kid, you weren't meant to experience that yet."
"I know but I'm a hero in training I should be ready for it. Villain attacks happen all the time." I stared at the pills in my hand. "Maybe I'm not meant to be a hero."
"No, no, dearie, everyone gets scared. Even All Might was scared during that battle." She squeezed my hand. "Don't give up so soon."
I stayed silent. Recovery Girl sighed and handed me a cup of water.
"Well I guess you should get to class now. Come back if you have another attack."
"Yeah thanks." I took the pills and left. I nibbled on my chocolate as I walked. When I walked into the classroom Aizawa was already there.
"Chino, glad you could make it."
"Sorry I was late sir, I was—"
Aizawa held a hand up. "No need. Bakugou already explained. Take your seat." His voice was muffled for the bandages.
I glanced at Katsuki. "Yes sir," I walked over and sat down.
"Now as I was saying before Chino arrived. The UA sports festival is about to start."
The whole class exploded in shouts. Everyone was excited.
"Wait a second!" Kaminari called.
"Is it really such a good idea to hold the sports festival so soon after the villains snuck inside?" Jirou asked.
"They could attack once we're all in the same place." Ojiro pointed out.
"But we took out their leader. It'll take a while for him to recover and get more support." I said.
Aizawa sighed "Apparently the administration thinks this is a good way to show that the threat has been handled and our school is safer than ever. Plus they're beefing up security compared to past years. This event is a huge opportunity for all students at UA. It's not something we can cancel because of a few villains."
I nibbled on my chocolate, I was feeling a little better now.
"Our sports festival is one of the most watched events in the entire world. In the past everyone obsessed over the Olympic games but then quirks started appearing. Now the Olympics have been drastically reduced in terms of scale and viewership. For anyone who cares about competition, there's only one tournament that matters. The UA sport festival." Aizawa said.
"That's right. And top heroes everywhere will be watching. This is where you get scouted." Yaoyorozu added.
"She's right, after graduating a lot of people join pro agencies as sidekick." Kaminari jumped in.
"Yeah but that's as far as some people go. They missed their chance to go indie and stay eternal sidekicks." Jirou turned to Kaminari. "Actually that's probably where you're headed. You're kinda dumb."
"It's true that joining famous hero agency can garner you greater experience and popularity, that's why the festival matters." Aizawa spoke up before anyone else could. "If you want to go pro one day than this event could open a path for you. One chance a year, three chances in a life time, no aspiring hero can afford to miss this festival. That means you better not slack off on your training."
"Yes sir!"
"Class is dismissed." Aizawa turned and left the room.
Almost immediately everyone started talking. I flattened my ears and nibbled on my chocolate. Everything was loud. I rested my head on my desk. I was so tired and the day had just started. I closed my eyes, focusing on the sound of my own breathing.
"Um Koneko?"
I opened my eyes and looked up. Uraraka was standing next to my desk along with Mina and Yaoyorozu.
"Are you okay now?" Uraraka asked softly.
"Yeah," I smiled. "Just tired."
"Is there anything we can do?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Thousands of things ran through my mind. Stay safe, protect yourself, stay away from Tomura, not judge me, help me, save me. I settled on an easy one.
"Could you…" I hesitated. "Well maybe you could tell the boys to keep it down? It's just I have sensitive ears and it's giving me a headache."
"Of course!" Mina exclaimed then dropped her voice. "Sorry,"
"Just let us know if we can do anything else and maybe at some point you can tell us what triggered it." Yaoyorozu patted my hand.
"Yeah…" I looked down. "I'll be fine. It was probably just all the stress from the villain attack." I felt my left ear twitch.
The girls nodded and went back to their seats. I took another bite of chocolate. Katsuki leaned back in his chair.
"You lied."
"What?" I looked up at him in surprise.
"You lied. You know exactly what triggered you. You're just not telling anyone."
I looked away. "It's—"
"Yeah, yeah, "it's not my burden to bear"." He turned and looked me in the eye. "I don't care. Tell me what's happening."
I shook my head. "You'll hate me."
He looked shocked. "Hate you? For something that's giving you panic attacks?"
I didn't answer. I couldn't, if I opened my mouth again everything would come spilling out. Lucky I was saved by our next teacher. Katsuki gave me a look that said the conversation would continue and turned back to the front of the class. I sighed and tried to focus on the lesson.
"That villain stuff sucked, sure but I'm pumped for these games!" Kirishima exclaimed.
I put my head on my desk. At least everyone else could put it out of their minds so easily.
"We put on a good show and we're basically on the road to being pros." Sero said.
"Yeah this is why I'm even here in the first place." Sato agreed.
I flattened my ears and covered them. I swear everyone was talking at once. It was too loud. Someone moved my hand and whispered in my ear.
"Hey, let's go."
I pulled back, startled. Katsuki was standing above me.
"Come on," he started walking to the door.
I quickly got up and followed him. We made our way to the cafeteria. Katsuki didn't say anything but kept close to my side. I started towards the line but Katsuki pulled me away.
"Katsuki, what?" I looked over at him.
"I made you lunch."
"Um thanks?"
We sat down at a table and Katsuki pulled out two bento boxes. He passed me one.
"Why'd you make me lunch?" I asked, opening the box.
"Because if you're going to become a hero you need to eat properly." He started eating.
"You…were worried?" I set down my chopsticks.
"Worried? Why would I ever be worried?" He growled. "You need to keep up your strength if you want to beat me, like you ever could."
"Are you forgetting about yesterday?" I managed a smile.
"That doesn't count!" He flushed.
"What doesn't count?" Kirishima slid in next to him.
"None of your business." Katsuki snapped.
"Koneko?" Kirishima turned to me.
"It's nothing, we just spared yesterday." I shrugged and started eating.
"Oh ho and who won? Let me guess Bakugou won, didn't he?" Kirishima nudged Katsuki in the side.
Katsuki winced and pulled away. "Of course I won."
I stared at Katsuki, ears back. "You're…still hurt…"
"What?" Katsuki looked up.
"Your side, it still hurts." I couldn't help the tears in my eyes.
"Shit, Neko. Don't cry, it doesn't hurt, I swear." Katsuki froze.
"But I did that. I hurt you." I looked down. I hurt him, after I swore to protect him. I thought I could make the pain go away but I didn't. "I told you to call me."
"I'm fine,"
"Whoa hey, Koneko, are you alright?" Kirishima started to freak out.
"Shut up dumb hair." Katsuki hissed.
"Koneko, are you okay?" Mina slid in next to me. "Bakugou what'd you do?"
"I didn't do anything!" Katsuki defended.
"Mina," I wiped my tears away. "It's not his fault. It's mine."
"Stop blaming yourself! I didn't dodge quick enough, that's not your fault." Katsuki huffed. "I'm fine, so stop worrying."
"Yeah, I'm sorry." I looked down.
"It's fine. Just eat your lunch idiot." Katsuki went back to his lunch.
"Yeah," I picked at my food. I took a bite and smiled slightly. Katsuki was such a good cook.
"Ooo, that looks good. Where'd you get it?" Mina leaned over.
"Oh uh Katsuki made it."
"Bakugou can cook?" She exclaimed.
"Yes?" I glanced at Katsuki.
"And he made you food?"
"Yes?"
"That's so sweet!" Mina grinned. "You two are so cute together."
Katsuki choked on his food. I flushed.
"We're not together."
"Yeah, stop butting in pinky." Katsuki managed.
"Aw come on, you two would be so cute together. Just think about she's like your opposite. You two complement each other."
I glanced at Katsuki. "It's not like that. We've just been training buddies for a couple years."
"That the best way to start, as friends." Mina was grinning from ear to ear. "Before you know it, bam, you'll be dating."
"I don't have friends, pinky." Katsuki growled.
I nibbled on my lip. I knew he never fully considered me a friend but it still hurt to hear. Katsuki seemed to pick up on my distress. He nudged me under the table. I looked up at him. He had a blank expression but I knew that was for the others.
"Fine, fine, keep telling yourself that." I sighed. "I'll get you to admit it some day."
"Yeah right," Katsuki smirked. "It'll never happen."
"You'll admit it one day." I smiled, we were back to our normal banter.
The rest of the day went by without incident that was until we opened our door after school. Half the school was standing in front of our door. Uraraka stopped in front.
"Um, why the heck are you all here?"
"Do you students have some sort of business with our class?" Iida asked.
"They're scouting out the competition, idiots." Katsuki walked to the doorway. "We're the class that survived a real villain attack. They want to see us with their own eyes."
I stepped up behind him. "Katsuki, think this through."
"At least now you know what a future pro looks like. Now move it extras." Katsuki glared at everyone.
"You can't walk around calling other people extras just because you don't know who they are!" Iida exclaimed.
"So this is Class 1-A," a purple haired kid walked to the front of the group. "I heard you guys were impressive but you just sound like an ass. Is everyone in the hero course delusional, or just you?"
"Shinso," I shook my head. "I'd stop there,"
"Huh?" Katsuki growled.
"How sad to come here and find a bunch of ego maniacs." Shinso rubbed his neck. "I wanted to be in the hero course but like many others here I was forced to chose a different track. Such is life. I didn't cut it the first time but I have another chance. If any of us do well in the sports festival the teachers can decide to transfer us to the hero course and they'll have to transfer people out to make room. Scouting the competition, maybe some of my peers are but I'm here to let you know that if you don't bring your very best I'll steal your spot right from under you. Consider this a declaration of war."
Shinso and Katsuki glared at each other. I stepped up between them.
"Um maybe we should—"
"Hey you!" Someone started yelling. "I'm from Class 1-B next door to you! We heard you fought some villains and I came to see if that was true! But you're just a bunch of brats who think you're better than us. Talk all you want, it'll just be more embarrassing when you're K. !"
Katsuki turned and started walking away.
"Don't you ignore me!"
"Dude where are you going? You gotta say something, it's your fault they're all hating on us Bakugou." Kirishima exclaimed.
Katsuki stopped. "These people don't matter."
"Huh?" Kirishima glanced at me.
"The only thing that's important is that I beat them." Katsuki made his way through the crowd.
"Hey I'm coming for you!" The silver haired boy yelled.
"Um sorry about him Shinso. He's really not that bad. Hey Katsuki, wait!" I ran after Katsuki. "Hey Katsu, you know you don't have to be so mean."
"So? They're our enemies. It's better to intimidate them than befriend them."
"Oh well it's too late for that." I laughed lightly.
"What do you mean?" He looked over at me.
"I already befriended Shinso, the purple haired boy. He's got a pretty cool quirk."
"Seriously, already?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow.
"He um, he helped me get to Recovery Girl." I glanced down.
"You needed help?" He looked startled.
"I had another panic attack. He pulled me out of it." I managed a smile.
"Damn, I can't leave you alone." He muttered.
"I didn't know it would happen again." I touched his arm. "Besides I told you to go to class."
"Whatever," he pulled away. "Next time, take someone with you."
Next time, my smile faded. There would be a next time. There would always be a next time as long as Tomura was around. No one was safe from him.
"Of course," I tried to keep my voice steady.
Katsuki seemed to notice this. Hesitantly he grabbed my hand. "Just stay close. I'll protect you." His voice was quiet, just above a whisper.
I smiled and I felt calm again. As long as he was close by I would be okay.