REMEMBER! THOS CHAP IS KATSUKI VS IZU. DONT GET MIXED UP PLEASE!
Comments and kudos are much appreciated.

...

—earlier that day, inside ground beta, No one's perspective (for now)—

(song for the mood-Legends-the score)

Izumi removed her glove and placed the palm of her hand on the wall. She dragged her hand across the dirty surface as she walked, then halted.

He was here…

Izumi sensed him from the vibrations she felt. He was around the corner of the wall...

She took a breath as she touched her grappling hooks that were strapped at the side of her belt. Thank god she managed to get some approval after registering her weapons last week. Her grappling hooks and handcuffs were approved of, however, her taser and stun guns along with the shock/paralyzing ammos were a different story.

Only the teachers were aware of her job as a cop, and it was recorded that since her quirk manifested late, she'd been relying on weapons all this time to fight. There had been some discussions whether she would still continue her habits while simultaneously using her quirk to wield the power better, or whether training without weapons was the best course of action for her quirk.

Anyhow, once this fight was over, she would definitely go persuade her teachers that she needed her weapons for a while now. And file a complaint against the support department for styling her costume in a way that didn't look modest.

A rabbit out of all things. Yeesh. At least it wasn't cat themed, otherwise that'd be a cruel joke that would give Grey a big laugh given that "Kitty" was a lot more than just a random nickname her friend gave to her.

I still can't control One For All so I can't use it against anyone. If I use that on someone, it'll kill them. For now, I need to mostly rely on my wits, instincts, my grappling hooks, the notes I've taken, and Uraraka-san's quirk.

It's bad luck that I'm fighting against Kacchan, but in a way, I've got the upper hand. For one, I've had the experience in dealing with criminals and villains as a cop. Two, Kacchan would no doubt take me on with full force and rage. Meaning, he'll take this too personally, and have his focus only on me. If I can stall him long enough for Uraraka-San to find Iida-kun without getting barbecued, that'd be absolutely fantastic. And three...I am an absolute coward whenever I face Kacchan, so I have to run. And I can run as fast as a rabbit or a cat!

He'll be pissed, and I have to flee as my life may depend on it.

Literally…

With an intake of breath, she took a step forward, and Katsuki ambushed her—Just like she predicted. Izumi gasped and shoved herself and Uraraka out of the way just as the explosive boy exploded into the wall, merely missing them.

"Uraraka-San, are you okay?" She sat up, and the girl beside her gasped.

"Izu-Chan! Your costume?!" Half her hood was ripped from the explosions, and now her mouth guard was hanging loosely from her neck.

"It's just a scratch." Izumi assured her, her eyes fixed on her old childhood friend as the smoke cleared.

"Oi, Deku… don't bother dodging." He glared down at her, his red eyes were clear to see that he was enraged.

She got up slowly, trying her best not to falter or tremble. "I had a feeling you'd come after me."

Good, he completely ignored Uraraka-San

He lunged at her, raising his fist as he smirked in a wicked way. " I won't do so much damage to the extent where this fight will be stopped, but I'm gonna get close!"

"Uraraka-San...like we discussed!"she yelled. "Please proceed with the plan!" She went and threw herself at him, aiming for his right arm. She held it tight between her arms and body, then twisted her body as she threw Katsuki over her. Katsuki barely had time to register the fact that Izumi caught the arm he was going to attack her with, and his eyes went wide when he felt both his feet were no longer planted on the ground. The back of his body hit the concrete floor with a loud, painful impact, his lungs forced him to gasp.

Uraraka gasped at the amazing scene she'd just witnessed, but remembered what Izumi told her a few heartbeats ago and began sprinting away from the two teens. "Good luck! Izu-Chan!"

Izumi grinned that her friend had ran away. As Katsuki slowly sat up, and his rage building up more as well, he gritted his teeth as he looked over his shoulder at her. "Deku—" He growled.

The useless, shitty nerd who was a damsel in distress in all his life...was he wrong about it? Were these her true colors?

She flinched, but did her best to keep her composure. She didn't have anything to say to him now, and given that she'd just wounded his pride and humiliated him without using her quirk, this was her cue to run.

She quickly turned and did just that, sprinting to the other direction, her heart began rapidly beating.

"Come back here, Deku!" He yelled as he began chasing after her.

He's being cautious now. After he realized I predicted his movements, I can't get close to him anymore. I need to hide and bide my time. Until Uraraka-San finds Iida-Kun, I have to stall him.

Katsuki lost her somewhere in the concrete labyrinth. Each turn he took, each room he blasted open, there were still no signs of her, or any sounds of her movements . The anger within him began to boil more as he yelled in rage, his voice echoing. "Hey! You tricked me, didn't you! Disguising yourself as a man, hiding that tanned skin bastard as he backed you up from the shadows, holding back your true ability from me! Was it fun tricking me all this time?!"

Izumi gasped, hearing his sudden outburst as she continued to run.

"Huh!? You've got a flashy quirk there, don't you?! Try and get me! 'Cause I'm better than you!" Multiple small explosions set off from his palms as he gritted his teeth.

—Izumi's perspective—

Izumi had many things to say to him. She didn't mean to trick him, she had no intention doing so in the first place, much less making fun of him. But it had to be done. It was inevitable. And when it comes to hiding her secrets...it was undeniable that she'd been pretty good at it due to her training as a cop.

She didn't exactly understand why he was so angry at her about Grey. She thought he wouldn't really care, and considered Grey as an extra who was an idiot to be friends with a loser. But she wasn't exactly hiding Grey from him. She was avoiding Katsuki to meet with Grey.

Grey hated Katsuki because of the ill treatment and bullying she'd received from the ash haired blonde boy, even though they never met until recently. Grey would probably blackmail him, humiliate him, torment him in public, just like he did before with those corrupt officers who harassed her a few years back. She never really knew what happened to them because they knocked her out when they attacked her openly. When she returned to work after recovering a week later, and asked what happened after she passed out, her colleagues seemed uncomfortable and wary, and simply told her her uncle fired them before running off. She didn't know what Grey did after she passed out, but decided to forget about it as it was such a hassle getting answers from that playboy.

Back to her situation, she was on the Second floor now. She panted heavily as she crouched down to rest.

She was right, and her strategy seemed to have been more successful than expected. Katsuki was chasing her down and acting wild on his own, not cooperating with his partner. Having an unbalanced team was a major flaw when carrying out a mission, she knew that from training. If one person acted out on his own without following the plan or being uncooperative, then the entire team gets dragged behind.

This was good. If she can keep this up without getting killed, then—

"Izumi-Chan!" Uraraka's voice buzzed from the communication device she had in her ear.

"Uraraka-san?"

"Iida-kun found me, I'm sorry," she said, and Izumi could have sworn she heard laughter from behind, as though it was a villain's laugh. Was Iida trying to impersonate a criminal?

Anyway, she'd more or less predicted this would happen, given that Iida was sharp and quick to react, while Uraraka was the opposite. It seems that phase one ended, now they could proceed with phase two. Now that Uraraka found the weapon, Izumi doesn't have to stall Katsuki any longer. She had to be there with her friend. "Where are you?"

"The middle of the fifth floor,"

"Almost directly above!" She looked at the ceiling. "We probably don't have much time, either." She stood, and she pulled out the capture tape she'd been given earlier. "I can't lose this fight."

Izumi's eyes widened when she sensed Katsuki behind her from a distance. She gasped as she jumped. And god he looked pissed!

"Deku…"

She whimpered in response.

She was dead. "Kacchan," her lips wobbled as she said his name like a squeak.

"Why won't you use your quirk?" He demanded as he got closer. "Are you saying you can win even if you don't use it!?" God he sounded so murderous in a low voice.

"Are you underestimating me?"

Her hands were shaking badly while her body trembled. He appeared much quicker than she expected. The capture tape was no use to her. She can't retrain him with it as he'll just burn them to ash. What should she do now? She couldn't stall him anymore, she needed some kind of decoy or distraction to make him look the other way. But what? She willingly used herself as a decoy, and now he caught her. She needed to run without him catching up too quickly.

"With your stalking ,you probably know," he raised his gauntlet and pointed it at her.

She gasped.

Run.

Every part of her body screamed at her to do so, and she did without knowing why. She began sprinting towards the window that was at the end of the hallway. She knew that there was something strange about Katsuki's gauntlets. For one thing, they looked too big and heavy to move around freely, it would slow his agility. But for the fact that he still carried those things, and given that this is Katsuki she was talking about, that would mean it was dangerous.

"Running are you!?" She heard him roar behind her, but she didn't hear any footsteps chasing after her. " Well it's no use. My quirk, Explosion, lets me secrete nitroglycerin-like sweat from the sweat glands on the palm of my hand. And make it explode. If they made this the way I asked, then these gauntlets will store The nitroglycerin inside them, and..."

She was getting closer to the window, and she didn't like the sound of everything he just said. Izumi couldn't wait for him to finish his sentence. She took out her grappling hook and aimed it at the right corner of the ceiling. The hook thrusted forward and penetrated the wall, getting a good hold.

The moment she heard the sound of a pin getting plucked out, she gripped the line of the grappling hook and jumped with force. Getting a good thrust for her feet to break the glass , she swung out from the window of the building and broke into another window on the same level back in, rolling to the floor before the mega explosion set off.

—no one's perspective—

"Young Bakugou, stop! Are you trying to kill her?!" All Might shouted.

"Only if I hit her! She'll be fine!" He plucked the pin off his gauntlet. Then—

BOOOOOOM!

The entire building shook.

"This is supposed to be a class!" Kirishima exclaimed.

"Midoriya! Young Midoriya! Are you okay?" All Might was starting to regret not stopping them sooner when the young girl didn't reply. If something happened to them he'd be the one taking responsibility.

Back to Katsuki, an amusing laugh escaped from his lips. "Amazing. The more that's stored in these gauntlets, the stronger the blast." The second floor had some walls broken to debris from the blast, the hallway at the end had been utterly destroyed, creating a big hole in the size of a cave. As the smoke cleared, Katsuki realized that he could see the outside of the building from the hole, but there was no sign of Izumi.

His blast...he didn't, no he couldn't have killed her in it, he aimed carefully, so where was she?

His eyes snapped at the sound of the hook falling from the weakened ceiling to the floor. The line was…outside...

Katsuki quickly went to the edge of the hole and looked at where the other end of the line was connected. It wasn't down outside the building, no. The other end of it was somehow across the building, inside a broken window on the same level that was on the other side of the building. She...she escaped before getting caught up in the blast?

Back with the other students, Kaminari pointed at the screen. "Hey look! There she is!"

Izumi was sprawled on the floor catching her breath, the glass pieces were all over the floor. It seems like she managed to escape without getting unscratched from the blast. She sat up as she groaned. "Thank you All Might for handing out the blueprints," She said aloud, sighing with exhaustion , " otherwise I wouldn't have attempted that stunt." She moved away from the broken pieces of glass to remove her shoes before running down to the first floor.

"Amazing!" Ashido said, clapping her hands together. "How did she get there ? Was it her quirk?"

"No," Todoroki said, narrowing his eyes. "She had an item at her disposal. A grappling hook." To think she'd survive this long without using her quirk, he thought to himself. What is she? How long will she keep this up?

"Seriously?" Kirishima sighed in relief when he saw Izumi still alive. "Is she a professional in using grappling hooks?"

She's a pro cop who frequently uses tools and faced these kinds of dangers when she was quirkless, which was something AllMight wanted to say. Honestly, he was amazed. He knew Izumi doesn't have complete control over One for all, so that's why she isn't using it, but being able to survive without major injuries for this long was simply incredible. Generally, a quirkless would have died in this situation, but she was trained.

Toshinori had run a background check on Izumi's uncle, who was the captain of the precinct. He thought he should do so as he had doubts whether the guy was actually strict (someone who didn't want weakness in the family or something like that) or a psychopath for letting his quirkless niece become an officer at a young age. Turns out, he was both.

The current police captain, Izumi's uncle, was a former military man/spy agent.

…

…...

Yeah, the young girl's family sure was scary.

—Katsuki's perspective—

He didn't know why his chest felt slightly relieved by the fact that Deku escaped his explosion. He didn't know why he felt that, and he sure damn well didn't like it!

As Katsuki stormed around the hallway, thinking he should go see the third floor, he heard a sound coming from the first floor.

"There you are!" He snarled and sprinted down the stairs with full speed. He didn't know why the nerd decided to hide there from himback at the first level again, but that sure as hell was a bad move. "Don't think you can run anymore, you coward—"

The moment he turned around the corner of the concrete wall, there was no one. Rather, there was something on the floor from a distance. He took a closer look at it.

Shoes…

Deku's red shoes…

Why was this lying around...

…

…

...

His eyes widened and he growled irritatedly when he realized he'd been tricked. This was just a distraction, and he fell for it. He looked up and glared at the direction of the stairs. Deku was definitely headed towards where the other extras were.

The fifth floor!

—Izumi's perspective—

Izumi panted heavily as she ran barefoot, taking the stairs two or three at a time, stumbling a few times, but she didn't stop. "Uraraka-San!" She yelled, finally reaching her destination.

Her friends looked at her in shock.

"Izumi-Chan!"

"Midoriya! Wha? What happened to Bakugou?"

"Distracted," she replied. But not for long. "Come on, Uraraka-San let's take him down!"

"Yeah!"

Right when she was about to take a step, she felt vibrations from the floor under her feet. She halted. There was shaking, like a light aftershock from an earthquake, but she felt that whatever caused it was getting nearer and stronger. Her eyes widened.

"No," she rasped. "He couldn't have been thinking…" she quickly leaped forward and took a dive at the floor, a heartbeat later, the spot where she stood earlier broke and something erupted out of it, followed by explosions.

"Just how many more tricks are you going to use against me? Haaa!? Katsuki demanded, landing on a safe spot.

"Bakugou!" Iida said from a distance behind her.

Her jaw dropped as she got up. "Kacchan…" she said in horror. He got here a lot faster than she predicted. Did he break through several concrete floors rather than use the stairs just to get up here?

He was getting more enraged and desperate just to get to her. This wasn't good. With Iida here along with him, they would lose.

She turned to run, but Katsuki was faster.

"Oh no you don't!" He used his explosions to fly to her. "Here's your favorite right swing," he swung his arm letting his gauntlet hit hard on the right side of her body. She gasped as the impact sent her off her feet before stumbling forward. "Deku!" He harshly grabbed her arm and swung her. "You are—" he threw her down to the concrete floor, her back had hit it with so much impact, she felt her lungs had pushed her to gasp, "BELOW ME!"

"Gah!"

This is bad. He's not going to give me a chance to think. In terms of combat power, he's strong! I have no choice but to use it.

"Izumi!" Uraraka screamed.

Oddly enough though, when he hit her and threw her down, she didn't feel any pain. It was just the impact that shook her bones, and she felt them vibrating a bit as her vision was unfocused. She struggled to get up as she panted heavily. "I'm fine! Please stick to the plan!" she stumbled as she retreated a few steps away from him, keeping distance.

"Why?" Katsuki growled as he started walking forward. "Why won't you use your quirk? Are you underestimating me?!"

No.

"You've been like this ever since we were kids. Have you been underestimating me like that since then, you bastard?!"

That's not it.

"You know, I went to your apartment yesterday." Her eyes widened as she looked at him. "I went to your house to talk to you, maybe say hello to your mom since it's been a while." He suddenly started laughing harshly to himself with disbelief. "But do you know what I found out instead? That you moved out years ago. That you left. What's more, a VILLAIN attacked you at your home when we were just 7 and you DIDN'T TELL ME ABOUT IT!"

She flinched by his sudden outburst. Uraraka an Iida seemed to have momentarily forgotten about their situation as they listened to their conversation.

"You really hid a lot of things from me, Deku… How is it that your former neighbors know that you were actually a girl, and I was the only one who believed the opposite, huh!? Why the hell didn't you tell me the truth, bitch! Was I the only one left out ? Was I the first one to fall for your trickery? Did you use me, stick by me all these years so that you could backstab me one day to kill me from the inside or something?"

Where—how did he come to that conclusion?! No! Kacchan! No, that's not—

"I don't know why you went on lying and tricking people, but whatever sick reason it is, you definitely should have died that night the villain attacked you rather than play this game with me!"

…

…

…

Take a swan dive off the roof!

Her breath hitched when she recalled what he'd told her back in middle school…

...

…

Dead.

He wanted her dead. He doesn't care about her.

Katsuki flinched by the sight of her expression when she looked at him. "Don't look at me like that...YOU SHITTY NERD!"

The moment he moved, she did too without much thought. The two teens leapt forward at the same time, raising their fists.

…

…

There's still no way I can beat you one-on-one. But-

When Izumi was sure they were close enough, she'd shot out her left arm to grab his right palm harshly, taking direct damage from his explosions. Katsuki gasped, shocked at what she'd just done. While she still had seconds before Katsuki could react, she still held his hand tightly as she twisted her body to face Uraraka and Iida's direction before punching the ground with her right fist, angling and trying to control the power in a way that didn't destroy the whole floor.

"SMASH!"

BOOOOOM!

A huge explosion took place as the building shook once again. Smoke surrounded the two of them, but the green haired girl didn't care about that. Izumi hoped her plan worked. It was more or less half-baked, and she didn't imagine that she'd go and take Katsuki's explosions willingly just to throw him off. The hand she sacrificed...looked burned and was bleeding a little as the thick glove she wore protected her skin somewhat, but was now utterly ripped and burned to ash. And the fist that punched the floor using One for all...her entire right arm was now completely injured taking the same dark bruised colours as it did back at the entrance exams.

Her eyes frowned. Something felt off. The pain… There was no pain. Both her arms felt numb.

"Weapon retrieved!" she heard Uraraka say from a distance.

"No! The weapon!" Iida wailed.

"Hero team wins!"

Izumi sighed heavily. They won. But...somehow… winning against him didn't at all feel that satisfying because the words he said earlier was bothering her.

The damaged and burnt hand still held his, and she gripped it tighter unconsciously as she felt so angry and hurt.

-Katsuki's Perspective-

(Song For mood: undo-Sanna Nielsen. OR, strangers again-against the current. Whatever you seem fit, I like both)

The ash haired blonde froze when he looked at round face hugging the weapon, and four eyes moving around in a panic state.

…

...

They lost...

They lost. He lost. Against Deku.

That shitty nerd won against him..

"That's what…from the start you were…" he gritted his teeth, as he forced himself to look at her when he felt his right hand being held tight. He didn't even realize she was still holding him. "You piece of-"

"I wasn't going to use it," she interjected, her head was down, refusing to look at his eyes. "Because my body can't handle the impact. Aizawa Sensei said so, too… but...this was all … I could think of...to beat you…"

She got up before loosening and releasing her grip on him.

SMACK!

He felt a sharp pain on his cheek, it stung like hell. He looked at her incredulously. "D...did you just slap me!?" He was about to lose his cool again—

As their eyes met, he flinched at the way her eyes looked at him. They weren't bright like they usually were, rather, they looked dead and tired. "Kacchan…" she said, sounding so lifeless. "I wanted to beat you, I wanted to win. You are the most amazing guy I ever met since we were kids. I never once wanted to belittle you, I wanted to win so I can surpass you. But...why?"

She shook her head, taking a couple steps away from him, and all he could do was stare. "Why? Kacchan...how could you of all people say that to me when you were there that night. When you forgot everything about me, about us! How could I tell you when you keep forgetting me, and leaving me behind, Kacchan!" She screamed those words at him as the waterworks started. "Yes, I tricked you! Yes, I lied about my identity to you, but...do I really look like someone who did it for kicks and funs?! Is that the kind of person you think I am!? You should know better, we have been friends since childhood!"

He said nothing as he continued to stare. His head was mildly hurting again while the pain in his chest began to hurt.

She lowered her hand and laughed softly to herself. "Ah...what am I saying? You never considered me as a friend...maybe at first when we met, but gradually...a possession that had to act submissive...then you left me behind like I was trash as you forgot about my true existence… Honestly, you always just do what you want without ever considering me, or your surroundings. " she turned around, showing her back at him. "I didn't want to lie. But it had to be done as you… you kept forgetting… over and over again. I got tired of it. I'm sick of doing things for your sake now. I don't want to lie. I don't want to pretend to be someone I never was...I don't want to be your useless, helpless, quirkless "Deku" anymore…"

After wiping her tears, she looked at him over her shoulder, glaring at him. "So there! That's some truth! Just take it and be satisfied. Or forget it, like you always do. And if you don't like it, too bad! I'm not telling you anymore than this, so just suck it up and accept your reality as I did with mine a long time ago!"

This was the first time he'd seen her snap at him, her words full of bite...and this was probably the first time Katsuki was utterly speechless, and didn't reply with anger this time.

—No one's perspective—

"Izu-Chan!" Uraraka quickly ran to her friend when the dust and smoke cleared. She could see shadowy figures at first, then saw the green haired girl saying something to Katsuki, turning her back at him.

"—telling you anymore than this, so just suck it up and accept your reality as I did with mine a long time ago!"

Uraraka frowned. Did they have an argument?

Izumi's injuries, especially her arms, looked pretty bad and bloody. Even if she's able to stand and walk a bit, Uraraka would have to help her friend as promised. Now, where—

She froze when her eyes moved to the lower portion of her body…"Izu-Chan," her voice trembled as the blood drained from her face.

Izumi noticed her friend's presence and forced a smile, like she didn't just cry. "Ah! Uraraka-San! We won! Can you believe that?" She waited, but found it strange that her friend didn't reply to her (forced) enthusiasm. "Uraraka-San? Are you okay?"

The brown haired girl hesitated to say something. Her finger pointed at her body. "..lass.."

"Eh? I'm sorry, did you say something—"

"Glass!" She suddenly ran towards her. "Why is there glass inside of you?!"

Glass? Both Katsuki and Izumi looked down at the lower portion of her body and…Izumi's breath hitched while Katsuki's eyes widened in horror. Down, at the side of her left thigh, a shard of glass was embedded into her skin. It was a thick piece, too, as there was blood oozing out of the wound.

How? Where? Where did she receive this—?

The window… it hit her. When she broke the window to escape the monster explosion, her form was probably not in the correct position when she came back in again. Had she been running with this sort of wound this whole time? No wonder she stumbled a lot while coming here. But… but why couldn't she feel the pain? Running around with that thing in her should've torn her muscles and skin, and the experience should've been agonizing. Yet...Why did her senses not react!? Why—?

She froze, then looked at her right damaged arm, and burned left hand…

There was no pain from either of them because...because…

No…

No, no, no, no, no, no! It couldn't have been…

Izumi immediately grabbed hold of the side of the glass that poked out of her skin and pulled it out hastily, throwing the object to the floor. Now more blood seemed to be sipping out of the wound.

"What the!"

"Izu! What are you doing?"

Izumi didn't bother replying. She still felt nothing.

CIP...

Her body was experiencing CIP right now.

God she should have seen the signs. She should've been more attentive to her senses. It explained everything, why her body felt numb from all the injuries she'd received, Why her feet and hands didn't register the cold surface of the concrete walls and floor.

"Oi! Baka!" Katsuki grabbed her wrist. "What did you just do?! You made it worse just yanking it off like that! What are you—" he stopped himself when he noticed Izumi breathing fast, her face paling. "Deku?"

"No pain," she muttered to herself, but they heard it anyway, "how? I knew "that" was happening today, and I had my medicines this morning. So how can this be? How…was the dosage...do I have to increase it again?" She was panicking. Not only did her one of the symptoms of her sickness have to pick the wrong timing, but Katsuki, her classmates would know about...her sickness...this weakness…

Her knees felt weak and she lost balance. Katsuki's instincts went on high alert, and immediately threw his arms in front, catching the girl.

He caught me, Izumi thought. Why? Wait, no, he's going to realize it's a mistake and drop her down to the floor. He was going to. He hated her. There was no doubt about it. She closed her eyes and braced herself...but he didn't let go.

Why? She thought. Why is he touching her? Why isn't he letting her go? His memories couldn't have been restored, right?

Katsuki, meanwhile, wondered why his body just moved on its own. This wasn't like him, but every muscle in his body didn't want to let her go. Didn't want her to get hurt anymore. His chest was hurting badly, was this...guilt?

This was all his fault to begin with. She was in this state because of him.

Suddenly, a portal with golden light appeared in front of the. Recovery Girl appeared from the golden void. "Midoriya-San! Please don't act so reckless now. Relax while the med bods take to my infirmary."

"Recovery Girl?" Izumi rasped. The med bods appeared from the portal, carrying a stretcher.

"Recovery Girl?" Uraraka questioned. "How did you—"

"A student from class 1–B suddenly came to my office, stating this girl's current condition." The old lady explained. "He probably headed back to class now, but was kind enough to use his quirk to give me a short cut."

Katsuki clicked his tongue, hearing that the tanned bastard was butting in again. He was annoyed. Pissed. Angered.

"Bakugou," His attention snapped to the old nurse. "Please set her down. We need to take her back." He nodded and did just that, carefully holding her bridal style, and avoiding touching her wound. As he carefully placed her down the stretcher, Izumi shook her, not being able to believe what he was doing.

"Kacchan…" her green eyes locked with his red ones. "Why? Why are you being like this?" He was acting gentle, touching her gently, just like how they were back when they were kids. The old Kacchan she let go of, believing that side of him was gone. But now...Those ruby eyes no longer showed any signs of hostility. It didn't make sense. Why?

Katsuki stared back at her, unable to find the proper words. He didn't know why he was behaving like this. Why his body acted strangely. Suddenly, the boy winced as his head experienced pain again, recalling something. This time, Katsuki decided to not ignore it, and embraced whatever he was recalling. Before he knew it, his mouth moved on its own.

"I'm sorry, Izumi…"

Her eyes widened as the tears fell without her realizing…

…

…

those words...those words were enough for her to feel something warm within her fluttering.

Was he...remembering?

That was all she thought before Izumi felt a wave of exhaustion that made her eyes close.

Note: Congenital insensitivity to pain (CIP), also known as congenital analgesia, is one or more rare conditions in which a person cannot feel (and has never felt) physical pain.The conditions described here are separate from the HSAN group of disorders, which have more specific signs and cause. Because feeling physical pain is vital for survival, CIP is an extremely dangerous condition. It is common for people with the condition to die in childhood due to injuries or illnesses going unnoticed. Burn injuries are among the more common injuries. -Wiki