-No one's perspective-

"I'd say that the MVP for this battle was Young Iida!"

"Ehhhh?" Almost everyone said.

"Not either of the winners, Ochaco-chan and Izumi-chan, kero?" Tsuyu asked.

"Hmmm, Young Midoriya was close, however…"All Might turned to the rest of the class. "Does anyone know?"

"Yes!" Momo Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "This is because Iida-san adapted the most to the context of the training. From watching the match,"she began to explain, and Katsuki decided to listen, "it appears Bakugou-san acted on his own because of an obvious personal grudge. And as All Might sensei said earlier, it is foolish to launch a large-scale attack indoors. As for Uraraka-san, she let her guard down mid-battle, and her final attack was too reckless. If she treated the papier-mache as a real weapon, she would not have been able to do something so dangerous." she glanced at the tall glasses boy, "Iida-san had prepared for his opponent's arrival and assumed it would be a fight over the weapon which made him late in responding to the final attack.

Iida was surprised that someone noticed his hard work and acting-it was like he'd been blessed hearing his classmates comment. He was silently crying with happy tears.

After her long-winded speech ended, silence followed. All might started sweating as she said some things he didn't consider.

"Wait, "Kirishima stepped forward, breaking the tension. "Sensei said Midoriya was close to getting the MVP title. Why'd she fail?"

Yaoyorozu cleared her throat as her brows furrowed. "Midoriya's last attack was the reason. Taking into consideration the damage she received, her last plan was clearly half-baked and rash." The tips of her fingertips touched her lips as she narrowed her eyes. "Well, seeing things from the objective way, her move is seen as a mistake if this was an actual hero vs villain situation."

"Objective way?" Kaminari frowned. "Then were her actions in this battle somewhat exceptional? Maybe understandable?"

"Hmmm... Judging by what we saw, it was clear that she had the skills to be careful, developed tactics and strategies, memorized the the structure of the building from the blueprints flawlessly, and had good teamwork with Uraraka-san, unlike the villain team" the corner of her eyes looked at the ash haired blonde for a heartbeat. "Midoriya-San was also well aware of her condition, and tried to avoid using her quirk for as long as she could. Running, trusting her instincts, using deception and trickery. But, inevitably, she had to take certain rash actions as there weren't any other alternatives. The cause is solely because Bakugou-san was her opponent." Katsuki snapped his eyes to her. "She had to break the window to escape the mega explosions, and she had to sacrifice her right arm and left hand as she was cornered, and time was running out. If she fought someone else rather other than Bakugou-San, then I can guarantee she would have won without any injuries."

"Whoa…" Kaminari whistled. "That's amazing."

"Indeed." She agreed. "Given how natural and flawless she was at first, I assume that this isn't the first time she'd faced a dangerous situation."

It's not, All Might thought, that girl's always hunting down criminals everyday.

—present, outside u.a building, No one's perspective—

"Kacchan!" Izumi screamed.

He looked over his shoulder at her. "De...ku…" his eyes were wide.

She stopped herself, keeping some distance between them as she frowned. Why does he look shaken? His shoulder tensed the moment they made eye contact,and he wasn't snarling at her, or yelling…

"Kacchan…" she said, "I...I'm sorry for keeping secrets. Like I said before, I didn't mean to trick you ...but...I guess you wouldn't believe me since i used trickery in my tactics. I'm sorry but I didn't know what else to do to beat you!"

Katsui continued to glare at her coldly from over his shoulder.

"I...my quirk manifested late, and it just appeared a couple weeks back. But I don't have complete control over it so I… I had to use those tricks…" Izumi trembled for what she was about to say next. "Kacchan...when you...after that fight...my name." She looked at him. "You said my actual name...why?"

"..."

"..."

He said nothing, and they were silent as the wind blew, ruffling her short curly hair a bit.

"Kacchan, are you starting to remember?"

Katsuki still said nothing. What should he say anyway? That his mouth moved on its own and said something he wasn't even aware of? That his emotions were and mind was too conflicted back then that he wasn't paying attention? And that a certain tanned skin boy strangled him earlier, warning him not to remember anything of his past with her and forget about it? No. Hell no, he wasn't going to say a word, especially that last one. It would wound his pride more. Utterly. And for the fact that Grey had some connections with Izumi made it worse. He hated to admit it, but there was another bastard, besides the Ice one, who was powerful enough to defeat Katsuki. Let alone kill him, if he wanted to.

…

Does Izumi even know the kind of guy he actually was? There's no way that girl would be friends with someone who held murderous intentions towards Katsuki if she wanted to be a hero.

Izumi said in a nervous way, "It-it's best if you don't remember our past."

Katsuki's eyes widened.

"I mean, nothing good would come out of it, anyway. So just please don't look, or remember."

Katsuki stared blankly.

…

She's saying the exact same thing as the other guy did.

Katsuki didn't know why, his blood was beginning to boil.

Izumi contemplated hard on what Aunty Mitsuki said to her after their last meeting.

"He'll eventually remember things bit by bit rather than be in that loop of forgetting. Of course, you have to take things one step at a time. He'll probably flip his lid and harass you endlessly demanding the truth, but once he gets the whole picture of what happened that night at your place...I'm sure he'll understand."

I'm sorry, Aunty. But I really don't want Kacchan to remember anything. I don't want him to remember, or recall his past feelings he had for me. Because I want to let him go. I want him to hate me. Resent me…As I can't return his feelings. Or anyone else's. He just has no idea about my life, my sickness.

If I do become a hero, and if I still fail to find that monster before I graduate, then I won't have much time. That bastard's trail is getting thinner and thinner each year. I don't want Katsuki getting in my way while I look for that bastard responsible for the mess I'm in…

So Kacchan, please. Ignore me and forget me, like you always have. Please don't remem—

"What the hell is that?" He growled, making her flinch when her thoughts were cut off abruptly. Katsuki fully turned towards her. "Your talking nonsense—I don't understand a word. What are you trying to do? Make me out to be more of a fool than you already have." Inside his pockets, he clenched his fists. Huh? What are you trying to say?" He wasn't even looking at her in the eye as he said all this. "Today, I lost to you...that's all it was...that's all…"

Recalling what Todoroki did during the test made him feel insecure of his true capabilities. "As I watched the ice bastard… I thought, "I can't beat him"!"

Her eyes widened.

Ah...she had more less expected he'd experience this feeling once he got accepted into u.a. Katsuki had always been praised and pampered by everyone. He always thought he was the best at everything, he believed no one could beat him and be the number one hero just like that. Back when she was still 4, it was undeniable that she thought the same until...until…

That night she lost Ryuu, and he forgot everything…

Ever since she started her training with her uncle, and meeting with various people and suspects, she thought several times to herself:

Kacchan can't beat against this guy.

All Might was Katsuki's idol, just like her, but the number 1 hero was always portrayed by the media through his strength. And that more or less made people think that power and strength was everything to beat villains. But that wasn't entirely true. For 1, people don't necessarily fight against other people with power. It's common, but it's also too straightforward of a method that some people, like villains, may not experience the thrill of the fight.

Intelligence, strategy, the environment, weapons… there are over a thousand ways to take down a person without needing to use brutal combat force. And the ash haired blonde would most likely lose in situations like that.

Grey was one of those people capable of defeating Katsuki without even getting near him.

She always dreaded the day he'd come to realize it himself if he fought a stronger opponent. But despite wanting to be the last person to give him a wake up call and be near him before his fuse blew up, ironically, she'd ended up being the one slapping bricks of reality straight to his face, and was facing punishment she didn't deserve.

She flinched when he slapped a hand over his eyes, gritting his teeth with frustration as his arms trembled. "KUSO. I ended up agreeing with what ponytail said!" He swung his hand down. "Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! DAMN IT!"

He marched towards her and her face paled more by each passing heartbeat. Before she could run, his hands grabbed her shoulder in a fierce way. She couldn't escape his iron grip. Not when she had a broken arm , and was this close to her. She hoped he didn't burn the chip that was planted at the name of her neck. Otherwise he'd be pissed wondering why she was hiding her long hair. And it'd be such a pain to explain it all to this stubborn mule.

Katsuki, feeling mad and pissed by the way she was looking at him, had an amplified pain in his chest. "I don't understand!" He shouted at her. "Ever since the first day when you presented yourself as a girl...my-my mind can't stop thinking about you! And that pisses me off! My behavior has gone strange, too! My body moved on its own when I held you, I don't know how I blurted your actual name when I don't even recall the name from anywhere...It's my first time hearing it...yet it feels like it's f**king not...

"And there's always this pain in my chest whenever I...I…" He clenched his teeth, as he squeezed her shoulders, frustrated when the words couldn't form. "I can't even explain why it happens to begin with! But it always has to do with you! Even when I see you like this...injured, covered in bandages…" his breath shuddered, Katsuki's hands loosened and slided to the side of her arms as his head rested on her shoulder.

Her breath hitched by the sudden action.

"Why?" He said quietly, calming down a little as his eyes pressed closed on her shoulder. "Why the f**k am I like this, now? Boy or girl, you're still annoying ass Deku...so what happened? Why's my perception of you changing?"

Izumi didn't breathe, let alone move when he touched her. She honestly didn't know what to do. He was torn. She knew he'd be confused and upset and all by the revelations, but—God, she didn't know what to do. His emotions and mind were heavily conflicted with each other, and Katsuki wasn't the kind of guy who paid attention to "feelings". Yet here he was, in an emotional sort of crisis. And was pissed about t.

"Did you know this would happen? Is this why you didn't f**king say a word?" She didn't dare make eye contact. She was scared. Was he going to hit her now? Blow up her shoulder? Break her other hand? She squeezed her eyes shut as she braced herself.

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at her face when he lifted his head from her shoulder. The useless crybaby Deku he thought he'd known all his life, was afraid and was trembling from his touch despite winning against him. It was like the beginning of a bad joke. He looked at the side of her neck that was exposed, and stared. without a second thought of what he was doing, he moved his head to that spot he was looking at and bit her neck right there.

Izumi's eyes shot wide open and her body jolted, she immediately shoved him off her, her unbroken hand covering the place he just bit. Her face felt warm, and was sure it looked flushed. Wha-? Why !? "Ka-kacchan!"

This behavior...he...used to do that when they were kids, but rather than a bite, it used to be a soft nibble. It was to show his affection for her as he clearly believed in the saying that "actions are louder than words." But they aren't even kids anymore!

Why—?

She stopped breathing. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no—! He'd better not have recalled his feelings. She was seriously not in the mood for it.

Katsuki blanked out for a heartbeat before he realized what he'd just done. Shit! What the hell was i—? Was what he thought. Trying to get hold of the situation again, he grabbed her arm and pulled her to him.

"Hey, Deku! Starting now!" He looked at her, bringing his face close, his raging eyes were filled with tears of frustration that were shed earlier. "I'm just...I'm just getting started! You hear!" His grip tightened again, and she tried not to wince. "Here, I will become number 1! You won't beat me again, bastard! I don't know what past the two of us had, but you're right! It's best if I don't recall shit right now as It'll be the way. But I f**king swear I'll get it out of you in a couple of months. So be prepared, shitty nerd." He let her go and turned to leave. "Let that mark be a reminder of that." He added, to make her believe that that was his reason for biting her. He left with a scarlet face as his ears were red.

God, if this went on, he really needs to talk about it with his parents.

Izumi, on the other hand, had dropped to the ground with a red face, clearly exhausted by the entire emotional rollercoaster ride she had to experience. She'd have to tell her uncle she couldn't come for work today…she wanted sleep.

But she knew this wasn't going to end, yet. Izumi knew she'd have some conversation with Grey back at home as he watched the entire thing with Katsuki right now. Even that bite thing (god what was that guy doing really?)

The green haired girl looked behind her, unamused.

A black cat was watching the entire thing behind the pillar. It's golden eyes sparkled and glowed in an unusual way before fleeing.

—At a cafe near the precinct —

The tanned skin teen uncovered his hand from his eyelids. His golden eyes stopped glowing the moment he opened them, and darkened a heartbeat later. "" Here, I will become number 1," what bullshit." He spat.

He snapped his fingers, and a small void opened underneath the table. A black cat came out from it, jumping onto his lap immediately as it's curious blue eyes had also shown eagerness for the reward that was in store for him.

He chuckled. "Thanks for letting me borrow your eyes, old friend."

Grey tore off a small piece of untouched chicken from a plate that was in front of him, and popped it into the cat's mouth. The cat meowed at him happily. He smiled before snapping his eyes at the window, staring hard and expressionless against his own reflection .

He sighed exasperatedly. "Annoying." He said, darkly to himself. "Wish he gets out of the picture soon. There's no way I'm handing Izumi over."