He blinks his eyes open. So he's not dead.
But he is experiencing the worst pain of his life.
He's pretty sure his explosions have stopped but everything is still blurry as fuck, and before he can set anything in stone, he looks down, hoping he didn't just fucking murder this person. She's not dead, thankfully. She is crying, though. And there are a few splatters of red liquid – blood, it has to be. He's not stupid. But where the fuck did it come from – sprayed on her face. She swiftly gets up and runs away, screaming. Kind of what he wanted, he guesses.
Katsuki recognizes that he should fucking do the same – run, that is. Because there's no way he isn't in loads of trouble right now. He turns around in one fell swoop, recognizing Izuku's shocked and horrified expression only when he's jumping the school's gate because there's someone – probably a teacher – racing him, and he doesn't want to be yelled at, okay? He's already fucking crying – also something he just registers now – and getting yelled at by an adult is gonna make him cry even harder.
Kouda nods, empathizing with this version of Bakugou.
Everything is still hard to focus on because god.
Fucking.
DAMN.
His hands hurt.
A lot.
"So is this just going to be Bakugou learns his lesson and that's it? That's kind of boring." Hagakure says.
"Maybe he'll get into a situation where he has to use his Quirk for the greater good and he'll have this internal conflict all the way." Todoroki theorizes. A Quirk related drama episode.
"Maybe the lesson he's learning is going to trigger his real Quirk, and he'll be quick to take advantage of his newly discovered power." Kayama says. "Doesn't sound plausible, but it would be interesting!"
"Maybe he'll meet a new friend with a not-so-working Quirk and learn to cope together!" Mina cheers.
"Wasn't that last episode?" Kaminari tilts his head.
"Hah, hmm…"
Speaking of his hands, he almost slips on the gate while hopping over it, using the branches of a nearby tree to climb over it – which did nothing to subside the pain – because he's pretty sure his palms are bleeding, before nearly falling on his face when he lands on the other side. He might have almost passed out several times during that activity.
"Bakugou! You need to return right now! Do you understand in how much trouble you're in?" his teacher says, glaring beyond the bars of the fence.
"Kacchan! Are you okay?! You're bleeding!" Izuku desperately calls from beyond the gate, where he's breathing heavily.
"Uhm," Katsuki stammers, eyes flickering to his childhood friend, "No…" he answers, making Izuku and the teacher frown further in worry and concern before the blond trails his gaze to the older person, "I need to… see a medical professional."
Before he lets any of them respond, he dashes towards the direction of his house, hoping that running and running without stop would distract him from thinking of the loads of shit he's gotten himself into just because he wanted to spook some girl. This is so fucking stupid.
The ache in the muscles of his legs and sore lungs from huffing doesn't really distract the pain in his palms, and before he knows it, he's in front of his house.
"Wouldn't we all want to live in Bakugou's house?" Hagakure muses.
"I feel like I'm getting déjà vu." Yaomomo frowns.
"That's what you're focused on?" Ojirou asks incredibly the invisible girl, clearly not looking distressed in the slightest, "The man is dying."
"Sorry," She clears her throat, "Wouldn't we all want to not be in Bakugou's position?"
"Thank you."
"I feel like we should be more concerned," Iida says, "Bakugou is clearly in pain in this alternate universe. I don't see how this is any laughing matter."
"Maybe because he's going to get help? – kero." Tsu croaks, tilting her head.
Uraraka nods, "It's usually very Bakugou to not get or ask for aid for as long as possible, so while we have the knowledge that he's going to get better, we feel safer I think."
Midoriya taps his chin, "And when Kacchan is asleep, we don't have anyone to yap and whine to."
"That too." Tsu shrugs.
Katsuki takes a minute to catch his breath, doing his best to not throw up, since he's feeling really kind of nauseous right now. He has no idea if one of his parents is working from home today. Or what he will fucking do when he sees them. Hey dad, remember when I promised to never use my Quirk? Well, I had to use it to scare some girl to death, but only because she was bullying me! Oh, by the way, I'm being bullied – probably won't fly. And I got blood on the door handle. That too.
"Do tell us if you are having trouble with bullies," Yamada says somberly, "We don't take those kind of topics lightly." He readjusts his glasses, a new grin forming on his face, "We'll keep you safe 'cuz we're heroes, yo!"
"Aaand you've ruined it," Kayama drawls.
With one final sigh where he thinks he's pretty sure he's not going to collapse, he looks down at his hands for the first time and gags.
His hands looks like they've exploded from the inside out, exposing flesh. He didn't realize just how much he was bleeding. His whole hands are pretty much covered in blood to about where his sleeves reach his wrists; it probably was all the climbing he'd done. There's also splattered blood on his clothes and he doesn't doubt there's some on his face and hair too. He has no idea how this evil Quirk works, making explosions form inside his hands or something? The rest of what it left of his palms are bristling, swollen and fucking horrifying. Some chunks of his skin are fucking white and charred. He grimaces as he spots muscle tissue and parts of his bones that are peaking out. Thank fuck for healing Quirks, because otherwise he has no idea how he's ever going to use his hands for anything ever again. And don't get him started on the smell.
The room cringes violently, most making disgusted noises and some covering their mouths or eyes with their hands – from the shock, or repulsion, or to stop themselves from gagging or to not look at the injury… or maybe just to fully appreciate how intact their own palms are.
Midoriya shivers, he knows that not burning your classmate until their skin explodes might quite literally be the bare minimum, but knowing that Bakugou could do much worse when they were back in middle school is giving him mixed emotions. He would be glad, but then again he'd be gladder if Bakugou didn't bother him at all.
Sero yelps, clinging to Bakugou tighter before promptly getting blown off by an explosion. Bakugou isn't a deep sleeper per se, but if he tried hard enough, he could at least toon out expected voices and maybe doze a little. But god damn these people are fucking loud. No wonder he's always yelling over them. Okay, maybe he's a little part of the problem. Most of the times… Anyways, "Stop touching me, Soy Sauce!"
"But look at that!" He points at the screen, grimacing.
Bakugou turns towards the episode before his eyebrow shoots up. That better not be his blood. But finally, the bloody crime scene he needed to wake him up.
"Oh, he's up." Shinsou says, and in a lower voice mutters, "Torment him." as if he's commanding a pack of dogs to attack their prey.
"Kacchan, what were you thinking—?!"
"Blasty, are you high? Like, are you okay—?!"
"Bakubro, please don't tell me that ever happened to you in real life—?!"
"Does anyone know what flavor of chips these are—?"
"Shut up! I can't understand what all of you are saying if you're speaking at the same time, you lot!"
Aizawa runs his hand through his hair. He feels like he should say something, of a lesson. But honestly, what does he even have left to say?
"Yo, that looks like it blows." the blond teacher says before pursing his lips, doing his best to not laugh at his own unfunny joke. Somehow, Kayama fails to do just that, giggling. Aizawa pinches the bridge of his nose. It'll have to do, for now.
Yeah. No way is he entering his home like this. So, in a panic, Katsuki starts jogging towards the forest near his neighborhood through the gap he, Izuku, and his other friends found a while ago in the fence. For some reason. He looks like he just murdered someone and it's a miracle he hasn't been arrested somewhere in the street already. He'll just. Chill. Until he's in the right headspace again, yeah.
"Excuse my Iida for a second but," Mina chops her wrist in the air towards the explosive blond, "What do you think you're doing, Bakugou?"
Shouji whistles before quietly adding to Kouda who was sitting next to him, "She Bakugou'd him."
The blond blinks at Mina lazily. "I have no context for anything that had happened so far. All I remember is that I have my Explosion Quirk and that something must have happened to me after getting it…" And that something made the viewers gag a little while ago. But he could easily guess what that was.
Kirishima furrows his brows, sharp teeth poking at his bottom lip as he grimaces, "Yeah. About your Quirk—"
Bakugou face-palms, making Sero, who's still stubbornly staying at the same beanbag with him, flinch. "Say no more." Bakugou grumbles behind his hand rather direly, making him sound slurred.
Kaminari pipes up, "Oh, and you call Midoriya by his first name in this one."
"WHAT?!"
Aizawa opens his mouth just in time for Kayama to speak up, smiling with concern, "Kids, if you need and say you're going to get medical attention, I'd suggest actually going to a clinic or hospital." Aizawa closes his mouth and frowns, grumbling. That's what he was just about to say…
"I don't know what's happening!" Bakugou shouts, hating the feeling of being clueless.
"Your Explosion Quirk had been found to be harmful to you shortly after discovering it. Uh, so you decided to be the hero that will beat All Might without their Quirk, showing your strength. But… people had been bothering you in school, calling you Quirkless," Kirishima scowls at the mention of the bullying, feeling more respect for Midoriya than he already feels about the boy, "So you wanted to get them to back off by proving that you do actually have a Quirk, but it backfired and you ran away from school." He beams at Bakugou, who seems to be disappointed but also somewhat relieved.
Bakugou sighs, long and tired, "Thank you, Kirishima." He's now immediately uninterested in this universe again.
Kirishima's cheeks heat a little, being surprised by the use of the name but before he could respond, Kaminari started whining, "Did you really have to tell him? It's way funnier when he doesn't understand things."
Sero scoffs, "And you say it's mean when we joke about you."
"But that's because I never know what's going on! Bakugou, on the other hand…"
Bakugou snorts, "You think—"
"No, no. He has a point." Mina hums, scratching her chin and clicking her tongue.
"Don't interrupt—"
"He does?" Sero questions genuinely, raising an eyebrow.
"Nothing's fu—!"
"Yes," Kirishima nods earnestly, "It is very funny."
"Then why did you help him?!"
Kirishima shrugs, rubbing the back of his head. "It's a story about him, he should know, right?"
"You're just trying to get him to say your name, dude." Kaminari huffs.
"Any problem with that, Sparky?" Bakugou retorts.
"No, Explosion God of Murder."
Bakugou nods with a smirk, crossing his arms. That's just a cool nickname.
Katsuki finally crashes into a tree, too exhausted to render his surroundings. He snorts, rubbing his nose. Good. If he kept running for even one more minute, he might actually collapse. And then what's gonna catch him when he falls.
"If a Bakugou falls in a forest and no one—"
"Don't." Bakugou harshly cuts Sero off, making him pout.
He leans his backs on the tree while trying to catch his breath.
He's gone farther than he ever had before, but he's sure he'll know how to get back home in a short while. He probably left a blood trail after himself if need be. Like some… sick version of those two brats who wonder in a forest using bread crumbs.
"Hansel and Gretel?" Midoriya says. "It's a tale from before the Quirk era."
"Isn't that story already fucked up?" Shinsou frowns, sifting in his seat.
"If I remember correctly, they meet a witch in a house of candy, and she tries to eat them." Todoroki says. "My mom used to tell me that story." He's been afraid of waffles ever since.
"I would probably be craving any sort of meat if I lived in a candy house all day."
"Aoyama!" Kouda squeaks. "I can't believe I'm actually saying this next sentence, but hunt animals if you need meat!"
"Naturally." Aoyama winks, though Kouda isn't sure if it's for reassurance purposes or something else. Maybe he doesn't want to know.
About only half an hour later and one time of puking, Katsuki deems it safe enough for him to return home without accidentally fainting on the way or some equally stupid shit. He pushes off the tree trunk and sighs. It still hurts as shit, but at least he can think without his mind being overwhelmed by 'fuck fuck fuck fuuuu—'.
"Thanks, tree." Katsuki mutters, rubbing his sleeve over his eye only half a second after realizing that he can't use the heel of his palm instead if he wants to be able to use that eye for the way back home.
"You're welcome!"
"Yauh!" Jirou yelps, grabbing at her ankles as she burrows to the back of the couch, sitting crossed legged.
Yaomomo flinches, mostly because of the girl sitting next to her before looking at her with concern. "Nothing happened yet, Jirou?"
Jirou blushes, her ear-jacks poking at each other, "Ah— I know, eheh." she chuckles nervously.
"A little over redundant, but I get the sentiment." Ojirou nods, biting his fingernail subconsciously.
"I didn't expect there to be more to this," Mei pleasantly admits, her hand elbow-deep on a big bag of chips she may or may not have stolen from Hatada while the other hand is messing with some sort of metal junction, "Now I'm getting all interested and stuff."
"Finally, the friend Kacchan has been needing and waiting for, there to baby him when we can't!" Kaminari cheers before quickly glancing at Bakugou, ready to dodge any incoming attacks. To his surprise, though, Bakugou is fully asleep again.
"That was quick." Sero says, looking at his unconscious friend.
"Do you think I could—?" Kirishima starts, reaching over from his bean bag to Bakugou, poking him lightly in the rib before the blond shoots a hand and lands an explosion on the redhead's promptly hardened face, eyes still closed and mouth parted slightly, softly snoring. "Fair."
Katsuki blinks at the forest ahead. Did his mind say that? Just to be sure, he turns around – hoping to the gods above to not somehow spot a face on this tree right here. There isn't, thank fuck, but there is this girl a few meters from him now, standing between the trees and looking his way.
"She looks familiar." Uraraka says tilting her head. Tsu hums in agreement, tilting her own head the same exact way unconsciously.
"A civilian, maybe?" Midoriya suggests. She is familiar. And he knows that whoever she is, it's sitting there on his mind, too much at the back to put a name to her. Where have they seen her before? Maybe she's someone from one of the other classes? And he'd seen her during school hours?
Aizawa scratches at his stubble. He's seen this girl before, but something feels off.
The girl seems to be wearing a school uniform different from Katsuki's, so no one he recognizes. When he turns around she winces, eyes going wide and eyebrows shooting up. He frowns at her, raising an eyebrow.
Oh wait.
Yeah, the blood.
She's probably wondering how many people he'd just killed. Still, he looks down at his blooded uniform before back at her, his hazy mind trying to structure an excuse to this before she runs to find the cops. Well, he has an alibi, so…
"Uhm," Katsuki mutters lamely, averting his gaze and wiping the back of his hands on his pants. He hears the girl take a shaky and slow breath. This is stupid. "Were you just watching me?" he rasps, looking back at her. She's biting her lip and clutching at her skirt – from fear and terror, undoubtedly – her eyes roaming over every inch of him. That's probably not the best thing to say. "I mean, fuckin'… This is my blood…"
"You do look like you've just killed someone," Mina admits to the still sleeping boy, coughing. No wonder that Bakugou's lightheaded, how he even has any blood left in his system is a miracle.
The girl's eyes slowly make their way back to his face before she smiles kindly. No, beams. Her eyes crinkling and teeth showing and all. She lets her hands fall to her side, skirt still showing ruffled lines as Katsuki tries to decipher the meaning of it all. "I see," she says.
Then it clicks. Students gasp, yelp, face-palm, mumble or look around in confusion. Teachers whip out their notebooks to scribble in, only one doing so successfully without dropping it in their haste.
"What's going on?" Kaminari asks, scratching his hand.
"I'm unclear." Shinsou replies, turning to face behind him, where most of the class is.
"That's Toga." Tsu hesitantly says, pointing at the screen, Uraraka clutched to her side. "That's her smile…" She shudders. Images of the blonde walking up to her and the brunette with that chilling grin will be engraved in her mind for the longest time, she's sure. Even when other Toga is wearing a different uniform than what Tsu had seen her in, and her hair down, that smile managed to stay the same.
"That's one of the villains that helped kidnap Bakugou, right?" Satou asks worryingly, scratching his chin.
Mina scowls, feeling anger bubble up inside her harder than the sting of preparing for her most harmful acid. "Oh hell no!" She whips her gaze to the rest of the worried and upset Bakusquad, Bakugou squinting at her after being woken up from the commotion. Now they are all – except for the star of the show itself –sitting straighter, body rigid. "No blood sucking freaky bitch is messing with my boy Blasty. I don't care in what universe we're in, that vampire weirdo is not getting anywhere near any him – or anyone, for that matter! And if it means I have to motherfucking light travel there or some shit, then—"
"Calm down. I'll be surprised if she actually attacks him," Aizawa sighs, glaring at the Toga on screen, "And this isn't any different than that slime villain attacking him the other day. I'm sure he'll be fine."
Mina exhales from her nose, biting her tongue to not retort with some 'she won't' or something but she looks at Bakugou and that's enough for her to purse her lips, with how he's blinking lazily at her, frowning and looking at her like she's old gum stuck to the underside of his desk. Man, that boy loves them all.
Kirishima, still looking angrily at the screen like all the others in the room are doing at this point, huffs too. "Bakubro will be fine, I know it."
Bakugou clicks his tongue, "Then get rid of all that edginess, Hair for Brains."
"Oh," he says as he deactivates his Quirk, "I didn't even notice—"
"Did you just make a pun?!" Sero practically yells even though he's centimeters away from Bakugou.
"Stop screaming, Tape face!" he screams, popping off a few explosions, sleepiness clearing up a little as much as the tension in the room had vanished at this point.
It's quiet, then. Katsuki stares at the girl. She stares back. "So…" he clears his throat, "What are you doing here? You might… get bitten by a snake or some shit if you're not careful…" Yeah, sure. Let's go with that. Katsuki had fucked up majorly today, not just in his hand department, but also hero progress. All Might wouldn't threaten someone who isn't like. Evil. And even though Katsuki is aiming for beyond the number one hero, the point still stands. Even though he would do it again – without the. Blowing his hands up part. So if he lowered his… goodness, earlier today, then he might as well try to bring it back up. With this girl, he guesses.
"Traduire this back to Japanese for me, please." Aoyama asks the general area.
"I think he's feeling guilty so he wants to make up for his earlier behavior." Todoroki explains, Aoyama nodding along with his everlasting smile.
"It's pretty fucking clear what's going through my head. You can literally hear it, dumbass." Bakugou grunts.
"Your thought process is worse than Midoriya's mumbling."
"—She looked surprised to see him covered in blood, meaning that that's not the reason she approached him, at this point she hadn't met him yet, since the first time we saw her was in the training camp when Kacchan was kidnapped and he isn't using his Quirk and isn't in U.A. yet, meaning that he isn't well known to the public unless he was attacked by the sludge villain in this one as well though that's not the matter here – so there is no reason for her to approach Kacchan even if she was in the league at that point – huh? What was that, Todoroki?"
"You have a death wish, IcyHot?" Bakugou growls loudly, setting of an explosion that makes Aizawa sigh deeply.
"Am I missing something?" Midoriya hesitantly asks Iida quietly, who just shakes his head with disappointment.
"Oh, I'm just walking around." The girl says nonchalantly, her eyes never leaving him, kicking at the ground. "Mind if I ask the same thing…?"
Katsuki shrugs, trying to look confident, "I kinda fucked up at school and shit. So I ran here to uhm. Hide." It's fucking cowardly and weak, hah… But this chick doesn't know him, so he doesn't care what she might think of him. "It's whatever." He surely looks deranged, saying that while looking like he participated in a jam eating competition and just vomited it all out afterwards.
"There's nothing wrong with taking a break alone or walking out when you need space." Hagakure says, gesturing with her hands, "Though I'd say to come back and apologize sometime after, though she did deserve it." she mumbles the last part, referencing the girl with the fire Quirk.
"But to run away in the middle of a lesson, crying?" Bakugou defends… himself, against himself…
Sero gives him a questioning look. "But you didn't run away in the middle of a lesson crying…?"
"Oh," he mumbles, ignoring the more confused than even looks on his friends' faces. When he envisioned it in his mind while Kirishima was explaining it, that was exactly how it went down – and he forgot those weren't facts… He was just being imaginative and creative and open minded and invested, okay? Fuck you. "I was kidding, dipshit." He's definitely not painfully inattentive and out of the loop.
"…Okay."
"Oh my gosh, me too!" the girls squawks, "I totally did something I shouldn't have and am in big trouble now!" Mystery Girl sighs, running a hand through her messy blonde hair that spills over her shoulders. "But I couldn't really control it…"
Katsuki just raises an eyebrow at her.
"It had to do with my Quirk." It's whispered like a secret, a thing to be ashamed of. Like the fact that it's a Quirk accident is worse than whatever she actually did.
"She probably killed someone or something." Ojirou grumbles.
"Because of her Quirk?" Yaomomo tilts her head.
Uraraka shudders before groaning, "Toga did seem to have a lot of fun drinking my blood."
"So maybe un-allowing her to drink blood – which I assume is what her situation was before she became a villain, since she mentioned she came from a school, and that would make the most sense – made her crave it more since she has a fascination with blood, and she wasn't able to hold it in, leading her to hurt someone at her school?" Midoriya suggest, "Though… we aren't sure that her acquiring the blood is the problem, like Ojirou suggested, but there is another part to her Quirk, which is to become the person she drinks, so she might have used her Quirk at school and may or may not have used it maliciously."
"Or maybe she turned into someone and then stabbed someone?" Shinsou offers, if not for the simple reason of speaking.
"But then she wouldn't have to run away."
"You know, just because you're right Midoriya doesn't mean you have to say it."
"It doesn't matter how she used her Quirk," Uraraka croaks, her right hand clinging onto Tsu's sleeve as the greenette curled beside her, "If she used her Quirk, it means she acquired blood from someone or something, which I highly doubt would be consensual."
"I think it's important to discuss topics like these," Kayama speaks, drawing attention, "While I can't be sure if her actions are justified, since it seems we are all just jumping to conclusions about her situation in this universe, it is critical to mention that some Quirks need more attention and treatment compared to others. If Toga has trouble keeping her hands and knives to herself when she doesn't get the amount of blood her Quirk demands from her, then it's her parents' and school's responsibility to give her a legal solution to cater to her needs, so she wouldn't accidentally harm an innocent when it becomes too much.
"But again, this is all just speculation about what might have happened. Her problems that lead to her being a villain currently might have had to do with her mental health and nothing about the nature of her Quirk."
Uraraka scratches her chin as she thinks what Kayama said over. While she doesn't condone neglect of children and their Quirks' needs, she knows that there is nothing that will make her forgive what current Toga did to them. She attacked Uraraka's class and helped kidnap Bakugou, not to mention all the things she did afterwards. If this younger version of Toga is having trouble with Quirk oversight, she hopes she can figure it out healthily before her mental stability reaches its limits. Possibly because all heroes should hope for every possibly innocent teenager's safety, or maybe just so Uraraka and the rest of 1-A wouldn't have to deal with Toga again.