It was a long time after those days that I was able to talk to anyone about everything that was going on. Mostly just Deku - because one day, he asked me,

"How come you and Kirishima don't really hang out anymore?"

"We're - that's - " Then sighing and saying, "We haven't really hung out since the licensing exam."

"I noticed that..."

"Wasn't my idea. Guess he decided he was too good to talk to me anymore, you know. Licensed big shot."

It was weird...I guess it's that before then, he'd come up to me and try to talk to me, hang out with me, invite me to do stuff. People have to do that for me usually, because I don't ask them. And then after that he just stopped. He'd still smile at me and say nice things if our paths crossed. But after the licensing exam...

"...we just sort of stopped hanging out much."

"Do you...do you miss that?"

"I guess...not really. Maybe I would if..."

If I didn't have you to talk to about it? Yeah.

It's not Kirishima's fault. It's not like I told him there were things bothering me at the time. He was a friend, but not someone you could talk to about problems. He's the kind of person who reacts with 'Don't worry, it'll all work out' when you tell him you're suffering. Which always pisses me off anyway. Anyway, I didn't tell him about it. I told Deku. I tell Deku everything. Him and All Might. They're the only people I feel I can talk to about these things.

Well, Uraraka has this weird ability to guess what I'm thinking and confront me about it. She'll come up and be like "It's obvious you're only acting this way cause you want to push Deku away, because you're insecure, so you should maybe cut it out." And I don't know what to say to that. But with her, she's always kinda judgmental and pushy about it. She doesn't like me much, I can tell. No point trying to be friends with her, not really.

And like Kirishima, back then, she had her license.

My final days alone, dreading going back to class at Heights Alliance. I honestly enjoyed being alone for a little while. I like it in general, getting away from other people. And now it was as if here was this huge, unsurpassable barrier between me and everyone else. All bout two, really. It wasn't unsurpassable with Deku, because I'd told him everything, and he'd told me, and I knew then - he at least wasn't looking down on me for failing. Even if it still pissed me off at times, it wasn't like with everyone else.

Everyone else but him and Todoroki.

Todoroki, IcyHot of all people. The rest of the class sat around talking about 'work studies' that day, getting all excited about 'senpai's demonstration'. IcyHot and me skulked in the background. He sat alone looking pissed off. I skulked in the corner picking up trash for everyone else.

"Let me help you with that," Out of nowhere came IcyHot as I was dragging the dam ntrash bags everyone else had filled out the door.

"I don't need your help!"

"I know you don't." Quietly, then. "I just want to get out of here."

Hard to say anything to that. So I huffed and he took some of them and we walked out back.

I wasn't going to say anything, and as we walked to the trash out back at first he was quiet. Then he said, "It's only a few months..."

"What?"

"Nothing...I just mean...in a little while, we'll - I'll - be able to do them to."

No need to say what 'them' was.

"You better not slack off, then,"I snapped at him as we emptied the trash. "Or I'll make sure to surpass you as the top hero."

He looked at me. "You're pretty confident."

I am now. Now that I know...after Deku and me...

"What, you think you'll beat me?"

"I'll try."

I smirked. "Yeah, sure, IcyHot."

"See you at remedial lessons tomorrow."

"You better bring your A game, cause I'll beat you in the grades there."

It was brief, and we didn't talk about it anymore. But it was something we had in common all of a sudden, as much as I hated admitting it. With all my friends moving on to their big shot internships, all of a sudden I was stuck with freaking IcyHot, of all people.

Down at the bottom, working back up.

Note: Wrote this after I noticed Bakugou's squad seems to pull back from him about after the LEA. Might be breaking a little while after this, but will come back eventually with Chapter 53.