Chapter 13

Izuku was lost. Well… not in the sense that he was a lost soul, because that was quite obvious, but he was quite literally lost. It had been one of the first times he had truly left Kacchan. And, after that last time he had promised himself it would never happen again… now look where he was.

Izuku sighed, head hung low as he did the ghost equivalent of dragging his feet across the city. For the first time since he had died, he felt alone.

He kept on walking with no destination in mind. He couldn't find it in himself to stop his ghostly feet from moving forward, his body weary with invisible pain. No matter where he went, it would always hurt.

That is, until he came across an old playground. Tears started welling in his eyes as his mind flashed back to the gentle touches and embraces between young toddlers, green perfectly paired with yellow. It was his personal paradise… a time when quirks didn't matter and it didn't take him killing himself for Kacchan to care.

Even though there were tears streaming down Izuku's face, he felt a sense of elation unlike that of which he had felt recently. He couldn't help himself, running to the old creaky swings and sitting down on the aged plastic. He started to pump his legs, almost imagining what it would be like to feel the wind rush through his green curls and brush his face. But, alas, he forgot one detail… he couldn't feel anymore.

Well, he hadn't truly felt since first grade, when the bullying had grown from childish teasing to hurtful words and fists. By middle school he already thought about ending it all, being free from it, but there was a sliver of hope he had. Hope that Kacchan would one day embrace him again. It was foolish because now he was trapped.

Trapped seeing Kacchan tear apart at the seams due to his own destruction. An eye for an eye he supposed.

His destruction led to Kacchans too… how horrendously poetic. Izuku could laugh, if he had the strength or willpower to find humor within this trapping situation.

He was damned to a life tied to Kacchan, damned to suffer his bullying and then his mentality and loss of control.

Izuku stopped swinging his legs, the swing having not moved a single inch since he sat on it. He collapsed onto the cold textured ground with a sob, hands moving into curly green hair and wiping his ever-teary eyes.

He was losing it too.
"Hi…" a small voice called out to Izuku.

He turned, in a bout of complete surprise, and set his tear-filled eyes behind him to gaze for the source of the voice.

"Oh!" Izuku's eyes widened as he found his eyes on a small girl. She couldn't have been older than six with long caramel colored hair and deep chocolate brown eyes.

"You look sad" the girl continued, driving her foot into the ground in front of the swings and shyly looking down.

Izuku's eyes widened in realization

"Mama always told me if someone is sad they just need company." The girl's eyes peeked up, sheepishly smiling at Izuku.

"Didn't she tell you to be wary of strangers though?" He asked, concerned, even though he was the stranger in this case.

"That's what Mom always said!" The girl exclaimed with a smile, before it faded and her shyness returned "But… they only ignore me."

"Ignore you?" Izuku asked curiously, his heroic nature hadn't left him even in death, "What do you mean?"

"Oh…" The girl seemed uncomfortable sharing that with him, realizing he was a stranger.

"Ah nevermind!" Izuku knelt next to her, "What's your name?"

The girl just turned her head away from him, still justifiably untrusting of him.

"My name is Izuku. Izuku Midoriya. I am-" Izuku shook his head, "Was a middle school student."

"I'm Nozomi." She said it so quietly, Izuku had to strain his ears to hear

"Nice to meet you Nozomi." He sat down next to her and sighed. He wasn't used to people seeing him, finding this encounter very odd. She couldn't be a ghost too, could she? How would that event make sense? That brought up a new question… how did one become a ghost? It was very strange how he could seldom see any so-called 'ghosts' but this girl and Nana. Yet Kacchan could still see him. Was this girl like him too? He needed more time to decipher what this all meant… whether it was quirk based, maybe a curse, or had he sinned and this was his punishment? Were those old stories of past religions believing in gods really true? He was stumped.

Izuku sighed deeply and turned his head to look at the girl, but she was staring at him, visibly confused. He cursed at himself, he must've been muttering that whole time and making a fool out of himself.

"Ever been on the swings?" He asked with a voice crack, well now he knew ghosts apparently still went through puberty, as he tried to fix the awkward situation.

She brightened up and nodded before hopping on one of the swings, wiggling around and trying to get the swings to move, but they didn't. She squealed in frustration before trying to jerk the chains holding the swing around. That was when Izuku knew, she wasn't alive either.

He had just stopped crying, but new tears pricked at the corners of his eyes. How could someone so young pass so soon? She was too young…

He was startled from his pity by a loud sob as Nozomi tore herself from the swing and ran to where Izuku was sitting on the floor, burying her face in his neck and continuing to cry. She probably had no idea why she couldn't touch anymore. His gentle assurances were a soothing ailment to her struggles, however long they had lasted he didn't know.
"Me too." He whispered softly as he rubbed her back, "Me too."

Together they knelt there, just a boy and a child.

"Why?" She sobbed into his scrawny shoulder.

"I don't know… I'm sorry." Izuku whispered with a wobbly voice as he buried his face in her hair, not wanting her to see the tears flowing down his cheeks.

After a few moments of being curled into each other's arms, Nozomi uttered one phrase that made Izuku's heart sink even further than it already had.

"I want my Mama."

"I know." Izuku held her tighter, uttering a secret promise to himself. He wouldn't let any harm come to her as long as he was dead, or alive? Whatever this state of limbo was, he wouldn't let her go through what he had to experience.

"I WANT MY MAMA" Nozomi bawled, throwing weak punches at Izuku's arms and shoulders as she squirmed around to break free from his embrace.

Izuku released his arms from around her, realizing the lack of comfort they were providing. However, Nozomi didn't move away from the boy, only freeing herself from the trapped embrace.

"Even if…" Izuku murmured, "Even if she never sees you again?" He looked up with glassy forest eyes, shiny with the tears falling down his face.

"She has to!" Nozomi cried out desperately, "They both have to!"

"YOU DON'T KNOW THAT!" Izuku shouted, "You don't understand. I'm all alone, no matter what I've tried to do, no matter how far I go, I-" He failed to mention the one single person in the world, who he wished hadn't been able to see him.

"I don't care!" Izuku was taken aback by the words Nozomi shouted. "I don't care if they can't see me, I need to be with them"

"Why?"

Why were they both stuck here? Why could Kacchan see him? Why couldn't he move on? Why couldn't he die?

"It's a secret! Promise not to tell anyone."

"I won't tell anyone, pinky promise."

Izuku stuck out his pinky, and the girl followed suit, their pinky fingers linking, before they both pulled their hands back. Izuku had a faint smile on his face, and Nozomi seemed to have forgotten all about her worries as she sported a huge smile. Kids really could be amazing.

"Mama and Mom told me once they struggled to have me! I wanted a little brother, but they said it probably wouldn't happen cause Mama had to get her stomach cut open and they never wanted to go to the kid store and buy another." It was a bittersweet story, one full of love, but a hopeless one.

"The orphanage?"

"Mhm!" Nozomi's eyes hardened with a strong look of determination in her eyes, "I made them worry so much. I'm sick, and they tried their best to cure me. That's why I can't leave them!"

"I think I understand." Izuku sighed, trying not to press too much to make the small girl uncomfortable "They did so much to care for you, you need to watch over them as their only child."

"What are you going to do, big brother?"

"Huh?" Izuku was stunned, his eyes bugged out of his head as he realized what the little girl had called him.

Sensing a negative reaction, Nozomi squeaked before changing the position she was sitting in, to a bow and profusely apologizing.

Izuku once again felt tears come to his eyes, but this time they were tears of joy.
"It's okay, little sister." He opened his arms for Nozomi to jump into them and give him a huge hug. It was refreshing to spend time with such a bright spirit, unbothered by the trivial realities of living in a world where a majority of people have a special power, but those who don't are treated worse than trash. But from a child's point of view, the world was just one big scary playground. It was almost funny how quickly Nozomi came to trust Izuku, but when realizing how alone she must've been, he didn't blame her. In fact, he was quite font of the bright child.

"What are you going to do?" She asked once more after retracting from the hug to sit on his lap. "I really don't know." Izuku had been inspired by the girl's story of resilience even in the face of loneliness, but he didn't think he could go back. Kacchan was too stubborn and Izuku could tell he was hurting the boy by simply gracing him with his presence and being a constant reminder.

"Don't you have Mamas?" Nozomi looked at Izuku with curiosity.

"Well, not everyone has two moms." Izuku started off gently, he wasn't sure how much her parents had told her on this topic.
"I must be lucky then!"

"You sure are!" Izuku smiled at her brightness. He was curious about how hard life must've been for her family in Japan where there was still plenty of homophobia coupled with the fact that she was sick. And yet, she came out of it all with an illuminating smile. "I do have one mom though."

"Mamas are great!" Nozomi went off on a rant, "They feed me, put clothes on me, love me, and always make sure to play with me! They're the bestest in the whole world."

"Yeah" Izuku smiled sadly, recollecting memories of his mom and how much she loved him, but also how much she had let him down. When he was 4, he was devastated by what she had told him.
The words "I'm sorry," instead of "It'll be okay," made a huge distinction and fostered a gaping hole in his own life, one full of loss and lacking any hope for the future.

"Big brother?" Nozomi sensed him spacing out and brought him out of his thoughts.

"Sorry!" He sheepishly scratched the back of his neck, "I don't think I want to visit my mom, she's the sweetest woman I've ever met but I don't think I could see her…"

Nozomi didn't seem to understand but she nodded at the older boy anyway.

"There is someone I should go visit though." Izuku bit his lip, "I don't know if I could bring myself to do it though."

"Big brother! You have to!" Nozomi exclaimed, "Don't be sad." She didn't understand the situation he was in, but she understood enough to know that her newly founded big brother had to see this person.

"We had a fight earlier and-"

"NO!" Nozomi punched him in his arm again, it didn't hurt but grabbed his attention"If I see my Mamas, you have to. I'm very scared but I need to, and so do you!"

The last thing Izuku had expected today was to get lectured by a girl no older than six about Kacchan of all things, but he supposed her words held some truth. If she could visit her moms to look after them and watch them mourn her death, he could visit the one person in the world who could still see him. The problem was, Izuku didn't want to return until Kacchan could show he would listen to him, would change and be open to changing, but it seems like he was stuck regardless. In reality, he never wanted to leave, he loved Kacchan, but he felt he had to or else the boy would go crazy. Maybe meeting Nozomi was fate, to stick him on the right path to getting back to Kacchan and maybe, just maybe, his departure would have already changed him. It was funny how easy it was to change his mind, but he didn't need much convincing anyway, and after growing up with someone as stubborn as Kacchan, he knew Nozomi would be just as stubborn.

"Okay" Izuku conceded.

"YAY! But first you have to meet my Mamas!" Nozomi jumped up on her feet and started dragging the thin boy away from the creaky playground and away from his sadness towards the bustling city where her parents resided. Life after death couldn't be all that bad if this is what it entailed, could it?

It was all very frenzied in the halls. Never was Katsuki warned about how hectic it would be to try to make it to his homeroom between the bustling crowds and the too-loud voices. But, by now most people were aware of his quirk and did their best to keep some distance, lest he 'blow up.' If only they knew back when he used his quirk pretty much all his focus went into not blowing something up on accident. He was blessed with an amazing quirk, but every quirk had its drawbacks. Except maybe All Might's, that fucker had the most powerful quirk.

After settling in the homeroom, Katsuki laid his arms down on the desk before him, resting his head on his arms. He tried his best to block out the sounds of excitement and hopelessness from his classmates. They all thought this was their chance to prove themselves worthy, what a joke. They failed the exam to get into the Hero Course and that wouldn't change with a simple festival. Katsuki wanted to win to make Deku proud, and he knew he could if he used his quirk because it was incredible, but all these extras were simply just weak.

"I won't go easy on you simply because we're in the same class." An all-too familiar voice hoarsely called out from above Katsuki.

"Tch" Katsuki rolled his eyes and glanced up at the purple haired extra, "You better not, shitty Eyebags."

Eyebags nodded, "Good luck then." he started walking towards his own desk.

Katsuki snorted, he didn't need the bastard's shitty luck, he only needed the strength to use his quirk without freezing up.

He stayed in that same position, head resting on his arms until his final classmates flooded into the room and the telltale sound of heavy clunking footsteps betrayed Cementoss's presence to the class.

"Good morning students," Cementoss situated himself at the front of the classroom, "As you all know today is the Sport's Festival. While it is often thought of as a spotlight for the Hero Course students, you can also prove your skill in other ways, I am expecting to see effort from you all. Now, let's review the procedures we will be following today."

From there, Katsuki blocked out Centoss's instructions, he mainly went over simple rules that the class should uphold and the format in which they exit and gather in the Sports Festival Stadium. Which should be very easy to understand and do.

A few minutes later Katsuki found himself being proven wrong. He forgot to account for the fact that his classmates were such extras of course they would fuck up masterfully. Many lost their spots, wanted to be closer to their friends and pushed others aside, just wandered off because they saw no point to the Sports Festival.

Katsuki could tell this was not what Cementoss signed up for as per the exasperated look on his face, but he couldn't help himself and ended up chuckling at his class's shenanigans. They were all brainless fucks but it was certainly amusing to see all of this go down.

After a few minutes and a few yells, Cementoss had sorted his class back out and led them towards the 1-C entrance. U.A had to make things dramatic, so each class had a hallway they had to walk down and once they had reached the end, they would be in the Sports Festival Stadium. Katsuki didn't need the suspense and drama, he just needed to blast the fucking heads off everyone so he could make Deku proud and get him to come home.

"Best of luck, 1-C" Cementoss called as they finally reached the start of the hallways, his students bowed respectfully before walking towards their inevitable doom. The teachers were needed elsewhere, Cementoss particularly, as his quirk was needed to help make the Sports Festival functional, so he had to leave his students to their own devices. Katsuki scoffed at his wish of luck before shoving his hands in his pockets and following his classmates to the stadium.

Not that he was paying particular attention to it, because he didn't care, but it seemed the classes emerged starting from the lowest letter, all the way to A. Once emerging themselves, class 1-C quickly gathered to the place Cementoss had earlier instructed them to go. With the booming crowd, they were all afraid to make the wrong move, so no one misbehaved that badly. Unsurprisingly, Class 1-A received the loudest cheers while the other classes got nothing in return, and as one classmate put it, the other classes were just there to make them look better. Katsuki couldn't help but glare at the idiots in 1-A who saw it as their job to annoy him endlessly. If they wanted to be friends with him, they should just give up and go away because he didn't give a fuck about them at all. The only friend he needed was Deku.

As he was busy glaring at the annoying fuckers, he didn't see Lustlady in front of all of the classes, beginning to mark the start of the Sports Festival. Katsuki grimaced, he didn't think it was appropriate to use the curvaceous woman as the face of the first years Sports Festival, but what could he do? Tune her out, that was what. He didn't care about all the niceties and welcomes that were being offered, or their boosting of the school's reputation. So, he stood there and waited until something she said peaked his interest.

"And now, let's welcome Kirishima Eijirou, who got 1st in the Entrance Exam, from Class 1-A to give a few words to start us off!" Shitty Hair looked petrified, but with a shove from Knock-Off Pikachu, he started up to the stage.

Shitty Hair shakily grabbed the microphone, and addressed the crowd of students before him, "Uh, hey? I'm Kirishima Eijirou! I know this is very Hero Course focused, but you all have a chance to show yourselves off too. Good luck, and have fun!"

For what it was worth, not a horrible speech. Yet, whispers still broke out from the surrounding classes about Hero Course students being cocky and pitying. No matter what they said, it didn't seem like they could win over the favor of the other jealous classes. Although, the loud clapping quickly overwhelmed the distanced murmurs. If Katsuki were the one giving a speech, he'd definitely make it more memorable and blunt than what Shitty Hair had said, but it's that extra's fault if he wants to play nice with everyone.

As the noise quieted down once more, a large selector popped out from behind Lustlady, which would select the activity the students would be participating in for the first part of the festival. With a final show of drama, Lustlady threw her arms up and the selector quickly sped through a number of challenges too fast for any student, without the aid of their quirk, to memorize. After a few seconds in suspense, the selector finally picked.

"Obstacle race?" Katsuki scoffed under his breath, there was no way they could've made an obstacle race fit with U.A standards within a few minutes, which meant they must have predetermined all of what they were to be doing today.

With a seductive gleam in her eye Lustlady settled the bustling crowd with her last sentence, "As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!" With that, she pointed her whip to the direction of a red gateway which hadn't been there before. From what all of the audience could deduce, it was the entrance to the race. After being told to take their places, it was a stampede to get in the front.

Katsuki knew he could beat most of these extras, so while he sped walk to get in a good place he was in no hurry, instead taking the time to strategize. It was too early on for him to reveal his quirk, but U.A always liked to make things difficult and there was no way everyone was going to be able to finish the race, which meant he had to make it to the top 5 just to be safe. No, top 3. He still had to make Deku proud, so he had to reach high… but if he wasn't going to use his quirk until later would Deku be proud of him still being in the top? Well, that didn't matter because he could prove to the nerd that he could still make it without a quirk. Still, he couldn't stop himself from thinking, "What would Deku do?" He had the best analytical skills, and to win he had to think like the nerd himself and make use of his environment. Fuck, it'd be much easier if shitty Deku hadn't stormed away, then they could discuss a plan together, although Katsuki hated cheating, unless somehow it was part of a secondary quirk he had that made it so that he could see dead people or just dead people he had a connection with. Wait… that was an interesting train of thought he'd have to revisit later, but right now he had no time.

With the blow of a whistle, the Sports Festival had begun.

Katsuki realized the second the race had started that it didn't matter where you had placed yourself in line, those with ideal quirks had boosted themselves forward, while everyone else was stuck running on the ground.

Considering the rigorous training he had put himself through, Katsuki had more stamina than any of the non-Hero Course students, so while he had originally planned to simply outrun themstupid ice boy had different plants when he shot in front of all the competitors and froze the ground. But, Katsuki was able to adapt and made use of his agility as he climbed on top of the student closest to him. He doubted Deku would approve of his strategy, and with the grunts and yells of protests the student he climbed on certainly didn't, but he had to make use of what he had in the situation.

Walking on people and pushing from one to the next would be much faster than trying to brave the frozen ground, and his balance would make it work out fine. Although, one thing he had overlooked was that his human pathway was beginning to stumble on the frozen ice, so he had to move faster or else fall himself. It was going quite well, except for the angry glares directed at him from pretty much all directions, but he had no time to dwell on that as multiple large booming sounds started to grow closer.

"What the fuck?" Katsuki murmured in a wondrous shock as giant green robots came into his view. He hadn't been paying attention to his balance and slipped on the next person he was going to climb on, falling to the ground. But, he didn't care, he was paralyzed by the sight of those huge robots descending on him.

Shit.

This wasn't the time for this.

He had to move.

Yet, he couldn't move, his muscles weren't working and his brain seemed to be frozen mid-thought. Nothing was responding to him, except the continuous pump of fear.

But just then,Katsuki felt a burning pain shoot up his hand, startling him into action as he whipped his head to the source of the agony and saw one of his angry classmates had deliberately stepped on his hand, hard too. Probably for retaliation of him stepping on their face. Still, he was quite grateful for the pain as it shocked him back into the situation, he knew couldn't get left behind. So while his classmate snickered and ran off in victory, he got on his feet and ran right to the robots using the portion of the path that icy boy forgot to freeze up while he was busy disabling robots.

He was fucking terrified, but he had to do this for Deku.

He wouldn't let his fear take control or else he would be doomed, so he had to just keep moving. And, hopefully come up with a plan quickly on how to get past the robots without using his quirk or sustaining any damage because he was sure this wouldn't be the most difficult hurdle yet to face in this obstacle race, or in this whole festival.

For now though, he stuck behind some of the more powerful students he observed, much to his disdain. He couldn't get himself injured, which means without a plan he couldn't work independently. It wasn't until he spotted the body of a robot that had just been defeated when his mindset of "What would Deku do?" kicked in. There were plenty of mechanics he could use, and although he wasn't in the Support Course, there had to be something of use that didn't have to be further engineered to function to his needs. So, Katsuki decided to take a gamble and dashed towards the defeated robot's body, wasting his precious time to find anything that could be used as an improvised weapon.

As his eyes quickly swept the mechanical body, his immediate thought was to rip off a piece of plate armor and use it as a shield. He ultimately decided against it because that wasn't really his forte. He depended on his stamina and agility, but a shield would by far minimize his range of movement, restricting him to where he had to rely on strength alone. And while he was pretty damn strong, he couldn't only rely on that.

But, he might have to resort to using it if he couldn't find something else in the few seconds he had left before he would force himself to move on.

Wait… that would work perfectly!

In the wreckage of the bot, he found a sliver of metal that had been splintered into the perfect knife, if he could guess, Katsuki would say someone had punched the robot, forming such shatters of metal. The only downside, it was sharp on all sides so no matter where Katsuki held it he would cause himself damage as well, but that didn't matter. He was out of time, and had to work with what he got.

The knife proved to not be too advantageous when shards of metal were raining down on him and the usage of quirks surrounded him. He had to rely on his agility to dodge both quirk attacks and scraps. But, he wasn't good enough to be able to dodge everything coming at him, small bits of metal embedding in his shoulders and arms or scratching his face, leaving shallow cuts and incisions. Not to mention all the flying ice, acid, tape, glittering bursts, vines, and a very long tongue that came shooting out of nowhere which made things monumentally more difficult. It didn't matter though, he had to keep going and prove to Deku he was capable.

Although, by now he was falling behind quite a bit and if he had any hopes of catching up he had to bear through the pain of the little shards of metal in him and speed onwards. Mentally, he was cursing himself for being so weak that he had to rely on other people to defeat these measly robots for him, but another part of his brain berated that he had no other choice lest he use his quirk… but no. He just had to keep dodging, jumping, maneuvering, and occasionally stabbing or slashing at incoming quirk abilities or large pieces of metal.

Eventually, he made it past the robots. Immediately he noticed he wasn't the first person to make it past them, heck he wasn't even in the top ten. But, too many people had gotten stopped by the robots, due to them actually fighting and not running like a coward, so he knew if there was anytime to get ahead, it would be now before they could catch up. As he ran across the flat ground still speckled with ice, his thoughts briefly trailed to that of a purple-haired boy. His quirk was not suited for this whatsoever, and Katsuki would daresay he feared for his acquaintance's abilities to get through the course. But, then he realized that fucker could just manipulate someone and have them use their quirk for him, the bastard would hold up absolutely fine. He didn't have time to be concerned for anyone but himself right now, especially because he was approaching the next obstacle in the course.

From what he saw, there was a gaping divide between two paths, and he had to clear that divide and get over the gaping pit to continue. Luckily, there were also large stone pillars raised from the ground, connected by tightropes, allowing students to cross with some difficulty. Katsuki kept running, planning to quickly climb down a tightrope, he turned his head to see if anyone was following him. It was a bad idea, because of the ten or so students behind his back, most of them were able to use their quirks to and were likely to catch up to him quickly. He also didn't know if their quirks could enable them to cross the tightropes in another way, so he had to be first (nevermind the numerous people who were before him.)

He was practically sprinting towards the edge of the path, nearly within distance of them as he finally closed the gap and threw himself onto a tightrope. He was by no means elegant or using the best technique, but he scampered up the rope as quickly as he could. That turned out to be a mistake, as more people behind him started to climb too, the rope began to wobble with their weight. If he wasn't more careful, he would end up falling, but if he was too careful he'd be left behind in the dust, which meant he had to pursue a reckless plan. He grabbed the rope, putting one hand in front of the next, biting down harshly on the large metal sliver in his mouth, it didn't take him long to conjure up a plan, one that would most likely not win him any popular points, but could dave his ass. So, he pursued it and occasionally stopped climbing while on the rope, decidedly grabbing his makeshift knife and sawed into the rope halfway, before continuing to climb. It was a last minute plan, and one that he knew could cost him his victory, but in the end could maybe just pay off. If only Deku could see him now, he would probably berate the boy for deciding to do something so utterly rash… but Deku wasn't here. Did that make it okay? No, probably not. But in Katsuki's eyes, he needed to distance himself from the thoughts of Deku so he pushed that to the back of his mind and he pulled himself forward.

As he neared the pillar Katsuki could tell it would be only moments before his plan would be set into action, the rope was swaying very precariously. And, he still wasn't close enough to the pillar to save himself, which meant he had to risk it all and jump.

So, Katsuki jumped.

He catapulted himself off the rope, reaching for the stone pillar before him. If only he had something more concrete to launch himself off, he might be able to make it… he only had a few seconds before he would start plummeting. Katsuki quickly grabbed the rope with one of his hands, and pushed it behind him, essentially using it as a way to propel himself. It barely got his forwards, but it got him far enough to the point where he could touch the large pillar. If he could touch the pillar he could imbed his makeshift knife in it, and use that as a handhold to pull himself up to the pillar itself. In his head, it was a great plan… when actually executing, he feared he was going to fall to his death numerous times. A shard of metal isn't the best in supporting a growing teenager's weight, but it did the trick and after minimal struggling Katsuki found himself on top of the pillar, bent makeshift knife in hand.

Across from him, other participants scampered up the rope, and Katsuki waited for a few seconds to see his plan fall into place. Just as he predicted, as the weight increased, the cuts he made into the rope became deeper and left the rope with more instability and as that increased in would only be a matter of time before

SNAP

It was oddly satisfying to watch those who were scamering behind him suddenly scream at their worst fears of the crash as the rope's frayed ends split and sent them tumbling down or harshly smacked against the side of the chasm if they managed to keep a grip on the ropes. Katsuki had cut the rope multiple times, which meant that rope was now unusable because of how unsturdy it would be even to tie it back into place.

However, that had cost him some time, and as he ran to the next rope he realized his cruel plan wouldn't work again with the sorry state of his knife after plunging it into the pillar. Plus, he had allowed too many competitors to pass him as he prepared and carried out his plan, so he couldn't waste more time. Of course considering the other ropes that tied to other pillars, Katsuki knew he hadn't stopped the students for long but he determined it as worthwhile just to give them enough pause to give up.

As he made his way across the second rope, which took a little bit less time than the first, he levelled that he would only cut the rope at the end, giving his opponents a bit more of a chance than they would have with the unravelling first rope. He continued onto the many pillars that same way, cutting ropes and snickering his way onto the next, until finally he had cleared the second obstacle.

Katsuki sprinted towards the final obstacle, thoughts of Deku's disappointment at seeing his dirty play on his mind. He needed to do something all for himself, something that would separate him from Deku's pure influence. And if that was making most of his classmates hate him and start cursing his name as he ran, after he caused them to fail and stumble during the obstacle course that could've been a defining moment in their lives, then he was alright with it. Not that it really mattered much, they were all extras anyway, and like a child breaking away from a parent's control over their lives, Katsuki would do nothing but rebel.

So, he decided it fuck it and snickered while extending his middle finger behind him and continued running. He didn't dwell on any of the repercussions his actions may have just caused, and he didn't think he would ever need to. He didn't look back either, not stopping his pursuit until he came across a large wooden sign that read "Minefield" ahead of him.

Katsuki noticed that the students who were in front of him and behind him didn't make any sort of pause or falter when they read this, they were most likely hero students. After all, they probably had dealt with worse in their classes. He scoffed and pushed on, the mines probably wouldn't be lethal, but would do some type of considerable damage, because this was U.A they were talking about. Katuski wasn't sure how he was going to clear this hurdle, already seeing icy boy's path through the field, carving up a perfect track for which many other students tried to take advantage of. Too bad for them, the ice was too slippery and many managed to fall into mines and get stunned.

However funny it was to see, it meant that icy boy was getting too much of an advantage, a distance he needed to close in on and fast. Finally, a revelation dawned on Katsuki. He sweat a nitroglycerin-like substance, nitroglycerin is highly explosive. If he was to get blasted, that would be game over, he would be screwed completely. But wait… if he could somehow use the bigger boom he'd receive to propel himself forward, which he could do because his body was more resistant to explosions than a usual person. It would be quite a gamble because of the huge unknown factor of where the explosion would throw him, and ensuring that it could be big enough… now that he thinks about it a shield would be very helpful right about now.

Considering how scared of his quirk Katsuki was, he had done amble research on explosives and how they would work in a scenario akin to the one he was in right now, but even with all of his previous knowledge he gained from hours of studying boring textbooks, he couldn't come up with the right solution. As he had previously noted, he was too far behind to be anywhere in the top ten and maybe even twenty if he were to take his time to pick through the mines carefully. Risky plans were all he had left. If he wanted even a chance of being in first place without using his quirk to fuel explosions, he had to try this.

With that one final vote of what he would daresay was confidence, but later recognized as conviction, he started to scoop up the sandy dirt the mines were hiding under and started to pile mines on top of one another. It was an idea he knew Deku would use, in some form or another. That fucker was always about going big or going home, and Katsuki was ensuring the biggest fucking explosion was going to set off. He'd probably just throw his broken knife at it to set it off, as he'd prefer not to use any limbs that could cause more serious damage due to the pure concentration of mini landmines he was piling together. It didn't take much time, and Katsuki had no time to regret his choices, so he got into the position of a squat in front of the pile, with half of his body including his ass sticking over the mines, hopefully ensuring he would be thrown forwards and not any other less desirable direction.

And, with what was the insanely twisted grin of a man who had nothing left to lose but was about to risk it all beset on his face, he turned his head, set his aim, and hurled the faithful shard of metal straight into the heart of the piled landmines.

Immediately Katsuki shot forwards, riding on a blast of pink explosives. He felt alive. And then he felt disgraced at the notion that he felt so much joy with these explosives, when his own form had caused insurmountable damage. It was a funny thing, how often Katsuki caught himself going down the all-too familiar path he had promised himself never to revisit. His feelings didn't matter right now. What mattered is that he was rapidly gaining on that icy bastard, exactly as he had hoped. His skin crackled as the sweaty residue on his skin slowly started to get utilized. Considering how much running he had done, he'd worked up quite a sweat which was perfect in exacerbating the effects of the blast to his benefit. If anyone else had tried this they would surely have failed due to the defining position he was in with his quirk, were it not for that, he wouldn't have had enough firepower to keep up pursuit of the shitty icy boy that was causing him so many problems.

An excitable laugh was drawn out of Katsuki as he found himself directly overhead the icy bastard, he was losing momentum but not at a quick enough rate in which he wouldn't be able to beat this fucker. He made it. He had passed all the other extras, and now he only had one more to pass before he would make it to first place without using his quirk. Or he would make it without using explosions derived from his sweat, not the actual sweat itself.

The stupid icy bastard turned his head up in brief confusion as Katsuki's shadow loomed over him, clearly not expecting this turn of events, but he made no motion of recognition and kept pushing on, increasing the ice blast from his skin.

Fucking emotionless bastard.

Katsuki threw his arms behind him and tensed them, preparing himself for when he'd shoot in front of the shitty hero student with his own boom.

Wait.

No.

That wasn't what was supposed to happen.

He fumbled and flailed his arms to get himself to stop whatever motions he was about to do. Lo and behold, it was the wrong move.

He lost his balance and crashed hard on the dirt-covered ground lined with explosive mines.

Katsuki had been about to use his quirk, he had been about to risk it all even though he was supposed to save up his quirk until the end. Prove he could make it this far without it, and then make Deku proud when he used his quirk at last.

But this? No, this wasn't what he planned.

Almost instinctively he attempted to use his quirk to get ahead of the icy boy, and because of it he doomed his position and flinched.

He let himself be weak.

Fuck.

Deku was probably watching this right now, so he had to keep running. He still was ahead of enough people to get second place. If only that bastard wasn't so fucking emotionless then he wouldn't have felt tempted to use his quirk. It was his fault, but he refused to believe it after he had trained so hard to gain control, he refused to lose it just like this.

Because of his greater resistance to the blasts, when he had stumbled and lost his momentum and collided with a few of the mines, he didn't feel much impact other than the familiar sparkling along his skin. Due to that advantage, he just picked himself up and ran, careful of the mines but still maintaining a sustainable speed.

He felt so embarrassed. What would Deku see when he watched Katsuki's displaced fumble? He would look down on him as he always had… that weak nerd always thinking he was better than him. Katsuki clenched his fists as he ran, feet zigzagging between obstacles. He needed to get Deku out of his mind and just focus.

Yet, Deku was his focus, his stupid hero complex ass was his motivation to keep going. No matter how much he cursed his name, hurt him, pushed him away, he would never really go away.

Not from his side or from his thoughts.

It was like he was cursed.

If Deku is a curse, please never let him be broken. A small voice in the back of Katsuki's head voiced his true thoughts.

Who was he kidding? He wasn't five anymore, blaming all his problems on the one person who unconditionally loved him wouldn't work out for either of them. He just had to keep on moving, one foot in front of the other, one landmine avoided before the other, and he would be able to make it. Albeit, not in first place, but if he wanted second he couldn't let any other bastard get in his way or else there'd be hell to pay for his bruised ego. He couldn't back down now, not when he was so close to gaining at least a shred of his dignity back from his great mistake.

Suddenly, Katsuki heard a booming applause as he neared the finish line. That bastard had undoubtedly made it there, and now he was left with the sloppy seconds.

No matter, he would make sure that he and he alone would take it.

Glancing over his shoulder he found a few people trailing after him, some neutralizing the mines and others following his footsteps and weaving between them. A few had utilized their brains and either took to the skies or managed a way underground to circumvent any explosion from setting off a bomb. But, that meant the chances of any one of them actually reaching second before him were not likely. The pink explosion he fabricated had done its job in throwing him to the finishing line, and now he only needed a few more steps, and he would clear the minefield completely. He was almost there!

Katsuki felt a wave of relief building up as he entered the exiting tunnel that most likely led back to the field they originated in. Unbeknownst to him, they had just gone in a huge circle to conserve space, it made the most logical sense now that he thought about it. And, as his feet touched the plushy grass and his hypothesis was confirmed, the wave suddenly crashed over him, washing him with a sense of calmness. He was in the eye of the storm now, calm but the pain of the rains and rushing winds was not over.

Hesitant clapping broke out from the stadium, they were probably not expecting Katsuki to have made it this far or be second place. If only he had made first place then he'd show all these insolent fuckers. An unfamiliar voice boomed over the loudspeakers "And following up in second place we have… Bakugou Katsuki! The rising star from General Education." The speaker sounded unsure of himself with a shaky voice as it was clearly an unexpected turn of events for Katsuki to make it as far as he did.

Now that he noticed it, that same voice had been going off every step of the way, but it had only served as background noise as it announced the challenges and positions of the students with an unforeseen gusto. Katsuki wasn't a hero nerd like Deku, but if he had to guess, the one on the loudspeaker was Present Mic, the blonde loudmouth who had annoyed Katsuki even as a child. A few times a more monotone voice had piped in, one that Katsuki recognized to be the Double Eyebags teacher from Class 1-A. What he was doing there, and why he was suddenly interested in narration? Honestly, Katsuki didn't care. He was just surprised he hadn't realized it sooner, but it wasn't surprising with how wrapped up in his thoughts he seemed to be these days.

As if proving his point, Katsuki hadn't noticed the sheer number of students who had come out of the tunnel as they too got around any obstacles and managed to pull through. Unsurprisingly, out of the forty-two who had made it not a single student in Class 1-A had dropped and not a single student in his own class, or any general education classes, had made it. Except for him. And Eyebags.

After seeing Eyebags exit the tunnel with a posse of confused and dazed students he remembered seeing him up onon his human pyramid, assuming that was how he had made it this far. Katsuki rolled his eyes but internally he was a little proud too.

Of anyone who could have made it, it was the person Katsuki would daresay he knew best, not that there was a high bar in the first place, but it still boosted his ego a bit.

Otherwise, he didn't pay much attention to who succeeded and who failed as it wasn't his goal to be friends with anyone at all, only to win.

After waiting a bit and having to endure Mr. Loudmouth announcing each and every one student who had made it and what rank they received for it, Ms. Kinky Freak was back with a bang! An overdramatic bang that got Katsuki to roll his eyes once again. But, now she was ready to present the next activity in this year's Sports Festival, which had the audience placed on the edge of their seats in suspension. As to be expected, she spoke with extravagance but Katsuki appreciated her cutting right to the chase as the selector once again appeared and landed on 'Cavalry Battle.'

Battle. Katsuki liked the sound of that.

There were murmurs of excitement and confusion in the crowd as a small demo video played featuring a few of the teachers in a weird stacked position working together as narrated by Ms. Kinky Freak.

Katsuki immediately hated it.

The second he heard the mention of teamwork, saw the group huddled together, forced to work with one another even though Katsuki would wish for anything but that.

What the absolute fuck was this? He'd have to rely on the shitty ability of other people? That didn't sit well with him, especially since he wanted to prove he alone was capable, not in a measly group with some extras he never wanted to see again. But he had to do it to win, so he'd put up with the stupid antics and push on. He just had to make it past this round and then it would be the usual last event in the Sports Festival, individual battles, where he could really shine and show Deku, no... the world, just how capable he was.

Ms. Kinky Freak announced that they had a time limit a fucking time limit to come up with a group and be ready for the start of the event! And then, the chatter began around Katsuki as students rushed to find their friends or the most powerful people in their class.

Shit now he really wished he had made some friends, they would've come in handy at his moment. He began surveying the field, making note of some of the team-ups, not that he had remembered anyone's quirk because they were all dumb. Well, except maybe a few that were mildly interesting to him.

But, something that stuck out to him right away was the complete lack of anyone around him. They all turned tail and ran at the sight of the angry General Education student whom they all probably wanted to pound into dust for taking the slots of one of their precious classmates. Especially when he had no desire to become a hero, oh he'd have fun pounding these fuckers. Yet, for a fleeting moment he could only think about how alone he felt. This must have been what Deku felt like, no one wanting to team up with him, everyone full of assumptions just based on what they heard or saw, all wanting revenge for something he couldn't control.

His life was becoming like Deku's.

He didn't know if he'd ever had a sadder thought than that before.

To be able to experience, really understand, what Deku had gone through and how much it hurt, no matter how little Katsuki pretended to care, it hurt.

A voice broke him from his thoughts, vanishing them until later when he lay awake in bed tossing and turning with that being the sole thing on his mind, just endless time for him to waste thinking and regretting. But that was for later, he had a team to put together.

"Oi, let's team up."

Well that was remarkably easy.

Katsuki recognized the voice, but whipped his head around to confirm that it was indeed Eyebags speaking to him. "Why?"

"Cause you're not an asshole and I can trust you not to fuck up, so I have no need to control you." Eyebags rolled his eyes "Whaddya say?"

"Fine." Katsuki pursed his lips tersely. He didn't have any other options, students weren't clamoring to get to be his partner probably due to the rumors circulating around him and how he cut those ropes during the second obstacle. That hadn't earned him any popularity points in the slightest.

"That stunt you pulled was pretty cool," Eyebags offered him a smirk, "Shame you didn't come in first."

Katsuki tensed, that little fucker knew he hit a nerve, "Shut the fuck up, it's not like I saw your ugly purple mug anywhere."

"Probably not from my pyramid of human sacrifices" he joked with a laugh after hearing the retorting growl from Katsuki.

Before the angry boy could utter another string of curses, he felt a gentle tap on his shoulder. "What the fuck do you want?" Katsuki snarled as he turned his head, not liking the disturbance.

"I am simply here to inquire if I would annex to your team?" Her airy voice gave her away, it was the only other person Katsuki had interaction with at this wretched school - Plant Girl.

"What?" It was like trying to figure out a foreign language.

Plant Girl stared at him blankly, clearly confused that he didn't understand what she was trying to say.

"Since big boss Bakugou here is clearly preoccupied, no." Eyebags glared at the girl, "You're not joining our team, so go away."

"I did not query you."

"Who gives a fuck? No means no."

The two started moving closer to each other, trying to get into each other's faces in hopes the other would back off and leave.

"Oh pipe down will you?" Katsuki threw them apart, "It won't kill you to be on the same team, do you see anyone else here? Suck it up."

It was like having two yappy dogs who each wanted to be the loudest, but at the end of the day they were both tiny yappy dogs who couldn't do anything.

"Only because his highness declares it," Eyebags sarcastically remarked. "So it's us three, huh?"

Katsuki looked around at the students flocking around those who had exited the tunnel right after Katsuki and icy bastard. None of them seemed interested in his little group, which also put them as a prime target due to the high points of second place, and the lack of threat Katsuki posed.

He turned back to his small group and was about to assign roles for each of them to fulfil as Lustlady had demonstrated, when a bright color caught the corner of his eye. A bright red.

"Oh fuck no." Katski sighed as the spiked hair boy, who he nicknamed Shitty Hair started walking towards him with a bright smile on his face.
"Hey! It seems you're short a member." He called out cheerily. It was like looking at the sun, if the sun had red hair and was a complete dumbass.

"What's it to you?" Eyebags spoke out for Katsuki, the tone of his voice was harsh and unfriendly, which wasn't completely unexpected to him.

"I was wondering if I might be able to join yo-"

"No." Eyebags cut him off.

"But you-"

"Look, don't you have your annoying hero pals to team up with?" Katsuki rolled his eyes, Eyebags was hostile as ever. He must be a great role model for the other boy.

"Well you see, I wanted to team up with you!"
"Wherefore, might I incur?"

"Uhh?"

"Why, you dumbass." Katsuki growling like he hadn't just gotten confused by her wording himself only a few moments ago. What Shitty Hair didn't see, Shitty Hair doesn't need to know.

"I just thought since you were down a teammate, and seemed pretty manly, I could join you!"

Eyebags just rolls his eyes and murmurs a few curses under his breath. He really didn't like this Class-1A student, huh? But he could agree he didn't want this red-haired idiot on his team if he could help it. He hadn't spent weeks of eating on the roof and avoiding him and his posse just to give him the win this easy now.

"Oi why don't you-"

"LET ME JOIN!" A higher pitched feminine voice yelped as a flying body slammed into Shitty Hair in a blur of red and pink.

"Easy there" impressively, Shitty Hair hadn't been too stunned and managed to recover from the situation with a practiced ease.

The flying girl with a hair full of pink, recovered as well, dusting off her U.A sports uniform and completely ignoring Shitty Hair's attempt to make peace.

"Hellooo! I would like to join your team!" She announced confidently, and Katsuki could almost see the crazed look in her eyes as she said it, he had a bad feeling about this.

"Huh? Who are you?" Eyebags, as eloquent as ever, asked with a sort of bewildered awe.

"Hatsume Mei, at your service." She gave the three companions a small salute, leaving a disgruntled Shitty Hair in the dust.

Katsuki had never seen her around before nor heard of her name, and so he let his own curiosity lead him to ask the question, "Department?"

"Support." Pinky #2? (No, he'd have to work on that name) stated with bold confidence. "I wanna show off my babies!"

"W-what?" Eyebags spluttered, Katsuki similarly felt the need for a double take. Did they hear her correctly?

"You're going to be in the spotlight so it's the best opportunity to showcase all my babies, that and I got rejected." She was awfully blunt and assertive in nature, which surprised Katsuki as he had not expected that, "WANNA SEE MY SUPER CUTE BABIES?"

He hadn't quite expected for someone to say that either.

"I've inferred she means machinery."

"Yeah, I got that, genius" Katsuki swore under his breath, he wasn't that idiotic to not understand what this creepy inventor wanted. "You're in."

"YAY!" She cheered.

"Wait, but I was already here, and-" Shitty Hair began to cut in, finally regaining his voice and whatever shreds of his confidence and ego were left after the brutalness of being ignored and replaced. Before, he was too stunned to say anything, but now that it had worn off, he asserted himself back.

"Fuck off."

He did just that, like a dog with his tail between his legs.

And Katsuki promised to Deku that he wasn't going to be a bully, great for him, another promise he made to Deku down the drain because he can't contain his own fucking tongue.

No matter, he would make it up to him by winning.

And so, the most unexpected matchup to be had of students from all different departments started to convene and plan. The inventor girl was pleased at the awe all three of her group mates displayed when they saw the 'babies' she had innovated as they gave the group an equal playing field, surprisingly Plant Girl didn't have horrible strategic ideas, Eyebags worked as a solid backup in case one of them failed or an opponent got too close with his mind control, and Katsuki? Naturally his specially was fucking everything up.

In both senses of the word.

After their planning period, they formed their pyramid with Plant Girl on top due to her abilities in combat, so now she could attack from all sides. Eyebags and Inventor Lunatic supporting her on the sides and Katsuki himself at the back for better agility and also due to the Support items the Lunatic had given him to adi the group. Katsuki knew they didn't make the best team up ever, but they each had their own advantages, and held the element of surprise that would guarantee a sure win. Katsuki planned to go after icy boy too, so they had to be prepared to draw everything they could out of that team before striking.

Much like a cat chasing after its prey, they were on the hunt.

Well, they were also getting hunted by most of the other vicious animals so that was a poor example, but Katsuki wasn't discouraged.

Plant Girl and Eyebags had actually brought up another plan, for once agreeing on something, and since there was a time limit if they just managed to stay away from everyone else they'd win. But Katsuki wouldn't even think about it for a second. He wasn't about to have a hollow win, he was going to take first place if it was the last thing he did.

He expressed his disinterest in a shout, and the argument was dropped, but it put the team in an odd mood. They didn't understand Katsuki's motives, and therefore had a hard time understanding him and what his plans were, but they didn't need to. They weren't a team, just a group Katsuki needed at this present moment to win. They were exposable.

But now it was time.

They had mounted up, and were now only waiting for the signal to alert them of the start of the event that had only put a bad taste in Katsuki's mouth.

Regardless, he had to go through with it.

BANG!

The timer was up, and it was showtime.

Immediately, as he had suspected, multiple groups came charging at Katsuki and his acquaintances. As much as he hated avoiding a fight, it was really for the best as groups might've stricken alliances between themselves and there were too many to fight at once. Instead, Katsuki used his shiny new jetpack-inspired boots that reminded him almost too much of his quirk to blast out of range.

As the Lunatic had demonstrated, they worked perfectly as twin bursts of a yellow-orangey contained explosion fired at the ground and used the blast to slowly lift the group off the ground.

Katsuki gritted his teeth, blonde eyebrows fusing together in concentration and anger. They were moving too slowly due to the massive weight of four teenagers. Like a dumb bird he stretched out his arms and started to flap them wildly, but it didn't work very well. Or at all. He was making a fool of himself, but if it helped it wouldn't matter.

"Oi Blondy! Full blast em!" the Lunatic shouted hurriedly, as if Katsuki wouldn't notice the crazed look in her eye and the way her lips were curling a bit too much in enjoyment.

He didn't quite know what she meant, and there was a 50/50 chance her words could lead them to their death, but Katsuki chose to ignore the probabilities. Instead, with much strain on his legs due to the heavy burden he now carried, he cluncked the boots together twice in succession. Lunatic had mentioned to him briefly that if he wanted more power to put impact on the boots, it would trigger a safety precaution that would cause them to flare up even more.

And he thought he was into explosives.

But it did the trick he soon found out, not too late as a group rounded up on them and started to battle it out with Plant Girl, her hair serving as their only line of defense as she whipped at them from up top. He could tell she was struggling. Yet, the timing turned out perfectly, just as two more groups were about to close in they stopped their slow ascent and instead sped upwards, burning the faces and hairs off the people below them.

It had worked.

So the Lunatic wasn't completely useless, huh?

She might understand mechanics but Katsuki understood explosives, and he knew however well constructed these boots were, they were not going to be able to hold onto the massive weight whilst on full blast for very long. With some difficulty, Katsuki maneuvered the group around in some decisive spirals. That wasn't supposed to happen.

He glanced down, a grin stretching across his face as he saw the groups start to turn on each other as their target was not around, hoping to score some extra points to cushion them. Their focus was off of them for now, which meant the time stall was worth it.

Katsuki twisted his leg vertically in the air to allow them to blast sideways and actually move somewhere, using the other leg to sturdy himself and give additional blast. Since he was at the back, it left them a little bit lopsided and the longer they travelled the more they tilted forwards, Katsuki rising slowly as Plant girl started to fall. So far, they looked like a mess of limbs all sideways and disconfigured but with a pair of feet sticking out and blasting an orangey-explosion.

They needed to land, fast, and comfortably. If they landed wrong it could disorient them and leave them vulnerable for attack. They needed to attack icy boy and his little group as fast as possible, not keep running away from stupid extras who wouldn't even be able to touch them. Relatively speaking, they still had quite a few tricks up their sleeve so Katsuki wasn't worried that they couldn't secure a victory. It was only getting out of this blasted situation.

Shit.

The group started to spin a bit, not only forwards but sideways much to the displeasure of all members involved.

"Fuck!"

Katsuki only had one solution, they were too out of control to be able to fix with a small bit of maneuvering and the boots were too restrictive to allow for the massive maneuvering necessary to circumvent any possible harms or damages.

Instead, with the same weight burning his legs as before, he struggled and clinked the boot together twice more, shutting off the high thrust.

They fell.

Well, Katsuki had maneuvered them so they weren't far from the ground, but they still fell.
He could feel Plant Girl tense up as he held onto her to keep in formation, her quick thinking elongating her vined hair into a sort of cushion for the group, to easen up their descent.

"YOU." Katsuki screamed over the noises coming from the crowd and whistling wind, "NEED TO FIX THESE."

"WHAT?"

"FIX. THE. BOOTS."

"HAAH?"

Katsuki snarled at her, not going to try and scream her inefficient inventions again, because really he could lecture her later.

He knew he really wouldn't be able to help any of the landing, so he just tried to make himself appear as aerodynamic as possible. He thought it was working pretty well.

But, he had to give Plant Girl all the credit.

She had managed to conserve space and sent her hair directly down, setting it down as a mat of sorts, and Katsuki then realized just what she was doing. She had no plans of cushioning their fall, only placing her hair there so if they land in a heap it won't count as them going against the rules so long as they were on top of her hair, generated by a quirk, and therefore lawful.

"Gods, I praise thee." She briefly closed her eyes and pleaded. And honestly, Katsuki was praying for a miracle right about now too. If this all messed up, initially due to the Lunatic's faulty help, they might not be able to recover.

He noticed Eyebags had been awfully quiet, usually throwing in a sarcastic remark or two, this silence was unlike him. But, when Katsuki looked at the boy he could see his face was twisted together. It was like all his features had converged into the center of his face as he braced himself for impact as harshly as he could, wrinkled crevices framing his features.

It may have been funny, comical almost, to see Eyebags looking like that, but in the moment all Katsuki could think about was how he should mimic that face and hope they wouldn't all break a few bones.

Of course, he was being a tad bit of a drama queen and that fall might not have been high enough to break anything, but you never know in a heap of teenagers.

Mentally he began a countdown until the impact.

3

2

1

Did he count wrong?

He could've sworn it was-

With a plop the group landed harshly onto the bed of vines. Katsuki gasped as his eyesight blurred with a jumble of purple, pink, green, and a bunch of limbs. His hand got crushed under an elbow, and that elbow got crushed under someone's chest, resulting in the elbow drilling into his hand. Not to mention Katsuki's great unfortunate at being the person on the very bottom, getting squashed by the rest of the group as they had exited their expected grouping form with a crash.

"GET OFF, GET OFF'' Katsuki immediately responded to the pain, it wasn't unbearable but quite unpleasant. "Get back in formation. NOW"

Eyebags was rubbing the back of his head, the Lunatic was nursing her injured elbow, huh so it was her, and Plant Girl who had the fortune of being the one to land on everyone was glancing around sheepishly if a little uncomfortable about the impact she felt from her hair. However, Katsuki's yell seemed enough to spur them back into action, Lunatic and Eyebags taking the positions in front of Katsuki and Plant Girl climbing back on top.

As they suspected, no one disqualified them since they never disobeyed the rules, but technically they had exited their grouping cavalry form whilst falling.

Very quickly they resumed their previous stacking and got into battle ready positions. It may have seemed like they were in the exact same scenario as before, but now they had burned up the opponent's valuable time and additionally less teams were after them due to other conflicts that took their immediate attention.

It had all worked out, if not very roughly.

But, there were too many places deserving of focus on the battlefield. The people coming at them from the right, the left, those fighting in front of them? Who would be most likely to reach them first and who posed the least threat? Analytical ideals floated around in his head battling with the notion that all Katsuki wanted to do was fight. It was brains vs brawn, and right now brawn was winning.

Katsuki heard a loud screech, breaking him from his internal battle, as he turned his slightly in the direction it came from. There he saw Weird Elbows screaming as a few drops of seemingly acid melted through his uniform and onto his skin.

Weird.

Katsuki remembered hearing something about Pinky's quirk being tied to acid, and yet she was on his team… was her control that awful? Or was the quirk in question better suited when attacking a spread out area and he just got caught in the crossfire due to its very nature? Katsuki felt like Deku as his head swarmed with a number of possibilities and questions, until he caught sight of the blonde boy. His slicked back cornflower colored hair and devilish smirk immediately made Katsuki go on full alert, he had caused this somehow. Or maybe it was because his arm was reached over near Weird Elbows, hand dripping with a gluey-substance that could only be acid.

As Katsuki was examining the two teams, he felt a harsh tug on his uniform sleeve.

"What?" He asked, annoyed.

"Stay focused, you idiot! Now's not the time to daydream!" Eyebags chastised him quietly as he looked around, drawing Katsuki's attention to the vast number of teams that were closing in other positions.

Oh.

He cursed at himself for letting his curiosity get him so distracted, vowing to watch out for the other blonde boy. But right now he had to deal with the teams who came willing to fight, assuming it would be an easy picking with only two General Education students, a Support Student, and a Hero Course Student. It was a bad match up in normal circumstances, but these were no normal circumstances.

Katsuki's face grew a wicked grin as a vicious gleam sparked in his eyes.

They didn't know what was coming for them.

His team, their quirks, their maneuverability, it was all working.

They would come out on top.

Around Japan, eyes were on Katsuki that he had no knowledge of. Friends and foe alike, he had placed a target on his back and he was now seen as either a threat or as a desirable pet. Yet, his mind was hyper-focused on one thing, and one thing alone.

Complete and utter victory.