The journey of a broken Hero (copied from AO3)

by unknown4949

Midoriya Izuku listens when Bakugou Katsuki tells him jump off a roof. And yet, Katsuki still sees his ghost everywhere he goes, haunting him, [this was the work of PIGASUS 099 from AO3]

22. I'm Watching You

Chapter 22

"Hey man, good to see you again!" The red head, Kirishima, spotted the two of them almost immediately.

At the same time, Shinsou could see the expression on Bakugou's face sour dramatically.

He couldn't help but feel smug about it.

"Whatever." Bakugou grunted, hauling his bag closer towards the group of students standing outside of U.A.

Shinsou followed his lead, already vastly uncomfortable by all of his surroundings and the people whose eyes had whipped to the newcomers. He wasn't some circus show for them to find entertainment in but it certainly felt like it the more they stared and whispered between each other.

Suddenly a lazy voice called out, stalling all ongoing conversations, "Bakugou Katsuki and Shinsou Hitoshi. They'll be joining us."

Aizawa, the homeroom teacher for all the Class 1-A students they would be travelling with, appeared from behind the bus where he had been hidden.

The students all seemed to be confused by his statement. Shinsou wouldn't doubt that this would be the first they had ever heard of taking along other students from another class.

And of course there always had to be that one dumbass who would protest it greatly.

"Wait what?" An idiot with shockingly bright yellow hair spoke up. Shinsou recognized him as being part of Kirishima's little bothersome group.

A girl with deep purple hair snorted, "You heard what he said, dumbass."

Shinsou immediately knew he would somewhat tolerate her. Of course he wasn't there to make friends or anything but it wouldn't hurt being on respectable grounds with some of his future classmates. Unless of course he was to be placed in the B class... Which he would soon realize he preferred the longer he spent time with the A class.

It actually started the second a flirty grin grew on the blond idiot's face, "Well well, Jirou, seems like you're-"

"Don't finish that sentence." The purple haired girl cut him off, obviously moving away from them.

"Shithead." Shinsou heard the boy next to him mumble under his breath and he couldn't contain his snort. Bakugou certainly had a way with his words and even if he received glares for his snorting he would say it was well worth it to see the smirk on Bakugou's face.

As the topic switched from them joining into the blonde being an idiot and other miscellaneous things, both of them quickly walked up and stowed their luggage within the storage space in the bus.

As they both did so, pushing other luggage aside to make room for their own, Shinsou did his best to ignore the glances and bickering of the other students. He had to do what he always did, which was solely focus on himself and his own needs. If he could do that he would be fine and it wasn't as if he really knew anyone... But Bakugou wasn't awarded with the same privilege.

"I didn't even know you were coming, that's so manly!" The red head began to talk his head off, to the point that annoyance was written on the light blonde's face almost comically.

Shinsou was amused with it, at least until Kirishima turned on him, "And you! I saw you hanging out with Bakugou too, nice to have you with us! Super manly!"

"Err... yeah." He did not expect nor want this level of interaction.

The red head was like a friendly dog, wagging his way into every new person's life and becoming their ultimate best friend. Shinsou was a cat, he didn't like people and was self-sufficient. Bakugou was a small dog, he hated everything and himself. Shinsou laughed at his little joke internally, knowing full well that if he ever voiced it, Bakugou would be raging at him, guns blazing.

Thankfully, Kirishima got the memo and backed away, going to socialize with someone else.

It was this moment that Shinsou had first got the longing to be placed in the Class 1-B bus, preferring Shiozaki however annoying she was to this absolute mess. He finally understood why they kept getting attacked by villains at least.

Although the new issues arose very shortly. With no one talking to him, standing right next to where the luggage loading dock is, and having far too much time before they had to leave, Shinsou felt incredibly out of place. Like a cat in water except the water was annoying people and the cat was him. Not even imaging himself as a cat helped him get over it as he shifted from foot to foot anxiously.

It wasn't until he heard Bakugou murmur "...Hate this shit..." That he started to feel even the slightest more comfort. He wasn't actually alone, Bakugou understood both how he was feeling and why he was feeling that way with the crowd of rowdy students. Whether or not he intended to was irrelevant, Shinsou was able to feel just a fraction better now and truly that was all that mattered.

And even if Shinsou wanted to socialize, which he didn't, he was sure his tired and downcast face mixed with Bakugou's angry glaring would repel almost every student who might have wanted to come talk to them. It was almost entertaining the ways in which it happened, a student had wanted to come up but caught a glimpse of them and decided it would be better not to talk to the new students, instead shifting to talk around them.

That was, until the end, when a tall boy with blue hair sped up to them rather quickly.

"HELLO!" He screamed-greeted at them, making Shinsou wince at his volume. "WE HOPE YOU ENJOY YOUR TIME HERE. I AM STUDENT PRESIDENT IIDA TENYA."

He bowed to them and Shinsou politely smiled and bowed back, not wanting to make a fuss with this annoying guy.

"OI." Bakugou yelled back, "Shut the fuck up, you're too loud."

He didn't spare a single expense in that attack, Shinsou almost snickered. Bakugou often spoke what everyone else had been thinking but was either too afraid or uncomfortable to be speaking it themselves. Truly the epitome of impolite.

Iida's face grew slightly red as he spoke once more, lifting his arm and chopping the air, "THAT IS NOT HOW YOU SHOULD BE SPEAKING TO YOUR FELLOW CLASSMATES, BAKUGOU."

Bakugou only rolled his eyes, "Yeah, and what are you going to do about it? Put me in a timeout?"

Shinsou couldn't hold back his snort at Bakugou's response.

Iida's eyes widened in frustration as he frantically glanced between the two of them, realizing he couldn't win despite all the power that had been vested in him by the students or whatever bullshit, he turned and huffed away in indignation.

"Gonna piss off the entire school now?" Shinsou glanced at Bakugou with mirth, "You certainly are on the path for it."

"Oh shut up, fucker." Bakugou snarled at him, "That asshole was annoying."

"Can't deny that." Shinsou half-chuckled as he looked down at his feet, "Making enemies out of your own potential class is a smart move though."

Bakugou's eyes whipped towards him as he squinted, almost as though he was trying to see the sarcasm laced in Shinsou's words. "Better hope I get put in fucking Class 1-B then."

Shinsou shook his head and offered Bakugou a smirk, to which he raised his middle finger.

Classic Bakugou.

The two of them stayed put for a while longer until Aizawa, who looked like he was fresh woken up from a nap, resurfaced. He started with closing up the area in which the luggage was loaded into. Then, he began to address the class along with both students from General Studies.

"Listen up." He droned on in a bored voice, managing to capture the attention of all of the students. Clearly there was enough respect for Aizawa that they were willing to listen to him and not interrupt, whether from fear or inspiration, Shinsou didn't know but he guessed it was more along the lines of fear. "This isn't the time to be chatty. You'll all be boarding the bus and then taken to the facility. Your luggage will be carried there so leave it be. (IDK) Let's go."

Shinsou couldn't help but think that there was much more to the situation than Aizawa cared to let them in on. Usually on trips teachers would go into long explanations about everything they'd be seeing as a class and what they would have to look out for. What was just spoken was the bare minimum knowledge needed for them to feel somewhat at ease.

Shinsou narrowed his eyes, he might've been looking into it too much but it never hurt to be careful.

Shortly after Aizawa had finished his instructions, Iida the annoying had begun speaking to the class as the so-called president. He mentioned his plans for everyone to be organized and where they would all be sitting in accordance to their place on the attendance sheet that he had taken note of when each student had arrived. Shinsou just blinked at him confused, what the actual fuck did it matter? They were all going to the same place and everyone was already accounted for so there was no big deal.

It seemed the rest of the student body agreed with Shinsou's thoughts as they boarded the bus in their own organized way. It was still a line but a first come first serve kind of line. Shinsou and Bakugou fell in the middle of it, still not used to the strangers crowding around them.

Although if anything made it better, it was the frustrated huff Iida let loose as he sputtered around and tried to fix the lack of authority he had been reduced to.

You couldn't win it all, Shinsou shook his head as he lightly chuckled.

When it was his turn to step up into the bus, he hoisted himself up and immediately regretted it. The students were all sitting next to their friends and making a ruckus. The only seats available were toward the back of the bus which meant Shinsou would have to walk through the entire bus and pass all of the Hero students in order to find a seat.

He internally groaned.

This was every child's worst nightmare. Though, he wasn't the only one who would be walking down the aisle, or else they'd never get to their destinations, so that made him feel a fraction better.

He kept his head down and avoided all conversations near him, finally peeking up once he saw the empty seats he had his eyes on. He had never felt so awkward in his entire life... That was a lie but he did feel very out of place among people he didn't know whatsoever and had no plans on getting to know.

Sliding all the way to the window, Shinsou finally lifted his gaze and searched among the students for a head of spiky blond hair.

Unless Bakugou wanted to sit with his annoying friends, which Shinsou guessed he probably didn't want to do, they would end up stuck with one another.

And since Bakugou had been just behind him, he was easily able to catch his eyes and wave him down towards him. Bakugou was glaring as he approached the seat, clearly sharing Shinsou's discomfort.

"I don't wanna be stuck with your ass." He grumbled, not moving from where he was standing right next to the seat.

Shinsou patted it dramatically, "Looks like I'm your own option."

Bakugou sharply glared at him directly before assessing his surroundings. There wasn't enough room to get an empty seat and most of everyone was sitting next to their friends, leaving the only room around the especially obnoxious students.

Seconds later Bakugou sat down unhappily, he didn't dare to look at Shinosu, head turned away.

His pouting was hilarious, Shinsou didn't realize how amusing it would be to bother Bakugou so much. He made it much too easy.

He giggled to himself a little, settling down in his seat amidst the chaos of the classes.

"Fucking Shitsou." It was spoken quietly, and there was only one person who would dare to say it. Shinsou couldn't hold back his smile, Bakugou was a piece of work wasn't he?

He found he didn't mind too much.

Still, Shitsou was a new one, of all the insults he had previously been forced to endure, never before had he heard someone call him something like Shitsou. However, two could play the same exact game.

"Whatever you say, Bratkugou." Shinsou murmured back, waiting to see Bakugou's reaction to his awfully creative comeback.

Surprisingly, when Bakugou turned to look back at him, he had a faint smile on his mouth.

"Asshole." But he said it almost endearingly, as though them trading horribly uncreative name insults had strengthened their friendship in a weird and twisted way. Shinsou supposed that just meant he had garnered enough of Bakugou's respect to be bearable. He huffed out some air from his nose with a smile, shaking his head.

How utterly strange for their budding friendship to truly begin in such a way and yet Shinsou was feeling a small glow of pride within himself.

He only shook his head, almost endearingly, and began to stare out the window.

The city and plains they were travelling through whipped by fairly quickly, no longer anything more than a sudden blur. Shinsou didn't particularly care enough to pay the brush and buildings any close attention though, he was simply staring off into space and trying his best to ignore the sounds ambushing him from all directions.

He couldn't be completely sure that the last goal had been fulfilled but there wasn't much for him to do about it anyway, so long as he could fade away into the background and catch everyone unaware before calmly striking, then he would count it as a success. At least those were the kinds of thoughts he was having before they had gotten derailed and interrupted.

"So...'' It started with a student who looked an awful lot like a frog, "Is Aizawa personally training you?"

Shinsou knew the question was directed to him and Bakugou and he couldn't help but squirm uneasily from all the eyes suddenly on him.

"This is our first gig." he offered when Bakugou didn't utter a single word. Was he going to be leaving everyone to Shinsou? While he didn't doubt his understanding of what was occurring, Shinsou hadn't signed up for a class interrogation."So, no."

A few murmurs surfaced the second he spoke, no doubt talking about his potential and whatever skills he might best utilize within a villain attack.

"Kinda scary, dude." He could've sworn he heard the treacherous thoughts emerge from their thoughts. He was no villain, as he had been taught, contrary to his own personal beliefs, in the name of a system that was hell bent on making his life impossible and unsurvivable. It was so easy to have divides between human beings when there is any easy way to weed out those who do not belong and those who do.

By now, he was frustrated. In his mind he had created the perfect argument as to why they shouldn't keep asking him his stance on villains and the likes.

He would rather be done with it all and just do a good job.

The frog girl perked up with another question and began to ask Shinsou, who was one again not pleased by it, "How did your exams go?"

That seemed to get a reaction out of Bakugou who immediately perked up and looked at her quizzically, "Exams?"

Shinsou snorted, what rock had Bakugou been living under? Every semester they were to take an exam testing them on what they had learned within that particular semester and class. It had occurred right before the Training they'd be undertaking, whatever that could mean.

"Yeah, exams. We already had them." Shinsou says to Bakugou with amusement.

However, the more he saw Bakugou's facial expressions the more he realized Bakugou was unaware of such an exam taking place.

It was not too unsurprising coming from the confrontational boy. If he didn't like something, then he would change how it worked whether that was ignoring it or making a scene about it. But if someone had to forget they had the freaking exam of all things, it would've most likely been him, no questions asked.

"We had exams?" And there it was, Bakugou admitting it completely. He forgot they had exams.

Shinsou leveled him with a look of surprise "You serious? Cementoss talked about them, we had them a few days back."

Bakugou's eyebrows furrowed. "I think I took them."

Shinsou slapped his hand on his face dramatically, he sounded like an idiot. Well, he was an idiot.

Some of the students of Class 1-A, the ones who had asked and were interested in them, were now clearly trying to stifle their laughs as they watched the conversation.

"Fucking dumbass, you probably wouldn't be here if you hadn't." Shinsou scoffed, he couldn't be sure if that was true or not but if he had failed to take them he would've gotten some kind of notice about it.

But of course someone had to step in and correct him, "I actually failed. Going to make it up there though, pretty manly!" Kirishima spoke up much too enthusiastically for someone who had failed a test they were supposed to pass.

"Nevermind then, you probably failed." Shinsou sat back, smirking the tiniest bit.

"Asshole." Bakugou loudly cussed at him.

"Ribbit ribbit, you seem very oblivious to your surroundings." The frog girl remarked to Bakugou. Shinsou didn't know why she had to include her ribbiting but she seemed to be very observant when it came to other people. From simple small talk she was able to analyze how he viewed the world in at least one facet, something he considered to be rather impressive and scary at the same time.

Bakugou just sized her up before huffing and ignoring her words, clearly they were right but he didn't want to be the one admitting to that.

The car ride was silent for a while after that. And when he thought silent, he meant that one talked to either of them. However, there were still hushed whispers in nearly every row as students talked amongst themselves for a while. It was hushed enough that Shinsou couldn't make out the words and he didn't particularly try to either.

He only stared out the window, not paying much attention to what whizzed by. Instead, his mind was far away on how he could prove himself as hero material during their training camp. He knew he was behind the other students, even Bakugou, with the usefulness and application of his quirk. But he knew with a little tweaking here and there, he would be a great hero and fulfill his dream of helping others.

Although he needed to stop being so friendly with Bakugou. At this point they were rivals for the spot as a hero, despite the possibility there were two, he had to snatch the best one he could in order to achieve his goals. He was determined and wouldn't let anything stand in his way, least of all people who were claiming to become friends with him.

He had probably said this to himself before but he wouldn't let himself ever forget it.

"What are you most excited about?" A pink head peeked up from behind a seat, startling Shinsou into jumping. What the actual fuck was that? Beady yellow eyes surrounded by black sclera stared deeply into him.

"...What?" He spoke quieter than he had wanted to, still a bit shocked by the sudden appearance of the pink person in front of him.

Bakugou seemed to stir next to him, "Damn Pinky, leave us alone."

"Are we an 'us' now?" Shinsou asked jokingly, to which the so-called Pinky began wiggling her eyebrows around suggestively.

"Shut up." Bakuou snarled in response, almost pouting at their immaturity and thus, eliciting laughter from both Shinsou and the crazy pink girl. He couldn't defeat their both unlikely and momentary teamup pitted against him.

Their laughter died down fairly quickly and the girl's eyes were back on him expectantly. "So?"

Right.

She had asked him a question about what he might be excited for. Shinsou was sure that saying 'nothing' wouldn't be a satisfactory response in the slightest sense, but that meant he had to actually think about the question and what he would be responding to it with. What was he excited about? He'd rather not go into his entire life and motivations to become a hero, so he had to settle for the basics.

"Hm probably getting more practice in." He spoke slowly, "Yeah."

She nodded her head and turned her attention back to Bakugou, "And you?" She asked politely.

"None of your fucking business."

Or he could've said that too, it might've actually been better.

"Aww, come on!" She egged him on, not giving up, "We're all excited about something. Here I'll go first. I am excited to work on my quirk's control, now you go."

Shinsou could tell that because she treated him like a little kid he grew agitated quickly. It was an old tactic, not that it seemed difficult to rile Bakugou up, that was very much working if the heavy set of the other boy's jaw was anything to go by.

"Excited about being left alone by annoying extras." He looked at her as he said the words 'annoying extras', "Training as well."

A smile grew on the pink girl's face at Bakugou's true admission.

"Clearly you're ahead of all of us." A snarky and idiotic voice popped in from the side. It was the so-called dumbass from before who acted as though he had negative brain cells. Shinsou supposed his harsh introduction of him was warranted based on the hostility he posed almost immediately.

And he felt a need to correct him, maybe it was his newfound respect for Bakugou or maybe it was something he was unsure about, but regardless he opened his mouth. "This is training, we all got shit to work on so get off your high horse and leave us be."

He heard a faint grumbling but he had effectively shot down the other boy.

"Are we an 'us' now?" Bakugou gave him the crudest most shit-eating grin ever, finding the perfect time to strike for bullshit revenge. As Shinsou tried to bat him away angrily, the sound of laughter and snorting could be heard in front of them.

This time it wasn't only the pink girl laughing at their interaction but a few other students, whom he didn't bother remembering the names or appearances of, joined in as well. All Shinsou was focused on was putting Bakugou's brattiness back in place before he damaged his ego a little too much. And while he would never admit it, he did secretly enjoy the fun he was having with the other boy.

Admittedly, it was a little strange to have so many other people watching their interactions. Shinsou was never experienced with people looking at him for positive or funny reasons, it was always accusatory stares or ones filled with strange, unknowable fears. He was disoriented by it, and one glance at Bakugou's facial expression told him the other boy felt the same, or maybe he was just uncomfortable. His proudness had dispersed the longer the laughing kept up despite that he was the one to make the joke, he seemed to be more pained than Shinsou was sure he looked, being the butt of the joke. Not that he particularly cared about Bakugou's fragile emotions after cracking a petty joke, but it did make him wonder about the other boy.

So that's what he dedicated a small amount of his time to after the laughing students had moved onto their own conversations, leaving Bakugou and Shinsou to fade back into the background. Leaning his head against the window, Shinsou thought about all that he knew of Bakugou.

He knew he had been hiding his powerfully explosive quirk, of which could've gotten him into the Hero Course. He knew that Bakugou was now seeking to be in the Hero Course, when before he showed a particular disdain for it. He knew that Bakugou was a secretive person who was easily distracted and preferred to be alone with whatever endeavors he was doing.

He also had a habit of talking to himself, something Shinsou had only been able to pick up on with silent observation and a watchful eye.

Overall, all the factors and aspects he knew to be true about the boy sitting right next to him were clear reasons to distrust him. Which Shinsou did. Initially, he didn't want to make friends and while he feared he was too far gone to fulfill that, it didn't mean he couldn't see his friends as mysteries of which he had to unravel, as a hero whose job it was to protect innocents.

Yeah, that was complete bullshit.

Shinsou nearled laughed at himself, that view was so incredibly backwards, it made very little sense. He just had to admit to himself that the reason for him seeking such answers was due to his own insecurities about friendship and managing his own expectations. It sounded worse than he had instinctively planned it to be.

But luckily for him, he didn't have to dwell on it for much longer as the bus steadily rolled to a halt. Shinsou knew he wasn't the only one who was roused from their thoughts or slumber, all students looking around confused as it was easy to tell through the windows they were far from their destination.

"Listen up." Aizawa called out to all of them after entering the bus whose doors had opened, "We're here on a bathroom break, I expect everyone to get out of the bus. Make it quick or we'll be leaving you behind."

It made enough sense to him, Shinsou nodded and waited for Bakugou to get up as the bus slowly vacated, the other students seemingly relieved to have a break offered. Something about it seemed… Odd to Shinsou but he supposed that if none of the heroics students could bother mentioning it, it was probably nothing, just the lack of clarity about what would end up happening on their trip and the nerves that cam associated with that.

Stewing in his awkward state, he decided he would stretch his legs and get fresh air. It would help clear his mind, although let it be said that he preferred the indoors much better. After being outside for a mere three minutes, on estimate, he was already attacked by more bugs than he preferred to count.

In all instances, he spent effort batting them away, only for them to return within a few seconds and pose even more annoyance. Soon enough his problem was solved though, as his attention was guided somewhere far ore important that was a priority over bugs.

"Quick announcement." Aizawa lazily yelled to the entire class, calming down their rowdiness momentarily. Shinsou couldn't help but look around and notice Class 1-B was still nowhere in sight, maybe they were just late and were taking a break at another location? Regardless, it kept Shinsou antsy for whatever Aizawa planned to say. "This is not actually going to be a bathroom break, use it if you must, but you'll be going no further than here on the bus."

The class remained completely silent.

Shinsou knew that there was something off, he just knew it. After Aizawa spoke, it suddenly came to him why he had been feeling odd, it was because of the lack of a driver in the front seat of the bus. He hadn't payed attention to it at the time, but the bus had been empty when he had exited and he found that strange, despite it being a bathroom break. Even odder were the specific words Aizawa used, how they wouldn't be getting any further on the bus? But then where would they be going and how would they be getting there?

Him figuring that out did practically nothing for them now, Aizawa's vagueness was too immense and startled the entire class. At least, Shinsou assumed the class was as startled as he currently was, unsure of what exactly was going to be happening to them off the bus.

"The training begins now." Was all he said to elaborate, opening up room for Shinsou and the others around him to speculate on what would be happening. For a brief second, Shinsou wondered if he could use his quirk to ask the teacher but that idea left as soon as it had came, making him feel ashamed to have even thought of it in the first place.

And then seconds later was when they entered.

He had heard of them before, or seen them on news recordings of the past. They were as lively now as they had been upon entering rescue scenes on mountain terrain. With that in mind, it made perfect sense as to why the Wild WIld Pussycats all popped out from hiddens areas all around. Each of them formed into their signature formation and shouted their name as they did it

"Mandalay!"

"Pixie-Bob!"

"Ragdoll!"

"Tiger!"

Shinsou only hoped that were he ever to become a hero, he would not end up in an odd team such as the one he was now observing. He didn't mind the cat aspect, but he quickly realized just how over the top they all were as they held their exaggerated pose and waited for a response from the witnesses whom they appeared in front of.

As expected of students who were training to be heroes, all of Class 1-A seemed positively amused and clapped at the scene that had evolved right in front of them.

It was a fine show, but Shinsou was still interested in what they were going to be doing for their rando stop upon the hill and for the rest of their training, not who would be leading it. As disrespectful as that may have sounded, good thing he didn't say it aloud, he was focused on himself becoming a hero that could inspire, not watch weird team assemblies.

"The Wild Wild Pussycats here are the number one Hero team in rescues." Aizawa said such information with a monotonous tone, if Shinsou didn't know any better he would assume Aizawa didn't like them very much, "They specialize in the mountain zone, which will be what we will also be focusing on. Treat them as you'd treat any of your teachers."

Shinsou raised an eyebrow at his last words. As he'd treat any teacher? Was that supposed to be a threat or was it an invitation for him to make favorites and ignore others? He assumed it would be the former, but was looking to be smart with all that had been sprung up on him surprisingly throughout this entire trip so far.

Instead of saying anything or questioning his words, much like all the other students, he averted his attention to the Wild Wild Pusscats themselves, whose grins and grimaces sprouted even newer questions in Shinsou's head. Particularly, he was interested in their rescue protocols because the way they were examining the students was on a deep analytical level, particularly from that one called Ragdoll.

Although quickly his attention was peeled off of her in favor of another of the members and her odd antics that had come unexpected. Staring at all of the students critically with blonde hair was none other than the labelled Pixie-Bob. Seconds later, her immediate commentary terrifying him and making him begin to regret ever agreeing to becoming a hero.

"Wow! There are so many handsome boys here." High pitched, her voice was loud and projected, "I have so many to pick from, this is so exciting!"

Shinsou gave her a bewildered look, what the fuck? He'd rather not utter the words aloud against a Pro Hero but he was deeply considering it. The last thing he had expected to fall from her mouth was ogling at student boys.

Boys who were still in training and not close to being adults norexpressing any interest in her. But he didn't assume the worst, predicting it to be a test of some kind… Why else would she say something so outrageous? He tried to rationalize it, but all of his hopes of doing so crumbled the moment Mandalay opened her mouth to clarify it.

"Please excuse her, she is rushed to find love." She chuckled softly, as though this was just another everyday occurrence, "It grows worse with age."

"THE FUCK?" Bakugou predictably growled out loudly, "GET AWAY FROM ME OLD HAG!" Even Shinsou knew that of all things to say, that had to have been the worst.

There was nothing a woman, particularly one worried about aging, didn't like more than being called an old hag. Bakugou had just gotten himself a ticket to torture for their training, as judging by the ugly expression that grew on Pixie-Bob's face the moment she had registered the words shouted at her.

"Oh why you… Ungrateful little…" SHh went forward to maybe hit him or grab him by the ear, but before she could, the rest of her words got muffled as Mandalay's mouth covered it, the blonde's anger heard as clear as day. Bakugou had really dug a hole for himself and then dug it even deeper.

"We're all very excited to have you working with us! We'll be practicing a multitude of skills and expect all of you to be putting in full effort." Ragdoll cut in, easily changing the subject so that it was back in line with what the entire training camp was about.

Tiger only nodded, his arms crossing across his hulking body.

"Now that we have that finished with, you will be finding your way to the facilities on your own and will be facing some obstacles along the way. Please do your best to display your skills to us!" Each of them bowed, despite the bombshell that they had dropped on the entire class, our if respect for whatever effort they would have to put into this next and first stage of training.

However, the second those words registered in his mind, Shinsou couldn't help but think that everything was much clearer to him than Aizawa had foretold it to be. It was a bathroom break. But it wasn't a bathroom break. They were being dropped off in the middle of nowhere and told to head in a general direction in order to make it to the exact spot they'd have their training camp. Was this so that there was no chance of tracking or were they testing them in the middle of the day while they had been in a bus with cramped muscles all day.

It may have been at least partly realistic to what heroes had to go through but it didn't mean he had to like it, training or no training.

And as expected, there was yet another mini outrage at Aizawa's words.

"What the fuck?"

"So we have to walk the entire way by ourselves?"

"What if we get lost?"

"Hey, that's unfair."

It went on and on in a blur of questions and accusatory statements. Shinsou knew by now that it was way too late for any of them to have any sort of power against Aizawa's final word. He may be a caterpillar but he was one of those hungry caterpillars from children's books that just wanted to makelike more difficult. He was quickly eating up their comfort zone and testing them.

Shinsou and Bakugou included.

They had yet to be fully accepted into the course, so if anything they would have the most to prove to him as a way to show that they were quite capable as heros and held enough conviction to be more than just decent. So instead of whining like a little kid, he stuck his hand up once more.

After receiving a small nod from Aizawa, the faintest look of expectation in his eyes, he asked "What time are we expected to be there?"

He spoke loud, although it wasn't loud enough to drown out all of the other students, it was loud enough to capture Aizawa's attention enough and set a twinkle in his eyes. He chose to address it, "Listen up." Everyone went silent in the class, annoyed faces staring back at him with furrowed brows but still not a word was spoken as the Class knew the full extent of Aizawa's authority. "A decent question was asked. Make sure you get to the facilities by 2pm. Don't be late."

Shinsou nodded, after grabbing a glane of the brush they would travel through, that seemed almost impossible unless all of them could somehow team up or one of them had a quirk specifically suited for such a forest environment. Yeah, there was no way they'd be able to make it by that time.

And what did he mean by 'Don't be late"? Was it supposed to be a threat against them? Because if it was, Shinsou greatly worried for everyone's wellbeing. To be honest, he was mostly focused on himself, but it was always helpful to be able to partner up with someone for hands-on training. Thus, he had to at least somewhat show care for his fellow students. However, that was beside the point, what matters was that the words Aizawa used implied there would be danger on the off chance they would be late.

Would they all be judged as a group? So if Shinsou scouted out ahead and made a break for it, if they were all late would he be counted as late too? There was too much to be questioned about the entire situation Aizawa had laid down for them.

Not to mention, the longer they waited, the less time they would have.

And his mind was set on something else that had been bothering him the entire afternoon, something that served as a momentary lapse in his focus about deciphering the complications to the simplicity in Aizawa's wording.

Where was Class 1-B amongst all of this?

He wasn't used to being one always asking questions but it seemed that's what he role was going to be as he shot his hand up into the air once more. He found it peculiar that this had been what itched his brain, but argued that it was probably due to his 'friendship' with Shiozaki. As much as he didn't like her, he didn't want anything bad to happen to her.

Also, it was definitely related to fairness.

Why did they have to hike through a forest for hours while being watched over by cat heroes (the choice in animals was well respected).

Aizawa seemed annoyed to be answering another question but called on him anyway, "Yes Shinsou?"

"Where is Class 1-B?" It was a simple question but it made Aizawa's face ever-so-subtlety screw up in distaste. From what Shinsou saw, he clearly had no interest in discussing this or answering why the other class was absent.

"None of your concern, focus on yourself."

It was a lackluster answer that left Shinsou grasping at straws, so to speak, but he had to assume that had there been any trouble, Aizawa would've volunteered that information more readily and wouldn't seem as bored. Truth be told, he didn't know Aizawa that well but he trusted himself based upon whatever small interactions that they held, profiling him as a caring man who preferred not to seem as though he cared. Amateur profiling, maybe, but if that's what it would take to get Shinsou to trust him for now, he wouldn't mind buying into it.

At the end of the day, he needed to stop thinking as much about what was happening to the other class and what the end result might be. Instead he should focus more on himself as he attempts to succeed and what the process of getting there would look like.

He had been doing alot of thinking as of late. About being in the Hero Courses, about Bakugou, about whatever friends he might have and his hesitance against such a word.

He would only be adding to the pile by going through with this training segment through the mountains loosely supervised by the famous team the Wild Wild Pussycats. All that was left to do was wonder and plan for what exactly they would be having the students do to make it to the facilities.

Was it a matter of endurance and being able to last through the forest? Wisdom or intelligence in figuring out the best route to take? Being able to spot the impossible and navigate through a deadly forest?

Oh… Wait.

Suddenly, a realization struck down onto Shinsou.

This was a rescue drill, wasn't it? It might be pure speculation, but the greatest time speed is of the essence, is when having to rescue someone from far away. Later on he would learn this wasn't true whatsoever but as a General Studies student who actually studied and cared about more beyond pure heroics, he thought he knew everything there was to know.

And he was determined to save that person from the imagined rescue scenario.

He had been called a villain far too much and it had only strengthened his need to prove himself as someone who could be heroic. A rescue mission would be his best chance at showcasing this.

Tersely, he nodded his head to Aizawa, feeling more invigorated now that he had his mind set upon a task he needed to fulfill. It made the stakes seem so much higher and thus made him care about them more. There might not be an easy way out of this, but then how would he be able to call himself any form of hero at all?

He would be worthy by his own metrics and show that despite being born with a villain's quirk, he was going to reject all notions of that idea.

He was going to be useful.

He was going to be a hero.

---

Toga was ecstatic. She had decided to do something that was potentially risky but could have very high rewards for her, she always loved it when something like that happened. And what was life or blood collecting without a little risk? It was boring and she hated boring things.

Thus, she enacted her scabbled plan in the name of Stainy. He was always critical toward anything hero related, to the heroes who were nothing more than walking blood sacs. Since a great majority of them came from hero schools, she decided to scope them out and prove herself useful.

The only issue she ran across was that the first school she visited on her information and blood gathering trip was U.A, which was closed to the public. That made her incredibly sad because she wouldn't have access to free entry on the campus. Sometimes being a villain could really suck.

What was even harder for Toga was deciding who she would become. A student would be far too obvious for her low effort plan and a teacher would be much too difficult. With that easy assessment, Toga sadly knew that for now she would be restricted to off the school grounds.

She wanted to play and have fun but if she was caught now, she couldn't properly do that.

She could also be letting down Stainy and his beliefs and it would make her sad to disgrace him in such a way. So a good disguise allows her to have the most fun! That meant being close to the students and scoping out who would be best for her to sink her teeth into, oh she could almost taste their blood.

It was magnificent.

Eagerly, she went for easy prey in preparation for her large hunt which had to prove plentiful both for her goals and for the goals of her predecessors. She was going to get that information, bloodstained and shining golden.

So she ended up settling for a groundskeeper, or was he a gardener? Toga didn't know past the fact that he resided near the school and didn't draw enough attention to be suspicious but would be in the perfect position to suit all her needs. Oh! She also knew that he handled plants (the shears he kept on him had drawn her eyes almost immediately, they were sparkling). A common occurrence for students and teachers alike to notice out of the corner of their eye. Subtle but familiar. Once Toga had found who she would be, she almost jumped up for joy! There would be more blood and fun for Stainy.

Past just the stinky old man blood she had collected for her disguise, but toward a real goal instead, a concrete one that would fuel her spirit as a belief of Stainy!

Fresh blood!

At least that was something she had heard someone say before, she just applied it to her bloodthirst at the momentum giggling to herself about the play on words she had created, it was fun.

But the real fun had only just begun, she slipped into her disguise and praised the perfect old man ratio of the broken teeth sorrow to friendliness smile before heading off with huge shears in her hands. They were going to become multi-purpose tools today, she almost couldn't stop herself from merrily skipping to a big tree that was a block or two away from the school.

All she had to do now was wait to act and everything should fall right into her awaiting arms without drawing the slightest suspicions to herself.

Oh how Toga absolutely loved her job.

Students walked by her without a care, not noticing the keen eye of the old man who was coarsely humming a bloody tune before them. It was times like these when Toga had the most fun ever! No one ever suspected her in her disguise and it was oh so amusing to see them smile innocently at who they believed to be an elderly man.

Some students even waved to her! Toga almost blew her cover by giggling at them egregiously.

Not to mention, it was so hard to hold herself back from extracting just the tiniest amounts of blood, some students were simply too enticing for her.

However what really excited her was what came later. A small group of students had been walking with one another towards the pathways that she hovered around. One of them, a girl, waved her way kindly and she returned it with a toothy grin, taking in the appearances of each student. There were only three of them, a black haired boy, a pink girl, and another boy with obnoxiously bright yellow hair.

The black haired boy nodded at Toga while the other one completely ignored her and began talking to the others in somewhat hushed tones.

Or at least Toga assumed that's what he wanted to do. In reality, he was quite loud about it which made it perfect for her to scope information from.

"ARGH he's so annoying." He whined loudly, and Toga ducked behind trees as they went, it would be far too suspicious if they saw an old man keep following them... At least she couldn't give them a real scare until after she gathered something good to report on.

"Bakugou?" The pink girl questioned and Toga perked up. She had heard that name before... Has she killed him? No... Probably not.

"Of course! I don't even know why Kirishima is trying." Oooh another name, Toga grinned to herself, "You've heard the rumors!"

There were rumors about the Bakugou boy? Toga bit her lip, it sounded so exciting!

"He's not the type to give chances to people who don't deserve it." One of them argued, Toga was getting bored of their conversation already. Where was the juicy gossip? She didn't much care about the morality of any of their buddies.

"Well I think he's going too far." The blonde boy kept prattling on, at least he stayed entertaining, "There were enough to make even me doubt him. His attitude too... Who does he expect to fool?"

Toga was intrigued by this Bakugou... She wondered what kind of attitude he had and what he tasted like.

"Give him a chance, he's not the villain you think he is." Toga perked up at the sound of the word villain.

"He's certainly not a hero."

Not a hero? Toga knew some people who were not heroes... She kept walking and trying to follow the group, seeking more information about this non-hero student. However, she underestimated her surroundings and found her forehead colliding with a branch.

"Ow, ow, ow!" She exclaimed to herself, feeling some of her control slipping.

She didn't much care if her cover behind the trees was blown and she was thought of as a creepy old man, she wouldn't have to face the backlash of that. However, she did care if she lost her mask and was left naked near U.A grounds. Although... It would allow her to harvest some pretty fresh blood, which she salivated simply thinking about.

And after holding herself back, promising a hearty meal later, she ducked around the tree again to listen in some more, only to realize the students had been long gone. Too much of her time had been spent daydreaming about their sweet blood that she had forgotten the true purpose of the mission.

It didn't matter, there were sure to be other haters of the mysterious Bakugou.

Lo and behold, Toga didn't have to wait long before streams of students came barrelling down the roads, as she had placed herself back in the usual seen spot greeting the passersby. And much to her excitement, news of Bakugou was a very hot topic for the students. None of them were willing to address what actually happened but they added onto the rumor bank even more.

It was intriguing to Toga,, she couldn't help but wonder which ones were true. That would be better than pure rumors, although they served as great entertainment as she pretended to do a useless job only given to old and feeble people. As a seemingly old and feeble person she was seen as a non-threat, so it all worked out in the end.

Although quickly she grew bored of it all. There was the same mundane chatter about classes, what to do after school, where to meet up, rumors, but nothing that had been solidly confirmed or that she could use to boost her status, other than the basic gossip she had heard from the trip of students passing by.

At least that was what she thought, her hunger growing more and more as the time passed, before teachers decided to walk by her.

And oh did they have some interesting things to share regarding the Bakugou she had very much wanted to hear figured words from teachers would be better than student rumors for sure, and after bowing to them in a mock politeness, she also trailed them. This time, making sure to pay attention to her surroundings especially closely.

"... Uproar about that Bakugou kid." One of the teachers had begun talking out of the range of Toga's hearing.

She debated actually climbing to the top of the tree to both hear and see better but decided not to. When the teachers were to move she wouldn't be able to move with them as freely and would stick out much further than she already had been. There was bound to be someone who recognized fake work but even more who would know that an old man does not fit high up in a tree.

"Oh really? I usually ignore student drama like that." The other teacher spoke, they both seemed like normal teachers who didn't belong as heroes. That was a prime indication of them not belonging to the Hero course, but naturally Toga wasn't one to assume such things. She only made that observation based on how easily she thought sinking her teeth into them would be. They weren't on guard nor checking their surroundings, purely walking together without a care in the world.

Her perfect prey.

All she had to do was lie in wait for them to give her the information she needed and then she'd strike and gather all of the blood she needed. Maybe she could even get into the U.A. campus with their identities. Oh, it was so exciting! Toga could barely hide it as she prowled from afar.

"The stuff about him though, it's everywhere." The teacher who started the conversation began to speak in a hushed tone, of which Toga had to crane her ears to hear over the noise of the city around her, "And not just the student rumors."

"What do you mean?" The other teacher responded, despite saying they weren't interested in drama, and suddenly they began to sound very much intrigued by it. Toga couldn't blame them, she too echoed their feelings.

"I mean... Well I probably shouldn't be mentioning this, but..."

Thunk

That was not a good noise whatsoever.

It was a noise that interrupted the teachers and prevented Toga from being able to hear the big secret everyone had been whispering about. Well, one of the big secrets that shrouded Bakugou, but it was one that interested her nonetheless.

The reason why Toga didn't catch the rest of what the teacher had said was because she had been preoccupied by her head smashing into a tree. Her head felt hot and while there was no blood, she still felt blood rushing up.

She felt frozen where she sat on the floor, arms splayed out next to her as she sat woozily on her ass. If she had the time, she would probably enjoy such a sensation. Alas, she didn't have any time to spare and needed to react quicker than she had with the students. She wouldn't let more prime specimens wander away from her right as she needed them.

Scrambling up messily with the pounding in her head and ignoring the looks of whoever might have seen her most undignified crumble, she searched for the teachers she had been tracking. It had not been long enough for them to cover any real distance, especially at the slow pace they were going by.

Still, the longer she delayed, the more chance that it would become probably for them to slip through her fingers. At that point pace would no longer matter. Not to mention, Toga was not known for her patient ways, she stuck with things obsessively until she was done with them and then moved on.

Her obsession was not yet over.

Tracking up the street in the direction she had seen them wander, she panicked for a split second that maybe they had separated somewhere as she couldn't find any duos walking together. However, the more she surveyed the areas, her eyes finally spotted them in their nonchalant and ugly brown clothing.

It would look far more dashing were it to be splattered with blood. Particularly with their blood.

Toga didn't know what it was, but she couldn't help getting giddy at the sight of them again.

Since they were there, it meant she still had a chance to fetch her prey.

How utterly thrilling it was for her to realize the hunt was still on, slyly hiding in a bramble of greenery near the duo in her sweaty old man disguise.

She was in an odd spot that was close to where they were walking down a path,staying to the right side where large bushes lined the stone. Toga relied on those bushes to block the scent and sight of her, scuttling along as the two of them moved.

She only hoped they weren't able to see her, else all of her hard work would've been ruined.

It would really have been nice for them to sit down instead of walk together, making it fantastically more simple than the process currently was. And it would decrease random staring at him as she obviously surveyed them. Although she could quickly write off such odd stares from any passersby, the benefit of taking the identity of the elderly is that they would very rarely be questioned for their actions. And if she acted too out of the ordinary, she could easily play the oblivious card, simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Toga grinned, she was practically invincible with that kind of defense.

With that reassurance she gave herself, she edged toward the valuable teachers to listen in on their conversation once more.

"I wonder why they reached that decision..." Toga's interest was immediately piqued. A mysterious decision made by mysterious people? That was the kind of thing she'd love for them to uncover for her, not receiving enough clues to make any decisive actions based on their words. Plus she was impatient and could only stomach snooping around for a little bit.

She continued to listen, "Must have something to do with his quirk, it's rather powerful." The other one added. Toga presumed that by 'his' they were talking about Bakugou, the latest topic she had been around for.

"Could make a good fit there." The first teacher agreed hesitantly, "But there's always his attitude."

If Toga was anywhere else, she would've clapped her hands together and burst out, asking just what this attitude they were speaking about was. She wanted to know absolutely everything that she could.

"You're right it's horrendous." Both of them seemed to agree on most points that had been brought up, if not all of them. "He could never go Pro like that."

Pro? As in a Pro Hero? Or a different kind of professional? It was almost guaranteed they meant Pro Hero, but the chance Toga had misheard them was very high... And a part of her didn't want to believe the big bad Bakugou she had heard all about was simply just a regular old kid who wanted to be a hero, ew!

Even so, with what she had heard thus far, she was sure he would be unsuccessful. He did not seem heroic, no matter how anyone chose to define the word, but because she didn't know, she simply crawling, not wanting to jump to any conclusions for fear of misinformation. Otherwise, she wouldn't get any blood privileges for a while.

That would be devastating enough for anyone to do what she was doing now. And it wasn't as if she didn't enjoy such work either, she had gotten too interested to back out now.

Regardless of any scrapes she got from the bush or the enticing red of her own blood that slightly beaded out, she put her focus on the bigger prey.

"There's no chance." Yet more agreement took place, "But that's what we're here for, getting rid of all those nasty behaviors."

It was like a small love story, Toga observed happily, truly a heartwarming moment.

She didn't like most teachers' attitudes, they were all mean to her when she was in school but from a glance it was very sweet to see such interactions.

"If it's not a lost cause." The other snorted, "Not like we have to be the ones teaching the heroes though, we just have the General Studies students."

Hm… Bakugou was in General Studies currently it seemed, else there was no plausible reason she could think of that they'd be able to know him directly by name.

"We won't be getting the chance to teach Bakugou then, if he does choose to move classes." It was astutely pointed out, clearly up the big picture somewhat for Toga.

Bakugou was moving classes into something Pro related, all signs pointing in one specific direction. That of a Pro Hero.

"That's a shame, it'd be amazing to know for sure that we had made a difference." The easier way to make a difference in a work that was unwelcoming to such things was to forcibly take that and run with it. At least that was the wisdom she developed and ran with, now look at her! A bloodthirsty villain in the most literal sense possible.

"Mhmm, not much to be done." They sounded disappointed, it was evident by their sighing and tone, "There are still some secure positions within society we could aim for students to reach."

Ugh if this was about to become a lesson plan Toga would rather fall asleep than listen to any degree.

"Like a teacher?"

The both of them began to snort and laugh quietly, the joke going completely over Toga'shead. She didn't understand it, what was so funny about being a teacher? Other than the fact that those two wouldn't be ones for much longer.

If anything, that was the truly funny incident of this all.

"Sad but true nowadays." One of them solemnly nodded, still faintly laughing to themself about the one joke that had brought them the rare emotion of joy. To Toga, it seemed like a pretty joyless job. She didn't even like school even if there were hundreds of test subjects to take blood from there, despite all of that, her bad experiences piled up quick enough to dissuade her from it.

She was really going to be doing these teachers a service by collecting their blood after hearing the full extent their knowledge went.

They kept walking in a somewhat comfortable silence, or at least that's what Toga assumed it was. Why else would someone willing not talk to someone with them? And it wasn't as if Toga, in the bush, disguised as an old man, was really the best agent of judgement when it came to such things.

"I'll be seeing you tomorrow." One of them remarked as they stopped walking. They bowed to each other before splitting ways with one another, giving Toga a hard choice.

She pretty much had all of the information she could glean from them.

Bakugou was a naughty student in the General Studies classes but was looking to become a Pro Hero and by the sounds of it, enroll into the Hero Course. The teachers, sounding so confident either knew of an immediate transfer or were expecting one, which aligned with some of the rumors she had heard about Bakugou winning the Sports Festival, was it? Something big and impressive that she hadn't followed closely.

Still, Toga nodded proudly at herself from within the bushes. All her official work was done, there was only one thing left to do. Not caring if anyone was around to witness her, she stripped herself of her groundskeeping clothes in the cramped bush,

Old man blood simply didn't taste or look fresh.

She was going after something that would be both! Quickly, she picked the person which she would be following for their blood, settling on the one who went down the street and peeled away from the road lined with the bushes.

It was no random choice. Picking this person was purely a strategic choice with how well she could hide herself, and most importantly who intrigued her the most. Blood quality was her priority.

She melted away from her stinky disguise, no longer needing it as she had already utilized it best to get close to U.A without drawing much suspicion. The teachers had walked far enough away that Toga knew she could pull off her harvest with no need for quirk usage.

Dressing herself back in the clothes, because she still couldn't draw that much attention to herself, she hopped out of the bush, accepting a few scrapes along her arms and cheeks.

She began to follow where she had seen the teacher go, making quick work of training their steps and hurrying along so that the time between them leaving and her arriving wouldn't be long enough for them to get away.

They wouldn't be that fast as to escape in the time she gave them, right?

Or at least that's what she assumed but after twenty minutes, which was far too much for her, she couldn't deduce which alley or street they had traversed down.

To her grand disappointment, it seemed her estimate was not entirely accurate nor had no way of being as accurate as she had planned, unless she managed to closely tail them (despite there being no bushes in the area in which they wandered off).

Argh it was moments like these that served to needlessly frustrate her. A moving prey was a smart one and posed a difficulty she could meet and have fun with. On the other hand, an annoying victim or victims, especially in her specific enclosed situation with the aim of being self-sufficient, ended up being fine.

But Toga never went without a hunt. So while her primary targets had vanished, she could still rely on the everyday people that were around them. So long as they were not elderly or lacking circulation within their bodies, that would just be yucky all over again!

Toga wasn't particularly picky, unless she was attempting to infiltrate an area and needed the right blood type or disguise, but fresh blood had always fascinated her. And that could be from any animal too, humans were just especially amusing and fun for her so she usually preferred them as targets.

Nothing screamed or looked quite as appetizing as fresh human blood.

And nothing could transform her so well. She liked looking like that which she loved and being such a loved person was always so satisfactory to her.

Toga got excited simply thinking about it, preparing herself to hunt down her new designated prey which she would have to find quickly. After all, she couldn't dely anymore than she already had. Toga wouldn't be kept from what she loved anymore!

She would be getting their blood today. There would be no better time for her to secretly collect blood, and use anyone who would be foolish enough to be drawn into her trap, than in a crowded environment where they wouldn't even be able to tell what hit them, her stealthy abilities unmatched.

Although soon she found that was much easier to be thought than done. It was not easy telling who was who as they passed by her, the one she loved and had been chasing after not showing his face again. There was too much to choose from, too many options dangling in front of her.

And all of which would be far too suspicious for now.

Instead, she gave up on her magnificent hunt, slinking down an alleyway that smelled strongly of urine and drugs. Wrinkling her nose, she continued on until she found a slumped woman who seemed devoid of any drugs, for that would only bitter the taste of her blood.

Accepting her defeat, she helped herself to her, the oozing blood was absolutely magnificent. She would go further in detail were it not for her storytelling abilities not able to justify the real feeling of it.

The entire situation brought her back to where she was now, talking to a lizard person in a bar that served as a hideout for a league full of villains and evil people, perfect for her!

She had already told her information to the leader of their fun club, Shiggy, but was telling the full story to anyone who was willing to listen.

"And that's what happened!" Toga brightly smiled at the man in front of her, revelling in his facial changes throughout her entire story.

She had gotten both the information and the blood at the end, so truly all had gone well for her escapades near U.A High School.

"So you stalked students as they discussed a classmate and then followed two teachers as they talked about that same student, while hunting them down and putting a target on your back." He seemed disbelieving of her story, but she could promise that it all happened. The only benefit from lying would be her seeming cooler than she was but that gave her nothing substantial, thus she nodded her head vicariously at the scaly reptilian before her.

"I see…" The lizard mused, "Stain would have approved of your stealthy methods of camouflage. You did him proud." His voice was particularly squeaky, so much so that Toga frequently imagined what he would sound like screaming at the top of his lungs.

Or maybe if lizard blood tasted different than the other types she had tired, that would be fun!

"Yay Stainy!" Toga threw her arms up excitedly, "Are you cold blooded?"

The lizard seemed taken aback by the question, or was it the sudden subject change that had gotten to him instead? She wasn't good at reading social cues, assuming the end to thritonversation would be near.

After meeting her, he showed no signs of disgust which soothed her more than she cared to admit, it was nice being able to freely talk about her interests without the hatred she usually received.

Those protests weren't even for a good reason anyways.

"Well, I-" He began but Toga cut him off, not wanting to know what he would say in case they were mean and harsh words.

"I'm sure your blood would taste great." She complimented, walking away from him with a slight twirl. She did mean it, truly.

She went out later that night to catch some lizards, they weren't very satisfying but they interested her, all of the tiny organs, and their small little scales that were so easy to pluck out. Maybe a bigger specimen would be fun but she liked handling the small ones, which made it easier with reptiles in particular.

And days later when their Vanguard teams up amidst a blue fiery forest filled with poisonous gas, and multiple synchronous attacks Toga would be grinning once more. Even when they only manage to pick up Bakugou in return for a loss of many members, she can at least remain glad that Spinner the lizard wasn't one of those members now rotting away in jail with all of their blood and intestines getting wasted.

---

Katsuki didn't know if he was supposed to be angry or mad. They were the same thing, he knew, but he couldn't help but feel slighted.

It hadn't been planned for him to be dropped off on some random cliff and be forced to use his quirk to fight his way to their facilities.

"Welcome to heroics." He mumbled it to himself as he stared off into the distance, students around him protesting their current conditions while offering no counter solutions. By now, their teachers and chaperones would be long gone, seriously leaving it all to them to get through by themselves.

Katsuki was fine with that, it was the unplanned element he wasn't a fan of whatsoever, along with the quaintly smug faces of the adults around him. They thought they were so smart with this mess, huh? He was going to show them.

"Hm… Better get to it sooner than later, huh?" Deku's semi-optimistic sounding voice asked from beside Katsuki, "Just think of it as a way to map the land before the attack, right? It's a positive."

Katsuki grunted, he did make a good point about that. There were two reasons he was here, one being to train and the other being to stop the villain attack from devastating the lives of those around him. He could kill two birds with one stone if he did this, annoying in principle or not.

He found his way over to the specific cliff face he needed to be at in order to have a path to the facility as pointed out. It was curved so that the fall from where he stood to the bottom didn't seem too bad at all, manageable enough that he would easily survive without more than a scratch.

But of course before he could make his move, the annoyances of Class 1-A had something to say."LET'S FOLLOW AIZAWA'S INSTRUCTIONS, MAKE SURE TO REMEMBER THAT WE-"

It was Four Eyes, working hard to get the attention of everyone that he felt he had authority over.

In his mind, that just so happened to be everyone, even though in reality he truly had power over none of them. Everyone knew class presidents were always jokes, this was definitely not the exception to that unwritten rule.

Far from it.

"Yeah, I'm out." Katsuki scoffed, making up his mind easily, before beginning to pick his way down the cliff face. He ignored the indignant huffing from behind him, worrying about his own wobbling as he descended. He had been unprepared to climb down but needed a cool exit of some kind, so he went for it. "Stall all you like, I'm going to fucking do what needs to be done." He called out once more, voice fainter.

"WHATEVER, THE REST OF YOU, I DO IMPLORE YOU TO-" Four Eyes just wouldn't shut up, would he? Katsuki could still clearly hear him, distance doing nothing to cover up just how much the boy liked the sound of his own voice propelled.

Katsuki rolled his eyes from the distance, he had more important things on his mind. The trip itself was as expected as anything else, nothing too unusual was least, unusual for UA, which always did seem to have an odd card or too up its sleeve.

Although, through it all, there was one thing that had been bothering him since the announcements. No, since the second they had gotten off the bus at the so-called rest stop.

And that was the fact that Class 1-B was nowhere in sight. Plant Girl and her idiot class didn't even seem like they were attending such a trip, Katsuki wouldn't have assumed they were except he had heard it mentioned by teachers.

Something was going on, and he didn't like it one bit. His suspect remained first in the teachers and Pro Heroes but also drifted to the students. He couldn't be sure about who knew the information that was being kept behind his back, but he was determined to be unimportant and forgettable by their punitive minds,as judged by him.

And while yes, technically they were no different than him on the intellectual level, Katsuki didn't care to make such distinctions when they acted like dumbasses all the time.

As he scuttled down the cliff face, he shook his head. Everything he had been thinking about was inconclusive. It held no proof for his ideas, but he was determined to get some. The more damning it was, the better it would be.

However, quickly his thoughts were interrupted by loud thumping noises that advanced quickly upon his position, now at the bottom of the cliff face's expansive dirt wall.

This may not have been the best idea for whatever was coming.

Mere moments later, unexpectedly, in front of him stood towering stone figures. They had hastily come together and were rather crude in appearance, looking as though they came from a child's storybook and into real life before the condensed group of students.

There was no doubt about it, this giant figure was the result of a quirk. One that hadn't been among the list that Deku had told him, so immediately he knew that they were not dealing with a villain's quirk.

Whether this… Roadblock was intentionally added or unintentionally added, it was their duty to fight it off. These huge rock collections were in the forest and could potentially be a danger to whomever might be inhabiting the thick trees. Both humans and animals could become victims, although animals were less significant in Katsuki's opinion. The fact remained that they needed to take this rock down, the teachers told them to go down this path for a reason, so they were going to go down it.

Katsuki's stubbornness had to work beneficially for something, after all.

This might as well be it.

Blasting his way forward using smallsmarks from the palm of his hands, he shot forward and careending awkwardly through the air. He had practiced this specific flying moment plenty of times, but the results were not nearly as promising as he had hoped them to be. Still, it sent him forward and up into the air which was all he needed at this point.

Not waiting to be backed up by any members of Class 1-A because their slowness in handling situations and villains wasn't his problem, he worked upbringing the stone creature down so that it could face him.

That meant blasting its joints, the effectiveness of which was all dependent on the potential of him hitting one of its weak points, through which Izaiah hoped to fill any gaps in his knowledge about these golems, and maybe even get one to topple.

The true importance was making sure it was immobilized enough not to hurt anyone or anything. Of which was proven easily through Katsuki's blasts, aiding its inevitable crumble to the ground as it continuously thrashed around. That was before Katsuki aimed a particularly large blast at it, snuffing out whatever was left of its consciousness.

It wasn't hearty or difficult to handle and it certainly wasn't from any sort of villain he had heard about, so he assumed killing it, or whatever the stone equivalent to that would be, was executed rather fairly.

He landed back down with a stumbling grace, he still needed to perfect his landing if he ever expected to get anywhere with it. Luckily, by the time the rest of the Class 1-A students and Eyebags caught up and narrowed the wide berth between them, he had moved on to examining just what it was and thinking up answers to the question of where it might have come from.

He held no doubts about it being a test of sorts.

He only wondered how important it was to his success to be able to determine that kind of information and similar types of it that are more specific to the issue at hand, as opposed to those that are more generalized.

And of course the inevitable question of exactly what kind of test it was and what would happen from here on out hung over his shoulders. It was one of those things where he could sit there and make guesses all day or he could see what would happen next and fight more.

He mentally determined he'd fight more.

He was better at it than analysis anyway, he'd leave that to Deku who was looking at the now scattered collection of large rocks curiously. Katsuki was sure that there was a lot to unpack for someone like him who saw beyond the simple big picture of things. It would be a lot easier if he was able to interact with it on a deeper level though, Katsuki realizing the limitations Deku faced.

"What the-" Katsuki ignored the voice behind him remark, he was too busy thinking about what would be happening next to care about how shocked other students were. It wasn't his job to care for them or be nice, it was his job to be a hero.

Or at least it would be if he did this correctly.

And he knew he had to.

So against his better judgement, he moved on. Part of him was itching to stay there and learn who or what had revived the rocks. However, he couldn't bother trying to figure out or do what he knew he wouldn't be able to, so instead he kept on walking forward.

Those behind him could decide on their own paths and squabble independently of him, he had a goal in mind and wouldn't let anyone needlessly distract him from it.

Cautiously, he made his way through the boulders and rocks scattering the forest path in front of him.

"OI BAKUGOU!" Immediately Katsuki rolled his eyes once hearing the loud voice call out for him, "WAIT UP!"

He did not wait up, scoping the treetops for any peculiar signs of moving. But of course his attention was peeled away by the shaking of his shoulder by an annoying red haired extra.

"We gotta stick together, man!" He expressed with his hands, "We're a team!."

"Team? What fucking team?" Katsuki scoffed, despite temporarily being in the same grouping, they were the furthest thing from a team. Double Eyebags never said anything about them having to work together. "Said who?"

"Okay well… No one said we had to be in a team, but it would be better than going off on your own, right?" He sheepishly added, looking down and fiddling with his hands.

"Fuck no-"

"What he means is that he'd be delighted to work in a team with you." Eyebags piped in from out of nowhere, interrupting Katsuki's tangent with a snarky grin on his face.

Katsuki had the strongest urge to punch that look right off of him, what kind of bastard was he? Speaking completely falsely for him like that. He considered it to be beyond annoying, it was why he preferred to go out alone and deal with the stone giants independently.

"Shut up, you're wasting my time." He snarled at the both of them, ignoring Shitty Hair's protests and Eyebags' snickering as he left them behind.

There was use joking around when there was a test, or whatever this could be called, awaiting their completion. There was a deadline for it, and Katsuki couldn't risk having to rely on other people to fulfill that deadline. Especially as other members of Class1-A blankly stared around blankly, not having been fast enough to make the fight Katsuki had already been through, he knew he wouldn't like this one bit.

"We all need the experience though, try to loosen up a little bit." Shitty Hair piped in once more, catching up to where Katsuki was and making his unwanted opinion heard.

He seethed after hearing it. Loosen up a little bit? What the fuck was that supposed to imply? He was doing perfectly fine without that asshole trying to insert himself.

"Kacchan, try to be amicable. You're going to be staying with them for a few days, you don't want the atmosphere to get tense or anything, right?" Deku cooled him down after seeing his face grow extremely red with frustration. He had been watching the conversation from the sidelines, at least up until he realized he needed to intervene to control the situation and not let it get out of hand. Katsuki only nodded, his tense shoulders falling a little bit as he sighed, realizing that Deku was indeed right. It didn't mean he was going to back down, but he would try his best to ease up.

"Then fucking work for it, I'm not going to give any handouts." He remarked, quieter than he had hoped to be, but the point was still made. He was firm and unyielding about this point, in particular, conviction as strong as an ox.

"And you gotta put the effort in to work with us, loser." Eyebags shook his head back at him, countering what Katsuki said. And he would admit, while it sounded full of sarcasm with all intentions of such, Katsuki couldn't help but feel but not at the words being said. If he was even the slightest bit disillusioned in the path to whatever was to be directly facing them, that would be disgraceful. He wasn't one to give up easily.

And he wouldn't be backing down, no matter what was said before him. It only took him a silent nod and a few seconds to craft what he was going to say, before speaking his mind to those that he could reach.

"Oi, extras, listen up." Katsuki yelled at the lot of them, grabbing their attention for what he had to say. It wasn't long ago he agreed to work as a team, so he was gathering them all as a team now. He would be honest and say he wasn't sure what any of them were expecting or what he was expecting, but it was worth a try, right?

For Deku, maybe.

He gathered both intrigued looks and protesting looks with his attention-grabbing noise, but did his best to ignore it.

"There was a big living stone pile, now gone. There's gonna be more fuckers like it, so keep an eye out and..." He looked over to where Deku appeared, gauging his reaction to his half baked and awfully thought up motivational, if he could even call it that in the first place, speech. Deku only nodded at him with one of those soft smiles, telling him to continue. "And... Let's try to work as a shitty team."

He sighed it out, pointedly ignoring the amused gleam in Eyebags' eyes and the proud one in Shitty Hair's eyes. He could see it from the corner of his eyes but he refused to look them in the eyes.

"Why should we even listen to you?" He guessed that it was Knock-Off Pikachu protesting his grab for authority, to which he quickly learned he was right to assume. Usually, he really wouldn't care and let the other boy take the lead as he led everyone else to their doom. However, in this case, Katsuki was trying to be the better person and responded to him with a mountain of salt.

"Cause you need to suck up your petty shit and get used to working with people you don't like." Katsuki knew the same could be applied to him, but since he was the one who was saying it, there wasn't a pressing need for him to, "Or are you gonna be a wussy instead of a hero?"

"That's enough."Black ponytail girl spoke up, clearly tired of being shepherded to the sidelines. "Bakugou is right, regardless of how crudely spoken his words were, we need to work together as a team to get through this. We've done it before!"

As the appointed vice class president or whatever bullshit, her influence certainly had an effect on the student's stature as they all of the sudden were ready to join in.

Little fuckers.

"WHY YES, YAOYOROZU." Four Eyes pushed his glasses up his nose in a pretentious manner, "WELL SPOKEN."

So was anyone who copied the words of others, Katsuki grimaced.

Whatever he didn't need the credit for being the one to unite the class against weird stone monsters. Of whom were most likely derived from a quirk, that the others wouldn't have realized since they were too busy wasting their time singing each other's praises to care about learning or discovering about them and who controlled them.

"You'll get them next time, Kacchan." Deku teased him from his perch up above, chuckling as Katsuki slyly flipped him off with absolutely no remorse.

Next time, huh?

He desperately hoped that there would be no next time, he didn't want to deal with these idiots more than he had to. Although, due to their placement in the vast forest area and the questionable things they already were set out to do, he had no doubts he would have to work with them again.

It sounded like torture but with more frsutration and less physical damage.

At least that was for now.

Who really knew what would be happening in the future?

None of them, that was for sure. And that's why Katsuki turned back around to what he was previously doing with a scoff. He wanted to get this over with so Deku and him could figure out what they were going to do against a very real threat. Not some fake stone ones and call it training.

He wouldn't let himself complain anymore though, he knew he had been doing it far too much recently and needed to just suck it up and move on.

So in the moment, that was exactly what he did,

He began searching the skies and tall areas for any large figures and advancing forward as he did it. And Katsuki would be honest, he didn't know how many times he could stomach using his quirk against such giant stone figures. Already, as he now had the capacity to focus on it instead of everything else he had pushed to the front of his mind, he felt nauseous.

A sour look plastered on his face because of it, he was just lucky no one else could see him and question him about it. Well, no one other than Deku.

"You okay?" He asked when Katsuki was facing away from the rest of the students and was trekking onwards, some of them being behind him and following his behaviors.

"Fine." He mumbled curtly, not wanting to draw unnecessary attention, "Tired of my quir-"

He wasn't able to get the full sentence out before large booms began to echo in the forest, they crashed through the trees, and got progressively closer with each growing second.

Katsuki stood frozen in place, waiting until they emerged into sight.

And it wasn't long before he did.

But this time instead of one hulking stone golem, there were two of them… No wait there was one more hiding ever so slightly, making a total of three.

As if one wouldn't be hard enough for them all, not to mention their unpreparedness at facing so many at once. They really needed to adopt a better setup than walking as a block and waiting for trouble to come their way. It worked for Katsuki but not for all of them.

Though, as hero students, his classmates-to-be didn't flinch, but instead advanced with full readiness to fight. He didn't observe too closely what they did, but one stone golem was taken down solo, the other one was taken down with some difficulty between two people, and the last one a team effort.

They were far better at this… Teamwork thing than him, but that came as no real surprise. He had always been independent, even as a kid, relying on others looking up at him and following his actions but not standing on the same grounds.

His mind had already begun the mental shift, Deku had helped with that, but he knew that his demands of others wouldn't be able to keep up with their performances.

Just another thing to work on, he supposed.

And with all that in mind, he didn't mind it too much when he wasn't pivotal to taking down the other golems. Katsuki only ended up only contributing minimally, which he was secretly glad for, as on top of realizing his own strive for working solo, he realized what they were doing wouldn't work again.

Just because he said they were better than him at teamwork didn't mean they were particularly good, he snorted to himself, because apparently he was the best judge of whether teamwork was good or bad. He regretted finding such thoughts funny as he observed the people before him beyond the simplicity of what they were doing. There was quite a lot he noticed.

For starters, Eyebags and a few other students whose talents weren't needed or whose quirks were ineffective against such enemies stood blankly watching everything unfold while the others exhausted themselves with fighting, scouting, and defending. Particularly because of those who were clearly not built to be doing multiple tasks all at once, many of them pursued it anyway, looking stretched thin and tired despite the match in the cage they had entered only just beginning.

"We should be having Shinsou look out for everyone else, but they have to trust him to control them out of any danger. Same with Asui, her quirk would be perfect for defense and watching. Hagakure could easily sneak up ahead and be provided with support by Shouji and Jirou as the lookouts. Todoroki, Aoyama, and Ashido could be long range attackers, while Kirishima, Kaminari, Sato, Uraraka, and Ojiro stick to close range. Mineta and Sero could be supportive from a longer range… Yeah that'll work out fine. Oh! And Tokoyami could either scout or fight, Yaoyorozu can make up for any lacking areas, and Koda can make sure everyone stays aware at all times." Deku began to rant and mumble right next to Katsuki. Fortunately, he understood most of what he was saying and while he didn't understand who anyone was, the general concepts were easy enough to get down mentally, "AND KACCHAN! Kacchan can do anything he wants, but close range would work best… Maybe defense while the others fight, it all depends on the constitution of these stone golems, how much intelligence they hold, speed, strength, all of those factors. However, judging by what you've already demonstrated and your personal strength outputs which are-"

"Oi oi, shut up." Katsuki snapped at him in a hushed tone. He really didn't need to be psychoanalyzed right now. There were limits to how much of Deku's mumblings he could take and he had just reached it. Although it did make him feel better that his inexperienced and judgemental ideas were not completely off the mark.

"Oh…" Deku's eyes widened, as if he had just been snapped out of some trance, "Oh, I'm sorry about that, Kacchan. You know how I get, but I really think it would be a good idea if you-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Katsuki brushed him off, "Evaluate the strength of our opponent and then split everyone into teams to carry out organized tasks."

Deku's eyes lit up brightly as though it was unexpected for Katsuki to have been able to pick up on everything he had been spouting. But with a little practice, he was practically an expert.

He opened his mouth once more, prepared to explain that while he understood where eku was coming from it wouldn't be possible for Katsuki to carry it out. But of course at that moment, Eyebags chooses to come and sidle up next to him.

"Stone monsters have no sentient brains." He sighed, as if Katsuki was going to be able to help him or some bullshit, "Can't even use my quirk, I'm a civilian here."

What a load of nonsense.

"Idiot." Katsuki couldn't hold himself back, he didn't understand the words that had just fallen from that complete dumbasses mouth. Was he in his right mind… Or was this supposed to be some sick joke he had concocted as a way to judge Katsuki? That seemed a bit beyond the capabilities of Eyebags, but he wouldn't put anything below him for the sake of his annoying humor.

Still, he would play along and correct his dumbassery, not knowing what else to do, having already learned his lesson about how ignoring the other boy went.

Katsuki, having thought about it for a brief moment, already knew the answer to the question he was about to let loose, but he checked anyway, scanning Eyebags from up and down judgmentally.

Two arms.

Two legs.

Able bodied.

That meant he wasn't useless and had the full capacity to do something, anything he deemed necessary. Anything else he would mention was a simple excuse as to why he couldn't do it. And simple excuses simply wouldn't work if one was to be a hero, Katsuki knew this well enough.

"Get your head out of your ass." He crossed his arms unhappily, "You can do anything you want. Stop basing your basic value on your fucking quirk."

Katsuki hoped he understood what he was trying to get across. He didn't want to have to explain exactly what he meant to the imbecile that was Eyebags.

It wasn't his burden to do so.

It seems Eyebags got it though, staring back at Katsuki contemplatively. He couldn't say the same about Deku though, the boy's glance turning from prideful and strategic to skeptical and static.

Katsuki immediately knew why. He was acting as such a hypocrite, one which he didn't even see. Not only his actions, but thoughts too, were lined up with the opposite message he himself had so dutifully accepted. Telling Eyebags what had to be done with his quirk in mind, as he himself still struggled with it beyond most comprehension that anyone else could even attempt to offer.

Smart words about his capacity would do nothing to help him, the issue extending past laziness into something much more mental.

Something he, quite frankly, didn't have any time to address right now. There were giant stone golems attacking, his mental state should be considered the least of his concerns. Especially because he knew with complete certainty, they were not hallucinations he had made up, created from rough mountain rock and observed by many other peoples in a fight.

"You're strangely wise sometimes, you realize that?" Eyebags was shaking his head as he broke Katsuki from his looping thoughts about the finished stone in front of him. He estimated in pure seconds the students of Class 1-A would be reducing them into still boulders with no estimation for when the next ones were going to come or how they'd be able to advance. "It's uncharacteristic."

Katsuki snorted after hearing that second word, uncharacteristic, he couldn't help himself.

What was characteristic for anyone?

"Not like that." Eyebags tried to argue, sensing his criticisms didn't land exactly as he had intended them to. Katsuki paid no mind to it, the furthest concern he had, even further than his current mental state, was about pleasing his spiky purple haired self.

"Let's just do what we came here to do." Was all Katsuki said, marking the end of the conversation that he hadn't ever wanted to have started in the first place. If only he could forget about it, not worth the agonizing time he knew he would be spending rethinking all of what he said in the hours to come.

At this point, he had almost been wishing it would end up becoming a joke, finding that situation much more laughable than a situation where someone judged how well they could do something based on their quirk. It was an annoying system embedded since the day the first quirked baby was born, one that had indirectly harmed Katsuki through Deku.

Speaking of him, Katsuki caught Deku's eye once more as he contemplatively looked at Eyebags whose brow was furrowed in a pensive thought. Katsuki could only guess it was about his own quirk struggles, probably much too complicated for him to be able to relate to or understand.

But he knew Deku could travel down weird mental paths that he'd want to avoid, so Katsuki shot him a questioning glare to draw him out of it or received instructions he may suggest. He only received a simply complicated silent jerk of the head in response. That could mean two things that they had established early on as kids.

The first being that Deku wanted Katsuki to ask someone something to reach out to someone in the direction he had pointed to. The second being that he wanted them to go stakeout a corner so that he could tell him something important. There was another third thing, but it was so outdated they never used it, only records of it kept hidden in memories and expanded through the recollection of said memories.

Still, he easily figured it was the former option one. Deku recently had no reservations about shouting ideas out loud and he made no attempt to move himself, so that potential was easily eliminated from the standings.

Katsuki looked in the direction that Deku had gestured for him to, seeking out exactly what he wanted and whether it held any connection to their previous conversation. The only reason he presumed this was because there was nothing else they had discussed that would require Deku to emphasize the direction many of his classmates were currently standing in.

Most importantly, to Deku's point but definitely not in general, the class president stood there. He was barking out orders to get all of the other students to regroup so that they could come up with a plan and hopefully stay together as a group.

Katsuki shook his head, hoping Deku would understand what he meant. There was no way in hell he'd voluntarily talk to that idiot about what to do and who to assign where. He'd rather listen to Eyebags drone on about how useless he is without his quirk, and that was saying something.

That's what he would rather do, but Deku held vastly different plans from him. Plans that he knew he wouldn't be able to refuse, one way or another.

Just one speculative glance sent his way, not a single word shared between them, and Katsuki was walking in the direction of Four Eyes begrudgingly. He doubted that anyone, had they seen their interaction, would understand just why Katsuki was willing to go that far for someone else based on the smallest of glances.

The things he did for this boy, Katsuki shook his head in an endearing manner, he supposed he deserved it… And there was only risk to his ego, of which he held coveted, but mattered not compared to the possibilities Deku predicted so efficiently.

"GOOD WORK TAKING CARE OF THAT." Katsuki began to hear Four Eyes speaking more clearly as he drifted closer to where he was standing. The blue haired boy was waving his arms up and down as though he was a robot. It wasn't Katsuki's place to judge him, but he wouldn't be surprised had he learned that the boy was indeed a robot.

Walking even closer, he called out to him, "Oi, Four Eyes."

The boy turned toward him after a few seconds of hesitation bringing a crude smirk onto Katsuki's face. Who knew he did respond to the name Four Eyes? It was comical to him, although it didn't help him much in this situation.

"MY NAME IS IIDA TENYA. WHAT DO YOU NEED?" Four Eyes corrected him without an ounce of changed emotion, he said it exactly the same but with maybe the smallest decrease in volume.

Katsuki sighed, he already hated doing this more than he could explain. Opening his mouth to retort smartly, he decided not to, worrying it would simply drag on the already detestable conversation the two of them had.

Instead, he went over the plans Deku had in the simplest terms he could think up. There was no need for details, Four Eyes could think that up on his own. Although, if he couldn't think of this then the likelihood of him being able to have any truly good idea was also slim, Katsuki held out some flimsy hope. It wasn't strong but it was there.

It was there and it had better be enough for his bruised self. After all, he was sure Eyebags and Shitty Hair, were they paying attention, would be staring at him with bewildered looks on their faces. Maybe they might even be finding it a little humorous.

But Deku was looking at him jovially as though he had fulfilled some unwritten obligation that made his eyes sparkle and lips turn up with joy.

Because while Katsuki Bakugou was not a kind or helpful person, Izuku Mirdoriya was. He would be the shield behind Katsuki's sword, so to speak, protecting and caring for one another in the grand fight for… The fight for something that neither of them even knew yet.

One step at a time, Katsuki had to take it one step at a time.

His current step found his face to face with Four Eyes, screeching about his borrowed ideas.

"THANK YOU FOR THIS NOBLE SUGGESTION, IT IS WORTHY OF USAGE." He began, not even attempting to be flattering but succeeding in the oddest way possible, "NOW EXCUSE ME, I HAVE DUTIES TO FULFILL."

Katsuki nodded slowly as the boy, quite literally, sped off.

He watched with half interest as he saw him wrangle each and every one of the students who had finished fighting the soonest of the stone giants that had come after them. Katsuki would guess it wouldn't be much time before even more of them came for the splintered group that they represented. And for however he would estimate that time to be, they didn't have nearly enough to sort themselves out,

Surprisingly, Katsuki was proven wrong as it didn't take much time for them all to gather as one group. Four Eyes did get voted in through a majority of votes, Katsuki supposed as he tried to rationalize why all those around him had actually listened to the loud blubbering fool before him.

It didn't take long for him to figure out.

Not that he would ever tell anyone this, but the moment Four Eyes began directing people and suggesting what they could be doing in a gentle but commanding way, Katsuki understood why he was class president and no one else. Not even that girl, their vice president, was able to command the attention like he was, it was strangely hypnotic, observing how he had the trust of so many of the students placed into his hands and refused to let them down.

Katsuki wasn't yet ready to become one of those faces in the crowd, willing to sign away his safety and freedom so easily but he certainly was beginning to see past what he had thought at first. But don't get him wrong, Four Eyes was still annoying as fuck, that wouldn't change if he had even a speck of leadership in him.

"You see it too, huh?" Deku asked, saddling up to his side with an amusing tilt in his eyes as though he was sharing an inside joke with a friend.

So this whole time he knew.

Katsuki snorted, not able to find it in himself to be frustrated or angry about it. If Four Eyes had leadership qualities, Deku had manipulation qualities. That was neither a compliment nor a criticism, it was simply a long held truth awaiting to surface.

"LET'S BE READY, WE DON'T KNOW HOW MANY WILL COME OR WHEN THEY'LL COME NEXT." The guts and hope of the class had been steeled and that was that. They were now on the offensive rather than the defense.

Katsuki caught Eyebags' eyes from inside the small gathering, unaware of him standing there and conversing with Four Eyes as everyone else had been. He only sent the other boy the faintest of smirks, to which he responded with one of his own.

So he had been caught in that spiderweb too? He was only lucky the spider was not poisonous but instead benevolent.

It looked like they all had a duty to do.

And do it they would.

Little time passed before all students got into their positions. Some hanging back and working on support and defense, some staying ahead for scouting, the upper middle ground was reserved for those close range who would be the first ones to make contact with any peculiar goliaths, and the lower middle was made up of the long range fighters who would attack from a distance.

It wasn't the most well thought out plan, but they were working on last minute plans, and with that consideration it was pretty impressive. Of course it couldn't have been done without Deku's brilliance and Katsuk's hesitant willingness to spread such information with the detestable Class 1-A.

Although he would admit it would be easier with multiple people than how his plans with Deku worked relying solely on him for all attacking and defending. Not that they were fighting villains, but he entertained the thought of it for a second.

What a complete disaster it would be, he dismissed the thought before he could find himself too wrapped up in the ideas of a fantasy that would never become reality, whether he wanted them to or not, he could rely on himself and Deku only. But there were exceptions to that. Against constitutionally weak stone giants it was perfectly okay for him to rely on others, he had already helped them figure out what the fuck they were doing.

Still, enough of him craved even the smallest form of community as thunderous footsteps began to descend upon their formation. His expectations for performance were extremely low, but even with all of that to be considered, he found the negative feelings bundled up inside of him unravel the tiniest bit.

And in this moment, for him that was just enough.

So they all fought, they teamed up and rid the forest of dozens of golems, Katsuki attempting to keep track of them but giving up part way through. There was no need, only the urgency to reach their designated location on time. Katsuki couldn't even tell how long they had all fought together for, individual roles completed to the best that they could be. Not a single stone giant came at them when they were unprepared and the long distance fighters easily brought down multiple on their own, short distance fighters finishing them off if needed.

He couldn't help but notice that Eyebags was doing particularly well in guiding people out of the way and improving their range of motion with his control. While still hesitant to accent his help, spme students adjusted faster than others and were able to work with good efficiency. Not that Katsuki was the best person to be measuring such things, but as his… Accomplice? Acquaintance? Whatever it was, he almost subconsciously began to look out for Eyebags whenever he was in his line of sight, which was surprisingly fewer times than expected. It still made sense, Eyebags zipping around while Katsuki stayed in the relatively same location. A few times Katsuki had caught Deku's eyes from where he was cheering him on, giving him gestures of encouragement and no doubt cooking up a new scheme. At one point in time, it may have annoyed him, but now he looked forward to such a thing, the nerd never failing to impress him.

They might just be able to get there in time with all of their abilities, from quirks or not, working together.

A wistful thought, he soon realized, as the sky was beginning to darken and the facilities weren't even in sight. He was sure the teachers wouldn't force them to be alone in the wilderness a day without saying anything, which meant they had long missed their deadline.

Katsuki knew that the other students could tell too, their movements becoming sluggish as they trudged through the forest with weakening energy. He himself was in no such state to be encouraging them, having used his quirk far too much today (for Katsuki, that was more than three times with large outputs, four times medium outputs, and five times small outputs, the rules existing as a mental control over himself) and not being a good leader.

Frankly, even if he was charismatic, there was no good news to depart to any of them with absolutely no knowledge on where the facilities could be placed within this complicated maze.

"I see something!" Masked tentacle guy called out from his perch high up in the trees, Katsuki noticing he was lurking far closer than before. "I'm certain it's a metal building."

Katsuki, along with many others, breathed out a sigh of relief that he hadn't realized he had been holding in. It couldn't be far, if what the tentacle mask guy reported was true.

"LET US GO! WE ARE ALMOST AT OUR DESTINATION." Four Eyes, ruining the relief and peace of the moment in the most obvious way possible, called out. If the stone giants had even a shred of intelligence it would be easy to track the class down with the noise he just made.

It was why Katsuki was convinced he had fucked all of them over.

Luckily, that was the case. However, he soon found that it wasn't luck that had helped them out, it was the fact that the Pro Heroes had heard them coming.

As one of the Pro Heroes was in charge of the stone giants, which was soon revealed.

But first they stumbled upon the facilities in question. Two long buildings labeled with different genders stood out immediately, with tents set up in various locations around them. It was nothing stunning but it seemed to be somewhat efficient. He was sure he wasn't even seeing the full picture from where he entered.

"Congratulations on making it here! We had expected all of you to take far longer, but consider us to be impressed." The brown haired girl, the calm one, announced with a clap of the hands, "Pixie-Bob's quirk allows her to mold the earth, and you all did an excellent job working as a team to take down her earthen golems."

"HMPH!" Annoying blond girl crossed her arms, but Katsuki avoided her insolence completely.

A long pause occurred before the green haired creepy doll looking girl spoke up.

"You'll be taking your meals over here." She pointed to a large tent that was made up in the facilities, "Tonight dinner is on us, which will be starting right now, but from here on you'll be making your meals."

Groans arose from the class, but Katsuki didn't mind it. So long as no one bothered him, cooking wouldn't be the worst thing he would be forced to participate in. He hadn't realized how late it had been, their trek taking far longer than anyone could have anticipated, except for the heroes. He didn't want to bother arguing though, so he nodded, looking around one more time as some of the students began to trudge in the direction of the mess hall that had been claimed for them. He began to walk in that direction too, satisfied by everything he saw.

That was, until his eyes caught on something peculiar and he stopped in his tracks.

There was a small black haired boy with a red horned cap perched upon his head, but that wasn't the worst part. The worst part was that he was growling and glaring at any hero student who passed by him.

"Who the fuck are you, kid?" Katsuki advanced towards him, with a glare ten times more powerful.

"Kacchan! You can't just ask a child that, he probably lives here or maybe got lost in the woods and the Wild Wild Pussycats are returning him home!" Deku frantically attempted to cover up Katsuki's bluntness.

"What's it to you?" The boy answered back in a sharp tone.

"I don't like weird, freaky kids with an attitude." Katsuki crossed his arms, he was a freaky kid with an attitude but he never liked that. And now that he had more of a say, he wouldn't tolerate it.

"And I don't like heroes." The boy's fists balled at his sides, anger evident in his voice.

"Well I'm not a hero, kid." Katsuki snorted at the boy's lack of information and overall knowledge, "Stop assuming stupid shit and be respectful."

Before the boy could get a word of protest out or strike Katsuki, who sensed the hostility and remained at a decent pace away from him, was interrupted by the brown haired woman.

"I'm so sorry about him! This is Kota's, he's my nephew staying here, please don't mind what he said." She had run over and was now leaning in closer, quieting her tone, "He hates heroes, but it's not his fault, excuse him."

"Whatever." Katsuki shrugged her off. His opinions were his opinions, however weak and unsupported they were. Still, his tantrum was no big deal, just a rude teenager to a ruder kid. The only difference being the levels of obnoxiousness, his far less than the boy.

He was hungry anyway and did his best to ignore Deku's chiding over the fact that he spoke to a kid the way he did. It was how he was raised, after all, and the boy looked like he could take it so he didn't see a problem with it.

The rest of the night passed relatively quickly, Katsuki scarfing up the food served and keeping his interactions to a minimum. Then all of the students were directed to where they'd be sleeping, luggage already delivered, to which they all went to bed.

Or were told to go to bed.

Katsuki couldn't sleep.

His mind was too busy thinking about the earthen giants, the villain attack, the teamwork and how he felt about being a hero.

One problem to be sorted at a earthen giants were self-explanatory and wasn't a big deal. He could figure out what it meant for him to be a hero later. The urge to unravel the feelings that were wound up tight grew even more inside of him, he had a chance to begin the process earlier but it didn't really solve everything. If there was anything that could solve it, it would be stopping these villains from entering and carrying out their plans. He needed to prioritize finalizing the plan against the villains, else someone gets harmed late in the night.

Deku and him may have had a plan but he couldn't claim how effective it would be without actually being tested or reviewed. They had to assume it would work and that itself was a scary thought. There would be no do-overs. Their first attempt would be their last attempt, their only attempt in total.

Katsuki couldn't handle the burden of these thoughts alone. He wouldn't be able to sort them independently. However, lying awake in his orange sleeping bag, he realized that anyone could easily be stirred if we would attempt to talk to Deku freely. There was only one place he could think of which would be able to do this.

He got up slowly and quietly, padding outside under the guise of getting some fresh air. He needed it to calm his nerves, but mainly to provide cover for him. Luckily, Deku sensed this and followed him, as sleepless as ever.

Neither of them spoke for a long time, only looking out, clad in a thin layer of pajamas against the soothing winds that blew around his face.

Katsuki couldn't take anymore of the silence that was overwhelming him, despite the calm forest air filtering through his nose and mouth.

"What are you thinking about?" Katsuki asked Deku, breaking the silence, as he stared up at the stars above them. It was a remarkably clear night with them so far from the light pollution of the cities, it almost felt like they had stepped into another country with how bright it was.

"Honestly?" Deku asked, no doubt staring up just as he was and enjoying the view.

"Honestly." Katsuki confirmed, voice lighter than usual, indicating his distraction.

"I'm not sure. There seems to be so much going on. You training, the villains attacking and preparing for them, maybe even making some friends." Katsuki snorted at those words in disbelief, friends his ass, "But when I look up, it all seems so simple. I don't know what it is but I… I don't know."

Katsuki nods faintly, the glinting stars made one feel insignificant, as though any actions that they could take would be absolutely futile against the forces that ruled over them all.

The two of them sat in silence with each other for a long time, exhaustion gnawing away at Katsuki but he couldn't bring it in himself to close his eyes just yet, his extensive quirk usage throughout the day be damned.
And anyway, it seemed like Deku was enjoying this, the solitude and quiet of the open space and sky before them. That was the only reason he needed to keep his mouth shut and eyes wide open.

Just as quickly as it came, the moment left again, broken by a quietly murmured question, "What's our plan, then?"

Katsuki cleared his throat gently, still wanting to keep some of the atmosphere, "I think you already know. This is a fucking forest, so advantages for both us and the villains but as long as we know the area it'll suit us better." He recited what Deku had told him much earlier, it was a logical assumption by any means. "And it'll most likely be night time since there's a lot of brush and that's when all these fuckers are going to be most tired."

Their analysis had been brutal and thorough but if it was going to save someone's life, namely his own, then their preparation was worth it.

"And now?" Deku prodded.

"Now we wait." Katsuki grunted out in response, he didn't like the feeling of being tested, particularly not by Deku, "And train."

Deku didn't say a word, but Katsuki took his silence as an affirmation of his correctness. If he was that wrong, Deku would've been in a rush to cover it up.

The two of them stayed in silence and watched the stationary stars sparkle and shine from deep within the galaxy above up.

He didn't think they had to say anything more, their body language and heavy air saying all that they needed it to. That they would follow and succeed by the plan they had laid out or else risk all those on the trip, all those who, similarly to Katsuki, had been hoping to get training and to improve upon themselves.

After more time passed, Deku was the one who broke the silence existing between them.

"You need some rest, it'll be extra tiring tomorrow." His words were barely above a whisper, but echoed in Katsuki's head nonetheless. He had forgotten about how late it was and how much he had delayed his rest just so that he could discuss the next moves for both him and Deku.

"Keep an eye out, then." Katsuki talked significantly louder, chasing away whatever quiet thoughts began to gnaw away at him and the tiredness seeping into his bones. He might have disrupted the experience of the silence but he assumed it would be fine as soon as they wrapped up at least semi-quickly.

Deku didn't say anything about it, only looking in the same place as he had been previously. "Kacchan, don't forget..."

He had trailed off, as though unsure about what he was going to be saying. Yet with the way he phrased it, Katsuki perked up at it, what did he mean by don't forget? He worried there was an aspect of the plan he had forgotten or that Deku had yet to mention at all.

"Don't forget you're here to train and improve yourself." He said it with such great conviction and without a single ounce of hesitance, "Focus on that, you can't be a hero if you can hone what you have."

Katsuki almost snorted at the sight of the two of them, Deku sounding like a motivational coach and Katsuki holding onto his every word like they were going to be the boy's last. He knew that wasn't true, but they sounded like the usual parting words of someone leaving and not coming back. It wouldn't be happening today, not in a million days.

"Better stay safe." He gruffly spoke, half a threat and half a warning. He didn't know what he would do if something happened to Deku amidst any of his snooping, "Love ya."

Deku finally turned to him, strength held in the depths of his eyes, "Love you too."

Katsuki smiled softly and then gazed back up at the stars for a few more minutes before turning back and going to his sleeping bag alone as inconspicuous as possible. No one had moved dramatically since he had exited, not that he really cared about the opinions and thoughts of those around him, but it still reassured him.

If only he had caught the wide open eyes staring at him, clearly awake after hearing everything he had said. Had he noticed this, he would be in deep shit, but since he didn't, the moment of doom was inevitably postponed.

---

Todoroki was more than just concerned at this point, he was absolutely livid. Livid and convinced even further that Bakugou wasn't who he said he was. Throughout their trip, he had attempted to observe the other boy as subtly as possible and hadn't noticed anything peculiar.

That was until he decided to slip out of the room late into the night. Todoroki would be a horrible hero to excuse any such actions without checking up on what exactly was occurring first, thus he followed the angry boy. But before he could find out where Bakugou was going,he had to get out of his sleeping bag. A task more easily said that done, as there was a miscellaneous arm strewn across his calves. He was unsure of when it had gotten there, mind too focused on whatever Bakugou could've been up to.

Carefully shrugging off the arm in a way that wouldn't wake whomever's arm it belonged to, he attempted to scoot up and out of his sleeping bag, only to find the arm curled tightly against the bottom of his legs.

Frowning slightly, he was beginning to grow irritated. There were serious matters he had to attend to and yet one pesky person would not let him go. He began to think about the previous instance, in which he gently placed the arm away, as a warning. And because it was a warning, he was not held responsible for his next actions of sitting up and putting his right hand near the strewn arm, making it uncomfortable enough that the arm had no other choice than to move itself.

And it did.

Todoroki quickly got up, his sleeping bag still falling off of him until he shrugged it off right before exiting the room in which all of the boys were safely asleep, one of them with an arm colder than all others.

In his hurry, he didn't realize that the person he was supposed to be watching for, Bakugou, was just right outside and if he had continued to walk he would've run right into him and exposed his motives totally.

He was not the right person to be doing this, as he recognized far too late and while he was far too invested into the problem at hand. Ducking backwards enough not to be right in his view, he peeked around through the cracked open sliding door frame.

"And it'll most likely be night time since there's a lot of brush and that's when all these fuckers are going to be most tired."

Those muffled words were more than enough to draw Todoroki out of his stupor, more than stunned. He would have suggested that he hadn't heard that right if he didn't already know about Bakugou's villainous tendencies.

What else could he mean by "It'll be at night"? When the class would be tired… He had a bad feeling about this. It wasn't specified what exactly he was talking about, so Todoroki listened on for more clues and information, but he was still convinced of his theory.

There was a long pause before he heard Bakugou speak again, his next words offering very little, "Now we wait."

Wait for what? And for how long?

Those were the obvious questions but a deeper one irked at the forefront of Todoroki's mind. Just who was Bakugou talking to? Todoroki tried to maneuver himself into a position that might reveal the answer, but he couldn't find anyone. It seemed Yaoyorozu's words were factual, he was purely talking to himself.

Unless he had spotted Todoroki's obviously horrible hiding right behind him, half covered by the doorframe. Which wouldn't be possible, lest he had a quirk which would allow him to do so, and Todoroki knew he didn't. Although at this point there wasn't anything out of the realm of possibility, in a world with quirks and where even high school students could work with unsavory characters, everything had to be accounted for.

Until proven otherwise, he had to assume that Bakugou did not see him. But now that he had opened the door of possibilities, maybe he was talking to someone else, not just himself. If that person was concealed or speaking back to him through a device it would certainly be plausible, when proven.

Todoroki pointedly ignored the entire USJ situation,making a note to ask some of the others who were in the same area as Bakugou exactly how he had acted and what happened.

Or he could work for different villains than the ones who attacked, it didn't matter either way.

"And train."

Todoroki was never fond of those words, especially not said by contradictory heathens who were not shown to have any basic empathy. If he sounded angered it's because he was, the word "training," itself putting him on high guard.

He didn't like this one bit, he hadn't liked anything he had seen all day in a single bit, but this was something doable, something in his hands, something as a hero he needed to do to ensure the lives and protection of their class.

To him, there was only one real option available now. He had to be crystal clear about everything that had happened, he needed to make sure that Bakugou's intentions were as clear as he saw them to be. To do so, he built a mental collection of all that had taken place, starting with his first impression of Bakugou from the Sports Festival as arrogant, yet similarly broken to himself, and reclusive from any possible interactions. He seemingly talked to no one and was reported to have strange behavior, of which Todoroki knew Yaoyorozu would not have made up. She seemed to look at the best in people and if she agreed that something suspicious was occuring, then that's what was going on. Todoroki further drew evidence from their training so far, in which Bakugou had displayed an overall sense of bad teamwork, which Todoroki would understand as someone who was trained under the guide of independence, but it seemed less like independence and more like showing off. Maybe that was just him finding something from nothing and trying to find a reason to dislike the other boy, no matter what he did, but he figured he had enough reason to. Bakugou did hold a suspicious conversation about night plans and getting to people once they had been tired through the sways of the night, if he had specified any further, that alone would be enough for Todoroki to… The realization that he hadn't come out with a specific plan as to what would happen had Bakugou turned out to be a villain and while Todoroki was sitting around, lives would be damaged.

If he intended to expose himself on this trip then what could he do about it? He could go to Aizawa, probably being the best course of action, but his teacher would want evidence of such, Todoroki simply saying he knew it or overheard something might not be enough. But it was a start, so he used all of his attention to focus on Bakugou and whatever he'd do next.

He knew he had missed something that had been said, too worried about the why and how rather than the what. As such, he only heard the words "safe." Without any context clues, he couldn't be sure what that meant so he dismissed it.

However, the words that came next were far more startling than anything else he had said. Two simple words stunned Todoroki to his very core.

"Love ya."

What.

Todoroki was sure that his entire world had just tilted, as though there was an earthquake but he was the earthquake and everything else had stood still, waiting for him.

He wasn't sure if he had even heard that correctly. It would be no use to doubt his hearing when he was this involved, but he couldn't help the slightest shock he felt.

It was the way Bakugou had said it which really got to Todoroki. He said it with such absolute devotion and love, of which he knew because he had never heard something like it before from his mother or father. Closer to Fuyumi's warmth, the words opened an intimate window into the other boy's personal life. If he wasn't utterly convinced before that he was talking to someone else he had extreme loyalty to, he was sure of it now.

How to process Bakugou loving someone and going so far in his love was beyond Todroki's knowledge. Social and romantic cues flew over his head, as he had once been told.

But less about his limitations, Todoroki observed quietly for a little while longer before he noticed Bakugou picking his way back towards the room that served as the communal sleeping zone. Not wanting to be caught red-handed on his spying, especially if he was up against by a potential villain spy. Todoroki ran ahead and worked to get as situated within his sleeping back as soon as possible, even the weirdest things out of context had to stay in context and keep believable. Grabbing the once more warm arm and draping it on himself in the moments before Bakugou knocked down their doors, so to speak, Todoroki found that he didn't spare a second glance around the room, only getting right to bed.

It had been a long day for all of them, but yet with the knowledge that someone such as Bakugou was sleeping steps away from him was enough to dissuade him.