Chapter 62: Working Through Those Feelings
The day before was their adventure in Equestria… the class figured something was up when they came back to the dorms. Seeing their classmates come back somewhat disheveled with looks on their faces "Don't ask what happened".
The next day during breakfast they were able to talk about it though, while the TV was on in the background.
"Someone from Hagakure's past life kidnapped you?" asked Iida in disbelief.
"I believe it…" muttered Kyoka.
"Why?" asked Kaminari.
Kyoka only shuddered in response.
"You don't want to know…" said Kyoka.
However before the conversation could continue the news started to talk about a different topic.
And Mashirao was the first one of two notice it.
"Oh no…" said Mashirao.
Everyone looked at the TV and saw what the report was about… Aldera.
"Is that…" said Kirishima.
"The principal of Aldera Jr. High and several teachers have been arrested on multiple charges." Said one of the anchors.
"Charges on Quirk discrimination, ignoring bullying, covering up crimes among other crimes." Said the other anchor.
Katsuki finished his breakfast before leaving.
He really didn't want to hear this again.
"I didn't think they would go public so fast..." siad Izuku.
"IS that what the meeting was about the other day?" asked Ochaco.
"Hibiki's been investigating the school for months." Said Izuku, "Turned out we're not the only affected by them."
"What do you mean?" asked Kaminari.
Almost by answering they went the anchors went into details about the "Villain" attack and about how the former students were arrested and expelled from the schools they went to.
Almost everyone at the table gaped at this face.
"Aldera didn't understand heroes." Said Mashirao.
Everyone looked at him.
"I had to salvage my internship with Hibiki and I helped with the investigation." Said Mashirao, "I only worked on it for a couple days but I had already seen a lot…"
"I didn't know it was that bad to be honest." Said Izuku, "I mean our old homeroom teacher would just let Kacchan do anything… but I didn't think it was that bad."
"He was able to get away with stuff in front of the homeroom teacher?" asked Tsuyu.
"Yeah…" said Izuku sheepishly.
"I should point out that Aiko really wanted to take him down." Said Mashirao.
It became awkwardly silent.
"You can't blame the school you know." said Kyoka.
"I know…" said Izuku who then shifted it Sanji mode, "He was an ass before we even entered Jr. High… they just made him worse…"
Things became silent.
"Should we change the channel?" asked Ochaco thinking it would probably be a good idea.
"I actually wanted to see the hero hidden talent segment today." Said Kaminari.
"Oh it's that morning show…" said Momo.
Thankfully the very odd segment which involved a weird egg juggling act that weirded everyone out got everyone's minds off of Aldera … mostly… because it was clear to everyone that Katsuki was having a hard time.
Once everyone was done with breakfast, Izuku walked over to Momo.
"Can you do a favor for me?" asked Izuku.
"What is it?" asked Momo.
Meanwhile Katsuki had gone to his room to lift weights to get his mind off the conversation while Firecracker curled up next to him.
As he was doing it there was a knock on the door.
"If it's Deku I don't want to talk to you right now… and if it's Clear… just leave the cupcakes at the door." Muttered Katsuki.
"I'm neither." Was Momo's reply on the other side.
Katsuki put the weight down and opened the door.
"What do you want?" he asked.
"I thinking of sparring after training today." Said Momo.
"Let me guess it's Deku's idea." Muttered Katsuki.
Momo didn't answer.
"Seriously?" asked Katsuki with a sweat drop.
"I do want to do spar with you… but Izuku thinks you might need to get your anger out." Said Momo.
"Whatever…" muttered Katsuki.
Momo nodded.
Sometime later everyone was practicing. All Might decide to help out with this class and give everyone advice.
When he got to Katsuki.
"I don't need it All Might." Muttered Katsuki.
"What?" asked All Might.
"Bakugo is just doing whatever until he gets his new gear." Explained Aizawa with his eye twitching.
"New gear?" asked All Might then he remember how he was a swordsman in his past life and realized specially made sword.
Aizawa sighed.
Katsuki wasn't the only one doing their own thing though, Izuku had so many moves that he really just needed to practice somewhat.
Mashirao was doing the same thing.
However Ochaco and Momo were practicing, with Ochaco trying to figure out new moves and Momo coming up with new armor designs and how to put them on quickly.
Toru on the other hand was in fact creating a new move using her quirk and only her quirk.
But still half of them really didn't need this training time or to come up with a move…
Once the training was over Aizawa called out "Bakugo! Yaoyorozu! I know that Yaoyorozu set aside time for a training session." Said Aizawa, "I'll be observing you and making sure it doesn't go too far."
Both of them looked at him.
"And I already am aware that going too far will be different level… so I will try to keep that in mind." Said Aizawa.
They got to one of the training grounds.
Momo created four katana.
"I should let you know I'm not like Deku when it comes to hitting women." Said Katsuki as he took the sword.
"Unless I did manage to managed to training it out of it." Said Momo.
Katsuki raised an eyebrow as he grabbed the swords.
"We trained together before the Sports Festival, he can hit me a least." Said Momo.
Katsuki snorted at he grabbed the three swords for him. It made sense that he was smart enough to train it out of him in this life.
"You ready?" asked Katsuki with the sword in his mouth.
Momo stared at him and just sweat dropped.
"Yeah… I learned how to talk with a sword in mouth…" he sighed.
"You had to explain that people." Said Momo.
"Not as often as you think…" said Katsuki.
"Oh right… world didn't make any sense." Laughed Momo.
Katsuki glared at her.
Momo smirked.
And then the spar began as the as the two sword users started to clash.
Aizawa watched from the nearby building and sighed as he could barely see their movements and groaned.
At the same time he was glad that he didn't have anything to do with the reassessment anymore. He did sigh at this.
"I have no idea what would be the line…" he muttered.
On the ground the tow of them continued to clash, both of them being very fast in their strikes.
Momo managed to jump away.
"You know… are you going to hold back?" asked Momo.
"How do you even know I'm holding back?" asked Katsuki.
"I saw you in feral stage." Said Momo, "I was the one to provide you with swords and I saw you unleash a tornado."
She didn't want to mention she pounded him when he start fighting with Izuku. But that wasn't important.
""Fine if you think you can handle it." Said Katsuki.
He prodded to cut the air and indeed createed a tornado.
Aizawa watched form his spot and with eye twitching.
"Why couldn't that be an exaggeration." Muttered Aizawa.
Back with the spar Momo managed to dodged the tornado.
"You're going to have to show me how to do that in the future." Said Momo with a smirk.
"What can't do anything like that?" mocked Katsuki.
"Most of my other skills were because of magic which my body doesn't have in this life." Pointed out Momo.
"Oh… yeah…" said Katsuki unsure how to respond.
"But magic wasn't my only abilities." Said Momo.
The two continued to class.
The two avoiding major injuries when they could.
But they did have quite a scratches from the attacks the pother managed to hit when it looked like it wasn't going to be a bad hit.
Every now and then Katsuki would unleash a wind power slice, which Momo always managed to dodge.
Still, this really was helping Katsuki.
It was helping with getting everything out with fighting.
Not to mention she was a good level when it came to being a swordswoman.
Both of them were now looking at each other and covered in multiple cuts.
"That's enough!" called out Aizawa.
"What seriously!" yelled Katsuki, "We haven't even gotten that injured!"
" It's not that…" said Aizawa.
Momo checked her phone.
"We have half an hour before therapy." Said Momo.
"Oh right… that…" said Katsuki.
"Go to Recovery Girl then got to therapy." Said Aizawa.
The two nodded.
As the cuts were small, it was decided to just bandage them.
They ran into Ochaco and Izuku who saw the various bandages.
"I can see you had fun." Joked Izuku in Sanji mode.
"Are you okay?" asked Ochaco.
"Recovery Girl figures it was minor enough she didn't have to use her quirk." Said Momo.
"Are you going to do it again?" asked Izuku.
"We are." Said Katsuki.
Izuku walked over to Katsuki.
"Please don't make it into a sex thing with her…" he whispered in Sanji mode.
"It's not like that!" yelled Katsuki, "And it wasn't like that with Tashigi either!"
"Should we ask?" asked Ochaco.
"Probably not a good idea…" said Momo.
They got to the therapy room where Toru and Mashirao was already there and the other four took their seats. They also noticed that Hibiki seemed a little depressed.
And all of them quickly figured out why.
"Fuck…" muttered Katsuki under his breath.
Hibiki sighed as the session started.
"So… I'm sure saw the news this morning." Said Hibiki.
Katsuki gritted his teeth.
"Can we not fucking talk about it?" asked Katsuki.
"Kacchan." Said Izuku.
"It's clear that you need to talk about it." Sighed Hibiki.
Katsuki gritted his teeth and he remembered it was point of the therapy was to get things off his chest.
"I'm fuckin tired of getting reminded! I fucked up! I don't need to reminded of it every day!" yelled Katsuki.
Everyone else was quiet but he needed to get it out.
"Every day I feel like someone is reopening a wound and pouring salt in it!" yelled Katsuki, "I'm fucking sick of being reminded how much I hurt Deku! And now people are blaming the school!"
"Kacchan it's fine… and nothing bad really happened." Said Izuku.
"No! Bad Izuku! BAD!" said Aiko.
"What?" asked Izuku.
"Izuku… we've all seen the damage his bullying did… even if you did get over it." Sighed Hibiki.
Izuku cringed… he knew he had to tell Katsuki… and maybe getting it out there would be the for the best.
"Kacchan… when I learned how to use my quirk without breaking any bones while not using Haki… I developed mental blocks…" said Izuku.
"What the fuck does that mean?" he asked.
"Whenever I got into a fight or another situation I would forget something… sometimes it was unimportant like what I forgot during the exam… but often it got in the way… Unless somone reminded me of the attack or move it would be hidden behind a mental wall… I only got over it fighting Muscular at the camp…" said Izuku.
Katsuki's eye winded, he remembered what Hibiki said during the exam about forgetting things and that competeition back on I-Island that Izuku held back durring it.
"What the fuck…" muttered Katsuki in shock, "Did anyone else know?"
"Todoroki, Iida and Tsu…" said Izuku, "Also the teachers…"
"Why them?" demanded Katsuki.
"Todoroki and Iida were there when they developed." Explained Mashirao.
"Tsu knows because we talked about it in front of her." Said Ochaco.
"What about I-Island." Said Katsuki remembering something, "You seemed fine then."
"I kept reminded things he forgot." Said Aiko.
"The exam…" said Katsuki.
"I forgot… Parage Shot… it was kind of random…" said Izuku blushing.
Katsuki blinked then remembered what attack that was.
"Oh yeah… that attack…" said Katsuki.
"What's that attack?" asked Toru.
"Uh… you know what it's not important." Said Izuku.
Said attack was a special attack that literally rearranged the opponents face like plastic surgery.
Everyone could tell there was something they were hiding about that attack.
But whatever it was… it wasn't the time to ask about it.
"Are you sure you're over it?" asked Katsuki.
"Don't worry he'll be able to check during the reassessment." Said Hibiki, "I've already picked out a hero to perform it and he agreed immediately to do it…"
Izuku nodded…
"You still developed it though…" said Katsuki.
He gritted his teeth… he knew Izuku couldn't see the truth about his Haki, but to have such low self-esteem to hold himself back despite the possible danger.
"What the fuck is wrong with me!" yelled Katsuki.
He was shaking and struggling not to cry.
Izuku looked at him, he looked at Hibiki who nodded.
Izuku then kicked him in head.
"What the fuck was that for"! yelled Katsuki.
"We all have regrets." Said Izuku in Sanji mode, "And you can't let them get you down."
"I have a bunch of regrets from both lives… Especially in my past life… I don't want to go into details right now but people died because of my mistakes… a lot of people died…" said Hibiki.
"In my past life I did something really bad and scummy… I know I have to talk about it soon…" sighed Mashirao.
"Kacchan…" said Izuku no longer in Sanji mode, "Please… don't do this…"
HE began to cry.
"I forgave you back during the exam." Cried Izuku, "And that was back when I was dealing with the block…"
"Wait to go Katsuki! You made him cry!" said Aiko.
"Oh what the fuck! HE cries all the time." Said Katsuki.
"Yeah…" agreed Izuku laughing through his tears.
"We thought there was a leak when his mom visited." Reminded Hibiki.
Aiko began to grumble.
"If you continue to dwell on this you're just going to end up destroying yourself." Said Momo.
"She's right." Said Toru., "If you keep focusing on the negative you'll end up hurting yourself and others…"
"Please… you did really screw me up…" said Izuku.
"Is that supposed help me!" yelled Katsuki.
"But it wasn't just you… The teachers could have stopped you." Said Izuku, "They could have stopped the other bullies. But they didn't because I was just the "Qurikless" kid. They chose to just brush me off…"
Katsuki was silent.
"You screwed up… but it's not like you can never undo your mistakes." Said Toru.
"We also don't expect you to get over this right away." Said Hibiki, "It's fine to still feel bad about it… but if you're constantly beating yourself in ways that hurt the people around you then it's not just you that's having problems…"
"Be as angry as you want to be about what happened. Your entire situation is fucked up! All Might is a better teacher than you're old ones! And only now did he start reading "Teaching for Dummies"." Said Aiko.
"Oh that explains his attempts at advice today." Said Ochaco.
"There's a reason why I consider All Might my goofy co-worker with a stupid ringtone." Said Hibiki.
This got a laugh from all of the kids.
"But remember the teachers had a job… a job they clearly didn't do." Said Hibiki.
"Especially your homeroom teacher!" said Aiko, "He let you bully Izuku while doing nothing!"
"Wait what's his ringtone?" asked Ochaco getting distracted.
"Uh… it's not that bad…" said Izuku.
"You copied his ringtone." Muttered Katsuki.
"No…" said Izuku who was clearly lying.
Hibiki sighed at this momentary distraction.
"Getting back on track…" said Hibiki, "It's not entirely your fault… you did do a lot of damage… but like Toru said you can fix it."
Katsuki was quiet.
"Also during the reassessment I'm sure that whoever you will fight will let you get our your anger if you need to." Said Hibiki.
Everyone stared at Hibiki.
"What did the guy do to you?" asked Izuku in Sanji mode.
"It's not that guy who was going to intern me… was it?" asked Mashirao.
"No… I'm still giving him the silent treatment." Said Hibiki.
"What happened?" asked Katsuki who realized he never go the story.
"The tracker got lost in the transceiver got lost in the mail ironically enough and he was too embarrassed that it never came that he didn't tell Hibiki until days had passed." Explained Izuku.
"I ended up wandering around Japan for three days." Sighed Mashirao.
Katsuki nodded.
"Kacchan please… I know you regret everything but just tell us you need to talk… or spar…" said Izuku.
Momo nodded in agreement of the spar part.
"Or if you need cupcakes." Said Toru, "But don't drag someone to one of the training grounds in the middle of the night so you can fight! You will get in trouble for that."
"Yeah… don't do that." Agreed Hibiki.
"Whatever…" muttered Katsuki.
It was clear that Katsuki wasn't going to get over what happened any time soon. But he did have everyone helping him.
Eventually the therapy group was over and things were quiet with the teens as they left the therapy room.
Katsuki looked at Izuku as they all walked together to the dorms… he considered bringing pulling him aside somewhere to talk about a certain something. A something that he had pieced together.
But after that session he knew he had to talk to about it soon.
But still he knew there was a of problems to still unpack at the moment… but the others were right, he shouldn't be dwelling on it and beating himself up.
Plus he quickly realized it was probably a bad idea do it while Izuku, Momo and Toru were around.
Now that he knew that Momo while wasn't at his level when it came to swordsmanship was pretty close, and Izuku could still kick his ass…
And there whatever Toru would do to cheer him up.
Probably drag Kirishima into it as well…
He wasn't alone… and he was no longer in a situation where pushing people away was the easy thing to do…
He wasn't going to get over it anytime soon… but he was going to work on it… which was better than nothing…
Next Time: It's time for the reassessments! Hibiki has recruited four fellow reincarnations and one other hero to help him with it. Who will be paired up with who? And who is that hero who is not a reincarnation? Find out next time!
A/N: I decided to change up the original arcs as the reassessment will take a few chapters and that will be its own arc so yeah and the arc kind of wrapped up with this chapter if you think about it as well... so yeah! The next arc will be the Reassessment Arc...