Chapter 21: Bakugo's Choice
HUGE SHOUT OUT TO COSMYK ANGEL FOR COMING UP AGAIN WITH WHAT TO DO FOR THE GENERAL STUDIES PROGRAM!
Katsuki Bakugo was not the kind of person that often felt intimated. However, that was a feeling that he was getting use to ever since Aldera got exposed after the orphanage debacle. He had been chilling and relaxing at home, celebrating that he had made it through his first week at UA, despite having to live in the same building with Deku and that weak-ass extra Fuji when he almost crapped his pants when he heard his father scream his name, demanding he come down stairs.
Never once in his life had he ever heard his father raise his voice. That was at least till Deku sent his mother that video of him trying to teach Fuji a lesson. It used to be always the old hag who did all the shouting in the house and he simply stood by and watched. His heart pounded as he slowly got off of his bed, unsure of what was going to greet him downstairs.
"Katsuki Bakugo!" his father shouted, face purpling with rage. Bakugo flinched at the site, he never thought he'd see his father so angry, even during his recent tirades that was something new since he left Aldera. "You better sit your ass down right now!"
"Dad!" Bakugo choked, struggling to form words, "What's going on?"
"PERHAPS YOU COULD TELL ME THAT SON?!" Masaru shouted back pointing at him to have a seat in the living room where he gingerly sat down before taking a deep breath before continuing, "This is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi. He is from the police department and he has some very disturbing questions for you."
"It's okay Mr. Bakugo," the detective said in a reassuring voice, "I can take it from here. Now Mr. Bakugo, were you a student at Aldera High School before being accepted to UA University?"
"Yes sir." Bakugo said while nodding, noticing his father was still fuming and his mother looked like a completely different person, shattered.
"And during your time at Aldera, did you know of a boy named Madoka Morishita?" the detective asked.
Looking towards his parents, knowing lying was not the best option he nodded.
"I'm afraid I will need a verbal answer Mr. Bakugo." The detective said plainly, "Did you know of a boy named Madoka Morishita?"
"Oh shit! This guy might have a lie detecting quirk!"
"Yes sir." Bakugo said this time while looking down at the ground, wondering if eye contact also played a role in this mystery detective quirk.
"What was your relationship with Madoka Morishita during your time at school?" the detective asked.
"We never got along." Bakugo answered plainly, still not looking the detective in the eye, thinking that played a part in his quirk, "He had no friends really, and no one wanted to be friends with what everyone at Aldera called…"
"What did they call people like Madoka Morishita at Aldera?" the detective asked again.
Bakugo looked up and saw his father was furiously pacing back and forth, deliberately trying to keep his newly found temper in check and his mother was leaking tears.
"Everyone called people like him, quirkless losers. No one wanted to associate with someone who was quirkless."
"So he was one of the victims that were facing quirk discrimination going on at Aldera then?"
"Yes sir." Bakugo said, nodding his head,
"Did you take part in this discrimination yourself Mr. Bakugo against Madoka Morishita?"
Katsuki looked up at the detective, then again at his crying mother, and once more at his livid father.
"They must already know everything. They are just talking to me to confirm it all."
"Yes sir. I did." Bakugo answered knowing that lying would get him nowhere given that most likely the cat was out of the bag. "But I wasn't the only one. There were about twenty others too."
"Yes, you by far weren't the only one." the detective sighed as he reached into an inner coat pocket and pulled out a piece of paper, laying it on the coffee table between them.
"What is this sir?" Katsuki asked as he tentatively reached for the piece of paper. Stopping, but then picking it up after an encouraging nod from the detective.
"That is a copy of the suicide note written by Madoka Morishita a month ago." the detective solemnly answered
Bakugo then felt an emotion that he couldn't describe coarse through his body. It was something he had never experienced before and thus couldn't understand what was going on.
The feeling intensified as he read the note in his now shaking hands. His name was mentioned over, and over again. Listing off nearly everything he had done to him in and out of school for over nine years. How he just couldn't take it anymore. The letter went on to describe in graphic details about how Katsuki and the others would bully and make his life a living nightmare he could not wake up from.
What stabbed Katsuki through the chest was a line mentioning how he was this boy's own worst… villain. Someone who existed just to torment him and remind him how much he would never amount to anything. The final bit in the letter was what hurt him the most.
That is why I am going to take your advice Bakugo: Take a swan dive off a roof and hope for a quirk in the next life.
"He… He…. Did it?" Katsuki stuttered out finally after letting go of the piece of paper and letting it fall to the floor.
It was then that the detective pulled a polaroid style photo from his breast pocket. He handed it to Katsuki upside down. Katsuki flipped it over and instantly wished he hadn't. It was a picture of his former victim's corpse, all bloody with bone fragments, blood, and viscera splattered across a back alley.
Dropping the photo he instantly ran to the half bathroom near the front door and began to hurl. He was in there for about fifteen minutes before he came stumbling out, barely able to make it back to the sofa, his face as white as possible as it could ever get.
He instantly gulped and downed the glass of water that was waiting for him. He felt weak, every part of his body was in pain despite not actually receiving any injury himself. He looked down at the photo, it was face down against the carpet. He didn't dare pick it back up again and see what was on the other side once more.
"Katsuki Bakugo…" The detective asked after a long pause where they all sat there in silence, "Did you or did you not give that advice to Madoka Morishita? Did you or did you not tell him, and I quote: "Take a swan dive off a roof and hope you are born with a quirk in the next life?"
It was about a minute of silence before Katsuki quietly answered in the affirmative. The detective sighed with deep regret, his mother started to sob even more, and his father… his father simply sat down in an armchair and put his head in his hands and bent forward, unable to look at his son.
As though it was scheduled, there was a knock at the door. Each knock felt like a pounding from a battering ram as far as Katsuki was concerned as Principal Nezu, Aizawa, Hounddog, that Sakura business course teacher, and one of the general studies teachers came in. The one from Class E, the police academy course, if Bakugo remembered correctly, the one with the fear inducing quirk, the Pro-Hero Phobia, Ms. Osore.
"T-th-th-thank yo-u for coming." Mitsuki stuttered as she shakily began serving tea to the incoming guests who all sat around the living room. Bakugo moving to the armchair next to his father so the teachers could sit together on the couches.
"Am I going to jail?"
"Will I be locked up in Tartarus?"
"Am I being expelled from UA?"
"I can understand Aizawa being here, he's my homeroom teacher. The principal of course makes sense. Sakura also makes sense because he is a shrink, Hounddog is a guidance counselor. But where does that General Studies Teacher fit in?"
"Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo, thank you for welcoming us into your lovely home. Although I wish we never had to come in the first place." Principal Nezu said after taking a sip of tea.
"The feeling is mutual Principal Nezu." Mitsuki managed to say after an awkward pause while she composed herself.
"Well… Let's get to the good news concerning your son Mrs. Bakugo." Nezu said clapping his paws together.
"There is good news for me?" Katsuki thought to himself.
"Thanks to the by-laws in the education system and the UA Charter, we cannot punish our students for transgressions they are responsible for before they were accepted into UA." Nezu explained.
The Chimera paused for a moment, letting the silence sink in for everyone knowing a major but was coming.
"That does not mean when new past behavior comes to light, we can include it as a factor for when we need to plan out or discuss future punishments."
For what felt like the forty-seventh time that day, Katsuki felt a pang of dread and fear wash over him, or was it the general studies teacher using her quirk on him? It was then that Aizawa spoke up.
"Needless to say Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo, if we had known of your son's behavior, and if Aldera didn't cover up all of your son's actions, he wouldn't have been accepted into UA, let alone allowed to even take the entrance exam. The documented torture to Class 1-B's Hiro Fuji alone would have done that."
"We understand." both parents answered in unison, both feeling the shame that their son's actions have brought onto their family.
"Furthermore all students who attended Aldera have been blacklisted from every higher education institution that offers a hero program and the top 100 universites that don't offer hero programs. Many schools, the Ministry of Justice, and the Ministry of Education are taking the fact the staff of the school didn't do anything to help students of that sham orphanage seriously. Hence the reason for the Blacklist" Nezu went on, the pit in Katsuki's stomach worsening.
"Exceptions are being given based on those who of course attended the orphanage and by interviews from the police, which is why my detective friend came here because the Ministry of Justice has requested that all students who attended Aldera in the past 10 years be interviewed to help build cases up against employees there, current, and former. I requested him specifically for your son's interview, and given what Bakugo has admitted to, he most certainly falls under that blacklist. Even if we didn't have the formality of the interview, again the documents uncovered about Hiro Fuji and Madoka Morishita would've landed your son on the list anyways."
"Does this mean I'm being expelled from UA? And I have no good school to go to in the country?" Katsuki thought in fear.
"All in all, this means we are in a very tight spot in what to do for your son Mr. and Mrs. Bakugo." Nezu finished.
"We understand Principal." Mitsuki answered, tears still streaming and her head still down
"You remember I mentioned that files were discovered relating to your son's treatment of Mr. Fuji and Mr. Morishita?" Nezu asked and both parents nodded, "I won't reveal to you what was in those files because I don't want to cause you more emotional trauma than is absolutely necessary, but I'll give you a summary."
"Essentially whenever Katsuki Bakugo bullied or used his quirk on another kid, a teacher or staff member did make a report. However it was not to discipline him, but rather to help staff know that if there was a complaint, to be ready to help cover it up or dismiss it. Not only that, but it appears that the head administrators of the school were in league with Zu'Kuvma, which explains why the orphanage was never reported because it was a front for their main base in Japan. Apparently Bakugo was listed as: an ideal candidate for a future Zu'Kuvma member and enforcer."
"Are you telling that the biggest International Villain Organization wanted to recruit my son as an enforcer? Thought he would be ideal for the job?" Masaru asked disbelievingly.
"It unfortunately seems so." Nezu said with a sigh, "That's the reason why they never punished him and boosted his ego. Also, it helped them kept the kids at the orphanage demoralized and feeling hopeless. Zu'kuvma already saw him as useful tool, and no one else ever noticed."
Katsuki wanted to puke. He felt bile coming up his throat. The largest villain organization out there on the planet thought he would be an ideal candidate? It didn't make any sense! None of this made sense! Nezu continued talking to his parents, but Katsuki wasn't listening to a word he said. He seemed to zone out, unable to think due to the shock of the situation he landed himself in.
"All of this is one of the reasons why the National Diet is rushing a new federal law." Sakura explained as he leaned forwards and Katsuki snapped out of his trance now that Nezu wasn't speaking anymore, "The law is in honor of Madoka Morishita. Essentially, this law will make it a crime to bully someone into suicide. The line about taking a swan dive off a roof was read out loud from the note to the body of officials, but Katsuki's name and identity were omitted. If it were to ever be made public, he most likely would become the victim of public vigilantism,"
"All in all, if this law is passed, it would make bullying someone into killing themselves a crime on the same level as manslaughter. To put it bluntly, if this law were in effect before the events of the orphanage, we would not be here sitting on plush comfortable furniture, but cold metal chairs in a poorly lit interrogation room in a prison. For you see your son would have been arrested and put away for decades, forced to wear quirk nullifying handcuffs nonstop, and forever marked a villain. Never allowed to be a hero."
Riku Sakura: He is the homeroom teacher for Alexander Adachi in Business Course 1-J. He is also the school's resident psychiatrist and psychologist. He's also a licensed therapist, but students go to either Hounddog or Dr. Maruki first before he is called in. He is in his early 40s, has medium length pink hair, magenta eyes and black framed glasses.
Quirk: Self-Reflection He can make people feel the entire butterfly effect of the emotional consequences of their actions, encouraging them to peacefully surrender.
Hero Name: Empathy.
Katsuki had no words for Sakura's. He couldn't even think of the weakest argument, because he knew that every word that the man had just said was true. If the public did ever find out about what he did at Aldera, he would be marked a villain forever. The thing that was now bugging him was why he was only seeing it now?
"Now I think it time to start talking about some positives that Katsuki Bakugo has to offer." Aizawa said, leaning forwards this time.
"Am I hearing this right? They still have positive things to say about me?"
"Katsuki Bakugo was never at risk of becoming a member of Zu'Kuvma." Aizawa went on to explain, "His tenacity and drive to become a hero are too strong. The only problem with him is that his personality is screaming villain to anyone with more than two brain cells to rub together."
"I have repeatedly pulled him aside this first week to try and treat his classmates with the simplest forms of dignity and respect. All of my attempts have been futile though. He only respects the strong and the powerful. Anyone else still learning or beneath him is no more than what he calls an extra in his eyes. The only time I've seen him tone down was in the presence of Hiro Fuji and Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-B while in the dorms. However, I think that was only because of the agreement you made with Midoriya to report back on his progress."
Again, both parents only nodded in recognition.
"Now I can bring up how livid and furious All Might was with your son after his behavior in his first ever heroics class as a teacher." Aizawa went on, all three Bakugo's wincing. "Needless to say, being on the hero team and still acting like a villain to the point that the villains turn into the heroes and your own teammate turns on you to stop you after unleashing an attack that could level a building despite being directly told not to do so is not a mark you want on your permanent school file, and yet it is on yours."
"In short, I don't know what kind of future UA has to offer you Bakugo, or what you can offer us. The last thing we need is a student at the UA Sports Festival which is watched by nearly everyone in Japan is to hear one of our top ranked students screaming "Die! I'll Kill all of you! And Move it Extra!" We do not need the kind of publicity scandal that UA has never seen in its 250 year history."
"We would be asked again why we would let someone who appears to have the attitude and mentality of a villain into the number one rated hero program in the nation? Let alone let them find out we let someone who was on the Aldera Blacklist inside our hallowed halls in the first place. And before you mention that we have Ms. Roast on staff in the support department, who's quirk is literally involves insulting people, may I remind you that she is also a well known comedian who is famous for her outreach programs. As far as we know, your quirk only has to do with your sweat, not your temperament." Aizawa explained, forestalling an objection he could see a mile away.
"Running the number one hero school is not cheap, hence why tuition is high and government funding is required with donors making up the rest. We would lose donors in an incident and the whole school would suffer for years if we kept you in the hero course. That is why you are being kicked from 1-A and the hero course in general, effective immediately."
There was a good few minutes of silence after the pronouncement that Katsuki had been ejected from the hero course. With the blacklist in effect, and UA not wanting him in their hero course, his dreams of becoming a hero were completely shattered. He couldn't fulfill his dream of graduating from the same school as All Might, and the man himself wanted nothing to do with him and that was gut wrenching to the teen in itself after what he did in class.
Katsuki wanted to rage and scream. He wanted to attack the teachers who just ripped his dreams and plans for the future away from him. But he couldn't. He was so defeated and dejected he slumped in his armchair. Unable to say a word.
He could try to go to a hero school overseas. He was really good at speaking English, so perhaps a hero school in the UK, Ireland, or America could work. But, everything he did at Aldera now would be on file for review when he submitted an application at any of those schools. None of them would want to sponsor an educational visa for a teen who the largest syndicate thought would be the perfect future member.
"I think it is time for me to explain why I am here now, as you've been probably wondering." Ms Osore, the pro-hero Phobia, and homeroom teacher for UA's Police Academy Course 1-E said, drawing all eyes towards her. "I'm willing to give Katsuki Bakugo one last and final chance at redemption."
"What redemption? What is there to redeem about me?"
"Could you explain Ms. Osore?" Mitsuki asked, placing a hand on her son's shoulder.
"Your son will be transferred into Class E, which as you know functions as its own Police Academy in UA and be placed into my class." Osore went on to explain, "He will not be allowed to participate in the Sports Festival with the rest of the GenEd students, and it will be determined at a later date if he would be allowed to participate in his second year, depending on how well his behavior has improved to prove his worth of re-entering the hero course, that is if Aizawa or Vlad would even accept him at that point. He also will be omitted from participating in any joint training exercises we do with the the other courses."
"The only reason why he can be in my class is because we had a student move out of Japan recently. She decided she didn't want to be a police officer and thus decided to transfer to Miskatonic University in Arkham, Massachusetts because her parents took a research job there at the University's library to help study a rare book in their collection, and they offered her free tuition and boarding. If this student didn't transfer to the States, your son would've been out of luck and thrown out of UA because we don't make room for anyone. Everyone has earned their place here and it is up to your son to prove that he deserves to stay here. Now I have some requirements and conditions that must be met before I allow your son to set foot into my classroom."
"Name them and we will personally make sure our son does what you want." Masaru said, bowing his head.
"First, I want your son to talk to Dr. Maruki once a week, every week, until he says he is mentally stable." Osore went on to explain.
"A reasonable demand, one we have no objection to. We would have insisted upon it anyways." Mitsuki said.
"Also, I want him to sit down with our newly appointed school psychiatrist Mr. Sakura and each at least once every three weeks. There has to be some definitive medical or psychological reason for your son's behavior. As far as we know it could be a side effect of his quirk." Osore said before Sakura spoke up.
"I will be giving you full reports. Since you are his parents, doctor-patient confidentiality is a bit looser here as his guardians till he turns 20 years old, you can request any and all records of his visits with me."
"We would like to know everything, yes." Masaru nodded his head.
"There is one final condition that your son, and only your son can agree upon." Osore said taking a deep breath, "This is something under no circumstances you can convince your son to do, it has to be done of his own free will and it must be done before we all leave."
"What is it Ms. Osore?" Katsuki asked nervously, not liking the sound of her words.
"I want you to voluntarily subject yourself to the effects of Mr. Sakura's quirk." Osore said, which caused all the Bakugo's eyes to widen with shock and horror.
"Is this really necessary Ms. Osore?" Masaru asked, he was mad at his son, but he did not want his son to feel so much emotional pain at once, he has gone through enough well deserved emotional pain already today.
"I'm afraid it is Mr. Bakugo." Osore said with a sigh, "If Bakugo in my eyes is to move on from his past transgressions, he needs to understand and feel the pain he has caused."
"But Miss-"
"I'll do it." Katsuki answered, cutting off his father.
"Katsuki are you sure?" Masaru asked, looking unsure.
"I'm pretty well damn for sure." Katsuki answered gruffly and Sakura stood up and in front of Katsuki.
"I highly recommend you remain seated for this Young Bakugo." Sakura said gravely, "You will have to talk to Inui-Sensei pretty much immediately after you are released from the effects of my quirk. That is one of the reasons he is here. Do you understand?"
"Yes Sakura-Sensei." Katsuki said, fear in his voice, his heart pounding violently, his body desperate to rebel the wishes of its owner.
"Are you familiar with the details of my quirk Bakugo?" Sakura asked the scared boy.
"Yes." Katsuki answered, "You can make people feel the emotional and physical consequences of their actions…. Throughout the butterfly effect if you so desire, or if the pain caused is severe enough it happens on its own."
"We will not be going through physical pain today Bakugo." Sakura said, trying to sound reassuring, "However, if the emotional trauma is intense enough, you may get visions of what the victims went through as the result of your actions, it cannot be helped. Are you okay with that, and do you understand that?"
Katsuki nodded, and quickly without a countdown, two ethereal beams of magenta energy sprung forwards from Sakura's wrists and wrapped themselves around Bakugo's arms.
The world turned black for Bakugo as he felt the emotional trauma of about a hundred separate people that he had made fun of or bullied during middle school rushed forwards to him. He felt their worthlessness, their depression, anxiety.
He screamed. He screamed so loudly and harshly that his vocal chords started tearing. Tears were rushing down his face so fast that his tear ducts ran dry to the point they were empty rather quickly.
He began having the visions he was warned about. He was in a shower room with broken tile everywhere, being beaten by a man in a white coat. He was now in an unknown sitting room being yelled at by a woman he did not know. He was in a back alley running away from someone. He was on a rooftop and the ground all of a sudden came flying towards him.
"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Bakugo cried out as the vision of Madoka Morishita killing himself ended and then he collapsed on the floor, being hugged moments later by both his parents as he rocked back and forth.
A/N: To make it clear, it was Bakugo's actions during the hero course exercise that landed him out of the hero course. He came into the exercise acting like a villain when told he was the hero and destroyed the testing building with that pin pulling maneuver while pointing it directly at another student. After all in the UA Charter they said they couldn't punish him for the actions he did at Aldera, so they went ahead and took the chance after his actions during the exercise.
