Bakugo stood at the window lost in thought after Erity's confession, unsure of what the next step should be. Normally there was an answer for everything, but when it came down to matters of the heart, he became stuck. Love wasn't something Bakugo was familiar with.

He rewound the entire time spent with Erity in his head, the more he tried picking it apart the more conflicted he felt.

What the hell was I doing? Asking for a damn rematch, what's wrong with me?! Why am I even bothering with her in the first place? Maybe I did get knocked up a little during our fight…

Those were just some of many questions that were troubling him. He may have walked away from her all casual but inside he was freaking the flip out.

I need to try and move on from this, but how the hell am I supposed to do that when my mind won't stop giving me flashbacks?

The scared part of him wanted to run away and hide. But that wasn't him. It was not in Bakugo's nature to even consider running. The fight with All Might notwithstanding. But even then he chose to go up and stand his ground knowing he'd lose.

Bakugo would move past this eventually. The only part that held him together was the fact that Erity wasn't seeking a relationship in return. He held onto that and began slowly recovering from the shock.

He had to focus on his priorities. He wouldn't let himself get lost like that again.

And then the hide and seek match happened.

He was obviously less than thrilled about being paired up with her. Bakugo was still pondering how the heck he was going to find anyone in under two minutes flat without blowing the building to smithereens.

Hearing her cackling made Bakugo stop in his tracks and give her a dirty look.

"We got this." She said.

'Whatever' He thought to himself, he felt the sudden wind pressure change, followed by all these droplets converging around her in the masses.

'Wait.' He began his inner monologue, as she demonstrated what she was doing.

"Class 1-A" His eyes widened after nearly a third of those droplets disappeared. 'She's able to target certain people with just a few words?'

"Not Katsuki or me"

'What the crap am I even watching right now?' He saw as she brought her other hand over the wristlet. Her half lidded gaze. 'Don't tell me…'

"Attack!"

'There's no way she can actually-' He watched as all the droplets darted away and then heard all the angry outbursts. 'WHAT?' His jaw dropped.

"30 seconds."

Behind her Bakugo smirked with satisfaction. Realizing the reason why he had been intrigued by her in the first place. She was a breath of fresh air, she challenged his quirk, she challenged him.

He needed that.

And she was his number one fan. He couldn't run away, he'd be letting himself down. And her. That's when he began to get the traps ready.

He was trying to test one of them out with his AP shot when a blast of wind carried it off with alarming speed. 'Ah hell!" He watched as the seconds went by Bakugo saw where it was going. He breathed a sigh of relief when Erity used her shield all the while staring daggers at him.

When she returned fire. She was just asking for a fight. Hell, he wanted her to fight him. Badly. The moment they had locked eyes with one another he knew that she understood what he wanted without words. 'Oh hell yeah!' he thought excitedly.

Her kicks had done more damage to him than anything else she had tried. 'Yes!' they fought on. 'Harder! Faster!' The only way I become strong is if you make me work for it. Make me want it. And oh hell do I want it. I want it so badly it hurts.'

He was absolutely livid when they had onlookers come to see what all the fuss was about. 'It was nice to have a small distraction but Erity's right they can't stay.' There was a reason Bakugo forbid anyone to come here. This was the death zone. His battlefield. Anyone caught in here while he trained would be dead. He had no reason to be on guard for civilians while he was on his turf. (Or near it anyway.)

When Erity slid down the mountain towards his traps, he moved swiftly so that he could watch her face when it happened.

He caught her. And she did something he never expected. She found all the rest that were hiding. Bakugo was in awe as she told him how the heck she located the rest of them.

And when she caught him, Bakugo felt his full power return. He stood before her, intent on taking her out, when instead he woke up in his bed. The last piece to his memory was her smiling up at him. That devious smile. She had made him believe she was weak and struck when he thought he was clear.

Erity had won.

"Holy crap I lost." His head throbbed in pain. "The hell she hit me with anyway?"

There was a knock on his door. "Yeah?"

"Ah good your awake. Need anything?" Iida asked.

"I could use something for this headache." He paused. "What's going on?"

"It's all very hush hush. I can only tell you if I come in!"

"...Alright, bring me the aspirin first."

"Erity didn't want anyone to see you were knocked out so I took the liberty of bringing you back here after the two of you sparred last night."

"Thanks I guess."

"And in case you were wondering. She made it safely to her room with Kirishima's assistance."

"That's nice to know. Did you see what I was hit with?"

"I did not!"

"Useless."

"I'm sorry I couldn't be of more help."

"You can help me by leaving. I think my headaches have gotten worse."

"I shall take my leave then."

"What even was that?"

Kirishima told Erity to come downstairs for a minute. She saw a banner with a few balloons on the wall.

She went into stunned silence after noticing the party was for her.

"Welcome to the team!" Pink said.

"Yeah, we're sorry for being mean."

"And I'm sorry I guess for using my quirk and dumping it all over."

"You guess you're sorry or are you actually sorry?" Kaminari asked.

"Why are you always trying to pick a fight?"

"I'm not fighting."

"So when's Bakugo supposed to finish the cake?"

"Bakugo? I thought that was Sato's thing?" Sero asked taken aback.

"It is, but then Bakugo threatened us with it."

"No I didn't moron." Bakugo said. "The only reason you're down here is because I told you you couldn't eat the food if you didn't attend the party."

"See? Threatening."

"Anyway, why in the world are you baking a cake?" Sero asked

"I just felt like it."

"But your Bakugo, king of explosions and the yelling champion, baking takes time and patience, neither of which you're good at." Sero continued.

"Just because the cover is burnt doesn't make the inside faulty.

"Huh?"

"Forget it…"

"Okay."

"This isn't much of a party." Mineta said as he came into the room."Feels more like a funeral."

There were many things Erity wanted to say at that moment. They lit her fuse, and kept insinuating that they wanted to be elsewhere. But for the sake of the cake and Katsuki's temporary patience while making it, she bit her lip and walked away to sit on the windowsill.

"Here you go." Kirishima said holding a plate with cake on it. "From the chef himself." He added with a whisper. "His only request was that you open it later." He said handing her what looked like a card in an envelope that she tucked safely inside her jacket pocket.

Erity did open it later. "Come find me." Was all that was written on it. She made a b-line directly to his spot where she saw him in a boxing match with a tree.

"Katsuki…" She called his name, she gasped as his fierce gaze reached her. "Again? Haven't you had enough yet?"

"What can I say? I like to fight."

"If I didn't know any better Katsuki, I'd swear you were sexually aroused or something every time you fought."

He chuckled. "Interesting theory." He went into his battle stance. "Maybe it's true. But there's no way in hell I'll ever tell you that."

"Ready to get beat again?"

"I was practically born ready."

"Let's do this."

The stars shone brightly over the two fighters who were both completely spent and out of breath. Katsuki's hair was no longer buoyant, it clung to his face as he lay there hands sprawled dripping in sweat. He gazed beside him at Erity in the same predicament. Her body went in the opposite direction. She was also panting heavily.

Their fight had turned into a draw.

Erity glanced at him sideways and grinned.

"Listen, about before. When you confessed to me and I ran, I….I didn't know how to act in that situation. So like an idiot I ran with my tail between my legs instead of dealing with the problem like I should have."

"God that seems like such a long time ago now."

"You hit the nail in the coffin when you said it was better knowing the truth, about anything. No matter how screwed up the situation is. Or how much it may hurt the other person's feelings…I will always be grateful to you for showing me such a deep level of respect. You don't know how much something like that means to me."

"It's probably almost as rare as finding someone who's better than you at fighting."

"Okay, well now your just being cocky "

"Ha!"

"Geez you guys are sweaty, what on earth have you two been doing out here huh?"

"Fighting duh."

"What the hell else would we be doing?"

"I don't know." Kirishima smirked. "But it involves taking all your clothes off."

They both gasped, went from laying to sitting up and blushing. "Chhh." Bakugo exclaimed giving Kirishima the death glare.

"The way you're glaring at me I don't know whether you are trying to kill me or trying to seduce me." Kirishima smirked when Bakugo lit up his hand with an explosion in response. "You know I can take a hit, go ahead, but you'll miss out on all the fun."

"Fun?"

"All the new people coming in off the bus should be here within the hour."

Aizawa said Erity might know one of them. I think he said her name was Eyamo? Echiro?"

"...Emiko."

"Yeah that's it." Kirishima left them there to go get ready. Not noticing her change in reaction or the way her eyes lit up in anger.

"...Katsuki."

"Yeah?" He stopped walking when he heard the way her voice cracked. Not her usual tone. He turned back to see her scared expression.

"Take this." She said giving him a necklace with charms on it. They looked like onions. "It's up to you if you want to use it or not. But please, whatever you do, promise me you'll keep it with you at all times okay?"

"Alright, spill it." He said putting it in his pocket. "What the crap is with that look on your face? Why are you so scared? Who is this Emiko person anyway?"

"Emiko Ayuchi wants to see me suffer in every way possible. She's made it her life's ambition to tear away anyone in my life that I've ever cared for."

"How does she manage to do that?"

"Her quirk makes anyone in the vicinity fall in love with her. It gets more powerful if she suddenly becomes aroused. It doesn't matter if you're male, female or a panda. But it's your decision whether or not you wish to judge her based on my word."

"Don't worry, I can handle myself."

"I hope so." She said walking back up to the school. Her steps felt like weights the closer they got. They saw the bus enter the grounds. They saw Emiko get off of it. Her eyes met Erity's and she began walking over to her.

They used to be friends once upon a time. So Emiko knew everything. Her favorite color, favorite animal, and even…her feelings for Katsuki.

"Erity."

"Emiko."

"So nice to be here." She walked past them up the steps. She heard Katsuki gasp and turned to see a look that she had never ever seen before. A look of longing.

"You good Katsuki?"

"Huh?"

"Are you okay?"

"I'm good. I'm just, admiring the view."

The necklace she gave Katsuki specifically wards off powers such as Emiko's, she already had it on.