- Okay, based on this chapter, turns out the note about the OCs from before this might be a bit of a lie. I promise the OCs are only around for like, the first parts of the story though. Once Izuku and Kyoka meet and go to UA they aren't around as much.

- Also can't believe that out of all the chapters I've written so far (wrote 5 chapters worth before in the one-shot version of this before deciding to split it up) this one is by far the longest.


Izuku had never been to a funeral before.

He definitely wasn't expecting that the first one he would attend would be for someone he once used to call his friend.

Lightning streaked across the dark sky as fat beads of rain fell against the window in a heavy downpour, and Izuku was thankful he and his mother managed to arrive inside the chapel before they got caught up in the storm. The wild weather matched Izuku's memory of Bakugo Katsuki perfectly: an unstoppable force of nature.

Soft rock blared over the speakers placed on opposite ends of the casket, replacing the classical melodies Izuku was expecting from such a somber affair. The Bakugos had even foregone the casket spray, exchanging bouquets of flowers with a plethora of random items that must've been the explosive blonde's personal belongings.

Not for the first time that day, Izuku wondered why he had even agreed to come along with his mother. He had no ties to Bakugo. Despite the fact that their mothers were best friends, the two had only met once since the Midoriyas moved to the other side of Musutafu. Even then, they didn't exactly part on good terms. If anything, they parted on horrible terms.

The funeral service seemed to be in the middle of one of the duller motions, with strangers Izuku had never seen before walking up to the casket to say a few words and prayers for the deceased. The monotony of it all lulled Izuku into a state of half-sleep, and a long forgotten memory of the last time he saw Bakugo surfaced within his mind.

Izuku's eyes flickered to the flame of a singular candle near the casket, watching the way it danced in place. The dance eventually got him to close his eyes, his brain winding up the past like a movie reel for him to play in his dream-like state.

They had met purely by chance, a cruel joke from fate to remind him that he could never run away from his past.

It was the final year of elementary school, so Izuku's batch would finally get to experience the most anticipated event of the year: the shuugaku ryokou. This year they would be spending three days and two nights touring various shrines and temples in Kyoto. They were actually supposed to leave the country and visit South Korea, but the school had blown their budget back during the school festival, so they ended up settling for a local trip instead. [3]

Izuku wasn't really that excited for the trip. It was the sort of activity one enjoyed with friends, and he didn't exactly have a lot of those. Or any at all.

His mother picked up on his unenthusiastic mood the morning of the trip, latching onto the straps of his backpack before he could take a single step out of the house. Izuku turned around, an annoyed frown present on his usually beaming face. He quickly wiped it off to put up a happy facade, but it was already too late.

"Izuku, my baby, you don't need to go. You know that, right? These trips are about enjoying yourself, so if you're unhappy then that beats the whole point of going." Inko grasped Izuku by the chin, tilting his head up so he would have to look her in the eye. "If you're not going on this trip because you want to, the risk just isn't worth the reward."

Their emerald eyes met, an unspoken conversation repeated countless times before being rehashed once more.

Izuku gently shrugged off his mother's grip, flashing her the most genuine smile he could manage at the moment. "I'll be fine, Mom. Plus, I'm the class president. I can't skip out on this trip when my class needs me," he spoke with such unwavering confidence that it was impossible to tell he was bluffing. He may be class president, but none of his classmates really saw him as someone to look up to or take orders from. He was just their president in name.

Inko kept staring at him, searching his eyes for a sign that he was lying. She eventually gave up, pulling him close for one last hug.

"Stay safe, okay?"

For the first time that day, Izuku smiled for real.

"I'll be back in perfect shape. No need to worry about me, alright? You should take some time off work and take care of yourself while I'm gone. Try visiting that spa you told me about last week?" Izuku offered as he backed out of the doorway.

"Sure," Inko smiled, blowing her son a kiss as he finally turned around and left.

Izuku would soon regret making that promise.

But for now, he was blissfully ignorant of the chaos that awaited him in Kyoto, so he spent the ride headed there in relative peace. There wasn't really much for him to do as class president when the teachers were already watching over all of the students to make sure none of them did anything they shouldn't, so he decided to take a nap for the rest of his time riding the shinkansen. [4]

By the time he woke up, they were already at Kyoto Station. Izuku managed to catch a glimpse of one of the students that didn't really like him on his way over with an evil grin, the warped smile falling short once he realized that Izuku was already awake. Izuku wasn't exactly sure what his classmate was planning on doing to him while he was asleep, but he thanked his lucky stars that he woke up when he did nevertheless.

Walking into Kyoto Station was like entering a whole new world. The crowd was huge, easily dwarfing the throng of people back at Nabu Station. Everything about the building looked grandly majestic, the futuristic curved design of the atrium above them on full display for everyone to see. Izuku briefly recalled reading something in the pamphlet they were given about how the station's steel beamed roof, called the Matrix, was built to reflect the structure of the station as well as the grid-like layout of the city streets. [5]

Izuku could see Kyoto Tower in the distance, and he couldn't help but wonder what the Kyoto skyline would look like if it was bathed in the light of sunset instead of high noon. It didn't really matter in the end, since Kyoto Tower wasn't on their itinerary. If they were middle schoolers instead of elementary schoolers, they probably would've been allowed to walk around in their own groups and plan out their own schedule. However, they were much too young for that, so the teachers had to chaperone them and lead them around everywhere.

They soon departed from the station, clambering onto large buses that would bring them to their lodgings for the next few days. Excited chatter burst to life around him as soon as everyone was seated, and Izuku just sighed as he slumped into his chair, busying himself by taking in the sights of the foreign city. This was the first time he had left Musutafu in a few years, so he should be feeling really excited. Why wasn't he? Something was churning in the pit of his stomach, filling him with a sense of unease. That weird feeling stayed with him throughout the rest of the bus ride.

The bus ride to their lodgings was pretty short compared to the train ride, and they arrived at the inn they had rented out for the next few days in almost no time at all. Izuku noticed another row of buses parked outside the neighboring inn, but decided to pay it no heed. Even if there was another school going on their field trip at the same time as them, what did it matter to him? It wasn't like he had any friends outside of school either.

It took about an hour for everyone to settle in and finish eating lunch, everyone shuffling back onto the buses excitedly as they headed for the first spot on their itinerary. Izuku wasn't a very religious person, and he certainly hadn't practiced Shintoism, but he was still quite interested in the shrine they were heading to. The Fushimi Inari Shrine was the most important shrine out of several thousands dedicated to Inari, the Shinto god of rice. The shrine predated quirks by over a dozen centuries, so something that withstood the test of time for so long was definitely worth taking an interest in.

Their lodgings were pretty close to Kyoto Station, and in turn, it was close to Fushimi Inari Shrine as well. Izuku didn't even have time to skim the whole informative brochure before the bus squeaked to a stop, their teacher heralding them off the bus and into orderly lines. Instead of having the whole batch do the same things at the same time, they were split into two groups: those who wished to stay near the base of the mountain and just visit the shrines, and those that wanted to hike all the way to the top. The trek would take around two to three hours, so it didn't surprise him to see that the amount of people who wanted to climb all the way to the summit was considerably smaller compared to the ones that wanted to stay behind. Of course, Izuku was in the group that would climb up the mountain trails.

Less than three dozen students decided to trek up the mountain, all of them clumped together in groups of five to six right under the Romon Gate. Izuku didn't recognize a single one of them, so he sighed and trailed behind the other groups. After making a small offering at the honden, they set off to the back of the shrine's main grounds, where the entrance to the hiking trail began. [6]

Two dense rows of torii gates signified the start of their journey, the groups splitting up to choose which path of the Senbon Torii they would take. Once everyone else chose which way they wanted to go, Izuku discreetly followed behind the group with fewer members. [7]

As they walked, Izuku's mind drifted off, his feet acting on autopilot as he slowly slipped into a state of zen. There was just something inherently peaceful and relaxing about walking for hours under the torii gates, bathing in the dying afternoon light that managed to slip through the gaps of foliage. The weird sensation in the pit of his stomach had finally disappeared, and despite his hunger, Izuku didn't dare risk chowing down at the restaurants they passed by. Even if the smell of Inari sushi and kitsune udon tempted his senses, he valiantly resisted. [8]

One by one, the number of students slowly dwindled. Some were too tired to continue, while others probably got bored with all the endless walking. A majority of them were definitely just hungry though, Izuku had even seen one of their chaperones sneakily slip away to follow some students that stopped at one of the restaurants. He couldn't really blame their teacher though, they had been walking for almost two hours now, and they hadn't eaten anything since their light lunch back at the inn.

In the end, Izuku was the only one left still on the trail, walking alongside a teacher he didn't recognize. He knew the teacher was tired to the bone though, as shown by the way the teacher seemed to sag with each step. He understood the exhaustion, the only reason Izuku even managed to last for as long as he did was because he ran most days at the break of dawn. Speaking of the sun, it had set long ago, the beautiful scenery around them now shrouded in darkness. Even if they did make it to the summit, it wouldn't be the beautiful view of Kyoto's skyline that Izuku wanted to see. It wouldn't be rational to tire themselves out by climbing higher when there was no point to the endeavor.

The teacher almost jumped for joy once Izuku finally told him that they should probably go back down, he probably would've if the poor teacher still had any feeling in his legs. By the time they got back down to the base of the mountain, all the students waiting for them gave him an evil stink eye. Obviously, they were none too pleased that they had to wait inside the buses so long just because of one kid.

Everything after that was a vague blur for him. He knew that he scarfed down his dinner like a rabid wolf getting its first meal after a week of starvation, and he also remembered having to sleep in one of the teacher's rooms because he couldn't sleep with all the boys in his class roughhousing and bashing each other on the heads with their pillows. He probably wouldn't have done the same if he was actually friends with any of his classmates, but that wasn't the case this time.

Night passed by in a snap, the tranquil embrace that had enveloped him the day before evaporating overnight, leaving Izuku in a cold sweat as he bolted upright in his futon. Something was wrong, but he didn't know what. And that uncertainty only served to further his growing anxiety.

Izuku went through his morning routine with one eye looking over his shoulder the whole time. It was probably just jitters from being away from home for so long, but Izuku was a firm believer in: better safe than sorry. His classmates seemed to pick up on his weird funk, and they all gave him a wide berth during breakfast at the mess hall. Well, wider than they normally did, at least.

After they finished their meals, they ended up going to the western side of Kyoto, all the way to Arashiyama. As they passed over the Katsura River on the Togetsukyo Bridge, Izuku idly noted the pleasure boats lining the length of the river bank. The cherry blossoms were in full bloom above the boats, their pink petals slowly plummeting down towards the ground at a rate of five centimeters per second. [9]

Izuku could hear excited whispers from his classmates, the most prominent ones coming from the couples in their class. No doubt they wanted to take a ride down the river on the pleasure boats. Izuku wanted to try it too to see if perhaps he could achieve the same peace of mind he did yesterday, but it would look pretty weird if he was riding one of the boats by himself. That meant he could only go visit the Tenryuji Temple, explore the bamboo groves, or rent a bicycle and tour the rural area.

Tenryuji Temple was instantly crossed off the list when he overheard one of the groups made up of a bunch of classmates that disliked him greatly talking about going there. It wasn't that big a loss, since Izuku doubted he'd truly appreciate it like he did the shrine from yesterday. Biking around town seemed quite nice, but that was also crossed off the list. For one, he didn't exactly pack a lot of cash to afford renting a bike. He wasn't even able to afford a souvenir back at Fushimi Inari. And secondly, he didn't actually know how to ride a bike. It was supposed to be something fathers taught their children as they grew up, but his dad wasn't exactly very present in his life.

That meant there was only one option left. The weight of animosity pulling down on him seemed to increase in weight with his choice, and Izuku had a vague guess as to what would happen if he went onward with his decision. He wanted to become a hero though, and if he couldn't face a weird gut feeling like this head on, then he would stand no chance out on the field once it came down to it.

As soon as they came to a stop, Izuku flew out of the bus and dashed towards the bamboo forest. The sooner he could get this over, the better. He ignored the frantic calls and shouts of his teachers from behind him, as well as his classmates that were no doubt filming him and snapping pictures to share with the rest of the student body. It would be a miracle if a single soul in his year didn't know about his little stunt by the end of the day.

He skidded to a stop at the entrance, the pebbles under his feet scattering from the force of his sudden deceleration. A sigh of relief escaped him once he confirmed that no adults had gone after him, though they'd probably be on his tail soon. He would have to do whatever it was he needed to do now, and fast.

If Izuku expected his anxiety to dissipate once he got off the bus and onto the bamboo forest's trail, he would've been severely disappointed. The sense of creeping dread seemed to multiply twice over, the shadows cast by the tall bamboos staring back at him ominously. Even though the sun was high in the sky, Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that everything around him was shrouded in darkness.

The trail ahead of him made a sharp right, and Izuku's heart started to hammer in his chest as he stared at the offending turn. Some part of his brain that still had access to the most basic of human instincts was screaming at him to stop this foolish nonsense and turn back, to retreat to safety before he did something he would regret.

Izuku took a step forward.

Just this once, he wouldn't listen to logic.

He passed the bend, sweet release finally landing on him as his anxiety lifted away.

Was that it? Why was I so nervous over something as silly as a bend in the trail?

"-goddamn extras always following my tail. Those shitrags can't even hold a damn candle to me." Deja vu hit Izuku like a truck, the familiar voice bringing up old memories he had long since buried and forgotten.

Against his better judgment, Izuku stared at the approaching person's face, noting the uniform he was wearing, as well as the spiky blonde hair that looked a lot like his neighbor's pomeranian. He was already speaking before he had time to think over his decision to do so.

"K-Kacchan?"

The blonde froze like he had just been hit with a paralyzing quirk. His head slowly raised up, until Izuku could see the fierce red eyes he had come to recognize easily during the first four years of his childhood.

"Deku?"

That was a much calmer reaction than Izuku was expecting. Maybe this sudden reunion would go much better than he anticipated.

"Yeah, it's me, Kacchan! It's been so long since we last met, huh? We had to move to another part of the city because of, well… you know what you did. My parents didn't really like it much that you and your cronies beat me up just for wanting to be a quirkless hero. But you seem much more mature n-"

"Stop muttering, you damn nerd. After all these years you still haven't figured out a way to shut your noisy trap," Bakugo interrupted, spitting to the side as though the mere act of speaking to him disgusted the blonde. Bakugo's eyes darted to Izuku's left breast pocket, landing right where the insignia of his school was stitched on. "So you're going to an elite school now, eh? Still have your head stuck so far up your ass that you don't realize you could never stand on the same level as me."

Izuku cracked his knuckles, already knowing where this was going. "What are you insinuating?"

Bakugo grinned like a demon that had just been told it could come up to the land of the living and raze it to the ground. "Are you fucking dense? I'm saying that a quirkless loser like you will never become a hero." Bakugo's palms erupted into a series of small pops, the sound getting progressively louder with each passing second. "So here's some advice for you from the future number one himself: give up on your dreams and die!"

The gauntlet had been thrown, and there was no way in hell Izuku was gonna give in without a fight. No more words needed to be spoken. Their long awaited showdown had now begun.

Bakugo lunged at him with all the ferocity of a rabid wolf, yet Izuku quickly noticed something vital. Bakugo had no technique at all.

A smoking palm reached towards Izuku's face, hellbent on clamping onto it and burning it to a husk. It'd be pretty stupid if Izuku let that happen.

Izuku grabbed Bakugo's outstretched arm, yanking on it as he turned around to perform a textbook shoulder throw. It wasn't very heroic, but he had to admit that the sound of Bakugo getting the wind knocked out of him was very therapeutic.

It wouldn't be Bakugo if he gave up already just from that though, and Izuku was proven correct when the blonde rocketed up, using both of his palms as thrusters to get back on his feet in less than a second. From the slight look of shock on his face, it seemed like Bakugo hadn't expected that outcome, meaning he hadn't tried that particular maneuver before.

"Pretty gutsy of you to try new moves in the middle of a fight," Izuku said as he stepped back, putting some distance between them. Bakugo's explosions were more effective at close range, so he would have to stall for time and figure out a way to hit him from afar.

"I don't need pointless praise from someone like you," Bakugo sneered, brushing the dirt and grime off his uniform as best he could.

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Someone like me just laid you out flat on your back, you arrogant prick."

"So the nerd can talk back now? Let me show you why that's a bad idea!" Bakugo raised his palms out in front of him, the skin starting to glow orange a moment before Izuku realized what was about to happen.

"This crazy b-" Izuku never got to finish his sentence, a gigantic explosion erupting from Bakugo's palms, incinerating everything within a five-foot radius. For a moment, no sound could be heard save for the crackling of burning flora. Bakugo tried to wave his hand around to dispel the dark smoke that had surrounded him, but to no avail.

"Oi, nerd. Don't tell me you actually died from that, you damn weakling."

Bakugo's answer came in the form of a red high top to the face.

For the second time since the start of the fight, Bakugo was sent sprawling to the ground, spluttering obscenities as he scrambled back to his feet. Izuku emerged from his position hidden in the smoke, his uniform singed in some places, and his hair messed up and filled with soot, but he was otherwise perfectly fine.

"Should've gotten closer to me if you wanted that to hit me. I guess you don't know the range of your explosions." Izuku put his fists up, ready to continue their fight.

"Tsk. I just haven't worked up a sweat yet. The longer this goes on, the easier it'll be for me to crush you." Bakugo blew out a wad of blood from his nose, cracking his neck before rushing Izuku again. This time though, there was the telltale sound of popping as he ran forward, and his attack was too fast for Izuku to avoid.

An explosion caught Izuku right in the chest, blasting him backwards and into a section of the fence that separated the trail from the bamboo forest. The sudden impact blew all the air out of his lungs, leaving him coughing for breath as he righted himself.

"So you used your explosions to propel yourself towards me? You really are a genius, Kacchan." Izuku ducked his head at the nick of time, avoiding Bakugo's haymaker and returning a body shot of his own. He was about to follow up with another punch to the gut, but Bakugo managed to catch his fist in his palm, releasing an explosion that made Izuku pull his hand back with a loud yelp.

"Don't call me that, Deku." Bakugo raised both of his palms again, and Izuku realized he was too close to avoid another explosion this time. And that wasn't even factoring in the amount of sweat the blonde had built up from their fight, so he had no clue how big the new explosion would be.

Fortunately for Izuku, he didn't have to find out. The sharp wail of sirens cut through the tense atmosphere they were so caught up in, and the two finally noticed the raging fire they had accidentally started.

"We need to go," Izuku muttered, emerald eyes reflecting the vibrant blaze surrounding them.

"Fuck." Bakugo looked around the area, cursing under his breath at the sight of a historic site in Japan being razed to the ground.

"We need an excuse, and we need to get our stories straight," Izuku said, his ears already picking up on the sound of people calling out his name in the distance. If he strained a little bit more, he could also hear someone calling Bakugo's name from the opposite direction.

"Villain attack. We stumbled on him by accident, we tried to stop him, he ended up escaping. Keep your explanation simple, Deku," Bakugo huffed, looking away from Izuku's general direction as he spoke.

"Fine. I'm going now." Izuku turned to leave, but a firm grasp on his shoulder stopped him in his tracks.

"This isn't over. I'll find you later, and we're going to end this one way or another." It wasn't a threat. It was a promise. The hard glint in his crimson eyes made that intent very clear.

Izuku didn't answer, instead choosing to shrug the blonde's arm off and heading back the way he came from. By the time he ran into his teachers, his face had morphed into a crying mess, the perfect act of a traumatized young boy who had unwittingly gotten roped into an arsonist's attack.

When the police arrived to question him, he bluffed and deflected his way all through the interrogation, keeping up his innocent facade. One of the officers eyed him with suspicion, but a small complaint about his injuries later, and medics arrived to treat his wounds and finish the questioning. A few students gathered around him to ask questions once he got back on the bus, but their teacher shooed them away and told them to give him some privacy for the rest of the day.

He didn't see Bakugo around after they had parted ways from the scene of the crime, but that was perfectly fine by him. If Bakugo was just going to resume their fight once they met again, he'd rather they never cross paths until one of them was six feet under. The nervous sensation in his gut was back again though, so he knew it was only a matter of time till Bakugo would find and confront him. Sometimes he really hated having such accurate intuition.

Izuku was so preoccupied thinking about his fight with Bakugo that he didn't feel the pair of eyes staring at his head from behind the whole ride back to the inn.


"Hey, Jugo." Poppo poked his friend in the side, startling the sleeping boy awake.

"Huh? Whu-? Did I miss dinner?" Jugo's head swiveled from side to side, frantically searching for his next meal. His hair stuck up like a black crown, already messed up despite the fact that he had only been sleeping for half an hour.

"What? No, you glutton. We're still on the bus, how could we have already eaten dinner?" Poppo really thought the best of his friend, but when it came to food, sometimes Jugo was just too much to deal with.

Jugo shrugged, slicking his hair back down to it's normal style with a few pats as he straightened up into a proper sitting position. "Beats me. Maybe you guys stopped at a gas station on the way back to the inn and ate something there."

"No, we didn't- okay, whatever." Poppo sighed, rubbing his temple to get rid of the budding migraine his friend was giving him. "Okay, you know the class president, right?" Poppo made a discreet motion at the front of the bus as he spoke, motioning to the green bush of hair poking above the seats' headrest.

"Well, I haven't talked to him. But I've been around him, yeah."

"I was spying on his interrogation with the police earlier-" Jugo's eyes, which were normally shut so tight Poppo sometimes wondered if his friend could actually see, opened the tiniest bit in surprise, "-and I heard him say that he and a student from another school got caught up in an arsonist attack by a villain."

"That would explain all the smoke we saw earlier," Jugo nodded in agreement. "I'm still annoyed that I didn't finish my meal because of that. I had paid in advance too!"

Poppo scratched his chin, playing with the hair clip he used to style his messy hair the way he always did when he was in deep thought. "I don't think he was telling the truth though. At least, not the whole truth."

Jugo eyed his best friend, fishing a box of pocky out of his bag to snack on. "Your gut feelings are usually horrifyingly accurate or hilariously wrong. Which one do you think it is this time?"

"I'm not sure. What I am sure about though, is that the burn mark on his chest is way too small to be from an adult. It was in the shape of a hand too."

"Well, Detective Poppo, it looks like you've got a case to solve." Jugo ripped the box open, sticking a pocky into his mouth and devouring it in seconds.

"Yeah, and I'm gonna need your help." Poppo tore his gaze off the back of the class president's head, giving his friend the most serious gaze he could muster. "Do this for me and I'll buy you lunch for a week."

"Make it two weeks."

"Deal."

The two shook on it.

"So, what's your plan?"

Poppo coughed into his hand, looking away from Jugo to hide his embarrassed blush. "I'm, uh… working on it."

Jugo chomped up the last pocky stick, sighing in disappointment at the sight of the empty box in his hand. "You don't have one, do you?"

Poppo buried his face in his hands, groaning like a dying animal. "I really, really don't."

"Good thing you have me then," Jugo smirked, beckoning the blonde to come closer as he leaned in and whispered his plan. The enthusiastic thumbs-up he got in response was more than enough of an answer if he ever felt the need to ask if the plan was a good one.


Poppo shivered from the sensation of cold concrete against his back, acting like he was asleep while sitting upright. His right eye was cracked open just the tiniest bit, letting him see the chaos unfolding around him through a tiny sliver. The teachers had announced lights out hours ago, yet not a single one of the boys in the room was asleep. All of them were messing around, hitting each other with pillows and playing card games while laying on their futons. Only their reclusive class president seemed to be asleep, although Poppo knew for a fact that he wasn't.

He didn't mean to spy on their classmate this time, it was really just an unlikely coincidence that he ended up roosting on a tree right above where the class president met up with a spiky-haired blonde just after dinner. Poppo liked to spread his wings in a literal sense after a hearty meal, so he had just picked a random tree to fly towards and instead he got a front row seat to hearing whatever secret his classmate was hiding instead. Poppo didn't recognize the blonde, but the uniform he was wearing looked awfully familiar. Sadly, the name of the school it belonged to eluded him.

"Midnight. The Kamo River. It's right out back, at the end of the forest trail, so you can't miss it. You better show up, Deku. We'll finish this once and for all." The blonde spoke with such venom that it made Poppo wonder if their class prez had killed the boy's dog or something equally atrocious.

"I'll be there, Kacchan." So they both have nicknames for each other? Are they close or something? "Try not to start another fire this time," the class president chuckled as he spoke the last line, evidently pleased with his jab. The one being teased? Not so much. The last line also proved Poppo's theory correct: the class prez was definitely lying about the arsonist villain, since it seemed like the blonde boy was the real perpetrator.

First day on the job as a detective and I've already gathered so many clues. Maybe I should actually look into this as a future career! Hehe.

Still, it didn't feel like he had all the pieces of the puzzle yet. So he decided to wait until the clock struck midnight, then he would follow the class president to the Kamo River in stealth mode, otherwise known as pigeon mode. He told Jugo about his discovery afterwards, and his food-loving friend volunteered to act as lookout to fib for them in case one of the teachers discovered their absence.

And now here he was, waiting out the clock. Most of the boys were now simmering down, slowly succumbing to the fatigue of the day's excursions. They needed as much energy as they could get to finish up the last part of their trip tomorrow.

Though why the trip hasn't been canceled altogether when one of the students got caught up in a 'villain attack', I have no idea.

Poppo started to doze off for a bit, startling awake at the soft sound of rustling cloth. He forced open one bleary eye, internally cheering once he saw that their class president hadn't left yet, and was only halfway through the door. The green-haired boy was dressed up in activewear, and Poppo was pretty sure he knew why the boy chose to have a change in attire.

Poppo turned his gaze to a lump on the opposite end of the room that he knew to be Jugo, sighing in relief when his friend gave him a thumbs-up, signifying that he was awake. It was just impossible to tell whether Jugo was conscious or not when his eyes were shut tight either way.

The door started to slide shut, and Poppo hurriedly shifted into his avian form and waddled out of the room, forcing himself to stay quiet when his tail feathers got caught in the door. Because of his height, the class president hadn't noticed him, but he wasn't about to take any chances. As soon as his classmate started walking, Poppo flew up to the rafters above, forgetting that the act of flapping his wings kind of made a lot of sound.

Prez swiftly turned around, panicked green eyes searching the halls for the source of the sound. Thankfully, the hallway was really dark, so there was no way for the president to see the lone pigeon feather wedged between the door and the doorframe.

After a few tense seconds where Poppo started to wonder if the president was more keen than he thought, the greenette finally turned around and continued tiptoeing down the hallway towards the exit. He probably would've gotten there too if he hadn't bumped into a girl walking in the opposite direction.


Satsuki woke up in the middle of the night, her throat absolutely parched. She was pretty sure she drank some water before she went to sleep, but the desert in her mouth seemed to say otherwise. Rubbing her eyes and blinking a few times in a futile attempt to get her vision to adjust to the dark, she ventured out of the room and headed for the mess hall. There was a water fountain there, and even though she didn't have much faith in her ability to wander around the place while partially blind, it was better than dying from dehydration.

Just in case, she activated her quirk, prodding in a meter-wide radius around her to make sure she didn't accidentally bump into someone. The odds of that happening were pretty low, but better to be safe than sorry, as her mother always said.

It was because Satsuki wasn't expecting anyone else to be up at such an ungodly time of night that she froze up when she sensed someone else walking towards her. By the time she made a move to get out of the way, it was already too late, and her sudden motion caused their foreheads to collide instead. A mind reading quirk plus a hit to the head when you're extremely tired and drowsy? Not a very enjoyable experience.

As she held a hand to her aching forehead and leaned against a wall, Satsuki wondered if her quirk was on the fritz. There was no way this random person she bumped into was about to go out to the river at night to fight someone, right? Before she could alleviate her fears, the other person burst into a full-on sprint, quickly blending into the shadows and disappearing from view.

Oh no. I think he's really going to the river.

Satsuki quickly righted herself, debating what her next move should be. She could alert the teachers and maybe stop an act of delinquency before it could occur… but what if it was all just a misunderstanding? Her quirk wasn't always 100 percent accurate, especially when she wasn't in the right state of mind. The decision was made for her when her quirk picked up on another individual, one surveying everything from up on the rafters.

"I know you're there," Satsuki called out, giggling just the tiniest bit at the surprised reaction occurring in the other person's mind at the realization that they had been found out. However, the feeling was turned onto her when, instead of a person, a pigeon dropped down and landed on her shoulder.

My quirk doesn't work on animals, so that means…

"So you can turn into a pigeon. That's a very… useful quirk." Satsuki strained to hide the amusement in her voice, but the bird appeared to have very keen senses, and the indignant protests from within the bird's mind only served to fuel her amusement further.

"In any case-" Satsuki's face morphed into an annoyed scowl, her hands clasping around the pigeon's neck to squeeze the life out of it should it not follow her instructions, "-you're going to answer all my questions, and you're going to answer them now."


Izuku's heart was pounding as he sprinted through the forest, looking back in the direction of the inn every few seconds in case one of the teachers was already after him. He should've known that fluttering sound he heard meant someone else was up and awake as well, and now they were probably reporting his sudden escape.

This is fine. They don't know where I'm going. I can deal with Bakugo before they find me.

The end of the tree line was finally in sight, and Izuku slowed down to a light jog as he approached. He could already hear the distinct burble of the river, and the moonlight illuminated the river bank as clear as day. It really was such a beautiful night, a shame that a certain blonde had to go ahead and ruin it. Speaking of the devil himself, Bakugo stood right at the edge of the bank, staring down at the flowing water. Izuku really wished he had a way to teleport behind the blonde so that he could just push him into the freezing water and go back to sleep.

Wait, into the water? Izuku's eyes glinted under the light of the moon above, shining with all the steel of a predator hunting its prey. That'll work perfectly.

Izuku left the cover of the forest, stepping out into the open with a friendly smile. "You're early, Kacchan."

Bakugo scoffed and kicked a pebble into the river, bringing his phone up with the screen pointed outwards for him to see. "No, you're late, Deku. So stop pussyfooting around and get over here."

Izuku's fake smile faded away, revealing his true colors. "Gladly."

This time, Izuku decided to go on the offensive. If he wanted to finish this fight as quickly and cleanly as possible, he needed to take Bakugo by surprise and bring him to the ground. However, the world felt like it was pulled out from under him, and Izuku lurched forward, face planting onto the sand. He looked up just in time to see the tip of a shoe coming at his face, hitting him right between the eyes.

"Ack!"

Another kick followed the first one, this one getting him deep in the stomach and forcing him to roll over and onto his back. With his face no longer smushed against the river bank, Izuku could finally see the reason for his sudden fall. Two other boys were standing a ways apart from Bakugo. One had the figure of a stick, whose fingers were elongated. The length of his fingers led all the way to Izuku's feet, which explained his sudden tumble. The other boy had the polar opposite build of the first one, his chubby constitution almost hiding the two bat wings fanning out behind his back.

"You coward, bringing your cronies into our fight," Izuku grumbled as he spat out a wad of sand. Fighting in sandy places really sucked.

Izuku was expecting Bakugo to make a snide comeback, but was instead greeted with the sight of the blonde releasing an explosive burst of friendly fire onto his own teammates. "You fucking extras, how dare you get in my way! This fight is between me and Deku! Who gave you idiots permission to interfere, huh?"

The tight grip around his feet loosened, and Izuku quickly took advantage of the opportunity to get back on his feet and put some distance between himself and his opponents. He had initially thought Bakugo lured him into a false sense of security and then sprung an ambush on him, but with the way the blonde was whaling on his classmates, that didn't seem to be the case.

"Ow! Bakugo, we were just trying to make it easier for you! You said you were gonna beat up some quirkless nobody, so we didn't think you were going to take this seriously," the long-fingered boy yelped, wrapping his stretched fingers around himself as a makeshift shield. His fingers were still human skin though, so it wasn't very effective at tanking point-blank explosions.

"I don't need help taking Deku down! So shut up and stay on the sidelines where you belong!" Bakugo growled, blowing his two lackeys away with one final explosion. Finished with teaching his subordinates a lesson, Bakugo turned around just in time to get tackled by a green blur right into the river.

The shock hit Izuku so hard he almost lost his grip on the blonde, his new experience proving the lesson about the dangers of swimming in cold water right then and there. Bakugo probably had it worse, as he was forced face-first into the chilly river. Izuku didn't know how to swim, so he thanked his lucky stars that the part he tackled Bakugo into was pretty shallow. It was still deep enough for him to submerge them both completely underwater though, and that would make his plan work much easier.

Bakugo struggled to get out of his grip, the water making him as slippery as an eel. Not wanting to get brought under if the feral blonde somehow managed to grab him, Izuku hastily let go and tried to get to his feet. Emphasis on try, because the combination of hyperventilation descending on him, as well as his body shivering from the cold, made it really hard to even stay standing. If he remembered correctly, this was just the first phase of cold water shock. According to the survival article he read, he had to concentrate on his breathing and avoid panicking.

Easier said than done.

Bakugo finally managed to get to his feet as well, shaking himself off like a dog might right after a bath. Izuku might've laughed at the sight if he wasn't in the middle of freezing to death. He hadn't exactly factored in the presence of hypothermia when he thought up his plan to exploit the explosive boy's weakness.

"Fucking bastard! You trying to drown me?!" Bakugo snarled as he spat out a pebble.

Izuku tapped a finger against the side of his face, grinning cheekily, "That depends. Was it working?"

Bakugo didn't dignify his taunt with an answer, throwing his hands up in front of him to blow him into smithereens. The two boys stood there, Izuku holding himself back from laughing at the blonde's confusion as to why his quirk wasn't working.

"Having some performance issues, Kacchan? It's not uncommon, you know. One out of five-" [10]

"What kind of trick did you pull on me, you goddamn nerd?!" Seeing that his quirk was out of order, Bakugo chose to lunge at him with just his fists. Izuku was easily able to sidestep the charge, since the blonde was trying to move against the current, making him much more sluggish.

"You got doused in freezing water, so now your pores are all closed up-" Bakugo pounced at him again, Izuku slapping away a lousy haymaker as he countered with a liver shot that unfortunately missed its mark, "-and you're functionally quirkless for the time being. Let's see if you can still beat me without that quirk of yours that makes you act so high and mighty."

"Hah! If you think taking my quirk away from me will be enough for you to beat me, then you're not as smart as I gave you credit for. Quirk or no quirk, I'm more than enough to crush you!" Bakugo took revenge for Izuku's earlier tackle, thankfully making them crash down onto solid land instead of back into the river. Unfortunately, Bakugo was straddling him, which meant the blonde could now rain down blow after blow onto him. The blonde may not have technique, but he had strength in spades, and now he was in the perfect position to utilize that advantage.

Izuku raised his arms to guard against the onslaught, but Bakugo just changed targets, hitting him right in the gut. The pain instinctually made his hands move down to cover it, and he realized his mistake too late. His head snapped to the right, an after effect of getting socked right across the face by an enraged Bakugo. The blonde's red eyes glowed like miniature headlights, his face twisted into a sneer as he relentlessly pounded against Izuku's chest. Izuku was pretty sure he would've ended up with a cracked rib if it wasn't for the timely intervention of a pigeon.

The gray bird dive bombed Bakugo, raking its talons across his face. The sudden distraction gave Izuku an opportunity to buck up his hips, loosening Bakugo's position atop him so Izuku could push him off and scramble away.

Izuku watched with bated breath as Bakugo tried to grab the bird. It was too fast for him though, the avian looping around him in every which way, leaving scratches on exposed skin at every opportunity. Izuku had no idea why the pigeon was suddenly attacking Bakugo, but he wouldn't look a gift horse - or in this case, a gift bird - in the mouth.

He gasped in horror as Bakugo finally managed to catch the bird, swiftly breaking one of its wings. The unrelenting grunts of pain it made as it struggled against Bakugo's grip was something that would haunt Izuku's nightmares forever. Izuku rushed forward, ignoring how parts of his body were starting to feel numb, completely focused on getting the poor animal out of the blonde's grip before he took a life.

It took both of them by surprise when the pigeon turned into a human boy, albeit one whose right arm was bruised black-and-blue and dangling uselessly. They were both so confused by the sudden turn of events that the mystery pigeon-boy was able to throw a left hook at Bakugo's face without any resistance. The two blondes made pained noises at the same time; Bakugo because the pigeon-boy just broke his nose, and the pigeon-boy because his sudden movement irritated his broken limb.

"That's for snapping my arm like a twig!" the pigeon-boy yelled, turning around and letting Izuku finally get a good look at his face.

"Wait a second. You're my classmate!" Izuku pointed an accusing finger at the blonde, trying his best to avert his eyes from the unsightly view of said classmate's arm.

"The name's Iijima Hato, but everyone just calls me Poppo-" the upper part of his arm moved upwards, stopping midway once he realized that the rest of it refused to follow his orders, "-and that was supposed to be a salute… but I guess I can't really do that right now, can I?" Poppo chuckled, hiding his flinches of pain under the guise of laughter. "In any case, nice to formally meet you, class prez!"

"Class prez?" Izuku had never actually been called by his title by any student. Only the teachers ever referred to him as a class president, and the rest just called him by his family name, or by some derogatory nicknames.

"Yeah. I mean, you are our class president, right?" For a moment, Poppo looked unsure of himself, and Izuku wondered how much of this whole encounter the shape shifter had actually planned out. If he did, he probably hadn't done it very well, as proven by the fact that he now only had one functional arm.

"Yeah, that's me. Look, as much as I appreciate the help, how did y- Behind you!" Bakugo was about to tackle Poppo to the ground from behind, uncaring that his target was already mortally wounded. There was no way Poppo could dodge in time, and Izuku was too far away to make a difference. Izuku cursed his incompetence for completely forgetting about that they were in the middle of a fight. A bloody nose wasn't gonna keep down a bloodthirsty Bakugo.

"STOP!"

A shrill voice rang out from the tree line, and Izuku was surprised once again as another student walked out into the open. He didn't recognize her, so she was probably from a different class. Although something about her seemed eerily familiar, as if the two of them had just met not long ago.

She stood in front of them with a mighty pose, her blue ponytail swishing in the wind. In her hand was a phone, a recording of the whole fight playing on the screen.

"Stop this madness at once, or else I'll send this video not only to the teachers, but to the proper authorities as well." She waved her phone in their faces, the tiny rectangle proving scary enough for the enraged pomeranian to back off.

He stared each one of them right in the eyes, searching for a hint that they were bluffing. Izuku's expression was probably one of absolute befuddlement, since he had no clue what in the name of All Might was going on. Poppo, on the other hand, had an excellent poker face, flashing Bakugo a sly smirk. The blue-haired girl stared back fiercely, unwavering in her threat to send the recording.

"Tsk. Fine." Bakugo turned on his heel and marched in the opposite direction, hands shooting out to pull his lackeys by the ear and drag them off towards their lodgings. He was almost out of hearing range when he stopped, not even looking back as he yelled out, "This isn't over, Deku! I'll get the old hag to tell me where you and Auntie Inko ran off to, and we'll finish this fight another time. Don't you dare pussy out!"

Izuku was too mentally and physically drained to respond orally, choosing to reply the old fashioned way: with one hand raised and a middle finger extended. Despite the fact that Bakugo couldn't see his parting message, Izuku got the feeling the blonde knew exactly what he had just done.

Once they were out of sight, the three remaining students let out simultaneous sighs of relief.

"Fuuuck, my arm hurts so baaad," Poppo groaned as he dropped to his knees, cradling the parts of his arm that weren't a brilliant shade of purple. "Not to seem rude, but I'm gonna go into pigeon mode so I don't agitate my arm so much." Poppo morphed into his avian form, and Izuku watched in amazement as the teen's clothes meshed with his skin instead of falling to the ground.

Are his clothes made up of his DNA?

After another second, Poppo was no more, replaced by a gray pigeon that raised one wing in its form of a wave. Izuku was about to ask Poppo some questions, but he realized that the other boy probably couldn't speak human while in that form, so he turned to the only other person he could get answers from.

"Uh, hi?"

The girl stared back at him unimpressed, pocketing her phone as she gave him an assessing look. "Your nose is bleeding."

"Huh?" Izuku's hand found its way to his face, the tip of his finger discovering a steady trickle of slightly sticky liquid running down his face. "Oh, I guess I didn't notice."

"Seems kind of concerning that you can't feel you have a broken nose," the girl hummed with a tone of slight worry.

"I guess so…" Izuku frowned. Wanting to test a theory, he flexed a few of his digits and extremities. More than half of them were numb and unfeeling.

"This isn't good..."

"What? What isn't good?" The confidence exuded during her earlier threat was nowhere to be seen, replaced by a blind panic.

"I'm in the second stage of cold water shock. I need to get these clothes off and warm up before I pass out." Izuku's admission only served to panic her further. Izuku had no clue how to remedy the situation, but Poppo the pigeon came to the rescue. Iijima got his bird business all up in her face, how he got up there with a broken wing he had no clue, but it was helping so Izuku wouldn't think too hard about it.

"I only have a few minutes left before I enter the third stage. I could try getting my body temperature up by soaking in the onsen." Izuku calculated the distance from the river bank to the onsen, deeming he had just enough time to get there before swooning like a damsel in distress. [11]

"We need to go now. Let's all… discuss, whatever just happened here, after we're all patched up," Izuku said, giving Poppo the pigeon a pointed look. Poppo ignored him, waving his good wing forward as he sat atop the girl's head as if saying 'Onward!'.

The unlikely trio trudged back to the inn, each of them with their own goals. Izuku headed to the onsen to counteract his body's chill, with Satsuki standing guard outside the door. Meanwhile, Poppo changed back into his human form and woke up the teachers, making up a lie about running into an owl while flying around in the middle of the night.

It was the most tiring day Izuku had ever experienced in the past few years, yet he wouldn't change a thing about it. After all, it was the first time he had made new friends ever since he learned he was quirkless.


[3] - The shuugaku ryokou, also known as a field trip, is one of the most anticipated events of a Japanese student's school life. It's a ritual for the graduating class of that school, and is something school's spend a lot of time and effort on. As hard as it is to believe, some schools even go above and beyond, sending their students out of the country. Once again, how I wish I was born in Japan.

[4] - The Shinkansen, also known as the bullet train, is a network of high-speed railway lines in Japan. They're really fast, and I wonder if I'd get dizzy riding it.

[5] - Izuku now lives on the other side of Musutafu, so obviously I can't use Tatooin Station anymore. In keeping with all of Horikoshi's Star Wars references, I named the new train station after the planet of Naboo.

[6] - The Honden, also called shinden, is the most sacred building at a Shinto shrine. It's intended purely for the enshrined deity, usually symbolized by a mirror or a statue. You need to make an offering in it to pay respect to the resident deity, and I have no clue if you have to bring your own or buy one from a vendor or something on-site. Maybe I'll find out if I ever manage to visit Japan in the future?

[7] - Senbon Torii means 'thousands of torii gates'. I'm pretty sure the number of torii gates isn't exactly 1000, but I'm not gonna spend hours on Google Earth counting them myself.

[8] - Inari sushi is a Japanese dish of sushi rice stuffed inside fried tofu pouches. Kitsune udon is made of chewy udon noodles, dashi broth, and seasoned aburaage. From what I've read, both taste absolutely divine, and thus I am now extremely hungry and salivating all over my laptop. Curse you, delicious Japanese cuisine!

[9] - Yes, this is a reference to 5 Centimeters per Second. Yes, you should watch it. No, I 'definitely' didn't need to read an in-depth explanation online about how the movie ended.

[10] - A quote stolen from the Avengers that I've been waiting to use in one of my fics for forever. I can now rest peacefully.

[11] - Onsen are hot springs usually found in inns across Japan. This is probably the most unnecessary of all the footnotes, because how anyone who's watched anime or read manga doesn't know what an onsen is is beyond me.

Tell me, honestly, did you guys really read through all of that? I really can't explain why a simple flashback like this is so long… because I myself have no clue why either. You guys get fight scenes though! And also Bakugo's untimely death… sorry not sorry. Next chapter, it's finally time for our two broken-hearted lovebirds to meet!


This fic was created for a Valentine's Event in the BNHA Fanfic Community Discord server! Interested in joining to see what type of people influenced me to create a Valentine's fic that has the first chapters filled with whatever the hell this is instead of romance? Join through this invite today! : S9j78DHg5K