Bee—
His hand came down on the alarm clock before it could finish its first beep. He had no need for it anyway because there was no way he was going to sleep in today.
Bakugou clambered out of bed and went straight into the bathroom, his clothes falling away as he did so. With the temperature at its highest, he stepped into the shower and was back out within three minutes.
On an average day, he wouldn't mind taking his time but today wasn't an average day. About ten whole months of training were going to be tested today to see if he could get into UA High, the best hero school in Japan. He, being the best, would only settle for the best.
Unlike most of the extras who would be there, Bakugou wasn't nervous. There was not a single shred of doubt in his mind that he wouldn't be able to make it in. How could he not get in? His grades were top of his class, so there was no way he wouldn't pass the written exam, and his quirk? It was practically made for him! There was not a single extra out there that could best him and he'd kill anyone that tried!
Fully dressed and aggressively brushing his teeth, he thought of what he would have to do for the practical part of the exam. It changed every year and even information on the past exams was kept under wraps. Would it be an individual test or would it be based on teamwork? God, he hoped not. Lest he be placed with losers like—
'Deku…'
Would he be there? Impossible. How could a quirkless runt like him even get a chance to apply for the entrance exam? Despite his reassurances, memories from months ago decided to pop into his head at the exact wrong moment.
"You're face...it looked like you were asking for help."
Asking for help? Who was he to call him helpless! He said it before and he'd say it again, he doesn't need that quirkless extra's help!
He roughly slapped himself. There was no need to trouble himself with useless thoughts. He finished brushing his teeth and made his way downstairs for breakfast. The meal was small but hearty and he was quick to eat it and quick to put away his plate.
With his shoes on and a change of clothes in his backpack, he made his way outside and slammed the door, not caring if his parents were still asleep.
His feet carried him along the path that his phone had mapped out for him. He chose the long and scenic route to the train station despite his previous urgency to get to the exams quickly. It was onoy 6:00am so he had two hours to himself and his thoughts.
"...like you were asking for help."
His incredibly annoying voice echoed through his head. Fuck. Why did it matter anyway? Why did he keep such a worthless memory in his brain to taunt him? Does Deku think he's fucking helpless?
"...help."
Him? Bakugou Katsuki was far from helpless! Digging his foot into the gravel, he kicked pebbles and dust up into the air. He felt so pissed off by just thinking about him. It made him feel so...so—
"Aaargh!"
His hands dug into his scalp as he tried to clear his head. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a head of blond spiky hair walk past him.
'Great…'
Someone probably just heard him. And his yelling. It took a lot of willpower not to loudly curse again in fear that the person might still be within hearing range. He couldn't have anybody see or hear him in such an embarrassingly pathetic state.
What was going on with him? He felt so worked up and he hated it almost as much as he despised Deku. Maybe that was the problem. All these thoughts needed to settle down. He just needed to focus on the task at hand.
Clearing his head, he continued on his path to the train station.
The morning weather was cold but Teruki figured that he could handle it until he got to his destination. It was a shame that no trains came near that area, abandoned as it was.
The neighborhood he had just walked through was pretty quiet (if he didn't count the random angry screaming from earlier) and was right next to the abandoned part of the city.
He knew that he was in the right place once he saw the old playground he had found Ritsu in. Turning into an alley, he walked to the end and faced the metal double doors that were the entrance to Satis* Club. He knocked eight times and waited.
The cover to the peephole was removed and two pink eyes stared out at Teruki.
"Go beyond...?" A sleazy voice questioned.
"And kill All Might," Teruki responded, withholding a sigh.
He could see the man's eyes crinkle with mirth before the peephole was closed again. One of the doors was pulled open and Teruki was greeted by the smiling face of Giran**, a villain broker, who ushered him inside.
"Welcome back Hanazawa-kun," Giran said while walking ahead of Teruki. "You here for the last of your documents?"
"What else would I be here for?"
"I don't know," he said as he rummaged through one of his many hidden shelves, "You could always let me put you on my roster?" He turned back to Teruki and tossed a manila folder into his hands.
"For the last time Giran, I don't want to be apart of that villain roster of yours. You don't even know my quirk so why do you insist on bothering me about it?" By now, Teruki was flipping through the contents of the folder. There were fake adoption papers, family photos, graduation certificates, a workers permit, and—
"You know that you can stop giving me money too, right?"
Giran just gave him a small chuckle before saying, "First of all, I want you on my roster because you, a nobody, managed to find me, a very private man, without help."
"It's not that hard to find you. Especially when you have your fingers in everything." That wasn't particularly true. Teruki had found him out of pure luck. He had accidentally gone through a random portal and found the man talking to one of his clients. Not that he would ever tell him the truth.
Giran brushed off his statement and continued on, "About the money, I figured that there would be no harm in helping you out a little bit more. Plus, I already know your quirk."
Teruki tried, and failed, to hide his shock. Did he know that he was an esper? It didn't seem possible, especially since he scarcely used any of his abilities while he was over here.
"What are you? Surprised?" Giran chuckled. "Like you said, I have my fingers in everything, so when a stranger, and a kid to boot, knows me, I send someone to keep an eye on them."
Looking through more of the papers, Teruki found that his medical records listed him with a quirk called "Pyrokenisis". One of his goons must have seen him when he tried to warm himself up (he had gotten stuck in this world in the dead of night while wearing short sleeves not too long ago). At least he didn't know that he could do multiple things. That was a relief.
"Okay, stop having people follow me around, that's weird, and so what if you know my quirk? How does that help you at all?"
"The thing about me is that I don't care what happens, as long as I get paid. Your quirk can be applied in many different ways and you clearly have no money so you still owe me. A lot. Think of that extra money as extra incentive." Teruki didn't like how grave the man sounded. "Besides, I know your quirk now and that's enough. There's no need for my people to continue to follow you around."
"So you're going to force me to be on your roster? Unbelievable."
"No, no. The life of a villain needs to be truly wanted for anything worthwhile to happen. I just want you to know that you owe me and that, when the time comes, you help me out," Giran came closer to Teruki and leaned over him, covering the blond in his shadow, "As in, stop what you're doing right now and come help me out."
At a moment's notice? Teruki didn't want to think about how that could potentially mess up his plans. Everything in him hated the idea but he knew that there was nothing he could do about it.
Sucking on his teeth, he let out a begrudged "Fine," and headed toward the door. "If you need me, call. You're the one who gave me the phones after all. You should at least know one of their numbers."
"Will do kid."
Bakugou was unpleasantly surprised when Deku came to sit beside him in UA's auditorium and it was clear from the sweat on the loser's face that he felt the same. Yet, he had the audacity to look at him. Bakugou glared back at him and Deku was quick to look away. Good.
"Oh! We have the same notebook!"
It seemed that the extra had found some other extra to talk to. He couldn't clearly see the guy but he saw Deku raising up his notebook for the other guy to see.
"Oh, you're right," the guy responded. "The only difference is what we wrote on the front."
Bakugou could've sworn that he had heard that voice before. He leaned forward a bit and looked to his left. When he finally saw who it was his already sour mood became worse.
"What the fuck are you doing here!" First he had to deal with Deku who somehow got there even though he's fucking quirkless and now this kid*** (well it seemed that they're the same age) who somehow forgot what quirks even were was there too. And they're both right next to him.
Circumstance was fucking hilarious.
"Same thing you are. Honestly, I'm surprised you're even here. You seem way too abrasive to be a hero."
"Fucking porcupine! How about you come over here so that I can show you just how abrasive I ca—"
"WELCOME, ONE AND ALL, TO MY LIVE SHOOOW!"
Bakugou swore that his ears were bleeding. He swivelled his head to the front of the stadium and saw the pro hero, Present Mic. His quirk was strong but his ranking as a pro wasn't high enough for Bakugou to care. He would be able to pass him up in no time.
But, oh what he wouldn't do to block this guy out. As well as Deku who wouldn't fucking stop muttering to himself.
"It's Present Mic! I listen to his show all the time!"
"Shut it."
"EVERYBODY SAY HEEEEEY!" Even though nobody responded, the hero seemed unfazed. "PAY CLOSE ATTENTION LISTENERS! YOUR METTLE WILL BE TESTED IN A 10 MINUTE RUN IN OUR REPLICA CITY DISTRICTS! YOU'LL BE GATHERING AT YOUR DESIGNATED MEETING AREA RIGHT AFTER THE PRESENTATION, YA DIG?"
"Designated area?" Deku mumbled, "They're probably planning to separate classmates so that they don't team up then."
Bakugou looked over to Deku and saw that their numbers were different. The extra was right.
"It's probably set up so I don't crush you," he seethed and then directed his attention to Porcupine, "You on the other hand are a different case. You better stay out of my damn way."
Porcupine didn't even register what he said because he was too busy writing in his notebook. He didn't even bother to look at him. What a fucking nerd. He was probably worse than Deku.
When the presentation was over and after Deku had gotten berated by a tall guy with a stick up his ass, Bakugou was the first to leave the auditorium. He was quick to change and quick to get to his designated area.
Even though he was behind the gate he could already tell just how huge the mock city was. With the kind of budget the school had it was no wonder why it was the best. He knew that once he got in it would be that much better.
It wasn't said exactly when the exam would start so he took the time to examine the extras that crowded around him. There was a boy with skinny arms but giant elbows and the smile that he constantly wore made Bakugou instantly dislike him. There was also a girl with pink skin and hair but her quirk wasn't clear. Maybe it had to do with her horns?
Two people in and he was already getting bored of this. There was no need for him to focus on mere filler characters anyway so he turned back to the entrance and waited. The signal could go off at any moment so he had to be ready.
'Focus.'
"AAAND START!"
While everybody else was left confused at the abrupt start, Bakugou blasted into the city. With a head start like this, the extras would be lucky to even score a single point.
By the time the rest had started to run in, Bakugou had already gained 10 points. The robots could hardly be considered a challenge so all that training he did either really helped or was completely unnecessary.
Four minutes in, a 3-pointer came in on his right and caught him by surprise. Regardless, he was already ready to blast it to pieces. Just as it was about to get closer to him, it stopped, as if somebody was holding it back. It was then slowly lifted into the air and then smashed back into the earth.
"What the—?"
Bakugou looked behind the remains of the 3-pointer to see who had stolen his points. It was Porcupine, but he had a glow around him, but it was still fucking Porcupine and he had stolen his points.
"I thought I told you to stay the fuck outta my way!"
"How do you know that you weren't in my way?" Porcupine said.
"Cause you stole my points you damn idiot!"
"It's not my fault you were slower than me."
Bakugou would've said more but the extra was right. He couldn't waste his time talking to someone like him. Especially when he was aiming for the top.
"Tch. Whatever you nerd. Just stay out of my way," he bit out. He then turned away from Porcupine and propelled himself to where other robots were.
"Why is it taking so long for two minutes to pass?!"
His back was already starting to become sore due to the extra weight on it and his breathing was getting shallower by the second. Even though adrenaline was coursing through him, he didn't know how long he could keep on running.
About one minute ago...
"TWO MINUTES AND TWENTY SECONDS LEFT!"
Ritsu was doing good. He had 46 points and was on track to reaching 60. Getting 14 more points shouldn't be too hard for him.
If only it was that easy.
He had been running around trying to find a 3-pointer when he was put off balance by one of the other participants running into his shoulder. Instead of apologizing, they kept on running as though something was chasing them.
"Dude, you better get out of here!" The boy warned.
"What do you—"
His voice was cut off by the screaming of even more participants as they ran past him. What in the world were they running from?
Ritsu turned around just in time to see two buildings come crashing down and behind the rubble was a giant robot, as tall as the buildings it just knocked down. Its glowing red eyes (could they even be called eyes?) looked around the area before homing in on him.
A 0-pointer. He had to get out of there. Fast.
His legs were one step ahead of him and he was already running away from the giant thing. He had been a decent distance away from the 0-pointer when he heard someone groaning from behind him.
Turning back, he saw a boy with big elbows and His leg had been crushed under a chunk of rubble.
Ritsu was deliberating on whether or not to help the boy out. The robot wouldn't hurt him, right? Yeah. He should be fine. So why wouldn't his body let him leave? There was no reason for him to stay. They would be fine!
As much as he tried to deceive himself, he knew that he couldn't. Ritsu used his powers to remove the concrete slab from the boy's leg and then carried the boy in the air. It would have been fine too if the guy hadn't started barfing.
"Okay," Ritsu said as he put the boy back to the ground, "no telekinesis for you."
"Hey," the boy spoke up, "don't worry about me. I've got enough points and your quirk seems pretty cool. You wouldn't want to waste your time with me when you could be racking up more points."
Ritsu had already blocked him out when he started to suggest that he should just be left behind. The 0-pointer was getting closer and closer every second they stood there. But what could he do? He looked back to see how close the 0-pointer was (too close) and made up his mind. The boy looked light enough.
"Wha—? What are you doing?" the boy mumbled.
"Helping you."
Now he was here, running away from a giant maybe-murder machine while giving a boy with a probably fractured ankle a piggyback ride. Seriously, how could it take so long for two minutes to pass?
He barely had enough breath to keep on running but he definitely had enough fear. Fear is a tricky thing. One moment it could give you enough adrenaline to out run a giant robot and the next it could cloud your thinking so much that you end up running into a dead end.
"This isn't good," he bit out. Maybe he could run back out before the 0-pointer caught up. He turned back around but could barely take a step before the 0-pointer's shadow loomed over him. "This really isn't good."
As it started to inch closer and closer to him, he placed the boy down on the ground behind him and tried to shield him from the robot. The giant, 20 story tall, and terryfing, in all intents and purposes, robot. But even if he didn't have the type of crazy power Shigeo had that allowed him to demolish entire buildings he could still help this kid out.
Once the 0-pointer got close enough to him it reared back its mechanical fist for a punch. He was quick to try and keep it back with his telekinesis but he wasn't sure how long it would hold. Would he have to use his barrier? Would he actually give himself away this early on in the game? After all the work Teruki had done?
His hold on the fist relinquished and it started to come down on him fast. Faster than he expected. Too fast. He had to think of something. He had to get away. There had to be somethi—
The punch halted, inches away from his face.
"THE TEST IS OOOVER!"
"What?"
Medics started filling into the city replica. They picked up the semi-consious boy and carried him away in a stretcher.
Ritsu couldn't believe it but he was relieved. The test was over. However, his relief didn't last long when he took the time to actually think about it. The test was over and he only had 46 points! He was still 14 points shy of his goal but, hopefully, 46 points should be enough right?
"How was the exam?" Teruki asked when he got to the apartment.
He had been chased down by a giant robot, thought that he was going to die (turned out that the robot couldn't seriously harm you), only got 46 points, and his shoulders were aching.
"It was fine."
If Ritsu didn't get in to that school he didn't know what he would do.
Throughout the week after the exams, Ritsu had been so anxious that he could barely sit still. His mind was only filled with worries about whether or not he would get into UA.
Now that he finally had the letter in his hands, he didn't feel all too ready to open it.
Bakugou had been pacing around the mailbox for the last two hours. His acceptance letter was coming in today and he wanted to get it as soon as possible.
So, when the mailman came by, he was quick to grab his stuff before they could even be placed in the box. He went back into the house, dropped all the mail that wasn't relevant to him onto the counter, and headed to his room, letter in hand.
"Come on Brother-kun," Teruki patted the spot next to him on the living room sofa, "let's look at it together."
"Yeah, that sounds nice," he said as he made his way to Teruki.
Ritsu opened the envelope and reached in only to find that, along with a letter, there was a bulky disk-shaped object inside. He pulled it out and nothing happened. It confused him but he figured that it wasn't too important.
Placing the bulky disk down on the table, he reached back into the envelope for the letter. He was about to open it too when a hologram came out of the disk.
"I have to say," the man speaking had long dark hair and very intense dark circles. His overall demeanor and dark clothing was a hilarious contrast to the video's bright and colorful backdrop, "you were pretty boring to watch."
"HELLO LISTENER!"
Fuck, it was this guy again.
His letter was a fucking hologram. Just how much money did UA have? Unfortunately for him, it was Present Mic on said hologram.
"HERE AT UA, WE LOOK INTO A LOT OF FACTORS WHEN DETERMINING WHO GETS IN AND YOUR SHEER FIGHTING PROWESS WAS AMAZING TO WATCH!"
"You have a flashy quirk yet you used it in such an unflashy way," Ritsu found it odd that even though the man sounded insulting, he was smiling, "It was very efficient, I liked it."
Teruki let out a breath of relief beside him.
"Things got more exciting towards the end, however. By choosing to stay and help an injured participant while all the others ran because they were more focused on their score, you showed all of us that you have the heart of a hero. Here at UA, it's our job to make sure that hearts like yours don't go to waste. Take your rescue points."
Wait. Was he saying what he thought he was?
"Kageyama Ritsu,"
"BAKUGOU KATSUKI,"
"76 points."
"77 POINTS! WELCOME TO UA HIGH!"
"Welcome to UA."
Ritsu's Notebook 1
1+2+3=6 6×10=60
Met the green haired kid and he seems nice. Also seems unsure of himself so I could use that to my advantage. I should probably learn his name but I'll be close to him soon enough.
Omake #1
When Hanazawa had told Ritsu that they were going to train he hadn't expected it to be like this.
"Hanazawa-san, why do you have two mecha toys?"
They were in Hanazawa's apartment, sitting at a table with two mecha toys on it. It was his first lesson with Hanazawa (if he didn't count getting repeatedly pushed out of a tree until he could catch himself) and instead of learning how to use air whips they were doing this.
"They're part of your training of course!" Hanazawa said with a smile. "And why add the '-san' at the end if my name?"
"How are these toys going to help me in the slightest?" Ritsu asked. "Also, what does it matter what I call you if you still call me 'Brother-kun'?"
"Okay, that's fair," he relented. "The special thing about these mecha is that their joints are moveable."
"How is that special at all?"
"It means that that they can do more complex moves and we can move them with telekinesis." Once he said that, the mecha with red accents started to move about in a jerky fashion. It turned toward the other mecha with blue accents and reached out its arm to give it a soft nudge.
Following Hanazawa's lead, Ritsu turned the blue mecha and nudged the red mecha back.
"Now you're getting it!" Hanazawa said, "So let's fight."
"I'm sorry, let's what?"
"Fight. With the mecha that is."
"O...kay?"
It wouldn't be much a fight. It would probably be rather boring. But if Hanazawa said it would help he might as well try.
Ritsu started to make the first move when Hanazawa's mecha punched his. The force of the punch caused the blue mecha to fly off the table and onto the floor.
"What was that?!" Ritsu asked, bewildered. He thought that they would be play fighting not that he would have to fear for the well-being of his mecha.
"If you don't put force behind it, this whole exercise will be pointless," Hanazawa reprimanded. "You need to put up a barrier around your mecha as well so that it doesn't get seriously damaged. They're not cheap you know."
Ritsu looked over to his mecha on the floor and saw that its plastic torso had been cracked from the punch. He lifted it up from where he lied and guided it back to the table, barrier up.
"Okay," Hanazawa said as his red mecha dropped into a fighting stance, "let's try this again."
After an hour of fighting with the mecha, Ritsu followed Hanazawa out of his apartment and to the playground area he had been in before. They both stood under the shade of a tree, facing each other.
"Brother-kun, I want you to punch this tree," Hanazawa gave the tree's thick trunk a light pat, "as hard as you can."
By now, Ritsu had learned not to question him. He was too tired to do so and it would probably lead to a back-and-forth between them and end with no clear answer. Ritsu stepped up to the pine tree, barrier up, and punched it as hard as he could.
The punch only chipped some bark off of the tree, surprising absolutely no one.
Ritsu looked back to Hanazawa with one eyebrow raised. His nonverbal question was nonverbally answered when Hanazawa stepped up and punched the tree himself. Unlike with Ritsu's punch, his resulted in a lot more than chipped bark.
"How in the world did you do that?"
"This," the blond gestured toward the small crater he put into the tree's trunk, "is what all that 'toy' fighting was for. The only difference is that your body is the mecha. So try again."
Ritsu looked from the blond, to the crater in the tree, and down to his own fist. He stepped back to the tree, sized it up, and pulled back his arm. Instead of using any of his muscles to back up the punch he used telekinesis.
The juxtaposition of being in and out of control of his body was jarring. It was even more jarring when Ritsu had made contact with the tree's trunk and, rather than leaving a decent sized crater like Hanazawa, he had punched a hole through it. His whole body wasn't braced for such power and lurched forward with the punch.
"Whoa Brother-kun!" Hanazawa laughed, "You need to dial it back just a bit but I should've known you wouldn't take that into consideration, that's on me."
Ritsu, still in shock from the punch, couldn't stop staring at the hole he had left in the trunk. It had to at least be the size of both his hands laid out flat next to each other but, he still had it in him to be affronted by Hanazawa. "What do you mean by that? Do you think that I don't take things into consideration?"
"No, I'm just saying that you underestimate just how strong you truly are." Hearing that, Ritsu pulled his eyes away from the hole and to the blond. "I mean, you seriously thought that you had to put in that much power just to match my own punch. You're stronger than you think."
Had Hanazawa just complimented him? Ritsu could feel his face heat up at the thought. Being praised for being a powerful esper was a lot different than being praised for being smart, or athletic, or even just popular. A powerful esper to him usually just meant Shigeo. It was a nice change.
"Thanks."
"No problem!" Hanazawa said. "Now, try again and make sure to use less power this time."
AN (Does anybody even read these?)
Hey guys! I hope you're all staying safe out there! Times are getting tough and the state I'm in is a hot spot for covid but at least I get to stay in and write more :)
I hate writing in all-caps so even though Bakugou shouts a lot, I'll never put it in all caps unless it's from a distance or a really serious moment. Except for Present Mic, that is literally what his whole quirk is based around.
(Alternative lines)
"Aww, why add the '-san' at the end?"
"Why? Cause fuck you."
*Name of the Satis Club refers to the Satis House in Great Expectations. Satis as in satisfied but if you've read GE you know that the name means something different.
**Same guy who introduced Dabi and Toga to Shigaraki and Kurogiri
***Headcanon where Bakugou calls anyone he doesn't know and happens to be shorter than him "kid"
Question of the chapter: What nickname do you think Bakugou would give to Teruki?
