25
Krishima had been 100% right.
Bakugo had gotten so much quicker in just the past few weeks.
The way he ran was incredibly smooth, Midoriya couldn't hear his steps, even with those black and orange boots he wore, those arm grenades, which he would assume were probably, incredibly heavy.
Usually when the blonde was approaching, you could hear it. His equipment would clunck in his steps some, but now it sounded like nothing, and it was throwing him off. Bakugo was successfully able to sneak up on him, and had multiple times with blasts raining down out of nowhere, like a meteor shower.
There weren't many of them left on the field. Bakugo was winning in this everyone-on-one exercise.
Aiwaza's theory on it, was sometimes heroes get cornered and they are alone, and you have to fend for yourself against a bunch of villains until help either arrives, or if it's not possible for them to come, then you've got to do it on your own to protect people, or to keep the villains from advancing.
Everyone knew the League of Villains was getting more active, and as a response, UA was pushing Hero Class to their limits; putting them in exercises simulating dire situations.
In this one, it was a matter of: Would you come out alive, or would you fail?
That might mean death. It might not. That was the reality of the world right now.
It was graded.
They all had to do it.
They were doing three individuals a day. One person (the hero), against all the rest.
Today it was Bakugo, Momo, and Tsu.
Krishima had let him in on that he saw Bakugo and his roommate going to go workout together, to go practice martial arts.
Hero Deku was incredibly happy and not happy.
He felt torn beyond his own imagination.
That night with Ibara behind the bushes in front of he dorm, he'd told her he wished there was at least one person that Bakugo could come to stand, that he could become a 'human' again with, that Katsuki hadn't been 'normal' for a long time. He knew something had happened to him, as he'd told Ibara, when he was around 8. He started shutting every single person out, starting closing off friendships, started backing out of everything. He got meaner, angrier, furious.
Therefore, when Krishima stormed back into the meeting downstairs and started babbling on about all he heard, and the I-Club all just stared at each other (the other's in there all making comments), the I's eyes all had a 'sort of' smile to them.
They knew Kasaya was a messy drunk (at least that one night when they caught him on video), but Bakugo, he was friends with someone now.
Midoriya got what he'd hoped for. Iida felt that perhaps Bakugo had some chance to become a hero now (a friend would maybe settle him), and Ibara, even though upset for Uraraka, as yet again, Bakugo was always around Satoko, was glad Midoriya got what he hoped for Bakugo.
Midoriya didn't know whether the original Katsuki would ever be back again though, wasn't sure if Kasaya could pull it out of him, if it would ever rise from the depths that the blonde had slowly sank into over the years, but he was pleased to know that there was at least someone in that hole with him.
Kasaya was in the dark with him there.
One body. One person holding a torch now.
Katsuki was probably in the process of letting him in, letting him descend the ladder into his abyss.
And somehow, Kasaya was unafraid?
Everyone feared the blonde to a point.
Bakugo stirred shit up. He was loud-mouthed, blew things up all the time, cussed so much that it was unbearable, the way he slinked around in his 'hands-in-pockets' posture ran people off, the way he slit his eyes made him look angry, even his appearance: His hair was insanely free-spirited, a callicly mess, sheered unevenly.
Bakugo was also making quite a giant crevice for himself to stand in on campus too.
All the professors knew him by name (as per his attitude was unavoidable, and they didn't want him to have run-ins with their students), the tournament where they had to handcuff and muzzle him up like a wild animal people knew him from, and the school paper explaining he practically blew that villain sky-high left people viewing him as insane.
How was it that Satoko Kasaya could deal with that heat?
Midoriya could not understand, he even still got clammed up some around the guy (because he bullied him so badly when he was little).
But... the two fourth-floorers were 'friends-ish'. It was certain.
The three I's were still just observing. So far, they hadn't seen any other nights like the one where Iida had got a video, and Iida hadn't had to write either of them up.
It actually had gotten rather... quiet.
Iida figured Bakugo Katsuki would of at least blown a piece of the building apart by now in a rage-filled moment, or had a run-in with some random person upstairs that resulted in a fight, or something...
But instead, there was nothing.
Iida walked the floors rather regularly, he had to as he was the Student Advisor, and the only thing he heard out of the room labeled Bakugo Katsuki/Satoko Kasaya was some rap music, and a few voices.
Iida had told Midoriya that.
This Satoko was a gritty guy, he listened to this dirty gangster rap (that he heard the first day him and the two girls met him), he remembered thinking he was rough looking, and now knowing he drank some?
Honestly to Deku, it made sense now that someone like Bakugo would be drawn to someone like that, and befriend that type of person.
They seemed both to be messes, but in their own separate ways.
He still was worried about the guy pushing his ex-childhoood friend towards bad habits (such as drinking), but still what remained that was more important to him, was that Bakugo was 'accepting' of a person now.
Bakugo was currently blowing stuff up on the other side of the outdoor field, behind the tree line; it sounded like he'd caught Kaminari as he heard a loud shocking sound.
Midoriya focused on getting back over there, he was running with his roommate on his right.
On the other hand, the other side of it, Hero Deku was feeling not happy.
But that unhappiness had worked into empowerment over a few days.
When Krishima begged him to death to be his workout partner, he felt pressured to do it, he'd always just worked out on his own, but paired with the knowledge that Bakugo was learning martial arts, he thought about it, and ended up agreeing quickly.
No doubt, Bakugo Katsuki was seeking ways to become better.
He was using Kasaya to get there.
So selfish that guy was, and the fact that he had a roommate who was amazingly skilled, the blonde had lucked-out in his opinion. Midoriya had to work that much harder now to be # 1! Katsuki and him were rivals, and suddenly the other had an incredible leg-up.
As Krishima coo'ed on... unfair.
"There he is!" The red head yelled, peeling out of the trees, hardening his skin as the blonde spied and blasted him. It didn't phase him, his hard skin protected him from the blasts, and Krishima advanced, running full speed.
The Red Riot was pretty fast too!
Uraraka popped out from the treeline and floated a rock over Bakugo's head, and he saw and shot a blast, blowing it to bits and as it rained pieces of smaller rocks all over the field, the Hero Classer's still left in the exercise all covered their heads.
Todoroki advanced then and slid out a shoot of mixed ice and fire Bakugo's way, and as much a surprise to all who looked up...
Katuski did three backflips to the right, threw up a hand in another side cart-wheel, and a spin of fire swung out of his palm, jolting out like a firecracker, and it was so quick that it knocked Todoroki completely down.
Shoto had zero time to react it was so fast.
Bakugo smirked an absolutely evil smile.
He'd wanted that.
Kasaya had trained him enough in physical ability, that he was better than that Half n' Half bastard!
Learning more martial arts, paired with his quirk, he was becoming the King Explosion Murder he always wanted to be.
Red Riot suddenly launched himself and wrapped his arms around the blonde's waist, and Bakugo stuck his foot out, rotated his body, and locked the man's elbow and threw him completely off him, launched him soaring for 10 feet there was that much centripetal force.
He landed with a thud. "Ow." Krishima groaned. It had actually hurt!
Uraraka's turn. She came running up, touching the rocks around her, they all floated above her head as she ran.
'This again?' Bakugo was bored with her. Yet again, she was so unoriginal. She always chose rocks. Why? She could float anything that was inanimate right? Why'd it always have to be that?
It was always air assaults too.
She suddenly let the three rocks she'd latched go and they stormed down from the sky towards the blonde, and he just blew them up.
Pretty lame.
Uraraka then, did do something unexpected and launched herself at him, and with a weird look of surprise on Bakugo's face, he suddenly just laughed meanly, he hadn't expected that, but she was no match for him.
He grabbed her foot and twisted her ankle, and in that she was downed.
It was just Deku and him now.
And there the green-headed idiot was, running at full speed, fist out, that snapping lightning energy starting to show, he knew what that meant, he was powering up.
Bakugo clicked his grenades off, and they fell to the ground, they stored up his nitroglycerin infused sweat, and the tanks were on empty.
He was nearly out of explosive power, and he'd have to get a little more hands on with him, which was exactly was that hatred of him inside that burned wanted.
Katsuki wanted to beat the nerd into the ground; for lying to him all these years, for whining like a baby when he was the one that should of been crying but couldn't; to beat him up because the guy himself was selfish and never asked the right things.
It was always about Izuku Midoriya, according to Izuku Midoriya.
For as 'nice' as the guy was, and as much as he thought on others, it didn't used to be that way, back when he somehow didn't have a quirk, all he complained about was not having one.
It was annoying to watch the crying, just accept your fuckin' place in the world, get that that was who you were, a quirkless nobody. Bakugo wanted him to take that harsh lesson.
He'd be stuck working a normal job, but he could start a family, still live a life, but as the crying... it just never fuckin' stopped, Bakugo found himself instead pushing him off him, away.
The guy was becoming an infection in his life, this ball of self-centered emotion that wanted sympathy but couldn't find any sense to come back into reality himself, it became so easy to push him around.
It pissed him off because unlike him, Bakugo could not live in a dream fantasy world.
What he lived in was reality.
And it was shit.
Even now, the idiot still cried like a girl. And every time he saw it, it just made him want to start screaming.
"Grahhh!" Midoriya jumped in the air really high putting some energy in his legs to boost him, and reeled his fist back, ready to hit him right in the abdomen.
But, as that fist came down, instead of connecting, Deku felt two palms come around his upper bicep where there was no energy and swing him around, downing him, and the punch of energy never 'smashed' anything, all that lightning just fizzled out into the air.
"Give it up." Bakugo crossed his arms.
"NEVER!" Midoriya screamed at him, jumping up ready to hit him, to take out 'the villian'.
People started to come back out onto the field at the events happening. The two ex-childhood friends... they were fighting!
Bakugo suddenly grabbed Midoriya around the waist and slammed him into the ground, and he started punching, he hit Midoriya fast across the face, and Deku spit up some blood.
The green headed hero swung an arm, having only a bit of power left, and it struck Bakugo across his back, as his upper body had turned just enough for Midoriya to land a semi-clean shot.
Bakugo growled, his back suddenly in a mega amount of pain. It wasn't enough to completely down him, but it did nothing but piss him off.
"I will NOT LOSE!" Bakugo screamed slamming a fist into the ground by Deku's head, missing as the freckled guy under him snapped to the side.
"I won't either!" Except Bakugo suddenly did something he'd must of learned from Kasaya, and swung his leg around his torso and rolled his whole body over in a lock, his arm completely straight.
He had him locked in a ground move. Like wrestling.
Deku started screaming as he felt a pop in his shoulder, his forearm completely bent backwards. "Break it!" He didn't know why he yelled that! "I don't care!" He was suddenly filled with a outrageous amount of rage. This was what Bakugo wanted! All the time! To break him up and beat him down!
"I WILL break it you fucker!"
"If you break it, I'll still fight you forever!" Deku screamed, slamming his free fist into Bakugo's side.
Some of Hero Class starting gasping.
"Bakugo! Don't!" Iida yelled. He was going to break his friends arm!
"Y'askin' for pain y' son of'a bitch?!" Bakugo screamed. "You don't kno'wha pain is!" He suddenly jerked back on Midoriya's arm, earning Bakugo a loud scream from the green-headed teen.
But as that scream should of entreated the blonde with much happiness, knowing that he was getting what he wanted, it was incomplete.
It confused him.
Aiwaza was running towards them.
He hadn't broke his arm, a little more and he would.
But the teen under him, who now had tears filtering into his eyes from the overly intense pressure, fearing his forearm splitting, the bone busting, Bakugo just loosened his grip and let go, staring blankly into his eyes.
Midoriya closed his orbs and laid his head back in the dirt, face down, his arm lifelessly fell.
Bakugo got off him, and just scooted back Indian style, tossing a handful of dirt angrily at the other, looking away from the depleted, exhausted, spent form.
Aiwaza stopped in his tracks.
Holy hell.
Bakugo stopped!
Eraserhead approached the teen that he texted on and off about his roommate, and leaned over him. "You win." He could say that, he could actually say that, because Bakugo in this snap-moment had shown a blink of self-control.
He didn't have to give him a semi-grade.
That was a first!
Iida was smirking on the side. Yes! Bakugo Katsuki, self-control? He swelled with some hope.
"Hn." Bakugo said, his head swimming, barely acknowledging the professor.
He hated Deku, that piece of trash! He had a rage that was unbearable inside for him. A rage that was so strong it filled his eyes with fury, made his mind blank, made him literally 'see red'.
But as he was ready to break his bone into two peices, he'd had a flash of something unexpected.
Behind his eyes in the red-rage, he saw a smirk on sweet lips in his mind. He seen a long face, gray eyes blinking, lashes padding, patiently waiting in the dark. Then a smile, a laugh. That smooth voice of Saya in his head asking him what his war was.
His war.
He let go of Deku in that moment.
Bakugo pulled his knees up to his face while both were recovering on the ground. 'Shit.' He shook a bit letting his chin rest on his knee, sitting how Saya usually sat.
Both were hurting pretty bad; Bakugo's back and Deku's arm.
"Recovery Girl is coming!" Bakugo heard Iida yell from the side, but it couldn't be more blurry to him.
As much as he despised Deku, it was beginning to be less of a hate than the hate he had for that girl.
That Ashley asshole.
Since he'd, a few days ago, come to admit to himself that he 'liked' the guy he lived with (he thinks), his war was shifting, just like the game he was playing.
The hate was moving, like a slow stream, it's energy was going somewhere else.
He still wanted to be #1, better than Deku, he wanted to be better as always, but he was not giving a crap as much.
His war.
It was less Deku.
And instead, the pond was filling in the unknown space of darkness (where slowly some spaces were having the lights turned on), where Kasaya's life had been lived over his young adult life before UA.
Ashley was steadily becoming his battle.
She'd pay.
He'd fuckin' rip her heart out, hold it over his head, and let it bleed all over his body. He'd let it run down over his shoulders, chest, drip into his blonde hair, as a sign that HE was the one that cut it out of her, completely covered in her fresh stink.
Nasty. She was nasty.
Then he'd put the organ in a fire and burn it until it was nothing but ash.
She was becoming his rage. Not this.
Midoriya finally sat up, hand on his upper arm, wincing in immense, terrible pain. "Why'd you stop?!" It came out as jolt, he was mad, and still feeling kind of upset. He was utterly confused an wanted a damn answer!
Bakugo just turned his head away from him.
Instantly Hero Deku's face changed, the eyes wide, cheeks loosening, seeing 'something'.
Aiwaza stared too, from afar now, as he'd walked away some. Bakugo's attitude change was noticeable. His student was obviously training with Satoko, had gotten so much better, and also... he'd gotten gentler.
He was still vicious, but he knew 'to stop'.
Eraserhead wanted words with him. He hadn't told him that they were doing that.
Bakugo was keeping things from him.
Diasuta had said that it trusted Bakugo a bit more than him, but still, Eraserhead pushed for Bakugo to convince Satoko to get help, he was the professor damn it! And, because he had things lined up, ready to go whenever the blue-headed teen was ready to accept it!
But this? This had thrown him off. Satoko had rather emotionlessly said they were 'roommates'. Now it was obvious, these two were closer than that.
He welcomed the training; Aiwaza was impressed with the physical fitness that Bakugo was shaping into, but what stirred him was that there were secrets there.
'These fuckin' kids.' They pissed him off, but he could relate. Yes, they were friends, okay. Eraserhead himself had had buddies in school, 'best bros'.
Better times.
He smirked behind his scarf, turning then to talk to Ashido who was saying her knee was feeling tight, he had to take a list of all the things that Recovery Girl needed to heal when she got here.
Yes, he would talk with Killer Death Machine via text, or whatever later, no matter how much he fought it.
Izuku Midoriya on the other hand, didn't only notice the swift change in his attitude just as the professor, but he 'seen' something... odd.
Odd as hell.
His eyebrows crunched.
As Bakugo's head was away of him, the side of his face on his knee now, resting he guessed, the place where his last ounce of One For All had landed a hit, it'd ripped the back of his tank a few inches.
Black lines.
Dark ones.
Two spikes up the back of his neck into his hairline.
He could see leaves.
Was that?
A tattoo?
'What?!' His head was instantly racing. Holy! His eyes got huge. Oh my god! Satoko was pulling him into some crazy stuff that he didn't need to be a part of after all! It was so black! It was, it looked... he couldn't see it all, but it was probably all the way across his back! When did he? When did he get that done?
That involves getting poked and prodded with needles for hours on hours, in a chair, buzzing sounds, ink going into the skin!
That was the complete opposite of Katsuki.
He was changing!
The attitude shift was decent, even greater that he hadn't snapped his arm in two... but this?!
This change Midoriya was halted completely about. It was so 'bad boy'. Bakugo was not a bad boy! He loved his grandma! Was a straight A student, set to be a hero!
The look of the heroes was: Clean. Upright. Pristine.
Sure some had problems, as did everyone, some did have side jobs, but they were all mostly, completely NOT into this 'genre' of culture.
This culture was related to the underground. The Yazuka, the Japanese gang world, villains, tattoos still were not allowed in public onsens, and were completely taboo, unlike the Western world, where Midoriya heard a lot of people had them.
There was still such a strong stigma attached to tattoos that they meant 'badness' in Japan, that it was a surprise to see that someone had some.
Especially Bakugo!
"That real?" Midoriya blurted, feeling his face go white hot. He was angry slightly. He was convinced that Satoko really might be leading him down a path of no return! The drinking, late nights, tattoos! What the hell else was there?!
Why'd he still feel such an unbearingly strong sense of 'ownership' over his ex-friend! They WERE NOT friends!
"Hah?" Bakugo blurted. What the fuck was this moron babbling about?
He wanted to be back at the dorm as fast as possible.
His heart was racing.
He wanted to see Kasaya.
Then like a strike of electricity it fizzled. Bakugo knew what he was looking at.
A palm shot up to touch.
A hole.
There was a ripped spot in the back of his tank.
'Fuck!' This was a secret! He'd wanted to keep this quiet!
It was something... uh, that friends did. Or maybe it wasn't?
He didn't know! He didn't know!
He covered the hole with his whole palm then, blocking the green-headed one's view. "None of'your business." It came out as a mean grumble.
"Did..."
"Jus'shut up." Bakugo was not keen on getting asked questions. His face was starting to feel hot, he knew his cheeks were going to turn pink. He stood then and covering it still, the blonde reeled on his heel and walked away, leaving the other behind on the ground speechless.
'Oh no!' Midoriya yelled inside himself. Oh no! He needed Iida and Ibara, right now! He was having a mini freak out.
He shot a look over to the taller teen, who pushed up on his glasses, and seen that Izuku was all-at-once staring right at him, then his wide-eyed glare shot at Bakugo slinking away with a hand on his back, then back at him.
Iida peripherally caught the blonde in his eyesight. That guy had won, but Midoriya must of got him good for him to hold onto his back like that. He paced over to his friend, who hadn't stood, still sitting on his butt on the ground, and crouched down by him. "Y'got him good? Iida remarked inside of the Ingenium suit.
"Iida."
"Huh? What's wrong?" The bespectacled one leered at Hero Deku.
"He's not that hurt. I don't think." Midoriya was nervously swallowing. His throat was tight, he was having such a weird reaction, he just had no idea what was going on, he seen 'it', and he covered it up like he was keen on hiding it. What the? "It's somethin' else."
"What?" He had no idea what in the world it could possibly be. Bakugo looked pretty dang hurt to him, gliding away, disappearing like he did.
"He's..." Midoriya's mouth fell aghast. He was pale like a ghost.
Iida immediately noticed. Is it something that he'd have to write Bakugo up for? So far, things had been really calm!
"There's a huge tattoo on his back."
"What?" The bigger one blinked. "You... are you serious?"
"Yea. I seen it."
"Wait, that was why he had his hand there." Iida breathed in, trying to calm himself, knowing the stigma too with these type of things. "It's nothing to get bent out of shape over."
"Huh?" Midoriya looked up, still holding his arm.
"But I do think now, that we need to start thinking more into the realm that Satoko is not a good influence on him again." Iida continued. "In some ways." He pushed up on his glasses, sitting down now, looking like a white robot in his suit. "You told Ibara and I that Krishima said he was practicing martial arts with Kasaya, and from today I can tell, that's true."
"It is. He's so much better."
"I know. It's incredible, and I'm happy knowing he's making headway mood-wise also. I've had severe doubts that any agency would take him with his attitude, but it seems..." He put a few fingers to his lip. "When he takes a step forward, he takes a step back?"
"Yea."
"You know the hero world. It's all about looks unfortunately, and popularity. Tattoos are not popular over here. He might of just screwed up his chances really bad to get into a hero agency. They find out he's got a huge one, he might be exsponged. Forced out."
"Kasaya is not helping him as much as we think." Midoriya commented.
"More like..." Iida sighed, barely able to say it. "dirtying him up."
Midoriya sighed. "What are'we gunna do?"
"We got so lazy. I mean, we went on alert when we'd caught Bakugo and that older brother of Satoko's dragging Kasaya in drunk, but as things just quieted out, there wasn't anything to actually 'watch'. Everything has been calm. I've repeatedly walked by their room, and it was fine. Bakugo hasn't been yelling in class. Satoko is the normal ghost that he's always been." Iida sighed, making a hand motion. "I mean, what can we do?"
"I know. We've got our own lives, we can't just dedicate ourselves to posts to spy on Bakugo all the time. Plus, I feel bad about doing that... again."
"I am honestly concerned." He restated. "He might not get into a hero league Midoriya. I hate to say that, but they're so judgmental."
"Yea, I know."
Iida then put his hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "I get it. You care. You wanted him and you, to both be heroes right?"
"Yea." The green headed one reached his hand up and patted Iida's. "Us together. Even if we hate each other. Even with our rivalry. Saving people, being amazing, doing the right things."
"Well, I don't know." Iida put his hand down. He felt bad for his friend. Bakugo, his ex-childhood friend, was taking a completely different route in life than he'd expected of him. Iida could imagine, if that was the case with his childhood friends, he'd probably feel the same way. "It's evasive to spy. We already told each other that that was the only and last time we would, and that we'd just keep our necks out, and that was all."
Midoriya turned his head and sighed. "It's just another thing that I can't assume of him, y'know? I'm really beginning to get that I don't know him at all anymore. Kac... er Katsuki, I mean people change I guess. I have to learn to deal with that."
"That's true. You're a good guy, but everyone changes. It's just life."
"I know you're right." Midoriya had some tears coming to his eyes. "There's no tellin'. Any day he could get a girlfriend, chop all his hair off, move away... even get another tattoo."
"Mhmm." Iida mumbled. "My brother was handicapped overnight. I know that feeling all too well." He was more easy with bringing that up now.
Midoriya's tears were falling now. "I just thought when I was little, that we'd do all that stuff together. You don't think about change when you're a kid. When someone is your friend, you want them to be your friend forever, want to stay in that happy euphoric state. But now, you know... even friendship changes, as people grow to hate each other, or if they move away, switch jobs."
"It's okay." Iida patted him on the back again. "The right thing to do, is to accept it. Just put a hope 'for the best' in for him. Bakugo makes his own decisions. Just be the person who's there, if there is no one else and he needs someone after he's screwed things all up, if he does screw stuff up that is."
Midoriya smiled up at him.
"Don't let a bad past between you two, even if he's changed, or possibly made mistakes, define your character and mood towards him. Be better than your own emotions."
Izuku instantly jolted up and wrapped his arms around Iida's neck, earning a few head turns from Hero Class from afar.
"Thank you." He whispered. "Thank you."
Iida hugged him back.
Todoroki began meandering over, and when he arrived, he sat right down by Midoriya as the hug was ending. He saw him immediately begin drying some tears with his shirt. "You okay?" They, all three, fought the villain Stain together, and in a way, that had bonded them in a type of 'Hero Class partnership'.
"I am now yea." Midoriya looked at the half white, half crimson haired teen.
Iida was surprised, it wasn't not normal for Shoto to wonder about something like that. The guy was kind of plain in demeanor.
"Well, you feelin' up to standing?" Iida remarked getting up off the ground first to look down on the two sitting on the ground.
Todoroki stood too.
Something passed between the both of them, Shoto and Iida shared a quick smirk.
Iida knew. Todoroki was a good dude.
"We got you." Shoto said.
They both held down a hand, so Midoriya had two to grab.
And Izuku equally grabbed both.
"Who are you texting?"
"Bakugo."
"Ah. No response yet as to whether that kid will accept or not?" All Might pressed, he was in his non-beefed up form right now, lounging around on a couch in one of the side buildings on campus. The one that was exclusive for certain members, it was the dean's.
For some time, it was only the dean and one of the police's head detectives that knew about the truth behind One For All, but he'd told Aiwaza awhile back too, and he felt good about it. Shota was trust-able, and his reign over One For All, it was coming to an end anyway.
Midoriya would soon be the wielder of all that power, within the next few years probably, and he would go back to being just Toshinori Yagi, the super slender, quirkless blonde guy that he always really had been, with even more tired looking eyes than Aiwaza.
He was older than Eraserhead by nearly 10 years, he was in his early 40's.
"I don't know if he's even said anything to him."
"Who?"
"Bakugo." Eraserhead sat down on couch by him. "I don't know if Bakugo has told him that I even had anything set up."
"Frustrating isn't it?" Toshinori was relaxed, he had to have some time to relax. He was always so stressed out. He ran a hand through his long blonde hair taking a sip of whiskey on the rocks. He lived on campus unlike Shota, who couldn't afford it.
"Yeh it is." He sat back. He started unweaving his scarf from around his neck and laying it the coffee table in front of him.
"These kids. Why do teenagers always have a need to want to keep things secret, worried about society judging them... even Bakugo I think."
"Can't blame'em. Look at us." Aiwaza smirked.
"Let'me see that bite mark." Toshinori sat up, leaning into the professor, putting his drink down, the ice clinking. "Is it healed up yet?"
"Yea, you can see it, but it's fine."
He turned his neck to the right, and started unbuttoning his coat, so the blonde could get a good look.
Yagi swished the black hair off his shoulder to go behind his back while he was getting comfortable. Undoubtedly he was sleeping here tonight, as his sleeping bag was over in the corner. He knew why Aiwaza slept here on campus. He never got to sleep, not peacefully.
UA was the safest place.
They ALL were walking targets. Shota hadn't slept at his apartment in weeks, kept staying in this lounge.
The coat was tossed. He began taking his tank top off, he was caring of how he appeared in public, out of those eyes, not at all.
That was why it was so awkward for him, that he was made to be yanking around on his scarf in class, he obviously did care that he had something on his neck that could be pegged as an atrocious love-bite. It was fuckin' embarrassing, and made him appear unprofessional if people didn't know the story, and Aiwaza would rather just ignore the banter of people by hiding it, he had enough scarf to do so.
Yagi let the hair go. It dropped to his shoulders, and he ran a thumb across it before lounging back. The healing bite was a little raised still.
He watched Aiwaza grab up his drink and take a swig out of it. "What is it?"
"Morgan. American."
"Ah. Only okay."
"Yea."
Shota swallowed some more. He'd told him that the Satoko kid was the 'villain' in the training dome. Told the dean, so the over-sized hamster mutant wouldn't think that there was a breech.
Aiwaza and him shared a lot with each other, that was a part of 'what they were'.
"So, what's with the kid anyway? His brain has it's own consciousness, that's never good." All Might went on.
"I know." The dark-haired man, slender, leaned over, elbows on knees. "I'm stressed. I'm taking the rest of this."
"Go ahead. The dean keeps it stocked in here, you know that. Stressed the kid will say no?" Yagi laid his head back, closed his eyes. This form, boy, he was still trying to get used to it. He'd started many many months back working out in it, so he would have some muscle, and not be so dependent anymore on One For All pumping him up into a Venice Beach model.
Aside from the huge scar on his side, he admitted to himself, he was looking pretty darn good. This drink that Aiwaza was now drinking had been a treat to himself for a job well done today; rounds of pull-ups, push-ups, and a long run.
Eraserhead took a huge chug, feeling that ice clink against his lips. Normally he slept with his clothing on if he slept in his sleeping bag in his class. But he more so did that if he was in public sleeping. When he was quiet and alone, he'd strip down a bit more. He pushed his glasses around on the table, the one's with slits in them that he wore when he fought, he was in thought.
"I think he'll say yes."
"Then what is it?" Yagi still had his eyes closed, head leaned back, blonde hair over the back of the couch, his over-sized white tee was lazy-looking.
"I've been thinking on it. How often you see something like that?"
"A mental quirk?"
"Pretty rare right?" Eraserhead had a mental quirk. It physically 'took away' people's quirks, could even take away Midoriya's first given amount of One For All, he figured once the kid got it all, he wouldn't be able to take it away then at all. Also, that one kid in C that had the Hypnosis quirk, went up against Midoriya in the tournament, and that first touch of One For All, it was enough to tug him out of that Hypnosis' grip. "That kid, his name's Satoko Kasaya. His mental quirk, it got me by surprise, but the deal with mental quirks is that it's all about levels."
"Oh?"
"Yes." It was affirmative. He drank his conquered whiskey, ice cubes coming down inside the glass again. "Midoriya shook off that C Class kid's mental quirk easily in the tournament, but I'm strong enough to blink and take Midoriya's piece of One For All away and he can't shake it, but Satoko was strong enough to clamp onto me, and I was not able to shake it off. You see what I'm getting at?"
"Hn. Go on." Yagi crossed his legs on the coffee table.
"That means, that even if it is unrefined, and his brain is dissociated, because the kid, and I looked up his papers, never went to Merge School, Satoko has more raw mental power than I do, even after all these years of training myself to adjust to my quirk."
"Upper echelon?" Toshinori's head popped up to look at the man who he adored.
"That's my deduction. That's another big reason I want to help, other than the kid just struggling to death."
"Wait. He didn't go to Merge School?"
"No." Aiwaza turned to him. "There's no documentation on it. None what-so-ever. I checked every single regional Merge School in all of Japan. There's only 5 of them seeing as mental quirks are so rare, but there is no evidence that Satoko Kasaya attended any, only a local elementary and middle school. That's it."
"So you think his family is highly irresponsible?"
"Not at all. All military. His older brother is in a local military academy, set to graduate with honors. His dad is Navy, had been for years, a 'lifer'. His brother has a very minor mental quirk, only a Level 1, but I found his record. Satoko Hisashi, that's his name."
"Hm, strange. All kids with mental quirks have to attend Merge School, that's what 'associates' their brains to their bodies, as odd as that is." Yagi kind of shivered. "Kind of creepy being hooked to series of sound waves and wires for a whole summer, but you did it right?"
"Yea. I hated it, but it's required in all countries, by all governments. It's just too easy for a mental quirk to shove a brain into it's own 'being'."
"So you're saying that you didn't find Satoko Kasaya, and that means what?"
"Obvious. He didn't attend one. Supposed to in late elementary." Eraserhead took a sip. He looked at the blonde, who noticed his uneasiness. Aiwaza stood and walked over to a duffel that he had, and yanked out a vanilla colored folder, opening it on the coffee table as he sat back down on the couch. Inside were pictures, tons of paperwork, and government documents.
Yagi scooted close to him and put his arm around Aiwaza's shoulders, on the back of the couch, earning him a tiny crunch in on the side the dark-headed professor's lips.
Toshinori hadn't expected he'd find someone to spend his time with, in this sort of way. With the secret behind All Might and One For All, he couldn't have a girlfriend, marriage was not on his mind, nor was a family, he had a strong right to uphold with the responsibility he had.
Surprising, as he'd told Aiwaza about the secret behind One For All, and showed him his true form, he accepted it. Then, as he worked out, trying to get into better shape as just Toshinori Yagi, he kept catching the dark headed professor watching.
It wasn't long before the professor fessed up that he had a 'thing' for him, a crush.
Aiwaza was incredibly embarrassed at first, but Yagi was open about it.
Toshinori never thought he'd be dating a man, always looked at women, but since his life had slipped by, all that time spent upholding his duty, All Might became so much more slack in what he believed 'love' was or should be defined as, same for the dark-headed one apparently, due to a series of awful relationships that never held together.
Aiwaza had only had a relationship here and there with women, and that was all it was: 'here and there'. The last one was a little over 2 years ago, and it went sour, the woman was pissed. He never had the time to spend with her, always busy on mission, he'd just got indoctrinated as a professor at UA, and that was fulfilling one of the holes in his heart, as he'd always wanted to teach high school.
The woman couldn't handle it. She was too needy, and Eraserhead said 'sorry', and without a single doubt in his head, chose his career over her.
This thing the two men shared... It was only three months deep. But for the two older men, it made them feel like they were just young and fun again.
Yagi accepted that Aiwaza was nervous about love-making, the dark-haired man hadn't in a few years, since his last relationship, and also... he was now with a man. That made it... well different.
Toshinori was quickly finding himself falling all over himself... for this dark-haired scruffy beauty on his arm turning papers over in his lap reading.
"Uh." Eraserhead snapped open a glasses case, and put on his normal, large, tortoise shell reading glasses. He was disgruntled he had to put them on.
The blonde just watched him, his eyes batting low, smiling at his busy face. 'Yea.' For this man, he could take all the rest of the time he had. It infuriated him to no end that that Satoko kid's brain made his body's mouth bite a mark on his boyfriend, but he understood it. The brain was a bad boy. It needed to get assimilated.
The event awakened a little different air in Aiwaza.
He'd become more open with Toshinori, was taking his shirt off around him now, and was beginning to ask for 'things'. Aiwaza told him the kid's brain had made out with him, without being able to refuse of course, because he was under it's control. He didn't lie to him, and for that, All Might was happy, but what was important was what he had to ask him from it:
"That didn't turn you on did it?"
"It did."
He was shocked. "Was it that the body was young?" Yagi was somewhat concerned that maybe his body was not good enough, maybe it couldn't ever please him. They hadn't even done anything sexual. But, who knew? Maybe this would end shorter than it started. Plus, if Aiwaza was a pervert, he... he couldn't have that.
"No. I was scared because the body was young. Illegal."
"So?"
"It's just... it had been awhile. It was sudden. Aside the fact it was a teen, I hadn't been touched like that... in a long time. Not even the last relationship. It felt good to feel wanted, even if it was false." The way he sat indicated that he felt unloved.
Toshinori scooted close to him on the couch in his apartment. He got it, he got it now.
"I want happiness in my personal life... including something like that. It awakened me, if anything."
Yagi swished that hair aside. "I'll make sure that that DOES happen." He laid a deep kiss right on top of that bite mark on Aiwaza's neck. That should of been his bite mark.
"Mm." The dark-haired man lulled his head into it. "Damn."
All Might chuckled in his Toshinori form. "Those glasses look nice on you."
"You think? I hate them."
"You hate most things." Toshinori joked, sitting aside his significant other on the couch, leaned in. He could tell he was consumed up in this. He was such a great person at heart, easy to understand once you seen through his stiff exterior. He literally melted into his arm like chocolate.
All Might loved that.
"So, what was the kid doing all those years?" Aiwaza.
"Hn?" He was caught up staring at the side of his face.
"He didn't go to government required Merge School, so what was he doing?"
Toshinori bit. "In school elementary, and middle?"
"Yes." He pulled a paper out, it was high school records. "There's also a pretty stacked juvenile record here."
The long-headed blonde was shaken from combing his fingers through Aiwaza's soft, but un-brushed hair. Why did his partner insist on looking like such a scrub all the time? Well, he equally looked like a scrub in this form, so it was not a big deal.
Eraserhead easily rocked the 'unkempt' look all the way.
"Y'know, I'm glad we're so close."
"We'll be closer." Aiwaza leaned up and kissed his boyfriend's cheek softly. "Over time."
Yagi smiled. 'Ah man.' This guy. "So a bad kid huh? What's the 'juvey' got to say?"
"Burned down an abandoned apartment complex. A lot of breaking and entering. Was caught throwing glass bottles. Stole money out of a few local businesses. Stole some guy's motorcycle. He did some time in a holding cells." Aiwaza kind of chuckled. "Look at the photos, he's always wearing a suit. Different haircuts in some of them."
"Ears pierced looks like."
"Guess so." Those mug shots, he looked so blank in them. It was similar, but yet, unlike the kid sitting next to him in the dug out. "He must of taken them out. He didn't have them when I met him."
"How'd he know how to drive a motorcycle? When was that one?"
"Hm. Looks like he was. Wow. 14." Aiwaza crunched in his eyebrows.
"So who taught him to drive one?"
"I don't know, family maybe? The brother? The father? He could of wrecked it." Aiwaza took a sip of whiskey. "Police report says they never found it."
"Well, with that record, there's no way that he was admitted to UA. What's the catch here?" The blonde was getting more interested in this teen as it went along. He had the pictures in his lap now, no matter what hairstyle the kid had on him, suit, he sure did have that same flat look on his face. It was like there was 'nothing' there. It kind of shook All Might up. The kid looked empty.
"High ranking military recommendations. Satoko Kasaya went under the wing of a major, a Major Hoga, looks like aside from schooling he received while there, he became his older brother's dependent rather than it being his father."
"That's odd. I wonder why."
"A life-military Navymen having a son that was a delinquent. I bet he turned the other cheek." Aiwaza sighed. "Eh. I broke some shit when I was 14. I never got caught. But, this dad, he had it rough, his youngest was a hellion. Looks like he is on the right track now though, made it all the way up to 1-B and into the dorms, which are only given to the upper ranking classes. So, that's why he's at where he's at."
Aiwaza then took the last of the whiskey.
Yagi took the glass as he sat it, brushing his hair away, capturing those sweet lips with hints of spice from the liquor up in his. "Let me make you another. You've had a long day."
"Please." He whispered into his partner's smile, smirking back.
Toshinori didn't mind.
They did things for each other all the time, he walked to the side of the room to fill it full, and was getting some new ice cubes to put in it when Professor Aiwaza began talking again from behind his back. "The kid packs a punch if even I can't break his latch. He'd make a powerful hero. Massive potential. I'm going to go ahead and start filling this form out. It's for the kid's 'hopeful' 'eventual' Merge School, if I can get that damn Bakugo to convince him to do it. It's got to be pressed and sealed by an authorized member of the law once complete too, or it's not official."
"Who will that be?"
"Probably the dean."
"Ah. I always forget that he's actually authorized to do that."
"Weird to think a hamster was once a member of the police force huh?"
"In this world anything is possible." Toshinori started popping new ice in the glass now chuckling. That was true, it was hilarious.
Aiwaza started mumbled low. "L... mhmm."
The blonde heard an ink pen snap, writing.
"Let's see, ah. Maybe. 5' 9", I guess." Scribbling. "Gray. Male. 17."
Toshinori smiled, he picked over the alcohol, there was a darker top shelf. He'd give that one instead. He deserved it. So much.
"You think I should put his home address, the military one, or the one here. God! It's like I'm his father."
He chuckled, unscrewing the top of the chosen whiskey bottle.
"Put my address."
"Yours? Why?"
"Well, If the kid's brother's set to graduate, you know he'll get shipped out after. His father's on ship, as I seen over-looking a document, and the kid himself won't be here in the dorms except another year, then he'll graduate. You don't like going to your apartment, and I'll be here living on UA awhile because of my boy Midoriya. I'm the only more permanent one."
"Alright. I'm not opposed to that." He scribbled. "I think the dean can swing that probably."
He began to pour. Gods this liquor was so soft in sound. He better like it. He will.
"Three Twins Elementary. Signal Point Middle." He was writing again. "Hmm... Bakugo's birthday is April. Look's like this Satoko's is... oh here it is, August." He knew all his class' birthdays. More papers riffling. "Sund... Medical. Ibaraki Perfecture, Mito."
"What was that?" Toshinori turned, he was done with the pouring and began walking back over.
"Sundial Northern Medical. It's in the Ibaraki Perfecture. That's where Satoko was born according to this medical document, look at the baby feet." He held the paper up.
"Let me see it." Yagi scooted the drink over to Aiwaza.
"Sure." He just continued writing, taking a sip. Surprised. "Thank you." He smiled.
Toshinori snuggled up next to him again, and Aiwaza put the blonde's arm back around his shoulders. A pleased smile from the blonde. He did good.
"What year was he born?"
Aiwaza sipped. "17 years ago. You do the math."
"Hm." He brushed the hair away from the other's face, put it behind his ear. "What day?"
"18th."
Toshinori dropped the birth certificate in his lap. His hand came out from behind the other man's and his right palm moved some papers aside on the coffee table.
Aiwaza noticed a hitch in the blonde's breath. Something was weird. "What's going on?" He sat his glass down on the table.
"Maybe it's just a coincidence." He swallowed, anxious, shoving some papers. He wasn't sure what he was looking for that could prove anything. He hadn't been this nervous in awhile. "I had a friend once, her name was Stella."
"Oh and why haven't I met her?" Aiwaza pushed up on his glasses.
"She's dead."
"Oh." Instant tone change. "I'm sorry." He swallowed, it pained him to know that. They'd lost a lot of people as heroes though. "Was she a hero?"
"Yea, she was. She was from Germany." He ran a hand through his blonde hair, fingers shot over his eyes. "I'm nerve-wrecked to hell. Please. Help me."
Aiwaza was instant on all-alert. He wrapped an arm around him. "I don't know what it is." He grabbed his hand to stop him from riffling and riffling. "But stop. Let me do it."
"Ok." Toshinori reached for the drink, took a shaky sip, then shot up, grabbing his briefcase, snapping it open, and out of a plastic bag, pulled out an old newspaper clipping, tossing the whole rest of everything else aside, like none of it mattered anymore. Aiwaza blinked at that slight crazed response. "This is her."
It was a Japanese obituary.
Aiwaza read for him. There had to be some reason why he kept it, she had been his friend, but keeping it on him always? In his briefcase? Did he date her at one point in time? "Stella Boehler, native of Bavaria, Germany died... August 21st." It connected. "She died in the same hospital that Satoko was born in, around the same time. I'm so sorry." That was why it triggered something in his partner.
"She was in the hospital on that day. The 21st! IT ALL MAKES SENSE NOW!" Toshinori started laughing.
It was a strange crazy laugh that Aiwaza had never heard before, and suddenly he watched him break down and started crying, full on weeping, palms in his face.
"It's stupid that All Might, with my smile, I stared fear in the face, all the while on the inside, I was fearful. But that day, that was the day that I felt the most fear in my entire life, and my smile... it fell."
"Tell me." Aiwaza set his crying partner back, tears like streams, flooding down his face. What was this stricken moment? What was going on?
"We... were." Through sobs. "I'd..." He didn't even know where to start. "I'd known her for about 5 years. We connected through a letter. It was the... first time." He bawled. "It was the first time the two of us were back together."
"Back together? Two?"
"The powers." He yanked around the neck of his shirt, he was crying so profusely he couldn't breathe. "THE POWERS!" He got loud for a moment.
"Shh. It's okay." Aiwaza wrapped his arms around him even more, putting his left leg over his boyfriend's right, he kept looking at him, trying to steady him down.
"You see, we fight against the League of Villains, formed by All For One, who's defied age to a certain point. He's still alive." Toshinori was taking breaths, but his face was still a runny mess. "You know, I have, well had... I am giving One For All to my boy, Midoriya."
"Yea."
"I'd always heard the legend. That out there, there was another."
"Another? Another one?" He wasn't making sense, not yet.
"That's right." The blonde shakily reached out for the liquor taking a sip. "There was two brother's and... their adopted cousin in beginning. The story. It's wrong. I've always known."
"Then why'd you say that it was just the two brothers?" Aiwaza was shocked. It was a blatant admittance to a lie. All Might never lied unless there was reason. He had to know.
"Because that's what I thought was all that was left. The hero who passed One For All to me, told me about the third one, but said that it was lost to the world. They had no way to identify who it was that held it. Where it went. It was just a legend. Until I got a letter in the mail, from this woman in Germany, she contacted me, and told me openly that she was it."
"Stella Boehler."
"Yes." Toshinori turned, putting a palm down on Aiwaza's leg. "She possessed For One's All. It got passed to her from her grandmother, who'd kept the quirk in secret hiding, but as the rise of villains was beginning to happen all over the globe, she gave it to Stella, as a hope to help the world. It passes along from inheritor to inheritor like mine. When All For One forced a quirk into his brother, he'd been too reckless, and stored both physical and mental quirks inside him."
"Ah no. I see where this is leading." Aiwaza now took a sip of whiskey. He was getting chills. This was ultimately dangerous. "The quirk split in half."
"Yes. It had to. The younger brother was sick, and the two quirks warring in him, they were killing him. So he passed one of them to his adopted cousin. Hence, For One's All was born. The girl ran. All For One did eventually catch her and kill her, but not before she passed it onto someone, told them the story, so it could remain alive."
Aiwaza was anxious. Holy shit he was anxious! He knew. He knew it already! He started getting off his partner, standing, and walked to the other side of the room. He was about to talk now, and Toshinori who was still crying a few spurts sat back, watching that lithe body pace. He was so thankful for this man.
Walking around with his shirt off, it was so pleasing to look at, especially with those large framed glasses.
Aiwaza, his shape, was just so damn good.
"The reason why you thought that that was all that was left, was because Stella died, and so you thought the quirk didn't get passed. You thought it ended. I'm guessing you guys teamed up together?"
"Yes. She did a massive amount of research trying to figure out where All For One was. It was hard on her, she's said, as this secret is quite the secret."
"I'd say."
"So..." Toshinori tried continuing.
"So what happened in the hospital?"
"We'd run into a team of villains, they'd worn us completely out. They'd caught on that For One's All and One For All were finally together. Those two powers to fight against evil, it's team ultimate. You get what I'm sayin'?"
The other nodded.
"They wanted to snub her out. And, they took us on with some evil, terribly wicked mental quirk associates of theirs who were very much more skilled in their usage of their quirks than Stella. I was fighting a bunch of them, maybe 8 or 9 at once. She took cover and ran off into Sundial Northern Medical, thinking that she'd be shielded from them if she entered into a military branch hospital." He sighed.
"Wrong." Aiwaza was pacing like a cat. "They followed her in, probably destroying everything."
"It was all over the papers. Just proves that no matter how strong the quirk, with no practice, you can still lose." He swallowed. "Authorities found her dead in the hall on the 6th floor. I was so stricken with grief that was why I went after One For All personally. That was why I have this injury. He's incapacitated somewhere, but he got me good too. Stella and I had become friends, we'd made plans to destroy the LOA, to find One For All, to save the world, but that... it didn't happen." He got a little reminiscent. "I still remember what it looks like when she let her quirk out, that was how I knew they were born from the same place."
"Hn?" Aiwaza had fingers on lips, pulling, biting, eyes shuffling back and forth, yanking his phone out of his pocket.
"It's the lightning. It kind of takes on the color of the person's hair. I have no idea why. Midoriya's is green. Her's was a bright brownish-red color, but her eyes glowed white, the sign of internal mental energy reigning over the body."
"Son of a bitch." Eraserhead plunked back down on the couch. "Look."
He didn't have to. All Might already knew.
It was a map of the 6th floor at the Sundial, the military hospital.
It was the nursery.
"She was far more tactful that what I even gave her credit for." Toshinori continued. "This isn't a coincidence. I know now for sure."
"Nurseries keep newborns for how long?"
"Sometimes up to a week, unless there's complications."
"So the day she died..." Aiwaza continued. "She died in the hall, outside the viewing glass in the nursery."
"I was so filled with sadness, I did no research. I just went after One For All in a mean rage. Took me some years to find him." Toshinori smiled into the tumbler, taking a sip. "She must have. That's the only explanation. Satoko Kasaya was in that nursery. She passed For One's All to him, to him in his newborn state before she passed herself."
"The overlap. It's a matter of days."
"That raw power."
"Satoko Kasaya is For One's All... Aiwaza." The dark haired man turned to his blonde boyfriend with a worried, but an understandably strong look in his deep brown eyes. "He doesn't know."
"How could he? Nobody told him. The person who wielded it, died moments after."
"You have to fix this kid." Toshinori. "He has to pair up with Midoriya."
"I... Bakugo that son of a bitch." Aiwaza cussed, taking a sip of whiskey. "I'm going to shove my way into it now. We don't have any option."
"What'd you say the kid's brain's name was again?"
"Diasuta."
"Disaster. That's appropriate, seeing his past here. But hey... you're right, we don't have another option."
"No we don't."
He swished the hair away from Aiwaza's neck again. "Listen to me."
He turned.
"Together..." He pulled his boyfriend over to him. "Deku and Disaster can save the world."