TW: this chapter will have an analysis about society, mental health disorders, references about Japan's current society, self-hate, guilt, bullying, abuse, ostracizing, internalized ableism and indifference, as well as survivor's guilt and remorse, so please, if this might make someone feel uncomfortable, don't read this and take care of your mental health.
Also, I don't mean to offend anyone while posting this, and should someone feel sad or uncomfortable, tell me so I can censor or change a part of the story for a less triggering one. Plus, this chapter holds some of my views about reality and society, but chances are I'm wrong so, please, don't let them influence your point of view, okay?
Finally, all the references to Reddit and Wikipedia in this story are completely fictional.
Flashback: In between Two Days and a Day before Izuku's awakening.
Recommended OST: watch?v=TdqLbc1JT80 (Credits to Akane Sasu Sora for the cover).
A few hours after Katsuki started to research what he needed to learn about his own mistakes, as well as Izuku's current situation, the rest of the Bakusquad were in Eijirou's room, trying to support each other after learning so much about their friend's past, as well as their fault in hurting others.
Hanta was the one with less blame, since he was mostly indifferent with Izuku, ignoring his existence unless he absolutely had to talk to him, while Eijirou had a bit more blame, since he looked down on them, as if they were liars or evil people, as well as his infamous comment saying that they weren't "worth it", one of his worst regrets in life…
Sadly, Mina was the cruelest out of the three Bakusquad members, since she fully believed in the traitor theory… She glared at Izuku, said comments like she always knew something was wrong with him, believed in Tooru's rumors, acted with rashness and anger when a member of the new Dekusquad walked beside her, until she got to know the truth…
"I don't deserve to be here…" Said Mina as she let her tears flow. "I became the same thing I once swore I would stop, there's no way I deserve forgiveness…"
"Neither do I Mina, neither do I…" Said Eijirou as he understood his friend's pain, not living up to his manliness and chivalry ideals, and hurting innocents instead of protecting them… "We're lucky Ochaco didn't snap at us, she was very angry when we found about Katsuki's past…"
The thing is, had they known about it in another universe, where no one else hurt Izuku, perhaps they would've been angry with him for a while, or even ended their friendship… And while they were far less cruel than Katsuki had probably been in years, they still made a horrible mistake.
"Guys, we weren't the only ones to do this, very few people believed in him." Said Hanta as he tried to support his friends. "Hell, even most of the teachers distrusted them! If it wasn't for that paranoid hypocrite, none of this would have happened!"
But then he remembered they were hypocrites too, so they were no different than their old teacher in that sense.
"What are we going to do about Katsuki?" Asked Eijirou, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "I think he deserves at least one chance, and we four could start fixing our mistakes towards Izuku, Denki and the others…"
"I agree with you man, while he did something horrible, he at least has remorse so… One more chance won't hurt anyone, right?" Answered Hanta in a neutral tone. "What do you think Mina?"
"I don't know what to say…" Said the bubblegum skinned girl in a sad tone. "He fucked up, but so did we, we're bullies just like him, we're no different at all… We're monsters…"
"Even so, we still have to do something!" Said Eijirou as he tried to use some of his fighting spirit. "It's true, chances are we lost our friendship with them forever, but we need to heal some of their emotional damage, to let them know they didn't deserve to be pretty much bullied for weeks…"
"This is just too much…" Said Hanta as he tried to keep his composure. "Denki and Hagakure are jailed, Izuku's in the hospital and our class fell apart…"
For a while, the three friends just stood at their side, for they didn't know what action could be the right one in this situation… Apparently this has been going on for years, explaining why Izuku acted so standoffish, always in defense mode, despite having one of the strongest quirks in the class.
Their beliefs and ideals were broken, their desire of justice ended up swallowed by their survival instincts and fear of the unknown… For humanity fears what they don't know, that being the reason why many people got hated through human history.
Eventually, the remaining Bakusquad members took a choice.
They would support Katsuki as he was trying to redeem himself, and they would eventually apologize to Izuku and his friends, not expecting any forgiveness at all, as their actions were probably far too damaging and cruel for that.
To their surprise, someone knocked at their doors, and it was Detective Tsukauchi, who returned after ensuring Eraserhead got comfortable in his new home to serve his sentence.
"What could we help you with?" Asked Hanta.
"I need to talk with Katsuki Bakugou as soon as possible, Izuku's mother mentioned that he said something that needs to be addressed as another reason for today's events." Said the kind detective in a neutral tone.
"Uh, he's doing to research about Quirkless Discrimination and Bullying, and I don't think he has the energy for that, sir." Added Eijirou as support.
"In that case, how about you tell him that he will need to be in your classroom at 09:00 AM tomorrow?" Asked Tsukauchi in a surprised tone, thinking that Katsuki still had some humanity left inside him.
"We will do so; you can count with us." Answered Mina in a neutral tone. "Is there anything else we can do to help?"
"Well… We think that bringing some of Kaminari and Hagakure's friends to talk might reveal more about their motivation to be traitors so, how would you like to go visit them in the following days?" Asked Naomasa once more.
"For Denki, I think bringing Kyoka, Ochaco, Tenya and Kouji might be a better idea, sir." Said Eijirou. "We were unkind to him during these three weeks as well."
"Noted." Said Detective Tsukauchi as he prepared to leave before giving the Bakusquad a small smile. "Rest well, tomorrow we will have a lot of answers because of Katsuki, I think it's a nice start to redeem yourselves."
When the honest detective left, the Bakusquad knew that Katsuki's future could probably be very bleak… Because if he ended up being a genuine bully, he could probably be sent to General Education or even be expelled from Yuuei altogether, for he set up wounds that were reawakened by Eraserhead's theory.
"Let's go to sleep, shall we?" Suggested Hanta. "We're tired as hell, and tomorrow we'll need every single ounce of energy we can to make things right so, an entire day of sleep might be perfect."
Agreeing with him, Eijirou said goodbye to Mina and him as they left to their rooms, before turning the lights off and starting to sleep…
"Bakubro…" Murmured Eijirou with sadness. "I believe there's some good in you, but… What else did you do?"
His questions would be answered tomorrow but… Did he truly want to learn the truth?
Katsuki found himself in a void, watching a fight between two silhouettes… The first one resembled himself as a child, and the other was like his middle school self, and both were fighting with all their strength, albeit for different reasons.
"I won't let you hurt him!" Said Kacchan as he attacked his counterpart. "No more, you won't hurt Izucchan anymore!"
"But you grew up to become me, didn't you?" Taunted Aldera Katsuki as he blasted his younger self away. "You enjoyed the feelings of power and prestige, of being able to hold someone's soul in your hands and crush it without mercy… If you don't admit it, how about you say somethin', Yuuei self?"
Katsuki couldn't speak as his middle school self's stare scared him… It was like looking at some sort of maniac.
"What's wrong, did the cat eat your tongue?" Taunted Aldera Katsuki once more. "Just for reference, that pint sized brat represents your inner kindness and goodness, while I represent your inner evil and malicious tendencies… Guess who's stronger?"
"No, I won't let you corrupt him any longer!" Said Kacchan as he ran towards Aldera Katsuki to unleashed a Howlitzer Impact, only to be slapped away by a single blow.
That was enough to make Katsuki react and lunge towards his counterpart.
"You piece of shit…" Growled Katsuki as he punched his middle school self. "You had fuckin' everythin', everyone wanted to be your friend for a while, you had Gorou and Daiki, and you were still cruel to Izuku, but why?!"
"You fuckin' know why!" Snapped Aldera Katsuki as he punched his Yuuei counterpart in the face. "He pitied us! He thought he was better than us, and never gave up despite being hated by pretty much everyone!"
"How could he pity us; you piece of crap!" Roared Katsuki as he beat up his younger self. "He didn't have anyone except Miss Midoriya, we had everythin' and he had nothin', if it wasn't for fuckin' All Might givin' him his quirk he would probably be DEAD!"
"Izucchan always cared about us, and we all know it." Said Kacchan as he tried to be the voice of reason. "For some reason, no matter what kind of abuse we threw at him, he still wanted to be there… But we never reciprocated his feelings until now, didn't we?"
"That bastard didn't respect our boundaries!" Said Aldera Katsuki in pure rage. "We told him peacefully that we didn't want to be friends anymore, but he kept stalkin' us and followin' us, that was the reason we hit him in the first place, otherwise we would have left him alone!"
"That's true…" Said Kacchan as he admitted his counterpart's point. "But we still hurt him even when he avoided us so, we could compromise and said we both made mistakes."
"What else do you want, bastard?" Growled Katsuki towards his middle school self. "Was this what we truly wanted? Did we really wanted to see him dead in a coffin? Did we hate him so much that death was the only way our rage would be satisfied?"
Surprisingly, Aldera Katsuki laughed a small bit, before looking towards his counterpart.
"No, I never wanted him to die… Because I'm part of you, and you never desired this, no matter how much Deku pissed us off."
"We're parts of your consciousness trying to help you fix this mistake… "Added Kacchan with a sad smile. "Your potential for both Good and Evil is almost equal, and its time you make your choice, Katsuki."
"Will you embrace your darkness and focus only on winnin', humiliatin' and destroyin' things you don't like?" Asked Aldera Katsuki seriously.
"Or will you realize that saving is as important as winning, and that asking for help and making connections will make your heart stronger and filled with light?" Asked Kacchan with kindness.
Katsuki fell into his knees, not being able to escape from reality any longer, finally being confronted by his subconscious about his mistakes and misdeeds.
"Can I ask a question first?" Asked Katsuki to his counterparts. "After that I think I will be ready to end this."
"Ask ahead." Answered Aldera Katsuki.
"What were all the reasons we hated Izuku?" Asked Katsuki. "And please, don't hold anything back."
"It was for various factors…" Answered Kacchan in a sad tone. "I would say that 10% of it was that you didn't want him to get hurt or die in the field as a quirkless hero."
"Another 25% was because of the misunderstandin' we all know, thinkin' he pitied us when he only treated us as friends, nothing more and nothing less." Added Aldera Katsuki. "And, the main reason… It was because we enjoyed havin' power over him and hurtin' him, as everyone else did that, we thought it was the right thing to do and no one stopped us either. And for a while your darkness was stronger, hence the reason why I'm bigger than the runt."
"No, I'm not sadistic, I'm not a villain…" Murmured Katsuki as he struggled to accept reality. "I'm not a monster…"
"You're not a psychopath, that's true, otherwise you wouldn't care at all but, you still did what we all know…" Murmured Aldera Katsuki, showing some regret and sadness. "We told him to kill himself, and he still saved us after all of that. Had our roles been reversed… We would have left him to rot, and we know that."
"I choose the light; I choose the fuckin' light!" Said Katsuki as tears flowed freely from his eyes. "I will never hurt him again, I will never hurt anyone else again, I promise!"
To his surprise, both Aldera Katsuki and Kacchan slapped him, both looking at him with cold stares.
"Do you truly mean it?" Asked both of them. "Or are you just saying this because of guilt or obligation?"
"Just tell me…" Answered Katsuki as he prepared his final question. "Did we ever care about Izuku at least a little? Even before everything happened, when we were kids?"
That answer silenced his counterparts for a few minutes… Until Kacchan decided to speak.
"Yes, you did care about him, but not to the same degree."
"Let's say Izuku cared about you 10 out of 10, and you cared about him in a scale of 7-8 out of 10." Added Aldera Katsuki. "Now, tell us, do you truly mean it?"
"I don't know…" Said Katsuki as honestly as he could. "I don't know if I'm doin' this out of guilt or because I truly want to fix things… It's so messed up…"
Kacchan then approached him and patted his head, trying to give him some hope.
"You have to accept that while your bond with Izuku may never come back, you will be able to heal a huge amount of damage inflicted to him and turn into a better person… It may not be enough but, at least it's something, don't you think?"
A ray of light appeared in the void, shocking Katsuki, only for his Aldera counterpart to smack him in the head.
"Maybe the future won't be fair to you, and you will probably be punished for our mistakes but, at the very least I think Hanta, Mina and Eijirou will be by your side…" Said Aldera Katsuki as his final words. "If you can, please save Fingers and Fangs too, okay? You were right, we never valued them… The very least we can do is take them out of that hell, right?"
Feeling a jolt of electricity, Katsuki woke up from his dream, covered in sweat and tears, that dream really took a huge toll on his mental health…
He finally knew the answer, as harsh as it was… Alongside the research he made, apparently his hatred of Izuku was born because he thought he was being disrespected and pitied, and eventually grew into genuine hatred as he slowly became crueler and crueler, and since no one stopped him or taught him better… It ended up being a recipe for disaster.
Once he finally regained most of his senses, he checked out his clock, and it was 08:00 AM… Which means he slept for at least sixteen hours, since he felt asleep at 16:00 PM yesterday…
Deciding to clean himself up, he went to take a quick shower, as well as to brush his teeth, since he hadn't done it in at least two days… After half an hour he finished, so he opened his mini fridge to eat a peanut butter jelly sandwich he made two days ago, as well as a glass of apple juice.
As he ate his breakfast, he couldn't stop thinking about his memories with Izuku, wondering why he still kept reaching out to him despite being treated with such indifference and maliciousness.
Maybe was he crazy? Or… He ended up so, so lonely and isolated, that he preferred to have someone insult him and treat him badly instead of being mostly ignored for an entire day?
He couldn't phantom that amount of indifference, how human beings could turn their backs on someone just because they were different, and to then keep living their lives as if nothing happened… Just like he did, until reality punched him in the face via Ochaco's fist.
If none of this ended up happening, maybe the only way he would've started to change was via a life or death situation, perhaps a war, and sacrificing himself to save Izuku to make up for it… Aside from that, he would never have apologized out of shame.
"Katsuki, are you there?" Asked Eijirou in a concerned tone. "Detective Tsukauchi wants to talk to you."
All Might's friend? He knew this would eventually happen…
"I'm ready to face consequences." Thought Katsuki as he opened his door. "What can I help him with?"
"It's about… Well, you know, what you said to Izuku in middle school…" Answered Eijirou, feeling uncomfortable about it.
"Fine, what do I need to do?" Asked Katsuki once more.
"You need to be in our classroom as soon as possible, your parents and Miss Midoriya are already there, as well as the detective and Principal Nedzu." Answered Eijirou.
"Could you please come with me?" Asked Katsuki. "Let's go for Mina and Hanta first, I have to ask somethin' before spillin' my guts?"
Agreeing with him, both friends went to look up for the rest of the Bakusquad, before finally heading to his classroom…
After eleven years of constant abuse and mistreatment, he was finally about to get punishment… Apparently, karma had a really big chance of being real.
"Welcome, Mister Bakugou." Said Nedzu in his cheerful tone. "Are you ready to begin your questioning?"
"Of course but, can I ask for somethin' first?" Said Katsuki in agreement with the small mammal.
"Would you like some tea first, or maybe five more minutes to get some fresh air?" Asked the chimera.
"Can my friends Hanta, Mina and Eijirou be here as well?" Answered Katsuki as he said his wish. "I promised I would tell them everything, and I know I have a big chance of not coming back here so, I want to finish this as soon as possible."
"It is granted." Said Nedzu with a small smile. "Now, Sero-kun, Ashido-chan and Kirishima-kun, please sit wherever you like, and Bakugou-kun, you have to sit into the desk, as that's the best place for everyone to listen."
Nodding, Katsuki went up to the desk as Detective Tsukauchi approached him, finally noticing his parents…
His mom, the hag, one of the strongest willed people he had ever met, was sobbing in Miss Midoriya's arms, and he could tell she was apologizing for everything, as she didn't know how cruel he could be, while his father was trying to comfort them, but he could see some anger inside his calm eyes.
"I'm obligated to tell you the nature of my quirk as per law's demands, which is "Lie Detector", and it allows me to know if someone's lying or not, so please, I would appreciate your honesty during this process." Said the kind detective in a serious tone.
"I won't lie, I promise." Said Katsuki in a defeated tone.
"First question, how long have you known Izuku Midoriya?" Asked Naomasa to start everything.
"Ever since we were in diapers, I guess, so I could say for our entire lives…" Answered Katsuki in shame.
"Second question, when did you start to bully Izuku Midoriya?" Asked Naomasa.
"When we were four years old, and after he got misdiagnosed as quirkless since he was a late bloomer, he tried to help me when I fell into a cliff, but I got angry and punched him instead." Answered Katsuki. "After that I didn't punch him again until two years later, but I couldn't stop after that…"
He saw his father was about to yell, which never happened before, only to be silenced by Miss Midoriya's hand, which he obeyed.
"Third question, why do you hated Izuku Midoriya?" Asked Naomasa.
"Please, son…" Said Masaru once he calmed down. "It's your chance to do the right thing, you can do this."
"10% of that hatred was born because I was afraid of him gettin' killed on the field as a quirkless hero, since I never thought he could gain a quirk… Another 25% was because I thought he pitied me and that he was better than me, but now I know that wasn't the case at all." Answered Katsuki, before taking a deep breath to reveal the final part. "And the remainin' 65% was because I enjoyed havin' power over him, when I realized I could do almost everythin' I wanted to him, and no one else stopped me… Not the teachers, and not my former classmates, so I grew up believin' my actions were correct."
When he finished his answer, he saw Miss Midoriya stand up and slowly walk towards him, her presence chilling the room even further…
"Did Izuku ever do something to deserve that hatred?" Asked Inko in a neutral tone.
"While this doesn't justify my actions at all, once I told him that I didn't want to be his friend anymore peacefully, and encouraged him to make other friends, since I thought at least one person would accept him…" Answered Katsuki in shame. "But he kept followin' me, he kept tryin' to reach out, no matter how much I hurt him, how much I insulted him or hit him… Apparently, he never stopped carin' about me… And no, as far as I know he never did anythin' to hurt me at all."
"Then… Why did you HURT MY SON SO MUCH?!" Growled Inko as she couldn't keep her rage inside of her anymore, freezing Katsuki to his core.
"Genuinely caring about someone, doesn't guarantee the other person will care about you in the same degree, or at all." Added Nedzu to give a possible answer. "It's true that Midoriya-kun cared about Bakugou-kun with all his heart, but Bakugou-kun stopped doing so, and once that happens, unless the second person has a change of heart, they won't care about the first one, no matter what they do or say to change that outcome."
"It's true…" Murmured Katsuki. "In our classroom, there were three people whom at least cared a bit about Izuku, they helped him in the sidelines to not get bullied themselves, but at least they did somethin'…"
"Quirkless people are heavily discriminated these days…" Added Nedzu as anger appeared in his small eyes. "They're usually treated with indifference, violence or pity and fake concern, as they bear the sins of their ancestors, and hatred is always repaid with more hatred."
After hearing that, Inko managed to calm down somewhat, but she was still angry as she asked Katsuki another question.
"Could you please tell us what things you did to Izuku over the years, as well as your former classmate's actions?"
Nodding, Katsuki began his tale about bullying…
In his class there were thirty people, and only three of them cared enough to help Izuku behind his back and not laugh at him… While five of them, including his friends Gorou and Daiki, a boy with a rock quirk named Kei, and a girl with a wind quirk named Sora, as well as himself were the main abusers, though Sora was mostly a verbal abuser, spreading rumors behind his back and laughing at him loudly, and only used her quirk to make Izuku fall or toss his stuff into the trash every once a while, while Kei, Gorou and Daiki were mostly physical abusers, doing things like making Izuku fall, laughing at him, hiding his school pouch or putting his backpack in the trash every once in a while, pushing him around and so on…
Meanwhile, twenty-one students didn't bully him directly, as they only laughed when others made Izuku suffer, or they completely ignored him, using their cold indifference as a weapon to attack him, and their teacher, while not hurting Izuku directly, he never did anything to stop the bullying either.
Finally, he was the worst bully of them all, both verbal and physical… He insulted him a lot, using "Deku" was the main one, but he also called him crybaby and childish, as well as idiot, fool and stupid, and he liked to rub his quirklessness at his face as much as he could… As for the physical abuse, he pushed him through the stairs once, burned him with his quirk at least four times, hit him with punches and kicks at least five times per month, as well as conditioning him to be afraid of his quirk and voice, plus the suicide-baiting event, which he considered physical because its possible consequences were worse than anything he had ever done at that point.
When he finished, he looked towards his friends with a sad smile, and said something that shocked them to their cores.
"You're not like me; I can vouch for that. You three hurt Izuku and his friends, sure, but I bet none of you acted like that to anyone in the past, sadly, fear and misunderstandings can make us act in ways we would never do otherwise…"
"Everything Katsuki has said so far has been true…" Murmured Naomasa in a shocked tone. "Have yet to detect a single lie."
"Your former school district was Aldera, was it?" Asked Nedzu with anger in his voice. "I think that school deserves a huge, big punishment…"
Meanwhile, in the Aldera School District, all teachers and executives like the principal and vice principal felt a chill run through their spines… Perhaps the air conditioner was too high?
"Don't worry, I will say everythin' I can to bring them to justice." Answered Katsuki with determination in his voice. "I would also like to share some stuff I learned while researching Quirkless Discrimination…"
He knew that the treatment quirkless people got today was similar to the one neurodiverse people faced in the past (like those with ADHD or who were in the Autism Spectrum), at least in the sense of making friendships with other people. In a nutshell, a quote from a pre-quirk animated series explained everything:
"Everybody loves you, but nobody likes you."
As he explained the story of Hikari to them, he said that even places where discrimination against the quirkless was "forbidden", people just pretended to care to avoid getting trouble, as such, they were "loved" in the sense that people tolerated them out of duty, obligation, pity or guilt, but once the quirkless person left them behind (via graduation, moving out of town or getting a new job), they would stop reaching out to them as they felt they already finished their mission.
"No one told me I was wrong, and everyone told Izuku he was wrong, that's why the nerd doesn't love himself, all he had aside from Miss Midoriya and my parents to a lesser degree were his heroic ideals, so as long as someone else is saved, he could care less about his own existence." Said Katsuki as he slowly started to break. "Would you be able to love yourself if a huge part of your high school classroom hated you? Would you be able to love yourself if you were told you were useless, toxic, condescending and Kami knows how many extra insults, as well as gettin' indifference, abuse and coldness as a cherry on top?"
Inko couldn't take it anymore as she fell to her knees crying, making Mitsuki dash to help her sempai and comfort her as much as she could, and Masaru did so as soon as he could as well.
Meanwhile… Mina, Hanta and Eijirou couldn't stop crying… Of course Izuku acted like that, he had to live a living hell again because of them… Even knowing they weren't as bad as Katsuki didn't help, for they still caused damage to their former friends.
"All I ask is to be punished…" Said Katsuki as he finally broke down crying. "Expel me, put me in a cell, do whatever you all see fit, as I never deserved to be here in the first place… Because, for a long time, the only person Katsuki Bakugou cared about was Katsuki Bakugou…"
"Well… You're going to be expelled, but it will be temporary." Said Nedzu as he dried some tears as well. "Based on what you've told us, I just thought about the perfect punishment for you."
The mammal explained that Katsuki would be expelled from Yuuei, and placed into a new school which housed people who were also bullies and abusers, in order to help them redeem themselves as much as they could.
It also had a Hero, Support and Business course, and all its classes had the General Education curriculum as well… Apparently, the school was named: "Hercules's Redemption School", where all students had to complete twelve tasks in order to be reintroduced to their former schools.
Those tasks were the following:
1. Serve in between a year or two in its campus.
2. Travel through Japan's different schools to talk about bullying and its consequences.
3. Receive therapy, both individual and in groups while in the center.
4. Write apology letters towards all their victims.
5. Study a lot to keep up with their classes and assignments.
6. Get a job inside the center (like making souvenirs, cooking, sewing or being in the computer area), to get funds which will be used for charities.
7. Talk to former bullying victims, quirkless or not, and realize how much those actions hurt them.
8. Only go visit their families once per month during a weekend, and they had to give pamphlets to people regarding various types of discrimination and abuse during that period too.
9. Work with the police to find more bullies, especially those who didn't care about consequences, and to make sure justice punish them.
10. Research why bullying is so prominent in our current society, and find ways to stop it, as well as talking to current bullies, and let them know what could happen should they remain the same.
11. Let teachers know the signals of bullying and abuse, tell them they had to go to psychologists to learn more about how to stop evil actions before it was too late.
12. In the end, if their victims allow it… To go apologize to them, once they truly mean it, to at least heal a part of their hearts.
"Should you fulfill everything listed here, you will rejoin the Hero Course at your third year…" Said Nedzu in a neutral tone. "Should you complete at least nine, you will be able to rejoin Yuuei at General Education for your third year… Finally, shall you fail, or relapse into your former personality, you will be in jail until you reach the age of majority, am I clear?"
"Crystal." Said Katsuki as he dried his tears. "It's more than I deserve, but there's something I still have to do."
He walked towards Miss Midoriya, knelt himself and started to apologize for everything he did towards his son, for all the abuse he put him through, for the times he hurt him at Yuuei, for thinking he could be a traitor and evil despite everything…
"Katsuki… I may not be able to forgive you in a long, long time, but I can see you're trying your hardest to make up your mistakes…" Murmured Inko as she dried her tears. "Once you're ready, tell me in order to set up a meeting with Izuku, so you can talk to him…"
Nodding, he went towards his parents, apologizing for not listening to their advice and life lessons… Only to get smacked in the head by Mitsuki.
"You made a mistake, you damn brat." Said Mitsuki in a sad tone. "But I can see how much it's crushin' you, and you have my full support into this new journey, where you will turn into a genuine hero, or else I will smack your head as many times as it takes."
"I agree with your mother, Katsuki." Said Masaru as he took a deep breath. "You hurt someone innocent, and didn't respect others for a long time, but it's better to change now instead of never changing, don't you think?"
After hugging them, he went towards Hanta, Mina and Eijirou, before kneeling himself towards his friends, apologizing for all the times he didn't respect them, for not doing anything to comfort them when they were crying after Izuku's attempt, for not stopping them of treating Izuku badly because of a rumor…
"Man, what you're about to do is manly as hell…" Said Eijirou as he helped him get up. "You're about to ensure future generations of students won't fall prey to bullying and abuse, and that's a nice first step."
"Yeah dude, and remember that we could've stopped ourselves if we wanted to, but we let our fear control us and that sealed our fates…" Murmured Hanta as support. "We will make sure to make up for our mistakes once we're ready as well."
"Katsuki…" Said Mina in a sad tone. "Maybe I won't be able to fully trust you for now, since you represent everything I used to hate… But now that I acted like that too, I understand that there's a fine line about bullying, anyone can hurt anyone, regardless if it's on purpose or accidentally, but I won't stop being your friend, that's a promise."
Once he thanked them, he bowed towards Principal Nedzu and Detective Tsukauchi, to show gratitude towards the new chance he was being given, and to apologize for all the suffering and pain he caused towards others.
"Try to pack everything Mister Bakugou, because I will drive you there myself, since that will be my new workplace after all, and I want to see how it is as well." Said Nedzu in a neutral tone. "These were my last actions as Yuuei's principal, and I'm ready to start working both there and here as your homeroom teacher until a replacement is found."
Bracing himself, Katsuki went to his room, alongside his friends and family, whom were helping him pack all his stuff before he left Yuuei for a long, long time… As much as it hurt, he knew that he needed to earn his redemption, to make Izuku know that he cared about him, and even if they weren't friends in the future, he was ready to ensure no one else would suffer what the nerd did, for he will be there to stop future bullies…
Post-Credits Scene.
As Katsuki was getting ready to go to Hercules's school, Toshinori Yagi, also known as All Might, was taking care of Izuku in the hospital, as his son in everything but blood was still sleeping, recovering as his arm cuts were slowly healing inside his bandages thanks to a regenerative cream they used to treat him, and while those scars wouldn't fade completely, they wouldn't be as noticeable as they were…
How could people hate others without a shred of evidence?
How did he let his son be tortured for weeks?
WHAT KIND OF TEACHER WAS HE?!
His thoughts were broken and he looked at Dr. David Shield and his daughter, Melissa Shield, whom finally arrived from I-Island, ready to start their new life in Yuuei.
"David…" Said Toshinori as he hugged one of his remaining best friends, still not healing from Mirai's death a few weeks ago… "They thought he was the traitor, and I didn't know until the very end…"
As her father comforted Uncle Might, she went to see Izuku… Who looked so peaceful while he slept, as she knew how he ended up feeling.
Because once quirkless, always quirkless.
Before they went here, they made a video call using Nedzu's encrypted network, where Uncle Might confessed everything about All For One, the quirk's origins, and why he didn't tell them everything at first…
She admitted about being a bit disappointed, but forgave her uncle knowing that he just wanted to keep them safe…
Another thing he told them, was that Izuku was born quirkless, and only got One for All after months of harsh training.
Deep inside… She knew how Izuku felt.
Even while not being outright bullied, she knew people pitied her or treated like a child sometimes, and she didn't really have friends in her life either…
She knew the pain of being different, of wanting to die, although she never had the strength to do it because she didn't want to leave her father alone… But right now, all she cared about was being there for her adoptive cousin, since her dad and Uncle Might were technically blood brothers so, it was a good analogy, right?
"Don't worry, Izuku…" Murmured Melissa as she petted his hair. "I won't let anyone harm you anymore, that I promise."
Maybe she was hallucinating, but she swore she saw Izuku's lips change into a small smile, as he knew he was protected and safe.
For Izuku Midoriya would realize that he was loved more than he could've ever thought about… And that even while considering himself a Hero of Justice, and only caring about other people instead of himself, there were people who wanted to be his heroes, to ensure he will have a good support network in the future, no matter what.
Hello, the author here!
Sorry for the late update, the semester was quite exhausting, but I'm going to be in vacations again after September 21 but, finished Katsuki's main chapter and punishment. xD
About that… What Katsuki did in the past was wrong, horrible and cruel, that's 100% true, as no one deserves to be treated like that, but I thought that his story resembled those of similar anti-heroes/ex-villains like Sasuke and Vegeta, whom like him, made horrible mistakes and hurt those who cared about them, but eventually managed to change and become better people, slowly making up for their mistakes.
Current manga Katsuki is like that, and is slowly but surely making up for his mistakes, but I think his past should've been brought up in canon to give more depth to his character u_u
I think Katsuki is popular because… How many of us have wished that someone who was a bully towards us or hurt us ended up apologizing, and even becoming our friends somewhere in the future, like he's somewhat doing to canon Izuku?
And as Katsuki always thought of himself as a heroic/godly figure, it's fitting that his punishment is related to that, as he will face many tasks before earning his right to apologize to Izuku somewhere in the future (Chapter 17).
Once again, thanks to all the people who have ever read this story, it means a lot (n_n)/
Next chapter will finish the Bakusquad Arc, we'll see more of David and Melissa, as well as Mashirao, Minoru, Rikido and Yuuga, as well as the punishment for Yuuei students which will be given by David xD
Please take care and have a good day! :D