Bakugou closed the cabinet. He leaned against the tabletop and looked at Midoriya. She was clearing away the rest of the dishes, obviously thinking about something. The new length of her hair still seemed out of place. On the one hand, it looked so cute, with Izuku's face framed by curls sticking out in all directions. But at the same time, it made her look much older and more serious. Her eyes were clearly visible now, as if to reveal a previously unseen emotion on Midoriya's face.

"Will you come up?" Bakugou asked, still looking at Midoriya. He crossed his arms over his chest and frowned slightly, expecting Izuku to refuse.

"Yes, come on," Midoriya smiled.

Bakugou went up to the first floor and let Midoriya into his room, giving her time to look around. Nothing should have changed here. Only the room looked empty because all the things were now in the dormitory.

Midoriya went to the back of the room and sat down on the bed as if she was at home. Once, she had even spent the night in this room. How long it had been since then.

Bakugou, on the other hand, sat down on a chair due to lack of space and frowned at Midoriya. She picked up the first book she could find and pretended to read it.

"What did you and that brat talk about?"

They both knew they were doing the wrong thing, so Bakugou decided not to hesitate this time.

"You mean Nakayama-kun?", Midoriya asked, knowing that an answer was expected.

Bakugou watched Midoriya's changing expression with curiosity, trying to find out what she wanted to hide from him and most of all, why.

"Let's not talk about it," Midoriya said, averting her eyes. She started to get up from the bed, but the Bakugou that suddenly appeared in front of her didn't let her move either. He leaned closer and didn't take his eyes off her.

"Why is that? What did you two talk about this afternoon?"

Midoriya turned away, not wanting to talk about it. She definitely had something to hide.

Bakugou stated the fact: "You took him to the playground. "Why?"

"You saw us?"

"What is the problem? Do you have some kind of secret?"

Midoriya fluttered her arms and tried to push the Bakugou who was towering over her. But he grabbed her arms and would not let go.

"What's gotten into you?" cried Midoriya. "He just..."

"Just what?"

Bakugou tried to pull her closer, but Midoriya was able to twist out and free her arms. She jumped to her feet and tried to run away, but Bakugou was faster. This was his room and he had studied every inch of it in his time, so Midoriya's escape was doomed.

Bakugou leapt the entire distance Midoriya had managed to escape and grabbed her, pulling her closer by the neck. In an awkward attempt to dodge, she ducked into Bakugou's chest and he decided to take advantage of the situation, pinning her even closer.

"Kacchan, I surrender, I surrender!" Midoriya gasped, trying to break free of the tight embrace. "I can't breathe!"

Bakugou moved his hands away slightly, but did not release them.

"So what are your secrets?" he asked, resting his chin on Midoriya's head. "Tell me."

"Just," Midoriya murmured, lowering his gaze. "He just doesn't like you."

"What?" Bakugou asked, perplexed.

"He said that if he could still put up with me, he categorically doesn't like you."

Bakugou frowned slightly.

"I didn't want to say that," Midoriya shook her head and tried to wriggle free. This time, Bakugou didn't resist and let her go immediately. Midoriya shook herself free and looked at Katsuki guiltily.

"Never mind," Bakugou brushed her off. "I don't care as much as you think."

"Maybe you do," Midoriya shook her head and picked up the blanket that had fallen during their failed escape. "But our grades depend on it too. What if Aizawa Sensei finds out that I was the only one in contact with Nakayama? I don't think that would be considered a successful mission."

Bakugou jumped at the words about Nakayama and jerked his head nervously. It didn't seem to be a serious problem to him.

"Just take care of him.

"Please don't hit him. He's already got a bad impression of you. He just doesn't realise that you're actually different."

"What am I?"

"Well..." Midoriya blushed slightly. "You're actually so kind to others."

"No!" Bakugou shouted and covered his ears. "Don't talk with that blunt face. Better offer something yourself if you don't like my methods."

"Don't worry," Midoriya smiled. "I'll help you."

"And this is how you help?"

For days after their last conversation, Bakugou had not reminded Midoriya of her promise in any way. If she said she would help, then he didn't have to worry about it, right?

But neither the next day nor the following days, she said anything about it. Worse, it was as if she had started avoiding him again. After class he would leave without her, and before class she would run ahead of the others. But it turned out to be much worse than just ignoring him.

"Hey, Bakugou, do you want to sit with us tonight?" asked Kirishima, comparing himself to the walking Bakugou. "By the way, you picked up your notebook from class, didn't you?"

Back in the classroom, Bakugou made an unexpected discovery. Midoriya was sitting at her desk, hunched over. Her stupid habit.

Midoriya rubbed her eyes tiredly and looked at the already blurry sheet in front of her. She had been at it since last night and hadn't had time to do anything.

"Is that what I think it is?" asked Bakugou, startled by this Midoriya. "I thought you wanted to do it together."

"That's right," Midoriya sighed and put down her pen. She rubbed her face and looked at Bakugou. Her face showed bruises under her eyes. She hadn't slept well.

"Then why the hell are you sitting here?"

Such a wry expression peeking out from under the strained smile looked awful. It made Bakugou very angry.

"When Aizawa Sensei gave this, you were busy practising a new technique," Midoriya tried to explain. "I didn't want to keep you busy with this report as well."

Bakugou knew that she was only doing this for him. But her decisions were sometimes too drastic and sometimes ended badly for herself.

"Is that why you're sitting there now, neglecting your time, doing double work?"

Bakugou picked up the papers and scanned the first page.

"You made three errors in one sentence and this is how you get by?"

"Where?" exclaimed Midoriya and took the paper. "Oh, looks like we're going to have to rewrite it. But it's all right, really. I'll get some rest, collect my thoughts and finish it. You don't have to think about it."

Bakugou took the first page and left the classroom. Midoriya hastily gathered her things and ran out to follow him.

"Listen, Kacchan. You have to take care of Nakayama-kun, you don't have to think about that as well."

Katsuki shook his head reluctantly.

"I won't listen to you anymore," he denied.

"Wait, I can really handle this on my own."

"Can you?" Bakugou stopped abruptly and turned to Midoriya. "What time did you go to bed last night?"

"That's not important," Midoriya replied with a furrowed brow.

"In the morning, you train," Bakugou began to curl his fingers. "School in the afternoon, then you help the others, training and homework in the evening. Then this."

"Kacchan."

"You can't do that!"

"Kacchan," Midoriya's voice became quieter. She didn't have the strength to resist Bakugou. The lack of sleep was starting to take its toll on her.

"You can't take it all on yourself all the time," Bakugou said glumly and shook his head. "Izuku, you are not a symbol of peace, not the All Might. You are Deku."

Midoriya lowered her gaze and saw herself in the reflection of a puddle. The weather was getting worse. The rainy season was approaching.

"It was raining," Midoriya murmured instead of answering.

Bakugou raised his head to the sky, shielding his eyes from the blinding sun. There was not a single cloud in the sky.

"Yeah."