Midoriya zoomed as fast as his two legs could carry him with full cowling. He remembered in the few text messages he sent to All Might that he mentioned something about the teachers having a short meeting just before the end of the final period. That would mean Mr. Aizawa would be attending too. Hopefully, the meeting would be by the security room near the front right wing, like last time they met up. He maneuvered around several students until the asphalt below his feet replaced with solid concrete. The bright glass doors had come into view, which only pushed him to go faster.

He didn't know much about Shishida from class B, other than what that jerk Monoma told him, but Midoriya paid very close attention to his friends. Sato wasn't as calculated as the others when it came to combat, but there was no questioning that his heroic drive and strength was on a whole other scale. If Hattori really took him down like that, then there's a good chance she would do it to Kacchan too. Despite all the years of abuse from him, he still considered him a life-long friend and he wanted to help him. Shishida entrusted him to find Mr. Aizawa and get back to Ground Omega, now all he could do was run.

Once he enclosed upon the campus building, he saw Ida and Uraraka chatting with Tsu and Todoroki. It didn't take long for them to notice his presence.

"Midoriya, where are you going?" asked Ida.

"Yea, why are you in such a hurry?" followed Uraraka.

"Can't talk! I got to get Mr. Aizawa!" Deku projected, moving around them.

"Why?" two of them asked together.

"Kacchan and Hattori are in trouble!"

"?!"

All four of them exchanged glances before Ida and Todoroki split from the group to tail after him. Deku always worried for his friends, but seeing him in such a rush only amplified the urgency. It must've been bad if Bakugo needed help. They were able to catch up quickly when he delayed by opening the two pull doors.

"What's going on?" asked Todoroki as they entered together.

"I just bumped into Shishida from class B trying to rush Sato to the infirmary. It looked like he just had a run in with one of those Nomus, but it wasn't them, it was Hattori." he explained, turning a down a right corner at the end of the hall.

"What? Hattori harmed another classmate?" Ida asked, almost dumbfounded that it happened again.

"You all heard about what happened in the dorm gym the other day, right. Todoroki, you were there. You saw what happened to her, right?"

"Yea. It was pretty messed up."

"It sounds like it happened again, but from what Shishida said, she's not calming down and is actually getting dangerously stronger. I'm sure he needs Mr. Aizawa to erase her quirk. I told him I'd go find him, so that he could take Sato to Recovery Girl. We have to hurry, or Kacchan will be next!" Deku explained.

"Then we should find Hatsumodo too." said Todoroki.

"Oh yea, how come?" Deku asked.

"He was the only one who was able to stop her. If I could guess, he's done it many times before."

"Okay. Ida, y'think you can go back with the others and find him? With your speed and with everyone helping, someone'll be able to find him fast. And he can teleport straight to them and buy us some time. Then we'll be able to save Kacchan."

"Yes, I'm on it!" He split from the group and turned back around. Once he pushed his glasses back on the bridge of his nose, he activated the tork in his calve engines and sprinted out the building, leaving a trail of smoke behind.

Midoriya and Todoroki pushed through the metal doors to the stairway that led up to all twelve stories. They jogged up to level four, burst through the double doors, and ran down the hallway to the entrance next to the security room. Some of the teachers were standing around the area waiting for the meeting to start, but none of them appeared to be his teacher. At least he picked the right place to go.

"Hey, what're you kids doing here? You should be back with your groups." said Professor Kan as he turned his conversation away from the Head Librarian.

"We need Mr. Aizawa, quick!" Midoriya huffed, trying to catch his breath.

"What seems to be the problem?" asked a feminine voice, clicking on the heels of her boots as she approached the doorway.

"Midnight, it's Hattori, she's - well, she's..." he went to try to explain himself, but his words fell short from lack of air.

"She needs help. Shishida says she won't snap out of it." finished Todoroki.

Her mouth parted as the look in her eyes shifted behind those thick red glasses. Not again. "Erasure!"

They could hear his footsteps slowly shuffling across the floor. His shoulders were slouched lazily behind his dark cloak and his eyes narrowed with annoyance, as if he had just woken up from a nap, which he probably did. Once he noticed his own students standing in the hall, he changed his composure by straightening his back. They wouldn't be bothering him at a time like this if it wasn't important.

"What is it?"

Bakugo grit his teeth as he massaged his wrists. It had been a while since he felt this kind of pain and the cold air wasn't doing his quirk any favors. He had been pushing himself far beyond what he anticipated today and it wasn't getting him anywhere close to winning. How annoying... The girl just kept getting back up over and over again, no matter how many times he blasted her. It was almost as if it wasn't even affecting her anymore, it was just pissing her off. He was so confused that he couldn't stop questioning how she was able to increase her speed, strength, and especially her stamina so instantaneously. It was just like that time back in the gym, but on a completely different level, and for once, Bakugo was uncertain of what to do. He couldn't keep this pace going forever, but then again, this was what he wanted all along, to get a true fight with her. At least he was able to draw her attention so the others could get away. At first he did it just so no one would be able to come between them, so he could go all out, but now... this wasn't much of a spar match anymore.

He wiped the sweat off his cheek with the back of his hand as he pressed his back against the crevice of a large stone. No, he wasn't hiding from her, he was merely giving himself a quick break, so that he could come up with a plan without her trying to kill him. A few feet away, he could hear her stomping around the area, tossing over a few rocks to try and find him, but failing. She let out an annoyed grunt before moving on to the next one. If he could guess, he'd probably have a good ten minutes before she would look here, so he had to utilize this time carefully. If he spent too much time out here, the air would only get colder and his quirk would be damn near useless. He couldn't get to that point, or else he's fucked. There had to be something...

He replayed all the events leading up to this including every time they talked to try and find some kind of clue or weakness that he could use against her, something that would secure his victory. Right now, she wasn't acting like herself, or rather, not as human. There was practically no communication between them, aside from her ever growing rage. If he had to put it in words, it was almost as if she was acting like some kind of ferral beast, and not like Shishida. So far, she hasn't said a thing, as if she completely zoned out to her primal instincts.

He remembered how Hatsumodo handled her in the gym, talking to her like she was a mentally disturbed kid who needed to relax. Maybe she was mentally disturbed because whatever was going on with her wasn't normal. If it was all in her head then maybe Hatsumodo's method was the only way to get her to chill the fuck out and end this. Bakugo cringed just thinking about those sappy words coming out of his own mouth, but it was even more bitter just thinking of going back to that fucktard. Talking like that, it wasn't something he would do, not even to some kid, regardless of what Best Jeanist taught him. He wasn't a therapist, or a counselor, or even a close friend to her. It was bad enough hearing his classmates pick on him after their last battle. Just imagine how bad it would be if they heard him talk like that. There had to be another way... Damn it! Why wasn't there another fucking way?! Bakugo groaned as he pressed his fingers against his temples.

"God damn it..." he muttered under his breath.

All of a sudden, her stomps against the rocky floor stopped. Shit! Bakugo clasped his own mouth to shut himself up and focussed his ears to listen. Did she hear him just now? If she did, hopefully if he stayed quiet enough, she wouldn't pinpoint his location right away and go back to searching elsewhere. He needed more time to think. The continued silence was deafening, forcing the adrenaline into his bloodstream to take over his growing heartbeat. He didn't move a muscle, but not because he was afraid, he just didn't want to deal with her right now. Yea, that's right, he'll go with that.

Her footsteps then started to trail off in the distance, instantly allowing him to relax his shoulders. He closed his eyes and quietly sighed a controlled breath of air. Fuck, that was close, too close. The constrained muscles in his chest then eased up as he dived back into the fathoms of his brain. If he decided to charge in, it would be a wasted effort. She would only withstand the impact and retaliate even harder. He cursed himself for choosing this place. There were way too many rocks around and she threw them like they were dodgeballs. If he wasn't wasting energy on his explosions, he was using it to dodge them, and to be honest with himself, it was taking a lot out of him. This whole thing was such a nuissance.

Just then, he remembered something that she said, that he reminded her of her sworn enemy and that he looked like him too. Somehow that got him thinking, maybe her enemy had something to do with these episodes. Hitting her from behind was the only thing that triggered her into attack mode, where she only moved on instinct and stopped thinking rationally. Bakugo then thought back to the private conversation he overheard with her and Recovery Girl. Those scars on her back, were they linked to that too? If so, she's defintely holding off more than she leads on. Not that he cared about it before, but now that he saw her in this powerful state, the more he desired to look into it more deeply. Unfortunately, that would have to come at a later time.

How was he going to get her back to normal? He could try and talk her down, but the way she kept glaring at him, she more likely won't listen. He didn't want to do that anyways if Shishida just so happened to come back and help him. He could try and lure her into a trap, but she would only hear him and stop him before he could even set one up. Of course, there was always the last resort way of getting the teachers involved, but he really didn't want it to come to that either. He wanted to defeat her with his own hands, just as like he declared he would. Fuck, what was he going to do?

SLAM! A massive pair of bright red legs instantly planted down in front of him. He jerked up his head to see the fiery eyes of the muscular amazon and his heart stopped. His hands moved on their own in front of him as he tried to regain his focus back on his quirk. The limit was almost at its peak, but there had to be a little left in him to get away. The tendons bruised in his hands when he quickly released. There was a small puff of smoke as the sparks in his hand disappeared. Dumbfounded, he glanced to his hands, and violently shook them.

"C'mon, work dammit!"

He tried to set it off again, but there was only a puff of smoke, nothing else. The red monster smirked as she let out a blood-curdling chuckle. Standing straight up, she towered over his small body, her shadow almost consuming him, like Tokoyami's Dark Shadow. His eyes grew wide as a rush of chills went down his spine. This was it. There was no other alternative now.

"Hattori!"

He scrambled himself up from the ground and held out his hands. The girl's brow dropped as she cocked her head to the side. He got her attention, that's good.

"I know you're in there! If you can hear me, then you can understand me, right?"

Her eyes squinted as she straightened her neck, still not saying a word. Maybe, she couldn't talk like this. On the bright side, it looked like he was getting through to her.

"Listen, I'm done fighting you, okay? That's it. I'm done. Let's just call it a day and go back. Alright?" God, the words were so sour coming out his mouth. Bakugo prayed with all his might that no one was around to hear him say he was giving up. He wouldn't do this if there was no other way.

He started to walk around her, but she stomped a foot in his path. He tried to move around the other side, but, again, she refused to let him leave. Frustrated, he let out a groan.

"What do you want now?! I said I'm done already!"

Her emerald green eyes narrowed hatefully as she growled through her teeth. Bakugo took a few steps back, but kept his back straight and direct. He pointed a finger up at her.

"Alright, now listen here, you-"

Before he could finish that sentence, her hand swiftly clamped down on his throat and threw him against the stone wall. He clawed at her hands and struggled to kick himself free, but none of it influenced her to let go. Her fingers began to squeeze him, slowly crushing his windpipe, and forcing him to gasp for what little air he could. Fuck! It didn't work! Katsuki was nearing the end of his rope. If he wanted to survive this, he had to go beyond his limit and use his quirk. Being at this close range, even though she was strangling him, a headshot was a wide open target.

He fought off the nearing unconsciousness as he smacked his hands together and aggressively rubbed them. The friction started to heat up his palms, and he could feel the nitroglycerin sweat starting to form within it. The moment he felt the color in his face turn cold, he threw out his hands in front of her face and detonated.

She let out a yelp and immediately dropped him to the ground to cover her eyes. Finally free, Katsuki coughed until his lungs stabilized and he scrambled himself away from her. She groaned from the pain as she rubbed her eyes. From what he could see, that one move he made only left her covered in a few scratches, but at least he got away. She almost had him then. Out of all the students at U.A., she's the only one who got that close. It was just mind-blowing.

Angrily, she swatted her arms away from her scratched up eyes and attempted to look around her. Her entire field of vision became blurry with colored blotches. She blinked a few times before those glowing green eyes stopped dead set on him. The chills returned, bringing with it an unsettling feeling in the pit of his stomach. She was coming for him. Bakugo stepped backwards, trying to think. He wasn't sure if he'd be able to blast her again, or even have enough power to get him out of here. Running wasn't a word that defined him at all, but what choice did he have at this point? Answering his question, she started to move.

Shit, he cursed in his head. 'She'll only catch me if I run...'

Five steps, that's exactly how long it took before she stopped, paralyzed in her tracks. What the hell? Hattori's mouth parted as her eyes grew wide. Bakugo was just as confounded as to what was going on. And that's when he saw it. The bright red color of her skin retreated back to the roots of her hair as her tight, muscular body started to shrink down. Her skin reverted back to its natural pale, milky white and her hair became dark red again. When her body was back to normal human size, her eyes rolled to the back of her head and she fell face forward to the ground. Again, what the hell? What just happened?

That's when he emerged from the rock behind him, Mr. Aizawa, his glowing red eye still locked on her unconscious body. He kept it there for a moment to be sure she was completely out before he blinked to disable the erasure quirk.

"You okay, Bakugo?" he asked.

Without a word, he nodded. The other students that had followed him came out from the forest over to help them, not that they needed it now. Midnight came too. She exchanged a look of worry to Erasure before she knelt down by her student to make sure she was still breathing. Hatsumodo and Todoroki approached her shortly after to help roll her on her back. They were glad that it didn't turn out to be a death match, but looking at them both, it was clear that it was pretty brutal.

Yuto sighed at the amount of gashes and burns across her pale skin. How much more abuse was she willing to take for this? This wasn't healthy. His eyes stopped when they came across the weight cuffs. Her skin blackened around the edges from what appeared to be both blood and bruising. It wasn't an adjustable or stretchy weight that would morph along with her body. To think that she allowed herself to suffer to such a degree. Yuto immediately snapped his neck towards Bakugo, shooting him a menacing glare, with which he returned. He proceeded to pull them off one by one, not caring if he was watching or that it was going against her wishes. He couldn't stand to watch this happen anymore.

Midnight gently placed a hand on her head. "We should get her to the Infirmary, STAT."

Instinctively, Yuto bent down to pick her up, but stopped when Todoroki beat him to it. He placed an arm under her legs and another behind her back to hold her close to his chest. Once she was secure, he stood up straight and pulled her head closer to keep it from dangling painfully off the edge of his arm.

"You got her?" Yuto asked.

"Yea. Bakugo should come too. His injuries should be treated as well." he replied.

The gesture was nice, but Yuto couldn't give a fuck about that asshole after what he did. Gritting his teeth, he shot him another death glare. He didn't return it this time, for he was too caught up in a conversation with that red-headed idiot to pay attention. If it takes the rest of the semester and enduring all of Akane's hatred, he will have a talk with this Bakugo kid. The sooner, the better. That's what he vowed.

He turned with Todoroki and Midnight before they all walked back to campus.

"I'm sorry to do this, but she said she doesn't want any visitors right now. Only the teachers are allowed in, minus myself." said Recovery Girl with her hands out to distance them away from the room.

"Please, let us in. We're her friends. We just want to see if she's okay." explained Yuto.

"I can assure you that she's healed and recovering well. I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you. When she's ready, she'll be on her way back to class in no time." she explained.

Yuto forced himself to relax his shoulders and let out a sigh. As much as he hated this, she was only doing her job. "Then, can you just tell her I was here? Yuto was thinking about her?"

The small old woman gave him an apologetic smile and nodded. She understood how he was feeling, she sees it just about every day at work, but there were rules and protocol for this sort of thing. "I will."

Yuto pursed his lips together and turned away to Emiri who was waiting patiently by leaning against the wall. She overheard their conversation and gave him a disappointed, sympathetic look. He shook his head before gesturing her to walk with him back to their dorm. They made it a few steps before Emiri gave him a pat on the back.

"Hey, it'll be fine. She just needs some alone time."

"That's what I'm worried about most..." he muttered.

"How come?"

"The last time she got this bad, she didn't speak for over a month, not even to me."

"But she doesn't talk much anyways, so why is that bad?" she asked.

"It's more than just not talking, she'll avoid everyone, lock herself in her room for weeks on end, she won't eat or sleep. I've told her time and time again that it's not healthy doing that, but it's like she feels like she doesn't deserve to do better. She gets so depressed whenever she lets her quirk loose, and it's even worse if she ends up hurting someone."

"But Sato's fine now. He only had a broken arm and a few cracked ribs, but the nurse released him just a few hours ago."

"He may be fine, but she isn't... I know she isn't..." Yuto said, almost as a whisper, but she still heard him.

"Look, even if she goes back to that state, maybe that's her only way to cope with the fault of her own actions. We shouldn't force her to tell us whats wrong. Real friends should just assure her that we are here if and when she decides to talk. We won't pass any judgement and we can do our best to help her out, but we can only do that if she lets us, okay? The nurse said she'll be out soon, right? So just try and take your mind off it for now." Emiri explained while patting him again.

Yuto remained silent as they turned around the corner nearing the exit. That's when he stopped unexpectedly to see the very person he did not want to see. The red-eyed bastard scuffled across the tiled floor on the opposite side of the hall with that peppy guy Kirishima tagging alongside him. Both his hands and neck were wrapped up and his face was covered in bandages. It served him right, but even still, the very sight of him caused his blood to boil. He clenched his hands into a fist to try and suppress it, but the build up was just too much.

"Yuto, are you o-?"

Before she could finish that question, he marched straight over, nudged Kirishima aside, and yanked him by the collar of his shirt. Bakugo glared back, trying to pull his arms off him. Together they struggled back and forth until Yuto shoved him with a hard clank against the metal lockers.

"Let go of me, asshole!"

"What did you do to her?!" Yuto demanded an answer.

Kirishima quickly wrapped his arms around his torso to pull him off Bakugo. He struggled for a bit before he teleported out of his grip. Yuto grit his teeth in annoyance and exchanged dirty looks among them both.

"Yuto! What's gotten into you?!" Emiri shouted as she ran up beside him.

"What did you do to make her do that? You didn't get your fill fighting her that day, so you had to go to such lengths to get it?!"

Bakugo blinked at him, but didn't say anything back.

"What's he talking about?" asked Kirishima.

"She doesn't deserve to be forced to fight like this! You have no idea what this kind of thing does to her!" Yuto yelled, his heart beating violently out of control in his chest.

"You think as heroes, we won't be forced to fight too?" Bakugo asked.

"?!"

"I had a plan by putting her in a surprise situation, one where she had to go against multiple opponents at the same time. She trained in combat for the entire week, I needed to see what she's made of by drastically changing the circumstances." Bakugo explained.

"Did it ever cross your mind how far you were pushing her?"

"Yea, I did, and I made it that much harder."

"What?!" Yuto exclaimed.

"You're not the only one who tried to convince her to give up, y'know, but she asked me to train her, so I did and I did it my way. If you got a problem with that, then you might as well shove it up your ass."

"Bakugo, c'mon." Kirishima nudged, trying to keep him from escalating the situation. He only ignored him.

"You really are a sadistic jerk... You know how strong she can get when she's backed into a corner and how destructive she can get. Surely, you knew that if you had to get Erasure to come stop it." Yuto continued.

"I never told that moron to get him! I told him to get that sugar fuck to Recovery Girl!" Bakugo snapped.

"Then your group members made the right decision. They knew how bad the situation was."

"I didn't need their help!"

"That's bullshit and you know it!" Yuto yelled.

"You wanna go, fuckface?!" Bakugo raised a fist in righteous anger.

"Guys, stop this!" Interrupted Emiri, immediately turning all three of their heads. "How does any of this help Akane?!"

Yuto jerked his head back to him with a scowl. Why didn't he get it already? He saw it, why doesn't he own up to it? It was wrong to put her in that situation, but he couldn't argue with the fact that she did choose to let this happen. He forced a sigh out his nostrils as he ran his fingers through his hair, trying to piece himself together.

"I wish I knew what was going on with her, but I hate to say that I only know as much as you. Everytime she's hit in that one spot, she's triggered and goes on a rampage. But when she actually hurts someone, it destroys her more than it does anything else. I can't just sit back and watch her suffer, even if she did decide to do this. And I won't let you make it any worse!"

This guy was a giant pain in the ass, but Bakugo could tell that he did care for her a lot. He assumed it was all about him settling his grudge with her, but Bakugo didn't expect that it was more than that.

"Hey, I'm trying to figure that out too, but between us, I'll know what's going on before you even have a chance to try." Bakugo smirked.

"What was that?!" he yelled.

"Guys!" Emiri tried to get their attention, but failed.

"I could care less if my training methods bother you. After all, she begged me to do it. If you don't like it, you can settle things with her, but you're a fucking idiot if you think she's not tough enough to fight her own battles!"

Yuto's mouth parted, but no words came out. Bakugo had enough of this damn guy. With a scoff, he turned on his heels back in the direction they were heading.

"You try getting into other people's problems, you're gonna be the one to suffer." said Bakugo. "Let's go, dumb hair."

With that, he began to walk off. Kirishima looked back to Hatsumodo, unsure of whether or not to feel bad for the guy. He really cared about her, and Kirishima wanted to support his concerns, but after hearing what Bakugo said, he wasn't certain. With no words exchanged, he decided to continue following his friend. Normally, Kirishima would have something to say, but the whole thing just felt weird.

"Hey, dumb hair. You never get this quiet."

He turned to Bakugo. "Sorry, man. It's just- I never heard you say that before."

"Huh?"

"You actually think Akane's strong?" Kirishima asked.

"What the hell are you going on about? And what's with the whole dropping-formality shit?"

"Well, we've been talking for a while and I think she got comfy enough to let me call her by her first name." He said with a smile.

"That's fucking stupid."

"Hey, you didn't answer my question though."

"Forget I asked..." Bakugo muttered before turning the corner to Recovery Girl's office. The door was closed, which wasn't normally how it was unless the nurse was in the process of performing surgery or something else that was medically complex. Bakugo knocked on the door and waited.

After a moment of silence, the sound of footsteps shuffled against the floor before the knob turned and the door opened. The nurse stood in the doorway, keeping it cracked to keep the other side private.

"May I help you boys?" she asked.

"Uhh, we're looking for Hattori. Is she in here?" asked Kirishima.

"I'm sorry, but she's still recovering and won't be seeing any visitors right now."

"I see. How's she doing?"

"She's going to be fine. That's all I can tell you. Now please, go back to your dorms." She went to close the door, but Bakugo pushed his hand to stop it.

"Hold on!" He proceeded to hand her his evaluation book. "Give this to her when she wakes up."

She hesitated, but decided to take it before she closed the door. Kirishima turned back to him, a bit confused. Bakugo turned back and started to walk.

"If you wanted to give her that, couldn't you have waited until she got back to the dorm?"

"No. She needs to read it."