Chapter 7

It has been almost two months, and it feels like I wasn't making any progress. Sure, I was finally able to drag a freezer from one part of the beach to another without much issue. But I still couldn't pull the industrial fridge with All Might on it. I at least got it to budge just a little. I still had a long way to go.

When I wasn't training with All Might, I was hard at work studying. Not like I was falling behind in my classes, but that wasn't enough. I barely made it to the top 5 within my own class. And today was one of those exam days.

While I read the questions, they seemed to blur into each other. But I had to stay focused, or I'll fail. As I did my best, my mind kept going between what I should do about my training and the test. And before I knew it, the exam was over.

During lunch, all I could do was stare at the food. It didn't help that I felt like I would throw up. In fact, just the smell of what was in front of me gave me the feeling of vomiting. After I couldn't take it anymore, I threw out my lunch and went to the staircase. As I sat there, I wasn't aware that someone was nearby. That was until I felt something hit my chest.

I looked at what hit me, and it was a juice box. "Damn it, nerd." That's when I faintly saw feet before me. When I looked to see who it was, I was surprised to see Kacchan. "When was the last time you slept?" I looked away from him and stood quiet. That's when he grabbed my face and had me looking at him. "I'm talking to you."

Kacchan let me go and watched as he folded his arms. "I have just been busy, that's all." I watched as he started to tap his fingers against his arm. "I'll be fine."

That's when Kacchan grabbed my hair. "You're gonna catch a fever again." He then took the juice from my hands and pushed it into my face. "If my hag finds out about this, I'll never hear the end of it. So, you better get some rest and eat something." With that, he walked up the stairs and left me alone. I couldn't help but smile. Even when he was mean to me, he still cared.

…

After that day, the class seemed to be quiet. It did make it easier to focus on classes without the noise of the extras. But something did seem off. From how Deku would use hand grips during class. Nobody said anything about it, but everyone saw and knew. At that, Kato and Saito stopped talking to me in class.

After another long day, Kato and Saito invited me to hang with them at the arcade. Nothing special, and I didn't have to go to cram school today. But when I got there, I couldn't help but notice that there were some high school gang members. "Glad you made it, Bakugo. Have I ever introduced you to my cousin?" Kato said as he brought me over to the biggest guy in the room.

"I heard you didn't help my cousin, beating up quirkless bastard." So, that's what this was. I looked at Kato and shook my head. "Now, he also tells me how you knew the bastard since childhood. Something about being friends. Is that why you were too scared to fight him?"

At that, I punched the guy in the stomach. "I ain't scared of that nerd! And there's no way I'm fucking up my record!"

With that, I started to walk away. "Come back here, you bastard!" I could hear his heavy feet closing in. Without even looking, I dodged his swing at my head. As I walked, the big guy still tried to attack me. Even his gang tried to jump me, but I easily avoided each of their moves and left the arcade without getting touched.

While I walked back home, I looked at my phone. It's then I saw that my old hag left a text. And I was not surprised it was about Deku's mom calling her. At that, the nerd came down with a fever. "That damn idiot. I told him, and he still doesn't listen." I tried calling Deku, only for it to go straight to voicemail. That never happened before. So, I started running home.

When I got to the corner, I turned to the right and went to Deku's apartment building. That nerd is going to get a fist full for having me go to voicemail. When I reached the apartment and rang the doorbell. I was somewhat shocked to see that it was his mom that answered. "Katsuki?" She then had tears coming down her face. "My little Izuku isn't home, and I don't know where he could be." This isn't good.

…

After my interaction with Kacchan, I went to the nurse's office. "We have to call your mother. You're running a 101 fever. You should go rest." As I watched the nurse call my mom, I feared what would happen today. I wouldn't be able to get any training done, and mom was going to call Auntie.

I grabbed my bag and hid the fact I was using my phone. After placing mom and Kacchan on mute, I put my book bag down. The nurse gave me some cold medicine and a slip to go home early. Once I took the medicine and gave the slip to my teacher, I left the school. But instead of going home, I went off to the beach. No way I was missing a day of training.

"You're here early, young Midoriya." I looked at All Might and couldn't help but smile. What's one little lie?

"It was a half day at school." With that, we went into training. Even when my body was aching, I still pushed through. I even surprised myself when I was able to move another set of items from the beach. Not to mention how encouraging it was that I had made enough progress that I could see the ocean. But I started feeling dizzy again once I was done training for the day.

"Is something the matter, young Midoriya?"

I forced myself to stand back up and smile at my teacher. "I'm fine, All Might." With that, we went our separate way for the day. But instead of going home, I started to jog the boardwalk. I just wasn't ready to leave yet. It doesn't feel right to stop now when I finally have someone who believes in me.

When I finally did get to my apartment building, I tried to stay as quiet as possible. I didn't even open the door all the way when I saw the two sets of shoes. With that, I quickly closed the door and ran to the roof. I was not going to face either of them. I did my best to slowly climb my way down from the roof to my room balcony. I looked through the window and saw my room was empty.

That night I slept with my door locked. But came morning, I was faced with another issue. How was I supposed to get to school without crossing either of them? It was a bit tricky, but I was able to climb to the roof and then head to school. And that's where Kacchan was waiting for me. He stood at the entrance and didn't look too happy. "Hi, Kacchan."

Kacchan dragged me into the bathroom before landing a punch to my face. "What did I fucking tell you?" He picked me up from my collar before landing a knee to my gut. "And don't even get me started on how pissed off I am at you."

"Kacchan is so amazing." I couldn't stop smiling at the fact Kacchan was giving me his full attention. Any attention from him was better than being ignored. Then Kacchan punched my face again before letting me drop to the floor.

For the rest of the day, I was in the nurse's office sleeping. After Kacchan left me alone in the bathroom is when I passed out. And when I came to, I learned that a teacher found me and took me to the nurse's office. When I finally woke up, I saw my mom was there. "Oh, thank goodness. Izuku, you worried me there." Damn it. That weekend I wasn't allowed to leave home and just rest. I was even shocked at how mom stood home to ensure I got over my fever.

…

I still can't believe that nerd. At that, it didn't take me back a bit when he called me amazing as I was beating him. What has gotten Deku? Then again, it almost seems like all the times he purposely would go to where heroes were fighting. He had the habit of looking for trouble and was good at it.

Not a day goes by where he doesn't stalk hero news and updates. It's what makes him a nerd. But there's also the other thing. Deku doesn't know the meaning of the word no. At that, he's always following me everywhere. Especially when I took up parkour to keep up with my training, since I got tired of doing all those dump classes.

Once class was over, I blocked the door from Deku. I was going to make him finally talk. Something is up, and he's hiding it from me. He never hides things from me. Heck, it was annoying how he would share absolutely everything with me. It never fails when a new hero merch comes out. He's right there telling me about it. And he won't shut up either.

As I blocked the door, Deku just looks at me. So, that's how it's going to be. I went to grab his shirt, and he moved under. He then went to kick me, but I jumped. Before he could make his next move, I landed perfectly on his leg. "Start talking, nerd."

"Come on, Kacchan. Why don't you believe me when I say I can't tell you?" I got off his leg and quickly grabbed the back of his shirt. "But Kacchan."

"Shut up." Deku placed his arms up to defend his face. I used my free hand to move them out the way. "Talk!"

Deku started to cry, and his voice cracked as he spoke. "All I can say is that it has something to do with getting into UA." That's when I threw him to the ground and stepped on his back.

"I told you to give up. A quirkless nobody is never going to get in." With that, I kicked his side and started to walk away.

"Just you wait and see." I looked back and saw how Deku was wiping away his tears. "When I get into UA, you'll see how wrong you are." Before I got a chance to punch him, he got up and ran past me. While I chased him, I watched how he started heading into a busy street. Here's my chance to catch him. That was until I saw him go into traffic. Damn, that nerd! What was he thinking?

I watched as he jumped onto the hood of one car and slid across another car. When did he have that level of confidence to do that? He always hated playing street chicken. Whatever he was trying to hide was really that important? Either way, I was still on his tail as I watched him cross into an ally.

When I turned into the ally, I didn't see him. But I did see a nearby dumpster. I went to look inside and was surprised to not find Deku there. How in the world did he outrun me? That was until I heard a noise behind me. But before I could react, I was kicked inside the dumpster. That damn nerd! He tricked me!