Be ready for a surprise at the end of the chapter ; )

For Bakugou Katsuki, the next day couldn't have arrived earlier. Just as All Might said, the tower was everything that any child, and even a teenager his age, would be fanboying about. However, he was too focused on gaining mastery over One for All to appreciate it.

Though he wondered why it was so barren of people? To which All Might replied that, due to him residing in the tower, he had sent his employees to work from home for a while. Apparently, he had told him that he and Vomit-Hair would be dealing with some classified hero things here or whatever. Katsuki's only hope was that All Might didn't actually describe it like that.

Those thoughts aside, after being shown a room that seemed meant for a diplomat, ordering take-out (because, of course, neither All Might nor Vomit-Hair knew how to cook), and having some weird-ass dream about playing with seven kids and some kind of golden ghost, the morning finally arrived and with that, training.

Katsuki entered the room intended for his training with curiosity. It was completely white and enormous, seemingly being the size of at least five floors of Might Tower. Other than its impressive space, this place was completely barren.

"Good morning, Young Bakugou!" greeted All Might, dressed in his hero costume despite being in his depowered state.

Interestingly, despite not currently having the physique of a Greek war god, the suit still kind of fit him. It made Katsuki, in his All Might brand tracksuit (because, yes, due to his original clothes being charcoiled, this was the fastest replacement they could get), look kind of juvenile.

"Good morning, All Might!" he greeted the man back before asking the obvious. "So, this is the training room, huh?"

All Might grinned, which looked super weird on this face, not gonna lie, and spread his arms wide.

"Exactly, Young Bakugou. Welcome to Might Tower's special state-of-the-art training facilities. Small tidbit: they are actually modeled by the same design as the ones in the UA campus, so keep an eye out once you're there."

Katsuki had a small smile due to the man's antics before he spotted two people standing against a wall in this room.

One of them was Vomit-Hair, who possessed his iconic gargoyle-esque frown every time Katsuki was even close to his peripheral vision. In a "kind" response, Katsuki gave the bastard a glare of his own. He might be somewhat depressed, and Vomit-Hair may have helped him and All Might concerning Aunt Inko, but it didn't make Katsuki forget what kind of prick he was.

The second was someone Katsuki had never seen in his life. It was some old lady wearing a white lab coat and using a giant syringe as a cane. Her hair was fashioned into a singular gray bun, while some kind of dark blue visor covered her eyes. She was also incredibly small.

This old woman could be no one else besides a hero. That Katsuki was absolutely sure of.

"So you've finally spotted our guests," said All Might.

"You've already been introduced to Nighteye."

Vomit-Hair did a nod that, at best, could be described as curt.

"And this is Recovery Girl. She is a hero who specializes in medical treatment and will be on guard just in case something goes out of hand."

"Just promise me, boys, that you won't fool around too much," the elderly hero said with a chuckle.

"She also knows about One for All, so there's no need for us to talk in riddles," his mentor added.

Katsuki nodded and walked up to the two spectators.

"I'll be in your care," he said with a bow.

Vomit-Hair made no visible reaction, which is what Katsuki had expected.

"Oh, aren't you just polite," the old lady said and then started rummaging through her pocket.

She then outstretched her hand towards him.

"Have some gummy bears."

Katsuki stretched out his palm so the old lady could drop them in his palm. He then stared at the four artificial sugar abominations and felt a shiver. Katsuki hasn't, isn't, and never will be a fan of candy or any other type of garbage that existed for sugar-addicted maniacs and frequent dentist visitors. Nevertheless, for politeness' sake, he didn't throw them away.

"Thanks, granny," he said and popped the gummies into his mouth. His only hope was that they won't make him so nauseous that he would botch his first day of quirk training.

"Just don't push yourself too far." Said Recovery Girl.

Katsuki's response was to give her a backhanded wave.

"Alright, then what do we do first?" He asked All Might.

The man grinned.

"First, my boy, we make sure that you can call upon One For All in the first place."

Memories of what had transpired on Christmas night flew through Katsuki's head; however, he repressed them. Nothing like this would ever happen again. He'd make sure of it.

If All Might could notice how tense his successor was, he paid no attention to it.

"Alright, then let's cut to the chase. First of all, Young Bakugou, I hope that you didn't take your quirk suppressors this morning, as we promised?"

Katsuki nodded. After all, it would make quirk training pointless if he couldn't force anything out.

"Splendid!" All Might exclaimed.

He then turned towards Vomit-Hair.

"Mirai, this is your cue."

All Might's sidekick pushed something on a pad that he was holding, and a small section from the floor rose up, revealing a rectangle-shaped object that had the size of a fridge.

"Your first task is to use One For All to destroy this thing!" All Might said while gesturing at the rectangle.

Katsuki slightly widened his eyes but didn't allow it to be seen that he was bothered.

"Alright."

"Oh, not getting cold feet, I hope." All Might joked.

"Of course not."

Katsuki then walked towards the rectangle until he was punching distance from it. The ashen-haired teen then extended his fist back and forward towards the object to see if he would be able to get a good hit on it. Satisfied, he turned towards All Might.

"Can I start?"

"Just a moment, Young Bakugou."

All Might walked towards where the other two heroes were standing, and then Vomit-Hair pressed another button on the tablet. Suddenly, a giant glass dome descended from the ceiling and separated Katsuki from the trio. He looked obviously confused.

"My apologies," All Might said from an earpiece.

"The protection glass around you is meant to contain any stray shockwave that might emerge from your first time trying to intentionally use One For All. You may begin."

Katsuki nodded and focused on the task at hand. The rectangle stood there, filling him with trepidation.

Frankly, Katsuki had never doubted anything more in his life than using this quirk. Except for becoming a hero at all, of course. Still, he swallowed the nonexistent saliva in his dry mouth and angled his body to perform a wide swing against the object.

His heart was beating fastly, and fear was filling his body due to the memory of what had happened. Nevertheless, he silenced them both, and after making a loud emotionally filled yell, hit the target.

-THUD-

The rectangle stood without even a single scratch on it. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said about Katsuki.

"Ahhhh!" He yelled and grabbed his pulsating hand.

Whatever this piece of shitty geometry was made from, it was definitely not something one could put even a dent unless you had a strength-based quirk, which Katsuki apparently did not possess for now.

"Erm, Young Bakugou, did you need that checked?"

Katsuki looked beyond the glass, where the three heroes, including Vomit-Hair, looked visibly concerned.

"I am fine," he wheezed.

Katsuki then faced the rectangle again and shook his hurting hand.

"Just needed to do a practice punch, nothing to be concerned about." He lied.

Katsuki then went back into a fighting stance and tried to punch the rectangle again.

-Thud-

This time the sound was quieter, indicating that less force was put into it, and the rectangle was fine. Unfortunately, the same result didn't apply for Katsuki's increasingly more hurting hand.

Any normal person would've called it quits after this. Bakugou Katsuki, who had a thing for self-harm, was not such a person.

After taking a deep breath, which most people would see as a sign of him calming down but All Might knew was a harbinger of something much worse, he started to repeatedly hit the rectangle.

"Come. On. Activate. You. Piece. Of. SHIT!" He thought with each more desperate blow before the most obvious happened.

-CRACK-

Katsuki stood there and tried to play it cool, even as his fist just made the telltale sound of being broken. The previous pain, which felt like nothing at this point, disappeared and was replaced by excruciating agony that spread throughout his body like poison.

After this stunt, he tried to open and close his palm to pretend that everything was fine. Yeah, it just made it hurt even worse now.

"I might have scratched my knuckles a bit," he lied again.

Neither All Might nor Vomit-Hair seemed to believe him, while the old woman only shook her head.

"Alright, come here," she said and nodded with her hand.

"Let's see what you broke."

Swallowing his pride, Katsuki had no choice but to oblige.

Fortunately, the recovery process didn't need to take four to six weeks, as Katsuki feared it would. Instead, it was more like two hours at most to fix the fragmentation in his fist, after which Recovery Girl applied her quirk to speed up his body's natural healing process. However, the way she used her quirk was something he never wished to experience again.

On the bright side, he had an incentive to stop himself from busting up his body. That, and being healed like this made him feel slightly sluggish. Apparently, it took a lot of energy to speedrun one's recovery process.

Katsuki feared that it meant no more training for today. But after some convincing from All Might, he was allowed to continue training—well, at least until he hurt himself again. However, he needed to do it more carefully than before, which resulted in this situation.

"So how am I supposed to use this quirk?" he asked All Might, who looked rather guilty.

Both of them were currently back in the training room, standing next to the metal rectangle, while Vomit-Hair and Granny were once again just lounging against the wall. For his sanity's sake, Katsuki ignored the dismissive stare that he was receiving from All Might's bespectacled groupie.

Understandably All Might looked guilty after his belief in winging it resulted in Katsuki cracking his knuckle.

"Apologies for that, Young Bakugou. I had presumed that since the incident activating One For All would take no effort. It seems that I was wrong," All Might explained.

Not wanting to even comprehend what kind of train of thought would consider "accidentally killing one's parents with a rampaging quirk" equal to "has experience of activating one's quirk," Katsuki kept his mouth shut.

"It's okay, All Might," he said instead.

"So since I can't do it on my own, do you have some pointers on how to activate One For All? Maybe something from your own experience?"

All Might seemed to ponder before snapping his fingers in realization.

"Listen here, Young Bakugou. The first time I activated One For All, I was cornered by some thugs," explained All Might with a glint in his eyes. There was something different about him, and Katsuki was giving him 110% of his attention to not miss even a sliver of valuable information.

Even Vomit-Hair had ceased glaring at him and was deeply listening to All Might. Katsuki guessed that he had never heard this story either.

"Fear plagued my heart, and I wasn't sure if I'd make it out alive or if my master wasn't lying to me about One For All being passable or even real. What happened next, I'll never forget. I swallowed my fear, clenched my butt cheeks, and yelled from the bottom of my heart: SMASH!" All Might finished by creating an impromptu fist and transforming, most likely for added effect.

After that little stunt, he deflated again and faced him. All Might looked stunning, like in all of his interviews, only to also internally deflate once he saw Katsuki's face. His successor looked as if he had just wasted a few minutes of his life listening to something absolutely stupid.

"Young Bakugou?" All Might cautiously asked.

Katsuki's response was to cup his nose before doing a long exhale.

"No offense, All Might, but you aren't that bright, are you?"

The man looked apologetic before answering.

"To be honest, Young Bakugou, though I've been called a genius by a lot of people, anyone who would get their hands on my UA report card would be able to see, much to their shock, that I never was the sharpest pencil in the case. I apologize," the man meekly said.

"It's okay, All Might," Katsuki responded.

"Common sense aside, you are still the greatest hero in the world." He tried to reassure the man.

Yeah, Bakugou Katsuki really wasn't the best at comforting others. All Might's hurt expression and the fact that he was huddled on the ground while holding his legs were clear indicators of that fact.

To make him feel better, he tried to reflect on what All Might had just said. Something clicked.

"So if I understand you correctly, essentially strong emotions are the trigger that activates One For All?" he asked.

All Might stopped mumbling something about "not ever actually finishing high school" and then turned his head towards him.

"I guess," All Might said and then slowly got up.

"Though I'd call it more like a drive than just plain emotions," he explained.

Hearing this just made Katsuki scratch his head.

"Well, that doesn't match my first time at all. The only noteworthy thing that occurred to me is that I had this weird dream."

All Might looked puzzled.

"You didn't mention this in the hospital," he said.

Katsuki raised an eyebrow.

"I didn't?"

"No, you didn't," added Vomit-Hair, who approached the two.

"You were more focused on the fact that the quirk activated on its own than anything," All Might's sidekick explained.

Katsuki wasn't very appreciative that he had to interact with Vomit-Hair; however, he had to begrudgingly admit that the guy could be very useful when he wasn't trying to be an ass. True to the man's explanation, he had been more focused on the fact that the quirk had triggered on its own than on what happened before it.

"What did you see in your dream, Young Bakugou?" asked All Might with unnatural seriousness.

"Well," Katsuki said, trying to recall the dream, which at this point had been relocated as a foggy memory. Nevertheless, he gave the two a brief rundown of what had occurred.

"The last thing I remember was the guy saying: "It's your turn," and then I woke up, and you know the rest."

Katsuki, who had lowered his eyes during the explanation, faced the two men and was confused.

Both All Might and Vomit-Hair looked paler than before and had expressions of two people who had heard something terrifying.

For clarification's sake, he looked at Recovery Girl, who was as confused as he was. So it was only these two.

"Is it something bad?" he asked All Might.

The hero quickly returned from his stupor.

"Of course not, Young Bakugou!" quickly responded All Might, who seemed to have regained his mirth.

He then made a brief eye contact with Vomit-Hair, and the two exchanged a look of mutual agreement.

Yeah, Katsuki definitely saw that.

"I think, however, that now I know how we can rev that old beast One For All awake," All Might said, thus gaining his undivided attention.

"How?" Katsuki asked.

"Well, and I know that sounds weird, but I think that you should ask One For All to activate."

The silence after this statement was so palpable that they could've as well been in space.

Katsuki, as a person who preferred to be upfront, said the first thing that came to his mind.

"The fuck!"

"Alright, I know that it sounds crazy; however, I believe that your One For All is much more different than mine, Young Bakugou."

"Aren't they the same quirk?" he asked.

"Well, kind of and no," added All Might. "For example, I never experienced any weird dreams concerning One For All."

"And are you sure that it's nothing to be concerned about?" Katsuki asked.

"Absolutely!" the hero replied before adding, "well, for now at least."

Before this could turn into another round of interrogation, Vomit-Hair stepped in.

"What he's trying to say, Bakugou-kun, is that even though All For One's original purpose hasn't changed, a.i., a quirk that stockpiles energy and passes it on to others, some parts of it undoubtedly have been modified once it entered your body."

"If it helps, think of it like that. It's just like a similar quirk that a whole family shares. In its core, the quirk is the same; however, unless some major mutation has occurred, it slightly varies from person to person."

"I guess that it makes sense. Thanks, Nighteye," the teenager said.

He and the hero then exchanged a look that indicated that some silent truce had been established, to which Katsuki was okay. If Vomit-Hair will behave, then he is also willing to offer his olive branch.

"You can lower the glass again. I'm ready," he said.

All Might gave him a skeptical gaze.

"Are you sure, young man?"

Katsuki looked him straight in the eyes.

"As sure as I've ever been."

After that, the two heroes had again returned to the wall, and the protective dome was again lowered. Katsuki stared at the rectangle.

"Just the two of us, huh?" he said to it before focusing on his hand. "Or more precisely, three."

"Hope that this works."

He then closed his eyes and stared into the darkness within.

"Hey, erm, One For All, are you there?"

There was no response.

Katsuki guessed that it would've been too easy otherwise. Instead, he tried to recall that Christmas Night, including what he felt that day.

Fear and confusion gripped his heart, but that wasn't the only thing that did. It was almost as if something made its presence known in his mind.

"I guess that whatever happened in Aunty Inko's wasn't a fluke, huh?" he said to the entity.

It didn't respond; however, Katsuki felt that it was paying attention to him.

"Listen, eh, quirk, I need the power that you have."

"No…."

Katsuki almost opened his eyes from surprise. It sounded like a crowd of people had spoken in his mind from somewhere far away. It was really creepy; however, in the name of the mission, he decided to deal with it.

"Why?"

It didn't respond; however, Katsuki's heart was once again gripped with fear, and the memories of what happened in his home resurfaced.

"I see," he said with realization, "I guess that I wasn't the only one that was punching themselves over what happened."

One For All didn't respond; however, Katsuki was sure that it was paying him even more attention. Not wishing to waste his opportunity, he went in raw.

"Listen, none of what happened was your fault. It was an accident. However, now I do need you to work properly."

"Can't….."

And here it was again, sounding so close and yet so far away.

"Meant….to….protect….However…..something…..wrong…Wasn't supposed to awake…..just….yet.

It seemed that it had difficulties conveying whatever it was trying to say.

"I understand and believe me, when I am saying this, that I'm not angry at you. But I m pretty sure that you already know that."

There was a brief moment of silence before it responded.

"Yes…You….are….sad….Because….of….what…..we….did."

"Well, I won't lie. I'd be much happier if my first time using All Might's quirk wouldn't have been me turning my parents into teriyaki." He bitterly thought.

"But I don't blame you. I repeat, it was an accident. Besides, I have a feeling that you aren't up to shape yourself, correct?"

"Yes…..Too…soon." It explained, sounding sad.

"I see. However, if you don't help me now that I can't replace All Might as number one, which would mean that a lot of people would be hurt. That WOULD be our fault."

"No…"

"But it would." He didn't relent.

As a response, the traumatic memories once again resurfaced.

"Afraid….of…us….Shouldn't…..use….yet…..Wait…till…wounds…heal."

"BUT I CAN'T FUCKING WAIT!" He screamed in outrage.

As a response, a few sparks appeared around his fingers before subsiding.

Understanding that he wasn't earning any favors with such an attitude, Katsuki calmed down.

"Sorry. I'm just frustrated that nothing is going as I wanted it to. This was supposed to be the best time in my life and yet it is as bad as ever. Frankly, a big part of me just wants to find Izumi and hand you to her."

Suddenly, Katsuki felt his mind fill with protest.

"Like….you….Don't."

He smiled.

"Thanks a lot. However, I can't wait. I feel like that I'll go insane if I won't find something to do. So please lend me your power. It doesn't have to be a lot. Just enough so that I could finally save someone and be the person that the people who I love see me as. Afterwards, you can go to sleep again."

There was no response. However, Katsuki felt a strange sensation spreading underneath his skin. It was almost as if something was buzzing there. Unknown to him, stray wisps of lightning were surrounding his body.

Fighting the fear and painful memories, Katsuki once again approached the rectangle. With a deep breath, he moved into a fighting stance.

"No…."

The voice was quieter than ever before. Katsuki was sure as hell that it would disappear pretty soon.

"Not….like…this….Different."

For a second, he had no idea what it meant until he recalled how his first time triggering One For All had been like.

With a smirk, he left his hand-to-hand stance and instead just touched the rectangle.

"Alright, in that case. LET'S MELT THIS BITCH!"

As a response, just like before, giant rays of electricity were being thrown from his body, and his tracksuit was being charred. However, that wasn't the only thing that was happening. Katsuki's skin was glowing in a deeper orange while the bolts of energy were becoming a mix of deep orange and red. His hair went up, also turning orange, while the color of his eyes was becoming a scarlet inferno.

"YOUNG BAKUGOU!" All Might exclaimed beyond the glass.

"It's okay." He shouted, seeing as his arms were sinking into the metal rectangle, which was becoming as orange as he was.

"In fact, let's keep this party going. MORE!"

In response, the quirk roared. Energy blasted from his every pore, resulting in a tiny explosion wherever it hit.

It also hurt like hell, and Katsuki loved every fucking second of it.

His hard work. His dream. His pain. Everything that Katsuki had been enduring thus far, he could finally release it.

The rectangle was already half melted at this point, and the upper part of the floor was joining it; however, he didn't care. Instead, with one final battle cry, he let it out.

"I AM GOING TO BE THE NUMBER ONE HERO, MOTHERFUCKERS!"

What followed that was an explosion. An uncontrollable wave of orange energy that made it look as if a nuke had gone off in there. The glass was cracking, making the other three fear that they'd have to evacuate the training room entirely.

Finally, it stopped.

Katsuki felt like he had spent an entire day in a superheated car, with no AC, while his skin needed an elephant's dose worth of burn salve. Other than that, he was in fucking nirvana. The rectangle had been reduced to nothing, and he was in the epicenter of a personal 8x8 meter crater.

His mind also felt light. It seemed that One for All had fallen asleep. As a test, he lifted his hand. Katsuki was still afraid, but he thought about his promise to All Might and Aunty Inko. Orange sparks began to dance around his fingers.

"Young Bakugou!"

He turned and saw that All Might had approached him in the hero's empowered state.

In response, Katsuki did something amazing. He smiled, and what a smile it was. He doubted that he had ever felt this liberated.

"What do you think?" he asked while raising his knuckle against the man.

"Not bad for my first time? Ha?"

All Might looked dumbfounded before he too cracked a smile.

"Well, we could do without the collateral damage," he said, eyeing the crater.

"But I believe that you'll have it sorted out in no time."

All Might then reciprocated Katsuki's fist bump.

"All Might, get that boy to me immediately so I can teach him a lesson about not being such a gun-ho psychopath," Recovery Girl shouted.

"I agree," added Vomit-Hair, "that was unbecoming behavior for a successor to All Might's legacy." All Might laughed.

"Ready to face the music?" he asked.

"Well, since it feels that I'll pass out at any moment, I really don't have a choice not to," responded Katsuki, who didn't look too nervous.

All Might then picked him up and walked to deliver him to his treatment/punishment.

"Hey, All Might," Katsuki said.

"Yes, Young Bakugou?"

"Thank you for everything."

"You too, young man!"

February 26th.

Two months passed relatively quickly for Bakugou Katsuki, whose life had been nothing but an orange spectacle full of quirk training and studies. Fortunately, after whatever happened with One for All, the quirk had gone completely silent, nor displayed any other signs that an ordinary quirk wouldn't. Katsuki was fine with that. After all, his life was hard enough without sentient quirks.

The remaining months of quirk training had been hell. And no, he wasn't exaggerating. It was hell, which even made him remember all the days when he had carried trash under a scorching summer sun as fond memories. The only upside to those two horrible months was that Katsuki had gone from very likely to give himself 3rd degree burns to actually somewhat competent with his quirk.

Transportation had also been a pain. Once Katsuki's school started, he had to travel every day from Tokyo to Musutafu via the bullet train, something that had shortened his sleep schedule and thus did wonders to Katsuki's already dog shit mood.

It didn't help that everyone in his school had learned about the accident. Not that he activated his quirk and almost permanently KO'd his parents. Fortunately, only the teachers were informed about this little tidbit, which explained why Katsuki's homeroom teacher was making sure that there was at least a five-meter distance between them.

No, as much as the students knew there had been a fire accident in the Bakugou household and his parents received the brunt of it. This resulted in a horrible month, with every human in Katsuki's middle school wishing to offer their condolences to him. Even Fire-Vomit had shown his sympathies, at which point the no longer quirkless teenager wanted to believe that the world was about to end.

The dynamic to which he had been used to was that Katsuki hated the people in his school and they hated him. Everything that didn't follow these rules was a gross violation of established canon.

Anyway, bitching aside, his parents were still in a coma. The burns they acquired had healed; however, neither pops nor his mother had shown even a single sign of approaching the state of consciousness. Even when he had visited, they were still sleeping.

The doctors thought that it was either due to trauma or One for All damaging their nervous system.

Katsuki had trained himself almost to a coma of his own after hearing that. Once All Might found him, Katsuki had been banned from training for four consecutive days. The granny's quirk might've been good for healing, but there was even a limit to what she could do after a person decides to treat himself like a ragdoll.

Speaking of quirk, it finally had a name. Katsuki dubbed it Discharge. It was short, sweet, and explained what he could do with it now. As a child, Katsuki had never wished for anything more than to have a quirk to name. Now he felt surprisingly numb to it.

It was only thanks to All Might and surprisingly Auntie that Katsuki hadn't become even more withdrawn. Apparently, All Might had given her Katsuki's new number, and so he got a message every week asking how he was doing or a long one that talked about the simple woes of Midoriya Inko. Katsuki found himself cherishing these messages.

All Might, on the other hand, made sure to take him somewhere once a week again despite his successor's protests. At first, Katsuki was livid about having to waste valuable training time on entertainment, but with time he grew to enjoy these outings. It was a breath of fresh air that reminded Bakugou Katsuki that under all the responsibility, he was still human. Also, it helped that Tokyo was packed with places where one could get spicy tofu.

One week before the UA exam started, Katsuki permanently returned to Musutafu. By All Might's words, he needed a much-deserved breather, and it was also the time when his house was finally fixed. It looked just like it did before, except that his room was completely barren, minus the most basic furnishings. However, Katsuki took it in stride.

The week was spent preparing for the exam, cleaning the house, or visiting his parents at the hospital. One time Auntie Inko even invited him for dinner. For Katsuki, the whole thing had been incredibly awkward. However, she seemed to enjoy it. Also, her spicy tofu wasn't half bad if only a tad too sweet for Katsuki's liking.

Eventually, the day had arrived. Katsuki got out of bed extra early and did a few stretches before jumping into a cold shower. After being awake enough, he had a light breakfast to avoid getting sick.

Afterward, he wore his school uniform, took a ridiculous All Might-themed backpack (the big guy was adamant that he couldn't replace it with a new one), and grabbed a metallic briefcase containing a few support items he was allowed to bring.

Finally, he styled his hair in a bowl and wore a pair of new, red glasses. Hey, UA was a fancy place, and he wasn't about to go there looking like a thug.

Saying one final goodbye to his home, he walked out of the door, locked it, and then left through the house's gate where a green-haired person was seemingly waiting for someone. Wait, what was that last part?

"Good Morning, Bakugou-kun!"

Katsuki stood like a statue before turning towards the voice. Despite feeling that he had no air in his lungs, Katsuki managed to get a word out.

"Izu?"

"Yes, that's me!" responded Midoriya Izumi, who for some reason was at his house.

It was official; the last ten or so months of his life had been a dream.

She looked exactly as she did in the picture, except for a nerdy yellow backpack and a warm All Might-themed overcoat. Appearance-wise, however, that piece of paper in the Midoriya household hadn't done her justice. In the picture, she was pretty. Here, she was incredibly more attractive, and Katsuki felt his face involuntarily turning redder.

"Erm, Bakugou-kun, you look kind of red. Are you alright?" she asked while slightly tilting her head.

"GOD DAMNIT! HOW CAN A SINGLE PERSON LOOK SO CUTE!" he thought.

Instead of that catastrophe, he said something more normal.

"I am fine. Also, what are you doing here?" he asked.

Izumi immediately looked confused.

"Wait, Mom didn't tell you?" she asked.

Katsuki's response was a shake of his head.

"She wanted us to go to UA together, and that's why she asked me to wait for you here. You really didn't receive anything like that from her?"

Katsuki tried to remember.

"Well, she did text me yesterday and asked when I'd leave the house, but she didn't mention you."

In fact, Katsuki had believed that she was just making small talk because afterward, she wished him luck in the exams. Conniving woman!

"Gash darn mom," Izumi said with a fake pout. "I apologize for getting you involved, Katsuki-kun."

"Nah, it's okay," said Katsuki.

He then lowered his gaze.

"In fact, I want to apologize for something as well."

Katsuki bowed to her.

"I am sorry for what I did to you as a kid. I was truly horrible, and you deserved none of it. That's all."

He then straightened himself and saw that she looked surprised. Very quickly she abandoned that state.

"It's okay, Bakugou-kun. We were kids back then. It doesn't matter anymore," she said with the same polite smile.

Something about that smile he really didn't like.

"Yeah," Katsuki commented. "I guess it doesn't."

"Should we go?" she asked.

Trying to mask how downtrodden he felt, Katsuki repeated what he had said earlier.

"Yeah."

They walked in silence. The streets were empty during this time in the morning, which meant that the only sound that could be heard was their feet hitting the pavement.

Katsuki found himself taking small glances at Izumi until she eventually caught him and replied with another of her smiles. Katsuki's response was to quickly turn his head before she could spot how increasingly red it was becoming.

"Pretty cold weather, huh?" Katsuki blurted out, not being able to handle the silence.

"It is pretty chilly," Izumi agreed.

"In fact, I'm getting cold just looking at you."

It was because, unlike her, Katsuki only had a black scarf over his school uniform.

Realizing that this could be a great way to break the ice between them, he grinned.

"It's because of my quirk."

He then showed her his hand, which was covered by a few wisps of energy.

"I can keep myself warm because of it."

"That's great!" Izumi replied and continued walking.

Katsuki was left rather shocked. The Izumi Midoriya he knew would've jumped out of her shoes just to discuss a quirk. He guessed that people really did change with time.

"How are your parents?" she suddenly asked out of the blue.

Katsuki wanted to ask like an idiot, how did she know, however the most likely option was that Izumi's mom probably had told her.

"They're healing," he responded. "Doc says that they'll wake up any other day."

"I'm glad," was her response.

Afterward, they didn't talk anymore. The two eventually reached the train that led them to UA, during which he just stared through the window while Izumi was staring at her phone while aggressively mumbling. Unfortunately, Katsuki couldn't figure out what she was saying.

Once the train stopped, however, they finally reached UA and it was amazing.

It was large and white and shone like some beautiful white obelisk of justice.

"This is it," Katsuki thought.

It was the day that he had waited for so long. The very first step of becoming a hero.

In fact, he was so deep in thought that he didn't notice how close he was to a person before bumping into them.

"Eyes on the road, four eyes!" said that someone.

Due to his many years in middle school, there was only one way that Katsuki could respond to such a comment.

"You have a problem with me, jackass!?" he shouted and eyed his opponent.

Frankly, he was left perplexed.

First of all, the fuckwit was much taller than him, which had never been a challenge to Katsuki; what bothered him was this guy's sense of aesthetics.

His hair was yellow and slicked back, probably due to hair gel, while the back of his hair was so long that it touched the lower part of his neck.

He was also dressed weirdly. The guy had a freaking Sobu jacket on that was open, revealing a white shirt underneath and a chain around his neck. His bottom half, however, consisted of white cargo pants that ended with light blue running shoes.

The last detail that stood out to Katsuki were his eyebrows. They were pretty thick and seemed to have pointy ends at their edges. Frankly, if that was a custom job, this guy should ask for his money back.

Fortunately, this guy pulled him out of his stupor by being annoying.

"You want to fight, nerd?" the other guy asked while, of course, getting in his face.

"Because I can give you a round of fisticuffs so intense that you'll be bleeding from your rear end."

Weird speech patterns aside, this dude seemed to want to have a fight, and he was more than willing to deliver.

However, before Katsuki managed to get himself expelled before even getting accepted, they were interrupted.

"Ida-kun?"

Both turned towards Izumi, who looked rather surprised.

"Ah, Midoriya-san," the delinquent responded and stood straight again.

"It's a pleasure to see you in such good spirits," the guy added.

"Likewise, Ida-kun," the girl responded with an awkward smile.

Alright, Katsuki was officially confused. Who was this guy and how did he know Izumi?

"Who is this moron, Izu?" he asked, forgetting that he had wanted to be polite in his presence.

Katsuki was reminded of exactly why when she met his question with an exasperated frown.

"I as well wish to know who is this," the blonde guy gave him a long stare, "anorak?"

Izumi sighed. Katsuki would've appreciated how adorable she looked if he wasn't the reason for it.

"Ida-kun, this is Bakugou Katsuki, my childhood acquaintance," she said after a deep pause.

"Bakugou-kun, this is Ida Tenya, my classmate. I hope you two get along," Izumi said with all the calm as a person who needed to quickly figure out how to put down a house fire.

Both Katsuki and the delinquent-looking motherfucker glared at each other. He was getting the suspicion that this was going to be a long year

Yes that really is Tenya. To keep things more fun I've decided to do a few modifications to some of the other characters.

I definitely won't change all of the new cast because God knows I ain't that creative, but you can expect some changes to canon.

That aside this chapter was intended to be longer however I decided to cut out the 2 months of OFA training otherwise it would've killed the pacing. I'll probably due a flashback in a later chapter or something.

Finally I wish to inform you that I'll take longer for a new chapter. IRL has been a bitch and I'll be more busy. Hm, probably shouldn't have decided to saying this before a cliffhanger.

Anyway, Soul out!