*Bang*

"Stupid fucking Deku."

*Bang*

"With his smug fucking face, think he can look down on me!"

*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*

"I'll show him… Fucking irritating piece of shit…"

*Bang*

"I'll make him beg me to be his friend! "

*Bang*

"And then I'll kill him! "

Katsuki continued his muttering rants as he emptied the clip into the target sheet in front of him. Once he was done with his first round, Katsuki went through the soothing process of sliding the empty magazine out of his 9mm handgun. If Deku thought he could get away with talking to him that way, he had another thing coming. He'd make him apologize after accepting his apology if it was the last thing Katsuki did.

"Did you get it all out of your system?" Kirishima asked.

The red head was leaning back into the chair lining the back wall, a basket of muffins resting next to him as he took another bite.

Katsuki didn't dignify his friend with a response as he glared at him while his lips turned down into a regular scowl as he reloaded his gun and turned back to emptying it into the target sign.

"I'll take that as a no!" Kirishima chuckled over the deafening sounds of Katsuki's gun firing off.

The amount of anger brewing under the surface after Katsuki had left Izuku's apartment was enough to keep him fuming for most of the night and in to the early hours of the day. When it didn't subside by that point, Katsuki had resorted to his therapist's suggestion of cooking for tension release.

So Katsuki had baked muffins. It was therapeutic and helped on most days. Something about the methodical process of prepping his ingredients and putting them together step by step helped Katsuki feel in control of something when he felt out of control of everything else. But after a few dozen muffins, cookies and four apple turnovers. Katsuki was still ready to explode. So he went to his last resort and let his aggression out at the firing range. Kirishima didn't mind in the slightest as he continued to devour the rare treats with enthusiastic glee painted all over his gluttonous face.

At some point, during Katsuki's second round, he heard the idiot duo's excited cries for muffins while Kirishima offered them each one.

"Yay! Angry Katsuki means delicious food for us!" Denki shouted.

Katsuki's brow twitched, most days Denki irritated the fuck out of him, but Katsuki still would call the yellow ball of energy a friend and his comments always brought on a double layer of annoyance and amusement to him that differed from the simmering frustration he held today. But today it only fueled it.

"The secret ingredient is hatred." Sero joked.

Katsuki finished up his round before putting his gun away. He dragged the target sheet over to him. It was still in tack with a large hole where the middle used to be. He could say with all honestly, his specialty was his marksmanship being the top of his class at the Academy.

"So, who pissed you off this time?" Denki asked.

Kirishima gave a cheeky grin as he eyed him looking over the muffins. Katsuki considered if he had the stomach to eat one muffin, he had little appetite at the moment, but he also had minimal sleep so he knew he needed the energy to make it through the day.

"He got rejected." Kiri said.

The laughter that came from the other two grated on Katsuki's nerves enough that in their distractions, he snatched his offers straight out of their hands.

"Hey!" Sero cried.

They shut the hell up after that, much to his satisfaction. Katsuki snatched the basket away for good measure, much to Kirishima's disappointment.

"Come on, Bakubro, don't be like that. It's not our fault you got rejected!" Denki cried.

While the two gave him a mix of desperate protest and meager begs for forgiveness, Katsuki ignored that to draw their attention back to their entire purpose of being here.

"What did you find?" Katsuki asked.

"There's nothing new regarding the AFO rumors. There's even less about the dog. Either it's a dead end or they're being tight-lipped about it." Sero offered.

He reached out to grab the muffin from Katsuki, who drew his arm back even further. He wasn't giving them shit with those results.

"We found something out, though!" Sero offered. He nudged Denki, who was moping beside him. "Come on, man, or we won't get breakfast."

Denki pulled out the picture Katsuki had given them earlier this week. It was the most recent photo Emiko's parents had of her. Nothing special, just an outing she had taken with some of her closest friends during a camping trip.

"Since we got nothing on the AFO side of things, we asked around about your Vic, but no one seemed to recognize her." Denki said.

Kirishima shrugged. He didn't seem all that surprised by that since Emiko had been a pretty normal girl as far as routine went.

"How is that news?" Katsuki glared.

Denki rushed pointed out one girl in the picture. She stood next to Emiko, simple in features. She styled her hair short, and she looked a bit more out there in fashion with colorful earrings, tight fitting tops and skinny jeans. The girl screamed center of attention compared to the more conservative Emiko, who was in a loose t-shirt and jeans. Katsuki remembered her to be Emiko's closest friend, though her name escaped his memories, so he'd have to go back to check his files.

"Her. I think they called her Candy or something dumb like that, but she's actually pretty well known. She's a regular for one of our informants for Extasy, prescription bills and the occasional bump when she can afford it. Nothing too crazy. Just a regular party girl." Denki said.

"Seems the complete opposite of Emiko." Kirishima said.

'Complete opposite ends of the spectrum.' thought Katsuki.

This was new information, though partly because they never had time to interview her friends before Touya had shown up on a silver platter. Katsuki handed the two idiots their prizes, along with the basket, for a job well done.

"So her best friend is a party girl while her family portrayed Emiko as this straight lace good girl…. could be a front that she showed to her parents to hide her other hobbies." Katsuki muttered.

"You think Emiko was hiding some kind of secret party girl life?" Kirishima asked.

"Possible… teenagers do it all the time. It's pretty common, actually." Sero said.

Katsuki looked back at the picture. Emiko looked pretty normal as far as teenage girls went. Looked awkward in the picture, the way she had her arms crossed in front of her, a rather shy looking smile on her face. She reminded him of Deku in some ways. Shy compared to their louder counterparts.

Katsuki couldn't see her as the party girl type, but he couldn't picture Deku blowing smoke in his face telling him to fuck off either, so anything was possible after yesterday.

This wasn't enough to bring back to Aizawa. Even if Emiko sneaked out, that meant nothing. But his instincts twisted, keeping his attention on this one possibility. He felt that this friend of Emiko knew something. Something that could lead Katsuki to the truth.

Kirishima lifted his wrist checking the time as he pulled his jacket back on, Katsuki followed his lead.

"She may be out on a Saturday, but if she slept in, then she may be home. I can pull up her file on the way?" Kirishima suggested.

"Let's go." Katsuki said.

As Katsuki turned out of the parking lot, Kirishima had the girl's name and info pulled and her address put into their gps. They had a fifteen minute drive which Kirishima took full advantage bringing up the one topic Katsuki would prefer ignoring for now.

"Sooo, you really going to force that guy to take you back?" Kirishima asked.

"It's not taking me back, okay!" Katsuki protested.

His grip tightened on the steering wheel, knuckles white as he did his best to focus on the road. Any mention of Deku just set him off and he wasn't stupid either. Katsuki knew full well how crazy he sounded trying to force some guy he hadn't seen in years back into his life. But he didn't know how to describe the gut wrenching need to make Izuku accept his apologize. Middle school had been the ugly stain of his past, a line of mistakes a mile long where he did everything wrong. It had hung over him for years and Katsuki had resigned himself to the idea that it would always be there as a dirty reminder, but Izuku had come back and Katsuki couldn't help but latch onto the small life line given to him.

"This isn't like you, man. It took almost all of first year to get you to accept me and the others as your friend, but here you are dragging him into something he made pretty clear he doesn't want." Kiri said.

Katsuki huffed, unwilling to dignify that with a response because he didn't have to know what to say to it. In his eyes, it didn't need to make sense. Honestly, he and Deku had never made sense to begin with, so why should he try to explain it to someone who wouldn't understand?

Kiri, the stubborn fool, didn't let it go, though.

"What if he's nothing like the boy you remember? People change and it sounds like he's bad news, if you ask me." Kiri said.

"It was the way he looked." Katsuki said.

Kirishima looked surprised at his muttered response. Katsuki growled at Kirishima's confused face. He didn't know how to explain it, but he knew that the boy he knew and this rough edged version of him were no different. Deku may have everyone else fooled, but Katsuki just knew that he hadn't changed all that much.

"Right after he told me to fuck off." Katsuki said through gritted teeth. It was a matter of pride to have Izuku say that to him, and each time he remembered those words, it set his teeth grinding together to stay in control.

"I was too pissed off and distracted to call him out on his shit, but for a second he looked like he did when we were kids…. All glassy-eyed and dopey." Katsuki said.

"What does that mean?" Kiri said.

"The idiot looked sad…. like he was gonna cry, damn it!" Katsuki shouted.

"He was always such a crybaby, that hasn't changed even if he has gotten better at hiding it." Katsuki tapered off to himself.

Katsuki would not give up on Deku, no matter how many times he tried to push him away, because Katsuki could see that was exactly what he was doing.

For whatever reason, Dek…. no Izuku didn't want Katsuki to get close to him. He was hiding something and Katsuki had learned from the nerd that a puzzle needed to be solved, so he'd figure out what Izuku's secret was one way or another and make him give in to Katsuki's demands.

"Well, I guess you know better than me." Kiri said.

Kiri didn't look convinced, if anything he looked doubtful about Katsuki as if he wasn't thinking with a clear head, but Katsuki would show him. He'd get the nerd back under the friendship title and introduce the two. Old best friend, meeting the new best friend. He didn't doubt that Izuku would fit right in with his wacky group.

Katsuki wondered what it would have been like if Izuku had followed him to high school and later to the Police Academy like they had planned. Some part of him knows that his friends would have joined him one way or another, but would Izuku have fit into their group?

It was like breathing how easily Katsuki could fit Izuku into his memories, like he had always been there. Katsuki would have ragged on him when he went into his muttering rants, but he'd also watch Izuku like a hawk because he just knew that the wonder duo would have dragged him into their antics. Kirishima would have encouraged him to work on his physical training to get stronger and Mina would drag him out for shopping trips to fix his god awful style.

The bitter sweetness of the thought filled his chest to a dull ache as Katsuki pushed those thoughts away. No point crying over what couldn't be changed.

They parked on the sidewalk in front of the girls' house. Katsuki checked over the information Kiri had pulled up to prepare.

"Mae Suna. Emiko's childhood friend. Nothing about her drug hobbies or night life." Katsuki muttered.

"It says they were pretty close." Kiri said.

They made their way up to the modest house. The girls lived houses away from each other, so it made sense why they could be so close. Katsuki could just make out Emiko's house to the left of them. Overall, the neighborhood was fairly quiet given the time of day, with most yards well maintained.

Kiri took the lead as they knocked on the door. It took a moment before Mae opened the door for them. The girl in front of them was a former shell of the bright persona in the picture. Katsuki would describe her as haggard, with greasy strands of brunette hair that laid flat around her cheeks, emphasizing the dark circles of her eyes.

"Who are you?" Mae asked.

Her voice was rough and unused as she looked up at them with no outward reaction. The girl had taken Emiko's death hard and even weeks after the funeral; it didn't seem that she was doing any better.

"Hello, Ms. Suna. I'm sorry for intruding, but my name is Detective Kirishima, and this is my partner Detective Bakugo…. We're the ones that are investigating your friend's murder." Kiri said.

They both showed her their badges, which she only glanced at in passing. Katsuki's palms itched as he did his best to look as nonthreatening as possible. There was a reason he left this part to Kiri, especially now when the girl's eyes watered at just the mention of her friend.

"What do you want?" Mae asked.

"Do you have time to speak with us? We had a few questions we wanted to ask you?" Kiri asked.

Mae hesitated, her hand gripped the side of the door. She looked ready to close the door in their faces. She didn't have any obligation to speak with them, so he wasn't sure what they could do if she refused.

"I thought they caught the guy?" She asked.

Kirishima being the nicer looking one of the two, smiled, giving off the air of non threatening and reassuring as he nodded in agreement to her comment.

"Of course, this is just follow up really for the case." Kiri said.

Not a complete lie, but definitely not the whole truth. This was just how things were for their line of work. Sometimes they had to blur the lines a bit, but if the end justified the means.

Mae sighed, but the visible drop to her shoulders tipped him off that she was trusting them enough to let them in, which was all Katsuki needed to make his way into the house.

The place was modest, with pictures lining the walls of family outings and birthdays. Emiko was in a few of them, like a timeline of the girls' friendship over the years.

"Are your parents' home?" Katsuki asked.

The girl snorted as she led them into the living room and plopped herself into one of the lounge chairs. That left Kirishima and Katsuki crammed into the small couch they had left.

"They're out of town."

She offered no more details, and they didn't bother to ask further. This seemed like a land mine of a topic that Katsuki didn't have time to bother stepping on since their only motive here was to talk to Mae.

"So what do you need to ask me?" Mae pushed.

Katsuki pulled out his notepad while Kiri leaned forward, his arms resting on his knees as he got himself situated.

"We know you were one of Emiko's closest friends, so we were hoping you might help us out with this. Can you tell me anything that Emiko may have been keeping from her parents?" Kiri asked.

Mae's brows furrowed. She didn't seem to understand what Kiri was hinting at, so his partner pushed further, walking the fine line of wordplay that was necessary to keep her open to working with them.

"I mean, for example, I used to sneak out to meet with my friends to drink. Did Emiko ever sneak out of the house or maybe lie about where she was?" Kiri asked.

"I mean, I guess when she was dating I'd cover for her to go on dates or sleep over at her boyfriend's house. But she wasn't seeing anyone recently." Mae said.

Katsuki huffed. Either this girl really wasn't catching on to what Kiri was trying to ask her, or she was playing dumb on purpose. Either way, Katsuki was losing patience, and losing it fast.

"He means did Emiko do the usual teenage rebellion and sneak out to clubs or take any drugs?" Katsuki asked.

Kirishima flinched at his bluntness but Katsuki ignored it as he eyed the other girl. She didn't outwardly react to what he was saying, which meant she was playing dumb. It was possible they actually had something here if they asked the right questions. Kiri rubbed the back of his head, an awkward chuckle escaping as he tried to smooth over and explain things.

"We're not here to get anyone into trouble, but we just want to make sure we're prepared for anything that may come up during the trial." Kiri said.

Her eyes squinted into thin slits. Her walls were coming up, but she wasn't kicking them out, so it wasn't a bad sign. She looked to be thinking about her options on what to say.

Katsuki kept his facial features as neutral as he could. He was told by most that he had a perpetual scowl that he didn't bother trying to fix, but he tried a bit more to tone it down. He glanced around the room as they waited for Mae's answer. The house was clean and filled with nicknacks. He guessed some would consider the house homey.

The living room was rather dim with the morning sun facing the other end of the house. Mae hadn't bothered to turn on any lights to make it easier for them, but as time passed, the room's coloring warmed into a soft amber as sunlight filtered through the thin curtains in front of him.

"Emiko wasn't like that." Mae said.

"We know you want to protect her as her best friend…." Kiri explained, but Mae cut him off as she stood up, her face livid and red as she glared down at them.

"I'm telling you she wasn't! She isn't like me, she was a good girl." Mae shouted.

Kirishima sat up straighter, his hands up as if to ward her anger off. They were pushing her too far past the line. If Emiko didn't go with Mae to these clubs, then it was possible they were grasping at straws here, but Katsuki couldn't shake the feeling that Mae was holding something back.

"I don't get where you two come off accusing my friend of being something she wasn't, but we're done here." Mae said.

They stood up without protest as Mae followed them out the door. Her body seemed to shake in place as she sniffled back the tears that had pooled at the corners of her eyes. But she was a strong girl. Katsuki had to give her credit. Mae cared for Emiko and whether his suspicions were true, her loyalty to her childhood friend stood firm. So as he went to step out the door, Katsuki turned to her with his business card. When she didn't take it right away, Katsuki grabbed her hand and placed it in her palm.

"All we want… is to make sure the right person pays for what they did to your friend. If you want the same thing, then call me any time and help us make sure he pays what he did." Katsuki said.

Mae said nothing or even looked up at him, but she curled her fingers around the card, bringing it close to her chest. That was all the confirmation he needed. She would call him. Maybe not now, but eventually she would. She loved Emiko too much to ignore him. With the closing of her door, the two of them left back to their office in silence.

When they walked through the doors, Aizawa was waiting for them at the entrance of his office. The grim look in his eyes didn't bode well for them and put Katsuki on high alert that whatever he was about to hear was going to most likely set him off.

"Bakugo, Kirishima! In my office." Aizawa called out.

The two detoured back around, never reaching their desks as they made their way into their boss's office. Katsuki noticed the other man in the room. Commissioner Yotsubashi greeted the two detectives with open arms and a congratulatory smile on his penguin like face. Dressed in a rather expensive looking suit, his hair slicked back, making his receding hairline all the more obvious.

Katsuki's neck hairs raised every time he crossed paths with this guy. He and Kirishima had come up with one word that described the Commissioner the best.

Slimy.

Katsuki's jaw clenched as he held back the look of disgust from reaching his face as he nodded towards the taller man.

"There's are two star heroes! I had to come and congratulate you both personally on a job well done capturing Emiko's killer and making our city safe again." The Commissioner said.

His words felt artificial as all hell to him. As much work as their department did, their city was anything but safe with crime at an all-time high in the last few years. Katsuki didn't say it, but he knew the other man didn't really care for facts.

"You two remember Commissioner Yotsubashi." Aizawa greeted.

Katsuki didn't respond, so Kirishima shook the other man's hand with one of his forced smiles as he returned the greeting.

"Hello sir, it's good to see you again." Kiri said.

Katsuki knew he would not like where this meeting led, so he didn't bother with niceties as he killed the elephant in the room.

"The case is still open."

Aizawa sighed as he leaned back against his desk as opposed to sitting in his office chair. He pinched the bridge of his nose, a familiar sign that hinted at resigned frustration.

"Yes….I heard you have been delaying the closing of the case. This is the other reason I came by. I've already informed your captain to close the case to move forward with the trial."

"Wait! I'm not done investigating. We still have more to do!" Katsuki grit his teeth as he turned to Aizawa. "We may have a lead with Emiko's friend Mae."

The Commissioner crossed his arms as he took the chance to consider Katsuki's words. "And what evidence do you suggest she could be involved?"

"We know that her best friend was known for her party life style and was a frequent buyer of pills. If Emiko followed her friend down that path, it's possible she could have gotten caught up in something more." Katsuki said.

The Commissioner scoffed, waving a hand as if to brush Katsuki's explanation away. "You're grasping at straws. There's nothing to suggest that Emiko was that type of reckless teen, and even if she was, there's nothing to tie that into her murder."

Katsuki's teeth clamped shut, his fists tightening. He knew that already, but having this guy voice Katsuki's own concerns felt like bile in the back of his throat. He wasn't sure that it would lead somewhere, but his instincts told him that this was the right path and he wanted to see it through before he accepted the narrative they were trying to sell.

The Commissioner walked up to Katsuki as he patted his shoulder. It felt like he was mocking him somehow. Katsuki's jaw hurt with the amount of force it took to keep his mouth shut at that moment.

"Bakugo, you're a bright man with a bright future in front of you. This case has been a great stepping stone for yourself and your partner and the people love you for taking down such a dangerous man. Let's not start building obstacles in your path. We're closing the case, understood?"

Katsuki opened his mouth, ready to pop off as his last thread of patience was about to snap when his boss stepped in.

"The case will be closed, sir." Aizawa said.

The Commissioner smirked as he looked down at Katsuki, satisfied. He gave one last pat to his shoulder before moving past him to do the same to Kirishima.

"I'm glad to hear it. Looking forward to watching your detectives very closely. I see great things in their future."

The Commissioner didn't stick around after that as he made his way out the door. The room was quiet as the tension grew between the two left behind while Kiri braced for the inevitable lash out.

Katsuki tried to use his therapist's breathing exercises to keep the boiling anger that was fighting to the surface, but if he was honest, he didn't feel like holding back. First, there was what happened between him and Izuku. And after that, the dead end with Mae. Now his case was stolen out from under him, so Katsuki mentally flipped his therapist the finger and gave into the anger that had been building for the last twenty-four hours.

"THIS IS FUCKING BULLSHIT AND YOU KNOW IT AIZAWA, WHO THE FUCK DOES THAT GUY THINK HE IS COMING IN AND BUTTING INTO MY CASE!?"

Kiri flinched back as he flopped back into the chair. He said nothing as Katsuki's rant continued, but Kiri was nodding in agreement, so he was content that his partner at least had his back on this one.

Aizawa let him go off until Katsuki was red in the face. He didn't even protest when Katsuki kicked the wooden chair across the room, the sound of wood impacting the far wall leaving a rather large size dent in the plaster. Katsuki had enough peace of mind not to trash his boss's desk, but he didn't hold back. Aizawa knew him enough to know that Katsuki was past his limits and that gave him the leeway to vent his frustrations, and he was milking the moment for all it was worth.

He continued for a good thirty minutes until it released everything out of him and until he left panting for breath panting, slouched against the wall. Aizawa, who hadn't moved from his spot against his desk, waited to make sure Katsuki finished before explaining.

"It's out of my hands. You need to let it go for now." Aizawa said.

His voice was raw, but Katsuki glared up at the older man.

"You can't be serious." Katsuki said.

"Look, I'm going to talk to Deputy Chief Sasaki and see if I can find out what's going on, but for now, you're officially done with this case." Aizawa ordered.

So they expected him to just drop everything, to just ignore what his gut was telling him and pretend like they weren't about to send the wrong man to prison while they allowed the actual killer out on the streets?

Katsuki stood up facing parallel to his boss before he stormed out of the office, the door swinging back to slam against the wall though the glass was sturdy enough that it didn't break.

Kirishima avoided the door swinging back into his face as he stayed hot on his trail.

Aizawa said nothing as they left.

"What are you going to do, Baku?" Kiri asked.

"What else can I do? Officially, I'm off the case, but the hell if they're going to dictate what I do off the clock."

Kiri grinned as he shook his head, amused. "You're so manly bro, maybe I should have given you a chance back in the day. We'd be such a power couple."

"Shut the fuck up with that shit already!"