Bakugo strolled sluggishly into class. He'd been up way too late last night sitting in Nakano's room, and now he had to pay the price. And part of that price apparently meant that he had really awful bags under his eyes. He also thought he felt a cold coming on. Lucky him. He dropped into his seat and yawned loudly. Damn that girl, making me stay up, how am I gonna get through class now?

As class was starting, he saw Kaminari lean across Jirou's desk towards him.

"Dude, what's up with your eyes? Did you not get enough of your beauty rest?" he whispered with a snicker. This shitty class has barely started yet, and I already want to leave. Bakugo decided to ignore the idiot for once because he was beyond exhausted and didn't really have the energy to react.

"Hey, so what happened last night?" Kaminari asked with a grin. He wiggled his eyebrows suggestively. He really is an idiot.

"Nothing happened, Dunceface," Bakugo replied. He crossed his arms, hoping that the dumbass would shut up.

"Are you sure~?" Kaminari asked. Jirou smacked him on the back of the head. Nice. I always knew she was cool. Well, not that cool, but respectable, I guess.

"Dude, shut up already, Mr. Aizawa is gonna notice if you keep talking," she said. Kaminari batted her hand away.

"You sure look tired," Kaminari said. Probably because I am. Will he stop talking already! I'm getting a headache. "Were you two up all night getting busy?" That's it. Bakugo stood up quickly. "I didn't think you'd pull the moves on her so fast-" He grabbed Kaminari by his collar. He could take some light teasing, but suggesting that he and Nakano had… It's like that Dunceface was asking to have his ass beaten.

"Shut the fuck up, dumbass, I said nothing happened!" Bakugo yelled. He was seething with anger. He stared down at Kaminari's shocked face. The sound of his panting was the only thing that filled the room. Everyone sat in silence, and it felt as if time had stopped. Then, Mr. Aizawa snapped his folder shut, breaking the moment. Oh, fuck.

"Since you all think it's fine to just disrupt my class," Mr. Aizawa said slowly. "I guess this is where we're going to stop for now. Everyone, go get changed. We're doing training now." Bakugo let go of Kaminari and followed the rest of the class as they left the classroom.

"Mr. Aizawa, what are we gonna do instead of class?" Ashido asked. Training, duh. "We still have four hours left of morning classes!" Bakugo looked over to her, where she was walking next to Mr. Aizawa. She was clinging to Nakano's arm again. How does Nakano not look tired at all? She probably stayed up longer than me! What did I do to deserve this injustice?

"Well, since this is very sudden, I'm going to make you all run a bit," Mr. Aizawa said. That doesn't sound that bad. I can do that. I'll be the first one to finish! My explosions will push me past all the other losers in here!

"How far do you plan to make us run?" Asui asked. Mr. Aizawa thought for a bit, then grinned.

"Five kilometers." Oh. That's… a bit far. Will my quirk last long enough to go that far? Wait, why am I doubting myself? This is me we're talking about; of course, I can do it. Why wouldn't I be able to?

"And," Mr. Aizawa said. "You have to do it without using your quirks."

Well, that changes things. I can totally still do it though. Even if I am really fucking tired, I'm still going to beat everyone in this class!


Ew, running. Kuri frowned at the prospect, although it was soon to become her reality. She'd never liked running long distances. What was the point if she could just jump that same distance, with less effort? And yet, she'd been forced to run throughout her life, since it was "good cardio" and "endurance training". It's not like she was necessarily bad at running or anything, she was pretty much average after all, but it was that she thought it was stupid. There were other ways to do cardio, anyway.

The rest of the students didn't look too excited either, well, besides Iida. He looked like this was the best possible thing they could be doing. I mean, what would you expect from someone with a running-related quirk? Even if they couldn't use their quirks, Kuri bet that Iida would still be ahead of everyone else.

They all changed into their PE clothes, and Mr. Aizawa showed them where the start and the finish line were. They were to run the perimeter of the school since it was roughly five kilometers. Kuri looked at what she could see of the path they were going to run. Most of it was in places that Mr. Aizawa couldn't watch, like in the forest that surrounded the school.

Maybe I could cheat? I really don't want to actually run for the whole thing. I'm way too tired today. Yeah, that's my excuse: I only had two hours of sleep last night, so I don't want to actually try today.

Her natural running already was kind of bouncy, and she could boost her strides by leaping subtly. As long as Mr. Aizawa wasn't using his quirk on them (Kuri herself had experienced the effects of his quirk firsthand when she was bouncing down the stairwell, and he caused her to nearly fall on her face. She really shouldn't have been jumping on the stairs, but what the heck, Aizawa!), she'd be able to do it. And plus, once she got to the tree-covered area, she'd be able to jump to her heart's content as long as no one else was around. I guess that means all I have to do is get past everyone else. Well, except for Iida, probably, but you get the idea.


Bakugo bounced on his toes, casting a glance to Nakano, who was fiddling with some weird bandage thing that she was wearing on her left forearm. He was totally going to get back at her for making him stay up late by being the first one to finish! Wait, Iida… Whatever, I'll finish before her.

Mr. Aizawa told them to start, and everyone started jogging. Iida was immediately ahead of everyone, and Nakano wasn't far behind him. How is she even running that fast? She's so short! Bakugo was pretty close to her and noticed that the way she ran almost looked like she was just jumping repeatedly, but he guessed it was just because her quirk had conditioned her body to be bouncy like that. Tch, it figures that she'd be a good runner.

As Nakano continued to pull ahead of the rest of the class (Iida had already sped off way beyond them at that point), Bakugo struggled to keep up. I'm not struggling! Shut up! He was exhausted from staying up the night before, since he'd usually go to bed very early, like at 8 o'clock, because he's a nerd. You're a nerd!

Anyways, Nakano had gotten so far ahead of him and the others, that she had reached the edge of the forest much before them. Seeing this, Bakugo feared that he wouldn't be able to beat Nakano if he lost sight of her at that point, and sprinted after her.

As he bolted down the path lined with trees, he wondered just how far she could've gone. She hadn't been going that fast originally, so he should've caught up to her by that point. He turned a corner and saw Nakano, mid-leap, flying through the air. He froze. But Mr. Aizawa said no quirks…

"Hey!" he shouted. She jolted and stumbled as she landed, then turned her head to look at him. "Were you cheating?" he asked, even though it was totally obvious.

Nakano smiled awkwardly. "Um… Maybe?" She turned back around and started jogging. "I'm sorry, I'll run normally now."

What is up with her, cheating at a hero school?! And she's new too. Is she just trying to test Mr. Aizawa's patience or something? Well, technically he isn't watching, as far as we know. He ran up to be beside her.

"Why would you cheat? Aren't you trying to be a hero?" he accused. She opened her mouth like she was going to give a valid reason, then smirked.

"Why'd you try to fight me the other day, aren't you supposed to be a hero?" she said. Bakugo scowled at her. She had him there. "But if you want the real reason why I was cheating, it's that I only got two hours of sleep last night, so I really just want to get this over with. Plus, I just don't like running."

"Well, then that makes me better than you, since I also didn't get enough sleep, but I'm not cheating," he said. Nakano scoffed and Bakugo frowned.

"If you cheated, everyone would hear you. Explosions are loud. But I guess you could just cut through the forest… Also, you went to bed earlier than me, so it's not fair. You do look much more tired than me though." She giggled, and Bakugo looked away. The bags under his eyes really were terrible looking. He still didn't understand how she'd slept even less than him, and she looked perfectly fine. Americans are scary.

"Shut up," he said, for lack of a better comeback. He was seriously sleepy though. He felt his pace start to slow. It was probably the aftereffect of all that sprinting he'd done to get there. He noticed Nakano look over at him.

"Hey, Bakugo, I have a fun idea," she said. That didn't sound good. It'd probably be something stupid, and it'd probably just make him want to kick her ass even more. He'd been so tired that he'd almost forgotten that he still needed to get back at her for making him stay up so late.

"What is it, dumbass?" he asked. Nakano's grin broadened.

"Want me to help you cheat, just once, for fun?" she asked. Is this girl insane?

"God, what do you think? No, of course not!" he shouted. Nakano wilted a bit but shrugged.

"Suit yourself, I guess," she said. Why would she even suggest helping him cheat? That didn't even make sense? Was it some sort of plot to get him in trouble? He didn't even understand how she would even help him cheat. And now that he was intrigued, he couldn't help but find out.

"How would you even do it?" he asked. She looked up and smiled mischievously. Ah, fuck.

"Like this," she said. She quickly linked her arm with his, as just as he was about to protest, she jumped forward, pulling him along with her into the air. It wasn't much different from when he used his explosions to propel himself into the air, except this time, he wasn't able to control where he was going, since Nakano was pretty much dragging him.

She landed them softly on the ground and Bakugo looked back, realizing that they'd only gone about 7 meters forward. Not very impressive.

"Can't you do any better?" he asked. Kuri huffed.

"You're too heavy for me to jump far without going high up too. If I wanted to go further, I'd have to go above the trees, and then Mr. Aizawa would probably see us. I'll do it some other time," she said and continued running. He followed after her.

She's probably lying about the "I can't jump far with you unless I jump high". And those numbers she said on her first day about how far and high she could go were probably bluffs. I bet that she can barely go higher than the second floor of a building. Even at the peak of the jump, they'd been only about 2 meters above the ground. She sure had a lot to prove. She still lived up to her hero name though. It wasn't like bunnies were that remarkable.

"You really are like a bunny, Bunny," he said in a mocking tone. He left out the part about her being pathetic. She hadn't done much to him yet, but he really needed to observe her more before he really taunted her. He might end up starting their fight prematurely.

"Why do you call me Bunny? I get that you're probably just using that name to mock me or something, but you can just call me Nakano if you really don't want to call me Kuri," she said. Bakugo pretended to think about it as they ran. It's not like she'd be able to change his mind just like that. Once he'd nicknamed someone, that was their name for life. Unless he came up with something better.

"I'd rather call you Bunny. It's funnier." She rolled her eyes.

"Now that I think about it," she said. "It kind of sounds like a pet name, like what couples call each other," Kuri said with a laugh. Oh wait, she's kind of right… Maybe I should rethink this. I don't want some damn extra getting the wrong idea and thinking that I'd date someone like her. "So would that make you just call me by my real name now, please?" she begged. Oh, she's just trying to trick me.

Bakugo smirked. "If you just go and say that you don't want me to call you Bunny, then it's just gonna make me want to call you by that name even more. So, no."

Nakano kind of pouted, but a smile sneaked onto her face. Bakugo almost thought she was cute. Wait, cute? Not this again! How could I like a pathetic, annoying liar! Ugh, I need to sleep, because this tiredness is obviously turning me insane!

He quickly turned away, and they kept running. They'd been running for about twelve minutes when Bakugo finally remembered that he'd come here to pass her and finish first. Fuck, I really am tired. Now I'm forgetting things! I really gotta go now. The end is coming up soon.

As he was trying to pull ahead of her, she grabbed onto the back of his shirt and tugged.

"Hey, I just came up with an idea of how to make the nicknaming thing fair!" she said. He tried to pull away, but she wasn't letting go. Whatever, I guess it won't hurt to talk to her for a bit longer. I'll still be able to get past her in the end. All I have to do is hear her talk for a bit longer.

"Yeah? What is it, Bunny?" he asked. He was too tired for this and already regretted his decision to stay as soon as he'd made it.

"I'll just call you something else besides Bakugo! Do you have any suggestions before I make my final decision?" she asked. Bakugo smirked. This was the perfect chance to get at least one person to use that name.

"Lord Explosion Murder." Nakano stared at him for a second before dissolving into laughter. Bakugo tensed up. What was so funny about it? She kept laughing, then noticed Bakugo's serious expression and stopped.

"Wait, you weren't kidding?" she asked. He shook his head, still frowning. "Sorry, it's just that the name sounds like the kind of thing that an elementary school bully would make all his friends call him." Nakano continued to laugh a bit, and at that moment, Bakugo was very glad that she wasn't correct, and that he'd never done that. Well, as far as he could remember. Still, he scowled at her.

"No, it sounds cool!" Bakugo exclaimed. "Those damn teachers were idiots for not letting me make it my hero name…" Nakano's laughing had dwindled down to just giggling at that point, but her laughing increased again at his statement. She was really starting to piss him off a bit.

"So that's why you have no hero name? That's so funny. Couldn't you have come up with better? Like... Explosion Boy, or Bomb, or something?" she said.

"Shut up, Bunny." Although Bakugo couldn't stand the fact that she was laughing at him, he couldn't get over the initial shock of her laughing in the first place. She can really laugh. I never would've thought she could laugh her head off like this. She's been so quiet in class and with everyone else. Maybe she's trying to throw me off?

When she finally quit laughing, she spoke again.

"How about you let me call you Katsuki, that's your first name right?" she said. Seriously? First names already? Slow down, we only met a couple days ago. He was pretty sure that not even his classmates called him Katsuki, and they'd known him for months. The only exception was Deku, who still insisted on calling him Kacchan.

"No way," he said. There was no way he'd let her use his first name. First of all, he didn't like her. And second of all, they'd literally met just two days ago. It'd take at least a couple more months before he even considered letting her call him Katsuki. His rejection didn't seem to deter her though.

"Well, I'll get you to let me call you Katsuki someday. For now, I guess I'll stick to calling you Bakugo," she said. Finally, she gave up. Sort of.

At that moment, they emerged from the forest, and ahead of them, they could see Iida and Mr. Aizawa standing at the finish line. They only had about 200 meters to go, and Bakugo was determined to use this last stretch to win.

"Let's race," Nakano said. He grinned. Finally, something they could agree on.

"You're on," he said.

They both took off, sprinting to the end. They were neck and neck, and unfortunately for Bakugo, they tied.

"Damn it!" Bakugo shouted. Nakano laughed.

"Wow, you were really fast!" she said. "It was kind of hard to keep up with you. I guess I was just too tired." Bakugo beamed with pride. Hell yeah, he was fast. Who did she think he was? But still, he hadn't won, but he'd get a rematch some other day. Hopefully on a day when he wasn't so sleepy.


After Kuri had recovered from the initial shock of sprinting, she turned to talk to Bakugo again. It'd been more fun than she expected to chat with him while they were running, especially since he'd been so grouchy the night before. She saw that he'd walked away to sit in the shade. He looked like he didn't want to be bothered.

She sighed. He sure was interesting. He seemed like he was a bit isolated because he was so rough with everyone all the time. But, Kuri had noticed that Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Midoriya would talk to him a lot. Mina too sometimes, at least when she wasn't with Kuri. It was good to know that he had friends at least. Wait, why am I suddenly so invested in his friendships? Kuri shook her thoughts away, diverting her attention to some of her classmates who were finally making their way to the end.

Kuri was starting to feel bad about cheating. She bet that none of her classmates had cheated. Why would they? And the whole reason why they ran was sort of tied to her. If she had just done her work faster, then Bakugo wouldn't have gone to sleep late, and he wouldn't have looked tired, so Kaminari wouldn't have provoked him this morning. She still didn't want to come clean, so she just whispered an apology into the air. That was probably good enough, right?

She saw Mina finish the run, so she ran over to talk to her. Mina was leaning over with her hands resting on her knees, catching her breath.

"Hey, Mina," Kuri said. "Do you want to get some water?" Mina looked up and smiled.

"Yeah, sure! Let's go," she said. Kuri expected her to hold onto her arm like usual, but instead, Mina planted a hand on Kuri's shoulder. "Haha, sorry, I'm still a bit tired. You sure got done fast! You must be really good at running!"

Kuri twitched. The guilt of cheating was piling on. She'd never been much of a secret keeper, but she really hoped that for once she could just keep her mouth shut.

"Oh, by the way," Mina said. "What was all that laughing about? When we were running, I thought I heard this laughing in the distance, and it sounded like you. Was it?" Oh, she must have heard me laughing at Bakugo's silly nickname suggestion. She almost laughed while remembering it.

"Yeah, it was probably me that you heard," Kuri said. "I was just talking to Bakugo as I ran, and we were talking about nicknames and-" Kuri stopped. Mina's jaw had dropped so low, she was surprised that it hadn't fallen out of her skull. "What is it?" She wasn't sure why she was so surprised. Maybe Bakugo talking to her was a miracle of some sort. It wasn't like she could tell. She'd only known the guy for two days.

"He seriously… just like… ran with you… and talked to you… and you both laughed… and had a fun time?" Mina asked. "To think that all it'd take to get him to warm up to people was one nice girl…" she whispered. Mina had said that part so quietly that Kuri almost didn't hear it, so she decided to disregard it.

"Well, he technically didn't laugh. It was just me. Laughing at his rejected hero name," Kuri said. Mina's eyes were practically popping out of the sockets.

"You LAUGHED AT HIM and he DIDN'T MURDER YOU!" Mina shouted. Kuri just blinked at her.

"I mean, he told me to shut up. Maybe he got over what I said on the first day. I guess that apology was useful. I wonder if he's forgiven me for last night yet…" Kuri said. Mina forcefully grabbed Kuri by the shoulders.

"Tell. Me. EVERYTHING!" she exclaimed. Kuri beamed. They were finally getting close enough to talk about guys. Well, it was just Bakugo. And they'd technically talked about crushes already… Whatever, this is different since it's just one-on-one.

So Kuri told her about everything that happened the night before, and what they'd talked about during the run, though she left out the part about the cheating. It took Kuri so long to tell the whole story, that their conversation carried all the way through the rest of class to the end of lunch. It wasn't like there was much to tell about, it was just that Kuri had too much to say. Including things that weren't even related to the original story.

Afterward, Mina sat in thought for a bit, and Kuri just sat and ate her food. Then, it was as if a light went on in her head, and their conversation drifted to other things. The rest of the school day passed, and before they knew it, it was time to go back to the dorms.