The background chatter of the cafeteria faded out as Ochako became engrossed in the conversation at her table. She and her friends—Izuku, Mina, Kirishima, Iida, and Tsu—sat at their usual spot and chatted about their internship offers. As it turned out, Iida, Mina, Kirishima, and Tsu hadn't gotten a lot of offers, but had mostly already locked in their choices for where they were going come Monday. It was only a day after they'd gotten their requests, and they'd already figured out who they wanted to intern with? Ochako had expected that from Iida, since he always did everything at top speed, and from Tsu, since she seemed to always know exactly what it was she wanted to do, but that was seriously impressive from Mina and Kirishima, and she told them so.
"Yeah, I guess so. I see it more like my options are limited, so it's easier to choose from that smaller pool, y'know?" Kirishima said, poking at his lunch lamely.
"Stop moping!" Mina said. She punched his shoulder as lightly as a gust of wind. "You did great against Mineta!"
"It was Mineta, though," Kirishima groaned as he slumped in his seat. "When I got the chance to face someone on my level or stronger, Tokoyami completely destroyed me. I've gotta get stronger. That's why I'm going to Death Arms. He's strong, so he can make me stronger."
"It isn't all about strength, right?" Izuku chimed in. "You've got a shield and a spear. How about you add in a rope, or a gun? It doesn't matter what the specifics are—it was a bad analogy. You've got two awesome tools in your kit already, so why not branch out? Go with Death Arms if you want, but being a hero isn't all about fighting. That's why I have my pick ready to go."
"Oh, you chose?" Ochako asked. She perked up and turned toward him with a smile. "Who'd you pick?" That last she'd heard about it, he was stumped, so this was great news!
"Thirteen," Izuku said with a grin.
The table was silent. Ochako frowned, and felt her shoulders tense before she forced herself to relax. Iida had been silent so far, which was unlike him, but he looked at Izuku strangely before looking away again. Everyone had seen what went down between Izuku and Thirteen at the USJ, and hadn't been eager to mention it. Ochako, of course, knew the real details—what had been going on in his head and the words they'd exchanged that no one else had heard. Girlfriends had power. Because she knew Iida would take her head off for it, Ochako settled for putting her hand on Izuku's under the table where their class rep couldn't see. The fabric of his gloves was a little coarse, but she could deal with it. She wondered what was motivating Izuku's choice. He hadn't brought this up to her before now, so she didn't know what he was thinking. She did know him, though, and had a few guesses. Was he trying to apologise to Thirteen for what had happened? Was he trying to make it up to himself? Was he trying to prove that he wasn't just a fighter by interning with a rescue-focused hero? There were many possibilities, but Ochako didn't know. That worried her. What was he thinking?
"That's great!" Ochako said. She voiced none of her questions.
"Thanks," Izuku said, smiling down at her like he couldn't sense her worries.
"Where are you going for your internship, Mina?" Ochako asked.
"Uwabami!" Mina pumped her fist in the air. Ochako couldn't help but smile at that level of enthusiasm. "The email I got last night said my 'fierce determination, colourful personality and vibrant aesthetic' is what caught her attention."
"Wow, awesome!" Kirishima said. Was he blushing? "She's super famous. Congrats!"
"Yep, that's me! When I come back from my internship, I'll have a dedicated fandom already," Mina said with a grin.
"Literal nightmare," Izuku mumbled, which got a laugh out of Ochako.
"What about you, Tsu?" Mina asked.
"Well, I wanted to go somewhere with a lot of water, so I accepted a place at Selkie's agency," Tsu said.
"The Sea Rescue Hero? You'll fit right in!" Kirishima said with a laugh.
"That's what I hope. I didn't exactly do very well in the festival either, though, so I didn't have a lot of say in where I went, either," Tsu croaked sadly. Ochako felt a strange protectiveness over Tsu. Someone so adorable should never have a reason to frown.
"Hey, it's okay! It doesn't really matter where you go, does it? It's what you make of the experience that counts, right?" Ochako said, putting a hand on Tsu's shoulder. She left her pinky finger hovering in the air, as always.
Tsu nodded and ribbitted. "What about you, Ochako?"
She hesitated. For just a moment, she hesitated, and considered saying that she hadn't decided yet. Ochako knew, she knew that if she told the truth that people like Kirishima and Mina would make a big deal of it. It didn't have to be a big deal. She wasn't a liar, though, and sighed as she concluded that she would have to tell them sooner or later.
"I'm going with All Might," Ochako said, and winced.
As predicted, Mina and Kirishima began throwing questions at her. How? Why? I thought you wanted to be a rescue hero? Tsu looked up at her with those wide, intelligent eyes of hers and seemed to come to her own conclusion, and Iida looked over at Ochako with the barest flicker of interest, but didn't say anything. Okay, that was weird. Izuku met her eyes and nodded, smiling faintly like he was in on a secret nobody else knew—because he was. Ochako took a deep breath, calmed all the nerves in her body, and gripped Izuku's hand under the table like her life depended on it. He squeezed back the faintest bit, and it did help/ She recalled the conversation she had had with All Might after classes yesterday, just the two of them.
"I'll gladly take you on for the week. It's why I put my name on the list, after all," All Might said with a grin.
"Thank you!" Ochako almost yelled from excitement. "You won't regret this—the internship or passing your Quirk to me!"
"I feel that I've made a very good choice indeed. Speaking of, I spent some time yesterday crunching the numbers, and I've got a pretty good estimate of where you're at regarding my power. I think that another three or four months of training at your current pace would have you safely containing One for All, but we don't want you to merely contain it," All Might said. At the bewildered look that was surely on Ochako's face, his smile widened. "No, we want you to wield it."
"Oh. Right," Ochako said sheepishly.
"Another six months is what I think it would take at your current pace for you to wield my One for All without your limbs blowing off the second you actually use my power. That's good, faster than I would've thought for a first year, but that's just at your current pace," All Might explained. Ochako felt queasy all of a sudden, both at the idea of her limbs exploding and at increasing her training. She'd thought the leadup to the festival had been bad. "So, we're going to accelerate your training schedule. I want to give you my One for All during your summer break, so you can experiment and get to know the power before you start using it during your classes. Does that sound okay?"
"Of course! Whatever you think I have to do to be worthy of this gift, I'll do it. I'll already be working twice as hard as everyone else just to master two whole Quirks, right? Pedal to the metal, y'know?" Ochako said.
"You're already worthy of my power, Young Uraraka. Now, you just need your body to catch up to your spirit. I like your moxie, though! We'll use the week of internships to get you started, and hopefully by the end of the term, you'll be ready for greater things."
"I suppose All Might liked what I was doing at the sports festival. I didn't succeed or anything, but … I made an impact. In more ways than one, I guess," Ochako said, forcing her voice to be steady.
The conversation quickly moved on, which Ochako was glad for. She wasn't used to being the centre of attention, so wasn't super comfortable with a lot of people focusing on her at once. She had barely been able to keep her cool by focusing on Todoroki during the festival. Plus, Ochako had some doubts, despite what she'd told All Might. She now knew that All Might's power was one that had been built up over eight different users, starting at the very beginning of the era of Quirks they lived in. Could Ochako, even with years of training, contain that power?
When she found out that Izuku had been All Might's first choice, she'd thought that made sense—he was athletic and just generally way more fit than Ochako was. Despite her training for and at UA, she was still kinda flabby, and even if Izuku didn't want it, there were loads of people more physically suitable than her. Mina was probably the most acrobatic person in class, Yaoyorozu was tall and powerful, and Kirishima with his Hardening power was likely the toughest. Shoji was a brick wall and Todoroki had been conditioned for heroics by his father for a decade. They were all infinitely more physically fit than her, so could they make use of All Might's power better than her? Could training even get her to the point they all started at? Ochako knew it wasn't good to think about that, but looking at herself and then looking at everyone else, there was a difference, and she'd be silly to lie to herself about that. Could the gap be closed? She had no idea, but she was willing to try, even if there was a part of her mind—the part she tried not to listen to, that pointed out how fit and powerful and beautiful all the other girls in her class were—that whispered doubts into her ear at all the wrong times. She could ignore it. She'd been doing it since middle school, so she had a lot of practice. Ochako zoned back into the conversation as Iida spoke for the first time all day, it seemed.
"I will be interning with Manual, the Normal Hero, in Hosu," Iida said, his tone flat.
A tension clutched everyone at the table. How silly was Ochako to worry about her own insecurities when one of her friends was dealing with something horrible? Hosu, the place where Ingenium, Iida's older brother Tensei, had been crippled for life according to the news. Hosu, where there were reports of a villain the news called the Hero Killer, a villain who exclusively targeted and killed heroes. It was stupid to ignore that Iida must have been suffering in silence this whole time. Now he was going to the place where his brother had been attacked? That didn't spell out anything good to Ochako. Given the look on his face, that same determined focus that washed over him every time he fought, Izuku thought the same thing.
Izuku stared across at Iida, and Iida glared right back, though neither said anything. It looked like Izuku had been about to open his mouth, but the bell that ended their lunch period rang out, and stopped him from saying what he'd been planning to. Iida immediately stood and walked away, leaving everyone at the table shocked to silence. Ochako looked over at Tsu, but it didn't look like she knew anything either. Mina and Kirishima quietly asked if one of them should go and try to talk to him, but none of them had any idea about what they could even say to Iida. He clearly didn't want to talk about it, given his hasty exit.
The whole way back to the classroom, and throughout foundational heroics, Izuku had a strange look on his face, like he was thinking about something really hard. Ochako got the feeling that he was gearing up for something, hyping himself up, and hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid or reckless. Then again, it was part of why she liked him so much that he was willing to do stupid, reckless things if it meant someone benefitted. In that case, she hoped he wouldn't scare Iida away. She thought he could use a rock. Maybe Izuku could be that rock, but only time would tell. Ochako hoped it wouldn't take violence to get through to Iida like it did for Todoroki, but she knew boys. They only wanted to talk things out after it had escalated beyond their control. Again, only time would tell.
He hadn't wanted to make a scene in front of everyone. Izuku knew how embarrassing and humiliating it could be to have your pain brought up and called out in front of all the people you wanted to respect you. It would just push Iida further away, and then Izuku wouldn't be able to help him. So, Izuku waited. He waited through lunch, he waited through their afternoon practical heroics lessons, and he waited through the period they were given at the end of the day to freshen up before heading home. Izuku waited until the very last minute, until he was sure there was minimal risk of someone overhearing anything sensitive. He waited until they were both retrieving their things from their lockers before heading home, and while he waited for the area to clear out, Izuku thought about what he would even say to Iida. It was hard to share his feelings, since he'd never had a brother, only his mom, and she'd never actually been hurt. Nearly, sure, but everything had turned out fine with Bakugo's attack earlier in the week, so he couldn't really understand where Iida was coming from. Izuku had a bad idea in his head, though, and he needed to see if he was right before acting. He wasn't going to do anything reckless anymore, he was going to think things through and behave logically.
"Hey, Iida," he called out, just as the boy was about to leave. It was just the two of them in the locker room now. "Can I ask you something?" Izuku tried his best to put on a casual tone, but wasn't sure how convincing it was.
Iida had his back to Izuku, as he had been about to turn into the hall and take his leave when Izuku had spoken. He stopped in his tracks, turned, and looked Izuku right in the eye, his intense stare the same as it had been back during lunch. His face was totally relaxed, but his eyes burned with anger and despair pointed through Izuku, not at him. It was a face he thought he would've seen if he'd looked in a mirror just a few weeks ago. Iida didn't speak for a moment, seemingly assessing how he wanted to answer, and then something seemed to click in his head.
"Of course. The class representative is always willing to answer the question of a classmate. Ask away," Iida said. He didn't smile as he replied to Izuku, as he normally did with all his classmates, and he sounded tired, like he hadn't been sleeping well.
"Why Hosu?" Izuku asked. When he saw Iida's eyes narrow and his whole body subtly tense, he knew he was on the right—or wrong—track. "Not to question your judgement, but Tokyo seems a little far for an internship."
"Nonsense. It's a few hours by train," Iida immediately replied.
"Ah, right. Oh, isn't that where your brother works, too?" Izuku felt bad for bringing it up, especially with the wording he used, but he needed to know. He needed to know his fears were correct before jumping to conclusions.
"Y-Yes. That's right. He did work in Hosu, before the accident," Iida said. Izuku caught the waver in his voice, and hoped he was getting close to something.
"Accident?" Come on, take the bait. "I thought it was an att—"
"Midoriya," Iida said suddenly, stunning Izuku to silence. Iida's intense eyes locked onto Izuku's, and they both fell silent. The two of them almost had a conversation that way. Izuku thought the micro-expressions that flashed across their faces in the few moments of calm quiet could've told a whole story by themselves. "What are you getting at?"
"I just want to know something. Why are you going to Hosu?" Izuku asked.
"Manual offered me a place at his side for the week. He's a respectable hero whom I could learn a lot from," Iida said in the same flat, hollow voice. He was still insisting on that excuse?
"I would've thought the heir to the Ingenium agency would've gotten offers from heroes a lot more respectable than the Normal Hero, ranked the charts," Izuku said with a laugh, a real one. He didn't think much of Manual, except that he really was the best example of a normal hero.
"Some would take that as an insult, especially a new addition to his agency," Iida said in something like a warning.
"If you're insulted by your own achievements, you deserve to be," Izuku said. He was getting heated, and that was bad for what he was hoping to do here. Taking a deep breath, Izuku calmed the fire that had begun to blossom in his chest. "Are you sure you're not going to Hosu because that's where your brother was attacked? What, are you hoping that you'll find the guy who did it?"
Iida scowled, and suddenly he didn't seem so willing to entertain Izuku's questions anymore.
"Manual is a good man. I'm honoured to get to learn from such a social, community-focused paragon," Iida said with a shake in his voice. Izuku realised abruptly that he wasn't the only one getting angry.
"If that's the real reason, that's all well and good—but that look on your face doesn't match what you're saying, so I think you're lying to me," Izuku said. "Are you looking for revenge, or just closure? I don't think you'll find either if you go looking for the Hero Killer."
"Midoriya!"
Izuku hated how he flinched. Iida was a loud person, but as long as Izuku had known him, he'd never yelled at another student in anger. The shout reverberated around the locker room, and Izuku was stunned. He couldn't find his voice, no matter how much he tried to speak. Maybe it was the uncharacteristic anger, or maybe it was Iida's size as he fully turned to face Izuku and a stray thought recognised for the first time that Iida could be scary as he loomed over the smaller of the two of them. Either way, Izuku had no words. He simply stood still and processed what he saw in Iida at that moment. Iida's whole face tightened in anger. It was almost the same as Todoroki in the sports festival, like his eyes were glowing from raw defiance. Iida glared at Izuku across the locker room, and scowled even more intensely.
There was something hidden deep beneath that look on his face, like the anger he was expressing toward Izuku was just a drop in the ocean compared to what he was truly feeling. For all that that stoked something in Izuku, frustration and tedium pushing on his big red button, the most he could bring himself to feel was pity and regret. Did he think he couldn't express his feelings among friends? Were they friends, then? Was Izuku wasting his time? Was Iida too deep in the rage and hurt that he couldn't see that Izuku was trying to help him? Or was he fully aware of what was happening, but didn't care? The answers to those questions didn't really matter. He remembered something, from back during the sports festival, but he didn't know if it was something that he or Ochako had said about Todoroki or if his mind had come up with it afterward to sum it up. Either way, it felt relevant. You can't help someone who doesn't want to be helped. That doesn't mean you don't still try. It still hurt to get rejected, though. That would never change.
"Yeah?" Izuku asked. He hoped Iida would elaborate upon his anger, feel safe to express himself with someone who he—hopefully—called a friend, so he couldn't help the expectant lean to his voice.
Suddenly, though, it looked like all the energy and passion—both positive and negative—was drained out of Iida's body all at once. His posture didn't change, it was perfect as always, but the tension that had gripped him since Izuku had started their conversation left him, and his harsh glare turned into a vacant, unseeing gaze. He made eye contact with Izuku one final time, and there was one thing in there. There was no fight or hatred or rage in his eyes, no fire in his soul to stoke when he lost the will to keep arguing. There was just despair, grief for his brother's able body and career. Izuku felt that despair wash over him like a wave of sorrow, and barely kept himself from audibly reacting to that sadness. Iida sighed, and it felt like a release of something that Izuku couldn't name.
"I am going to Hosu in order to study Manual's ways of communication and community service. That is all."
"That's all? Are you sure?" Izuku said as a lump formed in his throat. This felt like a failure, even though he'd done everything he could. "You can talk to me. It doesn't even have to be me, if that's what's keeping you from sharing your feelings. It could be Ochako, or Asui, or Kirishima, or Ashido. We're your friends, right? We help each other. So let us help you!"
Iida looked at Izuku with such regret that it had him considering the reality he thought he'd known, the reality where Iida called him a good friend. Izuku wondered if Iida thought of any of them as his friends, and suddenly his face was getting hot. He was angry, but not for himself—all the others were being lied to, if that was the case. Had Iida ever told the truth? Did he even like any of them? Did Tenya Iida even take pride in being their class rep? His whole identity, the Iida they all knew, could've been a lie the whole time and they wouldn't have known it! Izuku knew those were irrational thoughts, but if Iida could be irrational, so could he. He watched as Iida geared up to say something in reply to his desperate plea, but his expression became even flatter, even emptier, somehow.
"I'm sorry, Midoriya. This is just something I have to do on my own."
And then he walked away, leaving Izuku silently processing in the locker room. There was no way for him to know, but Iida's last words before walking off had sounded awfully final. Just what was he planning to do in Hosu? If he was really planning to look for the villain who'd injured his brother, then he was planning a suicide mission. The Hero Killer was just that, having killed seventeen pro heroes, and he'd injured another twenty-four so badly they never worked again. What was Iida thinking? That he'd take on the deadliest serial killer in living memory and win? Or was he just wanting to be around as a deterrent, to show the Hero Killer that even if he kills heroes, more will rise up to take their place and avenge their deaths? Izuku had a hard time believing that one. Few heroes could truly be called a deterrent, and Iida was not among them. He was a first year hero student!
Izuku didn't know what to do. He didn't have any clue what Iida was trying to do, so could he really go to one of their teachers and say 'Hey, this guy seems kinda sketchy, right?' Just having a gut instinct wouldn't be good enough. Iida hadn't said anything to implicate himself in something bad. It was just a feeling, and that was nothing! He'd surely be waved off if he went to the teachers talking about how he got bad vibes and specifically wanted Iida, a promising hero student, to be barred from participating in a class-wide program. He'd look crazy! He wouldn't be able to explain to the teachers. So he'd failed. He hoped Iida wasn't about to do something so monumentally stupid as what he feared, but he'd tried and wasn't able to do anything. It was in Iida's hands now. It was up to him to make the right decision. Izuku hoped he would.
Something about the dread pooling in his gut as he made his way home that afternoon told him that nothing had ended concerning Iida, and that the worst was yet to come.
These guys were weird and bizarre. What was the deal with this All for One geezer anyway? Was he two people? Was he one person with a split identity? He sometimes called himself things like Tenko and Tomura, but most of the time he was All for One. It made no sense, and there was no pattern to when the two differing voices coming out of his mouth would override the other, so Katsuki felt like he was in the middle of a minefield every time the guy appeared in the bar. It didn't help that All for One was the only person who came and went. Katsuki only had the fog guy, apparently named Kurogiri, to talk to, and he wasn't exactly a thrilling conversationalist. His Quirk wasn't bad, though—the ability to create portals out of that purple smog that hung around his head and hands. Katsuki was fast, but Kurogiri could be on the other side of the world in an instant. That demanded a little bit of respect, even if they only used his power as a glorified taxi. It did answer the question of how he'd gotten there in the first place, though—through one of Misty's warp gates.
After Katsuki had agreed to keep going after Deku, something he was going to do anyway, Misty actually listened to him and facilitated a training routine. Deku had been distracted during their last fight at his apartment, so that meant the villain was holding back. A victory against that pathetic bullshit wouldn't be a real win. He needed to show the world once and for all that he was decidedly better than Deku when they were both at their best. Otherwise, the bastard would die as a martyr or something and his sick brainwashing on the teachers at UA wouldn't break. They'd see him as merciful, or kind or some crap. He'd never get his rightful place back. That was why he needed to train, because despite how much it made his skin crawl to admit it, both in Katsuki's experience and judging from the broadcast of the sports festival at UA, he'd come to one conclusion: Deku was strong. Not more physically powerful than Katsuki, of course, but the guy was slippery, and his Quirk was a cheat code to win any fight instantly. It was a wonder he'd managed to contain that urge for the whole festival, but Katsuki knew what that power could do; he'd watched it with his own eyes when he was six years old. The image of warm, sticky blood dripping from Deku's grinning face as he stood in the middle of the pile of their obliterated classmates would never leave his mind. It was all he could see when he looked at the liar's face.
Katsuki's training was simple. Every day of the first week or so, Misty warped him to one of All for One's many properties out in the countryside, so the noise didn't bring the cops knocking on the door asking about what he was doing there. Then, he'd go to town on the guys that showed up after him. Misty and All for One were apparently owed favours by a lot of people, but Katsuki didn't care about who they were or what they owed anyone. They put up a good fight, and that was that. One time it was a guy who formed crystals out of his body, but Katsuki's explosions could penetrate through that armour. Another time, it was a guy with pink skin and freakishly mutated shoulder muscles. Katsuki had a tough time with him, because his stupidly strong shoulders acted like a metal shield, and the guy had super strength and speed on top of that. But Katsuki tried out a move he'd been thinking about forever, and blinded him with a Stun Grenade before wrecking him with a point-blank explosion right to the unguarded face. It was hard to go back to fighting without those Grenadier Bracers that UA had given him for that one class. They'd been able to store so much sweat that he'd felt even more powerful than All Might when he'd finally fired that thing off. It was a shame he couldn't get them back, but he figured it was better this way. Support items were for people whose Quirks couldn't do what they wanted them to. Explosion could do anything.
At night, he'd be warped back to the bar. There were rooms in the back, but they were barebones. Katsuki got a room that looked like it had previously belonged to a painfully sexless teenager obsessed with crappy old video games. Everything had been dusty when Katsuki entered, so it clearly hadn't been used in a long time. He'd made it habitable, though, and had slept there for the following week. Katsuki was almost getting into a routine, forming habits, and found that he liked this lifestyle much more than the house arrest he'd been under following his unfair expulsion from UA. He'd spent a month locked up in that crappy house with his parents. They were the one part of this whole thing that Katsuki still didn't get. How had Deku gotten to them? How had his brainwashing taken hold in the minds of his shitty mother and father as well? Deku didn't even talk to them! He was willing to bet it was Deku's failure of a mother. Unfortunately, the hags had always been close. She must have spread the gospel of her spawn to his folks. Katsuki's heart beat hard just thinking about it. His parents were overbearing freaks, but they were still his parents, and Deku would get an extra little something just for daring to use them against Katsuki.
Just as he was building a habit and enjoying himself, Katsuki was interrupted, because of course he was. All for One returned to the bar looking for him. The way that Katsuki knew that was because his body, from all the way in his room, suddenly stopped responding to his commands and walked him all the way out to the bar, sat on a stool beside All for One, and then relaxed. A Quirk had been used to summon him. Katsuki knew now that All for One probably had loads of Quirks, since he'd taken Explosion and given it back like it was no big deal when they'd first met, but it was still surreal to think about the man in front of him, who looked like he sold cheap drugs out of an alley in Osaka, possessing an array of multiple Quirks. Katsuki wouldn't lie to himself and say that kind of power didn't appeal to him—a Quirk that let him have multiple Quirks would let him be the ultimate hero and make him unstoppable—but his Explosion could do anything. He could make people do what he wanted just through intimidation, so he didn't need a Quirk for that. He looked over at All for One, and wondered which one he was right then. Tenko? Tomura? All for One?
"Did you need something?" Katsuki asked.
"No. I came across a piece of information I thought would be very interesting to you, Young Bakugo," the white-haired man said in that deep, rich voice that told Katsuki that All for One was the one he was talking to. "Would you like to hear it?"
"Why not? Training doesn't start for another hour. Go ahead," Katsuki said.
"I like to keep myself updated on the happenings in the hero community. It pays to know the operations of potential allies, after all," All for One said. "That is how I learned that the hero agencies across Japan are welcoming hero student interns as we speak, including from UA."
"UA," Katsuki breathed. "What does that matter?"
"Because Class 1-A of the hero course are also participating in these internships, and we have mutual interest in that class, do we not?" All for One asked with a disgusted frown. "Izuku Midoriya is ingratiating himself to the heroes even further, convincing them even more that he is one of them through this internship. He hangs it over the Space Hero Thirteen's head that he rescued her. He weaves a web of flattery and deceit to cover the eyes of the teachers and students at UA. Soon, he will have the entire hero community in his reach. Do you wish to do something about this?"
Katsuki almost couldn't breathe. Of course Deku would intern with a stupid rescue hero to make himself seem nicer and more noble than he really is. Of course he'd help someone just to use it to get himself a better outcome. That was what villains did, after all. Katsuki clenched his fists and let them spark to warm up his skin and scratch the itch deep in his palms that erupted when he thought about how disgusting Deku had become.
"Yes," Katsuki said. "He'll die!"
"Yes, he will—in time. What do you say to getting some real world experience yourself? You will have an internship of your own, Young Bakugo," All for One said with a grin.
"What kind of extra would be capable of teaching me anything?" Katsuki asked with a wider, more ferocious smile than even All for One's.
"Why, I have just the person for you. He's a fan of All Might's too; some say he loves All Might more than anyone else in the world." Okay, well that was wrong—Katsuki was the biggest All Might fan. "This man has taken a similar path to yours, Young Bakugo, culling false heroes from this world. It's so sad that two bright hero hopefuls with limitless potential have been ostracised, forbidden from achieving their dreams as you two have been. I predict that if you inform this vigilante of Izuku Midoriya's crimes, he will surely aid you in locating and dealing with him. He despises heroes who use the occupation of heroes to use people and abuse their power to get what they want. Yes, I predict you'll get along swimmingly with the mentor I've picked out for you, Young Bakugo."
"Who is this guy?" Katsuki asked. He felt his palms itch even more. His body wanted to explode. His blood pumped through his body and Katsuki found himself flexing his hands to keep himself from blasting the bar to smithereens.
"They call him Stain," All for One said with a satisfied smirk. "Because he's never been caught in his quest for justice. The only evidence of his holy work he leaves behind is bloodstains."
Katsuki was beginning to get amped up. He laughed, and smiled. Deku was going to pay at last! Katsuki just had to meet up with this Stain guy, and they could kill him together! This guy was sounding more his speed than Misty and Two-in-One. This was it. Katsuki continued to laugh, and felt so giddy that he couldn't stop. All for One's low, rich chuckle rang out across the bar as well, and Katsuki stopped to look up at the man and grin. He was really starting to like this life. Deku would die and he'd get his life back, all starting with his little internship with Stain.
This was gonna be fun!