"Katsuki Bakugou and Izuku Midoriya, to the principal's office."

Izuku immediately froze in his seat, while people eyed Bakugou wearily. The two of them met eyes, Bakugou sporting a prominent frown and Izuku feeling his eyes widen. Instead of keeping that eye contact going, Izuku looked over to the teacher, who was looking at the two of them with focused eyes. He tilted his head to the side, gesturing to the door in a silent permission of absence. Izuku took a deep, shaky breath as he stood, seeing Bakugo do the same.

He let Bakugou walk in front of him, knowing that was a good way to not immediately get hit in the face. The two of them made their way down the hall, winding around corners and climbing one flight of stairs to reach the office they'd rarely seen the inside of. Izuku was silent the whole time, wondering if Bakugou would lash out at him if they managed to wind up alone. He'd been pretty okay lately, soaking up the praise from everyone around him before he'd even gotten the word of his acceptance. This was probably what this was about, anyway, so he was about to hear all about it either way.

To calm himself down from the nerves that were slowly building inside, Izuku thought back to his meetup with Uraraka. He remembered how … happy he'd been in those moments, the smile that had split his face and the way his cheeks had hurt at the end of the day. It brought a kind of balancing force into his chaotic mind, and allowed him to level out as the two boys approached the principal's office.

Bakugou barged through the door, leaving it for Izuku to close as he walked through it like a normal person. Izuku sat down in the seat next to Bakugou, across from the principal. He looked at them, poorly masking his … less than enthusiastic attitude toward Izuku. He showed open admiration of Bakugou, but when it came to Izuku, there was nothing but disdain there. Izuku had been on the receiving end of this before, but he was used to it.

"Bakugou, Midoriya , welcome! I trust you know what this is about?" Mr Tanaka said, leaning forward in his chair and smiling brightly.

"I got into UA and Deku didn't. It's obvious," Bakugou said, smirking devilishly.

"We both got in," Izuku said, slightly after Bakugou's declaration.

Bakugou snapped his eyes over to Izuku, but he kept his own focused on Mr Tanaka. By the look on his face, a kind of strained grin and wide, nervous eyes, the principal wasn't sure how the news would be taken by his star student. Izuku just kept his eyes forward, not giving Bakugou the satisfaction.

"That's right. The two of you passed UA's entrance exam. How'd you know Bakugou passed, Midoriya?" Mr Tanaka said, turning to Izuku.

"Don't you know? It's the talk of the town. Katsuki Bakugou, a UA student," Izuku said, not even trying to hide the bitterness of his tone.

"Alright, well … the fact remains that the two of you need to submit specification forms for potential costuming and gadget designs, and—" Mr Tanaka started.

"Hold on. You're not serious about Deku getting in, are you? That's impossible! They would've turned him away!" Bakugou yelled, gripping the arms of his chair in anger.

Izuku held his breath. It was better to be as quiet as possible during these outbursts, to not draw Bakugou's ire. It was a cowardly tactic, and he wasn't proud of it, but it'd saved Izuku from a beating too many times for him not to trust it.

"UA has a universal application policy. They accept all applications, no matter the source," Mr Tanaka said, raising his hands in a placating gesture.

"I know that! I mean that they'd fail him because of his villain's Quirk!" Bakugou shouted, making Izuku exhale shakily despite his efforts.

"Well, it seems like UA has made some kind of exception. Midoriya has been accepted to the hero course," Mr Tanaka confirmed.

"How am I just hearing about this now? Why haven't you been throwing it in my face all week, Deku? It's what you've always bitched and moaned about," Bakugou asked, turning his sharp, angry eyes on Izuku.

"I don't need your validation. It's enough for me that I got in, despite your efforts ," Izuku said, still keeping himself focused on the principal. "Is this all you needed us for?" he asked.

The principal seemed like he was scrambling for words. He looked between Izuku and Bakugou, seemingly thinking of anything to say to them that could get them to stay in the same room together, but Izuku was done with this. He didn't need the blond's attitude. Eventually, Mr Tanaka settled for nodding with a defeated sigh, letting Izuku know for sure what he'd already suspected; he wasn't needed here.

"Then, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna leave. Bakugou can collect any necessary paperwork now, and I can come when classes end later. Good day, sir," Izuku said, bowing to his principal.

Izuku turned around and walked out of the room. He began striding down the hall, working his way through the school as he took deep, calming breaths. At least, that was what Izuku was trying to do, as he couldn't help but feel like there was a burning in his chest that made his whole body ache. It made Izuku's skin crawl how basic Bakugou's misunderstanding of him was. It was like he was living in a completely different reality, where Izuku really was all the things that Bakugou said he was. Maybe he did believe that Izuku was this petty person who just wanted to be a hero so that he could use his power however he wanted and not face consequences. Izuku actually laughed at that thought, because it fit Bakugou himself to a tee. Accusations; a narcissist's confession.

Making his way down to his locker, Izuku felt his fingers curl inward, unintentionally making a fist. As he walked, his gloves felt looser and looser, and Izuku finally checked them as he pushed open the door to find them mostly Decimated. They were just rags on his hands now, and Izuku quickly pressed his thumbs into his palms to keep himself from touching things with all five fingers. He must have accidentally pressed all five fingers to his gloves when he'd made a fist, and Izuku suddenly realized a major flaw in the design, that being the possibility of this accident happening. He'd have to start cutting holes in the palms as well.

After the accident with his gloves, Izuku began to rush toward his locker. He got there in a moment, having already reached the area, and carefully opened the locker to find a pair of new gloves already waiting for him hanging out of his bag. Izuku always left them like that in case accidents like this happened, though they didn't happen often. Izuku disregarded the gloves for now, needing to release some stress.

A few years prior, Izuku had thought of a way to vent any frustrations he'd have while not risking his Quirk hurting anyone. It involved the removal of his gloves and a few baseballs. Izuku delicately removed four baseballs from his bag, which were pretty much always in there, and slid them into his pockets. The fire was still raging inside him, and it was all he could do to keep himself from screaming.

Izuku made his way out into the open area of the schoolyard. He then took one of the baseballs out of his pocket and slowly placed all five fingers on it. Once his final finger was laid on it, Izuku threw the ball as hard as he could in a random direction. He put all of his strength into it, venting all of his negative feelings at that moment into the powerful throw. It would've gone out over the face and into the street if it didn't turn to dust by the apex of its flight. Izuku watched as the ball left a trail of dust behind it before deteriorating to ash completely, dissipating through the air as it slowed down as a thin wispy trail of dust in the air. He proceeded to do the same with the other balls until there were none left, punctuating his final throw with a ragged scream that was forced out by the effort of the throw.

He stayed there for a moment, breathing hard after the release of anger and frustration he felt. Izuku didn't need this. He didn't deserve all this hate. It was like there was something clawing at him from within sometimes, and it was just begging to get out. Izuku needed to contain all that negativity, and this was a tool to do that. He knew he needed to get better at it before UA's school year started, but he'd cross that bridge when he got to it. All he needed to do now was wait.

End of Interlude 1: Out with the Old, In the the New