"Sooo, All Might's your Dad?"
To describe Katsumi as merely angry would be a complete understatement. She was furious, worried, frustrated- every negative emotion you could think of had been churning inside her as she'd been forced to watch Bakugou knock the living daylights out of Izuku.
The second the battle ended, she tried to rush out of the room. She was barely thinking, her mind too crowded with the image of the bruised, passed-out Izuku with an arm so broken it was purple. Her muddled thoughts were interrupted, however, as her father was forced to physically bar her from the door after she had ignored his multiple calls to come back.
Now, she stood seething in the corner of the room, fists clenched, arms crossed and teeth gritted together. Her classmates cast curious glances her way as her father finally left to gather the other students. A little crowd of the bolder and less restrained students had edged their way towards her.
"I don't think it was that surprising. There is a resemblance, not to mention Katsumi's costume is an All Might reference," Yaoyorozu hummed, turning to her right slightly to look at Katsumi, "I am almost disappointed in myself for not realising before she told me."
"Huh?!" Ashido gasped, black eyes opening wide, "You knew?"
"We were talking about it at lunch." She shrugged. Despite her indifferent tone, Katsumi could just tell that she was enjoying the fact she was the first to know (not including that moron Izuku).
"Oh, who cares? He's not even that interesting."
Thinking of Izuku- he was probably being carted off to the nurse's office right now, she would have to go see him after the lesson. Maybe she could even sneak away there once she had got her battle out of the way? Nah, her dad wasn't that dumb.
"He's the number one hero!" Argued the boy with the red spiky hair (Katsumi was pretty sure his name was Kirishina or something).
"Isn't it awesome being his kid?" A guy with a naturally smug expression and strange elbows commented- Sero, "Have you gone to his agency?"
"No."
"Katsumi, if you're worried about Midoriya, you shouldn't be," Tsu said, appearing out of nowhere. "Recovery Girl will fix him up in no time."
If her frustration was so obvious that even this random girl felt the need to reassure her, then why were the rest still bothering her? The comment didn't ease Katsumi's tension; it only made her angrier. It wasn't about whether Izuku's injuries would be healed- she knew Recovery Girl could handle that. It was about watching him suffer, being unable to do anything. If only she'd been paired with him instead of that useless Uraraka.
"Great then I can beat his ass for not running away," Katsumi muttered.
Tsu cocked her head, "You sound like you know him well."
Katsumi clicked her tongue. Could she just be left alone already? "Yup, " she replied with as little curtness as she could muster.
"Oh, so that's why you were so upset!" laughed the yellow-haired boy—Kaminari, Katsumi vaguely recalled Yaoyorozu mentioning his name. "Bakugou must really hate him to go that hard! Man, I hope I never have to fight him!"
She inhaled slowly, as she stared blankly at the boys, "Okay."
"Whoa, does Midoriya know about your dad?" Sero asked, stepping closer with a curious grin. "That's a huge secret to keep!"
Katsumi's fists clenched tighter, her patience wearing thin- god could the next fight start already! Her classmate's enthusiasm only made her feel more cornered, this whole situation had turned into some sort of gossip session.
"Yeah."
"He does know or that it's a big secret?" Kirishima probed, face full with the same eager enthusiasm.
Yaoyorozu cleared her throat, drawing the group's attention away from Katsumi, "I understand this is quite an interesting topic, but I'm sure we will have plenty of time to discuss it later. It would be best for you all to focus on your battle strategies, you never know what you might be up next."
"Ughh!" Kirishima groaned, clenching a fist, "You're right!"
"Oh yeah, you two probably want to discuss that!" Ashido clapped her hands together, "We can catch up later Katsumi!"
The corners of Katsumi's lips twitched upwards, she looked up from the floor to Yaoyorozu, who turned to give her a small smile. What an angel.
"Thanks"she mouthed at her.
"Well despite the results, the MVP of this exercise is young Iida!"
The three surviving students lined up against the wall, facing the rest of the class. Iida's eyes went wide as All Might's words sunk in.
"Huh?!"
"Shouldn't it be one of the heroes instead since they're the winners?" Tsu questioned, Katsumi was noticing a trend with this girl, she was very blunt.
"Mm valid question!" All Might boomed, obviously happy someone had asked. "Why didn't I choose one of the villains? Who has a guess?"
Immediately Yaoyorozu's hand shot up, "Sir I can tell you why. Iida embraced this challenge, he was the only one who truly adapted to his assigned role- I'll explain."
Katsumi resisted the urge to groan. It was the least she could do after she saved her earlier.
"Bakugous judgement was clouded by a personal grudge against Midoriya. As pointed out earlier, using a large-scale attack indoors was foolish, it could have been disastrous." Bakugou was already glaring at the floor, still, the girl's frank words only served to make his fists clench tighter together. Good, he should feel like shit.
"Similarly, Midoriya's plan was poorly thought out considering the amount of damage he received. He rendered himself helpless, not smart."
"You could say that…" Katsumi mumbled. She hoped Izuku being reckless wouldn't be something commonplace, but he did rush into a villain attack while quirkless, so…
"-As for Uraraka, she let her guard down mid-battle and her final attack was far too reckless considering the hypothetical stakes. If she treated the fake weapon as though it was real, she never would have risked using an imprecise move." Uraraka looked down, cheeks flushing.
"Iida was fully prepared for his opponent's arrival, he never lost sight of his mission to protect the dummy weapon, even if he was foiled in the end. Technically the hero team won yes, but they took advantage of the fact this was training, they didn't respect the spirit of the trial." Iida's pleasure with Yaoyorozu's words was evident from his face, he was almost glowing in the praise.
"Damn." Was all Katsumi could muster, muttering it under her breath as she looked at the serious girl beside her.
"Yes well you overlooked a few things," All Might sounded almost bruised from the girl's precise words. "Young Iida could have relaxed a little during the exercise. But, otherwise, you nailed it!"
"She's doing your job better than you," Katsumi smirked at him.
All Might coughed into his hand, "Right, shall we move on to the next battle?"
It took everything in her not to say something to Bakugou, who stood off to the side, silently staring at the screens with an expression of something between disbelief and horror. She wanted to go over to him so badly, to say something- anything- but the weight of her father's watchful gaze held her back. Whatever words she had for Bakugou could wait, the more time she had to brew them in her head the sharper and more cutting they would be anyway. But even without Katsumi's interference, judging by the look on his face, his defeat at the hands of 'Deku'was already tearing him apart.
"Hey, guys!" Kirishima barreled past Katsumi towards Uraraka and Iida, "You guys were awesome! That ending move was epic Uraraka!"
"I wasn't sure you guys were gonna win," Sero admitted, following behind the over-excited puppy that was Kirishima.
"We only won because of Deku," Urakaka said, a little ashamedly, "and Yaoyorozu was right, it wouldn't have worked if it was a real bomb."
"Hey, it's only the first heroic lesson!" Kirishima laughed, "You just gotta learn from your mistakes."
"I agree. In the future, I won't let my teammates go out on their own," Iida declared, glancing at Bakgou, his voice laced with that familiar air of superiority Katsumi despised.
"Oh yeah, that was crazy, you should have seen Yagi, she was literally shouting at All Might to stop the match!" Kirishima looked round to Katsumi, who stood, hands on hips only a couple of feet away. Iida shook his head, audibly sighing in disappointment.
"Yagi, you have to respect teachers! You made that rude comment to him during the after-battle brief, too! This seems to be becoming an issue!" Iida scolded, Katsumi just looked at him, unimpressed. Why did he think he had any authority over her? She had no clue.
Sero's grin widened, a mischievous glint in his eyes. "Oh, you guys don't know, do you?"
Uraraka tilted her head curiously. "Know what?"
Sero turned to Katsumi, practically bouncing with excitement. "Yagi, can I tell them?"
She sighed. "I don't care."
"Hell yeah!" He spun back to the group, beaming. "Yagi here is All Might's kid!"
There was a collective gasp, jaws dropping in unison. Katsumi just rolled her eyes and turned back to Yaoyorozu. Out of the corner of her eye though, she did catch a glimpse of the sulking blonde stealing a quick glance at her.
Katsumi paid little attention to the next fight. It was scar-boy Todoroki and a tall boy with mutated arms versus tail-boy and Hagakure. She knew Todoroki's team would win, and they did- very quickly- as Todoroki frosted up the entire building and took the fake nuke. The only thing she took notice of was the fact he melted the ice, it seemed he did have some sort of firepower too, talk about OP. Bakugou seemed to sense the boy's power too, his jaw clenching even tighter.
When they came back Katsumi noticed Todoroki's very obvious glare of disdain towards her. She just couldn't take it seriously though, not with that horrific outfit that covered half his body in ice.
"Next we have team J playing the heroes and team C as the villains!"
Katsumi turned to her teammate. "We're team C right?" Yaoyorozu nodded.
The hero team was comprised of Kirishima and Sero, who both wished them good luck with wide smiles. Katsumi and Yaoyorozu politely returned the well-wishes before they were sent off to the bomb room.
All Might wished them all good luck too, Katsumi just scowled at him. One last display of her displeasure with him before she let it go to focus on the match. She was letting it go just for the match though.
"The other team have long-range attacks with Sero's tape, as well as defence with Kirishima's hardening ability," Yaoyorozu thought aloud as Katsumi crouched down, one leg out as she reached over to touch her foot, stretching out her back.
"Perfect," Katsumi said, standing up and flicking an arm out, with a sharp ring the forearm reconstructed itself into a long metal knife. The lessons her dad had got her were definitely worth it- the steel protruding from her skin was much stronger and sharper than anything she had produced before. "With these, I can cut away at any tape and break down Spiky's hardening."
"Right," Yaoyorozu nodded. Looking at Katsumi's arm brought back images of pirates in books and movies to her mind, how they'd replace lost limbs with knives and swords. The metal looked sharp, and Katsumi swung it around with precision. "I was going to say you should be on the offensive."
Turning to face her Katsumi raised her eyebrows, "I'm going to guess you have a plan?"
Yayorozu smiled, "I do, though I hope you weren't lying about your combat skills."
The grey walls felt almost suffocating as the two boys snuck through the passageway. They tried to be as light on their feet as possible, so as not to disturb the still silence.
"Yo," Sero's hushed voice broke out as he leaned close to his teammate, glancing around apprehensively, "you sure we're going the right way?"
"Yeah I'm sure," Kirishma replied, his voice not as hushed, "I'm just surprised we haven't seen either of them yet."
"Thats what I mean! If we're as close as we should shouldn't we have ACK-"
The sound of Sero's cry accompanied by the uncomfortable crack of his back broke out against the silence as he flew forward. Kirishima turned to see Katsumi flying past in a two-footed tackle as she bared down on his teammate. Sero laded on the floor with a thud- Kirshima crying out his name as Katsumi flipped off his back, landing crouched a couple of feet away. She whipped around to face the shocked Kirishima.
"Sero get up quick!" The redhead shouted, holding his arms out defensively as they hardened.
"Cool trick," Katsumi's heart beat quickly, hot blood pumping through her body as it prepared for battle. She grinned as she whipped her arm up, the bottom half turning sharp and shiny.
"Sero!"
Sero had sat up, crouched and wincing, to shoot out a piece of tape from his arms. It darted straight for Katsumi, who quickly sliced it away with her arm. She grinned widely, the feeling of fiery adrenaline flowing in her veins.
Sero shot out another of his tapes, forcing himself to stand up. But Katsumi dived forward, grabbed it with her untransformed hand and tugged it to her. Attached to the end Sero grunted as he was yanked forwards. At the same moment, Katsumi went to kick Kirishma, but he barreled towards her, forcing her to dodge. She dived into the side- Kirishima passing her- taking the tape with her. Spinning around she stuck the tape onto Sero, tying Kirishma to him.
"Ugh!"
Sero attempted to pull the tape away from his back, already unbalanced a swinging kick at his legs from Katsumi almost toppled him over. Kirishima supported him, half ripping out of the tape to whip around. He had managed to get an arm free and swing at the girl.
The sharp clang of a metal rod coming hard against his shins surprised them all. Both boys finally folded over, stuck awkwardly together still connected by Seros tape. Katsumi blinked in surprise at Yaoyorozu, who quickly dropped the long rod in her hands, pulling a long piece of the capture tape out and wrapping it around them.
"Villain team wins!"
"Damnit!" Sero groaned, face squished into the hard concrete floor.
"Wait seriously? Already?" Katsumi stood up straight, her expression falling as the hot excitement that had been boiling up in her suddenly dropped down into a sad puddle, "That was only like- half the plan."
Yaoyorozu breathed out, "You gave me a perfect opening- was that not on purpose?"
"Uhh-"
"I can't believe we got defeated so easily!" Kirishima laughed, though disappointment peeked through his words.
"That kick really hurt!"
"Yeah sorry," Katsumi chuckled, obviously not sorry, "I lined my soles with metal." She explained, bending down to cut the tape off as she did so.
Yayorozu moved towards the trapped boys, helping Katsumi pull the tape off them, "I'm surprised you didn't harden your legs Kirishima. If you had I wouldn't have been able to knock you over."
"I was focused on Yagi!" He argued as he wiggled the tape off him. "Well, I gotta admit, you guys are good."
"Well that was quick, almost as quick as the last one," All Might coughed, "um the MVP of this match is…" he glanced around the line of students. "Hmm, though I think both members of the villain team performed well- the planning and quick thinking displayed by Yaoyorozu to capture the heroes as quickly as possible ultimately showed great initiative and ensured that the plan was completed in the most efficient way possible!"
This old man was really peeving Katsumi off. Not just for his shoddy attempt to replicate Yaoyorozu's well-thought-out and precise analysis of the first battle but his obvious bias. Most parents would use any excuse to award their child an award but her father almost looked embarrassed too.
Was she not the one who basically took down two people at once? Yes, Yaoyorozu helped but damn, and it wasn't even like she planned that much. The plan consisted of Katsumi running them into Yaoyorozu who would capture them with a net.
Whatever, it wasn't like she cared about her grades, there were more pressing matters anyway.
"All Might," Katsumi waved her hand in the air impatiently, "Could I please go to the nurse's office?"
"Are you injured?" He said in that annoying drawn out deep mascot-like voice he only ever used in his hero form.
"Uh yeah, I'm really hurt."
He raised an eyebrow, "You don't look it."
Ktsumi stared blankly, "My heart's broken in two from my father snubbing me-" Before he could respond she lowered her hand, resting on her hip, "I'm joking-" Not really, "but can I still go?"
"No, you cannot leave lessons without a reason." he sighed, he would have to have a talk with her about treating him as a teacher during lessons later.
"And I did not snub you," he added, a little defensively.
Katsumi continued to argue but he was not having it. She relented reasonably easily, it wasn't worth it, and went back to the back of the class, sitting on the floor as the rest of the battles continued.
"I'm quite surprised I was given MVP," having made her way to the back of the room, Yaoyorozu leaned against the wall, looking down at the sitting girl.
"Don't-" Katsumi rolled her eyes, "You deserve it, and don't act like you're not happy to get it."
"Honestly, I cannot be too happy," Yaoyorozu sighed, crossing her arms, "after all the teacher was biased. It would have been weird for him to give his own daughter MVP, even if she deserved it. Frankly, if I was in his position, your quick thinking and precision in combat would have compelled me to award you the MVP status."
She looked up at the black-haired girl, lips parting into a smile, "You didn't have to say that, I'm not upset, just annoyed he won't let me see Izuku."
"Well," Yaoyorozu shrugged slightly, a small smile on her lips, "as an aspiring hero, I have to do what I think is right."
Katsumi had almost forgotten about that. They were all there to be heroes. It's strange how even with having something so plainly in front of you, one can still manage to ignore it if it interferes with their peace of mind.
"Mhm, heroes." Katsumi had a long road ahead of her till she would be comfortable calling herself that, and it seemed the world was leading off the path anyway.
She was not able to see Izuku, All Might told her firmly that she should wait until the end of the day. They had finished the class early, still having a good twenty minutes or so till they could leave.
Earlier Katsumi had thought the class was too chatty, annoyed by their probing about her relationship with her dad. Now after they had changed back into their uniforms and she had cheered up, she was actually quite enjoying their presence. Killing time till the end of the day All Might had left, allowing them to talk. She had formed a group of six, her, Sero, Kirishima, Kaminari, Hagakure, and Ashido, all gathered around the latter's desk at the front chatting about the class. Yaoyorozu had opted to stay at the back of the class, not interested in the group's conversation. That made Katsumi feel a little special- she was more than happy to talk to her.
"I feel bad about Midoriya but I gotta be honest your reaction was hella funny Katsumi!" Sero snickered, Kaminari joining in. She had given the boys the same first name talk as the girls, she was hoping it would catch on without her having to ask every member of the class.
"Yeah, you were all like- You gotta stop the match! Please Dad pleasee!" Kaminari whined in an exaggerated high-pitched voice, hands clasped together, swaying from side to side.
"You're hilarious," Katsumi deadpanned, "Have you considered a career entertaining kids birthday parties?"
"Huh?"
"She's calling you a clown dude," Sero said.
"Oh really!" He said in mock awe.
"I wanna know though-" Hagakure butted in, leaning over the desk, "are you friends from school or what? You and Midoriya that is."
Ashido shook her head, looking up at the visibly challenged girl, "Don't you remember she's been living in America Hagakure, she couldn't have gone to school with him!"
"Oh yeah! Whoopsie daisy."
Kirishima turned to Katsumi who was standing next to him, "I woulda thought you gotta know him well to get that upset though. You gotta have known him for a while right?"
"I'm surprised you ain't said anything to Bakugou yet," Kaminari chimed in.
Synchronised surprisingly well for how little time they had all known each other, they all turned to look at the scowling blonde. He turned to glare at them.
"What." He barked.
"Nothing!" Kaminari held his hands up, a smile on his face before glancing over to Katsumi, "Unless Katsumi wasn't to say something?" He smirked.
She waved her hand, "Nah, I'm good."
"Good," Bakugou stood up, grabbing his bag, "I don't wanna hear shit from that nerd's girlfriend."
Katsumi blinked.
"Girlfriend?!" Ashido and Hagakure gasped and spun around to Katsumi, whose eyes widened as she shook her hands in front of her quickly, "That's not- ugh!" She almost tripped past Kirishima as she rushed to follow Bakugou as he walked to the door.
"No wonder you got so worried!"
Katsumi turned back to glare at them before turning sharply to Bakugou. "The hell you say that for?" She demanded.
"It is you right?" He huffed, barely looking back, "Some extras were talking 'bout Deku on a date with some blonde girl a while ago."
"Huh?!" Katsumi's jaw dropped, seriously? She tried to think when the hell that would have happened, only to realise there were so many times they had basically gone on dates that it would be hopeless to try. Bakugou kept walking, slamming the door behind him without a second thought to the position he had just put her in. She slowly turned to find not only the group of people she had been talking to staring at her but the entire class. She spotted Yaoyorozu at the back of the class raising an eyebrow. Kill her now.
"Lemme clear this up," she looked to the group of classmates at the front of the class but spoke loud enough for the whole class to hear, "That is NOT true!"
"Omg you were on a date?" Hagakure giggled.
Kaminari smirked, leaning onto the desk behind him, "Now it makes sense why you were so worked up about him getting hurt."
Katsumi felt her face flare up, "Seriously c'mon! Someone just jumped to conclusions-"
"Ah, Yagi! Allow me to assist you!" Iida's voice jump scared her, her body jolting as he stepped up next to her, "I will not allow such a rumour to be started- especially seeing as I know of its falsehood as I have already inquired about it to Midoriya."
"What the hell?" Her voice almost came out as a shriek, "Why the hell were you talking about that?!" Katsumi's face was burning hot at that point as she felt the eyes of her classmates bore into her. She felt very exposed at that moment.
"Oh," he coughed, realising he probably should not have mentioned that, "I was just curious seeing how you two were interacting earlier."
"What does that mean?" Sero grinned.
"No! No! No! Stop!" Katsumi covered her face with her hands in a failing attempt to escape the situation.
Iida turned to face the class, "I think that's quite enough. Please, everyone, go back to their own conversations now."
"It's kinda hard now dude," Jiro said, she was sitting with a boy with a bird head- Tokoyami- who nodded.
"Our attention has been diverted."
"Oh, who cares?" Katsumi whined. God she wished she could sink into the floor- or just spontaneously combust, taking her classmates down with her in the explosion.
"I must admit, the way you were acting during battle training kinda made it seem like you were harbouring strong feelings for Midoriya, Madamousie," A sparkly boy with blonde hair commented.
"Okay, not like it's anyone's business," Katsumi stood strongly at the front of the room, near the door, facing the class, "but let me be very clear- I don't like and am not dating Izuku!"
Luck really wasn't on Katsumis's side that day- but then had it ever really? No, but especially at that moment because as soon as those words left her mouth the door creaked open to reveal a very confused Izuku.
He stared at Katsumi, then at Iida beside her for a long moment. They both wore shocked expressions, thought after a second Katsumi just shoved her head in her hands.
"...What's going on?"
"Great timing Midoriya!" Kaminari called out, "How ya feel about that?" he asked as he walked towards the door.
"No, we are no longer discussing this," Iida snapped back to hold his hand out to block him, "It is not any of our business!"
"Hey, Midoriya that was a wild battle right?" As Iida was distracted with Kaminari, Kirishima- alongside a decent chunk of the class- appeared beside Katsumi, all circling around Izuku. Katsumi found herself being pushed to the wall.
"Nice dodging dude!"
"We were all super pumped after that crazy round! That and finding out 'bout having All Might's kid in our class- that was crazy." Grinned Sato, a large boy with big lips and a round nose.
"Wait- what?" Izuku's already wide eyes looked over to Katsumi, squished even further against the wall as the number of students increased.
"Yeah-" she strained as she squeezed forward. "He called me Katsumi in front of the class so…" Although she normally would be annoyed at being pushed, she was grateful enough for the change in conversation topic that she let it slide.
Uraraka came towards, seemingly able to get past the crowd easily, "Deku! Your arm!" Katsumi looked down to see his right arm was in a sling- how didn't she see that? "Did you get healed?"
Oh, the nerve of this girl! She couldn't stop her eyes from rolling as the short brunette came up to Izuku, arms crossed in worry. Maybe she should have said she was dating him- then she might back off. Too bad that was not going to happen, anytime in the near future anyway. There was no way she could confess in her current situation.
She clenched her teeth together, she had almost forgotten about it. The anxiety she had been feeling earlier had subsided and now she just felt angry, she hated that man.
Midoriya looked around, "Ah not quite. Wait-" he asked, snapping Katsumi out of her thought, "Where's Kacchan?"
"The asshole left," Katsumi scoffed, eager to focus on something else, "Are you feeling- wait a second!" She cried out as Midoriya immediately spun out of the room, running down the corridor.
"The hell! You're so annoying!" Katsumi leaned out of the door as she yelled after him. Groaning she went to go follow him.
"Katsumi!" Yaoyorozu stood up, calling from the back of the class, she turned her head and stood up on her tiptoes to look at the girl over the crowd. Yaoyorozu pointed to Katsumi's chair, "Don't forget your bag!"
"Ugh!"
"I got my quirk from someone else."
She had to quickly duck behind a pillar to avoid Bakugou seeing her as he turned her head around. Having shoved through the crowd to get her bag and sprinted down the corridors as quickly as possible she had only gotten out the door a couple of moments before Izuku. Though seemed in just those couple moments he had been able to say something very stupid.
"I can't say from who!" He added, a small apology in his voice, "But… gosh I know it sounds crazy, like something out of a comic book- only it is real! The thing is, I don't really have any control over this power yet. I haven't figured out how to make it my own but I'm trying," He spoke with what Katsumi could hear was a growing conviction.
"Thats why I didn't want to use it against you in the exercise. But in the end, it was the only way to have a chance of winning. I know I still have a lot to learn thats why I'm here!" He admitted, his voice rising as he became more and more confident in his words. "You'll see, I'll work until I have full control of this borrowed Quirk. And I'll finally beat you with my own power."
"Oh crap," He gasped, "what am I saying?"
"Yeah, what the hell are you saying?" The eavesdropping girl muttered under her breath. Fingers clenched tighter at the pillar, the roughness of the cold stone rubbing at her skin- Why on earth was he telling him this?
"How dumb do you think I am?" Bakugou's seething voice knocked her out of her thoughts, "Borrowed power? Don't talk to me like I'm an idiot!" His voice got louder, and Katsumi had to resist the urge to peek at them. "You already made a fool outta me in that damn training exercise. So?" He shouted, voice hoarse with indignation.
"Did you come here to rub it in? I lost!" He yelled, "And to make matters worse, it was to you." His voice was just dripping with disgust. At Izuku? Himself?
"I came in first in the exam, but that's not enough. When I was watching that ice guy- I realised I couldn't beat him in a head‐to‐head fight. Same with your stupid fucking girlfriend dammit! All Might's kid? What a joke! And you know her? I'm sure thats great for you- getting to talk to All Might cuz you're buddy buddy with his kid!"
"We're not-"
"Could I even beat her? Probably not know? Crap! I even agreed with what that girl said. My attack was so stupid! Damn it! Damn it, damn it, damn it!" His shouts only got louder, his words laced with anger-masked horror.
"Enjoy that win, Deku. You won't get another! I'm just getting started! Got that?! I'm gonna end up the number‐one hero," He growled, "no matter what!"
From Katsumi's hiding space, she couldn't see the tears forming in Bakugou's eyes. Still, something about the way he spoke, the desperate anger, hatred, affirmations, it was all familiar. He was in pain.
"You'll never beat me again, you bastard," he growled, Katsumi could hear the sounds of his footsteps on the concrete as he walked away, "Don't even try."
… Was it safe to come out? She peeked over the side of the pillar. Bakugou was still walking away, with Izuku standing haplessly behind him. Stepping out she began to walk towards him when a lighting quick object flew past her, forcing her to jump back.
"Young Bakugou!" All might called out, placing a firm hand on the boy's shoulder.
"Just so you know, pride is important." Despite being pretty far away Katsumi could tell from Bakugou's stiff shoulders that did not want to hear anything from All Might. "You definitely have the abilities needed to become a pro, though you still have a lot of-"
"Let go of me All Might. Right now. Save your speeches. I'll be more famous than you and I'll do it without your help." His words were heavy with conviction, All Might stepped back.
"Uh- ah, right."
Bakugou continued, walking out of the gate and away. Midoriya watched him, he had a feeling this would be a problem.
"Well, that was dumb of you."
"Ack!" He jolted as Katsumi appeared beside him, "Wait were you listening?"
"Did you not hear me chasing after you?" She huffed, placing a hand on her hip. She gave a sharp look to her Dad who smiled awkwardly before he walked away, leaving the two alone.
"Ah no, umm…" Izuku pursed his lips as he looked away. His skin glowed in the afternoon sun, the golden light reflecting in his emerald eyes. His green hair was slightly messier than usual- Katsumi had the urge to smooth it down.
"Look I'm sorry-"
"It's fine," Katsumi swallowed, turning away as she collected herself from her dreamy thoughts. "I know you're sorry." She breathed out deeply, "I've discovered how dumb you are today, it's not shocking you'd say something silly like that anymore." The laugh she forced out sounded pretty natural, Izuku turning back to her, a helpless smile on his lips.
She suddenly raised her eyebrows, looking at him seriously, "If you wanna apologise about something, apologise for getting beat up."
Izuku winced, "I mean, I should be healed by tomorrow it's just-"
"I hated that," Katsumi's words came out quiet, still she spoke seriously, stroking the shoulder of his injured arm with her fingers carefully, "seeing him so obviously trying to hurt you for the sake of it..." Looking at the sling her mind flashed back to the heavy hits he had endured. All for the sake of being a hero. "Dad should have stopped the match."
"Yeah well, I'm glad he didn't." Izuku admitted, "Beating Kacchan, it's something that I thought I would never do. But now, I have." He looked at her directly. Her bright blue eyes stared into him as worry lightly washed her face, he placed his healthy hand gently on her arm, and she pursed her lips, her eyebrows creasing together. He couldn't begin to imagine what she was feeling, every time he thought he had begun to understand her he was proven wrong. As she looked at him, he had the feeling she was feeling the same way about him.
"I have to get stronger, just like him." He moved his hand to her shoulder, staring at her with all his resolve. "If I want to stand beside you and everyone else I have to improve, beating Kacchan is just one step towards that."
Katsumi stared at him, lips parted slightly.
Izuku dropped his hand down as he sighed, "I just feel bad that he thinks I've been tricking him about my quirk all these years!"
"I don't get you," Katsumi's eyes fell, staring down at the floor. Her shadow stood dark, the outline of her body disrupting the beautiful yellow glow of the sun and casting Izuku's feet in darkness. "He bullied you right? Why feel bad?"
"I look up to him y'know?" Izuku laughed awkwardly, his expression made her heartache, the small nervous smile as he said something stupidly kind. "He kinda reminds me of you-"
Katsumi's jaw dropped, "Seriously?" All the wistful aches disappeared as she felt offence rise up inside her. "I remind you of your childhood bully?"
"No no! Not like that." Izuku laughed, "Your strength, you two have a certain drive that- I don't know…" He scratched his head as he smiled, looking to the trees in the distance, "I wanna be like you guys, strong and victorious y'know? Driven, maybe that's the word?"
How silly, she wetted her lips as she took in his words, "It's funny, because I feel similarly about you."
Izuku's mouth hung open as he turned back to her, "Why?"
"Izuku, you're pretty amazing."
"I- well-" He stuttered.
"Seriously. I'd rather be like like you than like me any day."