Envy shoots at others and wounds itself.
—English Proverb
2 April 2170
Izuku dragged himself along the pavement, his legs barely able to lift up from the ground, his arms hanging heavy and limp at his sides.
Right at this moment, Aldera Junior High was the last place Izuku wanted to go. After spending the last three hours hauling trash off Dagobah Beach before school, all he did want to do was go home and collapse into his bed.
But doing that wouldn't help him on his path to becoming a hero.
"A giant villain!"
Izuku looked up and saw a titanic man, standing around forty feet tall, his head reminiscent of a horse, or even a shark. He was wearing a tattered, sleeveless black shirt and blue jeans.
"What's going on?" Izuku asked, turning his head towards the man standing next to him, an older gentleman with a star-like protrusion on the top and both sides of his head.
"Some purse snatcher, Kamui Woods confronted the guy, and he turned into this giant." The man answered. "Damn, the train station's going to be shut all day, isn't it?"
Izuku instinctively ducked as Airjet suddenly flew in, over the crowd and up to the elevated rail lines where Kamui Woods was attempting to restrain the giant villain.
"Buster Shot!"
A blast of compressed air slammed into the villain's shoulder, making him stumble slightly and giving Kamui Woods the opening to grow one of his wooden arms into tendrils that restrained one of the villain's own arms.
Quickly reaching into his backpack, Izuku pulled his notebook out and began taking notes on the fight as fast as he could write.
"Everyone, please could you all move backwards!" Death Arms barked, holding out his arms and urging the crowd to move backwards.
A stream of water shot across the area the crowd had just vacated. Closer to the station, Backdraft stood, one arm outstretched to douse the smattering of small fires the villain had created with his rampage, the other aimed back at the crowd, forming the water barrier.
"Please could everyone remain behind the barrier." Death Arms instructed.
At the top of his vision, Izuku saw the giant villain swing his arm wildly, hitting the gantry for the overhead lines, tearing a large section free and sending it flying over the edge of the elevated track, tumbling towards the street below.
Despite having his back to the elevated rail line, Death Arms reacted almost instantly. He turned and slammed his fists together to activate his quirk, before raising his arms to catch the gantry section, taking a small step backwards to brace himself.
Grunting, Death Arms carefully lowered the buckled metal to the ground, before returning to face the crowd. "I said, everyone back, further back."
The crowd made little effort to follow the pro heroes instructions, all desperate to get a closer look.
"Get away from me, toothpick!" The giant villain swung his restrained arm, overpowering Kamui Woods and sending him flying down the street and out of sight. Izuku felt his Mighty Hero Agency ID Card burning a hole in his pocket, the fatigue he'd felt earlier all but gone.
I'm just a heroics intern, I can only use my quirk if instructed by my supervising hero or if there is an imminent danger to life.
"You look like you're antsy to join in." The man next to Izuku commented, chuckling. "You want to be a hero too?"
Izuku nodded, with a small, nervous smile on his face. "More than anything."
The giant villain lashed out, hitting Airjet with one of his enlarged fists and sending him crashing into the parapet that ran along the edge of the elevated rail line, dislodging multiple sections of it. Death Arms rushed forwards, punching one section away before catching another, whilst Backdraft used a blast of water to divert a section clear of the crowd.
Izuku's eyes widened as the largest section of masonry sailed over Death Arms's reach, heading directly for the crowd. Scanning the surroundings, Izuku saw that none of the heroes would be able to stop the projectile.
Taking a deep breath as he stowed his notebook, Izuku rushed forwards and raised his hands to intercept the masonry section. The instant it made contact with his fingers, Izuku activated Overhaul, transmuting the masonry into sand, which poured all over him.
Coughing and waving his hand in front of his face to clear the dust, Izuku looked around himself, checking to make sure everyone else was uninjured, which they thankfully were.
At that moment, Kamui Woods swung over the top of the crowd and up towards the rail line and the giant villain. Landing on the parapet wall, the hero paused for a second before leaping into the air to dodge the villain's fist.
"I thought I told you to get away from me!" The villain roared, drawing his fist back. "I'm gonna break you this time, do you hear me?!"
Extending his arm and wrapping it around the overhead line gantry, Kamui Woods swung above the villain's attack, up and over the top of the gantry, landing on the track. Jumping back to avoid the villain's fist, Kamui Woods then surged forwards, running up the villain's enlarged arm. Leaping into the air, Kamui Woods latched one of his branches around the wrist of the villain's other arm.
With a yell, the villain jerked his wrist, trying to slam Kamui Woods into the wall of the adjacent high-rise building. Instead, Kamui Woods released his hold before he could, landing on top of a halted train with a rather dramatic slide.
"Robbery, assault and illegal quirk usage." Kamui Woods listed, standing from the crouch he'd landed in. "You are the very incarnation of evil."
Kamui Woods raised his arm as it started to thicken, splitting into multiple branches.
"He's going to use his special move." Izuku realised.
"Come on, tree-man, kick his ass!" The man he'd spoken to earlier shouted. "And make it flashy."
"Preemptive Binding: Lacquered Chain Prison!"
A mass of branches burst from Kamui Woods's arm, growing in preparation to bind the gigantic villain.
"CANYON CANNON!"
A gigantic foot slammed into the villain, knocking him off of the elevated tracks, tumbling to the street below, the opposite of where Izuku and the crowd stood, and hitting the tarmac with a crash that shook the earth.
Landing in front of the villain was a pro hero that Izuku didn't recognise, standing over sixty feet tall, far larger than the villain was, dressed in a pale tan and purple bodysuit, with orange stripes.
"Piece of cake for the world's next hottest hero." The new hero announced, crouching slightly as she picked up the villain's hand, checking he was out cold. "Hi there everyone, I'm Mount Lady."
Izuku could hear the sound of camera shutters clicking constantly as the crowd cheered.
"And you don't have to worry about this bum anymore." Mt. Lady continued.
Flipping his notebook to a blank page, Izuku began to furiously take notes on the new hero as she began to shrink down.
"Gigantification." Izuku mused. "Well, she's definitely got the looks and attitude to be a crowd favourite, and on top of that her Quirk is really showy."
Izuku's pen flew across the page, his focus solely upon his notebook, unaware the crowd had dispersed and Death Arms was stomping directly towards him.
"But it will be hard for her to
get around much in the city without damaging lots of things. That means, she might not be very useful—"
"What the hell did you think you were doing?" Death Arms barked, breaking Izuku's concentration and making him look up from his notebook.
Izuku pointed to himself, his confusion clear on his face.
"Illegal quirk usage, in broad daylight, in front of multiple pro heroes." Death Arms recited. "I can let you off with a warning this time, but if you ever do this again I will have you arrested under the Villains Act 2102."
Izuku started, before rifling through his pockets to produce his Mighty Hero Agency ID. "H-Here, this is my ID card."
Death Arms frowned at him and plucked the ID card from Izuku's grip, flipping it over. "Mighty Hero Agency? Do you think I'm an idiot?"
I mean…
Izuku shook his head vigorously.
"Do you really expect me to believe that this is real?" Death Arms demanded, throwing the ID to the ground. "It's not even a convincing fake, explain yourself!"
"T-That's my ID." Izuku protested, bending down and picking up his ID.
"You are in serious trouble, kid." Death Arms declared. "Impersonating a member of hero support is a crime, kid."
"I'm not impersonating anyone, I really am a hero intern—"
"That's it, I've heard enough of this, I'm going to have to report this." Death Arms groused. "Officer, you're needed—"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa, what's going on here?" Kamui Woods spoke as he landed behind Izuku.
"This kid used his quirk during the villain attack, then he presented me with a fake ID from Mighty Hero Agency." Death Arms explained. "He refuses to explain himself."
"My ID isn't fake, it really is from Mighty Hero Agency." Izuku insisted, offering his ID to Kamui Woods as Airjet landed next to him.
"Huh, this looks legit, Death Arms." Kamui Woods spoke, checking both sides of the ID card. "I've never actually seen a Mighty Hero Agency card before."
"Neither have I." Death Arms admitted.
"Oh, I recognise you." Airjet realised, pointing at Izuku. "You're Bakugo's friend, the one he never shuts up about."
"Friend is a strong word." Izuku replied. "I think if Kacchan heard you call me that, he'd hit the roof."
"Oh, he does." Airjet chuckled. "It's quite amusing, he rants a worrying amount. You really do live rent-free in his head."
"What did this kid even do with his quirk that's got you so riled?" Kamui Woods questioned.
"I saw, whilst I was picking myself out of the side of that building." Airjet offered. "A piece of masonry was falling towards the crowd, Midoriya here turned it to sand before it could hurt anyone.
Death Arms squirmed. "Well, I still don't believe that ID is real, but go on, run along before I change my mind."
Izuku didn't need telling twice, stowing his notebook and ID before hurrying away from the scene, heading in the direction of Aldera Junior High.
"Alright, first day as third-years, which means it's time for you to start thinking seriously about your futures, and what you want to do in life, Class 3-C." Mr. Hirai announced from his podium. "The Ministry of Education mandates that we must complete this Career Aptitude Test, however, I know you're all aiming to be heroes!"
What followed was a cacophony of all of Izuku's classmates using their quirks with wild abandon, from flaming fists to sharpened teeth, as Izuku continued to write furiously in his notebook.
The only ones to not use their quirks were Bakugo and Izuku himself.
"Now, now, you all have impressive quirks." Mr. Hirai lightly reprimanded. "But remember, no quirk usage in school, you know the rules."
"Don't put us all in the same category, teach." Bakugo announced, lounging in his seat with his feet on his desk. "I'm aiming higher than these future hero course rejects."
Izuku finally looked up from his notebook, his classmates all shouting and jeering at Bakugo's statement. Ever since Bakugo had been taken on as an intern at Buster Hero Agency, something he had repeatedly and loudly made the class aware of, his ego had dimmed slightly, which was honestly the opposite of what Izuku had expected.
He's still got a long way to go unless he wants to be a hero that makes Endeavour look charming and genial.
"I fucking heard that, Deku, you muttering bastard!" Bakugo bellowed, without bothering to turn and look at him. "You can criticise me when you've got a hero internship of your own, which is never going to happen, ya damn nerd!"
Izuku, on the other hand, had chosen to not publicise his hero internship with Mighty Hero Agency. The fawning behaviour of the classmates that had once scorned him was bad enough already.
Plus, Kacchan would absolutely hit the roof, probably literally.
"Ah, yes, you're aiming for UA, aren't you, Bakugo?" Mr. Hirai spoke.
Whispers and murmurs spread around the classroom, what with UA Academy being the most exclusive national school that offered a hero course.
"That's why you guys are extras, I aced my mock test. I'm the only one here who stands a chance of getting into UA." Bakugo declared, before flipping into a standing position on top of his desk. "I'm going to surpass All Might and become the new No.1 Hero!"
Humility, thy name is not Bakugo.
"You're still fucking muttering, Deku!"
Izuku started, sinking lower in his seat.
"Of course, Midoriya, you want to go to UA as well." Mr. Hirai added.
Bakugo froze in place, Izuku could see his body vibrating with rage.
The room didn't break into the gales of laughter and shouts of derision that they would have done just a couple of years earlier, but the reaction was definitely less confident that he could make it into UA than with Bakugo.
Bakugo's hand slammed down on the top of Izuku's desk and exploded, sending the green-haired boy tumbling backwards from his chair.
Thanks to over a year of training with All Might, Izuku managed to get his hands under him and into a handstand, before flipping backwards onto his feet.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief for the gymnastics classes Yagi had insisted he start taking a few months ago when it became clear Izuku was not going to have a bulky build like All Might.
Bakugo glared at him from the other side of the desk, black smoke rising from his palm. "I've told you, Deku, you can't be a hero, or get into UA, with a quirk that came in so late."
Izuku didn't reply, but instead held his gaze with Bakugo, a little surprised to notice he was having to look down to do so. He wasn't afraid of him anymore. Over a year of therapy and facing Overhaul and the descendant of All For One had made sure of it. Admittedly, the former had killed him, but he had gotten a quirk and a little sister out of it.
"I'm not going to give up on my dreams because you tell me to." Izuku stated defiantly. "Besides, you never know until you try, right?"
Bakugo's palms began to smoke as a vein in his temple bulged.
"Now, now, everyone, back in their seats." Mr. Hirai announced. "We don't want any behaviour complaints on our transcripts now, do we?"
Bakugo glared at Izuku for a few more seconds, before turning and stalking back to his seat.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, picking up his chair and sitting at his desk, using a discreet pulse of Overhaul to repair the burn mark that Bakugo had made.
"Now, as I was saying before, I will be handing out these career aptitude tests…"
Izuku tuned the teacher out, staring out of the window and catching sight of a column of smoke in the distance.
I wonder if you're there, Mr. Yagi?
"Thief, someone help!"
Toshinori looked up from where he was loading his purchase into the shopping bag.
"Is there a hero?"
Scooping up the bag by its handles, Toshinori exited the store. The sight that greeted him was a shop assistant from a neighbouring store, from which a column of smoke was rising, pointing down the road at a fleeing mass of green sludge, yen notes fluttering from it as it moved.
Within seconds, Backdraft arrived at the scene, hesitating between the fire that could spread to more buildings and the villain that could flee to start more fires and rob more convenience stores.
Why not?
Steam issued from Toshinori as he activated One For All, straightening his body to full height and returning his muscles to their former glory. Stretching his torso, Toshinori marvelled at the lack of sharp pain or his wounds reopening.
Nine months and I still can't get used to how much easier it is since Izuku fixed those wounds.
Toshinori's limit had been down to four hours when he'd collapsed, which should have reduced his hero time limit even further. But thanks to Midoriya using Overhaul on his most painful wounds that reopened near constantly, the reduced strain on his body meant he was actually up for time, just shy of six hours.
He'd even managed to put three kilos back on.
"Backdraft!" Toshinori called out, approaching his fellow hero. "You handle the fire, I'll catch that dastardly villain."
"That's All Might!"
"Where did he come from?"
"A-All Might." Backdraft stuttered nervously. "I'd be honoured—"
Toshinori took off before the other hero had time to say anything more, racing after the sludge villain, his bottles of soda swinging wildly in their shopping bag.
Izuku didn't react as the bell that signalled the end of the school day rang, continuing to write more of his profile on the new hero he'd seen debut this morning, Mt. Lady.
His phone suddenly buzzed and lit up, making Izuku stop writing and pick it up. Opening it, Izuku smiled upon seeing his mother had sent him photographs from Eri's first day of school. He could even see Eraserhead lingering in the background of a couple of them.
Izuku hadn't realised what he'd been missing out on before becoming a big brother, he'd always just accepted being an only child after learning about his parents' struggle to have him. Now, he wouldn't trade it for the world.
And he got to ask Eraserhead questions on the days when he held sessions at their apartment, he was surprisingly knowledgeable about quirk mechanics, although considering he had a meta-quirk, maybe it shouldn't be.
A hand reached out and grabbed Izuku's notebook from the desk.
Izuku's head snapped up to see Bakugo holding his notebook, Yubi and Same chuckling from behind the blond-haired boy.
"We're not finished yet, Deku." Bakugo declared, his red eyes shining wildly.
"What is it, Katsuki?" Yubi questioned, gesturing towards Izuku's notebook, making Bakugo hold it up for him to see. "Huh, Hero Analysis for the Future? Volume sixteen?"
"Man, Midoriya, you need to get a hobby." Same guffawed.
Izuku sighed, standing up. "Come on, Kacchan, give it back."
That had been the wrong thing to say, leaving Izuku to watch as Bakugo growled before slamming his palm against the front cover of the notebook and releasing an explosion at point-blank range.
"Don't call me Kacchan!"
"You're awful." Izuku bemoaned, staring at his mildly charred notebook as the smoke cleared.
Bakugo glared at him, before blindly tossing the notebook over his shoulder and out of the open window.
Izuku groaned. "Did you really have to do tha—"
"You won't be needing that crap." Bakugo growled. "I'm the one who's getting into UA from this shitheap of a school."
"We're ranked number two in the area." Same murmured to himself.
Bakugo leaned forward, placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder, smoke rising from the point of contact. "So don't apply, understood?"
With a glare, Bakugo removed his hand and shoulder-checked Izuku as he walked past him.
"If you're telling me not to apply to UA, you must be worried that I could get in." Izuku stated, placing his hand on his gakuran and exploding it, before reassembling it, without the burn mark Bakugo had left.
Bakugo stopped, his back to Izuku. "Huh, a small fry like you doesn't stand a chance of getting into UA. I'm an intern, you're nothing."
With that, Bakugo stormed out of the room, with Yubi and Same hot on his heels.
Izuku breathed a sigh of relief, before leaning out of the window to see his notebook floating in the koi pond.
"Great."
Grabbing his backpack, Izuku slung it over his shoulder and left the classroom.
Fishing the notebook out of the pond, Izuku watched it drip water back down.
Over the last nine months, Izuku's knowledge and ability with Overhaul had grown considerably, he and All Might had even started some tentative testing of his ability to convert matter into energy attacks. But the ability that was important here was the quirk's secondary effect of being able to sense the structure and material of any object he touched.
Now, Izuku had learnt to commit the blueprints of several items he thought would be handy to be able to produce whenever he wanted. And those items included all of his hero notebook, he would update his mental blueprints of them regularly to keep them up to date, just in case they got lost.
Or in this case exploded and thrown in a pond.
Activating Overhaul, Izuku disassembled the notebook, allowing the water that had been saturating it to fall back into the pond, before reconstituting it to the state it had been in the last time he'd touched it, back in the classroom.
Flicking through the pages, Izuku smiled at seeing all his notes he'd made that day on Mt. Lady all there. Stowing it in his backpack, Izuku set off for Dagobah Beach, with a spring in his step.
Interning with Airjet may have cooled off the worst of Bakugo's ego and temper, but Izuku pitied the hero for all the work he still had to do.
A hero that told kids to give up on their dreams would not be popular for long, although Endeavor would probably be glad to end his twenty-two-year streak of winning the 'Japan's Grumpiest Hero' award.
Turning down the underpass, Izuku grabbed his phone out of his pocket and began flicking through his favourite hero news sites.
Izuku heard a dripping sound.
Frowning, Izuku slowly wheeled around, finding himself face-to-face with a mass of slime with eyes and a mouth.
"Why does this keep happening?" Izuku sighed.
The sludge lunged forward, engulfing Izuku's entire body in one fell swoop. He heard the sound of his phone hitting the ground.
Izuku's entire world turned a dark green, and a foul smell, like sewage, filled his nostrils. The slime writhed around, pulling and pawing at the orifices of his face, eventually managing to force his mouth open.
Slime poured into Izuku's mouth and down his throat, suffocating him.
"Quiet, kid." The slime issued, as the sludge retracted from Izuku's eyes, allowing him to see the villain's face in front of him. "It'll be over soon, and I'll be able to wear your corpse like a meat puppet and escape that relentless bastard."
Izuku's eyes widened, his panic starting to grow as his lungs screamed. And then he felt it, One Over One, whirring into life.
Abandoning his futile attempts to pull the slime from his mouth, Izuku stuck his fingers deep inside the sludge and activated Overhaul.
Okay, let's break some of the water in the slime down into hydrogen and oxygen, the former should blow the sludge off of me and I can breathe the latter.
Nothing happened.
Izuku tried again, receiving the same result. Overhaul wasn't working, or rather it didn't work on whatever the slime was made of.
I'm going to die, again.
"Thanks for this, you're my hero." The slime villain sneered.
Izuku began inching one of his hands down towards his pocket, he had a few yen pieces in there, he could use them to blast the sludge off his body.
"What the hell is a hero like that doing here?" The slime villain ranted to himself. "I mean, it's just not fair!"
Izuku could feel his strength waning, his hand refusing to move as he felt himself become lightheaded.
No, no, I don't want to die again, I can't be responsible for taking another life.
Hot tears leaked from the corners of Izuku's eyes, mixing with the sludge.
Please, someone, help me!
A sound like a gunshot echoed through the underpass as the manhole cover at the other end shot into the air and hit the concrete roof above, burying itself into it.
Just a moment later, the hulking form of All Might landed in front of the manhole in a crouch, a shopping bag in one hand.
"Young Midoriya!" All Might realised as his glowing blue eyes met Izuku's. "It's okay now, I am here!"
Izuku felt his eyelids grow heavy, forcing him to fight to keep them open.
All Might's expression darkened as he glared at the slime villain, an oppressive aura rolled off the No.1 Hero.
"Oh, shit!" The slime villain began furiously trying to disentangle himself from Izuku and make an escape.
All Might exploded towards the slime villain, ducking his hasty attempt to defend himself, and reared his fist back.
"TEXAS SMASH!"
Instead of punching the villain directly, and thus putting Izuku in danger, All Might swung his fist and stopped in mid-air, ten feet away from the villain.
An immense blast of wind surged down the underpass, hitting the villain and tearing chunks of slime away, little by little, until Izuku was free of the villain's hold, collapsing to the ground as he finally lost consciousness.
Toshinori surged forwards, dropping to his knees and catching his protégé before he could hit the ground.
"Young Midoriya, wake up!" Toshinori urged, shaking him slightly.
Midoriya didn't stir, his body limp in Toshinori's arms. Leaning his ear over the green-haired boy's mouth, Toshinori paled at finding he wasn't breathing.
Laying him down on the ground, Toshinori interlaced his hands and placed them over Izuku's chest, beginning compressions.
"Come on, Izuku, wake up!" Toshinori implored.
Midoriya coughed, bringing up a large amount of green sludge as he sat up.
"Oh, thank goodness, you're okay, Young Midoriya." Toshinori breathed, wrapping his apprentice in a tight hug.
"C-Can't breathe!"
"I'm so sorry!" Toshinori apologised, releasing Midoriya and checking him over, as he released One For All and shrank into his true form.
"Y-You saved me." Midoriya choked out, wiping the remaining sludge from around his mouth. "All Might? Why are you here? How are you here?"
Toshinori nodded sheepishly, holding up his shopping bag. "I was getting some soda when I saw this villain fleeing the scene of his crime, gave me quite the runaround in the sewers down there. I'm sorry I didn't get here sooner."
"You don't need to apologise, you saved me." Midoriya spoke, before looking down at his hand. "My quirk didn't work, I think that sludge is made up of so many different fluids that Overhaul couldn't affect it."
"All quirks have their limitations, Midoriya." Toshinori assured. "Even a mega-quirk like Overhaul."
Midoriya nodded. "It's just, it was like I was quirkless all over again, useless, and I could feel One Over One, it was like it was getting ready to transfer my consciousness, it could tell I was dying."
Tears rolled down the green-haired boy's face.
"Y-Yagi, I don't want to be responsible for killing another person."
"I know, I know." Toshinori comforted, placing a hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "It's not your fault, not being attacked, and certainly not the function of your quirk."
Midoriya stilled, his eyes looking past Toshinori.
Turning his head, Toshinori released a sigh of frustration, the slime villain was gone, clearly having fled whilst he was seeing to Midoriya.
"I-I'm so sorry, I distracted you." Midoriya stuttered, holding his hands up apologetically. "If you hadn't been—"
"Nonsense." Toshinori stated firmly. "It is most certainly not your fault, I took my eye off the ball."
"But—"
"I need to go find this villain." Toshinori continued, as he stood. "Tell your parents what happened and get them to take you to the hospital if you feel unwell."
Toshinori crouched down and activated One For All, feeling how little he had left in the tank for the day, before leaping high into the air.
Izuku sighed, watching as All Might became a speck in the sky.
Standing, the green-haired teen pressed a hand to his neck, repairing his injuries before moving to his gakuran, exploding it and reassembling it in a clean state.
My phone!
Dashing forwards, Izuku searched around the underpass, looking for where his phone must have fallen when he'd dropped it.
There!
Reaching out, Izuku grabbed his phone, turning it over to see that the screen was thankfully intact. Wiping the worst of the sludge from the device, Izuku opened HeroNet, logging in with his Mighty Hero Agency intern credentials.
Scrolling through the list of reported villain incidents, Izuku filtered to Mustafu and by active cases.
Slime man stole my purse - help. But that's from four hours ago, there's nothing more recent on here. I was hoping I could help All Might out by sending him the villain's location.
Guilt gnawed at Izuku, it was his fault, if hadn't failed at using his quirk on the villain to escape then Yagi wouldn't have gotten distracted checking he was okay.
Turning on his phone flashlight, Izuku scanned the slime-splattered walls of the underpass, hoping to see a trail of some kind.
There!
A succession of slime drops leading down the underpass, back towards Izuku's school, shimmered in the light. Securing his backpack, Izuku made his decision, he was going to track the villain and send All Might the location, to make up for distracting him.
Katsuki stalked down the alleyway, sipping a can of drink, the two extras trailing after him. An acrid smell reached his nose, making his lips curl in disgust.
Wheeling around, Katsuki's eyes zeroed in on Same, seeing the lit cigarette hanging from his lips.
"You want one?" Same asked, holding out a carton to offer him on.
"How many times do I have to fucking say it, no cigarettes!" Katsuki barked, plucking the offending cigarette from the extra's lips and extinguishing it between his fingers, before flicking it into a bin. "If you got caught with that, I'd get tarred with the same brush, and then it'd end up on my transcript, I could kiss my chances of getting into UA goodbye! Understood?"
Same nodded dumbly, throwing his carton in the bin after the extinguished cigarette.
"Better." Katsuki spoke, before returning to his walk home.
He only got a few seconds of blessed silence before Yubi piped up.
"Hey, Bakugo, you and Midoriya were childhood friends, weren't you?"
"So?" Katsuki barked back.
Yubi shrugged. "Don't you think you were a little harsh there? I mean, his quirk is pretty damn powerful."
"Yeah man, you kinda overdid it." Same chimed in.
"His fault for getting in my way." Katsuki retorted, kicking a littered bottle into the darkness behind a dumpster.
Katsuki's ears pricked.
"Did you two morons hear something?" Katsuki barked.
Yubi shrugged. "I heard you kick a plastic bottle."
"Huh, must have been the wind." Katsuki mused. "And Midoriya is a childish fool, there's no way UA will let someone who's only had their quirk for two years in."
Same frowned. "Like, do you have a thing for him?"
"Yeah, like, is hating on him like a disguise for liking him?" Yubi added.
Katsuki froze in place, turning to face the extras as the can in his grip exploded.
"What the fuck did you just fucking say about me, you little shits?" Bakugo spoke, his voice quiet but filled with malice.
Same and Yabi were shaking in terror, making Katsuki feel satisfied with his response until Yubi stretched one of his fingers to point over the blond-haired boy's shoulder.
Katsuki turned around to see a mass of swirling green sludge staring back at him with bloodshot eyes, suspended in the slime above a mouth of yellowed teeth.
"An invisible cloak with a powerful quirk, just the lucky break I need after a day like the one I've had."
The sludge surged forwards, engulfing Katsuki before he could react.
-Origins Arc-