Musutafu Police Station~

It was near midnight at the police station on a breezy March night. Most of the force had long yet gone home to their families. The office was dark and deserted, except for a particular office where Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi poured over yet another 'missing hero' file. Ken Takagi, professionally known as Rock Lock, had been reported missing that morning by his wife, and Detective Tsukauchi had agreed to take her case without hesitation. She had been in hysterics, claiming that her husband hadn't been home in a week and that no one from his agency had heard from him since their last raid. Detective Tsukauchi remembered how Mrs. Takagi had tried to hold herself together, clutching her infant son tight against her as she stammered through the questions he'd posed her.

Tsukauchi had spent the entire day making phone calls to everyone who knew the pro hero to see if anyone had heard from him or had any information as to his whereabouts. Frustratingly, but unsurprisingly, he had come up empty. He gritted his teeth, closing the manila folder and turning to look at the dozen other identical folders that were scattered across his desk. This was yet another 'missing hero' report in an ever-increasing string of reports over the past six months, and Detective Tsukauchi had not found any leads in all that time.

There was a growing sense of dread throughout the population as the news stories on the missing heroes had become more and more dire. It was unclear as to whether these heroes were being kidnapped or if they had disappeared of their own volition. Many news outlets had developed a theory that pro-heroes were under an overwhelming level of stress now that crime rates had been increasing exponentially and were simply going into hiding to run away from their responsibilities.

Of course, this was absurd. Tsukauchi personally knew many of the missing heroes and he was sure beyond a shadow of a doubt that these disappearances were involuntary. No, of this he was certain, there was foul play involved.

Detective Tsukauchi let out a pained sigh and stood up from his desk. He picked up the picture of Ken Takagi the last time he was seen in public settling a traffic dispute and turned to his investigation board. He stuck the image in the middle of the board along with all thirteen other images of the missing pro-heroes.

Rock Lock... what happened to you? Where could all of you be?

That very night, about 30 miles away~

The noise from the crowd was deafening, but seemed to be drowned out by the high-pitched ringing in Ken Takagi's ears. The bars from the domed cage he was trapped in trembled and shook with the force of hundreds of people banging against them, jeering and shouting at him. Blood dribbled from Ken's mouth as a clang could be heard from across the twenty square foot arena. He raised his head dully as the gate on the other side rose up and a hunched figure stumbled into the arena. The gate dropped the instant the new challenger had entered the ring. Ken forced himself to stand a bit taller and lift his fists up in preparation. He had lost count on the number of opponents he'd had since he was brought to this place. He wasn't sure how long he'd been here in total. The only thing keeping him going was the thought of his family. He wanted to see them again.

"Let's see how our new challenger does against a fan favorite! Ladies and gentlemen, give it up for the Sand Hero: Snatch!"

Ken's eyes widened as his new opponent lumbered closer and as he lifted his head. Ken recognized the man's sandy hair and long mustache. He knew this man; it was Sajin Higawara, a respected pro-hero. Higawara's face looked aghast, an ugly bruise on one of his cheeks and an odd hook to his nose, which told Ken that it had been broken recently.

"H-Higawara?" Ken stammered, his voice hoarse and strained. Higawara did not reply. He didn't seem to recognize him. "It's me... Takagi. Rock Lock..." Still, Higawara said nothing. Instead, he raised his fists, a flat look in his eyes. Ken gulped, his throat going dry.

"Place your bets now!" The amplified announcer's voice echoed across the arena and the crowd erupted into furious shouts as bets were called out. Ken's eyes drifted up to the projector screen hovering above the ring where he and Snatch were facing each other. He could see his own name Rock Lock projected in red with Snatch underneath in blue. The numbers beside their names flickered and fluctuated as the bets changed rapidly. Ken swallowed hard again, trying to bring some moisture back to his sandpaper mouth and throat.

"Higarawa..." He croaked desperately. "We don't have to fight. They can't make all of us fight forever." His words were met with a chorus of boos and jeers from the audience.

Snatch didn't answer. There was nothing in his gaze. No anger, no sadness, no hint of personality. He had been completely subdued into submission.

"Please..." Ken whispered looking up at the ceiling in utter despair. "I don't want to do this..."

"Fight or die." If Ken had the energy, he might have gasped at the words uttered from Snatch's mouth unexpectedly. "Fight or die." He said again and this time when he raised his fists, the sand and dirt from the ground started to raise with him. Ken Takagi heaved a great, helpless sigh as the shell of a pro-hero charged at him, murder in his eyes.

Fight or die. Please forgive me.

2 weeks later, the Bakugo household~

Katsuki awoke to the sound of rain outside his window. The rain brought a sense of foreboding over him as he lay on his futon, listening to the pounding on his window. It had been raining when he'd skinned his knee on his skateboard when he was eight. He wouldn't forget the storm that raged outside during his twelfth birthday party when one of his cousins had broken his brand new gaming console. And of course, he would never forget the day he found out the worst news of his life three years ago. It had been raining that day too.

"Katsuki! You have to leave in an hour!" His mother's voice interrupted his thoughts and he growled, throwing off the duvet and rising to his feet. His trunk was already packed at the foot of his bed and his uniform was waiting neatly on the chair of his empty desk. Katsuki showered and dressed solemnly, feeling more melancholy than he should have. He blamed the rain, of course.

He dragged his trunk down the stairs of his house, his pack slung lazily over his shoulder. When he reached the landing, his mother burst in from the kitchen and glared angrily at him.

"For the love of god, put a comb through your hair, will you?" She began as Katsuki propped his trunk against the door in preparation to leave. "And your uniform is all wrinkled! Why didn't you tell me, I would have ironed it last night? And where's your tie? Masaru!" Katsuki groaned as his father stepped gingerly out of the kitchen, his eyes darting between his wife and his son.

"Lay off, mom!" Katsuki snapped, pushing his fingers through his hair absentmindedly. "I think I know how to dress myself."

"Clearly, you don't." Mitsuki beckoned her husband closer and pointed at Katsuki's neck. "Tie his tie for him. I'll be damned if I let you enter your final year at UA not looking your best!"

"For god's sake, I don't need a goddamn tie!"

"You'll wear the tie, or you won't eat breakfast!"

"Fine, whatever, your cooking sucks anyway!"

"Don't you talk to me that way!"

Masaru hurried forward as his wife and son continued to shout at each other and quickly pulled out the red tie in his pocket. While his son was distracted, he looped the tie around his neck and fastened it expertly as he had many times before. Then he herded his family into the kitchen, the two ash-blondes still bickering like grade schoolers.

After a filling breakfast of steamed rice, grilled fish, and pickled vegetables, the doorbell rang, indicating that Katsuki's classmate and friend, Eijiro Kirishima, had arrived. Kirishima was a jovial boy of seventeen with spiky red hair that resembled Katsuki's own style (though he would never admit it).

"Hey bro, ready for 3rd year?" Kirishima said, clapping a hand on his friend's shoulder when Katsuki had opened the door. Kirishima had brought three large duffle bags along with his backpack and Katsuki briefly wondered how he'd managed to carry all of that by himself.

"Eijiro, good to see you, sweetheart!" Mitsuki brushed past her son to embrace the red-haired boy, who grinned over her shoulder.

"You too Mrs. Bakugo."

"How many times do I need to tell you to call me Mitsuki?"

"Always at least one more time."

Mitsuki laughed and gave Katsuki a sideways glance. "Why can't you be as sweet as Eijiro, huh?" Katsuki scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Are you two sure you don't want me and Masaru to drive you? It's your final year, we could take pictures and–"

"We're fine, mom!" Katsuki said quickly, dragging his trunk out of the door. "We need to go, we don't want to miss the bus." He reached up to the tie around his neck, loosening a bit when his mother suddenly threw her arms around his neck, planting a wet kiss on his cheek.

"Mom..." He groaned in annoyance, trying to push her away.

"You be good, Katsuki. You do your best and you'll be the best, okay?" Katsuki just grunted in response as his father gave him a small hug of goodbye as well.

Finally, he was able to detangle himself from his parents, and he and Kirishima made their way to the bus stop, Katsuki dragging his trunk behind him and Kirishima slinging all three bags onto his back with ease. The rain had lightened significantly and was only a light mist, which Katsuki greatly appreciated. He was sure if it had been raining any harder he would have had to endure an embarrassing car ride to school with his parents.

"Are you excited for 3rd year? I heard they increased the intensity of the hero course from last year. Apparently there's a need to increase the caliber of heroes being produced from hero courses around the world." Kirishima started as the two settled into the bus without much issue. They certainly looked a sight with their massive bags and UA uniforms.

"I don't care how they changed it, I'm still going to be the best." Katsuki growled. Kirishima continued, as if he hadn't said anything.

"I took a week off for a vacation with my parents over the break, but I'm nervous that that might have been a mistake. I talked to Denki and Jirou and they both spent the entire break in their work study. I really don't want to start the year already behind everyone."

Katsuki stopped listening about halfway, instead looking out the window at the foggy landscape. He had in fact spent his break doing his work study with Best Jeanist's agency. The pro hero had offered him an internship in his first year at UA after the sports festival and he'd been returning there every summer afterwards. The last month or so, though, he'd noticed that he'd been kept out of the more dangerous missions more and more.

There was something brewing that the other pro heroes and sidekicks wanted to keep from him. And it wasn't just Best Jeanist's agency. There was a growing atmosphere of dread surrounding the pro heroes. This unease could only relate to the string of hero disappearances over the past year. Katsuki hadn't paid much attention to the missing heroes, at least until Best Jeanist and the other agencies had stopped letting their work study students go on missions or patrol by themselves for fear of them being kidnapped.

"Dude, are you even listening to me?"

Katsuki blinked, looking at Kirishima who was staring incredulously at him. "No." He admitted unapologetically. Kirishima rolled his eyes at his friend.

Katsuki and Eijiro had been friends since the first week of their first year. Of course, it took a little longer for Katsuki to really consider the red-head a friend, but Eijiro had decided almost immediately that he wanted to be Katsuki's friend because their interests had aligned so closely. Before Katsuki knew it, he was agreeing to hang out when he was asked, and even going as far as to help Kirishima study for their academic exams.

When the bus finally arrived at their destination, Katsuki and Kirishima lugged their obnoxiously loaded bags out of the vehicle, trying their best not to knock into anyone on their way out. Kirishima dropped his bags on the sidewalk so he could readjust as Katsuki stepped onto the sidewalk beside him. He looked back at the bus and suddenly, he saw a flash of green hair that made him freeze in his tracks. He scanned the passengers in the bus through the window, his heart rate speeding up in his chest. He spotted her in the back of the bus, looking out of the other window as the bus pulled away from the sidewalk.

"Bakugo? Hey, dude, what are you doing?"

Kirishima's voice brought Katsuki back to reality. He hadn't realized it, but he'd started walking after the bus, as if he was about to start running to catch up with it. He coughed and turned back to his trunk quickly.

"Nothing. Let's go."

Katsuki felt colder than ever, which had nothing to do with the gloomy atmosphere, as he and Kirishima started the short walk to the UA dormitories, Heights Alliance. He was still reeling from who he'd seen on the bus. How had he not noticed her before? Had she seen him as well?

The woman he'd seen was short, plump with dark green hair and a perpetually sad expression. She was Inko Midoriya, the mother of an old classmate of Katsuki's in middle school. In their final year of middle school, fourteen-year-old Izuku Midoriya had committed suicide by jumping off the roof of the school. Katsuki would never forget that day, and would never forget the grief on Inko's face when they discovered his body.

It had been raining that day, much like it was today, Katsuki had been happy, excited even. He had just been invited to the UA entrance exam, much to the envy of everyone else in the middle school class. Then at around lunchtime, all the parents were called to collect their children. It was a strange occurrence and Katsuki remembered thinking that this would give him a chance to train his quirk for longer than he'd intended that day. It wasn't until he was leaving the school and he saw Inko Midoriya sobbing into the chest of a police officer did he understand what had happened.

He rarely thought of Izuku Midoriya. He had no reason to think about him. It wasn't like the two boys were close. Sure, as children, the quirkless boy followed Katsuki around like a puppy dog, but they weren't friends.

Even if he did call Katsuki a nickname that only his childhood friends ever did. Even if Katsuki did still have a pro hero figurine that little Izuku had given him for one of his birthdays.

No, they were never friends. He had no reason to think about the boy, to feel guilty, or to even care that his mother still called his own mother crying every few months. There was no reason for the freckled, wide-eyed boy to ever cross his mind. Of course not.

Katsuki gritted his teeth and banished the Midoriya family from his mind as the two UA third years made their way to building 3-A of Heights Alliance.