7~ Tuesday evening, Heights Alliance
Katsuki Bakugo was slumped over his desk, staring blankly at the math problems in front of him. He’d been holed up in his room right after classes had finished for the day, like he’d done the night before. He didn’t care to answer any of the curious looks from his other classmates, who were probably wondering why he had gone home for the weekend.
Katsuki had barely managed to pay attention at all during classes for the past two days. He still felt agitated and paranoid, like every sound, every small movement was someone lying in wait to attack him. He knew for a fact that the abduction had been real, that Deku had truly been alive and had swore to destroy him. But Katsuki hadn’t been expecting complete radio silence.
Something was bound to happen, he knew it, he just didn’t know when or how. And it was driving him crazy.
For now, he could only stare at these math problems, seeing absolutely no point in trying to finish them when there was a maniacal kingpin villain after him.
There was a knock at the door and Katsuki jumped, grabbing his pen like a knife.
“Hey, Bakugo? You in there?” Katsuki forced his fingers to relax and let go of the pen when he heard Kirishima’s voice behind the door. He made a noncommittal grunt and the door slowly creaked open. “Hey… Can we, maybe, talk to you?”
Katsuki stood from the desk, flipping his notebook shut as Kirishima and Kaminari cautiously entered the room.
“I’m doing homework. What do you want?”
“We just…” Kirishima and Kaminari exchanged nervous glances. “We’re just worried about you. I mean… you had that weird dream last week–” Katsuki winced. “–and then Mr. Aizawa sent you home for the weekend and we just wanted to make sure that you’re okay.”
“I don’t need you to fucking check up on me. You and Sparky over there can turn around and walk your asses back to your own shitty lives.”
There was a cold silence and Kaminari whispered something to Kirishima that sounded suspiciously like I told you this would happen. Kirishima exhaled sharply through his nose and took another step forward, his eyebrows slanting determinedly over his red eyes.
“Come on, Bakugo, you’ve barely said a word to anyone since you got back. We’re all worried about you. We’re your friends, so you should talk to us.”
“I don’t want to talk to anyone. Both of you, leave.”
“Bakugo–”
“That wasn’t a request.” Katsuki marched forward and grabbed Kirishima’s arm, preparing to shove him back. Kirishima’s arm hardened under his hand and before he could react, Kirishima’s free fist came swinging and caught Katsuki in the jaw. Katsuki stumbled back, caught completely by surprise. Kirishima’s punch had momentarily stunned him, which made him think he had probably used his hardening quirk for some extra force.
“Oh–dude, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. It was instinct, I didn’t even realize, are you oka–”
Katsuki responded in turn, spinning around and punching Kirishima in the nose as the red-haired boy had approached apologetically with his arms outstretched. Kirishima’s head snapped back and blood burst from his nose at the impact as he fell backward into Kaminari.
“Dude!” Kaminari shouted, catching Kirishima before they both tumbled to the ground.
“Ouch.” Kirishima mumbled, clutching his bleeding nose. Katsuki and Kirishima stared at each other for a second before Kirishima burst out laughing and staggered to his feet. “I deserved that, I guess. You got a towel or something?”
Katsuki said nothing as he fished one of his sweat towels out of his hamper and tossed it to his friend. Kirishima pressed the towel to his nose as the two straightened up in front of Katsuki. There was a brief pause as the three boys stared at each other.
Finally, Kirishima let out a chuckle. “So, are you going to tell us what’s going on with you, or what?”
Katsuki didn’t reply for a few seconds, looking between his two classmates. He was hesitant to say anything since he knew how crazy his story sounded, and he knew all too well by now that he didn’t have the best credulity at the moment. But he was bursting to tell someone, to confide in someone, to have someone, anyone, believe him. These two had always been the two classmates that Katsuki considered himself closest to. Even Kaminari, who he mostly thought to be a dunce, was still a good man to have on your team, if not for anything except comic relief at times.
Katsuki sighed. “You really want to know?”
Kirishima nodded, but Kaminari looked unsure. He glanced at the red-haired boy and mumbled something incoherent. Katsuki glared at him.
“You got something to say?” He snapped.
“Jeez, dude, don’t bite my head off.” Kaminari exclaimed, raising his palms up. “All I said was I don’t think we should upset you any–” Kaminari grunted when Kirishima elbowed him hard in the ribs.
“Don’t listen to him, he’s an idiot.” Kirishima shot Kaminari a sideways look. “If you want to tell us, then we’re all ears. If not, then don’t.”
“Fine. I’ll tell you what happened.” Katsuki let out a short breath and sat down on the bed. “One condition. You two dunderheads better listen all the way through and keep your fucking judgements to yourself, got it?”
“Got it.” Kirishima grinned and sat in the desk chair while Kaminari sank down to the floor, albeit a bit reluctantly.
Katsuki took a deep breath and told them everything. He told them about the boy that he’d once known who he thought to be dead, and how he had turned up again in the worst way possible, having changed into something… monstrous and evil. He described everything he’d seen in the fighter ring, all the people he could remember, every single detail. He didn’t skip over anything like he had with Best Jeanist and Mr. Aizawa. He made sure to tell them everything.
After he finished speaking, he looked up to see the stunned expressions of his two friends. Kaminari was staring, mouth opening and closing like a fish, clearly at a loss for words. Kirishima didn’t look much better. The towel he was using for his nose lay on his lap, completely forgotten, and blood was still trickling down his face and dripping onto his shirt. There was a tense silence as nobody spoke.
“So… there you go. That’s what happened.” Katsuki muttered, glaring at the two as if daring them to call him a liar.
“Holy shit, dude…” Kirishima muttered. He exchanged a bemused look with Kaminari and then looked back at Katsuki. “That’s intense. Did Mr. Aizawa or the heroes do anything about it?”
“No.” Katsuki let out a bitter laugh. “They don’t believe me. They think it was all a stupid dream brought on by stress.” Katsuki’s fists clenched and he resisted the urge to blast a hole through the wall beside him. It was getting harder and harder to keep his temper in check these days.
“Well… could it have been?” Kaminari had apparently found his voice. Katsuki shot him a scathing look and the blond boy immediately recoiled. “I didn’t mean anything by it! I just meant that maybe it could have been a dream, I mean… It would make sense, wouldn’t it? Like why would they just let you go?”
“I know it was real because of this.” Katsuki jabbed his finger at his neck where the small scar from the knife had started healing up. It was barely wider than a nickel now and had turned a shade of pink that nearly blended in with his skin. Kaminari and Kirishima both leaned forward, squinting at his neck. “Clearly, they had done their homework and had gotten rid of all the marks they left behind on me, but they forgot this. I was cut by one of those psychos and they forgot to get rid of the evidence.”
Kirishima let out a low whistle and leaned back in the seat. “That’s heavy stuff, man. So… that means this Deku guy… he was the guy who abducted all those other heroes? And he’s doing all this just to get back at you?”
Katsuki let out an irritated sigh and looked back down at the floor. “I don’t know why he’s doing all this. I have no idea what’s going on in his head. I mean… he can’t be doing all of this just because he hates me, it just doesn’t make sense.”
Katsuki tried to think back on their conversation, of anything that would explain the gaping holes in his own story. It just didn’t make sense that all of this was only because of Katsuki himself. If that were the case, then why hadn’t Deku tried to enact his revenge earlier?
I must admit, this isn’t exactly how I would have planned our first meeting, but I suppose such is life. I’m not going to kill you. With any luck, you’ll take care of that little task all by yourself.
“Whatever the reason… He’s going to come after me now. He basically promised he would.” Katsuki muttered. “I don’t know what he’s going to do but… I have to be ready.”
“We’ll help you.” Kirishima said without hesitation. Katsuki’s head snapped up.
“I don’t need help. I’m strong enough and smart enough by myself.”
Kirishima rolled his eyes and Kaminari snorted.
“Bakugo. Don’t be like that. You said it yourself that no one else believes you. We do. Right?” Kirishima shot a pointed look at Kaminari who flinched and nodded, even though he still looked uneasy.
“We want to help.” Kirishima continued, oblivious to Kaminari's reluctance. “If anything, we should at least try gathering evidence, right? Maybe once we have enough to prove your story, we can go back to the agency and they’ll believe us. You don’t have to do this by yourself.”
Katsuki stared at his friend, then looked down at the floor. It was true, he did need help. But if there was one thing he hated more than anything in the world it was asking for help from anyone. It made him feel weak, inadequate. Like he was just like a regular civilian when he knew in his heart he was anything but. However at this point… he knew he didn’t have many other options. These two were the only two who had even come close to believing him. He knew he’d be a fool to turn down their help. It was just… difficult. It felt like he was losing something.
“Okay…” Katsuki relented finally. “Well, I thought about finding the building I was in. I remember they called it something when I was in the ring… Midnight something. We should start there.”
Kirishima let out a sigh and smiled, clearly relieved he didn’t have to fight Katsuki on this any further. He scooted closer.
“Okay, let’s do it, then. So, this Midnight place. Do you think it’s somewhere in Musutafu? Or should we expand the search to the surrounding towns?” He asked. Kaminari stood up and moved closer as well.
“We don’t even know what the name of the place is, yet. How are we supposed to search for anything?” He pointed out. Katsuki pondered this for a moment. Kirishima then spoke up again.
“Well, we should at least try to retrace your steps, Bakugo. Maybe there’s some clues about what happened to you.”
Katsuki was quiet for a moment. He doubted there would be any evidence left behind on the street where he’d been taken, but he supposed it wouldn’t hurt to try.
“I can show you where I got abducted.”

After class, the following day~
Katsuki, Kirishima, and Kaminari walked down the street where Katsuki had been abducted, looking around for anything suspicious. It was as empty and deserted as it had been when he had been on patrol the previous week. The three had put on their hero costumes, just in case, but so far there was nothing to suggest anything had happened out of the ordinary here.
“This is the place.” Katsuki said, stopping at the corner of the street. “I met the hero with a purple costume and he tried to zap me with his taser thing. Then I was knocked out by his partner from over there.” He turned around and pointed.
“Okay…” Kirishima glanced around the street corner. “So the question is, how did they drag you away without someone noticing something?” The three looked around for a few moments.
“Well, the street is pretty empty.” Kaminari offered unhelpfully.
“Yeah, but they must have had like a getaway car or something, otherwise they would have had to carry a body back along to the main street.” Kirishima said, gesturing at the vehicles that drove along the main road. Katsuki tried to recall everything that his kidnappers had said.
“They talked about another one of their people.” He said suddenly, remembering a phrase from the purple-suited hero. “They said a name, I can't… I can’t remember…”
“Don’t strain yourself. You got hit on the head, so that’s probably–”
“Shut up, obviously I already know that.” Katsuki snapped, cutting Kaminari off. Kaminari immediately stepped away and looked down dejectedly, obviously put out from being shut down. Katsuki sighed. “My memory probably isn’t the most reliable anyway.”
Katsuki let out a small huff and leaned up against a wall of a side building. He wasn’t really expecting to find any kind of evidence here, but Kirishima and Kaminari had insisted on coming and seeing where the abduction had taken place. Katsuki had a feeling that they might have been testing him, to see how far he would go if he really was lying or recounting from a dream.
Katsuki shielded his eyes against the evening sun and watched as Kirishima paced up and down the street, inspecting everything in sight. Kaminari stood off to the side, his arms crossed and a small frown on his face. It was pretty obvious that he thought this was a waste of time too.
Suddenly, Katsuki felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end and he leapt back up, looking around sharply. It was the same feeling he’d gotten when he’d visited the cemetery, like someone was watching him.
He scanned the street, looking for anything out of the ordinary, when he saw her. He saw her head sticking out from behind a side street, her blonde hair catching in the light of the sun. He watched as her feline expression twisted into a maniacal grin.
“You!” Katsuki shouted, jumping into action. He sprinted across the street, using his quirk to propel himself forward in an explosive leap. The face disappeared down the street and Katsuki followed, kicking off the wall of the building along the side street.
He chased the girl all the way to the end of the alley where she was cornered by a dead end. Katsuki felt a surge of triumph and raced toward her, outstretching his hand. He let out the biggest blast he could muster without overextending himself and jumped into the spot where the girl had just been, ready to punch her until she was incapacitated. He swung his fist, but instead of connecting with a person, his knuckles slammed into the stone wall of the dead end. Katsuki let out a bellow of pain and stumbled back, clutching his injured hand to his chest. He shook his head and looked around frantically, trying to see where the girl had gone. The smoke cleared, revealing no one except himself standing in the dead end.
“Bakugo! Dude, what the hell!” Katsuki looked up to see Kirishima jogging toward him down the alley.
“Did you see her? She must have run back the other way! We have to get her, we have to–” Katsuki took a step forward and grimaced when he realized he’d stepped in a puddle of sludge-like mud on the ground. He grunted in disgust and stepped around it, wondering briefly why he hadn’t noticed it before.
“See who? What are you talking about? You just ran off, what the hell happened?” Kirishima panted as he reached Katsuki, casting a grossed out look at the puddle of mud.
“The girl! There was a girl! You’re telling me you didn’t see her?” Katsuki shouted, drawing Kirishima’s attention back up to his face. He stared at Katsuki in utter bewilderment.
“I didn’t see anything, I just saw you running off. You’re telling me you were chasing a girl down this alley and… what? You lost her?” He looked around incredulously.
“I didn’t! She was right there, she was–” Katsuki cut himself off, looking around again. “Where's the dunce-face?”
“Huh?”
“Sparky! Jamming yay! The human charging station!”
“Oh!” Kirishima looked around, noticing the absence of his friend as well. “Kaminari! Where are you?”
“Keep your panties on, I’m right here!” Kaminari appeared in the mouth of the alley and was jogging toward the others, clearly out of breath.
“You both went… running off… and I tried following.” He coughed as he came to a stop in front of them. He planted his hands on his knees and sucked in deep breaths. “I fell on the sidewalk back there, okay?”
“Whatever.” Katsuki growled. “Did you see a girl with blonde hair anywhere?” Kaminari blinked up at him in confusion.
“Huh? What girl? What did she look like?” He straightened up and looked around curiously.
“I just told you. She had blonde hair, she was our age. You didn’t see anything either?”
“No… Wait, that’s why you went running? Was she that cute? You wanted to hog the cute girl to yourself?” Kaminari shot him a knowing grin and wiggled his eyebrows. Kirishima made a warning sound as Katsuki’s eyes flashed.
“That was one of the psychos who cut me.” Katsuki scoffed angrily and rolled his eyes. “She’s the one who gave me the scar on my neck.”
There was a brief silence and Kaminari looked sheepish. Katsuki sighed and shook his head.
“God… whatever. I must have… I must have imagined it or something. This whole thing was a fucking bust. I’m going back.” Katsuki stalked off, trying not to seem bothered, even though he was seething on the inside.
Was his mind playing tricks on him? This was the second time that he’d thought he’d seen someone or felt someone watching him, but then it had turned out to be nothing. This was getting to be a bit ridiculous. That girl and Deku were in his head now, and he needed to figure out a way to fight back without being so paranoid and making a fool of himself.
Behind him, Kaminari and Kirishima followed solemnly, glancing at each other with somber, worried expressions.
~~