Chapter 13

Bakugo glared down at his newly written notes with disgust. He assumed that paying attention in class would've taken his mind off of everything she said last night, but it was just a wasted effort. Every little distraction he tried to emulate only dragged him right back to it and it was starting to really piss him off. The day went on as normally as it could have, the only thing that made it shitty was when he couldn't stop himself from thinking about it.

A part of him really wanted to get her all alone and cornered, so that he could force the fight right out of her instead of going through all this extra training shit, but this damn probation still hung above his head. If he wanted to get physical, it needed to be where no one would see, where no one could stop them or threaten expulsion. Unfortunately, after putting the pros and cons together, that seemed to require a lot more effort than simply training the girl, and as much as he hated to admit it, he really did care about the grade. If the damn assignment had no effect on his transfer into the coming year, he couldn't care less about helping her, but that just wasn't the case right now.

What the hell was he supposed to do? Did he have to suck it up and deal with it, or could he really ask to get put in another group? Thinking back to Aizawa's instructions, he failed to see that actually working out for him. There wasn't much of an alternative left.

The bell rang, which signaled that class was over and it was now time to switch to the last period for the day. As part of the routine, he stopped by his locker to grab his gym uniform, went to the bathroom to change, and walked to Ground Omega. They were already there waiting for him by the same tall tree where they first came together, except this time, she was dressed in her hero costume. It seemed she always had to wear black, which suited her dark, scummy personality.

She gave him a small wave before she went back to explaining the key parts of her costume. She asked a few questions about possible improvements she could ask the support department to add that would benefit her quirk. Provided, she did a few exercises to show them all that she could do with it currently. Seeing her continue to act so casually as if nothing happened made the training somewhat bearable, but every once in a while, he would catch her glancing back at him. It looked like she was waiting for him to give her an answer, which only annoyed him. How was he going to get through it if he agreed? She's got to be the biggest idiot on the planet if she could ever think she could beat him. As if that would ever happen! Katsuki started perfecting his quirk from the first day he got it, and that was well over ten years ago. In order for her to even come close to his level would require some harsh, back-breaking work.

Oh, wait! That's it!

The idea instantly came to him of how he could get out of this scot-free. If he agrees to train her, he'll give her the worst possible obstacles imaginable until she begged Midnight to go to a different group. It was the perfect idea! Not only would he watch her suffer, but she would have to do everything he said. Then she would go running back to her teacher with tears in her weak little eyes. What a sight that would be! What was even better was knowing that he finally had the chance to break her after putting up with all the crap she did to him. He had all the power, he couldn't lose! The only downside was going to be how long it would take, but that didn't seem to be much of a problem to him.

The first day of real training, he'll make it the absolute worst, just like it was for him during the summer training camp. There's no way she would last. The very thought caused a sinister smirk on his face. For the rest of the session, he sat there pretending to pay attention when in reality, he was scheming every single detail in his mind. After a while, he quickly took his daily notes and the class had ended. As they were gathering up their things, he decided to finally give her an answer.

"Hey, idiot." She stopped herself from following the others to look back at him. "About what you said, I got a proposition for ya."

Her brow raised, signaling that her interest was piqued, as she approached him to hear what he had to say.

"So you've thought about it?..."

"Yea, I have, and here's what I have to say. If you're that serious about it, I'll take you up on that offer. To be clear, this doesn't mean I'm gonna help you because I want you to succeed. I'm only doing this to get a point through your thick head."

"And that is?"

"That you'll never be strong enough to beat me. It took me a long time to be able to get to this level, and I still think you're crazy for thinking you could ever meet me where I am now. Getting this powerful isn't some cake walk. It takes true grit to become this badass! So I'm gonna show you just how hard it really is! If you can't handle it, you better say so now 'cuz from this moment on, I'm not holding back on you!"

She was genuinely surprised that he was willing to agree, but she figured that he would add some kind of catch to it. It was kind of weird of him to say that she's not as strong, considering how she handled him the last few times. Regardless, that didn't matter. It didn't take long for her to come to a conclusion. If she couldn't beat him, the guy who resembled her sworn enemy, then how could she ever hope to defeat the real one? She needed to prove him wrong.

"Alright."

"What? Seriously? I'm not screwing around with this. I'm gonna work you hard, probably the hardest you'll ever have to go through, and you still think you can tough it out? Just 'cuz you're a girl doesn't mean I'm gonna go easy on ya." He said.

"I know. I don't want you to… I may be a girl, but I'm definitely not a weak one."

He let out a chuckle. She was a cocky little brat, but he had to hand it to her, she for sure got some guts.

"We'll see about that. C'mon. We're going to the Service Department."

He threw his bag over his shoulder and led the way back to campus. The Servicing workshop stayed open for three hours after the last bell rang, and this was normally because the more experienced students would be finishing follow-up orders before their deadlines. Students from the Hero Department could still come by and make additional requests while it was open. Akane followed him, a bit anxious to see what he was planning to do. Maybe he had listened to the details about her costume and knew how to improve it. Once they made it to the workshop, Power Loader Sensei was already there along with Hatsume tuning the mechanics on someone's hero equipment.

"Hey, we need some assistance over here!" Projected Bakugo, which forced them to nearly snap their necks.

"What with?" asked the teacher.

"This extra right here needs to add on some things to her costume and we need you to engineer some kind of high intensity weight equipment."

"Let me see your papers."

Akane proceeded to unzip her bag and give him what he asked. It was the blueprint form that was printed out for every individual costume with notes on their quirk and a list of all their special modifications. He quickly looked it over.

"Hattori, huh? Didn't we just finish your costume?"

Before either one of them could answer, Hatsume sprung from her seat and dug into her massive pile of inventions. She immediately came back with a massive steel-plated bodysuit and shoved it in Akane's face. "If you're looking for strong, durable armor, then try this! I call it baby number 74! The steel plated suit provides strong durability and the weight is guaranteed to withstand even the most powerful impacts. The suit is also equipped with a software that becomes activated whenever your muscles contract for easy movement."

Akane took a quick look at her proposed item, and rejected it. There was no way that this would expand along with her red strength, especially when she becomes emotionally compromised. By then, she just gets bigger and bigger. "Sorry. My muscle quirk wouldn't be able to work in this."

"Oh, just try it on! C'mon!" she begged, pushing it harder into her arms.

"Hatsume, knock it off already!" yelled Power Loader, to which she disappointingly backed away.

"She doesn't need anything flashy. Her kicks and hits are too weak. She needs some extra weight behind it, preferably something that's adjustable… Not a bunch of that useless crap." Bakugo demanded.

"Well, I suppose we could develop some flexible weighted soles for her boots made of expandable material, and we could add on a couple of arm bracers. Actually, now that I think of it, we made a similar tool just like that for the teachers during the practical exam."

He instantly went over to a special shelf filled with previous small inventions and pulled out four cuffs that Bakugo immediately recognized.

"We made these weight cuffs as a way to slow down the teachers in order to give the students a fighting chance in the exam. The style you're looking for is essentially the same, but we can add an adjustable knob to change the intensity."

"That sounds good." He agreed.

Power Loader looked over to Akane for confirmation. It was her costume, after all, and it was a bit weird to have someone else adjusting her equipment.

She gave a nod in agreement.

"Alright, then we'll get to work. Let us know if you need any more upgrades. Just leave your costume here with us for the night. It should be ready by tomorrow night."

As told, she went to the nearest restroom to change while Bakugo stood off to the side and waited for her. When she came back, she handed over her briefcase. Before they left, Bakugo asked Power Loader if he could have a couple sets of those special cuffs to take. He was a bit confused, but saw no reason not to, so he granted his request and with that, they walked back to their dorm. It was a little quiet on the way, not that she minded it, but the small part of her that was still slightly agitated with this kid kept bugging for her to figure him out a bit more. Taking a glance over to him, she saw that he was carefully eyeing the cuffs.

"What's your plan for those?" she asked.

"This? This shit's gonna be the starting point of the real training."

She gave him a questionable look, and he was more than eager to break it down.

"I took the practical exam with Deku against All Might. These cuffs were meant to slow him down a bit with the extra weight, and even he said it was a lot for him to move around in. Starting now, you're gonna be wearing these babies!"

Before she could say anything about it, he took her wrist and slapped them on one by one. Oddly, they didn't feel very heavy, especially since he was able to hold them so casually. There must be some kind of switch somewhere. He searched as he tightened the grip around her arm until he came across a button. As soon as he pushed it, her arms immediately dropped to her sides. A grin slapped across his face at the surprised look she made when he did that. This was off to a great start and it was about to get better. He hadn't even put the ones on her feet yet. Once he did that, she was as stiff as a board, stuck in her own tracks.

"How long do I have to wear these?..."

"Until the day of the Fighting Festival. I told ya I wasn't gonna go easy on ya! You should've backed out when ya had the chance!" he exclaimed with excitement. Man, she looked so stupid struggling with those things.

Calmly, she concentrated a small portion of her quirk to manipulate the muscle fibers within her arms and legs. She was cautious not to let it grow big and overstretch the fabric of her uniform. From there, the weight was still there, but it was tolerable. It was almost like the weights she would strap on when she did her morning runs over the summer. This was 24/7 though. She figured he would do something this malice, but looking past his arrogance, this actually wasn't a bad idea.

She tested her movement by waving her arms and kicking her legs. Yea, this was okay.

"Okay, then what?" she asked. Bakugo was shocked. How could she be so calm about this? They got to be about a hundred pounds each!

"I thought you said you could only lift five hundred pounds with your quirk pushed to the max?!"

"To be honest, the last time I recorded that was roughly two years ago, so I'm sure I've improved since then… And this isn't really that much. I only need a fragment of my power for this."

Bakugo cursed in his head. "Hey, just because they're fine now doesn't mean that they won't be later! By the end of this week, you're gonna be limp and sore as a motherfucker!"

She had to stop herself from saying – that's what she said. Unfortunately, her face couldn't desist and she ended up letting out a small snort. Katsuki became confused and infuriated.

"What the hell is so funny?! Are you even taking this seriously?!"

She nodded. "Sorry…"

"Just for that, I'm gonna give you an intense strict workout regimen starting first thing tomorrow! You're gonna do five hundred push-ups, kicks, and punches, and do a three mile run every single day! That includes fucking weekends, holidays, and winter break, ya got that?! And don't even get me started on the shit we're gonna do during group training!" he yelled back. That had to be enough to intimidate her, but sadly, her look still didn't change. What the fuck?

"Okay…"

"Okay?! That's all you have to say is okay?! I'm dead serious about this!"

"If you're hoping for me to quit now, sorry to disappoint you… It doesn't matter what kind of challenges you plan to throw at me, I'm gonna get through it…" she stated with the same hidden confidence she showed the night before.

"Oh yea?! We'll just see about that! And don't think you can just take those things off when you go to bed at night, or shower, or anything you fucking do on your down time 'cuz I'll know!"

"How so? Are you gonna spy on me while I'm doing all that?" she teased, which instantly boiled his blood to the point where his face became hot with embarrassment.

"N-no! Why would anyone look at someone with a fucked up face like that?!"

Instantly, there was silence, which caught his full attention. Her complexion melted downward, as if she had been yanked down under the pitch black ocean of depression. Just when she thought they were getting somewhere, he had to go and say that shit. He's the one who fucking gave her the damn scar in the first place, and even though her friends said it wasn't noticeable, she knew damn well they were lying. She often hated those who would lie just to spare her feelings, but coming out of the blue from someone like him hurt equally as much. Just hearing those words brought back lots of unpleasant memories that she hid away for a long time, ones that she desperately hoped to forget. She remembered those awful girls who picked on her for having a hideous – looking quirk in junior high, and the way her childhood crush stared at her with such contempt when she finally unleashed it to fight them back. They all said the same thing to her over and over again. It was the main reason why she was held back for over a year prior to coming to U.A. That time was one of the few that she considered to be absolute torment. She didn't want that to repeat, but fate was cruel for putting Bakugo in her path.

Without a word, she focused her gaze on the ground and angrily brushed past him. She made herself a rule right then and there to not let him see how bad he hurt her.

"Hey!" he called, but she kept on walking. "Shit…"

He didn't know why the words came out of his mouth. They just did. Now that he thought about it, that may have been too harsh, even for someone like him. Where the hell did she get off asking him such a stupid question anyway? If she hadn't asked that, then maybe he wouldn't have said that.

There was one thing he absolutely held true above all his personal values, and that was not to let anyone get away with humiliating him. If anything, he would find a way to counter it right back to the idiot who dared to try. She was no exception… So then, why did he feel weird when she made that face?

Before his mind could overthink it, he decided to brush it off and focus on getting back to his dorm. At least he didn't have to put up with her for the rest of the night, so he casually put his hands in his pockets and kept on walking. He entered the front door and walked past all the other extras before making his way to his room to change in his normal clothes. Right when he put his hand on the door handle, an annoying voice snuck up behind him.

"Hey, Bakugo!"

He turned to see both Sero and Kirishima standing there with those stupid grins on their smug little faces. He let out an annoyed growl at them for bothering him. Today was a long day, and all Katsuki wanted to do was relax. Sadly, that was one of the downsides to living in a dorm with a bunch of other nosy idiots.

"What do you want, extras?..."

"We overheard a rumor that you were walking off with Hattori somewhere right after training today. Were you two off for a little secret rendezvous?" asked Sero devilishly. The temperature felt like it was starting to rise in the room.

"The fuck are you talking about?! We went to the service department!" he shouted.

"I heard it was so you two could be alone together, am I right?"

His cheeks flushed more. Why would they insinuate something so ridiculous?

"No! And you shut your damn mouth before I shut it for you!"

"Hey, calm down, man. We were only joking around. There's not really a rumor going on about that. I texted Hattori earlier to see if she wanted to hang out after dinner tonight, but she said she was with you, and Sero kinda blew it out of proportion." Kirishima explained.

"Yea, I guess I did. Like anyone would ever believe that, I mean what girl would actually wanna hang out with this little hot head?" He smirked, pointing a thumb over in Katsuki's general direction.

"What did you call me?!" he shouted.

These two always had to tease him! It was even more annoying when they did it because often, Sero or Kaminari or even that damn Ashido chick would joke about it to the point where everyone in class was involved. God save them for the times where it reached Class B. He couldn't stand it.

"By the way, did something happen between you two? I tried to talk to her when she got back, but she didn't even acknowledge me, or anyone for that matter. She looked really upset." Kirishima asked.

"Knowing him, he's probably the one responsible." Added Sero.

"Shut up!"

He went back to unlocking his dorm room, but was stopped once again, this time from Kirishima putting an arm on his shoulder.

"Listen, Bakugo, you shouldn't be so hard on Hattori. All she wants to do is get through the training and get stronger, just like everyone else. Whatever grudge you have on her, can't you just let it go?" he asked, which only made him let out another annoyed grunt.

"Don't act like you know a damn thing!"

"Hey, c'mon. Picking fights is no way to treat your girlfriend." Sero teased again.

Katsuki's heart beat aggressively with his rage as the palms of his hands started to get hot with sweat. One more comment like that, and he'll blow them both out the window.

"Enough, Sero." Said Kirishima. He could already tell that Bakugo was about to lose his shit if he continued on. "Look, she's a nice person. I get that it's not easy for you to be around her 'cuz of what happened, but you know that what she did wasn't intentional, right? She told me that she normally keeps others away because she's afraid for their safety. She knows she can't control her quirk. You know that too, right?"

"Tch. Yea, I know…"

"So then don't be too hard on her, okay?"

"Don't tell me what to do…"

Once that was said, he unlocked the knob and went into his room before they could bother him about anything else. He dropped his bag at the foot of his bed and took off the jacket to his uniform. He changed into some casual comfortable clothes and sat at the edge of his bed thinking.

Stupid Kirishima… What the hell did he care what went down between him and her? And he was taking her side, nonetheless, after claiming to be his friend. Then again, this wasn't the first time for Shitty Hair to be dumb enough to be the brick wall that divides him from his opponents. If he only spent the last couple of weeks in his shoes, he wouldn't be thinking so innocently of her. Every fiber of his pride was screaming for him to ignore everything he said, but the tiny shrimp of his repressed inner consciousness reminded him that Kirishima was a good friend to him.

When he first obtained his quirk, everyone praised him for it, claiming that he had the potential to become the next All Might. He valued that claim ever since and it's what drove him to reach for the top. At first, he believed that he truly deserved all the glory for his quirk, including being the most popular guy in his grade. People would flock around him all the time, following him no matter what, doing whatever it is he wanted to do. It wasn't until he came to U.A. that he realized it was all fake.

Once he left junior high, the people that he once called friends didn't want anything to do with him anymore. He wasn't there anymore, and therefore was no longer the popular guy in school. Katsuki even made an effort over the semester break to try and meet up with them for a movie, but they texted back saying that they didn't want to see him again. It turns out that they didn't really like him at all, and only hung around him because some of his popularity rubbed off on them, which allowed them to have special treatment. It wasn't a genuine friendship, and that was one of the biggest turning points in his whole life.

The only person who chose to stay his friend was Deku, and now he was so far ahead to becoming a hero that Katsuki felt even more left behind. Since then, he made it really difficult for people to want to be friends with him. He figured that those who could put up with his dominant attitude on a regular basis might be worthy enough for his time. So far, only Kirishima made the effort. He would never admit it, but he didn't want their relationship to fade out over some stupid girl, even if he did hate her.

"Fucking Shitty Hair… why do you care about her?"