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Izuku made it to class in the nick of time. Which was ideal, since making it too early would only give his classmates a higher time frame to torment him before the first period. And getting there late would annoy Takeshi-Sensei to the point of berating him in front of everyone. He rather be disheveled from running but on time, than late and become the center of attention. Again.

Better not have a repeat of two days ago, when everyone had laughed at his UA application.

At least he felt well rested. After the Slime-Villain attack, the entire school had announced yesterday off. Building maintenance, or something of the like according to the vague email that the teachers sent yesterday. 

It was weird but Izuku was not going to complain about being spared an entire day from Aldera in the middle of the week. Besides, it probably was just an excuse to buy time for Principal-Okamura to make a press statement on the Sludge-villain incident and how Aldera’s most promising hero candidate had handled the situation and how that reflected so well on Kacchan’s middle-school. 

Everyone was bound to be a bit more restless and gossipy about the ordeal.

“All right everyone, settle down.” Takeshi-Sensei didn’t even grant him a glance as Izuku made his way towards his seat. Which Izuku quietly thanked him for. 

All in all this day hadn’t started out so bad. Sensei was ignoring him and everyone seemed more mellow than usual. Even Kacchan! Also, no one tried to trip him on his way to the back of the room, which was an added bonus. 

Izuku settled his yellow backpack next to his seat and pulled out his notebook and a pencil just as sensei continued.

“Before we start, I want to clear up some things as there’s been a few rumors going around the school this morning. Principal Okamura is going to speak to the school in general later today during an assembly, but we thought it was important to address this matter with this class beforehand as it concerns one of your classmates, who, as you may have noticed, is absent today.”

Sensei sounded serious. Izuku looked up from his charred Hero Analysis No. 13, and shifted his gaze around the room. No one seemed to be missing. Had something happened to one of the third years in another class? Izuku is by no means close to anyone in the room, well except for Kacchan- sort of - but that didn’t mean he was not worried with sensei words. He hoped everyone was okay. No one else seemed to share his worry, though. They all looked straight ahead at sensei or down at their desks.

“I am aware that most if not all of you want to go into heroics,” sensei continued and Izuku relaxed a little. 

This had to do with their applications. Of course Takeshi-Sensei would speak like this after Kacchan was attacked. He just wanted to make sure they were all ready for a future in heroics. He kind of felt happy sensei hadn’t singled him out as the exception, like he had with the High school applications. 

“And I am supportive of each and every one of you, but I want to remind everyone in the class that this type of career will come with news like these, so you must be prepared to hear them. That means dealing with life and death situations like these.”

Izuku peeked at Kacchan in sympathy. Clearly the Sludge Villain incident was not something the school was taking lightly. It was only natural for them to be worried about someone as amazing as Kacchan. Izuku was just glad he was okay. His childhood friend, on his part, seemed to be scowling at his desk- probably grumbling at all the unwanted attention of having the need to be saved by the likes of someone like Izuku- but otherwise remained uncharacteristically silent during sensei’s speech.

“We at Aldera have a zero tolerance bullying policy, and we take that very seriously, especially myself-” Takeshi let out an exaggerated choking noise and Izuku would have snorted if he wasn’t so confused. What did that have to do with heroics and applications? Or the Slime incident for that matter?

It was at that moment that he noticed Principal-Okamura was in the room as well. When had he gotten there? And was Takeshi-? Takeshi-sensei’s hand was covering his mouth, eyes shut and shoulders shaking slightly. 

“Sensei?” Was Takeshi okay?

Okamura-sensei stepped forwards and placed a supportive hand on Takeshi’s shoulder. He cleared his throat before addressing the class.

“As you may have heard, Midoryia Izuku took his own life the day before yesterday.”

“W-what?” Izuku was on his feet. Blood drained from his face, limbs feeling like jell-o. Okamura continued as if he hadn’t heard him.

“This is a tragic circumstance, and me and the entire staff are incredibly distraught about it.”

“Okamura-Sensei, I-I didn’t-”

“We will be offering counseling to those who request or require it. But more importantly an investigation has been opened to identify the main instigator or instigators that might have led to Midoriya-kun’s actions. There have been reports that Midoriya-kun was harassed constantly and we’re looking into getting to the bottom of this as to prevent similar outcomes. With that said, if any of you noticed Midoriya-kun being mistreated we ask you to come forward-”

“Okamura-san,” Takeshi stepped forwards, his demeanor completely changed from a man who had been in the middle of a breakdown just mere minutes ago. “If I may.”

Okamura glanced at Takeshi then nodded. Takeshi wiped his crocodile tears and his hand quirk slammed on Kacchan’s desk. At which Kacchan actually flinched.

“Bakugou,” Takeshi-Sensei said in a low voice that dripped with a disdain that was only reserved for the likes of Izuku’s mumbling habit. “We all know it was you. Stand up.”

“W-wait-” Izuku started but no one was listening to him. No one was even looking at him. 

“Now!” Sensei growled and slammed his other extended hand on the blackboard. A thundering noise that echoed with the silence of the room as Kacchan stood.

“Good. Now, Inokushi,” Takeshi addressed the boy next to Kacchan. “You sit -sat in front of Midoriya-kun, did you notice Bakugou’s bullying during that time?” 

Inokushi’s shoulders were up as he spared a side look at Kacchan, clearly fearing retaliation. “I mean, I guess? He did tease Midoriya a little- but I mean, Bakugou is always like that with everyone, right?”

“Inokushi-kun,” Takeshi’s features softened, his voice sweet like honey. “There’s no need to butter up the truth, this is a safe space, you don’t need to be scared.”

“I’m not scared!” Inokushi defended quickly, “I just don’t know for sure! I mean, the ones that would know would be Taishi and Yamori! They’re the ones who always followed Bakugou and tormented Midoriya!”

“Like hell!” Taishi’s voice thundered from the other side of the room. His finger quirk extended as he pointed straight at Kacchan. “We only did it because Bakugou would beat us up if we didn’t!”

“Y-yeah! It was all his idea!” Yamori, Kacchan’s other supposed friend , added desperately. “We- we liked Midoriya! He was our friend! We were just keeping an eye on B-Bakugou so he wouldn’t go too far. But-but-” 

“Yamori-kun,” Takeshi-sensei said patiently. “I know this is hard but please try to calm down. It’s obvious you’re distressed and feeling guilty about the news but-”

“I’m not feeling guilty!” Yamori replied way too fast then pointed at Kacchan. “I- I didn’t do anything! He was the one who told Midoriya to jump off a building!”

There were gasps among the room, then Okamura-Sensei took over for Takeshi.

“When was this, Yamori-kun?”

Izuku felt like he was underwater. All the noise was muffled and distant and the images distorted. He looked at Kacchan, horrified. Everyone was looking at Kacchan with different emotions. None of them were good ones.

“Monday, right after school we stayed after class and Bakugou-” someone- Yamori?- was saying.

“Poor Izuku-kun,” another person murmured. 

“I can’t believe he still has the nerve to want to be a hero, and get into UA no less!”

“You think UA is gonna let this guy in after something like this? He’ll be lucky if he gets community service!” 

“Yeah, he should get jail time.”

“I can’t believe I thought he was cool-”

“Yeah, he’s just a bully-” 

They were all saying as if they hadn’t all laughed at Izuku two days ago after Takeshi-sensei had outed his UA application. 

Izuku couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t. The air was just not going in, he tried and tried and even then his lungs felt like they were filled with cotton. Every inhale was fruitless. He- he wasn’t dead. He couldn’t be. Kacchan had said- but Izuku would have never gone through with it. Never. He was going to be a hero, no matter-

He looked at his hands. He looked through his hands. Directly at his open notebook.

All Might’s signature stared back at him.

Do you think someone can be a hero, even without a quirk?

Oh.

Oh.

“I did go through with it.”

Izuku looked up and the last thing he saw before his vision went blinding white was Kacchan being escorted out of the room, Principal Okamura in tow.

Izuku walked through the empty hallways of Aldera Middle School. His left arm extended as it phased through the lined up lockers. Everything was a haze around this time of evening. 

The time around when he jumped off the roof of the main building nine days ago.

Izuku was dead.

He was dead and he was stuck. Trapped. In here. Forever.

It would be funny if it weren’t heartbreaking. And he didn’t even have a beating heart to break anymore. 

He couldn’t have imagined a worse outcome of his death. Then again it was just his luck. Being trapped for eternity in a place where everyone had despised and hurt him. At least when he was alive he could step out into the courtyard, near the fence. Run away. Jump.

These days the closest thing he could get to fresh air were the windows and he suspected the roof . He suspected, because he was not ready to go back up there just yet. He wasn’t that desperate for fresh air. He didn’t even need air. He gave up that right along with his freedom when he jumped.

His hands pulled on his hair then he found himself sitting on the floor in the middle of the hallway, knees drawn up to his chest as he let out a desperate whine. He missed the outdoors. He missed stepping out and chasing hero fights and taking notes on his notebook and fanboying about every detail and making suggestions to the heroes in his head and imagining actually talking to them and them saying thank you and that he was helpful and going to become an amazing hero one day and-

You can’t become a hero without a quirk.

Right. 

He sniffed and wiped his face. Right. He couldn’t become a hero anymore. He couldn’t become anything anymore. Not a policeman or a doctor like All Might suggested. 

How could he have been so stupid? So utterly selfish?

What possessed him to go through with it?

At least as a worthless Deku, he had made a small difference. He had managed to earn Kacchan a few moments of breath back during the slime incident. And now Kacchan was-

No. He couldn’t, he couldn’t think about this now. Not when he had to deal with it every day since Takeshi had put Kacchan on the spot in front of the entire class.

Izuku swallowed a lump in his throat. He truly was a terrible person. He ruined Kacchan’s life. Maybe it was better he wasn’t around anymore.

No. No it wasn’t better. If he’d never jumped Kacchan would be okay right now instead of- of-

And mom. He just up and left her. Did he even leave a note?

Izuku sighed. He didn’t remember. There were lots of things he didn’t remember these days. 

Evenings mostly.

He leaned back and his head actually made contact with one of the lockers instead of going through it. A fact he was thankful for. Floors, walls and some objects were solid when his body mimicked its alive state. 

He stayed like that until the lighting in the hallway dimmed into the bright pinks and oranges of dusk.

It was around that time of the day. The time he jumped.

Izuku closed his eyes as tears just continued to fall. He missed his mom. He missed spending time with the only person who actually smiled at him and loved him despite him being a useless, selfish failure of a son. 

She must be devastated about being left behind. He wanted to tell her how sorry he was. That he’d take it back if he could. He wouldn’t do it again. But he was chained to this awful place, not even being able to go through any of the doors or windows to reach her. And even if he did, he was certain she’d never be able to hear him.

As everything became white, just like it did every day at this time, Izuku let out a shudder, ready for the gap of non existence and to wake up once more to halls full of teachers and students.

Kacchan was late. 

The Kacchan Izuku had known in life was never late. He had thrived on punctuality because his perfect attendance was just another step for him to become number one. Of course, that was all before. Before Izuku had put Kacchan’s dreams on the line. 

The Kacchan of Izuku’s afterlife was one who benefited from Izuku’s well known strategy of making it to class just before the bell rang.

He rushed after his friend, both of them making it to 3A just as first period started.

“You’re late, Bakugou,” Takeshi-sensei announced and closed the door. It went through Izuku’s body. 

Izuku glared at the man because no. Kacchan hadn't been late, thank you very much. He made it to class just before the bell rang. Of course, Takeshi would ignore that given the circumstances.

Kacchan just bit out a reluctant ‘Sorry’ towards the ground before storming into his seat. 

“That was good,” said Izuku in an encouraging tone, even if Kacchan couldn’t hear him. “Just don’t let him see he’s getting to you, Kacchan. Keep fighting. Just like All Might.” 

“Make sure it doesn’t happen again,” Takeshi replied uninterested. “And mind the attitude, wouldn’t want to get another black mark on your permanent record now do you?” 

At this Izuku sent their homeroom teacher a vicious glare while several of their classmates chuckled under their breaths. 

Kacchan forced out a low “No sir,” through his teeth.

“Yeah Bakugou,” Inokushi, who last week had been incredibly reluctant to get on Kacchan’s bad side but clearly had no qualms about it now, remarked as he leaned towards Kacchan’s desk with a slide smile. “Wouldn’t want to ruin your chances at UA now, would you? Oh wait- my bad.”

More chuckles followed that. 

“That’s not true! He hasn’t ruined his chances!” Izuku said at the same time as Kacchan growled.

“Shut the fuck up, pencil face,” Kacchan said under his breath.

“Bakugou-kun!” Aki said with a horrified loud gasp calling the attention of the room as her eyes filled with unshed tears. She made sure her voice projected as she continued, “How can you be so mean! Don’t call Inokushi-kun that awful nickname!”

“Yeah dude, discriminating against someone’s mutation quirk is just messed up.” Someone else added.

“I mean, what else do you expect from Baka-gou?”

“Honestly, I’m not surprised anymore,” Taishi shrugged looking at his lap in sad acceptance. His surrounding classmates gave him pitiful empathic looks. “Yamori-kun and I are used to it.”

“Everyone, settle down.” Takeshi called out to the room in his characteristic bored tone. “Bakugou, if you keep harassing your classmates I’m going to have to give you detention.”

“What!” Izuku turned towards their teacher. “But he didn’t do anything! They were the ones who started it, sensei you can’t-”

“Right,” Takeshi-sensei said. “Now we’ll continue where we left of yesterday, please open your math book to page 56 and we’ll do problem 17,”

Izuku tuned-out his teacher with a sigh and went to take his still empty seat. His nose wrinkled slightly at the sight of flowers and cards decorating his once insult and suicide baiting covered desk. They were taking this facade of liking him just a tad too seriously. 

“I guess I’ll just write on my lap then,” he complained loudly to the unassuming classroom as he also took his math book and notebook. 

Honestly he was grateful that at least in death he was granted the few items he’d had last contact with like his clothes, backpack and phone. Even if his phone was practically a useless plastic brick now. 

It was weird, in a way, that he had ghost-like things that he could interact with just as he had been able to in life. They were invisible and to living people, intangible. But not to him. He didn’t completely understand why but he wasn’t about to complain. It was nice to have things to entertain himself with without effort or worry of going through them.

Of course, he could also interact with some surfaces that were not his ‘ghost-support items’ as he’d called them, like the lockers and his chair and desk, but only when sitting or resting on those surfaces, never when he tried to move or grab them. 

Maybe he could analyze his reach and ability to interact with solid things further when the rest of the students left for PE or something. 

“Does anyone have the answer?”

Oh, right! They were supposed to be working on problem 17. 

He took one look at the problem and was completely lost. Well, at least he’d have the rest of eternity inside Aldera to figure it out. Lucky him. 

“802.45,” Kacchan answered dutifully. 

Lately he’d been participating more in class as that would give him extra-credit and aid his prospects for a better UA application. According to their teachers, it was a way to countermeasure his bullying blackmarks.

And okay, Izuku hadn’t meant to eavesdrop on that private conversation between their teachers and Kacchan but he needed to know. He had to make sure Kacchan still had a chance, a future in heroics. And he did. It was admirable really. How Kacchan was putting up with everything despite Izuku’s selfish actions and everyone’s change of demeanor. He was giving it his all to reach his goal. A goal that was still possible, no thanks to Izuku.

“Don’t speak out of turn, Bakugou.” 

Izuku cringed at the sight of small explosions flickering at Kacchan’s fingertips.

But then again. Kacchan wasn’t used to uphill battles as much as Izuku was.

Kacchan ate his lunch inside the classroom now. Whereas before Izuku’s jump, Kacchan would hardly be seen without Taishi and Yamori in the cafeteria, now he sat at his desk with a bento box and a bottle of water.

Izuku kind of missed food. He never felt hungry anymore but he missed the sensation of finishing a delicious meal with his stomach full and comfortable and warm. 

“You have curry today,” Izuku said from Inokushi’s empty desk to break the silence. “I bet it’s really spicy. Aunt Mitsuki’s curry was always really spicy. Not that it was bad or anything, Kacchan! I just, you know, you could handle it so much better than I ever could! I guess that’s because you’ve always liked spicy food but still, it’s pretty admirable! How you handle things. Things that not everyone can...”

Kacchan said nothing, he never said anything. He just continued to eat his food in silence.

“You’re doing great, you know?” Izuku continued as Kacchan took a drink from his water bottle. “All this?” He gestured towards the empty classroom in general. “I couldn’t, couldn’t handle it. But, but you’re stronger than I am- was, you’ve always been so...” his voice drifted. The side remarks from their classmates this morning replaying back in his head, Takeshi’s attitude to always make Kacchan the guilty party even if he hadn’t done anything. “This is my fault. I’m sorry, I’ve caused you so much trouble, I never meant to put you in this situation. If I’d known it’d end up like this-”

“Shut up.”

Izuku’s gaze snapped up, eyes blurry and wide towards his friend. “Kacchan?” He smiled daring to hope. Had he heard him? He could hear him, right? He had just replied. Told him to shut up like he’d done so many times before The Jump. Izuku reached a hand towards Kacchan.

Kacchan shook his head as if shaking out an unwanted thought. “Fuck. Damn it.” He pushed his unfinished curry away. 

Oh. Of course. Not talking to Izuku then. Just himself. 

Izuku suddenly didn’t want to be in this classroom anymore. But what he wanted didn’t matter now. It was his fault Kacchan was here. Having lunch in class instead of the cafeteria. Alone.

“I’ll stay until you tell me to go,” Izuku promised and immediately knew it was an empty one. Kacchan would never be able to tell him to go. And Izuku would never be able to stay past Aldera.

It was PE and 3A’s class was empty. This was the perfect time for Izuku to practice. He knew there was a possibility for him to interact with solid objects. Otherwise he would not be able to sit at his desk.

As much as they bothered him, the cards and flower arrangements on his desk were the perfect test subjects. 

“If nothing else I can try pushing them off my desk,” Izuku mumbled and concentrated on his hand and the phantom feeling of picking up things in life. 

It was solid, the paper card was solid. He repeated in his head. He just had to do it slowly. His fingers made an attempt to grab for one of the corners of the card and went straight through it again. 

Frustration crept up his throat in a groan. Typical. Useless as always. The old Kacchan would laugh at him right now. Weak Deku, not even able to pick up a piece of paper. How worthless could he get?

Stop. Kacchan wouldn’t say that anymore. Kacchan had changed. Or at least Izuku thought he was trying to change. Now that their positions had reversed, surely Kacchan wouldn’t say cruel things to Izuku anymore. He understood what that felt like and he was trying to be better. He didn’t even use his quirk on others anymore! Well, that could also be because the teachers had threatened to file charges against Illegal Quirk usage but- still, Kacchan was getting more tolerant and nice-

Maybe because he couldn’t see you, dumbass.

Izuku shook his head. No. He couldn’t think like that. Kacchan was on his way to become an amazing hero. Even if Izuku despised what was happening to Kacchan, even if he was the cause of it. At least Kacchan was changing- growing, so Izuku had to do the same.

He could do this. Hands gripped the corner of the card, then his fingers went through them again. 

It didn’t even move an inch. 

Izuku slammed his hand flat against the desk, which only served to feed on the irony and frustration. Why the desk and not the card? Why when he had already lost everything was he still so, so - “Useless!”

There was a loud bang as the windows slammed open, startling Izuku and making him take a step back. The classroom window closest to him was wide open. That- that was loud. 

Without thinking he was making his way towards it. The sight of the Koi Pond met him. 

“That’s not food, stupid fish,” he mumbled and then his fingers were dripping with water. A wet paperlike object squeezed on his hand and made a puddle on the floor. Probably Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13. He looked down at his notebook and frowned. 

This wasn’t his notebook. 

He tightened his grip and the cards in his hands folded and crumbled. 

Seeing the messed up paper ball splash on the Koi Pond’s surface made it all worth it.

Aldera PE classes either took place outside on the courtyard or in their indoor gym. Today was an indoor gym day, Dodgeball. One of Izuku’s worst nightmares before The Jump. But at least he could take comfort that Kacchan, who had thrived at the game, would get a break from their classmates and get to release some steam in a healthy way. Knowing Kacchan, he’d probably been craving it all week.

Izuku made it to the gym with the class halfway through the game, but frowned immediately. Kacchan’s battle cries of ‘Die!’ were nowhere to be heard. In fact, Kacchan wasn’t on the field. Had he lost already? But he was the best at the game! That made no sense.

He peeked at his classmates. Instead of their usual panic, trying to avoid Kacchan’s strikes, they were laughing without a care in the world, exchanging banter and playfully cursing each other when someone got hit. They looked like they were having fun without Izuku, without Kacchan. 

“Good job, Taishi! Yamori!” Nakamura-sensei, their PE teacher, called from the sidelines. That’s when Izuku spotted  him. Kacchan, sitting at the very end of the bench behind Nakamura-sensei, not even looking at the game before him.

“What happened?” Izuku asked as he approached Kacchan. This was his favourite class. But Kacchan didn’t even look like he’d broken a sweat and lost the game. He wasn’t even sitting with the other disqualified players near the gym’s wall. Had he even been allowed to join in?

By the looks of it, the answer was no. Kacchan didn’t look like he’d done any exercise. He was wearing his gym school uniform but that was the extent of it. Just another charade, like Izuku’s desk memorial abomination. 

“Thanks sensei!” Yamori replied as he high fived Taishi’s extended fingers and their team slammed the last ball against Aki’s team. 

Kacchan visibly tensed, hands fisting in his lap. Sparks lighting up with a small pop.

“Kacchan-” Izuku tried to calm down his friend when sensei called.

“Bakugou, control yourself or I’ll be notifying Takeshi-san and filing a report for misconduct.”

Kacchan tsked, turning away from their teacher with a roll of his eyes. All in all, an improvement over his usual literal explosions. 

Then a ball hit him square in the face sending Kacchan to the ground. The sheer shock on Kacchan’s face made Izuku freeze on the spot as the gym grew suddenly silent.

“Oops,” Taishi ran up towards them, waving an extended finger hand towards Kacchan in a dismissal gesture. “Sorry about that, man! Tried to catch it with my quirk, but I guess I wasn’t fast enough!”

Kacchan was rooted on the spot. His face was frozen as if Izuku had hit pause on one of All Might’s videos, right in the middle of a catastrophe yet to come. The calm before the storm. As if he couldn’t believe Taishi had the guts to do this and the nerve to make it sound like an accident.

Kacchan obviously shared Izuku’s train of thought. There was a moment when everything stayed still. Then Kacchan let out an explosion right in Taishi’s face. “You fucking asshole!”

“Bakugou!” Nakamura-sensei yelled as Izuku instinctively jumped back with a high pitched cry. 

“I’m going to fucking end you!” Kacchan yelled and swung another fireball towards Taishi, who cowered back.

“I-it was an accident, Bakugou-kun!” he said desperately but the look on his eyes revealed nothing like the panic of his words. “Pl-please I-”

“Die!” The explosion landed on Taishi’s fingers and he immediately pulled in his quirk with a cry of pain.

“Taishi-kun!” Aki ran up from her spot on the other side of the gym and stepped between Taishi and Kacchan. “Stay away from him!”

“The fuck?” Kacchan snapped. “He fucking started it!”

“He said it was an accident!” Aki yelled back then turned towards the fallen Taishi. “Taishi-kun are you all right?”

Taishi was whimpering on the floor, clutching his hand like it had been cut off. 

“Let me see, make way Aki-san,” Nakamura said, lowering himself to Taishi’s eye level. Expression full of worry and Izuku distantly recalled the same Nakamura walking away when Izuku had been pushed down the stairs last month. 

Izuku had experience with burns, he was all too familiar with them, especially with Bakugou’s quirk. He knew Kacchan hadn’t put any effort on making those explosions life threatening. The explosions he’d sent Taishi’s way were as weak as holiday sparklers, the ones he used to threaten but not hurt. In fact, Taishi’s hand looked only slightly red, not even worth a future blister. 

And they all knew it.

“You-” Izuku’s voice was low and cutting. “You all are just-”

“Aki please take Taishi-kun to the nurse’s office,” Nakamura stood up and faced Kacchan. Izuku stood between the teacher and his friend. 

From the corner of his eye, Aki pulled a still whimpering Taishi to his feet. They made their way towards the exit before Taishi turned back towards Izuku, towards Kacchan and winked, waving the same so-called burnt fingers behind Nakamura. Not that their teacher would care if he saw. 

The lights on the gym’s ceiling flickered, stopping Nakamura on his tracks. Kacchan’s eyebrows creased in slight confusion but otherwise remained still, still and furious under Nakamura’s judgement.

“Principal’s office, Bakugou,” Nakamura bit out. “Get out of my sight.”

Kacchan scowled at the man, then stormed out of the gym. Izuku followed close behind to hear him mumble, once Nakamura was out of earshot, “With fucking pleasure, asshole.”

Izuku smiled, sticking his tongue out in Nakamura’s direction. Falling into place next to his friend as they both made their way towards Okamura-Sensei’s office.

“So I heard, yesterday they banned you from using your quirk inside the school, Kacchan!” 

Kacchan paused mid bite of his Onigiri to look at Taishi and Yamori standing too close for comfort. In front of his desk. 

“Don’t fucking call me that,” Kacchan growled under his breath.

“Only I can call him that!” Izuku said at the same time, indignant.

“Why not?” Yamori asked innocently. “Isn't it what your closest friends call you? And we’re such close friends after all.”

“You’re nothing but damn extras,” Kacchan took another bite, finishing his first onigiri then going for his second when Taishi’s fingers grabbed his bento.

“Give it back!” Izuku demanded standing up and rounding on the other boys.

“I guess we are,” Taishi agreed, shaking the bento in his hands, examining its contents. “Then again, everyone but yourself is an extra in your opinion, right?”

“Damn right,” Kacchan replied and made an attempt to grab the bento but Taishi’s fingers only extended further away.

“Well, everyone except Midoriya!” Taishi added and Izuku froze on his spot. “Kami knows the poor sucker wasn’t even dirt under Kacchan’s shoes. Isn’t that right?”

Yamori laughed.

There was heavy breathing behind Izuku, it only took him a moment to realize it was not coming from himself but from Kacchan. “Don’t say his name, you sick fuck.”

“Oh that’s right! What is it that you called him before you told him to kill himself? Dek-”

Kacchan slammed Taishi against the wall. The bento box went flying and through Izuku’s hands as he tried and failed to catch it. 

“I don’t need my quirk to fucking put you in your place, Taishi,” Kacchan hissed and Taishi smiled, wide and too many teeth.

“So he does know our names!” Taishi told Yamori. “Not too bad for an extra, huh Katsuki?”

“Fuck you, you asshat!” Kacchan pulled on the other kid’s collar but did nothing else. “You think you’re so innocent here, when-”

“Well, I wasn’t the one who told our good old friend Midoriya to take a swan dive-”

“Shut up!” Kacchan shook Taishi, and Taishi’s expression went dark.

“Or what?” Taishi hissed. “You gonna kill me too?”

“Shut up, I didn’t-!” but something was wrong with Kacchan’s voice. Kacchan’s voice didn’t sound like that. Shook, desperate, uncertain-

“But you did,” Taishi said without missing a beat, face unreadable as he lifted his fingers and gently pulled Kacchan’s wrists off of him and Kacchan let him. “You did and you know it, don’t you, Katsuki?”

Kacchan didn’t reply to that. 

“N-no,” Izuku replied helplessly. “No, he didn’t. Kacchan, you didn’t. Don’t listen to him-”

“I don’t know how you can live with yourself,” Taishi muttered with disgust. “I wouldn’t be able to sleep if I were you, Bakugou.”

Then his entire demeanor flipped like a switch and Taishi smiled lightly, head turned towards Yamori, “Did you get that, Yamori?”

Both Izuku and Kacchan’s eyes landed on the other teen as he swiped through his phone. 

“Yep, got a bunch of really nice takes and angles, just sent them all to our emails for safekeeping.” He turned his phone around to show them images- photos- of Kacchan slamming Taishi against the wall, shaking him. 

“This one’s my favorite, it really captures the nature of our relationship.” In the picture, Taishi cowered against Kacchan’s helpless hold. 

Izuku’s stomach felt like it’d dropped to the floor. 

Yamori smiled and pocketed the device. Then he made his way out of the room, stepping on Kacchan’s fallen bento and discarded onigiri on his way and grabbing Kacchan’s water bottle from his desk. 

“Taishi-kun, let’s grab some food before lunch time’s over,” he said, unscrewing the bottle open and dropping all its contents on the floor then tossing it back at Kacchan’s feet.

Taishi smiled and followed his friend, skipping over the new water puddle and only pausing when he reached the door. “Enjoy the rest of your lunch, Kacchan.”

The sound of their laughter echoed from the hallway before the classroom door slammed shut.

Kacchan wasn’t allowed to eat lunch inside their classroom anymore. Takeshi-sensei had been upset about the mess from the day before with rice and water all over the floor and not only did he punish Kacchan with cleaning duty for the rest of the month but also prohibited anyone from staying inside the class during lunch hours.

Which meant Kacchan’s lunch options were now limited to either the crowded cafeteria, or alone in the courtyard. 

Izuku didn’t even bother trying to find Kacchan in the cafeteria, he knew which option he’d have preferred before The Jump. 

From the classroom window he tried to spot Kacchan but his friend was nowhere to be seen. And even then it wasn’t like Izuku could keep him company outside. 

Izuku let out a tired sigh. As he tried to grab one of the newest flowers on his desk. “Might as well get some practice,” he told the room just as his fingers phased through the petals.

Why was he doing this again? What was the point? It wasn’t like grabbing things would actually help him in the long run. Well, maybe, once Kacchan had graduated, Izuku could maybe find a home in the school’s library. Being able to grab a solid book could help entertain him for the rest of his miserable afterlife. Or maybe being able to use the computers there.

He could look up at other things other than the videos he’d saved on his useless phone before The Jump.

Izuku didn’t want to think about the time when Kacchan would no longer be at Aldera. It was selfish, but Izuku had long accepted that he wasn’t as high and mighty in the moral ground as his memorial cards claimed he was. 

He didn’t want to be alone. He didn’t want Kacchan to leave. Kacchan was all he had left. But he’d eventually graduate. Move on with the life Izuku had recklessly quit on. And he couldn’t be okay with that.

Izuku knew he didn’t deserve a second chance. Especially not when it was his fault Kacchan was being bullied and had no friends and a dream that seemed less attainable by the day with their teachers and classmates help. And Izuku wanted him to stay. He wanted Kacchan to stay even if Kacchan clearly hated this place as much if not more than Izuku did.

What did that say about him?

With every day that passed, lunch time became the worst time of Izuku’s day. Even worse than evenings when he lost grasp of reality and everything became numb and white and non existent. 

Every day after lunch, Kacchan arrived at the classroom looking wrong. At first Izuku almost didn’t notice. It was just his uniform, looking a bit dirtier, then his gakuran unbuttoned or skewed. Then ripped on some edges in some places. Until finally one day, Kacchan’s uniform was literally leaving a trail of smoke behind him.

Izuku immediately went to his friend’s side and looked Kacchan up and down for the fire. It had been a while since he had accidentally set an explosion on his clothes. Kacchan hadn’t done that in years, he had more control over-

“I know right?” Aki entered the room chatting loudly with the group of girls that followed her around like lost puppies. “I don't care how fancy it is or that it lights up. It's gross! I swear, I can smell his sweat from all the way to the back of the room.”

“Aki-chan, you’re terrible!” Harika giggled at her side. 

“You know it, and you love me anyways!” Aki gave her friend a slight wave as she made her way towards her seat next to Izuku’s, balancing a small ball of fire between her fingers. 

On her way, she lost balance and lost control of the small fireball in her hand. A fire that conveniently landed on Kacchan’s desk where his literature homework rested. 

“What the fuck!” Kacchan stood up immediately, dropping the paper to the floor and stomping on it, putting out the insignificant fire that was Aki’s quirk.

“Oh my goodness!” Aki shrieked, hand flying to her mouth. “I’m so sorry Bakugou-kun! Here let me help!” And proceeded to throw water all over Kacchan’s lap, desk and books.

Izuku had barely managed to notice Inokushi handing her an open water bottle.

“What the fuck!” Kacchan repeated angrier than ever, his hands flying into a battle position until Aki flinched away with a high pitched cry.

“I’m sorry! It was an accident!” she said, a picture of perfect innocence as she backed away.

“Yeah, man,” Inokushi said, smiling widely from his desk. “She was trying to help.”

“Oh, she was trying to fucking help, all right,” Kacchan growled and looked on the verge of igniting his hands. “I can help too.”

“What is going on here?” Takeshi-sensei stood at the doorway. 

“It was my fault, sensei,” Aki explained looking at her feet. “I was using my quirk recklessly and accidentally slipped and I think the fire caught on some of Bakugou-kun’s things. I tried to put it out but I think I just- I just made everything worse.” She turned and bowed towards Kacchan. “I’m so sorry, Bakugou-kun.”

Takeshi-sensei smiled at her. “It’s all good Aki, just make sure to be more careful next time. I know not everyone has full control of their quirk yet. Just keep doing your best.”

“You’re seriously just gonna buy that bullshit?!” Kacchan shook his wet and slightly burnt homework in the air. “This wasn’t a fucking accident!” 

“Are we going to have a problem, Bakugou?” Takeshi cut off Kacchan. “Aki explained it was an accident. It takes a big person to admit their mistakes. I think that’s something you could learn from Aki-san. Besides, her fire quirk is unstable and requires understanding from all of us. You should know that better than anyone considering the amount of accidents you set upon others over the years.”

Izuku flinched at the tone then glanced back at Kacchan who had lowered his homework and was now having a terrible time of keeping the paper from crumbling. 

“Apologize to Aki-chan for upsetting and discriminating against her and her quirk.” Takeshi demanded and Kacchan’s gaze snapped back up.

“What?” he growled. “It was her dumb quirk that-”

“I am going to ask just once more, Bakugou,” Takeshi said calmly. “Are we going to have a problem?”

Kacchan’s shoulders shook. Izuku couldn’t even see his friend’s expression but it was clear it was full of anger and frustration and Izuku couldn’t blame him.

“No, sir.” Something was wrong with Kacchan’s voice, it didn’t sound cutting or angry or bitting or growling. Just low. Flat. He turned towards Aki and gave her a slight bow and mumbled. “Sorry.” 

Aki smiled warmly at him. “Don’t worry about it, Kacchan! After all, we’re all friends here.”

The rest of the class offered similar looks as they all added.

“Yeah, Kacchan, we’re your friends!” Inokushi slapped his shoulder slightly.

“You take things too seriously, Kacchan,” Taishi added. 

“Kacchan has always been like that, this is why he’ll make an amazing hero one day,” Yamori supplied, crossing his arms and leaning back in his seat.

“Just do your best, Kacchan!” Harika winked at him and she and Aki burst into giggles.

Several things happened then.

Kacchan stood up and ran for the door. 

Takeshi-sensei sat on his desk and started the lecture as if nothing was amiss.

Izuku stood there, tear-strained and useless as usual, in the middle of the room as his classmates destroyed the last remnants of a dumb childhood nickname, one of the last and only things that still belonged to him.

Izuku found Kacchan in the bathroom. He wasn’t in one of the stalls or using the sinks. He was just there. Sitting against the wall with his legs extended in front of him and his arms at his sides. Head leaning against the wall, eyes open looking at nothing.

Izuku approached his friend and sat next to him. Knees drawn close to his chest and arms hugging them.

Silence stretched between them. On occasion someone would enter the bathroom, look at Kacchan then step out without a word. Some people did their business and paid him no mind. No one tried to talk to him, ask him what was wrong or tried to help. They all just continued with their lives and business as if Kacchan was just another ghost.

“Fuck,” Kacchan said then at the empty room after a while. It lacked the usual anger. The usual spunk and feeling Izuku was used to. He shuddered, his hands clawed at his disheveled hair and rubbed against his reddened eyes. “Fuck, Deku. I- Shit. I-I can’t do this. I- I’m sorry.”

Coming from Izuku, telling him he could do this would be hypocritical. After all, Izuku had not been able to survive it. 

“I’ll stay until you tell me to go,” Izuku mumbled and lowered his head into his arms, hiding from the world next to Kacchan. For once evening couldn’t come soon enough. 

It had become the new normal. The insults, the shoving, the whispers behind Kacchan’s back. Ten months until UA’s entrance exam was a long time when one went to Aldera. But of those ten months, the ninth mattered the most. 

Izuku had no doubts Kacchan would pass the UA entrance exam at the end of the tenth month. Whether or not he was allowed to take said exam, that was another matter entirely.

In the ninth month, the Aldera teachers would tell Kacchan whether or not he’ll take the exam. Kacchan’s future, his dream literally depended on people who looked away when Aki accidentally burnt Kacchan’s homework, and laughed with her friends about it. People who did not check on Kacchan when Taishi and Yamori ganged up on him trying to provoke him into defending himself with his quirk and ruining his chances.

All Kacchan had to do was maintain a perfect behavior up until the teachers sent their answer to UA and Kacchan would be free of this nightmare school.

But the thing was, Izuku wasn’t so sure anymore if Kacchan would ever be entirely free of Aldera.

He had noticed at first. How Kacchan stopped answering back at the teachers when they blamed him for the most miniscule things, grunting a low ‘sorry sensei’ before carrying on. Then the grunt became a mumble, then nothing at all. 

Kacchan didn’t talk back to their classmates either. All it took was someone to utter his childhood nickname and Kacchan would gain this distant look and shut down. Find his desk the most interesting thing in the world and clench his hands at his sides.

Then it didn’t take anything. There was no shut off moment because shut off just became Kacchan after a while. 

When someone mentioned Izuku, the spark of fury would surface back on his friend’s eyes as he told whoever dared to speak Izuku’s name to ‘Shut the fuck up’. Izuku was always grateful for this. He hated being used as a tool to hurt his friend further.

“Two more months,” Izuku told Kacchan one day during a free study period as their classmates thankfully paid them no mind. “Just two more months and you’ll be on your way to UA, I know it.” 

Kacchan continued staring out the window. 

Izuku turned the page on Kacchan’s history book. Over the past few months he had made some progress on his grabbing solid things abilities. “Hey, how about that question on last week’s test? You got that one right? I couldn’t remember the exact date of the battle but you got it right!”

Kacchan frowned at his book, probably having noticed that ‘the wind’ had turned the page. 

He turned it back to the previous one. Set his book up vertically on the edge of the desk, open and in front of him like a wall between him and Izuku. Then Kacchan folded his arms on his desk and rested his head on them.

“O-okay,” said Izuku, glancing around to see if any of their classmates noticed Kacchan purposely putting his book up for the taking and limiting his arm reach by resting his head on them. It was a beginner’s mistake, one Izuku had learnt long ago not to make, no matter how comforting a little wall between him and the world may feel like. “Just going to sleep huh? I’ll just put your book back inside your backpack, Kacchan.”

He made a grab for the book but his control was not doing him any more favours today as he ended up dropping the heavy text on the floor. 

Kacchan jumped upright, clearly not expecting it to fall. 

“Sorry about that!” Izuku called as he kneeled down to grab it. “I’ll try again.”

Except this time around someone beat him to it. He lost concentration and his entire hand went through the book just as Harika lifted it. 

“Eww Harika-chan,” Aki said loudly. Now that it was a free study period she could drop the facade as Takashi’s eyes were glued to his computer, headphones on. “I can smell that thing all the way from here!”

Izuku frowned up at Harika holding the book up with her weak telekinesys over her head. “Aki-chan I’m not even touching it.”

“Give it back,” Izuku tried to grab it but his stupid useless hand just went through it again. 

“Give it back, extra,” Kacchan snapped from his sitting spot, not even attempting to reach the floating book.

“Well, that’s not very nice!” Aki came up to stand next to Harika. “Her name is Harika-chan and she was just trying to help.”

“Well, I don’t need her help,” Kacchan replied, standing up and extending his hand. “Now give it back.”

Harika shrugged, “Sure.” She waved her hand with a knowing smirk and the book launched itself towards the window.

“Hey!” Izuku reached his arm out, despite it being out of his reach and suddenly the book left Harika’s control. Izuku’s hand felt heavier even if he wasn't anywhere near the book. It hovered there in mid air for a couple of seconds. Then it stopped and made an anticlimactic flop as it fell on the classroom floor next to the window.

Kacchan let out a low laugh. It was the first time in months Izuku had actually heard him laugh.

“What?” Harika snapped at Kacchan, her ears as red as Aki’s hair. “What did you do? You - you can’t use your quirk!”

Kacchan shrugged as he made his way to his fallen book. “My quirk’s explosion, you dumb cow.” He put his book back inside his backpack and Izuku became aware everyone in class was listening. “Not my fault your weakass power can’t even throw a little book out of a window.”

Then the bell rang and he was the first to exit the room followed by Izuku. No one dared bother them until Kacchan reached the front door, leaving Izuku behind at Aldera.

Izuku didn’t sleep. Or at least he wasn’t sure he slept. There were no dreams to remember and every morning just felt like he came into existence rather than waking up. It was always the same and it always started with Izuku in the middle of the stairway, on his way up to the school roof. 

He always had to come down to the main door to wait for Kacchan. And then they’d make their way to class together. 

Today though something stopped him on his way. Or rather someones.

“I’m just tired of his fucking better than everyone attitude,” Aki hissed. “Thinks he’s so above us all, including the rules, just because he has some flashy heroic quirk." She scoffed. "The guy’s a disgusting bully.”

“I still say we should have gone with the whole ‘Kacchan’ thing again,” Inokushi suggested. “Freaked him out pretty well last time. Guy was tolerable for weeks after that.”

“I don’t know guys.” Harika looked over her shoulder making sure no teachers were listening in. “Don’t you think this is taking it a little too far?”

“Come on now, Harika-chan,” Yamori wrapped an arm around her shoulders in a side hug. “Don’t tell me you’re not mad about him calling you a cow. Someone needs to put the bullies in their place. It's our duty as future heroes.”

“I don’t care what that murderer thinks of me!” Harika shoved Yamori away looking completely disgusted at the sole prospect. “You think I give a damn about some villain’s opinion? I’m talking about us! We’re on thin ice with the teachers now that everyone’s on this zero tolerance stuff. We were really lucky Midoriya didn’t leave a note and you two were solid witnesses against Bakugou. I mean it’s not like any of us stopped the red spider lilies on Midoriya’s desk every other day. I mean, you two even stood by while Bakugou abuse-”

“Shut up!” Yamori hissed. Demeanor completely changed from his friendly gestures towards Harika moments earlier. “If you ever repeat that in front of anyone you’ll regret it, got it, Harika?”

There was a moment of silence before Harika nodded.

Yamori smiled. “Besides, it wasn’t abuse. We teased him at most. Midoriya was just too sensitive. Took everything way too seriously.”

“Well that teasing drove him off the edge of the building,” Inokushi said with a shrug. “And caused a whole lot of problems for us.”

“Damn nerd can still fuck everything up, even after he offed himself,” Taishi said.

“Little harsh, Taishi,” Yamori choked a laugh, “Have some respect, the guy might get a quirk on his next life and screw you over.”

“Would be just my luck,” Taishi deadpanned, then jumped back as one of the lights above them literally exploded. “The hell is up with the lights? This building’s falling in pieces.”

“Just like Midoriya,” Yamori added and they all laughed.

“Fuck you Yamori, now what was the answer you got for question 18 for today’s math homework?”

They left for class laughing amicably on their way. 

Izuku didn’t join Kacchan or 3A that day, or for the rest of the week for that matter.

It took Izuku a whole other week to gather the mental strenght he needed to step into 3A again after that. During that week, he stayed where he ‘woke up’, sitting alone on the stairway leading to the roof, but never daring climb up the stairs and open the door. That didn’t mean the roof stopped calling to him, pulling strings to draw him close. A way out. Escape.

He shook his head, discarding the fantasy of falling, of gravity pulling him down to a thankful final end. There was no end. Not anymore. And even if there was, he wasn’t going to do it, no matter how tempting. He couldn't leave Kacchan behind a second time.

And yet, during that week he also stayed away from Kacchan.

It was selfish and cowardly. But he had long ago come to terms with his own faults. His classmates' words only verifying them. Besides, after the entire book incident Kacchan had been doing incredibly better in spirit. He started looking up more. Speaking up more, not to insult people but to answer questions when the teachers called on him. 

It had been going so well in fact that students had laid off a bit, at his sudden confidence. Sure there were some nasty comments behind Kacchan’s back, but they didn’t seem to affect him as much anymore. Some had voiced fears that the old Kacchan was back, but Izuku knew better. This was a different Kacchan, a better one. The old Kacchan had died the day of The Jump.

He didn’t need Izuku to trail after him like a lost puppy anymore. And eventually Izuku would have to get used to life- afterlife without Kacchan.

It was probably why he didn’t even show up for the first period. Preferring instead to enter the room while everyone else was on PE. That way he wouldn’t feel overwhelmed and outnumbered by a room full of people whose lives he’d inconvenienced.

But instead of an empty classroom Izuku saw Kacchan hunched over his table again.

Guilt immediately swarmed him as he made his way towards his friend. Was he not doing as well as Izuku had assumed?

“I’m sorry I didn’t come last week,” Izuku explained as he sat by Kacchan's feet, not wanting to bother with Inokushi’s desk or his own memorial that day. “I couldn’t- I needed some time off. Not that you’d notice.” He added with a sad chuckle then shook his head. “It’s not your fault of course, Kacchan. I’m sorry. I- I didn’t mean that, I shouldn’t have said it, I’m just-” he grabbed at his hair, eyes already watering. “I don’t know how much longer I can do this anymore, and I can’t- I can’t escape it this time around.”

Kacchan’s head kept resting on his desk, arms folded on top of a notebook but from his spot next to his feet on the floor Izuku could see Kacchan’s eyes were open. 

“But, but you can,” Izuku smiled. “You can leave and you never ever have to come back here again. Just promise you’ll make it. Just two more weeks until the ninth month and you’re free.”

He sniffed. 

Kacchan sniffed. What? Izuku immediately stood up. “Kacchan?”

Kacchan’s shoulders were shaking and he let out a terrible sound that could only be identified as a muffled sob.

“Kacchan, what’s wrong? What?” He reached out just as Kacchan’s tear-stained face lifted and Izuku took a step back.

Hero Analysis for the Future No. 13, the real solid thing stared back at him. 

“Where did you-?” Wait. Something was wrong. This notebook wasn't charred with the remnants of Kacchan’s temper, it wasn’t crinkled by dried Koi pond water and the colour was blue, not black. The only similarities between this and the original was the title. But why? How?

“I don’t know guys. Don’t you think this is taking it a little too far?” Hakira had said.

“Someone needs to put that bully in his place.” 

“Katsuki! What do you have there? His diary?” Taishi had asked Kacchan the day Izuku jumped.

No.

No. They wouldn’t. They didn’t .

Izuku approached the desk again, this time a new feeling driving his unbeating heart. Coldness set in his stomach when he noticed something acting as a bookmark for the notebook. A swipe from his hand and the wretched thing opened on the bookmarked page.

A single red spider lily glared back at him.

Next to it, written on the pages.

Hope to see you soon, Kacchan!

-Deku. 

Everything was underwater again. Izuku could barely see anything beyond the flower, the words written on a notebook that was not his with words that were not his, by despicable people who had made his friend cry and maybe even consider-

The door opened as their classmates filled the room, followed by Takeshi. By then Kacchan’s tears had been wiped and dried. And he made a grab for the notebook to put it away most likely when Izuku grabbed it and lifted it high in the air.

Kacchan looked like a deer in the headlights as the dreaded thing and flower flew across the room and landed next to Aki’s head as she entered the class.

Aki shrieked in genuine surprise at Kacchan then down at the notebook and she visibly paled at its sight.

“What the-” Kacchan started but Takeshi cut him off.

“Bakugou! Detention, don’t throw things at your classmates!”

“Shut up,” Izuku hissed, biting each word.

“I-it wasn’t me, sensei!” Kacchan said voice panicked because he was this close to getting approved to take UA’s exam.

“Oh yeah?” Taishi came up with the notebook in hand, the flower was nowhere to be seen. He was flanked by his little group of bullies who had probably gotten rid of the suicide bait. “You were the only one here. Who else would have thrown it?”

“Midoriya’s ghost,” someone who sounded remarkably like Yamori provided from the back. 

Someone snorted then quickly stopped themselves. 

Then the lightbulbs in the room exploded and the door slammed shut.

“You.” Izuku stormed towards Taishi and snatched the notebook from his elongated fingers. “How dare you use me against Kacchan! You horrible, horrible sorry excuse of a person, if anyone’s to blame about this it’s me! This was my fault and my decision! I fucking jumped!” He pointed at Kacchan. “He didn’t push me or shove me or- or anything! And- and even if he had said something, you were there too!” He turned towards the rest of the vultures that were his classmates. “You were all there when you laughed right after you-!” He turned towards Takeshi, wind flying around the room as all the cards from Izuku’s cursed memorial desk danced around him. “After you outed my UA application in front of the entire class for no other reason than to have a fucking laugh at my expense! You try acting all high and mighty when you looked away for years! Years! I saw you! I saw all of you when you shoved and kicked me down the stairs and you looked away and you didn’t even do anything! And you continue to do nothing! You’re all doing the same thing to Kacchan! To my friend! The only person here who is actually trying to be better after what I put him through! How dare you! How dare all of you!”

As his breathing settled down, the papers, previously flying around the room, fell like delicate leaves during autumn. It was then when Izuku noticed the desks had moved as well, all forming a messed up circle around him. Some of them turned over on their sides. All of them except for his own. His own desk now void of any flowers, decorations and other fake crap remained still as if nailed on its spot. The carved words that had baited him into suicide long before Kacchan did, now visible for everyone to see.

Things were stuck on the walls too. Pencils, rulers, pairs of scissors impaled there. Thank goodness they hadn’t caught on any of his classma-

His classmates were looking at him. Takeshi was looking at him.

Something trailed down the side of his face. Izuku brought up his hand and - that was blood. He had blood running down his temple. Had he had that all this time? He hadn’t noticed.

He looked back up at- at everyone. 

Taishi’s face was statue-still, mouth slightly apart, frozen in a silent scream of horror. Yamori was hiding behind Harika and Aki, who, Izuku noticed, had Kacchan’s red spider lily in her hands. 

He scowled at them and turned away, not wanting to waste any more energy on these people. 

And he met Kacchan’s shocked and broken tear-stained face. 

A genuine smile rose up Izuku’s cheeks as he reached out towards his friend. “Kacchan.”

Then the world around him vanished and everything turned evening white.

The next time Izuku ‘woke up’ he thought that for the first time in his afterlife he’d had a dream. That his entire speech in front of the classroom had been a dream. Well, more like a horror movie nightmare with all the blood and the paranormal activity, but still. Not real.

That thought changed when he finally reached 3A and saw the dentures on the walls where the pencils had been impaled. The broken lights and rattled cracked windows. 

His desk, thank goodness, had been stripped from all memorial flowers and cards and remained clean, next to everyone else’s. 

While morbid curiosity made him wonder what had happened after he'd blanked out after his encounter with the living, the rest of him was glad he wasn't conscious or present to see it. The official word was that several students in class 3A had suffered unfortunate uncontrollable quirk accidents but because said accident involved most students, there wasn't a culprit or anyone to blame. The other classes and the rest of the school and staff knew something was up, but class 3A, including their teacher, refused to give any specific details regarding the incident the following days.

It was just all a blur after all.

Izuku was back to being invisible and not constantly bleeding from the head. Which was nice, he supposed. The blood was a little much. Still, something had changed. He felt a bit more in control now, despite still getting blank episodes every day. He had a bit more control over solid things and sometimes he swore people glanced at him for the blink of an eye.

People were not nice, but at least decent towards Kacchan now. His former bullies Taishi and Yamori had gotten the same if not more black marks due to their recent behavior towards Bakugou. Aki, Harika and Inokushi had also gotten black marks on their permanent records but less so than Taishi and Yamori. The rest of the class were quietly polite but always on eggshells after Izuku’s appearance.

Takeshi-sensei had quit. The excuse he’d given Okamura-sensei was, he realized teaching was not his passion and was going to take a personal year to explore himself and find it. Principal Okamura had said he understood, when he very obviously didn’t. Then he added that given the timeframe, Takeshi still needed to finish teaching the school year before a replacement could be found. Of course there were only two more months left. This being the end of the infamous ninth month.

And if Takeshi stepped out of line again with Kacchan or any of his students, well Izuku would see that there were some actual consequences this time around. This was Takeshi's and everyone else's third and final chance. They better freaking take it and get their acts together.

“Bakugou-kun,” Takeshi-sensei called with a slight tremor in his voice. “Stay after class, please.”

Kacchan looked up from his English booklet and nodded. As the rest of their classmates exited the room, Kacchan and Izuku both approached Takeshi’s desk.

“What do you want?” Izuku snapped and a few papers flew from Takeshi’s desk, landing gracefully on the floor.

Takeshi shrieked, side glancing at the boarded windows and feeling no draft.

“Sensei?” Kacchan asked, a placid smile settled on his lips. 

“Right!” Takeshi said. “Bakugou-kun, I wanted to let you know I’ve forwarded you the school’s approval to take the UA Entrance exam. This email was sent to the UA's principal, and a few teachers in the heroics department. That being said, I think because of the unique circumstances regarding Aldera-”

“You mean how we all, including you teachers, abused and drove a student into commiting suicide by jumping off the school’s roof-”

“Kacchan!” Izuku reproached.

“Y-yes, yes, that .” Takeshi cleared his throat. “Well, we’ve been informed that candidates coming from our school will be under special scrutiny during the practical exam, so just to let you know, you’ll need to impress the staff at UA.”

“I know that already,” Kacchan replied. “I was there during that meeting when you told me about this nine month probation.”

“Right, well,” Takeshi-sensei said. “I guess that’s it then. I wish you good luck Bakugou-kun.”

“No, you don’t,” Kacchan said without missing a beat. 

Takeshi sighed. “No. No, you’re right. I don’t.” His expression changed, got cold and distant. “You don’t deserve this chance we’ve given you. People like you don’t deserve to be heroes.”

“People like you don’t deserve to be teachers,” said Kacchan. Izuku couldn’t help but agree. “But you’re right, I don’t deserve it. I don’t deserve to be a hero. Not yet anyways.” He looked back up at Takeshi. “So you better believe I’m going to fucking ace that test and work my ass of until I deserve it because I’m fucking gonna become the best damn hero I can be.”

Not number one. Not the best. The best I can.

Izuku couldn’t smile wider if he tried. 

“Hmm,” Takeshi said. “I might live to see you prove me wrong then.”

“You bet, only the good ones die young,” Kacchan said.

Takeshi nodded, his eyes drifted towards an empty desk in the classroom. "They certainly do."

After Takeshi left, Kacchan got to his cleaning duty. With the room still under repair, there wasn't much one could do to make class 3A presentable. The work should have been quick, but Kacchan still took his time as he wiped the surfaces of every desk making sure to take twice as long on Izuku's unoccupied one. Ever since Izuku's had been cleared of garbage, the cravings on its surface had mysteriously been scratched down to erase the hateful words. The desk surface was a mess. It was probably going to get thrown out and replaced next year. Izuku couldn't be happier about it.

Izuku finished discarding some random papers laying around on the floor into the nearest trash can. If Kacchan noticed, he said nothing. 

Once they were done, Izuku followed him towards the main entrance. The hallways were empty of students now. Kacchan came to a stop in the middle of the hallway.

“You were listening in, weren’t you?” Kacchan said, turning around. His eyes landed on a now visible yet see through Izuku. He was once again standing there, sans blood thankfully.

For a moment he thought Kacchan would freak out. They hadn't really seen each other since the classroom incident. Back then both him and Kacchan were a mess of tears and words and Izuku didn't know if he could handle that right now.

Kacchan tsked. “Damn nerd, you need to let go of your fucking stalking habits.”

Izuku wanted to say so many things. Apologize, tell Kacchan he’d forgiven him, that he didn’t need to ask like that day in the bathroom. That they were okay, that they were still best friends in Izuku’s eyes. That he was proud of the hero Kacchan was becoming. And all that came out was, “Are you going to be okay, Kacchan?” 

“Psh, me?” Kacchan shrugged. “I’ll be fucking fantastic. I’m going to get the highest fucking score on that damn test.”

“Yeah,” Izuku looked down at his shoes with a knowing smile. “I know.”

There was silence then.

“Listen De- Izuku,” Kacchan said and Izuku looked up, “I’m-” he choked on the last word, he couldn’t finish. He cursed under his breath, his hand ran down his face in frustration. 

“I know. I heard you, the first time,” Izuku said, playing with the straps of his backpack. When had he put it on? 

“You were fucking spying on me, you creep!” Kacchan said but it lacked any malice this time around.

“I took notes and everything,” Izuku added and got a short laugh from Kacchan. “It’s all good, I think I have as much to apologize to you as you have to me.”

“The fuck do you have to apologize to me for?”

“The past nine months?” Izuku shrugged. “Ever since The Jump, I- I ruined everything. I didn’t mean to, Kacchan. If I’d known, if I'd just stopped for a moment and thought what it would cause-”

“Stop. You didn’t ruin shit, you dumb nerd,” Kacchan replied. “I mean yeah, you- made a mistake, I'm not gonna go around and sugar coat this shit, when listening to me was the worst thing you could have possibly done. Ever. But the past nine months? That's on me. I fucking did that on my own and got what was coming to me. And besides, I got a second chance, and you -”

Izuku remained quiet for a moment before replying. “I’ll be okay, too. I think.”

“Here? In this hellhole?” Kacchan gestured at their cursed school. 

Izuku shook his head. “No, I think- I think I should try to go now.” He felt lighter somehow. Less attached to the prison. “I’ve hung around here long enough.”

“Oh,” Kacchan said, a wave of understanding crossed his features.

“Wanna walk home together?” Izuku shifted his backpack making sure he had everything. 

“Sure,” Kacchan said.

Without difficulty they stepped out of the building. Then Izuku paused on his way, in the middle of the courtyard and glanced back. Up. Frowning at the roof.

“You coming or what?” Kacchan asked, stopping on his tracks, not letting Izuku out of his sight nor reach.

“There was something I needed to check, something I had to do,” Izuku mumbled. “I can’t seem to remember.” He turned back towards Kacchan giving his friend a beaming smile. “It probably wasn’t important! This is a much better way out of here, anyways.”

Kacchan looked up towards the roof of the main building where it had all started- and ended. They stepped out of Aldera’s gates together just as the blue sky faded into evening.