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Mrs. Higurashi found her daughter staring into the old well at their family's shrine once again. Ever since she had awakened from a nightmare at five years old, Kagome had been drawn to the well. Before then, Kagome had spoken endlessly about strange friends no one else could see. A boy dressed in bright red with dog ears perched atop his silver hair; a fox child; a demon slayer; a cursed monk; a little three-tailed cat that could grow as large as a horse.
Kagome drew them everywhere—on the walls, in her notebooks, in the dirt with a stick whenever they visited the park. She never mentioned their names. Instead, she told stories of the adventures they shared, of monsters they defeated, and of saving the world together.
The mother never stopped or corrected her. Kagome had an active imagination and the ghosts and spiritual creatures her holy powers allowed her to see didn’t help. She could exorcise anything and anyone with a simple touch; see what others couldn’t; break enchanted seals without a blink. However, none of it was physical; she couldn’t prove or show her gift to others. In the end, she was technically quirkless. Not because she had no powers, but because hers were nothing like others.
However, as she grew older, her obsession with the old well increased. They couldn’t seal the small shrine built around it — it was a place of offering, one of the most sacred locations in their shrine. Almost everyday, Kagome would stop by it, gazing into the black depths as though waiting for someone to answer. It frightened Mrs Higurashi, for people had been lured by the mysteries of the Bone-Eaters Well before and she didn’t want her daughter to be its next victim.
This time, however, Kagome wasn't merely staring into the well. A backpack hung from her shoulders, and both legs were already dangling over the ancient rim.
“Kagome! Stop right there!”
“Mama! You don’t understand! They are there!”
Mrs Higurashi lunged forward, wrapping both arms around her daughter before she could slip any farther. Kagome struggled, reaching desperately toward the darkness below, but her mother held on with all the strength panic could give her. Only after they had both collapsed onto the shrine's stone path did Kagome finally stop fighting.
“Mama…” she sobbed into her mother’s chest. “I can’t help it. Every time I look, the well is calling me.”
“Then you shouldn’t look at it, dear.” She petted her daughter’s head. They got up and walked back to the house, with Kagome stealing glances to the shed every once in a while.
She watched as Kagome took a bath with distant eyes, lost in the sea of her thoughts. Then she ate mechanically, barely looking at the food. In bed, Kagome grabbed her mother’s hand.
“I’m scared,” the ten-year-old whispered.
“Of what?”
“That this is a dream and the other me is trying to wake up.”
Mrs. Higurashi immediately knelt in front of her, gently taking Kagome's face in both hands.
“I won’t ever let anyone take you from me, okay?” Kagome nodded, clinging to her words. “This is real. If there's another you... then I hope she's loved just as much. But you're here with me.” She placed a loving hand on the child’s cheek. “Maybe you need to be away from the well for a while. What do you think? I’m sure your aunt will be happy to have you for a few weeks.”
“Aunt Inko? And Izu-chan?” Her eyes perked up more than they did the entire day. “I’d like that.”
“Then we will talk to them in the morning.” She stood, only to feel a small tug on her skirt. Kagome hesitated, nervously biting her lower lip. “Do you want me to stay? Let me check on your brother and I will be right back.”
Kagome could only wait until she was no longer alone. With her mother beside her, Kagome knew she would be safe from the Well’s siren song.
Summer in Musutafu wasn't much different from Tokyo. The air was just as hot, but the sea left everything coated in a damp film that made clothes cling to the skin within minutes. People walked in light clothes without the usual rush those from bigger cities carried. There were few tourists, either, although it wasn’t unusual to see families migrating there because of U.A..
U.A. was the reference school for hero training in Japan. Those who ranked on top of the charts almost always attended it and its sports festival was just as important as the Olympic Games once were. With so many different quirks around, traditional sports became something for the quirkless and those with ‘useless’ quirks, almost a consolation prize for those ‘not special enough’. Kagome tried not to let it affect her because one, she had a special ability, just not a quirk, and two, a quirk wasn’t that big of a deal. It was just something you were born with or not.
Midoriya Izuku was Kagome’s cousin and her opposite in that sense. He was fascinated by quirks and could spend hours rambling about them. He filled page after page with notes and observations; he watched hero footage to understand quirk mechanics and hero work; he adored the number one hero, All Might, to the point of worship. He loved everything about quirks, except he didn’t have one.
He was the only quirkless child in the neighborhood. Everyone else had something, no matter how minimal or inconsequential. Since his quirklessness was confirmed, Izuku had been bullied. Any friends he tried making ended up avoiding him not to draw the attention of his bullies. He couldn’t even say he was lonely, because his tormentors never left him alone for long.
Kagome was supposed to spend only a few weeks in Musutafu. Just enough to ease the pressure the Well put on her. Yet the very first night in Musutafu was the first she could remember sleeping through without waking to the irresistible urge to look out her bedroom window toward the small shrine.
It was Kagome’s presence that also brightened Izuku’s days.
“Izu-chan, wait up!” Kagome bent over, hands on her knees, as she tried to catch her breath. It was too early for him to be running like that.
“We are going to be late, Kagome-chan!” Izuku said, but stopped to wait for her. Kagome had been living with Izuku and his mother for nearly a month now. Having her transferred into his class should have made today exciting. It did, in part — he'd have a friend by his side. Excitement was overshadowed by worry, however. If the others bullied him for being quirkless, what would they do to Kagome once they figured out she was the same? He would protect her, no matter what. Izuku could endure whatever they said to him, but he wouldn’t let them hurt Kagome.
Kagome, however, wasn’t one who needed protection. Growing up in a shrine and seeing ghosts since the first time she opened her eyes and realized she was conscious, Kagome was used to all kinds of beings around her. Not every spirit was kind, and many of them resented or denied their deaths. Schools carried some of the most obnoxious dead people and being the only one able to see them, they often glued to her side. She was forced to develop remarkable patience. Even so, warm blood still ran through her veins. There was only so much anyone could endure before they snapped.
She endured for a total of two days.
Bakugou Katsuki was the kind of child who received too much praise. His Explosion Quirk was the strongest among his peers, and everyone made sure he knew it. Before long, Katsuki began believing what everyone else already told him—that he was destined for greatness. He was once best friends with Izuku, until he found out Izuku, despite being quirkless, still dreamed of being a hero. A hero without a quirk, how outrageous. If someone without a quirk could become a hero, then what made Katsuki special? It felt as if he was dismissing his quirk, and Katsuki couldn’t let it slide. He would be the number one hero, All Might's successor. How dare Izuku, quirkless Izuku, weak and fragile Izuku, compare to that?
But Katsuki was a child. A very explosive child who didn’t learn how to deal with frustration in a healthy way. His mother wasn’t the most emotionally intelligent person either, so he had no one to learn from. Therefore, Katsuki reacted the only way he knew, by trying to take down what was bothering him. Unfortunately, it meant Izuku.
The day started the way Izuku already expected. His desk was completely dirty, full of insults, flattened chewing gum, and other substances it was better not to think too much about. Even before entering the classroom, Izuku made a small detour to the cleaning closet, already aware of what awaited him.
“Who did this?” Kagome asked as soon as she saw the state of her cousin’s desk. The words written on it revolved about his lack of a quirk. She had attended a much larger school in Tokyo, where quirkless children, while uncommon, hardly attracted anyone's attention. She had at least two quirkless friends back in Tokyo and never once had she seen someone insulting them for that. Maybe for other reasons, sure, never for their lack of quirk.
“It’s not important.”
“Not important? Someone put, ugh, some weird thing on your seat! I could believe it was an accident... if you hadn't stopped to grab rubbing alcohol before we even came into the classroom.” She placed her hand on top of his. “Izu-chan, talk to me, please.”
Izuku was used to it. It wasn’t necessary for Kagome to get worked up because of something so small. It wasn’t even the worst he had dealt with. Once they used actual paint and the teacher made him scrape it off while the rest of the class watched. He wouldn’t bother her with this.
He didn’t have to say anything because Katsuki and his goons came into the room, already shouting their good morning slander.
"Look who's here," Katsuki scoffed. "You actually had the guts to show your useless face again? And who's this? Your girlfriend?"
His friends burst into laughter.
"As if anyone would want to date a Deku."
It didn’t sit well with Kagome.
“You think you’re all high and mighty? Listen, here, you—mrhupff!”
Izuku covered Kagome’s mouth before she could say something she’d regret later. If there was one thing Katsuki hated, it was being challenged, and Izuku knew that better than anyone. He also knew Kagome had a short fuse and a big mouth. The chances of their interaction ending on a good note were slim to none, and once Katsuki found out about Kagome’s situation, the odds that she would become his target were too high.
“Morning, Kacchan! This is my cousin, Higurashi Kagome! She’s starting today.”
Kagome sank her teeth into his palm, but he held on tighter. Izuku was being gentle with Katsuki after she felt his aura shifting when the boy arrived. She put two and two together and concluded that this blond boy was responsible, at least partially, for whatever her cousin was dealing with. If the shift wasn’t proof enough, the insults, pushes, sniggers, and laughs coming to Izuku for the rest of the day cemented it.
Talking to Izuku was useless. Kagome tried to put some sense in him, make him fight back, but he was conditioned to endure, it seemed. The truth was that he honestly thought Katsuki wasn’t that bad—he just wasn’t the best at using words. He had enough hints to believe that, like the fact Katsuki rarely went farther than a shove or an explosion meant to scare him. He'd even chased off other kids who tried to gang up on Izuku. His words sometimes cut deep, but he had never caused Izuku any physical harm. It was the only thing keeping Kagome from marching to the Bakugou residence that very evening and giving Katsuki's parents a piece of her mind.
The desk was even worse the following day, and this time, Kagome’s seat was also smeared with something, much to Izuku’s dismay. He had wanted to protect his cousin exactly from this. Meanwhile, Kagome was seething, her fingers moving over the worn wooden nenju around her wrist, grounding herself the way her grandfather had taught her.
Her grandfather had given her the nenju shortly after her spiritual powers first manifested. The hundred and eight beads were usually a count high enough to allow Kagome to reflect and calm down. This time, however, maybe even a thousand prayers wouldn’t be enough. She was still recovering from the stress the Well had put upon her, in addition to moving and starting in a new school. It was too much at once. Seeing her struggle to hold her tongue only encouraged Katsuki.
The breaking point came when Kagome and Izuku were walking back home. The boy had just bought the latest All Might issue and was enthusiastically telling Kagome about the latest villain All Might was fighting when Katsuki appeared in their way. He grabbed the magazine from Izuku’s hand and flipped through it carelessly, not caring about dog-ears on the pages or bending the spine.
“Such a nerd. Still reading this childish crap?”
“All Might is the best! And you used to like him too,” Izuku replied, trying to reach the comic Katsuki was holding above his head. Kagome was even shorter than Izuku. If he couldn't reach it, she didn't stand a chance.
The prayer beads brushed her wrist. A memory surfaced of the dog-eared boy she still didn’t remember the name of being pulled to the ground after she chanted a command. The old priestess had done that. She used a nenju similar to the one she was carrying. Kagome wasn’t sure what the enchantment was, or if she was even capable of doing the same, but she couldn’t just let Katsuki abuse her cousin. Izuku might still see Katsuki as something akin to a friend, Kagome certainly didn't.
The beads came off of her wrist easily.
Katsuki frowned. He had no idea of what was waiting for him. Kagome was not really sure of what she was about to do. Poor Izuku was just in the middle, unaware, trying to grab his precious comic.
“Hey!” she cried, making both boys focus on her. Kagome held the nenju stretched between both hands.
Katsuki watched it with curiosity. For him, it was just some idiotic wooden jewelry. Izuku had seen Kagome holding it all day and thought nothing of it, since he had been to several festivals back in Higurashi Jinja with his mother and it wasn’t the first time he had seen Kagome with one of those.
While Katsuki’s raised hand was too high for Kagome’s reach, his head was not as much. She bent her knees, calculated the force she’d have to apply, then did it. Kagome jumped with both arms already raised and let the beads slide down the back of Katsuki’s head until they stopped around his neck. Startled, he released the magazine — which Izuku promptly grabbed — and fumbled with his new accessory.
“The crap is this?” He tugged the necklace. The beads felt almost weightless against his neck—until he tried to pull them off. Then they became impossibly heavy, refusing to budge no matter how hard he yanked. “Take it off!”
“Only if you apologize to Izu-chan!”
Izuku tugged her sleeve. “Let’s go, Kagome-chan. It’s not worth it.”
“Of course, it is! He came out of nowhere just to pick on you!”
While Izuku tried to reason with Kagome, Katsuki still struggled with the collar. He couldn’t just get home with something like that and explain to his parents he couldn’t get the ‘gift’ from Deku’s cousin off his neck.
“Shut the hell up and remove this shit!”
Emboldened by his impatience, Kagome puffed her chest and stood with both hands on her waist. “Only if you ask nicely!”
“I will kill you!”
“And give Izu-chan a sincere apology.”
“Kagome-chan…” Izuku tried, already knowing it was useless to argue when Kagome was like that.
“Over my dead body! Take it off or I will make you!”
The moment he charged, the confidence drained from Kagome's face. She took a couple steps back, sweat dripping down her nape. She felt a tingle on her tongue. A word was forming on her vocal cords. Without thinking too much, she let instincts take over.
“Behave!”
Katsuki's world stopped. His entire body froze when he heard what came out of Kagome’s mouth. He tried forcing his muscles to move but something was locking him in place, as if there were chains all around his body, preventing even the smallest shift. His legs wouldn’t answer, his mouth wouldn’t open, he couldn’t even blink. A flicker of panic started setting in. Then he stumbled forward. Whatever held him back was gone.
“What the hell was that?” He pointed at Kagome. “Your quirk?”
“I have no quirk.”
“I’m not joking, Girl. Whatever you did, you better tell me now.” There was sweat dripping from Katsuki’s hand. Tiny puffs of white smoke rose each time a drop struck the pavement while he was just trying to figure out what the hell Kagome did
Izuku knew Kacchan was intimidating but didn't think he would actually hurt them.
Kagome couldn’t read any of their minds. She was frightened, worried Katsuki would actually hit them this time.“B-Behave!” she shouted. When Katsuki stopped realization dawned upon Kagome. The spell worked. Whatever it was. However she did it. All that mattered was that it worked. “Behave!” She grabbed Izuku’s wrist and started walking away.
“Kacchan?!” Izuku gasped.
Katsuki couldn’t answer. He couldn’t do anything but watch as Izuku and Kagome walked away, with the girl yelling ‘Behave!’ every few seconds, reinforcing whatever was keeping him in place.
Despite Izuku’s pleas, Kagome refused to explain what she did to Katsuki. How could she explain it to him when she couldn’t explain it to herself? For a moment, she had hoped Katsuki would be pulled to the ground like the dog-boy, but reality wasn’t as fun as her dreams.
At the same time, Izuku’s brain was working overtime, because he knew his cousin was officially diagnosed as quirkless, just like him, so how could she shout a command that made Kacchan stop? Doctors insisted quirks didn't suddenly appear years after birth. Then what had he just witnessed? Could they have been wrong? Could someone like him still develop a power? His world had just been turned upside down.
The next morning, Katsuki was already waiting outside the Midoriya house. The wooden beads still rested around his neck, so Kagome felt quite confident he wouldn’t be able to hurt Izuku; not while she was around.
“Take. It. Off,” he said between his teeth.
Kagome just raised her chin and resumed her walk whileIzuku rushed to her side, still processing everything.
“Don’t you hear me, witch?!”
“Izu-chan, do you hear anything? I only listen to polite people, you know?”
Izuku bit the inside of his cheek. He understood why Kacchan was angry. If someone had magically trapped something around his neck, he'd want it off too, but he also couldn’t not be on his cousin’s side. So far, she had done nothing except ignore Kacchan. She made a simple request, it was up to him to fulfil it.
Katsuki walked a couple steps behind Kagome and Izuku, sending glares in their direction. She hadn’t said the chant to trigger the necklace’s effect, but Katsuki wasn’t stupid enough to think she wouldn’t do it.
When they got to the school, Kagome and Izuku’s desks were once again marked with insults. She gave him a side glance. Even if he didn’t do it by himself, he knew who did, probably encouraged it. She wasn’t far from the truth. Katsuki was the leader behind most of the bullying Izuku faced. She sighed. “Izu-chan… it’s so sad when people can’t beha—”
Katsuki’s breath hitched. The damn word was coming. He already felt the pull of the necklace, though he wasn’t sure if it was really from the object or his muscle memory acting up.
Kagome internally smiled at his reaction. “—be happy for others, you know?”
Katsuki’s scowl was so deep even his friends avoided him when they entered the classroom. For the rest of the day, he barely spoke in Izuku or Kagome's direction, but he was never out of their sight. It was by far the most peaceful school day Izuku had had since the start of elementary school.
When the bell rang and the classes were released, once again Katsuki followed Kagome and Izuku. They lived close, so no one thought twice about it. The cousins mostly ignored him, until they were about a block away from home.
“Well?” Katsuki stopped, looking at the duo with crossed arms. He had been on his best behavior all day long. He even stopped his friends from approaching Deku. In his mind, he more than deserved to be released from his punishment. Kagome wasn't so certain of it.
“Well what? Just because you shut up for a day doesn't mean everything's fine.” She placed both hands on Izuku’s shoulders and turned him to face Katsuki. “You didn't even apologize to Izu-chan!”
“Apologize to him? It's not my fault he's a De—”
“Behave! You're not nice!” She grabbed Izuku's hand while he was still too flabbergasted to react. Kagome turned her back to Katsuki and pulled Izuku to walk with her. “Until you learn how to behave,” she emphasized the word, making Katsuki freeze again, “I'm not taking it off. Good day.”
She ran away with Izuku, leaving a frozen Katsuki behind.
Izuku didn't tell Kagome — she would have berated him for that — but when Kacchan started waiting for them every morning to go to school, he felt like he was four again and they were best friends. He peeked behind them as he shared some of his observations on heroes he had seen on TV the previous evening and almost grinned at Katsuki’s barely contained curiosity. He started talking a bit louder so that the other boy could hear it too.
Kagome noticed him doing it but chose not to mention it.
Katsuki pretended not to care, despite having his own points on the tip of his tongue.
Every afternoon, just as they were about to part ways, Katsuki would stop and look at Kagome. He expected her to understand that he couldn't keep going around with this kind of hindrance. He was going to be a hero—the greatest hero of them all. He couldn't be subjected to some girl's shenanigans. He even apologized once. Or tried to.
“Look, De—Izuku, I'm sorry, okay?”
“It's fine, Kacchan, I—”
“Apologies accepted, Girl. See? Take this off.” He tugged the collar.
Kagome was unfazed. Izuku could forgive a rock for hitting him, but Kagome wouldn't until she felt he truly regretted his actions. If this was the best Katsuki could do, then he had much more to learn. She walked away without even bothering to acknowledge him.
When Izuku's birthday arrived, Inko invited the Bakugos for their small celebration. She had seen Katsuki waiting in front of their house and assumed he and Izuku had been rekindling their friendship. Katsuki’s mother even said her son mentioned Kagome a few times, so, in her mind, it could only mean they were all getting along.
Kagome's mother and brother also came. It had been almost a year since Kagome moved to Musutafu and Mrs Higurashi was more than relieved to see her daughter without the worry she always carried behind her smiles. The cost of being apart was worth the results. They talked almost daily, with Kagome giving her updates about her life, school, new friends, and more. There was one thing Kagome had never mentioned, though, but her mother noticed immediately.
Kagome knew her mother had seen the nenju around Katsuki's neck and tried to avoid being alone with her. She used that time to prepare her arguments.
Using her powers unsupervised and for things not related to the shrine was something Kagome was taught from a very young age to avoid. Even in a society where quirks were default, people still looked down on those who could contact the beyond. It was easier to navigate as a quirkless person than as a gifted person. With Kagome being both, it was better to tone down one of them. Luckily, unlike Izuku, Kagome had no dreams of becoming a hero.
Kagome now stood an inch taller than Izuku, but still shorter than Katsuki. During these months, they'd fallen into a quiet understanding. She wouldn't use the word when in front of others — it could be a risk for him and Kagome didn't want someone to get hurt because of her, and he wouldn't go out of his way to provoke her or Izuku. When it was only the three of them, however, it was a free game.
Growing up in a shrine and being trained since she could stand on her own to be a miko, Kagome learned to love myths. On shrines she visited with her grandfather, she had met spirits of those involved with mythical tales, from men and women to deities, all too willing to talk to someone who could actually listen to them. Her fascination only grew with age.
Although Izuku wasn't particularly interested in this topic, hearing his cousin talking about them felt almost like when he talked about heroes and quirks. She'd gesture, change voices, describe scenes as if she had been there in person. Katsuki would never admit he liked hearing both of them talking. Kagome for the same reason as Izuku, and Deku because he was as much of a hero nerd as him, he just hid it better. At the peak of his eleven-year-old mind, he couldn't just admit he was curious, so he resorted to showing his interest aggressively.
“You nerds never shut up. Always talking about this boring shit.”
“Kagome-chan’s not boring! She knows all kinds of unbelievable stuff,” Izuku defended.
It wasn't an empty statement, Kagome really did know many interesting things. Her cousin couldn't have known it had been ghosts whispering to her ears — because dead people often got bored of being ignored and would spill their metaphorical hearts out at the first chance — but Kagome had learned how to store those stories in her memory. She had started writing them down after seeing Izuku getting lost in his notebooks too many times. One day, she hoped to publish them and make their memoirs public.
“Unbelievable, right. As if anyone would believe a fisherman lived by this river and drowned following a siren's song. A siren! In a river. As if.”
Kagome looked at Katsuki and sighed. She was a girl with faint memories of a different lifetime, so she could read between what he wasn't saying. He had listened to her tale; he paid enough attention to question some of the details. He wouldn't believe it if she told him it was the siren herself who visited her for a few nights because she had always felt guilty for luring the poor man when she was just singing her love to the moon. Katsuki really wouldn't believe it, she was correct on that assumption.
Izuku beamed at having Katsuki somewhat close again. His two favorite persons had a civil relationship! Without Katsuki's constant provocation, the bullying was reduced drastically. He still heard people talking about him, but he could ignore them as long as he had Katsuki and Kagome around.
When the party was winding down, Mrs Higurashi asked her daughter for a word outside. Katsuki smirked at her, thinking she got in trouble. Kagome stuck her tongue out at him; giving him the middle finger in front of her mother would have been pushing it.
“Kagome,” Mrs Higurashi wasn't one to dance around topics, “care to explain why young Bakugo has your nenju on his neck?”
Kagome groaned internally, knowing her mother always knew when someone was lying. Mrs Higurashi possessed spiritual powers of her own, though nowhere near Kagome's level. Combined with her quirk, True Meaning, lying to her was practically impossible. The quirk allowed her to perceive the intent behind a person's words. Lies, half-truths, and evasions all sounded the same to her.
“He was being mean! He said bad things to Izu-chan!”
Mrs Higurashi had seen Katsuki the entire afternoon. Other than quiet, in a restrained way, he was just like any other rambunctious boy of the same age. The beads explained the restraint. “He behaved all the time I’ve been here.”
Katsuki, who happened to be passing by the creaked door at the time, froze at the word. He already knew the command worked only when Kagome said and meant it, but that didn’t stop the chills from going down his back.
“Mitsuki-oba-chan would kick his ass if he said anything improper,” she muttered.
“Kami-sama help me. One year and she’s already cursing.” It was better than before, though. “Don’t you think it’s time to take it off?”
“No!” Kagome stomped.
Mrs Higurashi prayed to every deity protecting her bloodline to give her patience to deal with her very stubborn daughter. “Why not?”
“He hasn’t apologized. Not sincerely.”
“Okay, let’s make a deal.” She lowered to Kagome’s height. “The moment he’s truly sorry, you will remove the enchantment. Can you promise me that?”
Kagome eagerly nodded. That’s all she wanted.
Katsuki returned to his parents’ side before they noticed he had been eavesdropping.
The years that followed came with a change in the dynamic of the trio.
Katsuki learned Kagome really didn’t have a quirk, despite what she did to him. Unlike what Izuku thought for a long time, it wasn’t a problem for him. She never mentioned wanting to be a hero, so Katsuki wouldn’t have to worry about her facing a villain. Not that he would ever admit he worried about Izuku for that same reason. He never apologized. Even after his former friends started shunning him for walking to and from school with the quirkless nerds, or when he admitted, if only to himself, he enjoyed Kagome and Izuku’s company.
Izuku forgave Katsuki. He said it in front of Kagome several times. He reminded her Kacchan had even defended them from the others at school, and they had sleepovers and outings. He knew Kagome wanted to hear the actual words from Katsuki, and that Katsuki just refused to say them. After three years, it slowly shifted from bullying to light banter. Katsuki teased Izuku about being a nerd; Izuku would retort that a nerd recognized another. They would bicker until Kagome got annoyed and threatened to use the word. She never used it. Katsuki knew she wouldn’t use it. Izuku found it hilarious and loved it when the three of them were together.
One day, Izuku went from free afternoons to being gone most of the days until evening. Kagome knew exactly what was happening, because ghosts loved gossip even more than the living. By the time Izuku came home from his first training session, three different spirits had already told Kagome that he'd been seen dragging a refrigerator across Dagobah Beach under All Might's supervision. She didn’t mention it to him. It was his secret and she respected it. She also couldn’t tell Katsuki, but the boy wasn’t stupid. He noticed Izuku’s absence.
“Where’s Deku?” Katsuki asked when Izuku didn’t go home with them for the fifth day in a row.
“He’s got things to do now.”
“Like what?”
“Why do you still call him Deku?” She tried changing the topic. “It’s kinda offensive.”
“Did he say something about it?”
“Well, not exactly—”
“Then stop trying to speak for him.”
Kagome pouted. “I’m just trying to help.”
“Save it for when someone actually asks for your help.”
Kagome nearly growled. She stopped in front of him and placed a finger on his chest. “You’re so, so, so insufferable!” She poked Katsuki. “I really hope you get into the Hero Course.” Kagome knew he would. Katsuki had the best grades in their year and a powerful quirk. “So I won’t have to see your ugly face every day in my General Education classes.”
Katsuki stopped her poking with two fingers. “And you think you’d get rid of me just because we will be in different classes? I will stop by your classroom just so that you and Deku will have to see my ugly face every day.”
“You know Izu-chan will try the Hero Course, right?”
Katsuki huffed. “That idiot. He’s setting himself up for disappointment."
“You never know. Maybe he will surprise you.”
“You knew!” Katsuki shouted at Kagome outside of U.A..
Katsuki wasn’t surprised when he saw Izuku on the Entrance Exams. He was surprised when Izuku destroyed the robot and gave up any chances of scoring points at the practical exam. He was furious because he did have hope the idiot would somehow make it to the Hero Course. He had watched Izuku build muscle, become faster, become stronger. And suddenly, he had a quirk. A quirk he didn’t tell Katsuki about, even after all this time, after they mended their friendship. Even then, he got zero points.
“I told you he’d take the exam,” she answered. Kagome knew about All Might passing down his powers to Midoriya, although the ghosts weren’t the best source for details, like how exactly it would happen or when. She didn’t press or pry, so it wasn’t as if she knew how their entire training went.
“I mean the quirk! You knew he got it late and didn’t tell me!”
“Oh, that.” The nenju dangled from Katsuki’s neck as he voiced his frustration. Kagome leaned against the wall. They were waiting for Izuku. “I guessed he had some ace up his sleeve but I had no idea what it was. He never told me anything other than he had been preparing for the exam.”
Katsuki squinted his eyes at Kagome. She wasn’t lying but it did nothing to soothe Katsuki’s fury. He was ready to give the other boy a piece of his mind, but the moment Izuku stepped out, his eyes were hollow. The words died in Katsuki’s mouth. Not even back when Izuku’s bullying had been relentless, had he seen him so broken. “Deku—”
Kagome placed a hand on his arm and shook her head. Izuku wasn’t in the mood to be consoled, even by his closest friends. So they gave him some room to breathe. Not physically, though. Kagome linked her arm with Izuku’s. Katsuki draped an arm around his shoulders. Izuku sobbed in silence as they took the train home.
For a week, the days passed in a daze.
Kagome’s results came soon. Her acceptance letter to the General Education Course arrived a couple days after the written exam. Meanwhile, Izuku walked around the house like a shadow of himself. Katsuki came in with new All Might merch and Izuku didn’t even look at it twice. He ate mechanically, he slept when he had to, but barely said a word the entire time. On the seventh day, Katsuki was ready to do something drastic to get a reaction from Izuku, but Kagome got him before he got to their door. He had gotten his acceptance letter and thought Izuku received the rejection the same day.
Kagome dragged him to a nearby park, the same where Katsuki and Izuku used to play together back when they were toddlers. They sat on the swings. “You got it, huh? We should celebrate, then.” She glanced at his neck. “I may even give you a gift.”
Katsuki noticed what she was looking at. These beads had been with him for so long he had almost forgotten how they got there. “Nah, save it for graduation. I will be the freaking best hero they ever formed.” He stared at the building where Izuku lived. “Do you think… he can get to the General Course? At least we’d be in the same school, y’know?”
“I don’t know… You know how he is. It’s all or nothing. I don’t think he ever considered a second option.”
“Idiot… If he’d told me, I could have helped him prepare. We could have been training together!” Katsuki watched the moment Kagome’s eyes focused on something he couldn’t see. He had witnessed the same things several times. She would stop and look at an empty space. Her eyes would shift, following something invisible. She would nod, frown and open her mouth to answer, but never say anything. Izuku said her side of the family came from a long line of gifted people, who had spiritual powers even before quirks became a thing. Katsuki wasn’t religious, but situations like that sometimes made him doubt his own skepticism.
Kagome gave a short nod to the spirit of a former neighbor who came to tell her Izuku had been yelling for a few minutes now and to ask him to please tone down to not scare her baby grandson. “Something happened, let’s go back.”
“How do you know?”
She was already on her feet and walking away. “Come on!”
“Fine, witch! You always do that! One day you gotta tell me how you do that!”
They ran toward the building, but Izuku met them halfway. He had his acceptance letter in hand and a smile bigger than his face.
“That is—”
“This is—”
“It is!” He unfolded the paper and showed them the bright colors of Principle Nezu’s signature. “I did it! I-I still can’t believe it! There were some rescue points and—”
Katsuki snatched the letter from Izuku and read it twice. It had the same words as the one he received, but with Izuku’s name printed on top. The nerd was really accepted. They’d go to U.A. together.
Kagome pulled Katsuki into an embrace with Izuku, who was tearing up already. Katsuki hesitated for a moment, still not used to the cousins' touchy mannerisms, then put his arms around them. Izuku looked at his friend and his cousin.
Kacchan hadn’t apologized.
Kagome hadn’t removed the necklace.
Things were exactly where they should be.