Chapter 40: Red and Green

Class 1A was kinda confused.

Everyone, sans Bakugo, was taken over to the cafeteria and they got their lunches, but instead of going to the lunch tables and going about their usual business, Nezu gathered them all back and they were being led through the hallways.

"Principal Nezu? What is happening?!" Iida asked, not able to do his arm chopping motions because he was holding his lunch.

"You'll see," Nezu told them.

That made everyone a bit nervous. If Nezu had something planned. It probably wasn't very good. For them that is.

Eventually, they arrived at a pair of doors that lead outside the building.

"Today you all will be eating outside," Nezu told them, putting his hands on the doors. "As for why."

Nezu opened the door, and for once the students were pleasantly surprised.

Outside in one of U.A.'s yards, was the kids, eating on a few wooden picnic tables that the staff set up.

They were all currently at one table, all talking to each other, except Kai, who was off to the side eating a pile of meat, and Yami who was just sitting there listening.

"Hey, they're here!" Netsu, now fully donning his fireproof clothes, pointed at the students, swiftly causing them to swarm the poor teens.

Kiba, thanks to her super speed, immediately sped over to Tokoyami. "You! Bring out your shadow servant!"

"Oh...she's like this all the time." Tokoyami realized, much to his horror.

Fu sent out a black tentacle and smacked her in the back of the head. "Manners."

"Ow!" Kiba pouted at her brother as she rubbed the place where he hit her.

Fu gave Tokoyami an apologetic look(as best he could). "Yeah, she's always like this...sorry."

"Don't apologize! I think it's funny!" Dark Shadow came out of Tokoyami and hovered over Kiba.

"Hmph! You won't find me so amusing when I surpass you!" Kiba swore. "Mark my words Shadow! You will kneel before me!"

"Ahaha! I look forward to seeing you try!" Dark Shadow challenged.

Meanwhile, Netsu ran up to Todoroki, and the older boy gave the flaming child a...conflicted look. "You that ice guy right!? Your quirk is so cool! We should fight sometime!"

"Can you...turn your quirk off?" Todoroki asked him.

"Nope. The flame's always on." Netsu shrugged. "Don't worry! My clothes are fireproof! Just don't touch my head!"

Todoroki knew it wasn't fair to dislike this child he just met because his quirk reminded him of someone he'd rather not be thinking about. But at the same time, he couldn't help but be reminded of his father's flaming facial hair, while looking at the blazing face of Netsu.

Meanwhile, Sansan, now in her non-acidic form, made her way over to Mina and wrapped herself around her. "Miwna!"

"Yes. Please. Call me that forever." Mina said with a deadly serious voice, before squealing. "Aww, you're so cute like this! And your blue now!"

Sansan nodded. "Nwot burning."

"Oh yeah! Your acid isn't burning anything!" Toru pointed out.

"This is Sansan's neutral form. By injecting some chemicals into her body. We can force her body into breeding mode, which makes her body non-corrosive." Nezu explained. "Of course it does wear off so we will have to inject her regularly."

"Cool! Wait did you say breeding mode?" Mina asked in a disbelieving tone.

"Yes, I don't think you needed any more encouragement not to allow her into your private parts, but if you did, there it is," Nezu said.

"...Wait does that mean that she's made of cu-ahhh!" Kaminari didn't get to finish, as Jiro stabbed him with one of her ear lobes.

Kai walked over, each footsteps causing a gentle shaking in the ground, before leaning one of his heads down towards the group.

"Eap." Was the only noise that came out of Mineta's mouth as he trembled in fear.

"Mr. Nezu. Is Mr. Bakugo ok?" Kai asked the principal with a...concerned expression...well at least what they thought was concerned. It was hard to read the expressions of giant serpentine hydra heads.

"Pah. I don't see why you should be concerned for such a horrid creature." Kiba growled as she crossed her arms. "He is more soulless than the Grimm. And they don't have ANY souls."

"Mr. Bakugo will be just fine, and your concern for him despite knowing what he's done to your father is appreciated," Nezu told him.

"Kai you're too nice for your own good." Ochaco walked over and patted the side of Kai's head. Causing the young boy to purr, like a cat.

"Ohhh! Didn't expect him to make that noise." Toru honestly didn't know what noises to expect from someone like Kai, but it certainly wasn't purring. "It's kinda cute."

With a few more people joining in on the petting, Kaminari looked past the other kids and saw Yami, still seated, and eating. "Hey, I don't remember seeing that kid before?"

"Ah Yami! It is has been so long since we have last met!" Iida ran up to the boy, who still had a mouth full of food.

"Mmm," Yami responded.

"Wait." Mina paused her petting, and squinted at Yami, finding something unnerving about his appearance. "Is he the kid who made all those Grimm!?"

"Yup," Asui confirmed. "I didn't know he could do that when I met him. So much power, in such a little body, Kero."

"I feel like that's an accurate description of all of these kids," Shoto said, looking at Netsu and remembering that absolutely insane fire blast he let off.

"Yeah, that's why our parents didn't want us," Fu said. It was so sudden and so matter of fact, that it took everyone but Nezu off guard.

"Hey, that's not true!" Kiba protested. "Yami's parents were eaten by wolves."

Yami grunted in affirmation.

"Oh right, then all of our parents but Yami's didn't want us." Fu corrected.

With the entire class now sad and slightly uneasy, Nezu decided now it was time to leave.

"Well, I will be leaving now. Enjoy your lunches." Nezu said as he turned to leave.

"Wait!" Kirishima called out to the tiny principal, causing him to stop and turn towards his student.

"Oh, is there something wrong Mr. Kirishima?" Nezu asked.

"Yeah...I was...wondering if I could talk to Midoriya?" Kirishima asked.

"Actually where is Izuku?" Ochaco asked, suddenly realizing that the greenette was nowhere to be found.

"Izuku Midoriya is currently doing some work in one of the teachers' lounges," Nezu revealed. "If you'd like to speak to him, I would be more than happy to allow that."

Ochaco was about to ask if she could go too, eager to catch up with her friend, however, suddenly she felt someone tugging her hand and looked down to see Fu holding onto one of her fingers.

"We need to talk about dad," Fu said in a hushed voice.

Now while Fu said it in his normal deadpan voice. There was an underlying pleading and seriousness that Ochaco only picked up because she'd been around Fu.

Ochaco nodded, and the two went off the side.

"Alrighty then. Mr. Kirishima. Please come with me." Nezu turned around and walked back inside, with Kirishima following suit.

"Alright, everyone! Let us sit down and engage in conversation! Please remember not to talk while your mouth is full!" Iida ordered.

Meanwhile, on the side with Ochaco and Fu.

"So what happened? Is Izuku ok? Is he overworking himself?" Ochaco asked with a worried expression. It had been, in her opinion, too long since she'd last visited Izuku. But with all the work she'd been given and with Izuku's house being so out of the way, it was hard for her to make time to see her best friend.

"He's definitely working too much." Fu didn't know much about what his father did exactly, but he could tell just using logic that it was too much. From what he heard taking care of one kid was hard work. Let alone over ten. "Yami can see that he's stressed. Literally. And it's getting worse every day. Yami tried talking to him about it but...he snapped at him. Dad NEVER snaps at anyone."

Ochaco cringed. Izuku was the nicest person she knew. And the only time she'd ever really seen him get angry is when talking about neglectful or abusive parents, or Overhaul. And even then it was brief. So for him to actually snap at someone, let alone one of his kids, the stress must REALLY be getting to him.

Of course, knowing Izuku, that still didn't mean he would ask for any help.

"I'll try to talk to him later. He needs to hire help." Ochaco sighed, before pulling herself together and forcing a smile at Fu. "Thank you for telling me this."

Fu shook his head. "No. Thanks for being there for dad. It means a lot to all of us."

Ochaco's false smile turned into a real one, and she kneeled down and hugged the zombie boy. "Your welcome."

Meanwhile, with Kirishima.

"Alright, he should be right in here." After a bit of walking, Nezu had led Kirishima to the teacher's lounge Izuku was sitting in. "Please do remember that he is a guest, and you must be on your absolute best behavior."

"Of course! Anything else would be unmanly!" Kirishima smiled and gave the principal a thumbs up.

Nezu nodded and turned the doorknob.

And saw Izuku sleeping soundly on the couch.

"Hmmm. It seems as if his lack of sleep has finally caught up to him." Nezu turned to Kirishima, ushering him out. "Well, we should let him get his sleep."

As if sensing that his desperate need for sleep might minorly inconvenience someone else, Izuku suddenly jerked upright and forced his eyes open. "Wha? Huh?"

Nezu sighed, the first time Kirihsima had ever seen him do something like that. "Never mind then. Midoriya, someone wanted to see you."

"O-Oh. Uh." Izuku stretched a bit. Taking some time to fully wake up and take in his surroundings. "Y-Your...Kirishima. Right?"

"Right. Uh...are you ok man?" Kirishima could see that the guy in front of him was obviously sleep-deprived.

"Y-Yeah I-I'll be fine." Izuku lied.

"Well, I'll be on my way," Nezu told them, before turning to Kirishima. "Mr. Kirishima, do remember to head back to class when this is all done."

"You got it, sir!" Kirishima told him.

Nezu nodded, and promptly left the room, closing the door behind him.

Kirishima looked at Izuku and Izuku stared right back at him.

There was a minute of awkward silence between the boys. Izuku just wasn't used to being social and Kirishima wasn't sure how to approach the topic he wanted to talk about.

"S-So do you wanna...sit down?" Izuku eventually asked him.

"Oh yeah!" Kirishima sat on the couch opposite to Izuku, and the awkward silence continued for half a minute until the hardening hero worked up the nerve to speak. "So...I wanted to ask you something...about Bakugo."

Almost any semblance of forced happiness drained from Izuku's face, and Kirishima started to regret coming here.

"Uh, If you don't want to that's fine!" Kirishima added as quickly as he could.

"No, it's ok...just...what do you want to ask." Izuku put his fake smile back on in an attempt to ease him.

"Well...I know he bullied you and everything...and I'm sorry if this seems like a stupid question...but is Bakugo…" Kirishima found it was a lot harder to ask this question than he thought. "A bad person?"

Izuku's expression shifted from tired to shocked. And once again Kirishima was left wondering if coming here was a mistake.

Before he could try to amend his words though, Izuku spoke up.

"I honestly...don't really know." Izuku sighed, his tired expression returning now somehow making him seem even more tired than before. "I've been wondering about that myself. I want to say no. I really do. But I know that I have...some sort of bias that makes me want to believe him more. But every time I look at what he's done and said for the last ten years, and I look at it logically, and I can't really dismiss the notion that he is."

That was...very shocking for Kirishima. "Wait. You said you had a bias that made you WANT to believe in him? Didn't he...bully you for most of your life?"

"Yeah...I guess I should explain that." Izuku said. "You see, a long time ago, Bakugo was my first friend."

"Wait really!?" Kirishima was once again taken aback by this revelation.

Izuku nodded solemnly. "We were friends almost since birth. Our moms were close and we lived nearby each other so we'd meet and play together often. We were close. The best of friends."

"What happened?" Kirishima truly didn't know what could cause a friendship to fail so badly that it would end in one of the two former friends bullying the other one for years.

"He got his quirk. And I didn't." Izuku answered simply.

"That's it? He just...stopped being your friend the moment you didn't get your quirk?" Kirishima knew that quirk discrimination was bad, but would it really cause a friend to turn on their other friend that quickly?

"It wasn't...it's more complicated than that." Izuku took a moment to figure out how to explain this properly. "It wasn't instant. It happened...quickly but it still took time. And honestly, I don't think it was fully Kacchan's fault. When he got his quirk he was praised, constantly by the other people. Teachers, principals, students, even random people on the street sometimes. Whereas I...was on the opposite end of the social ladder. Pretty much everyone hated me when they found out I was quirkless. It was like night and day between the two of us. Or rather it was like rich and poor. So when everyone was telling him that he was absolutely amazing and that I was lower than the dirt, you can start to see how he became...the way he is today."

"I mean...yeah but...that's still wrong!" Kirishima would like to think that even in that situation, he would never turn on a friend. So while it did explain some of Bakugo's behavior, it didn't really make him think much better of the explosive blond.

"Yeah, but honestly I think most of the reason Kacchan is the way he is, is because people fed him this toxic mindset his entire life," Izuku explained. "And looking back...All Might was kind of a part of that."

"Wait, All Might?" Kirishima was confused. "Why would All Might be part of why Bakugo's such a jerk? All Might's a real man!"

"...Kirishima. When you think of All Might, what are things you think of first?" Izuku asked him.

"His manly smile! His manly speeches! The manly way he saves people! And that wicked awesome power he has!" Kirishima answered honestly.

Izuku nodded. "Bakugo probably only saw that last part though. When you're taught that might makes right, and one of the most respected, and worshiped people in the world, is someone who's praised for their strength and literally called All Might, for him, it kind of confirmed that mentality"

Kirishima pondered that for a moment. At first, it seemed almost impossible that looking up to All Might could lead to anything bad, but Izuku's explanation made sense.

"I also probably didn't help this," Izuku admitted sheepishly. "I was one of the people who kept praising him. If the victim of your bad acts tells you everything is ok, then it makes you think your bad act wasn't all that bad."

"I still don't really understand you, man. It feels like you should really hate Bakugo, but...it sounds like your defending him?" Kirishima honestly didn't expect the conversation to go like this.

Izuku grimaced."Well...it seems like family has a bad trait of defending people who hurt us. If you ask my mom, my dad is working overseas. What actually happened, is that my dad abandoned us the moment he found out we were quirkless."

Kirishima flinched after hearing that. He knew that quirk discrimination caused a lot of people to turn their backs on Izuku, but for even his own father to turn his back on him?

It made Kirishima debate how much he really knew about quirk discrimination.

"I've looked through a lot of phycology books, mostly child psychology, and thought a lot about this topic...but I can't really come to a final conclusion," Izuku admitted.

Izuku gave Kirishima a very serious look. "Why did you want to ask me this?"

"W-Well uh…" Kirishima thought about how to respond. "I just...he seemed so...upset...all the time. And everyone just seems to avoid him. He's all by himself, with no friends, and the teachers don't seem to like him either. And it just seems...wrong to just...leave him by himself. I wanna help him but...I don't know if I should."

"Hmmm." It's exactly what Izuku thought. "...I think...maybe...at some point Kacchan may have become a bad person...but I don't think he has to stay that way."

Izuku got up and gave Kirishima a serious expression. "If you're asking me, I think you should help him. Be friends with him. Help change him...but…doing that won't be easy. Kacchan is stubborn. And abrasive. He won't just LET you help him. You have to be determined to help him, and never give up. And you have to be able to take a few explosions too. Are you that determined to help someone, that a lot of people would say doesn't deserve it?"

Kirishima thought about it for a moment, before giving Izuku a look that answered all of Izuku's questions. "Hell yeah! If meeting you has taught me anything, just doing something or thinking some way about a person because of what everyone else says, is bullshit! And I'm gonna help make Bakugo a better person, whether he wants to be or not!"

Izuku's expression softened, into a true, genuine smile. "Thank you. There's a part of me that still remembers back when we were friends. So it makes me very happy, to know he won't be alone. I'm really glad we have people like you in the hero course."

"Thanks, man!" Kirishima took Izuku's hand and shook it. "And I'm glad we have someone like you taking care of these kids! You're a real man, you know that!"

Izuku wasn't a hundred percent sure what that meant, but given Kirishima's tone, he took it as a compliment.

RINNNNG!

The bell rang, signifying the end of the lunch period.

"Ah crap, I gotta go!" Kirishima ran towards the door, opening it, but right before he left. He stopped and turned to Izuku. "You know man if you ever need a break, I'd be happy to help you out. Taking care of all those kids by yourself has to be hard."

Izuku did what he normally did.

He smiled and lied through his teeth.

"I'm fine."