Chapter 6 Deku: The Telekinetic Hero by sremiehzla

Rivalry

"I guess we should memorize this floorplan," Ochako said, looking down at the blueprints to the building they'd be entering in just moments.

"Yeah," Izuku agreed. "Kacchan will come for us straight away. We need to be able to find the objective quickly, or he could take both of us out."

"Can you hold him with your Quirk?"

"Not for very long," Izuku sighed, shaking his head. "If he struggles and uses the force from his explosions, he could break out pretty quickly."

Ochako hesitated, glancing at Izuku. "Are you okay, Deku?"

"Yeah, I am. Why?"

"Because it's Bakugo. I'm scared, and I haven't been bullied by him for the past 10 years."

"It doesn't bother me," Izuku sighed.

5 stories above the pair, Tenya and Katsuki were standing next to the paper mache nuclear warhead. Tenya eyed Katsuki warily as the blonde paced around the room restlessly.

"Bakugo," he finally said, "I'll ask that you not go after Midoriya and Uraraka right away."

"Why not, four eyes?" Katsuki spat back. "I don't give a shit about that fake ass bomb, but I have a score to settle with that damn nerd. Deku's been lying to me, looking down on me... He could've made me stop at any time, but he didn't have the balls. And then he fucking pulls this shit and says he's better than me?! Fuck. That."

"Watch your language," Tenya advised. "It isn't befitting of a hero."

"I'm still fucking better than him," Katsuki mumbled, walking out of the room.

On the ground below, Izuku and Ochako were still talking.

"So it's like a fated battle between men, right?" Ochako asked.

"Yeah, I guess so..." Izuku looked up at Ochako from his building layout. "Why?"

"Well, uh... You said you didn't want to use your Quirk violently, and..."

"That doesn't apply here. This is the perfect opportunity to show him how strong I am." Izuku looked down and clenched his hand into a fist. "He's really an asshole, but he's an amazingly strong one. His Quirk, his goals and resolve... It's just too bad that he's such an idiot."

"Do you... regret what happened between you two?" Ochako asked.

Izuku was caught off guard by that. He had always just taken his relationship with Katsuki as static, and never thought about how he felt about it. Did he regret it?

"... Of course I do," he sighed finally, unclenching and reclenching his fist. "Of course I liked it better when we were friends, but he's different than he used to be. That was his choice. I couldn't change his mind back then, and now it's–"

"INDOOR ANTIPERSONNEL BATTLE TRAINING START"

"Deku, what's the plan?" Ochako asked, dismissing the other conversation.

Izuku thought for a moment. 'Of course I want to have a straight fight with him, but... Uraraka's grade is riding on this too. I need to suck it up and put the assignment first.'

"Well, let's just go in and start looking," he sighed. "If Kacchan finds us, then you can make us weightless and I can get us out of there fast. Or I could capture him with the tape, but I don't think I'll have a chance. He'd get out of my Quirk before I could finish tying it."

"And then we find the bomb, right?"

"Yeah... I don't like running from him, but–"

"I fully support running from him."

"... I guess it's fine then. Let's go in through that window, there."

Ochako made Izuku weightless, and he used his telekinesis to make them both rise to the second story and through a window.

"Infiltration complete," Ochako said seriously as they set down inside.

"There are a lot of blind corners," Izuku observed, eyeing the grey grid-like interior. "We should watch out."

They walked for about 10 seconds, looking down corridors as they passed, until Katsuki came jumping from behind a corner, pointing his arm at them. Izuku tackled Ochako out of the way barely in time, and was grazed by the ensuing explosion.

"Uraraka, are you okay?!" he asked loudly, due to the adrenaline and the ringing in his ears caused by concussive blast.

"Y-Yeah, what about you?" Ochako shook the dizziness from her head and looked up at Izuku, whose mask was torn in half and mouth guard had fallen off.

"I'm fine, it's just a scratch– ARGH!"

Katsuki wasn't letting up. He assaulted Izuku with explosion after explosion, not giving him the chance to focus and use his Quirk. Izuku was barely able to scramble away long enough to stop Katsuki for a second with his telekinesis. He shook his rattled head and looked up, realizing that Katsuki had gotten between him and Ochako (who looked very worried).

"Fuck you!" Katsuki grunted as he broke from Izuku's hold, before rocketing forward.

Izuku ducked as Katsuki threw his right arm forward, hand popping with explosions, then reached behind the blonde's gauntlet and pulled him over his head. As he flung Katsuki away, he used his Quirk to increase the force.

"Argh, fuck!" Katsuki shouted, righting himself in midair with tiny explosions. By the time he was on his feet, Izuku had already reached his partner and escaped. "You... YOU WON'T FUCKING BEAT ME!"

Izuku pulled Ochako behind the corner of a random hallway, sitting back against the wall. He inspected the costume that his mother had bought for him. His left sleeve was only partially intact and his elbow guard on that side was also gone. His hood was also completely gone now, and the whole outfit was covered in tiny burns. His body was aching all over as well.

"Deku, that counter was amazing!" Ochako whispered excitedly. "You totally read his movements!"

"He always starts with a right hook," Izuku panted. "I've taken notes on all of the most impressive heroes, even him. I know him better than he probably knows himself."

"You took notes on him?" Ochako held back a chuckle, fearing they'd get found out.

"I-It's a hobby of mine," Izuku said quietly. "I'll probably have the same notes done for everyone in our class in a couple of weeks."

"I... I don't know if I should be impressed or scared."

"YOU WON'T ESCAPE, DEKU!" Katsuki's voice cut through the echoes of explosions as he raced through the halls.

"It looks like my plan is working," Izuku sighed in relief.

"What plan?" Ochako asked. "Now that I think about it, weren't we going to start looking for Iida as soon as we got away?"

"Sorry. I just came up with this on the spot, but look," Izuku said, stepping out into the hallway. "The places that Kacchan passed by are covered in scorch marks. He's probably going back to the bomb, since he's too mad to realize that we don't know where it is."

"So, we just have to follow the trail," Ochako inferred. "But then we'll have to face Bakugo and Iida at the same time!"

"But that also means that we'd need to face them both even if we went straight to looking for Iida," Izuku explained. "Their teamwork probably won't work very well. Besides, we're even faster than Iida if we combine our Quirks. All we need to do is touch the bomb."

"A-Alright, then," Ochako conceded with a nod, followed by a determined smile. "Let's win, Deku!"

"Yeah. Let's do our best!"

They followed the scorched walls until they reached a door. The trail stopped there, so they assumed that was where Katsuki stopped off.

"They'll be expecting us," Izuku whispered, approaching the door. "Let's be careful."

"That's an understatement," Ochako said nervously. "They know exactly where we're coming from!"

"Wait a minute," Izuku said in realization. "The bomb might not even be here! They might've moved it once Kacchan got here!"

"We gotta take the risk."

"Alright... 3... 2... 1!"

Izuku kicked open the door, only to be hit right in the face with an explosion. He staggered back and fell, and Katsuki stalked out of the empty room he had been in. He grabbed the dazed Izuku by the collar of his costume and socked him across the face.

"Deku, you fucking dumbass!" Katsuki laughed menacingly. "Did you think I'd just lead you back to the fucking nest?"

"D-Deku!" Ochako shouted. "Get offa him Bakugo!"

"Wait your damn turn, Round Face!"

"Uraraka!" Izuku yelled, apparently coming back to his senses. "Run! Go find Iida!"

Ochako hesitated for a second, looking down at Izuku's bruised and bloody face, before running off to look for the objective. Katsuki started to move after her.

"Oh no you don't, you–!" Katsuki was flung up into the ceiling by Izuku's telekinesis. After regaining his breath, he looked down at the green haired boy who was just getting up onto his feet. "How damn noble, Deku! Fine, I'll fuck you up some more!"

Katsuki moved his arms and legs furiously, setting off explosions until he finally broke free. But by the time he had fallen to the floor and righted himself, Izuku had already recovered and was running down the hallway. Katsuki chased after him, quickly overshooting him with his explosive speed as Izuku jumped into another perpendicular hallway. Katsuki roared and rushed back to the hallway, only to be met with a fist in his gut, as Izuku was hiding right behind the corner. Katsuki shouted in pain, but instead of being caught off guard like most would be, he grabbed Izuku's forearm with both hands and set explosions off on both sides, badly burning it. Out of reflex, Izuku used his Quirk to push Katsuki back and slammed him hard against the wall, knocking the wind out of him, before running off to hide.

Upstairs, Ochako found Tenya in the room with the bomb. She knew she couldn't match his speed without Izuku, so she resolved to wait for him to catch up. Before she could contact him though, she noticed that Tenya was talking to himself.

"Bakugo's troublemaking nature makes him well-suited for this villainous role," he said with a finger to his chin. "I suppose I must also take on the villain role, though it pains me to do so. This training will make me a better hero, so I must commit to it!" His voice became dark, almost like a bad Batman impression. "I am... EXTREMELY EVIL!"

'He's so serious!' Ochako thought to herself as she failed to restrain a chuckle.

Tenya heard her laugh, and he looked over to her hiding place. "So Uraraka, you've come! I expected as much, with Bakugo going after Midoriya like that. I know that your Quirk let's you affect loose objects, so before you arrived, I enacted a counter-strategy! I cleaned all of the objects off of the floor! You've miscalculated, hero! Muwahahaha!"

"H-He's really getting into it," Ochako muttered to herself, cringing a bit.

Izuku sat behind the corner of another random hallway, having gotten away from Katsuki. He shook his burned arm, but the pain wouldn't go away, and he grit his teeth.

"Deku!" Ochako yelled over the earpiece. "I found Iida, and I'm in the room with him!"

"I-I got away from Kacchan for now," Izuku replied in a hiss, shaking his burned arm again. "Where are you?"

"The middle room on the fifth floor."

"That's right near me," Izuku said quietly. "I might be able to do something from here."

"Aren't you two floors down?"

"... Right, I'll make my way up to you."

"Alright, tell me when. I'll try to get the bomb from Iida until then."

"Alright–" *BOOM* "–Argh!"

Katsuki appeared behind Izuku and ignited an explosion in his back, burning a hole in his tracksuit and sending him onto his stomach, skidding across the floor until he was just outside his 15 meter zone. Izuku scrambled to his feet and looked back at Katsuki, who had his arm held up and pointed at him. He held the pin of the grenade-shaped gauntlet with his index finger.

"I'm guessing you know this from your stalking, but my hands secrete a nitroglycerin-like liquid, and that's how I make my explosions," Katsuki sneered. "If those damn clothing shop nerds honored my design requests, then these gauntlets have been storing up a good amount of it."

"Bakugo!" All Might's voice yelled over the earpieces. "Don't pull that pin! You'll kill him!"

"He won't die if it isn't a direct hit!"

Ping

Izuku barely had any time to move out of the way, and was still hit by much of the massive explosion. It shook the entire battle center, and Izuku couldn't even remember where he was for what seemed like ages. Izuku's head was ringing, and the giant hole in the side of the building just looked like a blinding blur to him. The upper half of his tracksuit only clung to him by part of one sleeve that remained. He slowly stood back up on his feet, shaking the shock from his head.

"Awesome, ain't it Deku?" Katsuki taunted. "C'mon, you're not dead yet!"

'That explosion easily hit me from more than 15 meters,' Izuku realized. 'I can't compete with that range!'

"Bakugo! If you use that move again, I will end the match and you will lose!" All Might yelled. "Using massive attacks like that indoors is a great way to get your own stronghold destroyed! It's a bad play for either heroes or villains! And, it's a good way to lose points!"

"Aw, you're fucking kidding me!" Katsuki yelled back.

'Thank God,' Izuku sighed to himself.

"Deku, what was that?" Ochako asked over the earpiece. "Are you okay?"

"Y-Yeah," he stuttered, still shaking consciousness back to his body. "I'm... fine."

Izuku looked up and saw that the blast had obliterated the layer of floor above him, leaving the 4th floor ceiling exposed. He thought he could probably break through one layer of concrete at least, and a plan formed in his head.

"Uraraka, I'm coming up," he whispered. "Be ready to grab the bomb while Iida's distracted!"

"What do you mean, coming up?"

"Through the floor."

"What?!"

"Are you fucking IGNORING ME DEKU?!" Katsuki screamed, hands popping with explosions.

"Kacchan, there's one more thing," Izuku said, looking at his old friend. "You can call me Deku, but that doesn't mean 'useless' to me anymore. To me it means that, no matter what I'm up against, I can do it!"

"We'll see about that!" the blonde shouted as he rocketed at Izuku.

"Now, Uraraka!" he called over the earpiece.

Izuku enveloped his body in the dull green glow and flew up, leading with his arms to defend his face from the concrete as he broke through. Unfortunately, he broke his right arm on impact. The pain caused him to drop his arms from his face, and, through some horrible luck of placement, he rammed head-first into Tenya's armor, knocking his classmate over and himself unconscious.

While Tenya was distracted by the limp boy laying on top of him, Ochako quickly wrapped her arms around the paper mache bomb, yelling, "Secured!"

"W-What?" Tenya yelled in disbelief. "I can't believe I let my guard down!"

"Hero team wins!" All Might boomed.

"Deku!" Ochako shrieked upon seeing Izuku, whose hero costume was mostly destroyed and burned, exposed back and arms were burned, and head was flowing with blood. "D-Deku?"

"He's unconscious, Uraraka," Tenya sighed. "I... didn't think he'd go so far for a training exercise..."

"H-He's bleeding so much!" Ochako rolled Izuku onto his back and tried to wipe some of the blood off of his face.

"DEKU!" Katsuki yelled, rocketing up through the hole that Izuku opened to the 5th floor. "You fucking–! Y-You..."

Katsuki stopped himself when he saw Izuku. He was unconscious, covered in blood and burns, and of all things not covered by most of his hero costume. It was like he was just realizing what they had put each other through.

Ochako kept fussing, trying to shake Izuku awake. Her eyes even started watering a bit. She only stopped when the transport bots showed up and carted him away, though she still kept by his side. All Might stopped her as he passed though, sending her back to the monitor room to be evaluated.

'My right hook... He read my moves completely! And even though I was going all out... He was able to form a plan, and acted on it,' Katsuki thought, clenching his fists. 'That means that... I lost to Deku... Completely!'

"Young Bakugo," All Might said more softly than you'd think he could, "come along. It's time for your grading. Whether you win or lose, there's always something to be taken away from experience!"

Once All Might and Katsuki rejoined Tenya, Ochako, and the rest of the class, All Might lined up the three present who had just gone through the exercise. Tenya stood at attention, despite obviously being disappointed in himself. Katsuki trembled in frustration with himself and also with Izuku. Ochako could barely pay any attention at all, more concerned about Izuku's well-being.

"Well," All Might started, coughing into his fist, "I'd say that the MVP was..." He paused, considering the candidates. "It was Iida!"

"W-What?!" Tenya yelled, jaw dropping.

"Not Ochako or Midoriya?" Tsuyu croaked. "Even though they won?"

"I WONDER WHY" All Might boomed with a laugh. "Anyone have any ideas?"

"I know, Sensei!" Momo said, raising her hand. "Iida was most able to adapt to the scenario! Bakugo's moves were all obviously made to the end of a personal grudge, and he used far too much destructive force. Uraraka lost focus halfway through, and was only a help to Midoriya when they were trying to escape Bakugo at first. As for Midoriya... I could see that he was acting at least partially on a grudge as well, and his last move was far too reckless and self-damaging. Iida formed an actual counter-strategy and envisioned what the situation would really be like. He was only caught off guard at the very end."

Tenya was genuinely touched by Momo's words.

'S-She said it better than I could have,' All Might thought, raising a shaking thumbs-up. "I-I'd also add that Iida was a bit too stiff, but that's right!"

"We have to start at the bottom and work our way up!" Momo said in encouragement to Katsuki and Ochako. "If we don't cheer each other on, we'll never be top heroes!"

"All right... Next up is Team B as the heroes and Team I as the villains!" All Might announced. "Please, take your starting positions!"

"U-Um, All Might Sensei?" Ochako said, approaching the #1 hero. "May I be excused? I want to go check up on Deku."

"Sorry Uraraka, but no. You must learn from watching others!" He placed his large hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry too much about Young Midoriya. Recovery Girl will have him all better in no time, but he'll probably be unconscious for a while. Just focus on the exercise."

"Okay," she said quietly, walking back to stand with Iida as they watched the other teams.

Katsuki stood in the far back. He couldn't stand to be too close to anyone else right then. He didn't know how Izuku was so strong, and it pissed him off. Ever since he realized how special he was, Katsuki wasn't supposed to have any more obstacles. He pushed others out of his way because he was supposed to be the best. Now that Izuku, the one who was lowest on his pecking order, was fucking beating him, what did that mean about him? Was he weak? He shook that thought from his head. No, it just proved his point. Izuku was a liar, not a damn hero. And Katsuki wasn't planning on lagging behind. But as he watched Shoto freeze the entire fucking building and leisurely stroll in, he got even more frustrated. How could he be this far from first place? He was supposed to be the best, a prodigy! Yet now, he felt no more than mediocre in comparison. While everyone else fawned over Shoto's power, Katsuki just became more removed from it all. His whole world, which was only standing on a few last supports, was finally beginning to crash down.

Ochako couldn't focus as much as she knew she should. All of her classmates, possibly future friends, were giving it their all. She had no doubt that they were inspired by Izuku's impressive resolve. She was inspired too, but she was more terrified that he'd overdone it. Despite All Might's assurances, she just couldn't stop worrying about him. It didn't help that her hands were covered with his blood.

"Well done, everyone!" All Might announced after everyone had finished the exercise. "We had no serious injuries aside from Midoriya's!"

Ochako frowned and scrunched up her face as he said that, while Katsuki scoffed.

"Your teamwork was great! You all did fantastically, considering this was your first training exercise! And as a transfer student, Young Shinso surprised us all, I'm sure!"

Hitoshi just nodded his head in response.

"Now, I'm off to give Midoriya his evaluation! Change out of your costumes, then head back to the classroom!" All Might felt himself reaching the end of his time limit, so he sped away as fast as he could. Looking back, he saw Katsuki's distant eyes. 'The most inflated egos are also the most fragile... As his teacher, I'll have to counsel him! But for now... Shit, I only have enough time to barely make it through a class!'

"Eh, this kid knows about you, Toshinori?" Recovery Girl asked the skeletal man after he entered the nurse's office to talk to Izuku.

"Mostly," Toshinori sighed, wiping blood from his mouth. He looked at Izuku's bandaged and unconscious form, grimacing a bit.

"If that's the case, then I assume you're considering giving it to him?"

"Yes... He truly has a hero's heart, a great attitude, and an amazing Quirk to boot!"

"If that's the case, then maybe you should take a bit more responsibility with him!" she scolded.

"M-My apologies–"

"Apologize to him, not me! Seriously, what did he even do?! A concussion, cracked skull, broken arm, and more than too many 3rd degree burns! Added onto his blood loss and general fatigue, I was barely able to do anything more than basic first aid! If I use my Quirk on him right now, he'll die of exhaustion!"

"I-I understand," Toshinori sighed, sitting back in one of the chairs against the wall. "I'll be more careful in guiding my students... Especially him."

"Good, because I don't want him back here anytime soon!" Recovery Girl stated with finality.

While class 1-A was walking back to their classroom from the locker rooms, Ochako started to drift from the group, hoping to get an opening to slip away to visit the nurse's office.

"Where are you going, Uraraka?" Tenya asked, noticing her movement.

"O-Oh, I w-was um... I was going to go check on Deku," she admitted.

"All Might said not to worry," Tenya assured her. "Besides, he's being given his evaluation right now. You shouldn't interrupt."

"B-But he... I'm worried, okay?"

"He'll be fine. Truth be told, I'm also worried, but I have faith that he'll be fine! If he isn't back by the end of class, then you can visit him."

"Uugh, fine!" she conceded, following the rest of the class.

The Basic Hero Training was close to the end of the school day, but the small amount of time they had left in their day seemed endless to both Ochako and Katsuki for completely different reasons. While Ochako was worrying about Izuku, who hadn't returned from Recovery Girl's office yet, Katsuki was questioning his very self. Everything he knew about himself, Izuku, the strength of his Quirk in comparison to others... It made no sense to him anymore. Eventually though, the day ended for both of them. Katsuki immediately got up to leave once it did, not wanting to interact with anybody. Ochako started packing up her books, wanting to visit Izuku as soon as possible. Suddenly, a blond boy with a black streak in his hair walked up to her.

"Hey, you're Uraraka, right?" he asked, slouching a bit with his hands in his pockets and a confident grin on his face.

"Huh?" Ochako looked at him, not paying too much attention because she really wanted to get out of there and find Izuku. "Yeah... Who are you?"

"I'm Denki Kaminari," he said, grinning lopsidedly. "I was wondering if you'd like to grab a bite to eat sometime. What do you like to eat?"

"Uh, well... There was this good restaurant that Deku brought me to. Ooh, we also went to a mochi shop that was good."

"I-I uh, see," Denki sighed disappointedly. "Who's this Deku?"

"O-Oh, sorry, I meant Midoriya," she clarified, still too distracted by her worry for Izuku to notice what Denki was on about.

"The one that was on Team A with you?!" Denki exclaimed. "He got first on the entrance exam and in Aizawa's test, right?"

"Yeah, he did," Ochako said, smiling. He was pretty amazing, wasn't he?

Denki started walking away, saying, "Dude, I'm not stepping in on that guy's territory, no way!"

"Territory?" Ochako muttered, still not understanding what he meant.

Izuku was approaching the classroom, finally. After being lectured by Recovery Girl and receiving an evaluation by All Might for his performance in the exercise, he was sent back at the very end of the school day. His right arm was in a sling, his left was wrapped in bandages because of the burns, and his head was also thoroughly wrapped with gauze. He felt so lightheaded that he had to use the wall for support as he walked.

He had been thinking about a lot of things during his slow walk back to 1-A. Some old memories resurfaced, probably because of what Ochako had asked him earlier.

"Do you... regret what happened between you two?"

Izuku expected to feel triumphant after beating his long-time foe, but he felt a little empty, somber. There was some guilt there.

"What... Are you looking down on me out something? Did you cheat?! Or did you just pretend that your damn Quirk was worthless all these years, and laugh while I bought it?!"

Katsuki was right. Even if it wasn't the whole truth, Izuku realized that Katsuki was right.

"You... Were you really hiding your Quirk's strength this whole time? You never showed this kind of control before... You never fought back, and you expect me to believe that your Quirk was this strong the whole time?!... Fuck that! Why the fuck didn't you ever fight back?!"

Izuku realized that Katsuki was right all along. It was the kind of revelation that felt akin to working out an extremely long math problem, only to realize that he made a mistake in the very beginning. It was both relieving and frustrating.

Katsuki wasn't going to go out of his way to show Izuku any respect, no matter how much the green teen impressed him. Katsuki was just stubborn in that way, and Izuku didn't blame him. He knew about Katsuki's rough household, and how disagreeable his mother could be, and he was sure that the blonde had grown this way as some sort of defense mechanism. Izuku had tried to prove himself to Katsuki, but... He needed to work things out more directly. He needed to speak to his old friend as soon as he got back to class. But when he opened the door to the classroom, he was assaulted by the four people closest to the entrance.

"Oh, Midoriya is back!" the one with sharp red hair said, smiling with his fanged teeth. "I don't know what you guys said in there, but that was a super manly battle!"

"Nice dodging!" the pink girl with yellow horns chimed in.

"You got all of us super pumped up!" a large boy with thick lips said.

"I'm Eijiro Kirishima, we were just talking about the battle training!"

"I'm Mina Ashido! You dodge really well!"

"I'm Tsuyu Asui. You can just call me Tsuyu."

"I'm Sato."

The sudden attention combined with his lightheadedness ended up being a bit too much for Izuku. He was about to fall back when Ochako finally broke through the crowd and grabbed him.

"DEKUUUU!" she cried, gripping his shoulders tightly and looking up and down his body. "Are you okay?! Why are you still all beat up? Didn't Recovery Girl heal you?!"

"I-I uh," Izuku looked around the room. "Where's Kacchan?"

"He left right when the bell rang," Ochako said. "Now, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just some scratches," Izuku said quickly, turning to the door. "I have to go, sorry!"

Leaning on the wall, Izuku walked as quickly as he could to the front of the school. Luckily for him, Katsuki was sluggish today and was still in front of the school's blue entry arch when Izuku got outside. He stumbled after him until he got into comfortable shouting distance.

"Kacchan!" he yelled, gripping one of the light poles for support.

Katsuki stopped at the familiar voice and slowly turned to look at Izuku. "... The fuck do you want?" he asked after a few seconds.

"I... I've been such an idiot, haven't I?" Izuku sighed, looking down at the ground and still gripping the pole. "I'm so stupid."

"Yeah, I know," Katsuki said, lowering his glare at Izuku. "What the fuck is new?"

"I... I'm sorry, for everything," Izuku said, starting to take more steps towards the next pole that was closer to Katsuki.

"You're... sorry?" Katsuki's eyes widened.

"Yeah... You were right. I've been lying to you, and looking down on you. I didn't even realize it, but I was. That's not what a hero does... Not at all."

Katsuki stayed silent.

"I-It was something that Uraraka said earlier that got me thinking, but... I regret everything that's happened between us. We used to be such good friends, Kacchan. But I was jealous of you. You were so good at everything, and then you even got an amazing Quirk... And when I got mine, I hoped, just for a second, that you might accept me again. When nothing changed I started to hate you, but... I didn't hate you. I never hated you, and I still don't. I hated the way you thought of me.

"I thought that I hated you, so I just got angrier and angrier, and I came up with some stupid idea that I would train in secret and then surpass you, like some kind of stupid comic book. My Quirk got stronger naturally as I grew up, plus the training I put myself through. Really, you're the reason I pushed myself to get better. But now, I just... I don't want things to stay the way they are, so... Thank you for pushing me to be better, I'm sorry for lying to you, and please, forgive all of these years of my being stupid!"

Katsuki's eyes were wide, his mouth agape. He couldn't believe what he had just heard. His entire world, which had already started crumbling down, suddenly found a couple more pillars. One was something very familiar. Deku was a piece of shit, yadda yadda, except now he was admitting it. He was manning up and taking the blame for the shit he had done by lying all those years. Not only that, but he was thanking the blonde for his strength. Of course, fucking Deku couldn't have gotten this strong on his own. The other pillar was something much older, something that Katsuki had almost forgotten. It was merely an echo of a memory, but it was connected to where he was now. He was being offered a hand by Deku. Before, he'd smack it away and say he didn't need help. Hell, he still didn't need it! But after what he had witnessed that day, Katsuki was going to take every opportunity he could to better himself, whether he needed to or not.

"What the actual fuck?" Katsuki chuckled. "Damn right you're sorry! Listen, fucking Deku, I'll accept your apology if it makes you feel better. As long as you know that you were in the wrong!"

'I... I'll go with it,' Izuku sighed inwardly.

"You said that I pushed you to get better?" Katsuki smiled an odd looking grin as his eyes widened. "As if I'd fall behind either! And that icy bastard, too, I'll surpass him! Enjoy your win, because it ain't happening again! I'm coming with everything I got!" Katsuki turned back around to walk home, before pausing and glancing back at Izuku. "I'm not here to play at being friends. We're competitors, Deku, and I'll fucking kill you if you don't give me everything you have!"

Suddenly, All Might zoomed past the still woozy Izuku, almost knocking him over, and stopped next to Katsuki, placing his hand firmly on his shoulder.

"Young Bakugo!" All Might exclaimed. "Self-respect is important, and you've got tons of it! And believe me when I say that you have the makings of a great pro hero! All you need to do is–"

"Get the fuck offa me, All Might!" Katsuki shouted, suddenly back to his usual self. "I can't fucking move!"

"Ah," All Might gasped, realizing he had been putting more pressure on the teen's shoulder than he had meant to.

Katsuki glared up at All Might with the same grin he had just shown Izuku. "And it goes without saying that I'll surpass you too, as the number one hero!"

'He's back,' All Might realized, letting Katsuki walk away. All Might glanced down at Izuku. "Man, being a teacher sure is tough! AHAHAHA!"

"Hey, Deku!" Ochako said from right behind Izuku, startling him.

"Yeah, Ura-Uraraka?" he stuttered, wondering how much she heard.

"That's not what I meant when I asked if you regretted what happened! He deserves a good punch to the throat for everything he's done!" she exclaimed, shaking his shoulders. A moment passed before she reverted to her previous state of panic, "SERIOUSLY, WHY DIDN'T RECOVERY GIRL HEAL YOU?! IS IT PERMANENT?!"

As Izuku explained that he was too fatigued to be healed to Ochako, All Might let out another hearty laugh. Yes, things seemed to be going well for class 1-A. They seemed to be going very well indeed. And at the end of that exchange, there was a word that permeated the air, despite the fact that nobody said it. Maybe the word wasn't on their minds specifically, but its meaning perfectly described the massive change that had just taken place. Izuku and Katsuki both finally realized how to become better heroes: Rivalry.