Katsuki Bakugo was a boy who didn't have a single regret. He was king of the castle, and assumed that this would carry over to UA. Especially so. After all, his quirk was perfect for heroics. The sheer power would be perfect. But now he was sitting in the principal's office. Before, it had only ever been for if people had only accolades. After all, Aldera's principal only ever called him for his acceptance into UA. This had to be along similar lines.
However, Nezu had been silent as they waited. Aizawa had sent him to bed last night, and told him that they would have this meeting the next day. It was far earlier than even he would usually get up, and now the mammal that was his principal was scrutinizing him. A folder was open before him, clearly his previous student file. Perfect. That would mean that he would see nothing wrong. The teachers knew he was stellar hero material as well.
"Young Bakugo. Before your parents get here, do you know why you are here?"
The answer was obvious. "Because I did a good job interrogating weird bitch."
The white furred mammal sighed, shaking his head. "You may have interrogated her, but it wasn't a 'good job'. It wasn't your job at all. There was no reason for your violence." The rat paused, before asking directly. "I would like for you to think, what do you think makes a hero?"
His parents entered the room, and Katsuki remained silent. Even though he knew his answer, something told him there was more to it than that.
When Ochako woke up, it was just Recovery Girl and Aizawa. Nobody else was there, and she was in the infirmary. RG was busy with her own officework, while Aizawa asked, "Are you alright?"
She looked over at him. Her body was too tired to get up. "Y-yes..." She glanced to the door, where there were one or two of her classmates there... or rather, her peers, the ones who looked apologetic. Mina and a few others in particular, and even Asui.
The raven haired teacher spoke confidently. "Don't worry. You don't have to see them if you don't want to."
After a moment of seeing their guilty glances... she couldn't look any further. Not meeting his eyes, she stated. "I... I don't want to. I don't know what I did..."
Aizawa stood up, and shooed people away from the room, telling them to leave, meanwhile, the youthful heroine told her why, while giving a physical examination for any further issues. "They are wondering about your eyes, dearie. Apparently they keep changing colors, and they are... concerned about it."
"My eyes don't change color."
Aizawa, returning to his chair besides the bed, immediately narrowed his eyes in suspicion of this obvious lie. "So, your classmates all have the same hallucination then? One that I have seen first hand? Is that really what you're going with?"
The Brunette cursed herself out, Crap.
Meanwhile, Izuku sighed, agreeing with her. You walked right into that one... should we just tell him then?
Unable to think of a way to breach the subject, she only said, "Uh..."
Aizawa, unblinkingly, stared right into her own eyes. "So they have a grain of truth. So tell me, why lie?"
Well, that's not a bad start.
Looking away "B-because I don't think anyone would believe the truth..."
That got a raised eyebrow. "And that is...?"
Ochako quickly composed herself. Izuku was her support, even if they were not, and that would be enough. "Is there anyone else listening?"
Recovery Girl was sympathetic: "Besides me and sourpuss? No." The man was annoyed by the nickname, but remained silent.
Earnest, she started to explain the best she could. This whole topic broached upon the concept of life after death, as limited an experience that they knew, and decided to start with a timeline of events. "Well... um, it started a month before the UA exams... I..."
Looking to her homeroom teacher, he nodded, encouraging her to continue. "Go on..."
"I saw a boy kill themselves."
He stiffened, not knowing how this was related. Recovery girl inhaled a sharp breath, silently agreeing with Aizawa: We need to get her to see Hound Dog.
Not seeing their shared glance, the brunette continued the story. It was harrowing as she described the scene with a high level of detail. "I was walking home that day. Through an alley as a shortcut. He didn't shout, and I only knew he was there when I saw his face a foot from the ground. He had green hair and eyes." That got their attention. Pieces were starting to come together, but the picture it formed didn't make sense. It was illogical. "I couldn't say anything as he hit the floor. My mind stared, I just couldn't process it for the moment..." Ochako was personally struggling with this, as these memories had been too traumatic to revisit before now. Now, actually wanting to remember, it all flooded back. "All I could do was cry and head home. I called the police and told them what happened and where it did... then went to sleep."
Aizawa, the rational and logical one, still didn't understand... "How does this connect..."
She cut off her teacher. Normally, she never would, but this wasn't about him. "The next morning, I wake up to find the ghost of the boy controlling my body. Both of us were confused. He wanted to die. I didn't know what was happening, but after that day, we worked together towards becoming a hero. He's really smart, and when he's in control, my eyes turn green."
Both adults' eyes were wide with shock. Not only did her story imply that she had a close call with death, very narrowly being crushed by this other boy, but that souls exist. "That... doesn't seem possible..."
Meanwhile, Ochako asked the boy, Do you want to talk to them?
Somewhat eager to speak to heroes, he agreed. Of course it was a method for her mind to take a break from this interview. Sure! And so, Izuku took command and Ochako's eyes turned green. "Hi."
Immediately noticing the color change, as well as the more shy nature she showed, Aizawa asked, "So you are the supposed ghost then?"
He nodded with her head. "Y-yep... My name is Izuku Midoriya!"
With a bluntness that made RG pale with shock, the underground hero asked, "If you are a ghost, why did you jump?"
Just as taken aback as the heroine was, the ghost stuttered, "I... I was quirkless..." He expected for the man to take out anger on him, for a number of things. Being quirkless was number one, but so was killing themselves, possessing his student, and causing a whole number of issues for him in the past couple months.
However, he was not expecting the quiet apology. But, then again, this was Eraserhead. He was basically the closest thing to a quirkless hero that he could think of, even if he didn't use his reputation to help people like him. It was probably for that reason why Izuku expected a "normal" response. Not this: "I'm sorry."
Immediately, Izuku defended the hero's position, to their surprise. Probably a trained response. "Don't be! Y-you're a rational person. You need more than just what I say..." He looked away for a moment, before returning their gazes. "I do have a couple questions though!"
Seeing life from a ghost was unusual, but this was the first ghost they had ever met. [>-@ l3asT iN tH1s fr@c4ur3-<] Still, Aizawa acknowledged his request. "What are they?"
Izuku immediately asked something about quirk technique. "Have you every tried moving your eyes in two different directions to nullify two people's quirks?"
"What?" Aizawa was dumbfounded, while Recovery girl laughed. Shaking his head, the man stated that he hadn't. Undeterred, Izuku's other two questions were also about his quirk. Surprised by all the attention on that specifically, he remarked, "Why are you obsessed with my quirk?"
The former boy apologized, immediately making the man regret his words. At least before his... [her?] voice became animated once more. "S-sorry, I am with all quirks! Well, since I didn't have one, I did a lot of study into them. They're just fascinating!"
Aizawa sighed with a bit of a smile. His penchant for analysis would only be a benefit for the... duo... in their journey of heroics. "Well, that's acceptable I suppose... but I do have two more questions for you before I leave you two to rest..."
Izuku understood, and merely asked with curiosity. "That is?"
"What is your history with Katsuki Bakugo?"
Ochako could feel Izuku's spirit becoming more and more nervous. Half wresting control back, she told her teacher, "Sorry, he still gets emotional around him... they went to school together, and from what I gather, he was his biggest bully... and I think the reason for his suicide."
Shota's stoic facade cracked for a moment when he heard that. His actions last night were atrocious, but he couldn't expel him for that. The school board had refused any future expulsions after last year's purge accidentally got rid of a Deternat board's son, and subsequently sued UA. While he got to keep his job, he wasn't able to keep that privaledge. Which means that it went back to the three strikes system. And, since Bakugo had a "clean" record from Aldera... he was technically on his first strike. "So that's why you avoid him like the plague..."
Izuku retreated completely back into her mind, and she responded truthfully. "Yeah...I'm not really afraid of him, but he is."
Aizawa was understanding of that. "Finally, does Ghost child give you any extra abilities?"
"He sorta does... He's smart, and helps me with homework, and he figured out how to speed up my healing factor similar to Recovery Girl..."
Recovery girl was impressed. "Those are powerful. Is that all?"
"Yeah."
"You realize that you two basically have 3 quirks among yourselves? Even if you were quirkless, one could argue your intelligence was on par with a quirk like Nezu's between the two of you..."
"He appreciates the praise, but he doesn't want to talk anymore."
She nodded, "That's understandable... I would like to conduct future tests, so to check if anything abnormal were to affect you. Is that alright?"
Ochako agreed to that, before turning back to Aizawa. "What will be done about my class?"
"Right, them... for now, I will try to keep them away from you. They will be punished for standing by. While Bakugo did attack you, Sato and Kirishima did break down your door. They will pay for it."
The brunette started to tear up. "All I ever wanted was to be a hero and help people... why are they making it so hard?"
Standing up and turning towards the exit, the underground hero didn't know what to say. So he sighed in annoyance. "Hah... I don't know, problem child. I don't know."
The rest of Class 1A waited out in the hallway. When Aizawa exited, they all crowded him, asking if he knew. "All I'll say is this, she has a pseudo intelligence quirk. We're not quite sure, but it's the reason her eyes change color. It boosts her thinking processes and reaction times. That's it. Any real reason to bother me or her?"
They stayed silent. "Good, now head back to the dorms, problem children. You're all on house arrest for wasting my time and assisting in the injuring an innocent classmate. You'll need to formulate, and write a formal apology for her. This will be going onto your record. It is safe to say that I am disappointed in you all. Instead of being heroes, and defending someone who barely defended themselves, you either stayed back, or actively helped him. I admit, I did use a ruse in the quirk assessment test, but last year, that was not a ruse. There is no class 2A." Everyone who was there paled as they realized why. "If I had my ability to expel you directly, only Uraraka would remain. Think on your choices. You are dismissed." Now, he had to attend a very ugly meeting.
Arriving at the principal's office, he could hear shouting. But not from the Bakugo boy, but from a woman who had the same... colorful vocabulary. Clearly his mother, shouting at the boy for something... Not the method he would use, but that would explain a lot.
Entering the room, everything paused at his arrival. "Ah, Aizawa, this is Mitsuki and Musaru Bakugo."
"Good to meet you." Aizawa replied, putting on a more professional tone. "I am Shouta Aizawa. I am your son's homeroom teacher. I just finished speaking to the girl he attacked..." His voice paused, gauging their reactions. Mitsuki was currently furious, but not at the teacher. At her son.
However, her face shifted from rage to concern. "Is the girl alright?"
He nodded, "Ochako Uraraka is expected to make a full recovery." He sighed, "But that's not why I am here."
"No, it isn't." Musaru, a more gentle soul, agreed. The contrast between the couple was... certainly something.
The ravenette walked over to Nezu's desk and rested against it. "After witnessing Bakugo preparing to further attack her, it is clear that he will need to be punished. I am sure Principal Nezu told you, but UA operates on a three strikes system. First is alerting parents and in school suspension. Next will be another call, with this time out of school suspension... before the third strike."
He stared into Katsuki's eyes. He was furious at his circumstances, with no hint of regret. Well, we'll see what he really values, won't we?
"Expulsion."
That got a response. Not much, but a start. And he could work with that. "Expulsion from UA is a death sentence to any prospective hero. You get expelled from here, no legitimate business would ever accept you. No hero school would take you in. There would be few options, and you'll never surpass your peers. Never become a hero. Is that what you want, Katsuki Bakugo?"
The muted emotions, which had slowly drained away his rage, were now clear to all. The all too possible future now revealed, it was now clear that he had to be different. Change. But he had no idea where to begin. With nothing more to say, Mitsuki and Musaru took the boy away, saying their goodbyes.
After the Bakugo's left, Aizawa turned and handed his findings to Nezu. The file showed everything he'd learnt. Some things more unbelievable than others. The mammal asked, "So, Class 1A's suspicions about Ochako Uraraka were... half right?"
Aizawa agreed to that sentiment. People were easy to read for him, as long as they acted logically... "They knew something wasn't right, but came to the wrong conclusion. Even I have a hard time accepting the truth... but there are things that, I admit, that just make too much sense." Noting, he continued to watch the door the Bakugo's left from, stating what he had recorded, the crucial information in the file: "Izuku Midoriya, Quirkless, bullied by Katsuki Bakugo, kills themself only to find himself attached to the only witness to his suicide..."
The mammal agreed, before asking his staff member, "This newer generation is turning out rather interesting, don't you think?"
[>-InDe3d N37u, T#3se Fr@ActU\/r35 @r3 in7ere5t1nG, N0?-<]
Aizawa agreed with that sentiment, muttering his thoughts aloud. "It's tragic, but at least he gets to do what he always wanted."
Nezu nodded, still looking over the paper, effectively dismissing him. "Just keep me informed on the ghost. Just in case."
Aizawa sighed, taking the hint and stood up, leaving with a careful stride. "I will."