"You forgot to carry the one Kenchan." Katsuki instructs, pointing at the fourth problem at Kenji's worksheet, "Oh! No wonder why it looked so... wrong..." Kenji cringes at the revelation, making Katsuki chuckle rather loudly, "Quiet Bakugou!" Our teacher scolds us, making Kenji giggle softly at him. "Whatever." He says in defeat, going back to his worksheet. "Katsuki, you forgot the 2 in your number four." Kenji says to him, pointing his pencil at the mistake, "Oh." Was the response Kenji received from his best friend before Katsuki redid the problem, "There?" "Yep! Looks great!"
It has been a year ever since Kenji and Katsuki met, and the two have been a stellar duo in every class they were in; Katsuki and Kenji were always at the top of their sections, Katsuki being the best, and Kenji being right behind him. This was always their dynamic after all, and Kenji acknowledges it, he will always be Katsuki's number two, but that never did bother him, after all, behind all those achievements was Kenji helping the other. Being at the top means that all the kids want to hang out with them, either is because the duo are academically amazing or they're both good-looking. How they handled this is what surprised both the teachers and the students.
Kenji was humble and said that "If you're going to be my friends just because I'm smart, then I don't think we can be friends for long." This was rather direct but had its points. "If you want to be better, then we can go over what you guys are having a hard time with! I'll help you!" Kenji was nice, considerate, and really shy, but when he does find his voice he's passionate and was rather insightful for a 5-year-old.
Katsuki was a different story, he relished the feeling of being showered with praises and kids fawning over him. If other kids think that Kenji was shy and too reserved, they would run to Katsuki because he was more extroverted and outgoing. Every day, after school, Katsuki would always brag how he has a lot of minions compared to Kenji while the latter boy would reply with something along the lines of, "You shouldn't call our classmates like that Suki." or "That sounds great Suki! But please don't call them like that." Katsuki of course valued Kenji's inputs, not as praises or hymns of worships, but genuine words of his best friend.
Which he valued more than whatever those 'extras,' as Katsuki puts it, has to say.
Lunchtime. After hours of saying things In English, improving their Japanese, and crying over math, it was time for the second-best period of the day. Second only to dismissal, where Katsuki gets to walk with Kenji home,
"How about you go and make more friends Katsuki! I'll have my lunch under the shade." Kenji says to the blonde, "Huh?! Can't we do either together?! Are we not friends anymore?!" Katsuki exclaims in disbelief, gaining some of the kids' attention. "N-n-no S-s-suki! I just want to eat, and I-I-I know you want to play with your other friend. Don't worry, I'll be here waiting." Kenji says, stuttering at first with the sudden gain in attention.
"Fine. Don't leave okay?!" Katsuki yells at Kenji, making Kenji flinch slightly, "S-sorry!" Katsuki apologizes quickly before running to his other friends.
Kenji, now alone, opens his lunchbox and unwraps his Nutella sandwich, it had been screaming his name ever since he saw it being placed in his lunchbox after all. He was about to take a generous bite out of it until a certain freckled green-haired boy approaches him.
Kenji was annoyed, to say the least.
"Uhmm... Y-you're Kacchan's friend right?" The boy asks Kenji, and Kenji nods. "Then that makes me your friend! My name is Midoriya Izuku!" Midoriya introduces himself to Kenji and Kenji smiles, splitting his sandwich messily, and giving the smaller portion to Midoriya. "R-r-really?! Y-y-you, d-don't have to!" Midoriya panics, trying to reject the offer. "It's a peace offering Midoriya! You're friends with Suki, after all, that means a lot of yelling and bragging." Kenji says, recounting his own experiences.
"B-but still!" "Eat," Kenji says in the most serious tone a 5-year-old can muster. How can Midoriya say no to such a serious voice? Simple. He can't.
"How long have you known Suki, Midoriya?" Kenji asks, eating his sandwich. "Oh uhmm, we've known each other for as long as I can remember," Midoriya replies, biting into the sandwich he receives. "We're the same!" Kenji replies before ruffling Midoriya's puffy green hair. "Really! But he treats you really different though." Midoriya pouts, remembering how Katsuki would push him away because he was quirkless. "Why?" "Well, it's because--"
"Hey Deku!" Speaking of the devil, Katsuki arrives with two of his friends lagging behind him. "K-kacchan!" Midoriya stutters, slightly gripping onto the hem of Kenji's shirt. "Why are you talking to Kenji huh?!" Katsuki asks or rather demanded an answer. "I-I saw him eating alone, so I want to get to know him better!" Midoriya replies before Katsuki creates an explosion the moment his fist lands on the palm of his other hand.
"Get away from him, Quirkless Deku." Katsuki scowls at Midoriya, approaching the two slowly but surely.
Fear. Fear consumed Kenji. "What are you doing Kenchan?" Katsuki asks, seeing his best friend stand between him and Midoriya. "I'm sorry Katsuki. But you can't hurt Midoriya!"Kenji declares, Katsuki furrowed his brows in annoyance but just hums in acknowledgment. "You're backing off Bakugou? For all we know, we can take on Murata! He doesn't have a quirk after all!" One of Katsuki's lackeys says before rushing to Kenji. Katsuki couldn't stop them, Midoriya was frozen in place. Suddenly, fear consumed the playground.
A black monster, the same height as Kenji, seemingly spawns out of nowhere, growling lowly, hunched over with its huge claws reaching the ground. "W-w-what is that thing?!" One of Katsuki's friends exclaims in disbelief, fear laced his voice and tears. "Hey hey hey hey, M-Murata! Let's c-calm down now." The other one trembles before the monster.
The monster looks at the cold stare of Kenji, not a single ounce of mercy nor emotion corrupted the stillness in his heart. But Kenji saw Katsuki's face. Katsuki was afraid. Seeing this broke Kenji's soul.
The monster slowly shrinks down and it eventually disappeared, and everything was dark.
Blaring lights. This was the first thing Kenji sees upon waking up, the smell of alcohol and this cold sensation could only mean he's in the school clinic. "Ah. You're awake Murata." The nurse greets the newly woken boy, "How...what happened?" Kenji asks and the nurse relays to him in perfect detail what transpired.
His quirk manifested. He was a late bloomer after all. But it manifested at the wrong place and at the wrong time. "Was... anyone hurt?" Kenji asks as worry and guilt poison his tone, "Oh honey, don't worry you didn't hurt anyone. But you did scare a lot of them." The nurse replies, "Oh and also, he never left your side." The nurse says before going back to her computer, probably emailing Kenji's parents.
Kenji looks to his side and he sees Katsuki sleeping beside him. "Suki?" Kenji asks softly, nudging the blonde gently to see any form of reaction. Katsuki grumbles something before slowly opening his eyes, "K-Kenji?" Katsuki answers, rubbing the sleep out of his eyes. "Are you okay?" Katsuki asks softly, remembering that Kenji doesn't like loud noises.
"Yeah, I'm fine. But how about you?! You passed out Kenji!" Katsuki panics, cupping Kenji's face and inspecting it. "I'm fine Suki." Kenji managed to say. Katsuki squints at Kenji before he started karate chopping Kenji's head repeatedly. "SUKI STOP!!!" Kenji started whining after about 30 seconds of being hit. "YOU DIDN'T TELL ME YOU HAD AN AWESOME QUIRK!" Katsuki exclaims, only to be shut up by Kenji's audible wince.
"I-I'm sorry! Uhmm. You never told you me you had such an awesome quirk! That monster was awesome!" Katsuki cheers, but it was greeted by a wary Kenji.
"B-but... you were afraid, you looked scared. And I can't help but feel everyone around me feel so afraid and scared. I'm so sorry Suki! I didn't want you to feel afraid Suki! I'm sorry!" Kenji started rambling and apologizing. But the boy was cut off with a warm hug.
It wasn't the usual friendly hug that Kenji was used to, but it was such a tender and warm embrace. He could feel Katsuki's heart, it was calm and reassuring; Kenji can feel that Katsuki feels okay now.
"Yeah I was afraid because I thought, you would hurt yourself..." Katsuki mumbled to Kenji's shoulder, "You did just get your quirk so I thought you would hurt yourself and I can't do anything about it!" Katsuki trembled, Kenji could feel it. "It's okay now Katsuki, let's go home yeah? You wanna stay over again?" Kenji offered and Katsuki wipes the tears out of his eyes.
"Yeah!"
"What do you think your quirk is Kenchan?" Katsuki asked, kicking the pebbles on the ground, "I don't know.. but when it was activated, I could feel everyone around me was sad and scared and suddenly I wanted to protect Midoriya.... then that thing..." Kenji said, but once more fear consumed him.
"You don't have to explain Kenji!" Katsuki panics when he saw his best friend starting to cry. "I'm sorry... its just that everything I feel, is suddenly...uhhh.... worse?? my sense of emotion is... better????????" Kenji mumbled, trying to get the right words. They're 5 year olds, what did they expect anyway.
The way home was peaceful, Katsuki never let go of Kenji not for a single moment, afraid that Kenji is going to break down again. Something about Kenji's quirk made whatever he feels 100 times stronger.
"Hey Katsuki... am I... a bad guy?"