When the test ended, Kaede was shaking all over. Not because her injuries caused her severe pain and the fever weakened her, but because she was afraid. She was so close to her goal, but what if she didn't pass? What if her performance was simply not enough? Mina and Denki supported her as everyone ran to the blackboard. In a few seconds the results would appear there.
It was always strange that at such moments time seemed to stand still. Kaede's hair stood up as the screen turned blue and then many names appeared. She looked at M for Miharu, and then she found it. Relief came over her and tears formed in her eyes. "I've got it!" "Me too!" Mina and Denki turned to her. All three laughed until they lost their balance and fell over backwards. "We passed!"
Katsuki and Shoto stood next to each other in disbelief. "This can't be, this shit, what are they doing! Fucking shit!" Shoto looked at his classmates. "Looks like we're the only ones who didn't pass." "Shut the fuck up Icyhot!" The examiners let Katsuki clamour a bit more until a micro announced, "Congratulations to all those who passed! But also to those who are not on the list. You have also passed. You will have to invest additional hours in a special course, but at least you will get a provisional licence. Now you can all go and I can sleep."
Class 1A stood together in front of the screen. They had all passed. Kaede grinned. Now the events took their course.
At the end they said goodbye to Joke. "While we're at it, maybe we could do some training together." Because Aizawa hesitated, Kaede replied instead. "That would be nice, then we can improve even more." "Oh yes little Kaede, the UA is already participating in missions, isn't it? Maybe I'll see you on TV then!" Joke laughed out loud. "Goodbye then Joke. Aizawa waved briefly. Hesitantly, but with powerful steps, Kaede walked up to Joke and hugged her. As their skin touched, Kaede felt Joke's sadness again. At such moments she wished she could help, but it was no use. Her Quirk could only change things in the short term, in moments when feelings were stronger than rational thought. She wished so much to help Joke, but there was nothing she could do. She had no chance against the long episodes of depression. Joke slowly pushed her away and laughed nervously. "Are you on drugs little one?" "I'm always on drugs." She waved and followed Aizawa. "Can I ask what that is about?" "You can ask." She leaned her head against his shoulder. "But you won't get an answer."
...
That same evening, Kaede requested the file on her parents' case. "We can't just hand over the file because there are other heroes involved who have declared the case closed." She frowned. "But it is not closed. The killers were never found." Nervously, the policeman talked at her. "I can't give you any information on that. You have to fill out the application. It may take a while, but that's how you'll get the file. Now that you have the hero's licence you can ask questions. It's progress." She thanked him and hung up. Kaede stared at the ceiling. "Just a little more waiting. Soon."
She ended up daydreaming on her bed because she couldn't sleep. In this state she was open and spiritual, she was not glued to her body. That's why she felt it. She wondered why she hadn't noticed it before. Wasn't it obvious? The feeling shook her body and when she opened her eyes, she gasped. Hastily she looked at the clock on her desk. It was just midnight. It felt like he was calling out to her. She knew it was probably a bad decision, but she couldn't resist. She stepped out into the hallway and closed the door quietly behind her, then slipped down the stairs into the living room and kitchen. A small light was burning in the kitchen. Peering around the corner, she saw Bakugo sitting on the floor. His back was against the cupboard and he was beating his leg continuously with his fist. "Arghhh! This shit!" As his voice failed, the tugging on her got worse. She stumbled across the room. Startled, Katsuki stared at her. "What are you doing here?" She adjusted herself to the new situation. "I could ask you the same thing." She went to the fruit basket, picked up an apple and confidently explained, "I was hungry, and you?" He looked at the apple as if it was not from this world. She sat down next to him with some distance. "You're down because you only half passed the exam, aren't you?" "I'm not down!" He grew louder, but calmed down again. "Talk to me." He looked her in the eye. They shone gold in the light of the small lamp, everything else in the room was dark. "Are you using your Quirk on me?" he threatened. "I'm not."
Because he didn't talk, she considered using her Quirk after all. She knew it was important for him to talk and not bottle up his emotions. "I'm not down, I'm angry. I'm so fucking pissed that this fucking deku is already better than me again." "But you passed, so did he. Neither of you are better-" "You don't understand! You can't understand!" He pulled his hair out of his face and she could see his tears. Nothing confused her more than seeing Katsuki Bakugo cry. "I'm falling further and further behind, I don't stand a chance against the villains, against Deku, against any of the other hero aspirans!" Although she wanted Katsuki to vent his feelings, she didn't know what to do. She was used to Katsuki being untouchable, strong and a little too confident. This was different. "You're not falling behind, it just seems that way. Eventually, we'll all become heroes together." He looked at her and the pain in his eyes made her wince.
"I'm not a hero, what heroic thing have I done? After all, it's my fault the world lost the symbol of peace. If I hadn't been so weak then..." "But you weren't weak. I was there too, if it's your fault, it's mine too." "They caught me. You followed me, you got into danger because I wasn't strong enough. When your hand slowly slipped out of mine I knew I couldn't save you. I saw your face and I knew you didn't care. But I did. I thought you were dying, we all thought you were dying and we all knew that I could have changed it if I had been strong enough. It was a coincidence that Hawks came. Don't you see? I almost got you killed! Why aren't you angry? Why don't you despise me for my weakness?! Because I do! I despise myself because I'm so weak, because I can't save, because I'm not as strong as fucking Deku!" Frozen, she stared at him. She couldn't move, she just looked at him and listened. "All this guilt is in my head and I can't get rid of it! I don't know what to do!" He hit the floor hard as he bellowed out the last words. "I don't think so." Her words rang softly against his ear as she slowly slid to his side. He looked down as she spoke. His tears fell to the floor and his pants. "You can't blame yourself for something that villains are to blame for." She took his hand, held it for a moment, but then dropped it. "You held me and you dropped me, but it doesn't matter because you are not alone. You do not bear the responsibility for all human lives alone, we heroes bear them together. You held me long enough to buy time for Hawks. It's a team effort. Ever since All might stepped down because the villains screwed up, not you, the hero community has relied on cooperation. That's the only reason you only half passed. You're so strong that you don't need to work in a team, but it's important. Everyone has a weakness and teamwork is apparently yours." "Oh shut up." He wiped away his tears and she smiled. They were both silent for a while, just staring into the darkness until Katsuki spoke again. "You can't take my weak emotions, can you?" "I could, but I will not. There are no weak emotions. Every emotion has a purpose and it is strong. If I take an emotion, the person is no longer complete. It is dangerous." He nodded. "You've said it before. That your Quirk is dangerous." She slowly slid away from him again. "Well, I only came down here to eat an apple. I didn't see you on the way. Good night." She threw the apple away and walked out of the kitchen. Bakugo looked after her. He didn't quite understand why she wanted to deny this encounter. Did she think it would be easier for him that way? She had left as suddenly as she had appeared and yet it felt as if she had been sitting next to him for an eternity. He didn't feel bad because she had seen his vulnerable side. He knew she wouldn't take advantage of it. On the other hand, he also told himself that he had learned more about her from behind the scenes. He knew for sure now that she was not a villain from Tartarus, even if he had never believed it from the beginning. Nevertheless, he wanted to know what it was about her. She may have had the quirk of a villain, but her personality was that of a hero.
...
"Now that each of you has the hero licence, the lessons will be different. There will be the internship that you have already been told about as well as missions that will be taken on by the UA. Since All might has stepped down as a symbol of peace more emphasis is placed on teamwork and that is what the UA and you as the new heroes have to prove. That is why we are dividing you into teams. You will soon go through an exercise after which we will analyse your characteristics in a group and then put the groups together, so don't hold back."
...
"There are five flags in each zone. In the fire zone, the water zone, the forest zone and the mountain zone. After you have your flags, bring them to the city zone as soon as possible. When there is a flag from each zone, these four form a team for the next task. Do you all understand?" Number 13 looked around questioningly, but everyone nodded. "Which zone are you going to?" Mina whispered close to Kaede's ear. "No one but Tsuyu wants to go to the water zone, so that's where I'm going." "Then I'll go with you." When the start signal sounded, they sprinted off together. "I'll climb up the slide, you look around down here!" "Okay!" The bars of the slide were cold and the higher Kaede climbed, the windier it got. Just before she reached the top, she saw something flash silver. Just below the entrance to the slide was a silver pole attached, with the blue flag on it. Kaede quickly climbed over and attached the flag to her back, then climbed further up. She stood on a viewing platform next to the slide and could see Mina running back and forth at the bottom. "Minaaaaa!" She shouted her name, but Mina did not hear. Kaede kept looking around and saw something else flashing silver. With a cable car she could quickly get to the mountain zone, get the flag and back to the city zone. She removed the chain from her back and wrapped it around her wrists. 'This might hurt a bit now.' She stretched the chain across the zipline and took off until she jumped and slid down with a swing. "Minaaaaaaaa!" This time Mina looked up and waved. Kaede dropped the blue flag. Mina stood paddling for a moment, disoriented, but then headed for the flag. "Go!" Kaede pointed towards the city. "I'll be right there!"
She didn't know if Mina had understood her, but she had to jump off now. Roughly, she rolled off on the stony ground and ran straight on to where she had seen a flag, but she couldn't find the place. "Shit!" Disoriented, she looked back at the platform. Kaede gave up and ran down the hill a little. "The first team is already done. The first catastrophe is coming." All mights voice echoed through the speaker. "A disaster? You guys thought of that for us?" A pipe had burst in the water zone and the pool was now overflowing very slowly. A vibration in the mountain startled her. "An earthquake?" She ran to the source of the shaking and saw Eijiro freeing a flag from the mountain. "Did you happen to see another flag?" He turned to her. "Oh Kaede, no sorry." "Well then, I guess I'll just have to keep looking."
After she turned another corner a voice rang out again, "All the flags from the fire zone have been found, but you can't form a team with them, so make an effort and find the others!" Spurred on, she ran further down the hill. "The second team is ready, next disaster!" A bang sounded and the earth shook. The mountain lost its grip and the plateau beneath Kaede's feet threatened to tumble down. "Eijiro!" She leapt back up over crumbling rocks and saw Eijiro struggling among the masses of stone. "Come here!" As he ran to her, she took out the chain again and looked around. She could not attach it anywhere. "We have to get to the observation deck!" When he caught up with her, they ran together to the platform. "This will get us across." "Okay!" Using her knife, she shook the rope line's anchored support out of the ground and lifted it up. "If we stand on this and swing across, we'll fall into the water." "Better than being buried here, isn't it?" She eyed him. "But staying here wouldn't be a problem for you, would it?" "The stones may not be able to hurt me, but they can block my way. Besides, I want to see how you get on in the water zone." "If you're sure..." She offered him the other end of the chain and wrapped it around her wrist and the bar, he did the same. "Go on then." Eijiro pushed himself off the ground and they both fell off the cliff. For the first moment, her heart stopped. She pressed herself against the bar, afraid of losing her balance and falling too soon. She felt weightless and doubted that her plan would work, but then she felt Eijiro's strong arms on her shoulders. The moment she opened her eyes and saw Eijiro nodding encouragement at her, they were jolted and swung across the water. At the lowest point, the pole hung so low in the water that they lost some momentum and stopped. Their feet were already hanging in the water when Eijiro looked around in panic. "Tell me Kaede... Since when are there sharks here?" Now Kaede saw too. " This has to be a joke."
Author note: I have absolutely no idea if my writing style, the story, or anything here is good, so I'd be very grateful if you'd give it a quick vote if you thought it was okay so far. Thank youuu :)