(bosh)
(Eep according to my calculations there should be five chapters left. Sort. Wait I honestly expected this story to be longer- Never mind. Let's get on with the story!)
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The Ceremony
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"Hello, students," Korashi's voice said through the speakers. "Welcome to our ceremony to congratulates the top ten students of our semester final. We appreciate all of your effort in this school year and your socialization, help, and contributions to the school."
"So before we start, I'd like to give out special thanks to..."
Izuku rolled his eyes as he sat back, not wanting to hear this long, boring talk.
"Sorry for the long talk!" Korashi said quickly. "Now we would like to invite all ten students up to the stage, starting with the ten place... Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu!"
A grey haired boy sheepishly went up and waved as everyone clapped.
"And in ninth place we have... Itsuka Kendo!"
An energetic orange-haired girl bounced up and waved happily, another cheer erupting as she gladly took her badge and stood next to Tetsutetsu.
"Woah! In eighth place we have... Asui Tsuyu!"
Izuku could feel the eye roll radiating off Mina as Tsuyu went up and smiled at everyone fakely.
"Seventh place... Ochako Uraraka!"
Ochako gave everyone a friendly smile before taking her badge politely and bowing. She stood elegantly next to Tsuyu.
"And in sixth place... We've got Shoto Todoroki!"
The candy-cane haired boy flashed the school a grin, getting cheers and swooning from some of the girls and gay boys. Mina nudged Izuku while smirking, making Izuku blush.
"Fifth place... Mina Ashido!"
Mina broke into the widest grin ever. Izuku gave her a squeeze and Kaminari hugged her before she happily jumped up to the stage.
"Fourth place... Wow! Izuku Midoriya!"
Mina's smile grew even wider as Izuku sheepishly went up. Shoto grinned at him when he passed, making him feel red as he accepted his badge.
"Third place... Kyoka Jirou!"
A purple-haired emo girl with earbuds in her ears went up casually and took her bronze medal, standing next to Izuku as if this was her every day life.
"Second place... Momo Yaoyorozu!"
YaoMomo, a respective girl in Izuku's grade who he was acquainted to, flashed a smile at the crowd. She was also one of the popular girls aside from Ochako, but Izuku was not especially familiar with her.
"First place..." Izuku squinted to see Eijiro excitedly patting Katsuki's back. "Katsuki Bakugo."
Katsuki stood up and the crowd cheered louder, but Korashi cut in, "Stop!"
Everyone fell silent.
"Before we let... Katsuki, come up," Korashi said seriously. "I'd like to remind you all of the seriousness of cheating."
Izuku gritted his teeth. He felt Mina reach out and squeeze his hand, a motion for him to quiet down. He took a deep breath and Mina let go.
"So now may I remind you all that cheating is unacceptable," Korashi said slowly. Katsuki sat down, disappointed and mortified. "Cheating is obvious, so if you do so... Don't try to hide it."
"It won't help you. It will only make you learn less and have less potential, which can ruin your future. Imagine you got top grades by cheating and got into a great university where there are strict rules and restrictions that prevent you from being able to continue cheating. What are you going to do next?"
Izuku looked to see Katsuki sinking into his chair. He'd never seen Katsuki look like this anymore, but he couldn't explode. Not yet.
"So now back to the topic, you may wonder – why am I saying all this?"
Guess what, bitch. I'm not wondering that.
"Well it's because the so-called first place we have here," Korashi narrowed his eyes. "Is a cheater."
There were no gasps of surprise. Everyone saw Katsuki being forced to run on the tracks and what a bitch Korashi was. Perhaps that embarassed Korashi a little to see no one reacted to that.
"And cheaters have punishments."
"Mr. Korashi."
Korashi turned around, frowning. Izuku had stepped forward, staring directly into his eyes almost threateningly.
"Midoriya-kun, I don't think it would be nice to be-" Korashi attempted to start. Izuku held up his hand.
"Hear me out, Mr Korashi."
Korashi fell silent.
"Kacchan did not cheat." Izuku said simply. Korashi sighed and rubbed his eyes.
"Are we going through this phase again, Midoriya?" he said, exasperated.
"Yes, in fact, we are." Izuku raised his voice slightly. "Just because his grades went up does not mean he cheated. In his old school, Aldera Junior High, he was one of the top children. However, one of his best friend died in an incident at the beach. As he was involved, he was deeply scarred by the accident and-"
"Became someone I didn't know."
Todoroki's words echoed through his mind as he struggled to find the right words to describe Katsuki's change.
"And here he is." A deep voice said. Izuku turned, surprised. Shoto had stepped forward as well. They locked eyes as Shoto gave Izuku a warming stare.
"I was a witness." Shoto said simply. "He has had a traumatizing past, and you cannot define him on who he is now."
"Exactly," Izuku continued. "His grades went low, Sensei Korashi. I think you know that. But he was able to make them go up, so look at that school board again. When haven't we had any strict rules that prevented any cheating attempts?"
"Yeah," a feminine voice said. Izuku recognized it as Ochako's and was internally shocked. "You have no proof he cheated. A drastic change in his grades is the only evidence you have, but that doesn't even make your point stand."
Izuku imagined Tsuyu standing behind Ochako, shocked and enraged. He would've chuckled at the thought if they weren't in such a serious case now.
"As one of his now best friends, I can vouch for that," Sero's voice said. "How would you feel if a teacher blamed your friend for cheating on an exam and made him run 50 laps around the track, making him end up in the hospital? Imagine that fury!"
"I'm not familiar with Katsuki, but I can feel the anger and worry radiating off my best friend when he was being punished," Mina's voice joined in. "Open your eyes and get some sen- I mean, see that he has feelings too!"
"Ah, he's aggressive," a voice that seemed to belong to the goth girl - Jirou's spoke up. "But physical appearance does not neccessarily have to match up with his skill and talent in academics."
"Yeah!" A voice Izuku identified to be YaoMomo's echoed. "I mean, do I look smart? I don't think so. But look where I am, in second place of the entire grade... And in the semester final!"
I feel you," Izuku turned slightly to see Tetsutetsu being the one speaking. "I'm all messy hair and muscles, but hi!"
"Y-Yeah..." A shy voice spoke, which Izuku assumed to be Tamaki's.
"Oof for you, Sensei Korashi!" Kendo bounced forwards. Soon, all the people on the stage had stepped forward, except for an angry Tsuyu.
People in the crowd stood up one by one, chanting to have Korashi let Katsuki be. Katsuki looked around, shocked that so many people supported him.
He looked up at the stage to see Izuku looking back at him, smiling proudly.
Deku...
"Silence!" Korashi yelled into the microphone. Everyone fell silent. A smile crept over Korashi's lips - and it was genuine. "Well..."
"Then let's welcome the first place... Katsuki Bakugo!"
Everyone erupted into cheers as Katsuki blinked, processing what happened. Kirishima lifted him up and pushed him forward as he stumbled and looked behind him, confused. He stepped forward, up the stairs and to get his golden medal.
"Hey Katsuki?" Korashi whispered. Katsuki looked up to see Korashi with a sad smile. "I'm sorry for the misunderstanding."
Katsuki nodded as he walked across the stage to stand next to the ponytail girl. He stopped next to Izuku.
Thank you, Deku.