"If you'll be the number one hero someday, I want to know your name!" The boy's eyes widened and he turned back to her. He gave a toothy grin.
"I'm Bakugou Katsuki! You better remember it!"
And remember it, she did.
"Kacchan! Kacchan!" Thinking it was that Deku at first, the boy turned around with a scowl. The scowl was still present, but it's intensity lessened when he saw Ayano. "Who the heck are you?"
The little girl tilted her head to the side, confused. "Sasaki Ayano! We met yesterday." Oh, right. She was Deku's friend. "Don't call me 'Kacchan.'" She blinked. "Why? Izu-kun calls you that, so I thought it was okay." "Well, it's not! So stop!!"
She hummed in thought. "Kacchan is better than calling you Bakugou though, so I'll keep calling you Kacchan." He growled in frustration. "So, you can call me 'Aya-chan!'" She offered as a compromise.
Ignoring her, he went back to playing in the sandbox. When she kept looking over his shoulder, he realized that she wouldn't be leaving anytime soon. "What do you want?" The girl beamed at finally being acknowledged.
"Here!" She shoved something into his hands. It was a slingshot. Similar to the one she built yesterday but much more advanced. Rather than being made of wood from a tree branch, it was made of metal. The string was also made of latex bands and not just broken hair ties.
The simple weapon also had more parts to it than the makeshift one yesterday. The bottom of the handle extended forward with a gaping hole in it. It was an area to slip your arm through and hold the slingshot. The wrist brace would then rest on top of the arm.
After studying the slingshot, Bakugou's eyes returned to Ayano's very excited and anticipating ones. "I made a new and improved version of the one yesterday since I got good materials from my dad! Use it! Use it!" She shouted, pointing at a stray can.
The boy grimaced. The can was much further away than what they aimed at yesterday. He knew he was amazing, but there's no way he could hit that. It was just too far!
But it wasn't.
The pebble shot into the can, right in the center. Maybe he was more amazing than he thought.
Ayano raised her arms into the air, jumping up and down twice. "Yes! It works!" Bakugou found that he couldn't tear his eyes away from her smile and excitement. He decided to use the slingshot again, hitting the same can many more times.
He stared at the slingshot. Though he wouldn't admit it aloud, it was definitely better than the ones he and his friends made yesterday. "What's your name?" He asked, even though she had already told him twice now.
Still elated at the success of her gadget, Ayano was unfazed. "Sasaki Ayano. You can call me Aya-chan." He was about to say more when her mother called out for her. "Ayano! It's time to go home!" The girl quickly apologized to Bakugou and bid him farewell.
As she got up to run to her mother, he called out to her. "Hey, wait! Your slingshot!" She stared at him, contemplating something. "Hmm, that's okay! You can keep it." He raised an eyebrow at her. "Why?"
"I'm going to make lots of inventions and machines in the future. I'm going to be somebody who makes lots of things to help people in need, but I'm also going to make support items for amazing heroes! You said you're going to be the number one hero someday, right? Then, you'll definitely be the most amazing one and I'll make a bunch of support items for you. That slingshot can be the first!"
Bakugou blushed at her forward words and extreme confidence. He quickly turned around, back to his little sandcastle, to hide the blush. "Th-That's right! I'll definitely be the number one hero! And the number one hero wouldn't need any support items because I'm already amazing by myself..." He peeked at her over his shoulder.
"...But...I guess I could...hold onto this for you..." Ayano gave him the widest smile she could manage. "See you tomorrow, Kacchan!!"
Over time, the two became very close, Ayano often bringing him new tools to test out. Although Bakugou wouldn't admit it, he would never reject her efforts. He made a show of not wanting to test her machines, saying a hero wouldn't need them, but he always did in the end.
He didn't like that Ayano was also friends with Deku and that she sometimes even made things for him, but he was willing to deal with it. After all, most of her attention was focused on Bakugou and most of her machines were made for him anyways.
At one of her most recent inventions, Bakugou was particularly astonished. "This is amazing, Ayano!" He continued to inspect, but realized she was silent. He shifted his gaze to her, seeing a shocked Ayano.
It was the first time that he had openly called one of her inventions amazing. It was the first time he didn't just try to brush it off.
"No, Kacchan. You're the amazing one!!" She laughed, earning him a faint blush that he quickly tried to hide. Amazing? Of course, he was!
But so was she.
With how amazing he was and how amazing she was, there was no way he wouldn't become the number one hero!
He already had his quirk, so they would become even more amazing when she got hers! He couldn't wait to see what it would be. He was confident that it wouldn't be as good as his, but it would be pretty amazing because she was amazing. He was absolutely sure that she would always stand by his side like this, supporting him.
That is, until one day.
"Did you hear? Deku doesn't have a quirk!" "Eh?" "Right! It's called being 'quirkless.'" "Sucks to be him."
The blond laughed. Ha! Deku. He's...not awesome at all!
Ayano would stop being friends with Deku for sure! Then, she could spend all her time with him!
His eyes widened when she walked up to Midoriya and kneeled in front of him, giving him a compassionate look. The green-haired boy still held a devastated look with soulless eyes. He was jolted out if it when he felt Ayano slipping gloves onto his hands. It was the gloves they used to increase their grip. "A-Aya-chan...?" He questioned.
"Do you remember these gloves? It's the ones I made so that you and Kacchan could do the monkey bars. They're even better now!" The boy flipped his hands around, noticing that they were indeed a bit different from before. "You...You're giving these to me...?" She nodded, prompting him to ask, "Why?"
"You said you're going to be a hero, right?" Bakugou's hands clenched at the familiar question. Midoriya looked down in sadness. "...Yeah, but I can't anymore." "Why not?" He just looked at her in confusion, as if the answer should be obvious. "W-Well...because I'm quirkless!" "So?"
Even the rest of the class was looking at Ayano incredulously. She was supposed to be a smart one, yet she couldn't logically figure out something this simple?
"S-So I can't become a hero!" She frowned at him. "Sure you can!" He was feeling worse from talking about it. At his silence, Ayano continued. "I'm quirkless too, you know."
Gasps were heard all around. "What!?" "What did she say?!" "Aya-chan's quirkless too?? Did you know about this?"
Midoriya's eyes were saucers, his mouth wide enough to easily catch flies. "I'm quirkless too..." She repeated. "...and I still build machines! I still build support items like this!" She gently lifted up his hands adorned with her gloves. "I can still make stuff, even if I'm quirkless. So, you can be a hero too!"
He was beginning to feel better, but still wasn't fully convinced. "B-But...there's never been a hero without a quirk!" "Then you can be the first." She stated as if it were a matter of fact. Suddenly, his tears of sadness were turning to tears of joy at his friend's simple encouragement. She offered him a hug. He gratefully accepted, shaking in her arms.
Bakugou was shaking as well, but in anger and panic.
...Quirkless? Did she say quirkless?? ...No...No! No!!! There's no way! This wasn't happening! She wasn't supposed to be quirkless! She can't be quirkless!
She can't be like that quirkless Deku. She's nothing like him!
He glared at Midoriya in Ayano's arms.
Stop touching her, you quirkless good-for-nothing! You don't deserve her! She deserves way better than you! She's supposed to stand by my side and only mine! And those gloves should be mine! She made them for me! She even said so herself!!
The two friends released each other, Midoriya wiping at his eyes. Ayano got up, lending him a hand that he took appreciatively. They went on to play with some blocks, brushing right past Bakugou.
Ayano hadn't even glanced at him.
His fists stiffened, his knuckles turning white.
She's quirkless...just like him. She's a quirkless good-for-nothing just like him! She's not amazing at all! How could some quirkless nobody stand by him? Him! Bakugou Katsuki! The boy who would become the number one hero and surpass even All Might!!
Who needs her! Like he said, the number one hero would be great even without any support items! He didn't need her! He never did!
He pushed her away, while Midoriya pulled her in.
However, Bakugou would soon find out that pushing her away and forcing down his feelings would not be so easy.
Every time he saw them together, he would get this undeniable rage. Something he didn't fully understand himself. He thought that she would always stand by his side, but he didn't want to be seen with a quirkless nobody!
"Kacchan!" He flinched at the sound of her voice. "There you are! I have a new invention for you to test today." She exclaimed as she held out the object towards him. Her excitement soon died down at the sight of his distraught face. "...Is everything okay, Kacchan?"
"I don't need your help." He mumbled. Ayano's brows furrowed. "What are you talking about?" He started unleashing explosions in quick pops, letting his anger get the best of him. "I said, I don't need your help!!"
"But I've always made support items for you! What's different about this one?" She said, though she was close to shouting back at him. "It's not just this one! I don't need any of those! I'll become a hero without them! I don't need you!! I don't need some quirkless good-for-nothing by my side!!!"
He was breathing heavily at this point. "...Kacchan..." "And stop calling me Kacchan!!" When she kept looking at him with a face of sadness and disappointment, he scrunched his eyes closed.
"...I'm sorry. I just wanted you to test another item." She quietly spoke, taking a step towards him. "I SAID I DON'T NEED IT!" He swung around to avoid her outreached hand, furiously shrugging her off. In the process, he accidentally knocked her invention out of her hand.
Hearing the crash of metal against the hard ground, he hurriedly turned back around to see that bits and pieces of it had broken off. The sheer look of sorrow on Ayano's face devastated him. "A-Ayano, I didn't mea—" "Okay." He flinched at her calm interruption. "...What?" He asked, afraid to hear her answer.
The sorrowful look on her disappeared and was completely overtaken by a perfect poker face. "I said okay, Bakugou." He had never hated his family name more than right now. "If you don't need it, you don't need it. I'll just ask Izu-kun to test it." She said mechanically as she gathered all of the broken metal pieces off the floor.
"Deku?!? Why him!!?" His anger returned with full force. "I'm making this for great heroes. You said you didn't need it, so I won't make you use it. Izu-kun is going to become a hero someday too, so that's why I'll ask him. I think he'll become an amazing hero." Ayano walked away, her impassive expression never faltering, although it came very close.
No...No!!! Those words were meant for him! For him!! They were supposed to be for him!! He would become the amazing hero! Not Deku!!
"I wouldn't peg you for a hero even if you were the worst one."
He lost.
He lost to Deku. A complete and utter defeat. He lost back then and he lost today.
And now, he lost Ayano too.