{MHA} The Lonely Pyromaniac

03

-Ikemoto-

Izuku couldn't stop thinking about the test.

"Ike-kun, I got no points on the practical. How do I even stand a chance of getting in? I don't even think I did that well on the written test," he cried when our mom was away at work.

My heart broke to see my usually cheerful big brother like this. He looked more upset than I'd ever seen him before. "Nii-san, if they disregard how you broke three of your limbs to save one pathetic girl, they don't deserve to be a hero school. You've got the biggest heart I know. You will be a hero," I said stubbornly.

He didn't look much better, but he nodded and gave me a hug. "Thanks, little brother," he sniffled. "I'm going to go watch All Might clips now," he whispered.

I nodded. "I'm going to go shopping; we're low on food. I'll be back soon!" I called as I left his room. He nodded a goodbye, already engrossed in his All Might videos and fiddling with his grip-strength device.

I walked down the street towards the grocery store. We were out of lettuce and pork from all the katsudon we'd been eating to calm Izuku, so I planned on stocking up on those, as well as some tofu for myself. I saw a purple haired girl there, struggling to get some cereal from the top shelf.

"Here you go," I said, handing some to her.

"Oh, thanks," she said appreciatively. "What's your name?"

"I'm Ikemoto Midoriya. People call me Midori. What's yours?" I asked to be polite.

"I'm Kyoka Jiro. Just moved here from Shizuoka City. It's weird being in the suburbs of the Shizuoka Prefecture instead of being in the capital, you know?"

"I really wouldn't. I've lived in Musutafu my whole life," I said, grabbing some frozen pork ribs from the refrigerated shelf. "Although I guess it would be weird for me to be in the capital, I guess." After I'd gotten the lettuce, I said, "It was nice to meet you, but I have to go now. My older brother is waiting for me at home."

I checked out, went home, and made some fish for dinner since Mom wasn't home yet and it was my turn to cook. Once I finished cooking, Izuku and I sat down to eat in silence for a while. After some time, Izuku zoned out, looking as if he was having a staring contest with the tilapia.

"Nii-san, stop staring at your food," I said as I ate the last piece of my fish. I got up and put the plate in the sink. I sighed and sat next to Izuku on the couch; he wasn't hungry. "Our letter should be getting here today or tomorrow. I'm sure you did fine," I tried to comfort him.

I heard something hit the ground. I glanced over and saw my mom scrambling towards us. "The letters, they're here!!" she exclaimed.

That timing. She's never home this early, what gives?

Izuku stood up and grabbed his while I grabbed mine. I walked to my room and sat at my desk. I opened the envelope with a letter opening knife and saw a circular device. I clicked the button on it and a hologram of All Might popped up.

"Young Midori, I'm glad to see you again. I hope you've been well, but let's cut to the chase. I'm glad to announce that you made a perfect score on the written test. And for the battle portion, you earned 70 combat points but that's not all! We also were looking for rescue points. You earned 46 hero points giving you 116 total points, landing you in first place. Congratulations! This is your HERO ACADEMIA!!" he boomed.

That took a long time for him to say. Couldn't he have just told me I'd made it in? Why did it even matter that I'd gotten first place? Hopefully, Izuku got into UA as well.

I left my room and saw my mom and Izuku hugging. "Nii-san? Did you make it in? Please tell me you made it."

Izuku ran over and wrapped me into a big hug. "I made it! I made it, I made it, I made it! I'm going to be a hero!"

I smiled at how happy my big brother was. "YES!! I TOLD YOU YOU'D MAKE IT! Now we can go to UA together!" I yelled, overjoyed that my brother was going to achieve his dream.

Mom looked like she was going to pass out from pride. "Both my boys are going to become heroes!"

We both smiled, but something was nagging at the back of my mind.

I was only going to UA because of Izuku. Did I even want to be a hero? What did I want to be? What would happen if Izuku didn't need me anymore?

I pushed those thoughts deeper into the back of my head. Stupid intrusive thoughts. Today was going to be a happy day. Izuku was going to be able to become a hero. Nothing I wanted should take that away from him.

-Izuku-

Kacchan wasn't happy when he heard the news. I mean, I guess he probably wasn't surprised when Ikemoto was at the principal's office for the congratulatory after-school meeting, but he definitely blew an internal fuse when he noticed that I was there too.

I barely heard what the principal was saying to the three of us, because I was too busy avoiding Kacchan's angry glare and trying to make myself look as small as possible.

When the principal finally dismissed us, I breathed a massive sigh of relief and hurried out of there as fast as I could without worrying Ikemoto. I wanted to head home as soon as possible but Ikemoto had other plans.

"I need to use the bathroom. I'll be right back."

I nodded shakily, not wanting to be left alone with Kacchan. "Y-yeah."

Ikemoto narrowed his eyes. "I can wait until we get home."

"No no it's fine. You can go now."

"Are you sure? I really don't have to go that badly," he assured me. I could tell from the way he was standing that his assurance was a lie.

"Ike-kun, just go."

I watched as he ran off to the nearest bathroom. This was totally fine. Kacchan was probably on his way home by now. Everything would be okay.

The sudden hand on my shoulder told me otherwise.

I couldn't help the embarrassing yelp that escaped my mouth as Kacchan dragged me outside behind the building.

"I THOUGHT I WARNED YOU NOT TO APPLY!!" he roared.

"W-well I th-thought it w-wouldn't be bad to t-try, y'know? I'm just as surprised as you are!" I stuttered.

"Tch. THIS DOESN'T MEAN ANYTHING, STUPID DEKU!!" he yelled as I flinched. "WHEN WE GET TO UA I'M GONNA SHOW YOU THAT I'M STILL GONNA BE THE NUMBER ONE HERO, AND NO QUIRKLESS LOSER LIKE YOU WILL EVER PROVE ME OTHERWISE!!"

With that, he stormed off. I stood there in wordless shock until Ikemoto finally found me. "I go to the bathroom for three minutes and you're all the way out here? I looked for you for half an hour, Nii-san!" he complained.

I gave him as steady of a smile as I could. "Yeah, sorry about that. Let's go home now."

He grunted and we started heading back. "It's your turn to make dinner tonight," he reminded me. "Let's not have katsudon tonight. I'm sick of eating it every other day."

I laughed and agreed. Still though, the interaction with Kacchan echoed in my head. It wasn't unusual that he would suddenly attack me when Ikemoto wasn't around to ensure my safety, but it was weird that I wasn't hurt physically.

What had kept him from hurting me?

-A/N-

We begin to see Bakugo's true character. Sadly, that's not something that Ikemoto's gonna see for a good while.

If you'd like potential sneak peaks for the next chapter or two, here's the code for a Discord server I'm on: RfQ7eR6kCk  or use the embedded link.

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