Beauty vs the Beast (Katsuki Bakugo fanfic)

3:「 Beginning Bonds 」

By the end of the first day, weariness took its toll on everyone, especially Midoriya. He walked with his shoulder slumped, as if his legs would give out by the sheer weight of exhaustion. Fortunately, he would not be alone in this rigorous course.

"How's your finger?" a hand gripped the back of Midoriya's shoulder. With a startled response, the green haired boy swiftly turned around to come face to face with Iida.

 "It's fine! Thanks to recovery girl," he said with a breath of relief, thinking back to the recovery process. 

"Aizawa sensei really fooled us! He made me believe this was how it was at the top, but our own instructor really deceived us like that.." Iida rambled on.

 Midoriya's thoughts wandered from his newfound friend Iida, to a a gleam of blue he saw from the corner of his right eye. It was the girl who hydro-blasted the ball into the horizon from earlier.

 He had expected to speak a word at the very least after witnessing her phone drop from her bag, but found himself unable to use his voice, bound to his timid nature. Thankfully, Ida was beside him, and was just as wary of his surroundings, if not, more. 

"Minazuki! You have dropped a precious item!" Iida shouted. 

Startled by the intensity of his voice, she instinctively turned around. Iida handed her the phone. 

"Ah, thank you!" she said with a smile of gratitude. 

Before Iida could respond, however, another voice called for them from behind.

"Hey! You guys!" Midoriya and Iida immediately turned around to see Uraraka running towards them. 

"Ah, Infinity girl!" Iida said.

 "I'm Ochako Uraraka! You're Tenya Iida, Carine Minazuki, and um... Deku! Right?"

"Deku?!" Midoriya exclaimed. 

"During the test, that Bakugo guy called you Deku. Right?" Uraraka pondered.

"Well, my real name is actually Izuku; 'Deku' Is just Kacchan being a bully," Midoriya explained.

"But the name Deku, it just screams out confidence. I really like it!" Uraraka smiled. Carine smiled along with Uraraka. "I think Deku's a nice name!"

"Deku's fine!!" Midoriya shouted, his face turning the color of a ripe tomato. 

"Midoriya! Isn't that name an insult!?" Iida bantered.

The four of them walked alongside each other, having found friends at a new school. Although, they wouldn't be smiling quite so much if they had known about the challenge they would soon come to face.

As soon as Carine had come home, her youngest sister, Mirai, came up to greet her. Mirai had just started middle school, and she was just as cheery and light-hearted as ever. Her pink hair shone as she smiled. 

"Come on, Carine!" Mirai ushered her sister. 

"Huh! What for?" Carine loved Mirai with all of her heart. Her bubbly personality and gleeful smiles were some of the few things that kept Carine warm. It was because she loved her youngest sister so much that she felt the need to protect her. Carine's parents were pro heroes that were currently taking care of business in other countries. They were rarely ever home, so her elder sister, Akiza, took care of Carine and her younger siblings.

 Akiza was an U.A alumni who was invited to be one of the teachers for the hero course, but she respectively declined the invitation. When Carine walked into the living room, she was surprised to see two of her older sisters sitting down. 

"Akari came to visit!" Mirai grinned.

"Carine! I didn't think you would be back so soon. How was your first day at U.A?" Akiza asked when she saw Carine.

"It wasn't too bad, I guess." Carine would normally be more talkative around her family, but Akari's presence seemed to deplete the words that sought escape from Carine's mind. 

Being 5 years older than Carine, and 2 years older than Akiza, Akari was the oldest in the family. Taking after their parents, Akari was a pro-hero. Her abilities made it so that the whole country knew her name. Standing next to heroes like All Might and Endeavor, she was the best of the best. Her work was stationed in Japan, so she visited occasionally. 

Carine's eyes flickered over to Akari. "So, what brings you here?" she asked her eldest sibling nonchalantly.

 "I didn't think I needed a particular reason to see my family," Akari smiled. When she started conversing again with Akiza, Carine turned around and started to head over to her room.

 "Where are you going?" Mirai asked her. 

"I'm going to take a nap before I start training," Carine answered as she left.

"That's weird. She usually talks with Mirai and the others for a bit longer before she trains," Akiza noticed.

"It's first day jitters. I think you remember how intimidating U.A is. I can only imagine that the pressure on students has increased," Akari said.

Carine closed the door to her room and sat down. For as long as she lived, it was her goal to surpass Akari. She would never forget that.

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** Author's Note **

- The picture above is of Mirai QuQ. My lovely friend made it for me (She's Tiburme on insta, go follow her, she's amazing!).