Firecracker- A Katsuki Bakugo fan fiction

CHAPTER 6: Scrutiny

(A/N): This chapter is from the perspective of Midoriya.

It's been two days since the malfunction at UA high, and we're still not any closer to figuring out what happened and how to free the others. Ever since then UA's been harassed repeatedly by the paparazzi and media, who are remarkably angrier at the school than the kid's parents are. School life has gone on as usual, in spite of a quarter of 1-A being missing from all the classes.

Uraraka. Kacchan. Everyone.

Practically gone.

I couldn't believe that they weren't with us right now. Friends had been split up, family had been divided. And all because of one super villain that trapped them there. What was even more unsettling was that this only happened to the first years. The older students were just fine, but just in case, they were almost immediately pulled from their simulations. That was fortunate, especially considering since Mirio was selected.

"I've gotta tell you, that place is terrible." He told me. "Each portion of the simulation is divided into stages, and each stage is supposed to tackle a mental fear or insecurity. Our class only managed to get to the first stage before being pulled out, but it was fairly difficult. We also each had an AI assistant. Mine was an adult man with black hair and yellow eyes. He said his name was Twenty-eight. I don't know if he was exclusive to me because I was quirkless, but it seems like other students had their own companions. That definitely makes things  at least a little easier."

"So the others will have some help?"

He nodded, smiling weakly. "Let's just hope that they can make it out safely."

I smiled back, in spite of the pit of fear in my stomach.

"There's nothing in there that can harm them, right....?"

It was at that moment that an ear-piercing scream echoed through the halls of the school.
Everyone's eyes widened, and my heart sank as I watched Pony Tsunotori, one of the students from class B who was selected, being pushed on a stretcher restrained, screaming and crying, her eyes manic with madness.

I couldn't help but look at Kendo, her eyes filled with tears and anger. She walked up to Cementoss who was trying to calm us down, and she glared at him, saying:

"What have you done?"

Those four words sent shivers down my spine.

"What the hell have you done?" She wept.

The pro-hero said nothing, though his eyes were filled with sorrow. He walked away silently, never turning back to answer any of the questions yelled at him by other students.
I had no idea what words I could even say to Kendo. She was always so self-assured, always the one to comfort others, but now she was a mess, crying and shaking on the floor. Her classmates came to her side to comfort her, all of them grieving.

A pang of sympathy and fear rang through me. Would my friends turn out like that? It petrified me with horror. All it took was one look around the hallway to notice that everyone was panicking. People were whispering to one another. Ashido bit her nails nervously. Kaminari had a stunned look on his face as Sero attempted to comfort him. Even Iida and Yaorozu were speechless. We all had no idea what to do.

Everything had fallen apart.

  -.-

"What do you mean Tsunotori's gone mad???" I questioned. It was the afternoon, and Allmight and I met up at the park as per usual, only this time I didn't feel like training.

"We figured out that when you die in the simulation it causes you to completely lose your sense of self and gives you brain damage." Allmight sat down on a park bench, practically defeated at this point. I sat beside him, feeling the same way.

"So the others could-" Tears began to well up in my eyes at the thought of what might happen.

"Young Midoriya, I know you're worried. All of us are. But we have to trust that they'll make it out alive. We have to have faith in them.Bakugo wouldn't want you underestimating him, now would he?"

I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes, giving Allmight a smile of determination.

"You're right. Thanks, Allmight."

He smiled back. "No problem."

-.-

I stepped into our dorm room, meeting with the faces of concern from the rest of my class. They were all sitting in the lounge, moping. I quietly joined them.

There was an awkward silence for a quite a bit. Momo twirled her hair around uncomfortably, Iida tried to focus on a book he was reading but failed miserably, Koda cuddled a bunny, Aoyama fiddled with his shirt, Mineta squished the balls on his head, and even someone as calm and relaxed as Tsuyu looked like she was on the verge of panicking. Then suddenly, Kaminari's voice rang out:

"Aren't you guys sick and tired of just hanging around not doing anything?!"

Everyone stared at him in surprise. Hagakure sighed:

"What are we supposed to do? Our friends are trapped and we have no idea if they'll make it out intact. It's scary and we can't do anything."

"Yes we can. There's a super villain right? So let's just find him and take him down."

"I don't know..." Ojiro spoke up. "It seems risky."

"You know what." Jirou interjected. "Denki's right."

He looked at her in surprise. "Wait....seriously?"

She nodded. "Remember when Kirishima and the others braved through the villains and rescued Bakugo? It was definitely risky, but it paid off. Besides, it's better than nothing. Maybe we can help them."

Almost immediately Tsuyu smiled with determination. "I'm in. I sat it out last time, but there's no way I won't help at this moment."

"Me too." I added. "We gotta trust our friends will make it out-" I looked at everyone, my eyes filled with determination. "-but that doesn't mean we can't help them along the way."

All of a sudden everyone chimes in, talking about how they would help. I couldn't help but feel glad. Just because of a few words from Kaminari, we all felt instantly motivated.

"Hold on a second!" Iida's voice silenced the noise of overlapping voices of determination.

"We're not professionals. We should just leave this to the UA faculty. Right Yaorozu?" He turned to her, expecting her to agree, but she simply shook her head.
"I'm sorry, Iida. But our friends are fighting a battle every single minute. It's high time we fight too."

Everyone turned to Tenya in expectation after Yaorozu's response. He sighed.

"Fine. Let's do it."

Everyone cheered. I couldn't help but grin.

That was Class 1-A for you. They never gave up.