Echo | BNHA x Deltarune/Undertale

Chapter 54: Do It for the Memes

"Katsuki Bakugou," the trio said simultaneously with matching amounts of distaste. Iida looked to Izuku with confusion.

"Wait, how do you know Bakugou?"

"How do I know him," Izuku repeated almost mockingly, venom in his voice. "I've been going to the same school as him for about twelve years now. He despises me with the burning passion of a thousand suns, and boy does he have a talent for letting me know."

"Wow, I figured you guys knew each other, but I thought you were just acquaintances or something," mused Uraraka, who, unlike the other two, had witnessed Bakugou's reaction to Izuku's presence at the USJ.

"Really? You'd think that him addressing me by a name that literally refers to a limbless wooden doll would be enough of a hint."

"He did what now?" Shinso made the most clearly offended face imagineable.

"He has this lovely nickname for me that he and his friends have been calling me for over a decade. It has a plethora of meanings, all of them insulting."

"Well, that's not very nice of him! He really needs to learn some common courtesy." Iida added to his statement with aggressive, robotic arm movements. Boy, these kids were an acquired taste.

"Well, he's nice sometimes, when it benefits him. But when it doesn't..." Leaving the implications of his statement hanging in the air, Izuku absentmindedly rubbed his right wrist, which Katsuki had broken on three different occasions.

"Has he ever seriously injured you?" Iida asked. Izuku smiled ruefully. His friends' inability to understand the severity of Katsuki's aggression towards him was almost laughable.

"He's sent me to the hospital a total of seven times, if I recall correctly."

"Seriously? Shouldn't you get a restraining order or something? I bet you could sue him. There's no way that's okay." Uraraka was mostly collected, but there was a righteous fury in her tone.

"I guess I could, but it would make things way too complicated. I'd rather just deal with it. He'll grow up eventually. Besides... I wouldn't want to get him involved in a scandal before his career even starts. He'd kill me."

"That's the problem! If this guy's behavior makes you think he'd actually kill you, there's no way he should be allowed to get a hero license!"

"It would be easier to just let him fail the license test so he doesn't blame me for it." He shook his head, dismissing the issue. "Whatever, it doesn't matter. The point is, the freshman rep is probably a sociopath, so there's a good chance that there are more like him."

"Well, I can't think of anyone who quite rivals Bakugou's unprecedented rage, but there are plenty of people who are a few slices short of a loaf." Uraraka snickered at Iida's idiom usage. It was rather out of character.

"Enough about the hero course. Midoriya, you never told us if you were joining the sports festival or not. Spill the beans!"

Izuku let out a frustrated sigh. "I thought I already told you guys that I don't want to be a hero."

"Yeah, but you could do it for the fun of it!"

"Fun? Getting my ass handed to me is not my definition of fun."

"Oh, don't be so humble! I can think of at least ten kids in our class that you could totally wipe the floor with. You did way better against the villains at the USJ than any of us did."

"That was a life or death situation. I'm not going to fight nearly as well without a motive."

"The motive is to see the look on people's faces when a gen-ed kid whose quirk is 'weak precognition' beats the snot out of a hero course student. Imagine the headlines!"

"What if I don't want attention?"

Uraraka stopped walking and grabbed Izuku by the shoulders, turning him to face her. She looked him dead in the eyes.

"Midoriya," she addressed him, her voice serious as she leaned in closer. "Do it for the memes."

Izuku sighed heavily. "...you can register support items, right?"

"Yup."

"Fine. I'll do it for the memes." He grinned. "But you guys better watch yourselves, because I'm bringing a box cutter."