Once Again From Better Days

As the week goes on, Katsuki watches Izuku acclimate to the 1-A class and watches 20th to make sure she stays the f.u.c.k away from Izuku. He also looks for a chance to siphon her off of the other girls and corner her, but an opportunity fails to present itself. 

Izuku, on the other hand, seems hell bent on proving himself worthy of being in the hero course. With the level of comfort he has with his quirk, he quickly secures his place near the top of their class. By the end of Tuesday, he has thoroughly questioned almost all of the other 20 students about their quirks and taken notes. This is made easier by the fact that everyone wants to talk to him. It also means that Katsuki is forced to watch Izuku talk to everyone but him. At least Izuku doesn't abandon him at lunchtime, until Thursday, that is.

"I'm eating lunch with Shinsou and a couple others from class C," Izuku says halfway through their walk to school on Thursday morning.

"Why?" Katsuki asks before he can stop himself.

"They're my friends, too, and I'm sure they want info on the hero course. Plus they probably want an apology for ditching them." He hesitates for a second. "I'll eat with you tomorrow," he adds.

Katsuki turns away and tries to pretend that he doesn't care, and Izuku goes back to babbling about the news which has something to do with a sudden increase in hero fatalities. Katsuki walks beside him only half-listening.

The morning classes seem to pass faster than usual, and when they're done, Izuku is the first one out the door to head to the cafeteria. Before Izuku joined their class, he was used to not seeing him for most of the day, so not eating lunch together shouldn't be a big deal. But since he's grown accustomed to it, Katsuki can't get rid of the unpleasant feeling that he's getting ditched. 

Instead of following Kirishima and Kaminari and the others to the cafeteria, Katsuki makes a detour to the bathroom to clear his head. He tells himself that inside the walls of UA, Izuku should be safe. Katsuki turns on the faucet and splashes his face. The shock of the cold water does help clear his mind of stupid worries. When he straightens up, he pauses to look at his reflection. He was hardly older than this before he started over. Izuku was hardly older than this.

Katsuki dries his face and walks back into the hallway with every intention of heading to the cafeteria. But just as he pushes the door open, 20th passes by. She is alone, finally separated from the other girls. Katsuki cuts through a group of students to follow her. Her pace is brisk, and it takes some effort to catch up, especially in a hallway crowded with students. When he's close enough, he reaches out and grabs her shoulder.

She whirls around to look at him, eyes flashing, but it hardly takes her a second to scan his face and relax her stance. Her mouth contorts into a smile.

"I thought you might come after me, Kacchan ." The corner of her mouth twists in amus.e.m.e.nt.

He gets a sudden feeling of ice in his bones. Something about the way her eyes narrow makes him feel uncomfortably exposed. Before he can answer, she turns on her heel and takes off down the hall, weaving between students with an uncanny sort of grace. Katsuki follows a moment later. He'll have time to worry later; he should focus now. She disappears into one of the empty classrooms that the students have vacated for lunch, and he shoves the door open a moment later.

20th rests the palms of her hands on one of the desks and hoists herself up. She's tall enough that she can look down at him. He hates looking up at people, especially people like her. Katsuki grinds his teeth. He knows he can't directly ask if she's a traitor or a villain.

"What do you want from Izuku?" He demands.

"Izuku," she echoes, and Katsuki hates the way his name sounds in her voice. "Anything. Everything–but you're the same way, aren't you?" She leans forward, too close to his face, but he stands his ground. "I understand. You don't want other people too close to him, you want him all to yourself–we're pretty similar, you and I."

"Like hell we are." Katsuki lets himself recoil. "I'm trying to protect him from people like you. You don't know shit about him anyway."

"That's not true–I remember every moment I've spent with him perfectly, and if you add that up, it's quite a bit. You might be the closest to him now, but I wonder if he's starting to drift away from you. And Bakugou," She launches herself off the desk. "If you keep sticking your nose into other people's business, you might lose it."

20th is past him and at the door in a moment. She gives him one last nasty look before leaving. Katsuki fights the reflex to chase after her. The rational part of his brain knows he won't gain anything from pursuit, and he'll probably get detention for harassing another student. Katsuki balls his hands into fists. Despite the discomfort he subjected himself to and the cold feeling that clings to him even when she's out of sight, there is only one person that comes to mind who has that kind of irrational fixation on Izuku. 

Her face may be different, and he'll worry about how that happened later, but there's no mistaking Toga Himiko for anyone else. His problem now is how to prove it before she can make her move.