Bakugo had always seen Midoriya as a weakling, a little tagalong who envied him from the sidelihat was the natural order, especially after disc that Midoriya was Quirkless. Bakugo's superiority plex deepened, and he believed that Midoriya's only role in life was to look up to him.

  But today had shattered that illusion.

  Midoriya, the same kid Bakugo had mocked for being Quirkless, had been accepted into U.A. alongside him. And worse, Midoriya had thrown a ball with enough power to rival his own. That ohrow was like a sp in the face, as if reality itself was mog Bakugo's arrogance.

  His anger alpable Midoriya had deceived him for years. Bakugo felt humiliated, as though all those times he'd lorded his strength over Midoriya had been part of some eborate joke. What if Midoriya had beeending all along? What if all the times Bakugo had belittled him, Midoriya had just been holding back, afraid of hurting him?

  And then, to make it worse, Kaminari had said it out loud: "Midoriya wasn't afraid of you, he was afraid of hurting you."

  Those words were like gasoline poured on a raging fire. Bakugo's vision blurred with fury, his mind filled with violent thoughts. His hands trembled as his palms began to secrete the explosive sweat he was known for.

  "What did you just say?" Bakugo's voice was low, strained with rage.

  Kaminari turned, meeting Bakugo's intense gre without a hint of fear. "You heard me," he said coolly, showing no iion of bag down.

  Bakugo's bloodshot eyes narrowed. To him, Kaminari's calm response was infuriating, like he wasn't worth the effort. Bakugo had never entered someone who talked to him like this, not since he was a kid. His fists ched so tightly that his knuckles turned white.

  "You're dead," Bakugo growled. Uo hold himself bay longer, he swung a punch at Kaminari's face.

  "Kaminari!" Jiro shouted in arm, seeing the puning.

  But before Bakugo's fist could nd, a loud *thud* echoed across the hallway. Tetsutetsu had stepped in, catg Bakugo's pun mid-air with his own iron-hard hand. His face was a mask of trolled fury as he stared down Bakugo.

  "Enough of that, Bakugo," Tetsutetsu said, his voice steady but filled with tension. His grip on Bakugo's fist tightened, and Bakugo, for the first time, felt real resistance. Without using his Quirk, Bakugo wasn't strong enough to overpower Tetsutetsu's steel-like grip.

  Bakugo's eyes flickered with frustration. "You're not giving in to me, huh?" His voice was ced with venom as he tried to pull his hand back, but Tetsutetsu wasn't letting go. If anything, his grip only tightened further.

  Tetsutetsu stared into Bakugo's eyes with a ess that matched the steel of his Quirk. "Not everyone is going to roll over for you, Bakugo. Some of us don't care who you are or what you do."

  Bakugo's hand began to heat up, his sweat turning votile. Small explosions popped in his palm, signaling his growing anger. "Let go before I make you," Bakugo spat.

  Before things could escate further, Iida appeared, rushing over to the se. He grabbed both Bakugo aetsu by the shoulders, his stern voice cutting through the tension. "Stop this at once! We're all cssmates now. Fighting won't solve anything."

  Despite Iida's intervention, Bakugo aetsu stayed locked in their standoff for a moment loheir muscles tense, before finally relenting. Tetsutetsu released Bakugo's hand, and the explosive boy took a step back, seething.

  "Tetsutetsu, let's go." Kaminari gave a slight nod to Tetsutetsu, then motioned for him and Jiro to follow. They walked away, leaving Bakugo to gre at their retreating figures, his fists still ched tightly at his sides.

  "I'll make them pay for this," Bakugo seethed inwardly, his mind rag with thoughts of revenge. He had never been so humiliated in his life, and the feeling g him, pushing him closer to the edge.

  Ba the , Kaminari paid no further attention to Bakugo. He sat down and g the schedule on his desk, skimming through the list of uping csses. He noticed that while other subjects had only six csses, the Hero Course had seven—four in the m and three iernoon, with a break for lunch. Saturdays were especially rough for Hero students, with csses extending until the sixth period, uher departments that got out after the fourth.

  "Hero training really is no joke," Kaminari thought with a sigh. He articurly looking forward to the sce csses, hoping he could dive deeper iromagism, which would help him develop his Quirk further.

  But after his first sce css, Kaminari felt a pang of disappoi. The material covered was too basiothing close to what he had hoped to learn about eleagism. After css, he approached the sce teacher, a bulky Hero with a robotic arm known as "Engineering Robot."

  "Sensei," Kaminari started, "When will we start learning about eleagism ih?"

  "Eleagism?" Engineering Robot scratched his head awkwardly. "That's usually covered in more detail starting in your sed year."

  Kaminari frowned. "Sed year? But I really want to start learning now."

  The teacher smiled apologetically. "I'd love to help, but I don't have time for tut right now. Between teag and maintaining the school's infrastructure, I've got my hands full."

  "Ah, I uand. Thank you anyway," Kaminari replied, trying not to let his disappoi show. As the teacher left the room, he sighed and turo go back to his desk. But just as he was about to sit down, he heard a voice behind him.

  "You're ied in learning about eleagism?" Yaoyorozu Momo's voice was gentle, but her tone carried a hint of curiosity.

  Kaminari turned, surprised. "Do you know anything about it?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

  Momo smiled fidently. "Yes, I've studied it quite a bit. While my specialty is in molecur structures and chemistry, I've also delved irostatics, magic fields, and the basics of giromagic fields."

  She spoke effortlessly, rattling off terms that went over the heads of most of their cssmates. Kaminari, however, was impressed. "You really know your stuff, huh?"

  Momed modestly. "I try to keep myself well-rounded. I'd be happy to teach you what I know."

  Kaminari hesitated, surprised by her offer. "You'd... really do that?"

  "Of course!" Momo's eyes sparkled with enthusiasm. "I love helping others learn. Why don't you e over to my house after school today? We go over some eleagics for a couple of hours. I'm sure you'll pick it up quickly."

  Kaminari grinned. "Sounds good to me."

  He didn't notice the slight frown that crossed Jiro's face as she watched the exge. Her eyes flicked from Momo to Kaminari, a thoughtful expressioling over her features. She said nothing, though, simply turnitention back to the css schedule in front of her.