Speak (Bakugou Katsuki x Reader)

[12; be honest]

[Human Cavalry Battle]

—Currently, that was what was being displayed on the holographic screen as your next stage. The 42 qualifiers from the first round were to move on and participate in a team battle, built around the number of points each person had amassed based on which position they'd finished in. It was all fairly standard, but you couldn't help but feel for Izuku.

He'd ended up with a bounty of ten million points on his head.

"W-what am I going to do??" he spluttered, frantically bringing a palm up against his forehead. "Everyone's gonna be chasing me; there's no way I'll be able to find anyone who's willing to be on my team...!"

You flashed him an apologetic smile, to which his eyes widened just slightly. A shaky, somewhat-imploring grin made its way onto his lips.

"I-I don't suppose you would want to team up with me, would you, [Name]-chan...?"

If you were being honest, you felt bad for the poor kid. The fact that everyone would be targeting him meant that pretty much no one wanted to be on the same team. Actually, you personally didn't care much for that; given the choice, you'd much rather just team up with your friends and support them, but your mind was drifting elsewhere right now.

...Namely, the ash blonde who was surrounded by a cluster of students hoping to join his team.

You sighed.

Well, I guess it makes sense. He's got such a powerful Quirk that pretty much anybody would be jumping at the opportunity to team up with him. He can pick the cream from the crop, so to speak. In that case, I doubt he'd want to be with someone like me...

Izuku must've noticed your gaze wandering, and soon let out a sigh of his own.

"I kind of already figured..." he murmured, "But you...wanna be with Kacchan, right?"

"Eh? No, I'm—"

"I can tell," he smiled. "There's nothing wrong with it, though. I don't know much about this whole "soulmate" thing, since I don't have a mark of my own, but I'm sure it's a very special, important bond. So it's okay for you to join his team; I can figure things out here."

You forced a smile, feeling a bit guilty about letting your friend down. "Well, I'm sure Uraraka-chan will want to pair up with you. Ah—here she comes right now. And then there's Iida-kun, as well..."

"I know," Izuku nodded. "Don't worry. I'll manage to work something out. Go talk to Kacchan, okay?"

"...Yeah," you breathed. "I'll...go do that now."

With a spring in your step, you made your way across the arena, waving to Uraraka in passing. She looked a bit confused as to why you were headed in the opposite direction from Izuku—hell, she'd probably assumed the four of you would all be on the same team—but then her gaze softened when she where you were headed. Even if it might've been a bit unfair, a small part of her felt a tad bit jealous that she was losing her best friend to a hot-headed blonde.

She decided that she wouldn't mind if someone elbowed him in the face "accidentally" during the battle. Yep, that would do just fine. Smiling ruefully, she turned on her heel to rejoin with the curly-haired male who was on the brink of hyperventilation.

Meanwhile, you were finding it a bit difficult to force your way in between Katsuki's personal crowd.

"Oi, Bakugou—join my team!" a student called out.