"You said you had difficulty studying, I only want to know how much work we're going to have to put in." Tanya commented as she opened her phone and began tapping it over to the school app.
She opened up the grades received on their latest math work where she could see the class spread. "Considering that Sato said he's trapped at Cs and Bs, that would place him at the median of the class, yes?"
Sato couldn't bring his eyes to meet her gaze and his hands idly sat over his books. He shrugged in response. "Yeah, sometimes above, sometimes below."
Tanya clicked her tongue as she turned her phone around to face them. The class spread had its segments where all the students were bunched up, but the tail end for low grades was stretched out. "Mina, where are you on this graph?"
Mina sighed in defeat, her entire body sagging as the energy left her. "May as well be fighting with Kaminari for last place…"
'I know, I know.' Mina monologued to herself. 'I have to keep my grades up, but there's nothing I can do anymore. All these complicated, abstract things hurt my head. WHY DO WE NEED THEM ANYWAY!'
She had always kept a joking front on the terms of her grades. Smiled in the face of Fs and Ds. Here at UA, those could spell disaster for her.
"An impressive battle I'm sure." Tanya turned her phone back around. 'This is good. If they need more help, it means more opportunities to bond with them.' She smirked at the victorious scenario before her. "Between you and Kaminari, your combined efforts dragged the class average down."
Mina pouted. "Ok, I'm not good with smarts."
"Yet you are a dedicated individual capable of ambition." Tanya commented as she pointed to the pink girl's patches. "You show that you can master a great many things, and you show boundless energy. With someone to guide you, I'm sure we can get your grades up."
Sato glanced between the two as they spoke of school struggles and failures of studying. His voice awkwardly broke the conversation the two were having. "What did you guys score on the practical exam?" Sato swiftly brought up the question.
Tanya looked at him with quizzical eyebrows while her wings twitched. "Hmm?"
Sato tried to relax as he veered the conversation away from grilling Mina. "Before we were enrolled, what did you score? A-against all the bots."
Mina lit up as she began to tap her fingers on the table like a little drum. "Oh! I scored 13th! Melting the bots was easy, and I even squeezed out some rescue points!"
"15th." Sato grinned in minor pride. He crossed his arms over his massive chest. "I didn't have to worry about hurting anybody. Didn't get any rescue points though." He gave a slight shrug and a head tilt. "Couldn't really. When I use my Quirk, my mind shuts off. Was hoping to improve that actually."
Tanya gave a genuine smile. 'They just keep getting better! Like they're begging to be led!'
The other two looked at each other before looking back at Tanya. 'Is her grin always that scary?'
Tanya watched Mina check over her shoulder and give a big grinned smile. She decided to lean around her wings and check for herself.
Bakugo stepped into the cafe, his eyes already locked onto the table of 'friends'. His sneakers stomped along below his loose fitting jeans. Stretched across his strong, triangular chest was a skull icon of a semi-popular rock group. Over his arms and back was an unbuttoned, and likely never will be, red and black flannel.
Mina immediately stood up and waved him over. "Bakugo! We saved you a seat!" She cheered, much to the minor disturbance of the other guests. 'Finally, some shipping action!'
"Shut it Racoon Eyes! I'm not here for your study buddy bullshit!" He spun the chair that had been saved for him open before sliding into it and kicking back. "I just came for some fucking food."
"It's a pleasure to have you here." Tanya said with all the pleasure of a greeting desk worker. "We were just discussing our entrance exam placements."
Bakugo huffed cockily as he was handed a menu. "Hmph! Placed first, top of the exam."
'Hahaha!' Tanya laughed to herself. 'I really did pick the best bunch of students in the class for this!'
Bakugo saw her chuckle and let his ego grow a little. His cocky grin began prideful and a bit more relaxed.
"What kind of points did you have?" Sato asked, thoroughly impressed. He placed an elbow onto his books and leaned into a comfortable pose. He doubted studying would be happening anytime soon.
"77 villain points. Best of the whole school!" Bakugo beamed as his passion flared up and manifested in an angered tone.
"What about rescue points?" Tanya asked. She leaned closer to the table and eyed him like she was in a poker match. 'Why didn't you mention rescue points?' She instantly found a weak spot to begin digging into.
"Who the fuck needs those! Everyone was out for themselves on that exam!" Bakugo puffed up as he felt his pride being challenged. "And I placed at the top despite having none!"
Mina tilted her head, "But would that make you the best though? There were two categories worth of points and you only maxed one at the expense of the other." She teased Bakugo, happy to take him down a peg without hurting him.
"Of course I'm the best!" Bakugo barked and slapped his hand on the table.
"Best at what though?" Tanya restated the question as she put her hands into her lap and grinned. She was ready to mentally duke it out with him.
"Fighting villains! That's what heroes do!" Bakugo glared at her. "Last time I checked, Chicken Wings, that's what our job is and it's what I excel at!"
"The majority of the top ten heroes lack destructive firepower." Tanya shot back calmly, her sky blue eyes pierced into his scarlet reds. The battle had begun.
Mina rested her head onto her hands and held back a satisfied sigh. 'Ah yes, look at them go.'
Meanwhile, Sato leaned back and shrunk away from the much-scarier-than-a-villain blondes who were currently glaring at each other with vastly different temperatures. He became intimidated by their ferocity, 'I can never tell if these two are having fun, or are about to fight each other.'
"What are you on about!?" Bakugo barked. "They're all fine as fighters!"
"Are you implying Wash, a member of the top ten, is a good fighter?" Tanya set her bait as she turned to face him. "Despite the fact that he has one of the lowest takedown rates of any of the top fifty heroes."
"Yet he can handle himself in a fight just fine!" Bakugo began to snap and his palm began to heat up. He found himself invested, there was no turning back.
"He's in the top ten for the same reason Best Jeanist is in the top five. Neither of them have tremendous firepower or even destructive ability, they specialize in rescue and quick restraining takedowns." Tanya straightened her back and her wings flexed up. A genuine smile grew on her face as Bakugo had begun to back himself into a corner. "So, in light of who is favored amongst the top ten, does this still lend credibility to your neglect of an entire point section? If you are the best, the unarguable and unchallengeable best, what happens when we have to compete over rescue work?"
Bakugo glared at her and his teeth began to grind in a silent growl. 'You wouldn't dare go there!' He fought to escape his shrinking corner, "No one has more destructive power than All Might, and he's number one!"
"He's number one because he can do it all." Tanya shut him down on the spot. "He can fight, rescue, do damage control, everything. Let's not forget that his debut video, his most famous video, was of him carrying people to safety. He's had some big fights before, yet he remains most well known for his rescue work." Tanya's grin softened into a content smile as she felt victory short at hand. "He's a master of all aspects of being a hero. Endeavor more fits your ideals of pure power and fighting, and-"
"He is trapped in second place." Her words rang through Bakugo's skull. He began to heat up, his blood started to boil. Everyone knew Endeavor takes down more villains than All Might, but that's really all Endeavor did. He couldn't say that All Might's pedestal was false, that Endeavor deserved the first place because… that would be wrong.
"Fuck you!" Bakugo barked before shooting up out of his chair, it nearly spun out of control. "There's nothing even spicy on this menu!" He tossed the plastic sheet onto the table, barely having read it and no longer caring. He turned his back on the group and began to march away.
"Huh?" Tanya felt confused. 'He wants to take hero work seriously yet can't even approach the necessity of more skills than fighting?'
Sato stood up and took a soft step before saying, "I'm, uh, gonna go talk to him." His face looked hurt like he had been second handedly offended.
"I think that went rather well." Mina propped herself up on an elbow and gave a nervous smile. 'These two are so made for each other, they just don't know how to coexist yet. They both have such strong fighting spirits, they just can't help but fight each other.'
"I fail to see how." Tanya commented weakly as she turned over her shoulder to watch Sato step out of the cafe and chase Bakugo down.
Outside the cafe, Sato speedwalked and swiftly made ground to catch up to Bakugo. The sweet giant's rapid and nervous footfalls gained on the nitro-blonde's aggressive march.
"Bakugo wait up." Sato walked up beside him.
The blonde bastard huffed, never even gave eye contact. "Fuck you want?"
"I just want to talk man." He answered with a reassuring smile.
Bakugo picked up his marching speed. "I don't want to listen to anything you have to say Diabetes!"
"Then I will listen." Sato easily kept up with Bakugo's pace and kept his calm demeanor. "Nothing more."
Bakugo slowed back down. "I know what I'm good at. I'm the best at what I do!" He began ranting and waving a hand around.
Sato said nothing as he had promised. His hands went into his pockets as he strolled along while quietly letting his friend vent in peace. 'I wonder if anyone has ever seen eye to eye with him? He's so talented, so bold, yet so aggressive. I wonder what made him this way?'
"I'm good at fighting and beating people up!" Bakugo ignited his palm in a series of little cracks before clenching his fist. Smoke rose between his fingers like steam from a pot. "And everyone keeps going on about useless shit that doesn't concern me! I don't give a damn about anything other than winning!"
"What do you want to win at?" Sato asked softly. He was scared that his question would touch a sore nerve and hoped that his tone would be of curiosity rather than being adversary.
"..." Bakugo was quiet as he thought up an answer. He hated bullshit, the meaningless lip service people gave others that meant nothing and amounted to nothing. He hated the idea of being anything less than the best but whenever he pictured victory it was on fire.
'Victory is being better than everyone else. Combat is the only competition no one can cheat, the purest form of victory a hero could achieve. Everyone is awed by a good fight. They watch heroes on their phones, on TV sets in windows, they talk about them with friends. I still remember the first time I saw All Might on TV; when he emerged from the fire carrying everyone and reassured them all that they were safe. He had beat the bad guy. The fire behind him, the carnage he overcame. Complete and total victory.'
"I want complete and total victory over my opponents." Bakugo snarled without any real venom. He opened his palm and let the smoke trailed away into the wind. "I want victory that shocks and awes everyone."
"No one doubts your strengths." Sato confided as he shooed away the smoke with one hand. "You have your talents, we can all see that."
Bakugo smirked. "Yeah they fuckin can."
"But we all have our talents too. We all made it into UA for a reason." Sato's voice became firm as he took his stance. He would be patient, slow, yet as powerful as the tide.
Bakugo became silent again as his lips curled into a silent snarl.
"But you beat me at restraining someone? Could you beat Mina at safely removing debris? Could you find people before Shoji could?" Sato posed his question like an open door. He waited to see what Bakugo would do.
Bakugo looked him in the eyes. Sato's position was unwavering yet… accepting. "..."
"There's more to being a hero than fighting, but specializing is cool too!" Sato smiled awkwardly. "Personally, I'm a huge fan of Death Arms. He's strong and uses his strength for more than just punching people."
"What are you on about?" Bakugo was bewildered and annoyed. "Why the fuck do I care about how you feel about some subpar hero?"
Sato flexed his arm and examined his own biceps. Years of hard work and dedication manifested into tightly knit muscles. "Someday I hope that others can rely on me like they do with him. And I hope that I can rely on you to blow the enemy away."
Bakugo gave a toothy grin full of battlelust yet to come. "You finally saying some shit that makes some sense!"
"So, what'll it be?" Sato asked as he dropped his flex. "Care to let us pick up those other parts of being a hero?"
"Heh." Bakugo huffed and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah. I can stomach you extras backing me up."
The guys walked back to the cafe in relative silence.
Back in the cafe, Tanya looked back at the door and smiled as Sato and Bakugo walked back in. 'Finally, an escape from Mina's chatter.'
"There's no way that they're not a thing." Mina was wrapped up in her latest relationship theory before glancing up and almost ignoring her friends' return. She waved happily over her head. "You made it back!"