Fanfic / Cain

Like fire, Hellfire, this fire in my skin. This burning desire is turning me to sin.^CreditArtwork created by Tumblr user igimacigy

"This is the story of how I became the world’s greatest hero!"

— Katsuki Bakugou

Katsuki was a natural-born hero. Simple as that. He was smart, charismatic, and had the strongest quirk of anyone he’d ever met. And yet for some reason, All Might picked stupid, worthless Deku as his successor instead. But it didn’t matter. The nerd probably schemed his way into All Might’s favor. All Katsuki had to do was pull back the curtain on how awful he really was, and the number one hero would come to his senses. After all, real heroes never lose. No matter what.

Cain is a What If? My Hero Academia story written by aconstantstateofbladerunner where Katsuki Bakugou discovers All Might declaring Izuku as his worthy successor and decides to do everything in his power to keep his hated target from becoming a true hero.

Not to be confused with the French series Caïn.

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Cain provides examples of:

#-L

• Adaptational Villainy: To put it plainly, this is an AU where Bakugou doesn't become a better hero and his animosity towards Deku gets worse. The writer even mentions this as Bakugou being "out of character" compared to his canon counterpart. It's somewhat justified since this story diverges from canon when Bakugou is at his worst as a bully and prior to any of Bakugou's positive character development. Additionally, while the canon Bakugou’s anger flip flops between being played for drama or for laughs, there is nothing funny about this Bakugou’s tantrums.
• Adults Are Useless:
  • The adults at Aldera Junior High are worse than useless. They actively feed into Bakugo's It's All About Me attitude and entitlement complex, do nothing about the prolonged campaign of bullying against Izuku, and only bother to slap Bakugou on the wrist if faced with incontrovertible physical evidence of his misdeeds. It gets to the point where after Bakugou starts turning physically violent towards Izuku and Aldera does nothing, Inko is forced to pull him out of school and finish his middle school education online.
  • There's also the case of the school counselor who claims she talked to Izuku multiple times and was obviously extremely unhelpful even by her own account; she even openly says she wouldn't suggest to Izuku any options for his future even when he pushed the point; the only thing she did was insist to him what he couldn't do (be a hero), and when recounting this to Bakugou, she even mocks Izuku for his inability to suggest an alternative, and immediately after expresses doubt for Bakugou's conspiracy theory by implicitly calling Izuku stupid. All of this doesn't touch on the fact that disclosing information about her private sessions with Izuku at all, let alone mocking Izuku over them while speaking with another student she knows behaves violently towards Izuku, is not only enabling Bakugou's behavior but is legally dubious and a betrayal of the whole point of a school guidance counselor, laying bare for the reader an entire series of major breaches of professional and ethical conduct towards Izuku just from this one staff member.
• All for Nothing: The adults at Aldera do everything they can to assist Bakugou, making special exception after special exception, all in the name of giving him the best possible chance they can to get into UA. He throws that chance away by making his entrance exam end with his arrest for attempted murder.
• Ambiguous Ending: Through an online server, Shigaraki offers Bakugou an opportunity to take revenge against All Might in exchange for his information. The story ends with Katsuki looking at his phone with the reader having no clue as to whether he accepted the villain's offer.
• And Now for Someone Completely Different: The second-to-last scene focuses on Izuku after the UA entrance exam.
• Angrish: During Bakugou's second Villainous Breakdown, he attempts to scream a long torrent of death threats and claims of superiority at Izuku. It comes out simply as "grunts and growls."
• Arch-Enemy: As the fic shows, Bakugou is shaping as this for Izuku and even All Might by the ending.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Toshinori repeatedly poses these to Katsuki while poking holes in his tortured 'logic'. Sadly, these mostly just succeed in shutting him up momentarily when he can't immediately come up with some 'counter'.
    All Might: Did he bang on your door screaming about how dangerous you are?
    Bakugou: [grunts and pockets his hands]
    All Might: Have you even seen him these past few weeks?
    Bakugou: I can walk from here.
  • After learning that Katsuki was banned from U.A., Izuku asks if he couldn't talk to the people responsible and tell them it was all a misunderstanding. Toshinori gently asks "Izuku, was it a misunderstanding?" Izuku is unable to reply.
• Attention Whore: Part of Bakugou's motivation in terrorizing Izuku into dropping out of his training is so he can obtain All Might's complete attention which would solidify his future as the next Number One Hero. Toshi would later spell out that he doesn't need his attention as he already has the love and appreciation of the whole world. But for a greedy, Spoiled Brat like Bakugou, it just isn't enough.
• Ax-Crazy: Katsuki by the end. He's completely divorced from reality and appears to sincerely have convinced himself that murdering and destroying his enemies (read: anyone who contradicts his delusional view of the world) is the way to become the greatest hero.
• Bad Liar: Bakugou isn't above lying to adults in order to get Izuku into trouble or even stir himself away from trouble. However, Katsuki's fabrications fall flat because of his rude, violent, delusional, and contradicting personality shining through. It also doesn't help that the staff at Aldera Middle School are humoring his claims in order to keep his records clean, leaving him convinced that he's much better at deception than he actually is.
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • At one point in the story, Bakugou smugly thinks it would be a dream come true if Deku were to drop out of Aldera as it would make life for him so much easier. When Izuku ends up doing that, the hot-headed blond is anything but at peace as he now can't keep tabs on his hated target.
  • Katsuki also repeatedly insists that All Might just need to listen and "give [him] a chance". Toshinori does repeatedly attempt to understand Katsuki's perspective and hear him out; this never works in Katsuki's favor.
• Believing Their Own Lies:
  • Played with. Katsuki makes up contradictory reasons for why Izuku isn't a good candidate to be All Might's successor, most of which are based on bigoted stereotypes of Quirkless people, intentionally conflating Izuku with both the fictional Quirkless serial killers and fictional Quirkless victims Katsuki sees on TV simultaneously when grasping for reasons to object to All Might's choice. As Katsuki doubles down, he increasingly speaks internally as if these narratives are truths despite being the one to have made them up, and escalates his behavior as he builds Izuku up as a worse and worse threat to himself and the world, culminating in attempting to smother Izuku with a pillow while Izuku's unconscious in the Recovery Girl's office after the entrance exam, all while reassuring himself that killing Izuku is a heroic deed because Izuku is a monster. It's unclear exactly how much he actually believes his claims, but he accepts them as truth in his own internal rationalizations for his behavior.
  • It's also worth noting that at the end of the story where Tomura has contacted Katsuki and says he's heard about one student assaulting another at UA, Katsuki's thought process is that Tomura doesn't know what he's talking about and that Deku spread those rumors. He is so far gone that he won't even acknowledge what he very obviously did; God only knows what he told himself to convince himself it didn't happen.
• Big Damn Heroes: Just when it looks like Bakugou is about to smother an unconscious Izuku with a pillow, Aizawa shows up in the nick of time to apprehend him.
• Big Jerk on Campus: Bakugou is Aldera Middle School's star student and is privileged to the point of being shielded from the consequences of his actions. He spearheads Izuku's bullying while the school does its best to turn a blind eye. Every time authority intervention is unavoidable, he's let off with a slap on the wrist at best because the school has a vested interest in keeping his record clean so he can get into UA. Due to his power and privilege, the other students tend to follow him in whatever he does, be it bullying Izuku or doubting All Might. After his application to UA is thrown out, he loses his golden boy status. It's also a deconstruction; Bakugou's status and privilege mean that nobody but All Might seriously tries to correct his more dangerous beliefs and choices or reach out about his increasingly unstable behavior. With no one on "his" side seriously willing to give him a reality check, Bakugou easily rationalizes away All Might's attempts to help him and escalates dramatically. By the time everyone else is willing to act to stop him, it's far too late for Bakugou's sanity or future.
• Bittersweet Ending: Ultimately, despite all of Katsuki's efforts, Izuku becomes Toshinori's successor and makes it into U.A., and he feels a great weight finally lifting from him. But he's still conflicted about Katsuki's failure, and traumatized by how far Katsuki escalated his cruelty towards him. There's also the matter of how Katsuki still hasn't learned anything, and is contacted by Shigaraki offering him a chance at revenge...
• Blackmail: Bakugou forces Toshinori to let him partake in the same training as Izuku by threatening to reveal his secrets to the public. But after seeing enough of his horrid behavior, Toshinori decides to cut him off and declares that no one would believe him anyway.
• Blatant Lies:
  • Bakugou lies as he breathes to everyone around him (especially to himself) to justify his own actions, even when his "logic" flies in the face of reality.
    All Might: You told him to kill himself. More than once.
    Bakugou: Yeah, but I didn’t want him to actually do it! You know in some places, that’s a compliment between friends.
    All Might: You keep telling yourself that.
  • This also plays a role in his failure to socially sabotage Izuku. Not only do his lies about Izuku have no basis other than a combination of bigoted stereotypes of Quirkless people and his own lack of understanding of basic empathy, but said lies mutually contradict each other and the only reason he manages to get away with them in the first place is that every other authority figure, besides All Might, and Inko and his parents upon finding out, constantly enables Katsuki's views and humors him due to their own prejudice against Izuku and keeping his records clean so he'll be a shoo-in for U.A. High. By the time Katsuki becomes more and more desperate to make All Might see otherwise, he can only spout out random, but hateful things about Izuku that just keep digging himself deeper and prove his own guilt.
• Blue-and-Orange Morality: Deconstructed and emphasized in the most realistic and horrifying way possible with Katsuki, along with a combination of Pride, prejudice, and Never My Fault. In his demented mind, Katsuki, power, and heroes are indisputably good and anything done to benefit these concepts is also good, while Izuku and weakness are evil and anything done in their defense is evil as well. As one would expect, this twisted line of thinking and belief system not only leads him down a life of ruin by the end of the fic, but also with the high possibility of becoming one of the worse villains in Japan.
• Broken Pedestal: Bakugou's respect and admiration for All Might diminishes as the golden hero shows "favoritism" towards Deku despite being Quirkless while refuting the explosive boy's ideologies on what makes a true hero. He also goes from believing UA is sacred ground and the greatest school in the world to thinking it is overrated and making false accusations against him when they deny him entry.
• Broken Tears: Katsuki begins crying when he asks All Might why he "hates" him. This is notable for a few reasons: 1) it's immediately after Katsuki uses his knowledge of All Might's secret to blackmail All Might into not turning Katsuki over to the police after the incident listed in Villainous Breakdown, showing that Katsuki has no moral compass whatsoever at this point and is only acting for his own gain, 2) Katsuki has either mocked Izuku for his crying or accused Izuku of using tears as a manipulation tactic throughout the entire story, and 3) it demonstrates just how unstable and myopic Katsuki's become at this point, and how completely lacking self-awareness he is over his own behavior and hypocrisies.
• Cain and Abel: The story is named after the biblical character, and Katsuki demonstrates the same jealous and self-righteous nature towards Izuku, the Abel who did nothing wrong to him. It even features Katsuki trying to kill Izuku. Early on in the story, when meeting up with All Might after chasing Izuku off, All Might questions where Izuku is, only for Katsuki to deny he's "Izuku's keeper". Later, while Izuku worries for Bakugou's future, Toshinori states that Izuku is not "Bakugou's keeper".
• The Cameo:
  • Kirishima makes an unnamed cameo as an Entrance Exam participant.
  • More horrifyingly, Bakugou gets a message from Shigaraki (going by his username, handsofthemaster) after revealing All Might's Dark Secret in the end.
• Cassandra Truth: Bakugou posts his findings about Toshinori's Quirk and his critical condition online out of spite. But just as the Fairest One of All proclaimed, no one believes him with the mods of the site flagging his posts. However, a user by the name of "handsofthemaster" takes a sinister interest in his posts.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: While cleaning up their trash piles, Bakugou walks over to Izuku's side intending to create a landslide of garbage to fall on his hated target. To his dismay, he's the one who ends up injured.
• Competition Freak: Katsuki takes this to horrifying and self-sabotaging extremes: it's not enough for him to "win". He has a pathological need to ensure Izuku loses — and suffers. This desire to see his favorite target completely and utterly crushed repeatedly bites Katsuki in the backside, as his efforts to ruin Izuku wind up working against him.
• Control Freak: Katsuki spent years beating Izuku down, ensuring he was completely isolated at school while constantly 'reminding' him that his dreams were impossible and that he should just give up. His behavior dramatically escalates in response to Toshinori offering his favorite victim a lifeline and spirals even further out of control once Izuku leaves Aldera.
• Corrupted Character Copy: This fic's version of Katsuki Bakugou, to a couple of characters that inspired the canon My Hero Academia manga:
  • Of Tetsuo Shima from AKIRA. Despite not being a hero by any stretch of the definition, even with the anime's Adaptational Heroism, Tetsuo is still far more sympathetic than how Cain!Bakugou is, especially regarding his Dark and Troubled Past as an orphan abandoned by his parents and bullied for his meek behavior by the other kids, and, even at his worst, he would never kill (or truly bring himself to kill), his Best Friend despite his deep feeling of inferiority towards him, and manages to reconcile with the Kaneda before he Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence at the end of his series. In contrast, Cain!Bakugou never had to struggle while growing up as Tetsuo did and his friendship with Izuku was only fair weather before turning animosity after years of being lionized for the most asinine things, and spend over a decade as a Barbaric Bully ensuring Izuku's eternal misery. The moment Katsuki finds out that Izuku is being chosen by All Might to become his successor, he pulls nonstop by escalating his harassment of Izuku to outright physical and psychological torture for nearly the entire fic out of a combination of self-righteousness, sadism, bigotry, narcissism, and delusional paranoia before he eventually decided to murder him (and failed) and is on his way to becoming Izuku's (and by extension All Might's) Arch-Enemy and as a potential All For One 2.0 in the unforeseen future.
  • Of Naruto Uzumaki from the series of the same name. On the surface, the two of them share many similarities regarding their physical appearances, personality, having parents of differing temperaments, natural talent in power and fighting, lifelong goals, and even sharing similar sounding names in a reverse order. However, Naruto suffers a Dark and Troubled Past from being scornfully isolated (at best) for something that was out of his control, is a very empathetic and loyal friend to those he loves, constantly reaches out to Sasuke despite the latter's repeated (and many times lethal) rejection and succeeds, and achieves his lifelong dream of being Hokage at the end of his story. Similar to the above example, Katsuki lived a life of privilege with nearly anything handed him on a silver platter (though he does put in the effort to earn them), leaving him with an incredibly huge, but fragile ego who would so much as harm and eventually screw anybody who contradict his desires and worldviews, even his own loved ones. He also constantly bullies and tortures Izuku throughout the fic, despite getting more chances than he justifiably deserves to think otherwise of Izuku's true intentions. Finally, Katsuki destroys his own life by the end and is implied to be on his way to becoming one of the worst villains in Japanese history.
    • In addition, Cain!Bakugou is also a corrupted caricature of Naruto's Alternate Self in the anime-only What If? arc, where Naruto's parents didn't have to sacrifice themselves to stop the Nine-tail fox's rampage.
  • If Izuku is a counterpart to Peter Parker, then Cain!Bakugou would be Eugene "Flash" Thompson if you stripped away all of his sympathetic qualities and make him notably unhinged, or if you take Flash's Ultimate and film counterparts' Jerkass traits and dial them up by eleven, or, more horrifyingly, if Carl King/The Thousand is more intelligent and popular. Also, given the fic's futuristic setting, the Cain and Abel dynamic between Katsuki and Izuku, and the escalating paranoia-fueled animosity the former has for the latter, we can add in some characteristics of Kron Stone in Cain!Bakugou for good measure.
• Cruel to Be Kind: Bakugou tells himself he's being merciful to Izuku with his terror tactics under the belief that Izuku is worthless without a quirk and that he'll get himself killed if he tries to be a hero. Subverted when All Might asserts that this is an excuse to rationalize Katsuki's jealous behavior, and Katsuki doesn't deny this, only demanding to know why Izuku gets an opportunity he doesn't "deserve".
• Deconstructed Character Archetype: Just like canon, Katsuki was already one for the Stock Shōnen Hero archetype, especially the Japanese Delinquents variety, but the fic delves even further into the Protagonist-Centered Morality aspect of The Hero, especially the 90s variety. In any run-of-the-mill story, Katsuki would be absolutely justified in anything he says and does regardless of how malicious and sinister his actions are and Midoriya, the Hero Antagonist, would be in the wrong no matter what by going against him regardless of how nice or sympathetic he is. However, as the Deconstruction Fic shows, Katsuki is incredibly delusional and selective in what he perceives the world to be and all the bad things he accuses Izuku of throughout the fic are nothing more than a combination of envy, selfishness, self-projection, and plain bigotry, and the only reason he lasted for so long before the consequences would catch up to him is because of the systematic ableism against the Quirkless and the self-serving/corrupt faculty members of Aldera Middle School.
• Dehumanization: Which overlaps with Demonization. Katsuki tells himself that Izuku is actually not a person, but a monster when trying to psych himself up and justify murdering Izuku by smothering the poor boy with a pillow while Izuku is in the nurse's office.
• Detrimental Determination: As in canon, one of Katsuki's notable traits is his relentless determination to win, for better or worse. The fic shows just how dangerous and sinister he is in his "heroic" attempts to stop Izuku from becoming a hero and the consequences that befall him.
• Didn't Think This Through: Because of his inflated ego and his lack of empathy, Bakugou never realizes what type of consequences he can inflict on himself as he tries to sabotage Izuku's apprenticeship with the Number One Hero.
• Digging Yourself Deeper: As one wise man says: "If you ever find yourself in a hole, the first thing to do is to stop digging." Any time that All Might tries to reason with Bakugou's vindictive drive to prevent Izuku from becoming a hero, Bakugou continues to steadfastly double down on his methods along with his sanity being eroded to the point of shutting out reality that, unsurprisingly, ruins him in the end.
• Disaster Dominoes: Through Insane Troll Logic, Bakugou starts to believe that Deku becoming All Might's successor would not only get himself killed but it would destroy society as the Number One Hero placed his trust in a weak loser who will only take everyone down with him. Ironically, his belief would actually apply to himself in regards to how actions ruin his own reputation in the end.
• Ditzy Genius: An incredibly dark example. Katsuki is regarded as a natural-born genius, whether it be in academics, sports, or nearly any subject he applies himself to along with a Quirk that's ideal for combat. But in regard to ethics, morality, common sense, or even basic and common decency, he's incredibly inept to the point that he sees any form of kindness displayed towards him, especially when Izuku is concerned, as nothing more than a manipulative, gaslighting tactic. Furthermore, when taking into account his incredibly warped and persecutory perception, along with the lengths that Aldera was willing to go to cater to his every whim and sweep any of his misdeeds under the rug before Katsuki's actions escalate to the point where he destroys any chance of becoming a hero, the "genius" part can be very much be called into question.
• Double Think: Really, it'd be easier to list the few thoughts in Katsuki's head that don't almost immediately contradict each other.
  • Katsuki believes that Izuku is too much of a crybaby to be a hero and that Izuku is faking his displays of emotion for calculated sympathy.
  • Katsuki thinks that Izuku is dumb, useless, and incompetent, and also that Izuku is a villain competent enough to take control of All Might, the UA staff, and the Aldera staff after Katsuki has his UA application torn up.
  • Katsuki thinks that he is saving Izuku from dying by a villain's attack since Izuku's so weak and so all his actions are for Izuku's own good, and also that Izuku is a dangerous mastermind that Katsuki needs to defeat and punish for the good of the world.
  • Katsuki thinks he's the greatest and everybody's hero and nobody likes Izuku, even counting on Aldera to help torment the latter and get away with it. He also thinks that Izuku has spent their lives constantly spinning situations so that people think Katsuki is the bad guy and like Izuku over him.
  • Katsuki has spent the last nine years thinking Izuku deserves to suffer and acting on this belief to deprive Izuku of normal life pleasures and also thinks that Izuku has never had to struggle and that Katsuki's own life has been unreasonably hard in comparison.
  • Not only Izuku, but this also applies to All Might. He believes him to be the best hero in the world and that he never loses but is somehow a victim of Izuku's "manipulations" despite also believing Izuku as useless and All Might's obvious lifelong experience of dealing with such opponents.
  • If that wasn't bad enough, Katsuki himself isn't immune to this. He wholeheartedly believes himself to be a natural-born hero and destined to be the next All Might, and that would include being obviously superior to the Quirkless and useless Izuku. Yet, at the same time, he expresses his oppression by Izuku's existence and manipulations, but not really as the latter is too weak to make him a victim. Rinse. And. Repeat.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Every attempt All Might makes to explain to Bakugou the self-destructive nature of his actions flies in one ear and out the other.
• The Dreaded: According to Bakugou and Toshinori, Quirkless people are often portrayed as serial killers or villains in Post-Quirk media which makes it harder for them to gain acceptance by modern society.
• Driven to Suicide: Apparently it's a common fact that most Quirkless people commit suicide due to having limited employment or higher learning opportunities along with facing ongoing discrimination from people with Quirks.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After all the bullying, torment, and crushing self-doubt, Izuku's training and heroic heart result in him being allowed to enter UA. Additionally, he and his mom move into a new apartment with All Might.
• Easily Forgiven: Deconstructed. Izuku constantly forgives Bakugou for his escalating acts of bullying, and even when things finally get to the point where Izuku can't justify Bakugou's actions anymore he still blames himself for ruining Bakugou's chances to get into UA. But as All Might gives him a Hard Truth Aesop, Izuku's forgiveness would only matter if Bakugou himself acknowledges his wrongdoing and seek forgiveness, which as the fic shows; Bakugou's sanity is too far gone to accept reality.
• Establishing Character Moment: In the first two paragraphs of the story, Katsuki accuses Izuku of "ruining" his heroic moment by rescuing him from the Sludge Villain and ditches the pro heroes giving him job offers to go hunt Izuku down in order to make sure he isn't "getting it in his head that he mattered somehow." This is the first instance in what becomes a pattern of Katsuki thoughtlessly ruining his own opportunities in favor of trying to torment Izuku.
• Everybody Already Knew: Bakugou tries to use Izuku's notebook filled with hero research to slander him as an obsessive freak who could potentially be a villain/serial killer. Toshinori points out that the information in his notebook is already common knowledge and it's quite normal for people to study and analyze Pro Heroes.
• Even Evil Has Standards: While the Aldera student body enjoys picking on Izuku alongside Bakugou, not even they are comfortable with Bakugou openly demanding that the quirkless boy kill himself.
• Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Bakugou's paranoia and entitlement make it impossible for him to comprehend that Izuku genuinely wants him to succeed, and he views Izuku's efforts as attempts to gaslight or sabotage him.
• Fantastic Ableism: Izuku's lack of Quirk is referred to explicitly as a disability and, just like in canon, Quirkless people are the main targets of discrimination.
  • Bakugou openly hates Quirkless people and has tormented Deku for it for a decade. The students at Aldera join in on the bullying, the teachers do nothing about it, and the school counselor treats Izuku with haughty disregard.
  • After Bakugou screams his head off about Izuku being Quirkless in their neighborhood, the Midoriyas' initially neutral neighbors start to bother them about it which leads to them having to move out.
  • It's briefly mentioned that movies and TV frequently depict Quirkless characters as either the bad guys (and stereotypically, serial killers) or as helpless victims who need everyone else to save them.
  • Kids in school bring up distant ancestors who were killed for their Quirks in earlier times as justification for harming people born Quirkless today, calling it "karma".
  • It's briefly mentioned that there are very few high schools that accept Quirkless applicants, with UA being one of the exceptions.
  • When All Might speak out about the discrimination and the school has an assembly about how it's wrong, the students almost immediately talk themselves out of thinking their behavior is a problem regardless of what All Might says.
  • After the assembly, Izuku's and Bakugou's teacher makes Izuku speak on his reaction since he's the only Quirkless child in school, only to tell Izuku his opinion is "really uncalled for" when Izuku expresses dissatisfaction with their clearly insincere and token efforts, even implying Izuku should be grateful because the assembly should have taught him that "things could be a lot worse for you than not getting along with your classmates." Immediately afterward, the school winds up making headlines for a brutal attack on the school's only Quirkless student.
• Evil Counterpart: As Katsuki further and further and eventually loses his sanity while embracing his delusions of grandeur, he becomes a prime example of this to Izuku, especially by the end.
• Failure Is the Only Option: Nothing ever goes right for Katsuki in his attempts to sabotage Izuku and prevent him from becoming a hero. Even if he did successfully murder Izuku and manage to Make It Look Like an Accident, he'd still have All Might's wrath coming down on him given his already well-known "deeds" against Izuku regardless of the lack of evidence, and it won't be hard for the #1 Pro Hero to put two and two together especially considering the amount of pull All Might has in the hero industry. There's also the fact that if he had succeeded in murdering Izuku, he would possibly have ended up destroying One for All altogether and would have left the world vulnerable to the clutches of All for One. Not to mention All For One would likely hunt him down and kill him personally for causing One For All to be lost to him forever. That's also not getting into Katsuki's obvious insanity by that point, his general lack of understanding of how the real world works, his out-of-control paranoia and conspiracy theories, and if he's willing to resort to assault, sexual harassment, slander, and murder to get what he wants then it won't be long before he'll target someone else if he so much as feels they'll be getting in his way, which would eventually be his undoing sooner than later, especially when no one in U.A. High will be willing to cover for him. The only option that wouldn't fail is to let go and walk away, something Katsuki isn't capable of doing.
• Fatal Flaw: Katsuki refuses to self-reflect or reconsider the morality of his actions. This leads to him losing touch with reality when he realizes his value system conflicts with the people and institutions he admires most since he can't fathom that he isn't right, and therefore everyone else must be wrong.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Bakugou seems to genuinely believe Izuku's very existence in his life makes Bakugou's life "hell". This eventually dovetails into a persecutory delusion that Izuku is a master villain manipulating everything and everyone to ruin Katsuki's life. And by the end of the fic, the only thing he'll ever accept about Izuku is seeing him exposed as a "villain" and buried in a shallow grave.
• The Fettered:
  • Arguably, Katsuki is a dark and twisted example of this despite his escalating villainous behavior being more fitting for The Unfettered, as he lacks self-awareness, is narcissistically dependent on the praise given to him by others, firmly assured of his self-righteousness, and the cowardice he displays, whenever he feels like trouble, is about to come to him. Due to a combination of his upbringing in a twisted hero culture cultivated in his Elementary and Middle School, the number of privileges he gains for his talents and Quirk, and the ongoing systematic discrimination of Quirkless people in Hero Society, Katsuki believes that a great hero is simply someone being the strongest guy around who can beat up pretty much anyone they don't like and villains are nothing more than weak losers who can only win by "cheating", and that Quirkless people can't be heroes as it's "against the natural order". As a result, this rigid belief of what makes a hero cultivates an extreme combination of Moral Myopia and Insane Troll Logic that causes Katsuki to use any method (no matter how heinous, cowardly, degrading, contradictory, and villainous it is) to sabotage Izuku, who he somehow sees as both an inherent, incompetent subhuman and an evil, competent manipulator, and keep the latter from becoming a hero. In that same order, he's also thoroughly convinced that he's being heroic and, again, double-thinking of Izuku deserving it for the villain he is and for his own good, and the extreme cognitive dissonance he suffers when All Might (and later his parents upon finding out) constantly tells him that what he's doing isn't being heroic at all and the consequences of his escalating misdeeds eventually falling onto him. Unsurprisingly, in the end, Katsuki's so-called "principles" are ultimately rewarded with a shattered life and reputation, hero opportunities permanently revoked, and Hated by All except for his parents, and even then, his relationship with them has been strained severely. The worst parts? He never learned a single thing and remains unrepentant of his actions since he's "the best and therefore, in the right" and has now become a complete inversion of this trope with him willingly publishing whatever he knows of All Might's secrets online out of spite despite knowing that would be put everyone at risk...along with a new window of opportunity for revenge coming from an anonymous person known as "handsofthemaster".
  • Izuku, on the other hand, plays this heroically straight to a point that would make the late Martin Luther King Jr. proud and simultaneously The Unfettered due to the Quirkless being viewed in Hero Society as a subject of uselessness and hate. No matter how much he suffers and how justifiably angry he feels for Katsuki's escalating bullying and humiliation tactics and the discrimination he suffers in Aldera at large, he continues to constantly let go of his anger and forgives his former friend as there're more important things to worry about in the life of a hero, all while wishing for him to find his own happiness and success as a Pro Hero. In the end, he not only proves himself better than Katsuki, but karmically, became the only student of Aldera (even though he transferred out a few months before) to get into U.A. High.
• First-Name Basis: Toshinori starts to do this with the Midoriyas after spending more time with them.
• Foil:
  • Katsuki and Izuku, even more than in canon.
    • Izuku is not particularly interested in fighting but wants to help others no matter who they are. Katsuki is only interested in heroics to prove he's the best via fighting and has zero interest in helping anyone except himself.
    • Izuku manages to come out of their horrible dynamic mostly stable and willingly seeks mental health help; Katsuki Jumped Off The Slippery Slope and is eventually forced to go to therapy, which he resents.
    • The world was actually against Izuku for him being Quirkless but he gets a lucky break meeting All Might; Katsuki's delusions mean he thinks the world's out to get him, despite being shielded by his privilege for most of his life. His shield of privilege slowly begins to collapse after Izuku meets All Might due entirely to his own escalating behavior.
    • As in canon, Izuku didn't get a single villain point but got into UA on rescue points after saving someone's life and destroying the Zero Pointer; Katsuki plowed through the villain bots with ease but couldn't destroy the Zero Pointer, and ended up having his application thrown out after his murder attempt.
    • Both boys' exam is affected by a Secret Test of Character revolving around the information they didn't know. Izuku impresses the UA staff by choosing to confront the Zero Pointer to save Uraraka, despite being under the impression that he himself has nothing to gain from the fight. On the other hand, Bakugou goes after the massive and powerful Zero Pointer out of hubris, unaware such an endeavor is literally pointless since he ignored the exam instructions, too busy obsessing over Izuku to focus. Of course, given Bakugou's actions immediately after, whatever results Bakugou would have gotten are a moot point.
  • Toshinori also serves as a foil to Izuku. Throughout the story, he legitimately tries to give Katsuki the benefit of the doubt, since Izuku keeps insisting on his former friend's potential to become a true hero. However, he also gains a much clearer understanding of Katsuki's character, causing his opinion of him to degrade even while Izuku continues to insist he's redeemable.
  • By the end of the fic, Katsuki ends up as one for Shigaraki Tomura, if he decides to join up with him. Both are childish villains who are out to target Pro Heroes who are believed to make their lives miserable and are in a More than Mind Control situation by a Greater-Scope Villain. However, that's where the similarities end.
    • For all of Shigaraki's faults, he does have some legitimate grievances against Hero Society, a Dark and Troubled Past involving an Abusive Dad, and his life being irrevocably destroyed as a result of things out of his control. Bakugou's grievance against Hero Society, on the other hand, is nothing more than a delusional and spoiled temper tantrum over not getting what he wants and he completely destroyed his own good reputation and privileged upbringing through his own bad choices.
    • While Shigaraki has already gotten blood on his hands, his first victims were entirely accidental due to his Decay Quirk activating at the worst time possible, with his Abusive Dad being the only one he had intentionally murdered. Katsuki fully intended to murder an innocent person who had done no wrong to him, all while delusionally justifying it in his head as a heroic act, and this is after spending months viciously harassing him to the point of being mentally scarred.
    • Shigaraki's Start of Darkness happened from being a victim of abuse while Katsuki's Start of Darkness happened because he was the abuser. Doubly so as the canon manga eventually revealed that Shigaraki's abuse at the hands of his father was the result of All for One's machinations while Katsuki's escalating abuse of Izuku is the byproduct of the twisted Quirkist culture they grew up in and the result of a chance peek at Izuku's fateful meeting with All Might.
    • At the very least, Shigaraki does not attempt to claim his heinous actions are heroic in the slightest. While Katsuki Would Rather Suffer than ever admit he's in the wrong and would perform all sorts of mental gymnastics to justify his heinous actions no matter how convoluted or contradictory it is.
• Formula-Breaking Episode: Most of the story follows Bakugou as he stalks and terrorizes Izuku for ten months. The penultimate scene switches to Izuku and his mother reviewing his entrance letter with All Might along with discussing his potential future as a family.
• Foreshadowing:
  • All Might tells Bakugou that for all the good he does, there's always that one villain who manages to get away and create harm for others. He earnestly asks the boy if he will be the one that got away. After everything that happened mixed with a chance encounter with Shigaraki, Bakugou is setting himself up to be the one.
  • After the Quirkless Discrimination Awareness assembly, Izuku calls attention to the fact that not even the much-admired All Might could get his classmates or teachers to self-reflect enough to change their behavior towards him, because they've all already decided they hate him. Later, All Might has an individual one-on-one chat with Katsuki pulling apart all of Katsuki's contradictory justifications for abusing Izuku, and Katsuki spends all night thinking about All Might's words. But like before, it ultimately fails.
• Flanderization: Played for Horror. Pride, Wrath, Envy, inability to listen to legitimate reasons, and his explicitly low view of Midoriya are well-known traits and flaws for Bakugou in the canon manga. But as a result of seeing the fateful event between Izuku and All Might, especially before his Character Development, and with a sprinkle of being paranoid and having unhinged and vocal Darwinist and ableist views, Cain!Bakugou takes those traits to obsessive, delusional, and murderous levels, with the possibility of culminating in a Face–Heel Turn (though he arguably already went through with it at the start) at the end.
• Get Out!: All Might tells Bakugou to get out while driving to the hospital after realizing that the blonde told Deku to kill himself.
• Good Powers, Bad People: Deconstructed with Bakugou. Having grown up with teachers and peers who praise him for his powerful Quirk and how he'll become a great hero with it, Bakugou has developed a corrupted mindset on how he's destined for greatness and anyone who defies that ideology is a threat to him. This in turn would lead to his negative personality traits becoming far worse as his actions (Quirk-based or not) against Izuku take him farther away from being the idealized hero.
• Green-Eyed Monster: After Katsuki's Villainous Breakdown, All Might's conversation with Katsuki plainly spells out what was already abundantly clear: Katsuki's accusations of "harassment" by Izuku equate to Katsuki simply hating things going well for Izuku, and Katsuki's just deeply, viciously jealous of All Might choosing Izuku to be his successor.
• Group Hug: Izuku forms one with his mother and mentor after they learn that Izuku scored enough points to pass the Entrance Exam.
• Hard Truth Aesop: As Toshinori explains to Izuku, there are just some people in the world who will never respect you no matter what you do, and the only thing they can accept is for you to stop existing. This is made evident after the Quirkless awareness assembly when Katsuki berates Izuku harder and harder (while Izuku says nothing) to the point where the volatile blonde suicide-baits Izuku in front of everyone, and then blames Izuku for him getting in the mildest of trouble.
• His Own Worst Enemy: Deconstructed to be a plot point of Katsuki in the fic. The biggest obstacle to his ambitions and happiness is his own malicious obsession with Izuku, driving him to completely ruin his own life in an attempt to murder him.
• Homeschooled Kids: Inko helps her son get out of Aldera and has him continue his middle school education through online learning.
• Hope Bringer: Toshinori considers Izuku to be this. Initially, he was at a low point in his life and was genuinely discouraged by modern hero society. But seeing Izuku risk his life and take action despite having crushed his dreams of being a Quirkless hero refueled Toshi's hope for the future and led to him choosing the boy as his successor.
• Hypocrite: Bakugou's self-serving narrative causes him to condemn Izuku for multiple perceived flaws that Bakugou himself routinely displays:
  • Bakugou tries to convince All Might that Izuku blabbed All Might's secrets to everyone at school for attention in an attempt to make All Might distrust Izuku. When Bakugou realizes All Might doesn't believe him, he immediately threatens to expose All Might's secrets if All Might doesn't train him too.
  • Bakugou constantly tells himself and All Might that Izuku is a stalker who's out to make his life miserable. He says this despite being a decade-old bully who consistently stalked his victim after his first meeting with All Might.
  • Bakugou believes that "real heroes never lose" with a distaste for anything that would imply that he's weak. Yet, he's Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence concerning Izuku's presence, who by his own admission is a weak nobody, and defaults to Playing the Victim Card and lying whenever things don't either go his way or to escape consequences.
  • As Bakugou escalates his bullying of Izuku to straight-up terrorism, he remarks in his narrative how Izuku is an Attention Whore and plans to give him all the attention "he" wants by spending nearly every moment in school together repeatedly assaulting him as a Be Careful What You Wish For. This is coming from a narcissist who wants everyone around him to kiss his disgusting ass and shower him with praise 24/7 and would get angry if they don't, and when Katsuki ends up in a bad public situation when the consequences catch up to him, he tries, and fails, to avoid it.
  • When spying on the Midoriyas and All Might, Bakugou thinks "The stupid nerd’s stupid mother just had to meet with All Might and demand proof. As if he didn’t ooze with heroic presence." Bakugou, in fact, refused to believe Izuku was being trained by All Might for months until he himself witnessed proof, and even derided Izuku's intelligence for being "gullible" enough to believe the "fake." Mrs. Midoriya and Bakugou even voice the same alternative possibilities—that the person claiming to be All Might be using a shapeshifter or illusion quirk. And yet apparently, these shared doubts make Mrs. Midoriya (but not Bakugou) "stupid."
  • Bakugou thinks both that Izuku is weak for being Prone to Tears and also that Izuku is faking tears to manipulate people. As All Might makes it clear that he has seen through him, Bakugou begins crying in a possible attempt to manipulate All Might.
  • During the U.A. Entrance Exam, he mentions in his narration that a freak like Izuku, who is ruled by his emotions, could never make it as a hero. Yeah, so says the guy who's known for his arrogance and Hair-Trigger Temper, who by this point of the story, already worsens his antagonism towards Izuku to the point of forcing the latter to drop out of Aldera Middle School and later sabotages his own performance in the Practical Portion thanks to being ruled by the very same emotions himself.
  • Bakugou loves to deride Izuku as a Dirty Coward for (rightly and justifiably) avoiding him in confrontations, yet, whenever he ends up in a situation that would spell trouble for him, he shows fear of the consequences and often resorts to "dirty tactics" to weasel his way out.
  • In general, everything bad that he accuses Izuku of pretty much describes his own character down to the letter.
• I Did What I Had to Do: Katsuki's go-to excuse and rationalization for any "justifiable" heinous action he takes against Izuku is always some accusation that the latter is Quirkless, a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing, a gaslighter, a Manipulative Bastard, and/or that he's being Cruel to Be Kind. Unsurprisingly, nobody, In-Universe and out, agrees with him or believes him, even the ones on his side. If Katsuki had the tiniest speck of decency, he would've left Izuku alone and continued to prove his own mettle and strength as he's, according to All Might, "already got so much going for him while the latter has so little". Deconstructed as the worst part is that, much like Shou Tucker, this isn’t even true on Katsuki's own terms. In his Establishing Character Moment, Katsuki intended to find Izuku and give the latter a What the Hell, Hero? for "ruining his heroic attempt" and to tell him straight that nothing he would do ever mattered and to make sure he isn't getting a big head...even though Katsuki could've lapped up the praise from the Pro Heroes after surviving the Sludge Villain (along with getting job offers) and easily ignored Izuku since he's not getting any praise at all and was being scolded. Apparently, Katsuki's obsessive need to be personally assured of Izuku's eternal misery has to take precedence over anything else or else he can't and won't be happy himself.
• Implied Death Threat: When Katsuki learns that some of his other classmates are considering applying to U.A., he issues one:
  Katsuki: [coldly] If I see you at the exam, you won't go home in one piece.
• I Reject Your Reality: Bakugou has several contradictory narratives running around his head that develops into persecutory delusions about him being Izuku's victim. When All Might sits down to talk with Katsuki and deconstructs Katsuki's assertions about Izuku to show Katsuki how none of them make sense, Katsuki spends the night thinking All Might's words over before concluding that Izuku has just manipulated All Might to the point where All Might is the one who can't see reality.
• Ironic Echo: Just before he tries to smother Izuku with a pillow, Bakugou proudly thinks to himself that "this is the story of how he became the world's greatest hero".
• Irony:
  • The hot-headed blonde denies that he can be considered a villain despite doing genuinely harmful actions throughout the story. Such as constantly threatening Toshinori with blackmail, painting him as a pedophile to get him into trouble with Inko, using his quirk on Inko's door to force her to open up, and even trying to outright kill Izuku who was recuperating at the UA infirmary.
  • During the Entrance Exam orientation, he states that a freak like Izuku who was ruled by his emotions couldn’t hack it with real heroes. This ignores how Bakugou has let his anger, pride, and paranoia drive him to commit sinister actions against Izuku that many would not consider heroic. Never mind the fact that he ends up doing a less-than-stellar performance in the exam because he lets himself get ruled by those same emotions.
  • Their shared middle school is implied to have considered Izuku's well-being an acceptable sacrifice to keep Bakugou's record clean so he would go on to have a career in the very prestigious field of heroics. Not only does Bakugou's unchecked sadism towards Izuku get him disqualified from that career field, but Izuku goes on to attain the heroics career path they had envisioned for Bakugou.
• It's All About Me: This fic highlights what would happen if Bakugou's self-absorbed personality was left unchecked. Along with believing himself to be the next Number One Hero and how the world should worship him, he also believes that Deku is secretly a manipulative villain who's doing everything in his power to undermine him. By the end of the fic, it borders on solipsism territory as he's shut out of reality altogether and contemplating [handsofthemaster]'s offer for revenge.
• Jerkass Has a Point: While his manner of presenting his argument was uncalled for, on the surface Bakugou does make a point that Deku writing facts about his personality and quirk does make him personally uncomfortable. Toshinori becomes aware of this and asks his ward not to do so anymore. Played With in that Bakugou is an Unreliable Narrator and it's implied that Izuku's notes about Bakugou and the rest of their class are from trying to figure out how to best cope with the bullying, which Bakugou for some reason thinks is an attempt to gaslight people. One page is even outright titled "things that provoke [Katsuki] and how to avoid them". The upset Izuku's notes cause Katsuki would be a much more valid complaint if they weren't clearly in part a defense mechanism against Katsuki's abuse, the point of which Katsuki completely misses.
  Bakugou: Most of my part ain't even about my Quirk! It's about me and how he's tried to gaslight me into ignoring his creep behavior!
• Just Between You and Me: After revealing that he witnessed his conversation with All Might, Katsuki repeatedly corners Izuku to gloat about how he's going to win their idol's regard and become his successor instead while ensuring Izuku never has a chance to achieve his own dreams.
• Karma Houdini Warranty:
  • Bakugou is repeatedly shielded from the consequences of his actions, getting away with bullying, suicide baiting, and eventually even a highly publicized violent ableist hate crime. However, it all finally comes crashing down when he is caught red-handed trying to murder Izuku after the UA entrance exams. His application is immediately torn up, and he is forced to go to court-mandated therapy sessions in lieu of a prison sentence.
  • If Bakugou decides to join up with [handsofthemaster] in the ending, then the staff and student body of Aldera Middle School will also get their punishment for the Vicious Cycle they've created and enabled that led to Bakugou's Face–Heel Turn to begin with, along with their many other crimes that were swept under the rug.
• Lack of Empathy: No matter how much suffering he causes, the only person Bakugou is capable of feeling sorry for is himself, and he's utterly clueless as to why hurting others is a bad thing. He doesn't even have enough awareness to understand that others are suffering, even when told directly. He shows no concern whatsoever for the position he puts his parents in, nor for the clear and obvious terror he inspired in Inko when he tried to forcibly enter her apartment. He also takes the obvious signs that he's made Izuku's life miserable as Izuku trying to manipulate others by pity-baiting. After years of leading their classmates in bullying Izuku, and now stalking him, stealing and damaging his property, trying to slander his reputation with any authority that will listen, taking pictures of him while undressing, repeatedly assaulting him, seriously injuring him, and even laying siege to the Midoriyas' front door, Bakugou has this exchange with All Might:
  All Might: Young Bakugou, Izuku has been struggling all his life...
  Bakugou: [sobbing] Fucking how!?
• Laser-Guided Karma:
  • Bakugou decides to sneak over to Izuku's side of the beach, destabilize one of the trash mounds on top of Izuku, and frame it as an accident. Bakugou gets trapped and injured during the attempt and has to be taken to the hospital.
  • His escalation of bullying Izuku through school by throwing potshots and later taking pictures of him shirtless with bruises in order to frame All Might as a pedophile and simultaneously Izuku as a prostitute ends up landing him in hot water with Inko and his parents. Following up with that, his assault on Izuku by giving him third-degree burns and then trying to break into his home by using his Quirk all while demanding private info causes All Might to fully put him in his place, tell him off and that if he tries this again, he will come at him as a Pro Hero.
  • After attempting to kill Izuku in the UA infirmary, Bakugou is banned from enrolling into the prestigious Hero School. And he'll have a harder time applying to any other hero school as his criminal record will be transferred and acknowledged by the faculty. He also loses his star student image at Aldera due to him not getting into UA and is now treated like a common student by his peers and teachers "at best".
• Liar Revealed: Over and over again, Katsuki makes up stories to try to ruin Izuku's reputation, only for them to crumble when met with reality and slowly ruin his own. Ironically, the only person who seems to begin to believe them is Katsuki himself.
• A Lighter Shade of Black: Ironically, one could make an argument that Shigaraki himself counts as this for Bakugou at the end of the fic (if you believe that Bakugou decides to become a villain and the obvious conflict he'll have with Shigaraki in their Enemy Mine). While Shigaraki isn't all up there in the head himself and has already racked up a body count (his family, sans his abusive father, being accidental), he has some legitimate reasons for hating the Hero Society, coupled with a Dark and Troubled Past, is mostly being manipulated by a dangerous villain, and at the very least, doesn't delude himself into thinking his actions are heroic in any way. Bakugou, on the other hand, would sooner suffer and die than admit to any action he does being "villainous", is genuinely out of touch with reality altogether, and destroyed his own reputation in an utterly petty way; a single person he hated, among other things, getting better treatment for the first time, eventually led to him attempting to murder said person because of reasons that boil down to him having something he wants and feels entitled to, and himself getting denied for the first time.
• Loose Lips: The Aldera school counselor casually gossips about her sessions with Izuku to Katsuki, never mind that they are supposed to be confidential and Katsuki is known to be violent towards Izuku.
• Loving a Shadow: What Katsuki truly admires about All Might and heroes in general, is their strength and power to always win. Not because of kindness, moral decency, caring for the well-being of others, etc. as those are only secondary for good publicity. In fact, Katsuki's initial, and later desperate, confidence in making Toshinori "see reason" for Izuku being both a poor choice of successor and secretly a Wolf in Sheep's Clothing falls flat due to his belief in All Might operating with the same mentality and preconceptions that he himself possesses, never mind him threatening to Blackmail Toshinori with the release of his Dark Secret, later framing him as a pedophile, and his own constant Obliviously Evil Immediate Self-Contradiction behavior. Inversely, All Might's lessons to Katsuki about heroism and to better himself and the numerous chances he gives also fail miserably.

M-Z

• Manipulative Bastard: Katsuki accuses Izuku of being this, but in reality the trope fits Katsuki himself. He pretends to be concerned or worried or innocently looking out for others' best interests while spinning his various narratives to get Izuku in trouble. Unfortunately for him and fortunately for Izuku, he isn't in touch with reality enough to make his stories believable in the long term as long as someone bothers to give the story a good look. It's implied even Aldera doesn't actually believe Katsuki, they just happily accept his excuses because they want reasons to avoid tarnishing his record.
• Mistaken for Gay: After the exam, Katsuki hears gossip that sounds like it's about Izuku. He practically springs on the gossipers so intensely with an interrogation that someone comments that he can "find his own boyfriend." Katsuki's He Is Not My Boyfriend reaction just gets him laughed at.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: Invoked. Bakugou tries to force Izuku to give up his training with Toshinori by showing his mother photos of Izuku half naked and riddled with "hickies" (he forced him to take off his shirt and had the rest of Aldera pinch and hurt him) while framing Toshinori as a manipulative pervert.
• Morality Pet: After Bakugou tries to break into the Midoriyas' house, Toshinori admits that the main reason he let Bakugou train with them was in the hopes that he could guide Bakugou out of his spiral of self-destruction. Obviously, it didn't work.
• Moral Myopia: Bakugou.
  • Bakugou accuses Izuku of doing a whole list of nefarious things, which is why Izuku must be stopped. Bakugou has actually done most of the things on that list, and he proudly proclaims himself a hero.
  • On a foundational level, Bakugou doesn't understand the concept of ethics at all, nor how it has anything to do with heroism. In his mind, heroes are winners, and villains are losers. Saving people has little to do with it, except maybe as a way to flex your status. Izuku is a loser, which enables Bakugou to begin telling himself that Izuku is a villain when convenient. Bakugou is powerful and he'd never lose, so he must be the hero. The one exception is when Bakugou actually does "lose"—as in, failing to get everything he wants exactly as he wants it—then the person who "beat" him (by getting something Katsuki can't have) must be a cheater and a manipulator and (of course) a villain.
  • At the end of the story, Katsuki is telling himself that UA made false accusations about him and that All Might was defending a villain (Izuku, in his head) from an innocent person sticking up for himself (himself, in his head). Who knows what he said to the authorities after his murder attempt.
• Mundanger: The dangerous thing about Katsuki that carries the tension through to the end of the story isn't his Explosion Quirk (though it doesn't make him less intimidating), it's his disturbing, stalkerish, and abusive mindset and behavior. It really says a lot that in a world where Everyone Is a Super, at the end of the day, it's still riddled with the horrors of Real Life people.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Bakugou thinks to himself how a lot of Pro Heroes use their status to get away with heinous actions. This is an indirect reference to Endeavor's Family Drama.
  • The scene where All Might pleads with Inko to allow him to train Izuku plays out exactly like in Chapter 97. It even features Inko asking All Might to live for the sake of her son.
  • Just like in the Quirk Apprehension Test, Aizawa uses his capture cloth and Quirk on Bakugou to keep him from hurting Izuku.
• Narcissist: Bakugou displays signs of narcissistic personality disorder co-morbid with his paranoia. He has an extremely over-inflated belief in his own superiority, is completely self-absorbed and has no empathy for anyone else (to the point that he takes personal offense to the idea that his peers might try to pursue the same dream as him and grows steadily more and more unhinged due to Izuku getting mentorship from All Might, a boon he feels entitled to), has a total meltdown and refuses to accept any fault in himself in the rare moments when someone stands up to him and criticizes him, and has an obsession with becoming a powerful and well-respected hero who can beat up pretty much anyone he doesn't like.
• Never My Fault: Bakugou blames everything that happens to him on Izuku, to the point of going full-on Insane Troll Logic to justify this belief. It gets to the point that he even believes that Izuku planned for Bakugou to get caught trying to smother him in his sleep with a pillow in the UA infirmary.
• Nice Job Fixing It, Villain: Bakugou uses manipulated photos of Izuku to trick Inko into thinking that her son is involved with a pedophile. To his displeasure, this only leads to Inko formally meeting with All Might whom she grants her blessing to continue training her son. Additionally, the revelation that he concocted a Frame-Up to hurt Izuku leads to both Inko and his parents discovering his bullying, and he only digs himself deeper with All Might.
• No Listening Skills: Deconstructed. Because of his overweening pride, prestige, and prejudice, Bakugou will tune anything that runs contradictory to his eventually tortured logic and only hears what will agree with his pre-existing views. The end result? He tries and fails to kill an unconscious Izuku under the delusions of the latter being a "villain", ruining his own good reputation, and is barred from ever attending UA High and/or probably other Hero Schools.
• No Social Skills: Justified, deconstructed, and Played for Drama and Horror. As a result of experiencing nothing but privilege and praise from others all his life, Bakugou is absolutely obtuse in any social interaction that won't involve insulting and slandering others, anything going against what he desires or believes in, and is just plain careless with his words. Case in point, he escalates his bullying of Izuku out of a combination of envy and prejudice, and at the same time, a Double Think of him being both an "incompetent nobody" who needs to be stopped for his own good and a "master manipulator" who needs to be stopped for stalking others. All while refusing to believe that he's at fault or seeing his own actions as "villainous". Furthermore, because of his lack of understanding of the world beyond the comforts of Aldera Middle School, who are also enabling his vile behavior and shielding him from consequences, Katsuki's attempts to slander Izuku over the course of the fic end up failing in the long term thanks to more reasonable adults, especially those who actually give a damn about Izuku's wellbeing, before finally hurting his own reputation after a public assault on Izuku, then destroying it later in a failed murder attempt.
• No Sympathy: Neither Inko nor Toshinori feel sorry for Bakugou after learning that he was immediately rejected by UA and will have a harder time getting into any hero school after what he tried to do to Izuku. Inko even wishes that he was put in jail and Toshi doesn't disagree with her.
• Not-So-Well-Intentioned Extremist: When Bakugou eventually gets to the point of deciding to kill Izuku, he completely sees this as committing a "heroic" act, even when it's clear that he's motivated by reasons that are far from selfless due to his self-centered and deluded mindset. Especially when his Angrish rant during his second Villainous Breakdown as he's being dragged away includes, "[He'll] never be as great as [him]!", is of any indication. Then he gets a little visit from "handsofthemaster" online...
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
  • After only seeing All Might's shimmering smile from merchandise and public appearances, Bakugou feels utter shock when the hero gives a disapproving glare at him after he mentions the "swan dive" incident.
  • The day after Katsuki's violating pictures and Mistaken for Pedophile Frame-Up, Izuku comes into school and makes no noise the entire school day. When Katsuki encourages the class to make prostitute jokes about Izuku, Izuku finally looks up... and glares at them so fiercely and coldly that the class goes silent. In the narration, Bakugou mocks the "extras" for being affected by Izuku's new facial expression but notably appears to take a while to react himself.
  • The Bakugous show opposite personality traits when they realize that their son is a bully. Masaru goes from gentle-hearted to tougher on his boy and Mitsuki, while still hot-blooded, shows genuine sorrow after Inko cuts off her friendship with her in order to protect her son.
  • Despite never using her telekinetic Quirk as an act of solidarity for her son, Inko is forced to use her Quirk on Bakugou to keep him from rampaging into her house.
• Oblivious to His Own Description: Bakugou continuously insists that Izuku is a jealous monster in-the-making and is committing a whole series of bad things, most of which are demonstrated by Bakugou at the very moment he's accusing Izuku of them.
  Bakugou: He can't stand other people having something he doesn't, and he won’t stop until he makes it everyone's problem!
• Offended by an Inferior's Success: Katsuki sees Izuku as 'naturally inferior' to him due to his Quirklessness, and is utterly aghast at the notion that he might find success and happiness despite this, convinced that he doesn't deserve to be happy.
• Offering a Hand: In Katsuki's narration, "Deku" mocks him by asking "Are you okay?" after Katsuki tried to punch him and broke his own fingers. Katsuki then for some reason is able to grab Izuku's hand, despite Izuku having just dodged away from Katsuki, and uses his quirk to boil the sprinkler water on Izuku's skin. Katsuki never says it, but it's clear Izuku had reached out a hand to try to help Katsuki, only for Katsuki to use this opening to hurt him.
• Offscreen Karma: Downplayed. Bakugou doesn't focus on it much, and none of the school faculty show any effects of it while he interacts with them, but it's implied Aldera got its name dragged through the mud after making headlines for a brutal attack on their only Quirkless student immediately after an anti-discrimination assembly.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: One of Bakugou's goals in getting All Might to train him is so he can be strong enough to defeat the golden hero and take his title as the next Number One Hero.
• Only Sane Man:
  • Inverted. Katsuki becomes increasingly unhinged by jealousy after discovering his bully victim was named the successor of his idol. Everyone else gradually takes note as his behavior becomes increasingly abnormal.
  • As everyone else avoids confronting Katsuki, All Might serves as this for most of the narrative, pointing out the flaws in Katsuki's increasingly unhinged accusations against Izuku in the hopes of trying to get the violent blonde to see reason. Not that it does any good.
• The Paranoiac:
  • As Katsuki continuously rationalizes his behavior, he appears to sincerely convince himself Izuku is his stalker who is not only plotting against him but "probably watching [Katsuki] from somewhere. Laughing at [Katsuki]" for falling for his plots. Katsuki also fulfills all of the criteria as well as the additional symptoms listed on the trope page, from the Hair-Trigger Temper and self-importance to a desire for revenge and persistent lack of personal accountability—and, of course, his deeply paranoid Conspiracy Theorist beliefs about Izuku.
  • A very telling moment occurs towards the end when Katsuki doesn't pay attention to the exam instructions due to being focused on Izuku's "plot". He goes into the practical portion without them, figures out it's some kind of point system, and starts obliterating robots as brutally as possible. When the "plain guy" (Kirishima) has to shield himself from the backlash of Katsuki's destruction and tells Katsuki that he only needs to immobilize them, Katsuki immediately assumes the other boy is lying and plotting against him, despite that "plot" making no sense, as Kirishima would have no way of knowing that Bakugou didn't listen to the rules they were all told. This shows that while Izuku is something of a nexus for his paranoia, Bakugou has become suspicious towards anyone who disagrees with him about what he assumes to be true.
• Parental Obliviousness:
  • Subverted with Inko. Initially, she is unaware of the bullying and thinks of Katsuki as a good friend. But thanks to his trying to get Toshinori into trouble, she discovers All Might's secrets along with him choosing Izuku as his successor. Additionally, she realizes that Bakugou is an actual bully towards her son and becomes more active in preventing the bullying.
  • Played straight with Mitsuki, who knew her son was hotheaded but didn't know how abusive he was until Inko called to make it clear she was cutting off all contact with the Bakugous.
• Playing the Victim Card: According to Katsuki's mental narrative, this is one of Izuku's favorite tactics. In reality, it's one of Katsuki's favorite tricks: 'justifying' everything he does by claiming Deku is a manipulative stalker who's out to ruin his life.
• Point of Divergence: The premise of the story features Bakugou coming across Toshinori offering his Quirk to Izuku so he can be a hero, which leads to Bakugou doing whatever it takes to stop him.
• Protagonist Journey to Villain: Katsuki was never heroic, given his status as a bigoted Big Jerk on Campus who uses a disabled former friend as his literal punching bag, but his jealousy of Izuku after discovering his apprenticeship with All Might and refusal to accept the reality of this magnifies Katsuki's nastier qualities and drives him to escalate. What were discrimination, bullying, and suicide baiting—more than awful enough, but seemingly accepted as common in their environment—spirals into stalking, psychological abuse, terror tactics, repeated assault and battery, violating photography without consent, attempts to frame Izuku as sexually active with an older man and Toshinori as a pedophile simultaneously, attempts to break into the Midoriya apartment and threaten information out of Izuku and his mother, and attempts to murder Izuku while he's unconscious after the UA entrance exam. By the end, Katsuki's become disillusioned with All Might, UA, and heroes in general as they didn't support his "heroic" behavior, and is being reached out to by someone implied to be Shigaraki offering Katsuki the opportunity for revenge against All Might and his successor.
• Protect This House: When Inko refuses to tell Bakugou where Izuku is now going to school, Katsuki begins a violent siege against the Midoriyas' front door, screaming unhinged accusations and self-justifications while trying to force his way into the home. Inko is forced to use her Quirk and brace the entrance herself to keep Katsuki from getting inside and presumably going after Izuku.
• Psychological Projection: Bakugou routinely views Izuku as having motivations and committing actions that are more accurately described as his own.
  • Bakugou accuses Izuku of stalking him, constantly trying to one-up him, and always trying to manipulate everyone into disliking Katsuki and making him look bad. Meanwhile, Bakugou regularly follows Izuku around after school in secret, spies on Izuku's training sessions for months, takes pictures of Izuku undressing, eventually violates a no-contact agreement to try and break down the Midoriya's front door while demanding the Midoriyas to tell him what school Izuku attends after Izuku transfers to get away from him, inserts himself into Izuku's life at every opportunity to try to prove himself superior, and goes to every authority he can to try to frame Izuku as, at varying points, a villain, a manipulator, a gaslighter, a serial killer, and a prostitute who sleeps with older men. This includes Izuku's own mother.
  • Upon finding out Izuku has transferred out of Aldera after Bakugou's attack after the Quirkless Discrimination Awareness assembly, Bakugou has this glorious line: "Deku would go fucking ballistic isolated from him. Stalkers always go nuts the further from their target they get." Cue Katsuki going further off the rails, trying to hunt down Izuku through mentions of Quirkless people in the news, and convincing himself that Izuku was planning to stalk and hurt someone else, and Bakugou needed to act to "prevent more victims."
  • After Izuku leaves the school and All Might warns Katsuki that he'll arrest Katsuki as a villain the next time he uses his Quirk to intimidate or assault someone, Katsuki decides that Izuku's plan was to "scare him Quirkless" and thus "win" while not being present, concluding that "[Izuku] didn't care about winning, he just wanted to make Katsuki lose." Switch the individuals discussed and this is exactly what All Might concluded about Katsuki's behavior towards Izuku the previous night.
  • Katsuki decides that Izuku won't stop until he has every aspect of Katsuki's life under his control. Katsuki made sure Izuku had no friends, tried to limit his hobbies and opportunities for the future, destroyed his personal belongings, and even tried to exert control over his target while Izuku was at home with an attempted break-in to force the Midoriyas to tell Katsuki what school Izuku was going to after Izuku transferred to get away from him.
• Public Service Announcement: All Might make a special conference that talks about the mistreatment of Quirkless people and encourages society in general to be more understanding towards them. Unfortunately, this goes in one ear and out the other for everyone at Aldera, especially Bakugou.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Toshinori gives a well-deserved one to Bakugou after finally getting fed up with the boy's refusal to accept reality.
  Toshinori: Ever since we’ve met you’ve done nothing but prove what an insufferable little shit you are! Give me one good reason why you deserve my blessing as the next Symbol of Peace when you do nothing but try and make the people around you miserable!?
  Katsuki: [sobbing too hard to respond]
  Toshinori: And you have the nerve to cry like your feelings are hurt? Because someone finally pointed out how terrible you are? After you tormented a disabled child for years? For the crime of being born different from you? Or was it because he wanted to be your friend when you were toddlers?
• Reasonable Authority Figure: Toshinori tries to be this as he wants to understand the hostility between Bakugou and Izuku and hopes that his participation in the same training will refurnish their friendship. But even he has his limits when Bakugou continues to insult Izuku to the point that the aged hero decides to be harder on him for his ongoing threats.
• Sanity Slippage: The realization that All Might sees Izuku Midoriya as worthy of something besides mockery, seemingly even more worthy of heroism than Bakugou, breaks... something in Bakugou's mind. He tries to double down on every rationalization he's made about why Izuku deserves abuse and mistreatment, even the contradictory reasons, only to end up continuously revealing himself as an abusive individual to All Might without even realizing it. This culminates in his construction of an alternate reality in which Izuku is somehow dumb, gullible, and helpless, and also a villainous mastermind and monster successfully manipulating everyone around him into seeing Katsuki as the problem.
• The Scapegoat: Poor, poor Izuku. If anything goes wrong, doesn't go the way he wants, or contradicts his worldview, Katsuki always pins the blame on Izuku and convinces himself with the flimsiest/made-up reasons that the latter is somehow responsible. It also doesn't help that Aldera Middle School is all too willing to throw Izuku under the bus as well in order to keep Bakugou's records clean and goes along with whatever the latter accuses Izuku of. This becomes exaggerated and taken to its logical conclusion in the end. Bakugou would sooner see Izuku humiliated, mocked, exposed, and brutally killed for the "incompetent nobody/villain" he is than admit to any fault of his own, and if he were to take up handsofthemaster's offer, that would include making the whole world suffer to make it happen.
• School Bullying Is Harmless: Like Hell it is. The bullying Izuku received (and keeps receiving) from Bakugou and his lackeys at Aldera School have almost destroyed his self-esteem and have left him a fearful Nervous Wreck. Toshinori and Inko themselves do not believe in this trope and are horrified by the depths Bakugou is willing to sink to in order to demean and destroy Izuku.
• Selective Obliviousness: Deconstructed. As the fic shows, Bakugou only agrees with what fits his purviews and flat-out ignores everything else that would contradict it. Unsurprisingly, the end result has him becoming an Obliviously Evil Tautological Templar who Would Rather Suffer and possibly die to take down what he perceives to be both a nobody and a villain; Izuku Midoriya.
• Self-Harm: Bakugou becomes so desperate to stop Izuku that he resorts to breaking his arm just so he can be in the same infirmary as the green-haired boy so he can kill him.
• Seven Deadly Sins: Pride, Wrath, and Envy are already three of the biggest sins that Katsuki suffers from, which only gets worse as he slowly slips into evil in the fic. But as he undergoes Sanity Slippage before eventually Jumping Off the Slippery Slope, Bakugou ends up showcasing a nasty combination of all seven.
  • Greed: Everything that would make him a great hero should be his, and his alone. And if anyone tries to take a piece of it, or if Bakugou so much as thinks they're doing this, then they'll be put in their place.
  • Lust: He craves the prestige of being the #1 Pro Hero and continues to desire more and more of it.
  • Gluttony: He eats up the positive attention endorsed by people around him, can't get enough of it, and refuses to share it with anyone else.
  • Sloth: While he does believe in hard work, he only focuses on what matters to him about heroes (strong and victorious) and neglects everything else (saving others, being kind, etc.). This is seen in how he simply destroys the trash with his Explosion Quirk for quick results, but All Might points out that all he did was make a bigger mess. This later screws him over by the time of the practical exam; he doesn't listen to the instructions due to his delusional paranoia about Izuku and acts overly destructive by eliminating the bots and then taking on the Zero-Pointer, which ends badly, leading him to get a score that's less than what he expects. At the same time, he's so incredibly assured of his own heroic, self-righteousness that the idea that he could or would be wrong is completely alien to him, and refuses to reflect or change his views all while being incredibly selective of how he sees reality.
• Shadow Archetype: To canon Bakugou, no less! The fic is basically a What If? regarding Pre-Character Development Bakugou, showing what would happen if he were to see the fateful "you can be a hero" event between Izuku and All Might and his worst traits dialed themselves up to eleven in response to things not going his way, leading to him implicitly becoming a villain.
• Shameful Strip: At one point, Katsuki corners Izuku in the locker room, takes Izuku's shirt while the boy's trying to dress, pinches him on the stomach, forces Izuku to the floor, then takes pictures of Izuku while he's undressed. Katsuki then uses the pictures to frame Izuku as sexually involved with older men. Word of God heavily implies this description of events is a downplayed account of the assault due to Katsuki being an Unreliable Narrator.
• Sins of Our Fathers: Inverted. Inko cuts Mitsuki out of her life for the actions of the latter's son Katsuki against her own son Izuku.
• Smug Snake: Bakugou might genuinely be a force to be reckoned with in direct combat, but he's far worse at manipulation and avoiding negative consequences than he thinks he is. Most of the threat he poses comes from the fact that his middle school is actively covering up his worst excesses and enabling him rather than any serious skill on his part. Furthermore, given his Unreliable Narrator status, his growing insanity, his extremely selective and delusional viewpoint, and the fact he was being constantly shielded from consequences by Aldera Middle School, it's very possible that he isn't truly as academically smart as he believes himself to be, even by Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond standards. Case-in-point in the ending, where he got a "less than perfect grade" back despite claiming that the work was perfect as usual. On one hand, the idea of Aldera sabotaging his grades is entirely plausible due to his failure to get into U.A. High, being unable to repay them for all the special treatment they've given him, and dragging their name in the mud thanks to his public assault and later attempted murder of Izuku. On the other hand, it's also plausible that they're actually grading his work for the first time and were doing it less harshly before, just as they disciplined him less harshly as well. That's also not getting into the fact that Katsuki's insanity and lack of direction after being barred from U.A. High would've (not could've) genuinely affected the quality of his work.
• Spoiled Brat: Katsuki. Ultimately, everything he does here derives from the fact that, for the first time in his life, someone else is getting something that he can't. He can't comprehend the idea that he already has so much and doesn't need more, while Izuku has so little. Izuku is getting something Katsuki wants, and so Katsuki thinks he's entitled to take it. When his vile schemes have failed, Katsuki even defaults to having a crying, whiny tantrum, the subject of which effectively boils down to "All Might clearly hates me because he won't give me what I want."
• The Stakeout: As part of his obsession with Deku, Bakugou has resorted to spying on him either at home or at the beach to see what he and All Might are up to. The blonde even justifies himself by saying that true heroes go on constant stakeouts to stop the villainous activity.
• Stalker without a Crush: Bakugou spends a good majority of the story stalking both Izuku and All Might to follow along with their work regiment while coming up with ways to ruin the Quirkless boy's dream. Ironically enough, Bakugou constantly accuses Deku of being this to him throughout their childhood.
• Stress Vomit: Katsuki ends up doing this when he realizes that Deku has All Might's Quirk.
• Stupid Evil: Bakugou becomes so obsessed with the one thing Izuku has that Bakugou can't get that the wannabe hero can't appreciate all the privileges and opportunities he's been given that his Quirkless victim hasn't. Bakugou's attempts to hurt and deprive the poor boy become so pathological that he repeatedly destroys his own opportunities in his attempts to sabotage Izuku, and can't understand his own fault in this. Probably the most egregious example is when he tries to frame All Might as a pedophile and then can't understand why All Might doesn't seem to like him. Did he think no one would tell All Might? Did he think All Might, who has so much pull in the Hero Industry, wouldn't care that Bakugou tried to frame him for one of the worst crimes even by criminal standards?
• Sucky School: Aldera Middle proves to be this in spades. The students follow Bakugou's act of terrorizing Izuku for petty amusement while the faculty are all too willing to scapegoat the Quirkless boy in order to secure their star student's spotless reputation. In a twist of fate, Bakugou would become targeted by the Aldera students and faculty for failing to make it into UA.
• Super Supremacist: Bakugou believes himself to be better than everyone else and is destined to be the next Number One Hero entirely because of his quirk. He also holds great disdain towards Izuku just for being Quirkless.
  Katsuki: Quirkless people can’t be heroes! It’s against the natural order. And I have the most powerful quirk in the neighborhood.
• Sympathy for the Devil: Discussed in a Decon-Recon Switch between All Might and Izuku. Despite being his bully and tormentor for so many years and for petty reasons, Izuku still feels sympathy for "Kacchan" as he genuinely believes that he has the potential to be a good hero. He even expresses remorse and worry after learning that UA tore up Katsuki's application after his former friend tried to kill Izuku while the latter was unconscious. But as All Might puts it in his Hard Truth Aesop, Bakugou must also be willing to choose to put in the work to improve himself as well; given how much Bakugou hates Izuku to the point that his existence drives him to homicidal rage and how he constantly squanders his many chances to reflect, Bakugou has no one to blame but himself (which he'll never accept or pathologically be capable of).
• Take That!: The story has an underlying theme of criticizing outlandish claims from Bakugou stans who try to justify his bullying. One claim involves how Bakugou denying Izuku's dream was for his own protection and how he genuinely cared for Deku as a friend. Others claim that Izuku deserved to be tormented for always following him and taking notes about his quirk like a creep. This story blows those claims out of the water by showcasing how Bakugou's bullying did not come from a place of concern and that Izuku did not deserve to be tormented regardless of his actions. In fact, these claims are framed as the delusional rationalizations that Bakugou tells himself while he escalates his abusive behavior, right down to the suicide-baiting and murder, and how Katsuki justifies it to other people.
• Tempting Fate: Just before he is about to murder an unconscious Izuku, Katsuki smugly announces in his narration how this would be the "story of him becoming the world's greatest hero". Cue him getting caught red-handed by Aizawa and the exact opposite and subsequent consequences happening to him.
• That Came Out Wrong: Subverted. Since Katsuki was never punished for his violent and arrogant behavior and his worst traits being constantly enabled by the authority figures of Aldera Middle School, he doesn't understand how suicide baiting or making degrading insults and jokes would have been completely inappropriate and/or have consequences in the real world. This lack of awareness ends up screwing him over with All Might, Inko, his parents, U.A. High, and even Aldera Middle School in the end.
• They Just Dont Get It:
  • No matter how many times Toshinori has to spell it out for him, Bakugou simply can't grasp that Izuku has the potential to be a hero and that there's always more to heroism than having raw power.
  • Bakugou doesn't understand why blackmailing the Number One Hero would make that Hero think Bakugou's unheroic, and by extension, the things he does to Izuku by bullying him throughout the fic as "villainous".
• Through the Eyes of Madness: The story is told almost entirely from Katsuki's inner narrative as he spirals into persecutory delusions that work to justify his increasingly paranoid, unhinged, and frankly villainous behavior and come to border on Bad Is Good and Good Is Bad once Katsuki tries to murder Izuku and the hero community takes the "monster" Izuku's side. In this alternate "reality", Izuku is both utterly incompetent and a master villain/future serial killer who has brainwashed All Might by both pretending to be and actually being pathetic and has manipulated UA into turning against Katsuki, and Katsuki is heroic for his efforts to defeat this villain and kindly show him his place through such "noble methods" like suicide baiting, blackmail, assault, sexual harassment, slander, stalking, and attempted murder.
• The Unapologetic: Bakugou's only regret after trying to murder Izuku is that he didn't attempt it sooner.
• The Unfettered:
  • Near the ending, Katsuki has fully graduated as this as his ego, anger, and paranoia have shot through the roof and him being caught red-handed for his attempted murder of Izuku; his life and reputation are shattered, his hero opportunities revoked, Big Man on Campus status in Aldera is stripped, his relationship with his parents is severely strained, and is now full-on delusional with the whole Hero system he once worshipped as it didn't work the way he wants. Despite knowing the obvious consequences for everyone if All Might's Dark Secret, and the existence of One for All, get out, Bakugou willingly published whatever he knew online out of spite. Once his posts caught the attention of an anonymous person known as "handsofthemaster" and decided to take his offer to get revenge against Izuku and All Might, then it would include committing terrorism on a national scale.
  • Reconstructed with Izuku in a selfless, noble, and heroic way. By the standards of their current society, Quirkless people are viewed as being either The Load or a Serial Killer in fiction, and any form of discrimination against them is implicitly encouraged. Izuku constantly gets flak and beaten by the other students in Aldera (mainly Katsuki) for his Quirklessness along with his dreams of being a hero mocked by them as well, all while the faculty turns a blind eye and deaf ear to his suffering and would punish him if he were to act up and are not above joining in on his suffering. Then Izuku gets a chance to go Against the Grain through All Might's offer and has to endure the escalating bullying and humiliation by Katsuki and the other students since Katsuki found out about the offer and is actively sabotaging him. Yet, Izuku steadfastly focuses on his dream of becoming a hero to save others while disregarding the heinous actions and insults hurled his way, all while constantly forgiving his former friend and wishing him success. In the end, Izuku finally gets into the school of his dreams and is slowly moving on from the trauma he endured.
• Ungrateful Bastard: In the words of a wise man; "A strong man who has known power all his life may lose respect for that power.", which fits Katsuki's behavior to a T. No matter how many times Izuku saves him, covers for him, and forgives him for his escalating violence and lies, Katsuki would never, ever be grateful for Izuku's clemency or remorseful for his own actions due to his prejudice and entitlement and would sooner see Izuku rotting in hell than him ever being happy about anything. At the same time, he's also ungrateful for the constant privileges he received throughout his life and can never get enough of it, to the point where he takes it all for granted by continuing to act like the world revolves around him and the consequences that eventually befell on him are unjust.
• Unskilled, but Strong: Bakugou focuses his training on improving the strength of his explosions rather than refining any techniques to use them. This mixed with his paranoia would lead to him giving a less than ideal performance for the Entrance Exam.
• Villain Protagonist: The story is told from Bakugou's perspective and follows him on his mission to stop Deku from being a hero.
• Villain Takes an Interest: The ending implies that Tomura has found out what Katsuki has gone through and personally sought him out in an attempt to recruit him.
• Villainous Breakdown:
  • Katsuki has one after Izuku transfers out of Aldera to get away from him and the explosive blond is specifically told never to approach the Midoriyas again, although Katsuki persistently insists Izuku is the villain. Katsuki even shows up at the Midoriya apartment one night, tries to break in, demands the Midoriyas tell him what school Izuku has transferred to, and screams an unhinged rant through the door while beating on it and using explosions to try and break it down, yelling about how Izuku is dangerous, psychotic, and going to be looking for more victims at his new school, and also that Izuku is weak and will get killed as a hero and that Katsuki is only trying to keep Izuku alive, and even claiming Inko should thank him for as much as he's doing. The entire time, Katsuki can hear Inko crying and pleading with him from the other side of the door to leave after ordering Izuku to take shelter in his bedroom.
  • He has a second one after Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Recovery Girl catch him trying to murder Izuku in the nurse's office. He ends up dragged out of the nurse's office by Eraserhead's capture weapon, flailing and screaming. Apparently his yelling wasn't as intelligible as he would have liked.
    Katsuki: I'll fucking kill you, you hear me! You don't deserve All Might's quirk! You deserve a goddamned shallow grave! And once everyone else comes to their senses, they'll give it to you! You'll never be a hero! You'll never be as great as me!
• Vorpal Pillow: Attempted and subverted. Bakugou tries to smother Izuku to death with his pillow in Recovery Girl's office, but his suspicious behavior just prior means that someone walks in to check on the two mere seconds after Bakugou has applied the pillow, catching Bakugou in the act.
• Wants a Prize for Basic Decency: Exaggerated. The message that Izuku's and Katsuki's teacher takes away from the Quirkless Discrimination Awareness assembly is that Izuku should show gratitude to the school and students for not mistreating him worse.
• We Used to Be Friends: After Bakugou ends up in the news for attacking Izuku, Inko cuts off her friendship with Mitsuki, saying she "doesn’t feel right hanging around the family of her family’s tormentor".
• You Are Fat: When he notices that Izuku is getting huskier from his training, Bakugou jokes about him taking after his mother.
• You Have Failed Me: After having his application to UA destroyed with prejudice, Bakugou's grades begin to slip and he assumes that Aldera is punishing him for his failure. It's unclear if Aldera is actually withdrawing their special treatment of him, his grades are actually slipping, or if it's an unbelievable case of Bakugou being Properly Paranoid.
• You Remind Me of X: Another reason why Toshinori chose Izuku as his ward was that he reminded him of himself when he was a boy. Particularly with wanting to help the world however he could despite being Quirkless.

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