Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 41: Bully

Katsuki was just stalking out the doors at the end of the school day, his shoulders hunched in a way that screamed talk to me and you die, when he heard it.

"Yeah, one of my friends said there's this kid at his school with a villain quirk." Fingers' annoying voice echoed behind him as he laughed with some of the other bully extras that still sometimes followed Katsuki around. "He invited me to come along and shake him down. You guys wanna join in?"

Katsuki felt an uncomfortable tangle of anger and guilt bubble up in his chest as the other extras immediately agreed and started talking about how excited they were for some fresh meat and how boring things had been ever since D eku had left. How had Katsuki never realized how messed up that was? These guys only felt bad for literally bullying a kid out of school because that meant they couldn't mess with him anymore. The only reason they even missed Izuku at all was because he'd been such an easy target.

Katsuki didn't know what possessed him to follow them. It wasn't like he was going to join in like he would have a few months ago, so why in the world did he find himself keeping an eye on them from a block away so he could take the same turns? Was he just trying to punish himself or something?

He half-expected the boys to notice him. It's not like he was known for stealth or anything. Katsuki's entire life, he'd been known as the loud kid, be it from his explosive quirk or his explosive temper. He was used to being noticed the moment he walked into a room, but with everything that had been going on these past few months...well, for the first time, Katsuki realized that he'd been fading into the background.

Or maybe that wasn't the right way to phrase it. Katsuki didn't think he was fading, per say, not that he didn't deserve to disappear, it was just that he wasn't pushing to be the center of attention anymore. His constant push to be the best had shoved him headfirst into being a bully, so now that he'd decided to leave that behind, he was a little more comfortable being quiet.

It wasn't something he'd ever thought he'd do, but it would probably be a useful skill when he finally became a hero. Being able to trail an actual villain like this might help him stop crimes or something. He followed Fingers and the other extras to a part of town he'd only passed through before. It wasn't the worst part of town, but it wasn't the best part either and his old hag had told him to avoid it if he could. Of course this was where these stupid extras would come to bully some kid with a villain's quirk. Could they get anymore cliche?

The group he was following met up with a couple other students wearing another school's uniform and they greeted each other warmly, but Katsuki was too far away to hear what they were saying, not that he cared. The bigger group then walked down a smaller side street until they came up behind a kid with purple hair that was wearing the same uniform as the newcomers.

The group wasn't quiet as they pulled the kid into an alley and Katsuki froze. Yeah, he'd known what was about to happen, he'd participated in stuff like this enough times that he wasn't about to fool himself into thinking that kid was getting out of this without a few bruises, but for some reason it was different watching it rather than being a participant. Even watching the bullying at school wasn't this bad, because he was used to it there for some reason, but this?

This was wrong.

There weren't that many other people on the streets, mostly a few adults who simply glanced toward the alley and turned away, ignoring the yells and other suspicious noises like they were used to shit like that happening everyday. Maybe they were, but that still didn't mean it was ok! Why wasn't anyone doing anything?

Being a hero doesn't just mean not hurting people, it also means stopping others from hurting them.

Katsuki moved before he could think. He ran into the alley, warning explosions already sounding in his palms as he turned the corner and saw the familiar scene. The villain-quirk kid had been pushed to the floor and was doing his best to shield himself from most of the damage by curling into a ball. The only difference between what Katsuki saw in front of him and most of his memories of Izuku over the years was that for some reason Fingers had completely covered this kid's mouth with his hands and they'd always just let Deku scream.