Without any sign of hesitation, (f/n) launched a punch at me the same way as the first time when I tested her 3 months ago. Again, I quickly averted her blow, but somehow thought that she could have used some different starting movement and show what she had learned. However, the girl was clearly faster than before and waited for the exact moment to attack me with her other fist, making me take a step back to avoid being hit.

This time, she didn't need to be told to use her legs. As soon as she threw her first punches, she flexed her knees and used the strength she had gained these months to take an impulse and kick me, though I was faster enough to avoid it, too.

We kept fighting for a few minutes already, and even if I was averting (f/n)'s blows, she was making me sweat. At first, I thought I had to lower my expectations and take this more relaxed, but she was doing it in a way that I couldn't complain.

That perseverance in her... I could never admit it and say that I was proud of her improvement, yet it was hard for me to push away the feeling that I was having a little fun.

"I'm gonna beat you! And I'm gonna know what's inside the bag, haha!" (F/n) exclaimed with amusement.

'The bag...?' Due to I was too focused on the fight, I forgot the thing I had brought with me today. And since that damn mouse can't shut her fucking mouth, she made me remember what had happened before I left home...

~Flashback~

"I'm leaving." I announced as I was about to reach the doorknob of the front door with my hand.

"You're not going anywhere, Katsuki!" My mother shouted angrily from afar.

I rolled my eyes and turned my body to the direction of the sound of her fast footsteps, finding her behind me with her arms crossed. "What's up with you now?" I asked, arching an eyebrow at her.

"Where the fuck are you going every day!? You always come from school and then disappear until dinner!" She complained, her hands resting on her hips. "You don't even tell me where you're going, what kind of son does that!?"

I growled in annoyance and cursed internally, it was a matter of time until she started getting upset because of my weird behavior. Indeed, every day all I did was leave my things, change into my training clothes and then go to train (f/n) until dinner. "It's none of your business, old hag!" I replied rudely, instantly receiving a slap from her after that.

"You're not going out until you tell me what the fuck you're doing! I'm tired of your secrecy!"

'Dammit...' I cursed as I rubbed my aching forehead.

I tilted my head up slowly and looked at my mother, a sweat drop running down my forehead. I was utterly aware that if I didn't tell her, she wouldn't let me go, but how was I supposed to say that I was training that stupid mouse? Who knew how she would react? No one knew I was doing so, and I had no plans on letting that happen in the slightest. Maybe a little lie...

"And...?" She was waiting for an answer from the silent me, tapping her foot impatiently.

'Say something!' I ordered to myself.

"I... uh..." I moved my eyes from side to side, hoping I could find something to illuminate me with an idea. "I-I'm going to the arcade, dammit!" I quickly responded when I caught the glimpse of the advertisement of a new video game on the TV, trying to sound as serious as possible to be credible enough.

Hah, I wished...

"Yeah, sure. That's why you're wearing those clothes, of course." She commented with obvious sarcasm.

'Fuck...'

The fact that she didn't believe me and was still waiting for a proper answer made me start to lose my composure. "Th-That's all the truth, goddammit! What else do you want me to say!?"

She narrowed her eyes and tilted her body to my direction, thinking that my lie sucked. "Stop lying to your mother, Katsuki!" She yelled. "I want you to tell me where the hell you're going and what the fuck you're doing every day!"

"*Tsk*..." I felt as in a dead end, I didn't know what else to say.

If she only knew... That would be so embarrassing.

I had to remain silent for my own sake.

However, suddenly, my mother drove both of her hands to my shoulders and grabbed them with force, bringing her face close to mine. "Are you smoking!? Drugs!? What is it!?" She asked agitatedly, fearing an affirmative answer.

"HUH!? WHAT THE FUCK, WOMAN!? THERE IS NO WAY IN HELL I WOULD DO SOMETHING AS DISGUSTING AS THAT!!" I exclaimed in surprise, never expecting she would ever think that I would be able to ruin my life in that way.

"What do you want me to believe, then!? When you're behaving so weird!?"

That was the last straw; this had already gone too far. My mother wasn't angry anymore, she was very worried, and I could feel the fear in her voice as well as in her facial expression. If she started thinking that way, I really had no alternative and had to say it. One thing is to keep in secret the fact that I was helping that rat, and another very different thing is to make my mother think that I was a delinquent.

"Fuck this shit!" I groaned. "Do you wanna know so badly!? Fine! I'm just helping s-someone to train, that's all!" I hesitantly admitted as I pushed her away, trying hard not to pay attention to the sudden warmth in my cheeks. "A-Are you happy now!? Can I go already!?"

"What...?" My mother's eyes went wide open and her mouth was half agape; she remained silent for a few moments, processing what I just said and realizing that actually, my confession matched with the clothes I was wearing. "OH, MY GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD!! KYAAAA!!" She squealed like a little kid before running to take me in her embrace. "I CAN'T BELIEVE MY KNUCKLEHEAD OF A SON IS HELPING SOMEONE!! AAAAWW!!"

"L-LET GO OF ME, DAMN WOMAN!!" I shouted while trying to release her grip, feeling uncomfortable as fuck.

I had never seen my mother so happy, to be honest, yet it didn't last long. Suddenly, she stopped squealing and hugging me and drove her hands to my shoulders again, looking at me directly in the eye. "Wait a minute..." She mumbled. "If it's training what you said, that means..."

I arched an eyebrow at her, not understanding what she was implying. "The hell are you sayin-?"

"THAT MEANS THAT YOU'RE HURTING YOUR FRIEND, RIGHT!?" She concluded, slapping me again before finishing the sentence.

"O-OI!! WHAT IS THAT NOW!?"

"WHAT A GOOD EXCUSE, KATSUKI!! JUST TO DO WHATEVER YOU WANT WITH YOUR FRIEND!!" She continued saying as she slapped me many times in a row. "THAT'S ALL YOU DO!! THAT'S ALWAYS WHAT YOU DO!!"

"W-WHAT THE HELL, OLD HAG!? SHE'S PERFECTLY FINE FOR YOUR INFORMATIO-!!"

I covered my mouth with my hand at the moment that my words reached my ears. I hoped that at least, I could have that little detail as a secret, but it seemed that I couldn't shut my fucking mouth either.

"..."

"..."

'FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!!'

I was staring at my mother with fear and regret, and she was staring at me with a startled expression, as if she had just seen a ghost, unable to react.

How I wished this was just a bad dream...

"D-Did you just say 'she'?" She managed to ask, breaking the silence. "You mean... you mean that you're training a... a G-GIRL?"

I kept staring at her without moving any muscle, internally cursing, again and again, the moment I opened my damn mouth. But there was no turning back, the damage was already done.

I slowly pulled my hand away from my mouth and tilted my head down, sensing how the bothering warmth in my cheeks was increasing. "Y-Yes..." I whispered, feeling horribly uncomfortable after confessing it.

My mother remained silent for a few moments again, but she was only preparing her vocal cords to squeal louder. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!"

"D-Don't leave me fucking deaf!"

"BUT KATSUKI SINCE WHEN A GIRL HAS EVER APPROACHED A LITTLE PUNK LIKE YOU!? AAAAWW!! I'M SO EXCITED, I CAN'T BELIEVE IT!!" She jumped with happiness.

"Yeah, yeah, I can see it!" I growled; I believed that my face was as red as a tomato. "C-Can I leave now!?"

"OOOOHH, NONONONONO!!" She said while shaking her hands vigorously. "YOU'RE NOT GOING ANYWHERE UNTIL I MAKE SOMETHING FOR HER!!"

"Haah!?"

And with that, my mother ran to the kitchen to prepare whatever she wanted to make for (f/n) and left me there.

"Ugh... why is this happening?" I sighed tiredly while rubbing my temples, trying to calm down.

"Oh, my God! Why didn't you tell me before!?" She asked excitedly from the kitchen. "How is she!? Is she cute!? Is she from your class!? What's her name!? Do you have any photo of her!? When did you meet her!? What's her favorite food? Does she have any siblings!? What's her blood type!?"

And that's how the fucking interrogation began. Honestly, I wasn't going to answer any of her silly questions. What a nightmare.

"Hurry up with that! I'm too late already!"

"Gosh, just wait a second, Katsuki!" She complained. "Let me enjoy that my son is finally becoming a man, haha~"

I couldn't help but sigh in defeat.

'I hate my life.'

~Present time~

[Your P.O.V.]

The battle seemed as if it had no end. As much as I tried, the ash blond boy was ready to block all my moves. However, at least, I could avoid his punches and kicks, which was something that motivated me to think that I could have some chance to beat him.

Indeed, the moment I said I was going to win to know what was inside the bag he brought made him tense up. His movements became a bit less coordinated and seemed as if he wasn't completely focused on the fight anymore.

'This is my opportunity!'

I quickly clenched my right fist and threw him a punch in the stomach. I tried not to be too harsh, we were just practicing and I didn't want to hurt Katsuki, but it was enough for the boy to growl with pain.

"Eat that!" I exclaimed triumphantly after being able to hit him.

Though I would need more than just a simple punch to beat that walking-grenade... A wide smirk was forming on the boy's face as he noticed how I dropped my guard for a moment, allowing him to counterattack without apparent difficulty.

"Don't think I've taught you everything I know, rat!" He said with amusement and airs of superiority. "DIIIEEEEE!!"

'Die!?'

And with that odd kind of war cry, he flexed his legs and jumped in attempting to hit me with a flying kick. He really took me by surprise; I didn't expect he would choose to send me a kick before making me fly away with one of his characteristic punches. But unfortunately for him, I taught myself some things that sure he would have never guessed...

"Don't get too cocky, I also have an ace up the sleeve!" I exclaimed as I arched my back to avoid his foot.

"Wha-!?"

But I was not finished there. As soon as my body was turning upside down, I positioned my hands on the ground, using them as a supply to do a backflip. I took that opportunity to hit him in the jaw with my foot, which made him almost lose his balance. 'It worked!'

"F-Fuck!"

Seeing that the boy was still disoriented after my amazing and unexpected movement, at the moment my feet landed on the ground, I ran towards Katsuki in attempting to throw him to the cold stone and immobilize him. Though, what happens when I feel that I'm about to win a fight? My inner brute shows up and I forget how much force I'm using...

"YOU CAN'T ESCAPE MEEEEE!!"

"O-Oi! Watch out, bastard!"

*THUD*

As expected, the stupid me made the both of us fall down. I ended up on top of Katsuki, but I was too focused on not letting him stand up to even realize the position we were in... I quickly took his wrists and put his hands on both sides of his head with clear difficult as he was struggling a lot.

"HA! Who's laughing now, bitch!?" I exclaimed, trying to imitate his typical behavior by empathizing the last word. "So, this is how your ego works, huh?"

I was surprised by how the things turned out, to be honest. Who could have said that the thing that would help me to win this walking-grenade at the end was something that I taught myself?

"H-How the fuck did you do that!?"

"Didn't see that coming, right?" I answered with amusement. "I told you I had an ace up the sleeve, too..."

In fact, Katsuki thought that he would totally win the fight. In which moment did he teach me how to do those things? He thought that I probably have been training on my own, and that wasn't an unpleasant sensation for him, to say the least. I proved again that I was taking all this training seriously.

The boy felt that there was no need to keep fighting; he already saw what he needed to see. "Ugh... Fine, just release me already." He ordered as he stopped struggling.

"Hehe..." I took what he said as that I passed his test, and I couldn't hold my happiness. I let go of his wrists and I cupped my face with my hands, a pleasant smile was adorning my features. "I did it~"

Katsuki, who was only staring at how I was celebrating my victory internally, was the one who cooled down first and realized the position we had been in the whole time. He was lying on his back, and I was sitting on his abdomen... The poor boy began to shake uncontrollably and was about to explode.

"Bakugou, what are yo-?" I didn't get to finish the sentence when I saw the hot-headed boy's flustered expression and realization hit me, too.

"Ah! I-I'm... I mea-!"

"GET OFF!!"

"S-Sorry!"

I had never moved so fast without using my quirk in my life. 'R-Relax, (f/n)...'

The both of us stood up and shook the dirt off our clothes; we were panting heavily due to the intensity of the fight. I took a quick look at the ash blond boy and saw how he was sweating. I knew I did it pretty well by that, but I wanted to hear it from my personal trainer's mouth.

"H-Hey, Bakugou." I managed to say. "How was it?"

Katsuki only turned his head to my direction and locked his ruby eyes with my (e/c) ones. "You still need more practice, rat. This was only for me to know if you didn't waste my time." He replied bluntly. "You still have a long way to go."

"Oh... I see."

If I knew this was all he had to say, then I wouldn't have asked. At least, I expected a little encouragement; you know, only three or four words like 'you did well' or 'keep the good work'. I didn't need a long speech about my improvement, just a little bit of motivation.

"But..." He continued saying, making me come down from my thoughts. "You're improving... more or less."

Ah, yes.

That was exactly what I needed.

"R-Really!?"

"Why would I lie, stupid rat!?"

I couldn't believe it; this was the first time that the one and only Katsuki Bakugou praised me! Well, on his own way, but close enough! The happiness and joy that was growing inside me was very hard to hide.

"YAAY!!"

I started to squeal and jump like some idiot, but I didn't care honestly. I regretted not having recorded his words; it would probably be one of the few times that the boy would say something nice to me, or at least, a try.

"Hey, dumbass." Katsuki called me from afar. "You forgot to rescue the bag. Catch it."

I didn't notice that the red-eyed boy went to reach the bag until then; I was quite busy making a fool of myself. "O-Oh, got it!"

With a swing, he threw something as big as my hand and covered with aluminum foil to me. I had no clue about what it could be, but sure that it smelled nice...

"You were such a pain in the ass with the fucking bag and now you forget about it. You sure are a kid." He commented with sarcasm as he approached me with another one in his hand.

"What is this?" I asked. "I can't think of something you would bring to me, that's why."

Katsuki just walked past me and climbed up the big rock, sitting on it and crossed his legs. "Well, unless you have X-ray vision, you won't know what it is, idiot."

I began to tear the aluminum apart and oh là là, what did we have here? A wild, big, gorgeous, beautiful, tasty and bright mother-made sandwich appeared in front of me. "Hooolyyy shiiiitt!" I exclaimed as my (e/c) eyes sparkled and my face brightened up. "A-A shiny sandwich!"

"What the hell, (l/n)..." The boy snorted after witnessing my extravagant reaction. "Calm down, Ash Ketchum."

"Why did you bring this? Did you make this sandwich for me?" I asked, my eyes never leaving the frame of such fluffy delicacy.

Katsuki began to tear the aluminum foil of his sandwich apart, too. "Fuck no." He replied before taking a bite. "My mother did."

I couldn't help but stare at the ash blond boy in surprise and confusion at the same time. "Huh? Your mother you say...?" I didn't understand why her mother would do this for a complete stranger like me, and now all of a sudden.

"Don't look at me like that, I didn't tell her I was helping someone to train." He confessed. "Today she found out and obliged me to bring this for you, so you better enjoy it."

"Oooh..." I drove my gaze again to the dazzling snack and sat on the floor, my eyes still sparkling.

I was doing nothing apart from staring at the sandwich and Katsuki was almost done eating. "Hey, little mouse, you can eat your cheese." He said.

And with that, I started to eat, without forgetting to taste every part of it. "Thank you..."

The boy finished eating and crossed his arms, waiting for me to finish, too. He didn't take his eyes off me; he thought I was acting weird towards a simple sandwich, even while taking bites.

"The fuck are you doing, (l/n), as if you've never eaten a sandwich." He commented while watching me.

At the moment I heard those words, my mood suddenly changed. I knew that sooner or later, he would say something about my odd behavior, but I had no excuse ready to answer him.

"... It's not that..." I mumbled after swallowing the last bite. I thought that Katsuki didn't hear me, but when I directed my gaze to him, I saw how he was staring at me with a confused expression on his face. "It's just that I'm not used to receive anything from a mother or a father." I said with a sad smile. "I think you know my situation."

"Uh, yeah..." He simply answered, not trying to push the topic and utterly aware that I also meant I remembered that he showed to me some time ago when we were eating together in a bank at school that he knew a few things about me.

"I mean, it's not like I don't enjoy the sandwiches that my godmother's butlers make for me! They're delicious, that's for sure!" I exclaimed, trying to break the ice a bit. "But it's just... what I said... They're my only family, yeah, but even sometimes I feel as if I'm not part of them..." I continued saying, making the atmosphere more awkward if it were possible.

The red-eyed boy was aware that he didn't know how to deal with any situation where feelings were involved, that's why he kept only showing he was being attentive. "I-I see..."

"That's why I asked my godmother if I could live alone..." I mumbled to myself, but not quietly enough for Katsuki to not to hear me.

"You live alone?" He asked all of a sudden with slight surprise in the tone of his voice.

And that's when I knew I was talking too much. Katsuki could have shouted 'shut up' to me, but instead of that, he surprisingly remained silent and listening to my blabbering. I thought it was a nice gesture coming from him, though it was time to stop, like, for real.

"A-Ah! Yes, but... Hey! It's okay... I'm okay!" I said while shaking my hands vigorously. "I'm so happy and so honored that your mother took some of her time to make this for me! Please, thank her for me!" I exclaimed, trying to change the subject and return the mood back to normal.

A little genuine smile was appearing on the boy's lips. He knew I meant all I said, and even if he didn't want to admit it, he was happy that I liked what his mother made for me. Maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea to bring some sandwiches more often...

"I'll do it."

- - - - -

The time to come back home was close.

As soon as we finished the conversation, Katsuki climbed down the rock and he told me to stand up. There was something important that he wanted to say.

"Okay, rat, listen to me!" He exclaimed, making me focus all my attention on him. "Tomorrow we will start training those shitty quirks you have!"

'Oh, God, finally!' I thought to myself with happiness.

"The first one will be your Super-Speed, you hear me!?"

"Yes, sir!"

"You will have to apply it to the movements you've learned and manage to be coordinated at max speed!" He said while pointing at me with his index finger. "And to keep up with your resistance, you will have to run in an obstacle race I'll personally make for you, understood!?"

"Y-Yes, sir!"

"And when I know you're ready, we will continue with the training with your soul killer..."

I couldn't help but chuckle at the weird adjectives he was using. "Dude, you're making it sound more violent than it seem-"

"UNDERSTOOD!?"

"A-AH, YES SIR!!"

And with that, we both headed to our houses.

I couldn't lie and say that I wasn't excited for tomorrow; finally, it was time for my quirks to shine! If I already made this far, I couldn't give up. I had invested a lot of time on this, and also had to reach Katsuki's expectations.

"This is getting more and more interesting, hehe..." I thought aloud. "U.A. Academy, wait for me!" I exclaimed with enthusiasm as I threw my hands to the sky, instantly receiving weird looks from the people around me... But who cares!?