Fanfic / We're Not Friends Kacchan

"Why do I have to explain anything to you?"
He tried to formulate a response. Some insult, some justification, heck anything! But he found nothing because he knew he had him.
"That's the thing... we're not friends Kacchan. I don't think we ever were."

We're Not Friends Kacchan is a My Hero Academia fanfic written by Winds Carry Far where Izuku decides to start distancing himself from Katsuki and confiding in others, starting with Ochako. This inadvertently leads to the whole class learning the truth about their past together, and about how Katsuki told him to take a swan dive off the roof. Consequences swiftly follow.

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This fanfic provides examples of:

• Accusation Fic:
  • The fic serves as one to Bakugo and his treatment in canon, specifically the belief he is given unwarranted Character Shilling, never underwent Character Development, and is a Karma Houdini for his bullying of Midoriya. He is subjected to Adaptational Karma here, having his past as a bully exposed to the class, losing all of his "friends", becomes a social pariah, and is expelled in all but name, the fic ending with him having effectively lost everything.
  • Aizawa's canonical laissez-faire approach to dealing with Bakugou's antics also gets this treatment, mostly by him being given evidence that Bakugou is just too much of a Jerk with a Heart of Jerk and he has to accept that he has been enabling him all of this time.
• Adaptational Jerkass: Played straight. Whereas Bakugo in canon ended up eating a lot of Humble Pie, underwent Character Development, and secretly came to regret his treatment of Midoriya including the Suicide Dare, the fic suggests Bakugou would be a largely Static Character due to lacking any motive to change due to lacking punishment from authority figures rather than Laser-Guided Karma. His misguided pride prevents him from acknowledging any fault which seals his fate.
• Adults Are Useless: Once the truth comes out, Jirou and several other classmates cynically question whether or not anyone at UA will actually do anything about Bakugou. They're especially skeptical about the notion of Aizawa doing anything, given his track record.
• Armor-Piercing Question:
  • Ojiro honestly asks Sero, one of Bakugou's "friends", if he's genuinely okay with the blond cursing him out and calling him an idiot all the time.
  • Shouto gives a positive one to Izuku when he learns about their plan to petition for Bakugou's removal from Class 1-A.
    Shouto: Wouldn't you have done the same for us?
  • Played with and subverted with Bakugou, who gives one to himself while trying to reinforce his own beliefs. While internally narrating his perspective on heroism, about how heroes are people who always win and who "put stupid villains in their place", and how there's "always a hero and always a villain", a small Izuku-like voice in Bakugou's head replies: "So was Deku the villain of the story the whole time? Or was it you?" The question causes him to break out in a cold sweat. However, Bakugou acknowledging the question's point would mean acknowledging he did wrong, and he can't bear that, so he ignores it and doubles down.
• Armor-Piercing Response: Ochako gets one that smashes through the defenses of the whole class when Katsuki yells at her for daring to block him off from Izuku:
  Katsuki: You don't understand shit!
  Ochako: Oh, I understand that a person who can tell someone to kill themselves and not blink an eye is a fucking monster!
• Be Careful What You Wish For:
  • Kirishima once wished that he didn't have to deal with his cousin Kanna's anger issues. His desire was granted in the worst possible way when she took her own life.
  • Bakugou constantly and cruelly rejected any offers others made to help, whether they were made by classmates, peers, or adults, insisting that he could achieve his dreams without any help. Ultimately, everybody around him accepts his refusal and leaves him alone to suffer the consequences of his actions.
    "He had gotten exactly what he wanted. Nobody was in his way anymore. He was hurtling down the path he set but he never stopped to consider if it was the right one."
• The Bet: According to Midnight, the teachers have made bets on which of their students will hook up. She managed to win against them after betting on behalf of IzuOcha and KiriMina.
• Bittersweet Ending: On the sweet side, Izuku successfully cuts ties with Katsuki and solidifies his friendships with the rest of his classmates after realizing they're all willing to defend him. He even starts dating Ochako. At the same time, however, this is tempered by Katsuki refuses to change his ways or accept any help, ensuring his expulsion from UA. The final scene sees Katsuki breaking down as he finally realizes that he can kiss his dreams goodbye.
• Blaming the Victim: Because Bakugou's clearly standards-violating behavior has gone continuously unpunished, many students in the class assumed Aizawa knew something mitigating about Bakugou that they didn't which explained and granted leniency to his behavior. As such, many in the class quietly assumed Izuku was somehow instigating his conflict with Bakugou despite Izuku's polite and kind interactions with everyone and so took their cues from Aizawa in treating Bakugou's behavior like it was normal and doing nothing to stop Bakugou's treatment of Izuku, with some even working to include Bakugou more despite his hostile behavior. After learning about the Suicide Dare, much of the class has a Heel Realization that they were actually doing this to Izuku.
• Broken Pedestal: Kirishima's respect and admiration for Bakugou evaporates after learning about his Suicide Dare, coupled with Katsuki brazenly dismissing the incident as no big deal.
• Bystander Syndrome: All but stated to be the reason the rest of the class accepted Bakugou's treatment of Izuku. Not having context and subconsciously assuming Izuku did something to instigate, the class looked to Aizawa, their teacher, and Kirishima, their most popular classmate, for a cue on how to handle the situation. Aizawa was obviously more critical towards Izuku than Bakugou, and Kirishima constantly insisted Bakugou was a good guy despite his anger issues, so the class collectively settled on doing nothing.
• Cerebus Retcon: Class 1-A and Aizawa reevaluate the events of My Hero Academia by taking Bakugou's abrasive actions into account and how he was never properly dealt with in each of those events.
• Close to Home: Given his own experiences with abuse and trauma, Shouto silently noticed that Izuku's Nervous Wreck behavior was crafted by an abuser of sorts. He just was having trouble finding the one responsible.
• Cooldown Hug: Izuku gives one to Ochako to assure her that he's not upset about her telling everyone about Bakugou's sin. She instantly returns the favor after Izuku has an emotional breakdown over how he was always told that it was his fault for being bullied and that there was no hope for him.
• Contrasting Replacement Character: Ochako Uraraka ends up replacing Katsuki Bakugou as Izuku's Secret-Keeper. Bakugou learned of his inheritance of One For All through brute force and earned his role out of entitlement. It's also made apparent that his aggravating and condescending nature made it difficult for both Izuku and Toshinori to get through their private meetings. Ochako, on the other hand, learned of One For All because Izuku chose to trust her and believed that she would be considerate of his situation. He's proven right, especially as she's able to stay on task during their meetings and offers sincere support to him.
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot: The story ends with Bakugou realizing that in his pride he had cast aside the help he so desperately needed in his final days. It is strongly implied that he does feel guilty for what he did to Izuku but cannot bring himself to admit it due to an Identity Breakdown.
• Country Matters: Katsuki calls Mina a cunt in the final chapter.
• Crippling Overspecialization: When talking about Katsuki with All Might, Aizawa notes that, because the first part of the first year focuses heavily on Quirk-control and combat training, Katsuki was naturally on top. However, because Katsuki doesn’t really care about anything else, as soon as they start working on other aspects of heroism, like rescue, more intensively, Katsuki’s all but bound to fall to the very bottom.
• Cruel Mercy: Kyouka realizes that Katsuki's punishment may well qualify as such. In order to mitigate and minimize the damage done by his expulsion, he'll be finishing out the semester at UA while they arrange a cover story. While this frustrates her at first, it soon hits her that this means Katsuki will be forced to spend several months at the school while fully aware that he's on borrowed time, surrounded by everyone he'd dismissed as unimportant extras, knowing that they'll get to continue attending his dream school long after he's gone.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: Kirishima gives one to Bakugou to force him to reveal his true feelings after Ochako's accusation. It ultimately has the redhead violently pummeling Bakugou while the blond does nothing to defend himself (believing that fighting back isn't worth it).
• Deconstruction Fic:
  • Picks apart the original series' treatment of Bakugou. After Class 1-A learns about how he bullied Izuku for years, they look at his track record at UA and note just how rarely he received any kind of discipline for his actions. This leads the class to conclude that they can't trust UA or Aizawa to address matters now since the school has let so much slide.
  • The fic also calls into question the "Bakusquad" dynamic. Bakugou is shown to take their friendships for granted as he only uses them to vent about his problems, snaps at them any time they try to offer an opinion that goes against what he believes is fair, and how the others feel exhausted from being insulted by him on a regular basis. It also brings up how Kirishima and Mina, who have a history of dealing with bullies in middle school, would feel Post-Support Regret for openly supporting a bully without either of them knowing for so long.
  • Along a similar vein, Aizawa's teaching methods are shown to have cost him the trust of his students. His willingness to deliberately deceive the whole class, passing off everything he does as "logical ruses", has left them wary of anything he says and does. They also note that despite his willingness to expel past students at the drop of a hat, he hasn't done anything to address Bakugou's behavior.
• Didn't Think This Through: Both Toshinori and Aizawa are guilty of encouraging Izuku to be involved with Bakugou despite their bad history. Both men paired the boys under the assumption that their involvement would help them grow but never considered that Izuku was constantly getting hurt in the process while Bakugou would barely change his attitude.
• Disappointed in You: The look on Aizawa's face as Bakugou doubles down on his arrogant beliefs and refusal to reflect showcases just how disappointed he is.
  Aizawa: I expected more from you kid.
• The Dog Bites Back: In Chapter 5, a mentally healthier Izuku is able to stand up to his tormentor and orders him to stay away from him and his friends.
• Double Standard: Discussed. When wondering whether to trust Aizawa, the class mentions that Aizawa was much tougher on Izuku than Bakugou after the Heroes vs. Villains exercise, despite Bakugou having openly gone after Izuku with lethal force.
• Dramatic Irony: When trying to talk with Aizawa about confronting the distrust of 1-A, Hizashi comments "You almost expelled Midoriya on the first day because you thought he'd end up a martyr. From their perspective it might seem like you were out to get him because of his connection to All Might." Little does Hizashi know that Aizawa admitted to doing exactly that in his own internal monologue earlier in the same passage.
• Dramatically Missing the Point: Bakugou tries to prove he's worth keeping at UA by proving he's "the best" in the class. During a rescue exercise, he's by far the fastest at rescuing the "victim" (a training dummy). However, that speed came at the cost of his "victim", whom he dragged out of the training ground "practically mangled." As it turns out, the whole point of the exercise was to prevent further injury to the victim, so he gets the worst grade in the class but doesn't even realize he did poorly until he receives his graded evaluation.
• Entitled Bastard: True to his superiority complex and fragile ego, Bakugou believes that he's entitled to be involved in Izuku's life along with his involvement as All Might's successor. The fact that he's cut off without an explanation is what drives him to be antagonistic toward his former victim.
• Everyone Has Standards: According to Aizawa, this is what makes heroes different from villains, saying that there wouldn't be a major difference if heroes choose to forgo their limits and morals. He uses All Might's fight against All For One during Kamino as an example, as while the former #1 Hero could have cut loose to defeat his Arch-Enemy much quicker and easier, it would have resulted in innocent people getting caught in the crossfire.
• Everybody Knew Already: Downplayed with 1-A regarding Bakugou's personality. They all had a feeling that he was never a good person because of his condescending attitude and need to lash out at others. But it's the open reveal of him being Izuku's bully that finally cements their negative beliefs about the guy. Shouji even claims that it shouldn't surprise them that he told Izuku to kill himself.
• Fatal Flaw: Pride. Bakugou knows deep inside that what he's done is wrong, but his pride continuously drags him back from fully acknowledging this, pushing him to instead double down on his awful behavior instead of change it so he can continue insisting he's the greatest and avoid acknowledging that he has made and continues to make terrible choices.
• Feeling Oppressed by Their Existence: Ultimately, Izuku can never win. Katsuki will always interpret his behavior in the most uncharitable fashion possible to "justify" his cruelty towards him.
• Foil: Aizawa serves as one to Bakugou; both engage in a great deal of Psychological Projection that led them to abuse Izuku due to their own misconceptions and personal hang-ups. When the truth comes out, Aizawa is horrified by his actions, admits his mistakes, and acts to rectify them, while also recognizing that it will take time to repair the damage he's done. Bakugou, by contrast, refuses to acknowledge he's done anything wrong, stubbornly doubling down. As a result, Aizawa has a chance to make things better, while Bakugou rejects any opportunity to do the same.
• Freudian Excuse: Discussed. The entire class, including Aizawa, assumed Bakugou had one of some kind and that, at some point during their "complicated history", Izuku had done something to hurt or antagonize Bakugou. Because they didn't know what the circumstances were, no one in the class felt comfortable stepping in between Bakugou and Izuku, and so took their cues from Aizawa and Kirishima in accepting the behavior as normal, all while tacitly assuming there was some understandable reason for Bakugou to be aggressively upset with Izuku.
• Freudian Excuse Is No Excuse: What breaks the class' passivity and forces them to reevaluate Bakugou: there is no Freudian Excuse good enough to justify Bakugou telling Izuku to kill himself. And as they search for answers, they realize there was never an excuse at all.
  • Aizawa ultimately realizes that he was projecting his own past and beliefs ^note  he was bullied for having a villainous Quirk and believed Bakugo was the same onto Bakugo and Izuku, and admits to himself that he was wrong to do so, as he ended up allowing a bully to continue harassing his victim, even going as far to believe that Izuku was a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing provoking Bakugo, and that he had lost the trust of his students because of it.
• Good Is Not Soft: The 1-A kids do not go easy on Bakugou after learning of his past as a bully.
  • Ochako looks at him with constant contempt and isn't afraid to stand up to him if he so much as looks at Izuku dirty.
  • Kirishima pushes Bakugou to duel him at the gym in order to get him to confess which leads to a brutal, one-sided smackdown.
  • Tsuyu holds bitter contempt towards Bakugou after it was confirmed that he was a bully. She also intends to be tough on Kirishima and Izuku, assuming that they would try to justify or downplay the blond's abuse.
• Group Hug: All of Class 1-A, except Bakugou and Mineta, do this to celebrate Izuku and Ochako's union as new lovers.
• Hard Truth Aesop: Midnight reflects on Chapter 5 that not every student is willing to accept help or want to change for the better. And if they can't do either, then all a teacher can do is wish them the best and channel their support to students who actually want it.
• Hated by All: While Katsuki was never liked per se, he's slipping into this once his past with Izuku is revealed, and Class 1-A came to see exactly how bad he is and stopped trying to associate themselves with him. Even Izuku and Kirishima, the only people who remotely cared, begin to move on from him.
• Heel Realization: Aldera sent UA files on Bakugou's helpful and friendly nature and Izuku's lying ways. Aizawa took them at face value and didn't question why Bakugou did a 180° on his personality when entering UA. It doesn't hit him until Uraraka reveals Bakugou's Suicide Dare that the files read as inaccurate because they are, and he didn't notice the obvious discrepancy because he was projecting his life onto Bakugou.
• History Repeats: Izuku once again has another confrontation with Bakugou at Ground Gamma. Unlike before, he's the one who takes Bakugou to the site and puts him in his place with words over violence.
• Hopeless War: Bakugou is warned by Aizawa that heroes in general are constantly fighting a hopeless battle against evil and the only things that keep them from becoming the villains they fight are morals and empathy.
• Horrible Judge of Character:
  • Kirishima makes or adopts several massively incorrect character assessments in the story:
    • He assumed his hostile Quirkless cousin was Playing the Victim Card due to innate behavioral issues and didn't disagree with the name calling and abuse she faced due to this, only for Kanna to take her own life and for him to realize her anger was an understandable response to the abuse she faced for being Quirkless, a clear cry for help that no one answered.
    • He projected his regrets about that first mistake onto Bakugou, assuming Bakugou was a decent person underneath it all and his anger was just covering some hurt spot inside of him. Kirishima's decision to advocate for Bakugou socially despite his violent and hostile behavior led to the class adopting Kirishima's permissive attitude towards Bakugou, implicitly supporting Bakugou's behavior towards Izuku by treating it as if it were acceptable.
    • He did nothing to stop Bakugou from abusing Izuku. While it's never explicitly stated why Kirishima personally chose not to act, the class as a whole discusses the underlying assumption that, because Izuku and Bakugou have a "complicated history", Izuku was somehow instigating in a way the class didn't understand. It's implied Kirishima shared this underlying sentiment.
  • Aizawa proves to be guilty of this after hearing of the Suicide Dare along with seeing video footage of Bakugou tormenting Izuku. He initially believed Bakugou was a societal victim who was lashing out at others due to being perceived as a villain while Izuku was pulling a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing act by pretending to be meek to antagonize him. The Erasure Hero realizes how this was never the case as Bakugou was never the victim and he kept defending the blonde for his own, personal reasons.
• Howl of Sorrow: The empty streets of Ground Gamma echo Bakugou's pain as he screams his heart out after accepting that he's destined for failure and has no one to blame but himself.
• Hypocrisy Nod: At the start of the academic year, Aizawa accused All Might of playing favorites by constantly defending Izuku. He later accepts that he was doing the same thing by defending Bakugou when he performed genuinely harmful actions.
• I Have Your Wife: Discussed in Chapter 5. Izuku shows some concern about Ochako being fully informed about One For All mixed with being his girlfriend as it would make her a potential target for All For One and the League of Villains.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Kirishima once had a cousin named Kanna who became mean and aggressive because she was Quirkless. Her being bullied by her peers ultimately led to her suicide which Kirishima blames himself for to his day. It's because of this that he tried so hard to be Bakugou's friend and help him in any way that he couldn't do for Kanna. It takes learning about how Bakugo treated Izuku (specifically, how he told him to kill himself) for him to get over this.
• I Resemble That Remark!: When Bakugou attempts to rant at the Bakusquad about Izuku, Mina asks what he did this time. He angrily asks why she would assume he did something, and Kaminari immediately replies that he blows up over every little thing. Bakugou immediately blows up at him.
• I Regret Nothing: Refusing to accept that he was in the wrong, Bakugou daringly tells his teacher that he would tell Izuku to kill himself again if he could.
• Identity Breakdown: All his life Bakugou has been told he was meant to be a hero. When confronted with his wrongs from the past, he struggles to come to terms with them due to his established worldviews. Much of his problems stem from this.
• Ignored Epiphany: Despite his conscience niggling at him more and more, Katsuki continues to insist that he hasn't done anything wrong, and rejects all offers made to help him onto a better path.
• Insecure Love Interest: Kirishima suffers from anxiety over being a man worthy enough for Mina's love and time.
• Internal Reveal:
  • Chapter 1 ends with Ochako angrily revealing that she knows about Katsuki telling Izuku to kill himself.
  • In Chapter 3, Izuku decides to tell everyone in his class about his history as a Quirkless kid who was mercilessly bullied by Bakugou.
• Irony:
  • Why did Kirishima stand by Bakugou, who obviously bullied Izuku right in front of them? Because Kirishima saw a lot of his cousin Kanna in Bakugou. Kanna was a Quirkless girl who was Bullied into Depression and this manifested as intense aggression, making her extremely unpleasant to be around. She eventually killed herself after being the target of a Suicide Dare. Played for Drama as the fact that Kirishima had worked so hard to help Bakugou be accepted means that when Kirishima finds out what Bakugou put Izuku through, the cruelty of this irony makes Kirishima all the more pained and furious.
  • Bakugou realizes too late that the boy he constantly terrorized for his wish to be a hero was the only one who truly believed in Bakugou's own wish to be a great hero.
  • Part of Bakugou's self-aggrandizing delusion about and completely unjustified hatred for Midoriya is the fact that he feels that Midoriya is somehow looking down on him and that drives him to his feral anger and brutal bullying of his former friend. During their last confrontation in the epilogue, where Izuku is utterly coldly dismissive and stoically uncaring of Bakugou's ranting, Bakugou so unnerved and even intimidated by Izuku's cold Death Glare and utterly uncaring attitude to show any of his traditional anger at the idea of Izuku looking down on him.
• It's All My Fault: Deconstructed with Izuku. All his life, he's been forced to serve as Bakugou's whipping boy by taking in his abuse and then being blamed for it. This has led to Izuku internalizing the idea that he's responsible for Bakugou's behavior and must bend over backward however he can to keep the peace. Thankfully, with the help of his friends, he's begun to let go of this mentality and accept that Bakugou is a big boy who doesn't need his protection or coddling.
• I Work Alone: Katsuki ultimately and fully subscribes to this mindset, rationalizing that UA has made him "soft" and how he can be #1 without anyone. Unfortunately, this mindset affects his potential future as a Heroics student and ultimately he's kicked out partially because he refuses to acknowledge that he can't do things alone.
• It's Personal: Kirishima is hit especially hard by the revelations about Katsuki because his cousin Kanna, who shared Katsuki's abrasive attitude problems, was Driven to Suicide over being Quirkless.
• Jerkass Realization:
  • With Bakugou, this is Double Subverted. As his teacher and classmates begin to turn on him after hearing about his history as Izuku's bully, Bakugou refuses to accept responsibility and believes that he was always in the right. And even though he has a little voice inside telling him to listen to reason, the wannabe hero decides to double down on his toxic ideologies of what makes a true hero. Until the final paragraphs where he does realize that his actions did lead up to his downfall as he repeatedly pushed away everyone who wanted to help him and now is a failure who can't achieve his dreams.
  • Played straight with Aizawa. Thanks to the revelations of Izuku and Bakugou's past, he realizes just how much he enabled Bakugou by brushing off his past behavior, misjudging Izuku (wrongfully thinking he was the bully), and how he's been allowing his past to affect his judgment.^note He initially assumed Bakugou was like him: a misunderstood person who was bullied for having a villainous Quirk. However, he quickly corrects himself when he thinks back on it, saying that he was only seeing (and trying to protect) himself in his mind, not Bakugou.
• Jerks Are Worse Than Villains: In-Universe example. After learning how Bakugou made Izuku's life a living hell just because he was Quirkless, Ochako sincerely considers him to be worse than Shigaraki or Overhaul.
• Karma Houdini Warranty: All his life, Katsuki Bakugou has been able to get away with his despicable actions towards Izuku under the belief that he would grow up to be a great hero. From all their childhood to their first year in UA That all changes when Aizawa and Nezu become fully informed of his abusive past and decide to punish the boy by expelling him from the Hero Academy.
• Laser-Guided Karma: When his mistakes are brought up and his character questioned, Bakugou decides to double down on his toxic ideologies and refuses to accept help from anyone. The last scene has him realizing that he's alone now and destined for failure because he pushed away everyone who just wanted to help him.
• Morton's Fork: One of the ways Katsuki "justifies" his treatment of Izuku is that he was sick of being "constantly bothered" by his former friend. Yet in one flashback, he corners Izuku at the other boy's locker and accuses him of avoiding him, asking if he thinks he's "too good for him" now and beating him up.
• Must Make Amends: Aizawa accepts that he's lost his students' trust for his cold "logical" actions and how he's constantly excused Bakugou's heinous actions and decides to make things right by earning the trust of his class.
• My God, What Have I Done?: A lot of characters have this reaction throughout the story.
  • Ochako gets this when she blurts out Bakugou's Suicide Dare without Izuku's permission.
  • Kirishima and Mina get this when they realize that they've been blindly supporting a school bully despite their history and disdain for bullies.
  • Aizawa gets one when he realizes that he was defending Bakugou while downplaying all the horrible things he's done.
• Never My Fault: As far as Bakugou is concerned, he's completely justified in terrorizing Izuku, believing that Izuku deserves to suffer for "annoying him" with his existence. When he starts failing his assignments during his last months at UA, he doubles down on this, blaming his classmates for distracting him and his teachers for being tougher on him.
• Not Helping Your Case: After learning that he's set to be kicked out of the hero program, Bakugou tries to show that he's meant to be the best hero by going all out with his Explosion Quirk. All this does is show how dangerously destructive and careless he is when it comes to the rescue side of heroism.
• One Degree of Separation: Ochako admits to Izuku that her family once considered moving to Mustafu. Meaning that she could have enrolled at Aldera and been friends with him.
• Once Done, Never Forgotten: After Ochako blurts out how Bakugou told Izuku to kill himself, their classmates and teachers bring up the topic and the grim implications that surround the dark history between the two boys, and it comes to define how the rest of the cast see Bakugou from that point onward. Justified, as not only do they realize in hindsight that Bakugou has continued to behave abusively towards Izuku, but Bakugou in the present decides to double down, declaring to Aizawa that he doesn't regret the Suicide Dare and would do it again.
• Playing the Victim Card:
  • It's noted that Katsuki tends to see and present himself as the victim whenever he doesn't get his way, throwing tantrums and blaming everyone but himself for his problems.
  • Aizawa mistakenly believed that this was Izuku's M.O., pretending to be terrorized by the "naturally villainous" Katsuki to get him into trouble.
• Positive Friend Influence: Ochako, Tenya, Tsuyu, and Shouto do their parts as Izuku's closest friends to help him after his dark history with Bakugou is revealed. They shower him with unconditional love, remind him of his positive attributes, and assure him that he's not responsible for Bakugou's poor behavior.
• Post-Support Regret: Both Kirishima and Aizawa were Bakugo’s biggest supporters, as they had believed that Bakugo had a reason for his issues. Once they realize he had bullied Izuku for no real reason and had even gone as far as to tell him to "take a swan dive off a roof", they very quickly realize that they were completely wrong and regret not stopping his abuse.
• Psychological Projection:
  • Kirishima privately admits that he projected the behavior of his late cousin Kanna, who was Bullied into Depression because she lacked a Quirk and developed serious anger issues in the process, onto Bakugou's similar actions, thus constantly giving him the benefit of the doubt. He's immediately regretful when it turns out that Bakugou is unambiguously in the wrong and has no Freudian Excuse to speak of.
  • Aizawa assumes Bakugou is always angry because he was discriminated against for having a villainous Quirk. Because Izuku is a focal point for Bakugou's aggression and has a stereotypically heroic Quirk, Aizawa assumes Izuku is a Bitch in Sheep's Clothing who is baiting Bakugou and simply acting innocent around others. It doesn't occur to him until Uraraka reveals Bakugou's Suicide Dare that he was reading the situation completely wrongly and allowing Bakugou to get away with abusive behavior because he had projected much of his own backstory onto Bakugou and, in some dark part of his mind, privately concluded Izuku instigated and thus deserved the abuse.
• Revealing Cover Up: The staff at Aldera thought they were being clever by erasing video footage of Bakugou terrorizing Izuku. However, they did this so clumsily that Nezu was able to recover the video files and share them with his team. The fact that Aldera tried to destroy the files just helps to incriminate them further.
• Rewind, Replay, Repeat: Aizawa replays Bakugou's Suicide Dare as he comes to terms with his hypocritical manner of defending the boy.
• Relationship Upgrade: Izuku and Kirishima get together with Ochako and Mina respectively in the last chapter.
• Running Away to Cry: Kirishima does this after he accidentally hits Mina when she tried to stop him from beating up Bakugou.
• Sadistic Teacher: Deconstructed with Aizawa. His frigid personality mixed with his "the world isn't fair" mentality and his underlying antagonism towards Izuku has ruined his students' trust in him. They have no faith that he'll handle the Bakugou situation with meaningful care and genuinely consider dropping his class if their toxic classmate isn't given proper consequences. It's exceptionally jarring for them since he has admittedly expelled students for lesser crimes compared to everything Bakugou has done.
• Saying Too Much: The truth comes out when Ochako, furious with Katsuki blatantly harassing Izuku in the middle of their classroom, snaps at him that anyone "who can tell someone else to kill themselves without batting an eye is a fucking monster".
• Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Momo's ultimatum is that if Bakugou isn't properly punished or removed from the class, then she and a majority of her classmates will transfer from UA to other hero schools out of solidarity.
• Secret-Keeper: Izuku decides to replace Bakugou with Ochako who becomes informed of his destiny as All Might's successor.
• Secretly Selfish: The real reason for Aiwaza always defending Bakugou: Because he had gone through discrimination due to his Quirk (he had wrongfully assumed Bakugou went through the same and Izuku was instigating him), he was actually defending himself in his mind whenever he defended Bakugou. He's forced to admit this to himself in chapter 4 when the truth comes out and he looks back on his past behavior towards the two.
• Self-Serving Memory: Played With; when Katsuki's flashbacks are detailed, they seem to accurately depict what occurred, such as his memory of cornering Izuku at his locker and accusing him of avoiding him because he "thinks [he's] too good for him now". Yet Katsuki still acts as though they fully support his own skewed perspective.
• Shadow Archetype: Toshinori uses his lifetime of hardships, ruined friendships, and declining health to warn Izuku to make better choices as the next holder while also encouraging him to have faith in his friends.
• Ship Tease: There's a lot of tender moments for IzuOcha and KiriMina shippers to enjoy.
• Shown Their Work: The 1-A kids discuss with each other how their culture has a tendency to downplay bully cases or ignore a person's problematic behavior. This is in reference to how bullying in Japanese society can exist without consequences or intervention.
• Slave to PR: Due to defending Bakugou's character so publicly in the past, UA can't afford to expel Bakugou for the abusive behavior he's displayed while at their school now that they've finally realized how serious it is, lest it looks like a climb down and harms public confidence in the school further. Instead, they settle for letting Bakugou complete the year and then plan to have him quietly leave the school under a cover story.
• Sweet and Sour Grapes: Bakugou's consequences result in the following: he will be expelled from UA at the end of the semester and will have a harder time in becoming an official hero. For the time being, he will continue his classes until the semester's end. The reason being is that Bakugou's notoriety is tied to UA and expelling him on the spot would lead to catastrophic consequences that can ruin the school's reputation and the student body's academia.
• Switching P.O.V.: Each chapter contains perspectives from various MHA characters and how they react to the reveal of Izuku and Bakugou's bad blood.
• Title Drop: Izuku says it to Katsuki in the final chapter as he's officially cutting him out of his life.
• Touché: Bakugou is forced to admit that Sero is right when the latter points out Bakugou can't expect to vent about his issues to them and then get mad when they comment on said issues.
• We Used to Be Friends:
  • The premise involves Izuku cutting Bakugou from his life while accepting that his childhood friend transformed into an arrogant, violent bully. The last chapter even has his renouncing their relationship while retiring the childhood nickname he gave him.
  • The same also applies to Kirishima and the Bakusquad when they realize how terrible Bakugou is mixed with his refusal to accept that he was in the wrong.
• Worth Living For: Izuku vows to himself that he's going to enjoy the beauty of life with his friends and loved ones while also becoming a bonafide hero that All Might can be proud of.
• You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Jirou's reaction when Aizawa admits he thought Bakugou was the victim in his relationship with Izuku.
• You Remind Me of X:
  • The reason that Kirishima was so defensive of Bakugou was that he reminded him of a cousin who was Quirkless and lashed out at others for her frustrated existence.
  • The same can apply to Aizawa who saw himself in Bakugou. He initially believed that Bakugou's anti-social attitude came from being mistreated by the world for having a villainous Quirk, just like him.

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