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Katsuki swiftly opens the door to his house, barely avoiding slamming the damn thing. He's about to call out his arrival, but suddenly his mother is around the corner, rushing towards him.
“Katsuki!” His mother cries out, upon him in mere seconds, hands on his shoulders and looking him over. “Are you alright? Are you hurt? What did the paramedics say?” Katsuki grimaces, and pushes her hands off of him.
“I'm fine, hag,” he says, spotting his father behind her. “Old man, tell her I'm fine.” Instead of helping him, his father simply smiles softly at him, tears welling in his eyes. He steps closer and Katsuki throws his hands up in defense, his quirk making them pop. “Oh, no no no, no you don't.”
His dad ignores his crackling hands, drawing both him and his mother into a hug. Katsuki yells in protest, squirming in the grip, but neither of his parents relent. Defeated, he slumps in their grip. Might as well let them get it out of their system.
He lets the hug last for another 30 seconds, before pushing away.
“I'm fine,” he insists again, brushing past them, further into his house. “Damn sludge has got nothin’ on me.” His hands shake involuntarily as he says the villain’s name, but he clenches his fists to ignore it.
Neither of his parents reply, sharing a look that has Katsuki even more on edge. “What?” He snaps, “If you've got somethin’ to say, fucking say it.”
“Brat!” His mother snipes back, though the usual vitriol is missing from her tone. “Sit down, we need to talk to you.”
As one, his parents move forward, and Katsuki finds himself suddenly sitting on the couch, his dad sitting next to him and his mom on the armchair. He eyes both of them wearily, but waits for his mom to start.
“I'm not gonna hear any argument from you, alright?” Mitsuki starts, and oh boy does Katsuki already not like where this is going. “We've already discussed this, your father and I, and we've made a decision.” A quick breath. “We're pulling you from Aldera.”
“WHAT?!” Katsuki explodes, attempting to shoot upwards, being stopped by his father's sudden vice grip on his arm. His mother continues over his shouts, louder.
“WE KNOW YOU'RE STRONG–”
“WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU THINKING–”
“IT'S JUST NOT SAFE–”
“LIKE HELL I'M GOING ANYWHERE–”
“IT’S ALREADY HAPPENED!”
Katsuki quiets.
“You… you already pulled me? What the fuck?”
“We know how you are,” Mitsuki says, a hard look on her face. “I know how you are.”
“But why? I was fine!”
“Katsuki! You could've died!”
“I'M ALIVE, AREN'T I?”
His mother doesn't reply, and it's then that Katsuki notices the watery eyes. Bakugō Mitsuki, on the verge of tears. The sight shakes him, slightly, and he lets the rest of his words die on his tongue. Instead, he reaches out a hand, tentative.
(What he doesn't realize is this is the exact pose he had earlier. Reaching out with his hand towards the heroes, towards the cameras, towards anybody, and Mitsuki remembers how nobody ran to help. Nobody but a tiny, quirkless boy with more bravery than sense. And Mitsuki can't handle the image, not so soon after she almost saw her son die, while everyone stood around and watched.)
Mitsuki makes a choked sound, and runs from the room. Katsuki isn't quite sure how to take that response.
“Katsuki,” his father says, carefully turning him around. “Your mother loves you so, so much.”
Katsuki knows this, of course he knows this. But he doesn't interrupt.
“Sometimes, I think she's afraid. Afraid of how similar the two of you are. You're incredibly brave, and strong, but you're reckless. And as much as she understands that, as much as we understand that, it's still terrifying.
“We weren't sure if you were going to survive today, Kat. And we know how much being the first hero from Aldera means to you, we do, but if your mother needs some more peace of mind, then I think that takes precedence.
“We have some schools picked out, we weren't going to reenroll you without your input.”
“But you'd pull me?” Katsuki cuts in, bitterness in his tone. Masaru raises his hands, but nods, ceding the point.
“We should’ve asked, I know. And I'm sorry. I'm just trying to help you see Mom's side of it.” Reluctantly, Katsuki nods. It does make sense, loath as he is to admit it.
His dad continues, “Your mom requested either a hero-prep school, or a boarding school, so those are our options. I've looked up several already, but I figured we could spend the night finding the right school.”
Katsuki thinks, for a long moment. There’s not much he can do about Aldera, given what's already happened. And like his dad said, he and his mom are equally stubborn, so he doubts he'll be able to convince her otherwise. But picking out a new school, one that could still work for the challenges he posited for himself, maybe that would be fine.
Yeah, Aldera is a dump anyway. Maybe he can actually be challenged at a new school.
“Alright, fine,” he says, finally. “Where’s your list?”
—
It takes Katsuki all of about 10 minutes to veto all of the schools Masaru had looked up previously. For various reasons, including "too pretentious” and “total dumpster fire”. His dad tried arguing against him for the first few, but if Katsuki has to pick a new school, he's going to find one that he wants.
Unfortunately, there's not many schools that fall under Katsuki's strict guidelines. Many are public, with poor teaching and even poorer graduation rates. Some are private and ridiculously expensive, but they don't have the type of curriculum that Katsuki would really want in a middle school. It's a… frustrating process, to say the least.
After about an hour of school searching, Mitsuki walks back into the room. Katsuki doesn't look up, too engrossed in the next prep school - a private school called Somei, and it looks just as pretentious as the last several - when she drops a paper right on top of his keyboard.
“Huh?” Katsuki startles, looking up at his mother.
“Look up that one. Seems good to me,” is all she says, before heading back out of the room. He watches her leave, suspicious, before glancing down at the paper.
It's a long name, so after a moment, Katsuki types it in dutifully.
The results are extensive. A private school, one of the top in Tokyo, with incredibly high graduation rates and top scores. The school boasted a unique class system, something called the “E system”, but it didn't go into much further detail. Most of the graduates seem to continue on to the connecting high school, though several opt for Shiketsu as well.
“Seems perfect,” his dad says, looking over his shoulder. “Challenging classes, competitive exams, and a low rate of kids going to U.A. You'd excel.”
Katsuki lets his dad speak, weighing the pros and cons. If he's being honest, there aren't many cons. Alright, he thinks, nodding his head. Kunugigaoka it is.