Intelligent But Clueless

Anzu shut the door of the dorms behind her. Another long day, and all she could show for it was homework. She sighed, removing her shoes and climbing up the stairs taking at least thirty seconds each step. She couldn't say this new schedule was doing wonders for her mood either. She happened to be incredibly sour due to lack of sleep and experience. If one more person asked her to do something, she feared she would attack them. When she finally reached Bakugou's room, she flopped on top of her makeshift bed. Unfortunately for her, there wasn't a mattress so she practically fell face first directly onto the floor. Anzu was too tired to correct her mistake, so she just stayed there. Eventually, she drifted into some strange form of dozing. She was still awake, but her mind had been completely shut down. She had tried again that day to focus her quirk on Aizawa, but she ended up with the same result as well as the same muscle pains. Her second day of school, and she already felt hopeless. Some self esteem I have. She thought, tracing a circle on the wood floor with her finger. A little later on, she heard the door crack open but she didn't bother moving. She couldn't care less. Then she realized who it probably was, and shifted around just enough to see him. He had clearly just come back from some form of training. He was soaked head to toe in either sweat or water.

"Geez did you go swimming or something?" She asked turning her head back around. She got a mumble in return. She couldn't make it out but she didn't care enough to tell him to speak up. He went ahead and showered. Meanwhile Anzu got her homework done, procrastinating between every question. She was clueless when it came to being a hero. So much more went into it then she had anticipated. She had to know practically every medical procedure in the book, learn how to direct crowds, and learn hundreds of fighting techniques. She was enjoying it, but the amount of free time she put into it was exhausting.

"Move. You're in the way. " She heard the voice from behind her. She moved around and saw Bakugou in nothing but some shorts. She then realized she had chosen to do her homework directly in front of his dresser. Without knowing how or why, she could feel her face grow hot.

"S-sorry." Anzu sputtered, scrambling to get up. She collected her things, piling them on top of the kitchen counter. She didn't know why but the color in her face wouldn't dissapear. The exhausted teenager flipped open her book and pretended to study, hoping to leave the awkward situation behind.

"We don't need to study that yeno." He said leaning over her shoulder. She slammed the book shut in surprise. Too close. She had opened to a random page, she had no idea he would notice.

"O-oh I just thought I would study ahead because... I missed some stuff in the past and wanted to catch up." She lied. It took her a few minuted to realize that that statement made no sense. He eyed her curiously but didn't seem to notice.

"Right, speaking of studying I need to catch you up for extra credit, so hurry up." He said walking over to his desk. To her dismay, he had put on an incredibly tight shirt, not helping her current situation. She awkwardly moved towards the desk, taking her books with her. This was about the last thing she wanted to do. She pulled up a chair and sat down.

"So what do you know about Japan. Anything?" He asked flipping through his text book.

"I know a decent amount." She said, trying not to sound like she knew what she was talking about. Studying was about the only thing she could focus her time on. The only entertainment she got was from history books and mathematics. She had had a strange knack for them since she was a kid. They had her study up on human anatomy the most. She never understood why. . . Until now. It was because they wanted her to become a hero from the start wasn't it? They were playing her, teaching her secretly how to pinpoint certain nervous systems. Something welled up in her she didn't know she had. So lock up the animal, train it, then use it to do your dirty work? Her heart started to pump. She had always felt resentment towards them but this? Give her zero hope her whole life, make her think she'll be locked up forever, just so that she couldn't say no.

"Hey are you listening?" The voice came crashing through her thoughts. She accidentally glared up at him. He looked taken aback, but she realized that was a terrible mistake. Once again, he looked like he would force the entire building to implode in less than seconds. He stood up, took in a giant breath, ready to rant, however,

"S-sorry I was lost in thought." She replied, not making eye contact. He was ready to give her an ear full anyway, but stopped. There was something incredibly grotesque behind the glare she had given him. He knew that kind of look well. That was a kind of anger that took years. The kind that festered after being suppressed. Same in the half and half bastard. And he guessed he could say it would take one to know one.

"Nevermind, let's just get this over with." He grumbled, finding a good starting point in their mathematics book. She nodded her head and looked to where he was pointing.

"Alright so this is pre-calculus. For example, this one here-"

"74.9=x to the fourth power." She said looking at him with an honest expression. He went speechless for a moment. Then he checked the answer sheet he had kept. It was correct.

"Alright smart ass, lets see about this one." He said with a giant grin. For some reason he thought of this as a challenge.

"908=c+b" She said, once again looking on in earnest. The fuck is wrong with this chick? He thought to himself, turning the page and refusing to look surprised. It barely too her ten seconds! Can she see the answer sheet or somethi'n?

"How much math do you know?" He asked trying to gauge where to start.

"I was told up through accelerated calculus, but I don't know where that lays on the scale." She said looking at the window behind him. She would much rather be staring at the stars and hearing the night life of the forest.

"You're hysterical. But seriously stop fucking around, where are you in mathematics?" He asked, his non-existent line of patience growing even thinner.

"I just told you! Accelerated calculus. Is that a bad thing?" She asked worry setting in. He had had enough. He pulled up an accelerated mathematics course on his phone, finding one of the basic questions. He shoved the phone at her.

"Fine then. Answer it." He said his words bitter. It took her several minutes. "Tch I knew it." He said turning the book back around.

"16t+0g+58t+E" She said lost deep in thought. He stared at her. She had done it. She had left Katsuki Bakugou speechless. "Was that correct?" She asked anticipating the answer.

"Who the fuck are you?" He asked, sick and tired of pretending he didn't know there was a pot hole in her past. Anzu grew flustered. Had he figured her out? What was she going to say? No it must be just an honest question. Is learning that high a level of math a bad thing?

"I just study a lot in my free time." She said, giving the most convincing smile she could muster. Once again he accepted the lie.

"Let's move to historical studies." Bakugou said, changing the subject. "How much do you know about that?" He asked, looking back up to her and meeting her gaze. He didn't know why but she had a terrible time keeping eye contact. Her face was also oddly red. He reached over and turned on the ac, assuming she was just hot. Now he really wanted to finish. Accepting all these lies was really starting to piss him off.

"I know quite a bit about history." She said smiling at the thought. It was practically the closest thing she had to a story book.

"Do you know up to world war three, and the coming of quirks?"

"Yes I know pretty much everything up to present day." She said hoping to move on to the next subject.

"What year was the most popular time for breeding people with admirable quirks to create powerful children?" He asked. If she could answer this he would move on. This was one of the questions that not even the result of it knew (Todoroki). The entirety of the class had been clueless.

"30XXVI" She answered without any hesitation. Now he was really confused.

"If your from America why do you know so much about Japan?" He asked trying to force her to share something about the truth. Anzu froze. What would she tell him? She couldn't just say she lived here! But wouldn't he have noticed she didn't have an accent too?

"I studied abroad in middle school! That's why I can speak Japanese so well." She said trying not to let the lie leak through. She knew she could've come up with something better. No one studied abroad in middle school unless you've got enough money to throw away. She was just sick of all of it. Lying to cover up the U.A. board's mistake. But she had no other choice. This exact issue happened with every common subject. All sciences, whether it was relating to the earth, the human body, theories and deductions. All Japanese studies, all different types of literature. Everything. Nothing could stump her. Bakugou refused to give up, that was when he realized what he had been forgetting.

"Hey. How do you defend a knife attack?" He asked completely out of nowhere.

"What?" She asked, dumbfounded. He hadn't even given her context.

"Stand up." He ordered, reaching for the pair of scissors on his desk.

"Bakugou that's dangerous, use something else." She said standing in the center of the living room. They didn't have much room to begin with but it would do.

"Shut up. So's a knife. And I know what I'm doing." He said holding the scissor like a knife with a large hilt. Without any warning or signal, he lunged at her, stopping the edge of the scissor right in front of her neck. It practically took her a whole second to realize what happened and stumble backwards.

"Damn your reflexes are slow. That was one of he worst reactions I think Iv'e ever seen." He said with a big cocky smirk. Finally something she was bad at. "Come to think of it your'e pretty skinny. You're endurance must be really suck too." He went and sat back down. "How much fighting experience do you have?" He said changing out his study books to combat books.

"None... actually." She said, wincing at the words as they came out. She wasn't much of a hero to begin with. What was she even thinking? Her a hero? All the thoughts mixed up in her head begin to cloud her judgement.

"It's late now, but from now on we practice combat, because clearly you have no idea what your doing." There was some satisfaction in those words. He was getting kind of sick of getting shown up by some stupid American transfer student. He handed her a book on ways to block all sorts of weaponry.

"Comb through the first four chapters tonight, because tomorrow I'm going to ask you about them. This extra credit better be fucking worth it." He said, rubbing his nose bridge. He then stood up and made his way over to his bed. He planted into the pillows, sinking under the plushness, trying to shut off the constant anger boiling in his head. Anzu came over to her makeshift bed as well. The first four chapters all in the same night? She needed that like she needed a hole in the head. She groaned. She wasn't sure her life could get harder but she was proven wrong. She began flipping through the pages, tried obtaining information but was so brain dead, she knew in the morning she wouldn't remember any of it. So she looked anyway, but didn't bother to pay attention. Despite all of her complaining, she was truly happy about where she was. The fact she was tired meant she was doing something with her life. She liked finally seeing all the contraptions she had learned about for years like coffee makers and airplanes. They had those when she was a kid, but she was too young to remember and even if she did she probably would've taken them for granted. After she had flipped through the first chapter, she could barely keep her eyes open. She let her head fall onto the book as she stared at the glowing light behind the door to the hallway. Everything had so much contrast. There wasn't just light and dark anymore. There was a certain in between state she couldn't name. Not fully dark, but not light either. In a strange way it kind of reminded her of her hair. Finally she gave up, closing the book and slipping into the sweatshirt she had pretty much stolen from Bakugou. She shut her eyes and prepared to drift off.

"How'd you get that eye injury anyway?" He asked this time not moving to the edge of the bed to ask. He held his hands behind his head and stared up at the ceiling. She couldn't say she was surprised anymore. What did she expect? He's one nosy guy if you ask me. She thought, moving into a sitting position. She tried to remember the lie she had told Tsu when she asked. What was it again?

"My friend has a... pointy quirk and she accidentally hit my eye... I can't see out of it anymore so that's why I have a bandage." This came out a whole lot more slurred than she had hoped. She couldn't fight the exhaustion crashing over her. She didn't get a reply. So she simply turned over and finally was able to stop fighting the sleep exhaustion. Bakugou couldn't sleep that night. The fact he was being fed so many lies by this strange girl he had never met before was angering him. He didn't even know what her quirk was and she was studying to be a hero. What was he supposed to think? The whole situation was just pissing him off the more he thought about it. One thing was for sure. She was sickeningly smart, but when it same to being a hero, she was clueless. And somehow he was stuck in the middle of it.