Pear

Katsuki ran his thumb over the pig's blood stain on Sensei's hoodie.

It'd been a month since Kirishima's murder and Mina's apparent suicide. Class had resumed only a week after both events, but only now did he feel he was coming to terms with what happened.

Only now did he put his uniform on over that damned necklace and not wince at the implications of how the necklace was the murder weapon, how Mina used her version of the necklace to hang herself. It was hard not to think about, but he was finally managing to pull it off.

They still didn't even know who the murderer was.

He pulled on the uniform that he still found stupid after staring at it in his hands for too long. He walked to school despite the smell of smoke that still seemed to follow him everywhere and the sound of sirens that rang like tinnitus in his ears.

Katsuki couldn't look at the color red anymore. If he looked at the color red he'd think about it and that was something he couldn't bear to do any longer. If he looked at people with red hair he'd think about how much they might look like Kirishima if they spiked it up with too much gel. If he looked in the mirror he couldn't make eye contact with his reflection because his eyes were just a little too red. A little too much like the friendly gaze he'd never see again because his own eyes weren't like that.

Katsuki couldn't look at the color pink anymore. It'd make him think of what he didn't do. He'd been so caught up in his own grief he didn't think about the grief Mina would be experiencing. Her own boyfriend had been murdered. She'd been there when it happened and he didn't even think to ask her what she saw. He wasn't there to comfort her or listen to her or something. Maybe, just maybe, he could've saved her life but he didn't because he was too selfish to even think about anyone but himself. That was what cost him his first friends at his new school. Because he was too selfish.

It was why he was glad he didn't wear the tie to his uniform because that gaudy red would remind him of it all.

He sat at his desk, not bothering to look at the one empty seat. Some kid from a few classes next door transferred in at the 'opportunity', Shinsou Hitoshi, or something weird like that. Kirishima's seat didn't stay empty for long enough.

He didn't like that he was forgetting, but he knew it had to happen for him to move on.

Dabi-Sensei burst the door down like usual, immaturely yelling, "What's up, mother truckers?!"

Candycane then responded; hands cupped around his mouth, "This is why mom doesn't fucking love you!"

"Watch yo' profanity!"

Katsuki had begun to learn this was to be expected of the two. He wondered if he'd ever have a bond like that. Maybe one day. Maybe.

The brothers proceeded to glare at one another. The class was silent for all of two minutes until a few of them stifled laughter. Dunce Face and the Spanish kid he'd dubbed 'Soy Sauce Face' laughed the hardest.

Sensei slammed the thick manila folders with his lesson plans down on the lectern like he did every morning, "For English class today… partner project! You and your partner have to pick a book you share from your childhood and turn it into something darker and more serious. You get to pick your partners, once everyone is settled I'll hand out the rubric and you can get started. You have one week to complete this, so take time out of class to work on this as well."

Everybody groaned but Dunce Face happily sidled up to Katsuki's desk, "I heard that you needed a partner, partner."

"No." Was his eloquent response. Like hell he'd work with one of the lowest-ranked kids in class. Not over his dead body.

"C'mon dude, I make people happy and you obviously need the happiness right now. There isn't an 'I' in 'Happiness', bro, think about it," The honey-blonde gave him this butchered version of the look moms give when they're silently willing you to listen to them.

Katsuki scoffed, "There is if you spell it correctly, Dunce Face. How did you even get into this school?"

The boy shrugged, "My mom asks me that question all the time. Pleaseeee, Bakugou, I ne~ed this grade," he got onto his knees and pleaded with his hands clasped together. Katsuki stared in judgement.

"Yeah? Well, I ne~ed to keep my sanity intact," He retorted, whispering then to himself, "God knows I'm already losing it."

It was after somebody tapped him on the shoulder, gathering both boys' attention, that he looked to see the walking Candycane, "I'd actually like to work with Bakugou, if that's alright."

Katsuki never really gave the boy the time of day, but seeing that he was also one of the top students, he figured this would be his best option, "Sure, whatever, half n' half."

Dunce Face frowned and slowly walked back to his seat all droopy, like a wilted flower, melting on his desk while Soy Sauce Face pat him on the head like a scared horse, "It'll be okay, Denks, he didn't deserve you anyway. We can still work together, y'know? The good ol' days."

"It's not the saaammeee," He whined, "I miss Kiri."

Those words made those who heard sad, but the black-haired boy gave his friend a sympathetic look, "We all do, Denks, we all do."

The bicolored boy cleared his throat to gain back Katsuki's attention, though before he could speak Dabi-Sensei whistled through two fingers, "Now that everybody has a partner, one of you from each pair come up and get your rubric!"

Katsuki grunted and stood, lightly snatching the paper from the teacher's desk who just smiled his perfect smile at him, eyes crinkling. God, he was so whipped. The guy gave him his hoodie as a friendly gesture but nope, that was all it took to whisk his own heart out from under him.

The moment he sat down, Todoroki 'Candycane' Shouto fixed him with the firmest glare he'd ever seen apart from his own.

"Let's do 'All my friends are dead.' by Avery Monsen and Jory John," The boy stated as if to leave no room for argument.

Katsuki scowled, "No. I don't know what books you read as a kid, but it has to be something we have in common and I've never fuckin' read that. Besides, it's dark sounding enough…"

"A Bad Case of the Stripes?" Todoroki shrugged.

Katsuki shook his head, "What about No, David! Would that work?"

"Isn't that only for kids with behavioral issues? I haven't read it."

"…I don't think it is."

Todoroki chewed on the end of his pencil, "Well… what was your favorite book as a kid?"

Katsuki twiddled his thumbs. His parents always read him books they thought might teach him manners. His favorite book as a kid was…

"The Giving Tree."

"Oh, that was one of my favorites, too. My other favorite was Biscuit Goes to School."

"The one with the golden retriever? Why?" Katsuki raised an eyebrow.

The boy shrugged, "Was homeschooled. Wanted to be with other kids my age…"

That… explained a lot, actually. The blonde looked between his Candycane-colored classmate and his tetchy two-toned teacher. Suddenly a lot more things began to make sense in Katsuki's head. Oh, wait, the peppermint boy was still talking.

"... You could imagine my surprise when nobody broke into song and dance on the first day of High School."

He prayed the murderer would perhaps claim either himself or the life-sized stocking stuffer as the next victim, though he knew he'd never get so lucky. It was going to be a long ass week. The rest of the class ensued with a lot of yelling on his part.

"What the hell, you wack-ass punky knuckle-fuck! Do you wanna die? Stop naming children's books I don't know! I don't know what the fuck this leapfrog interactive stories shit you're talking about is, but it ain't happenin'!" He flicked his partner on the forehead again.

Before Katsuki could continue his lecture, however, the sound of desks being tossed lightly to the side caught his attention. A classmate he hadn't paid attention to, some girl who couldn't keep her tongue in her mouth it seemed, had approached him. She had waist-long dark green hair tied in a low-hanging foxtail and large eyes with black irises.

"Stop it, kero."

What? "Hah?" He was just trying to work on the stupid project for Christ's Sake. And why did she fuckin' croak? Like a fuckin' toad?

"Stop yelling. Get some control over your anger issues, it's disruptive to the rest of us. Kero."

Whaaat?! "I don't fuckin' have anger issues, you filthy toad! Half n' half just has issues and I'm fuckin' angry about it, mind your own business!"

She frowned, turning towards where Dabi-Sensei was reading some book titled Make-Out Violence, "Dabi-Sensei, are you going to do something?"

A judgemental frown etched its way to the side of his mouth as he looked up from his book, "Like what, Asui-San? He was very clearly minding his own business; so what do you want me to do about that?"

Her face wasn't very expressive, but she seemed angry at his reply. Despite this, she sat back down in her own seat with a quiet huff.

Katsuki cleared his throat, "Anyway, as I was going to say before being so rudely interrupted, it seems like The Giving Tree is the only thing we can agree on."

The bicolored boy nodded his agreement and they continued to work on the project in silence; jotting down notes of ideas on how to make the story dark… -er. They'd decided to continue working on it at the Candycane's house since Katsuki still had moving boxes littered in random places at his own.

The rest of the day went without consequence and the blonde soon found himself outside of a very fancy minka. Of course, they were rich, their father was a renowned scientist after all. He honestly didn't know what he'd been expecting, really. It's not like they'd live in a shack.

With a sigh, Katsuki knocked.

A young woman with white, red-speckled hair and glasses answered the door. Suddenly he was sitting at a fucking chabudai. Apparently, the woman was his classmate's older sister, Fuyumi, who was a teacher like their older brother. She was a saint and God in the kitchen. She practically force-fed him at first but the food is good enough that he gave in.

He and Shouto got to work on discussing their notes' common points, deciding to keep certain ideas and discard others. Though he couldn't for the life of him figure out why their teacher, who was off-duty now, was watching them from the kitchen doorway. Katsuki stared at their teacher in casual clothes- a ratty, loose but somehow still too small white t-shirt with low-rise tight black leather pants. He couldn't imagine how it would be comfortable, but he wasn't complaining.

"Hey, Touya!" Shouto called, effectively knocking Katsuki out of his daydreaming.

Dabi-Sensei merely hummed his acknowledgment.

"You're our teacher, so why don't you help us?!"

The tattooed man laughed, "Not right now, I'm not! I'm just the creepy and annoying older brother spying on my lil bro and his classmate," he gave them a shit-eating grin as if to reinforce his statement.

Shouto scowled, "Fuckin' simp."

Sensei rolled his eyes, "You're such a bitch."

"What did you say?"

"I have an itch."

Katsuki snorted at their banter, somehow not catching either brother's attention. Sensei wasn't too different than how he was at school, but it was still funny to watch uninterrupted.

Dabi-Sensei sighed, "Okay, whatever, Sho," he waved a hand dismissively, "What book did you guys pick?"

"The Giving Tree," They said simultaneously.

The teacher blinked, "Really? Why not 'All my friends are dead.'?"

"You Todorokis and your weird children's books…" He exasperatedly mumbled under his breath.

"Katsuki doesn't know that book."

"...Oh," Dabi-Sensei looked at his wrist, absent of a watch, before smacking both hands to his thighs, "Welp, that reminds me that I have things to grade, so I'll leave you boys to it."

Without further commentary, he left the room. Sadly all that did was make way for another Todoroki to bother them. Another boy with short white hair and a muscular build walked up to his side of the table. Shouto seemed to ignore him entirely so Katsuki hoped if he did the same that they'd be left alone.

"Sooooo, you're Bakugou Katsuki, yeah?" He gave them a wide grin, "I'm Natsuo, but you can just call me Natsu."

"I don't care."

Natsuo sucked his teeth, "Yikes, tough crowd. I'm gonna get straight to the point here, then; can I get an autograph from your mom?"

"No."

Apparently, 'no' means something else in this household because the older Todoroki kept bugging him the rest of the time they worked. At least he and the Candycane got some good work done before Katsuki had to head home.

He was glad things seemed to be going back to normal. At least, as normal as they could be with everything that had been going on. He didn't need the stress.

Obviously, it didn't matter either way, because the body of his classmate Asui Tsuyu had been found the next morning.

He could never catch a break, it seemed.