Before Dabi showed up to help Satoko, Ochako had been walking around on her own.

She liked to walk with Iida and Izuku after school before they go to their dorms, but she decided to go out alone on that day. It might be nice for her to get some time away from everything and relax before it got dark.

She heard noises coming from nearby. It caused her to be alert. (Villains...?)

Even though she was only in her first year of high school, her and her classmates had been put through multiple villain attacks. In the most recent attack, one of her classmates had even gotten kidnapped. So of course her first instinct was to think that she was about to be thrown into another life threatening situation against her will.

She spotted a girl running through an alleyway. She was being chased by a group of men. Ochako wanted to interfere, but she knew that she was supposed to find a pro hero to help.

She immediately pushed her legs to run as fast as she could in another direction. (I need to find help! That girl could be in trouble!)

A familiar face was heading in her direction. She skidded to a stop. "Bakugo! Have you seen any heroes around here? I saw trouble!"

As usual, Katsuki had a grumpy expression on his face. "Ha? Trouble?" He started angrily grinning. "Where at? I'll freaking kill them!"

Ochako smiled nervously. "You know we aren't supposed to get involved. You'll get us into trouble if you start a fight."

"So what?!" He exclaimed. "I'll show them all what it takes to be a hero! Especially idiotic Deku!! It's not the first time we've gone against villains so I don't see a problem!"

Hawks was strolling in some kind of alleyway. His eyes moved to that direction. He halted hearing Katsuki's loud, obnoxious voice. (That kid...)

Curious, he started to listen further.

"Everyone already knows you're one of the strongest in our class. Why don't we just leave this to the pro heroes so we don't risk being suspended?" Ochako was one of the few people in their class who would stand up to Katsuki and tell him no. She's also one of the few who Katsuki actually respected, even if he didn't show it at times.

"Tch." Katsuki looked away in a scowl. He could never yell as extreme at Ochako like he does with the others. "Y'know, that still didn't answer my question. Who's in trouble anyways?"

"I don't recognize her." Ochako wiggled her fingers around. "She had colorful hair and a little braid. Yellow eyes. I couldn't tell what type of quirk she has."

Hawks's interest was caught on. Surely, he was going to go anyway to save whoever it was.

Satoko came to his mind. No... it can't be her again, can it?

Katsuki grabbed Ochako's wrist. It wasn't rough, but he had that cocky grin on his face. "Take me there, pink cheeks. We can't waste time talking like this."

Katsuki never interacted with her like this before. It's strange. He knew Ochako for a while now. He noticed Ochako's face started to get redder. Oblivious, he started to ask. "What's with your face? Ya sick?"

Ochako shook her head repeatedly. "No, I'm fine! I'm guessing I won't be able to convince you though." She sighed, but still had a smile. "I'll show you, but try not to get involved too much, ok? Only if you have to."

His hand was so warm. It was covered in callouses from his quirk usage. It wasn't uncomfortable to the touch though. It somehow made her feel safe and protected.

"Then let's get going-" Katsuki felt pumped, but someone suddenly landed in front of them while they were starting to leave. They both came to a halt.

A red/orange feather scattered in front of them. It was Hawks.

"You two stay out of it." He instructed. "I'll take it from here."

"What?!" Katsuki hollered. "You idiot!! We're both capable to fight! Don't undermine us just for being students!"

Ochako clenched her free hand into a fist out of excited. "Hawks! So cool! Do you know what direction they're in?"

"I'll find out. I got more enough information I need." Hawks replied.

He wouldn't really care if they did help out, with his laid back attitude and all. But...

Since it is possibly Satoko, Dabi must be involved as well. Satoko also heard what Dabi said about him prior. So she partially knows his secret.

He tilted his head towards Katsuki. "You'd get into trouble if I tell your school. Don't want that on your record, hm?"

Katsuki felt so angry, he didn't know how to reply. He knows Hawks is right. As he saw Hawks readying to leave, Katsuki let go of Ochako's wrist and yelled out. "You do know I'm right!! There's no way I would just stand by here! That's what a hero would do!"

It's a good opportunity to keep towards his goal. He wants to take any opportunity he gets.

"Nice attitude you got there, but the answer's still no." Hawks ended up flying up and away go search. He started to use his vocal espionage to track where Satoko may be.

Cursing through his teeth, Katsuki started to attempt to follow.

Ochako reached out towards him again. She grabbed his hand this time. She looked sterner than before as she furrowed her eyebrows. "Wait! We don't want to get in any trouble. That would possibly look bad on a record if we don't have permission from a teacher or hero. We have been lucky so far that no one has been killed in a villain attack. But we shouldn't test our luck."

Katsuki felt odd. Her hand was really soft compared to her wrist. An angry blush appeared on his face.

"And we'll continue being lucky!" He replied and he looked away as he said in a calmer tone. Hard to tell if it was a mean one or not. "I want you to go too. But if you want to stay behind, then go ahead!"

Her expression softened. "I don't want you to go alone." Her thumb started to rub his hand without her even realizing at first. "If you go, then I will too."

Katsuki looked away with a frustrated flustered state. "Just don't get in my way." His hand subconsciously squeezed hers.

The two of them followed where Hawks was flying towards. Hawks noticed them subtly from below. He shook his head. (Geez....)

Thanks to his feathers to distinguish sounds, he was able to decode a conversation from somewhere. Someone was stating that there were a lot of dead, burnt corpses in an alley.

Swiftly, he headed towards that direction. Katsuki and Ochako kept up their pace to follow.

Hawks landed in the area that Dabi attacked the villains, but there wasn't any sign of Dabi. Not Satoko. He was somewhat thankful Dabi wasn't around as Katsuki and Ochako caught up. Katsuki felt Ochako squeeze his hand at the sight of dead bodies.

(But Dabi definitely was here. He most likely took her somewhere else.) He thought about going to the League of Villains hideout.

But since Katsuki and Ochako were around, he hesitated. He quickly thought of a suggestion to maneuver them. "You two. Go back and get help from other heroes."

"And why should we do that?" Katsuki furrowed his eyebrows. "We can find-"

"No." Hawks had a firm expression. "We definitely can't handle this situation alone."

"Is it the League of Villains again?" Ochako asked. She started to sweat nervously. She thought of all the previous attacks that had happened with the class as the target. She didn't want that to happen again. She was sure that deep down Katsuki didn't want them to be in danger again either. He was always strong. Always looking forward to fights. But even he got scared sometimes. She had seen that look in his eyes before.

"It seems to be so." Hawks replied.

He remembered the day he agreed to become a spy towards the League of Villains.

They asked him because they think he's someone who can ignore anything dangerous happening.

Surely, he doesn't care for prestige and fame.

'We think there's no one more suitable than you.'

Well, then there's Satoko. She was a pure mystery. She hated both heroes and villains. Something about her he can't even ignore.

He didn't mind getting his hands dirty.

Dabi was the first to contact Hawks. The first person to change his aloof behavior. He sure was doing a good dang job right now.

He has to keep up the act of befriending them. Would going after them be wise? Would that break the cycle?

"I'll leave you to it." Hawks left Katsuki and Ochako promptly.

"OI!" Katsuki yelled.

But Hawks flew so fast to make them lose track of him. He knows where the League of Villains are located.

But he hasn't told any of the heroes yet to gain more information. If the villains get arrested, it is hard to gain more information as long as they're in action.

(Befriend them.)

Thinking of Dabi that way was making him angry. He remember seeing Satoko's condition. Even so, Satoko is a huge piece of information he could need too.

...

Katsuki kept looking around for Hawks, but cursed since he got away. "Whatever! I can find them myself and kill them!!"

"You always say that, but you have never actually killed someone," Ochako pointed out. Her hand was still in his. She would forget about that and then suddenly remember at times. When she remembered, she would sometimes move her hand awkwardly to make sure that she didn't lose his grasp. Neither one of them actually knew why they continued holding hands. Both of them just felt too awkward to point it out.

They silently walked towards the dorms together. That would be their best bet with talking to the heroes to see what they can also do.

"Hey," He started without looking at her. "If you're thinking about letting go of my hand, then deal with it."

"...Huh?" Her entire face turned a deep red. "You...want me to hold your hand? That's so unlike you! Are you sure that you aren't the sick one here?!"

Within seconds she had turned into a blushing, rambling mess. It felt sort of good for Katsuki to say something like that to her. It warmed her heart a little. He was constantly acting tough and mean. The fact that he was able to soften up a bit made her feel special. (It's like a manga! But wait...it would be a romance manga for sure!)

Her heart started to thump even more. It felt hard to breathe when she tried to look at his face. It was similar to a panic attack, but it was somehow a good feeling at the same time. A flustered attack.

"Shut up!" He got embarrassed. His tone was less harsh, but more defensive. "I just like holding your hand, ok?!"

That made his face also worse. The hot feeling on his cheeks was a bit unusual for him. It wasn't annoying though. "You grabbed it first anyway!" He kept trying to make excuses to why he's still holding it. But also....

Seeing corpses was a bit unsettling. To him, even. But knowing how he felt Ochako's hand react earlier.... He had a strange sense to comfort?

Ugh! So weird! He looked at her face for a brief moment. Something about that pink hue was adorable, but he won't admit it.

"Th-that's fine, I guess." She smiled as she looked away. He wanted to look at his face. See how nice he looked when he was a bit calmer. She just couldn't get herself to look. She was far too shy and embarrassed.

She noticed that the muscles in Katsuki's hands were extremely stiff. He was either subconsciously trying to protect her or he was nervous. Either way, the thought was adorable.

Once they reached their destination, Ochako had explained to Aizawa what was going it. Obviously, Katsuki was reprimanded to not go. They were already aware of the situation.

(Hawks....!!!) That bird brain lied to them just so he wouldn't get involved. It's hard to work with the lack of information.

That annoyance came back, but it lessened by Ochako taking his hand once again.

...