All characters and story belong to Kohei Horikoshi and Masashi Kishimoto
"I'll bring Bakugo back," Kirishima thought. His gaze reflected an even greater conviction than Bakugo displayed when he claimed he would be the number one hero. "No matter what it takes."
The next day was school, and Kirishima went straight to Aizawa to demand an explanation for what Mitsuki Bakugo had told him about abandoning the search for Bakugo. He saw him accompanied by Hitoshi Shinso, a student from the General Education class. The last time he saw him was when Kanimari, Tsuyu, Koda, Aizawa, and Kirishima himself teamed up to face students from Class B in a training match (A/N: Chapter 195 of the manga).
—Aizawa-sensei, there's something I want you to eat...—Kirishima was left mid-sentence as he was interrupted by Aizawa himself.
"Not now, Kirishima. You can ask me anything you want in class," Aizawa said.
"But..." Kirishima tried, but was interrupted again.
—In class.—Aizawa stated.
When Kirishima entered the classroom, everyone was already there except for Aizawa. A few seconds later, Aizawa appeared accompanied by Shinso.
"Aizawa..." the redhead tried again, but Aizawa gestured with his hand, indicating that he would speak later. Resigned, he went to his desk.
"Everyone sit down. I have something important to tell you," Aizawa announced.
"Is it about Kacchan?" Midoriya asked.
—Have you found Bakugo-kun?—Uraraka asked with a prayer-like gesture.
Kirishima sharpened his senses to focus on what his teacher was going to say.
"No. I regret to inform you that there is still no sign of Bakugo. I want to inform you that from now on, Hitoshi Shinso is leaving the General Education class to join Class 1-A, meaning he will be your classmate," Aizawa announced. "You can sit at the empty desk," he continued, pointing to the desk where Bakugo sat.
When Kirishima saw him pointing at his friend's desk, a surge of fury erupted within him, confirming that what Mitsuki Bakugo had said about them giving up on his friend was true. His rage was so intense that he involuntarily activated his Quirk.
"NOOOOO!" Kirishima screamed. He slammed his fist on his desk, shattering it with the hardening of his quirk.
He felt a moment of guilt and remorse for destroying school supplies, but that feeling didn't last long as he felt anger again upon seeing Aizawa and Shinso.
"Kirishima! Don't force me to use my quirk on you, and calm down! You know it dries out my eyes," Aizawa said.
"Well, tell him to go back where he came from!" Kirishima retorted, annoyed. "Bakugo sits right there!"
"Kirishima, I didn't come here to take Bakugo's job. I earned the right to be here," Shinso said.
"Kirishima-chan. Shinso-chan is right, what happened to Bakugo-chan isn't his fault," Tsuyu commented.
"I don't care that Shinso's here! What bothers me is what it implies! Can't you see?" the redhead asked rhetorically. "They've already given up on Bakugo! They've surrendered!"
The whole class observed a minute of silence. Spirits were at an all-time low.
"I'm not going to sugarcoat this," Aizawa broke the silence. "You're all over 16, and I consider you mature enough to face the truth. I told you the first day we met that the world is full of injustice. One of those injustices is what happened to Bakugo. But it's not just him, his family, and you who are suffering. The city, the country, and the world are suffering the consequences of the void left by All Might. Villains are no longer intimidated by heroes. Their numbers are growing, and their acts of violence against civilians are escalating."
Aizawa's words had an effect on Kirishima, who looked at the ground ashamed for not thinking about what the city was suffering.
"Unlike Bakugo, civilians aren't trained or prepared to confront villains. We have a responsibility and a duty to protect them from these threats. It's because of this exceptional situation that you all have provisional licenses. To help the heroes and the police protect the people," Aizawa continued. "Kirishima is right that the police have lost hope of finding Bakugo and are focusing on the League of Villains and the Quirk Liberation Group. But that doesn't mean I've lost hope. The Katsuki Bakugo you and I know isn't the type of person to give up. I believe in him. After all, he's one of my students. Believe in him too, Kirishima."
Kirishima stared at Aizawa for a few seconds before finally his expression softened in resignation. The rest of his classmates regained hope that Bakugo would return because of what Aizawa had just said.
"Good. With that cleared up, Shinso will patrol the afternoons with Kirishima," Aizawa announced.
Seeing that Kirishima was hardening again with anger, Uraraka raised her hand to calm things down.
—Aizawa-sensei. If Iida-kun and Shinso-kun don't mind, I'd like to go on patrol with Kirishima-kun.—Uraraka said, gesturing to Iida to let him know what she was trying to do.
"Yes, of course," Iida said. "I'll patrol with Shinso-kun. As his class representative, it's my duty to show him all the new things that await him."
"I don't care," Shinso said, rolling his eyes.
"Okay. Oh, by the way." He gave Kirishima a stern look. "I said I'm sure Bakugo will come back, Kirishima. So don't act like his copy by behaving like him and getting worked up over everything." Aizawa scolded him.
Another month had passed since Aizawa announced Shinso as the new classmate in Class 1-A. During that time, all the joy and vitality Kirishima had exuded gradually disappeared until he became as quiet as, or even quieter than, Todoroki. On patrols with Ding Dong (the hero they were assigned to patrol) and Uraraka, she tried to cheer him up with her witty remarks. But Kirishima was consumed by guilt and shame for feeling he wasn't keeping the promise he'd made to Mitsuki Bakugo. So he wasn't in the mood for jokes.
One afternoon, the three were breaking up a demonstration after Ding Dong was informed that a crowd was causing a disturbance, led by an agitator from the quirk liberation movement. Once they had calmed things down, Kirishima spotted a face in the crowd that he recognized even more than many of his classmates.
Two and a half months had passed since Bakugo disappeared.
Two months and one week since Kirishima learned of her disappearance.
Two months after Aizawa distributed to the entire class the photographs of the already imprisoned Dante Kotoru (alias Berous) and Tejo Tarada (alias Santel) and the composite sketches of Zelonda and Matahiri Todoroki informed him of the appearance of the four villains of the robbery.
For two months, Kirishima studied the appearance of the escapees Santel, Zelonda, and Matahiri. Night after night, he memorized their faces, hoping to recognize them if he saw them patrolling the streets.
And that hope became a reality that afternoon. That afternoon, among the crowd, he recognized Santel. He wasn't bald like in the photograph, but Kirishima was convinced that he was wearing a wig to blend in.
—Santel...—Kirishima whispered to himself, his eyes wide with tears.
"Huh?" Uraraka, who was beside him, didn't hear what her companion said. But she did see him use his most powerful move, Red Riot Unbreakable, to transform into the monster that faced Kendo Rappa in the battle against the Eight Precepts of Death led by Kai Chisaki. "Red Riot?"
Uraraka was unable to stop Kirishima, who moved swiftly through the crowd until he struck an unsuspecting Santel, sending him flying into several people and finally crashing violently into a wall.
The crowd dispersed in fear, causing a stampede and resulting in several minor injuries from pushing and trampling.
"What the hell...?" said Ding Dong, not understanding what was happening.
Kirishima ignored the shouts of the crowd and his fellow patrol members who were trying to calm everyone down to prevent further injuries. His eyes were fixed on Santel, whose wig had been knocked off by the impact.
Santel got up from the ground and shook his head to recover from the dizziness caused by the unexpected blow. When he regained his composure, he tried to figure out who had hit him. Seeing Kirishima in his monstrous form, staring at him with animalistic ferocity, he was terrified and felt a lump in his throat. He used his Quirk, and two hands made from his rib bones emerged from his back, just as he had done with Todoroki to escape.
Kirishima, who knew by heart the story of how he escaped from Todoroki, saw the intentions immediately and ducked to gain momentum.
"URAVITYYYY!," Kirishima screamed as he stared at Uraraka with intesity
Uraraka, who was still trying to calm the crowd, stopped what she was doing when she heard her classmate's roar and instantly understood, as if she were reading his mind, what he wanted from her, even though she didn't yet know why. But she didn't question it and touched Kirishima to ease the weight of the situation.
Kirishima leaped with all his might, injuring himself in the process, and thanks to Uraraka's quirk, he could fly and chase Santel through the air. It only took him five seconds to catch him; the villain was terrified by the sight of the monster just inches from his face.
Uraraka finally figured out the reason behind her classmate's actions. He was facing a villain, and not just any villain, but Santel. One of the villains from the bank robbery Todoroki had described. She knew this, despite the distance, because of the villain's peculiar and nauseating quirk: using his skeleton as wings, just as Endeavor's son had described it to the class.
—Release!—Uraraka deactivated her quirk when she saw that Kirishima had captured his prey in mid-air.
Kirishima and Santel plummeted from a height of nearly 20 meters. During the fall, the redhead and the villain struggled, and in the end, Kirishima came off worse, as his back was the first thing to hit the ground. However, thanks to Kirishima's quirk at its maximum power, he barely felt a trace of pain.
Kirishima wasted no time and landed on top of Santel, immobilizing any movement from the villain.
"WHERE IS BAKUGO, SANTEL?" Kirishima shouted with an anger he didn't know he had inside.