Gonna start the week off with more bkdk moments that aren't talked about enough! Similar to my previous post, here's another (from Chp. 274):
I found the first few panels interesting because it felt like I was witnessing things through someone else's eyes (i.e. not Deku's). I pictured the droves of bodies moving in slow-motion, their cries lessened to background noise. Those eyes have singled Midoriya out among the panicked crowd of civilians and heroes, watching his next move. And just as the boy was about to run, a voice cuts through the chaos. I remember being surprised to realize it was Bakugou's!
He was able to deduce that Midoriya was Shigaraki's target the same time the other boy did--despite standing farther away from Burning. Clearly, he'd been paying close attention. Not only that, but he immediately knew what Midoriya would do. He knew that Midoriya would separate himself from the group in order to protect everyone else, so he reminds the boy that he too, was someone the others could protect--"because heroes are supposed to protect everyone". Even crazier was that Bakugou follows him.
Those words and actions, coming from the same kid who used to believe that being a hero meant facing enemies head-on and winning. Winning alone, without anyone's help (especially wide-eyed, green-haired twerps).
Now Midoriya's off to lure Shigaraki his way and instead of leaving him be, Bakugou joins him. Because changing Midoriya's mind was never an option.
But, why Bakugou? Why not Todoroki or Uraraka--or literally anyone else? Why does Bakugou care?
He said it himself. He was one of only a handful of people that understood One for All. Not only that, but he had a personal score to settle with Shigaraki/All for One--his kidnapper and the cause of all his guilt regarding All Might's retirement. Furthermore, those complicated feelings that he's had towards Midoriya since they were kids were still very much present.
BUT there is so much growth, here. Bakugou's now acknowledged that perhaps he was the one who'd been lacking all along. That he projected so much of his own weakness and insecurity onto Midoriya because he was unable to point a mirror at himself.
Even moreso, Bakugou has come to realize that a hero's true strength lay in their service. In what they could do for others. Saving to win. While I believe Midoriya influenced this change in Bakugou, he has also made the idea his own.
"When you guys are in trouble, I'll save ya; and when I'm in trouble, you cover me, okay?"
At this point in the manga, those iconic, game-changing bkdk scenes have yet to play out. Bakugou still hasn't "risen" (pun intended) to this full potential nor has he sorted out all the things he's wanted to say to Midoriya and apologized.
But something compelled him to follow Midoriya back there. Perhaps he had his own agenda to fulfill, or maybe he sensed that his childhood friend--who has zero regard for his own safety--would be in danger and needed someone who could keep up and watch his back...
...And that someone could only be him.
I adored these brief interactions right before it finally hit Midoriya that Katsuki "Kacchan" Bakugou was at his side and willingly following him into battle. Like, up till that point Midoriya didn't even question Bakugou's presence. It must have felt so natural, sharing intel and strategizing with the other boy. It really warmed my heart to witness how slowly, but surely, they've begun growing beyond their tumultuous past and into a future where they could become a formidable hero duo.
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