Chapter Eleven

Next to her, Shoto frowned.

Kat raised an eyebrow and leaned over. Though Kat and Shoto each sat on either side of Momo, she'd been kind enough to trade seats with Shoto so they could sit together. Sometimes Kat wondered if Momo didn't have some kind of secret agenda-the way she smiled and raised her eyebrows and offered to switch with him was suspicious of the highest caliber. But in the same vein, she didn't mind because she liked being so close to Shoto. His simple presence near her was enough to get her heart racing and her nerves tingling. Sometimes twirling her pen in her hand and bouncing her leg were the only things she could do to keep her nerves under control. "What's up Mr. Frowny-Face?"

"My pen is missing."

"Oh. Are you sure you brought it?"

"Yeah, I'm positive." He rifled through his bag a little more. "Same thing happened yesterday too, but I was missing my notebook. What's going on?" He froze, then turned to look at her with eyes wide in terror. "Am I going insane? Like, actually insane?"

A huge laugh bubbled up in her stomach. She had to clamp her hands down over her mouth to stifle it. He was so serious! She didn't know which was funnier-when he tried to make a joke or when he was absolutely, one hundred percent serious about something absolutely ridiculous. Either way, he made her laugh a lot, which sometimes got him laughing too.

Gradually, Kat swallowed back her laugh and got into her bag. She rifled around until she found her stash of pens in her Sailor Moon pencil bag and handed him one. "Here, I've got a bunch."

Her heart flipped when he smiled out of the corner of his mouth. "Thanks."

"Sure, no problem." She turned back to her own work.

One of the greatest gifts he could've given her-aside from the cropped Gudetama sweatshirt and the blanket-was still wanting to be her friend after her big confession in front of the class. She'd hoped to leave her suicide attempt back in America with all her other ghosts, but some phantoms refused to be put in a box and hidden away. Though . . . it felt good to tell someone, even if it was her entire goddamn class. No one treated her any different. No one put on kid gloves with her, or stopped talking to her, or looked at her with pity in their eyes. They laughed with her just the same as before. Invited her out on trips to the city. Ate lunch with her. It was a relief to have her biggest secret out in the open and find nothing but acceptance with her new family.

But Shoto treating her the same . . . that was better than anything else. She never would've forgiven herself if she'd done something or said something to make him hate her.

"You asked me not to leave, so I didn't."

He'd gone to so much trouble to help her. Risked getting expelled from the greatest hero school in the country for her. Just so he could sit around her dorm and watch her try to pull herself out of the pit her broken heart had thrown her into. He listened to Melanie Martinez on his own without knowing for sure if it would bring her back. He bought her Gudetama presents without knowing if it was a waste of money. He had every reason in the world to leave and he didn't.

It was hard not to fall in love with a guy like that.

Heat washed over her whole body when that thought occurred to her. She swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to turn her attention back on her school work. But it was math and if there was anything that would make it easy for her mind to wander again it was math. Goddamn it.

After everything, Shoto spent so much more time with her. He made breakfast for the two of them in the morning and walked to class with her. The seat to her left at lunch had become more or less his assigned seat. They studied together in the common room, at the library, and in Kat's dorm practically every night. It was as if he knew how he made her feel and wanted to torture her. Had it been anyone else she might have contemplated that as a motive-but it was Shoto and, despite being smart in every other respect, Kat didn't think he had a mind for that kind of thing.

Which was nice. She'd dated guys who played games before. It was tiring and unnecessary. With Shoto, she felt safe in every respect.

Did he like her like that too? She didn't know for sure, but the way he had loomed over her before Mr. Aizawa and the rest of their class made her wonder. He'd had such a hungry look in his heterochromatic eyes. Like he wanted to kiss her. Like he wanted to devour her.

Nah, you're probably just being dumb.

But maybe not . . .

She glanced up to write some equations off the board and caught sight of Mina. She glanced over her shoulder at Kat, smiled, then wrote something down. She ripped it out of her notebook subtly and slipped it to Ochaco. She smiled and glanced back at Kat.

Okay, that's weird.

Kat groaned. "When did the day get so long?" She ran her hand through her hair and sighed. "I need a nap. Whatever happened to nap time? That's wasted on little kids-they have so much energy! Let me have it. I'm old and dying."

Next to her, Mina laughed. "You're eighteen and just lazy!"

"Yeah! Exactly!"

Instead of going to lunch, Shoto had gone back to his dorm room to look for the things that he swore up and down that he'd brought with him. His missing pen brought the notebook back to mind and, upon further digging in his bag, he realized his calculator was missing too. That was the last straw. One way or another he would find all the things that he was missing and prove to himself that he wasn't going insane. Kat imagined everything was probably on the floor and got knocked under his bed or something stup-

Between Mina and Ochaco Kat caught sight of her dear friend Levi stuffing a notebook with SHOTO TODOROKI sprawled on the cover after she'd knocked her bag over and everything fell out. Including a calculator, and a pen. Two things that would have gone unnoticed on any other occasion but in that moment screamed at Kat. She frowned.

Levi looked up and saw Kat's expression. She waved, pointed at the notebook, then gave her a thumbs-up as brash as you please. What. The hell. Was this idiot doing?

"Anyway, you'll feel better after we eat. You're probably just tired because you're hungry."

"Ribbit, I know that happens to me!" Tsuyu agreed. She looked at Kat. "What's with the face, ribbit?"

Surprised, Kat pushed a smile onto her lips that she hoped didn't make her look like she was cringing. "Oh, nothing, I just zoned out for a minute. You're right. I'm probably just starving. Levi, Levi let's go to lunch!"

"Sure thing, Kitty-Kat!" She slid the strap of her bag over her shoulder and joined the group.

Mina, Ochaco, and Tsuyu walked in front of Kat and Levi. Kat fell into step with her best friend, and if looks could kill then Levi would have dropped dead. She had to be careful or else the others would be alerted to whatever sick games Levi was playing and there were some things friends didn't subject friends to.

Frowning, Kat pointed at Levi's bag and mouthed "What the hell are you doing with Shoto's notebook?"

A wide grin unfolded on Levi's face. She patted her bag. "I stole it!"

Kat covered her face, then dropped her hands to snarl at her friend. "You what?! Why?!"

Levi pointed to her bag, made kissy faces, then pointed at Kat.

Heat rushed to her cheeks. Kat shook her head, pointed at Levi's face, then made an X with her hands. She was wrong. There was no way Shoto wanted to kiss her. No way! In the realm of dating leagues, he was playing in the majors while Kat manned the failing doughnut shop outside the stadium. Thus concludes everything Kat knew about sports.

But Levi wouldn't be discouraged. She nodded, put her hands over her heart in a swooning motion, pointed at Kat, then stuck her finger in her throat to mimic vomiting or being disgusted.

Kat mouthed "shut up."

Grinning from ear-to-ear, Levi shook her head. She pointed to herself, then made a talking motion with her hands, then pointed down at her bag. She wanted to talk to Shoto.

Kat raised an eyebrow and gestured with her hands in a way that got across that she was, more or less, saying "what? Why?"

Levi pointed at Kat, made kissy faces, pointed at her bag, then made a peace sign to indicate the number two, or, in this case, meaning also. The already intense heat in her cheeks grew hotter until she was sure her brains would boil in her skull.

Instead of getting mad, Kat did the only adult thing she could think of. She pointed at herself, made a stabbing motion with her hands, then pointed at Levi. It was a huge disappointment when Levi's only response was a wink and a kiss silently blown in the direction of her best friend. Though at this rate Kat considered turning that into "former" best friend because there was no loyalty to be found here. Levi skipped ahead and landed at Tsuyu's side. "I'm absolutely starved!"

Did Japan have the death penalty? Kat didn't know, but it would be worth the murder charge to find out.

"I seriously, seriously think I'm going insane," Shoto said when he came to Kat's dorm to help her with her math homework. He dropped his messenger bag by her bed. "Now there's stuff missing from my room."

She forced a laugh. "Oh, that happens to me too sometimes. I'm such a galaxy brain!" She knocked herself on her skull. "Maybe you caught that from me!"

Levi I'm absolutely going to kill you. I can't believe you're breaking into his room now! No, wait, yes I can. That sounds exactly like something your stupid ass would do.

"I don't know, but it's driving me crazy."

"What's missing now?"

"One of my shoes." He sat cross-legged on the floor with her, frowning. "And I don't mean a pair of shoes. I mean literally one shoe from a pair. I can't wear that other shoe anymore! Not until I find the matching one!"

Oh my God, this poor guy . . .

"Here, how about this." Kat turned to face him and before she realized what she was doing she'd taken his hands in hers. Her heart quickened pace in her chest, and she felt herself start to sweat, but there was no going back now. Going back would only draw attention to how flustered her own stupidity had made her. "When we're done here, I'll help you look."

Eyes wide, Shoto stared at her without a word. Then, at length, he smiled and nodded. "Yeah, let's do that."

"Unrelated side note," Kat took her hands back and grinned at him. "How willing would you be to join my side in a little war against Levi and Bakugo?"

He raised an eyebrow, regarded her in silence, then nodded. "A chance to torture those two idiots? Count me in."

"I prefer to think of them as Dark Gremlins of Destruction."

Her heart soared when he laughed. "I like that better."

They got their math homework out and started. Shoto, the poor soul, had to keep stopping to help Kat. She wished he never had to find out how bad at math she was-it was embarrassing to say the least. But he didn't seem to mind. He kindly pointed out where she'd gone wrong on some of the problems and helped her figure out ways to remember. She doubted she would but she appreciated him trying. It was also nice to have him so close to her.

"Hey Kat, can I . . . ask you something?"

"Yeah, sure. What's up?"

He hesitated. "I . . . um . . ." he swallowed. "I told you how I visit my mom when I've got free time, right?"

"Oh, yeah I remember that." She started drawing spirals on her homework to steady her nerves. Shoto never talked about his mom or his dad. His dad she understood-a guy like Endeavor doesn't exactly lead to pleasant conversation. But he was really quiet about the subject of his mom and she didn't want to push it. Shoto wasn't the kind of guy who talked about his feelings. The fact that he came to her now about such a sensitive subject was astronomical.

"I was going to visit her this weekend. I was wondering if . . . if you wanted to . . . " he cleared his throat and looked away. "If you wanted to . . . come with me."

It took several seconds for his request to fully register in his mind. Not only had he brought his mom up with her, but he wanted her to go with him to meet her? He should've known better than to ask her something like that right as they were doing math. So many of her mental faculties had been shut down by that point that she was worried she wouldn't be able to respond in a way that didn't make her look like a bumbling moron.

"I-uh-yeah that sounds-steak sauce."

He raised an eyebrow and looked at her as if she'd smacked him. "What?"

Steak sauce? What the actual fuck is steak sauce? Did you really just- "It-uh-it means great! Yeah! It's an American thing. What I mean is that I'd love to."

The look of shock fell from his face. Instead, he smiled as if relieved. "Thanks Kat."

Kat stared out the window of the train with Shoto next to her, thinking back to that night. She tried not to let her nerves get the best of her. She was going to meet Shoto's mom-a woman who, though he didn't talk about her much, he did tell her once that he was really close to. She'd never met a boy's mom before. The pressure mounted on her shoulders and she worried endlessly over all the ways it could go wrong. Just thinking about it made her want to burrow deeper into the fur collar of her black leather jacket and disappear. What if she said something stupid? What if she wasn't dressed right? What if-

"So what are we thinking for this war of yours?" Shoto asked.

She told him already how Levi was the one who stole all the stuff that was missing from his bag and his room. She hadn't been able to look at him when she did it, sure that it would end their friendship right there. But instead of getting mad, he just smirked and told her how much of a relief it was to know he wasn't losing his mind. It was a relief to know Levi's insane actions hadn't alienated him from her. Yet.

For the rest of the train ride they planned. Kat wasn't very good at pranks but she knew what Levi hated . . . and what she loved. Namely, a certain boy band that she would never admit to liking and it would devastate her if it got out. Especially if Bakugo found out. He'd never let her live it down. So, their first strike was planned: show Bakugo the video Kat had taken of Levi back home when she caught her singing at the top of her lungs to one of that band's songs. She showed Shoto and he couldn't keep from laughing.

They got off the train and Kat walked at Shoto's side until they reached the hospital. As they walked, Shoto seemed to draw further into himself. Without thinking, Kat reached for his hand and held on. He stopped and looked at her with wide eyes.

"Hey," she said, pushing a wide smile onto her face. Then, taking her hand away for only a second, Kat stood on her tip-toes and pushed the corners of Shoto's face upwards. "No sad faces!"

The width of her fabricated smile didn't last. Even the small whisper of a smile faded away after a bit. She reached for his hand again and gave it a squeeze. "I . . . should have told you something before we got this far."

"What is it?" She didn't allow her smile to falter, even though his change in mood unnerved her. "You can tell me anything."

Shoto's eyes grew wide as if she'd said something game-changing, and he didn't speak for what felt like along time. All around them, people flooded to and fro in the streets. None of them paid any attention to the burned boy and the girl holding his hand. They were in the middle of a sea of bodies but at the same time lost in their own pocket of space.

At length, he sighed. "My mom . . . she's in a mental health hospital. That's where we're headed." He struggled with the next part.

"Okay, that's all right." She shook her head. "I mean, that's not all right-I didn't mean it like that-I just mean, I don't mind if that's the kind of hospital we're going to. I can tell it's making you really nervous, so I promise, it's no big deal." She stepped closer and hugged him. She felt his muscles go stiff. "You saw me at my worst and you still want to be my friend. I promise there's nothing you could do or say or show me that would make me not want to be your friend anymore, if that's what you're worried about." A cold chill whipped up her hair as she looked up at him. "I hate to tell you this, Shoto Todoroki, but you're stuck with me. God help you."

An ocean of emotion swam in those heterochromatic eyes of his-as if he couldn't figure out how to feel about what she'd just said. At length, he nodded and hugged her back.

"Thanks Kat." He sighed. "I guess I should also tell you how she ended up there."

As they finished the journey to the hospital, Shoto regaled her with the tale of how his mom ended up in the hospital . . . and how he'd gotten the burn on his eye. He made sure she knew that he resented his father for it and not his mother, whom he knew was just a victim of abuse and who had apologized to him profusely for what she did. Not until they got to the hospital and he signed them in as guests for Rei Todoroki did he let go of Kat's hand.

Kat sucked in a deep breath and followed Shoto to his mom's room.

She didn't know what she expected to see, but his mom took her by surprise all the same. A lovely, thin woman with a beautiful face and gorgeous white hair sat on a bed staring out the window. When she heard her door open she turned and smiled brightly at her son and the guest he brought with him.

"Um, hi mom." He gestured at Kat. "This is my friend Kat."

"Oh hello!" Rei Todoroki stood and went to hold Kat's hands. "It's wonderful to finally meet the famous Kat!"

"Famous?" Kat looked up at Shoto, who looked away with a blush on his cheeks.

"Mom . . ."

"Oh Shoto, let me have this. I don't have as many opportunities to embarrass you as I'd like! Come, I want to get to know you." She walked with Kat back to the other side of the room. She had Kat sit next to her on the bed while Shoto begrudgingly pulled up a chair.

They talked for hours, and it didn't take long for Kat to let her guard down around Rei. It was insane how beautiful she was, but she saw where Shoto got most of his features. He took after his mom, a fact that she was sure would make him happy if she told him. It took her off guard how warm Rei was to Kat and Shoto-she'd never met a parent who actually liked their child. Before long Rei had Kat laughing and vise versa. On his chair, without uttering a word, Shoto beamed.

"I've seen your picture, you know," Rei said. She eyed Shoto with a glint of puckishness in her eye. "The photobooth pictures. My son keeps them in his wallet."

"O-Oh?" Shoto . . . kept the pictures of them in his wallet? She shouldn't have been so surprised. She kept her's on her mirror, after all, but somehow a wallet felt more intimate than a mirror.

"I've been pestering him to bring you ever since! I swear you're practically all he can talk about."

"Mom-"

Kat looked at Shoto and made a face. "Oh hush Shoto!" and his mom laughed, hard, and seeing her reaction seemed to ease his nerves a little.

Oh, thank God. That was going to go one of two ways . . .

It was incredible how much warmth a woman whose quirk was ice-based could have. Kat radiated toward her and enjoyed answering the questions Rei asked. She wanted to know what brought Kat to Japan, to which she answered that she was looking for her brother; asked how her classes were going; asked about her quirk. Kat couldn't help but tell Rei the truth-it felt safe to do so. Like she didn't have to make up a story. She didn't go into details if she could help it, but never outright lied.

At the end of their visit, Rei hugged Kat. "It was wonderful getting to meet you. I hope Shoto brings you again, you're so much fun! Just the person my son needs in his life!"

"I hope so too, it's been a lot of fun meeting you, Mrs. Todoroki!"

"Please, just call me Rei." She smiled at Kat, and hugged Shoto. "Come back soon sweetheart."

"Yeah, sure."

"And bring her."

Heat warmed Kat's cheeks. She smiled and looked away.

"Y-Yeah, I'll do that. If Kat wants to."

Shoto and Kat walked together out of the hospital in silence. Darkness had settled over the city and she stuck close to Shoto. Partly out of fear of who or what could be lurking in the dark, partly because it made her deliriously happy to hear that he'd talked about her so favorably with his mom. That he kept their picture in his wallet.

Her heart lept when he reached out and took her hand.