One Step

Todoroki stood in silence. It was hard to believe it was happening. But there she was. Standing before him.

For a moment he assumed it was a mistake, or a coincident he had ran into her. That was quickly shot down when she looked around and spoke to him.

"Where are they?" she asked.

"Who?" Todoroki's mind went blank for a moment before realizing she was talking about Bakugo and Midoriya. "Oh, they went separate ways." He paused. "Do you want me to call them?"
"No." Kai's deep blue eyes met his.

He could tell within the depths of her gaze she would run if he did. So he waited for her to continue.

"Walk." Kai turned and walked away from him.

He quickly followed. She was quiet for several seconds before finally speaking up again.

"You're right. I'm not the one attacking the town."

Todoroki nodded.

"I don't know who it is." She licked her lips. "I wander the island because I too am looking for that person."

Todoroki glanced at her. They hadn't thought of that.

"Do you... did you really mean what you said? That you believe I am not the villain?"

"I do."

She looked at him.

Todoroki's breath hitched. Her gaze threw him into the darkest depths of the ocean. He felt as if he couldn't breath. As if the whole ocean was pressing down on his body. Was this her quirk at work? Or was it something else?

"What is your quirk?" Todoroki hadn't mean to ask that. It came out on its own power.

Hurt flicker in her eyes.

He wished he could have taken the question back. He didn't want her to run off now that she was talking to him. He parted his lips to apologize but was cut off by her.

"I won't tell you that." She walked a few feet ahead of him and paused. "At least not right now. I don't want you to..."

"What?" he asked when she didn't continued.

She shook her head. "I can't do it right now. So don't ask again."

"Okay. I won't. You can tell me when you're ready."

Kai looked back at him, studying him, wondering if he was true to his word. After a few minutes, she nodded. "Accepted."

A weight lifted off his shoulders. He joined her side and they continued walking. "So have you been able to find anything out about this villain?"

"I haven't. Whoever it is always manages to disappear when I chase after them."

"Yeah. We've noticed that as well. We assume whoever this person is they are a native from this island, or have lived here for years. They know the island far too well."

"That could be any number of people," Kai said. She stopped talking when a couple people walked towards them and only spoke again when they were gone. "Years ago many people came to this island in search of gold."

"Gold?" Todoroki glanced at her.

Kai nodded. "Some gold was found here but not much. That was one of the top reasons people believed this villain is after. But people have searched the old mines. If there is any more gold here then it is too far down for it to be reached. Or someone hid it very well."

Todoroki hummed. Gold is a powerful motivator.

Grumbling voices caused them to glance up. Police were surrounding a part of the shopping district. Two more shops had been damaged, though not by fire. From the looks of the scattered debris, bombs were the only thing that could have been responsible.

"This awful!" a citizen shouted.

"Why hasn't this villain been caught yet!"

"Another attack," Todoroki said.

"The police just won't do their job." A teenage boy turned in their direction. He pointed right at Kai. "She's the one who's doing this!"

Todoroki felt Kai's walls going back up around her. He took a step forward. "Hold on. Why would you say that?"

"She's been seen multiple times when this villain attacks! It's obvious she's the one who's doing all this! You should arrest her!"

The crowd agreed.

"You can't blame her for being around when the villain attacks. Others have been as well. What proof do you have that it's none of them?" Todoroki asked.

The boy scoffed. "I know it's her. She's too weird to be normal. She never talks. Never goes to school. All she does is walk around the island."

The crowd agreed.

"That's not evidence to a crime," Todoroki said.

"She should be locked up!"

"Lock her up! Lock her up!" the crowd chanted.

Todoroki stepped in front of Kai. "I will not allow you to gang up on one person, evidence or not. Stand down. We are doing our jobs as well as the police. We will stop this villain."

The crowd continued to protest and advanced on them.

"That's enough!" Fuji walked over to them. "You all are trampling on a crime scene! Go home right now! Or you'll all be arrested for interfering with an investigation!"

For a moment Todoroki didn't think they would leave. But the crowd dispersed, some still mumbling about Kai being the villain.

"I have proof." A woman stepped forward with a picture in her hand.

Todoroki took it. His eyes widened. Though it was a picture taken at night without a flash, it was clear the person in the picture was Kai. And she was holding something that looked like a bomb.