Chapter 22: Epiphany

Todoroki and Katori continue walking amongst the park playing various minigames and going on the rides. They team up with others from their class, but they mostly stick to themselves. She finds herself smiling more than she ever has before as she continues to have a great time with the well-mannered Todoroki, who is a stark contrast of the red-hot blonde she started the day off with.

They sit down on a ride that throws them around a bit, and Katori is pressed against Todoroki from the force of the ride's inertia. She holds onto his chest, her eyes shut closed and screaming from the excitement of the ride while Todoroki remains silent but smiling.

They continue to ride the smaller rides as they stay away from the more adrenaline inducing ones, where Todoroki quickly realizes that she is not much of a thrill seeker. He is having as much fun with her as she is with him, and for the first time since he can remember, he is not thinking about training or his father.

They head towards the ring toss stand where Todoroki continues to rack up more tickets with Katori's help. She is terrible at throwing games so she sits this one out in favor of watching the two-toned boy toss the plastic ring at the glass bottles to win a prize.

She smiles as she watches him concentrate when she hears the last thing she wants to hear in the moment, "Copy-Paste," his voice is rough and demanding, and a part of her wants to pretend she didn't hear him call for her, but she can't pretend he doesn't exist so she turns around to look at him.

She can't even process his expressions because he shoves a giant plush Hawks in her face, followed by handing her a bag of cotton candy. She glances around the large plushy that is practically the size of her, to see the annoyed look on his face as he digs his hands back in his pockets. With a pout on his lips he grumbles, "You look really nice."

Kirishima chuckles awkwardly as he scratches the back of his head at his friend's incompetence with women.

Her eyes fall from his and looks at the prize, figuring he had to work really hard to win something this huge, knowing that she and Todoroki together don't have enough tickets to buy something like this. "Did you steal someone's tickets or something?" she asks him skeptically.

"No, I won it!" he barks at her. "It wasn't even that hard! Why is everyone so bad at everything!" Kirishima groans and Bakugo takes in a deep breath as he calms his nerves. "I'm sorry about the bumper car thing," he stops there, knowing that if he continues then he will blame it on her inability to sit straight and not his own actions.

She sighs, figuring the gesture was as nice as he's capable of, and she shouldn't be angry with him. "Thanks, I guess," she says unsure of her response. "We are about to join the others at the Ferris wheel if you guys wanna join," she says with no inflection in her tone that tells him that she wants him there.

"That sounds like fun!" Kirishima jumps in before Bakugo can ruin this date any further.

They head that way after Todoroki collects his tickets and they walk together. She leans into the two-toned boy as they count their tickets together. Bakugo watches her as he saunters behind them with a scowl on his face. He sees the soft smile on her lips and the happiness in her eyes as she leans in to invade the boy's space. She has never looked at him like that, or shown any interest in leaning into his space.

He rolls his eyes, not allowing the sting of jealousy to build in his chest. He's not jealous. Not of that Icy-Hot bastard of all people. She's just a dumb nerd. He doesn't have feelings for her.

They reach the Ferris wheel to find Iida and the others filing in line. He continues to herd them like cattle into the gondolas of Ferris wheel in groups of four. Bakugo notices that Kirishima slips from the line to speak with the attendant on the Ferris wheel, and he narrows his eyes when he watches him slip something into his hands.

Katori steps into the gondola and sits herself on the bench. Kirishima pushes Bakugo past Todoroki to sit across from her. Todoroki moves to step in when the attendant steps forward, "Sorry, only two per gondola on this one."

"But the rest have four," Todoroki returns in a flat tone.

"Yeah, this one's busted. Can only handle two."

"Is it not safety standards that these be checked and signed off before allowing a patron onto them?" Iida argues.

"If it can't hold four then—" Katori begins, readying herself to leave when the man speaks over her.

"It's just this one. Can't hold four. Physics or something," he grumbles lazily. "Gotta start the ride. Back up."

Before she can leave or the others can do anything, the ride begins, leaving Iida, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Kirishima behind. Katori sits back down while Bakugo slumps down in his seat across from her, not at all pleased with Kirishima's idiotic plan to get them alone together.

She glances out the window of the gondola, watching from above as the boys look up at the rest of their class. She shoves the giant Hawks stuffed toy to sit next to her and shakes her head at the situation she has been placed in. "Does Eijiro think he's being smooth or something?" she scoffs.

"You noticed too?" Bakugo mumbles with his arms crossed over his chest at the realization that he paid off the attendant to lock them in here together.

"He wasn't subtle about it," she grumbles plopping back down in her chair. She looks up at him, noticing his eyes on hers and a clear desire to say something to her, but he keeps to himself.

Her eyes can no longer linger on his hard stare and she looks down at the cotton candy on her lap. She fiddles with the bag, opening it up and pulling at the sugary cloud. She hands him the first piece, smiling slightly at him as he takes it hesitantly.

"Thanks," he murmurs.

They sit there for a moment both looking out opposite windows as the sun begins setting with the scenery looking romantic from up here. She sighs wishing that she was with anyone but him in this moment. How long was this ride? How much longer did she have to endure this crippling silence?

"I didn't mean it," he begins as he pulls her out of her thoughts. She looks at him to see clear regret pressing against his brows. "I didn't mean what I said about your Quirk. You can be a hero with your power," he tells her and she watches him as he speaks to her. "It just pisses me off to see you hold back," he tells her honestly. "You're powerful and you know it, but every time you use that annoying ass Quirk of yours, you hold yourself back; it's obvious," he tells her as if he is warning her. As if he doesn't buy her story, and she watches him with wide cautious eyes.

"That day at the USJ," he continues, "You used your Quirk on All Might and saved me and Deku." She surveys him carefully as he continues, "You made us look like idiots," he tells her harshly and she looks away from him hugging her arms around her stomach. "You keep grabbing at that scar on your arm like you're ashamed of it, and that makes it even worse. You acted like a hero, you got hurt like a hero, and then you fall back in your shell and hold back your power like a coward," he tells her harshly. "That makes us look weak. It makes us look like we couldn't defend ourselves, and you were braver than us."

"Bakugo," she begins as she clutches onto her forearm to cover the scar. "I saved you because I was scared, not because I was brave," she tells him and he blinks at her. "I was horrified that day, and confused. When I saw that Nomu come for you, I didn't think about how strong it would make me look, or how heroic. All I was thinking was how scared I was that he was headed for you. The same goes for Midoriya," she glances back at him. "I didn't do it to save him, I did it because I couldn't think of anything else to do."

He glances away from her with a huff, not liking her response as he expected her to flex her strength and bravery over his lack of heroic traits. "Just because someone saves you doesn't mean that they believe themselves better than you," she tells him and he refuses to look at her. "I don't understand why you resent me for that."

"Because you are better than me!" he snaps at her and she gasps at his growing tone. "I came to this school and I was the best, and then I see you and that Icy-Hot bastard effortlessly destroying everyone and I realized that I'm not the best. And then there's Deku and that damned Quirk of his that he hid from me all these years, biding his time until he could make a fool of me!" he tells her angrily. "And you all hold back your strength as if to torment me even further; giving me cheap victories so you can blindside me like that damned nerd when I least expect it!"

"Is that really what you think we're doing?" she asks shocked that his demented mind would twist the narrative in this way.

"Isn't it obvious? Don't give me that damned crap about Icy-Hot's dad. He didn't use his fire on me because he wants to keep me weak, so I can never be Number One, and you—"

"I wanted to kill you, Bakugo!" she yells at him with widening eyes. "And not in the dumb way that you threaten everyone," she adds. "I wanted to actually kill you," she repeats with more inflection in her voice. "In that moment at the sports festival when I had you pinned down, I wanted to kill you, and that isn't what a hero does. A hero should never think about killing someone else, even when the fight turns against them, but in that moment, I wanted nothing more than to kill you and be done with it. I am not a hero; I have no stake in being Number One."

He sits there with a completely unreadable expression on his face that makes Katori angrier at the situation. When she told Todoroki this information, he had the clear look of shock on his face that reaffirmed the gravity of her words, but with Bakugo's indifferent shell, she cannot read what he is thinking and it enrages her.

"You're so stupid if you think that's what we all have planned," she tells him with a more leveled tone. "You have an amazing Quirk, and I am sure you've heard that all your life, but a powerful Quirk doesn't mean anything if you aren't a strong person," she tells him and he glares at her. "You're not a team player and you'll never be Number One if you only look out for yourself," she tells him sternly and he glares up at her.

"No one is trying to sabotage your development here," she stresses. "Everyone is so warm and encouraging and cheers for each other's growth. Before I came here, I hated heroes, but since coming here I—"

She stops dead in her tracks as her eyes widen to the size of dinner plates. She looks onto his eyes, frantically searching them for identifying her words and when she sees the shock in his eyes, she realizes that he caught her words and she begins to panic.

She just admitted to hating heroes.

A student of a hero academy.

An aspiring hero.

'My cover is blown.'

Katori swallows hard, feeling a lump build in her throat constrict her airways. The corners of her eyes begin tunneling in and her body rises in temperature as she feels sweat accumulate on her brow. Her lips quiver as she tries to say something, anything to make up for the words that spilled out of her mouth.

"I meant…" she stumbles, her eyes darting back and forth as she tries to formulate her words but Bakugo is too smart for his own good, and her cover is blown. She takes in a deep breath; she can still regain this and recover if she puts on a show like her father has coached her. "I grew up on the streets," she lies, looking down at her hands on her lap. "I didn't have a hero to look up to. I didn't have a hero save me," she simply says unable to lie any further to him.

Katori looks up at Bakugo who's face has dropped a bit, but there is clear calculation happening in his expression. He is replaying every interaction he's ever had with her, reviewing each questionable response or reaction she's had with him; trying to find the lies in them all.

Bakugo opens his mouth to respond to her, but before he can, the ride stops and the doors open to their classmates' boisterous voices. He looks up at her and she watches him with concerned eyes. He is not giving her anything to go on, and she is unsure if he's pieced it together. He stands up, looking down at her one last time before stepping out of the gondola.