Chapter 24: Wild, Wild Pussycats
Katori's head rests against the window of the bus on their way to their summer camp. The coolness of the window contrasts against her heated body while the soft movement of the bus rocks her in and out of sleep. She sits next to Todoroki who's managed to fall asleep and stay asleep since the moment he sat down. She hears the loud voices of her classmates erupt around her, but she keeps to herself, wondering if her father is watching her right now.
Seated behind her is Bakugo, and she doesn't dare look at the blonde boy, still unsure what he is thinking and waiting for him to say something to her about her being a villain. The way he looks at her makes it undeniable that he suspects her, but maybe he is just waiting for the proof.
After the longest bus ride that she has ever been on, they finally park in an excluded area where the students rush out of the bus to stretch their legs.
Katori stretches her arms over her head as the others congregate around one another. She turns around when she notices a car has joined them in the turnout that they have parked at. She looks at the car when she notices two cat-like women pounce out of the vehicle and introduce themselves as the Wild, Wild, Pussycats. Katori doesn't know much about Pro Heroes outside the top five, so she doesn't recognize them, but Midoriya seems to know who they are, and is excited to be working with them.
They all introduce themselves to the heroes, where the ladies explain that they own the forest land they are on, and work as recovery heroes. One of the Pussycats explains that the summer camp is located far off into the distance and Katori groans as Uraraka asks what Katori has already pieced together, "Uh, then why did we stop all the way up here, instead?"
"I'm afraid we both know the answer to that," Tsu states, coming to the same conclusion as Katori, while the rest of the students begin to slowly panic at the distance of the summer camp.
"The current time is 9:30 in the morning," Mandalay states. "If you're fast about it, you might make it by noon."
"No way! Guys!" Kirishima groans.
The students begin panicking as they make a beeline for the bus when they are intercepted by Pixi-Bob. "As you should have guessed," Aizawa begins. "The training camp has begun."
They are all thrown off the mountain in a colossal landslide as everyone screams and cries at the shock of their new predicament. When they land at the base of the mountain, Mandalay informs them that they are free to use their Quirks, but they will have to make their way through the 'Beast Forest'. Katori gulps as she turns towards the haunting looking woodland.
Mineta feverishly rushes into the woods, holding himself with crossed legs into the woods to relieve himself when a thunderous roar shakes the ground around them. Katori looks up, seeing a huge clay monster approaching the purple boy. He is frozen in fear, staring up at the monster when Midoriya launches himself at the boy, scooping him up and pulling him away from its war path.
Instantly Midoriya, Iida, Bakugo, and Todoroki all spring into action and attack the clay monster before it can make a further move on their classmates. They all work together in tandem to destroy the monster into a cloud of dust. Their display of teamwork inspires the rest of the class, and everyone works together to take out the remaining monsters that continue to come at them from inside the woods.
Katori finds herself smiling as she works with her classmates to take down the monsters. She knows that she has to work on other students that she's not used to working with, so she sticks behind the frontline charge and works with Kaminari and Mina.
She runs up at a clay monster, jumping in the air and using Kaminari's Quirk to electrocute the monster. Once it is incapacitated, she uses Mina's acid to disintegrate the beast into nothing.
"Woah, that's really weird!" Kaminari laughs holding his head as he sways at the draining feeling of Katori's Quirk in use. "No wonder Bakugo hates it."
"It feels like someone's pulling a string out of my chest!" Mina says grasping onto her chest.
"Sorry," Katori winces at their commentary, but the two laugh it off. "I just figured I should try my Quirk on others."
"No skin off my back," Kaminari smiles at her, "Just don't overuse it, or you'll never hear the end of it from Jiro!" he says lazily pointing back at her.
"Yeah, I would love to see what you look like with a fried brain," Jiro laughs at the girl and Katori giggles with her.
Katori finds herself feeling relieved that she is not on the frontlines, fighting against these beasts while also fighting against Bakugo and Todoroki to get a hit in. The two boys—along with Midoriya and Iida—are usually the first to spring into action, and they are practically falling on top of one another to get a hit in.
But back here, there is more time to breathe and recuperate her body and her Quirk. She is able to use more of her classmates' Quirks, while also giving herself the needed time to saturate her eyes and focus on her next hit.
Katori focuses on using Mina's Quirk to immobilize the giants, then switching to Aoyama's naval beam to shoot down the beast. She is careful not to overuse Aoyama's Quirk, as she finds herself getting sick, noticing that his drawbacks are hers since she's never had experience with a Quirk such as his.
Sato helps launch Katori into the air where she latches onto a flying clay dragon and zaps it out of the sky, landing in a net that Yaoyorozu quickly fastens for her. She smiles at all of their teamwork, and finds the fight to be so thrilling when they are all working together and not against one another.
"Hey Katori," Jiro says looking at the black-haired girl. "You've used Kaminari's Quirk multiple times, but you never fried your brain. What's up with that?"
Katori glances back at the blonde who watches her carefully and she shrugs, "I don't know, I feel the drawbacks of Aoyama's Quirk but not yours."
"Maybe it's like Todoroki's?" Kaminari guesses and she notices a nervousness in his tone. "I mean, you're able to use both ice and fire at the same time, but he's not."
"Or she's not as dense as you are, Kaminari," Jiro giggles and the blonde playfully shouts at her, making Katori smile at the two of them.
After hours of fighting, the students come to a crawl at the clearing of the woods where Aizawa and the Pussycats wait for them. Katori notices that it's well past dusk, and they completed much later than the Pros had informed them they would.
Katori latches onto Yaoyorozu as the two girls use one another as a crutch to drag themselves towards the encirclement of students. Once they are near Aizawa and the others, Katori launches herself to the ground, sitting next to Kirishima as they both breathe heavily.
"Ugh this is hell! I'm starving!" Kirishima groans as he holds onto his stomach.
"Please tell me they have food for us," Katori grumbles.
She watches as Pixi-Bob explains that they did well, but of course, Bakugo, Todoroki, Iida, and Midoriya outshined the rest. As the pro swoons over the boys, Katori can't help but be grateful that she hung back from the four of them, considering how much pain she is in now, compared to how much pain she would be if she struggled to keep up with them.
Midoriya goes to approach a little boy that hangs around Mandalay, however, before he can fully introduce himself to the boy, Midoriya is punched in between his legs by the boy. Kirishima winces as Katori stifles back an audible laugh. Iida is quick to catch Midoriya from keeling over, while chastising the boy for hitting Midoriya.
Katori turns away from the exchange and listens to Mr. Aizawa, who brings their attention to him, explaining that they should gather their things and make for their rooms before dinner. The mention of food makes Katori's stomach growl and she springs to her feet to get on the bus and gather her things with the rest of her classmates.
Once they have settled their things into their room, they are taken down to the dining hall where an absolute feast awaits them. Katori's kneels buckle and she practically falls to her knees at the smells that invade her senses. She quickly runs to an open seat and begins shoveling the warm food into her mouth. She isn't even sure what she is eating, or what it even tastes like. All she knows is that she needs food and it is right in front of her.
She sits between Kirishima and Todoroki as both boys make no effort to commit to basic table manners in front of her. Todoroki is slurping audibly, and Kirishima is clanking his chop sticks against his bowl as he shovels more rice in his mouth. Katori herself isn't mindful of holding back and looking proper while she eats either, as she feverishly shovels food in her mouth until she feels like she's going to burst. No one has time to speak with the others, as they are all too focused on filling their rumbling bellies.
After dinner, Mina mentions there's a hot spring on the campground, and she need not say more as the girls get ready and rush to the pools. Katori steps into the hot water as her body instantly relaxes to the temperature of the pools. She sinks into the water to her neckline and leans her head back, lifting it to the starry sky as she allows herself a moment of peace.
"Katori, I've been meaning to ask," Mina begins with furrowing brows. "What happened at the festival? Why did you leave early?"
Her heart races at the pink girl's inquisition, and she keeps her eyes off of the girls that eagerly wait for a response to her question. "I just wasn't feeling really good after dinner," she says dejectedly.
"You spent the rest of the day with Todoroki," Uraraka begins, "I guess the date with Bakugo didn't go well?" she says with a sad frown on her face.
"Well, he did slam her face into the dash of a bumper car," Jiro deadpans.
"Yeah, but he got her that giant Hawks plushie!" Hagakure beams.
"What happened in the Ferris wheel?" Mina asks. "Seems like he was willing to apologize, but then you both left angrily."
They all turn to the girl, expecting an answer from her. She supposes they deserve an answer since she bailed on their slumber party that night to get as far away from them as she could, with the chilling words of her father driving her movements.
She slumps her shoulders into the water and glances up at the girls as all eyes are on her. "I don't know," she tells them, "I guess we aren't compatible," she tells them simply, unwilling to tell them what truly transpired in that Ferris wheel.
"Well, you're so lucky Todoroki spent the rest of the day with you," Hagakure groans, "He's so dreamy!"
Katori awkwardly chuckles at this, "I don't know, I think we are just friends too," she winces at the use of 'friends', trying to remind herself that he's her classmate. A means to an end. Her father's words once again stinging her as she thinks about his disappointment in her.
"But if you had to choose?" Mina lights up at the diabolical question, "Between Todoroki and Bakugo, who would you choose?"
All the girls light up and look at her for an answer. She shakes her head slowly, unsure why she would even ask since there is no chance that either boy is interested in her. They expect an answer from her and she actually thinks about it for a moment.
She feels her cheeks heat up at the proximity of Bakugo, and her heart races in her throat when she's around him. He makes her feel like she's made of thousands of butterflies, being contained in a bubble that bursts when he looks at her. But Todoroki makes her feel warm and safe, like she is being wrapped in a tight blanket that hugs her in security when she's around him.
She shakes those feelings out of her head. 'What am I doing? I can't pick between them. They will hate me when they find out.'
Katori opens her mouth when she hears yelling from the other side of the wall. "It's shameful behavior!" they hear followed by indistinct hollering and commotion. Her eyes flash up at the top of the wall where she sees the small boy who punched Midoriya, now hit a peeping Mineta from scaling the wall.
Katori sinks deeper into the water at the sight of the purple boy.
"Mineta really is the worst, isn't he?" Tsu calls out to the boy who saved the girls from being exposed to.
"Thanks so much, Kota babe!" Mina sings up at the boy. "We owe you one!" she cries out as the boy ends up tumbling off of the structure himself.
The girls begin giggling at the close call and Katori exhales a built-up breath. Never in her life did she think that she would be thankful for the little pervert trying to peep on the girls.