The mission was, critically, not the most galvanizing thing Camie has endowed in.

She was told not to expect much out of it, yes, but she feels like a weed waiting to be plucked while she watches Scorch and Sparkler complete the cardinal factors. Obviously Bakugou is here too, don't kid her, but even he somehow appears less zealous than normal, silently observing his henchwomen do the dirty work.

For the record, they're at a construction site.

"CATCH!"

Also for the record, Camie totally called it when she surmised Sparkler's quirk was on the flashy side of the spectrum.

The sheer power of her legs was no joke. With a little push of firepower, anything that small girl kicked suddenly became an explosive, deadly fireball, employed with the help of special support shoes that encased extraneous amounts of pure, raw power. Her hero costume held zero encumbrance on her frame, donning an outfit similar to a soccer player's.

The Meteor Hero: Sparkler.

Quirk: Firework.

Sparkler kicked (or launched) pieces of scattered rock among the construction grounds at her fellow coworker Scorch, the red-haired divinity upon the hard-boiled construction workers and dusty land. With a wicked glint in her eyes, her flaming, scarlet hair wriggled alive, moving with a mind of its own, ferociously catching the fiery meteors like a baseball catcher, hurling them to the sky with all the force of nine raging bulls.

As it stormed through the atmosphere it came to a halt in mid-air, bright rays radiating from within the boulder, and suddenly it imploded; a rocky supernova.

The Singe Hero: Scorch.

Quirk: Flame Whip.

Camie was ecstatic to discover these girls' quirks up close, but after watching them do the same thing over and over again, all the explosions and yelling at each other were starting to hurt her ears. She pondered how Bakugou was able to survive in tandem with a quirk as barbaric as his without losing his hearing, though she figures he must have some tactic to keep his ears sharp.

She wouldn't be surprised if he did.

As stated above, though, this type of work wasn't Camie's ideal vision of a so-called 'mission.'

More like intermission.

She hasn't done a thing to contribute. Hasn't gotten a chance to.

For starters, this is a construction site, and the mission stated that they need to create a clearing for new businesses—thus the landowner hired the most infamous destruction-starved heroes in Japan.

…Who just so happened to bring Maboromicamie, the Illusion Hero, along.

Yeah, there wasn't much for her to do here other than stare, as if she were a child too young to go on a rollercoaster.

If anything her quirk would just be a nuisance here.

So she fancied.

She'd made great endeavors to get here, and all for what? Camie promises to apologize to Inasa later, since he apparently couldn't make it to today's activities.

Hmm.

Out of everybody here, Bakugou seemed to be the most compatible for a job like this.

So she had to wonder…

Bakugou is standing beside her at the moment, all too serious and quiet despite the circumstances. Camie tilts her head curiously and pulls a strand of hair behind her ear.

"You ain't gonna hop in?"

The explosive hero refuses to look at her. "I've done this plenty of times."

"Sooo… why ain'tcha helping out? Can't you do it anymore?"

"It's not about whether I can or can't, it's whether I want to or not, dumbass."

"Oho… I see, I see. Ngl tho, what I don't see is how I'm of any help here. I'm the opposite of ya. I want to help but I can't, yanno?"

"Anno," Bakugou imitates, "I told you not to get too excited. Can't fix that."

"There weren't any other missions available, huh?"

"None that wouldn't get you fuckin' murdered in the first hour."

"Ay, I haven't been murdered yet."

"That I can fix."

"Ain't you a doll."

So went their idle conversation.

Bombs resound beyond the horizon as Camie contemplates her next choice of words. Truth be told this was exactly what she wanted, and if it was all thanks to Ashido, she pondered whether she could be of help to herself in the future. Thinking about the future, about people, about herself, it was all an enormous clump of uncertainty.

Yet as her mind wandered, a specific thought caught the train of interest.

Something she had been wanting to bring up more… one-on-one.

"Hey. About that Tatakai thing…"

She observes him for any sort of reaction to the name, yet receives none. Camie continues.

"…Scorch told you she would take care of it. It's my first day meeting her for reals, and I thought she was going to burn down the agency at first, ya, but… Idk, I think you can rely on her."

To this Bakugou stands straight, side-eyeing an odd look to Camie. "No shit. She and that bastard knew each other like the back of their hands."

"They did?"

"Yeah." Bakugou looks back at Scorch, and the way he's standing, the way the sunlight reflects off of him, reminds Camie of the trademark superhero pose. He seems to be conjuring something, until he clears his throat and declares:

"They were dating."

At first Camie hadn't the right mindset to fully understand what she was told, but as soon as the words register she blows her eyes wide and whips back to the ostentatious Scorch. She couldn't believe it. All the trash Scorch had spouted in her nonchalant bickering, bad mouthing Tatakai like he had been the most egregious curse to wander the agency…

…

"…How long had they dated?"

She has to know.

This is stuff Ashido would froth over.

"I don't know," Bakugou answers honestly. "Longer than a year."

"Longer than a year…"

Sustaining a relationship for that long, but still failing in the end. The way Tatakai has been described thus far, Camie couldn't imagine wanting to enter a relationship with someone like that just from the surface facts. Honestly Camie would have expected the prim and proper Sparkler to be on the receiving end of that type of tragedy. Then again Scorch does come off as a hands-on learner, gaining experience during her time.

But that assumption wouldn't stow Camie's novelty.

Dig deeper.

"What, like, happened between them…?"

She asked it warily, as if she were stepping into a gamma-radiated landscape. Knowing her limits.

"Something I don't think I should be telling you."

"…?"

Bakugou says this as if he were dealing with a world-ending topic. "If you want to know, ask her yourself. I wasn't able to do much except kick his ass for what he did, and now that I think about it, I shoulda let him off back then when I had the chance. Those two were pretty much the ideal image of sidekicks."

Camie mulls the thought of Scorch and Tatakai fighting side-by-side. It makes her sick, knowing the current circumstances.

"Did he really love her?"

"…"

His chilly silence drowns out the explosions. Bakugou thinks, and thinks.

"I don't know," is his conclusion, "but I know she felt that way towards him."

…

The thought of it ached her. What happened? Just what obscure event ended that darling ember of love?

Better question…

"How come she didn't tell me?"

All the most wonderful chances in the world, reduced to waste.

Bakugou merely sighs. "Hide it, I guess. She doesn't like talking about him."

"She rlly just spoke of him like he was some rat bastard."

Her queer word choice has Bakugou chuckling through clenched teeth. "Ha hah, rat bastard he was. Kind of glad I gave 'em a piece of his mind."

"Yeah," grins Camie, "he totes deserved it if he hurt Miss Scorch."

He has no remark on the subject and simply nods in quiet agreement. In her own mind Camie muses over the configurement of Scorch's signature smirk blooming into a shimmering disco ball of joy, hand in hand with Tatakai. Rich, platinum joy.

Did Scorch, at some point, want to spend the rest of her days with Tatakai?

Did Scorch, one upon a time, look at Tatakai like a prince in shining armor?

Did Scorch, in her time, go to the Summer Festival with Tatakai?

Did Scorch, grumpy, ill-mannered Scorch, speak of Tatakai the same way Ashido speaks of Kirishima? The way Camie speaks of Bakugou?

Did Scorch ever tell Tatakai, "I love you"?

These thoughts, these rotten fantasies—Camie expels them from her head immediately.

The difference between being in love and being in a relationship is a world of convoluted, intricate, and twisty paths. Everyone makes it look so easy—Ashido included. Someone as charming as Scorch succumbing to the plank of harsh realities, Camie suddenly has the urge to hug her, saying everything will be okay, that she doesn't have to worry anymore.

That—

There is still a special someone out there waiting for her. Waiting to take that chance of traveling down those unseen, intricate paths.

Taking… that 50/50 chance.

…

With her mind in a swirl, Camie imagines herself in a world where nothing goes wrong. She smiles, cool and empathetic, and with another firework boulder raining from the heavens, she takes the chance of letting her mind do the talking:

"I ain't that good at this relationship stuff, either, tbh."

Endure it.

Endure the humiliation.

"I haven't actually dated anybody before, so… yeah. My school wouldn't allow that kinda stuff."

"So I've heard."

"Mm-hmm. Totes sucked. I never got around to srsly getting a bf as soon as I graduated, so I guess I just sorta let the water hold me up. A lotta my friends got some, lost some. Like Miss Scorch, ya dig?"

When Camie looks at Bakugou she realizes he has his eyes on her instead of Scorch. "I dig," he says. He seems genuinely interested in what she's saying, bestowing her the extent of his sharp attention.

So Camie avoids faltering and holds it together, "They would all go and do fun stuff. Kiss, or—whatever they do. They went to the Summer Festival, too… I told u about their takoyaki, right? The same concession guy is there every year, so u can try some while we're there."

"They only got takoyaki there?"

"No, silly. You never gone?"

"I only attended so my shitty friends wouldn't spam me with inside jokes over the phone and say I missed out."

Don't make that mistake again.

"I get watchu mean, my friends just post pics of them and their bfs. But no, they got games and stuff there. Plus Hawks is tossing in an adult section—didja get a letter?"

"I did. Earphone Jack is performing."

"Whoa, srsly?"

Talking to Bakugou—as if it were the most natural talent in the world—was Camie's image of a perfect world.

Their conversation lasts until sundown, when Scorch and Sparkler have cleared two miles worth of land, dust and grime covering their costumes. The young Sparkler rushes up to Camie, which looks funny considering how short she is, making her look like a little kid. Scorch waves her final goodbyes to the other workers and saunters the rest of way to everyone else.

"Sorry you didn't get to do much!" Sparkler tells Camie. "Eeech, I shoulda thought of a way to include you…"

"Hey, dw about it. I had fun while I was here."

Scorch places a hand on her hip and expresses a lopsided smile. "Talkin' with your boyfriend the whole time, yeah?"

Really?

Camie shows a miserable grin. "He's not…"

"Hey, hey, I'm just jokin' with ya. I can understand why you could do as much as lift a pebble, Maboromi, but what about you, boss? Lyin' low for now?"

"Part of it," confirms Bakugou. He mimics Scorch's stance. "I was told on the grapevine that you tried burning down the agency."

"What?!"

"I was joking!" Camie mock surrenders.

Scorch leans forward, extending her fiery hair like a vine, creating an image of a hand pointing dramatically at Camie. "Don't you go blowin' my cover, girlie. My super-duper genius plan will be foiled!"

"Fear her!" says Sparkler, melodramatic.

"If you idiots are done clowning around, I'd like to get out of here already. You get all the paperwork?" Bakugou inquires.

Sparkler hands her boss the papers and the four of them depart. The sun has set by the time they arrive at the agency, and Sparkler bids them farewell and goodnight before she jets off like a cheetah, sprinting home like Imperium would.

The main lobby is empty at this hour, which allows Camie to reunite with Scorch once they change and prepare to head home.

"Where's Bakugou?" she asks.

"Upstairs, doin' the papers." Scorch is still caked in filth and sweat. "Sparkler said this already, and—believe me—I would have said back there as well, but I ain't that sentimental around others. Sorry you didn't get to do much at all. Honestly I was tryin' to show off."

"Ahaha, no worries. I got to move some rocks, but what u guys were doin' was lit. Ur quirk is interesting."

"Why thank you." She even splays her fingers on her chest.

"I have a question before u leave, tho."

"Yeah? Ask away, I'm here all night. Not really, that—I was joking."

"Idk if you consider this personal or whatevs, but Bakugou told me you and Tatakai were—a thing. And, like—that he did something bad to you. I heard what u said about him, and I totes agree he's dogshit, but like… what did he do to you?"

"..."

Camie registers a grisly feeling brewing in her bones. As soon as she mentioned Tatakai Scorch's expression fell, eyes devoid of ambition, her smile dying. No way could Camie back out, but it gave her a feeling of true adrenaline—taking the chance and risking a potential friendship for an answer.

Even so.

What she earned as a response—

Was possibly worse than what Camie initially foresaw.

"That's none of your fucking business, is it?"

A seeping wave of dread shocks the illusion girl. Scorch had leaned close, but not like she did back at the construction ground. No playful tones or jokes. This time, Scorch really means it. Scorch is mad.

"He told you? Tell him to shut the fuck up. Don't meddle in other people's business."

With a harsh pivot Scorch snags her bags and shoots one final glare at Camie before she storms out of the building. There Camie stood, millions and millions of thoughts coursing her head, combinations of dread, fear, and worry zipping faster than the speed of light.

Her first day on the job, and her relations are already migrating down the drain.

God damn it.

She just had to ask.

She just had to make matters worse.

Her day had been going wonderful—she made great first impressions, managed to talk to Bakugou, engaged herself in courage…

All it took was one question—less than thirty seconds—to throw it all away.

"Ugh…"

Cursing herself, Camie rubs her head as she steps outside the agency, bags clutched in her hands, reminiscing the past twelve hours as if they were a living nightmare. A bad dream. She shouldn't have asked. Should she have? She was only curious… and Bakugou was only making conversation…

"Hey, Maboromi!"

"!"

Camie's imagination abruptly decimates when she hears her name.

A woman is running toward her, hand waving through the air. She's wearing pigtails.

Camie doesn't immediately recognize her at first, but—

"Oh—hi, Kendo."

"It's nice to see you!" Kendo says, all bright-eyed and smiles. "I was just on my way home, I didn't expect to see you here. Mind if I walk with you?"

"Huh? Sure, why not? I'm down."

"Great!" Kendo says it cheerfully, yet her eyes display… something else.

Something fake.

"Actually, there's something I wanted to talk to you about, regarding Ashido."