It's Kendo.

"Hey there."

"Hello?" Ashido vigilantly scans her surroundings. The corner of the airport provides enough cover for her to remain hidden in plain sight whilst clogging an ear with her finger. She sees the group chatting amongst themselves. There is a distinct poison of eeriness creeping in her gut as Kendo's voice travels via phone lines.

"What are you up to?" asks Kendo.

"Nothing? Why? I mean, I picked up an old friend just now—" she glances back over at the elated expressions of Uraraka and Asui—"but that's it. What are you calling for?"

"Eh, nothing much. Just wanted to catch up. And apologize. For what I said. You know, a while ago. About Bakugou and whatever."

Ashido's brows furrow. "You do?"

"Well, yeah, c'mon. It's been keeping me up at night. I shouldn't have threatened you like that, that was terrible. I would have met you in-person but it seems you are quite the busy-body nowadays. Why are you so skeptical?"

She had been worried about Camie and her muteness enough as of late, and suddenly Kendo pops in to apologize?

"Honestly? You sounded pretty damn sure what you were talking about. And I've been thinking about it too."

"Have you now?"

"I have."

"Well, if being over-ambitious has taught you anything . . ."

There it is.

"—you haven't talked to her in a while, have you?" says Kendo. "Camie, I meant, sorry. If that's what you meant about you 'thinking about it' at all. Technically you would act upon it."

Kendo sounds so lax.

And Ashido can't stand that tone of hers.

"Kendo, what did you really call for? I'm not stupid. You may think I am, but I'm not. I like to let loose and have a little girl talk, but I'm not—"

"Ohhh, I get it, I get it, don't act so badass about it. I just wanted to see what was up . . . and catch up with the latest regarding Camie and Bakugou. How is it, by the way? Any progress?"

"Don't play with me."

"I'm not, honestly."

"You are. There's no way you called just to 'apologize' to me. Why are you asking about Camie? Why're you so interested all of a sudden? Weren't you meant to be the subplot villain?"

Kendo silences. A bout of panic whelms Ashido, her heartbeat illustrating several worst-case scenarios and counting; Kendo asking about her relationship with Camie in very insinuating tones that could mean many different things all at the same time . . .

And this time when Kendo speaks she gains the voice of somebody who has had enough tomfoolery for a lifetime—"I had a little chat with Camie last night."

The time it takes for Ashido to process this is compressed in milliseconds—the time it takes for Ashido's brain to load this information feels like centuries. Suddenly the world feels as though it had dropped from her feet. An airy, highlighted sensation engulfs her and sends her falling through a tunnel of death. Or perhaps something just as terrible.

Kendo must have realized Ashido's silence was due to shock, and therefore carries on with, "I don't want you to kill me, okay? We just talked."

"What did you talk about?" growls Ashido, spitting the words like her own acid. It's only a few days before the festival . . .! It was going so well! Her chest heaves up and down in erratic fashion.

"Nothing much," Kendo sounds as though she is staring at something out of her reach, "just about you."

Ashido had never truly felt the urge to murder somebody before. Of course, the occasional burst of rage surged in at the best of times. Several instances which left her clawing her hair out sprouted every now and then. But at the end of the day she regained her composure and continued on as an ordinary, law-abiding Hero. She never acted upon those primal urges. She would never. God forbid.

She could very well kiss those morals goodbye when it comes to Kendo.

Her phone nearly shatters in her grip.

"Me and—"

Kendo's sigh interrupts her. "We chatted about . . . Monoma."

Ashido's heart skids to a halt.

"I told her about what you did. Back in high school. How you, uh . . . got him and me together. She was very interested in it. And also kind of . . . I don't know. She looked kind of dejected. But, uh, yeah. I just told her that what you're doing is something you haven't been able to keep your hands off of. You just adore watching people get together. You can't stand the thought of somebody being alone. So you just put people together, like they're your precious dolls, and you don't think anything wrong of it. And you know what? That's pretty fucked up, Ashido. You probably don't understand what's so wrong about it, and that's fine. Ignorance is bliss. Do whatever you want. I just wanted to say that, I'm sorry, and that you were only acting out of the goodness of your heart. I haven't said a word to Bakugou. And I won't."

Kendo pauses. There's a string of tension waiting to be plucked.

"Camie said what you do is astounding," Kendo admits. "And that you've really helped her. She doesn't really care, if you can believe it. I told her all the bad stuff that happened to me because of you, and she says love is blind. I kept thinking about that."

"Kendo," Ashido intervenes, because the way she's talking—"are you crying?"

"No," Kendo lies. "I just kept thinking about Monoma since last night. I had a dream about him. I told Tetsutetsu and he said I'd be all right. But now I just can't stop thinking about him. He held me again in the dream, like, really held me and . . . I don't know. It felt weird. It's like I can't, can't seem to really . . . really get over it, you know?"

"Kendo . . ."

Ashido can't seem to find her tongue. So much has happened, and so much else needs to happen. Then again, so much that has happened could have been prevented.

"I'm very, very sorry . . ."

"Don't apologize. I don't want to hear it. Just. Tread carefully, I guess. If you really think this'll be a good decision for Camie in the end, go for it. I'll watch with interest. Have a good day, Ashido. That's all."

Kendo hangs up, and the line drops dead.

It takes a moment for Ashido to recollect herself. All that stuff with Monoma, that was . . . unintentional. She never meant for any of it to be this way.

Getting people together like they're little dolls . . .

"Ashido, what's the matter?"

"Nothing, Uraraka. Um. We better go. There's a new diner that opened up in the city, I'll treat you guys there."

The squad ambles out to the car while Ashido takes refuge behind them, being uncharacteristically quiet as her thoughts float in rampant succession. Kendo revealing all that had happened with Monoma to Camie . . . none of it was her initial goal! She was just a kid, anyhow! Kids do stupid things! And having the heart of a child isn't a crime!

What would Camie think of her?