The familiarity of the thick fabric against my skin soothed me a little.

I was dressed all in black, my sword strapped to my back and the half dozen knives I'd been lugging around were still firmly in place. I tugged at the metal parts of my mittens to make sure they were solid enough.

My fingers froze a few millimeters above my mask for the third time since this morning.

Of course it covers your mouth.

I forced myself to lower them.

- What the hell are you still doing here?

Katsuki had just stormed into the dormitory and slammed the door against the wall.

- I'd forgotten something.

I straightened up from my crouched position and faced him.

- You?

- Same.

He went to his bag and took out a flask.

I approached the door, careful not to step on any of the other futons.

- Say

I stopped in the doorway.

- Do you think it'll be soon?

I looked down at my dark uniform, which he couldn't see because of the genjutsu.

- ... I think you'd better save your strength

The sun was out in full force today. The sky was a cloudless blue: a perfect day for a fight to death.

- Yo, Todoroki-san!

Inaza ran towards me with a big smile on his face.

- Where are your casts?

He flexed his biceps, then slapped them with one hand.

- I only kept them on because Recovery Girl thought I wouldn't let them rest and would break them as soon as she let me out of the infirmary, but Aizawa-sensei told me they were fine and I didn't need them anymore.

Worrying.

- Eithey way would you like to train with me today? I have this move I've always wanted to try-

- Maybe another time. I've got things to do.

- Oh.

He looked a little disappointed, but quickly pulled himself together:

- I won't bother you anymore then

He waved at me and left as quickly as he'd come, towards Monoma and Mézo.

They resumed their discussion as I walked away with my hands in my pockets. I didn't miss the strange way the mutant kept looking at me, his huge ears at the end of his arms quivering.

I didn't even have time to enter the refectory before Kenta appeared like a tornado, coming towards me with his arms wide open.

- Sho-sho, I'm so ready for today!

He grabbed my hand and started to pull me towards the beach.

- Oh, hello Shoto, his father greeted, wiping his hands on a towel.

- Kenta, you've forgotten your fishing rod and bucket, his mother scolded him as she came out with her hands on her hips.

- Sorry

The boy went back inside to get what he needed, while his mother approached me, wicker basket in hand.

- You're working very hard, Shoto, it's really a good idea for you to take this break.

The man put an arm around his wife's shoulders.

- We were beginning to worry about you: always the first one up and the last one down! (He leaned toward me and whispered conspiratorially:) To tell you the truth, we even talked to your teacher about it and he said we shouldn't worry about you, but you know, we think of you a little bit like our son!

I found this comment at least as inappropriate as the familiarity with which they treated me.

If it hadn't been for the fact that I wanted to have the boy by my side today and didn't want to alienate them...

- Ah, you're back!

Kenta came running in, his cheeks flushed.

- I'd forgotten I left the bucket under the bed!

The woman brushed his hair back with an affectionate gesture.

- I packed you a picnic lunch for today, so you won't go hungry!

The boy pouted.

- But we have to eat the fish we're going to catch!

She smiled indulgently.

- I know, darling, but wouldn't it be better to eat your fish with a nice glass of juice?

He seemed to consider the suggestion before nodding.

- Okay, give it to me.

- It's a bit heavy, so why don't you let Shoto carry it?

- I'll bring him back this afternoon.

- Have fun!

*

The morning fishing had turned into a fiasco.

Kenta had the attention span of a fly: after twenty minutes of trying to catch a whale, he'd given up and preferred to build sandcastles.

All morning he had chattered on and on about things I hadn't even pretended to listen to, too busy scanning the edge of the forest.

I'd scattered half a dozen clones all over the camp, and since none of them had exploded to warn me of imminent danger, I'd concluded that all was well.

Still, I prefer to remain vigilant. You never know. Besides, I'm not infallible. Nobody is infallible. That's right, I'm not.

- Why are you sitting like that?

I answered mechanically:

- Sitting like what?

- You've got your back to the beautiful sea. Mom says you should always look at beautiful things.

- If you look at beautiful things too long, they become ugly.

I could feel the sea, I knew I only had to move my fingers for it to answer my call.

The forest was different. It was dark, full of nooks and crannies.

He didn't look very convinced.

- Aren't you going to eat?

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

I eyed the contents of the basket suspiciously, feeling my old flaws coming back faster than I'd like.

- Let's play a little game, Kenta.

He looked down at his sandwich before placing it on his napkin.

- What's the game?

- I'm going to blindfold you and give you some of the food we have in the bag: the goal is that you recognize everything you eat, okay? You win if you guess more than half of what I feed you.

His eyes were full of stars:

- What do I win?

- I don't know, what do you want?

- Oh, I know, I know! I saw the blond boy with you last time...

- Katsuki ?

- No, he has spikes in his hair. I'm talking about the other one, the one who looks a bit stupid.

- You mean Denki?

- Yeah, he's got a great collection of cards. I'd love to have his card with the Pikachu, the illustrator. It's super rare.

I thought he was going to ask me to buy him a racing car or a house.

- Fine, I'll get it for you.

He jumped with delight.

- Awesome ! You're awesome Sho-sho!

I clicked my tongue against my palate.

- I told you never to call me that

He handed me a towel, which I used as a makeshift blindfold.

- Don't forget: if it tastes funny, like something manufactured, or if you don't feel well, you must tell me immediately

He frowned.

- Why would it taste funny ?

- Because it means it's not good.

Because it means you're dying.

- Open your mouth, let's start with the first one.

I put the product to my nose to smell the scent.

It smelled like an ordinary cake.

I cut it in half and put one half in front of his mouth.

- Bite

He bit into it, taking a few seconds to chew more thoroughly than necessary.

- It's strawberries, I can tell!

- No strange aftertaste ?

- No, and they're so good.

He opened his mouth for me to give him some more. I put it aside.

- On to the next.

I let him taste every single pickle on each sandwich to make sure everything was safe. He ate heartily at first, then began to take smaller and smaller bites.

- Shoto, I don't feel well.

I scanned the apple he'd just bitten into, sharingan activated.

- This is the apple, isn't it ? Did it taste like something weird ?

He put his hand on his belly.

- No, it's because I ate too much. Can we please stop? I think I'm going to throw up.

I watched our meal with a wary eye.

I'd let him taste and drink everything but the last bottle.

- Drink some water to get it all down and then we'll stop.

The boy lay on his back, nodding gently with his chin.

- Open your mouth a little.

I brought the bottle to his lips and let a little water trickle down his throat. He swallowed with difficulty, like an overfed goose about to explode.

- Well, that's that. You can be proud of yourself, you've won a great Pokémon card

His lips curled into a strained smile.

Silence fell over us as I waited for him to turn blue or for blood to flow from his nose. Instead, his breathing became more regular and he fell asleep.

I lowered my mask and began to devour my meal with appetite.

*

The day had dragged on and although I'd found half a dozen activities to keep Kenta occupied, we had to go home at some point.

None of my clones had exploded, much to my chagrin: I wished the villains had been stupid, that they'd decided to attack in the middle of the day, but apparently someone competent had replaced Shigaraki at the helm.

It would all happen tonight, at the worst possible time for me.

I looked down at Kenta, who was jumping up and down like only stupid, carefree children could.

- You know what my favorite part was ? When we made the awesome sand castle, oh no, wait, it was when you helped me catch the crabs, oh no, no, I know, I know!

It was when you gave me the awesome water ride, I got all wet but I loved it, it was so much fun.

- I'm glad you liked it, I replied laconically.

I looked around: we were next to the unlit campfire, halfway between the beach and the dining hall. Everything was empty and silent.

- Kenta, if I told you a secret, could you keep it to yourself?

The boy stopped next to me, looking even more excited than before.

- A superhero secret?

- Yes, a superhero secret. But you can't tell your parents, okay? Never in your whole life.

The boy nodded, his back straight and his face serious.

- Cross my heart and hope to die!

He held out his little finger.

- We have to promise with the pinkie or it doesn't count.

I wrapped my little finger around his before shaking it like a handshake.

- What's the secret?

I crouched down to be at eye level with him.

I reached into my pocket and pulled out an object, which I placed on his outstretched hands.

He looked at me suspiciously.

- Why are you giving me a gun?

- It's not a normal gun, it's a flare gun. If you press right here (I put my finger on the trigger), a red rocket will come out and light up everything around you.

- What should I do with it?

- Kenta, listen carefully to what I'm about to tell you. Tonight, there's going to be a little game in the camp. Some vilains will come and attack us.

His jaw dropped.

- And you're going to play heroes and villains? Can I play too? Say, can I? Can I?

- But that's why I gave you the gun, Kenta. So that you could play with us.

He was trembling with excitement, hanging on my words.

- Tonight, when the villains come, you'll probably be with your parents. There'll be a lot of noise and people running around. What you're going to do is take your parents and go to the school, to the second floor, to a room with a lot of computers. You'll wait there, okay?

He frowned.

- But I wanted to fight bad guys.

I stifled a sigh of annoyance.

- If you do as I say, the heroes will win. You want the heroes to win, don't you?

He nodded vigorously.

- Right, then. And you see the weapon I gave you? The only time you need to use it is if you get separated from your parents and can't get back to school, or if one of the villains really scares you, right?

- Right.

- And most importantly, no matter what happens tonight, you must keep our conversation a secret. If anyone asks if I said anything to you, you have to say that I didn't say anything at all. Understood?

- Otherwise Heroes lose

- Yes, otherwise heroes lose.

He looked at me with his big black eyes full of confidence, as if I could never do or say anything that would make me lose his esteem.

I hesitantly raised my hand above his head before stroking his hair.

It was so strange that I immediately pulled my hand back.

- Now raise your arms.

He raised them as I lifted his polo shirt, wedging the pistol between his elastic pants and his belly.

Then we were off again, Kenta as carefree as ever, as if our discussion had never happened.

- Say, when are you going to give me my Pikachu card ?

*

Soon, night would fall, and with it would come the villains.

I had blown up my clones and created new ones, and found it strange that none of them had noticed anything unusual today. I knew it made no sense and was just a waste of energy, but it was one precaution among many for the night ahead.

I liked precautions. There was nothing like being a cautious guy with lots of precautions. That way you never got caught short.

I was walking home from school, hands in my pockets and a little calmer, when I noticed something unusual.

Crouched between two bushes behind the dormitories, with his back to me, was Denki, his shoulders shaking.

My eyes didn't leave him for a second as my chakra scanned the area.

No one.

A split second later, I was standing behind him, scrutinizing the nape of his neck.

My fingers brushed the hilt of my sword.

- What are you doing?

He gasped and dropped whatever was in his hands.

A half-opened plastic bag crashed to the ground, a flurry of playing cards flying out.

He looked at me nervously:

- Ah Todoroki, I didn't know...

His face turned pale when he saw the disaster of his cards lying in the muddy grass.

- No, no, no, no, no

I watched in silence as he hurriedly fished them all out and arranged them as carefully as possible in plastic boxes.

He sighed with relief when he came across one particular card that was miraculously undamaged.

My interest was piqued when I saw that it was the Pikachu illustrator Kenta had told me about.

- What's so special about this card ?

Denki gasped again, almost as if he'd forgotten I was there.

He stroked the card with his thumb to remove some non-existent dust, looking so foolish it was as if he was stroking a baby's head.

I found his behavior increasingly strange, so I tightened my grip on my sword.

- This card is super rare.

No, really ?

- But when I say super rare, I really mean super rare.

Suddenly, he hid the card against his body and looked at me suspiciously.

I raised an eyebrow.

- I'll remind you that I offered a million dollars to the winner of the Yuei Championship, all in cash

Apart from the fact that I had to steal it for Kenta, I had no interest in that trinket.

- You’re rich, aren't you? (He pulled the card back from his chest and looked at it with... affection). This card is worth its weight in gold: it's one of the rarest you can find. It's estimated to be worth around 180,000€.

I looked at the piece of plastic with new eyes.

- How did you get it ?

- ... Ochaco gave it to me.

I was so surprised that I nearly let go of my tanto.

- Wait, back up a little. How could Uraraka give you such a card ?

That girl was so poor it was ridiculous. I'd already seen her skip a bunch of meals at Yuei with the most lame excuses, when the simple reason was her lack of money.

Denki hesitated for a second, but his excitement to share his secret outweighed his reason.

- If I tell you, you won't tell anyone, right ?

- Cross my heart and hope to die

He laughed briefly, then resumed his serious tone:

- Remember that test in the forest in the middle of the desert ? When we were tied up in pairs ?

I nodded.

- Well, Ochaco already knew what we would do. She'd heard Aizawa talk about it before and she really wanted to win. She showed me the map and said she'd give it to me if I helped her.

My blood ran cold.

- I wanted to win too, especially since I was with Iida and we could have gotten there super fast if he'd carried me halfway. But Ochaco showed me the card, and frankly, between that much money and winning a course exercise...

My eyes wandered over the card, too thick, too stiff, of too good quality to be just a card.

I had a terrible foreboding.

- She told me that I had to find a way to slow down Iida once we reached the forest in the middle of the desert. She even advised me to blow up his engines... I felt a little bad because he got angry and wouldn't talk to me for the rest of the day, but it was worth it.

I slowly walked away from the boy, my eyes focused on the card between his fingers.

- Kaminari, this card-

He didn't hear me.

- She told me that she'd probably arrive after me and that I had to send an electric shock through the forest after she screamed three times. She also insisted that I pretend to be afraid of a snake or something... I thought it was a bit over the top, but I wanted the card, so I did it. Except for a few people who got a little juice, I mostly hit the trees, and then I got silly. But I got the card !

He waved it at me, smiling.

His smile faded when he saw that I'd moved a few meters away and was approaching the wooden wall of the dormitory.

- Denki, listen to me carefully. You have to put down this card right now.

- Why ?

He brought it to his face and shook it, looking at it doubtfully.

- It's just a card, Todoroki

- Denk-

And then everything exploded.

*

Author's note :

If you want to read ahead of schedule, you can do so on my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

See you in the next update everyone !