"Todoroki, want to go the mall?" Midoriya asked.

"Yeah, your last day as a free man?" Kaminari said.

"Huh?" Todoroki looked up.

"Don't you start classes again tomorrow?" Kaminari asked.

"Oh, right..." Todoroki shuffled through some note books. "I... don't know.... Will Yaoyurozu be there?"

"Do you want her to be?" Kaminari asked.

"I'm concerned it will make her uncomfortable..." Todoroki said, "I can't figure out what I did, but I seem to have upset her."

"Isn't that just the way with girls?" Kaminari leaned on his desk. "I complimented Jiro earlier today and she zapped me. I mean, come on, what's with that?"

"I guess," Todoroki said. "Perhaps Mr. West would have an idea. He was useful before, but that villain incident seems to have undone all the use of his advice..."

"Does West give good advice about girls?" Kaminari asked.

"I guess... I mean, he does have a girlfriend," Todoroki said, "So he should know about girls, I suppose."

"Yeah, and they're pretty cute. You know, for an old couple," Kaminari said.

"They aren't old... They're only about 7 years older than us," Todoroki said.

"Whatever." Kaminari waved. "They're still old. They act old. Anyway, maybe you're onto something. We have to take one of them with us anyway. Usually Likstar tags along, but she's been kind of weird today, so how about we ask West instead?"

Before Todoroki could really confirm or deny he wanted to go, Kaminari was gone.

Not all of the class was going. Many of the moodier or shyer boys were staying home. But all the girls, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, Ojiro, and Deku were going.

Jiro must have dragged Momo out of her room, but she looked downcast.

Todoroki didn't know the reason.

But the other girls knew. Early that morning, Momo had woken up with a scream from a nightmare about the Vamp attack. Jiro had heard her and rushed into her room.

Momo said she was fine, but she didn't seem so good still. Hopefully, shopping would cheer her up.

They went to a new mall this time, one Momo especially said she liked.... Everything there was really overpriced stuff. Uraraka almost had a heart attack from it.

 "I can't afford a pack of gum!" she said.

 That was an exaggeration. The gum wasn't that expensive.

"Let's do this thing!" Kaminari said, "Uh... Mr. West, it's okay if we split up, right?"

"Everyone has my number?" Wally held up his fancy, new phone.

"Yes," everyone said.

"Then you can absolutely split up. If you get in trouble, just put me on speed dial, and I will be there!" Wally said enthusiastically.

"No... other rules?" Tsuyu said, "Like maybe a deadline for us to be back at the bus?"

"Tsuyu, don't mess with a good thing," Kaminari and Mineta hissed.

"Stupid frog!" Mineta said.

"I guess we should have a deadline." Wally rubbed his chin. "How about... when it gets dark...?"

"That's, like, 8 hours away," Tsuyu said.

"Tsu!" half the boys cried.

"Too soon?" Wally said, "I mean, I could make it 10, but you know, the dorms have a curfew, so..."

"I think 6 is plenty of time. We have homework to finish," Tsuyu said.

The boys groaned.

"If that's what you want," Wally shrugged, "If anyone sees any bad guys, do not, I repeat, do not engage without making sure no civilians are around. And call in backup right away. But I don't think we'll see any villains, so we're good."

They blinked at him.

"I think you mean, do not engage at all," Iida said.

"No, I'm cool," Wally said, "And play nice with the 1-B kids."

A handful of 1-B students who liked Wally had come along once they saw the others getting ready to leave.

Ibara raised her hand. "I think we should refrain from any unnecessary violence, Mr. West."

"I'll see you kids later," Wally said. He vanished.

"Uh... what?" Pony said.

"Well... ahem," Iida said, "I suppose in Mr. West's absence, it is up to me, as class Rep, to lay down some ground rules for us..."

But hardly anyone listened to him-- except Ibara and Kendo, out of politeness.

***

Bakugo had tagged along, not because he wanted to, but because he wanted to watch Momo and make sure she didn't do anything stupid.

It wasn't so easy to follow her discreetly since they weren't friends, but luckily, Kaminari solved that problem for him by following Jiro, along with Kirishima. So he could just pretend to reluctantly be dragged along. Todoroki didn't follow them.

Two hours and several stops later, Bakugo wanted to bang his head on a wall and erase his memory of the entire experience.

He sat outside the 12th store and sighed. Yaoyurozu didn't seem like she was going to do anything, so maybe it was a waste of time... but what if she was just waiting until he left to talk about it...? Where was Icy Hot? (He did not notice how far fetched this sounded.)

He stared at his shoes grumpily.

"Whoa," someone walking in front of him said, "Don't I know you?"

Bakugo glanced up irately.

"Yeah, that kid from UA," said the teenager. There was a passel of them. "You're the one who got kidnapped, huh? Can we get a picture?"

"What? Get the h--- away, losers!" Bakugo said.

"Oh, yeah, huh. He's the one they thought was, like, a villain," said a girl, "It's kind of easy to see why they'd pick him."

Bakugo glared and clenched his fists.

They held up their phones anyway.

Bakugo stood up. "If you idiots don't clear off, I'll personally send you home to your mothers, in pieces."

"What?" they said blankly.

"Dude, I'll call the mall's security..." said one guy, "That's just not very heroic."

"Holy frick!" someone else interrupted. 

The teens turned, and Bakugo turned, and his mouth dropped open.

Camie, in normal street clothes, was coming up to them, waving. "Hey, Bakubro! This sure is a heck of a coincidence, right? I didn't know you shopped here."

"Wh... what the heck are you doing here?" Bakugo was sure this had to be a prank. "Did West call you?"

"Nobody called me. I'm here with my Grandma," Camie said.

"You expect me to believe that?" Bakugo said.

The teens were watching in confusion. "Who is that girl?"

"I don't know. She's not a UA student, I don't think."

"She's kind of cute though. Maybe it's his girlfriend?"

"No way. A guy like that would never have such a cool looking girlfriend."

"Believe it or not, I don't care," Camie shrugged in response to Bakugo, twisting her phone to check the time. "Anyway, what are you doing here? Who are these guys?"

"They're nobody, just some extras who wanted to bother me. My stupid class dragged me along," Bakugo grumbled.

"Uh... hey," said one guy, "you're kind of blocking our shot, gorgeous."

"Hmm? Oh sorry, my bad," Camie said.

"It's cool. You could make it up to us with your digits," the guy said.

"Smooth, man," said one of his friends.

"My digits?" Camie said, "I don't have any of those with me...?"

"Huh?" they said.

"What's a digit, again? Those little spinny things?" Camie said.

[Didget with an extra 'd' can mean finger or toe, by the way, though it's not relevant to this.]

"You mean a fidget spinner?" the girl said.

"That thing, yeah," Camie said.

"She's a total space cadet," said the other guy.

"That's fine with me," the first guy hissed back.

"He meant your number, sweetie." The girl sounded really condescending.

Bakugo had had it.

 "Camie may be dumb, but she's not desperate enough for you little shrimps. Why don't you get lost?"

"Hey, why should we listen to you?" said the guy.

Bakugo sparked his fingers.

Camie blinked at him oddly, then she snickered. "It's cool, Bakugo. I don't mind. It's cute."

"Cute?" the guy looked offended.

"Yeah, when people come up and ask for my number, it's adorbs." Camie twirled her finger. "But, I don't know if I'm really in the mood for this right now, you know. I've got to go in a sec, so, thanks, but no thanks bro."

"Well, whatever," the guy said.

"Hey, forget it man," said his friend as they started to walk away, "She's just a stupid b--- anyway."

Bakugo glared. "Hey a--h--- where do you get off--?"

"What are you doing?" Camie grabbed his arm. "This is a mall, bro! Stop yelling."

"Didn't you hear what they said?" Bakugo said.

"Yeah," Camie said.

"And didn't it piss you off?" Bakugo said.

"I'm pretty used to it," Camie said, "You can't let every little thing get to you, you know. People will get the idea they can just set you off over nothing."

That was fairly accurate about Bakugo. He noticed she was holding him back. "Hey! Get off of me."

"I wasn't on you." Camie let go. "Geez. Anyhoo, I've gotta jet in a minute. My Grandma's going to be done with her spa thing soon... but it was cool running into you. It's so weird how this just keeps happening, huh?"

"This has only happened once!" Bakugo said.

"It's like fate!" Camie ignored him. "I didn't think you were such a celeb, though. People want to take pics with you and everything. I'm so jelly. No one knows who Shiketsu high students are."

"It's just a pain in the a--- to have people recognize you," Bakugo grumbled. "Why don't you stop bugging me?"

"Well, if that's how you feel about it, I guess I can just go," Camie said primly, "I didn't want to stick around anyway. You're so mean in person--and the rest of the time. I don't know why anyone likes to hang around you!" She started walking away. Bakugo glanced back to the store... No, Camie was at least not going to be shopping.

He caught up to her. "I don't want to hang out with you, but I need an excuse to ditch those other losers before they shop for something else stupid and pointless that's a complete waste of money."

"And who says I'll let you grace me with you unwanted presence, Your Highness?" Camie said saltily.

"What else are you going to do, hang out with an old bag the rest of the day?" Bakugo said.

Camie kicked him in the shin. "Don't talk about my grandma that way! She might be old, but she's cool. She promised to buy me a neat present for hanging out with her. I think you're just sore you don't have a cool grandma."

"Like I'd want one!" Bakugo's grandparents were scary. Which was odd, because they were his dad's. His mom didn't seem to have any family.

[This is 100% headcanon by the way. I doubt we'll ever find this out one way or the other.]

"You just sound bitter," Camie said carelessly, "You really should try shutting up. I like you more when you shut up."

"You shut up!" Bakugo said. This was already more entertaining than anything else so far today.

"No you." Camie made an illusion of an UNO Reverse Card. "Ha, got you!" She didn't actually seem angry.

Of course, now they were in front of a spa.

"You know, while I'm here... a mani/pedi would be great..." Camie started looking at the menu.

Bakguo debated just leaving now. He didn't want anyone to see him around here... but... the others were probably still doing dumb stuff...

His phone pinged.

Kirishima was asking where he was. "None of your d--- business!" Bakugo texted back.

Of course, then Kirishima just called him.

"Man, you can't go wandering off alone, you know the rules. Where are you?"

"I didn't wander off alone," Bakugo said, "I'm with a..." What to call Camie? He'd never live it down if Kirishima knew she was here. He'd never believe it was a coincidence.

"Is that Kiri?" Camie asked. Why did she only listen when it was inconvenient?!!

"Who's that? " Kirishima asked, "Isn't that Camie's voice?... Dude? Are you holding out on me? Are you two on a date!?"

"The frick I am!" Bakugo raged. "As If! She just happened to be visiting the same freaking mall."

"In the opposite side of Japan?" Kirishima said.

"Yeah... hey, why are you on the opposite side of Japan?" Bakugo said oddly.

"That's where my grandma lives. Duh, I took the train," Camie shrugged.

"Camie-chan!" A tiny lady came out of the spa. "Where have you been?! I know you left me here alone! You didn't answer my messages!"

"Uh... I was just window shopping," Camie said sheepishly, "My bad, Nanna."

"Well, you know I can't stay mad at you," Nanna said, "But..."She noticed Bakugo. "Who is this?"

"Oh, that's Bakugo. He's a hero student." Camie waved nonchalantly.

Bakugo didn't say anything because Kirishima was still talking to him-- which was probably just as well.

"Dude, even if I believed you, no one else will." Kirishima was laughing. "But if you want to hang out with your new friend, you should. Kind of thought you were bored over here anyway. Don't let her prank you though. She seems a little... out there, you know? With the illusions."

"Shut up." Bakugo hung up on him. "Stupid idiot, worried about nothing."

"Bakugo, this is Nanna," Camie said. Then she leaned in. "If you say anything mean to her, I end you. Got it?"

"Like you could!" Bakugo snapped.

"I 100% could. You're not that complicated," Camie shot back.

"It's nice to meet you." Nanna either noticed none of this, or thought it was typical Camie. "Any friend of my granddaughter's is a friend of mine."

"Yeah... whatever," Bakugo muttered.

Camie leaned into Nanna "He's shy," she whispered too loudly. Bakugo glared at her.

"Ah." Nanna nodded sagely. "Many young men suffer from that condition."

So saying weird stuff just ran in this family? Frick.

"Grandma, is it cool if Bakugo and I chill for a bit, so his friends don't worry about him?" Camie seemed like a completely different person around her grandma. She was too nice.

"Of course you want to hang out with your friend, sweetie. I'll just get lunch," Nanna said, "It's all right. I won't need you till I'm finished buying my necessities. Just be sure you're ready to carry bags with this old bag. Have fun." She nodded at them sagely and walked away pretty fast for an old lady.

"I told you she was cool," Camie said.

Bakugo didn't get why the Grandma was so calm about Camie just ditching her.

"Well, I don't need a babysitter, moron!"

"Oh, I didn't do it for you. I just needed her to think that. I wanted some time to chill," Camie waved, "Grandma just thinks I'll never get a boyfriend, you know, so I knew if she thought I was hanging with a hero dude, she'd jump at it. But you don't have to hang around anymore. If you want to go off and be bored that's your choice, bro. I'll just find something else fun to do."

Bakugo didn't want to go back and deal with Kirishima's smug ribbing.

"I'm still avoiding those losers," he huffed.

"If you need to hide from you weird class, I know somewhere they'll never look," Camie said.

A short time later they were in a karaoke bar.

"Why the heck are we at this dump?!" Bakugo snapped.

"Because, no one would ever look for us here, lol!" Camie sai,. "It's like playing hooky."

"There's nothing to do either" Bakugo said.

"I guess you wouldn't be the type to like this, huh?" Camie shrugged. "Well, whatevs. Do whatever you want, but I'mma have fun." She started looking at songs.

Bakugo didn't leave. "Something you said earlier is really pissing me off," he growled.

"I say a lot of rando stuff, so you'll have to either give me more deets, or like, shut up about it," Camie said carelessly.

"I ain't shy!" Bakugo snapped, "Don't make up s--- like that just to get away with stuff."

"Oh, that? Are you still on about it?" Camie said, "Sheesh. Well, it's not my fault you have a terrible personality. I had to tell her something so she wouldn't get her feelings hurt, and that was just the best thing I could think of. I mean, 'he hates everyone' wouldn't exactly make the best impression, now would it?"

"I don't hate everyone, I just don't like anyone," Bakugo said.

"What's the dif?" Camie asked cluelessly.

Bakugo scowled. "There is one."

"If you say so, fahm." Camie didn't really care. "Aren't you going to go off and do something? If you hang around me, you're going to scare people."

"Scaring people is fun," Bakugo said, with a rather unnerving grin.

"You look like a psycho when you talk like that. Here, I'll show you." Camie did a dead on impersonation of him with her smoke.

"I don't look like that!" Bakugo said.

"You look exactly like that, bro. You in denial or do you just not use mirrors?" Camie roasted him.

"Don't use your d--- quirk in public, idiot." Bakugo retreated onto lofty ground.

"Oh, it was barely anything. I could have sneezed it," Camie said. "If I'm your cover for not having to go back to shopping, then you could at least not act so scary around me. People will think we're gang members or something, and while that would mad lit if I wanted to pull a prank, I cannot get in trouble with Nanna around, because I will be grounded... forever. So... yeah... do me a solid?"

"Why would I care?"

"Because if you don't, I'll tell all your friends this was a date that you begged me to go on, and the grandma thing was just a cover," Camie said.

"You want to die?" Bakugo said.

"If I go, I'm taking you with me!" Camie retorted.

Bakugo choked back a laugh. "Whatever."

"Then we have a deal?" Camie said hopefully.

"I won't blow anyone up, if that's what you mean. I can't get put on house arrest again..." Bakugo grumbled.

"You've been on house arrest? Oh gosh, what did you do?" Camie asked.

"I beat up Deku," Bakugo said.

"You beat him up? Get out! That's so mean. What did he do to you?"

"It wasn't that one sided." Why Bakugo admitted that he never understood later. "He beat me up back. It was just... a grudge match."

"You don't like Broccoli boy too much, huh?" Camie said, "What's the tea with that?"

Camie never did have any sense of inappropriate questions.

But Bakugo told her anyway, omitting the part where Deku didn't have a quirk.

"You hated him for that?" Camie said, "You weren't kidding about wanting delinquents to be in fashion."

"Huh?" Bakugo said.

"I mean, somebody wanting to fight you even if you're stronger seems kind of cool to me," Camie said. "Makes you sound like the jerk, though."

"You don't know anything about it," Bakugo said.

"I know about bullies." Camie stuck out her tongue at him. They were sitting at one of the booths by now, eating. Well, she was eating anyway.

Bakugo couldn't exactly explain what happened in more detail, so he just scowled.

"How about now? Do you still pick on people?" Camie asked, "'Cause that is majorly not going to help you with your girl problems, boi."

"What girl problems!? I don't have any of those!" Bakugo said.

"Sure." Camie closed one eye knowingly.

"I don't have time to waste beating up weaklings," Bakugo said.

He hadn't actually bullied people all that often... by name, anyway. Just people who crossed him. Like Deku. But the heck did he need to tell her that? It was none of her dang business!

"At least you're not totally a jerk." Camie sipped some soda. "I really couldn't hang out with you if you were a bully. I mean, that's just not right."

"You hang out with Shishikura." Bakugo had no idea why he said that.

"He's not a bully," Camie said.

"If bullies pick on weaker people, then he's a bully," Bakugo said.

Camie thought about it for a second. "Holy crap, you're right! He is! Ah, that's so weird I never thought of it till now. I bet he'd lose his crap if someone told him that."

"So tell him." Bakugo would pay money to see that moment.

"Oh, no, he'd kill me," Camie said. "Anyway, no one takes me seriously in class."

She took another sip.

"Why don't you make them take you seriously?" Bakugo said, because this was getting on his nerves, "I wouldn't let people look down on me."

"Ah, see, but you've got a quirk to back that up," Camie said, "Sure, I'm pretty scary, but I don't pack much of a punch. If everyone didn't like me, I couldn't keep them from ganging up on me and taking me down. There're some scary kids in my class... It's cool. I don't care if they think I'm an idiot." She looked uncharacteristically sober.

"Why not?" Bakugo couldn't imagine not caring about that.

"It's fun if people underestimate me," Camie said, "Besides, I am an idiot."

Normally Bakugo would agree, but that was seriously pissing him off.

"If you keep saying you are, no one is ever gonna respect you," he said roundly. "That's probably why they don't take you seriously. It's all that self deprecating crap."

"You think?" Camie said, "Idk, people said that way before I started saying it. I wasn't always this well adjusted you know. I used to get mad back in elementary... but, hey, kids don't know how to let stuff go, so who cares about that?"

"So why stop getting mad?" Bakugo said, still annoyed, "What's the point of it?"

"People don't stop if you get mad, they just double down, so why get mad?" Camie shrugged."If it's not someone like you who can scare everyone else off, then it's just stupid to make everyone hate you. Play if off like you're too dumb to get it, and they'll just forget about you. If you can make people laugh, too, they'll still like you." She leaned on her hands. "But, hey, the facts are, I actually lowkey envy you a little. You can say whatever you want and people can't stop you. You're a jerk, but it must be nice not to need to play by the rules everyone else has. I can't say Shiketsu is at all like that. People don't like it if you make jokes about them there."

Bakugo looked at her oddly. "I don't care if people like me or not."

"You don't have to." Camie took another sip meaningfully.

Bakugo had never thought about that.

After a very long pause that would have been awkward with anyone else, but Camie never seemed to notice if things were awkward, so it wasn't, he finally said, "What if you just let on that you're not totally oblivious to them?"

"Oh, no, that's be such a sucky idea!" Camie made a horrified face. "If they knew I wasn't oblivious to what they say, they'd say it more because they'd expect me to change my vibe! What a pain in the a-- that would be. This way, I can get away with doing weird stuff."

"Then just don't do weird stuff," Bakugo said.

"Okay, well, just don't yell at people and blow s--- up," Camie retorted.

Pause.

"How's that the same thing?" Bakugo grumbled.

"It's the same because that's just the way you are, and I'm just the way I am." Camie gestured widely. "And people don't like the way we are, but I can get off a little easier than you if they think I'm a moron... and tbh, I am kind of not that smart. And I'm weird. I know that. I own that... but, at school, it just doesn't work. But hey, they can't change me! I just don't want them to try harder, you know? It'd be so annoying."

"Even if you're stupid and weird that doesn't mean they have the right to say anything. Who isn't stupid and weird?" Bakugo said, "Except me."

"Idk if you're stupid, but you're very weird," Camie said point blank.

"I am not! You take that back!" Bakugo snapped.

"Hey, chill bro. It's cool." Camie took yet another sip casually. "I actually like that about you."

"Huh?" Bakugo was puzzled by that. "That doesn't make any sense."

"You're like me," Camie said. "You don't fit in with the rest of the class... Call it selfish, but I guess I feel better about it knowing I'm not the only one. Then again, maybe you'd feel better too, if you'd stop denying it. I don't know why you gotta be so perfect all the time. No one likes perfect. Perfect is annoying. Shishikura wants to be perfect, and he's a major pain to everyone."

She rolled her eyes. "That guy needs chill pills."

Bakugo didn't disagree. "I ain't like that idiot."

"Nah, but doesn't he piss you off because you want to be the perfect hero too?" Camie said, "I mean, it's not hard to figure it out. Like forces repel, right? That's a rule of dating."

"We ain't talking about dating, and it's a rule of science," Bakugo said.

"Dating is science," Camie said. "Anyways, I was just kidding, geez." She looked away coolly.

"He pissed me off because he acts like he has the right to judge other people and doesn't look at his own flaws," Bakugo said after another pause, "I used to think other people weren't important, but I guess you kind of have to use them to win sometimes, because it's rigged that way. So whatever, there's no point looking down on people if you have to rely on them. It's stupid. Even before I thought that, though, I didn't go around telling everyone else they were bad heroes. Like I give a crap what they're like as long as I beat them."

"That has got to be both the most accepting and most dismissive thing I've ever heard someone say," Camie snorted a laugh, "How do you do that, like, at the same time? I should learn that... Idk, though. If you just stomp on everyone, then how do you make friends?"

"I don't need friends," Bakugo said.

"Everyone needs friends. Who will you share your dumb sense of humor with?" Camie said.

"And do you even have real friends?" Bakugo shot back.

Camie frowned. "A few.... Not everyone is as strict as Shishi, you know. Anyway, you're one to talk."

"I have friends," Bakugo said moodily.

"You mean your squad? Sure, they're cool," Camie said.

After another pause, Bakugo said, "Would you ever think about the LOV's philosophy?"

"What?" Camie sputtered, "Where did that come from? I don't even know what that means."

"I mean... hypothetically, it's a waste of time to learn why villains think the way they do," Bakugo said, "All that matters is beating them."

"Oh, I see what this is about," Camie said, "I almost forgot about that... I don't know, if I need to mess with them it could be useful, but I don't think I'd chat with them online about it, if you know what I mean."

"Or in person," Bakugo said, "That would be insane. They could just kill anyone who did that."

"Uh, yeah... or you know, drug them and steal their blood," Camie said.

Bakugo gave her an odd look.

"Not that I'd worry about that," Camie added quickly, "Because who cares about that? It's in the past."

"You actually still worry about that?" Bakugo scoffed.

"Don't make it sound stupid," Camie frowned, "I don't worry about it. I just think of it from time to time like 'wow, that was so mad. Wow, that happened and I didn't even remember it.'... Don't you ever think about being kidnapped again?"

Silence.

Bakugo normally would lie, but it was hard to lie to Camie after she just admitted that upfront.

"I guess when I go out, I do," he said, "In a 'it's a thing that happened' kind of way, not like I'm scared."

"They didn't do anything messed up to you, right?" Camie said.

"No," Bakugo said, "Just tied me up."

"You know, most people would call walking away with only that a win," Camie said.

Silence.

"People are dumb," Camie said, surprising him by her dim tone, "It's not like it matters whether they did anything to you or not. It's humiliating to have something like that happen to you, like, singled out... and then if people say it's because you're... well... you, what can you do? There's no way you can act like it bothered you at all. I mean, we had it coming, right?"

Bakugo didn't know how to respond to that.

Camie sighed. "Listen to me. I sound so heavy!" she giggled nervously. "It's not like it's bothering me, anyway. It's just weird to think about. Even if it was, I couldn't tell anyone."

Bakugo hesitated. "Neither of us could," he admitted sulkily, "No one would get it. So it's just as well it didn't bother either of us."

"Uh huh." Camie fingered the table a little nervously. "It's really lucky."

Pause again.

"I'm so screwed." Camie dropped the act. "I can't walk home without thinking about it... Ugh... I can't believe I'm admitting this out loud."

Bakugo hadn't been able to leave the dorms without thinking about it, so it didn't sound that strange to him. But he had no way to express this.

"Well, don't whine about it," he grumbled.

"Some listener you are," Camie said snippily, "You could at least not rub it in. I just can't help but wear things on my sleeve. I shoot straight."

Bakugo bit back a snappy retort.

"I don't know what to tell you," he said grumpily, finally, "It's not like it changes anything to say it."

"I guess not," Camie allowed, "I just wish I knew what would change it. Sheesh, if my class knew this, they'd really come down on me. Don't tell them."

"Like I'd tell those pricks anything anyway!" Bakugo snapped.

Camie laughed. "That was actually pretty good. Maybe you have a sense of humor after all, huh?"

"That wasn't a dang joke!" Bakugo cried.

Camie just laughed again. "Whatevs... fi-fi.... Whew, that was so much to unload over lunch. I really talk too much."

"If..." Bakugo hesitated, but then he went on, "if you want help with that sort of crap, you should ask Likstar. She knows about crap like this maybe. Even if she likes villains."

"You know, about that," Camie brightened, "I don't think it's that she likes them, you know. I think... it's like... you know, you have your favorite students, and you're least favorite, like those bratty kids we had to watch, but if you couldn't use force to stop them, then you'd have to try something a little more sneaky, you know. I think that's gotta be it."

"Yeah, and she doesn't get that those are the same people who want us dead," Bakugo said.

"Oh... I didn't think of that," Camie said, then, "Maybe if they didn't want you dead anymore, that'd be... you know, a relief.... I mean, sheesh, if she got them to drop us, I'd feel better for sure. Couldn't hurt to let her try, right?"

"And if she gets killed?" Bakugo said.

"Well... that I don't know anything about," Camie said, "I just know what I'd do if I had powers like that and the brains to use them-- I'd totally be screwing with people to get them to do what I wanted. So, I just... get it. Eh, you're too one-note to understand."

"I can understand that, you moron," Bakugo said, "I get wanting to beat them at their own game just fine... but they don't deserve help. And I don't get how she can claim to want us to be safe, but still hang with criminals."

Camie stirred her drink. "That's deep," she said, "too deep for me. Maybe you should just ask her that, bro. Stop being a chickens--- and avoiding the issue."

"I am not!" Bakugo raged.

"Then just do it," Camie shot back, "What do you got to lose? Your dignity? She probably doesn't think you have any to begin with, from all I hear."

Zing. That one hurt.

Bakugo was too sulky to say much for a while after that.