|| Sunlight || k. bakugou x oc || mha x oc ||

Chapter Twenty-Seven

Todoroki POV

It hurts. The moment I get near the intimidating aura surrounding Kai, my skin feels red hot. Not the warmth I feel from my fire quirk. Burning.

Just like...
   
A shaky gasp escapes me as the lights in the gym start to flicker. She starts towards me, her hands in her pockets. I send out a hasty ice attack. There's a hissing as my ice melts before reaching her.

Shit.
   
I steal a glance at my classmates. Where's Mr. Aizawa? Midoriya stands only a few meters away, a hand over his mouth like he's sick to his stomach.

This needs to stop.
   
"Someone get Aizawa." Yaoyorozu says urgently.

Only Iida moves.

After training so much together, I thought I'd grasped Kai's fighting style. But the girl with empty eyes that stands in front of me is different. She fights different too. Out of nowhere, the orange aura vanishes and she sprints towards me.

Midoriya shouts my name. Bakugou shouts hers.

A sting erupts from my forearms as I barely block her attack. Her hits are aggressive, but precise. Until now, I'd always felt we were evenly matched. Now, I'm barely holding my head above water. She lays on hit after hit, kick after kick.

I breathe shakily, "Kai." Kick to the ribs. "Kai stop." I barely dodge an uppercut. "Kai. You have to—"

She wraps an arm around me and pulls hard. The hard floor meets my back, knocking the breath from me. But there's no time to catch my breath as she swings herself over to press her forearm against my windpipe.

As I struggle, I grab at her wrist. Her skin is burning hot. And then it goes icy cold. Hot again. Then cold. I can't just let her beat me up. With my hand holding her, I activate my quirk. Frost quickly spreads across her skin.

No reaction.

My eyes water as she presses her forearm harder against my throat. Even with my ice quirk on her bare skin, she doesn't flinch. She's not fully there. Managing to wedge my foot against the floor, I land a single kick into Kai's stomach, launching her back. This time, she grunts in response.

"Kai. Someone is going to get badly hurt if this continues."

"Injuries are just weakness, Todoroki." She shivers involuntarily, frost still coating a good portion of her arm. Without warning, she reactivates her quirk, this time in a short burst.

A blast of energy hits me square in the chest, knocking me off my feet. It's an odd feeling. The energy is warm, but it feels as solid as a wall. She sends out another blast before I can even get up. My shoulder aches at the impact. But seeing her standing over me, poised for her next attack, I force myself to my feet.

The attacks come faster and faster. I manage to dodge a few, block some with my ice. But...I can't do this much longer.
   
Block the attack. Dodge. Duck. Block. Dodge. Block. Dodge. Dodge. Move. Move. MOVE!

My breath grows more and more labored, my muscles starting to spasm in exhaustion.
   
I send up a final ice wall with the last of my strength...but the attack against it never comes to shatter it into pieces. There's a heavy silence, followed by a strange sound of something falling and scuffling shoes.
   
The relieving sound of Mr. Aizawa's voice rings through the gym, "Everyone out, except Bakugou and Todoroki." There's a shuffling of feet as my classmates leave in solemn silence. I stagger to my feet, stumbling around my wall to see my teacher. Bakugou stands awkwardly bracing a limp Kai. Her head hangs at an awkward angle, blood trickling from the corners of her mouth.
   
"I can't leave you guys alone for two minutes, can I?" Aizawa mutters crossly.
   
"Is—she—okay?" I say between heaving breaths. Not even my father's intense training had made me burn out like this. I threw up, collapsed even. But I've never felt so utterly drained of energy. I can barely even speak.
   
"She overexerted herself. She'll be fine. Can you carry her to Recovery Girl, Bakugou?" Aizawa asks.

The usually loud boy only nods silently, adjusting Kai's position before looping his arm under her legs and hoisting her up off the ground. Aizawa looks at me, "You go with them. Have Recovery Girl look over everything. You don't want to go into the Sports' Festival with an injury."
   
"Yes sir."

Kai POV

My entire body feels like it's on fire. My quirk has wreaked havoc. Thank god Aizawa stopped my quirk when he did. But there's no doubt about it now. Everyone knows. I can hear the whispers of people who never even knew me.

Once a villain, always a villain.

"Are you awake yet, extra?" The voice is rough. I can tell who it belongs to, but it holds a different tone. He's trying to push me away. He knows.

I force myself to sit up, "I'm fine."

"You don't look fine."

"Then stop looking." I snap.

A tense silence follows. I swing my legs down from the infirmary bed, my muscles aching. Warm and soft, a nose nudges against my leg. Sora. I scratch him between his ears, leaning forward to reach him.

"Ooh, be careful dear. I had to take a lot of your energy to repair all your injuries." Recovery Girl pats my arm, "Take it slow getting home. It's normal to collapse when you first get up." I grit my teeth and force myself to my feet. A warm hand appears on my back. I ignore the pain spiking through my body, my head spinning.

"I told you, I'm fine."

"Fine." He pulls his hand away. I swallow as the warmth fades from my back.

"Bakugou, will you be a dear and make sure she gets home safely?" Recovery Girl asks.

"Tch. Fine. Whatever." Bakugou hands me my bag and guides Sora's harness into my other hand.

"What time is it?" I mutter crossly.

"School got out an hour ago."

"Dammit." I sling my bag over my shoulder and scoff at my own weakness. The moment we get out of the infirmary, Bakugou immediately returns to his angry state.

"So are you gonna explain or are you going to make me drag an explanation out of you?"

"What's there to explain?"

"I saw the news.  And I'm not deaf. I've heard what people are talking about."

"Like I said, what's there to explain?" I mumble.

"I want you to tell me the truth. Rumors aren't shit. I'm not hearing any of it unless it's directly from the source. I'm not easily influenced by gossip like the rest of those idiots." He scoffs.

"And if it's true?" I stop. We're both standing at the top of the steps to the school. I feel my hand tighten around Sora's harness, as if of its own accord.

"Why wouldn't you fucking tell me?" His voice grows quieter, which is somehow more upsetting than him yelling at me.

"Why would I have to tell you? Better question, why would I want to? Hey, by the way Bakugou, I'm a fucking monster. I've killed people. I'm sorry, that's not something I could easily fit into a casual conversation." I feel my breathing getting wild, a wave of emotions after feeling nothing all day. My hands start to move erratically, "What do you think gives you the right to know about something like that?" I release a trembling breath.

The boy in front of me is silent for a moment before responding in a low, bitter tone.

"Nothing. I just—I thought..."

Bakugou POV

"Nothing. I just—I thought..."

I thought that maybe, you trusted me.