Chapter 24
Camie was up before the sun the next day. She had gotten up early to go to the bathroom but her nerves had started to settle in and she wasn’t able to go back to sleep.
The morning consisted of her pacing up and down the passages of her house, effectively annoying her mother. After being scolded for the tenth time, Camie went up to her room to plan her outfit. She picked out a pair of blue faded jeans and a printed shirt that she was fond of.
After lunch, she went to shower and wash her hair. Camie then styled it and put her makeup on. She changed into her chosen outfit and looked in the mirror.
It’s not bad... but it’s missing something.
Camie stalked over to her closet and grabbed another outfit, put it on and looked in the mirror again.
Nope, not this one either.
She continued the process until it seemed that all her clothes were on her floor instead of her cupboard.
Argh! Might as well just go with the first one, it seemed like the best.
She put on the original choice again and threw the pile of clothes back into her closet.
I’ll sort that out tomorrow.
Camie had left the house way too early, she hadn’t been able to sit still while waiting and had decided to take a slow walk to the park. She stood behind the usual park bench and paced up and down in the shade of a tree while she read through the piece of paper that had her answer on it.
Today’s the day. Don’t screw it up.
She finished reading it and went over the last line twice before looking up. Walking towards her general direction was someone she hadn’t expected to see. As soon as their eyes met, he smiled and Camie felt a chill run down her spine.
The boy raised his arm to wave and Camie then spotted the silver chain that wrapped around his wrist. She waved back.
“It took you a while to recognise me this time.” Toga giggled as she got closer.
“I hadn’t expected you to come as Bakugo.” Camie admitted.
“Wait you know him?” Toga looked at her confused before her face lit up with realisation, “That’s right, you two did you hero provisional training together.”
Camie nodded.
“I can change if it makes you uncomfortable,” Toga said quickly, “I still have some blood from another U.A. student.”
“It’s alright, you don’t need to change, I was just taken aback for a second.” Camie smiled as she reassured Toga.
“Then let’s go.” Toga smiled in return, “I parked my bike on the other side of the park.”
The two walked hand in hand to Toga’s motorcycle. Toga handed Camie her helmet before climbing onto the bike. Camie followed suit after placing the helmet on.
The two arrived at the area of the festival just as the sun was going down.
“Do you want to play some games first or eat?” Camie asked after they had gotten off the bike.
“Let’s eat first, I’m starving.”
“Aren’t you always?” Camie laughed.
“That’s beside the point.”
They stopped at a takoyaki stand before heading further in to look at some of the other stalls. They weaved in between the groups of people that were also enjoying the festivities. Soon they found themselves in front of a mask stall. They looked at the array of displayed masks; some held intricate designs while others were fairly simple.
Camie was soon distracted by a couple of children that ran past, excitedly talking about the games that were further along.
“Come on.” Camie called out to Toga as she pulled her along. “Let’s go look at the games.”
Toga followed behind Camie, letting herself get dragged down past all the stalls.
Camie stopped in front of a large container that was full of water and an array of goldfish.
“I used to love playing this as a kid, although I never actually managed to catch a goldfish back then.” Camie grimaced slightly. “My paper scoop would always tear before I managed to lift the fish up into the bowl.”
“Let’s play.” Toga said suddenly with determination.
Camie looked at her in shook, “Are you sure?”
“Yes, it’s called reliving your childhood experiences.”
“A very frustrating childhood experience.”
They paid the fee to play and were each given a paper scoop and a small bucket.
“Okay.” Camie said to herself, “Easy does it, be careful with the fish but fast with the scoop.”
She was concentrating so intensely that she got a fright when Toga started to laugh which caused Toga to laugh harder.
“What?” Camie asked after her heart had calmed down slightly.
“No, it’s nothing. You’re just very serious about this whole matter,” Toga explained.
“It’s very serious, I’m not going to carry on the humiliation of my past.”
This caused Toga to let out a snort as she tried to stop herself from laughing, which caused her to start laughing again. Eventually Camie joined in.
“Okay,” Toga finally sighed and wiped a tear from her eye. “Let’s do this now, for your past self’s honour.”
They focused on trying to scoop the fish into their containers but weren’t having any luck. They paid for their next few scoops; Camie was on her sixth and Toga on her fifth.
“This is the last one.” Camie declared, “After this I’m going to need to replenish my energy with food.”
“I thought I was the one who was always hungry?” Toga teased as she took a break from her task.
“This time is an exception.” Camie winked as her scoop tore. “No!” She exclaimed in a whiny tone. She sighed before collecting up all her torn scoops and placing them in the bin. “Now for food.”
“Just give me a second,” Toga turned back to the fish she had previously been attempting to catch. “I want to try one last time.”
She slowly moved her scoop towards the fish at an angle; the fish didn’t dart away which was a good sign. At a slightly faster pace she dipped the scoop into the water, under the fish and pulled it back out the water. With a sense of urgency she sped up entirely and plopped the fish into her container.
“You did it!” Camie exclaimed, excitedly shaking Toga’s shoulders.
“I’m going to fall if you keep doing that,” Toga scowled slightly, trying not to jostle the fish too much.
The game attendant offered to put the fish in a bag for the two of them to take home.
“Yes please.” Camie smiled brightly as Toga handed over the fish.
After they got the bag with the fish in it, they headed towards the food stalls again.
“Here.” Toga held out the goldfish towards Camie.
She took the fish from Toga and held it up to get a good look at it. The entirety of the fish was a bright orange, save for the tips of its tail fins which were a deep black colour.
“It’s really pretty.” Camie commented, holding the bag out towards Toga for her to have back.
Toga shook her head, “It’s for you.”
“Rules are rules, you caught it so it’s yours.” Camie smiled. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll try my luck next year again; although I’ve never had much luck with looking after goldfish.”
Toga looked slightly panicked as she still refused to take the fish.
“Come on Toga, I promise that it’s okay. It’s only fair, with all the hard work you put into catching it to take it home with you.”
“No, I can’t do it!” Toga screamed out, “What part of that don’t you understand?”
As shocked as Camie was by Toga’s sudden outburst she was even more shocked to see a tear slip down Toga’s cheek.
She opened her mouth to try to calm Toga down when she remembered that they were in a crowded area and a large number of people were already gawking at them.
Let’s first go to a more secluded area and then I can find out-
Camie glanced at Toga and noticed that the sharp edges of Bakugo’s jaw line were beginning to soften slightly.
-Oh shit.
She took a step closer to Toga and lowered her voice, “Let’s go to a less crowded area, you’re starting to lose control of your quirk.”
Toga nodded and kept her gaze lowered on to the ground and Camie took her hand and led her away from the staring crowd.