Mystery from Another World--MHA

Part 52: Camie and Bakugo--kitchen secrets

Once they were back at the dorms, where a lot of worried students greeted them, and the tension in the class was temporarily forgotten (which was encouraging-- perhaps they didn't really hate her deep down, Momo thought), Todoroki was troubled. He still thought the whole thing was his fault

He apologized to Shine when he got a moment to do so.

"I should have done as you said as soon as you said to. I'm sorry... Yaoyurozu could have been in real trouble because of me."

"So it evens out from the time she got in trouble," Shine dismissed it, "Please, don't worry about it. It's not your fault. We moved pretty fast. The villain could fly. It's not like it was fair. Momo's fine too."

"I've been meaning to ask you about that. How did you do that?" Todoroki demanded.

"The same way I do everything else." Shine started humming a song. "Every move I make I make in you. You make me move Jesus. Every breath I take I breathe in you..."

"That doesn't make sense," Todoroki said, "It's nothing like your other powers."

"Which of them is like the other exactly?" Shine countered, "Now could you just be grateful and stop questioning it? I've had a very long day, and Wally will be here any second to grill me on what happened... and then I'll cry, so that's a thing."

"You'll... cry?" Todoroki said blankly.

"I usually do after the fact," Shine said, "Kind of wired that way... What? Am I not allowed to have emotions?"

"No, it's just that, I didn't think things bothered you," Todoroki said.

"Of course they do," Shine shrugged, "But you can't show it, not in the moment when you need to do something. But if you never show it, then you just carry it with you all the time. That's no good."

"I wanted to ask you also, why did you heal that villain?" Todoroki said in an different tone, "He didn't deserve pity. And he tried to kill us all. Just minutes before, too. Why?"

Shine looked at him. "Why not?"

"What could possibly be the use of it?" Todoroki said.

"We don't operate based on USE," Shine said, a little annoyed, "I felt it was the right thing to do. Would you just have callously watched him suffer?"

"I might have." Todoroki saw no problem with this. "I don't exactly pity his type."

"The capacity for compassion can grow with time," Shine said, "I am now to where I can pity most people. Still working on others. Pity is wasted on some, but we can't know that until we try. I am not here to judge, Todoroki. I also don't have favorites, so to speak. Sure, I like some people better, but that's not supposed to affect what I do. It shouldn't affect what you do either, you know."

"I understand rescuing civilians, whether you like them or not-- but not villains," Todoroki said.

"I suppose I shouldn't be surprised," Shine muttered. Then she said, "How would you like to be treated, Shoto Todoroki? If you were hurt like that."

"If I did what he did, I think I would deserve it, and I wouldn't be able to accept myself," Todoroki answered quite readily.

Shine looked at him kind of sadly. "If we can't receive mercy, then we cannot understand it either. And if we don't give it out, we won't get it back. All I can tell you is this, 'I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy' [Romans 9:15] and 'blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy.' [Matthew 5:7] This is how we are supposed to live. If you don't like it... I'm sorry for you, but I don't really care. I will be free to forgive you and free to have mercy on a villain, if I see the need for it. I don't make the rules, I just follow them. And that's why I cannot blame you for what happened, because I see no need to assign blame. And in the same way, I can forgive that man for what he did, because I want to be forgiven when I make mistakes."