Mystery from Another World

Part 57: Camie Comes Over

A few days passed with the school working on the new adjustments.

Most of the staff were very chilly to Shine and Wally afterward, but All Might was surprisingly not very frosty. Maybe he sympathized with their reasoning.

Nezu completely ignored them; he seemed busy making calls and having meetings.

Out of the rest of the teachers, only 13 seemed at all sympathetic to their motives. She had some reservations about the school's methods, though she rarely voiced them. She didn't verbally support the changes, but she didn't act any different either.

Since things had cooled off, Bakugo decided to follow Camie's "suggestion" to just ask Shine directly again about her deal with villains.

"I get all the crap about beating them without using force, but they're still scum who are out to kill heroes, and even with those ancient rules or whatever, how can you just be okay with talking to them?"

Shine seemed resigned to having to have this conversation multiple times. "Didn't I explain before? It's to benefit you."

"How the frick does it benefit me? Those b------s kidnapped me," Bakugo said.

Shine tilted her head. "I see.... Is that why you don't like it? You have some personal feelings about this, huh? I suspected as much."

"I don't have feelings about it. It just doesn't make sense," Bakugo grumbled.

"You do know that it's more abnormal not to have feelings, and more weak, than it is to have them, right?" Shine said.

"Huh? How the h--- do you figure that?" Bakugo scoffed.

"Because to feel things is hard, and it takes courage," Shine said, "but shoving it all away doesn't. I hope you can be strong enough to feel something about it someday, Bakugo...but I can feel plenty myself...enough to not want it to happen again. Anything I can do to prevent that, even if it means talking to people I do not like and have every right to resent for doing that to you, I will do--provided it's not against my code, and it isn't. Is that so hard to understand?"

"I don't like how it makes you seem like you're the good guy here," Bakugo growled.

"It's the truth. You decide whether it's good or bad," Shine said, "but if I didn't think it was good, I wouldn't do it, you know. Give me some credit for consistency. Have you ever known me to deliberately do something wrong?"

Silence. Nothing came to mind.

"Or to try to endanger any of you?" Shine pressed.

Silence again.

"Or to have an issue with stepping in to protect you if I got the chance?"

For the third time, silence.

Bakugo found he couldn't make a case for it. He slumped into a chair. "All of this is so d--- annoying."

"I think you mean exhausting. I agree," Shine sighed. 

They didn't say anything more for a while. Then Bakugo shook his head. "Even if I didn't do anything, the pros will catch you eventually. What about that bird-brain Hawks?"

"He's really bad at being a...well, a secretive person, but all he has to do is see me with one of you a few more times to start realizing I must be working at UA to be around its students. One time is maybe a coincidence...but..." Shine sighed. 

"So why risk it to begin with?"

"Well...the outcome on prior missions before was, eventually, the villains began to change how they felt," Shine said. "There were other reasons besides me, but I like to think I helped fan the flame... Other times, no, they never changed. But you have to test it before you know that for sure."