Ten Days of Katsuki (Todobaku)

Day 1, Part 3

We head to the arcade after dinner as originally planned, minus Bakugou of course. I don't know if it counts as an actual arcade due to its size. It's more like a game room. Which is fine, given that there are plenty of other things we can do on the cruise to pass time on sea days. Also, no one else is in here, giving my friends and me free reign to enjoy ourselves.

I'm not good at most of the games. It's times like this where I'm hit with the realization of how sheltered I was as a child. My brother and sister got to experience this sort of stuff with their friends all the time, but I was essentially a prisoner in my own home. I've spent more time in my father's training studio than anywhere else, including my bedroom. Luckily, my classmates from UA are the most accepting people I know. Even though we're all technically rivals with one another, we've also grown so much together over the last three years that I consider them my second family.

After losing to Iida in Dance Dance Revolution for the third time in a row, I venture elsewhere. Kirishima and Yaoyorozu are playing some racing game. Denki is cheering for Kirishima while Jirou roots for Yaoyorozu. Kirishima leads for the entire race until the last lap when he accidentally loses control and crashes into the wall. Yaoyorozu then takes first place and maintains the lead all the way to the finish line. She shares a celebratory kiss with Jirou as Kirishima slams himself back against the headrest.

"Damn it!" He climbs out of his seat so Denki can take his place. "You better crush her, man. We can't let them win twice in a row."

"No sweat," Denki says. He turns to Jirou, his competitor, and offers a challenging stare. "You're going down."

Jirou rolls her eyes. "We'll see about that." She extends the cord from her ear toward his face, leaving the smallest gap between the aux and his eye. "Better pray you don't short circuit by accident."

As their race begins, Kirishima smiles at me. "Do you want to play next, Todoroki?"

I shake my head. "That's okay. I'd probably only embarrass myself further."

He pouts. "I'm sure there's something here you'd be good at. You just have to find it."

"No, I don't think so." I suck in my lower lip and tilt my head down.

Upon witnessing my reaction, Kirishima's face softens. He throws an arm over my shoulder and walks us to an unoccupied couch against the wall.

"Are you okay, man?" he asks once we're seated. "You seem upset about something, and I'm guessing it's more than just game related."

I nod but don't elaborate. Instead I sink my body into the couch and cross one leg over the other. Scanning the room, it's nice to see my friends having such a great time. There's a decent crowd gathered around Tokoyami and Dark Shadow as they battle each other in skeeball. The score is close, but Dark Shadow is winning.

Kirishima finally breaks my concentration. "Does it have anything to do with what happened at dinner?"

I sigh. As much as I want to tell him he's wrong, I can't. Bakugou's outburst at dinner is fresh on my mind, mostly because it's my fault. Sure, it was Sero's comment that caused him to storm out of the dining hall, but he wouldn't have done that if it weren't for his deep hatred for me. I so badly want to be like him and just hate him back. It would make everything so much easier. But no matter how much I want to pretend that I'm unaffected by his cruelty, I know it's a facade. I hate feeling this way, and I hate thinking it's my fault he's not here right now.

On the plus side, Bakugou's probably blowing some guy's back out on the king size bed in our room right now, so I don't feel as guilty as I normally would.