Emote: Bakugo x OC Reader

Chapter 75

I stared at the piece of paper with the number 5 on it. As I looked around, I realized that all of my classmates seemed to be finding their partners and were beginning to stand in pairs. My eyes briefly met Katsuki's but it was as though he looked right through me before he averted his eyes. His expression was blank and he was unusually quiet in the same way he had been through dinner.

Sighing, I realized how alone I felt, especially since Mina had already been dragged away with Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari and Sato for the extra lessons they were required to take due to failing their exams. I felt horrible knowing how excited Mina had been about participating in the test of courage I was about to take part in and as I had watched her get swept away by Mr. Aizawa I had considered suggesting trading places with her.

Honestly, I was not currently in the mood to be the winner of this test of courage, or as one of the PussyCats so beautifully phrased it be "the creative student who makes the most people piss their pants." Our class was the first to walk the forested path while class B had the task of being "the scarers." Once the rolls were reversed I would easily win the challenge, seeing as I could literally make people feel fear. However, for now I had to focus on finding out who I was paired with to actually take the test of courage with.

"Excuse me," I said, tugging on Mandalay's top. "I don't think anyone else pulled the number 5."

"Oh, so you're the brave soul who gets to take the walk alone, eh?" She said, smiling at me warmly. She gave me a wink and leaned in conspiratorially as she added quietly, "There's an uneven number of you but I put that one in the middle of the group with the hope that knowing you've got friends in front of you as well as behind might help give you a bit more courage. You've got this, kitten!"

I had grown quite fond of Mandalay over the short time we'd been at the summer camp and her words gave me comfort despite the aching feeling that hadn't stopped gnawing away at me since I'd watched Katsuki's retreating back walk away from me. Watching him walk into the forest with his partner only served to trigger the memory to come back to me with full force. Surprisingly enough, he was in a pair with Todoroki but hadn't put up a fight about it like I would have expected him to normally. Todoroki had glanced at me a few times after looking at his paper but hadn't said anything to me.

"Nakano, you're up," Mandalay said and I realized I must have been spacing out.

I've always felt a vague sense of uneasiness in the dark, although tonight the only thing I felt was numb as I walked along the forest path.

Why did I say that? I didn't even mean it, I just wanted to hurt him. It was like I had been possessed and couldn't control the words that were coming out of my mouth. I was being spiteful because he had hurt me and I wanted him to hurt too. It was childish. But...

I stopped walking and covered my face with my hands, tilting my head up toward the moonlight as I breathed in deeply.

I'm so fucking tired. And I'm emotional and I've literally been in pain since the moment I started this damn training camp. I'd been avoiding him in part because I didn't want something like this to happen except when I was thinking of the worst case scenario in my mind it didn't even come close to the devastation I feel now.

Periodic screams broke through the crisp night that surrounded me but I didn't even flinch. In fact, it only made me realize how idiotic this whole thing was. As my hands slid down off of my face I became aware of an odd smell that hung in the air. It kind of burned at my nostrils and I noticed a light purple fog skirting across the ground towards me. Could it be one of class B's quirks? Suddenly I began to feel dizzy and I instinctively stepped back, hearing a twig snap beneath my sneaker.