"Ahh, I'm starved!" Uraraka exclaimed, plopping down onto the bench. "That last round was just exhausting! Iida-kun, I'm so jealous that you managed to place first! That super speed was a little sneaky, though!"

He readjusted the rim of his glasses. "There was nothing "sneaky" about it. I made sure to keep that ability a secret so as to have the element of surprise on my side. We're all just doing the best we can, after all."

"Hmm...well, that's true. By the way, have you seen Deku-kun?"

Iida shook his head, and the brunette instead turned her attention towards you. The tray in front of you was relatively untouched; you were picking listlessly at your food, but still had yet to make much of a dent in it. Uraraka frowned.

"What about you, [Name]-chan? Did you see him around anywhere?"

"Not really," you breathed out, clinking your fork against your tray. "He's probably nervous about the upcoming round; might be off mumbling to himself and making some sort of a plan somewhere. Also—" you stood up abruptly, "—I'm gonna go for a bit of a walk."

"Eh? Right now?" Uraraka blinked. "You've barely touched your food, you know..."

"I have to agree," Iida chastised. "If you don't eat properly, you won't be able to replenish your energy for the next stage."

"I'll be fine. But thanks for worrying, guys."

You forced your most convincing smile, hoping that it would be enough. Earlier, you thought that eating with your friends would help lift your spirits, but you found it difficult to maintain a conversation with the way you were feeling right now. It'd probably be for the best if you went off alone to clear your head.

"Going so soon?" a voice mused. You turned your head to see that you'd passed by Monoma's table on your way out—he was sitting with a few people; presumably some of his classmates from 1-B. Which wasn't surprising, considering that he'd already voiced how much he detested your class.

"I don't have an appetite," you said simply.

A salacious grin soon crept onto his lips. "Is it the nerves? You scared about the next round, [Name]?"

"I'm surprised you can look all haughty, when you lost so pitifully to us."

"Wha—?!" The blonde slammed his palms down onto the table, a weak flush rising to his cheeks. "That was just because your damn soul—teammate, happened to get lucky...!!"

Ah. He almost just called him my soulmate. So he really does know.

"I'm surprised by how observant you are," you sighed. "You really do spend too much time stalking others, Monoma-kun. I'm worried about your health."

He scoffed. "If anyone needs to worry about their health, it's you."

Your brows creased. You knew you hadn't just imagined the cautionary words from back during the Cavalry Battle. He seemed to know something that you didn't. But what exactly...?

"You said that back there, too," you began. "What did you mean by—"

"That'll be all! Adieu, Class 1-A filth!"

With a flip of his wrist, Monoma had lifted his nose to the sky and literally snubbed you. The students surrounding him could only shake their heads in dismay, as if this pettiness was a common occurrence. You sighed. Whatever, then. You could ask him what he meant another time.

You hurriedly ran a hand through your [h/c] locks, leaving the mess hall behind. There was an underpass near the edge of the stadium, that led to the forestry outside. It looked like a good place to take a rest, and cool your head for a bit. At the very least, you could get away from the ash blonde you were currently trying to avoid.

Except that he happened to be right there.

Your nose crinkled involuntarily. It wasn't like you were going out of your way to ignore him, but you would've liked to keep your distance for a little longer. You didn't even really understand what he was trying to do here in the first place—he wasn't actually going into the underpass, but was merely reclining against the corner wall with his hands shoved into his pockets. His crimson orbs flickered over towards you for a brief moment, but they were soon to fall back down towards the ground. You didn't say anything, and continued to walk straight ahead so that you could get outside.

But it looked like you couldn't do that either.

"What the—?" You let out a weak croak at the sensation of being tugged backwards. Katsuki had latched his hand across your arm, and pulled you by it before you could take another step. You opened your mouth in protest, but he was quick to clamp his other hand across that, too.

"Quiet," he hissed. "You don't wanna be going there right now, moron."

You didn't know exactly what he was talking about—only until you spared a glance around the corner did you realize that Izuku and Todoroki were engaged in some sort of conversation, and the mood didn't seem very pleasant. If anything, there was an icy chill that hung in the air, and the look in Todoroki's eyes was near hostile.

You'd arrived a bit late to the party, so you didn't really get what the big deal was, and tried to squirm out of Katsuki's grip. Unfortunately, he was much too strong for you, and proceeded to press your back up flush against his chest, so that you didn't have any room to escape. He was, in essence, holding you prisoner, and the lack of distance between the two of you was making your cheeks burn in spite of the situation.

Katsuki leaned in to mutter into your ear, the sound of his low, raspy voice making chills pass down your spine.

"Can't you hear? This isn't any of our business, and if those assholes see us here now, we're in for a load of shit. So just keep quiet."

His chin was resting square on your shoulder, and you angled your neck to the side so that you could glare up at him. You couldn't talk, but you were hoping the look in your eyes more than conveyed your annoyance.

He says all that, but he's really just trying to eavesdrop.

You would've liked to leave (you couldn't, but it would've been nice), but the more you listened, the more you realized how serious the discussion was. In a span of just a few minutes, you learned more about Todoroki than you could've ever imagined. The Quirk marriage between Endeavor and his mother; the abuse he'd suffered as a child; how his mother had hurt him out of sheer mental strain, and...the reason he refused to use his left side.

All of a sudden, your throat felt parched. Hearing about what he'd been through had left a bad taste in your mouth, and you felt almost immeasurably guilty for listening in on such a thing. Your eyes flickered over towards Katsuki, and you were surprised to see that even he looked completely lost for words.

Luckily, the discussion soon came to an end, with Todoroki leaving to head for the outskirts of the stadium. You'd been wanting to take a walk there earlier, but it was safe to say that wasn't happening anymore. Izuku had been left behind, and was staring listlessly at the ground. Katsuki's hands finally released your body.

"...Shit," you muttered, wiping the back of your hand across your mouth. "Your hands are a lot sweatier than I expected."

Katsuki gritted his teeth, flushing bright red. "Shut up."

"That's rich, considering how I was the one who was basically held here against my will."

You sighed wearily, but didn't bother to say anything else. You'd already been through enough today. Quite frankly, you were too tired to bother stirring up any more shit.

"Well...bye," you mumbled out, waving your hand dismissively as you headed back towards the mess hall.

"You mad?"

"...Huh?"

You'd stopped in your tracks, glancing back over your shoulder to see Katsuki furrowing his brows. Contrary to the usual, he didn't actually look upset—more so...questioning.

"Are you mad?" he asked again. "With me, I mean."

You frowned. "Uh, where's this coming from?"

"Just by the look on your face. You aren't smiling the way you usually do." Katsuki ran a hand through his hair, awkwardly averting his gaze. "It's better this way, though. Instead of you faking your feelings and actin' like everything's okay, I think I like it more if you just show when you're pissed off. It's more real."

You didn't know whether to be happy or annoyed. He seemed so intent on having you show your feelings, but half the time it looked he was unwilling to actually speak his mind—instead, he would just break out into an angry fit. Maybe that was actually how he felt, and he was just always pissed when you were around. You didn't know if that was better or worse.

"I guess I'm mad," you shrugged. "Does it really matter, though?"

"Of course it fucking does. Whenever you're mad and you act like you're fine, this fucker hurts like a damn bitch." He'd lifted up the edge of his shirt and was now tapping on his tattoo. You blinked.

"Oh. Yours does that, too? Mine hurts as well, but I mostly disregarded it until now. So it does that whenever one of us is upset?"

Katsuki sighed, pulling his shirt back down. "I don't know. But whatever it is, I don't think this shit is working. Listen, about earlier—"

You pursed your lips in earnest, Katsuki only letting out another sigh.

"—When I'm mad, I'm mad," he declared. "You comin' along is only gonna make things worse. Sometimes I just wanna be left alone. It's just normal. If someone's pissed off, they don't want to talk to deal with other people's shit."

And here I was, thinking that he might apologize.

"You don't wanna deal with other people's shit," you clarified. "Not even if that person is your soulmate? And they're just trying to help you feel better?"

"You trying to 'help' is just gonna piss me off even more."

A crestfallen look passed through your eyes. You couldn't even put into words how upsetting it was to hear such a thing.

"I guess it just sucks," you mumbled bitterly. "I like helping people—it makes me feel good, and my chest gets warm when I see that I was able to cheer someone up, and keep them from hurting. That's the whole reason I wanted to become a hero in the first place; not for the battles against villains and all that stuff. And I'm your soulmate, so I'm supposed to be the one person that you can come to if you're feeling bad. All I want to do is help you, in any way I can, but you're here telling me to not even bother. When I'm angry, or upset, there are moments when I wanna be left alone, sure—but there are also times when I feel the need to be with someone, and just to let everything out and have them listen to me. Don't you ever feel that way?"

Katsuki's jaw stiffened. For a moment, he looked like he was contemplating it, but it didn't take long for him to shake his head.

"No. I'm not weak like that."

The mark on your hip began to throb.

He's lying.

It was ironic, considering he'd just been giving you shit about being honest to him. For some reason or another, he seemed determined to ever rely on others. To some extreme extent, he must really have thought that it was a sign of total and utter weakness, and his stance wasn't likely to change.

"What?" Katsuki gruffed out, eyeing your forlorn expression. "Got something to say?"

You smiled sadly. "I don't know. It just makes me sad. With the way we are, I don't know that we'll ever be able to understand one another."

His eyes narrowed.

"Yeah. You're probably right about that."