Atonement [Bakugo Katsuki]

🤍 Chapter 28 🤍

Kimitsuki continued to stare after Shinsou Hitoshi's retreating figure and thought back to when he had tried to use his Quirk on her. She wasn't able to understand what had caused her to block his Quirk on her but all she knew was that she didn't want to go through it again – the pain is horrible.

"Tsuki-Chan, Ojiro-Kun," Izuku said as he turned to face the two of them properly. "What's the matter? What's going on? Why did you do all that,"

"Don't answer him," Mashirao warned him. He looked around the arena. "Let's discuss in the locker room later," Izuku nodded slowly as Mashirao walked away, disturbed.

"His Quirk is 'Brainwashing'," Kimitsuki told Izuku quietly, and he turned to look at her in surprise. "He is able to activate it by having the opponent verbally respond to him. I'm not sure of the weakness,"

Feeling a bit awkward, Kimitsuki stepped away from Izuku, her mind more focused on what had caused her pain – had she unexpectedly found some weakness in his Quirk? She stopped suddenly, realising that she was going to subconsciously run into Katsuki's body again. She needs to stop that.

I need to stop running into Ka-Chan, figuratively and literally – both.

But Katsuki was far more preoccupied, trying to recall a face to match the name that was written against his on the screen. Kimitsuki looked up and pursed her lips when she noticed it was Ochaco.

"Kimitsuki-Chan!" Ochaco cried out as she grabbed onto the white-haired girl's arm. "I'm scared!"

"Don't worry, Uraraka-Chan," Kimitsuki assured the brunette, patting her shoulder. "You'll do well – just don't let anything bring you down. You practised really well... your new move, you know?"

"All right!" Present Mic announced overhead. "Let's leave the tournament aside for a momentary interlude! Let's have fun with the recreation! All right! First is the scavenger hunt!"

"Kuroyanagi-Chan!" Hanta called out, jogging over to where the silver-haired female was, and Kimitsuki turned to look at him. "Are you going to participate in recreational activities?"

"Actually, I think I will take this opportunity to rest a bit," Kimitsuki replied with a small smile. "You know, calm my nerves a bit," She bowed her head. "Thank you, have fun with everyone,"

Hanta looked a bit disappointed but gave her a thumbs-up as Kimitsuki turned to leave – noticing Tenya heading off inside the arena with his opponent Mei. She wondered what was going on with them but let it go when she saw Izuku jogging over to join her as they headed to the locker room.

Katsuki noticed them walking off and presented them with his best sour face but Kimitsuki let that go as well. She didn't have time to fool around with him either. She wanted to calm her head.

It didn't take long for Mashirao to join the two childhood friends in the empty 1-A locker room.

"Damn it, it really is that way?" Izuku said as Mashirao finished telling them everything. "A Quirk that can control people, huh? Isn't that too strong to beat? Even Tsuki-Chan has to force people..."

"Yeah, it is strong, but you can probably avoid it if you know about it," Mashirao replied. "I don't remember much after I answered his question. I think that's how it works.

"That's right, I can see the way his Quirk is focused around his mouth," Kimitsuki pitched in quietly, playing around with her fingers on the table. "I took a look at him with my Quirk,"

"So, if I answer without thinking, then I'll lose right away," Izuku muttered, grabbing his head. "We don't even know it's weakness, right, Tsuki-Chan!"