[OP: "I have Made Mistakes"--The Oh Hellos]

Day 63:

The party plans hit a snag when Kosame informed them that many people in the Village weren't sure they were really invited.

"So the flying invitations didn't reassure them?" Dabi said. "Shocker."

"I guess it could be intimidating," Shine mused.

"Well, the best way to fix this--" Wally held up a hand. "--is to go out there and do a little PR ourselves, and I'm the king of PR. We'll just tell them they can come. The word will spread--I bet everyone will turn out."

"I hope we can fit everyone, in that case," Gaara said. "These celebrations always seem to get a little further out of hand than I expect them to."

"You know it." Camie was scrolling through her playlist again. "Would 'Don't You Worry' be a good song?"

"That's a bop," Shine said. "So I'd say yes."

Camie made some swiping motion. "Cool... Hey, are soundtracks okay?"

"I have an idea from a soundtrack," Shine said. "Do you know 'Way Up'? From that Spiderman movie."

"The one with the alt Spiderman?" Camie said. "Oh, that was massive. I mean, I wasn't super into it before, but, you know, now that we're heroes, we have to take an interest in the peeps who pave the way... Hey, ever think it was cray cray how there were movies and comics about people with superpowers for years before quirks emerged?"

"That makes it sound like they came out of a pond," Wally said. "But same thing with us. My buddy GL had comics he really liked about superheroes way before he was one. So did I."

"Or was it all pictures?" Shine asked. "Communication from other dimensions? One has to wonder. Was it always based on something real? Even in our Bible we have Samson, with the strength of 10 men. Or Elijah, who ran faster than a chariot once. And Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego who didn't burn up in the fiery furnace. What is all this but a prelude to superpowers becoming a common thing? Though not where I live."

"Isn't it boring for you to go home then?" Temari asked.

"Not at all," Shine said. "Real life has a way of compensating for the lack of novelty in abilities by adding plenty of stressors and problems that hit too close to home."

It took Temari a second to realize that was probably a negative statement.

"You must really not like your own world, if you spend months in other ones every chance you get," Suigetsu said, with a strange look. "I mean...that has to be weird. But if I could escape this one, I bet it would be nice."

Shine laughed and put down her Bible she'd been reading. "You sound like my friend Raven."

"The old one or the younger ones?" Wally asked.

"The old, but don't let her hear you call her that," Shine snorted. "She once said that same thing to me. I told her that she wouldn't like it. The desire to escape is never a good foundation for World Walking, because you'll only find that the next world you go to has just as many problems as yours. The longer you say there the more you'll see it, too. At least I'm used to mine. They're...comforting...sometimes... On the other hand, when I enter a world and the atrocities of mine aren't present in it, I feel a little envious...until I realize they have their own atrocities."

"Do we want to know what you mean?" Kankuro asked.

"I don't think so," Shine said. "Putting a Tailed Beast into a newborn is not anything people in my world would do--because they can't. And the world would probably say it's unethical...but that wouldn't stop someone from doing it, if they could. In the same way, there are things in my world that I won't tell you, but your world would do them, if they could. Evil spreads like sickness. Thankfully, so does good." She tugged her hair.

"It's true," Wally said. "I do feel a little less like I can go through life ignoring certain things than before--but, on the other hand, you get to see a lot of good things you wouldn't normally see too. I think it pans out."

"Speaking of panning out, do you want us to help you talk to the Village?" Momo said.

"Sure, why not?" Wally aid.

"Bakugo can go too," Shine said.

"What?" Bakugo looked up from staring into space--probably thinking of how to win a match up.

Shine nodded at him. "Never hurts to practice PR."

"Can I go?" Camie asked.

"No, he relies on you too much," Shine said.

"The frick I do!" Bakugo said.

"I know, that's why I said it." Shine ignored the meaning of the phrase. "Come on, don't you want to be the best at everything, Katsuki?"

"That's not really going to work on him--" Sakura began to say to Camie.

"Fine." Bakugo gave in rather easily.

"I guess you stand corrected," Camie told Sakura.

"Shut up," Sakura growled.

"Get a new line, sis," Camie said.

"Sakura, thank you for volunteering," Shine said.

"What?" Sakura said. "No, I don't want to do this. I have more important stuff to do."

"Such as...?" Shine said.

Sakura fumbled. The medical stuff was pretty much at a standstill.

"But I'm already well aware of how to do PR," she said.

Camie snorted a laugh.

"I guess you won't mind helping then." Shine didn't let up. "Suigetsu, Sasuke, you also."

"Why us?" Suigetsu whined.

"She's picking who she thinks will be bad at it," Karin said. "A strange plan."

"We won't need more than that, right?" Shine said to Wally. "I don't need to coerce Touya or anyone else?"

"I think that's more than enough people to cover it," Wally said. "Time for you boys--and Sakura--to learn some people skills."

"I have people skills," Sakura said.

"Okay," Wally said. "If you're so good with people, Sakura, convince me you don't need to do this in one sentence."

Sakura frowned. "I think this method of training doesn't make any sense and will do more harm than good."

"Duly noted, but not convincing," Shine said.

"Yeah, sounds like an excuse to me," Wally agreed.

"Disagree with her, man, just once," Suigetsu said to Wally.

"Suigetsu," Shine said, "do you have a problem with me we need to talk about?"

"Uh...no, ma'am," Suigetsu said.

"Disagree with her, just once," Dabi echoed him scathingly.

"Why do so many people want to make us fight?" Wally asked Shine.

"We're too powerful together. They want to divide us so we'll be more manageable," Shine said. "Classic tactic."

"Ah, that makes sense," Wally said. "But it won't work. We're onto you, little man. Shine and I are a team." He took Shine by her shoulders. "I think you do need some training in PR."

Suigetsu frowned.

* * *

"I can't believe you didn't put up a fight," Sakura said to Sasuke when they were out in the Village again.

"I knew it was useless," Sasuke replied. "They would have only doubled down. Besides, I doubt I'll have to do any talking. This is just to look good."

"It's Suigetsu who should be worried," Bakugo said. "After what he said to them, they'll probably ride his rear end on this one."

"What is it with you and couples anyway?" Sakura looked at Suigetsu. "You never have a good word to say about any of them when they flirt."

"PDA is disgusting," Suigetsu said. "And relationships are stupid. They always piss me off. I just want to break people up."

Sakura looked skeptical. "You sound more jealous to me."

"Jealous?" Suigetsu scoffed, a little too quickly. "No, never. I would never want to be with any girl. That's revolting."

"So you hang around Karin all the time because you hate women?" Sakura must have been taking lessons from Camie on how to out people.

"Heh," Bakugo choked on a laugh.

"I'm not sure the other girl with the Sasuke-crush should be talking," Suigetsu shot back. "Like anyone trusts your judgment."

Sakura frowned.

"That's a logical fallacy anyway," Bakugo said, proud to know what that was. "Just because she has crap taste doesn't mean she doesn't know that was BS, what you were just saying, Water Boy."

"Can you at least come up with a better nickname than that if you're going to use one?" Suigetsu whined. "Water Boy is so stupid--and you're both nuts. And since when are you and Sakura so pal-y?"

"Didn't you hear?" Sasuke was only too glad to get to annoy Sakura again. "Bakugo is mentoring Sakura now."

"Get out. Really?" Suigetsu snorted.

"No!" Sakura said. "Sasuke is only saying that because of some joke Camie made--and to annoy me."

"So he's actively trying to annoy you now?" Suigetsu said. "Huh...didn't think Sasuke had to try."

Sasuke glared at him.

"It doesn't matter." Sakura crossed her arms and tried to look huffy--and she succeeded pretty well. "I suppose this is better than him choking me out."

Sasuke gave her a surprised look that she'd say that that casually.

But Sakura had apparently snapped completely when it came to taking anything Sasuke was trying to do to get under her grill all that seriously. The constant effort was more grating on her than anything he was saying--at least for now.

Sasuke was going to have to up his game if he hoped to be as effective in the future.

Suigetsu wasn't sure where this suddenly cavalier attitude towards Sasuke was coming from, and it weirded him out.

"What's with her?" he said to Bakugo in a lower tone. "She was all ga-ga for him like Karin was, I thought."

"I can't give Sakura much credit," Bakugo said, "but I don't know that she was that...nutty about it."

"Are you really mentoring her, or is that a twisted joke?" Suigetsu said.

"I dunno," Bakugo said. "Camie's jokes have a weird way of becoming reality after a while. It's kind of weird, considering her quirk is illusions."

"Hey, you lie to someone for long enough, they might start to believe it," Suigetsu said. "I've seen that enough times... But why would you want to cave in to that kind of pressure? This is why women are nothing but trouble."

"Maybe I like trouble," Bakugo said with a weird smirk.

Suigetsu decided not to ask him any more about it.

"Though you could at least stop telling people that lie," Sakura was saying to Sasuke. "I don't want to be affiliated with that hothead."

"Why not? Isn't being one of their special pets supposed to be some kind of honor? They all have their favorites," Sasuke said.

"By that way of thinking, you're Shine's pet," Sakura shot back.

Sasuke frowned.

"Yeah, see? It's demeaning," Sakura insisted. "As if that idiot is anyone I'd ever listen to anyway. All he does it yell and blow things up."

Sasuke had no idea how Sakura didn't see the irony of that statement.

Or maybe she did... She did look away as if she knew it was kind of ridiculous.

"If you're all quite finished--" Shine looked back at them, making them realize she'd probably heard everything they'd said. "--we should get started. We don't need to talk to too many people. But I wonder if we've missed anyone in the Village..."

"There's that creepy Kage house." Wally craned his neck at it. "What about that place? Are we gonna fumigate it?"

"I suppose we should." Shine wrinkled her nose at it. "But I hate the sight of it... Still, I wonder...do you really think he's leaving it alone? I can't help but think that's very unlike shinobi, to not try to seize power. Someone surely must have tinkered with Pain's machines...though it may be they are mostly useless without him there to cast his jutsu...but if one Nagato can be someone who can do it, why not another? That cursed Rinnegan could show up again."

"What exactly did Pain do?" Sasuke asked.

 "Pain's real name was Nagato Uzumaki," Shine said.

All the ninja stopped short.

"Yeah..." Wally said. "Right?"

"Naruto probably never even knew it was another surviving member of his clan," Shine said. "But not surviving, since he's now dead. As far as I know, Karin is still the only one alive. Madara implanted the Rinnegan into Nagato when he was a child, and Nagato used it to kill the people who attacked his parents. They were from Konoha. Later, he used to kill people for Iwakagure also. Ironic, isn't it? But he wasn't one to use it unless it was self defense to protect his friends...but after one of his friends died, he sword to rid the world of pain...by assuming control of it and causing enough pain to make them hate war. He was a madman, but, left to himself for so long, with such a massive power that in itself seems to corrupt, with only Konan, who seemed to be a weak-minded woman, as a comparing...he was never checked on that philosophy. Till, I guess, Naruto wore him down, but I never have understood how it worked. Naruto has no deeply thought-but moral system, only gut feelings. Whether they are right or not, they aren't enough to build a decision on...but I think, personally, Nagato was tired of fighting. It must have taken massive effort to making all those bodies, and he was a withered skeleton when he attacked Leaf Village."

"Isn't he the reason Leaf is in a crater now?" Sasuke asked.

"Yes," Shine confirmed. "They were lucky the Village was still there at all after that attack. I suppose that Nagato felt in the end that he couldn't realize his goals even if he wanted to. No one could sustain such a jutsu forever. Perhaps he had second thoughts anyway, and Naruto confirmed them. I don't know. It's not really my business. That was before we returned."

"Seems to me you could have returned a little sooner," Suigetsu said. "Maybe spared your Leaf Village. I mean, you like them better, right?"

Sakura thought that was stupid--as if they'd like Leaf better, of all places.

Shine fixed him with a look. "Well, envy is not a good look on you, Suigetsu," she said finally. "And neither is stupidity." She turned. "Ignore that building for now. I want to talk to the people in the market place district. I'm sure that's the smartest way to clear up this misconception."

"Whatever you say, Sunshine," Wally agreed. 

They moved on faster.

Bakugo hit Suigetsu in the stomach.

It didn't hurt him that much, but he was still surprised.

"What?" he said.

"Frick off," Bakugo said. "What they'd ever do to you, wise guy?"

"Nothing...it's just weird to me that you guys are somehow from another timeline, and yet you didn't choose to come here before all these disasters happened to us," Suigetsu said. "What? We're just not important enough to do that?"

Sasuke was stunned by two things:

The first was that Suigetsu was saying just what he'd wondered himself weeks ago.

The second was how superficial it now sounded to him. Had he accepted Shine's explanation without realizing it?

He wondered also if Bakugo would know it.

Bakugo seemed to. "It's not up to us when we enter. Didn't we say that before? Sorry if you didn't get outta your crappy life experiences over it, Shark Boy, but we don't get out of ours either. Frick, I got kidnapped before they came to our world. I never asked them why they didn't come in time to stop that. Or the times since then. Why blame them? Or us?"

"Fine, if it's not your choice, then why doesn't your God send you before these horrible tragedies happen?" Suigetsu said. "If He cares so much."

"And which tragedies should he stop?" Sasuke spoke up, taking the opportunity to show off that he knew more than Suigetsu. "All of them?"

"That would be nice, sure... Not clear on why you're taking his side," Suigetsu said.

"I'm not. It's just that you're asking for something, and you don't even know what it would require to do it," Sasuke pointed out. "All tragedy everywhere? People might as well not be able to do anything. Thousands of tragedies happen all the time because people make choices."

"Some of them aren't even evil, just accidents," Bakugo said. "The world ain't a safe place to live. What did you expect, peaches and roses?"

Suigetsu frowned. "But what's the good of a God if He doesn't stop trouble?"

"What a stupid thing to say," Bakugo said. "Like that's the reason to believe in God. Don't you have any respect at all? God's not a vending machine to make our lives easier. He's God. That's all there is to it. Get over it."

"What about all that 'friend of God' stuff?" Suigetsu said.

"Last I checked, a friend can't stop all the stuff that happens to you," Bakugo said. "Just save your butt, if they can." He shrugged. "Stop trying to pick fights you can't win. You're not doing it because you really think we're wrong to believe in this--it's because you're too scared to  commit to something as a way of life, and you want to weasel around it. That's the same as your problem with women. You think they're too much for you to handle because they're not easy. Well, frick easy! Anything worth doing is not easy. That's what makes you tougher for doing it. So man the heck up and make up your dang mind!"

He stomped after Shine and Wally.

"Well, we can see why he's not good at PR," Sakura said.

Sasuke shot her an annoyed look.

"What? Anyway...in this case, maybe he was right." She frowned at Suigetsu. "I bet that is the reason. You're just scared."

"I'm not scared!" Suigetsu didn't sound very convincing. "He doesn't know me that well. He's just shooting off the easiest explanation, in his mind. And, Sasuke, what the heck are you doing defending them? You're getting comfortable with this lately. Since when do you care about anyone else? Or about faith in a Higher Power?"

"I wonder how you can ignore the signs that their power is real," Sasuke replied, rather coldly. "I can't... Whether it's good or not, I don't know, but it's real."

"So it's real... We still don't know if we can trust it," Suigetsu said.

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I can't believe I'm saying this, but, if they wanted to hurt you, don't you think they would have by now?... They don't fit in with us, but what do you have to worry about? They've only ever helped you and your team. We're the ones from the Village they don't like... I'm actually surprised a jab at Leaf Village wasn't included in that Pain story."

"The jab is implied," Sasuke said, "that Leaf did what it did at all."

"It was during a war, wasn't it?" Sakura said, "I think, anyway... Nagato was crazy. Just like Madara...and Obito. All of them. Why should we even take their philosophy seriously?"

"Well, it did almost get your Village leveled," Suigetsu pointed out. 

"So did the 9-Tails," Sakura grumbled. "But Naruto is still here."

"But would he be here if he still had the 9-Tails?" Suigetsu asked.

That was actually a good question.

"Seems to me they don't like people with powers that are a threat to them," Suigetsu said.

Sasuke almost laughed aloud--of course out of scorn. He wouldn't have laughed for any other reason.

"Something funny?" Suigetsu noticed he was choking it back.

"Yes...that you think they're scared of any dark powers," Sasuke said. "They stopped the One-Tail within minutes. I saw it myself."

"You did?" Suigetsu said. "You never mentioned that."

"We were there," Sakura confirmed. "I almost forgot about that...not that it did any good..." She frowned.

"It did Gaara some good," Sasuke surprisingly defended it. "Just because I didn't change my mind--"

"After seeing that, it's astounding that you could just pretend it never happened," Sakura interrupted him in a surly tone.

"Can you two put aside whatever your beef is long enough to explain something to me?" Suigetsu said, irritated. "I think I liked it better when you didn't talk than I like this weird, flirty arguing."

"What?" Sasuke looked horrified by that jab.

"Ew," Sakura said. "Not everyone is like you, Fish Boy. I would never--"

"Yeah, I don't really care what you say," Suigetsu cut in. "So you saw the whole One-Tail thing? Because I never saw what they did to Naruto."

"Naruto was different--he just didn't get the 9-Tails back," Sakura said. "They healed him. I was trying to, but I couldn't, so they did instead. That's all. I don't know what they would have done if they had to remove it. Madara did that part."

"But they removed the One-Tail themselves?" Suigetsu said.

"They just cut the seal." Sasuke recovered from his anger. "It was simple."

"I just don't understand how they can do those things," Suigetsu said. "You'd think it would at least be a fight. We fought the 8-Tails, and the 4 of us could barely hold it off."

"Couldn't all the Akatsuki fight a Tailed Beast?" Sakura pointed out. "It's not that high a bar anymore. They just have extra tricks to it."

"And the Sharingan? And Orochimaru?" Suigetsu said. "It's weird... But doesn't all that stuff also hurt them? It makes no sense. It bothers them, but they can defeat it. And with Pain too, they think they can stop his creepy machines. How can something be power and still a weakness?"

Sasuke thought of something that Bakugo had told him back in Stone Village. [Chapter 25, if you want to review.]

"Strength can be a weakness," he recalled. "When you're strong in one way, it makes you weak in another way."

"Huh?" Suigetsu said. "What does that even mean?"

"I don't know. I guess it just means that there's always going to be a counter balance." Sasuke shrugged. They hadn't exactly elaborated much. "Like, if you're brave, you're not always as kind."

"I think you can be kind and brave at the same time." Sakura was skeptical. "But that sounds like them. I bet they told you that. That's just their way of saying that all our powers are just a weakness because they can defeat them. That's dumb. Against other ninjas, our powers work just fine, and they're just different because they're not ninjas. That's all there is to it."

"Now that makes more sense, Cotton Candy Chick," Suigetsu said.

Sakura glared at him. "Don't. Call. Me. That."

"How come you only like it when Sasuke is mean to you?" Suigetsu had the gall to say.

Sakura looked ready to explode. "I swear, if they weren't right in front of us, I'd--"

"You'd what?" Wally suddenly surprised them by appearing in front of them.

Sakura jumped. "Suigetsu was... He said--"

"She was threatening me again," Suigetsu said, wickedly.

"Oh brother." Wally rolled his eyes. "Great start, you guys. Guess we'll have to separate you, since you can't control yourselves. And, Suigetsu, you already have one girl to annoy. You really need another one? Don't want Karin to think you're cheating on her."

"Wha-at?" Suigetsu looked ill. "What kind of messed up--"

"Sakura, you're just going to come with me and Blasty Boy." Wally took her by the shoulder. "You two can stay with Shine. I was hoping we could all stay in the same area, but none of you want to make that happen. Let's go."

Sasuke privately thought that the insinuation about Karin might have been both punishment and incentive enough for Suigetsu to leave Sakura alone--Sakura seemed like she'd use it against him if he tried to tease her again.

But Sasuke didn't dare, not after Suigetsu's little jab about them earlier. The guy had sick, twisted ideas...

Suddenly, it occurred to him, though it wouldn't normally, that it was odd that Suigetsu insinuated that arguing was a form of flirting (which was disgusting) but balked when Wally made the exact same joke.

Not that Sasuke cared about Suigetsu's personal life at all...but...it was kind of strange.

* * *

"Okay, Bakugo, we've got to work on your problem with talking to kids," Wally pronounced once he had Bakugo and Sakura well away from the others. "I know where some of them are hanging out, and we want to invite them. We have family friendly events, right? 'Course should ask their parents too...if they have parents..."

"I don't want to talk to the little brats," Bakugo said.

Wally shook his head. "That's not a great start. Shine and I have figured out what your problem with kids is."

"This should be good," Sakura muttered.

"Shut it, b---h," Bakugo said.

"I thought you weren't going to call me that anymore," Sakura said.

"Then keep your d--n mouth shut!" Bakugo frowned.

"That's no way to talk to a lady, kid," Wally said.

Bakugo wasn't the type to think of saying that Sakura wasn't a lady--not enough imagination.

Sakura was almost appeased by the term, though she thought Wally was probably joking.

"Anyway, your problem is that you don't know how to talk nice to people without it being all sappy," Wally said. "But you're looking at this all wrong. Kids don't care about that the way adults do. They just like it when people are real with them and don't push them around too much. Look at me--when I visit the orphanage, I just tell the kids stories about myself because I'm my favorite subject, and then we play cops and robbers or something. Works like a charm. Now, you could do that no problem, right?"

"Like I'd want to." Bakugo scowled.

"But, Bakugo, kids make the most devoted fans." Wally tried something a little craftier. "And people Iike heroes who kids like. And doesn't All Might get along well with kids?"

Bakugo began to waver a little. "Well, I just don't like kissing up to the little twerps."

"You know, compared to me, you're kind of a kid." Wally was losing patience. He never quite had Shine's sense of humor about Bakugo's sourness--Wally tended to think goofy stuff was funny more than ironic stuff. "And do I complain about you?"

Bakugo shrugged. "I bet you think I'm not a very good hero because I can't talk real nice and fake to people."

"No, I never said that," Wally said. "But I do think an important part of heroism is crowd work... Besides, if you want to get hired, you gotta work on your image... I guess being scary would work for you if you want to be like Batman, but he's always alone...except for Diana...and us...but you want to be popular, right?"

"Hey, you're the ones who say that doesn't matter that much," Bakugo insisted.

"Have we taught you right?" Wally asked the air as if Shine was there still.

Sakura rubbed her forehead. "And they think you're qualified to mentor me."

"What'd you just say?" Bakugo turned to her furiously. "Are you implying that if I can't do this that somehow makes me less qualified than the others?"

"Yes," Sakura said. "On top of the other reasons I would never let you mentor me, that's one of them. I can't let people think I hate children! I'm a doctor."

"Some doctors hate children," Wally said. "But, uh, not the ones we want to hang around, so the point stands. Maybe you are right..."

"Like heck she is!" Bakugo snapped. "You think I can't do this if I want to?"

"I was only trying to say," Wally said, "that your approach could just need to be modified to fit you more. Like...uh, you get mad when kids riff on you, right?"

"That's just how my mom was," Bakugo snorted. "Didn't take any lip."

"Don't you call her a hag?" Wally said.

"Eh, she doesn't mind it that much," Bakugo said.

Sakura gaped at him.

Wally winced. "And my mom is such a sweet lady... Oh boy... Maybe I should just give up. You don't want to hear my advice. Shine works better with you, but I thought we could at least try to be simpatico..." He sighed.

"Well, now you made him feel bad," Sakura said to Bakugo. "Nice going."

"You don't even like him," Bakugo said.

"I like him better than Shine--I mean...he says less rude things to me," she shrugged. "If I had to pick who to be stuck with--and at this rate, you're going to make them switch. You want to end up with Sasuke?"

"Do you?"

"I won't. I know they'd separate us," Sakura said. "And then I get stuck with Suigetsu, which is even worse than you."

"Shut up!"

"You shut up. Your mouth is what got us into this mess to begin with," Sakura shot back.

"You two sound Iike siblings." Wally rubbed his ear. "Are you sure you're not related? Like parallel selves or something? Sakura, you do kind of share some stuff in common with Bakugo. I mean, the rivalry, the anger--"

"Stop saying that!" Sakura cried.

"Whatever," Bakugo cut in. "Speedy, what was it you were trying to say before? Might as well hear it as stand here and argue about this crap."

Silence.

Wally decided to take that as a silver lining.

"Okay...uh...like I said, I just brag on myself. You could do that--just don't do it like you're trying to talk some smack to them--least not seriously. See, kids like if you're a little scary, as long as they think it's all in fun, right? But if it's serious, then they're going ot be really upset. So you gotta learn to get that tone down. Like sometimes, I'll chase 'em around, and be like 'I'mma gonna send you to the Phantom Zone!' and they're like 'ahhhh!' but it's all a joke."

"What?" Sakura said blankly. "What's the Phantom Zone?"

"Not important. The point is, danger is cool if it's not too real," Wally said. "Words to live by, I'm telling you. You too, Sakura--people would probably respect you more if you had more of a sense of humor about stuff."

"I think I'm doing fine," Sakura said.

They looked at her skeptically.

"I'm not judging you," Wally said. "No one takes me seriously either--well, usually. Apparently, it's worse when they do because then I'm terrifying, so Shine tells me."

"Eh, I've seen it. It's true," Bakugo grudgingly acknowledged.

Perhaps he felt bad for hurting Wally's feelings--it was hard to tell with him.

"What you want," Wally said, getting more of an idea, "is to leave that for a surprise. You two carry it all on your sleeve so much. It loses its impact. You gotta save it for when the situation calls for it, and then POW! you scare people."

"I don't need your advice," Sakura argued.

"You're worse than he is." Wally rolled his eyes.

That did make her mad.

"Another thing," Wally went on, "you gotta smile with kids... Maybe not a goofy smile, though that works too. But at least a little grin, you know? Make it seem like you're having a good time. Kids love it if you want to hang out with them. 'Course they can like it if you pretend like they annoy you too... Some people just have different charisma, I guess. You find your rhythm and you work it."

"Is this supposed to be helping?" Sakura asked. "This is all very vague advice."

"Okay..." Wally rubbed his head tiredly. "Let's try this: If you wanted to make someone like you, what would you do? Just...the first thing?"

"I don't know...ask them if they need help with something or give them lunch maybe?" Sakura said. [References show episodes there.]

"I don't freaking try to make people Iike me," Bakugo said. "Either they do or they don't."

"Well, there you are," Wally said. "You don't try. So maybe if you want to get better at PR, and with kids especially, you should stop trying to so hard to make an impression and just act like you're casually hanging out. And what stuff do you do for fun?"

"Video games...training..." Bakugo said.

"I don't...do...a lot for fun..." Sakura realized slowly. "But who has the time? I guess I go out to eat."

"Eh, same." Wally nodded. "So...you didn't give me a lot to work with, but I guess it'll have to do. Onward!" He pointed ahead.

"There's no way this is going to work," Sakura said.

"No stopping him now," Bakugo muttered.