Chapter Text
“And so I was like NYOOOOOM and everyone else was like HRRRRRRRRRK and—”
Mina punctuated her dramatic monologue with flailing arms, hysterical poses, and her own sound effects, like a stage actor playing to the cheap seats…if stage actors did their own sound effects. The trio walked through the train station to the nearest bench, and maybe it was Kyouka's imagination, but the distorted announcements and shuffling footsteps were quieter than usual. Maybe it was just a slow day.
Or maybe Kyouka just really liked to hear Mina talk.
“Yeah and I was stuck hanging from the ceiling for like ten minutes, but anyways…” Mina glided across the floor like a figure skater before hopping onto the bench with a little pirouette. "That’s how I melted my shoes!”
As she landed, she pulled out two lumps of melted nylon that may, once, have gone around a human foot. “I’m just glad I had spares!” she said, looking down at the similarly colored pair on her feet before sitting down. She eyed a nearby trash can and lined up a shot. “Kobe!”
The melted shoes landed nowhere near the trash can.
“Goooooaaaaaal!” Tooru exclaimed, raising her arms like a football announcer as she sat down.
“Guessing the melted shoes thing happens a lot?” Kyouka asked, sitting down as the pink chatterbox huffed back up and took the walk of shame to the trash can.
“Well y’know, acid Quirk, melts clothes, yada yada,” Mina rambled, wagging her head back and forth as she tossed her melted shoes into the trash. “Better safe than sorry! You must’ve been really scared about it though, huh, Jirou?”
The smile on Kyouka’s face tightened into a grimace. “Um…I mean yeah, but we got through it, I guess. Don’t have to worry about it anymore.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right,” Mina nodded. “Got some cool bruises out of it, though! Check it out!” Mina proudly lifted her leg up with both hands and swung it at Kyouka’s face.
Kyouka recoiled. “Ashido, jeez! Warn someone next time!” Sitting next to Mina could be like being drafted into an impromptu aerobics class.
“Whoops!” Mina settled for crossing her legs atop the bench. But true to her word, there were vibrant purple bruises across her shin, knee, and thigh, and even one on the back of her hand. “But yeah, bruises all over, see?”
“Nope!” Tooru interjected from Mina’s other side.
Mina blew a raspberry, then looked directly at Kyouka and leaned in a bit. “Hey, your eye’s even got a color like mine!” Her voice took on a deeper tone for a moment, and she brought her fingers up to point at her black sclera. “Look what you need to mimic a fraction of my power.”
Even with Mina disregarding Kyouka’s personal space, it didn’t stop Kyouka from breaking into a chuckle. Somehow, Mina kept bringing that out of her. Laughs. Smiles. Positivity. She was just so fun to be around.
“I thought I felt a bit of purple on your face,” Tooru said. “How bad was it?”
Well, that brought the mood down.
“Oh, it’s fine. I’m, uh…I’m used to it.”
That was as far as she was willing to explain. Mina didn’t think much of it. She briefly tilted her head at that comment, muttering another hum as she looked at Kyouka’s black eye, but otherwise shrugged it off.
Silence came over the group as the conversation faded. Kyouka wrapped one of her jacks around her finger and tugged on it, gently rocking her legs back and forth as she felt herself zone out. In situations like this, Kyouka retreated inward. Her thoughts dominated the world around her, everything else falling quiet.
Out of everything she didn’t want to happen today, the stampede was in the top ten for sure. Well, at least it was now . Generally speaking, nobody went to school thinking that a stampede would break out. That maelstrom of yelling, kicking, and shoving was more overwhelming than anything else she’d experienced.
But then there had been that voice—that wheezing, panicked voice struggling to breathe amidst the terror of the crowd—and Kyouka's legs had moved of their own accord. She had fought back through the crowd, not thinking, just struggling upstream against the human current until she'd reached Kouji and started calming him down. He never said a word to her. He hadn’t needed to.
But he wasn’t the only student in that crowd. How many more were there that had been in danger? And how many even bothered to put a stop to it?
She sighed. Her senses slowly returned. It was like a window had been opened to pour light back into the room.
“Well at least you made it out safe, Ashido,” Tooru sighed, resting her cane against her legs as she leaned back on the bench. She’d been quiet for the most part, fittingly blending in with everything else for a moment. “I almost lost my cane during all that! The nerve of some people!”
“Eesh…” Kyouka winced.
“I mean, it wouldn't be the first time,” Tooru huffed. “But still! Totally awful response, much? We’re supposed to be hero students! This isn’t like panicking over a fire drill, y’know!”
“Eh, it’s not like everyone knew about it and junk?” Mina shrugged. “I heard someone say this kind of drill hadn’t happened in years.”
“I guess that’s true…” Tooru sighed. “I still think it could’ve been handled better. The teachers were busy with those stupid journalists, only a few of them were able to do anything.”
“Eesh…” Mina winced. “Well, it’s good Iida helped stop it, right?”
“Glad he’s president now,” Tooru noted. “No offense to Midoriya, of course! But jeez, when he stood up, he really stood up!”
“Oh yeah!” Mina chuckled. “Nobody left with broken bones or anything! I mean, yeah, stampedes suck, but it all ended well!”
“…it didn’t, though.”
Mina whirred her head back towards Kyouka. “I mean…if not many people got hurt, I’d say that’s a good thing, right?”
Kyouka shook her head, a dour look growing over her face. “But we’re hero students. It’s our job to keep this kind of stuff from happening.”
“We’re…still training, though?” Mina said, looking confused. “Like, I don’t expect all of us to—”
“What about the second and third years?” Kyouka interrupted. “They’re more experienced than us. Why didn’t they try to stop the mob?”
Mina didn’t know how to reply to that. She blinked, bent her head down, and turned her eyes to the ground. “I…guess you have a point.”
Kyouka let out a groan. A lot of emotions welled up inside of her, slowly coming out at once. It had been the end of her first three days at UA and… something was off about it. That stupid “rational deception” on the first day, Katsuki and Izuku’s fight on the second, and now the stampede on the third. None of this was what Kyouka had expected. Everyone said UA was tough. This wasn’t tough . This was stupid .
Some of these feelings welling up inside were irrational, and she knew it. But seeing the scrapes and scuffs and bruises, feeling the pain of an elbow slammed right into her eye…that damn breathing …
“I think what happened was just…kind of stupid. I get why people were panicked, I get why not everyone could help. But when all these students were being stepped on, kicked around, thrown into walls…that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing. We have to help people! We can’t just panic and be part of the problem! We shouldn't....”
She tightened her finger around her jack.
“It’s like…I thought UA would be better than this . But I just wanna…I just feel so mad , I’m…”
Her voice faltered. She couldn’t finish the sentence. She didn’t know if she wanted to. There was so much bile burning in the back of her throat that she had to restrain. At worst, her hands were tightly clinging to her sleeves, arms crossed and body huddled up. It was like she was trying to make herself look even smaller. Like she wanted to blend into the bench and let the conversation die. Or maybe like she was trying to keep something compressed inside, so it couldn't explode out of her.
She liked these two, didn’t she? She laughed with them—she felt safe with them. And she'd almost ruined it before it happened by blowing up at Mina on day one. That scared look she'd put into Mina's eye…
She’d lock everything up in a box if it meant never having to see that look again.
She put her head in her hands and sucked in a deep breath, not daring a glance over at Mina right now.
“Hey, so, I think I get what you're saying, but…”
It was Tooru’s turn to talk now. She scooted closer to Kyouka—closer to Mina, anyway—and reached across Mina to rest a hesitant, invisible hand on her shoulder.
Kyouka winced, then let out a long exhale through her nose. "Yeah?" she mumbled.
Tooru cleared her throat. “Well, we both had it pretty bad during all of that. But…if somebody like Iida could help stop it, then maybe that means…pretty soon all of us can get like that?”
“I guess?" Another noncommittal mumble.
Tooru fidgeted with her cane. “Um…shoot, I’m sorry, I’m not really good at the whole…”
She trailed off. And then Kyouka felt a second hand take Tooru's and lift it from her shoulder, and Mina spoke.
“Let’s maybe drop it for now.”
Her voice was lower, the perkiness completely gone. But it wasn’t angry. It was almost disturbingly calm. Kyouka tensed up. Had she made Mina upset after all?
“Sorry,” Kyouka mumbled. “I’m just being st—”
“You’re not being stupid. Please, don’t say that kind of stuff about yourself.”
Kyouka looked up, and looked over.
Mina was gently holding Tooru's sleeve, but looking right at Kyouka—and Kyouka couldn’t help but notice how off Mina’s face looked. Not sad, not upset…just kind of blank. Her alien eyes looked piercing, almost ominous, like she truly was a creature from outer space…
No, that wasn't right. Kyouka blinked. That alien look in her eyes…it was strange, but it wasn't ominous. It was kind .
“I don’t know what to say to make you feel better about this,” Mina said. “Cuz, like…today sucked. I can't act like it didn't. But I like to think we're, like, friends-ish? So at the very least, you don't need to pretend like the way you feel about this doesn't matter.”
Kyouka had long learned the difference between speaking truthfully and speaking dishonestly. There were certain intonations that made lying obvious. Pauses between words, little flourishes of stretching syllables out…she heard every little thing that made it clear someone wasn’t telling the truth.
Right now, she didn't hear any of them from Mina. Her tone was low, quiet and calm, and it was…honest.
Even Mina seemed to be unsure of this serious change in tone. Within seconds, her smile returned, and she playfully jabbed at Tooru’s shoulder with a fist.
“Ah, c’mon, you two! Turn those frowns upside down! Let’s talk about something else, yeah?”
“How do you know I’m frowning, though?” Tooru asked, barely able to hide a chuckle.
“Ohhhhhhh, you tease!” Mina laughed. That same loud, infectious laugh that kept making Kyouka feel so damn weird around these two.
She opened her mouth to say something, only to flinch with her whole body as an ear splitting screech—for her ears, anyway—rang through the air. The locomotive pulled in, and doors clanked open to reveal passengers ready to depart for the day.
Kyouka pulled her phone out to look at the time. This was her train. Thank goodness—if her sensitivity was creeping up again, then it was time to go somewhere alone and quiet for a while.
“Um…I think I’ll chill out on the ride home,” she said, pulling her bag up as she walked off from the bench. “Again, sorry for—”
“You don’t have to apologize again, silly!” Mina laughed. “Oh, hey! You wanna gimme your phone number? So I can text ya and stuff?”
Kyouka blinked. This was an odd question. Well, not odd …it just felt odd. No one had asked her this before.
“Um…maybe later?”
Again, Mina didn’t seem to mind. “Sure thing! See ya tomorrow, Jirou!”
“And be ready for the field trip!” Tooru chimed in.
“Yeah! Universal Studios Japan, here we come!”
“That’s not where we’re going, Ashido…”
“WHAT???”
Kyouka didn’t say anything back. She just nodded and waved, before stepping inside the train and sitting herself down to think. In a few minutes, the seats would fill, the doors would close, and the train would take her away from the station.
But the chaos from today wouldn't be so easy to put behind her.
Some “heroes” all those students had been. They were too busy running for the exit to see their own classmates, their own future comrades, laying on the ground panicking that this might be it for them. Did they even see the harm they were causing? Did any of them care to apologize? Of course not.
There was something she had figured out a long time ago. Not everyone would be willing to help a person in need. Plenty of people would rather step aside without a word and act like it wasn’t their problem. Some would do worse than that—see someone in pain, and pile on more pain on top of it.
So she'd figured something else out too. How to keep that pain, those negative thoughts, safely inside so they wouldn’t bother anyone—or worse, give them ammunition. How to keep people at arms length and steer away from venting about sadness, or anger, or anything else. How to survive. Who cared if she got thrown around like a ragdoll, or socked in the eye, anyway? Who would care about any of that?
But it was already feeling different.
There had been more than just failure during that stampede. For all the students who’d been dragged around, stomped on, or tossed like a sack of flour…there were at least a few who tried to help.
Tenya was the most prominent, but he wasn’t alone. Ochako had helped him get into position. Then there was that girl with the red hair, though Kyouka didn’t recognize her. She’d tried to do something.
And even after the stampede…Mina and Tooru were different. They actually cared. They knew about her hearing—hell, they knew about her autism—and hadn’t been awful about it even once.
Not everything at UA was bad. Some of her classmates seemed nice enough. The downs were beyond frustrating but the ups were there. There were people her age who didn’t ignore her, or treat her like a nuisance, or make her feel like a problem. People who wanted her to hang out with them. People who…
People who gave her tissues when she was upset.
“Are you…is he okay?”
Why had Momo said that after the stampede—or, rather, not said that? She’d been worried that Momo hated her after the nurse’s office, but…did she really? Was she trying to be respectful? Trying to be nice but keeping a distance?
Was that just what Kyouka got, for doing the same thing?
Kyouka crossed one leg over the other and sighed.
Just stop thinking about her, alright? You fucked up, just move on. We’re probably not gonna talk outside of class again anyways…
She closed her eyes and pressed her face into her hands.
…I wonder, though. Does she get lonely too?
Today was the day of the USJ trip, and Momo wanted nothing more than to go home and sleep through it.
Obviously she wasn't doing anything as self-pitying as that, though it was a near thing. She stood outside the building with her back ramrod-straight in her wonderful costume, performing her vice-presidential duties by helping Tenya organize the students into two orderly lines for the bus. Herding cats would have been easier and far more pleasant. At least cats wouldn't ogle her.
And then the bus arrived, and the best-laid schemes of Tenya went awry.
“Wh…but this…this isn’t what I’d planned for!” Tenya sank to his knees in despair, armor clanking with the motion. The bus had a couple of regular, two-by-two rows of seats in the back, but the rest of the bus was more of an open area with seatbacks against the walls instead. Her classmates piled in through the open doors, completely ignoring their nominal president and vice-president, and Momo couldn't bring herself to care even a little.
Well, at least one student didn't ignore them. “Tch. Outta the way, Lancelot,” Katsuki sneered, shoving Tenya out of his path as he stood back up and tried to enter as well. Katsuki claimed a seat in the back rows, and glowered at the rest of the class, as per usual.
He’s oddly quiet today, Momo thought to herself, getting on the bus in turn.
Izuku climbed on board next, reduced to his gym clothes after the damage his costume had taken the other day. Tsuyu and Eijirou sat to his left, as a buffer between him and Katsuki. Rikidou sat to his right. Denki, Mina, Yuuga, and a sulking Tenya sat across from them in turn.
Soon the bus only had a few empty seats left. One was next to Katsuki—predictable enough—and another was next to Momo herself, which was…also sadly predictable, she supposed.
And one of the students who hadn't gotten a seat yet was Kyouka. Momo watched as she eyed her two options: glancing at Momo as briefly as possible, and looking away as soon as they made eye contact. Then she walked over to Katsuki. “Can you be chill for one entire bus ride while I listen to my music,” she asked in a flat tone.
Katsuki didn't look at her. “Whatever.”
“Cool.” Kyouka sat down, pulled out her phone, and plugged her jack right into it.
Momo grimaced. It wasn't that she necessarily wanted Kyouka to sit next to her, not after an extremely awkward couple of interactions over the past few days, but still—the girl with super-hearing would rather sit next to the most literally and metaphorically explosive member of class? That stung.
Aizawa got on the bus next. He gave an exasperated sigh of mild dread for the day. “Is everyone aboard?”
“Just a sec!” A voice called out from the door. A voice that made Momo tense up immediately.
Ochako ran onto the bus, her boots thumping against the floor as she looked for a seat. Her big, round eyes darted from seat to seat…and as she walked down to the back, Momo’s mind flooded with paranoia.
Oh no…oh NO…she isn’t still mad about yesterday, is she? Well maybe not, if Midoriya and Te—IIDA…if those two weren’t upset afterwards, she might not be. She seemed fine enough after class…ugh, maybe I’m overthinking this. But what if—
“Heya!”
Momo let out an odd, anxious noise from her lips. Somewhere between a squeak and a chirp, something that did not sound human at all. Ochako didn’t seem to notice as she sat down, though.
“Ready for the field trip? I’m super excited!”
There wasn’t a single hint of malice or anger in her voice. Ochako brimmed with positivity, her legs gently kicking at the air while her chubby face radiated sweetness like cotton candy.
Momo could barely reconcile it with the glare Ochako had shown the day before.
“Erm…ready, yes,” Momo muttered. She could barely raise her voice above a whisper. Ochako might have been looking forward to this, but Momo felt like she was in a cage. Her hip pressed against the side of the bus.
The door closed with a hiss, and the engine's roar rattled the floor as the bus took off from the campus grounds. It would be a few minutes until they arrived at the USJ.
The longest few minutes of Momo’s life.
At first, the ride was quiet. Nobody said a word to each other. The most that was spoken was Tenya continuing to sulk, still beating himself up over his mistake. Momo grumbled under her breath.
Perhaps you should’ve consulted me on this first, Iida. I would’ve been more than happy to help…is this what being Vice President will be like? No, remember, no catastrophizing. This is still just your second day in the position. And your first day on a school bus, at that…
A loud whimpering noise suddenly cut off her thoughts. Momo reared her head up to find Izuku waving his arms around in a panic, stammering in response to something Tsuyu had said. Something about his Quirk being like All Might’s?
Momo hummed to herself. Hmm…Midoriya clearly has a super strength Quirk, but his body seemingly can’t handle it. It’s as if his bones and muscles aren’t built to withstand his output. Quite the rarity, actually. I’d have to see if this is a common occurrence or…
“What’s up?”
Momo twitched. Ochako looked back at her with curious eyes, hands resting on her knees and still kicking at the air. Momo couldn’t help but notice that she seemed to deliberately keep her thumbs hanging off her kneecaps…
“Hrm? Oh, nothing,” Momo said. “Why, was I…”
“Mumbling?”
Momo winced. “My apologies. It won’t happen again.”
“Wha?” Ochako asked, looking confused. “If you need to mumble, that’s fine. Deku does it all the time!”
Momo frowned: it didn’t make sense to her. Since when was it fine to mumble like that? Didn’t she find it odd or off putting?
But it didn't really matter in any case: just because Ochako saw no issue with it didn't make it acceptable to do so in polite company. “I will keep that in mind, thank you,” Momo quietly replied, with no intention of doing so.
She straightened her posture and glanced back at the rest of the class. Of course, Katsuki was yelling again. This time though, he was being goaded. Some of the class was laughing at him. Why this was considered the peak of comedy, Momo didn’t understand.
“Utterly revolting…” she mumbled under her breath.
She briefly glanced at Ochako. Something was off. She couldn’t quite read her expression. It seemed neutral. It didn’t look displeased. But the way her eyes went blank, the way she turned her head away with a soft hum…Momo felt like she’d said the wrong thing again.
Oh…oh dear, I upset her, didn’t I? Was I coming off too blunt? Gah, she must be upset over yesterday…but no, wait, she can’t be, right? She was acting so friendly earlier…or maybe she was lying…NO, why would she lie?? Ugh, why is this so—
On instinct, she pinched her leg, cutting her spiral off. Her head bent down and her eyes stared at her legs, her shoulders slouching.
This awkwardness is…ugh, I need to say SOMETHING to stop this. Alright. Script it. I'll say, Uraraka? And she'll say, Yes? And then, I will bring up what happened yesterday, and make it VERY clear where I did wrong, and that I'm sure it made her feel badly.
Momo nodded to herself, straightening up in her seat.
And then she'll say…well, likely she’ll say something like what Midoriya said yesterday. Admit it made her feel upset. Or maybe something else? Regardless of the specifics, I will then offer my sincerest apologies, at which point she will hopefully accept them, and then things won't be so awkward! It's foolproof!
“Uraraka?”
Ochako perked her head up. “Yeah?”
She’s still open to talking! I think I can do this!
Momo inhaled. “Yesterday, in the cafeteria…I was out of line and acted in a manner that—”
“Oh that? It’s all good, no worries!”
Momo clammed up. This…was not the reaction she expected. All good? Hardly! She saw the burning anger in Ochako’s eyes that day. She remembered the noise those chopsticks made when they snapped in two. This wasn’t something to shrug off lightly!
How do I respond to this? Focus, Momo, stick to the script…be understanding of her feelings and make it clear you empathize with them.
“Erm…well, that being said…” Momo said, her voice wavering a bit. “I’m sure you must have felt very irate and I—”
“It’s fine, really.” The words came out faster this time, blunt as a hammer. Ochako was forcing a smile that could barely hide how awkward she felt.
Maybe she really is upset…but I’m doing everything right, aren’t I? One more try…
“I understand if you’re still upset, Uraraka, but I simply cannot—”
“Could you please stop?”
Momo recoiled. No, there wasn’t a glare in Ochako’s eyes this time, but just for a second Momo swore she saw it. At the very least, Ochako looked displeased, her eyebrows crossed with a frustrated expression. Maybe Momo was just overreacting, but it didn’t stop her from scooting away in her seat.
Even Ochako seemed to take note of how she sounded. She took a breath and exhaled, her expression softening.
“Sorry. I’m just…what do you want me to say, Yaoyorozu?”
“What do I…” Momo repeated. “I don’t want you to say anything specific, merely just an acknowledgement of my—”
“That’s the problem,” Ochako said. “I get you feel bad over it, and I’m willing to let yesterday go…but um…jeez, how do I put this…”
She hummed to herself, a fist resting against her chin as she thought.
“So…when I was in middle school, I had a couple of teachers who kept telling me I was doing stuff wrong or whatever, yeah? Like I was zoning out and wasn’t focusing on my lessons. But I always passed my classes! Well okay, I failed math that one time but…”
She paused, refocusing her thoughts. It was like she was rewinding a VHS tape in her head.
“Look, my point is, they kept acting like I was doing something wrong or I had a problem, but…y’know, I was still doing good for myself! They just made assumptions from how I act and what they expected out of me. So they tell me I'm doing something wrong and never let me get a say, like they already have the conversation planned out, y'know? And like…and I wanna make it clear, I don’t think you’re doing this on purpose and stuff but—”
“You think I’m doing the same thing?”
Ochako paused, before nodding. “A little, yeah?”
This wasn’t so much a punch to the gut as it was a car slamming right into her. She sank into her seat, head bending down lower and lower until all she saw was the floor and the red of her boots.
She didn’t say anything. There was nothing to say. In situations such as this, where she felt too overwhelmed for words, she chose to shut down and stop talking. She was alone with her thoughts again.
So it’s my fault then…damn...damn, damn, DAMN IT...Why did I think it was a good idea to lecture Midoriya like that? Just because I thought he’d be similar to me…is that why they think I’m mean? I just want to show them I can be helpful! They can rely on me! I’m…I’m their vice president, aren’t I?
“Yaoyorozu?”
Momo didn’t so much as flinch when Ochako called her name. It was like it didn’t register. She didn’t want to talk. No, she wanted to get off this damned bus and hide with her feelings until she didn’t have to think about them anymore. Just be left alone and…
“Y-You can stop now…”
“I wanna drop it. I can’t talk.”
“Let’s change the subject.”
…oh.
Slowly, she raised her head back up. “My apologies, Uraraka…I’m just…”
She didn’t finish her sentence. It felt like her lungs were out of air.
Ochako murmured a wordless hum to herself and tapped her fingers together. “Um…look, I didn’t mean to upset you or anything. Honest! I-I was kinda scared of bringing it up anyways, just, y’know…”
“You don’t need to explain yourself.”
Momo sighed. She didn’t have the energy for this anymore. The last she spoke on the matter was robotic and monotone, with no emotion. Like she’d rehearsed it several times before.
“I…will take what you’ve pointed out and mull it over. Thank you, Uraraka.”
It wasn’t an explicit call to end the conversation, but the intent was clear. Ochako gave a meek nod and straightened herself, returning to silence.
Momo’s eyes glanced away from Ochako and focused on one of the seats ahead of them. Focusing on a certain someone with purple hair zoning out from the rest of the world. A deep, buried part of Momo’s mind wanted to join her.
“I’m not gonna go easy on you just because of yesterday.”
Did you have your reasons for saying that, Jirou? Maybe I should stop asking. Maybe I can never truly understand you.
But maybe…I could still get to know you?
“Look sharp, everyone,” Aizawa dryly said. “We’re here.”
Here indeed. As Momo stepped off the bus, she was immediately struck by how big the place was. It really did feel like the entrance to a theme park. She could hear the rush of water from afar, and the crackling of flames even further than that. Walking inside, she saw several structures that looked like mock-up cities in miniature, just past a couple dozen steps downward past the entrance. One was full of rubble and rocks, one was engulfed by an inferno, and one…wasn’t even a city at all, it was just a lake. A lake with a boat and a whirlpool.
Certainly making good use of the government’s money, Momo thought to herself.
The crowd of students was alight with wonder and awe. It was like walking into an amusement part of sorts…well, if an amusement park was a training ground for rescue operations. Bah, technicalities.
“Are you sure this isn’t Universal Studios?” Mina huffed, giving a bratty pout.
“Feels more like Disney to me!” Eijirou chuckled.
“Why do I smell fire…” Tooru muttered.
A pair of sneakers thudded into view as a figure in a round, puffy astronaut suit approached the class. Their head was hidden beneath a dome-shaped helmet, and their words came out slightly distorted like they were speaking over a radio. Their voice certainly sounded feminine, but it was low enough that Momo couldn’t really be sure. Then again, perhaps that didn’t matter.
“Face front, students,” Aizawa said. “This is—”
“T-Thirteen!! It’s the Space Hero Thirteen!!”
A loud sound like a shriek mixed with a gasp cut through the class. As expected, it was Izuku. Ochako was bouncing right next to him, her excitement matching his.
“ Please do not interrupt,” Aizawa bluntly reprimanded.
The walking astronaut suit gave a chuckle. “I see my reputation precedes me. But yes, it is a pleasure to properly meet you, students! Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!”
Thirteen leaned in for a moment to whisper something into Aizawa’s ear…at least, it looked like that was what they were doing. Momo couldn’t exactly make out a face. All she could tell was Aizawa looked back at Thirteen with a displeased glare, and stepped back to let them run the show.
“Anyways, students!” Thirteen said. “We have one or two points to go over…well, three points, really…er, maybe four, actually?”
“Several points,” Aizawa clarified.
“Yes, several points!” Thirteen said with a chuckle. “Now, how many of you…”
Momo struggled to keep herself focused. That same weight hung over her head like before, and it wasn’t leaving her alone. She closed her eyes and drew another breath, wishing she at least had a pencil and paper to make notes with.
The more I let these negative thoughts dominate, the less attention I put on my studies. I can’t let this negativity win out. I need to be focused. This is an important lesson and I can’t afford to—
She froze.
It was as if time had stopped for everyone. One moment, Thirteen was wrapping up their lecture and preparing to show the students what to do. The next moment, a breeze began to blow down the steps. A slight WOOSH noise grew as a swirling black mass suddenly appeared, expanding bigger and bigger until it was like a giant mouth. It was more than that, though. It had eyes , glowing yellow like lighthouses on the shore. And it was breathing .
“What’s…going on?” Eijirou asked.
“This…this isn’t training, is it?” Mina gulped.
Aizawa’s body tensed up. He eyed the mass for a moment, before suddenly pulling his goggles down. “Huddle up and DON’T MOVE,” he suddenly shouted, his voice booming with a commanding tone Momo hadn’t heard out of him before.
What? But…who could be…
A man suddenly came out of the black mass. A pale, gaunt man covered in hands, with red, bloodshot eyes, black clothes, and messy white hair. Each breath he took was a wheeze, and each movement was a twitch.
He wasn’t the only one. The raspy stranger was accompanied by an entire army of acolytes following right beside him. One was a massive brute with black skin, a beak, and an exposed brain, standing nearly ten feet tall and rippling with enough muscle to rival All Might’s physique. Others were of a similar brutish appearance, with spikes, horns, canines, and masks. Some even carried weapons.
“Thirteen…and Eraserhead…is it?” came a deep, distorted voice. Momo quickly realized that it wasn’t coming from anyone in this massive army…it was coming from the black void itself .
The pale, withered wight of a man sighed. “We’ve come all this way with so many new friends…but All Might isn’t here? I wonder if some dead children will get him here faster?”
Momo felt a weight sink inside of her chest. Panic was spreading throughout the class. Voices overlapping over voices, students huddling together as a wave of claustrophobia crept over everyone. And that voice…that raspy, decayed voice…just hearing it was skin crawling…
Schedule? What are they…yesterday, did they…
Aizawa growled, his capture tape already unraveling. “Thirteen, begin evacuation procedure, now .”
Momo didn’t see what happened next. Her main priority was to run . She could barely focus on her surroundings. She could hear Aizawa jumping from the steps, Tenya yelling at the class to keep calm, Izuku tripping over himself and Minoru crying and screaming…
Schedule…if they bypassed the sensors then they had to have someone who could jam them…they PLANNED this…
Too late did she realize she’d bumped right into a familiar sight. Kyouka nearly fell over herself, her shoes skidding on the ground as she forced herself to keep going. Denki was beside her, his hand pressed against an antenna attached to his ear. There was little time for Momo to react to them. They were almost out of there, almost to safety…
“I’m not letting you children leave.”
That deep voice echoed once again as the swirling black mass suddenly appeared in front of them, blocking the exit with its expanse. Momo could see a metallic neck brace and a suit and tie, forming into something that looked only vaguely like a person.
“Forgive our audacity, children,” the being said, “but allow us to introduce ourselves. We are the League of Villains…and we’ve come to U.A. for one simple reason: to kill the Symbol of Peace, All Might.”
Momo felt like she couldn’t breathe. Like there was no air left to inhale. Kill All Might? That wasn’t just audacious, that was insane . No one within their right mind would attempt such a thing.
She briefly looked at Kyouka. The color on her face was gone. Her trembling hand was balled into a fist as she grit her teeth. She didn’t just look scared, she looked angry .
An explosion suddenly rocked past the mass. Katsuki and Eijirou hurled themselves forward, prepared to strike at the foe.
“GET BACK, BOTH OF YOU!!” Thirteen shouted. But it was too late.
Another sigh came from the black void. “I see…” it muttered, sounding downright bored . “Let us level the playing field, then.”
There was no time to react. The mass suddenly expanded in size, swirling around the students and spinning like a typhoon over the ocean, picking up greater speed with each rotation. Momo could feel the air beneath her legs blowing her upwards, the gale of wind plowing into her like a bulldozer. She could barely see anyone else. All she saw was black.
No…no, this can’t…this can’t…FOCUS, damn it!
There were two figures to her left. Denki was struggling to stand up, his legs buckling and his knees slowly bending. Kyouka wasn’t even standing. She was struggling to even get to her knees, her body slowly blowing backwards.
In dire moments, it’s said that fight or flight kicks in. The body makes a decision purely on reflex, without a second thought put into it. As the typhoon blew past them, in the split second of time where Kyouka would have been tossed out of reach, Momo felt a twinge go through her muscles.
“JIROU, KAMINARI, HOLD ON!”
She grabbed Kyouka by the back of her jacket and wrapped her arm around Denki’s chest. She felt her boots skid against the ground as her whole body flew higher and higher into the air.
Before Momo knew it, she was flying through a haze of black. The only sounds she could hear amidst the wind were the sounds of her fellow classmates screaming in panic, going to who knows where…
Kyouka couldn’t see anything. Darkness surrounded her as the torrent of winds rushed past her ears. Her legs dangled uselessly in the air, her hands grabbing hold of her jacks just to keep them from flying. She could hear a loud POP from the change in air pressure, and it might as well have been a balloon exploding right inside of her ear canal. She closed her eyes tight, so tight that she could feel pain welling up right behind them, spreading all the way to the front of her head.
By the time she had landed on the ground, her body felt limp. The world around her spun in a disorienting manner, her eyes barely able to focus on anything. She could feel the rock hard ground, dirt and pebbles scraping her pants. She took a shaking, quivering breath, struggling to lift herself up. Her arm could only tremble as she collapsed back onto her knees.
No…they’re here to…they knew…during the stampede…they KNEW…are they really gonna…
“Well, well, well…we’ve got a score over here, boys!”
Kyouka reared her head. Of the numerous villains surrounding them, a man with a shadowy face masked by a hood was standing to the front. He had no discernable features outside of two yellow eyes and a big toothy mouth, showing off his pearly whites in a creepy grin.
No…no no no what are they…
“Oooooh, I know who this is!” another villain chuckled, this one a lanky figure with a visor over his eyes, his hair slicked into a jagged point like an icicle. “This is that Yaoyorozu girl! Lookit her, playin’ hero! Hah! Ya think her daddy got her into this school?”
Yaoyo…rozu…
Her vision began to clear. Standing right in front of Kyouka was the towering figure of Yaoyorozu Momo, unmoving and unyielding in the face of these taunting villains. She didn’t say a word. Her head was bent down, her expression unreadable. The most Kyouka could make out were those eyes. Those same intimidating eyes that had baffled Kyouka since the beginning of the week.
But…if she’s there…where’s…
“L-Leave her alone!”
Denki knelt on the ground beside Momo, his hands balled into trembling fists. His pants were visibly scuffed, stained with dirt and clay just like his hair. Kyouka could hear his heart thumping away with a loud, cacophonous beat.
What was worse was the blood on his lip, as if he’d scuffed his face upon landing…
“You want some next, blondie?” the pointy-haired man snorted. He held his hand out, and to Kyouka’s horror, she saw his fingers turn into knives, reflecting the sunlight with an ominous sheen.
“Hah! You look like you’re about to cry!”
Denki recoiled from that comment. Kyouka could make out a few tears under his eyes.
She felt her knees wobble as she struggled to stand up, but her body felt like a wet noodle. Getting to her feet was like trying to swim through glue. The harder she grit her teeth, the more they felt like they’d break.
Shut up…just shut UP…I have to…get up…have to help…
“Well, I bet she’ll make an easy target then,” a woman spoke up, the same one with the tendril hairdo. “Just kill the other two kids and hold Little Miss Yaoyorozu here for ransom money!”
“What, and let her live?” the creepy-grin man laughed, his teeth audible clacking. “Let’s cut her ear off and mail it at least! Or put her head in a box!”
“Cut the short one’s ear off!” the pointy-haired man cackled. “Be a fine piece for a collection!”
Again, Momo didn’t react. Kyouka balled her hand into a fist, cursing herself.
Damn it…I can’t…be USELESS…I need to…get…UP…just DO something, Yaoyorozu, I know you can…
Wait…
A rock, the size of her fist, on the ground in front of her.
Bingo.
“Oh come on, what good is it if we maim her?” the tendril-haired woman snorted. “Let’s be professional about this and just scare ‘em into paying up, alright?”
Bottom quarter of the class. Quirk that stabs my brain. Not even a “proper” girl.
Kyouka hobbled herself up, coiling the rock with her jack.
Nowhere near Yaoyorozu. Nowhere near any of them. Maybe I can't be a hero like they can.
“Bah, but where’s the art in that?” the creepy-grin man huffed. “Spill a little blood, I say! We’re already gettin’ our hands dirty today anyways.”
But you know what I can do? I can throw a ball a hundred meters.
She spun her jack in the air, like a pitcher winding up for a toss.
And you're only ten meters away, motherfucker.
“True,” the tendril-haired woman chuckled. “Well then…I suppose we’ll just have our fun and—”
She didn’t get to finish her sentence. The rock whizzed right through the air and slammed right into her face, blood spilling out of her mouth. She fell to the ground with a thud, completely cold.
Kyouka whipped her jacks into the air and forced herself to her feet. Her entire body shook as she felt an overwhelming wave of emotion coursing through her. Rage. White hot, righteous rage.
“DON’T. TOUCH. HER.”
Her voice lowered into a growling rasp. She struggled to breathe. Her chest felt like a timebomb ready to detonate. She extended her jacks and raised them up like fists, wheezing each breath like she was ready to keel over.
The creepy-grin man just laughed. “Hah! And who’s gonna stop us, runt?” he asked, taking a step forward.
Before Kyouka could respond, a light suddenly flashed right next to her. The motion was so fast that she barely had time to process it. She saw a glow emanate from Momo’s hip, her hand suddenly reaching out to pull something out…
And within seconds, the creepy-grin man was sent backwards, spit flying out of his mouth as he landed on the ground with a thud.
But…but she…
There Momo stood, wielding a bo right between her hands and spinning it between her fingers. Her thigh began to glow next, as a hilt suddenly ejected itself out.
She only said two words, blunt and commanding: “Grab it.”
Kyouka felt her jaw go slack. This girl didn’t look afraid at all. That intimidating glare and stern, condescending look…no, that wasn’t condescension. But what it really was eluded her.
Kyouka grabbed the hilt and pulled it out of Momo’s leg. Between her hands was a sword, blunted enough that it wouldn’t cut anyone too badly…but good enough to give some villains a damn good thrashing.
“I don’t know how to use this, y’know.”
“Just follow my instructions,” Momo bluntly said. “It’s my duty to protect both of you, and I will do it .”
Her arm suddenly glowed, and the handle of a metallic baseball bat ejected itself out.
“Kaminari. Take it.”
Denki gulped, shuddering to his feet and pulling the bat out. He held it up like he was the world’s most panicked baseball player, shaky breaths punctuating his jittering arms.
“R-Right…army of villains and I’ve got a baseball bat…h-happy Thursday to me…”
Kyouka knew the feeling well…it was exactly what she felt. It took every ounce of focus to keep her hands from trembling. There were parts of her mind that screamed for her to run or give up or do anything to save herself.
Fuck that.
In spite of it all, she gripped the sword tighter, clenched her jaw, and focused on the girl in front of her.
“I don't know who you think you are, but I know who you think I am, and you are about to find yourselves painfully mistaken.”
The girl whose steely eyes showed no fear at all.
“You will not lay a finger on me or my classmates. As long as I’m here, I will protect them with everything I have.”
The girl who was determined to protect them.
“And your plan, whatever it is, WILL fail.”
The girl who was determined to be a hero.