Momo was discharged from the hospital later that day and rode home with her mother. Her father called during the car ride, making sure she was okay and apologizing for not coming. Momoka had told him she would go and call him if it looked serious, which while it was, it wasn't life threatening. He did promise to head home as soon as he could.
The two had lunch together, and Momo learned that while she managed to make the arm move quickly, she had trouble with fine control. She attempted to use the arm to pick up her water glass and managed to shatter it from too much strength. She was amazed at how she could feel not only the particles of glass but also the wetness of the water. There was no pain, which was a plus side, just the feeling of the glass shards. Her mother suggested they take some time practicing before dinner, having already found some suggestions from previous test subjects.
After reaching a point where she didn't think she would crush her phone Momo went ahead and texted her friends to let them know she was okay. Mina had made a group for class 1-A so she posted there to let her classmates know as well. The responses were warming as it reminded her of Bakugou's apology. She thought to message him directly to ask but decided to wait for now.
Today was already a day off from school following the villain's attack but they would have class tomorrow. Momo had mixed feelings though, looking at the training prosthetic. It was noticeably longer than her other arm, and clearly fake. The tactile sensation performed admirably letting her feel almost as well and it was already getting better at responding to her thoughts. But it was still a symbol of loss to her. "I should have been more cautious and avoided that villain. Or wary during the fight. I had so many other options that would have worked better, why couldn't I think of them at the time."
Expecting bad dreams that night, Momo took a sleeping aid. She would rather avoid remembering things that no longer mattered and focus on the future.
[Earlier that day]
Principal Nezu had been on the phone with Yaoyorozu's father for sometime now. He had called the school and demanded an explanation for what happened to his daughter and Nezu did his best to provide it. However this wasn't enough for him. How would they prevent it from happening again? What measures were they taking to keep his daughter and the other children safe? How were they sure it would be effective? By the end of the call, Nezu was mentally exhausted.
He had managed to avoid any of the insane concessions he wanted. Though an armed military force being present around the classes at all times sounded great, it would just interfere with the students studies. Plus where would the budget come from? He did agree to do a new round of background checks on all the teachers, though there were legal implications to that. He had demanded that the U.A. Sports Festival was cancelled at first, but Nezu was already prepared to argue for that and had done so convincingly.
Nezu prepared a cup of tea before making a phone call to Yaoyorozu's mother. He had already spoken to her as well and was going to have her bring her daughter to a meeting before school in the morning. The life of a principal was never ending.
Momo's attempts to ward off dreams was met with failure. Momo had become a robot from an old anime she watched, now calling herself MOMO-ROBO. Just like in the show she would face a random villain and also just like the show would get blown to pieces. Her two human friends would find her and reassemble her, grabbing the pieces that had fallen off. However they kept trying to attach her leg to her left arm, Momo unable to tell them it was wrong. Finally in the end they realized it was a leg and attached her left arm to wear it belonged.
Momo awoke the next day, ready to head to school. Her mother had informed her last night that Principal Nezu wanted to speak to them before school and set about preparing to leave early, leaving the strange dream aside. As she was putting on her uniform however, she suddenly realized she had been performing her morning duties without incident. Looking at her left hand it had appeared to shrink, becoming the same size as her right. And the coloration had been altered to look more like skin.
"I didn't think it would change this much. Best to ask Power Loader after meeting with Nezu." Momo finished getting ready before heading to meet her mother for breakfast and to show her arm. Momoka agreed that asking the Pro Hero would be best.
The two arrived at the school and met with Principal Nezu. Accompanying him was Power Loader and Midnight. Momo and Momoka hadn't even sat down when Power Loader got up and walked towards them.
"Yaoyorozu, what happened to the prosthetic?"
Momo stood up and took off her blazer, rolling up her left sleeve so he could get a better look. "I'm uncertain what happened to it. When I woke up this morning it had shrunk and changed color. We were going to ask you to look at it after this."
Power Loader visually examined what he could while Nezu and Midnight looked on. "Do you need to take her for an examination?" The principal asked.
"Does it hurt anywhere or feel strange in any way? Any signs that it may be malfunctioning?"
"I haven't had any problems. In fact this morning I didn't notice it until I realized it had shrunk. It's better than ever."
Power Loader thought about it before responding, "I think it should be fine. I didn't think it would adapt this far so I'd still like to run a diagnostic after this meeting but it should be fine for now."
"All right. Then Yaoyorozu, Yaoyorozu please have a seat." He nods to each in turn. "So we wanted to discuss the events of USJ and what we would like to do going forward."
Momo's thoughts Immediately went to a dark place. "Oh no, they're going to kick me out of U.A.!"
President Nezu continued, "Just confronting the elephant in the room if you will, we're concerned about your future with U.A. after what happened with Shigaraki at USJ. Yaoyorozu, do you still want to be a hero?"
Momo was prepared for this question, feeling like it's being asked every day. "Sir, I understand your concerns. But I assure you even if I hadn't been provided this prosthetic I would still be able to keep up with the other students. And thanks to the efforts of the wonderful factory and the scientists of I-Island, as well as my mother's intervention there will be hardly any extra needed effort for me."
Nezu looks at her, making her wonder if she said something wrong. "You do seem to be more than willing to continue. And I fully believe you would be able to keep up with the others. However what I'm concerned about isn't your physical ability but rather your mental health."
Momo felt appalled at the insinuation. "I can assure you I'm coping quite well. I have a wonderful support network, amazing friends, and my family to support me!"
"That's the problem, Yaoyorozu. While I'm glad to hear you have so many to care for you, but we worry that you're forcing yourself still. Most people need time after such a loss and we just want to ensure you're okay." Momo is about to interrupt but Nezu holds up his paw. "We're not kicking you out of U.A. or removing you from the Hero Course. We just would like you to attend some counseling sessions. We've already spoken to your parents about this. Would you be willing to do this for us?"
Momo felt frustrated. She didn't need counseling, she knew she didn't. But she didn't want to risk her dreams. "Fine, but I would like to say I believe it's a waste of time."
"I'm glad to hear that. Midnight will arrange it with your parents. And remember this is to help you, Yaoyorozu. Please come to us if there are any worries."
"Thank you Principal, Midnight."
"Now then, I had planned to talk about the physical aspects as well of your recovery, but it seems that Power Loader needs to investigate what's happened to your arm. If for some reason he believes you aren't physically capable of continuing we will discuss it then, but at this point I see no reason to continue as normal. Is that fine with you Yaoyorozu?" This was directed at Momoka, who agreed.
"Then I'll send a message to Aizawa that you may be late for class, Yaoryorozu. Have a pleasant day."
Momo and Momoka left the room with Power Loader, and she said goodbye to her mother before heading to the support department.
Upon their arrival Hatsume was already present, dressed in overalls and working on…something at one of the tables. Upon seeing Power Loader and Momo entered, she jumped up. "If it isn't R.A.G.? Has it already been a week? You already have the new arm on? I think I lost more time than usual."
Power Loader, "Actually it seems like the calibration arm is behaving strangely. I'm going to run a diagnostic on it now."
Hatsume jumped head and headed over. "Oh good! I can't wait to help. Where do we start?"
"We aren't starting. You have to head to class for now. I'll make sure to update you later today."
Hatsume looked like she wanted to complain but instead packed up her things and headed out, "See you later, R.A.G.!"
Momo was confused by the name twice now, looking to Power Loader.
"R.A.G. or Robot Arm Girl. I think she thinks that's your hero name now despite her coming up with it. Come over here and let's get your arm checked out."
Momo put her hand on the table while Power Loader opened a small cap on the ring finger, taking the tip of it off and plugging a cable into it connecting it to the computer. "Let's see what's going on." His fingers flew across the keyboard designed for his claws. With the diagnostic started he pulled up the arm's active stats and paused. "Are you sure you don't feel any pain or discomfort right now?"
"None at all. Why do you ask?"
Power Loader looked at the stats again. "Well the neural interface is listed as 1.000 right now. To be honest, I can't believe that's accurate. We're looking for a rating around 0.025 to 0.050, and if it goes over 0.100 you should start feeling pain. A rating of 1.000 would explain why you can control it so well now, since a higher rating means more control too. Plus the tactile sensors are up to 15, and they aren't designed to go over 9. Going higher on that value causes pain if the calibration is out of alignment. I'm not sure how that's possible."
"What about the calibration bands you were talking about before?"
"So each of those are a facet of how the arm responds to the neural interface. You can have a great NI rating but if the calibrations are out of tolerance you won't be able to move the arm. We need to set a base but using the arm fixes the values and finds what your green zones are. These have been moved but I think the calibrations are stable." Power Loader is looking over the data when the icon representing the diagnostic shows complete. "All right, let's see what happened."
He started going over the new data, absorbed in the information. "I think I need to send this to I-Island for evaluation."
"Why, what is it showing?"
"Well, I can only guess. But I think your Quirk interfered with it. When we sleep our bodies tend to heal better, doing things subconsciously. I think in your case your Creation somehow caused changes in the arm through the neural link, maxing out it's stats for you." Power Loader began to compile the new data and prepared it to be sent off. "If I'm right, then we should be able to do a lot more with your arm than we thought. It's pretty amazing honestly and I hope the I-Island scientists can reverse engineer the data and use it for the other prosthetics."
Power Loader looked up at the clock, "I think you'll be fine for now. If you head to class now you should be able to make it. I'll let you know if I find out anything."
"Thank you, Power Loader. I'll head off then."
Momo left the supporting department and made her way to Class 1-A.
