Okay. I'm really excited about this one. I've been sitting on this outline for literally months waiting to finish The Same Coin before starting. One of my favorite cosplayers, Elaine . Rose . Cosplay, helped me with brainstorming and then STARTED COSPLAYING Danchou. I am SHOOK. So definitely check out her TikToks because it's amaaaazing

I've also made a collaborative Spotify playlist for this story, like I did for The Same Coin. Go check it out and add some music that you think matches the vibe: nutellaismymiddlename

"Will that be cash or charge?"

Momo offered her card before Mina or Ochaco could even begin to reach for their purses. The server took it with a polite nod, then left the table. It was all said and done before the other two girls could begin to process what she'd done. Ochaco's cheeks pink ended, giving away the exact moment that realization set in.

"You can't do that!" she balked loudly, balling her hands into small fists and pressing them against her flushed cheeks with embarrassment. "You already bought most of the clothes while we were shopping, you can't pay for the food, too!"

Momo shrugged indifferently. "It was my idea to go out, of course I'm going to pay."

"I don't mind," Mina said with a laugh. She picked up her drink and took a long pull on the straw. Momo laughed with her, but Ochaco only covered her face with embarrassment. Mina laughed harder.

It had been only a few weeks since beginning at UA, and already it had been everything Momo had hoped for. She had placed first during the Quirk Apprehension Test, and had done well throughout the rest of her studies so far. She was becoming fast friends with her classmates — especially Mina and Ochaco. Potential alliances, she'd thought to herself earlier. She hoped, genuinely, that they would all go on to become Pro Heroes, and that one day if she needed help they would be only a phone call away — and vise versa. The idea appealed to her sense of sensibility, as much as it did to her desire to make friends at her new school.

The server returned and handed Momo back her card, and she tucked it away back into her slender wallet. "Anything else for you girls?" No, they were set. They made short work of finishing their drinks and grabbing their armfuls of shopping bags back up again.

"I'm taking the bus back home," Mina said once they were on the sidewalk again.

"I'm on the train," Momo answered.

"My mom let me use the car," Ochaco said in return, then pointed down the street to their left. "It's parked a few blocks down."

"I'll walk with you to it," Momo offered. Mina was quick to second the idea. After they escorted Ochaco to her car, then they would walk to the bus stop together, and the train was just a little further on.

If Momo — or, really, any of them — had realized what was happening ahead, then perhaps they'd have made a different decision. Maybe they'd have gone back inside the restaurant for dessert to wait a little more time. Or maybe they, the future Heroes of Japan, would have decided to still go down that dark, lonely street anyway...just with more care. But none of their quirks allowed them to see what waited ahead, so instead they had out blissfully ignorant, their shopping bags in hand, to meet Fate.

"Give me everything you've got on you."

Those quiet words cutting through the darkness brought their trio to a complete halt. Momo's grip on her bags tightened slightly as they glanced around, searching for the source. Ochaco's elbow jabbed her ribs and the other girl jerked her head toward a group of shadows crowded under the eves of a building. Three men had crowded in close around another. One reached out and shoved the lone man hard.

"What do we do?" Ochaco asked in a whisper, taking a half step back.

Momo chewed on her lip for a moment, weighing their options. They weren't licensed heroes and, as hero students, they could face repercussions if they used their abilities to intervene. There were three aggressors — all grown men, from what she could tell. They likely had quirks of their own, and she doubted they would hesitate to wield them against three high school girls interfering. They could end up injured themselves and reprimanded. But she felt that thread tying her to the place she stood — they were future heroes. They couldn't just walk away either.

"We should call the police," Momo answered at last, watching as the victim was shoved again. "They or a hero will be out here to handle the situation."

"You call," Mina said, twisting her hands into fists, "I'm not standing on the sidelines."

"Mina, no!" Momo gasped, but it was already too late. Mina was heading straight for the small group, and her options were suddenly to follow her friend, or to abandon her. Ochaco took off on her heels, glancing around anxiously as she followed Mina forward. Damn. There was only one way out now and it was forward.

Momo followed them, trying her best to feel brave. The odds were not in their favor and she was all too aware of that as Mina called out, "Hey! Leave that guy alone!"

Three heads turned in their direction, and there was a prolonged pause before one of the men simply laughed.

"It's past your bedtime, kid," he said, turning in their direction as Mina marched up to him without the faintest glimmer of hesitation. "The grown ups are talking. Get out of here."

He turned back to the other man then, as though he had effectively dismissed them. Momo was reaching out to pull Mina back — they should call the police and let pros handle the situation — but Mina took an emboldened step forward, digging her heels into the ground once she had, and raised her nose.

"I said leave that guy alone."

His head rolled around to look at their timid little trio with disbelief, staring at them as though he was surprised to see them still standing there at all. One of the others grabbed their victim by the shirt collar and shoved him back against the building behind him, while the other joined the ringleader as he turned to face off with them. His eyes looked them each up and down once, then he simply waved toward them. His two colleagues abandoned the man they'd been shaking up and moved in.

And this was where their greatest failing truly occurred. They had no plan, no strategy, and it was inevitable for chaos to ensue on the heels of under preparedness. Ochaco dove in, hands outstretched, and tapped the man closest to her. He floated up into the air a moment later, away from the squabble below. Momo reached under her shirt, laying her palm flat against her stomach, and created a container of pepper spray — in this split second, it was the easiest and quickest thing that came to mind under the circumstances. She pulled the small container out and squeezed the trigger, dousing the man closest to her — the ringleader — with pepper spray. He charged headlong through it and let out a shout of pain, but his motion carried the pepper spray with him. Momo choked on as she breathed it in. She shut her eyes tight, but it was too late, already they were burning. He careened into her and, even hit with the pepper spray, he locked his arms around her waist and dragged her to the ground. They grappled blindly on the ground until he locked his hand on her jaw and slammed her head back into the pavement. Stars exploded in her vision and Momo cried out in pain. Before she could take a breath, he had flipped her over and his knee dug into her back while he squeezed her wrists tight, immobilizing her.

"Fucking bitches," she heard him saying above her. "Goro, get the car."

"What are we doing with them? one of the others asked.

"I'm taking them to Danchou."

Momo forced her eyes to open, and they burned with the effort. Mina and Ochaco were pinned under another man, and the man they had been attempting to help had made his clean getaway. She could feel her heart thundering against the pavement underneath her. Where was Danchou? What were they going to do to them there? Was there anything she could create that she could use to call for help? Everything coming to mind required the use of her hands. Maybe when they put her in the car she'd be able to do something.

"Let us go," she croaked out. "We're UA students, you don't want this kind of attention."

"UA, huh? Don't they teach classes about how you should leave shit to the Pros?" he said above her, then he made a sound of discomfort. "Fucking pepper spray."

A black SUV pulled up beside them, and the man holding her dragged her up to her feet before pulling her over. Zip ties went around her wrists, then — shit — he used another zip tie to attach her bound wrists to the grab handle over the door. Mina and Ochaco were shoved into the second row of seats with her, and the other two men got into the front seats. The man who'd pinned her down, however, climbed in the third row. Momo heard a click behind her, and she turned to look back. His face was puffy and his eyes were bloodshot. Momo's eyes widened impossibly as she stared down the barrel of a gun.

"Try me, quirk girl," he threatened, wiping his face with the sleeve of his other arm. Momo's jaw locked. He tilted his head to one side, evaluating her carefully before aiming the gun to point at Ochaco instead. He taunted, "Is that better?"

She said nothing, and he smirked.