Joe's Note: Given that there were already Tsuyu and Momo pieces in the pipeline when I began this rewrite, I used last chapter to introduce Mina a bit early with the intention of bringing her back in Chapter 8. That left me with an entire 2,300 word relationship chapter to try and salvage in between now and then. So I decided to have a bit of fun and introduce another character early. It'll definitely be an uncommon characterization for her; most people like to give her a fucked up home life and abusive parents and maybe some time on the street - and even a bit of a criminal record - to allow shining knight Izuku to roll in and save the day. Not my bag. Mostly because Izuku at this point is still in the stage where he would still make incoherent noises if a cute girl his age tried to talk to him.
Dedications & Thanks: To Nicholas, Howard, Jade, Alexander, Tibor, Alonsis2, Daniel, Clark, Adrien, erlking, ridillin, Haematite, Charles, Jacky, Edward, Andrew, Roofcrawler, Wil, PbookR, Samuel, Mikey, Beverly, Daniel, Charles, Crygon20, Subtle, Christopher, Stephen, Fablesrogue, Morgan, Joseph, Jason, RileyWestfall, bloodylord, Marc, Ziryo, Chris, George, Koby, William, Devin, JJbelle, David, Gavin, TheTenthAncestor, Lookshy, Mauday, John, Roman, Warren, and Jess for sponsoring me on , and making it easier for me to spend more of my time writing.

"Okay so I know I got my bell rung by that last villain I fought today but I'm pretty sure that I shouldn't be seeing double. And why is one of you blue?"

Carol blinked owlishly before looking back over her shoulder to confirm what the slight pressure against the right side of her back was already telling her: her house guest had followed her over to see who was at the door. A house guest who, yes, would have looked absolutely identical to her down to the way the left corner of her mouth rose a tiny bit higher than the right when she smiled. 'Would have' because her skin was a proper Kree blue instead of Carol's own pinkish tone, and her hair was likewise black instead of blonde despite being in the exact same style. "Do you want to introduce yourself or should I do it for you?" In response, her doppelgänger blushed a slightly darker shade of blue and waved in permission before burying her face in Carol's shoulder.

Eyebrows slowly raising, Yu looked back and forth between the two girls curiously. "New friend?"

Nodding, Carol grinned and opened the door wider, wrapping her other arm around her guest and guiding her back a step or two so that Yu could properly enter her apartment. "Yu, this is Toga Himiko. Himiko, meet Takeyama Yu. I think we all know who Yu is." If Himiko didn't, the fact that Yu was wearing some of her own merchandise at the moment probably made it pretty obvious. "Yu, Himiko is one of my most devoted fans in the Tokyo metro area. She's shown up at every fight I've had in Tokyo for the last month. Or at least all of the ones after 3:15. So I decided to reward her loyalty by buying her tickets for the Shinkansen so she could come hang out with me and Mina for an afternoon. Evening. She's on the last train home."

Stepping into the apartment, Yu toed her shoes off in the genkan before gesturing back and forth between Carol and Himiko. "Okay, so that doesn't explain why there's two of you. Or why one of you is blue. Oh, and hi Mina!"

Mina offered a wave from her spot on the couch, but Yu's attention quickly returned to the pair of almost identical twins in front of her. Carol patted herself on the head before gesturing to her blue doppelgänger. "Himiko's quirk is Transform. I let her bite me to take some blood-"

"Wait, you did what now?"

"Oh yeah, she's got these really cute fangs and eyes like a cat's. Super adorable. Anyways, I let her take my blood to see what would happen if she transformed into me and then this happened." Carol stepped behind Himiko, leaning on the girl and reaching up to tousle her black hair. "We have no idea why it happened but it's kinda cool looking. Also, it turns out that I absolutely get all my powers from my Kree side because she can imitate quirks and can't do shit while turned into me." Technically all her powers were derived from being irradiated to shit by the Space Stone at one point, but... semantics.

Yu tilted her head to the side as she considered Himiko for a few seconds before nodding slowly. "Seems... fair enough. Okay, new question. What are the two of you wearing?"

Pulling away from Himiko, Carol looked down at herself. "Well, Himiko is wearing what I was wearing because that's how her powers work." Yu opened her mouth to respond and Carol rolled her eyes, waving her hand to cut the older woman off. "It's a kigu, Yu. I own like, three of them. Not exactly the height of fashion but I woke up a bit late and just plain didn't feel like putting on anything fancier. And when I shot Mina a selfie, she decided to show up in one too. Kigu party. Sorry I forgot to invite you, I guess?" Carol furrowed her brow. "Wait, did I actually invite you over for today or did you show up out of nowhere?"

Doing her best to look innocent, Yu offered a faint shrug. "I was bored after work and you're the one who told me 'mi casa es su casa' last time I came over... which I actually had to look up and why do you even know any Spanish?" She furrowed her brow at that particular thought for a few seconds before shaking her head, doing her best not to get distracted. "And okay, I know you like kigus. But since when do you own a Mount Lady kigu? I don't even own a Mount Lady kigu yet and I'm Mount Lady."

"Since like, yesterday. I was hanging out with Midoriya to try and work on his socialization skills and made the mistake of letting him pick where we should go in the mall. Ended up in a hero merchandise shop because he just had to have the new two-pack figure of me and All Might. Saw this and decided that I had to have it." Grinning, Carol stepped out from behind Himiko and smoothed her hands down her sides. "Figured I would do my part to help you dig your way out of that twenty million yen debt you ended up with for the collateral damage during your debut. Which reminds me, speaking of damage, how's your agency looking these days? Still being remodeled?"

Yu let out a faint sniff at the question, tossing her head. "My agency was well past due for a complete remodel that was completed several weeks ago, thank you for asking."

Snorting, Carol closed the distance between them and bumped her shoulder against Yu's. "Your agency was open for what, three days before you accidentally remodeled it with your quirk? Not even Best Jeanist is that appearance-conscious and he's... well, him."

"Yes, well, not all of us are lucky enough to be shipped off to another planet with picture perfect control of our abilities." Yu bumped her shoulder against Carol's harder as she brushed past the blonde, making her way into the living room. Picking up Carol's copy of Intermediate Japanese, she flopped down on the couch next to Mina and leaned over to peer at the pink girl's homework. "Oh, and excuse you, it was twenty million in damage before the villain damage insurance payout and the hero tax deduction. I only ended up owing something like eight million yen for my debut fight at the end of the day."

Looping back around to throw an arm around Himiko's waist, Carol guided her twin back over into the living room and flopped down on the floor at Yu's feet. Himiko quickly joined her there, curling up so that she was resting with her cheek on Carol's shoulder. While her parents were supportive enough, most of Himiko's peers were evidently uneasy at best and repulsed at worst by her quirk, and the blonde was positively starved for affection. "Well, if it helps any? This was the last kigu they had in my size in that particular store. And they were completely sold out of their Mount Lady hoodies or I would have picked one of those up to go with my sweats. So I'm sure that between continued careful crimefighting and your growing merchandise empire, you'll be back in the black in no time."

Yu perked up a bit at that piece of information. "Seriously? The stuff hasn't been on the shelves long enough for me to get my first royalty check yet, but if they're really selling that well? Maybe signing all those licensing agreements really was a good way to help my bottom line. What else did they have for me already? I don't remember when but Kotobukiya is releasing a statute of me in their Bishoujo line, and I think I'm getting my own Figuarts figure in their 'Up and Coming' line this month. I still don't have an actual action figure yet, though. Which sucks. I want kids to be able to play out the Adventures of Mount Lady even if their parents won't buy them an eight thousand yen figure."

"I can't wait until I'm a hero so I can buy figures of myself. And my own clothes. I'm going to be one of those tacky people who wears her... own... merchandise..." Trailing off, Mina grimaced as she looked over at Yu apologetically. "Not that you're tacky or anything. Please don't step on me."

Looking down at herself, Yu let out an indignant huff. "Listen, they were free samples and they're comfy as hell. I will take and enjoy anything free. Free food, free clothes..."

"Free hugs!" Himiko launched herself up off the floor, glomping onto Yu's waist hard enough that the taller blonde was shoved back against the couch. "You're the second most famous person that I've ever hugged."

"Let me guess, Carol is the most famous?" When Himiko nodded eagerly, Yu let out a huff and rolled her eyes. "Great. A sidekick is more famous than I am. What the hell am I doing with my life?" Patting Himiko on the head, her expression turned thoughtful as she regarded her new limpet. "So are you three having a 'get into U.A.' study group or something? Because I know Mina's got a first rate quirk and Himiko, you could go a long way with your quirk as an underground hero."

Abruptly letting go of Yu, Himiko flopped back onto Carol with a disgusted look on her face, shaking her head as she rolled and threw her arms around Carol's legs. "Why does everyone always tell me that? Or at least the part about being a hero in general? No thank you! I'm headed to the entertainment business when I'm done with high school. With my powers, I'd be the perfect stunt woman: they wouldn't even need to edit the right head on or do camera trickery to avoid showing my face. I mean, a lot of heroes play themselves in movies but you can totally tell that they're not learning the choreography and doing their own fight scenes. Shit, look at the All Might movies. You can totally tell when it's his stunt double wearing a muscle suit."

Reaching down, Carol ran her fingers through Himiko's hair a few times before resting her fingers on the girl's scalp and gently shaking the girl's head from side to side. "You still need a high school education. What about coming to U.A. in the General Course so that you can hang out with me and Mina?" As Himiko appeared to consider that, Carol stared down at her perfectly identical features and something new occurred to her. "Or have you ever considered working in public relations? You could perfectly double for anyone you represent and give press conferences for them so they wouldn't have to take time out from running a business or being a hero or whatever it is that they do. The Business Course would be good for that."

Mina bounced excitedly on the couch at that suggestion. "Oh, Himiko, you've gotta! Not necessarily the Business Course idea; if you really want to be a stunt woman, that's your dream and you should definitely pursue it with everything you've got. But wouldn't it be fun to go to school together? We'd probably even have most of the same homework since the core curriculum is the same."

"I... guess? I was just going to go to whatever high school would take me and then let my quirk speak for itself when I tried to get a job after school, but I suppose having U.A. on my résumé certainly wouldn't hurt things." Himiko peered up at Carol, her skin starting to bubble and crack as her quirk wore off. "Maybe I could get into the Business Course and use your idea as a fallback if the stunt woman idea doesn't work out? Would you hire me as your manager?"

Chuckling, Carol tugged lightly on a strand of black hair before letting go as it decayed into a grey goop and slopped onto the floor. "I don't think you could pass for me but you know who absolutely needs someone to manage him in public? Fucking Midoriya. Holy shit, I have never met a more awkward person and that includes the way you blushed and stammered when I first pulled you out of that crowd."

Himiko scrunched up her face in a pout even as the rest of Carol's features - and kigu - sloughed off onto the floor around her. That was... kinda gross but Himiko had duly warned her that it was a side effect of using her powers. Supposedly the sludge would evaporate into thin air in about an hour so she wouldn't be stuck with a mess to clean up. If not, well, she had a Swiffer and a girl who idolized her. It wasn't like she'd be stuck cleaning it up. "Of course I was starstruck when you tried to talk to me. I'm still starstruck by you, I just hide it better. I mean, I'm just a fangirl and you're... you're pretty and powerful and even though you're down to Earth just like All Might, you just have this aura around you that demands respect. I want to be like you. I want to be you."

"Well, you can cross that second one off the list." Hooking her hands under Himiko's arms, Carol pulled the blonde upright and then wrapped her arms around Himiko from behind. "Just be yourself. You're pretty damn cool as you are. That's why you're here after all." Unwinding her arms, she gestured in the direction of the couch. "Mina has a math test tomorrow that she needs to review for; why don't we put in a solid hour of studying and then you can take some more of my blood and we'll go out and do something fun until it's time for you to head home?"

Scrambling up off the floor, Himiko gave Carol an enthusiastic thumbs up before taking a seat on the couch next to Yu. "I'm not the best at math, but I can try my hardest to be a good study partner. Let's do this, Mina!"

Yu raised an eyebrow as she gestured to the now-blonde girl sitting next to her on the couch. "Are we just going to ignore the fact that she's naked?"

Floating up off the floor, Carol shrugged before doing a backflip, landing on her feet and stretching languidly. "She warned me it would happen so I'm trying to be tactful and ignore it since it clearly doesn't bother her."

"You mean you're enjoying it."

"Shh, you'll make it weird."