13 faults

by it's simply me

It was hard enough studying at UA. Befriending Shouto Todoroki was even harder. Throw in some family controversy, and you have yourself chaos only a Hero of Creation can fix. Eventual TodoMomo.

10. Chapter 10

(Edit: sorry for the re-upload to those who've read this, but I just had to add the last scene in. I had it in the start of the next chapter, but this edit feels much more natural.)

A/N: Hey everyone! Thanks so much to everyone who has stayed with the story for so long. I was fully expecting maybe 3 reviews, but the warmth you guys showed me was just amazing. It's been such a motivator and confidence boost. Also special shout-out to my foreign reviewers. Nothing Google translate can't decipher, and honestly, you guys making the effort to read this little old past-time of mine warms me to my soul. Extra love to y'all!

I find it insane that I had this whole chapter written out, complete with haunted house and show, literally one whole year before the festival arc happened in the manga. The manga, forget the anime. I'm telling you, Horikoshi and me? We got a link unlike anyone else. So I couldn't make it fully as it is in the manga (I had to skim through a general outline, trying to skip over the spoilers Dx the things I do to keep this story canon), but I will add in as many similar events as I can that don't mess with our main duo.

So if any of you have read this far in the manga, please let me know if I've missed out on some small details during the festival that you feel could be included, without affecting the end outcomes of the chapter.

I hope you guys are enjoying the holidays! Here's my attempt at adding some holiday cheer, just to end out 2019. Happy New Year everybody!

---

The Tenth Fault - Rage

---

In all the days that he had experienced, today had to be the worst.

Well, not the worst. He could think of a couple occasions that may have been slightly more awful. But only slightly. Regardless, it was easily the worst day of his high school career.

The reason: the Culture Festival.

Twitch.

U.A. Culture festival was in full bloom, a throng of people steadily walking past. The mid-day November sun was bright, the air crisp, the cloudless sky providing no respite from its surprisingly harsh rays. Noise levels were mind-numbingly loud as people laughed, slurping slushies or licking ice cream cones. Already, the amount of unprecedented happiness was reaching smothering levels. As if it being a U.A. School Festival wasn't enough to attract the masses, it fell on a weekend, and hence the number of people was staggering.

Wince.

Class 1A had been mostly assigned to the dance routine. Those that hadn't been assigned to the performance section, or who debuted later on in the show, had to sit outside to roast in the sun as they manned some extra stalls. Their objective was to earn as much money as they possibly could, the incentive being the winning class getting an all-expenses-paid weekend to Aichi (the rest of the money going to charity).

The reward didn't interest Todoroki in the slightest. Spending even more of his precious free time with this class seemed rather counterproductive. But the rest of his peers disagreed, and for an entire week, all that anyone had talked about was how they would win, and how to go about doing it. The only reason he stayed at all was because otherwise he'd be classified in the same category as Bakugo, who always left after unleashing a tirade of mock and jeers.

That was his reason, most definitely not become a certain dark-haired peer had asked him, once, really gently.

Bakugo would leave, that was, until recently, when the explosive hero had somehow been coerced into participating by the enigma that was Kyoka Jiro. How that small girl had managed to reign in that beast was beyond him, and Todoroki decided to stay as far away from that girl as possible. Who knew what hidden sorcery she possessed.

Todoroki, sitting in his seat at the far back, would exist in the meetings, but zoned out for almost all of it. He would instead use his time ranking the members of Class 1A in order of increasing pointlessness. He soon realized that Yaoyorozu came up first. She had absolutely no need to be partaking in this occasion whatsoever, being rich herself and hence had the ability to go to said resort with a snap of her fingers (she later even told him she had no intention of going, should they win, which boggled his mind). And yet she continuously found ways to involve herself in everything, regardless of the fact that they were happening just fine without her interference.

Yaoyorozu also found the extremely bothersome need to involve him wherever she could. She quickly realized that he preferred not being asked anything in front of anyone (as she had done the first few meetings), and so after everyone left, she took out the time to sit and brief him on everything they'd discussed.

More times than one he'd considered telling her he simply did not care what they decided on doing, as long as it didn't involve killing anyone, but he never found it in him to stop her. For as much as he was sure it had to be a burden, she seemed happiest in those moments when she was summarizing the day's progress to him.

Flinch.

Todoroki twitched, again, as a zap of electricity hit him.

"Whoops. Sorry dude."

Just like everything in Class 1A, positions were chosen by draws, and as luck would have it, he had been assigned to one of the two stalls outside the building, with his neighboring stall-mates, Kaminari and Kirishima.

Shoto had at first chosen to take the high route and be optimistic: at least he wasn't stuck with Mineta or Bakugo. But ten minutes into the event and he was willing to bear even the explosive hero's taunts and threats than suffer as he currently was.

Kaminari had the stroke of genius of hosting a charging booth while he wasn't on stage, where he used his quirk to replenish battery life in electronic devices. Even Todoroki had begrudgingly admitted to that being a good idea; until he realized he was seated to his left. The problem was, with the electric hero's abysmal control over his quirk, electricity was flying every which way. He wasn't releasing enough charge to cause any sort of actual damage, but the haphazard sparks were enough to sting.

Kirishima was sat to the blond's right.

It had started off as just accompanying his friend as he charged up some phones. But while waiting, he had struck up an argument with a customer about how strong he was, which lead to what was essentially betting (legally of course); if the man could make him utter a single sound, he'd get his money back, twofold. More and more people had inexplicably been drawn to this, and soon Kirishima's bets had become a stall of its own with a larger and increasingly imaginative arsenal of items being brought in to be flung at the Red Riot. As a result, loud crashes and bangs had been sounding within Todoroki's immediate vicinity all morning as contenders threw random objects at the redhead, in an attempt to make him flinch.

A blockheaded idea from a rock-headed brain. But ironically, Kirishima's quirk was the perfect earthing rod, and so he was spared from the random jolts of electricity, much to Todoroki's chagrin.

Somewhere, someone was having a loud laugh at his expense. Probably his jerkhole of a father.

His right eyebrow gave a twitch as another electric spark hit him.

"Sorry dude."

Todoroki exhaled loudly through his nose, trying to calm himself. Two hours down, four more to go.

"Um, excuse me?" He cracked open his eyes to see a girl, younger than him, probably still in middle school, looking up at him inquisitively. "Does the winner actually get to take a picture with All-Might?"

Todoroki himself was partly in charge of an ice sculpture competition.

Due to his lack of interest in participating in class discussions, the others had decided for him. The one to break it to him that he had to host an entire event – one of the festival's main attractions at that – had been Yaoyorozu. A ploy by the rest of his peers he was sure, because this meant, of course, that he couldn't refuse (it didn't occur to him to wonder why they knew this particular weakness of his).

They had erected quite a large, sheltered tent behind the stall, inside which he would create blocks of ice each time someone wished to enter. At the end of the day, a winner would be decided, and 1st place would receive a personal picture with All-Might; the top three would also get to choose between merchandise signed by one of All-Might, Endeavor and Eraser Head.

He had been getting this question all day – it was clearly written on the board that the winner would be allowed a picture, so why did everyone have to ask?

"Yes," he grunted in response. The girl's eyes flashed in excitement, and she paid her entry fee without further inquiries, which he was grateful for. He'd been told by a bright eyed Yaoyorozu to try and attract people in, to which he told her not to hold her breath. They'd come if they wanted to, and if they didn't, no skin off his bones.

Shoto sighed, standing up and lead the girl past a heavy curtain, and into the tent. He suppressed a shudder and immediately summoned some warmth from his left side. He walked up to the last sculpture and created a large block of ice for her to work on. Once he was satisfied she could continue without his supervision, he left, returning to his seat.

He'd barely sat down before wincing as another shock wave hit him.

"Sorry!"

"Your control is pathetic," he grumbled. "How you've made it this far is beyond me."

"Hey, I'll have you know, I'm not used to pumping out such little voltage, 'kay? I'm used to high-end stuff!"

"I seem to recall you becoming temporarily inebriated whenever you use your 'high-end stuff'," Todoroki commented back.

Kaminari scoffed indignantly but was stopped from replying by a loud "OW!" coming from Kirishima. The two boys looked over to see the redhead clutching his eyeball while a customer whooped loudly from across the counter.

"Hah! Double my money, baby!" the boy yelled.

Kirishima lowered his hand in frustration, seemingly unaffected by his eye, red and watering and more upset that he had to lose some of his 'hard'-earned cash. "Dammit!"

"Oy, everyone! His eyes are his weak spot!" the customer yelled, taking the money Kirishima reluctantly handed back.

"Not cool, man!" the hardening hero yelled, as people started gathering around and placing their (perfectly legal) bets. However, as the next person stood in line and tried aiming for his eyes, Kirishima shut them until they were small slits, hardening his eyelids while smirking smugly.

As crashes and bangs sounded from the redhead's next customers, Todoroki closed his eyes and tried thinking of a calmer place, with the only sounds being a rushing river, city lights sparkling on its surface and a gentle breeze stirring up supple green grass underfoot.

BANG!

It didn't work.

Most of the crowd dispersed as soon as they saw the next couple of people fail to meet the prior success of piercing Kirishima's eyeballs. The Red Riot walked over to them once the line cleared. "Man, using your quirk continuously gets pretty tiring."

"You should charge per time spent using it," Kaminari advised sagely. "Makes it worth it."

"Yeah...but people might complain about that change of rules," the redhead replied.

"Yeah, well, shoulda thought it through, shouldn't you?"

Kirishima snorted. "Says you. What happens when you short circuit?"

Todoroki gave a grunt in agreement.

"That's only at high voltages!" the blonde's frustration caused a spark larger than normal to flow, and both Todoroki and Kirishima (since he was no longer hardened) flinched.

"OUCH jeez man! Have some sympathy for the people around you! Have you been going through this all day?" he directed the last question at Todoroki.

"Yes."

"Oh stop being a wuss, Todoroki," Kaminari said with a dismissive wave of his hand, ignoring the frosty glare now directed at him. As he spoke, one of his customers came back to take her phone, and she instantly recoiled as a large shock of static leapt from her phone to sting her.

"Is it going to keep doing that?" she asked.

"Nah, it'll wear off," the blond replied airily. Todoroki was willing to bet his guarantee had about as much substance as a jar of methane.

"I oughta cut that from the fee," the girl said sourly, grumpily pulling out her wallet. The blond snatched the bills from her hand before she could change her mind.

"It's in the fine print, sweet-cheeks," Kaminari said coyly.

"Whatever. As long as the phone's charged."

Todoroki mentally commended the girl. If that was him, he'd have blown Kaminari's head off.

"Excuse me," another customer spoke up. "Does the winner really get to take a picture with All-Might?"

That was his cue.

Once he had returned from the makeshift room in the back, Todoroki paused. Kirishima had gone back to his spot and Kaminari was idly counting his money, shoes hiked up onto the counter, charging the next device. Todoroki decided to just stay where he was, deciding to stay out of reach of the haywire sparks. He was technically supposed to be seated at the front, so the entrance didn't look abandoned, but rules be damned, the general public could do without him for five minutes.

The young middle school girl who had registered earlier passed by him as she walked out, flashing him a shy smile.

"Good luck," he offered her in response.

At that moment, a rather buff looking man came and stood in front of Kirishima, a large confident grin splitting his face and carrying a small car on his shoulder. Todoroki flicked his gaze over just in time to see the color drain from the redhead's face. At least my customers are normal', he thought, watching in interest as Kirishima's face now changed to a sickly green.

Kaminari had erupted into smothered laughter.

"Excuse me, sir," a soft voice interrupted. "You can't, um…you can't carry cars around in this festival."

Todoroki instantly felt his mood improve significantly, hope blooming in his chest. Yaoyorozu had materialized as if from thin air, like holy light descending from the heavens, gently reprimanding the man for trying to throw a vehicle at a student (although, as the man quite rightly said, the rules did say they could bring anything). How expected of her, coming to help when no one else did.

He watched her for a while, the way she moved, the way her eyebrows were curved upwards slightly, the way her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, the only sign that she wasn't too comfortable with the situation. And he studied her lips – pink and soft and supple.

Todoroki felt his feet move without thinking, and he walked over to his counter, leaning forward.

"Yaoyorozu!" he called out over the crowd.

Momo looked away from Car-man (who'd begrudgingly agreed to take the car back) to see Todoroki looking imploringly at her, clearly wanting to ask her something. She walked over towards him, waving happily, flashing a smile at the other two as well.

"How's it going, guys? Any progress?" she asked them all.

"It's in the bag, VP," Kaminari said, idly fanning himself with a stack of notes. "And there's more where this came from."

"Who knew so many people had uncharged phones so early in the morning?" she wondered out loud.

"Thanks for the save, Yaomomo," Kirishima put in. "I don't know if I could've handled a car. Without wrecking something, I mean."

"It's what I'm here for," she said cheerily.

"Cuz obviously," Kirishima continued, clearly needing to clarify. "I can handle a measly Alto-"

"Yaoyorozu."

She finally turned. Todoroki was gazing at her impatiently. "You need to get me –ow." He shot a glare at the blond.

Momo giggled, and she suddenly found her the victim of icy blue and stormy grey.

"I'm sorry," she said, smothering a grin. "It's just, your hair." She reached into her sidebag and pulled out a small mirror, holding it up for him to look in. His face immediately erupted in a dark flush, and Momo had to raise her hand to smother another wave of laughter.

"You," A dark shadow had dropped over his narrowed eyes. "Let me," He began turning. Kaminari, who had been chortling himself, suddenly froze. "Look like this," Todoroki now towered over the poor boy, sweat beginning to bead the blonde's skin. "All. Day." He finished with a hiss, picking him up by his collar, looking him dead in the eyes, blazing (not literally, thankfully) with fury.

Todoroki's hair had frizzed up to stand on end, the silky strands each having been charged with static and were now repelling away from each other, giving his head the impression of a soft porcupine, or a sea lion. Each time he moved, the individual strands swayed gently, glinting in the sunlight, lighting up like spun silver.

"It was all day..." Kaminari choked out.

Todoroki growled, responding only by shaking Kaminari roughly, his hair swaying with each movement.

Momo breathed out a final laugh, creating a wooden comb and damping the prongs with some water from a bottle she was carrying. She reached over to tap him on the shoulder. "Here, this should remove some of the electricity."

Todoroki instantly let go of Kaminari, who collapsed back onto his chair while sourly rubbing his neck, watching his manhandler take the comb from the brunette.

"Try wrapping this up in ten minutes guys. We're going to do a quick run through of the performance in 15." Yaoyorozu began to walk away when Todoroki grabbed her by the wrist, tugging a little too hard and she fell too far forward.

"Wait," He looked at her, eyes fixed on her mouth, his voice dangerously close to pleading. "You can't leave me he-ow." The impact was ruined as he was sent another small shock – this time on purpose. Even as he sent an icy glance towards the discharging ball of sparks, all he could feel just then was his skin on hers. And when he looked back, blue-gray eyes burrowed into black, dead serious.

"If you leave me here," he said. "I'll kill him."

"Dude! Don't you listen? I told you it's hard controlling it when the output is so precise!" Todoroki rounded on his classmate again, letting Yaoyorozu go and she finally took a breath.

"Honestly Kaminari, you have problems even at normal output." She chided. Todoroki gave him a pompous look that basically read 'See?' "Isn't it about time you solved this?"

"Rude!" the blond pouted.

She laughed, turning back to the angry hero. "Anyway, Todoroki, there's not much I can do. Besides, it's only 10 minutes, then you'll get some peace. Remember, you've got to be here to maintain and build the ice until Hiyori senpai gets here."

Shoto grumbled, and began running the comb through his hair, the prongs leaving his hair slightly damp, giving it a glossy sheen.

Momo privately watched him. It was almost unfair how perfect it looked, like he was starring in a campaign for hair gel; if only he didn't look like the spitting image of anger and depression. Yaoyorozu honestly did feel bad for him, stuck at this table in the heat of the noon sun. And he had such pale skin as well, it was a wonder he didn't- her eyes widened.

"I have an idea," she said, reaching into her bag to pull out her tube of sunblock. "Rub this on. It should keep you insulated a little as well. I'll get it from you later, okay?"

He nodded, staring at the label intently, then gave it a smell. "This smells like flowers."

Momo gave an apologetic grin. "You don't want it?"

After a slight pause, Todoroki gave a shrug and sat back down, still studying the fine print on the tube. Once she was sure he wouldn't turn his stall-mates into a block of ice, Momo took her leave.

The festival had been going relatively smoothly up until this point – other than one of the guests bringing in a car, of course. The entirety of the student body had been on their A-game, bringing in guests and had them handing over money like it was petty change. It also helped that Class 1A had names like Bakugo, Iida, Todoroki and Midoriya, whose fame had only kept increasing as time passed.

Her and Iida were part of the team in charge of keeping this well-oiled machine running smoothly. Iida was supervising the happenings inside the building, while she ran things outside, which including the musical. She honestly felt like Iida had somehow weaseled his way out of keepin an eye on Bakugo; every now and then an explosion would sound from the stage, and she had to summon all the wisdom of those motivational videos to keep her calm exterior in check.

"Momo!" Yaoyorozu felt herself pulled down as a shorter girl wrapper her arm around her neck. "How are you doing this fine morning?"

"Kyouka?" A Jiro this happy only meant trouble. "Why aren't you going through sound-check."

"I just wanted to charge up this bad boy," Jiro replied, waving her camera. "But now that I have you, allow me to show you some really incredible shots I just got."

"Oh?"

Jiro had brought in her camera for a more personalized photo experience of Class 1A. She claimed that the official photographers were extremely hard to get the photos from afterwards, and even then, they were barely adequate. And so she had been going around taking pictures of everything all morning, although Momo had told her only a few minutes ago to head towards the tent in preparation. And yet here her friend still was.

Kyoka held up her camera, angling the instant replay for the taller girl to see. Momo's eyes bulged.

"Can't wait to post these babies everywhere."

Jiro had taken multiple pictures of her conversation with Todoroki, from an angle that made everything look far more compromising than it was, especially when taken out of context. Pictures of her giggling while looking up at him through her lashes; pictures of him leaning over the counter to talk to her; pictures of him grabbing her wrist, pulling her close.

"Delete them!" Momo snapped. "Kyouka, delete them this instant!"

Jiro expertly avoided her, turning around and started tapping away. Momo reached over, trying to grab the camera, but Jiro removed the memory card entirely, stuffing it into her pocket.

"Kyoka, I swear to goodness if you post those anywhere, I'll-"

"Chill, chill, I won't post them anywhere."

"Swear?"

"I swear."

"Swear on your mother's life."

"God, I swear on my mother's life."

"Swear on the essence of music."

"Dude, I won't post them!" Momo let out a massive sigh of relief. "It's just good blackmail." That earned her an extremely unimpressed look. Kyoka chuckled appraisingly. "Anyway, I'm gonna go get this baby recharged and then catch you on stage. Later!"

"No more trouble. Please."

"I could say the same to you. Next time, get a room. There are children around!" Jiro waved her off, leaving Momo blushing madly, gawking and stuttering, as the rock n roller walked towards Kaminari's stall.

Kyoka had to admit, their current stall layout was … unique. Kirishima stood off slightly to the side as people threw an assortment of item after item at him, ranging from knives to sledgehammers, and yet the redhead sported a massive grin on his face. Kyoka eyed the makeshift sign slung from the table top.

'Double your money, eh?'

She pushed passed the line of paying oafs and slammed a 1000 yen note on the table in front of the hardening hero. "Oy, Stone-face, your mother is a pebble!"

"Shut the hell up, Jiro!"

Kyoka could have rolled her eyes. Like clockwork. "Double my money, Kirishidiot," she quipped, holding out her hand. The line of customers blinked in awe.

"Wh-wha- No!" the redhead immediately started protesting. "You cut line, and hadn't even told me you were playing! That's cheating! Everything about it was cheating!"

As the crowd starting jeering in agreement, he shooed her off and she stuck out her tongue at him. Todoroki was at the other end, seated as far away from the other two as possible (understandably so), and was currently rubbing in the lotion she had seen Momo lend him, muttering something to himself as the smell of jasmine wafted through the air.

Kyoka walked up to Kaminari, never thinking she'd see the day where he would be the normal one. "Yo," The boy looked up immediately at her voice. "I need you to charge this for me."

"Jiro! You gotta do something man, Todoroki is out for blood!" he hissed, the boy in question determinedly ignoring them. As he leaned over, sparks literally flew between them.

"Back off, TaserHead. I don't need charging; the camera does," she pushed him back with one of her ear-plugs. "Oh, before that, let me show you my latest work!" Kyoka excitedly slotted the memory card back in and showed him the pictures she'd just been antagonizing her best friend with.

Kaminari gave out a hearty cackle. "This is gold, Jiro!" shooting ridiculously obvious looks and snickering at Todoroki between each picture, who had finally begun to glance at the two of the suspiciously. Kaminari squeaked as their eyes met. "I think he knows. Save me."

She rolled her eyes. "Duh he knows. The only thing that could have made it more obvious was writing it across your forehead in red ink." She jammed the camera's battery into its charger and shoved it towards him. "Just charge this, you good-for-nothing hub of electricity." Then she glared at him threateningly for good measure. "Wreck it in any way, I'll end you."

He meekly nodded. She hesitated a moment, before walking over to the surly looking half-n-half hero.

"You look like you've been forced to eat limes for the rest of your life," she said. And to eliminate the proceeding look of confusion she added, "Sour."

He gave her a look which fit her description rather well. "Let's just say I won't be remotely upset when the day ends."

She smirked. So he did possess a semblance of wit. "So," she mused. "If I win your little contest, do I get that Endeavor signature?"

"Endeavor is for second place."

"So if I win, I don't get to choose whichever one I want?"

"I suppose they're interchangeable," he said, looking completely disinterested. She inwardly rolled her eyes. With his charisma skills, it was a wonder anyone was coming to him at all. But he did add, "The picture is specific to first place though. And it's only with All Might, not Endeavor."

She grinned. "And what do I get as a registered student of U.A.?" she asked, smirk fading.

"Nothing."

"What about a classmate bonus?"

"No."

"Ah c'mon, you're Endeavor's kid. Surely you can get a sign or two off of him for me?"

He gave her a hard stare. "No."

'Yeesh, talk about cold.' "Well, if I get first, I'm sure it'll be fine." He looked very much like he wanted to disagree, but she carried on hurriedly. "I'll only ask for one extra sign, and I'll supply the object, like my guitar or something. Endeavor's all I care about. The other two are our teachers, I can get their signatures any time."

She began walking towards the back, where the sculpting happened. "Jiro," she turned as he called her name. "You forgot to pay."

"Dude, I should be free!" but as she walked towards the doorway, a large wall of ice blocked her path. She rounded on him. "Oh come on!" He didn't budge.

"Pay with the money you used with Kirishima."

'How did he even see that?' She groaned, largely annoyed, and pulled out her wallet. "Okay, then you gotta get me that sign."

He plucked the money from her hand. "If you win."

Kyoka simmered. What Momo saw in him, she'd never know.

He led her through the thick, plastic veil covering the entrance to the tent, and immediately, the chill hit her, made ever more obvious coming in from the warmth of the noon sun. Rows of sculptures lined the inside; there had to already be around 40 entries. How had his surly face attracted so many customers?!

Jiro blinked as a giant ice block erupted from the floor to the far end of the tent, starting a new row. He nodded his head towards it, indicating that this was her station.

"Well, well, well. Is that our little Shoto, mingling with actual people?"

Kyoka jumped at the sudden voice, watching as Todoroki also whipped around, eyes wide.

The man who had entered was in his prime, probably in his mid-twenties. He had a buzzcut, though the stark redness of his hair was still obvious. He was a stranger, Jiro assumed, since she had never seen him on campus before, and yet there he was, walking in as if he owned everything. He walked up to the first sculpture and examined it, and although he was doing nothing wrong, there was something just not right with the look in his eyes.

The color had drained from Todoroki's face, and he felt his blood run cold. No. Why was he here, of all places in the universe? The world couldn't be this cruel. Every nerve in his body stood on high alert, and instantly, he turned on autopilot. It had started, his automatic defense mechanism. If Jiro said anything at all to him just then, he didn't hear it. There was only one thought running through his head; get his brother as far away from the festival as possible.

But his feet remained planted firmly.

The feeling of incredible fear, hatred and loathing clogged all his senses. Suddenly, Toya looked at him, and Todoroki felt a thrill not unlike Kaminari's electricity shoot down his spine. His mind raced through a million different possibilities, but he couldn't end up with even one that wouldn't end with large expanses of collateral damage.

"What, no hello? Or an 'I'm happy you're here'?" his brother sneered, baring white canines. "Not even just a smile? What's the matter; cat got your tongue? Get it?" He pointed at the ice sculpture near him, which was shaped like a maneki-neko. Todoroki's eyes never left his brother's hands.

The older male smirked. Fire encased his fingers, but before he could get it anywhere near the sculpture, a giant wall of ice appeared in front of Toya.

"What are you doing here?" Todoroki hissed, his voice coming out much weaker than he'd wanted.

His brother looked livid, and when he looked over at his younger sibling, it was with a fire blazing with the heat of enmity. "How many times have I told you," Toya coated a fist with flames and smashed through the ice wall like it was made of thin glass. "To never. Use that. In front of me."

"What are you doing here, Toya?" Todoroki asked again, this time voice a bit stronger, trying to ignore the evil intent radiating out in all directions from his sibling. For a moment, he was sure his brother would blast through the entire tent. But instead the eldest son put out his flames and grinned lazily, strolling towards him with a confidence that knocked out any Shoto may have had.

"Oh right, of course," Toya purred. "How very much like you to distract me. See, father asked me to do some research for him. This lawsuit has been dragging on for way too long, but apparently, the lawyer's running out of material; we only need just a small push, and she'll give in. And guess what?" he stopped, face inches from his. "Her daughter is in your class."

'Lawsuit?'

"I believe it's someone we both know quite well." A lot of facts clicked into place in Shoto's mind at this, and suddenly, he had a vaguely good idea where everything was heading. And this knowledge pushed aside any fear he may have had, giving rise to a far more primal instinct – the need to protect.

"So Shoto," his older brother continued, now only inches away, leaning his arm heavily onto the younger boy's shoulder. "You'll be helpful, won't you? I know I may not be your favorite person," Shoto scoffed at this. Toya clamped the hand on his shoulder down, squeezing, hard. "But you're going to help me right? You won't let jealousy get in the way of helping our family, right?"

"Jealousy?" Todoroki spat. "At what? Father choosing you to be his secretary?"

All traces of amity left Toya's face. Within a split second, he had lifted Shoto up, purely by the collar, and slammed him roughly down onto the floor. Stars erupted in the half-n-half hero's vision as he became momentarily dazed, and in this sudden re-immersion into harsh reality, he remembered Jiro. He was given a few seconds to glance around the room (she wasn't anywhere in sight) before his brother's foot came slamming within inches of his face.

He looked up. The older Todoroki had erupted into flames, fire-proof clothing holding firm. He bent low, and as he spoke, the burn of ash and smoke filling Shoto's lungs, causing him to cough profusely.

"I won't take lip from you. I want you to know that this time-" Toya paused, giving a sniff. "Is that…jasmine? Why the fuck do you smell like jasmine?! Decided to go feminine to match that face?"

Todoroki, through tears from both the heat of his brother's flames and the smoke, moved to slam his right hand down, but before he could muster up the strength to move, something swung from behind, knocking his brother off of him.

He knew who it was before he even saw them.

"Todoroki, are you alright? What in the world is happening here?"

'No!' wild, savage panic flared up inside. 'No, no. Dammit, why was she everywhere?'

Momo gently sat him upright, hands steady and firm. He coughed out enough to finally clear his lungs, then blearily blinked up at her. He gripped her wrist tightly, trying to get his point across to her as strongly and as quickly as possible.

"Yaoyorozu, you can't be here-"

Before he had a chance to finish, the large pole Yaoyorozu was holding was wrenched from her grip and came swinging in from the periphery, connected solidly with the side of her face, making a blooding churdling sound, knocking her several feet back.

"Goddamned U.A. students, always thinking they can interfere in everyone's business," Toya had recovered, a large, angry-red welt stamped across his temple, wielding the pole that Yaoyorozu had obviously created and hit him with. Toya looked livid and ready to kill, but before he could take another step further, Shoto stepped in front of him, effectively blocking her from his view. Toya gave a loud cackle.

"Oh, don't tell me!" he jeered. "You've actually fallen for her?" And then something flashed behind his eyes, and he frowned in thought. "Is she the reason you smell like a princess?"

No sooner had the words left his mouth than a large capsule of ice surrounded him, encasing him, flames and all, in their frozen depths. Toya blasted it away, fire doubling in intensity, blowing a hole through the roof of the tent in the process. Shoto continued producing ice, his left side also erupting in flames. The term fighting fire with fire had never applied more.

But as the brothers both raised their arms, ready to unleash utter destruction, everything vanished – the burning intensity, the roaring flames, the crackling fire – and simultaneously, large elastic tapes immobilized them, holding them in place.

"Enough."

Aizawa.

Shoto felt himself groan mentally, the only display of discontent being a light tch. Mismatched eyes remained glued to Toya, meticulously watching every movement. Aizawa may be a pro, but no one knew his brother like he did. He knew where this was going.

"I do not tolerate any fights at this festival," Aizawa unwrapped Toya first, black hair falling back around his shoulders. "Sir, kindly remove yourself from the premises."

"Listen, asshole, I don't want any trouble. This is a family matter-"

"Leave the premises, or I will escort you off myself."

For a while, the two males stared each other down, piercing blue against black. Shoto wondered if Aizawa had any idea what this person was capable of, and whether he was underestimating the extent to which Toya was willing to go. But the older Todoroki simply gave in, after letting out a huge sigh, walking towards the front. But not before sneering within an inch of Shoto's face, breathing all over him. "Just wait 'til you come home, princess."

And finally, he was gone.

The silence left in his wake was deafening. Aizawa finally dropped Todoroki from his grasp, the younger boy standing, completely and utterly still.

"Todoroki, principal's office. Now." Shoto didn't bother looking at his teacher, not at all that surprised. What did surprise him was the voice of the creation heroine. Somehow, for a split second, he had forgotten she was there.

"But Aizawa sensei, why-"

"Do not interfere, Yaoyorozu," Eraser Head said sharply. She was quiet for all of two seconds.

"Well, we need him to help continue this event," she argued. Todoroki honestly didn't know what she was trying to accomplish. "To build the ice for the sculptures."

"You need an ice user?" Aizawa asked. Momo nodded intently. He sighed. "Ask Fukuda Hiyori to come see me. She's a third year, but I'll have her assist you in Todoroki's place."

Fukuda Hiyori had already been put on as backup, sharing shifts with Todoroki, covering whenever he wouldn't be there and vice versa. But Yaoyorozu already knew this having put in the idea herself. So her feigning ignorance was lost on him.

"But sensei-"

"Yaoyorozu. Go."

And that was that.

---

"Oh-"

Momo paused at the door, box of assorted items in her arms.

The half and half hero was sitting up against the open window, having dragged a desk up close to the wall, using it as a chair, his head nestled in his folded arms stretched across the windowsill, looking out distantly at the world. It was such a picturesque, peaceful scene - the golden afternoon sun casting a dull glow over the entire classroom, and the ethereal lighting casting a hollow, incredibly lonely shadow over the young teen.

Momo watched Todoroki for a while. She watched him as he stared motionlessly, lost in the world of thoughts, and watched as the gentle autumn breeze tousled a stray lock of crimson hair. The entire scene was so delicately peaceful, his features unguarded and open in a way she had so rarely seen on him, and she noticed he looked intensely alone. And sad – sadder than she had ever thought was possible for the reliable, infallible hero.

She stepped forward, walking towards the teacher's desk, still lost in the hypnotic scene. So engrossed was she that she let go of the box prematurely, making a booming, loud sound as it banged to the tabletop. A loose PVC tube unlatched itself to fall to the floor, and whatever was left of the beautiful silence was destroyed as it loudly clanged against the linoleum floor, throwing hollow clank after hollow clank as it proceeded to bounce several times. Momo felt herself wince with each resounding clunk. As the tube gave its final roll, using up the last of its momentum, the creation heroine cranked open her eyes, chancing a hesitant glance at the room's other occupant.

A gray eye had zoned in on her. Other than that, Todoroki hadn't moved.

Momo let out a flustered laugh, hastily bending down to pick up the offending object. Once it was securely back in its box, her hand flew to rub her elbow on the opposite arm, an embarrassed flush creeping up her skin.

The silence that had now settled around them was suffocating.

"I thought you'd gone home..." she mumbled, the tense atmosphere making her unable to resist saying something.

He gave a barely audible snort. "I'm not exactly in a rush."

She instantly felt like putting her foot in her mouth. Todoroki had resumed looking outside. His reply had been quiet, as if he couldn't muster the energy to project his voice properly. There was something innately wrong about the usually overconfident prodigy sounding so listless. Momo felt her meddling switch flip.

She began making her way towards him. "If you were here, you should have helped us set up the bonfire."

He didn't reply.

Yaoyorozu reached the window he was hunched over, stopping once she was within two feet his proximity. Todoroki gave no acknowledgement of her presence. If anything, he looked even...sadder.

"We could have used your left side," she continued, driven by some unknown force to try and get through to him. "Instead we had to go through a fair amount of firewood before Bakugo managed to actually set one on fire without blowing it to smithereens."

Todoroki let out a huff as she indicated a pile of charcoal-ed, blistered logs, his bangs stirring with the outflow of air and the wrinkle between his eyebrows disappeared. Encouraged, Momo continued.

"At one point, we thought the rubble from his explosions would burn holes all over the fair, so everyone started panicking, running around like headless chickens-"

"Even you?"

His sudden comment surprised her so much it took a few seconds before Yaoyorozu managed a reply.

"W-well, yes I suppose. I tried running over to stop Bakugo, but before I reached, Mineta had begun catapulting his balls every which way."

"Bet the girls loved that."

Momo elbowed him in the shoulder, to which he finally raised his head and shot her a small, coy smile. She tried suppressing the flutter in her belly and looked back out onto the school grounds. "A few of the balls-" Todoroki gave a light cough into his fist at this as she nudged him playfully. "Managed to catch the debris, and when Bakugo tried again, this time they not only didn't fly away, but caught fire."

"So he's flammable," The ice-n-fire hero said, in a tone that seemed to say 'I like the sound of that', and Momo couldn't help but roll her eyes.

"Don't get any ideas Todoroki. Besides, look at the fire. It has this beautiful purple sheen to it now..."

"So he's just a glorified candlestick," he commented flippantly, but his eyes flicked over to the now impressively large bonfire despite his reluctance. Sure enough, now that he was looking for it, the crimson flames were streaked with flickers of magenta. The festival had ended a while ago, and all the stalls lay empty. The school was holding an after-event bonfire for just the U.A. members, and although many chose to just go home, there was still quite a surmisable crowd.

Momo turned towards him, leaning against the window sill, back to the scenery. "I think you should give poor Mineta a break. I mean, it is thanks to him that the entire scene got resolved. Credit where it's-"

The creation heroine stopped speaking suddenly. Todoroki's uncanny eyes had landed on her properly for the first time since starting their conversation. He sat upright, attentive, staring at her like he was seeing her for the first time. Momo stared back, transfixed by the loud expression blaring through his eyes; the blue one blazed in the culmination of fury, while the gray one churned in concern. They were looking, she noticed, at her right cheek.

The bruise.

"Oh, right," Yaoyorozu tried to downplay it, covering her cheek with her hand, suddenly losing all train of thought, not wanting to make such a small scrape a matter of worry for him when he clearly had enough to deal with. "I was supposed to have Recovery Granny heal this up for me, but I completely forgot, what with the dance, and Midoriya being late, and the bonfire not lighting up," she was babbling, and knew it too. But all she wanted was for his look of concern to go away. And just when she'd gotten that ridge between his eyes to disappear, too. "I'll probably just go now, although honestly I barely felt it, which is why-"

Momo felt everything down to the core of her lungs freeze.

Todoroki's fingers were grazing her cheek, feather soft, gently easing her hand aside. Pushing a lock of her dark hair back behind her ear, his thumb traced the underside of her cheekbone. His touch was excessively gentle, a ghost of a stroke. And then the pad of his hand brushed against the welt, and Momo felt herself wince.

Almost instantly, the ice user's gaze hardened. Worry was replaced with a glowering fury.

"I hate him."

It was the simplest of sentences, but each syllable rang with a tenure of disgust, injected with more venom than she'd ever heard anyone use, let alone him. Todoroki didn't look at her, his distant, loathing stare focused on her marred skin. A dark shadow had passed over his eyes, and his intense emotions reflected through loss of control over his quirk. His skin had begun to heat up, reaching almost unbearable temperatures against her skin.

For a moment, Yaoyorozu was scared. Not of Todoroki, and not of him hurting her, but of what he would do to whomever this rage was directed against and the consequences those actions would entail. Then she felt it; the same, broiling hand, trembling against her cheek.

She placed her smaller, cooler hand on top of his.

"Why?" she asked, and for the first time since Yaoyorozu had entered the classroom, Todoroki looked into her eyes.

His hand instantly cooled, and she let out a small breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. His lips parted ever so slightly in confusion, eyebrows furrowing in that way they did whenever asked a question he didn't know the answer to. The look he gave her was one of astonishment, like he couldn't believe anyone had to have a reason for hating their brother.

"Why…do I hate him…?" Todoroki repeated, his gaze drifting as he processed this. His eyes were fixed on their hands, still near her cheek, his fingers now lazily tracing her jaw, hers' resting gently on his. Momo didn't look away from him once, drinking in every subtle change of his expression.

It was almost five minutes before he spoke next; there had been silence for so long, and Momo had to drag her gaze, which had fallen down to his lips at some point, back up again.

"Toya and I were never very close." His voice soft, as if he was speaking to himself. "He was always with my father, and I with my mother." Todoroki, now done tracing her jaw, started thumbing the pads of her fingers. It occurred to Momo he was probably acting without realizing it. "But that changed when I turned 5. Even with my brother around, my father would still spend most of his energy training me; being ten years older and being put second drove him absolutely crazy. He'd try picking fights several times, but my mother would interfere before anything serious could really start.

"Then my mother was taken away. And without her…" Todoroki paused here, eyes dull, recounting some distant memory, and for a moment, Momo thought that was the end of his story. She felt a torrent of questions line up at her tongue's tip, but suddenly, unexpectedly, he continued.

"I was thrown into training sessions with Toya. I think that was the angriest I had ever seen him. That night I woke up to my room having erupted in flames." Momo felt her breath catch. "I remember that night clearer than any other; smoke filled my lungs, and it hurt to breathe; anywhere I looked was fire; the window and doors had been closed, and it was so hot."

"What did your father do?" she couldn't help but ask.

Todoroki let out a twisted smile. "I actually think he encouraged Toya. To him it was probably good training," Momo was at a loss. "I had nightmares about that night for so long afterwards. For months, I'd wake up with my room coated in thick ice, like I'd reflexively tried to save myself. I suddenly understood why my mother hated fire so intensely… what drove her to do what she did…It was that night that finally stopped me from using my left side."

His left hand curled into a fist as he said this, and suddenly, he ripped it away from her grip, eyes wide and guilty, as if afraid he'd suddenly burn her. As if he didn't want that side anywhere near her.

Momo swallowed, stepping closer. "What about your sister?"

"She was sent to boarding school almost as soon as my mother was sent away. My father despised her almost as much as he did my mother. Natsuo, my other brother, left the house soon after. In fact, the only one my father tolerated was me, of course, because I was a means to an end. And Toya. Just because we both share his quirk." Todoroki's expression grew cloudy again, staring as his fist curled and uncurled. "Because we have the same genes, the same-"

"You're nothing like them."

He looked up at her, eyes overly bright as Yaoyorozu cut through his downward spiral. She slid down onto the empty desk next to him, grabbing his left hand between both of hers, sandwiching it firmly. He watched them, unmoving. She was hardly a foot away from him, but at that point, she didn't notice. He had to understand how strongly she felt about this. "You are you, Todoroki."

The half-n-half hero gave a wry smile. "I know that. I know that." His expression softened for the first time, and Momo had never before been so relieved to see a smile. "I've been told something similar before." He suddenly looked up at her, giving her a crooked, broken smirk and she felt her heart pound a bit harder than usual. "You always wanted to know what Midoriya said to get me to use my fire."

There was a swell in Yaoyorozu's chest unlike she had ever felt before.

Todoroki's expression suddenly hardened again. "The issue was never me. It was that Toya came here and hurt you." And again, the way he stressed on 'you' made her heart skip beats in a way she was sure couldn't be very healthy. Her gaze suddenly dropped to his mouth again, watching it moved as he hissed out, "I'm not letting this one go."

There was a pause before she asked; "Are you going to be okay?"

Momo was suddenly almost glad of her seemingly much more normal household problems than what he had to deal with. He seemed to disagree, casting away her concerns with a light scoff. "It's nothing I'm not used to."

And she suddenly realized that no matter how much he had shared with her today, she was still nowhere near close to understanding exactly what it was like living in the Endeavor household. She wanted nothing more just then than to ease even some of his burden.

"Come on, let's get a change of scene."

---

The bonfire had finally picked up strength, now a large, raging inferno surrounded by rowdiness and merriment, loud music booming through loud speakers, to drown out its own roars and crackles. All other lights had been turned off, and its bright orange glow radiated far and wide, throwing a mystical, almost supernatural atmosphere on the school ground, although no one seemed to mind.

Most of UA had to be gathered in the courtyard just then, bodies wherever one looked, and it seemed like, for all intents and purposes, a riot. The teachers appeared to have left the third years in charge (not that that meant much), all retreating to their own little gathering happening in the staff room. It was easy to forget just how large a school UA was, and there were easily around 600 people there just then.

"This is your idea of fresh air, Yaoyorozu?" Todoroki asked blandly, thoroughly doubting her sanity just then, grimacing as he pushed past sweaty body after sweaty body, finally stepping in a spilt cup of some sort of sticky liquid.

"Would you rather go home?" she asked.

"...Perhaps."

Yaoyorozu gave him a small thump to the bicep before smiling at him, and then motioned for him to follow. They made their way around the outskirts of the crowd, to a background clearing near the hedges separating the large grassy lawns from the sports grounds. Although still not too far, they were far enough so the music was reduced to less deafening volumes, and the lawn wasn't littered with crushed plastic. The fire still reached them, lighting up their little patch of calm.

A few of their class 1A colleagues were there, and that solved the mystery as to how Yaoyorozu found this place so faultlessly (although Todoroki hadn't doubted that she could have managed that alone.)

"There you guys are!" Kaminari was there, and Todoroki felt his mood instantly drop.

"I see you guys finally managed to set everything up. Nicely done," she said.

After Todoroki had left, his stall had skyrocketed in popularity. Word had spread that heroes were in action, fighting off evil of some sort, and everyone had flocked towards their little section. Kaminari had to eventually pump out so much electricity that he short circuited, which had not only left him out of order, but he had shocked quite a few civilians in the process, along with the senior replacing Todoroki.

That had ended things pretty quickly.

Hiyori, the senior, had frozen the blond, and the crowd began thinning. Although the morning had been a strong one for the first years, the 2 hours they lost had been peak time, and they ended up losing to the third years. Everyone blamed Hiyori for half-assing it, since she would obviously try and sabotage their hard work to help the third years win.

Although they had lost, the class decided to mourn together, and set up a little sanctuary for just them, complete with logs and food tables. As Momo stopped to talk to Iida, Todoroki made his way over to Midoriya, who was, once again, the quieter end of the spectrum.

"How did you guys do?" Todoroki found himself asking, after Midoriya greeted him with a serene yet tired smile.

"Ahah, it could have gone better," the boy replied with a nervous laugh, sharing a glance with Uraraka, who was choosing to stand opposite them. "We ended up having to pay our earnings back to the school to pay for the repairs."

"We're lucky that's all they asked for; we didn't make nearly enough to cover it," Uraraka added.

"Well, Bakugo ended up with a bunch of detentions and parent calls."

Todoroki rolled his eyes. "Typical."

"Didn't you melt half your stall as well, Todoroki?" Uraraka asked.

Midoriya laughed. Todoroki looked over at the gravity heroine. He had never really spoken to the girl, and always placed her as a frail, meek little thing – outside of the battlefield of course. He had long ago accepted her prowess during a fight. Even the look on her face as she asked her question made one think she had questioned something as innocent as whether or not he saw a rabbit jump into the surrounding bushes. Except there was something behind her eyes that made him think she was anything but clueless and innocent.

"Something like that," Todoroki grunted, eyes lowered, boring holes into the ground. He should have known; word spread fast in UA.

Suddenly, Todoroki felt like leaving, in no mood to discuss his brother just then. His irritation spiked at Yaoyorozu for a moment; this had been her idea, dragging him here. He had planned on watching over her from a distance, and then making sure she got home safely - he wasn't willing to take a chance when it came to his brother. And yet she had somehow managed to uproot him yet again, throwing him for a loop and putting him off balance.

Todoroki's frown deepened.

"I heard you had to fight off a villain," Midoriya spoke up, looking at him intently. "And that it got so bad Aizawa had to come in."

"Yeah blame Kirishima," Kaminari interjected, materializing from nowhere to join the conversation. "His stall was so loud we didn't even know anything was happening until a burst of fire ripped through the roof."

"Oy, how the hell was that my fault?" the stony hero's voice called in from the opposite side of the clearing, only hearing half the sentence.

"All kinds of weirdos were coming trying to get you to flinch, dude!"

"Haha yeah, that's right," Kirishima sauntered to their growing circle of people, and Todoroki was beginning to feel slightly claustrophobic. Too many people. "And nobody succeeded!"

"If you two were right outside, how come neither of you did anything?" Uraraka was back at it, asking the blunt questions point-blank in her deceptively sugary voice.

"It was too loud, dude!"

"That's what I said!"

While the two boys continued their back and forth, Midoriya turned to Todoroki. "Who was this guy, Todoroki?" the boy asked him, but continued without waiting for a reply. "Someone from the League of Villains? No, that wouldn't make sense actually, because they wouldn't have stopped at that, and the destruction would have been far greater. I'm pretty sure an evacuation would have been called."

Midoriya had started his rambling, but Todoroki wasn't listening anymore. Midoriya didn't know who it was. He was pretty sure Jiro had to have been there while Toya came in, and from their conversation, albeit little that there was, it wasn't hard to realize the two were brothers. And yet people hardly realized there was a fight, let alone that the arsonist had been a Todoroki.

Heterochromatic eyes scanned the small crowd of people but wasn't immediately able to spot the loud, boisterous girl, which wasn't really a surprise, given how many people were obscuring his plane of vision.

"Todoroki?"

Oh right, Midoriya had been talking. "No…no, he wasn't from the league. He wasn't strong enough." It was truthful enough. As strong as Toya was, the League was on a whole different level.

"If only I had been there- N-not that I don't think you could have handled it, Todoroki. I-I mean, you did handle it, and everything seemed to have been kind of contained before Aizawa-sensei came in-" Midoriya's eyes had gone wide in panic, wildly flailing his arms, and Todoroki had to lean back slightly. He didn't understand why Midoriya was so apologetic; if roles were reversed, he'd have wanted some of the action as well.

"You'd have probably gotten in the way," Todoroki said flatly, and he visibly saw the innocent boy's face fall.

"That's mean, Todoroki!" Uraraka scolded, but Midoriya continued.

"N-no.. yeah, you're right...maybe… I mean, I couldn't even stop the stall being destroyed, let alone-"

"Midoriya," Todoroki interjected. "I was joking."

There was a silence, where Midoriya, and Uraraka, stared at him like they had when they'd first seen him. Todoroki gave him a small half-smile, and suddenly, Uraraka burst into giggles, while Midoriya gave an embarrassed smile as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"But he would have been there," Uraraka continued. "If he hadn't been fighting off a villain of his own."

"What?" Todoroki asked, now his turn at being surprised.

"Yup, all on his own!" Uraraka chirped with pride as if she were bragging about herself.

"Mostly..." Midoriya said quietly, hand still hanging off the crook of his neck.

"Are you okay?" Todoroki asked him, still in shock. "Did anyone get hurt?"

"No, it's all good," the smaller boy replied. And with a sudden swell of confidence, he smiled. "My first real fight has a hero."

Todoroki couldn't help but smile sincerely in happiness for his friend. He knew just as well as anybody how badly Midoriya strived to be his own individual hero, so this was just the boost he needed. But just when he was going to ask about the event in detail, Jiro arrived.

"Oy, Midoriya, it's 8:30 dude."

Midoriya shot to his feet.

"What's at 8:30?" Todoroki asked, watching as Uraraka helped stabilize Midoriya after he'd begun swaying from the head rush of standing up too fast.

Jiro smirked. "His mom doesn't want him out past 8."

The boy in question flushed lightly. "It was part of the conditions when she let me live in the dorms."

Todoroki nodded sagely in understanding; mothers came first. But as he watched Midoriya gather his things, the words sunk in. And it hit him. Like a wrecking ball. Like a crane of bricks. Like a snowball to the face. Todoroki froze. The dorms. He lived in the dorms. It was like he couldn't breathe, but then he drew breath and it was like tasting air after drowning. He didn't have to go home.

"Goodnight Todoroki," Midoriya said as he left.

"Bye guys," Uraraka waved as she followed.

Todoroki nodded absently in response, still processing how he didn't have to face Toya. He had just spent the better part of five hours believing he would have hell to pay when he reached home. Since most people were using the long weekend to visit home, he had automatically assumed he would too. But of course, he realized, there was actually no lifted from his shoulders, and, for the first time that night, Todoroki felt happy.

There was a lull of silence now that the pair had walked away, and, by some stroke of sheer luck, he had been allowed a rare moment of respite. The buzz of chatter and commotion still rippled over the grounds, but now it sounded relaxing, calming even, and he let out a long sigh, feeling his worries leave along with it.

"Rough time this afternoon huh?"

Jiro had reappeared (or maybe she hadn't left), and plopped herself down in the seat Midoriya had been occupying only minutes ago without hesitation. Todoroki felt himself wall up, an automatic response to people in general. But Jiro didn't seem to notice or mind.

"So that was your brother, huh? I mean I come from a large family, and I thought I had it bad."

So she had known they were brothers. Todoroki straightened. He had planned on largely ignoring her, but this reminded him of the question he'd been mulling over. "You knew," he said, looking at her. "You knew who he was, but you didn't tell anyone?"

Jiro folded her legs up beneath her, a mark of just how small she was that she was able to perch up on a log so comfortably. "I figured it didn't really matter," she said idly. "Family like that… I figured, hey, the less you can be tied with them, the better."

Todoroki looked on her with new light. "Thank you."

Jiro didn't skip a beat. "Ohh, I'm honored," she said, raising her hand to her heart, as if deeply moved. "The Great Todoroki Shoto has found worth in me."

He snorted out a breath, turning away, but found himself smothering a smile despite himself. She continued, "School's probably a dream for you, huh?"

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, and she actually laughed.

There followed a strangely pleasant silence then, one which Todoroki didn't know to attribute to the relief at not having to face Toya or because Jiro wasn't as irritating as he'd first deemed her to be. Regardless, Todoroki took the opportunity to reflect about this rather unorthodox situation. He was not at home, or in his dorm room, as he'd usually be any other day, but at school, with 60% of a class he used to find less that worth even a thought. And yet, he had come as far as to not only tolerate their presence, but engage in conversation, which at first he'd believed was only possible with Midoriya and Yaoyorozu.

There was a certain pride he took in having discovered so much about himself, and about this class, and about how wrong he had been about all the judgments he had formed before even trying to think otherwise. And so much of it was thanks to Yaoyorozu. Just him, sitting here, tonight, was because of her gentle push, guiding him, patiently, one baby step at a time, into territory he would have never even dreamed of entering.

How had she known he would be alright?

"I told Momo," Jiro said suddenly, and Todoroki's pulse shot to his throat at her name. Had he been thinking out loud? "I thought you should know that." He blinked. Know what? "Just in case you're blaming yourself or something, because it was entirely my fault. I was running to get Aizawa, and she asked me why, so I told her." Oh. Jiro was talking about this morning. "I saw her run off, but I thought it was to help look for Aizawa. Instead she ran straight to you."

Todoroki scoffed to himself, the idea of any other outcome ridiculous to him, purely because of how unlike Yaoyorozu it was. Wasn't Jiro supposed to know Yaoyorozu as well as him, if not better? Jiro paused, chewing her lip gently before continuing.

"She cares about you."

"I know," he replied instantly and she snorted alongside a hefty eye roll. There was a long silence before, "I care about her too."

Todoroki kept his gaze fixedly down on the ground, trying to ignore whatever look she was currently giving him when suddenly a flash of bright light made them both jump, Jiro letting out a yelp.

"Well now this is a rare duo," Kaminari had returned, brandishing a camera in his hands. "Do I smell a fresh romance blooming on this crisp, autumnal night?"

Jiro leapt to her feet, snatching the camera from the blonde's careless grip. "Don't act like you wouldn't hate that," she snapped. Kaminari mouthed wordlessly, dumbfounded – a look he had long ago perfected. "Why the hell were you holding such an expensive camera so loosely?"

Without waiting for a reply, she deleted that last photo he'd taken.

"Hey! Why'd you delete that, it was a nice shot – you looked cool in it!"

"Yeah, says you," Jiro said, although Todoroki noticed the edge to her voice was now gone, and that the corners of her mouth tugged upwards slightly before she quickly returned to normal.

"Yeah says me! It was a work of art," Kaminari argued.

"Hah!" was all Jiro offered before looking back to the camera's small screen, rapidly flipping through an array of pictures. After a few moments she grinned widely, clearly having found what she was looking for. "This is a work of art," she said smugly, shoving the camera in the blonde's face. He barely started his spluttering before Jiro, to Todoroki's large surprise, pointed the screen at him so he could see it as well.

It was a picture of Kaminari with his face pulled in that expression he got when he short circuited, stuck in place by a blast of frost, probably from the senior who'd replaced Todoroki. Small crystals of ice lined his narrowed, dull eyes, and that dopey, lost smile had been frozen in place. His blond hair had been blasted up and out of his face, standing up like a duck's behind.

Todoroki felt his mouth split into a crooked, lopsided smirk.

"Flattering," he commented, shooting Jiro an approving look, which the girl accepted and began cackling in Kaminari's face.

"Hey."

Todoroki whipped around, fast, heart leaping uncomfortably as he found Yaoyorozu sitting down in the spot next to him. She was truly a sight for sore eyes, and he felt his features mold into a soft, content smile. It wasn't lost on him how truly happy he felt, seeing her again.

"Hey," he replied. Yaoyorozu blinked at the rare expression on his face - which was becoming not so rare these days - but the sincerity was infective, and she felt herself reflecting his grin back.

"Good to see you're having a nice time," she commented, and Todoroki paused. He suddenly realized that, even before she had arrived, he hadn't been feeling anger, or stress or frustration. In fact, his bottled up laughter was still there, canned up behind his rib cage somewhere, fluttering like a trapped bird.

"Where have you been?" He asked, smoothly steering the conversation away from wherever it had just been.

"Oh right! Here," she shoved a polystyrene cup with a straw into his hands, wet with condensation, followed by a plate of fried corn and a hotdog. "I figured you'd be hungry, given the circumstances, and one of the third years had a stall opened." He was already biting into the hotdog before she'd even finished. He hadn't realized how hungry he'd been.

"You met Recovery Girl?" Todoroki asked after swallowing the last of the corndog. All he'd been able to focus on when looking at her was the large red welt, and the surge of guilt that he couldn't stop it from happening. But now, he'd noticed her face was back to looking pristine.

"Yeah," she replied with a tilted smile. "It was really embarrassing. The teachers were all in the same room, having their own little party."

Todoroki offered a snort of laughter at the image of Yaoyorozu winding her way through the imposing heroes, all the while apologizing endlessly.

"It had to be done though," she continued. "Couldn't have my mom seeing that."

He hummed in agreement and, not wanting to even imagine her mother's reaction he took a swig from the drink Yaoyorozu had brought him. It hit his tongue in a surge of berry-licious goodness, a crushed, icy surge of texture and flavor.

"There were other drinks, juices and tea and the like," she explained as she watched his reaction, and Todoroki threw her a look. "But I had a feeling you'd like something colder,"

"I do," he said, and they shared another smile.

---

It was a couple of hours later. Once Todoroki had eaten (feeling much more energized), what remained of Class 1A started a rag-tag game of hide and seek, powers edition, to the expense of Invisi-girl, who was sent to the dorms without a second thought (although Asui took pity on her and joined her for some milk-shakes back in the kitchens). Time had flown by after that, and they only stopped when the teachers finally came out at 10pm, sending everyone to their rooms.

Yaoyorozu was finally going home for the weekend. After her mother's phone call telling her not to come home, Yaoyorozu had waited a grand total of 2 days before calling her mother again, asking for an explanation. Although her mother hadn't divulged much, saying phone calls could be tapped, she did say that a divorce wasn't happening. Yaoyorozu had been ecstatic, of course, and Todoroki had been just as pleased for her. The Creation heroine had been looking for an opportunity to go home to talk about things in detail ever since.

But it had now been over a month since she had last visited. Including her birthday weekend in the end of September, October had also been incredibly busy. The first two weekends were spent attending to her new internships, and the last two were spent in festival preparation. Todoroki had told her she was prioritizing the whole event way too much, however she insisted on giving it her full attention.

"This is one thing I can say is my full responsibility, all mine, and I'm going to see it through," she had said, and she seemed so determined about this that he didn't have it in him to tell her it was just as much Iida's, as well as the whole class' as it was hers. It seemed odd to him, putting in so much effort for a single day. But having something to make decisions and be in charge for seemed to make her truly happy, and so he took a step back. He had hardly seen her at all, and when he had, she was always making suggestions for improvement, loudly and commandingly, the whole time sporting a large smile like she was having the time of her life. And the day had been quite a success, apart from his little personal…hiccup.

They were on the second last bus of the night, it being around 10:30pm, and Todoroki had insisted on accompanying her home, which she had agreed to surprisingly easily. The last of the people had exited, now entering the more elite part of the city, where anyone living wouldn't be taking the bus. That left them in the lull of the soft, rhythmic purr of the bus engine, gentle and soft and hypnotically calming. And so it made sense therefore, as they were seated in the middle of the very last seat, that she had fallen asleep, head resting heavily on his shoulder.

Todoroki had determinedly remained very still, watching the houses roll by, each larger than the last. Picket fences slowly grew into drive-through gates, front lawns turned into elaborate entrances to even more magnificent homes. White plaster coated pillars, gold paint glinted off metal spokes, trimmed, patterned hedges spiralling every which way.

It wasn't really his aesthetic.

"…To…doro…ki…"

"Hm?"

Todoroki turned, as much as he could, to try and glance at the girl currently objectifying him as a pillow. Had she smelled the roses and orchids and realized she was close to home? But with what little he could see of her, she appeared still asleep.

"…Todoro…ki…" She was talking in her sleep.

He found this fascinating, having always heard of it happening but never experienced it before. There was also something extremely vulnerable about hearing someone talk in their sleep, much more so than just them sleeping. It was like peering into their thoughts while they had no control. It occurred to him that this meant he was the center of those thoughts and suddenly he felt far too hot, and diverted his gaze to look anywhere but at the girl lying against him.

"I… ove….ou"

Todoroki went rigid, as if lightning had struck him paralyzed from head to toe. What?!

He had just imagined it. That was it.

Yes, many things could fit whatever that sounded like. He was only hearing broken ramblings of someone essentially dead to the world, he should have a better grip on-

"I …love you…"

Todoroki jumped to his feet, instantly whipping around, the whole motion so fast that she was still falling towards the seat when he'd fully turned, shooting the unsuspecting girl a large, incredulous stare.

I love you.

His heart slammed against his ribcage adrenaline pumping through his veins, a rush unlike anything he had ever experienced before.

I love you.

Love.

Love.

Yaoyorozu snapped awake as she hit the cushion, although still groggy at being ripped from such intensely deep sleep. She slowly pushed herself upright, covering her clenched eyes, the fluorescent lights of the bus still far too bright for her dilated pupils to handle, and for a moment, Todoroki felt guilty at having disturbed her.

I love you.

"T…odorok…i," her voice was still thick with sleep as she squinted around the bus trying to find him. Todoroki's mouth was dry. She spotted him then, his intense, piercing stare unwavering, and this seemed to wake her up significantly.

"Todoroki? What's wrong?" she asked, hand already flying to some uncovered skin by his wrist, quirk activation ready.

No sooner had the words left her mouth than the bus came to a sudden stop. Todoroki, far too distracted and far too rigid, went flying backwards.

"Your stop, miss," the bus driver called.

"Todoroki!" Yaoyorozu was immediately on her feet, but before she could begin extending her hands in help, he jumped back up, hardly a foot away from her. With a large suction of breath, he stuffed his hands deep into his pockets and marched straight out of the bus without a single word.

Yaoyorozu rushed after him, remembering to thank the bus driver before she hopped off the bus. The boy was several feet ahead of her, and she had to jog to catch up.

"Todoroki!" she called. "Slow down!"

The young hero was deaf to the world. All his senses were switched off, and the only thoughts he could hear were three words breathed into his shoulder in a sleep-ridden whisper. It was like someone had thrown ice down his shirt, making him walk impeccably straight and hyper-alert, although to all the wrong things.

He felt a strong tug at his arm, Yaoyorozu directing him in the right direction, and yet he hardly registered it. This was far beyond him. He didn't know how to begin to dissect this. Emotions like anger, envy, sadness, fury, and even happiness were all ones he could handle; he had experienced them in some way or the other. But this… he was far out of his depth. He had been making real progress on the front of social emotions, but Yaoyorozu had thrown him yet another curve ball.

What did this mean? Perhaps he had imagined the whole thing. But imagining this had implications of their own; didn't people hear things differently only because that's what they wanted to hear? He couldn't fathom that being the case here, given that he hardly knew anything about that word to begin with.

I love you…

He could still feel her breath wafting against him. No, he couldn't have imagined it. It was too fresh, too vivid, too physical. But what did it mean? What was he going to do? What was he supposed to do?

Another strong yank pulled him to a stop, but he continued, lost in the whirling abyss of his mind. She had been asleep. That could mean so many things. Dreams were an obscure thing. Sure she said his name, but that could have easily changed to an imagine of her father, for instance. Todoroki felt himself start to calm down. That's right, she could have been dreaming about anything at all, not to mention the fact that her being asleep meant total subconscious. She could have been saying something she herself had no awareness of at all-

"Ow," he yelled and a large stabbing pain shot through his foot. His eyes shot down to see Yaoyorozu pulling away her foot from having, for all intents and purposes, just stomped on him. He glared at her. "What Yaoyorozu?"

"Welcome back to the real world," she quipped blandly, glaring back, arms crossed across her chest. "We're here, by the way."

Todoroki looked up to see them standing at a large, chrome-plated gate, lit by large lights perched on top of flanking stone pillars. The garden that lay beyond the gate was even more lavish than the houses he'd been looking at earlier. A large fountain, currently switched off, lay in the center, grand and magnificent. Hedges, much like in previous estates, were trimmed to different shapes, perhaps even more intricate, and the front of the building itself was lit in a way that added to the allure and prestige.

"So," Todoroki asked. "Aren't you going in?"

"I've already rung the bell," she stated. "Security is even more strict at night; someone will be coming to manually open it in a moment."

Todoroki nodded absently, still studying the fountain, and Yaoyorozu quirked an eyebrow. "Are you okay?"

He looked at her, heart rate already picking up speed. "Why wouldn't I be?"

She laughed sarcastically, placing a hand on her hip. "Maybe because you've been largely unresponsive for the last ten minutes."

I love you…

"No… it was nothing," he said, now staring at the ground. "Just lost in thought."

"About what?" she asked.

The clouds parted just then, or the streetlamps fluctuated to a higher voltage, or something of the like happened, because suddenly, the lights shone brighter, glinting off her hair, her eyes, her face and in that moment, in his eyes, she was radiant.

He couldn't stop staring.

She had always been beautiful. He wasn't blind. But even more than her looks, it was her personality, her intelligence, her gentle modesty, her kind nature that had stood out, so much so that he almost forgot what she looked like. Whenever he saw her, he simply saw her, Momo, without the Yaoyorozu, without any titles or physical attributes.

But at that moment, so close to midnight, in the cold sting of the November darkness, he was floored by her. The night always did something to her – or perhaps to him, because once again, in the still of the night, she was faultless to him, and he couldn't look away. He couldn't get enough of her. Time had become irrelevant once again and where they were was insignificant and all that mattered was her, and him, and the fact that it was her with him. All he could see was her; her eyes and her nose and her skin and her lips.

Her lips.

Yaoyorozu sighed, and he simply watched her, still entranced. "I guess…I guess you're just thinking about home. I'm sorry, that was rather insensitive of me," she said softly, and rather sadly. "I guess I'll see you Monday then?"

For a moment, her words confused him, her rather extreme sadness to just the night ending seeming a little uncharacteristic, until he realized she still thought he was going home. He offered her a small, gentle smile.

"I'm staying in the dorms," he said softly.

Yaoyorozu took a second before her whole face split into a beaming smile of pure joy. He almost let out a laugh until suddenly, she grabbed both of his hands in hers, raising them to clutch tightly between their chests.

"Oh, that's right!" she practically squealed, bobbing up and down in her delight, and Todoroki felt himself turn hot and cold at the same time and absently wondered if she'd somehow made his quirk malfunction. "You're still at the dorms! I just assumed you'd be going home, because I was! Oh I'm so relieved, thank goodness!"

Her smile was blinding, and dimly, he realized the cold wasn't so cold anymore. Maybe it was him, or, maybe it was because of her gentle warmth, filling the small gap between them.

"Wait," Yaoyorozu's smile weakened slightly as a thought occurred to her. "Then why did you come all this way with me, if it wasn't just to stall?"

That's what she thought he was doing. Using her to protect himself? He could almost scoff, but instead he chose to study her mouth again.

I love you…

When had she gotten so close that he could feel her warmth? Or had he moved closer? Suddenly, the air felt insatiably cold again, so piercingly cold, and her warmth was addictive, pulling, magnetic. He looked up to meet her eyes, large from their proximity, so close they were almost blurred, except just then, they weren't.

He was sure time had stopped entirely.

"Momo!"

Both of them jumped. Yaoyorozu turned towards the house, seeing her mother stride towards them. A guard was accompanying her, and Todoroki looked numbly at the floor as the gate cranked open, still dazed, all gears in his brain having stopped entirely.

"It is eleven twenty." Her mother appeared livid.

"I told you I'd be late, mother." As always, Yaoyorozu regained her wits at an incredible speed.

"Late does not mean midnight," her mother snapped. "Is this the reason for your complete disregard of time?"

Her fierce eyes had turned to lock onto him now, jutting her jaw out, motioning towards him as she said 'this'. Todoroki could feel her piercing gaze on him, even as he studied the pristine paint of garden walls.

"No! Mother, stop being ridiculous."

"You're lying to me."

"I am not!" the young heroine insisted. "Most of our class was there. It's a weekend, and today was the festival; it was bound to end late. I think even I am allowed a night out, right?"

Todoroki finally looked up, at the taller, stern woman, who was for now staring at her daughter.

"It was late, so I thought I'd make sure she got home safe."

He held back a flinch as a glare which could rival his own locked onto him.

"It's a safe neighborhood," the woman answered.

"It takes just one time."

Her eyes suddenly thinned almost imperceptibly were he not staring so intensely. And then they …flashed, although it was probably just the opalescent lighting. Never had he seen a more intimidating stare, and yet, he stood his ground and didn't blink. He knew her type; she fed on weakness, and took hesitation as a sign of vulnerability. Almost like his father.

Something akin to resignation flickered behind her dark eyes, but he couldn't be sure.

"Well… how thoughtful of you," she said finally, her tone clipped. Her eyes studied him a moment longer. "Todoroki-kun, isn't it?"

"Yes."

The wash of ferocity, back so suddenly, came in full force as soon as the syllable left his mouth, and all that had arisen during the day came flashing back. The lawsuit his brother mentioned, and how Yaoyorozu somehow was involved.

"Well, I'm sure your father must be getting worried," she said, still talking to him. The hidden message she'd tucked under her words rang loud and clear. She wanted nothing to do with him, and it was something to do with his family. "You should go home as well."

He bowed and took his leave. He noticed Momo looking at him, probably to give him a reassuring look, but he didn't meet her gaze. His mind was still reeling with whatever feelings had come over him, just before the Yaoyorozu matriarch had cut through it.

He'd have to figure it out.

---

"Explain yourself."

Momo sighed.

The night had been going so well, until her mother had stepped in. Usually her mother was a great hostess, welcoming and polite, almost too much so, and never failed to leave a good first impression. Momo had not only been expecting that, but also relying on it – given the late hour she was largely thinking (hoping) for her mother to invite Todoroki in to spend the night.

Of course it would be when Todoroki first met her mother that she decided to break character.

"Momo, I want an answer," her mother snapped. Momo felt the thud of a headache creep in; it was far too late and she was far too disappointed to be having a lecture on curfew just then. She was once again relieved she'd had her cheek healed, or the lecture would be ten times worse.

"Like I said before, Mother, it was the festival, it was bound to get a bit late-"

"9pm is a bit late, Momo, minutes to midnight is simply unacceptable!" Her mother's voice was taking on a range of impressive pitches – classic Yaoyorozu anger.

"I don't know, mother, maybe the bus drove extra slow; we got on at around 10-"

"Right, and don't get me started on you being with that boy."

"You can't be serious?" Momo felt her temper spike at this. Directing anger at Todoroki was the last thing she wanted to hear. "Don't get me started on you!" Her mother bristled at this, but Momo pushed on before she could say anything. "He drops me off, all this way, when he lives a block from the school, and you couldn't even be civil-"

"Do you know who he is, Momo?" her mother interrupted, glaring at her.

Momo didn't even know how to answer the question without being condescending, patronizing or sarcastic. "Other than my friend? What do you want to know about him Mother, if he's the captain of any sports teams?"

She was sure her mother was about to eat out her ear on respect and courtesy, and was fully prepared to storm out at the soonest opening when, to her incredible surprise, her mother sighed.

"I should probably explain everything to you," Satomi said, sitting down on the couch. "Things will probably make a lot more sense."

She motioned for her daughter to do the same. Momo's fatigue suddenly disappeared. With poorly concealed confusion and curiosity, she dropped smoothly onto the neighboring sofa, never looking away from her mother, waiting patiently for her to begin.

"Your father wasn't having an affair," Satomi said.

Momo felt her heart skip a beat. Almost embarrassingly fast, she felt a sudden prickling at her tear glands, and suddenly her heart burst in pure relief, as what felt like years of worry lifted. She crossed her legs, leaning her elbow on it as she raised her hand to try and wipe the dampness as subtly as she could, trying to maintain her façade of anger and cover the smile that had suddenly sprouted across her face. It had completely vanished from memory the fact that she had been arguing with her mother just seconds ago. She pursed her lips, trying to look nonchalant.

Her mother looked at her and smiled gently.

"I was wrong."

She couldn't hold it in any more. With a sob of relief, Momo leapt from the cushion, wrapping her arms around her mother in a giant hug, the older woman returning it, a rare moment of sincere happiness between them. Momo sniffed, hard, and let out a smothered laugh. It wasn't lost on her how incredibly hard it had probably been for her mother to admit that she had been wrong, especially after all the heated arguments she had been starting for months.

A thought suddenly occurred to her.

"Wait Mom," she leaned back to look at her mother. "What about your quirk? Did it …malfunction or something?"

She distinctly remembered all the times her mother had been hyper-analyzing everyone, especially her father, and how often that alone would start arguments. Her mother readjusted her glasses.

"No, your father was hiding something from me," she said, and Momo blinked in surprise. "And that is what has started this whole…affair, for lack of a better word." Satomi shot her daughter a wry smile, and Momo wondered in bewilderment if her mother had just made a pun.

"Your father had indeed, gone out for a walk that night," her mother began. "He does this quite often in the evenings, usually before the dark properly settles in. The reason I caught wind of it this time was because he got home so late."

Momo remembered her mother telling her this, and idly admired her ability to pick out the most trivial of things. She could never do what her mother did.

"The reason he was late was because, on his walk, he caught sight of something; a young woman being attacked."

Yaoyorozu felt her eyes widen. "What did he do?" she asked in a horrified whisper, appalled, her hero instincts itching at wanting justice as soon as possible. Her mother continued, arms crossed over her chest.

"He took a picture," she answered.

"A picture?"

There were a lot of things a person's first reaction would be when witnessing something like that. Some would walk away, feigning ignorance, pretending to see nothing, afraid for themselves. Most would probably call the authorities as soon as possible. A couple of brave souls may even step in to help physically. But Souma Yaoyorozu? He fought crime by documenting the moment.

Momo was probably giving an incredulous look, because her mother spoke up. "This was surprisingly the smart thing to do. The flash scared off the assailant, luckily before he could go too far, and your father was able to take the poor girl to the hospital."

"Oh, thank goodness," Momo breathed a sigh of relief.

"After that, your father felt that there needed to be repercussions, seeing as how they now had proof to support the case, hiring me as their lawyer. The girl was initially reluctant, incredibly scared of what her attacker would do if they didn't win the case."

"Why in the world would she not win?"

Her mother nodded in agreement. "Well, your father kept trying to persuade her. This meant many late nights, many suspicious purchases, like flowers and chocolates and food – for the victim, it turned out. You can see how misconceptions formed."

Momo nodded her head, head reeling at the boggling developments.

"He had promised the girl not to tell anyone, even me, until, of course, he finally got her to agree to go to court."

"And that was what your phone call was all about," Momo said, finally making sense of all the happenings. "You telling me not to come home, because of lawyers, and not wanting to divulge sensitive information over the phone and all that."

"Yes, exactly."

"I thought you guys were getting a divorce," Momo said, looking sadly at her mother, those feelings flaring up again.

"But we aren't," her mother assured her. "I've officially become her lawyer, and am building my case. This topic is, unfortunately, something that gets overlooked so often. We have put our case through, and I do believe it will be a strong one."

The creation heroine's head raced. Her parents weren't getting divorced. Her family was staying together. Nothing would be her fault. Her father not only hadn't been lying, but he was helping fight crime in a way that was so very him. And, as the icing on the cake, her parents were teaming up, something she had been convinced she'd never see again. She couldn't wait to tell Todoroki. He had been asking about how she was doing in regards to all of this- wait.

"Wait, Mother," Momo straightened up as the final missing piece flashed to mind. "That doesn't explain Todoroki. Why were you so … cold towards him?"

"Ah yes," her mother pushed her glasses up, the light reflecting brightly, obscuring her eyes. "That is because the assailant is Enji Todoroki."