Yaoyorozu Momo
"Ah, Mineta is such a pervert!" Hagakure exclaimed in anger, almost dropping her ice cream to the ground. Yaoyorozu nodded her silent agreement, eating a spoon of her own strawberry ice cream out of a cup—it was less messy that way. The trio had found a booth in the small ice cream shop and had spent the better part of the last half hour discussing their classmates. Momo truly wasn't one for gossip, but Hagakure somehow managed to bring it out of her. Katagiri had remained mostly quiet and she assumed that he was still forming opinions on most of his classmates, having only been part of the class for a few months.
Hagakure leaned over the table, seemingly staring at Katagiri intently. "But enough about all those people! Shouldn't we talk about Todoro—"
Momo silenced her friend with a wave of her hand as she observed Todoroki walk into the ice cream shop. Honestly, she was quite surprised that he had turned up—he had never accepted any of their other invites. She liked the stoic boy even though much of the class thought he came across as standoffish. After having battled alongside him, Momo could see that he was genuinely kind, just a bit on the quiet side.
"Over here!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed, waving the boy down. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see Katagiri's face turning red already. As Todoroki noticed her and began to walk over, she turned to the black haired boy.
"Don't worry so much! He's only intimidating at first. I promise," she whispered, before turning her attention back to Todoroki. Momo opened her mouth to greet him as he arrived at the table, but Hagakure beat her to it.
"Todoroki! Wow, I can't believe you actually showed up!" she exclaimed, bouncing in her seat. She pointed at the empty seat next to Kaito on the other side of the table. "We saved you an extra special seat next to Katagiri!"
Yaoyorozu let out a nervous laugh, trying to defuse the situation as she saw Katagiri turn an even deeper shade of red.
"Thanks," Todoroki responded, before taking a seat next to the other boy, seemingly oblivious to Hagakure's hinting. The contrast between Hagakure's excitement and Todoroki's stoicness was so stark that Yaoyorozu couldn't help but crack a smile.
"Hagakure is right, Todoroki. You've never taken us up on an invite before. This is quite an honor," Momo stated, genuinely happy about this turn of events.
"I'm trying to learn to be more outgoing. Plus, I wanted to meet him," Todoroki responded, pointing at Katagiri next to him. Katagiri, who had remained silent this whole time, looked over in surprise. Momo was a bit taken aback by the forward statement herself.
"Me? Ah! I never introduced myself. I'm so rude!" Kaito replied, flustered. Momo wanted to reach out a hand and tell him to calm down, but resisted, not wanting to interfere.
"I'm Katagiri Kaito! It's nice to meet you! Sorry I didn't introduce myself earlier," Kaito blurted out, his face turning a bit less red.
"It's nice to meet you too. I'm really glad you joined our class," Todoroki replied. Momo's eyes widened a bit at this second, unexpected comment and Hagakure let out an audible gasp, clearly taking the comment to mean Todoroki liked Katagiri. Todoroki turned to them with a puzzled look. "What?"
"N-nothing!" Hagakure exclaimed, Momo nodding her agreement. Glancing at Katagiri, she could see that he was fighting back a smile. How cute! Still, the whole situation seemed a bit out of character for their red-and-white haired classmate.
"You stayed pretty late today, huh?" Momo asked, suddenly changing the subject. Todoroki looked confused by the question for a brief moment, a silence filling the air.
"Oh, yeah. That group project took more time than I thought it would," he finally responded, staring at Momo. Yaoyorozu lifted an eyebrow at the response.
"I thought you stayed after to talk to Aizawa sensei?"
Todoroki seemed taken aback for a split second before he let out a little chuckle. "Ah, that took some time too! But you know Aizawa—it was a pretty short meeting."
Momo narrowed her eyes upon hearing the answer and the chuckle, but nodded her approval after a moment. "Truly. Aizawa sensei is not a man of many words!"
Todoroki smiled slightly before Hagakure brought the conversation back to gossip. Another half hour of gossip passed before the sun began to go down and darkness set in.
"Ah, it's getting late. I have some work to do so I should head back. I still haven't even completely unpacked my stuff back at the dorms," Katagiri stated, a smile on his face. Momo was glad that it seemed the boy had enjoyed himself. She nodded her agreement.
"Right, we should all get going," she stated, getting up from the booth. Todoroki rose from the table as well, allowing Katagiri to get out from the booth.
"Let's all walk back together!" Hagakure exclaimed, hopping to her feet and latching onto Momo's arm.
Katagiri grinned and nodded his agreement. "Thanks for inviting me, Hagakure!"
"Anytime, anytime!" the invisible girl exclaimed, squeezing Momo's arm with excitement.
"Alright, let's go," Momo stated, leading the way out onto the street.
The walk back to the dorms was mostly consumed with Hagakure raving to everyone about her new favorite idol group. As the invisible girl finally took a pause to breath, Todoroki interjected.
"Ah! I forgot I needed to grab something from the convenience store. I'll get it and meet you at the dorms later," he stated, his gaze scanning his classmates before landing on Katagiri. "Katagiri, do you want to come with me?"
Katagiri all but leapt forward, his eyes blazing with excitement. "Yes, sure!"
A momentary look of horror spread across Katagiri's face before he was suddenly bathed in blinding light. Momo squinted to see what was happening as the boy's hair and eyes turned light pink, and white, angel-like wings sprouted from his back.
"Waaaaaah! So pretty! It's his quirk!" exclaimed Hagakure, pointing at Kaito as the light faded away. "Katagiri, doesn't that only happen when you're really happy or excited or something?"
Katagiri looked as if he were about to pass out from embarrassment and Momo couldn't resist bringing her palm to her forehead, shaking it in pity for Kaito. Hagakure had no tact sometimes. Surprisingly, Todoroki either didn't care or was pretending not to notice the spectacle as he beckoned to Katagiri.
"Let's go!" he exclaimed, leading the other boy to the right, down a side street.
"So embarrassing…" Momo heard Kaito mumble under his breathe. As the duo walked out of earshot, Momo turned to Hagakure.
"There's something weird about Todoroki," she whispered. "Some of his comments have been so out of character. He just invited someone to go somewhere with him rather than going alone! And he looked very confused when I asked what he did after class."
Hagakure tapped her nose with her finger, thinking. "What if he just likes Katagiri? Maybe that's why he's acting strange! Haven't you heard that saying: 'love makes people do craaaazy things'!"
Yaoyorozu narrowed her eyes, shaking her head in disagreement. "I highly doubt Todoroki would make it so obvious if he had a crush on someone. He'd likely have no idea what to do and be even quieter than usual!"
Hagakure briefly laughed at the thought before turning her attention back to Momo.
"Well then what do you think happened?! Someone replaced him with a robot or something?" Hagakure whispered back, seemingly serious about the possibility. Momo faltered for a moment, trying to figure out what could be going on.
"I don't know! Let's just follow them," she shot back, not wanting to lose sight of their friends.
"Ooh, my specialty!" Hagakure replied with a giggle. The duo hurried to catch up to the boys, slowing down and hiding once they caught sight of them. It seemed that Katagiri's quirk had already worn off as the wings were gone and his hair had returned to its normal color.
"Looks like they're just on a cute date to me," Hagakure whispered. Yaoyorozu let out a sigh. It did seem that way.
"It seems you're right," she admitted, beginning to turn away. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Todoroki beckon for Kaito to take another right, onto yet another side street. Katagiri obeyed the order, turning and heading out of sight. Todoroki turned to follow, but stood back for a moment, fidgeting for something in his pocket. He finally pulled an object out, brandishing it behind his back. The light from a streetlamp hit the object in Todoroki's hand, clearly illuminating the blade of a knife.
"What the—" Hagakure exclaimed, having seen the same thing. Yaoyorozu sprung up from their hiding spot, dashing towards the street as Todoroki rounded the corner and disappeared from sight.
"W-what's Todoroki doing?!" the invisible girl asked in disbelief from behind Momo.
"I don't believe that's Todoroki!" Yaoyorozu replied, before dashing ahead.
As she reached the entrance to the side street, Momo's eyes widened as she saw Katagiri pinned to the wall, Todoroki holding a knife to his throat. A grin spread across Todoroki's face as he caught sight of the girl.
"Aww, you finally caught on. I thought I did a pretty good job of playing the part," he stated. Seeing Todoroki grin like that gave Momo the creeps, but it didn't last long, as in an instant, his whole appearance started to melt, turning to brown sludge as it ran down his body.
"No…you're that girl from the League of Villains!" Momo exclaimed, her expression turning to one of anger. She made to move towards the now-revealed Toga, but the villain pressed the knife against Katagiri's throat.
"Ah, ah, ah," she stated, her grin widening. "I'm not gonna hurt him if you don't do anything rash. I just have to take him in, okay? I'll be back for you later, don't worry!"
Momo gritted her teeth in frustration, unable to make a move out of fear of endangering Katagiri.
Think Momo, think. What can I create to stop her? she thought to herself frantically. The irony of the situation hit her suddenly-it was Todoroki who had taught her to remain calm in this sort of situation and to believe in her own abilities, and now here she was fighting to find him. Her mind raced for an answer, but came up blank, her panic clouding her thinking ability.
Ugh, did you learn nothing from that time with Todoroki? she thought, grinding her teeth in frustration. To her surprise, Toga was suddenly sent tumbling backwards by seemingly nothing.
"Did you forget about me?" came Hagakure's cheerful voice. The invisible girl must have stripped out of her clothes before rounding the corner earlier, Momo realized. Thank goodness for Hagakure. She might be a bit of an air-head when relaxing with her friends, but when it came down to it, the invisible girl had done a better job thinking of a plan in this scenario than Momo had herself. Katagiri, eyes wide, dashed back to his classmates as Toga picked herself up from the ground, a smile still on her face.
"That was a pretty good one! I forgot all about you!" she exclaimed, brushing dirt from her body. Momo focused and pulled a spear from her chest, pointing it towards Toga.
"Where's Todoroki?" she asked, anger in her voice. Toga grinned, spinning her knife around in her hand.
"He really did want to have ice cream with you! He was on his way when we nabbed him. I told Dabi we shouldn't fight with him in the woods—they're like super flammable! And both of them use fire, y'know? But actually, he didn't put up much of a fight at all!" the girl explained with a giggle. "And isn't he the strongest in your class? Kinda embarrassing…"
"Where did you take him?" Yaoyorozu asked, stepping closer to Toga, fury in her eyes. She had heard that this girl was extremely dangerous from their class's previous encounter with her in the woods of the training camp.
"Calm down! He's taking a nice little nap in the woods. Hopefully he doesn't accidentally start a forest fire while he's knocked out," Toga replied, this time taking a step closer to Momo. Yaoyorozu's eyes lit up upon hearing the villainous girl's answer—she now had the information she needed.
"Hagakure! If she's telling the truth, then they attacked him on his way to meet us. There's only one set of woods between the ice cream shop and U.A.! Go back and search the area to see if you can find him," Momo exclaimed, creating a small rectangular piece of metal from her chest. "Take this with you!"
"Got it!" Hagakure exclaimed, grabbing the rectangle from Yaoyorozu's palm and running off. Toga's grin faded briefly as she realized she'd made a mistake.
"That's cheating! You should play fair," she exclaimed, dashing towards Momo with her lips pouted. Yaoyorozu readied her spear, glancing at Katagiri from the corner of her eye.
"Get ready! We're taking her on!"
Hehe, thanks for the faves/follows :) Keep an eye out for the next chapter too!