I KNOW. I'M NOT EVEN GOING TO TRY TO APOLOGIZE FOR THE HIATUS. But your girl is back with this story. ACCEPT THIS CHAPTER AS A TOKEN OF MY AFFECTION...and tell me what you think in the comments! Thank you for coming back to read!

CHAPTER 23: MUSCLES AND SPECIAL TALENTS

Soon came sunlight, as Momo returned to the alumni dorms. From the cabins' windows, the silhouettes of lethargic soon-to-be pro heroes rose like the dewy blooming flowers awakening beside Momo's footsteps.

Even though the past encounter with the creature by the springs had disturbed her, she decided not to share it with anyone at breakfast. Instead, she chose to brush it off as an encounter with a creature of the wild. Maybe it wasn't even as big and scary as she recalled it, maybe it was just her lack of contact with nature.

After breakfast, the professors asked the students to get ready for a hike. Mrs. Kuyamaza had lent her some clothes from her son that seemed fitting enough for the situation. After packing extra snacks in her bag, assuming she would need them as energy boosters for today's training, she met her group outside the camp's headquarters.

Present Mic informed that the hike was downhill towards a small village called Kirino Mura, where that day's practice would take place.

"One rule for this hike, though", Aizawa warned, stopping everyone before entering the woods. "Everyone must walk." that being said, the man turned around, leading the hike.

Everyone started to slowly follow the pro heroes like an excited school of fish. Murmurs, distant laughs, and familiar voices started to linger in pairs. "Would it kill him to show some emotion before noon?" Kaminari whispered to Jiro about Eraserhead. With half a smile, Momo took two steps back from the couple. Even though she knew she could always tag along, there was nothing more awkward than being the third wheel.

One would think a downhill hike would be easy, but the overgrown tree roots, the immense rocks, and the density of leaf litter mixed with moss made it almost impossible to keep pace. The group soon broke lines and spread a bit in an effort to find a walkable path.

The irritated voice of Bakugo soon resonated in everyone's ears. "SCREW THIS!", he exclaimed, hovering over everyone as he propelled himself with his quirk. Momo glanced up just in time to see a rope casually wrap itself around the young man's ankle and pull him abruptly to the ground. Giggles were heard all over the group.

Momo took a moment to contemplate the scene. Some of the best humans she knew, walking all around her, laughing, squinting at the playful sunbeams that escaped the dense shield of treetops. The sound of a close river, mixed with cheerful conversations. Her eyes filled with tears. Only being there and having met these people was more than enough to make the experience of studying at UA worth it.

She clenched her grasp around the shoulder straps of her backpack. At that moment, after months of stress, loss, and family conflict, she felt lucky.

Of course, not lucky enough to avoid stepping on slippery moss and losing her balance for a split second. To avoid falling backward, she held to the nearest object her left hand found.

"Careful there," the owner of the arm she had gotten a sudden grip on said in a soft voice. It seemed her fall was almost expected by him. Why was he not at the head of the group, leading along Present Mic? From all the multiple arms around her, Aizawa's arm was the closest one to get a grip on? C'mon! She rolled her eyes, knowing only mockery could result from this encounter. "let's try to get downhill alive." ah yes, there it was.

"Seems some of your students are in need of a leash," Momo commented as the end of a gray rope-like scarf returned obediently to its owner after violently pulling Bakugo back to the ground.

"I was expecting someone to lose patience during training," Aizawa answered back.

Seeing Present Mic was already leading the group with an upbeat attitude, he was soon exasperated by it. The usually quiet professor took the chance to follow the group from behind. His excuse was valid: it was always a good idea to guard the group as a herding dog, guiding a protecting its sheep. However, his hidden intentions were more questionable: everyone seemed to pair up either with their closest friend or the object of their affection. The usual student groups were now scattered in binomials.

So who was she with? And how come no one had paired up with her? It didn´t take the morose professor too long to find the silhouette of a pony-tailed lady in the back of the group, walking alone. She was wearing a green, oversized plaid shirt and an old yellow cap. Silently he roamed far from his trainee. The shirt seemed worn and outdated.

His spying skills came in handy as he silently approached her from behind. Why was she wearing second-hand garments? Last thing he recalled she was disgustingly rich. In that case, the only reason had to be the meaning of said garment to her. A token of affection? That is when she suddenly lost her footing, making him dash to offer his forearm. As he felt the material of the shirt, the truth started to dawn on him.

It was a man's shirt.

"Yeah, that's what I-" but Momo wasn't able to finish her sentence, since the man that had just helped her had abruptly released her and continued his watch over her classmates.

Had he just left her with the words in her mouth? How rude! What was the point then? Just to emphasise her clumsiness when going downhill? A rather hot feeling started to ignite in her neck and ears.

Twenty more minutes passed until they arrived in the small town of Kirino Mura. Though it seemed clean and pacific, Yaoyorozu felt uneasy as she looked at the eerie landscape. The village turned out to be quite rural and scarce in resources, but the weirdest thing to her was that everything seemed too…normal.

"Weird huh?" Kirishima pointed out beside her.

"Yeah…but I really can't figure out why" she replied, frowning as if trying to see what was behind this veil of normality.

"Guess it can be more obvious for some of us than others," Pinky observed, as she looked at herself, and then at the villagers. Momo finally understood.

"Everyone here is…"

"Quirkless." Midoriya completed Momo's sentence. His empathetic glance was directed at a family that was trying to get water in buckets from a stream nearby.

"Exactly" the soft-spoken voice of the man with the gray scarf intervened. "Task of today is: help anyone who needs assistance without using your quirk."

Many of the students grunted and complained.

"What's the point of that?"

"To come all the way here not to train? Are you kidding me?"

"How is that helping us become pro-heroes?"

Aizawa exhaustingly rolled his eyes. "Listen to all of you. How do you expect to be pro heroes when all you are relying on is your quirk?" the silence that proceeded was full of first-hand embarrassment. "There's gotta be more of you than just your quirk, and if you don't train that, you won't be more than muscles and special talents." his charcoal eyes stunned Momo when they met hers. "Show me you're more than you give yourself credit for."

After what felt like hours, his glance stopped holding her hostage. He turned around and walked beside the other pro-heroes. Present Mic, being the professional at handling the awkward moments Aizawa created, instructed them to walk around and wait for the professors to cause some chaos, so the training could begin.

"Wait what?" the croaky voice of Tsu spoke. "Isn't it cruel to torture innocent quirkless villagers just because of our training?" to this, some students started to murmur in agreement.

"Not to worry Froppy!" Present Mic answered in excitement. "We can thank the Help Us Company for their service regarding that!"

"The hell kind of extra company is that?" Bakugo's frown accentuated.

"The company who helped us by taking the role of ordinary citizens at our provisional license exam! I remember!" Midoriya recalled out of the blue.

"...so professional extras?" Bakugo replied.

"I thought everyone but you was an extra." Ochacco pointed out. "Is there a difference if they have quirks or not?"

"No. I mean, yes, everyone is an extra." Everyone started laughing, lately, Bakugo didn't come off as rude as he wanted to, especially with Uraraka around. Everyone started spreading and the initial group officially broke lines.

"Am I an extra as well?" without really planning it, Ochacco and Bakugo started walking in the same direction.

"You're the biggest extra there is, round face." his hands were now in his pockets as if trying to sound chill.

"Aw, that makes me feel 'extra' special." she seemed extremely proud of the pun she offered as a comeback, to which the muscly blond tried to hide a weak laugh.

"That's not the point, you're infuriating." their voices got lost in the distance.

Once more, everyone paired up either with friends or with their crush. The vice president of the class saw 1A's homeroom teacher making sure everyone was already hands on the task, periodically glancing at her as if checking if she had left with someone. Slowly and looking at everything but her, he approached. Aizawa was about to start a conversation with her but, as soon as he opened his mouth, he found himself facing her black and abundant ponytail. As rude as it seemed, Momo felt a pinch of revenge underneath her guilt for lack of manners.

She walked away from him, leaving the man with whatever stupid comment he had planned for her. Leaving her with words in her mouth back in the woods was something she would not stand, especially when there was no reason for it. Her mother would be secretly proud of Momo's silent treatment strategy.

As she walked alone, her morose thought started to clear with every mouthful of fresh country air she breathed. Although the hike had been painfully lonely, walking by herself around town resulted quite pleasant. She imagined how life there would be for her. Just a simple life in a small town where not much happened, where every day was lived right there, in the present. No urban crime, no strict rules, no unreachable standards to live up to, no arranged marriages…no one knowing who she used to be, who she was expected to be…

It sounded delightful.

The sound of a close river stream with people doing laundry distracted her from her fantasy. They seemed to be worried as they gossiped. She casually approached the group.

"I heard it only comes out at night." A woman with a yellow apron said.

"It might be haunting, we should track it down." a younger woman with an abundant braid added.

"I don't think it can be tracked down," a young man with light green hair added. "After all, what if it flies?" he questioned in a trembling voice.

"Mr. Fo said he saw it fly right in front of the moon…"

"What if it is looking for its next prey? What if WE ARE its next prey?" again, the nervous and wimpy man said. To call it a man was a big stretch. Everyone's fear got worse with his questioning.

"Is there anything I can help you with?" Yaoyorozu's calm voice gets the weakling by surprise. She felt terribly uncomfortable by the glance of the boy as if he had never seen a female in his life.

"Oh no, dear! That is no task for someone like you." the woman in the yellow apron replied.

"What seems to be the problem? And why can't I be of assistance?" Momo made an effort not to sound offended by the answer she got. The woman clenched her apron and looked away.

"There's been sightings of a creature in the woods…" the puny man started to explain in a grim tone. "We don't know what it is, or what it wants. It's been roaming the skies at night…" Everyone else got pretty silent as he spoke. "...lurking…waiting for the right time…"

"To do what?" Momo's normal voice contested with his whispering.

"That is the real question," he pointed out. The boy looked as if it had been days since he slept. Worryingly skinny, you could see his collar bones and upper ribs stick to his sallow, greyish skin. His whole aura seemed to be inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's poem.

"We should have a curfew for this situation!"

"Or hunt the creature before being hunted by it"

Six or seven people had approached too and had made themselves noticed by the anxious murmur surrounding the laundry group.

Somehow the air felt heavy, filled with fear. Dense. Momo looked up for a second to take a deep breath. These assumptions could cause a panicky mob in town if it wasn't handled correctly.

"A curfew for a couple of days sounds like a sensible idea," she interrupted the whispering. "Fortunately, this week will be guarded by licensed pro-heroes and heroes in training." She made sure to make eye contact with the most scared ones in the group. "I, being one of them, will make a report on everything said about the matter to keep an eye on your town. We cannot assume this creature is praying on humans if there hasn't been any attempt of rapture or hunt. Try to stay in groups and be safe at home if you can." with that, the worried murmur dissipated.

Momo excused herself and walked away, feeling physically and emotionally uneasy. Not because of the rumors of the creature, but because her mood had been affected by something she couldn't pin down.

"Wait up! Hero lady!" the flimsy voice of the young man called her. She slowed her walk so he could catch up with her. "There's something I didn't say back there. You should be careful"

Momo looked at him, his yellow pupils fuzed with a yellow tone of the sclera. Was he ill? Why did he look so weak?

"You're staying at the cabins uphill, right?" He asked. Momo nodded. "For the past few nights, I've seen the creature fly towards the hot springs near where you are training."

Momo stopped, recalling the demonic creature she encountered before.
_

Thank you again for taking the time to read so far. Any comments, suggestions and opinions are highly appreciated 3 looooots lots of love -LB

PS.: Sorry again!