The crack of gunfire split the still night air, making Izuku stop in his tracks. He'd never heard gunshots anywhere outside of television, not even at all the hero fights he witnessed, which usually didn't require the police to draw their weapons. The sound couldn't have been anything else though. If one of the villains had brought a gun, it would be bad news for most of the students. Only Kirishima and Tetsutetsu could withstand the force of a bullet, and while he thought they were both in the woods, there was no guarantee they were the ones facing it.
A second shot rang out, and Izuku forced himself to move. It was impossible to tell which direction the shots were coming from, the sound bouncing randomly off the trees. If he had to guess, it was from deeper in the forest, where most of the students seemed to be. He would just have to hope that someone more equipped to handle the situation was dealing with it, and the gun wasn't being pointed at someone without one of the necessary quirks to survive. The villain he'd fought earlier said that the villains had a shopping list, but also that he had been given a list of students he could kill. Hopefully those students were just irrelevant to the villains' plans, and weren't people they specifically wanted dead.
More gunshots came as Izuku ran, but he told himself that they weren't for Hitoshi. The villains wanted him alive. They wouldn't shoot him. There had been too many shots spaced too far apart now for each one to have been for a single student, which meant that someone was taking multiple hits without ceasing to be a threat. Kirishima or Tetsutetsu had to have encountered the villain. There was no other explanation-
Pain shot through him as something barreled into him from the side, striking him right on the bruise from where the muscle villain had punched his arm. He screamed in pain, footsteps faltering as he was knocked sideways, but before he could hit the ground something grabbed him by his good arm and lifted him up. There was a crash, a huge cloud of dirt flying up around him, and Izuku felt himself being closed in by something warm, wrapping around him like a cocoon. He coughed, trying to yell at whoever had him to let go , fearing they might be a villain trying to capture him. Then the dust began to settle, and Izuku realized who had hold of him.
"Shouji!" he gasped.
The only immediate response was labored, heavy breathing. It was indeed Shouji who had picked him up, encasing him in a sort of basket made of his folded arms. More arms and webbed flesh seemed to have sprouted from farther down his sides than usual to make the construction, as when Izuku peered over the side he could see all of Shouji's normal dupli-arms dangling by his sides. One of them however, the middle arm on his left side, was bleeding from a stump at the end where the hand ought to have been.
"What happened?" Izuku demanded in alarm.
"You were in the last group," Shouji recalled, still breathing irregularly from the pain. "You should have been in the clearing, only a short ways from camp, when this all started. But you came into the woods anyway, because you had to look after those of us who went earlier."
Izuku opened his mouth to defend his choice, then realized what Shouji was really getting at. Shouto and Hitoshi wouldn't be the only ones out in the woods who needed help. Shouji was asking for help, as he had apparently already encountered a villain strong enough to injure him. He wasn't badly hurt, but his partner . . .
His partner was Tokoyami.
"That thing just now," Izuku said, looking deeper into the woods, where the tree branches sheltered the ground from the moonlight, plunging the forest into total darkness. "Wait, don't tell me . . ."
"Yeah," Shouji rasped as Izuku's eyes began to adjust to the gloom. "If we want to get through here, we'll have to face Dark Shadow first."
A roar came from deeper in the woods, and Izuku began to see where the low light glinted off teeth, bared and clenched with effort. Red eyes glowed like embers in the dark, showing that Dark Shadow had swelled to many times his normal size. Slowly Tokoyami came into view, his dark feathers and black hoodie making him blend into Dark Shadow's form, making them seem like a single creature. Dark Shadow had wrapped around him, and Tokoyami stood trapped at the center of Dark Shadow's massive presence.
"Stay away from me!" Tokoyami yelled, his voice deep and growling with effort and fear. "You'll die!"
"How did he get this way?" Izuku demanded, but before he could say any more suddenly Shouji was leaping aside as one of Dark Shadow's massive arms came smashing down on the place where they had just been.
"Keep it down," Shouji insisted, once they were safely ensconced behind a tree, out of Dark Shadow's direct line of sight. "After Mandalay told us what was happening, that we shouldn't engage, we were both on high alert. Still, one of the villains got the drop on us. I hid in the bushes and tried to cover Tokoyami, even though one of my arms was cut off."
"It's not lost forever though, right?" Izuku asked anxiously, placing his hands on Shouji's shoulders so he could lift himself partially out of the cupped arms and peer at Shouji's injury. "I've seen you grow and regrow body parts from that limb. Did you lose something vital?"
"No," Shouji admitted. "In effect it's just a scratch. Tokoyami couldn't stand to see it though, and then suddenly Dark Shadow went completely wild."
Dark Shadow crashed through a tree some yards away, roaring as he went. Izuku tried to think. His analysis of Dark Shadow had revealed some things that were, unfortunately, private. A discussion with Tokoyami's parents had confirmed his suspicions, but he knew that the family wanted to keep it quiet for now, until some legal issues were sorted out. However, he also knew that Shouji and Tokoyami were friends, probably closer to each other than to anyone else in class. That was partly because Shouji was always so respectful of Dark Shadow. How much did Shouji know? How much was safe to tell him?
"Shouji," Izuku began carefully, "I don't know how much you and Tokoyami have talked about quirks-"
"I know about the chimerism," Shouji insisted immediately. "I know Fumikage and Dark Shadow are actually twins. What I don't know is why Dark Shadow is acting like this. He certainly seems like an out of control quirk, responding to Fumikage's anger."
"His is responding to Fumikage's anger," Izuku confirmed. "Fumikage told you what his real quirk is? The mind link he can create by touching someone?"
"Yes," Shouji said. "We've . . . done a few experiments with it."
Immediately Izuku was curious, but Shouji's tone suggested that their 'experiments' might also be private.
"The link between Fumikage and Dark Shadow is strong because it's been stable their whole lives," Izuku said instead of questioning further. "Dark Shadow is reacting to Fumikage's emotions because he can feel them. He's experiencing all of Fumikage's fear and pain. But do you see the difference in their reactions?"
"I don't-" Shouji began, backing up a step as Dark Shadow edged nearer, but his foot came down a twig and in the next instant Dark Shadow was lunging at them.
Shouji leaped out of the way, diving behind another tree. "He's lunging at any sound or movement," Shouji surmised, peering around the trunk, "like a beast lashing out with indiscriminate attacks."
"Exactly," Izuku said. "Does that sound like Fumikage to you? Is that what he's doing now, from inside Dark Shadow?"
"Forget about me!" Tokoyami yelled, his pale hands gripping the strands of darkness holding him in place. "Go! Find out classmates! Help them instead!"
"No," Shouji breathed, eyes widening in realization. "His instinct is always to shut down, shut people out when he's upset. He doesn't explode like this."
"Stop this!" Tokoyami cried, curled in on himself even as he struggled. "Calm down Dark Shadow!"
"Dark Shadow is having a panic attack," Izuku explained. "When he saw you hurt he got scared for his twin, and Fumikage's anger and pain made it too much for him to handle. His fight or flight instinct has kicked in, and since his impulse is always to protect Fumikage, he's chosen to fight. That's why he's lashing out. He's afraid."
"What can we do to help?" Shouji wondered. "His quirk has a weakness to light, but will getting that under control make him calmer?"
"Probably not," Izuku said. "His emotions are what we should be focusing on, not his quirk. Once he feels safe again, he'll go back down to his normal size."
"Alright then," Shouji said, with an air of finality. "I'll stay with him, and try to talk him down. Then, while I have his attention, you can make a run for it and get to-"
"No!" Izuku protested, shaking his head. "That won't work! You can't talk to him without getting attacked, and if he hurts you by mistake Fumikage will only get more upset!"
"Then what do I do?" Shouji asked earnestly. "I know these are strange circumstances, but I can't just leave a suffering friend behind. How can I save him?"
"I have a plan," Izuku said, as confidently as he could. "It's not perfect, but it might work."
"Your plans have gotten us through worse than this," Shouji stated it like a fact. "Tell me what to do."
"If Dark Shadow reacts to sound, then make duplicate arms to bait him, so he'll follow us without attacking our actual bodies," Izuku instructed. "We can lead Dark Shadow to Hitoshi. He's helped me through a panic attack before by using Brainwashing, and I know he's helped Shouto too. Plus he should be able to cut off the connection between Fumikage and Dark Shadow by overriding it, so that alone will help."
"Alright," Shouji said, raising his arms and beginning to extend them, leaving the injured one alone for now. "I'm going to hold onto you though, so we don't get separated."
"I can run-" Izuku tried, but Shouji was already shaking his head.
"Do you think I didn't hear Mandalay?" he asked. "You're a target too. You don't want to choose who you help, you want to save everyone. Don't you think I want to save everyone too?"
Izuku sighed, then nodded. "Alright," he said. "Let's move." *
"Flesh!" the villain groaned from high above their head. "Pieces of meat! Flesh!"
Another barrage of teeth attacks rained down against the ice wall, and Hitoshi had to bite back a sarcastic quip that he knew would get a response. This guy was talkative, and he'd heard Hitoshi talking to Shouto, so he wasn't cautious enough to keep quiet. Shouto had previously described what it felt like to hold his quirk back when it wanted to break free, and Hitoshi had assumed that was something only people with physical quirks had to deal with. Now he could swear he felt it too, his quirk bubbling up in his throat, wanting to cast a net that would bring this villain to his knees.
One of the tooth-blades broke through the ice wall, shooting for Hitoshi, but Shouto immediately threw up another barrier in the way.
"I can't just let you do this alone!" Hitoshi called to Shouto. "I have to do something!"
"You can't!" Shouto insisted, planting his right foot and sending another wave of ice creeping over the wall, thickening the barrier.
"If he's got something to counter my quirk then you can still protect me!" Hitoshi tried desperately.
"We still have to worry about Tsuburaba," Shouto reminded him, throwing a determined glance at him. "If you go down I'll have to carry both of you, and I can't do that alone."
Hitoshi grit his teeth, staring up at the villain. All he had to do was immobilize him, maybe put him to sleep, then Shouto could freeze him in an ice prison and they would be gone. It was such a simple solution. He had to protect his friend. He had to.
Suddenly there was a crash from off to one side, and all three of them, including the villain, looked over. A huge dust cloud had been thrown up by something, and as they watched there was another crash and another section of forest closer to them was disturbed. A third crash created a clear trajectory. Something was headed straight for them. Something big.
"There! I see ice!" cried a voice, and Hitoshi's heart leaped to realize it was Izuku. "They're fighting!"
"Huh?" garbled the villain, but the crashes were coming closer and closer, faster and faster, until Hitoshi could see exactly what was making them.
Shouji was sprinting through the trees, Izuku cradled in a strange, fleshy nest of duplicate arms on his back. Following close behind them, roaring in rage and smashing through anything in its path, was as massive black creature. It was partially obscured by the dust it was kicking up as it came, but it was obvious what it was. It could only be Tokoyami's Dark Shadow, but many, many times his normal size.
"Shinsou!" Shouji yelled, barely keeping his position out in front. "Brainwash Dark Shadow! Now!"
"More flesh!" shouted the villain before Hitoshi could react, sending out a few of his razor teeth shooting toward Dark Shadow.
Dark Shadow didn't seem to feel when the attack hit his beak and glanced off. Instead of recoiling in pain he lunged forward, smashing through the ice wall and pinning the villain beneath his claws. Shouji barely managed to dive out of his path without getting squished, and then he was running toward them, surreally dwarfed by the behemoth above him. At the center of the shadow storm Tokoyami was clearly visible, tears streaming from his eyes as half his face was engulfed in darkness.
"Hitoshi!" cried Izuku, and Hitoshi looked to see him waving frantically from Shouji's back. "He's having a panic attack! You need to calm him down!"
Relief rolled through him, followed by fresh determination. The villains couldn't possibly be able to hurt him with a countermeasure if he didn't use his quirk on them. There was no risk in brainwashing a classmate. Calming down someone having a panic attack was something he knew how to do, and no one else would be able to help like he could. He let Tsuburaba slide gently to the ground and stood to face Dark Shadow.
"Dark Shadow!" Hitoshi called, casting out the net of his mind, but before any response could come suddenly someone else was shouting too.
"Don't steal from me!" The villain, all but forgotten in the commotion, had pushed himself up and was attacking again.
The teeth impaled Dark Shadow's face, but this had absolutely no effect. Instead of responding to Hitoshi he rounded on the villain, seizing him in one clawed hand and lifting him as if he were a toy. The villain's teeth tried to cut him, but they buried themselves in shadow and then broke, leaving his gums bare and his mouth gaping. Dark Shadow roared, and Hitoshi realized he had dropped his quirk by accident, too caught up in what was happening.
"You don't matter!" Dark Shadow growled, voice deep and massive. "Insignificant bug!"
Dark Shadow roared again, then swung the villain around and slammed him against a tree. The villain struck the trunk with a groan, then slid to the ground to lay still and silent among the roots.
"Dark Shadow!" Hitoshi repeated, reaching out again with his quirk.
"Not enough!" Dark Shadow howled, and Hitoshi's control clicked into place.
Dark Shadow went still, towering above the group. Tokoyami dangled from the shadowy mass like a single stubborn leaf on a bare tree branch in autumn. He was still crying, but strangely his eyes weren't blank white, and Hitoshi could see him looking down at them with a wild, desperate gaze. Dark Shadow's angry red eyes had gone back to their usual yellow, which Hitoshi figured was the closest thing Dark Shadow had to a resting state.
"Settle down!" Hitoshi ordered loudly. "Be calm and return to your normal size!"
Dark Shadow began to shrink, but slowly, and Hitoshi could still feel him fighting against the control. What else should he say? When he'd done this for Shouto and Izuku he had ordered their hearts to beat slower and their breathing to deepen. Did Dark Shadow have a heartbeat? Did he breathe?
"Tell him Tokoyami's safe," Izuku instructed, noticing as ever when Hitoshi was having trouble. "Remind him we're here," Shouto added. "Tell him we won't leave him."
"Listen to me and believe what I'm telling you," Hitoshi said firmly. "You are safe. Tokoyami is safe. Your friends are here and we'll help protect you both. We won't leave you alone."
As he spoke Dark Shadow began to go down more quickly and easily, lowering Tokoyami to the ground. Shouji went to meet him, and Tokoyami dropped gratefully into his arms. They hugged for a moment as Dark Shadow continued to reduce in size, then once Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were back in proportion with each other Shouji set Tokoyami on the ground and allowed Izuku to drop from the nest of arms on his back.
"Are you OK?" Izuku asked anxiously, making for Hitoshi as soon as his feet touched the ground.
"I'm fine," Hitoshi said, dropping his control of Dark Shadow just in time to turn and open his arms for Izuku to run into them. "What about you?"
"I'm OK," Izuku said, nuzzling into Hitoshi's shirt. "I was worried though, when I found out the villains were after you."
"We were worried for you," said Shouto's voice, and then the cool weight of his right arm was wrapping around Hitoshi's shoulders. Hitoshi felt himself and Izuku being squeezed together by the force of Shouto's hug.
"I had to go find Kouta," Izuku told them, snuggling closer. "There was a villain in the way, but I dealt with him. That's how I got the information."
"Are you hurt?" Shouto wondered into their hair.
Izuku reluctantly disentangled himself and showed them his left arm. A dark purple bruise was visible on his forearm, blossoming from what had surely been a point of heavy impact. Shouto made a small noise of distress, then reached out and ran his right hand along the arm, fluttering his fingers lightly against the skin. Hitoshi felt the cold air radiating off him, and a fine layer of frost swept over the bruise in the wake of his touch.
"Oh that's so nice!" Izuku gushed, twisting his arm so he could get a good look at the bruise from every angle. "It feels much better!"
"It's all I can really do," Shouto said, looking regretful.
"It's more than I can do," Hitoshi complained, more to reassure Shouto than anything. "I can't-"
He jerked back as something touched his shoulder, then whirled around to see Dark Shadow hovering close by. He was much smaller now, his eyes pale yellow instead of glowing red, and he looked sheepish as he waved to Hitoshi.
"Thank you for saving me and Fumi," he said, looking at the ground shyly. "I didn't mean to get so big, but the villain was so scary and there were so many shadows to use it just got away from me."
"It's fine," Hitoshi said, rubbing the back of his neck self-consciously. "You were having a panic attack, it happens."
Shouto glanced over at where the villain was laying unconscious at the base of a tree. "We could barely defend against that guy but you beat him instantly," he noted.
"Midoriya's plan worked flawlessly," Shouji agreed, approaching their little cluster with Tokoyami. Dark Shadow quickly withdrew to hide behind Tokoyami, peeking out at the others over his shoulder.
"Thank you both," Tokoyami said formally, inclining his head a little. "I'm sorry for the trouble we caused."
"We?" Hitoshi repeated curiously.
Tokoyami and Dark Shadow both looked surprised. Hitoshi could see that Tokoyami and Shouji were already holding hands, but now Tokoyami shrank back against Shouji's side, Dark Shadow retreating even further behind him.
"When Izuku was telling me what to do, he said that Dark Shadow was having a panic attack, not Tokoyami," Hitoshi outlined his reasoning. "And when my quirk activated, Tokoyami's eyes were normal, but I clearly had an effect on Dark Shadow. I just wanna know . . . you're not the same person, are you?"
Tokoyami and Dark Shadow looked at each other. They seemed to be having a full on conversation, but in complete silence, and finally they looked back at Hitoshi.
"Yes," Tokoyami admitted, "Dark Shadow is not a quirk, as most people understand him to be. He's actually my twin, whose egg was absorbed by mine in the womb. His shadow manipulation quirk allows him to construct a physical form and manifest outside my body. I have a touch-based telepathy quirk, which allows us to be in constant communication, but was less noticeable when we were children."
As Tokoyami spoke, Dark Shadow drifted back out from behind him, then began to speak for himself. "Until Midoriya, no one ever believed I was real," he said sadly. "We didn't have any way to prove it until he suggested Fumi might have a telepathy quirk. We're still trying to figure out where we go from here, but at least our Mom and Dad believe us now."
"Yikes," Hitoshi said reflexively. He had often wondered what he would do if his mother believed he had a villain's quirk like everyone else did. He couldn't imagine her not believing he was a real person.
"That must have been hard," Shouto said more tactfully. "It's good that you're getting more support now."
"We're sorting some legal issues out now," Tokoyami said. "Until then, Dark Shadow isn't technically a citizen, so we need to keep this quiet."
"Once I have my own ID I'll be able to manifest in public," Dark Shadow said cheerfully, then deflated a bit. "But it also means I can't lose control like this at night."
"This was a dire situation," Izuku assured him soothingly. "You panicked and lost control of your quirk. That happens all the time."
"You ended up helping in the end," Shouji added.
"I still hurt you though," Tokoyami said, ducking his head in shame.
"We'll deal with that later," Shouji teased, and Tokoyami and Dark Shadow both looked off to one side. Tokoyami's feathers fluffed up briefly, then settled.
"OK," Izuku said purposefully. "I don't know if everyone heard Mandalay, but I found out the villains are after Hitoshi."
"And you," Shouto interjected.
"Both of us," Izuku agreed, "and there may be others. Apparently they have a list."
"Are they trying to kill you?" Tokoyami wondered, evidently having been too busy trying to control Dark Shadow to hear Mandalay's message clearly. "Why?"
"They're trying to abduct them," Shouto corrected. "The villains want them alive."
"We should get to camp," Izuku said, drawing attention back to himself. "It's the safest place as long as Aizawa-sensei and Vlad King have regrouped there."
"Good idea!" said Dark Shadow eagerly.
"So our mission is to get the two of you back to safety by serving as your protectors," Tokoyami surmised.
Izuku nodded. "It's possible the Pussycats are still fighting in the clearing. Going that way would draw the attention of the villains, plus it's longer. We should cut straight across."
"We don't know how many enemies there are," Tokoyami pointed out. "We might come across some by chance."
"Shouji's search ability should let us know if any villains are getting close," Izuku insisted. "If we have to fight, Dark Shadow has plenty of power for offense and Shouto's ice walls will make a good defense. If we have to hunker down and wait, a giant ice formation will make us easy for the teachers to find."
"The two of you probably shouldn't fight," Shouto insisted, looking from Izuku to Hitoshi and back.
"I'll carry Tsuburaba then," Hitoshi said resignedly.
"No," Shouji countered, bending down to heft the unconscious Class B student into the same nest of dupli-arms he had made for Izuku. "I'll carry him. The two of you be ready to run if things go south."
Izuku and Hitoshi glanced at each other, then nodded. *
"Ochako, is your arm OK?" Tsu asked, voice full of genuine anxiety.
Ochako forced herself to stop and take stock. She was bleeding from a shallow cut on her upper arm. She didn't feel any pain at the moment, but that was probably the adrenaline. It would hurt more when she had calmed down. She didn't think she was injured anywhere else, but she hadn't even noticed the wound on her arm until Tsu had spoken. Still, she had to be more careful. She couldn't let herself sustain more injuries without noticing.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she said, keeping her eyes front no matter how much she wanted to look at her friend. "It's just a scratch."
Across from them, standing in the middle of the path, the female villain hummed.
"Shallow," she pronounced, examining her bloody knife with unsettling interest. "Not much blood."
"What kind of person slashes people out of nowhere?" Tsu demanded. She was trying to summon up righteous indignation, going for bravado, but she mostly just sounded scared. "Just who do you think you are?"
"I'm Toga!" chirped the villain, the messy buns on either side of her head bouncing as she pointed at them with her knife. "Jeez, you two are super cute. Uraraka and Asui."
She pointed at each of them with the knife as she spoke, and her yellow eyes flashed in the dark. The villain was dressed like a school girl, in a uniform not dissimilar to their own, and her youthful appearance contrasting with the bloody knife created an unsettling effect. Ochako felt terribly exposed.
"How does she know who we are?" she whispered to Tsu.
"Maybe from the sports fest?" Tsu suggested. "We know nothing about her so we're at a disadvantage. Stay on guard."
"There's not enough blood," complained the villain -- Toga -- as she reached up to fiddle with the machine strapped to her back. "Normally I'd suck it directly from the cut to make it flow but there's no time."
She pulled a piece of her equipment out, a metal cylinder like a canister connected to the main device by a small tube.
"Don't worry girls," she said, her tone sickeningly saccharine, "this machine will start pumping it out as soon as I stick it in you. I'll get my fill and move on."
With a flick of her wrist, a long metal spike like a giant needle came out of the end of the cylinder, poised as though to strike and gleaming in the moonlight.
"Who's first?" Toga asked sweetly, and darted forward.
Ochako gasped, taking a reflexive step back, but before she could move any farther she felt a pressure around her waist gripping her tight. She looked down to find Tsu's tongue wrapped several times around her. Tsu jerked her head, and Ochako was swung around and launched into the air, back the way they had come.
"You have to get back to camp!" Tsu shouted after her. "We have permission to use quirks to protect ourself not to counterattack! I'm sure that's what Aizawa-sensei meant!"
"Tsu!" Ochako reached back for her. "Come on!"
"I'll be right behind you!" Tsu insisted, but too late.
As soon as she spoke Toga was upon her, and Ochako got a glimpse of the villain's knife slashing her tongue. Blood sprayed from the wound, small but in a blood rich organ, and Tsu crouched and jumped away. In order to evade Toga though, she had to jump in the wrong direction.
At that point Ochako had to worry about her descent, as she had past the peak of her arc and was getting dangerously close to hitting the ground hard. She made herself float, which stopped the impact from hurting but didn't prevent her from landing, and she bounced immediately back into the air. She canceled her quirk, but had gotten turned around midair and ended up landing on her head. Once she had righted herself she turned back, to find Tsu pinned to a tree by her hair, Toga bearing down on her.
"I'm coming!" Ochako shouted, launching herself to her feet and sprinting for where Tsu was trapped.
"Aw, you're bleeding Tsu!" Toga simpered, eyes trained on the smear of blood on the corner of Tsu's mouth. "You couldn't be more adorable! I just love blood."
Toga leaned in close, cheeks flushed pink and eyes hazy with delight. "We're gonna be such good friends."
"Get away from her!" Ochako shrieked.
Immediately Toga released Tsu to lunge at Ochako with her knife, but Ochako was ready. She mentally recited the steps she'd learned at her internship as she went through the motions.
When your opponent has a knife, pivot on one foot to disappear from their line of sight, she thought, muscle memory carrying her through the technique, just like Gunhead had said it would. Grab the wrist and the base of the neck, pull with all your might and slam them!
Ochako forced Toga into the dirt, pinning her down, the knife clattering away across the ground. She didn't wait to see if Toga would try to get free though; she shoved her hand beneath Toga's collar, eliciting a tittering shriek of surprise from the villain, and pressed all five fingers to bare skin. Ochako activated her quirk, concentrating hard on doing the opposite of what she was used to, then got up and off Toga. As expected, Toga remained pinned in place.
"What did you do?" Toga whined, muscles straining as she tried to stand, but she couldn't so much as lift a finger. "I can't even move!"
"Tsu!" Ochako cried, running to pull the cylindrical instrument out of the tree and let Tsu drop to the ground. "Are you OK?"
"I'm fine," Tsu said, throwing her arms around Ochako as soon as she was on the ground. "That was amazing!"
"It's something Midoriya taught me how to do with my quirk," Ochako said, hugging Tsu tight. "I haven't used it much in class, but I've been practicing-"
"No, I mean everything you did!" Tsu insisted, pulling back to look at Ochako with her big, round eyes. "Your technique, the way you moved, how you attacked without hesitation! You're amazing Ochako!"
Ochako's heart did an acrobatic flip, making her breath hitch. She opened her mouth to respond but didn't know what to say. Tsu was looking at her with such reverence, such admiration and awe, that she didn't know what response was correct. Her face felt hot, and her throat was dry. She wanted to tell Tsu that she was also amazing, that she was brave and kind and selfless, but those sentiments seemed to big for her to give voice to right now.
"I wouldn't have been able to stop her if you hadn't saved me first," Ochako said, feeling like it wasn't nearly enough.
A light blush dusted Tsu's cheeks. "Ochako . . ." "Aw!" cooed Toga.
"Quiet!" shouted Ochako and Tsu together.
Ochako looked back at her friend, wanting to say more, but the sound of footsteps in the undergrowth drew her attention. She whirled around, placing herself between Tsu and the noise, but a moment later Shouji, Todoroki and Midoriya emerged onto the path.
"Uraraka!" Midoriya called excitedly, beginning to rush forward, but before he could get in front of the others Todoroki flung out an arm to stop him.
"Who's that?" he asked, indicating Toga on the ground.
"One of the villains," Tsu explained, coming out from behind Ochako. "She's crazy!"
"I'm Toga!" protested the villain, shifting a little as she tried to wiggle into a position where she could see the newcomers. "Who's here? Any of my friends?"
"Nope, our friends," Ochako retorted.
"Uraraka, you're hurt!" Midoriya noted, pushing Todoroki's arm down a little. Todoroki still did not let him pass.
"It's not bad," Ochako assured him, glancing down at the cut. It wasn't even bleeding anymore. "I can still walk OK."
"We can't stand here and talk," Shouji insisted. "Let's move."
"They captured one of the villains though," Todoroki said, still watching Toga with interest. "What do we do with her?"
"We should do a sleepover!" Toga giggled. "Who wants to come home with me?"
"We can't stay in the woods to babysit her," Midoriya said thoughtfully, tugging on his lip. "We've never really tested how far Uraraka can get from an object before her quirk stops affecting it, but I've seen her throw things pretty far, so I think we'll at least be able to get far enough away that the villain can't catch us."
"I'm Toga!" repeated the villain, sounding a little annoyed now. "Can't you hear me?"
"We'll have to leave her here for the time being," Midoriya concluded, then turned back to Ochako and Tsu. "Now come on, join our group. We're protecting Hitoshi-"
"And you," Todoroki interjected.
"-and making our way back to camp," Midoriya finished. "We could use your help."
Ochako and Tsu looked at each other, then looked back at the boys. Ochako did a deliberate headcount, just to be sure the adrenaline wasn't messing with her. Midoriya, Todoroki, Shouji, and a Class B student she didn't know, who she now saw nestled on Shouji's back. No Shinsou.
"If you're protecting Shinsou," Tsu said, touching a finger to her mouth in confusion, "shouldn't he be standing here with you guys?"
All three boys whirled around to look, but there could be no mistake. The path behind them was empty.