Tensions were already high between Yuuto and Shigaraki after the events of the office massacre. Now that Shigaraki had tried to recruit Stain—thus negating Yuuto's purpose in being there—he was beginning to question the point of allying with Yuuto at all. The events of Hosu had already transpired and Hero Killer Stain had become a viral sensation over the course of a few days. Shigaraki was a quick to anger man, but recently it felt as though he was ghosting his finger over a hairpoint trigger, and Yuuto was in the line of fire. He hadn't picked up his handheld game and instead scratched incessantly at his neck to the point he was bleeding.
Yuuto had wanted to discuss what to do next. Given that his value to Shigaraki had decreased he needed to make sure to stay in his good graces in some way. Having the level head was already taken by Kurogiri but the man was a pushover and accepted Shigaraki's will without much argument. The League of Villains still had the prestige and media presence but the issue was that everyone believed they shared the same ideals as Stain. Shigaraki vehemently hated this.
"You know, we could just use this opportunity to bring in more people. Once they're in, well…" Yuuto grinned wickedly. "Then they're in. I can find some weaknesses to exploit and keep them in if they try to leave."
"Like you did with that would-be spy? Or the other members of your group that deserted you? I can't trust you to keep that promise when you failed already. I don't want you to recruit more of your Dragons. I don't want people to come fawning over Stain. I want people to follow my orders and be a part of my League of Villains!" Shigaraki stood. Yuuto rose from the couch but didn't step back when the volatile man got in his space. "You might be one of my generals but your army has been wiped out. You're basically useless for what I agreed to bring you into the group for. The donation of people with powerful quirks was a good start, but you stopped giving them to me."
"I couldn't hand over everyone in my group, they'd get suspicious. I had to pick and pull at the right time and from the right faction. I'd have offered you Taiko's fucking corpse but that went and got charred. Do you need more powerful quirks? You want me to kidnap people? I can kidnap people. I can bring in more recruits and build what I had before. You saw how quickly I arranged that mass of criminals rearing to infiltrate a damn high school. I gave you that army but your side of the plan didn't work. I accomplished my goal that day. You didn't!" Yuuto knew it was dumb to rile Shigaraki but he didn't care. He wanted to make his point. Yuuto had followed through with his promises more than he'd failed.
Shigaraki reached quickly to grab Yuuto's face and there was no warp portal to prevent it this time. Yuuto dodged to the side simultaneously grabbing Shigaraki's wrist and twisted it behind his back. He grabbed a handful of Shigaraki's hair to keep his back facing him. Shigaraki reached behind his head to decay Yuuto's hand and Yuuto shot out a jet of scalding steam intended to melt his skin off. A small black portal harmlessly redirected the attack to the opposite end of the room. He released Shigaraki and kicked him forward to keep from being decayed.
"You have some guts doing that to me." Shigaraki stared down Yuuto from a few paces away.
"I believe what he says is beneficial." Kurogiri may have just saved Yuuto's life by interjection when he did. Shigaraki took a heavy step, seeming to have reconsidered his actions. Or at the very least waiting for Kurogiri to speak before murdering the annoying Dragon. "They may come with the wrong intentions but that does not mean they are not useful."
"It's not what I want." Shigaraki complained. Kurogiri tried to reason again. "Stop it! Stop it! Just do as I say!" Shigaraki took another aggressive step towards Yuuto but didn't lunge. "You are going to bring me people who want to join the League. There's not going to be any more Dragons. You're either with me or you're not, and if you're not with me I'll kill you." Yuuto withheld the sarcastic remark toward his negotiating skills because he had a sense of self preservation.
"Understood, Leader." Yuuto begrudgingly agreed. His jaw was tightly clenched. "I'll get right on that."
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"That is a terrible idea." Scales scratched at his currently unbandaged shoulder. Meg swatted his hand away to stop him. "Sorry, it's just itchy. But seriously, Iguchi, Kyo, don't get swept away by this Stain train. The guy makes sense, sure, but that doesn't excuse all the shit the League of Villains had put us through."
"Okay, name one." Iguchi challenged. "Name something that wasn't orchestrated by Yuuto and that the League explicitly ordered."
"They're the reason the rift in the group started in the first place!" Scales argued.
"That was a fault of differing values! The League believes in the conviction of Stain. This unjust society needs to be reformed." Iguchi countered.
"The only reason a hero even showed up that day was because they were chasing someone else. It was a coincidence that we were rescued. Taka led him to us—" Kyo was cut off by Silva. The man was lying on the couch of the apartment they were staying in. His torso was recently rebandaged.
"Bullshit! She was following orders from Taiko. She was about to open that door and let everyone die."
"You weren't even awake!" Iguchi shouted at him. "That girl was about to kill Taiko before she got stabbed."
"I doubt that." Scales barked a bitter laugh.
"You said she killed someone before. It's usually easier the second time." Kyo mentioned casually
"I told you, what she did to Rentarou was an accident. Besides, I saw how she reacted when we disrupted the trafficking. She's not a killer like that." Scales leaned forward to let Meg wrap fresh bandages over his newly taped down gauze. They were all healing as best they could without going to a hospital. Scales' quirk was efficient in removing bullets. Meg was a decent hand in stitching, and Silva's ability could numb someone enough to not feel it. The defrost was another story. Hopefully by then the painkillers or copious amounts of alcohol hit your system.
"That's not what I heard. Kyo and Meg can back me up on this because we all heard Taiko start bargaining. Whatever was happening scared them enough and then shortly after they stabbed Takaomi." Iguchi explained their take on the events.
"I can vouch for that. Taiko sounded kind of uneasy." Meg added. "That being said, I'm still not allying with the League or anyone. Renja is in jail, thankfully alive. I'm done with all this. I just want to get somewhere far away and start over."
"Yeah. I agree with that." Silva raised his hand for a moment.
"What about Renja?" Scales asked.
"We can follow his updates online. His criminal record is still public and so will be his sentencing. He's going to be in for a while." Meg patted Scales' shoulder when she was done. He pulled his shirt back on.
"We know you don't agree, but Kyo and I feel strongly about this." Less argumentative Iguchi continued his reasoning. "We're going to follow Stain's words and change society. There's too much corruption in—"
"I get it." Scales interrupted. "I just don't want to get anywhere near where Yuuto might be. As far as I know they're still working together. Is that something you two can easily overlook?" Iguchi and Kyo shared a look, whatever silent conversation their eyes held had happened before. It wasn't an easy decision. "So that's it. We're all going separate ways?"
"You're not coming with us?" Silva asked. Meg joined him, sitting next to the couch so she could hold his hand.
"No. I don't want to just run away and forget. I'm also not as ambitious to think I can change society. Shit is going to keep happening because people are shit. I want to find out where our missing friends are." Scales leaned back in his chair, adjusting his wings more comfortably. "If you two find out anything while in the League, please let me know. I'm more than certain they're dead, but I need justice for them."
"Justice?" Kyo smiled at first, thinking it was a joke. Then frowned when he realized he was serious. "The only justice you're going to get is by taking matters into your own hands. Finding the truth is only the beginning. Police can't help you, they're too tied up with evidence and permissions."
"This is different from your past situation, Kyo. I'm aware I can't depend on them too much." Scales said.
"You can't depend on them at all." Kyo insisted.
The group let the conversation die after that. Making their preparations for the paths they chose to take.
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"Well this is interesting." Giran had an influx of inspired individuals that inquired about joining the League. He was known to have connections so people rightly assumed he could get them in touch with the notorious group. His orders for support items had boomed and his runners were happily out delivering. The interesting thing was the phone call he'd just concluded. Yuuto, the infamous last Dragon leader, had requested he gather people interested in joining the League. Not the Dragons, but the League of Villains.
"Has Yuuto made the switch? Are the Dragons officially disbanded?" Giran wondered and shuffled through his stack of profiles. Even if their meeting was short, Giran always did a background check and kept information on hand. Knowledge was power after all.
His phone rang and he answered as usual.
"Hello, how can I assist you?" Giran calmly listened to the next inspired Stain fan ask about an introduction to the League. They decided on a time and place to meet, because Giran conducts his business face to face whenever possible. Building rapport is important for client loyalty "I'll see you then."
Going from location to location was a drain on gas but it still beat having to pay for an official office space. The amount of people he'd basically interviewed was starting to make him reconsider at least renting a temporary home base. That didn't solve the annoyance currently so he dismissed the thought. The car had arrived at their destination and Giran exited the car letting his driver know he'd be back soon. Giran was fairly good at reading people, but based on the phone call earlier it didn't seem Yuuto was too picky on candidates. Meaning Giran didn't necessarily have to prescreen them. He would anyway because bringing someone who wasn't worth their time would be a waste to everyone.
"Oh? You said there were two of you, not three." Giran approached with his businesslike smile and stopped a few paces away. Sitting on a conveyor belt was Iguchi and Kyo. Standing not far from them was Scales. The abandoned factory around them was half covered in tarps and the windows boarded up.
"I'm here for the opportunity to talk to you. I'll wait my turn." Scales leaned back against a pillar and crossed his arms. The other two stood and faced Giran. They were greeted and asked the obvious question, why they wanted to join. As expected it was to follow in Stain's footsteps and change society. A noble thought, almost heroic, if not for the means in which they were planning to exact it. Peace through violence. All the followers of Stain sought to start a war, or use the excuse to murder as they pleased.
"I have a question." Kyo shifted. The amicable air that he'd mirrored from Giran shed away for a moment. "Is Yuuto still affiliated with the League?" Giran took a moment to judge the change in posture of all three of them. The distaste, no, it was more than simple distaste. The sneer, the subtle scowl, a gripped fist. This might be a problem.
"I sense a bit of tension here." Giran tilted his head just so, the glare of the lights hiding his eyes. "Would his involvement change your minds? It is the League of Villains not the League of Yuuto. I do understand if you may have some bad blood being former Dragons yourself." Kyo and Iguchi flinched subtly, they hadn't told him that. Scales didn't react. Giran turned his attention to Scales. "Hikaru Uroko, better known as Scales. If you were tagging along with these two I assume they are some of your friends. Survivors of the massacre?"
"Is he with them or not?" Iguchi asked.
"He is. I don't know to what degree. It's my speculation but I believe he's absolved what was left of the Dragons and is fully involved in the League." Giran shrugged, gesturing to further emphasis his words. "I guess if you can't work with one man you disagree with then maybe joining the League isn't the right way for you to go about it. Are you sure you don't want to go solo, do your own 'Purging of Society's shams'. I can supply you with support items."
"Stain was in the League of Villains. If he saw some benefit in working with him then that's what I'll do." Iguchi felt a bitter taste in his mouth saying it. He and Kyo had discussed it at length. If Stain was willing to work with Yuuto then who were they to question it?
"Do you feel the same?" Giran asked Kyo specifically.
"Yes." It still sounded bitter but it was spoken decisively. Giran concluded his business with them, they'd get a call when he got a meeting arranged. Scales then walked over with a piece of paper folded in his hand.
"I have a request for an item." Scales unfolded the paper and handed it over. A description accompanied the detailed diagram he had drawn. They exchanged information and Giran said he'd be in touch soon.
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Takaomi exited the train station, case in hand and duffle bag hanging off her shoulder. She'd already separated from Mineta a stop earlier. Aizawa had messaged her letting her know he was waiting outside. She didn't expect to see Mr. Hizashi waiting with him. Both were more casually dressed, even though Aizawa's casual attire wasn't all that different from his work attire.
"Uh, hey Mr. Hizashi." Takaomi handed her case over to Aizawa when he reached for it.
"How was the internship, kiddo?" Hizashi smiled, his cheeks pushing up his glasses slightly. Takaomi cringed, in the way one does when they don't want to tell you it was bad and just hoped you inferred it. "Yikes, what happened?" They walked together to Hizashi's car and Aizawa had them put her things in the trunk.
"I wanna preface it by saying she got better. It started with cleaning, all day. Every day. She didn't teach us shit at first." Takaomi clicked her seatbelt on and they pulled into traffic.
"Watch your language." Aizawa scolded but only in passing.
"Sorry. Well eventually she got the idea that she should teach us or… Well, she started letting us go on patrols with her. She even gave us advice on redesigning our hero costumes." Takaomi reached into her bag and pulled out the third draft they'd worked on. She handed it to Aizawa. "I was hoping to put in the request as soon as possible." Aizawa didn't want to comment on the opposite direction she was going in terms of modesty. Not that he could berate her when Yaoyorozu and Hagakure were running around half or completely naked.
"Yeah. Yamada, stop by the school on the way." Aizawa passed the paper back to her. "She must have had an impact on you. You added horns to your costume." Takaomi clicked her tongue and huffed.
"Dang it, she was right. That's not what it is. It's a reference to Aka." Takaomi corrected and muttered annoyedly about Mt. Lady assuming people would think that.
"Who?" Hizashi asked.
"A guy named Akamatsu, he's a close friend of hers." Aizawa said before Takaomi could.
When they arrived at school the rest of the student body was continuing classes as normal. Only the Hero courses were away on internships, and even then not all of them were. Takaomi felt a bit odd walking the halls in her normal clothes. Aizawa sent the paperwork and a copy of her sketch to the costuming department. After that they were on their way back to his apartment.
Hizashi seemed to invite himself in just to cook and it didn't appear that Aizawa was in any hurry to kick him out. Takaomi went ahead and took care of her laundry, once again grateful that Aizawa owned a dryer so she didn't have to hang up her underwear in front of her teachers. She felt a buzz in her pocket and checked her phone. Mina was asking everyone who was home if they wanted to meet up and talk about internships.
"Hey, Aizawa. Can I go out? Mina and the others want to meet up." Takaomi stopped at the edge of the hallway with her phone in hand.
"No, you're grounded." He didn't miss a beat. Cracking open a beer and taking a sip. His gaze focused on Hizashi expertly flipping fried rice.
"Wait, still?" Takaomi threw her open palms to the side beseechingly. "Mt Lady had me cleaning for like a week straight! That should count as grounding."
"Doesn't count." He took another sip. Hizashi moved the pan to a different burner and turned to look at them.
"What's she grounded for?" He asked.
"She was drinking. Came home drunk and tried to play it off." Aizawa didn' seem fazed but Hizashi sternly glared at her.
"Aoki!" Takaomi lowered her head at his scolding. He questioned her but Aizawa filled him in instead, they way he spoke it seemed he regularly vented to Hizashi about things. He even knew who Masa was without explanation. She was grounded for the rest of the week and relayed that to the chat. When asked why she didn't see a reason to lie.
Taka - [I got caught drinking. Woke up with a hangover and Aizawa pieced it together.]
Mina - [Kaomi!]
Kaminari - [Yo! Where'd you get the alcohol?]
Mina - [Don't encourage her!]
Sero - [Like we weren't talking about 'what mixed drink am I' earlier?]
Sero of course was referring to previously in the group chat when Kaminari posted a link to a quiz. Bakugo declined joining but then interjected saying he was a sake bomb, to which they all joked he picked it because it had the name bomb in it. Kaminari dubbed him instead as a Tequila Sunrise. Fun ensued and Takaomi had to mute the conversation for thirty minutes because she was at UA.
Takaomi went ahead and took the quiz while she waited for Hizashi to finish up the fried rice.
Kirishima - [I don't know if I like the name 'Old Fashioned' but the drink sounds manly.]
Taka - [I got 'White Russian'. Why doesn't this site give an explanation? Milk in vodka?]
Jiro - [There's coffee liquor in it too?]
Taka - [Wait, really? I want to try this.]
Bakugo - [You're literally grounded for chugging beers you idiot.]
Taka - [I didn't know he had a super beer! I'll be smarter about it next time.]
Sero - [Mi, that's not the point.]
Kaminari - [Next time include me.]
While the chat got on her case as well as Kaminari, she sent a private message to Sero.
Taka - [We haven't spoken about what happened at your place last week. I just want to say I'm sorry if I started anything between you and your mom.]
Sero - [Don't be, she's overreacting. I'm sorry I didn't tell you beforehand. I'm also sorry I didn't lock the door and she walked in on us.]
Their following messages were somewhat awkward and spaced out between that and replying to the group chat. Both of them skirted the subject of what had happened. Eventually Sero admitted he'd rather talk in person and she agreed. Hizashi convinced Aizawa that Takaomi should do their dishes as part of her grounding. She didn't have any place to object since she was in the wrong.
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Takaomi saw him in the hallway and couldn't help it. She guffawed. Literally clutching her stomach and full belly laughing right at Bakugo as he stomped up to her.
"Shut your fucking mouth!" The telling pink bush on his ears showed he was as embarrassed as he was angry. The tame side part his hair was combed into didn't match his personality whatsoever.
"Holy crap dude, what happened?" Takaomi tried getting her snickers under control. The key word being tried. She mostly hid her smile behind her hand but it was still obvious.
"Best Jeanist happened. I tried making it go back to normal but it's stuck like this." Those passing in the hallway didn't know any better and were staring at them more because of the scene they were causing. Bakugo still snapped at anyone looking for too long.
"Chill, Baku. Hang on." Takaomi cleared her throat, finally getting her laughter under control. She walked up to him and reached for his hair. Bakugo dodge to the side.
"What the hell are you doing?" He demanded.
"Just stay still." She blinked behind him and buried her hands into his hair, doing her best to mess it up. He crouched as if to jump away but stayed put after a second when her nails began lightly scratching his scalp. It looked perfectly messed up, but as soon as she pulled her hands away it returned to its neatly combed side part. "How the hell?"
"I fucking told you." Bakugo tried the same and achieved the same result. They carried on to class together and were greeted to the same reaction from Sero and Kirishima. He got much angrier at their reactions and exploded at them. His hair puffed back to normal somehow. Takaomi couldn't help laughing at the absurdity of it and he got mad at her all over again.
Due to the whole hair situation, Takaomi and Sero missed the chance to talk before class. During lunch she swore he'd bring it up but they carried on like normal. Kaminari bugged her about what beer she drank but she couldn't fully remember it. It came time for heroics class and to her surprise when she opened her costume case it was the new design. Her gasp and squeak of excitement wasn't missed by the other girls in the locker room.
"What's up?" Mina asked, shimmying into her leotard.
"New costume." Takaomi answered vaguely. The first thing she pulled out before even taking off her uniform was the collar. It was white, clunkier in design than the one that Moji crafted for her. This one worked by touch rather than dial. According to the instructions it had a built in timer to release pressure after twenty minutes as well as a heart rate monitor. She had included her limit in the description so it was a safety feature to keep her from passing out.
"Is that a collar?" Jiro asked.
"Yup." Takaomi clipped it on and tapped the right side. It tightened around her neck snugly being tighter on the sides but still put some weight on her throat. It wasn't uncomfortable but it was noticeably different from Moji's design. The world stopped, the air chilled, and she took that time to change into her new costume. It was definitely different, the shorts were akin to bicycle shorts and the top more a bra than a shirt. The base color of the costume was light blue like her hair with pink and white accents. The cropped jacket was white, a blue symbol like a mashup of a pause and play button encircled over her left chest. The cuffs on the quarter sleeves and collar were blue as well, but the inside lining was pink. The same symbol was plastered in white on the right thigh of her shorts. Her shoes were perfectly flexible allowing for ankle movement and the pink headband had her two little devil horns just like she'd asked. Safety glasses were tinted pink and were transparent all the way through, so there was no interference in her peripherals. Aside from the jacket, she did feel like she was standing in her underwear. Her stomach was completely exposed from her hips to right below her sternum.
The sudden jitters for showing skin had her hesitate ending the pause.
"Mt Lady is too aware of appearances to have made something that looks terrible on me. It can't be that bad." She double tapped the collar and saw the collective looks of surprise from everyone.
"Eee! It's so cute!" Toru clapped, her half open shirt wriggling in excitement.
"I thought you didn't like to show too much skin?" Ochako asked. One of the first times in a while she spoke to Takaomi directly.
"I still don't, not really. It's a practical choice." Takaomi did an experimental squat to see how her shorts and shoes felt. "So long as someone can grab an arm or a leg or whatever, they can come along with my Time Pause. It frees up my hands." This design didn't include the knee pads, but would be easy to add if she felt like she needed it.
They exited and joined the rest of the class. Her new look wasn't missed by the others and she wasn't entirely alone in a redesign. Todoroki also swapped to a different color scheme, ditching the wholly white jumpsuit and ice-covered side. Midoriya's green get-up looked newer. Mineta still had his diaper shorts unfortunately. Takaomi blinked behind him and tugged on his cape. He yelped but didn't fall.
"Where's the new look?" Takaomi asked him. He adjusted the cape so it wasn't choking him.
"I didn't turn the form in until today. So probably by the end of the week." He answered then gave her a once over. Takaomi took a step back and turned, showing the fit. Mineta grinned a bit lecherously and gave her a thumbs up. "Maybe add a boob window."
"Aaand you got creepy." Takaomi crossed her arms disappointedly. "We talked about this."
"He's Mineta, when isn't he creepy?" Kaminari and Sero joined the two. "Was Mt. Lady playing favorites or something? He told me all you guys basically did was clean. Yet here you are rocking a new costume." He positioned his hands on his head, index fingers upwards mimicking horns. "Is that a reference to her?"
"No…" Takaomi's shoulders dropped as a bitter sigh left her. "Doesn't matter, everyone thinks it though. The internship was like eighty percent cleaning. Ten percent of her talking shit about our costumes, and the other ten was us just following her while camera men took pictures."
"What made you decide to go with the beach volleyball vibe?" Kaminari asked.
"She wants people to touch her." Mineta said it to get a reaction, and dodge the hand that was aimed to swat his head.
"Shut up." Takaomi grumbled.
All Might called everyone's attention and gave a grand welcome back speech before announcing the aim of the class. A fun competitive race to the center using all that was learned during the student's internships. She wasn't a part of the first group so she took a seat by Jiro and speculated with the rest who was going to win.
"Wait, that's… There's five of them." Takaomi noticed after the group took off.
"Yeah, and?" Jiro didn't take her sight from the screen. Midoriya was flying past everyone unexpectedly. Then he lost his footing and fell. Sero ended up the winner. The next group was called up, another group of five. "Oh, I see your point. Did All Might forget about our uneven class again?"
"Maybe he assumed it would be an unfair advantage to have Aoki race with the others?" Yaoyorozu, who was seated next to Jiro, interjected. "He's for the most part remembered and adjusted as needed." The next group of five was called and finished, then the last group of five was called. Takaomi didn't say anything but Jiro and Yaoyorozu both spoke up.
"Excuse me, Sir. I'm wondering how you are going to address the irregular class size?" Yaoyorozu had her hand raised. All Might stopped before leaping away. His frozen expression looked like a loading screen trying to process and come up with a response in the span of seconds.
"All Might, did you forget about Takaomi again?" Jiro refrained from sounding accusatory.
"I do apologize. I admit the class size did slip my mind." All Might admitted rather than trying and failing to cover it up. Takaomi frowned. "Please, join in on this round. The size of the group doesn't matter so much as the race to rescue me."
"Uh, yeah. Okay." Takaomi tried not to let it show but she was bothered. Numbers were one thing but he was calling everyone by name, which meant it wasn't a random draw that excluded her. All Might had actually forgotten about her. At least that's how Takaomi saw it. The shame in being picked last and included by obligation made her bitter. She followed Shoji, Kirishima, Tokoyami, Ochako and Sato to the field before splitting up. Takaomi hadn't been given a starting point and chose to hang back at the edge of the field being the farthest from the center.
The second the race began, Takaomi tapped her collar. She wasn't given a transponder because of the oversight of everything that happened. She didn't know where All Might was, but assumed he was somewhere in the middle.
"I can probably just check someone else's transponder." Takaomi thought about who would try running straight versus who would be taking to the skies. "Shoji might climb but Ochako for sure will be jumping around. I need a good vantage point." All the while she was walking higher and higher into the air. About five minutes in she felt a vibration from her collar. She knew from reading the instruction manual that it was meant to help keep her limit in mind. At the ten interval it would vibrate twice, three times at fifteen minutes, and four at twenty before automatically turning off. She wouldn't get that far. She was already a good height above the field and tapped her collar off. The breeze was strong so she sunk down to reduce her surface area. It seemed Kirishima was closest to her. He was running between pipes and going the most direct route he could. From her right peripherals a pink an white dot rose from the skyline of the buildings and pipes. Ochako was sprinting between rooftops while using her quirk on herself.
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Ochako dashed and leapt, touching her fingers together and holding her breath she floated up to the next large pipe protruding from the rooftop. She released herself and ran along the narrow surface. Then halted suddenly when Takaomi just appeared in front of her path.
"Wah! Huh? Takaomi?" Ochako only stopped for a moment before glaring and jumping to the side. She continued her run toward her destination. It didn't click that Takaomi wasn't standing on anything. Ochako leapt to another more solid surface and checked her transponder to make sure she wasn't off track. She blinked and a hand snatched it away. "What!" She hadn't even fully stopped before she felt an object in her opposite hand, the transponder was back in her possession. "What just happened?" Looking around she saw a speck of blue and white ahead of her in the sky. "Is that Takaomi?"
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All Might wasn't trying to hide but the mess of pipes and chaos of the field hid him fairly well. After Takaomi had a look at the transponder she was able to get a better sense of where he was and located him from a better vantage point. All that was left was to greet him.
All Might was surprised when Takaomi appeared in front of him. Her hand poised over her collar and the light reflecting from her glasses hid her eyes.
"Wow! I expected you to find me quickly but that was much faster than I anticipated. Congratulations, Aoki!" All Might smiled that well known charismatic grin and threw a thumbs up her way.
"Thanks, 'teach." Takaomi sat next to a medium sized cement square with a bundle of pipes coming out of it. "The others can't hear us up here, right? I didn't catch any audio when we were watching before."
"Hmm? No, it's just a video feed." He answered with a curious tone.
"Please don't forget me again. I'd rather you lie and single me out saying you had a separate course or something rather than throwing me in as an afterthought. I know it's not your fault that this class has an extra, but I don't enjoy being the outlier either." Her words were spoken calmly and quietly, internally she was upset and wanted to shout at him. She knew better than to do that.
"I see. I do apologize for my oversight. As a teacher I should have prepared better." He did sound sincere in his words. Takaomi took a breath and released a portion of her tense bitterness. A mumbled 'it's fine' was all he got in return. Tokoyami was the first to make it to the rooftop, Dark Shadow helping to propel him. He was shortly followed by Ochako. Then Shoji jumped in from somewhere.
"Aw I was so close!" Ochako whined. When she spotted Takaomi sitting casually against the concrete block Ochako pouted indignantly. "Takaomi, that wasn't fair interfering with me. If you hadn't done that I might have beaten Tokoyami here." The others looked at her, surprised to hear about the interference. Kirishima and Sato pulled themselves up over the edge of the building, both panting from full on sprinting and climbing.
"Sorry, Ochako. I didn't have a transponder." Takaomi noticed her teacher subtly flinching yet again. "I tried to be quick."
"Yeah, besides that. Were you flying?" Kirishima pointed behind him toward the sky. "I could have sworn I saw you just standing in the air."
"I thought I saw that too." Shoji added. Takaomi pushed up to her feet and then demonstrated. Stepping up and climbing invisible stairs and then walking back down. She explained the logic behind it when asked. All Might took control of the conversation awarding Takaomi with the first place sash like he'd done with all the other winners. It was a win yet her smile didn't reach her eyes.
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Her disingenuous happiness continued when Mina and Kaminari hyped over her newly revealed ability. She was a bit overwhelmed by the questions, especially Midoriya babbling off different theories and potential uses of her quirks' potential applications and capabilities. Takaomi laughed off the attention and purposely walked closer to Bakugo.
"Deku, shut your damn rambling! That shit is irritating!" Bakugo snapped at him. Midoriya apologized and excused himself.
"Works like a charm. He's like a guard dog." Takaomi smothered her grin before she could be called out for it. She walked close to Bakugo on the way to the shuttle and sat next to him on the commute back to school. He'd taken his gauntlets off and Takaomi offered to hold one so he didn't have to leave it on the floor.
"No, they're dangerous." The way he said it implied no question. He left one on the ground between his boots and the other on his lap.
"If I was scared of danger I wouldn't be friends with you, Baku." Takaomi took her safety glasses off and hung them from a loop on her jacket, a small addition meant for it.
"Don't call me that."
"You let Masa call you that. Actually, no, he calls you—"
"Don't!" Bakugo's raised voice caught some attention and he just ignored it. "He's a damn annoyance. I kept telling him to cut it out but he'd been saying that shit since before he got fired from the ramen shop. I guess I got used to it but that doesn't mean I like it." He lowered his voice so that his next words were lost in the murmur of conversations. "Why aren't you sitting with Elbows?" Takaomi started tapping her fingers on her thighs. Without pants to desensitize the sensation she noticed it sooner and crossed her arms. Stuffing her hands under her pits. "What happened? You're getting nervous." Takaomi slouched back in her chair. Sinking down just enough to be noticeable.
"Something happened and we haven't had a chance to talk about it." She glanced Sero's way and saw he was sitting with Ojiro and Kaminari discussing something. "I don't know how the talk is going to go, to be honest."
"You're not involved in illegal shit again are you?" Bakugo noticed the shuttle was about to stop. "Make this conversation longer."
"What?" Takaomi watched him subtly move closer to her, his upper arm pressed against the skin of her exposed elbow. The shuttle slowed to a stop. "Oh, sure." She tapped her collar and the world chilled. Her classmates all froze mid-stand. Bakugo turned his head, his gaze wasn't angry but more expectant. "I'm not involved with anything illegal. It's just… I mean it's highschool drama, sorta. I don't know if you want to hear about it."
"You're not about to waste my time by saying you don't know how to talk about your feelings, are you?" Bakugo's voice was bland, clearly not amused to even think about it. Takaomi let her head fall back and hit the window behind her. "You're right. I don't want to hear about it." He moved to stand but Takaomi quickly pulled him back down and linked arms. "I said I don't want to hear about this bullshit."
"No, come on. You give the best blunt advice. Just let me tell you real quick and then you say whatever comes to mind." Takaomi considered her words and corrected herself. "Whatever 'advice' comes to mind."
"No. Deal with your own shit." Bakugo tried to stand but Takaomi tagged his shirt, it froze and he was stuck. "Hey!"
"Hanta makes me feel better when I get stuck in my head about things I don't want to think about—"
"I said I don't want to hear it!" Bakugo interjected but Takaomi didn't stop talking.
"—I told him that he distracts me in a good way and then we started making out in his bedroom and his mom walked in on us and we haven't spoken about it since." She had to take a breath from her rambling. Not that Bakugo could stand, but if he could move he'd have dropped back down into his seat. Her eyes were focused on his gauntlet not intending to look up until she was done. Bakugo was staring off at other students, namely Sero. "I don't want to stop doing those things—it felt really good—but his mom hates me and I'm sure that'd be a big headache if we started dating."
"Don't date him." Bakugo's voice had a gravely tone, something that usually foretold an impending explosion. He hadn't cursed or called her annoying. His calm before the storm made her look at him. He tore his glare from Sero to Takaomi. "If you're just using him as a distraction then don't get into anything serious with him." He felt the stiffness of his shirt released but he chose to remain sitting.
"It's, uh, kind of the same on his end. Hanta said something about needing a distraction too before we, yeah." She couldn't keep eye contact so she looked down again. Their arms hooked together she was able to feel his muscles flex, his hand gripped in a fist.
"So he's using you too?" Bakugo stared back at Sero.
"Baku.. I don't know if it's—,"
"Katsuki." He interrupted, his stare still on Sero. "Don't call me Baku or Baku-chan or any of that shit." He looked back at her, seeing her stunned surprise. "If you're just distracting yourselves then there's no point in dating. Don't fucking date him. Talk to him and set that shit straight." He gripped her wrist and unwound their arms. Since his glove wasn't his skin, their connection was broken and Takaomi was in the pause by herself. Her wrist trapped in his gloved hand.
"Katsuki?" Takaomi tested his name. A feeling of familiarity came over her that was different than when she'd switched to using Mina and Toru's name, or even Ochako's. "Katsuki." That hard to shake feeling of being overlooked and forgotten, abandoned, was pushed away by the thought that she'd be the only one in class to get to call him by his first name. Midoriya was a special case since they've known each other for so long. She felt special, chosen. "Thank you, Katsuki." Her smile was beaming but he didn't see it.