CAUTION! This chapter does have SA in it as well as other vile language/behaviour about women which can be upsetting. So, rather skip this chapter, if it'll be too much for you.

Disclaimer: My Hero Academia doesn't belong to me.


Chapter 5: Reality Check

One week had passed since Tasuke's video went out and Momo was more than a little tired of being locked up in her home. Well, not locked up, per se, but rather that it would be in her best interest to stay out of the public's line of fire.

And while her apartment was far from small, seeing the same walls everyday and having done every possible chore and clean up she could think of, and done enough training that it started to feel too predictable, Momo was bored. If she'd been looking at her phone, laptop or television, she'd have experienced a different feeling. But being cut-off from everything and everyone was starting to get to her.

Around mid-morning when Momo went to the kitchen to get something to eat, she noticed her groceries were running out. This gave her an idea. While she could just order some online and have them delivered to the ground floor and go get them herself, or ask her friends to get the groceries for her, her mind was coming up with every self justifying reason to go out and do it herself.

And with little deliberation, she went to her room to change into an outfit she could use to go the store. Trying to look as unassuming as possible, she wore a pair of jeans and a powerder blue blouse. The final touch she put on was a long brown wig to cover her black hair. One last look in the mirror to make sure she looked unrecognisable and average and she was satisfied. It was sad she had to go to these lengths, but she couldn't stay inside forever, and risking being swarmed by the press and outraged members of the public affected by Tasuke's quirk wasn't an option either.

Before leaving Momo took a look out her window in the living room, and while not as numerous as the first day after the video had come out, there was still quite the swarm of media personnel and news trucks parked near the entrance of her building. And while the police had been called numerous times because the large group of people and the news trucks on the road were causing traffic, the vultures of the media would always be back within the hour. The fact that they hadn't been able to catch a glimpse of her for an entire week added to their desperation and frustration, which made them even more determined to wait outside and try to catch her. They couldn't go back empty handed, not with having spent so much time waiting. And they couldn't enter the building without actively trespassing which was a more severe offence than loitering and would garner an even harsher punishment from the police.

Momo took a deep breath as she took her bag and apartment keys and headed out. Luckily there was a secret exit that she'd used over the years whenever she wanted to avoid the press when they were just as persistent, especially since the rumours about her and Shōto dating had started in their earlier days and hadn't really died out. He'd been over to her apartment when they were collaborating on missions and everyone had taken it as them going back to her place to "spend the night" together, and she'd had the secret entrance installed so they could enter and leave her apartment in peace.

Once she got to the ground floor, she headed towards the back of the building. Before stepping out however, her hand hovering just over the door handle, she took out her phone and took a picture of herself and sent it to Shōto, just for reassurance sake.

Xxx

Shōto and Uraraka had just paid for their usual drinks and walked out of the small cafe and back on the streets to continue on their patrol. Their "Smoothie Saturdays" as Uraraka had dubbed them was a tradition they'd began in their final year at U.A. as their friendship had grown and their patrols had happened around the same time. Uraraka enjoyed a berry mix smoothie of blackberries, raspberries and strawberry while Shōto enjoyed a watermelon and blueberry smoothie.

Those who didn't know him well would assume that his choice in drink had something to do with his hero colours, it was an easy assumption to make, however, for Uraraka who'd known him for a deal longer, had a different opinion. Though she never said it out loud, she assumed her friend's choice in drink had less to do with himself and more to do with a certain someone and she also happened to love watermelon. And more often than not, Uraraka would get caught smiling at him whenever they ordered their drinks, which prompted Shōto to ask what she found so amusing every time, but she dodged his questions without arousing suspicion.

Shōto was a lot of things, painfully blunt and obvious were just two, even in times when he shouldn't be. For example, his very clear feelings for Momo were evident in a lot of things he did. Unfortunately, the only person blind enough to not notice was the very person he had feelings for.

So when Shōto checked his phone when a notification came in and it stopped him dead in his tracks, Uraraka knew it could only be from Momo.

"Something wrong?" she asked and peered over his shoulder to see what had him so distracted. She raised her brows in surprise to see the image of their friend with brown hair, with the caption "Brings back memories, don't you think?"

She was, of course, referencing that night back in their first year at U.A. when she, Iida, Midoriya, Kirishima, and Shōto used the Nomu tracker to locate its whereabouts, and what a night that had turned out to be.

"She's planning on going out?" Uraraka wondered.

"Looks like it." he answered while texting Momo a reply.

Shōto: Good idea. Your long black hair is kind of your signature look. Doubt anyone could recognise you with brown hair.

Momo: Not even you?

It was a tease on her part even though she knew he wasn't as oblivious as he'd been back in high school. Momo expected a quick yes or no response from him. And while his answer was short, only four words long, the words themselves had her heart racing.

I'd recognise you anywhere.

Maybe it was the situation she found herself in at the moment with everything going on. But the implication of his words, that he'd always see her as she was, no matter what, made her blush. And with that reassurance, Momo left her apartment building.

Xxx

Tasuke was sitting at his desk in his study room, going through more footage of Momo he had on his computer. One week had passed and not a single sighting of her anywhere. There was no way his perfect Momo would hide away like some lesser hero. She was strong and amazing enough to handle anything. So where was she? Why wasn't she playing along to his game? If she stepped out and faced the wrath of everyone then she'd see how much no one cares about her as much as he does, she'd lose everything and everyone and have no choice but to be with him. That's how it was supposed to go but it currently wasn't.

"I don't understand! Why is she being like this?" he shouted in frustration.

"Because you're a fool to assume it would only take a week for your plan to come to fruition." Kosuke walked into the room. "Your ability lasts for up to three weeks, let it run its course and learn some patience, son. She can't stay at home forever, her pride as a hero won't allow it and there's plenty of vile acts being committed as we speak due to your video. Those affected by your quirk and those who haven't been are making themselves known. They want answers and results. If the heroes and, even more so, the Commission doesn't address this, then things will get a lot worse." Kosuke walked over to the drinks cabinet by the bookshelf and poured himself a glass.

"I didn't expect people to go after all the women in the top ten though. I can't control people's actions, I can only manipulate how they feel. My plan could backfire and end with the women uniting against me." Tasuke joined his father for a drink.

"You won't need to worry about that."

"What do you mean?" Tasuke added ice to his glass before taking a sip.

"If Creati stays out of the public for too long, her hero stats will be affected, she could fall out of the top five and that would hurt her reputation."

"She doesn't care about that stuff and the publicity."

"For herself she doesn't, but for the young girls aspiring to be heroes and the ones who look up to her, she's an example to them. She can't afford to drop out now. Either she makes a public appearance and faces public scorn fuelled by hatred, jealousy and resentment or she stays hidden and sends the message that the scandal is true and that women's lives are forever ruled by men's whims. Whichever option she chooses will have a negative impact on her and will benefit you. And since I haven't seen you this ambitious before, I've decided to lend you a helping hand." Kosuke held out his glass and Tasuke immediately held out his own, the men tapped their glasses together before downing the rest of their drinks.


Momo sighed in relief once she walked into the air conditioned grocery store. She got herself a trolley and went around the various aisles and got the items she needed, Even though she initially came her to get breakfast items, she decided to stock up for the month. Starches, veggies, meat, soaps and cleaning supplies.

It was when Momo got to the fridges in the dairy section that she heard something. Loud banging and what sounded like a lot of things falling to the floor all at once, like when angrily throwing stuff off a table. Momo walked closer tot he sound saw at the end of the aisle were two doors and a sign that read staff break room. Okay so there were definitely people, obviously employees in there but what was all that noise about? Momo thought to herself. Just as she was about to turn and leave, assuming maybe she was overthinking the situation, she heard a woman's scream, followed by a man's yelling. That made her heart drop to her stomach. There were only three other people in the store right now so no one would find out or want to investigate what was going here. Momo looked around a few times before deciding to go check things out. She left her trolley to the side and walked behind the two doors.

This lead her down a short hallway where a single brown door to her right, that's where the screams were coming from. She pressed her ear against the door and listened. Two distinct male voices and at least one woman.

"You recording this?" came the one male voice.

"We're rolling, go ahead." said the other male voice before laughing.

Momo put the pieces together in her head of what was going on and she didn't like the answer. Without giving them any time to react, Momo took a deep breath, braced herself then kicked the door in. The door flew open and slammed against the wall it was connected.

Momo was revolted at the sight before her. It was moments like these that she hated being right.

The medium sized staff break room had a long plastic table and chairs on the right side of the room, a mini kitchen with a microwave, stove and fridge and counter tops near the back and a couch and two single seaters on the left. There were indeed only three people in the room. All three of them wearing work uniforms of the grocery store. The two men looked at her in shock, the one man, with short black hair and stubble along his face, was sitting on the couch with his phone in his hand still recording. The other man, tall, average build with spikey brown hair and a wild look in black eyes and long green insect wings, was holding the woman down against the counter. His pants were down and judging by the scratches and marks on the woman's thighs, he'd forced hers off too. Her hands were restrained and tears were streaming down her face, her eyes basically pleading for Momo to help her.

"You lost, baby? This is the staff lounge, you don't belong back here." the man with wings started, not in the least bit worried he'd been caught.

"Please help me— the woman had started before the man grabbed her face and pressed his fingers deep into her skin. She began to struggle and scream.

"Did I say you could fucking talk?! Now shut up!" he slammed her down.

"Enough! Get off her right now!"

"Or what, baby, you think you can take us on?" he finally let go of the woman and turned so he was fully facing Momo now, all his attention on her. He slowly pulled up his pants and zipped them up. His partner in crime was still recording but Momo didn't mind, all they were doing was getting their own crime on record.

He walked closer until he was standing in front of her, their height difference didn't deter her at all. she'd faced bigger opponents than this scum. He looked her up and down, his satisfied smile only growing bigger as he basically undressed her with his eyes. "Why don't you run along, gorgeous? And forget you ever saw this. I'm just teaching this bitch a lesson, you know, work stuff. Nothing to worry your pretty little head about. I'm clearly too big for you to handle." he chuckled as his hand went straight to his dick, his other hand tried to caress Momo's cheek but she slapped it away in disgust.

"Don't touch me!"

"Ooh, feisty, I love a woman who can fight back."

"What about a woman who can kick your ass and get you arrested?"

"Okay that's enough, I'm losing my patience princess." he raised his hand ready to strike her across the face but she caught his hand before he could.

"What the—

He let out a paned scream as Momo twisted his wrist with full force.

"Let go, you bitch!" he clenched his other hand into fist and swung but Momo let go of his and moved out of the way. Finally freed, he was out of breath as he massaged his wrist. "What are you waiting for, get her you idiot!" he yelled at his friend who'd immediately stopped recording and jumped over the back of the couch to confront her. Now that he was standing, he was roughly her height. He grabbed a chair and started swinging it at her. Momo expertly dodged and ducked out of range then kicked him in the stomach. He hunched over in pain and dropped the chair, this gave Momo the opening she needed to kick him back so hard that he slammed into his friend and they both fell to the ground.

Xxx

Momo had tied them both up and had called the police, finally done with them she went over to the woman to check on her. As soon as Momo untied her, the woman wrapped her arms around her in a tight hug, unable to stop her tears. "Thank you! Thank you so much!" she was trembling in Momo's arms.

"I wish I'd gotten here sooner." a few tears left Momo's eyes as well as she hugged her back. "But don't worry the police will handle them, they're on their way."

"You think you'll get off so easily, you think you're some of vigilante hero but you're full of shit. Just another civilian, you'll get busted just like us. Only heroes and police are allowed to step in. You have no authority here!" the harasser with bug wings spat angrily.

"Happy to disappoint you then." Momo stood up and faced them. She removed her wig and shook free her long black hair. Everyone in the room went silent in shock.

"Creati!" the woman gasped, "I don't understand… why the disguise?"

"Because she's a coward as well as a little slut! That's your champion?! Pathetic! She uses her body to get what she wants like with Tasuke then when things get hard she runs away and hides! That's the problem with you women, you think you can do anything and get away with anything from us men but you can't! If she hadn't shown up, I'd have had my way with you until I got fucking bored!"

"That's more than enough out of you." Iida walked in with three officers. Two of them took the perpetrators away. A woman officer came over to the two women.

"Creati and..." the officer began.

"Makoto, I'm Makoto."

"Right, I'll need an initial statement about what happened here."

Momo explained from where she could, about hearing the loud banging and screams, coming to the staff lounge, finding Makoto pinned down and how she'd defeated them. The officer noted everything down.

"I'm sorry to ask Makoto-san but do you have any idea why your co-workers would do this?"

Makoto wrapped her arms around herself and took a few deep breaths, tears welled up in her eyes.

"When you're ready, you don't need to rush." Momo held her hands. Makoto appreciated the gesture and wiped away her tears.

"It was around close to eleven a.m., there were very few customers in the store so Takahashi and Daichi started a conversation. It was actually about what's been going on with you and that video that went out. They were saying all sorts of horrible untrue things about you. When I tired to correct them they just shut me out and carried on talking. Then I got phone call from my daughter's school, it was her coach so I went to the staff lounge to take the call. When I was done the two of them walked in and wouldn't let me leave. They started threatening me and saying stuff similar to what he was saying before the police showed up. And when I said I'd tell the manager about everything and tried to leave again, that's when Takahashi grabbed me and forced me down..." Makoto began crying again, she covered her mouth with her hand trying to hold back.

"Which means Daichi was the one recording, probably to try and threaten her." Momo concluded.

After a few more questions the officer thanked Momo and made sure Makoto would get the help she needed. "Thank you again for saving me Creati, and even it hadn't been you to save me today, my daughter and I still believe in you." hse gave one last trembling smile before leaving.

Once everyone was gone it was just Momo and Iida in the room.

"Are you okay? His words were disgusting and harsh." Iida asked as he walked over to join her on the couch. She looked lost in thought.

Momo put on a sad smile, "It's not the first time I've been insulted like that, and it definitely won't be the last." as much as there was so much good that had happened to her during her time as a hero, there was also the undeniable bad that had followed her as well. No matter how many times she changed her hero outfit, no matter how much skin she covered or not, no matter how many people she saved, it would never be enough for some people and their go to word for women like her remained the same. She'd heard it countless times. Momo leaned against Iida's shoulder and let out a heavy sigh.

"That doesn't mean it gets easier to hear. You didn't deserve that." he put his arm around her and embraced her. Momo more than welcomed the hug and tightly held on to her friend.

"I'm really glad you came. How'd you know I was here anyways?"

"I was already at the station when I overheard the team dispatched coming here so I ran here." he had a serious look on his face with his next words. "honestly I'm surprised you're out here at all."

"I couldn't stay at home forever, not when madness like this is going on. Plus I was wearing a disguise, I even showed Shōto before I left. No one recognised me on my way here or in the store. But that's beside the point, I'm done hiding."

"Are you sure about this?"

"I can't ignore this, Tenya, and if women or anyone supporting me is getting hurt trying to defend me, then all the more reason be out in the open. Let all their focus be on me. No one else should have to suffer because of Tasuke's obsession with me."

"If you're sure then I'll help any way I can."

Momo smiled and gave him one last squeeze before standing up. If her assumptions were correct then there should have been at least a few reporters outside. Anytime a police car shows up somewhere, the press is sure to follow. Momo walked back into the grocery store and was proven right. There were a few reporters standing outside the store speaking to the officers who were making their way inside to do a final check of the area. There would never be a better opportunity than this to get her message out, so she took a deep breath and made her way outside. Iida went with her.

As if a spark had been lit, the calm group of reporters turned frantic the second they got a glimpse of her. Camera shutters going off, film cameras began recording live and less than a minute later the entire front of the store was full. All the reporters were yelling their questions at her, trying to get her comments on what had happened, where she'd been, how she managed to sneak away without being noticed and more.

Momo ignored them all and created a mic for herself, she wanted to be heard loud and clear. As soon as she raised the mic to her lips, everyone went silent but the cameras were rolling, photos were being taken.

For the first time since the scandal began, Momo would be speaking out about it but not in the way anyone had expected. All over the country, people were tuning to find out what the Everything Hero finally had to say. Among the viewers were her friends, all hoping she'd be okay. And Iida, being the amazing friend he was, stood by her side with her groceries in hand, ready to depart as soon as she finished.

"This has gone on long enough, Tasuke. Your little game is getting innocent people hurt and I can't let you carry on like this. If you're so desperate to see me, then see me yourself and stop hiding behind your quirk. You made this about you and me so let's keep it that way." she turned off her mic and went back inside but not before the press tried to swarm her, getting even more frantic and desperate for an interview with her.

More police vans showed up as soon as the broadcast began, Tsukauchi's doing Momo assumed. He always knew when to send backup. The additional police personnel kept the press back while Momo and Iida went to the back of the store.

"Do you have a plan on how we're gonna get out of here?" Iida had to ask as the entrance was a complete no-go now.

"I do actually, any minute now…" as if on cue, her phone rang.

"I'm at the loading bay, you and Iida can escape out back." said the voice she'd been waiting to hear.

Iida followed Momo to the back entrance of the sotre where deliver trucks would drop off bulk hauls of produce. And just as she expected, Shōto's car was waiting for them.

"How did you?" Iida was surprised to Shōto already there and waiting for them. It had barely been ten minutes since the extra police had shown up.

"He's never let me down before." Momo smiled and walked over to the front seat and got in the car to see Shōto sitting in the driver's seat, one hand at the wheel.

"Nice trick making sure all the press was focused in the front of the store so I could get to the back without being noticed." Shōto raised his sunglasses, a gift from Momo, he always kept them in the car.

"Did you two discuss this before starting this plan." Iida looked at the two of them from the back seat. Momo and Shōto exchanged glances.

"No, but I knew he'd get what I was trying to do as soon as the press started recording." Momo turned so she was facing Iida as she spoke.

The fact that Shōto knew to drop everything and come to the store, from the back entrance no doubt, without them having said anything to each other went far beyond just knowing each other.

"You two really are in sync." was all Iida could say.

"I guess you could say that." the pair in the front locked eyes and exchanged smiles before Shōto put his sunglasses back on and drove them away from the store. He made sure to take a different road back to her apartment which would make their short trip slightly longer but not by much. And it was worth it to be sure that no one followed them back.

Momo looked out the window as they drove back, she was certain Tasuke had been watching. A reaction from her was exactly what he'd wanted. And now that she'd finally given him one, it was his move.

What would he try next?


It's Tasuke's move and now that his father is deciding to get involved too, what will happen next? Guess you'll just have to wait and see.

Well, that's it from me-

Until the next chapter:

Ketsui Tasogare :-)