“I tend to say what’s on my mind, kero. Yaoyorozu, your costume isn't what I would have expected from someone with your quirk."
Yaoyorozu Momo's lips quirked upward in a faint smile as she ran her hand over her covered forearm. "Because I need bare skin available for my creations, yes?" Asui Tsuyu nodded slowly and Momo's smirk grew. "Trust me when I tell you that that isn't going to be a problem for me when things get serious and I need to use my quirk for heroic purposes."
Grinning widely, Ashido Mina leaned forward and gestured excitedly to Momo. "As a woman of culture - and appreciator of all things female - I recognize your outfit! You're wearing Kamui Junketsu! And you even made yourself a copy of Hiken Bakuzan! You are such a nerd!"
"Oh sh*t, she's right." Jirou Kyouka leaned forward to eye Momo more intently before blushing and relaxing back into her seat. "I mean, what's a Junketsu? I've definitely never watched the entirety of Kill la Kill twenty-seven times before."
Arching an eyebrow imperiously, Momo gazed back at Kyouka. "I do believe that would be what is considered 'maidenless' behavior, is it not?"
Kyouka sighed and slunk down in her seat. "It's the hornie*st anime I feel safe watching in the house when my parents are home, alright? I'm a girl with needs."
A soft laugh bubbled up out of Momo as she waved dismissively in Kyouka's direction. "I am just having a bit of fun at your expense, Kyouka. Nobody's going to judge you for having preferences. It's a wonderful anime that maintains a cult following more than two hundred years after being aired. Primarily because of the gratuitous fan service, but it's a delightful show that notwithstanding."
"I mean, Kill la Kill is firmly within my wheelhouse outside of the fan service aspect." The other girls in the front of the bus looked over at Kyouka curiously and she hastened to explain. "It's a pretty punk series. I mean, it involves literally tearing down - and an attempted assassination of - someone attempting to rule the world and working as the corporate overlord who basically controls the world's clothing. It's antifascist as f*ck."
From her spot next to Mina, Hagakure Tooru waved her gloved hands. "I have no idea what any of you are talking about! But I'm super curious about what the big deal about Yaomomo's costume is! It's just a fancy sailor suit, isn't it?"
Mina let out a peal of laughter. "Oh. Oh you sweet summer child. Yaomomo has literally the most amazing sailor suit ever invented. Although... it's not like it's actually Junketsu or anything. So actually, can we circle back around to Tsuyu's question? I'm now just as uncertain why you chose that costume. I like it, don't get me wrong. I just don't understand it."
A fair question, Momo acknowledged, especially given that they had the barest familiarity with her abilities at this point in time. "That's a very good question that requires a deeper understanding of my quirk to properly answer. Because at its core, the answer is simple: I chose this outfit because of my quirk. It synergizes beautifully with Creation in a way that I've yet to display. It... I would go so far as to say that it embodies my quirk, after a fashion."
Mina co*cked her head to the side quizzically as she regarded the ravenette. "That seems like a more complicated answer than you can really get away with in heroics. People want simple, quantifiable identities and personas. You're... not that. And heroic image can make or break a hero. No offense, Todoroki, but if Endeavor wasn’t a macho flaming dumpster fire, maybe he might be the number one hero by now. He certainly works hard enough.”
Perking up at the mention of his name, Todoroki Shouto offered a faint shrug. “No offense taken. You’re completely right.”
“The simple answer is that I have always consumed by imagination. I am a voracious consumer of fiction, and each time I read something new, I wondered… what if? My quirk, in its simplest sense, can create anything that I can comprehend. So I began attempting to bring order to chaos. Make the unknown knowable.” Leaning forward, Momo clenched one hand into a passionate fist in front of her. "And so after hundreds of attempts and just as many failures, I did it. I defied the gods and the natural order, and created-“
Mina’s jaw dropped as she stared at Momo with wide golden eyes. “Life Fibers. You're telling me that’s not a cute cosplay that you turned into a hero costume, that’s an honest to god kamui that you’re wearing? Not just a replica? You have an entire Junketsu and it actually...” The rosette trailed off as Momo nodded smugly and in her spot next to the ravenette, Kyouka jerked upright before reaching up to rub the back of her hand against her nose. “My god. You absolute madwoman.”
A soft cough into her fist made Momo look up at Kyouka, who was staring up at her worshipfully. "So uh, I can't exactly be your kindergarten childhood bestie but uh... are you by any chance in the market for a Nonon? I've got the theming for it, what with the sound quirk..."
Given that she took after Kiryuuin Satsuki in more ways than one? Momo's dark eyes swept up and down over Kyouka thoughtfully before landing on her hair. "We would need to do something about the hair."
"There's a salon here in Musutafu. I can get it grown out and colored pink today after school if you want." Blushing furiously, Kyouka ducked her head. "If you're serious about that being an issue."
Reaching up, Momo cupped Kyouka's cheek and winked playfully. "We'll discuss this after class. Over tea, perhaps?"
Before they could continue, Tsuyu edged her way back into the conversation. “Sorry for being a co*ckblock, kero, but I've got to know. At the risk of sounding ignorant, what’s a kamui? Like, I know what the word means, obviously, but I’m sorely lacking some sort of context here.”
Turning to the green-haired girl, Mina tried to scoot closer before being rudely reminded that Tooru was sitting between them. After recovering from impacting with the invisible girl, Mina leaned forward and grinned mischievously. “Okay, so, Tsuyu. You’re a self-professed thirsty lesbian, right?”
Tsuyu nodded affirmatively. “I am a frog with needs.”
“Then I’m not going to spoil things but trust me, you’re going to look up Kill la Kill when you get home and you're going to love it. And then you're going to look at Momo's hero costume. And you are absolutely, positively going to love everything about this.” Suddenly, a look of horror dawned on Mina’s face and she cast a terrified glance toward the back of the bus before lowering her voice to a stage whisper. “What about Mineta?”
Lips curling up in a sneer, Momo followed Mina's gaze to where the boy in question sat completely alone at the back of the bus. They had only shared a classroom for seventy-two hours at this point, and Momo already knew for certain that Mineta Minoru was a disgusting little pervert who represented the worst of the modern heroics industry. And while Momo had long since rid herself of shame and self-consciousness in her quest to forge and then master Junketsu? "He is a pig.”
Mina giggled. “In human clothing?”
“Quite.” Momo spared one last look at the oblivious boy before turning back to the rosette. “There will always be people who turn their gaze to me not for my grandeur, but for baser reasons. Mineta will be my training for that.” Pausing, she ran her fingers over the handle of Bakuzan. “If he tries anything untoward, on the other hand…”
From the front of the bus, Aizawa let out a despondent sigh. "No killing your classmates, Yaoyorozu. No matter how much he may deserve it at any given point."
Momo co*cked her head to the side. "What is the school's stance on maiming? I'm willing to settle for maiming."
"It depends." Momo raised an eyebrow and Aizawa elaborated. "On whether you can disguise it as a training accident or not."
Hmm. Something to reflect on going forward, Momo decided. Maybe she would have to start volunteering to be paired with the diminutive pervert. She was creative. She could probably come up with all sorts of 'accidents' to befall the boy. There was a faint screech as the bus slowed to a stop and Momo rose to her feet. "Everyone, we're here. Fall in behind me."
She wasn't the class president, but that didn't make her any less of a leader.
As the group stepped off the bus, Momo shot them expectant looks and nodded in satisfaction as they lined up in two neat rows by their seat numbers. That left Mineta standing behind Kouda Kouji, which... Momo was okay with. Their guest lecturer for the day waved excitedly to them, and Momo allowed herself a small smile. She did so enjoy instructors who enjoyed what they did. "Hello, everyone! I've been waiting for you!"
From the other side of Mineta, Midoriya Izuku clapped his hands together excitedly and... where was that boy's costume? Momo brought her hand up to her face and sighed. When she'd told the class that she would do anything reasonable to help them, she'd meant literally anything reasonable. The verdet's costume had been in rough shape after the battle trial. Why hadn't he seen her about creating a makeshift replacement until the support studio could properly resupply him? "It's the Space Hero: Thirteen! The chivalrous pro who's rescued a ton of people from disasters across the world!"
Turning, Uraraka Ochako waved excitedly to Izuku from her spot in the front row before nodding eagerly. "Woohoo! Thirteen is one of my favorite heroes!"
Bowing as best they could in their puffy, spacesuit-like hero costume, Thirteen gestured back toward the geodesic dome they were standing in front of. "I can't wait to show you what's inside!"
The two rows fluidly shifted into two columns, with Aoyama Yuuga and Shouji Mezou leading the way into the building behind Thirteen. Momo brought up the rear, looking over at Aizawa curiously as he dropped back to walk beside her. "Sir?"
"You really made yourself a kamui?" At Momo's surprised look, Aizawa shrugged defensively. "I was young once, you know. Midnight used to cosplay Satsuki and dress me up as Uzu to drag me to festivals." Momo's jaw dropped at that information and the man sighed. "Yes or no. Do you have a functional kamui in your possession?"
After a moment's consideration, Momo nodded slowly. There was no sense in lying given that the truth would inevitably be revealed in front of her classmates and the faculty at some point along the way. "I do. Is that a problem?"
Bringing up the results from his quirk assessment test on his phone, Aizawa dropped Momo's name several spots on the rankings. "I expect you to apply yourself fully from here on out. Show us why you deserve to be here at UA High."
The corner of Momo's mouth rose as she reached up to fiddle with the clasps on the arm of her costume. "Understood, sir."
"Oh, and Yaoyorozu?" Momo looked over at Aizawa again and found to her surprise that the man had the faintest of smirks on his face. "I'll file the paperwork for a uniform exemption for you."
...outstanding.
As they made their way deeper into the facility, Kirishima Eijirou let out an excited gasp from his spot next to Midoriya. "Holy crap! It looks like some kind of amusem*nt park!"
Moving to stand at the top of a tall staircase, Thirteen gestured back at the contents of the building. "A shipwreck. A landslide. A fire. A windstorm. Et cetera. I created this training facility to prepare you to deal with differing types of disasters. I call it... the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! But you can call it... USJ!"
The entire class save for Momo had an almost unanimous response to that. "Just like Universal Studios Japan."
...something to look up later, she decided.
Brushing his way up the line, Aizawa moved to stand next to Thirteen and began speaking with her in a low voice. The class remained at attention, standing in their neat lines, although Momo did catch Kyouka leaning to the side to peer back at her and winked at the girl. As the pair of teachers broke apart, Aizawa shook his head in clear irritation. "The clock's ticking. We should get started."
Nodding, Thirteen took a step closer to the students and held up a finger to get their attention. "Excellent! Before we begin, let me just say one thing. Well, maybe two things?" Pausing, she thought for a moment before slowly raising more fingers. "Possibly three. Four. Or five." Shaking her head, she planted both hands on her hips in a vaguely heroic looking pose. "Listen carefully. I'm sure you're aware that I have a powerful quirk. It's called Black Hole. I can use it to suck up anything and turn it into dust."
From his spot ahead of her in line, Izuku nodded eagerly. "Yeah, you've used Black Hole to save people from all kinds of disasters before, haven't you?"
"That's true, but my quirk could also be very easily used to kill." Whatever good mood the class had brought to the USJ abruptly died at Thirteen's words. It was hard to tell with her tinted helmet, but Momo felt as if the teacher was staring directly at her as she continued to speak. "Some of you also have powers that could be dangerous. In our superhuman society, all quirks are certified and stringently regulated, so we often overlook how unsafe they really can be. Please don't forget that if you lose focus or make the wrong move, your powers can be deadly, even if you're trying to do something virtuous like rescue someone."
Momo huffed softly, reaching down to run her fingers over her sleeve. While she had been... perhaps a bit childish in creating Junketsu, most of her actions were carefully considered and wholly deliberate. She seldom made mistakes and when she did, she quickly recovered from them without leaving lasting harm.
Well, Bakuzan had done some lasting harm to the dead hog that she's initially tested it on, but that was neither here nor there...
"Thanks to Aizawa's fitness tests, you have a solid idea of your quirk's potential. And because of All Might's combat training, you likely experienced how dangerous your powers can be when used against other people. Carry those lessons over to this class. Today, you're going to learn how to use your quirks to save peoples' lives. You won't be using your powers to attack enemies or each other, only to help. After all, that's what being a hero is all about: ensuring the safety of others." Pausing briefly, Thirteen bowed to the assembled students. "That's all I have to say. Thank you so much for listening."
Momo clapped enthusiastically. While her kamui gave her substantial direct combat potential, the ravenette was at her core a support hero. She would tackle villains as needed, but would definitely feel more at home working to help the citizenry a bit less directly. Accordingly, rescue training was right up her alley. Her quirk could create... so many things that would be useful for all manner of rescue situations. She knew in her heart that she had the potential to be a great hero. Here, she would learn to achieve that potential.
"Right. Now that that's over-" Before AIzawa could continue, there was a crackle of electricity along the massive bank of lights that illuminated the interior of the USJ, the bulbs exploding in a wave of shattering glass. Staring past Aizawa and Thirteen, Momo raised an eyebrow curiously as a small orb of purplish-black fog appeared, quickly growing and then exploding into a massive cloud. "Stay together and don't move! Thirteen! Protect the students!"
"What is that thing?" Kirishima had a very good question, one that Momo didn't have an answer to. Breaking out of formation, she took a few steps to the side and then began to move forward, trying to get a better view as person after person began stepping out of the dense, purplish-black fog that had spread across the courtyard. "Wait, has the training started already? I thought we were rescuing people."
"Stay back!" The rest of the students flinched back at Aizawa's barked order, but Momo just continued to make her way forward. Aizawa reached up, pulling his yellow goggles up to cover his eyes. "This is real. Those are villains. Yaoyorozu!"
From her spot nearby, Thirteen gasped. "Aizawa. You can't possibly be thinking-"
"If they get past me, you'll need someone to cover your retreat. Your quirk is much more lethal than Yaoyorozu's. Do you want that on your conscience again?" As Thirteen ducked her head, Aizawa turned and gestured to Momo. "Do your thing. And then nobody gets past you. Do you understand?"
Momo nodded sharply. "I won't betray the trust you've shown in me. Although... that large villain has me concerned. And the foggy villain they're using to infiltrate the facility. If he can teleport himself, he could easily get past me and harry the others."
Frowning, Aizawa nodded in concession to her points. "Do you have a better idea?"
After a moment's hesitation, Momo reached up to flick one of the clasps on the left sleeve of her kamui. "Will you find it objectively better? Likely not. But I do have... an idea."
As she reached up to flick the second clasp, Aizawa sucked in a breath. "You can't possibly thinking that you can take them all on any more than I can."
"Not all of them. Just enough of them that we can survive until reinforcements arrive." Momo hesitated, finger hovering over the last clasp, before decisively flicking it closed and feeling the syringe puncture her arm. "Take my blood, Junketsu. It is the eternal vow between you and I, the crimson thread of our covenant."
The always unnerving feeling of the living fabric writhing and crawling over her body as it reconfigured itself for battle assaulted Momo, but she stared resolutely forward as her costume transformed. From down in the plaza, the man covered in hands stared up at her in disbelief. "What the absolute f*ck?"
Feeling the last of the costume snap into place, Momo grinned viciously. "Life Fiber Override: Kamui Junketsu!" She'd only transformed fully a small handful of times and the strength she felt flowing through her body was still new and different to her. It was... intoxicating, in a way. Drawing Bakuzan, her grin widened. "Can I do the speech?"
Aizawa sighed softly and then gestured down at the assembled villains. "Do the speech."
Given that she could create anything, it was child's play to let streams of photons erupt from her bare back, illuminating her in brilliant beams of light. “Fear is freedom! Subjugation is liberation! Contradiction is truth! Those are the facts of this world! And you will all surrender to them, you pigs in human clothing!”
Rushing down the stairs, Momo set her eyes on the single biggest threat to herself and the others: the imposing black-skinned villain with a bird's beak. There was no sense in waiting; fighting the other, decidedly lesser villains would just use up valuable energy that she could have used fighting the most dangerous opponent. Not wanting to resort to stabbing - or worse - a humanoid opponent as an opening move, Momo shifted Bakuzan to her left hand and drew back her right, slamming a powerful punch into the villain's head. The atmosphere shifted from the force of her attack, sending the grunts behind the massive villain flying backward.
From off to the side, the hand-covered villain let out a cackle of excitement. "You can't just punch Noumu like he was some sort of ordinary villain! He has a shock absorption quirk worthy of one of All Might's smashes." Allowing the man to distract her for a moment gave the now named Noumu an opening to return the favor, punching Momo in the chest and sending her skidding back several feet. "Oops. Did I mention that he has a super strength quirk too?"
Two quirks? No human alive had two quirks. Did that mean... did that mean her opponent wasn't human? Momo wasn't quirkist enough to judge him for his skin or his avian traits, but between the dead eyed stare and the fact that he supposedly defied conventional quirk biology... "What exactly is this Noumu of yours?"
"A bioengineered super soldier, made for defeating the Symbol of Peace." The hand villain clapped gleefully as Momo sized up her opponent before darting back in and unleashing a series of quick kicks, none of which phased the villain. "He was created with multiple quirks: super strength, shock absorption, and regeneration. He can dish it out, he can take it, and he can fix whatever he can't take. Amazing, isn't he?"
Amazing was certainly one word for it. Horrifying was another. Although... Momo wasn't really in a position to judge someone for creating an abomination, having created Life Fibers and a sentient costume for her personal amusem*nt and all. With Junketsu augmenting her speed as well as her strength and durability, she easily evaded the next punch that Noumu threw and the one after it, driving a punch of her own into the villain's stomach to no effect. "So he's not alive? Not in the truest sense?"
The hand villain shook his head. "Barely in a literal sense! He's just a reanimated corpse, stuffed full of quirks and programmed to obey my instructions."
Hopefully all of her villains would enjoy boasting as much as this one did. Momo was learning all sorts of useful information. She glanced down and shifted Bakuzan to a two handed grip. Backing off a little, she let her heels click against the concrete as she braced herself and then swung her sword in a broad, arcing slash. Her attack sent a compact blade of wind racing toward the Noumu, cleaving through one of its arms at mid-bicep and sending the rest dropping to the ground. The ravenette co*cked her head to the side, watching as the flesh of the stump writhed and quickly regrew into a new arm. "Well. That's... certainly more troublesome than I was expecting."
"Did you not listen to me?" The hand villain bounced from foot to foot excitedly as the Noumu lunged after Momo, managing to power a punch past her guard as her attempt to deflect it with the flat of Bakuzan didn't work quite as well as it had on her trainers. "He regenerates. You cut a piece of him off and it'll just grow back. You can't punch him. You can't kick him. You can't even slice him. How do you possibly think that you're going to win against him?"
Momo grinned viciously. This was either going to go amazingly... or she was about to create a second villain. She wasn't really an expert on quirks, especially regeneration quirks, but she had a reasonably good feeling about this. Dashing toward the villain, Momo raised her sword over her head and brought it downward in a powerful slash, cleanly bisecting the Noumu from head to crotch. As the pieces split and fell in opposite directions, Momo turned to the hand villain and smirked faintly. "Do you perchance have another one I could fight?"
"What... you just... what?" The villain took a step forward, reaching up to scratch at his neck. "He has shock absorption. He should be able to tank any melee attack."
"And if I'd hit him with a really big stick, he would have been fine." Grinning smugly, Momo spun Bakuzan around gracefully before sheathing it at the small of her back. "Bakuzan was created to cut through everything. Or, dare I say, anything. Your Noumu wasn't designed to handle that."
Continuing to scratch madly at his neck with one hand, the villain raised his other hand at her shakily. "I just discovered someone that I hate more than All Might. It's you. f*cking jumped up cosplay thot just ruined all of my plans. I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I hate you! Kurogiri!"
The fog man drifted across the plaza to the hand villain, bowing shallowly to him. "Shigaraki Tomura. How can I be of service?"
Oh hey, now she knew the names of two of the villains. That would be useful to the police when they debriefed her. Shigaraki continued to scratch at himself as he stared balefully at Momo. "She ruined everything. Tear her a..." Trailing off, he frowned. "Wait. She cut through Noumu. What if she can cut through you with her stupid cosplay sword? Never mind. Let's get out of here."
As Shigaraki disappeared into Kurogiri and the foggy villain snapped out of existence, Momo planted one foot on the nearest half of Noumu's massive corpse and tossed her head imperiously. From the top of the stairs came a plaintive cry. "Oh, but when I want to get stepped on, I'm the weird one?"
Throwing another villain to the ground, Aizawa's head whipped around to stare up at Mineta. "Detention."
"Oh come on!"
