Todoroki stared at me, waiting for an answer.

I grinned, stretching the moment for maximum dramatic effect. "Oh, Iida didn't believe in magic girls, so he thought Bakugo was making it up and dragged him away to 'fix his attire.'"

Todoroki blinked. "...So Iida thinks Bakugo is just insane?"

"Yup."

A pause.

Then Todoroki did the most unexpected thing.

He huffed out a quiet laugh.

It was small. It was brief. But it was there.

I gasped dramatically, clutching my chest. "Todoroki, was that a laugh? Did you just laugh at my suffering?"

Todoroki stared at me, entirely unbothered. "You're not suffering."

"I could be."

"You're not."

I pouted. "Wow. Where's the sympathy?"

Todoroki blinked at me, then slowly, deliberately, patted my shoulder in the most mechanically awkward way possible.

"There."

I stared at him.

"...What was that?"

"Sympathy."

I squinted. "Was it?"

Todoroki just stared at me like he had no idea what I was talking about.

And at that moment, I knew—Todoroki Shouto was completely, 100%, unironically serious.

I groaned, flopping onto my desk. "This is my life now, huh?"

Todoroki patted my head this time.

"There."

I groaned louder.

Then, because I have absolutely no self-preservation instinct, I casually said, "Anyway, yeah, Bakugo isn't the first villain I've turned into a magic girl."

Todoroki, who had been relaxing, immediately froze.

I could feel it. The slow realization creeping into his brain. The gears turning at a pace that was honestly concerningly slow.

"...The first?" he repeated, voice suspiciously calm.

"Yeah," I said, still sprawled on my desk. "Overhaul was first."

Silence.

Slowly—painfully slowly—Todoroki turned his head to look at me.

I could see the calculations. The attempt to process my words like his brain had just blue-screened.

Finally, he blinked. "...You turned Overhaul into a magic girl?"

"Yup."

"Overhaul."

"Uh-huh."

"As in, the Yakuza leader? The guy with the insta-kill quirk?"

"That's the one."

Todoroki opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.

Then, in the most deadpan voice imaginable, he said, "And you're still alive?"

I grinned. "Not just alive—thriving."

Todoroki didn't say anything. He just stared at me, his expression perfectly blank, like his brain was buffering and refusing to process the information I had just casually dropped on him.

I grinned wider.

"You seem troubled," I teased, resting my chin in my palm.

Todoroki blinked slowly. "So let me get this straight," he said, in that calm, dead-inside voice he used when reality was betraying him. "You somehow managed to turn Overhaul—a literal Yakuza boss—into a magic girl?"

"Well..." I scratched my cheek. "I wouldn't say he's on board exactly. But he's alive, and, you know, technically part of the team?"

Todoroki's face did something strange. It looked like he was fighting every instinct telling him this conversation was not real.

"And what... exactly... does Overhaul do as a magic girl?"

"Oh, I don't call him." I waved my hand like it was no big deal. "Last encounter wasn't... ideal. But the important thing is that he's still alive. Which means there's still hope."

Todoroki exhaled sharply, pressing his fingers against his temples like I had just given him a migraine. "So let me get this straight..."

I leaned in with anticipation.

"You attempted to recruit a villain into your... team."

"Correct."

"And it didn't go well."

"Well, define 'well'—"

"Izu."

"Fine, fine, no. It didn't go well. But he didn't kill us, so technically—"

Todoroki exhaled again, slower this time. "You have Bakugo. And now me."

"And Overhaul... in spirit!" I pointed out cheerfully.

Todoroki just stared at me.

Then, after a long, suffering pause, he muttered, "What the hell did I sign up for?"

"Magic," I answered immediately.

"Regret," he corrected.

I gasped dramatically, clutching my chest. "Shoto! You wound me!"

Todoroki rolled his eyes and leaned against his desk, rubbing the bridge of his nose. "I don't even know what to say to this."

I smirked. "That's okay. I have enough commentary for the both of us."

Todoroki sighed. "I figured."

At that moment, the classroom door slammed open, and Bakugo stormed in.

He was still in his uniform—so at least Iida had succeeded in dragging him to a changing room—but his scowl was practically nuclear.

"You." He pointed at Todoroki. "Ice Freak. Explain. Now."

Todoroki blinked. "Explain what?"

"DON'T PLAY DUMB WITH ME." Bakugo stomped forward, looking two seconds away from detonating. "You're one of them, aren't you?!"

Todoroki's gaze flicked to me. "Izu."

I smiled innocently.

"You didn't tell him?" Todoroki asked.

I shrugged. "He figured it out on his own. I think we should be proud."

"I'LL KILL YOU BOTH." Bakugo's eye twitched violently. "YOU—" He pointed aggressively at Todoroki. "WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?! YOU HAD A CHOICE AND YOU STILL SAID YES?!"

Todoroki, to his credit, didn't even blink. "I fail to see how this is worse than what I was already dealing with."

Bakugo gawked at him. "Are you out of your damn mind?!"

Todoroki tilted his head, considering. "Possibly."

Bakugo's whole face twitched. He turned to me instead. "AND YOU."

"Me?" I placed a hand on my chest, scandalized.

"DON'T 'ME' ME, YOU LITTLE SHIT." He grabbed the front of my uniform and yanked me closer. "YOU'RE DRAGGING PEOPLE INTO THIS BULLSHIT ON PURPOSE."

I grinned. "Not dragging, inviting."

"I SWEAR TO GOD—"

I sighed dramatically. "Kacchan, you're being unreasonable again."

"UNREASONA—"

Before he could finish, I reached out and touched his shoulder.

Bakugo barely had time to realize what had happened before the sparkles exploded around him.

Todoroki blinked as the transformation washed over Bakugo, the pink and gold light shimmering like something out of a shojo anime.

And then, standing in place of one very angry Katsuki Bakugo, was a very angry, very glittery Katsuki Bakugo in a full-blown magic girl ensemble.

A tutu included.

Silence.

Bakugo's eye twitched violently.

Todoroki, to his credit, managed to stay completely blank-faced—though I swore I saw the corner of his mouth twitch upward.

I beamed. "You look amazing."

Bakugo inhaled so sharply I thought he might implode.

Then—

"I'M GONNA KILL YOU, YOU DAMN NERD!"

And, predictably, he exploded.