"This is your house?" Shine stood in front and gaped at it.

"What about it?" Todoroki just walked toward the door.

"It's huge," Shine said, "It's a palace... and it's so pretty.  Like a postcard or a travel brochure."

"My family likes traditional style," Todoroki said. 

"Yes, you should see his room," Momo said, "It's just like this."

"How do you know that?" Shine asked.

Momo blushed. "Uh, we had this... it was silly, it was a Greatest Room Contest, to warm up to the new dorms."

"Oh, how fun, wish I'd been there for that," Shine said, "Who won?"

"Sato... All the girls voted for him because he made us cake," Momo said.

"He bought up the votes? Dang," Shine said.

"It wasn't planned," Momo shrugged.

"Are you two coming?" Todoroki was already ringing the doorbell.

A woman with white hair with red streaks in it opened the door.

"Shoto? What are you doing here? Why didn't you call?"

"I guess I forgot," Todoroki said, with a straight face.

Shine laughed. He looked at her oddly.

"Oh, well, that's fine. It just took me by surprise," Fuyumi smiled, "Who are these people?"

"Oh... this is my classmate and my supervisor. She's here to make sure I'm safe," Todoroki shrugged. 

"Safe? At home?" Fuyumi really had no reason to look that puzzled.

"No, on the way," Shine said. She bowed. "I'm Shine Likstar. My friends call me Shine, you should too. I'm from America, so it's ok."

"What? Oh, your accent is flawless," Fuyumi said. 

"Thanks, it's nothing really," Shine said with a wink at Momo. 

"I'm Momo Yaoyurozu," Momo said.

"I remember you were in the festival," Fuyumi said, "On Shoto's team...  So you're friends?"

"We're all friends, Fuyumi. Can we come in?" Todoroki said.

Fuyumi let them in. "So, what brings you here?"

"I want to get some stuff... I think it's in the attic," Todoroki said.

"Your stuff? I didn't move your stuff out of your room," Fuyumi said, "Oh, but, maybe some of your books are in there that were in the living room."

"Yeah, or old stuff," Todoroki said. 

"Hey, is it okay if I look over part of the house?" Shine asked, "Just the outside... I love the decor. It's my fist time in Japan, and I've never been to a traditional house like this. It's like a movie."

"Oh, absolutely," Fuyumi said, "Luckily for you, Dad isn't home. He doesn't like strangers in the house, but you can go around. Natsuo probably won't be home for a while anyway."

"Todoroki, is it okay if I do that first?" Shine asked.

"Uh...sure..." Todoroki wasn't sure why she wanted to.

The fact was, Shine was actually sincere. She was dying to look at the house in more detail and wished she had a camera. Her family would have loved it.

"Is she an interpreter?" Fuyumi asked, "Her Japanese is so good."

"Not exactly. I'll see you later." Todoroki headed for the stairs. Momo followed.

"Can I get you some tea?" Fuyumi said.

Momo was going to say no, then she realize they needed Fuyumi to be distracted. "That would be lovely. Thank you."

"What do you take?" 

"Wedgewood... Uh, I don't know what Shine likes."

"Anything is fine," Shine called from a different room.

Todoroki was already up the stairs. Momo had to hurry to catch up. She almost missed which way he went down the hall.

"It is a lovely house," she tried to make small talk, "It's about half the size of our front building, so it's pretty big."

"It's just a house," Todoroki said, "I guess it's smaller than we could afford, but my father puts most of his money into that agency of his."

Momo knew from TV that Endeavor's agency was the size of an office building.

"I see...but this is comfortable living."

"There's only three of us here most of the time, so it's fine. There's no point in a big house." Todoroki really didn't care about the subject. "It makes it easier to find stuff anyway." He went up the attic stairs. 

"I thought Shine was going to help..." Momo was starting to get nervous about being alone with Todoroki in his house. It felt a little too personal. She could imagine what her classmates would say about it... or her mother...She started trying to think of a way she'd explain it to her.

Todoroki was more occupied with the usual uncomfortable memories that being home brought him. Looking around the attic, he recognized some of his mom's stuff. No doubt his father or siblings had moved it up here because it was too awkward or uncomfortable. Maybe she'd like some of it, though...

"In My Place, In My Place
Were lines that I couldn't change
I was lost, oh yeah
I was lost, I was lost
Crossed lines I shouldn't have crossed
I was lost, oh yeah Yeah
How long must you wait for it?
Yeah
How long must you pay for it?
Yeah
How long must you wait for it?
Oh, for itI was scared, I was scared
Tired and under prepared
But I'll wait for it
If you go, if you go
Leave me down here on my own
Then I'll wait for you (yeah)"

It was really only about 5 minutes before Shine joined them, but it felt like half and hour to Momo. Shine had just looked around the lower level of the house and admired the garden. She hadn't found anything useful, but she had learned more of Fuyumi's hobbies than Todoroki himself knew. It also was long enough for her to be able to tell exactly  what kind of person Fuyumi was: nervous, jumpy when there was anything amiss, and anxious to please. And Fuyumi wasn't even that visibly stressed around her.

She was also clearly the peacemaker and couldn't stop voicing her thoughts, so Shine heard more than she really wanted to about Shoto and Natsuo not liking to be home much and never bringing home friends.

Shine kept all her thoughts to herself and thought she'd like Fuyumi if the woman was a little bit more relaxed. She was sweet too. It wasn't hard to see her own family patterns in what was going on. She cringed at how much she used to overshare... and still did.

Joining the students, she found them already busy opening boxes. "Your sister's busy making tea, so we should have a few minutes. She's nice," Shine said, looking over it all, "I can't read it, so I'll just look for photos, okay?"

"Okay," Momo said, "What am I looking for exactly? You said your brother was missing?"

"I think he's actually dead, but I don't know anything about him, so I wanted to find out more. Shine thought there would be pictures or something here," Todoroki said.

Shine smiled at his use of her first name. He caught on quick.

"Uh...okay... how did you end up discussing this, though?" Momo said, "Wait, that's rude."

"No, I'd be wondering too," Shine said, "One thing led to another. I was asking about his family."

"Oh..." Momo didn't ask why. "Well, that's...um, it's sad... but I'm sure we could find records about him. Grades and stuff."

"My father home-schooled me," Todoroki said, "maybe him too. I think he was training him first. I remember something about that."

"So what was your brother's quirk?" Shine asked, opening a box that felt like it had books in it.

"I'm not sure... I don't think I ever saw him use it," Todoroki said, "My father discarded him after I got mine. That's all I know." He frowned. "I suppose he probably didn't like that."

"Or he did," Shine said, much more bluntly than Momo would ever have dreamed of doing, "I can't imagine your father trains easy."

"No..." Todoroki opened a box, "I used to get sick a lot from it... He said I could take it. Then he'd hit my mom if she tried to stop him. I was 5."

Momo almost choked on air.

"I'm sorry," Shine said, calmly, "That's rough. Five is the age my father stopped paying attention to me for the most part. He was addicted to technology... I can just remember a time before that, after my sister was born, when we still were on good terms. It was gone as soon as we got more tech...never came back." She sighed. "Five or 6, that's usually when you start realizing something's not right, but there's not enough experience to know what it is."

Momo didn't know what to say or do. She busied herself sorting through boxes. She had to help Shine read the labels too. Todoroki didn't react one way or another to what Shine said. He just acted like it was normal. Momo had no experience with trauma to know how people who have similar histories often treat them cavalierly when they talk about it to each other, because it's the only time they don't feel abnormal.

It didn't take too long, since Shine was good at telling what was in a box without looking, to find ones with photo albums. Apparently, Rei Todoroki used to keep up a pretty good record. There were pictures of all 4 siblings. 

"Natsuo is the one with white hair," Shine said, "So, this other one must be...What was his name?"

"Touya," Todoroki said.

"It's here," Momo pointed, "Touya. That's a nice name." 

"What does it mean?" Shine asked.

"'Fiery arrows that destroy demons'," Momo said, "Though, perhaps it's a little different in this case." [Yes, this is true, I looked it up.]

"That's the coolest name ever!" Shine loved it. "Lucky... hey, Todoroki, what's your first name again? Shoto? What does that mean?"

"It means cold and hot," Todoroki said with no irony whatsoever.

Shine stared at him. "Cold and hot... like your quirk?"

"I guess," he said blandly.

"Your dad must of been at the point where he'd try anything to make it happen..." Shine muttered to herself. 

"I think I found something useful," Momo said, "These are files on all of you. Your quirk results. It's like a receipt," she explained to Shine, "The State keeps it too, but parents get a copy for school registration and things like that."

"Uh huh," Shine said, "and so if you do something illegal, they can round you up and know how to handle your quirk. I'm aware."

Pause.

"Well, anyway," Momo went on, "If that's what we want to know about, this should help. It says the levels of the quirks at the time they were checked. Oh, Shine, you don't know this, but we get tested a few times throughout childhood, in case of growth spurts or changes in what we think the quirks are. It can help you get into hero school if you tested well. But control and strength aren't a requirement, just potential. Rigorous training can make even a weak quirk strong."

"I know that UA is biased towards quirks that are tangible," Shine said. 

"Why do you say that?" Momo said.

"Is there one person in your class with a quirk that isn't?" Shine asked.

"Uh... well, um..." Momo faltered.

"Not to mention, Shinso didn't get into the hero course, as he told me openly when I talked to him, but I heard that Mirio kid did. The boys told me his quirk story," Shine rolled her eyes.

"That Osmosis, or whatever it is, quirk of his is pretty much useless except to fight with, and he was trash with it when he entered UA, but somehow he got in and Shinso doesn't? Logic."

"It's undeniable that flashy quirks get more attention," Todoroki said.

"That's got nothing to do with heroism," Shine said dryly, "but we're getting off topic. What was Touya's quirk?"

"According to this, it looks like it was fire," Momo said, "but the levels are a little erratic. His control doesn't seem to have improved over time all that much compared to the intensity of the quirk... I wonder why all this is in here. Todoroki's isn't."

"It seems pretty obvious Endeavor shoved all these up here because he doesn't need anyone else's records except Todoroki's," Shine said.

"Oh..." Momo reddened, "Right..."

"Figures," Todoroki said, "So was his quirk weak or strong?"

"I guess it depends," Momo said, "It seems strong for his age... but that last report is from... at least 10 years ago."

"He stopped testing after my quirk manifested," Todoroki guessed. 

"Touya must have been at least 6 or 7 years older than you, then," Shine said, "Even Natsuo looks 3 years older at least."

"Yeah, he must have been. Fuyumi is 7 years older," Shoto said.

"Ah, he was 8-9 years older," Momo said, looking at the age and doing the math. 

"So he's the oldest," Shine said, "Interesting." She smiled. "He's actually older than me."

"He would be," Todoroki shrugged.

"Wait, how old are you?" Momo said, "I thought you were 19 or 20."

"Momo, I'm 23," Shine said.

"Oh..." Momo said, "Sorry."

"Everyone says I look younger," Shine shrugged, "Oh well, good for me.. I think you all look young actually. Todoroki there looks 14, tops."

"What?" Todoroki was actually a little annoyed by that.

"Didn't you ever talk to Touya?" Shine asked.

"Not much, maybe a few times, briefly," Todoroki said, "We never even ate together though... I don't even know how my mom spent so much time with me, with my father's restrictions."

"He must have let her," Shine said, "Hmm, but then, she wasn't with your siblings then..."

"No..." Todoroki said.

Shine frowned. I wonder if that means Touya was basically their parent, she thought to herself, It's so common in abusive households for that to be the case. It's easy to see Fuyumi stepped into that role in his absence, but the oldest often is. I know I had to do a lot of things like that.

"That's so sad," Momo said.

"It's hard on them, too," Shine said, "They basically had no parents."

Todoroki had never thought of it like that. He looked perplexed.

"It's not looking like we're going to find anything else," he said, "Just pictures."

"The oldest one is 12-14-ish," Shine pointed, "He looks a lot like your dad, same eyes..." She peered more closely. "Hmm... the hair too. But part of his face is more like you. He's like a mix between them. That's funny, the rest of you look so strongly like one or the other. You and Fuyumi look just like your mom...She's really pretty."

"Yes," Momo agreed. 

Shine looked up. "Fuyumi's coming." She shoved the album back into the boxes. Momo shut the one she had open, and they shoved them aside and grabbed different ones. Todoroki did too. Fuyumi poked her head in. "Tea's ready. Did you find what you were looking for?"

"Uh... not yet," Todoroki said. He opened the box in front of him.

"Oh, I don't think that's it, Shoto. That's just kitchen stuff," Fuyumi pointed to the label, "I think I moved it up here ages ago because we never use it--" she stopped.

Todoroki had gotten a strange look on his face. Then he shut the box. "Yeah, just kitchen supplies," he didn't sound so calm anymore.

Shine had seen what was int he box, because she was taller and at the right angle, but she said nothing. Momo wasn't sure what was up.

"Are you okay?" Fuyumi asked. "You look pale... You need to eat, don't you? I'll get some food too." She disappeared.

"Stupid luck," Shine said, "Are you all right?"

"Fine," Todoroki said, getting up, "I think we're done here."

Momo nodded, since he looked a little shaky. Shine got up and came over to him. "If you need to sit down, that's fine. Let's go outside, okay? That always helps me." 

"I'm fine," he said.

Shine waved her hand. A portal flashed and they were outside next to a pond with koi in it. "There, much better." 

The jolt jarred both students (Shine seemed used to it) but that was actually good--it snapped Todoroki out of his daze a little, and the sunlight seemed to help him after all. He drew a deep breath.

After tea with Fuyumi, the three investigators thought they'd better be heading back, but the whole thing had only taken them 2 1/2 hours; they had a whole 90 minutes left. Todoroki said he could drop in on his mom for a few minutes, since he hadn't been able to in a while.

Momo said she and Shine could find something else to do nearby. She didn't feel it would be right to accompany him-- Todoroki himself wouldn't have minded, except he wasn't sure how his mom would handle new visitors with no warning. 

Shine tactfully said nothing about it either and said she'd like to explore more anyway, so they took the train. The hospital wasn't that far away by train. 

Once they'd gotten close to the hospital, Todoroki said they shouldn't go too far away.

"I don't think I can leave you here alone, per our new arrangement," Shine said, "so, I'll wait outside. It's fine, I've been around plenty of people like this. At least here they aren't homeless. That's so sad."

Pause.

"My mom isn't crazy---" began Todoroki.

"Not everyone is," Shine waved, "but, you know, some of the patients are, and it would be silly to tip toe around it. Momo, if you're at all uncomfortable, we can wait outside the premises."

"Oh, uh, I'm fine. This is all stuff a hero must know about," Momo said. She actually wasn't as fine as she implied, but she wouldn't say so.

Todoroki left them outside. He promised to be back in less than 30 minutes so they could get home in time.

Shine and Momo talked about books and culture while they waited. It was pretty quiet. Only toward the end of their wait did anyone even come in or out of the building. Momo saw some people with quirks that looked kind of weird. And some who looked normal. She glanced at Shine to see how she was taking it. Shine was looking at one woman in particular, then without  warning, she walked over to her. Momo followed. "Uh, Shine, what are you doing--?"

Shine had gone up to the lady, who could only have a been a couple years older than her, and said something to her. Her eyes seemed to gleam briefly. The woman was staring oddly at her at fist, then she started crying. Shine looked around for help, then at Momo.

"Could you make some tissue?" she asked in a low voice.

Momo did hastily. The woman took them, then she said, "How did you know that?"

"He told me," Shine said, "and look, it's really going to be okay. That's why I'm here, I think, to show you that."

The woman nodded and wiped her face. "Thanks..." Then her phone buzzed. "Ah, my ride is here..." 

After she left, Momo said, "What did you say to her?"

"It was personal, but she needed a little encouragement," Shine said, "Sometimes, I just hear things, you know." 

Momo didn't know...It sounded kind of spooky, actually. 

Shine saw her look. "I call it Insight...or Knowledge. It's a gift, that's all. Usually I use it to help me navigate dangerous situations in other world's, but at home, I use it more like this, just to lift people's spirits. You know everyone needs a little encouragement sometimes."

"Is it something DJs can do?" Momo asked uncertainly.

"Not all of them, but a lot of them," Shine said, "Wally doesn't, though. He thinks too fast. He doesn't listen... but he gets his info in a different way. Everyone has their own gift you know. You do too."

"Uh... no, not like that." Momo wondered if this was just normal to Shine.

Shine smiled like Momo just didn't get the point. "We'll talk more about it later, but for now, I think Todoroki is supposed to be back..."

Todoroki did return shortly thereafter. "How was she?" Shine asked.

"She's doing well," Todoroki said simply, "We need to hurry, though."

On the way to the train station, Momo told Todoroki what had transpired. Shine was walking faster than both of them, so she probably wasn't listening...probably. 

"She just knew?" Todoroki said, "What?"

"I don't know, it was personal, but the lady cried," Momo said, "It was so...odd...She seemed happy." She pursed her lips. "I wish I could encourage people like that, but I still don't get how it works."

"Maybe DJs are mind readers?" Todoroki said.

"But she said 'he said', like someone else told her," Momo said.

"I don't know, then, but it's strange," Todoroki said.

On the train, they sat a little away from Shine, who preferred to stand and hold on. 

"Nothing about them really makes sense when you think about it," Todoroki commented, "but I think it's bothering me less than before. Maybe they just are odd, not evil."

"I never thought they were evil," Momo said, "and, really, they seem normal the rest of the time. Just some things they say don't make sense. Have you ever wondered why two adults would want to spend their time around us highschoolers, though?"

"Yes, but I guess they like childcare," Todoroki said.

"Yes...but you know, from things Shine has said, I think she's a teacher at her home," Momo said, "Maybe she wants to teach us stuff."

"Like?"

"I don't know, but she talks like one, too. Mr. West, not so much, but he's good with Eri, so he must like younger kids too. Maybe that's why they showed up at a school."

"The whole world-thing is still pretty far fetched," Todoroki said.

"Is it?" Momo leaned back a little. "I'm not so sure. It's been theorized about for quite some time, and portals are one way people think you could travel between them. I don't know why anyone would do what they do with power like that, but then, what would you do with that power, period? Maybe this makes sense to them. I think they would tell us, if we would stop jumping to conclusions."

"If that's so, why not just say so?" Todoroki said.

"Didn't they?" Momo said.

"It's possible, if it was true, they still have other motives. What if they're undercover?" Todoroki said, "UA is a hero school. They could be looking for powerful people. Test subjects..."

They looked at Shine, who was staring out the window.

"I don't think that's very likely," Momo said. 

"It would explain their observations and testing us," Todoroki said.

"But why not just kidnap us, then?" Momo said.

"I'm not saying I think so for sure. I just wish they'd tell us why they are actually here, so I could know what to think," Todoroki grumbled.

Someone else on the train was looking at them oddly. Then he said, "Aren't you UA kids?"

Todoroki was pretty recognizable, so it wasn't too surprising. "Yes," he said, expecting the usual comment on one of the school's public events.

"Eh, how does it feel to know your school is going down the tubes?" the man said instead, "Ever since All Might lost his power, UA's just not the same."

Momo didn't actually think All Might had much to do with the quality of UA, but she didn't say so.

"Actually, we're doing really well," she said.

"That's not what it sounds like. There's been how many villain attacks, now?" the man said.

Other people were looking now. Some were nodding.

"Doesn't seem like the pros really know how to do their job anymore. Maybe it'd be better if it just went down."

Todoroki stood up. "Why don't you shut up?" he said. Momo bit her lip.

"Oh, what? Did I say anything that wasn't true?" the man said. 

Todoroki started to answer, but Shine had heard what was going on, and she came over, walking carefully. She got in front of Todoroki. 

"Excuse me," she said, "Sir? Do you have a problem with these kids?"

"Just talking about UA," the man shrugged, "What's wrong with that?"

"Nothing, I guess," Shine said, "Seems like something a sympathizer with the LOV would do, but I'm not one to make calls like that. It takes real guts to voice those opinions on a public train, though."

 The man looked around. Some people began frowning at him suspiciously.

"I didn't mean anything by it," the man said quickly, "Just curious, you know."

"I'm sure," Shine said, "I'm not going to remember this later anyway, as long as no one else is concerned."

Everyone started looking the other way.

Shine nodded. "Hey," she said to Todoroki and Momo, "You don't need to worry about this guy. He's just talking to a couple kids like you because he can't talk to any actual heroes." 

The man looked kind of insulted, but he pretended not to have heard. Shine walked away again. Todoroki sat back down, still seething, but they got off the train without much trouble.

"That was so annoying," Todoroki said, "Why did you stop me?"

"Because he was baiting you. If you made a scene, it would have been on YapTube in no time," Shine said, "I saw someone pull out their phone, actually, but I think we stopped it before anything really juicy got recorded. Sheesh, don't you know that's Trolling 101?"

Todoroki knew nothing at all about trolling. 

"Oh," he said.

"Thanks for stopping it," Momo said, "I was afraid of it blowing up too. That was scary. I don't know why someone would do that."

"It's called riding the hype," Shine said, "It's disgusting, but common. Just, don't feel too bad about it."

Todoroki could stand it no longer.

"Miss--Shine, why are you here? I mean, here, this world?"