"You all right now, Utsushimi?" Momo asked nicely after Camie had gotten treated.

"Oh, yeah, I'm totes fine." Camie gave an a-ok sign. "It goes away pretty quick. I could make a dank meme right now."

Momo took that to mean she was okay. She wasn't sure what a meme was.

"You were really good out there," Kirishima told Camie, "I mean, I don't know what I expected, but, it was cool."

"That's super nice of you," Camie said, "Dang, you and Bakugo are like total opposites."

Bakugo scowled.

"So, how did you and Bakugo become friends?" Kirishima asked casually.

He knew Bakugo wasn't going to tell him, so he was using this chance to get the details.

"Gee, I don't really know," Camie said, "Are we friends?" She looked at Bakugo slyly.

Bakugo said nothing.

Camie shrugged. "I guess it was kind of an accident. How did you become friends, yo?"

"Oh... I guess... persistence..." Kirishima said.

"I can't imagine anyone wanting to be friends with such a person," Shishikura muttered.

"Is he always like that all the time?" Kirishima hissed at Camie.

"Yeah, he's so turned up it's not even funny," Camie said.

The other students were varying between actually chatting with each other and eating and resting.

Shine and Wally and Eri were sitting there too. Eri kept looking at the other students. The Shiketsu students thought she was so cute.

Wally couldn't resist ribbing Aizawa about losing to his own students-- again.

Of course, Aizawa didn't like it, but there was literally nothing he could do to Wally to stop him, since his cold demeanor didn't scare him at all.

"If you were just going to disagree with me in front of them, why did you offer to give feedback?" Aizawa said.

Shine looked a little apologetic. "I'm sorry if I disrespected you, Aizawa, truly. It's not my intention. I just... can't help but look at their faces getting so disappointed, and I feel like I have to say something nice."

"It seems to me, Likstar, that you don't care whom you disrespect so long as you carry your point," Aizawa pointed out, "and whether it is our background or just your personality, someone should really make it clear to you, that is not how it is here. In fact, it is really considered offensive that I even need to say it. You should simply feel it."

"Realistically, Aizawa, if I am not Japanese, nor from your world, then that's two culture clashes right there," Shine said, "Perhaps simply feeling it is a reasonable expectation for your students and friends, but how is it for us? Respect is different in our country and world. Disagreeing with our leader in public is not considered disrespectful where we come from. Though it can be dishonorable if you promised not to do so."

"Not that everyone is the same," Wally said, between shoveling in food to refill on calories after that training, "That's just a given, Mr. A."

"Even if that were true, you've been here long enough to know," Aizawa said.

Shine shrugged. "I'll stop doing it, if you stop the students from trash talking each other in front of you. Until you insist that they respect their peers, you have no right to ask that we respect you. I don't see you as an authority but an equal. I have no reason to look up to you, Aizawa. The title Pro Hero means nothing to me. I respect character. But I'd like to be considerate, and if it truly bothers you so much, I'll comply-- if you apply that same standard to the students. You see? Otherwise, if you think it's not important to insist on it for them, then I don't think it's important that we try to accommodate you."

It was a shame that argument was so reasonable. Aizawa really had nothing he could say in response.

"Dang, Shine that was hard," Wally said.

"Am I being too harsh?" Shine asked him seriously.

"No, I don't think so. I think it's true," Wally said. 

It was annoying that they never disagreed, Aizawa thought. 

(Of course that wasn't true. They just didn't in front of him. They were smarter than that.)

It was time to head back before too long, and the students were drained anyway. No one even wanted to think about homework.

Camie and Bakugo were still talking even to the time to get back on the bus. If you could call such a one sided conversation on her part talking.

Bakugo was friendly-- for him-- which meant he wasn't walking away. But he knew his friends were watching, and he wasn't willing to act like he wanted to be doing this with them there.

Camie kind of noticed this. "Dude, if you're so scared of what they'll say about it, why are we even friends, yo? Have a backbone."

"I ain't scared!" Bakugo denied.

"You're way strung out," Camie said, "Sheesh. I thought you'd be more stoked because we kicked butt in training. Like, it was even better than I thought."

"There's still a lot to improve," Bakugo said.

"Do you low key have a complex? You were great," Camie said without hesitation, "and I was awesome. Not gonna lie, kind of thought I was MVP, but you were like, second."

"I was definitely first! You don't have any attack power!"

"Yeah, but you don't have any stealth," Camie said, "Face it, you need someone like me to take on people like Eraserhead. You and that spikey-haired boy are one-note guys."

"Shows what you know. Next time I'll leave you in the dust," Bakugo declared.

"Same old Bakugo," Sero sighed, "You'd think he'd be a little nicer. She's such a a hottie, even he should not be offending her."

"Bakugo only sees girls as opponents," Mineta said.

"Better than you..." Hagakure muttered.

"What do her looks have to do with anything?" Mina said, "She's cool. I like her. And hey, I'm just surprised he's talking to her at all. Bakugo never talks to us girls."

"Yeah, he doesn't, does he?" Uraraka noted, "I wonder why. Maybe he just hates girls."

"Or he could be shy," Tsuyu said. Then they all laughed at that idea.

"What's with your class anyway?" Bakugo asked Camie, on a different note, "Why do they all think you're a moron?"

"You think I'm a moron," Camie shrugged. 

"I think everyone is a moron compared to me," Bakugo said, "but compared to those losers, what's the big difference? They're all idiots too."

"That was so close to being a sweet thing to say," Camie said, "but somehow, it was still mean... Well... you know, you're the only person who'd probably say that we're on the same mental capacity. But it's no big, idc if they think I'm an airhead. It's more fun that way."

"It's fun that they don't take you seriously?" Bakugo couldn't imagine that being fun.

Camie sobered up a little. "Well... you know, it's not just that I'm an airhead. Lowkey, I think it's the LOV thing. I can't say I blame them for being a little skittish-- it's pretty sus what happened. I mean, it's weird, right? Who wouldn't feel weird about it? And it's embarassing."

Bakugo knew that that feeling all too well, though he wouldn't say so out loud.

"It's not like you planned it," he grumbled.

"Yeah, but you didn't plan getting kidnapped. It's still weird to think about, isn't it?" Camie had to be the one person who'd bring that up straight to his face.

Bakugo winced but shrugged. "I don't care. The villains were pathetic losers."

"At least you know that, though. What if the b---h who got me was really scary? I'd never know and neither would my class. That's gotta mess with their heads," Camie said, "I should know, I mess with people's heads all the time... Maybe that's it, too, huh? I think, lowkey, they think I'm kind of like that psycho. You know, flirty and scary and spaced out. Shishikura said my personality was the perfect one to get replaced."

Bakugo had been compared to villains enough times to be instantly annoyed even by the secondhand allusion to it.

"That's just stupid. Like a hero and a villain have nothing in common," he said.

"I know, right?" Camie shrugged. "It's kind of wrong, isn't it? Heck, this is weird though. No one ever talks about it. I'm kind of bugging that you even noticed something was there."

"It's not that hard." Bakugo could never resist saying things like that.

Camie frowned. "Gee, thanks for the sensitivity, bro." She tilted her head. "Why are you talking about this anyway? It doesn't affect you."

Bakugo stared at the wall. "Just noticed. It's nothing in particular. I think a class is weak if they can't work together. That's not like UA."

"True that. Your class is like the most in sync group of people I ever saw," Camie said, "I'm almost jelly... Ah, shoot, I gotta go."

The other students were already getting on the bus.

"Text me or something," Camie waved, walking away, "I have plenty more memes to try out. I even got ideas from watching your class. That Deku kid is like a walking meme generator, lol. Bye."

"Stupid Deku," Bakugo muttered, because he could think of nothing else to say.

"Ooh, look who actually talked to a girl," Sero said.

"I'll kill you!" Bakugo snapped.

In the days following the Joint Training, things were quieter. Momo, Todoroki, and Bakugo began to learn some more thinghs from the DJs.

Shine's method of teaching was mostly to give you material and then ask what you thought about it, until she could guide you to the answer she was looking for. However, what surprised them were her flexibility within that. She didn't insist that they get the exact answer she had in mind. If they came up with something different, but she saw merit in it, she'd say so, quite freely.

Wally's method was less teaching and more demonstrating. He didn't do lessons, he just took them around campus and pointed out stuff to them they wouldn't normally notice, like a student who might be having a bad day. A student who needed help. A teacher who was looking extra tired. And he'd fix the problem, or help out with something else.

They had only spent about two weeks doing these things with them, but already Momo could tell Todoroki was enjoying it. She couldn't say why, but the method seemed to suit him. He talked more than usual.

She couldn't tell what Bakugo thought. He showed up-- that must mean he got something out of it.

As for herself, she wasn't sure. Since Shine liked to show them less than pleasant things about the world, she couldn't say she felt uplifted after a discussion. But Shine was not all gloom and doom-- she liked to dwell on the beauty of things other people didn't think about. If they watched a movie, her favorite part was more likely to be small heartfelt moment between characters than a big action sequence. If they talked about history, she was apt to criticize things in mass but praise individuals. And one thing that was quite apparent after just a couple weeks was that Shine spent almost every waking moment thinking about other people, the ones in the class, mostly. This was how Momo learned that her observational skills came mainly from not being self obsessed but interested in other people. Shine knew the class pretty well by now, not based on powers, but interests. You couldn't bring up something that happened with a student to her without her having some idea of it.

She said she just listened when they talked.

At some point, Momo stopped being freaked out by this, and began instead to respect it. She herself knew more about the class than almost anyone, but there was plenty she missed too. Shine could look at you and know what you were thinking. That had been unnerving to Todoroki at first, but slowly he seemed to be accepting it.

The other thing that made the sessions unusual was how open both Shine and Wally were about their own issues, problems, or questions. It was normal for Shine to use the words "I'm not sure" or "I have problems with..." not in a defeated way, but quite calmly. Wally never insisted they imitate him or think highly of him in any way. They didn't ask the students for sympathy, they just didn't seem to feel a need to keep up a front of being... well... put together all the time.

And with each other, they never seemed to be guarded or reserved at all. Momo, always growing up in a traditional household, surrounded by people who spoke politely, even with their family, had never heard people talk to each other they way these two did. Never harsh, but certainly more direct than the class would be. It was stranger with adults than with the rest of 1-A.

All this combined made it really feel like almost a different world when they were alone with them, and that raised its own questions in Momo's mind.

As for the aspect of actually being from another world, it really didn't come up often unless one of the three of them asked about it. Todoroki was the most willing to show curiosity in it, but Shine would sometimes say, "You don't need to know that." And that would be the end of it. She wouldn't answer. 

Other times she said, "Understand your own world better first before you draw conclusions about mine."

She seemed to prefer to focus on their world. It was easy to forget the wild claim that they made as DJs, except when they didn't get a reference or name for the umpteenth time. But that felt more natural than strange by now.

It was actually nice that this was more pleasant than expected, since the news wasn't too good lately.  More and more imitations of the LOV were popping up, and even students couldn't be ignorant of it anymore. Momo tried not to think about it, but it was hard not to. The school training only seemed to get more complicated. Internships were starting up now too.

[I'm aware the timeline of this is probably off, but I purposely don't specify. It's not that important to the story that the time matches up with the show's or manga's.]

Deku was going to intern at Endeavor's hero agency, it turned out. Todoroki had mixed feelings about that. 

Endeavor himself paid another visit to UA at about that time. It was a week after the Joint Training. He seemed concerned that Todoroki was still not really replying to his messages. He'd stopped sending them... and it had been weeks since Todoroki messaged him.

Todoroki didn't really appreciate that Endeavor lost it every time he didn't answer-- and was rather blunt about saying he didn't really want to.

Endeavor took that about as well as could be expected... He got dejected but said only a few words of reproof.

Todoroki thought that would be the end of it, but his actions backfired on him big time in rather a humorous but upsetting way.

Endeavor was leaving the school when he saw Shine walking back from the teacher's lounge after another argument with Midnight (that Midnight started). Shine wasn't in the best humor after that, but she didn't take it out on Endeavor. "Oh, hello," she said nicely, "You must be checking on Shoto again."

"You're that woman I talked to before," Endeavor said, looking at her narrowly, "Your suggestions didn't work very well. My son still doesn't want to communicate with me."

"Well, I never said he would," Shine shrugged "It's got to be his choice, after all..m.. I was just like him once with my father."

Endeavor raised an eyebrow. "When did you start speaking to him again?"

"I don't, to this day, speak to him any more than I have to," Shine said candidly, "but the situation it a bit different than with you and Shoto. Still, you can't rush healing, you know... He's just a teenager. When he's older, he'll understand better what's worth holding on to and what isn't."

Endeavor found it strangely easy to be open with Shine (she tended to draw that out of everyone she spoke to, for better or worse). 

"Perhaps that would be a comforting thought, if I had any certainty I would be around in that time."

"Sir?" Shine said.

"You don't seem like so much of a fool as to not see that Hero Society is not very stable right now," Endeavor said coolly, "The villains are getting worse, and those Nomu things that keep popping up....m The harsh reality is, any day could be my last on the job. I don't have the luxury of waiting for things to blow over. I can only do the best with what I have now."

Shine nodded soberly. "Believe it or not Endeavor, I understand that perfectly... One reason I try not to leave things unsaid and hold a grudge is because I don't have the luxury of time either. But it takes a lot of effort to live that way, doesn't it? It's easier when you have good people supporting you to fill that void of always waiting for some things to get better." 

She shrugged. "There's no easy way out for you... Whatever went wrong with you and your son, it's not a thing to be forgotten in a few months. But, if it helps at all, I've always observed where true change takes place, people stop thinking of you as the same person who hurt them. They still feel hurt, but they don't look at you and think that was you anymore. This won't be so easy. It's a hard truth that a parent-child relationship is one of the hardest to repair. The child grows up apart from you before you even realize something was off-- that's the hard part. Any other relationship is between potential equals. It doesn't matter as much if they grow different ways, then... But you know, the best thing you could do right now, is just be a good person."

She shrugged. "Shoto is watching you, whether it seems that way or not, and he's going to notice most if  you do things because they are good, not to win over his trust... In fact, I'd say trust is never won by trying, but when you're not looking. No one can trust you while they know you are trying to win back their trust. It feels like a test." She glanced toward the dorms. "Shoto has learned not to need you in his life. I'm not judging you on that, as it's none of my business. It's just the way of things like this. He won't go backwards to needing you. It would be best if you don't need him either. And then, once you no longer need each other, you'll find that it's easier..."

She tugged her hair. Endeavor was saying nothing, so she decided to finish her point. "You see, Love, real love, can begin with a need, but it's supposed to grow out of it. That's why kids grow up, you know, and stop needing their parents, because when they don't need them anymore, their love is the most pure and refined, because it's a free gift. Some parents, many I've known, try to hold onto that need-love because they think if their kids don't need them, they won't love them. That may be true, but they don't love you anyway if that's the case, and there needs to be a risk involved to find out the truth. It's all according to Nature." She smiled a little. "Sorry, I talk too much."

Endeavor had never heard anything like that before. He wasn't sure what it meant.

"You speak very strangely for such a young person," he said bluntly.

"I might be older than you think," Shine said, wishing Wally was there to appreciate the inside joke, "I'm an old soul, let's just say. If I'm right, I'm right, Endeavor. And I don't mind saying so to you, rank or no rank. Somebody should."

She gestured toward the dorms. "Don't worry, Shoto is fine. I'm keeping a close eye on him. He's a good kid. I've met few better. Compassionate, honest, fair. Good hero material."

"Hrm, well, he gets that from his mother..." Endeavor made a concession that would have shocked Shoto, had he been there to hear it. 

Endeavor thought there might be some sense in what Shine said, even if she was pretentious about saying it to him (he couldn't quite escape that Hero's idea that it wasn't her place to tell him that, but he also was in no position to turn down an insight into the matter, even if it was impertinent).

And he got an idea from what she said about keeping an eye on Shoto.

"I have a solution," he declared, "You will report to me about Shoto's well being."

"Uh... what?" Shine said, "Sir, I can't do that. Even if it wasn't kind of invasive, I don't have a phone or computer."

"How can you not have those things?!" Endeavor might well look at her like she was lying, in this day and age.

"It's complicated, but for now I simply can't get a cell phone plan," Shine said.

"That's foolishness." Endeavor was for once 100% right about something. "It's dangerous too! Are you stupid or just ignorant?"

"Neither, sir, it's just not been a possibility," Shine said flatly, "Sorry if it bothers you so much. I can't do anything about it." Yet, she added mentally.

"Well, if that's the only obstacle, it's a small matter." Endeavor pulled out his own phone and started tapping the screen. "It should be rectified by tomorrow. Even later today."

"Wait, what?" Shine said.

"Will you be needing one or two phones?" Endeavor used one for work and one for personal and just assumed everyone who worked at UA did the same.

Shine started to say zero, then realized she shouldn't be a fool. "Uh, I think two separate cellulars would be sufficient. My partner is in need of one also... We both supervise the class... But sir, I can't pay for it--"

"I'll expect daily reports," Endeavor said.

"That seems a little too much..." Shine said, "How about twice a week?"

"I suppose that is sufficient, but you are to alert me the second anything questionable happens to my son," Endeavor said, as if it was the end of the matter.

Shine was a little dumbfounded by this and at a loss for what to say, so she just nodded.

Endeavor left after that, satisfied with his new solution.

Shine thought the whole thing was funny, once she got over her shock, and had a blast recounting it to Wally later, who was in stitches. 

"So the old guy really wants to know what his kid's doing bad enough to bribe you to tell him? Sheesh, I don't know whether it's touching or creepy."

"Everything with that family is a little weird," Shine said, "but I think he means well this time... I'm not going to tell him anything very personal about Todoroki though-- it wouldn't be right-- just if he's safe... But it's a lucky break for us, because if Endeavor gives us phones, the school probably can't tap them, like we were afraid of if we got some from UA."

"Oh, yeah, even if they'll probably be flip phones, anything's better than this constant problem with not being able to reach anyone," Wally agreed.

But when the phones arrived that evening, they found Endeavor went above and beyond their expectations. Shine deduced that when he ordered the phones he just got the same brand and make that he or his staff would use, which meant high grade tech. The phones were much nicer than the one Shine possessed back in her world. 

It took a while to get the settings on English, and Kaminari finally had to help them... Luckily he didn't ask where they got them from. He was just excited they finally had some.  

(Kaminari had basically stopped disliking them since the Joint Training, because after how down he was about not doing so well, Wally had played games with him to cheer him up, and Shine had made him cookies. Any kid you do that for is basically your lifelong friend.) 

"You guys can be in our group chats," he said.

"No one would like that," Shine declined, "but we can swap numbers for sure."

"Want to friend me on the Vine site we use?" Kaminari offered.

Setting that up took a while, especially since Wally's knowledge of phones was set in the 1990s to early 2000s, but finally they had success.

Shine lost no time making an email and YapTube account also, so she could make playlists of music.

Later that evening she asked the three students in her group if they wanted to swap numbers, and they all freaked out (well, the two boys didn't show it, but you could tell they were inwardly reeling). 

"How did you finally get a phone?" Momo asked.

Shine couldn't resist telling them. "Endeavor," she said.

"What?!!" Todoroki looked at her like she'd said it was from Mars.

"Now don't get mad," Shine said, "but, he wants to know how you're doing, so he has enlisted me to report back to him."

"You agreed to do that! Why is he stooping so low?!" Todoroki said angrily.

Shine looked at him squarely. "I know you won't like it if I say this is partially your doing. You didn't contact him. But he's trying to respect that. I know it's a weird way to do so... and maybe he's missing the point a little, but it's a small step the right direction, isn't it?"

"So you're just going to tell him what I'm doing?" Todoroki said, "Like a spy."

"Stop using that word," Shine said, "I'm not going to do anything of the sort. Please, that's creepy. I'm just going to let him know you're not in danger from time to time. Nothing more. Anything else is your business to tell him, but I can't help but feel, given how precarious both your lives are, it's fair for him to know if your life is secure or not. That's why I agreed... I figured it would get him to stop feeling the need to bug you so much."

"But it isn't your affair," Todoroki said.

"Should have thought of that before you told me your backstory," Shine said, "Like it or not, the both of you have made it my affair. It's not so bad to have a buffer. I used one for a long time in my family."

"I know it's uncomfortable," Momo spoke, "and I don't blame you for being upset, Todoroki. But she's not going to tell him anything he couldn't find out anyway by asking anyone else... and, this way, Miss Likstar and Mr. West can have phones... Think how useful that is."

"Yeah, why don't you suck t up and take one for the group, half 'n half," Bakugo said very rudely, "It's not hurting you."

"Why don't you shut up?" Todoroki said to him, annoyed. 

But he did think it was best if the DJs had phones, and once he had time to calm down, he thought that it might be worth it... but it was only after time had passed, and he realized that Endeavor wasn't really bothering him at all, that he saw it was also less stressful for him this way. The truth of the matter was, he'd never had anyone else to help make anything easier for him, and he wasn't used to it. He couldn't trust Shine's intentions at first, but he had involved her by choice, and the surprise was that there were expectations from that.

For the time being, he just stopped arguing about it.