Emi didn't tell Shine how the "date" ended, though she asked. She felt kind of guilty for telling Aizawa so much. 

She hoped he wouldn't mention it to Shine.

Shine had plenty to worry about already. She knew Mirko was still going to want answers, and she couldn't stall forever. She talked to Wally about what she should tell her.

"I don't know why you don't just not tell her at all," was his helpful answer, "She's kind of a jerk. I don't know if we can trust her." He bit into an apple.

"Well, if she decides to ask Hawks, aren't we in trouble?" Shine replied.

"I guess..." Wally sighed, "Why is it one problem after another?"

"I'm sure there'll be a lull eventually...right?" Shine said weakly.

* * *

While that was going on, Momo had plenty to think about after what happened. But it was hard to concentrate with Todoroki watching her so closely. Perhaps the numerous times she'd gotten hurt recently had finally gotten to him. (He was kind of slow to adjust.)

Not that it wasn't touching in a way, but she felt like a fragile doll with him watching her every move like she might trip and hurt herself.

The other girls thought it was cute.

"He probably just likes you," Mina said.

"No, I'm sure it's because I got taken out so easily," Momo sighed, "But, I...I mean, how was I supposed to know?"

"Wow, I'm glad to hear you're not blaming yourself," Jiro said, surprised.

"What good would it do?" Momo said, "And I'd just have to blame Miss Joke too if I did that."

"Uh...who are you and what have you done with Momo?" Mina said.

"I don't know," Momo mused, "After all that happened...I just feel like none of it was in my control. I was just part of it, in a small way."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" Tohru said.

"I'm...not sure," Momo admitted, "I need to think more. Tohru-chan, could you see if the coast is clear?"

"Oh, he wouldn't hide outside your door." Tohru stuck her head out.

Todoroki was sitting on the stairway looking at his phone.

"I mean...maybe I'm wrong..." Tohru said.

"It's a little creepy," Tsuyu commented.

"No, it's cute," Mina said, "We all know how protective Todoroki is. This is just his way of trying to make it better."

"I appreciate that, but I feel...uh..." Momo searched for a word.

"Smothered?" Jiro said.

"Who knew Todoroki would end up being such a helicopter parent?" Mina said, "You know, his kids are gonna be really sheltered."

"To be fair, so are Momo's," Ochaco pointed out, "She didn't even know what Getflix was."

"I still don't see that as relevant information for being a hero..." Momo said.

"Well, if you want to avoid him so badly, sneak out the window," Mina said, "I do it all the time."

"What?" The girls looked at her oddly.

"Oh, me too. I practice my stealth," Tohru said, "And I go into the teacher's lounge and steal snacks. And I drew a face on Monoma's window."

"Get out! Really?" Mina was loving this.

Jiro rolled her eyes. "Well, Momo can definitely use her quirk to climb out...or one of us could just distract Todoroki."

"But I think the window idea is more fun," Mina said.

It did sound kind of fun. Momo went to her balcony and looked over the edge, then she made a rope ladder. "I feel kind of like I'm doing something wrong..."

"There's not a rule against this," Jiro pointed out.

"Yeah, go for it, girl!" Mina pumped her fist.

Momo sighed and put her hand on the rope. She was still not back to full energy after the drug. The persistent sluggish feeling kept coming back whenever she moved too much. But this should be okay. She started climbing. The other girls watched. 

"This is kind of cool," Ochaco said, "Hmm, maybe I should have lightened her clothes first."

"Clothes aren't that heavy, Ochaco," Tsuyu said.

Momo's foot slipped part way down, and she fell the last meter or so to the ground. 

"Oohhh," all the girls winced.

"That had to hurt," Tohru muttered.

Momo sat up. "I'm okay!" She waved. "Just my dignity..."

"Better run before someone sees you," Jiro said.

Momo got up and walked off down the pathway.

"Now, to enact my 10 point kekaku." Mina rubbed her hands together.

"What?" the other girls said.

Mina led them out of the room and down the hall. Todoroki looked up.

"Don't you think it's a bad idea to encourage this?" Tsuyu hissed.

Mina shrugged. "I hope Momo's okay, though. That fall looked a little bad."

She said loud enough for Todoroki to hear, but not so loud it sounded like she was doing it on purpose.

Todoroki's head shot up.

"I'm sure she'll be fine," Tohru played right along, "She walked right off down the walkway like it wasn't anything. She wasn't limping, was she?"

"Not that I noticed." Ochaco felt kind of guilty but also intrigued to see where this would go.

"You guys are over reacting." Tsuyu was trying to get them to knock it off, but it only added to the illusion. Camie would have been proud.

"Guys, stop it." Jiro was red on Momo's behalf. She'd just died of embarrassment if they did this to her.

They went into the elevator. "Well, if I know my stuff, this'll work out beautifully," Mina said.

"But didn't she want space? Isn't she going to be mad at you?" Tsuyu said.

"Oh, Tsuyu, I'm sure Momo wants to know someone is thinking about her as much as the next girl," Mina dismissed it, "She's not mad at Todoroki, she's just shy. It'll be fine."

"It feels kind of bad to play him like that," Ochaco said.

"To be fair, we could have done that completely unintentionally too..." Tohru pointed out.

* * *

Shoto waited till the girls were gone so they wouldn't see him go, but then he hurried outside. Actually, it was kind of weird they didn't care if Yaoyurozu might be hurt... He thought it was oddly out of character.

As Bakugo thought, he was smart and stupid at the same time, because he still didn't put together they might have set him up on purpose.

He didn't find Momo right away though. She'd gotten pretty far into the more park-like part of the campus.

Momo was still trying to ponder what happened and what it meant. She thought it hadn't ended well, but since it happened, Shine had been acting much less worried. Did she do something that they didn't know about yet?

Wally seemed okay too. And she knew that they'd let the LOV go... At least, she could guess.

But they hadn't told the three students what happened yet--four, counting Camie, who seemed unfazed from her texts. Momo didn't understand her well enough to suspect that might be a cover up.

While she was walking, she felt better though. Maybe the whole thing had come right after all. Somehow...she had been knocked out for the latter half of the action, so who knew? But that earthquake though...the news had covered it...but it had been random. Scientists were a bit puzzled as to why it happened at all. Not that earthquakes were ever an expected thing...but you could trace causes to them...not this one.

Momo couldn't help but wonder...had it been some kind of miracle? But for what? It did seem to end the fight, from what she'd heard. Did it scare the League?

She realized she'd wandered a little farther than she intended and was now out of breath. The drowsy, lethargic feeling overtook her quite suddenly, and she stopped walking. Black spots danced before her eyes. Right, Recovery Girl had said the drug would take at least three days to fully work out of her systems, even if it was weakened. It was an illegal drug, so it was dangerous. Also something in it seemed to thin blood, making it easier to draw it out...which was concerning. And she'd lost a lot of blood...not enough for a transfusion, but enough not to overexert herself. Yeah, walking this far was a bad idea. What was she thinking? She was just going to find somewhere to sit for a while.

Only Momo would have time to think all that before passing out.

She was only unconscious for a few seconds, and then she woke up kind of dazed and tried to pry herself off the grass. She felt all limp.

"Oh dear," she thought, looking around groggily, "I'm never going to make it back to the dorms. Stupid! Why did I go so far away?! Drat this drug! I didn't feel it until now, so I thought it was okay, but I should know better!"

She felt for her cell phone and remembered unluckily a that moment that she'd left it on her desk because the girls had urged to go so quickly.

Well, if she didn't come back they'd come look for her eventually, and she might be able to walk back if she just sat for a while. No need to panic...alone...in the least monitored part of the campus... (that wasn't exactly true, but she was in the frame of mind for hyperbole).

She hugged her knees, but sitting up was making her dizzy again.

[I noted while writing this that what Momo is suffering from is very similar to a condition called POTS, only hers is temporary, while POTS can be permanent, resulting from disease or other medical problems, COVID being one of them, interestingly enough.]

She laid on her back and stared up at the sky. At least it wasn't snowing. The snow hadn't lasted long... It was still cold, but it beat fainting again.

She was watching clouds when someone nearly scared her out of her life by saying, "Yaoyurozu?!"

She sat up way too fast. "Todoroki?!"

How on earth had he been able to find her out here?

Momo was sharp enough to realize Mina probably told him... She'd forgive her this once. Wait, maybe she'd been gone a long time after all. Maybe she'd passed out longer than she thought.

"What are you doing? Are you sick?" Todoroki came closer and knelt down, looking concerned.

"Uh...well...um..." The truth was kind of embarrassing. He was just going to tell her it was stupid to come out here... Well, she deserved it.

"I wandered a little farther than I thought," she said, shamefaced, "and I kind of...fainted.... Lingering effects of the drug. I felt fine up until a short time ago, but I guess it was just a little too much walking. I was going to rest for a while before trying to walk back."

"I see." Todoroki did sound kind of annoyed (at least she took it that way). "But why didn't you call someone to come get you?"

"I...uh, left my phone in my room..." Momo mumbled, "Sorry...what time is it?"

"It's about 5:30pm." 

"Oh...good, it's only been 20 minutes..." Momo was relieved.

"Yes, but it'll be dark soon, and you shouldn't come out here alone," Todoroki scolded, "I don't know why someone didn't stop you."

That made her a little mad. When you're embarrassed, it's easy to get snippy if someone wounds your pride. "Hey, they don't control me, you know, and anyway, I didn't mean to go this far. I lost track of time."

"But that's stupid." Todoroki said the crushing words, though not very meanly.

That pushed Momo over the edge. She already felt kind of sick. She hated herself for it, but she started crying.

She couldn't have picked a better revenge though. Todoroki looked frantic. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hurt your feelings. Don't cry."

"I'm crying because it was stupid..." Momo sniffled, "Sorry..."

"Well, you don't have to apologize for that, but there's no need to get so upset... Everyone does things like that sometimes." Todoroki back tracked. "Do you want me to help you get back, or do you want to wait?"

"I..." It was kind of cold. "I mean...if you want... I don't want to be a burden."

"It's not a burden." Todoroki stood up. "It's better than waiting for it to get dark. I don't want to be caught out here by the patrol bots either. Let's just go." He held out his hand.

"Maybe you could call in those medical bots so you don't have to carry me," Momo suggested.

"I could..." Todoroki pulled out his phone. "No, battery's dead."

Momo started laughing. She couldn't help it.

"What's so funny?"

"I left my phone, and you didn't charge yours... Sorry, it's kind of ironic, isn't it?"

"I guess." Todoroki did not understand irony at all. "So I guess we're walking."

Momo awkwardly took his hand and stood up, still kind of wobbly. "I hope I feel back to normal tomorrow..."

"I don't remember Utushimi saying she had after effects like that, but then, maybe it wasn't the same..." Todoroki mused, "You're lucky someone came out here though."

"I know..." Momo sighed.

They started walking very slowly, until Momo started feeling strange again. Then Todoroki just picked her up, to her further embarrassment, but she felt too weak to really want to drag it out, so she didn't argue.

"Why did you come out here anyway? It's so cold," Todoroki asked.

Momo didn't want to tell him the real reason, but...

"Well, partly I wanted to think."

"You can't do that inside?"

"Well...I kind of felt like everyone was watching me too closely in there after what happened, so I couldn't concentrate."

"I didn't notice that." Todoroki was the most clueless person in the world.

Momo was the nicest person in the class, but even she couldn't resist that. "Todoroki, you were the main one doing that."

"What?" Todoroki actually felt kind of caught. So she noticed? How? He thought he'd been so discreet about it.

[Pause to have a fit of laughter at his idea of discretion.]

"Not that I don't understand why," Momo went on.

"You do?" Todoroki felt kind of red... Good thing she couldn't see his face.

"Yes, it's because I keep getting into trouble, and it seems like I can't take care of myself...and that's kind of true, I admit, but I don't like feeling that way."

"You're saying I made you uncomfortable?"

"Oh, no, no that's not what I meant... I don't like feeling helpless, and I always do. I always get hurt, or drugged, or something. Even if it wasn't my fault, it's like...like some karmic fate or something. I just...get frustrated." Momo found she was close to crying again and tried to hold it back.

Todoroki could understand that feeling at least.

"I get that...but you're still always helpful. I don't know why you think that way. It seems like the rest of us are never as fast as you to think of an idea."

"Hmrf. Camie was faster than me..." Momo pouted, "Which...is surprising. I didn't think she was a planner."

"Me neither...and I worked with her before... Maybe it was a strange moment for her."

"Maybe she's sharper than she seems, just talking to her... Not that she's dumb, just...uh...less focused than other people," Momo said.

Dumb is the word Todoroki would use, but he didn't say so.

"She did come up with an idea before too. Maybe she's just smart when it's an emergency."

"Kind of like how Bakugo is only nice when it's a crisis..." Momo mused. She could see it too, even if she wasn't vocal like the other girls.

"They do seem to get along. I can't understand why. They're so different," Todoroki puzzled.

"Maybe that's why. Opposites attract." Momo had heard Mina say this before.

"Do they?" Todoroki hadn't heard that before. And given his parents...he didn't think it was true.

"Sometimes, I guess," Momo said, "I mean...opposites can mean different things, can't it? Not opposite sides of good and bad, but opposite ways of dealing with things. Like...I plan things and analyze and make a strategy. And you tend to just attack with force." She didn't think about how using them as an example might be awkward right then... Luckily, neither did Todoroki.

"It's not that I never have a plan...just...not a very detailed one."

"Well, that's what I meant...and it's probably better that way most of the time, but then, other people like details," Momo went on, "It's like that with people too. I think Bakugo is so...tense...and Camie is so...laid back. So they get along."

"But he's...a jerk...and she's...well, less of one." Todoroki actually thought Camie could be kind of insensitive...[again, irony].

"I think she's actually kind of sweet, in an odd way," Momo mused, "I remember she tried to encourage me in the fight, in a rude sort of way, and it annoyed me, but it did work... Maybe she's just got a different way of saying it."

Actually, Camie was the only person Todoroki ever remembered Momo saying annoyed her... He smiled slightly. It was kind of funny.

And he wasn't the only one! Seriously, why did everyone else think she was so cool? She was irritating!

"Mina told you to come out here, didn't she?" Momo changed the subject.

"Huh? No, no one did." Todoroki realized too late that sounded kind of odd.

"No one? Oh... How did you know, then?"

"I heard them mention it," he said, kind of embarrassed, "I thought it would be good to make sure... Well, they said you fell, so..."

Those two faced-- Momo tried to calm herself. She'd have to chew Mina out later...and thank her, since unfortunately, she did end up needing the help... Maybe Mina was just smarter than her.

Still, to rush out here on that little...

"Well...I appreciate it...but you don't have to worry about me so much... I mean, I don't know why you do anyway. It's not like I've ever done anything for you..." she said nervously. What was she even saying?

"I wouldn't say that..." Todoroki muttered kind of quietly. Then aloud, "It's normal to worry about friends, isn't it?"

"I suppose."

"It seems like someone in the class is always in trouble, so...I guess I just got used to it," Todoroki went on.

True...

"Still, I'm sorry," Momo said, "I keep getting in trouble around you and being a burden."

"It's not your fault..." Todoroki would rather it be around him than where he didn't know it was happening, in all honesty.

It beat Midoriya running off alone all the time, at least.

"Still..." Momo said.

"Would you care if it was someone else?" Todoroki asked, "If they needed help a lot, would you look down on them?"

"Well, no," Momo admitted, "But I'm a hero student."

"I think heroes need help too," Todoroki mused, "I don't mind anyway. That's what you're supposed to do for friends. So stop apologizing for it."

Momo went silent. She was kind of speechless after that.

They got back in pretty good time after that.

"Wow." Mina was watching from the window. "That went even better than I thought."

"Mina, you're so shameless!" the other girls told her.

"Momo doesn't look so good," Jiro frowned, "I don't think you should be congratulating yourself."

Momo got down, kind of red. "Thank you... Uh, sorry--"

Todoroki gave her a look.

"I mean, uh, I hope to return the favor sometime-- not because you're in trouble though..." Momo said, "I mean, I wouldn't wish for that. I just mean to do a favor because, like you said, that's what friends do, and..." she stopped babbling. She sounded like Midoriya...

Todoroki chuckled slightly. "I got it. You don't have to explain."

"Right..." Momo said sheepishly.

"Oooh." Mina leaned forward. "This is getting spicy."

"Can you even hear them?" Tohru asked.

"No, but still," Mina said.

Todoroki saw her looking and scowled slightly.

"Uh oh." Mina backed up. "Something tells me we should scram before he catches on to us." She and Tohru booked it.

* * *

Despite all this, Todoroki was far from okay himself. He didn't understand what happened at all, and he was still angry.

Shine had saidto be angry if they survived.... Well, they survived...but what was he supposed to think now?

What the villain Dabi said was bothering him too, not that he should care what a villain said. Still, it always jarred him to be compared to his father.

He'd have asked Shine about it...but he was too angry at her.

To make matters worse, she disappeared that afternoon too, before Momo went missing, and she wasn't back by evening.

Wally said she'd gone out to meet a friend.

Shoto rolled his eyes. "Of course she did."

Wally noticed. "Uh...you okay there, sport?"

Shoto glared at him. "Why would I be okay? You still haven't explained anything, and as usual, she's gone instead of involving us in the decision making. The only time she does, it's to tell us it's already too late, and people want to kill us!" He drew a deep breath. "Not that I think you've been much better."

"Ouch.... Wow, you're really steamed, huh?" Wally said, "Get it? Steamed? Because of your fire?"

Shoto gave him a dirty look.

"Sorry," Wally said, "Force of habit... It's not that I'm not taking you seriously, man, it's just that...I don't know, it's always about you."

"It's not about me, it's about all of us. I'm not just selfish!" Shoto snapped, "And she said some things about me that were...just cruel."

"I know she did say a few things that were a little harsh..." Wally recalled, "I mean, I forgot until now... I don't think she meant it that way. You attacked her friend, though."

"A villain is not a friend, West!" Shoto said angrily.

"Maybe not to you, but if it is to her, you think she'll like you saying what you did?" Wally said, "Hey, it's not just you either, though. I heard that she bit that Bunny Girl's head off when she said the LOV was worthless, too."

"Really? Huh..." Shoto wouldn't have dared to do that to Mirko... She was actually kind of scary.

"So it's not like she's picking on you," Wally said, "And...I don't know, you tend to come to me for explanations instead of to her. Is there a reason you're afraid to talk to her yourself about it?"

"It's...I still don't think...well.... She doesn't trust me," Shoto said.

"But you don't fully trust us either," Wally replied. He'd grabbed a snack at some point when Shoto blinked, and he was munching on it between sentences. "I don't really get why. Other than the many crazy things we do. But hey, that's just how we roll."

"I don't know if either of you have any real sense of reality," Shoto said, "But it bothers me more than you don't tell us what you do."

"Well, we don't like that part either," Wally said, "Honestly, it's more our policy to be honest with people, but we just can't be here, not with everyone watching us. The more we tell you, the more of a problem you'll have with people watching you. You see what happened already...and Shine's been...well, dealing with some stuff."

"Stuff?" Shoto said.

Wally sighed. "Well...maybe I should just tell you. I guess you kids deserve to know... But if I do, do you promise to try to be a little more understanding?"

Shoto nodded. "What is it?"

Wally sighed again and rubbed his head. "Well, it goes back to a few years ago. Actually, around the time she and I met... She was helping someone, you know, like she does... Actually, come to think of it, it was kind of  a villain...well, villain/slave...and some crazy stuff went down. It's a long story. We ended up having to fight off the big bads who this lady was trying to get away from."

He shook his head grimly. "They just wouldn't stop coming. We fought them ff, but...they just came again.... Hey, kind of the like the LOV."

Shoto didn't find that funny, but he was interested now. "So that's why Shine helps villains, because of one person who tried to escape? That makes sense but--"

"Oh, that wasn't the first villain she helped," Wally said. 

"Oh..." Shoto wasn't sure what to say.

"Probably the worst one though (at that time)...but I was for it. All of us were sick of those guys trying to wreck our world by then, and weakening them was good... Plus, the girl was kind of sweet once she, you know, wasn't trying to kill us.... Anyway, but the part that's kind of hard to talk about is what happened the last time they tried to recapture her, and we broke her out."

"She betrayed you, didn't she?" Shoto said.

Wally frowned. "No."

Silence.

"To this day, even I get mad thinking about it," Wally sighed, "I'm a superhero. I save people... I beat impossible odds all the time. And we got so close. We were right about to get away...the last fight...and I was there, and my friends were, and Shine was. We should have been able to pull through...we thought. And all of us did...except her. The horrible thing? She was shot, just like that. We can dodge, block, or not even feel bullets or lasers, and the one person who would is the one who gets shot? It's just not fair."

Shoto's eyes widened. "So...she...died?"

Wally nodded. "Right in front of us. Shine and I actually were there for the end of it... Shine said she found peace...so that's something at least. But it's never easy to see that happen. Shine was the most depressed I've ever seen her for a long while after that. She recovered... In fact, I'd say it made her stronger. More determined than ever, more daring, more willing not to wait too long to take action. And, hey, me too in a way..."

Shoto didn't know what to say.

"But, you know, there's more to it," Wally said quietly, "I don't know what she was like before...but I kind of think she changed just a little bit. The first time you lose someone like that, it changes you. I remember it for me, my buddies have all had it... You're the same person, but you're just...never as complacent, I guess. You know you're not God.... You're not invincible. You're definitely not perfect."

"But you can get stronger, so that it doesn't happen again," Shoto said.

"That's a lie, kid. It still happens to all of us," Wally said, "And it could happen to anyone. Doesn't mean it will. I'm an optimist, and for the record, I have a really low loss count, thanks to my speed. Shine's smart and effective. I don't think she's lost any one of her close students since then...though we had some close calls. But that doesn't matter. We still don't know for sure... And, hey, you're kind of saying Shine is not strong. You think that's true?"

"No...but..." Shoto didn't know how else to respond.

"It's not your fault or anything," Wally said, folding his arms thoughtfully, "but the reason I'm bringing it up is because I was hoping you'd kind of understand better why she's being so protective. Maybe I can be a little like that too...but...well, we're older than you-- we've seen it more times. Maybe you think you're invincible, but you won't think that for long...and you don't want us to protect you, I got that. I didn't used to like it either... I still don't really like it, but I did learn to be grateful that my friends had my back, so I could goof around more. I'm just saying, what you're seeing as us not trusting you is probably just trying to keep you safer."

Shoto thought about it. "If that's true, then why is she so critical?"

"People get like that when they're scared, kid," Wally said, "Sorry about that... It's probably just a cover for her being afraid you'll do something dangerous. And don't take that personally. It's probably more about the past than you. That's what I'm trying to say.
Our lives aren't perfect, either."

"But why didn't you tell us that from the beginning?" Shoto said.

"You mean tell you our whole tragic backstory, anime style, just because something you said or did set us off, because we don't have a filter or an ounce of self control?" Wally said.

Shoto looked a little askance.

"Yeah, that's not really how we do things. You have to earn knowledge like that, sometimes. Anyways, it's hard for her to talk about it. I don't want her to have to..."

"I shouldn't bring it up, then," Shoto said.

"No, that's up to you... She won't be mad." Wally rubbed his head. "She might cry though... You know girls... Then again, I cried when my buddy Sups came back to life."

"He...what?" Shoto said.

"Okay, technically he wasn't dead, but we all thought he was," Wally said, "Worst day of my life... Anyway, the point is... Wait, did I have a point?"

"I...think that I have a lot to think about-- and to reconsider," Shoto said, "But thank you for explaining it to me..." He walked away.

"I hope that was the right thing to do..." Wally  mused to himself.