Text"… So your Quirk… Isn't your Quirk."
"…No."
"… It's All Might's."
"… Yes."
"And All Might gave it to you after you tried to help me from that sludge fucker a year ago?"
"He… Trained me until the Yuuei Entrance Exams… But that's when he approached me, yes."
Bakugou let out what was probably the twentieth sigh throughout the current conversation. He was disturbingly quiet, which only made Izuku feel more and more tense. He could feel the Explosion Quirk users brain turning, churning, assessing and thinking of everything in his head, trying to make sense of it all. Seeing if he believed all of what he'd been told, or if Izuku was trying to trick him in some way again.
Hiding One For All at this point was just pointless. All For One had pretty much exposed Izuku's Quirk entirely, for whatever reason that might have been. Pretending that he had no clue what the Villain was talking about wasn't going to work – Bakugou wasn't stupid by any stretch of the imagination. So he'd done the only thing, really, that he could do.
And that was telling Bakugou the full story from his perspective. Start to finish, but without mentioning All Might's Quirkless past, or about his true form. He did what very little he could do to follow his tutors wishes, to try and keep the legend, and the symbol of All Might's image alive.
It wasn't much at all, but it was all he could think to try. Those two things weren't his to reveal.
The entire situation was, in a word, contrived, and Izuku didn't know what purpose it served the Villains to expose the truth to Bakugou. If they wanted to ruin All Might's name, why would they not just go public with the knowledge that they had? Why go out of their way to specifically inform Bakugou about the truth behind the Power Stockpiling Quirk? Had that been the reason that they'd kidnapped him in the first place? Just to reveal that to him? If that were the case, what exactly did it achieve? Were they hoping for some kind of domino effect that would wreck the reputation of the world's number one Hero? There was just far, far too much about this plan that didn't make any real sense, and Izuku was starting to doubt he'd figure it out himself. He simply knew too little about these Villains and their plans to make any guesses, accurate or not.
As he received more information, Bakugou's expressions fell from any of the normal hard lines or edges that Izuku had always remembered. No creases or wrinkles from frowns and scowls. His face was one of total neutrality, expressing little to no emotion outwardly, as he processed everything that he'd been told about One For All, about All Might, and about Izuku. He was putting the pieces together, the bits that had never made sense to him, and was playing a matching game in his brain where he filled in the previously unknown blanks with the new pockets of information. Things quickly began to fit in and make a lot of sense.
Far too much sense for him to dismiss as the ravings of a Hero obsessed lunatic.
A Quirk that could steal another person's Quirk was already completely crazy and insane a concept to understand, but it was something that Bakugou had almost watched happen right in front of him, and he didn't doubt the genuine existence of it. The way that Izuku had reacted towards this supposed power gave away that he knew the Villain in front of him, somehow. His reactions he been genuine. Made All For One seem genuine.
And once one accepted the existence of All For One, One For All suddenly became much more feasible a Quirk to imagine existing.
The sad fact was, if Bakugou learned about the existence of All For One, he would probably figure out that the Quirk Izuku had wasn't his. Because of his own stupid compulsion to tell him the truth when Yuuei first started. That his power was given to him by someone else. If there had been even a single shred of evidence backing up the idea of transferable Quirks…
Izuku had dug his own grave, and the bullet had been fired the minute All For One walked into the room.
"…So when you said that your power was borrowed…"
"…" It didn't need answering.
So much of this information had to conflict with what Bakugou had come up with in his own head. His beliefs that Izuku had been mocking him for over a decade were suddenly out the window…
It really was impossible to tell what his overall reaction was going to be.
"… You're a fucking idiot."
Honestly, Izuku wondered what else he had been expecting.
"So you get given this by freaking All Might, and you thought that the best course of fucking action was the stay completely silent when the big boss fucker showed up and interrogated you on it? The same guy who, according to you, made your fucking Quirk in the first place?"
"W - What good would denying it have done anyway? He already knew about it…"
The normally aggressive fair-haired boy looked away from the green haired boy, down towards the ground, where none of his expressions could be seen. He might have had his eyes shut, but it was too dark for Izuku to honestly tell. He stayed like that for a short while, not moving, or even breathing as far as Izuku could tell. Contemplating, no doubt, everything that had happened in the last semester.
And how much of it was attributed to this new information.
"…Who else knows?" Was the next question he asked, quietly, by the standards that he would normally ask questions at. He almost sounded like he'd resigned to some sort of guilt that had crept up on him. Guilt for what, no one could really say. Why he was asking was also another question that entered the holders head, but he didn't vocalize it.
The Quirk inheritor did a quick recap in his head, making sure he wasn't forgetting anyone. "I uh…. All Might, obviously…. Recovery Girl… One of All Might's friends in the police force. A couple of the teachers. I…. I think the Headmaster knows…. And I told Mina."
"Of course she fucking knows." Bakugou flatly stated, almost sounding like he was on the verge of letting out a bitter, sarcastic laugh. "I'm sure you tell her every fucking thing. Of course she knows."
"…Not everything."
Izuku felt his head fall as he admitted that, falling back towards the ground, remembering the many things he hadn't told her. Things he absolutely should have said to her before something like this happened. That he wanted to say to her right now, but couldn't. Not while he was here, and not while his chances of actually leaving this place alive seemed so small.
He was almost hesitant to even say anything. Bakugou wasn't exactly his first choice when it came to talking about this kind of thing. He'd rather talk to someone like Aoyama, and he'd never even had a conversation with him – As well as him being just a bit weird. Bakugou was someone that Izuku honestly never knew where he stood with. He never knew if he could even talk to him or not.
Then again, what other choice did they really have?
Bakugou hadn't stated anything that even implied disinterest. He hadn't shrugged off anything. He hadn't told Izuku to shut up. He was just sat there, quietly, like he was waiting for his old friend to continue.
"… I never told her that I loved her."
That had been a mistake. Never telling her that. He'd had more than enough time to come to that conclusion, over and over in his head. So much so that it was screaming. Screaming in his brain at how much of an idiot he'd been. How much of a coward he'd been.
How much he'd let her down. All the promises that he'd be more careful, that he wouldn't hurt himself, that he'd talk to her when something needed to be talked about… All of it. That was honestly the worst part of it all. How much he felt he'd let her down. How much he'd truly screwed up.
And how much that had to have hurt her.
"Why not?"
Not one for waiting around, or for the small pauses that Izuku had to take to recompose himself, Bakugou simply requested Izuku keep talking. Again, anger wasn't present. More… If Izuku had to describe it, it sounded more like remorseful curiosity. Where the remorse part came in, he had no idea. Bakugou wasn't the type of person to feel much remorse for things he'd done, at least as far as he knew.
Maybe he actually knew why. But he wanted to hear it.
"… Everything good that happens to me leaves because I accept it."
The only response Bakugou gave was a quirked eyebrow. So Izuku continued.
"… When we were kids… We all just assumed I'd get a Quirk. Until we figured out… That I was Quirkless… We all just accepted that it would happen eventually. I… I didn't want to accept it, so… I kept on pushing against it. I kept trying to become a Hero, even without a Quirk… Because I didn't want to accept reality... And it felt like the moment I accepted reality… That would be it." Izuku sighed, remembering the torment and torture he'd had to grin and bear through during his entire childhood. How being born Quirkless had robbed him of any chance to have a normal life in this world filled with the extraordinary. He remembered not wanting to accept it as the true way of things…
And knowing that he was fighting a losing battle, but one he simply refused to give in to. The moment he did… Was the moment that his dreams died.
"If I made friends… It wasn't long until they just left. If anything good happened to me… It would always blow up in my face… So… I… When I got All Might's power… I… I knew it wasn't mine." He looked at his torn-up arms, looking at how utterly broken they truly were. "Look at me… This isn't the result of someone who actually owns their Quirk… So I… I can't accept it as my own power. And… And if I did… I… I know, I just know… All Might would want it back." It made no sense, and Izuku knew deep down, he was being irrational. He wasn't making sense. All Might was his tutor, and he really did owe him so much…
But that was part of why his fear that his Hero would ask for it back.
Maybe taking it back could return him to full power. It could remove his time limit maybe… He could be the Symbol of Peace for years, decades, to come. Izuku didn't know if those were potential outcomes… But if All Might asked for One For All back… How could be refuse?
The answer was simple. He couldn't. He didn't have that right. One For All was a power that needed refining, training, progress and a long, long time to master… but According to Gran Torino, that had never been the case with All Might. He had just adapted to it perfectly, and been straight on his way to becoming the world's top Hero.
He couldn't refuse that One For All was still his mentors Quirk more than it was his own. If it could even begin to save All Might's Hero career… Izuku didn't have a choice in the matter. He wouldn't argue. He couldn't do that. Not after everything All Might had done for him.
If he accepted his power as his own… All Might would want it back. That was… Just how reality worked for Izuku.
… But that wasn't the worst part.
"… Mina… If… If I accept that Mina is part of my life… If I told her that I love her…" He felt his jaw tightening, and his teeth gritting against one another. "If – If I told her that that she's the most important, the most special part of it…. Then – "
"You'd drive her away, right?" Bakugou finished off Izuku's sentence for him, forcefully and verbally shutting him up. "I think I got the fucking idea."
The green haired boy rubbed his eyes against his shoulders, trying to get rid of the tears that had formed up while he was thinking about why he'd never told Mina how he truly felt about her. He knew that it was selfish to keep it all to himself just because he didn't want to lose her. How insecure he was because of it. He was wallowing in self-pity, and he knew that very well. And it just wasn't fair to Mina. It hadn't been fair to her this entire time.
He was scared. That was all.
Scared that he'd lose someone who made him feel like he could do anything. That he'd lose someone who made him feel like he'd been accepted. Someone who made him feel like things were going to be okay, no matter how bad they got.
Someone who truly believed in him. That he truly could become a Hero, and stood by him after learning all there was to learn about him.
Someone who he… "… I couldn't even be honest with Mina…"
"… And how much of that was my fault?"
Not a sarcastic remark. Not a bitter dismissal. Not any way to try and deflect the blame onto someone else, or even denying that there was some kind of fault.
Bakugou was asking a genuine question. It honestly made Izuku flinch for a moment, not from fear, but from sheer surprise. "K-Kacchan?"
"If you're going to imply it's my fault, you can just fucking say it and save us some time."
"I – I wasn't – "
"You should tell her."
That caught Izuku off guard. For a few seconds he didn't dare to even blink, unsure of what he had just heard. Was…
In this giant, large, various and diverse world, was Bakugou, of everyone out there, trying to encourage him on his relationship? "W – What?"
"I am not being responsible for your fucked-up relationship, Deku. That's not on my head. Either you'll tell or, or I'll fucking do tell her what you said here. Got it?"
There wasn't any time to carry on the conversation though, as the metal door that held them captive suddenly flung open, blinding the pair of them once more.
"Alright. Time to get go."
Arriving at the new ward at just a few minutes after ten at night, the seven Yuuei students quickly navigated their way out of the station, and found themselves onto a main street, jam packed with people. Todoroki scanned the street they had arrived at, looking left to right, and taking account of the sheer number of individuals.
"It sure is crowded here."
Even during the late night, the Kamino Ward was still a lively and bustling place, filled with all sorts of people doing who knew what. Heroes and civilians alive, of all shapes, sizes and Quirks. People who were shopping, people who were out for a good time, a night on the town, people interested in seeing what the nightlife had to offer at the clubs and bars that were scattered around this place. In the case of Heroes, since the area was always so busy with any potential number of people who could possibly commit crimes, a patrol or two always had to be in place to try and deter anyone who wanted to test their luck at pickpocketing or mugging, or other crimes, violent or not. There were teenagers, who probably weren't supposed to be here, but somehow blended into the crowd just as easy as any of those in their early twenties to mid-forties. All kinds of Mutation Type Quirks were on display, from horns to tails, wings and feathers, though this was the same anywhere in the world.
This was normal for this sort of ward. Nothing was particularly out of the ordinary, at least as far as Mina could tell.
"It's a shopping and a nightlife area." She informed the burned boy, taking a few steps ahead of the rest of the group to properly inspect the street. "It's actually pretty calm for this kind of place. There's normally a lot more people here."
"You've been here before?" Uraraka questioned, glancing around the place, orientating herself with her new surroundings.
The pink skinned girl shrugged. "A couple of times. Not exactly here, but I've come to the ward with friends back in middle school. Not enough to know the area that well, but I know the vibe well enough."
When she thought about it, the logic made sense as to why the Villains would chose this place to be their hideout as well. In such a normally dense area, filled with all manner of type of people, if they needed to leave, they could blend in without anyone even suspecting them. All they'd need was a hoodie or something and they'd be part of the crowd, unnoticeable and virtually invisible. Alongside which, so many people and buildings would make it nearly impossible to pin down an exact location without any prior information, like what Yaoyorozu had been able to get. Otherwise, Heroes would wind up spending months searching for leads, and might not be able to turn up anything.
And given that the Villains had someone with a Warp Quirk, it was virtually a moot point anyway.
"So, these jerks're hiding out here, somewhere, right?" Kirishima questioned, looking towards the Creation Quirk user impatiently.
Yaoyorozu quickly glanced at the tracker that she had been keeping within her bag. She did some sort of check over the screen, that apparently made sense to her in some way, before she turned to look at the Hardening Quirk user, and nodded confidentially. "There's no doubt. They're in this ward."
Mina felt her own heart race a little bit at this statement. That meant that Izuku was nearby. Somewhere in this city. He was somewhere close, waiting for someone to rescue him.
That or he was trying to break out himself. Either way, he was close, and they were going to save him.
Right now.
"Do you know which way he is, Yaomomo?!" The Acid Quirk user quickly made her way towards her taller friend, looking at her with a clear expression of desperation and a total lack of patience. She wanted to go to rescue Izuku right now, without thinking about anything else. Not about any of the risks that came with just charging right in, not about the promise that had been made not to end up fighting a large group of Villains and ending up in prison for this, or anything else. The only thing on her mind was rescuing her boyfriend, by whatever means she needed to so.
Kirishima also expressed that same desire, always charging off, although where exactly he thought he was going, no one really had any kind of idea. "Where're we headed?!"
"Please, both of you just need to calm down a moment!" The black-haired girl called out, making the red-haired boy stop, and make Mina take a step back. Hearing Yaoyorozu raise her voice like this at all was a bit of a rarity, though considering the serious situation that they were in, it shouldn't have come across as a surprise to anyone. "We need to be extremely vigilant from here on out! The Villains know our faces! If the Shapeshifting Villain arrived here at the same time as us and gets word back to her group, that could result in disaster for both Bakugou and Midoriya!"
Though she didn't like the idea of having to take anything slowly at this point, Mina had to admit that Yaoyorozu brought up good points. The chances were, with a crowd like this, a bunch of high schoolers were going to stand out. Meanwhile, the aforementioned Shapeshifting Villain could take any form that she wanted, and would be able to blend in. Worst of all, they probably wouldn't even be able to see that Villain because of the sheer number of people here, even if they didn't need to worry about Toga changing her appearance. No matter which way it was stacked, the cards were against them. If they weren't careful, those cards would collapse.
Izuku and Bakugou could be killed at the drop of a hat. Or moved, or whatever those bastards were going to do. The situation was bad no matter what way they got found out. So, the only way to stop that was to not get found out.
"So… We gotta be all secretive, right?" To go along with this, Mina pulled up the hood on Izuku's jacket, and tried to use it to cover up her face. Unfortunately, because of her horns, the fabric wouldn't stretch far enough – This wasn't a custom designed jacket, like some of Mina's clothing was. Izuku had no mutations, so this was just a standard thing. "Stupid… Hood…!"
In an effort to compensate, Mina tried to cover up her face with the jacket. While it did technically hide her face… She looked ridiculous. And her horns were still on display – Nothing could really be done about that.
"I don't think that will hide you very well, Ashido." Tsuyu flatly stated, pulling the hood down for the pink girl. All Mina could do was sigh.
"Ashido is correct though." Iida stated, looking at his companions. He folded his arms and gestured towards the Acid Quirk user as she pulled Izuku's jacket back over her. "We do need to find a way to conceal ourselves, but we have to do so without looking conspicuous."
"Then what're we gonna do?" Uraraka looked around the place, hoping that they hadn't been spotted by anyone who looked Villain-ish. "We can't go around looking around like Ashido was trying to."
"On that note, I have got a suggestion." Yaoyorozu pointed behind her, and shifted her body so that the rest of the group could see what was behind her.
About five minutes, the group found themselves inside a Donki discount store, quickly going over a bunch of cheap, knock-off clothing and materials that they could use to alter their appearances. To divide up their faces and bodies, and change them to look less recognisable. To hide any clear visual mutations or distinctive features, and to add some to throw off anyone who might have been looking for them.
Though this didn't exactly work out too great for Mina. For better or worse, she simply stood out far too much, out of everyone in the entire group. Pink skin, black eyes, horns that jutted out of the top of her skull and wily, messy, untameable pink hair, the only way to even begin to properly disguise her would be to paint her entire body in another colour, and wrap her up in a sleeping bag, which wasn't exactly practical in any sense of the word. Mina simply wasn't going to be able to hide herself well at all – So the next best thing was to more or less go all out. Thankfully, for all her uniqueness, skin Mutation wasn't uncommon, and she certainly wasn't the only girl with pink skin in Japan. The key was just going to be to hide what features she could so the rest of it looked unrelated.
The first thing was her horns – There wasn't any hiding them. This wasn't a specialist store, so they didn't have any outfitting for that sort of thing. Instead, aided by Yaoyorozu, Mina had chosen to incorporate it by grabbing hold of a grey beanie hat, tearing two holes into it for her horns, and throwing over a bracelet over the left horn, the intention being to try to try and look like she was part of the partying scene, and not a Hero-in-training in disguise. Yaoyorozu had gone one about some kind of psychological way the brain worked that made it disinterested in broken up shapes and decorations, but Mina hadn't got the first clue what on earth she was talking about. Going along with this, Mina had grabbed a stomach – cropped shirt, with horizontal cuts along the sleeves. The word 'Cute' was written over the chest, in a lightning-like font. Along with this, a necklace was purchased, with a cheap ring to hang from it. A wristband, and a set of fake glasses which had different coloured lenses, green on the right, and red on the left. They were designed to take attention away from her black sclera. She wore them further down the bridge of her nose, so her vision wasn't muddied and mixed between the two colours. A set of tracksuit bottoms, coloured black, later, and Mina was ready to go.
"Do you think this is gonna work, Yaomomo?" the pink girl couldn't help but question as she took a look down herself as she and the taller girl made their way towards a set of coin lockers, all of their old clothing underneath their arms – Except for Izuku's jacket. Mina had thrown that over everything else she had been given, leaving the zipper open so the new clothes weren't disregarded.
"With the various mutations that you have, it's difficult to say. It's the best chance that we have though." Yaoyorozu stated. "We can't wrap you up in jackets and face-protectors. You'd call attention to yourself. This way, you at least look natural with the crowd. With luck, no Villains will think to look twice… Though it would be smartest if you stayed in the middle of the group, so less people see you."
While the plan was, in no way perfect, Mina knew, they had no choice but to make do, and hope for the best. Ironically, despite being the person that was closest to Izuku, and wanting to help save him in whatever way she could, her mere presence did somewhat hinder their efforts, since hiding her was the most difficult thing to do, and if anyone was going to give them away, it was going to be her, without any question.
Mina nodded. "Got it."
As the pair of them reached the coin lockers, Yaoyorozu watched intensely as Mina punched in the coins and the details that they needed for the machines in, and stored all her clothing into the locker. She copied what the pink girl did, seeming enamoured by the entire process.
"I've never used one of these before." She quickly explained to her friend whilst she carefully placed her neatly folded clothing inside.
"You're kinda rich as all hell, Yaomomo." Mina commented, shutting her own locker and standing upright, waiting for the Creation Quirk user to finish up. "I guess you've never really had a reason to."
Yaoyorozu didn't take much longer before she shut her own locker door and stood back up, stretching her arms as she rose back up onto her feet. Almost predictably, Yaoyorozu had been the most exuberant when it came to fashion choices, ending up with a sparkly dress, a necklace, and a cylindrical purse in which she hid the tracker. A pair of shades and a slightly more rifled hairstyle later, and unless someone knew it was her, they'd need to do a triple check to make sure.
It was a very Yaoyorozu look, of that there absolutely wasn't any doubt… Though in a way, that did slightly irk Mina.
It almost made her feel like the other girl wasn't taking this half seriously.
"Okay, Yaomomo, you need to level with me here." The pink girl sighed, shoving her bandaged hands into the hoodies pockets, and leaning against the side of the lockers while looking at the taller girl. "You could've made all of this with your Creation Quirk for free, right? I know what we spent had gotta be chump change for you, but I thought we were in a rush."
"U – Using our Quirks is against the rules – "
"This entire mission is against the rules!" The pink girl shouted, standing upright and glaring towards her black-haired friend. She made sure her toned down enough so it wouldn't attract any attention to them, but there was distinctly some venom to her voice. "We're here against orders after assaulting a police officer on a mission to save two of our classmates from Villains, and you finally draw the definitive line at making clothes with your Quirk?!"
Class 1A's Vice president took a step back, both shock and surprise clear in her hurt expression. The girl who had caused that hurt instantly regretted it.
There were other reasons why Yaoyorozu had suggested visiting the store, Mina knew. If she made clothes for the group, her Quirks fat reserves would be lower in the event that there was an emergency they needed her help in. She didn't know everyone's sizes, and making something like that, accounting for mutations, materials, even just clothing choices that would naturally work for each person. The bottom line was, it probably saved them some time – No doubt she wanted to experience a discount store thanks to her upbringing, but there were valid reasons as to why she'd suggested they went in.
She knew that – Or at least had faith that there were reasons for it.
The girl sighed, and bowed her head immediately after her outburst. "… Sorry, Yaomomo. I didn't mean that… I'm just… I'm really worried about Izuku. I don't want to waste any time looking for him…"
Understanding as she was, Yaoyorozu didn't hold it against her. "It's… It's alright, Ashido. I understand…. But I must ask, are you okay?"
"My boyfriend's missing, I got stabbed through the hand, the person who took part in both got away and is running to tell her group we're on the way, and we just spent fifteen minutes in a discount clothing store." The Acid Quirk user looked towards the ground and let out a long, heavy sigh. "I'll be honest, I've been better."
"That's… That's not quite what I mean."
Mina looked back up at Yaoyorozu, making eye contact with her through her shades. Honestly, Mina was just confused by what her friend was implying, if not just her honestly asking if she was okay. The pair of them held this contact for a few moments, before Mina finally spoke. "What do you mean then?"
"You… I understand that you're worried. And you have every right to be. I completely understand why you might be more prone to lashing out, to yelling, and saying and doing things that you don't mean…" Yaoyorozu shifted her gaze for a moment, uncomfortable with what it was that she was saying, like she'd wanted to bring it up for a while, but hadn't been able to, and was now hesitant to do so. "…There are moments where I don't even recognize you. I… I fear that recent events have started to affect you."
To be completely honest, it was something that Mina had noticed too.
How little she was acting like her normal self. More prone to loud, violent outbursts, giving into her emotions far faster than before, exploding at anyone who even slightly suggested anything that even vaguely sounded like abandoning the mission and leaving Izuku behind. She was in pain, and constant fear for the safety of her boyfriend… But she wasn't clueless. She knew that her actions were affecting those around her.
And she didn't want them to… But she wasn't thinking clearly. What was horrifying was that sometimes, she knew that she wasn't thinking clearly before she even opened her mouth. She knew what she was about to say would hurt someone, and wouldn't help the situation at all… But she couldn't stop herself. It was like she had gone onto automatic, and was saying and yelling in ways she didn't even want to.
Stress and fear were getting to her. That was all it was… All she hoped that it was.
"I just… I wanted to make sure that you were alright." Yaoyorozu finished, trying to show sympathy towards her friend, though she just had no idea how to, given her circumstances. How did someone show sympathy for someone in Mina's situation?
"…I'm sorry I've been prickly lately." Mina apologized again, her voice filled to the brim with honesty. Not for a single second did Yaoyorozu think that she wasn't being serious. "I just… I'm scared for Izuku… About what's... Going to happen to him… And what comes after…"
Rescuing Izuku was one thing. What happened afterwards, when they were finally back together… Mina didn't know. She had no idea what was going to happen once they were finally back in the same room as one another, able to talk, and touch.
Things wouldn't be the same again. They just couldn't be the same again. Not after all of this. They couldn't be. Too much had happened, between them, back at the lodge, and after, with everyone now aware of Izuku's Quirkless nature.
It just couldn't go back to how it was, could it?
"…Momo, do you… Like anyone?" Mina questioned, folding her arms and looking away from the taller girl. She couldn't think of any other way to explain it unless her friend was in the same boat as her in some way or another.
The other girl paused for a moment, not sure where exactly her friend was going with this. "What… What difference does that make?"
"Just… Do you?"
"… I do." The taller girl blushed lightly, before looking away slightly. "No one in our class, if that's what you're asking."
"What would you do in my place?" The Acid Quirk user asked, shoving her hands into her hoodies pockets. "I'm… I'm here to try and fix things, and save Izuku. The guy means the world to me… I need to fix this. If you were in my position, and we were trying to save the person you liked, could you honestly say you'd act any different?" ,
"I understand that, Ashido, I really do, but you –"
Yaoyorozu stopped, and looked at the pink girl, whom was now looking back at her with a confused expression on her face. Why had she stopped talking? Mina's eyebrows raised up simultaneously as Yaoyorozu's eyes widened, seemingly starting to figure everything out.
Why Mina was acting this way.
Why she didn't want to wait.
Why she was so unhinged recently.
Of course she loved Izuku, and wanted to save him because of those reasons…. But there was something else. Something underneath that. Something that only a few people had guessed, but never fully figured out. The only other people to even know of this immeasurable weight being Todoroki and Kirishima, and they hadn't even been able to give her a clear answer.
"…You think this is all your fault." She stated. This wasn't a guess, she knew that this was the case now. Everything made sense. The short temper, the self-depreciation, the eagerness and impatience to go out and rescue Izuku without a second's delay. It all added up to someone who feel completely terrible.
Who felt that everything bad that was happening was completely their own fault. Someone who was desperate, with every single fibre of their being, to fix their mistake.
It was like she was suffering from survivor's guilt, only instead of dying, Izuku had been kidnapped. For all they knew, he could be dead before long, if not already… And not only was she left alone, she only suffered a minor injury, in the grand scheme of things. Mina felt guilty for even just being here, right now, when Izuku was alone, imprisoned, and probably terrified.
She blamed herself. And the guilt was all she was really feeling anymore.
"It is my fault!" Mina finally broke, her shoulders dropping, her head falling, and all the strength that she had left her body. To support her even remaining upright, she collapsed against the coin locker, relying on friction to keep her on her feet. "I screwed everything up!"
"That's not true at all – "
"I'm the one who hurt Izuku! I lost my patience with him at the lodge! I kept berating him for not giving Bakugou what he deserves! I'm the one who – I – I hit him! I slapped him and screamed at him for t-trying to be so damn much like All Might all the time!" Mina's voice trembled, and her damaged hand gripped violently onto the bridge of her nose. "I – I made him run like that because he wanted to get away from me, prove me wrong, show he didn't need someone holding his hand while he did everything! But he can't do everything on his own like that! He… He can't…" That really was the truth, weather Izuku liked it or not. His Quirk simply didn't suit his body yet. He couldn't do everything on his own.
He wasn't like All Might. Not in terms of being able to do everything. He had the spirit, but his flesh couldn't keep up with it… He couldn't do everything…
"We…. We're supposed to be a team. Team Awkward Energy…. That's… He's not…. He's not supposed to do it all on his own… I'm… I'm supposed to be there with him. Helping him… Holding him back when he… Gets too hurt. Stopping him from ever getting hurt in the first place… And I – I couldn't stop it… I…. I keep letting him down…" Her teeth felt like they were going to snap as they gritted together, her jaw felt stiff, and her throat had a massive lump in it that she couldn't dislodge. But she forced herself through. "I…. Izuku is smart… And I'm not. If I – If I hadn't let Izuku down, if I'd actually studied before we left, I wouldn't be in the remedial group! I wouldn't have been trapped in a lodge for most of the attack, and I might have been able to do something to help! And none of this would have happened! Even if I couldn't do that, I should've been there and done – Done something!"
"Ashido, please, calm down." Yaoyorozu's voice was calm and measured. She placed her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders, trying to offer some kind of comfort to her in whatever way that she could, but also trying to grab her attention, to make her focus.
Tears hadn't escaped Mina. Not quite yet. But the sudden outburst and confession of her guilt had left her knees feeling weak, and her hands trembling.
"… Even Kirishima and Todoroki couldn't tell me that it wasn't my fault… No… No matter what way you look at it, I helped this all happen…"
"I can't believe that, Ashido."
Not Yaoyorozu's voice. The new voice had spoken before the Creation Quirk user had even gotten a chance to speak, or do anything in response to Mina's statement.
When both the girls turned, they saw it was Uraraka whom had spoken. She was only three feet away from them, a look of empathy etched everywhere on her face.
"Uraraka?" Yaoyorozu looked towards the Zero Gravity Quirk user over her shoulder, just as surprised to hear her as Mina was. "Where did you come from?"
"I just finished changing." She answered simply, holding up her rucksack that she'd been carrying all day, which now contained all of her old clothing. Her disguise was simple – It involved tying her hair back into a ponytail, so the bangs at the front of her face were pulled back. A dark green jacket, a black baseball cap, and a pair of glasses with the lenses removed were all that were needed to hide Uraraka's identity. "I uh…. Heard just about everything Ashido had to say, after mentioning her and Deku's team…"
Mina forced herself upright onto her feet, and rubbed her eyes with her finger and thumb, trying to dry them off and make them stop stinging. "I'm… I'm going to rescue Izuku. It's my fault he's even here. I just… I need to."
"You know he won't blame you for anything, right, Ashido?"
"That doesn't make it any less my fault!"
"It isn't your fault. How could you have known any of this would happen?"
"I'm should have been better! Better prepared, more – "
"You know that wouldn't have changed anything." Uraraka flatly said. There was a certain coldness to what she had said too. Coldness that barely suited her. There was no anger or venom to her words at all. She wasn't angry.
But she wasn't trying to make Mina feel better, either. She wasn't trying to excuse anything that she'd done. This was just a cold hard fact.
"You know the kind of person that Deku is. You're his girlfriend, Ashido, you know that if there's someone in trouble, he's going to run off to help them. You being there or not… It wouldn't have changed that. If I know Deku as much as I think as do… If everything you said about him being Quirkless, about how Bakugou treated him is all true… Then I can't think of a single reason why he'd hold anything against you. He's never even seemed to be angry towards Bakugou in the entire time I've known him… He wouldn't blame you for anything. He cares about you. Everyone sees that." She tried to offer a sympathetic smile, though it was just as shaky as anyone else's would have been. "You can't blame yourself for everything, Ashido. That's… That's just how he is. You should know that."
The pink girl knew that her friend was right, deep down. She'd been focusing on how the things she could have done differently to prevent this situation. To spare themselves this entire mess. Things that she could have done, should have done, if not to prevent this, to just be a better Hero. While she didn't believe for a second that she was blame free in all of this, she did know, deep down, that she was being too harsh on herself. She didn't want to acknowledge that she was being like that, because compared to what Izuku was going through, her situation had to be like a picnic. She didn't have the right to complain.
Nor the right to cry. Not until Izuku was back.
"I know you're right…. I know… I'm… I'm okay." She took a couple of deep breaths, forcing herself to calm down.
"You sure?"
"Yeah. I'll…. I'll be fine."
Both Uraraka and Yaoyorozu shared an unsure look, but decided to let it drop. Mina was the one that this mission meant the most to. They probably wouldn't be able to convince her to take it easy and to wait for them even if they tried to use force against her.
"I'm okay." Mina repeated, slapping her cheeks with her hands, and getting herself nerved. "Really. I… I'm fine. I just had a moment. Sorry…"
"Okay, Ashido…"
The trio of them made their way back towards the rest of their group, whom were waiting around in the main street just in front of the Donki store. Everyone else had their disguises on, some being slightly more amusing to Mina than others, Todoroki and Iida's being examples of ones that she found to be mildly amusing, Iida looking like he'd just come off a ferry from Western Europe, and Todoroki looking like the stereotypical angsty teenager American media was known for shoving into everything forcefully dressed into a cheap waistcoat by his parents. Tsuyu had done her extremely long hair up in braids, which she had tucked down the back of a light grey sweater, with some English writing on the sleeves, which was probably the name of a brand of sorts. She kept the hood on the sweater up, to try and hide her long hair even more, and kept her large hands shoved into the pockets, so no one would be able to see her Mutations. A dark coloured skirt that would let her utilize her leaping abilities, and no one would guess it was her.
Then, came Kirishima, whom approached the three girls with a look of concern. "You guys alright? We've been waiting a while for you."
"Yeah, we're okay." Uraraka quickly answered, glancing towards Mina before she carried on. There seemed to be a moment of hesitation before she spoke again, almost like she was asking permission with her eyes to say what had happened. Mina showed no signs of anger or disapproval. "Ashido… just needed a moment."
The red-haired boy looked towards Mina for a moment, and then back to Uraraka, before taking a couple of steps towards his friend. "You okay?" Kirishima asked the pink girl, raising one of his eyebrows at her.
"I'll be fine." She assured him, pushing her fake glasses slightly up her nose so they didn't fall onto the floor. "I'm uh... A little bit more concerned about something else right now though."
She then pointed at the top of the Hardening Quirk users head, towards part of his disguise – Two metallic extensions that looked like they were coming right out of his skull.
Like horns.
Mina raised an eyebrow of her own towards her old schoolmate. "Really? Horns? Are…. Are you actually just copying me, dude?"
"What the – " Kirishima's right hand gestured down the street vaguely, towards the multiple people going about their business. A small, strained smile made its way onto his face. "Half the people on this street have horns!"
"I'm still slightly uncomfortable."
"I thought we were Horn Buddies again…"
The Acid Quirk user couldn't help but let out the smallest of chuckles – an actual, honest to God half smile. The first one that she'd had in days.