"What did you do," Tsuyu croaked the moment the curtains sectioning off the changing rooms swayed open then closed without any visible reason.
"Nothing!" Tooru exclaimed, pouting all the while- not that it was visible, she only hoped her voice carried it. "I just got him to agree to join us!"
"That's true," Ibara said with a nod. "Toru's counterpart was surprisingly well-mannered and calm while convincing Midoriya to go along with this outlandish plan of our counterparts."
"Of course I was! I'm not some little kid who doesn't know where to draw the line!" Toru protested. "And what do you mean by surprisingly?!"
"I mean, our track record does speak for itself," Mina said with a shrug.
"Whose side are you even on?!" Toru exclaimed incredulously.
"'ATTA GIRL!" Mina cheered, crashing onto the side of the invisible woman, draping a hand over her shoulders with practiced precision. Neither really knew how they could do that when Tooru was completely invisible, but they loved chalking it up to 'the power of friendship.'
"Yep! We've totally got the power of friendship!" Mina said, grinning as she and Toru high-fived, mimicking the scene on the screen. "Honestly, our friendship is so strong we could pass as the protagonists of Fairy Tail."
Toru giggled, throwing an invisible arm around Mina's shoulder. "Right? Now all we need is a flying cat and some epic background music!"
"Is that the only thing you did?" Tsuyu asked, pointedly already not believing them.
Damn her and damn her big sister instincts, Mina hissed in her head, before blinking and realizing that this was the best gossip. "What else did you do? You were gone for quite a bit, after all~"
"Mina, you are such a fucking traitor," Toru said in a flat but sharp tone.
"Listen, Toru darling," Mina replied, unfazed as she tossed her hair with a dramatic flair. "I love you to death, but gossip is sacred—the most sacred thing in the world. A universal truth, really."
"Oh, I see," Toru said, standing up abruptly with an air of mock solemnity. She sauntered over to Setsuna, sliding herself smoothly between her and Itsuka. "If that's how it is, then I hereby resign as your best friend and officially apply to Set as her new bestie."
"Oh, drama!" Setsuna exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with gleeful mischief. She wrapped an arm around Toru's shoulders like they'd been partners in crime forever. "I approve of this betrayal. Toru, you're hired! Prez, you cool with this?"
"Do whatever the hell you want," Itsuka replied, her tone dripping with exaggerated exasperation as she waved them off.
"Nooooo! My bestie!" Mina wailed dramatically, throwing her hands in the air. Meanwhile, the rest of the girls didn't even flinch, their focus glued to the screen as they resolutely ignored the theatrics behind them.
"Nothing, really!" Tooru insisted again, but Mina could feel the warmth of her blush against her. "It just took me that long to get him to agree to this!"
"Staaaaaaareee....." Tsuyu croaked.
"Are you really saying 'stare'?" Kyoka grumbled in the distance.
"That's interesting... I'll make sure to use that in the future, ribbit," Tsu said thoughtfully.
"Great. As if your blunt opinions weren't already enough to make people uncomfortable," Jiro muttered, just loud enough to be heard. Tsu's eyes shifted toward her, unblinking and steady, making it clear she'd caught every word. Jiro immediately stiffened under the amphibian gaze. "Sorry," she blurted out. "I didn't mean that."
"It's all right," Tsu replied evenly, giving a small shake of her head. A faint but knowing smile tugged at her lips. "It just means my methods are working exactly as intended, ribbit."
Mina could feel the moment Tooru's facade cracked as her invisible friend lowered her voice slightly. "I didn't do anything Momo wouldn't approve of, I'll stand by that."
Itsuka huffed and crossed her arms over her chest. "That probably says more about Momo than it does about your defense."
The taller woman scoffed. "Why I would never."
"My counterpart is absolutely right—I would never do anything like that," Momo huffed indignantly, crossing her arms over her chest. "And why am I the one being dragged into this? It doesn't make any sense. I haven't even said anything yet!"
"No, no, it totally makes sense," Toru countered, waving a hand dramatically. "Why should I be the only one getting teased and made fun of, huh? In fact, all of you deserve everything that's coming to you!"
"Never what , class prez?" Setsuna shot back, giggling and wading next to the woman. "I see how you look at Mean and Green."
Laughter echoed between the women as Momo blushed at the accusation, sinking deeper into the pool.
"Setsuna~" Momo's voice oozed with sickeningly sweet sarcasm as she leaned in. "Should your counterpart really be teasing someone who knows the chemical formula for cyanide and has enough money to fly the corpse out of the country and bury it in the deepest part of the Mariana Trench?"
For a split second, Setsuna's face drained of color, but she quickly recovered, a determined fire reigniting in her eyes. She stuck out her tongue at Momo with a defiant grin. "I'm not scared of you!" she declared, folding her arms across her chest in a bold stance. "If I die, my death will be for a great cause! I'll be hailed as a hero among all the greatest teasers in the world!"
Momo blinked, genuinely thrown off by the over-the-top response. "That was so dramatic and random that I don't even know how to respond to that," she admitted while shaking her head.
"Honestly, you're no better than Ochako," Kyoka added, a sly smirk blossoming on her face. "'What would Midoriya do' and all that during the license exam."
"You- Kyoka that was private!!!" Momo hissed, blushing and sinking even deeper into the bath. "How could you betray me like this?"
"'Cause someone needs to poke you to be honest with yourself," Kyoka said simply with a shrug.
"Oh, is that so, Kyoka?" Momo's smile was sharp, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "In that case, shouldn't this logic apply to you as well?"
Jiro shot her a side-eye, her face turning slightly away. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Is that so?" Momo asked, feigning innocence. Are you perhaps forgetting that one time when you accidentally played a certain... embarrassing song instead of study music while we were studying in your room?"
Jiro's face flushed a deep red, but she stubbornly refused to admit defeat and give in to Momo's teasing. "I think you're just talking out of your ass right now."
"How crude..." Momo chuckled, adopting a haughty, rich-girl tone. "But worry not, I'm sure that, with the way this video is going, all your cards will be laid bare before all of us. And so will your song."
Meanwhile, Mina leaned toward the rest of the girls and whispered, "I'm glad we have sweet and caring Momo as our classmate and not this haughty, high-society bitch that sometimes peeks out from inside her," she said, and all the girls agreed with her words.
"Same goes for you, Ochako."
"Can't hear you, I don't exist! I'm just a concept made up by the lies that hold reality together!" the brunette spat out, looking blankly at the sky.
"Nice theory, Ochako," Mina said, her grin widening mischievously. "Have you ever met Shoto Todoroki by any chance?"
Momo's face immediately flushed, and she shot a panicked look at Mina. "Mina, please don't give her any ideas."
Ochako, looking puzzled, raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?"
Momo quickly turned to her, hands clasped together in desperation. "Ochako, I beg you—don't say anything like that in front of Todoroki. I can't keep making red wool on Saturday nights."
"Well, Ocha-chan is already broken," Tsuyu stated without missing a beat. "I'm going to go grab Izuku."
"Pony beat you to it" Kinoko announced, the three closest to the curtains flinching and noticing that the curtains were indeed moving.
"...I'm just impressed she managed to sneak past us," Mina whispered, looking at the waving curtains. "She has hooves, how did she even do that?"
"Something about American ingenuity?" Tooru whispered back.
"More like American stubbornness," Setsuna shot next to the sinking form of Momo.
"Yep!" Pony said proudly, puffing out her chest. "That same stubbornness is what made me stay and fight with all of you, even when my parents wanted to take me back to the States during the war."
"Aren't your parents heroes, though?" Yui asked, recalling that Pony had mentioned it before.
"Yeah, they are," Pony replied with a thoughtful nod. "They'd definitely risk their lives for others, but they don't want me doing it. It's just a parent thing, you know?" She sighed, looking a bit exasperated. "Since I'm their only daughter, they get a little... overprotective sometimes."
"I challenged her one time about stealth stuff."
"Then she became a little ninja, we know," Itsuka huffed, smiling all the while. "You're just proud of her under that teasing exterior aren't you?"
"You know me so well, President Yaoi Hands." Setsuna fired back, splashing some water towards the red-head, making Itsuka chuckle in return. "Also, no, I won't behave."
"Of course I won't! Where's the fun in that?" Setsuna replied, grinning mischievously.
"I thought your counterpart had her fun when a certain green-haired wall of muscles crashed into you," Itsuka said, feigning innocence with a sly smile. "Didn't she?"
"Not now, Kendo... not now," Setsuna growled, her glare directed at the chuckling Itsuka while ignoring the amused glances sent her way.
"Figured you won't. Especially with your green-haired crush coming over."
The idle chatter of the hot spring died off once more, eyes locking onto Itsuka and Setsuna.
Mina was the one to break the silence. "Excuse me, whaaaaaaaaat ?!"
"Well, now that I think about it, it does make sense," Mina said, nodding to herself with a thoughtful expression. "It's just like when the boys around kindergarten age tease the girls they like. It's basically the reverse here."
"Oh god, that comparison is so perfect!" Itsuka burst out laughing, clutching her stomach as she doubled over. Meanwhile, Setsuna continued glaring at her, clearly unimpressed by the comparison.
"Not one more word." Setsuna hiss to little effect as Itsuka just smiled, turning towards the pink hero-hopeful. "Kendo, I'm serious!"
"Well, you see!" Itsuka started, ignoring the pleas for her to stop. "I know what our friend Setsuna's type is! And it starts with 'muscular' and ends with 'kind'!"
Setsuna tackled her once- class president.
Here's an edited version to improve the flow and emphasize the characters' personalities:
"Aww, Setsuna, you can't even handle a little teasing? I thought you were going to be a hero for the teasing community," Momo teased with a mocking grin.
Instead of responding to Momo, Setsuna spun around to face Itsuka, her eyes narrowing in a dramatic glare. "It's your fault!" she pouted, dramatically pointing at her.
"Technically, it's not my fault," Itsuka pointed out with a shrug. "It's my counterpart on the screen." She paused for a beat before adding with a sly grin, "But in this case, I'll gladly take the blame since it's hilarious."
Her words sent the rest of the group into fits of laughter, with Setsuna huffing in exasperation.
******
Waiting for an event is the one villain Izuku has never been able to conquer.
"Amen, buddy," Mina said, nodding thoughtfully at on-screen Izuku's words. "Even I can't sit still or calm my heart when I know something's coming up, like an event or a TV program."
"Interesting... I don't think I've ever had a problem like that," Ibara said. "In fact, I'd say patience is one of my strong suits."
"Oh, really?" Yui tilted her head, raising an eyebrow. "Then why do you keep staring at the plants instead of patiently waiting for them to grow?"
"That's one of my hobbies, you dolt..." Ibara snapped, but her irritation quickly softened as she sighed. "I also do various other things while I—" She cut herself off when she noticed the faint, mischievous smile tugging at Yui's lips. "You're pulling my leg, aren't you?" she asked, narrowing her eyes.
"Hmm," Yui placed a finger on her cheek, feigning innocence with an exaggerated tilt of her head, much to the amusement of everyone around her. "I don't know what you're talking about."
As his heart pounded in his chest, his muscles throbbed with pain and hopefully not overuse, his left fingers drumming his bare knee as Izuku sat there. Wearing nothing but a towel and a very effective sleep mask. In the wrong goddamn changing room .
"I know exactly what Izuku is talking about, and I absolutely agree with him," Toru said enthusiastically. "That sleep mask Momo gifted me is fantastic, and it goes perfectly with my other things, thanks to its fluffy aesthetics."
"Thank you for the compliment," Momo smiled warmly. "It's actually made by the same company that makes sleep masks for my mother since she has trouble sleeping. Normally, they don't make sleep masks, but they made one for us because my mother is friends with the owner."
Toru's smile faltered slightly as a thought crossed her mind. 'You know what... I'm not even going to ask how much it costs, or I'll never be able to touch it again.' She quickly pushed the thought away, burying it deep in her mind.
Silently, Izuku cursed himself for changing so rapidly, leaving him with nothing but his thoughts to pass the time until Hagakure ( No, it's Tooru now, just like Tsuyu ) returned.
"Well, he's going to take his sweet time with that, ribbit," Tsu said with a shake of her head. "It took Izuku two years to start calling me 'Tsu,' and that was only after I corrected him about it, like, a hundred times."
Time and time again, he envisioned the other door opening and a certain grape-headed pervert screeching about betrayal. Yet it never came. So Izuku waited some more.
"I mean, if that happens, Deku could just kick him into outer space, and no one would complain, right?" Ochako asked with a grin.
"Amen," the girls replied in perfect unison, their voices filled with agreement.
Finally, a new sound drew Izuku's attention. Twin clicks against the floor in the direction of the curtain leading into the bath, swiftly followed by three quiet taps, now rhythmic like footsteps, approaching where he sat. With all the women naked, none of them had shoes, so their footsteps wouldn't sound like that, unless they were "Tsuno— No, sorry, Pony?" Izuku turned to look over his shoulder towards who he hoped was Class B's resident American. He couldn't see a damn thing, but he could still be polite.
"Aww, and I thought I was being sneaky," Pony pouted, clearly disappointed.
"Don't worry, it's not your fault," Jiro said with a shrug. "Green's just too good at these kinds of things. Or, maybe we're just freaking deaf and couldn't hear you sneaking around."
The taps stopped. "Aw." Bingo. "How you know?" This time, Pony didn't bother lightening her footsteps, her hooves clicking noticeably against the wooden floor. Something beyond her voice clattered to the ground.
Izuku forced a smile onto his face and switched to English. Pony was making a lot of progress with her Japanese, but he figured it always felt better speaking your first language. "" It was a wonder Izuku even knew the word 'hooves' in English. He very pointedly did not mention her section in his notes being written exclusively in English.
The horse girl clicked her tongue and muttered to herself, "
"And you still managed to sneak off without anyone noticing, especially with Jiro sitting right there—that's an achievement, girl," Setsuna praised, impressed.
"I'm telling you, either all our counterparts have gone deaf, or my ears are full of water," Jiro grumbled, clearly irritated. She crossed her arms, still processing how someone as loud as Pony had managed to sneak off without her noticing.
She stopped just behind Izuku and paused. When Izuku spun completely to face her, she spoke up again, still in English, "
The question caught Izuku off guard, and it took him a moment to force a laugh out. It sounded weak, like it belonged in middle school.
"Huh? Middle school?" Itsuka frowned, tilting her head. "Does anyone know what he's talking about?"
"I don't know much, but from what I've gathered, Deku really had a hard time in middle school because of his lack of a quirk," Ochako explained, her frown deepening. "Apparently, even Bakugo and he had a rocky relationship back then, or something like that. I'm not sure of the exact details, though."
"Yeah, when we went to retrieve him, Bakugo apologized, but we couldn't figure out much beyond the fact that Bakugo felt inferior to Green," Jiro added thoughtfully. "Without the full context, it's hard to say exactly what happened between them."
"Koyka, I don't know about being deaf, but most of you are definitely blind, ribbit," Tsu said with a disappointed shake of her head.
"Tsu, you know something about Deku that the rest of us don't," Ochako said, narrowing her eyes at her friend. "Did he tell you something?"
"No, Izuku didn't tell me anything," Tsu replied. "I'm just more perceptive of things because of my younger siblings." She ended the conversation there, despite Ochako's continued attempts to probe further.
"
"
And once again, fire sprang to Izuku's cheeks when he caught on to what had slipped out. "I-I mean, yeah, but not—" Damn his traitorous mouth! "
"Aww, that was so nice of him to say," Pony said with a smile. "Even though I'm not entirely sure what he meant, I'm sure it was something sweet and thoughtful."
The American's laugh cut him off completely. "
"We really should keep an eye on what Setsuna's teaching this poor girl," Ibara said, shaking her head. "We don't want a repeat of that time we accidentally taught her something inappropriate, and she used it without knowing what it meant."
"Hey! Don't lump me in with that idiot Monoma, who taught her curse words to harass 1-A!" Setsuna snapped, shooting Ibara a glare. "I might pull a few pranks, but I'd never teach Pony something that would embarrass her in front of everyone."
"You're right, Setsuna. That was pretty dumb of me to say," Ibara admitted, looking guilty. "I shouldn't have accused a friend without thinking it through."
Izuku sighed, relief flooding his system prematurely. He swore the playful ones are far too contagious for his heart.
"That we are!" Mina said, nodding with a grin. "In fact, us playful types are the best kind of infection you could catch."
"
The abrupt tone change caught the nearly naked boy off guard. It was something much softer, almost pensive. Maybe Pony was even looking away from him as she continued. "
"That's not true!" Jiro and Itsuka exclaimed in unison, before pausing to exchange a blank look. Their faces quickly turned bright red, and they both turned away, much to the amusement of the other girls in the room.
It took Izuku a moment to catch on and mentally translate Pony's confession. "
"Dammit, Green! Shut the hell up already!" Jiro muttered under her breath, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Yeah, he should stop saying all those sweet things on the screen and just say them to your face," Momo teased with a grin. "Isn't that right, Kyoka?"
"You're really not helping here!" Jiro hissed, glaring at her friend.
And Kendo thinking the same thing? She participated in the beauty pageant during their first Culture Festival! She would have gotten Izuku's vote if Hadou wasn't a participant.
"See! I told you the same thing!" Setsuna exclaimed. "You totally would've won that beauty pageant! Even Broccoli Head agrees!"
"No, he said I would've won if Hadou-senpai wasn't competing," Itsuka reasoned, her cheeks flushing just like Jiro's.
"Potato, potato—it's the same thing!" Setsuna countered. "What really matters is that we—and Midoriya—think you're beautiful and should've won."
Izuku could imagine a sad smile hidden within Pony's next quiet statement. ""
"Pony," Itsuka said, momentarily setting aside her embarrassment as she furrowed her brows and glanced at her. "Is there something you want to share with us?"
"No, it's nothing, really," Pony replied, shaking her head with a sad expression. "It's just like with many of us—kids can be really cruel with their words."
Before Izuku could react to the American's honesty, she switched back to Japanese and grabbed Izuku's right hand. "No more sad talk! Come with me, girls waiting too long!" She pulled him to his feet and tried running off, hand in hand.
Pain lanced through Izuku's upper arm and elbow the moment Pony tried to rush away with Izuku in tow. "OW-OW-OW wrong arm, wrong arm!" He scrambled to keep up with the horse girl's quickened pace, desperately trying to avoid aggravating the old wound.
"So sorry!" Izuku felt Pony release his right hand and grasp his left instead. Looked like he still wasn't getting a break as the American's deceptive strength threatened to damage the integrity of Izuku's shoulder.
"Indeed, Pony, you often underestimate the power you possess," Yanagi said. "And with your habit of patting people on the back, it can be a bit painful at times."
"Sorry, I'll be more careful from now on," Pony replied with a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of her head.
There wasn't a single thing he could do as he was pulled through the curtain into Judgement Day.
"This is going to be so much fun! I can't wait for the next episode!" Setsuna grinned widely.
To be continued...