The six students made their way to the shower, walking together with only Todoroki trailing behind them.
"Listen Toru, you don't need to feel bad about this, we're all here to learn about our quirks, so I'm sure you'll get the hang of it eventually"
Taro stated, reassuring the girl, who seemed to be quite distraught about her shortcomings, it was obvious at a glance that she was more affected than anyone else.
"You can't stop comforting her like she doesn't understand that"
Bakugou spoke before Toru could respond to Taro's words. After Bakugou said as much, Toru did not know what to say next, but she certainly did like Bakugou's tone.
Although Toru appreciated Taro's words, he was nicer than she had initially thought he would be when she first started piecing together his personality. It also helped that he was kind of handsome too, it made it easier to accept his encouragement.
"I suppose she does, but do you understand we wouldn't have lost if you didn't get us disqualified?"
He asked, and once again, fanning the flames of an argument between himself and Bakugou, everyone around felt the urge to eye-roll; their back and forth was certainly exhausting. It was almost like they couldn't be in the same room without starting a fight.
"You guys can stop, it's over and we lost can we move on please"
Toru quickly stepped in and ended the argument before it could begin. At her words Bakugou huffed, expelling air through his nose like a disgruntled bull before choosing to let it go and deciding to pick up the pace.
"Yaoyorozu"
The monotone voice broke through the silence that had descended amongst them.
"Yeah"
"yes?"
Both Momo and Taro responded to the young man's call, with Momo turning his head to look at him, while Toro simply kept his ears open.
"Not you Taro"
He clarified before continuing to speak.
"You don't look healthy, are you OK?"
He asked; however, this time, his voice was laced with noticeable concern, something that surprised the others, as Todoroki only seemed to ever be in a single mood. Some of the girls had guessed he was depressed.
Hearing the question, Taro raised his brow in curiosity; he had planned to ask Momo about that later. He was still a little bit worried, and he hoped once she ate something, she'd go back to normal.
"Yes I'm fine Todoroki, I just need to eat and everything should go back to normal"
She answered, she didn't think he would be the type to be worried about others, but she supposed he was nicer than she thought.
Todoroki hummed and nodded, acknowledging her words; his curiosity was sated, and he sought to ask no more.
"Say Todoroki"
Taro was the one to speak this time.
"hmm?"
"What would it take to get you to use your quirk?"
Taro asked, choosing to satiate his own curiosity about Todoroki. The guy said he had two quirks and yet he has only ever used one and never the other. Taro didn't doubt him, but he did think the young man was being mysterious because of "edge lord" reasons, and he wanted to figure that out.
"Nothing, there's absolutely nothing that would ever convince me to use my fire quirk"
Todoroki had thought he kept his tone neutral; however, everyone present felt the anger laced beneath that statement. Not only that, but he picked up his pace right after having said as much, practically showing he did not like to talk about anything related to his fire quirk.
"Damn"
Taro exclaimed, now he was definitely curious and was determined to get him to use it. Although he did wonder if his assumptions about Todoroki being an edge lord were off, and the guy was just depressed.
"You think he has some trauma related to his quirk?"
Toru questioned as she placed her hand on her chin, thinking about the reason why Todoroki would be so adamant about not using his fire quirk.
"He has a scar on his face and it looks like a burn scar, so I would assume it's probably because of that"
Momo guessed, but she also realized that a quirk that burns the user is not really useful; normally, that wouldn't be the case; having a fire quirk should mean you're at least resistant to fire, at least to some degree.
"That's stupid. Why would his quirk burn him, not mention, shouldn't it be his arms that are burnt? I doubt it burns him. The scar must be from something else, regardless, I will get him to use it one of these days."
He said as he floated with his back facing the ground his hand behind his back and one leg over his knee. Seeing him float leisurely like that made Toru curious about flight.
"What's it like to fly? I don't know anyone who can aside from you and flight quirks are really rare"
Her words were correct; quirks that allowed for wingless flight are really rare, and not many people are known to have such quirks.
"It's alright I guess, often feels like I'm swimming in the air but with less resistance"
He answered her question and pondered the statement she made about wingless flight quirks being rare. It was certainly odd; you'd think in a world of superpowers, at least a percentage of the population would be able to fly without wings.
"hmm I can't even imagine that, wish I could fly tho"
She said offhandedly while trying to imagine how it would feel like, she thought about the air being water and swimming through it but she couldn't grasp the feeling Taro had explained.
"Maybe I can help out with that sometimes"
He gave her a glance as he said that, measuring whether or not she would agree to that.
"Really?!"
Her lime green eyes lit up like emeralds at the suggestion, she hadn't even thought of that and was just talking.
"Yeah, it's no issue"
He smiled at her as he said that.
"Oh my Gosh! Thanks, Taro!!"
She said her eyes sparkling in excitement, her mood swiftly changing to a more positive feeling. Taro smiled, he could not help but find her to be a bit cute.
Momo, who had been silent the whole time, couldn't help but look at her brother with curious eyes. Did he ask Toru out on a date? Was he interested in her?
She couldn't help but wonder such questions in her mind, while Taro and Toru discussed when their planned flight would happen.
"I can do it after classes or anytime you'd like, my schedule is free"
"Then after classes! Let me go shower quickly"
She announced and Taro nodded before she picked up the pace, excitedly walking with a bounce in her step as she made her way to the showers faster.
"So? Are you going on a date now?"
Momo questioned, the curiosity was clear in her voice.
"Wouldn't call it a date, but she is cute and my type, so dating wouldn't be an issue"
He clarified, Toru simply asked to go flying to satiate her curiosity that's not a date but an activity, although he wasn't opposed to going on a date with her if possible.
"Didn't Dad halve your allowance? I'm sure you won't be able to go on the kind of date you want."
"It's fine, even halved my allowance should be enough for any date, and besides You can lend me some–"
"Absolutely not, forget it"
He hadn't even finished his sentence before she rejected the idea immediately, she did not even need to think about it.
"Really Momo? Come on. I'm your brother"
"No"
She said steadfastly in her refusal and Taro couldn't help but let out a defeated sigh.
"Fine, it's not like I'll need it anytime soon"
With that said, he rolled himself into a ball and spun around for a minute as the silence between them settled in. After about six spins, he uncurled himself and touched the ground, finally deciding maybe he should walk.
"Hey Taro"
"Yurr?
He responded in a rather funny way, something that caused her to raise her brow but she quickly chose to ignore.
"What did you think?"
"About what?"
"The exercise, how did I do in your eyes?"
She asked with her head sheepishly, looking down at the floor, and Taro couldn't help but wonder where the question came from.
"I mean like All Might said, you did well so–"
"I'm asking your opinion, not All Might's"
She quickly cut him off mid-sentence, and he gave her a side glance.
"I mean you did alright, You can never win against me but you did good, Your plan was smart and made me feel proud to be your brother"
He answered, still a bit curious and confused as to why she wanted his opinion on the matter, but he decided not to ask.
Momo maintained a calm expression on her face, while he did praise her and she appreciated it, she also couldn't help but feel a bit frustrated.
His words, "You can never win against me," struck something within her, and they reinforced the idea that she had to beat and show him she was strong and didn't need him to look out for her.
"Anyway, I'd also like to say, you scared me a bit, your pale skin and sickly look made me fear the worst, don't do that again please"
He said, his words sounding more like a suggestion than anything. However, Momo did not appreciate them as much as he would have thought.
"You don't get a say in how I use my quirk"
She said, with finality, before picking up her pace and leaving Taro a bit confused and wondering why she got snappy all of a sudden, but he shrugged at the end, choosing to forget about it.
.....
A/N: Next Chapter on Sunday
Hopefully, I'm not making Momo too unreasonable towards Taro, and you all can understand what her deal is unless you want me to make it much more obvious than it already is.
power stones pls and leave a review if you can.