Author's Note: My sincerest apologies for the very last-minute update. I have been having a lot of difficulty lately between a shockingly busy work schedule, bad weather, depression, and a fight with my mother. As such, my mind was a mess when I could find time to write, and I'm not super happy with this chapter. Regardless, I really hope you all enjoy it.

Chapter 4

"Well, well, well! If it isn't Moomoo-tan!"

Momo heaved an exasperated sigh. Before reading the class rosters, she'd hoped that girl wouldn't be in her class. After discovering she was, Momo knew it had been too much to expect she could go unaccosted for the full duration of a school day. And, like clockwork, when the lunch bell inevitably rang, that girl brazenly strutted up to her desk and planted her posterior right on top of it. She stared down at Momo with a snide grin, her slitted yellow eyes glinting with predatory glee.

"Moomoo-tan! I half thought you wouldn't be back this year!"

"Kotoryuu-san," Momo responded curtly, "I don't recall giving you permission to be so familiar."

The girl arrogantly sitting atop Momo's desk was Kotoryuu Komoko, the "Queen" of Mygeeto Girls' Private Middle School. Extra long hair that one could not help but compare to the color of sewage dangled in twin tails from the sides of her head, framing a light-skinned, pretty human face splotched here and there with yellow-green lizard scales. Kotoryuu's position on the desk was necessary for her to have any kind of ability to look down on Momo, considering she was a good 23 centimeters shorter than the Yaoyorozu heiress.

"Now, now, Moomoo-tan," Kotoryuu whispered, adjusting her skirt and crossing her thigh-high stockinged legs. "I can't very well listen to your whining whilst you refuse to call me Kotoryuu-sama, as is proper. Here I thought I was being kind by using a cute name like 'Moomoo-tan,' but I suppose I can simply return to calling you dairy cow."

Dairy cow.

Kotoryuu had delighted in calling Momo that crude nickname throughout the entirety of their first two years of middle school. Quite possibly as a side-effect of her Quirk, Momo had developed at a fairly early age. The Queen of Mygeeto Middle, however, had not. Short, skinny and flat-chested, this girl with the personality of an angry wasp had not failed to make her bitterness toward Momo known. From the day they'd met in seventh grade, the twin pony-tailed girl had done her very best to make the Yaoyorozu heiress' school life miserable. It was quite possible that the Yaoyorozu family name had a lot to do with it, as well. Kotoryuu and Yaoyorozu had been rival companies for generations, now, but the latter had always managed to come out on top. But at this private school, where all the attending girls were raised to view someone like Momo as an enemy, Kotoryuu's goal of ostracizing her hadn't been difficult to accomplish. Thus, Momo had gone through two years of middle school friendless, and mocked for petty reasons.

"Do you need something, Kotoryuu-san?" the taller girl asked pointedly, though she took care to speak with a smile. "I had no time to prepare a lunch this morning, I'm afraid. As such, I'll have to buy some bread, so I'd appreciate it if you got to the point."

Kotoryuu's grin vanished, to be replaced with a scowl. "Watch yourself, dairy cow. I still run this whole damn school. I could end you with a word."

Momo simply locked her face into a neutral expression, and she stood up from her seat to her full height to look down at the girl stoically. "Unless the word is 'sorry,' then I don't think I'd care to hear it, Kotoryuu-san. I'm leaving now. Feel free to sit on someone else's desk."

The black-haired girl turned to walk toward the classroom door. She hadn't gone more than a few steps before Kotoryuu's voice stopped her cold.

"Hero Research?" the girl's voice called out mockingly. "Volume Thirteen by...Midoriya Izuku?"

Momo turned sharply to look at the yellow-eyed girl. In her hand was Izuku's notebook, and Kotoryuu flipped idly through its pages, snickering at the contents as if it were some gag manga. She must have taken it out of Momo's desk the moment the tall girl's back was turned. The shorter girl sneered in satisfaction at Momo's reaction.

"Who is Midoriya Izuku, dairy cow? Boyfriend?" Kotoryuu asked, running a slender finger down the notebook's spine. "Honestly, it looks like a kiddie project. You start a tutoring job over break? Or maybe you just like 'em young and impressionable, hmm?"

"Put. That. Back," Momo stated, a dangerous edge to her voice.

"Oooooh, scaaaaary," responded the yellow-eyed girl. "Quite the reaction, dairy cow. This Izuku-kun must be quite important to you."

Momo gritted her teeth, both hands clenched into fists at her sides. "You don't get to call him that."

"I'll call him whatever the hell I want, dairy cow. Aaaaah, but this little book is sooooo interesting. Almost enough to make me...drool."

The threat in her voice was very clear. Kotoryuu's Quirk was known as Toxicity. Her saliva glands produced an incredibly corrosive and venomous fluid, capable of causing significant acid damage, as well as extreme illness if used against humans. She couldn't consciously regulate her Quirk, which was just one more thing she felt the need to be bitter over, and it meant that some very basic pleasures in life would forever be denied to her. The taste of food and drink barely registered, she had to be conscientious of casually spitting or sharing her tableware (her own bathroom sink and dishes even had to be constructed from acid-resistant polymers), and she'd never know the joy of sharing a deep kiss with a significant other. If asked honestly about it, Momo would have said she pitied the girl. Many had done so throughout Kotoryuu's life, and it had filled the short girl with a fiery anger.

But now it was Momo's turn to be angry, and she closed the gap between her and Kotoryuu in a flash. She loomed over the smaller girl, abusing every extra centimeter of her height, a shadow over her dark eyes.

"Give. Me. The notebook," she demanded, and her voice brooked no argument.

Kotoryuu, for her part, seemed legitimately surprised at the intensity of Momo's response. So, with a huff, she held out the notebook to the Yaoyorozu heiress. As the taller girl reached for it, however, Kotoryuu let it fall to the floor of the classroom with a loud slapping sound.

"Oops," said the yellow-eyed girl with mock humility. "Butterfingers. Silly me."

And with a flick of her twin ponytails, the girl hopped off Momo's desk and made her way out of the classroom.

Momo...wasn't sure why she felt so angry. It was only a notebook, and a damaged one at that. But...it was Izuku's notebook, and something about that fact alone made it somehow...precious. And Kotoryuu had threatened to ruin it.

The dark-haired girl knelt down, picking the book up off the floor. It wasn't damaged anymore than it had already been before Kotoryuu had dropped it, but now Momo felt like it wouldn't be safe in her desk. With a sigh, and the knowledge that a sizable portion of her lunch break had been spent pointlessly playing right into the shorter girl's hands, Momo simply elected to take the charred notebook with her to the vending machines. It wasn't as if it would get in the way of her meal...

By the time classes for the day had finally ended, Midoriya Izuku was certain he had never felt quite so mentally so exhausted. Except for possibly his medical checkup at age 4.

After the confrontation on the rooftop, the green-haired boy's anxiety had kicked itself into overdrive. He found himself unable to concentrate on the lessons, glancing from his notes, to the teacher, to Kacchan, to his other classmates, back to Kacchan, to his notes again, and back to Kacchan. When last period had finally arrived, Izuku's anxiety had begun to snowball into a full-blown panic attack. Hurriedly, the boy decided to focus his mind on something that could keep his attention and settle his nerves – his hero research. Shifting his mechanical pencil into his off-hand (to use its steady 'click-click-click' as audible stimulus), he grabbed another from his pencil case, and withdrew Hero Notebook Volume 14 from his desk. He swiftly flipped it open to the very first addition he'd made to it after he'd purchased it from the store.

'Yaoyorozu Momo.'

Izuku hadn't gotten very far with his note-taking back in the limo that day, barely having filled out even the basic information about the girl who rescued him from further humiliation by Bakugou.

'Tall height, deep brown eyes, long black hair in a ponytail, pale skin, Quirk can produce objects from body.'

That was all the green-haired boy had managed to get onto the page before circumstances had begun getting too embarrassing or personal to concentrate. He wouldn't be able to acquire more info than that, though, unless he somehow found a way to speak with her again. It wasn't like she was some Pro Hero, whose feats Izuku could witness firsthand or follow on the news feeds. All that considered, the boy chose to focus on her sketch instead.

Between the steady clicks of his off-hand pencil, and the muted sounds of the rest of his class as they became more and more ready for the day to end, Izuku quickly lost himself within the depths of his concentration. The sound of the final bell snapped him out of his trance nearly an hour later, and the boy looked down to see what he'd accomplished while lost in thought...and immediately reddened at the sight.

Rather than his usual full-body sketch, Izuku seemed to have unconsciously made the decision to do a portrait of Momo's face. He wasn't a spectacular artist by any stretch of the imagination, but anyone who had ever met the dark-haired girl could have likely recognized her in the boy's work. In the sketch, she appeared to look off the page at Izuku with the soft smile she'd offered him before telling him those very important words. Special attention seemed to have been paid to Momo's eyes and mouth, and the boy's face became even redder when he noticed what he'd added next to the picture.

'Do your best, Midoriya-kun!' was written in a speech bubble next to Momo's face, as if the girl in the sketch were cheering him on.

Hastily, the boy closed Hero Notebook Volume 14, placing it and his school supplies into his bag. He'd been 'volunteered' for the first day's cleaning duties, and hadn't had the courage to object. He vowed that would all change soon enough. When Izuku finally finished his duties, and set off on his way home from school, he found his mind wandering, again and again, to the portrait in his notebook. Why had he drawn her picture like that? And the speech bubble...

Did her saying that to me really affect me so much? He thought. He shook his head roughly. I am not going to overthink it!

It was a futile effort, though.

The boy's mind continued to drift as he walked the familiar streets. He idly contemplated Momo's kindness and generosity. The soft smile from the sketch invaded his mind again, and he realized that he'd reached into his breast pocket without thinking. Slowly, he pulled out Momo's handkerchief. A gift made to him in the form of an icepack, a gift she'd wholesale created with her amazing Quirk.

If she returns Hero Notebook Thirteen, he considered, is she going to want this back?

The idea bothered him, though he couldn't quite place why.

"'M.Y.,'" he muttered, staring at the monogram. He could almost imagine that the letters stood for 'Midoriya' and 'Yaoyorozu,' rather than simply Momo's initials. "But that would be too much...I'm letting myself get fixated on such a simple courtesy..."

But could anyone blame him for it? It had been so long since he'd had a real friend. Not since he was six, and it was made official that he wasn't simply some late-bloomer. Being officially Quirkless, as defined by the field of medicine and society at large, may as well have been a neon sign over his declaring him a loser. But Momo...she said he could be a Hero. She said that she'd like to be schoolmates in the future. Was it too much to hope that maybe they could become friends in the present? He placed the handkerchief back into his pocket. He supposed he'd just have to wait and see.

He turned the corner of his street...and stopped in his tracks. There, in front of the house, was parked a familiar limousine.

Did...did she come herself? Or is it only Sebastian-san? Izuku thought, not even realizing he'd broken into a run.

He raced toward his home at a sprint, charging through the gate, and bursting through the front door. He flung his shoes off in the entryway, and swiftly sped into the dining area, sliding along the floor with his socked feet.

Sitting at the table, as Izuku's mother bustled around the kitchen to finish preparing the evening meal, was none other than Sebastian...and in the seat next to him, staring wide-eyed at Izuku's rather dramatic entrance, was Momo. She wore the same school uniform as the previous day, sans blazer, which had been hung on the nearby coat rack.

"Midoriya-kun?" the girl spoke, curious at his dynamic entry.

"Y-Yaoyorozu-san?! Sebastian-san?!" the boy exclaimed in confusion. "W-what are you two d-doing here?!"

"Izuku!" scolded his mother from the kitchen. He looked in her direction to see the prominent frown on her face. "That is not how we greet guests! Welcome them properly, then wash up and help me set the table!"

"Y-yes, ma'am!" Izuku responded, swiftly turning to bow to his pair of house-guests. "Welcome to my home, and thank you for visiting!"

"P-pardon the intrusion," Momo replied, embarrassment at the spectacle bringing a faint hint of color to her cheeks. Izuku failed to notice the familiar notebook in her lap.

Sebastian, meanwhile, was making a valiant effort to maintain his professional demeanor, though the slightest hints of an amused smile peeked through the facade for a fleeting moment, as the green-haired boy quickly excused himself to wash his hands. He returned a few minutes later, setting places at the table as his mother had instructed. The two guests remained perfectly still and silent throughout the process, and the air had become a little awkward by the time Izuku had finished with the table prep and moved to the kitchen to ask his mother if she needed help. The woman quickly shooed him out, insisting that he needed to take care of entertaining his 'new friend and her butler.'

So Izuku found himself sitting at the dining table, hands in his lap, fidgeting nervously, and wondering just how he was gonna mess this up.

Momo wasn't faring much better than her anxious host. She had not been to a friend's house for a visit in years, and never a boy's home, nor such a modest one. Her area of expertise was the realm of business dinners, executive parties, and lavish gala events, almost always hosted by her parents or some other members of Japan's high society. She couldn't even remember a time when she'd sat at such a small table anywhere but at a coffee shop, or when seated at a desk to study. Even so, it soon became clear that Izuku was far too flustered to initiate conversation. So, with a deep breath, Momo decided to make the first move.

"So, Midoriya-kun," the dark-haired girl began, "how was your first day back to school?"

Izuku visibly flinched at her words, and Momo immediately regretted her choice of conversation starter. The green-haired boy did make an attempt to salvage the conversation, though, steadying himself with a few breaths.

"Um, i-it wasn't too b-bad, Yaoyorozu-san," he answered. "All things c-considered, I mean. What about y-you? Did your f-first day go w-well?"

'Watch yourself, dairy cow. I still run this whole damn school.'

"N-not bad!" Momo replied a bit too hastily, as she clenched her fist reflexively against the memory of Kotoryuu. "A-all things considered..."

"Ahem," Sebastian's voice cut in. "Perhaps you could go ahead and offer an explanation as to why we came by, young miss?"

Momo's face brightened at the suggestion, and she sat up a little straighter in her seat. "Oh, yes! Of course, Sebastian. Thank you for reminding me."

The girl made a mental note to get the old driver something nice as thanks for saving her from all of that awkwardness.

The bearded gentleman, meanwhile, simply nodded. "I will see if I might offer to help the lady of the house with bringing out the food."

The girl crossed out her previous mental note, instead setting a reminder to shave the man's beard while he slept. Leaving me alone like that...he's doing this on purpose!

Before Momo could protest her driver's decision, Sebastian had vanished into the kitchen area. Oddly, the girl and her host both noted, Inko didn't send the man away as she'd done with Izuku.

"Um, y-yes. Well...," Momo started, shifting nervously in her seat. "You...you forgot this in our car yesterday, Midoriya-kun."

A very distant part of her mind, the part still angry at Kotoryuu, wondered if maybe she should consider calling him 'Izuku-kun,' instead. The girl shook her head. Not the time for that! Definitely not!

The dark-haired girl held out the charred form of Hero Notebook Volume 13 to Izuku. "T-these notes are important to you, right? To your goal of becoming a Hero? I thought you might like them back right away."

Izuku stared down at the book for several seconds. Before he could make a move to accept the proffered item, however, Inko and Sebastian returned to the table, arms laden with the night's dinner. Momo returned the notebook to her lap, exhaling deeply as Izuku's mother began portioning out the food. She'd simply return it before she and Sebastian left, she figured. It wouldn't feel quite so awkward then, she was sure of it. With a hearty thanks for the meal, the four of them set about eating.

The food tasted wonderful, though it was a little difficult to enjoy with such a prominent silence at the table. It wasn't the lack of dialogue. Momo often ate alone, or with only her parents, and there tended to be little conversation at dinner time on any given day. But it was strange in such a confined space, at such a confined table. It felt like something was off. Curiously enough, it was Inko who chose to break the silence.

"So, Yaoyorozu-san," the smiling woman began, "my son tells me you're aiming for the Yuuei Hero Course. Is that true?"

"Yes, Midoriya-san," answered Momo. "I am studying and training quite hard to be a successful student there."

"Please, please, call me Inko."

"V-very well."

"You say that you're studying and training hard? Are you concerned about passing the Hero Exam?"

Momo's chopsticks paused midway to her mouth, and she gave Izuku a sideways glance. Heat returned to the girl's face, and she looked away in embarrassment.

"The young miss is already an exceptional student, with an exceptional Quirk," Sebastian explained on Momo's behalf. "Several veteran Pro Heroes have witnessed her talents through her parents' enterprise, and have extended offers for recommendation."

Izuku's mother looked confused. "Recommendation? What does that mean?"

"A recommendation means that she has the backing of a Pro Hero, who will vouch for her talent," Izuku replied. "It means she's skilled enough that she doesn't have to take the entrance exam. Yaoyorozu-san...you really are incredible!"

Momo looked up sharply at the boy's words, seeing him smiling at her from across the table. Not a fake smile to hide jealousy or resentment, nor a smile meant to curry favor, but a genuine smile, a smile filled to brim with excitement and admiration of her abilities. Her face heated more, to such a degree that Momo was almost certain she'd gone entirely red, and the girl just barely managed to catch the strained sound of a suppressed chuckle from Sebastian. She delivered a swift kick to his shin as retribution for his teasing, but it didn't seem to bother the old man much.

"Oooooh," Inko said after some consideration of Izuku's explanation. "Yaoyorozu-san must be a fantastic student, then! As smart as you are pretty!"

"P-p-p-please, Inko-san! That's n-not...," the red-faced girl's response died off, and she took several breaths to help restore her composure. "Please, Inko-san, if you insist that I call you by your given name, then I must ask you to do the same for me."

Izuku's mother smiled even wider, and tears of joy seemed to be brimming in her eyes. "You are such a sweet girl, Momo-chan."

In that instant, as Inko looked across the table at the dark-haired girl, her smile seemed to shift into something more like a conspiratorial smirk. "So...how about it then, Momo-chan? Won't you consider tutoring my son?"

Izuku all but inhaled his rice at his mother's words, coughing and sputtering at the suggestion. "M-m-m-mom?! W-w-what are y-you asking?!"

How Inko had managed to sense Momo's intentions, she could not say. But she saw the opportunity to seize upon a topic that she herself had hoped, and failed, to broach earlier.

"Yes," she said, her voice all business. She had to play this deadly serious. "I would very much like to help Midoriya-kun with his studies."

Inko looked fit to burst with sheer joy, and Izuku could only look at the girl, eyes swirling blankly with utter confusion. After a moment, the green-haired boy shook off the effects of Momo's words, and he looked at her with...what emotion was that? Hope? Fear? Did he think that she was playing a prank?

"Why, Yaoyorozu-san?" he asked bluntly.

"I...," Momo began, feeling the heat returning to her cheeks, "I was truly inspired by your earnest words. I thought it might be difficult for you, on your own, and..."

She met his gaze, her own determination burning hot inside of her. "...and you looked like someone in need of help!"

Now it was Izuku's turn, it seemed, as tears began welling in his own eyes. Like mother, like son, Momo supposed. He didn't allow himself to cry, though. He wiped at his face with his sleeve ferociously.

"Y-yes!" he exclaimed. "I would very much like to study with you!"

"It is going to be difficult!" came Sebastian's booming basso voice. "If you choose to do this, you will be held to the highest standard! The household will not stand for any waste of the young miss' time! You will study with the young miss...but if you accept, you shall also be undergoing physical training..."

The man stood to his full height, and Izuku only then seemed to realize just how tall and powerfully built Sebastian was. The thought that perhaps he wasn't so old as he seemed clearly sprang to mind, Momo could tell. He didn't hold a candle to Pro Heroes like All-Might or Endeavor, certainly, but there was no doubt that a man like this could probably break Izuku in half with no more effort than it would take to snap a dried twig.

"...and that physical training shall be overseen by me," Sebastian finished, and Izuku looked from Sebastian, to Momo, and back to Sebastian, scrutinizing the man's uniform as if to pierce somme illusion.

"Sebastian isn't simply my driver. He has served as my physical training coach, martial arts instructor, and fencing master since I was six," Momo stated, reading the green-haired boy's thoughts as easily as if she were an esper. "You'd be hard-pressed to find a man with more skill and experience outside of the Pro Hero industry."

Momo then glanced at the man with a sarcastic smile, cocking one eyebrow. "You don't have to try so hard to look cool, though, Sebastian."

Sebastian sat back down, and had coughed politely into his hand. "It was for the boy's benefit, young miss. He needs to know the stakes, after all."

"I think he gets the idea," responded the girl, motioning toward Izuku.

The boy had fainted, though likely not in fear. Stars were plainly visible in his still-open eyes, his fists were clenched tightly in front of his chest, and his head nodded rapidly in a swift up and down movement.

Well, if there was one way Momo had imagined this conversation would go...that certainly hadn't been it.

When Izuku returned to consciousness, the sun was beginning to set outside. Surprisingly, Momo and Sebastian had elected not to leave without a proper farewell, in addition to wishing to provide him with a rough idea of the training schedule. Starting the following day, Izuku would be taking a train to the stop nearest Momo's home, where Sebastian would pick him up, and then drive him to the Yaoyorozu Estate. The Yaoyorozu ESTATE. He was going to be training at a mansion?!

Eventually, the time came for the pair of guests to be on their way. Sebastian left first, thanking Izuku's mother, giving the boy a firm handshake and a nod, and exiting to start up the limo.

Izuku walked Momo to the car, helped along by a few not-so-subtle gestures from Inko. The two of them stopped just outside of the front gate, and turned to face each other.

Momo, taking the initiative once again, held up Hero Notebook Volume 13. "Um, your notebook, Midoriya-kun."

Izuku looked at it for a moment, and a sudden thought struck him. He reached into his pocket, and withdrew Momo's monogrammed handkerchief. "If you're returning the notebook...I suppose I should return this, too."

Momo frowned at the suggestion. "Not at all, Midoriya-kun. The handkerchief was a gift. I did not expect it back. But the notebook was only in my car by accident."

Izuku considered her words, and then, with a nervous smile, he gently pushed the notebook back toward Momo. The handkerchief he placed back in his pocket.

"I w-want you to k-keep it, Yaoyorozu-san," the boy said, face red. "As a memento."

"A memento?" asked the dark-haired girl, confused, though she made no move to reject his gesture.

"Of the day we became..."

He wanted to say it, wanted to say it so badly, but he couldn't quite get out the right word. "...p-partners."

Momo's own face began to redden, and she shook her head at the suggestion. Clutching the notebook to her chest with her left hand, she held out her right as if for a handshake. "N-not partners. How about...f-friends?"

Izuku beamed at her, for it was what he'd wanted from the very start. He grasped her hand, and didn't stop to marvel at its softness, or that he was looking Momo straight in those amazing eyes.

"Y-yeah! Friends!"

Momo nodded, releasing his hand and stepping into the back seat of the car. She looked out the window at him as the car began to drive away.

"See you tomorrow, Midoriya-kun!"

"Ah! See you t-t-tomorrow, Yaoyorozu-san!"

The car turned a corner, vanishing as the evening turned to night. He didn't move from the spot in front of his house for nearly an hour, when his mom had finally gotten worried and came out to bring him inside. He had been afraid, terrified even, that if he moved, he might wake from the dream.

When he did wake the next morning, he rushed to check his desk. The training schedule and the handkerchief were still there. Tears fell at the thought that, yet again, Yaoyorozu Momo had made one of Midoriya Izuku's dreams come true.

Author's Note: And there you have it! With Chapter 4 out of the way, the real fun can begin, as Izuku begins his training with Momo and Sebastian. I am exhausted after staying up way too late writing this, so I'm gonna go ahead and end this particular note early. I hope you all had fun with this chapter, and I hope you enjoyed my rival equivalent for Momo at Mygeeto Girls' Private Middle School, Kotoryuu Komoko. I had fun designing her, as well as coming up with a suitable Star Wars name for their school, so I hope you all enjoyed their interaction.

Please, leave a comment/review, and share your thoughts with me! I'd especially like to hear my readers' theories on which direction I intend to go with Izuku's studying/training. I already have the whole thing mapped out in a rough outline through Chapter 13, so I'm very curious to hear your predictions, and see if any of you happen to come close!

Sincerely,

Sophie