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Yaoyorozu Momo has left the dorms of UA to find a spot in the woods to cry. She was exhausted, from studying, from training, from practicing her quirk, and now the students were needed to help raid somewhere tomorrow. And she was upset, she had done subpar in the training exercises and was yelled at by Bakugo for blanking on how to make a certain explosive. She had fumbled the formula and it hadn’t actually exploded. They had failed the challenge and even though their grade would still be good, she’d still gotten comments. Mineta even suggested that she was too worried about making sure her breasts didn’t bounce out to focus. Then, she was trying to eat supper and Kaminari made a comment that she was eating as much as Shoji or Ojiro. Jiro elbowed him and Midorya reminded him that her quirk was powered on food, but it was in the back of her head. Momo was just too exhausted to handle it all, but still worried about crying in front of her classmates. So, she went into the woods around UA to let out a good cry.
However, she had only just sat down, tears starting to form when she heard footsteps. She was by the edge of the trees, a little off the path, but not too far into the woods she could get lost. This was not a well traveled area, someone was looking for something if they were here. Momo sat alert, ready to jump, attack, do something. But instead, she saw Ms. Midnight, her teacher, dressed much more modestly than usual. Midnight was in a loose sweater and then sweatpants, her hair in a simple clip, and black cat-eye glasses. She wasn’t wearing as much makeup as normal. Even her body language was different. If Momo didn’t see her five days a week, she honestly wouldn’t have recognized her. Momo let out a small squeak and tried to wipe her face clean of tears.
“Creati, what are you doing out here? It’s nearly dark.” Midnight’s voice didn’t have the usual spunk it did. She was thrown off guard by seeing the top student out here, hiding in the woods, with tears. “I’m fine Midnight, I promise, I’ll get going if-”
Midnight shrugged, “No, sit and stay. I’m just coming out here to sit and smoke.”
In a year of shocking, terrible things, this was the most surprised Yaoyorozu had looked. “In our school’s handbook and rules it expressly forbids smoking on-”
Midnight nodded, “That’s why I’m out here in the woods. And don’t worry about lil’ old me, I only do it on a bad day.”
Midnight’s lighter clicked, but no flame. “Damnit, thing must’ve burnt out.”
Yaoyorozu used her quirk, so that a thin matchstick rose out of her hand. “Here, take this.”
Midnight lit her cigarette, taking in a steady breath and breathing it out in a fine line. There was only silence for a moment, broken by Midnight saying, “What had you down? You normally seem pretty confident.”
Yaoyorozu normally liked to keep this sort of thing to herself. It was unfair to burden her peers with it and her family wasn’t often around to listen. But between Midnight’s soft voice, the calming presence of being with a hero, and the emotions pushing over, it all spilled out. She told Midnight about failing at training exercises, Mineta’s comment about her chest, comments about her food, and now the worry about tomorrow. Midnight faithfully nodded along, with faint “mhms” as she smoked down her cigarette. By the time Momo finished talking, Midnight’s cigarette was nearly done with. Midnight took a deep breath, then said, “You know, you seem a lot like myself when I was younger. It’s a lot, to be a hero in training.”
Momo nodded, wiping away the tears that had returned. “How did you deal with it?”
Midnight thought back, when she was young and a lot less afraid. But these kids didn’t have the luxury of being less afraid. The event that had sobered her up and, for her early twenties, had caused her to become a lot less sober, was Oboro’s death. But these kids had faced multiple villain attacks and had a kidnapped classmate already. Momo had even seen All for One in person. “I had to rely on my friends. Trust in myself too, my judgement. I’ve learned from watching a lot of very talented heroes that the best pros are the ones that doubt themselves.”
“Do you think I could be one of the best pros someday?” Yaoyorozu's voice sounded much, much younger, near childish.
“I know that Creati will be a wonderful hero someday and I can’t wait to watch what she’ll do.”
Momo had to wipe her eyes again, “Thank you Midnight.”
Midnight laughed, “You can just call me Ms. Kayama when I’m not in costume. You kids call everyone but poor Shota by their hero names.”
Yaoyorozu nodded, “Thank you then, Ms. Kayama.”
Nemuri Kayama laughed as she got up, “No need to thank me, just give me Creati’s autograph when you get famous.”
Momo laughed and got up too, as Kayama said, “It’ll be a long day tomorrow, so go to bed early. I’ll see you then.”