"I'm—" She blinked rapidly, centering herself. "I'm fine. Better than fine. I can see everything."
Her quirk responded immediately.
Complex chemical structures flickered through her mind like blueprints, and she knew exactly what she needed to create.
Ryuu watched her closely, feeling their connection pulse even stronger between them...
Her breathing steadied after a few seconds, but her eyes locked onto the scene ahead like it's dazed.
"Then let's move," he said, already stepping forward.
Momo followed, her mind racing.
The chemical data was already forming in her head....the structures, reactions, even the potential hazards.
It wasn't just knowledge anymore....It was more like instinct....like her brain was wired to understand this stuff without even trying.
They rounded the corner.....and the scene
ahead looked so real it gave Ryuu chills.
The scene ahead was chaos.
A massive tanker truck had "crashed" into a support beam, spilling bright green synthetic chemicals across the ground.
Thick vapor rose from the puddles, and several civilian bots were scattered around the area, coughing and stumbling.
"Help! I can't... breathe!" one of them wheezed, clutching its throat.
"My eyes! It burns!" another screamed, clawing at its face.
Two Striker-Bots burst out of the wreckage....sleek, fast, and way smaller than the Hulk-model from earlier.
They were built for speed, no doubt about it.
Then their arms shifted. What looked like normal hands suddenly extended.
*click* into long, gleaming blades.
They were Retractable. Blade. Arms.
Because of course they had those....Ryuu almost couldn't believe his eyes...
"We've got incoming!" Ryuu shouted....then immediately broke into a coughing fit.
"*Cough*,* cough*. Damn, the vapor was getting worse".
Momo's hands glowed bright.
In seconds, she pulled out two compact gas masks
"Here—these should help." she called, tossing one to Ryuu.
They snapped them on just as the chemical fumes thickened.
"We'll need a neutralizer!" she shouted, her voice muffled through the mask.
Her quirk flared again.
A handheld spray canister materialized, filled with a custom foam compound designed to break down the simulated toxin.
She ran toward the largest spill and started hosing it down, the green liquid fizzing and turning white as it neutralized.
Meanwhile, the Striker-Bots closed in.
Ryuu moved fast, his amplified awareness keeping him one step ahead of every slash.
It was like he saw the attacks before they even happened.
One bot lunged at him, blades extended, but he dropped low, sweeping its legs out from under it.
The machine crashed down hard, sparks were flying as it crashed to the floor.
While the second bot went for Momo.
"Not today!"
She spun and created a thick foam shield just as the blade came down.
The impact sent her stumbling back, but the shield held.
She gritted her teeth and shoved forward, knocking the bot off balance.
For a moment, it looked like it was shutting down....its limbs twitching, movements stuttering.
Ryuu snatched a chunk of debris and hurled it at the downed Striker-Bot's head.
It slammed into the bot with a Crunch.
It's only red glowing eye flickered once… then went dark.
"Down!" He called out.
While Momo finished neutralizing the spill and turned her attention to the civilians. "Get them out of the contamination zone!"
Ryuu sprang into action immediately .
He grabbed the first civilian bot under the arms and hauled it toward clean air. "Come on, you're gonna make it!"
The bot coughed weakly. "Thank... you..."
Momo created emergency oxygen masks and pressed them onto the remaining victims' faces.
The bots' distressed acting was surprisingly convincing, their synthetic voices were even cracking with fear.
The last Striker-Bot....the one that had gone for Momo and seemed deactivated....suddenly sprang back to life with a final, desperate lunge.
Momo didn't even flinch.
Her hand shot out, and a heavy metal wrench appeared but instead of landing in her grip...it launched straight toward the Striker-Bot.
it hit hard on the bot's neck joint. CRACK. Sparks flew. The machine collapsed in a heap.
And what followed was Silence...
Ryuu pulled the last civilian into the safe zone and looked back at Momo.
She was standing in the middle of the cleared spill site, breathing hard, her hair slightly disheveled but her eyes still sharp.
"Sector two clear," she announced into her comm.
BZZZT
The loudspeaker crackled again. "All scenarios complete. Return to staging area for debrief."
As Ryuu walked back towards Momo, chest heaving, sweat dripping down his temple.
The connection was still active. Still humming between them.
He could feel Momo's heartbeat like it was his own. Her satisfaction.
Her relief. Her... something else he didn't want to name yet...
By the time he got close to her...it felt like...
They were merged.
Connected even....
Like their minds had tangled together so completely that pulling apart felt wrong.
It was a reckless thought…
but to Ryuu, it....felt undeniably right??...
He tried to ease off the resonance, and let it fade naturally....but unfortunately...
Before he could, Momo grabbed his arm with a firm grip....like she knew exactly what he was about to do.
"Wait." Her voice was soft. Breathless. "Just... stay a moment."
And like a fool ....he did.
They stood there in the cleared disaster zone, breathing in sync, still linked through his quirk...
Fortunately...the amplification was fading now, slowly, but the intensity of what they'd just done lingered.
It wasn't just the rescues or the tactical work he felt....
He also felt her...
The way she'd adapted to his quirk so fast.
The way they'd moved together like they'd been partners for years instead of just a day...
The way her confidence had bled into him, making him feel capable of anything.
And underneath all of it....the thing he'd been trying not to think about.
The pull.
The attraction.
It got so "amplified" to the point where ignoring it felt impossible.
"That was..." Momo started, then stopped. Her onyx eyes searched his face like she was looking for the right words and couldn't find them.
"Intense," Ryuu finished, finally letting go of her hands and stepping back.
He needed space.
Needed to think clearly without her emotions flooding through him...
But Momo didn't step back.
She moved closer instead...
Her eyes were still bright, pupils dilated from the residual enhancement.
Her cheeks were flushed from exertion...
but so vividly, so fiercely, it was as if the heat beneath her skin might break through.
Making her already beautiful face even more devastating.
"I need to know something," she said quietly, reaching up to touch his face.
Ryuu's breath caught.
"Without the quirk influence," she continued, her thumb brushing his cheek. "Without any amplification... do you feel it too?"
The question hovered in silence.
He knew what she was asking.
Knew what answering honestly would mean...
But after everything they'd just been through...after feeling her thoughts and emotions like they were his own...lying felt impossible.
"Yes." His voice came out rougher than he intended. "I feel it too."
Something shifted in her expression....
Relief....Satisfaction....Want??
She rose up on her toes, and her intention was crystal clear.
Ryuu didn't pull away this time...
Their lips met, and even without the quirk amplification, the kiss was electric...like they've been starving for each other's touch for months...if not years.
Yesterday's meetup had already messed with his head....and Momo's hero costume?...
That just made things worse.
Momo's fingers tangled in his blonde hair, tugging just enough to make him shiver.
His arms locked around her waist, pressing her body to his....close enough to fell every breath, every heartbeat.
The kiss deepened—hot and breathless.
For a few seconds, nothing else existed for Ryuu....only her.
There was only her.
Only this.
Not the exercise.
Not the watching cameras.
Not the—
Footsteps?
There were multiple sets, getting closer.
Ryuu pulled back, breathing hard, and looked up.
His stomach dropped.
Several classmates were heading their direction, talking and laughing about their own performances.
And right there in the middle of the group, impossible to miss, was pink hair.
Mina...
Her golden eyes locked onto them immediately.
Took in the scene....Momo still pressed close to his chest, his arms around her waist, their faces flushed.
She'd seen it. Seen everything.
For half a second, something raw flickered across Mina's face.
Hurt.
Shock.
Maybe....betrayal?
Then it was gone, replaced by a carefully neutral expression that somehow felt worse.
She kept walking toward them, Monoma and a few others trailing behind.
"Great job out there!"Her voice was cheerful....too cheerful....like she was forcing it. "You two looked really in sync."
Her words sounded supportive...
But Ryuu hear the shake in her voice she couldn't hide.
Heard what it cost her to say them with a smile.
"Thank you." Momo stepped back just a little, but stayed close to his side.
She spoke so professionally, you'd think she'd been caught saving a school from a fire...not caught kissing someone.
Gracious, even. "Your team performed well too."
"Oh yes," Monoma cut in with that insufferable smirk. "Though some partnerships seemed more... intimate than others."
The jab struck home....right where he knew it would hurt.
But Mina didn't even look at him.
Her focus stayed locked on Ryuu, and her expression....was carefully controlled, painfully neutral....that had equal parts hurt and resignation.
Like she'd been expecting this.
Like she'd seen it coming and had already started bracing for it.
"I'm glad the exercise went well for you," she said quietly. "Both of you."
Then she turned and walked away.
Just like that....
There was no scene...
She just....left.
Ryuu stood there, frozen, watching her pink hair disappear into the crowd.
His chest felt tight.
No....
It felt like something had just broken that he didn't know how to fix....
She's hurting," Momo said softly, her gaze still on the crowd. "But she didn't walk away because she's weak.....she walked away because she cares."
Ryuu wanted to believe that....
Wanted to go after her, to explain, to say something....anything...
But what could he say?
That the kiss had felt completely natural in the moment?
That he hadn't meant for it to happen?
The feelings he felt for both of them were true....
But Neither made the pain any easier.
The exercise went perfectly...
They had a very flawless execution.
Maybe even perfect scores....
But none of that eased the weight in his chest...
His worst fears about mixing his quirk with romance....about letting amplified emotions blur the lines.....were materializing exactly like he'd predicted.
He looked at Momo's hopeful expression. Then back toward where Mina had disappeared.
Two people he cared about. Two connections that felt real, even if one had been built on amplified emotions.
And he was going to have to make a choice soon.