#mochizuki tofu

[thedetectiveofinaba]

@orphemiss

"Earth to Kotone Shiomi, you have been standing near the fridge for several minutes now. I'd, uh, want to get my tofu omelette from it before I'm starving -" It took Naoto some minutes to deduce what caused this unusual behavior from her usually cheerful team leader.

The Ryoji Mochizuki event had taken place some days ago and she was partially shook on how they had one month to prepare for a chance for the world not to die in vain. She didn't know what he had precisely said to Kotone but it must've been harsher than what the rest in SEES had heard.

"Are you all right...? Never mind. I'm not beating around the bush, you're still grieving on what happened with him." She sounded firm on saying that if she wanted to speak, she'd listen as long as needed. Even the strongest people who help others need help. If Kotone-san doesn't acknowledge this I'll have to drop the politeness to get the message across.

[cesium--133]

@taiyuu-oct One last round

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Bonus Round 3

@taiyuu-oct

Character Nicknames: Akai-chan: Naishin-Sunomu Seisho Neki-chan: Tsuneki Aoi Tori-chan: Jamie Aguilero Yuu-chan: Mochizuki Tofu Lacca-sensei: Chikyu Tane Wolfie-sensei: Kuzu Onoma Boron: Nerva Rekka Mulan-sensei: Jailong Chen

x x x

Yukino breathed in the warm summer air as she walked to the beach, then let out a contented sigh. For some reason people tended to think that she would like Winter more due to her ice-based Quirk. Maybe some people with cold Quirks worked like that, but hers was specifically heat absorption. That, plus her residual draconic mutations from her grandfather, made her prefer warm temperatures a lot more than cold. So on a hot summer day like this, she was feeling pretty great even though her swimsuit was exposing a lot more of her skin than she normally liked doing.

"It's funny," she said to the two she was walking with, "I don't really like swimming much, but I love the beach." The sun, the sand, and to be perfectly honest...

"I prefer not to swim as well," Akai-chan told her, still looking ahead and holding the cooler she was carrying for Yukino. She looked really pretty in her sundress. Yukino had been hoping to see her in a swimsuit, but she got why she wouldn't be wearing one if she didn't plan to swim.

"We're going to the beach, this is great!" Neki-chan cheered. He was carrying the other cooler. "And you're making ice cream later!"

"Yup," Yukino grinned, though she was trying to keep away from Neki-chan a bit. Even if he was wearing his Quirk-erasing bracelet, Yukino was wary of her body's only way to cool itself suddenly shutting down on a hot summer day. That'd sour her fun real fast... For her part, Yukino was only carrying the bowls, napkins, and a long tablecloth. To be fair, she was also bringing the means of how the ice cream would be made. Sure, it was literally her body, but she was still the one who would be making the ice cream. "Got stuff to make chocolate and vanilla, plus a bunch of toppings."

"Ohh, that sounds delicious," Neki-chan drooled.

"Thanks, I try my best." In addition to her ice cream supplies, Yukino was also carrying a beach towel for herself. She probably wasn't going to go into the water, yes, but she didn't want to sit down directly on the sand. It was warm, which was nice, but Yukino could do without getting sand in her swimsuit...

They crested the hill they were walking up, giving them a good view of the beach.

"Ohhh, that looks beautiful," Neki-chan said.

"Yeah, it is," Yukino agreed. Even though she didn't swim, she could absolutely appreciate the beauty of the sun glittering off the waves. "Right, let me find somewhere to put my stuff. I'll probably need some help bringing the stuff back, but don't worry about helping me keep track of the stuff while we're here."

"Sounds good," Akai-chan said. "Let's find you a spot."

x x x

"Ahhhh~" Yukino sighed, basking in the sun. Her tail wagged a little, then she decided to check on her coolers. She opened one up a crack, sticking a claw in. It felt good, but just to be safe she drained some of the heat from the air in it and refroze the cold water in the ice bag. She did the same for the other cooler, then grimaced and shook out her hands. She hadn't used her Quirk much, but it was always unpleasant when she used it to cool something that was already a little chilly. Yukino rubbed her hands on her tail, which was really warm from the sun because it was covered in black scales.

Once she warmed her hands up, Yukino decided to play around a bit. She put a hand on the sand, careful not to get any under her claws, and activated Cryomancy. The sand frosted over, though Yukino prevented it from freezing together. She lifted up all the sand that she'd frozen in a large clump. Yukino thought for a bit, then formed the sand into a square of walls with little towers in the corner. Then she started with the detail work. She made a largeish (semifunctional) drawbridge on the side facing her, then carved little lines in the walls in the walls to make it look like bricks. She didn't do any details for the drawbridge, though, because she unfortunately wasn't good enough to make wood grain in a little sand drawbridge. It was starting to warm up a bit, so Yukino lightly touched the top of the wall and cooled it back down. Then she froze a bit more sand, using it to make crenellations for the walls and towers. She hummed, thinking of what else she could add to the castle.

"Heads up!" a voice yelled. Yukino snapped her head up just in time to see a beach ball hurtling at her. She quickly caught it with a single hand. A single... clawed hand...

Crud.

Phweee...

Yukino grimaced as the ball started to deflate from the holes she'd accidentally punctured in it with her claws.

"You okay?" Tori-chan asked, walking up to her. It sounded like they were the one who warned her about the ball. Yuu-chan was trailing behind them. "I hit the ball kinda... far... sorry..." They trailed off toward the end, noticing the deflated ball.

Yukino sheepishly removed the ball from her claws, carefully trying to keep it from getting damaged further. "Sorry about that. Claws..." She held the now totally flat ball out to Tori-chan.

They nodded sadly, taking the ball and brandishing their claws with their other hand. "I get how it is..." They sighed, then shook their head a little and smiled. "It's good, it's good. We should've been more careful with the ball."

Yukino nodded. "Still, if you want I can get you a new one later to replace it."

"Oh, no, don't feel the need to do that!" They smiled. "Thanks, but I'll deal with it. Again, sorry for almost hitting you!" They walked off.

"Yeah, sorry about that," Yuu-chan said.

"It's cool, Yuu-chan," Yukino waved him off.

"Are you building a sand castle?" he asked, pointing to her castle.

"Yeah," she said, then noticed it was starting to get close to "melting" again. She quickly refroze the castle. "Using my Quirk to do it. It's practice as well as fun."

"I could give the towers some sprouts, if you want," he said. "They're not flags, but they might make it look nicer?"

Yukino gave him a smile. "That sounds great, but unfortunately I don't know if they'd do well in the cold sand..."

He shook his head slightly. "I can make them cold resistant. Though... they might die soon if I don't sustain them."

Yukino shrugged. "Don't worry about sustaining them. I could try to ice them over once they start wilting. Probably be good practice for something. Thanks, by the way."

He was wearing his box so she couldn't see his mouth, but Yukino had the feeling he was smiling as he put the sprouts on the towers. "Bye," he muttered, then walked off.

Yukino played with the castle for a bit more.

x x x

Yukino hopped up. "Alrighty!" she said with a clap. Some time had passed, and while the sun was still in the sky she felt that she should get started on her ice cream before it got any later. She noticed that some of her classmates, as well as one or two of the teachers, were looking at her now. "I'm gonna be making ice cream soon!" she announced to the people who were looking at her. "Can one of you make sure everyone knows?"

"I'm on it!" Lacca-sensei shouted, giving her a thumbs-up. "Just save me a bowl of rocky road!"

"I literally don't have that but okay," Yukino muttered as her teacher ran off. She shrugged and poked the tablecloth with a foot, using Cryomancy to float it to her hand. She held one end and tossed the other to the side, using her telekinesis to unfurl it. As she did that, she made a table of ice form underneath where it would fall to, making it super thick so it wouldn't melt easily. The tablecloth fell on the ice table a little askew, but Yukino quickly fixed it with telekinesis. She floated the coolers, bowls, spoons, and napkins onto the table next.

Yukino hummed, pulling out the tubs of chocolate- and vanilla-flavored cream in the first cooler that she'd prepared for today with a bit of effort. She'd tried to make sure there was enough for everyone to have at least some of each. She smiled, then pulled out two ice cream scoops in a plastic bag. Yukino pulled out the first one, then uncovered the chocolate cream and dipped it in. She put her other hand over the cream and activated her Quirk. She stirred the cream with both the scoop and the air above it, chilling both. After a few seconds, the cream froze into chocolate ice cream. "Good," she said as she tested the ice cream with the scoop. It wasn't too thick, but not too thin, either. She repeated that with the other scoop and the vanilla cream.

Once both the tubs were done, she rubbed her hands on her tail to warm them up, then put the first cooler under the table and opened up the second one. Honestly she probably didn't have to bring toppings as well, but she wanted to. Plus she could snack on the leftovers later. She pulled out the chocolate syrup, strawberry syrup, caramel, whipped cream, and jar of cherries first. Then she took out a couple of the bowls and plastic spoons. She had big bags of chocolate chips (dark, milk, and white), peanut butter chips, peanuts, crushed Oreos, bits of edible cookie dough, and sprinkles in the second cooler as well, of which she poured some of each into the bowls. Then she brought out a label for the peanut products, which she'd made sure to keep away from everything else, for Wolfie-sensei because of his allergies.

"There," she said, then cooled the table down a bit just in case. "Done." She looked up to see that most of the class had formed a line in front of the ice cream. Lacca-sensei was, of course, in the front. "Hey, you don't mind if I get first dibs, do you?" Yukino asked the line. "I did just make it."

"Oh, go ahead!" Lacca-sensei nodded vigorously.

Nobody really objected to that, so Yukino shrugged and took a bowl and a plastic spoon. She took a scoop out of each tub of ice cream with her telekinesis, then put some chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cookie dough, sprinkles, chocolate syrup, caramel, and whipped cream on it. And finally, a cherry on top. She noticed that the people still in line were staring at her ice cream, though Lacca-sensei, Neki-chan, and Boron had started getting their ice cream behind her. "Alright," she said. "I'm probably gonna stay close to the ice cream table so I can keep it and the ice cream from melting. Call me if you need anything. And I know it goes without saying, but please don't litter. There's a trash bag in one of the coolers, the first person to have to throw out their trash can take that out. Bye."

Yukino walked away, eating a spoonful of ice cream as she did so. She was about to sit down on her beach towel again, but then she saw that Akai-chan was sitting nearby. Yukino set up the table a little too close to her beach towel, actually, so she figured she'd go sit down with her.

"You okay if I sit here?" Yukino asked Akai-chan with a grin.

"Ah, Takeda-kun," she said. "I don't mind."

Yukino sat down on Akai-chan's lap, taking another spoonful of her ice cream.

"I... should've guessed you'd do that..." Akai-chan muttered, her face starting to flush slightly.

"Don't worry," Yukino assured her. "I'll get up if you need me to."

"That's... that's fine," she muttered. "I hope you don't mind that I didn't get any ice cream. I have some residual snake mutations that make cold foods uncomfortable for me."

Yukino shrugged, then tickled Akai-chan's back with her tail. She smiled at the cute noise Akai-chan made. "I get how residual mutations are. The cold can be kinda bad for me, too, though luckily it's not quite bad enough that I can't have ice cream on a warm day if I want to." Yukino took another scoop of her ice cream. "Plus you're not the only one." She pointed at Mulan-sensei. "Think she's just eating crushed Oreos from a bowl."

"You can tell?" Akai-chan asked.

Yukino nodded. "I can feel anything that I've frozen, there's no ice cream in that bowl."

"That's interesting."

"Speaking of, I'm probably gonna go refresh the table and ice cream soon. Wanna keep 'em cool so they don't melt."

Akai-chan nodded. "That makes sense. It is rather warm today."

"Yeah," Yukino said, licking her lips to get a bit of chocolate off. "I like the heat, so it's nice." Yukino got up, stretching a bit. "Anyways, I'm gonna go cool off." She gave Akai-chan a quick peck on the cheek before walking off. Again, she smiled at the adorable squeak that Akai-chan made. She kept her smile as she walked over to the table and tapped it with her Quirk cooling it back down and reinforcing it. She shook out her hand, then walked over to the tubs of ice cream. "Hey, mind if I cool the ice cream off real quick?" Yukino asked Yuu-chan and Wolfie-sensei, who were about to serve themselves some ice cream. "Gotta make sure it stays cool."

Wolfie-sensei nodded. "Go right ahead, I don't mind."

"Yeah," Yuu-chan said. "Thank you."

Yukino gave them a grin, then grabbed the handles of the scoops and used them to chill the ice cream again. "The handles might be a little cold now," she warned, "sorry."

"That's fine," Yuu-chan said, then took some ice cream. "Thanks for the ice cream, by the way!"

"You're welcome," Yukino responded. "I'm gonna go now." She walked back to Akai-chan, chuckling to herself over the fact that she was still blushing over the kiss.

x x x

Yukino hummed to herself as they walked back to the dorms, carrying her beach towel, the trash bag, and the leftover bowls and stuff. "Today was nice," she said.

"Yeah," Neki-chan agreed, carrying one of the coolers again. "And thanks for the ice cream! It was so good!"

Yukino nodded. "You're welcome. That was nice, though I think if I do it again I might wanna prepare something for people who don't like or can't have cold treats." As she said that, she winked at Akai-chan.

Akai-chan raised her eyebrow at the wink but said, "That... does sound nice, yes. I can't wait to see what you make, Takeda-kun."

Yukino smiled at her. "Thanks, Akai-chan. I won't disappoint you!"

[cor-are-they-stars]

Taiyuu Round Two: Knights and Dragons

Yeah here he is my dragon fighting boy

@taiyuu-oct

[xxplinkxx]

@taiyuu-oct

The students involved in this exam are in the tags

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Libby, setting down a card: Ace of spades!

Rekka, taking out an uno card: Draw four!

Merce, putting down a baseball trading card: Pikachu I choose you!

Yurei: What are you playing?!?!?

Jamie, taking out a fish: gin

Kouka, slapping money on the board: GO FISH

Tofu, moving a chess piece: Check mate

Andrew, putting down a monopoly card: you guys are heading to jail, or pay 200!

Kirai, throwing chips at Yuyuko: PICK UP STICKS

Yukino, putting down Clue cards: J'ACCUSE!

Tsuya, throwing everything on the ground: 52 PICKUP

Seisho: puts down a qi piece I take your jun

Hoshimi, landing on Lose your job, take new career card: I'm failing at Life....

Isejin, flipping over a tarot card: three cups reversed. You're gonna make a tough decision soon.

Yuyuko rolling two dice: Guys you gotta move back 5

[taiyuu-oct]

Uhhhh cw for cursing i guess???

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 3

@taiyuu-oct

Character Nicknames: Keikei-sensei: Unbreakable Fuwa-chan: Zuruko Kayaki Boron: Nerva Rekka Akai-chan: Naishin-Sunomu Seisho Yuu-chan: Mochizuki Tofu

x x x

Yukino tapped her claws against her notebook as she sat in Keikei-sensei's "classroom." She scoffed. It wasn't so much a classroom as it was a field with a packed dirt stage. But hey, that was pretty much Taiyuu's brand at this point, wasn't it? Dirt-cheap, in both their construction and their ability to actually act like a real hero school, fang'si! Honestly the only reasons Yukino hadn't left yet was that Niichan assured her it'd be less complicated to just wait it out until break and Fuwa-chan finally figured out that her Quirk had an off button. Though... Yukino was still skeptical of how abrupt it was after about ten years of supposedly having no control over it at all and how close it was to Yukino complaining about the whole "hey, I'd like to not have my mind fucked with without my permission on a daily basis" thing, but apparently she HaD aN ePipHaNy so it was all good and should not be looked into further.

All the same, Yukino was still keeping her notes on the sheep girl. And Taiyuu was on thin ice with Yukino. If she felt like they weren't properly ensuring the safety of all of their students again, she would not be happy. And she'd probably involve her family in her discomfort with Taiyuu more than she already had. And if that happened- Yukino sighed and took a few deep breaths. At some point the cover of her notebook had frosted over a little under her claws. Ugh. She was better than just letting her Quirk slip out like that. It didn't look like the frost had bled through to the other side, thankfully. Yukino wiped off a bit of frost, then opened up her notebook. She was actually really looking forward to today's assignment... or maybe activity would be a better description? Today they were going to be showing off their hero names and costumes! Yukino had been looking forward to this for years, and even the recent events hadn't been enough to put a damper on that.

Though... Yukino thought that maybe the timing wasn't the best. They were tasked with getting their costume sketches together about when midterms were announced, with the due date being after midterms were over. Supposedly it was to take everyone's mind off the midterms, but really it was just piling up more work on top of the midterms. Of course, Yukino did pretty well on her midterms, she'd made sure to keep on top of her studies. And she'd finalized her costume design like a year ago, after getting feedback from her pro hero relatives on it too. But she could see her classmates having some trouble balancing the workload. Yukino didn't think it was malicious, of course, but just like everything about Taiyuu it was haphazard and a little mismanaged.

Yukino shook her head and slapped her cheeks. If she kept thinking like that she'd probably get herself worked up again... She took another deep breath, then looked at her design notes again, giving herself a bit of a reminder. She'd practiced what she wanted to do to show off her costume since she had the idea for it, but it was a little complex so she still wanted to refresh her memory. She quickly made a little ice statue, just as practice. Then she ground it down to diamond dust before anyone could get a sneak peek. After she was done with that she turned her attention back to the presentations. Okay, maybe she should've been paying more attention to her classmates, but in her defense she was kinda in the back of the "classroom" and almost everyone only had drawings or rough sketches of their costumes that they were describing for the class. Yukino's eyes were good, but not that good.

Ooh, Boron was going up next. They announced that their hero name was The Flaming Hero: Supernova, pretty nice. Their costume seemed to be some kinda light robe, with a mask and leg wrappings instead of shoes. Plenty of bare skin, to help vent heat. It sounded pretty cool, so Yukino couldn't wait to see them wearing it. Next up was Akai-chan, and wow she already had her outfit somehow. How did Yukino miss that? Akai-chan was wearing a red han'fu and a mask, with her hair done all fancy. Yukino certainly liked it. She took the stage and explained her costume choice. Apparently there was armor under that han'fu, which Yukino thought was... kinda neat, actually. "I have chosen Blood Lightning as my hero name," Akai-chan finished with, accentuating it by brandishing a hand covered in red lightning.

Hot.

Next up was Yuu-chan! Yukino was kinda excited to see her roommate's hero costume, to be honest. "I want to make my hero name... Tofu," he said when he got to the stage. "I've been using Yuu as a name more now, and I want my hero name to be something nice and friendly." Yukino nodded. That was probably a good reason for a hero name, and Tofu was nice and simple. It kinda reminded her of Deku, to be honest. He described his costume, which he said he hoped would make him look friendly and comforting. There was a light robe with a ginkgo leaf pattern, a little tail thingy, and a black turtleneck with black leggings underneath it. And finally, he had his usual box mask, except the hero costume one had a cute smile drawn on. Yukino smiled at the mental image of it.

After Yuu-chan sat back down, Yukino decided to get up. "Can I go next?" she asked.

"Of course!" Keikei-sensei declared.

Yukino nodded and walked over to the stage. She took a deep breath as she did, calming her emotions and collecting her thoughts. She grinned as she jumped onto the stage. The nice thing about constantly having to keep an iron grip on her emotions at all times was that somewhere along the line Yukino had become pretty decent at putting on a cheerful face. "Alrighty!" she turned to face the class with a grin. She raised her hand to the sky, white vapor rolling off of it. "For my hero name, I've decided on The Diamond Dust Hero: Kuraokami!" As she said that, she made tiny shards of ice from her raised hand, causing them to swirl around her hand in a vaguely dragon-shaped cloud that glittered in the Summer sun. "A dragon god of snow is pretty fitting for me, right?"

The dragon coiled down her arm, then she stretched her other arm out to the side as the dragon flew around it. Yukino grinned. "As for my costume..." She activated her Quirk again with her outstretched hand. She formed the sculpture she wanted in her mind, ice crystalizing from moisture in the air under her palm. The dragon made of diamond dust swirled around the sculpture as it formed, slowly melting into water droplets that fell as her telekinesis failed. She didn't even plan it, but the last of the diamond dust melted away as the ice sculpture, a double-scale statue herself in her hero costume making a cute pose, was finished forming. Her grin widened a little. The class oohed and ahhed from the display.

Keikei-sensei clapped. "That was amazing! You certainly know how to show off your Quirk. Though I should warn you, due to how not everyone can make giant ice statues of themselves, your grade is going to be based more on utility and how you sell your costume than what the visual presentation is."

Yukino nodded and gave a thumbs-up. "That's reasonable. Don't worry, I didn't expect to just win with that alone. So, the costume!" Yukino pointed to the statue's frilly dress. "If you can't tell, those ridges are supposed to look like dragon scales, for the dragon theme. I figure it should have a kinda arctic color scheme, whites and light blues and stuff." Yukino cleared her throat, feeling her cheeks heat up slightly. "I... took inspiration from magical girl anime for the general design of the dress. Figured that'd be pretty cool-looking, plus it fits with my Quirk name, Cryomancy, and how it can look like spellcasting. And again, gave it a bit of an arctic feel." She patted her giant, icy skirt. "Plus, those frills will also add insulation to help keep my body heat in. I pretty much can't overheat and my Quirk makes me colder, so no sense not keeping warm. On top of that, I'd like to have a heating element similar to what of a lot of other heroes with cold-based Quirk drawbacks have. And the material the costume is made of should be flame-retardant. I can basically absorb fire, yes, but it's best to err on the side of caution, y'know? Also there are modesty shorts in case I have to kick something and heated pockets hidden in the skirt so I can warm my hands up."

Yukino switched to pointing at the staff her statue was holding in one hand. "Onto the equipment. I'm trained in fighting with a staff and can channel my Quirk through it, so that's a no-brainer. I'd prefer to have it made of metal, maybe aluminum or something, because I can channel my Quirk through conductive materials a little easier, but I can see why a metal staff might not be something you'd be comfortable giving a hero student in the first year." She pointed to the bow slung across her statue's back. "Again, I can use a bow with my Quirk." She held out her hand with a toothy grin and formed a few ice arrows, which she floated around her arm. "I can make my heatseeker arrows pretty quickly, then shoot them faster than normal arrows. And as the name suggests, I can alter the flight path in midair with my telekinesis." She disintegrated the arrows into diamond dust. "Next, it's a little hard to see with the frills in the way, which is kinda the point, but there are wrist-mounted grappling hooks hidden in the sleeves. Made specially so I can conduct my Quirk through 'em. Can use them to trip someone, take their weapons, restrain them, or hopefully a mobility boost. Plus I think they look pretty cool."

Yukino snapped her fingers, causing the statue to turn around. She'd made the statue with a bit of a raised base that was separated to form a moving part so she could turn it with minimal effort. The statue turned all the way around, revealing two raised bits in the bottom of the boot that it was kicking back as part of the pose it was doing. "It might be a little hard to see without any color, but there are bits on the bottom of the boots. On the real deal these would be made of metal and extend to bits touching my feet. My Quirk is basically touch-ranged, so if I wanna use my Quirk through my boots it'll make my boots colder either way. Having small, conductive bits at the bottom should make it efficient enough that if the boots are also heated it won't freeze my toes. And I imagine being able to use my Quirk from my feet as well as my hands is gonna be useful."

And now for the big finisher. Yukino turned the statue back around and hopped onto the base. She took a deep breath, then slowly raised the statue a little. The other purpose of the base was that the raised bit that kept the two halves from misaligning when she turned it around also let her raise the statue up slightly without making the statue wobble, which would probably make Yukino slip up and fall. This was already stressful enough without that. But Yukino had already decided she'd raise the platform with her on it for the end of the presentation, so there was no turning back. She just barely managed to keep from shaking as she felt the platform she was standing on be supported only by her telekinesis. Now the worst part. Yukino jumped, kicking her leg back to copy the pose her statue was making. She lost her balance a little when she landed on one leg, but managed to rebalance with only a bit of wobbling. Yukino sighed in relief, then copied the cute pose and expression of her statue. "And that's The Diamond Dust Hero: Kuraokami!"

Yukino slowly put the statue down, then stepped off. She snapped her fingers, then started to disintegrate her statue. She lifted it upwards, making the powdered ice swirl around it as the statue was quickly chipped away. Soon it was a cloud of diamond dust swirling in the air above the stage, then Yukino made the cloud explode. The tiny bits of ice scattered through the air, most of it melting into raindrops before they could hit her classmates. Yukino grinned as Keikei-sensei and some of her classmates clapped. "Thank you, thank you." She strutted back to where she was sitting. That was fun, but the end was a little tiring... Still, she'd paced herself enough that she wasn't that tired. "Right," she said, "who's next?"

[cesium--133]

Taiyuu OCT Bonus round

I am not sorry

@taiyuu-oct

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Bonus Round 1

@taiyuu-oct

Yukino put the box she was carrying down on the floor by her bed. The frost-covered boxes that she was floating behind her set themselves down by the first box. "Right, now I just have to unpack," she said.

"Umm... Hello," a quiet voice said from behind her. Yukino turned around to see a nervous looking boy with a white box on his head. It kinda made him look like he had tofu for a head. You know what, that was what Yukino was gonna call this guy. "Are you my new roommate?"

Yukino nodded. "Seems like it. Nice to meet you, Tofu-chan. Name's Takeda Yukino, but you can just call me Yukino-chan."

Tofu-chan jumped a little. "How did you know my name?"

Yukino raised an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Lucky guess. Just a warning, my Quirk is cold-based so I like it when my room's really hot. That gonna be a problem for you?"

He shook his head. "That won't be a problem at all."

"Good, good. There any drawbacks to your Quirk I should know about before it comes up at two in the morning?"

"Oh, it can take a lot of energy and sometimes it takes some time for me to use it." He hummed. "If I don't sustain my creations or they don't take root, then they die pretty quickly."

Ooh, that sounded like a plant Quirk. Still... "I was thinking more like something I'd need to know as your roommate, but that's cool." Yukino looked at her boxes, which she still had to unpack, and then looked at the box Tofu-chan was carrying. "Tell you what, let's bring the rest of your stuff in here and then we can unpack together, huh?" She waved in the rough direction of her still-frosty boxes. "I'm a telekinetic, so I can be pretty handy."

Yukino couldn't tell what his facial expression was due to the box, but from his body language it looked like he was really glad she said that. "Really? That'd be great!"

She gave him a grin. "Let's go, then!"

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Tofu

[incorrect-taiyuu]

Tofu, in a red sweater:

Libby, in a red sweater:

Tofu: Same hat?

Libby: Same hat!

[chemicalmagecraft]

Taiyuu OCT Round 5

Character Nicknames: Nii-chan: Takeda Ryuji Gong'gong: Wang Ju'jiao (Yukino and Ryuji's grandfather) Mushu-chan: Firecracker Yuu-chan: Mochizuki Tofu Freezerburn: Todoroki Shoto (not really a nickname, but I made up a hero alias for him since I feel like he wouldn't still be using Shoto like 10 years later)

x x x

Yukino sighed when they arrived at the island, though she loosened up a bit when Nii-chan put a hand on her shoulder. She took a deep breath as Nii-chan and Gong'gong secured the boat they'd borrowed so they didn't have to take the train. When they were done, Gong'gong got off and offered Yukino a hand. There wasn't a dock (Taiyuu couldn't afford one, to the surprise of absolutely nobody except maybe Laccadaisy), so they'd had to find a spot to park the boat where they'd be able to put Yukino's stuff in it without too much trouble, though it was still a little cumbersome for Yukino to get off...

Nii-chan hopped off once Gong'gong helped Yukino off the boat. "You okay, Yuki-chan?" he asked.

Yukino nodded. "Yeah. Let's just get this over with." She squeezed Gong'gong's hand, which she had yet to let go of.

Gong'gong squeezed it lightly back. "They won't hurt you anymore," he growled.

Yukino nodded, then they headed for the main building. It looked even worse than when Yukino had left. They were probably not bothering with keeping up appearances anymore. Nii-chan and Gong'gong walked on either side of Yukino, flanking her like a pair of dragon-themed bodyguards. They were both in their hero outfits, too. Nii-chan was keeping his breathing calm, but Yukino could taste the heat of his Quirk in the air. Buckskin, the vice principal, met them outside the building.

"Ah, h-hello, you must be Nidhogg and Da'long," Buckskin said, shaking a bit from Gong'gong's glare at first. Between his Dragonborn Quirk making him look like a literal dragon and how it tended to agitate animals and people whose Quirks gave them animal instincts (especially when he was angry), Yukino would've been at least a little sorry for the guy if, y'know, she didn't think he deserved it. The guy had made it perfectly clear that he was the one responsible for keeping Laccadaisy's disaster of a school ‘running.’

"You're aware what we're here for, yes?" Nii-chan asked coldly, stepping forward.

Buckskin nodded and produced a folder. "All of Takeda-chan's Quirk information and paperwork is in this file. Ryujin might have made some notes about her Quirk as well, though."

"Then we'll have to talk to her later," Nii-chan said. "Now, is everything else taken care of?"

Buckskin nodded. "After today you shouldn't have to interact with Taiyuu at all if you don't want to. Though I'm sure any of the staff would be willing to write a letter of recommendation to whichever school you apply to."

"Too little, too late," Gong'gong scoffed. "You shouldn't've tried to make a school you couldn't run."

Buckskin cleared his throat. "It wasn't a problem when we originally started this school. We had to close due to issues that occurred later on in the year."

"I'll take your word for it," Gong'gong growled dismissively. "I think we'll head to the dorms now."

They turned back around, to where Yukino pointed the dorms out to be. Though Gong'gong glared back at Buckskin until he went back into the main building.

x x x

Although she knew that they'd have to talk to her eventually, Yukino really didn't want to see Ryujin at the moment... As such, she started to entertain, if only for a moment, the idea that Taiyuu was cursed when they ran into Ryujin in the entrance hall of the dorms. The woman winced and started to turn around when she saw them. Yukino wouldn't have stopped her, but...

"Are you Ryujin, then?" Gong'gong growled.

The woman jumped and turned back around. She looked really tired, just a little livelier than a zombie honestly. Mushu-chan was wrapped around her neck like a boa... constrictor, which he was currently about the size of. "Yeah," she said.

"You made my granddaughter cry," Gong'gong stated, walking towards her a bit. An edge of grandfatherly disapproval had crept into his voice.

Ryujin nodded. "It wasn't my intent, but I suppose I did..." She sounded a little resigned.

Gong'gong glared at her expectantly.

"Is there anything else you need of me?" the woman asked.

Gong'gong growled, a malevolent aura starting to build around him. "You defended the girl that made my granddaughter feel unsafe in this school, when it should've been your duty to make sure she never felt unsafe to begin with. Then you dismissed her feelings on the matter when she brought it up to you. I don't care what your 'intentions' were, you made my granddaughter cry. What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ryujin sighed. "I didn't understand her feelings," she said. "I didn't understand her feelings and hurt her because of that." She fiddled with Mushu-chan's tail. Mushu-chan looked like he was starting to get a bit agitated, probably from how nervous Ryujin was getting. "I regret that," Ryujin admitted. "I regret a lot of things about this place..."

Gong'gong looked like he was about to either sigh or roar Ryujin's head off. "Is there anything you'd like to say to my A'hua, then?"

"There is nothing left for me to say that would not simply be wasting her time," Ryujin said.

Gong'gong stepped forward, looming well over Ryujin due to his size. "I don't know if you're a complete asshole or just that fucking dense, but either way it does not improve my opinion of you or the blockhead who hired you." His voice had started to gain more of a deep, dragony growl than it normally did.

Yukino glanced at Nii-chan, who was looking at Gong'gong with a bit of concern. Normally Gong'gong was a lot better about keeping a handle on his temper, but Nii-chan and Yukino both knew from firsthand experience that he tended to be a bit more touchy about people hurting his family. Yukino wasn't too concerned about Ryujin getting hurt if she kept on like that, but, well... Gong'gong was doing decently well on the hero rankings but there were still a lot of people who, unfortunately, thought of him as monstrous and/or villainous due to his Quirk and the appearance it gave him and would gleefully jump on an incident like him mauling a fellow pro hero, regardless of the circumstances...

Ryujin flinched at the draconic grandfatherly rage looming over her. Still, she forged on digging herself deeper. "I'm not a big fan of Laccadaisy either, at this point," she said despite the fact that that was clearly more a dig at herself than at Laccadaisy. "Do you want me to waste your granddaughter's time with an apology that badly?"

"Waste. Her. Time?" Gong'gong snarled.

She sighed, looking resigned. "...It seems we have differing opinions on apologies. I am sorry that I hurt her, but what will an apology do about that? It's too late to change that now."

Gong'gong growled again, accidentally breathing hot smoke into Ryujin's face. It was probably an accident, anyway... "So you're an asshole, then. You can say apologies are useless all you want when people are trying to apologize to you, but when you're the one who hurt a young girl's feelings? You don't get to fucking decide that. I hope helping the girl was worth it, kid."

Ryujin looked away, though Yukino felt like it was more due to the hot smoke in her eyes than any actual guilt, which Yukino was starting to doubt she was capable of experiencing. "If you want an apology, I'll give one."

Gong'gong bared his fangs at her. "At this point I doubt it'd be all that sincere."

Ryujin started rubbing her eyes. "I've already said that I'm sorry that I hurt her. Did you think I would waste my time lying about that?"

Gong'gong's face contorted in rage, hot air and smoke pouring from his opening mouth. Before he could do anything stupid, though, Nii-chan stepped forward and put a hand on his shoulder. He somehow managed to look dignified even though he had to stand on his tiptoes to reach. Nii-chan cleared his throat as Gong'gong grumbled and backed off. "What my grandfather is trying to say is that he finds the attitude you've demonstrated regarding apologizing for your mistakes… rather disturbing, especially given how he believes you owe Yuki-chan an apology. I know it's not our place to judge you, but I can't help but agree with him. You can't change the past, yeah, but you can make up for your mistakes. And that starts with a sincere, heartfelt apology. Please try to remember that for the future, yeah?" He gave her a diplomatic smile.

Ryuji clenched her fists. Mushu-chan started to yell something, but she quickly calmed him down. "No, it's absolutely your place to judge me," she said. "I've hurt someone important to you, and I owe her much more than just an apology. If what you wanted was reparations, I had already planned to offer that to her." She still didn't apologize, instead taking a note from out of her pocket. It looked like it had a little bit of... something slimy on it. Ew. She offered it to Yukino.

Yukino frowned and crinkled her nose as she carefully took the note. At least make sure it's clean, lady! It was addressed to her, with 'Should you wish to hear from me' written on it. Like Yukino would ever want to see this self-centered woman ever again. "Maybe later..." she grumbled, starting to get more annoyed with this lady.

Ryujin then opened her briefcase and started looking around for something. "Since I'm speaking to you, I have another thing for you..."

"Uh, about that," Mushu-chan said when Ryujin started to get annoyed searching for whatever it was she was searching for. "In my defense I didn't think it was important."

Ryujin glared at the red dragon. "Are you serious." she asked flatly.

"It looked tasty!" Mushu-chan pouted in his 'defense.'

"Everything looks tasty to you, Firecracker," Ryujin told Mushu-chan. "We've been over this."

Yukino growled. Did he eat something of hers? No wonder this woman covered for Zuruko so much, does she really even bother to control her 'Quirk effects?' Like sure they're living things, but they can clearly be reasoned with enough that they should be able to understand such complex orders like 'don't eat other people's stuff.'

Ryujin sighed, rubbing her brow. "I'll have to rewrite the letter, then... Do you have an email I can send it to?"

Nii-chan quickly pulled out a business card (seriously what kind of pro hero has a pouch for business cards) and scorched out his phone number with a swipe of his finger. He held it out to her. "My business mail," he said. "I can give it to Yuki-chan... if I think she should see it."

Ryujin blinked. "It's... a letter of recommendation." She took the burnt business card. "Unless someone decides my mouse looks tasty again, I should have it to you within the week."

"Oh, those are good..." Mushu-chan muttered.

"No, Firecracker," Ryujin said.

Nii-chan cleared his throat. "Well, thank you, then."

Yukino hesitated, but managed to mutter out a small "Thanks."

"I hope the future is better to you than I was," Ryujin told her.

Yukino looked away. "Mhm," she muttered, pushing down the urge to make a snide comment. Then she heard a noise that would've really startled her if she didn't know that it was what a dragon clearing their throat sounded like.

"Oh, sorry, and one more thing that I think we want to address..." Nii-chan said at Gong'gong's prompting.

"Yes?" Ryujin asked.

"I understand Yuki-chan might not have had all the facts about the 'quirk effect' thing, but… Whatever you meant by that language, if it was an inside joke or something… it made Yuki-chan uncomfortable, and I'm sure she wasn't the only one," Nii-chan said. "In the future, it might be wise to not say things like that in front of people who might take it the wrong way, especially if you continue teaching."

Gong'gong, the man who was often called a monster or a dumb animal for almost a century due to how his Quirk made him look, nodded sternly.

Ryujin winced. "Ah. That. I was trying for neutral language... It doesn't matter, I won't be teaching again." She stroked Mushu-chan again. "It's Laccadaisy's fault we're here at all! Stupid debt thing..."

Yukino scoffed. Yet again, she was trying to bring Laccadaisy into this...

"Trust me when I say that being called a 'thing' can hurt, kid," Gong'gong growled. "And we aren't arguing with you there, but this is about you, not Laccadaisy."

She frowned, keeping silent. "It can," she agreed softly. "I'll... avoid saying that in the future."

"Thank you for your understanding," Nii-chan said, giving her a small smile that Yukino didn't think she deserved. "I think we should go pack up now. By the way, Yuki-chan wants the notes you made of her Quirk. The original copies."

Ryujin nodded. "I suppose that's fair. They're on my computer, but I can send the notes to you and then delete them."

"Thank you." Nii-chan gave her a polite, but slightly forced, smile. "We'll be leaving now."

"Goodbye," Ryujin said, quickly walking away from the three.

Yukino started guiding her brother and grandfather to her dorm room. "Wait, I just noticed," Yukino said when they were almost there, definitely out of Ryujin's earshot. "Did she ever actually apologize? Or just say that she should, then change the subject?"

Gong'gong grumbled. "Not to my memory."

Nii-chan gave a sigh. "Okay maybe she was just tired, but that woman is a PR nightmare waiting to happen with an attitude like that..."

"Isn't this whole thing a PR nightmare for the heroes involved?" Yukino asked.

Nii-chan shrugged. "Definitely for Laccadaisy, but the non-administrative staff can probably get off a little easier if they can say they didn't know about any of the debt stuff. Though by your account there were other issues that they brushed aside, so they might get called out on that. If they keep their heads down, though, they might just make it out without too much trouble."

Yukino nodded, but bit her lip. "Is... Is it bad that I kinda want them to get in trouble?"

Gong'gong shrugged. "You got hurt by this mess. They say heroes have to be selfless and want to save everyone, but I think there's nothing wrong with wanting to see someone who hurt you or yours fucked over, as long as you're still willing to save them from a villain or something." 

"Yeah, a little schadenfreude doesn't make you a bad person or a bad hero," Nii-chan reassured her, ruffling her hair.

They finally reached her dorm room. "We're here," Yukino said. The door was open, and she could see Yuu-chan with two men in suits. Bodyguards, maybe? One had cat ears and the other had dog ears, and Yukino saw some flashes of scars and tattoos mostly hidden by their suits. Yukino knocked on the doorframe and waved at Yuu-chan as she entered. It looked like he was packing up, too. "Hey, Yuu-chan," she said.

Yuu-chan looked up at her. "Oh, hello, Takeda-chan," he said, looking a little nervous. She couldn't see his face under his mask, but Yukino got the feeling he was trying to smile and put on a brave face. She couldn't blame him if he was nervous, though...

Nii-chan tried to get closer to Yuu-chan, but the bodyguards silently stepped forward in a clear sign of "we're gonna have problems if you get any closer." In response, Nii-chan put his hands up and stopped moving. "You okay, kid?" he asked, ever the hero.

Yuu-chan quietly nodded. "I am, thank you. And I'm sorry about them, they're just here to protect me. Please back down, you two."

The bodyguards nodded and backed off. They still looked a little wary, though. They especially seemed to raise their guards when Gong'gong entered the room, though Yukino couldn't blame them for that. Yukino could still feel a bit of anger coming from Gong'gong, so if those two had some animal instincts like their ears might suggest then they were probably feeling it as well. Gong'gong sighed, but attempted to make himself seem less threatening to the guards.

"It's cool," Nii-chan told Yuu-chan. "We're kinda here for the same reason, just for Yuki-chan. We're gonna pack her stuff up real quick, though would you prefer if we waited until you were done?"

Yuu-chan shook his head. "No, that's fine."

"Thanks, kid," Nii-chan smiled at him.

They got to work packing up Yukino's stuff as Yuu-chan and his guards finished up packing his. Yukino offered to keep in touch with him as they left, but he seemed ambivalent at best... Yukino and her family got all her stuff packed up and left soon after. They'd made sure to bring enough boxes and a big enough boat that they could get everything in one trip to the island. They didn't really run into anyone on the way back to the boat, which Yukino was fine with. There were a few people she might've liked to see again, but she also wanted to leave the island and never return.

x x x

Yukino held the note from Ryujin, still considering if she should open it or just give it to Mom, who would gladly incinerate it for her. As promised, Ryujin had sent Nii-chan an email with a letter of recommendation and her notes on Yukino after a few days. She'd also asked how Yukino was doing while she was at it. Nii-chan had assured Yukino that he'd only tell her what Yukino wanted him to tell her, even if that was cussing her out or something. The offer was tempting...

Ryujin's letter of recommendation seemed pretty good, though she lost points for the Quirk notes. Really she could've just asked Yukino; the notes she'd put in from observation and speculation both were stuff Yukino had already figured out. Sure, Yukino had a lot more time to figure it out than her, but why was this the first time Yukino was seeing these notes? Though then again this was the same woman who apparently took several months to figure out one of her students' Quirks could be turned off, so what was Yukino expecting?

So really Yukino didn't know if there was anything of actual worth in this letter. Plus, she'd had to wash her hoodie twice to get that gross slime out of the pocket. She hoped it was just dragon spit... After some deliberation she carefully opened the letter (it still smelled, ew) so she could read its contents.

-Takeda

I know this may seem insincere, but I do hope you offer me an opportunity to repay you for the hurt I've caused you. If you ever need anything I can offer I will do it for you, no questions asked. I always pay my debts.

And then it listed her contact information.

Yukino growled and crumpled it up, accidentally frosting it a little. "Gun," she grumbled. "You'd do anything I want, but can't even manage a simple apology?" She stood up, walking to the door. Then she sighed and turned around, walking back to her desk. As tempting as it was to give it to Mom and watch her set it on fire with her Quirk, Yukino hid it away in one of the drawers of her desk instead. Maybe she'd write the contact information down later, but for now she didn't want to look at the note anymore. As much as she doubted it'd actually be worth much, it was probably wise to at least have the option to cash that favor in...

x x x

They were mostly silent during the drive to UA. Yukino was a little nervous, and Nii-chan probably didn't want to add to it. Yukino took a deep breath when Nii-chan stopped his car in the visitor parking lot, then opened the door and got out. Nii-chan got out and put a hand on Yukino's shoulder. "Hey, you okay?" he asked.

Yukino nodded. "Just a little nervous. And... feeling a little stupid..."

He sighed. "It's... not your fault that it turned out like that."

Yukino nodded. "Yeah, I know..."

He smiled and held a hand out to her. "Want some fire before you go?" he asked, making a small flame.

"Thanks," Yukino said, then started sucking up the flame. "Let's go," she said when she had her fill. They walked to the front entrance together, where two people were waiting for them. She gasped. Sure, she'd been expecting pro heroes, since like a lot of hero schools UA tended to have pros as teachers, and she knew they were teachers, but she couldn't believe that two of her favorite heroes were going to be supervising her exam! She felt an involuntary shudder of excitement as she looked at the heroes. She was going to meet Freezerburn and Froppy!

And then Yukino looked down with a blush, suddenly very conscious that the hoodie she was currently wearing was themed after Froppy's hero outfit.

The frog hero herself chuckled. "I can see I have a fan, huh?" It looked like she was wearing her winter outfit, despite the weather not starting to get cold yet.

Yukino's face heated up a bit more. "Ah, sorry, I... swear I didn't plan that!" she shouted, waving her arms.

Nii-chan joined in on the chuckling, then put a hand on Yukino's shoulder. He leaned in close to her. "This is as far as I can go, sorry. I believe in you, though. Knock 'em cold."

Yukino smiled, warmed by his words of encouragement... and the last-minute superheated breath he spoke them with. "Thanks, Nii-chan. I'll do my best," she said as he walked back to his car. Yukino turned back to the people who would, hopefully, be her teachers in a few weeks. "Right, so what now?"

"First, you will have to take a written exam." Freezerburn said, his tone as cool as Yukino ever heard the few times she actually heard his voice in interviews and the like.

Yukino nodded. "Sounds about right. And I'm guessing you're doing it first instead of after the practical exam so I'm not tired?"

"That's right," Froppy confirmed. "Plus there are some people with Quirk drawbacks that can involve mental strain or lowered concentration after overuse. No sense putting them at an unfair disadvantage."

"You will need to learn to mitigate or deal with the drawbacks of your Quirk, of course," Freezerburn added, "but we aren't going to test you on it. Now, follow us to the exam hall."

Yukino grinned and followed the two heroes into the building. It looked like, since it was the weekend, there weren't many people walking about the halls aside from them. "For the record," Yukino said as they walked, "I'm kind of a fan of the both of you."

"I don't hold it against anyone if they're not my fans," Freezerburn assured her bluntly. Then the corner of his mouth crept up in a small smile. "Though I do appreciate it."

x x x

The written test was easy since Yukino knew most of the material already. She still did have trouble with some parts, but she'd studied beforehand and it paid off. After she finished, her proctors took her to one of UA's training grounds, the false city. Yukino marveled at the training ground, which felt like it could be an actual city, if an empty one. If Yukino were randomly teleported there she would've wondered why there was nobody in the city, not what she was doing in a weird dirt city. Sure, it didn't look like the buildings had much furniture in them, but she could still see them as actual buildings. Not to mention the roads and sidewalks had signs and things like that that made it look more realistic!

"Something wrong, Takeda-chan?" Froppy asked. She was holding a clipboard that she'd gotten while Yukino was taking the test, probably to take notes on her performance.

"Oh, nothing," Yukino said, smiling a bit. "I was just looking around, this place looks amazing. So the practical exam is gonna be here?"

Freezerburn nodded. "The scenario is that some villains have taken a civilian hostage, and you were called to find and rescue them," he explained. "Somewhere nearby, you will find a group of humanoid robots playing the role of villains. You must rescue and protect the dummy acting as their hostage and return it here, to this rescue zone." He pointed to a square marked off by four green flags. "I will be guarding the rescue zone, while Froppy will be shadowing you from afar to supervise you. Once you get back here with the hostage we will begin the second phase of the practical exam. Do you have any questions?"

Yukino raised her hand. "Should I pretend the robots are real people? I can disable tech with my Quirk pretty easily, but doing the same thing to a person would probably be murder."

Froppy wrote something down, hopefully a good sign.

"It's good that you asked that," Freezerburn said. "You will need to know how to take down real villains without permanently harming them, of course, but for now you only need to make sure the hostage doesn't get damaged. Take the villains down by any means necessary, as long as the hostage remains safe. If you're ready, then start."

Yukino nodded, then crouched and put her tail on the ground. She formed a platform of ice just off the ground, making it with footholds and a sort of staff for her to grip. She hopped on the platform and gripped the staff, taking a deep breath before lifting. Flat-out flight still terrified her, but with her grandfather's help and some padded ground to practice over she'd managed to get herself to the point where she could float a little over the ground without panicking.

Still, it took her a few seconds of concentration to raise the platform, then a deep breath to calm her nerves. She pushed her platform forwards, slow at first but picking up a bit of speed. The ice platform was making her hands and feet cold, so she tried to hurry up and find the robots before she got too cold. She scanned the streets, floating by faster than she could walk but not nearly as fast as her top TK speed. Not only was she not comfortable with that speed just yet, but she doubted she'd be able to spot any robots or even steer if she was going that fast.

After searching a few streets, she spotted a flash of something metallic inside of the the buildings. She slowed to a stop, then crouched down. Yukino floated up a bit, seeing a robot in one of the windows, then floated back down so they hopefully couldn't see her. She quietly snapped the staff off of her platform and floated up to the window, then got off the platform and peeked through it. 

It looked like the robots hadn't spotted her yet, fortunately. There was a robot standing by the window, but it looked like it was facing the other direction. Unless the robots didn't have faces, but it hadn't reacted to her presence so probably not. Including the robot by the window, Yukino could see four from where she was. She could also see a dummy on the floor with the kanji for 'hostage' on its otherwise-featureless face. She could guess what that was supposed to be.

Yukino smashed her staff through the glass window, bonking the robot in the back of the head with a flash of white vapor. Frost coated the upper half of the robot, then Yukino threw it at another robot. She shattered her platform into giant shards and threw about half of them at the other two robots, sending the other half to where the dummy was so they could act like a bit of a protective shield. She dropped her staff, jumped up, and moved to the door as fast as she could. A robot opened the door as she reached it, so she quickly struck it in the chest with a Quirk-enhanced palm strike. She only left a handprint of frost on the robot's exterior, but sent a spike of pure cold to where she thought the robot's 'heart' was according to what she felt of the other robot.

The robot immediately slumped over, its power cut. Yukino pushed it aside and looked into the room. The robot she'd thrown the first robot at was almost out from under its frozen comrade, and while she'd gotten one robot with the ice shards the other one had managed to dodge. Yukino quickly tightened the barrier of ice around the dummy now that she could see where it was and didn't have to worry about accidentally cutting it. When that was done she turned the shards that the one robot had dodged back, impaling it, and pressed down on the frozen robot, keeping the other robot pinned under it. She quickly walked over to the final functioning robot and flicked it. Like with the robot at the door, she screwed up its systems with pinpoint freezing.

Yukino got back up, shaking off her hands and walking over to the dummy. She raised the shards of ice that she'd put over it, getting ready to pick it up. And then she heard heavy footsteps coming from the next floor up. 

“Never should’ve come here!” a robotic voice yelled, muffled from being one floor up but still audible.

Yukino let out a small curse and summoned all the ice shards to where she was, picking up the dummy and quickly freezing all the ice shards together. It was a patch job, but there hopefully weren't any sharp edges. She placed the dummy on the platform as carefully as she could without being too slow, then quickly floated the dummy through the door. She followed after, closing the door when she went through it and icing it so it wouldn't budge. She summoned her staff to her hand and tapped the broken window with it, making bars of ice over it.

Yukino soon heard metal bodies slamming on the door. She wasn't sure her barricades would hold too long, so she started running. She didn't know if there were any more robots posted nearby, so she kept her eyes on her surroundings as she ran back to the rescue zone.

She didn't encounter any more robots on the way back, thankfully. Along the way, since Yukino wasn't attacked, she let go of her staff and simply let it float by her side. She also checked on how the dummy was doing, since she was so rushed when she remade the platform. She had to adjust it a bit so it wouldn't fall off, but other than that it looked good.

Yukino smiled as she got to the final stretch, seeing only Freezerburn between herself and her objective. She noticed, though, that it looked like he was wearing weird metal bands on his wrists and ankles. Her smile slowly faded to a frown. He wasn't wearing those things earlier, was he?

The metal-laden bands he was wearing, plus the look he was giving Yukino, made her raise her guard as she got closer. She was able to react quickly, then, when he surged forward on a sudden wave of ice. The ground on either side of his ice wave was freezing over in a thin layer, too. Yukino slammed her staff into the ground, erecting a thick wall of her own ice before he could freeze her over. Freezerburn jumped over her wall as his ice crashed into it, fixing her with a glare. "We will begin the second phase of the exam now," he told her.

Yukino grinned. The idea of having to fight the pro hero was intimidating, but at the same time Yukino couldn't help but feel excited to face off with one of her favorite heroes. "A boss fight, huh?" she guessed.

The man nodded. "More or less." He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled out a roll of tape. "Your goal is to wrap that around my arms. We will stop if Froppy or I decide you are unable to fight. Is that understood?" He threw the tape at Yukino.

Yukino nodded as she grabbed the tape and stuffed it in her hoodie's pocket, then put her hands on her staff and froze a small dome over the platform the dummy was on. She pointed the staff at Freezerburn as she sent the encased dummy off to the rescue zone. Luckily it looked like the rescue zone was still just barely in her range from this distance.

He gave her a small grin. "Getting the hostage out of the way first," he noted. "Good choice." Then he waved his left hand at her staff, throwing a wave of fire at it. Yukino grinned and cut through the fire with her Quirk, though she let some heat behind to warm up her now-cold hands.

She heard a familiar hiss of flash-cooling vapor and jumped to the side of a smaller wave of ice that the half-cold hero had sent her way. He'd also frosted over the rest of the nearby ground while he was at it; the road under Yukino's feet was now covered by a thin layer of white.

It looked like Freezerburn knew at least some of the details of Yukino's Quirk. There was no way he thought she had true cryokinesis with all the ice he was throwing her way. Though Yukino wondered if he knew everything. "Y'know," Yukino said, then waved her hands through the air, which was still above her temperature threshold. White vapor condensed, then gathered into shards of ice. Yukino saw a flash of recognition in the hero's eyes. "I used to wonder why you would never make ice from the air." She threw her ice shards at him.

Freezerburn melted the ice with a quick wave of fire. It wasn't directed at Yukino, but she absorbed the wave of heat left over. Then Yukino shattered the remains of her ice wall and threw the shrapnel at him. He reacted quickly, turning to spray the ice with a jet of fire. Yukino hadn't really expected it to actually hit, but she used the distraction to close the distance between them and jab her staff at the band on his right wrist.

He grabbed the staff, but wasn't quick enough to stop the tip of Yukino's staff from touching the metal on his band. Yukino channeled her freezing through her staff as soon as the ice and metal touched. She could feel Freezerburn trying to cut her off with his Quirk, though, a weird feeling like water slipping from her Quirk's grasp. She lowered her absorption as he lowered the temperature himself, then when she felt the threshold approaching she pushed. It wasn't as good as if she was unopposed, but Yukino was able to gain control of most of the metal and the ice that formed around his wrist from the contest, with just a few swirls left out of her influence. It was always a weird feeling, but thanks to her mother Yukino was familiar with those little contests of cold.

As she thought, the metal was dense. Yukino snapped her staff in half and jabbed the half not frozen to his wrist restraint at the band on his right leg. She easily threw his arm back with her telekinesis to throw him off, distracting him enough that she was able to hit his ankle band. Yukino grinned widely as she put it under her control, then forced him to raise his leg by lifting the band up. He tried to point his right hand at her, but found telekinetic resistance that he simply couldn't fight with due to his poor footing.

"Those weights are meant to make you slower, right?" Yukino asked. "Throwing you off so you're a little easier from hero students to fight, on top of the sandbagging." Yukino's grin widened as she deliberately tried to evoke her draconic ancestry. "You might've guessed by now, but the amount of energy I can put into an object is dependent on mass, not size. You're fighting against their weight as well as my Quirk."

"But your control will fail if I heat it back up, will it not?" he asked, then pointed his left hand at his right. Yukino reached out as he shot a jet of fire at his wrist, cutting the blow off with her own hand. Freezerburn's eyes widened as his fire just stopped in Yukino's palm, the heat absorbed by her Quirk.

Yukino sighed. "C'mon, didn't you notice me cooling off your fire earlier?" She clasped her hands around Freezerburn's left hand before he could turn off his fire, the white vapor that accompanied her Quirk seeming to snuff out his flames. He didn't lower his output, instead increasing it to keep Yukino from freezing his hand. Yukino greedily sucked at the energy he was giving off. It tasted of some really good cold soba.

She laughed, shaking Freezerburn's hand a little. She pulled the right side of his body away from her a little more, before he could try to hit her. "Y'know, I've kinda always wanted to shake your hand," she told him. "This isn't at all how I imagined it going, of course, but honestly this is better. I was worried you’d overwhelm me with your ice, but it looks like I managed to hit your weak point before you could steamroll mine."

Freezerburn struggled against the floating restraints, unable to do much since Yukino was holding onto one arm and pulling the other arm (and leg) away from her, then tried to set a fire with his foot. Yukino stomped it out before he could do anything more than melt the frost by his feet, able to use her Quirk through her shoe without discomfort since it was so hot. "You've managed to restrain me," he said. "Impressive, but you haven't won yet."

"Yeah, I know," Yukino said. She flashed her Quirk through a strand of her hair, granting her the ability to move it since she needed both hands to keep Freezerburn from breaking out of their deadlock. She used the hair to reach into her pocket, though it took some mental effort and was a little slow since she was concentrating on keeping Freezerburn’s right (and, to Yukino, more dangerous) side from reaching the ground where he could use it to do anything aside from prolong her control over him. Yukino cooled her capture tape as soon as she felt her hair touch it, then pulled it out of her pocket with her telekinesis.

Freezerburn struggled some more as he saw the capture tape floating towards his wrist. He almost broke free, but Yukino dug her claws into his skin with a small 'sorry' to keep her grip. She tried not to break his skin, but he still winced from the sharp claws digging into his flesh. Yukino felt him raising the heat of his Quirk as she unraveled a length of tape and prepared to loop it around his wrist. Yukino tried to raise up her cooling to match, though she could feel him slowly overtaking her. Her claws turned an icy white as she pushed her Quirk to its limits despite not making any ice. She tried to pick up the pace of unrolling the capture tape, pulling Freezerburn's straining arms a little closer together as well so she didn't have to roll out as much.

Finally she managed to get it long enough to make loose loops around both of Freezerburn's wrists, then relaxed the resistance around Freezerburn's bands so she could put more attention into getting the capture tape properly around his wrists. She didn't let go of his left arm, he'd probably incinerate the tape immediately if she did, but he stumbled as he suddenly found himself able to properly move the right side of his body. Yukino pulled as fast as she could, closing the loops around his wrists before he could stop her.

He sighed and relaxed as the capture tape touched his wrists. He still kept up the fire, though, which was probably a good idea because Yukino might've accidentally frozen him with how much heat she was sucking up. "We're done. We should probably try to safely turn our Quirks off now."

Yukino shrugged. "I can jump off at the count of three? There's ice everywhere so it probably won't damage the road too much more than it probably is already if you accidentally splash some fire out."

He nodded. "That sounds like a good idea. If you're ready?"

"One..." Yukino said. "Two..." She jumped away from Freezerburn, getting mostly out of the range of the heat wave that spilled out when she released him and her Quirk stopped suppressing his.

Freezerburn quickly cut off the fire, leaving the ground near him unscorched but steaming and defrosted. He shook out his left hand, wincing at the marks Yukino's claws had left.

"Sorry about that..." Yukino said.

"It's okay," the man assured her coolly. "We were in a fight, after all." He rubbed his right wrist next, melting the ice and warming the weighted band back up. He warmed up the leg band next. "I can't promise you anything at the moment, but you performed very well." He held his hand out to her. "I would be delighted to have you as a student, Takeda-san."

Yukino stared at the hand he was offering her. She laughed a little, wiping away a happy tear. "Thanks. You have no idea how much that means to me." She grabbed his hand, giving it a firm shake. A real one this time, from one of her favorite heroes (that she was not directly related to).

"Now, could you please get on my right side?" he asked. "I'd like to warm the area up a bit before Froppy comes back."

"Oh, sure," Yukino said, walking over to his right side. She walked to his side. As he warmed the area up with his fire, Yukino looked around to see Froppy watching them on top of a nearby building. It looked a bit like she was glaring at Freezerburn. Yukino smiled and waved at her. She hoped, no, knew that she was going to get into UA. She was going to like it here.

[taiyuu-oct]

Name: Mochizuki Tofu (LN/FN)

Pronouns: He/They

Background: Tofu was born to a simple little family in Japan. His parents and older brother loved him very much but the expectation to achieve something great and to serve the family always pressed down on him. For a while he escaped it by shutting himself away in his room. But a few realizations later he emerged somewhat determined to at least make people proud of something he did.

Quirk: Headsprouts!

By touching others, he can cause a sprout to grow out of them (usually their head)! Each sprout has a different purpose. For example, green ones can do minor heals to small injuries and red ones can cause a burning feeling and even start a small flame to hair.

Stats: (Out of 5) Cooperation: 3/5 Power: 1/5 Intelligence 2/5 Speed: 3/5 Technique: 4/5

Personality:  Tofu can be quite energetic at times but that energy runs out easily. He is quite smart yet antisocial and mumbles his words when things really get to him. However, once he starts a friendship, he’s quite a reliable and loyal friend.