The Emperor's Dragon

Conniving

Shoji lay quietly as he listened to the others talk. It seemed most of 1A was here but there were a few voices he recognised as belonging to students from 1B. They were arguing. Kirishima would probably state they were discussing things but he'd say they were arguing. Apparently one of the 1B students, Momo had made some sort of tracker and had it put on one of the villains. She could tell them exactly where the villains were.

She was arguing that the Heroes should be left to plan their mission and that students, specifically them, should not interfere. Momo Yaoyorozu had a bit of an odd relationship with Class 1A. She was definitely a part of Class 1B but she had some friends in Class 1A. Todoroki being the main one but she'd known Iida too. It was because of their parents' work but it was a bit odd. Most of 1B was, if not hostile, then at least cool towards 1A. He didn't understand why but now was not the time to think of that.

He closed his eyes as he listened.

"I just feel like I should have done more." That was Kirishima. He'd been with Bakugou and Todoroki when they were taken so his feelings were understandable.

"We all feel that," Tokoyami replied.

"How do you think I feel?" Shoji wasn't sure who that was, except he knew it was one of the women from 1B. Because 1B had been spread out in the forest when the villains struck, a lot of them had been knocked out by the gas. That meant that most of them had not been involved in the battle so again, he understood the feelings being expressed. They hadn't had a chance to even try! And had honestly been lucky that no one had been more badly injured. It just said that the villains had a different agenda. None of their teachers had said anything but Shoji wasn't blind or deaf. And... he remembered. Villains had seemed to come out of nowhere. There were more villains in the forest than they knew about.

There was silence for a few moments.

"It wasn't your fault," someone murmured to the 1B girl.

"And it wasn't your fault," the girl replied.

"I still should have done more," Kirishima responded. "And Yaoyorozu, we can do more."

"We aren't meant to," she said, somewhat crossly.

"I know we aren't meant to." That was Iida. "But, Momo, we want to," he added earnestly. He was almost always earnest.

Shoji didn't move but he felt the same. He'd been just there and yet the villains had still gotten away. He understood Kirishima's feelings.

"How?" Yaoyorozu demanded. "Unless I give you the tracker then you won't be getting anywhere," she pointed out. While the sentence could be taken as vindictive it was a simple statement of fact.

"So come with us," Kaminari immediately replied. "I didn't get a chance to do anything," he added. He'd been in remedial classes with Aizawa and so had been relatively safe... except when the villains attacked the building.

Kaminari often said things without thinking it through but in this case it was a good idea. "You can make sure we don't go too far, and you can plan things so that we don't stuff up!" Kaminari continued as realised that it would be good to have Momo accompany them on any attempt to rescue Todoroki and Bakugou.

"Yes! You definitely should!" Kirishima agreed.

"I get that you want to rescue them but-" it was the girl from 1B again.

Shoji cracked one eye on his arm open to watch. He recognised her voice now. She'd fought Bakugou in the Sport's Festival which explained how uncertain she sounded.

Kaminari looked confused, and Iida wasn't sure but thankfully both Momo and Kirishima seemed to understand what she was asking. Momo didn't have the answers.