After talking to Todoroki, Momo felt more mentally prepared to tackle the whole class issue, but she couldn't come up with a better solution than his suggestion to leave it alone. All she came back to was she should make peace herself with them. No one seemed like they were mad at her, but they were tense. Jiro especially (Momo did not realize that was because she might be the most worried).

Shine herself was avoiding Momo, perhaps out of uncertainty. After all the talk about trust, it seemed it was as far away as ever. But maybe trust was going out on a limb sometimes.

She resolutely knocked on Jiro's door. 

Jiro opened it. "Oh... hi..." She frowned uncertainly. 

Momo talked fast when she was nervous. "I just wanted to say I know I've been acting strange lately and I didn't want to give the impression I was neglecting my friends or that I didn't want to spend time with them but-"

"Slow down," Jiro held up one hand.

Momo drew a deep breath. "I understand I've spent a lot of time around new people and not my classmates lately, and I'm sorry if I was neglecting my friends and responsibilities." 

Pause.

Jiro tilted her head.

"Please," she said. "Fine, you're sorry, I'm sorry I was such a jerk. Both of us are  pathetic, can we call it even?"

Momo smiled in relief. "Of course... though, I think, you had a reason to be upset."

"I can't tell you who to hang out with," Jiro shrugged. "I thought about it, and I figured you had to have a good reason. You think things through."

"I do," Momo looked down, collecting her thoughts. "And I hope it's all right if I continue to study these new people. I don't want to waste any opportunity to learn from someone, and I'm still convinced there's a lot more to them than meets the eye." 

Jiro shrugged. "Just don't let them change you, okay?" 

"They aren't trying to.." Momo paused. Were they?

"You sure about that?" Jiro zeroed in on her doubt.

"I'm not certain giving advice is anything more than what our teachers do everyday. Shouldn't we considered all points of view?" She replied carefully 

"Well we signed up for our teachers's 'advice';" Jiro huffed. "Not some-- person's we don't know. That's different. But fine, let's figure them out, but as a team this time. Deal?" 

"All right, deal," Momo agreed. That seemed like a good plan.

"My life before you, I was a flame burning down, I was burning out. Butt you knew me better, for you there was never a doubt. Not since you gave me your life, something was different, I knew it the instant, you put the light in me!" 

https://youtu.be/PWeb79W8EqQ

"Singing?" Jiro said, outside Shine's door. 

Momo tugged her hair. "Yes, one of her hobbies I guess."

"Okay, it's kind of weird you know that."

"I've taken time to learn," Momo shrugged.

 She decided not to mention how often she saw Shine singing while polishing her sword. Jiro probably wouldn't like that picture.

Jiro listened another minute, music always interested her. "She's... Christian, right?"

"You've seen the Bible she has, and she's referred to it," Momo shrugged.

"Yeah, but like, super casually, I almost didn't notice," Jiro shrugged back. "I guess that's a clue. Christians are weird. We have some next door. They have crosses everywhere, and corny quotes on the wall."

"I haven't seen anything like that," Momo said. "Perhaps there's different customs. I read about it somewhere."

"Well, standing here's getting weird. Let's do this," Jiro knocked.

The room went quiet abruptly and Shine opened her door.

"Oh, hello ladies," somehow her use of that word make her sound much older than them... she only looked about 5 years older. "Do you want to come in instead of lingering around out here?"

"Uh, we're sorry to--" began Momo.

"Sure," Jiro interrupted her. Shine let them in.

Momo hadn't seen her room since she first moved in, and somehow, Shine had been able to decorate it. Some hand-drawn art was on the walls, there were two shelves of books, all in English, and a Japanese-English dictionary on her desk (the school provided complimentary desks if the students didn't bring their own.) 

Also on display were a few plaques with phrases or quotes on them that Jiro looked at and then shot Momo a knowing glance. Momo recognized most of the quotes as common inspirational ones, but one wasn't familiar:

"You shine like stars in the universe as you hold out the word of life." (Philippians 2:15-16)

Jiro noticed too. "Who's Philippians?" She asked Shine.

Shine glanced at the plaque.  "The Philippians were the people who lived in a region or city called Philippi, site of the early Christian Church, part of the Roman Empire around 40-60 AD as I understand it."

Jiro looked confused. "And they all said that?"

"No doubt, " Shine said, "but it was said first by St. Paul." She smiled. "How can I help you?"

"Are you Catholic?" Jiro asked her bluntly, Momo wanted to cringe.

"No," Shine said. "I'm not." She looked a little puzzled, with good reason.

"So, what is your deal with Christianity then?" Jiro asked. Suspicious. Momo wished she wouldn't make it sound like a cult.

"My deal with it?" Shine repeated strangely. "I don't understand what you mean." 

"I mean, why do you have a Bible?" Jiro said, it was lying on the bed. 

"Uh, I read it, usually once a day" Shine said. "Why else would I have one?" 

Jiro narrowed her eyes. "Are you dodging my questions on purpose?"

"All you asked me was why I had a Bible," Shine said, "and I think I answered. Though, you really could have guessed as much yourself."

Jiro was getting annoyed now. "You know what I mean, are you religious?" 

Momo gave Shine an apologetic look behind Jiro's back. She knew Shine didn't want this to get out so soon. At least, she thought that was what she'd meant before...though, that was a little odd. Why would she care? Was there something to hide about it?

"Depends on what you mean by it," Shine said. "I have a faith, if that's what you want to know. At home I attend church. I don't do rituals and sacrifices and mediation, if that's what you mean. Not that there's anything wrong with meditation, but I can never focus on it, I think I'm too restless... is that part of you training? I didn't notice any statues or anything around the school."

"Uh, no, people don't really go much for that these days," Jiro said.

 This was not true in every part of the world, but it was in the hero heavy areas. In fact, Momo was pretty sure she'd never actually spoken to someone about it in detail before.

"Wally and I thought that might be the case," Shine mused. "Well... I guess it doesn't make any difference really. But one more thing to know. If I had a laptop, all this would be easier."

"You don't?" Momo noticed that there wasn't a computer anywhere in the room.

"Are you kidding? The school won't let me have a phone, let alone a laptop," Shine said. 

"They won't let you?" Jiro repeated. "Why would they not let you?"

"That's a good question," Shine said, "I speculate, they think I would do something stupid with it like blab on social media... you do have social media here, right?"

"Yes," Momo replied.

"There you have it," Shine said. "I can see the headlines now: Local girl staying at hero school, reasons unclear..."

"You're saying they don't trust you?" Jiro said.

Shine hesitated. "I think they know that better than I do, don't you? Maybe ask them. I suppose, it's true that I don't know my way around here yet." She paused. "So, are you in here just to interrogate me, or do you have another reason?"

Momo winced.

Jiro frowned. "Look, Likstar, we just want some clarity. I don't know if you noticed, but you and your boyfriend are kind of 'mysterious', and you haven't told us that much about yourself--"

"Have you asked?" Shine interrupted. 

Jiro paused. "What?"

"I think I just told you a lot of things, didn't I? You haven't asked." Shine shrugged, sitting on her bed casually. 

"Well... it's still weird not to tell us more in all this time," Jiro said.

Shine waved her hand. "You try fitting that in between all the studying you guys do. Your teacher will kill me if I distract you from it, and then there's the training I keep almost dying during. Seriously, do you know how many bones I would have broken by now if Wally didn't have my back? You guys are crazy with the stuff you do. And it's been like 2 weeks. On average, it takes much longer to get to know anyone. On top of that, you've been avoiding me like the plague."

She just came out and said it? Momo would never had had the nerve to do that.

 Jiro didn't seem to like it either.

"That's not true," she said, "We're busy like you said...you stay up here a lot, don't you?"

"I do like my peace and quiet," Shine said. "But, what's the use of arguing over this? If you want to know me better, you'll have to spend more time around me. It seems to me you actually just want to know if I'm safe, would that be correct?"

An awkward pause followed this, as Jiro tried to think of another way to put it and failed. 

Momo tried to help, "I think, we just want to understand better, since things happened so fast."

"You took the words right out of my mouth about being here," Shine said drolly. "But, I'm afraid, I can't help you understand better until you really want to. Just like I can't learn about this place all in day. You want to know if I'm safe? Well, I'm not. I don't know anyone who is. If it comes to that, you aren't exactly safe, are you? I could be afraid of you, with good reasons. And your loud or intimidating classmates too. Even if you're teens, that's no reason to underestimate you. And then there's those villains who keep popping up. With your power, Jiro, you could be eavesdropping on me."

 Jiro gave a start. "I didn't!" 

"Sure," Shine said. "That first day we were here, you totally didn't do that."

Jiro turned red. 

"I don't blame you, though," Shine said. "I would have too, but do you see that it's a little much to ask if we're dangerous, when you must be some of the most dangerous people in the world? This is a top rated school, right? Have you considered what it's like for us to be here?"

That was a good point. 

"I tried..." Momo said.

 "I know you tried," Shine said. She stood up. "Why do you think I trust you more?"

 Jiro blinked at her. "Look, it's not personal---"

"It's personal to me," Shine said. "And clearly, it's personal to you. I get it. But, if you can't take it, don't dish it out, that's my motto.  I'm afraid I won't be telling you more about me until I'm certain I can trust you... at least, I won't be telling you more right now. Perhaps, by and by, I'll decide to take that chance but that's for me to decide, and not you. Sorry if that's not what you wanted to hear, but, there it is."

Momo supposed that was fair, but Jiro didn't look happy. Still, there wasn't much she could say. She just left after that.

 "I'm sorry if that made you uncomfortable," Momo said to Shine. 

Shine sat back down. "Well, I'm used to it." She said wearily. "This happens everywhere... never gets any easier, though. You just learn to care less about it over time. I wonder what Wally will think about it."

"You two discuss is, then?" Momo said.

"Why not? We're partners. Don't you all discuss your problems?" Shine said. 

Momo nodded.
"Hey, Likstar-san, don't worry too much, I'm sure the class will feel better about this once things settle down again."

"You're very kind, Momo," Shine said. "But things will not settle down." She smiled wryly. "I count on it."

"Did I upset you?" Momo ventured to ask. "I noticed you were not talking to me."

"What? No," Shine said. "I thought you'd prefer it if I didn't talk to you. I know what's been going on in the class."

Momo was surprised. "Oh... well, it's okay, I don't think you need to act differently. Because it's not like... I mean, it's up to you." She couldn't exactly say it probably wouldn't matter to the class how Shine acted.

"How did you know?" She asked instead.

"It wasn't hard to figure it out, I knew just by looking at them," Shine said. "Plus, you guys are loud."

"And you're... I mean, uh...I'm surprised you still want to live here..." Momo said carefully.

"I don't want to go anywhere else, let's just say." Shine said. "And, it's not so bad. This is a nice place. Hey, stop worrying about us so much. None of this is your problem, Momo-san--did I use that right?"

"Oh, yes...though, you could say Momo-chan, because you're older than me," Momo said.

"I'm never going to get this..." Shine sank back.

     ***

The following day Shine stole out of the dorms to go for a walk before she could run into any 1-A students. She did run into some 1-B ones, Ibara was doing a morning meditation outside. Shine stopped to talk to her, she liked Ibara, Ibara was never rude or suspicious of anyone. 

When Shine headed back, it was around the time class had to start, and Todoroki and Bakugo returned from remedial. She reached the dorms just at the same time they did.

"I didn't understand why Utsushimi did that at all," Todoroki sounded annoyed. "It made no sense...how do her plans work? You seem to follow it okay."

"Like I'd tell you," Bakugo said. Then he noticed Shine. "What are you looking at, b---h?"

Shine turned to look back at him. "Bakugo, I've reconsidered the wisdom of using my sword on you, but if you call me that one more time, I'm going straight to your teacher's office and getting you grounded."

"What? You freaking snitch!" Bakugo cried. "You don't even have the guts to fight me yourself! Like I'm scared of a wimp like you."

"You should be," Shine said. Somehow, her tone gave Todoroki pause. She sounded....serious.... 

"What?" Bakugo frowned at her.

Shine crossed her arms. "Look, kid, I don't care if you want to go around being loud and slamming doors, I don't even care if you want to challenge me to a fight every dang day of the week, I'm not obligated to accept, but what I can't handle is your apparent idea that you're entitled to disrespect everyone you talk to who doesn't match your idea of 'strong'. I didn't come here to listen to it, personally, and trust me, I don't have to fight you to stop you."

"The he--- is that supposed to be a threat?" Bakugo came toward her angrily.

Shine didn't flinch. "Go ahead, hit me," She gestured widely. "I'm sure that'll go over well with the staff."

Bakugo paused. "They let you train, it won't matter."

"Try it," Shine dared him. 

"Miss Likstar, have you lost your mind?" Todoroki got between them. "Bakugo, you can't threaten her, she's not a student."

Shine started laughing. Making both of them stare at her.

 "It'd be so much better if I was," she said. "Seriously, the school lets you get away with this crap? What is it, nepotism? Did you pay someone off?" 

"Are you saying I don't deserve to be here!?" Bakugo cried.

"I'm not impressed enough with the school to make the call on that," Shine said, sounding annoyed. "But, I'll give you a fair warning, if you keep drawing my attention, you might get more than you bargained for, kid."

Bakugo glared at her. "You think I'm scared of you?" he repeated. "You're all talk."

Something weird happened right then. Shine's eyes flashed gold light. It happened so fast the boys almost didn't see it, but they both recoiled in surprise.

"Let me see..." Shine regarded Bakugo with a probing expression that unnerved Todoroki further.

"I see," she said after a moment. "You're not an easy case to figure out, that's why I haven't gotten it yet. Normally, it only takes a few days, I'm impressed, actually, that you continued to puzzle me. At first I would have thought bully, but you don't act like a bully. I've been bullied, I should know... you're not just an idiot either...I'm going to go with... complicated." 

"You think you know me now?" Bakugo said, but Todoroki thought his eyes were a little uncertain, it was hard to tell where this was going.

"No, I really don't," Shine seemed calm all the sudden. "But I think I will, eventually." She made a hand-sign like a pre-fight bow. "I look forward to the challenge, Bakugo."

"Huh? What challenge?" Bakugo said, now openly puzzled.

"It's a nice distraction, really," Shine seemed to be talking to herself. "I mean, he is the only one who hadn't accused me of something yet, granted, that's because he never talks to me except to start a fight, but I can live with that..." She looked up. "Oh sorry, forgot you were listening." 

"Are you...okay?" Todoroki thought she'd lost her mind for sure.

"Shoto Todoroki, right?" Shine said. "Sorry, these foreign names keep eluding me, did I say that right?"

"Close..." Todoroki said. "Are you sure you're not...sick or something?"

"Oh no, just tired of this," Shine said. 

"What?" Todoroki looked around.

"I think you know what, you started it didn't you?" Shine said offhandedly. "That's not fair though, it's no more than anyone else thinks..."

Todoroki realized she meant the campaign to discover whether she and West were spies or not. He felt a little off put that she was pinning that on him... had he started it? He supposed he'd said something first...

"Look, it's not like we're picking on you--" he began.

"Aren't you?" Shine laughed bitterly. "No, I understand, Todoroki. I really do. We're intruders, I get it, hey, you're not the first group of people to treat us this way. I've had people try to kill me for less... but, you see, when it happens to you over and over, you start to ask yourself: why do I put up with it? And that's a dangerous question, because then, you forget what's really important."

She smiled oddly. "But I think I just got a reminder of it, from Bakugo."

"What?" Bakugo said, weirdly.

"What?" Todoroki was getting more freaked out by the moment by this.

"It just hit me, Bakugo treats everyone the exact same way," Shine said. "So he's the only one here not treating me and Wally like freaks. While I don't exactly enjoy being yelled at all the time, it's comforting to know someone at least isn't intimidated by the whole backstory thing. I'm almost thinking I might start to like you now." 

"Are you crazy?" Bakugo said. "You are freaks!"

"That's not convincing if you say it now," Shine shrugged. "Thank you, Bakugo, it really does mean a lot that you couldn't care less about our past as long as you can challenge us."

"I'm sorry, but how is that meaningful to you?" Todoroki said, bewildered. "It just means he's not considerate of others' feelings."

"Are you one to talk, Todoroki?" Shine said, sassily. 

He flinched. "What do you mean by that?"

"If you considered people's feelings, you wouldn't have said that in front of him," Shine said. "Or, is Bakugo the only one who doesn't get consideration? Because he's a 'jerk', as you all like to say pretty much every day, I notice. To his face, or I wouldn't say so openly."

 She held up a hand.

"Seems like none of you have this 'kindness' thing mastered, except Momo. And you can't even leave her alone. Sheesh, I don't want to make it worse for her, but as much as you don't trust us, you ought to be nice to that girl, she's a gem. I never met anyone so nice."

"I don't blame her for--" Todoroki didn't realize he'd been put on the defensive.

"Hey, don't change the subject," Bakugo did. "You're just trying to get our focus off you and your crazy tricks. You think I'm stupid?"

"No, I really don't," Shine said, dead serous. "Do you think I'm stupid, Bakugo?"

Something about how earnestly she asked that made Bakugo not immediately respond.

"That's a trick," he said sourly.

"Oh, I think I'm going to like you, for sure," Shine smiled. "Well, later boys, better not be late to class... I hear they're serving soba today again, by the way. You're favorite, right?"

"How did you know that?" Todoroki didn't remember ever eating with her.

"You get it every time it's there," Shine said. "Bakugo puts hot sauce on everything, and Uraraka loves Mochi...I didn't even know what that was, but Momo's been telling me all the names for stuff."

"Are you stalking us?" Bakugo asked. 

"It's called looking around the room," Shine said dryly. "And when you have no one to talk to during meals except your boyfriend, you might find yourself trying something like that. I could go on. Yesterday, a Class 1-B Student tripped Koda on purpose, but he didn't say anything about it." 

"I didn't notice that," Todoroki frowned. 

"You were lost in your own world at the time," Shine said casually. "Which you are a lot, actually. I waved at you one day and you didn't even notice, it was pretty funny."

"You've been here for like 2 freaking weeks, and you think you're an expert on us?" Bakugo said.

"This is nothing," Shine said. "These are just habits. I wonder how much of this you noticed about me and West? If you're going to prove we're spies, you'd better up your game, Todoroki, I just gave you a lot of material and you're still hung up over when I even did this, aren't you?"

That was exactly what he was thinking, Todoroki froze. Was she reading his mind?

"That's because he's an airhead," Bakugo scoffed. "You don't scare me, Swipey."

Out of all the possible nicknames, that was his first choice? Todoroki rolled his eyes. 

"And now you're going to be late," Shine pointed to the classrooms.

They looked up. "Crap," Todoroki dashed inside. 

Bakugo shot Shine one final look of suspicion before following.

Shine flexed her fingers. "Well, that was fun."

[Late note: Her supervillain vibes do carry over from the RWBY story I notice.]

Later that day, at lunch, Todoroki kept glancing towards the two DJ's table... they seemed to sit alone these days... class 1-B would pause and talk to them. 

"Todoroki, is something wrong?" Midoriya asked him. "Why do you keep staring at that wall?"

"Nothing..." Todoroki said. Then he frowned, "actually, there is something. I had a strange encounter with Miss Likstar earlier. She said a lot of stuff... stuff she's noticed about us. It was weird... favorite foods, and something about someone tripping."

"Is that so strange?" Iida said. "She and West have been here for a bit now."

"It's only been about 2 weeks," Midoriya said. "I don't think I knew any of that in 2 weeks, but I'm always focused on quirks."

"Then she said, if we wanted to prove she was a spy, we should up our game." Todoroki said. 

"What a strange thing to say...wait, she's aware that the class is wondering about that?" Iida said.

"I think she must have known since the first night," Todoroki reasoned. "I guess, maybe we weren't as subtle as we thought." 

They hadn't been subtle at all, but he did not notice this fact.

"But, the way she said it, it was like she was daring me to do it," he added.

"Why would she do that?" Midoriya asked.

"It doesn't seem like something a real spy would do," Iida said. "Perhaps her intention is to show she is not intimidated."

"I don't think it's that simple," Todoroki said. "She said a bunch of other weird stuff, about Bakugo, and myself, and... it felt almost like she was lecturing me."

"Lecturing you, why would she lecture you?" Midoriya was honestly puzzled. "You're so grounded..."

"She said something about being intimidated by backstory," Todoroki said. "I thought that was a strange word to use." 

"Whose is she intimidated by?" Iida asked. 

"No, she thinks we're intimidated by her and West's," Todoroki said.

"That's preposterous," Iida said. "We don't know their backstory, what a strange word to use, like they're anime characters."

"Is it kind of like an Isekai, claiming to be from another world." Midoriya said.

"You think they're reincarnated?" Todoroki said. "That's a pretty wild claim."

"If it was true, how would they prove it?" Iida pointed out. "They can't prove any of it. I'm sure there's a more plausible explanation...perhaps we are letting this take up too much of our time. It's really the school's problem, not ours. Maybe we should let the teachers resolve it."

If only he knew the teachers were letting them be the ones to expose the strangers.

"Yeah, it is kind of a distraction," Midoriya said. "We can't let this get to us... maybe they aren't spies, since they openly acknowledge it, why would they do that? But then, we just need to leave them alone."

Todoroki nodded. But privately, he thought about it. He might prefer to just leave them alone, but what about Yaoyerozu? She wasn't going to drop it from the looks of it. What was their purpose in singling her out? If it was a distraction then she could end up falling behind.

Todoroki had no idea then just how much bigger this was going to get than just being a mere "distraction."