Three days before,
Snipe brought Momo to his personal firing range at UA.
He then took her to the weapons room, revealing a plethora of guns and rifles perched upright on the walls like decorations.
There, he finally stopped.
"So…" Snipe asked, standing at the threshold of the room. "… you are changing your fighting style?"
Momo gave herself a second to think about it.
Ultimately, she shook her head. "Not changing," she corrected. "Experimenting, Sir. I know where my strengths lie. As a Hero, I can benefit people the most with my Quirk's versatility. I can be the Hero whom all other Heroes can count on to support them. But…"
"… you also want to take the initiative, right?" Snipe guessed.
Momo nodded heavily.
Behind his mask, Snipe smiled.
"Rarely do I meet students who are so… clear in their thoughts on what trajectory they want to take as Pros," he said. "For you to even realize that the trajectory of your efforts, as they are now, is not enough already puts you ahead of your peers. But, I must ask, why arms? I don't know you like Erasure, but… I never took you for a shooter."
Momo went quiet for a moment.
"When the Nomu was chasing me…" she remembered, "… I realized something. I had already been learning how to create grenades, but they did not affect it. It was then that I realized not only were they not working on the Nomu, but I was also not using them as they were meant to be. It became obvious to me that creating grenades wasn't nearly enough. And if that was the case with grenades, then it would be the case with everything."
Snipe nodded. "Continue."
Momo looked up, taking a breath of confidence. "I lack a defining trait, Sir," she said. "Yes, I can create many things, but when the moment demands me to do more, I find myself lacking… I sat down, relived the last year, and concluded that I could have prevented many Villains' attacks had I just acted the right way…"
"… offensively?" Snipe finished.
Momo nodded, matching the Pro's gaze through his mask.
"The best defense is a timely offense, right, Sir?" she said. "I… want to step onto the stage, too… instead of counting on others to save me… all the time."
This kid… Snipe felt a thrill, his fingers digging into his palms.
"Alright," he said, satisfied. "Are you thinking of relying on this for the Sports Festival?"
Momo shook her head. "I know it's not something I can learn in only a few days," she admitted. "I am aiming for the Provisional Hero License Exam for now. Still, I will follow the plan that you think is best for me."
Quite methodical, too… Snipe nodded within. "I take you don't have any experience with guns, then?"
"Well…" Momo looked around, her eyes landing on a particular weapon. She went to it and pulled it off the wall, holding it… so professionally that even Snipe had to double-take to see if he was seeing it right. "Father took me to his monthly hunts quite often before I joined UA. I am out of practice, but I think I still remember my way around a sniper."
And… slowly… Snipe's lips arched, thinking of the new event added to the Sports Festival.
"Good," he said, holding back a laugh. "Let's focus entirely on the sniper for the next three days, then. Who knows… You might get to use it soon, too?"
…
Momo panted hard, letting out frozen breaths, as she glided over the ice on her skates.
Her sniper was slung on her back, its barrel pointed up. She had also created icy-blue, woolen clothes for the sudden change of environment, and to better hide herself using the natural camouflage provided by their colors.
But… she was getting hungry. Very hungry.
I should have hunted a few animals from the forest, instead of taking the higher ground in the city as fast as I could, Momo realized.
Still, it wasn't the time for regrets.
BOOOOOOOM!!!
The explosion turned the entire scenery in front of her white.
A shockwave came rocking the ice over the structures and passed through the entire city, making Momo stumble.
Bakugo… She recognized the attack. He must be fighting Todoroki.
Well, it was about time.
Only twenty-five minutes remained.
The laser boundaries had already entered the city.
High in the sky, the holographic screen showed the number of students above the timer.
17… Momo looked at it as she got up. She looked ahead and saw nothing but a layer of ice draped over everything. She could hear sounds other than explosions as well. All students must be heading toward the central area. It wouldn't be surprising if many of them ran into each other much before reaching there.
That meant… It's time she put her everything on the line as well.
Momo hid herself in a corner and daringly took off her jacket, a chill making her shiver. She didn't know the exact identity of these seventeen students. Still, even if she were to take the wildest guesses, she knew she would be correct in fifty percent of the guesses.
But then some guesses were not guesses, per se.
Because Momo knew for a fact that these students had definitely survived.
For now, all she could do was prepare for those students because they would be there… during the endgame.
For now, that was enough.
For now, that's all she could do.
Todoroki, Bakugo, Midoriya, Tenya, Tokoyami, and… she thought of their names, her fingers balling into fists. Luke…
They all were strong; too strong. Momo could never hope to fight on similar grounds as them. But… did she have to? The Battle Royale was about being the last person standing, not about defeating each other. As long as Momo managed to accomplish that, then it didn't matter if she was the strongest of the bunch or the weakest.
Also, being too strong had its own caveats.
Yes, these guys were strong, Momo thought, smiling to herself. But…
… that also made them too predictable, especially when they were so pressed for time!