CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Rio and Momo sat cross-legged on a thick rug in one of the many rooms nestled within her private wing of the estate. It was a cozy chamber with elegant lighting and floor-to-ceiling shelves, each stacked with books organized by subject and era. Momo fondly referred to it as "the little library," though judging by the sheer volume of tomes and scrolls, Rio thought that she might be having a case of late stage delusion.
He dragged over a portable whiteboard, setting it down with a light thud before her. It stood as the centerpiece of his soon-to-begin lecture.
With a practiced flourish, Rio scribbled in bold letters across the top:
"Momo Yaoyorozu's Creation Quirk Study."
Beneath the title, he drew a simple stick figure with puffy pigtails.
"Was that supposed to represent me?" Momo asked with a chuckle, a hand rising to stifle the laugh bubbling from her throat.
"Yes, it does," Rio replied, already slipping into his role as a strict professor. "Now sit quietly and let Rio-sensei guide you."
With a cleared throat and narrowed eyes, he pointed to his crude drawing. "Now, Momo-chan, why do you believe you're unable to shine on the front line?"
"Because I—"
"Don't immediately reply to that question," he cut in, waving his fingers in front of her. "I want you to really think. Meditate on it. Then get back to me when you've found your answer."
Momo's brows creased as she leaned forward, hands resting on her knees, brows furrowing in deep thought. Silence hung in the room, broken only by the gentle hum of the estate's distant heating system.
"…While my quirk is incredibly versatile," she began slowly, "it gives little in the way of maneuverability, durability, or attack power. My quirk doesn't allow me to survive on a battlefield."
"Ding ding ding. That's right, Momo. You nailed it on your first try," Rio said with a smirk. "Your quirk requires preparation to be useful—time that your enemy won't grant you in a fight."
"But then I—"
"Hush, woman. I'm still not done."
He leaned closer to the board, underlining her name twice with swift, confident strokes.
"Who or what gave you the impression that your quirk can't offer durability?" he asked, eyes locking with hers. "The limits of what you can achieve are set by your imagination."
Well… that wasn't entirely true. It applied to powerful quirks like theirs. For people with more mundane abilities, no amount of imagination could rewrite the harsh reality of mediocrity.
"Time for a practical demonstration," Rio declared, clapping his hands once. The sound echoed lightly off the high ceiling, an unspoken cue for Momo to rise.
He stepped aside, giving her space. "Now, I want you to create any item of your choice—something from the densest material you can currently produce."
Momo nodded in affirmation as she closed her eyes and stretched her hands forward.
A soft pink glow enveloped her palms. Rio observed Momo intently but her quirk's special effects obscured the process. In a moment a ball made from stainless steel was resting in her palms.
Rio leaned forward, eyes narrowed as he observed the activation of Momo's quirk. As always, the emission of light and swirling particles made it impossible to see the exact process at work—her quirk cloaked in that damned pink mist. Within moments, the glow dissipated, revealing a perfectly formed stainless steel ball resting in her hands.
He took it from her carefully, inspecting the smooth, cold surface with both curiosity and skepticism. He gave it a few quick taps, drumming his fingers along its side. A satisfying metallic clank answered him.
'Incredible… It really is indistinguishable from the real thing.'
He nodded in approval, turning back to her with a sharp, focused look.
"Do it again," he said. "This time, slow the process down as much as you possibly can."
Momo responded with a crisp nod and closed her eyes in concentration. The soft pink glow returned, more languid this time, swirling slowly as her focus deepened. A thin mist began to form on her palms, curling like vapor trails from a steaming cup of tea. Gradually, the shape of a half-sphere began to materialize—a shell of stainless steel emerging from thin air.
"STOP! Don't shut it off—hold it there."
Momo furrowed her brows in deep concentration. This was much harder than she had thought. Up till now she had only been occasssionaly training to create items faster. Trying to slow it down was taking its toll on her.
Rio stepped closer, sizing her up with a grin that was half-proud, half-predatory. Then he unexpectedly squared his shoulders, lifting his fists into a boxer's stance.
Without warning, he threw a quick jab at the forming steel.
The moment his knuckles struck the metal, Momo's hands instinctively recoiled, startled more by the suddenness than the force. Rio, meanwhile, clutched his right hand, lips curling into a grimace of pure regret.
It had sounded like a good idea in his head.
"Fuck, that hurts."
He hissed through his teeth, shaking out his hand. The pain was already dulling, bruising fading as his healing factor kicked in. Thirty seconds, maybe less, and he'd be good as new.
"I'm okay," he grunted, more to himself than anyone.
Momo, meanwhile, stared down at her hands in amazement.
"I didn't feel a thing," she whispered, more to herself than him. There had been no pain. No jarring impact. Just the mental jolt of seeing her friend—her tutor—punch steel without hesitation.
Rio flexed his fingers with a wince and waved her off. "Come on, Momo. You're a genius too, aren't you? You get what I'm trying to show you now?"
But Momo didn't answer. She was already deep in thought, mumbling softly, her eyes locked onto the half-finished construct in her hands.
'The damage didn't pierce the metal,' she thought, her mind running through dozens of simulations in quick succession. 'But that could've just been a fluke. Rio's strength wouldn't match the force of a fully grown adult's strike… Still…'
Rio watched her mutter under her breath, tilting his head suspiciously.
"…I get the feeling you're thinking something rude about me."
'Still… this isn't the best I could do,' Momo thought. 'A sphere isn't the optimal shape for absorbing impact, and steel doesn't cushion kinetic energy properly. If I redesigned something stronger, with better shock absorption, I could take a full-force blow without recoil.'
"I don't know what's going through that head of yours," Rio said, cutting into her thoughts, "but it looks like you're close. So, let me clear things up a bit."
He pointed to her hand. "You haven't noticed yet. Your palm—you haven't ended the transformation. The sphere's still fused to your skin."
Momo blinked, raising her hand to inspect it. The half-sphere of metal was still attached, a clean imprint of Rio's fist stamped into its surface. She concentrated, and with a soft shimmer of pink, the glow faded and the metal clinked onto the floor.
"You don't need to hide it, Momo," Rio continued, voice calm but intense. "You create items from your skin, using your body's fat as fuel. That means you can create armor directly around yourself. No gaps. No delay. A full-body suit—instant defense."
"My quirk works across my whole skin… right," Momo said, half to herself, the gears clearly turning.
"Exactly. Picture this," Rio said, already turning back to the whiteboard. He uncapped the black marker and began sketching quickly. "There's a villain attack, and you're the only hero on the scene. Instead of wasting time pulling on separate armor pieces, you just conjure your super suit around your body. Instant deployment. Anywhere, anytime."
"But my quirk only works on exposed skin," Momo interrupted. "Does that mean I'd have to go around naked as a hero?"
Rio paused mid-stroke. "…Hmm. I didn't think of that."
Momo crossed her arms, a smirk on her lips.
"You could figure something out," he added with a shrug. "Or better yet—just create the armor underneath your clothes."
"So what you're really saying," she said slowly, "is that I should fight villains in a suit of armor that rips my clothes off… and leaves me naked?"
Rio coughed. "Okay, yeah, when you say it like that, it sounds bad. But really, isn't everyone technically naked under their clothes? What's the big deal?"
She rolled her eyes. "You keep talking about armor. But what chance would I have wearing some kind of medieval tin can in a real fight?"
"For someone so smart," Rio sighed dramatically, "you can be really dumb sometimes."
Momo glared at him.
"Not medieval armor," he clarified. "I'm talking about power armor. Jet propulsion. Reinforced alloy plates. Inner linings made of the densest nano-fibers available. The full cyberpunk experience—a tech jacket."
Momo blinked.
"Why stop there?" Rio said, grinning wide. "Load it up with enhancements—neural interface systems, shock absorbers, combat prosthetics. Come on, Momo. Don't tell me you don't see the vision."
"While the idea does sound appealing," Momo said, "you're overestimating me. The schematics for that kind of armor, a stable energy source, the sheer funds and research needed to build a combat system like that—it's far too much. It's not feasible."
Rio just stared at her.
The silence stretched.
Momo started to squirm in her seat under the weight of his gaze.
Finally, he exhaled and looked away. Maybe he had truly overestimated her—or maybe her own humility was holding her back. Either way, she still hadn't grasped the fundamental truth of a superpowered world:
The poor rely on mutations. The rich rely on technology.
"I said that," he began slowly, "because you're the only one who can actually make this work. You have the funds to cover any research costs. The resources to turn your ideas into reality. Aren't your parents shareholders in I-Island?"
Momo's eyes widened slightly.
"It's home to some of the most brilliant scientists alive. Hire them. Commission research. Let them solve the technical issues, and once the schematics are finalized—you replicate them. That's all you'd need to do."
A beat of silence passed.
"…You're amazing, Rio," she said quietly. "If this really works out, I can see myself reaching the top ten in the hero rankings. Thank you."
She bowed solemnly.
Rio just flicked a finger against her forehead.
Thwack.
She flinched back, rubbing the spot with a pout. "Ow…"
"No matter how many times I tell you," Rio said, "that you have the power to destroy the world, you just don't get it."
He leaned back slightly, tone softer now. "Momo… what's your quirk?"
"My quirk is Creation."
"And what does it do?"
"It allows me to create any item from my fat cells… as long as I know the molecular structure."
"Right," Rio nodded. "Now let me tell you a little story."
He stood up, slowly pacing the room like a professor beginning a lecture.
"Back in the 1950s, humanity had already cracked the math behind what powered the sun. Nuclear fusion. A source of clean, nearly limitless energy."
Momo sat up straighter, listening intently.
"Scientists labored for decades. Theorists refining their calculations. Engineers working day and night to make each design a little more precise, a little more efficient."
Rio stopped pacing and turned back to her, eyes sharp.
"It's been over two hundred years since then. And still—no viable fusion reactors. Not one. Do you know why?"
Momo opened her mouth, but Rio didn't wait.
"You guessed it—material science couldn't keep up. Humanity made progress in every direction. But they just couldn't produce a material strong enough to survive the pressure, radiation, and heat inside the core of an artificial star."
"You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this," Rio said, his voice calm but intense. "After all, it has nothing to do with heroics. And it's a huge leap from the topic of power armor, isn't it?"
He took a step closer, locking eyes with her.
"But you could build it, Momo. You can create anything—and the key word there is anything. With the right knowledge, the right training… you could craft metals with mind-blowing, near-mythical properties."
He gestured with his hands as he spoke, as if conjuring the possibilities into the air.
"A metal that can absorb kinetic energy and release it back with almost zero loss? Easy. Or a material so structurally perfect, so stable on the atomic level, that it's virtually indestructible?"
His voice dropped an octave, quiet but electric.
"You're thinking too small. Your quirk isn't just a versatile support tool—it's limitless."
He tapped the side of his head, then pointed at her.
"The only real limiter is what's up here—and what you believe you're capable of."
Rio paused, letting the weight of his words settle.
"The point is, Momo—you can build anything. Your quirk doesn't just let you fight. It lets you reshape the world."
"With time you could be…"
"Invincible"
Author's note: Okay I couldn't resist the urge to drop invincible references it's a really good show. Anyway I'm sure some of Ya'll would be wondering why I keep glazing Momo's creation quirk when she had no relevance or feats in the show. This chapter explains it. I'll post my conversation with ChatGpt about materials and the full potential of the creation quirk. Horikoshi just gave all the overpowered quirks to his female characters. Eri with rewind is virtually immortal. Creation is a human atomic assembler. New order is reality manipulation. Even All For One doesn't come close to these three in terms of inherent potential.