okay look okay picking the microphone up holding it close listen to me okay kendou itsuka is an assertive, pragmatic go-getter who was able to take the leadership of her class as class prez and in tetsutetsus words "prevented everyone from being pulled in to monomas orbit". despite this, we also see her disguise self-deprecation in the form of that pragmatism, and it almost always comes in the form of comparison to other women, especially yaoyorozu. this is not from a hatred of yaomomo or other women or even the idea of traditionally feminine things; rather it is revealed to us in the beauty pageant chapter of the light novels that kendou struggles with the fact she does not personally identify with traditional femininity (and finds gender conventions "obnoxious" in general)-- and fears that it makes her unsuitable or incapable of navigating spaces with other women she seeks companionship with. she's confident enough to know she doesn't want to compromise herself, but she's unable to stop that self doubt from leaking out, especially when its in such a way that she feels she's lifting up someone she deeply admires, like yaomomo, whom she also spends time in the beauty pageant thinking of and thinking about how she would be perfectly suited to the event. we almost never see her take this sort of burden on when it comes to interacting with men: when she fights with tetsutetsu, her take is "he's dumb, but that's honestly kinda fine!", and we know how she felt about mustard and his gun. thats because while kendou is self conscience about something that exists within a broader cultural context, she doesn't even really care about whether or not men see her as "properly feminine"-- what she cares about is the opinion of other girls, like when she gets flustered when they talk about her being a good potential boyfriend, or as we see in JTA, her wanting to go head to head with yaomomo to prove herself as a worthy peer. she really has no malice or even resentment for yaomomo, it's just that heroism is the field on which they both meet on, and kendou is excited to share that activity and wants to impress someone she deeply admires.
for yaomomo, we know that she's pretty assured in her internal self identity: yaomomo always knows who she is and stays true to that, and never seems to struggle to place herself in a broader social context when it comes to inherent qualities: where she views her own defects is in terms of actions, like a failure to lead or to keep up in power scaling with her cohorts. to her, those things are always something she can fix if she keeps trying, but where she falters is asserting her right to continue trying even if it means possibly even potentially imposing on another person. and she first gets a taste of moving past that with her exam with todoroki, which then pushes her to have the confidence she needs to accept kendous challenge in the JTA; because she viewed kendou as someone admirable and who could take leadership roles with ease, and wanted to prove herself worthy of the friendship kendou has offered. again: heroism is their neutral ground, and both of them have similar ideas of chivalry and honor that make combat a mutually enjoyable and enriching experience. momo says that she "doesnt want kendou to see her pathetic" because she values her judgement and wants to show how she, too, has improved.
anyway. i think what im getting at is that kendou is very comfortable being assertive (External) but not as comfortable in her own skin (internal) and yaomomo is someone comfortable in her own skin (internal) but not as comfortable being assertive (external) and both of them admire what the other has and have a vested interest in sharing their mutual progress by comparing their skills in relevant areas . and also because theyre lesbians i think
