"Hey, Itsuka!"

Itsuka turned to Momo as she ran up to her, giving her a smile. She waved at the girl. "Hey, Momo! What's up? Congrats on getting to the finals! I bet you're itching to have a rematch with Izuku."

Momo blushed and looked down, remembering the thrashing she had gotten during the battle trials. "Actually this is about Izuku…"

Itsuka smirked. "So you're finally getting on with it are you? Mirio had his doubts after you didn't talk to Izuku about you and him after he recovered from the USJ, but I guessed you were probably just nervous!"

Momo blushed even harder, smacking Itsuka on the head with a newspaper she pulled out of her arm. "Itsuka! Please don't talk about that! We have two people in our class with super hearing, who knows if 1-B has some!"

She shook herself off and created a single speck of white phosphorus in her hand, and it ignited once it touched the air, burning up the newspaper. "I was merely wondering where he went! I wanted to congratulate him for coming second but he disappeared quite quickly…"

Itsuka looked around, but couldn't see him either. It had only been a few minutes after the manhunt had ended, he really shouldn't have been able to slip away that quickly.

"I don't know, sorry, I'm sure he'll turn up before the 1v1's start, doubt he would want to miss that!" Itsuka said with a grin, before running over to where Hitoshi was waiting for her.

A worried frown placed itself on Momo's face.

'Guess we'll have to talk later…'


Izuku leaned against the wall, waiting for Todoroki to speak.

Todoroki just stood on the opposite side of the hallway, staring at him, but Izuku felt like he was staring through him, not really seeing him as he collected his thoughts. He was about to start speaking when Todoroki started talking.

"Your Quirk… It's much more powerful than your father's was, even if you use it differently to him." Todoroki's voice was cold (no pun intended) but had a tinge of concern in it.

Izuku blinked, losing his calm facade for a second. He had not expected to be talking about his dad with Todoroki.

"You must know that my father had a great interest in yours. For someone like Endeavour, having more power at your fingertips near-instantly was a tantalising prospect."

Izuku shuffled uncomfortably as Todoroki talked. He knew that Booster was one of Endeavours favourite sidekicks, the large savings account his father had left them was a testament to that, but it felt odd talking about his dad as if he was just a power-up from a video game.

"I urge you to drop out of the competition, to place low so that you don't bring any more attention to yourself than you already have. Endeavour cannot know that your Booster's son. Please, it's for your own safety."

Now that set off alarm bells in Izuku's head. Why on earth would not getting Endeavour's attention help him stay safe? Why was Todoroki seemingly afraid of his own father? Was Endeavour...

"Todoroki." The boy looked up at him, and Izuku could see a small flash of panic when their eyes met briefly. "I will not be doing anything of the sort. I will be doing my best in the tournament, to prove to myself and others with non-combat Quirks that they can be heroes as well."

Todoroki was shaking slightly and looked like he was going to argue with him for a second, before Izuku raised his hand, cutting the boy off. Izuku looked Todoroki dead in the eyes. "Todoroki. Why would avoiding your father noticing me put me in danger? Are you in danger? Is that why you're warning me?"

The quickened breathing, eyes darting around the hallway and the tensing of Todoroki's entire body, as well as the barely audible 'I've said too much' told him everything he needed to know. He stepped forward and placed his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Todoroki, if your dad is hurting you or your family, we should go to Aizawa and Nezu right now, and they'll have an investigation up in two or three days, max. If you let us, we can help you. You are not alone right now."

Izuku had to quickly shut off Todoroki's Quirk as his left side started freezing. He could tell by the glazed look in his eyes and the way he was shaking that he was probably having a panic attack. Izuku took a step back when Todoroki crumbled, holding his head in his hands.

This was quite possibly the most emotion Izuku had ever seen the boy express. And it pained him that it was panic and fear for this moment. Izuku pulled out his phone and texted Aizawa, asking him to come down to them, stating that it was an emergency.

"Hey Todoroki, it's OK, you're alright, he's not here right now. It's just you and me, alright? Just follow my breathing. In… Out… In… Out…" Izuku noticed after a bit that the shaking had stopped and his breathing was returning to normal.

It was shortly after that when Aizawa found them. He noted Bakugou standing around the corner, and knew that Izuku probably knew he was there as well. He shrugged it off though after seeing Todoroki sitting on the floor, obviously coming down from a panic attack.

"Midoriya, what happened?" Izuku gave him the 'one-second' motion with his finger and whispered something to Todoroki, who just nodded slightly in response. He then got up and walked over to Aizawa. He stood as straight as he could and put on his most serious voice.

"Eraserhead, sir, I have reason to believe that Todoroki Enji, also known as Endeavour, has been both mentally and physically abusing his family, or at least Todoroki Shouto." Aizawa had known it was going to be important the second Izuku had called him Eraserhead.

The way he had just told him about Todoroki's situation was to make sure he followed a very specific procedure that was required when accusing a Hero of a crime. Aizawa was heartbroken that Izuku was so sure about his claim that he made it an official statement.

What the hell was Endeavour doing to Todoroki and his family?!


After a brief conversation with Izuku, Aizawa had sent them both to Recovery Girl and headed up to Nezu's office.

"Nezu sir-"

"I am already aware of the situation, Aizawa. I have cameras all over this school, and I like to keep track of all my students, especially after the USJ incident. What Midoriya has stated is very worrying."

Aizawa nodded, glad he didn't have to give Nezu a recap. "I heard rumours about Endeavour's wife going into the hospital about a decade ago, but I never suspected abuse." 'A mistake that probably condemned the Todorokis, and one I will not repeat.'

Nezu sighed, grabbing a cup of tea, and passing over a jelly packet for Aizawa. "We mustn't go about this rashly. I know how fiercely protective you are towards your students Aizawa, especially your nephew."

Aizawa just nodded, not even surprised that Nezu knew that Izuku was related to him. He had told Izuku that on UA grounds, nothing here was a secret from Nezu.

"So what do you suggest we do sir? We can't just let this go, Izu-Midoriya came forward with an official statement, we legally have to at least start an investigation. Honestly, I'm sort of proud that he had the procedure for doing so memorised."

Nezu chuckled, throwing Aizawa for a loop. "For now, Eraserhead, continue on as nothing happened, but let Izuku know that it is going to be looked into. We can"t have him complaining about us not doing anything and accidentally revealing our intentions."

Nezu's chuckles became louder. "While the sports festival progresses, I will look into this myself. As an abuse survivor myself, it would bring me great satisfaction to ruin an abuser's life, even if he is the #2 Hero."

Aizawa nodded and left the room. He was still furious, but he knew better than to disobey Nezu's direct orders. For a moment, a brief moment, Aizawa felt pity for Endeavour for being Nezu's target.

Then his anger overtook the pity, and he prayed to every god in the heavens that Endeavour would be punished.

He would not let Todoroki, or Izuku, down with this.


The first rounds of the tournament were starting.

Izuku had taken Todoroki to Recovery Girl, but after calming down, the boy had practically run away from Izuku, that fear still in his eyes. Izuku noted that Todoroki's left side heated up when he was scared or upset and that Todoroki seemed to fight almost desperately to stop it from spewing out of him.

But now they were in the stands, watching as the first match was about to start. Cementoss finished creating the ring, and Midnight was raised from the side by a pillar of cement. She cracked her whip, gaining everyone's attention. She smiled at the presenter's box and gave them a thumbs up.

"THANKS, MIDNIGHT FOR CALMING THE CROWD! YOU ALL KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS! THE MEAT OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL… IT'S TIME FOR THE ONE ON ONE TOURNAMENT!"

The crowd went wild. This was always the most popular part of the festival. People seemed to like two kids beating the crap out of each other more than they did seeing a crowd of people all fighting each other. Which was weird.

"TIME TO BRING IN OUR FIRST TWO CONTESTANTS! GIVE IT UP FOR PHIL SWIFT'S REINCARNATION, HANTA SERO!"

Sero stepped onto the stage grinning, knowing who Mic was referring to, and approving of the comparison.

"NEXT, SAY YOUR PRAYERS FOR THE MIGHTY CREATOR, MOMO YAOYOROZU!"

Itsuka nudged Izuku and smirked. Izuku nodded and they stood up and yelled out; 'HALLELUJAH!' as Momo blushed due to her introduction.

Alright you two! I want a good, fair fight, got it? You can win in a few ways. Either your opponent surrenders, one of the contestants touches the ground outside the ring, or if you immobilise your opponent.

The two contestants both nodded to her and she flashed them a grin. Sero waved at Momo. "Hey, no hard feelings, alright Yaomomo?"

GO!

"After all, this will be over in a second!" He shot out some tape, aiming to wrap her up and throw her out of the field. He grunted as he saw he sidestep the tape, and move towards him.

He tried sending out his tape horizontally and cheered internally when he wrapped Momo up in it. "Sorry about this Yaomomo!" He threw her to the side, towards the boundary.

Momo quickly formed some blades out of her arms, cutting the tape and freeing herself, before creating spikes from her calves to stab into the ground, keeping her in the ring.

She knew that if Sero got a hold of her again, she was way too close to the edge to get out in time, so she unzipped her shirt and pulled something out of her stomach, pointing it at Sero.

A squeal could be heard from a certain pink-haired inventor as everyone in the stands realised that momo had just pulled an assault rifle out of her stomach. Sero immediately put his hands up as she pointed it at him.

"Woah Woah Woah, Yaomomo c'mon! I was just kidding around! Please don't shoot me!" He tried to be sneaky and fire off a strand of tape while still keeping his arms up, but stopped as she smiled at him mischievously. "No hard feelings, alright Sero?"

She pulled the trigger, and the bullet hit Sero in the chest. He was pumped full of electricity from Momo's taser bullet, and he started convulsing, hitting the floor.

Midnight started counting as Sero laid on the ground, smoking slightly. Momo felt a little guilty but smiled when Midnight reached ten. Maybe tasing him was a little overkill, but it was better than being tossed out of the ring.

And that's 10! Sero is unable to continue due to being tased! Momo Yaoyorozu has won the match!

The crowd went wild, cheering and shouting, and she smiled when even over all of it, she could hear Itsuka and Izuku cheering the loudest. She turned to the 1-A stands to see Izuku leaning half over the railing, yelling and cheering, the smile on his face almost making her heart stop.

She smiled back at him and waved to the crowd as she walked into the hallways, being passed by Sero and the medi-bots.

She puffed out her chest in pride as the crowd continued to cheer. It felt really good to win a match. She remembered Izuku's words from after the battle trial. "You are amazing. You're super smart, your super talented, and you have a Quirk that makes you basically a goddess of creation from those old stories"

She blushed and shook her head. It was nice to hear him say all that, but it was another thing to prove to herself that she could fight well.

And from the hug that Itsuka and Izuku gave her when she returned to the seats, she would say she did pretty damn well.