Midoriya felt like he was gonna be sick, as he processed everything the hetrochromatic teen decided to tell him. Todoroki likely didn't even realise Midoriya could feel all his remembered emotions pains as he went through but he could
"My father trained me to be the best. No matter how it hurt me or those around me."
Oh god he could.
"My mother called my left side unbearable before she pouree boiling hot water on my left side…that..that's where this scar came from."
Midoriya held his stomach as he looked at the floor, tears in his own eyes, marked fist shaking in anger.
"Now you know. I'll win this competition without using his damn fire quirk and prove I don't need him." Todoroki said, as he turned to walk away. Midoriya stared after him, not even sure how to process whar he'd heard.
"you're clearly close to All Might. It's not hard to see."
"Have you ever heard of quirk marriages? They became a problem with the rise of quirks…"
"he'd beat me until I vomited blood then tell me to stop being weak. He'd beat anyone for even suggesting to ease up on the training."
"So if you're connected to the number one hero in someway, then I need to beat you."
"He put my mother in a hospital. I don't blame her for what she did…."
Todoroki walked around the corner, and before he had a chance to think the magic teen rushed after him.
"Todoroki!"
The boy turned, a questioning look on his face. The greenette shook his head to clear his mind before he looked up, fist closed tight.
"I…I can't say I know what it's like. I mean…I was bullied a lot but never have i….." 'Off-topic, Izuku.' "I just want you to know…I want to win this just as much as you. To show people like the abbey they can't keep me down. So i'll be giving it my all, whether or not you will as well. You declared war on me, so I have to retaliate."
The ice teen just let out a faint noise of acknowledgment before turning and walking away, leaving Midoriya on his own.
'Endeavour…you bastard.' Midoriya frowned then shook his head, as he remembered the man who'd been standing beside him. The boy turned and began to walk back to the stadium. 'I gotta find that guy, figure out what exactly is causing all my aches-'
"Leave the false witch. Focus on the competition for now!"
"Outsider?!" Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise as he looked around. "F-fake witch? What the void does thaf mean?"
No answer came. The boy sighed. 'Great. Better head back to the field then. If he says not to go after him, there must be a reason…I hope.'
"We'll be drawing lots to determine who will fight who in the next upcoming event." Midnights voice washed across the students as she explained, the hologram from before showing an elimination style bracket. "You'll be fighting one on one, as always in the third event."
"Oh yeah."
"Wasn't last year foam swords or something?"
"I think so-"
"Quit interrupting!" Midnight shouted as she glared at the offending students, before jumping right back to her explanation. "You'll all be going head to head in a straight fight. If you are incapaciated, knocked out or removed from the ring, you lose and will be eliminated. The last two competitors standing will go head to head for first place. Now come forth-"
"Um, excuse me!" A masculine voice spoke up and everyone turned to see Ojiro holding up his hand. "I…I'd like to withdraw from the competition."
"Wait what?!"
"Ojiro?! Are you sure? This is a major opportunity you're giving away!"
"I….i'm sure." The blond said as he looked down towards the ground, tail drooping like a sad puppies would. "I…I didn't get here on my own merits. I don't remember anything from the last round, I can't go through like this."
"Of course you can!"
"Yeah, just kill it in the finals and prove you should be here!"
"You don't understand, it's my pride i'm talking about here."
Midoriya turned around fully at that, as another boy walked up to request the same. The greenette tuned everything else out as he laid a hand on the tail boy's shoulder.
Their eyes met and for a moment izuku frowned as his shame and disgust with himself pierced the boy's own emotions. Then he smiled.
"Do what you need to, but either way, you're still an amazing fighter Ojiro. No memory loss can take away that from you and your pride" He said with a determined gaze. The boy looked surprise before a small sad smile graced his face.
"Thanks…Midoriya." He said, before looking up. "I still have to withdraw though."
After that, and the replacements for the withdrawn competitors was choosen, they stepped forward to take their spots. Midoriya was one of the last to go, so he only saw the completed board on his way back.
Kirishima vs Testsutetsu
Tokoyami vs Yaoyorozu
Ashido vs Aoyoma
Jirou vs Iida
Shinso vs Midoriya
Todoroki vs Sero
'Todoroki….If he wins, then I could be facing him in the next round….' He shook his head, looking at his first bracket. 'No time to worry about that for now, first I need to figure out who shinso i-'
"Izuku Midoriya." A deep voice said, causing the marked teen to jump, spinning around to see the purple haired boy from before, when his empathy overloaded him. "That's you, right? The kid who passed out."
"Uh, ye-MPPH!" A ball of fluff entered his mouth and prevented him from finishing, causing Shinso to smirk.
"You can't speak to him." Came Ojiro's voice from behind, and the purple haired boy walked off.
"Ojiro, what the heck?" he questioned, coughing slightly from the hairs that stayed behind.
"Sorry, but you can't reply to anything he says, at all." The taller teen explained, a glare on his face at the boy in the distance. "He's the one who caused me to lose my memory."
"Wait really?"
The blonde turned, motiong for the greenette to follow him to the waiting rooms.
"Thanks for the pep talk by the way." Ojiro said, as they walked up to the door. "I needed it."
"Hey, being an empath isn't so bad if I can help my friends!" Midoriya replied with a bright smile, which the blonde replied to with a shaky grin of his own.
"Heh. You're too nice for your own good, I think." Ojiro said as he sat down, Midoriya following suite. "Now, too buisness, I think that guy, shinso? I think he has a mind control quirk of some sort."
Midoriya's eyes widened in surprised as he tilted his head questioningly. "Wait really?! But they're super rare!"
"Yeah, but I can't think of what else it could be." Ojiro explained. "Hem..i didn't start following his instructions or lose my memory until after I talked to him, so I think it needs verbal control of some kind. Whatever you do, you cannot speak to him."
The two took a couple of minutes, debating the possiblity of any other kind of quirk but they ended up agreeing, it could only be a mind control quirk.
"What if he does get me? If I mess up or he has some other way of using it?" Midoriya wondered and the taller boy scratched the back of his head.
"Well, I only remember the tail end of the cavalry battle, I bumped into someone I think and it snapped me out of it so I guess a big enough shock will do the trick." Ojiro recalled, rubbing his knuckles against his palm in frustration over the occurrence. "Not sure how possible that will be in a one on one, empty arena fight though."
"Yeah. I guess i'll just have to stay quiet." Midoriya said as the other boy stood up.
"Yeah, I guess so. Do me a favor Midoriya, beat that guy for me." The tail teen held out his hand, with a grin. Midoriya took it into his own, shaking it.
"I will."
After that, Ojiro left for the spectators stands while Midoriya sat down to contemplate the fight.
'We're up first, so no point going anywhere else until it's about to start. I wonder if he's able to fully control people? Maybe there's a limit to what he can order people to do….having full control over someone elses actions….'
Suddenly he let out a snarl without meaning to and he gripped the table as he felt his anger rise. 'huh, Bakugou maybe-'
His mark ached once more and his eyes widened. He heard footsteps outside and every muscle in his body screamed at him to run.
He did the first thing he could think of, firing out Far Reach to the support beams above and perching atop them, just in time as well. The door suddenly banged open and in stomped the man Midoriya was so curious of.
What really caught the boys attention and set him on edge was the ornate knife the man now wielded.
"Hmm….Dammit. bastard must be able to hide from the knife…" The man muttered as he took a moment to look around. Midoriya did his best to hide in the shadows, his outfit doing nothing to aide him. "Nothing. Oh well…I can get that tentecale later…."
With that, the man walked off and Izuku jumped back down, staring. "Tentecale? Did he mean my Far Reach…"
The boy started to hurry off, intending to warn a teacher when his footsteps suddenly stopped echoing and the floor became jagged. The air turned cold and he was no longer running down a hall but across a stone path to the outsider who was looking off the edge into the distance.
"You can't warn anyone, Izuku."
"Huh? What why? Who is he?!" Midoriya questioned, starting to feel annoyed by the new development. "Is he a demon?"
"No. He is a disgusting rat." The outsider spat and Midoriya was taken a back by the unbidden anger that came through the normally stoic god.
"T-that was vehement…who? Who is he?"
"You choose to call yourself a witch earlier and like I called him before, he is a false witch. I told you what happens when a person unprepared tries to access magic here, well he is here for your magic, using magic of his own."
"Wait seriously? But why isn't he all corrupted then?" Midoriya questioned with a raised brow and the black eyed deity just shook his head.
"In time, Izuku. For now, all you need to know is that the knife must be destroyed and you must not tell anyone about him. Not a single soul until you yourself have exited the competition. You have one more fight not in the bracket Midoriya. You can't lose it."
The greenette went to question the god more but before he could the rock they stood upon suddenly flipped around and Midoriya began to plummet through the void.
"I can't keep you any longer, your match is fast approaching. It's time you learned what Magic and One for All can do together."
With that, Midoriya found himself back in the hallway, yet closer to the ring. Somewhere in the stands Present Mics voice called out.
"JUST A FEW MORE MINUTES BEFORE THE FOGHTS BEGIN SPORTS FANS! ARE YOU REAAADDDY?!"
The crowd screamed yes in response cheering whooping.
Midoriya respinded with hitti g his head against the wall. "Apparently not as prepared as I thought."