But Shoto, you do wanna be a hero, don't you?
When did I forget what came after that?
Round 2 of the Sports Festival. My match with Izuku Midoriya.
If he can unleash that power as much as he wants, then I'm in trouble. He'll start with a counter, so rationally, as soon as the starting bell goes off…
"START!"
I let off a full blast of ice straight at him. No good holding back at all. With the snap of a finger, Midoriya unleashed a pretty staggering amount of energy, smashing straight though the ice I'd unleashed on him and blasting me back hard enough that if I hadn't set up an ice barrier behind me, I'd have indeed been blasted out of the ring.
Just as I thought. He's prepared to injure himself to counteract me.
"OH! HE BROKE RIGHT THROUGH!" came Present Mic's cry.
Well, he can't keep that up forever. Best keep right on attacking. Another ice wall straight at Midoriya. You've only got so many fingers to break. Watch me, old man. Watch me win against this powerful hero with nothing but Mom's power.
Once more - a smash, and my ice destroyed and blasted to bits, and another finger of Midoriya's broken.
"AND THERE GOES ANOTHER!" cried Mic.
Dammit, I thought as I straightened up from being blasted against the ice wall. Midoriya had countered me almost easily, but it was obvious he was in a hell of a lot of pain. And yet, there was a very strange look on his face - almost angry. Offended.
"You…." I murmured. Irritating. Frustrating.
I blasted off at him again. And once again he blasted backwards.
"Making this an endurance battle?" I demanded. "I'll end this soon, don't you worry."
I struck with ice and again - he countered. All the fingers on his right hand were done now.
More ice then. More and more. I ran towards him, the ice overwhelming him.
"TODOROKI CLOSES IN WITHOUT SO MUCH AS FLINCHING FROM MIDORIYA'S POWER!" commented Mic.
I jumped from the Ice straight at him, ready to move fast enough to stop him from using that power again. Punched the ground and threw more ice at him, as it started to cover his foot. He seemed cornered - and this time made a fist and used his whole arm.
Everything was blasted out of bounds with an explosion.
"Compared to before, ye's really putting his teeth into his blows. Like he's warning me not to get close," I murmured to myself, as I just barely avoided a ring out with the ice. Midoriya's whole left arm was broken, I saw as I shivered and stood up.
"All you're doing is running and defending, and you're already this beaten up?" I asked, looking at him with something close to pity. "I'm sorry, Midoriya. And thanks. Thanks to you," I added, glancing into the stands to see how angry my old man looked. "That damn man's face is looking grim. With your hands in that state, the match is over. Let's wrap this up." One more ice blast would be enough to send him out of bounds.
"AND TODOROKI PRESSES HIS RELENTLESS ASSUALT! ANOTHER FREEZE ATTACK FOR THE CLINCHING!"
"Where the hell are you looking?" Midoriya screamed at me, like an angry hiss. Not the words of a man being cornered by an oncoming ice wall.
SMASH
I was blasted back this time - another blast from Midoriya, destroying my ice and nearly pushing me out of bounds.
"You…you damn…" I could barely stagger out as I pulled myself up from my ice to stare at him.
You did this with your already broken finger?!
"Why are you going this far?" I asked. Why would you do this to yourself?
"You're shivering, Todoroki," he hissed at me. The look on his face was one I'd never seen him wear before. He was angry. Furious, actually…almost frightening. "Quirks are just another function of the body. So you must have a limit to how much of your cold you can endure, right? Which would mean that if you just used the heat from your left side, then there's no problem for you, right?" He seemed to scream in a primal gasp of rage. "Everybody's giving it their all! To win, to reach their goals, to becoming #1! You say you're gonna with with half your strength? Look at Me, Todoroki. You haven't been able to put a single scratch on me yet." And somehow, he formed his broken, bleeding, purple bruised hand into a fist. "So come at me with all you've got!" he screamed.
"What do you think you're doing?" was all I could say. "All my full power? Did my damn old man pay you off? Now I'm mad!"
At close range, any reaction should be delayed. I started running at him, meaning to close the gap.
Midoriya suddenly moved - the second I raised my left leg…damn him!
He was glowering - warming up, winding up - and he punched me in the stomach.
Not with his full power, just an adequate dose of it. Enough to wind me and blast me across the ring.
"OOH, AND A BITTER BLOW ON A BRITTLE BODY! BET YOU ALL FELT THAT ONE!"
Dammit, dammit dammit I was choking and coughing in pain, wrapped my hand around my stomach and tried not to vomit as I faced what seemed to be a half mad hurricane blowing me away. Why…
I threw - almost defensively - another blast of ice at him. "Your ice power is weakening!" He said.
And blasted again. Out of fingers. Too broken. No way, no way he could do anything. I blasted again - this is my chance -
He jammed his thumb inside his cheek and blasted off at me again.
I want to be like him. And for that, I need to become #1. Compared to what drives you, it might be a trifling motivation…
"Why Are you going this far?" I begged him.
"I want to live up to people's expectations!" he told me as he ran back at me. "I wanna be able to answer with a smile, I wanna become a super cool hero."
Shouto…her voice came back to me.
"That's why everyone's giving it their all!" he screamed, head butting me in the chest. "I can't even begin to understand your circumstances or your resolution, but even so, now I think the idea that you'll become #1 without using your full strength, then I don't think you're serious about denying him everything!"
it all came back to me…
"Stand up! If this is all it takes to make you fall, then you can forget about beating All might, or even a small time villain!"
HE'd beaten me into vomiting. She placed her protective hand on my back…
"Please stop, he's only five!"
"No, he's already five! Don't get in my way!" and he punched her.
"Shut up," I told Midoriya.
"I hate this, mommy. I - I don't ever want to be like dad. I don't want to be like someone who bullies mommy!"
"But you still wanna be a hero, right? It's OK, Shouto. You…If you have a strong vision for your future…."
"That's why…I'm gonna win!" he told me. Punching me. Throwing me back. "I'm gonna surpass you!"
"Stop that peeking Shouto. Those things, your older brothers are people who inhabit a different world from you."
"Mom, I - I think I might be going crazy. I can't take it anymore…every day, the kids - they get more and more like him…Shouto, that child's left side sometimes looks hideous to me. I can't take care of him anymore. If I raise him now, it'll be bad…"
"M-mommy?"
She looked at me…
"Where's mommy?"
"Er? She hurt my masterpiece, so I had her put away. I told her, this is the critical time."
I hate you. "It's your fault!"
I hate him. I hate him, I'll do whatever it takes…
I could barely begin to stagger to my feet now, I was so exhausted. "My father…"
"IT'S YOURS! ITS YOUR POWER, ISN'T IT?" Midoriya screamed at me.
"It's true that quirks are inherited by blood from parent to child, but what's really important is not that connection, but rather your own flesh and blood…it's yours and yours alone! And recognizing is part of the reason I always say: I am here. See?"
"But you do still want to be a hero, right? It's OK Shouto. You…you aren't a slave to your blood. You can be the man you want to be."
I was almost crying as my left side, almost unconsciously, burst into fire.
"Even though you wanna win. Goddamit. Going out of your way to help your enemy. Which one of us is screwing around now?" I asked him. "I - I'm gonna be a hero." And against all odds - I smiled.
"SHOUTO!" that damn old man's voice came from the stands. "So you've finally accepted yourself, have you? Good, excellent! Now is your true beginning! You who holds my blood, surpass me! And realize my ambition in yourself!"
I couldn't stop crying.
"AND MR ENDEAVOR WITH A VERY SUDDEN PEP TALK? MUST BE QUITE HTE DOTING DAD!" came Mic's comment.
I wiped my tears away and looked back at Midoriya. Against all odds, he was smiling. "Wow!" he said.
"What're you smiling about. With wounds like those, in your current situation…You're absolutely nuts. Don't blame me for what happens yet."
And both of us went all out. Him with every bit of punching power. Me with both sides. The ice and fire canceling each other out. It was the biggest inferno of power and danger I'd ever been in, but even as I held up my left hand to fight Midoriya and finally - if I could - win…I wasn't thinking about the match really.
I was thinking about how he'd said to use every bit of power I had. How my power was my own. "Midoriya. Thank you."
The explosion destroyed my ability to see anything around me. My clothes had burned off of me and Iooked around, trying to see Midoriya.
"WHAT WAS THAT - WHAT THE HELL EVEN IS YOUR HOMEROOM CLASS, DUDE?"
"The heat other cooled down air which then expanded."
"SO THAT'S HOW HE MADE SUCH A FIERY WIND BLAST - DAMN THAT'S HOT! AND I CAN'T SEE A THING! JUST WHO WON THIS MATCH!"
Midoriya was standing…then he was slumping - against the…
"MIDORIYA IS OUT OF BOUNDS. TODOROKI ADVANCES TO THE THIRD ROUND!"
