Mineta and Tsuyu were shown in the dark, wondering what happened to their headbands. Seeing as they had nothing left to lose, the group rushed headlong toward where Izuku and Todoroki's teams were staring each other down.
Sato nodded in appreciation. "Going right after those two is gutsy. And if they are both distracted by each other you might be able to get something out of it."
"That would be the best case scenario." Shoji nodded.
"Or we could get frozen solid." Mineta pointed out, looking warily at the screen.
"You must get really into it if the future you doesn't even think about that, kero."
"Nothing against you guys, but I'm hoping it doesn't work. I'm so ready to see what these two teams can do against each other." Kirishima said with a grin. Various classmates made noises of agreement.
Tokoyami hummed in disapproval. "So glad we can entertain all of you."
"Come on, it's like I just said." Sero waved a hand at the screen. "Even if this stuff ends up happening in the future, we won't be able to focus on it or see it super close up like this. We gotta enjoy this stuff while we can."
"It has been really cool to see everyone using their quirks together like this." Izuku admitted. He was going to have so much to add to his analysis journals after this was all said and done.
"It is a nice change of pace after some of the earlier episodes." Uraraka said. 'Especially if we have to go back to that later. This might be the largest number of episodes straight that Izuku has gone without yelling or screaming in pain.' she thought grimly.
Tokoyami commented that running into Todoroki's group so early meant that the other boy must think highly of Izuku.
The statement triggered something in the back of Ashido's mind. Not in a way that she really noticed, no wheels were turning just yet, but said wheels were now primed and ready to go. Aoyama's thoughtful hum showed he was in a similar state.
Izuku's group tried to run, and Todoroki was quick to react. He quickly gave instructions to his team, rushing after them and getting ready to strike. Izuku reminded his own team to keep a look out for other teams.
Aizawa slowly nodded in approval. Todoroki's orders showed that he clearly had a plan of attack set in place, and it sounded like it could be very effective. The others also listened to him well, which showed leadership on his part and cooperativeness on theirs. Midoriya was also learning to improve his situational awareness it seemed. Good signs for all of them, really, though Midoriya could do to show his nerves a bit less. He also wondered how Todoroki would fare if he wasn't in a leadership position. Would he be as cooperative as his teammates? He made a note in his own book to look into it once they left this place.
Momo made things to protect the group from shock, and Kaminari let loose a wide range attack. Dark shadow took the brunt for Team Midoriya, but everyone else in range got shocked with over a million volts.
Yells of pain sprang up around the room, along with some very loud curses. Tsuyu flinched hard enough that she leaped right out of her seat, and Mineta fell across Kaminari's lap. Shoji's cry was more like a grunt, but it still prompted Koda to fuss worriedly over both him and Sato. Tokoyami was once again murmuring internal comfort to Dark Shadow, while Ashido was making sure Hagakure was okay. Jirou went very rigid in her seat until the onscreen attack was over.
"Dude that hurt..." Mineta whined. Kaminari rubbed that back of his neck and smiled sheepishly.
"Sorry man, but it is a free for all, you know?"
"Kaminari..." Jirou growled, turning toward him threateningly. The smile fell from Kaminari's face.
"U-um, sorry! I am! And they told me to do it!"
"He has a point." Momo said, having the grace to look apologetic. "Myself and the rest of the group were all complicit in, and Kaminari is also right about the nature of the event."
Jirou looked at her, then sighed. She glared at Kaminari one more time before sitting down with a huff. It sucked to have the move that saved her at the USJ be used against her, but she couldn't argue their points. She had no doubt that if her future self could have found a way to use her quirk with that big of range during the battle, she would have too.
Todoroki quickly used his ice to freeze those they had shocked. Aizawa commented on how that showed he had clearly learned from the past, and found a way to make it harder for people to avoid.
"Aw, look at you getting involved in the commentary." Present Mic grinned. Aizawa just shrugged.
"It was a good show of team work, clever thinking, and learning from mistakes. It would be a shame if it went unnoticed in the chaos."
"That was awesome Todoroki! You're all working really great together!" Izuku gushed.
While the others all thanked Midoriya for the praise in own ways, Todoroki's gaze flickered back and force between his teacher and his rival. His father tended to praise power above all else, so he didn't often hear compliments that weren't centered around his quirk or physical strength. He knew it shouldn't matter to him, but it still felt nice to have to have those other aspects so openly complimented.
Team Todoroki continued pursuing Team Midoriya, and the former was quickly gaining ground on the latter. Tokoyami tried to use Dark Shadow to find them off, but was blocked by Momo. Izuku said she would be a problem, but then Tokoyami revealed that Kaminari was the real danger, since light on that level could greatly hurt Dark Shadow.
The mood became a bit more somber as people looked to Tokoyami with concern. The boy himself was a bit stiff in his seat; he disliked where this was going.
"Oh dude, is it really that bad? Did I hurt Dark Shadow that much? Because if I did, I'm really sorry." Kaminari said sincerely. Tokoyami sighed.
"It did hurt him, I could feel that much even if I can't produce him physically with whatever is canceling our quirks. But it wasn't enough to 'rip him apart' the way sunlight of that magnitude might have. Truth be told, I'm not sure if anything can truly kill him, but I would greatly prefer not to find out."
"Totally understandable dude. I'll try to be careful if we ever have to spar or anything again."
"That is appreciated."
A part of Uraraka was petty enough to be darkly satisfied when Mei's inventions started causing problems, but it paled in comparison to how worried she was about their chances against Todoroki's team without it.
The show suddenly went into a flashback to Izuku explaining his plans to Tokoyami before the cavalry battle began. This prompted Tokoyami to explain how light and darkness affected Dark Shadow's abilities. When it came back to the 'present', Izuku fully realized how hard the lightning would make things for Dark Shadow.
Tokoyami could still hear and feel Dark Shadow cowering in his head, not liking where things were going at all, or the fact that everyone now knew his weakness. 'It will be alright, we are among friends.' Tokoyami reminded him.
"I'm sorry Tokoyami, my thoughts kind of exposed you guys." Izuku said, hunching in on himself a bit.
"It is quite alright Midoriya. I agreed to the same 'sharing' terms as everyone else, and this is likely something that would have been discovered or shared anyway after enough time had passed. It is unfortunate that it happened in a way not of my choosing, but that is hardly your fault."
The camera suddenly zoomed out enough to show that Midoriya's team was now trapped between the edge of the field and Todoroki's ice.
"Oh no!" Uraraka cried.
"Hah, we got them cornered!" Kaminari grinned.
"That is a very advantageous position for us." Momo said, sounding more excited than one might expect given her phrasing.
"Very true, but it's not over yet." Iida said. The other two nodded, but their expressions didn't really change. Iida thought they were jumping the gun, but this was still a show to them. Their future selves certainly looked focused enough on screen, so he decided not to scold them for not taking things seriously. Though he did wonder if their thoughts might change if they could see the intense, thoughtful expression on Izuku's face. He looked over at Todoroki, and saw the boy looking at Izuku in a way that made it clear he wasn't discounting Izuku yet.
Izuku quickly surmised what a disadvantage they were at, though the enemy team wouldn't know all of it. Tokoyami confirmed that only Koda knew, from their time at the USJ, and he wasn't likely to spread it around.
"I do thank you for your discretion, my friend." Tokoyami said, turning to Koda, who gave him a smile and a thumbs up.
Izuku started to think of a plan, but before it was revealed the scene cut back to Team Bakugo and Team Monoma. One of Monoma's 'horses' warned him not to provoke Bakugo.
"Shoulda put that extra in charge instead of this dumbass." Bakugo growled.
"Yeah kid, listen to your friend. You'll be less likely to get blown to bits." Harakure said.
"You're still on him about stealing your headband earlier huh?" Ashido asked.
"You bet I am!"
Monoma ignored the other kid and continued to taunt Bakugo. Kirishima tried to get Bakugo to calm down, but it didn't work. Bakugo insisted he was completely calm despite the deranged look on his face. Doing their best to trust him, Team Bakugo did as told and went after them.
Aizawa was beginning to wonder just how many times he would end up writing 'get Bakugo into anger management classes' into his notebook before they got out of here.
The rest of Team Bakugo gave each other uneasy looks. Bakugo was too busy staring at the screen, ready and eager to see his future self destroy the other team, to notice.
Bakugo went in for an explosive punch, but Monoma defelected it. When Bakugo turned around, Monoma set off an explosion in the boy's face.
"What the hell?!" Bakugo cried, both from the surprise and the pain the flared to life in his face.
"Wait, so he has an explosion quirk too?" Kirishima asked in disbelief. He was also wincing from the unexpected explosion.
"If he does, it's weird we didn't see it before now. Even with 1B 'lying low' you think he would have used it during the obstacle race at some point." Ojiro pointed out.
Izuku mind was already racing, thinking of what that explosion might mean about Monoma's quirk.
Monoma made a point of touching Kirishima's hair before Bakugo went after him again.
'He touched Kaachan just a second ago too. Now he did the same to Kirishima just before Kaachan tried to hit him again. Could it be, a copy quirk? One based off of touch?'
Izuku was proven right a few moments later as Bakugo's explosion went off, only to be blocked by Monoma's Hardened arm. Bakugo quickly came to the same conclusion as Izuku, which lead to Monoma having a close up quirk explanation.
"Of course! That makes a lot of sense, and it can be a very powerful quirk, but it would have it's drawbacks too. He would obviously work well in groups, but if he ever had to face a villain alone he could run into problems, especially if it's one that can attack from a distance. His calmness and the way he blocked Kaachan shows he's probably accounted for that to some degree at least, but it would still put him at a disadvantage in certain circumstances. He obviously doesn't have to wait for the five minutes to be up, which is useful, but if he had to touch different people to switch between quirks that could be cumbersome in other ways and..."
Izuku had to be shaken a bit to break him out of his muttering trance and the show could continue. Still more than one student stopped themselves from complaining about Monoma's quirk seeming overpowerd, after catching what Izuku said about the drawbacks.
"Hmm, I wonder if his quirk at all plays into that competitiveness he has." Recover Girl mused. "Even with quirk therapists being fairly affordable these days, I've seen my fair share of students with complexes based around how their quirk works or how it affects them. Had to recommend therapists myself on occasion."
"It is certainly a possibility. If he copies others it could result in him feeling he has little to offer himself, which would cause him to become jealous of others easily." Nedzu said with a nod of acknowledgment.
Yagi made a mental note to talk to Vlad about that possibility, or at least direct him to talk to Recovery Girl or the Principal about it. Healthy competition is all well and good, but he would hate for it to spiral into anything unpleasant, for Monoma or anyone else.
Bakugo tried to go after Monoma again, but another team interfered and stuck them in place. While Ashido worked on freeing them, Monoma pointed out that Bakugo had provoked them first, reminding him of the pledge he made to everyone.
"Okay, I'll admit it, he's got a point this time." Hagakure said, though she folded her arms unhappily.
"Yeah Bakugo, you were pretty much daring everyone else to come at you." Sero pointed out.
"Which means I just have to make his defeat all the more crushing and absolute." Bakugo said with a feral grin.
Back with Team Midoriya and Team Todoroki, it was revealed that Midoriya's team had managed not to get caught for 5 minutes straight, and the battle had one minute left.
"That is most impressive." Iida said. "From what I hear from my brother, and my own experience running for help at the USJ, a few minutes seems an eternity when you are being pressed. "
"Yeah, good job Uraraka, you too Tokoyami! With the way our team is set up, keeping us away from other teams is all on you." Izuku praised.
"Dang, I figured we would have had them by now." Kaminari complained. Momo frowned in thought.
"Doubtless we are all feeling pressured with so little time remaining. We may have been cautious before so as not to lose our own points, but with only one minute left things may change." Momo turned to Todoroki. "Do you anticipate going after Midoriya still, or do you think you would be satisfied with moving forward?"
"If I said I would get his headband, then I will." Todoroki said firmly. Internally, he was starting to feel frustrated. Midoriya and his team were certainly strong opponents to have lasted that long, caution or no.
All Might was shown, saying Midoriya was doing a good job. Endeavor only criticized his son's performance.
"How rude." Aoyama huffed.
"I know, right?" Ashido pouted along with him.
"I thought we were doing very well." Momo said, suddenly looking unsure. Jirou sat up to protest.
"You are. You guys got all those headbands earlier and managed to trap the team with the 10 million. Even if you don't end up getting it, you've still put on a great show."
"My father only cares about results. He'll be disappointed if I don't get into first place here." Todoroki intoned.
Izuku's elation at being praised by the on-screen All Might was at war with being offended that Endeavor apparently put so little stock in what Todoroki had already achieved. All Might himself was rubbing his chin in thought.
'It seems Endeavor has incredibly high standards for his son. Is that what has caused the rift between them? Has Endeavor been pushing him too hard?'
Todoroki's thoughts revealed his assessment of their situation, including how Izuku had been moving so that Todoroki couldn't use his ice at full power without hindering his own team.
"A sound strategy, my boy." All Might praised, not even thinking how that one line put him in such contrast with the Endeavor that had just been shown on screen.
Meanwhile, Mineta and Sero were tending to Kaminari. The on-screen Kaminari hadn't quite zombified himself yet, but he had definitely overused his quirk and that was making their Kaminari pretty dizzy.
Todoroki was just wishing his future self knew about how greatly the electricity affected Dark Shadow.
Iida suddenly started talking about a move he was going to use, one that would put him out of commission afterwards so everyone had to get ready.
People leaned forward in interest. Momo, Kaminari, and Todoroki found themselves instinctively tensing, though they knew it probably wouldn't help.
Izuku immediately perked up, and turned to his friend excitedly.
"Iida! Do you have a special move?"
"Well, yes, assuming I'm doing what I think I'm doing."
"Iida! Have you been holding out on us?" Uraraka asked.
"It's not so much that, but that I've hardly had a chance to use this before. It wouldn't have been very appropriate for the indoor battle, and I didn't dare use a one time move when running for help at the USJ." He looked at Izuku. "You are surprisingly excited for someone I'm about to use it on."
"I'm always excited to see new moves!" Izuku said, making Iida smile.
Iida's engines fired off with more power than ever seen before, and Todoroki grabbed the headband in a flash of speed.
"No way!" Izuku and Uraraka shouted together. They were the most intelligible among all the other noises of surprise.
"Ack! Ow! Those arms aren't gonna feel normal for a while." Kaminari said, rubbing his shoulders. Momo was doing the same and grimacing as well.
"My apologies to both of you." Iida said, getting up to bow at them.
"It's quite alright, you did warn us beforehand." Momo reassured. Kaminari grinned.
"And it let us get the headband finally! Nice grab Todoroki!"
The other boy simply nodded, his eyes still on screen. The battle wasn't over yet, after all.
Iida explained to his team how he managed to get such a powerful burst of speed, and that the cost was that he'd be unable to use his engines for a while. He reminded Izuku that he would challenge him with a grin.
"Oh man, the look on Midoriya's face." Kaminari crowed.
"You're certainly living up to your word." a smile slowly spread over Izuku's face. "Don't think I'm gonna let that go without a fight though."
"Of course not." Iida said with a rare smirk.
While Present Mic went on about the turn of events, Endeavor was shown to smile while All Might looked nervous.
More than one person noticed the timing of Endeavor's change of heart, including Aizawa, who frowned deeply. Nedzu was watching it all with interest.
"Pay no attention to my other self, young Midoriya, I'm sure he's just caught up in the moment. I have every confidence in you!"
"Th-thanks All Might! I won't let you down!"
Team Midoriya considered going for other points rather than take on Todoroki with so little time, but Izuku insisted they go after them, since they knew Todoroki's team had enough points to keep their own team in the game. With that, Uraraka pushed them forward without hesitation. Izuku remembered how all of their hopes were riding on him right then, and that pushed him to do something daring.
"Whoa whoa whoa, going a little far their aren't you?" Kaminari protested, the sight of the glowing arm managing to get past the haze in his brain. Izuku only set his shoulders, eyes glinting with determination.
"I- I understand your concern, but I think I know what I'm doing. I've been able to use it without breaking anything before because I was using it against a person, so I can do it again. That has to be what I'm thinking."
"That was one time!"
"Please everyone, contain yourselves and trust in your classmate." Iida said.
"Yeah, Deku wouldn't do anything to hurt anyone that badly, even if there is a lot on the line." Uraraka nodded confidently.
"Tell that to someone who isn't in the line of fire!"
"I am in the line of fire too." Iida pointed out.
"Oh yeah."
"Hurting himself is another matter entirely." Aizawa muttered to himself. Yagi found himself agreeing with a grim nod.
As Izuku came at him, Todoroki raised his arm to block, and a small amount of fire came off of it.
Todoroki sucked in a sharp breath, and his fists balled up so tight his knuckles turned white. No. No he wasn't going to use it! He'd sworn he wouldn't! Yet he'd still brought it out for the block on pure instinct. 'Damn it!'
Only Momo was close enough to hear him gasp. She looked over at him in concern, but was once again lost on what to say. A moment later, and the time to say anything had passed.
Before they could connect, the scene moved back to Monoma's team,
"Oh come on!" the class cried.
"Finally!" Bakugo grinned
with Bakugo still chasing after them. Monoma's annoyance at Bakugo swiftly changed to surprise as the boy used his explosions to throw himself at the group. Another boy used his quirk to put up a physical shield between them. The team felt triumphant once again, until Bakugo punched through the shield and grabbed two headbands.
Cheers went up through the room, even from students that didn't really like Bakugo. Because in that moment they disliked Monoma even more.
"Look at his face!" Hagakure cried gleefully.
"Now that's a look that says 'mistakes were made'." Sero snickered.
"The exact moment he realized he'd messed up." Ashido said with a grin.
Bakugo was saved from falling by Sero once again.
"Awesome job man!" Kirishima praised.
"Yeah, we'd be dead in the water without you." Ashido agreed.
"Aw, thanks guys!"
"You'd be dead without me too." Bakugo grumbled.
"Exactly, it's a team effort." Kirishima said, which assuaged Bakugo only slightly.
Sero said that Bakugo's team was set now, but Bakugo wouldn't hear of anything other than 'indisputable first place' and demanded they still go after Monoma.
"Ow, hey! Dude! Not cool! If you want me to go faster just say so!" Kirishima glared at Bakugo, while rubbing the top of his head.
"You have hardening, you can take it!"
"It's the principle of it!"
Bakugo laid out his plans to get Monoma's points and the 10 million, which actually psyched up the rest of the team. He quickly started giving orders, a strategy coming together, though he forgot each of their names and called them nicknames instead.
"It's the weirdest thing." Sero mused. "Bakugo is super inspiring, yet super condescending at the same time."
"I think it's more that he can quickly switch between one and the other." Ashido said. "Either way it's effective."
"I can hear you Racoon Eyes."
"That's not my name!"
Both All Might and Aizawa were thinking/commentating that there was a difference in drive between those who were aiming for the top and those aiming just to pass, which Monoma did not take into account. That's what allowed Bakugo's team to snatch the rest of Monoma's headbands.
Aizawa and Yagi looked at each other, once again surprised that their thoughts had been so similar.
"Yeah man! They're so right! That's what makes you so manly!" Kirishima cheered. He looked thoughtful after a moment. "It would be even more manly if you remembered people's names and did stuff for better teamwork, but it's still pretty manly."
Bakugo didn't want to think much about the second part just then, so he focused on the first part and grinned at how he'd just put that 1B extra in his place.
Back with Todoroki and Deku. Deku slashed his arm to the side suddenly, hitting Todoroki with a blast of wind rather than his hand. Todoroki was put off balance and Izuku was able to grab a headband as they passed.
"YES!" Izuku and Uraraka cheered together. Iida wasn't sure if he should feel happy for them or nervous for his own team. He settled on feeling both.
"Oh man!" Kaminari moaned. Momo just looked thoughtful and continued to watch.
Todoroki grit his teeth, angry at himself for using his fire and for getting so distracted.
Only moments later did Izuku realize that he'd grabbed the wrong headband, he had one worth less than 100. They would need more to win. Iida tried to get Todoroki back in the game, since he was still staring at his arm.
Momo nodded to herself in satisfaction, like a theory of hers had just been proven right. Then she saw what the Todoroki on screen was doing, and turned to him. The real life one was looking at his arm too.
"Todoroki, are you alright?" she asked.
It took a moment, but he did look up at her. "I'm fine."
"I should have grabbed more than one." Izuku moaned. He held his arm as he slumped back into the couch. The pain hadn't been enough to make him cry out this time, but he could still feel the burn of it in his muscles. At least he managed not to break it again.
"Why didn't you? It seems like something you would normally think of." Iida eyed him critically, and Izuku blushed.
"You know I can't say for sure...but maybe I figured if I took too much they wouldn't go on, and they did so well I thought they deserved to, so..."
Uraraka sighed fondly. "You really are too good something Deku."
Ten seconds were left. Dark Shadow went after Team Todoroki but was stopped by Kaminari. Bakugo suddenly burst through ice, ready to snag the 10 million for himself. Team Todoroki had two teams coming for them, and Iida couldn't move them out of the way. Todoroki braced himself.
The time came up before any of them could meet.
The anticlimactic ending had several students, and Present Mic, nearly joining the on-screen Bakugo in face planting onto the ground. None of them quite did, but there were a lot of people slumping over or palms meeting faces.
"DAMMIT!" Bakugo cried. Sero winced in sympathy.
"Oof, sorry man. You're face is taking kind of a beating this round huh?"
"I don't give a shit about that!"
Izuku could only stare at the screen in disbelief. "I...Uraraka I'm..."
"It's okay Deku." she said softly.
'No it's not.' he thought.
Tokoyami merely let out a sigh.
Each team was shown as the match came to an end, no one seeming to be happy with the end results. Not even Todoroki, even as Present Mic announced them in first place. Momo and Iida talked about how it felt they just barely managed.
Kaminari would have said something comforting at this point, but that last blast of his quirk had taken the last of his faculties. So someone else spoke up instead.
"Even if it felt like that, you guys still made it in the end. You should be proud, you all did great." Izuku said with a wobbly smile.
"So did you Midoriya." Iida said, with Momo nodding in agreement. Izuku just looked away, knowing the difference was that his effort hadn't been enough. He tried so hard yet still he couldn't keep up...
Bakugo's team was named second. Ashido shook the nerves out of her while Sero declared 2nd place to be good. Kirishima pointed out how Bakugo clearly didn't share the sentiment, as the blonde was still shaking and yelling.
"Hmph, one thing that 1B Bastard was right about was the different phases. I'll end up being number one by the end, just you wait." Bakugo growled, hands twitching.
'Well...at least he's not discouraged.' Kirishima thought, looking at the boy next to him. He shared a 'what can you do?' look with Sero and Ashido.
Present Mic declared the third place team, Team Shinsou. The purple haired boy thanked the team, who all looked incredibly confused for some reason.
"You teamed up with someone from the another class?" Sato looked at Ojiro in surprise.
"Apparently." Ojiro said, frowning. "Pretty sure I would have gone for someone from 1A, but maybe they all got grouped up too fast..." 'But then why do I look like a little kid who got lost in the mall?'
Aoyama was too busy curling up in pain from quirk overuse to comment.
It said something about how dejected Izuku was that he wasn't immediately making note of the strangeness of the team's expressions and theorizing over what Shinsou's quirk might be.
Midoriya's team was shown. He started to apologize to them, but then the girls smiled and pointed at Tokoyami.
Uraraka, Izuku, and Tokoyami all perked up.
Tokoyami revealed that, due to Izuku's efforts, Dark Shadow was able to slip in and get one more headband. Midoriya burst into tears as they were declared the fourth place team.
Their Izuku burst into tears at the same time.
"We did it Deku! All of us!" Uraraka cried, she threw herself at him for a hug and Izuku automatically moved to allow it. She suddenly shot up after a moment.
"Wait a minute, here!" She grabbed Izuku's hand and dragged him off the couch and over to where Tokoyami sat. "You gotta be in this too!" She cried.
Tokoyami's eyes went wide, but then he smiled softly and stood. "If you insist."
The next moment the three were hugging, with Midoriya still crying, and Uraraka gleeful and Tokoyami patting both of their backs comfortingly.
"T-tell Dark Shadow thank you too." Izuku said through the last of his sobs.
"Yeah, he was great!"
Tokoyami chuckled, he could still hear his other celebrating and gloating in the back of his mind. "Trust me, he is aware."
While Team Midoriya celebrated, Todoroki was shown to be staring at his left hand. He scolded himself for coming so close to giving his father what he wanted.
"What's the big deal about that anyway?" Kaminari asked. "I mean, if the fire was dangerous or hard to control or something I'd get it, but you never say it's about that. Seems like it's always about your dad. You two get into a fight or something?"
"It's none of your business." Todoroki said coldly. Kaminari held up his hands in surrender.
"Geeze dude, sorry I asked."
At this point, Aizawa was very confused and concerned, and a little bit angry. Why would Todoroki limit himself like that? And a limit it clearly was if bringing up his arm while on fire was such an instinctual thing to do that he didn't really notice until later. It would be ridiculous to refuse using half of your quirk's power over a disagreement, which likely meant this was something more than a disagreement. Given that, and the on-screen Endeavor barely even seeming happy with his son having just won an entire section of the festival, he was beginning to wonder about a few things. If he was anywhere close to right, this probably wouldn't be something Todoroki would want to talk about in front of the whole class. It would probably be better to pull Todoroki over and ask about it in private.
But he was getting the sinking feeling that this 'show' might not give him a choice in how the matter was revealed, just like with Bakugo and Midoriya in the beginning..
An hour break was called for lunch at the festival. A team from 1B was shown lamenting how they lost their points, and it was revealed that they were the ones that took the points from team Mineta.
"Those jerks!" Mineta cried, pointing an accusatory finger at the screen. He didn't care how pretty that vine girl was, she was still a jerk!
"They were just doing their best like the rest of us, kero."
"It was pretty clever, how they did it. Wish I could have given you guys just a little more cover." Shoji said.
The purple haired boy, Shinsou, was shown passing by.
Ojiro frowned. He was really getting a bed feeling about that kid.
Tsuyu congratulated Ashido, though Ashido admitted she wasn't sure how much the whole thing actually reflected on her abilities.
"Even if you got on the team for a seemingly superficial reason, that does not mean you didn't put forth a good showing." Momo pointed out, smiling at her. "I don't believe your team would have been able to catch up to Monoma's without you."
"Oh yeah, that sliding acid dash thing we pulled off was sick!" Kirishima gushed. Sero grinned along with him.
"Our quirks worked together better than I expected; I'm glad we had you."
Ashido's eyes went wide at all the sudden praise. She hazarded a look at Bakugo.
"I wouldn't pick weaklings for my team." Bakugo grunted. Ashido grinned. That was pretty high praise coming from him.
"Thanks guys!"
Uraraka was grilling Iida about keeping his special move a secret, which Iida argued back was a completely reasonable thing to do for such a competition. Kaminari passed by, brain still fried.
"Oh geeze not again." Mineta said, suddenly having to steady a listless Kaminari once again.
"We gotta find a way to help him with this." Sero said, helping the smaller boy out.
"Trust me, it's on my to do list." Recovery Girl said. Aizawa nodded, it was on his too.
Uraraka suddenly wondered where Deku had gone. A moment later, it was shown that Todoroki was staring him down in an empty hallway near an exit. Izuku asked him what he wanted to talk about.
"Todoroki." Uraraka's voice was low and clearly suspicious. "You aren't gonna threaten him or something are you?"
"I don't know why we're there." He said. Which was true. He had suspicions, but he didn't know for sure. That future him didn't have all the information that he did right now, so would he really have been able to figure out the relationship to All Might with so little to go off of? Maybe he just wanted to talk about his challenge again...
Elsewhere, All Might approached Endeavor. All Might invited Endeavor to tea, which only gained a scornful look from the other. The episode ended there.
The students really didn't know what to make of that last bit. Plenty of hero news liked to talk about the top two pros having a rivalry, but that reaction seemed a lot angrier than simple rivalry called for.
All Might was confused too. He'd never gotten along especially well with Enji, but he was hoping the man would mellow out once they left the direct confrontation that school put them into. Given how the man had reacted to watching his son, and that look, All Might was beginning to think that may have been too optimistic.
"Well now," Nedzu said, standing up. "as intrigued as everyone is, it is high time for another break." some of the student groaned. "Now now, proper circulation is important. We all need to stretch our legs."
While most of the class got food and used the bathroom and talked animatedly about how the cavalry battle went down, one student stood apart from it all.
"Todoroki."
The boy had been standing off to the side and looking down in thought. His teacher's voice made him look up.
"Yes, Mr. Aizawa?"
"I've noticed some rather concerning behavior from your father in the last couple of episodes, and you've made your dislike for him clear."
Todoroki just nodded. Aizawa sighed.
"Is there anything you'd like to tell me?"
"...no, sir."
"You realize that, whatever is going on, it might come out anyway?"
Todoroki looked away. "Yes."
Aizawa put a hand on his student's shoulder, making the boy look back at him. "Todoroki. I want you to know, that no matter what ends up being revealed, if anything, I and the school will do our best to support you. And if nothing is shown to us here, then I am still available to talk about anything that is troubling you. The whole staff is, if you would be more comfortable talking to one of them."
Todoroki remained silent for a few long moments. His face was unreadable, but Aizawa still got the feeling that his words and intentions were being scrutinized closely.
"I'll remember."
Todoroki closed off completely then, and Aizawa knew that was the best he could hope for. For now, at least.
A.N.
I know next episode is the one everyone has been waiting for, but I hope you enjoyed this one too. :)
