Chapter 9:

One thing I remembered about Todoroki, was that he was raised to be the number one hero, and Endeavor never treated him as a child, but only as a tool to surpass All Might.

In the original, the protagonist used the power of friendship to make Endeavor see the wrong of his ways or something like that, and turn Shoto into a better person. Now there's two problems with that. 1. I suck at empathy and making people better, and 2. I simply don't want to forgive Endeavor. However, it wouldn't do good for us to have Shoto as the lone wolf, and being friends with him would be nice.

Plan made, I approached Shoto.

"Hey Todoroki, you got a minute?" I asked as others began to leave. He just nodded, and signed to leave the way. I already spotted a nice place out of the way, and so we went there.

"I like to know who are my allies, and so at the start of the school year I made some papers about all of our classmates, including you. Except, unlike others, yours had a lot more information. Like, how you never ever use the fire side of your quirk, or how your parents were in a quirk marriage. There's also the thing about Endeavor being the eternal second, looking at it from his viewpoint, if he can't surpass All Might, might as well make someone who can."

During my monologue he was getting angrier and angrier, and at that last sentence there was a sharp spike of ice near my neck. Not lethal, but I certainly wouldn't have been able to continue speaking, had I been a normal person. I understood the symbolic meaning however.

"Get to the point." he hissed out.

"The point is" I continued, completely calm like nothing happened "is that the person who is supposed to surpass All Might may not want to. And that person is you. Do you actually want to be a hero Shoto, or is it just Endeavor's tool that I'm seeing?!"

I knew I choose the right place when the entire hallway froze, covered in ice.

"Shut up!" he lost his composure "I'll show him! I'll become the greatest with just ice!"

"Well of course! But showing it to him through other people? Is that really enough? Wouldn't it be nicer if it you showed it to him by defeating him, standing on his body frozen in ice?!" At this point Shoto noticed himself, and there was no more ice. He glared at me, but I dropped the seed of the idea into his mind, so I left, when I was out of his view I began sprinting, and didn't stop 'till I reached the restroom. I splashed water in my face, and laughed.

I did it! I managed to keep calm! It was hard as hell, but I did it! It wasn't quite the shonen protagonist route, but I managed to change someone! Really, it's progress. I'm not a master manipulator, but I've got my moments. Up until this point, Shoto only wanted to show his father that he didn't need his fire side, but now, I've put the idea in his head, that in order to really show him he needed to defeat him with ice! And thus, his trauma will be solved, and I gain at least an ally if not a friend, but hopefully a friend.

Lunch was over, and recreational games started. First thing I noticed is that apparently all the girls from the class were somehow tricked, since they all wore those cheerleaders outfits. Poor souls, they should think more next time.

One thing I overheard from Momo was a "Damn Minoru!" which meant that it was one of the small pervert's schemes.

Thinking about him, he wasn't very useful, wasn't helping others nor an important character, so maybe I could just kill him and make it seem like the villains did, to give the class some extra motivation sometime.

They didn't change clothes however, and the next part of the festival was announced, 1 on 1 battles, tournament style. The number of students at the end of the third phase was fourteen, so there will be seven one on one fights first, then three one on one's, with someone getting a free pass, then two 1 on 1 fights, then the finale. We were told that after the brackets were determined, the recreational games would start, and then the tournament itself. Us in the third phase had the option to not take part in the recreation.

Before anything could happen, Ojiro withdrawed, citing that he didn't remember anything from the cavalry battle, and that he felt he didn't earn the opportunity. I swear, these students are just so heroic sometimes it's sickening. Throwing away a good opportunity like this. Another student from the same team did, some noname side character from class B. Laser-belly boy however didn't and stayed. Because now there were twelve students in the third phase, they just moved in two students from the fifth team. Who, again, heroically refused the chance and offered it to another class B team, who they felt did more to earn it. They accepted it, and now the game was on.

The placements were decided, and they were the following:

Match 1: Shinso vs Kamiyama

Match 2: Todoroki vs Hatsume

Match 3: Kaminari vs Shiozaki

Match 4: Iida vs Uraraka

Match 5: Aoyama vs Ashido

Match 6: Yaoyorozu vs Tokoyami

Match 7: Tetsutetsu vs Kirishima

With that, the recreation started.

And nothing interesting happened during that. I ate a lot of food to replenish all the energy I could, but again, nothing interesting.

When it was time for my match to start, I was like "Finally!" and went out there to stand against Shinso. I knew what his quirk was. I needed to answer, and without that he had no power over me. And if he did manage to brainwash me, that would mean releasing my unconscious control that I always had on my quirk, so again, not good for him. Neither for me in the long run, but at least I would be alive.

Cementoss told us that we needed to immobilise our opponent, remove them from the fighting arena, or make them say "I give up."

Shinso started talking, but I wasn't interested, and so I just broke down my arms and rushed forward. He leapt out of the way, but he didn't have much combat experience. I was easily able to catch him, and using my arms I bound him, and made sure to close it around his mouth extra carefully. Didn't want his quirk activating after all.

"Shinso is bound, Kamiyama advances to the second round!" Hearing Midnight was a nice change of pace, at least she didn't scream like Present Mic.

"Not showing your quirk to the enemy is a standard move that most should know, but it's the most important when there's a simple weakness. You should keep that in mind." This time my canon knowledge saved me, but this could be useful, actually asking around what are people's quirks, just to document them. You can never know when it's going to be useful.

"But, your quirk is great, maybe we should train together sometime." I told him quietly, which elicited a gasp, with a murmured "Maybe" before he left.

I won't deny that I was an opportunist here, since his quirk is just great if you need to deal with people. You need someone like him in every squad, someone who doesn't do combat but something else.

The second match was nothing interesting, Todoroki won without problems. Not just without problems, but he went way overboard on poor Mei. I didn't like her all that much, but she was at least honest, which I could appreciate.

Next match, Kaminari managed to embarrass himself. Nothing out of the ordinary.

Now, the fourth match was interesting. I knew that in our little friend group of three, Ochaco was more Iida's friend than mine, which was fine, I wasn't the protagonist for whom she was created for, but it was going to be interesting seeing how they could stack up against each other.

- POV change -

"Iida-kun! Even though we're friends, I won't hold back!" said Ochaco, seconds before their fight started.

"I would expect nothing less from you Uraraka-chan! Know it that I will not hold back either!"

With a "Start!" the battle was on. However, neither of them acted, waiting for the other to make the first move. It was like this for a couple seconds, until Iida's muscles twitched, and he shot forward like a bullet, trying to gain enough momentum to push Ochaco out in one move. It looked like Ochaco was rooted to the ground, not even trying to dodge up until the last second, when she leapt forward to surprise Iida, which worked and she managed to touch him, and activate her quirk. She decided on this strategy due to realizing that she would never be fast enough to catch Iida on her own, and so she needed him to come to her.

Directly after she touched him, Iida kicked himself away, floating high into the sky.

The crowd watched intently, fearing for him, since it appeared that he was caught in Ochaco's trap. Except! Except he wasn't! He was prepared, and so as he planned he reoriented himself, and using the engines in his legs, he used the momentum that they provided, pushing himself towards Ochaco, floating like an astronaut.

With his response being so unexpected, Ochaco didn't react in time, and Iida managed to push her, while being pushed back in the process, like it was a game of pong. While Uraraka was in the better position, being on the ground and all, Iida had much more freedom of movement with his improvised flying system, and Ochaco couldn't reach her, so he could easily go on the offensive.

Again, he used his engines to fly in the air, and again Ochaco defended. It went like this, a couple of times, like playing ping-pong with a wall. Iida was never able to get enough force in to significantly push Ochaco, but neither was she powerful enough to give enough of a push so he would float off the arena.

It was in that moment that Iida came up with a plan. It was a risky plan, but if it succeeded he would gain victory. With the situation being what it was, he knew that in order to win one had to risk losing, since nothing was gained from being static, unchanging, not being willing to use new strategies.

It was with this conviction that he flied into Uraraka again, but this time he made sure to go too low, so Ochaco was able to get in a good hit, sending him flying, but instead of getting out of bounds, he used the momentum to reverse it, and flip in the air, getting behind Ochaco while still going fast. From behind, he rammed into her like a bull, and used his super move "Engine boost!" to not allow her a moment of respite, and didn't stop until she was pushed off, barely being able to stop himself by quickly putting his feet in front.

"Uraraka is out of bounds, Iida advances to the next round!"

- POV change -

Ochaco and Iida came back up to the stands together, both being in high spirits, feeling that it was a good match, and the winner deserved it, there was no anger between them. That concept was, such an alien one to me. To just not be angry at someone after losing to them. Me, even when I tried not to be, I still felt enough whenever I lost at anything, no matter what. Maybe not much, maybe enough that it could easily be concealed, but it was always there. But not to them. It was like their friendship was even better than before.

The next match, Acid-girl versus Laser-boy. Mina used her acid that came out of her legs like Todoroki his ice, sliding on it, evading the laser, waiting for a moment to strike. Smart tactic, wait for Laser-boy to exhaust himself while dodging from a distance, then go in for the "kill". I couldn't help but compare the usability of their quirks. Aoyama's sucked, it had a one second time limit, it wasn't even hitscan for god's sake! While acid was good for a lot of things, like breaking locks, burning out people's insides, you know, the good stuff. It didn't even take that much time for blondie to get a stomach ache, and he was easily hit by Mina's acid. No great loss there, unless you ask the little pervert about it.

The sixth match was between Momo and Fumikage, and I could already see how it would end. While Momo could create a lot of items, she couldn't build big structures like a mecha, and with a staff or a sword she couldn't defeat Fumikage's quirk, which even in broad daylight easily overpowered her in the physical department. It was how I predicted, Momo was instantly forced on the defensive, and easily kicked out of bounds. When she came back to the stands, she looked really downtrodden, and because she was supposed to represent our class, I told her something to cheer her up:

"Don't be down president, Tokoyami's quirk is a lot more suited to combat than yours, and it's only the first year. I'm sure you'll get better!" She appeared to be a little happier because of them, and so I mentally patted myself on the shoulders for a job well done.

The seventh match came, and it was between Stone-boy and Steel-boy. I swear, you could make like a couple hundred quirks just by changing the minerals. Someone changes into ruby, someone into copper, you can play a game of chance with the periodic table. Kirishma won, even though steel is harder than stone, combat experience outweighs density. With that, the first round ended.

It was time for my match against Shoto. I needed to end it fast, since I saw what he did against Mei, and breaking out of something like that would be problematic. Thank god he doesn't use his fire side though, I'm not good against that. I skillfully evaded Endeavor, I'm not going to risk talking to him just before my match with his son.

It was minutes later that I was standing in front of Todoroki, Present Mic talking in the background about something that I couldn't care less about. Words didn't matter now, only actions.

With a shout of "Start!" my shell broke off, and I was in a great form made out of void, however Todoroki didn't waste time, and as wave of ice hit me, I got frozen, just like Mei before me. The same feeling came back that I had at the combat test, but I controlled my emotions, and didn't let my anger get the better of me. I momentarily increased my size, like a bomb, and breaking out of the ice I began to run towards Shoto. Thankfully, the ice wasn't the same size as before, so it was easier.

Shoto was trained to fight from a young age, and he could dodge a hell of a lot better than Shinso, and I had to continually fight my frustration to avoid losing control. Another wave of ice was sent at me, and before I was frozen I already broke out, running again, and this is how it went. Todoroki was running, and I was chasing, constantly getting frozen but never fast enough to catch him. The handle I had at my emotions was slipping, slipping and I wasn't able to keep it steady.

It was only a matter of time before I lost a bit of control, and the more monstrous side of my quirk came up. I didn't have perfect clarity then, but I rushed Todoroki like there was nothing else in the world, and this prompted him to use his ultimate attack.

I was frozen in a block of ice. Not one part of my body was outside it, it was around me, covering the arena in front of me, and probably behind me as well. I was restrained, unable to move, I had lost. I had lost the match, and I had lost control.

"Frozen. I am frozen. I lost, I'm bound. Todoroki won. But how? He's just a mortal. He's below me. I won't lose to such an insect!

Ice shattered as I let my true power show, and people screamed. The arena floor was covered in void, and the endless nothingness that made it up was reflected in it. Yes mortals, see the eternal beauty! Todoroki didn't know what happened, such cluelessness. He was looking at me, like I was some sort of 'monster'. Like, I was a rabid ANIMAL!! Tentacles grew from the void of the arena floor, and he was bound. He struggled, but it was fruitless, no mortal could challenge my power.

Burning. I'm burning! He used it?! He let his conviction go when he fought against me?! He thinks that his fire could save from me?!

I let out a scream of the truth, and the mortals were stopped in their tracks. Yes, yes, see the true power! See your meaningless little lives, insects! His fire didn't burn anymore, and he had no ice, and little Shoto was bound in front of me, covered in void, only his face and his hair being visible.

I heard someone scream "Todoroki is bound, Kamiyama won, the match is over, it's over!" but this mortal challenged me, it wouldn't end without his death. I walked forward, to consume his head, to show the mortals what happens when you disturb me.

But I felt it. The tug of a power, a power that could cut my connection to this mortal realm. To my vessel, Doppo. I wasn't strong enough to shrug it off, not yet, and my form collapsed."

It was like I woke from a fever dream. I was in puddle form, and I immediately reconstructed myself. I saw Shoto on the floor in front of me, unconscious, and the stadium was quiet for a change. Everyone was looking at me however. Not with admiration that a victor deserves, but with fear reserved for villains. I could remember what happened, in hazy images, it was like a dream to me, but apparently not to others. That isn't good, losing control like that was one of my biggest fears, and it looks like it wasn't without reason. People are terrified right now, and sure, the average are going to forget it, but not the heroes, the teachers, or the students. My future just got a whole lot harder. Thanks void, really helpful there, just had, had to do this at the spring festival, in front of all the pro heroes! At least Todoroki lost. I'm not going to do any more full transformations today.

He was carried away with a stretcher, and I left, not looking at anyone. I felt ashamed, a bit, for losing control. Todoroki could have died, and, while I'm not against murder, there was no reason to kill him, he wasn't even a bad person. I didn't go up to the stands, I just waited in the preparation room.

The matches were Iida vs Shiozaki, and Ashido vs Tokoyami, with Kirishma getting a free pass. After that, I'll probably have to defeat Iida, then Tokoyami in the finals.

I kind of just dozed off, for a while, until my name was called. I walked out in the arena, and stopped in front of Iida. He tried to hide it, but he now felt fear when he looked at me. The truth can be like that. I'm the only one who's not affected by it, in others it's some sort of existential dread, just amplified, like a lot.

Match started, and I broke off my arms. Iida came, tried to knock me out, but I wasn't in the mood for games, so I let him come into me like a bull, but I used my arms to cut into his legs, slicing into them. He fell. I realize that my current cold detachment probably isn't doing me any favors in the long run, but I was just exhausted, and didn't have the energy to deal with people right now.

I went right back to the waiting room, and I again lost my sense of time until my name was called. I went out.

It was Fumikage, brave like a knight, standing in front of me. Dark Shadow was weak in daylight, I knew, I searched and that was the usual case with shadow based quirks. The internet is a wonderful place.

I made my arms longer, circled them around him, like a spiderweb. Dark Shadow tried to cut them, but it was ineffective, he couldn't defend Fumikage from all sides. And so it went, the tendrils of void risen and entered his body, cut into his arms and legs, careful to at least avoid the major arteries. It was cold and brutal, and sad. It was sad, because winning like this was cheap. They didn't prepare for this, they didn't prepare for such villainous tactics, but it didn't matter.

I won. It took some time, but the pain was pretty bad, and I didn't stop with just a couple of cuts, so sooner or later Fumikage lost.

I went through the award ceremony in a daze, like a robot, just completing my tasks, which were standing and smiling. The former went well, and for the latter I couldn't find it in myself to put on a smile. It would have been so fake that my face was better off without it.

All Might gave us the medals. He smiled, and gave encouraging words, and I'm not even sure if they were fake or not, maybe he genuinely believed in me. Only the No. 1 hero would do that, but maybe he would, and did. I left after that, and I didn't stop until I reached my home.

There, I finally let out my anger. I was angry because I lost control, I lost control and that was the only thing that mattered. The Sports Festival didn't matter, I didn't need to push as hard even though I knew that I didn't have full control. I keep losing sight of my purpose, I keep going too deep into the whole hero stuff, like I'm a fucking shonen protagonist.

But, I guess I am one. I kicked out the original, and now I have fill in. I didn't accept this until now, until now I viewed UA and everything else as temporary, but no, this is my life now, and I have to fully commit to it if I want to survive the manga.

AN: This chapter was a rollercoaster, there were easy parts to write and hard ones, and I'm not sure at all what to think about the end result, I think I managed to make it good however.

Please tell me your thoughts or any ideas on how to improve this chapter, if there is something good written among the reviews then it is very likely that I'll rewrite certain parts, I don't want to be stuck in future chapters with some stupid decision I made earlier because I didn't know better.