In a blur, I was in the monitor room, standing between Glasses and Round Face, and All Might was giving out our grades.
"Hm, I'd say, the best in this match was young Iida!"
Glasses, he meant. Frog face was asking "But weren't the winners Ochako and Midoriya?"
Nobody's nominating me…nobody's even looking at me…
"Hm, I wonder why I could possibly think so?" All Might was saying, his words coming through like a dim haze. "Who knows why?"
Ponytail Girl raised her hand. "Yes, All Might Sensei. It's because Iida was the one who adapted the most to the situation. Having watched the fight, Bakugou's behavior was clearly driven by some personal grudge, and this totally arbitrary. Furthermore, as you told us earlier, a large-range attack in an indoor arena is just idiotic."
He words land like a smack to the face, and All Might's echo with them. I can't believe it but I'm agreeing with her, and even as she goes on to criticize Deku and Round Face and praise Glasses, none of it really hits. it's all a blur, because nothing in my world makes sense anymore.
Round B is beginning, and I don't even care. I don't want to watch or bother, but we're all supposed to, and at least, maybe, I could get one over on Ponytail girl…
The fight was between Too Many Arms, Iceface, Tail and Invisible chick. Latter two on the villains team, former to on the Hero Team. IceFace and Arms were standing in the doorway, taking inventory, while Invisible chick had gone total invisible. Lame move, like you're any good in a fight.
IceFace was saying something to his partner, who backed out of the building. IceFace then put his hand on the wall, and in seconds the entire building was covered in a thick layer of ice and snow. Inside. Outside. Everywhere. Freezing Tail and Invisible girl to the ground. IceFace just walked right in, like this was no big deal, to the upper floor with the weapon.
"He made sure his comrade didn't get caught in the attack, and he refrained from damaging the core!" All Might was saying. "He even weakened his enemies' position! He's something else, this one."
holy crap. That ice guy…that power…if - if I can lose to Deku, no way…I can't beat him…I can't beat him…
The rest of the class passed by in a daze. Class was wrapped, All Might was giving his closing speech.
"Good work, everyone! Apart from young Midoriya, there were no big injuries."
Deku'd been carted off to get his arm fixed up after the match and still wasn't back.
"Nevertheless, no holds were barred. For your first full training exercise, you all did wonderfully!"
yeah, right….all did wonderfully…as if, as if you really mean that.
The end of the day couldn't come quickly enough for me. Every few minutes was another remonstrance, another humiliation. Everyone in class talked only about how amazing Deku was, how cool IceFace was… turns out he doesn't just have ice, but heat too…Todoroki, the 2nd in the class after PonyTail girl. Both of them ranked better than me. And Deku who'd beaten me, with Round Face's help, and Glasses who All Might was saying was better…all of a sudden, it was like it was my name on the bottom of that list, not Deku's…
totally should be you know. you do nothing, totally failed, ponytail was right…All Might was right…you're just a total screwup, total failure, can't do anything…
Those voices talking about Deku, saying that about him…now it was like it was being said about me.
I couldn't stand to say another word all day. At the first chance, I headed home, with a weight on my shoulders like nothing I'd ever known before.
"Kacchan!" he was calling out to me, slightly out of breath. I turned back to see him there, arm in a sling, looking down as if he was guilty or annoyed or sorry for me or something.
"I have something I need to tell you," he said, and I braced myself for whatever he was about to say, whatever condescending nonsense was about to come out of his mouth. "I wasn't hiding my quirk from you. I got it from someone else."
…
"No matter what, I can't tell you who, but, I swear it's true! Even if it sounds like a story out of a comic book. I still can't fully use it the way it's supposed to be. It's a borrowed power, I can't make it my own yet. That's why I tried to win without using it. But even then, in the end, I couldn't win and relied on it anyway! I'm still nowhere near strong enough, so…I'll work until I have full control of this borrowed quirk, and I'll finally beat you with my own power!"
I wasn't sure whether to explode or laugh or shake or what. I couldn't understand a word of what he'd said. He looked like he felt he'd said too much, even. Nothing made any sense anymore, so why should Deku start now?
"What the hell is that?" I asked him, still kind of dazed from the day around me. "Borrowed power? I don't get what the hell you're trying to say. Did you wanna make an even bigger fool of me? Huh? Even so…" I'd been trying not to think about what happened, all day long, but now it was all tumbling out of me, like I had to tel Deku everything. He needed, he needed at last, to understand. "Today, you beat me. That's all there is to it! That's all…" you….you were better than me. You defeated me. Deku, you…somehow, you did it. You outwitted me, outdid me, outplayed me. And not just you…
"When I was watching that Ice Guy, I realized I couldn't beat him in a head on fight. Dammit, I even agreed with what that girl said! Dammit, dammit, dammit!" Everything came out, and suddenly the truth hit me. "You too, Deku. From here on out, I - From here on out, you listening? I'm gonna be #1! And you'll never beat me again!" I was actually crying, as everything was clicking into place. I finally understood what I had to do. I turned away, wiping my tears, when I heard a now-familiar voice.
"Bakugou Shonen!" And All Might's giant hands were on my shoulders, almost forcing me into the ground. "I'll tell you this once! Confidence is indeed a very vital thing! And you're not mistaken that you have talent, befitting a pro! From here on out, you can climb even higher!"
"Let go of me, All Might. I can't walk," I told him. drying my tears enough to face him. "I didn't tell you before, so allow me to correct that. I'mm gonna surpass you too. I'm gonna vault over you and become the #1 hero." He just stood there, like he wasn't sure what to say, and let me go. I was headed home, and my mind was full of only one thing. Everything else - All Might, ponytail girl, Icy Hot…all of it fell away. Only one thing left on my mind.
Deku.
It didn't make any sense, with how much he pissed me off…but speaking to him made it all so clear. All I had to do was get better than everyone else. Better that all of them be good enough for me to beat at their best. And whatever was going on with Deku, well, it didn't matter anymore. His fuse was lit up and he was competing with me. And I would still surpass him. So things really, they hadn't changed. All that mattered was becoming #1.
Only a few days later, we'd be facing the threat All Might had mentioned before.
