A/N: Hey everyone, welcome back to The Crow's Atonement, because Chapter 24 is here.

Disclaimer: Like everybody else on fanfiction, I own nothing.

"Standard" - Normal Speaking

'Italics' - Thoughts

"Bold" - Super Moves

After an odd situation regarding the six girls of Class 1-A, who'd been tricked into wearing cheerleading outfits and performing alongside a squad of American cheerleaders by Minoru Mineta and Denki Kaminari, who bumped fists when the embarrassed state of girls saved them from lectures by Itachi, and no doubt Tenya, had passed, Present Mic decided to continue with his Sports Festival commentary.

"It's time for the final event of the Sports Festival," Present Mic announced, "it's the part that gets the blood pumping through your veins and the adrenaline rushing through your body as you sit at the edge of your seats! It's a tournament between the remaining sixteen students of the top four teams of the last round. They're about to be pit against each other in one-on-one combat!"

The crowd erupted into cheers.

"Huh, a one-on-one tournament? So the winners will be stood on a podium and have medals presented to them." Eijiro mused.

Itachi glanced at him, "Of course. And don't sound so surprised, Kirishima-kun. The final round of the Sports Festival is the same every year. Only the first and second rounds get changed."

Eijiro nodded, chuckling as he ran a hand through his crimson locks.

"Quiet," Midnight cracked her whip, holding up a box with her other hand, "We'll determine who fights who through a random choice lottery. The matches will start after the matchups have been decided. However, after that fantastic last round, those 16 can also chose whether or not they want to delay their matches in order to regain their strength. Now then, let's determine who goes up against who!"

The students of the top 4 teams walked up to Midnight and took a card from the ballot box she held.

Itachi's card had a number 7 on it. It beeped, just like the cards his fellow students held, as he held his thumb against what appeared to be some sort of fingerprint scanner. He furrowed his brow, looking up as several of the other students started muttering amongst themselves, and guessed that whoever else had a number 7 card would be going up against him.

"Alright, that's decided. Look at the big screen for your matchups." Midnight ordered.

Itachi glanced up at the screen, his gaze blank as he scanned through the order of the names on the screen.

Match 1 - Midoriya Izuku vs Sero Hanta.

Match 2 - Kendo Itsuka vs Kirishima Eijiro.

Match 3 - Todoroki Shoto vs Tokage Setsuna.

Match 4 - Yaoyorozu Momo vs Rikido Sato.

Match 5 - Iida Tenya vs Hatsume Mei.

Match 6 - Yaoyorozu Itachi vs Uraraka Ochaco.

Match 7 - Bakugo Katsuki vs Shishida Jurota.

Match 8 - Shiozaki Ibara vs Tokoyami Fumikage.

Itachi looked around until he found the rosy-cheeked brunette staring at him like she'd seen a ghost, but the instant his gaze fell upon her, Ochaco whole attitude seemed to shift from horrified to resolute determination so quickly that he was almost afraid she'd get whiplash.

However, Itachi was confident that he could beat Ochaco was relative ease. She required physical contact with all five fingers of either hand to activate her quirk and even without the Sharingan, reading her movements would be like deciphering the simple pictures in a children's book. And from what he'd seen of her so far, her hand-to-hand combat skills appeared to be non-existent.

Despite that, Itachi knew he'd be a fool to take her lightly. One touch from her almost guaranteed her a win.

"Eh, who's Jurota?" Katsuki deadpanned, oblivious to Jurota waving his arms to get his attention.

Eijiro almost seemed to wilt over the fact that he was going to pit against a girl, his bold, chivalrous nature getting ahead of common sense that told him 'Fight her and get it over with.'

Ibara and Fumikage just stared each other down.

Tenya was trying to talk to Mei who seemed like she was away with the fairies, when in actuality, she was observing a group of smartly-dressed businessmen who were talking with her mentor, Power Loader.

Sato vowed not to underestimate Momo or hold back just because she was a woman, something she was grateful for, and offered to bake her a cake once the Sports Festival was over, though she respectfully declined.

Setsuna tried making small talk with Shoto, only to be brushed off with an icy glare.

Izuku, after taking a quick peek at a depowered All Might who had hidden himself amongst the crowd, told Hanta that he hoped there'd be no bad blood between them and then immediately dived into the notes he'd made on the other student's Tape quirk.

As Class 1-A and 1-B retreated to spectator boxes, with Mei Hatsume, Hitoshi Shinso and Tomiyashi Kawasaka in tow, Cementoss used to quirk to mould the ground of the stadium into a rectangular-shaped arena with a thick, white outline.

Mei and Tomiyashi had been asked to come by Tenya and Denki, the former because Tenya wanted to know more about his opponent and the latter because Denki thought Tomiyashi was a "pretty swell dude", while Hitoshi just came along, not caring whether anyone asked him or not, and Mashirao made sure to sit as far as he could from the purple-haired student.

Once Cementoss was finished creating the arena, Izuku and Hanta emerged from large doors at either end of the stadium, walked into the arena box and stopped opposite each other, leaving a 40-metre gap between them.

"Okay, the rules are simple," Midnight stated, hungrily eying Hanta and then Izuku, and smirking as the latter blushed up a storm under her predatory gaze, "Your match is won when your opponent is unconscious, pushed out of the arena boundaries or forfeits. We have Recovery Girl on hand, which means you can wound each other, but critical and crippling injuries are not allowed. If anyone takes it too far, Cementoss or myself will step in and intervene. Am I understood, boys?"

"Yes ma-am!" Both boys replied, staring intently at each other.

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic started, "He's good, I'll tell you that, but how come he can't get rid of that plainness. From Class 1-A, it's Sero Hanta!"

"Jeez, that's mean..."

"And as for his opponent, he's a bit of a weird one. He came first place in the Obstacle Even and he's got monstrous strength that would make most tremble at the thought of facing him, but he's a nervous wimp who doesn't handle meeting new people well... especially girls, hahaha! Also from Class 1-A, it's Midoriya Izuku!"

'Gah, why'd he have to tell everyone that1!?'

"Now for the first match of the finals! Ready... START!"

Neither boy moved for a moment.

Then, Hanta stretched to one side, raising his arms above his head as he let out a defeated sigh of sorts, prompting Izuku to settle into a fighting stance, knees slightly bent as he was ready to channel One For All - or at least 5% of it - into his body at a moments notice.

"Aw man, I've seen your crazy strength before, Midoriya, and I honestly think you'd blow me away with one shot, though you'd probably end up hurting yourself..."

Izuku relaxed out of his stance, "Ah, um, strength isn't everything, Sero-kun. And your quirk is seriously impressive. I've written about it and you might be-"

"...but that doesn't mean I'm about sit back and lose to you, either!" Hanta sprang into action, firing off two strands of tape that entrapped Izuku and swung his arms to one side, aiming to pull him out of bounds.

But nothing happened.

"Eh?" Hanta blinked, wincing at the painfully taut tape coming from his elbows..

"Sorry, Sero-kun, but I can't lose here." Izuku countered, his body glowing a faint green as the residual electrical energy of Full Cowling 5% crackled all over him. His form was set halfway between standing up and crouching, Hanta's tape held firmly in his right hand.

"And it looks like Sero's surprise attack hasn't payed off. It looks like Midoriya, who must've been anticipating such an move, is holding firm! What's going to happen now?"

Izuku tugged at the tape he was holding onto, wrenching his arm back and yanking Hanta off his feet, the dark-haired student yelping and widening his eyes as he flew through the air.

He swung his other arm forwards when Hanta was practically right on top of him, "5% Detroit Smash!"

Spittle flew from Hanta's mouth; his eyes widening considerably when Izuku's fist practically buried itself into his stomach, almost causing him to fold over the other boy's arm.

As Izuku retracted his fist, he crumpled to the floor and clutched his abdomen as he dry heaved, struggling to even catch his breath as he knelt on both knees, barely paying attention to the shadow that suddenly fell over him.

"Sero-kun?"

"Fuck... ugh, you sure know how to throw a punch, Midoriya. Gah, I give, I give. Midnight-sensei, call it. Even if I tried something, this close, Midoriya would trounce me."

Midnight held up her whip, "Sero has forfeited! Midoriya Izuku advances to the second round!"

"Well, that was a bit of a boring start to the finals, but hey, you take what you can get," Present Mic announced, earning laughs from many in the crowd, "Still, give these two a round of applause. These boys fought well."

Izuku pulled the tape off of his body, then ended the flow of 5% of One For All through his body and pulled Hanta to his feet. They backed away to make some space between them and then bowed respectfully towards one another.

As they walked towards the same exit, Izuku and Hanta could hear several pro heroes talking about them.

"Man, that brat with the green hair laid out the other kid with one punch. I'd definitely want him as a sidekick."

"I dunno. The other kid was pretty cool. Imagine being able to bind a villain and stop them from moving. Hell, if it wasn't for that other kid's quirk, that move at the start would've surely propelled him into the next round."

"To be honest, I think he's kinda cute."

Struggling to fight back a blush, Izuku looked over to Hanta who winked at him.

"You hear that, Sero-kun, you impressed some of them. I told you your quirk is impressive if it's got the attention of pros." He said.

Hanta shrugged, though he was still smiling as he waved off a couple of medical robots who seem to want to direct him to Recovery Girl, "Yeah, I guess so. Good fight though, Midoriya. Good luck with the next round."

"Thanks, Sero-kun."

They quickly made their way back to the spectator box, where Hanta sat with Katsuki and Denki, while Izuku sat with Tenya and Ochaco, but not before meeting the eyes of a deflated All Might and give the man a resolute nod.

"Nice going, Deku-kun. You really made light work of Sero-kun." Ochaco cheered, prompting Izuku get all flustered as she gave him a thumbs up.

Tenya nodded approvingly, "A quick and efficient victory. I'd expect nothing less from you, Midoriya-kun."

"A-Ah, thank you, I-Iida-kun." Izuku replied hurriedly.

"Kirishima-kun, come here."

"Yaoyorozu?" The redhead complied, walking over from where he'd been sitting with Katsuki and Denki.

"You're going up against Itsuka-san next, are you not?"

Eijiro sighed and nodded, "...Yeah."

Itachi narrowed his eyes at him, "You don't like the thought of fighting against a woman?"

"I just..." Eijiro's shoulders slumped, "I just ain't cool with the thought of a man hitting a woman. It isn't right, you know, circumstances be damned."

Itachi withheld a sigh, quickly realizing that Eijiro's reluctance to fight a woman wasn't some kind of sexist 'women are weaker than men' notion. Clearly, he would have no problem with fighting alongside a woman, but his strong moral compass demanded that he couldn't lay a hand upon one, no matter the situation, leading Itachi to wonder whether his classmate had bore witness to domestic abuse in the past.

Or perhaps the whole 'manly' thing was just part of Eijiro's quirky personality and Itachi was just overthinking things?

"I... I believe I understand you, Kirishima-kun, but for your sake, I'm going to have to ask you to cast that aside when you go to fight Itsuka-san. She won't appreciate it if you fight her without actually trying to hit her." Itachi said.

Eijiro rubbed a hand through his hair, "I could just forfeit as soon as the match begins..."

Itachi glared at him.

Eijiro chuckled weakly, "Just kidding. I'll... er, give her all I've got. It won't be manly if I don't."

"Good."

The redhead moved to get up and just as he started to walk away, he heard Itachi call out to him.

"Kirishima-kun, one more thing."

"Yeah?" The Hardening quirk user stopped and turned back to his class Vice-Representative.

"Hit Itsuka-san like you would hit Bakugo-kun or Sato-kun. Be hard and relentless, for she's as good as Ojiro-kun and I when it comes to hand-to-hand combat. You won't ever come close to beating her if you don't."

The redhead nodded, saluted and grinned, and then ran off.

Itachi leant back into his seat, but was barely able to relax for a second when he heard Setsuna's voice in his ear.

"Now now, giving tips on how to beat Kendo. That's not very fair of you, Yaoyorozu." She said, leering at him as he turned to look up at her.

Itachi just shrugged.

"It won't change the outcome of their match. If you take out her Big Fist quirk, the only advantage Kirishima-kun has over Itsuka-san is endurance and strength. Put her quirk back into the equation and he's got her beat on endurance, that's it, but that won't be enough for him to beat her." He stated flatly.

"Yeah... she's gonna pummel him like a piñata, isn't she?" Setsuna asked, smirking.

"Indeed."

"Maybe even break a couple of bones..."

"Possibly."

"Okay! Let's hope that round two is a little more entertaining than the last one. She's the Class Representative of her class, got hair that puts fire to shame and has some crazy martial arts skills. She can talk the talk, and walk the walk. From Class 1-B, give it up for Kendo Itsuka!"

The crowd cheered, and embarrassingly enough, Itsuka could hear her own classmates hollering over everyone else. Then, realising that she was being displayed onto the screen that'd previously displayed the one-on-one matchups, she waved and offered a bright smile, getting an even cheer from the audience.

"Going up against her is the Red Menace. Tough in mind, body and quirk, will he be Kendo's immovable object? From Class 1-A, it Kirishima Eijiro!"

Despite his uncertainty, Eijiro grinned, though it was so lopsided on his face that it looked more like a cocksure smirk, then clenched a hand into a fist and punched it into the opposing hand.

The cheering from the crowd grew, and a with a quick glance to the spectators box where Class 1-A and 1-B sat with the additional students, Eijiro could see Denki and Minoru jumping up and down, cheering for him, whilst Katsuki looked completely indifferent, as if he didn't care what happened.

'Just you watch, Bakugo. It'll be just like I said - I'll be the horse that'll never waiver!' Eijiro thought, dropping his hands to his sides.

"Second match... START!"

Eijiro dashed forwards as soon as he was given the go-ahead, prompting Itsuka to slide one foot behind her body and settle into a fighting stance. He barrelled towards her at full pelt, each foot kicking up little bits of dust, and then once he was close enough, threw a punch that would surely connect with her cheek.

He wouldn't use Hardening. Itsuka looked like she could handle herself, but-

Suddenly, his nose was broken and he was laying flat on his back.

'Wait, what?'

In a split-second before Eijiro could land his punch on her face, Itsuka had blocked his punch with a crossed arm, then used her free hand to punch him square in the nose, hard enough to break it. After that, she grabbed the arm that was punching nothing but air, tucked her body into his and then tossed Eijiro over her shoulder, slamming him onto his back.

Trying to ignore the pain flaring through his face, and throughout his lower back, Eijiro crossed his arms to defend further blows, even hardening his skin, then grunted in confusion when no further attacks came.

Uncrossing his arms, but still keeping his quirk active along his forearms, Eijiro sat up, getting a good look at Itsuka who had backed off after laying him out, standing a few metres away.

"Come on, get up," Itsuka said, appearing to be relaxed, "I'm not going to hit someone who's down."

Eijiro appreciated the act of chivalry. Hitting someone who was down would be totally unmanly!

Giving her a nod, he picked himself up and flinched as he cracked his nose back into place, even wiping the blood that'd leaked from his nostrils onto his shirt sleeve.

"Thanks." He returned.

She nodded, giving him a quizzical look, "You're welcome. This probably isn't my place to say, but... you're uncertain."

Eijiro nearly flinched. There was no way someone as manly as him could be uncertain about something!

Itsuka tapped her upper lip in thought, "You're uncertain about fighting a woman, aren't you?"

The redhead's shoulders slumped in defeat.

"Don't look so down," Itsuka tried to reassure him, "Yaoyorozu-san, Ojiro-san and Itachi-san speak highly of you, you know. And you don't strike me as someone who's sexist. I'm sure you have you own reasons why you don't want to fight a woman; I can respect that and I'm not going to force you to explain. But, please, Kirishima-san, fight me seriously. You want to put on a good show for everyone, right?"

"Yeah."

"Good. So come at me like I'm a villain who'll attack your friends if you go down. Use your quirk, which looks pretty cool by the way, I mean, Itachi-san's explanation of it doesn't do it justice." Itsuka told him, her voice warm and sincere.

Eijiro had to fight back manly tears. Itsuka was the first person since Mina to tell him that his quirk, which he used to think was pretty basic and boring, was cool. Not even his little group of friends in Class 1-A had told him that his quirk was cool. Practical and useful, yes, but not cool.

Steeling himself, spread Hardening to his fists and then charged Itsuka once more.

Gritting his teeth, he let out a yell as he unleashed a powerful haymaker.

Realising she wouldn't be able to block the hit without fracturing something, Itsuka jerked to one side and was rewarded with a shallow cut running along her face from her right nostril to her right earlobe, the jagged edges of Eijiro's fist scraping against her cheek, prompting her to skip back to put some distance between them.

Unfortunately, Eijiro wasn't going to give her a moment to breathe or asset her situation.

She bobbed and weaved through a barrage of heavy punches, feeling quite like a boxer in that moment as each would-be blow failed to connect by less than a inch, and then landed a blow upon his solar plexus, only to let out a hiss of pain as it felt like she'd just punched a rocky wall.

Taking the initiative of their close proximity, the redhead threw his head forwards and headbutted Itsuka, the unexpected blow knocking her off balance, then he grabbed her shoulders, pulled her in and launched his knee straight into her chest before she got the chance to free herself from his grip. Precious oxygen was knocked clean out of her lungs by the blow and Itsuka had to jump back and put some extra distance between them to catch her breath.

Where Eijiro had hit her was already sore and it hurt to curl some of her knuckles into a fist. Plus, her forehead ached harder than anything else, but she wasn't seeing double or anything, so she knew that she didn't have a concussion.

'Owww, I hope I haven't broken anything.' She thought, gingerly rubbing at her chest.

Still, there was barely any time for a breather, as Eijiro was charging towards her once more and Itsuka knew that using her quirk was the only way she'd win this bout. Trying to hit Eijiro normally would only hurt her more than it would hurt him.

And taking a quick glance at the arena border, she took note that the thick, white boundary line was less than five metres away.

Turning back to the redhead, Itsuka jumped aside as he tried to rugby tackle her. She heard him yelp as he fought to come to a stop before he stormed past the arena border and spun to face him. Eijiro was less than a couple of metres away, and by the time he'd turned around to face her, Itsuka thrust her hand out, enlarging the limb and striking Eijiro.

The blow knocked the air out of him and lifted him off of his feet, sending him flying clear out of the arena. She heard him grunt as he hit the floor and rolled a couple of times.

Eijiro groaned, signalling that he wasn't unconscious as he slowly sat up, wincing and holding one hand against his chest as he did so.

Midnight whistled and cracked her whip, "Kirishima Eijiro has been knocked out of bounds. Kendo Itsuka advances to the second round!"

The crowd broke out into applause.

"Damn, that looked like it had to have hurt. No doubt he's broken a couple of bones, eh?"

Itachi nodded, "Look at his hand. I suspect a couple of Kirishima-kun's ribs may be broken. Itsuka-san most certainly broke his nose, however."

"Whoa," Denki cried, literally buzzing with excitement, "she really laid Kirishima out. I thought he'd get her eventually."

"Hey, Pikachu, chill out before you lose control and electrocute us all!" Kyoka told him, leaning away from the blond who was oblivious to his quirk going haywire until it cut off spontaneously.

"Huh?" Mina blinked, tilting her head to one side.

"...I didn't do that."

"It must be Aizawa-sensei," Izuku muttered, suddenly deep in thought as he stared intently at the baffled Denki, "but to think his quirk would work, especially so effectively, at this distance. We're all the way across the stadium from where he is."

Mina snorted, "Who'd have thought our homeless-looking hobo of a teacher would be so overpowered?"

"I can hear what you're saying about me, Ashido." Shota's voice came over the nearby speakers, causing the pink-skinned student to yelp.

Tenya stiffly adjusted his glasses, "From what I can see, Kirishima-kun was outclassed in every way. Even with the boost in momentum that I'd get from my Engine, I'd be more worried about breaking my leg against Kirishima-kun's Hardening over hurting him. Am I wrong, Yaoyorozu-kun?"

Itachi shook his head, sparing the bespectacled student a glance.

"You're right, Iida-kun. Kirishima had no chance of beating Itsuka-san. Quirk or no quirk, he simply didn't have the skill or technique to overcome her." He said, voice monotone.

Tenya frowned at him, "Yaoyorozu-kun, how come you address Kendo-kun by her first name?"

"We're close friends." Itachi replied simply.

Denki was suddenly face-to-face with him, "How close?"

A simple glare got him to back off and Denki wilted as many in Class 1-A and 1-B laughed at him. Even Tomiyashi chuckled at his misfortune.

Minoru, meanwhile, couldn't take his eyes off Itsuka and was practically salivating, "Those... martial arts skills... I bet she's so lean and supple, and I'm too far away to be sure, but... oh, it looks like she has a great rack and ass. She... she would be a worthy conquest."

Sat behind him, Hitoshi rolled his eyes, disgusted, "Jeez, this is disgusting. Are all you heroics kids as perverted as this nasty, little gremlin?"

Minoru rounded on him, "I'm not perverted, I-"

His face went blank as Brainwashing took hold.

Mashirao gulped and tried to edge even further away from them. One, because he didn't want to be associated with Minoru perverted antics, and second, because he still felt uneasy around Hitoshi and his Brainwashing.

Itachi and Momo shared a look, decided that being subjected to Brainwashing was punishment enough for his lewd comments, shrugged and turned back to the arena as they watched Itsuka help Eijiro get up and escort him out, presumably so they could be treated by Recovery Girl.

"Good, now lay face down on the floor, you disgusting cretin."

Minoru did so.

For a moment, there from silence from everyone around him, and Hitoshi began to grit his teeth, knowing the fearful stares and ignorant, judgement comments were about to-

"Wow, that's a pretty useful quirk!"

"I concur!"

"Uh-oh, there he's goes. Deku-kun loves his quirks."

Hitoshi blinked, surprised.

Those comments had come from Midoriya Izuku and the bespectacled boy and the brunette that he sat with and the both of them were staring at him intently, whilst the others seemed to be more interested in a unmoving, silent form of Minoru, though the girl with the large ponytail looked almost appreciative.

He pursed his lips, frowning as if he expected them to go back on their words at any moment.

"You... think so?"

Izuku nodded enthusiastically, "A quirk which induces a state of hypnotism resulting from the target speaking back. That sort of quirk could be used to end a fight without there actually being a fight. Your quirk would be perfect for a hero devoted to being a pacifist. I mean, they wouldn't have to lift a finger to subdue an opponent. Your quirk has so much potential. Aizawa-sensei would know exactly how to help you harness your quirk."

Hitoshi blinked again as Izuku trailed off into comprehensible muttering that seemed to go on and on and on and ooooooon.

He looked at the brunette, completely baffled, "Does he... always do that?

"Once Deku-kun has his mind set on something that interests him, he... uh, kinda gets lost in his own world." She replied, nodding

The bespectacled boy adjusted his glass, "What Midoriya-kun is trying to say, is that your quirk, simple as it may seem, would leave you an incredible versatile hero. From my own experience with villains at the U.S.J Incident, they love to talk. Taunting and monologuing seems to be there favourite go so. A quick and smart retort from you could've taken down all of them. Ah! Where are my manners? I'm Iida Tenya!"

"Shinso Hitoshi. A... pleasure to meet you, I guess." Hitoshi replied, slightly befuddled by the amount of praise he was getting.

"The pleasure is all mine," Tenya replied, "and if I may ask, what class are you in?"

"Class 1-C. Kawasaka and I are in the General Department."

Tenya stared at him for a moment.

"I'm going to be frank with you. You and Kawasaka should not be in Class 1-C. Between the two of you there is lots of potential that will go to waste if either of you cannot get into Class 1-A and 1-B. Given how capable your quirks are, our classes should have 21 members each, even if it, and it pains me to say this, breaks the traditional order of 20 students. After the Sports Festival is over, I'll petition with Aizawa-sensei and the Headmaster to see if something can be sorted out for you two. As Aizawa-sensei would say 'It is irrational for this school to let such talent go to waste'." Tenya said sternly.

"I agree with you Iida," Shota's voice came over the speakers again, "To not harness such potential would indeed be irrational. And in all honesty, Shinso missed out on getting into Class 1-A or 1-B simply because the Entrance Exam was designed to single out students with flashy quirks such as Explosion and Engine. Again, an irritational decision."

The brunette looked over at Tenya who seemed to be smirking.

"Looks like you won't need to petition to anybody, Iida-kun. Seems Aizawa-sensei might just do the petitioning for you." She said.

The bespectacled boy nodded, "Seems so, Uraraka-kun."

'Huh, maybe these kids in the Hero Course classes aren't so bad after all.' Hitoshi thought, his previous bitterness towards Class 1-A fading a little.

"Foolish boy!" Recovery Girl snapped, waving her cane at a sheepish Eijiro as Itsuka watched on, "Breaking two of your ribs was bad enough, but then you also went ahead and reset your own broken nose. Stop watching those silly Hollywood action movies. One day, you get stabbed, pull out the knife you got stabbed with because 'it's just a flesh wound', and bleed out."

Despite the elderly woman hassling him, the redhead mustered a smirk, "I don't think any kind of bladed weapon could get past my Hardening."

She hit him over the head, "That's not the point! I'm going to have to break it again, set your nose properly, then I can use my quirk to heal the break. You wouldn't want it to heal wrong and end up breathing funny for the rest of your life, would you!?"

"No, ma'am."

Recovery Girl then cast Itsuka a critical look.

"And how did she even break your nose in the first place?"

Eijiro chuckled awkwardly, "I, uh, wasn't paying attention when fighting her. She broke my nose with a single strike."

"Well then, pay attention," Recovery Girl told him, "not paying attention in a fight is what gets young, newly graduated heroes or innocent civilians killed!"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Good. I'll break you nose later."

Eijiro blinked and Itsuka sweatdropped at how casually that statement fell out of the older woman's mouth. Nothing quite like telling a patient you were going to fix them with the threat of violence against them.

Recovery Girl turned to Itsuka and squinted at her.

"Why are you still here, young lady? Do you want me to fix the cut on your face." She inquired.

Itsuka shook her head and held up the hand that still hurt when she tried to make a fist, "I punched Kirishima-san earlier, but he must've protected himself with his quirk. It was like I punched a brick wall. Would you mind checking if I haven't broken anything."

One quick X-ray scan of her hand later would show that Itsuka had fractured the proximal phalange of her middle and ring finger and had a hairline fractured running down the middle of the metacarpal of her middle finger, and her face had shifted into one of concern upon being told.

"Will you be able to heal that?"

Recovery Girl scoffed, "Eager to get back to fighting the other students, hm? Plus, of course I'll be able to fix it. Just take a twenty minute break once I've used my quirk on you. It converts you stamina into accelerated healing. You might be first to fight in the second round of these one-on-one battles, but I doubt they'll get through the other six matchups in under twenty minutes. You kids are skilled, but you're all stubborn and not very efficient."

"Yes, ma'am."

Eijifro tentatively raised his hand.

"What is it, young man."

"I also headbutted Kendo during our fight. I wasn't using my quirk on my head, but I know I've got a tough skull and I wasn't holding anything back. You, uh, might want to check her for a potential concussion." He said.

Itsuka chuckled, "I'm sure I don't have a concussion."

"And who are you to decide that? Are you a doctor?"

Itsuka paled under the old woman's glare, "...No."

"Exactly. Now, sit down and be quiet whilst I get on with setting this young man's nose correctly."

"Yes, ma'am!" Itsuka hurriedly took a seat as Recovery Girl rounded on the redhead and - true to her word - broke his nose, eliciting a pained grunt from him. As the older lady began to work on Eijiro, Itsuka thought's drifted to the next match.

'You're up next, Tokage-san. Good luck, I feel like you're going to need it."

"Alright, everyone. it's time for the third match. To your right is Tokage Setsuna. She sly, sassy and got into U.A. through recommendations, but can she handle the cold, because she's going up against Todoroki Shoto. Like Tokage, he got in through recommendations, but he's cold, aloof and indifferent to everyone. Will Tokage be able to melt his cold exterior or will she fall to the King of Ice?"

The crowd was already cheering, excited over the fact the two students who'd gotten into U.A. by being recommended would be going head to head. After the relatively boring last two fights, they hoped to see some explosive action from Shoto and Setsuna that would no doubt take their breath away.

Setsuna was in a mood to entertain.

Shoto was anything but.

He was glaring at the floor, fists clenched so tightly that his nails were scratching against the skin of his palms, while his heartbeat pounded away in his ears.

Before getting into the arena, he'd had another confrontation with Endeavor which quickly spoiled his neutral, apathetic mood after the man sneered at him about not acting like how a creation of Endeavor should, how he was shaming himself by only using his ice and how he wasn't as smart as he thought by purposefully carrying Itachi on his fire side so he would be forced to only use his ice, leaving disgust and anger surging through his veins.

"Third match... START!"

"Hey, Strawberry and Vanilla Milkshake," Setsuna called, smirking cockily as she missed the way Shoto's entire body tensed, "I hope you're ready to get you ass beaten in-front of everyone, followed up by you getting pantsed."

She took a step forwards, body beginning to separate, then hesitate as Shoto's head snapped up to fix her in place with a glare.

Cold air washed over like killing intent, chilling Setsuna right down to her bones.

"Shut up." Shoto hissed, stomping his right foot against the ground.

Every single spectator was shocked into silence, their faces inches away from the gargantuan wall of ice that had filled up and dwarfed the stadium.

Nobody dared to utter a word, cool breaths emerging from their noses in short puffs as they tried to lean away from the ice that stood before them as if it would reach out and touch them if they didn't put distance between themselves and the ice.

Itachi stared at the ice wall, his usual indifferent, aloof expression replaced by one of outright shock, taken aback by the sheer amount of raw elemental power that had been suddenly put on display before him.

He knew Shoto was strong, most likely being the strongest student in Class 1-A, but what he'd just seen erased any doubts that Izuku or Katsuki might be stronger than the heterochromatic boy.

And Itachi hadn't been so shocked or surprised, not counting nearly being killed by the Nomu at the U.S.J, since Sasuke had managed to manipulate raw, natural lightning during their battle to the death at the Uchiha Hideout.

"Holy shit," Denki swore, "I knew Todoroki was strong, but I never knew he was this strong."

Izuku had gone back into analytical muttering mode.

Katsuki was shaking with barely suppressed rage, wondering why Shoto hadn't used such power against him after he'd finally unleashed his fire during their battle, but his eyes flashed with analytical intent.

Mina, Kyoka, Hitoshi, Tomiyashi and Ochaco stared in stunned silence.

Shoto exhaled, trying to stop his body from violently shaking as his breath came out in frosty clouds. In his anger, he'd put everything he had into his ice, allowing it to run wild and swallow up everything in its path, Setsuna and Midnight included. It was only his sudden loss of control, no doubt a courtesy of Erasure, had stopped his ice from crashing into the spectators.

"Wow, y-you r-really held n-nothing back, huh?" He heard Setsuna say.

Taking a few steps away from the solid stream of ice that led to the bigger ice wall, he cast his gaze over Setsuna - her face a picture of shock as she was missing her lower right leg and her left fist - and then Midnight, who shivered as she struggled to speak.

"T-T-Tokage S-Setsuna, c-c-c-can y-you m-move?"

Ignoring the question as it wasn't directed to him, Shoto shuffled towards Setsuna, urging his frozen, nearly numb limbs. He decided it would best to thaw them both at the same time. Unlike Setsuna, she didn't have the resistance to cold that he had, and the longer she remained a human icicle, the higher the possibility she developed frostbite.

"W-Wait, h-h-hold on. I-I t-think I-I-I m-might be a-able t-to..." She trailed off.

Shota shuffled closer and began to reach out with his left hand to Setsuna. Then, something suddenly hit him in the temple and Shoto blacked out for a moment, waking up a moment later when he was face down on the ground.

Groaning as he fought to ignore his aching skull, Shoto sat up and then blinked as he stared at Setsuna who looked slightly hopeful.

"What did you-" Shoto head jerked to one side as a disembodied leg and foot entered his field of vision, the inner curve of the foot slamming into his cheek. He grunted, barely able to keep himself from slumping over, then gasped as a flying fist shot in like a bullet and buried itself into his stomach.

Quickly clenching his left fist, the heterochromatic boy thawed himself as quickly as he could, his reflexes coming back to him as his body temperature rose. However, he was raising his body temperature much faster than he normally would, but he'd didn't care about the side effects of suddenly dropping and then raising his body temperature.

But he barely acknowledged the blows, even as he ducked under a foot, straight into an awaiting fist that delivered an uppercut.

'This is nothing. Endeavor hits harder.'

Deeming his body sufficiently thawed, Shoto shot to his feet and froze the leg and fist as they came back around for another barrage of blows. He let the frozen limbs drop to the floor and then advanced on Setsuna who slumped in defeat, offering him a weak grin.

"Tokage Setsuna has been incapacitated," Midnight stuttered, "Todoroki Shoto advances to the second round."

He pressed his hand against the ice and began melting through it, but he wasn't looking at his opponent. Instead, he was glaring up at Endeavor who glared right back at him.

"Sorry about the wall of ice," Shoto murmured, briefly glancing at Setsuna, "I was... distracted... and angry."

A/N: And that's Chapter 24 for you guys. I hope you're all doing well and enjoyed the first three fights and Hitoshi's interactions. I've always liked his character and I still want this guy amongst Class 1-A, even though he doesn't get noticed the same way in canon. And there's no way I'm going to wait until the Joint Training Arc to reinsert his character into the story.

By the way, I have an idea for Itachi's hero name, but if you guys have any suggestions of your own, please PM me your ideas. I'd love to see what you guys come up with.