showichi: Wow, I can't believe I managed to get this out by the end of the year. Anyways, happy holidays, all! Some more miscellaneous announcements down below, but for now, enjoy the new chapter.


"I heard you got in to U.A.? Congratulations."

Passing through the west wing on his way back to his room from training in the dojo, Shoto Todoroki unexpectedly encountered his aunt coming from the direction of the reception hall.

"Aunt Tsurara." He greeted her with a curt nod. "The results haven't formally come in yet, but I was second in the obstacle course race, so…"

Tsurara Himuro's lips curled into a smile.

"Fuyumi's not home yet at this time, right?" she asked. "I'll send her some money and tell her to make you a soba feast tonight."

Though Shoto called this woman his aunt, their blood ties weren't actually all that close.

The Himuro clan was an acclaimed family of ice Quirk users, with their history going back five generations. This nominal aunt of his was born of the main family, and if he correctly recalled what his older brother Natsuo had told him, she was the second cousin once removed of their mother, who had been born of a subordinate branch with a deviated surname.

On top of all that, Tsurara Himuro was also apparently an old acquaintance of their father from his early hero days. And according to Shoto's old nanny's gossip, this person was also the one who had acted as the go-between of their parents' marriage.

"No need. It's not yet confirmed, and it's nothing worth celebrating anyway," replied Shoto, keeping his tone as level as possible. His feet moved quickly. "If you'd excuse me then."

"Wait a minute."

Shoto paused in his steps and then reluctantly turned around to face her.

This Aunt Tsurara of theirs wasn't a hero. On the contrary, she was some big shot in the Hero Public Safety Commission. He didn't know the specifics of her position—he'd never bothered to ask—but she was considered their father's superior.

She could apparently even order the Flame Hero Endeavor to hop around the kitchen on one foot while carrying a kettle and wearing a frilly apron. The lauded number two hero could make as dark a face as he wanted, but in the end, he'd still need to do it.

Shoto wasn't sure where his eldest brother Toya had gotten this very specific example from, and at five years old, he had been too afraid to ask.

In any case, even though Aunt Tsurara had no use for her Quirk in her job, her Icecraft was still very impressive. Shoto still felt some slight terror whenever he remembered how she had completely clobbered Toya within five seconds in that one sparring session the latter had managed to coax from her.

The memory wasn't completely traumatic though. It was one of the few he had of his mother laughing in such an unbridled manner. And in the background of his mother's laughter, something deeper echoed—the subtle sound of something that seemed like a grown man's chuckle—

"I also heard you still weren't using your fire?"

Shoto frowned.

Superficially, Aunt Tsurara's features held some similarity to his mother's. They both had white hair, pale skin, and gray eyes. Even though his mother was slightly less bright, less glamorous—as if she were a blanket that had been stretched out too thinly and had long become worn down and threadbare—whenever she smiled and laughed, Shoto thought that there was no other person more vivid and lively.

In comparison, Aunt Tsurara was always stunning. She was always meticulously clean and polished as if she were a prized diamond of the highest clarity displayed inside a glass case—dazzling to look at yet ultimately impossible to touch. Overall, Aunt Tsurara was always presentable and perfect, born high and lofty and without a single flaw.

Except perhaps for that shadow in her eyes that he couldn't quite grasp.

"What of it?" he asked.

Aunt Tsurara just chuckled at his terse tone. "U.A. gathers talents from around the country. I'm sure you'll find someone who you can't defeat with ice alone—as you seem to have done in that obstacle course race."

Shoto's brows twitched. It felt as if a cold wind blew and nipped at the skin on his face, but he ignored the feeling.

"It doesn't matter," he said. "I'll train until I can defeat them."

"There are some people who you can't defeat no matter how much you train," she told him, and her usually somber eyes seemed just a little bit darker than normal. "Other people have and will always be born different from you. Your father never really understood that, so he won't be able to teach it to you."

Shoto paused, letting the words sink into his mind.

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

"Don't look at them, Shoto," he'd been told. "Your siblings belong to a different world than you."

"That's a given," he said slowly. "And I won't become anything like my father."

Aunt Tsurara crossed her arms over her chest and then brought a hand up to her chin. Her dark eyes seemed to flicker, her thoughts straying off to somewhere far away.

She seemed to be mulling over something, so Shoto took the lull in the conversation as an opportunity to leave.

"I still have things to do, so I'll be going ahead."

"All Might will be teaching at U.A. starting the upcoming school year."

Shoto jerked his head around, eyes widening.

Aunt Tsurara touched a finger to her curled lips.

"It's still a secret," she said. "Not even your father knows."

Her tone was slightly mischievous, and there suddenly seemed to be a youthful vibrancy about her that Shoto had never seen before. He was admittedly shocked at seeing this new side of her, but her expression felt more out of place than anything, to be honest.

She added, "He'll probably throw a hissy fit once he finds out, so don't tell him just yet, OK?"

U.A. had always been his only option, but like this, his father might just toss him to Shiketsu in Kansai instead.

Shoto suddenly paused.

Dorm life and a high school without his father's lingering shadow didn't sound that bad. Neither did the prospect of seeing Endeavor throw a hissy fit.

…But as much as he wanted to take every opportunity to spite his old man, he didn't want to leave Fuyumi alone in this house. Natsuo had already left. He couldn't make his older sister suffer even more.

"…I understand," he said.

"Try to make some friends you can invite over this time," Aunt Tsurara told him while tossing her ponytail back over her shoulder. "Fuyumi keeps complaining that you're too much of a loner and that she's worried you won't ever get a girlfriend or boyfriend despite having such a handsome face."

His "handsome" face scrunched up into a rather unattractive look.

"Well," said Aunt Tsurara as she pulled out her smartphone, making a few swipes at the screen, "it looks like there's some trouble I need to clean up, so I'll be taking my leave."

Shoto blinked. "Is everything all right?"

She smiled at him, seeming somewhat tired. "Just peachy."

With that kind of look on her face, Shoto felt that she really was related to his mother.

"Just some system issues at work. The main server's acting up," she said. Then, she added under her breath, "Probably just needs a good kick though."

"Oh."

"I'll still message your sister. Unless you tell her you want something else, she's probably going to get a strawberry cheesecake along with the soba," said Aunt Tsurara. "Tell your older brother I said hi?"

"Yeah," replied Shoto, voice slightly quiet. "When I next see him."

She threw him one last smile and waved her phone at him before walking away.

Shoto watched until her swaying white ponytail disappeared from the corridor before turning back toward his room. His light steps echoed dimly in the empty hallway of their equally desolate home.

"Y'know, I've always wondered," he remembered overhearing Toya say once, long ago. "I mean, Aunt Rara's Quirk is really strong, yeah? Stronger than Mom's. She's not married, and she doesn't have any kids. Like… why not? Why didn't they? What if, you know?"

What if? wondered Shoto. What if?


viii. ressentiment


Shoto Todoroki opted to not join the recreational games being held and instead chose to seclude himself in the forested area behind the stadium's east quadrant.

He wanted to focus and come up with a plan for his first match.

He honestly hadn't expected to be put up against Sesera Miyaka so soon.

It was something he'd known in his bones was inevitable considering how they were probably the favorites to win the tournament. They were also both strong enough to easily mow through the first few rounds of competition, and he'd expected their paths to cross somewhere in the quarterfinals or later.

He hadn't thought that the luck of the draw would put them up against each other first thing.

Sesera Miyaka hadn't stood out in Aizawa's Quirk appraisal test during the first day, and neither did she show off too obviously during their heroics classes. But having been raised on the standards of top-tier pro heroes, there were some things that Shoto naturally understood.

Objectively speaking, Sesera Miyaka was the most powerful one in their class. She was more powerful than Katsuki Bakugo, who ranked first in the practical entrance exam; she was more powerful than even Shoto himself, who had been born and raised for the sole purpose of defeating the number one hero.

Moreover, with the way she'd been single-handedly dominating the last two rounds, she was even arguably the most powerful one in their entire year.

Although she wasn't without her weaknesses, if talking purely in terms of Quirks—

"Well, mine was made with a far greater purpose in mind."

Shoto clenched his shaking hands into fists.

Right in front of his eyes, his mother's ice transformed into a blazing, raging fire that he couldn't control. It further stoked the flames inside him—the flames he couldn't squash out, no matter how much of his mother's ice he surrounded his heart with.

Those flames were always lingering inside him, unable to be put out. They made his blood boil and burned through his soul. The anger and hatred felt like a collar that he couldn't get rid of, yanking him this way and that and making him helpless against the whims of other people.

"U.A. gathers talents from around the country. I'm sure you'll find someone who you can't defeat with ice alone—as you seem to have done in that obstacle course race."

Shoto understood and accepted what those words meant, but at that time, he'd dismissed it without a second thought because it didn't matter to him—other people didn't matter to him.

That was because his goal was something set in stone. He wanted to prove that scum wrong and make him regret what he'd done. This was the revenge he worked toward. Nothing could stop him, and nothing anyone else said could change his mind.

He knew that revenge wasn't anything honorable and that using such a motivation to become a hero wasn't quite right. But there was no other way to get rid of the resentment in his heart, and until it was cleared, he didn't think that he could focus on anything else.

The path he was on was twisted, but this was the only way he'd ever be able to get anywhere. It was a thorny road, but he pushed through—he had to.

Yet suddenly, an unexpected roadblock had appeared.

"If it's not obvious yet, you're sorely mistaken if you think you can beat me with ice alone."

From the moment he first saw Sesera Miyaka walk into the classroom, he'd already noted her down as someone strong. Though she made a lot of superfluous little actions, the way she carried herself indicated that she had prior formal combat training. It was most obvious in the way her gaze usually settled on people's bodies, only really taking in their faces when she was looking for something.

But what gave her away was that lofty and self-assured air that enveloped her—a kind of conceit that crossed into the territory of sheer hubris. It was the sort of thing that could only be displayed by those who, from the very start, had always been ahead of others.

Shoto had seen how she hadn't bothered to even try during the Quirk appraisal test. He'd watched as she led Bakugo by the nose during their first battle simulation training.

And at USJ, despite the rough beginning, she'd proven that she was indeed a cut above the rest. He'd always had a vague sort of inkling, and after the last two events of the Sports Festival, it had turned into a conviction.

"I mean, I'm the product of several generations of it."

Having been born to the kind of family he was, Shoto Todoroki could easily understand one of the harsh truths of life: there was no limit to how disgusting people could be.

"Well, mine was made with a far greater purpose in mind."

But apparently, he'd still underestimated just how limitless "limitless" could be.

"No!"

Back at USJ, he was only a bit surprised when Aizawa had singled him out to take care of Miyaka when she suddenly collapsed. After all, there were other people standing closer to her then. But considering the situation they had been in, he hadn't argued. They'd had no time for complaints.

It wasn't until he got closer to her that it all made sense.

"What's going on with Dad?"

"He overheated during self-training. Mom's helping him out."

Shoto leaned against the stadium wall, letting his back slide down until he squatted on the ground.

He'd met his maternal grandparents only a handful of times, and only once had he ever seen them interact with his father and Aunt Tsurara at the same time.

But that one instance was enough to give him a good idea of the entire situation.

It really wasn't all his father's fault, but Shoto no longer associated himself with—or, really, in general, just thought about—his maternal grandparents after they offered to look for bride candidates for him when they came over for his thirteenth birthday dinner.

At the time, his maternal grandfather had heard about Aunt Tsurara's boss taking in her niece and sending said niece to the premier private all-girls school located in Ehime—which was apparently also Aunt Tsurara's alma mater—and had none-too-discreetly asked after her prospects.

Back then, it was the first time Shoto ever heard the name Miyaka. He hadn't cared one bit about this faceless girl, only feeling a vague sense of pity at hearing her talked about like a choice cut of meat behind her back. The entire conversation was just so unpalatable that he'd let the words flow in one ear and out the other, leaving his seat early on an excuse of indigestion that wasn't exactly a complete lie.

It wasn't until years later that the name came up again. To be honest, it still hadn't rung a bell when he first heard it again, and he hadn't remembered anything about that old conversation until he overheard Miyaka telling some of their classmates that she'd attended St. Claudia's Private Academy for Girls.

To most people, it just sounded like a fancy and expensive all-girls school, but to those in the know, it was an international academy that focused on rearing those with special Quirks. It was so exclusive and had standards so high that neither money nor reputation could get one in, and there were less than twenty people in each year level. Once enrolled, each student was assigned a group of mentors with various internationally recognized accreditations for personalized guidance.

Shoto knew this because his father had once considered sending him to St. Michel's Private Academy for Boys, the boys equivalent of St. Claudia's. Ultimately, his father decided against it and sent him to a nearby private school to personally oversee Shoto's training instead.

In that sense, he was probably a little better off than Miyaka since he was able to maintain some form of normalcy and not be surrounded by people dedicated to strengthening him and his Quirk every hour of every day. He didn't know how he would've survived such an environment, and clearly, she came out of it not quite right either.

In their class, Sesera Miyaka played the role of a social engineer. She was someone who usually hid her manipulative tendencies behind a facade of cordiality and euphemisms, but she probably didn't know that all her pretenses were useless in front of him.

No matter how much she acted like every other shallow and immature teenager their age, Shoto could see it for what it really was—an act.

"In that sense, we're a bit alike."

People like them didn't get childhoods. Whatever naivety and innocence they had would have been swallowed whole by the adults who kept forcing them to be something else.

"Shut up. Shut up, shut up, shut up! No! No no no no no. I won't become like that. I won't use it, not again. Never again. Never ever ever—"

At the time, she'd clearly been feverish when he held her, and yet she kept shivering like she'd been dumped into a pool of ice water.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"No, it doesn't."

"Are you sure, Toya?" he remembered hearing Fuyumi's voice asking from beyond the shoji he'd stood outside of and never entered. "That really looks like it really hurts."

"Really, it doesn't."

Shoto lowered his head, bringing up one hand to cover the scar over his eye.

His cheek felt oddly warm.

Pink eyes speckled with gold appeared in his vision. Slowly, those eyes bled red, and the crooked smile on Miyaka's face cracked open, repeatedly shouting the word "no."

Sesera Miyaka was far from being his friend, but out of everyone in their class, there was no one else as recognizable.

"I'm Sesera Miyaka. What's your name?"

Shoto wondered, How can you keep pretending to be so comfortable with yourself?

With the kind of person she was, with the kind of background she had, he didn't know how she could stomach portraying herself as a normal, easy-going teenager that seemed to only worry about the inane problems of life.

"Well, whatever. It's your Quirk, so do what you want with it."

He recalled the ever-familiar sting of the scent of burn and ash that was lodged up his throat. It was an oppressive taste that he could neither swallow nor spit out, and the rotten flavor of it tainted his every breath.

"Is that what you want then?" murmured Shoto. "Are you really alright with that?"

"That's fine. You're not—"

Shoto frowned, moving his hand to pinch the skin between his brows.

What… came after that again?

He treasured all his memories of his mother. There were already too few for him to keep. Since when had he begun to forget?


The recreational games had just finished, and there was a thirty-minute break before the final round started.

Sesera Miyaka opened the door to 1-A's waiting room using her Quirk since her hands were occupied with typing out a reply on her smartphone. Glancing up, her eyes roved around the room once before settling on the messy head of green at the corner.

"Midoriko."

The grim expression on Seaweed Head's face smoothened out a bit as he looked up in response to her call. Seeing her gesturing at him to come hither, he quickly stood up from his seat. He said a few final words to Tail Boy, with whom he seemed to have been having a serious discussion, before moving to approach her.

"Is there anything I can help you with, Miyaka?" he asked.

Sesera turned her body halfway, flashing her phone's screen at him.

"I'm going to meet my cousin now," she told him. "He said OK to the autograph, photo-op, and handshake."

"Really?!" Seaweed Head's voice rose a pitch, and the few people around them stared at him in surprise. "That's awesome! He sounds great! Oh, man, let me check if I have my pen on me—"

She benevolently gave him thirty seconds to have his fit, make sure he had paper and a pen on him, wipe his hands with a wet wipe, and rub some alcohol-based sanitizer on his palms. Then, she led him towards the hall Hokuto and Big Sis Rumi were waiting at, walking a bit faster than she normally did since his nervous and excited energy was starting to make her slightly frazzled.

Seaweed Head was a serious fan boy, that was for sure.

Sesera finally spotted two people standing near a vending machine. Big Sis Rumi saw them first, a huge grin forming on her face as she gestured for them to hurry up.

"I-I-Is that M-M-M-Mir—"

"So, this is the kid who tripped you up?" asked Big Sis Rumi with a broad grin. "Up close, he looks even less the type. You must be so pissed."

Sesera nodded. "Yes. That's why I'm introducing him to Hokuto."

Seaweed Head squinted, having difficulty seeing past the glowing halos of his Sports Festival idol and the sixth-ranked pro hero.

"M-M-M-M-My name is I-I-I-I-Ijuku Midoriya."

Sesera glanced at her classmate after hearing him bite his tongue and trip up on his own name, but the person himself didn't seem to notice anything. He just continued bowing while messing up the hair on the back of his head even more.

"It's such a p-p-pleasure to meet you both! I'm a really huge fan!"

"My name is Hokuto Miyaka," said Hokuto. His expression brimmed with pure magnanimity as he pressed a hand over his heart. "The pleasure is mine in meeting such a dedicated fan."

Seaweed Head's face erupted with sparkles and flowers, and Sesera immediately turned her gaze away and imagined herself someplace else—someplace far, far away.

No way was she wasting precious seconds of her life listening to this bullshit.

Unfortunately, Big Sis Rumi was spiteful. She pinched Sesera in the arm, clearly passing the message that if she had to watch this shitshow, then others needed to suffer with her.

Sesera ended up wasting several minutes of her life listening to this bullshit.

From introductions, the two nerds moved on to talk about Hokuto's experiences in the Sports Festival and the subsequent internships, then about the newly established North Star Support brand. They discussed North Star's collaboration with Silken Hero Serica—who was also a U.A. alumna from Hokuto's year—on the mass production of the mithril silk produced by the mithril silkworms genetically mutated from her Quirk and the talks they were having with the International Board of Quirk Regulations about possibly supplying it on a worldwide scale.

Sesera didn't know how much time had passed before their saving grace arrived in the forms of her chauffers–cum–gofers, Feng Lang and Zusa Miyama, who came to deliver her festival food haul.

Big Sis Rumi eagerly eyed the bags upon bags of food in their arms. She quickly asked, "Ooh, Akira, Zuzu, is that for me?"

Feng Lang benignly smiled at her.

"It's for the young lady," he answered, "so, yes, it's for you."

Thankfully, Big Sis Rumi still knew how to control herself. She only grabbed a few choice, savory snacks before backing off to eat them. Sesera handed Hokuto a whole grilled squid and nothing else.

Since Seaweed Head had gotten double the autographs, photo-ops, and handshakes she had originally promised him, Sesera had no qualms about using him as a pack mule. After grabbing the bag of Pikachu-shaped cotton candy, a caramel-drizzled candy apple, a choco banana with almond flakes and rainbow sprinkles, and a custard cream–filled taiyaki for herself, she let him carry the rest.

She was halfway through the choco banana when the announcement calling for the participants of the first match to be on standby at the arena sounded.

"Oh shit, I gotta go," said Sesera as she hurriedly stuffed the rest of the choco banana into her mouth.

As she chewed and swallowed, she popped open the biodegradable plastic with the cotton candy and squashed Pikachu into an unrecognizable yellow clump of pure sugar almost half the size of a palm. She then tossed it into her mouth before tearing open the plastic cover of the candy apple and shoving her taiyaki into the large, recycled eco-bag hanging on the crook of Seaweed Head's left elbow.

"Save my taiyaki, I owe Tokoyami and Dark Shadow a candy apple each, you can have your pick as the delivery boy, pass the rest off to Yaoyorozu for distribution," she told him before breaking out into a run down the hallway while biting into her candy apple.

Izuku didn't even have time to nod before her figure disappeared from sight.

The black-haired man wearing a black suit with a black dress shirt and a black tie asked, "She's in the first match?"

"Yeah. Up against Endeavor's kid," replied the orange-haired man wearing a tan suit with a mushroom-patterned dress shirt and a paisley tie. "We watched the draws earlier, don't you remember, Zuzu?"

"Then why is she still in that cheerleader's outfit?"

Silence settled over them since no one could answer him.

"That's also my cue to get to work," said Hokuto suddenly. He glanced at the two suited men. "You two should get back to your positions."

"A'ight, Young Master," replied Feng Lang with a nod. He turned to look at Izuku with a smile. "You also best get to where you're supposed to be, little boy."

His voice was warm and his tone was friendly, but something about his way of speaking made Izuku flinch a little.

"Y-Yes," he answered quickly. He looked at Hokuto and Mirko and gave them each a nod. "Thank you again for your time. I really appreciate it."

Hokuto nodded at him in return. Then, he turned to Mirko and said, "Come on. Don't forget the kit."

"I'm literally sitting right on it," replied Mirko through a mouthful of yakitori. She pointed her half-eaten stick at the metallic-pink hard-shell luggage she was leaning on. "And who knows how much the stuff inside it is worth? There's no way I'd just leave it somewhere."

The four adults dispersed, and Izuku walked back to 1-A's waiting room while carrying four large, recycled eco-bags filled with festival food.

"Wow, Midoriya," said Kaminari when Izuku entered the waiting room, "I didn't think you were the type."

"This is from Miyaka," he said quickly. "She asked me to bring it back since she got called off to be on standby for the next match. Yaoyorozu, she said you were in charge of distribution?"

"I understand," replied Yaoyorozu with a nod. "Please put the bags down over here."

Hagakure and Ashido jumped up from their seats to look through the bags' contents on the excuse of helping set the food out. The table was soon filled with a colorful, obviously unhealthy, but very delicious-smelling buffet of festival food.

"Ah, right," said Izuku. He reached out for the taiyaki Miyaka had claimed and put it aside. "Um, that one's Miyaka's, and she also said she owed Tokoyami and Dark Shadow a candy apple each…?"

Tokoyami strode forward. Yaoyorozu picked up the cardboard box poked through with several types of candy apples and presented it to him.

"Here, take whichever you like," she said. "If there's anything else you want, feel free to take it as well."

Dark Shadow popped out and grabbed two plain, bright-red candy apples.

"These will do. Nothing beats a classic," commented Tokoyami before retreating to his seat.

Hagakure impatiently jumped up. "I have dibs on the grilled caramel! Myasera made an oath, I have videographic evidence! Nobody can fight me for it!"

When she rushed forward, the rest of the girls also went up and began raiding the table. Once they were done choosing, practically all the sweets were gone, with only a single plain choco banana left behind.

Yaoyorozu smiled at the male portion of the class and succinctly said, "You boys may take what you want."

She then gracefully returned to her seat with her spoils, which were arguably the most numerous among the girls.

This was hardly the kind of distribution Izuku expected, but he was smart enough to not fight anyone about it. Thank goodness he swiped that pack of baby castella before entering the room.

Kaminari jumped up from his seat. "I call dibs on the tornado potato! I haven't had one in ages!"

"It's probably not so crispy anymore though," commented Sero as he reached out for a jelly fry. "Hey, Koda, what is that?"

Koda held out something that looked like a mochi corndog. "This is called a candle boy. It's a sausage wrapped in mochi. It's pretty popular back home, but I didn't think I'd see it here."

"You said you were from up north, right? Iwate, was it?" asked Ojiro, and Koda nodded. "Oh, this grilled corn on the cob tastes pretty good."

"I feel like its sweet soy sauce glaze is also the base used for the sauce of this takoyaki," commented Shoji.

"The packaging does look similar," said Kirishima as he crunched on some rather crispy-sounding rice crackers. "Oh, hey, Bakugo, look. There's chili powder for the karaage. You should take some."

"Already did," replied Kacchan with a grunt as he walked back to his seat with a paper cup of bite-sized karaage and two sticks of salt-grilled sweetfish.

"Hmm? Is this the famous twenty-four-hour slow-cooked offal stew?" Ida picked up a frosted-glass mason jar with a tin lid and a cardboard sleeve. "My elder brother told me this was a U.A. Sports Festival staple! I must try it!"

"These stylish light bulb sodas have mixed Ramune!" exclaimed Aoyama. "They go well with the crispy cheese!"

"Asui, I see you took the candy grapes," said Mineta as he inched closer to her with the leftover choco banana in hand. "Are you trying to tell me someth—ow!"

Izuku took the last serving of okonomiyaki and the bright-green light bulb soda Aoyama offered him. The table of festival food was soon cleared out, with only Miyaka's taiyaki along with a serving of yakisoba and a neon-pink light bulb soda set aside for Todoroki left on it.

Soon enough, a message announcing the start of the final round played on the speakers. Izuku was in the second match, but he didn't think that a victor could be so easily decided between Miyaka and Todoroki, so he accompanied the rest of his classmates to their assigned viewing area.

When they arrived at the stands, Present Mic was hyping up the crowds while Cementoss made some final checks on the battle stage he built in the middle of the arena.

Izuku also spotted Mr. Aizawa and Midnight speaking to Hokuto and Mirko. They stood off to one side, deep in the shadows of the stands, so it almost looked like they were doing something secretive.

Izuku had noticed earlier that Hokuto was wearing an event badge. Since Hokuto was an alumnus, it was no surprise that he was helping out with managing the event. Izuku had heard that because of the recent villain attack, U.A. had called in several alumni and local pros to help beef up security for the festival.

Mirko had neither attended U.A. nor was she attached to any hero agency, but she was associated with North Star Support for her equipment. It made some sense that she was around as well, though Izuku didn't see her wearing an event badge.

A couple of minutes later, Cementoss finished his checks and went to the seat he had set up for himself just outside the stage. Not long after, Midnight and Mr. Aizawa went up the referee's platform.

"Break's over, folks!" shouted Present Mic. "Now, it's time for what you've all been waiting for! We're about to start the final round of the Sports Festival!"

Colored smoke shot out from the fog machines at each corner of the battle stage, and the crowd started cheering wildly.

"Hold onto your seats because we're in for a real treat right off the bat!" he said. "We have 1-A's top two powerhouses already up against each other in our first match! Power and pedigree are on both sides, but on whom will Lady Luck smile in the end?!

"From the blue corner! His father is none other than the hard-hitting number two who has the highest crime resolution rate among the current pros! His cold gaze makes his opponents freeze in fright, but it might not work on his next opponent! The epitome of coolness! The icy prince—Shoto Todoroki!"

Todoroki walked out from the east entrance and climbed onto the battle stage. The cameras zoomed in on his face, and his frosty expression flashed onto the holo-screens surrounding the arena.

Izuku couldn't help but feel that something was off with him.

"Is… Is Todoroki alright?" he asked Ida beside him. "I feel like his expression doesn't look quite right…"

"He looks the same as always to me," commented Uraraka.

"He disappeared right after the draws, and I didn't see him join the recreational games," said Ida with a slight frown. "Could he have been mentally preparing himself? Even for him, Miyaka would not be an easy opponent to take on."

"He psyched himself out too much," said Kacchan suddenly. "You can see it on his face. Pigtails isn't even that tough of an opponent one-on-one."

"You're probably the only person with enough guts to say that," Sero told him.

Kacchan sneered. "That pasty-faced bitch never fights seriously. Pisses me the hell off."

"Did you not watch her in the last two rounds?" asked Kaminari as he looked at Kacchan disbelievingly. "Or are you saying she wasn't being serious even when she was practically stepping over everyone's head? You even had to resort to an underhanded trick at the literal last second to beat her in the second round!"

"If she were really being serious, then I wouldn't have been able to steal her headband so easily."

Kirishima glanced at him. "You're putting Miyaka on a pretty high pedestal there."

Kacchan scoffed. "Whatever."

"Why does Present Mic have to call him a prince?" muttered Mineta as he bit down on his nails. "It's probably gonna catch on! Social media's like that!"

"And now, from the red corner! Her cousin was the first non–Hero Course student to dominate the Sports Festival three years in a row! Is it now her turn? She's been blazing her way through the first and second rounds, so it might just be! A true girl on fire! The fiery princess—Sesera Miyaka!"

When Miyaka walked out from the west entrance, Mineta slammed his hands down on the armrests of his seat.

"How is Todoroki allowed to be so powerful!" Mineta was practically in hysterics right now. "He can even make his opponent wear a cheerleader's outfit, lace high socks, and a garter belt to a fight with him! What kind of fight are they even planning on doing?!"

Ashido couldn't take it anymore. "Oh my god, Mineta, shut up."

"T-That's probably my fault." Izuku guiltily raised a hand, and everyone turned to him, waiting for his explanation. "Miyaka introduced me to her cousin, and I got a bit carried away talking to him, so, uh, I guess she didn't have time to change."

There was a brief silence because that reason was perfectly legitimate. They all knew how Izuku could be when he got started on hero talk.

"So, you're Todoroki's wingman now?!" Mineta jumped from his chair to lunge at Izuku. Sero thankfully bound him up with white tape in time. "Midoriya, I thought we were friends! Seat neighbors! Todoroki's just an outsider who sits diagonally behind! Why would you help him and not me?"

"Who would want to help you, ribbit?" asked Asui dryly.

"It doesn't look like Miyaka's being disqualified or anything for not being in uniform," said Yaoyorozu as Miyaka walked back to her end of the battle stage after exchanging a few words with Midnight and Mr. Aizawa near their platform. "I think they're allowing it."

"Of course Midnight doesn't have a problem with it," muttered Jiro.

With the technicalities out of the way, Midnight raised a hand high up into the air. The crowds fell silent as they waited for the battle to begin.

Midnight dropped her arm. "Start!"

Everyone expected Miyaka to make a big first move like she did in the last two rounds, but either she changed her strategy or Todoroki was even faster than her.

In a flash, a giant glacier engulfed nearly half the stadium. Todoroki clearly didn't hold anything back, and this was probably his maximum output.

The crowds were silent as the cool air they breathed in nipped at their insides.

Whether it was because of the cold or something else, Izuku felt himself trembling.

"Damn… No mercy even against a girl…" muttered Kaminari.

Jiro eyed him disdainfully. "You'd be dead in one move."

"Todoroki really went all out though," said Hagakure nervously. "Is Myasera OK?"

"This ain't enough to take her down," said Kacchan as he kept his eyes fixed on the arena below. "Since she didn't counter, that means she's planning something else."

Light suddenly flashed from within the base of the glacier. It started as a weak, blinking glow and then slowly spread out through the rest of the ice in a brilliant, multicolored light show.

Present Mic voiced out everyone's thoughts. "How beautiful…"

Then the flashing lights all turned orange-red, and a blazing fire erupted across the surface of the glacier. An echoing hiss and crackle resounded inside the stadium as the ice transformed into fire, and the previously cold air gradually turned warmer before becoming a raging inferno.

Within the roaring flames, Miyaka stood languidly with a hand on her hip and her baton pointed to the side. She flicked her wrist, and immediately, all the flames were put out.

All that was left of Todoroki's attack were the scorch marks on the ground and the faintly humid air.

Miyaka pressed the tip of her baton against her cheek with a smile.


Aunt Tsurara had once told Shoto, "I'm sure you'll find someone who you can't defeat with ice alone."

Just… He glanced at the black scorch marks forming a smudged semicircle around where Miyaka stood unmoving from her original spot.

He didn't think that that person couldn't be beaten by fire either.

What was the point in trying to make him use the other half of his Quirk then? Whether or not he could suddenly resolve himself to using his left side, it really wouldn't make a difference in this fight.

"I would crush you like a bug either way."

This was probably what Miyaka had meant back then.

Shoto recalled the words his scum father had said to him when they encountered each other in the corridors just minutes before he came out for the match.

"Can you understand Sesera Miyaka's strength?"

Shoto slid a foot back. Miyaka's calm gaze flickered to him, and he could see the mocking flavor on the smile on her lips.

She wasn't taking this fight seriously.

That first attack had taken quite a bit of stamina from him, and it was obvious in the frost that had built up over his right side. By contrast, negating it didn't seem to have taken much effort from her.

Actually, now that he thought about it, he'd never really seen Miyaka tired. She often griped about physical exercises during gym and heroics classes, and there were a few times that he caught her out of breath, but she'd never been so completely worn out that she could be considered exhausted. At the very least, she always still had enough energy to complain.

He likely couldn't win a battle of attrition. But when neither ice nor fire worked, how could he win against her?

Shoto took a deep breath. He stomped a foot on the ground and sent a barrage of ice spikes at her.

Miyaka waved her baton, transforming the ice into fire and then snuffing it out.

She didn't take a single step from her position and didn't do anything aside from negating his attack.

She really wasn't taking this fight seriously.

Shoto could feel the anger bubbling up inside of him, threatening to burst out. Sesera Miyaka was the prime example of the kind of person he didn't want to be. Defeating her here would have great meaning for him.

So, why was it that after all this time, he still couldn't come up with a strategy to beat her? Why did the thought of doing so make him unhappy?

"Don't put me in the same category as you."

How couldn't he? She admitted it herself. They were both born not out of love, but out of something despicable. How could she so easily accept herself when other people suffered for her existence?

How could she not be angry? How could she not hate? How could she not want revenge? How could she act like some vapid teenager who had no worries on her shoulders? How could she keep smiling and laughing when others were in pain because of her?

How were the guilt and resentment not eating her up inside?

Shoto couldn't help but wonder, What did they do to you?

He also didn't want to be like this, but he couldn't find any other option.

"Oh? You're already done attacking?"

Miyaka shifted her weight to her other foot, tapping her baton over her shoulder. When he didn't answer, she opened her mouth to speak again.

"Then I guess it's my tu—"

"Do you know my father?"

Miyaka raised a brow at him.

"Didn't we already talk about this?" She spoke with a curious tone. "Endeavor, right? Everybody knows the number two hero."

"That's not what I meant," he said a bit tersely. "Are you acquainted with him?"

"…I met him with Midoriyama in the hallways earlier."

She was clearly avoiding the subject, so he bluntly called her out. "He told me he rescued you four years ago."

It was slight, but he could tell that she suddenly stiffened.

When his scum father spoke to him earlier, the conversation had started with the usual bullshit that basically amounted to trying and failing to convince Shoto to use his fire. Right when he was about to walk away, the bastard brought out a topic that made him stop and listen.

"Four years ago, I rescued Sesera Miyaka and her mother from the hands of evildoers, so I know a bit about her. That girl's Quirk… It's not something easy to deal with, but you…"

It hadn't been the pause that made Shoto turn around to look at his father. It was the odd tone he used when speaking of the people he saved.

Shoto couldn't understand the emotions behind that tone, and when he tried searching Endeavor's expression, he only ended up becoming even more confused.

"You have the potential to subdue her if you learn how to wield your Quirk properly."

Suddenly, Miyaka laughed. A wide smile appeared on her face, and for some reason, her expression made Shoto's heart skip a beat.

"I suppose that's true," she said airily. "What of it?"

He was supposed to be the one with the ice powers, but something in her tone made chills run down his back.

Shoto composed himself. "Just wanted to confirm something."

"Oh?"

Miyaka didn't do anything except smile as he took even steps forward and approached her.

"But maybe learning from her would do you a bit of good," his father had said after turning his back to him in the hallway earlier. "You can't keep this stubbornness up forever. After all, neither could she."

Shoto looked at her smiling face and couldn't help but wonder, What did they do to you?


Endeavor Jr. stopped about two arms' length away from her.

If they tried to reach out for each other, perhaps their fingers could touch.

Sesera hadn't noticed right away, but since he chatted her up about his father in the middle of the fight, she would have to be thick if she still didn't figure it out.

Junior wasn't in the proper headspace for a fight right now.

She didn't know what happened to him in the time between the draws and the start of the battle, but the vengefully determined intensity from after the second round had been all but whittled away and replaced by something she couldn't quite understand.

There was a certain frenzy in his eyes, as well as a bit of desperation. There was something like helplessness too, but those were all she could identify from the multitude of emotions burning in his mismatched eyes.

He sort of looked like a lost little kid, and she hadn't the slightest idea how to deal with this sort of thing apart from shoving it off to someone else.

Should I just end this quickly then?

In that brief moment wherein she was considering what to do, Junior suddenly swung his arm, and a wall of ice appeared in front of her. Sesera had a steady stream of power going to the tip of her baton, so she was confident in being able to either attack or defend within a split second, but there was no need in this instance.

She saw her distorted reflection in the jagged surface of the wall of ice, and Junior achieved his goal of distracting her.

Orange wasn't really her color.

Sesera tilted her head and pointed her baton to her left, blasting the icy spikes coming for her with a laser beam. In the end, converting ice to fire was a complicated process that took up a considerable chunk of her processing power, and she couldn't keep that up for the entire fight. It seemed to have lost effect on Junior too, so there was no point to it anymore.

Besides, continuously spamming the same move would make the audience lose interest, and she still liked Junior's face enough that she would put in the effort to make this a good fight.

Like Bakugo, Junior's one-on-one fighting style was direct confrontation without any petty tricks. It could even be said that Junior was even more straightforward than Bakugo—though that was pretty reasonable considering the former was an elemental type twice over. Although it couldn't be denied that Junior had a good handle on his Quirk, he relied a lot more on overpowering his opponent through sheer force than skill and technique.

In a way, she and Junior were both the type of people who brought nukes to gunfights, and they shared a penchant for big and flashy attacks. Their flamboyant Quirks were appealing to watch, but if they went too overboard, it would only conversely confuse the spectators. If there was too much going on at once, normal people wouldn't be able to keep up and appreciate the performance.

To put on a good show, it would be better to make opposing styles clash.

Sesera blasted the next barrage of ice spikes Junior sent at her with another laser beam before dashing toward him.

There was obvious surprise in his face at seeing her gunning for a close-combat fight. Although Junior didn't have Bakugo's exceptional fighting instincts, he also wasn't a glass cannon who could only fight from a distance.

On top of being in charge of their physical conditioning, Eraser Head also taught them basic combat maneuvers. Whenever they had to practice the moves, because there was an odd number of girls in the class, Sesera was almost always the one singled out to match up with the boys.

She'd partnered up with all the boys except for the small one who sat in front of her in class, and this naturally included Junior.

This wouldn't be the first time they would go head-to-head, but it was the first time with Quirks allowed and with something considerable at stake too.

Junior sent her another barrage of ice spikes before moving back to keep the distance between them. Sesera dodged his attack this time instead of meeting it head-on, continuing to chase after him. She raised her baton and let electricity flow from its tip, forming a trail of power that manifested into a whip. She aimed for the area he was running toward and brought down her arm.

Incidentally, her attack had aimed at his left side, and he had to twist his body around to defend himself with his ice. Sesera cut off the power on the whip and blasted him with a wide laser.

Junior just barely managed to defend against it with a larger-than-needed ice wall. However, it cut her off from his line of sight, and Sesera was able to run around it toward his blind spot to launch an attack from there.

She sent a bolt of lightning at him. It wasn't enough to electrocute him or fry his insides, but it was enough to stiffen his muscles and stop him from moving, maybe cause a few minor electric burns.

When Junior's body fell to the ground, Sesera froze.

Did I overdo the power output…?

She had only intended on making him immobile so she would have an opportunity to get closer to him, not have him completely collapse on her.

She was admittedly a bit stunned at this outcome. Sesera glanced over to the side where Midnight and Eraser Head stood on the referee's platform. She met Midnight's gaze, and the latter could only take one step forward before she was stopped by Eraser Head's suddenly raised hand.

Sesera turned her head and quickly jumped back at the barrage of icy spikes that rushed at her.

Once she was a fair distance away, she saw Junior slowly getting back up to his feet. The frost that had built up on the right side of his body gradually melted and then evaporated. It seemed that it was because that frost had acted as a conductor that her electric attack had harmed him more than intended.

She would have to remember to be careful about that.

Sesera didn't plan on letting the fight end this soon, so she waited for Junior to recover. From where she stood, she could see him surrounded by fog and ice.

With the right side of his body turned to her, she finally realized why his cold expressions made her so uncomfortable.

Back in the windowless building, there had been a man. He was always smiling, and he always spoke to her softly. His presence was warm, but his hands were so cold that it felt like with every touch he sucked her very life away.

"Oh my. I already told you this doesn't have to hurt. Why can't you be more obedient?"

Sesera suddenly felt her body go limp. She crossed her arms over her chest, and her hands tightly gripped at her elbows. She tried hard to fight back the urge to hug herself into a ball and crawl into a corner.

There was only one time when that man had not been smiling at her.

"All you have to do is follow my orders! Why is that so difficult?!"

There was jagged ice pressing up against her back, but it felt more like those silver needles that mapped out gleaming constellations across her skin. Her breath hitched, and the bitterly cold bite of ice gripped her insides, stealing something from within her. The chilly fingers rubbing circles on her temples drifted down, and frozen hands grabbed her by the throat.

"You… mus— bec—e l—ke th—t."

Sesera heaved, and her hands went up to claw at the collar around her neck.

The last time she saw that man, he had been scorched black by blue fire, and his vibrant, red blood was spilling through her fingers like the infinite waters of the Sanzu River. But he was also smiling and coughing out broken laughs, and crystal-like tears beaded at the corners of his eyes.

"Enough. Enji, you put me out of this misery. I'm not the best person, but I was at least a good enough upperclassman to have you show me this much mercy, right?"

Back then, Endeavor had turned her around and pushed her toward one of his sidekicks to be brought away. She hadn't witnessed the end for herself, but the first time she met Tsurara Himuro, that woman had brought her to an old house on a mountainside where a wooden tablet with that man's name was enshrined together with the tablets of a "Sagetsu Shimomura" and a "Toya Todoroki."

Sesera had never gone there a second time.

"Up until now, you're being bound by your father's blood. Those eyes he left on you make you blind to your own shadow. But you mustn't become like that—like him. Else your mother would be very upset. That's why I'm trying to help you. I want to get rid of the control he's left on you."

The first time she saw that man, Sesera remembered thinking that inside this windowless building's white walls, white floors, and white ceilings, this peerlessly beautiful person in the white coat with his white hair and dark-gray eyes seemed to fit perfectly.

"Hello, dear Kamiki. My name is Yukito Himuro, and I'll be your doctor starting today. I look forward to working with you."

Sesera's vision suddenly blacked out for maybe a few seconds, and she came to when her Quirk jolted her heart back into its proper functions. She dropped her baton and fell to her knees, coughing into her hands.

Upon seeing her own blood, her mind cleared up, and she found that the electricity that had been going wild inside her body had already dissipated, and her generation was back to its initial levels.

"Can you both continue?"

Midnight stood just outside the sidelines, glancing back and forth between the two combatants. A ways behind her, Eraser Head stood still on the platform with his head slightly turned in Sesera's direction. His signature slitted goggles covered his eyes, and the white scarf around his neck was piled high, almost covering even his nose.

Just looking at him, no one would be able to tell that he publicly killed her for a few seconds with a mere glance.

Sesera turned her eyes away from Eraser Head and looked at Junior. It seemed like he had regained his bearings from her earlier attack, but his expression was blank as he just stood there looking like he didn't quite know what to do.

Sesera wiped the blood on her hands onto the front of the orange crop top she wore. She could still feel the sticky wetness of her stained gloves on the skin of her palms, but at least it was less noticeable.

"I can continue," said Sesera as she got back up to her feet.

Midnight glanced at Junior. "Todoroki?"

It took Junior a few seconds to answer, and when he spoke, his voice came out a bit hoarse.

"Continue."

"…Alright then," said Midnight as she took a step back.

The fight officially resumed, but neither she nor Junior made any moves.

To the spectators, the way this fight had played out so far was probably a bit weird. After the first flashy exchange, the two of them had gone inside their own heads. Sesera also didn't quite expect things to turn out this way. She would've very much preferred to not have her dirty laundry aired out in public, but she supposed this was part of being a hero.

Maybe I should've thought this whole hero thing out better.

"I guess neither of us is really in any mood for a fight, huh?" she said as she picked up her baton from where it had rolled off to. "By the way, what was it that you wanted to confirm?"

Junior met her gaze directly without any fluctuations in his eyes.

"Whether or not you yielded to the adults," he replied flatly.

Sesera blinked. Then, she brought up a hand to cover the smile that formed on her lips.

So, it turned out that this was where his mind had gone.

She supposed she should have expected it. She'd gone through a similar phase herself, though admittedly Junior was going through the stages much quicker than she had.

It was like looking back at her old self. She wanted to laugh.

"Well, this isn't really the time or place for this conversation, but I can still tell you a couple of things," said Sesera with a bright smile. She pointed her baton right at him. "Let's see—how about I tell you something about my Quirk then?"

Rays of light gathered at the tip of the metal, blinking and pulsing. Junior finally reacted, sliding back a foot. Mist formed around the chill covering his right hand.

"To those people, this Quirk is worth much more than my existence," she said, "but unfortunately for them, each one couldn't be without the other."

She recalled those heinous attempts at transference of ownership and the utter disasters that resulted from them. She recalled killing most of those monsters with her own hands and how it took Endeavor and several of his sidekicks an unreasonable amount of time to subdue an eleven-year-old little girl.

"This Quirk is mine," Sesera told Junior, "and it's also me at the same time. Anyone who tries to take it away won't end up well."

If she were the romantic type, she'd say this Quirk chose to be born to her and not anyone else in the family's eight generations since the nominal founder Sun Anxing. Out of thousands of people, it was her who ended up with the power to kill gods.

"God is dead. God remains dead," her mother had sung, "and we have killed him. How shall we comfort ourselves, the murderers of all murderers?"

As someone who went through the same thing, Sesera could understand where Junior was coming from. By giving such power to a child who knew nothing and dreamt of only the mundane, it would only serve to muddle their thoughts. In the same way that Quirks needed time to grow and mature, so did the bodies that held them and the minds that controlled them.

"As an upperclassman who went through the same thing, I'll give one very good tip," Sesera told Junior. "Even more so than not getting what they want, people are more pissed off by things ending up the exact opposite of what they hope for."

"Don't you want to see the world burn?"

Sesera remembered a garden in flames. She remembered the bright fires that spread throughout heaven, and how they were rendered to nothingness under the endless starry sky.

"The world outside is very cruel," Azalea Garden had once told her. "Although there are many beautiful things, as long as I keep trying my best, I can still somehow hate it. That way, when I eventually destroy it, I won't feel so bad about it."

In Sesera's memories, there was a girl with silvery-blue hair and red eyes that shone like stars. That girl vowed to destroy the cruel world that tore her family apart.

But in the end, what she ended up destroying was the fantasy that Sesera lived in instead. Even if it was only a fantasy, Sesera wouldn't have minded living inside it forever. Her mother was alive, Dr. Yukito was kind, and she was happy.

Even if everything was fake, it didn't make a difference. To the rest of the world, a person pretending to be happy was the same as a person who was truly happy.

But Azalea Garden changed all that.

Years later, Sesera understood just how cruel the world outside was and just how many beautiful things there were. She understood why Azalea Garden had wanted so badly to destroy it and how she got the determination to do so.

As such, Sesera made her own vow.

She would save this cruel and beautiful world, even if it was the last thing she did.

That would be her revenge.

Even though Azalea Garden was already dead, she still existed in Sesera's heart. That little girl with silvery-blue hair and red eyes that shone like stars still danced and spun around in circles in a garden of azaleas surrounded by endless white walls.

She still reached out a hand with her pinky extended, offering Sesera thousands of unfulfilled promises.

"If I tell a lie," they'd sung together, "I'll swallow a thousand needles, cut off my finger, and die."

Sesera looked at Shoto Todoroki, and the two halves of him struggling to come to a whole.

"Think about what you're trying to do a little more," she told him. "There's always more than one way to do things, but to reach the answer that will satisfy you the most, you first have to understand yourself—who you really are, and what you really want. Only once you've decided what kind of person to become would your heart be clear on the way forward."

That little girl called Kamiki wasn't the kind of person who went out and gave inspirational speeches like this, but Sesera Miyaka was the kind of person who aimed to be a hero that could save the world.

And a person who wanted to save the world out of revenge was, in the end, a person who wanted to save the world.

Sesera pointed her baton up to the sky, and the crackling flashes at the tip shot up to form a column of light that pierced the heavens.

Todoroki glanced up at the gathering dark clouds before meeting her calm gaze.

"So, you didn't yield, huh?" He let out a relieved sigh. "That's good."

Sesera smiled at him, genuinely this time. White mist wafted from his frost-covered right hand while orange-red flames flickered from his left.

"There's no way I'd yield," she said.

"Neither would I," he replied.

Sesera nodded. Now that all that was out of the way, it was time to start the real fight.

"Descend," she said as she brought her arm down, "Raijin!"


freetalk:

A couple of quick announcements:

I've made this fic available on Archive of Our Own (AO3), so if you prefer to read there, you can also do so. Just expect updates to be a day or so late.

I've also more or less managed to set up a Twitter account related to my fics, so look up user showichixff to see the art gallery! There's also a special Christmas illustration of Sesera and the two boys up. Heads up: there might be spoiler-y things and also, the account's set to private so you're gonna have to follow for access. I'll be digging out the old art to put on there over the next few days, but otherwise don't expect too many posts. You can chat me up there or poke me to pressure me for updates though, hurr.

On another note, I originally planned this whole chapter to be in Todoroki PoV but it wasn't working out OTL. He's just way too angsty haha. His drama should be over in the next chapter, and we'll be going back to Sesera's drama instead. :P Tbh, the Sports Festival arc was only planned for five chapters at most, but looking at how things are going…

Question of the chapter is: who do you guys think will win this fight? Who do you want to win the fight?

As a final note, thanks so so so much to everyone who reviewed, followed, favorited, or even just lurkingly read this. I honestly write this to feed myself, but if it feeds you folks as well, then that's great! Recent MHA manga chapters have been on a roll, and I hope to see more fantastic works from the community!

Advanced Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone!

(Side note, how do you guys feel about a Dr. Stone OC fic? Tsukasa x OC, ofc. owo)


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ix. the goldilocks zone

"Sorry," said Todoroki awkwardly as he shifted his gaze away from how she tore off the leftover scraps of what used to be the cheerleader's outfit from her body, "about your clothes."

Sesera quirked her lips up into a smile. The cheerleader's outfit that Ponytail had Created was plain cotton and had easily been burnt away during the fight, but she still had on her high-necked, long-sleeved undershirt. She was also wearing boyshorts and high socks, so even if she was technically only in her underwear, compared to Todoroki's bare-chested look, she was definitely showing much less skin.

Not that she was complaining about the view.