There wasn't much in the way of noise in the hallway Todoroki had led Izuku and Tooru too. It was far from the main spectators, and essentially on the complete opposite side of the main entrance. About the only sound that could be heard was the distant chattering of the crowd partaking in some of the outside stalls, but even that was muffled from this distance.

Izuku and his invisible friend were backed up against one wall, both tense though Izuku could sense it was for differing reasons. He felt distinctly uncomfortable face to face with the component of his last… turbulent fusion, while he could feel a solid rush of protectiveness radiating off of Tooru for him, no doubt recalling the scene Todoroki had made before the Sports Festival had started.

Todoroki seemed entirely unphased by this though, his hands in his pocket as he leaned back against the wall, staring right at them with his usual blank expression. It was cold and intimidating… but one single detail flew in the face of his intimidation factor.

Somewhere, beneath the pain, anger and even surprise Todoroki was subtly radiating through the residual empathic link of their fusion, Izuku could sense a surprising amount of hesitation from the heterochromatic boy.

They stood in silence for several moments, the tension in the air high, though it was also starting to get a little awkward. Izuku wasn't sure he could take the quiet much longer. Fortunately, Tooru seemed to be on the page as him as she finally let out a small huff.

"Are you going to say something Todoroki, or did you just drag us away to make us late for lunch?" The invisible girl asked with a noticeable huff in her voice as her gym uniform barely revealed she was hunching forward, likely with a pout. She was pouting in Izuku's head at least.

He could almost perfectly imagine the blonde pigtails bouncing, her pale cheeks puffed out and her red eyes slightly narrowed at Todoroki. Like, very, very vividly imagine. He might have to look into if that was another side effect of fusing later.

Todoroki just gave her a side eye, his expression impassive before his gaze snapped back to Izuku, making Izuku instinctively become more rigid as a small panic spiked through him. Todoroki's frown became ever so slightly more pronounced, but Izuku nodded, starting to think maybe coming here wasn't such a good idea.

"H-Hagakure's right, lunch will only last so long and all three of us will need our strength for the final-" He began, only to be cut off by a noticeably icy sigh from Todoroki who pulled his left hand out his pocket, lifting it up to stare at it.

"When I'm in battle, I never use my left side." He said suddenly, with a firmness that gave both the other two present in the hallway pause. "That's a rule I've lived by for years now."

"Todoroki?" Izuku questioned quietly, feeling a very rapid sense of concern overtake him as he felt a spike in that… overwhelming pain and anger that had locked Izuku away in Todoroki's mind once before.

"But for a moment in the last round, you two became… overwhelming." The fire and ice teen admitted. "His flames reacted before I knew what was going on… I broke that promise because of you." His head snapped up to Izuku a second later. "Especially you… Midoriya, your power was incredible when we fused. I can't deny that. It left me feeling capable of taking on All Might, but the aftermath…"

Izuku looked down, shuddering.

"...Is this going somewhere?" Hagakure asked quietly, confused but also not sounding too happy at where this had gone so far. She could likely sense the rapidly growing discomfort Izuku felt, a cold sweat starting to manifest on his skin as his throat began to feel more clammy. "Because if you don't have a point I'm going to be taking Izuku away, you already tried to pick on him once. You didn't just bring him here to do it again, did you?"

Todoroki sighed. "...It wasn't my intention to 'pick on him', as you put it. It was to alert him that for this festival, he is the obstacle I believe I need to overcome to finally prove myself."

He raised the hand in front of him, holding it to his face and covering up everything… except his scar. What he said next made the fusion teen and the invisible girl freeze, as it came as a shock to them both. "I got this when my mother poured boiling water on my face."

"...What…" Tooru asked in stunned quiet shock, clearly having not expected those words. Izuku could only silently echo her question in his head, eyes wide as he stared, feeling an unsettling lurch in his stomach.

"Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"

And so, Todoroki began to tell them about his past. About how his mother was essentially sold to Endeavour, the number two hero in the world and Todoroki's father. (Izuku wasn't that surprised about Todoroki's parentage beyond the horrific circumstances behind it, but based on Tooru's loud gasp, she apparently had no idea who Todoroki's father had been.)

He continued to explain how quirk marriages existed solely for the sake of breeding powerful quirks, usually with little regard to the actual people attached to said quirks. How he had several older siblings who his father had all deemed failures. (It was at this point Izuku noticed Tooru's outfit beginning to shake, as his own nausea rose...)

Todoroki went on about his training, how he existed as nothing more than a tool for Endeavour to use to surpass All Might. He explained how his mother was always, always crying… (Tooru's shaking had reached a really concerning level at this point, dividing Izuku's attention as he could swear he could hear ragged breathing coming from her, prompting him to put a hand on her back.)

"And then… she called my left side unbearable and poured boiling hot water on my face-"

And that was when the invisible girl finally cracked, hunching forward as she threw up, making Izuku wince as the rather thick and copious discharge splashed onto his legs and shoes.

"Tooru?" He asked softly, grabbing her hand and squeezing.

"How…" She asked quietly, a noticeable shake in her voice, sounding close to tears. "How can anyone be so h-horrible to their own children? How c-can anyone allow a childhood like that?!"

"...Endeavour would need to have viewed me as human and not a tool to have ever cared, for a start." Todoroki said quietly, sighing as he pushed up and turned away. "I apologize for causing you distress, but I hope now you understand. I… hurt you Midoriya, despite already doing much within my own power to try and prevent such a fate. Even with my best efforts, his flames are trying to reach out to hurt people.. I need to prove I can overcome him, and that means overcoming anyone strong enough to garner the attention of those stronger than my father, with my ice alone, or to challenge my own body."

He looked back once, a cold determination on his face. "You are both formidable enough to have nearly brought out my curse. That's why I'm going to be giving it my all to eliminate you both with only my right side and win the festival. Everyone will see that I am anything but my father."

With that, Todoroki walked off, leaving Izuku frowning after him as he continued to rub Hagakure's back, the girl slowly leaning into him and sniffling.

A part of Izuku wanted to chase after the boy, some of what he said, most notably his attitude towards his flames, leaving an odd and bitter taste in Izuku's mouth he didn't understand.

He opted not to go after the boy however, turning back and gently wrapping his arms around Tooru's waist as he spoke quietly, distracted but still concerned for the girl. "Come on, w-we should get you to the nurse to be safe."

"R-Right…"

And so Izuku focused on getting her to Recovery Girl first, the situation with Todoroki could be dealt with later. One thing felt certain though, in Izuku's mind.

Whatever he was walking into, he needed to make sure to come into contact with Todoroki again… and when he did, he doubted he'd be walking into anything less than an emotional warzone.

Suddenly, a part of him was glad for the failed fusion at the USJ, because he had a feeling he was going to need the empathic link left over from it going forward.

"Alright students! This is it, the final round!" Midnight declared loudly to the crowd as they gathered up, lunch having ended ten minutes prior. Izuku was standing near the front, his cavalry battle team at his side. "Those who passed round two have been tallied up and added to the final event, which as is tradition at U.A., will be a one versus one event! This year? It's a straight fight!"

The crowd roared in excitement, many cheering about the potential spectacles quirks clashing in a head to head battle might give them. Fusion bit his lip, subtly glancing at Mina who grinned at him.

She must have known what he was thinking as she whispered to him. "Good thing you asked me to come out and help you then, huh? Don't worry, Fusion might not be combative but I know you won't give up easy, right?"

That alone was enough to make his nerves steel and he smiled, only with a little wobble as he nodded. "Right!"

They had what they'd practiced after Todoroki had ignited this new fire in him to keep him going through the tournament. He wouldn't let himself be taken out just because his quirk wasn't the perfect combat quirk.

"Since there will be twenty five fighters going into our final round due to the match ups from last match, this elimination style final round will be done a little differently!" Midnight continued her explanation as she gestured to the screen with the brackets. "As you can see, for five of our fighters who have been randomly selected, they will be forgoing the first initial set of fights, waiting to see who will win in the first round before taking them on in a set of interim matches to decide who will all move onto stage two! Then from there, it will progress like any typical elimination tournament! Now who wishes to see the match ups?!"

Once again, the stadium went wild with cheering and the students tensed, those who knew they'd made it into the finals laser focused on the names that flashed up on screen. Izuku didn't have to look long at all to see his.

"Firstly, Izuku Midoriya will be our first interim fighter, waiting to see who his own opponent will be from the first fight, which will be between Tsuyu Asui and Shinso Hitoshi!" Midnight declared, making Izuku blink in surprise before smiling and looking around, eventually finding Tsuyu who was looking at him. She nodded and he nodded back, a silent good luck. 'Hopefully it will be Tsu I'll fight first. That's probably the least emotionally turbulent first match I could ask for… I wonder who Shinsou is though?'

"After that Hanta Sero shall combat Hiryu Rin, and Sen Kaibara will be pitted against Shoto Todoroki!" Midnight continued, licking her lip slightly with a grin before continuing on. "Following that, Ibara Shiozaki is the next interim fighter who shall discover who her opponent shall be after the match of Mezo Shoji verus Denki Kaminari!"

Izuku blinked in surprise, turning to see his two classmates. 'That's… quite the match up. Shoji has no natural immunity to electricity as far as I know, but he is incredibly resilient and powerful… One clean blow and he could knock Kaminari out most likely, it will probably come down to whether Kaminari is fast enough on the draw to electrocute Shoji right away or not..'

"Following that, Tenya Iida is the next Interim fighter who will fight either Setsuna Tokage or Koji Koda depending on who wins their own match up!"

Not too far away, Izuku could see Iida pushing his glasses up, a steely determination radiating off him even without fusion boosting Izuku's empathic understanding of the tall blue haired teen. Plus he was talking at a decent volume to himself, letting Izuku overhear him. "I hope neither may hold grudges against me depending on who I fight. Teammate of the previous round or not, and timid though Koda may be, I can not give any less than one hundred percent now if I am to make my brother proud and make up for my shortcomings in the last round…"

"After that, Mina Ashido will battle with Mineta Minoru-" Izuku had to resist the urge to giggle quietly to himself when he heard Mina actively gag beside him. "-For the right to take on Rikidou Satou as the interim fighter! Meanwhile, Neito Monoma and Fumikage Tokoyami shall do the same to challenge Momo Yaoyoruzu in the interim matches!"

Even without looking, Izuku felt something become more focused in his brain, and he was sure it was Momo preparing for the potential unknown battle ahead, or the difficult trial she'd face against Tokoyami.

"Kyoka Jirou meanwhile shall be fighting against Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu for the right to take on the interim fighter, Eijirou Kirishima!" Midnight declared, and Izuku heard a sigh of resignation from his side from Kyoka.

"Well… Shit." She said oh so eloquently, before pausing and turning to Ochaco and Tooru. "Wait but that means…"

"Either we're fighting each other…" The brunette started, addressing their invisible friend, her eyes widening in slow and horrid realization. "Or…"

"Finally, with Ochaco Uraraka as the interim fighter-"

A small squeak escaped Tooru, making her sound much smaller than she really was as Ochaco paled, all their eyes snapping to the brackets.

"-The final fight of the first round shall be Tooru Hagakure verus Katsuki Bakugou!"

She may not have thrown up again, but based on the tripling sensation of nausea Izuku felt radiating off the invisible girl, Tooru certainly wanted to.