At the start of the matches, Miko sat in the second row next to Kirishima, Kaminari, and Jirou. Most of the class was eagerly waiting in anticipation for the first match, Kirishima and Kaminari cheering as loudly as they could for their classmate. It was endearing, at least a little bit, to see how they supported him even when he couldn't hear it. Even still, Miko was entirely unimpressed with the match. Though he won in the end, it was quick and not very interesting to the naked eye. The second matchup, however, was one Miko was much invested in, and it ended exactly as she expected; with Sero completely outclassed. The poor boy didn't even have a chance to show off before Todoroki used a move way too overkill to incapacitate him. She felt a little bad for the abrupt end to his match, but his loss was her gain.
"Shoto Todoroki wins!"
Sero was released from the ice prison Todoroki locked him in, but the overall process was slow. "God I hate that guy so much," Miko muttered to herself. If she didn't feel any more threatened by the dual haired boy, she might have offered to help, she mused to herself. Her turquoise eyes stayed on him as he melted the ice in the air, and Miko could feel the humidity changing the air.
She jolted in her seat as an idea popped into her mind at the realization. She wasn't at all above using this to her advantage. Jirou, who'd remained quiet thus far startled at her abrupt movement, "You alright, Tsukikawa?" Miko, who'd momentarily forgotten about the people around her in her quiet turmoil, nodded at the dark haired girl hastily. Standing up from her seat, Miko yelled out to the cleanup crew down below, "Hey! Why don't I help you guys clear this out?"
Present Mic seemed pleased by her suggestion. "And there's Miko Tsukikawa offering her help to clear out the ring. What a sweetheart!"
Kirishima looked to her with a smile that could blind the sun. "Wow, Tsukikawa, that's so manly of you!"
Miko kept a pleasant smile on her face as she made her way over the edge of the stands, making a show of her quirk by lowering herself down with thick whips of water to the outskirts of the damage. Her stride was proud and she could practically feel all the heroes' eyes on her as she approached. Miko looked up at Sero, still shivering, and couldn't help but make fun of him, "Don't worry, I'll get you out of here soon." He only chuckled sheepishly and looked away.
Todoroki kept an analytical eye on her but said nothing. She ignored his staring. They would have no idea that she was setting up her own stage. Standing in front of the massive iceberg, she placed a hand on the cool ice, slowly phasing it to water, and took a drink. It'd be a complete waste to simply melt it away, she thought. Besides, it was only one of the ways she could benefit from this.
The dual haired boy raised a brow, question evident. Miko chuckled, "I'm a little thirsty."
She quickly vaporized the rest of the iceberg Todoroki hadn't gotten to yet and could see small clouds forming up ahead. The sight eased her nerves just a bit. She was thanked for her help once everything was cleaned up and Miko politely welcomed them before she chose to head to the locker rooms for a few moments.
Competing has always made her nervous, so instead of waiting in the stands with the rest of her class, she left to begin warming up. It was silly, she thought to herself, that even after years of competing against the top athletes in Japan she was still nervous every time. This time, however, she wouldn't have a coach to talk her through or keep her on track. She closed her eyes, inhaled deeply, held it until she got lightheaded, and breathed out. "Just calm down," she heard in the back of her mind. "You can do this."
With her father's words resonating in the back of her head, she went through a series of stretches before her irritation urged her to go to the showers. Her footsteps echoed against the tiled floor and stood beneath the show head, anxiously twisting the handle. Coldwater pounded against the top of her head and completely soaked through her uniform. She stood there, unmoving, for a short while before her hair got heavy enough that it pulled at the ponytail atop her head. Removing the hair tie was a bit of a struggle, but once it was around her wrist her long silver hair draped around her face until she could see nothing but the tops of her squelching shoes.
A great thing about her quirk was that she didn't have to only use it in one form. It saved her a lot of energy if she could use water that was physically nearby, and was similarly not limited to tangible ice and water. Something that people didn't often think about, was that water surrounded everything, even the air. When she first manifested her quirk, she was overwhelmed by the sheer amount of it surrounding her. So much so that she practically fainted. Her mother and grandmother helped her get used to it, and now she was able to use it from all sources without getting overwhelmed.
She took to finishing her stretches with the shower still running to calm herself down. Having the extra water on her clothes and hair would help keep her from becoming too dehydrated. It would also be nice to have some extra water on her. She wasn't cheating by helping Todoroki melt his ice away, it would've ended up in the air regardless. And neither was soaking her clothes in the showers.
Once calmed she made her way back into an empty waiting room, thankfully she didn't miss her match. Quietly thinking over the different strategies she may have to use in order to best Aoyama. Suddenly, the door to the room burst open and a red headed figure strode in. "Whoa Tsukikawa what happened to you?!" Kirishima exclaimed, he visibly jolted at the sight of her. She was drenched in water, hair down for the first time since they'd met, making her look like a sad kitten. He didn't notice that even though she was completely covered in water, none of it was dripping onto the floor beneath her.
The girl sighed lightly but didn't let his reaction phase her. She looked at him seriously and spoke honestly, "I had to go cool down for a second." It was a reasonable enough answer. He eyed her sympathetically, "You're that nervous, huh?" Miko only nodded quietly. Kirishima sobered up, "It's time for your match, but you left after helping clear the stadium so I came to find you. Hope whatever you did to calm down helped." His smile was earnest.
Miko nodded sagely, "It did. Thanks for looking for me."
"No problem! That's what friends are for!" Her turquoise eyes widened slightly. It shouldn't have surprised her as much as it did, but Miko was a little shell shocked. This redheaded sunrise was too good a friend for her, but she wouldn't complain.
He walked her out towards the stadium entrance, and they parted ways quickly. Inhaling quickly, she gathered herself before striding out onto the field, looking confident. Climbing up the stairs, she let herself relax, taking the time to salute the audience and the judge before she stepped into the ring.
"She's sopping wet for some reason, but here's the ex-gymnast from the hero course, Miko Tsukikawa! Versus! Also from the hero course, Yuga Aoyama!" As Present Mic introduced them to the crowd, her image popped up on the screen, her eyes wide and expressive, brow quirked, and mouth set into a teasing half smile like she was excited to know something everyone else didn't.
The two combatants faced each other from a distance. Aoyama looked confident from across her. "I'm afraid it's the end of the line for you, ma cherie," he winked. Her face cringed unintentionally.
"Start!"
Aoyama immediately started throwing laser beams at her, but they were actually pretty easy to dodge considering the limited movement his hips gave him. She wasn't sure how the lasers would react to her water whips so she refrained from attacking him with any water. Instead, the water from her sopping wet clothing collected around her feet and she used it to dash and dodge his lasers, expertly flipping and rolling around the ring. It was actually pretty fun.
While she arched and dove between the sparkling lasers, Miko could hear Present Mic's commentary in the distance, "Looks like the water maiden is too busy dodging Aoyama's lasers and she can't spare enough time to use her deadly water whips around him!"
While that wasn't true, she was being careful around Aoyama, no need to experiment with lasers when she didn't have to. Especially at such a crucial time.
She was practically surfing, playing around with Aoyama who had yet to hit her with a beam while she danced around him, showing off her agility and speed. It was a little cruel, but the festival was one big commercial and she had to use her airtime to show off her goods. Plus, she'd be lying if she said she didn't enjoy making a big show of letting droplets of water dance in the air while she leaped and dodged around the ring.
His lasers were slowly losing their speed and strength and she could see that the blonde Frenchman was looking a little queasy from using his Quirk so much. Realizing what his Quirk was doing to him, Miko decided to put an end to the match by quickly dashing behind him, knocking his feet out from under him with a sweeping kick, and freezing him to the ground with the water her kick left behind. She coached down and swung her arm down over his neck for good measure, careful to avoid his belt. He was incapacitated.
"Tsukikawa advances to the second round!" At the call of her win, Miko saluted once again to signal the end of her performance, smiling brightly. The cheers were loud as she pressed her toe into the ice she trapped Aoyama in, allowing the ice to melt and crawl back into her clothing. "Good match," she said to him. He only whimpered up at her, clutching his lower belly.
The silver haired girl collected the water she'd left around the ring as she walked back, those in the audience surprised by what looked like small snakes of water slithering their way back to their master as she exited the ring.
She made a point of buying as many water bottles are she could carry in her arms before returning to the stands — she felt a little guilty for stealing some earlier. She was greeted by her classmates, with Kirishima as the first to congratulate her as soon as he saw her face. "You did great Tsukikawa! I knew you could do it!" She laughed humbly at his bright expression, internally preening at his praise. "You said you were nervous but you killed it! I didn't know you could move like that." She took a seat to his right, setting the bottles around her feet and twisting one of the caps off to chug.
"You were nervous, Tsukikawa? You seemed pretty calm to me," Tsuyu interjected. Miko was still drinking as fast as her body would let her. Kirishima eagerly explained, "Yeah, she was so nervous she poured cold water all over herself before her match to calm down."
Bakugo scoffed at their conversation, "Idiot. She was just trying to give herself an advantage by going in with all that water soaking her shitty clothes."
More eyes turned to see her reaction. She only gave them the same smile that was in her photo. Bakugo didn't seem pleased with her non-answer and gruffly addressed her. "You get tired using your shitty Quirk, so you have to use the water in the area instead of creating it yourself. Right, princess?" He glared pointedly at the bottles surrounding her feet and the now empty one in her hands.
He was much more observant of her than she thought. "That's also why you volunteered to clean up that damn mess Icy Hot made. You were giving yourself an advantage." It was hard to tell if that impressed him or annoyed him.
Those present looked at her with wide eyes. Iida was the first to speak up, "Isn't that against the rules?!"
Midoriya was the one to speak up this time, "But you only took a little bit of water, and didn't do anything else but drink it." Miko sighed wearily. It didn't seem like they were going to let this go. "First of all, yes, I do get tired when I use my Quirk too much. Second of all, I was just taking a sip. That's it."
Midoriya didn't let it go and pressed forward to peer at her. "Then what did you do with the rest of the ice you cleaned up?" He gestured to the bottles she brought with her. "You could've easily bought some water bottles so why go through the trouble of cleaning after Todoroki?"
She looked off to the side, "There's water everywhere. The air, the soil, even in your own bodies. So really, I'm probably one of the more powerful ones here." That last bit was a complete and utter lie, but hopefully, it would get them off her back for a little while. They were quiet for a moment, but she heard Bakugo scoff. "Yeah, right. Your quirk is too damn weak to create your own water so you have to rely on your environment. You can't even handle your own shitty Quirk."
"I guess we'll see how weak I really am when I meet you in the finals." They stared off with Kirishima right in between them, both refusing to look away until Kirishima put himself in their line of sight. "We've already had enough declarations of war for today. Why don't we just watch the match?"
They looked away and sucked their teeth at the same time. The two ignored each other easily after their small bout.
She watched the next matches with the intention of gleaning information on her possible opponents. Things were going as she predicted, Tokoyami would be difficult to beat, but not impossible. He and Dark Shadow would be difficult to overcome, especially since he didn't need to get close to Yaoyorozu and simply push her out of the ring.
Miko sat up a bit when Kirishima stood across his class B doppelgänger. They'd gotten the same introductions earlier, he'd told her, so she hoped that he'd be able to make a name for himself with this match. It wasn't particularly exciting, but she cheered him on anyway. The pair seemed evenly matched, and they had a lively banter that seemed to invigorate the spectators despite their simple form of combat. Still, Miko was impressed with Kirishima.
Kirishima and Tetsutetsu were carted off by medic bots, leaving the ring open for the last matchup of the first round. Those around her started worrying over Uraraka and Bakugo's match. Unsurprisingly, Jiro responded to Kaminari's jibes, silencing him pretty quickly at the reminder of his loss against Ibara. It'd be difficult for Uraraka to beat him, but the complete lack of faith in her was alarming. It was none of her business, but Miko couldn't stop herself before she ground out her next words from between her teeth. "What does being a girl have to do with anything?" She pointed her words directly at the boys who doubted Uraraka. The resounding explosions set off by Bakugo increased the tension she'd generated around herself.
She scoffed at Iida and Midoriya specifically, allowing her face to show them just how pissed off she was with them. "Everyone who steps into that ring is a competitor." She gestured to the ruined floor in front of them, eyes locked on Bakugo, "Everyone." Miko turned back around to face the stadium.
She tensed. He was planning on blasting it all away! The blast kicked up a wind that blew hard in their faces, even from the distance they were at. Miko looked up at the sky worriedly, glad to see the clouds were still there. The explosion Bakugo released was huge, but it wasn't enough to completely ruin all the hard work she put into stockpiling water for her next matches. She let out a small relieved sigh. Faintly she could see Bakugo's hands trembling. Uraraka definitely put him on the ropes there.
Uraraka had definitely impressed the crowds during her fight with Bakugo. The girl put up one hell of a fight, and Miko held back mirthless laughter at the expense of her friends. "You said you tried to give her a strategy? Looks like she had a plan all along." Miko smirked to herself, feeling vindictive and competitive.
Miko found herself not enjoying the start of the second round as she did the end of the first. Todoroki used his flames against Midoriya, despite having made frequent statements alluding to his contempt for his left side, and it worried her. Not to mention the odd cries of encouragement from his father, which disturbed her more than it had the right to. Even still, she had managed not to work herself into another state of panic in preparation for her match against Tokoyami. Drenched in water, Miko's clothes felt heavy and restrictive on her skin. It took concentration to keep large puddles of water from trailing behind her all the way from the showers to the ring she now stood in. Cementoss was already aware that she dowsed herself in water to ease off her nerves, unaware it had a more practical use.
Taking slow, deliberate steps up the stairs, her eyes never left her opponent who stood at the edge of the ring. "If the bird doesn't sing, I will make it," she whispered to herself in the middle of the ring. She was butchering the words of Toyotomi Hideyoshi, but as she looked at Tokoyami's head, she thought her loose interpretation fit, considering his quirk. The battle didn't suit her type of fighting, so in order to level the playing field, she would make it so.
"Start!"
She had difficulty dodging Tokoyami's attacks while also trying to lay out a trap for him, but there was nothing she could do about that. She didn't have the raw power to, so she had to display tactical thinking, strategy, and planning in order to win this one. He relied heavily on keeping her at a distance, but it wouldn't work for much longer. At first, no one noticed how water was slowly making its way across the ring. Ice was slowly beginning to cover the floor, the sun's rays reflecting prettily on its surface. Tokoyami began to take notice once Dark Shadow had started to become meeker at the sunlight refracted off the ice's surface.
"I see you've figured me out."
"Not without some help," she half-smiled, thinking back to her cavalry rider blasting Dark Shadow. This wasn't at all her intention, she just wanted to make sure Tokoyami was rooted in place when she eventually tried to knock him down once she got past his shadow. It seemed the reflections weakened him, so she began erecting thin sheets of ice around the arena, trying to box in the weaving shadow.
There was nothing he could do about the floor, but he sent Dark Shadow to crash into the thin walls of ice that she started to build around him, getting closer and closer to Tokoyami himself. Her strategy wasn't immediately obvious, but each time Dark Shadow broke through her walls, she used the broken shards to create new ones to surround Tokoyami. She had to sacrifice the ice already on the floor, but it didn't matter as long as she warded off attacks from Dark Shadow, attacking him with streams of water and defending herself with a shield made of ice to ward him away. The dance went on for about five more minutes, Dark Shadow and Miko weaving between each other, dodging and attacking before she backed Tokoyami right on the line and shifted the ice on the floor to encapsulate his feet in ice. At this point, Dark Shadow had shrunk significantly and took no notice of Tokoyami's orders to defend.
He tried to struggle out of it, but the small silver haired girl in front of him used the ice he stood on to shackle his wrists and arms in water chains, and when he struggled out of them, she tightened their hold, forcing him to hunch over. It wasn't enough to break through the ice that trapped his feet, but it did send him a message. Dark Shadow seemed to be quivering underneath him.
"I know when I've been defeated." He looked to the floor, "I would like to withdraw from this battle."
Cheers weren't as loud as some of the previous fights, but she could feel the silent shock emanating from the crowd. Spectators looked on in awe of the scene in front of them. The small girl, who'd admittedly hadn't looked like much in her debut, had created an ice prison. The light reflecting off the thin standing sheets of ice gave it a celestial appearance, giving the girl who'd created it an impression of a ruthless ice queen. "Miko Tsukikawa wins this battle!" The crowd erupted.
"Congratulations. I had hoped to put up more of a fight, but unfortunately, Dark Shadow is at his weakest in the light."
"You did well, Tokoyami. Thanks for putting up a good fight, but I had this in the bag the moment I froze the floor over." It was cheeky and wholly untrue, but Miko was competitive at best and combative at worst.
He only hummed lowly to himself, seemingly impressed with the silver haired girl or disappointed in the outcome. In either case, she was pleased with herself and made her way back to the business students.
She hadn't even managed to properly get a hold of the new batch of water bottles she'd bought when a flaming, hulking figure approached her in the lower levels of the stands. He was decidedly much more intimidating than All Might and he was glaring down right at her. "Ah, you girl. I watched your fight against the bird guy, you have an impressive quirk."
"Thank you. That's high praise from the number two hero." She stepped back, trying to get away as graciously as she could. The heat of his flames were making her sweat more than normal.
His glare narrowed slightly, but he continued politely, "My Shoto might be hard-pressed against you, should he only use his right side. It's his duty to surpass All Might as the number one hero. It seems he's already gotten over his temper tantrum and is using his flames, but he still seems reluctant. His match with you might be enough to convince him to utilize both of his sides and show him he needs his flames to win against you should he endeavor to surpass All Might. As well as a good testing ground for how much training he has left. So hit him hard. Don't hold back. Don't disgrace yourself or him by holding back."
She gave him an odd look. She couldn't tell what he meant or even if he was being sincere. Schooling her expression, thinking back to her grandmother, she did her best not to let him see he'd rubbed her the wrong way. "Endeavor, I'd never do your son the dishonor of holding back. But please, rest assured, your son will need both his sides to properly defeat me. Now, if you'll please excuse me." Miko sucked her teeth irritably, God. I hate both that asshole and his asshole father.
Determinedly stalking her way towards the stadium entrance, she pushed all thoughts of Endeavor out of her mind. She had to focus on pummeling his son first.
This was the match she had been waiting for. A personal vendetta against Todoroki [and his presumptuous father] had her shaking from excitement. He made her feel inadequate. He could generate so much ice all at once, and she could barely max out her whips before having to stop to hydrate. Walking onto the stage, her footsteps felt like deafening booms when she stepped into the ring. She couldn't control the muscles of her mouth from pulling her lips into a smile. "I've been waiting for this one, Todoroki." His look of angry determination, like she was just a cockroach he had to step on, infuriated her. "Don't think so highly of yourself. This will be over quickly."
Despite her ire, Miko had a shit eating grin, hopping from foot to foot lightly as she waited for the start to be called. She looked ready to eat. Focusing everything she had on the boy in front of her, Miko could barely hear Cementoss barely get his words out. Her eyes never left his when a huge wall of ice surged towards her. Teeth bared and grin still on her face, Miko welcomed the ice into her embrace like a loving mother and promptly turned it into her own water to use for herself. The ice shifted around her as she phased it out, forming a dome of swirling water, before letting the stream separate into two whips that encapsulated her arms. Guarding herself with ever flowing water she stole from Todoroki, Miko felt she had this fight in the bag.
"Thanks for the water, Todoroki, I never would've been able to win this fight without you." She couldn't resist goading him, her pride had been hurt when he showed such power and finesse with his Quirk, her element and she truly couldn't stand sharing the spotlight or being outdone. Not with this.
As long as he refused to use his left side, he only had huge walls of ice to fight with, all of which could be dealt with easily with her quirk. He wouldn't want to let her get in close, but when she managed to get close enough to force him out, she'd have to be careful not to get too cocky. Although, by the look of things, after his battle with Midoriya, it didn't seem like he would be using his left side again anytime soon. She didn't like having to work her game plan around that one unreliable fact, but she was not at all above using his self imposed weakness against him. The whole plan was reliant on him not utilizing his left side.
If things continued like this, the winner would boil down to whoever could last the longest. Would he die of hypothermia first or would she die of dehydration first? The only way she could secure this win was to get up close and personal. She knew how heavily he relied on his Quirk, hopefully, his hand to hand was nowhere near as good.
Using the water she collected for herself she sent a barrage of ice daggers at him, all of which he blocked with another wall of ice. She had to keep him moving and distracted. She leaped away from his direct line of sight with the propulsion of a water jet from her feet and caught herself with a water ramp across the ring, trying to get closer. Every attempt at getting closer was blocked by a huge wall of ice. Not giving up, she sent huge razor whips to cut through the ice to get to him, finally revealing an angered Todoroki who sent her flying by throwing her into the air with a spike of ice when she tried to lunge at him.
Twisting in the air with the experience of an elite gymnast, she called out to him before she landed in a crouch, "You're going to have to try harder than that, if you want to beat me, Todoroki!"
Continuing her restless assault, Miko kept turning ice into water, slicing through it with whips, throwing ice daggers when she saw openings. His ice was met with huge waves, neither willing to concede and both growing more and more eager to end the fight. Miko chased him around the arena but never managed to get close enough to engage as he always managed to hold her back with the raw power of his Quirk by producing giant walls of ice that she was forced to counter.
Breathing heavily as she was blocked once again, Miko looked around the arena. Because of her, it was getting flooded the more she turned his ice into water, and she was quickly getting dehydrated with the number of times she had to melt his ice. In their battle, she had been sneaking herself sips of water, but at the rate they were going, it wasn't enough to sustain such a massive usage of her Quirk.
His ice had covered most of the ring, and it all seemed to be stemming from one point, telling her exactly where he was located. There was no movement from his side of the ice, and she knew that he had no idea where she was, meaning that if she hurried she could catch him off guard she could win. Hungry for a win, Miko rushed towards the giant wall of ice, creating a small passage for herself, knowing he wouldn't see her coming until it was too late.
Todoroki caught his breath from where he stood. Surrounding him were giant walls of ice and he hadn't heard any sounds coming from around him, Tsukikawa must be catching her breath too. Waiting in anticipation, he turned a second too late when the silver haired girl jumped out of the ice above in a burst of water from the ice that surrounded him on his left, both hands clasped together tightly in a fist above her head, back arched as she prepared to swing her arms down to knock him out.
As she came down on him, the clouds above the arena came swirling down straight to her fists like a huge tornado of water. Her fists neared Todoroki's head. Looking up at her from where he stood, she looked like a goddess coming to smite him with a torrent of water. Just as her hit was about to land, with the clouds above condensed in a spiral as they came down at him, he managed to bring up his right arm to cover his face, and Miko's attack was met with a defensive ice barrier. The devastating connecting blow resonated throughout the arena with a deafening boom.
The arena waited on as the wreckage from the attack cleared itself. The entire arena was flooded and filled with glaciers. Dust and water cleared and on the ground lay an unconscious silver haired girl with dry, cracked skin. In front of her was a small dome made of ice. Emerging from it was a weary and shivering Todoroki who looked close to passing out as well. After a moment of assessment, Present Mic announced to the waiting crowd, "After a massive attack, it appears Tsukikawa is unable to continue! Todoroki wins!" The previously silent crowd erupted into loud cheers.
"Goddamn, what a fight!"
"Such powerful quirks!"
"This was a great match up! She kept using his ice against him and even brought down the sky!"
Todoroki kept his gaze on Tsukikawa after he emerged from his igloo. He was aware that she could manipulate water in any form, but she didn't have the kind of raw power he did when producing it. His plan was to simply overwhelm her with barrages of ice to force her out of the ring, she had proven to be a better opponent than he had originally given her credit for. She had surprised him with how well she was able to use her quirk and even use his ice against him. That final blow…she had managed to get him up close, and if she had lasted just a little bit longer, she might have bested him. He clenched his right fist as he fought off tremors, his breath still materializing in front of him.
Miko's ponytail surrounded her skull like a halo on the concrete floor, her breathing was even but there was a glossy sheen to her skin. Todoroki took in her form. She put up a good fight, but in the end, it wasn't enough to beat him. Still, he'd have to keep training to ensure she couldn't keep up. Any rivalry or unnecessary competition from his peers would only take him away from his goal and he wasn't about to allow for any distractions. He silently nodded his head in her direction, acknowledging her strength as a hero, and walked back to the waiting room where he would contemplate the events of that battle.
From the stands above them, a pair of vermillion eyes narrowed dangerously at the battle in front of him.
