Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.

To Be a Hero

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"How disappointing..." Tsuyu fumed as she walked away from Mineta. She and Shoji were persuaded to join because his plan sounded like a good idea, but she should've known better than to trust his perverted intention back there that ultimately got their headband taken. Walking over towards some of her other classmates, her mouth quirked back up. "Mina-chan, congratulations."

The pink haired female rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "Well, Bakugou just let me join to use against Todoroki's ice," she admitted. "So I don't know if it reflects my abilities..."

"Knowing Prickhead, he chose you because he knows you're strong. Don't worry about it, you did really well!" Shiro chimed in with encouragement. She held back the wince of pain when she moved her right arm while walking. Now that the adrenaline was gone, she was slowing starting to get chilly despite the fact that her arm was burning.

Mina gave her a smile, "Thanks, Shiro-chan. You did super well, too! Congratulations!"

"Iida-kun, I didn't know you had a special move like that! No fair!"

Behind them, Uraraka was imitating Iida's run. Like everyone else, she had been completely caught by surprise with his Recipro Burst move. The class representative waved a stiff hand side to side at her accusation.

"It has nothing to do with fairness! I just wasn't using it as intended."

Kaminari, with his brain fried for the time being from discharging large amounts of volts repeatedly, scooted towards them with two thumbs ups. Momo shook her head as she walked past, but stopped briefly to congratulate Shiro.

"Aisaka-san, I was honestly worried that you'd get our headband at that last second if time hadn't been called," she confessed with a hand at her heart. "Todoroki-san used his ice on you, didn't he? Are you okay?"

Shiro blinked at Momo's observant question. In truth, she wasn't okay. Stupid frostbite. I need to get to Recovery Girl.

"Ye—"

"Aisaka," Todoroki was suddenly next to her with his usual serious expression on his face. Others around the girl wondered what he wanted since they've gotten the impression that he wasn't really known to speak to people unless he was trying to challenge them, like with Midoriya. "Come with me."

"What? Why?" she asked suspiciously but he wasn't taking no for an answer. Grabbing her left hand gently, he caught her by surprise as he pulled her away from the group. "T-Todoroki-san—wait!"

Watching them leave, the rest all had bewildered looks on their faces.

"What's up with them?" Mina asked curiously, her eyes never leaving their hands as she wiggled her brows. "Holding hands?"

"Could it be...?" Iida trailed off, his eyes widening.

However, Uraraka seem to know what was going on as she pumped her hands close to her chest. Since she saw them talking the last time, too, that had to be it.

"He must want to congratulate Shiro-chan," she said confidently. "But in private because he's shy!"

...Really? They all thought skeptically.

Back at the stadium, Endeavor had seen his son go after Shiro as they disappeared out the tunnel. He narrowed his blue eyes before leaving.

"Hold on, where are you taking me?"

Todoroki didn't answer her question as he continued to lead her towards the "faculty and student" entrance. After they were alone, he finally stopped but didn't let go of her hand.

"Todoroki-san? Hello?"

He turned to face the confused and slightly irritated girl. "Give me your hand," he demanded. Her eyebrows shot up.

"Uh, but you already have my hand," Shiro deadpanned as her eyes bore into his larger one gently gripping her left wrist. She didn't know why he suddenly wanted to talk to her again, but if it was about leaving him alone then he was the one who would be getting a lecture from her. More importantly though, she needed to get that superficial frostbite fixed before it seeped deeper into her skin. "Can you let go? I really need to—"

Todoroki only stepped towards her until her back hit the wall. She hitched a breath as he reached over to take her right arm from behind her back. Blinking, she watched with bewilderment as he examined the damage that his ice had done on the skin around her hand and forearm that was cold to the touch and deathly pale.

He hovered his left hand over the injury and Shiro immediately felt a warm sensation penetrate her irritated skin. The sphere stuck in her grip also thawed and the small ice crystals around her fingers melted right away. She then winced as a stinging pain quickly replaced the feeling but she allowed the male to continue. After he was done warming her skin, his heterochromatic eyes locked with her ruby ones.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Caught by surprise once again, Shiro took a few seconds before letting out a quiet response. "It's fine. I was the one who jumped out at you. It's only natural to guard yourself."

"No, I'm not sorry about that," he said again, but then quickly rephrased it when she gave him an incredulous stare. Was he always this bad at wording things? He made a note to fix that around her. "I mean I am, but that's not what I'm talking about."

"Then what are you talking about?" she drew impatiently.

"It's about what I said to you after the obstacle race."

"Oh," she blinked. He's really here to apologize?

"I still meant what I said about defeating Midoriya. He's strong in a way that I even felt overpowered... So much so that I broke my pledge," Todoroki paused as he stared at his right hand. "But that's a conversation I will have with him, not you. What I really wanted to say to you is that while I don't feel the same overwhelming power from you, I hate that I still have to be cautious around you because you're unpredictable. It's a strength that you have that greatly impedes the goal I'm trying to achieve, so I was angry."

I never would have expected that... Shiro thought with wide eyes. She had been mad when he first told her to basically screw off, but when he put it in this way, it made her sound like a force he had a hard time competing with. Todoroki holds me in this high of a regard...?

"I'm sure you know by now that Endeavor's my old man, right?"

From her silent nod, he continued.

"Since he's been stuck as the number two hero for forever, he's here today to see that I rise to the top. It's annoying... But to prove to him that he can't control me, I will rise to the top with only my right side. I'll make him see that I don't need his power."

Silence passed between them as the stone cold expression stayed on Todoroki's face once he finished his explanation. Finally, Shiro sighed and pushed herself off the wall she was forced to lean on when he cornered her. He didn't make a move to step back and she found herself awkwardly close to his body as he stared at her. He seemed unbothered so she stepped back again to pretend to clear her throat and dispel her one-sided embarrassment.

Todoroki snapped back to reality. Had he been staring at her cute face for too long?

...Cute?

Well, he wasn't going to disagree with that notion.

"Anyway, so, you keep talking about his power... Is it really, though?" she asked and grew serious. "I didn't say this back then when I asked about your reason to become a hero, but I feel like I should say it after all."

He raised a brow at that, "What do you mean?"

"See, our reasons of becoming a hero are exactly the opposite. I look up to someone and you want to look down or reject someone—whatever it is," she shrugged but kept her gaze on him. "However, does it really matter? Like I've told you before... We're our own person at the end of the day."

Her brilliant ruby eyes locked with his mismatched ones in a serious stare-down while Todoroki found himself completely captivated again. He always found himself admitting a lot of things whenever he was with her; she just had that effect on people because she always spoke up for what she believes is right. It was hard to wrap his head around the unpredictable girl...

Shiro then finally set a free hand on his shoulder before stepping past to walk towards the exit where everyone else was heading for the lunch room.

"Come on, you can think about it while we get lunch... I'm super hungry."

That broke him away from his trance and he found himself following behind. She seemed to be less guarded around him again, did that mean she forgave him for what he said? "Aisaka!" he called after her, making her turn her neck around to look at him. "One last thing..."

"What is it?" she tilted her head.

He stepped up next to her, but kept his gaze in front of him so she wouldn't see the expression on his face. He was slightly embarrassed.

"It's okay to assume to be my friend... If it's you."

Bakugou pushed himself off the wall he was leaning against around the dark corner of the entrance tunnel. Tch, why am I always listening to them like a damn third wheel... He had intended on giving Shiro a piece of his mind for swiping a higher ranking than him for the second time in a row when Todoroki got to her first and dared to pull her away.

Naturally, he had to follow.

His second intention was to give that Half and Half a piece of his mind, anyway, since he challenged the shitty curly haired male instead of him. It was as if they all felt that he wasn't a formidable competitor or something—they all keep ignoring him!

Him, the one who will be number one. The best.

But listening to Shiro's and Todoroki's conversation all the way to the end, he felt another sort of anger in his chest. He didn't know what it was, but he sure as hell didn't like it.

Shiro was content as she ate a wholesome lunch and replenished her energy during break. The pain on her right hand and forearm was also gone, thanks to Todoroki. She wondered if he had went to talk to Midoriya like he said he would during lunch... She didn't know because she had chosen to eat in the faculty room with Aizawa, who was curled up in his yellow sleeping bag with his bandaged face peeking out the opening.

Despite some mishaps—namely, her unusable right hand thanks to Mineta's Quirk—she managed to pick up her food with stabbing motions. It was easy when she visualized the food as Mineta's face.

"I can't believe this is still stuck on me," she pouted angrily at the offensive purple sphere. She's managed to cover the rest of the surface of the ball with extra fiber from her shirt so that it wouldn't accidentally stick to other parts of her or something else, but it was still annoying. "My rewrite on it didn't even work. Could Mineta-san actually be this strong?"

While still keeping his eyes closed, Aizawa answered the girl's complaints. "Quirks are an extension of oneself. For your reality rewrite to work, you have to make contact with the source. Mineta himself is the source, not his sphere."

Eh, but that means to get rid of the adhesiveness faster, I'll have to touch him...? Shiro thought with furrowed brows. She wasn't five, so it wasn't that she was scared to catch germs from the boy... It was just that he might enjoy it too much and she wasn't going to give him another satisfaction for the day.

"No thanks," she replied definitely. "I'll keep this on me for the time being. It's actually been pretty useful, and this way I can bypass the petition for using an equipment!"

"...I guess that's within the regulations of exceptional circumstances."

Looking at the time, she noticed that break was almost over. She tried to pick up the tray that held all of the empty dishes with a bit of a challenge since her right hand was occupied. It was much easier for her earlier since she had the tray handed to her first.

"I'll take care of it. Go meet up with the rest of the class," Aizawa muttered without a hint of opening his tired eyes. "The tournament drawing is starting soon... I'll be looking forward to your matches, Shiro."

He said matches... Feeling the overwhelmingly happy smile that was usually reserved for the rational hero stretch across her face, she nodded eagerly.

"I won't disappoint you, Eraserhead!"

Aizawa nodded. I know you won't.

"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!" Present Mic announced as the crowd cheered. "But before that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is just a sports festival, so we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in, too! We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!"

Shiro caught sight of forest green hair and ran towards the familiar girl as the light from outside shone before her eyes. "Tsu..." her words trailed off as she was finally able to focus at what the girl was wearing before her eyes.

Actually, what were all of her female classmates wearing?

"What are they doing?" Aizawa's voice questioned from the announcement cube. Likewise, the Voice hero also leaned over with a completely baffled gaze.

"What's the matter, class 1-A? What kind of fan service is that?"

"What...?" Shiro blinked wildly at her classmates' uniforms that matched the American cheerleaders. She was feeling embarrassed for them! "What in the world are you guys wearing?"

None of them looked too happy to be wearing such a thing, either. They all had grim looks and dark shadows casted over their eyes. Jiro, with a red face, gave Shiro a taut look.

"Despite the fact that you're not wearing this ridiculous thing, what you have on isn't much different," she said before throwing her yellow pompoms down in a huff. "I knew I shouldn't have believed this. Those guys are so dumb!"

Shiro blushed as she realized that she was still in her sports bra since no one said anything to her about it during lunch. Aizawa was never one to care about clothing, anyway, and he was probably too sleepy to notice.

"Mineta-san! Kaminari-san! You tricked us didn't you?!"

The two males responsible for this looked way too pleased as they stood a distance away. Kaminari and Mineta gave each other thumbs ups; today was truly a blissful day! Even though they didn't get to see Shiro in a short skirt also, the Gods were obviously at their side since the girl hadn't put a shirt back on, thus still exposing her midsection like the rest.

Being the only one unaffected by this ordeal, Hagakure raised her poms in the air. "Well, there's still time before the finals, and it'll be a pain if things got tense," she said before waving them more energetically. "It's fine! Let's do it!"

"Toru-chan, you like this, huh?" Tsuyu remarked.

Momo dropped to the ground with a defeated sigh. "Why am I always caught up in Mineta-san's schemes? I even used Creation to make the outfits..."

Shiro, after hearing those words, kneeled down to the girl with a completely serious face.

"Yaoyorozu-san, do you think you can use Creation to make me a new gym shirt?"

Shiro was looking around for her cavalry battle teammates in the crowd as they gathered by Midnight for her final round match placements. She realized that she never got to properly thank them for their hard work. Without them, she wouldn't have been able to rank this high. She saw Ojiro's tail peeking out close by and she was going to get to him when Bakugou stepped in her way and decided to stay there.

"Prickhead," she addressed with a glare. "You really have no manners."

"Fuck off," he replied, shoving his hands in his pocket as his red eyes narrowed at her. "Why aren't you wearing the same shitty outfits like the rest of them?"

She raised her brow up incredulously at his question. Since there wasn't enough time for Momo to make her a shirt, she was still in the red sports bra until the recreational events starts and she could go find a new shirt.

"Do you want me to wear what they're wearing?"

He visibly recoiled back with both disgust and embarrassment, "I didn't fucking say that!"

"Now, let's draw lots to determine the bracket," the R Rated hero picked up the yellow box of lots as she looked over all of the first-year students. "Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start! The 16 finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation. I'm sure some of you want to rest or save your strength. Oh, before I forget, there's actually one finalist who cannot join us this afternoon."

Murmurs of "what?" and "who?" piped within the crowd before Midnight slapped her flogger down to silence them.

"Aoyama Yuga cannot participate because of his stomach condition. He is resting up in Recovery Girl's office right now," she revealed as Shiro felt a sense of guilt wash over her.

She realized it was partially her fault that he was in that state. When she had asked him if he was able to use his Quirk that last few seconds, she didn't even think to consider that he was already at his limit. If she had just been a little more observant of her own teammates, she would've known that he was only bluffing when he said he could still do it. But she was too focused on trying to win.

"Seeing that this will leave us with one participant short, we'll have to—"

"Um...! Excuse me," Ojiro suddenly raised his hand before the hero could finish. "I'm withdrawing."

Everyone gasped as they turned to the male. While Aoyama's withdrawal was necessary because of his condition, Ojiro looked fine and there should be no reason why he would want to back out of this once-in-a-year chance! Shiro was the most vocal since she already had one teammate withdrawal.

"You're joking around, right? You can't mean that, Ojiro-san..."

He could barely hold his gaze with her shocked ones as he looked to the ground with a troubled expression. "The truth is, I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until almost the end. I think it was that guy's Quirk," he revealed and Shiro looked at the last person who was on her team. Shinso caught her stare and he looked away immediately.

Shinso...? I don't understand... Her eyes widened slightly when she remembered what she felt during the middle of the game when he was trying to calm her down after Monoma had provoked her. That moment of feeling completely blank...!

"I know that this is a great chance and that it's foolish to waste it..." Ojiro gripped his fist tightly. "But everyone here competed by giving their all! I can't... I can't be up there with everyone without knowing what really happened."

"You're worrying too much about it!" Hagakure waved her arms around in the back. "You should just make sure you produce results in the finals!" Agreeing with the invisible girl's words, Shiro pushed her way over to him with a disapproving pout.

"Even if you didn't know what happened in the beginning, you were there at the end! We couldn't have made it without you!" she insisted, but he gritted his teeth as he covered his face.

"That's just it..." he said, shaking with emotion. "You told me before that the second round will be my chance to improve. But... Even if I made it through, I don't even know what I did for the majority of the time! How can you call that 'improvement'?"

"But—"

"I'm talking about my pride here... I can't..."

Ojiro... If it really was his wish to withdrawal, then she couldn't stop him. It wouldn't be right to keep insisting him to reconsider when it damaged his pride this much. He truly is a good person to the heart... Shiro drew in a deep breath before frowning sadly.

"I'm sorry," she said, but he still couldn't face her. It made her heart drop. "It's understandable that you can't even look at me right now. I'm so stupid... For not realizing what was happening with you."

"No, it's not that..." Ojiro's reply came out as a soft muffle.

"Then why...?"

"It feels wrong to look at you when you're only wearing... That... Plus I don't know why everyone else is wearing cheerleader outfits..."

Shiro blinked back her embarrassment while the rest of the girls didn't know how to respond. Meanwhile, Kirishima gripped his fists tightly as the male's words drew him to tears. "What's with him?! He's so manly!"

"This is an unusual turn of events..." Present Mic's voice projected through the speakers softly. Next to him, Aizawa nodded.

"We'll have to see what the chief umpire, Midnight, has to say about this."

Silence passed through the crowd as they all looked up at the R Rated hero for her final decision. She looked to be deep in thought for a few moments before opening her mouth to speak. "Youthful talk like that is something..." she said seriously before an excited grin made its way to her face, "...I like! Ojiro-kun! I accept your withdrawal!"

She decided based on her tastes...! they thought simultaneously.

"In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fifth place cavalry battle team..."

Kendo Itsuka from class 1-B then raised her hand at the new information. She was the fifth place's team captain. "If that's what's going to happen, then rather than us, who barely did anything during the cavalry battle, it should be them, right?" she faced her team for approval and they all nodded. "The ones who fought to the end and stayed in the top—Team Tetsutetsu."

The gray haired male looked shocked, "Kendo!"

"This isn't just collusion or anything. It just makes sense," Kendo shrugged good naturedly. "You guys were fighting your way to the top with Team Aisaka and Team Bakugou, right?"

"Y-You guys...!"

"And so, Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki have moved up to make 16 finalists," Midnight announced after they picked out who within the team will advance and she drew the lots to match people up. She pointed to the screen up ahead when she was finished, "This is the bracket based on the results of the drawing!"

First round:

1. Midoriya vs Kaminari

2. Todoroki vs Sero

3. Iida vs Hatsume

4. Tokoyami vs Yaoyorozu

5. Ashido vs Shiozaki

6. Aisaka vs Shinso

7. Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu

8. Uraraka vs Bakugou

Shiro searched for her match-up on the screen and her ruby eyes shot up in surprise. She immediately whipped her head towards her opponent's direction. This time, he didn't look away.

She had liked him up until she found out about his actions that had ultimately forced someone as earnest as Ojiro to withdrawal. She didn't believe he was evil, but what exactly was he getting at?

Shinso... Just who are you?

The purple haired male walked up to her with a curious stare. "Looking forward to our match."

Closed off in a small, cluttered room, Shigaraki Tomura watched U.A.'s sports festival with a look of abhorrence. It was almost time for the one-on-one, and he had been paying special attention to two people throughout the festival who have made it to the final round. His hands came up to scratch at his neck.

One of them was Midoriya Izuku, the brat with a similar power to All Might, who was the face of the nonsense that is justice and the Symbol of Peace for this superpowered world.

The other one was Aisaka Shiragiku. With venom building up at the tip of his tongue, he started to scratch his neck more obsessively as he uttered at the television screen. The same ruby eyes seemingly stared back at him.

"Watch carefully and prepare, Shigaraki Tomura," a low voice behind him said. "They may become obstacles to you one day."

That only made him scratch at his neck even more. "That's a load of crap," he spat.

The world is unjust, no matter what that trashy excuse of a hero All Might made society to believe. Shigaraki knew. His mission was to make the world understand what he knew by taking the hero down... And he was going to make those kids go down with him. Although he's never disclosed his exact relation with her to his master, he was determined take care of the matter all on his own... Even if it seemed like she forgot all about his existence.

How could you, imouto...?