Todoroki Shouto

Todoroki watched, unblinking, as Kaito disappeared around the corner, following the two girls out of the classroom. He had yet to introduce himself to the new student and felt slightly guilty, but everyone knew he wasn't the type to engage with strangers. In fact, he was a bit surprised that Katagiri hadn't taken the time to introduce himself. Maybe the newcomer didn't like him. Todoroki shrugged to himself—it wouldn't be the first time a person disliked him simply from the aura he gave off. Still, if Yaoyorozu was friends with the new kid, he must be a decent person. Not to mention he wasn't bad looking.

"I'll introduce myself next time," Shouto stated to himself before rising from his seat. For now, he had more important matters to attend to. Exiting the classroom, he turned and headed down the hall towards Aizawa's office. Class had already been out for forty-five minutes and the halls had all but cleared for which he was thankful. Todoroki didn't hate social interaction, but he certainly preferred being able to tend to his own thoughts—and right now, he had plenty on his mind.

As he arrived at his teacher's office, he grabbed the handle and pushed the door open, not bothering to knock. He found Aizawa leaned back in his chair with his feet on his desk, eyelids half closed.

"Sensei," Todoroki stated, unsurprised by his teacher's sleepy state. Aizawa let out a drawn out groan before opening his eyes and staring at Todoroki.

"Todoroki. Not the student I would've guessed would be dropping by my office," the man stated, picking his feet up off the desk and planting them back on the ground. "What's on your mind?"

Todoroki frowned slightly, unsure of whether he should have come to his teacher or not. It was true that he rarely vocalized his concerns, and this was the first time he had come to the teacher's office all year. Regardless, it was too late to turn back now.

"I'm being followed," he stated bluntly. Aizawa tilted his head slightly, giving Shouto a puzzled look.

"Care to elaborate?" his teacher asked, a lack of emotion in his voice. For a moment, Todoroki wondered if that was what he sounded like to others. He would have to work on fixing that.

"For the past two days, something has been following me between school and the dorms. I don't know who or what it is, but I can feel it."

Aizawa raised an eyebrow and Todoroki thought the man was about to chastise him for making things up.

"Thank you," Aizawa replied, picking up a pen and jotting something down on his notepad. "I'll bring it up with the other teachers and see if we can get some extra security along the route ASAP. Until then, stay aware of your surroundings. Thanks for letting me know. Would you like an escort for your commutes in the meantime?"

"No, I'll be fine. I just wanted to report it in case it was happening to anyone else as well."

Aizawa nodded. "You're more thoughtful than you let on, Todoroki. Stay on your guard then."

Todoroki nodded his understanding and thanked his teacher before leaving the office and closing the door behind him. Although Aizawa seemed uncaring on the outside, his teacher clearly took his students' wellbeing seriously for which Todoroki was thankful. It frustrated the boy that he couldn't provide solid evidence, but he could just feel something following him on his commutes.

"Todoroki! You're here late," came Tsuyu's voice from down the hall. The girl was walking towards him, Aoyama at her side, his usual over-the-top smile pasted onto his face. Shouto waved at the pair—Tsuyu was one of his more likable classmates, so he didn't mind engaging with her.

"I could say the same for you," he responded as the two approached him.

"Tsu-chan and I are working on a project together, so we're going to stay till it's done! It's going to be an all-night party!" exclaimed Aoyama, thrusting his fist into the air, clearly excited about the prospect of staying at the school through the night.

"Where are you headed?" asked Tsuyu, unfazed by Aoyama's antics.

"I'm going to meet Yaoyorozu and some others for ice cream," the half-and-half student replied. Aoyama's eyes opened wider and he brought his hand to his mouth in surprise.

"Todoroki going out to socialize? What a rare spectacle!"

Tsuyu lightly smacked Aoyama's arm as if to chastise him, then began pushing him down the hallway in the direction they had been heading.

"Don't mind him. Have fun, Todoroki!" she exclaimed, disappearing around the corner and dragging Aoyama behind her. Todoroki scratched his head as he began walking to the building's exit. Was he really that anti-social?

It wasn't long before Todoroki had reached the school gates, stepping out onto the street and pulling out his phone. Where was the ice cream shop again? Locating it on his map, he began to follow the path. Aoyama was right that this would be the first time he went out in a quite a while and he had to admit that he felt a bit nervous. He had worked with Yaoyorozu before and knew her a bit more than he knew his other classmates, but he had hardly spoken to Hagakure or Katagiri at all. He shook his head, trying to clear the thoughts from his mind. It would be fine—out of all of his classmates, these seemed like some of the kindest ones.

All of a sudden, the feeling that he was being watched re-emerged, pulling him from his thoughts. Gritting his teeth, Todoroki scanned his surroundings, his eyes landing on a large wooded area to his left. As he narrowed his eyes, he saw a shadow zip through the woods, bounding deeper into the area. The boy moved to follow it, but hesitated, knowing it was a bad idea to go alone. Still, he needed to know what was following him and he was confident in his combat abilities. He couldn't afford to lose sight of it. Ignoring his instincts, he rushed into the woods, pushing through branches towards the shadowy figure.

"If this is some low-grade villain, he's gonna regret it…" Todoroki muttered to himself as he neared his mysterious follower. Suddenly, a wall of blue flame erupted in front of him, barely allowing him enough time to stop and avoid plunging into it. Blue flame? Where had he seen this before? The flame flickered out as quickly as it had erupted and Todoroki saw that a perfect circle had been cleared in the middle of the area, the woods that existed moments ago completely singed to the ground in a ten foot radius.

"Ah, you made this easier than expected," said Dabi, standing in the middle of the clearing. "We didn't expect you to do something reckless like that. Getting a bit overconfident, eh? Looks like you are Endeavor's son after all."

"Damn it," Todoroki whispered to himself, realizing it was a setup. There was no time for questions—this wasn't the low-level villain he had expected. Not wasting a moment, he lifted his left arm, loosing a blast of fire at the criminal in front of him. Dabi simply smirked, waving the flames away as if they were nothing.

"Ah, I'd love to show you what real fire feels like, but I have to bring you back in one, un-charred piece," the villain stated, lunging towards Todoroki in an attempt to grab his throat. The U.A. student stepped backwards, erecting a wall of ice in front of him to block the approach. Before the wall could even fully construct, blue flames engulfed it, melting it instantly. Dabi's arm shot through the flames, grabbing for Todoroki's throat, but the younger boy rolled to the ground, narrowly avoiding the grip. Todoroki slammed his right hand on the ground, creating a huge, razor sharp icicle in Dabi's direction. The villain dodged out of the way, albeit barely, and tapped the structure, melting it with little effort.

"Oh, this is getting dangerous," Dabi stated. With a wave of his arm, he constructed a ring of flame around the student, a smirk returning to his face. "We don't have time to play around, but don't worry, I'm not going to fry you. Just going to knock you out from heat exhaustion."

Todoroki gritted his teeth, the heat from the blue flames already beginning to smother him. If he could get over the top of the ring somehow, he might be able to escape. Reaching down, he mustered all of his strength in his right side to construct an ice structure that would lift him out of the flames, but only steam emerged as the heat of the fire melted his ice before it could form.

"Damn it…" was all Todoroki could get out as he fell to his knees, the heat overwhelming him. Dabi beckoned someone to his side, another figure emerging from the woods.

"Toga. Get ready to do your thing," the young man directed as the girl joined him, looking at Todoroki with a grin.

"I get to go have ice cream with his friends?! Lucky me!" Toga exclaimed, her grin widening.

"No!" Todoroki exclaimed as he realized their plan. He attempted to push himself to his feet, but his strength had already faded from the sweltering heat.

Ugh…I can't fall here. They'll go after the others, he thought to himself, urging his body to take action even as he felt himself begin to lose consciousness. I was too careless…

With one last attempt to stand up, he collapsed to the ground as the blue flames finally gave way and Toga stepped towards him, her eyes sparkling with excitement.

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