"BEGIN!"
As Kageyama was partly expecting, Todoroki launched a barrage of ice at Midoriya, and the green-eyed fanboy responded with a flick of his fingers, destroying the ice pillars and sending Todoroki flying back, though he created an ice structure behind him to prevent himself from being sent back any further. Kageyama frowned: that would make this much more difficult for Midoriya if he couldn't throw Todoroki out of bounds.
The esper watched as his friend repeated that process two more times, losing three of his fingers and only giving him five more chances. This was better than if he had used his entire arm to start, but this still wasn't too much better. After the third shot from Todoroki's fingers, Kirishima came rushing into the spectator stand.
"Crap, I'm missing it!" he said.
"Nice job making it to the second round, Kirishima," said Kaminari.
"Thanks, man," the red-haired teenager replied, "Guess that means I'm up against Kageyama next."
"Yep..." The psychic was unsure of how to respond to this, but he didn't have to, as Kirishima still had a few things to say about the esper's fight.
"But man, it's insane how you were able to stand up against Bakugo's final move and take it like it was nothing. Even my quirk wouldn't be able to handle an explosion that big. Must be nice."
"I guess..." When it came to topics outside his personal scope or opinion, the esper was very silent and incoherent, a visual demonstration of the progress he had to make with his social interactions, and he shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The red-haired student waved his hands in dismissal.
"Eh, never mind that. It was a manly fight either way, and it looks like this match is heating up pretty quickly too." Kirishima was correct: after launching another ice volley, Midoriya expended his final finger on his right hand, and while this happened, Todoroki formed an ascending staircase of ice to strike Midoriya from above. The green-eyed teenager used his index finger on his left hand to destroy the ice construct, but Todoroki was still able to drop in on Izuku. The teenager narrowly dodged Todoroki's punch, which encased the ground in ice and rapidly expanded towards Izuku. The verdant-eyed teenager felt his foot get caught in ice and prepared to retaliate, but instead of using a finger, he decided to waste his entire arm in an attempt to catch his opponent off-guard. As one would imagine, the force was significantly more potent, the air pressure enveloping the entire ring and throwing the people in the stands back in their chairs.
Shigeo bit his lip: Izuku just expended his entire arm, and even with that, Todoroki had managed to put enough ice pillars to keep himself inside the ring. What was left for Midoriya now? With all the fingers on his right hand and his entire left arm expended, he couldn't use his arms to properly fight, and that would leave him completely exposed. So was this the end? Was the fight truly over?
The esper came close to accepting that reality when he saw Todoroki fire another volley of ice pillars, but just as the attack was about to reach Midoriya, another huge burst of wind pressure came forth. The red and white-haired student had not anticipated a blast of air, and had thus not prepared to protect himself from behind, and almost got himself thrown out of the ring. Mob gasped: how did Midoriya do that? He'd already used all the fingers on his right hand. Did that mean...
Shigeo bulged his eyes open. Midoriya had used one of the broken fingers. He could actually do that? But why? Having those broken bones must've been bad enough, but breaking them a second time? What kind of unbearable pain was he experiencing? Was he really so determined to win that he'd break himself like this? And as if that wasn't surprising enough for the esper, Midoriya was having a conversation with him, which was hard to hear, though the words that Midoriya shouted were not what Mob was expecting to hear out of him.
"You think you can win with only half your strength? Look at me, Todoroki! You haven't managed to put a single scratch on me yet! So come at me with all you've got!"
While things were beginning to heat up on the battlefield, the explosive teenager began to regain his consciousness. His eyes fluttered open, and he found himself in a bed. As his eyes adjusted, he noticed the school nurse standing next to him.
"So you finally woke up."
"Where am I?"
"In the infirmary. You were brought here after Midnight knocked you unconscious, though thankfully, you didn't have any injuries that I needed to heal."
As the memories of his defeat came back to him, so did the unbearable, overwhelming pain of that loss. His entire body began to shudder, and he stared emptily at his hand. Despite all the effort he put, despite all the time he'd invested into increasing his power, he'd completely failed in his mission to stand victorious during the sports festival in all regards, not having been the definitive winner in a single one of the events. Not only that, but his Howitzer Impact, the ace in the hole he'd prepared just for the festival, wasn't able to put so much as a scratch on Kageyama. The bowl-cut humiliated him in every fashion, from his attitude at the end of their fight to that degrading little speech he'd made near the end of their fight. How dare he talk to him like that, mock his character as such!
So what the hell did he do now? How the hell would Bakugo be able to surpass the bowl-cut? How much more powerful would his explosions need to become in order to actually faze him, in order to match him? God, it was just so, so...
Without even realizing, more tears of frustration began to form in his eyes, his teeth clenching hardly while he tightly balled his hands into fists. Nothing had changed, he was still helpless against the bowl-cut. Standing nearby, the school nurse felt somewhat awkward, not knowing what to do in this situation or how to comfort the student.
"The next match has already started," she said, "So you might want to go and sit with the rest of your classmates. You can take some gummies if you like." Bakugo didn't even acknowledge the school nurse, and slowly got out of his bed. Recovery Girl could see the look of despondency, of misery etched into the features of his face. This had been a truly devastating loss for him.
As the blonde teenager left the infirmary, a part of him was tempted to simply sit in one of the waiting rooms, for the taste of defeat was still extremely bitter on his tongue, and simply sit there for the rest of the tournament. But there was another part of him that knew it was still vital for him to get whatever info he could on his other two rivals, to know how to defeat them in the future, so with great effort, he forced his legs to march towards the spectator stand of his class and see how things were going with Deku and icy-hot.
Upon entering the spectator stand, some students noticed the sullen look in his eyes, his defeated stance, though others were too focused on the current battle to pay attention. None of them really knew how to comfort him, and since he'd never established any good relationships with his classmates, none of them felt too inclined to try and comfort him either. They could all tell that he wanted to be left alone, further proven by the fact that he decided to sit in the highest corner of the stand, several seats away from any other classmates.
The esper was one of the people who didn't notice Bakugo arriving, for he was too shocked and confused by what Midoriya had just said. Did he say he wanted Todoroki to use his fire? But why? What reason would Midoriya have to goad him into using his left side?
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On the battleground, Todoroki decided to go on the offensive and rushed his opponent, but his movement speed was evidently slower. Kageyama came to the assumption that he was overusing his right side from all the ice attacks, causing frost to spread across his right side and decreasing his movement speed. He also assumed that his left side could negate these effects from the heat generated, but since Todoroki was adamant on not using his left side, the frost was beginning to spread.
Todoroki lifted his right foot, but Midoriya reacted, focusing One For All into his right fist and imagining the egg not exploding in the microwave. Todoroki felt a powerful fist jam into his stomach, sending him flying back several meters, but also managing to freeze Midoriya's left arm in exchange. The green-haired teenager screamed out in pain and causing Mob to flinch. Somehow, Midoriya was still able to keep on fighting, and he was putting himself through this hell to make sure he stayed on-top.
Todoroki sent another ice attack, but it was much weaker in both speed and size, giving Midoriya an easier chance to dodge. The two of them proceeded to engage in close-quarters combat, with Midoriya continuing to use his broken fingers to shoot out blasts of pressurized air. Watching from the spectator stand, Mob was startled by this unbelievable resolve coming from his friend. He was able to fight through this pain, push himself beyond his limits and keep Todoroki on his guard using all the power at his disposal. He gasped when he saw the next move Midoriya made: using his thumb, he flicked it from the inside of his mouth, creating another short burst of air pressure. He was ready to break every bone in his hand to win this fight, and yet Mob was still having a hard time understanding what was compelling him to go this far. Was he... was he trying to help Todoroki through his pain?
Todoroki was asking Midoriya the same question on the battlefield, and the teenager was shouting out his response.
"I wanna live up to people's expectations! I wanna be able to smile while doing something good for them! I wanna be a pro! Whatever it takes to be a hero!" The green-haired teenager rushed forward and headbutted his opponent back.
"That's why I'll give it my all, just like you should be!"
So that really was the reason: Midoriya was trying to help Todoroki, to get him to use his left side because he believed that was what was holding him back, and he was pushing himself past his limit to try and get Todoroki to use his full power. Even though he wanted to win so badly, he also wanted to help Todoroki out at the same time. Kageyama couldn't help but smile to himself: that was the compassionate, loyal friend he had come to know.
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The green-haired teenager continued to urge Todoroki to use his power and approached him, using One For All in his fist and landing another powerful punch.
"That's why I'm going to win this! I'LL SURPASS YOU!" The passion and determination with which he spoke was truly remarkable, and Mob was left stunned by his perseverance. Still, the dual quirk-wielding teenager was adamant about not using his left side, too furious with his father to accept that part of him, and continued to stand by his promise.
"IT'S YOURS! YOUR QUIRK, NOT HIS!" The fanboy screamed these words at the top of his lungs, causing Todoroki to stop dead in his tracks. Those words managed to touch a deep nerve, bring back a vital memory in Todoroki's past, a moment when he remembered watching television with his mother. On the screen, All Might was there, giving his wisdom to the world and telling them that regardless of the lineage of a quirk, your power was what you made of it, that only you could decide to be a hero. His mother had further cemented that fact, telling him that he could still be a hero and to stay true to himself. How much he had forgotten...
A fire began to ignite inside Todoroki both figuratively and literally, and from his left side, a massive firestorm was unleashed. The sheer heat of his flames was enough to be felt all the way from the spectator stands, and several of the students of Class 1-A were baffled. Mob, however, was more amazed by the way that Midoriya had been able to get through to Todoroki, how he'd been able to convince him to use his left side. As he looked down at Todoroki, he took note of how the despondent, sad expression had faded, replaced by a confident smile.
"Yes, Shoto!" The esper heard this roaring voice and saw a man with flames surrounding most of his body, quickly piecing together that this was Todoroki's father. "Have you finally accepted your purpose? That's it! Very good! This is the dawn of a new era! With my blood in your veins, you'll surpass me and fulfill my desires!"
The esper was shocked and appalled by Endeavor's words: just as Todoroki had said, he only viewed his son as a tool to usurp All Might, and was only pleased by Todoroki using his fire simply because it would mean that he could be strong enough to contend with All Might. And yet, despite the animosity Todoroki held towards his father, he was still choosing to use his left side. He was choosing to unleash the fullest extent of his power against Midoriya, in order to win this tournament and give everything he had towards being a hero. But as important as that may have been, what was going to happen to Midoriya now? With those injuries, this match was practically over, so what would he do now?
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Mob's question was answered when he saw his friend begin to activate One For All in his left leg to propel himself forward, while Todoroki was using both fire and ice towards to prepare his final attack! But could Midoriya handle that? What would happen to him? It seemed as though Midnight and Cementoss were also worrying about this, as the esper could see both of them begin to take action.
From his right side, Todoroki unleashed several more pillars of ice against Midoriya, while from his left side, he prepared to unleash a very large blast of heat. Since his ice attacks had chilled the air, the rapid release of heat would cause the air to rapidly expand, creating an extremely powerful air blast. While he was doing this, Midoriya was coming in hot, activating One For All in his right arm and preparing to unleash his own final attack. As the two attacks prepared to collide, the last thoughts on Todoroki's mind were thoughts of gratitude towards his opponent, for helping him see what was most important.
"Thank you."
Just before the attacks could meet, Cementoss put up several rows of cement between the two attacks, but even so, that could not fully stop the force of the collision. The impact created from both moves managed to not only destroy the cement and most of the ring, but pulverize all the blocks into such little pieces that they were hardly more than specks by the time they reached the crowd. Now that the two attacks had dissipated, the only thought on the minds of everyone was which attack had managed to do the trick, to push the other out of bounds. Standing at the edge of the stand, Kageyama was desperately waiting to see what the end result had been, whether Midoriya would advance to the next round.
His hopes were shattered when he saw his friend blasted against the wall, both of his arms and his leg broken and all his energy sapped away from him while Todoroki stood on the ring with the left side of his gym uniform almost completely burned off.
"Midoriya is out of bounds!" shouted Midnight, "Todoroki wins!" The crowd frantically cheered for the dual quirk-wielding teenager, while the esper deeply frowned: Midoriya had lost. He'd given everything he had to winning this festival, and yet in the end, it wasn't enough. More importantly, he'd caused some extremely devastating damage to his body through repeated usage of One For All in his fingers, and he prayed that Recovery Girl would be enough to heal all those injuries.
"What an explosive end to this crazy battle! Looks like we're gonna take an intermission to repair the ring, cuz there's no way anyone's gonna be fighting on it now!" Cementoss began to take his cue and prepared a pipe with cement to replace the broken ring. While this was happening, some medical robots began to arrive on the scene and put him on a stretcher, while Todoroki took a long look at his opponent and watched him leave the arena before silently going off on his own, his face in a neutral expression.
"Midoriya's injuries looked rather severe," noted Iida, "I'd like to check up on him."
"Good idea, Iida," replied Uraraka. The esper also nodded in agreement, while a few other classmates decided to join the three of them, with those classmates being Mineta, Tsu, and even Yaoyorozu, who felt that their bond had begun to strengthen after their interactions and their partnership during the cavalry battle. All of them quickly rushed to the infirmary, and when they got there, they all popped their heads through the door like gophers.
"Midoriya!" They all expressed looks of gloom when they saw both of Midoriya's arms wrapped up around each other. The classmates all approached the bed while Recovery Girl and a sickly man none of them had ever seen before stood beside him. Uraraka looked at this unknown man in a suit and decided to address him.
"It's nice to meet you, sir," she said.
"Uh, yea," All Might replied.
"He's in no state for visitors," Recovery Girl said.
The green-haired teenager heard the voices of his friends and forced his eyes open, only to get a look at all of their worried faces. "Hey guys. Shouldn't you be watching the matches?"
"The stage was far too damaged from your match," said Iida, "They're taking a quick break to repair it now."
"That match was the scariest thing I've ever seen in my life, Midoriya," the short teenager said, his body trembling at the thought of the battle's sheer intensity, "No pro's gonna want a side-kick who hurts himself." Tsu cut him off by striking his temple with her tongue.
"Now you're just rubbing salt in his wound: not the best time for that."
"Hey, I'm just speaking the truth."
"Go, all of you." The school nurse attempted to shoo all of the visitors away from the room. "I understand your concerns, but I need all of you to leave so I can focus on surgery."
"SURGERY?!" All of the teenagers felt their hearts constrict with this terrible revelation, Kageyama having the worst reaction. So the repeated use of One For All with broken limbs had caused so much damage that surgery was going to be required? Many of the classmates voiced their concerns, asking the school nurse what kind of surgery would be performed and how extensive the damage was, but Recovery Girl would not budge. But just before pushing all of them out, All Might pointed to Kageyama.
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"Actually, let him stay for a moment." Recovery Girl gave a quick look to the number one hero and yielded to his request, motioning for the esper to stay, which he was glad to accept.
"Now the rest of you, don't worry. Just leave me to my work." The nurse closed the door, leaving the four of them alone and allowing Midoriya to properly speak his mind to All Might, allow him to express the immense feelings of shame and guilt that were stirring inside.
"I'm sorry, All Might." The number one hero and the esper heard the palpable sadness in the green-eyed teenager's voice and saw the deep frown on his face. "I couldn't do what you asked me to do. If I'd just kept my mouth shut, I could've won, but I remembered how sad Todoroki looked during his first match, and I was spending the entire match trying to figure out why, when I should've been focused on the match."
"Midoriya, try to understand something." The esper grabbed the edge of the bed and slightly leaned his body forward, for he did not like seeing his friend put himself down like this, not after what he did for Todoroki. "I think you did something amazing: you saw that Todoroki was sad, and you decided to try and help him through his problems, through his pain. You found out the reason he was hurting so much, and I don't think I would've been able to change him the way that you did. When I saw him unleash his flames, I couldn't see any of the sadness in his face we saw in his first match. Your actions helped him to lessen his pain, to help him see that his power was his own and using his left side didn't mean he had to follow in his father's footsteps, and if you ask me, that's way more important than winning. "
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Midoriya was not expecting to hear this kind of tone in his friend's voice, this deep sense of respect. Kageyama was truly expressing his amazement and admiration for what Midoriya had done during his fight with Todoroki, how incredible he felt the support given to the dual quirk-wielding teenager had been, how it was something that even Kageyama couldn't have done, and Midoriya felt his lips begin to slightly tremble.
"What do you think, All Might?" the esper said.
"You hit it right on the nose, Kageyama," All Might replied, "You helped Todoroki realize an important part of himself. While it may be true that the match didn't go as you planned, realizing where you went wrong won't change that.
"But listen: meddling where you don't technically belong is the essence of being a hero."
Midoriya's lips began to tremble even more, and his eyes were beginning to water as well. Watching the words being spoken from All Might and Kageyama, the school nurse sighed: even though she was no fan of the way Izuku continuously injured himself, she still saw him as a student to be taken care of and as the next successor of One For All and was troubled whenever she saw him in pain either physically or emotionally.
"You two can continue praising this reckless child once I've finished the surgery, so go wait outside."
"Ok," replied the esper, and as the two of them made their way to the door, Mob looked at the school nurse, and with a pleading tone in his voice, said, "Recovery Girl, please heal my friend."
The way Mob spoke, the way he gave his pleas to Recovery Girl and the way his eyes were drenched with fear and concern caused the nurse to momentarily shake, and it also made Midoriya feel a tinge of guilt for putting his friend through this kind of emotional pain. "I'll do everything I can, Kageyama."
The number one hero closed the door and allowed the school nurse to begin her surgery while the two superpowered humans stood outside. All Might tried to give his student a sense of reassurance. "Don't worry about this too much, Kageyama. Recovery Girl's a medical expert with an outstanding quirk: young Midoriya's going to be fine."
"I hope you're right..."
All Might attempted to veer the topic onto a slightly more positive note, mainly the way Kageyama had won in his fight against Bakugo. "You know, I was pretty blown away by your battle against Bakugo. Your psychic power really gave you a tremendous boost in offense and defense, and you keep on surprising me and the rest of the world with your powers."
"I guess," said Kageyama, his mind too occupied with thoughts of Midoriya to fully absorb All Might's words, "Well, I'm glad that I'm making the impression you wanted."
"The entire world will know who you are by the end of this tournament," said All Might with a wide grin before giving the esper a firm pat on the back, "And even if he didn't win the tournament, I'm positive the world will know who Midoriya is as well, so don't psyche yourself out over this too much." The number one hero gave a second pat on the back to the esper, motioning for him to leave. "Now go on. I'll stay here with Midoriya."
"Are you sure?"
"Absolutely. Young Midoriya's going to be fine." The psychic paused for a few seconds before deciding to finally adhere to All Might's request and began to make his way toward the class, but just before he left, All Might had one last thing to say to him.
"Next time I'll see you, it'll be on the podium, when I'm putting the first-place medal around your neck." The esper felt his heart began to flutter a little, and he looked back at All Might with a shaky smile. He was being reminded of how much faith All Might had in his abilities, the expectations he had in him to win this tournament. Well, the esper was going to make sure he wouldn't let All Might down.
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While the esper was walking through the hall, his thoughts began to shift towards Todoroki, wondering how he was faring after this fight. Kageyama wanted to know what he was thinking, what he was feeling after breaking his promise to use his left side and giving it everything he had during the match. He wanted to see whether or not he needed a person to help digest his emotions, and he wanted to be that person, just as Midoriya had been that person to help the dual quirk-wielding teenager. Mob assumed that Todoroki would be by himself, since he wasn't really keen on socializing with others and likely wouldn't go to any of his classmates, so he decided to head for the waiting rooms, where competitors had the option of waiting. Sure enough, the teenager entered Waiting Room #2, and found Todoroki sitting by himself, emptily staring at his hand.
As it turned out, Todoroki was having a very big, conflicted reaction to using his left side. After the match, his father was waiting for him to express pride in the fact that he'd finally chosen to abandon his childish rebellion and accept the path he'd laid out for his son, even extending his hand for a handshake. However, the teenager rejected the handshake, openly proclaiming that nothing had changed between them, and that he simply stopped thinking about him during the match, going so far as to say he might not need him. Alas, he couldn't simply accept this new change so easily, for he did not know what it meant, how he would go about this, and whether or not he'd use his flames again. The memories of his mother came flooding into him as well, memories he'd tried to forget but returned during his fight with Midoriya. So what was he going to do...
"Hey, Todoroki." The red and white-haired student was brought out of his thoughts by Shigeo's voice, and he moved his head to face him. "I see you're thinking to yourself. That match didn't go the way I imagined: I didn't think you'd use your left side after what you said to Midoriya and me."
Todoroki looked back down to his empty hand, recalling the way Midoriya had told him to use his full power during their fight. "That fool. Instead of trying to win the match himself, he focused on breaking my walls.
"You two seem to be very close. Have you always known him to be so helpful?"
Memories came back to the moments they shared together during their training, the way Midoriya would always try and lift Mob up whenever he fell down, the high praise he constantly spoke about Kageyama.
"Yep." The esper approached his classmate and took the seat adjacent to him, preparing to have a long talk with Todoroki. "And that's what I like about him. He wants to be a hero, but he doesn't forget about the people who've helped him get to where he is, and is always trying his best to help them however he can. He saw the pain you were in during your match with Sero, and he tried to do something about it by helping you use your fire, to get you to realize that it didn't mean you had to follow the path your father's laid out for you. But..."
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"You seem to be struggling with the decision you made, what it really means for you." The esper let out a soft sigh and slightly lowered his head. "You've been through so much. All your life, you've been trained to be a weapon to usurp All Might. You never got the chance to live your childhood, spend time with your siblings or have a normal life, and you want to forge your own path that doesn't follow the one your father made. So many emotions are still fighting inside of you...
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"Listen, if we make it to the finals, you can use your flames if you want, but if you feel that using your left side isn't what you really want to do, I'm fine with that too." Todoroki's eyes widened in surprise.
"Unlike Midoriya, I'm not gonna try and force you to use your left side. It's not that I want you to fight with half your power so I can get an advantage: it's just, I can see how much internal conflict you're facing, and I don't want to make you do anything you don't want to. While I can't fully understand your situation, I do know what it's like not to use your powers for personal reasons, and I also know how impactful it can be when you break that promise." The esper drew this similarity to the vow he made not to use his psychic powers against other people, as well as the sadness he felt when he broke that promise and used his powers against Hanazawa. The esper compassionately placed his hand on the upper part of Todoroki's left arm.
"Like Midoriya said, it's your quirk, not your father's, and you're the protagonist of your own story. A story that isn't written by your father, Midoriya, or me. That means you get to make your own choices, you can choose what kind of person you want to be. Just try to make sure that whatever choices you make, they're choices that you can be proud of. That's what I'm doing: I'm trying to improve myself to become a person that I can be proud of." The dual quirk-wielding teenager's eyes widened even further, and his mouth slightly gaped open in shock.
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"I'm sure you'll make whatever choice feels right to you." The esper gave a small pat on Todoroki's shoulder, then began to get out of his chair and head back to the spectator stand, but just before he was about to leave, he stopped at the door.
"Also, while your father unfortunately may not consider your feelings or who you are as a person, you have an entire class who does, and Midoriya and I are two of those people." Mob's lips lifted slightly upward, and his dull eyes began to lightly shine. "So remember: you're not alone here." A faint gasp escaped Todoroki's lips, and he could think of nothing to say in return as the esper exited the room to go back to the spectator stand. Todoroki was not anticipating anything like this: Kageyama extended to him a deep sense of sympathy for his problems, not only comprehending the difficulty of this sudden change of using his left side, but also the many feelings swirling inside of him. Those words were intertwined with a much deeper sense of understanding and compassion than Midoriya's words had been.
That compassion... it reminded him so much of his mother, the way she'd spoken to him, been there for him and helped him with her words of kindness to remind him he could be the kind of person he wanted to be, just like Kageyama had done. For that reason, his words had just as big an impact to him as Midoriya's words and struck a deep chord in the teenager's heart. Kageyama was just... full of surprises.
With the ring fixed and the first match out of the way, the following matches began to start, and both matches were finished relatively quickly thanks to superior skill and speed. For the second match, Iida vs. Shiozaki, the student from Class 1-B attempted to strike with her vines, but Iida repeated his last fight with Uraraka and proceeded to use his Recipro Burst, maneuvering behind her and proceeding to push her out of the ring. For the third match, Tokoyami vs. Ashido, the pink-colored girl attempted to retaliate by throwing balls of acid at Dark Shadow, but the beast easily dodged the attacks and knocked his opponent out of bounds.
While this was happening, the school nurse finished up her surgery and gave Midoriya a dosage of her quirk. But as it so happened, Midoriya had sustained some permanent damage to his hand, and there was now visible scarring on his right hand. Then, as a wake-up call and a warning to both of them, Recovery Girl declared to both All Might and Izuku that she would no longer be healing injuries such as this, that the teenager would need to find a better way of using One For All without breaking his body so badly.
The number one hero and his disciple were walking down the hallway, with All Might pondering what other way Midoriya could use One For All. But Izuku's mind was not on this, however. No, his mind was only focused on his failures.
"Hey, All Might." The two of them stopped in the middle of the hallway while All Might waited for Midoriya to speak. "You remember when you told me why you came to U.A. in the first place? To find a worthy successor to inherit One For All."
"That's right."
"I gave everything to try and win the sports festival, but still, I couldn't win. Not only that, but there were other competitors who fought for their victory harder than I did, who possess more power and skill than I do, like Kageyama. So, maybe..."
"You're thinking it might be better for someone else to be my successor, correct?" The teenager's body slightly shuddered in surprise, and then his head sank.
"Yea."
"You speak the truth. This school is full of incredible potential, and Kageyama would be a great candidate." The number one hero looked to the side and he let out a short bark of laughter. "Though to be honest, I'm kind of frightened by what would happen if I gave it to him. One For All is a crystallization of power, and it bolsters quirks. Since Kageyama's psychic power isn't technically a quirk, I don't think it would increase its potency, but the physical strength he'd get, multiplied by the power of One For All, would probably make him a god, with potentially enough power to obliterate an entire island, maybe even the whole country."
The green-eyed fanboy's lips began to tremble. "Then-"
"But you know, I was quirkless too when I was a kid." The teenager's eyes widened like saucers, and he drew a sharp breath before turning to face All Might, who was smiling at him and pointing his thumb at himself.
"Quirkless? Seriously."
"Back in my day, it wasn't as rare, but it was still pretty out of the ordinary, and even though I didn't have any power of my own, I had someone who believed in me. My master gave me One For All and raised me to be a hero."
The young teenager was seeing All Might in a very new light, to know that both of them shared the same background and history. "How come you never told me this?"
"Hey, it's not my fault you never asked, which is pretty surprising, to be honest."
"It's just... I never imagined the number one hero would be quirkless."
"It's true. When we first met, I saw a little of the old me in you, but you've gone beyond my expectations time and time again. One day, you're going to do great things with One For All, and one day, you will become Kageyama's equal, I guarantee it."
Izuku let out another startled gasp, with All Might's words of faith striking the teenager deep in his heart. Even after failing, and even knowing that Kageyama had greater power than him, the number one hero was still confident in Midoriya's abilities to excel with One For All. Izuku nearly felt his eyes begin to water, but he closed them and stopped himself from bawling.
"I'll do my best."
While this had been going on and the wielder of One For All was getting his wounds healed, the fourth match of the second bracket was starting, and the two competitors were about to walk through the exits and take their places on the ring. For the red-haired student, he couldn't help but feel a great bit of fear and doubt in his ability to win this fight. After having seen so many instances of Kageyama's power and the way that he was able to withstand such a strong explosion from Bakugo, he couldn't think of anything he could do that could possibly hurt him. He could come up with no plan to overpower Kageyama. Still, that didn't mean that he'd just roll over and give up!
The two competitors walked out of the exits, and as always, the crowd roared with excitement. The two competitors entered the ring, and from the corners of the ring, flames began to ignite.
"The last match of the quarter finals! From the hero course, Shigeo Kageyama! Versus, his classmate, Eijiro Kirishima!"
"You may be strong, Kageyama," the red-haired teenager said, "But that doesn't mean I'm just gonna surrender now! A real man never quits!"
"That's right!" From the spectator stand of Class 1-B, Tetsutetsu cried out in support of Kirishima, a testament to the manly bond they'd formed and the admiration he held for Kirishima's manly nature. Similarly, Kageyama couldn't help but smile at Kirishima's passionate attitude, his determined nature. He drew some similarities to Midoriya's fighting spirit, which was why this battle was going to be rather difficult for him.
"BEGIN!"
The manly teenager screamed and lunged toward the esper with his entire body hardened, attempting to land several punches on his opponent. As expected, the esper created a barrier to protect himself, and the punches were unable to break through the shield. This was exactly as the audience expected and as Kirishima feared: with those shields up, he couldn't deal any damage to Kageyama whatsoever. Inside his shield, Kageyama was deliberating on what his plan of action should be. Unlike his other opponents, Kageyama was more willing to use physical force against him because his hardening gave him more protection, so any punches he dealt wouldn't deal any potentially lethal damage. Right now, he was at around 40% of his power, so he'd lower the power in his fists to around 10%-12%.
Kageyama dropped the barrier and countered the hardened teenager with a strong jab to the chest. Even with ten percent, a small burst of wind pressure was formed, and Kirishima was sent flying back a few meters, though as he was being sent flown away, he jammed his hardened feet into the ground. Some of the people were amazed by how Kirishima was able to withstand one of Kageyama's blows, but most of the people in the crowd could tell Shigeo struck with only a fraction of his power.
"As long as I've got a good foothold, I can't be blown away!" Kirishima said. The esper realized that he was correct, and a telekinetic blast likely wouldn't be efficient. After seeing the way his opponent was able to withstand 10% of his power, he decided to kick up his power to 20%. Kirishima, seeing no other option and knowing little else besides charging in head-on, sprinted for the esper, the two of them approaching the center of the ring, but with amazing speed and power, Mob sped toward Kirishima and landed another solid blow, breaking Kirishima's hardening. A much larger burst of air pressure came forth, and the force generated managed to knock Eijiro off his feet and sent him flying across the ring, and unlike Bakugo, he didn't have any way of stopping himself while he was in the air. Because of this, he was knocked straight into the wall, cracking it deeply.
"Kirishima has been knocked out of bounds! Kageyama advances!" The crowd roared, though the esper reacted with shock and worry: he wasn't expecting the attack to send him flying like that, nor was he expecting the attack to shatter his armored skin so easily. The esper quickly sprinted over to his opponent's side.
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"I didn't mean to send you flying so fast! Did you get hurt?" The psychic grabbed Kirishima's arm and dislodged him from the wall, though the red-haired teenager didn't seem very injured and tried to calm Mob's nerves.
"Don't freak out. My hardened body took most of the blow, so I'm not really beat up." Eijiro stretched his back to ease the small aches, and while he obviously felt disappointed by his loss, he decided to be a man about it, suck it up, and show his respect towards Kageyama, unlike Bakugo.
"You've got some seriously awesome power, man, and I gotta give you props for that." The teenager beamed and put out his fist with nothing but respect. The esper lightly gasped at first, but he similarly beamed with relief and acceptance, and the two proceeded to bump fists. The crowd burst to life with applause, and the chivalrous behavior of Kageyama, the way he'd immediately rushed over to his opponent's side in concern, was only improving his reputation. In the spectator of Class 1-B, the manly Tetsutetsu nodded his head in approval, and wasn't particularly bummed out about Kirishima's loss because of who he lost to.
"Kageyama's a pretty big man too," the steely teenager remarked.
"Whatever," said Monoma waving his hand in dismissal and refusing to acknowledge anything positive about Shigeo.
At the edge of the arena, the two of them decided to exit from the same side and walked together out of the arena. As the two of them walked together, Kageyama decided to continue a conversation.
"Again, I'm sorry I punched you so hard. I added too much power after seeing the way you were able to withstand the first punch."
"How much power were you using in that last punch anyway?"
"About 20%."
"Only twenty percent?" the teenager exclaimed. That single punch felt like a giant boulder had been thrown at him. Had any other students been hit by that, they would've likely been injured with potentially a broken bone or two. "If I were you, I'd try to tone down the power of your punches by more than that. Even that first punch could maybe cause some bruises on some people if you aren't careful."
"I only used 20% on you because of your quirk, and the first punch was just 10%, but I'll definitely take your advice and keep the punches at less than ten percent."
The two teenagers continued walking together until they made it back to the spectator stand, where they were greeted by their classmates. Kageyama's first attention, however, was Midoriya, whose arms were heavily bandaged, with a sling around his right arm.
"Midoriya!" The esper rushed over to his side, "Are you alright? How did the surgery go?"
"Recovery Girl managed to patch me up enough so that I'm able to walk, so that's good."
"Wait, what's..." Mob's face morphed with horror as he saw the scars on his friend's right hand. He gasped and took the fanboy's hand as he gazed at the scars more closely. "Your hand! Why're there scars there?"
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The teenager awkwardly rubbed the back of his head. "Well, since I used my power on my right hand multiple times, I guess I put more strain on it than it could take, and this is what happened."
"But, there has to be something more Recovery Girl can do! I'm gonna go talk to her!" The esper quickly got out of his seat to run to the nurse's office.
"Kageyama, there's really no need to..." But the esper had already left.
"Wow, he's even more worried about your health than I am," said Uraraka. Izuku was stricken silent, feeling even more guilty about damaging himself. To know that he'd put his friend through this kind of agony with his injuries was agony of his own. He had to try and listen to what Recovery Girl said, find another way to use One For All so he wouldn't break himself so much and make Kageyama worry even more.
The school nurse was at her desk, doing some paperwork and minding her own business, when out of nowhere, the door burst open, and in came Shigeo Kageyama.
"Oh, Kageyama. What brings you to my office? Did you get some injuries during your match you need fixing."
"No, it's not that. I just wanted to talk to you about the healing you did on Midoriya. I saw that there were some scars on his right hand. Can't your quirk fix that?"
The school nurse closed her eyes and lifted her head down. "Unfortunately, those injuries are beyond my help."
"But why not?"
"My quirk works by sending signals to the body, increasing the speed of the natural healing process. However, the body is only programmed to heal itself in certain ways, so if injuries are bad enough, those injuries cannot be fully healed, which is why there's scarring or permanent damage. My quirk doesn't have the power to make the body heal beyond its limits. It can only command the body to heal how it was made to heal."
"Hold on..." The esper held his hand out, causing the nurse's eyebrow to lift up. The wording she'd used had caught his attention.
"What?"
"Sending signals... One of my powers, manipulating plants, involves me sending psychic signals to those plants to command them. I can also give my energy to others. So what if I... combined those two concepts?" The school nurse was still having a bit of trouble following the esper's lead.
"What if I could use my psychic power to send signals to the body to heal itself? I could bypass the body's programming and give it the energy it needs to heal injuries that normally couldn't be fixed."
"Oh..." The school nurse pondered the esper's suggestion for a moment. "I don't know how your psychic powers work, so I can't say it's out of the realm of possibility."
But this idea was already starting to build up huge momentum inside Mob. It was bringing forth many more possibilities in his head. "If I could master that kind of ability, I could use it for more than just healing Midoriya's scars." A smile split across the esper's face. "I could fix All Might!"
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"Recovery Girl, All Might's weak form, that only happened because of the injuries he got from the big fight five years ago, right?"
"Yes." The elderly woman sighed. "His body received catastrophic damage that no amount of surgeries or shots of my quirk could fix. His stomach was torn apart, and his respiratory system was significantly damaged as well. With no stomach and lack of proper oxygen flow, his body quickly began to decay to what it is now."
"So if I could regenerate his stomach and fix the damage to his respiratory system, would that mean his body would change back into his muscle form, the way he used to be, and allow him to use his remains of One For All more effectively?"
The school nurse tapped her chin with her finger, pondering the achievability of this task. "It might take some time for his body to readjust, but I believe yes, he would go back to the way he was."
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"That would be amazing! That would mean the world wouldn't have to see him in his weakened state! I have to try it right away!"
"Hold on!" The school nurse got out of her chair and began pointing her cane at the esper. "This idea definitely sounds like something to invest some effort and research into, though now isn't the time to be experimenting with this! After all, you still have two more rounds of the sports festival."
The esper heeded the nurse's words and calmed himself down. "I guess so. Still, I'm gonna try and do whatever I can to see if this healing is possible."
The elderly nurse tilted her head and gave the esper a small smile. "I'm sure you will. Now run along."
The teenager left the room with a vibrance and brimming hope that was rarely seen in him. A fire of hope had lit itself inside the esper, the chance that he could give the number one hero what he'd lost, that he could use his powers for something more than hurting others. He was on his way to the spectator stand, but through the loudspeaker, Present Mic announced that the battle between Todoroki and Iida had ended, with the dual quirk-wielding teenager taking victory.
"That's a bummer for Iida," Kageyama muttered to himself, "I'm sure he was hoping to win to make his older brother proud." With the first match of the semi-finals out of the way, Mob knew that it wouldn't be worth it to go back to the spectator stand, and made his way to the waiting room, where he sat for the few minutes he had, several thoughts flowing through his mind. Most of his thoughts were centered around making his new healing power, wondering how he'd go about doing this. He'd only ever used basic psychic powers, and the other technique's he'd used, such as plant manipulation and leaving his body, he'd simply copied. Would he be able to create this entirely new power from scratch?
Besides healing, Mob was also thinking about Todoroki. Since he didn't see the fight, he wasn't sure if he'd used his left side against Iida, or if Todoroki would use his flames against him, assuming and hoping that he'd actually make it to the finals. Like Mob had said, he didn't care whether or not he used his fire, he just wanted Todoroki to do whatever felt right for him. With the relatively short waiting time, the esper made his way toward the ring, going down the pathway to the exit and heading toward the ring.
For the final match of the semi-finals, the two powerful students walked through their exits. They then walked up the stairs and entered the ring, where they then took their places and Present Mic began the basic introductions. For Tokoyami, he was feeling the same kind of budding nervousness that Kirishima and Bakugo had experienced, knowing of the esper's phenomenal power as well as his basically impenetrable barriers. He'd charged Dark Shadow's power as much as possible for this match, but he wasn't sure it would be enough. More importantly, he was the only student who knew of Dark Shadow's weakness, but did he remember? Would he find a way to exploit that weakness during their match?
"Begin!"
The avian teenager unleashed his creature of the darkness, and he commanded it to strike the psychic. Dark Shadow roared and began its assault, only this time, instead of building a shield, Shigeo decided to start out on the offensive and unleashed a telekinetic blast against Tokoyami.
"Dark Shadow! Keep me in the ring!" The avian student was sent flying backward, but through his command, the shadowy construct sunk its claws into the ground, preventing him from being thrown out of the ring. The spectators all shouted out, and the energy began to quickly build.
"I wonder how Kageyama's gonna fight Tokoyami," said Tsu.
"He could either try to attack Dark Shadow or go straight for Tokoyami," Midoriya noted.
"Either way, Kageyama's got this one in the bag," Mineta remarked.
In the ring, Kageyama was trying to think of a strategy, a way to go about fighting Tokoyami. His Dark Shadow was very useful for offense and defense, and it gave him a great deal of maneuverability as well. So what would be the best way to fight that?
Then it came to him. He remembered when the two of them were fighting together in the U.S.J., when Tokoyami told him about his weakness to light. Perhaps he could use that. Yes, his psychic power generated a bright, rainbow-colored aura that could act as a counter to Dark Shadow, allowing Mob the opportunity to weaken the shadow construct enough to restrain Tokoyami and take the win.
"Oh, looks like Kageyama's putting up a light show!" Present Mic noted the way that the esper was beginning to generate a much more abundant pool of energy around him, growing several feet in diameter. Tokoyami's posture became rigid and he frowned. This was exactly what he'd feared: Mob's energy was producing a huge amount of light to play to his quirk's weakness. Even this light show was enough for Dark Shadow to cower back and slightly decrease in size. In the spectator stand of Class 1-A, the classmates didn't understand Mob's reason for increasing his energy expenditure so much, but they were about to find out soon enough.
The teenager's eyes flashed rainbow, and he released a large burst of psychic energy toward his opponent. Dark Shadow acted as a shield to defend from this burst of energy, but the creature howled in pain. Even that single attack had both enough light and power to seriously injure the creature of the darkness.
"Not good." Sadly for Tokoyami, this battle was going to be over very shortly. The esper began running toward his opponent, firing two more casual blasts of energy, but even regular blasts were proving to be a tremendous burden for Dark Shadow to bear. The esper decided to finish this battle off through a final large burst of light, and this time, he'd take a page from Bakugo's book.
The esper rounded his hands together, and in the center of them, he created a concentrated burst of his psychic energy, which he unleashed in the form of a blinding light against the shadowy creature. The light was much more blinding than Katsuki's Stun Grenade, and everyone in the stadium was momentarily blinded by the attack. When they recuperated their vision, they found Mob pinning Fumikage to the ground with his right hand on the avian student's chest. Not only that, but for some reason, Dark Shadow was gone. The esper's attack had been so strong, created so much light, it managed to completely obliterate Dark Shadow, causing it to retract back into Tokoyami's body.
"Hey, that attack was kinda like yours, Bakugo," Kirishima said.
The hot-headed teenager grunted in annoyance at how Kageyama had stolen one of his moves.
In the ring, the avian teenager knew this fight was over: with Kageyama pinning him to the ground, and Dark Shadow's energy completely drained, there was nothing more he could do.
"I surrender."
"Tokoyami gives up! Kageyama is the winner of this match!"
"That means the final fight will be between Kageyama and Todoroki!"
As the crowd cheered, some of the students of Class 1-A were analyzing how the battle had just went down.
"So Dark Shadow is weak to light," said Midoriya, rigorously taking notes on Tokoyami's quirk in his notebook.
"But how did Kageyama know that?" questioned Uraraka.
"He and Tokoyami fought together during the U.S.J.," Yaoyorozu explained, "It's likely that Tokoyami told him about his quirk and its weaknesses."
In the ring, Kageyama extended his hand to help his classmate up, with Fumikage accepting this gesture of support. "Honestly, this match was pretty of unfair for you, since you already told me about Dark Shadow's weakness beforehand. You put in a great effort."
Tokoyami shook his head. "Even if you didn't know of my weakness, I highly doubt that Dark Shadow would have been able to inflict any heavy damage onto you. Your quirk just possesses too much power."
The esper decided to end this fight on a respectful note, and bowed his head. The corner of Fumikage's lip curved up nominally, appreciating the respect and consideration his opponent was giving him, and he bowed back. This was another budding friendship that Kageyama had managed to form, and it had yet to fully bloom.
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As the esper was walking out of the ring, he began to search for his final opponent in the stadium, and found him standing alone at an entrance. When the two exchanged eye contact, the esper saw no hostility or intimidation in his eyes like before. They were simply... neutral. Somewhat like himself. Mob wasn't quite sure what that meant, but at least it was an improvement from before.
The esper decided to do as he'd done before and go to the waiting room instead of the spectator stand, for his following match would be in less than ten minutes. With his final match coming up, his primary thoughts were now focused on whether Todoroki would do as he did with Midoriya and use his left side. This would likely be the most important match for him, and his father would also likely want him to use his flames against an opponent with the strength he had.
He went into Waiting Room #1, and sat there for a few minutes by himself in his own thoughts. Then, being the good friend that he was, Midoriya came through the door to speak to Mob.
"Oh, Midoriya."
"Hey, Kageyama," the teenager said with a smile, "How're you feeling for your final match?"
The esper merely shrugged his shoulders. "I'm kinda nervous for the fight, hoping that I'll be able to win to make All Might proud."
"I don't have a doubt that you will."
As the two of them stood there in that room, Kageyama decided to divulge with him what he'd seen of Todoroki after their match. "I went to see Todoroki after visiting you in the infirmary, and he was pretty conflicted by the decision he made. I'm not entirely sure that he's gonna use his flames again. I know you think that he should do his best, and everything you said to him in the ring was true, but..."
Midoriya took this in with similarly mixed feelings. So the decision to use his left side came with bigger emotional baggage than he'd anticipated. He should've expected as much, and he knew that Todoroki had every right to be furious at his father for everything he'd done to him.
"It makes sense for him to be feeling like that. Still, I'm hoping that not only Todoroki, but also you, put everything into this final match."
The esper nodded and proceeded to get up from his chair. "I'm going to win this. For All Might and for you." Midoriya gave his friend a thumbs-up as the teenager teenager prepared to go to the final round of the sports festival, to win this tournament for the two people closest to him at the school.
Mob wasn't really expecting to come across anyone while on his way to the ring, which was why it was quite a surprise when, coming in from the right hallway, the number two hero was walking in all of his fire and glory, causing Mob to stop dead in his tracks.
"You're Endeavor..."
"Shigeo Kageyama. Just the person I was looking for." After seeing Kageyama's power throughout the multiple different events of this festival, he'd basically predicted that he would make it to the finals and come face-to-face with his son. "I've watched all of your fights, and I must say, your power is truly phenomenal. You can use your energy for so many different purposes, and it also gives you a tremendous boost in your physical capabilities. I saw this first with your remarkable speed during the obstacle course, and then I saw the strength you displayed during your fight with the explosive child. To be able to create so much wind pressure from merely flicking your fingers. That boy, Midoriya, also possesses a similar strength, a strength that you both seem to have in common with All Might."
"Oh..." Once again, similarities were being drawn with the three of them. "I guess I've never thought about it like that."
"However, you possess a much greater degree of control over that power compared to Midoriya, since your body doesn't break, making you a much more difficult opponent to stand up against. I was pleased when Shoto used his left side against him. I thought he'd finally decided to end his childish rebellion, but it appears he's still adamant in defying me. But he will surely realize that he cannot hold back against you. You will be his true test to see how much training he has to do in his mission to defeat All Might, so make sure you fight him with everything you have in your-"
"You're wrong." The teenage esper cut the number two hero off. The number two hero was seriously misguided, unable to see all the harm he was doing to his son and the true reason for Todoroki's unwillingness to use his flames, and Mob had to tell him, to set him straight. "Todoroki's not using his left side because he doesn't want to follow the path you've been laying out for him his whole life. Because he knows you aren't viewing him as a person. You said it yourself during his fight with Midoriya: when Todoroki used his left side, you were happy because that meant he could use his power to "fulfill your desires". You only view him as a tool to surpass All Might, to hone as a weapon like you've done all these years. But he's not a tool: he's your son, your flesh and blood, and he deserves to be treated like that."
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For a moment, Endeavor was too stricken with shock to respond. What did this child just say? Did he actually have the nerve to speak to him in such a manner, to tell him about how he should be raising his son. Furthermore, everything this child was saying was just wrong! The hero's flames momentarily burst with anger before simmering down. "Nonsense! Look at what he has! Look at the unbelievable power he possesses! Even when using half of his strength, he's been able to achieve tremendous results! He has the potential to not only surpass my flames, but to make up for all the weaknesses of my quirk! With the power he possesses, he can climb higher than I ever have! I've given him everything!"
"You've given him everything except a normal life. You may have given him the potential to be a great hero, but you've neglected every other aspect of his identity. You've never bothered to ask yourself who your son truly is, who he wants to be, and you haven't been there for him in the ways he's needed you to be." The esper would've liked to continue this conversation, but he knew his match was going to start in only a few minutes, so he cut his thoughts short.
"I have to go, but I still want to talk to you about this later on." The esper walked past the number two hero, whose flames were beginning to grow even hotter, until they were enveloping his entire head.
"Who do you think you are, boy?" the hero shouted.
The esper looked back at the flame hero with both calmness and intensity in his eyes, causing the hero to slightly stagger and drop the level of his flames.
"Who am I? I'm Todoroki's friend, and I'm gonna help him in whatever way I can."
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Absolute resolve and compassion rung in the teenager's voice, causing Endeavor to jerk his head back and gasp with shock. The hero's angry flames soon simmered back down to their regular size as the bowl-haired student walked away. This child... to think he'd have the nerve to talk to him in such a manner, to openly tell him his faults so directly, despite knowing who he was, the power and influence he wielded. Where did he get the idea to do this?
Mob continued to walk down the hallway and toward the exit to the ring. His thoughts were momentarily centered around Endeavor, his firm mindset on how to raise Todoroki and how he believed that he had given his son everything he could. It was that kind of mindset that made him work Todoroki so mercilessly, drilling him in teaching him how to wield his powers. Once again, his heart went out for the dual quirk-wielding teenager. Even so, he needed to focus and remember that he was here to win the sports festival and be the champion for All Might's sake, for Midoriya's sake.
The arena was building up with the greatest tension and excitement yet. All around the world, families were huddling around their screens at home, people were standing out in the streets, looking at the jumbo screens to watch as the sports festival would come to its dramatic, mind-blowing conclusion. As soon as the two competitors came out of their exits, that exhilaration only skyrocketed.
"Welcome to the final battle of the U.A. High School's Sports Festival!" Present Mic boomed, "In just a moment, we'll see just which first-years come out on top!"
"Oh my god, this is it!" a spectator said.
"This battle's gonna be the best one yet! Both of them have insane moves that can envelop the entire ring!"
"I'm still betting my money on Kageyama, but I'm definitely sure Todoroki's gonna last longer than the other fighters!"
"Yes, it all comes down to this, folks!" The expressive hero began the short introductions for both fighters. "From the hero course, Shoto Todoroki! Versus his classmate, Shigeo Kageyama!"
The tension and excitement was building in the spectator stand of Class 1-A, as well as the teacher's stand. For the students, all of them were eagerly waiting to see what kind of destructive forces the two opponents would unleash. Midoriya was contemplating what Kageyama had said before this match, the insecurity Todoroki was having regarding his left side, and if he was truly going to refrain from using it. In the teacher's stand, All Might's fists were clenched, and his heart was beginning to race. This was the big moment, the time when Kageyama would take the crown of this sports festival!
Standing alone at the top of the stands, the number two hero was similarly waiting, with his arms folded and his expression as serious and intimidating as always. He was basically expecting his son to abandon his desire to hold back, though still wasn't quite sure how Kageyama would go about this fight. What the child had said to him had managed to strike a deep nerve inside of him, and he was feeling extremely irritated at the moment. After what he'd just said to him, the number two hero had gotten quite a unique picture of the esper, and he just couldn't tell what he would do.
In the ring, both contestants felt their minds racing, each of them in their own worlds. Todoroki was still feeling doubts in himself, the insecurity lingering in his heart, wondering if he would really just use his ice for this match to defeat Kageyama. So much uncertainty, so much excitement, so much intensity was in the air for the final match of the sports festival, and it was about time for the ball to finally get rolling.
"Now, begin!"
Boom! Kageyama decides to do something with Todoroki and has a meaningful conversation with him, understanding his pain and telling him to do what's right! Next, he breezes through his matches with Kirishima and Tokoyami, but his noble spirit still shows itself and crafts an even better image for himself! And then, there's the part with healing! How's that gonna work? What way is the story gonna be affected by this additional plot point? Finally, we get the conversation between Mob and Endeavor. Unlike Midoriya, who was only brave enough to give a few short lines to Endeavor and mildly annoy him, Kageyama just went all the way and flat-out told him every way he was being a bad father towards Todoroki! Also, in this version, Endeavor never talks to Midoriya, partly because he couldn't find him but also because he'd seen Kageyama's abilities and knew he'd make it to the finals, so he decided to just talk with him due to his greater strength. But now, the final match between Todoroki and Kageyama's gonna begin, and you'll all see how it plays out in Chapter 21 of 100 Percent Hero!
