First day of high school, I overexerted myself and end up regaining conciseness an hour after everyone left. When I finally woke up and checked my phone, I noticed I got two text messages. One from Iida and one from Tsukauchi. Iida sent me a picture of what I thought was a suit of futuristic armor, saying it was his "hero costume." He asked about mine and I told him he'd see when the time came.

Tsukauchi, on the other hand sent a text telling me that he wanted to talk to me about something. I had no the closest idea of what it could be, so I just shrugged it off. As I got ready, I remembered that I had no costume. We never got anything pertaining to it, so I decided to just grab my tracksuit and shorts for now. I picked up the remainder of my things and headed out the door. I knelt on the grass and waited for Tsukauchi.

An odd feeling washed over me as I looked at the sword, my stomach turned. What was up with me? My hands started to shake as I pulled it out of its sheath. For whatever reason, I didn't want this sword anymore, like I had killed someone with it. I fell into a trance like state of just staring at it. Memories of Dad were washing over me, my eyes tearing up. I saw my reflection in the metal, along with his. Then it hit me, like a sucker punch to the gut. All those years of "training," I was trying to be like him. But why now realize this? It could've washed over me any other time, until I realized it couldn't have. I was so caught up in training that I grew distant, uncharacteristic, reserved. I had gotten more control of my Quirk in those years, but the sword, kept me away from reality. When I didn't have it when I was with Iida, I felt scared, unprepared, like I had never done anything like that. But I had practiced for so many years! As I kept my focus, I was snapped out of my trance.

"Hoji," it was Tsukauchi, he must've just arrived and saw me staring at the sword. "Are you alright?" He helped me into the car as I put my stuff in the backseat. I was trying to keep myself from crying, but I couldn't stop myself fully.

"Hey, Tsukauchi. After school, there's some place I want you to take me," I noticed he was a bit confused, but he nodded. I sat in the car with him, the gloomy atmosphere weighed a ton on my shoulders. My hands grasped my pants as a few tears dropped. I was no longer going to use that thing anymore. I couldn't bring myself to use it anymore. But what was I going to do? It took me almost a minute to lift that villain three days ago, so what could I do? As I got out of the car, the thought began to eat away at me. It took an almost zen like amount of concentration to lift a full person or fire off a powerful blast, that's near impossible in combat!

I was easy to read, because as I took my seat I heard ask about me, "Hoji? Are you okay?" I looked up and saw Midoriya. This was the first time he spoke to me, guess I stuck out in his mind after yesterday's walk.

"Oh yeah, I'm fine. Just a little spacy," he didn't seem to buy it, but went back to his seat anyway. Aizawa walked in and, for once, we had a normal class. I had a wave of relief over me. But that one dam question began to absolutely tear away at my brain. I barely paid attention until lunch. As I went up and got my food (it was Chicken Yakisoba by the way), the aged old school problem emerged. I had nowhere to sit. I couldn't find Iida, and a little bit of panic set in. Thankfully, I found an empty, seemingly small table next to the window. The food looked surprisingly good as I readied myself to dig in.

"Hey," I jumped a bit. I looked across the table, someone else was sitting here as well. I remembered him from yesterday, after all, that "hairstyle," was bound to stick out.

"Your name's Tokoyami right?" I was rusty on names, especially with this class. I wasn't very sociable on the first day, with being knocked out and all. I was relieved to see that he nodded.

"Surprised you remembered," I mean I didn't but I'll take credit where credit is due. We began eating, but I noticed how, surreal, it was watching him eat. He had to turn his chopsticks sideways to eat. We ate in mostly silence, which I enjoyed. It gotten my mind off you know what and let me just enjoy some food.

After lunch, we had had "Foundation Hero Studies" with that All Might guy. He told us about the "Trial of battle!" (he did yell it after all). He told us to change into our costumes, reminding us that we were from now on, all heroes.

When everyone returned, everyone looked either cool, or like a badass. The sore thumbs were me and Midoriya, big surprised. But while he seemed embarrassed at Midoriya's costume, he seemed curious about mine.

"Ikimasuta, are you sure that's your costume?" Great, now he was being condescending towards me. Not only that, but now everyone was looking at me.

"I didn't know about it, but I kinda liked this," I remarked confidently, with fake confidence mind you, but it was enough to satisfy him. He explained that it was an indoor battle with a premise straight out of a movie, two people were the heroes and two were the villains. The villains had to prevent the heroes from touching a bomb while the heroes had to get the bomb. He drew out a cup with lots in them as we each pulled. I got paired up with Tokoyami, lucky enough.

"Looks like we're working together," I stood beside him, "luck works in weird ways huh?" I got a nod as the big man up front decided the first to go. It was Midoriya and Iida's group! Maybe I could get some ideas by watching them go at it.

The trial started and it seemed the usual, until blonde dude, who Tokoyami told me was Bakugo, came in with a literal bang. As him and Midoriya fought, I had a lightbulb go off in my head. While Bakugo used his explosions, Midoriya appeared to be using some martial art moves. The nail in the coffin for me, however, was when the two had a final exchange of blows that blew open a hole in the building. Midoriya threw and uppercut so strong, the wind from whiffing it broke through to the top floor. Their trial ended and I realized I didn't watch Iida's confrontation.

Okay, so I had my premise. Some good old fashion fisticuffs. However, I had to think of how I could use my Quirk alongside it. While the other groups went, I was thinking about how I would fight.

When it was Tokoyami and I's turn, I had it figured out. We were up against a guy named Todoroki and a girl named Yaoyorozu with Tokoyami and me as the villains. As we made our way to the building, I wanted to ask Tokoyami about his Quirk before we started.

"What do you want to know about it?" He responded with that way too deep voice.

"Anything we could use to our advantage?" I asked, knowing that time was running short.

"Dark Shadow gets stronger the darker it is, is that of any use?" An idea came to me. With his help, we turned the room with the bomb into complete darkness. Right on time too, as the trial begun. It was time to show 1-A what the new Hoji Ikimasuta could do.

I moved down to the middle level, throwing the hood of my tracksuit over my head as I waited. Not long I heard their footsteps as the reached my floor. The girl, who I assumed was Yaoyorozu, made a break for it, trying to leave just me and Todoroki. I jumped in front of her and gave her a blast strong enough to send her back. I moved my left foot behind me as I brought up my fists.

I broke the silence, "Didn't see either of you at the exam. How'd you get in."

Todoroki was the one to respond, "Scholarships," didn't know how you got a scholarship for this school, but it must've meant they were good. I moved in as quick as I could, throwing a punch. He raised a wall of ice, to block it. My fist shattered through the ice and connected, sending him down. I noticed that Yaoyorozu was gone, that was Tokoyami's deal now. I moved back as he stood up before going in for another punch. Using his brain, he froze the ground beneath me, locking my legs in place. I saw that unamused face of his go by as he tried to get to the top level.

I punched the ice locking my feet in place, shattering it. I had been using my density control to make it denser than his ice and smash through it. He turned around as I ran up and threw a roundhouse at him. He caught it and I felt my ankle grow cold. I picked up my other foot and tried to kick him, to some success and made him drop me. He threw a punch as I threw one back. We traded blows after that, throwing punches at each other. I was trying to keep the parts where he was hitting dense enough so they wouldn't feel the pain.

As we punched each other, I felt a kick against my stomach, sending me down the stairs. He moved towards the other set of stairs, we were two floors from the top. I groaned as I got up, my body aching in pain. I conked my head a bit, but I hoped there wasn't a difference. I rushed up the stairs, seeing him halfway across the room. I didn't know how Tokoyami was doing, but I prayed he was holding up.

"You're persistent," he commented as he turned to face me, "And tough." He turned the floor between us into ice and turned to the stairs. I increased the density of my feet as I dashed across the ice, closing in on him. He turned around as I did and uppercut motion with my hand open, holding him up. My veins went purple again as I began charging a discharge.

"Tell me Todoroki, did you ever look up to someone?" I thought I struck a nerve as I continued, "I looked up to my Dad. He was the best guy I knew. And you know what? He didn't have a Quirk."

My eyes began tearing a bit, "He told me that all you needed to be a hero was to be a good person. He was my inspiration to become a hero, he was so down to Earth and kind. And he was taken away from me, while I was so young." I was going into a full-blown speech at this point.

"I couldn't do anything for him. So, I trained and trained. I trained so hard and so long that I thought he'd be proud of me. I applied for this school and did my best in that exam so he'd be proud of me. And now, I'm going to show him that I'll be the great hero he wanted me to be. And the first step," the air around us was becoming like a fierce tornado. My arm was getting cold, as he had been freezing it this whole time. I felt a wave of determination go over me, "The first step towards that goal, is beating the best!" Then, the discharge came out, sending him flying up through the floor as the floor beneath me cracked. I lowered my ice-covered arm and stomped my foot, roaring up at the ceiling.

"The winners are, Ikimasuta and Tokoyami!" It was over, I won. I was sweating, my hands shaking a bit as a stretcher came for Todoroki. I didn't beat him, I annihilated him at the end. We were brought back to the surveillance room as I had some pats on the back from the other classmates. The rest of the day went fast, and before I knew it, it was over.

"Where was it you wanted to go?" Tsukauchi asked me as I got into the car. I grabbed the blade from the backseat.

"I'll tell you the directions," we drove away from the school as I gave him the directions. It wasn't long before we reached where I wanted to go, the city cemetery. I got out and grabbed the sword from the backseat, telling Tsukauchi that "It'll be a moment."

As I walked through the graves, it felt as if those buried were watching me. Near the back I found it, the grave of my father. His name was engraved into marble, along with the words I lived by. The perimeter was a gold ribbon, barely attached to the grave. "Hey dad, I came by to deliver something. It's not mine, and I think you'd like it back," holding the sword by the handle, I jabbed it, along with the sheath into the soft dirt. I took the ribbon and tied it around the hilt, letting what's left flap in the breeze. I made my way back to the car, a few tears going down my cheeks.

"Ready?" Tsukauchi asked me as I got into the car.

"Yeah," I responded as the car's engine came back to life.

By the time I got home, I was ready to hit the hay, but there was something on my mind that made me lay awake. I grabbed my phone and opened a search on 'Todoroki'. My eyes grew heavy as I read through articles, eventually leading to my blissful drift into sleep.

I woke up that morning and did the usual routine. By the time Tsukauchi arrived, I had just gotten done with breakfast. During the ride, Tsukauchi told me of some developments he had made on my mom. Turns out she was broken out by somebody, but who or why are still a mystery. When I got to school, I managed to find Todoroki. I tapped him on the shoulder and pulled him aside.

"What do you want?" He asked in his unemotional tone. Swear to god, now he was getting hard to read.

"It's about yesterday."

"My injures have healed if that's what you were wondering," he began to walk off, but stopped when I placed my hand on his shoulder.

"That's not what I was wondering. I wanted to ask if you were holding back on me yesterday," I felt him tense up after hearing me, "I mean, you went for the most muscle head strategy there was in that situation, and you felt the repercussions of it!" I walked beside him as we went to class.

"I did that in rebellion of my father," he looked down at the floor. Of all the research I did, the personal lives were the one thing I couldn't find info on.

"I understand. Sorry for yelling at ya back there."

"Think nothing of it," was all he said as we walked into class.

Shoto Todoroki was something of an enigma. But for now, he was another obstacle I had to overcome in my quest.

Christ that took me a while. Also, our MC is going to lose, just this victory is gonna be explained a bit in depth in the next chapter. Hope it was worth the wait!