Izuku walks while the crowd roars and cheers his name. He wants to bask in it, truthfully, but somehow, it would feel wrong if he did. So he only partially acknowledges them as he continues on his way to Recovery Girl's temporary office. On the way there, he bumps into a welcomed presence.

Toshinori, not All Might, is there in a black suit that's several sizes too big for his skeletal frame, but he had a smile on his face. "Well done, my boy." He says proudly. "Young Shinso might've not been the most difficult opponent physically, but his quirk can be a bit of doozy to deal with. But you seemed to have had everything under control." He finishes with two thumbs up.

Izuku snorts lightly at the man's actions.

"What's wrong, young man? You don't look particularly happy about that win." Toshinori notices, placing a comforting hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Wanna talk about it?"

Izuku chews on his inner cheek for a split second, then speaks. "I... couldn't smile at all."

"Oh?" All Might inquires. "Why not? Was it something he said? I'll admit, standing here I heard some things, but the crowd mostly blocked it out."

"It's uh, just some things I don't agree with... All Might, do you believe there's such a thing as a villain's quirk?"

"No." All Might says almost instantly. Then he goes quiet. "Every power has the potential to be villainous, even yours and mine. But in the same vein, every power has the potential to be heroic. So no, I do not believe that there's such a thing as a 'villain's quirk'. Just quirks used by villainous people."

"Yeah, I thought so." Izuku says with a sigh. "I know, responding to him was stupid, but he said something I couldn't ignore. He said 'he may as well be born quirkless', and I just - " Then he pauses, trying to find the words.

"You felt angry?" The hero offers and Izuku shakes his head.

"I don't know, really. Angry, annoyed, upset... but probably just disappointed. He has such a cool and powerful quirk, but he'd rather be born quirkless because of people thinking it's villainous?" Izuku frowns. "I don't get it."

"He probably wouldn't get how it feels to be quirkless, Young Midoriya." All Might says sagely. "From his perspective, you aren't. You have an incredibly powerful ability in Denjin Renki, so powerful in fact that you outclass most of the students here. He doesn't know that it took you over five years of constant, hellish training to attain it. To him, you're just some kid who woke up one day with a strong quirk and never understood how it felt to struggle."

Izuku doesn't say anything for a while, too lost in absorbing All Might's words.

"I think I want to talk to him."

"It's probably for the best, Young Midoriya."

Shouto is walking aimlessly, completely adrift in a sea of his own thoughts. Harushi's words echoed in his mind over and over; so much so that he nearly missed a man with a sharp scowl bathed in flames. His mind shifts near immediately and his eyes narrow.

"Out of my way."

Endeavor mirrors his expression and crosses his arms. "You disgrace me, Shouto." His father says coldly. "You could've crushed both the obstacle course and the cavalry battle if you'd use your left side."

Shouto disagrees. He'd been on the business end of Harushi's flames enough to know that even if he had used his father's (his?) flames, it still would've been an immensely difficult task. Instead of saying as such, Shouto tries to ignore him. Endeavor takes the silence as his cue to continue.

"Grow up. Stop rebelling like some petulant child." Shouto nearly stumbles as he walks by then grits his teeth. "Remember, it is your duty to surpass All Might. Understand? You're different from..." Endeavor uncharacteristically hesitates. Memories of blue fire flash in his mind. "...them." He continues, though his tone is different. "You're my greatest creation!"

"Is that all you have to say to me?" Shouto doesn't turn to face him, but he does slow down his stride just a bit. "I'll win this with mom's power alone. I'll never use your power in battle."

Endeavor scoffs. "That may be good enough while you're still a school kid. But you'll reach your limit soon enough."

Izuku knocks on the door to Recovery Girl's temporary nurse's office and is let in, then he sees Shinso sitting upright in his bed, staring listlessly ahead at the TV in the corner of the room.

Izuku clearing his throat gets his attention. "Um, hey." He says awkwardly. "Can we talk?"

Shinso slowly turns to look at him and Izuku winces at how crestfallen he looks. "You're already here, aren't you? What? You've come here to rub your victory in my face?" He says bitterly. "Guess I can't blame you. Anyone would be happy if they defeated a villain."

Izuku crosses his arms and sighs. "No, I'm not here to rub it in. And no, you're not a villain."

Hitoshi swallows then turns away. "But my quirk - "

"Cool." Izuku cuts him off. "It's a cool quirk, and there's probably a lot of things you can do with it, but it's just a quirk at the end of the day. And for someone who claims his quirk is villainous, you sure do like to use it."

"Of course I have to use it," Shinso bites back.

"Did you have to use it when Kirishima wanted to be your friend?" Izuku challenges with a raised brow. Shinso flinches. "Shinso... why do you want to be a hero?"

Shinso doesn't answer immediately, instead turning his attention back to the TV and watching as minor festivities take place between fights. Izuku almost thinks that Shinso doesn't intend to answer at all, until he hears him sigh. "We don't get to choose the things we naturally admire, do we?"

Izuku snorts. "No, we don't. I know the feeling, trust me. Before all of..." he waves his hand and lets some of his ki leak. "...this, I could tell you that I understand you completely. I started as just a quirkless kid with a dream and no actual way to achieve it. No plan, no direction, just a destination." He looks back on those days with mixed emotions. "Who knows where I'd be if I didn't get the guidance I did. Not here, that's for sure."

"No way you're quirkless." Shinso says with wide eyes. "Wh - wh - how?! You produce lightning!"

"Hard to believe, right?" Izuku says with a small smile. Then he walks up and pats Shinso on the shoulder with a ki-infused hand. The taller, sleepy teen perks up immediately and gasps. "Feels nice, right?"

"Ugh, I feel so... well rested. Is this how you feel all the time? Disgusting." Then Shinso snorts. "Do it again."

"No," Izuku says light-heartedly. "You can learn how to do it yourself."

"I can?"

"Yeah, you can. Your quirk would benefit a lot from it. If me, a quirkless kid, can understand how to be strong, so can you. You just need to, um..."

"Stop being an ass?"

"I wasn't going to say that!" Izuku protests, but he doesn't disagree. "Just need to be more... open to working with others."

"So stop being an ass, gotcha." Shinso says dryly. "Guess this means I need to apologize to the class."

"That would be a good idea, yeah. I'd uh... avoid Usagiyama or Yaoyorozu for a bit. Usagiyama especially. She's um... not exactly your biggest fan."

"Ah," Shinso clicks his tongue. "I should've known that Harushi guy's girlfriend would be upset. Or is Yaoyorozu the girlfriend?"

"Your guess is as good as mine, there. Truthfully, I don't think anyone in that little trio knows what's happening."

"With the little side-show over, it's time for the second match of the day! Would the two contestants make their way to the stage?"

"I guess that's my cue." Izuku says. "Gotta get back to the stands if I want to watch the next fight." As Izuku walks towards the door, Shinso calls out to him.

"Hey, Midoriya?"

"Ye - " Izuku goes stock still. A moment later, Shinso releases his quirk.

"Maybe I failed this time, but I'm not giving up." He says with conviction. "I'll show them all that I've earned my place in the hero course and wasn't just some replacement and I'll be a greater hero than all of you."

"I'm sure you'll try." Izuku says with a snort.

"Promise me something. That you at least won't lose in a sorry way out there."

"Right."

Ochako couldn't help but to be a bit worried. The next match started soon and Deku was still nowhere to be found. She hadn't seen him since he walked off the field, and she began to grow anxious. She herself came really close to skipping the match entirely to look for him, but thankfully, she didn't have to.

"Ah, Midoriya. We saved a seat for you." Iida chopped.

"Deku!" She says happily. "Good job out there. I was worried about you because you uh, had this weird look on your face."

"Oh," Izuku says intelligently. "I just needed to talk to Shinso about something."

Ochako falters a bit. "Is everything okay?"

Izuku smiles at her. "Yeah, everything's fine."

"The wait is over! Moving on... there they are!"

Two competitors moved to the stage as pyrotechnics went off in the back.

"The Cream of the Crop! Yet this guy's still somehow as plain as they come! Hanta Sero of the Hero Course!"

Sero winced at the plain comment.

"Versus... the best of the best! Strongest among the strong! Shouto Todoroki, also of the Hero Course!"

Sero yawns and stretches. "Hmm, I don't really feel much like winning..."

"START!"

Then tape shot out of his elbows and ensnared Shouto. "But I don't feel like losing either!"

"He's trying to push him out with a surprise attack! It's probably the best strategy for him! Sero's giving it his all!"

Then things got colder and colder. Todoroki glared at him with such visceral malice and discontent that Sero shuddered involuntarily. "Sorry 'bout this." Then his foot tapped the floor and the arena became ice.

Todoroki's attack dwarfed both the stadium and UA building alike, nearly covering a quarter of the stadium in area.

The crowd, students and heroes alike were stunned.

Midnight herself seemed to have half frozen. "...Sero, can you move?"

"Y - you're kidding right? Ow ow ow..."

"Sero is immobilized!

The crowd, after getting over their shock, pitifully clapped for Sero. "Good try!" They said with varying degrees of enthusiasm.

"Sorry... I overdid it." Todoroki said while walking up to Sero with his left hand ignited. "I was just annoyed."

Lost amid the cheers that arose from the audience, Izuku took notice of Todoroki defrosting himself with his left hand, and something about him seemed really sad. It made him wonder; just what did he and Ryoya talk about?

"Shouto Todoroki moves on to the second round!"

Ryoya took a deep breath. His fight was next, according to the big screen, and he truthfully wasn't ready. The Satsui no Hado had been bothering him a lot since his talk with Todoroki, itching, burning under his skin, begging to be set free. His inner world changed; the abyss he grew so used to looking down on changed. Now he's looking up at the light shining down on him.

"Can our next competitors make their way to the stage?"

Ryoya exhaled a stream of fire and started to move. Hopefully, he could contain himself.

"Now for the next battle! The Man of Steel himself with two first names! Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu of the Hero Course!"

Tetsutetsu played to the crowd's cheer, turning his hands to steel and punching his fists together to create sparks.

"Versus... the walking inferno who's been lighting up the competition all day! Ryoya Harushi of General Education!"

Ryoya kept a completely blank and controlled expression as he stood across from Tetsutetsu, even as the words of the crowd hit his ear.

"That kid's in Gen Ed? His quirk is stupid strong."

"What the hell is UA thinking? Putting someone like him in Gen Ed."

"Well, they can only admit so many, that's just how it is."

At this point, Ryoya began to tune them out. Then he glanced at his opponent. The hero hopeful standing across from him slammed his fists together again with a sparking clang, his mouth stretching into a shark-toothed grin, his pinprick pupils met Ryoya's own steady, vaguely disinterested gaze, blazing with determination.

Unfortunately for Tetsutetsu, Ryoya wouldn't let that admirable determination bear fruit...

"START!"

Tetsutetsu immediately rushed Ryoya's position as he knew the boy would. Everything about his posture, speech and everything he knew about him just screamed straightforward and earnest.

Ryoya, who was of course ready to counter the sudden charge, danced to the side of the full-bodied tackle employed by his opponent and slammed a fire coated shin up and into the boy's exposed torso. The force of the sudden blow seemed to shake Tetsu to his very core, as well as providing just enough lift to lead into Ryoya's follow up. With a heavily practiced motion, Ryoya pivoted on his grounded leg and snapped out a devastating roundhouse kick, coated in blue flames this time, that slammed into his opponent's suspended body.

The crowd roared at the clash as Tetsutetsu was sent sliding back, skidding to a halt several meters away. Ryoya's eyes narrowed slightly. Not only was that far less distance than he expected given that he put everything he had behind that kick, but the hero hopeful had already planted his feet to the area floor and patted his midsection to put out the small blue fire slowly dancing on his uniform.

'He's tougher than I thought.' Ryoya thinks annoyingly, 'And it really hurt my leg to kick him.'

His irritation feeds into the Satsui. "What an annoying ability…"

Tetsutetsu had been ready and raring to take the cocky, unmanly 1-C asshole down a couple pegs when he made his initial charge. He's had this coming for years, and he had been dying to get his hands on him…

That had been his first mistake.

The kick, - or at least, Tetsutetsu thought it was a kick, his head was still reeling - seemingly came out of nowhere and knocked the wind out of his lungs.

Tetsutetsu had never been hit that hard before in his life… Not even Kendo, who he knew to possess ki just like Harushi did, and who had no qualms going all out in their frequent spars had ever sent his head spinning in a single hit before.

He'd, of course, heard lots of rumors of Harushi's strength for years through the lens of Kendo, Tokage and Kodai respectively, but since the guy apparently did something when villains attacked that got him removed from the Hero Course, Tetsutetsu had written them off as just that: rumors. Hype built up by friends who simply liked the guy.

The way Kendo and Tokage would seemingly bring him (And Midoriya and Yaoyorozu) up whenever they had a spar pissed him off to no end… but he was beginning to consider that maybe, just maybe, the hype wasn't all just for show.

Ryōya interrupts his thoughts by igniting an intimidating amount of fire around his person. "Let's see how much punishment you can take."

Following his words, Ryoya activated Heat Rush and began to stalk towards him. But something was... off...

The approach was predatory... lithesome. Like a wild feline that was certain that its prey was trapped and beyond escape.

Tetsutetsu's heart pounded against his chest, his limbs shaking from the unfamiliar sensation. While his quirk largely prevented several bodily functions while active, it certainly felt like a bead of sweat ran down his brow. He gulped audibly, almost like his body subconsciously knew the danger it was in, and tried desperately to avoid the situation.

Then he looked down at his hands, and then his feet to try to ground himself in ways that Kendo taught him. He needed something to latch onto to power through the near crippling fear he felt right now. His own quirk, as metallic as it was, never failed to protect him before, so he'd put trust in it to do it again.

Then he looked up and Ryoya wasn't there.

'Wh - '

The thought was immediately cut off when a burning fist cracked him in the side of the jaw, snapping his head to the side and nearly causing him to topple over, more out of surprise than pain. He recovered quickly, throwing a jab at the golden-eyed teen that was dodged with a swift duck of the head. That was expected, with how absurdly fast Harushi seemed to be, dodging a punch would be nothing. But Tetsutetsu wouldn't let something like that stop him, damn it!

He threw another jab, followed by a right hook, each being blocked and avoided as easily as the first. Tetsutetsu suddenly felt his entire world shift on its axis a full ninety degrees, as his legs were swept by a move that simply looked too intricate for his bulky frame to copy.

He slammed into the concrete floor of the arena floor, eyes shooting wide open at the sight of a burning, bright blue heel descending towards his downed form. He managed to raise his arms in a cross block, grunting and wincing in pain as the heat affected him far more than he thought it should've.

"WOW! Harushi shows no mercy to his opponent, hammering blow after blow into Tetsutetsu's formidable defense!"

"Harushi doesn't seem to be holding back at all, it seems he's acknowledged his opponents."

Ryoya eyebrow twitches. Did they really assume he was going all out? He would admit, Tetsutetsu certainly wasn't an opponent to be taken lightly as his steel lived up to its name. With each hit, Ryoya could feel the pain and discomfort of constantly attacking solid steel start to set in, and understood that he'd need to end this quickly, lest he lose the war of attrition.

Izuku could sense the change in Ryoya's demeanor from here. The moment Aizawa had spoken, Ryoya's ki shifted in such a way that Izuku almost wanted Midnight to call off the match. What started off as just his usual self, quickly shifted to a more... violent intent. Dangerous. He clearly wasn't the only one to notice, as Yaoyorozu even physically shivered when Heat Rush turned blue and Ryoya's flames bathed the stadium in a brilliant display.

Then Ryoya went on the offensive, hitting Tetsutetsu with punches and kicks so hard that the sound could be equated to that of a gong. Even with Heat Rush active and blazing, it still takes an uncomfortable amount of hits to put the 1-B student down, so many hits in fact, that Ryoya's fists start to bleed from the constant punishment. He doesn't seem to notice, nor care and it makes a lot of people queasy and uneasy.

Then, Tetsutetsu gets an opening, when Ryoya kicks him on his guard. He grabs his ankle, clearly hoping to exploit an opening that such an attack would leave with a counterattack.

But, his eyes widening tells Izuku everything he needs to know.

Ryoya opens his mouth and breathes fire directly into Tetsutetsu's upper body and face, completely incinerating the upper half of his uniform in the process. Tetsutetsu is forced to let go, and falls backward, and Ryoya is upon him in an instant, kicking him hard in the midsection and forcing him on his stomach. Then he swiftly grabs his right arm and gives it a light twist while holding it at a painfully uncomfortable angle.

"This fight is over." Ryoya says with narrowed eyes. "Give up."

Midnight watches closely and raises her whip. "Tetsutetsu, do you concede?"

Honestly, it would've been the smartest choice. But no one ever accused Tetsutetsu of being a genius.

"Like hell!"

"Give up or I'll break it."

"Never! Giving up is unmanly!"

"As you wish."

The sound is something that will haunt the minds of people for days to come. It's not the sound of bones breaking, or a shoulder being popped, but the loud sound of metal snapping. It's suddenly so real that even Midnight looks very comfortable. Tetsutetsu screams.

"Steel has a melting point of 1540°C and my flames can reach 1650°C..." Ryoya says ominously. "I wonder what'll happen if you melt." As if to emphasize his threat, Heat Rush turns off, but the blue fire lazily dances down his arm, from shoulder to forearm in some kind of macabre countdown.

Then Midnight snaps her whip. "Tetsutetsu is unable to continue! Ryoya Harushi wins!"

Ryoya turns his head to face her with a raised brow, and he notes her expression. It's odd and he can't really place it, but she's not really upset. She looks more... cautious. Without another word, Ryoya puts out his flames and walks away. No celebration, no smile, nothing but a completely unreadable stare. It's unnerving.

The president of the HPSC, an older middle-aged woman with a stoical and steely expression, and slicked back ash blonde hair, watches the Sports Festival as it happens. "Mera." She calls. "Take note of that boy. He is presenting himself as an issue. Keep his file open in case he becomes an... issue that needs to be dealt with."

Mera wordlessly nods, and the president goes back to watching the screen as that steel child is taken off the field by medical bots.

A/N: And chapter done! The fall into the Satsui continues... hopefully someone can save him.

Also, I've started another fic on AO3, called MIGHT+ U. It's my attempt at an actual, honest Quirkless Izuku fic without the crossover elements and OC so I'd appreciate it if you gave it a read!

If you want to talk more about either fic, you can find me /pkmgFzUkBu

Monster King: Thanks.

Marbled Gold: It was, because Ryoya can understand Todoroki in ways he doesn't expect. It's going to be an equally hard hitting conversation when Ryo talks to Endeavor. :

NinjaFang1331: Yeah, such is the Kyosui, Shinso's power just set him up for failure.

Ryuujin96: Wow, thanks a lot. That means a lot that I've managed to get such high regard.

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro: Exactly. The two are similar in ways that they don't realize, so it's great that they finally just could talk and understand each other. The friendship will be great. Also, Ochako vs Bakugo should be next chapter!

Solbandgus: What's also keeping it fair is that he actually can't experience any strong emotions in it or it'll just stop working. Which is a fun obstacle for Izuku since canonically, he's very emotional.