Unbreakable

by himiko senpai

Izuku grew up thinking he was Quirkless, and gaining One For All should've been his first time acquiring a Quirk. It wasn't. With strange abilities popping up left and right, it forced him to realize that someone like him... he wasn't born with the Quirks he possessed—he was created with them. Eventual OP!Izuku, MultiQuirk!Izuku.

10. Closing Stage

Izuku Midoriya stood quietly in a barren field, deep in his subconscious.

"If you want the voices to disappear, you just have to make the person disappear."

He stared at the six figures before him. They varied in age and in gender, but they all shared one trait: they were indisputably scared, terrified of the boy in front of them.

A few of them got down on their knees and bowed their heads, pleading for mercy. Two stood and got ready for a fight. A little girl, the youngest among the group of people, just stared at him with wide, fearful eyes.

"The way to make a person disappear is simple."

Izuku glared back at the six people. They were the reason that he underperformed in the "Arena." They were the reason why he had to go so many days without even a meal. Their constant blabbering tore his head apart, and they—

They deserved no mercy.

"You just have to kill them."

The little girl stared up at him. She was young, younger than even Izuku. She was probably four or five.

He faltered for a moment, but then, Izuku steeled his heart. He had to do this.

They were already dead. Remnants of a person trapped within their Quirk factor. Ghosts without a name.

The faceless man's words echoed in his brain. "Visualize being better than everyone else. That is the essence of being a king."

Izuku wasn't sure if it would have worked on the other children that he faced in the "Arena," but against these nobody ghosts, these humans who weren't even alive anymore… he could visualize being better than them. After all, he was the one that was alive, and they were the ones who were dead.

They were already dead. Izuku reminded himself of that fact.

An oppressive aura surrounded Izuku and the six vestiges. They couldn't even move under the effects of Izuku's Quirk, King's Will. Izuku mentally prepared himself for what he was about to do. He had to do it. If he didn't, he'd get no peace for the rest of his life. The vestiges might take over his body. And, most importantly, he'd get no food if he kept on losing in the "Arena" due to these annoyances taking up the vast majority of his brain's computing space and causing his body to break down.

But still, a timid part of Izuku questioned if this was truly the best method. Surely, they could figure out a way to coexist?

No, the rest of Izuku argued. The other children in the facility have already been using their Quirks for a long time by now. Either they never had the problem, or they have already gone and killed off the vestiges trapped within them.

Before he could lose his nerve, Izuku marched up to one of the standing figures. She was an elderly woman who, if he'd remembered correctly, constantly felt bad for him, frequently calling him poor boy or something similar.

He couldn't bring himself to end her. Not yet.

Instead, he turned to the teenaged boy and grown man of the group. They were both the loudest and most vocal of the group, often arguing over who would get to take over Izuku's body. He had no remorse… killing them.

He forced the man down to his knees, being careful to never relax King's Will, and brought his hands up to the grown man's neck. He said nothing—or, rather, couldn't say anything—just staring up at Izuku with hatred in his eyes.

His hands weren't big enough to completely wrap around the man's neck. But even then, he squeezed, watching the man's eyes start bulging as he constricted his air pipe. Izuku counted the seconds in his head, holding long past the man went slack, finally dropping him and watching as the body dissipated into a wisp of black smoke.

He continued onto the teenaged boy, strangling him long past the time it would have taken to asphyxiate him. Then, he went on to the boy that seemed roughly his age. Next, the woman in her mid-thirties. All three of them disappeared in a puff of black smoke.

Izuku turned towards the little girl and the elderly woman.

The little girl was crying.

They were already dead.

The little girl was next, dispersing as a small cloud of black smoke.

Izuku held his hands in the air, still feeling the delicate throat under his finger tips. Oh God, what have I—

Izuku shook his head, growing more and more panicked. By now, Izuku had tears in his own eyes, and his control over King's Will slipped, allowing the last person, the elderly lady, free from her position.

But she didn't attack him, didn't try to run away. Instead, she just went up to Izuku and hugged him.

Surprised by the sudden physical affection, something he had not felt in God knows how long, Izuku began to outright sob.

"There, there, poor boy," the lady soothed, rubbing his head. "It's alright. You did what you had to do. I didn't have long to live anyways, so I won't begrudge you for it."

Izuku sniffled, still crying.

"You remind me of my grandkid," the elderly woman said, stroking a lock of Izuku's hair. "I would gladly give my life so that he could live. Since I haven't had that opportunity in my lifetime, I guess I'll just have to give up my life for yours."

She lightly pushed Izuku away from her. "Just… promise me this one thing. Please grow up and be happy. That's the only way our sacrifices will be worth it."

Izuku nodded numbly, vision still obscured by tears.

"Well," she said, "don't keep an old lady waiting. Do what you must." She even stretched her neck out for him.

"Wait," Izuku stopped her. "What's your name? I want to remember—"

The old woman laughed. "I've forgotten." Of course she didn't, but she felt like telling the boy her name would just burden his mind further. He had no need remembering dead people at such a young age.

Izuku stared at her, slowly putting his hands around her neck.

"I didn't want to do any of this," he told her.

"I know," she said serenely, closing her eyes.

"But you had to, right?"

Snap.

.:.

The faceless man was in the middle of a briefing with his top scientists when, all of a sudden, all hell broke loose in one of the subject's rooms.

Quickly rushing to the room in question, he paused momentarily to view the damage: two aides, soaked by water, were convulsing as electric shocks traveled up and down their bodies.

Fascinating. Truly, utterly, fascinating. Had he finally managed to utilize his Quirks?

He peeked into the room. There, the test subject known as Izuku Midoriya was screaming and crying, Quirks going haywire. Water sprayed wildly from his hands, carving bloody openings in his palms, as electric currents traveled along the water. He didn't feel anything, but he was sure that Izuku's King's Will must've been in full effect as well.

"Izuku!" the faceless man called, stepping into the room proper. He was hit by the water, but the electrical current did nothing to his body thanks to the myriad of defensive Quirks he had. "IZUKU!"

The boy didn't calm down. Eyes wide and streaming with tears, he continued rampaging on the bed. Even the bruises that he'd sustained during the fight in the "Arena" earlier today looked like they'd been healed.

Truly fascinating.

The faceless man reached the bed and slapped Izuku across the face with just enough force to bring him back to reality. The water and electrical current faded away, leaving a soaked boy lying on the bed.

"What's wrong, Izuku?" the faceless man asked, placing a hand on the boy's shoulders. "What happened?"

For a while, Izuku remained silent.

Then: "I did what you said I should do. I… killed them."

The faceless man sat there for a second before he finally understood what Izuku was getting at. Their conversation earlier that day about the vestiges of people trapped in their Quirk factor… so he was really able to go and do it, huh?

The good news brought a twisted grin to the man.

"Fantastic, Izuku!" he praised the boy. "You're the only one out of the group so far!"

It wasn't a lie. The rest of the members of their experimental group could utilize their Quirks, but they couldn't use the Quirks given to them to their fullest potential. To be able to fully utilize a Quirk required doing one of two things: getting permission from their owner or getting rid of them. Izuku had been the first and only one to achieve that requirement.

"Ever since you said that you could hear the voices, I thought…" the faceless man laughed. "You might just be the most compatible one. Tell me, how did you manage to kill them?"

Izuku hiccuped and flinched when he said the word kill. But Izuku did not dare to leave his question unanswered. "I-I used King's Will to… make them unable to move, and then I just… choked them."

"Well, it's fortunate you were up against vestiges. King's Will isn't that effective against real humans, you know," the man chuckled. "Unless you get strong enough, that is."

Izuku still looked down. The faceless man had to rectify that.

"Sometimes, there are things that need to be done. Sometimes, you must kill. To rid this world of filth and trash, is it not just better to eliminate them for the betterment of human society?"

"Y-Yeah." A bit of hope returned to Izuku's eyes.

"The ones that you 'killed' today," the man continued, throwing up air quotes around the word killed, "they weren't even real humans. Like I said, they were the vestiges of a person trapped inside their Quirk factor. You shouldn't even lose sleep over that."

Izuku nodded slowly.

The faceless man could tell that this moment was pivotal. Whether he grew up to become a good soldier or an outstanding one hinged on how he chose his words at the moment. "Listen, Izuku. I am putting you through all of this to make you strong. Strong enough to create a world where senseless killings don't have to happen."

He didn't further elaborate on his plans, leaving it to another time to be discussed. He just had to make sure that Izuku understood what he was trying to say.

Izuku blinked. "Make a world where we don't need to kill…"

"But, first, we must get rid of the bad weeds that threaten to dirty the beautiful garden that is our society." Taking one look at Izuku's confused gaze, the faceless man knew that his metaphor had missed its mark. "What I am saying is that, in order to reach that goal, we need to get our hands dirty. We need to kill the people that would get in the way of our goal. What I am saying is essentially…"

All For One paused.

"The ends justify the means."

Izuku stayed silent for a moment before saying, "I think I get it. To achieve the state of it not being necessary to kill, we must first get rid of those that threaten that goal by killing."

"Good," the faceless man said. "You'll have to come up with your own justification, though. Something that you believe in. People have different rationales and justifications that allow them to kill. You need to find your own."

The sudden progress that Izuku made was very promising. Aside from being the first test subject that showed awareness of the vestiges and killing them, Izuku demonstrated understanding of what the faceless man was getting at. He didn't want mindless supersoldies. He wanted high-functioning supersoldiers that could think for themselves so he didn't have to micromanage them—high-functioning supersoldiers that were loyal to him, of course.

Find my own justification…

Izuku thought long and hard, even after the faceless man left him, but he wasn't able to come up with one.

---

Unbreakable

Closing Stage

---

Around the time that the first round of the U.A. Sports Festival's tournament ended, a certain meme began gaining traction across message boards and forums.

It was the Unlucky Kaminari meme, an image snapped right when Denki Kaminari was flailing in a net with Mei Hatsume smiling triumphantly in the foreground. The first post had read: When the teacher gives your essay the A and the essay you copied off of a B, and that had sparked a myriad of similar posts.

To contrast that, the Lucky Denki meme surfaced, a photo snapped when Denki gazed at Mei in confusion after she forfeited the match. The first person to post that had said: When you fuck up but still get rewarded for it.

Either way, Denki Kaminari was made into a meme template, a fact that he would later surprisingly show much pride in.

.:.

Hitoshi Shinso knew he was screwed.

The second that Izuku heard his voice and allowed Shinso to speak, he'd thought that that would seal the deal. As he commanded Izuku to turn around and leave the boundaries, the other boy just blinked at him and took a step… towards him.

Hitoshi met Izuku's gaze and felt the pressure. He didn't know how to explain it; it just felt like the air itself was pushing down against him, rooting him in place. He felt like kneeling and begging for mercy, but his pride wouldn't allow such an outcome. He grit his teeth and readied a combat stance.

Hitoshi didn't have much—or any, for that matter—training in martial arts, but he was determined to go down with a fight. How much of a fight he could put up against someone who'd been rumored to decimate a climbing wall with one punch, he didn't know, but he had to at least put up a fight.

His dreams, his aspirations… he couldn't give up here. Hitoshi wanted to be a hero.

Hitoshi prepared and—

All of a sudden Izuku was in his face, his fist swinging in a straight right hook towards his cheek. Hitoshi didn't expect the sudden movement, so he was completely defenseless as Izuku's fist smashed into his cheek. The blow alone felt disproportionately powerful for someone of Izuku's rather diminutive stature, as if it had the force of ten men behind it.

(Of course, Izuku had only put ten percent into the punch so he didn't seriously hurt Shinso, but there was no way for the other boy to know that.)

Hitoshi was instantly floored, the world spinning around him as he desperately tried to get up. But Izuku was faster, grabbing him and hoisting him up with his two arms with that inexplicable strength of his. In less than a second, they were at the boundary, and Izuku threw him unceremoniously to the ground, out-of-bounds.

Izuku Midoriya had, once again, ended a match in less than thirty seconds.

.:.

As he was walking back to waiting room four, Izuku pondered the memory that he had seen when he'd been temporarily brainwashed by Hitoshi Shinso.

"You… are my greatest creation."

The words were familiar. They were sometimes the only thing that Izuku remembered from a dream when he woke up, but most importantly, they were also present in the whirlwind of… memories? Thoughts? He didn't know how to describe it, but they were also present in the… things that a certain Tomura Shigaraki elicited from him.

"Visualize opposites."

"Visualize reconstructing, not healing."

"Visualize — firing from your hands but with —."

"Visualize sinking into the —."

"Visualize —— than everyone else."

"Visualize—"

A cold, dark room.

A warm, comforting hand.

And the words: "You… are my greatest creation."

Izuku shivered, raw terror crawling down his throat for a brief moment before he shook it off. Just… who had said that to him? Should he ask Toshinori about it?

It felt like a word right on the tip of his tongue… something important that Izuku had unfortunately forgotten. Something precious to him, something integral to him… it's just that Izuku couldn't remember. And that was frustrating, to say the least.

The suspicions of the past returned to him: that he had a whole set of Quirks completely separate from One For All's Quirks. But that… that shouldn't be possible! He didn't even know of a mechanism upon which he could receive a whole other set of Quirks. Except…

What Toshinori had told him. The villain ruling Japan from the shadows. He gave his brother a Quirk. But that was impossible—One For All had multiple generations, right? That villain should be dead. He remembered Toshinori had not explicitly stated that he was dead, but he didn't say that he was alive, either. He just said that Tomura was probably from the same organization, and that's how he knew about the One For All Quirks.

Toshinori insisted that his Quirks were from One For All. Chrono Force and the others like Blackwhip were all One For All-related Quirks. That's what Izuku decided to believe in, despite his instincts screaming at him otherwise.

He wanted to—decided to believe in All Might, in Toshinori, his mentor.

.:.

By the time Izuku returned to Momo, Shoto and Eijiro's match was already over.

"Did he get iced?" Izuku asked Momo.

The girl nodded. "Instant KO."

Izuku whistled, settling into his seat. Momo furtively glanced at him, sneaking in some peaks at the way his eyes seemed to sparkle and at his Adam's apple bobbing up and down as he swallowed. Face turning a light red, she looked away before Izuku could sense anything was off. Instead, she covered for her own embarrassment with words.

"Hey, Izuku?" Momo said, not daring to look at him. "I have a question."

"Go ahead, ask it."

Momo held down the real questions that she wanted to ask and said, "The someone… who told you that you could be a hero. What type of person was he?"

She stole a glance at Izuku, seeing a soft smile grace his features. "He's larger than life, a true hero. I still can't believe it, sometimes… that he'd decided on me, of all people, to give his Quirk to."

He was talking about All Might. Momo was sure of it.

"If you don't mind me asking," Momo ventured, touching the fingertips of her hands together, "what exactly is your Quirk? You've been pretty vague about it."

Izuku paused, briefly pondering how he should answer the question. "It's a stockpile of power that grows as it is passed on, I think. The Quirks of its previous users are also stored as like… a subset of Quirks. There's the overall Quirk, and then offshoots of unique Quirks. For example, this—"

Here, Izuku allowed a strand of darkness to appear from his hand. "—is Blackwhip, one of the previous user's Quirks. It's actually pretty mind boggling… I don't know of any other Quirk that can be passed on like this one."

Momo, fascinated by the black strand, poked it with her finger. It felt remarkably sturdy, and it slowly coiled around her hand.

"Another is Electromagneta and Chrono Force," Izuku continued. "There's more, but accessing and using them…" His expression darkened, face morphing into a frown. "It proves to be difficult. Sometimes, I'm not even sure they're all… no, never mind."

While they were talking, the match between Katsuki and Itsuka of Class 1-B had started.

Izuku's attention turned towards the fight, watching his childhood friend(?) square down against Itsuka's giant fists. As the two fought, Katsuki's fighting style became more clear to him. Katsuki's usage of martial arts… seemed to Izuku like it was some variation of Muay Thai. It made sense if it was: the focus on elbow blows could really be amplified by Katsuki blasting with his Quirk whilst delivering the blow.

"Still," Momo suddenly said, "using multiple Quirks… I thought that something like that was impossible. But the way you explain it makes sense."

"There's billions of people in the world," Izuku replied. "With such high variance and so many people, something like common sense can't really be applied anymore to Quirks. The known types of Quirks, emitter types, transformation types, mutant types, accumulation types… soon, they won't be enough to describe all the new kinds of Quirks popping up."

Momo nodded. Izuku was watching as Katsuki broke out of Itsuka's humongous grasp by blasting her palms with his own Quirk, but Momo was too busy watching Izuku to be paying any attention to the fight.

Momo was always subconsciously aware of this, but now, she just took a moment to appreciate how handsome Izuku was. Was handsome the right word? Excessively cute might've been a better description.

As she debated what word would be best to describe Izuku, she completely missed the ending to Katsuki and Itsuka's match. Apparently, according to Izuku, Katsuki had caught Itsuka off-guard with a powerful explosion, completely blasting the girl out-of-bounds. While Izuku excitedly recounted the end of the match for her, Momo couldn't help but find him utterly adorable.

Maybe that was the right word to use.

.:.

Nejire Hado sat with Mirio Togata and a miserable-looking Tamaki Amajiki out in the third year section of the stadium.

"This is no fun," Nejire declared, looking pointedly at Mirio. "I feel like all of the first years are holding back!"

"Now, now," Mirio said amicably, "conserving energy is also a viable strategy, you know."

"Bo-ring~" Nejire sang.

"Or… maybe…" came the uncertain voice of Tamaki, "there's no reason to go all out. There's some matches where going all out would've been overkill. That brain-washing kid versus Izuku Midoriya, for example."

Nejire deflated. "I just wanna see what Izuku's hidingggggggggg."

The Big Three watched as Denki Kaminari and Ochaco Uraraka fought on the grounds below. To be honest, the boy looked completely spent after his first match with Mei Hatsume, the support course student, so he could only offer half-hearted shocks whenever Ochaco got too close. For Ochaco, it was a waiting game—how many times could Denki zap before he fried himself?

"How can you be so sure that he's hiding something?" Tamaki asked, already knowing that he was going to regret doing so.

"I can smell it," Nejire said seriously.

Tamaki gave Nejire an incredulous look and glanced at Mirio, The other boy simply gave him a look that said: don't question it.

It seemed that Denki finally reached his breaking point. The boy literally took a seat in the middle of the match and smiled at Ochako, drawing circles with his fingers. She took mercy on him and quickly negated gravity's effect on him, moving him until he was out-of-bounds and carefully dropping him.

"That was anticlimactic," Mirio noted.

The Big Three all nodded in unison.

.:.

After another break was announced before the semi finals began, Izuku got up from his seat and looked at Momo.

"I'm gonna go stretch my legs a little bit," Izuku told her, knocking her out of what seemed to be deep thoughts. "Wanna come with me?"

Momo flinched, looking at Izuku owlishly, a faint blush on her cheeks. "Oh! Yes, of course. I am a bit thirsty."

"We can go to the soda stand," Izuku offered. "I remember seeing it somewhere on the middle levels of the stadium, near the rooms that the pro heroes are all at. Maybe we can see someone cool!"

Momo nodded enthusiastically. "I heard that pretty much all of the top ten heroes are here." Her eyes sparkled with excitement. "Maybe we can see her!"

Izuku didn't have to ask who "her" referred to. It was probably Mirko.

The two exited waiting room four and made their way towards where Izuku remembered the soda stand was. As they climbed the steps towards the middle levels, Momo remained silent. She looked like she was deep in thought, so Izuku didn't attempt a conversation. She was probably mentally preparing for what she'd do if she ran into Mirko.

They arrived at the soda stand and got in line. Disappointingly, they ran into zero heroes along the way—not even a local hero. The only things that they got were looks of recognition and hushed whispers. That didn't stop Momo, though. She was still looking around with a pure, hopeful look on her face.

While they were just about to reach the front of the line, he noticed Momo stiffening. "Go," he said, not even checking to see why she had stiffened. It was pretty obvious that she had spotted Mirko. "I'll pay for your drink, just tell me what you want."

Momo looked at him like he was a saint and replied, "Water. Thank you so much." She then took off like a madwoman somewhere towards the left side of the stadium, disappearing behind a throng of people. Izuku dimly wondered how she had even spotted the pro hero, but then, he remembered somewhat self-consciously that she was taller than him and could probably see things that he couldn't.

He got to the front of the line and ordered a sports drink for himself and a water for Momo. After swiping his school ID card for payment, he grabbed the two drinks and set about looking for Momo, heading off in the same direction the brunette had disappeared to.

As he was walking and looking for Momo, he came across an interesting sight: Shoto and Endeavor, hidden away in an offshoot corridor, having a hushed… argument? Discussion? Shoto's normally stoic face was twisted with agitation, his hands balled into fists. As he got closer, he caught the tail end of their argument.

"—only used your fire because it was Midoriya," Shoto hissed.

"You should use it more often—you could've stomped the first event easier that way. Stop acting like a child, Shoto," Endeavor responded, sounding exasperated. "I gave you the power for a reason. You think that you hit the genetic superpower lottery jackpot thanks to mere chance? I made you."

Yikes. Izuku could see why Shoto described Endeavor as "shitty father." That was a pretty damn shitty thing to say to a kid, doubly more so to your son. Still, he felt a strange kinship with Shoto after Endeavor's comment. Izuku couldn't describe why, but he just did. Something about being created…

Izuku, not bold enough to directly barge into their conversation, did what he felt was the next best thing. He purposefully dropped the sports drink he was holding and yelled "SHOOT!" at the top of his lungs, getting the father-son duo's attention. It was a bit forced, but it worked. As he bent down to pick up his dropped drink, he saw Endeavor shake his head and mutter something to Shoto before taking his leave.

He popped back up and saw Shoto looking pensively at him. "O-Oh, Todoroki!" He forced a laugh. "Didn't see you there. What's up?"

Shoto frowned before sighing. "Stop pretending, Midoriya. I appreciate the effort and your intrusion."

"That obvious, huh," Izuku replied with an embarrassed smile.

"You stared at us for a solid thirty seconds before pretending to drop your drink," Shoto explained. "It was kind of obvious, yeah."

Izuku didn't know how to respond to Shoto's words, but before an awkward silence could begin to develop, Shoto spoke. "Did you hear?"

"Only the end," Izuku admitted. "Sorry."

"Don't be. He cornered me and demanded that I use my fire more without even checking his surroundings. That's the type of idiot he is," Shoto said scathingly, venom in his tone. It struck Izuku that this was one of the few moments he'd ever seen Shoto emotional.

"If you don't mind me asking," Izuku suddenly said, "why don't you use your fire side more often? I remember, way back during like the first few days of school, you said you wouldn't hesitate to use your left side if necessary. But that's only if necessary, right? Why is that?"

Shoto stared at Izuku, as if he was attempting to get a read on the verdanette. Sighing, he relented, "Because every time I use the fire, I'm reminded of the fact that I'm using my shitty father's Quirk. The ice, I got from Mom, and she's…"

He trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence.

Izuku's voice suddenly reached Shoto's ears. "I thought I told you this before, Todoroki."

"Told me what?"

Izuku looked Shoto in the eye.

"Your fire is your own Quirk," Izuku stated. "It's Half-Cold Half-Hot, right? Not Hellflame, or whatever Endeavor's Quirk is called—it's Half-Cold Half-Hot, is it not?"

Shoto clicked his tongue. "Yes, but—"

"Then it is your own Quirk," Izuku stressed. "It shouldn't matter where it came from. Power is power—there's no inherently evil or good side to it. What matters is what you do with it."

At the moment, Izuku had no idea how applicable those words were to his own situation.

Izuku continued, "So, Todoroki, you really shouldn't see it as using your father's Quirk. You should view it as using your own."

The heterochromatic boy stared at Izuku. Just like at the end of the cavalry battle where Izuku had said pretty much the same thing to him, he was rendered speechless, unable to say anything.

"Well, I've said my piece." Izuku turned and looked back at Shoto, still grasping the two drinks in his hands. "Wanna head back? I've been looking for—"

As he began to move, he was stopped all of a sudden.

"Why… do this?" Shoto asked, grabbing Izuku's arm. "Why are you saying all of these things?"

"Do you want an honest answer or a BS one?"

"Honest."

Izuku grinned. "Because I want to face you at your strongest, Todoroki. You told me that you won't hesitate to use your fire, that you won't be holding back. I just wanted to erase any of the mental blocks that you had since it seemed like it was bothering you during the cavalry battle."

Shoto let loose an amazed laugh. "For a reason like that…?"

"Yes," Izuku said resolutely. "Like I said before: I can take it. So please, don't hesitate to use your own Quirk to its fullest potential."

The taller boy didn't have an answer for him save for a minute nod.

"Good," Izuku said. Of course a quick conversation like this wasn't going to completely resolve the issue of Shoto seeing his Quirk as his own and not his father's, but hopefully, it was baby steps in the right direction. "Now, I've been looking for Momo. Would you help me search for her?"

It took a few moments before Shoto responded. "… sure."

They later found Momo staring forlornly at a door. When asked about what she was doing, she told Izuku her sad tale: she'd arrived on the scene only to catch a glimpse of Mirko entering the room via the accursed door. Momo had lingered in the area in hopes that she'd come back out, but no one else entered or left save for a rather angry-looking Endeavor who entered the room and slammed the door shut behind him.

Izuku and Shoto shared a look when she got to that part of her story.

The action caused Momo to realize that it wasn't just Izuku that she was talking to, and for a moment she looked extremely mortified, worried that Shoto would find out about her oh-so-terrible hero obsession. That expression was quickly killed and replaced with a neutral one. However, she did send Izuku a mute plea for aid with her eyes.

"I asked Momo to… get Mirko's signature for me," Izuku explained, watching relief flood across Momo's face as he covered for her with a lie. He handed her water to her. "It's alright that you didn't get it, though."

"Y-Yeah, I'm so sorry, Izuku!" Momo said, but her eyes were screaming a different message: thank you.

Meanwhile, unbeknownst to the two, Shoto was thinking something very different than whether or not Momo liked heroes; that thought didn't even cross his mind. What Shoto thought was:

Since when did they start calling each other by their first names?

Eventually, when they reached waiting room four, Shoto parted ways with the two. As he watched the two of them interact—Izuku laughing, staring ahead, and Momo looking enraptured by Izuku's expression—he got what he felt was the gist of the situation. It was pretty obvious from watching Momo closely while they were all walking together: the girl simply could not take her eyes off of the green-haired boy.

Shoto wasn't interested in romance or anything of the sort personally, but watching the two… he couldn't help but root for Momo.

.:.

It was time for the semi finals.

Having been called to the field by Midnight, Izuku walked out on the red side followed shortly by Shoto, who came from the blue side. The two met eyes, and Izuku wondered for a moment if this was the same Shoto who'd been so (comparatively) expressive during his conversation with Endeavor. The Shoto before him was like an ice wall, facial features stone cold.

Izuku briefly went over his battle strategy this round: get in Shoto's personal space and defeat him in close quarters combat. The Todoroki had the advantage in distance, so Izuku would just have to erase that advantage by getting close.

"Ready?" Midnight started. "BEGIN!"

Izuku knew what was coming before it even happened. Channeling fifty percent of One For All, held back by Chrono Force, into his right arm, Izuku was prepared for the massive glacier that materialized from seemingly nowhere. As it raced towards him, Izuku darted forth and met the ice at the center of the stage, blasting it to smithereens with a single blow. The crowd roared in awe at finally seeing someone not get instantly eliminated by the ice.

This enabled him to get a free look at Shoto, who had his left side inflamed to keep himself from getting frostbite. Face ever impassive, it seemed that he had been prepared for his usual one hit KO move to be useless against Izuku.

"Heaven-Piercing Ice—" Shoto began to say, but he was instantly stopped by Izuku suddenly appearing in his face with a flash of green electricity. Panicking, he resorted to a move that he knew but never wanted to use: his father's signature move, Flashfire Fist.

I can take it, Izuku had said. Time to see if this was truly the case.

Raising his tenuous connection to his fire to the maximum output and gathering all of his flames into a white-hot point on his left fist, Shoto let loose the attack, punching forward at blistering speeds exceeding even Izuku's restricted fifty percent state. The attack almost connected cleanly with Izuku, but the shorter boy had managed to turn his body at the last moment, showcasing Izuku's good reflexes. Still, the only reason that he was in this position was because Izuku didn't know that Shoto had a move like this in his arsenal.

While it wasn't a clean hit, Shoto still managed to strike Izuku's chest with that sudden burst of speed. A burst of raw flame ignited from that point, enveloping Izuku's upper body in a torrent of fire. That didn't dissuade the boy, though, and immediately after tanking that hit, Izuku's fist was flying towards Shoto's gut. A hastily constructed ice wall lessened the impact of the blow, but it still managed to send Shoto flying towards the right, the heterochromatic boy tumbling on the ground for a moment before immediately shooting to his feet. While he did not take a direct blow from Izuku, Shoto could tell that a single direct blow from Izuku would likely mean game over for him.

Fortunately for him, Izuku didn't seem like he was in a rush. He glanced down at his shirt—or the remains of it—and groaned. "I'm going to need another new one… my mom's gonna pitch a fit when she sees these charges on her account."

Izuku tore off the remains of his shirt, ignoring how the crowd went wild at that action. The tatters would only get in his way, but listening to the crowd go bananas, hooting and hollering… it brought a red flush to his cheeks completely unrelated to his battle. Shoto disgruntledly noticed how his attack left nary a trace on Izuku.

I can take it. Unfortunately for Shoto, that seemed to be the case. But the good news was that Shoto… for once, he didn't have to worry about holding back. Actually, he couldn't afford to hold back, not against Izuku. Not against this unknown kid with the unknown Quirk and the unknown experiences. He could—no, should use his full power here if he wanted to stand a chance.

For the first time in quite a while, a smile crept onto Shoto Todoroki's lips.

He activated his Quirk and set up Wall of Flames, forcing Izuku to hop backwards as red-hot flames expanded around Shoto in a circle. Shoto knew that, in a purely physical duel, Izuku would wipe the floor with him. Flashfire Fist was his only means of close quarters combat, and Shoto wasn't as practiced with that move as he should've been due to him neglecting his left side during training.

That left ranged attacks. He had to force Izuku out-of-bounds and win that way.

Shoto upped the ante, supercharging his left side and sending a blast of heat and fire outwards in a circle. He'd somewhat hoped that this would be enough to force Izuku out-of-bounds, but his expectations were dashed when he spotted Izuku blitz through the fire wall, flames licking him every step of the way. Those strange black tendrils of his anchored Izuku to the ground, preventing him from being thrown out of the boundary lines.

Shoto was prepared for this outcome, though. With his left side completely ignited, it had melted away any frost covering his body. Calling upon ice, he created a Heaven-Piercing Ice Wall right in front of him and shot it up and out towards the sky. Since Shoto had anticipated Izuku's movements, he'd created the ice wall where he predicted Izuku would be. In doing so, he managed to successfully catch Izuku in his attack, blasting him backwards with the surprising force of the ice.

But Izuku was quick to react. Before he could be flung out of bounds, he kicked off of the ice and attached three Blackwhip strands to it, propelling himself towards the ice and kicking it with fifty percent of One For All. The ice shattered under the force of his blow, and with some bits of ice still attached to the Blackwhip strands, he flung the shattered remains of the ice wall at Shoto.

The taller boy, not expecting his own ice to be used against him as a projectile, blasted the ice with a plume of fire, causing it to melt and splatter against him as water. However, that just caused steam to form and obscure his vision, and Shoto saw one tendril of darkness attach itself to the ground near him.

Red flags going off in his head, Izuku created three ice walls in front of him just in the nick of time. From the steam, Izuku appeared, fist raised back. He met the ice walls with force, shattering through the first two before reaching back with his right hand, electricity arcing off of the limb. Shoto's instincts told him to dodge the upcoming blow, so in a panicked state, he just created more ice walls between him and Izuku.

That proved to be inconsequential.

The raw force of Izuku's next punch blasted through the ice walls, completely shattering them into fragments and sending Shoto flying backwards. He only managed to catch himself from going out of bounds by hastily constructing an ice wall right where the boundary was, smacking into it painfully and knocking all the wind out of him.

Even on the ground, Shoto knew Izuku wasn't going to relent in his assault. In a last ditch effort, Shoto began to deploy his ice in an effort to chill the surrounding air. The moment he saw Izuku's form racing towards him, Shoto switched to his left side and rapidly heated the air, expanding it.

The combination of cold, then heat created a devastating blast of energy that rushed out with Shoto as its epicenter. For a moment, the whole stadium was stunned into silence as a flash of light enveloped their senses, creating a hyper-intensive BOOM and straining the protective systems surrounding the battlefield.

That was the power of Flashfreeze Heatwave. It was one of the first Super Moves that Shoto came up with, and it was the type of move Shoto would only ever use as a last resort option. While it drained him of energy, it was extremely destructive—Shoto was confident in its raw ability to annihilate.

But, as Shoto spotted the form of Izuku, latched into the ground with four tendrils of darkness and looking no worse for wear save for his smoldering pants, he knew that it wasn't enough.

Panting and sensing that Izuku was about to charge straight at him once again, Shoto readied another blast of Flashfreeze Heatwave. He'd never done it twice in a row before, but Shoto figured that there was a first time for everything.

To give it some extra oomph, this time Shoto broke character and yelled as he unleashed his attack: "Flashfreeze… HEATWAVE!"

Another flash of light enveloped the stadium as fire and ice exploded forth, but this time, Shoto felt something latch onto his leg. Instinctively grabbing at the protrusion, Shoto was startled to find it to be one of Izuku's blank strands of darkness.

As he felt himself start being yanked towards Izuku, Shoto acted quickly and blasted the strand off with a plume of fire. But—perhaps due to being too winded after using his Super Move twice in a row—Shoto failed to notice that it was a distraction. The real threat was the green-haired boy that was suddenly invading his personal space.

Shoto readied a blow of Flashfire Fist, but he was caught completely off guard when Izuku went low and grabbed his legs, picking him off the ground effortlessly with that inhuman strength of his and slamming him into the ground. With the wind completely knocked out of him and already feeling exhausted after using Flashfreeze Heatwave twice, Shoto could only watch helplessly as Izuku, glowing an ethereal green and with arcs of electricity flying everywhere, raised his right fist.

That was the last thing he remembered seeing before it all went dark.

.:.

"IN YOUR FACEEEEEEE, ENJI, IN YOUR FACEEEEEEEEEEEEE."

"It was close," Endeavor sighed, trying his best not to blow the room that the top ten heroes were sitting in to smithereens.

"As if," Mirko laughed and guffawed, holding out her hand. "Our bet. Fulfill your end of it."

The rest of the heroes watched, highly amused. While some wanted to see Mirko's reaction if Izuku had lost, Endeavor's sullen expression was just as entertaining.

Grumbling, Endeavor reached into his wallet and forked over ten thousand yen. Ultimately, it was not even a smudge in the number two hero's finances, but it was a serious blow to Endeavor's pride. "Here."

Mirko held out a small notebook opened to a blank page and a pen. "And…?"

Endeavor snatched both items away from the grinning bunny girl, signing the notebook with the usual large and robust Endeavor signature. As per the terms of their agreement, he added, you win. This time.

Mirko took back the notebook and pen with a large grin on her face. Getting signatures from heroes, especially ones that she met out on the field, was typically a piece of cake, but Endeavor's signature had been eluding her. With this, her collection was nearing its completion.

"Hey, is that the same one that I…?" Crust began, whistling in appreciation when Mirko sighed and opened the notebook to the page that had his scrawling signature on it.

"That notebook does look familiar," Edgeshot mumbled. He raised an eyebrow in surprise when Mirko flipped to the page with his neat signature.

"Sentimental, much?" Hawks teased, knowing full well that his signature was somewhere in that book.

"Oh, shut it," Mirko grumbled, putting the notebook into a small backpack. If she told him the real reason she kept hero signatures, Hawks would probably laugh her to the moon and back… because of her, Mirko—

Mirko sighed. Nothing good comes out of dwelling on the past.

"Endeavor, is that a smile I see on your face?" Best Jeanist suddenly said, surprising Mirko out of her thoughts.

The man huffed. "Shoto may have lost, but to see him rely on and use his fire side so much… as a father, I can't help but be moved. He even used Flashfire Fist… he'd really been paying attention, huh…"

"Aww, is Endeavor-chan about to cry on us?" Crust grinned.

"Watch what you say, old man."

"Aren't we the same age?"

.:.

After helping carry Shoto's unconscious form to Recovery Girl and retrieving yet another set of U.A. clothes to replace his ruined (for the second time) pair, Izuku returned to Momo in waiting room four.

The next match between Katsuki and Ochaco had already started by the time he returned. Like all of Katsuki's previous matches, the boy was conserving the usage of his Quirk and engaged Ochaco in martial arts. The more he watched Katsuki, the more obvious the boy's influence from Muay Thai became. Ochaco seemed to be well versed in some sort of martial art as well, though its name wasn't made immediately clear to Izuku due to Ochaco's own unique spin on things.

However, Ochaco's Quirk seemed to help Katsuki more than it hindered him. The first time she sent him flying, Katsuki just redirected himself by blasting with his palms and delivered a devastating shin blow to Ochaco's chest. Then, she realized that nullifying Katsuki's gravity actually aided him, since it meant that he was free to essentially fly with the blasts he could create from his palms.

Ochaco still didn't give up, though. Unlike Izuku and Shoto's fight where Quirk usage ran rampant, this battle was more of a test of skill. Unfortunately for Ochaco, Katsuki's build and raw skill eclipsed her own, and soon, she was forced into submission by a rather brutal-looking head lock.

The newly installed mics showed that Ochaco wasn't a sour sport. After the match was called and she got up, the mics picked up Ochaco saying, "That was a great fight, Bakugo. Thanks for holding back." She rubbed her neck where it was still sore.

An annoyed tch was all she got in response. "It wasn't for you."

"I know. You're conserving energy for Midoriya, right?" Ochaco grinned. "Well, good luck with that one."

Katsuki frowned. "I don't need luck."

"Whatever you say."

And with that, the semi finals portion of the tournament was over. After another thirty minute break, the finals would commence.

.:.

"Yes mom," Izuku said, slightly exasperated. "I'll be careful… yes, I'll be safe. Don't worry, I'm tougher than I look."

He looked over at Momo, who had been giggling to herself the entire time he was on the phone with his mother.

"Yes, the event's finals are coming up." Izuku paused. "Yes, I'm going up against Kacchan… yes, I know his Quirk blows things up. I'll be fine against it, I promise… yes, goodbye, mom… I'm sorry, I love you, too. Goodbye… oh, by the way, you might see some charges for uniform replacements… loveyousomuchgoodbye."

He hung up his phone, sighing. "Mothers."

"Yours seems sweet," Momo offered, hiding a smile behind her fist. "She seems worried about you."

"Yeah, I guess in her eyes I'll always just be a little baby," Izuku shrugged. He stood up, noticing the time. It was fifteen minutes into the break period, which meant that he had fifteen more minutes remaining to warm up before the finals match against Katsuki. "I've gotta go warm up. Watch this for me?"

He tossed his phone and earbuds towards a waiting Momo, who caught them flawlessly. "Do you even need to ask, by now?"

Smiling, Izuku left the room and headed to a warm up room, opening the door to one that he thought was empty. Imagine his surprise when he opened the door to find a sweaty Katsuki stretching in the center of the room.

"Oops. My bad," Izuku said, making to close the door, but he was stopped by Katsuki's voice.

"Wait."

Izuku did just that, waiting as Katsuki jogged towards him. "Is there something that you need?"

"Not really," the blonde boy spit out. "Just double checking with you. Are you fine with me going all out?"

"I expect nothing less," Izuku said honestly.

"Good. Because I've been holding back against all of the peons I faced before you just so I could go ham on you." Katsuki paused, thinking. "Don't go crying to the ref when I end up hurting you."

"That won't happen," Izuku assured him.

Katsuki's expression soured. "What pisses me off is how confident you are when you say that. Well, whatever. May the better one win."

He held out his hand.

"There won't be time to do this before the match, so…"

Izuku grinned and took Katsuki's hand in his, shaking it. "I appreciate it."

"Right." Katsuki retracted his hand, rubbing the back of his neck. What the boy was thinking about, Izuku had no clue. "Show me."

"What?"

"Show me your strength. You against me. Show me that so I…" Katsuki trailed off, unable to say the final words on the tip of his tongue.

Show me that so I don't have to worry about protecting you, anymore. He couldn't bring himself to say those words. After all, he knew in his heart how he measured his worth as… anyone, really: how well was he able to protect Izuku? The stronger he was, the better he could protect Izuku, the person who'd been snatched right in front of his face, and the more worth he had as a person.

Katsuki had a feeling that, no matter how powerful Izuku proved to be, a small, weird part of Katsuki would always come back to using Izuku and his safety as the metric for his self-worth. Maybe he should just accept the fact that Izuku probably didn't need protecting, but… that was a tough pill to swallow.

Izuku was waiting for him to finish his sentence, so Katsuki masked his indecision with his usual bluster. "Either way, don't expect me to be like Iida, Shinso, or Todoroki. Expect a real fight."

"I wouldn't have it any other way," Izuku answered him. "See you on the field, Kacchan." The use of the nickname here felt more affectionate than anything else, and Izuku left feeling… strangely invigorated for his upcoming match. Katsuki would be coming at him with everything he had… a good ol' 1v1…

Shaking his head to clear it of any extraneous thoughts, Izuku found an empty warm up room and got ready for the match. He lost track of time, and soon, Midnight's voice came over the speakers in the room: "Can Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo come forward to the entrances? Izuku Midoriya, blue entrance, and Katsuki Bakugo, red entrance."

As he walked towards the blue entrance, he ran into several of his classmates that wished him good luck. Bowing his head in acknowledgement, Izuku kept his concentration up and appeared on the field of the stadium at roughly the same time Katsuki did.

The two walked towards their starting spots, eyes locked on each other the entire time.

This is it, Izuku told himself. You're so close.

"Ready?" Midnight asked, getting confirmation from Izuku with a thumbs up and a nod from Katsuki. "BEGIN!"

The second her words were spoken, Izuku took off in a mad dash towards Katsuki, amping up his body by fifty percent of One For All. But, before he reached Katsuki, the boy launched himself into the sky with his explosions and began spinning in a circle.

The spinning motion combined with the explosions generated by his hands created a fiery vortex of heat and energy, building up towards… something. It was a move Izuku had never seen Katsuki use before, and as he began to channel Blackwhip to fling at Katsuki and drag him back down to earth, an intense, sudden pain in his head told him: BRACE YOURSELF.

The sudden pain had never led him astray, so instead of shooting the Blackwhip strands towards Katsuki, he shot them into the earth and reinforced them with One For All, anchoring himself to the ground. To be safe, he clenched his abs and "freezed" his body at the maximum output that Chrono Force would allow in an attempt to brace himself.

It proved to be the right decision. As the fire tornado churned, it brought in oxygen to fuel the upcoming explosion. With two words, "HOWITZER IMPACT!" Katsuki unleashed the explosion that had been building up.

The resulting explosion was comparable to a missile strike. It blasted the ear drums of all the occupants of the stadium and nearly destroyed the barrier system in place to protect the viewers in the stands from attacks within the stadium grounds. It was a blast of raw power and fire that made Shoto Todoroki's fire in the earlier round look like a mere matchstick compared to a raging forest fire.

The referees would have canceled the match right there and then to find the charred remains of the poor boy Katsuki had used Howitzer Impact on, but they all held their ground since, well, Katsuki's opponent wasn't exactly an ordinary person.

Even after the massive explosion, Katsuki was not done. He held out a palm and roared, "AP SHOT: AUTO CANNON!"

From his palm erupted a beam of condensed energy, battering away at the ground below him. As Katsuki fell towards the ground from his position up in the sky, he peppered the ground with those blasts of energy and explosive force, spraying everywhere in the flame at a target that the audience wasn't too sure was actually alive anymore, until—

The flame and the smoke was all blasted away by a shockwave of force, causing the crowd to gasp and gaze upon the man who had tanked all of that: Izuku Midoriya, very much alive, a feat seemingly impossible judging by the blistering heat emanating from the arena. The boy stood in the middle of a smoking and inflamed crater courtesy of Katsuki. It had hurt a metric fuckton, but that was all mental.

Izuku had nearly lost right there. Had it not been for the voice telling him to brace himself, the force of the blast would have thrown him out-of-bounds. He was thankful for the anchoring that Blackwhip gave him.

Katsuki, now having a clear target, fired his AP Shots at Izuku, who took two in the chest before he instinctively flexed his hand and visualized opposites, causing the next four shots to be automatically deflected. He didn't have that great control over Electromagneta, though, so the shots were deflected haphazardly, flying off in random directions, smacking into the wall or the barrier.

The two that had struck Izuku seemed to leave a mark, though. Underneath his tattered U.A. shirt, his skin began to burn and blister where the two AP Shots had struck him. He had to be careful—he didn't know when Chrono Force would give out on him. It already saved him throughout Katsuki's Howitzer Impact, but that definitely took the wind out of his sails if the two AP Shots were able to physically damage him. He began to visualize reconstructing, not healing to patch the broken skin and began to quickly think.

The fact that Katsuki was able to even physically begin to damage him meant that the boy possessed enough firepower to potentially overwhelm Chrono Force. That was bad news since he didn't know the upper limit of Chrono Force outside of how many one hundred percent One For All actions he could take. Izuku would have to work on that to figure out what his breaking point was, but that was a topic for a later date; now, he needed to focus on the fight.

Katsuki began to take to the air again, spinning in a vortex to generate another Howitzer Impact. Since Izuku knew what was coming now and had more time, he aimed and fired the maximum amount of Blackwhips that he could safely handle at the flying boy. Five tendrils of darkness raced through the air, and Katsuki spun to the left to avoid them. However, he didn't spin fast enough, and one tendril coiled around his wrist.

Caught you.

Izuku retracted that tendril as fast as he could, and he leapt up off the ground to meet Katsuki halfway, his fist primed to strike. Katsuki, sensing the immediate danger behind receiving that blow, pointed both palms at Izuku and unleashed an unholy blast of sheer power, baptising the area below him in flame and causing all downward momentum to be negated. The Blackwhip strand around his wrist was blown away and Izuku was blasted backwards, smacking into the ground on his back before immediately rolling back onto his feet. Chrono Force stayed strong through that, surprisingly, but it still hurt like hell.

It seemed that Izuku was at a disadvantage in the air. Katsuki had been holding back during the cavalry battle—well, he'd been holding back the entire U.A. Sports Festival, and now, he was letting his true power loose. With the sheer force that the blasts from his hands generated, Izuku would be blown away any time he tried to approach him from the air. Basic physics overruled any actions he could take from the air.

"STUN GRENADE!"

A blinding flash of light interrupted Izuku's train of thought and completely overwhelmed his senses. In his temporary blindness, Izuku had only one thing to rely on—and a painful twinge in his skull told him: FROM THE LEFT.

Since Izuku couldn't see, he just went with the failsafe option: use overwhelming force against overwhelming force. Knowing the blow wouldn't physically connect with Katsuki's body and injure him, he punched at the air with pure one hundred percent to dissuade Katsuki, not relying on Chrono Force. He felt nothing except displaced wind and the painful sensation of his bones breaking in his arm. He immediately began to reconstruct his arm right after the blow.

When his vision cleared five seconds later, Izuku gazed upon the destruction he'd caused. Aside from the people in the stadium stands who had been blown out of their seats even behind the protective barrier, a massive crater had appeared on the side of the wall where Izuku had pointed the punch at. Katsuki, who had been blasting at full throttle against the concussive force in a desperate attempt to stay in bounds, was panting and wringing out his obviously sore arms mere inches from the boundary line.

Izuku took the time to reassess and reconstruct his arm. Katsuki didn't seem to notice it was broken—rather, the boy looked too winded to notice. The only reason that Izuku had the time to reconstruct his arm was because Katsuki was relenting on the endless assaults, taking the time to catch a quick breather.

Now would be the perfect time to strike, actually. He used One For All to enhance Chrono Force and push its power output even greater, reconstructing his arm with a brutal sounding snap. Izuku began to feel a little light headed from doing so, but he assumed that the risk was worth the tradeoff.

He leapt at Katsuki with fifty percent of One For All, surprising the other boy by agressing. Katsuki's fast reflexes allowed him to ignite his palms and blast to the side, but Izuku was hot on his tail. Their dance became one of life and death, with Izuku keeping pace and Katsuki desperately trying to avoid him. Four strands of Blackwhip, two from each side, shot out in an attempt to ensnare Katsuki, but he just blasted them off with his free hand whenever they entangled him.

It did, however, succeed in slowing him down, allowing Izuku to tackle him with a burst of One For All at restricted one hundred percent. As the two tumbled to the ground, Katsuki pointed his two palms at Izuku's face, hesitating to blast him point blank. One look at Izuku's eyes, however, told him what he needed to hear.

Are you really going to lose without giving it your all, Kacchan?!

Katsuki point blank blasted Izuku with the highest output he could muster, obscuring them in smoke. He felt himself be effortlessly lifted off the ground, and he tried getting away with desperation blasts at full force, but unbeknownst to Katsuki, Izuku had already anchored himself to the ground with three Blackwhip strands reinforced by One For All.

Izuku slammed Katsuki into the ground, knocking the wind out of Katsuki, but the blonde would still not give up. He pointed his hands at Izuku and kept blasting away in wild desperation, and Izuku took the full brunt of the blows but didn't move thanks to his anchors. While being assaulted with these blasts, Izuku raised his fist and delivered a brutal, twenty percent punch straight to Katsuki's head.

The blonde's head swam and his vision took a turn for the worst, but he was not out just yet. With a roar, he continued delivering explosion after explosion pointed upwards towards Izuku, so many explosions that he felt his wrists begin to snap. But even then, he kept on blasting away, refusing to give up.

Izuku delivered another blow to Katsuki's head, this time amped up to thirty percent. The blonde seemed to lose consciousness, but even then, explosions were still firing, so Izuku finally put him to sleep with one final punch, the explosions fading out into nothingness.

Katsuki had unleashed so many blasts in such a short period of time that there was still smoke lingering after the boy had passed out. Izuku took the time to assess his current condition. The nonstop, point blank blasts from Katsuki had broken through Chrono Force and badly burnt what felt like his upper body and face. He couldn't see the damage, but if it looked as bad as it felt, then it must have been one hell of an ugly sight.

While the smoke was still up, he immediately set about using Chrono Force to reconstruct the parts that he felt were hurting, speeding it up by applying One For All's multiplier to it. The resulting lightheadedness caused him to fall to his knees and the pain nearly made him throw up, but he managed to endure it. He still felt too lightheaded to stand evenly, so instead he took a seat and waited for the smoke to completely dissipate.

Izuku glanced down at himself. His shirt was long gone (though that was to be expected by now), and his sweats were close to following. Thank goodness they still remained though—he'd rather not be butt ass naked in front of a crowd of thousands. As the smoke lightened, he looked at Katsuki, mainly to double check that he was still knocked out, but instead, he found a sight that surprised him more than anything else.

Even while knocked out, Katsuki was smiling.

.:.

"That… WAS INSANE!"

The TV commentator loosened his tie, sweating profusely. In the camera that they were broadcasting to the entire world, Izuku Midoriya sat nonchalantly next to Katsuki's knocked-out body as the smoke cleared. Sweat glistened off of his bare chest and abdomen, captured in raw 4K glory on the big screen. With his tattered pants and facial expression, it honestly could've passed as a rap album cover and no one would have questioned it.

"The fight certainly wasn't the longest, but I daresay that it was the most spectacular," the woman next to the commentator said. "What do you think, Jay?"

Now that he had loosened his tie, Jay unbuttoned the top two buttons of his dress shirt before speaking. "Monica, let's just say that I was sweating from just watching it. That's how intense it was!"

"We both suspected that Katsuki Bakugo was holding back during the initial rounds of the tournament, but… wow." Monica whistled. "Who knew he'd been saving up so much firepower? The raw power on his… Howitzer Impact, if I recall correctly, is simply absurd. The man is simply too powerful!"

"True, but." Jay turned towards the camera. "If Katsuki Bakugo is too powerful…"

He asked the question that the nation was thinking.

"Just what is Izuku Midoriya?"

They switched back to the main camera, where Midnight was announcing Izuku as the victor. They watched as he staggered to his feet and walked over to Katsuki, smacking him lightly on the face. The boy jolted awake, palms suddenly reigniting, but he seemed to realize that he'd lost, letting loose a swear word that the TV stations had to censor.

Still, Katsuki accepted Izuku's hand and stood up with his help, teetering dangerously towards one side before Izuku helped him straighten out. The crowd roared and cheered at the display of sportsmanship, and the next words between them were barely caught by the newly installed microphones.

"Be careful! You might be concussed," Izuku said, supporting Katsuki's weight even though the blonde didn't want him to.

He tried to shove Izuku off of him, but Katsuki missed completely and nearly fell over. "'m fine. You think two of your pansy punches are enough to give me a concussion?"

"I punched you three times," Izuku sighed, causing Katsuki to look at him in shock. "After the second one, you were still blasting, so I…" Izuku trailed off.

Katsuki glared at Izuku's spotless body. There wasn't even a burn mark on him. "Doesn't seem like it affected you that much," he grumbled, finally accepting Izuku's help and wrapping an arm around his shoulder.

"Mhm," Izuku hummed, walking towards the exits. "If it makes you feel any better, you were the first one to actually physically hurt me this tournament. I just healed it, though."

"What the f—bleep!—k. That doesn't make me feel better at all."

The two walked off inside of the tunnel, so what they said after that wasn't picked up by any of the microphones.

But what Izuku just said started a veritable storm on the Internet with wild mass guessing and speculations to the true nature of his Quirk. They were never told the specifics of his Quirk, after all, so they just had the footage of the sports festival to go off of.

If only they knew the truth.

.:.

The awards ceremony dragged on for far longer than it should have.

After dragging Katsuki to Recovery Girl to make sure that he didn't have a concussion and retrieving his stuff from Momo, they were immediately called back to the stadium grounds. There, Izuku stood through quite possibly the most boring and unnecessary twenty or so minutes of his life with U.A. thanking its sponsors and other hogwash. So, in the meantime, he started—or at least tried to—think.

He'd won, yes. But it wasn't as flawless as he'd hoped. Katsuki had managed to break through Chrono Force with his own Quirk. That wasn't the absolute domination that he'd hoped for—getting injured, even if he was able to heal it back up, was a mark against his performance. He'd hoped for—wait, wait, wait, where the hell did these rogue thoughts come from? Absolute domination, why had those words showed up again?

Izuku was still feeling rather light headed, though he tried not to let his discomfort show. Using One For All to boost Chrono Force's effectiveness may have won him the fight the first time, but the second time he used it was simply because he didn't want his mother, who he knew was watching, to see the injuries he had definitely sustained when Katsuki was blasting him point blank range.

Still, Chrono Force came in clutch. He definitely had to do some limit testing with his Quirk to figure out its full capabilities. Same with Electromagneta—if he could deflect Katsuki's AP Shot with the Quirk, what else could he deflect?

Finally, the actual awards ceremony started.

Izuku walked up to and stood on a hastily constructed stage courtesy of Cementoss. Well, the word stage was a bit of a stretch. It was more like a circle of raised cement with some haphazardly-built stairs leading up to it. He was standing on the tallest one, Katsuki stood on the second highest one, and a recovered Shoto and Ochaco stood on the lowest circle.

Izuku tuned back in to Midnight's words. She had been speaking the whole time he'd been standing there, but only now did he pay attention to what she was saying. "—and without further ado, we have the presentation of the medals by none other than All Might!"

The cheering and applause for Japan's number one hero was thunderous. As Izuku looked around for the sight of his mentor, the only direction he didn't factor in was up. Toshinori, in his bulked up form, appeared in the rafters and leapt down, dropping a rather concerning distance before landing squarely on his two legs, shaking the earth a bit when he landed.

Is that… good for his health? Izuku thought, concerned. He couldn't maintain that form for long, right?

"I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS!" Toshinori announced, and the crowd went wild. He first went to Shoto and Ochaco.

"Fantastic job, you two." Turning towards Ochaco, he said, "In the face of a Quirk with more offensive power than yours, you didn't back down, instead choosing to fight. That's the true hero's spirit! I am proud of you, young Uraraka!"

He handed her the third place medal, and she accepted it with an awestruck expression. Toshinori pulled her into a hug, absolutely dwarfing her body with his muscular form. Then, he turned towards Shoto.

"I saw the way you exhausted yourself in your final fight," he told Shoto. "You truly went all out, didn't you? Continue growing, young Todoroki—you will reach previously unforeseen heights for sure! Today's limit is tomorrow's stepping stone, ahahahaha!"

Toshinori pulled Shoto into a hug that the boy didn't even at first react to, as if he were unused to receiving such affection. Eventually, his arms circled around Toshinori's broad back, hugging him back, and Shoto received the medal from Toshinori.

After handing Shoto his medal, Toshinori took the second place medal and walked up to Katsuki. "Young Bakugo, the way in which you preserved your energy spoke volumes about your own self-confidence and forward-thinking skills. The final fight with young Midoriya is not something you should be ashamed of! Keep at it, and at next year's sports festival, show us everything that you have learned!"

When Toshinori hugged Katsuki and handed him his medal, Izuku could've sworn that, for the slightest moment, he saw Katsuki tear up. He remembered distantly from his youth that Katsuki was just as big of an All Might fan as he was. This must have been a dream come true for the blonde, being able to hug the hero like this.

Toshinori then walked up the slight steps to reach Izuku's position. "Young Midoriya." In a lower tone, he said, "We will debrief at another time. For now, have fun dodging the press, AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" He handed Izuku the medal, a shiny golden medallion that read 1st Place, and turned towards the crowd.

"And thus concludes the U.A. Sports Festival for the first years! Remember though, for those of you who are not standing on this stage: take this opportunity to reflect and see what you can all improve on!" Toshinori grinned. "Being a hero is all about growing, being a better you than you were yesterday!"

With a peace sign, Toshinori leapt back up to the rafters from which he jumped down, leaving behind only two small craters generated by the force of his jump. As he did so, Midnight dismissed the rest of them, and people started walking out of the stadium… or tried to, as a swarm of people began advancing on the field, carrying notepads and cameras.

Oh no.

"Izuku Midoriya! Izuku Midoriya! Over here!"

"Can we get some comments on your performance today?"

"Which match did you think was the hardest, Izuku Midoriya?"

"Shoto! Shoto Todoroki! What's it like being the number two hero's son?"

"Katsuki Bakugo! Why were you holding back in your earlier matches?"

Ochaco looked towards a baffled Midnight. "I thought it was against U.A.'s policy to allow reporters onto its grounds?"

"It is, but for the sports festival, we make an exception," Midnight answered, stroking her chin. "Even then, they should only be in the stands, though. Something must have happened at the security checkpoint…"

Izuku frowned. Ah. It's going to be a long time before I get back to my dorm…

.:.

Around dinnertime, Izuku finally made his way out of that horrendous mess and arrived at his dorm. That had been only due to the U.A. faculty coming and flushing out all of the reporters.

It had truly been a question dodging simulation. He was approached by a mob of reporters, all asking decently invasive questions about his Quirk and his thoughts on the sports questions and the evasive answers that he gave only fueled the reporter's thirst for more.

He remembered some of the answers he gave and wanted to punch a wall or himself. The latter was preferable, actually.

"Izuku, Izuku! Just what is your Quirk called?"

"Not sure, haha…" Izuku had said.

"Not Sure Haha? That's a strange name for a Quirk, but noted."

Izuku cringed. He could already imagine his Quirk being erroneously listed as Not Sure Haha in some articles.

The others fared much better than he had. Shoto, probably already used to reporters and paparazzi due to being Endeavor's son, handled the unexpected situation with aplomb. The heterochromatic boy remained calm and poised, answering each question flawlessly and honestly. Ochaco, while evidently embarrassed, allowed her natural positivity and friendliness to guide her through the questioning.

And Katsuki… Izuku wished he had Katsuki's guts. The blonde had just told everyone to fuck off and blasted a path through to the exit.

But that moment had ended. Izuku did not know if his half-assed answers were going to come and haunt him in the future, but it wasn't worth thinking about right now. Right? Right?

What am I doing, Izuku thought to himself. I'm trying to get justification from myself.

Izuku's lightheadedness had dissipated on the walk back to the dorm, which was a relief. As he opened the door to his dorm, Izuku was greeted with a strange sight. A crowd of his classmates were gathered around someone, and they all turned to look at him.

"Ah, Midoriya's here," Eijiro said.

"Fantastic! Thanks for keeping me company, you guys," the unknown person said.

Wait, that voice sounds familiar, Izuku noted. It was almost like—

The crowd parted to show Mirko, who grinned and licked her lips upon seeing Izuku.

Izuku almost collapsed on the spot. What was Mirko, the rank seven hero in all of Japan, doing here? In his dorm? His mouth started moving before his mind could catch up. "M-Mirko?"

"The one and only," the hero grinned cheekily, showing off her pearly whites. "I've been looking for ya. Figured the best spot to start would be your dorm. You've kept me waiting."

"I'm sorry," Izuku apologized reflexively. "It's just… with the press and everything…"

"Relax, I'm just kidding." Mirko walked up to Izuku and clapped his back, nearly knocking the wind out of him. For how small she was, Mirko certainly packed a punch. "Can you show me somewhere quiet? I have something I wanna discuss with you alone."

Izuku nodded numbly, aware of the gazes of almost everyone in the room. Minoru, in particular, radiated a jealousy so pure and unfiltered that even someone not socially gifted like Izuku could pick up on it. If looks could kill, Izuku would have been disintegrated by the fiery death ray of Minoru's hate-filled eyes.

He glanced quickly at another person of interest: Momo. Hers was the only gaze that was not focused on Izuku. Even though she'd already seen her earlier during the day, she was focused on Mirko and her legs in black yoga pants, seemingly set with the intention of devouring her with her eyes. Given how much of a Mirko stan Momo seemed to be, such a reaction was reasonable. She seemed too starstruck to even notice the conversation that was occurring.

"Well, lead the way." Then, Mirko looked at the group around her and smiled easily. "Keep up the hard work, everyone! I can't wait to see what type of heroes you all will be in the future."

The crowd around them naturally dispersed after that, leaving Izuku and Mirko alone—wait a minute, they weren't left alone at all! Izuku could still see Minoru and Denki hovering around the hallway corner, eavesdropping on the two of them.

"Uhm, please follow me," Izuku said, watching Mirko nod. He led her to one of the many unused rooms on the first floor of the U.A. dormitory. Mirko shut the door behind them, leaving the two of them alone in the room and each taking a seat in the plush chairs.

"So, why were you looking for me, Mirko?" Izuku asked the question that was on his mind.

"Rumi Usagiyama," Mirko—no, Rumi said. "Call me Rumi. I don't give a damn about all that 'respect' or 'honor' noise. I hope you don't mind if I call you Izuku."

"S-Sure, go ahead." She looked like she was still waiting for something, so Izuku took a shot in the dark and said, "… Rumi." Still, it felt strange calling a top ten ranked hero by their first name, even if he'd been calling All Might Toshinori for years by now.

"Good," Rumi smiled triumphantly. "To answer your question, I've been curious about you ever since you gave the opening speech. It took balls to say what you did."

Izuku flushed a bright red. "Did… did you think it was good or bad?"

"I thought it was good. Gutsy. Would've been pretty bad if you lost any of the events, though." She looked at him pointedly. "Why'd you do that? Give an opener like that, I mean."

Izuku decided to answer her honestly. "I thought it would be a good way to raise everyone's expectations of me. I feel that, when people expect a lot from me, I rise to meet the occasion more often than not."

"Not a bad answer," Rumi acknowledged. "You sounded super confident, though. Where did that come from?"

Izuku sat back in his chair. "We were told about the events beforehand. I just felt that I wouldn't lose… especially the 1v1's."

The bunny girl hummed, ears twitching. She seemed pleased with his words so far. "Seems a far cry from how you are in class, at least according to your classmates. I asked them about you."

Izuku didn't know whether to be flattered or feel panicked about her casual admission. Before he had time to gather his thoughts, Rumi spoke. "Polite. Kind. Humble. Shy, even." Rumi stared him in the eye. "But… a devastating fighter. An opponent that they never want to cross."

She leaned forward. "Point is, you're interesting. The Izuku of the sports festival, the Izuku that your classmates talk about—I want to figure out which one is the real you. Maybe they're both you. Maybe I couldn't be further off the mark. Either way, I wanna find out."

Her red eyes bored into his own. He looked away, unable to handle the intensity of her gaze.

"So, I wanted to extend a special invitation to you." Rumi held out a slip of paper and handed it to him with something scribbled on its surface. It seemed to be her phone number. "That's my private cell. I'm taking a blind leap of faith here and trusting you to not pawn it off to the masses or some creep—I'd rather not have to switch numbers."

Izuku blinked, taking the sheet of paper. "I definitely appreciate this, but I've got to ask… why?"

"Give it a call if you decide to intern with me," Rumi said simply. Taking one look at his stunned expression, she decided that a little bit of explaining would help. "Look, I know I have no agency, no connections. You're probably gonna receive offers from any agency worth anything after your performance today. If you're looking to build connections or some shit like that, I'm probably the worst bet 'cause I got none. I typically work alone, after all."

She took a breath. "But I'm willing to make an exception for you, Izuku. Now don't get me wrong: I think heroes that join or form teams are cowards or weak at best. This wouldn't be like that, though. It'll be like a mentorship. I'll try my best to teach you stuff. I won't be able to teach you probably a lot of the logistical stuff of heroics, like paperwork and such, since I don't really do that. Got any questions so far?"

"Not really," Izuku answered. "Well, actually… why me?"

"Because I've taken an interest in you," Rumi replied instantly. "My senses are sharp, and they're not often wrong. And they're screaming at me to claim you."

Her words instantly made Izuku's throat go dry. "What?" Izuku surely must have misheard Rumi.

She moved on. "You're the real deal. And, there's so much potential in you. You're probably gonna hear that from all the other agencies, though, so lemme add this: I can teach you how to be a real hero, away from the publicity stunts or fame seeking that wannabe upstarts do these days. You have super strength serving as the basis of your Quirk, yeah? There's no better person to learn how to fight from than someone else who also has super strength."

That… made a surprising amount of sense.

"If you wanna learn how to be a real hero… if you wanna learn how to fight from someone who can relate to you… if you wanna learn how to be a predator instead of the prey," Rumi began, "give me a call. My schedule's pretty flexible, so we can definitely make something work."

She stood up, and Izuku followed her motion. "Oh, and just one last thing I wanna add: when you're thinking about which internship offer to accept, I just want you to think about who personally visited you and who just sent you a cold letter. I have an inkling that the person who personally visited you wants you to intern with her far more than the others. Just a hunch, though."

Rumi grinned cheekily up at him.

She turned around to take her leave, but Izuku stopped her by saying, "Thank you so much for the offer, Rumi! I… I really do appreciate it, and I'll be sure to take that into consideration."

"Lip service," Rumi dismissed, though her smile betrayed her. "If you really mean what you say, I expect a call in a day."

Izuku did mean it, though. The points Rumi brought up were all extremely valid points. After all, only a person with super strength can understand how a person with super strength fights. But, still, he wanted to go through all of his options before he made a decision.

"Well, see ya soon," Rumi said. Whether or not Izuku accepted her offer, she was sure that she would be seeing more of the boy. Her instincts never failed her, after all.

She really did hope that Izuku would accept her internship offer, though.

.:.

A class dinner was thrown to celebrate the conclusion of the U.A. Sports Festival.

Surprisingly, their class had many capable chefs. Eijiro knew how to cook a mean steak, and Shoto was a master at making his favorite meal, cold soba. Rikido had a whole buffet of sweets and baked goods lined up for them, too.

The whole celebratory dinner idea was a love child between the highly capable and enthusiastic minds of Ochaco and Mina. Quickly getting all of the girls on board, it wasn't long before the boys in the class agreed to join in the festivities. Even Katsuki was present at the meal, devouring two steaks.

But, as much as Katsuki ate, he didn't hold a candle to Izuku—the boy was a bottomless pit of hunger. He demolished everything and anything. Seven bowls of Shoto's cold soba, four eight ounce steaks, and a whole slew of pastries disappeared into the boy's stomach.

And Momo watched him the entire time, ignoring the main conversation that was going on about how Denki had become a meme.

She couldn't help it. Now that Mirko was gone and there was nothing left to distract her from her feelings, her revelation from earlier in the day hit her like a dump truck driving at light speed: she fell for Izuku Midoriya. Romantically.

And she'd fallen, hard.

Just thinking about it brought a blush to her cheeks, but seeing that she was surrounded by her peers (and most importantly, Izuku), she forced it down with practiced precision. Kill the emotions, she told herself. The lessons from when she was young paid off, and soon, the blush was gone from her face.

But she still hadn't stopped watching Izuku.

Momo had wanted to take the seat next to him, she really did. But the seat to his right had been taken by a raging, nearly in tears Minoru, who demanded to know what Mirko wanted with the verdanette, and the seat to his left had been taken by an oddly not-screaming-all-the-time Katsuki. So, that had left the seat right across from him. She was happy with what she got, since she was able to pretty much stare at Izuku the entire time.

Was she being creepy? No harm done if Izuku didn't notice, right?

From snippets of his and Minoru's conversation, Momo gathered that Mirko had been there to offer Izuku an unconventional internship opportunity. She was surprised by that as much as Minoru had been enraged by that, but she was happy to hear that Izuku got such a seemingly rare offer. If anyone deserved it, it would definitely be Izuku.

"Yaomomo~" Mina sung in her ear, snapping her out of her meditative trance of observing Izuku. She nearly shrieked at the sudden interruption, but thankfully, she was able to keep her mouth in check.

She stared at the girl sitting to her right. "What is it, Mina?"

Mina brought her mouth close to Momo's ear and whispered, "Do you think that it's a blessing or a curse that Midoriya's so oblivious? You've been staring at him all night."

Momo fought the rising blush with everything she had and kept her voice level. "You must be seeing things."

"Right," Mina said, rolling her eyes. "So, when can we expect the confession to happen? I'm pretty sure you're not the only gal here who's got her eye on Midoriya. Gotta make it quick."

"What confession?" Momo asserted. Her exterior was as cold as stone now. "I have nothing to confess to Izuku."

Momo immediately realized that she'd made a mistake the moment the words left her lips. The shit-eating grin that Mina sported told Momo that the other girl realized it as well.

Mina saw the opportunity and pounced on it. "Izuku, huh? Now when did you start referring to him by his first name, hmm? Did something happen between you two that I'm not privy to?"

"Slip of the tongue," Momo adamantly denied.

"Reaaaaaaallyyyyyyy?"

"Slip. Of. The. Tongue."

.:.

Izuku sat on his bed, freshly showered, but he was a bundle of nerves.

In his right hand, Izuku held his phone, having just gotten off the phone with his ecstatic mother. My baby boy, winning the sports festival, she'd said. But that wasn't on his mind right now. He flipped to his messages app, and his most recent text was from Himiko that read: i hope ur ready for a supriseeee.

He wasn't. Knowing Himiko, it could've been anything. He just had to make sure he was ready for everything. Back up plans on back up plans, contingencies on contingencies. Something like that.

His phone buzzed. Another text from Himiko.

Himiko: im too lazy to throw a rock but im here

Himiko: open up and come claim ur prize

Oh, wow. The image of Himiko dressed in nothing but a ribbon briefly flashed through Izuku's mind, but he quickly shook that out of his mind, opening the window and spotting Himiko on the ground below. She waved up at him, and she seemed to be dressed reasonably for the time and weather—since it was still May, it was warm in Japan, even at night.

But, still. Himiko was dressed in a black skirt with black knee-high socks. That combination was enough to make Izuku's face heat up just by looking at her. Shaking his head once again, he extended Blackwhip down to the ground, feeling Himiko hop on the tendrils and retracting them. She entered through the window with practiced grace, landing noiselessly in his room.

"Izu~" she hummed, stalking up towards him. "Congratulations on winning the sports festival!"

Himiko hugged him, and Izuku—holy shit. Was she not wearing a bra? Was she not wearing anything underneath her U.A. hoodie? Himiko noticed his consternation and grinned cutely, taking his hand in hers and running it underneath her hoodie. He felt nothing but smooth, taut skin and the rough outline of Himiko's abdomen.

Her hand left his under the hoodie and her two arms snaked around his neck, pushing them forward until Izuku tipped over and fell onto the bed with Himiko on top of him. She looked down at him, gaze half lidded and yellow eyes almost glowing.

"T-Thanks," Izuku said, avoiding her gaze. Himiko's gaze was full of… something, and Izuku did not know what the something was. Just looking at her made him start sweating, and he pulled his sweaty palm out from underneath her hoodie.

That action just elicited a whine from Himiko, though. She pouted and said, "Your hand was fine where it was."

"It was getting sweaty," Izuku said in a desperate attempt to justify his actions. His nervous excitement warred with his apprehension.

Himiko shrugged. "I don't mind~" She smiled, cat-like, and pressed her upper body into his, propping herself up with a hand on her chin and looking down at him affectionately.

That action caused Izuku's brain to short circuit when he felt her two globes press into his chest.

Taking advantage of his mental implosion, Himiko took the opportunity to kiss him. It was tender at first, nips at his lower lip. Then, as if a switch had been flipped, her tongue invaded his mouth and plundered it, leaving no area left unexplored. As she did that, Himiko ground her hips into his rapidly hardening erection.

Izuku wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her close. With a painful but stimulating bite on his lower lip, Himiko reached back and moved Izuku's arms so that it palmed her butt. Once again, the paradox of Himiko's lovely ass made itself known. So soft, but firm as well. Izuku gave it a tentative squeeze.

"It's getting hot in here," Himiko said, peeling off of Izuku but keeping her hips firmly planted over his. She reached down to tug off her hoodie, and Izuku saw that his suspicions were correct; she wasn't wearing anything underneath, not even a bra—

BOOBS!

Calm yourself, Izuku! You can't lose concentration—oh, fuck it. BOOBS!

Himiko's beautiful, perky breasts hung in the air. A blush had rapidly climbed up to her face, but she kept her gaze on him. "Like what you see, Izu?"

"Yes," Izuku breathed. "Can… can I touch?"

"No, I was expecting you to stare at it the entire time," Himiko deadpanned. Then, realizing that Izuku would probably take her words literally, she added affectionately, "Yes, you can, dork."

Izuku reached up, hands shaking. He finally palmed both breasts in his two hands, pushing forward and marveling at their elasticity. He pressed them together and released, watching them fall apart and bounce. Holy shit the bounce. Izuku repeated the action three more times, mesmerized by the bounce.

Himiko giggled, face still heavily flushed. "Why do I feel like this is a science experiment?"

"Sorry." Izuku looked up at Himiko. "Can I…?"

"Can you what?" Himiko teased, a large Cheshire smile stretching across her face.

"U-Use my mouth," Izuku mumbled.

Himiko leaned down and whispered hotly into his ear, "I can't hear you~"

Izuku swallowed, face aflame. If he had taken the time to look at Himiko's face, he would've realized that she was blushing just as hard as he was. "Can I use my mouth?"

Himiko didn't relent. "On what?"

"… on your breasts."

Himiko giggled, sitting up on his lap and stretching, arching her back. The action served to really accentuate her bust. "Go ahead."

Izuku sat up so that he could have better access to what he wanted to do. He tenderly took one nipple into his mouth and suckled on it, flicking his tongue over the hard nub. Himiko let out a quiet moan at his action, and that spurred Izuku forward, doubling his efforts and hugging Himiko closer to him with his arms. That action unbalanced both of them, and Himiko fell backwards, bringing Izuku down with her. Izuku peeled back momentarily to observe the view.

And what a view it was.

Himiko, flushed and breathing deeply, lying down on his bed. Himiko's golden hair splayed out like a halo. Himiko's beautiful breasts and hard nipples under his fingertips. Himiko's yellow eyes, gazing lovingly up at him. It was all too much for Izuku.

"Beautiful," he breathed.

Himiko flushed an even darker shade of red at his wholehearted compliment. "How many times do I have to say this," she whined, covering her face with her arm. "Frontal attacks aren't fair."

"But you really are just…" Izuku pressed a kiss into the valley between her breasts, feeling them press against his cheeks, "so, very beautiful."

Suddenly, he felt two hands wrap around his head and roll them over so that Himiko was on top again. Her eyes, half lidded, sparkled with a visible hunger. She was nearly hyperventilating; her breathing was that rapid.

"Izuku," she said shortly. "Take off your shirt."

Izuku was quick to comply, throwing his shirt somewhere near Himiko's jacket. Himiko immediately ran her hands all over his abs and chest, nearly drooling at the sight. "—ne."

"I'm sorry?" Izuku didn't hear what Himiko had said.

"Mine." Her eyes, needy and ravenous, peered up to look at his.

"Yes," Izuku said affectionately, "I'm all yours."

His words seemed to set Himiko off. She went about drilling the details of Izuku's upper body into her memory, running her hands, lips, and sometimes even tongue alongside Izuku's hard musculature. Knowing what Himiko probably wanted to do, Izuku relaxed Chrono Force. He felt her nip at his skin, sucking to leave hickies behind, and she even bit his neck hard enough to draw blood, though this time she didn't drink any of it.

"You know, I wish I could mark you more permanently," Himiko sighed, peeling back and observing her handiwork. "But these disappear fast, no? Sometimes they disappear before I leave, even."

"Quirk," Izuku explained. "One For All has subsets of Quirks, each with their own abilities. One of them is Blackwhip, you know, the black string that brings you up to my room. Another is Chrono Force, which reconstructs my body apparently. I—"

"Shhhhhhhh." Himiko shushed Izuku by kissing him on the lips. This was a conversation that they could have another time—now, she was in the mood for something else.

She palmed Izuku Jr through his shorts, feeling the hard length against her hand.

"H-Himiko?" Izuku yelped in surprise, voice an octave higher than what it usually was.

"What?" she asked, innocently.

Izuku swallowed. "Y-Your hand…"

"Oh, I know," Himiko smiled. She had him right where she wanted him. Izuku had sparked that needy hunger in her, and this time, she wasn't going to leave until it was satiated.

"W-W-What are y-you doing?" Izuku stuttered, a mess of inflamed nerves.

She bit her lip and said sultrily, "I was just thinking I could maybe suck something of yours?"

Izuku froze at her direct words. Luckily enough for Himiko, her face was already so heavily flushed that delivering that line didn't change or add much to her complexion. Izuku, on the other hand, just paled. Himiko, worried that perhaps she had rushed things a bit too fast, was about to speak before Izuku squeaked out:

"Himiko. I-I think I just came."

Imiko blinked at him.

"No, I didn't." Izuku let loose a sigh of relief. "Really came close, though. You… surprised me, Himiko."

Himiko let a few giggles loose into her bare arm. So, she and Izuku were both weak to frontal attacks, huh. Well, it was more like Izuku had zero defense to speak of; teasing, frontal attacks, they all worked wonders on him.

God, Izuku was so cute. So fucking cute. So very absolutely fucking cute. And he was all hers.

Mine.

She had accidentally let it slip earlier, letting her thoughts become spoken words, but Izuku had responded perfectly: I'm all yours.

She loved him so fucking much.

She just wanted him to feel good.

She just wanted him to think of her.

She just wanted him to think only of her.

She just wanted to do all sorts of things with him.

She just wanted to do all sorts of things to him.

She just wanted to make him moan in pleasure.

She just wanted him inside her.

She just wanted to taste him.

She just wanted all of him.

Restraining herself slightly, Himiko decided to claim what was in front of her. She wanted him to get used to the idea of physical intimacy with her before they legitimately had sex. Himiko had that day, that moment, all planned out. No need to rush and do anything Izuku wasn't ready for. Start things off with some skinship, check. Spice things up with oral sex was the next step. Himiko had practiced for this day with cucumbers, but Izuku didn't have to know that.

"So…" she crawled down to the hem of his shorts and looked up at him. "… can I?"

Izuku looked at her, nervousness and excitement warring on his face. He eventually bit his lip and nodded, eyes never leaving hers.

"Good. I'm a bit thirsty, and it's not for blood."

Izuku laughed nervously. "A pun, Himiko?"

Himiko giggled. "It's a line I've always wanted to use with you. And, plus—"

She pulled down his shorts.

"I intend on draining you dry tonight."

---

Some notes:

1. This was a more fight intensive chapter. Please let me know your thoughts on how the fights were written and what you'd like to see moving forward. Warning though: if you think Izuku was too OP and don't like that, you should probably stop reading this. I'm planning on having him be a lot stronger than this. Like… a lot stronger. I wasn't joking when I said Eventual OP!Izuku. But, as you can probably already tell, the villains (like Tomura) are all much stronger as well due to being injected with Quirks much like Izuku was, so it somewhat evens out.

2. Momo and her massive crush on Izuku was fun to write. I see from reviews it's pretty evenly divided between people wanting Izuku/Momo and Izuku/Himiko. All according to plan, hehehe.

3. The last scene with Himiko was pure fanservice. Himiko's always fun to write.

4. Mirko's going to be appearing much more in the next few chapters, so look forward to that.

5. What did you guys think of Izuku vs Katsuki? I wanted to highlight that, of the UA students, only Katsuki has enough firepower to break through Izuku's Chrono Force. Shoto's not quite there yet.

6. Thank you all so much for the reviews, favorites, and follows! Be sure to leave a review so I can get your thoughts on the story so far! Thanks for reading!