"Y-Yui! What are you talking about!?" Itsuka with a blushing face slight raised her voice as she questioned her best friend.
Yui just tilted her head with a blank expression.
"Don't give me that 'what are you talking about?' face! You said you wanted to f-f-f-f-" Itsuka stuttered out the last part.
"You said you wanted to have... sexual intercourse with Mochizuki-kun, correct?" Reiko came to Itsuka rescue by finishing her sentence.
Yui nodded.
"Do you perhaps... bear feelings for him?"
Everyone who was there swore that they saw Yui's facial expression slightly changed to embarrassed, but it was quickly reverted back to neutral as the girl nodded.
"May we inquire what make you feel that way towards him?"
She just shrugged, like herself didn't even know why. But before Reiko could jave any follow-up questions, Present Mic announcement of the two competes caught their attention as they turned to the stage, watching their classmates.
Loading up 3 Prosthetic Tools for the upcoming match, Aki unconsciously stared at the charm that he tied on his katana, the charm that was given to him by his aunt who is still travelling at god knows where. The last time she was home was... his graduation? Damn, that felt like forever ago! His thought then went to Shoko. He overheard her story. Her unwillingness to use the fire side of her. That, however, was changed in her match against Izuku. That idiot-broccoli of a friend sacrificed his own limbs to force her to use that fire. But, her match against Iida proved that she was still conflicted over it.
The final 'clank' of the Prosthetic successfully loaded into the arm brought him out of his thought, just in time for Present Mic to announce him name. Aki gave the arm a final visual check-up before he grabbed the katana and headed to the stage.
Shoko stared at her left arm. She used it. The fire. His fire... her fire. Weirdly, it didn't feel frustrated. She was... relief. She was shackled to the chain that Endeavor's desperation to become number One has created. Midoriya helped her to escape that chain, but she was still one foot in the past. The unwillingness to use her left side was still there.
And she didn't know how to completely get rid of it.
"ON MY RIGHT SIDE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! DAUGHTER OF ENDEAVOR, FIRST PLACE IN THE RECOMMENDATION EXAM! A QUIRK THAT BRINGS THAT BLAZING HEAT AND FREEZING COLD OF HELL! TODOROKI SHOKOOOO!"
Present Mic's exciting introduction along with the crowd's uproar brought in Shoko, who coldly walked in with an unchanged expression, except for her scary determined gaze at Aki's side of the ring.
"AND NEXT! ERASERHEAD, YOUR TURN!"
"Whatever, let get this silly introduction over with. Eh, coming in Mochizuki Aki from 1-B. Against all odds, this kid made it into the final without using his Quirk and only with a wooden sword. Now with his katana, I actually looking forward to how he would climb over this wall. Mochizuki, report on stage now."
Aki walked in with Eraserhead's lame yet surprisingly motivated introduction along with a few claps here and there on the audience except for his classmates who were howling his name like hungry wolf, which he won't admit that was really heartwarming.
"Any word for each other?" Midnight looked at the two contestants.
"Don't do this to yourself, Mochizuki. While your skill with sword is amazing, it is no match against my Quirk. I don't want to hurt you."
"Save it, Soba Girl. I'm doing this for myself, all ramen-lover on Earth and an idiot who loves his hospital bed."
"You already know the rules. Are you two ready?"
Both of them got into their stances as they nodded. Shoko moved her left leg back, slightly bend her right knee. Aki, unlike usual, hold his katana's saya (sword scabbard) on his left hand, his right left slid black in a 90-degree position to his left leg, his right hand ready to grab the sword while his posture slightly bends down.
"Ready."
"Ready."
Midnight gave both of them a last look, before loudly yelled.
"BEGIN!"
At the signal, Shoko stomped her right foot on the ground, creating a massive glacier trail towards Aki's position.
However, before the ice could engulfed Aki, it cracks.
The cracking gets louder and louder before it broke entirely, revealing an undamaged Aki. The saya is now safely on his left hip, his only functional eye gaze directed at Shoko as his breathe is visible due to the freezing temperature. What was more captivating, was that everyone in the stadium could felt, even saw the wind gathering around Aki or more specifically, his katana.
Shoko was lost in the unbelievable scene in a few seconds, before she snapped out of it and prepared to attack again. She got back to her stance, stomping her feet with more strength than before, creating a faster glacier that taller and formed faster.
It didn't work though. Her opponent got back into the same position as before but this time, she could see the wind gathering at his katana. Just when the glacier was a few inches away from his face, Aki made a turning overhead slash, creating a strong trail of wind that shattered the glacier like glass.
"Isshin-sama, you didn't..."
Emma just said in a tired manner as she sighs, while the man in question just laughed, a genuinely amused laugh as he listened to the nurse complaint while looking through the crowd of flabbergasted audience, straight at the young boy he gave the scroll to. The scroll that contains a move that only he and one other known about since the day Isshin created it. The move that the young Shinobi he took interest to is currently performing.
Dragon Flash.
Aki glared through the broken glacier, straight at Shoko. The woman wore a surprise look on her face which, Aki admitted that he would too, if he wasn't focusing on the fight. It was pure luck that he received the scroll that contains a Combat Art this strong and kudos to his extraordinary memorize skill, he managed to grasp the move's concept within the short time that was given.
Back to the main topic. He got through the first phase of his plan. Dragon Flash made it clear to Shoko that her Ice isn't enough, but the hesitant look in her eyes already told Aki enough. Shoko created a wall of ice between Aki and her, but was quickly torn down. This kept on repeating, Shoko dodged away, creating an ice wall and trying to attack Aki which turns out to be fruitless attempts as the young Shinobi kept up his assault with Dragon Flash.
However, everyone could see that Shoko was slowing down. Her right was almost totally covered in ice as she let out cold, shudder breath as she tried to avoid Aki's wind slashes. Finally, she was at her limit as she created an ice wall and kneeled down, desperately trying to regain her breath but the wall was quickly shattered again. Aki, looking at Shoko struggling to get up, finally let out his words.
"You can't win like this, Todoroki-san."
"... Shut up."
Shoko launched forwards, trying to grab Aki but the boy just simply stepped to the side, making the girl missed and fell flat on the ground before she slowly stood up, duo-color eyes looked straight into Aki.
"I- I'm going to win this, with my mom's power. I don't need h- his fire."
"You aren't tired of telling yourself those lies?"
The heterochromia girl flinched.
"I don't know what happened to you, but I know this: it's not your mother or your father's Quirk. It's yours. Your Quirk, your power, your strength, your dream. And if anyone disagrees, I'll beat them back and blue."
"So keep creating those walls. I don't care how many or how much nonsense you keep telling yourself! I'm going to tear down those walls, even if I have to die! So stand the fuck up, and fight me."
"You finally grew out of you rebellious, Shoko!"
Shoko directed her half-hearted glare at the voice. Endeavor, the no.2 Hero, her father, stood in front of her with a smug grin on his face. After the blowing match with Izuku, she walked backstage with her torn uniform, towards the locker.
"You will fulfill my desire and become the no.1 Hero. With that power, nothing and no one will dare to stand in your way! You will become my legacy!"
Instead of huffing and walking away like usual, Shoko looked at her left hand and mumbled.
"All my life, I thought that your fire is a curse, something that was forced on me, something I sworn I won't ever use. But in that fight, I... forgot about it. All I care about was defeating my opponent. To win."
She then pushed pass Endeavor and walked towards the locker room.
"Todoroki-san! Don't give up!"
Shoko looked at her class section and saw a green, fluffy set of hair that popped in front. His voice snapped her out of her shock. She clicked her teeth, focusing her glare at her opponent, who was smiling from ear to ear, looking at her blazing left arm.
"You two morons... Willing to throw away your match just to convince me to use my Fire...!" Shoko mimic the same grin as Aki as she drew her hand back like a charging motion
"Sounds to me like you are just too stubborn, Soba Girl!" Aki said as he got into Dragon Flash stance and charged the slash.
"Goddamit! Not Again! Cementoss!"
"Got you!"
Unlike the match between Shoko and Izuku, Midnight and Cementoss reacted faster as the walls were already created before they attacked. Yet, that stopped neither of them as they continued to charge up their moves for a few seconds, before the burst of fire met the earth-splitting wind wave.
Even though the attack was weakened because of the walls, the knock-back from the clash of both attacks were so strong that Nezu had to active the audience-protected barrier to protect them from the heatwave created by the attacks. Even Shoko has to make an ice wall behind her while Aki stabbed his katana to the ground and used the Umbrella. Finally, the air combusted and turned into an explosion, following by the cloud of smoke that blinded the whole stadium. The audience wasn't affected thanks to the barrier that Nezu raised, but the anxiety and nervousness made them leaned towards the ring from their seats as much as they could. The whole stadium stayed in silence, watching the smoke slowly fading and waiting.
After a minute, which felt like hours, the smoke cloud has finally faded enough for everyone to see what was going on in the ring downstage. To some surprise, or expectation, the audience witnessed Shoko laying on her ice wall, eyes squinting at Aki's direction as she gasped for some breathe and tried to sit up but the only thing responding was her head slightly lifting up before it gave up and fell down quickly. On the direction Shoko was glaring at, the crowd saw Aki one knee on the ground, both his hand on the katana that stabbed to the ground beneath, his legs shaking as he struggling to stand up.
The staff seems to snap out of it as Present Mic loudly commented.
"AN EXPLODING CLASH! TODOROKI'S FIRE AND MOCHIZUKI'S SWORD CREATED AN EXPLOSION THAT EVEN I COULD FELT IT ALL THE WAY UP HERE! BUT MORE IMPORTANT, WHO'LL COME VICTORY OF THIS CLASH!?"
Midnight used both her hands to slap her cheeks, running over to Shoko. She kneeled down, checking for any injuries over her students before asking.
"Can you continue?"
Shoko desperately tried to sit up, but to no avail. She let out a tired sigh while shaking her head, unable to hide the relief smile on her face.
Looking at her student satisfaction even though she just lost, Midnight proudly nodded and smiled before she made it back to referee pole, raising her whip and announced.
"It's settled! Mochizuki Aki from class 1-B will be the 1st ye-"
"Eh, Midnight-sensei?"
Aki raised his hand, cutting Midnight off her speech. The woman confusingly turned her head towards her student direction, gesturing him to speak.
"I don't think I'm qualify to win..."
He pointed down to the ground in front of him. Midnight directed her gaze along with his finger and saw Aki... standing outside of the ring!
"I think the shockwave pushed me out of the ring?"
"I think so as well, kid."
"So... I guess... Todoroki-san is the winner?"
"... I take that smile on your face as you forfeiting?"
Aki only responded with a wider smile as he sheathed his katana. Midnight couldn't help but showed a similar smile before she raised her whip and announced once again.
"Mochizuki Aki is out of the ring! Todoroki Shoko from class 1-A will be the 1st year Sport Festival Winner!"
The crowd deafening cheers resonated over the whole stadium, chanting both contestants' names. Aki walked over to Shoko, ignoring Midnight's wink and her mouthing something about 'be a gentleman'. He kneeled down next to Shoko, looking at her... pouting cheeks as she looked away from him. It was dangerously cute, but he'd rather bring that to the grave instead of admitting it.
"Eh... Todoroki-san?"
"I don't want your pity. You should have won."
"I should have, if my feet weren't out of the ring."
"I don't want a win like this."
"You sound just like Bakugou-san. Besides, if I really did win, I wouldn't want to win when my opponent wasn't doing her best as well."
Both of them knew Aki was talking about Shoko awful control over her fire. However, instead of getting angry, Shoko just smiled. A smile of someone who was just relieved of an invisible burden.
Aki sighed, giving his right hand.
"Can you stand?"
"... Don't wanna."
Aki sighed louder, before he wrapped his left hand under Shoko's knee and his right hand over her shoulder, and lifted her up in a princess carry. Shoko let out an uncharacteristic yelp as she was lifted from the ground.
"Consider this my apology for being so harsh with my word." Aki quietly said, pressuring down his blush as he walked towards the infirmary. Shoko just quietly nodded as she slowly nudged her head in Aki's chest, before drifting off to sleep.
"... I'm not the only one who wants him to carry me like that, am I?"
Setsuna pointed to the ring, at Aki carrying Shoko, with red, burning cheeks. She looked over and saw Ibara and Kendou's faces in the same state as her. Yui and Reiko didn't look any flustered, but Yui's drooling mouth says otherwise, while Reiko just took out her phone, snapping pictures of Aki carrying Shoko with an evil grin on her face. Kinoko and Pony just cheered loudly. The boys, on the other hand, was in a whole different state. Some, like Kaibara, Monoma and Shoda just clapped their hands, a little disappointed that Aki didn't win 1st place but happy nonetheless. Others like Tetsutetsu, Shishida and Tsuburaba were wiping their tears, mumbling stuff like 'So Manly!', 'Such a gallant display!' and 'He is the mentor we've been looking for!'.
Setsuna discreetly rubbed her thighs together.
Maybe Yui was right after all.
A/N: Quite a short chapter, I know. But with that, we are settled with the Sport Festival Arc, except for the closing ceremony which I will be doing the next chapter.
I have other ideas while writing the fight, but I had to stick to the spoiler that I gave so maybe it's a little disappointed, but it's good enough, I guess.
Next chapter I'll be touching on some topics, like Mei, Ochako and Aki's daily life. Maybe I'll add someone familiar... we'll see. Oh, and if you play Sekiro, yes, it is true that I'll be using Lady Tomoe as Aki's Guardian/Aunt. I think it's fun. She'll be a fun parent's figure to Aki aside from Wolf, you'll hear about her more in the future.
And now, for the surprise thing that I definitely planned out...
Group Chat!
? Server
Emily added Zombie to the server
Zombie: I thought u were joking, Yanagi!
Emily: Its your mistake for giving me your Discord. Prepare to be spam with memes! And Zombie?
Zombie: Im technically one of em. Also, Emily? A little predictable?
Emily: I like her
Zombie: Fair enough
Zombie: Anyone else I should be expecting in this chat? Also, are u just going to spam memes or we'll be watching movie together here, like I suggested?
Emily: Yes
Zombie: …... its already started!
Zombie: Also, u talk different online
Emily: It would take too long if i text the way i talk
Emily: I summon you here to talk about the sport festival. Need some help
Zombie: Not sure if il'be any useful but aight
Zombie: Shoot
Emily: Any tips on how you aim your shuriken? Got problem with accuracy
Zombie: I would say practice but
Zombie: For me, i aim for the area around the spot i target
Zombie: Aiming for 1 exact spot is impossible after all
Zombie: Like if i aim for the heart, i'll just target around that part
Zombie: It feels easier that way
Emily: Noted
Emily: Will try
Emily: Thanks
Zombie: Np
Emily: Now that thats outta da way, lets watch some movies!
Emily: What you wanna watch?
Zombie: I dunno
Zombie: We already watch the good ones
Zombie: Oh! How about u stream one of those horror games you have while i watch?
Emily: Fine to me
Emily: Wont you be bored though?
Zombie: Nah, im too scared to play anyway
Zombie: Downside of living alone
Emily: If you say so
Emily: Which game
Emily: I already finish the outlast series
Zombie: Share ur screen. Lemme see the library
Zombie: U got the whole dark souls trilogy!?
Emily: And finished them. Focus
Zombie: Whats that game? Suite 776
Emily: Dunno. Got it while it was free or something
Zombie: Looks scary
Zombie: Try?
Emily: Dont see why not
55 minutes later
Emily: …...
Zombie: …...
Zombie: That was...
Emily: Terrifying
Zombie: Couldnt have say it better
Zombie: I got anxiety watching
Emily: Good stuff though
Emily: Still gonna delete it
Zombie: Yeah that game is too scary
Zombie: Phasmophobia?
Yanagi: Sure
A/N: Reiko and Aki's Discord server XD
There's only both of them inside the server now so it just them chatting about stuff. Expect to se more character and more chaos. This omake will be in every future chapter.