Chapter 7: Tactical Flirting

"I think I'm in love with you."

Internally, Yaoyorozu was bursting with pride. Pride in how far Midoriya had come in so short a time. Two weeks ago, he had been stumbling over himself, making excuses for Bakugo, and downplayed his abilities and accomplishments. But now? Now he had showed the world what he was capable of, what she had seen since the first time she had helped him with training. And the confession! Even a week ago she couldn't imagine Midoriya being so bold!

Externally was a different story. Any observer would tell you that Yaoyorozu's operating system had crashed and was in dire need of a reboot. She was blushing so brightly that if one wasn't careful, they could mistake her for a traffic light.

"Midoriya. I-"

"Yaoyorozu, I-"

Of course! Of course they would interrupt each other! This was shaping up like the scene in Love in a Remnant of the World when John D'Arc confessed his feelings to Blanche Snow! And this time there wasn't that objectively terrible Dance Arc love triangle nonsense to get in the way! Oh, now Midoriya was blushing!

In whatever singular braincell that Yaoyorozu possessed that was still capable of rational thought, she realized that she needed to respond. Should I just quote the manga? That would help settle my nerves. Wait, that won't work! It wouldn't make any sense for me to call him my darling knight! "Midoriya, I... um... you see..." Oh, sure. NOW I can't make sentences?

Midoriya started fidgeting as he edged away from her. "Um, I can go. If you want to think. About what I said."

Yaoyorozu's hand lashed out and grabbed Midoriya by the arm. She needed to be straightforward. If she wasn't, that ran the risk of Midoriya misunderstanding what her intent was. And with as much as she hated that trope in fiction, she would not abide it in her actual love life. "Midoriya, because we don't have time to have this conversation properly, I'm going to be blunt."

"Okay..."

"You don't need to worry, I reciprocate your feelings. However, I want to wait until after the Sports Festival before we talk about this further, so we can focus fully on the competition."

Midoriya dot exe has crashed. Would you like to reboot? "You recip- recipro- like me too?"

Unfortunately, Midnight chose that moment to announce the full results from the Obstacle Race. "Well, that was the first years' first chance to shine, what do you all think?" The audience went wild, shouting their heads off for a good fifteen seconds before Midnight continued, "But before we move on, we need to learn who is moving on. It's simple. If you got forty-second place or higher, you are safe! And if you didn't make the cut, there will be other chances to show what you're made of." She concluded her summary by... licking her lips.

Yaoyorozu frowned. She understood that Midnight had a public persona she had to maintain, but this was a high school event, televised or no.

"Now, before we move on to the next event, let's give you a reminder of who made it." She pointed behind her with her riding crop, and a holographic scoreboard appeared, detailing the forty-two who had made it.

"Looks like most of our class," Midoriya muttered, "most of 1-B, too. A small group from General Studies... and someone from the Support Course too." Midoriya muttered, "Can't underestimate them. They beat Hero Course students to get here."

Yaoyorozu clenched her fist. Midoriya was absolutely right. Everyone from the top to the bottom of the remaining competitors was a threat, and had to be regarded as such. "Midoriya?"

"Yeah?"

"Don't you dare go easy on me."

"I won't." Midoriya said, his determination etched onto his face, "To not give my all now would be an insult to everyone who's supported me so far... including you."

"Alright." Midnight said, the leaderboard behind her fading from existence. "Let's find out what event awaits our forty-two first year superstars next!" As she pointed to the sky, a holographic representation of a roulette wheel appeared behind her. As it spun, the names of the events flew by. Finally, it came to a stop.

"Oh, we've got one of our new events this year!" Midnight said, "You're going to be playing Blitzball!"

Iida's hand shot up. "Midnight-sensei, how do you expect us to be underwater for this event? The arena doesn't have the facilities for this!"

Everyone looked at Tenya Iida like he had grown a second head. "How the hell do you know about that, Four Eyes?" Bakugo snapped.

"I have hobbies, Bakugo!"

"It's simple! The only thing that this game shares with the game of the same name from a popular video game series is the name itself." Midnight explained. "Here are the rules! It plays like dodgeball, except there are no teams and no getting knocked out! Every player will be assigned a point value based on their finish on the Obstacle Race. Hit a person, and you get that many points, but if they catch your ball, they get the points that you would've gotten!"

"Interesting." Midoriya said, "For people at the top, just going on the defensive and catching as many balls as possible is a viable option. But the people at the bottom are incentivized to sneak up on the leaders' blind spots so they can rack up some points. This is going to be chaotic to say the least."

Midnight continued, heedless of Midoriya's muttering, "Quirk usage is allowed, but you cannot attack other players directly with your Quirk. Now, as for the point values. If you placed between twenty-two and forty-two during the race, you're worth ten points. Four to twenty-one is worth twenty points. If you were second or third, you're worth fifty. And number one is worth a grand total of five hundred points!"

Midoriya froze as flashbacks from PE class in middle school overwhelmed him, and a general sense of dread descended. That is, until he realized the advantage he had. With all the benefits of Full Cowling, he had an immense advantage over everyone else.

Yaoyorozu was already brainstorming a creation. She wasn't sure if it would work, but if it did, the results would be spectacular.

"You have five minutes to rehydrate." Midnight said, "After that, it's time to start."

No pressure or anything.


There were three things in the world that Tomura Shigiraki was unable to decay. Two of these things were awesome. One of these was not. He was currently being tormented by the thing that was not. "Stupid cockroaches." He muttered as he brushed one of the offending bugs off of his pant leg. "With their stupid invuln hacks."

A chuckle from the monitor, "You don't seem to mind the other things you can't decay, young Tomura."

Shigiraki didn't respond, instead he reached for the pile of Twinkies, decayed the wrapper off of one, and took a bite. Yep. This one was awesome, "Why am I even watching this stupid Sports Festival, anyways? It's just a glorification of the status quo."

"You are gathering information, Tomura." Sensei explained, "For example, during the first event alone, I have identified three weaknesses in Izuku Midoriya."

Shigiraki sat up straight, "Wait, really? Can I get a do-over?"

"Of course." The footage rewinded to the beginning of the Obstacle Race, "Now, I'll even pause at each weakness. There may be more than I've told you about."

Tomura's eyes narrowed as he watched the footage again. He had called Izuku a shitty little All Might before, but it truly seemed like the boy was earning that title with how he was moving and fighting. But why didn't he just blitz past all of the rabble? Unless... "Pause it."

The footage froze, and the onscreen Midoriya froze mid-stomp. "Oh? What do you think you have found, young Tomura?" Sensei asked.

"First weakness is his Quirk. He can't use it at full power without hurting himself. It's like Double-Edge in Pokémon. Super powerful, but he takes recoil damage. He was a lot faster and stronger at the USJ than he's showing off here."

"Well done. You are correct, Izuku seems to be limiting how much of One For All he's using. As I have fought All Might at his prime, what the boy is using now is merely a shadow of its full potential."

Shigiraki blinked. "The hell is One For All? The Quirk Registry said his Quirk was Superpower." What's Sensei on about?

"A hastily constructed lie to keep the boy from those who would be interested in studying a transferable Quirk. Or stealing it."

Shigiraki leaned back, "Is that our win condition? Stealing One For All from him?"

There was clapping from the monitor. "Very good, Tomura! While our end goal is to finally reclaim One For All, there is much that you must do first. Namely, destroy society's faith in heroes, that is the first step."

Geez, put me on Expert difficulty right off, no big deal. "Reclaim? Did All Might steal it from you, somehow?"

"That is a story for another time, Tomura. Do not lose sight of the forest for the trees. Now, observe. This is possibly Izuku Midoriya's greatest weakness."

Shigiraki looked at the screen, and saw it frozen on an image of a girl, seemingly pulling a cannon out of her body. "Why's this chick important?"

"Because, before this moment, Izuku was content to simply qualify for the next round. Afterwards, he demolished his competition. Why do you think that is, Tomura?"

"He likes her? Wanted to impress her?" Shigiraki guessed, "So we hurt him through her? Should we just kill her?"

Sensei laughed, "Oh, heavens no! I never had this sort of opportunity with All Might, so I'm going to make sure you understand the full breadth of torment you will be able to leverage against Izuku Midoriya. If you kill this girl, you might send him into depression for a time. But he will come out of it, and be angry. You do not want this. We want to send him into despair."

Shigiraki chewed it over with another Twinkie. "Okay. Make Izuku think she's a traitor, prompting him to throw her in Tartarus for life, then reveal to him that she was innocent the whole time?"

"My thoughts exactly, young Tomura. My thoughts exactly."


A big pile of dodgeballs in the middle, and everyone standing at equidistant points. A big target on his head. Everyone gunning for him.

This was familiar territory for Izuku Midoriya. This time, he had the power to fight back.

And he was going to win.

"START!"

One For All: Full Cowling, Five Percent.

In the instant that it took Midoriya to regulate One For All, Todoroki unleashed his opening move. Namely, turning the arena into a skating rink. Midoriya could've sworn he heard at least three people say "Damn it, 1-A!"

Midoriya gritted his teeth and brought down his foot in a stomp to break up the ice. It would help others, but he needed to get a move on.

"Your bullshit won't stop me!" Bakugo yelled as he used his Quirk to bypass the new hazard entirely and chuck a dodgeball at Todoroki, "YOU ICY-HOT BASTARD!"

Both of them were completely oblivious to Midoriya and Iida bearing down on them. "Wha- Iida?"

Iida laughed, "Do you really think I wouldn't have trained how to run on ice or in other situations of precarious balance, Midoriya?" He was going to reach the rest of the dodgeballs before Midoriya even had a chance to grab one.

Well, time to see if that theory he had concocted beforehand was going to pay off.

"DELAWARE SMASH!"

The blast of air hit the pile of dodgeballs and sent them all flying. Iida alone got hit with five of them, and many of the others went on to hit other targets.

"Oh, what's this?" Present Mic said, "A bold move and clever application of his Quirk pays off big time for Midoriya! He jumps into the lead!"

This had the expected result of launching a living intercontinental ballistic missile at him. "I'M GONNA CREAM YOU, DEKU!" Bakugo threw a dodgeball at Midoriya, using an explosion to make sure it hurt.

Once upon a time, Midoriya would have cowered in fear at this. Now, with the power of One For All behind him, he simply caught the ball, pivoted, and returned it to sender. It hit Bakugo squarely in the face, causing him to slip on the ice and land firmly on his rear end.

"Ha! That's how it feels, Bakugo!"

Bakugo moved towards Midoriya, only to be waylaid by another dodgeball. Both of them looked to see Momo Yaoyorozu with a backpack powered air cannon.

"Hands off, Bakugo." Yaoyorozu hissed.

Why does it feel like I'm in danger? Midoriya ruminated internally.


This sucked.

To be fair, Jiro said that about a lot of things. Watching Yaomomo jump on a figurative grenade for her at the USJ was definitely on her list of things that sucked the most. Right under Mineta.

But this glorified free for all dodgeball match definitely sucked. That rule about no attacking other people with your Quirk meant that she was basically doing this whole thing Quirkless.

"Ugh, this sucks."

She reflexively turned and threw the dodgeball in her hand, catching Kaminari in the chest. "Aw, come on!"

"It's free for all, you dork." She said with a giggle.

"Midnight-sensei didn't say we couldn't team up!" Kaminari protested.

That much was true. There was no rule that specifically prohibited that. She scanned the playing field and spied Yaoyorozu menacing Midoriya, and a group of dodgeballs that had come to rest between them.

Perfect.

"Alright, here's the plan-" Jiro began.

"Grab those dodgeballs, and nail Midoriya with them, securing our spot in the finals?"

Jiro did a double take, "When and how?"

Kaminari had the nerve to wink at her. How dare he make her blush! "I might be the dumbest kid in our class, but all that means is that I'm the worst of the best, you know?"

Jiro laughed as they made a dash for the dodgeballs. Bakugo and Todoroki were battling it out after the former had made a tactical retreat, likely to not wanting to fall victim of Yaoyorozu's ire. While the two of them were at a stalemate, they were racking up points due the collateral damage of everyone from class 1-B who tried to take them down.

It was a perfect plan. If it wasn't for Midoriya somehow knowing what was going on. The instant that the dodgeballs had left their hands, Midoriya turned. Without time to catch all four, he opted to catch what he could, and snatched Jiro's dodgeballs out of the air. Kaminari's balls hit him in the chest and mid section. "Thanks for the ammo, Jiro!" He said all too cheerfully.

"Midoriya and Kaminari surge up the standings! But will it be enough?"

"Crap!" Kaminari said,

Yaoyorozu leveled what looked to be some kind of air cannon at him and launched a dodgeball that hit Kaminari in the face. Jiro grabbed his arm, "Let's get out of here, we aren't going to win this!"

"Yeah, yeah... yowch."

Jiro made a decision. If Kaminari had the balls to wink at her, then run in and attack one of the most powerful people in their class in a situation where he was effectively Quirkless, then there must be something about him worth keeping around. "Don't worry, Sparkplug. After this is over, if neither of us make it to the next round, I'll buy you something pretty."

"Huh?" Kaminari said lamely, "Sparkplug?"

"Hey, you're the one who winked at me!" Jiro replied.

"I didn't think I'd get this far!"


Midoriya glanced at the leaderboard. Thanks to his defensive strategy he was still in first place and time was winding down. He just had one last opponent to overcome...

No, that didn't sound quite right. This had to be some sort of mid-battle flirting. And he was all for it! "You can't beat me, Yaoyorozu! I'm too fast for you!"

"We'll see about that, Midoriya, I always get what I want." She shot back, training her air cannon at him. "Now, how about I show you why my mother says I should call myself the Fire For Effect Hero?"

Midoriya immediately darted to the left. Yaoyorozu was holding the air cannon she was using to fire dodgeballs with her right hand, so this maneuver should keep him out of her field of fire long enough to-

The dodgeball he took to the gut broke that strategy over its figurative knee.

"You move too linearly, Midoriya. Your speed could allow you to blitz most targets, but anyone with half a brain can predict your lines of att-"

Midoriya seriously hoped that interrupting Yaoyorozu with a dodgeball to the face didn't invalidate her feelings for him. They both stood frozen in place for a moment, until Midoriya dared to speak up, "I'm going to pay for that later, aren't I?"

Yaoyorozu smiled at him sweetly, almost too sweetly. "Wherever did you get that idea, my dear Midoriya?"

Midoriya chuckled, "I'm in danger!"

Yaoyorozu attempted to fire another dodgeball at him, but there was a snap, crackle, and a pop from the backpack that powered her air cannon as said dodgeball traveled approximately two feet before it hit the ground. "Oh, you've got to be- It's fine the whole time, and now it has a short?"

Midoriya blinked, "Is it just me, or does this feel anticlima-"

"That's it, loyal listeners!" Present Mic bellowed, "Time's up! Let's find out who made it to the final round!"

"Yes." Yaoyorozu said, "Yes, it was."

They turned towards the leaderboard so Midnight could announce the standings.

"I'm sure you're all impatient to find out who's moving on, so I'll just cut to the chase. Here's the results in no particular order, since that won't matter past this point."

Midoriya clenched his fists. Did he make it?

"First off, from the Support Course! It's Mei Hatsume!" Midnight announced. The picture of a pink haired girl wearing goggles flashed up on the screen. Midoriya heard giggling that he could only call ominous from a ways behind him.

"Next, we have Hitoshi Shinso, from General Studies!" The face of a boy with wild purple hair appeared.

Midoriya almost immediately started theorizing. "For a General Studies student to come this far, he's either been training secretly, or has a Quirk that is incredibly powerful on its own."

Yaoyorozu tapped her chin, "I'm not so sure, Midoriya. What if his Quirk isn't particularly powerful, but it's just something that's difficult or impossible to fight against once he uses it?"

"Of course!" Midoriya said, "A Quirk that isn't particularly powerful, but utterly dominates once the proper conditions are met!"

"Exactly."

In the meantime, several more finalists were revealed. Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima, two from Class 1-B. "They must be saving the high scorers for the end." Yaoyorozu said.

As Midnight continued, she got more and more descriptive, likely to amp up the crowd. "So far, you've seen her pull solutions for the obstacles facing her out of thin air and you've seen her fire for effect with spectacular results. It's Momo Yaoyorozu!"

Iida and Uraraka made the cut, along with Mina, Tokoyami, and Aoyama. Somehow, he had made it in. However, it was coming down to the wire, there were only three spots left.

"Now, I think I've kept you in suspense long enough, so I'll reveal the final three all at once." Midnight said, displaying an ability to work a crowd on par from Present Mic. "Now, these three represent the best of our first year students, and they've proven their mettle. Not only here at the Sports Festival, but during the chaos of the USJ attack. All eyes will undoubtedly be on them as we continue into the finals."

"Get on with it!" Someone from the stands shouted.

Midnight grinned. "Shoto Todoroki. Katsuki Bakugo. Izuku Midoriya." After waiting for the crowd to calm down, she continued. "We will randomly determine the matchups for the first round of the tournament, which will be revealed later. In the meantime, it's time to let our first years take a break, and have an opportunity to refuel. Never fear! You'll see them back here in a hour to fight their hearts out."

Midoriya let out the breath he had been holding for so long that he had tears in his eyes. Yaororozu touched him on the shoulder. "Incoming." She muttered.

Midoriya turned to see Todoroki bearing down in him. "Todoroki? What do you want? You already-"

"We need to talk." He said flatly. "Alone."

Yaoyorozu stepped between them, "I don't think that's a good idea, Todoroki."

"Please, I'm not Bakugo." He said dismissively, "I just want to make sure that Midoriya and I understand each other."

Midoriya cocked his head in confusion, "What do you mean?"

Todoroki began to walk off. "You'll find out. Come."


"Are you All Might's secret love child?"

Midoriya blinked. Was... was Todoroki serious? Everything about this meeting had the makings of some shakedown or intimidation attempt. A deserted part of the arena. The cryptic lead up, the refusal to answer any questions up to this point. And then... this? Although, given what information he has, it does make a certain amount of sense. At least, if you don't know what's actually going on. I have to be very careful with what I tell him.

"I'm not All Might's secret love child." Midoriya managed to say with a straight face, "However, it is true that All Might has been helping me. Ever since my Quirk miraculously manifested last year."

Todoroki's glare sharpened, "So, similar Quirks. That explains why the feeling is the same. When you blew by my at the end of the Obstacle Race, it felt just like how it did when All Might did the same at the USJ." He took his hand out of his pocket and held it out, "No one else saw it, but for a split second I began to use... it. Years ago, I swore that I would never use my left side."

Why would he swear not to use half his Quirk?

Todoroki powered on, "You are aware who my father is?"

Midoriya nodded, "Of course. The Flame Hero, Endeavor."

Todoroki lowered his hand and closed his eyes. "Yes. The only Pro Hero who is seriously trying to surpass All Might. He's so obsessed with it that he got to the point of not caring if it was him or... a child of his, but one without the weaknesses of his Quirk. So, that's why I have the siblings I do. Because they were failures, according to him."

Midoriya froze. Todoroki could only be implying... but for someone so prominent in Hero Society to be involved with a Quirk Marriage, if it was ever made public knowledge... "Are you saying... Endeavor engaged in a Quirk Marriage?"

"Oh, good. I don't have to explain it." Todoroki said, "I'm sure you can understand why I refuse to be my father's good little creation."

Midoriya nodded. What could he even say to that?

Todoroki continued, heedless of Midoriya's growing distress. "I barely have any memories of my siblings growing up, because my father kept me separated from them as much as possible. He didn't want me growing attached to things that weren't surpassing All Might. There's only one memory I have of my mother where she isn't crying, but all the others..." He brushed his hair out of his face, allowing Midoriya a clear view of the burn that covered the left side of his face, "She told me that the left side of my face, the side that looks like my bastard of a father, was unbearable to look at. And she poured boiling water over my face."

Midoriya gasped. He could never imagine his own mother doing something like that to him, or ever hating his own father so much that he called him a bastard.

"This is why I declared war on you, Midoriya." Todoroki explained, "I am going to beat you, the heir apparent of the Symbol of Peace, without once using my father's damned Flashfire."

A flash of anger broke through Midoriya's horror. Even with all of the pain and suffering that Todoroki had endured, that didn't give him the right to say he was going to win using only half of his power! And even if he did, he still didn't... "Todoroki, even if you beat me without using your flames, you'll never surpass All Might. Not with anger or hate in your heart."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

Midoriya cracked a smile for the first time in their conversation. "Oh, I know plenty what I'm talking about. Why do you think All Might is the number one hero?"

"Because he's the strongest. Everyone knows that." Todoroki replied.

Midoriya shook his head, "That's simply not true, Todoroki, if we judged who was Number One simply by amount of incidents resolved, then your father would have already surpassed All Might years ago." He began to recite All Might's catchphrase, "It's alright now, why? Because I am here. All Might puts people at ease with just a few words. All Endeavor does is glare at them and treat them with indifference or disdain."

"What are you trying to say, Midoriya?"

"In trying so hard to not be your father, you're acting just like him. During this whole conversation, you haven't had any sort of facial expression that isn't a glare, and you treat our classmates just like Endeavor treats the public."

Todoroki shook his head and began to walk away. "No. You're wrong, and I'll prove it by beating you."

Midoriya laughed, "Oh my God, how dense are you? That won't prove anything! I'm curious, how long will this whole thing go? Through your whole pro career?"

"Yes." Todoroki said.

"So, what do you plan to do against villains that are immune to ice? The good man doing nothing while lives are lost. I'm sure that will help your ranking." Normally Midoriya wouldn't be this bitter, but Todoroki had provoked him. "You won't surpass All Might. You won't surpass me. You'll end up just like Endeavor. Hateful and bitter, and you'll just be perpetuating the cycle of abuse. Todoroki, I'll be blunt. You will never beat me while only using half of your Quirk."

Todoroki regarded him before turning away, "We'll see."

After he had walked away, Midoriya slid down the wall until he was sitting down. He knew that he should be focused on beating Todoroki. But yet...

But yet...

Even with that perpetual glare on his face...

He looked like he needed saving.


A/N: Lots of fun character moments in this chapter.

Yes, Iida does play Final Fantasy.

So, that Manga that Yaoyorozu reads? It's based off of something. A certain something that got me into writing in the first place.

Love in a Remnant of the World is loosely based off of RWBY. I regret nothing.

Looks like the Faceless Wonder and Hands McFace are trying to turn this into a Betrayal fic. Luckily, I am the author, so it'll ultimately fail but there will be some angst when that plan comes to fruition.

KamiJiro is go.

Yes, Bakugo did get dunked on fairly regularly in this chapter. That was planned.

As for Midoriya's convo with Todoroki, I feel like in canon, Midoriya let him off too easy. Like... what happened to Shoto was and is terrible and something that no one should have to endure, but that doesn't give him the right to be a dick.

Make a note of this. It's a theme in this story,

Next chapter it all comes to a head between Bakugo and Midoriya. Can't wait to get there, as it was one of the first things I planned for this fic.

Until next time.