Izuku has made some progress in friend-making, but this one two-faced classmate mostly annoy's him. Then again, maybe he's not quite what he seems like on the surface.

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Comments:

Flashyyyyyyy: Glad you liked it.

GgeorGge: Not sure why All Might would see that aggression as a positive.

BradenTrivett: I haven't settled on how they are going to end up but Death Arms isn't going in a positive direction.

Dsman: You mean Inko. Sure doesn't.

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Proofread by 3DPhantom

Chapter 35: What's Up With Todoroki?

Izuku raised up his arm to shield his face from the flames as he peered through thick smoke, only barely distinguishing a human shaped form on the floor. If it made a sound it was covered under the woosh of the fire, at least to Izuku's ears.

"Found one!" He shouted and kept pushing through the smoke, grateful for being prepared with a fireproof suit and his gas mask. It didn't have an oxygen supply, making breathing still difficult with so much oxygen in the air being consumed, but at least his lungs weren't full of irritating smoke.

Considering the coughing behind him Shoji certainly regretted not being as prepared. Izuku dragged the victim away from the flames and helped to lift him on Shoji's back with three others who were held up by Shoji's many tentacle arms, which had also split into many eyes and ears. One had formed a mouth and stayed low close to the floor where the smoke was at its thinnest.

"That should be everyone," Izuku said.

"I agree…" Shoji coughed. "I can't detect anyone else."

Izuku nodded and followed his larger classmate as they turned to get out. Izuku made sure no one fell off as Shoji navigated back to the exit. As soon as they emerged from the smoke-filled doorway Izuku drew a deep breath, amazed at how great a thing as basic as fresh air could feel.

"Time, five minutes, twelve seconds," a robotic voice announced as Izuku helped to put down the dolls in a fake medical area.

"Good job," Aizawa said, still completely wrapped in bandages, "especially cooperating to take full advantage of your respective abilities, and good preparation. Join the others and review your work. I want to hear five mistakes you made at the end of class."

The rest of the class waited nearby, watching from a large screen on the fake street close to the building set up to be on fire. That way neither they nor Aizawa needed to walk all the way to some distant observation room and back. Gave them more time for the actual training. Izuku and Shoji joined the group.

"Next, Kirishima and Todoroki."

"Oh yeaah!" Kirishima shouted and slammed his hardened fist together. Todoroki followed silently with an empty expression showing boredom at most.

"How do you think they are going to do?" Hitoshi asked as Izuku got within talking distance."

Izuku glanced at the duo, especially Todoroki.

"About ten seconds."

"What?"

"You should already know."

They looked as the two took positions in front of the building while UA robots carried the dolls representing victims back inside.

"Ready," Aizawa prepared, "go!"

Todoroki twisted his leg a bit and a stream of ice shot out until it reached the building and started spreading across the wall and in through every opening."

"5, 6, 7, 8" Izuku counted out loud as the ice approached the top of the building, "9 and 10."

He finished just as the entire building was covered and there was no more fire. The last puffs of smoke floated up from the frozen windows. Kirishima's shoulders drooped. Izuku licked his lips.

"I've done my part," Todoroki said. "Go get the dolls will you."

As Kirishima sighed and walked into the building, Izuku was practically drooling at Todoroki's quirk. He was only restrained by his annoyance at the arrogance of his two-faced classmate. It was so easy to look down on others when you were born with a godly quirk in a super-rich family.

Izuku wasn't exactly in the position to complain about Todoroki having those things, but the way he used them and seemed to think of others as below him was a different matter. It didn't feel as bad as the loud and violent attitude of the last walking ego Izuku had to deal with, but would all the same help put less lucky people down. He didn't even get into UA fair and square, but because of who his dad was.

"Izuku," Hitoshi whispered, "you have that look in your eyes. Don't get in trouble with the Todorokis."

Izuku blinked

"What do you mean get in trouble?"

"You know what I mean… problem child."

Izuku tilted his head to stare at Hitoshi.

"You have spent too much time with Eraserhead this week."

"And who do you think you should blame for that?"

Izuku pressed his lips together and turned away, having been outmanoeuvred. Still, those lips twitched a little upwards, at least until Todoroki, still not bothering to help Kirishima carry out the dolls, glanced at Izuku. As their eyes met Izuku realized it wasn't just a random glance. Todoroki turned away as soon as he realized he had been caught.

"Anyway," Hitoshi said, taking back Izuku's attention, "I'm going to have another special class today after this."

"Great, do you think you can take advantage of that for the Sports Festival?"

"Are you kidding? I'm still in the not-getting-wrapped-up-in-the-damn-thing phase. Even Aizawa sensei took years to figure out how to work that thing."

"We could ask him to give you even more lessons."

"No. After how you got me these, I don't want to know how you'd get any more. I prefer you with all limbs attached."

"Me too," Dark Shadow said, having appeared to hover over them. "Fumi really didn't like to see you hurt like that. He kept talking about how you could walk on such darkness for someone and still stay in the light with them, or something like that."

"Dark Shadow! Get back here."

"Do I have to? That shiny sparkling guy is right next to you," Dark Shadow whined pointing at Aoyama. "Too bright."

Tokoyami muttered something under his breath and the class continued with Aizawa criticizing Todoroki's behaviour, saying things like "in a real situation every hero needs to retrieve victims as quickly and safely as possible to minimize casualties" and such.

If Todoroki cared, he didn't show it. As the lesson ended Hitoshi stayed behind with Izuku and Tenya and the trio headed to the sports field.

"Hey!" Kirishima called to them, "where are you going?"

"Training," Izuku responded.

"Cool, can I come?"

"If you want," Izuku said.

"If?" Hitoshi asked. "You know this is Kirishima we are talking about. When there is the option to train, he's as crazy as you… almost."

Tenya didn't say anything but nodded in affirmation.

"What can I say," Kirishima smirked, having caught up to them. "I don't want to ever regret being too weak and scared again."

"Again?" Izuku asked, looking at the redhead.

"Yeah," Kirishima said. It was quiet, almost a sigh. Izuku turned his head back forward.

"I'm not going to ask. You can choose if you want to talk about it."

"It wasn't that serious," Kirishima said, still quietly. "Some people were threatened, and I was too scared to move, just looking from the side-lines, but I felt really ashamed for a long time. I almost gave up even dreaming of being a hero."

"You? Hard to imagine," Hitoshi said, but then glanced at Izuku, thinking he wasn't noticed.

"We are all glad to see you didn't," Tenya said.

"Me too," Kirishima said, "but I'm never going to skip training that could let me save someone, even if my quirk isn't the strongest."

"It is plenty strong, especially when used by someone deserving of it," Izuku said. "My fist hurts just thinking about it."

"You aren't the only one," Hitoshi added and swung his arm to softly punch Kirishima's bare stomach. "I think I hurt my hand hitting him when he wasn't even using his quirk."

"Eh, I tried to warn you."

"I guess you did," Hitoshi said.

"So, while Hitoshi is training with Aizawa sensei, what kind of training were you planning to do?" Kirishima asked Izuku.

"Good question," Izuku said. "There is going to be an uneven number of us so one on one spars aren't an effective use of our time. Since we are at school, we should take the full advantage of that to train our quirks. I've been wanting to see what kind of impacts you can actually take."

"So," Kirishima started with a tense smile, "how were you planning to do that?"

"Well, you mentioned someone helping you train with a baseball bat, and quirks are often compared to muscles in how using and pushing them makes them stronger. Logically your hardening should get stronger the more hits you take. I've already practiced hitting moving targets with Tenya, but with him I always have to cool and slow down the shots to be safe."

Izuku rubbed his fist with his other hand with little flashes of fire sparking on the back of his hand.

"Eh, you aren't wrong. That's how I have trained before. If you think it's safe."

"Recovery Girl is going to stay at work for at least another hour. I checked."

"Good to know," both Kirishima and Tenya said. Izuku shook his hand in preparation to blast them with Hellfire Arrows. Hitoshi's face was stuck somewhere between a grin and a sigh of relief.

Footsteps approached and stepped on a branch somewhere near them. Izuku raised his arm ready to fire in that direction. Tenya sighed. Izuku's tension dropped as he saw Todoroki step around a bush, though the look in his eyes cooled by a few degrees.

"Todoroki, have you also come to train after school?" Tenya asked.

"No," the two-faced boy responded without even looking at Tenya. "Midoriya, we need to talk, in private."

Todoroki started turning, clearly assuming Izuku would simply do what he asked. He stopped and looked back, clearly surprised when Izuku didn't.

"Now," Izuku started, "are you going to tell why you want to talk with me, and why would I want to go with you?"

"I told you. I need to talk with you."

"Well, I don't need to talk with you, so if you have something to say you can do it here."

Todoroki glanced at Hitoshi, Tenya and Kirishima considering their presence. Izuku didn't budge once Todoroki returned his attention to him.

"You may be used to getting whatever you want from people, but not from me," Izuku said. "So what is it you want?"

For a moment Todoroki seemed to grind his teeth together, but then he sighed and met Izuku's gaze again.

"You can take quirks from people. If someone has more than one, can you pick only one to take?"

"Yes," Izuku responded slowly, taken aback by the surprising question. "Why would you ask that?"

"My quirk has two parts, ice from my mother and fire from my father. I want you to take away only my fire."

…

Izuku waited for something, a confirmation he had heard wrong. None came.

"You actually want me to take away your quirk?"

Izuku could barely believe what he was hearing. It would have been unbelievable even from a regular person, but from someone so blessed with his quirk…

"Only the fire if you can. I intend to become a hero on my ice alone."

Even with all the questions Izuku had, that statement and the arrogance inherent in it gritted his nerves the wrong way. At the same time Todoroki was offering him a powerful quirk practically on a silver platter. Or maybe even a gold platter, honestly.

"Well, I guess I can't refuse an offer like that," Izuku said and raised his hand. "I'll need to place my hand on you. Then it is easier if you try to be as relaxed as possible."

Todoroki nodded without saying a word.

"Are you seriously doing this?" Kirishima asked. Izuku nodded and placed his open hand on Todoroki's head. As soon as he tapped into his All for One, he could feel the presence of his two-faced classmate's quirk. It was powerful for certain, but unlike other quirks he had experienced so far. If those were like a sphere or an atom, this was like a molecule. There were definitely two sides to it, but no gap between them. Izuku tried to grab one side with the power of his quirk, but as he pulled on it the entire quirk, both sides of it moved. Todoroki pressed his lips together and tensed up as Izuku tried to pull his quirk apart.

Eventually Izuku could only sigh and drop his hand.

"I can't do it. Your quirk is clearly a mix of two powers, but it is a single quirk as much as your arms are part of your body. I can take all of it or nothing."

"I see," Todoroki said quietly and actually seemed to think about it for a bit before turning to walk away. "Sorry for disrupting your training."

"What did your father do?" Hitoshi asked. Todoroki stopped mid step and glanced back at Hitoshi, who kept talking. "You are trying to reject him through the part of your quirk you inherited from him."

Todoroki didn't respond, so Hitoshi continued. "What could the number two hero have done to have his own son hate him so much?"

Todoroki's stare hardened.

"What hasn't he done?" He paused for a moment. "Have you ever heard of quirk marriages?"

Izuku's eyes narrowed hearing those words, but Tenya spoke first.

"It is when people choose their partner based on what quirk they have and how they fit together to create children with a more powerful quirk or a specific quirk combination. It is considered improper since the results can be unreliable and," Tenya paused, "since the practice has been more common in wealthy and powerful families the relationships haven't always been… completely by choice."

"Are you saying that Endeavour…?" Kirishima let the rest of his question hang silently.

"That man only cares about beating All Might, or in failing that, raising someone who can. He doesn't care what that means to anyone else," Todoroki said and looked down at his own hand. "In every memory of my mother, I only see her crying."

Todoroki raised his hand and brought it over the burnt side of his face, seemingly forgetting there were other people present.

"I remember she called my left side unbearable, before she poured boiling water on my face."

That was too much for anyone present to do anything but stare, for the moment Izuku took to processing what he had heard and rearranged his views of the two-sided classmate accordingly.

"So your father treated you like a weapon and the rest of the family were just an obstacle to push aside? Not something people would believe about the number two hero. You sure you want to say stuff like that?"

The fire in Todoroki's eyes told Izuku everything necessary before he even spoke.

"People only seeing a hero is the problem. When the cameras turn away, he's the biggest garbage fire you can imagine, whether you believe it or not."

"In case you haven't noticed, I don't really buy into the shiny public image of so-called heroes," Izuku said. "Though even knowing how brutal he can be behind that, I didn't expect something like this. That doesn't explain why you want to give up part of your quirk."

"That man made me as his weapon to surpass All Might. I will do that, but I will do it without his power."

…

"You're an idiot," Izuku said.

"Izuku I don't think this is…" Tenya started but Izuku waved his hand, signalling him to stay quiet.

"You say you want to reject your father, but you still want to achieve the same thing he wanted you to and hold back on your own power because of him."

"I won't use his power. I'm going to become a hero without it."

"So now you want to become a hero? I thought what you wanted was to surpass All Might."

"They are the same thing."

"The hell they are! Either you want to be stronger to surpass All Might or you want to be stronger to help people as a hero ranking be damned. You can try to do the first with only your ice only for all I care, I doubt you can but give it all you've got if that's what you want. But if you want to be a hero, to try to save people, for their sake you better not hold anything back. If I find out someone innocent died because you refused to use part of your quirk I will take it from you, all of it, and find someone who's more worthy."

Izuku grabbed Todoroki's arm as he spoke but with those last words Todoroki shook him off.

"You don't-" Todoroki started.

"Understand your anger?" Izuku interrupted. "Maybe not for family, but you're not the only one who has been abused for how you were born. Whatever your father put you through and no matter how much you pity yourself, a whole lot of people still have it worse for no fault of their own because of the ideas that people like Endeavour maintain in this society. That you will be just as guilty of for the way you are strolling through life waving around half of your power like it made you any better than anyone else."

Izuku paused.

"I am not going to tell you to not reject your father or even not to seek revenge. People like him need to be exposed and pay for what they have done, Bakugo was the same, but don't even think about making yourself weaker for him. If you do, that only means he holds that much more power over you. You were blessed in birth with more power than most. Where that came from doesn't matter nearly as much as what you do with it. Your power, like your life, is yours. If you want to throw them away, you can just give up your whole quirk now."

Todoroki looked at Izuku for a long silent moment. Parts of his face twisted like it didn't know what expression to have. Eventually he looked down and walked away.

"… So, that just happened," Hitoshi said, breaking the silence that Todoroki had left behind.

"Even knowing things aren't always as good as they seem, to think someone so respected would do things like that…" Tenya shook his head in disbelief.

"Do you think it's true?" Kirishima asked.

"Yes," Izuku said, "and you still have a lot to learn if you think it's hard to believe."

"So, what now?" Hitoshi asked.

"I'm not sure," Izuku responded. "I don't know what to think about him anymore."

"I thought he was just being a prick, but now… I think it might be more that he is closed off from people… a bit like you can be," Hitoshi briefly moved his attention from Izuku to glance at Kirishima, "or at least were."

"You think so?" Izuku asked.

"Yes, except his Bakugo is also his father."

Izuku looked at Hitoshi and rubbed his forehead.

"I did not need that image in my head."

"Sorry. Still, what do we do now?"

"I doubt we can do anything concerning Todoroki's family problems. We are talking about the number two hero after all. We'd be lucky to see him in person, maybe at the Sports Festival," Tenya said. "We should be considerate how we treat Todoroki at school, even if he hasn't put on a very friendly face. He might not really know how to approach someone as a friend."

"Well, you would have experience at dealing with that," Izuku said quietly. "I never could drive you away, even over the course of months."

"I didn't realize you took so long to become friends," Kirishima said. "Seems hard to believe now."

"True, at least for Tenya" Hitoshi added, "compared to him I was playing on easy mode, thanks to some bullies."

Kirishima kept looking at Hitoshi, clearly confused.

"People didn't like my quirk and Izuku doesn't like bullies," Hitoshi clarified, "it was kind of an enemy of my enemy situation."

"Do they still have all their arms attached?"

That made Hitoshi laugh out loud and even Tenya wasn't quite managing to keep a serious expression.

"You are learning," Hitoshi said once he could, "but yes, they do. It really was their quirks that were at risk."

Kirishima tensed with the last words.

"I thought we aren't supposed to…" He glanced at Izuku. Both Izuku and Hitoshi looked at each other confused until they finally realized. Izuku shook his head.

"It's fine. He is just saying how things really were. I was considering it and I don't need to worry about his intentions. Toshi knows what the lines are to not cross… for him."

"Oh, good. Well, actually I'm bit confused. Just trying to not say anything I'm not supposed to you know."

Izuku got a soft smile on his face. "The fact you are worried about it means you probably don't need to worry."

"Eh?" Kirishima was only more confused than before.

"Shinso," Aizawa said from behind them. The way Kirishima turned around showed that he had not noticed the man approaching. That was another thing they needed to train. As Hitoshi followed the man Izuku shook his head to clear his thoughts. He raised his hand, flames already burning over it.

"Now, where were we?"

Kirishima took a few moments to readjust to the new topic but then he hardened his body and brought his fists together while smirking.

"Bring it on."

By the time Hitoshi's training was over Aizawa was scowling as he looked at all of the craters and blackened sand on the field, with Kirishima lying next to one of the craters. The strange shoulder pads in his costume had been blown away. Izuku had to admit there was some sense for the redhead to basically only have half a costume the way he took hits straight on. Tenya was leaning on his knees and panting nearby as Izuku joined them, shaking his arm. He too was breathing harder, feeling the strain of using his quirk excessively. He looked down at Kirishima.

"I knew you were tough, but seems we get to use more quirks in our spars."

Kirishima gave a short laugh. "Sure, it's lot better than a baseball bat."

"If you say so. Training with someone who wants to get hit is ok for me."

Izuku offered his hand to help Kirishima get up.

"If you had my quirk, you'd do the same."

"Is that an offer?" Izuku said raising his eyebrow.

"Eh, well, I guess it would be… interesting. Now or…?"

Izuku's smile was the widest it had been in a while, but he pushed back on the hunger to take the quirk right away, a task even more difficult than before witnessing how much punishment it could take. He put his hand over Kirishima's shoulders and pointed at him with a finger of his other hand.

"Better focus on the Sports Festival for now," he responded, "on Saturday, maybe we try to see how to improve your quirk use."

"Works for me. Do you really think you can figure something out about my quirk by trying it? It isn't a very complicated quirk."

"I might, and if I can't it will still be interesting to try a new quirk even if just for a moment. I can't really do that enough. There aren't many ways to legally get quirks from people."

"Heh, I can imagine. It's not like you can just buy quirks."

Izuku blinked. "… What? Wait…"

"Ahem," Aizawa interrupted them. Izuku had tried to ignore the man. "I am glad to see you getting along, but if you want to use school facilities for afterschool training you will have to clean your mess."

Aizawa pointed at the craters and an open door on the side of the gym building.

"There are shovels and other equipment in the storage locker. Close the door after yourself."

"I guess the training isn't over yet," Kirishima said, seemingly unbothered by the extra work.

For Izuku that was even more true as he had barely gotten home when he had to already hurry to meet Kurogiri in the basement. As he stepped out of the warp gate in the training hall the large USJ Nomu, his Nomu, was already waiting.

Yes, while Kirishima did make for a fine punching bag, this was what Izuku had to now face for the really hard training. At least his body had already recovered and regenerated from the strains of the past afternoon. It would have to do a lot more of that before the day was over.

He was regenerating a broken arm when his father walked in.

"How is your training going son, ready to destroy you opponents at the Sports Festival?"

"Hmm, yes, I think I'll manage. The only ones from my class I am uncertain about are Tokoyami and… Todoroki."

"What is that I hear in your voice about the son of the number two hero?"

"I learned some new things about Endeavour today," Izuku responded while rotating his newly healed arm. "Todoroki asked if I could take the fire part of his quirk."

"Quite a tempting offer, but I suspect it wasn't a separate quirk."

"No, it did feel strange, but it was a single quirk. I'm not sure how to explain it."

"You don't need to. I have experience with combination quirks. The real question is why practical hero nobility would want to give up such a powerful part of his quirk."

"Apparently Endeavour's dark side isn't limited to shadows of his job," Izuku said and repeated what Todoroki had explained. It was impossible to know what his faceless father was thinking, at least until he started chuckling.

"Good job son. Not everyone can go spy on All Might and get such inside information on the number two, though I did already know some of what you describe."

"Of course you did," Izuku muttered, looking away.

"It also wouldn't be difficult to conclude that the son of the number two would be actively raised to take his place or more. The norms that make our society are like power in that it is largely passed from parents to children. Sounds like he is already valuing people based on their quirks, himself included."

"Maybe, it's hard to decide how to think about it now with this information," Izuku said. "He has everything most people dream about and could turn into just another fake hero keeping most of those people down, but…"

"But?"

"I'm not sure. Something about how he's been treated for that, if he told the truth, even if it's only by his father… With all that he shouldn't be as sold on the shiny surface of this society even if he has never suffered most of its flaws. Maybe I'm just hopeful he's not a lost cause as I thought."

"You trust too easily. Be careful what you share with others and don't forget how this world they enjoy works."

Izuku sighed.

"I know, but… What if Todoroki really isn't a hopeless case. If the son of the number two hero could see and stand against the flaws of this society, it would be a step in the right direction."

"Aren't you being ambitious."

"Maybe, but I can't think of anything better. He is already showing arrogance. Even with having to endure the things he has; he is still arrogant about his power and could turn into another Bakugo. If there is a chance to get through to him before that," Izuku paused.

"I keep wanting to change things but there really hasn't been that much I could do for people. Even the people I've met that have hope of being better were already on the right track to begin with, or just not paying attention at worst. I haven't changed much. Even USJ was a failure."

"Son, haven't I taught you about patience? I can understand your feelings, but if you let them control your actions you will rush into things that you aren't prepared for. You are still in training. Still gathering quirks. Pace yourself appropriately."

"So, I shouldn't try to approach Todoroki."

"I didn't say that. Go for the throat. Such an opportunity to toy with the so-called number two, and no-one is in a better position to do it than you. Just don't get careless. Not everyone who has faced difficulty is an ally. The same applies for people who don't show immediate hostility to your quirk."

"I know," Izuku sighed.

"Both things can be used to approach people though. You should also focus on the Sports Festival first. While the media is already aware of you, this is going to be your first truly public appearance and the first you can have on your terms. Even if you have to go against your friends, you have to win. People cannot ignore the winner or what he might have to say."

"That's the plan. I just hope they listen. So far all of the news has just repeated the same things as Bakugo," Izuku squeezed his hand in a fist, "and he is still missing. I should have kept his quirk."

"Perhaps you should have, but it is too late to change that now. You must keep moving forward. Now how about your training, is there anything more you need to destroy your opponents?"

"No… well actually I could use, probably, a couple tens of millions of yen, maybe a hundred to start with, clean legal money."

"Oh? That is quite a bit more than you are normally using. What are you planning to buy?"

"Quirks."