Pat re0n. c0m/NJMRIV ← Posting some extras and snippets there now, some are canon and some are not, check them out if you'd like. They're not necessary to understand my fics, but they're a relatively short read and it would be a great support for me. So please, check it out if you can.
Yeah sorry that I was gone for a while, got sick a bit, then a storm hit us, then life got even harder after that! I write as much as I can but motivation flees my body faster than Midoriya fleeing from the future and his terrible choices.
I got another MHA fic, it's a crossover with Worm. It's titled, "Yuuei Company". That world sorely needs some positivity. There's more to it than meets the eye I promise.
When you extend a helping hand, and the person doesn't take it, what do you do? Sometimes, to get through someone's tough head, you'll need to speak with your fists first and your words second.
Todoroki's feet carry him with purpose toward one of the gates outside of the stadium. It's far enough from the main entrance to be sufficiently secluded from anyone else hearing what he has to say. From behind him is Uraraka, following along with no few amount of anxiety and uneasiness.
His bruised cheek still stings with sharp pangs of pain, nowhere near enough to make him react but it is noticeable. He's gone through much worse pain than this. It is simply a minor inconvenience that a quick trip to Recovery Girl would fix up in no time.
The pain from it though strikes deeper inside than just the bruise.
He used the flames. Despite his vow, despite how much he hated it, he used them all the same.
Those things that Midoriya threw at him were suppressing his ice, then he was socked in the face, which was enough to break his vow.
Is his will really that weak? All these years he's sworn never to use his left side, the side of his body that spawns those accursed flames that came from that monster that calls himself a father and a hero. Then he gets overwhelmed once, by people he has completely ignored and thought wouldn't become obstacles in his path.
The worst part is she probably doesn't even know what she did. She has no idea about him ignoring his left side, she knows nothing about how much it burns him on the inside every time he thinks about the flames. How much it pained him to know that his father's Quirk resides within him.
Truthfully, he's not entirely sure what he's even going to say to her after they get some privacy. He's angry, there is no doubt about that fact, even know the hands in his pockets are clenched tight in anguish,
But most of that anger is aimed at himself. At how weak he is and how he's allowed himself to lose not once, but twice.
Maybe it's because he just feels like he has to tell someone and Uraraka was the last straw in forcing him to use his fire.
They get closer to the secluded gateway just off to the side of the stadium's main entrance. As he gets closer though, a familiar voice coming from the gateway reaches his ears.
"Jeez, who are you and where's the real Bakugo eh? He'd never be this quiet."
'Hmm, perhaps it's not as secluded as I hoped.' Todoroki silently mused to himself.
"Eh?" Uraraka makes a questioning noise before walking faster, passing him in quite a hurry. She pauses when she reaches the gateway and stares inside of it, presumably at whoever was speaking.
"Alright," The tone of the voice changes to something more vaguely threatening. "If you don't get on with this then I'm just going to leave."
Todoroki reaches the gateway and stands beside Uraraka, looking in to see the speaker. Immediately, his eyes sharpen as he recognizes the two people in a tense standoff.
On the left is Bakugo with his signature scowl plastered on his face. The difference this time though is his unnatural silence. The voice that he heard certainly wasn't his as it wasn't incredibly loud nor was it filled with rage. Instead, he's uncharacteristically silent, staring with sheer contempt at the person in front of him. That same look in his eyes is very familiar to Todoroki as he's worn that look hundreds of times, but it's unfamiliar on Bakugo's face.
Despite taking first place in the previous event, he doesn't seem all that happy with his victory.
Across from the blonde is another very familiar face, the other mystery uncovered in the festival that he's stuck trying to figure out.
Izuku Midoriya.
The Quirkless boy who bested him.
He can still remember those strange devices Midoriya threw at him. They followed him as if they were locked on and sticking onto his right side. They stuck onto him strongly like the balls from Mineta's Quirk, and the second they attached, he felt a scalding amount of heat strike him directly from the devices. It felt like those things were sapping the temperature from his left side.
Every time he attempted to summon some ice the familiar coldness would suddenly just vanish, almost like the cold temperature was being sucked out of him. Only leaving behind the heat that he hated so much.
Because of those things, he could do nothing but use his father's fire. Because of him, Todoroki had to resort to breaking his vow.
It's his fault.
Midoriya is clearly someone that's prepared heavily for this, prepared for his Quirk. Despite his status as someone that is Quirkless, he's a much more significant threat than Todoroki thought.
"Uh…"
The stretching silence gets cut by Uraraka, who's staring rather awkwardly at the apparent animosity in the air. The two look over and see him and Uraraka standing at the entrance.
"So," Midoriya smiles wryly at them. "Is the rest of Class 1-A on their way here for a dramatic talk too or will it just be us?"
Todoroki doesn't deign to answer that, he's pretty sure that it's only them. Then again, this day showed him that he didn't know his classmates as well as he should have.
"S-Sorry, are we uh…" Her eyes go back and forth between the two. "Interrupting something?"
Hold on, Isn't she friends with Midoriya? He's sure he's seen them sit together in the UA cafeteria with Mei Hatsume.
Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, and Mei Hatsume. The three people that have surpassed him today. Three people that he's ignored throughout his entire time at UA. And coincidentally, all three seem to be close friends with one another. His eyebrows burrow slightly in thought at that.
There seems to be more to those three than meets the eye.
"Oh don't worry, it was nothing important," Midoriya replies as he looks back to Bakugo, his smile never wavering. "At least, not to me."
It was minor, so small that Todoroki wasn't even sure if it really happened, but he could swear that he saw the most minuscule wince appear on Bakugo's face. Quick as a snap, it then disappeared and his scowl returned much more profound this time.
"I fucking say what's important Deku! We're talking about this shit right now!"
'Deku?' Todoroki notes the strange nickname spoken by the volatile blonde who is now acting much more in character. 'So both of them have a history of some kind.'
Judging by the anger behind the name and the insulting tone it was spoken in suggests that the history between them is not a good one.
"Were we?" Midoriya questioned. "Cuz we were doing nothing but standing here for over two minutes. Bakugo, I'm hungry and lunch doesn't last for an eternity, can we do this some other time? Like maybe after the Sports Festival?"
"Like hell, you're putting this off! We're gonna this right now Deku!"
"Excuse me," Todoroki interrupts before a full-blown shouting match could start. "But I would like to use this spot in private, so would you please leave?"
Unfortunately, his efforts were in vain.
"Hah?!" Bakugo did not sound happy. "Who fucking asked you half-and-half bastard?!"
"Oh great, now you got him started," Midoriya mutters to the side.
"Why the hell would I take orders from you?!"
"I wasn't ordering you, I was merely stating the fact that we need some privacy here."
Bakugo's eyes then focus on the last guest of the private doorway. Uraraka stiffens and makes a small squeak as the blonde's glare is now aimed at her (again). "Why are you even here, pink cheeks?! Did you both come here to make out with each other or some shit?!"
"W-What? No! I-I d-don't even-"
"You think you're hot shit just because you took some of my points? Stay in your lane you fucking side character!"
"S-Side character?"
Todoroki massages the bridge of his nose as a headache begins to form from Bakugo's constant yelling and the annoyance of having his plan of speaking with Uraraka privately die a fiery death.
"Jesus Christ is everyone in the world just a red flag being waved around in front of your eyes?" Midoriya groans. "Seriously Bakugo, it's not the end of the world yet so why don't we just-"
"Shut up! Do you think I'm gonna listen to you now because you got first place with me? We won because of me. Don't forget that you useless bastard."
Midoriya pauses.
His expression changes so quickly that it is jarring and his hands now go slack at his sides. An unamused face stares at Bakugo in silence for a few seconds.
"Really?" Midoriya drawled. "That's what this all about? Are you so insecure that even a win is not enough for you? You do remember their names, right? I hope you're not that far gone."
"You making fun of me?!"
"No, I'm just making an accurate guess from past experience. Kirishima and Mina are probably looking for us right now since you pulled us away literally the second the announcement for the scores was over. I don't know much about your classmates but I can tell they're good people."
"Well," Midoriya glances at Todoroki briefly, a hint of knowing and amusement in his green eyes. "Mostly."
Todoroki pretends to not be offended by that.
"I've finally got what I've been looking for my whole life and moved on, I suggest you focus on getting yours and do the same." Midoriya scratches the back of his head and then sighs, then lightly swats the air beside his head as a fly gets a little too close. "Whatever, I got nothing more to say to you."
He then begins to walk away without looking back, right toward the entrance where Uraraka and Todoroki were watching the whole thing. The fly doesn't follow.
Bakugo doesn't stop him.
He pauses briefly in front of the two and smiles at Uraraka. He simply says, "Hey, Mei and I will be waiting at the cafeteria, we'll save you a seat." Then without another word he just exits the entrance and walks away.
"... Tch."
Uraraka looks back at the tunnel to only see the back of Bakugo getting further away as he goes deeper into the entrance, presumably to find his way into the cafeteria as well.
…
"W-Well," Uraraka shakily begins in this next installment of awkward silence. "You wanted to talk about something?"
But Todoroki wasn't looking at her. His eyes are still locked onto where Midoriya walked to.
There were so many confusing things about the support student that he just couldn't understand. How could someone that is Quirkless beat him? What else has he built that counters his abilities? Has he prepared items against the other students? How is he able to surpass so many others without a Quirk or training?
Questions that will be answered at another time. Right now, he's got someone to speak to.
So with that, he faces her and with cold eyes, he prepares to say his piece.
He's not one to overcomplicate things, so he goes straight to the point. "You made me use my left side."
+Uraraka+
The moment Midoriya left, it suddenly sunk in that she was now alone with Todoroki.
The guy that can create icebergs out of nothing. The guy that always looks deadly serious no matter what. The guy that she just found out can actually make fire too.
And the guy that she socked in the face at full strength.
'Why is this happening to me?' The nervous girl laments to the heavens.
She just wanted to have lunch. She was just about
"You made me use my left side."
'Ah! Now he's talking!'
"Yes!" She loudly yells in surprise so abruptly that Todoroki was taken aback for a moment.
'Shoot!'
"Ahem, I mean, y-yeah I did, I-I didn't even know you had your Quirk could create fire, that's- that's awesome!" She gives an extremely inappropriate but well-meaning thumbs-up with an awkward smile on her face. "Nice!"
…
…
'Kill me.'
"No, it most certainly is not." Todoroki's voice shifts even lower, making his distaste clear. "I was overwhelmed on multiple fronts which made me break my promise to myself. But only you made me use my fire."
Uraraka's eyes unbiddenly go toward the bruise on Todoroki's cheek, the mark that pushed him over the edge. A cold sweat goes down her back as a nervous chuckle escapes her lips. "Hehe, s-sorry about that. I didn't mean…"
Didn't mean to what? Punch him? This was a tournament where combat is pretty much expected. In fact, a punch is probably the least damaging thing someone in the Sports Festival can do. It was expected for anyone in the events to fight with everything they got as long as it didn't become fatal.
Would she still have done it if it bothered Todoroki this much?
She's not sure she can answer that.
Todoroki brings up one hand and traces the bruise with his fingertips. "You know Endeavor right? My father? Of course you do, he's the Number 2 Hero."
He looks off to the slide with a glare as if the object of his hatred is standing just around the corner. "He's an ambitious man, always aiming for the top. He used his power to make a name for himself as a hero. But no matter how hard he tried, how hard he trained, there was one man he could never surpass. The symbol of peace, All Might."
"You never see it on TV or in interviews, but he hates the number one hero with a passion. To him, the man took his rightful place at the top and stands as living proof of his failure… But, even after years of being number two, he's still trying to take that top spot. And if he can't take it for himself, then he'll just go about in another way."
His glare becomes harder as if he remembers something that surfaces all the anger inside of him to the surface. "No matter unethical it may be."
While Todoroki speaks to her with the longest sentences she's ever heard from him, a sinking feeling of augury starts to go to her head. The way Todoroki speaks of his father is so… negative.
Is any of what he said true? What reason would Todoroki have to lie about it? What kind of "unethical" things has his father done?
But the thing that catches Uraraka's attention the most is the sheer disdain in Todoroki's voice as he speaks about his own father. A concept that's extremely alien to Uraraka who's had the most supportive and hard-working parents she could ever ask for, working tirelessly to provide for her despite their poor upbringing.
What could Endeavour have possibly done to gain his own son's hatred?
"What did you mean by that?" Uraraka's voice comes out almost as a whisper.
Todoroki's eyes come back to her and for a brief moment, she sees something in them. She sees a kind of hesitation, and also some kind of strong desire. It's like something is eating away inside of him and he just wants to let it out.
He doesn't.
He closes his eyes and says, "You wouldn't understand."
They open again and they go back to what they always look like. She's never taken notice of them before but it's painfully clear now that she's looking directly at them.
His eyes are dead.
"I just wanted to tell you that what happened then won't ever work against me anymore. Don't tell anyone about it and just forget it. I've been surprised by you and your friends more than once now and I won't let that happen again. If we ever face each other, know that while I won't hold back, I'll never use my left side." Todoroki turns away and walks slowly, calmly as if the anger under his skin is nonexistent. "Take solace in that if you want to."
Her eyes follow Toodoroki as he walks away, and her mind runs in circles about what she just heard and observed. Just seeing him walk away, alone, with whatever dark secrets he's hiding just feels… wrong.
Before she could stop herself, she yells at his back. "Hey! Wait!"
He pauses in his steps.
The words flow out of her mouth on instinct, not sure why she's saying them, but knowing that she'll regret it if they don't.
"Listen, I don't… I don't know what you've gone through, or why you feel the way you do about your father, or why you seem to hate your left side so much but…"
'Come on Uraraka, put yourself together!'
"But… You look like you're hurting… Do you… need any help? I'm not the best person to talk about feelings and I can't say I understand your father and what he's like. But I have friends to help me when I'm feeling down."
"Oh yeah?" Izuku smirked, looking at both girls, each of their gazes unwavering. "Well then, why don't we see how things go then?"
"Show him we're not to be taken lightly," Mei speaks in absolute confidence for her.
"If there's anything you need to talk about… I can at least listen."
Todoroki doesn't turn around or make any signs that he's considering it. He just stands with his back turned waiting for her to keep speaking, and when she doesn't, he just continues walking away.
Alone.
Unbeknownst to both, a certain blonde was just around the corner listening to everything they had just said. The fly that was annoying Midoriya also left.
Uraraka sighs to herself just as the aforementioned blonde walks away, her heartbeat ringing in her ears due to the silence. Her heart can't take any more shocks today.
"I really hope that's the last surprise I get today…"
A Few Minutes Later
"We have to wear what?!"
+/+
As the seats around the stadium become filled up again by the now-fed audience, the excitement once again begins to thicken.
The audience has watched with bated breaths from the start, they've seen glimpses of what the students are capable of and they've watched all manners of Quirks being used.
But the moment they've all been waiting for is drawing nearer. Just after the side games planned for the students who didn't make it to the finals is the main event. The one that the Sports Festival is most well known for.
The appetizers have been served. Now the main course is drawing nearer.
The one-on-one tournament.
Students who had made it to the finals, who have proven themselves to be the best of what the 1st years of UA currently has to offer, will be free to show off their full combat capabilities (within reason) for the audience, and more importantly, the Pro Heroes who will be watching and evaluating the students.
Judging their abilities and scouting for the ones that are worth training. The Pros will have the option to take one of the students as an intern. To take them in and help them gain experience and wisdom from the Pros that have been in the game for many more years than they have.
Though if a Pro is feeling rather shallow, they'd instead use the popularity of the most eye-catching students to boost their own ratings.
There are a couple more reasons why a hero may choose a specific student, though they'd still need to see what the kids are made of.
The center of the stadium is once again becoming filled with students after having eaten and rested to restore their stamina for the rest of the festival. Present Mic reassures the students who couldn't make it to the finals that they still have the side games to look forward to.
Off to the side are cheerleaders from America, wearing UA-style cheerleader uniforms. Yellow pom poms are being waved around with enthusiasm in practiced movements, the outfits are colored light orange with the top being a crop top with a large white stripe circling around it with the letters UA spelled out, a short orange skirt that stops just around mid-thigh, white socks that reaches the calf, and finally some standard cheerleader orange shoes.
They should've been the only ones wearing those outfits.
Alas, the universe works in mysterious ways.
"What are they doing?" Despite Eraserhead's voice sounding bored as usual, there's a hint of confusion and bafflement in his tone.
'What the hell am I looking at? This definitely did NOT happen last time.'
Midoriya's right eye twitches in disbelief at the sight he's seeing. He couldn't have feasibly predicted that saving one little hero student's life could conjure a scenario that is so deviant, so unprecedented that he could not predict its possibility.
Right where he's looking, just off to the side of the Class 1-B entrance are the Class 1-A girls.
Every single one of them stared off blankly with shadowed eyes as they realized they'd been duped. All of them are wearing the same revealing outfits as the cheerleaders. Their developing, fit, and shapely bodies having so much skin shown attract even more attention than the cheerleaders themselves.
Midoriya was wondering why Uraraka came back with a blush at their lunch table after being called away by Yaoyorozu. Looks like it's because of this.
Mineta and Kaminari give a thumbs up to each other a fair distance away, proud of their great accomplishment and happy with the sight they're blessed with.
Justifiably angry about this betrayal from her classmates, Yaoyorozu yells out her frustration to the two. "What?! You tricked us?! You're gonna regret this!"
Humorously, because of her costume's nature of being required to show off skin to use her Quirk effectively (Midoriya can think of a few ways to get around that easily) she's not all that bothered by the uniform, it's more of the fact that she was tricked into doing it.
Midoriya looks away from the very distracting sight and focuses instead on the fly that's getting closer. The fly quickly goes toward the collar of his uniform and goes under his clothes. Now sufficiently outside of sight, the fly dissolves into thousands of tiny metal particles that get absorbed under his skin.
Memories from the nanites then flow into his mind rapidly. Everything that the fly saw and heard gets absorbed in a matter of milliseconds.
A smile appears on Midoriya's lips as the memories settle. 'Not bad Uraraka, do you even need my help at this point?'
Her strong empathy toward others is a very easy way for her to gain the right kind of attention, and he barely had to do anything. Just appeal to that nature of her and let it grow.
'Excited to see how you grow from this.'
He feels a familiar presence stand just behind him and turns to tell her that he's on his way for Midnight's next speech,
And meets the blankly looking Mei staring directly toward his face.
The difference between the bubbly Mei and this serious-looking one causes him to pause for about two seconds before he speaks. "Hey Mei, don't worry I'll be on my way and…"
She's not listening, he can immediately tell.
Instead, the crosshairs in her pupils move slightly which indicates she just used her Quirk to zoom in on his face.
Midoriya blinks at her behavior and expressionless face. This was so unlike the Mei he was used to that it feels like he was looking at a completely different person.
She doesn't move, the only movement coming from her is the slow and steady rising of her chest as she breathes calmly.
'... Oh come one, don't tell me she's-'
Her head doesn't turn, but her eyes do shoot to the side, right where the Class 1-A girls are giving their various reactions to the "prank" they were subjected to.
'Yes, yes she is.'
Great, now he has to handle a jealous Mei. What would that even look like?
He waits for her reaction as his mind goes through every possible response he could make.
"... Huh," Mei says after nearly ten seconds of looking. There's no anger, jealousy, or even suspicion in her tone.
Then as if nothing happened, the bubbly Mei returns and she gives a wide grin and grabs him by the arm, and starts pulling him toward the stage. "Come on Izuku! The perverted lady's about to start!"
'Whew, looks like it was unnecessary.'
Unfortunately for him, while she may not be jealous, an idea is instead brewing in her head from this little misconception.
+Tournament Matches+
Shoto Todoroki vs. Kosei Tsuburaba
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Momo Yaoyorozu
Izuku Midoriya vs. Denki Kaminari
Sen Kaibara vs. Eijiro Kirishima
Shinso Hitoshi vs. Mei Hatsume
Tenya Ida vs. Fumikage Tokoyami
Ochaco Uraraka vs. Mina Ashido
Neito Monoma vs. Hanta Sero
The matches were set and the battles were shown above for all to see.
Every one of them had varying reactions to who they were facing, some even exchanging light-hearted taunts with each other.
But one Ochaco Uraraka was instead worried about something else. Not on who her opponent is (though that's not because she's confident in winning), but instead on who Hatsume's opponent is.
'Shinso,' Uraraka looks over to the man in question. She remembered his face when he tried to take Hatsume away in the second event through some kind of mind-control Quirk. Finding out that he made it in fourth place in the cavalry battle as the rider was not a good discovery.
And in some kind of weird twist of fate, she's now supposed to face the same jerk that just tried to recruit her without her consent!
She turns her head and looks over to the general education student that's standing away from everyone else. She just catches Monoma patting him on the back, presumably congratulating him for his victory before going off to see his classmates.
As if he sensed her gaze, Shinso turns her head and meets her gaze.
Uraraka doesn't flinch, instead, she glares at the guy that tried to take advantage of her friend. Shinso quickly looks away after the glare.
Not because he was intimidated (he was, just a little), but it's because it's hard to look someone in the eye without one's gaze wandering when they're wearing a revealing cheerleader outfit. She's already got a bad view of him, he didn't want to make it worse by being labeled as a pervert.
+/+
"It's almost time ASIA!" Mei excitedly informs the large robot body of Izuku's AI, the robotic face and large glass eye looking down at her. "The tournaments going to be your chance to show the world the power of my wonderful babies!"
The girl could barely sit still as the side games continue to go off at the stadium. She's currently in one of the waiting rooms for the students waiting for the tournament to start. Thanks to UA's insistence on using very large doors no matter where they may be, ASIA's body was very easily able to slip in without problems.
"I will make sure to give it my all and crush our enemies!" ASIA gleefully informs her. "We shall break them down and grind their souls to dust! When we're done, there shall be nothing left of them but despair and defeat!"
"That's the spirit!" Mei laughs loudly in an entirely non-evil way.
The laughter echoes inside the room, carrying with it her dreams of her opponent's defeated bodies.
"S-Scary…"
"Hm?" Mei stops laughing as she hears a voice.
Uraraka's head is peeking in from the ajar door with wide eyes. Her body shivering from the dark aura that came from Mei's totally not mad laughter.
"You don't mean to crush them literally do you?" Uraraka slowly and fearfully takes steps toward Mei, who is oblivious to her friend's plight. The hero student is still wearing the cheerleader outfit that she was wearing for some reason.
(The same outfit that she saw Izuku was staring at…)
"Pssh! Of course, I wasn't!" She answers the question confidently.
Uraraka sighs in relief.
"But bones do break easily so accidents might happen."
The relief evaporated like steam.
"A regular non-augmented femur will break at about 4,000 newtons," ASIA says factually, adding more fuel to Uraraka's fear. "I can easily put more force into my attacks than that if the need arises."
"Eep!"
"But she won't," Mei tries to assure the brunette. "Right ASIA?"
"I shall do my best to hold back and not break their puny bones."
"See?"
Uraraka takes deep breaths to try and postpone the heart attack threatening to take her life before the tournament even starts.
"J-Jeez Hatsume, I hope I don't face you and ASIA soon." Then she shakes her head as she remembers why she came here in the first place. "Ah! But never mind that, there's something I gotta tell you."
"What about?"
Actually, now that Mei looks at Uraraka, she seems very worried about something.
"Listen, you know that Shinso guy?"
Shinso? That name does sound familiar…
Ah!
"You mean the guy I'm going up against in the Tournament right?"
At Uraraka's nod, Mei silently cheers in her head. She's getting better at remembering names! Izuku makes sure to remind her to do that since he says it's rude to forget.
"Listen, be careful around that guy. He's bad news ok? I don't know how his Quirk works exactly but he's already used against you once."
Huh?
Used it against her? When?
Seeing Mei's confused face, Uraraka clarifies. "At the beginning of the cavalry battle, he used some kind of hypnosis Quirk on you to try and get you to join his team against your will."
Hypnosis…
Hmmmm…
"Oh! You mean the guy with the purple hair and the lazy eyes?" She was wondering what that weird feeling was when her body moved on its own. It felt super weird like her brain was in static or something.
"Yes! That's him. I'm not sure how his Quirk works or how it activates so just finish him as fast as possible."
What? Fast as possible? But how is she supposed to show off her amazing babies then? But if what Uraraka's saying is true then she might get hypnotized to lose the match.
"Hmm," Mei hums in consideration as she weighs her options. She's not a planner by any means, her intelligence is mostly focused on technologies and the theories behind them. She leans back against ASIA's large body, the cold metal feeling strangely comfortable on her back, even through the uniform.
Wait!
ASIA!
"Oh, that's easy! I'll just tell ASIA here to make sure I don't lose!" She knocks on ASIA's chest armor for emphasis, a metallic sound emanating with each knock.
The hero student then stops and looks at her with a sort of confused look. Like a puzzle piece is missing or something and she's close to figuring it out.
"That… could work. But wait, you're… You're not scared? At all?"
"Scared?" Mei tilts her head. "No, why would I be?"
"Because he brainwashed you before! He's a jerk that tried to get you to join his team against your will! I had to stop him from taking you so he'd leave you alone. You're not even slightly mad at him for that?"
Mei pauses for a moment to think about it. Now that she thinks about it, that does kind of sound like something a jerk would do.
But… maybe it's just intuition or maybe it's because her extremely sharp eyes pick up on the smallest details, but when she looked at Shinso's expression when he spoke to her, he didn't seem like a jerk at all.
And plus…
Well…
A brainwashing Quirk sounds…
Really really cool!
A brainwashing Quirk is subtle and nothing at all like the loud and powerful babies she's used to making. Oh, she can already imagine how challenging it would be to build a type of support item that she's not used to making. If she can make something that helps out that guy then maybe Izuku would be impressed with her!
T-Then maybe he'll even tell her she did a good job…
A-And maybe h-hug her again…
"-sume?"
Yes, that would be great!
"Hatsume!"
"Huh?" Mei gets knocked out of her daydreams by Uraraka who had to speak louder just so she can be heard.
"You ok there?"
Mei blinks at how worried she sounds before smiling brightly. "Don't worry about me, I've got a perfect plan to win!"
The dimple-cheeked girl sighs in relief. "Good, I hope you win against him Hatsume."
'Oh I'm gonna win alright, and I'm gonna convince that Shinso guy to become a hero so I can make some super awesome babies for him!'
Mei clenches a fist tight in front of her with a fire burning in her eyes. Her will is strong and her goal is set, and now she's willing to go to whatever lengths to achieve that.
May the gods watch over Shinso's soul.
+/+
Sometimes life just isn't fair.
Kosei Tsuburaba is a very competitive person, he'll be the first to admit that. But he's also a guy that has basic common sense.
He barely hears Present Mic's introduction to him as he's too busy staring at his opponent.
Shoto Todoroki.
Kosei's the kind of guy that can admit when he's outmatched, and right now, he knows he's got practically no chance of winning against such a powerhouse like Todoroki.
He can only hope that he'll make some kind of showing before he loses. He tunes out all the cheering, the voices of his classmates giving encouragement and telling him to be careful. Right now, he's only focused on his opponent. If he makes it past ten seconds against this guy then he'll consider this a win.
"Begin!"
'Now!'
Kosei starts to blow out a shield made of air-
Ice.
In the three seconds since he started to use his Quirk, an avalanche of solid ice is already about to hit him.
The world slowed down at that moment. The sheer cold of the attack hits him first, it would've caused a shiver even if this wasn't an attack. The spikes on the ice looked big and sharp enough to shred him to the bones as if they wanted to freeze him from the inside out.
'Heh, yeah. That's about right.'
Those are the last thoughts he could make before his entire body gets hit with a coldness that numbs his entire body. An earthquake erupts from the ground at the sheer force of the ice's creation.
An ice structure that reaches above the stadium appears that day, and at the very bottom of it is Kosei Tsuburaba. His entire body from the neck down is completely submerged in ice. The cold saps away his body heat so fast that he's already feeling woozy.
Midnight's faint voice reaches his ears but he's not lucid enough to understand what was said.
Suddenly he hears another voice that's way closer.
"Apologies, this wasn't personal."
His eyes start to droop as his consciousness starts to leave him.
"I was just a little angry."
Despite the circumstance, a small smile tugs at Kosei's cheeks. His eyes close and he mercifully passes out, but not before one more thought enters his mind.
'Ugh, this blows…'
Get it? "This blows"? Because he blo- yeah I'll stop.
Anyway, hope you enjoyed it, I'm still trying to fix some stuff on my end of life, but it's still a hard journey. Check out my other stories (and my one smut), if you can and I really hope you enjoyed this. See ya.