Kensuke Tororo.

Born to a construction worker and a financial secretary, Kensuke was cursed from the moment he came into being. True, on the surface looked like a normal boy, strong and healthy, if a little thin. But he was missing something, something important, something few others lacked.

"Big brudder okay?"

Kensuke looked up from his hands. He was curled up in the corner of the bedroom he shared with his little sister, tears still trickling down his cheeks. He had been crying, body shaking and chest heaving with every sob. He could still hear the sound of the door slamming shut, his mother's last words to his father. Her last words to him.

'Your fault,' she had spat, voice venomous. 'You and your defective little brat.'

Kensuke didn't know where she was going. But he knew she wasn't coming back. For a four year old, Kensuke was smart; he knew what it meant when mom left and declared she was never coming back. He knew what it meant when his father got the adult juice from the cabinet above the fridge and poured himself a big glass of it. He knew what it meant when mom didn't come back after a whole day where she wasn't supposed to have work.

But Ryoshiko didn't know what that meant. All she knew was that her big brother was very sad and her daddy was very sad and her mommy had looked very sad before leaving. She had been left to pad around the house by herself, dragging her stuffed All-Might doll behind her with a thumb in her mouth and her long black hair in her face. She hadn't cried because she didn't understand that mommy wasn't going to come back, that she would only see her once or twice a year for a few hours. The tears would come later.

For now, though, she was pressing a tiny hand to her big brother's scruffy mess of a haircut, her Quirk unconsciously triggering. Touch of Grace was a curious little Quirk; a touch of Ryoshiko's hand would invoke minor sensations of peace and calm. Growing older it would become stronger; Ryoshiko wanted to be a nurse and take away the pain of people who were very hurt. But for now it only made her brother steady his breathing and blink away the tears.

"M-my fault…" he said, voice a low rasp. "Mom left… and it's my fault…"

It was his fault, as far as he could tell. Five years old and without any sign of a Quirk, his father had taken him to a doctor's office to get him checked. Surely he was just a late bloomer, right? Everything would be fine.

Everything was not fine. Kensuke was Quirkless, the second joint of his little toe proved it. He was defective, wrong, nonfunctional. His mother couldn't abide by it; she was rising through the ranks at work, looking at a promotion to executive in the near future. The scandal and loss of face having a Quirkless son would bring… she had left. And she wasn't coming back.

And it was Kensuke's fault.

"Big brudder sad…" Ryoshiko nodded slowly. "Big brudder need hugs."

She wrapped her chubby little arms around Kensuke, the pointy hair of her All-Might doll tickling his nose. He sneezed, and she giggled, and he giggled with her. Kensuke sniffled and hugged her back, and their father walked in to see them holding one another. He had joined the hug, picking up both his children and holding them tight to his chest.

Kensuke Tororo was lucky to have his family. He loved his father, who hadn't left, and his sister, who didn't blame him, more than anything. He had chosen to work as a businessman to support his father in retirement, his sister in her dream of a nursing career… and in hopes of showing his mom that just because he didn't have a Quirk, it didn't mean he couldn't stand beside her as an equal.

Nothing meant more to Kensuke Tororo than his family name.

Nothing.

Katsuki Bakugou cursed as he wrenched his arm away from those damned glittering lines, twisting his body to use his explosions to propel himself skyward, to get some distance. He was followed by dancing threads of blue light and by ice, lots of ice, a rising mountain of it forming from the cement under Shoto Todoroki's feet. Icy Hot was going hard today, it seemed. Bakugou grinned despite himself. Good.

He blasted away at the ice with a pair of explosions, before letting himself drop back down to the cement arena to dodge the threads. They were fast in motion, but slow to react. It was obvious the extra hadn't really practiced with them before. At least, not in a combat scenario. The ice gave him decent cover, enough to hide himself from Todoroki's line of sight. The threads were still searching, but they were also retracting. Puppet-Boy was gonna be a problem if his strings could rebound explosions.

"Oy!" he called to his teammate, the girl with the bob haircut and the shy demeanour. "You've got that mushroom spore power; Icy-Hot doesn't use his fire. Dump some of that shit his way to take him down!"

"O-okay!" the girl closed her eyes and focused, pressing her palms together. "B-but d-don't get too close, or my spores will g-get you too!"

Katsuki stood back for a moment, watching as the spores filled the air. They were like motes of purple dust, slowly swirling through the air. He grinned; he wanted to see Half and Half dodge this shit, or block it with his shitty ice! His hands sparked and crackled with nitroglycerin charges; just a moment longer and he could enter the field himself!

Maybe teamwork wasn't all that overrated after all. It wasn't like people would pay attention to the girl who filled the air with mushrooms; they would pay attention to the guy who kicked the enemy's ass! He clapped his hands together and set off a larger explosion, before readying himself for another, proper aerial attack.

He didn't expect a sudden cold front, or the sight of the mushroom spores literally freezing over, turning to tiny shards of ice and clattering down to the ground. He didn't much like where this was going. He heard the sound of Todoroki's voice, loud and clear. He set off another set of explosions to make sure his hands didn't get too cold to produce sweat, and felt a bone deep chill wash over him.

"NO."

Thus spoke Shoto Todoroki.

In his mind, he could hear them; the screaming voices, the gunshots, the squeal of tires and the crash of water. And behind it all, he could feel. Strength, unyielding unbreakable strength that would stand against anything. Around him the air shimmered in the inverse of a heat haze, the moisture of the air freezing in a million tiny particle crystals as unbreakable as diamond. A shield to protect him from everything; his father's anger, the judgement of people who didn't understand his oath.

He was not his father. And with this… he would never have to be.

In another time, in another world, it was called 'White Album'. But Todoroki's Quirk had consumed it, taking over and creating something more powerful. Absolute zero at a moment's order, radiating from him by his command. The air around him itself freezing into a shield that could stop any attack, millions of frozen particles to deflect any projectile and disperse any kinetic force.

"Gently Weeps." he spoke, voice much lower, the sight of his mother on her knees filling his mind as screams of a man dead a hundred years and a hundred realities away filled his ears. "MY power."

Izuku watched, his eyes flashing purple.

"Valentine, was this you?" he asked, voice low.

"I cannot say." Funny replied. "It seems D4C has affected your world in more ways than one."

"This could end badly." Izuku said, glancing at the rest of his class, who were watching in awe as Todoroki's right side was enveloped in crystalline armour that glistened in the midday sun. "Should we intervene?"

"No." Funny said. "Let this happen. You must know your enemy before you strike at him, lest he surprise you with powers unexpected."

Down in the arena, Todoroki was breathing slowly, his every breath fogging the air around him. His partner stood in awe of this power, Bakugou staring with anger and confusion, and Kinoko cowering in terror at the sight of it all. Gently Weeps was true power; he understood that now. It was power that instilled fear in his foes, and trepidation in his allies. He let the cold front blossom, the air growing colder and colder. He didn't feel it anymore; it was beneath him. He was one with his ice, separate at last from his father's cursed power.

Bakugou spat, watching his saliva freeze before it could even hit the ground. Was this Half-and-Half's trump card or some shit? His big super move? Katsuki smirked. He could beat this. This was NOTHING. He brought his hands together and clapped once, building up a nice big blast. He would blow both Icy-Hot and the extra away at the same time. It would be easy. Kinoko beside him looked worried, and he grinned at her. It wasn't a reassuring grin, more of a predatory smile of hunger.

"Don't worry." he said. "I'll show these fuckers some firepower!"

He raised his hands, and sparked his blast.

The resultant explosion rocked the arena itself. The clash of superheated air from Bakugou's Devestator Shot and supercooled air from Todoroki's Gently Weeps created a literal windstorm inside the arena, tearing away hats and loose items and throwing them all around the arena. The audience went wild with shock, surprise and cheers alike at the display. Izuku watched with narrowed eyes. The air was filled mist from the two forces opposing. Izuku couldn't see the result of the blast. Which had won, he wondered? Todoroki's stubbornness? Or Bakugou's pride?

Down on the ground, Kensuke Tororo was holding on for dear life. He had wrapped his threads around one of Todoroki's ice pillars, ten glittering strands surrounding it and ensuring he only flew like a flag instead of being thrown free from arena entirely. This was insanity! This was madness! He was going to die in this stupid tournament, all because he hadn't kept his head down!

"NO."

Todoroki's voice boomed again, and Kensuke's eyes went wide as he saw another monstrous pillar of ice begin to rise. Was he serious? He was really going to freeze the whole arena? He was crazy!

The winds finally began to die down, and Kensuke found himself swinging back toward the arena, which was filled with a monstrous construct of ice. He landed and gasped at the impact, his threads disintegrating and his body breaking into shivers. It was so cold... the air itself felt like ice. He pressed his hands together, looking around.

Todoroki stood alone, still surrounded by the haze of Gently Weeps. Opposite him, staring at him through a hole in the iceberg he had summoned, stood Bakugou, hands limp at his sides and expression murderous. Kensuke groaned, before summoning his threads again.

"I'm gonna take you down, Icy-Hot." he said. "With or without your freaky fuckin' deep freeze shit. Forget the extras; you and me. Let's do this."

Kensuke scowled.

Extra. Worthless. Quirkless. Defective. Your fault. YOUR FAULT. His head spun with the same words and phrases for a long moment, his hands clenching into fists again. His threads grew without his direct input, slowly stretching down toward the cement ground. Extra. Worthless. Quirkless. Defective. Your fault.

He spat. His body trembled, muscles tending.

"Don't you DARE forget about me!" he shouted, lunging forward, reaching out with a hand and sending his threads snaking through the air.

Bakugou snarled, raising a hand and filling it with a retaliatory explosion, before the threads wrapped around his wrist and tightened hard, between each of his fingers. Bakugou's eyes went wide and he cancelled the explosion; he couldn't risk the kickback point blank like this. He wrenched his arm back, watching Kensuke stumble on the ice. Behind him Icy Hot was standing stock still, evidently focused on maintaining his super-move. Whatever. He'd just kick this extra's ass and then move on.

He expected Kensuke to go for a punch or something. He didn't expect more threads to wrap around his throat, slowly tightening to bite deeper and deeper into the sensitive flesh. Suddenly the situation went from manageable to worrying. Was this kid gonna garrotte him into unconsciousness? Seriously?

Kensuke grinned a savage grin as he closed his fist, tightening the threads even more. Evidently the answer was yes.

Bakugou let out a choked howl, raising his free hand. He didn't try to blast the thread though; that was a bad plan through and through. But the ice... he blew a hole in the ceiling of the ice tunnel, this grotto he had dug with his explosions during Todoroki's onslaught. This whole thing was already pretty fucked. One good blast to the foundations...

The ceiling began cracking in a spiderweb formation, and Bakugou smirked through the pain of being choked.

And it would all come tumbling down.

Kensuke looked up to see the ceiling rapidly disintegrating over his head, and blinked twice. This... this wasn't good. This was the opposite of good. This was a disaster in the making. He looked back at Bakugou, and saw the boy's smile. That arrogant smirk. Kensuke's eyes narrowed again. No. He wouldn't give up. He would make this arrogant son of a bitch say his name.

No matter what it took.

Kensuke had little faith in his combat ability. He had never trained his body in any martial arts, and the closest he got to a workout was walking to school every day. His Quirk was still extremely new to him, his ability with it extremely lacking compared to the hero students who had been training for over a month now. But he had one advantage against Katsuki Bakugou.

He wasn't a hero student. He wasn't looking to become a hero student.

So heroism wasn't something he much cared about.

"Bring the cave down then." He said, voice low. "Go right ahead. But I'm not going anywhere, and neither are you."

Bakugou's smirk turned to a frown, a look of genuine concern as he turned his eyes toward the ceiling, which was evidently seconds from collapse. Kensuke grinned, loosening the threads around his throat just a little.

"Now." he took a single step closer. "Say my name, you son of a bitch."

Bakugou spat on the ice at his feet, and raised a hand.

"Fuck you." he retorted, before blasting Kensuke clean in the chest. Kensuke gasped as he was lifted off his feet, the threads he had formed disintegrating from all around Bakugou as the blonde lunged forward, pausing in mid-air. He turned to look around the grotto; there. Brown hair cut in a bob hiding closed eyes. Hell. The other extra. Couldn't leave her in here...

He blitzed to her side and threw her over his shoulder, before sprinting out of the cave. He blasted away a chunk of ice threatening to fall on both of them, diving out of the grotto right before it collapsed completely. Fuck. It was even colder out here, where Icy-Hot was still doing his angry-ice-field thing. Bakugou put mushroom girl on the ground and turned toward Todoroki.

"Let's finish this, fucker!" he spat, raising his hands.

Then a fist crashed into his jaw from the side and he was knocked back, nearly falling over. He twisted to see another fist coming, and he ducked the punch. Kensuke was screaming with anger, bringing his fists down in a flurry of sloppy, rage driven punches.

Bakugou caught his hands, and head-butted the boy in the face. His nose broke on impact, and he fell backward into his ass. Fucking finally, he thought as he turned away. Time to handle Icy-Hot and finish the goddamn job. From behind him he heard a groan.

"Stay down, Tororo." he said, begrudging respect in his voice. "Or I'll make you stay down. This is Icy-Hot and I's right now. Make sure Shroom-Head is okay."

"What is your deal?" Kensuke asked, confused.

Bakugou grinned.

"I'm gonna be number one." he said. "You may be an extra, but anyone who can land a punch on me must have something going for them." His expression switched back to his usual angry scowl. "Now stay the fuck down!"

He stared at Todoroki, surrounded by that weird cold-haze. Fuck this was a drag.

"You gonna move, Icy-Hot?" he asked, glaring at the boy behind the frozen wall. "Or are you just gonna hide in your little igloo? Show me some fucking fire already, come on!"

"NO."

"Is that all you can fucking say now or some shit?" Bakugou spat, readying his hands for another big explosion. "Get out here and fight me!"

A moment of silence, before Todoroki opened his eyes. The left was dull and empty, but the right; the right shone with a cold blue light. Wait. Hold up. Didn't Icy-Hot have different-coloured eyes? What the fuck was this?

"Fine."

Ice. More ice than Bakugou knew what to do with. Except he knew exactly what to do. He loosed another monstrous explosion, and watched that incoming wave of frozen water crumble and break.

"Is that all you have?" he shouted, starting to run now, building more explosives in his hands again. "Is that all you can do?"

Todoroki didn't move. But the ice came, and Bakugou blew it away again.

"Come on!" Bakugou screamed, blasting away another incoming frozen wall. "Fucking fight me, you coward!"

Todoroki didn't move.

Bakugou snarled with audible rage, bringing both hands together. This was the big one. The one that would finish this shit. He was angry. He was cold. He was tired. His wrists were sore. But most of all, he was fucking sick of this. This was a joke of a fight. What the fuck was Icy-Hot doing, hiding behind a shield like that? Where was the power? Where was the drive?

"Why the fuck are you even here, huh?" Bakugou asked, roaring the question as he readied his Bunker Buster Blast. "Half-assing it with your broken-ass Quirk? Do you even wanna be a fucking hero?"

Bakugou had no idea his question would dig so deep into Todoroki's psyche that the boy's power would lessen as he was shaken to his core. He didn't realize that the self-assured righteousness that had triggered Gently Weeps had just been broken by a simple question. He didn't know Todoroki's defences were, in that moment, lessened.

All he knew was that when he raised his hands and loosed an explosion strong enough to level the average suburban house, it didn't just blow through Todoroki's defences. It blew through Todoroki himself, throwing him some forty feet into the air and letting him drop on the grass around the concrete pad of the arena, limp and lifeless.

Bakugou stared, hands smoking.

The audience fell silent.

Todoroki lay totally still on the grass. He was smoking, the front of his gym uniform a ragged mess from the force of the Bunker Buster. The ice armour of Gently Weeps had been obliterated by the blast.

Izuku Midoriya dove between two classmates in front of him, emerging between a loose chunk of the iceberg Bakugou had blown to pieces, and sprinted to Todoroki's side. He came skidding to a halt, sliding on his knees and pressing a hand to the boy's neck.

He felt it under his fingers. A fluttering, weak movement, unsteady and uncertain. But he felt a heartbeat.

"MEDIC!" he shouted.

The crowd stayed silent, shocked by the display they had just witnessed.

Katsuki Bakugou had won.

And nobody even seemed to notice.

AN:

And it's about here where this story will begin to take a turn for the darker side. I'm not gonna be going crazy and murdering characters left and right... but there will be consequences formerly unseen in the manga. If you personally dislike that, then I apologize. But this story started as a half-joke premise, and now I've begun to go far deeper than I ever intended. So I'm gonna ride this wild ride to the end and see where it takes me.

If you're willing to join me on that trip, I hope you're ready. Stuff is coming; some big stuff, some small stuff, and some bizarre stuff. People will be changed, things will get harder for everybody involved, and the world may even be irrevocably changed a few times. But hey, isn't that was fan fiction is for?

As for my usual character breakdowns:

Katsuki is going to learn what consequences are in this story, with perhaps a little more severity than in canon.

Kensuke got his Seras Victoria moment. He'll be back eventually, but for now this is the end of his story.

Kinoko didn't do much here, at least of her own accord. But trust me; she's gonna be important to Katsuki's story. She already has been, to be honest.

Hope you all enjoyed!