DISCLAIMER: i don't own any part of My Hero Academia- the plot and characters all belong to Horikoshi Kohei


"Costumes are the symbols of heroics! No ordinary garb will suffice!"


I had never really been one for costumes. Even as a young girl, I had never really grasped the wonderment of a costume that seemed to enthrall so many others who were my age; even the relatively simple concept of Halloween escaped me. It was for this very reason that when the time had come for my father to demand that I come up with a costume design, I had done what any annoyed teenager would do: I did the bare minimum.

The thought of costumes had filled my mind all day. I had woken up with the notion of costumes dancing around inside my skull early in the morning, my house empty and quiet, as my father had already scurried off to the main school building. It had been in the forefront of my mind as Present Mic tried to teach us English, and it had been distracting me while while Cooking Hero Lunch Rush gave us the thumbs up in the cafeteria. It simply would not leave me alone.

"Daichi-chan, are you alright?"

The worried eyes of Uraraka Ochaco gazed up at me from her place at our lunch table, concern painting her fingers in a manner that seemed almost embarrassingly obvious. Beside her sat Izuku, who was also looking at me worriedly through a mouthful of rice. Iida Tenya sat with us as well; his habit of clinging to us during the fitness test the previous day seemed to have stuck.

"Of course, super alright," I replied monotonously, mimicking Lunch Rush and giving Ochaco a thumbs up. "This rice is good."

"What the heck is wrong with you?" Ochaco and Izuku said in unison. Tenya looked beffudled.

"Was that supposed to be you pretending to be alright?" he asked me blatantly, pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. "You know that only works if you put some effort into faking it, right?" I was puzzled.

"I gave the thumbs up." I replied.

Confusion painted my features as I inspected my hand. Was there some kind of trick to this that I had missed? Ochaco's giggle smothered a scolding that was about to escape Tenya's mouth. Izuku smiled, too, though his eyes were more trained on Ochaco than on me, which I found to be quite charming, though I couldn't overlook his naïveté; he was clearly brand new to having crushes on girls.

Just as the thought entered my head, none other than Todoroki Shouto marched down the aisle of the cafeteria. He paused at the head of our table very briefly on his journey to the trashcan to empty what was left of the rice in his bowl; our eyes met, and I felt my cheeks heat up immediately. Clearly, I had no room to talk when it came to naïveté. Shouto was gone with a small huff!, leaving me to be confused and embarrassed in front of new friends, wiping my now sweaty palms desperately on the hem of my skirt.

"That was weird." Ochaco mumbled absentmindedly, kindly pretending not to notice me as I wiped sweat off of my forehead. "Anyways," she began again, her voice bright as her eyes returned to me. I felt slightly less sweaty. "We were asking you why you're being so weird today and then you tried to hide your weird feelings which only made you seem more weird. Spill. what's bothering you?" I muttered something very quietly, barely moving my lips. "What was that?"

"Hero costumes…" I muttered again. Why did I have to sweat so much? "I've been preoccupied with hero costumes."

"Costumes?" Ochaco's laugh was loud as she repeated my worry back to me. A girl in our class, a girl with an acidic Quirk, glanced our way at the noise. "Why on earth would you be so bothered by them?"

"I don't get them!" I replied earnestly. Even Tenya was now chuckling, which alerted me to just how ridiculous I was behaving. I flushed for a second time, standing up from the table swiftly and grabbing my food tray. "Never mind!" I said loudly, harrumph-ing loudly and turning my nose up at them. I was sure that I looked foolish, but at the time I just couldn't care less. "That's the last time I'll ever come to you guys with a problem!"

"Daichi-san! We were only kidding!"

"Awh, Daichi-chan~"

"Daichi-kun, be reasonable."

Izuku, Ochaco, and Tenya created a chorus as I stalked away bitterly from our table. I dumped my remaining rice into the trashcan with a heavy sigh, deciding that I may as well go to class early now that I had childishly fled my lunch table.

The silence of the currently empty class 1A greeted me as I slid the door open glumly. My eyes wandered to the opposite wall of the classroom, where several barely visible lines indicated to me where our battle gear was currently being stored; I pursed my lips.

"Stupid costumes…"

"Talking to yourself?"

A quiet eep! escaped my lips, feeling a shiver run up my spine as I was suddenly alerted to another presence in the classroom. I turned my head to face the person who had spoken, though there was not a doubt in my mind that I knew exactly who it was, already. As I had expected, the icy stare of Todoroki Shouto met my own from his place towards the back of the classroom, where he sat alone, hands on top of his desk, fingers interlaced in a reserved and professional sort of way. It almost made me feel as though I were a student receiving a talking-to from a teacher.

"Oh, hello. I didn't see you there-" I began stiffly, but I was quickly cut off.

"Don't talk to me like you're on television."

"Well~ wouldja look who-" I tried again. And failed.

"No." Shouto snapped, narrowing his mismatched eyes. "What the hell- Speak normally, would you?" I paused, my body tangibly deflating as I let what little false bravado I had left leave me. I frowned, feeling much less brave and considerably more anxious.

"Sorry," I said softly as I took a seat one row over and several desks in front of where Shouto was sitting. It was close enough to talk, but far enough away where I felt comfortable. "Hey." Shouto's cold eyes regarded me from his place at the desk.

"There." he responded, his tone calm and level. I admired people who always spoke as though completely unaffected by others. "Isn't that less stressful?" I shrugged, not wanting to admit that he had helped me.

Shouto leaned forward, and I could have almost sworn that I heard a chuckle rumbling somewhere deep in his chest. I flushed; it seemed almost conceited to think that I could make such a person laugh. Though, if he were laughing, it was likely at me rather than because of me.

"What's your name?" Shouto asked me.

I turned my head, my blue eyes meeting his. His expression remained unchanged, still guarded and as icy as his Quirk. I could not tell if his sudden interest was coming from a place of genuinity or competitiveness.

"Daichi."

"And your last name?"

"Just calling me Daichi is fine," I assured him with nervous laughter. "It's what everyone else does."

"I'd like to know your full name." he insisted. His gaze was getting more heated; I guess that was why his hair was only half white.

"Why?"

My voice now had an edge to it, so much so that I almost surprised myself. My gaze hardened, meeting Shouto's eye line. Not as I had before, with a blush on my cheeks, but with the same guarded stare that he so frequently used on me. Shouto's eyes narrowed, clearly apprehensive of my newfound bravery.

"Why do you want to know what my last name is so badly?" I asked again, this time being more specific. I kept my gaze trained on Shouto, though he was a worthy adversary. I was certain he had won his fair share of staring contests. "Why are you being so persistent?" Shouto took a minute before answering.

"I suspect that I already know the answer, but I wanted to see if you would tell me," he admitted at last. "I see now that you probably won't."

"I don't see why my last name's so important to you," I replied curtly. A small smirk tugged at the corners of his mouth, and despite myself I felt my cheeks heat up; I wanted to smack myself in the face.

"Would it happen to be Aizawa?" Shouto asked. My breath caught in my throat for a second, a frown marring my features. I could tell by his triumphant smirk and the smugness of his tone that he already knew he was right. "Aizawa Daichi?"

"... That's me…" I said through clenched teeth.

My frustration, I told myself, had less to do with the gravity of my secret and more to do with this boy getting a one-up on me. Shouto's body relaxed, the tensest part of the conversation now over with. He leaned back in his chair with a calm expression on his face, hands resting behind his head, though his eyes were still locked on me.

"Nice to meet you, Aizawa Daichi." he muttered.

Before I could say anything else our classmates suddenly began to re-enter the classroom. A babble of chit-chat greeted my ears as they made their way back into the classroom in groups, lunch seeming to have improved everyone's mood a considerable amount. Shouto reverted to his stiff posture at his desk, his silence indicating that, at least for now, our conversation was over with.

"Daichi-chan!" The bubbly voice of Ochaco overshadowed the inane chatter of the other students with which I was less familiar. "There you are!"

Ochaco and Izuku came to sit beside me, the two of them claiming desks in the row perpendicular to mine. On my other side, Tenya and Tsuyu chose their own desks; as usual, Tenya's face was painted with a stiff eagerness that I was sure was a product of years in private school. Behind Tsuyu was the strange looking girl with the acid Quirk, who smiled at me with all of her teeth.

"I'm Ashido Mina!" she said loudly, waving at me. I waved jerkily, taken aback by her enthusiasm. "Nice to meetcha' Daichi-chan!"

"Did you hear that All Might is supposed to be teaching this class?" Tsuyu's froggy tone cut over Mina's excited babble, though I'd already stopped listening to her; I was beginning to feel slightly overloaded from all the commotion. "Hero Studies…"

"Yeah, my pa-" I began, everyone's eyes turning to look at me. I flushed. "Uhm… Yeah, I did hear that somewhere, I think." I finished lamely, covering up my mistake in a hurry. I could feel Todoroki Shouto's eyes on the back of my neck, which was no doubt just as pink as my face.

A loud slam from the front of the classroom caused every single student in class 1A to visibly jump with surprise. My eyes snapped open, and I turned to face the door to the classroom, which was the source of the interruption. In the doorway stood All Might, a large smile stretched across his features. He held himself in the doorway, striking a pose that I could only assume was meant to make him seem more casual, though I had to admit that the effect was quite the opposite.

"It's me!" All Might called. I was surprised that his booming voice did not shake that desks we sat in. The rest of my classmates were wide eyed and nervous, regarding the number one Pro Hero with a mixture of anxiousness and awe. "Using the door like a normal person!"

I pursed my lips. Costumes being the source of most of my annoyance for the day I could not help but note that All Might's costume was strikingly reminiscent of Silver Age comics; I had to admit, such a style held a certain charm, though it was not exactly my taste. All Might came to rest behind a podium by the chalkboard, looking out at us with an expression that resembled that of a child's on Christmas morning.

"Foundational Hero Studies!" All Might began excitedly from his place at the chalkboard. I glanced to my right, observing the other students. Bakugo Katsuki looked surprisingly enthralled with All Might. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! You'll get tons of credit for it…" I couldn't help but chuckle at the level enthusiasm he had for his own class. Suddenly, All Might held out a small sign towards the class. It read 'BATTLE' in large yellow letters. Bakugo Katsuki smirked widely.

"Let's jump right in with this! The trial of battle!"

Next to me I heard Izuku gulp nervously, and I noticed that Katsuki was now glaring in our direction rather aggressively. Most of the class either looked very nervous, or simply mildly accepting, all except for Katsuki, who looked thrilled- albeit in the most terrifying way imaginable.

"And to go with your first battle…" All Might began again, a more dramatic tone in his voice. "We've prepared the gear we had you send in requests for to match your Quirks!"

From the far wall, the little lines I had noticed revealed themselves to be exactly as I had expected. As if on cue, one by one long drawers extended out of the wall. Each compartment was marked with a number, which I could only assume corresponded to each of us. Several students jumped up excitedly, including Izuku.

"Our battle gear!" Kirishima Eijiro, a red haired boy with a hardening Quirk, yelled excitedly in response to All Might's big reveal. "Awesome!"

"Get changed and we'll be ready to go!" All Might exclaimed. The other students began to swarm the drawers, looking for their numbers and pulling their costumes out of the corresponding compartments. I stayed in my seat, having no desire to wade through the large coagulation of people surrounding the costumes.

"Everyone gather at Grounds B. The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important, boys and girls! And don't forget, from here on out, you're all officially heroes!"

I frowned, finally leaving my place at my desk and wandering toward the compartment with my number on it. Pulling the dark cloth out of the compartment, I felt relief wash over me as I realized that they had done what I had asked and kept it simple. At least now I wouldn't look ridiculous. Out of the corner of my eyes I caught sight of Katsuki, who was toting a pair of what looked like giant grenades; I blanched.

The last person on Earth who should be allowed to have giant grenades was Bakugo Katsuki.


"All right! Let's see what you're made of, you embryos!"

I stood amongst my classmates anxiously, tugging at the sleeves of my costume. Glancing around, I realized quickly that my costume was the most basic among my classmates. Despite my satisfaction with a simple costume, I suddenly felt anxious about it; Todoroki Shouto had arrived at the training grounds with half of his body covered in what looked like fake ice.

"That's all you have for your costume, Daichi?" Ochaco asked, glancing at me through the clear shield on her helmet.

Although her costume was more simple than others, it still had its fair share of bulk and extraneousness. I replied with a nervous laugh, glancing down to observe my own costume; a simple black leotard met my gaze, and I was still tugging on the ends of its long sleeves out of nervousness.

"Well, it's made from wicking material…" I mumbled. Behind us I heard Izuku arrive, sounding slightly out of breath. "I tend to get really overheated when I'm training for some reason. Something to do with how my Quirk works, my papa says."

"Your costume is cool, Deku!" Ochaco exclaimed. I paused, slightly confused that she would call him by Bakugo Katsuki's insult name, but Izuku didn't seem to mind. "It seems really practical!" Underneath his mask, I could have sworn that Izuku turned three different shades of red after realizing what Ochaco was wearing.

"Uraraka!" he exclaimed loudly. "Whoa!" I pursed my lips and rolled my eyes, though a small smile tugged at my mouth. He sure wasn't subtle. It was now Ochaco's turn to laugh nervously, smiling as she tugged at her costume.

"I wish I'd sketched it a little better…" she mumbled. The rest of her sentence escaped me, as I was suddenly aware of someone standing very close to me… Too close. I whipped around, expecting to meet someone's gaze; no one was there. Then, I looked down.

A weird looking kid that I had, for some reason, never noticed before was staring back and forth between Ochaco and I repeatedly, his eyes glossed over. A languid smile covered his face, and I could have sworn I saw some drool making its way out of the corners of his mouth. I frowned more deeply than I ever had before, feeling disgust bubble in the pit of my stomach.

"Who the hell are you?" I snapped, not really caring to coddle the stranger who was ogling Ochaco and myself. Izuku looked in the direction I was facing, now also realizing that this strange person had appeared.

"H-heroics… Is amazing…" the boy muttered, giving Izuku the thumbs up. Izuku looked confused; I was truly disgusted.

"Please leave." I said darkly.

"I'd do what she asks, Mineta…" Izuku warned.

Before the small, strange person could do anything, I had lifted him up with a few small rocks and transported him to the other side of the crowd, dumping him unceremoniously next to Bakugo Katsuki. I steadfastly ignored the glower that he sent in my direction.

"I'm liking everyone's style!" All Might's booming voice told us that it was the end of admiring costumes, and time to start class. "Let's begin: the trial of battle!" I straightened my body attentively, digging my bare toes into the sand, wriggling them around.

"Sensei!" A robotic-looking individual standing near us spoke up, and I realized from the voice that it was Tenya. He looked like a Transformer. "Regarding the performance grounds we'll be using- Is it the mock city from the entrance exam?"

"You'll see," All Might began, his voice still loud. "In fact, take two steps and you'll be there! This will be an indoor battle trial! Villain cleanup is usually seen out in the open but, statistically, the better part of it is an indoor job." The class stood in front of him, silent and attentive. I glanced around carefully, noticing a tall cement building a few yards in front of us. "Most acts of villainy are committed indoors. Imprisonment... House arrest... The black market... In this hero-saturated society- Why, any villain with intelligence is lurking in the shadows! For this test, you'll separate into villain and hero groups for a two-on-two team battle!"

"What about foundational training?" Tsuyu piped up monotonously from the middle of the crowd.

"This is foundational training!" All Might insisted. "Only this time, there won't be any robots you can just destroy." I arched an eyebrow, confused, but the rest of the class seemed to know what he was talking about. I assumed that it had something to do with the entrance exam.

"How do we determine who wins and loses?" I asked, raising my hand but not waiting to be called on.

"Is there a threat of expulsion, like with Aizawa-sensei's exercise?" said Ochaco.

"If we're separating into teams, how should we do that in the most efficient way?" Tenya inquired.

"Doesn't my costume look killer?" The boy with the naval laser was preening himself on the outskirts of the group. No one was paying attention to him except for himself, though he didn't really seem to acknowledge it.

"Is it ok if we just blow our opponents away?" Katsuki snarled. His body was almost quivering with anticipation, and the weird kid named Mineta was looking up at him, terrified.

"He already said we can't go needlessly destroying things, Katsuki." I deadpanned. Katsuki shot a fiery glare in my direction.

"Who said you could call me by my first name, mud-brain?"

"Who said you could call me mud-brain, Sparky?"

"I can't hear you if you all speak at once!"

All Might's loud voice cut all of us off at once, ending my and Katsuki's feud before it could even begin. I suddenly felt mildly guilty, realizing we had been behaving rather rudely. Holding up a miniscule booklet, which I could only assume was All Might's personal cheat sheet for the battle trial rules, he began answering our many inane questions one by one.

"For this training, we'll have some villains guard a nuclear weapon they intend on deploying. The heroes must stop them and their nefarious scheme before it's too late!" I chuckled under my breath, admiring his commitment to the Golden Age of heroism. "If the heroes capture the villains or reach the nuclear core before the time runs out, they win. If the villains manage to keep the core the whole time or capture the heroes, they win." Izuku was nodding excitedly from his place next to me. "Your teammates and opponents, young Iida, will be chosen by lottery!

"Is that really how we'll do it?" Tenya exclaimed. I assumed he was eyeing the box that All Might held in his grasp, but I couldn't quite tell due to the Bionicle-style mask he was wearing.

"Well, Pros are often forced to make impromptu team-ups with other heroes they might not know very well, so this is probably testing that…" Izuku muttered thoughtfully, gaining Tenya's attention as he explained.

"I see!" Tenya responded enthusiastically. "Always with our eyes on the future. I apologize!" All Might, clearly becoming more impatient by the minute, turned away from us to draw from the lottery boxes.

"Anyway!" he exclaimed loudly. "Let's start this! The teams are…"

I fidgeted in the crowd anxiously, glancing around as pairs were called. People looked either thrilled or indifferent, although I was unable to see the invisible girl's- Toru's- expression upon being paired with the lecherous Mineta; Mineta simply pouted, and I had no doubt it was because he was unable to see Toru's breasts. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself at the irony that Toru was completely naked, save for her gloves and shoes.

"Team I: Young Ojiro and Young Daichi!"

I glanced around swiftly, locking eyes with my new partner as All Might paired the final team. He was tall, taller than even I was, with short blonde hair and kind eyes. A thick tail swung behind him, which I thought vaguely resembled a lion's. He smiled, waving at me, his tail swinging back and forth in time with his hand.

"And the first two pairs to do combat-" All Might shouted, reaching into a box labeled 'HEROES' and one labeled 'VILLAINS' with either hand. "Will be the following!"

Each hand emerged from its respective box. Team I, my team, was written on one ball, clutched between All Might's enormous fingertips. The other read Team B. I looked around, trying to determine who our opponents were, since I had not been paying attention until the time my name was called.

"Pair I, young Ojiro and Daichi, will be villains!" All Might said, laughing heartily. "The heroes will be pair B, young Shoji and young Todoroki!" My heart stopped in my chest for a moment. I turned around slowly, somehow knowing that Shouto was behind me, and our eyes met.

This was just my luck.


"So we just have to guard this thingy?"

Ojiro Mashirao and I stood on the fourth floor of the concrete building that was meant to be the stage for our heroes versus villains performance. Mashirao and I stood side by side in front of the enormous paper mache sculpture of a bomb, which we were meant to protect, though to me it looked more like a rocket. To be fair, I had not the slightest clue what a bomb was supposed to look like in the first place- maybe they were supposed to look like rockets, for all I knew.

"I guess so," he muttered in reply, his tail swishing through the air behind him. "Though I'm pretty nervous about our opposition. Todoroki and Shoji are both very strong." I clapped my new villain partner roughly on the back; he looked mildly surprised by my strength.

"You and Shoji went through the same entrance exam," I said, shooting my best smile at him. He looked confused; I guess it still needed some work. "Don't be so hard on yourself, is all that I meant." I clarified, wiping the smile off of my face.

My bare feet slid across the cool concrete, the chill of the crushed rock cooling my body and calming me down. I took a deep breath, concentrating on the concrete that surrounded us; I had to be very careful using minerals from a structure like a building, since manipulating it too much could easily cause the building to collapse.

"Shouto uses ice, right?" I murmured to Mashirao through my concentration.

"Yeah, he's pretty powerful." he replied glumly.

I nodded as I allowed grainy concrete to cover my feet, wiggling my toes inside the makeshift shoes. I focused more keenly on the minerals around me, pridefully enjoying Mashirao's expression as a small platform I had constructed from borrowed material picked up our fake bomb. I drew the platform to a halt between the floor and the ceiling, levitating it there; I felt my body temperature increase slightly, though the wicking material of my costume helped to deal with the excess sweat.

The wireless receiver in my ear, which connected us to All Might and allowed us to receive his instructions, alerted me that the mock battle had commenced. I piqued my focus yet again, using the concrete shoes I had made to lift myself off of the ground. This, apparently, was not a moment too soon; I blinked, and when I had opened my eyes again, the entire room had been covered with ice.

"D-D-Daichi-san," I looked behind me, a chilly-looking Mashirao meeting my gaze. His feet were thoroughly encased with ice, and I grimaced with guilt. He looked like a popsicle.

"Ah… Sorry Ojiro…" I muttered apologetically. I shoulda' lifted you up, too…"

A mild headache had begun to set in, the concentration required to lift multiple objects (the fake bomb and myself) proving to be trickier than I had anticipated. I lowered myself to the ground, my concrete shoes making a scraping noise as I made my way atop the ice. I paused, noticing that footsteps could be heard in the not-so-far-away distance.

"Oh…" Shouto's calm voice bounced off the walls of ice, his tone displaying a modicum of surprise. "I had expected to take care of you both with that attack…"

Before I had much time to think, Shouto's ice was coming straight for me; sharp daggers of frozen water cropping up from the ground almost too quickly for the eye to follow. Instinctively I dropped our bomb to the floor, switching my concentration to the concrete below the layer of ice Shouto had created.

Glassy shards of ice sprayed through the air as Shouto's attack made contact with a wall of concrete. My defense sprouted up through the permafrost like one of the first flowers of spring. I let out a sigh of relief, though I had little time to bask in my small triumph; a second later I heard the ice coming for me yet again. I leapt to my right, dodging the attack and extending the building's concrete floor to come up in front of the bomb to shield it from Shouto.

A grunt of exertion escaped my throat, my shoulder making rough contact with the frozen floor as I landed gracelessly behind a concrete pillar. I looked up, around the room, realizing that there were several of them. I allowed a smirk to tug at my features; this pillar would be my saving grace.

Taking an enormous chunk of pillar with me I leapt in Shouto's direction. He stood in the center of the room, his mismatched eyes searching for me, meaning to take me out before claiming the bomb and the win for the hero team. He frowned when he saw me, grunting slightly as he sent a wall of ice careening in my direction.

"Nice try!" I cried.

I rolled across the ground, sending a chunk of rock to meet Shouto's ice head on. A loud crunch met my ears as the concrete hunk I'd taken from the pillar made short work of the ice; tiny ice crystals sprayed through the air as the rock cleared my path. I crouched low to the ground, avoiding another wall of ice that Shouto had sent around my own attack by rolling and sliding forward on the icy floor.

"Gotcha!"

Ice met rock as Shouto and I collided in the middle of the room. Shouto's expression was a mixture of shock and frustration; clearly, he had not been expecting much resistance. My arms, completely covered in concrete, struggled against Shouto's briefly before he pushed me away, sending another wall of ice at me.

I sent up my own wall, guarding me from Shouto's attack. The ice spread over the wall, and I heard it creak as the ice began to make its way through the porous material; in a heartbeat I shattered the wall myself, destroying Shouto's attack and my own defense in one go. An angry-looking Shouto met my eyes from the other side of the wall.

Our fight continued on like this, and I quickly lost track of how much time had passed. Shouto's ice was continuously blocked by my concrete, the ice would attempt to break through my defense, and then I would negate both by shattering the rock. I had been watching Shouto carefully all the while, being careful to note that the longer our fight went on, the colder he appeared. He seemed out of breath, his labored breathing I could clearly see exiting his mouth in little puffs of air, made visible by the cold temperature of the room.

"You're tougher than you look," Shouto muttered darkly from his position opposite me. Neither of us had budged. Mashirao watched us from his place near the bomb, his feet still stuck to the floor.

"You're less threatening than you-"

"Daichi-san, careful!"

My words were cut off by a sudden blow to my back. The impact sent my flying towards Shouto, who narrowed his eyes in concentration and sent a wall of ice to greet me. I bit my lip in concentration, letting out a strained grunt as i brought part of the concrete wall down to meet me; Shouto's ice shattered on contact.

Shouto's partner, Mezo, had at last joined the fight. I was not sure where he had been all this time, and despite knowing that he was just following instructions I shot a glower in his direction. Blows to the back and sneak attacks were low, and he had done both at once. Mezo charged no sooner had I landed back on the ground, his eight muscular arms seeming suddenly much more intimidating than usual. With ice fast approaching from my left, and a muscular octopus from my front, I will admit that I panicked.

With a shrill cry I brought two concrete pillars towards me, ripping them away from the floor and ceiling as though I were merely tearing up weeds from a garden. With a loud crash, I sent one of them in Shouto's direction; he grunted as his ice attack shattered around him and he stumbled backwards. The other I crumbled into tiny chunks, balling my hands into fists in front of me as I did so.

Mezu wound up a fist- I couldn't tell if it was his real fist or one of his octopus extremities- aiming for my face. He met a rock instead, which he shattered; I blanched at the thought that such a hit had been intended for myself. I clench one fist still tighter, forming a floating replica of my own hand out of parts of the pillar that I had destroyed. Mezu growled as I grabbed hold of one of his ankles with it, which proceeded to send him flying. I crouched down low, chunks of rock orbiting the entirety of my body as I readied myself for another attack-

"Time's up!" All Might's voice coming from the radio receivers in our ears made us all stop short. "The hero team failed to capture the bomb! Come out of the performance area and we'll assess your performance as a group!"

Shouto sighed, and I couldn't tell if it was from disappointment or frustration. He crouched to the ground, placing one hand on it and melting the ice he had used to incapacitate Mashirao, who was shivering profusely. Mezu nodded in my direction, muttering what sounded like 'good fight' from under his mask. I smiled nervously, making to reply to him; a sudden shake from the building made me stop.

"What's going on?" Mashirao murmured, gazing around the room curiously. "Was that the building shaking just now?"

"Ah, crap…" I sighed, realizing immediately what was happening. The two spots where I had ripped up the pillars taunted me from the floor and ceiling; I had made a bad decision. "Everyone, leave." I said stiffly, and I felt my body temperature spike drastically.

My entire body felt damp from sweat from my fight, and I realized with a shock that my skin had grown clammy. I concentrated hard, focussing only on the concrete around us like my life depended on it; my headache was getting worse, and I was beginning to feel sick. The building stabilized slightly, though I heard the familiar crumbling noise of rock breaking.

"Daichi-san," Mezu began, his eyes fixed on me. "What's going on?" I pursed my lips, feeling more and more uncomfortable by the minute; it was everything I could do to keep the building from breaking apart, and this guy was standing around and asking questions?

"I'm… I think my Quirk destabilized the building…" I muttered through clenched teeth. "Please just leave… I can't hold it up for that much longer." Mezu, Mashirao and Shouto exchanged glances briefly as the building shook again.

"Yeah, right." Shouto muttered nonchalantly, as if the building wasn't gearing up to collapse on our heads any second. "We're supposed to just leave you here, then? I don't think so." His words were heroic, but his tone sounded almost bored. Had I not been dedicating all of my energy to keeping a roof over our heads, I would have rolled my eyes. "Just keep concentrating. Don't break focus."

"I wasn-"

My words were cut off as Shouto swept me into his arms, following Mezu and Mashirao out of the door and down the stairs without another word. I wanted to protest- to yell something that brazen girls yell in Slice of Life manga when boys tried to impose themselves on them; unfortunately, I could now feel the bile rising in my throat, and a warm liquid dripped out of my nostrils. My head was pounding every time my heart beat.

In my mind's eye I could feel every tiny pebble in the concrete that held the building up working against me. I squeezed my eyes tightly, concentrating harder on the concrete structure; I would contemplate how ludicrous it was of me to try and hold an entire building together with sheer willpower was at a later time.

"Ah, there you all are!" All Might's voice greeted us. My heart skipped a beat; we were outside. "Ah, Young Todoroki… Why are you carrying Young-"

Unceremoniously I released my control, dropping the building like a tired student drops their backpack onto the floor after getting home from school. I felt my body go limp in Shouto's arms, blood streaming across my lips from my nose, a long sigh escaping my lips as I allowed my mind to let go of the building. A collective note of surprise escaped the mouths of my classmates as the building we had just exited came tumbling down, the infrastructure having clearly been made unstable by my Quirk's meddling.

"... What kind of fight did you all have in there…" The monotonous voice of Tsuyu made its way to my ears of the low rumblings from the building far behind us.

"Thanks for not killing us." Shouto muttered, looking down at me as he held me. I blinked, my eyelids heavy from over exertion. I opened my mouth to reply.

"You're-"

And then I promptly threw up all over him.