We changed back to our uniforms and headed back to Heights Alliance. I was still a little bit in shock after that entire day.
Midoriya, what was that?
Not to mention my own failure.
Ice as an opening move has become my default...I need to be stronger at controlling my flames...
But it wasn't going to help me at all to dwell on that. I needed to learn from it. If I want to be a great hero...
Why was Midoriya lying to me all this time? What was going on with that?
Everyone was chatting with the students of Class 1B, who had joined us in the Heights Alliance common area. I'd joined Sero, Ojiro and Koda by the sofas, and looked around for Midoriya. He wasn't there. Neither was Bakugou.
The way they were talking together earlier today...whatever's up with Midoriya, Bakugou knows about it. He knows everything, I guess.
"Todoroki!" said Iida, saluting me as he made his rounds. "Beef stew for dinner tonight!"
"Right..."
It was hard to concentrate on that right now...
Tetsutetsu and Kirishima were talking very loudly nearby. "I don't wanna hear that weak whining outta ya!"
"But...you totally showed me up today!"
"Sure, I can take the heat cuz I'm made of metal, but still! Metal can only get so hard, y'know? While every time you get beat, you get tougher! Me and you, we got our own strengths!"
Tetsutetsu...he really showed me up out there today, not Kirishima.
Then I saw him - Midoriya was back. And Bakugou had slipped in ahead of him, and was seated eating dinner. They were both in their gym clothes.
I headed over to him.
"I've been looking for you, Midoriya. I didn't realize you had two quirks too."
"Huh?"
"I was just a little shocked that they guy who screamed at me not to hold back was hiding this all along."
He jumped and grew flustered, thrust out his hands and started shaking them. "It's not like that! It's probably just derived from the original...it's still just a single quirk...I was shocked too! This has never happened until today."
Oh. "Right. Well, that sounds rough. Sorry for doubting you. But it was pretty impressive."
"You too, Todoroki!" he smiled at me. "Your flames...You're really getting the hang of it."
"No. I still have a long way to go. Just like you, I guess."
I pulled my phone out of my pocket. No good delaying the inevitable any longer. "Which is why I need to keep aiming higher."
I put in the words to contact the old man.
"Need you to teach me some things about flashfire."
Send.
...
He called me just a few hours later, as I was settling down to bed after the commotion died down.
"SHOTO!"
"There's no need to shout."
"I've been waiting for you to - you took some time. How -"
"I need you to teach me flashfire."
After a pause, he said, more quietly than before, "Very well. But why this sudden request?"
"If I'm going to be a hero who brings reassurance, I need to have more precise control over my flames. You are the expert in using this ability."
"Very well. When would you like to learn?"
"We'll figure that out when we can. That's all-"
"Shoto! Just a moment."
"What?" I tensed, waiting for something awful.
"How are you?"
It came out very stiff and awkward, like a phrase he hadn't used in a very long time and wasn't sure how to say.
I stood there for a moment, not sure what to say. You're really gonna go and act like a father all of a sudden?
"Fine. Let me know when you can teach me flashfire."
"Well, if you are going to practice...make sure you keep cooling even on your sides. That overheating issue...it can be dangerous if not counterbalanced. That was Toya's..."
He trailed off. Strange...as I'd thought of Toya too...
"I'll keep an eye on that. That all?"
"Yes...just...be careful."
It was such a bizarrely fatherly thing to say. It was like hearing him speak in Swahili all of a sudden. It just didn't sound right coming out of him.
"Hmm-mm." I quickly shut the phone off.
It's just so I can use him. Just so I can become a better hero. It doesn't mean I forgive him or anything like that.
"Overheating" Well, I'd certainly come close to that today. But that was different...Not like Toya...
DAIKA CITY
Tomura Shigaraki, half awake and drooling, was cutting through neverending swaths of Liberation Army warriors.
From the sidelines, the villain called Dabi, grinned.
"IF our dear leader's racking up the body count, then I'm going all in too." He prepared a hand, surrounded by blue flames, to make an attack - and behind him a pair of massive hands loomed.
He moved out of the way just in time to avoid getting crushed by two giant blocks of ice, wielded by a figure in a parka.
"Ice, huh?" sighed Dabi. His eyes narrowed and his face filled with a look of contempt.
The ice warrior faced him across a crosswalk, balancing delicately on the two giant hands.
"Ice...sure, then."
Clearly a bruiser, yet I barely noticed them in time. "I gotta warn you, I think I've gotten stronger. Which means I can tell you're pretty tough."
"Dabi...those blue flames make you the League's only area effect attacker. But why don't you unleash your fire straight-away? It's almost like you're waiting for something...or do you have an issue with your meta abilities?"
Dabi's face twitched. "Wouldn't you like to know! Fine. Consider this a freebie, just for you." He raised his hands and a blue wall of flames emerged.
"Ice melts."
