I took a little break, but here it is. The chapter for this week.

-SpiritOfErebus

The second round was… rather unremarkable considering its first fight.

After all, it was just two midgets fighting, with one throwing a ton of purple balls at his opponent, while the other just hid behind a statue.

Nobody could actually hear what the midgets were screaming at each other, but Cementoss and Midnight looked distinctly uncomfortable about whatever conversation happened.

Mineta slowly staggered out of the arena, muscles rippling shamefully, while Hans walked out normally, still slightly slouched and making his diminutive height even shorter.

As three of the 1-A students celebrated, the others looked at the match… and shrugged.

It was just general education.

(Aoyama looked almost constipated, having lost to a kid named Shinso Hitoshi the last round.)

…

Todoroki slowly punched an immobile Iida, who slowly tipped out of the arena, his engine exhausts frozen and both his legs frozen together.

Slowly, he exhaled a cloud of frosty mist.

Next was Hans Christian Andersen.

…

Yaoyorozu looked coldly through a welder's mask, her small flamethrower held aloft. Before her, a vine-haired girl knelt, her hair shortened by its charred ends.

Sometimes, elemental advantages were just that easy to gain. Throwing some moisture absorbents such as Calcium Chloride at the hair then torching it was the most efficient and fast way to defeat a foe..

…

Kirishima grinned at the opponent across from him.

"Next, it's a matchup between redundant quirks! Manly and passionate steel! Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! Versus! Also manly and passionate hardening! Kirishima Eijiro!"

"Even our introductions are the same?" Tetsutetsu said, gritting his teeth. Kirishima merely exhaled and extended his arms out into a fighting stance.

Even if their quirks were similar, their skill wasn't on the same level.

As Tetsutetsu hardened his whole body into steel and roared, surging forwards with a telegraphed punch, Kirishima did not respond in kind. With two soft, unhardened hands, he grabbed the blow and softened the impact on his hands by following Tetsutetsu's swing force, bleeding out the momentum.

When another punch came, Kirishima chose to dodge it, before using the momentum of his own dodge to pull Tetsutetsu towards him.

As Tetsutetsu shouted in surprise, Kirishima lifted up his leg… and kicked Tetsutetsu in the shin.

"It's finally my time to say this." Kirishima muttered as Tetsutetsu collapsed to the ground, one leg bent at an awkward angle.

"Footwork!" he roared, hardening his elbow and going straight for Tetsutetsu's face. The steel-skinned boy raised his arm up to defend, but since Kirishima's elbow was now a hard, sharp object and was striking one that was held perpendicular to it, odds were definitely not in Tetsutetsu's favor.

After about thirty seconds of elbow strikes, Tetsutetsu cracked under the pressure.

Literally.

…

Bakugo lifted up his hands to the heavens, smiled dangerously, and destroyed the carefully constructed trap that Uraraka had made over the course of the match.

His arms shook. His knees felt weak. He felt a craving for his family's cooking.

But it didn't matter.

He was one step closer to number one. And for that? He hardened up his shoulders, forcing himself to stand straight.

As he roared at Uraraka, waiting for her to continue the attack, she slowly… collapsed.

"Heh." he muttered.

"Scrubs."

…

After Iida was used as an advertisement board during the first round (and said battle was never mentioned again by the announcers or any official source due to the fact that it exposed how easily hackable UA's systems were), Ojiro was… wary of the general education students that had made it to the second round. They could be trickier than he expected.

After all, his next opponent had made Aoyama surrender in a fight. Aoyama, the person that supposedly always sparkled and wanted to be in the spotlight.

What intimidating features would he face? What strange quirk would be brought to light?

As the sleep deprived, purple haired boy walked onto the stage, Ojiro raised an eyebrow.

Honestly, he didn't pay attention to Aoyama's very short match, but if this was the person that made Aoyama surrender, he really needed to work on his courage.

"And for our next round… It's Shinso Hitoshi! How did he get here anyways? Versus! Ojiro Mashirao! The first place winner in the obstacle course! How will this conflict unfold?"

"Ready?" Midnight said, looking at the purple haired boy with a bit of wariness.

"Are you ready to lose, you privileged piece of shit?" Shinso said, grinning arrogantly.

Ojiro said nothing, only tightening his fists and flexing his tail. If he wasn't wrong, looking at the student's nonexistent combat stance, he had no actual combat training.

"Start!"

Ojiro leapt forward, closing the distance in a second, his tail tying around Shinso's neck. As Shinso was lifted up into the air, Ojiro hit the ground, spun once, and threw him out of the arena.

What was so dangerous about this kid again?

While the crowd cheered, Ojiro raised an eyebrow. It was hard to meet somebody more… ordinary than he was.

But this guy? He definitely was. But was that insult an attempt to use psychological tactics, or just quirk-related?

At least he was probably trying his best.

Ojiro nodded at Shinso before retreating back into the stands. Still dazed, Shinso nodded at Ojiro's back.

…

The third round was here.

Standing in the hallway, Hans did not particularly enjoy the sensation of impending doom.

Todoroki… was just too much stronger than him.

In sheer scale of power? Todoroki was stronger.

In raw physical ability? Todoroki was much stronger and faster.

In terms of power diversity? Hans had an edge there, but Todoroki also had fire. A fire that he had never used, or simply… refused to use.

Hans did something he hadn't in a while since coming to a hero school. The people here were too formulaic, and thus did not actually require the usage of the skill.

However, Todoroki may very well be the first layered character he had actually seen.

Hans peered across the arena, and used Human Observation A. He was using his limited supply of mana, but it would be worth it.

Hans didn't have to retaliate in the battle at first, after all, considering Todoroki's track record with gigantic, immobilizing glaciers.

His eyes began to catch onto the several details that Todoroki's body language showed. A constant glare to where a fire was roaring in the stands. That was probably Endeavor. Cross referenced with Todoroki's rather stiff movements when he was just using his ice… and Hans arrived at a very simple conclusion.

Todoroki was a rebellious, probably traumatized child.

Why else would somebody intentionally give themselves minor frostbite, when they themselves were the walking cure to it?

…

"Now, ladies and gentlemen, what you've all been waiting for! Welcome to the first match of the quarterfinals!" Present Mic shouted.

"On one side, we have the icy cool Todoroki! Will he delay our match by twenty minutes again? Versus! Hans Christian Andersen! With a quirk so versatile that he's been able to get through two matches without a scratch!"

The crowd roared, though mostly for Todoroki. Hans could honestly see why, given the fact that the number two hero was on the stands next to you and was crackling intimidatingly.

And not to say that he deserved any cheers, but he really didn't anyways.

"Are! You! Ready!"

The crowd cheered a general yes, willing to go further upon the prospect of seeing teenagers beat each other up.

Hans shook his head from any gladiatorial thoughts, and took a deep breath.

Then, he exhaled.

It was comfortably warm. But… well… not for long.

As Midnight's flogger came down in slow motion and Cementoss winced, Todoroki unleashed it all.

A torrent of ice rose from his feet to the heavens, coating Hans's half of the arena. Hans was swept backwards, his body like a ragdoll in the midst of the icy construct crinkling and crackling its way towards the sky.

As Hans looked up into the pale, blue sky and the puffy clouds, feeling the chill soaking into him from every inch of his skin, he tried to sigh.

But he couldn't.

Because his chest was constricted by the ice.

Hans summoned the ice queen, who slowly began to move the ice around Hans. Present Mic said something praising Todoroki's power or something, but Hans was a bit too preoccupied to listen.

He had to start his own performance now.

"I've said this to Midoriya too, but I'll say it again to you."

"What." Todoroki said impassively, looking at the Ice Queen warily.

"Do you really think you're special?"

Slowly, the ice began to spin around Hans, forming yet another spiraling staircase that slowly elevated him. His shirt, having been completely soaked with ice, cracked and broke off his body with the sound of glass breaking. Realizing the problem, Hans summoned the little match girl and began to defrost his pants.

"Just because you won the genetic lottery doesn't mean that you're entitled to be a hero. But I guess that isn't your problem, is it?" Hans said, raising an eyebrow. "You've worked hard to become a hero. This power is a testament to your past efforts. But you two are polar opposites. One works hard, but doesn't want to be a hero, while the other didn't work hard and got so lucky that he's in the course anyways."

"I… do want to be a hero." Todoroki declared impassively.

"Then why don't you use your fire?" Hans said from on top of his ice creation.

With the ice queen as a base, she was slowly incorporating more and more ice into her body. A bubble of earthen roots slowly crept around Hans's body as the Elder Tree Mother began to work as well, creating what seemed like a skeleton for the ice structure.

"Why aren't you flaunting your quirk like every other impressionable teenager at this event?"

"I can win this event without his fire." Todoroki muttered, a grimace slowly etching itself into existence.

"And… now, we come back to the first issue." Hans said. "You aren't special just for having daddy issues, you know?"

"And you're just distracting me." Todoroki said with a slightly tight voice, stomping forwards again.

Another gigantic glacier erupted out from his feet, impacting Hans's creation. The ice that was already behind Hans acted like an anvil that Todoroki's new glacier would slam Hans against. The amalgamation of roots and ice braced together to stand firm against the tide.

We're at about forty percent mana here, summoner. The elder tree mother whispered. Moving this abomination doesn't take much effort, but maintaining its structural integrity is taxing.

"Fine…" Hans muttered. "I'll get this over with… fast."

Quickly, his hands flew across the screen of his tablet, constructing a one-sided lecture in the lens of his noble phantasm.

Hans wasn't like the other heroic spirits. He wasn't powerful. He wasn't strong. His entire repertoire consisted of party tricks and skills easily destroyed by any semi-competent mage.

Therefore, he had no reservations about using his noble phantasm in something as trivial as a lecture.

But this… would surely be worth it.

Though not saying it himself wouldn't be as satisfying, at least he would be able to get the words out past his icy tomb.

So, while the Ice Queen worked to incorporate more and more ice into the abomination, Hans threw the blue sheet of paper into the air, straight at Todoroki. The representation of his noble phantasm rippled in an imaginary wind, went straight through another one of Todoroki's increasingly slowing ice blasts, and slapped Todoroki in the forehead.

Then, everything went blue… for Todoroki.

…

It was cold.

Extremely cold.

Todoroki looked up at a cloud of white, across a sea of snow like white mud, and blinked.

When did this happen?

There were foreign faces all around him. Most of them, however, were purple and red. Mumbling in a language he didn't understand, they looked ruefully at an ember that had gone out.

Was Hans's quirk something that influenced his mind? Something that could cause people to hallucinate?

Todoroki brought up his own fingers to his face to try and pinch himself awake, but felt a soft crunch.

Those fingers fell off.

As he looked impassively at the stumps that remained of his index and middle finger, he looked up at the clouds again.

He didn't understand any of the voices, or where he was, or what time period he was even in, judging by the antiquated uniforms and armor that the people were wearing, but somehow, he understood one phrase.

As ice and snow poured from the sky, obscuring what little warmth the sun had shown, the meaning of one sentence popped into his head.

It's fucking snowing again.

Then, it went dark again.

"I really don't like writing these monologues." Hans said, sighing. "I'd honestly prefer it if I could say this in person, but because of all of the ice you made, nothing I say can really reach you."

Todoroki felt sick to the stomach for some reason.

"I'd guess that you're feeling kind of bad for some reason right now, and I'm going to say this: It's because I mentioned ice after showing you that scene. Are you not using your fire because you think that it's more dangerous for some reason? Well, the cold has killed more people than fire by a large, large margin."

"That's not why I'm not using my fire." Todoroki argued, the black void he was floating in still feeling cold.

"Of course, as I've already said, you don't use your fire because of your daddy issues." Hans said. "You're probably adverse to using fires because your dad was an asshole to you, right? Acting like Asian parents and expecting their children to do great things when they're five, right?"

Todoroki nodded, before shaking his head.

"Why am I agreeing with him? He's just trying to convince me to stop fighting and give up."

Hans, being a holographic recreation of himself, could not respond.

"And because of your daddy issues, you're doing some really stupid things. I mean, giving yourself frostbite, not using a literal half of your power… you know… Bad ideas all around."

"I don't need his fire." Todoroki roared, his body continuing to freeze. He knew the cold was fake. That it was just a production of Hans's quirk.

But why did it feel so… so… hopeless? So dark and dull?

"And now, of course, you're saying that you don't need his fire and probably have a really cold glare." Hans said, turning his holographic body and shrugging. "But consider this: Some people would literally kill for a fire."

Todoroki began falling.

Glaciers. Mountains of ice. Snow plains flashed across his eyes.

He felt the pain of explorers at the end of their rope, desperate for any source of heat.

He felt the ache of missing toes of French soldiers freezing in the desperate march to Moscow.

He felt the bite of pioneers freezing in Alaska, slowly being brought under by one misstep.

He looked on as a little girl wearing a bonnet desperately lit matches for warmth, the fire going out stick by stick as her life slowly peeled away from her body.

As the movements of the little girl grew more and more sluggish, as her eyes slowly drooped and her arms slowly turned pink and purple, a fire burnt through the scene.

Then, there was fire.

Villages burnt by volcanoes.

Animals fleeing as forests were reduced to ashes.

The bone-chilling screams of soldiers standing in front of other cold-faced, flamethrower-wielding soldiers.

A child, walking out of a massive city fire, his eyes hollow and empty.

"No element is innocent." Hans said. "There will always be a person that wants to be immune to fire, or immune to the cold, or, well, immune to both. And they would have killed for the ability, if not for the fact that, well, they're all already dead."

"Of course, privilege isn't exactly the problem here." Hans said. "You're a bit of a dumbass, but you're stupid because of deep rooted trauma, and not because of unrealistic heroic fantasies like Midoriya. He's probably been bullied and traumatized, but that isn't the whole reason for his stupidity."

"And why should I change?" Todoroki snarled. "Why should I?"

The holographic image of Hans did not respond.

"Deep down, you don't actually want to be a hero, right?" Hans reasoned. "Being a hero is just another expectation for you. Sure, once, you may have looked at All Might and dreamt of being a hero that saves everybody, but you've soured since. You've grown cold and distant, and it shows. Now, you look more like an edgy teenager than a hero wannabe."

Todoroki paused as a mirror appeared right in front of him. His split hair tone, his dead eyes, his sour expression, and the scar around his left eye really did sort of make him seem edgy.

"And so, is there really a reason for you to continue this farce?" Hans said, shrugging. "There are millions of people that die of thirst every year. Your quirk can provide a basically limitless supply of freshwater, if you only just used both your ice and your fire together. If you want to help people, there are… about five other ways that you can do it… I don't know… I'll have to do more research."

"But I can't just stop!" Todoroki mumbled to nobody. "I can't stop. Endeavor will just keep making me go forward."

"Of course, you'll have to continue." Hans's image of himself said, suddenly turning back and nodding to himself. "Endeavor probably forces you to continue being a hero. But really? He can't do anything when you're an adult. Just play along for three more years, don't get permanent health consequences by getting frostbite, and spit on his training by going to college abroad after you graduate. If that sounds like a plan, just say "I heard your message" after this ends."

Todoroki looked at the projection of Hans and thought. Many, many thoughts ran through his head.

He remembered watching All Might do an announcement when he was a child. He remembered his mother's warmth. The moment where she turned. The moment where she cracked.

And he winced.

If the hero industry really demanded all of that pressure to succeed, then why go along with it at all?

"Yeah…" Todoroki muttered. "Sounds good."

"No time will have passed in the real world, by the way." Hans said. "So, uh… do what you will with that information."

…

Todoroki opened his eyes.

Hans's creation was still fighting his way through the ice while Present Mic was shouting loudly.

Then… he smiled.

Just three more years.

"Hans!" he shouted, looking up to the creation that had just broken through his ice barrier with fists made out of hardened wood. "I got your message."

"Y-you did?" Hans shouted through a megaphone literally made of ice. "Okay, then. Give it your best shot, then."

Todoroki looked up at Endeavor up in the stands. He could imagine him muttering something like 'Use your fire' or 'Use your left, Shoto!'.

But, well, it didn't matter.

Because this. Here and now. Would be the biggest glacier that he would make. Ever.

"Goodbye, heroism…" Todoroki muttered, feeling the power well up from within him.

Hans, in response, began to dump matches onto a gigantic wooden palm, visibly sweating with effort despite the intense cold.

Todoroki felt his frost-wracked body struggle to supply the quirk power to make his biggest glacier yet. He felt his fingertips itch slightly, and felt his face stiffen further.

Would he use his fire?

Not now.

This would be the last of his silly teenage spite, as well.

"Goodbye, pain…" he muttered, slowly bringing his foot down.

When his foot hit the concrete, ice began to well up from all around him. His body released the pressure of an extreme temperature difference, causing a glacier to sprout from nothing. In front of his field of vision, nothing but blue remained. The crystalline structure looked… almost unreal.

And then? There was a gigantic plume of fire. Hans's matches had all ignited at once, melting the glacier both behind and in front of him.

The resulting decompression explosion shattered the glacier, sending Todoroki flying out of the ring.

"And hello…" Todoroki muttered, a soft smile on his face.

"Tomorrow."

…

This is a bit more wholesome, right? I hope it is :D

It's a nicer turn of events. I guess I scammed all of you out of an action scene. Next? Is the Bakugo thing. Unless people want a badly written reaction chapter. I really don't want to do too much of reactions because it bogs up progress and I have other things to write… but if y'all really want one… I can spare about 2k words.

Lmk in the comments.

Discord link: discord . gg / 9t9MK3jHmV

EDIT: Japanese High School is three years for some reason, so... I changed the year count. And tweaked some dialogue to make more sense.

-SpiritOfErebus