Chapter 14: Luck or Skills
Michi glared at Shoto standing before her, with Izuku by her side.
They found themselves at different sides in one of the entrances to the Sports Arena, aiming to join their friends for a meal.
However, Shoto halted their plans.
He insisted on talking to them, so here they were.
"So... What did you want to talk about?", broke Izuku the silence between them.
There was no answer from the white-red-haired teen, just a cold look.
"Listen I don't know what your problem is.", began Michi. "But if you don't hurry there will be no food left in the cafeteria and Izuku and I want to eat. So what is it that you want, Todoroki."
"I was overpowered. So much so that I broke my pledge.", said Shoto.
Izuku and Michi thought the same. Was Shoto talking about his left side, the fireside, he never uses?
The boy with the scar on his face stared at his left hand.
"Iida, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, Uraraka. None of them felt it. At that last instant, I was the only one who was overpowered. Only me, who had experienced All Might's full power up close."
"Don't beat around the bush, say what you have to say, Todoroki.", states Michi, crossing her arms in annoyance.
Izuku put a hand on her shoulder to calm her down.
"It means I felt something similar coming from you. Midoriya, are you All Might's secret love child or something?"
Well, this was unexpected.
Michi couldn't help herself and started to laugh, while Izuku just stared wide-eyed at Shoto.
"Oh my god this was a good joke.", giggled Michi. "Todoroki I can tell you for sure, Izuku is not All Might secret love child...pfff!"
"Michi-Kun.", whined Izuku.
This made Michi stop waving her hands around in excuse.
"Not that you couldn't be it Izu-Chan! All Might would be a better dad to you than your old man!"
"Your little lover quarrel might be amusing for anybody else, but I'm serious.", deadpanned Shoto.
The girl shrugged her shoulder, as the green-haired boy turned so red that he made a pepperoni competition.
Izuku tried to say how things really were between Michi and him, but Shoto continued: "There's a connection between you two that you can't talk about, right? Even Massaro is part of this secret or she wouldn't have laughed so loud."
Both Michi and Izuke grinning sheepishly.
Well, he got them.
"Endeavor's my old man.", told Shoto. "I'm sure you guys know that he's been stuck as the number two hero for forever. If you, Midoriya, have something from the number one hero, then I have even more reason to beat you. The same goes for you Massaro, you may be not connected to All Might like Midoriya, but your Quirk is unique and powerful. You showed again and again how strong you are. You could become the number one, one day, without problems, so I have to beat you too."
"Why is this so important to you?", wondered Michi.
"My old man has a strong desire to rise in the world. As a hero, he won a name for himself with crushing force. Because of that, the living legend, All Might, is a great eyesore to him. Since he couldn't surpass All Might, he moved on to his next plan."
"What are you talking about, Todoroki...?", asked Izuku. "What are you trying to tell us?"
"You've heard of Quirk marriages, right?"
Oh no...Michi felt sick to the stomach.
"I have.", she began. "As my mother and father wed, people thought they only married because of their Quirks. My mother can create threads from anything of her body. The threads are nearly indestructible and desirable in the manufacture of super suits. My father can make objects alive for 5 minutes. When I was born their Quirks mixed and created my Quirk Enity, Ares here. He fell from my skin a pretty living ribbon. This gave people the confirmation that my parents wanted to create a stronger Quirk because dear god a Japanese woman and an Italian man can't love each other truly. It weighs on my parents, that's why I don't have siblings. They don't want to create more children with powerful Quirks like me."
Even if Izuku knew this story already, he hugged Michi tightly, stroking her hair to calm her down. He knew she desired a sibling, but her parents had decided how she was enough.
"You are lucky Massaro, your parents love each other and aren't unethical people. Not like my old man. He is a man with both accomplishments and money. He won over my mother's relatives and got a hold of my mother's Quirk. He is trying to fulfil his own desire by raising me to be a hero to surpass All Might. It's so annoying..."
Shocked Izuku and Michi looked at Shoto as he told them, what a sad life his mother lived.
How he only remembered her crying and telling him his left side was ugly. And then one day, she poured boiling water on him.
"Your scar...", whispered Michi in disbelief.
How could a mother do this to her child?
What a piece of crap was Endeavour that he twisted the mind of his wife so, that she hurt her child?
"Basically, I picked a fight with you guys to show him what I can do, without using my damn old man's Quirk...No...I'll reject him completely by
winning first place without using it."
With that Shoto turned around and walked away, calling over his shoulders: "I don't care if you can't tell me how you're connected to All Might, Midoriya. I don't care that you are a child of no heroes with a powerful Quirk, Massaro. No matter what you are to All Might, no matter how strong your genes are, I will rise above you guys with just my right side. Sorry for wasting your time."
Michi heard how Izuku took a deep breath and now she was the one hugging him.
"What a story, mmh?", she muttered. "I feel bad for Todoroki, his father is a piece of shit!"
Izuku nodded on her shoulder and added: "If this were a comic, he'd be the main character. That was the kind of backstory he had."
"Mmh, maybe, but my nonna (grandmother) Vera always says: We are the heroes in our own stories and the villains in someone else. It's no use to think this over so much."
"Your nonna is wise."
"That she is."
"But I still..."
"I know let's go after him."
So they did this and Izuku called for Shoto.
"I have always been supported by others. My biggest support has always been Michi since we met each other. That was the case earlier, too. I am here because of the people who have supported me. Saving people with a fearless smile, the greatest hero-All Might. I want to be like him. In order to do that, I have to be strong enough to become number one. My motivation might seem trivial compared to yours, but I can't lose, either. I have to live up to the hopes of those who supported me. That declaration of war you gave earlier- I'll return that. I will beat you, too!"
"I have to say a thing or two too.", started Michi. "Yes, Todoroki you are right, I was born lucky with a strong Quirk and parents who love me and each other. I want to become a hero because I feel it's my duty to do good with this Quirk, but it doesn't mean I will let one of you two surpass me. I want to be on the Top too, like my idol Seraphina, the number one in Italy. So you have to surpass me, while I will get stronger anyway. Let's see who will beat the other. In the next round...we are all rivals!"
Wind danced around all three, as they silently agreed to give their best to beat each other.
Of course, our two lovers hoped the other wouldn't take it badly if the other won over them.
But this wasn't as important right now as fighting for your ideals!
Lunch time was over and so all walked back into the arena.
Present Mic told the eliminated ones, they didn't need to be sad.
It was still a Sports Fest, so they would do some activities and they even invited some cheerleader to lift their spirits.
That's when all noted how all the girls from class 1A, beside Michi, who looked at her classmates in disbelief, wore cheerleader outfits.
Mineta and Denki, the two pervs, had tricked them into wearing them.
Michi asked her female friends if she should kick their asses, but Momo told her she could get disqualified if she started swinging.
Oh well, the salmon-haired girl would surely find one day a way to make Mineta and Denki pay.
"All right, everyone! Let's have fun competing in the recreational games! When that's over, the sixteen from the four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style, one-on-one!", announced Present Mic.
"The last round is a tournament where we fight one-on-one, huh?", repeated Kirishima excited. "I'm gonna stand on the stage that I watch every year on TV!"
"Was it a tournament last year?", wanted Mina to know.
Sero answered her: "It's different every year, but there's a one-on-one competition every year. Last year, it was a sports chanbara match."
Midnight stood again on her stage and had a box in her hands.
"Now, let's draw lots to determine the bracket. Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start! The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation. I'm sure some of you want to rest or save your strength. Now, from the first place team-"
"Um...! Excuse me.", was she interrupted by Ojiro. "I'm withdrawing."
This shocked everyone.
They tried to convince him to participate since this was a big chance, however he felt bad. He didn't remember anything from the cavalry battle and he is sure it's because of the boy with the lilac hairs Quirk.
He couldn't continue if he came into the next round without knowing how he did it.
His pride didn't allow this.
Another boy from 1B also didn't want to participate for the same reasons.
Kirishima cried some manly tears because he was touched by their manliness.
Midnight took a second to think and allowed them to retire.
After a bit of squabble between class 1B, it was decided that Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki would enter the one-on-one tournament.
Finally, they could draw the brackets and this was the first round:
Izuku Midoriya vs. Hitoshi Shinso
Shoto Todoroki vs. Hanta Sero
Denki Kaminari vs. Ibara Shiozaki
Tenya Iida vs. Mei Hatsume
Yuga Aoyama vs. Mina Ashido
Michela Massaro vs. Momo Yaoyorozu
Eijiro Kirishima vs. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochaco Uraraka
Michi turned to Momo.
"Let's give our best, Momo-Chan!"
"O-Of course!"
The salmon-haired girl was happy with her fight, if she was fast enough, Momo couldn't create anything which could be dangerous for her and Ares.
Not that anything was dangerous to them, but like if Momo could somehow immobile them, then they would surely lose.
Michi felt bad for poor Ochaco who had to fight Bakugo.
She had to give her tips!
Also, she worried for Izuku, that Shinso was the guy who had made the declaration of war to their class had this nasty unknown Quirk which made Ojiro retire.
Since the fights were now fixed, the recreation games started.
Izuku told Michi that Ojiro wanted to talk to him, he would find her later.
She agreed and started her hunt for something to eat.
Neither Michi nor Ares had any desire to play the games, they needed to be in full power!
And then it was time.
The One-On-One round began.
Since Izuku was first, he couldn't sit with his friends, but Michi, Ochaco and Tenya kept a place free for him.
Michi made a little prayer for her love that all would go well.
You can win, Izu-Chan! I know it!
The rules were simple: Force your opponent out
of bounds, or immobilize them! You can also win by making your opponent say, "I give up!", also they could hurt with their Quirk, Recovery Girl was ready for them, but not kill, that was not hero-like.
Then it was time for Shinso and Izuku to face off.
Shinso just started to talk and insult Ojiro, which Izuku didn't like.
The green-haired boy stormed to the other boy talking back and then froze.
"I went through the trouble of warning him, too!", shouted Ojiro.
"Oh no Deku?!", shrieked Ochaco.
"What is going on?", wondered Tenya.
Worried for Izuku Michi turned to him. "Ojiro, what's with Izuku, why is he a statue?!"
"That's his Quirk!", Ojiro answered. "If you respond to him you will do anything he asks for!"
"NO!", shouted the three friends together.
"IZUKU!", screamed Michi with all that she got. "WAKE UP! DON'T LISTEN TO HIM!"
But it was useless Izuku walked to the border.
If he stepped over it, Shinso won.
Then something extraordinary happened!
Izuku managed to free himself from the brainwashing with a snip of his fingers!
Michi and Ochaco embrace each other jumping up and down happily, while Tenya celebrate.
Then it was simple for Izuku.
He didn't answer anymore Shinso, whatever he said to provoke him and then throw him out of the ring.
So the first fight was over and the winner of the first round was Izuku!
His friends celebrated harder, Michi and Ochaco even danced around the seats, so happy they were.
I know you could do it my Izu-Chan! You can do anything!