34 Izuku & Shouto

Izuku sized up his new teammate. He was half-frosted over, with ice literally covering half of his body. The green-haired teen eyed the ice, his mind instantly making connections that the ice was from the boy's Quirk. In place of an eye, he had some sort of red lens instead. Why would the other boy freeze half of himself?

Izuku introduced himself, smiling at the other teen. "My name is Midoriya Izuku! Nice to meet you."

The white-haired teen stared at the other unblinkingly. "Todoroki Shouto," he finally said, shaking the blank feeling off. What just happened?

The green-haired empath gave Todoroki a puzzled look. What happened earlier? Why did he suddenly freeze when Izuku smiled at him earlier? The only way he could describe it was a stunned feeling, but that couldn't be right? Could it?

Seeing that the other teen was ignoring him now, Izuku's mind drifted back to thinking about Todoroki's strange Hero costume. If it could even be described as a Hero costume. Statistically speaking, most people who had Quirks suffered some sort of drawback when they overused their Quirk. Was that the reason why the other boy was half covered in ice? Something at the back of his mind nudged him, giving him a strange feeling. It felt like something was off with his reasoning. Something was off. But what was it? Before he could dwell further in his thoughts, All Might called their attention back to him.

"First up!" All Might rummaged around in the two boxes which had the words "Hero" and "Villain" written on them respectively. He held up two balls, 'A' and 'I'.

Izuku's mind screamed at him that this was rigged. No one else seemed suspicious, which spoke volumes about what All Might could supposedly get away with. If All Might ever became a Villai – Izuku shoved the thought deep, deep down, shushing his mind furiously. That was a thought no one wanted to contemplate. He would know. There wasn't a bad bone in All Might's body.

The months spent in close contact with the man had assured him of the fact. If anything, All Might was the harshest towards himself. The man still had his fits of depression, but he hid it well. If Izuku didn't have his Quirk which had seemed to manifest this empathy – Izuku shuddered at the thought. He didn't want to dwell on the futures that could have been, because they were living in the present. All the what-ifs would drive him crazy before long, just like how he'd been driven to desperation months prior.

Honestly, he wasn't sure that he didn't toe the line some days. It sure felt like he would regress, and everything would seem hopeless again, but he didn't want to worry Kacchan. That was practically his entire reason for living this long, wasn't it? He just wanted to see Kacchan a little more. If he was lucky enough, seeing his smile practically made him feel like his heart was about to escape from his ribcage.

"The Heroes are Team I! Villains are Team A!"

Izuku visibly felt the Aura radiating from Todoroki next to him slip slightly from its usual seemingly indifference state. It felt like he had visibly recoiled at the thought of him being a Villain. The green-haired teen looked at his teammate with concealed worry. It almost felt like the teen's Aura had flinched or shuddered in the way the Aura fluctuated. Izuku hadn't seen that happen very often.

He didn't think the other teen would accept any help from him, and that just made him worry all the more. Todoroki wasn't getting any help, if he was already like this. The teen gave him a very indifferent vibe. Or maybe the proper way to describe it was detached. It felt like the teen didn't hold much affection for living, almost like a haunting echo that was a manifestation of Izuku's past self. There was a sense of déjà vu, like he was looking in a mirror.

There was something very wrong. Izuku hesitated to call the other teen broken, because he wasn't. No one was every truly broken, but if there was a way to aptly describe it, Izuku would describe him as fractured.

It was like he was still whole, but his visage had concealed cracks and hairline fractures that weren't readily visible. There was no telling how deeply those little cracks went. Izuku felt itchy. He wanted to help. He felt like he saw himself in the other teen.

Izuku sized up the team that they would be going up against. It was two classmates that he hadn't had a chance to interact with yet. An invisible person, as well as a boy that had a tail. His mind whirled as he tried to gain some semblance of a plan. He quickly discarded several plans that his mind came up with straight away. He didn't know the extent of Todoroki's Quirk, so he would have to ask him while they were in the building and make their plans quickly in the five minutes they were allocated.

"Villain team goes in first! The rest of us will watch from CCTV. The timer starts in five minutes, after the Hero team sneaks in." Izuku sized up the building, spotting at least five stories. "Todoroki, Midoriya, you two need to adopt a Villain mindset so that this training exercise is more effective. This also counts as practical experience, so don't hold back. Go all out! Though, of course, I will stop you if you take things too far."

Izuku and Todoroki headed up to the floor that held the rocket they were supposed to protect. Both teens stared at the rocket. It was quite large, but that was to be expected, really.

The green-haired teen felt the other's Aura turn slightly contemplative, his current depression and indifference felt like a world away, Izuku almost gave the white-haired teen a surprised look, but somehow managed to hold himself back.

The difference in Todoroki's Aura was startling. It was just a tiny flicker of light, but Izuku could almost picture the way the teen was before whatever fractured him so badly happened. His heart clenched at the thought. The other's feelings were pure and unadulterated in a way that reminded him of Kacchan. People like them just felt things deeper and purely. They formed bonds that could either make or break them.

Izuku wanted to help, but he didn't know how. All Might had trusted he would be able to do something, but honestly, he felt like he was at a loss. What could he do that wouldn't set the other teen off?

Shouto furrowed his brows minutely. Had he been on the Hero team, he could have just asked Midoriya to wait outside whilst he froze the whole building, but he could hardly do that whilst they were the Villain team. Or…could they? He supposed that they wouldn't be breaking any rules should he ask Midoriya to wait outside the building until the Heroes entered, but…something niggled at him.

This was considered practical experience by pitting classmates against each other in a mock Villain and Hero scenario, but what were the teachers looking for? Power? Strength? Tactics? Efficiency? No…something didn't sit right with him at the answers he came up with. He was sure that those were also about to be tested, but there was something else… what was it?

Izuku sucked in a little breath to fortify his determination. He would help Todoroki. But everything needed a foundation first. "Let's work together, Todoroki-san. Please give me a quick run down about your Quirk so that we can make a plan."

Izuku watched Todoroki's eyes widened ever so slightly. He wouldn't have noticed if he hadn't been looking for it, but even if he hadn't, the teen's Aura was giving him away. The contrast in his usual Aura with his Aura now practically blinded him. He resisted the urge to blink.

So, the answer was teamwork… Shouto mused. He had been home-schooled until now, so he was still clueless about what teachers wanted to see in their students. The only thing his father ever wanted was perfection and strength, so it had clouded his thinking slightly. Shouto instantly adjusted his mentality, taking the little lesson that Midoriya had given him with grace.

The white-haired teen nodded, opening his mouth to give the other teen a short summary of his Quirk.