Chapter 82

I walked a good distance behind Aizawa, watching his arched back and shuffling feet. His shoes made furrows in his path, like a train on rails.

Sand soon replaced the damp earth, and the sound of birds and crickets drowned out the sound of the ocean. The sun was shining, the sky was clear blue, but the air was heavy and charged with electricity, a sign that it would soon rain.

- Sit down

Two folding chairs were set up in front of a plastic table: a chessboard had been placed on it.

The fact that it was in the middle of a forest, surrounded by creepers and colorful flowers, gave the whole thing an almost comical strangeness.

- You didn't have to go to all that trouble, Sensei.

My chair crunched against the floor as I pulled it to sit down.

- We could have done that at school.

Aizawa placed the pieces on his side of the board while I did the same. As soon as my last knight was in place, the game began.

No one spoke for several minutes, everyone concentrated on their game. Having just cornered my king, Aizawa looked at me for the first time since our arrival. I didn't have to look up to know that he was watching me intently.

- Do you want something ?

I had just moved my bishop to corner his king.

- If it hadn't been for Nezu, I would have had you arrested immediately.

He moved his tower to save his king: I crushed his queen with my knight.

- Why ?

Our movements quickened, our pieces hit the board in a steady rhythm.

- Your quirk... it's not really a quirk, is it ?

My tower froze a millimeter above the board.

I forced myself to put it down before straightening up with all my height, feet flat on the floor.

My shoulders tensed, my right hand sliding up my thigh until I found the handle of my knife hidden in my pants.

- A very strange idea you have here.

His bright little eyes rested on me for a second before returning to the board. He was as relaxed as ever, his muscles loose and his movements slow.

My eyes followed his hands until he placed them in his lap.

- I had a hunch when I saw your prowess in the championship, but the last few days have confirmed my suspicions.

He gestured for me to play, but I ignored him: he shrugged and played for me.

- Cameras cover every square inch of our camp, and even though I spent several hours watching them, I never saw you on any of them. Care to explain?

- Your equipment is defective

Aizawa shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

- I thought about it, you see, and even after turning the entire control room upside down, I couldn't find anything that would compromise our computer equipment. What's even more interesting is that every time Bakugo left the refectory to bring you your food, he also disappeared from our cameras, only to reappear much later.

- Yuei really isn't what it used to be.

- So my conclusion is simple: if you're not a traitor, as Nezu is sure you aren't, and you didn't damage our cameras in the few minutes you were in the control room, it's because of your quirk.

He pinned me in checkmate before sinking back into his seat, hands clasped on his stomach.

- You're stronger, faster, and smarter than you have any right to be. The way your Quirks are evolving is also abnormal: you can now control water and lightning more or less correctly.

The fat of my thumb stroked the cold blade of my knife.

- How do you know about lightning ?

- Don't tell me you don't know that every inch of Yuei is covered with microphones and cameras.

I leaned forward and looked Aizawa straight in the eye:

- What I asked was, how do you know about the lightning ?

I knew that the rat had been in the know since the Special Forces guys showed up at the championship: on the other hand, I had not expected him to reveal the contents of my interview to anyone - Aizawa included.

This could only mean one of two things: either Nezu had complete confidence in Aizawa (which seemed strangely doubtful to me, since he mostly struck me as paranoid), or Aizawa was one hell of a weasel.

- The principal told me

Of course I doubted it, but I'd rather leave it at that.

- Does Endeavor know about this ?

My blood froze in my veins; I forced myself to remain calm.

- What do you mean ?

- That you're lying to him.

My fingers wrapped around the blade so tightly I could barely feel it digging into my flesh. My voice was deep, rumbling with anger:

- I advise you to be very careful when speaking of my father, sensei

He raised his hands in a gesture of appeasement.

- There's no need to get upset, Shoto : we're just talking.

He sounded sincere - and that's why I couldn't believe him.

My chakra circled my body, warming my muscles and making my blood boil. I sank back into my seat, pretending to look calm, forcing my shoulders to relax, but my hair stood on end and I could feel the lightning ready to explode as soon as I gave the order.

Aizawa threw himself into a new game against himself.

- You're probably wondering why I'm telling you all this-

He looked up at me; I felt my Sharingan turning lazily in my eyes as I scrutinized him.

Shota Aizawa, forty years old, six feet tall, blood type B, born in Tokyo Prefecture-

- The headmaster doesn't know that I've come to talk to you, but who cares-

-hero since the age of eighteen, strengths: keen intelligence, excellent observation and judgment skills, mastery of his Quirk, weaknesses: lack of strength, lack of speed-

- Coincidentally, I need you to do something for me.

-I'm immune to his quirk and he doesn't know it.

- Really ? Couldn't gave guessed

A slight smile grazed his lips. He barely looked at me.

The more I saw him grinning like an idiot and acting as if the whole situation - the blackmail he was trying to pull on me, that son of a bitch - was so insignificant, the angrier I got inside.

Should I kill him ?

- You're really funny, Shoto, you know that? Often in spite of yourself, but that's what makes it all worthwhile.

- Tell me what you want.

His smile froze.

Half leaning over the table, he watched me for a few seconds before resting his pawn at the side of the board. His mouth twisted into a bitter line, his eyes serious again.

- I want you to protect all the students when the villains attack.

- And if I don't, will you tell my father?

- ... I don't even understand why you didn't tell him yourself. To tell you the truth, if you had, we wouldn't be here today.

Yeah, and since everyone has this annoying tendency to learn Number Two's secrets in no time, I would have been dead long ago.

I scanned Aizawa for a long, quiet moment.

- I could die protecting them

He looked down and watched his hands for a few seconds.

He looked conflicted, almost as if he wasn't sure what he wanted to tell me.

- You would die a hero's death

He whispered it so softly that I almost didn't hear him - and even then I was so stunned that it took me several seconds to realize what he had just told me.

- I beg your pardon ?

Even with my superhuman hearing, even with my perfect memory, I doubted that he'd actually said what I'd heard him say.

- Believe me, it's no picnic for me, Shoto-

- Todoroki

- Excuse me?

He sounded genuinely surprised - there was no reason for that.

- We don't know each other, so just call me Todoroki.

- Believe me, Todoroki, it's no picnic for me to force you like this, but I have no choice if I want my students to escape unharmed.

Nonsense.

- And you would sacrifice me for them?

I must have misunderstood, because that really wasn't Aizawa's kind to-

- If it's the life of one student against eighteen others, then yes, without hesitation.

He spoke with conviction, but guilt was written all over his face.

- Me ? For them ?

An incredulous laugh escaped me.

I gave him a few more seconds, hoping he'd backtrack, tell me it was a misunderstanding, that he wasn't really asking me to die for a bunch of-

But he didn't back down, didn't correct me, didn't apologize.

He just stood there, staring at me in silence, looking like a beaten dog determined to do what he had to do. I felt disgust sweep over me as he could no longer bear the weight of my gaze and looked away.

I don't know how long we sat there in that silence, him avoiding my gaze and me waiting for him to say something that would stop me seeing him as human shit, but- but it didn't happen. I was deeply disappointed.

The more I looked at his elusive face, the more I thought about all the crap he'd just said, the more a cold realization dawned in my mind.

I want to hurt him.

- Look, Sho-Todoroki, you're a good kid, deep down, and I know you're smart enough to understand (if he knew how much disdain he inspired in me) that this isn't about you, and that I'm really sorry (-fuck him-) that it's come to this, but believe me when I tell you that I'll do whatever it takes to protect my students, even if it means... this.

He stared at the corner of the table, but not at me.

- I just... I don't want to lose another one of my students.

I was stunned.

I wanted to understand what made him distinguish me from all the others, because until proven otherwise, I was a student in this damn class in this damn school and-

- Why didn't you just ask me?

His answer was immediate :

- Because you're not a Hero.

An icy wind blew, whipping my skin.

The sky had turned gray, low clouds gathering on the horizon. I heard thunder rumbling, felt the sea stirring.

My voice was weak, like a whisper, but all the anger and venom that oozed from it did not escape him:

- Oh. I see. So you thought, "If I'm going to sacrifice one of the children, I might as well take the one who's going to be the least useful"

Big Bad Shoto's life is nothing compared to the lives of the great little kids who want to be heroes...

He didn't even answer, the coward.

My chair scraped the floor as I stood up.

I'd heard enough and wasn't sure if I could keep my cool if I stayed in his presence for another second.

- You know, aizawa, I used to respect you.

Because you always saw me as I really am-

- I'm sorry to hear that this is no longer the case.

The worst part was that he sounded really disappointed.

He tried to catch my eye; I didn't even turn my head in his direction. He didn't deserve it.

I walked off into the woods, feeling his gaze linger on the back of my neck until I was out of his sight.

The storm broke, a downpour that drenched everything in a matter of seconds.

My hair stuck to my face and I pushed it back with one hand, fuming. Anger made my footsteps heavy and audible, my teeth grinding in an ugly high-pitched sound.

Smoke billowed from my burning skin as the drops of water brushed against me.

My hands were shaking with rage because that little bastard was blackmailing me and-

If only you knew how much I'm going to screw you.

*

Author's note :

If you want to support me/read ahead of schedule, you can do so on my P@treon, Nar_cisseENG

Goal of the week for the sunday bonus chapter = 250