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Chapter Text

Katsuki cursed as he sprinted down the back streets and alleyways of Hosu. Someone- no, something was after him. Whatever it was couldn't be human because there was no way a person could do what that thing did to the hero who had been trying to catch Katsuki. This was a shitty day. He had realized recently that the Hero Killer kept cropping up wherever he went, so he decided to come to Hosu, where he would start planning how to take Stain down. He figured the extras in this city would keep Stain busy long enough for Katsuki to get ready.

Then the portal opened underneath him, and when Katuski blasted himself over it and turned ready to fight, the monster climbed out. Its brain was spilling out of its skull, and its skin was black as the night. The dumb-ass extra hero who had been chasing him showed up and attacked the creature. It hardly reacted before tearing the man apart with the extra limbs that sprouted from its back.

Katsuki shook the gory scene from his head and kept running. He could hear it behind him. The damn thing was tracking him and didn't show signs of slowing down, unlike Katsuki, who was starting to feel the exhaustion. He hadn't gotten to sleep in nearly thirty-six hours, and his palms still strung from last night when he took down some villain gang that was planning to rob a store.

His day just kept getting worse as he rounded the corner and realized he had walked into a trap. Several heroes were scattered around the alleyway. He recognized some but most looked like extras. His mind raced as he heard more heroes move in behind him. There were eight in total.

Katsuki grinned as Mr.Brave told him how they were going to bring him in for vigilantism. Katsuki barked with laughter, and they all heard the thudding of the monster. "Good luck with that, you fucks! You think I was running here for you? Nah, I was trying to get some distance from that thing!"

The dark creature barreled around the corner, and Katsuki wanted to gag. It had four extra arms sprouting from its back, and they still had blood and viscera dangling from its fingers. The heroes were stunned and then quickly jumped into action as it attacked one of them. Katsuki used the confusion to blast past Mr.Brave, who was forced to let him get away as the hero went to make sure none of his comrades died.

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Nezu hummed. "Thank you for your valiant attempt. I am glad to hear that none of your team died, Mr.Brave. Hopefully, the Nomu's body will reveal some answers about the League of Villains. We will have to reconvene and try again later. Hm, yes, I believe Eraserhead will be available this time. Of course, thank you again for your help in this matter."

Toshi looked at the dean as the second event of the First Year Sports Festival raged on. "Is everything ok, sir?"

"Our attempt to capture Lord Explosion ended in failure. It seems a nomu was with him. We're unsure if it was working with him or chasing after him, but either way, Mr.Brave and his team were forced to let him get away while they dealt with the nomu."

The teachers grew silent as they processed the idea of someone with a quirk like Lord Explosion working with the League. Toshi was more worried that All for One was after Lord Explosion for his quirk. He watched his three students working together in the team event. Last night he had told them that All for One was most likely still alive. They had taken it well and were prepared for the possible dangers.

Toshi sighed. "I pray that we're able to catch him before the League does."

The other teachers agreed and watched Toru and Mina's team come in first with Izuku's team in second, Todorki's team in third, and one of class B's teams in fourth.

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"How suspicious should we be?" Mina asked as she watched Toru walk off to speak to Shoto.

Izuku shrugged. "Toru can handle herself. I'm not sure what he wants to talk about, but he's been looking increasingly annoyed that we keep beating him."

Mina chuckled. "If he confesses to her, I'm voting no."

Izuku slipped his hand into hers as they walked off to wait by the gate for Toru. "I vote no as well."

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Toru stood across from Shoto in a side hall. 'Please don't confess or something stupid like that.'

"You beat me... several times today. I did not think you would be able to do that, but you overwhelmed my ice in the second event and outran me in the first event. Both times I tried to freeze you in place, and you simply destroyed whatever I sent at you."

"Don't forget Mina and Izuku beat you as well," Toru said, feeling happy when she saw his eyebrow twitch.

"But they didn't overwhelm me... I've seen you three speak to All Might before. While no one else was paying attention. I don't know what your relationship is-"

"He's our teacher. Literally, anyone can just walk up and talk to him." Toru said as she crossed her arms. If he didn't get to the point soon, she was gonna leave.

Shoto gritted his teeth and took a deep breath. "Have you heard of quirk marriages?"

Toru tensed and confirmed that she knew what they were. Shoto went on to explain how his mother and father came together and how Endeavor had forced her to have child after child until he was born. Toru felt revulsion rising in her gut as he told her about how his mother was pushed to her limit and how she burned him. Shoto glared at her as he said. "You overwhelmed me. I don't know what your relationship to All Might is, but I'll beat you, I'll beat Ashido, and I'll beat Midoriya. I'll do it with my mother's ice and show Endeavor I don't need him or his quirk."

Toru took a deep breath and thought about what Izuku or Mina might say at a time like this. Toru flashed suddenly, making Shoto squint, then his eyes widened as he saw Toru's face for the first time as she glared at him. "I don't show this form to people unless they're close to me. I'm showing you now because I need you to see how serious I am, Todoroki."

Toru stepped closer to him, keeping a deadly serious look in her eyes as she said. "Your eyes right now. They look just like Endeavors."

Shoto flinched, and anger flashed across his face, but she pushed on, not letting him speak. "You're so caught up in your hatred of him that you don't see you're falling down the same path. I won't pretend to know what you've gone through, but I'll tell you this. Izuku, Mina, our best friend, and I. We've never been harassed because of our parents' quirks. We were attacked verbally and sometimes physically because of our quirks. Because that's what they are, they're our quirks. No one has their parents' quirks; they just have their own."

Toru stepped back and let herself go invisible. "You won't be able to beat any of us unless you take this seriously and use both parts of your power."

Toru walked away as Shoto stared at the wall with an unreadable expression. Her words were echoing in his head. He stared at his hand and quietly said. "My eyes look like Endeavors..."

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Himiko wanted to growl as Rush sat across from her as she ate. "Fuck off."

Rush held his hands up. "Please. I just wanted to apologize for what I did. Twist-"

"I don't care. Leave me alone. I don't need you or anyone else in this place causing me trouble." Himiko sat before continuing to eat.

"My name is-" Rush held his tongue as Himiko poured all the murderous energy she could into her glare.

Satisfied with his silence, Himiko started eating again. Rush gave up on speaking to her and simply ate as well. As Himiko finished up her lunch, she noticed Rush tense, and when she looked over her shoulder, Hawks was approaching. "Changeling. I need you for a mission, come on."

Himiko stood up. "Yes, sir."

She shot Rush one more glare before following Hawks. It took a bit, but they arrived at his agency, and once they were inside and Hawks confirmed it was safe to speak freely, he signaled, and Himiko groaned. "I hate the UHD."

Hawks sat in his chair and hummed. "What happened?"

Himiko explained what happened to Twist. "Is what he said true?"

Hawks rubbed his eyes and contemplated the question before saying. "I'm saying this because you can keep a secret. Don't ever let Warden know you know this, or she will kill you."

The seriousness in the usually laid-back hero's eyes made Himiko briefly reconsider, but she powered through and nodded. Hawks took a deep breath and said. "Warden was originally slated to be an agent of the UHD like you. She had a family who the HPSC was going to use as leverage except... after they threatened her, she killed her family and then joined the HPSC and showed her loyalty before she asked to become the Warden of the UHD."

As Himiko processed that information, Hawks continued. "That woman is just... missing something in her heart or mind or whatever. She doesn't take pleasure from what she does either. In her mind, it was inevitable that she would end up in the UHD, so she made sure she ended up in a favorable position. The UHD is her home, and she makes sure everyone follows the house rules."

"That's... that's messed up," Himiko said as she removed her eyepatch and dug around in her pocket before pulling out the red one. She was glad they hadn't taken her eyepatches when they kidnapped her.

Hawks frowned as he watched her. "I've been meaning to ask you. How did you lose your eye?"

Himiko flinched a bit and rubbed the patch idly before saying. "I was on the run. Hiding from heroes. I ran into Stain, and back then, I was a total fangirl, so not cute now that I think about it, but anyways... he called me a monster and tried to kill me. He scarred my arm and took my eye before I ran away and some heroes showed up. He prioritized them over me, and after I got patched up, I went and found all these super cute eye patches. Toru really likes this purple one, and Mina said this red one with the vampire teeth decal just screamed me."

Hawks smiled a bit, hearing the girl giggle and show off the eyepatches she had on her. He let her talk about the trio for a bit before getting them back on track. "Alright... I've sent a message to Nezu. I'm waiting for him to respond, but before that. There's one more thing we need to do."

"What is it?" Himiko asked as she looked at the papers on his desk.

"We need to get all the information we've gathered to Sir Nighteye, but we don't need him to know we've done this. You'll need to sneak into his agency and upload a copy of all our info to his computer." Hawks handed her a packet that went over her cover story and the layout of the agency.

"I've never broken into a hero agency before," Himiko said as she looked over the layout.

Hawks nodded. "I don't like it either, but he's a good hero, and I know the info will be safe with him. If he finds it before we go public, he'll probably poke around a bit which can help us when it comes to being credible. He was All Might's only sidekick, and after leaving, he's gained a name for himself as a reliable investigator."

Himiko hummed and nodded along. "When are we gonna do this?"

"In three days. He'll be out of the office along with his intern and his sidekicks, so it'll just be a skeleton crew of office workers."

"Alright. I'll be ready when the time comes." Himiko said as she followed Hawks to her room. They had to keep up appearances whenever they weren't in one of the few safe places.

Once Himiko was alone, she familiarized herself with all the info she needed. Once she was satisfied, she couldn't help the giddy and nervous feeling that bubbled up in her gut. She was getting close to being free of the UHD, and then she'd get to see Izu and them. She swore that she would kiss all of them once she was free. Then she would ask for blood and snacks and to watch movies.

Himiko giggled and clutched her pillow as she smiled and thought about everything she wanted to do once she was free. The nervousness about telling the trio the truth about her was outweighed by the joy she felt while thinking about getting to see them again.

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"Wow! It's like watching two dancers! You gotta wonder if they choreographed this beforehand!" Present Mic said as the crowd watched Mina skate around Izuku, who was spinning and controlling a cloud of gas.

Aizawa hummed and said. "Both Midoriya and Ashido have backgrounds in dance. It's an underrated skill. Dance teaches you rhythm, which helps you with timing, and it helps you get more flexible. Timing and flexibility are important for any kind of hero work."

"Oh yeah, it is! I remember the dance classes we took back in the day. Oh man, you were so clums-" Present Mic's voice cut out, and the sound of a body hitting the floor echoed through the microphone.

No one noticed the announcer's sudden absence as they were too enraptured by watching Mina gracefully dodge a pillar of dark green gas and lob acid at the same time, only for Izuku to easily bend and avoid the acid.

Both of them were panting as Izuku said. "Come on, Mina, is that all you got? You seem to be slowing down."

Mina chuckled. "Oh, and what about you? Your gas is thinning out. Are you getting tired, Izu-baby?"

Nemuri smiled as she watched them flirt and fight at the same time, but she could see that Izuku had over-extended himself. In the first and second events, he used a large amount of gas, and by the time the tournament started, he hadn't fully recovered. This match had been going on for a few minutes, and he was definitely running on fumes now.

She was proven right as, after a few more blasts of gas, Izuku stopped his quirk and tried to close the distance. He may have been stronger and was better trained when it came to close-quarters combat; he was also exhausted, and Mina still had energy to spare. She managed to toss her boyfriend out of bounds, and Nemuri announced her the winner.

The crowd loved it when Mina went over and helped him up. They absolutely lost their minds when she pulled him into a kiss and laughed as the crowd roared. Her face was a vibrant lilac as Izuku's turned as red as a tomato. The two left the field hand in hand as Present Mic announced that the next fight would be Toru Hagakure vs. Shoto Todoroki.

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Toru approached the ring, and Nemuri raised an eyebrow. "Did you lose your top Hagakure?"

Toru shrugged then remembered she wasn't wearing anything on her top. "Is it a problem? They can't see anything, and I don't plan to become visible."

Nemuri shook her head. "No, it's no problem. Just remember this is national television, so don't flash the crowd."

Toru laughed. "I'll keep that in mind, ma'am."

"Good," Nemuri said before tuning to Shoto. "Are you ready, Todoroki?"

Shoto nodded silently, and Nemuri raised her hand before quickly dropping it. "Begin!"

A wave of ice came rushing towards Toru, and she smiled as she felt her quirk shift and move. Her stomach glowed, and she stole Yuga's move as she fired a laser from her stomach.

The red laser quickly melted the glacier, and Shoto had to jump to the side to avoid getting hit. The half and half boy was quick to go on the offensive again as he sent another glacier at Toru, who put her hands together and fired another laser. Carving her a safe path that she used to run at Shoto.

A glacier came rushing at her, and Toru cursed. She didn't have time to charge a laser, so the ice crept up her skin, and she was trapped. Nemuri was about to ask if she could move when suddenly a rainbow of light shined, and Toru discharged several lasers from her body, obliterating the ice. She fell back and said. "Come on, Todoroki. Is that all you got? You look like you're about to keel over from the cold. Too bad you don't have a way to counter that or my lasers."

In battle, taunting an enemy into using more of their power was not a smart move. However, taunting a future ally who's being stupid and not using their full power was a smart move. Toru grinned, seeing Shoto get annoyed by her words. She fired a laser making sure it hit just near him, making him dodge to the side as he fired a wall of ice at her. It moved slowly and was smaller than the previous ones. Toru easily destroyed it and said. "This is sad. Todoroki, I don't know what it's going to take, but if you don't come at me with everything, you're going to lose here and prove nothing. Your quirk is Half Cold, Half Hot. it's not Hellflame, so stop treating it like that!"

Toru destroyed another wave of ice. "Are you really gonna just sit there glaring like Endeavor, or are you gonna be a real hero!? Actually, why are you even here? Being a hero is what he wants you to be, right? You being here is exactly what he wants! Shouldn't you be pursuing a different path? Or is there some reason you decided to walk this path?!"

It seemed like something clicked as Shoto stopped moving and stared at her. Though it was more like he was looking through her at something far off that she couldn't hope to see. After several seconds his left side suddenly erupted into flames, and he said. "I chose this because I wanted to become my own kind of hero!"

Toru grinned and started charging a laser in her arms. a rainbow of light danced around her arms as they channeled more power. "Then show us what kind of hero Shoto Todoroki is gonna be!"

Toru fired an angry red laser from her hands, wincing as her skin burned slightly. Shoto thrust his left hand forward and fired a gout of flame. The heat from his fire caused a heat shimmer and distorted Toru's lasers, causing them to veer off course and burn the grass behind Shoto.

The invisible girl dodged and blasted a glacier that came rushing at her. She carved her way out of it only to be met with a wall of flame that pushed her back towards the edge of the ring. Shoto's fire was hot enough to disrupt her aim, and now that he wasn't freezing himself to death, his glaciers were massive, and Toru was starting to feel the burns developing on her body from the repeated laser blast. It was a drawn-out fight, but by the end, Toro was forced out of bounds.

She may have lost, but Toru felt good about getting Shoto to use his fire so much. Before he left, Shoto bowed his head a bit and thanked her before turning and leaving before she could say anything.

By the end of the Sports Festival, Shoto stood at the top, with Mina in second place and Toru sharing third with Izuku. Toru laced her fingers together with Izuku's and said. "I can't believe we made it this far."

"I can't believe you got Todoroki to use his fire," Izuku whispered as Nemuri spoke over All Might as he came crashing into the arena.

Toru shrugged as their mentor grabbed the two third-place medals. "I'm surprised Mina got him to do it too. He looked pretty hesitant but whatever she said got through to him."

"Guess we'll ask later," Izuku said before having to stop talking as All Might approached and distributed the medals while congratulating everyone.

Once the ceremony was done Izuku, found himself standing in front of Shoto, who said. "Your girlfriends are very determined people. They both yelled at me and got me to use my fire despite how I feel about it... I don't understand how they did it."

Izuku shrugged. "They just wanted you to do your best. I would have yelled at you as well if I had gotten to fight you."

Shoto hummed, and before leaving, he said. "Let's spar sometime. I wanna see what fighting you is like."

Izuku grinned. "If you use your fire, I'm down for it."

The half and half boy didn't say anything as he walked away.

Notes:

everyone. readers of all interests and ages gather around. the Hypno One-shot is finally done and posted. It's called The Warmth of Their Love. go and read it and enjoy. I thoroughly enjoyed writing it.

this is my favorite Sports Festival so far because there was so little of it.

I'm watching Fena Pirate Princess and it's interesting. Fena is a cutie and so is Karin.