16

Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri watched the conclusion to Izuku's match in visible thought. Well, it was actually more accurate to say that Tomura watched in visible thought, as Kurogiri's expressions were almost impossible to read when he wasn't explicitly emoting.

"Hmmm," Tomura grunted while carefully considering what he had seen. "I expected a less even matchup, but I guess he put more into his charisma stat than attack for this round. Wonder why…"

"Isn't it obvious, Tomura?" came the baritone from the monitor. "He's crafting an acceptable persona for the masses. It's one thing to have power in this society infested with heroes, but combining it with a false perception of kindness and benevolence makes him an even more palatable paragon, no doubt at the direction of All Might to groom his young successor."

"But didn't he say that he didn't want to succeed All Might?" Tomura questioned.

"A clear misdirection," All For One waived off. "Publicly declaring the successor to the Symbol of Peace immediately creates a massive target and monumental expectations. Merely desiring to be a beacon for the disenfranchised does much less in that regard, sounding more like wishful thinking from a naive child than anything else. It's the perfect cover, especially with his lineage being a proverbial smoking gun."

"What's so special about his lineage, anyway?"

"There's no need to concern yourself with that for right now, Tomura Shigaraki," he assured, much to the young adult's growing annoyance. "Just keep focused on destroying the Symbol of Peace and his successor."

"Right, the Symbol of Peace," Tomura lowly muttered. His brain was on anything but All Might, though. The way his sensei dismissed his thoughts and nudged him toward a preferred path really annoyed him. It just didn't make sense to him that All Might could take on and defeat the Nomu so expediently, but his supposed successor was practically torn apart by the creature. Their powers just didn't feel similar enough for Tomura to think there was any connection, but Sensei knew best. Sensei always knew best…

Izuku watched the admittedly entertaining arm wrestling match that decided the tiebreaker between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu on a TV in the hallway.

Izuku heard a soft set of footsteps behind him, and he turned to see a very puffy-eyed Ochako approaching him.

"Woah, are you okay? Was it the match? Did something else happen?" he rapidly fired in concern, but she quickly waved it away.

"No, no, everything's fine," she assured. "I just had a talk with my dad is all."

Izuku nodded and the two made their way back to the 1-A seating area in a comfortable silence, at least on Izuku's end. Ochako, however, had something on her mind.

"Were you holding back against me, Izuku?" she suddenly prompted.

Izuku was silent for a moment even though he was somewhat expecting the question. "No, I wasn't holding back. Why do you ask?"

Ochako wasn't really satisfied with that response. "It's just… I watched you fight that bird creature at the USJ and take down the 0-pointer at the entrance exam. I know that you could've probably broken my back over your knee like Bane did to Batman without even breaking a sweat, so why didn't you?"

Izuku was very much taken aback with the morbidness of the example in regards to the question, but he was even more taken aback by the reference itself. "That's a pretty deep cut. I didn't think you were into pre-quirk, American comics."

"My dad's a collector, and I read a good bit of his collection," she answered. "Don't dodge the question."

"You're right, I probably could've done that if I were really dead-set on doing so," he responded and met her gaze. "I doubt that I would've been able to without you almost certainly negating my gravity, though."

"And?" she rebutted.

"And I think you're underrating just how cracked your ability to tip the scales of a fight with a single touch truly is," he began to explain. "I know that you understand very well that it's an almost guaranteed win condition since you centered your strategy around that. What you may not be considering is that I had to rethink my usual battle strategy to account for not letting you land a hit on me while also not being able to bounce around like normal, and that was much easier said than done. Not only did you keep me on my toes, but you truly made me get creative to keep you at bay."

"Kirishima is the winner! Add him to the bracket!" they heard Midnight announce to the crowd.

"I didn't think I'd ever end up using my red flames in a fight with anyone other than maybe Todoroki, but here we are. And do keep in mind that I literally cannot fly without your help. Give yourself the credit you deserve, you were pretty damn awesome out there." he finished with a smile, and she valiantly tried to hide the re-emerging tears that were prickling her eyes.

"ALRIGHT FOLKS, IT'S TIME TO GET THE 2ND ROUND GOING!"

"You also broke my nose, so there's that," he added with a chuckle and a tap of his nose with a finger wreathed in pink.

"Ehehe, right," she sheepishly remarked. "Sorry about that…"

"Don't sweat it," he waved off. "I'll return the favor at some point."

"Right," she nodded with a smile before she paused and what he said caught up with her. "Wait, what?"

"READY?!"

The determined scowl of Bakugo met the equally hardened scowl of Kamakiri. Both boys were ready to move at a moment's notice; the blonde's arms were spread and his palms were sparking, and the mohawked mantis' arms were crossed in front of him with the tips of blades poking out of his skin.

"BEGIN!"

The two charged each other, and Kamakiri proved to be the faster one with a swipe at Bakugo's face with his fully engaged blades. Bakugo dodged the swipe just barely enough to get nicked on the cheek before letting off a powerful explosion to Kamakiri's side, but the boy's speed proved troublesome again when he shifted his body and created a number of blades to shield himself from the blast.

"Huh, guess Bug Boy's pretty quick on his feet," Bakugo snarked with a smirk.

"Quick enough to cut you to pieces!" Kamakiri replied and lunged again.

"Bring it!" Bakugo snapped back and dodged the incoming series of swipes from the mantis-headed boy. Bakugo sidestepped a swipe from Kamakiri's left arm and snatched it in an iron grip, then he whipped out his free arm and set off several small explosions to give himself the extra momentum to spin the other boy around and slam him to the ring. He finished the combo by leveling a much larger explosion right at the downed boy to end the bout quickly and decisively.

The problem was that it did not end the bout, much to Bakugo's annoyance. Kamakiri, a little worse for wear, sprung to his feet and readied for another go at the blonde.

"You're not putting me down that easily, Explosion Boy!" Kamakiri shouted with a new set of blades ready for action.

"Good," Bakugo replied with a wicked grin.

In the 1-A section, Izuku and Todoroki carefully watched the vicious exchange of slashes and explosions between the two ferocious combatants. There wasn't a guarantee that one of them would make it to the final round, but it was wise to evaluate the competition anyway, especially when both Bakugo and Kamakiri seem to have quite a bit to prove.

"It's kind of interesting seeing Bakugo fight since he hasn't been in heroics classes with us after the first one," Tsu commented after the blonde ducked another swipe and answered with an explosion to the ribs.

"Doesn't really look like he needed them, to be honest," Kaminari added. "Has he always been this intense?"

"He's been a lot more subdued than normal, actually," Izuku replied as Kamakiri responded with a stiff backhand to the blonde. "This fight is more of the Bakugo I remember."

"You two knew each other?" Sato asked.

"Yes," he answered without going into the same level of detail he did for Ochako and Iida weeks prior. "Our moms have been best friends since they were our age. We spent a lot of our younger years together."

Todoroki's brow furrowed when he heard that, as it meant that his mother may have been friends with not only Midoriya's mom but Bakugo's as well. If that was the case, the facts that the three of them were roughly the same age, attended the same hero school, and were placed in the same class in said hero program were entirely too convenient. He'd pin that to the board and investigate it further when he got home.

"And he still tried to blow you up?" Tsu dryly asked while Bakugo launched himself over Kamakiri and unleashed a large explosion when the boy was directly under him.

"I never said he wasn't an asshole," Izuku replied with a shrug, and he peered down at the ring to see Kamakiri unsteadily step out of the smoke with more blades at the ready despite his labored breathing. "He seems to be getting better about that, though."

In the ring, Bakugo stood poised to unleash another round at his opponent. He would be lying if he said he wasn't enjoying himself. He lost count of the amount of cuts and slashes he had peppering his body from the battle. It was the first time in over two weeks that he had a proper fight with someone, and it was even better that it was against someone strong and capable enough to give him a good one.

Kamakiri was feeling much of the same. He was being tested unlike he had ever been before, and it was exhilarating. Even on wobbly legs and coughing out the ashen taste of smoke from the explosions that had been bombarding him the entire fight, he was ready for more.

"I can do this all day," he said with a smirk and resumed a stance. He may not have gotten the chance to beat the purple kid's ass for using him as a puppet, but this fight more than made up for it.

"Your funeral," Bakugo nodded, and the two readied for what felt to everyone watching like the final stand.

The two teens charged once more, and Kamakiri thrust with his blades while Bakugo aimed an explosion at the ground between them. Kamakiri's blades hit nothing but air when Bakugo propelled himself up and over the teen once again, this time landing behind him and aiming a much larger explosion at the boy's unguarded back. The force blasted Kamakiri away, sending him tumbling a considerable distance across the ring until he skidded to a stop near the edge. The boy tried to get back to his feet, but he fell back to the ground with a thud.

"Kamakiri is unable to continue! Bakugo advances to the semifinals!" Midnight announced, and the crowd raved in approval. Bakugo's grin grew even more at the announcement of his victory, and he shot pointed looks at both Izuku and Todoroki. The message was clear: he was coming for whoever made it to the finals.

His grin dropped when he turned back to the downed Kamakiri, and he observed the boy for a moment. He was still conscious, and he was trying his best to get back upright. Bakugo silently walked over to him with his hands in his pockets, and he said nothing to the boy when he reached him. Kamakiri was also silent, and the two stared at each other for a few seconds until Bakugo extended a hand to help the boy up. Kamakiri considered the hand for a moment before inevitably taking it and rising to his feet with the blonde's help.

"You got lucky," Kamakiri grumbled. "The end result won't be the same in our rematch."

"Any time, Bug Boy," Bakugo answered with the return of his grin.

In the teacher's box, Inko watched on with a smile. She was truly glad to have gotten through to the boy she saw as a nephew before he could self-destruct. She also had to commend him for doing so well despite not having participated in any heroics training beforehand. She was very curious to see how quickly he'd progress once back on a regular training schedule.

In the 1-A box, Iida and Todoroki departed to prepare for their match coming up after the 1-B bout between Yui and Shiozaki. It was then that Izuku noticed that someone was missing.

'Yaoyorozu isn't here. I wonder if she took that loss really hard…'

The next few matches went by rather quickly. Yui and Shiozaki met in the ring, and Yui immediately placed her hand in her pocket as expected while Shiozaki readied her vines for a quick extraction. He could hear people be a little skeptical of her attempting the same bluff a second time. However, Izuku noticed that it was the opposite hand as the previous match, so he wasn't so sure it was a bluff rather than a deliberate move.

Sure enough, the battle began and Yui threw a handful of sand at Shiozaki that enlarged into a practical meteor shower. Her vines were faster, though, and a thick wall sprouted around her while several others snaked through the ring and snagged Yui's arms before she could shrink it again. Once the danger of the sand was neutralized, the vines coiled around the rest of her body and carried her out of the ring before dropping her out of bounds.

"Kodai is out of bounds! Shiozaki advances to the semifinals!" Midnight announced.

Izuku let out a sigh of relief that he wouldn't have to end up facing Yui in the finals, and he turned to see Kirishima leaving the stands. He supposed it was time to get ready, and after a few wishes of luck from his friends, he set off through the halls towards the waiting area. Along the way, he wandered past a TV that was showing Iida running around the ring in evasion of massive trails of ice. However, a sniffle from an alcove near a set of stairs gained his attention. When he went to investigate, he heard quiet mutterings of "maybe they're right" and "never strong enough, never smart enough, never pretty enough." Turning the corner, he found Yaoyorozu in a corner with her head partially buried in her knees.

"Yaoyorozu, are you okay?" Izuku softly asked, and she gasped at his appearance.

"Midoriya!" she yelped in surprise. "I didn't hear you coming."

"Few ever do," he responded in jest. "What's wrong?"

"It's… it's nothing," she weakly denied. "I'm just a little disappointed is all."

Izuku sat down crosslegged in front of her. "It seems like it's a little more than that"

She shook her head and wiped the remaining tears away. "I'll be fine, I promise. If I'm not mistaken, your match is next. You should get going."

Izuku reluctantly acquiesced and stood. "I suppose so. Just remember that myself and all of our classmates are here for you if you ever need anything at all. We always will be."

"I will," she nodded with a small, thankful smile. "Good luck."

Izuku nodded and turned to head to the waiting room, but he stopped in his tracks before he could get very far.

"By the way," he said over his shoulder, "whoever is insisting that you aren't strong, smart, or pretty enough is a goddamn liar, and I will put them through a fucking wall."

She couldn't fight the snort that left her at his declaration, and she watched him walked down the hall with a sad smile. The smile dropped, and only a bitter sadness remained.

"I really wish it was that simple," she whispered.

Izuku faced down the sharp-toothed grin of Kirishima in the center of the ring. He was excited for the match since fighting Kirishima would naturally be simpler than the rest. It wouldn't necessarily be easier, but the problem in front of him was one that could literally be solved by punching it harder, and that was always nice.

"READY?!"

"I've been wanting to test for myself how strong you really are since the first day, Midoriya. You're going down!"

"BEGIN!"

Izuku went up in a blaze of green while Kirishima hardened his entire upper body, and the two met fists with a loud bang. Kirishima threw a left hook that Izuku ducked and answered with a hard punch to the hardened redhead's kidney, but Kirishima was mostly unaffected.

"You're gonna have to do a lot better than that!" Kirishima taunted.

"Careful what you wish for," Izuku retorted.

The following exchange made a few things clear to the audience. The first was that Kirishima could absorb an absurd amount of punishment and keep on ticking, as the punches that Izuku was leveling on him with arms that burned an even deeper emerald than when the match started could be heard and even felt by those on security detail outside of the stadium.

The second thing was that Kirishima could deal just as much damage as he could take. Every once in a while, Kirishima would land a punch to Izuku that dazed him or even almost knocked him off his feet at points, and those punches could be heard throughout the stadium as well.

The final thing, though, was the most important, and it was the blatant gulf in skill between the two combatants. Kirishima could certainly do some real damage with his punches when they landed, but that was exactly the problem: they had to land, and very few of them actually did. The fight was primarily a showcase of Izuku dodging and deflecting strikes before answering back with bone-shaking hits of his own rather than a back-and-forth smash fest between the two.

With that said, though, Izuku was still only slowly chipping away at the boy's rough exterior. The longer the battle went on, the more he could feel the strain begin to set in on his muscles, but he pushed through regardless. He was certain that if he was feeling it, Kirishima had to be feeling exhaustion of his own, and a tired Kirishima would certainly struggle with keeping up his hardening with anywhere close to the same efficacy.

"This has been a real battle of attrition, sports fans! Midoriya has been bobbing and weaving for the majority of the fight, but now he's unloading a heavy barrage of body shots to Kirishima in hopes of getting through that impenetrable armor! Will he succeed?!"

The audience was on their heels in wonder of the same question, and it was answered when sharp, flesh-colored chips started flying off of Kirishima like broken glass, tearing up Izuku's gym uniform and cutting where his skin was exposed. He did not let up, though, and he poured even more strength into his barrage to further the progress. The roar of the crowd at the sight only fueled him further, and his right arm burned brightly with green fire before he slammed a final punch into Kirishima's abdomen, practically blasting him away towards the edge of the ring.

Kirishima wasn't down just yet, though, and he slowly tried to rise from the ground. Izuku wouldn't give him the chance, and he darted toward the downed boy to unleash his finishing maneuver. It was something he had been toying around with in training and wanted to try in an actual battle. When he was close enough to Kirishima, he poured the flame into his legs and jumped into the air, doing a front flip before coming down with his brightly burning heel.

"Lunar Inferno!"

The fiery heel came down on Kirishima with a loud crash, and the boy was finally down for the count. There was also a brand new crater in the ring at the point of impact, but that could be fixed.

Sitting on her couch in the living room of her apartment, a tan woman with long, rabbit ears poking out of her white hair watched her TV screen with a twitching eye.

"That little shit is so dead if I ever see him. Actually, do I have anything to do next week?"

She flipped through her schedule to see if she had any prior obligations or plans to patrol somewhere else in the country, and she unleashed a feral grin when she saw that there were none.

Izuku shivered in place for a brief moment. He didn't know why, but he felt like there was a lot of pain coming his way in the near future.

"Kirishima has been knocked out! Midoriya is the winner!"

"And Midoriya completes our final four, ladies and gentlemen! Bakugo, Shiozaki, Todoroki, and Midoriya are the last few standing!"

Izuku left the field and was heading through the halls back to the waiting room when he spotted Bakugo entering the hall from the other end. The two locked eyes and stared at each other as they passed. Bakugo appeared content with saying nothing, but Izuku had experienced too many silent stare-offs that day for his tastes.

"Bakugo," he began when the two were in front of each other, "good luck out there. I hope to see you in the finals."

The blonde's eyes widened in surprise. He wasn't really sure what he was expecting from the green head after, well, everything he had attempted to put the boy through in their lives, but it certainly wasn't cordial encouragement. He grunted and continued past him without looking back, and he spoke.

"I'm gonna beat you and win this damn festival, and I will be the Number 1. You can count on that."

Izuku watched his former friend leave in the direction of the ring, and then he continued on his way back to the waiting room.

"THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEMIFINALS! WE'RE ABOUT TO SEE A BATTLE FOR HERO CLASS SUPREMACY!"

"Again with the screaming."

"First up, from Class 1-A, Katsuki Bakugo! Versus! From Class 1-B, Ibara Shiozaki!"

Bakugo's scowl was in full force and his palms crackled in anticipation. Shiozaki's vines readied themselves to strike.

"START!"

Bakugo blasted himself into the air to avoid the mess of vines that lunged for him as soon as the match began. He aimed down at her and sent a large explosion to the girl, but she blocked the blast as best as she could with a wall of her hair. She was a little disturbed to see that the vines were burned and unusable, however. Bakugo saw this and grinned; he knew exactly what he needed to do.

Blasting away the many vines that came to ensnare him on his way back down, he fought his way through the jungle with explosion after explosion on his way to Shiozaki's position. The girl wouldn't stand down, though, and she waited for Bakugo to burn his way a little further before a collection of vines emerged from under the ring and coiled around him.

"Bakugo's trapped! Is this the end for him?!"

"Fuck that!" the blonde shouted, and the vines around his arms started glowing before a massive explosion erupted and freed him from the trap. Shiozaki was rattled by the ease in which he dismantled her trap and the frightening grin he sported along the way.

"No more screwing around!" he growled and propelled himself over the newer vines that made to attack him, then he pointed his right palm at her and grabbed his wrist for support.

"HOWITZER IMPACT!"

The resulting explosion wasted whatever vines were remaining to snag him as well as all of those that were acting as cover for her. The blast sent her flying out of the ring and skidding onto the grass well out of bounds.

"Shiozaki is out of bounds! Bakugo advances to the final match!"

"AND THE FIRST HALF OF THE FINAL TWO HAS BEEN DECIDED!"

In the waiting room, Izuku stood up from his seat. "I guess Bakugo's making good on that promise. Now it's my turn."

"I CAN FEEL THE ANTICIPATION IN THE STADIUM, AND THAT'S BECAUSE THE 2ND MATCH OF THE SEMIFINALS IS GONNA BE EPIC!"

Izuku appeared on the field from the tunnel while Todoroki did the same from the other side, and the crowd exploded.

"It's the guy who won his first fight by a landslide and literally left half the audience frozen! He's been nigh unstoppable the entire day, it's the hero course's Shoto Todoroki!"

"And this other kid has been a force of nature alongside him! Despite some people's best efforts, his will shan't be denied! Also from the hero course, Izuku Midoriya!"

When the two met in the middle of the ring, the tension among them was absolutely palpable. Midnight and Cementoss could feel it, both classes 1-A and 1-B could feel it, and even the pro heroes in attendance could feel it.

"So, here we are," Todoroki said. "I said I'd beat you, and I will honor that."

"I've said this way too often today, but you're more than welcome to try," Izuku responded. "You're not winning today, though."

"ITS AN UNSTOPPABLE FORCE VERSUS AN IMMOVABLE OBJECT! WHICH WILL PREVAIL?!"

"Tokoyami, how do you think this match will go?" Iida asked in his seat next to Ochako.

"It depends on if Midoriya is able to get close to him," he answered. "While he had been able to melt through Todoroki's ice before, we don't know if he can do so with the sheer quantity of ice that Todoroki has unleashed today. It should be an interesting matchup."

"If not, he could just avoid the ice entirely and force Todoroki into an up-close encounter," Ochako supplied, but both her and the bird-head beside her were taken by surprise when Iida started vibrating.

"Oh, please excuse me, my mother is calling," Iida excused himself and left his seat to take the call.

In another area of the arena, Endeavor surveyed the ring with a keen eye. This was exactly the challenge Shoto needed to set him straight, and it was the perfect opportunity to scout the next potential No. 2 to his son.

"Both of the heroes-in-training have been frontrunners in the festival, but which one of these rivals will advance to the final round?! Prepare for Midoriya vs. Todoroki!"

The two boys fell into a stance, Todoroki planting his right foot forward to prepare an ice attack while Izuku spread his legs and leaned his body to the right in preparation to dash out of the way.

"BEGIN!"

'Now!' both boys thought simultaneously as a wall of ice slammed into the spot where the now bright yellow Izuku was previously standing. Todoroki was prepared, though, and immediately slammed his right hand down to the ring in the direction of Izuku's landing spot. Foregoing yellow for green, Izuku leveled a very hard punch to the incoming ice and shattered the entire structure, sending a wave of ice shards and frigid wind back toward the two-toned teen and the audience behind him. Todoroki was only saved by a wall of ice behind him.

"Holy cow! Midoriya literally punched through Todoroki's opening move!"

Todoroki sent another, even larger wave of ice at Izuku, but Izuku smashed through that one with his left arm.

"HE COUNTERED AGAIN!"

"You wanna do this from range?" Izuku commented before darting towards his opponent. "I don't think so!"

Todoroki slammed his hand to the ground and created a bridge of ice that he slid on to meet Izuku's charge. Izuku leaped to face him and threw a left hook shrouded in a red-hot glow to carve through Todoroki's attempt to freeze him up close, and his red-hot fist slammed into the boy's cheek and sent him back down the ice slide. Izuku chased after him, slicing through the ice as he slid with his glowing left hand until he was right on top of the heterochromatic boy, and then, with crimson fire pouring off of his hand, he slammed his palm into Todoroki's chest to press him against the boy's own protective barrier and unleashed the full might of his red flames in a single blast.

"Midoriya is really turning up the heat against Todoroki!"

"He's taking the fight directly to him and negating his ice all the while. Smart."

"Is he really overpowering Todoroki right now?" Mina incredulously asked among her classmates.

"Hell yeah, he is!" Toru cheered. "Kick his ass, Midori!"

"His quirk certainly seems tailor-made to counter Todoroki's ice," Yaoyorozu added.

"Oh, Yaomomo, when did you get here?" Mina asked in surprise.

"A little bit after Midoriya's match with Kirishima," she answered vaguely. "I caught it in the hallway."

"That guy really hits hard," Kirishima supplied with a rub to his still tender ribs. "I knew this match would be intense, but they're killing it down there."

Bakugo said nothing as he watched the match very intently.

Back in the ring, Todoroki was feeling the effects of being slammed into his barrier as well as practically being broiled in an interstellar oven. He opened his eyes when he was certain that the blinding red light had died down, and he saw no sign of his opponent anywhere. He couldn't burrow through the ground, so the only option was up above.

Lo and behold, Izuku was barreling down toward him with his green fire back in use, primed to smash Todoroki into the ground. Todoroki fought through the invasive warmth his body still felt to create a veritable fortress of ice around him to momentarily delay the attack. Izuku was undeterred, and he slammed his fist into the ice, but it didn't immediately break. Izuku punched it again and again until it finally gave and he shattered through.

Unfortunately, Todoroki was no longer there.

"I've got you now," Izuku heard the boy say from the other side of an ice wall, and Todoroki spawned another massive glacier that completely encompassed the area Izuku was standing in but didn't quite reach the audience this time.

"And just like that, the tables have turned again! Todoroki led Midoriya into a trap with that fortress and then froze him solid when he smashed his way through!"

"He packed so much ice into that cover specifically so Midoriya wouldn't be able to immediately burst through it, giving him more time to ready his trap."

"You think we can call this one right now?"

All talking ceased when the ice that was trapping Izuku began to crack and glow a bright red, and it promptly exploded in a brilliant crimson flame that towered over the ring and almost reached the open air above the stadium.

Standing in the impetus of the flame was Izuku, his gym uniform slowly burning away as he stood, and he cut the flame before more of it had any chance to. Upon close inspection, Todoroki could see that he was sweating, so he surmised that not even the green head was immune to the heat of his red flames at a point. Todoroki wasn't in a much better state, himself. The blast of heat from Izuku made it exponentially more difficult to use his ice effectively, let alone drag out as much ice as he had for the diversion and the ice prison. He was quickly becoming exhausted, even if the warmth from the red fire kept him from suffering from frostbite like he normally would after overusing his ice.

"AMAZING, FOLKS! Midoriya has freed himself from an icy prison and looks ready to go!"

Back in the stands, 1-A and 1-B were collectively agape, Sero most of all. Their class rep was hit with a slightly smaller version of what he was hit with, and he just flash-melted himself out of it like a blowtorch barely looking any worse for wear.

Over with 1-B, Monoma was fighting very hard to not throw his arms up and storm out of the arena. Who the hell gave 1-A the right to be that busted? If he listened closely, he would be able to hear Shinso's teeth grinding from the General Studies section.

"Was Midoriya always this cool?" Tokage asked Yui beside her.

"I believe the more fitting term is 'hot'," she answered.

"Is that a lame pun about the red fire, or are you referring to the fact that his uniform is half-burned away?"

"Yes."

Back in the ring, Izuku slowly approached Todoroki, who was bent over and taking labored breaths.

"You look like shit," he lightly commented.

"So do you," Todoroki replied.

"Fair enough," he shrugged. "You're not gonna beat me like that, you know."

Todoroki was silent. He regained a bit of his energy, and he looked up to the audience at Endeavor. He sighed. "I suppose you're right."

"Don't look at him, look at me," Izuku commanded while stepping forward toward him. "You're not doing it for him. You're not doing anything for him. You are Shoto."

"You can be the kind of hero you want to be when you grow up."

Izuku's right arm went up in kaleidoscopic fire, and he stomped in front of Todoroki. "So, be Shoto, damnit!" he shouted before decking him on the left side of his face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"It's okay to use your powers to be who you want to be."

'That's right. I am Shoto, and I will be a hero!'

Todoroki stood up, going up in an inferno of his own.

"IS THAT?!"

"Holy shit, he's using his fire!" Mineta screamed.

"This just got way more interesting," Kaminari agreed.

Inko and All Might watched on in slight concern. Todoroki using his left side added a new dimension to the fight entirely, and they were curious to see how Izuku would combat it.

"Maybe it isn't such a great idea to help your opponent through mental blocks, but thank you nonetheless," Todoroki spoke. "I need to keep reminding myself of who I am."

"It wouldn't be right to beat you while you weren't at full capacity," Izuku responded with a smirk.

"You still think you can beat me?" Todoroki challenged with his own smirk, ice beginning to creep up his right side while fire cascaded over his left.

Izuku's entire form went up in the colorful fire, and he settled back into a stance. "Prove that I can't."

Todoroki stomped, and a gargantuan wave of ice shot toward Izuku. Izuku leaped into the air and smashed through the first part of the wave with a spin kick, blanketing his legs with green fire when he landed in the ice that carried him towards the other side of the ring. Todoroki watched the now yellow blur bounce from pillar to pillar toward him, and the yellow transitioned back to the painfully familiar rainbow. He then unleashed the heat from his left hand and blasted it forward in tandem with another shot of his ice to meet the charge.

Izuku pushed his quirk as far as he could, trying to access individual pieces of his quirk and meld them together for a grossly dangerous super move. He was genuinely surprised when he felt his fire kick into a 2nd gear, so to speak, and his kaleidoscopic fire flared up to an intensity that he hadn't discovered before. He knew he would regret the aftermath, but he was ready to meet Todoroki's attack head-on.

"That's it Midnight, one of them could be killed!" Cementoss shouted while filling the ring with as much cement as he could to block the incoming collision, and Midnight tore a section of her costume off to unleash a plume of her somnambulist gas to knock them out. Neither effort was very effective, as even the several walls that Cementoss erected in the ring between them were torn through like wet paper towels by both attacks.

The resulting collision caused an explosion of concrete, ice, and the most vibrant colors that anyone in the stadium had ever seen. They were swamped with so much color that it felt to many like they were trapped within a prism hurtling towards the sun.

When the color died down, Midnight and Cementoss peaked over the bunker that he quickly erected for them when it became clear that the two teachers weren't going to be able to stop the wanton destruction that the teens were dead-set on causing.

"Having great power doesn't mean you'll be a good hero, but I'm really glad these two chose to be heroes rather than villains," Cementoss commented in shock, and Midnight dumbly nodded.

"What happened just now? What the heck is up with those students, Eraser?!"

"The air around the ring had been thoroughly cooled down, and then it rapidly expanded when it heated up."

"Wait, that's what caused the explosion? How hot did that fire even get? I can't see a thing down there! Is the match even still going on or what?!"

When the smoke finally cleared, the ring was absolutely annihilated. Midnight looked to the epicenter of the explosion, and no one was there. Fearing the worst, she frantically looked around the arena until her eyes landed on the tattered, beaten form of Midoriya lying unconscious against the wall of the arena. She looked directly to the other side and saw Todoroki planted in the wall in a human-shaped crater, but he eventually slid out of the crater and face-planted to the ground.

"They're… they're both out of bounds… and unconscious…" Midnight stammered. "It's a draw!"

The crowd was dead silent. No one knew what to say or how to react. They watched two powerhouse teenagers throw everything they had as well as the kitchen sink at each other, resulting in the closest thing to a cataclysmic explosion that anyone hoped they would ever live to see…

…and it ended in a draw.

No conclusive winner, no one definitely moving on to the finals, and likely no tiebreaker if the state both teens were in was any indication.

It was a draw.

"ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?!" was the apoplectic shout of Bakugo at the announcement. That sufficiently broke the crowd from their stupor, and they erupted into a raucous uproar.

"There's absolutely no way that these boys will be well enough to compete after that, even with Recovery Girl's healing," Cementoss commented.

"As much as I hate it, I agree," Midnight lamented. "Bakugo might just win the whole thing by default. It's a shame, both of these boys fought way too hard to go down like this."

The sentiment was shared among 1-A, as even though there wasn't an official declaration made, the writing was on the wall for how the festival would conclude.

"Do you think they could try to force a tiebreaker?" Mineta grasped at straws.

"I highly doubt it," Shoji sighed. "Those guys won't be walking for a while, let alone fighting."

Bakugo pointedly ignored everything while he waited for any official updates on how they'd proceed. He absolutely refuse to accept a win by default and he wouldn't hear a word of it.

Inko was a mixture of worry and motherly fury. She wanted so badly to scoop her son off the ground and hug him tightly until Recovery Girl healed him enough for her to beat him back into a hospital bed for being so reckless again.

All Might could swear that he saw a translucent yellow glove reach out of him before it was yanked back inside by several other hands accompanied by the angry voice of his sensei screaming that she'd "throttle the little shit for making her worry so badly."

"Well, folks, it doesn't look like Midoriya or Todoroki will be in any condition to hold a tiebreaker or compete in the finals afterward, so the First-Year champion of the UA Sports Festival is Katsuki Bakugo from Class 1-A!"

"GODDAMNIT!" he raged while the crowd cheered. "I WILL NOT ACCEPT A WIN LIKE THIS!"

"Um, should we do something about this?" Jiro asked to anyone who was listening.

"What's there to do without the risk of being blown up, ribbit?" Tsu questioned in reply.

"Hey, Yaomomo?" Toru whispered to Yaoyorozu. "Can you make a lead pipe?"

"Um, sure, but may I ask why?" she hesitantly probed after creating the requested item and handing it to the invisible girl.

"You'll see," was all she said before soundlessly moving toward the furious blonde. Yaoyorozu's question was answered when a loud clang and the solid thump of a body hitting the floor was heard.

"…Well, that's an option, I guess," Tsu remarked.

"The First-Year students have completed all of the events for the UA Sports Festival, now it's time to relax and enjoy the award ceremony!" Midnight called out, and a shower of confetti rained down on the students as fireworks boomed overhead. In front of the waiting students, a podium rose from the ground, and the final 4 competitors stood proudly on their respective podiums.

Well, Shiozaki stood proudly on her 3rd place podium, anyway.

Todoroki stood on another 3rd place podium (since there technically wasn't a 2nd place to give) covered in bandages with a look that told all in attendance that moving an inch was excruciating. Izuku was next to him on the same podium covered in even more bandages and strapped to a hand truck to keep him upright, and he was clearly on another planet entirely, presumably to numb the pain while he was conscious.

Finally, festering on the 1st place podium in the center was Bakugo with a comically large knot on his head, and from his furious snarl and the way he was trying very hard to keep his arms to his side, it was clear to all that he was not standing there on his own volition.

"Fuck up again, and you'll be lucky to land in General Studies. Fuck up nearly as badly as you did today, and there won't be a body to send to Ketsubutsu."

Those words from his pseudo-aunt were the only things keeping him still and his mouth shut. Going ballistic in front of the world in the award ceremony of the UA Sports Festival most likely landed in the "very bad fuck-up" category.

"Too bad Iida had to leave and couldn't be here for this," Tsu lamented.

"I don't think Midoriya is here with us either," Kaminari joked. "Wherever he is, he looks like he's enjoying it."

"He's wherever you go whenever you short your brain out," Jiro sniped with a smirk that grew even more when Kaminari deflated.

"Now, let's break out the hardware!" Midnight continued. "Of course, there's only one person worthy of distributing the awards."

"HAHAHAHA! CITIZENS, I AM HERE WITH THE MEDALS!" boomed the No. 1 Hero as he leaped into the stadium from the roof and landed in front of the students, and the crowd erupted for the umpteenth time that day.

"Young Shiozaki, congratulations," All Might told the girl while placing the bronze medal around her neck. "You showed tremendous ability out there."

"Thank you very much, All Might. Your praise fills me with more elation than I can describe," she kindly replied with a smile.

"However, you have more training to do if you want to face different kinds of villains," All Might continued while giving the girl a quick hug. "You won't be able to simply restrain every opponent you face."

She gratefully nodded, and the man moved on to the injured duo on the other side.

"Young Todoroki, Young Midoriya, congratulations," he said to the boys while bearing two more bronze medals. "I'm glad that you used your left side and embraced it as a part of yourself and no one else. You'll make a fine hero."

"Pain," was Todoroki's simple reply once All Might placed the medal around his neck.

"And you, Young Midoriya, you were truly outstanding," he said while placing the final bronze medal around the cast on Izuku's neck. "I have no doubts that you'll become a symbol even greater than myself."

That got the attention of everyone listening, whether they be in the field or in the audience. The kid who declared his desire to be a symbol for the downtrodden just got a glowing endorsement from the Symbol of Peace himself. Talk about massive expectations to live up to. If the boy was even halfway cognizant of where he even was, he probably would've pissed himself on the spot.

"And now, Young Bakugo!" All Might boomed to the boy who was struggling mightily to keep it together.

One look towards Inko, who was motioning across her throat with her thumb, was enough to keep him contained.

"You may not have won the tournament in the manner you wanted, but you still proved your strength, force of will, and tenacity to get as far as you did." All Might held the 1st place medal in front of him. "Please accept this 1st place medal, even if you have to think of it as a scar, something you'll never forget."

Bakugo's eye violently twitched when the medal was placed around his neck, and Izuku's dumb giggling to the right of him wasn't helping, neither was the hug All Might gave him.

"Here they are, the winners of this year's sports festival!" All Might showcased the 4 students. "But listen closely, any of you First-Years could've ended up standing on these podiums! Think about what you've done today. You've challenged each other, learned, and climbed even closer to your goals of being pros. I think the next generation of heroes is proving to be our most promising one yet!"

"So, I have one more thing to say!" he bellowed while throwing his hand to the sky. "I want everyone to yell it with me! You know what it is!"

"PLUS ULTRA/THANKS EVERYONE FOR YOUR HARD WORK!" were the different chants of the audience and All Might.

The resulting scolding All Might received from the students and audience caused such a ruckus that Izuku's hand truck started rolling backwards, and he fell off the podium with a goofy thud.

Tomura and Kurogiri watched on in silence after the camera picked up Izuku's unfortunate tumble. Only a few more seconds passed before Tomura began to snicker. That snicker became a strangled chuckle. That chuckle developed into uncontrollable laughter.

He didn't notice the door of the bar opening or Kurogiri practically teleporting back to his place behind the bar to clean glasses that he had already cleaned 7 times over until someone called out to him.

"Yo, Tomura, you free for some-"

"Spinner, if you're here to ask me to play League of Legends, I'll fucking dust you right now," Tomura rebuked, and Spinner slowly step back outside and closed the door.

Tomura sighed and stood up to leave the room until the door opened again, and Spinner poked his head back into the bar.

"Uh, do I still have an invite to the League of Villains?" he sheepishly asked.

"Yeah, yeah, I'll text you the details or whatever," he waved off before his attention snapped back to the gecko-man. "And what the hell are you wearing?"

"Oh, this?" Spinner said with clear pride. "I'm honoring the philosophy and mission of the Hero Killer: Stain."

That caught Tomura's interest. "Hero Killer: Stain, huh…"

"Nice work," Aizawa told his class after the festival. "You have the next few days of school off to recuperate. I'm sure the pros who watched the festival will want to recruit some of you. We'll look over the draft forms and update you when you return. Get some rest, you still have a lot of training."

"Yes sir," the class collectively responded with the exception of Iida, who was absent, Bakugo, who said nothing, Izuku, who giggled, and Todoroki, who only mumbled, "All I know is pain."

The day after next, Todoroki felt well enough to leave his home and visit the hospital. His mind was a mess on the way there. He was so certain for years that the sight of him would only cause his mother pain, so he never visited. However, he had to accept that they would always be bound to one another, and he would not truly be able to move on as Shoto without getting over this hurdle.

After getting her room number from the front desk, he meandered his way up the stairs to the 3rd floor, battling with himself internally the whole way. When he finally made it to the hallway, he spotted a woman leaving one of the rooms. The woman gave him pause, as he recognized the green hair. When they locked eyes, recognition came over him, and he remembered her from the USJ. It was Verdant, Mrs. Midoriya.

She smiled when she saw him, and he wasn't entirely sure why until she spoke. "I'm glad to see you're up and about, Todoroki."

"…Thank you," he responded, not really knowing what to say. "How is Midoriya?"

"He's in much better shape than he was a few days ago, but I've still got him on house arrest," she answered with a fond shake of her head. "He told me that you had given him the most fun fight of his life."

Todoroki was silent at that, but it wasn't an awkward silence. He couldn't help but feel a touch of warmth inside at the information. He really respected Midoriya.

"Mine, too" he muttered. "Who were you here to see?

"Probably the same person you are," she answered with a soft smile.

That made sense, as they were best friends. Was it a stretch to think that he and Midoriya were destined to become best friends, too? It was something to think about. He'd see where the strings on his board took him later.

He looked at her with a constipated expression when a dark thought flashed through his mind. "Do you… do you think she'd even want to see me?"

Her smile fell. She stepped forward and placed a tender hand on his right shoulder, her green eyes meeting one grey and one turquoise. "Of course, Todoroki. You're the one person she wants to see the most."

Todoroki's resolve hardened, and he nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course," she replied, regaining her smile before stepping past him and back down the hall towards the exit.

"Mrs. Midoriya?" he called out before she could get too far, and she turned to look at him. "At the USJ, when I stopped that villain from attacking you from behind, I said that we were even. I don't know if you heard that or not, but… thank you. Thank you for attempting to be there for my mother and my siblings through the torment."

Inko did not immediately respond, instead choosing to find the correct words to answer him with. "No one should ever have to receive thanks for basic human decency. Frankly, I wish I could've done more, and I always will. However, the past can't be changed, and it's better to cherish the moments you have to make the present and future as wonderful as possible."

Todoroki nodded, and Inko gave him a final smile. "Now, quit stalling and go let Rei give her baby boy the hug she's been waiting a decade for."

With that, she turned around and disappeared down the stairs, leaving Todoroki alone in the hallway once more. He walked toward the door labeled "315," and he sighed. It was now or never. He reached for the door handle, and he pulled it open before stepping inside to see his mother for the first time in a decade.