15

Recovery Girl didn't, in fact, kill him. 

"You did the right thing, dearie, a simple exercise in a controlled environment. Better than I can say for some idiots..." Shuzenji muttered, kissing both unconscious boys on the forehead. Izuku watched as the energy ran through their bodies, healing the results of their fight.

"The Bakugou boy is mostly just exhausted, and with my quirk, Iida will be fine after just a little rest. That said-" Shuzenji's cane hit the floor with a sharp clack. 

"-I don't want to see any more of your students here for a while, understand?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Izuku gave her a salute, and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Bakugou, you can't put that much in there." Akari sighed.

The blonde turned, a handful of peppers held over their curry. "Why the hell not?"

"You'll kill, like, half our classmates." 

Bakugou huffed. "Serves them right, the weaklings."

"My preparation is do-Bakugou, are you putting in all of those? " Ojiro exclaimed.

"It's going to be spicy ."

"But uh...how are the rest of us going to eat it?" 

Bakugou paused, considering. "You have a point, Tail-"

"I just told you my name-"

"-my cooking going to waste would be a fucking tragedy."

The blonde went to remove the poison, tucking away half-

"Kaminari." Akari reminded him.

- most of his peppers, muttering something under his breath about wimps and natural selection as he did.

Kaminari coughed, hurriedly sipping his water. "Man, this curry's really spicy!"

Todoroki blinked at him from his spot on the couch. "I thought it was mild...I don't feel anything."

Bakugou's head whipped back and forth between them, unable to choose who to lash out at.

"Iida-san, you're part of the Iida Family, correct? I've heard that they have been in heroics for generations." Yaoyorozu asked.

Akari closed her eyes, savoring the taste of her next spoon. Bakugou acted like a child, but his curry was pretty good(nothing compared to her family's cooking, though).

Iida pushed up his glasses. "Indeed. Just like my brother, Ingenium, I will become a worthy hero to fulfill my family's legacy!"

"That's really cool, Iida! I wish my reason for being a hero was as noble..." Uraraka trailed off.

Akari glanced at her, curious. "Can I ask why you became a hero then, Uraraka?" 

The brunette fidgeted with her hands. "For the money."My parents have a construction company, but they aren't very well off..." 

"But Uraraka-san, is your quirk not perfectly suited to such work?" Yaoyorozu pointed out.

"That's what I said!" Uraraka exclaimed. "I could make all that heavy lifting so easy, and they wouldn't have to worry about machine costs! But they wanted me to follow my own dreams. Ever since I was a kid, I've idolized Thirteen, the Rescue Hero. I'll rescue people just like she does, and earn enough that they'll never need to work again!" 

Uraraka stopped in the middle of her speech, a little sheepish. "It's not really as cool as the rest of you, I bet."

"So basically, you want to save people and help your parents?" Asui asked.

"Yeah?"

"I don't think you can get much nobler than that, kero." 

"What honorable goals!" Iida boomed. "You should be proud of yourself!"

Uraraka's face turned red at the praise, arms flailing. "It's not that big of a deal!"

"What about you, Midoriya?" Uraraka turned to ask.

"Hm?"

"Why do you want to be a hero?"

Akari shrugged. "I learned about heroes a few months ago-"

Iida coughed.

"-and I was like 'Huh, that seems kinda fun, why not.'"

"You came to U.A...because you were bored?" Yaoyorozu blurted, incredulous.

"Pretty much. Dad's a hero too."

"Atlas-sensei is your father, correct? You have the same surname, but I didn't want to assume..." Iida said.

"Yep. It's kinda weird having your dad as a teacher, to be honest." Akari said.

"It seems we're both related to heroes, Midoriya-san."

"Please, just call me Akari." She didn't think she would ever get used to being called 'Midoriya-san.' Mom, on the other hand, seemed to love it for some reason.

Akari was used to given names. Having to worry about a surname and when you had permission to call someone by their given name was just a hassle. Then again, with so many humans around, they would probably get confused without two names to identify themselves...

Iida gasped, looking scandalized.

"Then you should all call me Tsu." Asui chimed in.

"Isn't it too early, Asu-" Iida started.

Tsu's eyes narrowed, cutting him off with a glare. " Tsu ."

Iida wilted, resigning himself to informality, and Yaoyorozu giggled into her hand.

"Y'know, I think I'm getting used to it," Kaminari said brightly, his eyes watering. "This isn't spicy at all!"

Bakugou finally snapped, and his palms sparkled.

"Time to die, Pikachu!"

A high-pitched scream.

Aizawa popped his head in, alert, saw a panicked Kaminari running around the couch while chased by a yelling Bakugou, then immediately walked back out the door.

Setsuna showed exactly why she was a recommended student, splitting herself into fifty different pieces that each flew independently as they barraged her opponent, Nirengaki. The small boy seemed helpless against the onslaught of body parts, scrambling to dodge as they attacked him from every angle.

It was then that Izuku truly gave up on making sense of quirks. 

Maybe Setsuna had a link to each piece of herself, letting her move telekinetically(related to her body's proprioception?). But how was she breathing while separated like that?

"Setsuna wins!" Izuku announced as Nirengaki was forced out of the purple arena after he was finally cornered. He had done well, really, considering how bad of a match-up his Twin Impact was against Lizard Tail Splitter. 

Twin Impact had an incredible amount of potential(oh how Izuku would love to have such an ability), offensive power growing exponentially with the user's physical strength. A fight like this would force the boy's skills outside his quirk to come into focus; something that was important when his quirk enhanced things that were already there. 

Their costumes were more practical than 1-A's, Izuku noticed. Though there were exceptions, like that ceremonial armor weighing Shiozaki down, most of the students had chosen gear to enhance the effectiveness of their quirks. They seemed to have fewer powerhouses, but the unique nature of their abilities made up for it.

Maybe Eraserhead and Vlad King would let him pair the classes up against each other. That'd be interesting.

Izuku raised an eyebrow as Katsuki stormed up to him, the rest of 1-A not even out of the changing rooms yet. 

"Where the hell are they?"

"What do you mean?" Izuku asked.

Katsuki held out his grenade-like gauntlets, intact except for the missing firing pins on the front. "Don't treat me like a fucking idiot."

"Ah, those. Don't worry, they haven't been misplaced, I just removed them for now."

The blonde scowled. "This is about that fucking Glasses, isn't it. Why? His stuck-up ass is completely fine-" 

"This time, at least." Izuku cut him off. "Katsuki, how full were your gauntlets when you pulled the pin?" 

Katsuki hesitated for a split second. "Not very. The match didn't last long, so I didn't have much sweat built up."

The pause before his answer was obvious after decades of dealing with bullshitting students.

"Your gauntlets are designed well," Izuku said. "They function as bracers, protecting your wrists from the backlash of your quirk. But more importantly, they store your explosive sweat as you fight, letting you unleash it in a huge blast later."

"I fucking know-" 

"But your gauntlets don't actually tell you how much sweat is stored up, right?" Izuku continued as if he hadn't been interrupted. "Of course, they might weigh a little more as they charge, but ultimately, you have no clue how powerful of a weapon you're about to use. From what I gathered, the blast you launched carelessly-" 

Katsuki stiffened. 

"-was at around ten percent of the gauntlet's max capacity. It was a short fight, but you still managed to build up enough sweat for quite some force, not to mention how you fired off both on a whim."

Katsuki's eyes widened. "I thought the left one didn't fire when I was sure I pulled both. That was you, wasn't it? You're fucking fast enough now to block half of it without anyone noticing..."

Izuku nodded. "Meaning that you only hit Iida with five percent, yet you knocked him out for a day. If he wasn't wearing that armor, he might've even broken limbs. Unlike your carefully controlled explosions, your support gear is truly lethal."

"If you want to use them in the field, you need to prove to me you understand that, Katsuki." 

Izuku didn't know much about being a hero, but he did know what controlling overwhelming power was like. And that knowledge was exactly what a boy with this much pride and drive needed.

To be honest, most of Akari's new classes were pretty boring. She didn't mind having an easier year, but there was a point where it just felt slow.

You would think that with a divine sense of time an hour would breeze by. 

Wrong. It was the opposite, every pained minute stretching more than it should as Cementoss talked about literature. 

It helped a little that all her teachers were unique, each with their own pro-hero persona. The amount of innuendos Midnight dropped in a single class was incredible, some so subtle it was like a verbal scavenger hunt.

Present Mic was a bit too loud, but he did teach the only new subject she had. Akari had almost zero background in English, so learning it actually took some effort.

Maybe she should learn other human languages? She'd probably never use them, though. 

Akari sighed. She couldn't wait for Heroics, where she could work off her boredom by beating someone to a pulp.

Wait. That sounded bad.

Bakugou was sulking when Akari walked in, which was weird, but the lack of screaming was definitely welcome.

"Today we'll be finishing off the battles from last class for those who haven't gone yet." Dad's clear voice carried throughout the gym as he set up his fancy air sphere, the arena brimming with purple mana as it expanded.

What a show-off. He could've just drawn a circle or something.

Sato pulled a sugary treat from his hero costume, and his muscles bulged as he ate. The bright yellow costume stretched with him as his quirk activated, and the boy rushed forward-

-only to be cover his ears as a wave of sound blasted past him. 

Jirou's jacks plugged into her legs, weaponizing her heartbeat in vibrational bursts. She crouched low on her side of the arena, focusing her attacks on Sato's head.

Akari winced. No matter how durable Sato's quirk made him, that noise wouldn't hurt any less. If her ears were ringing from here, then the boy must be in agony. 

Sato's fist smashed into the ground in front of him, cracking open the concrete. Jirou sidestepped the fissure, forced to cut off the audio as she moved.

Sato leaped towards the girl in the opening, fists already swinging as he landed.

Jirou ducked under his punches easily, edging towards the boundary. It seemed that Sugar Rush didn't make Sato any faster, only enhancing his physical strength.

In fact, the added muscle mass made him even slower. Combined with how straightforward he was in his attacks, Sato was just too predictable.

Jirou was just about to be pushed out when her ear jacks suddenly stabbed straight for the boy's eyes. His hands immediately rose to cover his face in reflex, and Jirou used the distraction to step behind him.

Jirou's jacks went into the amplifiers on her arms, releasing a powerful short-ranged blast into Sato's back, knocking him out of the purple dome.

Akari walked into the arena as Jirou helped the boy up, Todoroki doing the same. They were the last ones to fight.

The purple arena grew bigger as if in preparation for the mayhem they were about to cause.

Akari's hero costume was simple, a green cloak with runic designs similar to Dad's. Unlike his, though, it was more reinforced, and its cloth was weaved just for her. 

She could see Todoroki's scar completely, facing him like this; a deep red reaching down the left side of his face. His eyes were just as mismatched as his hair, a bright blue contrasting with a dark grey.

More importantly, though, was the large layer of fake ice covering the left side of the body. Not only did this boy have zero fashion sense, but he'd also rendered his left arm completely useless. With his quirk was called 'Half-Hot-Half-Cold'-

"You're not going to use your fire, are you?" Akari asked.

Todoroki's emotionless face didn't shift, but his heterochromatic eyes narrowed.

Akari shrugged. "You're only handicapping yourself after all, so it's fine..."

"Start!" 

Todoroki's right arm swung forward, and with it came a wave of ice crashing toward her like a tidal wave-

-that Akari shattered with a single slash, blade of light bright in her hand.

"...as long as you're strong enough to go without it."

Lines of spikes taller than she was, pillars rising beneath her, and sharp ice fragments fired at her body like bullets. Unlike most of their classmates, Todoroki seemed experienced, launching dangerous attacks with a familiarity you could only get from years of sparring.

Akari's physical abilities could be held back to peak-human levels, but she couldn't turn off her reflexes, her dynamic vision. Her sword sang through the rapidly chilling air, reaping his ice with precise slashes as she countered his attacks.

Todoroki couldn't manipulate ice, Akari realized, as each of his constructions was stuck where they were instead of being used again. Sure, that was less space for her to dodge, but the left-over ice wasn't even an obstacle. 

His right side cooled down the air, letting him create ice...from the water vapor? Akari had no clue, and it didn't really matter where he was getting it. What did matter was how she could feel her skin getting colder, her uncovered hands bristling just before his next attack. 

Akari could sense mana now, somewhat, but sensing quirks was usually impossible. Dad could do it, but well...he was weird. 

Todoroki's ice, though, was enough like elemental magic to let her trace it. It also helped that whenever the boy attacked his right arm whipped around he was conducting an orchestra-

Akari frowned. Her opponent hadn't actually moved a single step the entire match. She must be going way too easy on him.

That could be fixed. 

Akari dashed at him, batting away ice shards. She flipped over a massive hand that drilled through the concrete under her and sidestepped a massive spike before ducking under the twisting ice pillars before slashing them apart. 

She hadn't had the chance to be this acrobatic in ages, and it felt wonderful. Todoroki didn't seem to share her opinion though, his attacks getting larger and larger.

Todoroki stomped and the ground froze, covering the concrete with ice like a snowy field. Akari's feet were now stuck to the ground as another wave rushed towards her-

Akari pushed off the ground, shattering the ice around her as she kicked off. She rose high into the air, the purple dome now so wide she didn't need to worry about hitting its ceiling.

She could see his breath clearly from above, white mist blowing against his ice. Todoroki glared up at her, gritting his teeth in concentration.

Ice spikes emerged from the entire arena below her, flying up in a single inescapable attack. Akari's sword glowed with mana as she swung, energy trailing behind the mighty slash and cleaving through the attack with an arc of light. 

She fell, forcing Todoroki to dodge as she crashed down where he previously stood.

"What's it with you and spikes, man?" Akari asked. She was getting a little tired of his lack of creativity.

Before the stunned boy could reply, Akari suddenly launched her sword, the blade flying in a deadly line for her opponent. Todoroki instantly raised an ice wall but it pierced through with ease, narrowly missing his face as it scored a small cut on the right side of his face. His eyes widened, his body quivering more as he raised another defensive wall...

Wait. Todoroki wasn't trembling. He was shivering. But why would he be...

Akari couldn't help it. She laughed, so bright that she could feel the chill recede and so loud that the other students probably thought she was insane. 

This was so stupid.

"What." Todoroki growled. Oh, he must think she was laughing about hurting him. 

"Sorry, it-it's just...your quirk." Akari snickered. 

"You're throwing around half your power; just your ice, out of pride or something, instead of fighting with both your ice and your fire. If you had like, magic, then that would make sense. But I forgot that you have a quirk ."

"And?" Todoroki prompted, a little annoyed.

"Sorry, I ramble a bit sometimes. Quirks have different side effects and backlash from their use. I was like 'Why is he shaking? I'm not even that scary!' But then I realized that when you reduce the temperature, it affects you too!"

Todoroki's right eye twitched.

"That means all you've done this entire match is damage yourself and act too stubborn to stop. Right now, you're freezing your own body and rapidly reaching hypothermia, which looks really painful. Why don't you warm yourse-"

"I'll never use his power." Todoroki snarled. "I don't care. I'll become the number one, with just my mother's ice."

The floor around them was wrecked, pieces of ice littered throughout. Every ice creation had been decimated, leaving Todoroki with nothing but debris and a cut on his cheek that was starting to bleed. The air now felt freezing cold, and she could almost hear his teeth chattering.

Meanwhile, Akari didn't have a single scratch, costume almost pristine despite the fight. She raised an eyebrow.

"And how's that going for you?" Akari asked. "I don't even need to beat you myself, you're freezing yourself out of commission for me! How are you going to be a hero like that, much less the best?"

The air temperature suddenly dropped even further, the chill making Akari wince as it swept past her.

It was a full-on glacier, jagged and so huge that for a second she could see nothing but all-encompassing ice rushing towards her like a tsunami-

Akari's mana focused into her hand, more and more until it was too bright to see her own fist. Then she punched.

The massive storm fell to her blow, shattering into a million pieces that rained around her. The arena turned solid, a reinforced wall protecting the audience from the shrapnel.

The shockwave rammed into Todoroki's body, and an instinctive wall was all that stopped the boy from flying out of bounds. The ice cracked as it stopped his momentum.

Todoroki was completely shivering now.

Akari was on him as soon as he managed to stand up with a series of jabs. She batted away a freezing palm before landing a hit on his shoulder, and then another to his chest. Todoroki was good at hand-hand combat but while exhausted and half-frozen he was just so slow. He ducked under a kick just in time, and the attack destroyed the damaged wall behind him.

Todoroki's right hand moved for the last time, swinging a sword of ice that she punched straight through like paper. His mismatched eyes went wide as her fist struck his gut before she spun, launching a crushing kick that knocked him out cold.

Akari picked up the unconscious boy as the match was called, his skin so icy it stung.

That wasn't just pride. There had to be a reason Todoroki wouldn't use his fire, even when he was almost completely frozen.

But why?

Notes:

1-B will actually exist in this fic(take that, canon!)

Akari vs Todoroki! Been waiting to write that for a fair bit.

Even with an extra five years, I doubt Todoroki would have changed his ways without a Midoriya to make him. Just his Ice alone was more than strong enough to get by before but well...it isn't anymore.