Wednesday, May 13th
Hitomi moved through the hallways with a fast step. The frown on her face making the people on her way to step aside in fear of falling victims of her wrath.
However, she was more embarrassed than angry.
"...Midoriya is a pleasant kid. When are you going to invite him home?"
"Tsk." She tried to ignore the warmth in her cheeks. "Stop avoiding my questions, dad! What did you two talk?"
"...What makes you assume we even talked about something?" He opened the newspaper and started reading, like if giving the conversation as finished.
"Because I recognize that all-knowing expression of yours."
"...I'm not making any weird face like that." He truly wasn't, but the shine in his eyes expressed that he had done something.
The man lived off obtaining secrets and info from other people. But it had reached a point that it was more a hobby than just his job.
...He and his meddlesome Quirk.
"You used 'Talkative' on him, don't you?" She hissed.
"..And you did the same with 'Brainwashing'." That made her flinch. It was an affirmation, not a question.
"Mom and you gave me permission."
"...Yes. And that doesn't stop me from wanting to know with what kind of boy you are getting involved." She avoided his gaze. She just hated how he made that sound. "...Luckily, he resulted to be a fine young man." She sighed, trying not to scream in frustration. She just couldn't ever win against the old man.
"At least you didn't ask him anything too embarrassing, did you?" She asked, hopeful.
The man turned around to her and smiled. He said nothing else.
"Dammit." Now she had to apologize for whatever nonsense her father had done and hope that Izuku wasn't regretting about helping her. Such a thing was improbable, but she didn't want their cooperation to get awkward because of her father's words.
Once in front of the club's door, she took a deep breath and pushed it open.
Immediately her dark purple eyes locked with a heterochromatic pair of grey and turquoise that she had hoped never meet again.
"...What are you doing here, Todoroki?" She asked in a glacial tone. Her sudden anger overcoming her previous nervousness.
"I came here looking for some advice." Answered Todoroki, his expression frustratingly calm, ignoring the way she was glaring at him.
"S-Shinsou-san!" She noticed Izuku out of the corner of her eyes, but her attention kept on the other boy who didn't seem willing to look away either.
"In other words, you are looking for help...?" He didn't answer. "I didn't expect you to come here to mingle with us, commoners. What could a privileged guy like you need? Or did you just intended to brag about your perfect Quirk to us?" The overwhelming hostility and jealousy she felt mixed in the form of a grotesque green-eyed beast who just wanted to bite Todoroki's head off.
"Sorry." The guy said and time stopped... Because unlike the last time, now both his expression and words were somehow warm.
He was being sincere.
"W-What...?"
"Sorry... But I don't know who you are." And then time resumed.
...And the beast devoured all her other emotions.
"Huh...?" Hitomi was surprised at herself for not just punching Todoroki's face and run away. But even that wouldn't make her feel better. "Of course you don't. It would be impossible for you to make a bit of space in your colossal head to remind little old me." She shrugged. "What am I even compared to you, the incredible and prodigious son of the No.2 Pro-Hero, but merely a poor attempt of a stepping stone...? NOT." Her expression turned fakely dismayed. "Were you expecting me to say something like that?!" She started walking to him. "As if I would, you big-headed-!" Suddenly a hand closed around her mouth silencing her.
She turned around, furious, only to find a nervous Izuku behind her.
Part of her anger dissipated, and they just looked at each other. It was hard to say who was more flustered by the other closeness.
"A-Ah." He looked away to the other boy. "S-Sorry Todoroki-san but can you give us a moment?" Before he could answer Izuku grabbed her hand and pulled her to the closest door.
He opened it and pulled her to the other side.
"G-God..." Izuku closed the door behind them and finally let Hitomi's hand go. "That was a-awfully uncomfortable." He sighed.
Meanwhile, she looked at him, both embarrassed and amused by the situation.
"Midoriya." She called his attention. "You pulled me to the club's bathroom." His eyes widened in horror.
"E-EH?!" He backed away as much as he could from her.
"You didn't make it on purpose, did you?" She tilted her head and narrowed her eyes at him. "You sure are getting bold, Midoriya."
"T-That wasn't my i-intention at all, I swear!" She tried not to laugh. 'So that's how a boiled Izuku looks like'. It was funny enough that she almost forgot her previous anger at Todoroki.
"Then, what were you trying to do?" Izuku's expression turned somber.
"I didn't want things to e-escalate... It seemed as if you were about to brainwash Todoroki-san."
"...Really? Actually, my idea was more closer to kick him in the nuts." He cringed.
"T-That's even worse!"
"Is it?" She asked with disinterest. "What's even the point of all this, anyway?"
"W-What do you mean?"
"He being here..." She said coldly. "He says he wants advice, but for me, that's just bullshit." She snorted. "He is a Todoroki. I'm sure he could pay for the best Quirk analyst on the world if he wanted instead of coming here to waste your time. Heck, he could just go to his dear daddy and ask him directly. It's just stupid not to do it considering they share a fire Quirk."
"I doubt that's an option for him, Shinsou-san." Hitomi evaded his gaze. She didn't like it when he looked at her with such a serious expression.
"What? Does Todoroki has daddy issues, after all?" Leaving aside the way he had reacted to her taunting during the Sports Festival, the fact is that there were some really nasty rumors about Endeavor and his family...
"T-That's not the point." Izuku sounded a bit strained. "I know you don't particularly like Todoroki but-."
"He is a bastard with his head stuck-up in his ass."
"It d-doesn't matter!" He shook his head. "He came here looking for help!"
"He is going to waste your time." She said irritated. "Todoroki Shoto is just an inconsiderate dumbass who doesn't even know how to act like a normal human being. Do you honestly want to help someone like him?"
"YES!" He yelled. "T-That's the reason this club exists! To help anybody that n-needs it!"
"Even if they treat you like trash and don't appreciate what you are doing for them?!"
"O-Of course!" Such words left her mind blank.
"...What?"
"I don't do this to receive people's t-thanks, Shinsou san. I already told you. I help people with their Quirks for the sake of helping and the s-satisfaction that brings me being useful." He sighed. "I know I can't get along with everybody. But d-disliking someone or being disliked won't stop me from giving them a hand if I c-can and they allow me to do it...! That's just the kind of person I am, Shinsou-san, and you can't convince me to act o-otherwise."
She stared at him, speechless. Feeling conflicted about the resentment she felt towards Todoroki and Izuku's conviction to help him.
In the end, the fire of her anger went out.
'What am I even doing?' She felt like a complete fool. 'Why am I fighting with Izuku?'
He was currently one of the few allies she had -the only one if she didn't count her parents- and despite that, here she was, trying to impose her petty views on him...
Even if she got along with Izuku and visited the club a pair of times already, she was still only a guest. She didn't have any right to complain about Todoroki being there.
...She was just acting in the same awful way she accused Todoroki of being.
"Sorry, Izuku." Hitomi said, looking anywhere but at him. She didn't want to find the disappointment in his eyes. "I have this bad habit of being a huge bitch when something or someone makes me angry." A self-deprecating smirk on her face. "So I'm sorry."
"Eh? T-That's not-..."
"It's fine. You know, I'll better just leave. See you tom-, eh, later... See you later. Text me whenever it's fine for me to visit again." She moved to the door, wanting to leave the room the faster she could, but Izuku's hand closing on her shoulder stopped her.
"W-Wait!" She flinched under his grasp and turned around slowly.
"Yes?" Her exterior seemed calm but deep inside she was drowning in awkwardness and, for her utter surprise, in dread.
At that moment she realized something important: She didn't want Izuku to think badly of her. She cared about what he thought of her.
"Y-You don't need to leave."
"...Really?" She couldn't hide her surprise.
"Y-Yeah... I mean, you can do it if you want to. But if not, you can just use the computer or read something u-until I finish talking with Todoroki-san."
"Are you okay with that?" She asked with some hesitation.
"I am... Just p-promise me you won't try to provoke Todoroki anymore."
"Even if he is being a prat?"
"E-Even if he is being a prat... So don't worry, I'll take care. And a-after that, we can follow with our business."
"'Our business'?" She inquired, liking how it sounded.
"I m-mean 'yours'!" He corrected himself.
"It's your time too, Izuku. So saying 'ours' is not completely wrong." She shrugged and opened the door.
"...Y-You called me by my first name again." He said in a whisper.
"Hmm?" She turned around with some curiosity.
"N-Nothing!"
Hitomi advanced directly to the PC desk, completely ignoring Todoroki.
Izuku saw her and sighed. That was a crisis he hadn't expected. Even though he knew that Hitomi had a big temper, he didn't understand its magnitude until now.
"Sorry for the waiting, Todoroki-san." He sat in front of Todoroki.
The inexpressive boy's eyes moved between him, Hitomi and the room, and then he asked:
"Did you two just enter the bathroom together?"
"...WHA-?!"
"Yes." Hitomi answered, her eyes still fixed on the PC monitor. "Not your business, so stop making questions about it."
"Hmm... Okay." Todoroki nodded as if that had cleared everything.
What was Todoroki thinking they were doing in the bathroom while he waited...? Izuku sighed. He would need to correct that misunderstanding later.
"A-Anyway, you can continue with what you were saying, Todoroki-san."
"I heard some of my classmates talking about you and how you helped them with their Quirks." Izuku felt himself smile, swelling in pride. "I wish your help to diversify my techniques. So next time I fight with Bakugou, I'll win."
Izuku's smile widened. After all, the words of the other boy weren't something to take lightly. While there were some fascinating Quirks in both 1-A and 1-B classes, Shoto along with Katsuki were the powerhouses of the Hero Course's first-years.
"Perfect...! After watching your fight with Kaac-, I mean Bakugou, the thing that called more of my attention was the fact you remained stationary during almost all your attacks. And adding to that the way your Quirk works, it seems to me that you have problems keeping on against opponents that are not only strong but have higher mobility than yours, as in Bakugou's case... Just spamming your ice won't work all the time. Besides, in a real situation, such massive attacks would represent vast amounts of money lost on propriety damage and endangerment of civilians. So maybe you should try to train with your quirk to make more compact attacks with denser ice and hotter flames." Izuku failed to notice the change in Todoroki's expression. "I also recommend you to talk with the support department about this special polymer recently created that can conduct emission-Quirks energy. That will resolve your major problem by giving you the mobility you need, and will make so you don't need to start your ice attacks from ground contact anymore... OH! And I almost forgot about it. Considering the possibility of combining ice and fire, you could increase your mobility even more by creating small-scale thermal explosions and propel yourself around in the same way than Bakug-."
"Stop for a sec." Said Todoroki, interrupting him.
"U-Uh, yeah?" He said, somewhat embarrassed that even now it was hard for him to stop talking about Quirks when he got a little too excited.
"I'm sorry, but for the most part, I can't do what you are saying." Todoroki said, his voice calm but with a certain edge.
"W-Why? Did I make a wrong assumption about how your Quirk works or-?"
"I won't use my fire-side to fight." Such a ridiculous statement made Izuku's train of thought wreck.
"What are you talking about?" His previous excitement was gone, now he just felt confused. "I don't understand."
"There's nothing to understand. My fire is simply not something I can't use."
"A-Ah, of course! Fire can be dangerous." He forced a smile. "In a scenario like the Sports Festival, fighting with your ice would be undoubtedly the better option to avoid harming your opponents unnecessarily... However, with opponents like Bakugou, that choice would be ill-advised. If I remember correctly before he shot his Howitzer Impact at you, your fire-side flared for a moment and-."
"That was just a mistake I won't repeat," Todoroki grunted. "I just let myself go because of Bakugou being an insufferable asshole." 'Bakugou isn't the only one...'
"Yeah." His smile faded and replaced with a frown. "He has the talent of making people hate his guts, but that's not the point..." He sighed, feeling a bit annoyed. "Your ice is incredible, Todoroki-san, that's true. But Bakugou's explosions are undeniable strong. Enough to break your ice, and he can keep going on no matter what you do and for how long the fight lasts..." For god's sake, in what kind of absurd situation had he got himself to need to praise Katsuki just to make a point?
He just made a sound and logical point to Todoroki... And his only payment was a glare.
"Are you saying I can't win?" Todoroki said, daring him to confirm it.
"...Yes, I am. You can't win with just your ice." He answered with no hesitation. "I know Bakugou better than you. I've seen him fight uncountable times..." He ignored the feeling of Hitomi's gaze on his back. "And I've fought him myself, losing more times I would like to admit and winning enough to know what are his limits... And I learned he doesn't care at all about destroying his own body to achieve victory. And with Bakugou, the more he fights, the more he'll sweat, and the stronger his explosions will be... He is tireless. And you won't be able to defeat him unless you use both your ice and your fire!"
"Shut up." Todoroki stood up and looked down on him, his right side emitting a gelid mist. It would be intimidating for any other person. But for Izuku it was only annoying him even further. "You... How much did he pay you!?"
"Who?"
"Endeavor...! How much money he gave you to convince me of using his damn Quirk?!" Izuku felt lost. What was he even talking about?
"Endeavor has nothing to do with this!" He stood up too. "This is about you. You and YOUR Quirk." Todoroki's scowl only increased.
"Stop saying things like that when you know nothing about me." He hissed. "You won't ever understand what I lived! Being born cursed like this!" Izuku could only greet his teeth in anger. Of course, he would never be able to fully understand Todoroki's struggle... He didn't even have a Quirk, to begin with. And that was his curse. "But it doesn't matter. I don't need your bullshit!" The room temperature already was almost under 0°C. "I'll grow stronger only using my right-side and I'll raise over him and everyone else. So when I become the No.1 Hero that'll show him I never needed him and his damned fire!"
No one talked for a moment. The only noise coming when they exhaled gelid and visible breaths.
Meanwhile, Todoroki seemed satisfied by Izuku's silence and his astonished expression. But that didn't last.
"Y-You just can't be serious, are you?" He reached to his hair while looking at Todoroki with both skepticism and exasperation. The silence of Todoroki being enough of an answer. "You are an idiot."
The silence returned, and this time it was absolute as if floating in the infinitely vast and empty space. This didn't last too much, either.
"WHAT?!" Todoroki advanced towards him, furious.
"DO YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME?!" He yelled back. "YOU, being the No.1 Hero?!" They were now in front of each other. Todoroki's superior height was more apparent than ever, but Izuku just couldn't care less. He even forgot that it was him who scolded Hitomi just a while ago for being hostile to Todoroki.
The boy with heterochromatic eyes had just crossed the line.
"I WILL BE!"
"YOU DON'T BECOME NO.1 WITH JUST EMPTY WORDS! You need to work harder than anybody else and sacrifice all your blood, sweat, and tears to be the pillar than society needs and deserve!" Izuku's hands gripped the taller boy by his collar shirt, ignoring the immediate feeling of frostbite on his fingers, making Todoroki's expression freeze on surprise. It was probably the first time someone treated him with such fierceness and indifference towards his upbringing and power. "Every day an uncountable number of heroes fight the crime without rest! Some of them win and others are defeated! And around 40% won't live to see their retirement...! All those individuals, worthy of respect, share the same quality! The one that was taken as UA's motto: PLUS ULTRA! They fight with all they have to show all the innocents that suffer and live in fear that there's still hope for them out there! And you think you can be like them and overcome them, with such selfish behavior and half-assed efforts...! AS IF!" Izuku pushed him away. "The way you are now, that's impossible! Even Endeavor as much as you hate him, and Bakugou as much of an asshole as he is, have more of an opportunity than you because at least they understand this...!" He felt his anger drain and be replaced with a sense of sadness and emptiness. "You need to understand, that if you keep walking through the same path what happened with Bakugou will eventually repeat itself but with an actual villain, and you'll get yourself killed because of your foolishness... Or worse... Someone else, someone innocent, will die for your fault... Because you didn't even try."
Todoroki looked him -or well, at his direction, Izuku wasn't sure if the other boy was really looking at him or just through him. His expression was hard to read.
Saying nothing else, Todoroki turned around and exited the room, leaving the door open, so part of the frosty air left with him.
Izuku remained still for a moment and then backed-up and sat on the sofa. It was still cold, but with time the calefaction would take care of warming up the room. At least the temperature was bearable.
With no advertence, Hitomi dropped beside him.
"Hmm. That sure was something..." She said casually, and he nodded. Something was a funny way to describe it, though. "Are your fingers okay?"
"U-Uh?" He looked at his hands. His fingers were pale and felt stiff, but besides some small patches of blood here and there, they seemed to be fine. "Yeah, don't worry."
"Nah, not worrying at all. It's just it would suck if they just freeze and fell or something."
"T-That sounds scary." And also a lie. As normal as she was trying to act, Izuku could easily notice the funny way she was looking at him and the pink in her cheeks, even though the room wasn't that cold anymore.
She was worried about him.
"No shit. I thought he was going to freeze you and break you in tiny little pieces like in that video-game." Izuku flinched. "But here you are, alive and whole so I guess you did a good job, Mr. 'don't be hostile with the guest'." She punched under the belt with that one... But she was right.
"Arrgh!" He covered his face and groaned. "I mess up, didn't I?!" She shrugged. "It w-wasn't my intention to act like that..." He dropped his hands and sighed. "It's just all the stuff Todoroki-san was saying-..."
"Made you mad?"
"...Yeah. It made m-me feel furious."
"...It was kind of hot." She mumbled.
"W-WHAT?!" He turned at her just to find her avoiding his gaze.
"I said that it was kind of dumb... From now on you should be careful when walking alone or Todoroki could use his influences to make you disappear or something."
"Eh... C-Could you not say disturbing stuff like that...?" She just laughed. "I-In any case, I overdid it."
"...It was unexpected. I didn't even think you could get angry, and especially not so much."
"N-Normally I wouldn't. I'm already used to dealing with troublesome people."
"Troublesome like Bakugou?" She looked at him with curiosity.
Of course, he wasn't lucky enough for her to forget about that...
"Yes." He nodded. He wasn't about to spill the beans about his problematic and loud ex-friend -if he ever was his friend to begin with-, but for the rest, Izuku felt as that he needed to at least try to explain part of the reasons behind his reaction. "I-It's just that when Todoroki started saying all those things he reminded me of someone..."
"Bakugou?"
"N-No..." He let out a dry laugh. "Myself."
"...You?" She asked skeptically. "I doubt you can be such an asshole."
"B-But a year ago I was a lot different from now... I was not only an unhappy person, but I was also fooling m-myself about my strengths and weakness, the w-way I lived my life, and what I wanted for the future... But then one day I met someone that made me see the truth, and immediately after that, something awful happened that made it impossible f-for me to deny my reality anymore."
"What do you mean with that?" She seemed obviously confused and slightly unnerved. But he just couldn't tell her all the truth...
"D-Don't worry about that for now. My point is that despite the pain those events brought me, I need them to grow up... So when Todoroki-san came to the club I thought h-he had already reached that turning point on his life too, after being defeated by Bakugou."
"But you were wrong?" She said and Izuku nodded with a sad smile.
"He is letting his p-pride and the hate he feels for Endeavor to limit what he can accomplish as a person... Just as I did, but for some different reasons. So I c-couldn't stop myself from being too hard on him, because I would have wished for someone to be that direct with me back then... When I m-met him again, I should try to apologize."
"I see..." She said, sounding conflicted. "Then, where does that leave me?"
"E-Eh...?"
"Wasn't I the same?" She said, insecure. "I was also half-assing everything, thinking that I could be the best with just my Quirk... I'm truly not that different from that guy." Izuku looked at her with surprise. The way she was acting... 'Does she think I'm going to think less of her because of that?'
"You, Todoroki, and I are similar in that sense... But you are definitely the best one of us." She looked at him with a funny blushed expression. Part of him felt guilty for making her flustered... The other enjoyed how unaccustomed she was of being the one teased. "I-I mean, Todoroki is still stuck in the pit he made himself, and it took me months to get out of my own. B-But you only needed two days to put yourself together and plan what you would do to be better the next time." He smiled. "That's the reason I r-respect so much, Shinsou-san!" Now, seeing her half-annoyed and half-prideful flustered expression, he was unquestionably enjoying being the one doing the teasing.
"...I had help." His smile widened.
"G-Good!" He stood up with excitement. "Now that is just the two of us we can t-try some experiments I thought about yesterday!" Hitomi looked at him with amusement.
"'Just the two of us'? 'Experiments'...?" She was having trouble not laughing. "Pervert."
"I D-DIDN'T MEANT IT LIKE T-THAT!" He didn't, but now for her fault, such an idea was stuck in his mind.
Hitomi: What kind of hero-name is King Explosion Murder...? How much of an idiot he is?
Next Chapter: Explosive Idiot - when you are at your lowest you can only go up.
Izuku: You have no idea.
some girls are more dirty minded than men....... like this case MC is more of a pervert than midoriya
I was going to say she wasnt that bad... But nah, you are completely right.
Thx for the chap