Part of a hero's work consisted of always doing their best effort and live with the consequences of their actions. Especially their decisions.
Izumi Midoriya didn't regret her actions at the USJ at all.
She put her classmates out of danger and bought enough time for her teacher and herself to be rescued. And besides, even if temporally, she damaged the Nomu enough to make things a bit easier for All Might.
She ended up with half of her fingers broken and some ugly bite marks on her foot, that's true, but she could live with that.
However, she wasn't sure what to do about her now very gloomy best friend...
The door of the infirmary opened. It was Tsuyu, carrying a casket with fruit.
"I bought some apples for you, kero," she said, her voice sounding as flat as always. However, Izumi knew something was off with her. "Move a bit." The frog girl sat at the border of Izumi's bed and put the casket over the small table on its side.
Taking an apple in one hand and a small knife in the other, Tsuyu stared at the red fruit impassively.
"Tsu." The girl didn't look at her. "Are you, um, a-angry at me?" Instead of answering, Tsuyu started peeling the apple in a rather rough way. "E-eh, Tsu...?"
After a moment, Tsuyu handed her the imperfectly peeled apple.
The mood was too awkward to eat.
"You are right, kero. I'm angry at you." The frog girl sighed and finally looked at her eyes. "I'm also happy, sad, scared, frustrated, worried, pained, and any other possible emotion imaginable. I feel completely overwhelmed right now."
"O-oh."
"Izumi chan… You almost died today, kero."
She didn't say anything for a moment. What was one supposed to answer to such a statement? "I know. You t-too, Tsu."
"You are right." Tsuyu nodded and frowned. "All of us almost died at the USJ, actually. The problem is that you were the only one who tried to sacrifice yourself."
She frowned. "W-what? That's not true!"
"Izumi-chan, I saw it," Tsuyu said seriously. "Maybe you didn't even notice yourself, but when you pushed Mineta-chan and me out of Shigaraki's reach... The look on your eyes was the one of someone ready to die." Her eyes widened, incapable of believing the girl's words... But then, why couldn't she fully negate what Tsuyu was saying? "Even if you had a plan, you left yourself at Shigaraki's mercy, kero. You could have died if All Might had not appeared at that moment."
She knew that.
When Izumi did what she did, she was fully aware of the possible consequences, but she pushed that fact to the back of her head and still acted… Because for her, saving her best friend, her classmate, and her teacher was more important.
"I needed to do something..." she managed to say. "I didn't w-want to see any of you get hurt."
Only then the expression of Tsuyu softened.
"I'm being a hypocrite, kero."
"Eh? No, you aren't!"
"No, I am, kero. Because as much as I like to think of myself as someone rational, I'd probably do the same if I was in your place... You are also someone very important for me, Izumi-chan." Tsuyu blushed, though probably not as much as her. "But we are trying to be heroes, so if something like that happens again, don't try to jump at the danger by yourself, kero. Next time, let's do it together, okay?" Tsuyu put her hand on her shoulder.
Feeling incredibly happy she put her hand over Tsuyu's. "Okay!"
She had a huge weight over her shoulders -so many expectations-, but with Tsuyu on her side maybe things wouldn't be that bad.
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Tsuyu was surprised by how much happened in so little time.
First, their teacher was recovering from his injuries just fine -even if he looked like a mummy-, and despite the villain attack, UA was planning to continue its activities like normal, which included the yearly Sports Festival.
Some of her classmates were excited about it, while others like her seemed just the same.
Personally, she didn't care much about the popularity aspect of the festival. But proving herself against her classmates? That was something she was interested in.
Meanwhile, in Izumi's case, she looked quite somber. The pressure of the coming event had her worried, wanting to give her best despite having troubles controlling her Quirk.
Then, at recess, people from Class 1-B and the general department came to their classroom to meet them.
A little exchange between Katsuki and the purple-haired guy from the General Department later, a familiar girl with green hair appeared.
"Hmm. Where is she?" muttered the girl, looking for someone. "Oh. There you are!" The moment her eyes found Izumi, the girl entered the classroom, shoving Katsuki out of her way. "Move aside, ugly."
It was at that moment, Tsuyu knew that girl meant trouble.
"WHAT THE FUCK?!" Katsuki looked about to jump at the girl, but Eijiro and Denki stopped him. "SAY THAT AGAIN, BITCH!" Yelled the boy in rage, but the girl ignored him completely and advanced towards them.
Tsuyu was standing just at Izumi's side, ready in case the reptile girl tried something funny.
"Oh, you are prettier up close! Those freckles and green eyes of yours are simply gorgeous," said the girl in a flirting tone that made Tsuyu's eye twitch
Poor Izumi had to look behind her to make sure there wasn't someone else in there that the girl could be saying that.
"A-are you talking with me?" Izumi pointed at herself.
"Is there any other cutie around?"
Tsuyu had to control herself not to slap her. She was feeling almost territorial of Izumi, and that made her angry at herself. Animal mutation or not, she was still a human and was going to act as such.
Even if this girl was ending with her patience.
"W-what...?"
"Oh, my. I forgot to present myself. My name is Setsuna Tokage. A pleasure to meet you." Setsuna winked at Izumi.
"Eh...? M-my name is Izumi M-Midoriya, and this is my best friend Tsuyu As-." Before Izumi could even finish, Setsuna grabbed her by her arm and pulled her away. "E-eh?!"
"Izumi, what a cute name, just like the girl to which it belongs!" The girl brought her other arm to Izumi's bicep, her eyes shining with lust, flustering the already nervous girl. "OH, MY GOD! What a strong arm you have! So h-!"
Deciding enough was enough, Tsuyu shot her tongue at Setsuna. But her whip-like tongue didn't hit anything, because of Setsuna's head floating in the air.
"That was dangerous," said Setsuna in clear amusement, as her head re-connected to her body. "You should be a bit more careful, Frogger."
"It's Froppy, kero. Thank you very much." She frowned.
"I can't wait for the Sports Festival!" Setsuna's smile widened.
Meanwhile, Izumi could only look alternatively between them in utter confusion.
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A week passed. All of them trained however they could to be stronger than before. In Tsuyu, Ochako, and Izumi´s case, they shared some training sessions on the school gyms, helping each other.
So when the day of the Sports Festival finally arrived, Izumi felt ready to answer her mentor´s expectations.
She was still ridiculously nervous, though.
"You shouldn't be so nervous. We trained a lot, kero."
"Tsu is right, Izumi-chan! We´ll do wonderfully!" Added Ochako with enthusiasm.
She smiled weakly and nodded. "I k-know, but I still feel nervous. I m-mean, the stadium must be full! And all the people that are going to be watching us on TV too..." Suddenly Tsuyu's expression was slightly grim and Ochako's smile looked rigid. "I'M S-SORRY! I didn't want to m-make you girls nervous too!" In her state of mind, she didn't notice the boy with mismatched eyes getting close.
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"Midoriya," he called her.
She turned at Shoto, a bit confused. It was probably the first time he talked to her. "Todoroki-san?"
"You are strong," he declared, to her surprise. "Enough that All Might has his eyes on you. Maybe you are even as strong as me..." She frowned. "But it doesn't matter. I'll defeat you."
She looked at the boy, perplexed and unsure of what to say. Even though her classmates congratulated her after the battle simulation, she tried not to take those compliments too seriously, knowing she still wasn't at the same level as them. So she never expected someone as strong as Todoroki to recognize her as a worthy opponent.
"Todoroki-san. I can't fully understand why you are t-telling me that. Besides you, there are a lot of our classmates that are stronger than me, or that have more experience and practice with their Quirks than me." She felt Tsuyu moving her hand on her back to comfort her. "However, with so many people participating in the Sports Festival, even p-people from other departments, and planning to give their all, I can't just give up. Because like everyone else, even if I'm not the strongest there's no way I'll just allow myself to lose!"
Todoroki didn't say anything back, but there was no need to.
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She felt like if she was having a panic attack.
Watching the Sports Festival on TV and actually being in the middle of the stadium was too much different.
"S-so many p-people watching..." And the noise, and the everything. It was horrifying for her.
"Calm down, Izumi-chan." Tsuyu patted her back.
Suddenly she felt as if something bad was going to happen.
"And now, some words from this year's representative!" said 18+ rated hero, Midnight. "Katsuki Bakugo from Class 1-A!"
Oh. It was him.
"The few people t-that didn't hate us before will do it now," she said, making a prediction. Understanding what she meant, both Tsuyu and Ochako nodded with apprehension.
"Hmm, Dirty mouthed or not, Bakugo-kun should understand the kind of behavior that is required from him as a representative, right?!" asked Tenya, trying to convince himself about the impossible.
Poor innocent guy.
"I swear I'll get first place," was what Katsuki said and the public roared in anger, booing at the boy.
She felt the other students glaring at their class even worse than before.
"I knew it..."
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The start of the first event -the obstacle race-, was absolutely chaotic. Between the gate being not big enough for all the participants, their way being infested by Zero-Pointers, and Shoto trying to mess with everyone with his ice. Making it impossible for Izumi to use her Quirk unless she wanted to crash awfully against something or someone.
And yet, she wasn't having as hard of a time as she expected. She was fast -she always was-, but after having bettered her mobility, she was having no trouble navigating through the chaos and destruction in her path.
She even got a nice robot shield she kept in case she needed it later.
At the moment she reached the second obstacle -the cliff-. she was in 5th place, behind Shoto, Katsuki, Tenya, and Tsuyu. But she wouldn't for much.
Charging her body with One For All, she jumped from pillar to pillar until getting to the other side.
Anyone that saw her jumping that first day of class noticed the great differences. When before she simply launched herself forwards in a rough and brutish way, now her movements were swift and perfected. Her energy wasn't being wasted, her body didn't suffer damage, and she was landing and following jump after jump like normal.
'Thanks, Tsu!' She smiled and kept running.
Unfortunately, she soon arrived at the third obstacle; the minefield.
And god, she was SO screwed.
Unlike Shoto, who could just surf over it, using his ice to stop the mines from exploding, and Katsuki, who shrugged the explosions and could just fly over them if he wanted. There was no way she could cross through the minefield without being blown away.
"If there's no case, then…" She smiled, concocting a plan that had NO possibilities of going wrong whatsoever.
Tsuyu was going to be so mad at her about this.
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While making her way through the minefield very carefully, Tsuyu heard a great explosion some meters behind her. The moment she tried to see what it was, a green blur passed over her head.
"SORRYYYYYY!" Yelled the green-haired girl.
Tsuyu blinked and watched her best friend flying like a cannonball towards the goal.
Things with Izumi were never dull.
"Dummy, kero."
Especially because the only reward Izumi got for getting first place -in the most exaggerated way possible- was a giant target on her head worth ten million points for the second event.
"You are really a big dummy, Izumi-chan." She sighed.
Izumi was her dummy, though.
The moment she moved, intending to talk with Izumi and join her team, a hand touched her shoulders.
"Hey, would you like joining my team?" said a deep masculine voice. It was that purple-haired boy that had challenged her class a week ago. Along with him were Mashirao, her furry-tailed classmate, and a chubby smaller boy with blue hair.
For some reason, the latter two boys looked out of it.
"Sorry, kero, but I already-." And suddenly her thoughts stopped, and everything became like a dream -or a nightmare. Her mind felt hazy and she couldn't control her body anymore.
She was trapped inside herself.
"I insist." The boy smirked. "We are going to make a really good team."
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Tsuyu couldn't understand what occurred.
One instant she had just finished the obstacle race. Then a blink later, and the second event was already over, and somehow she had passed by her team getting fourth place.
[First place was for Team Todoroki. Formed by Shoto Todoroki, Denki Kaminari, Momo Yaoyorozu, and Tenya Iida.]
[Second Place was for Team Bakugo. Formed by Katsuki Bakugo, Mina Ashido, Eijiro Kirishima, and Hanta Sero.]
[Third place was for Team Shinso. Formed by Hitoshi Shinso, Nirengeki Shoda, Mashirao Ojiro, and Tsuyu Asui.]
[And the fourth place was for Team Midoriya. Formed by Izumi Midoriya, Ochako Uraraka, Mei Hatsume, and Fumikage Tokoyami.]
Those were the results. She knew it happened, but not the how. All her memories about the Cavalry Battle were blurred and jumbled to the point they made no sense.
When she looked at her team-mates, both Mashirao and the blue-haired boy, Nirengeki, looked just as confused as her. Only the other boy seemed unaffected.
"Thanks for your contribution," said Hitoshi, uncaring of how fake his words sounded. "I will always remember it." The glare they directed at him only made him walk away with a smirk on his face.
'What did he do to us? ' Even suspecting the answer, none of them could say it aloudbecause of its alarming implications.
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Izumi was troubled.
When she accepted following Shoto, she expected a continuation of their previous conversation, but things got uncomfortable pretty fast. Not only he was aware of her connection with All Might, he told her things she probably shouldn't have known.
Endeavor was a domestic abuser that destroyed her wife's sanity along with Shoto's childhood to the point he made the boy hate a part of himself. What was she supposed to do with that knowledge?
She was powerless in front of a situation like that. Only a teenager… Just like him.
Shoto was obviously feeling that same powerlessness, and tried to fight against it as he could… Even if his method was absolutely wrong.
She wanted to help him to open his eyes and understand it wasn't the right way.
But how?
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"Well! Here we are, the third and final event! The 1vs1 Tournament!" The people in the stadium roared with excitement.
It felt weird for Tsuyu to be there and receive that attention, considering she was akin to a puppet the whole time.
"Are you fine, Tsu?" Tsuyu turned and found that Izumi had got closer while she was distracted. "Y-you seem gloomy."
"That purple-haired boy. Shinso." Izumi nodded. "He somehow controlled us; Ojiro-chan, that other boy and me, to win the Cavalry."
"I see..." Izuku had a guilty expression. "I found it weird you went w-with them. But I supposed you wanted to compete against us l-like Iida-san so I didn't say anything. S-sorry for that."
"No. It is fine, Izumi-chan." She smiled, feeling better. "There's no point of worrying about something that can't be changed, kero."
Controlled or not, she still contributed to her team's victory. So she deserved to be there. And having the opportunity, she could now prove her worth on her own terms.
Unfortunately, her other two team-mates didn't feel the same.
"Eh, Midnight-sensei?" called Mashirao.
"What is it, boy?"
"Ah. Me and Shoda-kun," he gestured to the blue-haired boy, "want to withdraw from the tournament."
After explaining their reasons to do it, Midnight accepted and started looking for their replacements.
Considering their score, they should be from Team Kendo, which got fifth place. But the girls decided to give the opportunity to their classmates Tetsutetsu and Ibara.
However...
"Oi, Tetsu!" Called Setsuna. Oh no, not her. "Psst, come over here!"If she tried to be secretive, she sucked at it.
"S´up?" grunted the boy.
"What would you say about letting me take your place?"
"UH-?!" The girl covered his mouth.
"Listen, if you let me participate instead of you, I will help you with your homework for a month," said the girl with a smirk.
"A month!?"
"Not enough? Then what about a month and a week?"
"Uh... A month and a half...?" said the boy tentatively.
"A month and three days."
"A month and a week!"
"That's too much. Three weeks is enough!"
"W-what?! A month at least!"
"Two weeks."
"That's half of what you said at first!"
"And it will decrease even more if you keep insisting," said the lizard girl, faking an innocent smile.
"Fine! Two weeks!" They shook hands and then Setsuna went up to the platform, making sure of standing just at her side as if her only interest -besides Izumi- was to annoy her.
Tetsutetsu seemed happy with their agreement, despite everything.
And the other people that saw their exchange could only feel pity for the guy.
"Okay, that sure was interesting," said Midnight with amusement. "Now that we are complete again, let's finally see the matchups!"
Momo Yaoyorozu VS Ochako Uraraka
Momo's expression was confident, while Ochako couldn't look more nervous. But after training with the floating girl, Tsuyu knew Ochako was the last person one should underestimate.
Mei Hatsume VS Denki Kaminari
Denki smiled, if it was because Mei was attractive or because he thought he would win easily, she wasn't sure. The girl smiled too and approached him, but there was a lot of craziness in her eyes.
Ibara Shiozaki VS Fumikage Tokoyami
Those two were like water and oil. So expectably, they glared at each other as if they were nemesis. However, she couldn't but have this amusing thought of them getting together or something.
Mina Ashido VS Katsuki Bakugo
That was an interesting match. Both of them had a ridiculously amount of energy, even if they expressed it in a really different way. They smirked at each other, completely sure the other would lose.
Izumi Midoriya VS Eijiro Kirishima
Two kind cinnamon rolls ready to beat the crap out of each other. Nothing wrong there. They were the only opponents that seemed truly friendly to each other.
Hanta Sero VS Hitoshi Shinso
Hanta smiled nervously which only made Hitoshi's smirk turn scarier. She should tell Hanta about his opponent's Quirk. It would only be fair, considering she already told Izumi anyway... But somehow told her it would be meaningless.
Tenya Iida VS Shoto Todoroki
Tenya nodded at Shoto as if becoming him as his opponent. Meanwhile, the boy with heterochromatic eyes barely glanced at him.
Tsuyu Asui VS Setsuna Tokage
"Okay, that's convenient. We can settle it today, then," muttered Setsuna.
"Settle what?"
"Who owns Izumi´s precious little heart. If I win, you will stop meddling in my advances with her and stand aside. And in the infinitely improbable case that you defeat me, I'll do the same for you. Simple, right?" the girl said such an outrageous thing as if it was nothing.
"I won't bet over Izumi." She glared at Setsuna, anger boiling in her stomach, but it didn't affect the girl at all.
"Afraid you will lose, Frogger?"
It was then, that Tsuyu decided she would win that fight.
Not because of Setsuna's stupid bet, or even because of Izumi. But for herself.
Because Setsuna Tokage had pissed her off.