Validation || Villain Deku

Problem After Problem

"What...?" Todoroki hesitated, unsure what to make of the sight before him. The ice dome had shattered, exploded to bits, the formation wiped from before his eyes and scattered about the field. Midoriya was standing there, doubled over, wiping the blood from his nose.

Midoriya turned towards him, his face a disgusting bloody mess but a grin showing, his teeth turning a pink shade.

"You think you can beat me? With half your power? Think again." Midoriya turned towards him fully, his grin not disappearing. "Just because I wanted to play with you doesn't mean that I'm not going to let you go off easy. If you want to win a true fight, then I'm going to use my full power. But you have to do it, too." Todoroki felt his mouth hang agape, blood boiling. He wasn't facing off with all his might. And yet, there was no reason for it other than to make fun of him, to tease him, to taunt him. To manipulate him.

And only for the sake of putting him in his place, he'll let himself be manipulated up to this point. But this will be where Midoriya's reign over him will end.

"You want to fight for real?" Todoroki grinned, and his right side slowly caught on fire. The thin layer of ice coating his left side melted away, and his small treble seized as the fire blazed around him. "Then fight me for real!"

A tornado of fire shot from Todoroki's body, and Midoriya felt the heat enveloping him. It burned, and his frostbite burned, but he grinned and let himself laugh. He probably looked manic while laughing with blood coating his face, but he couldn't care less.

"Finally! Come on Todoroki, time to open your eyes!" Todoroki roared as the tornado increased.

"That's enough!" A loud yell came from their side, but it was too quiet to hear above their pounding hearts. Midoriya felt a tear slip past his eye, maybe from the fire, maybe from his pain.

Or maybe from happiness at the realization that, for the first time, he did something that mattered.

If there's something that matters, Midoriya recalled his mother saying, it's making others feel like they matter. If they realize that someone cares, Inko stroked his hair as the crying, five year-old boy questioned how he could be special if he was so useless as he'd been told too many times by others, then that would mean they can care about you, too. That's what it means to be special.

Maybe Midoriya believed those innocent words too much, but he wanted to believe. His mother didn't lie. She wouldn't lie to him. And if the relief in his chest wasn't what she had suggested Midoriya would feel when doing a good deed, then Midoriya didn't know what else it could mean.

Cement rose, blocking the two off, but the layer was too thin as Todoroki's fire blazed through it, sending a huge wave shock from what almost seemed like an explosion of air and blazing heat. The crowd screamed, but luckily, the true explosion didn't reach them. The cement slammed against the borders, not injuring anyone.

The smoke coated the area, and the whole stadium went quiet. Slowly, it dissipated, showing the results.

"Izuku Midoriya..." Present Mic started, "Izuku Midoriya and Shoto Todoroki are both out of bounds?!"

***

Rewinding the cameras didn't work, and the teachers and pro heroes in charge of the sports festival took a long time deciding what to do. Although both of the heroes in training were now conscious and in a calm state of mind, neither of them knew which one was thrown out of bounds first, and there was probably no way of knowing.

"We can do a rematch in another form." All Might offered. He was smacked harshly from behind by Aizawa, and although it didn't do much, it made All Might shut up.