Flaming ↬ [Todoroki Shoto x Reader]

Chapter 7: Sports Festival (Cavalry Battle)

I gasp. I can't believe it. Endeavour is asking if I want him to coach me. Of course, I do. Yes, yes, yes. I've looked up to him all my life. But I don't say that. If this had happened a mere months ago, I probably would have answered immediately but this time, I keep thinking about Todoroki.

"Endeavour, it's an incredible honour for you to give me this offer, and I do know that it is not appropriate to ask this, but would you please give me a bit of time to consider?"

At first Endeavour's face becomes tense and stiff but then he laughs. "Okay, I'll give you time to think about it, but please tell me as soon as possible."

"Thank you so much!" I say.

Endeavour nods and says, "I'll let you go, so you can prepare for your next event then,"

I nod, give a quick bow and head off to one of the waiting rooms. As I turn the corner, I spot Ochako-chan. She jumps a little and I laugh at that.

"I'm sorry (Y/n)-chan I overheard..." she says.

"No don't apologize, it's fine!" I say.

"(Y/n)-chan..." she says, "you rejected the offer because of how Todoroki-kun's been reacting, right?"

I freeze for a second and then nod. "Ochako-chan, I think I'm in love," I say.

"With Todoroki-kun?"

I look to my feet and nod.

"After all the terrible things he's done to you?"

I freeze and sheepishly nod again.

"Are you a masochist?"

I look up teary-eyed and terrified. "I-I'm a masochist?" I ask.

"How else are you supposed to explain how you like him through that ?"

"I don't know but..."

"Well, at least we know you like him. What do you want to do?"

"I want him to stop hating me," I say.

"Well yeah, no kidding..."

The announcement goes on almost to stop us from talking any further. "THE NEXT EVENT WILL START SOON. STUDENTS, PLEASE REPORT TO THE FIELD."

"I guess we have to go..." I say

"Yeah. We will continue this conversation later!" Ochako smirks at me.

I sigh and then smile. "Thanks for listening to me, Ochako," I say.

Her eyes twinkle. "I'm always here for you, (Y/n)!"

We laugh and head to the field. Once everyone who made it for the next event is on the field, Midnight starts to explain.

"The next event is a cavalry battle! You will get in groups of 4 and your objective is to grab the other teams' headbands. The top 4 teams with the most points are moving on to the next round!" she announces.

After a lot of debating and talking, teams were decided. I was in Ochako, Midoriya and Tokoyami's team.

Midoriya has 10,000,000 points so we're the target of every team. Well I mean we've all expected it so I guess it's no surprise.

"I think," I start, "That we should just run and defend-- especially for the first bit. Technically speaking, we can win as long as we defend our 10,000,000 points. Although that's probably not going to be possible. Wait, isn't it easier to just get our 10,000,000 points taken at the beginning and just aim to end in the top four?"

"Yeah ideally, but," Deku starts but I cut him off.

"'Our pride won't let us.' right?" I finish and smile.

"Yeah," Deku says.

Ochako floats us multiple times and we run around for a good chunk of time. Then I realize that Ochako's at her limit and Todoroki surrounds us with a wall of ice. 'I guess that's as far as we can run away from,' I think, 'If my quirk wasn't fire, that is,'

There's a part of my quirk that's still a work in progress. Sometimes, I'm able to breathe fire. (A/n Are we Deku's long distant cousin? No. Unfortunately, we are not. Sorry bout that~) I take a few deep breaths. I have to imagine. Almost like lighting up the carbon dioxide I breathe out. It takes an incredible amount of concentration because I don't do it often and I don't like to practice or train. *cue the sweatdrop* I inhale as much air as I can, face backwards and exhale. It's fire. 'I'm in luck, I usually can't do it in one try!' I think. I'm able to melt a good chunk of the ice wall. We turn around and run out of it. As soon as we run out of it, I see Bakugou charging this way in the corner of my eye.

I swiftly inhale another huge breath and concentrate and breath out, facing bakugou. I'm a little worried that I might give them a terrible burn because they're a little closer than I thought they were, but I'm too late to stop. But nothing comes out this time. Just a few sparks.

"Shoot!" I say a little loud.

"Don't worry (L/n)-san," Tokoyami says, "The times almost up."

I lift my leg up in a weird way, but make sure I can keep a balance so we don't drop Deku. I activate my quirk in my leg and our whole team rotates, creating a ring of fire around us. 'Just 5 more seconds. This should keep people away for 5 seconds...' I think.

5, 4, 3, 2, 1,

0!!

Midnight blows a whistle, "Times up! First place is Midoriya's team with their 10,000,000 points defended!"

All of us let out a sigh of relief. Can't believe we did it-- I mean we weren't able to steal anyone else's, but at least we're first.

Midnight quickly explains to us how the next event is going to work. It's a tournament style one vs one. My first opponent is Todoroki. 'Maybe I'll find out why he doesn't like Endeavour!' I think. 'I hope to find out soon,'

We all walk back to waiting rooms, but I hear Todoroki and Midoriyas' voices from the other side of the hallway. I quietly walk towards them. There I see Bakugou and he whispers to me "...be quiet," I don't question and simply obey. I don't know how many more times Bakugou will tell someone to be quiet in his life.

I listen to what Todoroki's saying and almost let out a gasp.

"I don't know what kind of connection you have with all might," Todoroki starts. "But I'll beat you. Have you heard of quirk marriages by any chance? I am the result of a quirk marriage, my Dad married my mom and trained me only to beat All Might, the number one hero being the 2nd best hero he is. My mom threw boiling water on my left side because it reminded her of my dad. That's what this scar is. My dad threw her in the hospital and that was that. My training still continues today, terrible and extreme. This is why I will beat everyone without using my left side. This is why I will never use my left side in battle, especially not in front of my dad."

I feel like crying but I don't. I'm not supposed to cry, nothing terrible has happened to me. Todoroki's the one that's supposed to cry. All I've been doing is telling him all about how good of a hero Endeavour is when I didn't know anything. I can feel the sadness in Todoroki's voice. I want to help, I want to do something for him, anything. What pains me, even more, is that I can tell that Todoroki didn't tell me because he knows I look up to Endeavour, and he knows that there's nothing worse than being told that the person you admire is nothing like what you imagine. I bite my lip and walk away. Bakugou doesn't say anything.

I'm so glad that I found out about this, right now, and here. I'll reject Endeavour's offer as soon as the sports festival is over.

(A/N Thank you so much for reading this chapter! I hope the story's getting a little bit more interesting! I apologize for any grammatical errors, I'm a little tired since its 2:08 am right now. I hope to see you next chapter! PLUS ULTRA!!!)