DEAD STARS

XIX. THOSE BORN WITH EVERYTHING

As the first match begins, Shinso was quick to provoke Midoriya. After all, his quirk only works if someone were to answer his question or even speak. Brainwashing, was it? I gave Midoriya a hint a while ago, that once the match begins he might not want to speak. Ojiro might've given him some pointers. Actually, he might've warned Midoriya about Shinso's quirk since Ojiro experienced it firsthand during the Cavalry Battle.

However, the moment Shinso mentioned something that ticked of Midoriya, he charged straight ahead. "What did you say?!"

I didn't know what kind of things Shinso said for Midoriya to be like that. But the moment he speak, he was under Shinso's quirk. I didn't know how to get out of Shinso's brainwashing unless if he was the one to cancel his brainwashing.

The moment Midoriya's eyes clouded and his body frozen, I knew he was under Shinso's quirk.

"Midoriya! The match has just begun and he's completely frozen?!" Present Mic exclaimed.

Is this the endgame for you, Midoriya? What a shame. And here I was hoping that you could beat the irrational thoughts out of Todoroki. And yet, are you going to lose just like this? Without even putting up a fight?

"Midoriya's being so obedient?! Will the bottom really overthrow the top?!"

What's wrong? Giving up already? It's a shame how I got my hopes up high on Midoriya. He can't even withstand Shinso's brainwashing despite the fact that he knew all about it from the start. This is what people get for acting base on emotion. That's why I never let my emotion overpower my intellect.

I started to zone out from the match, closing my eyes as I put my mind to rest.

However, right when I started to rest a bit, I heard yells and shouts from the crowd.

Looks like I spoke too soon.

Midoriya managed to cancel Shinso's brainwashing by injuring himself? Wait, he injured himself? Or was it due to using his quirk?

"Midoriya has stopped!"

From here, I could hear Shinso. "What did you do?" He asked.

Midoriya, this time, knew better than to answer.

"You can produce that much power with just your fingers? Thanks to my quirk, I've been behind from the start."

I think I know where this is going. Shinso has a very powerful quirk. It can come in handy in the future. However, U.A's flaw was accepting only those with enhancer and combat-type quirks to enter the Hero Course, while disregarding the fact that there are some with non combat-type quirks who still dream of one day becoming a Hero. And one of them was Shinso.

"Someone who's been blessed like you can't understand, can you?" Shinso's words, despite being thrown towards Midoriya, somehow felt like it's being directed to me.

"Someone like you who was born with the ideal quirk. Someone who can reach their goal, can't simply understand!"

I stood up, surprising Uraraka and Iida who were beside me. I can't hear another word from Shinso. Not a single word.

I never knew how frustrating it was to hear the truth from someone you least expected it to come from.

I started to walk towards the waiting room to calm myself.

Someone born with the ideal quirk? Someone like me? I never asked to be born with this quirk. If only I could trade this to a quirkless person, then I would be more than happy to do so. Maybe Shinso's right, I couldn't possibly understand what it feels to be at the bottom when all my life, I've always been at the top.