Peppermint || Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 35

'I've taken your power from you.'

'Yaoyorozu, go!' Shoto yelled, swinging an impressive roundhouse kick at Aizawa, despite missing. 'Is that what you're playing with?' Aizawa unravelled his scarf, capturing Shoto and hanging him on the high voltage wires. 'I was always going to catch you first, since you're the team's offence.'

'You think you've caught me?' Shoto retorted, a rather peculiar habit that he and Y/N both shared, especially when they were fighting. 'This is nothing. I can burn or freeze these restraints-' 'Do whatever you want.' Aizawa deadpanned, finishing his handiwork and leaving the dual haired boy hanging in midair by his arms and waist. 'Just be careful when you land.'

The pro tossed a bunch of caltrops on the floor below his opponent, leaving the latter with no escape. 'Caltrops? This is your strategy? You pretending to be some kind of ninja?' Y/N snickered. 'I see I rub off on him.' She remarked, drawing Sero's attention. 'You mean you do this on purpose or what?'

'No, Sero. Well... yes. You see, when someone is angry, they become careless. Desperate, even. This tactic works especially well with people like Bakugo. But see Sho over there? He's fighting a losing battle if he uses that skill. Aizawa isn't the kind of person who gets angry easily.' 'Oh.' Sero realised, scratching at his chin. 'You're smart.'

'Thanks.' Y/N smiled at the compliment. 'Let's just hope I'm smart enough to make our strategy work.'

'This is very different from when you faced the Hero Killer. I know about your quirks and what you can do. I'm perfectly prepared to defeat you both.' Aizawa explained, casually dripping artificial tears into his eyes. 'Your plan places most of your burden on yourself. It's nice you try to be considerate to the girl, but... maybe you should've talked it over with her.'

He left the boy hanging in midair and dashed off to find Momo. Y/N watched as her friend returned to her suspended boyfriend. 'I'm so sorry, Todoroki!' She called desperately, glancing between the advancing pro and her peer. 'Yaoyorozu! You've got a plan, don't you? Sorry, I should've asked before and not told you what to do. But you have an idea, right?'

'Your plan didn't work, so there's no way mine is. We're both gonna fail.' Momo cried, lowering her head. 'Spit it out already! I'm saying that you're the one who's better at this kind of stuff, not me! When we were voting for class rep, you had two votes, remember? One of those votes was mine because I thought you would be best at leading our class.'

'Giving up already?' 

'Not yet. Todoroki, close your eyes!' Momo commanded, throwing her dolls into the air. Aizawa kicked them open, revealing flash grenades. 'Smart girl!' Y/N gasped in delight, conveniently hugging the closest person, which happened to be Izuku. 'I should've noticed that! No wonder she kept them instead of letting them drop!' 'Flash grenades.' Aizawa noted, but Momo had already let Shoto down. 'You're right, I have a plan. A plan for us to win. The final exam isn't over.'

'So you've got a strategy?' Shoto asked as he undid his restraints. 'Yes, I've been thinking about it from the very beginning. His weakness.' 'Alright, just tell me what to do.'

Y/N scratched her head as she watched the battle unfold. 'Um... maybe I should ask you guys too. Do you have any ideas?' She turned to her teammates, who looked back at her. 'As a matter of fact, we do. Thanks for asking.' 'No problem.' Y/N nodded. 'Now, get on with it. Hopefully, we can weave up a better plan by the time it's our turn.'

'About Mineta running away. Notice that he's not the fastest guy. You're the one who scored the best timing and ranking during the quirk assessing, yes?' Sero explained. 'Yeah.' Y/N answered, eyebrows furrowed. 'I'm not sure where you're getting at, though.' 'I think that if we have to resort to running to win, then you should do it.'

'I guess.' Y/N stroked a strand of her hair. 'You guys have to be careful though, all right? I'm trusting you two.' Sero grinned. 'And we're trusting you too. Hopefully, your plan works.' 'Well then... Mineta?' Y/N shifted her sharp gaze onto the purple haired boy, scaring him to no end. 'What?' Y/N asked, baffled. 'I just want to know if you have suggestions.' 'I'll have to think about it.'

'Very well then. Tell me in half an hour.'

When she looked up, a large wall of ice had covered half the screen. 'Why do I always miss the amazing scenes?' Y/N whined, throwing her hands into the air.

'So is this all right with you?' Momo turned to Shoto. 'Yeah. No complaints here.'

'And I missed the dramatic part of the conversation too!'

...

'It's a metal with shape memory.'

Y/N and her team sweatdropped. 'Night owl alloy? Night nowl alloy? Guess we'll never know.' Sero mumbled, attempting to lip read. 'No, it's nitinol alloy. It's an alloy, a mixture of titanium and nickel. Yao's extremely intelligent to have thought of that.' Y/N explained, amused by the boy's ignorance.

'It went exactly according to your plan. It was almost too smooth.' Shoto grumbled. 'Honestly, it shouldn't have worked out. When I was triggering the catapult, I made a big mistake. Mr Aizawa noticed, but still jumped away. Even though he could have stopped me easily. I think he allowed himself to be captured by my plan on purpose.'

'I was just trying to see what Todoroki would do.' Aizawa deadpanned, 'You were in my sights, but he still had a cloth over him, remember? I thought he'd try to freeze me. So I decided it would be best for me to back off. In doing so, it looks like I ended up playing right into your hands.'

'It really was just a matter of timing, like you said. Huh. Thanks, teammate.' 

Momo gasped sharply, tears welling up in her eyes. 'What's wrong? Do you feel sick?' 'No, it's nothing, really.' Momo turned away, a hand clamped over her mouth. 'If you feel nauseous, there's a pressure point you can press-' 'I told you, I'm fine!'

'Team Todoroki and Yaoyorozu have passed the exam!'