"You honestly expect me to believe that you're fireproof?" Todoroki asked, condescendingly.
"I never said fireproof." I remarked. I moved to attack him once again. Todoroki retaliated by sending his fire, to no avail. I just ran through the flames and slammed my fist into his gut. He spit up from the impact and scowled. To my surprise, he punched me back, right in the face. I grabbed his right arm and started trying to push him back. Todoroki brought his other hand up and hit me with his fire point blank. I quickly kneed him and shoved him back, trying to knock him out of bounds. But the clever bastard raised an ice wall behind him, stopping himself.
"I've had enough of this!" Todoroki said, angrily. He threw his right arm behind him and launched himself forward with his ice. I slid on the ground and he flew right over me. After skidding to a stop, I continued my assault and ran at Todoroki again. He started spamming ice attacks of different types; some massive and some a straight line of ice. I dodged what I could and otherwise countered with my support device.
'Dammit. Mei said this thing is only good for eight uses. I'm down to three! I need to end this fight, now!' I thought, desperately. As I shattered another ice attack, with my support device, I grabbed a handful of tiny shattered ice pieces. I continued running forward and then threw the ice at Todoroki's face. His eyes went wide and he used his fire to melt it, before it could obscure his vision or get in his eyes. In that split second, he couldn't see me, so I made my move. I leaped into the air, and as I came down, I slid on the ground. Then I launched both of my legs up into a double kick. Both my feet hit Todoroki under his chin, and I swear he went airborne for a second! Todoroki was now on the ground, struggling just to stand. But the match was still going, so I didn't stop. Todoroki sent his flames at me one more time. I ran through the fire and grabbed his face, taking him down. Midnight raised her hand in the air.
"Todoroki has been pinned! L/N is the winner and will continue into the Finals!" Midnight declared. The stadium roared with cheers and I couldn't help but smile. I climbed off of Todoroki and let out a relieved sigh. It was close, but I had won.
"Hell yeah..." I simply said.
"Can you stand, Todoroki?" Midnight asked.
"Yeah... But I have a lot things hurting right now." Todoroki replied, disappointed. I almost felt bad. This guy had seemed like a jerk, but after meeting his father, Shoto didn't seem to be that bad.
"I, uh... Sorry for wailing on you so hard. I had to beat you somehow, though." I suddenly said. Todoroki and Midnight both looked at me. Then Todoroki scoffed at my comment.
"It's not like you're the only person here who wanted to win the Festival." Todoroki replied, looking away. I couldn't quite make out his expression. Regardless, there was something I had to make clear.
"It's not about that." I suddenly said. As Midnight was helping him up, Todoroki looked at me again.
"What?" he asked, confused.
"I wasn't trying to so hard to beat you because I want to win the Festival. If you ask me, I've already done more than enough to get some recognition. The reason I was trying so hard to beat you, is simple...because I was keeping my word." I stated, calmly. Todoroki's expression changed as he realized what I meant. "I told you today, before the Festival started, that I would beat you into the ground, while everyone watched. I'm not exactly proud of it, but at least I kept my word..." I explained, walking away. I could feel the stares of the crowd on me as I left the arena. I could only hope they were stares of intrigue. Before long, I ran into some people from 1A, in the hallway. It was Uraraka, Jiro, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima and even Midoriya.
"Yay, Y/N!" Uraraka yelled.
"Great fight, Y/N!" Midoriya shouted.
"Whoa, Midoriya! Should you be walking around?" I asked, concerned. Both of his arms were in casts.
"I got out of surgery just before your match. I saw the whole thing." Midoriya explained.
"That fight was awesome! All that bare knuckle brawling got me hyped! You were so manly!" Kirishima screamed, in amazement.
"I want to learn some martial arts now, too!" Uraraka declared, excited.
"You...You fought very well..." Yaoyorozu said, smiling. She had a hand on her cheek, like she was embarrassed.
"You, uh, did great, Y/N. That was a really cool fight..." Jiro said, looking away. She was clicking her earphone jacks together. Both she and Yaoyorozu were lightly blushing. I grabbed Kirishima and leaned over to Midoriya.
"Say guys, what's with those two? They're all red and they won't look at me." I whispered, confused.
"Maybe it's got something to do with you being shirtless." Kirishima suggested. My eyes widened as I remembered that crucial detail. I looked down at my bare chest.
"Right...I forgot." I said. Everyones' heads sank low at my bluntness. I just know Midoriya would have facepalmed had his hands been free. didn't care. I had another focus. "Hey, do I look tan to you guys? I think I look more tan than before." I pointed out. My question lightened the mood and everyone looked back at me.
"You know, you do look tan." Kirishima agreed.
"I guess Todoroki's flames did have some kind of effect on me." I stated, surprised.
"I still can't believe you're fire resistant." Jiro said, impressed.
"Well, most people with fire-type quirks have some heightened tolerance for fire and heat, to go with it. In my case, I inherited that heightened tolerance but not my mother's quirk." I elaborated.
"Oh, man! Everyone was freaking out when you made that big reveal!" Kirishima shouted.
"Yeah! The whole stadium got quite, out of worry for you, but then you were fine." Uraraka said.
"It was a relief for us all." Yaoyorozu added, politely.
"Yeah, sorry. Up until then, Midoriya and my family were really the only ones aware of my fire resistance." I admitted.
"That reminds me, there's something I've been wanting to ask you." Kirishima said.
"Fire away." I jokingly said. Kirishima awkwardly scratched his head.
"It's just that...you and Midoriya are obviously best friends and have known each other for awhile, so why do you call him by his last name? I mean, he uses your first name..." Kirishima asked, hesitantly. The girls' faces lit up at the question.
"I'm actually curious about that, too." Jiro said.
"Same." Uraraka added.
"As am I." Yaoyorozu agreed. I actually felt a little embarrassed. I never imagined this would be a question at the back of all my classmates' minds.
"I, um. I don't know... If I had to guess, it'd probably be because of something way back." I said, wondering. Then a memory popped in my head, with perfect timing. "Oh! I remember now. Back when we met, Midoriya was super introverted and I was really social. Much like how we are now. Anyway, he seemed uncomfortable with me calling him by his first name right off the bat, so I forced myself to stop. And I started calling him by his last name." I explained. Midoriya and the others chuckled.
"We've been friends for years, now. We're neighbors. Our parents are even friends. I don't have any problem with being called by my first name." Izuku said, grinning.
"Okay, then. Izuku it is." I said, smacking his shoulder. He winced for a moment before we all laughed. "Alright, well, I need to go get a new shirt, so I'll see you guys later." I said, turning.
"Hey! Wait up!" a familiar voice called out. It was Mei. "Glad I found you. I brought you your pistols and a new shirt, too." Mei said, walking up.
"Gee, thanks." I said, putting on the shirt. "So, does this mean you watched my match?" I asked, curiously.
"Of course! I wanted to see how our prototype support device would perform. It did great!" Mei said, happily. I exhaled in disappointment.
"Yeah, it did pretty good. There were no malfunctions. And luckily, I ended the match before I ran out of uses." I recalled, thankfully. I removed the support device and handed it to Mei. "By they way, guys, this is Mei Hatsume. She's from the Support Course. She's pretty brilliant." I introduced her. The others each offered up form of greeting.
"Nice to meet you all. You know Y/N, I could use you in the tech lab at the Support Center. From what I've seen today, you're pretty intelligent. Plus, you're in the Hero Course! Anything we design could potentially be advertised by you using it in public!" Mei said, excited. I actually blushed at her compliment.
"Uhh, thanks. I'm not going to lie, there are inventions of yours that have caught my interest. We should totally work together again some time." I agreed, gladly.
"Great! I'm always in the tech lab, working on my babies. So, just swing by when you can. Bye!" Mei said, leaving.
"She's pretty cool, huh guys? Guys?" I asked, turning around. Both Jiro and Yaoyorozu were acting distant. Meanwhile, Uraraka, Kirishima and Izuku were giving me this look. It was like they were happy for me. "What's with the faces?" I asked, confused.
"It's nothing." Everyone said, walking away.
"What?! Come on! What's with the looks? Jiro, Yaoyorozu, why do you two look mad?" I asked, moving after the group.
"It's nothing." Jiro said again, frustrated.
"It's nothing you'll concern yourself with." Yaoyorozu added. She and Jiro had suddenly gotten very passive aggressive. I couldn't really tell because I was walking behind them, but it looked like they were blushing, again.
"I'm so confused..." I said, sadly.
"You know, Y/N, it would be smart for you to nap before your final match. Just to be safe." Izuku advised.
"Yeah! The last thing you want to do is get all the way to the Finals, only to be exhausted from overusing your quirk." Kirishima added.
"I'm kind of stuck, either way. I could probably use a catnap before the Finals, but I also want the chance to study Bakugo's fighting style before our match." I explained.
"You don't know yet that you'll be fighting Bakugo. He could lose to Tokoyami." Kirishima stated. Izuku, Uraraka and I all shook our heads.
"No. Tokoyami is strong, but it's a bad matchup. I know I'll end up fighting Bakugo. It's practically inevitable. Like Optimus Prime fighting Megatron in a Transformers movie." I said, sarcastically. My friends laughed at my sudden joke.
"That might be the nerdiest thing I've ever heard you say, Y/N." Jiro laughed.
"It's interesting how you're funny, but you're also this badass yakuza type." Kirishima pointed out, chuckling.
"Thanks, you guys. I'll never say no to a confidence boost." I said, gratefully.