Izuku smiled as the students around him either cheered and congratulated each other on getting through the cavalry battle or bemoaned their losses somewhat good naturedly.

One thing he was very pleased with in how the cavalry battle had gone was the fact that his schoolmates mostly hadn't segregated themselves by class. Likely thanks to their experiences in the USJ and training with him they had been more willing to mingle, so that there had been several groups made up of members of both classes.

As Midnight declared that there would be a thirty minute break before the next round his smile fell into a frown as his eyes landed on Todoroki, who was gazing down at his left hand with a look on his face that filled Izuku with unease. He recognized that look, which spoke of someone wrestling with demons. He'd seen it many times, primarily during his life as Peter. There had very rarely been a hero, or villain, for that matter, that he'd met without some sort of psychological scarring, whether they had started out that way or developed it after beginning to walk that path. Trauma was essentially an inevitability when it came to the people that got involved in the superpowered game on either side. His other lives had seen it as well, if not to as great an extent as Peter, which gave him several viewpoints to draw on.

And it wasn't too hard to figure out what might have been causing it…


Izuku could see the frustrated desperation on Todoroki's face as the timer ran down the last few seconds. While not above taking out targets of opportunity that wandered too close, the elemental teen had been incredibly focused on taking the million points from Izuku, even when his teammates had urged him to be more careful.

It was as though he wouldn't consider it a proper victory unless he defeated Izuku, or at least, came in uncontested first place. An attitude that reminded the greenette of Bakugo, who was also doggedly trying to get the one million from him.

So when Iida had used his Recipro Burst, Izuku had been ready. He could see frost appear on Todoroki's right arm, likely as an attempt to freeze him in place at least long enough to take the headband. Iida, no fool, was dashing towards Izuku's own right to allow Todoroki to best use his quirk. With a quick murmur to his mounts to keep running the two groups dashed at each other like jousting knights.

It was as Todoroki was reaching out, ice forming into a sort of claw, that Izuku leapt off his mounts, jumping to Todoroki's other side in order to attack from his left, since he never used his quirk from that side. True, if he touched the ground he'd lose, but that wasn't a concern. He was a master of aerial combat when combining Peter, Ranma and Jesse's skills, after all, with more than a few advantages added thanks to Shirou.

The surprise on Todoroki's face as Izuku's fist raced for his face disappeared from the greenette's sight in a burst of intense flames. Considering the shocked breath his sensitive ears heard Todoroki draw, he knew it had been an instinctual, unplanned reaction.

Any further methods of attack that would make it through the flames the other teen was emitting were too dangerous, more so for Todoroki than himself, so Izuku pulled back. A dagger materialized under his foot, giving him enough leverage to kick off of, and he launched himself back to his mounts without coming within a foot of the ground. He could hear the crowds cheer at the move as he landed, but his attention was immediately drawn by Bakugo's incoming attack…


Todoroki had once bluntly stated that he'd never use his fire in combat, and whatever was behind that decision was obviously shaken by his instinctual use of the flames to protect himself. Izuku could think of several reasons for that decision and attitude, very few not worrying in some way, but he needed more information.

When Todoroki moved to follow the other students out of the stadium for the announced break he was stopped when Izuku's hand landed on his shoulder. "I think we need to have a conversation, Todoroki-kun."

Todoroki turned to him with a frown.


"Where's Midoriya-kun?" He heard one of the 1-B extras ask as they headed to the small cafeteria Lunch Rush had set up for the participating students.

"He mentioned he had something he needed to talk to Todoroki about before he could eat." One of the ones from his own class said, making him pause.

"Really? Wonder what it is, especially after that earlier declaration of war from Todoroki earlier." Another said, curiosity in their voice.

"Declaration of war!? I hadn't heard about that. Tell me all about it!" The 1-B extra exclaimed, but by that point, Bakugo wasn't listening, simply stalking away as he drew a few curious but otherwise uncaring glances.


Izuku and Todoroki stared at each other for several minutes in a secluded corridor of the stadium, the area essentially abandoned as everyone enjoyed the stalls and other entertainment on offer elsewhere during the break.

Todoroki was staring with his customary stoicism, but Izuku was experienced enough in reading people to recognize that he was both confused and annoyed.

Izuku, for his part, was simply leaning against the wall, relaxed, as he observed the taller teen, waiting. Todoroki appeared to be trying to stare him down, but Izuku had been stared down by eminently more intimidating people, including extraplanar entities, demons, literal gods, and an angry Tohsaka Rin backed up by an irritated Saber, a disappointed Sakura and an annoyed Illya when he did something stupid. Compared to all of that, Todoroki didn't even qualify as a novice.

"What did you want to talk about?" Todoroki finally asked, his patience eventually running out.

Izuku shifted slightly, folding his arms across his chest as he looked the other teen in the eye. "I'm concerned about your reaction to using your fire in the cavalry battle." He said slowly, drawing on his many experiences dealing with recalcitrant teens, primarily from his life as Peter.

Todoroki tensed. "That's none of your business." He grunted, turning to leave.

"It has to do with All Might, doesn't it?" Izuku said in response before Todoroki could get far. "Him and someone else. Your father, perhaps?"

Todoroki whirled around, eyes a bit wide. "How…?"

"What you said before the festival started." Izuku pointed out. "You were especially focused on both my own strength and my relationship with All Might. You said that his attention on me added further motivation. That could simply mean that you consider someone that has his attention a bigger measuring stick, but then there was that hesitation when you said you needed to prove yourself."

He paused for a moment, studying Todoroki, who was still staring at him with a bit of shock. "I don't know much about you before you came to UA, Todoroki-kun, but it's not that hard to guess that you meant your father. Your refusal to use your flames points to something related to that, and he's the most prominent fire user in your life you're likely to feel the need to prove something to. He's also been the Number 2 Hero behind All Might for decades, so it's not hard to believe your own focus on All Might was… inherited from him, so to speak. Lastly, for as good as he can be at his job, Endeavor is famously gruff and anti-social, which is one of the main reasons he's never risen above All Might in the rankings. As much as I'd like to wish otherwise, there's no reason to believe he isn't similar in his home life, which could lead to some domestic issues."

He paused again, letting everything he'd just said percolate through Todoroki's head, before speaking. "So, Todoroki, what is it that Endeavor has done that's made you shun your fire?"

Todoroki simply stared for a bit longer, his left hand clenching into a fist before unclenching shortly afterwards. Eventually he sighed and walked back to where he'd been standing, seeming to gather his thoughts for a bit before speaking. "What do you know about Quirk Marriages?"

As the entire sordid tale came out Izuku's frown grew. As stated before, he was well acquainted with people having issues involving trauma, but that didn't mean it was ever any easier to listen to, especially to someone as currently empathetic as Izuku. Not only that, he could see plenty of reasons for his classmate's neurosis, but none was bigger than his last statement at the end of this tale.

"That is why I refuse to ever use that man's Quirk." Todoroki said grimly, his face locked into a heavy scowl.

There was silence for a few moments as Todoroki recovered from his small break in composure at telling Izuku the story while the greenette himself considered how best to approach the issue. Before anything more could be said, however, Todoroki whirled around and began to walk away. "I will defeat you in this tournament, Midoriya. Without my fire." He said simply as he left, and Izuku let him go, staring after him as ideas began to crystalize in his mind.

Once Todoroki was gone he spoke. "I trust you'll have the good grace to keep this between us, Bakugo?"

There was silence for a few moments before the sound of feet walking away from around the corner came. "...The hell do you take me for, Deku?"

Izuku let out a deep breath as he was left alone, bringing his fingers up to massage the bridge of his nose.

Nothing could ever be simple, could it? Freaking super powered teenagers…


A hearty meal from Lunch Rush later found the teens back in the stadium as the crowds cheered, looking forward to the final event of the festival. Izuku was mainly lost in his thoughts over what to do about Todoroki's issues, though his attention was definitely drawn when the 1-A girls came out in cheerleader uniforms. Even as he reminded himself to give Mineta and Kaminari a good talking to, he saved the very appealing image in his memory for posterity.

What? Despite his memories he was still a straight, hormonal teenager surrounded by very attractive young women. Sue him.

Still, other than that brief distraction he didn't really pay all that much attention to things around him till Uraraka nudged him and he saw they were about to draw lots for the tournament that would be capping off the festival. He shook his contemplation off and proceeded to draw his lot, curious as to who he'd end up facing, and once the brackets were done he studied them with interest.

Match 1: Shinsou Hitoshi vs Tokage Setsuna

Match 2: Todoroki Shoto vs Kendo Itsuka

Match 3: Iida Tenya vs Tsunotori Pony

Match 4: Hagakure Toru vs Midoriya Izuku

Match 5: Kirishima Eijiro vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Match 6: Asui Tsuyu vs Hatsume Mei

Match 7: Yaoyorozu Momo vs Shishida Jurota

Match 8: Uraraka Ochako vs Bakugo Katsuki

Quickly calculating the potential matchups, he saw that if he kept winning he'd eventually end up facing Todoroki in the semi-final and Bakugo in the final, assuming they won their matches as well.

That gave him some time to figure things out in regards to Todoroki. Bakugo… well, he already had some ideas there, having had more time to mull over the problem.

He really should have studied psychology more heavily in at least one of his previous lives. He had some hard won experience, as stated before, but a better grounding in it would have helped.

He added it to a to-do list he was constantly building up to as he took his seat in the competitors' stands, looking down to see Setsuna prepare to face off against the purple haired boy from Gen Ed. Well, at least now he knew his name.

Most of the audience wouldn't be able to hear what was being said down in the arena through the distance and the noise of the crowd, but Izuku had some advantages. He Reinforced his ears and used some mental focus skills to isolate what he wanted to hear. It caused a brief moment of pain before his enhanced hearing was able to isolate the suddenly much more overwhelming noise, but he was able to make out what was said.

Shinsou said she shouldn't feel bad when she lost, and Tokage laughingly began to respond that she should be the one saying that before her face went slack. Izuku's eyebrows rose when Shinshou simply told her to walk out of bounds and she immediately turned and did so, much to the shock of Present Mic and the audience.

While absently listening to Aizawa talk/complain about how the Heroics entrance exam let people with Quirks that didn't work directly against robots fall through the cracks, Izuku tapped his finger to his lips. That was definitely a powerful and useful Quirk, almost no matter what you wanted to do with it. And he could see why the boy seemed so resentful of the Heroics students, not only due to their position but also other likely previous experiences while growing up with such a Quirk.

Izuku definitely knew what Quirk based bullying was like in the society he currently lived in. Not only did he have his own experiences to draw on, there had been one or two students in Aldera that had been a bit bullied due to their Quirks. They'd been fortunate enough that there was a much easier target around in the form of Izuku, though. At least they had Quirks, after all.

Though it seemed Shinsou at least had some friends in Gen Ed, considering some kids had congratulated him for his win. And several Pros in the stands were discussing among themselves how much they wished they had someone with such an ability in their own agencies.

"Jeeze, that's one scary Quirk." Sero commented as they watched Tokage leave the Arena dejectedly. "I definitely wouldn't want to face him in a fight."

"Tch." Bakugo grunted, annoyed. "Only if you're a dumbass, Flat Face." He leaned back with his hands behind his head as he waited for the next match. "Once you know the trick to it it's easy to avoid. Just don't say jack shit."

"That's a good point." Yaoyorozu said thoughtfully. "If Shinsou-san wishes to be a Pro Hero, then he'd be best served by being an underground hero like Aizawa-sensei. It'd keep the villains from knowing too much about him."

"Hoo boy, there comes Todoroki." Sato said, changing the subject. "He's fighting Kendo, right?"

"Yep. There she comes." Kaminari said as he motioned to the orangette, who was walking out onto the arena at the same time as Todoroki. "Hope he doesn't hurt her too bad. He looks a bit pissed."

Indeed, Todoroki's usually impassive face seemed more irritated than normal. Izuku wondered if this was related to their conversation, or if this was due to something else.

As soon as Midnight gave the signal to start Izuku blinked in shock as Uraraka squeaked in surprise next to him at the massive glacier that had suddenly appeared to fill over half the stadium, covering the area above where 1-A was pretty completely, making the sunlight refract through it and casting the stands in shade.

"...Holy shit!" Jirou finally exclaimed, breaking the silence as she gawked. "I keep almost forgetting how ridiculous Todoroki is, and then he does this!"

Mineta was shivering. "Seriously, how is he so freaking strong?"

Izuku was distracted when his still Reinforced ears caught the sound of Todoroki talking to Kendo once Midnight called the match in his favor, apologizing and telling her he'd just been angry. As the boy began using his fire to melt Kendo out and the audience began to surprisingly comfort Kendo after the second curb stomp of the tournament in a row, Izuku's eyes narrowed as he wondered what, exactly, had caused Todoroki's ire to be roused. Was it just Izuku's prying into his past?

Then he looked elsewhere in the stands and saw Endeavor looking down at the arena in displeasure, and he had a hunch. Still, he couldn't do anything about it at the moment, though he added it to his ideas for how to handle Todoroki. So instead he focused on talking to his classmates.

Once the ice looked like it was close to being dealt with, Izuku got out of his seat. "Come on, Hagakure-chan. We should get to the waiting rooms to get ready for our own match."

Hagakure jerked in her seat. "Ah, right." She got up and her clothes gave a shake as she apparently tried to relax. "Just don't beat me too bad, okay?"

Izuku gave her a small smile. "Now, now, no thinking like that. Just do your best." He patted her back as they left the stands to their classmates wishing them good luck, more to Hagakure than him, which amused him slightly and made him smile wider as he led the girl downstairs.


Ochako watched her friends leave the stands before turning back to the arena as the ice was finally dealt with and Iida and Pony walked out onto it. "How do you think this will go, Yaomomo?" She asked the other girl.

The heiress hummed as she considered that. "I have not seen Pony-chan use her Quirk yet, but Iida is fast and smart. If he can reach her and force her out of bounds before she can react it should be an easy win for him."

Before any more could be said Midnight began the match. Iida immediately dashed for Pony at the full speed he could reach in the space available, but the American girl suddenly whirled around and swung a hoofed foot in a roundhouse kick that would have taken Iida full in the face had the boy not immediately thrown himself into a slide, the foot barely brushing the top of his head. Pony was unprepared for the move and her other leg was taken out, making her drop to the ground with a cry, though she quickly put her hands out to catch herself, falling properly being one of the absolute first things Izuku'd taught his students.

Iida's momentum carried him past her, enough so that he couldn't take immediate advantage of her momentary loss of balance, though he wasn't in danger of leaving the arena. No fool, he immediately dashed to the side, which was an excellent move considering Pony turned her fall into a flip, allowing her to launch her horns at him in moments while still falling onto her back. Had they hit they would have had enough force to carry him the rest of the way out of bounds, but he wasn't there, having stopped at a corner to reorient.

"An amazing first exchange by both contestants! This is what I'm talking about!" Present Mic exclaimed/screamed excitedly, much to Aizawa's annoyance.

Iida immediately dashed back to her position, but Pony decided to stay laying on the ground, since it would make it harder for him to grab or push her while at speed. She turned her head to launch two more horns at Iida, the speedster dodging them as best he could considering the speed he was going at, though one grazed him and tore his uniform. He didn't realize that the first pair had come around from behind, however, still under Pony's control, and it was only him ducking down to try to grab at her that allowed him to accidentally avoid them, though he could feel the disturbed air from their passage, making his eyes widen in shock.

Pony was in the process of trying to flip herself around while remaining on the ground to bring her feet around to bear for a kick, which at the speed he was going would be devastating if it connected, considering her leg strength, but Iida was just slightly faster and managed to grab hold of the front of her uniform. Both of the teens blushed heavily when Iida momentarily grabbed hold of one of her breasts while closing his hand on her shirt. It distracted Pony enough to give Iida, who managed to keep his head in the game despite his own embarrassment at his own actions, enough time to plant his foot and whirl around with all his Engine assisted might, managing to pick Pony up enough to send her flying towards the nearest area edge.

Luckily for Iida, UA built their PE uniforms to endure, so it didn't rip despite all of Pony's weight being supported by his two handholds, allowing him to get her where he wanted. He released her while she was in mid air and then, slightly dizzy but having trained for such maneuvers, immediately oriented himself into another dash, tackling her while she was still in the air and adding to her momentum. He immediately stopped himself upon impact, but the additional force was enough to add to Pony's flight, and before she could react she landed right outside the boundary line.

Midnight immediately raised her whip. "Iida is the winner!"

As the crowd immediately began to cheer for the much more satisfying match they'd just witnessed, Iida made his way over to Pony, immediately bowing to her at a ninety degree angle. "I apologize profusely for my actions, accidental as they might have been!"

Pony got to her feet, rubbing the breast he'd accidentally grabbed, as he obviously hadn't been gentle. "...I'm not happy about it, but it was an accident in a fight." She said with a sigh.

Iida straightened up. "I am immensely grateful for your understanding!" He exclaimed.

"I do wonder how my friends will react when I tell them, though." Pony added with what could only be called innocent maliciousness, making Iida turn white as a sheet of paper as he began sweating profusely. Before he could respond/beg for mercy, Pony turned to leave the arena, making him follow suit even more stiffly than usual.


Toru was doing her best to remain calm by using some breathing exercises as she waited to be called out to the arena for her fight against Midoriya-kun, trying not to freak out. She really didn't want to fight him.

Not only was she keenly aware that she had absolutely no chance, but this was the boy that had gotten injured and been forced to kill an enemy to save her before focusing on patching her up instead of his own wounds.

She was self aware enough to know she was developing a crush on him after that, mixed with a healthy dose of hero worship.

She really, really didn't want to fight him.

Still, she was here as part of her path to being a hero, so she wasn't going to shrink back from that. Even if she got utterly obliterated in seconds she was going to give it her all to show what she was made of.

When Present Mic called out her introduction she took one last deep breath before beginning to walk out onto the arena. She could see Midoriya-kun doing the same opposite her, his steps steady and show, confident but not arrogant, and her heart fluttered for multiple reasons.

She was glad no one could see her hands shaking. One of the advantages of invisibility. Then Midoriya-kun smiled at her encouragingly as Midnight asked if they were ready, and she clenched her fists.

This was it.


Finally got this done.

This chapter fought me for a long time, partly due to lack of inspiration, partly due to real life issues, but once I got past the point that was stymying me it all flowed out quite nicely. Almost half of this chapter was written in the last 3 hours.

Still, I do apologize for how late this is. It was supposed to be out last month, but let's just say I had a smallish mental health crisis around that time, and I simply couldn't get it done. I go into slightly more detail in a Pat A Ron post I unfortunately can't make public, if anybody cares/is donating.

In any case, you all don't want to hear my excuses for why you didn't get your chapter, so let's just go ahead and discuss it.

Since Izuku's 'Quirk' is so different in my fic than in canon, Todoroki would obviously not come up with his Dad!Might theory, so I needed another way to get that confrontation going, because Izuku needs the details (that Todoroki knows) in order to begin helping him. Thus I applied his now prodigious intellect and experience as a teacher and mentor to have him put clues together and figure things out that Todoroki would feel compelled to tell him. I'm not sure it entirely works, but it's serviceable, I think.

As for having Bakugo witness the talk like in canon, I did that because I think it's important to his growth, even if it's never pointed out anywhere else in canon. Hearing about what Endeavor did in his pursuit of being Number 1… well, even Bakugo isn't so self centered to not learn a bit from that, if at least subconsciously.

As for the tournament brackets, outside of the matches important to the story, such as Izuku vs Bakugo or Todoroki, and including Shinsou in there, everything was random. I used a few physical d20s to determine which student from which class had which seed, then used a bracket maker to set it up. I made some adjustments to make sure the fights I wanted happened, but otherwise it truly seems like the gods want Kirishima vs Tetsutetsu and Uraraka vs Bakugo to happen. That gave me a good chuckle.

As for the fights themselves, I don't intend to describe ones that would go similar to in canon in too much detail. It's a waste of time for everyone when we could get to the newer, more interesting stuff. Iida vs Pony, for example. I had literally no plans for that. I just sat down, wrote down Iida's initial charge and Pony's reaction kick, and everything flowed from there. I'm actually somewhat proud of it.

Nothing else to really say about it, I think. Next chapter will have some more fights and perhaps reactions. Hope you all look forward to it. Now, let's get to the usual reminders.

As I've stated previously, my best friend and their roommate have a podcast. Yes, I know, everybody and their mother has a podcast these days, but I beg you to hear me out. It's called 'Two Idiots and a Dog', and they talk about pop culture in general with different shows for different topics. So far they've primarily done 'Idiots on Film', talking about classic or important movies, and another one called 'Idiots Unleashed', where they just take a topic their Discord members vote on and talk/argue/rant about it without a filter. The latest episode of 'Idiots on Film' was on Gunpowder Milkshake, and their latest 'Idiots Unleashed' was a more sober episode regarding creators and how they touch lives, prompted by the death of Keving Conroy (RIP). So if you're interested, that's 'Two Idiots and a Dog' on most podcasting resources. Please check it out. For me? *puppy dog eyes*

Secondly, I am, as always, truly grateful for those of you who are willing to send a buck or two my way out of the kindness of your heart. I relied on all of you when I wasn't working, and it definitely still helps even now that I'm gainfully employed. Thanks to you I have more of a cushion to get things I still need or pay essential bills. Like Final Fantasy XIV. (Speaking of, Ryuma Hyurinmaru on the Coeurl Server, Crystal Datacenter, North America)

Of course, let us not forget that you do get something out of it. For each dollar that you donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a vote in my monthly update poll stating what you want to see updated next month. And if what you vote for doesn't win immediately, no worries! Non-winning votes roll over to the next poll, so a fic that only gets a vote a month will eventually win (though it might take a bit, to be brutally honest). That is, in fact, why this fic finally got updated.

That said, if a fic hasn't won in a long time, I will take it off the poll and update it anyway, like I am in the process of doing for On Swirling Ashes, which I swear I actually am working on, really.

So yes, donate to my Pat A Ron, you get a say in what I update. Everybody wins! So that's Pat A Ron dotcom /athanmortis. The current poll ends on December 5th.

However, as something new, I have set up a Ko-Fi for those of you who don't want to use Pat A Ron to support me. The only caveat is that it won't count towards any voting, so I honestly don't see it getting much use. That said, it's there for those of you that prefer it. Seeing as I only created it a few weeks ago, please give me any feedback on it so I can make improvements. That's ko-fi dotcom /athanmortis78653 .

Thank you as always for reading, and sticking with me despite my dry spells and delays. I really do appreciate it. I hope everyone has a good one. Till next time!