Chapter Text
Izuku hadn’t really been expecting to see anyone besides students and hero hosts until the end of the festival. He was proved wrong, though, when Amara found him.
She hadn’t interrupted anything—had barely made her presence known, actually. Izuku didn’t really know how he knew she was there. He finished talking with Iida, both of them resolutely ignoring the massive chunk of ice in the stadium, and he just…had a feeling. So he followed it, and found Amara out in the hallway.
Izuku lit up upon seeing her. She did too, smiling softly and opening her arms. He didn’t hesitate to dive into the hug. Amara had visited after the USJ—and oh boy had that disaster of a field trip been fun to explain to his mother—but it was still nice to see her when there wasn’t a crisis.
“You did well in your first fight,” she told him.
And that was all it took to break the dam. Izuku let her go so he could back up a step, eyes bright and words already spilling from his mouth.
“Shinsou was so cool!” He gushed. “He said some mean things, but he apologized after, since he just needed his quirk to work on me. And his quirk is so cool. It felt weird to not be in control, and a bit scary since I really did want to win, but there are so many possible uses for mind control! He’d make a good hero. I told him so too, since he thought I was another one of the kids with power and an ego-”
Amara snorted, listening intently. It just encouraged Izuku to keep going.
“So I yelled some sense into him, and I think he’s going to try to get a hero to train him until he gets into the hero course! I think he’d do well with something like Eraserhead’s scarf- oh yeah! We both like Eraserhead, that was cool to learn.”
“He certainly sounds interesting,” Amara chuckled. “You’ll have to introduce us one day.”
“Of course, Amara-san! Oh- are you going to watch the other fights?”
“I am. You are fighting Todoroki, yes?”
“Yeah…” Izuku ran a hand through his unruly hair, remembering his earlier conversation, and then the explosive fight between Todoroki and Sero. “I’m- I’m a bit worried about it.”
“You will do fine, little one,” Amara reassured, patting his shoulder. “Though you could do without powdering your bones.”
“Powdering my- AMARA-SAN!” He sputtered.
It just made her laugh. “You have to admit, my boy, you break far too many bones. Especially since they’re your own.”
“I- ok, yeah I do, but Amara-san I do not powder my bones.”
“Are you sure about that?”
Izuku couldn’t help it, he started laughing. The tension and anxiety practically melted off of his shoulders, replaced with playful indignance. He gently head butted Amara’s arm and let himself calm down a bit.
“You should go back to your friends,” Amara said, gently ruffling his hair. “They’ll start missing you soon.”
“Ok, ok. Bye, Amara-san!”
Izuku raced back up the stairs, feeling lighter than he had since before the tournament.
Now he just had to beat Todoroki, or at least make sure what he had said stuck, and try his best to get as far as he could. Even if he didn’t win, that was ok. At least he had gotten to the third round! That was already farther than Izuku thought he would get, so win-win for him either way.
Honestly, he just hoped the damage would stay contained to the cement ring.
✧*。✲ﾟ
Shouta cared for his students. He did.
But fuck could they be scary sometimes.
Shouta watched as Midoriya dodged another volley of ice spikes, still somehow moving—still trying to talk to Todoroki for some reason—despite having broken fingers and likely fractured legs and arms. Yet the kid was still moving. Still running. Todoroki seemed unnerved by it as well, but he was still fighting too. Only ranged ice attacks, Shouta noted, but he hadn’t really been expecting anything else. Todoroki had fire, but never used it. Any time spent around Endeavor didn’t make it a big mystery why.
Until, suddenly, he was using his fire. Small sparks at first, just swirling around his left side. A few more shouts from Midoriya and then it was an inferno. Shouta had no idea what that boy was saying, but apparently it was effective. Effective enough to break whatever belief Todoroki had about his quirk—and effective enough to get him to actually use it. Shouta would be extremely impressed if he wasn’t suddenly worried about his students leaping at each other with powered up quirks.
He was on his feet in an instant, tearing off the bandages and glaring down at his students. Doctor advice be damned, his two kids still didn’t know restraint, and that mix of powers was not one Shouta wanted to test the results of. Canceling their quirks was the best way to avoid a disaster.
Todoroki immediately dropped, sliding down his ice to the ground. He seemed stunned at his lack of quirk for a moment, but recovered relatively quickly. It probably helped that he was out of Shouta’s range within a few seconds of sliding.
Midoriya faltered midair, the red lines and sparks of his quirk fizzling out like a used-up sparkler. However, he, unlike Todoroki, had a lot more momentum behind him. His quirk had only given him the power to launch himself forward. Shouta canceled quirks, not physics. That was Uraraka.
This had the unfortunate effect of Midoriya still flying through the air at speeds closer to a plane than a human. Shouta watched as Cementoss slammed his hands into the ground. Concrete rose up to meet Midoriya, soft and malleable to catch him instead of force him to stop by hitting a near-literal brick wall.
Shouta’s hair stood on end, an instinctive feeling of wrong-danger- move sweeping over him like a bucket of freezing water. He could barely see. That didn’t stop him from sensing the smallest disturbance, almost like a ripple in the air.
Shouta blinked, and Midoriya disappeared.
He blinked again, and his reckless student was on the ground once more, laying facedown on the concrete next to Todoroki, like he hadn’t just been soaring towards a wall twenty-something feet in the air. Not to mention he obviously hadn’t simply fallen from the sky, seeing as Midoriya was laying in a heap behind where he had been a moment before.
It didn’t make sense. Not that Shouta was about to protest against it, since his students were unharmed. However it did make things confusing. Midoriya already had a quirk, which had absolutely zero relation to teleportation. There were superspeed quirks, of course, that allowed the person to move so fast it looked like they were teleporting, but Shouta had a significant suspicion that that wasn’t the case with Midoriya. Even if the speed would make more sense than teleportation—since super strength could possibly give rise to super speed as well—physics still applied to those quirks, and Midoriya had had nothing to launch off of up there. Someone that young and inexperienced wouldn’t have the control to speed their way backwards like that, especially without leaving a sizable crater.
It didn’t make sense, but the prickly feeling had mostly faded, and his students were safe. Shouta would keep his mostly-functioning eyes out. It was all he could do for now.
✧*。✲ﾟ
Izuku watched the rest of the fights go by from the stands, bones almost entirely healed from his own match with Todoroki. He had lost, but that was fine by him. It just meant Todoroki moved on and Izuku would wait until next year. Nothing more and nothing less. There were worse fates.
Especially since he had his friend beside him. Once Recovery Girl had healed and scolded him, she sent him back to the stands, where Izuku was met by most of the class congratulating him on a battle well fought. Iida took up a post at his left, making sure no one got close enough to jostle his sensitive arm. Uraraka sat on his other side, cheerily filling him in on how she lost to Bakugou in the round before Izuku’s. She wasn’t too sad over it either. Outwardly, at least.
Izuku still reminded her this was their first year, and that they had two more chances. The reassurance seemed to lift a small weight from her shoulders. Iida enthusiastically emphasized Izuku’s point with statistics he had learned at some point. His emphatic hand motions beaned Kaminari, followed by profuse—and loud—apologies. Uraraka was smiling by the end of it though, so Izuku considered it a win.
The rest of the matches passed by in a blur of excited exclamations and muttered strategy deconstruction. About halfway through Tokoyami versus Ashido was when he realized most of the class was actually listening to him. Some of them were leaning towards him, eyes wide but curious and borderline awed. Izuku glanced around and saw it was a shared look. He felt his face begin to heat up.
“Why’d you stop?” Uraraka asked him. At Izuku’s bewildered look, she just playfully rolled her eyes. “You predicted exactly how Tokoyami was going to move before he even did it. You obviously know what you’re talking about, and we want to know how the rounds are going to go.”
“I- I don’t-“
“Come oooonn,” Kaminari borderline whined. “Tell us about the cool moves, dude! You probably know who’s going to win already!”
Izuku had…he had never really had anyone that wanted to listen. A few who tolerated him and his rambling, but never actively listened. Much less ask for him to share his thoughts.
So with the hesitancy of someone expecting to be shut down, he tentatively began sharing.
“Well…Tokoyami will probably win this one, I think. They’re both close-range fighters, but Tokoyami has defense as well, with Dark Shadow. Enough to protect him against most of what Ashido can throw at him.”
A few of his classmates nodded, glancing over at the fight down below. The two were certainly putting on a show. But, ultimately, Izuku saw his thoughts playing out in the end result.
“What about Bakugou and me?!” Kirishima asked excitedly.
Iida swung a flat hand, thankfully not hitting anyone this time. “Should you not be down in the waiting room?”
“Well yeah but-“
“It depends on how strong your quirk is,” Izuku answered, green eyes hesitantly locking with red. “Katsuki has stamina, and the power to blast through your Hardening if you can’t match it. I haven’t seen the limits of your quirk, but I have seen Katsuki’s.”
“That’s all I need, thanks man!”
Kirishima dashed off with a sharp-toothed grin shot Izuku’s way. He blinked at where the boy had disappeared. How that boy could have so much enthusiasm facing Katsuki of all people was beyond him.
Ashido was flung out of the ring a few seconds later. Tokoyami walked over and helped her to her feet, which was met with delighted laughter and compliments on his fighting. Izuku laughed at how Dark Shadow crowed about Tokoyami blushing. Judging by Uraraka’s giggling, she found it just as funny.
Kirishima and Katsuki’s fight went…about as he expected honestly. Kirishima held out until he couldn’t anymore, and Katsuki won.
That led to the semi-finals. Iida got up to face Todoroki, who had taken up a place directly behind Izuku’s chair at some point. The two nodded to each other, silent but respectful of the other. Kirishima came barreling in a moment later to break the tense atmosphere. Ashido immediately started cackling over the two dozen, hero themed bandaids on his arms, a bright red one over the bridge of his nose. Katsuki didn’t return with him.
Todoroki won, just like Izuku predicted. Although he hasn’t guessed at freezing over Iida’s exhaust pipes. The following ice under his feet was expected though. Super speed without directional change was a recipe for disaster.
Tokoyami lost to Katsuki, which was easy to expect. For Izuku, at least. At least a quarter of the class still seemed surprised that Dark Shadow had a weakness as simple as light. Against someone like Katsuki, who was basically a crackling light generator, he didn’t really have much of a chance. It was a matchup that wouldn’t have had a different result unless Tokoyami was hiding a trump card or Katsuki got caught off guard. Neither of which were likely with how little training they had and how jumpy Katsuki was.
There was supposed to be another match, one between Tokoyami and Iida to decide third place. But Iida left the stands and never emerged onto the field. Present Mic informed the stadium that something had happened, and Iida had withdrawn. Izuku shared a look with Uraraka, worry written on both their faces.
Then came the final match—the deciding fight. Katsuki versus Todoroki. Izuku…honestly didn’t know how it would turn out. Katsuki was strong, yeah, but also worn out by now. His quirk strained him if used too much. Todoroki’s did too, but ice was easier to counteract than aching hands and bones. Especially since Todoroki’s fights—besides the one against Izuku—had been over relatively quickly.
But ice could be fragile if hit right, and Todoroki didn’t seem inclined to use his fire. Not that fire would help in this situation. It was a pretty even-odds match, if Izuku had to guess. It all came down to who made specific moves.
With the sharp call to start, the two rushed at each other.
✧*。✲ﾟ
There was something wrong with UA officials. Katsuyo had never particularly liked the Sports Festival, entertaining as everyone else found it. She had been dragged along by her boss to try and scout out new interns. And she had gone—with a promise of dango after as a blatant but welcome bribe—and done her best to survey the first years. They sure were an interesting little bunch this year.
But the final round had been…brutal, almost. Lots of screaming. Katsuyo had figured that was because they were just kids still, but that wasn’t it in the end. The Todoroki boy had gone down, exhausted and injured and done, and Bakugou had gotten up and demanded he keep fighting. Going so far as to pull the other boy up by the collar and screaming more.
He had been knocked out by Midnight, thank the stars, and the two carted away to be healed.
That hadn’t been the worst of it, though.
The podium-placers emerged, third place a tie but only one kid there to receive the honor. Present Mic made sure to mention that the missing boy would still be receiving his medal at a later date. Second place stood calmly—head hung a little low for someone who had nearly won, but Katsuyo wasn’t about to judge. She had a competitive streak a league long herself. She knew how disappointing it could be to get so close.
Then she saw first place. Bakugou.
She noticed the chains first, metal links straining as Bakugou pushed against them. They wrapped around his limbs and torso, forcefully holding him against the podium.
Then she saw the box on his hands, containing his explosions. Flickers of light escaped the cracks every few seconds. It was villain grade. Meant to control deadly quirks centered around touch when a villain was being detained. They were far from comfortable.
The final thing she saw was the muzzle. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Katsuyo had to stare for a minute to fully register what it was. Steel and scuffed and why was it even there? Why did UA have one, let alone use it on a student?
She unconsciously reached up, skimming over the scars she still had on her cheekbones. Scared people do terrible things, she knew. She knew. But what did UA have to be scared of? One student? One student surrounded by pros on every side. Not a villain, a child. One child who obviously needed anger management and therapy, not a goddamned muzzle.
That wasn’t even mentioning how traumatizing that was to a person, regardless of circumstances. They were fifteen! Having their voice taken away, their movements restricted and quirk extinguished, was terrifying. She could see it in his eyes—the fear. Masked by anger, but still fear.
Katsuyo growled to herself, forcefully tamping down on her quirk as her rage rose. She couldn’t do anything from where she was. Not without storming the field. Her boss might not approve of that, and she liked her job, thank you very much. Although she would absolutely be berating the shit out of whoever approved the decision if she ran across them, and reporting this to the Hero Board of Education.
The boy continued to struggle, hissing and spitting under the muzzle, and Katsuyo clenched her fists tight to stop herself from doing something stupid.
For now all she could do was breathe, and silently hope the boy might choose their agency to intern with.
✧*。✲ﾟ
Death was a watcher. An overseer. An observer.
Death stood, invisible, in the hospital room of Iida Tensei.
He was not dead, not yet. He had come close though. Far too close. Amara knew it wasn’t the man’s time yet, but she had felt something circling the other hero. Restless souls—ones that had managed to escape her notice. Death as a concept may have claimed them, but a fraction of souls managed to slip through the cracks of judgment. Though only if they had reason to cling to Earth.
Murderers tended to be a followed by stray souls. Because of that, escaped victims of the murderer occasionally garnered the attention of a few intangible guests. Some were bitter, others were protective. The older Iida child had thankfully managed to attract three of the latter.
A heart monitor beeped in time with the hero’s still-beating heart. It had become background noise to Amara, the Reaper lost in her thoughts. She had spoken with the stray souls—heard them out fairly—and they allowed her to put them to rest. The information from them…well, it was troubling.
Amara couldn’t interfere with human matters. Not much, at least. Murderers and serial killers were a dime a dozen for how many she had seen. She despised them, but didn’t interfere. Led police and heroes closer, and made evidence just a bit easier to find, yes. But she had never directly interfered before. But none of them had ever been a danger to her person before, and she couldn’t lose another one yet. Non-mortal as her mind was, Amara did not think she could bear that weight again so soon.
Perhaps Father would forgive her if she interfered, just this once.