Tokoyami sat there, gobsmacked as Suzuki and Todoroki were now match in match, switching between offense and defense as they demolished anything in their path. "So … he really did have a quirk." Was all he could say.
"Of course he does!" Hagakure instantly defended. "Why would we lie like that?"
"Because quirkists exist and he didn't want to be bullied?" Asui spoke out. "I mean, it's not like they haven't been before." Bakugo flinched at that.
"Oh give Iruma a little more credit than that! Does he LOOK like someone who would lie about anything?" Uraraka stated. "That face is too pure to be deceitful!"
"Forgive us Uraraka." Aoyama stated, watching the long distance slug fest. "But as someone who's had trouble with his own quirk, something on that scale is just … unimaginable."
"Yes, I never saw anyone's quirk backlash on them like this." Yaoyoruzu observed with worry, looking at the bruised purple appendages on her vice-representative. "I had to deal with dizzy spells and slight malnutrition when I first started using mine, but nothing on this level of self-damaging."
"It's manly as all hell!" Kirishima shouted. "I knew it was right to place my money on Suzuki, even if I originally thought it was just for manly support!"
"You picked good, Kirishima, you're not on the list." Hagakure patted the boy's head.
"So here's a thought." Mineta spoke up. "He breaks his fingers every time he uses his quirk, right?"
"Yes?" Jiro asked, confused.
"Well he just broke his last finger." Mineta pointed to the guy with no working fingers …
"Revalry in the dark." Tokoyami muttered.
"You were surprising Suzuki!" Todoroki shouted loud enough to hear. "But this ends now, you and that memory." Ice began creeping over to the boy.
"I'm not done yet! I still have fingers!" Wait, he wasn't thinking…"They haven't blown off, so I can still fight!" The wave of ice once again was sent towards the boy, and once again, it was shattered instantly.
"Suzuki is a mad lad Eraser! I thought you said he had survival instincts!?"
"Honestly I'm as surprised as you are on that one."
"Iruma-kun..." He heard Hagakure whisper as she watched the fight in clear agony. "He's not worth it. Why are you pushing yourself this far? Why do you let people hurt you like this?"
"What the hell is he supposed to do?" Kaminari complained. "Suzuki has to break bones and Todoroki has infinite ice!"
"It's not infinite." Bakugo spoke up, the class turning. "He's pushing his power too far."
"What are you talking about?" Kirishima asked.
"No quirk is infinite, they're all biological. The guy's resistant to cold, he's not immune to it. He's at the epicenter of an arctic blizzard."
"But Suzuki said he has fire…" Iida started. "Fire that he said he'd get him to use…"
"Wow." Bakugo blinked. "Never took Dodger to want a challenge like that. Just like De-Mido.." Bakugo stopped before he could finish. True, he assumed Bakugo was the only violent one.
"No..this is his way of helping." Uraraka most assuredly shared the same expression Hagakure had. "He wants to help Todoroki!"
Suzuki finally got close as Todoroki took some time to breath, now repeatedly punching the boy in the face. "Want to rephrase that?" Dark shadow asked with a raised eye.
"...It's complicated." Was all the group of Iida, Hagakure, Uraraka, and Mineta said.
==
"Our son is a late bloomer!" The two Suzuki's cheered, laughing as they hugged. "He's not completely worthless, we can get some more use other than labor." Hachi smiled at his beloved.
"Just think of it, he has the potential to become rich and famous. Commercials, movie deals, merchandise, there's so much to invest in now that he's in UA!" His wife cheered. "I thought our chance at being rich were gone the moment we sold that demon summoning book!"
"And he's so powerful too. Just look at it, he's going toe to toe with the son of the number two as well." He smiled. "We've got to start taking an active part of his life now." Hachi muttered. "We need to make sure he lives up to his fame."
"I guess we'll have to make sure he doesn't waste too much time on those pesky side jobs either. We may actually have to start doing work ourselves." She pouted. Neither of them have had a job in over a decade, not since their little money bag was born.
He held Tien close, hands gloved. "Don't worry, we have enough stockpiled we can go for at least one year. We just have to limit our spending." They couldn't indulge like they did, but it was sure to work out. "Except for tonight, we celebrate."
"Oh, the usual then?" She smirked. "Fancy restaurant, walk in the park, that thing I do with my mouth."
"You've always had such a smart mouth." He cradled her in his arms. "To living an easy life."
"To training our little puppy so well."
==
"You!" He punched the boy again. "Have!" And again. "To! Forget! About! Your! Dad!" Each sentence was punctuated with a 'cooked chicken punch' … man, heroes had these cool names, he needed something better sounding other than the metaphor for when he fought … oh, how about tap! Like tap water.
"Believe me when I say the only thing on my mind is you getting frozen solid!" Todoroki sputtered out as he was knocked against the pavement.
"You can't freeze me, I break ice!" Suzuki punctuated it with a punch to the gut this time, causing cracks in the pavement. "You're weak! Weaker than before because ice is all you've been using the entire time!"
"I don't need to be at...full...power….to crush you!" Todoroki was starting to stutter as his breath became more quick and heavy.
"I don't know much about quirks, I barely know about how mine works…" Iruma said, seeing as his opponent was struggling. Also his quirk was HAUNTED, that was something he needed to explore at some point. "But I know about hypothermia. The air's pretty thin around you, your vision is getting blurry, you're slanting to the side more and more. Soon you'll pass out, and that'll be a lame way to lose."
"I'd rather pass out … then use the bastard's quirk!" Todoroki began creating a soft frost by touching his leg, forcing Iruma to flick between them, giving the boy the distance once more.
"Why do you keep saying that!? Am I fighting your dad right now!?" Iruma was really starting to get irritated...it was a new feeling he wasn't sure he was comfortable with. "Quirks are just tools that people use! You're the one with fire and ice, so it's your quirk, your tool to use!" He ran to him and sent another punch to the boy's gut. "I'm mad at my parents, but I'm not going to dye my hair just because I share their color!"
"My quirk…" Todoroki repeated those words. "My quirk…"
"Yes! It's your quirk! Nobody else's! You choose how you use it!" Iruma shouted back.
For a few seconds the boy simply looked at him, silent and shaking … then he exploded in a ball of flames. Iruma could do nothing but smile, he did what he achieved to do … his own little goal … it felt nice.
==
Todoroki felt a warmth he hadn't felt in his entire life, or maybe he was too young to remember. The warmth in his heart as he looked at the boy in front of him, hands fucked beyond recognition and mouth stuck in this grinning state. "You're a fucking moron, you know that? Making your opponent stronger."
"Yeah, but you looked like you needed help." Suzuki….no….Iruma kept that bright smile, a smile that didn't belong on the body of a boy about to be turned to ash...a smile that looked like it could rival All Might's.
"You look so damn happy. Why? You know you're about to lose."
"Probably, but I helped you. So now I know everything will be okay."
'Everything will be okay, because I AM HERE'. Those words he remembered so vividly from so long ago, watching it while in his mother's lap...him asking her if it was okay to be a hero.
'Of course you can. You're Shoto Todoroki. You can be whatever you want to be.'
"That was the cheesiest thing you could have said … so come on then." He began shifting his body, the frost finally gone. "A final clash, this time with a punch!"
"Both of you stop, we've clearly passed a danger point!" Midnight tried to shout.
"Alright then, give it your all, Todoroki!" Iruma looked to him with that determined grin, either not hearing or ignoring Midnight as the rest of his body began to light up in red x's, the force from the sheer build up of power creating tremendous winds that were blowing back the entire stadium.
Todoroki started with ice, letting it fly at the boy. Iruma dodged it, now running along it while winding his arm back, but that was a feint. Now that the air was cooled, he would wait until he was close enough … and release a burst of heat to create an explosion could only dream of.
"RIGHT … HOOK … PUNCH!" What a lame name to end it on. Their attacks collided with a few of Cementos's barriers, but even that didn't slow them down.
BOOOOOOOOM!!!
White and noise overtook Todoroki, having to raise his arms as he froze his legs over, force blowing across the entire stadium.
" What the heck Aizawa! Your kids are insane! Where did that explosion come from!?"
"The air pressure was changed as it was suddenly cooled and then rapidly heated, causing it to expand."
He actually used fire...and it felt great. Like a piece of himself that was looked away...a piece of him...and only him. "Iruma….thank you." He looked over the stage, and didn't see any sign of the boy.
"Where is Suzuki!" Midnight's shout brought him to look around, unable to see him either. He didn't blow him out of the arena, did he?
"ROCKET MAN!" No, it was Iruma, coming from a small gap in the concrete holes that were left when the walls formed, using his own foot to launch himself straight at Todoroki, knocking them both off onto the ground … with Iruma on top of the latter.
"Why you…" He tried to get back up...but he couldn't. His own body was beyond exhausted..and his vision was starting to get blurry...Iruma was right about the hypothermia.
His entire vision was black, but he was still conscious enough to hear the world around him. "Todoroki was out of bounds first, Iruma Suzuki is the winner!" Well that sucked … mostly.
"Come on, let's get you to the nurse." He could hear the boy say, carrying him up as they were led out.
==
Endeavor was overjoyed. Sure the boy was knocked out of bounds, but he finally used his fire. This was a win in his books! Just needed to train it up at an internship, and nothing would stop them.
"Haha! I called it! Totally called it!" Now he had to ignore the one headache he would have to deal with the rest of the festival: Miriko's bragging and the audience's shock. "That kid is totally nuts! It's great!"
"He is fun. We should have been recording. I want to loop the moment where the boy's face is in utter 'I have become an error', or hang it on a wall, which is less effort." Hawks chuckled.
"Completely took me by surprise." Best Jeanist observed. "Bakugo might not be the only wild child that needs to be tamed."
"That raises the question." Edgeshot spoke up. "Do you really want to try taming that?"
"The quirk is quite powerful, but he'll become a liability if he makes one wrong move." Gang Orca summed up the Suzuki problem quite easily. "It might be too much of a risk to take on such an impulsive and self-destructive student."
"Are you kidding?" Miriko grinned. "Impulsive and self-destructive is my middle name. I'm taking on all the crazies and making the next generation as kick ass as possible. Imagine it, all this potential to make every hero as badass as me."
Every hero in the room shivered. "I think we all prefer living, little bunny." Hawks voiced the only sensible answer to such an idea. "Still, I'd pay good money to see you actually make something out of this, assuming he's interested in working with you…"
"And what's that supposed to mean?" She gave a half playful, half serious glare.
"Well I mean he's obviously gonna go for the best offer right?" He shrugged. "Top hero and all that. Heck, his quirk is closer to All Might, and that dude's been cheering the boy on."
Every hero turned to the nervous Toshinori. Hawks was never wrong when it came to sensing the environment, despite his young age and inexperience. It was kind of unnerving to be that socially trained. "Ah….he's one of my students at UA, of course I like seeing his progress."
"And yet he's the only one you muttered 'Plus Ultra' during his fight alone." Yes...the man was cheering on a child with a similar quirk of his own.
"I've trained him to properly handle the strain of his quirk." Well it looked like he failed utterly on that front if the boy's quirk caused this much backlash. Wait a second …
"Now I get it." Endeavor spoke up. "The training of his body, the similar quirk, the emotional connection, it all makes sense." Yagi got really nervous, he could see it. Time to spill the beans, you 'perfect bastard'. "He's your secret love child." It all made perfect sense!
The man grabbed a handkerchief and began coughing into it, ah, caught red handed weren't you? It was obvious a man this high up couldn't be asexual, clearly he was infactuated with a woman on the side. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, don't get the wrong idea here! I'm just his trainer, that's all!"
"Right, just his trainer." Gang Orca nodded. "Because we're better than just calling someone out like that."
"Why do you make it sound like it's fact!?"
"It's not like you'd be the first top hero to sleep around." Hawks rolled his eyes. "Have you heard the rumors about Stars and Stripes with her team?"
"Hey, I've known Cassie for years, I can assure you there's nothing like that going on with her!"
"Well what about the rumor that Eraser, Mic, and Joke are in a threesome?" Miriko asked with a teasing grin.
"The fact you think Aizawa could fall for anyone is a miracle." That was a fair assessment, but the number one bastard was diverting from the main topic!