Chapter Text
“…”
“…”
“So… It’s come to this”
It’s quiet.
The air is still and no one dares move a muscle.
The purest of serenity— most tranquil of feelings.
The calm before the storm.
“Yes… I suppose—“
A towering wall of ice looms ahead— a beast only comparable to the ice age’s great glaciers of pure Hellish chill.
“— It has ”
/
Fumikage felt a pit in his gut that only grew more with each passing day.
The sensation was not new to him— but right now it was starting to feel suffocating .
What most people didn't know was that he had an inherent ability to “sense” things, if you will. It’s a very vague description for an equally vague ability, but it was an ability he’s always had.
Sometimes he just knows when something will go wrong, or if someone is experiencing a spike in emotional state like anger or sadness to give an example.
When there is an abundance of things he “senses”, the pit will grow. A similar thing will happen if he, too, is experiencing excessive mental distress— and right now he’s been feeling a combination of both.
Mainly— the unresolved tension his class has been exhibiting, and his own internal conflict.
Fumikage is sure everyone else has come to this same conclusion, but the origin of such conflict started with that damned glass cup.
Sometimes he’ll think back on that day in bewilderment. He almost didn’t want to believe that it had even happened to begin with— but alas, the truth is the truth no matter how much irrelevance you drown it in.
The conversation unsettled him to his very core, and he had to actively talk down his companion— DarkShadow— from lashing out at them all.
The thick cloud of pure confusion he felt that day still weighed down on him, and he couldn’t help but think ‘why?’.
“I know right?! You’d think that some of them wouldn’t think that way! I mean— it just doesn’t make any sense!! ” DarkShadow cried from inside Fumikage’s mind.
Ahh, seems his mental musings have been interrupted.
“ Isn’t Ashido extremely against bullying? And what about Koda? He’s so gentle and kind— you’d think he would see right through all that pure bullshit!! ” DarkShadow wailed. Fumikage couldn't help but share the sentiment.
‘Why’ is a very good question.
The betrayal he’d felt was very similar to Jiro’s— he remembers vaguely feeling— when he noticed Shouji was a part of the “quirkless are weak and must be protected” group.
Yeah. ‘Why’ indeed.
He never did get an answer to that question— however.
Part of Fumikage recognizes his classmates probably didn’t mean anything by it, and it could be resolved with a simple conversation—but the larger and more dominant part of himself also recognizes how obvious it should have been.
And it only became louder the more he subtly asked ‘why’.
“Could Midoriya be upset because of the things you said about the girl on the news?” Fumikage casually inquired.
“Of course not! Why would he be?” Mina confusedly replied.
It was honestly becoming a bit irritating in how perplexing the situation was.
“ Have you perhaps thought that what you said about the girl was callous? I wouldn’t say quirkless people are any weaker than someone with a quirk” Fumikage suggested.
“Aren’t they a little underdeveloped though? Maybe that also means they have weaker mental resistance. I wish I could have helped her though…” Shouji said sadly.
That one particularly stung.
It was like a mass hysteria, but more centered around seemingly common belief than non-threats.
It was like these “concerns” were about issues someone— anyone— could have, but directly putting them on quirkless people.
How was that any different from discrimination and bias against mutant type quirks? Against villainous type quirks? Weak quirks? Heroic quirks?
All things Fumikage has seen a lot of his classmates are aware of and actively dislike.
“What’s the difference?” DarkShadow bemoaned.
Fumikage didn’t know.
But he sure wished he did.
Because the pit in his gut won’t stop growing, and he doubts he’ll be able to hold DarkShadow back a second time.
/
Monoma Neito was a little on edge.
Could you really blame him though? The icy Zuko clone and his band of well-meaning subordinates were planning on re-enacting the goddamn sports festival who knows when (and though they don’t officially know, Neito’s drama heart can sense the looming storm clouds from a mile away), and he knew very well how well that went the first time—
Pure terrified awe at the sheer display of power— two Demi-gods walking amongst man and fighting for some vague reason with biased watchers as their overwhelming witness. Bones were broken, dark bruises mimicking space nebula made, and all for what? He didn’t know— and he questioned if he did want to and what it would mean for him if he ever found out.
He’s always wanted to be more than the side character in the drama play that was his life, but somewhere during that fight, he started questioning whether it was worth it if it meant tangling with the likes of them.
—Neito shivers at the memory.
But, Nieto supposed, it wasn’t actually going to be the sports festival.
His fellow classmates in 1-B that were currently not in the know would call today’s training “ a simple joint training exercise ” and he’d scoff quietly to himself and internally cackle deep inside his cold, dead heart.
But— Despite the looming promise of almost definite doom sooner or later, he does recognize it’s still a training exercise on training grounds, and not in a stadium with thousands watching— waiting for a showing of gods.
So with this knowledge held close to his chest, he steels his nerves and marches towards the training fields with his beloved classmates in-tow.
As Vlad-Sensei goes off to mingle with the other teachers, he spies his partners in crime already grouped together.
He smirks when Jiro catches his eye and she smirks back.
“Oh look— a blond weasel” Jiro fake sneers at him.
“Oh look— an emo with no taste in fashion” Neito snipes back.
“Oh look— a walking superiority complex” Jiro hums.
“Oh look—“
“Are you done?” Shinsou said with his own smirk as he cut Neito off.
Jiro and Neito share a look before snorting in unison.
“I suppose we could withhold this battle for later…” Neito relents— albeit reluctantly. He had some good ones thought up and he was just warming up!
“Yo” Midoriya says, giving a lazy wave as he strolls up next to Shinosu.
Neito makes a show of looking Midoriya up and down “You seem rather calm and confident for what’s bound to be happening in the next couple-ish minutes…” Neito assesses before looking over at the teachers; Smirking to himself. “But I suppose that’s just to be expected from 1-A’s resident delinquent” he snarks.
Midoriya obnoxiously snorts in surprise as he questions “ Delinquent? ” in an amused tone.
Shinosu lightly bumps Midoriya’s shoulder. “I mean… he’s got a point ” Shinsou helpfully points out.
“You are the one who’s most actively broken the most laws and attracted the most problems” Jiro muses, bringing her hand up to her chin in faux thought.
Midoriya glares at them, but Neito can tell it’s all playful and holds no malice.
Just as Neito is about to snark out something else, the teachers call to attention.
“As you’ve all probably already guessed, we will be doing a joint training exercise today. You’ve all been steadily polishing and working out your fighting styles with your individual classes, so it’s likely come as no surprise to many of you that we would bring both freshman heroics classes together to assess each other. You can still partner up with whoever you’d like, but do try to observe your other classmates in between spars to get more outside perspectives for more ideas to help yourselves out.” Vlad-Sensei rattled off as both Aizawa-Sensei and AllMight stood next to him. Neito honestly wasn’t paying too much attention as he was currently vibrating with nerves for how this Showdown™ was going to go.
“And with that out of the way, you may all go find your sparring partners and get started” Vlad-Sensei dismissed.
Neito didn’t try to spare even a little subtlety as he shamelessly whipped his head over to the approaching remnants of the “Deku Squad” and some new stragglers.
At the front of the pack is, as expected, Todoroki Shouto himself. He looks like a walking candy cane on a mission and everyone “In the know” knew exactly what that mission was. Neito could barely keep the grin threatening to split open on his face as he saw how serious Todoroki seemed about this whole situation.
Part of Neito also wanted to take this seriously— but another, more larger part of himself also saw the sheer comedic nature of this entire situation— so really, Neito should be given an award for being able to keep his trademark smirk off his face.
“Midoriya” Todoroki says, voice steely and determined— yet still stoic by Todoroki trademark.
“Yes Todoroki?” Midoriya asks in faux cluelessness. Neito has to hand it to the guy— if he didn’t know about the sheer chaos that was coming, he himself wouldn’t have known Midoriya was playing an acting game at all.
“Would you like to be my sparring partner? I would actually like to talk to you about something as well” Todoroki states— to the point, but not obviously giving anything away. Neito inwardly scoffs.
“Sure! We haven’t sparred in a while… It’ll be nice to have one again” Midoriya replies joyfully, walking off with Todoroki for a “sparring match”.
Funnily enough, Midoriya’s trademark bouncy nature seems to slightly put off the “Deku Squad”— almost like the way he is “supposed” to act was exactly what was making them uneasy.
There was an awkward bout of silence between the two opposing groups as Todoroki and Midoriya both walked away. Neito, however, didn’t miss the subtle way Midorya turned around and winked at them with a small, but no less impish smirk.
‘God I loved this Strike Squad. You know… that actually has a nice ring to it—‘ Neito thought to himself as he turned to both Jiro and Shinsou.
Neito was not disappointed when both of them showed clear mirth and amusement in their mere eyeballs. He was also pleasantly surprised with the subtle blush also decorating Shinsou’s face.
‘ I’m surrounded by a bunch of nerds ’ Neito cackled inwardly.
“ Hey ”
Neito’s internal evil laugh was suddenly interrupted by… Uraraka?
Neito is ashamed to admit… he’d completely forgotten the large group of people that was standing right next to him.
Now that the two protagonists of the hour were off to go duke it out, Neito had the time to actually take stock of how the “Skeptic Squad” or, more accurately, the “Oblivious Squad” is faring.
Here’s a hint— the answer was fucking hilarious .
Most of the group shared a healthy amount of anticipation, but also sprinkles of premature relief founded by false confidence in Todoroki’s accuracy in assessing the “situation” and his promise to “fix it”. Uraraka herself looks to have ditched the whole confidence thing and seems to have gotten spiked with a dash of arrogance.
Neito knows exactly how to deal with people like this.
Sparing Uraraka a sideways glance, Neito puts on a cocky look— one eyebrow raised and sharp sideways smirk — the perfect blend of acknowledging the call-out and still holding an ‘ I dare you to continue ’ edge that Uraraka best be careful not to get cut on.
Taking this as a challenge, Uraraka states her piece.
“You guys seem to have gotten awfully close… How'd that happen? No— I’m going right to the point— you’ve all got a hand in the way Deku-Kun’s been acting, don’t you ?” Uraraka says dangerously close to a spat; pointing an accusing finger their way.
Funnily, the rest of the “Oblivious Squad” recoiled in surprise at the sudden spike in hostility. However, interestingly enough, some of the members actually seem to be going through a sort of revelation of their own.
Nobody, however, actually gets the chance to either refute or agree with Uraraka’s claim as Neito bursts out into hysterical laughter.
“PFFFTHAHahahaha— this can’t get any better— I fucking swear to the gods above and all that is righteous that if you all are actually serious I will throw either Shinsou or Jiro at you— whoever’s closest—“
Both Shinsou and Jiro noticeably shuffle a bit away, slowly .
Uraraka actually sputters at that.
“W-what? Of course I’m serious! Deku-Kun’s only gotten worse ever since he’s been hanging out with Shinsou and now you guys! You’re doing something— I know it—“ Uraraka rattled off, trying desperately to make a point.
“Get to your groups!” A shout from
one of the teachers was heard in the distance, mercifully cutting Uraraka off.
This left the two groups at a standstill.
That is… until Shinsou stepped up— eyes hard and voice cold .
“ What are you implying? ” Shinosu hisses out.
“W-well—“
“GROUPS. NOW.” A teacher yells again.
It’s clear to both parties that this conversation is over as Momo calmly puts a hand on Uraraka’s shoulder. Momo doesn’t look mad, but she does send sad eyes towards Jiro as the group hesitantly breaks apart and pairs off for the exercise.
Neito takes stock of his own group, his manic eyes going soft with what he finds.
Jiro is standing stalk still— staring at where Momo was, her face trying desperately to remain stoic and calm. Whereas Shinsou is visibly shaking— his fists and jaw clenched tight .
Neito lightly bumps Shinsou’s arm before asking “Oi, you alright?”.
Shinsou just looks down at the ground “I thought the hero course would be different… Obviously it’s not, I already knew this through Izuku, but— “ Shinsou mumbles quietly, almost too quiet to hear.
Sighing loudly, Neito claps both Jiro and Shinsou on the shoulder.
“Look, the whole reason this group started in the first place was so we could fix this. I was fine just antagonizing 1-A in the past, but now I recognize it’s better to share my wisdom from 1-B to help fix each other for the better— as fucking cheesy as that sounds— “ Neito mutters quickly at the end, but the message still gets across.
Shinsou and Jiro both noticeably relax. Not fully— never fully— but still enough.
At least enough for Jiro to split a grin and come back with a “yeah that was pretty cheesy— didn’t know you would stoop so low Monoma— “
“Just take my fucking knowledge with silence and appreciation” Neito hisses like a stray cat.
Both Shinsou and Jiro laugh loudly at that— Both of them pointedly pairing off while Neito is left to go find his own partner somewhere else.
Neito gives himself a mental pat on the back for a job well done .
Looking over at Canadian-flag-McGee and Chaos-Lord-Midoriya, Neito smirks to himself and whispers a quick “ May the plot be ever in your favor ” before walking off to go find a partner.
/
The time has come.
The stage is set and the scene is ready to commence at any moment.
Many would say it all started at shattered glass shards and water puddles, but the truth of the matter is the story has only just begun.
Power . Such an interesting concept.
A thing that can mean so many different things and Influence many in such different ways.
Is it the illusion of power that gives people the ability to do things, or is it power itself that gets things done?
Is a tick as powerful as a giant if it brings it down with a disease, or is the giant more powerful because of its size and strength?
Though, I suppose the real question I should be asking is… does it matter?
…
Let’s find out, shall we?
/
“Midoriya” Shouto said as he stared Midoriya down.
“We’ve all noticed you’ve been acting off recently, and I believe I know why…” Shouto claims as he searches Midoriya’s face for any expression. Weirdly enough, it looks calm— and if Shouto squints— he can almost see a hint of boredom .
Despite that though, Shouto continues anyway.
“And because of that… I will help you like you helped me ”
It’s silent. Neither dares move a muscle as a tense air settles over the two of them.
Then, Midoriya does something even more unexpected.
He sighs .
Long, and disappointed .
“So… It’s come to this” Midoriya finally says. It sounds like it should be a question, but it’s stated so flatly it’s hard for Shouto to even figure out what he means by that.
Shouto merely stares at Midoriya again, a question resting on his lips, but Shouto stays close mouthed and silent.
The beginnings of sparring from everyone else on the P.E. field fills the deafening silence with background noise— muted by the intensity roiling off both Shouto and Midoriya in waves.
“Yes…” Shouto finally decides on the appropriate response.
Both parties tense their muscles, ready for a fight— a duel— a battle .
“I suppose— it has ”
Shouto says no more. Wanting to get this over and done with— He sends out a giant ice-glacier to intercept any attack Midoriya might have tried to send his way. Shouto knows Midoriya has a competitive streak as wide as Bakugo’s when it comes to winning, so hopefully the threat of getting encased in a giant stream of ice would do the trick and get Midoriya to use his quirk.
Shouto remembers the Sport’s Festival clearly, how Midoriya ruthlessly kept coming no matter what Shouto threw at him. How Midoriya blasted apart his very fingers to get Shouto to see reason.
Now Midoriya’s the one claiming he “doesn’t need his quirk” and has already shown he will not be using it anytime soon, so compared to the Sports Festival, Midoriya is powerless to stop the sheer amount of Ice.
Shouto just hopes he will be able to at least help half as well as Midoriya did…
…
It’s silent again.
The air is blasted with cold and the entire field feels suddenly chilly. People abruptly stopped in their sparring to gaze in awe at the large spikes of ice comparable to a demented wave from the 9th circle of hell.
They say silence is deafening— and this moment just further proves that saying more .
However, Just as Shouto huffs in dissatisfaction at not being able to get Midoriya to use his quirk to, at the very least, get out of the way— there’s finally some sound that cuts— quite literally— through the silence.
Literal— as in Midorya himself was chilling at the very top of the glacier by holding himself up on the side of one of the ice spikes with a fucking knife .
It was comparable to fucking Spider-Man casually sticking to the side of a building looking out over the city.
Nobody even has the time to be surprised, however, before Midoriya is using the Ice as a ramp— sliding down the wave and avoiding spikes at high speeds as he makes his way down towards Shouto.
Still no green sparks of lightning .
Scrambling to find something— anything to do— Shouto contemplated sending more ice, but he quite quickly realizes that’s probably a stupid idea. So instead when Midoriya rockets towards the bottom and almost flies at Shouto with the built up momentum, Shouto opts to just send a blast of fire in Midoriya’s direction.
…Which immediately gets annihilated by a stream of fluffy foam from— is that a mini fire extinguisher?
In sheer surprise Shouto stumbles back awkwardly, at a loss for what to even do as Midoriya goes in to fight close combat.
By sheer luck Shouto is able to send out a small stream of ice that forces Midoriya to jump out of the way— taking Shouto out of the immediate danger zone for a split second that lets him sablize himself once more.
Turning quickly to face Midoriya once more, Shouto’s newly gained balance is almost immediately destroyed as Midoriya throws the knife he had from earlier at Shouto — forcing him to throw himself out of the way and lose balance again .
Shouto has just about had enough when the hairs on the back of his neck suddenly stand on end.
Shouto quickly looks behind him— running on pure instinct— before he’s frozen in place by what he sees.
Midoriya is mere inches away from Shouto— his eyes glowing an eerie toxic green accompanied by a sharp grin splitting his face.
Shouto didn’t stand a chance as the back of his neck was sharply hit and his entire world went dark.
“I win”