Musume

Chapter 15

The next obstacle was dubbed by their teachers as ‘The Fall’. It was a big chasm with some rocky platforms tied between themselves by ropes.

Of course, she was passed again by Todoroki in this part, soon followed by Bakugo and Tenya. It didn’t bother her much, though, knowing the best she could expect in this trial was to be amongst the first ten. Probably.

And then Midoriya did his thing, using that brilliant brain of his, and launched himself to the very front.

Literally.

Yumi couldn’t help a sigh, even as she turned her attention back to the race.

Fortunately, Midoriya’s actions were enough to spur on the others and Todoroki decided to throw caution to the wind and use his ice again. She had a free way to the front.

In the end, Yumi was not the first, but she was amongst the first ten, and more importantly, amongst the first forty two that passed onto the next round.

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The second trial, the cavalry battle, wasn’t as difficult as it should’ve, with Shinso and Yumi immediately striking up an alliance with Shoji and Asui.

Shinso would use his quirk on people to get them to look into her eyes, whilst she would freeze them; Shoji would not only act as their front horse, but use his multiple arms to defend their points and Asui would use her long tongue to snatch up the points off other teams. Of course, the boys carried her, as she was the slightest out of the three.

There was nothing much worth mentioning except for the fact that they finished in –second place.

The  five teams that passed onto the next trial were: Shoto Todoroki, Momo Yaoyorozu, Iida Tenya and Denki Kaminari; Yagi Hiroyumi, Mezo Shoji, Hitoshi Shinso, Tsuyu Asui; Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, Hanta Sero; Neito Monoma, Kosei Tsuburaba, Sen Kaibara, Shihai Kuroiro; Izuku Midoriya, Ochako Uraraka, Fumikage Tokoyami, Mei Hatsume.

The last two passed because they had a tie and, upon discovering that the last trial would be a one-on-one combat, four students decided to back down. Mezo Shoji was amongst those who decided to retire, knowing very well he was the type more geared towards gathering information than a frontal assault.

He wouldn’t know it for a long time, but his intelligent and wary decision earned him the attention of a few heroes.

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“Hi, Todoroki, we were looking for you.” Said Yumi trying to appear nonchalant at the tenseness between Izuku and Todoroki.

She was alone, for once, and she’d found them hiding in one of the shaded entrances. She wasn’t ashamed to admit she’d listened to part of their conversation too.

“Yagi.” Nodded the boy in greeting. “What did you need?”

Yumi tilted her head to the side as she looked at him and shrugged.

“We were going to get something from the cafeteria and head to the forest for lunch. I was wondering if you wanted to join us.”

Todoroki nodded and pushed away from the wall he’d been leaning against, ready to follow her.

“Izuku, Uraraka and Tenya seemed to be looking for you. See you later!” she added as an afterthought.

Once they were far enough from the boy and the cafeteria came in sight, she stopped and looked at her companion, head once more tilted to the side.

“What?” he prompted after a few seconds.

“Nothing, just…” Yumi hesitated before carefully reaching a hand out and taking his left hand in her own, surprising him with the bold move. “You’re not that man’s tool, you know that, right? You’re much more than that: you’re your own person and your power is your own. You shouldn’t let him have that much power over you. Everyone is giving their best in this festival… you should be able to do the same.”

Todoroki blinked at her, seeming surprised by her words, but he did nothing else, just stood there looking at her.

“You know what? Forget I said anything. Let’s just catch up to the others.” Said the girl suddenly blushing and dropping his hand.

Shoto stared after her as he felt his hand tingle with a warmth that had nothing to do with his quirk.

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All Might stared at the place Endeavor had disappeared. He wasn’t feeling too well after their talk.

The implication of Endeavor’s words, of how he had created Shoto with the sole purpose of surpassing him…

It made him think of his own child: the idea of doing something like that to her made him sick.

Following this course had been her choice, he’d never pushed her to it and in fact would’ve been much more relaxed if she had chosen to pursue a less risky career.

He felt sorry for Todoroki Shoto and for Endeavor too; the man probably didn’t understand all he was missing out on by treating his own son as a tool.

With a sigh, he made sure no one was looking and reverted back to his weaker form. He wanted nothing more than to hug his daughter close for a few minutes, but that would have to wait if he didn’t want to distract her.

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“Hey, guys, are you ready to see the one-on-one combats of the first year students of UA!? Although it could be said it was only amongst class 1-A students except for Neito Monoma from class 1-B! What are you teaching your students, Aizawa!?”

At Present Mic’s words, the students felt a surge of adrenaline for the coming fights.

As there had only been five teams because of a tie, the school had decided not to put forward any more participants so it was mostly people from 1-A competing.

And so the first two combatants made their way to the center of the stage.

“Here we have our first combat! Midoriya Izuku vs Shinso Hitoshi!”

Izuku looked about ready to pee his pants from nerves, whilst Shinso was outwardly very calm, only belied by the way his fists were clenched.

She sent a silent apology to Izuku before cheering Shinso on, Fumikage and Mezo sitting next to her in silent support.

The combat was pretty evenly matched, with both boys being in a similar physical shape and Izuku’s lack of control over his new quirk. Both of them had knowledge of what the other’s quirk entailed.

Shinso started provoking Izuku almost immediately, though no one could hear what he was saying outside of Izuku, being too far from him. She could see him playing with his voice modulator too, so she was sure he was adding to the effects of whatever provocations he was spouting.

At some point, though, he must have stroke a cord because despite knowing he shouldn’t Izuku replied to him.

And then he was under the power of Brainwash.

Shinso immediately must have ordered him to step out of the combat area, because Izuku started to walk back.

However, in a surprising move that even she hadn’t foreseen ―assured of her friend’s victory as she’d been― Izuku somehow freed himself.

After that, the battle soon became physical and, although Shinso did a good job, showing new moves that reminded her of Aizawa-sensei, it wasn’t enough when Midoriya pointed his fingers at the floor and blew it up with his strength.

After the combat, Shinso quietly made his way to her as Cementoss worked on reconstructing the area and sat down on the place vacated by Todoroki behind her. She turned around to look at him, concerned, but he seemed pretty calm.

“It’s fine, just getting to the final round is enough for me.”

She felt he was being truthful, but she could see he was still frustrated.

“Shinso…”

“Just do your best, Yumi; show those idiots that our quirks can get us far too.”

Yumi stared at his resolute face and nodded.

Then she turned around to watch the next combat.

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“You’re in my way.”

Endeavor stood in the middle of the corridor, his back to the wall and arms crossed over his chest.

“You’re acting shamefully, Shoto. If you had used the power of your left side in the first and second trials, you would’ve gotten a decisive victory.” Said Endeavor. “Stop with this childish rebellion; your duty is to surpass All Might. Do you understand? You’re different from your siblings. You’re a masterpiece!”

Shoto paused where his was walking past his father and looked up at him, seeing those blue eyes widen in clear surprise.

‘…You’re your own person and your power is your own…’

Her words still rang in his ears and he sighed.

Without a word, he turned around and left.

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Turns out the next combat was rather anticlimactic.

Shoto Todoroki froze half the stadium and his opponent with it, putting an early end to the combat.

From where she sat watching him unfreeze Hanta Sero, Yumi couldn’t help thinking that he looked extremely lost in that moment.

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The third combat was slightly more interesting, it being Kaminari Denki against Eijiro Kirishima.

Kaminari went all out from the beginning, releasing a strong electrical current around himself that would’ve knocked out most people. Unfortunately for him, Kirishima’s resistance was strong as he hardened his body and he was able to withstand it.

After that, with Kaminari becoming almost brain-dead, Kirishima had it easy.

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The combat between Iida Tenya and Mei Hatsume was… interesting.

The girl was clearly just toying with him, using her ‘babies’ to show off the versatility of her inventions.

And Tenya clearly also knew it, much to his shame and frustration.

Shinso felt a bit better about his own combat after watching that one, even when a guy from class 1-B bumped into him from behind.

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Next up where Mina Ashido and Neito Monoma.

When Ashido approached for a bodily-fight, Monoma suddenly stood her attack without flinching, his arms growing sharp edges.

“Wait… isn’t that…?” started Shoji.

“…Hardening.” Finished Yumi in a whisper.

A few seats away from them, Kirishima stood up and shouted.

“Come on, there can’t be another with my Quirk!”

Then Present Mic explained Monoma’s own quirk and she understood. He must’ve come into contact with Kirishima shortly before the combat began.

With the power of Hardening, Monoma stood Ashido’s attacks and even returned them, throwing the girl away from him.

Then Monoma said something and Ashido answered and… she froze before starting to walk backwards to the edge of the arena.

Yumi looked at Shinso from the corner of her eyes, understanding his frustration and irritation as his own quirk got Monoma past the first round of combats.

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Finally it was Fumikage’s turn and they all cheered for him as both the bird-like teen and Yaoyorozu entered the combat area.

Fumikage didn’t allow Yaoyorozu time to create anything and launched a hard offensive attack against her with Dark Shadow.

With Yaoyorozu, not giving her time to think was the best option and he did it perfectly as he pushed her out of the limits of the arena. Then he bowed and returned to his seat.

And then it was Yumi’s turn.