Musume

Chapter 17

In her hurry to reach the arena, she bumped into someone and fell back, but a strong pair of arms wrapped around her and stopped her fall.

Looking up, she found herself staring at a pair of golden colored eyes.

The eyes belonged to a man a few years older than her, with a head of blonde hair and the beginnings of a beard.

At his back, two big red wings flexed a little and caught her attention.

Soon enough, she knew who she was staring at, despite the lack of the yellow glasses that usually completed his ensemble. It was the current Number 3 Pro Hero: the Winged Hero Hawks.

Up close, he was even more handsome.

Shaking her head to rid it of the surprising thought, she realized he was still holding onto her and stepped back.

“Sorry.” She whispered, face a bit red.

“No, I’m sorry, I almost threw you to the floor, little bird.” Answered the man with a charming grin before his gaze sharpened on her. “Oh, you’re one of the participants of this year, right? Yagi Hiroyumi?”

She nodded, speechless that he remembered her name at all. She didn’t think she’d been that memorable.

“Congratulations on your victories until now.” He said as if he’d been reading her mind.

“Thank you.” Answered the girl with a shy smile.

The man blinked, as if surprised by something, and then he smiled too, eyes half-lidded and giving him a lazy look.

“Well, I guess from the hurry you were in that you must be on your way to the arena. I won’t delay you any longer, then.”

“Thank you, and sorry for bumping into you.” She apologized with a half bow.

The man just waved a hand as if saying it was nothing. Of course it wasn’t, despite not being that much taller than her, he’d not even swayed in place.

“Well, I better go back to my seat. Good luck! I’ll be keeping an eye on you, little bird!” he threw over his shoulder before disappearing.

Yumi didn’t know what to make of the strange encounter.

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The first battle of the semifinals arrived and Yumi felt strangely calm about it. She didn’t feel very hopeful about winning, but she’d give it her all.

Todoroki began with a burst of strength, launching his ice at her. She sidestepped, jumped and flipped over the ice to avoid it.

He wouldn’t use his fire, of course; it would be moot against her and they both knew it. His father didn’t, though, and she was sure it gave him a perverse sense of amusement to think that the man would be thinking he simply didn’t want to use it.

With a slight shake of her head, she focused back on the present, knowing she couldn’t lower her guard against an opponent like him.

She needed direct eye contact with her target, so she needed to approach him. However, with his ice, it was easier said than done.

The next time that he launched an attack she jumped over it again, but instead of avoiding it altogether, she used it to slide closer to him.

As soon as she was close, however, he put up a wall around himself, blocking her stare once more.

The soles of her shoes started to freeze over and she jumped back out of the ice, slipping out of her shoes easily. Her small naked feet touched the cold ground and she crouched.

The arena was empty, as she knew, with nothing in sight she could use to her advantage.

She only had her quirk, but without direct eye contact it was the same as nothing...

Still, she was nothing if not stubborn. As he launched another ice attack, she jumped over it again and flipped in the air so she’d land at his back.

Maybe if she caught him by surprise, like she had Tenya…

He didn’t turn around in time and she gave him a kick that connected with his shoulder, throwing him off-balance. She followed it up by grabbing his shirt and yanking, but he was strong and resisted her hold.

He turned in her hold and she almost smiled in triumph but… ice was covering his eyes.

Almost gently, his arms wrapped around her shoulders and she felt the ice encase her.

She couldn’t move.

“Shoto Todoroki wins!” announced Midnight.

She smiled as he started to exude warmth and unfroze her.

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The combat between Bakugo and Fumikage was unbalanced from the very beginning, with Fumikage unable to do anything but be on the defense from Bakugo’s explosions. The blonde soon discovered Dark Shadow’s weakness, light, and as soon as it happened, his victory was assured.

The final battle would be Shoto against Bakugo!

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Yumi was on the edge of her seat as she watched the fight, not even realizing how she was holding tight onto Shinso’s arm.

Shoto was defending himself well enough from Bakugo, but the other boy was enraged, probably because Shoto still hadn’t used his flames.

Izuku cheered him and then Shoto was standing on the middle of the arena, his left shoulder ignited as Bakugo launched himself directly towards him…

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Shoto saw as Bakugo got closer and closer, but to him it looked as if he was watching everything on slow motion.

Then he heard Midoriya cheering him on and realized where he was: he was in the UA festival, in the final combat where the winner would be decided, fighting the battle that all his classmates had given their everything to try and reach.

And he was still hesitating.

He was selfish, he knew, denying Bakugo a fair fight, but the memory of his mother as she poured boiling water on his face and his father keeping him away from his siblings was burned in his mind.

His flames went out.

Then another memory assaulted him. One of her voice.

‘You’re your own person and your power is your own.’ She had said.

She had looked utterly certain, with her bright red hair falling in waves to her shoulders and her green eyes shining at him.

He closed his eyes, the memory tightly gripped in the front of his mind, and launched the same attack that had done Midoriya in.

It was uncontrolled, wild, exhilarating.

‘…your power is your own…’

Yes, it was, and he would show his father that. Eventually.

He created a wall of ice behind himself in preparation for both attacks colliding and felt his shoulders hit it.

Bakugo was thrown out of the arena.

“Winner: Shoto Todoroki!”

He looked for her face first amongst the multitude, finding her smiling brightly at him and clapping and cheering.

The UA festival was over.

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The winners of the UA festival were officially announced, with Shoto Todoroki in a well-deserved first place, a fuming Katsuki Bakugo in second place and both Yagi Hiroyumi and Fumikage Tokoyami sharing a third place.

All Might himself gave them the medals, starting with Tokoyami, whom he congratulated and hugged.

“You’re very strong. However, to fight well against different kinds of people, you must not solely rely on your Quirk.” He advised.

Then he turned to her and place the medal around her neck.

“You’re proof that a strong physical quirk is not all a hero needs to succeed. Keep going!” he told her before hugging her and whispering in her ear. “I’m so proud of you, little princess.”

She felt herself grow red from the neck up, but a soft warmth grew in her chest at his declaration.

Next he turned to the second place holder, Bakugo, who almost bit his hands off when he tried to give him a hug.

“Young Bakugo, you were very impressive, a second place is nothing to be angry about, even if you strive for the top. Though your temper could use some control.”

Finally, he turned to Todoroki and repeated his previous gestures, bestowing the first place medal upon him.

“I know there’s a reason you hesitated to use your left side in the end.”

“Yes, but I’m beginning to understand that… my power is my own and like my classmates I need to give my best if I want to become a hero like you.”

“Good. You’re stare has changed too. I won’t pry for details, but know you may come to me at any time if you need advice.” He said before giving him a final hug.

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Just before leaving for home, Aizawa gathered them all in class and announced that there would be no class for the next two days, as the professional heroes who’d been watching the festival would probably want to recruit them for some practice.