Izuku's first match was against Hitoshi Shinsou. He was the purple haired kid from Gen ed.

  "You're obviously Mask.." a voice said on Izuku's left.

  Izuku nodded to the boy.

  "You must be Shinsou." He signed.

  To Izuku's confusion, the other teenager just scowled and walked away.

  It took ten minutes for the arena to be set up, and Izuku was called down.

  "Good luck Mask!" Ochako cheered.

  Todoroki gave him a thumbs up alongside Izumi. The rest of class 1A gave him calls of "good luck" and "you've got this bro!".

  Izuku walked out of the tunnel, stepping up onto the concrete arena and walking halfway to the centre. Shinsou was directly opposite him,and Midnight was stood to the left of the arena.

  "Are you both ready?" The hero asked.

  Both students nodded.

  "Let the first match begin!" She said.

  "It must be great, being born with such a powerful quirk. You're born with a ticket straight to the top, you must feel so blessed." Shinsou said.

  Izuku just shook his head.

  "How do you think I got my prosthetic arm? You think someone 'blessed' gets messed up like this by his sister's friends?" Izuku signed.

  The white haired teen ran towards his opponent. Shinsou growled, throwing a punch towards Izuku. It was a terrible attack, and Izuku just stepped smartly forwards, grasping his opponents outstretched limb and swinging him over the boundary line.

  Shinsou sat staring at the floor angrily, even as Midnight announced the winner. Izuku tapped him on the shoulder, and pulled his collar aside.

  "It's difficult to talk, so I stick to Morse code and sign language. I figured out your quirk is response based, but it didn't make a difference. It was just a bad matchup." Izuku signed.

  Shinsou sighed, taking Izuku's offered hand.

  "I'm sorry for saying those things.. I was just desperate to get a response, and being an asshole is normally a good way to get one."

  Izuku huffed in amusement as he shook his new friend's hand.

  "How youthful!" Someone squealed.

  _______________

  Most of the next few matches were uneventful. Todoroki Vs Izumi lasted a while, but Telekinesis didn't do much against ice fused to the ground. She seemed to try and punch the oncoming glaciers at first, but hesitated every time and resorted to dodging.

  The final match of the first brackets angered Izuku. Bakugo Vs Ochako.

  The blonde boy ruthlessly blasted the brunette over and over again with unnecessarily powerful explosions. Izuku had been on the recieving end of that quirk his whole life, he knew the difference between a 'knockback blast' and a 'im trying to draw out your pain' explosion.

  The crowd began booing the blonde halfway through, but it didn't faze him in the least. Ochako revealed her secret strategy, which Izuku was incredibly impressed by, but it was blasted away in one move by Bakugo.

  The boy then proceeded to throw a second huge blast at the obviously defeated girl and throw her out of bounds and into the concrete wall, which cracked loudly.

  "Bro! Way too far! So unmanly!" Kirishima exclaimed.

  "Asshole.." Izumi muttered.

  "Bakugo, dude! You'd really do that to a girl??" Kaminari said.

  "Mask. Your hands." Todoroki said.

  Izuku looked down at his hands, which were gripping the guardrail.

  His right hand had dented the metal rail, and he needed to pry his metal fingers from the indents.

  His left hand had turned a portion of the rail into wood, then plastic, glass and he'd even liquidised the part in contact with his flesh.

  Izuku tapped the metal and repaired both the dents and the material change.

  I hope you make it to the finals.

_____________________

  Izuku walked down the corridor towards waiting room 1. He knocked on the door and entered.

  "Man, it's pretty disappointing that I lost huh?" Ochako said.

  Izuku was confused for a second, before sighing. He reached up and plucked his mask off.

  "You don't have to be upbeat and happy all the time. It's okay to be upset." He said clearly.

  Izuku tossed his mask onto the table and reached out, wrapping his arms around his friend.

  They stood there for a while, the brunette sniffling occasionally. Izuku stroked her hair affectionately with his warm hand.

  "Thanks Izuku.." she mumbled into his shoulder.

  "It's okay." He clicked.

  "Can Mask and Todoroki prepare to come to the arena?" The speakers asked robotically.

  Ochako let good Izuku and stepped back.

  "I'm sorry, I took up your preperation time!" She exclaimed.

  Izuku just huffed in amusement.

  "I'd give up all the time in the world to mak you feel better. Do you feel better?" He asked.

  Ochako nodded with a much happier smile.

  "I do, thank you Izuku."

  She leaned forwards and kissed his unscarred cheek.

  "Good luck! I know Todoroki's our friend, but kick his ass!" She said.

  Izuku slipped his mask on, hiding his crimson face.

  "I will." He clicked curtly.

  Izuku left the preperation room and walked towards the exit into the arena.

  He was stopped by the number two asshole stepping around the corner.

  "You are Shoto's next opponent. You seem quite strong, so don't discrace yourself by throwing the match." The 'hero' said.

  Izuku scowled behind the green metal. He had nothing to say to this piece of shit.

  He walked around Endeavour, not even glancing at him.

________________

  Izuku slapped his left hand onto the ground, making a wall of concrete intercept the glacier Todoroki threw at him.

  The match had been going like this for five minutes. Izuku would try to get in close, and Todoroki would try to stay at range.

  "The only way you can beat me is if you use your fire." Izuku clicked calmly.

  Todoroki frowned.

  "I refuse to use that bastard's power!" He hissed.

  Izuku blocked another ice torrent by stomping onto the ground, knocking the barrage away with a concrete pillar.

  "Who am I fighting?" Izuku clicked. "Am I fighting that son of a bitch, or am I fighting my friend Shoto Todoroki?"

  Todoroki sent another wall of ice into Izuku's impervious defence.

  "You're fighting me.." he said quietly.

  "What's your quirk called? Is it Hellflame? That's pretty strange, I didn't think you'd be making ice with a quirk named like that!"

  "I-It's half hot half cold.." Todoroki said. "But I won't use his side of the-"

  "ITS YOUR POWER!" Izuku yelled. "YOUR'S, NOT HIS!"

  Todoroki stared at Izuku dumbfounded.

  Then he burst into flames.

  Shoto was free.

_____________

  "I understand now Izuku.." he muttered.

  Shoto raised his left hand, palm facing his opponent.

  "Thank you." He whispered, launching a torrent of ice and fire in perfect tandem.

  A wall of concrete blocked the massive explosion. Whether it was Izuku or Cementoss intervening Shoto didn't know. The boy was thrown out of bounds and landed heavily on the grass around the arena.

  "Todoroki is out of bounds. Midoriya Wins!"

  Next chapter is only 500 words, but it's the moment you've all been waiting for....