"WHERE IS THAT HALF-AND-HALF BASTARD? I KNOW HE FUCKING BURNED THE FOREST DOWN!" Bakugou entered, screaming. Jirou followed him, sighing to herself.

"Kacchan!" Midoriya's voice forced Bakugou to look over at the newest approaching team.

"DEKU!" He spat. "This is MY battle with Half-and-Half, I'll beat your ass to shit later!"

"3 minutes left!" Present Mic's voice came through the speakers. "Final 3 teams!"

"Dammit!" Bakugou cursed. There wasn't enough time to look around for Todoroki, especially with Midoriya and Yaoyorozu already on the offensive. "I guess I'll have to kill you first, DEKU!"

As the battle commenced, Ochako peered at the scene from her position behind a giant boulder situated on the mountain. There wasn't enough time. This had to happen now.

Shoto moved quietly, stepping closer and closer to the planned position. Almost there. A few more steps—

"Bakugou! Todoroki's right there!" Jirou's earjacks had picked up on his position, bringing both Midoriya and Bakugou out of their heated battle.

Todoroki unleashed his giant ice wall, rising from the ground and heading straight toward a jagged crack in the rocky mountain. It ripped through the rocks, hurling debris and stones everywhere. The giant boulder unhinged, rolling straight toward the four students.

"Full Cowling!"

"DIE!"

Despite being caught off-guard, Katsuki and Izuku launched themselves at the boulder, exploding and punching through the humongous rock accelerating towards them.

"What the fuck, Icyhot? Was that your final attack?!" Bakugou landed, smirking while explosions sparked in his palm.

"NOW!" Ochako screamed.

Todoroki immediately released the burning fire gathered in his arm, striking and covering the space above Bakugou's head.

The inferno enveloped the thousands of pieces of rock and rubble caused by the punch and explosion of the boulder, appearing like an extended family of medium-sized comets floating in space.

Midoriya paled, recognizing what was going to happen next.

Bakugou followed a second later, looking stupefied. "Holy shi--"

"Release!" She let go of her quirk, causing Todoroki to witness his first ever meteor shower blast his classmates into the ground.

It was almost a sort of cognitive dissonance, he thought as he braced himself for the wind whipping from the impact.

He had always known her to be cheerful, optimistic, and soft---but the fiery spirit in her eyes as she released her quirk and the sheer brute force of their combined attack sent him reeling. She was simply amazing! A real

"Badass" he managed to say out loud.

"AND TIME'S UP! IN THE MOST IMPRESSIVE ENDING, TEAM TODOROKI AND URARAKA WIN!" Present Mic announced as the buzzer sounded.

As the rubble cleared and the final teams struggled their way through the debris, the dual haired teenager panted, exhausted, as his clothes were ripped and seared. He surveyed the damaged area, finding Ochako a few feet away, fighting to stand up. She looked battered and worn, and she was holding her stomach, trying not to puke.

Her eyes found his, and she tried to smile. "We won" she said tiredly.

"Yeah, we did" he responded, feeling elated and frankly, a little impressed. He didn't know why he had ever underestimated her.

Bakugou was right. What part of her was frail?

________________________

He started to notice the little things.

"I can't believe midterms are already coming up" Ochako sighed, placing her head down on her textbook.

"It feels like time is passing by so fast," Deku agreed. He closed his notebook and looked at his friend, worried. "Are you okay, Uraraka-san? You seem so tired recently…"

She waved a hand dismissively. "I just haven't had much sleep this week. It's nothing," she said, raising her head to grin at the green haired boy.

Todoroki glanced up from writing in his notebook, noting that her smile seemed a little strained.

She'd been out of it lately, with signs of her fatigue showing up everywhere.

She had darker eye bags than usual, excessive yawning, trouble focusing, and he might've even caught her nodding off during class once.

"She's been helping out her parents," Iida supplied helpfully.

"Iida-kun!" she yelled, pouting. "Please don't expose me like that"

"I'm worried about you," he retorted, waving his arms in a typical Iida fashion. "I know you don't want to trouble anyone but working overtime for your parents while also studying for midterms can be exhausting! It's bad for your health"

"It's really okay! There's just been too many accidents happening lately. Construction waits for no one," she smiled tiredly. "I just haven't had much time to study. But I don't want to drop ranks, since I studied so hard on the last exam."

Midoriya beamed at her. "You've improved a lot already. You're rank 7 now, right?"

"Good job Uraraka" Iida clapped enthusiastically.

Uraraka laughed, cheeks flushing prettily. "I'm just worried about the quirk policy chapters. I can't remember any of these policies to save my life."

"I can help you with those." Shoto chimed.

Three heads swiveled around to face him, who was calmly flipping a page in his notebook.

"He does know those like the back of his hand," the greenette stated slowly, eyeing him with a peculiar look.

The brunette peered at him, eyes widened. "Really?"

Shoto nodded coolly. "I grew up learning them."

"Thank you so much! It'll really save me" she clapped excitedly, smiling widely.

He shrugged, handing her a sheet of paper ripped out of his notebook. "You can ask me if you have any questions."

"Wow, these notes are so detailed!" she pored over the paper while squinting at his neat handwriting.

"As expected of Todoroki" Iida chortled.

As he watched her praise his note-taking skills, he couldn't help the odd feeling of fondness that rushed through him.

She was amazing in some ways, always putting her parents first and never allowing the stress to get in the way of her goals. At the core of her being, she was earnest and hardworking, and she didn't want to burden others with her troubles. He thought it was admirable.

He felt a soft touch on his hand, causing him to look up in alarm.

"T-thank you so much" she smiled gratefully.

It was still a nice smile.