"The two haven't started yet?"

(Y/n) turned her head to look at Uraraka, her eyes widened at her reddened face and puffy eyes.

"I've gotta watch!" she gushed out, though her voice came out exhausted and forced.

"Were your eyes hurt?" Iida inquired in shock. "You must hurry to Recovery Girl-"

"I already went. This is, you know...it's different."

"It's different?" Iida asked, oblivious to the real reason why appearance looked scruffy.

(Y/n)'s brows knitted. Oh my God Iida. She was crying for fuck's sake...

"If that's the case, then you must've been really frustrated earlier," Iida concluded in a gentle voice.

"Finally!" (Y/n) accidentally voice her thoughts, making everyone turn to her. She pursed her lips and pretended to be looking at something at the distance until everyone took their attention away from her.

"Rather than feeling regretful right now, you should use this next match as a source of encouragement," Tokoyami advised, earning a brief nod from Uraraka.

"Thanks for waiting, everybody!" Pres Mic's voice resonated through the whole arena, "The first match of the second round is a big match! The man who won a huge victory in the first round and literally left the audience frozen. From the hero course, Shouto Todoroki! On the other hand, this guy barely made it past the first round! What kind of fight will he show us this time? From the hero course, Izuku Midoriya!"

(Y/n) chewed on her bottom lip as anxiety bubbled up within her. She remembered the bold declaration of war Shouto had pitted against Izuku and now they had to face off. Her nervous fingers kept playing with the hem of her jacket but were stopped when another entwined theirs with hers. She turned her head to see Yaoyorozu smiling at her warmly.

"Don't worry, he's going to be fine," she whispered, her gentle voice meant for comfort.

(Y/n) sighed and nodded her head, returning her eyes to the two at the arena.

That's not what I'm worried about...

"At this year's sports festival, both have shown top-class performances! It's like two great rivals fighting against each other! Now! Midoriya versus Todoroki! Start!"

Shouto immediately sent ice rumbling towards Izuku, who flicked his middle finger, creating a large force that destroyed the ice. The force of Izuku's Quirk sent a large cold gust of wind blowing through the whole arena. Shouto, though, had created ice behind him to prevent the force from tossing him out of bounds. But Izuku had suffered the repercussions since his finger had broken from the use of his Quirk at 100%.

"Wow! Midoriya stopped Todoroki!"

Shouto repeated his earlier move, which Izuku also stopped.

"He stopped it again!"

Shouto, who could clearly see the level of injury Izuku was putting himself through by negating his attacks, sent another sea of ice towards him with Izuku stopping it again.

"It started?!" Kirishima gasped as he appeared in the watching room. (Y/n) glanced at him, remembering how he had beat Tetsutetsu at an arm-wrestling challenge to break the draw.

"Kirishima, good job making it to the next round!" Kaminari congratulated him.

"Yeah, I'll be up against you next, Bakugou. Let's have a good fight!" the redhead smiled at Katsuki, who didn't even pay him a momentary glance.

"I'll kill you," he simply growled, making Kirishima laugh.

"I'd like to see you try. But man, you, (Y/n) and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Like-like-" he punched and popped both of his hands open like two mini explosions. "'Bam!'."

"And you can do it with no time lag," Sero joined in the conversation.

"I'm not just shooting them off. Don't underestimate 'em," Katsuki said.

"Huh?"

"If you overuse your muscles, the muscles fiber tear, and if you keep running, you'll run out of breath," (Y/n), who was subtly listening to Katsuki, looked at Midoriya who was holding his arm out of sheer pain. "Quirks are physical abilities too. They must also have some kind of limit," Katsuki concluded, making (Y/n) nod in thought as she watched the match from an analytical point of view.

They must be having some kind of endurance match.....where one tries to wear down the other.....

Todoroki must have figured out the whole deal, sending ice to Izuku which he negated and using the opportunity to charge up to Izuku.

"Todoroki doesn't recoil from Midoriya's power and gets in close!"

Izuku uses his Quirk to smash through the ice Shouto used to get in close to him, but Shouto dodged and tried to land a punch on Izuku. Izuku jumped out of the way but Shouto was fast and sent ice from his hand, encasing Izuku's leg.

Izuku punched through the ice that had trapped him with much more power than before as if trying to make Shouto stay away. Shouto had created ice behind him to protect himself from the blast.

By now, Izuku had broken most of his fingers and his left arm, rendering him with a very low chance of fighting back. Shouto shot ice at Izuku with overwhelming power, intending it to be the last finishing power. But suddenly, Izuku blasted through it, almost sending Shouto out of bounds who stopped himself with ice just in time.

(Y/n) gaped at the intensity of the attack, her mind reeling on its possibility.

Izuku seemed to be talking to Shouto, as if he was reprimanding him about something.

"COME AT ME WITH EVERYTHING YOU'VE GOT!" Izuku yelled at him with determination, his loud proclamation resonating through the arena.

(Y/n) silently gasped as her mind clicked on what was happening. Izuku was trying to get Shouto to use his left side. This seemed to strike a nerve with Shouto who charged up to him, but this time slower than usual. As he leaped to deliver an attack on Izuku, the green-haired boy countered by delivering a blow to Shouto's stomach. But even though he was hit, he had managed to encase Izuku's left arm in ice.

"A solid hit!!! Now we've got some action!!!!"

"Ouch..." (Y/n) winced as she watched Shouto hurtling back to the ground.

Shouto got back up, coughing due to the hard hit to his gut, and sent ice to Izuku, which he jumped. (Y/n) noticed that his movements were slower than usual. Shouto tried to hit Izuku at close range but the male pushed him back with force.

(Y/n) clasped both hands on her face, covering half of her face, her eyes only visible. She could see how in pain Izuku was in, and how he still pushed himself to the limit. In some sense, she could actually feel a bit of pain from just watching him.

And I thought Uraraka and Katsuki's fight was disturbing......this one is just on another level...

They continued fighting, with Izuku fighting with everything he got, the adrenaline from the fight numbing his pain a bit.

Something Izuku said to Shouto distracted him, giving Izuku the perfect opening to land a hit on him. Shouto stared back at Izuku, ice beginning to creep up his right side as he seemed frozen. Izuku punched him in the stomach once more sending him hurtling back hard to the ground.

"...Shouto..." (Y/n) sighed before burying her face in her hands. She could see how conflicted he was internally, how his memories must've been coming back to him. Suddenly, she could sense a powerful heat rise up, making her lift her head up, eyes widened in shock.

Shouto's left side burst into a large flame, making her gape in sheer shock and surprise.

"He-he made him use his left!" (Y/n) gasped, tears of joy brimming in her (e/c) eyes. She chuckled while swiping at her eyes. "Oh my God!"

"SHOUTO!!!!"

(Y/n) jerked her head in the direction of the familiar, strident voice to see an elated Endeavor walk down the stairs nearer the arena.

"Have you finally accepted yourself?! That's it! Good! It all starts here for you! With my blood, you will surpass me...You will fulfill my desire!!!" he boomed, a sadistic yet satisfied smirk adorning his face.

(Y/n)'s face twisted in disgust, looking away from him. He's not doing this for you, you fucked up twat...

"Endeavor suddenly shouts encouragement....? Such a doting father," Mic commented, making (Y/n) roll her eyes as she wiped away the tears that had escaped from her eyes.

Shouto started off by producing ice from his right side, coupled up by his fiery left side. Izuku also powered himself up, causing his trousers to rip from his leg up. Cementoss, a pro-hero teacher who was assigned to stop the fight in case things dangerously escalated, stepped in and tried to form a wall between each boy.

"They're going to destroy each other," Yaoyorozu muttered as she shifted in her seat nervously.

Shouto sent a large amount of ice towards Izuku which the boy jumped over as he tried to get in closer to Shouto. The dual-haired male blasted off a large inferno as he prepared to attack Izuku.

But, their attacks were nullified by walls set up between them, the sheer power destroying them with a large force that sent a powerful gust of wind blowing through the arena.

(Y/n) covered her face with her arms to protect herself from the force. When the wind settled down, she placed her arms down, gaping at the spectacle.

"What was that just now...?" Mic choked out in surprise. "What the heck is up with your class?"

"The air that had been cooled thoroughly was suddenly heated up and expanded," Mr. Aizawa explained.

"That's what created this explosion? Just how hot was that?! Jeez, I can't see anything! Hey, who won the match?"

As the dust and smoke cleared, Izuku, who was leaning on a wall, fell down to the ground unconscious.

"Mido-Midoriya is out of bounds..." Midnight stuttered and pointed at Shouto. "Todoroki advances to the third round!"

The crowd cheered for the male who looked rugged as half his jacket was burnt off from the fire.

(Y/n) immediately stood up but was stopped by Yaoyorozu.

"Are you okay?" the dark-haired girl asked with concern showing all over her face.

(Y/n) looked at her over her shoulder and gave her an affirmative smile. YaoyorozuMomo smiled back and nodded, understanding what she was going to do. (Y/n) turned back and sprinted off to her dual-haired boyfriend, she greatly needed to see him.

As soon as she saw him about to go into the player's waiting room, she called out to him.

"Shouto!"

Said male turned around to face her but stumbled back when another body collided with his, engulfing him in a hug. His surprise immediately wore off, wrapping his arms around the girl and burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"It's alright. Everything's going to be okay," the girl cooed, tears flowing down her cheeks as she ran her fingers through his hair.

Shouto relaxed and closed his eyes, his hold tightening around the girl. Her presence instantly brought him comfort.

"Am I doing something wrong?" he pondered, his voice barely above a whisper but which (Y/n) caught. "Using this power?"

"I don't know what Izuku told you or did to make you use it but...he was right. It is your power, Shouto," (Y/n) smiled. "I guess it's time to put the past behind."

Shouto sighed and nodded. "I need to think about it first. I'm not done yet."

(Y/n) pulled away from him and cupped his cheeks, her eyes briefly landing on his burn then fixating on his eyes. "Sure, take all the time you need."

The male softly smiled at her considerate nature and nodded once more.

"I'm so proud of you," (Y/n) choked out, more tears streaming down her face. Shouto brought his hands up to her face and cupped her cheeks, wiping away her tears with his thumbs.

(Y/n) chuckled silently, taking her hands off his cheeks and placing them on top of his as she cuddled her face against his palms. Both had a different feel to them, one warm while the other cold but she liked it like that.

Her eyes then fell to his torn up clothes and she laughed. "You really should go change." Though, I'm really liking the view from here...she mentally added while smirking.

Shouto nodded and let his hands fall from her face.

"I should go check up on Izuku," (Y/n) sniffled, wiping away the remaining tears.

"Uh...yeah," Shouto scratched the back of his neck, guilt creeping up his face.

(Y/n) placed her hand on his shoulder. "Hey, it's not your fault. Don't beat yourself up."

She then stood up on her tippy toes and placed a kiss on his cheek before passing him. "I'll see you later."

(Y/n) looked back to Shouto who was still standing rooted to the ground, now staring at his left hand, deep in thought. The (h/c)-haired female sighed and continued walking to the nurse's office.

She knocked on the door, opening it a bit and peeked inside.

"Oh hey, (Y/n)! You're here!" Uraraka's voice came from within as the girl opened the door wider to enter.

"Hey guys," she smiled, closing the door behind her. She walked over to where the Iida, Mineta, Uraraka, and Tsuyu were and stood beside a skinny, blond-haired male.

(Y/n) stared at him blankly before erupting into a smile after noticing how nervous he was from her staring.

"Hey, I'm (Y/n)."

"Uh...yeah..." he responded, turning his head away from the girl.

(Y/n) narrowed her eyes at him. Something about him feeling familiar to her but quickly dismissed the thought as profound. She looked at the beaten up Izuku and she pursed her lips, unconsciously wincing. Both arms were wrapped up in bandages and his left leg within a splint. His eyes were half-closed, swollen and she could be able to see the black-blue bruises mottling his pale skin.

Izuku turned to flash the girl a weak smile. "Hey, (Y/n)."

She remained silent as she scrutinized his injuries, empathy glinting in her downcast eyes.

"It's that bad, huh?"

(Y/n)'s wide eyes shot back to Izuku's face and she frantically shook her head, feeling bad that she had let her sympathy spill through her expression.

"No no, you look um..." she drifted off as she tried to find a proper word to describe 'broken beyond compare'. She forced a bright smile on her face. "Healthy!"

Izuku attempted to frown at the girl's deliberate lie, making the girl's face fall and sigh.

"...You'll push through," (Y/n) offered the male a small real smile which Izuku returned with a weak one.

"Okay, okay! I know you're worried, but I've got to do surgery now," Recovery Girl pushed back the teenagers from the room.

"Surgery?!"

"Go on now, get out of here."

"Huh?! But!"

"Surgery's a big deal!"

"Will his injuries be completely healed?!"

"Don't worry about that. Just leave it to me!"

Recovery Girl closed the door behind the students, leaving them in the hallway.

"(Y/n)? Iida?"

Said students turned to Tsuyu who was tapping her chin.

"What is it, Asu- I mean Tsuyu?" Iida asked the girl.

"Don't you two have matches ahead?"

"Ugh," (Y/n) facepalmed as she walked beside her friends. "I almost forgot with everything happening!"

"Who're you going against?" Uraraka asked the (h/c)-haired girl.

"Tokoyami."

Uraraka opened her mouth in an 'oooh' and nodded. She patted the girl on her back, offering her a closed eyes smile. "Well, good luck!"

"Thanks!" (Y/n) smiled and clenched her fist in determination.

The fight isn't over yet...

***