That took a bit long- but I'm back! (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧

- Chapter 9 -

Rivals

They say blood is thicker than water.

(He couldn't quite put into words how much he sincerely despised that proverb.)

For as long as he could remember, there had never been an ounce of love or understanding between him and his father. That man cared for nothing but his own selfish interests. He was a villain dressed in hero garb, able to fool the public, but not those who had seen him for the monster he truly was. A monster who had terrorized and neglected his own family to the point of no return.

He had ruined them. There was nothing that could fix the damage he had inflicted.

Shouto and his siblings were all products of his greed for fame and prestige. They had all been victims subject to his abuse at some point, unable to escape his tyrannical hold.

His brothers and sister had gone through the same beatings and bruisings as he did. The only thing separating him from them was the fact that Endeavor's whole focus had shifted over to him once his quirk had manifested. He had tossed aside his siblings like they were nothing but disposable trash, forbidding Shouto from interacting with them, much less go outside.

Their mother had been the first to crack under the pressure. The scar over his left eye was evidence of her slow descent to madness. She had started to lash out violently to anything that reminded her of her poor excuse of a husband, resulting in her hospitalization.

From a young age, Shouto had learned that Endeavor's number one priority had never been his family, but his career as a hero. They were nothing but tools to him. He hated that man with a passion that burned hotter than the sun.

'I will never forgive you.'

Shouto had lost the very last person who had tried to discourage Endeavor from wreaking havoc on his child with harsh training and rough punishments. Shouto had to lay eyes on that disgusting piece of shit every day for the majority of his childhood and adolescence, his bitter contempt growing stronger and stronger. He had nothing to let out his loathing on- he knew he wouldn't be satisfied until he saw that villain bow down in shame and repentance.

As a result of his father's strict training and the homeschooling he had received, Shouto knew very little about socialization and the manners required for formal occasions. He tended to be quite blunt with his words, often driving away people he interacted with without knowing nor caring.

It was when he was around 12 years old when Todoroki Shouto met Airashi Megumi at a party hosted by sponsors of Endeavor's hero agency.

She had been small and scrawny despite her age, looking sickly in comparison to other children with how pale she was. The only reason his attention had been drawn to her was because she compensated for her size with a shrill voice that could make any grown man cry. At least a dozen eyes would glance over whenever she threw a tantrum, but it wasn't necessarily her bratty behavior that made him instantly dislike her.

Ever so often, her eyes would flit over toward her parents with longing adoration, as if expecting them to walk over and scold her for making a ruckus. But they never did. It disgusted him, how she could be so openly begging for their attention. How childish. They obviously couldn't give less of a shit. Why bother?

They had been the only two children standing alone and far off from their parents. It was unsurprising when her dull green eyes fixated on him, looking like she had finally found a new toy to play with. If Shouto had known that it'd be the beginning of a plethora of his annoyances, he would have escaped when he had the chance.

It was their first meeting that would shape the nature of their future interactions.

She would shamelessly cling onto him like he was a lifeline, undeterred by the scar who his father never failed to insult as ugly and unsightly. It was a blemish on his perfect tool- a blemish Todoroki wore proudly. He hoped whenever that man looked at him, he'd be reminded of how much of a callous dick he was. But Megumi's idea of what his scar represented seemed to completely differ, especially when he caught her looking at it as if it'd been carved by the gods themselves.

She harbored the ridiculously shitty belief that the scar was actually some kind of twisted mark of love his parents had given him. She would never touch nor go anywhere near his scar, except eye it jealously like it was a trophy to be won. What kind of fucked up masochist thought that scars were a show of love? Did this crazy girl really think he should be happy over being his father's subject of obsession? She was insane. An attention starved lunatic who thought being hurt and punished was better off than being ignored.

Maybe that was why he couldn't get her to leave him alone. Even without being intentionally rude, Shouto came off crude and indifferent. He looked calm and reserved on the outside, but god forbid he opened his mouth in front of the house guests. On the contrary, Megumi was anything but dissuaded. She seemed to find him more interesting the more rebellious he got.

She would call him her 'prince', like he was some kind of knight in shining armor who'd sweep her off her feet atop his mighty steed. It might sound hilarious, but Shouto was absolutely miserable. Who did she think she was, projecting her dreams onto him? He wanted nothing to do with her. He wanted nothing from her except having her leave him alone. He had enough shit to deal with, he didn't need a neurotic admirer following him around. Just because he didn't ignore her like her parents did, didn't mean he wanted to be friends.

In fact, if this was what having a friend felt like, then Shouto didn't think he wanted any.

This went on for months. Months of Shouto resigning himself to the fact that he would not be able to get her off his back.

He would admit that he did not have a way with words. Shouto had half a mind to explicitly tell her he wasn't interested, but didn't know how to say it in a way she would take seriously. With her deranged logic, she might think he was confessing his undying love for her or something. But he also wouldn't deny that something other than that held him back from backhanding her in the face with a rejection.

It was at another one of those banquets thrown by hero sponsors when Endeavor had found his son right next to none other than the heir of Airashi Pharmaceuticals. Shouto had witnessed conflicting emotions cross his face. He had walked over, towering over them with heat radiating off of him like a volcano ready to burst. The girl next to him had simply hugged herself, shaking with excitement and staring at the flame hero with a starstruck gaze. "Airashi Megumi, sir!" She had happily introduced when she'd been asked her name.

Endeavor hadn't bothered replying. He had simply looked in the direction of Megumi's parents with an expression revealing nothing as to what he might have been thinking.

Airashi Izumi had smirked with a raised brow, her feline grey eyes imploring. Endeavor never smiled back.

At that, the woman's smirk had widened into a cheshire grin, showing off her sharp canine teeth like a lounging cat. Shouto himself had gotten the creeps from the vulturous vibe she gave off. No one in that family seemed to be in their right mind.

Then again, who was he to say that?

Endeavor had pulled him aside that day, gruff and patronizing as always. "I warn you now, Shouto. We need to upkeep our professional relationship with the Airashi. Don't ever think of jeopardizing our relations with our sponsors, are we clear? I suggest you find a way to rid all contacts with that girl. I don't care how you do it."

You see, Shouto disliked Megumi. He found her troublesome and annoying and idiotically foolish. She was all kinds of crazy and bizarre. However, he detested his father more than he could ever hate a thick-witted girl like her. He found it funny that Endeavor thought Shouto would actually listen to anything he told him aside from training tips.

It was with great rebellious intentions that instead of cutting her off completely, he never gave in to her advances but didn't outright reject her either. He had her twisted around his finger, knowing very well that she wouldn't pass up any opportunities to win him over. If it was a prize she wanted, then he was perfectly okay dangling it in front of her nose: not close enough to touch, but close enough to have her continue chasing after it.

It constantly kept his father at the edge of his seat, wondering what in the hell Shouto was thinking. For some reason or another, Endeavor seemed to be greatly uneasy when it came to their business with Airashi Pharmaceuticals. Not that Shouto particularly cared- he just found it mildly amusing seeing restlessness radiate off of the flame hero whenever they were mentioned.

Unfortunately, having to endure Megumi's presence was an entirely different matter.

He wasn't proud of taking advantage of her loneliness. But at the same time, he found it hard to pity her when she was everything he could ever come to hate in a person. She was nothing but a puppet ruler, ignorant and blind to how little power she actually possessed. Hanging onto every word her mother told her, like a dog wagging its tail. Shouto felt physically sick just imagining himself doing the same with his father. Did she have no pride? No dignity? Why kiss the ground her parents walked on when they were nothing but greedy corporate executives?

Recalling Airashi Izumi's smile still made chills run down his spine.

She had scrutinized him with intelligent gray eyes, like he was a specimen to be observed under a microscope. It was discomforting. How could Megumi be related to that woman when they didn't resemble each other in the least? Not in appearance nor in conduct.

Megumi was painfully oblivious. Or was she just pretending to be a simpleton? He couldn't tell.

She liked to talk. He didn't. But that didn't stop her from ranting about damn near everything she could think of. They were random and off-topic ramblings that barely tied in with anything she'd been talking about in her previous sentences, like a badly cropped WhyTube video. In fact, she didn't even seem to care whether Shouto was actually listening or not. It was almost like she was speaking out loud to herself while he stood aside, trying not to focus on how heavy his eyelids felt. If only he could just tell her to stop.

(Well, maybe her incessant chatter was better than the crippling silence that awaited him in his own house. But only slightly.)

To put it simply, Shouto's plans for the future were fairly simple. He would become the number one hero without ever having to use his fire. The fire he had inherited from his insufferable, sorry excuse of a father. The very same man who had completely and utterly broken his mother's soul, crushing it mercilessly. What expression would he have if Shouto surpassed All Might with his mother's quirk alone? He wanted to see it, taste the victory. He'd make that man look like a clown in everyone's eyes. The pathetic, second place flame hero whose son could best him with his ice alone. Everything else was a small price to pay for retribution.

Even Megumi. She was a pain in the neck. A harmless pain, but a pain nonetheless. After realizing that the young heiress was stupidly stubborn with her persistence regarding Shouto, Endeavor had seemingly given up on telling his son to have her leave him alone. Now it was all about complying with her whims, making sure she didn't think of making ridiculous accusations about their family if Shouto's behavior caused her displeasure. He knew for a fact that she would certainly be vindictive enough to do that. Then again, he had gotten numb to her mindless rambles and it was fairly easy feigning interest when she seemed to pay more attention to herself talking than looking him in the eye while doing so.

A friend? A lover? Such useless things were far from what he needed. In the end, Megumi would be nothing but a passing stranger in the long, eventful journey that awaited him in his path of becoming a hero. Just like everyone else who thought they could get in his way.

Or at least, that's how it should have been.

All of a sudden, she had turned into someone he could barely recognize. Keeping up with coursework, having civil conversations with others, avoiding him like he was a disease- not that he'd been keeping track. It had just been so jarringly different than usual that he couldn't have missed it.

Eating alone and sitting by himself without anybody to pester him was what he thought he had wanted.

Alas, it felt incredibly… awkward.

He was annoyed. And he was irritated at the fact that he was annoyed. What gave her the impression that she could ignore him as she pleased? If someone had a right to ignore, then it would certainly be him. Did she have any idea how much boredom he had suffered through? How uncomfortable it had been having her cling to him? And now she had the audacity to act like he was the weird one nobody wanted to approach? Bullshit.

He had seen her train for the Sports Festival. She'd been hard and relentless with her training regime, pushing herself to her limits. He knew, because he had gone through the same process with Endeavors strict teachings.

(What did she think she could achieve with only 2 weeks of training? It was laughable.)

And yet, she proved him wrong again and again. The obstacle race, the cavalry battle, both competitions wherein he had paid her no mind whatsoever- and paid the price for it. He was internally seething. He had trained for years and this was the result? Midoriya besting him in the obstacle race, Megumi snatching the win right out of his hands during the cavalry battle, it was simply not something he would have imagined in his wildest dreams. When Yaoyorozu had suggested to recruit Megumi into their team, he had declined on the account that she would have been nothing but a hindrance. But the way things had turned out…- absurd.

He wondered. Had this been her plan all along? Using him as an excuse to join UA?

And if so, did he have the right to be angry when he hadn't been beside her with the best of intentions either?

His eyes hardened at the thought. 'No. That's not what I should be thinking about right now. What I need to do is win this Sports Festival," A brief snarl crossed his face. "and show that man what I'm capable of without needing him." His footsteps eerily echoed through the hallways as he exited his waiting room, making his way to the stadium.

Right in front of the entryway stood a huge silhouette, broad shouldered and swathed in flames.

Shouto grit his teeth. "….Out of my way."

Endeavor was unaffected by the harsh words. He leaned on the wall with his arms crossed, his own expression one of irritation. "Your behavior has been nothing but disgraceful, Shouto."

No. He refused to have this conversation here and now. He started walking faster, the pit in his stomach growing larger the closer he got to the flame hero.

"If you had used the power at your left side, you could have crushed both the obstacle race and the cavalry battle easily."

'Stop. Shut the fuck up.' Shouto felt a vein in his neck tick at having to listen to this garbage.

"Even that girl was able to best you. The one who has that silly infatuation for you." A derisive laugh. "Shameful. You could have easily intercepted her with your fire."

Shouto's jaw audibly clicked shut, his demeanor growing darker with every word coming at out of this bastard's mouth. How dare he suggest that Megumi had bested him in any way? She hadn't. Those instances wouldn't have happened if he hadn't been caught off guard. If he had known that she'd been hiding those tricks all along, then he-

"Your resistance is childish and tiresome. Stop fucking around and see to your duty to surpass All Might."

Would this son of a bitch ever stop talking?

"Do you understand, Shouto?! You're different from your siblings! You are my greatest Masterpiece!"

Shouto could feel the temperature drop drastically, his ice starting to form thin frost on the inside his gym clothes. The fuming fury he felt threatened to explode, an unbearable burn in the back of his head as his eyes went bloodshot with the effort he exerted to regulate his quirks. He could feel both his ice and fire destabilizing with the sheer animosity painting his vision red. He was holding himself back from lunging at the smug asshole observing him, his fists itching to get in a good hit.

Instead, he swallowed down the war cry building up in his throat. "Is that all that will ever spew out of your goddamn mouth? I will earn my victories using only mom's power. And I will never, ever use your power in any battle."

With heavy steps, he continued his way outside. After this, he was going to be fighting Midoriya; the boy All Might seemed to have taken under his wing. 'I'm going to beat him. I'll show All Might what he needs to be wary of- what they all should be wary of.'

Megumi knew she had no chance of winning.

But what kind of lazy opponent would she be if she didn't at least try putting up a fight?

If memory served her correct, Sero had been knocked out of commission the moment he had decided to strike first. Poor guy must have been scared shitless with that massive mountain of ice coming his way- hell, she sure wasn't feeling like hot shit right now either. Todoroki was a powder keg ready to burst, shadows obscuring his face and icy heat radiating off of him in waves. She felt like she was trapped in a cage with a hungry lion, ready to mince her into pieces if she so much as made one wrong move.

Her eyes narrowed at the hot and cold air blowing her way, as if he was trying to desperately regulate his body temperature. It seemed she wasn't the only one whose quirk became hard to control when emotions got in the way. His rage was palpable- she wondered if anyone else could feel it.

But her own ire seemed to wipe out any apprehension she might have felt having to fight a clearly frustrated Todoroki.

She might not have been the smartest, strongest or the fastest. But she sure had a bone to pick with him.

Disregarding the chains slithering underneath her sweater and around her ankles, a pair of medium sized chains shot out of her palms and towards Todoroki. The crowd 'ooh'd and 'aah'd as they wrapped around him, his boots skidding on the ground as he tried to stop the momentum from swinging him past the boundary.

"Ah! A surprise attack aiming for a quick ring-out! Not bad- most likely the best choice she could have made! Give it your all, Airashi!"

Man. She hated Present Mic narrating like he was praising a two year old for having learned how to walk. Anybody who thought she'd be able to defeat him with just that would be a total idiot. She got that he was trying to hype up the crowd, but she didn't want their pity once Todoroki decided to punt her through a wall. How embarrassed must Sero have been, having the entire stadium collectively tell him not to mind how he'd lost? Of course he was gonna mind! Todoroki had turned him into frozen dinner-to-go! What would their reactions be once he did the same to her? Tell number two pro hero Endeavor's son not to 'toy with the poor girl'? Hilarious.

She had known from the moment she set foot onto the arena that she couldn't hope to avoid Todoroki's ice blast of pure rage and fury.

Sero and her were similar in many ways. Lean and bigger on speed than strength. Their quirks were flexible, Spiderman-esque, granting them better focus and flexibility than most other quirks.

However, as similar as they were, they weren't the same.

And she intended to fully exploit that.

The temperature in the air spiked once again. Freezing. She could feel the goosebumps crawling up her arms, her quirk showing its uneasiness by glowing brighter. She got a nice view of Todoroki lifting up his head, eyes looking right through her and into the crowd where Endeavor sat. His lips parted. She could barely make out what he was saying.

"Sorry."

He let it go. The anger that had built up in him like a dam ready to burst at the slightest provocation. And in this case, that provocation had come in the form of chains roughly squeezing around him, ready to swing him out without hesitation.

A humongous pile of ice encased half of the arena in less than a second.

He could see his breaths create little clouds of vapor, the chains around him crumbling to the ground. He flexed his hands, taking in the way his feet now touched the ground again.

The silence of the entire stadium started to set in. His heart dropped.

Their eyes widened to the size of dinner plates, people sitting in the front rows leaning back from the ice right in front of their noses. The massive construct obscured their view of the arena, and students of 1-A could only guess what had happened.

"Holy shit…"

Kaminari looked like he'd seen his whole life flash before his eyes. "There's no way she dodged that."

Kirishima was both confused and freaked out as he leaned in to get a better view. "Is she dead? Did he kill her? Oh my god."

Bakugou kicked the seat in front of him in annoyance. "Shut up! You're all noisy as hell."

It was an indisputable fact that neither her quirk nor combat experience could hold a candle to Todoroki.

Her chains did not possess the sheer power Todoroki's quirk was capable of. They were useful for defensive and evasive maneuvers, but she'd have to rely on actual hand-to-hand combat to do any actual damage. Even the ends of her chains were blunt, unsuitable for offensive attacks. Two weeks hadn't been nearly enough to explore the full potential of her quirk. Not to mention she'd rather not try anything dangerous without a seasoned professional supervising her training. That's why this world had rules and regulations, all centered around quirks and keeping people from being hurt by them.

Because that's what quirks were: weapons. Superpowers that could kill just as easily as they could save. It didn't matter if your quirk was growing rose petals out of your ears or whatever- it'd all be over once you learned how to jam thorny rose branches through people's brains.

Even 'harmless' quirks could become dangerous once you figured out their core function.

And she had every intention of bringing out the lethality in her strangely sentient chains.

Their warmth underneath her clothes put her at ease. If it was a fight Todoroki 'Let it go' Shouto wanted, then she would gladly comply. It would be so much fun.

A massive CRACK echoed throughout the stadium.

The audience watched with bated breaths.

Chips of ice fell off of Megumi's arms, chains coiling around them. She brought up her hands to rip off the ice confining her neck and shoulders, simultaneously kicking one leg out of where it had been stuck. Ice steadily melted off where the chains touched them, frothing and dripping onto the ground in a sizzle before vaporizing into the air. Shouto took several steps back in alarm, his outstretched arm retreating once the situation dawned on him.

Indeed, her quirk differed from Sero's.

Sero's quirk was simple in a way she envied. He could shoot tape out of his arms. He could swing himself around with his tape and capture his opponents with it, similar to Aizawa-Sensei's quirk-suppressing bandages. His quirk didn't require him to expend some sort of weird telekinetic energy in order to use it- the polar opposite of how her quirk worked. He didn't need to constantly have some kind of contact with the tape he created for them to continue existing. Once his tape materialized, they didn't disappear like her chains did. In many ways, his quirk was more durable and reliable than hers.

However, like with many quirks that were considered similar in nature, there were things her chains could do that Sero's tape just couldn't.

Megumi had read articles upon articles, essays on the formation and manifestation of quirks and the methodologies needed to categorize them all. She had done so in a desperate attempt to figure out what to do with her own quirk- to get to know her quirk. The chains could not speak nor hear her, reacting purely out of instinct based on her thoughts and emotions. They gave off a similar vibe as Tokoyami's Dark Shadow, wild unless she learned how to domesticate them properly. Evidently, she had an emitter type quirk. A strange hybrid of a quirk, really. It was weirdly specific how she could only form chains and no other constructs, considering the direct source of her quirk.

She was no expert by any means, but she had observed the way her chains had slid through Todoroki's ice like butter during the obstacle race. Monoma had been completely overwhelmed by her quirk, not just because they were sentient, but also because he didn't know how to use them. Nobody else but her understood what made her quirk hers. The Original had been the only one able to control these chains, but had never tried using it for anything but capture and evasion. Why had she limited herself to only those when there were so many possibilities?

Sero could dispense tape, Kaminari could generate electricity and Todoroki could manifest both ice and fire.

But Megumi couldn't create iron or anything chains would normally be made out of. The chains winding around her limbs and climbing up the hulking ice tower Todoroki had created were made of nothing less than pure telekinetic energy. Or at least that's what she believed it to be- telekinetic energy. That's why it made her feel faint when using her quirk: there was a limit she couldn't cross when using that energy if she didn't want bad things to happen.

Ice could freeze chains. But not telekinetic chains.

And there was no rule stating she couldn't use her opponents quirk to her advantage.

The sound of ice cracking and splintering filled in the stunned silence. Megumi shook the last of the chilly remnants off of herself, teal irises glowering at Shouto in a way he had never seen before. "Tell me, Todoroki. Was it fun playing around with…" 'The Original?' The corners of her lips curved downwards. "…my feelings?"

In that moment, Shouto suddenly came to the realization that the girl standing before him hadn't been calling him by his first name for several weeks.

"…What?" Frost collected at the bottom of his feet, ready to burst forth on command.

Now it was her who looked splitting livid. "I'm not sure what you don't understand about what I just said, but I'll ask again. Was it fun toying with me?" The ice creaked and groaned, vapor rising from where the chains curled around the protruding ridge like a hungry snake. "Was it fun having me chase you around like some mindless bimbo? Come on, tell me!"

The volume of her voice rose up with every passing second. "I'm so fucking sick of having to excuse your actions in my own mind. Did you think it was funny? When I was making a fool of myself all along? When all of you were just humoring me?" She snarled. "Speak, Todoroki! Why so silent? Is it cuz your Daddy is watching?"

It was his turn to snarl, nails digging into his palms. First Endeavor- now this? "What do you know about me? Some brainless idiot like you who ends up a nuisance wherever she goes- what do you think you know about me? What right do you have? You approached me! You have no right to insult me."

"Now we're talking huh?" Her chains coiled around the rocks of ice that were breaking off of Todoroki's creation. She took a heated step forward, gesturing wildly. "It's not about who approached who first! This is about you stringing me along for years and not having the decency to be honest with me even once. What were you thinking-!"

She yelped, dodging an icicle sent her way. It crashed into the ice behind her. She could see the frost rapidly forming on the ground. Shouto glared just as intensely as she did, pulling his arm back and ready for another assault. "What was I thinking? You tell me! I only went along with your petty delusions! You don't know anything!"

"Oh so you're saying you couldn't have gotten rid of me even if you tried? Are you saying rejecting me wasn't an option? Do you have any idea how that makes no sense whatsoever?! You would go as far as to refuse your own quirk-" She slapped away another batch of icicles with her chains. "-but making the little princess mad is a big no-no? I don't understand. Help me understand! What did you want from me?!"

Shouto scowled, taking a step forward and gesturing just as wildly. "That's not what I- fuck. What makes you think I had a choice? And why do you suddenly care now? This isn't the time or place to be discussing this!"

Time? Place? Was she supposed to give a flying fuck about those? Now she was truly pissed. She straightened her back, chains vibrating energetically. She took a deep breath, raising one of her arms with her hand splayed upwards. Shouto startled at the sudden shift in atmosphere. "I think you're wrong Todoroki. We have all the time in the world to talk things out-" She gave him a canine smile, all teeth and no warmth behind the gesture. "Right here and right now."

With that said, she closed her hand into a fist. Shouto's eyes widened when an avalanche of ice came tumbling his way, chains hurling unstable blocks of ice as if skipping stones on water. Megumi was at the very center of it all, having swung herself up on the ice to avoid getting caught up in it.

She was going to get her point across no matter what it took. If he thought she was going to make it easy for him, he'd be the delusional one.

Even with the limited time she had regarding the usage of her quirk, she'd give the audience a good fucking show.

Crouching down low, Shouto took refuge behind the wall of ice he created. Wind and frost whipped past him, leaving chips and dents on his ice wall. He shouldn't have had given Megumi any ammunition in the first place. He would have to make sure he didn't give her any more openings to use his quirk against him. If he managed to get close enough, he could have a chance to throw her out of bounds. Neither of their quirks were close-range, but Shouto would have an easier time wrangling her out with hand-to-hand combat.

Before the avalanche could fully stop, Shouto jumped over his wall, hoping to catch Megumi off-guard with a body drop. He avoided the projectile ice easily, his vision still obscured by the cloud of dust and frost- however, when they cleared, the place he thought Megumi had been standing on was empty. Alarmed, Shouto watched as Megumi swung herself over his head, kicking through the ice wall he had left behind in his wake. The chains she had used to cause the avalanche crumbled to dust.

"Let's play a game. You try to catch me and I avoid you!" He felt his eye twitch. Had she always been so… smirky? "You don't like it? Too bad. I guess you did inherit your sense of humor from him." She skidded to the left and to the right in quick succession when he sent ledges of ice all the way across the arena towards her. Megumi clicked her tongue. "See? Got his temper too."

"Shut up."

She shrugged, a sneer forming on her face. "I don't know. You were able to endure my 'mindless chatter' for so long, what's the problem now?"

He was sick of her passive aggressive talk. "Someone like you wouldn't understand what I had to go through." He launched himself forward, spikes of ice flying up from the ground. Megumi dodged and weaved and vaulted over them. Was he intentionally trying to turn her into frozen shish kebab? She was trying to limit having to use her chains, but it was difficult to do so when Shouto was relentless with his attacks.

"What you had to go through-?" She smashed her knees through the ice that formed in front of her, flipping back onto her feet when she determined that there was nothing obstructing the space she was going to land on. "What about what I had to go through? Did you feel the same humiliation I did when people looked at me like I was a charity case? Actually, fuck it. If you think there's nobody out there who's got it worse than you and I, then you should reevaluate your life choices!"

He growled as she swung away again, using his ice scattered around the arena to avoid his assaults. She'd either attach her chains to them to swing away, or use them as shields to hide behind. He'd known she was slippery from his experiences in the obstacle race, but hadn't expected her to be just as slick in a 1v1 setting. Moreover, he was having a difficult time coming up with a tactic when all he could think of was coming up with ways to respond to her infuriating taunts- if she was intentionally riling him up, then it sure as hell worked. And he couldn't afford blasting ice in random directions forever if he didn't want frostbite forming on his right side.

"Silent again? Don't tell me you're tired already! Why, after all that special training you've gone through-"Megumi gasped as a huge ice wall formed smack in front of her. She ran right into it, stumbling back as more ice came hurtling her way. 'Shit, ugh'. Shaking off the stupor that had momentarily overcome her, she kicked and elbowed at the ice until she was once again in a position where she could see her opponent. Sweat ran down her temple and neck, damp hair feeling like lead against her back. He'd gotten her good.

His eyes flashed dangerously. "If you're incapable of shutting your mouth, I guess I'll have to do it for you."

She didn't like that tone. At all.

For the next five minutes, it was a race between her and Shouto's ice. Wherever she ran, walls of ice followed her like hounding dogs, hoping to catch her or make her run past the boundary while she tried to evade them. She flipped and cartwheeled all over the place, perilous thoughts invading her mind if he somehow managed to impale her after all.

One of her feet slipped. Megumi crashed face-first downwards, ice cracking and crumbling as dust arose from the ground. He took the opportunity to pin her against the floor with his ice, a gap of 50 meters present between the two of them.

Shouto himself looked out of breath, only looking slightly winded. She coughed, weakly attempting to get some feeling back into her arms from where they were pinned. He regarded her blankly. Then, his lips twitched upwards in a self-satisfied manner. "I caught you after all." He took a few steps forwards. "You should abstain from provoking people if this is how you'll end up!"

She coughed again, and for whatever reason he had thought she would've given up already. Instead, she smiled at him hugely and wildly- and flipped him off with her arms still immobilized.

"And you're too fucking cocky for your own good!"

Shouto felt the ground disappear from beneath his feet before he could come to the realization that he had indeed pinned down Megumi's arms: and had also apparently forgotten to incapacitate her legs in the heat of the moment. A particularly thick chain wrapped around his ankle, its warmth feeling searing hot against his right side.

And before he could process what had just happened, the ice crumbled from around Megumi's arms as she wrapped her hands around the chain originating from her right leg. It all happened in a split second. She used the chain to pull herself up, sweeping Shouto off of his feet simultaneously. And before he could fall on the ground onto his back, she skidded her left leg backward as she swung the chain like a baseball player pitching their bat for a home run.

Shouto flew through the air, smashing right through the ice walls he had created one by one as the people in the stands cringed back at the sight.

Present Mic's voice was heard once Shouto crashed into the last one with an audible crack. "Ouch — That's gotta hurt!"

They watched one of the figures down below got back on his feet, shaking himself off aggressively as he bent over and spat a glob of blood to the side.

"… You mean to tell me his spine didn't shatter on impact?"

"I don't know man, this is starting to get way too intense."

Shouto and Megumi faced each other, both panting and looking worse for wear.

Blood dripped down Shouto's mouth. He had bitten the inside of his cheek while falling. Megumi's body shook with the energy she had exerted into that attack. However, the splitting headache was worth it. That had been satisfying in a way nothing else could ever be.

They circled each other slowly, like two lions preparing for the right time to strike, eyes locked on their targets.

Megumi chuckled, wincing when her noise stung at having moved her face. She hoped it wasn't broken. "I would've liked to say that makes us even, but I still want to punch you in the face."

He scoffed, spitting out another drop of bloody saliva. "I didn't know your chains could grow that long. I won't let you pull that off again."

It was mostly silent as they sized each other up, strategizing their next move. Megumi frowned, reminded of when her chains had come in contact with the boy in front of her. It had been an incredibly strange feeling- almost as if one out of the two entities in Shouto's body was struggling to break free, repressed and neglected for ages. She gulped, nervously wondering whether her quirk had picked up on Shouto's rejection of his left side in its own weird way.

Could quirks… communicate with other quirks?

That thought flew right out of her mind when Shouto spoke up again. His eyes narrowed, frost once again building up in the palm of his hand. "I don't know what your problem is or what you want me to say. Frankly, I couldn't even care less. You're wasting your time- you know you're not going to win. Let's get this over with quick."

She rolled her eyes, 100% done with all pretense of niceness. "You know, Todoroki, you're not that bad of a person." Her eyes glowed teal once again, gripping the chain in her hands tightly. She couldn't afford letting this one disappear. She was running low on energy- it would probably take one more usage of her quirk to bring her to her knees. "But nobody likes stuck-up assholes whose overconfidence can only insult others. If you think you're better than the rest of us, you're gonna look like the idiot."

And it was true. He had underestimated Midoriya in the original series. In turn, Midoriya had given him an existential crisis that would eventually allow Bakugou to defeat him.

However, by the look on his face right now, her words seem to enter one ear and exit through the other. There was no reasoning with him and she was no Midoriya. Shouto raised a brow. "I don't have to be told that by you of all people. I hope you realize that you're the last person who should be giving people inspirational speeches."

Another scowl twisted her features, her chains stiffening in response to her ire. "If that's what you think, how about an inspirational kick in the ass?"

Ice crawled up the stadium's walls, people eyeing it nervously when it didn't stop spreading after reaching the railings. The long chain now partially curled around Megumi's arm loosened its hold on her, ready to strike in the blink of an eye. The tension was unbearable as the two continued circling each other, their expressions darkening by the second.

Their eyes met. An understanding passed between them, possibly the first ever: the understanding that they were both ready to fight tooth and nail against each other, and not necessarily because of the Sports Festival.

That's when the holy mess broke loose.

It was the point of no return. It was what people would remember as one of the most chaotic matches of the First-Year Stage's fighting tournament- despite it only being an elimination round.

Gigantic pikes and obstructions of ice rose up, only to be demolished seconds later by chains whipping out to slice them in two. They crumbled just as quickly as they were created, Todoroki not wasting any time in replacing them as soon as they fell. Like a war zone, dust and debris littered the space they were fighting in.

In short, the arena was getting obliterated. Undoubtedly, Cementoss would have a lot of fixing to do after their fight.

They skirted around each other whenever they got too close, quirks clashing spectacularly as Todoroki's ice gave away underneath Airashi's chain link. However, it was still Airashi who sported the most cuts and bruises, courtesy of Todoroki's long range attacks and the fact that her quirk couldn't give her the best defense when she only had one particularly long chain to work with. She made the most out of it- and so did he, as he aimed to tire her out and drive her past the boundary, knowing that otherwise she would just break free again. The frostbite was already starting to set in, put he could barely feel the sting when he was too focused on slapping his infuriating opponent out of the ring.

Whatever he tried, she countered by flipping and cartwheeling out of the way. It was like trying to catch an eel. She made up for her lack of offense with an evasive pattern that was borderline impossible to figure out.

The longer the fight dragged on, the more vicious it grew.

Feints turned into uncoordinated punches, and kicks meant to trip up the opponent became full blown roundhouse kicks with the intent to break bones. They were both visibly tiring out. It was a miracle that Airashi had been able to keep up with Todoroki for so long at all.

And when the both of them flew away from each other with the force of Airashi's chains rebounding off of his ice, that's when it really devolved into something brutal.

Abandoning their quirks, they charged forward with only their fists and fury.

Todoroki blocked a turning kick with his forearms, grabbing Airashi by the leg and throwing her to the side. She twisted her body mid-air, flipping back onto her feet and leaping at him without hesitation. It looked like a strange dance between the two of them, their assaults fast and furious and difficult to follow due to the speed they carried out their blows with.

Every punch she landed to his cheek he'd repay with a kick in the gut. For every pull of her hair, she'd respond with stomp on his foot and twist of his arm.

Class 1-A watched the bloody battlefield with their jaws dropped, just as Airashi wrapped her arms around Todoroki's middle from behind and straight up batista bombed him. The crowd, on the other hand, was going wild with claps and cheers.

He, in turn, wrestled her into a chokehold. She escaped by sweeping his legs out from under him, tumbling to the ground together before rolling to the side and onto her feet to deliver a nasty elbow strike from above. He barely avoided it, clutching the back of her shirt and throwing her past his shoulder.

"...Holy shit. They're really going at it."

"What an intense lovers' quarrel."

Someone sputtered, almost choking on their own spit. "Y-you call that a lovers' quarrel?! They're beating the absolute crap out of each other!"

"Dude, it's like mortal combat out there."

"I... didn't think she'd be that mad over the shoulder bump..."

Bakugou tuned out their voices, unusually contemplative as he continued observing the match.

"Ugh!"

Simultaneously, she nailed him with an uppercut and he landed a hit right to the side of her face. Both of them stumbled back, sweaty, disheveled and out of breath.

Shouto's next move caught her off-guard, unable to react in time.

He seemed to gain a burst of adrenaline as he grabbed her by the collar, flinging her several meters into the distance with a streak of ice following her crash. Just as she was about to peel herself off the pile of ice and debris, sheets of ice collapsed onto her.

All was silent for a while. Shouto could only hear his own heavy breathing echo in the clearing. The audience's cheers started toning down, as if anticipating the final outcome. There was no movement coming from where Megumi had landed.

"She's done for."

"To be honest, I didn't think she'd do so well against him."

"That was insane! I would've just given up, y'know?"

They heard the ash blonde sitting far off from them snort amusedly. Kirishima's brow scrunched up as he regarded him quizzically. "Uh, bro? What's up."

Bakugou scowled, folding his arms and turning his head away. "Nothin, mind your own biz."

Midnight's heels clacked on the ground, commanding attention. "Airashi. Are you able to move?"

It was silent.

For one second. Two seconds. Three seconds.

Before the judgement could be made, Megumi shakily pulled herself up from the rubble. She was visibly unsteady, swaying slightly as she attempted to right herself.

And the most jarring of all was the sight of her loose hair, chopped off right above her shoulders. Strands of blonde hair stuck to the ice Shouto had affronted her with- it had cut right through.

He straightened up slightly, holding his right arm gingerly. Shouto felt an indescribable feeling of weariness and defeat overpower him. "There's no point continuing. You've lost, plain and simple."

Turning around without waiting for an answer, he started walking towards the edge of the arena fully confident that she would be collapsing any minute now.

A coughing fit wracked her body- a coughing fit that slowly but surely evolved into fits of giggles. Shouto's muscles tensed, sensing something wasn't right.

"I told you not to underestimate me."

He froze in place. However, not voluntarily. He grimaced when he realized what she had done, disbelief setting in.

He couldn't move.

Several chains as thin as threads clung onto his body, the other ends attached to Megumi like two puppets linked together. Except only one person was the puppet.

Megumi tested her chains, stretching out her left arm. Shouto did the same. She took a step forward- and he did the same.

One step closer to the edge.

"You know, you really shouldn't have turned around Todoroki... unless you were trying to make it easier for me."

He should've known that she was inconspicuously attaching webs of chains to him while they had been wrestling minutes prior. Like a spider weaving its trap. He bit his lip, drawing blood.

After all those grandiose claims of winning without having to use his left side- after how confidently he had challenged Midoriya, the boy who could very well be All Might's protégé and secret love child- after all of that, was this how it was going to end for him? Thanks to his own foolishness and stupidity?

He struggled to break free from the hold her threadlike chains had on him, but it was as if they had penetrated right through his flesh and merged with his very bones. He couldn't move.

Megumi knew that with every step she took, she walked closer towards victory.

However, she also knew that with every passing second, she was coming closer to fainting on the spot.

Todoroki probably couldn't see due to his back being turned, not to mention he was too busy struggling to break free. Blood had started gushing out of her nose as soon as she activated her quirk for most likely the final time today, and holy moly was it bleeding like a goddamn water fountain. Was it physically possible to survive losing so much blood? Was this going to be a normal occurrence? Fuck, she hated it.

She hadn't thought she'd be able to pull this off- but here she was with him at her mercy. It was surreal.

In all honesty, Megumi was satisfied enough knowing the two of them now had matching black eyes blooming on their faces. It was a beautiful reminder that she had punched him in that pretty face of his as revenge for having led on the Original for years. But seeing him struggle so desperately right now, it just... didn't give her satisfaction at all.

She had liked it best when they'd both been fighting on equal grounds, with no energy left to use their quirks. He'd truly looked like a boy his age right then, determined to win and prove his own worth. Not like the unfeeling, asshole Zuko lookalike she had pegged him for.

Her vision blurred and blank static started creeping into her hearing. She closed her eyes and stopped walking, seizing all movement.

Megumi had achieved what she had set out to do. What more was there to do- humiliate him by defeating him during an elimination round?

Besides, she couldn't even if she wanted to. She could barely control the shaking in her arms and legs.

She had been prepared to lose the moment she set foot in the arena.

Her right arm lifted upward, similar to a student asking for their turn in class. Every cell in her body told her that she wouldn't regret doing this. God, she wanted to lay down and sleep for eternity. Two words were simple enough to mutter.

With an unwavering voice, she did the last thing anyone would expect of her right now.

"I give."

It was silent up in the stands.

Nobody really knew what to say.

Except Bakugou, apparently. "What the fuck?"

Her chains crumbled to dust immediately.

She fell onto her hands and knees, accepting the towel Midnight handed to her with a woozy nod of her head.

"Todoroki advances to the next round!"

Shouto hollowly stared after her as she pressed the towel to her bloody nose, getting up and leaving without so much as a glance or a word to him. The audience cheered for him, and yet he couldn't focus on their loud clapping and screaming in the least.

After all those provocations and taunts... she was just going to... withdraw?

...Why?

'What just happened?'

A/N:

I am here! After two weeks.

Life's getting a bit hectic rn, though I'll try my best to keep updating regularly!

I've been writing this chapter on energy drinks and pure sleep deprivation, I hope there aren't too many mistakes. Actually found a few spelling mistakes in the last chapter, but I don't wanna give anyone an update scare while trying to edit them so I guess I'll have to live with those mistakes. XD

Ngl, I have no idea how to write fight scenes. I feel like it turned out way too long than it should have been- I don't think I've ever written such a long fight scene. Hopefully I can learn from this experience, because writer's block and action scenes do not go well together. I know some of you wanted her to win and I agree it could have been interesting- but I planned her to go all out from the very beginning and as you can see, she wouldn't be able to survive the next round when she's on the verge of passing out, haha.

An answer to the question whether Megumi's chains might gain any additional properties: Megumi definitely has a long way to go before she can master her quirk, but I'd like to think you can sort of see in this chapter how versatile her chains are and what they might be capable of in the future. With enough time and training, she'll hopefully be able to use it in a variety of ways. That was a really good question actually, thank you for asking!

Your kind reviews really got me through the writer's block. I didn't think people would like it so much that they would reread some chapters! And the praise you give means so much to me, thank you all.

On another note, I've been thinking of making a DeviantArt account to post some sketches I've made of her. I'm definitely not an artist, but it'll definitely help with visualizing how she looks! What do you think?