(A/N: Got my brain rebooted or something, because I suddenly lost all my habits, including uploading here. And whenever I thought about it doing it again, my brain just dodged the subject. Anyway, I'm building back all my habits, which weren't many, but still annoying to have lost them, and today I finally got over my brain and went back to uploading.
Imma be uploading up to ch 76, so two more chapters ahead.)
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[Talk]
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...
The moment Present Mic announced the game's end, all the frantic movement on the field died at once.
Some teams crumpled mid-desperate lunge, their last-second moves not making the cut. Others simply stopped holding themselves together and dropped to the ground right where they stood, exhausted. A few managed to disassemble more calmly, their formations dissolving without much fuss.
It was a stark contrast to what the field had looked like just moments before.
The determination and wild energy from that last minute of open headband hunting had drained out of most. Exhaustion had taken its place across the mass of students.
And no wonder. Things had gotten genuinely rough in that final stretch. The field had turned into something close to hell when the headbands were released—and with it, plenty of people had gotten a very honest look at the true nature of human beings in desperate situations.
It hadn't been pretty.
Taka and Jiro, of course, remained the exception to this. Having steered completely clear of all the chaos and simply watched it unfold from the sidelines, they'd come out without a scratch.
Which, naturally, earned them plenty of unhappy looks from the students around them—most of whom were in the state they were in because of the two of them in the first place.
Taka ignored it without effort. His poker face had been polished well past the point where a few disgruntled stares were going to make a dent.
Jiro looked a bit more uncomfortable.
"You made us public enemies, Takahashi..." She muttered, eyes darting around.
Taka gave her an unimpressed look. "Let's not put all of that on me. You looked like you were having a great time when you had control of the skeleton."
"..."
She didn't have anything to say to that.
So she changed topics.
"Speaking of the skeleton—will you explain now how your supposed telekinesis managed to produce a giant flaming skeleton that two people could control?"
"It's simple, really."
...
"Well? I'm waiting."
Taka smiled with his eyes closed, as if the answer were the most obvious thing in the world.
He still took far too long to actually say anything though.
"Well?!" Jiro pressed.
Taka cleared his throat. "You see—"
{"Now, we will announce the results for the second game! Let's see which four teams made it through to the final!"}
Taka let out a sigh. "What bad timing. I guess I'll tell you later."
"Takahashi...!" Jiro grabbed the hem of his clothes.
Taka pushed her face away, trying to get her to let him go. "Pay attention damnit."
She kept pulling at him, still trying to get her answer.
The two were still at it when Present Mic's voice came through again.
{"In first place, Team Takahashi!"}
The camera found them. Jiro immediately let go and snapped into a proper pose.
Taka smirked slightly. A vein appeared on Jiro's forehead.
{"In second place, Team Todoroki!"}
The camera moved to the next team. Todoroki stood there looking less than pleased, much like his teammates. Iida looked like he'd just finished a marathon. Yaoyorozu held a bug-catching net she'd used to scoop up headbands. And Kaminari had his usual short-circuited face.
Aside from Kaminari, the other three looked dissatisfied with the results. But with time up, there was nothing to be done about it.
{"In third place, Team Bakugo!"}
Bakugo's team came up next. Unlike most, who had dropped to the ground to rest, he remained standing, looking as pissed as ever with his arms crossed.
Around him, his teammates let out weary sighs. Sero in particular had an armful of headbands in his grasp, having apparently used his tape to reel in quite a few.
{"And in fourth place, Team Midoriya!"}
Lastly, the camera settled on Midoriya and his group. He and Uraraka were flat on the ground, resting. Mei was off to the side, checking over her gear and pulling out headbands that had gotten tangled in it.
Tokoyami stood apart from all of them with his eyes closed and arms crossed, clearly committed to looking composed, a few headbands held loosely in one hand.
{"These four teams advance to the final game—give them a round of applause, everyone!"}
The crowd obliged. Chatter exploded through the stands, most of it trained on the team that had made the biggest impression.
With the finalists named and the game properly wrapped up, Present Mic's next announcement followed without much delay.
{"We'll now take a one-hour lunch break before the afternoon activities begin! Look forward to it, everyone!"}
A brief exchange between him and Aizawa about what to do during the break leaked faintly through the speakers. By then, however, most people had already stopped paying attention and were heading toward food.
And just like that, the second part of the Sports Festival came to a close.
Taka let out a quiet breath.
The messier, more unpredictable parts of aura farming were done. What came next was simpler and more straightforward.
The tournament.
But that was after lunch. Right now, he wanted something filling and a proper chance to rest.
He'd burned through a fair amount of aura across the two games, and he needed to recover it before the third started if he wanted to be at his best.
The Susanoo knockoff, specifically, had eaten a lot of aura to build—and then to rebuild from scratch, bigger, after the teams brought it down the first time.
It had drained him considerably.
Though, on balance, it had probably been worth it.
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[STATUS PAGE]
▸ Strength: (182 Base) 1000
▸ Defense: (364 Base) 2500
▸ Aura Projection: 25,138
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Total Aura: 61,365 → 29,092 (47%)
1st Clone's aura: 12,273 (20%)
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
All his stunts had cost him around 20,000 aura points, and the active clone was another ongoing drain on top of that.
But for all of that spending, his aura—which had been sitting at a comfortable 53k when the day began—had already climbed by eight thousand points in just a few hours, pushing it past 60k.
He'd finally crossed the mark of roughly double what he'd had when U.A. started.
Not exactly double the number, there were still a few thousand between him and the precise figure, but close enough in practice.
If he'd had this much back when the Nomu showed up, the fight would have looked very different.
Of course, he held back at that time, which is why he struggled in the first place… But now he'd struggle less while holding back the same!
He smiled faintly at that.
The festival was shaping up to be exactly what he'd hoped for.
And the afternoon games were still waiting.
If things kept going the way they were, breaking past 70k today wasn't out of the question.
"Well?" Jiro's voice pulled him back from his thoughts.
He turned to find her watching him with crossed arms, still waiting for her answer.
'Right. The Susanoo thingy.'
He cleared his throat.
"You see—" He started.
"Yo, Taka, what the hell was that?!"
But before he could even begin, Kirishima pushed through and planted himself in front of them, looking equal parts irritated and impressed.
"I know you said you weren't going to hold back much, but summoning a giant flaming skeleton? You nearly flattened some of us in there!"
Taka jabbed a thumb toward Jiro.
"She was the one controlling it. Take it up with her."
"Geh, Takahashi!" Jiro flinched at having the blame passed so cleanly.
Kirishima wasn't done.
"Still—your Quirk is supposed to be telekinesis! How did a giant flaming skeleton come out of that?!"
"Yeah, I was asking the same thing," Jiro added.
But then—
"TAKAAAA!"
A very loud, floating set of clothes came charging toward them.
"How could you?! You stole our headband!" Hagakure arrived and immediately started throwing punches at him, all of which he caught with his palm without much effort. "And then you almost flattened us with that thing! How is any of that telekinesis?!"
Kirishima and Jiro both looked at him more pointedly.
And it didn't stop there. Soon, a whole group began approaching
Midoriya's team minus Mei, who'd apparently stayed behind to fix her gear, plus Tsuyu, Mina, Iida, Sato, Sero, and Yaoyorozu. All of them carrying looks that ranged from tired to openly annoyed.
Kaminari wandered over too, though from the distant expression on his face, he was probably just following the general direction of the crowd.
Soon, Taka found himself encircled by suspicious eyes from every angle.
"That was a pretty evil move, Taka," Tsuyu said straightforwardly, a flat gaze visible in her face instead of the usual wide eyes, clearly a bit put out.
"Tsuyu's right. That was pure evil! My team made it, but at what cost?" Uraraka muttered beside her, looking worn out.
"Oi, Takahashi, ever heard of sportsmanship?!" Sato said, raising a fist.
"Class rep, I looked up to you, and you betrayed us!" Mina said, doing her best impression of someone heartbroken.
"When that skeleton came after us, I genuinely thought it was over," Sero muttered with a sigh.
"Takahashi-kun, I thought better of you," Iida said, chopping the air at a rapid pace. "You disrupted the order of the game and nearly brought the whole thing to ruin when you took everyone's headbands at once!"
"It was unlike you, Takahashi-san," Yaoyorozu added quietly, looking a little hurt.
"To call forth such a giant beast from the underworld and unleash that level of destruction..." Tokoyami shook his head slowly. "I did not foresee such darkness lurking within you."
"Whey~"
Taka took all of it in without flinching, arms crossed, eyebrow raised.
"This is a competition," he said, his tone a bit flatter than they were used to. "You didn't expect me to go easy on you, did you?"
He let that land, then continued as his eyes narrowed.
"Besides, I said I was going to make history… So I will."
""...!""
That quieted the group down noticeably. A few looked caught off guard by the confidence behind it.
"So manly... damn it." Kirishima looked somewhere between moved and distressed.
"The top of the world isn't for the faint-hearted, it seems," Tokoyami said, a faint smirk taking over his stern look for a moment.
"Whey~"
"Still, something doesn't add up!" Sato said, snapping a finger at Taka. "You told us your Quirk was telekinesis, and that it came directly from your physical strength. So how did you produce that monstrous thing?!"
"We were wondering the exact same thing," Jiro said. Kirishima snapped out of his thoughts and nodded in agreement.
Everyone looked at Taka, waiting. This time not about to let anything else stop the question from being answered.
He scratched his cheek, barely hiding his troubled look.
Of course, he already had an excuse ready, but he would have liked a bit more time to make sure there weren't any holes in it—especially now that Yaoyorozu and Iida were in the group. If anyone was going to catch an inconsistency, it was one of them. Yaoyorozu especially.
As if on cue, though, fate decided to cut him a break.
"Takahashi."
A voice from outside the circle. The group parted to see who it was.
Todoroki stood there, expression as blank as ever.
"I need to speak with you. Come."
Then, he turned and walked away without waiting.
'The hell?' Taka stared at his retreating back with a flat look.
He could have ignored it. Todoroki hadn't even said please.
...But given the situation he'd just been pulled out of, following seemed like the better option.
He turned to the group. "I'll explain later."
Then he walked after Todoroki without any further ceremony.
The group watched him go, visibly baffled.
They were about to call after him—
—Growl—
When a collective stomach complaint echoed from the group at once.
Flat looks were exchanged. Then everyone started drifting toward the cafeteria.
Whatever was Taka's secret, it could wait until all of them had eaten.
While the field cleared out around them, Taka and Todoroki's path curved away from the main flow, coming to a stop at a quiet corner near one of the exits.
Todoroki settled against the wall with his hands in his pockets, eyes closing.
Taka just looked at him.
'...Now that I think about it, isn't this basically the same setup as when Midoriya had his talk with Todoroki?'
Same isolated spot.
Similar air of backstory about to be revealed.
Even similar moment in time, if he recalled correctly.
'So it ended up being me this time.' He thought, quietly amused.
With the war declaration already having come his way, it wasn't that strange that this conversation had followed. Still, he'd have preferred Midoriya for this. Talk-no-jutsu wasn't really in his skill set.
But he was already here, so there wasn't much choice but to hear what the emo of the class had to say.
"..."
"..."
A lot of silence was apparently what he had to say.
Todoroki seemed to have a talent for letting awkward silences. Maybe the guy even enjoyed it, because even several seconds after Taka had made himself comfortable, the guy still hadn't opened his mouth.
"..."
"..."
He just kept looking at Taka, direct eye contact, not saying a word.
"..."
"..."
Until, of course, Taka decided not to put up with it. So he turned around to leave.
"Wait."
Finally, Todoroki decided to speak.
Taka turned back, expression flat. "I was starting to think you'd gone mute."
"..." Todoroki's eyes narrowed.
Then he closed them, took a slow breath, and looked at the ground.
"I can't beat you."
He led with that, making Taka's eyebrow go up slightly.
'Don't tell me he brought me here just to repeat what he already said in the waiting room? If so, I'm beating him to a pulp. I'm hungry, and I want to rest to recover the aura I lost, not have a rivalry moment with this guy.'
Todoroki went on, unaware of his thoughts. "You've outclassed me completely across the first two games of this event, and in ways that were completely over the top, while clearly not even going all out at that. Before I said I would beat you with my ice, regardless of the gap between us, but now I realize my mistake."
A reluctant look crossed his face.
"You're at a level I can't reach right now. Without my fire, there's no chance of beating you. And even with it, I don't think that changes much."
His expression soured.
"I can't win. I understand that now."
Taka's eyes narrowed slightly.
Todoroki didn't come across as someone who could just admit defeat flat out. So this was going somewhere.
As if on cue, the sour look shifted—replaced by something harder and more direct.
"But even so, know this."
Cold mist began drifting off him.
"No matter how far above me you are, I won't go back on my pledge."
The mist settled. Both of them looked at each other.
Then Todoroki's gaze dropped slightly.
"You know Endeavor?" he asked.
Taka nodded faintly, "Your old man?"
Todoroki nodded back, his expression shifting into something with a lot of dislike behind it.
"He's always had a strong drive to reach the top. That drive brought him all the way to number two—but then he hit a wall he couldn't get past, no matter what he tried... All Might."
He lifted his left hand slightly, looking at it.
"He put all his life into one day surpassing him. But eventually, the truth settled on him. He wasn't going to reach number one, ever… So, with his limits made clear, he moved on to his next plan. Me."
His eyes came back to Taka, who hadn't reacted.
"Do you know about Quirk marriages?"
A flicker of annoyance passed by Taka's face. "Arranged marriages designed to produce children with stronger Quirks than their parents."
Todoroki looked briefly caught off guard by that. It wasn't a term that was widely known anymore. It still happened, of course, but the practice had declined a lot from the old times when it occurred.
Still, he recovered quickly from the surprise.
"... That's what I am. A product built from a Quirk marriage, whose purpose is to eventually surpass All Might and take the top spot."
His eyes stayed on Taka for a moment, looking him over almost analytically, before moving away.
"That bastard bought my mother's parents off and forced the marriage with the sole objective of creating me… his goal of surpassing All Might was all that mattered. My mom, on the other hand, much like my brothers, became disposable to him once she conceived me. Honestly, I can't remember a time she wasn't crying."
His hand rose to the burn on his face.
"Eventually, it all came to a point where she poured boiling water on me as she looked at my left side with clear disgust."
Taka didn't react, simply listening silently.
"Because of all that, I refuse to become a tool for someone like him. No matter what, I won't use my fire against you."
His eyes met Taka's again.
Upon seeing his unmoved face, he scoffed faintly.
"You're probably wondering what any of this has to do with you." He said, averting his gaze, "The thing is, you reminded me of him."
Taka frowned. "Endeavor?"
"All Might."
Taka's expression eased.
Todoroki closed his eyes. "Whether you're connected to him or not doesn't really matter. The fact is, you're going to reach his level—or go past it—in due time. That much is easy to tell right now."
Then, his eyes opened again, staring at Taka as if he were the final goal in his path.
"That makes you the same kind of wall my father spent his life running into." Todoroki's brows pulled together. "Which makes it all the more reason to face you without my fire."
"Even though you won't win without it?" Taka said, his tone flat and a little pointed.
"I won't win. But I won't lose in a completely one-sided way either. I'll show that my ice alone is enough to stand against someone like you."
With that, he pushed off the wall and started to turn.
"That's all I wanted to say… Farewell."
"Nope."
"...?!"
—He'd taken about one step before a crimson force caught him and brought him back to the wall, putting him face to face with Taka once again.
"Info-dumping me and then walking off. You've got some nerve." Taka smirked as he spoke, though clearly not because he was amused.
He had some sympathy for what Todoroki had been through. But he wasn't about to just stand there and take the guy's whole backstory and second war declaration, only for the guy to just leave without letting him give a word of his own.
So, while Todoroki pushed back against the crimson hold, Taka's voice came through with a sharp tone in the form of a question.
"Why are you here, Todoroki?"
That took the teenager by surprise.
"What do you mean?" He asked, still struggling against the restraint.
"Why are you at U.A.?" Taka clarified, head tilting slightly. "If you didn't want to be your father's project, you could have chosen any other path. Become something other than a hero. Even if he pushed back, you could have pushed harder. But you didn't—you're here, in the exact place he would have put you."
Todoroki's mouth opened. Then it closed.
He didn't have an answer.
It was a question he'd never actually asked himself.
If he'd really wanted to defy his father, many choices other than being a hero were available to him.
He could have taken any other… But he hadn't even considered it.
Why?
And as he tried to find the answer, a memory surfaced—him as a child, watching All Might on the TV with his mother. One of the few moments she wasn't crying.
Before he'd thought it through, the words came out.
"Because I want to be a hero."
Taka's expression eased. Just slightly.
"Then let me ask you something else. When you become a hero—when enemies stronger than you show up, when people need you, when lives are on the line, and it comes down to what you can do in that moment—are you going to hold back your left side then too? Because of a grudge against your father?"
Todoroki went still. He stopped pushing.
Taka stepped closer, eyes level with his.
"You say you won't become his tool. But not using your left side isn't freedom from him—it's just handing him a different kind of control."
"What?" Todoroki's brows pulled together.
"Say you make it to number one with only your ice. Does that mean you broke free from him? Or does it mean that even after you've reached everything you set out to reach, he's still shaping how you live and what you choose not to do?"
Todoroki's mouth opened to speak, but let out no sound.
Taka let out a huff.
"Think it over."
Then, the invisible hold suddenly released. Todoroki caught himself before he fell completely, slowly coming back to his feet.
By the time he looked back up, Taka was already walking away.
But just before he could get too far away, he glanced back once, his eye shining eerily.
"Do have in mind, though, without your fire, you won't be even able to put up the slightest fight. If you want to remain as you are, feel free to do so—but whatever you want to accomplish, you won't be able to."
Then, he turned.
"Against someone who doesn't even take his goal seriously… I'll make sure to crush them."
And so, leaving those words, he walked away.
Todoroki stayed where he was, silent as a rock as he watched Taka's departing back join the mass of students walking to the cafeteria.
And as he did, his hand lifted to touch his scar once more.
"Become a hero."
…
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: I feel like this one might have felt like a skippable chapter for some, given the lack of plot advancement aside from Todoroki's character development. Hopefully not.
How is Taka's growth in this event according to you? A bit much? Or not sufficient? Do recall that the aura gained becomes significantly less the further away people are—and I know the aura he's supposed to be gaining should be technically around the millions, but for the sake of the story and the stakes, let's just say that Taka's original Quirk can only absorb a specific quantity of aura from its surroundings before it begins to lose grip on the rest. Like a pipe receiving an influx of water perfectly, until the quantity becomes too much and ultimately overflows the pipe and gets lost.)