Chapter 24: Facing Todoroki
Bakugo was reveling in the thrill of victory, delaying the final blow and simply watching with contempt as Midoriya struggled to get back up, time and time again.
This guy... really has the makings of a villain.
Kira thought to himself that Bakugo seemed more suited to being a villain than he was. He was systematically breaking down Midoriya's confidence, trying to make him admit his own powerlessness and go back to being his little follower.
Kira once again thought back to the day of the entrance exam—Izuku Midoriya's entire body was fractured, not a single patch of his skin was left unscathed, and all his blood vessels were on the verge of collapse.
If he had given up because of an injury like that, he never would have made it into the U.A. Hero Course.
"Look, Midoriya's getting up!"
The surveillance cameras hadn't been damaged, and they faithfully recorded what happened next.
Izuku Midoriya staggered to his feet and charged toward Bakugo. Bakugo met his charge, ready to pummel him with his Quirk! And then—veins bulged on Midoriya's arm as if it were about to explode, and he delivered a heavy uppercut to Bakugo's armored gauntlet!
"What?!"
The terrifying force from Midoriya's hand generated an intense shockwave that instantly tore through several floors, shattering all the windows in the building and blowing a huge hole in it!
Perhaps Midoriya and Uraraka had communicated beforehand. Before the hurricane-force wind hit, she had clung tightly to a load-bearing pillar. Taking advantage of Iida's confusion from the sudden attack, she used her "Zero Gravity" Quirk to make the pillar lighter and, like swinging a baseball bat, sent the debris flying from the floor directly at him!
To defend against the debris, Iida was completely unable to stop Uraraka. She used her Quirk to fly up again and hugged the nuclear weapon!
"She recovered it! Midoriya's team wins!"
It was an ending no one had expected. Midoriya had used the terrain to lure Bakugo directly below the stronghold and, with his one-shot Quirk, delivered a decisive blow!
Just as Midoriya collapsed from exhaustion, All Might loudly declared, "The hero team... WINS!"
However, no one accepted this outcome.
"What was that? The winning side is completely down, while the losing side is almost unscathed..."
"This is just a training exercise!"
Kira followed All Might to where Midoriya had collapsed. He must have known that injuries were unavoidable, as he had already prepared a transport robot and placed Midoriya on a stretcher.
"That's a gruesome injury..."
Although Kira's own Hamon had healing properties, he had never been reckless with it. An injury like Midoriya's, even if it could be healed, would leave irreversible damage. It was like a sapling that had been cut; even if it could grow strong in the future, the wound would only grow larger with time, becoming an unignorable weakness at a critical moment.
All Might inquired about Midoriya's condition. "Young Kira, how is he?"
"The injuries are severe, but not difficult to recover from. If Recovery Girl treats him, he should regain consciousness soon." Kira used Hamon to examine his injuries, explaining to All Might as he treated him. "My Quirk is good for healing internal injuries, but I can't do much for his external ones. I can only stop the bleeding. His burns will require Recovery Girl to heal."
"Thank you for your hard work, Young Kira."
All Might instructed the robot to take Midoriya to the infirmary and walked over to Bakugo. Kira thought All Might might scold him, but instead, he acted as if nothing had happened and patted the self-reproachful Bakugo on the shoulder. "It's time to head back, Young Bakugo. It's time for the review. Win or lose, what matters is looking back and learning from the experience so you can make good use of it."
Bakugo stared blankly at All Might's smile and said nothing.
"I believe you all saw the battle. Win or lose, both sides gave us a spectacular match. I hope you all can learn from their lesson and refrain from destroying the set!"
All Might stood in front of the training building, instructing the departing Hero Team B, while their opponents, Villain Team I, had already entered the stronghold to set up their defenses.
"Kira-kun, I can't believe it's our turn so soon..." Although Kira could hear the nervousness in Toru Hagakure's voice, he didn't know why she was taking off her clothes.
No, that might not be accurate. She was taking off her gloves and shoes.
"I know you're doing this to become completely invisible, but there's a question I've always wanted to ask..." Although Kira understood, he was still a little flustered by her actions. After a moment of hesitation, he finally said it tactfully. "Hagakure-san, don't you feel cold without any clothes on?"
"I know what you're thinking!" Toru said, holding her gloves as if to cover her body, her voice slightly annoyed. "I'm embarrassed to be naked too! But if I wear clothes, I can't make myself completely invisible quickly!"
"Besides, you can't see me anyway..." Toru muttered under her breath, not letting Kira hear.
"Sorry, my mistake." Kira apologized decisively. She was a girl, after all. He quickly changed the subject. "How do you think they'll attack?"
Toru wasn't the type to hold a grudge. After cursing Kira in her mind for a bit, she began to think seriously. "Shoji-kun's Quirk is 'Dupli-Arms.' He can replicate his own body parts at the ends of his tentacles. I don't know how Midoriya-kun did it, but if it's Shoji-kun, he'll definitely start by replicating his ears and nose to prevent us from making a surprise attack."
"Right. A sneak attack won't be very effective. Besides, when both sides only have a rough idea of the other's location, it's hard to say who's sneaking up on whom."
"Yeah. I don't know Shoji-kun's detection range, but they might already know our position." At this thought, Toru suddenly cried out. "If that's the case, then my invisibility is useless against Shoji-kun!"
"Don't worry, he can't see you naked."
"Hmph, ah!"
"So you're pretty strong, Hagakure-san..." Kira rubbed his slightly reddened cheek and averted his gaze.
Kira's "Hamon" Quirk could travel through mediums, so he was sensitive to the composition of the air. He suddenly noticed the water molecules in the air condensing. He asked with a serious tone, "Hagakure-san, are you sure you're not afraid of the cold?"
"I'm not! I have a strong constitution!" Just as she said this confidently, she suddenly shrieked. "What?! Why is it so cold all of a sudden?!"
"It's Shoto Todoroki," Kira said, recalling Inasa's description of him. "'His ice is almost like my wind,' he said." The man who was so confident in his own abilities had described the power he had seen.
"What are you talking about?" Toru hugged her gloves and shoes to her chest, squatting on the ground and shivering. "This is no time for jokes, you know?"
"I'm saying we're about to be frozen." Before Toru could process what Kira had said, a torrent of ice instantly covered the floor, and Kira's feet were frozen in place by the plant-like growth of ice!
"Ah, ah! My butt!" Toru suddenly screamed. In front of Kira, an oval-shaped block of ice had appeared out of nowhere, half a meter high.
"..." Kira was silent. This was a situation that perhaps even All Might hadn't anticipated—a young girl getting her butt frozen in ice.
"Don't just stand there staring!" Toru was mortified. She could feel a solid block of ice freezing her legs and her lower body.
"I'm frozen too. I can't do anything," Kira said, shrugging helplessly.
I shouldn't have squatted down!
Toru thought angrily, cursing the man in front of her and the man walking toward them a million times in her mind. She added them both to her blacklist, vowing to make them regret it.
The ice was cold, and it was even colder for the naked Toru. Just as she was about to cry from the grievance, Kira spoke. "Sorry, I actually do have a way."
It wasn't that Kira was being sadistic and wanted to see a girl cry in front of him. He was trying to figure out a way to win, and he now knew how.
Toru watched as Kira's palm was enveloped in a golden ripple of Hamon. He slammed it against his leg, and the ice shattered with a crash. This effortless display was a far cry from the helplessness he had claimed!
"So... how do I get you out?"
Kira was in a difficult position. If a girl had encountered this situation somewhere private, he would have smashed the ice without a second thought. But now, with a dozen people watching in the monitoring room—that Mineta and Kaminari were probably already having nosebleeds—if he wanted to save her, he would have to touch her body... a naked girl's delicate body.
"Do you think I care about that right now?!" Toru quickly guessed what he was hesitating about and shouted, "I'm a girl, and I'm the one asking for help! What are you being so prim and proper for?! You hypocrite!"
Fine. If the person involved didn't care, why should he?
Kira first placed his hand on the ice shaped like her footprints. Hamon could travel through water. He used it to shatter the ice piece by piece, leaving a pile of rubble on the floor. He did the same for her other foot.
Toru's feet were free. Although she had some cuts from the ice and it hurt a little, she didn't care. She eagerly tried to stand up, then let out a surprised "Wah!" and squatted back down in grievance.
Damn it, I forgot about my butt!