Chapter 18: Support

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Izuku walked out of the cheering arena feeling satisfied above all else. He had helped out someone who'd been previously deemed an enemy, and won the match, putting him even further into the competition. Given his own unfortunate placement, he was set to fight Todoroki in the next round. At least, he was guaranteed to. As much as Sero was commendable on his own, he simply wasn't a match for the element user. 

"Ah... shit. This is not gonna be fun..." He fell back against the wall, recalling the conversation that he had with Todoroki. He came to the conclusion that not only would he have to win, but also force him to use his fire. Sure, helping a fellow classmate was perfectly fine, but he realized that if he succeeded, he'd be squaring off against one of the main weaknesses that he possessed. To make matters even worse, Izuku knew well that the flames would be beyond powerful, due to cross referencing the strength of the ice. In all, it wasn't a very convenient position to be in.

That didn't make it an impossible task, though. All that was really required was thoughtful planning and a strong will.

An unimaginably strong will.

"THE NEXT BATTLE WILL BE BETWEEN HANTA SERO AND SHOTO TODOROKI!!!" Present Mic began his introduction of the second matchup, letting Izuku know that it was time to get out of the tunnel. He darted out of the empty corridor and towards the nearest flight of stairs. While running up, he saw Sero above him, going in the opposite directrion. They locked eyes, and gave each other a smile.

"Good luck, man!!" Izuku said.

"Thanks, dude!!" He replied, while passing him. 

'Unfortunately... he doesn't really stand much of a chance at all...' Izuku somberly thought. 

He continued up the stairs, walking to the group of seats that were designated for his class. While inside the building, he glanced outside into the arena, looking through a tunnel that lead into the stands, and saw a massive glacier that covered half of the entire field. It rose into the stands, becoming dangerous to even the spectators.

'Holy shit! I have to beat that?!'

...

Once Izuku reached the top floor, and returned to the outside, he noticed Yaoyorozu sitting alone, similarly to him prior to his own match. What differed the two, however, was her own overwhelmingly nervous demeanor leaking through her facial expressions. Her hands were pressed against her legs as she glared directly at the ground between them, making it obvious. Izuku walked towards her, and sat in the seat to the right of her. Surprisingly enough, he didn't actually distract her while doing this, though. She continued to boil over in her own thought's about the upcoming fight.

"Worried about your fight?" Izuku spoke, making known his presence. Yaoyorozu slightly jumped, getting startled by the sound, and looked to her right to see her crush sitting beside her.

"N-no!! Of course not!! Why would I b-be worried?!" She frantically responded in denial. Izuku closed his eyes while shaking his head.

"I mean, I could only guess that you're just simply nervous, but I couldn't say for sure. What I do know is that you're unkempt and distraught expression is easily readable, and makes it painfully clear what emotions your experiencing. If you would like to talk about it, I'm here for you, but you can do whatever you want, I suppose." He opened his eyes, staring straight out into the open arena, and not at any particular object, while maintaining a calm face that seemed to lack a single care in the world. His arms were lightly wrapped around each other in a comfortable position, creating a lackadaisical vibe in the vicinity.

"U-uh, well, y-you see... Tokoyami is very strong, and I really want to win, b-but..."

"You can't figure out how?" Izuku finished, guessing while she paused.

"I just don't see how it's possible! Dark Shadow is so powerful! There's no way I have a single chance at winning that fight!!" She exclaimed.

"Then forfeit the match." Izuku bluntly stated.

"W-what?" Momo was confused by his cold and bare statement. It felt unusual that he would ever say something like that.

"If you don't even see winning as a possibility, then there's no point in fighting. Stepping onto a battlefield with that mentality would be suicidal, and would make you a liability to others. Immediately, you'd be expecting to lose from the outset, which would tear away at your own mental fortitude and lessen your skills in combat, so it's idiotic to even consider that, but if that's how you're going to think, it's better to save yourself from the trouble of getting pummeled in front of a massive audience." Izuku stood up from his seat, but continued to look into the distance, "Momo Yaoyorozu, you're a smart girl, in fact, probably the smartest kid in school, so even if you can't figure out a way to win, at least convince yourself that it's worth a try regardless, cause you know what they say. In basketball, you'll always miss 100% of the shots that you don't take. Heck... even a fruit fly could probably kill me in a certain rare scenario, sometime, somehow, and I think you've got a much better chance at beating that birdbrain than the fly has at beating me. Plus, I've got to face off against the kid who just delayed the festival because of a massive glacier he made in seconds, but you'd be damned to see me backing down out of that fight,"

Izuku left her, letting her think about his words for as much time as possible. She couldn't help but watch him longingly as he left to go back down the stair and into the inside of the building, wanting his support and advice even more. What he'd said created this gigantic weight on her chest. This weight was caused by the decision that Izuku shed light on, which was the choice between fighting and giving up. He was right in the regard that giving up would guarantee a loss, and imagining herself doing so became an increasingly vulgar and detestable action for her. He was also right that going into the fight with the mentality that she was going to lose would guarantee the same loss. This led her to the final conclusion.

Winning may be hard, if not nearly impossible (news flash, it really isn't that hard, but what does she know lol), but if she gave it her all and stepped onto the field with the intent to win, there was always a chance that the outcome could spin her way.

'Izuku Midoriya, I'm going to make you proud!!'

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