Haunting

Chapter Seventeen: Sports Festival (2)

Toshinori cradled his bleeding nose, making his way through the bleachers to get to Recovery Girl. Thankfully he was just Toshinori right now, and nothing else was needed of him until the top three were announced.

He glanced over at the students. The Cavalry battle had just begun, and Todoroki was pulling an impressive display. He was playing very defensively - for obvious reasons - and the flames that stretched around him in a protective circle was making most other groups get cold feet. Uraraka was the exception however, and it seemed that Todoroki was attempting to ward the floating girl off with his ice, only half way successful.

Admittedly, Toshinori was a touch disappointed the Sports Festival was only for first years. No matter how many times Mirio tried to explain his time with the event, he knew it would never be the same as watching a pupil participate, getting to root for and cheer them on, being a guiding hand for One For All with Mirio just as Nana had been for him.

Mirio was a fantastic pupil. He was intelligent, determined, creative, everything he needed someone wielding One For All to be. But he couldn't help the feeling that something was missing.

Toshinori stopped in his tracks and gave himself a moment to sulk. He was distracting himself from the look that had been on Aizawa's face and he knew it. Like he was a monster.

As much as he wanted to, he couldn't blame the other for his reaction. It seemed like he had gotten very close to Midoriya, and hearing about Toshinori's mistake must have been harder than any hero work he'd done. Toshinori debated on how to make it up to him. Not only did he care about Aizawa himself, but If Aizawa kept Toshinori out of the classroom as much as possible, talking to Midoriya at all would be much, much harder.

He hoped it wouldn't come down to Toshinori sneaking behind his back. Aizawa would throw him out of a window.

Shouto activated his left side as soon as the cavalry battle was called to an end, attempting to get feeling back in his right arm. Uraraka had been merciless in her attempts to get to him, and even when she finally backed off, he still needed to defend himself against the slew of other groups that had immediately jumped at his throat.

His left hand shot to his forehead, and he breathed a sigh of relief when he felt the headband. He had been careful, but he never knew when someone might have tried to strike behind his back. His group set him on the ground. Shouto could see others follow his lead, and some groups nearby whispered anxiously to themselves, unsure of where they placed in the ranking.

Shouto's group was called for first, and it may have been unsurprising but it was a huge weight off his shoulders. Bakugo's group made second - a curious outcome since Shouto hardly saw him - and Shinsou's group stole third. Shouto was happy for them.

Midnight explained the tournament and revealed the match ups. Shouto's eyes skimmed the board, flexing and relaxing his numb right hand in a repetitive motion, the heat from his left side slowly moving to his right. Sero. He glanced at his classmate. As much of a shame as it was fighting someone who knew his techniques, he knew Sero's as well, so they would have to get creative fighting one another. Sero's tape was long range just like his own as well. Who knew how that could go?

He smirked to himself. He hadn't gotten truly excited about fighting since he was younger, and he found the rush of it to be refreshing. Even as he went to exit for the break they had, strategies churned in his head, attempting to piece together his fire and ice in a way that wouldn't overwhelm him yet. The ring of fire had been purely defensive after all, and Shouto wasn't itching to use fire in actual combat. Not yet.

As he went, he glanced at the board one last time to see the first match of the tournament. The names of the candidates stared him in the face, and he hummed, intrigued.