UA's Immortal Teacher

Part 12

Izuku sat through the entirety of Shinso's and Todoroki's match, not quite hearing the words that Shinso shouted across to Todoroki, but what he did see was the small, brief, glowing light of happiness in Todoroki's eyes as he blasted a stream of fire across the arena. The audience around him burst into cheers and applause, only fading into an excited murmur when the two boys left the arena.

Bakugo and Tokoyami had left the arena a few minutes ago to prepare for their match, the blonde's eyes narrowed dangerously, while both Tokoyami and Dark Shadow were quiet and serene in the face of their next match. Knowing what he did about both Tokoyami and Bakugo's quirks, he had to say that the explosive teen had a higher chance of winning. That is if he could figure out Tokoyami's weakness in time.

The two students walked onto the match ground, both waiting for the call to start the round. When it finally came, Bakugo didn't waste a single second. He dove straight at Tokoyami, sending explosion after explosion at him, not giving Tokoyami a moment to catch his breath. Dark Shadow had gone on the complete defensive, not being able to counter due to the quirk's weakness. It seemed that Bakugo hadn't quite figured out his advantage, however, because he remained cautious in the off moment that his explosions faltered for a brief moment.

As time went on, Izuku could see Bakugo starting to catch on to this fact, pressing his attacks a bit more. In a split second, Izuku saw the dawning light of understanding appear in Bakugo's eyes, right before the blonde pulled off an attack that covered the entire arena in a cloud of thick smoke, leaving the audience clueless as to what was going on. When it finally cleared, Izuku could make out two shapes, Bakugo and Tokoyami, with Bakugo holding Tokoyami down, the clear winner of the match.

The audience was now even more excited, with the final match being just around the corner. Izuku leaned back in his seat, watching the students around him with a razor-sharp eye, catching every minute expression flitting across their faces. Many of them looked a bit taken aback, given that Tokoyami had seemed like the perfect attacker and defender. Bakugo might have looked like he just slung attacks at the other student, but Izuku could tell that he had figured out Tokoyami's weakness. The usually loud and angry blonde thought more than one would initially assume.

The final match began, and the two competitors immediately sent giant attacks after each other, obviously planning to end the match as fast as possible. Todoroki was still only using his right side, building back up whatever barrier he had broken down in his last match against Shinso. There were quite a few opportunities that the red and white-haired boy had to use his left side, but he held back. The second Bakugo noticed this, he started attacking with even more fervor, yelling about how Todoroki better not be looking down on him.

There was one moment where Bakugo was in the air for just a few moments too long, and this was the perfect opening for Todoroki, who almost used his left side, but hesitated at the last possible second, essentially forfeiting the match with his decision to hold back. Izuku watched with a tad of disappointment in his new student as the match ended with Bakugo on top of Todoroki, screaming at him for holding back. Apparently, the angry teen wanted to do it again, and this time he would make sure that Todoroki didn't hold back. He also said a few other choice words, but Izuku didn't usually condone that sort of language.

Glancing up, Izuku could see Endeavor watching his son with an inscrutable expression on his face, obviously deep in thought. The time for the award ceremony arrived, with Tokoyami and Shinso standing on the third-place spots, Todoroki on the second-place stand, and Bakugo chained up on the tallest platform. The blonde was practically feral, having to be chained up or he would attack Todoroki again, determined to 'finish' their fight. Multitudes of pro heroes in the stands weren't very pleased with that action, murmuring amongst themselves.