moral of the story

Chapter Thirteen

Kirai barely had enough time to deactivate her quirk and catch Chunami before arms wrapped around her and she was suddenly transported to the edge of the square, Tsu, Midoriya, and a broken Aizawa with her.

She clutched onto her friend, her blazer haphazardly wrapped around the girl's chest to cover up the see-through material.

Blinking rapidly, she barely registered All Might's words to head back to the entrance as she trembled, staring at her friend's blank, open eyes, a strange spinner symbol spinning around her pupil.

The symbol almost looked like what happens when you reload a computer, but Kirai had no idea what to do about that. Was it related to Chunami's quirk? Was she supposed to close Chunami's eyes? Or was it dangerous to do that since, if the spinner really is related to a computer or technological-like quirk, and shutting off a reloading device is not a good idea, could it hurt Chunami?

Kirai's thoughts were spinning as much as the symbol in her friend's eyes were, and she barely managed to grimace before All Might launched himself towards the creature - the nomu - with a fury she had only seen in her father.

She stared in shock as the Number One Hero went toe to toe with that monster, their punches causing literal shockwaves to reverberate from their fight.

Tsu and Midoriya carried Aizawa between them, the three students stumbling as they tried their hardest to get back to the entrance so that All Might could truly go full-out without worrying about potentially harming them.

Suddenly, a yelp from Midoriya had Kirai twisting around to see the nomu sinking its claws into All Might's side.

Her eyes went wide at the sight.

"Uncle Toshi?"

"Yes, Young Todoroki?"

"Why do you look so big and strong on TV, but when you're with us, you're so small?"

"Ha! Well, you see, I got hurt a while ago. My left side is kinda hurt now, so I look like this whenever it hurts so I can take care of it."

"Oh... Does that mean your left side is weak? What happens if a villain hurts it? Would it be bad?"

"Well, I never let a villain close enough to find out."

More than a decade of memories of All Might smiling kindly at a younger version of her had her heart burning in her chest.

Growing up the way she did may have made her resentful of the Number One Hero, but she would rather let her ice burn her from the inside out before allowing an abomination like that creature hurt her uncle.

Mentally apologizing to her friend for how cold she was about to get, Kirai slammed her foot against the ground, spikes of ice instantly tearing through the ground as they rushed toward the two hulking fighters, slicing off the arm hurting All Might and stabbing the nomu straight through the stomach.

All Might instantly jumped back, ripping the creature's claws out of him and throwing the arm away, grimacing as he glanced back at Kirai, whose skin was beginning to frost over.

She managed a grin in his direction, her black eyes blazing even as they started to fracture like ice crystals.

There was a blur of green before Midoriya was suddenly in front of All Might, shaking like a leaf but staring at the monster determinedly while it stayed still.

There was a long moment of silence as they all waited for the creature to collapse or maybe die from its exposure to Kirai's poisoned ice and the loss of its arm...