Beginning of a New Spring (MHA/PJO crossover)

Chapter 54

"Again."

Sweat made her shirt cling to her back. It didn't hinder her movements as she lunged for Todoroki again. She clicked her tongue when those same flames burned through everything she sent his way. Her fist raised, sending a punch to his face. She was itching to remove the stoic gaze on his face when her own feelings raged on the inside, breaking through the surface.

"Are they going to go at it all day?"

She ignored Kaminari and his question. She wasn't like them. There was no alternative move she could come up with for the license exam. Sure, she could raise the dead and use them, but no one gives anyone the amount of time to pull it off. She was lucky when she fought against All for One. He wanted to know what she could do, who she was. There wouldn't be a second time unless she had help, and even that wasn't guaranteed in a fight.

Todoroki dodged and swung his arm toward her, palm open, and she barely dodged as a spear of ice shot out where she once stood.

Her vine sprung up and curled around Todoroki's ankle, flinging him backward.

A voice came from behind her, and she glanced at her dad, clad in his black outfit, scarf, and hair raised, ready to intervene if they didn't listen. "Enough. Before I have to have your classmates bring you two to the infirmary for exhaustion." Shouta stood with his arms crossed, his tone coming out exhausted.

Her eyes met Todoroki's heterochromia-colored eyes. She noticed his hand twitch, sweat trailing down his arms. He seemed to itch to continue as much as she did. Continuing would get them nowhere, not while Shouta and the rest of her class watched them with keen eyes. Her body turned slightly, adamant about ignoring him if it meant she could sleep peacefully for one night.

Her feet stopped, feeling her weight crush over them when Todoroki shook his head slowly. He straightened his back, standing tall and tilting his head. His two-toned hair shifted slightly, shading his light blue eye from view.

Ophelia blew out a breath of air roughly but conceded. She knew if she pushed more, the opened wound would become more apparent. She could feel her skin that had slowly healed, burn from all the movements, and any more would make it bleed. That was the last thing she wanted to happen.

Yet, waiting wasn't an option anymore. It would take longer than she had for the wound to heal, and not participating in the hero's license wasn't an option. She would push herself to the extreme if she had to because, for once, there was no room to grow–at least none that she could think of. And there was more than herself she had to protect. They knew the threat, but none of them truly understood the depth of how terrifying Tartarus was. How terrifying her life had been. How impossible he was to fight. He couldn't be killed or chopped to pieces and scattered in his domain. It was an impossible battle with one end she could see.

And if it meant keeping everyone safe, she would do it, even if it tore her apart.

Just the thought of that place and any one of her classmates getting a glimpse of it sent chills along every part of her.

She hated it, though.

Hated the option she had. None of them would understand. Not when they hadn't seen one of their own friends fall before their eyes, having to quickly think on their feet or stand in despair and crumble like the rest.

"Ophelia."

She turned to Mina, gazing at her friend's black eyes: worry, anxiety, hurt. She had caused all their glances at her: sympathy, concern, questioning... guilt.

Maybe putting some distance and throwing herself into training wasn't the correct answer, but it worked for her and Katsuki. He had no problem stepping up when she asked. Shouta, yes, but he was always concerned about how hard she pushed herself. It didn't take much convincing to get Todoroki to train with her, either. Their fight figuring the festival was half-assed since he didn't use his fire side—the side that would breathe down her neck every night, marring her skin in her dreams until it melted away. Even then, she could feel the heat from that man's powers searing against her skin. He was her weakness in every way, and she needed to find a way to combat it in reality and her dreams.