Break Through My Shell (Shouto Todoroki x Reader)

Chapter 17

"(Name)!!!" Shouto's team had been freed from your spell, and you could tell Iida was firing up his engines.

Instead of focusing your energy on keeping the rest of the teams down, you directed it into a quirk-absorbing barrier. If anyone was in the process of using their quirk while they made contact with the glowing, blue field, they would get blown away.

"It seems like they managed to get other headbands too..." you murmured, noting the multiple bands around Shouto's neck. Twisting your head, you noticed Team Bakugou going after Monoma, who bore a smug look on his face.

"(Last Name)!" Midoriya cried out. You whipped your head to find Iida pushing as hard as he could against your barrier, fire emanating from his engines in an attempt to help push forward.

Yaoyorozu's eyebrows were furrowed as she carefully reached out, brushing the barrier with her fingers and realizing that her hand could pass through.

"Iida!" she shouted. "Don't use your quirk!"

His leg engines shut off as he fell through, his eyes widening.

"Well, shit," you muttered. Without a second thought, Iida's engines fired up, revealing what he said was his secret attack, Recipro Burst.

He tore past you, Shouto's hand reaching to pluck the headband from around your head. As they started to retreat, you stretched your hand towards them. There was only ten seconds left on the countdown, and Bakugou's team was rushing to make their way over to them.

"(Last Name)! What do we do?" both Midoriya and Uraraka cried out. With a final burst of power, the headband had been released from Shouto's hand, soaring towards you.

"GET FUCKING BACK HERE, DAMMIT!!!" Bakugou roared, making you wince from the volume of his voice. Explosions shot from his hands as he left his team, propelling himself forward to reach the headband and snatch it away before it could reach you.

"Time's up!" Midnight shouted.

Your fingers had just managed to clasp around the band as Bakugou face planted into the rocky arena ground, cursing.

"We did it!" Tears began to overflow from his eyes, large pools of the liquid gathering on the ground as Uraraka chuckled nervously.

"Good job, (Name)," Shouto said coolly, coming up to you. "I thought we had you with Iida's plan at the end, but it seems like you proved to be superior again."

"...Thanks." You nodded gratefully before glancing over at Bakugou. He had only gotten third place, something that most definitely pissed him off.

His teeth were grinding together and his eyes were fiery as the angry expression on his face didn't change, instead getting worse by the minute. He was screaming something about how he wouldn't keep losing to you and Midoriya.

"We're going to be doing one v. one challenges for the next stage!" Nemuri announced. Her eyes were gleaming as she continued. "But first, we're going to be doing recreational games for those who didn't make it to the final round to prove themselves before we have lunch, then the last stage!"

As soon as she finished, you turned on your heel and left. You hesitated when you noticed Midoriya and Shouto seemed to be talking about something out of the corner of your eye, and although it caught your interest, you were unsure if it was your business to know.

Of course, your indecision didn't last for long as you turned yourself invisible and followed after the duo when they left.

The green-haired and dual-haired males had positioned themselves near the corner of the arena, a private area that most people didn't traverse past.

Your eyes widened as you heard Shouto begin to talk, Midoriya making nervous responses back to him.

He was telling him about his past, about his torturous and painful childhood, ruined by his father.

And asking if he was All Might's secret love child. That was such a preposterous claim that even is it were a possibility, you would have ruled it out immediately. He was definitely not the child of All Might.

"No!" The green-haired boy frantically shook his head side to side as he denied the claim. "It's not like that!"

Shouto was testily staring at Midoriya, trying to see if he was lying or not. Eventually, Midoriya left, and you removed your invisibility spell, appearing in front of Shouto. His heterochromatic eyes flickered to you with alarm before his expression softened the tiniest bit when he realized who you were.

"You told him?" you asked, your tone soft, yet strong.

"I had to ask him if he was All Might's child... And...I was just reminded even more about how much I hate my father." He walked over to you, his steps hesitant and halting until he paused in front of you.

Your lips were pressed together in a straight line. "You don't need to keep your anger in. It'll make it even worse."

"I know..."

You paused briefly—you were unsure of what to say next—until he motioned for you to follow him.

"We should go get some food now."

Trailing him through the winding hallways of the stadium and into the cafeteria, you gazed at the back of his uniform. His walk wasn't cocky or arrogant, but neither was it soft and weak.

It was just him.

Once again, your thoughts swirled around him. You were clueless as to why he was someone who could break through your walls.

Not that he had.

Yet.

You would keep thinking and thinking, searching until you found a reasonable answer. You already had one thought in mind, preposterous as it seemed to you.

Were you in love with him?

Shaking your head, you followed his lead, grabbing a food tray and picking up a plate of food provided at the lunch line. You and Shouto took a seat near Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida, who were all happily chatting about the Sports Festival. However, when all three boys got up at around the same time and left, and the other girls moved to your table to talk to you, Mineta and Kaminari came over with grins on their faces.

"Why haven't you changed yet?" Mineta asked. Your head travelled down to glance at his face.

"Into what?" Yaoyorozu replied curiously. Kaminari clapped his hands together, gasping with what seemed to be mock horror.

"You're the vice class rep! You should already know about this... Ah, well since you don't know, I'll kindly inform you!" Kaminari said, smirking. "Aizawa-sensei said the girls have to do a cheerleading performance as part of the intermission before the next round!"

You glared at the pair suspiciously, parting your lips to say something before you were overtaken by Yaoyorozu, who was sparkling.

"Since our sensei told us to, we must do it! I'll use Creation to whip us up some outfits!"

Before you could protest, you were swept along with Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Jirou, Hagakure, Ashido, and Asui. After reluctantly tugging your cheerleading outfit on—which was a lot shorter than you wanted, with much regret, you stepped out of the change rooms, hiding behind the others as your hands were clutching the stupidly poofy pom-poms that you were required to hold.

Standing near the entrance, the girls were half-heartedly bouncing up and down in a sloppy attempt of a cheerleading performance. You, however, had chosen to awkwardly stand there, too embarrassed to move, until your gaze flickered over to a certain pair.

Your eyes narrowed as your cheeks were lit aflame with a hot red burn at the fact that Kaminari and Mineta were snickering at the girls of 1-A. It became quite clear to you about what happened.

You had been tricked by the two perverts.