I was lost in thought until someone waved a hand in front of me, snapping me to attention. "Oh, Todoroki. It's you... it's you!" I tensed up and tried to keep my smile from going wild.
"Hello, (Y/N). I see you passed the first round too." I twiddled my thumbs and nodded, suppressing my bouncing leg. "Why are you here by yourself? You were all in a group, right?"
"Oh, someone from another school used their Quirk and got us all separated. But honestly, it was all luck that helped me pass the first round. I just managed to find the easiest targets and make my way here- actually, they found me. Hah, I'll have to find a way to keep that luck in the next round." Todoroki crossed his arms and shook his head.
"I disagree. You manage to turn the tables around even in the most difficult situations, and since you came here alone that means you did it all by yourself. It's just like the times at the U.A. sports festival. I was glad that I chose you to be on my team for that cavalry battle, or else I wouldn't have succeeded. I believe you're the true meaning of what it means to be a hero. You always find a way out, and even though you're Quirkless you never let that stop you and you always give it your all. That's why..." He trailed off. I blinked, waiting for him to finish his sentence.
He opened his mouth to finish before a loud voice travelled across the area. "Hey, half and half! Get up and move!" Bakugo said, glaring at Todoroki.
"Okay." He got up and sat on the opposite side of me, making Bakugo shout in frustration.
"Hi Bakugo, you passed!" He smirked and plopped himself beside me, putting his hands behind his head.
"Of course I did. This is easy!" His smirk faltered when a green-haired boy walked in.
"Damn Deku... looks like he passed too." Deku caught my eye and smiled. I waved and leaned back, sighing with exhaustion. I shifted my legs and winced, the bruises feeling as though they'll soon turn black and blue.
Todoroki watched me from the corner of his eye. "Are you okay?" I turned my head and nodded, smiling to reassure him. I didn't want to make him worry right before the second round.
"Eh?! What happened?! Are you hurt?!" Bakugo yelled. I winced and stuck a finger in my ear.
"Yeah, I'm fine. My legs got stuck under a rock last round, that's all. But they're fine, I can move them! Thanks for worrying about me, Bakugo." He huffed and slumped forward, trying to hide the pink that dusted his cheeks.
I scanned the room, wondering if all of class 1-a was here and sighed in relief when I saw everyone.
The intercom suddenly blared, catching everyone's attention. "Now that all 100 have passed, please take a look at the screen." We all did, which showed the staged destruction of buildings and the terrain. Then a bunch of people showed up out of nowhere, and the person behind the intercom explained the situation.
"They are people who have undergone training to be professional people-in-need-of-rescue. We will now have you all carry out their rescue. In addition, we will score your rescue based on points, and if you have more points than the expected benchmark at the end of the exercises, then you pass. We will start in 10 minutes so take care of any necessary business right now."
I excused myself from Bakugo and Todoroki and headed to the restroom. It was empty and quiet, and I cupped my hands to allow the water to fill my hands, then splashed it on my face. I shut the tap and gripped the edge of the sink, staring at myself in the mirror.
I narrowed my eyes. "I can pass this one, I can do it. Don't hesitate, stay calm, and just... save people. Yeah, all I gotta do is save people. Should be easy enough." I felt uneasy and maintained eye contact with myself, my nerves were getting to the best of me. I'm not sure why, but my thoughts drifted back to the bank incident during my internship with Snipe where I encountered Kurogiri, but I shook it off as nothing.
'What if I fail this? What if I won't get lucky this time? Maybe all I can do is really hope for the best...' I jumped at the sound of the ringing bell and exited the restroom, leaving the building with the crowd. Dust and falling debris greeted me when I reached the battlefield and inhaled sharply.
I stared at the fallen buildings and jumbles of concrete, wondering where I should start before I heard movement and a shout behind a concrete wall. I ran a hand over the smooth surface, furrowing my eyebrows when I realized I couldn't use my grappling hook to get over it. Going around the wall was out of the question as it was the same on all the other sides.
An idea formed in my head, and I pulled out my gun and shot at the surface, trying to create a climbing hold big enough to hook my gun on. I wanted to scream my frustration as the rubber bullets did nothing but a small dent. "I'm shooting out damn gummy bears!"
I grabbed a rock the size of my hand and chucked it at the wall, creating a climbing hold. I then used my grappling gun to hoist myself over the wall, spotting an old woman trapped in the rocks. I levelled myself down and stretched out my hand.
"Ma'am, grab my hand!" I felt my heart freeze for a moment when she lifted her head, her wounds and her facial expression looking so real, and I suddenly felt nauseous.
That vanished when she yelled, "Minus points!"
My eyes grew wide. "What?! Wait, why?" She sighed and gave me such a disappointed look, it made me feel guilty.
"You assumed that the wall between us was sturdy enough for you to break it to get across, but what if it wasn't? You could have sent the wall crashing on me and killed me! Another thing is that you can't assume I'm okay. They may be injured so much that they can't move or do as you say, so you have to make sure they're safe so you can save them with care. That's why I'm taking away a lot of your points." My arm fell loosely as I felt the failure settle in. I had a feeling this test won't be easy to pass.
"Right... here, let me move the debris so you can climb out and-"
"Minus points again! You didn't see the debris is supporting that giant boulder? If you move it, you will send the boulder towards me and it will kill me. Analyze the situation and think it through!" I felt a cold sweat take over as I ran over my thoughts, wondering what the hell I should do.
As if the situation couldn't get any worse, the intercom announced a fake villain attack, forcing everyone into the position of whether we should fight, or protect.
"Minus points! While you were lost in thought, the villains are going to attack and you haven't saved me yet! That puts both of us in danger!" I held my head and I almost screamed. I could hear a group approaching, and I switched my eyes between the lady and the group that was nearing.
I was scared. Scared failing, scared of not doing enough, scared of being looked down upon. With a shaky voice and stressful tears in my eyes I looked at the lady. "Wh-what do I do?"
YOU ARE READING
Heartbeat (Todoroki X Bakugo X Reader X Midoriya)
Fanfiction"I'm... What?" (Y/N) (L/N) is part of the 20% of the world that is Quirkless. Being Quirkless means you're an outcast, a reject, an outsider. Just when she is on the verge of giving up, she is accepted into U.A. High school. (Y/N) takes this as an...
