Peppermint || Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 53

'When we go plus ultra, we mean plus ultra.'

That was when all hell broke loose. The ground shook violently from the seven gigantic geysers that erupted from the dusty ground, closing Y/N and her opponents in. The tremors slowed rapidly, just as quickly as they had arrived, giving the examinees a chance to catch their footing.

'Get over here.' The brunette spat at a red haired boy with words laced thickly with charmspeak, but he did not comply. 'Oh?' Y/N's eyebrows rose ever so slightly. 'Guess this will make it much more difficult, but don't worry. I love a good challenge.'

'So you think you're better than everyone? Just because you're from UA? And because you've already passed onto the next round?' And incredulous voice rang. 'As a matter of fact, no.' Y/N stated, irises slowly fading back to their pale, stormy grey state. 'Some of you here are probably even stronger than me. But in all honesty, it all depends on the effort you put in.' She finished softly, voice echoing across the stunned crowd.

Suddenly, a stronger tremor ripped through the floor. Y/N's eyebrows furrowed as she leapt onto a small platform, landing with a resounding click of her heels. 'We're all fighting for that license.' She smiled, straightening up and jumping off her platform the moment the shaking stopped, and was reduced to only what it had been before. 'So, I'm sorry for what I'm going to do next.'

A wave ripped up behind an unsuspecting examinee, tossing her towards Y/N. 'I truly am sorry.' The girl's steely determination could be seen, clear as day as her striking silver eyes narrowed expectantly onto the squealing ravenette who was now dangling in front of her like a hawk focused on its prey.

'It's survival of the fittest.' She stated crisply, launching two well aimed rubber balls into the air.

Everyone watched with bated breath as the orange spheres, enhanced with Y/N L/N's incredible quirk, seemed to soar in slow motion, slamming into the girl's two unlit targets. They watched with wide eyes laced with horror, as the blaring scarlet of the targets slowly rippled to life, eliminating the girl, who stopped her desperate scuffling and stared at Y/N, who held no remorse whatsoever, her expression definitely not matching her tone or words.

A strong wind suddenly began blowing, tugging fiercely at peoples' clothing. Examinees instantly scattered, Y/N included.

'Ahhh!' Mera's crazed scream echoed in the air. 'A hundred and twenty people taken down by one attack alone? And what's this? An even earlier attack that took down ninety-one people? Well that's the stuff! I expect to see more people passing from now on! Everyone, let's get this out of the way so I can take a break! Good? Good.'

'It's Y/N L/N that passed first, isn't it?' Up in the bleachers, Ms Joke smiled, turning to Aizawa, who muttered a 'Yes'.

'That girl's resourceful, wise and extremely quick witted. She's trained harder than anyone in her class, I daresay. Her desire to win and become the best is hardwired into her brain, and she often stops at nothing to achieve them. That attitude of hers is only rivalled by Izuku Midoriya. And yet she's empathetic, always putting others' needs in front of hers. Funny, though. She was the one sweating buckets about this exam when she aced it within twenty minutes. Normally, teamwork would be the key in an exam like this, but L/N's trained her quirk so well that it allows her to fly solo without any problems at all.'

'Hm.' Ms Joke pondered, her usual cheerful grin replaced with a thoughtful frown. 'She's indeed very powerful. What exactly is her quirk?'

Aizawa sighed. 'You weren't paying attention when I introduced it during the festival, were you? It's water manipulation. She's able to manipulate any substance that is partly made up of water. You saw a good display of her tactical and fighting skills, as well as her little tricks during the sports festival, but she's come a long way since that.'

'Interesting. So it's actually her hard work that paid off, isn't it? Don't you think she should take a break?' Ms Joke questioned, tapping a finger against her bottom lip repeatedly.

'She won't let herself.'

'A ten on one fight? He doesn't stand a chance.' A cocky female voice interrupted Y/N, who looked up. 'Hey!' She yelled, waving her arms in the air. The masked girl glanced down, eyes widening. 'Oh goody, we've got both of the runner ups of the UA Sports Festival!'

Y/N clambered up the metal platform the girl was standing on, swinging an impressive roundhouse kick at her, albeit missing. 'I already passed.' She smirked, getting herself into a defensive stance. 'I was the firs- holy shit!' Her eye widened as she dodged a gigantic nut thrown at her. 'What the heck?' She mumbled to herself as she incapacitated it with a pillar of water. 'Don't waste your energy on that girl! She was the one who took down ninety-one examinees single-handedly, you won't stand a chance! Go after Todoroki instead!' The cocky girl instructed, attention focused on Shoto.

Y/N landed beside Shoto, who glared at her. 'I could have managed it on my own.' He complained, earning an eye roll from the brunette.

'Yeah, right.' She retorted, crossing her arms over her chest. 'You may be one of the top students in our school, but your pride will be the death of you if you think you can handle this on your own. You can't melt these.' She snapped irritably, jabbing a finger in the direction of the huge nut. 'This is tungsten.'

'I don't need your help.' Shoto burst out, unleashing his pent up frustration at the girl who stared right back at him with an equal amount of fury in her gaze, one that sent chills down his spine. Her features remained emotionless as she studied him coolly, posture casual. 'Alright then.' She finally decided, turning away. 'If you say so. I was supposed to congregate a long time ago anyway.'

The clacking of her heels faded and Shoto shot Y/N's retreating figure one last glance before turning back to the task he had at hand.

...

'Hi! I'm Inasa Yoarashi! You are Y/N L/N, correct?' A boisterous voice startled Y/N from her thoughts. 'Um... that's right. Nice to meet you...' The girl's voice trailed off questioningly as she studied the tall boy in front of her. 'Not to be rude, but what is your quirk?' She asked, rolling a small ice chip that she'd created between her fingers. 'My quirk is called whirlwind. It allows me to create and control strong winds.'

'Then...' Y/N tapped a finger against the chip of ice. 'I presume you are the one who took down a hundred and twenty students with one blow?' Inasa nodded vigorously, a wide smile stretching across his face. 'And you were the girl who took down ninety-one examinees single-handedly, right?'

'Ah...' Y/N nodded. 'Yeah.'

'I like that!' Inasa boomed, shocking Y/N who fell off her bench and onto the floor in a very unladylike fashion. 'Oops. Sorry.' He grinned cheerfully, holding a hand out to Y/N, who accepted it, standing back up. 'It's no problem.' She replied, dusting herself off. 'Say, L/N, what is your quirk?'

'Oh!' Y/N smiled, rubbing the base of her neck bashfully. 'It's water manipulation and charmspeak. I can manipulate any substance that's partly made up of water, plus a bunch of other things that I'd prefer not to talk about. You'd fall asleep halfway.' 'What's charmspeak?' Inasa questioned curiously, studying the girl in front of him. 

'I don't like it very much.' Y/N shuddered, sitting back down. 'It has bad memories. But basically, it allows me to force people to do things against their will.' Her sharp grey eyes swept over the entire congregation room, landing on a lone figure. 'It was a pleasure meeting you, Inasa.' The brunette smiled, standing up once again. 'I'll talk to you later.' She waved, jogging over to Shoto.

'So?' She prompted as she plonked herself down.