𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐃𝐘𝐂𝐀𝐍𝐄 ❀ 𝐒. 𝐓𝐎𝐃𝐎𝐑𝐎𝐊𝐈 !!ᴅɪꜱᴄᴏɴᴛɪɴᴜᴇᴅ!!

Chapter Twenty-Six ~ How Dare You

Heyo my fellow weebs! Another short chapter today, sorry. Again, a short scene in the show means a short chapter in the book.

Bare with me, guys. Did I spell that wrong? Okay Imma shut up now--

Akiara's POV

 Days past, and all the training I did made the days go by quickly. I had been exercising my muscles (which had been sore after the USJ attack), by doing simple muscle-building workouts, which seemed to work perfectly. I even trained my wings to become stronger, as well.

And before I knew it, it was the morning of the festival.

"Akiara, you better not die." Haruka commented as we both slipped on our shoes.

I gasped and flicked her forehead. "I'm not going to die, you idiot. I'll be perfectly fine." Just as we were about to walk out the door, we saw Chizu stepping onto the front porch. I gave her a warm smile. "Thank you so much for watching Haruka for me while I do this festival."

Chizu gave me a hug. "Anytime, sweetie." She reached into her pockets and pulled out a small bag of gummy bears, which I gratefully shoveled into my mouth.

~Time Skip~

We were now in the class 1-A waiting room of the arena, finishing getting ready for the upcoming festival. I was sitting beside Todoroki at one of the tables, and we were quietly having a conversation about how our training went.

"Aw man!" Mina announced, frowning and patting at her PE uniform, which we were all wearing. "I really wish I could wear my hero costume for this!"

Ojiro stretched his arms. "At least everyone will be in uniforms. That will keep things fair, right?"

"I wonder what they have in store for us in the first round." Sato questioned, clenching and unclenching his fists in front of him.

Tokoyami did his usual thing, folded his arms, closed his eyes, and looked down while saying, "No matter what they have prepared, we must persevere."

"Right." Shoji agreed.

I fiddled my thumbs on my lap. "I'm really worried." It was quiet enough that the only person who heard my comment was Todoroki.

"Why?" He asked, a little more gentler expression on his face.

I shrugged. "I mean, we're going to have to fight people later on, right?" I sighed and sunk lower in my seat. "That's not my strong suit."

"Shut up Feathers," Bakugou said from across the table, and I looked up to see him and Kirishima beside each other. "You only fight in the third round if you make it far enough. Which you probably won't with that quirk of yours."

I saw Todoroki's hand curl into a fist. "Why'd you say that, Bakugou?! She's already not that confident, you don't need to rub it in."

Bakugou stood up. "I'm just saying! Her quirk makes her really weak and--"

Todoroki followed suit, his chair falling on the ground behind him. "How dare you --"

The door swung open, interrupting their small banter. Todoroki took a deep breath and I gave him a grateful smile. Iida appeared in the doorway, saying, "Everyone! Get your game faces on! We're entering the arena soon!"

I bit my lip. "All right, enough fighting." I told the boys, who were still on their feet. "It's time to get serious."

"Hey Akiara, what kind of training did you do to prepare?" Kirishima asked, and I began telling him about the simple exercises I did, and how my little sister helped with them. His eyes widened. "You have a little sister?"

I grinned. "Yeah! Her name is Haruka, she's a little twerp sometimes, but I still love her."

"How old is she?" Kirishima leaned forward, returning my happy expression. I could tell he was trying to lighten up the mood.

I didn't pay attention to Todoroki as he walked away, stopping in front of Midoriya. I continued to chat with Kirishima. "She's around 6 years old, her birthday is soon, actually."

"What's her quirk?" It was Sero who spoke up this time, who was sitting on my right.

"Hallucination." The boys at the table; Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero and Bakugou-- all made sounds of admiration, well, excluding the Pomeranian. "Yeah, it's pretty cool. She can look into your memories and replay it in your eyes, making you see it from your perspective in the memory. Or she can create an image and project it into your mind."

"That's so cool!" Kaminari commented, a grin on his face.

"Midoriya." Todoroki said, and all attention turned to him.

Midoriya sweatdropped. I know they talked once before, when they came to the park to help me with Bakugou, but they still aren't necessarily friends. "H-Hey Todoroki. What's up?" I was watching the situation carefully.

"From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that I'm stronger than you." I raised an eyebrow at the back of Todoroki's head. What was he doing?

Midoriya looked taken aback by his bluntness, and he ducked his head. "Uh... yeah."

"However," Todoroki continued. "You've got All Might in your corner helping you out." My back straightened and my wings pressed closer to my body at that statement. Did he know that Midoriya was All Might's successor? Did I accidentally let it slip out of my mouth? "I'm not here to pry about what's going on between you two, but know that I will beat you."

"Woah.." Kaminari exclaimed, leaning back in his chair. "What's with these declarations of war lately?"

Kirishima stood up out of his chair, and I quickly followed suit. "Yeah, what's the big deal?" Kiri asked, placing a hand on Todoroki's shoulder. "Why are you picking a fight all of the sudden."

"I'm wondering that, too." I muttered, holding onto his arm, "You're acting differently than usual."

Todoroki shrugged our hands off of him, and gave me an apologetic glance, as if he wasn't really trying to be mean. "We're not here to be anybody's friends." He began walking away, and I hesitantly followed him. "Don't forget this isn't a team effort."

I was at his side and walking away with him, when I heard Midoriya's voice. "Wait a second, Todoroki." Todoroki and I stopped and looked over our shoulders at the boy in question. "I don't know what's going through your head, or why you need to think to tell me that you'll beat me, and yeah, of course you're better than me." His voice became shaky, and I resisted the urge to go and hug him. "In fact you probably have way more potential than anyone in the hero course. That's why you got in so easily."

Kirishima stepped forwards and gave him a lopsided grin, holding out his hands. "Midoriya, maybe you're being a little hard on yourself, and us."

"No." Midoriya said sternly, and Kirishima retreated. "He's right, you guys. All the other courses, they're coming for us with everything they've got." His clenched fists dropped to his sides. "We're all going to have to fight to stand out." Todoroki turned completely around, facing Midoriya. I pivoted on my feet and tugged on his uniform's sleeve. Midoriya looked up at Todoroki with determination. "And I'll be aiming for the top, too."

I gave him a sympathetic smile as Todoroki said, "Fine."

~Dream