Preydator || Todoroki x OC

•26: Reality Check•

"Rin! Where were you?!" Mina exclaims as we approach the rooms. Shoto leaves me with Mina who's leaning on the wall next to my room, waiting for me.

"Sorry, I was busy doing things." I reply to her as I open the waiting room door.

Mina smirks as she glances towards Shoto making his way down the hall. "Oh? You mean doing things like...Todoroki?"

A furious blush spreads across my face. "Obviously not like that!"

She giggles at my reaction. "I was kidding! I'm glad to see that you patched things up, though. I was seriously worried this morning! You guys were acting like you were the main love interests in a fanfiction or something!"

I roll my eyes. "What are you even talking about?"

"Pfft! Don't worry about that. What you should be worried about is your match with Todoroki." Mina says as she begins to leave. "Good luck!"

I enter the waiting room and sit down at the table in the center of the room. My stomach growls. 'Endeavor wasted our lunch time.' I think with a sigh as the sounds of Present Mic announcing the third event of the Sports Festival blares into the audience outside.

"For our first match," He starts. "Rini Utano and Shoto Todoroki!" I cringe at the mention of my full name, but shake it off. The crowd cheers as I exit the room and enter the stadium, Shoto emerging from my right.

I throw him a competitive smirk and he returns it. We walk onto the concrete platform in the center of the stadium and face each other.

"Alright! Once your opponent steps out of bounds or is rendered immobile, you win!" Midnight exclaims. She raises her whip high in the air before snapping it down. "Begin!"

'Considering I'm better at close combat, Shoto will likely try and keep me away.' I think as a wave of ice crystals rush towards me. I quickly dodge and try to close the distance between us.

"Rin is going in and advancing towards Todoroki while dodging his attacks! She sure is agile!" Present Mic commentates.

Another large crystal of ice rushes towards me. 'He isn't letting up, huh.' I think as I grab ahold of the tip of the giant hunk of ice. I pull myself up onto the slippery surface and slide down towards him. He blocks me with another wall of ice that divides the platform in half.

"Uh oh! Looks like Todoroki is playing defensive. He's both adept in long range and close combat! How will Rin fare?" Present Mic exclaims.

I smirk. We're at a deadlock. "How do you plan on winning with this wall between us?" I shout over the frosty barrier. I smirk, coming up with a plan. 'All of these ice crystals are so nicely shaped for climbing.' I note as I glance around. 'These are definitely more slippery than buildings, but much easier to climb.' I say to myself as I listen to the other side for a response. 'Nothing. He must be relying on me coming to him.' I think as I run up a crystal from behind me. 'Well, he'd be right.' I make it to the highest tip of the large hunk of ice and run towards the wall. I leap and grab onto the edge.

I close my eyes as I hang from the ledge, creating an image on the other side of the arena. I hear the crowd's reaction as the lines resembling the one marking the bounds of the platform randomly appear, making it nearly impossible to tell which is the real line.
My fingers begin to go numb from the icy surface of the wall and pull myself up and over.

"Woah! Rin uses her quirk to confuse her opponent on where the true line is. Hopefully, you've all been keeping an eye on the real line because I haven't!" Mic states.

I hear Aizawa groan from next to him through the mic. "I've kept my eye on it." He says.

My eyes meet Shoto's as he stares at me wide-eyed. "Your wall wasn't high enough." I say as I jump down, but before my feet ca land on the concrete, ice glazes over the ground and encases my right foot. I gasp in surprise and quickly move to my left, my shoe being left behind in the icicle.

Shoto scoffs. "You're like a slippery rabbi-" he cuts himself off, realizing the weight of those words to me. "Wait, sorry! I didn't mea-" He's interrupted as he stumbles back and quickly raises another ice wall to block me. In his moment of hesitation, I had taken the opportunity to close the distance.

I take a deep breath, trying not to let my emotions overtake me. I clench my jaw, but force a grin as I move around the ice and make a grab from him. His eyes widen as he realizes that I'm too close to block with ice walls.

"They're now engaged in close combat! Are the odds now in Rin's favour?" Present Mic says.

I glance down at his right arm and realize it's covered in frost. 'He's really sluggish, too.' I note as I attempt to throw him over my shoulder. "You would be quicker if you used your right side to melt the frost."

"No can do." He scowls and quickly grabs onto my arm and encases them in ice.

"Ah!" I yelp out in surprise as my grip loosens. He quickly turns the tables and pushes me down onto the concrete ground littered with red lines. I hook my leg around his to bring him down with me. I ensure I haven't lost track of the true line as I avoid crossing it while falling back.

I smirk up at him as he pins me down. "Déjà vu?" I ask as I use the camouflage trick I pulled at during combat training, making sure that I paint over the ice around my wrists as well as myself to match the ground.

I lift my arms and hit the back of his neck, shattering the ice on my wrists as I slip out from under him. Erasing the pattern of the ground from myself, I stand up and so does he. I frown, he seems to be unfazed by the hard hit I gave him. This time, he throws the first punch and I quickly block. My eyes lock onto the line marking the border of the platform as I raise my leg and give him a hard kick.

"Todoroki is lying in the jumble of borders! Is he out of bounds?" Present Mic asks.

I smirk as he skids away from me and crosses the line. "Still a little rabbit now?" I erase my illusion and my heart drops. My jaw hangs agape as I realize I had mixed up the lines. Shoto's red and white hair just barely touches the red line marking the bounds, not crossing it just yet.

"OH! Looks like Todoroki is still in the game!" Present Mic exclaims and the audience roars at the intense suspense.

Shoto lifts his head and gets up with a smirk. "Looks like your trick worked a little too well." He bounces back up and rushes towards me.
I throw a feint punch at him and he blocks. I quickly kick him square in the chest to push him backwards. He grabs me with him and I fall on top of him. I blush as I can feel his beating heart in his chest pressing against my own.

"You're red again." Shoto mutters in my ear, his breath tickling me as my face gets hotter. "Cool down." I feel his hand turn freezing cold as ice begins to creep up my wrist. As I am about to back off, a whistle pierces through the air and Midnight appears.

"Woah! Hold on, everyone! Looks like this match needs to be put on hold." Present Mic suddenly says.

The crowd erupts into murmurs of confusion and whispers. Shoto and I both look at each other in confusion before turning our attention to Midnight. We both get up and dust ourselves off as Midnight walks over. "You need to get to the announcer room, right now. It's important." She says in a low voice.

I quirk an eyebrow curiously and nod. I catch a worried glance from Shoto. I flash him a small smile as I turn to leave, walking back inside. My smile vanishes as I sigh out in irritation. 'I was having fun, too.' I think in frustration, but can't help but worry about what could be so important that it couldn't wait until the round was over.

I turn the corner and my heart drops. Dread washes over me like a tsunami as my eyes land on Aizawa and officer Osaro waiting in front of the announcer room with serious expressions. In all of my fun, I had forgotten all about the hard truth of everything- the fact that I'm only here for reformation and I'm disobeying rules by participating in the Sports Festival. The reality of it all hits me like a bus. 'Shit.'