A Dragon's Heart // Shoto Todoroki x Reader

Chapter 45: Wannabe

The new semester of school had just started! I was still doing those remedial classes with Shoto and Bakugo, but other than that, things were normal again. My quirks had grown back, wild and fiercely potent like uncontrollable weeds. Despite this, I couldn't shake this unusual, foreboding feeling that felt undeniably heavy.

"You seem oddly refreshed today," Midoriya remarked as we walked side by side to class.

"Yeah, I feel different," I replied. He and I had made a pact to show up to class early instead of just on time this semester. "I feel like I can take on everyone, like I could be a hero," I mused.

"I don't think I've ever heard you say that you want to be a hero," he said.

"Well, I didn't see the point before. But since everything that's happened with the villains, I feel like I owe them revenge. And I want to protect people from going through what happened to me," I replied honestly, a small smile tugging at my lips.

"Well, we all have our motivations, so I'm glad you found yours," he smiled back.

"Yeah, I feel like a new person now, Midoriya," I jested as I wrapped my hair into a little bun on my head. "And I'm going to beat you to the classroom!" I yelled before I increased my speed down the hallway.

"You cheated!" he shrieked as he scrambled after me. We both giggled as we raced to the usual giant door of our classroom. I was in the lead until my big black boots betrayed me and I tripped over, face-planting painfully into the cold, hard floor while Midoriya ran straight past me.

"Ugh, perhaps I should go back to bed," I groaned from the floor.

"No, Amara! You haven't even made it to the room yet!" Midoriya interjected as he stared at me from the door, a clear smirk on his face as he won our little race.

"Today's no good. Perhaps tomorrow," I groaned as I stood up. Within a second, Midoriya sprang into my face and dragged me to the classroom door. I couldn't help but smile at him, even the pain from my fall vanishing as he dragged me along into the classroom.

"There, you made it. Nice and early," he beamed.

"Yep," I nodded. I took my usual seat in the back corner, the blue chair creaking slightly under my weight. I found myself marveling at the various indents and scratches on the surface of my desk from my dragon claws.

The classroom began to fill up, murmurs rippling around me, but I couldn't bring myself to care. My mind was fixated on how hard I was going to work this semester. My grades had always been excellent—second in the class—but that was without studying. I knew I could easily seize the best marks possible. I felt my motivated aura mesh with the excited aura of the class.

"The bell already rang, and no one's in their seats," Dad's monotone voice grumbled through the air. "It's time to stop playing around and get more serious. Things get harder from here, even though you only have your provisional licenses." Dad paused as he sent me a glare. I got the impression that, as his child, he was quite disappointed with my lack of certification. But what can I say? I was busy with the villains. Dad continued to talk about how things were going to change with our training.

My train of thought was cut off when the room exploded in red light, with alarms blaring. A recording of the principal's voice boomed, portraying a story of a villain attack. Everyone's hero costumes rolled out from the sides of the room, and we all swiftly grabbed our costumes and ran to the changing rooms. As for me, my costume hadn't been completed before this class; it was still in production. A sigh escaped my lips as I dejectedly made my way down to the training ground—alone. The rest of my class eventually arrived in their fancy hero costumes. It wasn't long before they all sorted themselves into groups and began the training scenario.