Balance In All [boku no hero academia]

[BK. 2 CH. 14]: The Devil in the Details

It was just her.

Yet for some reason, he couldn't shake off the unknown worry that was starting to weigh heavy on his back.

Given that Todoroki was here with her, he still couldn't explain why he was laughing as the fight has not started yet.

"What's so funny?" asked Todoroki, raising his left eyebrow. The boy noticed Mirio's eyes were set on [y/n] before he started laughing all by himself. "This is no laughing matter, Mirio-senpai."

"Aw, chillax!" Mirio urged as he waved his hands about comically, with no suspense visible in his actions, "And yes, this is no laughing matter. I agree with you. But I sensed the tension in the air, like, WOOSH! I don't vibe with the energy it's giving!! HA HA HA!!!"

"You nervous?" quirked [y/n] as she stood beside Todoroki, "So... 'no slipping through the floors at all times'... sounds impossible for you to do, senpai, huh? And we just robbed that away from you because you gave us a chance to make a deal with you."

She continued, taking a step forward as she pointed at Mirio, her voice sounding sure, "You were the one who said we should place a condition on each other before we started, are you chickening out? Or did I somehow find a limitation to your quirk?"

"What is she doing?!" Izuku wanted to scold her, except she was too far from him at the moment. He mentally noted that he will definitely give her an earful on what she did today. He knew his sister usually loves to talk before and during a battle. She must have picked it up from Kacchan, he thinks. I mean, who else does that with a smirk on the face and a confident voice? It's gotta be from him! He couldn't understand why riling up an opponent would be such a good thing. In other cases, it may be beneficial, as it tampers with one's focus while fighting. That sounds like a good thing if he's more level-headed, right? But on another thought, what if riling them up causes them to get stronger? Now that won't do. Not at all. That's not good. Yet for some reason, Izuku starts to wonder if she has a reason why she was doing this— subtly talking down on an upperclassman.

Was she trying to bring down his morale? Could be that. Mirio was smiling like a broken zipper of a bag with its insides spilling out like a water dam, spilling out flows of gleeful laughs here and there. Was she pushing to prove him wrong? That's possible. The upperclassman did call them with unnecessary nicknames, maybe this triggered [y/n] into indirectly calling him out that he was rude? Wait, what if she was testing if Mirio would accidentally give away the weakness of his quirk so she could use it for later? Well, that's a very [y/n] thing to do, Izuku thought.

[y/n] was dragging the entire thing to a stretch on purpose. As Doctor had told her before she left, she knew she had to wait 48 hours before she could use her quirk again, or else the drug wouldn't be able to settle down in her body and make things turn against her favor. Of all things, she hates surprises, as Doctor himself was not sure either what would happen if she does use her quirk without waiting that long. After all, he had no other test subject other than [y/n]. Everything she was warned about the drug was all in theory. She can make it work, she thinks, as the clock in the building showed she has 3 minutes left before she could use her power again.

"Well, you're not wrong, [y/n]. But I'm not saying you're right either!" With a smile, Mirio replied to her as he crossed his arms. "As for the condition I give you, I tend to notice that you're usually quick on your feet, and you usually fly around! That's the reason why I gave the condition— to have at least one of your feet on the ground."

"You basically gave two conditions to me, while I only give you one. Sounds unfair, don't you think, senpai?"

"Ah, no. I should have rephrased it," Mirio chuckled at his mistake as he corrects himself, "I meant to say that Todoroki must fight alongside you. So there, one condition each for the three of us! The reason? Well, I am sure you know, too. You don't have a fire-related quirk, yet Endeavor took you under his wing during your internship. Everyone at his agency all has fire-related quirks, including his son over here. Pretty odd if you ask me."