Bloodstained Snow

Chapter 4 - First Blood

Huh. Guess this place can be a normal school after all.

Picking a class president went pretty smoothly. Kept myself out of the running, but at least one person said they thought I would be good for it. I'd say otherwise, but it doesn't really matter too much now. In the end, Midoriya won, which, of course, shot his anxiety up to about a 13/10. Still, he's better than he realizes, so I thought it should go well enough.

Then, in the middle of lunch, alarms went off. That was not a very fun time, with all the pushing and shoving. I really would've expected them to react better in a situation, but not everyone can keep a level head it seems. Turned out to just be the press, but how they got in... The gate was disintegrated. Disintegration... I remember someone with that quirk. Someone very dangerous. All For One must be planning something, but I have no idea what.

The day after the breach, and we're going on a field trip. It's barely even been a week. Oh yeah, Iida got promoted to class president and Midoriya resigned. And just like I thought he would, Iida's being an overbearing rule-stickler. Quite thrilling.

They didn't tell us where we're going, just that we're doing rescue training, then they loaded us onto a bus. It's a pretty long ride to wherever we're going, so I guess conversation was inevitable.

"Hey Midoriya." Asui, the frog girl, spoke up.

"Huh? Yeah, what is it?"

"I always speak what's on my mind, and I must say, something's been bothering me. Your quirk is really similar to All Might's."

Wait, does someone else know about it?

"Wha- no, nonono not at all, I'm nowhe-"

"Well, All Might and him both have enhancer quirks, but that's where the similarities end, isn't it?"

"Eh, I guess so. All Might doesn't break himself when he uses his quirk, for one."

Midoriya sank in his seat a bit. Well, at least it looks more like Asui's just observant.

"I gotta say, I'm jealous of people with enhancer quirks. I've just got this hardening, and while it's useful, it just doesn't have that flashiness to it that I want."

Cue Midoriya going on a tangent about how awesome Kirishima's quirk is.

"And besides, you don't really need a flashy quirk to be powerful, just look at Iskaldsen."

Great, I'm being roped in.

"Yeah, he wiped the floor with Todoroki, and he can freeze an entire building.  Also, can't he use fire as well?" Kaminari said, after throwing an insult at the (still fuming) Bakugo.

"Yeah, Todoroki's got both the power and flashiness down, but clearly that isn't all you need."

"So, um, Iskaldsen, how did you get as good as you are? You beat 2 people who're more outright powerful than you in seconds, while on ice. That's some crazy stuff."

Of course they ask that... why'd you have to ask, Midoriya? I really don't want to ever have to answer that.

"Well, when we were making a plan at the beginning of the match, he said something about how he's fought with his life on the line before, and he's gotten his skill from that. I didn't quite believe him, but then he took out both opponents in seconds, so I definitely do now."

"Wait, what? Fought with your life on the line?"

I guess I can tell them a little bit. They won't ever stop asking if I don't.

"Yeah, I have, many times. I was caught up with a very bad crowd for years, and at several points, my life was all I had left. So, I fought for it. And evidently, I did a pretty good job at it, since I'm still here."