Something Different

15: Win

"Midoriya."

Izuku blinked, redirecting his attention from his friends to Todoroki. He had on an expression of conflict. "In terms of raw power, I believe that I'm stronger than you."

Izuku scoffed at that, which took all three of his classmates by surprise. Quickly realising his slip-up, he tried to recover before he embarrassed himself further. "…Right. Yeah, I agree."

No—he, in fact, did not agree.

"I don't know what your relationship with All Might is, but you clearly have him backing you up." Todoroki's gaze sharpened, which was the most emotion Izuku had ever seen on his face. "Whatever it is, I will beat you."

Izuku placed his elbow on the table and leaned his cheek on his fist, a taunting smirk on his face. "Oh, you're adorable." Todoroki's eyebrows furrowed at that. Turning back to his food, he poked through a piece of bacon and brought it up to his mouth. "Just don't get your hopes up, because I'm not going down without a fight."

He bit the bacon in half.

-

"The person who got first place in the obstacle course has 10 million points!"

Izuku pretended that he didn't see Kacchan and Todoroki glance at him. It definitely had something to do with their interaction after they crossed the finish line. They likely had questions. Well, too bad for them—Izuku wasn't willing to answer them.

He decided to team up with Uraraka, Tokoyami and Mei Hatsume. He didn't know Hatsume very well, but she had become a popular inventor in the future. Various gadgets and weapons were crafted by her, displayed by heroes even in the Top 10. At first, she had approached Todoroki in an attempt to use him as a spotlight, but she was utterly rejected.

"Let's do our best!" Uraraka encouraged.

"We should probably go after Todoroki's team first since–"

Izuku cut Tokoyami off with a firm shake of his head. "We won't go after Todoroki's team," he said, "Our goal isn't to win, but to convince heroes to take us as interns. Getting to the next round is practically a second priority."

Hatsume grinned. "That's why we need to stand out, right?" At Izuku's nod, she started jumping around excitedly. Her energy died down once she realised something—"But how? There's gonna be tons of other teams, and they probably have flashier Quirks."

"We'll steal headbands in secret, until the other teams realise that they don't have any left." Izuku smirked, a planning formulating in his mind. To execute it, his team must at least have the fundamentals of stealth. It shouldn't be difficult to give them some tips.

Once the round began, as expected, every other team ambushed Todoroki's. The crowd roared with excitement as Todoroki retaliated, freezing everybody's feet to the ground. Meanwhile, Izuku and his team hid in the shadows.

"Take slow and steady breaths, calm your hearts—I can hear yours from a mile away, Uraraka."

Izuku was quietly instructing them on stealth techniques. While Tokoyami had no problem blending in with the darkness, Uraraka and Hatsume, who were usually outgoing and noisy, struggled to keep hidden. They already had to fend off a group that had tried to attack them, recognising Izuku as the one who placed third in the previous round. During this time, Izuku realised that Tokoyami's Quirk was unstable in the darkness—it could lash out and be more of a threat than an aid.