The Couples of Class 1-A

LCO | Ch. 15: Sparring Session Gone Wrong

*WARNING: minor violence/sparring, reference of abuse/trauma

Todoroki's first sparring partner happened to be Hagakure. He wasn't particularly sure why she'd chosen him—he supposed he could pester Uraraka about it later, seeing as how they'd been gossiping not-so-subtly about him in the classroom earlier.

"Hey, Todoroki! Come a little closer for a sec."

He eyed her warily before taking a slight step closer, leaning his ear in roughly the place where her invisible mouth was supposed to be.

"(I know Aizawa's picky about us fighting hard, but try and go easy on me—okay? I'm nowhere near as strong as you, and plus, I don't want to wind up all bruised within the first ten minutes...)"

Todoroki let a disapproving puff of air out of his nose, but shrugged in agreement anyway. It made sense that she'd be concerned. Even without his quirk, years of training with Endeavor had refined Todoroki's close combat skills in ways most of his classmates would probably never reach. Still, it bothered him that Hagakure, a girl whose sole gimmick was her invisibility, would shy away from trying to perfect her hand-to-hand when that was one of the areas she needed to be strongest in.

"I'll match whatever you have to offer," Todoroki decided, holding up his fists, "I'm not allowed to use anything lethal, anyway, so don't worry."

He noticed even without seeing her face that a chill had gone up her spine, and wondered if he'd perhaps said something too blunt. The worry dissolved within a moment though, as Hagakure readied her posture, and began to make the first strikes.

The first swing caught him off guard. He'd been holding his defense up high, so for her to immediately lead with a low punch made him stumble. When her other hand aimed high though, his right was in a better position to block, and the close calls were over.

It turned out Hagakure was actually far stronger than she'd initially made herself out to be. Along with being difficult to see (for obvious reasons), she was clever in picking her movements. It made him question if disarming him had been part of her strategy from the beginning—carrying herself with a feminine posture, and asking him to go easy... with anyone else, she might've been able to pull out a win. However, Todoroki overwhelmed her with his sheer experience and power once she'd expended her trick.

It also turned out that being clever wasn't helpful if her reaction speed was too slow. Seconds before the buzzer for the next round, Todoroki ducked away from one of her left-handed swings, and used his momentum to kick her behind her left shin. The result sent her flailing, and he was able to shove her to the ground with the underside of his arm.

She let out a surprised wail before the buzzer sounded, and Aizawa called out: "Rotate!"

"Uuugh..."

Todoroki glanced down at his feet to find Hagakure rather moodily pushing herself off of the floor. Feeling somewhat guilty, he outstretched his hand for her, and helped her up to her feet.

"Thanks, I guess," she said hotly, rubbing the spot on her back where he'd elbowed her, "You sure don't understand the meaning of 'hold back', do you?"

He shrugged sheepishly, "Sorry."

Luckily, she didn't seem too perturbed after his apology. In fact, the moment she turned to leave, she seemed rather pleased with herself.

I got to see his shy face, tee-hee!

Before Todoroki could rotate to the next mat, however, a loud whistle echoed across the gymnasium, and he looked up to see Aizawa with his fingers to his mouth and his eyes glowing red with his quirk.