【ＮＥＧＡＴＩＶＥ ＯＮＥ】

²³ʜᴇᴀᴅ ᴛᴏ ʜᴇᴀᴅ.

Todoroki's feet carry him with purpose toward one of the gates outside of the stadium. It's far enough from the main entrance to be sufficiently secluded from anyone else hearing what he has to say. From behind him is Uraraka, following along with no few amount of anxiety and uneasiness.

His bruised cheek still stings with sharp pangs of pain, nowhere near enough to make him react but it is noticeable. He's gone through much worse pain than this. It is simply a minor inconvenience that a quick trip to Recovery Girl would fix up in no time.

The pain from it though strikes deeper inside than just the bruise.

He used the flames. Despite his vow, despite how much he hated it, he used them all the same.

Those things that Midoriya threw at him were suppressing his ice, then he was socked in the face, which was enough to break his vow.

Is his will really that weak? All these years he's sworn never to use his left side, the side of his body that spawns those accursed flames that came from that monster that calls himself a father and a hero. Then he gets overwhelmed once, by people he has completely ignored and thought wouldn't become obstacles in his path.

The worst part is she probably doesn't even know what she did. She has no idea about him ignoring his left side, she knows nothing about how much it burns him on the inside every time he thinks about the flames. How much it pained him to know that his father's Quirk resides within him.

Truthfully, he's not entirely sure what he's even going to say to her after they get some privacy. He's angry, there is no doubt about that fact, even know the hands in his pockets are clenched tight in anguish,

But most of that anger is aimed at himself. At how weak he is and how he's allowed himself to lose not once, but twice.

Maybe it's because he just feels like he has to tell someone and Uraraka was the last straw in forcing him to use his fire.

They get closer to the secluded gateway just off to the side of the stadium's main entrance. As he gets closer though, a familiar voice coming from the gateway reaches his ears.

"Jeez, who are you and where's the real Bakugo eh? He'd never be this quiet."

'Hmm, perhaps it's not as secluded as I hoped.' Todoroki silently mused to himself.

"Eh?" Uraraka makes a questioning noise before walking faster, passing him in quite a hurry. She pauses when she reaches the gateway and stares inside of it, presumably at whoever was speaking.

"Alright," The tone of the voice changes to something more vaguely threatening. "If you don't get on with this then I'm just going to leave."

Todoroki reaches the gateway and stands beside Uraraka, looking in to see the speaker. Immediately, his eyes sharpen as he recognizes the two people in a tense standoff.

On the left is Bakugo with his signature scowl plastered on his face. The difference this time though is his unnatural silence. The voice that he heard certainly wasn't his as it wasn't incredibly loud nor was it filled with rage. Instead, he's uncharacteristically silent, staring with sheer contempt at the person in front of him. That same look in his eyes is very familiar to Todoroki as he's worn that look hundreds of times, but it's unfamiliar on Bakugo's face.

Despite taking first place in the previous event, he doesn't seem all that happy with his victory.

Across from the blonde is another very familiar face, the other mystery uncovered in the festival that he's stuck trying to figure out.

Izuku Midoriya.

The Quirkless boy who bested him.

He can still remember those strange devices Midoriya threw at him. They followed him as if they were locked on and sticking onto his right side. They stuck onto him strongly like the balls from Mineta's Quirk, and the second they attached, he felt a scalding amount of heat strike him directly from the devices. It felt like those things were sapping the temperature from his left side.