UA's Conduit

Chapter 21. Too Far!!

"OW OW OW!! Toru-chan that hurts!!" Izuku cried out in pain as his ear was being pulled by one annoyed Toru Hagakure. The young conduit had just exited the infirmary when Toru called him to her waiting room. When he arrived there, he was engulfed in a hug by the Gen Ed girl, congratulating him for winning, to which he hugged her back.

But that was short-lived when she released the hug and pinched his left ear.

"Toru-chan! I'm sorry that I wasn't able to watch your match. I was... too focused on strategizing for my match against Todoroki-chan." Izuku cried out. As soon as she let go of his ear, Izuku began rubbing his ear as he comically teared up in pain.

Toru looked at her friend and sighed. "I'm not mad that you weren't able to see me fight. I understand that you want to focus." she started, making the young conduit look at her direction with a confused look. "I'm mad that you have pushed yourself to the brink of almost killing both yourself and Todoroki-san. You almost gave me a heart attack."

Izuku blinked at her words before looking away, sheepishly scratching his cheek. "Y-yeah... Sorry about that. I got too excited back there." he whispered.

"You don't say..." she said, causing him to blush in embarrassment.

"Okay, maybe excited was a bit of an understatement..." Izuku said, as the Gen Ed girl could only sigh at his sheepish look and crossed her arms.

"Look, I understand that you didn't hold back against Todoroki-san for some personal reason that I don't know about. But should really tone down your strength a bit, Izu-kun. If I almost had a heart attack, imagine how Inko-san feels right now."

That caused Izuku to cringe. Knowing his mom, she would've probably caused another flood in their apartment complex, maybe even passing out due to dehydration, again.

Toru knew how Inko would react, since she met Inko back when they finished their training session and went to Izuku's apartment to get something to drink. That time they arrived while Inko was coincidentally out early and she may have shown Toru another quirk well known to the Midoriya bloodline. Let's just say that day, she had to borrow Izuku's clothes after hers were drenched.

Without a word, Izuku hugged her close to him. "I'm sorry for worrying you, Toru-chan. I didn't mean to." he whispered to her in a bit of a childish way.

Toru could only roll her eyes in a good-heartedly nature, trying her best not to blush in their close contact. "Okay okay..." she said as she patted Izuku on the head. "Just... just don't push yourself way too much."

Izuku let go of her, much to the dismay of the girl, and looked at her with a sheepish smile. "I... I can't really promise that," he started as he took a deep breath, and looked back at her. "But I'll try my best." he said with a smile that almost made her squint her eyes, she was sure that there was a bright light coming out of him for a second there.

Before she could respond, Toru watched as Izuku's face suddenly turned serious. "What's wrong, Izu-kun?" she asked, concern can be determined in her voice.

Izuku looked over at the girl, face stern. "Your match is next," he started. "And you're going up against him.." he said in a low tone.

Understanding what he was worried about, she nodded. "Yeah..." she said, sitting on the edge of the table.

There was an awkward silence between the two of them, before Izuku broke the tension. "Toru-chan, I'm not gonna sugarcoat it. The chance of you winning this fight is slim." he said, taking out his old Hero Journal, the same one that Katsuki almost blew up the day he met Delsin. "But we can change that." He said as he began to flip the pages trying to find the page he made specifically about his former childhood friend.