Never

40. Discussions

Katsuki's POV

           It had been a... complicated day. I came in third. After all these months of training, maybe I had beaten Icy Hot — who, let's admit, didn't have a quirk particularly suited for sports, though it was useful — but I'd been defeated by Baldy, and completely blown away by that blond Izuku-lookalike with balls and charisma. That overpowered Pseudo-Might.

          I slammed my locker door shut. Baldy, I knew I could beat him, I'd already beaten him in some events. But Pseudo-Might... it pissed me off, but that guy was perfect. Funny, serious, charismatic, likable, smart, insanely muscular without being ridiculous, good-looking, talented, and overpowered. He only had a white badge, despite a Bronze-level Control and Copper-level Endurance, but I knew from seeing him at the last Contest nine months ago that he was just a Triple back then. His quirk had clearly evolved since.

          And me... Endeawhore had used our first encounter fight to evaluate us, Icy Hot and I. My level had skyrocketed compared to my test that same afternoon. There are about 200,000 candidates per category, and I ranked 1816th in Destruction instead of 2964th. A huge leap, and I knew after my training with Endeawhore and Icy Hot I had gained a lot in Endurance and Control, and a decent amount in Power. But it wasn't enough, not by a long shot.

I wonder if this is how Endeawhore feels in front of All Might.

          I clenched my fists to stifle the sparks. In the months I'd spent with him, I'd learned to recognize Endeavor the hero's talent and power. But the Todoroki father was a particularly pathetic asshole. I'd do my best to surpass Pseudo-Might, and anyone claiming the title of number one, but I refused to let my ego turn me into something as pitiful as Endeavor. It was bad enough admitting that I was no better than him at one point, but if I could at least keep from being a total asshole again, that'd be nice. What was I saying ? I was going to be a great person ! A better person than anyone, even Iz...

           Let's stop there, it was getting ridiculous.

           Baldy and Icy Hot joined me, chatting — well, the tornado shouting his enthusiasm at the universe, and the melted popsicle half-listening, commenting here and there — and we headed out. Endeawhore wanted my "brother" and me to head straight home for a debrief of our first day. But since we'd agreed that if we were gonna get blown up for not being first, far ahead of everyone else, we'd at least go to the arcade with Baldy first. We had a revanche to take in Zombies Extermination VII.

           Except, when we arrived by the school gate we saw the vamp' leaning against the wall, reading on her phone. And of course, Baldy instantly went to see her, for my greatest dismay and annoyance. Worse, Icy Hot followed him calmly, without an ounce of his usual introversion. Damn, the tornado was a bad influence on him.

          Not having much of a choice, I followed them but stained a bit behind. I stared at her. I didn't really know what to think of her. She was a Grey. She saved my life, even though I still had troubles admitting it. She was intriguing, after all, it was my first time seeing someone jumping from the third floor of a school to change classroom. And she clearly had crazy talent in combat, and incredible physical skills for a simple little human girl without a Quirk.

           But even though I was now able to admit that a full armband — Green, Purple or Flame — could be better than me, and maybe even that a intelligent, skillful Triple whose quirk gave them a clear advantage could also defeat me, admitting that this girl, this Grey, could be a worthy adversary, an equal ? No, fuck no, it was against everything I was ever told, everything I ever saw. That made everything I had done since I was four feel like a mistake.