Freezing ↬ [Todoroki Shoto x Reader]

Chapter 10: Sports Festival! One vs One

(Y/n) POV

'My first opponent is Kaminari. This is getting interesting.' I think. 'I don't know how well my ice is compatible with electricity. Well, warming up won't hurt I guess. '

I can't find the warm-up rooms, but then I hear Todoroki's voice and Midoriya's. 'Great! I'll ask them where the warm-up rooms are. They would know.' I think and walk towards their voices.

"Hey---" I get instantly cut off with a hand over my mouth. It's Bakugou.

"Shhh... tch." He says.

I don't ask why and shut up. It's rare for Bakugou to ask someone to be quiet. I have to read the atmosphere.

"What did you call me out for, Todoroki-kun?" Deku asks.

"I don't know what kind of connection you have with all might," Todoroki starts. "But I'll beat you. Have you heard of quirk marriages by any chance? I am the result of a quirk marriage, my Dad married my mom and trained me only to beat All Might, the number one hero being the 2nd best hero he is. My mom threw boiling water on my left side because it reminded her of my dad. My dad threw her in the hospital and that had been that. This is why I will beat everyone without using my left side. This is why I will never use my left side in battle, especially not in front of my dad."

Tears flow down my cheeks. I knew it, Todoroki-san, Rei-san already told me, but hearing it from Todoroki was a different story. The way Todoroki said it had no heart at all. I couldn't tell if he was trying to forget the incident, if he didn't care, or if he's trying to find the pain. He seemed more angry then sad or emotional. This made me sad. I don't know why, but the tears wouldn't stop. I walk away. I don't want to hear any more.

Bakugou doesn't say anything and leaves as well. I'm glad he left. I'm glad I can leave.

~~~

"First Pair, please get ready!" Present Mic yells.

'I'm the third pair. The first pair is Todoroki vs Sero. I really want to watch this match. I can warm up during Midoriya and Shinsou's match.' I think and walk to the balcony to watch Todoroki's match.

I sit down in a comfortable seat. I want to watch this match. I hate to admit, but Todoroki's ice is much prettier and stronger than mine. The way he's trained is different, the more you train the stronger the ice gets. The stronger the ice gets, the more beautiful it gets. Just like people say that strength is beautiful. Todoroki's ice is something that I want to see while I'm not in battle. I'm super excited for this match.

But it ends in a second. Well, maybe not a second but in about 10 seconds, Todoroki's beautiful ice is centimetres away from my face. The size of this ice block is unbelievable.

'Wait a minute. Wasn't I supposed to be 2x stronger than Todoroki? Then why is this ice block 2x bigger than my maximum? But didn't we talk this out at USJ? Was he lying? Well obviously seems like it since this ice block in front of me is 4x bigger than what he said it was, and what I believed it was.' I think in shock. 'This is so humiliating. My quirk is full ice and I'm half the strength of Todoroki whose quirk is half ice. I'm technically 4x weaker than Todoroki.' I look down at my feet and sit there helplessly. Tears don't even come out. I'm not even sad that Todoroki lied to me. The only emotion I have is humiliation. I feel like reality just punched me really hard. All I could do was sit there and drown in my foolishness. All I could do was rethink and remember, again and again, how foolishly stupid and arrogant I was. ' In what world would I be 2x stronger than Todoroki who spent his whole life training? Stupid.'

I slowly walk up the stairs of the balcony seat and back inside the dome. I walk to the warm-up room to stretch and make sure I'm ready for my match. I try not to think of anything but I can't concentrate. 

"THE THIRD MATCH IS STARTING. (L/N) (Y/N) AND KAMINARI DENKI, PLEASE HEAD TO THE FIELD!"

I slowly walk to the field I don't even know how to fight. The easiest probable way to win is to the same thing Todoroki did and freeze Kaminari from head to toe. I just don't want to see how much different my best would be from Todoroki's.

"I'm gonna lose..." Kaminari says.

I don't say anything; I just look down and wait for Midnight to call the start of this match.

"GO!"

I feel no power within me but I feel like I need to let all the humiliation out of me. I don't want to see how much better Todoroki is, I don't want to be compared, but I need to know and I need to be compared. I need to see my weakness to get stronger.

Kaminari is about to electrocute everything in the field and all I do is stand there. But I feel like power is overflowing into me. I feel like all my humiliation and sadness is turning into power.

I yell a battle cry and simply release energy around me. Release all the humiliation within me. There's a ring of ice, uneven ice around me. The ice ring I made was nothing close to controlled; it was just a reckless ice barrier around me. I collapsed soon after that, but it was my win since I trapped Kaminari in the ice barricade first.

"The winner of the 3rd match is (L/n) (Y/n)! The 4th match will be starting shortly! Iida Tenya and Hatsume Mei, please get ready."

I later find out that I collapsed because of the lack of sleep from the night before as well as stress that had been piling up on me. Apparently, I had pushed myself too far at an unstable mindset. But who cares about an unstable mindset? My ice ring was still half the size of Todoroki's ice block. I wake up soon enough, but I don't get out of the hospital bed until way after.

'This is so humiliating' I think.