A Freeing Touch

Chapter Five

The sports festival was that day, and Midoriya could only be described as a ball of both anxiety and excitement.

This was what he, along with all his classmates, had been preparing for for weeks. This was when all that training paid off, he hoped. Even so, years of habit with analyzing all the possible outcomes did have quite an effect on his level of confidence.

As he stood in the waiting room with his classmates, all in varying levels of nervousness, he thought he'd be left to think and plan his actions for the event. Perhaps a few nervous glances and nods from the others around him, a few interruptions from hushed whispers from others doing the same thing as him. However, as he glanced around, he noticed someone approaching him that seemed to give his mind no rest as of recent.

Todoroki had been on his mind quite often, though that might even be an understatement. With each time they'd even been near each other, Midoriya would suck in a breath, waiting for skin on skin contact so his thoughts could finally be put to rest. However, that contact never came and Midoriya found no rest for his thoughts and suspicions. He'd mutter under his breath sometimes, catching Todoroki's attention and causing Uraraka to nudge him and bring him out of his thoughts. When that happened, he'd sheepishly look away, and ignore the strange pull he always felt toward the taller boy.

Now, though, he was sure he hadn't been muttering all that loudly, so he was uncertain as to why Todoroki would be approaching him.

"Midoriya."

He turned, "Ah, Todoroki, what is it?"

"Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you."

Midoriya blinked, "huh? Well, yeah..."

"But, All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he?"

Midoriya stiffened, and couldn't help but wonder if Todoroki was onto the truth about his quirk. Wouldn't he be more upfront about it? Or perhaps he was aware of how much this could change if the information got out.

Todoroki interrupted his thoughts as he continued on, "But I'm going to beat you."

After saying this, he turned to walk away, but Midoriya spoke out after him.

"Todoroki, I don't know what you thinking when you say you'll beat me, but of course you're better than me." He was suddenly aware of the rest of the class watching intently, "I think you're more capable than most people... but I can't afford to fall behind. I'll be going for it with everything I have, too."

Todoroki, still looking back at him, nodded lightly.

"Yeah."

-

As Midoriya walked out, along with the rest of the freshmen class, toward the stage, he forces himself to take a deep breath and try to relax. Uraraka and Iida walked alongside him, both giving him reassuring smiles when they saw his nerves acting up.

He watched as Midnight stood up on the stage, speaking loud and clear, asking for Bakugou to go up onto the stage as the freshman representative.

Midoriya stands in shock, taken aback by the choice, "What? It's Kacchan?"

Sero reminded him that he did place first in entrance exam. Still, it was rather unbelievable, considering it was Bakugou.

Midoriya braced himself, likely what the rest of the students were also doing, as Bakugou cleared his throat and spoke into the mic

His speech was, well, basically what Midoriya expected it to be. He listened as the students erupted with booing and yelling once Bakugou made his position clear.