Secrets [Todoroki]

*Chapter Fifteen*

On the day of the festival, Miri was running late.

Her usual sleeping routine was thrown completely out of whack ever since she took on a new training cycle.

She woke up on the hard floor of her room, her training clothes still on her body. She smelled of sweat and many other nastiness, but one look at the clock told her she didn't have the time to take a shower. She changed as quickly as she could into a decent hoodie and a pair of sweats and bolted out the door.

She ran her fingers through her unsettled hair and opted for a high ponytail. The style felt weird and uncomfortable, but it prevented her from looking like your average homeless person on the street.

Shoving a piece of toast in her mouth, Miri booked it out of her house and made her way to the school. She arrived within a few minutes, roughly out of breath. She attempted to get in through the gate.

"Sorry, miss, can't let you in. The festival is a full house." Kamui Woods held a hand out to her, stopping her in place.

Under normal circumstances, Miri would be enthralled to be in the presence of him, but time was limited.

"But I attend U.A! I'm in Class 1A." Miri panted. Her heart beat a little faster.

"Heard it before. Sorry, miss." He shrugged. "You're not even wearing the uniform."

"I-I woke up late! Come on, please! I'm supposed to compete today!" Miri pleaded. Her eyes burned, and she knew if he didn't let her in she might start crying.

Mt. Lady suddenly popped up from behind him. "Oh, what a cutie! You look awfully familiar."

Miri blinked. Her idol was talking to her and said she was familiar? Her heart threatened to burst.

"Please! I'm begging you, I can't miss this festival." Miri looked at them hopefully, pleading internally with all her might that they'd believe her.

"I don't know, Kamui. I think she's telling the truth. I'd hate for her to miss this festival. It's a very big deal, especially for the first years." Mt. Lady looked her over.

He stared at Miri skeptically for a little before sighing and opening the door. "I better see you on the field representing or so help me I'll go back into the stands and find you myself."

"I promise you, I'll be out there." Miri flashed him a smile before speeding into the building.

She stopped by the changing room and eyeballed the showers. Deciding that she would rather die than let herself smell how she looked, she at least rinsed her body—paying close mind to avoid getting too much of her hair wet, as there was way too much to properly wash it. She threw their training uniforms back over herself, not even properly toweling down.

Running for the waiting room, Miri felt the weirdness of wet clothing clinging to her body start to bunch up in her nooks and crannies.

She threw open the door and stood there panting heavily. Her classmates stared at her homeless appearance, noting the dark eye bags on her face and unkempt—if only slightly damp—hair.

"Jeez, someone took training a lot harder than the rest of us." Kaminari sighed.

Miri waved a hand at them, huffing. "I'm sorry...I overslept." She walked the rest of the way into the room, sitting down in an empty seat beside Uraraka. She laid her chin on the table.

"You look like you've seen better days." Uraraka patted her on the back—quickly retracting her hand, however, as the back of Miri's uniform was...unpleasant.

"I have seen worse if I'm honest." Miri stretched her back out, popping what sounded like almost every bone in her body. "I need to do my warmups."

Everyone at the table then zeroed in on her.

"Whatever warmups you're doing," Kirishima said, looking at her muscles. "I want in on it."

"Me too!" Uraraka cheered.

Miri tugged on the black streaks of her hair. "Uhhhh..." The attention was on her again. Her mind stalled. "After the festival? I can start you guys on what I did growing up."

Her face darkened at that. What she grew up with was a drill sergeant routine. She wouldn't subject her friends to it, but maybe a dialed down version of it?

Sensing the mood change in their friend, the table dropped the subject and began talking about what the festival could have in store for them.

Miri was lost in thought, but from the corner of her eye, she saw a flash of green.

She turned to smile, and say something to Midoriya, but her words died on her lips.

Todoroki stood there with an unreadable look on his face. He stared at Midoriya, eyes burrowing deep into him.

"Objectively speaking, I am stronger than you." Todoroki's voice cut through the air. Miri tensed up, not seeing a reason for him to be saying what he was.

"Uh...sure. Yeah." The meek boy responded.

Miri was on her feet then, ready to come to his aid. She respected Todoroki, but what he was doing bothered her.

"All Might has his eyes on you, right?" At this, Miri froze. "I don't really care why that is, but I will beat you at this festival."

By then, Miri was already at Midoriya's side. Kirishima mirrored her to be beside Todoroki.

"It's unnecessary to pick a fight like this." Miri's hand found Midoriya's shoulder. "You didn't need to single out Midoriya."

Todoroki's eyes flashed to her hand on Midoriya's shoulder and then back to her face. "I told you from the very beginning of the school year that I wasn't here to make friends."

She grit her teeth and opened her mouth to respond, but Midoriya's hand on her own silence her.

"I'm not sure why you felt the need to tell me you'd beat me. You're stronger and I couldn't measure up to most of the people here in terms of skill. Everyone at this school is aiming for the top, and I frankly don't want to fall behind. So, just like you, Bakugo, Miri, everyone in this room, and school I'm aiming for the top with everything I've got." His face was awash with a new determination that Miri had only seen a handful of times from him.

It was then she noticed the raw and raging power within him. It wasn't anything like what she could feel from the other students in the class, but it was there. It was lying low, a dormant strength that one day might shine through.

Miri felt a big smile grow on her face. She removed her hand from his shoulder and angled her smile to him as he turned to look at her.

"You will do great." She whispered.

She then turned to Todoroki, who had been staring at them the whole time.

"I wish you the best of luck, too." The smile has slipped from her face and instead replaced with a pain in her chest.

"Right." He muttered and turned away, walking back to lean against the wall.

Miri sighed to herself and slipped off to the corner of the room, practicing her warmups for the festival.