ʜᴇʀᴏᴇs | ʙɴʜᴀ

↳ chapter 15

I gasped for air as I looked around. The cheers were silent. I was in a daze. The only sound I could hear was buzzing. A loud buzzing in my ears, gradually getting louder. And then the sound cheers finally came back to me. I inhaled one big breath of air, the oxygen hitting my lungs. Colour flooded black into my face, my cheeks flushed from all the energy taken. I slowly stumbled back into the waiting room, I pulled back a chair and slumped into it. That match had really taken a toll on me. Perhaps it wouldn't hurt to shut my eyes for a second... Besides, my next match would be with Todoroki, it would take even more stamina for me to get through it. I slowly shut my eyes, and soon enough, I was fast asleep.

••

Todoroki slowly creaked open the door of the waiting room and smiled to himself when he saw his friend, Sakura, sprawled out on the table, asleep. He pulled up a seat next to her and smiled knowingly at the peaceful girl, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear. He thought of how beautiful she looked when she was asleep and mentally slapped himself for thinking that.

What was this feeling he was experiencing? He thought about it long and hard. When someone likes another person for their qualities, they called it admiration. He put his index finger in his lip. Yeah, that sounded about right. He admired Yumé Sakura. He admired her for her wit, he admired her for her strength, he admired how the girl always managed to stay happy. He admired how she always made him smile and encouraged him to do the same. All the while, he thought about it with a smile on his face.

Yeah, he definitely admired Yumé Sakura.

••

My eyelids furiously fluttered open and my cheeks heated up when I saw Shoto sitting next to me, staring at me intently. I slowly lifted my head up from the table, which caused him to speak.

"Our match is about to start, " he said simply, walking off.

However, before walking off, he looked at my confused face and smiled. I was shocked. He was purposely smiling at me?

"Hey, aren't you the one who told me to smile?" he commented.

I chuckled softly to myself. I didn't know my words would have such an impact on the boy. I ruffled his hair and beamed up at the peppermint haired boy.

"Well, I guess we're finally up against each other, huh?" I commented, my heart twisting in pain at the thought.

  Why was I suddenly feeling like this? Before, I had no problem with fighting him, but now, when I was in front of thousands of people... I felt miserable that I had to somehow harm him, or get him out. It looked like Shoto didn't really like the idea of it either, but my face brightened up.

"Promise that no matter what happens during the match, we'll always stay friends?" I asked, holding out my pinky finger childishly.

  Shot raised an eyebrow at my childlike attitude, before giving in and hooking his pinky finger around mine. He smiled sadly, muttering to himself that he could 'never say no to her'. I found myself gleaming at this, and I threw my arms around the boy. He stiffened up, and I wondered if it was too early to hug him.

  I was about to pull away from the hug, when his body relaxed and his arms wrapped around my figure. I could feel the smile on his face, and I finally felt okay with fighting it.

  Maybe it was because I knew that in the end, everything would be alright.

•

  I stepped out onto the arena, cheers and shouts of joy filling my ears. I smiled at the support that both of us were getting, but deep down we knew that one way or another, one of us would lose this match.

"Fight!" the loud voice pierced through the air.

  Both of us immediately lunged at each other, Todoroki sending glaciers of ice my way, while I teleported around the playing field. I teleported behind him, wrapping my legs around his neck and forcing him down. He immediately threw me off, and I teleported in front of him, smirking. We were both very familiar with each other's fighting styles, so we knew how to get out of every situation we put each other in.

This was going to be a long fight.

•

I panted, my breathing ragged. Both Todoroki and I were not giving up. Our combat skills were evenly matched, and our quirks were both as overpowered as one another. I kept my composure, but neither of us were backing down. I threw another punch at the side of his head, which we quickly dodged and pulled my arm behind me. I jabbed him in the stomach with my other hand, twisting my arm and freeing it from his grasp. Our fighting had gotten very flimsy, and we were both extremely tired. It had been going on for the past 20 minutes of nonstop fighting.

Todoroki shot out his ice, which I quickly teleported on top of him. He dodged the falling icicles, and I took this chance to attack him. I attempted to kick him, only for him to grab my leg and fling me aside. I was flying towards the out of bounds line, the I teleported again. We both knew that at this point, the only way that the match would progress was if Todoroki used his fire.

"Shoto! Use your fire against me!" I seethed.

"No, " he simply rejected, wiping the blood from his mouth.

Both of us were bruised and battered. I quickly ran up to him and wrapped my leg around him and pushed him down, and he rolled over, turning the tables so that he was on top. He froze me to the ground, and let out a sigh of relief.

"Todoroki wins this round!"