Minutes into the first match of the quarter finals, Kouda Kouji, 1-A's quiet Snow White, already has his eyes and ears covered. With Katsuki VS Ochako, it was like watching a bully pick on a vulnerable kid. With Izuku VS Shouto, however, while Izuku successfully fends off each wave of ice, finger after finger were sacrificed to do so.
Even they, on the stands, can see the bad shape Izuku's in.
"The way they're misshapen... the bones must be shattered," Iida Tenya observes with a heavy frown. His friend isn't foolish. There must be a reason he threw caution to the wind but that doesn't make Tenya feel any better seeing the self-harm.
"Shh!" Eijirou jabs the tactless boy, his crimson orbs sending warnings. Tenya's eyes follow the redhead's to two girls. Ochako is staring at the arena with bloodshot eyes and Renka is fiercely chewing plastic that once held melon bread.
Momo watches her friend carefully and gently pulls the packet away when Renka opens her mouth. A mini cheese roll (courtesy of her family's 3-star chef) is picked up from a basket with a napkin and ceremoniously stuffed in the empty mouth. "Renka-chan, are you okay?"
The lump in Renka's throat melts like the cheese wrapped in potatoes. "Why wouldn't I be? I didn't shatter my fingers unlike someone... He's so gonna get it later, humph!"
In the arena, Izuku imagines a microwave, controlling his strength and unleashing it on Shouto. His broken digits flap like they are boneless but adrenaline and the desire to pass on his thoughts dull the pain. Carried by determination, Izuku's words reach Shouto together with his fist, "Your power... IS YOUR OWN!!"
Shouto's body shoots backwards from the hit but his mind is no longer in the arena. Memories flit before his mismatched eyes.
Flame Hero: Endeavor, his prowess intimidates villains and brings comfort to the populace. The celebrated number 2 hero. But that title, like an abominable curse, drove him to madness. Eternal number 2, forever second. He fought and strived to be the strongest but repeated failures showed that the gap between All Might and him was insurmountable.
But he couldn't let go of his obsession.
It was then that an idea hit him. What he couldn't achieve, someone else could!
Enji decided to forge a successor. He married Rei, holder of an ice Quirk, in hopes of combating the weakness of his Hellflame, which raised his body temperature to lethal levels when overused.
When the first failed, another two failures took their place and just as Enji was about to lose hope, the perfect "tool" was forged. His fourth product, Shouto, inherited both his father's pyrokinesis and his mother's cryokinesis.
And in the ideal blueprints in Enji's mind, Shouto would inherit his will to surpass All Might too. Thus gruelling abuse was rained upon him in the name of "training".
To him, Shouto wasn't a "son".
Not even a "child".
Much less a "person".
To Todoroki Enji, Shouto was a "tool", and a "tool" didn't need to feel or think. It simply needed to satisfy its purpose.
Unfortunately, the subject of Enji's tyranny wasn't only Shouto. The gentle, loving mother in Shouto's early days inch by inch became a shell of her former self and one day she unwittingly poured boiling water on the left side of Shouto's face—which reminded her of her spouse.
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Switcheroo \BnHA Various x Reincarnated!OC\
FanfictionFriends. Family. Life. Having lost them all it should have been the end but she woke up to a world years later as a newborn baby! A happy home outwardly. One too many pesky childhood friends. Heroes and villains alike eying her Quirk. With the past...
