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Abandoned: Humanity's Drift - Chapter 30 - shansome - 

Shouto sat alone in an empty waiting room, alert and ready. His heterochromatic eyes focused intently on the door in front of him, his elbows pressing into his thighs and his fingers drumming along his knuckles.

Yaoyorozu had just defeated Hagakure in a lengthy match for third place and now, it was finally time for Shouto to face his strongest opponent and win the sports festival. 

Beating Midoriya would most likely take every ounce of power Shouto possessed. She could move faster than Shouto could see, rip right through his ice, and seemed to have considerable magic. She even had a pro-hero father to train her. 

But Shouto had the advantage in experience. Because as much as he despised Endeavor, he couldn't deny the man's skill. He had spent nearly an entire lifetime 'sparring' against the powerful man and his sidekicks before fighting monsters for five whole years. And Shouto doubted Atlas was nearly as tough on his children as Endeavor was. 

Furthermore, Shouto should have the edge in sheer power. Only the strongest heroes- All Might, Endeavor, and Atlas, apparently- could hope to stop his ice when he went all out. His Heaven Piercing Ice Wall was massive enough to destroy an entire army. The ensuing hypothermia would be damaging to Shouto's body, of course, but it'd be well worth it to defeat his opponent.

His mother's ice was all he would need to achieve victory.

Shouto waited in the arena for nearly two minutes before she arrived. 

Midnight had already been removed from the sidelines so that she wouldn't be caught in the crossfire. The only hero left in sight was Cementoss, the man crouching down quite a far distance away with his quirk already active.

Midoriya waved freely at the cheering crowd as she strolled in, a slight smile playing across her lips. The audience's shouts and yells only got louder in response and she soaked up all their attention with practiced ease. Midoriya seemed to be far more used to the press than Shouto was- Endeavor and Atlas must have vastly differing opinions on how to handle the media as well.

But compared to Shouto's careful planning and cold determination, Midoriya looked completely casual. Her hands were loose at her sides, her stance completely open and vulnerable. She was just as easygoing and relaxed as she would be any other day- there wasn't even a hint of worry on her face, her emerald eyes watching him almost lazily.

It was infuriating. 

Was this why his sperm donor loathed All Might so much? The beaming confidence and overwhelming power, combined with the ability to look down on everyone else without even trying? It was almost as if all of his efforts were worthless in the face of the girl in front of him. 

Shouto caught himself and shoved that train of thought aside. He knew that Midoriya was strong, overwhelmingly so. He couldn't afford to cloud his vision with anger or inflate his own capabilities here.

Concentrate.

Neither of them spoke, silently observing each other across the field. Shouto had already said everything he wanted to say to her. Now, all that was left was to prove his words through action-

"Start!"

He didn't even see the punch.

One moment Midoriya was standing still, and the next Shouto was flying backward with a new ache in his jaw as the wind rushed by his face. 

Shouto made an ice barrier in time and crashed into it barely in bounds of the ring, his eyes wide.

She wasn't afraid to just blitz him, evidently.

Shouto recovered, leaping to his feet and launching a huge wave of ice toward her. Midoriya simply waved her hand, and it all shattered into pieces.

Shouto didn't pause, freezing over the floor of the ring and covering cement in frost to trap her in place. White restraints held her legs down as multiple spikes stabbed towards her in the same instant- two from either side, four from below, and one from behind. 

But then Midoriya jumped straight out of her cage, his attacks smashing into each other below her feet. An array of ice shards raced towards her airborne form and broke harmlessly against her crossed arms. 

Her strength was even more incredible than he thought! If he didn't find a way around it, all of his strikes would be meaningless.

A flash of blue and violet. Shouto dodged desperately, a mighty blow carving into the ground where he stood. He whirled around and lunged to counter-

His opponent stepped past the hand with casual ease before slamming a kick into his side. Shouto was thrown hard to the right, the world turning on its head as he tumbled across frosty cement. His ribs ached fiercely with every painful bounce until he finally came to a stop several meters away. 

He couldn't afford to take many more hits like that.

Shouto looked up just in time to see four beautiful orbs of light form around Midoriya, hovering still in the air. They each fired off a thin beam of energy, the powerful magic slicing through Shouto's hasty defense with almost no resistance and grazing his face and arms. A thin line of blood slid down his unscarred cheek.

Shouto grit his teeth and clenched his right fist, forced to admit that pure ice was utterly useless against his opponent. Midoriya was simply too strong to be trapped, too durable to be damaged, and too fast to be frozen.

But his quirk wasn't creating ice- it was cooling down the temperature around him. If ice wasn't enough, then he'd have to use a more effective, more dangerous method.

Chill.

He took in a deep breath as the temperature dropped, further and further until his breath misted and the air pressed down on his suddenly prickly skin. His scar tingled.

Shouto thrust his right arm forward and the frost followed.

The ice flowed out in rows, building and building on top of each other as they rushed across the field. The focused wave grew exponentially higher as it went until there was a massive mountain of white bearing down on his opponent, complete with an endless array of spikes.

Midoriya had effortlessly stopped one of his larger ice attacks in a training exercise weeks ago so for this fight, Shouto needed to pull out his strongest move- Heaven Piercing Ice Wall. But unlike his fight with Sero, he was in full control of the move now. It was directed completely towards Midoriya with powerful, determined concentration, moments away from crushing her form.

Then just before it hit, Shouto saw a familiar sword appear in Midoriya's hand. It was a shining white blade with slivers of color, shining so bright that its light pierced through the approaching ice. It radiated more power than Shouto could even imagine, fierce and brilliant-

(A single, beautiful slash faster than any human could see.)

And the next thing Shouto knew he was hurtling backward, the wind pushing past his dual-colored hair as shards rained down everywhere. His back crashed hard into his very first ice barrier, the same one that saved him at the start of the match. 

Shouto lifted his head with a shaky breath to see that all of his ice had been blown away. 

That much pure power was unmistakable- Midoriya Akari was stronger than Endeavor himself. How? How was that even possible for someone so young? She was only his age and she had already achieved his life's purpose, his reason for being created. 

Shouto stumbled to his feet, forcing himself upright. He shivered terribly, his right arm completely covered in frost and almost numb. The urge to succumb to his flames, to immerse himself in the blissful heat of his right side rose up from within and he ruthlessly shoved it back down.

But despite his new revelation, he hadn't given up. Because as expected, Midoriya didn't have the same cold resistance he did. The girl was trembling in the freezing air, her violet hair messy with ice shards and her glowing sword gripped tight in her hand. The horn on her head was still intact, lined with frost and strong reinforcement. And she was now watching him warily- finally taking Shouto seriously.

This was the only way he could even damage his incredible opponent.

The rest of the fight went by in a blur of white and violet. Shouto fought desperately, his cold air rushing out in volumes to hurt both him and his opponent. Waves of ice slowed her down and dropped the temperature further.

Shouto forced away his dizziness and pushed even further. He had to win. He had to.

He was struck with more blows and magic yet at this point, he couldn't even feel them. His entire body was burning with that familiar chill, his legs barely supporting his weight. 

And then a full minute later, his exhausted limbs finally gave out. Shouto fell to his knees in heavy defeat, his vow and being just as shattered as the ice around him. 

He had lost.

"Todoroki is no longer able to fight, leaving Midoriya as the winner of the final match- and the sports festival!" 

Akari breathed out a long sigh as Todoroki slumped to the ground, unconscious. 

Her teeth chattered- she was so fucking cold. With all the ice and targeted elemental chill, this was even worse than that one time her family went hiking in the Himalayas!

Akari wanted to prove to Todoroki that he needed his fire, and she knew that he'd be incredibly determined to prove the opposite. But she didn't think that the boy would very nearly kill himself in the process. 

Hypothermia was no joke, and someone this experienced with ice should've definitely known better. He could've been seriously injured if he kept that up much longer- then again, Todoroki's vow was messed up and incredibly self-destructive in the first place.

(Akari really needed to punch Endeavor in the face.)

She bent down and carefully lifted the boy over her shoulder. His skin was painfully cold, frost covering his entire right side. 

If Akari hadn't come along, would anyone have really forced him to realize how terrible his vow could be to a hero? Or would he have kept hurting himself like this until it was too late?

"Of all the reckless, irresponsible things!" 

Akari stood there awkwardly as Recovery Girl angrily cared for her fallen classmate, now laid upon a hospital bed. 

The scarred boy was wrapped tight in blankets, his various cuts, bruises(sorry!), and broken ribs(oops!) already worked on. 

"Forcing his ice quirk so far when it has a dangerous side effect! Really!" Recovery Girl huffed. "I could barely use my quirk, even, since nearly all of his stamina is gone! Does he have zero self-preservation?"

Akari winced. 

"And you!" The healer whirled on her. "You could have won in a minute if you wanted to instead of beating him up like this! Why didn't you?"

"I was uh, proving a point. We had a challenge, of sorts-"

Recovery Girl whacked her on the head with her cane. It snapped in half on impact.

"-so if Todoroki won our fight, he'd keep his vow to use only his ice in combat." Akari continued, unfazed. "But if I won, he'd break off the vow permanently. So I kinda had to be pretty hard on him."

She glanced toward the frozen boy on the bed.

Recovery Girl followed her gaze with a sigh. "I see. I've warned Shouta that something was wrong dozens of times but without any details, his hands were completely tied- I assume that the boy told you why he was harming himself like this, at least? That kind of self-destructive behavior doesn't just show up out of nowhere..."

Akari nodded. "Yeah."

"I suppose I can't fault you too much for crushing the poor soul so thoroughly, then. It was likely the only way logic was going to get through to him."

"I wasn't that bad-"

Recovery Girl raised an eyebrow, the action barely visible through her visor. "Young lady, I watched the entire fight through my screen over here. You relentlessly went after him with your overwhelming speed, completely destroyed every last bit of his ice, hit him as hard as possible without actually knocking him out, and then didn't end the match until he literally succumbed to his own hypothermia!"

Wow. When she put it like that, it sounded kinda harsh.

The award ceremony was a simple affair.

Akari was used to winning at this point; seeing the crowds of people watching expectantly from every side and the proud yet disappointed faces of her fellow competitors. When she studied in Heaven, Arcadia had been pretty similar in this respect.

The podium was new, though. At first, Akari stood at the highest block of the structure. Todoroki took the second spot and Yaoyorozu the third. The scarred boy now had a bandage placed on his cheek, and his right arm was held in a sling. He seemed even more quiet than usual, deep in thought. On the other hand, Yaoyorozu seemed happy, flashing a bright smile at Akari when she looked over.

All Might dropped out of the sky theatrically and landed in front of the podium with a booming laugh. He posed with his arms held high as the cameras flashed, people reacting with pure awe to their hero's very presence.

"I am here...to deliver some awards!"

The famous hero said a few words to each of them as he did. Yaoyorozu got a bronze medal hung around her neck and an embarrassed blush. Todoroki got silver, his eyes a little wider than before. Finally, All Might stopped in front of Akari to drape the gold medal around her neck.

The Symbol of Peace grinned. "Your power is simply incredible, Young Midoriya! At this rate, you'll soon surpass me!"

Enhancement magic flowed through his body even as he spoke. Any other hero hopeful would probably be exhilarated at that kind of praise, but Akari honestly just wanted to battle this man and his interesting ability. She hadn't seen anything like it before- a red, decently-sized mass of mana that somehow functioned within his body as if it were a quirk. 

"Thank you." Akari nodded politely.

Maybe some other time.

All Might turned his smile on the crowd. "And that brings an end to the U.A Sports Festival, everyone! Remember to always go beyond! Plus..."

"ULTRA!" The entire stadium yelled back. 

Class 1-A walked back into their dorms together afterward, most of them still high on the excitement of the festival. 

Bakugou seemed to snap at his friends(affectionately named the 'Bakusquad' by Mina) even more than usual on the way, firing off insults left and right. They didn't seem bothered in the slightest, however, taking his anger in stride as they fluttered around him and happily discussed the event's highlights. 

The blonde's pride had obviously taken a major blow after being beaten so effortlessly before even making it to the semifinals. Honestly, Akari wasn't guilty about that at all- she wasn't very fond of his aggressive arrogance in the first place. 

She was far more worried about Todoroki. Though she barely knew him(she could count the times they'd talked on one hand!) and it wasn't really her place to step in, she truly wanted to help him. Maybe it was a little prideful to think she could, but the boy already dumped his tragic backstory on her and she already obliterated his dream with the grace of a sledgehammer, so why not? 

She was curious about his completed quirk too- fighting someone actively crippling themselves all the time was pretty lame.

But she couldn't do anything about that now, so Akari let the boy slip from her mind for the moment and tuned back in to the classmates around her.

Everyone seemed to have unanimously agreed to watch a movie to relax after the action of the festival. They gathered together in their huge, shared living room, rushing to grab popcorn and snacks. Soon, all twenty teenagers were seated and comfortable. Peaceful.

But then came the critical question, setting into motion a fierce conflict.

The Momo faction, led by their very own class president, wanted to watch a rom-com. Momo herself was desperately denying this, her cheeks flushed red, but by now the entire class knew about her love for cheesy romance novels. That just wasn't the kind of secret you could hide from the people you lived with. 

Tooru passionately argued for the cause, her cute pink pajamas waving around wildly as she spoke. She stated that they had all just gone through several stressful challenges, so a simple rom-com they could all laugh at was the best choice. Aoyama was right up there beside her, naturally. 

Koda was a lot quieter in his support, simply signing that he 'wanted to see something sweet'. The adorable psychological weapon struck deep into his opponent's hearts. 

The Mina faction, on the other hand, wanted to watch a horror movie. The pink girl had a wide selection ready and was literally bouncing up and down at the very thought. Kirishima was just as excited as her since apparently, horror movies were super 'manly'. Jirou, Tsu, and Tokoyami were on board too, though to Akari it seemed like Tokoyami simply wished for something with fantasy elements. 

In an interesting turn of events, Dark Shadow turned on his human and joined the Momo faction. Tokoyami looked hilariously appalled at his quirk's decision, and the two birds bickered for several minutes.

Kaminari and Sero wanted to watch a modern thriller but unfortunately, their first pick had superpowers and heroes in it. They were instantly shut down by the rest of the class. 

Ojiro, being Ojiro, pulled up a really old martial arts movie dating all the way back to the 21st century. Ochako was immediately with him and Shoji actually clapped with all eight hands when he saw the cover. 

The rest of the class steadily fell into one of the three genres, making careful votes while Todoroki silently ate his soba and watched them discuss from his couch. Akari was neutral too since she had seen all of the movies they had brought, and generally wasn't picky.

She had gone through a phase in her 80s where she was really into TV, so much so that her grades actually tanked. After she agreed to hold back a little, her parents happily showed her the biggest collection of movies in existence. 

That was a fun decade. 

It was still a little terrifying to see their effectively endless stockpile of entertainment. How long had it taken to obtain all of those titles, she wondered, not to mention set up an elaborate ranking system? Like, she knew Mom and Dad were on Earth for centuries before she was born but whoa. 

Class 1-A debated earnestly for several more minutes and in the end, the Momo Faction won a decisive victory. This was mostly because they had Momo(who was now hiding her face in her hands) and Koda(who was Koda). 

Tooru merrily put in her first pick and settled in next to Akari, pressing comfortably into her side. Akari moved her bowl so that the popcorn rested between them and watched the puffs disappear into thin air. 

The movie played.

It was something simple, the kind of plot you could completely predict even if you hadn't already seen it. But the film was funny and enjoyable nonetheless, and most of the class was pretty invested. 

With Tooru's permission, she practiced making her visible as they watched- the more she understood her quirk, the longer she could keep her like this. It didn't seem to disturb Tooru when she flickered into existence, and this way Akari could see her smile and laugh.

The credits rolled over an hour later. Momo was now leaning forward in her seat, pretense long forgotten, while a few of their classmates had fallen asleep halfway through. Todoroki was still watching intently as if he was memorizing all of the social situations presented- actually, he probably was.

Akari squeezed Tooru's hand. Right now, she couldn't help but look at all the humans around her and realize that the choice she made on a whim a few months ago had really been one of her best ideas in ages. Like wow, she had really needed a break from Arcadia when she thought about it and Earth was so different and her classmates were all so fun and interesting-

Kaminari snored loud enough to pierce through the living room's silence and Bakugou shoved him off the couch. The blonde fell to the floor, waking up with a startled yell. 

Well, maybe most of them.

Notes:

Even though Shouto being hopelessly outclassed was the point, I still feel a little guilty about beating him up like that. I do really love writing fights though, and this one was pretty simple.

As briefly stated, Momo beats Tooru off-screen with no hard feelings since there needs to be an extra match for third place. Maybe I should have put it in, but it would probably have taken momentum away from the whole Shouto vs Akari fight and Buffed Momo > Buffed Tooru is kinda obvious.

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