Tenya did not have much time to make a plan here. Before the incentive structure changed, his plan was simple, as Todoroki's overwhelming power meant that Tenya couldn't directly oppose him for long. Therefore, the optimal plan would be to put it all on the line, using the temperature regulation formula to directly oppose him for a few seconds and attack while the number two hero's son, trained in combat from a young age, was effectively quirkless.
It was a plan that both had the highest chance of success and had absolutely no reasonable chance of working. As such, perfect for Tenya's needs.
Now, Momo knew that this was the plan, roughly. As such, he'd need to have an explanation ready for any deviations from the plan.
So there were roughly three angles of attack that he could use to persuade Todoroki into using fire, as far as Tenya could tell. First, he could use Endeavor's plan, by continually countering his ice until he resorted to flame. This required Tenya's quirk to have far more endurance than it actually does, and as it played into Tenya's weakness, Momo would know he lost on purpose. The worst option.
The second possible approach would be to provide Todoroki with some kind of incentive, or trick him. Beyond 'moody, rebellious teenager', Tenya didn't know Todoroki or his preferences, so such a plan would not only be highly risky, but their respective status as competitors would stymie any attempt at seeking common ground.
Thus, the only practical approach is the third option, provocation. Insults don't generally have to be perfect in order to achieve their aims, and now that Tenya thought about it, compromising Todoroki's rational thinking would either make his quirkless fighting either improve or make him sloppy. A good enough excuse to give to Momo.
Tenya's feet stepped into the arena, interrupting his plotting out the inevitable conversation he would have with Momo as he was in an infirmary bed. Wait, her match is right after, he'd have to miss watching… and be hurt enough to still be in the bed.
Present Mic's voice echoed from all the speakers surrounding the arena. "Listeners, it's time for the first match of the third round! Introducing the continual number one of today, the high-flying fast-winning business student, Deguchiya Tenya!" Tenya flushed at the description. Was it really smart for him to hype up the villain here? The audience agreed, if the comparatively anemic applause had anything to say about it.
Heedless of Tenya's criticisms, Present Mic continued to announce. "Against this titan of industry, is the only one who won battles even faster than him! Todoroki Shouto, everyone!" A much louder applause drowned out all else.
Midnight raised her whip, and once the crowd died down, she started the match.
As expected, Todoroki opened the match with a massive glacier. His attempts to shape it so that it went extremely high first to cut Tenya off were less expected, but Tenya was prepared nonetheless. The temperature regulation formula was a brute force effect, which meant that Tenya couldn't use it at large scales for very long, but holding off the ice for a second was easy enough.
"It looks like Todoroki's opening move wasn't quite fast enough!" Present Mic shouted. "Deguchiya's in the air and free as a bird!" Good, he was reinforcing the plan.
Eraserhead, however, had other ideas. "It was fast enough. Deguchiya did something."
Well, heating up ice was vastly more efficient than snuffing flames, so blending plans could work a bit. Spending a moment defining the space, he used a sound manipulation formula to ensure his opponent could hear him, Tenya's voice raised to a volume loud enough to reach the ground. "Did you think I would lose to such a lazy move? I'm ready for everything you've shown today, you'll need something new to stand a chance." To punctuate his villainous monologue, Tenya flourished by pointing his prop downward and activated the temperature manipulation formula, setting a minimum temperature of five degrees to the entire arena.
The effect was as immediate as it was dramatic. The ice directly above the arena sublimated immediately, turning into thick mist as the parts outside the arena fell out of bounds with a crash. One of the pieces was over the audience, which made a beat of panic to thud in Tenya's chest, but Cementoss had the concrete wall in front surge upwards to deflect the chunk.
Ignoring the near disaster, Todoroki shouted back up at Tenya defiantly. "Did my Father get you to do this? What did he bribe you with?"
Uh oh. He accurately determined what was going on. At least he seemed to have fallen for Tenya's deception on how many glaciers he could melt. It was somewhat inconvenient that Todoroki's ice didn't seem to melt into liquid water corresponding to the ice's volume, as Tenya was hoping that the deluge would inconvenience his opponent.
"I told him!" Todoroki continued. "I will never use my left side in battle, and I will become the number one hero without using his power!" That was… the most ridiculous thing Tenya had ever heard.
But swearing a stupid oath to hold back? Sounds like something you'd put in a shounen manga. Did he get the idea from there? Ah, idea: "Excellent performance, Todoroki!" Tenya said back, allowing his quirk to convey the words at a much greater volume. "Lines truly worthy of a shounen deuteragonist. Sure, kayfabe plotlines haven't been fashionable in the heroics industry for seven years at least, but you could bring it back! Be a trailblazer in the latest trends, all it takes is stubbornness worthy of the number two hero."
Todoroki seemed appropriately pissed off at the insults, skating forward and into a line, gaining more height on his ice tower as he ascended. Rather quickly, in comparison to something like climbing, but still far too slow.
"Not even close." Tenya taunted as he activated the temperature formula again, collapsing the boy's spiraling ice tower and launching him almost out of the arena. Tenya had absolutely no idea what logic was passing through his opponent's head, as becoming a legalized purveyor of violence was something that always stumped Tenya, ever since the first time his father took him out hunting, but what Tenya did know was the hero industry. This was a battlefield of words, and by drawing Todoroki into it, Tenya was now fighting under his preferred terms. "I hope you have your tragic backstory straight, the internet will riot at every minor inconsistency."
"It's not a tragi-" Todoroki shouted before interrupting himself. "It's not a story!" he corrected. "I will defeat you, I'll beat Midoriya, All Might or not, and I will show him how little his fire amounts to!"
He was getting back on balance. That couldn't be allowed for Tenya's plan. "Well, as pet issues go, 'fire bad' seems a bit discriminatory." Todoroki's expression became incandescent, but it was still a metaphor rather than literal. "It's been fifteen years since heroes like Seizansha decided to use their career as political activism, championing one problem at a time to affect change. Nowadays, it's all about brand diversity! Broadening your personal brand's appeal is how you rise in the charts, which you then parlay into your pet issue like Wash does. You're putting the cart before the horse here, Todoroki!"
Todoroki was gaping at Tenya's nonsense, unable to create a proper retort. In a debate, such a thing was blood in the water. Now to go for the throat. "I'm sure your grand pissing contest makes sense in your head, Todoroki. But from where I'm standing, all I'm hearing is that you are rejecting Plus Ultra." There was enough of a synchronized reaction to that line that Tenya could just barely make out the collected gasp. "Everyone else here has been trying their hardest, Todoroki! You're saying that you're so much better than everyone else that you can fight with one hand tied behind your back for this entire tournament and still win!" Tenya spat to the side for dramatic effect, putting in some real anger in his words. "You disgust me. Sure, as the number two hero's son, you don't need connections, you don't need good grades, you don't need anything. All you need to do is wait until Endeavor; who is already six years past the average retirement age with a very physically demanding fighting style; to step down and you're on easy street." There were enough quirk-assisted physical therapists that allowed financially successful heroes to maintain their professional careers well beyond normal athletes, so Endeavor still running his agency for another ten years was quite possible, but that didn't support his arguments so Tenya ignored it.
"You're wrong!" Todoroki said, his expression burning with desperation as he realized how much damage his image was taking from this battle/debate/argument. "I don't need his help, my mother's ice is all I need to become a great hero!"
"It was the Guts hero, Ganbatte, who said the words, as he announced the opening of Yuuei: 'The effort and strength of a pro hero is akin to a quirk.'" Tenya gestured between the two of them. "So this is already a two-on-one fight, quirk-wise." Normally, turning it into a three-on-one fight would be suicide, but as that was Tenya's victory condition, Tenya didn't hesitate to push forward. "You lock away half of your power, which is a matter of public record, mind you, so anything less than perfect performance in all things will inevitably cause the media and the public to ask: Why did you not use your flames? You could have defeated that villain faster, or caught that falling civilian at a higher elevation, or worked longer, had you used your flames." Admittedly, it was rather difficult to conceive of events where the utility of fire was obvious enough to bring up, but being right wasn't important here, being convincing was.
"Never!" Todoroki shouted, creating a spiral tower with an even tighter curve as he ascended towards Tenya's position. This time Tenya saved on power by only melting the base, allowing it to fall and potentially put Todoroki out of the ring, but as expected he was able to recover without issue.
"Do you even want to be a hero?" Tenya questioned, and from Todoroki's flinch it seemed to have hit some kind of nerve. "Japan doesn't care about your internal struggles, Todoroki! All that matters, as a hero, boils down to two things: how many people have you saved, and how well do you inspire the people's hope. Nothing else matters. Every single villain takedown, every investigation, every mission, every sponsorship and interview, all go back to just those two factors." On the very first lecture of Introduction to Hero Management, Nedzu spent half an hour putting every single thing any hero ever does into those two boxes, or a third box labeled 'irrelevant'. Having such clear metrics, even if one was difficult to measure, was incredibly gratifying. "Can you save people with your pettiness?" He could. "Can your spite inspire hope?" Quite possible, but time for the kill. "I'm not sure what kind of edgy ice-based pun you had in mind for a hero name, but to truly capture your heroic ethos, the only name that fits is the Half-assed Hero, Ice Prince!"
Todoroki didn't immediately react, but the crowd exploded in riotous noise at Tenya's projected insults, so discordant that it was difficult to discern whether they were excited that the villain's monologue was done, or deciding that Tenya had a point. Unimportant, but hearing the crowd's reaction seemed to do the trick, as Todoroki roared and launched a blast of flame, large enough to obscure the entirety of the arena.
However, Tenya was prepared. He had maneuvered to make sure that the flame was at an angle, priming his escape route, and dropped down with a burst of speed, reinforcing his body to soak the impact. As he charged forward with his concrete shotgun in hand, he adjusted the sound formula's area into a temperature regulating one, putting a minimum and maximum temperature and shutting out all deviations from such. Todoroki noticed the approach and stomped his right foot, creating a burst of ice that immediately sublimated, and then tossed his left arm forward, creating a gust of hot air that was easily tolerated by Tenya's minor heat resistance.
"What?" Todoroki exclaimed as his quirk failed him. He immediately attempted to overpower Tenya's quirk, the optimal move from his perspective that would win him the day within five seconds, as Tenya's reserves quickly depleted.
But he didn't have five seconds. Tenya crouched low and launched a precise set of explosions from his prop, the concussive force first knocking the wind out of his opponent, then launching him off his feet, and finally causing him to fly outside the arena's bounds and onto the ground. Cementoss raised a barrier at the edge of the arena, spoiling Tenya's reflexive tracking of his opponent with the barrel of his gun.
Tenya immediately ended the formulas, as a result Todoroki burst into flames once more and rose slightly off the ground as ice burst forth before melting.
"It's unbelievable!" Present Mic shouted over the intercom as Midnight announced Tenya's victory. "Deguchiya Tenya is going to the final round!" The big screen showing the two heroes, Present Mic in his usual spikes-and-leather costume and Eraserhead covered thickly in bandages and a sling, trembled as Present Mic's gesticulations hit the camera. "That said, I feel a little unwanted here. That's two matches that decided to just start talking over me. Any thoughts?"
Eraserhead chuckled darkly. "Well said. Results are what matters, as a pro hero. To see someone risk it all to help their enemy, it's reckless. Further, taunting your enemy to make them lose their cool is just a way to increase collateral damage." Well, put a non-hero student in front of a crowd and you get unheroic behavior, that's a logical result. Hopefully Tenya will be able to smooth things over with Momo, if she thought he went too far. "Combat therapy just doesn't work like it does in manga, I've only seen it once in my career." Well, it helped a lot that Tenya didn't need it to actually help Todoroki, just infuriate him. Breaking his oath on national television will do more damage to any attempt to gain popularity with it than any theoretical situation you could name where fire would be the better option in comparison to ice. "To see it here… if I didn't know better I'd call this orchestrated. It wouldn't be the first time a management student tried to turn the festival into a wrestling storyline."
That actually sounded like a useful idea to lean into, and the fact that he proposed it at all was promising when it came to Tenya not getting into the hero course. Still, Tenya had succeeded in his goal to make Todoroki use his flames, which meant that internship with Endeavor was secure. The victory was a bit unfortunate, as it meant that Tenya had to fight either Momo or Midoriya, and either option did not sound appealing.
He'd just have to live with it, as one usually has to when one gets carried away. Tenya made his way towards the side of the arena that Momo said she was going to use as he was leaving. He spared the medical robots that were carrying away Todoroki a glance, but the other boy wasn't even unconscious, so he'll be fine.
Now how can he further encourage Eraserhead's impression that he's manipulating things for drama? It sounded like a good fallback plan to ensure failure.
Once he entered the hallway, lost in thought, Tenya was surprised to have his musings interrupted by a hug from Momo. "You did amazing out there, Tenya!" Well, defeating the son of the number two hero is pretty impressive, particularly with only Father's infrequent weekends worth of commando training to fall back on. "You're sure to get into the hero course now." Tenya's heart skipped a beat at her beaming compliment, despite Momo having previously admitted to not knowing much about the requirements. So her opinion didn't mean anything. Also, Tenya suspected she wasn't able to hear Eraserhead's lackluster opinion of his performance.
"It was all according to the plan." Tenya replied vaguely. "I hope you have a plan for Midoriya, Momo." She made a vague gesture, her expression tightening at the reminder. "His quirk is powerful, it is true, but it's attached to… if you'll pardon me saying so, a neurotic mess. If he manages to get his head in the game, there's not much that can be done against such an opponent." Tenya wishes he could provide advice on how to throw Midoriya off, but hopefully Momo knew her classmate well enough to know what manipulations would bear fruit.
Momo immediately understood his advice, her eyes widening as she immediately turned that vague direction into a full plan of action. "That's a great idea, Tenya!" She immediately zipped open and removed her gym uniform jacket, revealing the lack of shirt and sports bra she wore underneath to provide a reasonable amount of skin access for the use of her quirk. Before Tenya could finish processing the previous sentence, she handed him the jacket and bounced past, skipping to the arena. "Hold this for me, okay?"
Nodding dumbly at the request, Tenya looked at the warm jacket in his hands, back to the arena door behind him, and back to the jacket. "What."
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After coming to his senses and making his way back to the stands he was supposed to be at, for his own homeroom, the match had yet to begin.
"Yaoyorozu is in full compliance with the rules." Midnight announced, using her authority as the referee to have the last word. "Now man up, Midoriya, she's not even breaking costume law yet! BEGIN!"
Momo immediately capitalized on Midoriya's off-balance start, his face visibly red on the cameras as he scrambled to dodge Momo's opening attack routine. Every time he tried to bring one of his hands to bear, Momo adeptly struck the boy's wrist away and continued to press the attack, switching between sweeping blows and jabs with refined skill.
"It appears Yaoyorozu's weapon skills are quite good!" Present Mic declared. "Midoriya's going to need to get focused if he wants to recover."
Unfortunately, Midoriya wasn't quite off balance enough to be zoned out of the arena entirely. The sound of Midoriya flicking his finger empowered by his quirk was akin to a small bomb, shattering a section of arena and creating a tremendous gale that sent Momo back towards the center of the arena, landing in an embarrassing pose before recovering by ejecting a replacement staff out of her collar, forcibly raising her upper body back to a standing position. Oddly, the staff had some kind of spear-like attachment at one end, but it wasn't quite a spear… what was it?
Midoriya's attention had, for some reason, been absorbed by the finger he had just flicked, which gave Momo ample time to pull out some more of her signature nesting dolls, the first thing she ever created turned into a marketing flourish. She tossed half of them towards Midoriya, the dolls exploding into smoke and blinding her opponent as well as concealing him from view. Momo pulled out some thermal goggles from her stomach and strapped it on, using the other half of the dolls to spread even more smoke.
"Midoriya's attacks are powerful, but they're focused, and he's limited in usage." Eraserhead commented. "Preventing him from getting a solid bead on his target makes it a matter of knowing how to fall, and while Yaoyorozu took some bumps from his unexpected attack, she did mitigate the damage."
"But now we can't see anything!" Present Mic whined.
At that, a second explosion detonated, blowing the smoke away in an instant and creating a gust that, evidently, Momo was well prepared for as she held fast to her staff, the spear-point proving it's worth as an anchor into the arena. After the gust dissipated, Momo swing around the staff with a kick, throwing Midoriya off balance as he clutched at the hand he used his quirk on.
Eraserhead was smug with his next statement. "Another good strategy is to bait Midoriya into attacking ineffectually."
"But can she turn this advantage into a win?" Present Mic questioned. "Or is this powerhouse too much for the girl who has everything?"
The match continued. Momo used her superior training and created weapons to obscure the battlefield and press the attack, but once focused, Midoriya did know how to fight, even as he treated his quirk arm lightly. After twenty seconds of fierce battling, Midoriya used his quirk again, clearing the new cloud of smoke and causing Momo to be launched away from the indirect hit. She fell a little better this time, but her hair tie had broken and she seemed to favor her right side. Midoriya shuddered as he gripped his left hand rather than press the attack. He had a cut on his forehead that was bleeding messily, as head wounds were wont to do, and as he firmed up his stance, Tenya noticed a slight tremor, a sign of weakness, when he put his weight on his right foot.
The crowd was loving the close battle, some cheering for the smaller combatant, and some cheering for the pretty girl. Tenya tried to weigh the cheers in his mind, but couldn't figure out which was more intense.
"This is intense." Echoed Shuji, his quirk-enhanced hands rapidly writing down a play by play of the action. From the three notebooks he had at his side, he had likely been doing that for the whole festival.
Hansha, the class president, whooped at Midoriya's third quirk use. "You guys have got to see the stills for this fight afterwards. They're amazing!"
"What's he doing with his arm?" Asked Kagami, the Vice Representative. "He looks pretty marketable, but if his quirk does something unseemly, that could impact things tremendously." She hummed as she considered the possibilities.
Hansha looked again, squinting as he presumably used his quirk to get some freeze frames of the action. "I think he's hurting himself." Turning to another one of the 1-J students he pointed towards the action. "Hey Onidori, do his fingers look bruised to you?"
The addressed student closed his eyes, activating his quirk to get a better view of the action. "...Yes, they're heavily bruised, maybe broken." That was unsettling. Is that what Eraserhead meant when he said 'limited uses'? That he only has so many fingers to break?
"Well, they don't seem to be drawing attention to it, which is good…" Kagami said.
"...but that's not the kind of thing you can hide. If he's not careful, Midoriya's going to be 'the bone breaking kid' for at least until his formal debut." Daikoku, Kagami's boyfriend, finished for her.
Loliruca, a fashion-oriented girl who had the appearance of a preteen, shook her head in sympathy. "I do not envy the one who manages that mess." She said. "He's one of the hero course students who brought a homemade costume. Unlike Yaoyorozu, it's actually homemade rather than professionally designed but created via her quirk."
Several of the collected management students winced. Kagami poked Tenya as he watched the match. "Deguchiya, you were over in their section for a while, what was your take on Midoriya?"
As the arena was once again obscured by smoke, Tenya felt it safe to comment without missing much. "He seemed more suited towards the support department in temperament." He eventually said. "He spent the fights he was watching taking notes on quirks." Tenya gestured to Shuji. "Like him, but while mumbling."
"Are you saying he's an Investigative hero?" Proposed Loliruca. "With a costume like this?" She brought out her phone and showed off a picture of Midoriya in a hero uniform that looked like it was constructed in an afternoon of sewing after a single shopping trip to a sporting goods store. Well, if the half of the mask that was intact was indicative of the other half, maybe a weekend's worth of sewing.
Tenya shrugged. "I'm saying he didn't seem like the charismatic, public speaking type." Midoriya's raw power was worth quite a lot in the hero industry, but he'd need to carefully manage his image if he wants to go anywhere.
Several smaller explosions sounded out from the smokey arena, creating a small clear zone where the combatants could be seen. Neither one looked to be in good shape, with Momo's pants having some tears on the thighs that looked too clean to be anything but intentional on her part. Midoriya, on the other hand, was standing up from the explosives that Momo had used to attack him. Before he could fully get back into a stance, Momo charged one last time with the presumably blunted one-handed sword she had procured, her other arm cradled at her side.
Breaking the pattern of the battle, Midoriya waved his entire left arm, creating a larger gust of wind than any previous and with a tremendous riot of noise, Momo was launched out of the ring entirely. The medical robots rushed onto the field, already escorting the combatants to Recovery Girl as Midnight announced the results.
"What a match! Even with all that smoke, the second and third years are going to have some serious competition on the highlight reels!" Present Mic declared. "Midoriya got pretty banged up, so while Recovery Girl determines if Midoriya is cleared to compete, enjoy some words from our sponsors!" The feeds from the monitors changed to a commercial about All Might's biography, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of All Might's first billboard event as the number one hero.
Kagami swatted Tenya's head. "Go check on them." She ordered. "You probably won't be kicked out, just leave before Midoriya does."
While Tenya was going to do that anyway, he merely nodded and followed the Vice Representative's instructions. It cost nothing to listen to sound advice, even if it was unneeded.
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Tenya had never actually met the school's nurse, as appropriate for someone who didn't make a point to engage in physical contests. Recovery Girl was an elderly woman, whose size had atrophied enough that she didn't even go up to Tenya's waist. She wore her gray hair in a bun with a hair net and a syringe as a needle holding it together, and was dressed as a classic style heroine, wearing a dress that held bold lines of yellow and orange on a white background with a doctor's coat thrown on top. She had a visor with bulky pink computers on the sides of her head as support gear and held a cane that she had fashioned to resemble a giant syringe, which she was currently using to physically abuse Midoriya's right side, who had already had his injured left arm healed.
"Honestly, how you managed to avoid needing surgery for your foolishness is beyond me. Don't use your left arm until at least tomorrow, or you'll really be in trouble." She said, continuing what was no doubt an extensive tirade. "Avoid the two fingers you used in your first match too, if you come back with those broken again I'll let you heal them the slow way! Do you want to be unable to write for three weeks, minimum?" At Midoriya's frantic shaking of his head, she gave him one last smack. "Then withdraw from the finals, or learn some damn restraint!"
Midoriya perked up: "You mean you're going to let me compete?" Well, if there was any doubt that Midoriya wasn't a battle maniac, that killed it.
Still, Tenya was here for a reason, so he approached the bed that Momo was laying on. "Momo? Are you awake? I brought your jacket."
Momo opened her eyes, brightening as she got up from the bed, stretching before reclaiming her jacket. "Thank you, Tenya. I knew Midoriya's quirk was strong… but finally getting to see it up close… I'm reminded of the time we saw All Might in action at the USJ…" Tenya resisted the impulse to wince at the mention of when her class was attacked by villains in a remote rescue training facility. That was a bad day for everyone at UA… "The world shakes with his strength whenever he uses his quirk."
"About that." Tenya said, giving an embarrassed cough. "How badly does it hurt Midoriya when he uses his quirk? I've heard some… troubling things."
Momo laughed with a hint of nervousness. "I was pretty vague, I suppose." She admitted. "I didn't want to worry you. He breaks his own bones when he uses his quirk, it's why he has to be so judicious about it." So the speculation was correct. At least Eraserhead and Present Mic saw fit to downplay that aspect of things. "The breaks aren't that bad, though. Just some fractures, I've never seen his arms bend out of shape or anything like that. I don't doubt the pain is intense, though. It was why he never followed up on any of his quirk uses during the fight." Ah, that was terrifying. To think that Midoriya was so eager to jump into battle with a quirk like that? "So do you have a plan? How exhausted are you from facing Todoroki?"
Tenya quickly used the flight formula again to raise up a few centimeters before dropping. Given how much he had before the battle… and the start of the festival… "I have maybe a fifth of my total reserve remaining. I had three times that much before the battle with Todoroki." Presumably there was some replenishment over that span, but it was difficult to determine exact costs of things, as there are factors that Tenya never bothered isolating. "Not enough to even slow down one of those attacks."
Momo hummed. "Maybe blinding flashes and throwing your voice to bait him out?"
That… could work. Of course, it wouldn't be difficult for Tenya to "fumble" the sound formula and… risk serious injuries. There had to be a better way. His stomach was roiling as his mind desperately sought an alternative solution.
"Tenya? Are you alright?" Momo asked, concerned.
Uh oh. Tenya scrambled for an excuse that didn't involve revealing himself as the coward he was.
Midoriya's conversation with Recovery Girl ended as he cheered. "Yes! Don't worry, if I need to use more than the two fingers, I'll surrender. I'm used to explosions, and he can't have much more left in his quirk after suppressing Todoroki like that! I have a plan." Tenya's stomach twisted in a knot at the thought of not only having to face such staggering power, but one that wasn't going to underestimate him, who had his measure and still was confident in victory.
Recovery girl nodded. "I'll hold you to that." She said, grumbling as she approached Momo's bed.
"First place, here I come!" Midoriya said as he prepared to leave. "Oh, Deguchiya! I didn't see you there." He said after looking around. "I'm sorry, but I'm going to beat you! I need to show the world that I am here, and I still have two unbroken fingers and an arm, so don't count me out yet!" And he was even going to risk Recovery Girl's wrath for the win!?
"I surrender." Tenya said before he could stop himself. The room went dead silent as Tenya panicked and tried to figure out how to recover from that blunder. "I'm suddenly struck with profound nausea, and will be unable to give a good fight. You deserve the victory and I am satisfied with the business course. Please convey my forfeit to the officials." Before anyone could respond, Tenya left and made a beeline towards one of the washrooms where he could properly fake an illness.
Distantly, Tenya registered Recovery girl and Midoriya conversing with Momo, but while surrendering for that reason was a stroke of genius, his execution of it was terrible and no doubt would be utterly transparent to someone as insightful as Momo.
His plan was ruined…
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When Tenya surrendered, he hadn't fully thought out what that meant. There was a battle for third place between Todoroki and Momo, which Todoroki won without too much trouble, as Momo was too exhausted from her healing session to do more than make him use more effort than a single glacier at his victory.
So here Tenya was, on the second place podium… again. His stomach had mostly settled, now that he wasn't in immediate danger, but he could already hear his mother scolding him for chickening out from his chance at the first place podium. Which he never wanted.
Further, if he had been hit by Midoriya, he could probably have skipped the ceremony. Tenya probably would have lost anyway, but Tenya didn't know a single person that would accept that as a legitimate reason to surrender.
Somehow, in his quest for an acceptable loss, he had found the one solution that was even worse than willingly getting punched by someone as strong as All Might.
Speaking of All Might, his theme music started blaring from the stadium's speakers, leading the crowd to explode into cheers well before the man leapt from outside the stadium directly to the podium, the medals clutched in his massive fist. All Might was a mountain of a man, well over two meters in height and with the width of four Tenyas, and garbed in the simplest possible hero costume, for he needed nothing else: a unitard with bright colors and bold designs, red white and blue to correspond with his 'All-American' image. His muscles, fit for bodybuilder magazines, and his iconic hair, blond with two locks in the front pointed upwards in a V shape, were the only flourishes his costume needed.
With his entrance, he announced his catch phrase to the crowd, prompted even more enthusiastic cheering: "I AM HERE!" After a beat, he continued: "To present the medals!" With the sun at his back, his face was cast in shadow, but despite that his signature smile gleamed like a beacon. Idly, Tenya noticed that up close, his uniform looked significantly more rugged than one would think based on how well it conveyed his musculature.
Beginning with Todoroki, he gently laid the bronze medal over the boy's shoulders. He spoke at a conversational volume as he spoke, Tenya slightly abusing his quirk to hear them clearly. "There are problems in life that no amount of money or quirk can solve, young Todoroki. But speaking as someone who knows what it's like to have people not look past your status, know this: It's your power, and no one else's. It was passed on to you with the faith that you would use it wisely, and what you do with it is infinitely more important than where it came from. If you wish to become a hero, the only one who can stop you… is you. " Hm. From Momo's complaints, Tenya didn't expect All Might to be that good at pep talks. "I know that's a scary thing, to be handed so much power and feel that you can only take credit for your failures, but trust me: the will to save and protect is worth far more than any quirk. Think about that, Young Todoroki. When you are ready, I would be happy to discuss this with you over lunch." All Might ended his advice with a Mighty hug, Midoriya seemed startled at that, but started grinning as All Might approached the second place podium.
As All Might placed the silver medal around Tenya's neck, he spoke once more: "Young Deguchiya. While I've made some visits to the general and support courses to encourage them to do their best here, I'm ashamed to say that I never once glanced at the management course." It was a little uncomfortable, getting apologized to for something one didn't want anyway, but Tenya bore it stoically. "From what I've seen today, your ingenuity, your effort, your power, and the self sacrifice you showed in the final moments…" The usual bombast of All Might's voice vanished as he finished his sentence. "Within your chest, beats the heart of a true hero. Don't let anyone tell you differently." All Might paused instead of coming in for the hug, and instead put out his hand. Immediately understanding, Tenya grasped All Might's proffered hand and pumped it up and down, relaxing as he did so. Before leaving, All Might added: "That goes double for the man in the mirror." Flashing one last smile, All Might moved on to first place.
Midoriya was crying streams of tears, which was probably a side effect of a water quirk in his ancestry, as All Might chuckled. "What did I tell you about the waterworks, young Midoriya?" Kneeling to be closer to the short boy's height, he spoke so softly that Tenya had to turn up the sound quirk significantly to make out his next words. "When we first met, one year ago, my thoughtless words were still one of my greatest mistakes. But now look at you. You've shown the world that You. Are. Here. I know that I shouldn't have put so much weight on your shoulders, we should have waited…" Midoriya flexed each finger contemplating. "...but you preservered, you held back, and you stand here, at the top. Get used to this feeling, Young Midoriya…" Once more All Might issued a big hug, an enthusiasm to it that eclipsed the other gestures of affection. With barely a whisper, Tenya could just barely make out with his quirk a single extra sentence from All Might: "I'm proud of you."
If there were any other words exchanged, Midoriya's redoubled sobs of joy drowned them out.
It was only later, when Tenya was on his way home, that it occurred to him that All Might had basically told him that he was going to be transferred into the hero course.
…Damn it.
