Yes. Yes, Shouto insisted, he is strong without the cards.

But Shouto knew that if he wanted to save people, he had to be stronger. He won't always have the cards, and as much as it hurts, the cards won't always have him. It shouldn't be the cards that make him strong, it should be the other way around. He makes the cards strong. After all, they're using his energy, right?

He shot a pillar of ice at Midoriya who merely flicked it away. That had Shouto in terrified awe. Whenever he saw Midoriya's quirk, he couldn't help but be reminded of All Might, and that in itself was terrifying. There was a reason All Might went undefeated. And if all that power was in Midoriya's hands, with no control... Shouto feared what he could do.

Midoriya flicked again, and a current of wind came to Shouto. What the heck? It's like he's using Windy! But of course, the wind was only momentary. Although it was almost enough to knock him out of bounds, his ice stopped that.

"Why are you only using your ice, Todoroki?" Midoriya asked.

"I have no use for my fire right now unless you want to get burned," Shouto bluntly replied.

"W-why aren't y-you on offense?"

Shouto shrugged, "Maybe I just don't want to hurt you."

The cinnamon roll frowned, which almost had Shouto frowning. "I won't get hurt."

Shouto's eyes narrowed. Midoriya had said that with such confidence, that Shouto was just tempted to jinx him. Shouto sucks at hand-to-hand, and he knows that. He won't just go over and charge at Midoriya. That's reckless.

The people in the stands were getting bored. They wanted a good show. Midoriya and Shouto made eye contact, agreeing on one thing.

They'll give them a good show.

Midoriya ran at Shouto. He quickly closed the space between them and sent a punch that Shouto narrowly dodged. Shouto didn't throw punches, no, he was more of a leg person. Thus, he kneed Midoriya in the gut.

Midoriya doubled over, hacking. Shouto did give him breathing time, he figures that was his first mistake. Midoriya was quick to recover and sent a punch that did connect with Shouto's face this time. Luckily for Shouto, it seemed to not be reinforced by his quirk, but Shouto didn't want to take any more chances.

It seemed that neither did Midoriya.

It's like they were somehow connected. This takes "great minds think alike" to a totally new ballpark. Shouto narrowly dodged the other punches from Midoriya, wincing as a few connected.

"How will Todoroki deal with the punch on slot from Midoriya??"

If there was one thing Shouto prided himself in, it was the ability to make ice quickly. And he means quickly. He froze Midoriya's feet, limiting the mini-Might's movement and circled around him, and did a measly move.

He didn't do anything special, just pushed him onto the floor. After all, he didn't have to do anything special, the ice did it for him. The ice shattered as Midoriya was pushed onto the floor. Once Midoriya fully landed, Shouto froze him everywhere except the head.

"You should yield, Midoriya," Shouto said.

The bush on Midoriya's head seemed to grow even bushier for no apparent reason, which had Shouto wondering if he went insane but was quickly snapped out of his thoughts by the glare Midoriya gave him. "I refuse to yield."

Then the ice cracked... Cracked... Then shattered. Shouto wasn't prepared for Midoriya's escape, nor the punch that came after. There was a light in Midoriya's eyes, one that looked desperate as Shouto was punched out of the arena. Shouto's head was spinning, everything was ringing.

Suddenly the lights felt too bright, he felt exhausted. Which to Shouto made no sense, he was perfectly fine before. He felt himself being picked up by someone, but he didn't know who.

Shouto felt disassociated. He didn't know why.

~~~

Shouto woke up, which was weird since he didn't recall falling asleep. He winced as the bright lights finally hit his eyes, a headache making itself known. Allowing his eyes to adjust, he slowly opened them to be faced with the face of Recovery Girl.

Recovery Girl gave a warm smile, "How are you feeling?"

Shouto blinked and looked around the room before making eye contact with Recovery Girl again, "I feel fine."

Recovery Girl nodded, "Okay. No dizziness, lightheadedness?"

"No," Shouto answered, "Thank you, Recovery Girl."

"It's my job to make sure you guys are functioning," Recovery Girl replied, "Now, I think you should keep watching the rest of the festival. I don't expect strenuous activity for you for a day, alright?"

Shouto said, "okay." And was on his way out of her office. Shouto wondered faintly where Midoriya was, he had no clue how long he was in Recovery Girl's, he wondered what the others were doing. He returned to the stands, and Momo greeted him.

"Shouto!" Momo smiled at him, "Sit over here! Are you okay?"

Shouto sat next to Momo as he said, "I'm fine. Did I miss anything?"

"You missed three matches!" Momo said, "You missed Iida's, Bakugo's and another kid's."

"Oh." Shouto looked down at the arena. "Who's match is it now?"

"Midoriya versus Iida," Momo answered. "I hope Midoriya isn't too tired from the previous match."

Shouto frowned at that, "Maybe. But he'll still go plus ultra."

Momo smiled, "Yes he will."

The match started. Iida activated the move called 'Recipro Burst' and attacks Midoriya with a kick. Midoriya dodges the kick, stumbling a bit as he regains his balance. Midoriya then attempts to dodge some of the other kicks that Iida threw at him. However, on one kick, Midoriya grabbed Iida's leg and tried to throw him out of the arena. Iida stumbled and narrowly avoided being thrown out of bounds. But he didn't have time to recover from that as Midoriya rushed up and successfully knocked Iida out of bounds.

"Midoriya Izuku wins this match!" Midnight calls.

Midoriya helped Iida up and they walked out of the arena together. Shouto wondered what the next match was, it seemed he didn't have to wonder anymore as it was announced.

"Tokoyami Fumikage vs Bakugo Katsuki, begin!"

Bakugo immediately launches a barrage of explosions at Tokoyami, who was forced to go on defense.

Momo frowned, "Tokoyami has such an unfair match up here."

Asui nodded in agreement, "Dark Shadow is weak against the light, right?"

"Yeah. What an unfair matchup," Someone else pitched in.

The barrage of explosions continues before Bakugo finally breaks Tokoyami's defense and launches a stun grenade. Dust flew everywhere, although when the dust cleared, Tokoyami was pinned.

After Tokoyami said something Shouto couldn't hear, the match was called. Bakugo had won.Shouto needed a break. Originally, he was going to use the bathroom, but due to his magnificent luck, he ran into Endeavor.

"Shouto," Endeavor's voice boomed, "How did you not defeat that boy? It was disgraceful."

Shouto frowned, he didn't have the patience for this right now. He stayed silent, as always, as his father continued to rant about how he should've been better, prepare more, and not ditch out on training.

Shouto absentmindedly nods, not really listening. Shouto soon took the chance to sneak away, leaving Endeavor alone. (Of course, he left excused. Endeavor wouldn't just let him leave like that).

"I'm sorry for losing, mom," He heard someone say. And he knew who that someone was. Shouto froze solid as he realized who was talking, Iida. He didn't think it was nice to eavesdrop, but he found himself doing it anyway.

"What— what do you mean?? Tensei's in the hospital?"

Iida comes from a family of heroes, Shouto belatedly realizes. If a member of his family is in the hospital then...

He heard Iida end the call and walk away silently. Shouto merely watched as Iida didn't notice his presence. He's probably just shocked...

~~~

Shouto was back in his place in the stands as the ultimate match between Midoriya and Bakugo started.

The marshmellow seemed to be saying stuff to the bush, that the bush didn't seem to listen to.

Shouto was disappointed at how fast the match concluded. He was also concerned. Midoriya had folded like a wet piece of paper in the presence of Bakugo for no actual reason. Shouto knew that their relationship wasn't exactly healthy, but he never considered it to be unhealthy. He didn't understand why Midoriya just lost.

He didn't understand why he looked so sad while it happened too.

~~~

"Thank you, Aizawa-sensei," Shouto said as he took the cards from his teacher.

Aizawa didn't say anything acknowledging Shouto's gratitude, but he did say, "You did well out there."

For some reason, that made Shouto happy. He didn't really get complimented much.

"Thank you."

~~~

Fin.

~~~