Keeping You (Todoroki x Reader)

Half an hour later and the first battle had ended

It was riveting to watch both classes giving their all in the ring, so to say. Round 1 saw my classmates (and subsequently my class) victorious, taking out Class B 4-2. I was proud of my teammates, but who really caught my attention - and most likely everyone else's - was Hitoshi Shinso.

He'd begun strong, brainwashing Class B's big beast Shishida within their first encounter. But his reaction to everything was too slow, his inexperience showing when he was imprisoned so easily. Mr. Aizawa hadn't been wrong about Shinso and his talents, but he was countless steps behind us.

With Kirishima and Koda being captured first up, it was relief when Kaminari, Tsu and Shinso managed to comeback and take them all down with a quick and clever plan.

'...Use what you learn today to improve yourself in the future,' Aizawa addressed my classmates, who'd just finished debriefing and reflecting upon the match. Despite taking the win, all their shoulders sagged with disappointment, knowing exactly what they did wrong during the fight.

Aizawa turned to walk away. 'Dismissed.'

They nodded, replying, 'Yes sir,' before rejoining us, exhausted and feeling dissatisfied.

As they rejoined us, Aoyama spoke up. 'The two who went through work studies really dug deep in their reflections.'

'It's not surprising,' Sero said. 'They faced those Shie Hassaikai villains. I heard it was a pretty intense raid. If you experience fighting like that, it changes the way you think and how you approach a battle. Even a training battle like this, I guess.'

I watched as Kirishima and Tsu sat down, neither saying a word as they seemed to stare off into space. But I knew they weren't doing that. Instead, they were probably replaying the match over and over in their heads, their mistakes replaying like a broken record up in there. I could practically hear the silent questions they no doubt were asking themselves. Maybe I should've done this move here instead of that one. Would that have made a difference? How could I have stopped them sooner?

I knew, because I did it myself. I still did it now.

'Why couldn't I save him?'

'He didn't deserve to die!'

'Everyone did their part... So why couldn't I do mine?'

I could still feel it - if I tried hard enough to remember, I could feel his pale hand in mine. And, sometimes, when I remembered, I could feel his energy. Calm and controlled, but light and full of hope.

'Work hard... and make sure to smile...'

My guilt never let me forget the feeling of when he left this world too.

A gentle touch brought me out of my thoughts, drawing my attention instead to a concerned-looking Shoto.

'Hey, you okay?' he asked, his eyes searching mine for answer I couldn't speak.

I nodded, frantically drawing up a smile for him. 'Of course. Just... thinking about the battle just now, and how I'm going to combat against Shinso's quirk.'

It was a small lie, one that I was sure I would follow through on soon. Despite being inexperienced, Shinso had proven he was just as capable of fighting as the rest of us. My team and I had to come up with a plan soon.