"A tournament, huh? So we'll be up in that ring I see on TV every year!" Kirishima was pumped up for the upcoming event.

From behind him, Ashido asked, "Was it a tournament last year too?"

Sero gave her an answer. "The format's always different, but most years involve some kind of head-to-head competition. Last year it was foam sword fighting."

"The matchups will be decided by drawing lots." Midnight held up a box. With her next words, she shocked the students and audience. "Tokoyami from class A will be taking the place of Todoroki Nozomi who won't be participating due to an injury."

'Nozomi-chan…?' Kirishima's eyes were wide open. He clenched his hands reprimanding himself for not seeing it earlier. Could he call himself a man even after failing to comfort his friend?

He shook his head, clearing his thoughts. She trusted him enough to tell him about her family. Instead of overthinking, he needs to fight and win for both of them. He tuned back in just in time to hear Ojiro dropping out.

"Ojiro! Why?! This is your chance to get noticed by the Pros!!"

"I don't remember anything that happened during the cavalry battle except for the tail end." Ojiro put his hand down. "It's probably his quirk that did it… I know this is a great opportunity. And I know that it's stupid of me to just throw it away…"

"Ojiro…"

"But this final tournament… Everyone else made it here with their own strength. Yet I'm standing here, and I don't even know how or why. I just can't take it."

The girls of class A tried talking him out of it but he had made his choice. Following his example, Nirengeki Shoda of class B withdrew from the tournament. With two of them gone, members of team Tetsutetsu replaced them and the matchups were decided. Kirishima searched for his name and saw that his first match was against Tetsutetsu of class B.

"Now let's set the tournament aside for the time being and get on with the thrill-a-minute festivities!!"

• • • • •

Everyone prepared in their own ways. Whether it was by distracting themselves with the fun of the festivities or by resting and conserving their energy. Some were excited about the one-on-one tournament while others were nervous. Nozomi sat on the infirmary bed, silently reprimanding herself for letting emotions get the better of her.

'Perhaps I shouldn't have recalled the past…'

In any case, there was no way she could've fought in front of all those people with an unstable quirk. She really detested how much her quirk relied on her emotions. She imagined what would have happened if she had joined in regardless of her current problem.

She would have fought, lost control of her quirk and put the lives of many people including her opponent and herself in danger. Her mother would worry and seeing how she lost control so easily, she wouldn't get any offers from heroes. She'd fail as a hero and never become one because her father would pull some strings to drop her out of the program entirely.

She winced slightly. Not a pretty picture.

But she probably wouldn't get any offers regardless. Not now that she dropped out. Nozomi sighed and looked down at her intertwined fingers on her lap. She fiddled her thumbs and bit the inside of her cheek.

"How are you feeling, dear?" Recovery girl asked.

"Better." Nozomi replied, now playing with the bandage on her arm.

Prior to coming to the infirmary, Nozomi had purposefully broken her right arm. Recovery girl had used her quirk on her and she was now beginning to feel the effects of it as she yawned.

"My quirk uses the energy of the injured so go to sleep now."

Nozomi nodded and dozed off.

• • • • •

The next time Nozomi woke up, she had missed a few matches. By a few, she meant… THE ENTIRE FIRST ROUND?!

She frantically removed the blanket and wore her shoes. Before running out of the infirmary, she thanked Recovery girl and ran to where class A should be sitting. Before showing herself, she made sure she was presentable and composed herself. She walked down to sit on an empty seat in the front row.

"Nozomi-chan! Are you okay?!"

The seat just happened to be next to Kirishima and the rest. Bakugo eyed the bandages on her hand. She didn't have them when they crossed paths outside the waiting room. She wasn't even in pain then.

Nozomi nodded at Kirishima's question and looked ahead to see what match was going on. Thankfully, the second round was just starting and the first match just happened to be…

"You're just in time for your brother's match with Midoriya!"

• • • • •

The match started with her brother sending ice towards Midoriya who broke a finger to break the ice. This soon became a theme as Shoto continued to send ice and Midoriya kept on breaking fingers.

"… But man, you and that Todoroki… You can fire off as many of those crazy-strong attacks as you want…"

Nozomi's ears perked up at the sound of her brother's name being mentioned.

"As many as we want? Don't be stupid," Bakugo replied.

"Huh?"

"Strain your muscles too much and you'll tear them. Run too much and you'll be out of breath. Quirks are still physical abilities. Even this guy's gotta have some weakness."

The words were out of Nozomi's mouth before she even realized she was talking.

"Not exactly. Nii-sama's quirk is both ice and fire. If he overuses his ice, he can counter it with his fire. If he overheats, he can cool himself off. If Shoto-niisama fights at his full potential, he wouldn't have weaknesses other than loss of energy. But that's a given, since he's human too."

"So that means up against insta-kill man, Midoriya's trying to…"

"Possibly." Nozomi narrowed her eyes at the two in the arena.

Midoriya's right hand was in no condition to be used anymore. All his fingers were black and purple and she could only imagine the pain he was in. Or maybe it was numb.

On the other hand, Shoto seemed to be fine. But upon closer inspection, he was getting slower, the ice on his right side started to frost his limbs.

Midoriya managed to get a hit on him, punching him in the abdomen.

They were talking too, though Nozomi couldn't make out what it was that they were saying. She continued to watch with narrowed eyes as Midoriya shouted something. Whatever it was, it seemed to have an impact on Shoto.

His left side burst into flames, the heat melting the ice covering his right side. Nozomi's eyes returned to normal from their narrowed state. The fire reflected in her eyes and brought her down memory lane. Playing together as children before they went to bed in their shared bedroom. When was the last time they even talked?

"SHOTOOOOO!!"

Nozomi flinched. Endeavor's shout bringing her back to reality.

"So you've finally accepted it! Yes! Excellent!! It all starts now for you! With my blood pumping through your veins…"

Endeavor's crazed look sent a shiver down her spine. The warm memories became burning. The years of abuse. Hearing her mother cry. Listening to how Shoto was brutally trained, his cries of pain. Touya.

"… You will fulfill my ambitions!!"

Nozomi hated his voice. His words. His face. His eyes. She abruptly stood up and left the stadium thinking her classmates wouldn't notice since they were completely invested in the match. She didn't anticipate Shoto's eyes to be watching her leaving figure sadly for a second before turning back to his opponent.

• • • • •

"Sho-niisama!"

The dual haired boy turned to look at his younger sister. They both were the youngest of five children, Shoto being 4 and Nozomi being 3. Neither had gotten their quirks yet.

"Mi-chan."

"Kaa-sama and I are gonna watch a movie. Do you want to join?"

Shoto frantically nodded, his eyes shining. He took Nozomi's hand and walked towards their living room where their mother was waiting for them.

Rei smiled at them both as they entered. The two children sat on either side of their mother. Nozomi wished Touya could've joined them but all of her other siblings were at school. Shoto was the only one with a day off.

The movie ended and Rei turned off the television.

"Do you two want to go in the garden?"

They both nodded and Shoto took Nozomi's hand once again before walking to the garden.

By the time they even reached the porch, a light drizzle had begun, slowly turning into a heavy rain. Shoto and Nozomi looked down in disappointment and walked back into their home. Rei cooked something warm for them to eat while they sat with their heads on the table.

Nozomi turned to the window, entranced by the droplets of water falling from the heavens. She had always been interested in water.

"Kaa-san, how is rain made?"

Shoto's question gained attention from both Nozomi and Rei. Nozomi looked at Rei for the answer.

Rei wondered if she should give a simple answer or make up a fantasy. She opted for the former.

"Well, when it's hot, water becomes vapour and goes up in the sky." She pointed at the boiling kettle. "See? Like how the heated water is now coming out of the spout, water in nature goes up into the sky. Then they become clouds. And when the cloud cools down, the water falls back to earth."

The kids had gotten the gist of it.

"So if Nozomi holds some water and I put some fire near it to heat it up, and then cool it down, could we make rain?"

"I wonder…" Rei made a show of tapping her chin while closing her eyes. She smiled down at her two youngest children, "We'll just have to find out. But now, it's time to eat."

Later, Shoto was taken by Endeavor while Nozomi sat with Touya who was doing homework. She sat silently with her stuffed bunny. After he was done, Touya picked Nozomi up and took her outside. It had stopped raining but the garden was still damp.

"Touya-niisama," Nozomi called out, "can I be strong like you one day?"

"Sure, but I'll be stronger then! We can still be heroes together!"

Nozomi smiled at him

"Look at this." Touya had his hand in front of them both. Nozomi watched a ribbon of blue fire wrap around his hand before disappearing. Touya pointed one finger up, a blue flame sat atop, as if his finger was a candle.

Nozomi found his flames pretty. She outstretched her hand to touch the flame but Touya extinguished it before she reached it.

"It's dangerous."

Touya put her to bed that night.

The day was one Nozomi would never forget. Especially since the next day, Shoto had gotten his quirk.

They spent less time together because of his training. Shoto joined her in homeschooling though they studied separately. Touya always came back with more burn wounds. Nozomi would watch as Natsuo cleaned his wounds and performed first aid by following an online guide. Fuyumi tried her best to be ignorant of their worsening family dynamic.

It's not like their family was ever good but Nozomi would always remember the pivoting moments that spiraled their family down the path of hell. Shoto being pulled away even more for training. Endeavor shouting at Touya for continuing to train his quirk. Rei being abused and blamed for not watching him closely enough. And soon, Rei was sent to a mental institution, Shoto stopped talking to her and Touya died.

Not to mention, all of it happened while Nozomi was getting dreams of a life she didn't quite remember at the time.

Lmao guess who's back? Sorry for disappearing n stuff but like school is hard (and I procrastinate a lot) but I'll try to update again soon.

Please be active readers by voting and commenting. Give feedback too please.

Also, I have a few haikyuu stories planned and jujutsu kaisen stories too so tell me how you feel about that.

💜💜