"You nervous, Kil?"

"You wish," Killua snorts at Mei, who asked said question. After Todoroki battles Tokoyami, (which Killua's willing to bet the former will end up in victory, but that doesn't matter) Killua will be battling against Mina, who is apparently in the same class as the pale haired boy. Killua remembers her quirk to be an acid type, and Killua's pretty sure he can win this one. 

"Hey, Kil," Hitoshi calls out, "Can I have a word? Privately". "Hm? Ok, sure. We'll be back, don't miss us too much, Mei," the pale haired boy teases as he stands up, walking the direction that leads indoors with Hitoshi following behind. Arriving at another deserted corridor, Killua leads Hitoshi to the waiting room he was assigned to, having his match up next and all. "So what was it?"

"I'm gonna sound stupid but," Hitoshi hesitates as he seems to contemplate whether to talk or not, deciding the former. "I overheard some police officers. They were talking about a kid in the hero course with white hair and blue eyes taking down two villains that the police were searching for," raising an eyebrow at Killua, Hitoshi continues, "Sound familiar?"

"Hm, I don't know, does it?"

"Killua."

"Yeah, yeah," Killua replies with a snort. "That was me, what about it? Had nothing better to do". The purple haired teen raised an eyebrow once again, "So, that's what you do? Take down villain like a vigilante when you 'don't have anything to do'? Pretty epic." he snorts, finding the whole situation amusing. After a few seconds of silence, Hitoshi speaks up once again. "Still, I don't think it's normal. It doesn't add up."

Killua heaves a sigh. "There's a lot of things that don't add up, 'Toshi. And it doesn't mean it's particularly bad. Just... be thankful I'm not a villain, I guess," the pale haired boy says in a playful manner, masking the truth he's so blatantly admitted behind a playful and cheery demeanor. "Well, that's about it, what I wanted to talk about, anyway." Shinso says as he heads towards the door once again, "Just thought it wouldn't be good to say it out in the open, people might get wary of you and all." he continued. 

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A couple of hours passed, and it's no surprise that Killua ended up in victory against his pink skinned classmate. No surprise either that Bakugou won the fight against Kirishima. Matching up everyone's opponents in a mental tournament bracket in Killua's brain suggested that Hitoshi was going to face Todoroki after the break, and Killua against Bakugou after them. 

I fulfilled my goal. This is a good time to back out. Just make it as smooth as possible.

____________________________

His heart is pounding so fast. Just how did Hitoshi make it this far? Whether he looses or wins, he'll still be on the podium at this rate. Not that he plans on loosing, that is. The purple haired teen decides to finally bring out his last support gear on this one, the voice modulator mask. Mei likes to call it Persona Cords, so the purple haired teen decides to humor her in the naming. 

He never brought this particular item on his other matches, mainly because once he uses it, it'll be hard to trick anyone else, since it's a one-on-one fight. Though he was weighing his options on whether to bring it beforehand, Killua told him to save it for the semifinals, and the pale haired teen was just so sure that Hitoshi'd get that far, and he couldn't say no to that. And to be fair, Killua was right. 

The nerves are eating him alive. If you told Hitoshi a few months ago before he met Killua that he'd make it this far in the sports festival, he'd either laugh in your face, or brush it off as a cruel tease. No more, no less. 

But what's having an irregularly fast heartbeat compared to those months of absolutely brutal training from the kid a year younger than he is? Nothing. It sounds like a lot, sure. It feels like it, too. But it'll be fine, or so Hitoshi hopes. He's after Todoroki Shoto, after all. Son of the number 2 hero, absolutely obliterated his last opponents, and has an incredibly useful quirk for combat. No pressure or anything. 

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Todoroki Shoto is calm. Or he should be. He's most definitely calmer than Hitoshi Shinso. So why does he feel uneasy when most, if not all the odds are in his favor? 

Brushing the feeling aside, Todoroki props his elbows on the table in his waiting room, placing his chin atop of his hands. The dual tone haired teen closed his eyes, and focuses on his breathing. It's a habit the boy has, and very few know the reason for this.

Snapping back into reality, he stood up, checked the clock, and walked into the arena as his name was called upon.

The battlefield was like all the other rounds, nothing new. What was different, however, was Hitoshi Shinso's equipment. Unlike the other rounds Shinso fought, this time he brought along a metal mask around the lower half of his face. Todoroki can't deny that it looks pretty cool, though he is skeptical about it. Seeing his previous fight against Iida, clearly the boy has lots of tricks under his sleeves, and if the war declaration this particular teen has made prior the festival was to be taken seriously, then Hitoshi Shinso shouldn't be someone to to be underestimated. Not that anyone else was to be underestimated.

A round of dramatic commentary from Present Mic later, Todoroki prepared himself to keep his mouth shut, if only to avoid being brainwashed by the purple haired teen.

What he didn't prepare himself was for what came next.

"SHOOTOOOOOOOOO"

He froze, and it wasn't from Shinso's brainwashing.

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Well, that didn't work. Or it did. Truth is, Todoroki is such a quiet and mysterious person Shinso doesn't know how to get to him. It was a totally wild guess for Shinso to use Endevaor's voice. Hitoshi knows Endeavor is very, very loud. It's one of the reasons Hitoshi can't stand him.

So, connecting the information he has, Shinso decided to start off with a loud "SHOOTOOOOO" sound in Endeavor's voice, using persona cords to imitate the number 2 hero's voice. It was a huge risk, to use that move, but Hitoshi used it anyway.

And it did work. Sort of.

Todoroki didn't give an answer, no. He just... froze. In place. And not from Hitoshi's brainwashing quirk. Oh well, golden opportunity. How would Hitoshi miss out on this?

Taking out his gun loaded with the 'walmart ammo' he used in the last fight againt Iida, he aimed quickly and shot twice, only for Todoroki to snap out of his daze, and summoning a chunk of ice to block the syringe attacks. Biting back a curse, Hitoshi leaps out of the way as a huge ice attack comes his way, though it's much less potent than the one used on the tape quirk guy in the first round. 

Testing his luck once again, Hitoshi speaks up with Endeavor's voice, "Where's your fire, Shoto? Use it!" the wording's a bit weird, but Shinso really wouldn't know how else to say it. He doesn't know much about the two or their relationship, other than the fact they're father and son. What he said was purely instinct, just because the purple haired teen has never seen his opponent use his flames, despite Killua mentioning Todoroki's quirk and that alone. 

This seemed to be a strike right where it hurts, if Todoroki's facial expression is anything to go by. His eyes hover around the crowd, and go back to Hitoshi. He almost speaks up, almost, when he clamps his mouth shut with a barely audible 'tch'. 

He barely dodges the next round of ice attacks. 

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Why, why, why, why, why?

How?

All that's clouding Todoroki's brain is that voice. That goddamn voice of that goddamn person. Where is he? The only person in his hearing range other than from the speakers is Shinso, but the voice is scattered, somehow. He cant pinpoint where the sound's coming from, because it's coming from all directions. 

.. Is it in his head?

Todoroki has been shooting out ice attacks while buying time to gather his thoughts back together again, but it's just too much. He has always been trying his best to ignore and ignore that voice and why now, of all times, is it coming back? Hasn't he gotten over it already all those years ago?

Shinso doesn't seem shocked at the voice, or startled. It was like he never heard the voice to begin with. So was it in his mind after all? Why? How? At this point, even the loud booming of Present Mic's commentary is just a dull ring in his ears, overpowered by the storm of thoughts and memories flashing through his mind at an alarming speed.

"Where's your fire, Shoto? Use it!"

Todoroki snaps. 

He sees red. Both figuratively and literally. Literally as in Endeavor's voice is ringing in his ears and it echoes through his head. Why, he doesn't know. He hasn't had this happen to him in such a long time. He's over it now. He's been over it. He hears it on the daily, but why does it agitate him so much now? When he can't see where he is and where he's from and Shinso doesn't acknowledge it meaning  it might as well be in his head and he's not actually over it- 

He doesn't even notice his attacks becoming more aggressive than it already was. Faster, choppier, more forceful, powerful, and fueled with rage. 

Blocking another round of syringe bullets with a chunk of ice, Todoroki breathes in a long breath from his nose, exhaling slowly from his mouth. His gaze on the purple haired teen sharpens, setting aside his thoughts for later. He has lived with it this long, he doesn't need to have it interrupt his match now. He can deal with it. Suck it up like he's always been doing. 

____________________________

Todoroki's attacks calmed down after a while, right after Hitoshi shot another round of syringe bullets, followed by Todoroki blocking it. 

Deeming Todoroki not as agitated as he was mere moments ago, Hitoshi uses the chunks of ice scattered all around the battlefield that essentially covers the whole battlefield to maneuver around faster using his capture weapon. 

But the problem is Hitoshi can't get close. Todoroki is a long range fighter, and Hitoshi is a close range one, considering his combat lessons with Killua. Hitoshi could only learn so much in a few months with Killua, brutal training and all. Considering Hitoshi started off utterly helpless, he's currently best in close range. So, he's been using the walmart ammo or his capture weapon to get close to his opponents.

Only, he just can't here. Todoroki's ice spikes surround him wherever he goes, and he did try going from the top, but Todoroki just throws ice ammo at him. Not to mention, Todoroki has yet to use his flames. Hitoshi has to take that into account and act cautiously. 

Even after Todoroki's little icy rampage, Hitoshi doesn't see any opportunities to get in close range. Plus, even if he does get in close range with Todoroki, the latter can easily increase the distance between them by shooting another one of his ice attacks, or flames. It'll force Hitoshi to dodge and get away from Todoroki all over again. 

On top of that, Todoroki's not answering.

So, in other words, Hitoshi doesn't see himself winning this thing.

But it's worth a try, no?

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A/N 

helloo!! this one took exactly 3 weeks to finish lol sorry I kinda forgot about making this and was lazy ngl (⌯˃̶᷄ ﹏ ˂̶᷄⌯)ﾟ

so yeah here's the overdue update  ღゝ ◡╹ )ノ♡

- van.