Aiko sat in the waiting room, thinking up a strategy to beat Todoroki. 'I could try to fight him head-on, but I don't think I'll be strong enough to overpower him...' Aiko thought to herself, staring at her hands. Suddenly, the door burst open and Aiko's head snapped directly toward it. She relaxed when she saw it was just Bakugo. He said nothing, walking toward the table she was sitting at. "Ghost Face..." he started, "You better beat this Icy Hot bastard. I wanna fight you in the last round."

Aiko smiled to herself and said, "Ok Blasty."

Bakugo growled, "Don't call me that."

"Then don't call me Ghost Face," Aiko teased.

Bakugo rolled his eyes and said, "Whatever. I just wanted you to know that I'll be pissed if you don't make it to the last round. Show that Icy Hot bastard who's on top."

Aiko smiled some more and nodded, "Thanks Bakugo."

He scoffed and grumbled to himself, walking out of the room, leaving Aiko alone with her thoughts. Before she knew it, it was Aiko's turn to go up against Todoroki. Haru pat her back, wishing her luck as she walked out onto the field. Aiko took a deep breath, her pale blue eyes meeting the electric blue and dark gray eyes of her opponent.

Todoroki stared at Aiko, thinking over his strategy. 'She's very problematic... she will be able to avoid my ice by using her quirk...' he thought to himself, 'I'll have to try to freeze her when she tries to attack me, she'll be vulnerable then... maybe I could also try to overpower her in hand-to-hand combat, she's very small, it should be easy...'

"ARE YOU READY FOR THE FIRST MATCH OF THE SEMIFINALS????" Present Mic asked, the crowd roaring in response.

Aiko's heart pounded out of her chest, adrenaline pumping through her veins. "OUR FIRST CONTENDER, SHE'S THE STUNNING SPECTRE OF CLASS A... AIKO GESSEI!!!"

The crowd roared, causing Aiko to start buzzing with energy. 'Wait... their energy is converting to mine...?' Aiko thought to herself. Then, Haru's earlier words shot through her mind like a bullet. "I mean you could always find other ways to get energy."

"VERSUS... HE'S HOT AND HE'S COLD..."

Aiko then realized. 'Of course... I can take energy from...'

"SHOTO TODOROKI!!!" Present Mic announced, the crowd roaring.

As soon as Midnight started the fight, Todoroki shot ice directly at Aiko, hoping to freeze her before she became intangible. However, moments before the ice reached her, she started flickering. Aiko then ran toward Todoroki and as he prepped for the hit, Aiko slid down on the ice and grabbed his right leg so she could use her momentum as she slid behind him to kick at his left side. The second she touched his right side, however, ice started to coat her hand, but she didn't give up and kicked at his left side hard, causing Todoroki to stumble to his right. Aiko let go, sliding a few feet away from him. 'Shit... I can't make this hand incorporeal anymore... the ice isn't just on my hand... it's in my hand' Aiko thought to herself, staring at her ice-coated hand.

Todoroki growled and ran at Aiko, his new target being the iced hand that was now forced to be tangible. Aiko raised a hand toward Todoroki, willing 15% of his energy to go to her. 'I don't know the side effects of taking too much energy from a living being. Best to play it safe and not take too much, just enough to give me the upper hand in the fight,' she thought to herself as Todoroki noticed that he lost a significant amount of energy. Todoroki growled and ran toward her, 'So we're playing dirty, huh?' 

Bakugo noted that Aiko started glowing a soft blue, like when she takes energy from Haru. He smirked, "Come on Ghost Face! Kick his ass!"

The class stared at him in confusion. 'Since when has he ever rooted for anybody? And why Gessei?' everyone thought to themselves before Mina started to giggle, her gossip-loving brain taking this information and running with it.

Aiko watched as Todoroki ran toward her, and as he reeled his arm back to do an ice punch, Aiko started flinging her right leg forward. As Aiko's leg made connection with Todoroki's left shoulder, Todoroki's fist made contact with Aiko's thigh. The impact was so hard that both of them cried out. "Fuck..." Aiko whispered, looking down at her leg, which was covered in ice all the way from her thigh to just below her knee, before growling, forcing herself up to stand with most of her weight on her left leg. 

"GESSEI'S BODY IS GETTING COVERED IN MORE AND MORE ICE!" Present Mic announced.

"You should give up. Your cells will start to die from hypothermia," Todoroki threatened as he struggled to stand up. 

Aiko scoffed, "Fat chance."

Todoroki stared at the girl for a moment, noting the extreme determination etched on her face. 'She's a lot stronger than she looks...' he thought to himself, rubbing the shoulder that she kicked, 'But she's going to need to do a lot more than kick me to win.'

Aiko grit her teeth and limped her way toward Todoroki. He narrowed his eyes and shot more ice at her, hoping to catch her off guard and freeze her more. Aiko incorporealized the non-iced parts of her body barely in enough time to avoid getting more frozen. 'Not yet... I'm not done!' Aiko thought, watching as Todoroki ran toward her. With her non-frozen left hand, Aiko reeled her arm back and, when he was in range, she stepped forward with her thawed leg and flung her frozen arm forward as a distraction. 'This has to work... this has to!' Aiko thought to herself. 

Todoroki put his arms up to dodge the punch, leaving him open as Aiko threw her left hand forward. The crowd oo'ed as they noted how Aiko's left fist was glowing in bright blue energy, hitting him straight on his right cheek. Aiko's fist got covered in ice, but Todoroki flew back so far that he landed only inches from the boundary. 'Shit... I thought it was enough to get him out...' Aiko thought to herself as she grew woozy, 'I put all of his energy that I had as well as most of mine into that punch...'

Todoroki struggled to get up, his face throbbing in pain. 'Shit... I think my jaw is broken...' he thought to himself. He heard hobbled footsteps behind him, so he turned around quickly to see Aiko struggling to walk toward him. "I-I have to... I-I have t-to win..." she muttered to herself.

Todoroki quickly got up, preparing for another hit, ignoring the flashing pain that struck through his head as he moved. His eyes locked on hers, and he instantly noticed that something was off. Her eyes were dull, she was exhausted. Aiko started to sway and Todoroki watched as her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Aiko crumpled to the ground as the audience gasped. Midnight raced down to the ring and knelt beside Aiko. "Gessei is unconscious. Todoroki wins!"

Within moments of that announcement, Todoroki collapsed as well.

.

.

.

"I swear to god you kids need to take it down a notch! One of these rounds you all are going to kill each other!" Recovery Girl scolded.

Aiko tried to open her eyes, but they felt like they weighed a million pounds. "Isn't the point of the competition to go all out though?" Todoroki asked.

"She did kinda do it to herself," Haru remarked.

"Not if you kill each other!" Recovery Girl exclaimed.

"We didn't though," Todoroki remarked, causing Haru to chuckle.

"Oh my god I love you," Haru laughed.

Recovery Girl grumbled to herself as Todoroki looked at Aiko. 'She was a much stronger opponent than I thought... I won't underestimate her again,' he thought to himself.

The air was cold in the infirmary, which Todoroki recognized as Haru's presence. 'And that was all without his help... she really is strong,' he thought to himself, staring at her peaceful figure. 'You'd never guess it by looking at her. She's really small, everything about her is so delicate, like a flower...'

"Alright, you're good to go," Recovery Girl told him, finishing up. 

Todoroki nodded and walked out of the room. About 10 minutes later, Aiko could hear the blasting voice of Present Mic announcing the final fight, Todoroki vs. Bakugo. The minutes passed, and after a while she could hear him again. "BAKUGO IS THE WINNER!"

If Aiko could smile, she would've. "That son of a bitch did it," Haru joked. Minutes later, robots came into the room. 

Recovery Girl got to work on the boys and people walked in. "How are they doing?" Kirishima asked.

"Todoroki will be ok in a few minutes, so will Bakugo. Gessei, however, I'm unsure of. Because she used up so much energy with her quirk, I can't do anything to heal her without risking using up all of her energy, which could be fatal," Recovery Girl explained.

"B-but she's going to be ok, right?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, she just needs a lot of rest. She should be ok soon," Recovery Girl reassured.

A collective sigh was heard, and a rustling of bedsheets was heard as well. "What happened?" Todoroki asked.

"Bakugo won," Kirishima explained.

Todoroki nodded and looked at his left hand. 'I couldn't do it... I couldn't use it...' he thought to himself, remembering his mother. 'Should I... go see her?' he thought to himself.

"Ok, you're good to go," Recovery Girl told him.

He nodded and left once again, this time to get ready for receiving his medal. "You all should go too, these two need their rest," Recovery Girl instructed, which was soon followed by the shuffling of feet. After a few more minutes, Aiko could hear more sheets rustling. "Ah, just in time Bakugo," Recovery Girl said.

Bakugo grumbled and looked around, his eyes landing on Aiko. Bakugo thought to himself before he 'tsked.' 'She needs more training. That fight was badass though, much better than when I started training her pathetic ass. She absolutely kicked Icy Hot's ass. I'm such a good teacher.' he thought smugly. 

'Wait... Icy Hot... HE DIDN'T USE HIS FIRE!!!' Bakugo thought, growling. He then got up and stormed out of the room to the protests of Recovery Girl. Moments later, Aiko drifted off to sleep once again. 

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.

.

Aiko fluttered her eyes open to be met with two figures. Haru and her cousin. "Mirio...? What are you doing here?" Aiko asked, causing the two of them to snap their attention back to her. 

"Aiko!" both of them exclaimed, giving her a hug.

Aiko chuckled and hugged them back. "You did so good!" Mirio exclaimed.

"I didn't even win..." Aiko whispered. 

"But you beat the shit out of Todoroki!" Haru exclaimed.

"You still did very good!" Mirio praised, "Much better than I ever do during the festival."

Aiko rolled her eyes. "Your quirk just isn't very good unless you're wearing your special hero costume because your clothes fall off."

Mirio laughed, "You're right about that!"

"Anyway, what are you even doing here?" Aiko asked.

"Well I was watching the festival with your parents and when you weren't there to accept your medal, I came to check up on you. Your parents would be here too, but they don't have the clearance. Gotta love the beefed up security procedures since the USJ," Mirio explained. 

Aiko sighed and looked around, only for the door to open and Recovery Girl walked in. "Oh, you're finally awake," she remarked, walking toward Aiko.

Aiko nodded and asked, "How long was I out?" 

"A few hours, it's ok," Recovery Girl explained.

"I'll be walking you home, your parents went home since they didn't know how long they'd be waiting," Mirio stated.

Aiko nodded and waited as Recovery Girl finished the check up. "Your health seems good, you just used way too much energy," she explained, "You're good to go."

Aiko nodded and thanked Recovery Girl before walking out of the infirmary, followed by Mirio and Haru. "Oh, All Might stopped by and told me to give you this," Mirio said, holding up a bronze medal.

Aiko's eyes sparkled. "Right... I got third place."

"Good job kiddo!" Haru exclaimed.

Aiko then thought about her fight and sighed, "I put so much energy into that final attack... it didn't even work..."

"Bullshit! It may not have won you the round but it did some serious damage!" Mirio exclaimed.

"He's right. Todoroki passed the fuck out after you did and was out for like thirty minutes. According to Recovery Girl, he had a broken jaw and a concussion. Oh! And your other attacks left him bruised as fuck! I saw it myself, his side and shoulder were absolutely black and blue!" Haru explained.

"Really?" Aiko asked and Haru and Mirio nodded. 

A surge of pride went through Aiko's chest as she stared at the medal in her hands. 'I did really good...'