"I understand." Midoriya looked as though he had learned something.
"Anyway... ONE.FOR.ALL is your ability, after all. Don't come asking me about everything. I'm not your teacher, boy."
Yukino patted him on the shoulder, left him with those words, and headed toward the spectator stands on her own.
The second match had already begun: Denki Kaminari versus Katsuki Bakugo.
There was not much to see in this fight, really. Denki opened with his ultimate move, 1.3 Million Volts, turning into Pikachu and discharging electricity indiscriminately. Katsuki Bakugo immediately flew into the air, safely avoiding the danger.
When he landed, Denki, wearing the expression of a victor, gave himself a thumbs-up and twitched his way out of the arena, declaring the match over.
The third match followed immediately: Tenya Iida versus Fumikage Tokoyami.
"Looking at this, I somehow feel Iida is going to lose," Yukino muttered.
"Why do you say that?" A familiar voice suddenly came from beside her.
"Eh, All Might?" Seeing All Might in his giant form standing behind her, Yukino answered with complicated feelings, "It's just a guess."
"A guess? Young... no, young lady, your eye has always been accurate."
"Luck," Yukino explained.
"Then... what do you think Midoriya thinks of you?"
Caught off guard by the question, Yukino did not know how to answer for a moment.
"Ahem." After a while, All Might coughed awkwardly. "I watched Midoriya grow up, and you happened to enter his sight back then as well. So I have been paying attention to you ever since... It has been so long, but the only one who still goes to Seaside Park every day is Midoriya. Many times, he looks in the direction where you train."
"..."
For some reason, she did not really want to discuss this subject.
Yukino merely felt guilty toward Midoriya. If she had let him know her true identity from the start, perhaps things would not have become so troublesome.
And so, amid the silence, the conversation reached a deadlock.
The second match soon began...
Tenya Iida VS Fumikage Tokoyami!
Iida activated his engines right from the start, trying to end the fight quickly. However, his kick merely struck Dark Shadow.
Dark Shadow counterattacked. Tenya Iida used his superior speed to evade, and the two exchanged offense and defense for several minutes. Eager for victory, Iida used his Ultimate Move, but failed to kick Fumikage Tokoyami out of the arena and ultimately lost the match.
Then, the main event arrived...
"Everybody, the fourth match of the second round—and the highlight of this round! Shoto Todoroki, who claimed an overwhelming victory in the previous round, versus Izuku Midoriya of the Hero Course!"
Mic roared, and the audience erupted into cheers.
Flames ignited around the arena as Izuku Midoriya walked onto the field with a grave expression.
It was obvious that he wanted to use this match to properly show what he could do. After all, his opponent was the undisputed number one in their class... the Recommended Student with a Super Quirk—Shoto Todoroki. He had also inherited the powerful Quirk of the No. 2 Hero, Endeavor. His strength was beyond reproach.
At this moment, both wore extremely serious expressions.
If Yukino remembered correctly, the two should have spoken privately before the match.
Shoto Todoroki wanted to defeat Midoriya with his ice ability, proving his strength to his father and expressing his rebellion and hatred toward him.
Midoriya, meanwhile, wanted to become the strongest hero.
No matter who it was, this was a battle neither could afford to lose.
"Midoriya has full Cowling with ONE.FOR.ALL now. He probably will not get as badly hurt as in the original story, right?" Yukino frowned, and her heart suddenly sank.
With Midoriya's current control over full Cowling, he would most likely still be unable to deal with Todoroki's attacks. In the end, he would probably still have no choice but to repeatedly injure his own body.
"So when I watched anime before, I never felt much about it. But now that I've become friends with everyone in Class A, I'm unconsciously worrying about their safety."
"How strange."
---Scene Break---
PS: The next update will also be tonight. By which I mean midnight.
Anchor
As Yukino watched the match below, the system screen suddenly popped up on its own and flickered several times.
Side Quest: Establish the World Anchor (1/2) Objective: Create an iconic event related to yourself at the U.A. Sports Festival. Reward: Random Avatar Unlock Quest
"So what is the point of you suddenly issuing such an inexplicable Side Quest, system?"
Temporarily shifting her attention away from the two on the field, Yukino's gaze fell upon the word reward.
An irresistible temptation.
What could be more appealing than having another avatar?
"By the way, system, what is a World Anchor? And what does it mean to create an iconic... event?"
Yukino's expression as she stared at the system panel began to turn strange. Past quests had gone no further than defeating something like ONE.FOR.ALL, so why was this Side Quest suddenly connected to the world?
Do you know what an anchor is?
The system suddenly asked a question.
"Umm... I remember that throwing an anchor into the water or fixing it to shore can keep a ship from drifting away."
That is a ship's anchor, but the one referred to here is closer to a Temporal Anchor.
"A Temporal Anchor?"
An anchor of time and space.
For example, you vaguely remember several scenes from childhood. You left home and came to an unfamiliar town, played at an amusement park, and later met a very good friend. Unfortunately, that friend only played with you that one time, and you never saw him again. One night in your memory, while passing through a street, you heard a song playing in public. You knew its name, and it had been extremely popular at the time.
Looking back, you are certain that those events in your memories happened decades ago. You no longer remember how old you were then, nor do you remember that friend's name. So you can only use certain details to accurately determine the year in which the memory took place.
When you carefully recall the contents of that memory, the only certain thing seems to be that popular song, and you are sure it was a hit at some point.
So you open a browser and search for the song's name. In the end, you determine that it was popular twenty-two years ago, and from that, you determine that you were five at the time.
"Wait, wait, wait." Yukino was somewhat dumbfounded. "Could that song be the so-called Temporal Anchor?"
More precisely, it is a Time Anchor. It only provides clues about time.
"Fine." Yukino leaned back in her chair and lightly pinched her leg.
The system had a particular habit: it would ramble endlessly about irrelevant matters, yet fall "silent" whenever it came to the crucial point.
Yukino felt that this Side Quest... seemed more important than the main quest. Its name was practically spelling it out already.
"Well, system, you are awfully talkative today. Usually, you barely respond."
This answer was necessary.
"By the way, do you have manga or anything from my previous life? Let me read something when I'm bored. With so many avatars, there will always be times when I have nothing to do."
The system fell silent for several seconds. Then the screen suddenly disappeared, and a stack of books slowly appeared before her.
Yukino's heart leaped with joy, and her gaze landed on the cover. Then she saw several large words: Yukino Yukinoshita and the Tentacle Love Affair.
"..."
The shameless cover had her printed right on it.
"Ahhhhh! You bastard!"
The system had actually given her a whole pile of erotic books.
She had to admit that the stimulating images inside genuinely made her curious. She should have felt disgusted by them, yet she actually wanted to read them.
To prevent the people around her from noticing anything strange, Yukino returned the books to the system and resumed watching the match before her.
Boom—
A terrifying shockwave suddenly erupted from the arena.
The violent airflow carried ice fragments cold to the extreme. It felt as though summer in the tropics had abruptly turned into the North or South Pole, and Yukino's long hair and skirt billowed wildly in the gale.
"Cough, cough." Yukino coughed lightly, and the cold wind had already faded away.
Looking back at the field, Izuku Midoriya, with one injured finger, and Shoto Todoroki, completely unscathed, stood facing each other tensely.
"Tch, this guy... just as I thought."
Yukino turned her head away, somewhat unwilling to watch what came next.
To harm the enemy by a thousand, he had to injure himself by eight hundred. Midoriya could only resist Todoroki's attacks by damaging one of his own fingers.
And the gale created by their clashing energy could not possibly blow away Shoto Todoroki, who was protected by ice.
The result of this match was almost set in stone.
Boom—
The second clash began, and the fierce wind once again sent Yukino's long hair flying.
Then... the third clash.
Three fingers were completely deformed and twisted, swollen blackish-purple.
Several meters away, Eijiro Kirishima could not help looking at Katsuki Bakugo. "Come to think of it, your Quirk is like Todoroki's too. You can casually throw around large-scale attacks."
"When have I ever thrown them around carelessly? Don't underestimate me," Katsuki Bakugo answered irritably. "Overusing muscles causes muscle fibers to tear, and constant training damages the body too. A Quirk is a bodily function. Everyone should have their own limit, including those two."
As Bakugo spoke, he looked at his own arm, seemingly recalling his battle with Ochaco Uraraka. After that match, his arm had trembled for a long time.
"Then what about her?"
Sero glanced at Yukino, who sat with her back to them. From a boy's perspective, even her silhouette alone was attractive enough. Who would have thought she was merely someone's avatar?
"She..."
Katsuki Bakugo glanced at her, then quickly withdrew his gaze.
"She must have her own limits too. Otherwise..."
Otherwise, Su Lin would have sent X-Hair out earlier instead of Yukino and Sister Doma.
"Haha, true. Maybe you really do have a chance to beat her. After all, moves with that kind of wide-scale destructive power cannot be used at the Sports Festival."
Kirishima truly understood how terrifying X-Hair was. Even in his hardened state, he could not withstand a single kick from him. A monster like that could no longer be described as merely strong, could he?
At that moment, seemingly hearing their conversation, Yukino turned her head and looked at the three of them with slight confusion.
"..."
Bakugo calmly shifted his gaze away, his brow furrowing at the same time.
Another collision's shockwave arrived.
The next instant, Mic suddenly raised his volume. "Todoroki has suddenly charged straight at Midoriya! He is completely unafraid of his power! Can Izuku Midoriya stop him?"
"Damn it!"
Izuku Midoriya injured one finger and unleashed ONE.FOR.ALL, but still failed to stop Todoroki from approaching. In the end, enduring the agonizing pain, he mutilated his entire arm and unleashed his strongest Smash so far!
The gale prevented Yukino from opening her eyes.
She vaguely heard Izuku scream.
We Can't Be Together
"This is... too miserable."
Looking at Midoriya's bloodied arm and his body trembling from pain, Yukino sighed inwardly and offered him a moment of silent mourning.
Meanwhile, Shoto Todoroki, standing opposite Midoriya, pushed away the two blocks of ice pressing on him and rose to his feet completely unharmed.
"Just defending and dodging has already left you covered in wounds?"
Todoroki looked coldly at Midoriya and lightly exhaled a misty breath of frost.
Before you continue