' the repercussions '

━━━━━

The gust that passes Yuko and Tokoyami, makes some of the strands of her hair flow like one of those cliché protagonists. When they've managed to regroup with Katsuki and Iida, they've managed to establish a plan.

Of course, there was no missing the subtle- more like less than his normal quota- curses Katsuki spat at every sentence so it was more or less hostile. Things like, "this is so fucking stupid" and "let's just hide this dumb bitch" were spat into the air and Yuko just shrugged it off in typical Yuko-esque fashion.

"It's Yaoyorozu, Kouda and Jirou," Tokoyami murmured as the two girls got closer, Kouda trailing after them. Katsuki, much to his aggravation was sent to protect Yuko while Iida and Tokoyami battled with the trio. A lance almost hit Tokoyami (sent by Yaoyorozu of course), but Yuko managed to throw it off course with her quirk. There was a murder of ravens rushing in to get them.

The retaliation began and Yuko fled, dragging a cursing Bakugo by the collar and she couldn't even sigh in relief, because the next moment she tried to stand up, the ground beneath them began freezing. Well, fuck.

"Half-half bastard!" Katsuki yelled, lunging at Todoroki whose heterochromatic eyes were alit with some sort of knowing. He was aware, she thought as he lunged at her, evading Bakugo. Aware that she was the godforsaken flag.

She barely managed to avoid it, jumping over a broken wall and heading inside a roofless room. The floor continued to freeze and the ice crawled to the walls, the ceiling and even the corners. She jumped through the windows, landing on her butt and crouching, walked behind a half destroyed wall for cover.

Instead of the sigh of relief, a welp escaped her lips as she jumped unto the nearest debris for cover. Katsuki followed soon after, blasting Todoroki with his explosions while Yuko rolled down the tall debris, barely evading the explosion herself.

"We're allies!" she screeched at Bakugo who was focused on Todoroki's movements. Damn, she was out of her league with this two and she can feel the recoil of her quirk coming. In one or two more uses, she would run out of oxygen.

"Then don't get in my fucking way!" he screeched as he sent another powerful wave of explosions at Todoroki's direction. The boy dodged it with ease, but it appeared as if that was exactly what Katsuki expected for the moment Todoroki landed on the ground, holding a bar of ice for balance, Katsuki managed to throw a punch at his direction.

He deflected it with a palm, freezing Bakugo's knuckles and his lower body. He immediately headed to Yuko's direction, freezing the ground she ran on and as he neared her, riding that wave of ice along the way, and Yuko had no choice but to use her quirk.

A powerful gust of air hit him directly at the face but his reaction time was far more superior so he managed to block it with his frozen hands.

Despite that, it provided ample diversion for Yuko to crawl underneath a pile of debris and run. She wouldn't beat Todoroki in terms of physical abilities, she was weak. She had to overpower him with numbers or manage to outsmart him.

From the looks of it, both options were highly improbable. Her amassed experience wasn't enough to beat Todoroki— he was powerful in terms of quirks, smarter in combat and without even managing to do much, Yuko was at her limit.

She just managed to duck a lance of ice hurled at her direction, but she lost balance and dove straight into a pile of sharp rocks. Her suit, made of a light material and connected to a minuscule oxygen tank at her back, managed to lessen the damage but it still hurt.

"This is the end, Yuko," Todoroki muttered, his surroundings freezing. It was too damn cold that Yuko was shivering. "Stop running."

She wanted to yell at him, hurl a rock at his direction, even use her quirk (she was willing to suffer the repercussions), but she knew that it wouldn't worth it because he'd just find a way to beat her.

She had to escape.

"Escaping is futile," he muttered in his usual monotone, smoke arising from his outstretched palms. "If you want to be a hero, be a decent one and face me."

Those words struck her. Sure, her only option was to run. The odds were stacked against her, the most logical course of action was to flee, but those words, it struck that chord inside her. Real heroes. Real heroes. Fists clenched, she took in ample amount of oxygen.

The air grew thinner, her fingers pulling strings that absorbed the air all around, and then she released. Strong gusts of air, one, two, three, haphazardly thrown and he barely moved from his spot. More. More. More.

"Run, you idiot!" Katsuki yelled, pulling something in those large grenades on his hands, aiming it at Todoroki, but Yuko held her ground.

From left, she continued hitting him, she willed her quirk to pass more limits, throwing one blow after another until the gusts turned stronger. The ice wall cracked and with one last strike— her fingers felt broken, her throat raw and then there was that searing pain— "Akihisa, stop!"

Something exploded, a gust of wind and unrivaled speed.

The voice of All Might. Too late. The repercussions begun and she fell to the ground. The last she heard was an announcement revealing that Momo's team had won.

━ × ━

"Why do I have to take her to the infirmary?" a voice asks, more like demands an answer. "She's the one who was clumsy enough to overuse her quirk!"

"The robots are currently preoccupied with an event by the second years and as unfortunate as it is, Yuko-san has to be healed immediately."

"Just like I said," the exasperated voice begins again. "Why does it have to be me?!"

"You were her nearest teammate, Bakugo-kun, and it was evident that she resorted to such a reckless technique because your presence wasn't enough to make her secure and safe. Besides, All Might has suddenly disappeared and the others are currently panicking over Midoriya who broke his fingers."

"Again," someone adds.

"That's such a shitty explanation, Ponytail!" Bakugo yelled back.

"P-Ponytail, what a crude nickname!"

"If you're going to continue bitching about instead of helping a person who's about to die here," a cool voice said. "I'll just carry her."

"What?!" Bakugo screamed again. "Are you underestimating me Icyhot?!"

"Like I said—"

"Get out of the way," Bakugo again, but his voice has gradually wore out the hostile tone and opted for a more neutral baritone. "I'll take her to the fucking infirmary."

━ × ━

"You shouldn't have done that." Blinking, disoriented, Yuko hauled herself to a sitting position at the clinic bed, noting the inhaler placed on her and she sighed, taking in another dosage of the clean, not really fresh, but much needed air.

She was in the infirmary, light blue curtains, white sheets and azure walls where reading charts and pictures of the human anatomy were posted. She could vaguely remember times when she experienced backlashes with her quirk so seeing her in the clinic now, the silly part of her was beginning to feel that nostalgia.

Recovery Girl stood next to her bed, frowning, arms looped over her chest. "Your quirk has adverse backlashes, Yuko-chan. If your body hadn't triggered some of your self preservation instincts, you would have died."

You would have died.

- Why did I go that far anyway?

Yuko merely smiled, grinning from ear to ear. That was the past now, moving forward was what she was best at. No brooding, just keep on looking far ahead. "I'm very aware ma'am, but what's done is done, right?" she said, eyes closed and even though she still felt as if her lungs were punctured by a thousand holes, she managed to speak properly. "It's great that I'm here and—"

The slap stung. Recovery Girl was a kind, old woman and Yuko had known her for a long time now, usually slipping into her office to ask for a slip from various events that she considered tiring. The old woman was a healer, using her quirk to lessen the damages acquired by heroes and even giving out candies like a real, bona-fide nurse. She had no way to predict the painful slap that was coming.

"What are you doing with your life, Yuko?" the mention of her name without the appropriate honorific, froze her to the bone and even though she could breath with a little ease now, she felt as if she was running out of oxygen again.

"You're usually very careful with this sort of things and yet you allowed yourself to be egged on by your opponent," she said and with that Yuko looked down, watched the sheets that covered half of her body. The scratches and bruises on her arms were gone now, but if she looked close enough, she could see the cuts. "It was very arrogant to think that you could defeat your opponent with those brazen attacks."

She was aware that she wouldn't- couldn't defeat him, so why?

Even Yuko didn't know the answer to that question.

"The backlash of your quirk, Gust- the ability to combine some of your oxygen molecules to that of the atmosphere that enables control and creation of gusts and the desolation of oxygen from certain objects, both animate and inanimate, is like the progressive version of emphysema."

"I know," she says.

"Air in the atmosphere is mostly nitrogen and oxygen, but contrary to foolish beliefs, oxygen is only 21% so by gathering those molecules, you are thinning air. Thus, you can only create gusts and not full blown tornadoes or hurricanes."

"I know," she repeats.

"The volume of residual air trapped in the lungs increases, and the volume of each breath decreases. The lungs enlarge in size, and in due time becomes unable to supply enough oxygen to the body tissues. The heart pumps faster, becomes strained. Extreme difficulty in breathing, wheezing and coughing are the first physical signs that you're going to lose your strength and experience the backlash."

She looked at Yuko with those eyes, full of empathy and Yuko wanted to break apart. She couldn't. "You will die if you do this in real life. Become a hero," she said and looked straight through the younger girl's eyes. "But be a reasonable one."

Yuko held back the tears, clenching the fabric of the blankets at her side, bowing her head, pursing her lips and trying so hard to stop the trembling.

"I'm sorry!"

━ × ━

Katsuki Bakugo was a witness.

From faraway, she saw that girl- he doesn't remember her name, but he's aware she was the annoying newcomer that sat near him- battling the goddamned ice bastard and Bakugo was good at people, reading them and looking for monsters beneath worn masks. He peeled those layers away and it was only for a brief moment, but he saw something in that girl.

It wasn't interesting or different but from beneath those cornflower blue irises, there was a soul- there was the soul of a girl who wanted power. 

"Katsuki-kun!" he turns around to face the annoying sound and he sees that girl again.

"It's you, Blue Eyes," he said and aforementioned personage winced at the nickname, but Katsuki couldn't care less. She missed the entire afternoon, but she looked borderline okay now. "What do you want?"

"I heard you were the one who carried me to the infirmary earlier," she said, bowed her head. "I'm sorry for the trouble. And thank you very much!"

He eyed her up and down, meet her apologetic eyes with his own.

"If you don't want to cause trouble," he said. "Then control your goddamned quirk."

"I will!" she said and smiled that cheeky smile. "And it's Yuko!"

"Whatever, Blue Eyes," he said. "Don't get yourself hurt again. It's troublesome."

"Thank you for the concern!"

"I'm not concerned."

"Whatever you say!"

--

E N D O F C H A P T E R
- s e r e n d i p i t y