Himura Residence - Saturday Evening, Training Grounds
The stars were just beginning to appear in the darkening sky as Tsubaki sat on the wooden porch overlooking the training grounds. His muscles ached pleasantly from the day's session.
Yukihiro settled beside him with the careful movements of age, two cups of tea in hand. He offered one to Tsubaki, who accepted it with a nod of thanks.
They sat in silence for a moment, watching the stars emerge one by one against the deepening blue.
"I wanted to speak with you," Yukihiro said finally, his voice quiet but clear in the evening stillness.
Tsubaki glanced at his grandfather, curious. They'd talked plenty over the past weeks—about techniques, about training, about the mechanics of their shared quirk. But something in the old man's tone suggested this conversation would be different.
"Why do you want to be a hero?" Yukihiro asked, his eyes fixed on the stars above. "And why do you want strength?"
The question surprised Tsubaki. He'd expected something about the sports festival, about strategy or final preparations. Not this.
"I..." Tsubaki started, then paused, considering his words carefully. "I want to be number one. To prove that I'm not a failure. That Father was wrong about me. That I deserve to exist, to be seen."
He set his tea cup down, his hands clenching slightly.
"My whole life, I've been invisible. Second place. Father dismissed me. Mother was too worried about Shoto to see me. Everyone acted like I was a ghost in my own home."
His voice remained level, but something cold and bitter threaded through it. "I want strength so I can stand at the top where no one can ignore me anymore. Where Father has to acknowledge that the son he threw away was better than the one he kept."
Yukihiro listened in silence, his weathered face thoughtful.
"I see," he said after a moment."Is that your only reason? Your ambition—is there nothing more pushing you?"
Tsubaki frowned. "What do you mean?"
"I understand your anger," Yukihiro said, finally turning to look at his grandson. "I understand your reasons. You've been wronged by people who should have protected you. That pain is valid, and the drive it's given you is powerful."
He paused, choosing his words with care.
"But I'm asking you not to let that ambition cloud your judgment. Don't become so focused on proving others wrong that you forget what matters."
"I'm not—" Tsubaki protested, but Yukihiro raised a hand.
"I'm not telling you to give up on your goals," the old man said firmly. "What I'm asking is if that's the original reason you wanted to be a hero? Before the rejection, before the pain, before you decided you needed to prove yourself—was there something else? Something you might have forgotten?"
Tsubaki opened his mouth, then closed it again. The question struck something deeper than he'd expected, touching on memories he'd buried under years of cold determination.
'Why did I want to be a hero?'
He remembered being very young, before his Father's denial, before his Mother had stopped seeing him. Watching hero broadcasts with wide eyes, amazed by people who saved others. Feeling something stir in his chest when he saw All Might pull people from danger, when heroes stood between the innocent and harm.
'What was my reason?'
But he couldn't answer. The memories were too distant, too tangled with pain.
Yukihiro stood slowly, his joints creaking with age. He looked down at his grandson with an expression that was almost gentle.
"Let me tell you something I learned too late in my own life," he said. "Ambition without purpose is just anger wearing a mask. Strength without meaning is just violence dressed up pretty. If you climb to the top for nothing but revenge, you'll find the top is a very lonely, very cold place."
He began walking toward the house, then paused.
"The strongest people I've known weren't the ones with the most power or the highest rankings. They were the ones who knew why they were fighting. Who they were protecting. What they were willing to sacrifice for."
Yukihiro glanced back at Tsubaki, who sat frozen on the porch.
"Find your reason, Tsubaki. Not the reason your pain gave you—the reason that exists underneath all that rage."
He disappeared into the house, leaving Tsubaki alone under the emerging stars.
The silence that followed was heavy, weighted with questions Tsubaki had never let himself ask. He stared up at the sky, watching more stars appear as darkness deepened.
'Was there something else? Before all the anger and rejection?'
The questions hung unanswered in the cool night air.
During the following days training continued. Forms and drills and cryokinesis exercises. Tsubaki pushed himself relentlessly, and Yukihiro pushed back, demanding more, demanding better.
But the old man's words lingered, a quiet echo beneath everything else.
'Find your reason.'
Tsubaki didn't have time to think about it. The Sports Festival was approaching too quickly. Every moment needed to be spent preparing, refining, perfecting.
There would be time for introspection later.
After he'd won.
After he'd proven himself.
After.
Night Before the Sports Festival - Todoroki Residence
Tsubaki stood at his bedroom window, gazing out at the night sky. His grandfather had insisted he take the evening off from training—rest before the big day. His body needed recovery time after the intense weeks of preparation.
Tomorrow was the day.
The Sports Festival. Broadcast worldwide. Every hero in Japan would be watching. Every agency scouting talent. Every person who'd ever dismissed him would see.
'Father will be there,' Tsubaki thought, his reflection barely visible in the dark window. 'He has to be. The number two hero, watching his sons compete. He'll see Shoto, his masterpiece. And he'll see me prove that the failure was better all along.'
The thought should have brought satisfaction. Instead, his mind went to his grandfather's question.
'Why do I want to be a hero?'
'Is revenge and recognition really enough?'
Tsubaki's hands clenched. The relationship between him and his grandfather had shifted over these weeks. He still couldn't forgive the man for selling his mother, for contributing to their family's destruction. But he respected Yukihiro's knowledge, his strength, his unexpected wisdom.
His grandfather had wished him luck earlier that day. "I'll be watching," he'd said. "Show them what the Himura blood can do. But more importantly—show them who you are."
'Who I am,' Tsubaki thought, staring at the moon hanging bright and full in the night sky. 'Who am I beyond the anger? Beyond the need to prove myself?'
The question hung unanswered as he prepared for sleep.
'That's a question for later. Tomorrow, I can't hesitate. I need to make a statement. I need to seize this chance.'
'Tomorrow, the world will know my name.'
Shoto's Room
In another part of the house, Shoto stood at his own window, staring at the same moon.
Tomorrow, he thought, his heterochromatic eyes reflecting the moonlight. 'Tomorrow I'll show Father that I don't need his power. That I can become number one using only Mother's ice. That his fire—his legacy—means nothing to me.'
His left side remained dormant, as it had since he'd made his vow. Only once had he broken it—to save Tsubaki after the USJ. But that had been necessity. Tomorrow would be choice.
'I'll win without using his flames. I'll prove that half of my power is enough to surpass everyone, including...'
His thoughts drifted to his brother, somewhere else in this cold house.
'Including you, Tsubaki.'
Both brothers, separated by walls and years of distance, stared at the moon and prepared for a battle that had been building their entire lives.
Across the City
The moon shone down on Japan, and throughout the cities, students prepared for tomorrow in their own ways.
Midoriya Izuku sat at his desk, his notebook open, filled with frantic analysis of his classmates' quirks. Tomorrow he'd face everyone—including the two Todoroki brothers and Bakugo who seemed impossibly strong.
'I have to do my best,' he thought.' All Might is watching. Mom is watching. I can't let them down.'
'I can't let myself down.'
Bakugo Katsuki lay in bed, hands behind his head, staring at his ceiling with a fierce grin.
'Finally,' he thought.'Finally I get to show everyone what I can do. No more practice exercises. Real competition. Real victory.'
His hands sparked unconsciously.
'Deku, Half-and-Half, Ice Prince, all of them—I'll crush everyone who stands in my way. I'll show them what it means to be the best.'
Shinso Hitoshi sat by his window, dark circles under his tired eyes from yet another sleepless night.
'This is my chance,' he told himself. 'My only chance to prove my quirk isn't villainous. That I can be a hero too.'
He remembered Tsubaki's declaration, the cold certainty in those words.
"I will win."
'We'll see about that, Todoroki. We'll see who really deserves to be in the hero course.'
Yaoyorozu Momo reviewed her notes one final time, her room filled with reference books and creation materials.
'I need to prove I deserve my recommendation,' she thought. 'That I earned my place through skill, not just privilege.'
She remembered Tsubaki's confidence in the hallway, the way he'd declared victory without hesitation.
'He's changed since the USJ. We all have. Tomorrow we'll show the world what Class 1-A can do.'
Iida Tenya went through his pre-competition routine with mechanical precision—stretching, hydration, mental preparation.
'My brother will be watching,' he thought. 'I'll make the Iida name proud. I'll show him that his little brother has grown strong.'
Uraraka Ochaco clutched a pillow, nerves and excitement warring in her chest.
'Hero agencies will be watching,' she reminded herself. 'This could change everything for my family. I have to do well. I have to.'
Ashido Mina bounced on her bed, too excited to sleep.
"Tomorrow's gonna be so cool!" she whispered to herself, grinning. "Time to show everyone what Pinky can do!"
Kirishima Eijiro shadowboxed in his room, his quirk activating and deactivating as he practiced.
'Gotta be manly,' he thought. 'Gotta show everyone my strength!'
And More
Throughout Tokyo, throughout Japan, students prepared. Some with confidence, some with fear, some with determination. All of them knowing that tomorrow would change everything.
The moon watched over them all, impartial and eternal, as the last night before the Sports Festival slowly passed.
Early Morning - Before Dawn
Tsubaki woke before his alarm, unable to sleep longer. The sky was still dark, the stars fading as the first hints of dawn approached.
He dressed in his uniform. His mind was clear, focused, ready.
Yukihiro's question still lingered somewhere in the back of his thoughts.
Why do you want to be a hero?
But he pushed it aside. There would be time for that later.
Today was about proving himself. About showing the world that Tsubaki Todoroki existed. That he was strong. That he mattered.
He walked to his window one last time, watching the sun begin to rise over the city.
'The Sports Festival,' he thought. 'My stage. My moment.'
'Today, everything changes.'
The sun crept higher, its light spreading across Japan, illuminating the massive stadium where thousands would gather, where millions would watch, where heroes would be born and dreams would be shattered.
The Sports Festival was about to begin.
And at its center would stand the students of U.A., each carrying their own dreams, their own burdens, their own reasons for fighting.
The stage was set.
The world was watching.
And nothing would ever be the same again.
To Be Continued...
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Author's note
Hope you enjoyed the short chapter the Sports festival is about to start.