"Soooo"

The two remaining finalists stood opppsing each other. They hadn't made a move since it had been just the two. Studying each other unblinking. Complete silence ranged between them for over five minutes.

Until Shino broke it with a drawl.

"We need to make one thing straight before we do anything" She bagan and adjusted her headphones absentmindly. Shoto remained quiet and only raised an eyebrow to show his interest. "You have to use your full power. Fire and all"

"And if I don't? " Shoto questioned earning a very sadistic smile from the very amused Shino.

"Yeah..... You don't want to know" She chuckled. "Just know that I've spent too much time with a certain aunt of mine so I tend to be a bit sadistic. In other words if you half a.s.s it I'll amuse myself "

Shoto actually felt a slight pang of fear upon those words and the sickly sweet smile Shino wore on her face. She was not joking.

"Alright "

"Great" Shino clapped, suddenly cheerful again. That didn't last long though. The cheerful smile soon turned into a mischievous smirk as she clasped her hands innocently. "Let's make a deal. To make things more interesting "

Again a raised eyebrow signaled Shoto's interest. What could Shino possibly want? Shoto didn't know and he did not have a very positive feeling about it. He's known Shino for some time now. His experiences with Shino are almost never pleasant. She annoys him to no end. Asks him questions he does not want to answer or simply lacks answers to. She always knows more than she let's on and refuses to tell him. She always has this amused look on her face. She would not give up on him using his full power.

In all honesty Shino was an enigma to Shoto.

Her entire personality confuses him.

"Loser does what winner says"

"That's it? "

"Yes"

Shoto blinked not expecting such simple deal

"I have a feeling you weren't expecting that" Shino said with a knowing smiled.

"I wasn't "

"I know" she chuckled to herself. "There's this one thing I would love to see you do. Just imagining it amuses me"

Amus.e.m.e.nt.

Shoto could never understand that. Does Shino do things purely for her own amus.e.m.e.nt? She seems to find everything amusing. Even the pain of others, as he's just seen. She's always amused. Always has that weird smile on her face.

Why is everything so amusing to her?

She doesn't take anything seriously. That's what Shoto thinks. The only time he's seen her somewhat serious was during the villain attack. Even then she adapted a smile and amused herself with twarting the enemy's plan.

"Why don't you take anything seriously "

"Why don't I take anything seriously? " Shino tilted her head in seeming confusion. She tugged on her scarf as she let the question sink in. The smile shrunk and she was left with a thin line on her face. She tugged on the scarf again, pulling it over her mouth and nose this time. The amus.e.m.e.nt in her eyes faded for a moment as she stared at the boy.

She sighed.

"I'll only answer that question if you win"

Shino didn't give Shoto time to say anything. One second she was a few feet away from him the next she was right in front of him, positioned to attack. Shoto was again surprised by her. On instinct a wall of ice tore between them.

Shoto knew Shino was fast. It was obvious in the first event. She was easily keeping up with him while he was using his ice. There was no struggle at all. Just natural speed that didn't seem to bother her. After there raise she was perfectly fine. She wasn't panting. She wasn't sweating. She wasn't exhausted at all

In the calvary battle he couldn't really witness her speed. She was constantly teleporting after all.

The ice wall was quickly broken and Shino was in his personal space again. The amus.e.m.e.nt had returned to her eyes and she was grinning from ear to ear.

Her speed was incredible. It gave Shoto little time g react. Even his instinctual forming of ice was too slow to react to her movments.

An attack was aimed at him and he was ready, only to have it come in a completely different direction. He reacted in instinct again. Pulling up an arm to protect himself.

Shino pushed herself pushed from Shoto when fire was shot at her. She laughed questly as the boy sent a stream of flames after her.

Took him long enough.

She let out a whoop as she dodged each of his attacks. Fire, dodge. Ice, sidestep.

She never got too close to him. She kept her distance and only evaded the attacks effortlessly. She was calculating. Timing each attack. Watching his movements. Watching the pattern he had created. Possible outcomes started to present themselves to her. Every step she took could cause one of them. She smiled brightly as she twirled around an ice glacier. She push her feet into the hard floor and used her strength to push off. A gust of wind followed behind her as she propelled herself towards Shoto.

Shoto knew he had to to Shino before she was close enough to do any damage. He summoned his biggest flame yet, aiming it at the flying Shino.

The tempertur increased around as Shino got closer and closer to the fire. Her temperature started to drop soon after. She was adapting at a rapid pace. She didn't worry about the flames. She was too cold to feel it.

Shino emerged though the hellblaze, rose gold eyes gleaming. Shoto took a step back on instinct and pulled up a ice wall in hopes of slowing the bullet that was Shino.

He should've known better.

Shino barreled straight through the wall and came into direct contact with him. Their heads butted hard, sending Shoto back. The impact was hard enough to break through the skin causing them both to bleed. Shoto opened his eyes and met the clear sky. He was on his back back the ground. He sighed realizing what that meant.

"Todoroki is out of bounds! Kiddo stands as the proud victor once more! "

The crowd boiled over in unending cheers at the declaration. Shino stood on the arena smile on her face, blood running down her forehead. The injuries was already gone gone leaving slight pain in it's memory. She wipped the blood off her forehead and approached Shoto.

"Nice going " She pulled him to his feet before offering him her hand.

Shoto did nothing but stare at the offered hand for a minute. He raised his hand, but hesitated. Shino raised a curious eyebrow. Shoto looked past her and she followed his gaze. She rolled her eyes.

Shoto winced when karate choped his head. Shino found it amusing how he held his bruised head with the look of a scolded child.

"Would you stop worrying about what your old man thinks. You're your own person. You do your own thing. You follow your own dream. You don't have to constantly worry about what that fool thinks. He'll come to realize his wrongs one day"

"It's not that easy"

"Because you don't want it to be that easy. The only reason you don't overcome this is because you don't want to"

Shoto opened his mouth to say something, but no words made it past his lip. He wanted to protest. Ofcourse he wanted to overcome his situation. Why wouldn't he? But he realized that Shino had a point. The only thing or person stopping him was himself. On some subconscious level he was working against himself.

Shino held up to her hand again and he took it with a determined look.

"See, not too hard now is it? "

There was an entire ceremony held to crown the winner. Shino gladly took the golden medal. At her sides stood Shoto in second place and Sora in third. As expected Katsuki was not happy about the results. Shino could never understand how he turned out like this. People always praised his amazing quirk, but Shino along with Sora always put him in his place. Or maybe it was because of that.

Who knows. Shino didn't care that much at the moment. It was just Katsuki.

After getting pats on the back and congratulations from friends and family Shino vanished. No one noticed at first. After a few minutes without her Momo noticed her absence. The boys followed suit.

"Where'd Shino go? "Izuku questioned.

"Of course she disappeared without a word" Sora sighed.

"She probably died somewhere "

"Not funny Katsuki"

Momo ignored the four boys soon enough and decided to go find her enigma of a friend. Knowing Shino she's either out getting sweets or asleep somewhere. The later seemed more likely.

With that in mind Momo brought herself to the tree they had lunch under. She smiled to herself when she saw a very happily sleeping Shino.

"Must be exhausted from all the activities today "

Momo stepped through the familiar bubble and placed herself at Shino's side. She wondered what Shino dreamed of or if she even dreamed at all. She seemed very content so if she was dreaming it must be pleasant.

Momo enjoyed the satisfied sound Shino made when she ran a hand through her silver locks. Momo relished the moments she had with a sleeping Shino. She was pretty adorable when asleep and Momo could freely admire her without fear of being teased.

She stared at Shino's face intently. It was as if she was trying to unravel some great secret. She wondered if Shino ever let herself experience more than the basic human emotions. She's always overly positive. She gets frustrated, but never really angry. Whenever she seems on the verge of that emotion she avoids it completely. Momo saw it today. She was slightly angry when she was diving into her thoughts, but she calmed herself before the level increased.

Maybe she just doesn't like being angry. Or maybe there's something else .

"Why are you such a mystery? "Momo wondered softly.

She sighed as she continued to stroke silver strands.

"And why is it that love that fact about you? "

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