“Hey! Ken! Over here!” Eita waved from the stands, calling down his friend. Ken saw Eita and Aimee, and walked down to join them, taking a seat beside Eita. “You did great out there!”

“Thanks!” Ken smiled. “Evan was tougher than I thought though- We should really have made the effort to talk with class B more” he rubbed his neck, embarrassed. “Feels like we kinda got caught off guard, not knowing their quirks.”

“Yeah well, they don't know ours either!” Aimee huffed.

“True!” Eita turned their attention back to the platform. “But this round, it'll be 2 Class A’ers going at it. And honestly, I’ve got no idea who's gonna take this.”

---

Cindy and Julian squared off across the platform. Cindy bit her lip; Julian’s quirk was very strong, and she was only just getting the hang of using hers properly in combat. He smiled from across the platform, a silent Good luck. 

---

Hey, Cindy! Mr. Saravia had called after her, running to catch up before she exited into the arena minutes before. I just wanted to give you some advice before your fight! Julian’s a natural fighter, but his quirk is weak to yours; remember what I told you, what we practiced. Use your whole body; turn every defense into an offensive front!

---

The announcer queued them off. Cindy noticed how Julian’s arms were already preemptively inflated. 

“Fighters, ready?”

Both bent at the knee. 

“BEGIN!”

Julian sprung forward in a sprint. 

“Oh, and Julian takes an early offensive, sprinting towards Cindy no holds barred!”

“All loaded up” he muttered to himself, locking back his arm. “Sorry about this Cindy, but…” he jumped, and throwing his arm forwards, exploded a massive bevvy of nitrogen gas on a direct hit. 

“Can't let you get too hot!”

Julian landed, and as the gas cleared, the announcer took off. 

“Oh! And within seconds, Julian has attempted to freeze his fiery opponent completely solid! But wait! It seems she's blocked the attack!”

Cindy came into view, both arms raised as she blocked the side of her head from the blast. Her entire left side was completely frozen, an array of icicles pointing almost horizontal off of her arms and side. Her face was contorted from the pain of the hit. 

Julian raced around to her unfrozen side, intending to land a close-range strike with his other loaded arm. Cindy’s eyes snapped open, and saw him coming.

He fired his second blast of brutal ice wind, and Cindy countered while motionless, erupting a massive jet of flame from her leg. Her pant leg burned away, but the flames pierced the icy jet and stopped it dead.

---

“Whoa!” Ken leaned forward, yelling over the crowd, “She’s still frozen! And she managed to parry his second flash-freeze!” 

Aimee wasn't paying attention to Ken, she just cupped her hands around her mouth. “WAY TO GO CINDY!!!”

---

Cindy turned her frozen arms towards the shocked Julian and erupted flame from her forearms. Massive wide lines of fire branched outward, forcing Julian back to his side of the platform and dethawing herself in the same move. 

“In an incredible turnaround, Cindy has repelled Julian’s frosty attack! She didn't seem too happy with that cold shoulder treatment!”

Cindy started stepping forward, and punching the air. With each strike, she unleashed a pulse of flame, propelled forward by the momentum of her arms. Julian staggered back farther, not wanting to be hit, until he was almost at his back line. Cindy brought her arm across her body; and swung wildly outward, creating a massive arc of fire that struck the ground between them. The flames caught, and Julian was trapped behind a massive fall of fire.

“And Cindy gains the advantage, forcing the icy quirk user all the way back to his starting block! And he's lost his powerful loaded-up ice attacks! I think this is it, folks!”

Julian grimaced in the heat, beads of sweat forming on his head. So much for an impartial announcer, he thought. Cindy stood behind her wall of flame, arms up and ready. He noted that she looked powerful, standing within her own inferno, much more so than when their class had first met. She had seemed hesitant at the beginning; but after just one semester of UAI, her quirk was developing fast, and so was her confidence it seemed. 

Cindy kept her hands up. One step at a time, she thought. Block smart, and counter with fire. He won't be able to cross this fire wall. Be ready for if he dodges left and right; he'll probably wait for my quirk to overheat. Like this, I can push him out of bounds with my flame. 

Julian’s demeanor suddenly changed. He relaxed, spread his hands, and started talking. 

“You know Cindy, you've really grown! The guy is right; this fire is a bit more than I can handle.” 

He wiped the sweat from his brow. Cindy just stared, hesitating. 

“I should just quit, right? I kinda put all my cards into freezing you early, but you reacted, and overwhelmed me. There's no way I can win now. So I should just walk off right here.” 

Julian turned around, and strolled to the line. Cindy was shocked; she lowered her guard slightly. He's telling the truth, she thought. But her guard raised again, when right before the line, he halted. 

“The problem is, I can't.” 

Julian turned, and bent his knees. His arms outstretched behind him, and his forearms started to bulge again. Cindy could see he was in pain; he was pushing his quirk to the limit, forcing the rate of nitrogen up.

“You see” he said, wincing, “I have someone watching right now. From half a world away. “

Cindy glanced at the TV cameras, lining the top of the stadium.

“Someone who is special to me. Someone who promised me…” He set his arms backwards, angled behind his body. “That she would try her best, if I did too!”

He ran forward, towards the wall of flame.

“So I ain't giving up!” he yelled. Just before the wall of fire, he fired both arms in powerful jets, propelling himself through the air, and quickly closing the distance with Cindy. She gasped as he flew towards her, and staggered back, not expecting a sudden attack. 

“And it aint gonna be that easy!”

Cindy managed to dodge out the way, but when Julian landed, he seized her arm from behind. Before she could react, he activated his quirk with his free hand, showering Cindy's back with a consistent blast of freezing Nitrogen.

“Oh! And Julian completely astounds the crowd by launching himself over the wall of fire! He's seized Cindy, and is now lowering her core temperature! An excellent move allowed this prodigy to take advantage of a fire-quirks weakness!”

Cindy yelped from the icy wind. She tried to move her shoulder back, to counter again with her fire, but all she could do was focus on the cold. Her shirt started to stiffen, and soon it felt like a block of ice strapped to her skin. Her hair was freezing too; she was becoming more and more encased by the second. 

“Sorry there, C,” Julian huffed, holding her arm back with his arm while blasting her steadily with his other. “Once your core cools, this'll be over, right? You almost had me.”

Cindy shut her eyes. She felt it; she was getting colder, body temperature dropping. She tried feebly to focus another flame, out of her legs maybe, but they wouldn't come.

You see, Cindy? She could already hear her father’s voice in her mind. This is exactly what we talked about. You considered this boy a hero? He took advantage of you, for his own gain.

He only wished to win, dear, she heard her mother say. No matter the cost. 

Your quirk is impressive, but it's no means to throw away your future for some silly notions of justice, learned from people like this.

Your father is right, dear, this proves it. 

“No,” Cindy muttered, ice creeping up to her face now. It felt like a blizzard.

Just come home Cindy. Quit this foolish pursuit. 

Yes dear, come home.

It's over.

“NO” Cindy screamed, feeling the fire rush up from inside her. She didn't feel cold anymore, just warm, now hot - too hot. Her skin started to glow red, her quirk dialing up like it never had before.

Flame exploded in all directions, searing the ground and atmosphere. Julian was thrown through the air, saved only by the cold jets of his quirk taking the flame from her back. The fireball engulfed the platform, and the crowd recoiled from the heatwave and light that exploded from the arena. 

Cindy stood there, huffing in the center of the platform, standing in a field of fire. Her clothes were completely burned away; all that was left was her tank-top and sports shorts, made of the same specialized ALITUS material of her costume. She glanced back, and saw Julian lying on the dried grass, dazed. 

“And the winner is, Cindy Walker!” the ref called from behind his chair, having dived out of the way just in time. 

The crowd erupted, but all Cindy could hear was the crackling of flame around her and the voice of her father in her head. 

… bit of an overreaction, don't you think?