ShuraZero
patreon
Chapter 62: A Mother’s Pride
🕑 Added 2025-10-03 14:33:42 +0000 UTCThe applause faded, but the impression of the battle lingered in the VIP box. The professional heroes, normally cynical and analytical, silently processed what they had just witnessed. The silence was broken by a younger, flashier hero known for his jewel-creation Quirk.
“That's insane!” he exclaimed, shaking his head. “That Midoriya kid is completely suicidal. Tearing himself apart like that for a fight he clearly couldn't win? He's got guts, but no brains.”
Kamui Woods, who had watched every second with unwavering intensity, slowly turned to him. His wooden mask hid his expression, but his voice was serious and analytical.
“You’re wrong. It wasn’t suicide. It was a tactical sacrifice.”
“A sacrifice? It was a massacre!” the other hero retorted.
“He forced Todoroki to use his full power,” Kamui continued, his tone like a professor giving a lesson. “He revealed not only a hidden card, but a fundamental psychological weakness: his conflict with his fire power. He paid a terrible physical price, yes, but he obtained invaluable data for his classmates. Now, all his future opponents know that the key to destabilizing Todoroki isn't his ice, but his family history. It was a long-term strategic move, executed using his body as bait.”
Mt. Lady, who had remained silent with an unusually serious expression since the end of the match, shook her head.
“Data… strategy…” she said, her voice devoid of its usual playful tone. “Maybe, Kamui. I see your logic. But I saw something else.”
She stood up and walked to the railing to look at the shattered arena.
“I saw a kid with no obvious offensive Quirk face off against a pro-level monster. I saw a strategist who, when his plan reached its limit, threw it away and decided to fight with the only weapon he had left: his own stubborn will to not back down. He didn't fight to win. He fought to prove something. To break the invisible chains that bound his rival.”
She turned to the other heroes, her gaze one of genuine and fierce admiration.
“That kind of guts… you can't teach that. You can't train for it. You either have it or you don't. And that kid, Midoriya, has it in spades. I was wrong about him. He isn't just a strategist. He's a true fighter. And he might just have the biggest heart in this whole damn festival.”
In the general admission stands, the perspective was far less analytical. It was visceral. It was pure terror.
The instant Izuku was thrown from the ring, his body slammed against the wall with a sickening thud. Inko Midoriya let out a choked scream, a sound of pure maternal anguish. She brought both hands to her mouth, her eyes wide with horror as she watched the medical team run toward her son's motionless form.
Beside her, however, Himiko Toga's reaction was much more explosive.
The facade of “Haruka Tanaka,” the normal, smiling girl with brown hair, shattered. Her eyes, now a bright, predatory yellow, locked onto Todoroki's figure in the arena. Her body tensed, and a pure, unadulterated killing rage emanated from her.
“I'LL KILL HIM!” she screamed, her voice a guttural snarl that made people around them turn, startled by her outburst. “THAT DAMN HALF-AND-HALF BASTARD HURT HIM! I'M GOING DOWN THERE RIGHT NOW AND I'LL DRINK EVERY LAST DROP OF HIS BLOOD!”
She lunged forward, trying to leap over the safety railing.
Inko, despite her own paralyzing panic, reacted on an instinct that was even stronger: the instinct to protect her family. And in her strange, twisted new reality, Himiko Toga was part of it. She grabbed her from behind in a bear hug, using the strength she had gained in her training to restrain the writhing teenager.
“Himiko-chan, calm down!” she hissed, her voice a desperate whisper as she struggled to hold her. “Control yourself, please! We're in public! You'll be discovered! Think about Izuku!”
“I AM THINKING ABOUT HIM!” Toga shrieked, struggling like a wild animal as her elbows jabbed into Inko's ribs. “THAT IDIOT PROMISED WE'D GO TO THE FESTIVAL TOGETHER! HE CAN'T GO IF HE'S DEAD! LET ME GO, INKO-SAN, I'M GOING TO AVENGE HIM! I'M GOING TO CARVE A SMILE FROM EAR TO EAR ON THAT PRETTY BOY!”
The people around them were beginning to stare with real alarm. Inko knew she had only one last resort: the secret weapon every matriarch kept for the most desperate situations. The "Mother Voice."
Her voice, normally soft, became hard as steel. The shift was so abrupt that Toga stopped for a split second.
“Himiko Toga!” she commanded. “You will behave right now or I swear on everything I love, you won't get a taste of my katsudon for a month!”
Toga froze, her brain trying to process the logic of the situation.
“And I'm confiscating the chef's knife you love so much, the one you use to cut fruit for dessert!” Inko added, delivering the final blow.
The threat—so domestic, so absurd, so incredibly out of place in the midst of her homicidal fury—was the only thing that could have stopped her. She stopped struggling. Her body went limp with sheer confusion.
“But… but that's my favorite knife,” she muttered, her fury completely disarmed.
Inko seized that precious moment of confusion to pull out her phone, her hands trembling so much she almost dropped it. She dialed Ochako's number, praying she would answer.
“Hello?” Ochako's voice on the other end was choked with sobs.
“Ochako-chan, sweetie… it's us,” Inko said, her own voice broken with worry as she still held onto Toga just in case. “We're in the stands. We saw… we saw everything. How is he? Please, I need you to tell me the truth. Is he…?”
She couldn't finish the question. She was too afraid of the answer.
“He's okay, Inko-san!” Ochako's voice, despite the tears, held an unmistakable tone of relief. “He's alive! They're treating him right now! Recovery Girl says he'll make a full recovery!”
“Are you sure?” Inko whispered, not daring to believe it.
“Yes! She told us and All Might! His injuries are serious, but his body is incredibly resilient! She said he doesn't need surgery! He just woke up a moment ago, he even spoke to Momo-chan! He's going to be okay! I promise!”
The tension left Inko's body in a wave so powerful she nearly collapsed. The tears of terror she had been holding back finally flowed, but now they were tears of overwhelming relief.
“Thank God…” she sobbed. “Thank you, Ochako-chan. Thank you.”
Toga, who had heard every word with her ear pressed to the phone, stopped resisting completely. The last trace of her fury vanished, replaced by a vulnerability she rarely showed. Her body relaxed and she slumped against Inko, burying her disguised face in the woman's shoulder. Her shoulders shook with choked sobs, not of anger, but of pure, absolute relief.
Inko hugged her tightly, one hand on her back, the other holding the phone. A mother comforting her two scared, injured children: one in the infirmary, the other in her arms.
A few minutes later, calm had returned to their small section of the stands. The semifinal matches were about to be announced, and U.A.'s robots were already repairing the shattered arena. Inko passed a tissue from her purse to a now-calm Toga.
Her eyes, though still red from crying, were no longer filled with fear. There was a new expression in them. One of deep, overwhelming pride.
My baby…, she thought, her gaze lost on the arena. My small, helpless Izuku, the one who cried night after night because he didn't have a strong Quirk like the powerful heroes on TV. I saw him today.
I saw him face a titan, a prodigy born for greatness, a boy with the power of a god. I saw him bleed. I saw him break. I saw him fall. But I never, not for a single second, saw him back down. Not once.
A small smile, trembling but real, formed on her lips.
He didn't win the match on the scoreboard. No, he won something much more important. He proved to that boy, and to the whole world, that willpower can make even gods tremble. He proved to his rival that there's something more important than the power you inherit: the heart you fight with.
My son…, she concluded, and one last tear, this one of pure pride, rolled down her cheek. My son is a hero.
“AND NOW, BEFORE OUR FINAL BREAK, WE'LL BE ANNOUNCING THE SEMIFINAL MATCHUPS!” Present Mic's voice brought Inko back to the present.
Inko and Toga watched as the giant scoreboard came to life. They were ready to watch Izuku's classmates continue the fight, no longer just as spectators, but as the fiercely proud and protective family of one of the festival's most tenacious warriors.
