Chapter 25: Ice Age, Iron Will, and an Ill-Timed Snack
The second match of the tournament was a stark and brutal contrast to the psychological drama of the first. Hanta Sero was fast, clever, and confident. He started with his signature move, shooting long, thick ribbons of tape to ensnare his opponent and swing him out of the ring. It was a solid plan against any normal competitor.
Shoto Todoroki was not a normal competitor.
He stood there, his expression unreadable, as the tape shot towards him. In the stands, his father, Endeavor, leaned forward, his entire body radiating an impatient heat. He wanted to see fire. He wanted to see the culmination of his life's ambition.
What he got was something far colder.
As Sero's tape was about to make contact, Todoroki stomped his right foot. It was not the wave of ice he had used in the race. It was an eruption. A cataclysm. A jagged, monstrous mountain of ice exploded from the ground, engulfing his opponent and nearly half the stadium in an instant. It was an overwhelming, terrifying spectacle of power, a glacier born from a single moment of contained frustration. The sheer scale of it was breathtaking, silencing the entire, hundred-thousand-person stadium.
Sero was frozen solid near the peak of the icy mountain, completely and utterly defeated.
The silence was broken by Present Mic's trembling voice. "U-U-U-UNBELIEVABLE! IS TODOROKI'S POWER EVEN LEGAL FOR A HIGH SCHOOL COMPETITION?!"
Endeavor, though disappointed by the lack of flames, roared with approval at the display of raw, overwhelming force.
Saitama was not in the stands. He was in the staff breakroom on the west side of the stadium, having decided he'd earned a snack break. The breakroom was small, with a couple of worn-out couches, a table, and a row of vending machines. A small television mounted in the corner was showing the festival broadcast. He was currently engaged in a silent, personal battle with the chip machine. His desired bag of salt & vinegar chips was caught on the spiral hook, refusing to drop.
He saw the replay of the ice mountain on the small TV. He watched as the camera zoomed in on the frozen student, and then panned out to show the sheer, unbelievable size of the ice structure. The staff on the field looked like tiny ants at its base.
Saitama looked at the screen. He looked at the stuck bag of chips. He looked back at the screen. He was significantly more emotionally invested in the fate of the chips.
"That's a bit much," he commented to the empty room, referring to the ice. "He's going to make the next contestants cold."
He turned his attention back to the more pressing matter. He wasn't going to lose another 150 yen. He examined the machine, noting its structural weaknesses. He drew back a finger and gave the machine a single, precise, perfectly calibrated thump on its side panel. It wasn't a show of force; it was a masterclass in applied physics.
The bag of chips, along with three other bags that had been stuck for weeks, dislodged and fell to the bottom.
"Yes," he whispered, a small, triumphant smile on his face.
On the field, a deeply conflicted Todoroki was now walking toward his frozen opponent, his left hand steaming as he began the arduous process of carefully melting the ice without harming Sero. It was the first sign of the internal battle raging within him, a flicker of warmth in a sea of cold rejection. The psychological drama was thick enough to touch.
The chapter ends on a split screen of the imagination. In the massive arena, a team of heroes with flamethrowers is being called in to begin the long, difficult task of clearing a literal mountain of ice, the scale of the job immense and daunting. In the quiet breakroom, Saitama sits on a lumpy couch, happily munching on his salt & vinegar chips, watching the scene unfold on the tiny TV.
He shakes his head, a stray crumb falling onto his staff vest.
"They're going to have a serious problem with water damage when that all melts," he observes to the empty room. "I hope somebody put down some towels."
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