Chapter 39

Shoto Todoroki: Origin is the thirty-ninth chapter of Kōhei Horikoshi's My Hero Academia. .

Summary
After Izuku yells at Shoto to face him directly, Shoto thinks that his father paid Izuku to go all-out against him. Enraged, Shoto charges towards Izuku. However, as he gets close to Izuku, Shoto starts to experience the frostbite from using his ice power too much, and his movements become sloppy, which stops him from evading properly. This causes Shoto to get hit in the stomach by Izuku's One For All-enhanced punch, knocking Shoto down onto the floor and becomes slightly injured. However, Shoto gets back up and launches a wave of ice at Izuku, but it is weaker than before. Izuku destroys the ice attack with a blast of wind pressure and knocks Shoto back. Shoto asks Izuku why he is going so far, to which Izuku replies that he wants to live up to his mentor's expectations and wants to become an awesome hero who can answer people with a smile. Shoto is hit by Izuku again who states that while he may never understand Shoto's circumstances and resolution, he thinks that becoming Number One without using his full strength and doing it to disown someone is a joke which causes Shoto to tell Izuku to shut it.

Shoto starts remembering his miserable past; about how his father started to train him at 5 years old to become a hero to the point of throwing up. Shoto also remembers how his father was abusive towards him and his mother as well as preventing him from being with his siblings. Meanwhile, Shoto begins to experience the full effect of his frostbite, causing icy marks to appear over his right side. Shoto, unable to move properly, is hit by Izuku again. Shoto remembers the incident of where his mother threw boiling water over his face and his father admitted her to hospital due to the incident, which caused Shoto to start hating his father.

As Shoto gets up, Izuku tells Shoto that his fire power belongs to him and only him. After Izuku says these words, Shoto finally remembers what his mother said to him in the past; that he isn't a slave to his bloodline and can become whatever he wants to be. Touched by his mother's words and moved by Izuku's words, Shoto decides to activate his fire power, setting the left side of his body ablaze (causing Endeavor to smile wickedly in satisfaction), telling Izuku that he wants to become a hero as well and smiles.