Chapter 14: Inferior
Nezu seated himself at the lip of the viewing window, happily kicking his feet, almost like a child. He held his tea in one hand, supporting a plate with the other. The rest of the teachers were lightly chatting among themselves, waiting for the break between rounds to end. The other teacher remaining silent was Aizawa, who had not moved from his seat, choosing to remain separate from the conversations.
Ectoplasm takes a sip from his cup, his lipless mouth widening in a macabre smile. "I must say, Maijima, you're student has certainly made an impression."
Power Loader nods, a small smile of his own painting itself to his visible features, "That is definitely one word for it," he chuckles, "Though I must say, he is certainly keeping this sports festival interesting."
"Interesting or not, I am still hesitant to call his influence a positive one," Cementoss interjected, "If his first performance is to be seen as a sign, then I worry that his subsequent matches could actually be worse ."
All Might coughs into his hand, but nods in agreement. "Not to mention as the competition gets tighter, there is a higher chance that Midoriya or his opponent will become severely injured."
"A higher chance?" Vlad King says, voice rising with a mirthless chuckle, "Midoriya has already shown a disturbing lack of restraint and foresight." Kan shakes his head, "I still don't understand why we are still entertaining this."
"Yknow, Kan," Maijima spoke, turning to his colleague, "I can't help but notice the lack of comments for the other matches we have observed."
Kan turns his head to the shorter man with confusion, "What do you mean?"
"You mean that you didn't see any problem with Todoroki's match? Or Bakugo's?"
Kan rolled his eyes, "If you are trying to compare those matches to Midoriya's? Because those were two completely different situations."
"Yeah, because in at least one of those situations, a student was frozen in a glacier the size of a skyscraper." Maijima crosses his arms, "what Midoriya did was so much worse, wasn't it?"
" Unlike Midoriya," Kan interrupts, "Those students were born with that power. They can't help that they were born with destructive quirks." the blood hero turns fully to Maijima, squaring himself with the other hero, "Midoriya chose to bring weapons into the tournament. He chose to create equipment that was designed to harm the other competitors!"
"So, you're saying that because their quirks are destructive, it excuses them losing control and brutalising their opponents?"
Kan shakes his head, and huffs, "No, what I am saying is that they have much to learn. That is why they are here ." Kan turns back to the arena, "The difference is that it is easy to lose control of a natural bodily process, something that both me and you should know well. However, it is increasingly hard to forgive developing specified weapons constructed with the express purpose of brutalising his opponents, and embarrassing the hero course!"
Kan raised his hand, "I mean, look at what happened to Kirishima! Midoriya prepared a spike designed to pierce through his skin, and we all saw it work as intended! If that is what you consider acceptable, Maijima, then I would hate to see what you consider excessive."
"Actually, I received word that Kirishima has fully recovered from his wounds" Nezu chimes in, eating a small cracker, "He is going to be moving over to his class booth to watch the rest of the festival. Recovery Girl assured me that the damage he took, while not insignificant, was no more serious than a few broken ribs."
Kan seemed taken aback, "B-but we all saw Midoriya put a hole in Kirishima's chest! Are you trying to say that it didn't leave any permanent wounds?!"
"Consequence of Kirishima's quirk," Nezu replied, sipping some tea, "due to his hardened skin, the impact caused the skin layer to crack instead of giving way, leading to the wound looking far more severe than it actually was. In truth, all it really did was give Kirishima some minor solar plexus syndrome."
"If anything, I am far more worried about Hikaru Kubo. Kubo's quirk gives him fireproof skin, but as a consequence, he has difficulties regulating bodily functions in cold temperatures." Nezu sighed, his expression turning serious, "when Todoroki froze him, his body went into thermal shock, and he has been unconscious since."
Kan's expression had hardened, but his eyes narrowed in irritation. He huffed, but contributed nothing else, instead choosing to watch as the first match of the quarterfinals was called. Maijima turned as well, looking to the board to see his most discussed student facing off against a girl with a long black ponytail.
Momo Yaoyorozu.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Midoriya…"
_________________________________________________________________________
Izuku slipped his suit back on, buckling the heavy chestplate in place. He felt the familiar whirr of the power supply as the suit bloomed to life, his movements no longer restricted. He stomps out of the waiting room, slowly trudging towards the tunnel mouth. When he reaches the arena, he is met with precious few cheers, and even some derision. But what he notices is the vast majority of the audience is deathly silent, merely observing him as if he were a phenomenon.
Which, in a way, he is.
Still, he couldn't help but feel a familiar sense of anger, only amplified with his prior conversation with Todoroki.
"Deep breaths…it won't help to lose control of your temper now." He looks back up at the crowd, "I don't need them to cheer for me…I don't even need them to like me."
"...I just need their eyes on me."
Once he reaches the arena, he stops, squaring up to his opponent. Yaoyorozu stands confidently, her posture upright. She hasn't taken a ready stance yet.
Before Midnight can begin the match, Yaoyorozu begins to speak.
"You should give up. Even with that borrowed suit, you know that you cannot beat me."
Izuku raises an eyebrow under his mask, eyes narrowing. "What do you mean, borrowed suit?"
"I mean what I said. There is no way a single person could make something like that, least of all a quirkless person."
Said quirkless boy grit his teeth, taking another deep breath, and trying to calm the bubbling anger. "Oh, is that so?"
"Please know I don't mean offence," Yaoyorozu placates, putting a hand to her chest, "I have studied in depth the differences between the quirkless and the quirked. It is not your fault that you were born inferior to us, it is simply reality." Her eyes lock onto the faceplate of the suit, "Everybody knows that you didn't build that suit. There is no way you could have, given your mental deficiency. However, it helps nobody to lie and pretend that you are more capable than you are. So I implore you to simply surrender. I do not wish to hurt a quirkless boy."
A silence filled the arena. Midnight was staring at Yaoyorozu in shock, and disbelief. Her gaze slowly moved to the mechanised student, but found herself taken aback.
Midoriya was hunched forward, more than usual, in an aggressive, almost predatory stance. She could not see his face, but she could imagine the malice painted onto it. In addition, Midoriya's hands were tightly clenched, the metal creaking under his grip. She saw the cuff on his right arm spin a bit, before locking back into place.
"...Start…the match. Now ."
He doesn't turn to Nemuri, but she knows he is addressing her. Nemuri flinches at the darkness creeping into Izuku's tone. Nemuri shouts back out. "T-try not to hurt each other too much. This is a school event…a televised school event."
"Do not worry," Yaoyorozu said, "This should pose no challenge for me."
"I'm not talking to you." Nemuri thought, holding her whip above her head, before rapidly bringing it down. With a loud crack, the match had begun.
Immediately, Izuku begins charging Momo, holding his left arm out, and firing a repulsor blast at Momo. Momo tries to sidestep, but he predicts the movement, firing another blast in quick succession. This blast hits Momo directly in the arm, singeing her sleeve and causing her to stumble back. Before she can regain her footing, Izuku fires another blast at her foot, catching her while she is leaning back, causing her to fall over. Momo rolls up to her feet, her mind beginning to think up new ideas, and she produces a large shield on one hand. When Izuku charges his repulsor again, she holds the shield up to stop it, but the blast doesn't come.
Looking up from behind the shield, she barely has time to think before a metallic fist connects with her nose, sending her reeling back. Holding up his left arm again, he fires blast after blast at Momo, who desperately holds up her shield, trying to get time to think.
"W-what is happening? Why can't I react?!" Momo shakes her head desperately, "I need a plan. I need to disable the suit, and I need to do it fast!"
Momo begins to produce a cannon from her stomach, slowly projecting outward, and falling to the ground. Picking it up, she lifts the shield and whirls to face Midoriya again, standing and holding the cannon. However, when she peeked out from behind her shield, Midoriya was standing, a pilot light extended on a small metal rod out from his right arm. Momo froze, dropping the cannon and ducking as a gout of flame shot out from her opponent's wrist, narrowly missing her body as she watched the flames roar above her head.
The combination of the heat blistering her face, and the feeling of fear at what could have happened if she were just slightly slower, caused Momo's brain to freeze. She crawled out from under the flames, and tried to gain some distance, running to the corner of the arena, but was stopped by another gout of flame jettisoning out directly in front of her, blocking her path. She tried to run the other way, but a powerful beam scorching the concrete directly in front of her thwarted that plan as well. Again and again, she tried to escape, only to be prevented by flame or beam shooting out, and stopping her, corralling her into a narrow funnel, where her only exit was blocked by a massive armoured figure.
She had begun to hyperventilate, her mind having simply stalled any higher thought than base instinct of survival. The thunderous footfalls of her armoured opponent echo in her mind, beating along with the drums of war.
"What's the matter?!" Her opponent roared out, still approaching slowly, but surely. "I thought you said this would be easy?! Or is the perfect, superior Yaoyorozu fresh out of ideas?!"
Yaoyorozu launches a random object his way, a Matryoshka doll, that when activated releases a blinding light. But the footfalls continue, and she watches as the shadow of the armoured goliath bathes her in darkness, unperturbed by the flashbang.
Momo tried to get up, but a blast of violent energy soared over her head, causing her to duck down once again. She creates a massive shield with her quirk, feeling her lipid stores beginning to dry up, but at this point she is desperate, simply trying to put a barrier between her and her opponent.
At first, nothing. Then she hears the sound of metal scraping against metal, followed by the impact of a fist against the shield. The shield holds the initial impact, but then she hears the telltale scraping again, and then suddenly a metal spike rockets through her shield, and jets out, stopping an inch away from her face. In a panic, Momo let go of the shield, crawling backwards away from Midoriya, who grips the lip of the shield, and tosses it aside, removing the only remaining barrier between the two.
"Look at you…you talked so big at the start of the match, now here you are…crawling around on the ground like an insect !" Izuku looms over Yaoyorozu, having pushed her to the edge of the arena. Momo desperately reaches out, pushing the chestpiece, but gives up as her hands meet unyielding metal. "You're weak! In body and mind! And it's high time you learn that!"
Momo watches as his arm moves up, poised to come crashing down on her face, and she desperately rolls to the side, narrowly missing the crushing force of the fist. She manages to get to her feet, trying to put some distance between her and her opponent. Her heart is pounding in her ears, the adrenaline in her body pushing her to just keep running, desperately trying to think up a plan.
"How am I supposed to fight this?! It's like every time I try to do something, he has a counter already set in place! He is several moves ahead of me!" Momo dodges another blast that sails over her head, impacting the wall in front of her. "This doesn't make sense! Even with that armour, a quirkless person shouldn't be so capable of dynamic thought! Yet here he is, stopping me at every turn…what is going on?!"
Momo turns to face her opponent, taking deep gulps of air, and observing as Izuku slowly walks towards her. Her mind races a mile a minute, trying to come up with a solution to this fight.
"It's ok, you still have the upper hand, Yaoyorozu." Momo thinks to herself, "He is limited by the tools he has strapped to that iron monstrosity, whereas I can make anything to beat him. I just need to find the right tool for the job." Her focus drifts slightly, schematics and chemical formulas flooding her brain.
"Grenade? No, he has too thick of armour, it wouldn't work. He seems to have some kind of adaptive lens that prevents flashbangs from working on him. Melee combat is out…perhaps an electrical charge? That only works if I can hit the power supply, and I do-" She was pulled from her mind by a shadow being cast over her, and snapped back into reality just in time to see Midoriya's fist meet her stomach. Momo doubles over in pain, slumping to the ground.
"Typical arrogant hero…too focused on then that you can't think about now." Izuku grabs her by the scruff of her gym shirt, and lifts her off the ground. Desperately, Momo launches another fist into his chest, but only feels her bones creak under the impact. For a moment, He simply holds her there, as if pondering what to do next, but then suddenly, he reels back, and throws her, leading to her hitting the ground hard, and skidding slightly against the rough cement. She tries to lift herself up, to continue the fight, but then hears the crack of the whip.
"Yaoyorozu is out of bounds! The match is over!"
The finality of these words settle in, and Momo falls back to the ground, a pit of sadness and embarrassment welling inside her chest. She hears the heavy footfalls approaching her again, and looks up to see the victor looming over her.
"What I could have done with a quirk like that…and it's wasted on someone like you."
With that, Midoriya leaves the arena, the crowd remaining mostly silent as he does so. Momo lifts herself off of the ground, tears welling in her eyes, and runs to the other side of the arena, as quick as she can, into the tunnel, where she breaks down and begins to cry.
_________________________________________________________________________
"Well," Kaminari spoke suddenly, clapping his hands once to draw attention to himself, "so much for quirkless people being inferior, I guess."
Mina nods, eyes wide with awe, and some level of shock. Sero stared down at the arena with wide eyes and skin white as a sheet, trying to comprehend what he had just seen.
"Yaoyorozu beat me, pretty handedly…but Midoriya took that fight like it was nothing." Sero's eyes were locked on the scorch marks on the arena floor, "It…it wasn't even close…"
"Ok, I have a feeling we are all thinking it, so I am gonna just say it," Mineta suddenly spoke up, standing in his seat, "there is absolutely no way Midoriya built that himself, right?"
Kirishima stands, face tightening with irritation, "Are we really going to go back to this? Why is it so hard to believe that Midoriya is capable of making that?"
"Well, you heard Yaoyorozu," Mineta spoke, chest puffed in confidence, "quirkless people are strictly weaker than quirked people. Coming from the smartest person in the class, I am inclined to believe her." He turns to his red haired classmate, "no offence, Kirishima, but I think I'll trust her word over yours."
"Mineta, no matter how much you sing her praises, Yaoyorozu will never go out with you." Jirou spoke, breaking her silence. Mineta wilted at her words, and sat back down, but Sero took the opportunity to speak up.
"Well, what do you think about all this Jirou? Or are you just going to sit in silence for the rest of the fights?"
"It's more worthwhile than speaking with you." Jirou parried, causing Sero's eye to twitch in irritation, "but if you must know, I tend to trust my eyes over textbooks, and my eyes are telling me that even if Midoriya didn't build the suit, he has the proficiency with it to back up the idea that he did. So, yeah. I believe he built it by himself, or at least mostly by himself."
"I feel like everyone is ignoring something kinda important." Asui piped up, thumb and pointer finger stroking his chin, "How did Midoriya beat them so easily either way?"
Kirishima turned to Asui, confused, "what do you mean?"
"Well, look at how he beat you." Asui gestured to her red haired classmate, "Immediately once you got close, he used a machine that he built into the suit that completely nullified your quirk." She moves her attention back to the arena, "then against Yaoyorozu, he kept her off balance, controlling the fight from moment one, not giving her a chance to even breathe."
"What are you getting at, Tsu?" Kaminari spoke.
"I'm saying, what are the chances that Midoriya knew about our quirks before the festival began?"
The class went silent, many of them looking to the others for an answer, but only to be met with confusion, and some fear.
"Wait," Sero piped up, "are…are you saying that Midoriya knew how to beat us…because he knew how we would fight from the start?"
"I'm not sure, but the evidence seems to suggest that." The frog girl seemed pensive, "after all, how else would he know how to beat Kirishima and Yaoyorozu like that? The fights both should have been more fair, but Midoriya dominated both of them using the exact tactic and tools necessary to fight both opponents."
"That little freak was always a stalker," Bakugo said from his corner of the booth, "Deku was always writing in his freaky diaries about quirks, every single one he saw, no matter how useless they are." Bakugo's lips twisted into a frown, "he just kept scribbling and muttering to himself about them, it always pissed me off."
"Yknow, Blasty," Mina says, drawing Bakugo's ire once again, "You speak like you know him pretty well. You two go to school together or something?"
Bakugo remained silent, but his gnarled expression spoke volumes. Mina, however, pressed the blonde, "You even have that nickname for him and everything. Hmm…maybe it's more than just classmates. Were you two friends?" A devious smile erupted onto Mina's face, "...maybe something more?"
Bakugo exploded from his seat, lunging at Mina with a roar. He pinned her to the floor of the booth, and began to shake her. He slammed her head into the sturdy floor of the booth, and lifted a hand above his head, small explosions popping.
"You wanna fucking repeat that, Racoon Eyes?!" Bakugo's eyes were manic, filled with malice, "That little freak is nothing to me! He is an insignificant bug! A stain on the floor compared to me! Just like you !" Bakugo felt himself get wrenched up, with Kirishima pinning his arms behind him, and Sero intervening, separating the two of them. Mina still knelt on the ground, coughing slightly, as Bakugo rages in Kirishima's grasp. Bakugo kicked his head back into Kirishima's nose, but the boy hardened his skin, making Bakugo's attack ineffective.
Mina glared up at Bakugo, her yellow eyes filling with anger, but her mouth twisting into a slight smirk.
"If…"she broke out into another coughing fit, "if that's true…and Midoriya doesn't matter…then why do you get so angry when anyone talks about him?" Mina met his glare with one of her own, "sounds to me like that 'bug' isn't as insignificant as you like to believe."
Bakugo struggled again, trying to break free. This little worm had mouthed off to him for the last time! Nobody talks to him like that, least of all some freaky extra! But as Bakugo pulled back his hands to blast this stupid red haired loser in the face, a stern voice rang out.
"What the hell is going on?!"
All eyes turned to meet the gaze of their homeroom teacher, who glares at the scuffle happening in the booth. He slowly walks forward, just as Kirishima drops Bakugo, backing away slightly. Bakugo immediately readies himself, preparing to pounce on the still prone Mina, but stops when he sees their homeroom teacher's scarf moving. Swallowing his anger, Bakugo stands, and walks back over to his seat on the other side of the booth, sitting with a huff of anger. Aizawa walks over to Mina, standing over her, but addressing the whole class.
"You all are the future of hero society, whether you like it or not. As such, if you continue to conduct yourselves this way, I'll pull each and every one of you from the festival, future or not!" He looks between Bakugo and Mina, "Bakugo, stop being a child. And Mina? Stop provoking him. You are both humiliating yourselves."
"Mina didn't provoke him," Kirishima said. Aizawa glared at him, quirk active, and Kirishima felt his hardened skin fade. But still, Kirishima stared back, gaze unwavering. He continued, "we were discussing Midoriya, the quirkless kid from the support course, and Bakugo starting going on a rant. All Mina did was ask him a question." Kirishima turned to glare at the explosive blonde, who met his gaze from the corner of his eye, "it's almost like even talking about Midoriya causes him to lash out."
Aizawa turns to the rest of the class, "Is that true?" The majority of the class nods, though some choose to stay silent, busying themselves with staring at the floor. "I see…in that case, Bakugo." The explosive blonde lazily turns to Aizawa, meeting his gaze with a bored look. "Stop acting like a brat, it does nothing but embarrass you. Anyone who sees you act that way will only see a petulant child, just like I am seeing right now." Bakugo's lips lift into a snarl, but he turns away from Aizawa, letting his rage simmer. Aizawa leans away, and walks to the doorway, leaving without another word.
Outwardly, Bakugo is silent, but inside he is fuming, a raging inferno building within his soul, begging to be let out. He turns towards Mina, his eyes blazing with barely contained rage.
"You had better hope you lose the next round, Raccoon Eyes," Bakugo seethed within his mind, "Because if you and I meet in the arena…I'm gonna make an example of you."
" Nobody disrespects the future number one!"
_________________________________________________________________________
Shinso took a deep breath, mind swimming a mile a minute as he tried to calm his nerves. He knew going into this tournament that the first round would be the easiest for him to win, with each subsequent round being significantly harder. But looking at his opponent, he couldn't help but become paralyzed as his heart broke out into a rapid thrumming.
Shoto Todoroki.
Shinso had a feeling Todoroki hadn't gotten over Shinso brainwashing him in the cavalry battle. Not to mention, looking at the heterochromic boy's last fight, Todoroki was not one to waste time. In other words, Shinso was operating at a pretty sizable disadvantage. If Todoroki froze him before he had a chance to get a word out, it would be over. Shinso's run for the hero course would end, everything would have been for nothing.
And for Todoroki…just another notch on the belt.
Shinso stared down at the floor of the locker room, thinking of a way out of his current situation. He knew he couldn't play fair…nothing new about that thought. Shinso had never had the option to play fair, his quirk just didn't allow for it. In any situation, he had always had to rely on cleverness and deceit to win…not that he enjoyed it.
Honestly, he wished he had a quirk like Todoroki…everything would just be so easy then.
"...a quirk like Todoroki…"
Shinso thought back to the cavalry battle, particularly the end.
"I will never use his quirk!"
"I made a promise to myself…I would never use hisfire!"
Clearly, the fire is a sore spot, one that Shinso could reasonably abuse. But again, if Todoroki simply froze him before the match started, it wouldn't really matter.
Shinso had always had an uncanny knack for pissing people off. If it didn't cause him so many problems, he might actually call it a talent. He had never really thought about why, but he does know that it makes it easier to put people under his control…make someone mad enough, and usually they can't help but respond to you.
However, it was fair to assume that Todoroki at least suspected what Shinso's quirk is…even with Midoriya's little red herring. Todoroki would be wary of his actions. This means Shinso would likely have to force a response out of him.
In other words, he needed to really piss Todoroki off…and he needed to do it fast.
"The next match is about to begin, will the competitors please come forward to the arena?!"
Present Mic's voice rang out over the intercom, a gjallarhorn to Shinso's coming trial. With one last deep breath, he stood, and began walking to the arena. Before exiting the tunnel, however, Shinso stood, schooling his features, before plastering an easy, smug smile onto his face.
Who didn't love a heel, after all?
Walking out into the arena, Shinso played up his gait with some exaggerated swagger, doing his best to ooze confidence. He locked eyes with his opponent, who was already in the arena, the same cold aura in his gaze. Shinso reached the arena, and made a show of giving a long stretch, reaching his arms behind his head, and locking his hands to stretch out his shoulders. He hears the crowd cheering for Todoroki, with many booing him, and he does his best to ignore it.
Shinso finally sets himself, fixing Todoroki with an easy gaze. Midnight lifts her hand to call the beginning of the match, but before she can, Shinso interrupts her.
"Yknow, guys like you really piss me off."
Todoroki doesn't seem to respond, but Shinso continues, "I mean, god, it's almost unfair…how easyyou have it."
That got a reaction, with Todoroki's right hand clenching into a fist.
"Good," Shinso thinks, "I'm on the right track."
Shinso continues, "here you stand, arrogant little Todoroki, only using half his power and still steamrolling every encounter…that right there is the height of arrogance."
Midnight seemed to gather herself, "Hey, I-"
"Meanwhile," Shinso interrupts, much to Midnight's ire, "the rest of us down on Planet Earth need to use everything we can to even have a chance. Every tactic, every option, every trick and tool at our disposal…and we still don't even come close to you…what with your perfect quirk."
Was this coming from a personal place for Shinso? Maybe
But given the hoarfrost growing on Todoroki's right side, it was still working, so he could forgive it.
"You get born lucky, and the world just opens the gilded gates for you…so lucky, in fact, that you can just… choose not to use half of the tools at your disposal!"
The hoarfrost is now spreading rapidly, and Todoroki began to shiver. Whether that be from the frost or his anger, Shinso didn't know. But he knew all he had to do was push just a little bit harder, and he would win.
Midnight finally speaks over Shinso, "Both competitors are ready-"
"But," Shinso interrupts again, though Midnight simply continues, "what should I expect? Your daddy set you up for success from moment one."
"Let the match begin!"
"You were so set up for success, that you may as well have been born for it."
Shinso watches as Todoroki's vision snaps to him, his eyes swimming with rage, sorrow, and palpable hatred. Todoroki's mind was clouded by emotion, shown clearly in the boy's twisted face, and the frost so cold the heterochromic boy's body wracked with full body shivers.
"Shut up…Shut up! You know nothing about me! You couldn't possibly understand how much I have lost! How much I suffered! You and Midoriya both, you assume so much about me and my life!" Todoroki's eyes glistened with frozen tears of rage.
"You could never understand what it's like to be me!"
Checkmate
Shinso felt the familiar sensation of his quirk slithering into Todoroki's mind, grabbing his consciousness and forcing it into the subconscious. He saw Todoroki's eyes go blank, and his arms dropped to his sides. Shinso let himself shiver slightly, at both the fear he felt, and the cold permeating through the air from the heterochromic boy. He then issued his command.
Walk out of the arena.
Todoroki turned around, his body obeying him, and began to walk towards the edge of the arena, and Shinso breathed a sigh of relief, closing his eyes and wiping the frigid sweat from his forehead. He had played with fire…or ice in this case, and had managed to come out on top.
"Now," Shinso thinks, "we wait for Todoroki to leave the arena."
Shinso locked eyes on the back of his opponent's head, and noted the frost still growing across his body.
"Strange, it's almost like his body is so cold that the frost just keeps growing…I must have really touched a nerve." He shook his head.
"Oh well, I'm not here to make friends."
Todoroki approached the edge of the arena, a few steps away, but then, the boy's body twisted with a violent spasm, followed by his body tumbling back, and a loud coughing fit.
"Wha-"
Shinso felt his control slip, retreating from the dual quirked boy, and he watched as Todoroki began to stand up, turning around to meet Shinso with his gaze. The heterochromic boy's eyes are still pumping with nothing but malice.
"How-"
That was the last thing Shinso said, before his being was enveloped by a frozen apocalypse.
_________________________________________________________________________
Izuku stared at the screen in shock, his wrench dropping from his hand as he tried to process what had just occurred before his eyes. Even though his movements had stilled, his mind was blitzing rapidly, accelerating through the rationalisation of what he had just seen.
"What…what was that?"
Izuku wished he could rewind the footage, to try and observe the scene better. Instead, he only caught the one scene, and didn't have the foresight to try and process it fully right then and there.
"Ok, Izuku," he thought, trying to picture the footage again, "Shinso clearly got Todoroki under his control. He baited him before the match even started, and got Todoroki to respond…that should have been the end of it…"
"...so why wasn't it?"
Izuku ruffled his hair with frustration, playing out the ending of the fight step by step.
"Todoroki was clearly under the influence. He even turned around and started walking out! Realistically, that was the end. Shinso's control is lock and key, unless he willingly lets you go…or is it?"
Izuku looked back on the screen, "...when Shinso brainwashed Bakugo…he wouldn't have just let him go. So why did Bakugo break loose?" A thumb found its way to his chin, "not to mention Yoshida. When Yoshida fell off the horse, he seemed to break out of it…looking around in confusion…could Shinso's quirk be countered by pain?"
The amputee nodded to himself, before squinting his eyes in irritation. He began to mutter to himself again. "That certainly seems plausible…but that doesn't explain how Todoroki broke out. Todoroki was under the effects of Shinso's quirk. I know firsthand that when under the effects of his quirk, conscious action is impossible. Todoroki shouldn't have been able to perform any action. He couldn't even use his quirk."
"...his quirk…that's it!"
"Todoroki didn't have control of himself at that point…but before that, his emotional state was clearly causing his quirk to activate unconsciously. That should have ceased when he went under Shinso's quirk…but it didn't…because Todoroki couldn't stop it…"
"Todoroki, consciously or not, regulates his body temperature with his quirk…but when he loses control of his emotions, his ice clearly acts up…maybe Todoroki can't regulate his body temperature as well as we think, at least when he doesn't have conscious control. The spasm, the coughing…the frosted skin…"
"...In his anger, Todoroki gave himself frostbite…and when he went under Shinso's quirk…he was broken out by the pain caused by that!"
Izuku shoots up from where he is sitting, but stalls in his excitement when irritation permeates his chest.
"Of course, even without trying, Todoroki's quirk is just so strong that even its downsides save him…typical."
The amputee shook his head, "no…now isn't the time for anger…I learned a lot here. Shinso's quirk can be broken by pain…the level of pain is unknown, but appears minor…"
"...and Todoroki isn't immune to the effects of his ice…not without using his fire."
Izuku thinks back to his conversation with Todoroki, before the heterochromic boy's first match.
'I refuse to use his quirk, under any circumstances!'
And then, Izuku finds a new idea blooming in his head. He quickly turns to the clock.
"Depending on the length of the next matches, I have between an hour and 2 hours before I need to be on the cement, and ready…it isn't much time…"
He looks down at the rotary cuff, to the final position on the rotor that had yet to see use in the Sports Festival.
"...But luckily, I already did most of the work…all I need to do is change one small thing…"
The quirkless boy smiles, a smile that hides a novel worth of planning.
"You don't want to use your fire? Fine…"
"...but don't get mad when someone uses that against you."
Chapter 15: Stay Down
"So, this is quite the predicament you've found yourself in, isn't it, boy?"
Kan grunted, baring his orcish teeth at the older woman. He supposed that it might be intimidating in any other situation, the tactic had worked before. But handcuffed to a chair in a sterile metal room, surrounded by guards on all sides, the action may have lost some of its bite.
"Why don't you just tell me what the fuck you want, you old bag." Kan gritted out, struggling against the restraints.
If the aforementioned old bag was offended by the language, she didn't show it. Instead, her glare remained cold, but indifferent, as if a panther addressing a pinned bird. It put Kan on edge, especially given the nature of his restraints. Normally, he would just scrape and cut his wrists using the handcuffs, but they had apparently thought of that, and fitted him with padded cuffs that prevented him from drawing blood. This, plus the padded chair, could only mean one thing.
They know who he is, and what his quirk does.
"Simply put, Sekijiro…or should I call you 'Blood King Kan'?" Her glare seemed to grow even colder, "that is your little callsign amongst your gang, correct?"
'Shit,' Kan thought to himself, 'this is really bad.'
"Well, Kan, despite your young age, you have yourself quite the rap sheet." The stern woman pulled out a fairly thick manilla folder, and tossed it onto the table. She didn't open it, likely because, Kan realised, she didn't have to.
"Assault, theft, grand theft, unlawful brandishing of a weapon, drug trafficking, smuggling and even some acts of vigilantism speckled in there." Her eyes run from his face down his arms, tracing the large tattoos that littered his arms, and seeming to map the positions of the ink underneath his shirt.
"What's interesting about this, however," she continued, "is not one murder charge…not even manslaughter." She looks back at Kan, "that usually means one of two things…one, that you don't have the stomach for murder…I have a feeling that isnt it…" Kan did his best to not look insulted.
"...or two, that you may be a villain…a gang leader too…but you have morals. You have a line…a line you won't cross." She leaned in, her face breaking into a small smile, "am I correct in that assumption?"
Kan leaned forward as well, matching her glare, "...why don't you push it a bit more…and find out for yourself?"
She didn't seem impressed, merely leaning back in her chair. "...you know…I wish I could be surprised that you ended up in this situation…but I'm really not." She opens the file again, but Kan can tell that the act is all for show, and she isn't really reading anything. "Father: investment banker, minor muscular control quirk. Mother: unemployed, minor psycho-manipulation of her body. Then you…the unlucky spawn of their union, with a quirk that lets you manipulate and ossify your own blood." Her eyes flicked up to Kan, who was now baring his sharpened teeth at her, "...as soon as your quirk manifested, you were out the door…not even a moment of hesitation, really."
"So, you had to figure yourself out. You bounced from foster home to foster home, but the parents who took you in all said you were unruly, violent even…" The woman leans in, "...some say you were closer to a demon than a boy…"
"Is there a point to all this? Or are you just going to monologue about my life?" Kan grunted out, trying and failing to stymie his anger.
"The point , Kan," she adjusts her posture, sitting upright again, "is that I don't believe these reports for a second…no matter how hard you try to make it seem that they are." The woman picks up the folder, pondering it for a moment, before tossing it across the room, landing in the corner and spilling the papers everywhere. Kan stared at the report with confusion, before turning his attention back to her.
"It's often true that people will stick with their first impressions of a person when they meet them…this is an unfortunate, but dangerous aspect of the human psyche that perverts the growth of hero society." She pauses, letting her words sink in, before continuing, "do you know what we were told when we asked people you know for statements of character?"
Kan didn't say anything, but he could take a guess. His speculation was confirmed by her next statement.
"The vast majority of people, when asked about you, answered that you are violent, crude, and express troubling behaviour at best…but they always open the same way…" She pulls out a note, holding it up to read better.
"'That boy with the creepy blood quirk.'"
Kan felt a familiar spike of anger, followed by bitter acceptance. He shouldn't be surprised…everyone was all the same. They all said the same thing…no matter what he did to try to convince them otherwise…
"But," the woman interrupts his wallowing, "there was one report that stuck out to me…a statement by one 'Hanako Aiuchi'" Kan stiffens, and the stern woman notes his reaction, "...I see you're acquainted…good, that makes this easier. See, of all the statements we got…hers painted a very different picture." A second note was laid on the table, seemingly pulled from nowhere, and the woman began to read.
"Sekijiro Kan has made mistakes, many mistakes. He acts vicious, and brutal…and he tends to make the wrong choices…but I think it's because nobody ever gave him a chance." Her eyes flicker up to Kan, who is now staring at the floor of the cell through his arms, "...his life hasn't been easy…but no matter how deep he goes down that path, he still has his morals…he doesn't hurt people unless he has to, and he always tries to keep harm to a minimum."
'Stop it, Hana!' Kan thought, shaking his head, 'I'm not worth it…just hate me…hate me like everyone else…it would be so much easier.'
"So, my question is…what does Ms. Aiuchi see that nobody else does?" Kan lifts his gaze, and meets hers. A moment passes, before Kan lets a savage smirk mask his face.
"Oh, that little bitch? She was easy enough to convince…nice and naive, doesn't question a single lie I throw her way." Kan leans in, letting Blood King Kan take over, and drive his actions, "I was hoping I could get a piece, y'know? I like 'em innocent …"
The woman stares at Kan for a moment, before she sighs, and leans back again. "You know, Kan…in my position, you have to develop certain skills…one of those skills is the ability to read people…" she leans forward again. "You can change your face…put on all the false bravado you want…but your eyes are gateways into your soul…"
"...so if you're going to lie to me…at least try to be convincing."
Kan said nothing, but the confident mask of the Blood King melted from his face, leaving 16 year old Sekijiro alone, facing off against this woman.
"Do you want to know what I see in your eyes?" Despite being phrased as a question, Kan knows she expects no answer, and she continues on anyway, "...I see a boy. A boy who was written off before even getting a chance to explore his potential…I see a boy who is so used to being abandoned and left to rot, that he pushes everyone away before they have the chance to hurt him…I see a boy, who despite everything life has thrown at him…he's still here…and he still wants to do some good, but he doesn't know how."
Kan looks up at her in shock, trying to search her face for a hint of a lie, but he finds nothing. In that moment, his broad shoulders slacken, and what remained of his carefully crafted persona faded from view, leaving nothing but a scared, lonely boy sitting in that chair. He looks up at her, hiding nothing, and simply stares for a time. The two sit in silence for a few minutes, before Kan breaks the silence with hesitant, fearful words.
"What…what do you want from me?"
"You're asking the wrong question, Kan…you should be wondering what you can get from me." She pulls out two pieces of paper, holding one to her chest, and setting the other down on the table.
"The way I see it, there are two options in front of you. First, you choose to continue being exactly the monster everyone would expect of 'Blood King Kan'...and you face the consequences with a prison sentence…I'm sure I don't need to tell you that isn't ideal…" She pulls out the second paper, and puts it gently on the table. Kan scans its surface, his eyes immediately catching on the iconic logo of U.A. High School.
"...or…you can leave the Blood King behind…and make something great of yourself..."
Vlad King was broken from his musings by the crowd as they filed back into the arena. His eyes darted over to the battlefield, which had finally been thawed out after a considerable amount of time. Luckily, Shinso and Todoroki were both relatively uninjured, so the tournament could continue unimpeded.
He sighed to himself, before puffing out his chest, and walking back into the teacher's booth. The next round would start in about 15 minutes, and he didn't want to miss his last competing student's next bout.
_________________________________________________________________________
Mina took a deep breath, hyping herself up for the next match. Her opponent, Shiozaki Ibara, was a bit intimidating if she was being honest. Those vines were more versatile than they appeared. Ibara appeared to be skilled in both offensive area combat, and close quarters defensive combat. In truth, she was very skilled, despite how she appeared to suggest otherwise.
If she was being honest, the only thing she might have on Ibara is mobility. The vine haired girl appeared to remain stationary in most fights, relying on long range and sweeping area-of-effect attacks. That told Mina that either she didn't need to move too much…or she couldn't .
Maybe…Mina did have a chance after all.
Will the competitors please take the stage?!"
The blaring of Present Mic's voice triggered Mina to stand, and begin walking to the arena. When she entered the light, she could hear many of the crowd cheering. She smiled and waved for the crowd, earning more uproarious cheering. Mina's foot met cement, and she took her place across from the vine-haired girl, who appeared to be taking a moment to pray.
"Hey there!" Mina waved excitedly at her opponent, who simply raised an eyebrow. "Let's have a great fight!"
Shiozaki nods, before clasping her hands together again. "Yes…though the Lord detests violence, I have no intentions of losing."
"O…kay?" Mina tilted her head at her opponent's statement, but took a ready stance regardless.
Midnight lifted her whip above her head, and with a crack ,the match had begun.
Immediately, Ibara shot her vines into the ground, rapidly lashing them out from beneath the concrete. Mina stumbled left, narrowly avoiding a thorned whip, but was clipped in the arm by another immediately after. Again and again, Mina hopped sporadically, desperately dodging the vines as they came close, though every time, she was losing ground, being pushed further and further to the edge of the arena.
Mina launches acid forward in a large glob, catching one vine, but then is impacted by another that comes at her from the side. While still reeling from that impact, a vine lashes out, tripping her and causing her to fall prone. The pink-skinned girl feels a rumbling from underneath her, and quickly gets into a pushup position, throwing her body up and to the side. She narrowly avoids a cluster of vines that shoot out through the concrete, causing the surface to crack.
Mina rolls, and pops up into a crouch, but is immediately forced to duck as a vine shoots out at her head. She pops to her feet again, but is immediately thrown off-balance by a vine impacting her side. As she stumbles, another vine lashes out, tripping her and knocking her onto her back.
"I don't even have a chance to breathe! She just keeps tripping me up, and shoving me around! Am I just gonna let her keep doing this?"\
Instead of rolling to the side, Mina falls forward into a handstand, pushing her body up into the air with her arms, avoiding a vine that shot at her head. The vine that shot at her head then whips to the side, hitting her arm, and digging its thorns into her skin. Mina hisses in pain, but instead of flinching away, she releases a bit of acid, causing the vine to dissolve. Falling forward, she enters a standing position, rapidly spinning back around to meet her opponent.
Only for another vine to hit her directly in the nose, causing her to stumble back.
"Shit, this is bad," Mina thinks, narrowly avoiding a vine that was made to stab at her chest, "I can't get my footing! Every time I try to right myself, she just pushes me off balance again!" Mina ducked under one vine, and rolled forward, only to get slapped by a vine shooting out directly in front of her, and pushing her back. "But, why is she fighting like this?! Ibara always fought by restraining her opponents! Why isn't she doing that?"
Mina felt her mind click, "Is…is it because of my acid? Maybe the reason she hasn't grabbed me is because it wouldn't work!"
Mina was broken from her thoughts when another vine impacted her chest, knocking her to the very edge of the arena. Her back was, metaphorically, against the wall.
"Alright, Mina…it's now or never!"
Just as a vine whipped towards her knees, Mina lunged over it, tucking and rolling forward. As she lands, she unleashes a deluge of high pH acid directly in front of her in an arc, catching Ibara's second vine and dissolving it immediately. She rushed forward, falling into a cartwheel, and lashing her hand out, coating the ground in front of her with acid.
Landing on her feet, Mina skates across the acid, and notices how Ibara's vines try to pierce the thick acidic veil. The vines make it through, but most are dissolved before they can become a threat, leaving Mina to lunge forward unimpeded, skating across the ground , then flipping forward, landing into a tumble, and quickly rising into a sprint towards Ibara.
The gap between them was rapidly closing, and she saw Ibara yelp slightly, before encasing herself in a sphere of thick vines. But, instead of slowing down, Mina sped forward, holding her hands out in front of her in a cross.
"Ok," Mina nods to herself, feeling her skin pumping out a viscous acid across her body, "Moment of truth!"
At first, when Mina impacts the dome, there is nothing but the feeling of thorns digging into her flesh. But then, she heard a hissing sound, followed by the feeling of bubbling as the vines dissolved against her veil of acidic sludge. Mina felt her skin beginning to burn, the familiar sting of acid burning her skin. She may be resistant to her own acid…but that resistance had a limit.
"C'mon!" Mina shouted to herself, "Just a bit more!"
Eventually, she felt the thorny shield give way. More vines rapidly shot out trying to stop her, only to dissolve against her veil. Mina falls through the thick wall of plant matter, landing directly on top of Ibara, who lets out a yelp as Mina's acidic form impacts her body. Mina immediately grabs Ibara, and lets herself cease her acid production. The pink girl lifts Ibara like a travel bag, and throws her out of the vine dome, following quickly and leaping out of the dome just as it crashes in, desperately trying to grab the acidic girl.
Mina leaps on top of Ibara, grabbing her arms and pinning them behind her back, followed by grabbing the back of her shirt. In one swift move, Mina spins around, lifting Ibara with her, before releasing, letting the momentum carry to Ibara, and fling her out of the arena, onto the dirt just outside the cement rectangle.
"Shiozaki Ibara is out of bounds! The winner is Mina Ashido!"
The crowd erupts into cheers as Mina tries to catch her breath for a moment, before smiling and jogging over to Ibara, who is seated on the ground. The girl seems upset, staring at the dirt, lost in her own world, but is shaken out of her mind by a pink hand thrusting forward into her field of vision. Ibara looks up, seeing Mina leaning down, hand outstretched to help her up, and a wide smile on her face.
"Wow, that was close!" The pink girl closes her eyes as her smile almost seems to widen further. "You really had me on the ropes for a while there! I was worried that I wouldn't even get a hit!"
Ibara seems stunned by her gesture, before meeting Mina's smile with a small one of her own. Ibara takes her hand, and allows Mina to lift her to her feet. The vine-haired girl stands tall in front of Mina, and nods to the victor of their match.
"You did well…not many people have been able to outmanoeuvre my vines." Ibara's eyes harden, "but make no mistake, when next we fight, it will not be so easy.
Mina laughs slightly, and opens her eyes. Ibara notices the fire radiating behind her peridot irises.
"Maybe so…but don't expect me to just let you outpace me! I'm gonna get stronger too!"
The two nodded, before turning, and walking out of the arena, much to the crowd's uproarious applause.
Mina enters the tunnel, still riding the high of her victory, but the feeling evaporates after her eyes adjust to the darkness, and the visage of Katsuki Bakugo comes into view. Immediately, her mood darkens, and she feels a grimace cross her face. She notes that Bakugo is standing in the middle of the tunnel, arms crossed, squaring up to Mina, and blocking her path.
"Any reason you feel entitled to the whole tunnel? Or are you just trying to look big?"
Bakugo's glare hardens, and he bares his teeth. "You really should have thrown that match, Raccoon Eyes."
Mina rolls her eyes, and scoffs, "oh yeah? Because now I have to beat you too?" she smirks, "I know your type, Blasty. You're all bark. A big man with a fragile little ego. And any time something comes along and challenges that, it makes you feel even smaller than you already are."
Bakugo starts shaking, unclenching his hands as small pops go off in them, but Mina continues. "In short, you're nothing but a bully. And one day? One day that's going to catch up with you."
Bakugo looks ready to pounce, but then the shaking stops, and he straightens his posture.
"It isn't worth it to put you in your place now…now when nobody is there to record it." He walks past her, shoving her to the side, and causing her to stumble back. Mina moves to respond, but is interrupted.
"Once I'm finished putting Deku's bitch in the dirt…i'll make sure you understand just how bad my bite is…"
With that, Bakugo crosses into the arena, leaving Mina on her own.
_________________________________________________________________________
Mei hums to herself, merrily twisting a screw into place on her hover boots. She was performing some last minute maintenance on her babies, making sure they were in tip top shape for the upcoming bout. She wanted to make sure all those investors got a good look at her inventions at their best!
Tightening the last screw into place, Mei nodded to herself, and buckled the boots to her legs, testing the weight by lifting her legs to her chest. Hearing the call for the competitors to enter the arena, she stood up and began walking out to the arena. Upon entering the light, she noted that her opponent was already standing there, looking at her with an angry glare…or maybe that was just his eyes.
"Do you always look that angry?" Mei called out, "my mom said if you scowl all the time, eventually your face will get stuck that way. Did that happen to you?"
If anything, the blonde boy's glare seemed to deepen, which confused Mei. Was he mad at her? They hadn't spoken before…had they? She was always bad with faces and names.
The pervy lady with the whip lifted it above her head, and called out for both competitors to get ready, and with a swift crack, the match had started.
Mei activated her boots, allowing her to swiftly glide to the side of the arena, but her opponent read the movement, and released an explosion, letting him tumble towards her. With a giggle, Mei dodged the blast using her boots, swiftly moving to the side, and letting her opponent impact the ground. The explosion went off, detonating on the concrete and creating a spiderweb of cracked cement.
Mei pressed a button on her harness, letting the jetpack on her back spool up. The blonde boy lunged for her, but the jetpack shot her into the air, letting the hover boots slowly allow her to float down. The explosion boy shot up towards her, leaping on air using explosions from his palms, and Mei grabbed a device from a holster on her hip, and pointed it at her opponent. A press of the trigger, and a grapple shot out towards him, which he manoeuvred out of the way. Seeing her opponent get close, she let her hover boots decrease in power, causing her to more rapidly float to the ground, letting her opponent lunge over her.
Once she hit the cement, she pointed the grapple up at her opponent, only to be blinded by a cloud of smoke. She coughed slightly, but was interrupted by a hand thrusting out of the snake, and unleashing an explosion into her stomach. Mei is launched back by the blast, out of the smoke, and hits the ground hard, rolling slightly. She slowly tries to get to her feet, but is thwarted by a foot impacting her ribcage, causing a sharp pain to shoot up from her chest, like a knife piercing her lung.
Mei feels her breathing getting shallow, as she struggles to right herself and catch her breath. This was supposed to be a fun way to show off her babies! But this…she was really hurt. She didn't want to do this anymore! She tried to sit up, but once she reached a sitting position, an explosion went off in front of her face, briefly blinding her and causing her to fall back to the ground.
This time she rolled to her stomach, trying to use her grapple gun to pull herself away from the blonde boy. But once the line shot out, she felt a knee slam into her back, and a sizzling hot hand grabbed her wrist, causing it to burn. She began to whimper in pain, trying to struggle against his grip, but he held firm, singing her skin with his palm.
With a deafening bang, Mei felt a shrill pain shoot up her arm, accompanied by a sickening crack. The grapple gun fell from her grasp, her wrist bending to the side, and she began to claw and scrape, trying to escape the pain, but she didn't cry out. She couldn't cry out. Her voice had completely stopped working, her jaw had clamped shut. Then, she felt the impact of a palm on her back, followed by an explosion scorching her between the shoulders.
"I do not want to do this anymore! I want this to stop!" Her mind screamed out with all she could give, but her body just wouldn't respond, instead staying silent save for mutters and whimpers.
"That's right! Stay down!" The blonde boy shouted, impacting her shoulder with an explosion powered punch. Mei felt his skin blaze underneath her uniform, the patch of skin on her shoulder being severely burned by the hit. Mei shook her head, desperately looking for something to get her out of this situation. She saw the shadow of the boy's hand above her head, and desperately moved her skull to the side, letting the boy impact the concrete, causing multiple large chunks to fly loose. One of the chunks hit her in the temple, causing her to bleed. She felt him move again, and knew this time he would not miss.
Frantically, she pushed against him, but he did not give way. Instead, he grabbed her wrist, and unleashed a small explosion. She felt her bones strain, maybe even crack against the force, but that only caused him to start to smile at her, teeth bared like an angry predator. He slammed his hand into her stomach again, causing her entire body to spasm in pain.
"Please…please stop this!"
_________________________________________________________________________
"Somebody…put a stop to this now!"
Izuku had formerly been focused solely on his project, though he had been trying to simultaneously work and gather some more information about his potential future opponents. But now, he was no longer looking at his project. Instead, his attention was fixed solely onto the small screen, watching as his classmate was being brutalised by Bakugo. He didn't dare move, desperately crying out to nobody, as the workshop was empty save for him.
He watched as Mei twisted underneath Bakugo, but the explosive blonde grabbed her, and kept unleashing explosions while pinning her to the ground. She was clawing and scraping, hoping to escape his grasp, but she didn't cry out. Throughout all of this, her mouth remained shut, though her eyes were wild like a cornered animal.
After some more agonising blows, Bakugo stood off of her, and Mei tried to crawl away, albeit weakly, as if barely clinging to the will to run. Bakugo grabbed her leg, and released an explosion, causing her hover boot to crack and disassemble, crumbling into nothing but wires and steel. Izuku swears he sees her ankle twist under the force of the explosion, and he sees her body sharply spasm in pain. Still, she kept crawling, leading to Bakugo destroying the other boot. Bakugo moved around her, moving to her side.
"Stop the fight, dammit!" Izuku cried desperately, but nobody heard, and Bakugo delivered a swift kick to her side. Mei doubled over, and tried to rise to her hands and knees again, but Bakugo swiftly put an end to that with another blow to her side, this time with an explosion powered fist, causing her to fall over again. Izuku saw bruises and burns blossoming on her face. Her eyes were getting foggy, but filled with unshed tears of agony, and Izuku moved even closer to the screen, as if proximity to the screen was the reason his cries went unanswered. "Please! Can't you see she's hurt?! Why are they letting this keep going?!"
Bakugo kicked Mei in the side again, and Izuku felt a familiar ghost of pain on his ribs. His hand flew to his side.
Tears were welling in Izuku's eyes, as he gripped the sides of the screen, His throat felt hoarse, and his ears rang with the sound of pumping blood.
"...Why?"
Another kick, causing Mei to gasp violently in pain, and tumble. And still, she tried to lift her body.
"...Why won't you just stay down ?"
The visage of his pink haired classmate had been glossed over, as if by projection, and now the familiar form of himself, lying on the ground in his middle school uniform, burns and bruises littering his body, took up his vision.
"It'll be over quicker…if you just stay down."
The arena is gone, now replaced by his middle school classroom. Mei was now himself, and Bakugo was laughing with his cronies once again.
"Just…just give him the satisfaction…let him feel big…it will end sooner if you just give him what he wants. Just don't get up… please don't get up!"
"So then why didn't you?"
His mind snaps back to reality, where Mei In her desperation, had grabbed a sizable chunk of concrete from in front of her, eyes closed, and whirled her body around, swinging the rock wildly. He watched as the piece of rock impacted Bakugo's temple, causing his head to fly wildly to the side. There was a moment where the world stood still, save for the blood that now trickled down Bakugo's head. But that moment was lost when Bakugo's face twisted with rage, and he doubled his assault against the prone girl, who desperately flailed, trying to stop him.
Izuku sat, silent, as he watched his abuser relentlessly tear into his classmate, though through his eyes, all he saw was a play-by-play of that day. Sprinting into that hero and begging for help, only to be left wanting. Trying to escape into his home, only to be brought upon there as well. The feeling of two pairs of hands pinning him to the ground. A hot, searing palm resting on his shoulder.
He felt tears falling freely now.
His throat caught, but he managed to choke out another, faint, "...stop…please."
As if finally hearing his prayers, he saw Midnight charge the field, pushing Bakugo away from Mei, who now lay on the floor of the arena, shattered, and unconscious. The R-rated hero glared at Bakugo, but reluctantly called the match in his favour.
The arena was silent. Present Mic had not said a word. The crowd simply sat there, in shock, as Mei's broken body was lifted out of the arena by medical bots. Bakugo was already moving towards the tunnel, letting the staff clear the arena. If he noticed the silence, he didn't seem to care. But Izuku recognized the self righteous satisfaction on his face. The look of Bakugo after putting someone in 'their place'.
He clenched his fists. He heard the creaking of metal, and felt the strain of his palm as he watched that monster refill his ego, like a car at a gas station, greedily drinking his fill. Finally, he turned away from the arena, towards the project in front of him, and grabbed the liquid rubber seal, putting the final touch on the device.
"...Focus, Izuku…don't get lost in your own head. …For now, keep your mind focused on the mountain in front of you." Re-buckling the suit, he tested the joints, feeling the whirr of power emanate from his open shoulder cap.
"One more match…and then I'm coming for you, Bakugo ." His voice spat the word out, as if the mere mention of it caused him to grow sick.
"...and I'm going to make you pay ."