Chapter 14: Fated Battle Between Rivals
Izumi felt conflicted. The past week, as she and Mei had gotten closer and more intimate, it also became harder for her to hide her attraction to Mina, Ochako, Tooru, and even Eiko, Tsu, Setsuna, Yui, Momo and Jiro. She felt awful most of the time. Mei was already too good for someone so greedy, in her mind. It didn't help that with the Sports Festival approaching the girls spent a lot of time together, and with Mei and Izumi practically dating at that point, she was also joining in more and more frequently.
However, that wasn't on the forefront of her mind at the moment. She was in class, after a particularly stressful lunch, during which both Hitoshi and Momo had been notably absent, and during which Mina and Mei had decided to cling to her in such a way that she sincerely feared for her blood pressure.
As the class bell rang, she was surprised to see Aizawa tagging along with All Might. "Today, class, we'll have a bit of a special lesson in preparation for the sports festival." The class grew excited at the hero's declaration, while Momo and Hitoshi simply nodded their heads, their eyes focused.
"Two years ago, one of our students had a quirk accident during the festival, which resulted in him exposing himself on national television." Aizawa droned. "In order to prevent such a thing from happening once again, we have since organised a preliminary spar between hero classes. So put on your gear and meet us in Gym Iota" Izumi tensed at that. There was a very real possibility that she would end up paired up with Bakugou, and it was a battle she was not emotionally ready for. Little did she know exactly why Hitoshi and Momo had been called away during lunch.
The two students sat in Nezu's office, staring at the cups of black tea offered to them. "Excuse me, sir, but may I inquire as to why you have requested us so suddenly?" Momo asked, taking a sip of the tea.
Nezu simply smiled and slid two dossiers towards each of them. "These are two rather problematic students in class 1-B. One of them shows the slightest bit of promise, despite his… everything, while the other is unfortunately a lost cause, but one I cannot expel due to his family's influence on the board." The two students grimaced as they flipped through the files, especially Momo.
"So?" Hitoshi raised an eyebrow at the principal. "What are we supposed to do about them? I've seen this guy before, and he looked like a total psycho to me." Momo nodding, a disgusted look on her face as she looked at the perverted grape's metre long file of sexual harassment accusations.
"What I need from you is simple." Nezu stated. "And entirely optional. Today, you will engage in a spar with class 1-B, with the actual intent of testing these two students. You are to fight them, and eliminate them with prejudice in case they do anything funny."
"What's your angle, sir?" Hitoshi looked at the dean sceptically. "You want us to give you reason to expel them, then?"
Nezu grinned. "In Mineta's case, yes. He's a lost cause, only interested in heroics for popularity and to attract girls." Both students glowered at his file. "In Bakugou's case, think of him more as a villain in need of rehabilitation. A personal student of mine requested that he be allowed in for that specific purpose, and I intend to honour her request."
Hitoshi nodded, the dots connecting in his head. "This guy… he bullied Izumi for being quirkless, didn't he?" Momo looked at the boy, startled. Her face grew shocked as Nezu nodded in confirmation. "I'm in." Shinso smirked.
"And this… Mineta. I'm guessing you need someone who 'outranks' him, so to speak. His family has influence over UA's board, while mine has near direct control." Momo sighed as his plan became clear to her.
"Indeed. You may, of course, refuse." Nezu said, confident that she wouldn't.
"I'll do it." She said, her face turning nearly predatory as both she and Hitoshi looked through the files, Hitoshi finding a conveniently placed page containing details and strategy for defeating Bakugou.
'Izumi wrote this, didn't she? How many times must she have fought him if she knows this much about his fighting style?'
The two hero classes arrived at the gym, whose structure was mostly a large sparring ring surrounded by bleachers. Izumi was once again disguised as Mistral, really dreading any sort of confrontation with Bakugou. However, her plans immediately went to shit the second Monoma locked eyes with her. "Oh, so the high and mighty Midoriya Izumi chooses to still hide behind her transformations? I certainly didn't peg you as a coward." He sneered, as Izumi's friends immediately became defensive.
"Really, Monoma? Fine, have it your way." Izumi tapped the symbol on her chest and reverted to her human form, still standing taller than everyone in the room save for Vlad King and All Might.
"Oh, man, those juicy thighs, those heavenly fruits, I wanna grab and squeeze them so bad! This is so unfair!" Mineta practically drooled as all the girls and most of the guys looked at him with complete disgust.
"Shut the hell up you perverted grape!" Bakugou shouted. "DEKU!" He pointed directly at Izumi. "So you do have a quirk… YOU OWE ME SOME FUCKING ANSWERS!"
"Dude, you deaf or something?" Setsuna taunted. "He literally just said her name." She gestured at a scoffing Monoma
Izumi placed a hand on her shoulder, and shook her hand. "It's alright, Set. Bakugou here has called me Deku since we were little. When we were still learning Kanji, he misread my name as Deku, as in a useless hollow puppet. When I was misdiagnosed as quirkless, that became all he would ever call me." Most of class 1-B and all of class 1-A turned to Bakugou with disgust, almost as much as was levelled towards Mineta.
"You sneaky fucking-" He growled, before he was interrupted by a bellow.
"That is enough, Young Bakugou." All Might said. Bakugou still couldn't understand why All Might had never once smiled towards him, from minute one. It hurt. He only stopped smiling when he was looking at…. the worst kinds of villains. Bakugou promptly quieted, his expression for once being one of contemplation. "As we explained, we will be doing a preliminary spar in preparation for the sports festival. These will be One on One, and will last until one side is immobilised, out of bounds, or ten minutes have passed. Are we clear?" The students nodded their heads. "Good. Now, for our first match, we have Midoriya against Monoma."
The blonde from 1-B sneered, confident in his own victory as he patted some of his classmates. Izumi simply stood up and approached All Might. "Any restrictions?" She asked.
"None, young Midoriya. Just don't hurt him too bad." He smiled at her.
"I know just who to go with." She smiled as she walked into the arena, facing the blonde. "Let's have a good match, then, Monoma."
"As if I could expect any sportsmanship from you." He said, sneering at her in his penguin suit. "I wonder what sort of petty trick you'll come up with, with those pathetic transformations of yours." Her smile immediately dropped.
"Begin!" All Might announced.
"You know, Monoma, I've been wondering something. For someone who relies on teamwork to make the most of your quirk…" Without transforming, she suddenly vanished as she poured 18% of One for All into her body, landing a mighty kick that knocked the air out of him. "Why the hell are you so unlikeable?"
Class 1-B looked at her in shock, and Bakugou fumed, but didn't dare speak lest he say something that would lead to his expulsion. "Wait, she can do that? Isn't her quirk a transformation type?" Kamakiri gasped.
"She said her quirk was called Unstable Genetics. It's a transformation quirk that also stockpiles energy that she can use, even in her human form. Since she needed a support item to even use it, she didn't know she had a quirk until she did actual bloodwork. Apparently her first doctor was a quack who only did the X-rays of her foot." Shoda commented.
Bakugou raised his eyebrow. "The hell you on about, Shorty? Isn't the joint proof that someone's quirkless?"
"Where the heck did you hear that from, Bakugou?" Sero questioned. "That test only works, like, 90% of the time. Most doctors just test for the quirk gene directly, since it's actually guaranteed."
"I myself have a second joint, and it's apparently still common among those with mutant and stockpiling quirks, though those are, themselves, rare." Shishida added.
Bakugou frowned. 'The hell? So… she really could have had a quirk all this time… No, it has to be a lie… somehow. This is way too strange.' He looked back to the fight. It seemed her kick hadn't actually thrown Monoma out of bounds, as he landed mere millimetres away from the border.
The blonde wobbled as he got up, finally activating his borrowed quirks, his skin turning metal as he sprouted two more pairs of arms, which began to rotate quickly. "Cheap shot. Let's see how you like this!" He pummelled her with strike after strike, though none of them found their mark, at most glancing against her skin, as Izumi felt them coming through Danger Sense and could react fast enough due to Full Cowl. "Why can't I hit you, dammit?" He grunted through gnashing teeth.
Izumi smirked. "Skill issue." She proceeded to counter attack suddenly as she found an opening. "Boston Smash!" She yelled out, calling the name she came up with on the spot for using a sucker punch as a counter. Her strike hit its mark perfectly, crashing into his chin. Despite his hardened skin, the force that impacted him still rattled his squishy organs, causing him to wobble backwards.
"Tch, are surprise attacks all you have? I guess you really are a coward." He barely had time to raise his six arms before he felt the metal that made up his skin crumple under the strength of her punch.
"Chicago Smash!" It was her turn to unleash a flurry of blows at lightning speeds, her limbs sparking with green lightning as she finished off with another kick to his side. Monoma managed to endure, despite feeling quite a lot of pain. "How's that for a surprise attack?"
Monoma's eyes twitched as he once again went on the offensive. However, just as she dodged his first attack, his palm suddenly exploded, too quickly for her to react, even with Danger Sense. Her classmates winced as she was struck. "Not so cocky now, are you?" He smirked, speaking without a shred of self awareness.
Suddenly, he felt a chill run down his spine as his eyes met hers. Her pupils were contracted, and her irises were glowing a toxic green. She completely disappeared from his vision for a brief moment, before her large palm wrapped around his face and lifted him off the ground, before slamming his head into the floor, hard. Before he could recover, her other hand took hold of his foot and she proceeded to slam him, over and over, into the ground, face first, before completely throwing him out of the ring, his back slamming into the wall of the gym as his hardening finally failed him. "I've endured the original for thirteen years, Monoma." She snarled. "That wasn't even close."
"That's enough, Midoriya." Aizawa chided. "The match is over."
She bowed to her professor, then to her downed opponent. "Excuse me, Sensei. I'm not very fond of explosions." She muttered, and Aizawa motioned for her to go back to the stands.
"Monoma said we had to worry about her transformations…" Tsuburaba mumbled.
"But she doesn't even need them…" Shoji completed. Perhaps they could beat her with adequate preparation, but it was clear she was pushing herself to her limits with her training, if her toned body was anything to go by.
Over at the 1-A stands, Izumi was received rather warmly by her friends. "Damn, Midori, you kicked ass out there!" Setsuna grinned.
"It was a rather impressive display." Momo noted.
Mina was clutching her sides as she giggled. "You totally pulled a Hulk out there, I bet that guy's gonna be feeling that for weeks!"
"Yeah, I kinda went overboard there." Izumi scratched the back of her neck. "But since the USJ, I've managed to increase my control quite a lot. I can use about 18% safely now." She turned to Eiko. "We should test how your Hardening holds up!" The red haired girl smiled and gave her a thumbs up.
"What the fuck? That was 18%?!" Kamakiri whisper-shouted to his classmates.
"Merde." Aoyama paled for a moment.
"Deku…" Bakugou growled. He clenched his fist as his rage bubbled over. 'Damnit. I don't know how the hell she got that kind of power, but it doesn't matter. I can still beat her. I can still fucking crush that worthless wannabe.'
All Might cleared his throat. "Next, we'll have Todoroki facing off against Honenuki." Todoroki strode to the arena, not uttering a single word, while Honenuki was at least cheered on by some of his classmates. "Begin!"
The arena was immediately covered in a glacier that completely trapped the skull-faced student. "Fuck, that's bullshit!" Awase cursed.
"Well, it seems our winner is…" However, before All Might could announce the end of the match, the glacier suddenly began to soften, as did the arena's ground, and Todoroki soon found himself trapped, with only his head above the ground as the ground hardened once again, Honenuki standing before him, having escaped by swimming through the liquified ground. "Allow me to amend that, our winner is Honenuki Juzo!"
Both 1-B and 1-A applauded the match, with Tooru feeling a sort of vindication at Todoroki's loss. "Damn, that was quick. That Honenuki guy's quirk sure is something." She mumbled, noticing that Izumi was completely out of it, writing in her notebook furiously.
"Now, we have Hagakure and Aoyama!" The invisible girl stood up, startled slightly by the announcement and her friends' cheering.
She stood in the Arena, opposite Aoyama. She recognised him after a moment. "You're the guy who almost hit me!" She clicked her tongue. "Seems you'll be seeing a lot more of me."
Aoyama seemed to remember her, then. "Ah, oui. Frankly, I'm vraiment surpris that you managed to get in." He chuckled. "After all, you had to compete with my radiance." She clenched her fist.
Just then, Aizawa walked up to her. "Hagakure. This is a training exercise. Weapons, please." She pouted at her professor, and proceeded to take out every single weapon from her hero costume. Over the past few weeks, Izumi and Mei had, in fact, given her practically every weapon she could think of, and thus she pulled out several knives, shuriken, kunai, poisoned darts, bombs, and even a crossbow. Still, with all those weapons in his hands, Aizawa simply raised his eyebrow. "And the batons."
Tooru huffed. "Seriously?" She pulled out her electric batons from her side pouches and handed them to her professor.
"Yes, Hagakure. We don't want to overwork Recovery Girl. These things knocked down grown men with a single hit, and some of them now have severe burn scars." The boys in 1-B suddenly looked at her with caution. They hadn't thought much of the invisible girl, but seeing the sheer amount of weaponry she had on her made them feel a twinge of fear.
She shrugged. "I could lower them to just 10 milliamps?"
Aizawa scowled. "That's still too much, Hagakure. Enough to cause serious involuntary contractions." Aoyama blinked. Her low setting was still that dangerous?
"Ahem!" All Might cleared his throat. "May we begin?" Aizawa nodded, and the two students bowed towards each other. "Begin!" Tooru immediately turned invisible as Aoyama fired off his sparkling laser. However, Monoma's information had, in fact, been faulty. Tooru, at Izumi's insistence, had been training her ass off with her light refraction, especially against Izumi's Opticoid form, Panoptica.
Her reaction was instinctive. She raised her hands as the laser reached her, and concentrated as she began to feel the light enter her field of control. For a second, her invisibility flickered, as she used all her power to redirect the beam back towards its source. Aoyama's confident grin immediately paled as he was hit square in the chest by his own laser, immediately launching him out of the arena. "Owie! My sparkle!"
"What the heck? Didn't Monoma say she was just invisible?" Tsuburaba muttered.
Bakugou huffed. "Dumbasses. Being invisible must just be a side effect of Ghostie's real quirk. It's some kind of light refraction." They looked at him with shock, mostly at the fact that he was speaking without his usual frothing rage. "What?! It's your fault you can't notice obvious shit!"
Izumi grimaced as he spoke, but decided to shift her attention to congratulating Tooru. "You were great, Tooru-chan! Finally got refraction figured out?"
"Yeah, kinda. I've still got a long way to go, but I think I'm finally getting the hang of it!" She smiled.
"That's awesome, Tooru! You pulled a uno reverse card on that guy like a pro!" Ochako cheered, as All Might went to call the next match.
"Next up, we have Kodai versus Ojiro. Step up, you two!" All Might smiled.
"Mm." Yui nodded, as did Ojiro. She walked up to Aizawa before going into the arena. "Do I need to leave my gear?" She said, her voice quiet, but it was clear she was making an effort to speak more.
"Do you have anything sharp or electric?" She shook her head. "Then you're good to go." She nodded, entering the arena.
"Begin!" Ojiro was immediately on the offensive, leaving little room for her to do anything but defend. However, he was also cautious enough to leave himself an out. That proved to be wise as she suddenly pulled out a long staff. He went to block her strike, when suddenly the staff shrank, bypassing his guard, and proceeded to expand, hitting him directly in the chest.
They continued to trade blows, with Ojiro having the upper edge in a physical confrontation, until she suddenly pulled a pair of marbles from her pocket and threw them. As he went to block them, they suddenly expanded into nearly the size of baseballs, and hit him with surprising force. He grimaced as he saw her expression had remained the same ever since the fight began, but he could feel her intense focus and excitement through her eyes.
He went back on the offensive, until she pulled out a small disk from her pocket and expanded it into a shield she could bash him with. She led with another strike of her staff, which was now about the size of a stick. However, when he went to block it, already expecting her to pull the same trick as before, he suddenly felt a jolt of pain as his arm was nearly broken by the staff, which seemed to weigh much more than before. Distracted by the pain, he couldn't block her next attack, which expanded the staff enough to push him out of bounds. "The winner is Kodai!"
Ojiro looked up and saw Yui extending a hand, which he took, using his tail to push himself up as well. "That was a good match, Kodai-san."
Her serious expression never left her face, but he swore he could see the smallest trace of a smile. "Mm. It was. I hope we face off again." They bowed to each other and returned to their specific classes. Yui revelled in the praise that her classmates gave her, especially Izumi, Momo and Ochako.
All Might smiled as he read the next matchup. "Ashido and Fukidashi, you're up!" He pointed his thumb back at the arena.
Mina turned to Izumi and smirked. "Kiss me good luck?"
Izumi immediately went red, but in a move that nobody actually expected, did in fact give her a kiss on the cheek, looking at her friend sheepishly. "G-good luck." Mina also turned lilac, though her smile only grew.
Beside them, Tooru huffed. "Dammit. I should have thought of that!" Yui hummed beside her.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the gym, Mineta seethed at the sight, as his eyes began crying blood. "It's not faair! Those hot chicks are seriously just a bunch of dykes?" The girls, especially Izumi and Kyouka, gave him murderous glares.
Mina faced Fukidashi, smiling confidently, still on a bit of a high because of the kiss. Her costume had gone through changes after the USJ. Izumi and Mei had developed a thermal insulating cloth at her request. She had wanted to have a bodysuit as her hero costume, but had given up because of her need for high temperatures.
However, after her previous costume was burned and melted, the two support students had insisted on giving her an upgrade. Her new costume was tested against her strongest acids, and only her strongest one actually managed to meaningfully corrode it. The fabric was breathable, fire resistant up to 1500°C, and in her opinion very flattering. It was purple with teal highlights, and had some synthetic white fur made of the same material as the rest of her costume.
"Begin!" All Might announced, the two students immediately dropping into combat stances.
"That bodysuit looks kinda cold." Fukidashi said. "Let me help you with that! Scorch!" The 1-A students were impressed to see a wave of fire in the form of a word forming from his shout, and were rather amused by his misplay.
The 1-B students expected her to dodge. From the explanation Monoma gave them, her acid would be useless if evaporated. However, they did not expect her to smile as she basked in the heat. "Aah, now that hits the spot! Like taking a nice, relaxing lava bath!" She sighed, missing the few times she had in fact done so. Suddenly, her skin began secreting a liquid that set her ablaze, as she began running towards her opponent.
"What the fuck?!" Kamakiri just stared at the insane scene.
"I swear, Monoma is such an idiot." Kaibara facepalmed as some of his classmates nodded.
"Dude, that girl is manly as hell!" Tetsutetsu grinned.
Over on the 1-A benches, Eiko cheered for her friend. "Go Mina! That's manly as hell!"
The two then looked at each other and blinked.
Fukidashi, suddenly terrified by the blazing figure rushing him, barely had time to speak again before being punched out of the ring. "And she's that strong?! That's bullshit." Awase grumbled.
"Well, she did get second place in the exams." Shoda commented.
"Eh, I could take her." Bakugou scoffed dismissively.
"The winner is Ashido!" All Might quickly called the match as Mina extinguished herself and went to help Fukidashi.
"Didn't hit you too hard, did I?" She asked, pulling him to his feet.
"Eh, mostly bruised pride. You totally caught me off guard with that move." He admitted.
Mina grinned. "No worries, my guy. My body's actually made of tungsten instead of regular carbon, so I'm nearly immune to heat, but I'm really weak to cold, though my costume helps with that too."
"Damn. is that one of the secondary mutations Midoriya-sensei told us about?" He asked.
She shrugged. "Eh, kinda. I have a dual quirk, so it's a bit more complicated than that." The boy just nodded, and both went back to their classes. Mina grinned as she saw Izumi, red as a tomato. "Seems that kiss really did give me some good luck."
"I… uh… you're welcome?" Izumi sputtered, causing the girls to giggle at her embarrassment.
"For our sixth match of the day, Kirishima will face off against Kamakiri!" All Might announced, and 1-A gave their resident manly girl words of encouragement. She looked at Izumi for a moment, confusing the girl, but didn't do anything besides smile.
"Let's have ourselves a clean match, you two." Vlad King stated, watching as they bowed and adopted a combative stance. Blades grew on Karakiri's arms, while Eiko's skin became hardened and jagged in appearance.
"Oh, your quirk's just like Tetsutetsu's." Kamakiri grinned. "Let's see how long you last before I cut you up!"
Eiko readied herself, focusing all her energy onto Hardening. "Give it your best shot!"
"Begin!" Kamakiri instantly leapt forward, his blades sparking as they collided with Kirishima's hardened skin. She smiled as his blades continued to slash at her, barely making a dent.
'Harder! I need to be harder! It's taking all my concentration to keep it up!' She roared as his ceaseless attack continued, already beginning to scrape against the lowest layer of hardened skin. 'I've been training non stop these past few weeks. And I'm not gonna let you win!'
Kamakiri grinned as he brought down his bladed arm, intent on cutting through the girl's defences. However, he had been attacking for minutes without rest, and he finally slipped up. His blade was caught by her hardened hand, and snapped with a twist of her wrist. He barely had time to think before a punch made of stone impacted his jaw, sending him reeling.
Eiko didn't let him recover, throwing punch after hardened punch, before reaching for his arm and throwing him out of the arena. Kamakiri got up on his own, shaking off the damage he'd sustained. Eiko extended a hand to him, which he took. "That was really manly, my dude!" She smiled at him. "Hope we can fight again like that."
Kamakiri grinned. "You're tough, Kirishima-san. But next time, I won't lose!"
"Can't wait." She challenged, and they both returned satisfied to their respective benches. Kamakiri laughed as he got to his class.
"Man, I can't believe they have their own Tetsu. She even has his whole manly schtick down pat." His classmates chuckled, and Tetsu laughed along with them.
"You had us scared for a bit there, Eiko." Setsuna said as the red haired girl returned.
"He was tough, but really manly!" Eiko grinned. "I just managed to tank more than he could dish out, is all."
Izumi smiled at her. "You've been getting a lot stronger since we started training, Eiko! Don't sell yourself short."
Eiko blushed slightly. "Thanks, dude." She sat down, still grinning. "But yeah, all the training's finally paying off."
All Might smiled. This was going better than he expected. "Next up, we have Uraraka and Tetsutetsu!"
Uraraka lightly dusted herself off. "Looks like I'm up!" She smiled, before looking at Izumi and hesitating. "Um… could I get a good luck kiss too?" She asked sheepishly.
Izumi once again blushed. "I… uh… good luck, Ochako." She kissed the girl on the cheek, same as Mina.
She then felt a slight slap on her arm, and looked to see Setsuna, feigning shock. "Midori, I can't believe you'd two time Mina like that!"
Izumi nearly went catatonic. "No, wait, I didn't! I wouldn't! I…" She flustered as her entire class, save for a few students, fell into roaring laughter. "You guys!" She pouted, crossing her arms.
Ochako skipped over to the arena, facing Tetsutetsu, who was grimacing. "I don't think it's manly to hit a girl…"
The brunette frowned, her eyes becoming focused as her competitive spirit was ignited. "And I don't think it's manly to disrespect an opponent like that." She spat.
He looked surprised for a moment, then nodded and smiled. "You're totally right. Let's have ourselves a manly fight, Uraraka!"
"Ready?" The two nodded. "Begin!" The two rushed each other, Tetsutetsu activating his quirk, which covered his whole body in a metallic sheen. He threw a straight punch at Uraraka, who dodged by activating her quirk on herself, dispelling the queasiness by using the stored force to vault over him and tag him in the back with her entire hand. She cancelled the quirk on herself and changed the boy's gravity vector to essentially make him fall backwards at great speed, cancelling the effect before he could crash into the wall like Monoma.
Ochako immediately went to help him up as the match was called in her favour. "You okay? I didn't overdo it, did I?" She asked, taking his hand to bring him to his feet.
"Never better, my dudette!" He grinned. "You totally caught me off guard. Sorry again for being an idiot."
She shook her hand, still smiling. "Don't worry about it. I mean, heroines are still treated as weak by a lot of folks, and it hurts, sure. But you're okay in my book."
The steel boy smiled as they shook hands. "So manly!" She giggled at his antics, the two of them returning to their seats.
"Asui and Shoji, you two are next." Aizawa took over for a moment as All Might took a moment to check on the students that needed to get healed, which were mainly Monoma and Aoyama, so far.
Tsu also requested a good luck kiss from Izumi, which she reluctantly gave, before stepping onto the arena to face the multi-limbed boy. "Okay, begin!" Tsuyu hopped around the arena, trying to use her agility against the boy. However, she saw him turn some of his hands into eyes, which he used to keep track of her movements.
She managed to hit him with a kick, which did less damage than she expected, and led to her being grabbed. She managed to get away after a tongue slap made him flinch and let her go as he wiped the saliva off of him. "Ribbit, sorry about that." She croaked.
"No need. You used one of the tools in your arsenal, nothing wrong with that." he responded, using a mouth that appeared on one of his arms. Suddenly, more arms grew over his already existing ones, as he rushed her with a flurry of strikes. She managed to dodge most of them, but a few lucky hits sent her back, disorienting her enough that he managed to throw her off the arena.
"You got me, ribbit. Good match." She said, getting up on her own and patting the dirt off her suit.
"It was." Shoji nodded. "I might have lost if you had been more aggressive from the start. Your kick was nothing to sneeze at." They shook hands and returned to their respective sections, awaiting the next match.
"Next up are Tokage and Bondo. Come on, we're wasting time." Aizawa droned.
Setsuna grinned devilishly as Izumi rolled her eyes and gave her a quick peck on the cheek. "Midori, how forward!" She gasped dramatically. "Kissing me out of nowhere? Have you no shame?"
Izumi huffed. "Fine, then, I guess I won't do it again… ever."
Setsuna became slightly flustered. "Wait, Midori, let's not be too hasty! I was just teasing."
Izumi turned her head away from her, pretending not to hear. "No! Come on, don't be like that!" She pleaded.
"Setsuna, get your ass over here." Aizawa commanded, sick of her antics.
As she left, Izumi snorted, breaking her mask of irritation as she began to giggle. "Oh, no. Midori learned how to tease back." Tooru chuckled.
"We're doomed!" Mina exclaimed as she joined in the laughter.
Tokage twisted her head and blew a raspberry at them. "Begin!" Aizawa declared as she was still distracted. Bondo started their match by spewing a large wave of glue at Setsuna, which covered her legs and began to harden. However, through splitting herself apart, she managed to escape via the hole formed by her torso.
The large boy couldn't dodge the tornado of human parts, swatting them away as she swarmed him with a grin on her face. He then felt two arms grabbing onto his costumes and dragging him away, as he futilely resisted, before being dropped out of bounds. Aizawa sighed. "Tokage wins. We'll have to switch arenas again…" He pinched the bridge of his nose in irritation.
As they moved to another arena, this time an open one, Setsuna kept trying to talk to Izumi, who was enjoying not being the one who was flustered, for once. "Look, I'm sorry, okay?" She said. "I was being a dick."
Izumi smirked at the girl. "You were. And you finally got a taste of your own medicine."
"Midori!" Setsuna pouted.
"Want me to revoke your good luck kiss privileges again?" Izumi raised her eyebrow.
"I didn't say that!" Setsuna backpedalled, earning a pat on the head by Izumi, which for once had the usually unflappable girl completely flushed.
Off to the side, Tooru whispered to Ochako. "Where the hell did that come from?"
Ochako pouted and whispered back. "I dunno, but it's definitely not fair."
Tsu croaked next to them. "Ribbit. I want her to top me." She said, not missing a beat.
"Tsu!" Ochako hissed. "You can't say stuff like that!" Her face was completely red, and Tooru thanked the gods for being invisible, for once.
"But it's true, ribbit." Tsu simply stated.
Since All Might had returned, along with Recovery Girl, who wanted to expedite the healing process, he once again took over the referee position. "For our tenth match, give it up for Kaminari and Tsuburaba!" The two classes clapped along with All Might's theatrics as Kaminari and Tsuburaba got up with grins on their faces. However, before he could walk over to the arena, the electric quirk user felt a hand on his shoulder.
"Kaminari, you don't know what this guy's quirk is. Be careful." Hitoshi warned. "Remember, you can't just go all out with a single attack."
Kaminari smiled. "Don't worry, dude. I learned my lesson. Last resort only. Plus, I got some tricks up my sleeve." His smile turned into a smirk.
"Begin!" Kaminari went for a direct attack, only to be stopped by an invisible wall.
"Heh, what now, Sparky?" Tsuburaba taunted, as he created another barrier to Denki's side. "You're gonna get yourself walled up!"
Denki immediately chose to create some distance, forcing Tsuburaba to come to him. He extended the whips from his gauntlets, letting them spark with electricity as they hit the floor. However, they were still not enough to break the solid air. Seeing as his hits were useless, he instead opted to take something out of his pack and throw it at his opponent, missing the mark entirely as his classmates groaned.
"Dude, how are you this bad a shot! I'm like three metres away." Tsuburaba chuckled.
Denki smirked. "Oh, it landed right where I wanted it." He pointed two fingers at Tsuburaba. "Since my normal attacks can't get through, I changed the playing field. Sharpshooter: 50 Thousand Volts!" He shouted, creating a bolt of lightning that travelled from the tips of his fingers to the device he'd thrown behind his opponent, shattering the barriers he'd created and electrocuting the boy, who fell to the ground, steaming, but still breathing evenly. Kaminari blew out the slight smoke coming off his fingers. "Lightning rod, son."
"Kaminari is the winner!" All Might called the match, class 1-B watching their classmate get taken away in a stretcher.
"Sorry, dude!" Kaminari shouted at the unconscious Tsuburaba. "I kinda went overboard." He winced at the slap he received on the back of his head from Aizawa.
"This was a training exercise, Kaminari. That was way too much force." He chided.
"Damn, since when is that guy strategic?" Jirou muttered, slightly impressed.
"I know, right?" Hitoshi agreed.
"Next up, Yanagi and Rin!" All Might announced. Reiko got up and stood on a small disk, which she used to float herself to the arena, hovering across from the scaled boy.
"And so, a dragon faces a ghost. Will your scales resist my might?" She said, in a slightly wispy tone.
Rin just tilted his head, confused, then he sighed. "Oh, great, another Kuroiro." He mumbled.
"Begin!" All might shouted, and Rin immediately raised his hands and shot a volley of scales towards the floating girl. However, she just raised her hand and stopped the projectiles mid-air. With the sharp scales under her control, she formed a large circular saw, which she sent back towards Rin. It became clear that he had no effective way of beating her as it was. Any projectiles he sent her way would just become ammunition for her, and the disk she was using to hover made his close range attacks useless as well.
However, he didn't give up just yet. If her greatest advantage was that she could float out of reach, he would just need to knock her off. It was easier said than done, and though none of her attacks managed to push him out or defeat him, he was also incapable of taking her down. The bell rang, signalling the end of the match. "The match ends in a draw! Good work, you two." All Might gave them a thumbs up.
"It seems we were evenly matched, though I fear I may have lost if it had gone on for any longer." Reiko said, shaking his hand.
"You were pretty tough, not gonna lie. But you did point out a weakness of mine. I will endeavour to make up for it." He nodded, separating and walking back to his class.
"Good, now we'll have Tokoyami against Kuroiro." The two chuunis walked up to the arena, facing each other.
"Oh, a challenger to my title as shadowmaster?" Kuroiro snickered. "Who are you, pretender?"
Sadi came out of Fumikage, her yellow eyes staring at the pitch black boy. "Oh, great, another edgelord. Get your own material, jackass!" She shouted, making Kuroiro blink with surprise.
"Silence, dark sister." Tokoyami squawked. "I assure you I am no pretender, dark one." He said in a deep baritone. "The darkest shadow lives within me. It is with me at every moment, and she speaks to me."
"Begin!" All Might said, and Fumikage mentally commanded Sadi, calling her to cover him in a mantle of darkness.
"Dark Shadow, Black Abyss!" His body was covered in pitch black shadow, Sadi being mostly contained within his cloak to protect herself from sunlight, but still granting him large black claws, and reinforcing his muscles, which he used to leap towards Kuroiro.
Kuroiro's pure white smile widened as he was struck by the shadow claw, and his body began to merge with it. "Fool! You attack me with darkness, with shadow!" He cackled. "You've played right into my hand!" His body melted into Dark Shadow, and he attempted to take control of the mass of darkness.
Tokoyami struggled against his hold, and some 1-B members felt hope in their victory, hearing the manic laughter of their own edgelord. However, after a moment of struggle, they heard a different laugh, much deeper.
Kuroiro found himself in a land of darkness. However, his body refused to merge with any of the shadows around him. In front of him, two yellow eyes stared back at him. The dark entity squawked and he felt her gripping onto his body and pulling him out of the darkness.
Outside, Fumikage laughed as he shared his thoughts with Sadi. "You may control the lesser shadows, Kuroiro. But we are not a simple darkness. Our darkness is alive." His voice sounded like it was overlaid with Dark Shadow's. Suddenly, he stabbed his claws into his chest, and pulled Kuroiro out forcefully. "You cannot control us." Tokoyami threw Kuroiro out of bounds.
The pitch black boy stood up, staring at the two beings in front of him. "I admit, you have bested me."
"A valiant effort, Shadow-master." Tokoyami nodded. "I would have lost were it not for the strength of my own twin-soul."
Sady ruffled her dark feathers at the praise. "Yup, I am like 90% of our combat potential." She chuckled at her brother's grumbling.
"I misjudged you, Twins of Omen. Thank you for this battle. It has been eye-opening." Kuroiro bowed, receiving another from Fumikage.
"I too have learned much from our conflict. I hope we will come to face one another in the future." Fumikage smiled.
"Yeah, and we'll beat your ass again!" Sadi interjected, earning an annoyed glare from Fumikage.
"Could you not, maybe?" He hissed at her, feeling a vein popping as she just shrugged. He looked back at Kuroiro. "Apologies, she doesn't share my affection for the macabre."
"I totally do, I just can't stand him being such an edgelord 24/7." Sadi threw her arm around his shoulder.
Kuroiro couldn't help but crack up at their antics. "Oh, wow, you really are two different people." He chuckled. "Monoma just made it sound like it was part of your persona or something. Yet another thing he was wrong about. Anyway, I do look forward to fighting you two again." He said, his character completely broken.
Fumikage sighed. "Yeah, she's a total pain in my neck. But we've been together since we were born, and we'll be together until my dying breath. Some people just can't seem to understand that she's a person, though."
"That is most unfortunate. I wish you luck in your endeavours." Kuroiro smiled, getting back into character.
"Much appreciated. I wish you luck in yours as well." Fumikage bowed, turning back to head towards his class.
All Might was, so far, rather happy with the results of the matches, as no real incidents had occurred and it seemed that the event was slowly managing to curb any lingering animosity between classes. The next match, between Pony and Kaibara Sen, ended in Pony's victory as her horns got around his defences and dragged him out of the arena.
Then, Kyouka fought Shoda Nirengeki, managing to blast him with a burst of sound from the speakers on the back of her hands, which she had been given shortly after the USJ. Aizawa was starting to fear that his students were becoming too reliant on support gear, seeing as they had a near constant supply of new gadgets thanks to Midoriya and Hatsume, but he hoped the Sports Festival would be an adequate enough wake up call.
Iida and Sero Hanta fought next, the 1-B student's quirk proving to be a terrible matchup for Iida, who found himself unable to dodge all the tape he was throwing his way. He ended up immobilised, though he tried to take the loss gracefully.
Awase Yosetsu didn't think much of Kinoko. She was, indeed, not very physically imposing. Perhaps Monoma had been right on at least one account. "I almost feel bad fighting you, Shorty." He smirked. However, before he could even move, he began coughing, as he saw mushrooms begin growing all over the arena, then on his skin.
As he continued to cough and hack, he widened his eyes as he spat a mushroom out of his mouth, and looked up to see Kinoko standing over him, a grim smile on her face. "Don't think you'll be champignon before the fight starts. That's how you end up in truffle. Or, in this case, with a bolette in your lung."
He continued to cough as even more mushrooms grew on him. 'Motherfucker! Did she just make three mushroom puns?' He fell unconscious as the match was called in her favour. Most of class 1-B was now utterly terrified of Kinoko as she sprayed the defeated boy with fungicide, except for Bakugou, confident that his explosions could beat a few mushrooms, especially since they were flammable.
Shiozaki and Shishida's fight was the second longest, as the boy's transformation came with sharp claws and tough hide, which allowed him to shrug off the girl's reluctant strikes, which mostly aimed to bind him. Eventually, however, he managed to get a good enough hit on her to send her tumbling out of the arena, though she caught herself with her vines. Returning to his normal form, he apologised for his savagery. Shiozaki, although quite miffed, made an effort to forgive him.
Kendo and Sato's match was a slugfest. Kendo eventually emerged victorious, mostly due to her mental edge over Sato once he consumed his sugar, which led to a sort of mindless rampage. Since Kendo not only had martial arts training, but could actually strategise while her opponent simply attacked mindlessly. All Might looked at the two last matches of the day and felt a looming dread creeping up on him. They were decided from the start, and it certainly stunk of one of Nezu's schemes.
"Our penultimate match… Yaoyorozu versus Mineta." The girls cringed as they heard the announcement, while Momo just looked at the dwarf with a stony look as she saw him drooling over the girls and her especially.
"Yaomomo. Are… Are you sure about this? That guy's definitely gonna try something." Izumi frowned, looking between her and the grape haired letcher.
Momo nodded. "I'm counting on it. If he does, he'll regret it." Her face was determined.
"Okay… just… stay safe, Momo." Izumi said, giving her a quick kiss on the cheek. "For good luck." She whispered.
"Oh, man, I finally get to cop a feel of those heavenly peaches!" Mineta giggled maniacally.
"On second thought, destroy him. No mercy." Izumi said, her eyes staring at him as she projected a killing intent reminiscent of her mother's, though much softer. The comment earned her several nods.
"Just wish I could have kicked his ass myself." Kyouka grumbled, a sentiment that the other girls shared.
Aizawa, Kan and Toshinori glared at the boy, though they didn't stop him. Once the match was declared, they received a simple message from Nezu.
'Let him dig his own grave.'
Momo grimaced. Everything about the boy screamed at her to get the hell away. He was not as much a person as a collection of red flags given human form. Even now, she could hear his perverted mutterings, and turned her mask's voice cancellation, as she looked up a few formulas. "Begin!"
The short pervert began throwing the balls that made up his hair onto the battlefield. She caught on to his plan rather quickly, but she needed him to actually do something before she could retaliate. Once he had surrounded the arena in a field of purple spheres, he enacted his plan, bouncing around at speeds that surprised even Momo, before lunging at the girl in an attempt to tackle her and trap her on the ground.
Upon impacting her, he squeezed. In that moment, Momo's carefully planned strategy flew out the window, as pure instinct took over. She extended a pole through the small of her back to hold herself up, while creating a taser from her hand that shot a 10 milliamp current directly to his crotch. Another staff emerged from between her breasts, impacting his face and sending him flying backwards, to the other side of the arena. He was already down.
However, in her panic, feeling complete disgust and wrongness, and wanting only to keep him as far away from her as possible, she produced a loaded grenade launcher, and shot out a capsule that exploded into a cloud of foul smelling gas, which had everyone even remotely near it tearing up as it burned their airways. Mineta, still somehow conscious, began screaming and vomiting, as he was completely coated in the substance.
"Young Yaoyorozu! What the hell is that?" All Might shouted, covering his nose, as Chiyo, Aizawa and Kan told the students to stand back from the hazardous chemicals.
Momo seemed to snap out of a transe. "Oh!" She yelped as if she had only just realised what she had done. "It should be a mixture of indole and capsaicin." She said, checking the data her helmet took as it filtered the air for her. "Oh, thank goodness, for a second I was afraid I had accidentally created mustard gas." She mumbled, drawing a shocked look from All Might.
"Thank goodness indeed. I wouldn't have liked to see a student of mine committing a war crime, you know?" He smiled, and crouched a bit to speak more silently. "Though I do apologise for what that gremlin did to you."
She grimaced. "I agreed to this… but it still felt so awful. I just… I just wanted to keep him away from me."
"That is perfectly understandable, Young Yaoyorozu. I suggest speaking to Kayama-sensei. She has quite a bit of experience with victims of assault." The girl nodded. The hero then turned to the other students. "We'll go to another arena! Recovery Girl will take care of Mineta in the meanwhile."
The old nurse shook her head and shouted. "I'm not going near that, are you crazy?"
"Well, the medic bots will do their best." He deadpanned, picking up his phone. "Sir? We need a hazmat team in Field Epsilon. Yes, it was Yaoyorozu. Screaming and vomiting sir, nearly a minute, now." He paused, whispering his next answer. "It was hilarious, sir, though very emotionally draining for Yaoyorozu." He once again spoke up. "Okay." He turned to the students. "Let's get going, everyone."
The 1-B students, despite their misgivings about Mineta, were still somewhat worried about the boy. "I wouldn't worry about Mineta, boys." Vlad King sighed. "He'll be properly taken care of." The boys shared a look, wondering if they would ever even see the boy again.
"Well, he did take it way too far." Shoji whispered.
"Indeed, he was quite the degenerate." Shishida shook his head.
Back with 1-A, Momo was visibly shaken by the ordeal. Mina went to comfort her with a hug. However, before she could, Izumi grabbed the pink alien by her arms. "Mina, no." She admonished. "She just got touched by that bastard." She pointed her thumb at the wailing boy being picked up by the medic bots, before turning to Momo. "Do you want space, Yaomomo?" The raven haired girl nodded.
Mina looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, Yaomomo… I just wanted to cheer you up."
Momo just shook her head. "No harm done, Mina. Thank you all for your concern. I just require some time to… recover mentally." She grimaced, muttering under her breath. "Not the first time some bastard decided to get handsy." Kyouka and Izumi widened their eyes slightly, but said nothing.
They relocated to another arena, safe from the acrid smell of Momo's attack. All Might winced as he read the last matchup. It was inevitable at this point. He whispered to Aizawa. "Are you sure we should go along with this?"
Aizawa nodded, though his expression betrayed some concern. "The rat knows what he's doing. Although I can't help but worry as well." He said. "If anything happens, I'll be able to stop his quirk, and you could get Hitoshi out of the way."
Toshinori grimaced. "For our last match, we have Aizawa against Bakugou." All Might announced, his smile notably absent.
Izumi looked at her lilac haired friend. "Shinso. You gotta end this quick." She whispered. "I really don't wanna see what he'll do to you. He's mad… unstable… more than usual." Her face betrayed a sort of fear that he hadn't seen since the USJ.
He shook his head. "Don't worry, Izumi." Hitoshi smirked. "I can take him."
'Hitoshi-kun… please, just take care.' Izumi grimaced as she saw the two boys face each other.
Bakugou snarled at his opponent. 'What the hell is this guy's deal? He looks like he hasn't slept in weeks? The fuck does he think he's doing, challenging me?' "So, you're hanging out with that shitty nerd, huh? How much is she paying you?"
Hitoshi grinned, readying his capture cloth. "Paying me, huh? That's a cute little insult. Did your mum pick it out for ya?"
Bakugou growled, his hands crackling with explosions. "Fuck you, Eyebags."
Hitoshi feigned a yawn. "Aw, man, I wonder how anyone could be scared of you when you just yap like a rabid pomeranian."
"You're dead." Bakugou seethed.
"Gimme a break, blasty." Hitoshi droned, cleaning some wax from his ear.
All Might felt his breath hitch, looking between the two boys, already exchanging jabs. Sure, Nezu probably told him to rile Bakugou up, but it could very easily lead to disaster. "Ugh, Begin." He chopped his arms, wincing as Bakugou immediately blasted towards Hitoshi.
"DIE!" Bakugou shouted as he blasted himself across the arena, pulling his right fist back.
'Right hook.' Hitoshi saw the attack coming a mile away. 'Aside from the confusion from the explosions, it really is quite straightforward.' Sure enough, after he dodged, Bakugou followed up with a left cross and a knee, just like the analysis had told him. When Bakugou stepped back to look for an opening, Hitoshi took the opportunity to string him up with his scarf.
"What's this bullshit! You cosplaying as that hobo or something?!" Bakugou snarled, as his explosions were useless at getting him free. "What the fuck, what's this shit made of?"
"Special carbon fibre alloy." Hitoshi smirked. "More than enough to put down a mad dog." He strained the fabric as Bakugou struggled. The blonde then smiled as he heard a beep, and pulled the trigger, releasing a large explosion that knocked Hitoshi back enough so that he could get away.
"How's this for a mad dog?!" Bakugou snarled as he readied another shot from his gauntlet.
"What're you gonna do, Cherry Bomb?" Hitoshi taunted.
Bakugou's smile widened as he went to pull the pin. "I'm gonna-" It was like he had blinked, and suddenly he saw the barrel pointed at him, igniting an explosion point blank in his face. He could barely dodge by raising his arm.
Hitoshi grinned. "Watch out, there, you could have hurt yourself." He chuckled. "Having performance issues?"
Bakugou ran after him, shouting as he readied another attack. "DI-" He widened his eyes as a kick impacted him, sending him tumbling. He felt the scarf wrapping around him again, and attempted to reach his gauntlets, only to see them on the ground behind Hitoshi. "What the fuck did you do, you bastard?"
Hitoshi smirked. "Not fun, huh?" He taunted, stepping on the boy's stomach. "I'd almost feel bad, beating on the helpless. If you weren't such a piece of shit, that is." He sneered.
"What the fuck are you talking about, asshole?" Bakugou snarled, struggling against his bindings.
"How many times?" Bakugou looked confused at the question. "How many times did you use your quirk on her, when she couldn't even fight back?"
Bakugou's pupils contracted. "That quirkless bitch?! Who the fuck cares!" He shouted, everyone hearing him. "She kept thinking she could be a hero without a quirk! Everyone knows that to be a hero, you need a strong, heroic quirk like ME!" He exploded, still unable to get himself free.
Hitoshi let out a cackle. "Yeah, cause when I picture a hero, I imagine a manchild with anger issues who's only good for blowing stuff up." He spat. "Sounds more like a villain to me."
"I AM NOT A FUCKING VILLAIN!" Bakugou roared, futilely fighting against his restraints.
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow. "Could've fooled me, Blasty." He droned. "Tell me, how do you intend to save anyone with that quirk of yours?"
"Hah? The fuck are you talking about? Why would I bother with the extras?! A hero's job is to beat up the shitty villains." Bakugou said, legitimately confused.
All Might, Kan and Aizawa just looked on with sheer disappointment on their faces. Hitoshi sneered. "Wow. You really believe that, don't you? I mean, you'd have to be really delusional. Where did you even get that idea?"
Bakugou ground his teeth. "It's obvious! From All Might! He always beats up the fucking villains! HE ALWAYS WINS! I ALWAYS WIN!" Toshinori widened his eyes, wondering how that boy could have gotten that from his career
"Except for just now, right?" Hitoshi smiled.
"I'm still gonna win, you piece of-" Bakugou blinked and he was suddenly sitting on the bleachers once again, completely confused as the rage came back to him. "What the fuck?! What did you do?!" He looked at Hitoshi, who had also returned to his class.
"What are you talking about, Bakugou?" Kaibara asked. "You lost by immobilisation and came back here."
Bakugou's eyes widened as he realised what had happened. His scowl turned into pure hatred as he stood up and began storming towards Hitoshi. "You motherfucker!" He was suddenly stopped when Aizawa stepped between them.
"What do you think you're doing, Bakugou?" Aizawa glared at him, activating his quirk to prevent him from attacking out of the blue.
"Get out of my way, Hobo!" He snarled. "I'm gonna teach that villain a lesson!" Izumi could see the slightest wince from Hitoshi as he was called a villain.
Aizawa suddenly let out a wave of killing intent directed at Bakugou. "What did you call him?" He seethed, showing more emotion than he ever had in front of his students.
"His quirk's fucking brainwashing or something! Of course he's a villain!" Bakugou shouted, earning multiple disgusted glares from his own classmates, as well as from the entirety of class 1-A. Hitoshi couldn't hide the hurt it caused him just then, the self doubt that had remained dormant resurfacing, before he found himself surrounded in a hug by his friends and classmates.
Before Aizawa could say anything else, and from the looks of things he was about to snap his neck, Bakugou suddenly felt a crushing grip on his shoulder. He looked back and saw All Might, scowling at him. "Young Bakugou." The teenager felt his grip tighten, just enough to hurt. "Young Aizawa is no villain. He is training to be a hero, and is one of the best students I've had the pleasure to teach." He said, smiling briefly at Hitoshi, before directing another scowl at Bakugou. "You, on the other hand. From what I've seen today, I wonder if you can even be a hero as you are now."
Bakugou felt his brain crashing from what he had just heard. 'All Might… said I can't be a hero? How?! I'm the strongest! I'm the best!' "I'm gonna be the fucking Number 1, you-"
" Quiet! " All Might commanded. "I was afraid we were setting you up to fail, Young Bakugou." He said, mournfully. "But I see that you would have done that regardless." He looked at Aizawa, then Hitoshi, then Izumi and nodded. "Come. Nezu wants to speak with you."
Bakugou was about to protest, but he withered under the Symbol of Peace's scowl. 1-B shared a look and Tsuburaba frowned. "Is that asshole gonna be expelled or something?"
Vlad King sighed. "That depends…"
Izumi rubbed Hitoshi's arm, in an attempt to comfort him. "You know you shouldn't listen to that guy, right? I mean, he's clearly fucked in the head." Kaminari said, trying to lighten up the mood. "And, I mean, you totally mopped the floor with him."
Hitoshi nodded. "Yeah. But still, he reminded me…"
Izumi went in for a hug. "I know, 'Toshi. Every time I see him… I can't help but remember… eighty nine."
Hitoshi, as well as the other students, suddenly stared at her. "Eighty… nine?" Tooru asked, shakily.
Izumi grimaced. "I guess I should've told you already… I just… I feel really self conscious." She sighed. "Eighty nine scars. You asked him how many times he attacked me… It doesn't matter… but when I look in the mirror, I have eighty nine reminders…"
The class' blood ran cold as they processed her words. "How… who let him into the Hero course?" Setsuna looked completely outraged.
Izumi shook her head. "I did." Her friends looked at her in utter confusion. "He always wanted to be a hero, and I thought that UA could help prevent him from becoming a villain… but now I'm not sure." She stared at All Might's retreating form.
Mina placed a hand on her shoulder. "Midori… About the scars… you shouldn't be afraid. We would never judge you for it." She then scowled at Bakugou in the distance. "Him, on the other hand."
Ochako nodded. "He's lucky I wasn't the one to fight him! I wanna launch that dumbfuck, limpdicked piece of rotten shit into the fucking Sun!" The students suddenly paused to look at the girl who had just strung together enough insults to cause Iida to faint. They then collapsed into laughter. "But Mina's right, Izumi-chan. Thank you for telling us… It couldn't have been easy."
"Is there a chance he could still show up for the Sports Festival? I kinda wanna kick his teeth in." Tooru said.
"Mm!" Yui agreed.
Izumi shrugged. "It's anyone's guess. But, after today…" She hardened her gaze. "I've got dibs."
"Fuck, that's kinda hot." Mina whispered under her breath.
"Ribbit, true." Tsu croaked back.
Izumi blushed slightly, and shook her head softly. 'I should tell them… and Mei.' She decided. 'Tonight.'