Chapter 31: Champion
The last thing that Kyoka wanted to think about right now was the annoyingly loud blonde boy standing across the ring from her. Izuku had been off after bringing Todoroki down to Recovery Girl's office, and not just because of the burns on his arms, hands, and body where he had carried the boy. He'd been too quiet, and too focused on Todoroki above all else. Oh sure, he'd interacted with Kyoka, but it had always been with half an eye on his opponent and never really being fully involved in the conversation.
Kyoka had tried pushing and seeing what was bothering him, but he claimed it was just the intensity of the fight against Todoroki. That was bullshit; Izuku had always been energized by intense fights.
If anything, it was probably the emotional content of the fight, but Kyoka had not been privy to what was said between the two boys, and didn't want to bring anything up in public, so kept quiet for the time being. If Izuku didn't find his own way through, she'd try to corner him sometime after the festival and talk it out. Him beating himself up wouldn't help anything.
In the meantime, she had a fight to win. Kyoka concentrated on her breathing in the same way she had against Kirishima, seeking out that same level of energy and focus that she had enjoyed during that fight. Annoyingly, thoughts of Izuku kept intruding, interfering with her concentration. What was bothering him? What exactly happened for Todoroki to self-immolate like that?
Kyoka shook her head, trying once again to banish those intrusive thoughts. As she opened her eyes, she found that Midnight was getting set to start the match. Get your head in the game, Kyoka. Another deep, measured breath, and she was as ready to start the fight as she figured she was going to get. Kyoka was determined to focus on winning this fight and nothing else until it was over.
Unfortunately, her primary plan for dealing with Kaminari, shattering the ring and using the resultant chaos to force him out of bounds, had been ruined already. Midnight had made it clear that while destroying the ring had not been against the rules previously, it was something that she should avoid if possible. It would be decided on a case by case basis, but Kyoka didn't want to force it to come to that. She aimed to win, after all.
That goal immediately went out the window, as Kaminari spoke up as soon as Midnight indicated the match had begun. "So, beautiful, what do you say we grab a bite to eat after the festival is over." Not only was Kyoka offended that Kaminari would ask her out so brazenly, she was also offended that he repeated himself nearly exactly from his fight with Yaomomo. She felt her focus crack and responded almost on impulse.
"I say screw you! I'm dating Izuku and not looking for some horn dog to ruin that." Kaminari's eyes widened and he held his hands up in a placating gesture.
"Whoa, sorry, I didn't know! I would never flirt with someone who's taken. On purpose, anyway." Well, that much was obvious. "But yeah, congratulations! We could all see how you two were looking at each other during training. Good for you!" Kaminari raised one hand and took a few steps toward Kyoka. "High five!"
Kyoka looked briefly at Kaminari's offered hand which was sparking with electricity. She gave Kaminari an unimpressed gaze. "Yeah, not gonna work."
"Eh, worth a shot." Kaminari shrugged. If he was still following the script from Yaomomo's fight then he would be lunging in just a moment. "Just trying to be a gentleman here." Kaminari took another step forward, and Kyoka could hear his heart begin to beat faster. There was a noticeable twitch in his legs just before, as Kyoka had predicted, he lunged right at her, trying to touch her with his quirk active.
Even expecting a move like this, Kyoka was only barely able to get out of the way of the sudden strike, dodging and rolling to the left. As she came up, she snuck one of her earjacks towards Kaminari, sound already pulsing through it, striking out towards his torso. He jerked down at the last minute, and her earjack ended up taking him in the ear. As soon as she made contact, she could feel the electricity buzzing just under his skin and tried to pull her earjack back as quickly as she could.
Kyoka wasn't quick enough.
Electricity raced through her body and Kyoka fell to the ground twitching. It wasn't the full brunt of Kaminari's quirk, the way she might have gotten from his hand, but it was more than enough to hurt like a bitch. Her legs twitched, temporarily losing the strength to hold her up, and Kyoka fell to her knees.
Thankfully, just the short moment of Kyoka pumping pure sound into Kaminari's ear was enough to knock him off his game as well. He swayed side to side, his balance temporarily thrown off by the effect of the sound on his inner ear.
"Whoa." Kaminari spoke slowly, dropping to his knees in an attempt to regain his balance. "That feels weird."
"Pot calling the kettle black there, dude." Kyoka was sure that she looked at least as helpless as Kaminari right now. She forced herself to her feet, legs shaking but now able to support her again. "Let's not do that again."
"Ugh, no promises." Kaminari had also regained his footing by this point, holding his head but otherwise appearing no worse for the wear.
"C'mon, don't you think you could beat me without your electricity?" Just another moment was all Kyoka needed to be ready to fight again. Hopefully he would respond and give her the time she needed.
"Nope." Kaminari popped the 'p' at the end of the word. "You're scary. I've seen you fight quirkless. I want no part of that." He shook his hands out, flexing his fingers, and he took a ready position once again. "Hot, but scary." Kaminari froze for a moment, thinking. "Try… try not to tell Midoriya I said that, please?"
"Well, that really depends on how this fight ends." Kyoka smirked. "For example, if you give up right now, then I won't tell him."
"No dice." Kaminari sighed. "Ah well, won't be the first time I've gotten myself into trouble like that." A second later and Kaminari dashed forward once again, hands sparking at the ready. Having bought enough time to recover, Kyoka was able to dodge out of the way of his initial rush.
She thought about attempting to jab him with her earjacks once again, but saw just the faintest hint of yellow electricity crawling across his head, and presumably elsewhere on his body. Her earjacks hovered threateningly, but as soon as they got close to his body, she could even hear the faint hum of electricity just underneath his skin. Obviously jabbing Kaminari again was not going to work out any better for her this time than it did last time. If anything, she'd probably get shocked even worse.
"Aw, c'mon, aren't you going to fight back?" Kaminari smirked back at Kyoka he continued to swipe at her.
"Yeah, no, not going to dignify that with a response." So far Kyoka had been able to keep her distance and dodge Kaminari's hands, but she wasn't making any actual progress towards winning the match. What she needed was a plan.
Izuku would have a plan.
The only problem was that there was a significant chance that Izuku's plan would end up with him breaking a limb, or otherwise putting himself in danger. And as his fight against Todoroki had demonstrated, even Izuku's plans didn't always work the way he wanted them to.
And with just that small reminder of Izuku's previous match, Kyoka's focus slipped, for just a second. She had never quite been in the same state of mind in this match as she had been against Kirishima or Hagakure, and this just threw her further into disarray.
With her focus snapped, Kyoka got sloppy. In retrospect, it was obvious where it went wrong. A foot placed wrong meant that she couldn't generate quite enough leverage to dodge as quickly as she wanted. Kaminari capitalized, forcing her off balance in order to keep away from his hands.
Once she was off balance, Kaminari swept her legs out from under her and she fell roughly to the ground. She could see the hand coming for her and lashed out on instinct, sending her earjacks into Kaminari's torso. Unfortunately, Kaminari anticipated that, catching her earjacks in his hand.
The only blessing that Kyoka had was that the electricity knocked her out before she could even process the pain.
---
"Let's give it up for the second match of our semifinals, which will determine who will get the chance to face Denki Kaminari in the finals! Our first competitor is Sen Kaibara, from Class 1-A, who has tossed aside all of his competition so far with his groovy gyrations! He'll be facing the lean, green fighting machine, Izuku Midoriya, also from Class 1-A!"
Sen was not especially happy to be facing Midoriya here in the semifinals. But considering the alternative was facing Todoroki and losing the match instantly to a glacier, he supposed he would work with what he had. There was really only one way that Sen could see himself winning this fight, and that was through taking advantage of his quirk as much as possible.
In terms of skill and training, he and Midoriya were roughly equivalent. Were they to fight in a quirkless match, it would likely be roughly even. If anything, Midoriya may have had a slight edge on him due to his better conditioning making him stronger and ever so slightly faster. Once Sen factored in Midoriya's quirk, however, his chances dropped massively. There was almost no way he could face someone with such an overwhelming physical advantage as well as the skill to back it up.
The only way would be to try and make that skill useless. If Midoriya had trained in a relatively standard dojo, as seemed likely, he would not be particularly well-versed in going up against someone with their own fighting style that heavily incorporated their quirk.
Someone like Sen, just as an example.
Gyrate was, in absolute terms, perhaps not the most impressive quirk out of all of those in his class. However, with some creative use, admittedly partially inspired by Midoriya, Sen was confident that he could be a hero with it. Most of Sen's creativity so far had gone into developing his own fighting style that used his quirk to the fullest.
It involved taking advantage of the huge amounts of leverage that his quirk could put out. Even a single step could lead to Sen bounding across an arena, a single punch could hit just as hard as a haymaker from a generic fighter. As such, most of Sen's fighting style was based on unpredictability, constantly keeping his arms and legs gyrating such that any motion could turn into an attack in the blink of an eye, and once he decided on an attack, the gyrations could keep his strikes coming at high speeds.
Therefore, to take on Midoriya, he'd need to go balls to the wall with his quirk and attack from unusual directions. Anything less and the sheer strength and speed that Midoriya possessed would make it a very short fight.
As soon as the match began, Sen shot off to his left, expecting to have to dodge Midoriya's initial attack. Instead, Midoriya simply stood in place where he started, barely even turning his head to track Sen's movement.
Fine, if Midoriya wanted to play it that way, Sen would accommodate. He'd seen how quickly Midoriya could react in class and at the USJ, and was confident that he could move fast enough to get a solid strike in on the boy before he could respond. Especially if it was from an angle that Midoriya might not expect. Sen continued to his left, circling like a bird of prey, slowly spiraling closer to Midoriya as he went. Midoriya continued to stand stock still, passively watching as Sen crept ever closer.
Once Sen felt he was close enough, he struck. From Midroiya's left, his weaker side, Sen launched himself towards his opponent as quickly as he could. While closing the distance to Midoriya, Sen gyrated every body part he could think of to make his punch hit harder: his waist, his shoulder, his wrist. With every bit of strength he had, he swung his spinning fist directly at Midoriya's face.
And made a clean hit right to Midoriya's jaw, sending the boy flying, ultimately skidding and rolling along the ring several feet away.
Midoriya had made no move to block, dodge, or stop Sen's attack in any way. Sen knew he was fast, but there still should have been some attempt at mitigation. In fact, he had seen Midoriya watching the blow coming. It must have been a conscious decision to not react.
Several feet away, Midoriya was slowly getting to his feet, obviously in no hurry. "What the fuck was that?" Sen called out before he could think of a reason not to. "I know you're faster on the uptake than that. Why the fuck didn't you even try to dodge?!"
Midoriya gave an unenthusiastic shrug.
"What, you think that just because your last fight was a fucking shitshow you get to check out of this one?" Sen was stabbing in the dark with this one, but Midoriya had hung out in Recovery Girl's office for the entire time leading up to this match, so it seemed like a good place to start. The involuntary grimace that crossed his face told Sen that he was pretty close to the mark. "That because Todoroki decided to fucking burn himself alive, you don't need to fight against me?"
"That's not exactly it…" Midoriya began.
"Oh? So why don't you fucking tell me then?"
"I pushed him to do that!" Midoriya cried out as tears formed in his eyes, the first real emotion he had shown since stepping in the ring. "I ignored everything he was saying and convinced him to use his fire. And you saw what it did!" It had seriously injured one of the two recommendation students in the class, but honestly, just fighting in this tournament could have caused injuries at least as bad. Sen didn't see why Midoriya was freaking out so bad.
"Why did you push him?" Blunt, but necessary. Sen didn't feel like beating around the bush right now. While Midoriya had given Todoroki a kick in the ass in the last round, it was apparently Sen's turn to do it for Midoriya. It was a stupid fucking thing to do in the sports festival like this, but it was also the right fucking thing to do.
Fuck. This was just like the battle trials and Kamakiri. Just different fucking emotions this time. He really was going to have to get used to this as a hero, huh?
Midoriya looked to the side, uneasy. "I can't tell you everything…"
"Then tell me what you fucking can!" God, Sen was starting to get fed up with Midoriya's evasiveness.
Midoriya sighed before looking back at Sen. "He hasn't been using his fire by choice, not by necessity. I told him that in the field it would probably lead to a bunch of civilians dying one way or the other, and probably his death as well. On top of that, I said that it was pretty disrespectful to everyone else in the festival."
"So your solution is to do exactly what he did?" Midoriya's eyes widened and his mouth formed an almost comical 'o' shape. "Plus, you told him exactly what he fucking needed to hear. It's not a national secret that he needed a kick in the ass. And U.A isn't exactly on the forefront of actually helping us with emotional issues. If you had left it to Aizawa it would have likely taken years for him to use his fire, if he ever did. You got him to use it in a controlled, safe environment. Sounds like a win to me."
Anyone could see the gears turning in Midroiya's head as he digested Sen's words. The crowd was starting to grumble as yet another fight devolved into conversation, but fuck them. They could get their bloodsport from the second and third years if they really wanted it.
"Throwing the fight and letting me beat the shit out of you doesn't do a thing for Todoroki, does it?" At this, Midoriya looked to the side and grimaced, avoiding Sen's eyes again, ashamed. "So how about this: you fucking fight me for real, and then you can go apologize to Todoroki for whatever shit you think you need to apologize for with your head held high. Sound good?"
There was another beat or two before Midoriya looked back at Sen, determination now painted on his face, the barest hint of a smile on his lips.
Good.
Sen got in a ready stance, prepared to launch himself at Midoriya once again. This time, his opponent mimicked him, wreathing himself in green lightning and subtly shifting his posture to prepare himself. "Alright, round two. I hope you're fucking ready!"
With those words, Sen once again leapt forward at Midoriya, joints spinning wildly. They had been close enough during their conversation that Midoriya shouldn't have been able to react in time to avoid the punch.
Unfortunately, Midoriya apparently had a higher gear than Sen was aware of, one that allowed him to move just fast enough to slip under and inside Sen's punch. Sen never even saw the knee strike that took him in the stomach coming, nor the elbow drop to his back that followed it up. Despite having the wind knocked out of him, Sen had enough wits about him to roll to the side and away from Midoriya.
Unfortunately, Midoriya was apparently taking this as seriously as Sen had wanted him to, and followed up immediately. In short order, Sen was pinned, Midoriya sparking heavily as he held Sen in place.
Despite his loss, Sen didn't feel bad at all. He knew that he would have been disgruntled if Midoriya had let him win, after all. Helping Midoriya (and through him, hopefully, Todoroki) find his way through his issues felt good, and Sen knew that he had given it his all. That was all he could ask for.
---
The ceiling was off-white, made up of tiles that looked to be made out of some form of plastic. A dropped ceiling, part of his brain helpfully supplied. One tile was missing, revealing a collection of wires, pipes, and vents running across the room. It was surprising how much essential infrastructure was hidden behind the inconspicuous ceiling.
Shoto blinked.
Slowly he became aware of voices around him. Two voices were tinny and distant. Perhaps a radio? Another voice was higher pitched and kindly, if firm. All of the voices were speaking in words that Shoto knew he should understand, but for the life of him it only sounded like gibberish.
Shoto blinked again.
His head lolled to the left, and he could see that he was next to an open window. Outside the window the sun was high in the clear blue sky. A bird flitted amongst the branches of a nearby tree, never daring to venture too far from the nest.
A cool breeze blew in through the window, and Shoto abruptly realized that his entire torso appeared to be wrapped in bandages. Why would that be?
Shoto blinked yet again, and memories flooded back. A match with Midoriya. Remembering his mother, and her gentle, reassuring words. And then fire. So much fire. As much and as hot as Shoto had ever made before. Hotter, even. He had burned. His mind skittered away from the memory of exactly how hot the fire had been, thoughts of Touya threatening to bubble to the surface.
But at the same time, it felt correct. Calling on the fire (be it his or Endeavor's) in earnest for the first time in years had been like stretching his arms when waking up in the morning. Even if, in his momentary anger at Midoriya for pushing him, he had intentionally taken it too far, he didn't regret using it at all.
It was the opposite of how he had felt after accidentally using the fire during the second round of the festival. Something about using the fire of his own volition, acknowledging that it wasn't just Endeavor's flame, but also his own, changed the entire action in his mind.
Midoriya's words continued to ring in his head, not just about his quirk, but also why he wanted to be a hero. It honestly was not something Shoto had ever questioned. He was going to be a hero. It had never even been a discussion. But of everything that his father had done to ruin his life, Shoto had never considered being forced to be a hero to be one of them. That was actually what he wanted, even if he couldn't say exactly why, yet.
Slowly, the voices surrounding Todoroki became understandable. The distant voices were Present Mic and Eraserhead on the television, providing analysis on Midoriya's recent victory in the semi-finals. Apparently he had defeated Kaibara relatively easily once he began fighting seriously.
"Ah, you're awake." The firm voice spoke again, and Shoto now understood that it was Recovery Girl speaking. Now with firmer control over his head, he was able to turn to look at the elderly nurse. "You did quite a number on yourself, sonny. I haven't seen burns that bad since your father attended U.A. Of course, never on him. Always on whoever he was sparring against." Recovery Girl grimaced at the memory, and Shoto found himself unable to come up with a reply. Everyone always talked up Endeavor at every opportunity; Shoto legitimately did not know how to interact with someone who at least partially shared his opinion of the man.
"I'm led to understand that he stormed off campus as soon as you lost, with instructions to be informed once you woke up." That sounded like the man. "Would you like to speak to him?" Shoto shook his head. There was no way he could bring himself to speak to Endeavor right now. "Very well. Are you feeling well enough for visitors? Midoriya is here to check on Jiro, but before that he was beating down my door to see how you are doing. You gave him a scare in your match, I think."
How ironic. Not only had Midoriya succeeded where Endeavor had failed and convinced Shoto to use his (not Endeavor's, his ) fire, but now Midoriya was here to check on him while Endeavor instead retreated back to his agency. If only Endeavor could be more like Midoriya.
"I…" Shoto found his throat sore and voice ragged, coughing before continuing. "I believe I am well enough for a visitor. I would like to see Midoriya, if he is here right now."
Recovery Girl left the room and a moment later Midoriya burst through the door, appearing slightly frantic. "Todoroki!" It was weird to have someone so genuinely worried about his well-being. Fuyumi was always worried about him, but she deferred to Endeavor far too easily to ever actively worry like this. "Oh my goodness I'm so glad you're ok! I was waiting around before my last fight and you wouldn't wake up and I know that Recovery Girl said that you were going to be ok and just needed rest but I was so worried that I hadn't gotten you here fast enough and…"
"Midoriya." The boy's mouth snapped shut with an audible 'click.' "Right now, I do not have the mental capacity to follow you when you speak that quickly." The speed with which he could speak at times could almost qualify as a quirk on its own. "What do you want?"
Midoriya blinked, seeming surprised for some reason. "Oh. Well, first I wanted to make sure that you were alright."
"I feel perfectly healthy, aside from the stamina drain from Recovery Girl's quirk. I trust her to do what is needed." Midoriya had been healed by her before, and should know that her quirk was really quite powerful.
"Good, I'm so glad." Some tension appeared to leach out of Midoriya's shoulders at that. "I also wanted to apologize." Shoto tilted his head in confusion. "Not for pushing you to use your fire; I would do that again if I had my way. But I am sorry for how it turned out, and how badly you hurt yourself. I didn't know that you could even create fire hot enough to hurt yourself like that, to overpower your ice."
"I could have balanced it out, but I wasn't in my right mind at the time." Shoto hadn't thought through exactly what had happened, but he knew that he could have produced much more ice than he had in the ring. He'd been only focusing on his fire at the time.
"And you have nothing to apologize for." Despite Midoriya's attempts at interrupting, Shoto pressed on. "If anything, I want to thank you for pushing so hard. Using my fire again felt … good. It felt right. Until it didn't, I suppose." Honestly, Shoto didn't remember much after his fire started running out of control, just bits and pieces. "It means a lot to me that you would go to such lengths for me."
Shoto looked to Midoriya to find tears filling his eyes, threatening to spill over. Why would he be crying? It didn't make sense to Shoto, but he had never really understood emotions the way other people did.
"I… I should go. I've got to go prep for the final match. I'm glad you're doing better though, Todoroki, I really am." Midoriya smiled wide and bright before turning to leave. There were a lot of things that Shoto wanted to say to Midoriya, but the words got caught up in his throat and he wasn't able to say a single thing.
And then Midoriya was gone, leaving Shoto all alone.
Shortly thereafter, Recovery Girl came to check on him, to make sure he was recovering as he should. Shoto had made up his mind after his talk with Midoriya, and so when Recovery Girl asked if there was anything more he needed, he knew exactly what to say.
He needed an appointment with Hound Dog.
---
Denki sprinted through the hallways, racing against the clock. Somehow he had let time slip away from him and had to race to make sure he was at the arena in time for the finals. Of all the times to space out this had to be one of the worst!
Turning a corner, though, he was relieved to see the tunnel out to the ring and hear the crowd still cheering. Presumably, if he had been disqualified due to not showing up, the crowd would be in a much worse mood. He also was heartened to see a familiar head of purple hair standing just inside the tunnel.
"Cutting it kind of close, don't you think?" Toshi leaned against the wall of the tunnel, trying and failing to look casually confident.
"I had to pee!" Denki replied, not whined. Certainly not. And it was even true! Although he had lost track of time on the way back from the bathroom. Toshi just snorted in response, pushing himself away from the wall.
"You have about thirty seconds before you need to head out. You got this?"
"I…" Almost immediately Denki felt the familiar grip of Toshi's quirk draping over his mind like a blanket. He could still see, still hear what was going on around him, but didn't have any control over his body.
Toshi spoke, words engraving themselves in Denki's mind. "Do your best."
And then Denki was free. Toshi was already walking away, leaving him alone in the tunnel. "This way, I don't have to hear you whine about how you could have won if you had just tried harder." Denki smiled; it was always nice to know that Toshi cared, no matter how much he wanted to hide that fact. "Now go beat the crap out of Midoriya."
Electricity, both figurative and literal, crawled under Denki's skin as he walked out to the final match of the tournament. The roar of the crowd, the heat of the flames at each corner of the ring, everything just charged him up further. Across the ring, Midoriya seemed just as energized, curling and uncurling his fists repeatedly.
The two met eyes as Present Mic introduced them, a silent battle of wills in the moments before their match began. Denki could only hope that he looked as determined as Midoriya did in that moment.
As Midnight was about to begin the fight, Denki prepared to yell out to Midoriya. Just like every other fight he'd had in this tournament, he'd have to distract his opponent at first so he had time to direct his electricity. It was so much easier when he could just blast it everywhere without a care in the world, but Midoriya had been right that that strategy wasn't particularly sustainable.
Midnight dropped her whip beginning the fight, and Midoriya launched himself at Denki, sparking with green electricity. Denki would kill to know how Midoriya did that without hurting himself.
Later, though. For now, distraction.
"I'm sorry about Jiro!" Short and to the point, because Midoriya was much faster than any of his previous opponents. Thankfully, just like he had planned, Midoriya skidded to a stop in front of him, confusion and anger written on his face.
"What are you talking about?" The reply was cautious, and Denki gave his opponent his most winning smile. It didn't seem to help.
"I asked her out on a date without knowing you two were going out. That's my b. I mean, if I had faced you earlier I'd have asked you out instead," Denki winked, "but obviously I can't do that now." Bouncing from an apology to flirting had its intended effect, with Midoriya's face going up in a blush. Now to try and seal the deal. "But yeah, good job. You two make a really cute couple, ya know? Up top!"
As he had against Jiro, Denki extended his right hand for a high five, his electricity firmly held just under his palm. A little snuck out and sparked between his fingers now and then, but hopefully Midoriya wouldn't notice.
His hopes were shattered as Midoriya narrowed his eyes at his outstretched hand. "Does that work on anyone? Anyone at all?"
"Well, no, but it could, someday." Denki pouted. He'd only tried it in this tournament on Jiro, but she hadn't bought it either. It might work on a particularly gullible villain, though. He took a small step forward. "That's not the only trick I have up my sleeve though."
"Is flirting with other people's girlfriends the other trick?" Midoriya asked, anger still simmering in his voice. "Because that's not super useful either. Not to mention not particularly heroic, either."
"Hey, I apologized for that!" Seriously, was Midoriya going to harp on him about that forever? God. "And no, I meant…" In the middle of his sentence, Denki lunged at Midoriya. They were close enough that it was a short lunge, and Denki aimed to end this fight in a single move.
Green electricity sprang up around Midoriya in an instant and he slipped away to the side. Denki spun, trying to track his opponent, but quickly lost track of the boy. A foot slammed into his side, and despite the electricity crawling under his skin, none of it flowed into Midoriya after that attack. Using his feet meant that Midoriya was attacking with his rubber soled shoes. His insulating shoes.
God it was annoying fighting against smart people.
Denki could try an indiscriminate shock, but there was no guarantee that Midoriya wouldn't manage to get far enough away to stay conscious afterwards. It was also super embarrassing to short himself out, and he didn't particularly want to do it on international television. There was also Toshi's voice in the back of his head, demanding that he do his best.
And he knew that he could do better than an indiscriminate shock. At least for now.
His quirk was already right underneath the surface of his skin. All he had to do was force it lower and into his muscles to match Midoriya in speed and strength, just like he had done against Yaoyorozu. All he had to do was to use his quirk in a Full Circuit.
It was going to hurt like hell again, but Denki could live with that. His quirk had always hurt him before Yagi had given him Midoriya's quirk analysis. Full Circuit hurt a lot more now than it had earlier against Yaoyorozu, but it was still manageable.
Denki easily caught the next kick that Midoriya sent his way, and smirked as Midoriya's eyes widened in surprise. He forced Midoriya's leg back, throwing him off balance only briefly.
"Ready for round two?" Denki smiled, trying to project confidence, before launching himself at Midoriya in earnest.
---
Izuku had wondered when Kaminari was going to use his lightning to increase his speed and strength. His initial distraction and lunge hadn't worked, and it had been child's play to dodge his unenhanced swipes. It was obvious that if Kaminari wanted to win, he'd have to up his game somehow.
Now, of course, it meant that Izuku was going to have to find a way to not get touched while dodging much faster attacks. The fact that Kaminari could take him down in a single touch was making this fight far more tense then it normally would have been. It would have been different if Izuku still had any Fa Jin charge left, but he'd used everything except a single block during his match with Todoroki, and there was no way that a block would be useful against Kaminari.
Izuku counted himself extraordinarily lucky that Kaminari had decided to use his initial burst of speed to catch Izuku's kick by the shoe, rather than touch him on the leg and end the fight immediately. He was sure that there was some kind of reasoning behind it, but didn't have the time to analyze everything right now.
Green and yellow lightning sparked and mixed as Kaminari lunged and the two of them fought at high speed. Izuku had started off using only eight percent of One For All, but quickly found that Kaminari was actually faster than him. Thankfully, the blonde was less technically skilled in hand-to-hand combat, so Izuku was able to redirect every attack away from him. His active defense meant that he couldn't strike Kaminari even once.
The next step was obvious. Izuku increased the amount of One For All that he was using to his current maximum of ten percent, and immediately noticed the difference as he took the upper hand over Kaminari. A swift pair of kicks sent Kaminari sliding backwards, clutching at his chest.
Izuku only had a moment of respite, however, as Kaminari leapt back into the fray, sparking even more violently with yellow electricity. Dodging away from a sloppy but powerful punch, Izuku noted that Kaminari was once again faster than him. Izuku was again on the defense, avoiding being touched only through his greater skill.
Eleven percent hurt, but it was manageable. Once again even with Kaminari in speed, Izuku managed to sweep his legs out from under him. Unfortunately, Kaminari drew even deeper, and leapt to his feet before Izuku could follow up on his prone opponent.
Twelve percent sent fire through Izuku's bones, and he had to keep himself from yelling out in pain with each movement. It brought him to parity again with Kaminari, and Izuku managed to connect with a roundhouse kick, throwing Kaminari nearly halfway across the ring. Kaminari bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood and somehow managed to drag even more speed from his quirk, racing back towards Izuku, hands at the ready.
There was no way that Izuku could draw any more and not start breaking himself. It might get him one or two attacks, but unless he could guarantee that they would take down Kaminari, it didn't seem worth it. Not to mention that this was just the Sports Festival. Toshinori had made it very clear that winning would be nice, but was not a necessity of any sort.
The dance between Izuku and Kaminari continued for a moment longer, with Izuku using his greater skill and the length of his legs to keep his opponent at bay. It seemed like it was simply a matter of endurance, to find out which one of them would falter first and lose grasp of their quirk.
It wasn't.
Kaminari pushed just the slightest amount further, both eyes bloodshot, and managed to find a speed that allowed him to get past Izuku's defense, landing his fingertips on the side of Izuku's face.
And nothing happened.
Izuku jerked back at the touch, expecting the full force of Kaminari's quirk, and was astonished that he was able to get away and still be fully conscious. Almost equally astonishing was that Kaminari wasn't following up on the touch, instead just looking at his hand with a frustrated grimace on his face.
At the same time, Izuku could tell that Kaminari wasn't doing well; his arms were shaking seemingly out of his control, the corner of his mouth was twitching in an irregular pattern, and the whites of his eyes were now more red than white.
In short, he looked like absolute shit.
Not that Izuku felt much better than Kaminari looked. But that didn't matter; he had a fight to win. Keeping One For All at twelve percent, Izuku dashed forward, ready to end the fight as quickly as possible. Before he could reach Kaminari, however, the blonde fell to his hands and knees, legs apparently unable to support him any longer.
"No," Kaminari breathed out. "I won't let myself lose like this." His entire body began sparking with yellow electricity, differently from before. The electricity appeared to be escaping outwards, whereas before it would always arc back to his body. Izuku's eyes widened as he realized that this was very similar to the end of Kaminari's fight with Uraraka.
This was bad. Izuku needed to get as far away and as protected as possible before Kaminari shot off his last ditch attack. He retreated as quickly as he had approached, keeping One For All at twelve percent the entire way.
Izuku reached the edge of the ring furthest from Kaminari and still the attack had not fired, although the sparking was becoming even more violent and pronounced. Kaminari breathed in deeply, and Izuku assumed that he was about to unleash his lightning.
Pointedly not thinking about the damage it was going to do to his body, Izuku attempted to lift one of the huge cement blocks that made up the ring, quickly ramping up One For All as he did so. It was somewhere around twenty five percent when it shifted, and thirty percent before he could lift it enough to hide behind. Thankfully, eight percent was enough to hold it in place, even if his entire body was screaming in protest.
"Indiscriminate Shock!" Kaminari's voice sounded over even the grinding noises of the slab that Izuku had hefted, and he could see electricity flashing and darting around him. Some likely made it around his improvised shield, but it wasn't even enough for him to feel over the pain spread over his entire body from his own quirk.
A moment later and the electricity faded. Izuku waited for a beat to ensure that nothing more was coming, before shoving the slab to the side and to the ground. Kaminari lay on the ground on the other side of the ring, twitching slightly, but still awake and aware. Midnight was making her way towards him to check on whether he could continue.
Izuku took the time to assess his own condition. His right arm was almost certainly broken, and he wouldn't have been surprised if his left arm was as well. Every motion sent new waves of pain through both of them, and blood ran freely from his fingers that had been shattered in his haste to grab the cement. Twenty percent of One For All had been enough to let him puncture the cement with his fingers to get a good handhold, but it had not been without cost.
Thankfully, his legs were not broken, even if they were screaming in pain from over exertion. He couldn't see much through his pants, but he would have been shocked if there was any patch of skin on either leg that wasn't bruised at this point.
If the match had to continue, Izuku could still fight. It wouldn't be pretty, and it wouldn't be pleasant, but he could still throw a kick.
Izuku slowly approached Kaminari and Midnight, only to be halted by the heroine's raised hand. She stood and raised her whip. "Denki Kaminari is unable to continue. Therefore, the winner of this year's first year's sports festival is Izuku Midoriya!"
The crowd roared, and for a moment, Izuku wasn't positive that he wasn't actually dreaming. Midnight approached him and spoke lowly. "Normally, I would hold one of your hands high to present you to the audience now that you've won, but I'm not sure that's the best idea right now."
"Left arm." Izuku said, without really thinking about it. Midnight raised an eyebrow, but stepped to his left side and picked his arm up by the wrist. The pain that shot through his arm was intense, and fully convinced him that he wasn't dreaming.
"Everyone, I give you the first year champion, Izuku Midoriya!" The volume from the crowd was deafening, but Izuku was sure that underneath it all he could hear Kyoka screaming his name. He clenched his left hand into a fist, despite the pain, and didn't even have to force himself to smile.
---
For years the U.A Sports Festival had been one of the highlights of Katsuki's year. The only absences that he had ever had throughout all of elementary and middle school had been to watch the first and second years compete. The third years had always competed on Saturdays, and so he had never had to miss school to watch them. They were usually the most polished, but therefore in many ways the most predictable. The first and second year events always had an air of unpredictability to them that Katsuki enjoyed.
Well, he used to enjoy it. He couldn't find it in himself to care this year.
Ever since his meeting with the scouts from U.A who had seemed more interested in fucking Deku than him, the school had lost its shine.
All of the students at Shiketsu had today and tomorrow off from school because the administration knew that no one would be paying attention to coursework while the sports festival was happening. That was the official reason, at least. The unofficial reason was that given the adversarial nature of the HPSC licensing exams, knowing the quirks of as many U.A students as possible was only a benefit to Shiketsu students.
So while all of the extras in his class dorm were crowded around the television watching the first years flail at each other, Katsuki was in the gym fitting in an extra workout. He didn't need to know what their quirks were; he was going to be the number one hero and none of them stood a chance of getting the better of him either way.
Katsuki had aimed to finish his workout after the festival had ended so he wouldn't have to see anything related to it. The first year festival usually finished earlier than the second or third year festivals because the students were less experienced. The final round was almost always one on one matches of some sort, and for the first years were usually decided by dumb luck rather than anything else.
When he walked into the dormitory, however, the raucous noise coming from the small common room immediately told him that he had misjudged how long he would need. Most of the voices of his classmates sounded the same to him and blended together into one annoying melange of noise, but there was one that stood out over the rest.
"Bakugo! You need to see this! The final match just finished and it was epic!" Windbag was goddamned annoying, but he was undoubtedly the second strongest student in the class. Behind Katsuki, of course. He was the only extra that could even hold a candle to Katsuki.
"Shut the fuck up!" Yelling never worked on Windbag, but it kept the other extras in line. The background chattering fell away somewhat as Katsuki stalked towards the small common room. Shiketsu emphasized a rather spartan lifestyle, and so the common room was barely large enough to hold a single couch and a small television.
Despite that, the entire rest of the class had packed into the space. They didn't bother to move to let him in, and Katsuki had to restrain himself from letting off a few explosions as a threat. The staff had been very clear to him as to what would happen if he continued to use his quirk as he had in middle school. Katsuki was going to be the number one hero, after all, and the number one hero never had academic probation nor anger management classes in their background.
"Sorry! I always forget you don't like loud noises!" Windbag yelled back, not lowering his volume in the slightest. Katsuki opened his mouth to yell back at his classmate, but a familiar flash of green on the television screen caught his attention instead.
Deku.
Fucking Deku had won the fucking U.A Sports Festival.
How could a worthless, quirkless, fucking nerd like him have won the festival?
As the replays of the final match played, Katsuki got his answer. Deku had a quirk, and given how skilled he must have been with it to win the entire festival, he must have had it for quite some time.
Katuski saw red. He was only vaguely aware of his palms smoking as he glared at the television grinding his teeth. When the replays showed fucking Deku sparking furiously as he tore one of the giant slabs of concrete from the ground with his bare fucking hands, Katsuki lost it.
He came to a moment later, the television a smoking wreck in his hands. Most of his classmates were looking at him with some combination of confusion and fear. Only Windbag didn't look afraid of him.
"Are you ok, Bakugo?" It was the first time Katsuki had heard Windbag speak at a relatively normal fucking volume. It was still loud, but at least he wasn't fucking shouting.
Katsuki took a moment to compose his words. He needed to make sure everyone in the room understood just how fucked up U.A was if they let someone like fucking Deku not only into their school but win their festival as well.
"U.A is a shitty school filled with shitty people." Katsuki managed to grind out. Something flashed across Windbag's face, an emotion that Katsuki wasn't equipped to understand, now or ever.
"Did you know one of the finalists?" One of the fucking extras extracted their head from their ass long enough to ask a fucking pertinant question.
"I went to fucking middle school with the winner." There was a general murmur from his classmates at that, before Katsuki glared at them with enough vitriol to silence them again. "He pretended to be fucking quirkless for years, just so he could laugh at me behind my back. He always thought he was fucking better than everyone else despite not having a fucking quirk. And then he goes and gets into fucking U.A anyway. He's a fucking liar and a fucking cheat and he shouldn't be at fucking U.A, let alone winning the fucking Sports Festival."
"He's not the only one." Katsuki looked up in surprise as fucking Windbag of all people began to agree with him. Normally they butted heads on everything under the fucking sun. "The reason I'm here at Shiketsu is because of Todoroki, Endeavor's son. I could not bring myself to attend an institution with someone like him as a classmate." Huh, learn something new everyday. "If he is not the only one like that attending U.A, I may have to seriously reconsider my opinion on the school."
Murmurs broke out amongst the extras once again, but Katsuki didn't bother to shut them up this time. They were talking about the downsides of U.A, after all, and not the television he had just destroyed in a rage.
Windbag was inspecting Katsuki with curiosity at this point. Katsuki returned the favor by reappraising his classmate. He was strong, that much was crystal clear. But it looked like he could have his head screwed on right after all.
Maybe it was worth the punishment from their dormitory commissar for destroying the television if it meant Windbag and him understood each other a little better. After all, it was only appropriate that the two strongest in the class were united. All of the other extras would follow along as they should.