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Since the top eight would immediately proceed to the quarterfinal matches, right after the eighth round of the arena battles ended, Konata Izumi headed straight to the waiting room to rest.
"If it's Shinso, I'm not too worried—after all, I can temporarily resist that with my passive ability… but how am I supposed to deal with that durian-head?"
Slumped over the table, head in her hands, Konata had a tangled, conflicted expression on her face.
"If I had known, I should have trained my body properly instead of binging anime at home every day. Damn it…"
Earlier, Midoriya, Uraraka, and Iida had all planned to come here to help her strategize. After all, her win in the first round had been quite forced, and her opponent in the second round was such a strange existence. Naturally, they were worried.
Konata was truly touched… and then she shoved them all out.
"Hmm… let me think. If I can't strengthen my own power in a short time, maybe I should change my approach and find a way to weaken the opponent. That might work."
"Weaken my power?"
Bakugo Katsuki, who had originally intended to kick the door open, frowned. Curiosity piqued, he simply leaned his back against the wall, arms crossed, listening outside.
To be honest, he really wanted to know what ridiculous method this stupid Konata would come up with to weaken his strength.
And then he heard an answer that made him utterly speechless.
"I remember Recovery Girl has some laxatives…"
Muttering under her breath, Konata opened the door to leave the waiting room—only to come face-to-face with Bakugo, who stood there wearing a cold smirk.
"…"
The two of them stared at each other in silence for three seconds. Then, Konata decisively turned around, intending to retreat back into the room. Unfortunately, in her guilty panic, she forgot that she had shut the door earlier. With a loud BANG, her forehead slammed straight into the door.
Bakugo Katsuki, who had just witnessed this display of peak stupidity: "…"
Looking at the girl squatting on the floor clutching her head, Bakugo suddenly felt there was no point in arguing with an idiot. Otherwise, he feared his IQ might be dragged down to her level and then defeated by her sheer… experience.
So, after a moment's thought, Bakugo shoved his hands into his pockets and strolled away.
As for whether this idiot squatting on the floor would actually get hurt—wasn't that just common sense?
And so, when the second round of matches began, everyone saw a loli with a bright red forehead and visibly wilted energy.
"So, Konata-chan went to sleep again, huh?" Uraraka's tone was… suspicious.
Judging by the red mark on Konata's forehead and her current condition, Uraraka quickly pieced together the truth.
In fact, she wasn't the only one. Most of Class 1-A had the same expression on their faces—they all agreed with Uraraka's conclusion.
"So she kicked us out earlier just so she could sleep better," Midoriya deduced quickly, following Uraraka's line of thought.
"So… what did Konata do last night?"
Sitting alone at the back, Bakugo listened to their chatter without saying a word, hiding in plain sight.
"To meet again—I didn't expect you to make it this far."
As soon as Present Mic announced the start of the match, Konata spoke first, cutting Shinso off with a solemn expression before he could even open his mouth.
"Did you know? I've seen mountains and oceans, I've crossed through seas of people. I've roamed the ends of the earth and traveled the galaxies. At the edge of time, at the boundary of the world… I found the truth."
Shinso: "…"
The audience: "…"
Why was this blue-haired loli's fighting style always so different from everyone else's?
"Truth…" In the front row, Tokoyami's eyes gleamed.
"You—"
Sensing the situation getting stranger by the second, Shinso tried to speak.
His Quirk was Brainwashing—if he spoke and the opponent responded, they would fall under his control. But if the person had no intention to answer, it wouldn't work.
It was indeed a powerful Quirk, but once someone understood the mechanics, all they had to do was avoid replying, and it would be useless. It had no direct offensive power, which was why he failed the Hero Course entrance exam and entered General Studies instead.
But still… he wanted to become a hero.
Ever since that day when this girl had verbally cornered him, he began reflecting on himself. He used to think that having a strong Quirk was all it took to be a hero. He believed that with his Quirk, he could easily win first place in the Sports Festival and be transferred into the Hero Course. But he realized he was wrong.
As Aizawa-sensei had said—having only one skill was not enough to become a hero.
Even though he had started physical training since then, less than a week wasn't enough to see much progress. But his mindset had completely changed.
To be fair, he actually felt grateful to this girl. But that didn't mean he was going to go easy on her. The frustrating part was—she wasn't even giving him a chance to speak and activate his Quirk. Instead, she just kept spouting ridiculous, chuunibyou nonsense.
And when he tried to break the awkwardness—
Before he could even finish his first word, she reached into the air and pulled out a massive flaming sword, pointing it right at him.
"…"
At that moment, Shinso suddenly felt like surrendering.
So she already knew about his Quirk, huh?
"Next to the truth, I found this sword. Do you know what it's called?"
Holding Nietono no Shana, Konata spoke with pride.
"Flame Sword."
After a moment of silent thought, Shinso replied flatly.
He was overthinking it.
Sure enough, as soon as he casually made up a name, she responded without a shred of caution.
"No way—it could never have such a shallow, meaningless name!"
Swinging the sword to the side, Konata shouted:
"Its name… is The Joy of Fire!"
Shinso: "…"
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After finishing the lines she had prepared for the fight against Shinso Hitoshi, Izumi Konata was quite satisfied.
Although there was still a long section left, her opponent clearly wasn't going to play along. If she kept going, it would just turn into awkward small talk. So, following the principle of quitting while ahead, Konata decided to end the match quickly.
She had even deliberately given her opponent time to activate his Quirk, but his performance left her disappointed. After all, she wanted to test whether Hatsune's passive could really be immune to this kind of control.
However, just as she was about to lower her Nietono no Shana, she suddenly lost control over her own body.
Uh… when exactly did she get caught?
After trying and failing to move her body, Konata couldn't help but fall into deep thought.
Honestly, shouldn't abilities that control others be more suited for those certain types of eroge? You could do whatever you want after taking control… kind of jealous now, what do I do?
"Step out of the ring."
Seeing that he had successfully taken control, Shinso Hitoshi let out a sigh of relief before issuing a command to the girl in front of him.
Following his words, Konata felt her body automatically carry out his order. She turned around and walked toward the edge of the ring.
The audience erupted in commotion.
"Once again, General Studies' Shinso Hitoshi seems to have successfully controlled his opponent! Just like in his previous strange match, he's making others obey his commands. Could this be the true nature of his Quirk?"
Present Mic's passionate and highly recognizable voice rang out right on cue.
Then, under the gaze of everyone present, just as Konata was about to step out of the ring, she suddenly stopped. Turning back toward the shocked Shinso—who had no idea why his Quirk suddenly failed—she pulled a face at him. Flames roared higher along the blade of her Nietono no Shana, and she swung it in his direction.
With a violent roar, dust shot up. When the smoke cleared moments later, the arena floor from Konata's position to Shinso's feet—and beyond—was marked by a deep trench.
Looking at the trench that had narrowly missed him, Shinso gave a wry smile and raised his hand.
"I forfeit."
And so, after the match ended, everyone in the arena gained a new impression of Izumi Konata, along with a new label.
This girl was really cheeky.
After the match, Konata didn't immediately return to the stands. Instead, she snuck off toward the nurse's office.
She remembered the next match was Bakugo Katsuki versus Iida Tenya. While Iida was strong, she didn't think his chances of winning were very high.
Yep, she still hadn't given up on the idea of drugging Bakugo.
However, when she slipped into the nurse's office, she unexpectedly found a familiar face.
"Hagakure Tooru? What are you doing here?"
Seeing the floating clothes inside the room, Konata stepped in, curious.
Though another class also had a completely invisible student, the two were easy to tell apart—mainly because the other one often had little comic-like bubbles appear next to their head.
"My stomach was feeling a little uncomfortable, so I came to find some medicine. But Konata, shouldn't you be in your match right now?"
Hagakure turned—at least, Konata assumed from the way the sleeves moved—while slipping a box of medicine into her pocket.
"My match is over. Right now it's Bakugo Katsuki versus Iida Tenya."
Konata answered distractedly while scanning the room, trying to see if she could find something like a laxative.
"I suddenly felt like… mm, my throat was a bit sore, so I came to find some throat medicine."
"Here, throat medicine for you."
Before Konata could keep looking, a bottle of medicine was set down in front of her.
"Thanks."
"No problem, it's nothing. I just happened to see it earlier while looking for my own medicine, so I grabbed it for you."
Hagakure waved energetically before heading out.
"I still have something to do, so I'll be going now. Bye-bye!"
"Bye-bye."
Watching the clothes disappear at the doorway, Konata looked down at the bottle of throat medicine in her hand in silence.
And so…
"For me?"
Fresh off the arena, Bakugo Katsuki stared at the bottle of throat medicine in his hand, utterly confused.
"Yep, it's for you. Don't thank me—I just hope you'll go a little easier on me later."
Konata waved casually before asking curiously,
"By the way, you won, right? Iida Tenya's pretty capable."
"He got a phone call and had to leave in a hurry."
Tossing the medicine bottle lightly in his hand, Bakugo replied flatly.
"After two more matches, it's our turn. When that time comes, I expect you to fight me with everything you've got. If you fight like you did in your last two matches, I'm not giving you the chance to surrender—I'll just beat you into the ground. Either fight me seriously, or take a brutal beating from me. Your choice."
"You won't even give me a chance to surrender?"
Konata's eyes widened.
"In battle, giving your all is the proper way to respect your opponent."
Stuffing the bottle into his pocket, Bakugo turned to leave.
"Whether it was your first match against Tokoyami Fumikage, or your second against Shinso Hitoshi, your behavior insulted their pride. Especially Tokoyami—you'd better apologize to him. If you see our sacred battles as nothing more than a game, then you have no right to stand in the ring."
Coldly delivering those words, Bakugo walked toward the rest area without waiting for her reply.
"…"
Standing still for a moment, Konata slowly raised her hand and looked at her palm, then let out a quiet sigh.
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In the small forest beside the main arena, Konata Izumi found Fumikage Tokoyami sitting on a tree branch, arms crossed, eyes closed, projecting an air of coolness.
"…I deeply apologize."
Without hesitation, Konata bowed deeply toward the "crow" perched on the branch.
Tokoyami: "…"
"To avoid any misunderstanding, I want to give you a proper explanation. I wasn't ignoring you or playing games on purpose, and I never intended to look down on you. Could you come down? My neck hurts looking up like this."
Tokoyami: "…"
He jumped down cleanly from the branch, landing in front of her.
"Did you need something from me?"
"Yeah, it's about my Quirk, Fantasy."
After glancing around to make sure no one else was nearby, Konata continued.
"It's not that I didn't want to go all out back then. My transformation has a time limit, and I had already used it in the first round of eliminations."
"You shouldn't carelessly reveal details about your Quirk to others," Tokoyami interrupted, his tone serious.
"Don't forget—the mastermind of the League of Villains still hasn't been caught. Their target is you. For your own safety, you must keep your Quirk's secrets to yourself."
"Uh… I don't think it's necessary," Konata replied, scratching her cheek and glancing around. "There's no one else here, and it's not like you'd spread it around."
"Regardless, you need to learn to protect your secrets. Once mystery is gone, there are too many ways to exploit weaknesses—just like my Dark Shadow's vulnerability to light."
"You just revealed your own Quirk's weakness," Konata muttered, twitching her lips.
"Better safe than sorry," Tokoyami said curtly, turning to walk toward the arena. "Come on, let's watch the matches."
"Oh…"
When they returned, Shoto Todoroki was in the middle of freezing the entire stage.
"That was quick," Konata murmured, glancing at the stands. She spotted Izuku Midoriya scribbling in a worn notebook, while Mina Ashido—his would-be opponent—sat beside him, raising her hand as if protesting something.
"Looks like it'll be my turn soon… one step at a time," Konata sighed, waving at Tokoyami before heading toward the stage.
On the platform, Ibara Shiozaki struggled to endure Todoroki's relentless attacks. In just a few minutes, the match ended, and the semifinals were set—just as Konata predicted: herself, Katsuki Bakugo, Izuku Midoriya, and Shoto Todoroki. An all-Class 1-A showdown.
And she was the most unsure of the bunch.
The only transformation she could use now was Mikoto Misaka. In her base form, she'd be hopelessly outmatched.
"No choice… you forced me into this," she thought, taking a deep breath.
After Cementoss reinforced the arena, the semifinals began.
"Katsuki Bakugo, are you sure you want me to go all out?" Konata asked seriously.
"Tch, I think I already told you before," Bakugo replied, sparks crackling from his palms. "Or are you saying I'm not even worth your full strength?"
"I understand," Konata said, pulling a coin from her pocket. "This might sound arrogant, but I need to warn you. This fight will be one-sided. I admit you're strong, but you haven't grown enough yet. Do you even know what kind of opponent you're facing?"
She flicked the coin into the air.
"You're facing someone who stands above two million in Academy City, ranked third among the seven Level 5 espers. The one known as… Railgun."
As the coin reached its peak and began to fall, the air rippled. Blue-white lightning danced around Konata's hand, and the air itself seemed to hold its breath.
Bakugo's instincts screamed danger. His pupils shrank to pinpoints. That coin falling through the air radiated an overwhelming, absolute destructive force.
Without hesitation, he lunged away from his position—just before the attack landed.
BOOM!
A blinding beam burst from Konata's fingertip as she flicked the coin. The shockwave tore through the arena floor, leaving a deep gouge. Debris and dust filled the air.
When the dust settled, half the arena was gone, carved apart as if a typhoon had ripped through it.
And all of it came from a single, ordinary coin.
The stadium fell silent for a moment—then erupted in cheers.
Konata raised her right hand, brushing her brown hair still crackling faintly with electricity. She turned to Bakugo.
"I respected your request. So… do you still want to fight?"
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About that… I gave up on POV indicators. Too much brain damage to figure out, so I'll just let you all guess whose POV you're looking through, teehee~
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