Toru had many questions running through her head. How bad was Iruma-kun brainwashed? What were triggers other than 'please' and begging? What did the parents make Iruma-kun do? How many times did he put his own life in danger just because someone asked him to do something? Would he actually jump off a roof like he said on the bus? Would he take a knife and stab himself?
However, she had one thought that wasn't a question. 'If this gear fucks us over, I'm stabbing Hatsumei'. Yes, the team composed of three women and Iruma stood in the center of the arena, as the rest of the student body prepared to rush as soon as the signal started. "You ready to go, Iruma-kun?" She spoke for the first time since her minor revelation.
"Yes Toru! I'm all set!" He looked happy at least. Probably didn't understand what was happening in his own head. Or maybe he already knew and just accepted it was his life. Either way it was disturbing. "Hatsumei, do you have all the babies ready?"
"I still think you should rename them." For once the vine bitch and her agreed on something.
"Nonsense, all the babies on our feet are perfect. As soon as you give the signal, the plan's a go." The plan Hagakure came up with, cause Iruma's plan was survive … and that was it. A simple soul, he was. Too good for this earth.
It didn't matter, Iruma-kun knew how to evade and she knew nothing, NOTHING was going to touch him, not if she had anything to say about it. "Ibara, you okay? You're not too uncomfortable with me on top? We could always switch." DON'T YOU DARE, YOU BITCH! Holding up her hero was the greatest feeling on earth!
"Of course not, it would be even harder to use my hair if there were people behind me." The woman spoke, holding a spikey strand. "I wouldn't wish to bring harm onto you." The moment you hurt him you die! Wow, was this the reason Bakugo was angry all the time?...Nah, he was too much of an ass to care about people.
"And begin!" Just like the Entrance Exam there was no countdown, the tension already high enough, as students began to pile towards their direction.
"Now Hatsumei! Let's fly!" Toru shouted, because while Iruma-kun was the rider, a strategist he was not. She had to take the lead here for all their sakes.
"Watch out world! Watch our babies soar across the sky!" Don't shout it like that! People already think Iruma's quirkless, don't make people think he has kids with her! If it was Toru's baby with Iruma-kun, then that would be a different story.
"Would you look at that folks, team Iruma has taken to the sky!" The crowd cheered loudly. "Eraser Head, thoughts?"
"An impressive strategy for sure, since they're the main targets it's best to keep distance." Exactly, they were untouchable. "Right now they're almost untouchable."
"Almost?" Who would be able to reach them from up here-
"DODGER!" Oh right, the angry pomeranian could fly.
"Bring the points to mommy!" Shouted a human torso, also flying at them. What the..
"Setsuna. Looks like I'm not immune to my companion's sinful machinations."
"Hey, you're the one that wanted to take top prize, take the risk and give me some points!" A hand detached, reaching up to Iruma-kun.
"Fuck off bitch, he's mine!" An explosion knocked the hand off trajectory.
"Oh, so that's how you swing? Didn't take you for the type. Then again, you probably couldn't attract anything since you're always blowing everything up."
"Says the floating lizard without any genitals, clearly you have game, bravo freak show." Now they were both focused on trying to grab each other's headbands.
"Says the walking dick always spouting bullshit."
"Last I checked you haven't done jackshit. Didn't you place in the thirties?"
"Twenties, you think second place would have picked that up." … What was she watching now? They were just flying around and making destructive grabs at each other. Even Ibara gave an unhelpful shrug.
"I'm closer to the top than you."
"Oh I'm ALWAYS on top, never on the bottom, unless you can make me~?"
"Oh you think just cause you are a top you can be on my level, dream on you muscle brained pair of boobs!"
"... Oh, are you two dating?" Iruma-kun asked, bringing attention back to him. "This is just like that one couple who tried to kill Rin back in first love memories."
"You read that trash?" Setsuna asked.
"Worked on the coloring actually! It was the only fun job I ever had!"
"Right right, now if you don't mind i'll be taking that headband-"
"What did I just say bitch." Bakugou, in an outright barberic display, grabbed the girl by the face and threw her down. "It's MINE!" He was cut off by a hand flying by with his own. "Shit, give it back!" And they went down to chase. Looked like Bakugo was a necessary evil, even if he helped Iruma-kun indirectly.
==
Neito watched the chaos of the battlefield, carefully selecting which A team to nab headbands from. He needed to do this carefully … and there went the six armed freak's band. "Too easy." He laughed. Thanks to Setsuna's quirk, their range for band recovery was unrivaled! Class 1-A were fools to forget about them, which was why he came up with this plan to begin with! To use that ignorance to their advantage!
Ah, the next target, the rider distracted by Setsuna now. He'd have to send over some headbands as thanks when this was done. "Ha, now I've got your band, you multi limbed freak!"
"I have four limbs you moron, they just separate!" She engaged with the mad dog of 1-A. Such a savage creature, always barking and praising the wonder uses of his own quirk. A perfect main character, wasn't he? Why else call everyone around him extras?
Well Side characters always had their chance to shine. "Kendo, get ready to form a shield, I'm going for the grab."
"Are you sure you want to get in the way of that?" She asked. "We have a decent amount of points and the battle's getting … intense." True, it was almost a mirror match in a way.
"My Metal is manlier than your hardness!"
"My Hardness is manlier than your metal!
Starting with the two who were literal mirror matches. The red head with a hardening quirk, and Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. If he had the arrogance of Bakugo, he probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Either way, Tetsu was playing his part as a distraction. Ten Million may be out of their grasp, but they can sink the rest of 1-A before Suzuki's time comes.
Next was Kojiro Bondo vs a pink-haired girl. For once the man's quirk did nothing."Please stop melting my glue, I won't be able to make statues!" … He tried his best. That's all he asked of his friends.
Finally, there was Jurota Shshida. The main voice of reason of the group with Setsuna off taking on Bakugou. Without his quirk constantly active, he could be quite the calm and collected fellow. And it helped to have claws that ripped through tape quite easily. "Hey! What're you doing! I can't be a mummy if you waste all your toilet paper!" If only intelligence didn't go down with that quirk.
"Stop using tape on the one guy it doesn't work on, elbows!" Bakugou shouted. "You have three other targets!"
"Aww, you are willing to share, I didn't think you'd be open to three ways."
"I can make it a fourway if you think you can stand a chance!" The fuck were they doing? There was Ibara's slight obsession with the oddly respectable Suzuki, and there was whatever trash fire this clearly was.
"I vote we interfere on the grounds that whatever chemistry they're building needs to die fast." Manga Fukidashi, another one of his partners, agreed on principle alone.
"Sink to the abyss." Shihai Kuroiro nodded as well. He was surrounded by such trustworthy companions.
"Fine, fine, but nobody blames me if this goes south." Itsuka deadpanned. Ha, she thought it could go south. All they were doing was giving those 1-A bastards a piece of humble soup. They made their way closer … now.
He tapped Fukidashi's head and shouted. "Bounce." The words bounce literally popped into existence, bouncing the explosive boy off course and right in front of him, giving him access to split off his hand and grab those bands, bringing them back in. "Would you look at that?" He spoke even as the boy was pulled back in by tape. "And here I thought you were supposed to be decent."
"What the fuck would you know about decent? None of you 1-b listers placed high on the obstacle race."
"Hah, oh really? We didn't do well in the qualifier? But we're still here? When you've shown off how your quirks work when you have no idea what we can do?" Neito mocked the boy's narrow headed view. "So many interesting quirks." He held up his hand and sparked a few explosions.
"Dude, he has your quirk!" The red head shouted.
"A copycat, are ya?" The explosion user growled.
"Of course, but at least I comprehend them, unlike you simpleminded barbarians of 1-A."
"If there's one thing I can't stand outside of extra's like you holding back...IT'S FUCKING UNORIGINAL COPYS!"
"Unoriginal, big talk coming from you, the violent brute that's come in second at everything." The students under the boy froze. "They display scores you know, second rate school, second on the Entrance Exam, second on Quirk Apprehension Test, second to help during the USJ … and lost in the Battle Trial." He laughed.
"Bakubro, we need to get the points, so keep a calm head and-"
"I am calm." The entire group froze at the utter tranquility of his voice. "I am so filled with intense rage I've gone full circle." It was freaky how 'calm' his expression was compared to his normal explosive personality. "Yo, splitter girl, take five, I'm going to gut your beta male of a classmate into a red arts and craft project you'd find done by a five year old."
"Sounds like fun! Save some pieces for me!" Setsuna, WHY!? You were supposed to beat 1-A, not join them!
He tapped Itsuka's head and formed a massive hand shield. "You won't get through this." Now he just needed to hold out and wait for-
"Ashido, would you mind shooting out some acid so I can burn a hole in his hands easier?" … Did he just use a name? "Before we take out Suzuki, we're going to utterly cremate everyone in the Class B-list team, you got it?
"Yes sir!" The trio shouted in complete and utter terror. They were so amiblicable earlier, just how far did the boy snap!?
==
Spinner kicked a can, walking down the purposeless path of an empty alley. Wandering a friendless road where his days were spent surviving, scavenging, and avoiding the CRC.
It wasn't like he was completely bothered by his quirk. He was a giant lizard that could walk on walls. Nothing impressive, yeah, but he's always felt he didn't need anything else. Did it sting when people judged him by his mutation? It did, but what could he do about it? He couldn't be a hero with it, he knew that much.
But what could he be? Everyone liked heroes and hated villains, also most villains just lacked that 'cool edge'. At the very least he could get a normal job, but that was an empty void only normies were content were walking, spending their lives walking the motions. Could anyone in this world feel just as useless as him? Was this what it was like to have no drive, no purpose in your life? What a cruel joke.
He walked on by, crowds gathering around an electronics store looking at the display window. Something cool must've been on today. Might as well join the bandwagon, not like he had anything else to alleviate his boredom. He watched as the camera displayed violence incarnate.
"And he just. Keeps. PUNCHING! When will the madness end, Eraser, any insight into time zones?"
"When he feels the boy is finished deserving punishment … and given the comments we picked up through field mikes, not any time soon."
That didn't sound heroic at all. Did a prestigious school such as UA allow so much needless violence for the masses to enjoy? That sounded pretty messed up, but it was also cool too. Was that a problem? Did someone need to go in there and fix it?
Maybe someone did, but that couldn't be him. What could he do? Protest on the streets demanding change. Not like anyone would listen to him. Now it has changed to a different scene. "It seems that Suzuki's team finally ran out of fuel too, their aerial superiority lost upon them." Huh, that actually did look pretty cool, using all those gadgets to fly through the air. Using something other than their own quirk to get ahead.
Was that his calling? To master tools and weapons that made him more than just his quirk. Well swords did seem like the coolest option available. All you needed to do was swing them around, right?
"And here comes Todoroki's team, closing in on the now vulnerable team to deliver a battle of justice!"
Justice? Was that what he should be fighting for? It's not like that team was doing it, but again no one would listen to him, right? So what was the point of breaking his head on a brick wall?
He began turning his head away, noticing something on the ground. An article from the newspaper about someone called Stain: The Hero Killer.
==
Todoroki couldn't have been more frustrated. He thought he had his class figured out. They were slightly impressive, but he's had years to master his quirk, put in more time than any of them ever did, but then the likes of Bakugo stormed in and tried to challenge him. Seeing those explosions go off every time just reminded him of his right side, and the vow he made to never use it. Also the boy was freakish in combat. He saw the beginning of the class 1-B massacre, and wisely decided to take advantage of a more valuable target.
However, that didn't compare to the little moron known as Suzuki. The quirkless idiot that stumbled his way into the hero course, who openly admitted to not wanting to be a hero, yet somehow by mere physical feats alone managed to surpass everyone in class. He made first in the Entrance Exam, eleventh in the Quirk Apprehension Tests, won the Battle Trial, became Vice President, and then caused massive waves saving Eraser Head and 'empathizing' with the villain at the USJ.
If he didn't see it with his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it. This idiot had to be the luckiest bastard on the planet, or have some probability quirk, though again, he was certain the kid was quirkless. He even openly admitted to not having one growing up, so why would they believe him otherwise?
He had All Might in his corner too, and judging by how they talked to each other, ate lunch together, and the nicknames, it was clear there was more than just a student-teacher relationship there. He could only come to one logical conclusion.
The boy was a secret love child that faked his family life. That or All Might just learned about him and did everything he could to spoil the rotten bastard. The former was less antagonizing to his mental state, so he stuck with it for now.
Either way, the boy was done for now. They had enough points to move on to the next round already, they just needed to wait out the clock on those support items and take the band while they were down. A few moments and … there. "Why aren't we flying anymore Hatsumei!?" Hagakrure shouted.
"These things run on energy, we need to recharge on the ground!" She shouted back, but they wouldn't have the time. He froze over the metal boots, making them unable to be used for the moment. "What the fuck!? Who hurt my babies!?" Odd, there were no infants in the arena.
"That's ice...Todoroki that bastard!" Hagakure pointed toward them. "Shit."
"Suzuki, you're going to give me that headband." He said to the boy, ice forming. "Last I checked, your team has one useful quirk and we have four."
"Hey, that's not nice! Hatsumei has amazing Babies and Toru is super stealthy and smart! Ibraa is super strong too, and their hair is pretty! They're all amazing!"
He was insulting the boy, not the vine girl he gestured to for the latter. That quirk might be a bit tricky, but he was sure Yaoyarozu could make something for it. Or, winter cometh. Like how he forced ice to grow and close off escape routes.
"DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME, PEPPERMINT! I'M STILL IN THIS TOO!" For a second he actually did forget about Bakugou. That was two minutes of bliss he'll remember fondly. "Tape arms, keep me tied, I'm going after Dodger!"
"I thought you wanted all of 1-B to die?" He could hear Sero ask.
"Beating Peppermint and Dodger is more important than some useless extras, and I already murdered beta-copy!"
"Todoroki, we can't take them both on!" Yaoyarozu shouted, and she had a point, fortunately, he had a solution. Freezing the entire distance between them. That would buy them a hot minute.
"Iruma Suzuki, I don't think we can venture out any further with this hellish ice trapping us!" The vine girl shouted worriedly. How could ice be hellish? Wasn't that what fire represented? "I pray you have a solution!"
"Ah, ah...Toru, I just have to keep the band to myself, right? The point is to make sure no one else takes it, right?!" What was he planning here?
"Yeah, you have to keep it from them!"
"Iida, prepare to dash, they're planning something."
"I have a secret maneuver I've been saving, but once I use it, I'll be out of commission."
"YOU'RE DEAD, PEPPERMINT!" Shit, Bakugou broke through, he forgot to account for Ashido and Kriishima.
"On my mark then." Todoroki couldn't afford chances.
"Irumu-kun, you better have that plan ready to go!" Hagakure shouted.
"YOU ALL WANT THIS!" Suzuki shouted, holding up the balled up headband. "Come and get it." Before … swallowing it whole.
==
It was the perfect strategy! They would have to rip him open, but they couldn't do that in a tournament for fun right? Why was everyone staring at him, they even stopped trying to grab bands.
"YOU MORON!" Bakugo yelled at him, but that wasn't anything new. "Do you know what you just did!?"
"I stopped you from being able to take the band from me!" He thought it was simple enough.
"But you're supposed to keep the headband on you, not in you!" Todoroki looked shocked.
"Is there a difference?"
"Um … ah …" Even Scream-sensei was acting all weird. "Midnight, rule book, now!"
"On it!" Midnight flipped through a tiny book quickly. "Lets see...lets see...there's no rule against eating the band. He hasn't let it drop to the ground or had it stolen."
"So we're adding it to next year, of course." Even Aizawa sensei admitted his brilliance. A perfect plan. He looked down at the girls with a thumbs up, but they all just gave him weird looks.
"I...don't know whether to call you a smart dumbass or a dumb smartass." Bakugo kept saying his usual mean words.
"So it's just … lost." Todoroki actually began to freeze over. He should give the boy a blanket.
"Yeah...it is...I guess team Suzuki already won." Midnight waved her whip.
The crowd gave a weird cheer, not as impressive as the normal one. Aww, not it didn't feel as earned as usual.
"Our four teams make it up to the final round! In fourth place, the brainless ones!"
Who now? Who would..oh Ochako and Tsu made it! Minoru was there too with that sleepy guy! He made it after all, good for him!
"In third place, the Frostfires!
"I didn't use my fire!" For some reason Todoroki froze even more with that comment. He should really get a blanket.
"So cold … can't feel my arms." Kaminari muttered.
"In second place, we have the Bakusquad!"
"Who the FUCK called us that!?" The boy shouted in outrage.
"Yeah, the Bakusquad!" Eijiro cheered.
"We are NOT calling ourselves that!"
"The Bakusquad!" Ashido joined in.
"We're NOT calling ourselves that!
"The... Bakasquad?" Iruma asked innocently, not sure if he heard them right.
"IT'S THE BAKUSQUA-DAMN IT!" Aww, Bakugou's friends were laughing with him.
"And in first place, give it up for … the gluttonous flyers!"
"Associated with a sin …" Ibara muttered with her hair shaking for some reason. "I helped the angel, but I'm associated with a deadly sin...I don't know what to do here."
"You helped all of us out, Ibara, how is that a bad thing? In fact, you insisted on helping me. I say that's heroic." She asked to help him even before he thought to ask! That was a good person in his book. Weird, now she was looking really red as her hair began to make strange motions. "Thanks for helping me you guys!"
"I got attention either way, so it's all good, Million Points!"
"No problem, Iruma-kun!" Toru replied with her nickname for him. It was really starting to grow on him. Maybe he should give her one too. Then maybe they'll become soulmates. Would the rest of his friends like that? Would that be weird?