"Does anyone remember how we passed?" Ochako asked her friends. "After looking for Iruma I heard Bakugo call me out, and then everything went dark."
"No, I don't remember even forming a team with anyone. It's freaky." Tsu shivered. "I'm kinda scared to be honest."
"It was the bastard over there." Mineta pointed at a fellow purple haired. "He talked and somehow got us to lose memories … and after that I wasn't able to feel what it was like to be hoisted up by two ladies."
"I know you're a pervert, but THAT is the most concerning thing about this situation?"
"Of course I am." The boy nodded, not even defending himself. "Don't you remember anything Tsu? It took a while before you went out like a light."
"That's because he kept insulting me and my appearance. It wasn't anything I haven't heard before, so I was able to ignore it." Ouch, that was a low blow.
"Why would he insult your appearance?" Mineta and Ochako asked simultaneously … that felt wrong.
"I'm not sure if he actually meant it, it seems like he was aiming to get some sort of response out of me. That might be how his quirk activates."
"Well it's good he didn't mean it, you're just as beautiful as the rest of us Tsu." Ochako gave her friend a hug.
"Yeah, no woman looks ugly in my eyes, your frog parts look cute you know." Mineta agreed, and she felt weird on that end.
"I..I don't know how to take that." Tsu replied honestly.
"Alright boys and girls, time to reveal the brackets!" Midnight shouted. "Now then, this is the last chance for ANYONE to back out, so are we good?"
"You guys want to?" She turned to the group. It felt slightly wrong to get this far and not even remember putting in the work to do so.
"Hey, as long as I don't have to fight Todoroki and Bakugou, I'm fine with anything to get spotlight." Mineta shrugged.
"I know it probably doesn't feel right, but we've been given the chance to enter the final round. This is where we should put in most of our effort. It's an opportunity not many can get all the time." Tsu thought out loud.
Ochako looked at the other students, determination was in all of their eyes. "Well then, I guess this is just plus ultra again. Good luck Tsu." She shook hands with her friend.
"Alrighty folks, here are the matchups!" Mightight revealed who was fighting who ...
Suzuki VS Shinso, Sero VS Todoroki, Hatsumei VS Iida, Yaoyarozu vs Asui, Kirishima VS Mineta, Bakugou VS Uraraka, Kaminari VS Hagakure, Ibara vs Ashido
"I … have to fight Bakugo." She muttered.
"I'm fighting Momo. I wonder how our quirks match up with each other. I'm a mutant type and she's an emitter. Should be interesting." Tsu's face it hard to tell if she was more excited or worried about it.
"I … have to fight Bakugo." She muttered.
"I'm going against Kirishima, a piece of cake." Mineta smiled. Not understanding if he won he would take her grave.
"I … have to fight Bakugo." She muttered.
"This isn't good." Tsu looked back at the screen. "Iruma's going against the general studies guy. He always responds to whoever talks to him." That snapped her out of her internal panic. They needed to warn him!
"Leave it to me." Mineta spoke. "In the name of men who can never have glorious memories, I will make sure my friend will not share the cruel fate of his comrade." He probably didn't pick up on the fact Iruma's team was all girls. Best to leave that tidbit out for now.
==
"Iruma, we need to talk, alone." Mineta asked his bro.
"What is it with people wanting to drag me into dark hallways lately?" Stranger danger signals were going off.
"Okay, we need to get you a phone or some kind of tracker." They could figure that part out later. "Right now I have something to warn you about your opponent. It could make or break how far you'll get in the festival."
"That's not good, I already don't want to break my bones until I fight Todoroki." He was … fuck it, let them hash it out later.
"The man has a brainwashing quirk." He said. "Once you respond to what he says, you enter his complete control and black out."
"So I'll be forced to do what he says?" He was tilting his head with that puppy look that made Toru go crazy for him. "Doesn't sound any different than how my life usually goes."
What, no, be concerned! "Iruma, he could make you hurt yourself, or walk off the stage and forfeit!"
"What!? I can't forfeit! I haven't stood out enough!" He was the face of the festival! This guy was so dense! "And I still need to help Todoroki forget about his father!"
"Look, I don't know what you have with Todoroki, but if it gets you motivated, go for it." Mineta needed to move onto the facts. "You have to make sure that whatever he says, whatever he does, you do NOT verbally respond to him, okay?"
"So as long as I don't talk, I'll be okay. Alright." He understood perfectly! Yes, mission accomplished! Now the ladies would know that Mineta's information has saved the day, and the man who made him forget sweet memories would be destroyed. "Hopefully he doesn't say please." ….This kid was doomed.
==
Sato looked around, making sure that the time on the clock would give Suzuki no time at all to pop out of thin air. Sighing in relief he pulls out some candy from a triple locked suitcase. "Everyone gets one each, use it well."
"Nice security." Kaminari said as he plopped a jawbreaker into his mouth. "So Suzuki really found your last stash and ate it all?"
"Yeah, the kid has a nose like a bloodhound when it comes to food." Sato shivered, remembering the day vividly. "He looked like he was in a trance too, like it was instinct to just consume what was there. I mean I'm fine with cooking and all that, but my quirk needs sugar. Also i'm not fucking Lunch Rush." That cook had a death wish.
"He's so lucky. Able to eat that much without gaining a pound." Ashido pouted. "Between him and Momo, I'm a bit jealous."
"I still don't get it." Yaoyarozu was conversing with Iida. "The laws of conservation of mass alone would indicate the sheer impossibility of this, right? Mine all goes to body fat storages in my body."
"Yes, while his metabolism is quite astounding, the methods from how he gained such an ability may be less than pleasant." Right, the guy slept outside all the time. "Though that's probably how he was able to consume the headband so readily and easily."
"It was both concerning and hilarious." Hagakure gave a sigh. "That's my Iruma-kun alright."
"You're really laying it thick, aren't you?" Jiro rolled her eyes at the invisible girl's lack of subtlety.
"It's time folks!" Mic-sensei shouted out. "The first match is on the way. On the right side, we have the underdog, a student from General Studies that managed to beat multiple hero corse students and make his way to the final sixteen. Give it up for Class 1-C's … SHINSO HITOSHI!!" The crowd went wild as the boy made his way onto the stage.
"Bastard." Uraraka muttered under her breath. "Because of him I wasn't able to form a team with friends other than Tsu, and I had to carry up Mineta, and who knows what else he made me do while unconscious."
"You stared into space as he collected headbands from what I could tell." Tokoyami voiced from the back of the class. "I'm sure Midnight or the other staff would've been alerted to anything debaucherous."
"So the bastard who called us out actually made it to the one on one fights." Thankfully, Bakugo was back to his normal self. Him being an asshole was better than … whatever that thing was that mutilated Monoma. "I would be impressed if he wasn't so weak. Without his quirk he can't do jack shit."
"Do we need to explain the whole 'Iruma beating you without a quirk' again?" Tsu asked.
"Actually he has a point." Kirishima added in. "The dude's arms look super scrawny and untrained, like, Kaminari levels of untrained."
"Dude what the fuck!?"
"You're just an easy target, Jamming-whey." Jiro snorted.
"So what, as long as you can get past his quirk you can just punch him unconscious?" Ashido asked with a head tilt.
"I'd murder the bastard, but yes." Bakugo nodded as aimicable as possible while still retaining his asshole status. "Dodger can at least keep up with us."
"And in the other corner, this madman has been making strides in the sport festival one step at a time, growing stronger and crazier with every passing second, give it up for Class 1-A, IRUMA SUZUKI!!" He walked onto the stage with a serious look.
"So long as he doesn't become brainwashed." Sato added in. "You made sure to warn him, right?" I mean you could just say his ability but … this was Suzuki.
"He understood that he just has to not talk or he'll lose badly." Mineta spoke up.
"Must have been bad. I can't imagine being brain dead like that." Jiro spoke up. "And I look at Jamming-whey every day."
"Come on!"
"Control your quirk better and raise your grade, then maybe we'll talk about dropping it."
"So is it really game over?" Ojiro asked. "No way to escape once you're in?"
"From what I could tell." Tsu explained. "We didn't recover until after the Cavalry battle ended, so there's either a time limit or he released us. We didn't have the power to consider how outside factors affect it either."
"So neither of those is going to help Iruma-kun if he falls victim." Hagakure growled. "You can do it Iruma-kun, don't give up, do your best!" She shouted out.
"On your marks … get set …" Midnight-sensei paused for dramatic effect. "And begin!"
The enemy stared silently until Suzuki was halfway across the stadium.
"You're ugly."
"I'm not ugly!"
The entire class facepalmed at the same time. It was so loud it sounded like a thunderstrike.
"... You mind dropping the idiocy for me not being THAT dumb?" Kaminari pleaded, hand on face.
"...Yeah. You've earned a week of reprieve."
==
'What's going on? Why's everything so dark and foggy?' The ninth thought, frozen in place. The brainwashing quirk seemed to awaken something familiar, but it felt much more vivid than previous times.
"Wow, that was easier than I imagined. That frog girl was harder to control. I actually thought you'd be a challenge. Guess I really underestimated the quality of students in the hero course." The brainwasher spoke condescendingly to the ninth. "Now be a good hero and walk out of the stage. Let me win."
'I can't let you win, I have to help Todoroki! He's hurting because of his stupid father and I need to get him to start using fire!' The ninth continued to talk mentally. 'Why can't I move my mouth! Why am I turning around! He didn't say please! This isn't what I want to do!'
The ninth walked out to the edge of the arena. "Thanks for letting me win like this, with a villainous quirk not good for combat, this is the only way I can actually get noticed."
'He said thanks, so by losing I'm helping him… but...I can't lose! I need to help Todoroki! This...this isn't what I want to do right now! I..I want to win! I need to win! The body refused. 'I've lived with you for fourteen years, move … move … MOVE!' The Ninth pleaded to no avail.
"It's not over." Ninth turned to them, hands extended straight to the boy. "Fight on, young soul." The boy vanished, the realm returning to darkness.
"Bunny-sensei never said my quirk was haunted!" Those were the last words they heard before the realm returned to normal.
"You sure we should have even given him the leg up, all he has shown us is that he's a greedy and mentally damaged bastard." A gruff voice grumbled.
"He's not greedy, he literally just doesn't know how to show restraint." The only woman's voice spoke, defending the boy.
"He's being a hero for money, I call that greedy, even if he's been funky so far." A deep voice bellowed out.
"Even someone like that can do good." The first voice among them said. "He has promise."
==
The moron fell so easily into his trap. He just had to call him ugly, he didn't even expect that to work. But now he was seconds away from the edge. Shinso would win, just like he planned. Now he needed a strategy to get cold lips to talk, maybe a comment on his parents. An explosion of wind drew him over to the boy, now with a broken finger. "GHOSTS!" The idiot shouted.
"What the..where the hell did all that wind come from!?"
"You completely ignored our tapes didn't you?"
Damn the bastard, he must have had a counter. "How did you break free?" The moron turned around with determination in his eyes, but his hands covered over his mouth now. "You know, I'm actually pretty jealous of you! Being able to get into the hero course when everythings against you!"
The moron ran towards him, obviously knowing the trigger for his quirk now. "You've been so blessed, haven't you!? Being offered the chance of a lifetime and getting everything that you want! Your life is just perfect, isn't it!?"
That was answered in the form of a gut punch that made Shinso black out for a moment, both of them being dragged closer to the edge "You got your silver spoon of luck, you have so many friends and people who give a shit about you. Not everyone is as blessed as you!" He tried to wrestle his way out of the grip, but got no response.
"You bastard! Why don't you say anything!?" He threw a punch to the side of the brat's head, but the kid ducked under it and pushed himself under Shinso, flipping his body until it was planted on the ground hard. "Why don't you…" He wasn't given another chance to respond as Suzuki threw him out of the ring. He...lost.
"Shinso Hitoshi is out of bounds, Iruma Suzuki is the winner!" The crowd shouted out loud. Of course they did, the hero course won once again. As always. He got up, beginning to make his way back to the stands.
"You have a cool quirk!" Huh? "You almost beat me. You could stop villains without even having to fight! I can't think of anything more heroic than that."
That...that was different. "Uh...yeah, it has its uses." The guy really was a cheery idiot, but...it didn't seem like a bad thing now. "You...you did good too. I came this far because I made people help me."
"I came this far because someone asked me to." What?
"So if I had asked you, would you have walked out of the ring?"
"If you said please, yeah." Well shit, he should have said please then.
"Wow, that's an amazing quirk, how'd they let that slip through the cracks." Someone from the crowd started murmuring. Looks like Suzuki's opinion was shared by the audience. That was a step in the right direction.
"One more thing." He turned from the cheering crowd to Suzuki. "How did you break out of my quirk?"
"Oh yeah, my quirk is haunted." … What?