An Angel Becoming a Hero [BNHA X OC]

22 - Victory or Defeat

With all the first-years gathered in front of the stage, Midnight addressed us. "Now we draw lots to determine the bracket! Once the bracket is determined, we'll have recreational games and then start! The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreational activities. I'm sure some of you want to rest or save your strength.

"Now, from the first place team..."

Ojiro raised his hand. "Um, excuse me! I'm withdrawing."

Everyone gasped in shock. "Ojiro, why?" Deku asked.

"This is a rare chance for pros to see you!" Iida reminded.

"I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until almost the end."

If I remember correctly, Ojiro was with... I looked around and spotted the indigo-haired boy from the other day, Shinso. Meeting his gaze, he instantly looked away from me. ??? Is he feeling guilty or something...?

"I know that this is a great chance and that it's foolish to waste it. Still, everyone here competed by giving their all! I can't... I can't be up there with everyone without knowing what really happened."

Toru said, "You're worrying too much about it! You should just make sure you produce results in the finals!"

"If you're gonna say that, I didn't do anything either," Mina noted.

Ojiro covered his face. "That's not it. I'm talking about my pride here. I can't..." Then he turned slightly to look back at me and the other girls. "Also, why are you girls wearing cheerleader outfits?"

I gulped loudly. None of us said anything.

Another student stepped up to Midnight. "I'm Nirengeki Shoda from Class B. I also want to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability, don't you think it goes against the goal of this sports festival for those who didn't do anything to move onto the final round?"

I could see Kirishima fighting back tears. "What's with these guys?! Dammit, they're so manly!" he said.

"Don't fall for them too hard," I said.

We waited to see what Midnight, the chief umpire, said about all this.

She finally spoke. "Youthful talk like that is something I like!" she yelled, snapping her whip. "Shoda! Ojiro! I accept your withdrawal!" Did she accept because of her tastes?! "In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fifth place cavalry battle team..."

A girl from Class B, Itsuka Kendo, stepped forward. "If that's what's going to happen, then rather than us, who barely did anything during the cavalry battle, it should be the next team. The ones who fought and stayed in the top until the very end, Team Tetsutetsu, right?" Her team agreed with her.

"Kendo...!" Tetsutetsu gasped.

She smiled. "This isn't collusion or anything. It just makes sense."

Tetsutetsu screamed at the top of his lungs, extremely grateful to his classmate.

So Tetsutetsu entered the rankings alongside his teammate Shiozaki, the girl with long vines for hair. "And so, Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki have moved up to make sixteen!" Midnight said. She put pieces of paper with everyone's names into a box, then drew them herself and reported the results to the officials. "Here is the bracket based on the results of the drawing!"

On the scoreboard, eight pairs of names appeared one-by-one on a tournament bracket, where each pair said the names of the two people who'd be fighting each other. The crowd roared with excitement at the results.