Idol Hero | BNHA

Chapter 22

Before the second round of matches started, Kirishima and Tetsutetsu had their arm wrestling match which ended in Kirishima winning and moving on to the next round.

After that was Midoriya and Todoroki's match. It started out with a brutal back and forth of Todorki sending an ice barrage at Midoriya and him countering it by breaking one of his fingers. Each time, a cold gust of wind blew over the audience until Todoroki tried to run closer to Midoriya, which caused him to use an even more powerful attack. Then, Todoroki tried to run in again, but Midoriya was able to dodge and land a solid punch on Todoroki. Then they went back and forth for a minute before Midoriya yelled something at Todoroki and punched him. The next thing Noriko saw was Todoroki bursting into flames. Noriko felt a wave of heat as she stared down at the boy half covered in ice and half covered in fire.

Then, both of them tried to go at each other with extremely powerful attacks, only for it to be blocked by Cementoss and a huge gust of wind from an explosion kicked up a ton of dust. Noriko covered her face with her arm before the wind stopped and the dust cleared to show Midoriya out of bounds and Todoroki still standing.

"Damn, that was certainly something," Noriko muttered, earning a nod from Uraraka, who had come back at the beginning of the match.

There was a short break to fix the stage before the next match started. Shiozaki verse Iida. That match had gone by pretty quickly. Shiozaki tried to attack Iida, but he quickly dodged it with his recipro burst and pushed Shiozaki out of bounds.

The next battle was Noriko's. It was her verses Tokoyami.

"She won her last battle by creating a wicked-looking ice sheep! From the hero course, Noriko Hiromi! Verses. His dark shadow never gave his opponent a single chance to strike! Also from the hero course, Fumikage Tokoyami!" Present Mic shouted as Norijo and Tokoyami walked onto the stage. Then, after a short pause, he shouted, "Begin!"

Tokoyami immediately sent his dark shadow to charge at Noriko. She quickly created a wall of ice to block it before making the same ram from the last match. It charged toward Tokoyami and his dark shadow was able to destroy it. But that gave her all the time she needed to get closer to Tokoyami and freeze his legs to trap him in place with ice.

Then, Noriko created a Chinese dragon with large horns which flew toward Tokoyami. It shoved Tokoyami out of bounds, breaking the ice he had been trapped in.

"Tokoyami is out of bounds. Hiromi advances to the next round!" Midnight announced.

The crowd cheered and Noriko once again waved to them before walking off the field with pride filling her. She had managed to beat two people in the tournament so far. She had never expected to last that long. Managing to beat two people in one-on-one battles was certainly a huge accomplishment for her.

When Noriko got back, she sat down next to Uraraka as the next match with Bakugo and Kirishima started.

"Hey, what's going on with Midoriya?" Noriko asked as the next match started. "Is he ok? Didn't he break his bones, like, five times over?"

"Yeah..." Uraraka replied with a frown, but then she perked up a little, just a little. "But Recovery Girl said he's gonna be fine. After surgery."

"Surgery?" Noriko questioned, slightly worried.

"Yeah. I'm really worried." Uraraka muttered, lowering her gaze to her hands.

Noriko hummed, "It's fine to be worried, he's having surgery. But I'm sure he'll be fine. And it's Midoriya. He breaks his bones daily. So I doubt a little surgery is gonna hurt him."

Uraraka gave Noriko a small smile, "Yeah, you're right."

Noriko smiled before turning to the match.

Kirishima was throwing punches at Bakugo, but Bakugo was eventually able to overpower Kirishima. He had been using his quirk the whole match and constantly getting hit by explosions. And when Bakugo made a barrage of explosions, the match ended with Kirishima being knocked out.

"With that vicious carpet bombing, Bakugo advances to the third round," Present Mic announced when the match ended. The screen changed to show Noriko and the three other semifinals. "Ladies and gentlemen, we have our final four competitors!"

Pride fill Noriko as she looked at the screen with her picture on it. She was one of the last competitors. She was in the final four. She was so close to winning.

Yet, she was also very far away.

Noriko would be up against Bakugo next. Something she quickly realized that killed her confidence. Bakugo had shown no mercy to Uraraka and beat Kirishima, who Noriko had thought had a quirk that perfectly countered Bakugo's. She wouldn't even stand a chance.

Noriko lightly shook her head. She'd still give it her best shot even if she would be facing Bakugo. There was no way she was going to just give up.

"Deku!" Uraraka exclaimed, pulling Noriko out of her thoughts. She looked up to see Midoriya with one of his arms in a sling and the other wrapped in bandages.

"Hey, Midoriya. How'd surgery go?" Noriko asked.

"Fine. Recovery Girl healed me enough so I could walk." Midoriya said, walking to the empty seat beside Uraraka and sitting down. "Shouldn't you be getting ready for your match, Hiromi?"

Noriko tensed and nodded. Then she took a deep breath and let her shoulders relax. "Yeah, well, I'll see you guys later. Wish me luck."

"Good luck!" Uraraka and Midoriya both exclaimed before Noriko walked off.

Noriko made her way to the waiting room and sat down once she arrived. She took a deep breath, telling herself that she'd be fine and she was overexaggerating things. Bakugo was strong, sure, but she'd still be able to fight back. And it's not like she was facing some villain.

Noriko took a few more deep breaths. Her heart was racing and she only had minutes to get things together before she went out to fight.

I don't have to win. I just have to try. It's not like I'm going to die. Calm down. Noriko told herself before she was called down. She took a few more deep breaths, partially calming her racing heart before making her way to the field.

As she walked out onto the field, Noriko felt a lot more comfortable and relaxed seeing the crowd. It was the only familiar thing to her about this whole festival. The large crowd.

"And now, we have Bakugo verses Hiromi!"

Noriko stepped onto the stage and stared at Bakugo. She closed her eyes and took one more deep breath before opening them, feeling ready to fight.