Timeloop Trouble

Chapter 25 - Keeping Promises

Shinsou won his fight against Eijirou. At least, that's what Mei had told him. Izuku had been out cold, missing Hitoshi's other match as well. He could imagine how the fight went, though. Shinsou only knew how to win one way at this point in time, after all.

"Come on, don't be like that! You got shared third place! That's amazing!" Hatsume told him as they walked from the infirmary to the stands. The arena was still being prepared for the final fight, but Izuku wasn't so sure whether he wanted to see it. "And your baby was awesome! It broke, sure, but it was just a prototype! Imagine what it can do once you improve the design to-"

"Shut up, Hatsume, please," Izuku sighed. "I... I'm just disappointed, okay? I had hyped myself up and I thought I could actually win and now..."

Now he'd have to confess to knowing everything. He'd have to bring back Kacchan's memories and take the beating that would come with it, followed by days upon days of disappointment and worried lecturing. Izuku knew how this was gonna go, knew Kacchan would make solid points, see the flaws in Izuku's logic and call him out on it. And honestly? Izuku wasn't sure whether he was ready for such a reality check. To be told that everything he'd been trying to achieve in this life was reckless and foolish and that Jikan would never fall for it- Which they still didn't know for certain, by the way.

"Izuku, nobody actually expected you to beat Bakugou. You know that, right?" Hatsume said. "You had an impressive run though! And you should be proud of yourself!"

"...Yeah," Izuku mumbled. He didn't feel proud for cheating everyone, though. He had intel no one else had, had connections, information, experience. It was unfair from the start and he still lost. Ugh! Useless! Useless, useless Deku! Can't do anything right! The fact that his class congratulated him on how far he'd come, on how good he held his own against a monster like Bakugou, didn't really help to lift his spirits. No, instead he settled down in a random seat, watching Kacchan and Hitoshi enter the arena. He hadn't even told the blonde about Shinsou's quirk... And now he had to face him without his own.

Useless.

He was absolutely, utterly useless.

Katsuki was flexing his fingers, as if preparing for a blast. Izuku knew it was more than that, though. He was testing whether his quirk was back yet. Izuku had told him it was temporary, sure, but the after effects could last for hours, and days during that one occasion, but Izuku tried not to think about that. Shinsou opened his mouth the moment the fight started, and of course Katsuki responded to it. Probably to yell something along the lines of 'DIE', or maybe to ask if Izuku had said anything to him. He was more frustrated than angry, after all.

Izuku clenched his fists when Katsuki suddenly stopped moving and Hitoshi grinned. It was like he could feel Shinsou's quirk, like he was the one standing in that arena, being told to give up and walk out of bounds. Yeah, Izuku could understand what Kacchan must be going through as his body rigidly turned away. He wished he could snap him out of it, like the vestiges had done before for him. But Izuku didn't have the vestiges anymore, and Kacchan never had something like that. The only thing he could do was-

"DON'T GIVE UP KACCHAN!" he yelled, up from his seat and standing at the front of the stands before he knew it. "YOU'RE GOING TO WIN, REMEMBER?!"

For a fraction of a second, it felt like Izuku was standing before him, seeing those red eyes snap open before returning back to reality with a bang. Kacchan... Kacchan had created an explosion... So Izuku's blockage must've been badly applied- Well, it's not like he meant to take his quirk away longer than it took to end the match and they were moving around quite a lot so it shouldn't surprise him it wasn't as effective, but... But it still came as a surprise. No one else had ever been able to break Hitoshi's brainwashing before...