Atonement [Bakugo Katsuki]

🤍 Chapter 32 🤍

"So cold!"

"Just the wind is already this cold?!"

"Wow!" Present Mic exclaimed, going quite crazy up in the box and Kimitsuki could understand because she herself was quite surprised. "Midoriya stopped Todoroki's attack!"

"Midoriya-Kun!" Tenya exclaimed.

"It is not the best defence for Izu-Chan," Kimitsuki whispered, watching Izuku's injured finger. "But that was all he could do against that – however, I hope that he would collect himself and look –"

"He stopped it again!" Present Mic shouted as Izuku stopped another ice attack from Shoto – which left Izuku with only a few more fingers to injure.

"What Izu-Chan needs is to get an opportunity to get close to Shoto-Kun," Kimitsuki went on. "It's true that Shoto-Kun can continue with his ice attacks but look at his icy breath – it clearly means that he is running out of chances before he freezes up, too,"

"So, it's time again," Teneya said as they watched Izuku stop yet another ice attack.

"If Shoto-Kun wants to continue only with his ice attacks, then yes," Kimitsuki replied, frowning at Izuku's injury. "But if he were to use his other side... then the battle might be a bit skewed,"

"It started?!"

It was such a loud yell that Kimitsuki jumped and looked over her shoulder to see that it was Eijirou, who had just arrived rushing out to the Class 1-A stand where they were. He looked beyond his class and toward the stadium where Izuku and Shoto were fighting.

"Kirishima, good job making it to the second round!" Denki called out.

"Yeah, I'll be up against you next, Bakugo," Eijirou said as he turned to look at Katsuki, who was watching the match. "Let's have a good fight!"

"I'll kill you," Katsuki growled naturally, his arms locked tight over his chest and Kimitsuki just shook her head at his default statement.

"I'd like to see you try!" Eijirou told him. "But man, you and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground – like 'Bam!'"

"And you can do it with no time lag," Hanta added.

"I'm not just shooting them off," Katsuki responded. "Don't underestimate 'em. If you overuse your muscles, the muscle fibres tear, and if you keep running, you'll run out of breath,"

"Quirks are, in a sense, physical abilities," Kimitsuki spoke up, taking her eyes back to the match. "And just our other abilities, they have some sort of limitation, too. So, yes, Ka-Chan is right in saying that even him and Shoto-Kun aren't above those limitations,"

"If I think about it like that," Eijirou replied. "I guess that makes sense... then, against the instant-killer Todoroki, Midoriya wants..."

"... an endurance match," Kimitsuki ended, nodding. "And that is why it all depends on the time, and how the two of them will use that time, of course,"

Back on the arena, Kimitsuki could see that Izuku was continuing to defend himself against yet another attempt from Shoto and she frowned when she realised that Izuku had retired all of his fingers on his right-hand. And on the other hand, Shoto took the chance to run toward Izuku, most likely wanting to end it before he got too cold.

"Todoroki doesn't recoil from Midoriya's power and gets in close!" Present Mic called out.

For Shoto had made a very long bridge of ice that ran straight for Izuku, who in turned used another Smash to break the ice stairway that the Todoroki male was using – but in response, the half-and-half hero sent his ice after Izuku, almost capturing him. But Izuku ended with giving up the entirety of his left arm as he smashed through Shoto's ice, causing a great shockwave that sent even Shoto skidding back quite some ways.