"I can't believe we got through to the battle round!" Midoriya cheered. He was shaky, clearly overwhelmed, but so excited.
"Yeah..." Taiya mumbled, shell shocked, "neither can I.".
The whole first part of the sports festival was quickly becoming a blur in his memory. What he could say for sure was he'd been less lucky when getting major awards then he was doing whatever the fuck that was.
He had thought the land mines thing was a long shot, but it had worked perfectly and he had come out unscathed.
Then he was sure being Midoriya's teammate was a surefire way to fail. They'd lose his headband easily and there was no recovering from that many lost points.
But nope. That had gone well. Too well.
And now Taiya, who had gone into this wanting to avoid attention, was in the final activity.
"You sound really surprised." The weird tech girl observed.
"I didn't think his character arc would progress this quickly." Taiya mumbled. It was absurd to say something like that, Midoriya wasn't a character. But Taiya had developed a habit of thinking of everything around him like it was a movie or story.
It was actually something he'd had his whole life, and not some weird bit of show biz trauma. For once.
Honestly it was probably why he did so well in the business. It also meant that he had known for a while now that his own story was a tragedy. A riches to rags, if you will. Or child star to rehab.
Although, he hadn't had anything to drink since that party in Seoul. He hadn't even really gone through withdrawal, too busy working out and training. Maybe he didn't need rehab after all.
"Hey, Tachibana, hurry up.".
He clocked back in to notice that his class was heading towards their seats in the stands. He followed after them, physically shaking his head in an attempt to clear it.
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At least he wasn't facing off against Bakugou in round one. That was all he could think.
Although he had high hopes that he'd be able to ditch the tournament point blank. Several of 1-B's students rescinded their chance to compete, but when he tried to do that Midoriya looked at him like he was crazy.
Naturally he had to then stay in the tournament because, well he wanted to look convincing as a hero student and the 1-B students had stepped down because of honor. He had no honor to lose or gain, so he'd just look like a coward.
Especially considering it was Iida he was facing off against. The definition of 'not that scary'.
Sure, he was strong and fast, but as Taiya had discovered through training that, as unfair as it seemed, he was stronger and faster. For a quirk built on speed, the only advantage Iida had over Taiya was his acceleration speed and the added power to his kicks.
They had decided to break for lunch before the matches began, which of course meant Taiya was going to find a nice, quiet place to sleep.
Sure, he hadn't eaten yet today but hey, that never killed anyone. Wait starvation does kill people. Was he starving? When was the last time he actually ate?
Wracking his brain as he roamed the halls, he couldn't remember.
These days he found that he felt nauseous after eating any amount of food. Like nothing sat well with him. Meanwhile feeling hungry was beginning to feel...kind of nice. He felt lighter-if that was even a thing people could feel.
It probably had to do with the fact he had lost weight since starting U.A. Honestly no weight loss plan had ever worked as well as hero school. 10/10 would recommend.
As he began dozing off in his seat, he felt eyes on him. Blinking he looked over his shoulder and met eyes with Mr. Aizawa.
"You haven't eaten anything yet." The teacher said bluntly. It wasn't a question or even just a statement, it was kind of a threat.
"Not hungry." Taiya lied, trying his best to look a little pale. "I'm feeling a little sick from the nerves. Iida's not an easy opponent.".
Aizawa seemed to buy the nerves bit, but the Iida part was pushing it. The teacher must have realized, maybe even before Taiya, that he was stronger than his opponent.
"Stage fright." Taiya mumbled sadly. Aizawa nodded at that.
"Eat after then.". With that the teacher left.
'Over my dead body' The teen thought to himself.
"Match number six everybody! Standing on the field right now is class 1-A's Iida Tenya and his opponent, also from class 1-A, Tachibana Yuka!!!" Mic shouted into the already loud microphone. The crowd roared with cheers, and a familiar wave of happiness passed over Taiya.
They weren't cheering for him, at least not in the way people usually did, but it was familiar all the same.
He felt more whole with that many eyes on him.
"Alright you two, play nice, fight fair and do your absolute best!" Midnight called out, turned to both of them and waiting until she received a nod before continuing. "Ready...one, two, three-GO!".
The instant the words were spoken Iida rushed Taiya, using his faster acceleration speed to get at him. Luckily, Taiya's reflexes stopped him being run over like an unfortunate bit of roadkill.
Iida turned to face him. "Do not be cowardly and dodge." He threatened, his tone low.
Involuntarily Taiya's claws extended. He was annoyed by the other boy's arrogance.
Iida charged him again, even faster this time. Taiya dodged and grabbed Iida's arm, stopping him suddenly. His head jerked forwards and Taiya felt his classmate's arm nearly dislocate under his hand.
Taiya didn't stop there though, making sure to dig his claws into Iida's already injured shoulder.
The moment his classmate cried out in pain, he felt his heart drop. He had completely gone on autopilot.
Iida used the opportunity to sweep Taiya's feet out from under him, but he managed to land on them again. Because of the whole-he already established this once.
They began fighting melee style, hand to hand. It was both of their preferred fighting styles. Iida got several good kicks in, and Taiya's blocks and deflections could only redirect so much of the force behind them.
He landed some hits and scratches too. Mori's techniques, although they had only been the basics, were useful. Fool proof. Taiya would have to remember to get Mori to show him even more.
Taiya yanked Iida close to him and kneed him in the crotch, which was a low blow but necessary because his left arm really hurt after that drop kick. He wouldn't be able to use it too much anymore.
Iida tried to go for a headbutt, Taiya dodged to the side, throwing Iida away from his body and to the ground in the process.
At least two of his claws pierced through his shoes, completely ruining them.
Sometimes Taiya forgot that with all the teeth and claws he was the human equivalent of a baseball bat with a nail through it.
Iida pushed himself back up but Taiya smirked triumphantly and kicked him back down, poking him with his foot just enough for him to feel the claws underneath. Taiya's opponent drew a sharp breath.
He grabbed Taiya's ankle but he lacked the same base strength and leverage that Taiya had. The actor pushed back and suddenly grabbed both the boy's ankles, ignoring how hot the metal portions were, so he could chuck his classmate out of the ring.
Then he realized something. He wasn't supposed to be winning.
"Hit me." He whispered beneath the mask. Iida shot him a confused expression and took advantage of Taiya's sudden distraction, using his engines to blast some small flames at Taiya, burning his hand. The teen jerked back and Iida shot up.
They went back to hand to hand, but Iida could tell Taiya wasn't trying as hard. And it wasn't his injuries, he was just being lax on purpose.
He blinked and suddenly Taiya was in his face, close enough to fluster him slightly. "I said hit me." The boy whispered harshly.
Iida's body moved without another thought and he landed a hit right on Taiya's temple.
The boy fell to the ground instantly, playing 'dead' so convincingly that paramedics were immediately in the ring.
Iida was declared the winner as Taiya was rushed off the field, a subtle, relieved smile on his face.
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I want to use Taiya's ability to convincingly play dead so often but there aren't enough opportunities.
Also Aizawa is not gonna be happy about how Taiya treats himself, especially seeing this.
I want to spoil everything so badly ugghhhh
Why do I do this to myself? Like I chose this. I decided to make it a double and not a triple update because 'ooh pace yourself don't overwhelm the readers' but like whyyyyyy
Brb gonna go complain to myself about myself. Not that it'll accomplish anything considering I'm the one who got myself in this situation in the first place.
Existential crisis aside, how are you guys doing? How were your weekends?
I had a blast personally. Like I'm very mentally ill but haunted houses in summer fix things for me, you know?
Also sorry if you have a question between like now and tomorrow because I am exhausted and going to sleep 😅
Goodnight and stay tuned