Word Count: 4137
"Shinso Hitoshi from General Studies has gotten the better of Midoriya Izuku from the Hero Course!" Present Mic shouts to us. I run a hand through my loose hairs, leaning back in my seat.
Mina, who is sitting in front of me, gasps and turns her head in my direction, "Hey, you know Shinso, right? What's with him, what's his quirk?" All the eyes turn to me, with the exception of Bakugou who couldn't care less about Midoriya's match.
As I fumble with my fingers, I huff, "He's got this 'override' quirk. I don't exactly know the limits to his power, but all I know is that when he used it on me, I was talking one second and then I was buying him some collars for his pet. I hope." I scratch my neck, Kaminari beside me leaning back in his chair.
"Damn, this dude has some quirk." He says.
We watch as Midoriya suddenly turns around, walking towards the out of bounds area. My class shouts out to him, trying to free Midoriya from his prison.
I hear Present Mic call out to us, "Shinso Hitoshi. Quirk: Brainwashing! Answering his question turns on a brainwashing switch in his opponent's brain, forcing them to do what he says." I clutch onto the pants, leaning forward as Midoriya gets closer and closer to the edge.
"If he doesn't want the brainwashing switch to turn on, it won't!" As Present Mic goes on about the match, Kaminari leans towards me. He whispers, "So... uh, you know Shinso pretty well, right?"
I squint at him slightly, crossing my arms over my chest. "No, Shinso and I are definitely not dating." I scoff, eyes going back to Midoriya. Kaminari hums, "Oh okay. Cool, cool, that's nice to know."
I hear a voice on the far end of the seats. "This guy! His quirk is like one a villain would have! How cruel." They say, making me turn my head to them. As I go to argue with Mineta for what he said, I find myself stopping short.
I lean back in my seat, grumbling to myself, "A villain can have any quirk. It doesn't matter what it is, it just matters how you use it." Kaminari looks to me, asking me what I said. I shake my hands and give a small grin, saying it was nothing.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blows through the playing field. Shinso is trying to hold himself up as Midoriya gets clouded by the dust.
"Midoriya's stopped!" Present Mic tells us.
Iida and Uraraka both cheer louder than the rest of us as we call on Midoriya.
I smile again, seeing Shinso slightly confused, shouting out to him Midoriya walking towards him again. He's trying to use his quirk again. But Midoriya begins to push him towards the edge of the playing ground.
Shinso throws a punch, but my classmate doesn't budge. He keeps on going. Until Shinso turns around and sees what Midoriya was doing. Shinso changes their spots, now with a hand against Midoriya's face and pushing him now.
"Come on, Midoriya!" Our class cheers him on. I hold my breath as he then flips Shinso over his shoulder. I widen my eyes, leaning forward. "My God..." The purple-haired boy harshly hits the ground, making all of our jaws drop.
Midnight holds up her hand. "Shinso is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to Round Two!" The crowd applauses as Midoriya catches his breath.
Shinso glares up at the sky. He looks pissed off.
I've seen that expression on him before. In middle school, when some kids would get in trouble for something they did by themselves, they'd pull Shinso into it. They'd say they were brainwashed by Shinso to do those things.
I always tried my best to defend Shinso, but sometimes those other kids were more persuasive than me.
I remember that he got grounded by his parents one time he got in trouble for 'using his quirk on others for his own expense'.
This time, the kid said Shinso made him paint explicit images and words in the boys' bathroom. Apparently around that time, Shinso had gotten into an argument with his parents so it didn't help.
We were planning to go to the movies that day, so we had to cancel it.
What made me feel even more bad for him was the fact that he seemed more upset about not being able to hang out with me. It was as if this had happened way too often that he was used to it by now.
Kaminari leans over me, patting Bakugou's shoulder before moving away, making a gesture with his arms. "He did that shoulder toss on you before, too, didn't he?" He questions, a smile on his face.
Bakugou glares at the playing field. "Shut up, Dunce Face." He grunts. Looking over to him, I pat Kaminari's shoulder, giving him a sympathetic look. But he was right about that.
It seems that Midoriya wasn't some nerd like Bakugou kept calling him. But I won't pry into that just yet.
Present Mic shows up on the big screen. "Yahoo! That was kind of a boring first match, but we should praise them both for a bravely fought match." Shinso and Midoriya are now standing in the middle of the ground, Shinso making his way to the exit first.
I kind of glad that I hear students and Pro Heroes complimenting him. Although there is something going on, I can't deny that those comments were right. He can still be a Hero.
But he needs to choose a better path in order to do so. What he did to Ojiro and Aoyama... I still don't agree with.
"You okay, Y/N?" Kirishima asks, looking over his shoulder to me. I raise my brows a bit before I retort, "Oh, yeah. I'm just happy for him."
He deserves it.
A few people leave to get ready for their match, like Kaminari, Sero, Todoroki and such. I had left to go to the bathroom, only to come back to see Bakugou sitting by himself now. Nobody was sitting beside him.
I have to admit, it made me laugh a little. He just looks like he was poison or something, like just touching him would get you killed.
Well... I guess that's right.
I huff, walking down the steps and shoving my hands in my pockets. I stand next to him, kicking his foot. "Move over, asshole." I tell him. Bakugou glares at me, hands on his knees as he slouches over. He scowls, "Why would I move over for you, dumbass?"
I glare right back before kicking his foot again. He growls at me, like a dog, "You better not try to fucking sit next to me."
Like that was gonna' stop me.
I just want to sit where I was sitting before. Is that a crime?
"You can be so annoying." I sigh as he flips me off. I roll my eyes, moving to the aisle behind him and jumping over, sitting myself down where I was before. Right next go Bakugou.
"Pain in the ass." He grunts, crossing his arms over his chest. I stick my tongue out at him, crossing my leg over my knee as the match starts.
Sero wraps his tape around Todoroki almost immediately, aiming to throw him out of bounds. But then Todoroki uses his ice quirk, trailing it towards Sero.
And I can't believe it.
But he went out of his way to make to create giant ice shards pointing towards the sky on a slant.
I lean back in my chair as the ice comes a little too close to me. The cool air bounces off of it and trails down my bare arm. It makes my cheeks flare up, trying to fight off the coldness.
"Wow... I knew he was powerful, but I didn't think Todoroki was this much." I mumble, placing a hand on the ice, "He was even tied up. I could learn something from him... I'll ask to train with him soon." I rub my lip with my finger, something I did when I was thinking.
I turn to the boy to my right. He's already looking down at me. Bakugou rolls his eyes and scoffs, "Damn Half-n-Half."
Todoroki then goes to free Sero, now using his fire quirk. Kirishima looks up to me. "Imagine him when he's going all out. I'd love to see that." I nod my head, looking at the ash-blonde. He seems irritated still. "Bakugou?"
He doesn't respond to me.
Getting an idea, I clap my hands and press them against the ice. Falling out of the large shards comes a snowball. Bakugou glares at me again. "Don't you fucking dare."
Not listening, I throw one at him, laughing as the snow slides down his face. He closes his eyes for a moment, the snow seemingly making his face bright red.
Aw.
"Don't you look happy, Bakugou." I chime, Kirishima chuckling along with me.
Bakugou growls at me again, grabbing the collar of my jacket, "You're gonna' regret that, you dumbass!"
I clap again and touch the ice with two fingers, sending him a grin. "You hit me and I'll keep going." I taunt, making him hold up an open fist my way, "Would you enjoy frostbite?"
Kirishima jumps up, grabbing the both of us by the wrist. "Okay, okay, you two. Come on, we've got matches coming up. Don't waste your energy fighting each other." He pleads, looking desperate for us to stop.
Later . . .
The match I had just watched was very... short.
I thought that I'd get to see Kaminari's electricity quirk at its fullest. But I suppose flirting couldn't wait until after the matchn.
Kaminari VS Shiozaki. She won in an instant. Kaminari had released his quirk at 100% too early, prompting Shiozaki to use her vines to cover the volts from her body and immobilise Kaminari.
Right after his loss, the same blonde guy from Class B, Monoma, taunting us about it. He said things about how Class A should be better than Class B, but B had just beaten A. All of that. Until Kendo had shut him up.
I swear, she doesn't get paid enough.
As I leant back in my seat, going to ask Kirishima a question when I hear Midoriya's voice. And very forceful scribbling.
Peering down, I see the green-haired male writing in his notebook and muttering to himself. He looks so... in the zone.
Uraraka, a seat away from him, looks at him worriedly. Same with Tokoyami and Kirishima on the other side of him.
I furrow my brow as Bakugou leans forward, chin in his palm as he huffs loudly. Crossing my arms over my chest, I start to say something to Midoriya when I see Bakugou lift his chin off of his hand. He opens his mouth to, I'm assuming, scream at the green-haired boy.
But I slap his arm, making Bakugou turn his heated gaze to me. I place a finger over my lips, telling him to shut up as Uraraka stops Midoriya.
Now he's growling at me. So I just let him.
The next match is Iida VS Hatsume. Iida goes on about how Hatsume gave him the equipment out of the 'pureness of her heart'. But he's proven wrong when it's revealed that she was only using him for selling her product. I feel bad.
There's a good 20 minutes of this until Hatsume steps out of the playing ground, now out of bounds. Iida wins, but be looks to be all worn out.
I stand up from my seat, placing my hands on my hips excitedly. "Well, I gotta' get going. My match is up next." I say, stepping over Bakugou's outstretched legs. He doesn't say anything, only Kirishima wishing me luck.
"Would it kill you to at least say something before my match?" I speak, looking over my shoulder to the irritated ash-blonde.
"Die."
"Thank you."
A few minutes later, I'm standing on the cement floor, breathing in and out. Mina stands a few feet away from me, stretching her arms.
"We're gonna' keep right on going with the fifth match!" Present Mic says, the crowd cheering. I look around, seeing the Pro Heroes watching over us carefully. So many scouters.
One of them being Dad.
"With all the clapping she does, you'd think she was some kind of cheerleader! From the Hero Course, L/N Y/N!" The loud hero announces, making me widen my eyes at what he said.
I stare down at my hands, feeling a bit embarrassed now. Do people find that really annoying? I mean... I don't have to clap, it's just like it's the fastest way of creating contact between all my fingers.
Present Mic's voice breaks me out of my trance. "Versus - Is something going to come out of those horns? Well? From the Hero Course, it's Ashido Mina!"
Mina points at me, a prideful smirk on her lips. "My first match will be a piece of cake!" She tells me. I shake my head at her, pushing my hands together. "Oh, I don't think so." I say, tilting my head down, "Just because you're my friend doesn't mean I'll go easy on you.
"Now, why don't we get moving?" The Pro Hero calls, "Fifth match, start!"
Almost instantly, Mina throws an acid ball towards me, making me choose to side step and pull my hands away from each other. Mina then runs towards me, her quirk around her shoes acting like ice-skating.
She moves in a zig-zag motion as I place my hands on the floor. "Come on, Y/N!" She taunts. I give her a determined look. The cement begins to rise where she is heading. Mina gasps, now on a cement ramp that I've made, "W-Woah!"
She skates off of the ramp, nearly going towards the out of bounds area before she skids to a stop. I run up to her, pressing my palms together quickly before driving two fingers onto the floor and creating a pole right in front of her, standing up towards the sky.
"Huh? What the-" Mina shrugs away a bit, giving me time to make my move. I jump up, grasping the pole stuck into the ground and going to kick her out of bounds. With the amount of 'swing' I have in my movement, it should be enough to work.
But Mina quickly skates away, her acid leaving a trail behind her. I swivel right back around, landing on my feet and staring at her. I wasn't out of bounds.
"I sometimes wish I was as fast as you." I huff, Mina grinning at me again. She retorts, "And I sometimes wish I was as agile as you."
I hear some of the other students in the stands talking about us. "Wonder what would happen if some of that ooze go on L/N." One of the students say. Another voice adds on, "Imagine L/N and Ashido without any limits. This whole arena would be messed up."
I wonder how Bakugou's match would look.
Present Mic chimes, "L/N Y/N. Quirk: Transmutation! She is able to manipulate the shape and state of any material by clapping her hands and pressing at least two fingers against it. And if you give her the right objects, she can create any new thing with them!"
The loud Hero then chuckles to my teachers, "Hey, maybe I should ask her to fox that karaoke machine you said you broke!"
Mr Aizawa replies, monotone, "I didn't break it, I returned it."
I turn the ramp and pole back into the playing ground, no more dents in it. I stand up as Mina throws another acid ball my way, a few more in the air to hit me. As I rush to the other side of the battle grounds, Mina shouts to me, "You can't run away forever, Y/N!"
I chuckle, clapping my hands again, "I know, Mina. I'm just giving you a head start again." She winks playfully before charging at me, drawing up a fist to uppercut me.
I grab her bare wrist as I step back, ready to counter her attack. But my hands begin to glow softly.
Shit.
Think quickly, Y/N.
Don't let it happen again.
I just pull my hand away, tripping over my foot and falling back. I guess I still can't get Middle School out of my head.
"What's this?" Present Mic shouts, "Are you okay, L/N? Looks like you lost yourself there." I stare down at my hands for a moment. They were against the stone of the battle ground, now glowing more brightly than before.
I look over my shoulder to see a grey wall behind me, shielding my body from getting out of bounds. Thank God. I clap my hands and put the wall down.
My opponent tilts her head at me, a bit confused before I kick myself back up and take a few steps away from her. "Uh... are you okay?" Mina asks me, lowering her fists for a minute. I slowly nod my head in response, getting into a stance.
We go on a few more times, throwing punches, dodging, kicking and trying to get the other to out of bounds. It's up to the point where I've re-arranged the stone floor so many times that I've become sloppy and left a few dents and bumps.
Mina is skating towards me again, now this time going for a roundhouse kick. This gives me only a short time to react. But I see that she has her arm set out so far.
So I sidestep again, clapping hastily before I put one hand on her ankle and the other of her wrist. "What're you doing?" She gasps before I throw her to the ground. Not too hard.
"Huh? L/N took the upperhand again!" Present Mic enthusiastically says, the crowd cheering again.
Mina lets out a grumble as she falls forward onto her stomach. Her right sleeve begins to untangle into a thick rope around her wrists, same with her sweatpants around her ankles.
I've got to tie her up now. I speedily get on top of her, holding and tying her wrists behind her back in front of me.
She begins to struggle, trying to activate her quirk. But I then get off of her and clap my hands once again.
"Sorry Mina, but you heard what I said." I hum, pressing my two fingers against the floor. The cement moves into a ramp, Mina now rolling towards the out of bounds area.
"L/N Y/N advances to the next round!" Midnight calls as I look to the crowd. They're clapping, calling out to me. It makes me smile.
My eyes unconsciously drift to 1-B. Shinso is locking his eyes with mine. His lips are pressed into a thin line. His brows are slightly furrowed. But he does clap along with everyone else. Shinso sends me a quick but still noticable smile.
But I can tell from the first look he gave me that he saw my slip up during the match. He was concerned. Shinso knows how much Middle School meant to us.
"Uh... Y/N?" Mina calls from her spot on the floor.
"Oh, right, sorry." I walk over to her and untie her, fixing her uniform as well. As we go to the exit, I look to my class.
Kirishima, Kaminari and Midoriya are congratulating us. Tokoyami, Iida and Todoroki nod at us. Mineta is crying for some reason.
But I pick up on Bakugou, his red eyes not quite glaring at me but still looking confused or annoyed.
I'm in the waiting room, stretching out again. Mina left a couple minutes ago, saying she wanted to wait for the next match with the others. I stretch both my arms, holding my breath before I release my limb.
I hear the door open.
"The Hell are you still doing here?" Bakugou growls at me, crossed arms. I turn to him and sigh, "Just cooling down from my match. Calm down, Bakugou, I won't stay too long." He glares at me again, moving towards the empty space in the room beside me as I sit down, opening my drink bottle.
As he begins to stretch his arms out, he grumbles, "What was that during your fight with Racoon Eyes?" I knit my brows, facing him again as I pick up my bottle. Playing with the plastic a bit, I hum, "What are you talking about?"
He scowls at me lowly, his crimson eyes boring into mine intensely, "Don't give me that shit, dumbass. You know every exactly I'm talking about - you having a mini breakdown and missing out on a chance to win." I take a sip of water before asking him, "What's it to you?"
"You made me sit through 15 minutes of that stupid fucking match." Bakugou argues, now warming up his legs, "You could've ended it then and saved me the time." I play with my loose stands of hair and avoid his gaze.
Trying to steer away from the truth was not going to work on Bakugou. He probably wasn't as clueless as I oroginally thought.
"I just didn't think fast enough, okay? It's another thing I have to work on, I-I guess." I try to tell him, but he rolls his eyes at me.
"Bullshit. You had your hands on her arm, you could've thrown her out of bounds. Or are you that freaking weak?" Bakugou grunts to me. He tilts his head as I rub my neck.
Why was him looking at me like this so nerve-wracking?
I mumble to him, "I activated my quirk before I held onto her, you did see that right?" Bakugou raises a brow, not looking like he understood. But he turns his chin down a bit, as if he was challenging me.
I sigh out, "You heard Present Mic. To use my quirk, I have to clap my hands and hold at least two fingers against the material." I spin my half empty bottle. "I can't deactivate my quirk after I clap my hands. And the only thing I touched was her body's material."
Shinso would know.
"Did you just call her body a material?" He questions, standing striaghtly and looking down at me. I hold my. Breath before standing up, grasping my bottle and bow my head once at him.
"Good luck with your match, Bakugou." I say before leaving.
10 Minutes Later . . .
I'm seated beside Tsu, waiting for the next fight. "Good job on your match, you two." She says to Mina and I. My past opponent waves her hand sheepishly and says, "I probably should've known that you'd push my expectations further. You're awesome, Y/N!"
I rub my arm and say back, "Heh, thanks. You were a great opponent, Mina, we should verse again." Hagakure then calls out to me, "Hey, I heard your dad was a Pro Hero! Is that true?"
Nodding my head, I state, "Yeah, Cessation, the deactivator hero." The girls gasp at me as I chuckle, "He's here on guard, actually." Mina jumps in and tells them, "He's super nice too! Y/N introduced me, Sero, Kaminari, Jirou, Kirishima and Bakugou this morning!"
"The eighth and last match of the first round!" Present Mic calls out, "He was kind of famous in middle school! This isn't the face of a regular person! From the Hero Course, Bakugou Katsuki!"
I turn my attention to the battle grounds, seeing Bakugou and his opponent. He's making a weird face, I have no idea what he's doing.
The sound hero continues, "Versus - she's the one I'm rooting for. From the Hero Course, it's Uraraka Ochaco!" I see my brunette friend with a determined look on her face.
She takes a breath in and out. I can tell she's not planning on losing just yet.
To be honest, I don't know who I want to win.
Uraraka is a sweet girl, I may not know that much about her but she is here to become a Pro Hero. And she has really nice intentions. She's also wanting to become a better user of her Zero Gravity quirk.
However, Bakugou is intense and very persistent. Not that I don't admire it. He's willing to do anything and everything to become number one. His words as the representatives was literally stating that he was going to win this thing.
When I look at Bakugou, I can tell that he's not going to go easy.
"Eighth match, start!"