"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game! But before that, there is good news for all of you, who didn't make it to the finals! This is just a sports festival. So we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in, too. We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!" Hizashi announced once we had all settled in again.
Something seemed to have caught Shouta's eye, because he leaned forward to be able to see better. His facial expression got a little gloomier than usual. Hizashi noticed and looked down as well.
"Huh?" he mumbled. I leaned forward to see what was going on.
"What are they doing?" Shouta said, not sounding very impressed. And then I spotted them - the girls from 1-A wearing cheerleader outfits. They seemed somewhat unsure of what they were actually doing down there.
"What the hell..." I muttered, scratching my head. Why were they in cheerleader uniforms? How did they get them? Whose idea was that? I mean, it was absolutely ridiculous. There was no way that was their own idea.
"What's the matter, class A? What kind of fan service is that?" Hizashi asked through his mic. I could see the girls practically dying of shame. Poor things. It was probably some of the boys from their class who tricked them into it.
"Oh, they're gonna regret this." Shouta mumbled.
"Any ideas who it was? I'm thinking Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero. Or Mineta. Or a combination of the four of them." I said. Shouta pointed down onto the field at two guys in their PE uniforms.
"Kaminari and Mineta." he replied.
"Ha! I knew it. Man, they're in for a bad time, huh?"
"I'll see how much detention and extra work I'll give them for that. Dumbasses." he said in a brooding tone and shook his head.
"All right, everyone! Let's have fun competing in the recreational games! When that's over, the sixteen from the four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style, one-on-one!" Hizashi explained, getting people's attention away from the poor girls who were doing their best not to look too fazed by being tricked at this stage. I almost felt a little sorry for Kaminari and Mineta, because Shouta was PISSED. But then again they deserved all the bad stuff that was coming at them.
"Now, let's draw lots to determine the bracket." Midnight announced and got the box with the names of the students. I moved forward until I sat at the edge of my chair.
"Man, this is gonna be good..." I said.
"Once the bracket is determined, we'll have the recreational games and then start. The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation. I'm sure some of you want to rest or save your strength. Now, from the first place team-"
"Um, excuse me!" one boy suddenly said and put up his hand. Midnight gave him a surprised look. I think I could make out that it was Ojiro from 1-A.
"I'm withdrawing. I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until almost the end. I think it was that guy's Quirk. I know that this is a great chance and that it's foolish to waste it... But... Everyone here competed by giving their all. I can't be up there with everyone without knowing what really happened." Ojiro said.
"You're worrying too much about it! You should just make sure you produce results in the finals!" one of the girls in the cheerleader uniform said.
"If you're gonna say that, I didn't do anything either." Ashido agreed.
"That's not it... I'm talking about my pride here... I can't... Also why are you guys wearing cheerleader outfits?" Ojiro said. Someone else stepped up.
"I'm Nirengeki Shoda from class B. I also want to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability, don't you think it goes against the goal of this festival for those who didn't do anything to move onto the final round?" he said.
"This is an unusual turn of events..." Hizashi commented.
"We'll have to see what the chief umpire, Midnight, has to say about this..." Shouta agreed. That whole thing was really unexpected. Who were they teaming up with? Why couldn't they remember anything...?
"Youthful talk like that is something... I like! Shoda, Ojiro, I accept your withdrawal!" Midnight announced.
"Does that mean they have to change all the match-ups?" I wondered aloud. Shouta shrugged.
"Up to Midnight, I assume." was all he said.
"In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fifth place cavalry battle team..." Midnight commented.
"If that's what's going to happen, then rather than us who barely did anything during the cavalry battle, it should be them, right? The ones that fought to the end and stayed in the top, Team Tetsutetsu, right?" a girl that looked like Kendo from class B, suggested. Tetsutetsu looked surprised.
"Kendo..."
"This isn't collusion or anything. It just makes sense." Kendo replied and shrugged with a smile.
"Y-you guys...!" Tetsutetsu said, pressing his eyes together and letting out a loud scream. I chuckled a little, as I had never seen Tetsutetsu that moved before. I just knew he'd appreciate this move until the end of his life.
"And so Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki have moved up to make sixteen! This is the bracket based on the results of the draw!" Midnight announced and the line-up showed up on the screen. The first battle was Shinsou against Midoriya, followed by Sero against Todoroki. Interesting. I wondered how those would turn out.
"All right! Let's leave the tournament aside for a momentary interlude! Let's have fun with the recreational games!" Hizashi shouted into his microphone. Why the hell did they even give him one? As if he needed it.
"First fight could get interesting... Do we know anything about Shinsou?" I asked. Shouta nodded lightly.
"We don't know much. His Quirk is an interesting one, alright. Then again Midoriya is always good for a surprise." he said.
"What's his Quirk?"
"You'll see."
"First is the Scavenger Hunt!" Hizashi announced and then sat back. We'd probably be getting another short break now. I saw Cementoss walk up onto the field and start getting the arena ready, while a bunch of students were running around the field, trying to find the things for their scavenger hunt. I remembered that one fondly. There was only one time when I had made it into the finals of the sports festival and that was during my second year. I had actually made it to fifth place, but it had been tough.
I was so lost in thought that I didn't even realize how quickly the time passed until Cementoss gave Hizashi the signal that he was almost done. Thinking back on my time in school was kind of depressing. I didn't even know why it was so depressing. Maybe because back then I just never really felt like myself.
"Hey guys, are you ready?!" Hizashi shouted, getting me back into reality. The crowd was roaring.
"A lot's happened, but it's now come to this! A serious battle! You can only depend on yourself! Even if you're not a hero, you'll face lots of situations like that! You get it, right? Heart, skill, body, wisdom, and knowledge! Use all of that to rush up!"
"How does he still have so much energy?" I whispered to Shouta who huffed a little and shrugged.
"Who knows? I surely don't."
"Audience! The finals that you've all been waiting for are finally starting! Match number one - Even though he's done well, what's with that face? From the hero course, it's Izuku Midoriya, versus... Sorry, he hasn't done anything to stand out yet! From General Studies, it's Hitoshi Shinsou!"
"You met Shinsou before?" I wanted to know from Shouta. He shook his head no. I smiled smugly. I had a feeling that he would like him.
"The rules are simple. Force your opponent out of bounds, or immobilize them! You can also win by making your opponent say, "I give up!" Bring on the injuries! Because we've got our very own Recovery Girl waiting on standby! Put your morals and ethics aside for a moment! But of course, anything life-threatening is crap! It's not allowed! Heroes should only use their fists to catch villains." Hizashi explained further.
"Please don't tell them to get injured." I mumbled. Hizashi just laughed and waved off my concerns.
"They'll be fine, don't worry." he replied.
"I'll stop things if they go too far." Cementoss told Midoriya and Shinsou. Midoriya seemed quite nervous while Shinsou looked pretty relaxed.
"Ready?... Start!" Hizashi said. I looked down and saw how Midoriya seemed to get agitated about something. Shinsou was talking to him and it seemed like he was getting to him. Suddenly Midoriya started walking towards him angrily and then stopped abruptly. Shinsou had a smile on his face.
"Hey, hey, what's the matter? It's the important first match. Liven things up! Midoriya! The match just started... and he's completely frozen?! He's got a blank look on his face and isn't moving a muscle! Is this Shinsou's Quirk? He didn't stand out at all, but could he actually be someone amazing? Hitoshi Shinsou from General Studies has gotten the better of Izuku Midoriya from the hero course. Who would've imagined this?! Will the bottom really overthrow the top?"
Hizashi was just completely losing it at that. And it was pretty wild when you didn't know about Shinsou's Quirk. But I had read about it and it was quite interesting. He should really have been in the hero course with that Quirk.
"That's why I said the entrance exam wasn't rational." Shouta mumbled. Hizashi turned around to him.
"Huh? What?" he asked.
"What do you mean?" I wanted to know.
"Here's some basic data on the two of them. Since it's individual matches from here on out, I had someone compile them for me. Shinsou failed the practical exam for the hero course. Since he also applied for General Studies he probably knew that would happen. His Quirk is very powerful, but the practical exam consisted of fighting faux villains. That gave an advantage to those with physical attack Quirks. Shinsou wouldn't have been able to rack up any points with his Quirk." Shouta explained. It definitely made sense. My Quirk wasn't really a physical attack Quirk and I had really been struggling in the entrance exam back in my day. Shouta had probably faced the same problems.
I looked back down into the arena, just in time to see Midoriya turn around and start walking towards the bounds. Holy Shit, had he actually done it? It seemed that Shinsou was winning at this stage.
"Huh? What?! Midoriya's being so obedient!"
"In the fitness test on the first day of school, Midoriya scored pretty low for the hero course, but even in tests where he didn't use his Quirk, he did better than Shinsou. So if they fight normally, then Midoriya would win. If he can just overcome Shinsou's Brainwashing... Well, either way, this'll end quickly." Shouta mumbled while Hizashi was commenting wildly. A small smile crept up on me. It was so clear that he cared about his student winning, no matter how hard he tried not to play favourites.
"Damn, Midoriya's almost out of bounds..." I muttered, when there was suddenly a loud bang and a lot of dust blew up.
"Wh-what?! Midoriya's stopped!" Hizashi announced. Shouta's eyes widened and he leaned forward to see better.
"His fingers are... Did he remove the brainwashing by making them explode?" Shouta said quietly in astonishment.
"What did you do?!" I could hear Shinsou shout. I felt pretty sorry for Shinsou. I knew he was trying hard to get into the hero course. He had been working on a strategy for the Sports Festival night and day and had barely gotten any sleep.
Midoriya started charging towards him while Shinsou tried to get him to talk. It was hopeless now. Midoriya had made the mistake once, he wasn't going to do the same thing twice. He started pushing Shinsou towards the bounds, while Shinsou got more and more desperate to get him to talk.
When he realized that wouldn't work he finally started fighting back with a punch to his face. Midoriya wasn't giving up that easily, though. From what I had heard he had broken his arm in the entrance exam and his finger in the fitness test on his first school day. This boy was tough. Shinsou tried it again with a punch to his side, which gave him the opening to get away from Midoriya and try to push him out of bounds again. He had almost managed to push him out of bounds when Midoriya grabbed his arm and threw him over his shoulder. Shinsou's feet were just barely out of bounds.
"Shinsou is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to round two!" Midnight announced. I sighed and got up.
"Looks like we have some broken fingers. I better go down and check in with Recovery Girl." I said, before heading out. I really wanted to make sure Shinsou was okay. I knew how many hopes he had put into this.