Word Count: 4006
I sat beside Kaminari once again, clenching my jaw a bit as I watched Kirishima battle Bakugou. The fight was intense with close-combat as Kirishima wouldn't let Bakugou get too far away without landing a hit.
It was filled with Kirishima's relentless punches, Bakugou's quick dodges and counters. It was by far one of the most intense matches so far because of the equalled abilities between the two. I had to take note.
Although my match is next and I should be resting for it, I needed to know who I'd be versing.
It was either Kirishima or Bakugou at this point. Now... no offense to Kirishima, but I know that Bakugou will win this one.
It brings me back to what Bakugou said earlier about how quirks rely on physucal abilities too and how they can be worn out if used too much. I can tell the red-haired one is already losing so much energy from activating his quirk for too long, whilst Bakugou is saving it up.
In the end, the ash-blonde did exactly what I had thought and expected. He has won by immobilising Kirishima.
"Oh wow, he looks so beat." Kaminari sighs, leaning forward to look at Kirishima better. Sero and I nod our heads and hum in agreement.
The tape quirk user look to me. "You're versing Bakugou next, aren't you, L/N?"
I nod at Sero and say, "Yeah, I'm super determined to win. If I beat Bakugou, that's makes me so much more closer to defeating Todoroki as they both have amazingly fast moves."
Bakugou turns around, wiping his red-stained cheek. Kirishima managed to cut his cut only slightly, but that was the closest he got to having the upperhand. It was incredible.
Present Mic tells us, "With that vicious carpet-bombing, Bakugou advances to the third round! And that completes the final four!"
The pictures of Todoroki, Iida, me and Bakugou pop up in that order. We're in the semi-finals.
I had decided to make my way to the waiting room. I chose to go to the one further away from where Bakugou entered as he likely went to that one. I took a sip of water from my drink bottle, trying to think to myself in the empty room.
From his fight with Kirishima, it's shown that Bakugou had got incredible defense as well as offense. He's fast with no lag time in his quirk. Not to mention, he can make multiple uses of it. I need to find that small crack in his wall of power, and open it up so I can drag it down.
Over the announcement speakers, I hear that Todoroki and Iida had faced off. Whilst Iida was incredibly fast, Todoroki had managed to immobilise him.
I begin to walk down the hall towards the battle field when I see a figure in front of me. I immediately recognise who it is.
"Todoroki, congratulations on advancing to the final round!" I chime, waving my hand to him.
Todoroki, in return, stops his steps and looks down the hall to me. "Oh, L/N. Thank you, I look forward to watching your match against Bakugou. I hope it ends in your favour." He says to me in a mono-tone voice.
But I can tell that he is at least trying.
Chuckling back at Todoroki, I start my way down the hall with a wave over my shoulder to him. "Thank you very much, Todoroki. I'll see you after I finish this match, ok?" I say to him before rushing down the hall to the semi-finals match.
As I'm walking towards the battlefield, Present Mic shouts, "Match two of the semi-finals! Bakugou VS L/N! I'm excited to see how this ones goes, how about you, Eraser?"
Mr Aizawa gives an unenthusiastic grunt in return. Did it hurt to have to talk with all those bandages?
When I stop walking onto the concrete, I see that Bakugou is already on the opposite side of me. His hands are in his pockets and he shows me a determined look.
Bakugou glares at me. I glare back.
I want him to know that I'm not kidding around. Like everyone else here, I'm going to make my mark as a First Year in UA.
My plan to beat Bakugou relies heavily on sneak attacks. Bakugou has very fast reflexes and I doubt that I can tire him out before I get the chance to win. So I need to limit his movements, whether that be physically or not.
If I can get this to work somehow, I will go against Todoroki. Bakugou is the bridge I have to cross. He's stopping me from becoming what he wants to be as well. The winner.
"Start!"
Bakugou wastes no time charging towards me and drawing a big punch. It almost startles me how much faster he seems right in front of me compared to when I was spectating.
"This will be over in no time!" He shouts at me as he begins to move his fist towards my cheek.
Present Mic gasps, "The first move is made by Bakugou! He wants to end this quickly, doesn't he?"
I duck under Bakugou's arms quickly and clap my hands, drawing out a staff from the ground. His punching arm is now out and giving me a clear space to smash the staff into.
"I wouldn't say so!" I call back.
The object is now swinging the side of it into Bakugou's stomach. But he catches it before it makes impact, holding his other hand over the arm grasping my weapon. He flicks off an explosion, making me roll back and skid on my knees, leaving my weapon behind with him.
I stop moving, feeling some stinging on my cheek. It seems like he just got me.
I inhale sharply, wiping the dust from the floor off of my cheek before rubbing my fingers together. The particles fall slowly, still very noticable. Huh.
When I stand up again, Bakugou throws my staff out of the playing field to the grass, eyes on me.
He scowls, "Don't try that on me, dumbass." Bakugou tilts his head tauntingly. "I've seen all your tricks, it's the only object you could actually use that is even close to competing against me."
I huff back, clapping my hands again, "I'm much more than just my weapons, Bakugou."
"Then what the Hell are you, huh?" He spits back, walking towards me as I clench my fists, "A loser? A nobody? A freak?"
He knows how to piss me off, doesn't he?
But I can't believe he remembers how I hate the word 'freak' yet he forgets Kirishima's name and quirk in an hour.
My body moves on its own as I run to meet him half way. Once he gets close enough, I jump up, ready to axe kick him to the ground. Perhaps it was a naive decision, but I was aiming my heel to hit down his blonde spiky locks.
He suddenly moves his head and grabs onto my ankle, smirking at me proudly. I suck in my breath as I feel the rest of my weight beginning to settle in towards the floor.
But Bakugou scoffs at me, "Or are you a just threat?"
Something inside me just ticks when he says that. How I'm a threat.
I clench my fists and try to steady my falling body. I quickly hook my foot behind his head and pull the same leg towards my chest. I was not letting him get the last word.
This makes Bakugou get tugged forward too, his face bashing into my other knee harshly.
"Look at that! L/N gets blocked by Bakugou, and then finds a way to attack still!" Present Mic gapes, the microphone screeching as he spoke.
Bakugou growls when he drops my leg, letting me fall all the way down and stand back up on my feet. I want to punch him so bad.
But before I can, Bakugou is on the floor, head in his hand. It, for some unknown reason, stops me. I... I didn't hurt him that much, did I?
The tingling of my quirk is still on my fingers, which I am thankful for. It means that it's still activated and hasn't been used yet.
I make a few feet away from Bakugou. I could set my plan in motion now.
I press my hands to the floor and create little amounts of dirt in piles. I pray that this works.
When I look up, Bakugou is pulling his hand from his nose, showing the bleeding. I can't help the small proud grin on my face. I've hurt the infamous Bakugou Katsuki.
He wipes it away and sends me an aggravated look.
"YOU-YOU IDIOT! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" He shouts at me.
I hold a hand to my chest, feeling just as frustrated as him, if not more. I haven't felt like this in years.
I yell back, "I'm not a threat, I'm so done with that!" I point to the audience, not taking my eyes off of Bakugou. "I'm going to show you and everybody here that I can get to the top! And if you want to stand in my way, then fine!"
Moving my finger to my opponent, I say, "I'll be damned if you're reason I don't become a Pro Hero, Bakugou Katsuki."
Bakugou growls, now rushing to me. He knows I'm not messing around, and I know that neither is he. We both want to be at the top, this match will just prove who's got what it takes.
As I clap my hands again to create a hollow cube, I incase the piles dust of cement I made before before I put a lid on and seal it tightly. It made sure it was filled to the brim.
Nearly in time, I dive out of the way of his explosion but land on my shoulder instead of my feet like planned. His attack got me in the chest.
I wince a little before getting on one knee and opening my eyes to see my opponent. Bakugou now has two open palms against me, ready to fire off again.
I pull my hand back before throwing the cube towards Bakugou. In return, he explodes the box, letting out the dust incased inside.
The dust covers the area he's in and I hear him curse a little.
"YOU COWARD!" He screams at me as I quietly make my way towards him, "FIGHT ME NOW, YOU CAN'T FUCKING HIDE FOREVER, DUMBASS!"
I can see his outline. He's facing the right. Giving a small breath, I run up to punch him. But my steps are so heavy that he can hear me. Bakugou lets off an explosion to clear the dust, releasing my position.
"What's this? Bakugou's cleared all the dust on the playing field! We can all now see L/N!" Mic gasps again.
That was my plan. To blind him with the dust and get him out of bounds. He's demolished that plan in seconds.
But I can not let him have this win.
I need to improvise.
Bakugou sees me, smirking before shooting his quirk to me. I duck quickly and roll forward, hoping to get in a good close-combat punch or two.
But Bakugou is suddenly in front of me before I can stand up again, sending a kick to my side. I get thrown away, holding my waist as I clench my jaw. That hurt so freaking much.
As I pant from the hit, Bakugou growls at me, "You're a dumbass. As if you could compete with me. You're worse than me in every way, how could you possibly think you could beat me?"
I squint my eyes at him, meeting his red orbs. "Y'know some people would find my persistence admirable." I tell him, standing back up on my wobbly knees.
The ash-blonde holds an open palm my way. He half-smiles at me, tauntingly. "Well, I'm not of them."
The next few minutes, Bakugou fires off his quirk every second, trying to knock me out. I'm trying to buy myself some time, I needed to think of something, anything!
Bakugou suddenly stops, wiping his forehead and flicking his hand away before I stand up and aim a roundhouse kick to his shoulder. When he blocks, I immediately jump away and I've got a smile on my face.
I have a plan.
"You sure are getting tired for a 'quick fight', huh asshole?" I say, holding my chest up now. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tired out already.
Bakugou grunts back, "As if, dumbass. I'm not the one panting like a fucking dog."
I ignore him, running towards Bakugou to ready my attack. I clap my hands together and jump up higher, placing two fingers on the waist of my pants. This fabric should work.
Bakugou holds his hand out to explode me as I land. It's definitely bigger than past ones. I use that smoke and noise to gain more closeness, up to the point where I am an arm away.
His arm is still up, so I take chance to grab the long strip of fabric I created from my now knee-length tracksuit pants, and wrap it around Bakugou's arm. He widens his eyes at me at I twist his arm quickly behind his back and and kicking the back of his knee so he's on the floor.
"L/N's immobilising Bakugou! She's about to win!" Present Mic states, "Come on, L/N! You can do it!"
I make sure to keep the fabric looser than what it would've been if I was immobilising him. I make sure the cloth is getting soaked, watching it intently.
I can't immobilise Bakugou. No, he's too strong for that.
"You can't stop me, you idiot!" Bakugou shouts, opening his palm and clicking off his quirk. I try to swerve out of the way, but his explosion knocks me to the side again.
When I stop skidding on the cement, I check my closed hand. Inside, it's the cloth I used on Bakugou. Thank God.
"Tch. Pathetic." He tells me, taking three steps away from the 'out of bounds' of the playing field, "You're trying your best but it's not good enough. Do yourself a favour and just walk out right now."
I get up again, slowly. I'm about to give out, I just know it. But I'm ignoring that fact.
"I'm not giving up until somebody is out of bounds." I inform him.
I scrunch the cloth into a ball as wait for Bakugou. He needs to make a move before I do, or else it won't work. It makes me relieved that Bakugou sets off his quirk again.
I throw the ball towards his palm, my aim being correct as I run after the ball.
Present Mic hums, "Huh? Is this... baseball? I thought we were watching a fight!"
The fabric gets blown up with Bakugou's palm, creating an even bigger explosion to add to the one before that.
Present Mic inhales quickly, "WOAH! ERASER, DID YOU SEE THAT?" I hear his hands slam onto the desk and the microphone peak again. "THE EXPLOSION JUST DOUBLED IN SIZE, ONE FRACTION OF A SECOND AFTER ANOTHER! HOW DID THAT EVEN HAPPEN, IS BAKUGOU THAT FAST?"
Mr Aizawa groans back, "That wasn't Bakugou. L/N took a piece of her uniform to use as a cloth. When she was 'tying Bakugou up', she was actually collecting some of his sweat, as Bakugou's explosions are let off by igniting his nitroglycerin sweat."
He got my plan already, wouldn't expect anything less from a Pro Hero.
I hear him shuffle a bit before explaining further, "She threw the cloth directly at the explosion to double it up and create more smoke so she had double the time to proceed towards Bakugou to strike."
I smile, gaining more excruciating speed before drawing a hand back to punch Bakugou's pretty, smug face.
He seems surprised by the extra explosion and my fist coming so close to his face.
My knuckles are getting closer and closer to his cheek.
I see Bakugou's red eyes dilating as he tries to find out what to do.
I inhale.
I'm actually doing it. I'm about to punch Bakugou out of bounds. I'm about to win against him. I'm about to prove him wrong. I'm about to move onto the next round.
I'm about to-
Bakugou suddenly grasps my wrist, side-stepping so his body is facing away from mine.
No.
Bakugou's other hand lays roughly against my collarbone.
No.
He twists his body around and applies heavy pressure to where his hands are, aiming my body to the ground behind him.
NO!
My body hits the floor, making me open my mouth and allow myself to choke on the air getting pulled out of me. I widen my eyes as I'm met with the sight in front of me now. It makes me feel useless.
How could this happen?
I'm looking up at the sky, at the edges of the stadium in the circle shape. The pain of my back creeps up my neck and down my thighs. It spreads to my shoulders and to my arms.
My face feels hot, like I had a fever. But it's the blood rushing from the impact.
My hair is now out, loose. The strands are messy, laying on the ground in different directions. I hadn't realised how much aching I felt until I stopped moving non-stop.
The smoke isn't even gone yet...
In a split second, Bakugou is on top of me.
I go to clap as soon as I can, but my actions are delaying by a millisecond. I'm too slow.
He has his hand on one of my forearms, throwing it above my head and onto the floor. His grip is tight and he won't let go. I can't use my quirk now.
He's straddling one of my legs, weighing it down. As for my other leg, it's arched at his hip. I could knee him in the side or kick him back, but I'm slow again.
Bakugou, using his other hand, pins down my knee to the ground. Now I can't move any of my legs.
I have to think of something.
I need to think of something.
"Give it up." Bakugou says lowly, "You've lost, dumbass. You're not winning against me, not any time soon. This match is over."
It's still smokey from the two explosions. But I can see the outline of his body. His chest is is about above my stomach and his head is tilted down to me.
I can imagine the irritating smirk on his face. His brows turned down. His eyes sharp and on mine. His chuckle just piercing through me.
I struggle against his restraints. I grunt, trying to wriggle the rest of my arm out of his grip, "N-NO! I HAVEN'T LOST YET! THERE'S STILL TIME AND THERE IS NO WAY LOSING TO YOU JUST TODAY!"
I can't help the tears pricking the corners of my eyes. It must look so childish to cry about not getting my way. I must look so immature, not ready for the Pro Hero world.
But that's why I came to UA.
I've worked so hard in the past few weeks I spent training with Dad! I'm doing all I can right now! I want to win as badly as my opponents! I have the same ambition as them!
Why isn't that good enough?
"Shut up, dumbass." Bakugou tells me quietly but harshly, grip tightening, "You're done. You're finished. You can't take anymore, you hear me?"
I pull against his palm again. "THAT'S NOT TRUE! I WILL FIGHT YOU UNTIL I BEAT YOU, YOU ASSHOLE! I-I AM NOT WEAK!" I yell at him, closing my eyes tightly for a moment.
That's when Bakugou clicks his tongue and shakes his head. "And what the Hell is the point of killing yourself now when you want to become better?" He asks me.
I don't know how to respond to him.
The smoke is clearly now, allowing me to see Bakugou's face only. But it's not what I expected. There is no smirk, no sharp eyes, no proud chuckle.
No, he is completely different than I had thoought.
Bakugou's brows are knitted with confusion or frustration. His eyes are widened at me like he'd seen his worse fear. His jaw is tightly clenched as he anticipates the next move. His shoulders are... shaking.
Bakugou is glaring holes into my eyes and I can see he is waiting for me to move again or say something. But I have no effective move I can make right now.
He growls at me, "You can't beat me, face reality you idiot. You can try and try, but just how fucking inferior you are to me just shows that you're too far back to win this thing. You won't become a Pro Hero with your lack of skills."
My heart aches at what he is saying to me.
The smoke is now mostly gone and I can hear gasps from around me, even some of the students. I hear whispers break out as Bakugou's words sink into me.
I'm not... strong enough yet...?
Anger pulses through me without a second thought.
I clench my jaw, my free hand going towards Bakugou and gripping his collar rightly in my fist. I suck in my breath and yank him down towards me.
I hear him grunt as I pull him closer to me face.
"Hey! What the fuck do you think you're doing!" He shouts at me, his hands only gripping harsher onto my limbs.
"I AM NOT INFERIOR TO YOU!" I yell at him, feeling my face burn with heaping piles of madness, "BAKUGOU, I AM GOING TO BEAT YOU! I DON'T CARE HOW LONG IT TAKES, YOU WILL SEE THAT I AM NOT SOME LITTLE KID YOU CAN TALK DOWN TO!"
I watch his red orbs race mine before widening.
"YOU-..."
My throat hurts from the yelling I'm doing. My voice falters for a moment.
"You can't tell me that I won't become a Pro Hero. That's... That's all I want to be. Wh-Who are you to take that away from me, Bakugou Katsuki?"
I'm not crying. The tears are threatening to fall down my cheeks, but I don't let it. Not in front of Bakugou. I am strong.
It's then that I see that all the smoke is gone. I can see everything clearly now. My grip tightens on Bakugou's collar. I can still win this, I've got another chance.
I don't break eye contact with my opponent. His crimson ones bore into mine as I feel my face grow redder and redder with determination.
I have another chance.
A voice shatters my concentration.
"--is out of bounds!"
It's definitely Midnight's voice. I didn't catch all of it though.
Bakugou's eyes peer up to our close hands, just for a split second before his eyes land on mine again.
His jaw is slightly dropped and his brows are further knitted.
But it suddenly dawns on me that I should look where my hand is now. The one connected to the arm Bakugou is gripping onto.
I look above my head and there my hand is.
And there the playing field end is.
Just above my head, I can barely see it on the top of my vision.
And there the line that separates the two is.
Right under my wrist, allowing Bakugou's hand to stay inside the boundaries of the 'stage'.
And there is where the out of bounds area is.
Right beneath my hand.
My hand is out of bounds.
I am out of bounds.
"Bakugou advances to the finals!"
I lost.