Chapter 37
"All right!" Present Mic exclaimed as everyone was done getting into their formations.
Kazuki's team had been kind of waiting for everyone else, mostly, but they were in position too now. With Togeike as rider so that she could more easily use her Quirk to keep everyone away. He'd had to reassure the Gen Ed student quite a bit, especially considering that everyone was very obviously looking at them. At least Monoma, who was placed to Kazuki's right, and Hatsume, who was at the front, seemed much more at ease… sort of. Hell, the Support student seemed downright excited.
"Everyone better have formed their teams, because we are about to start!" continued their teacher and Kazuki took a deep breath in. Where she sat on his and Monoma's shoulders, Togeike seemed to decide to follow his example. With some luck, it'd help her like it did him. "Let's do it, everyone! Let's start the countdown for this clash!"
And so, the crowd did.
By three, Kazuki traded a look with Monoma and then Togeike. They knew the plan. They'd discussed it and made sure that they all knew how it was going to go. After all, if everyone was going to be gunning for them, that only meant that they could predict what was going to happen as soon as they got started.
And that meant that they could plan for it, which is exactly what they had done.
By two, Kazuki felt the air around his right side start getting colder, especially closer to the ground. Togeike fidgeted with something in her hand, ready for anything at any time. Hatsume… just giggled, vibrating in place. As for Kazuki himself, his shadow started letting out faint wisps.
He couldn't do much else, before the event officially started.
By one, he just wanted things to get started already. He wasn't sure if they were really going by seconds, or if the assholes were intentionally drawing out the time to make them suffer more. Either way, he had to make an herculean effort not to let out a grimm already, and for once it wasn't just his Quirk's influence.
"Start!"
At that very moment, the teams that had before being placed around a rectangle in the field turned to face straight towards Kazuki's team, starting to run immediately. 'Come here, then,' he thought, the head of a King Taijitu peeking out of his shadow now that he was free to make it. Beside him, Monoma shifted his feet, and a grin formed on his face.
"What?!" a boy exclaimed.
"Thought I'd just let you do that, Honenuki?!" Monoma asked, clearly amused.
"You, when did you even get it?!"
Kazuki didn't know what was up there, but he was betting his teammate had taken someone's Quirk or otherwise messed with one to block something. This was further proved when he saw that the ground around them had turned to mud, much like it had when Monoma had been showing them their "extra". So far, Kazuki felt like he'd made a pretty solid choice in teammate there and things had barely gotten started.
He'd half worried that the 1-B student would sabotage them, but maybe he wasn't actually so bad.
Surprisingly, Togeike made the next move taking advantage of the new terrain around them. Her mud "needles" shot out towards an incoming team coming at them from the side. That turned out to be Tetsutetsu's team, where this Honenuki person was too. That was all Kazuki could see before his vision was blocked.
Blocked by what? By his grimm continuing to materialize.
With half the King Taijitu formed, he controlled what was there to swipe over the battlefield in front of them like a whip. The rest of it would take time though and he couldn't afford to wait, even if the giant two-headed serpent would be very useful. No, he needed more grimm and quickly.
'Easy does it, don't rush. You are in control, not the Quirk,'he thought to himself, taking slow breaths as he started forming two Nevermores on the smaller side. He had plenty of emotions to fuel his creations, so being inefficient wasn't a concern. Hell, the crowd was evidently very affected by his display just now, if he was reading things right. 'Let's go,' he thought, pushing any observations he might have made about his sensing of emotions and creating two Beowolves.
It was a risk, going for five grimm when his absolute limit at the moment was six. He was pushing too much, some might say. He imagined Aizawa was facepalming wherever he was with Yamada. Kazuki had to show his best front though.
And that meant power too.
He needed to show everyone that he was in control, but also strong. If he was in control just by crippling himself, would that be better? He didn't think so. No, he needed to show people the things he could do if he were good too.
'I can do this,' he thought, keeping his mind calm, cold and focused. There were his grimm, his objective and his goal. Nothing else mattered. Not the emotions of the crowd, nor the shouts of the other competitors, nor his own fears. 'I can do this,' he repeated, a slight smile forming on his face as his grimm engaged with a few teams that had gotten close.
Togeike continued shooting at everyone she could see. Judging by how the earth around them continued shifting ever so slightly, Kazuki would bet that Monoma was keeping his classmate at bay. Mei didn't have much to do, but he could see her hand twitching and fidgeting with the Capture Gun.
The situation changed when his King Taijitu, who had been keeping them separated from a chunk of the field, started being frozen over. Explosions could be heard coming from the other side too. Looking through the snake's senses… Kazuki confirmed what was obvious.
'And so they come,' he noted to himself… grinning widely.
"You got that?" Monoma asked, his voice slightly strained.
"I do, just be ready for the ground to be frozen over."
"Noted," the boy replied and Kazuki could pick up on the frustration and exhaustion creeping on him already. Apparently, holding back his teammate from turning everything into mud was more complicated than it seemed.
"Oh, I can't wait," Hatsume commented, and he could almost see her holding back maniacal laughter. She was fun like that, it seemed. 'Welp, so long as she doesn't mess things up, we are good,' he mused, turning his full attention towards where his problematic classmates were coming from.
"You got things, Togeike?" he asked, wanting to see if he could pull away his grimm. "I might need to take some of the power away from here to cover this."
"Yeah," the girl breathed out her eyes wide in awe as she looked at her work. "Yeah, I can do this," she added, and Kazuki felt like she might have been talking to herself there instead of him. Especially when she waved her hand harshly to the side and shot a barrage of mud needles towards a very unfortunate team from 1-B. "I definitely got this!" she exclaimed, ecstatic.
'If she's happy then,' Kazuki thought with a grin of his own as he took away some of his grimm to cover his side better. He left a beowolf around just in case though. If he needed it, he'd pull it back, if he didn't, then better leave it where it was. Worse came to worst, he'd make a temporary sixth.
Good thing he did too, because the King Taijitu was falling apart faster than he could repair it with more negativity. If it were only Todoroki or Bakugo, it might have held. But with both of them? And Midoriya too? Hell, those three had teammates that were also tearing into the creature.
It stood no chance, but that was the thing with his grimm. There was always more than one. Before they could completely obliterate his creation, the other ones reached, jumping or flying over the serpent's body. Once over that zone, his Nevermore wasted no time at all before starting to rain feathers on the poor bastards on the other side. They likely wouldn't do much to the students there, but they'd be annoying and he was all for that.
"Not so fast, guys!" Monoma called then, and there was a wave of cold air that came from his side as he created ice from his foot and spread it towards where some students had been getting close. "We might be in the same class, but I want to win too!" the blonde added.
Kazuki could sense him feeling bad for what he was doing, but he evidently could tell that this wasn't the moment to hesitate. This was a showcase just for them. They all needed to show their best side to the world. People probably wouldn't know or care about who was in who's class.
Hell, how could they, when the entirety of the participants were basically the two heroic classes plus three?
So he hoped, at least.
Absently, he noticed Present Mic continuing to comment on the event, but he paid him no mind. He had to keep an eye out for his team and for everything his grimm were picking up on. On top of that, he had to keep his creatures under control, which took a fair bit of focus.
Things were going well though, so-
"They are getting too close!" Togeike called from, making him look towards the front, which was the side she'd been covering. Indeed, there were groups there that were getting closer. One in particular that wasn't one he wanted to deal with.
Apparently, Mineta had teamed up with Asui and Shoji. 'And Mineta will be a fucking nightmare with his beads,' Kazuki thought, holding back a grimace as he made the Beowolf he'd kept around towards that particular warhorse. 'Let's get out of here, yeah. We can't hold on forever.'
"Time to fly. Monoma," Kazuki decided out loud.
"I know, let's go," the blonde replied, and Togeike instantly brought her hand up and pressed the activation button for the Jet Pack. Kazuki guarded himself with Boarbatusk armor while Monoma did so with Todoroki's ice so they didn't get affected by the device. Now that would have sucked majorly, he was sure.
"Fly my baby, fly!" Hatsume squealed as they moved through the air. The thing could certainly fly, especially considering it was bringing them all, as they held onto Togeike's legs. Once they started falling, probably because the girl couldn't quite endure having the weight of three people on her legs while flying like that, they prepared themselves. Hatsume used her Hover Boots to soften her landing, while Kazuki cushioned his and Monoma's fall with a half-grimm forming under them.
"I'm going to run out of time with my Quirk in a bit, Endo," Monoma said, gritting his teeth and feeling frustration wash over him. Kazuki considered that for a moment. He'd let a Beowolf and a Nevermore break apart while they moved away. The rest of his grimm were keeping attention on them and being general nuisances, but it wouldn't take the teams that remained there long to realize that they weren't there anymore, if they hadn't outright seen them move. Good thing the King Taijitu was so big though.
"I'll see what I can get you," Kazuki replied, narrowing his eyes. "Togeike, you have enough to work with over there?" he asked then, because Monoma not having a Quirk would be bad, but if Togeike was out too, then that'd leave Kazuki and Hatsume's gadgets.
"Yeah, a little."
"Help her with that for now, Monoma," Kazuki decided, getting a nod before both of them started shooting people with the mud created by the 1-B student and some of the thawed ice that Monoma and Todoroki had created. With that and his grimm, they should be able to buy some time before recovering with a new Quirk for the 1-B student to use. Now, what and how to get him something though…
"At least Hatsume's and Togeike's Quirks go well together," the blonde commented, making Kazuki blink. Yeah, Zoom and Liquid Thorn probably synergized quite a bit. Especially considering the only source for the latter had been left behind some distance away.
His attention was stolen by something that caught his Nervermore's eye.
"What do we have here?" he asked as the avian creature dove down and clutched something in its feet, between its claws. "... a hand?"
"Tokage," Monoma recognized, somehow. "She can separate and control parts of her body," the boy explained. "Bring that here and be careful. A hand or something could try to get our headband."
Following the advice, Kazuki delivered the limb to Monoma, feeling a little disturbed by that Quirk. It sounded pretty messed up, when one thought about it in depth… So he guessed the key was not to take it that seriously. Once Monoma had touched the hand, he had the Nevermore fly away with it and start raining feathers on people.
"Thanks, Tokage!" the blonde called, getting a rather… less than polite response from the girl whose hand he'd stolen a Quirk from. A moment later, Monoma's right hand flew off. "I'm going to try and get a headband or two like this. With Zoom, I should be able to find an opening if there's one."
"Good luck. It'd be nice to have a back up plan," Kazuki replied.
"Oh, oh! I can make you a baby that works like my Quirk if you want!" Hatsume exclaimed, giving Monoma pause as the blonde blinked.
"I'd like one of those too… if I make it to heroics," Togeike commented idly, but she sure sounded a lot more happy than she ever did at any other time that Kazuki had seen her. Evidently she was quite happy with her performance so far. "Shinso's coming over here. His Quirk is Brainwash, he can mind control anyone that replies to him when he talks."
"Don't take bait from the guy. Got it," Kazuki said, glancing towards the purple-haired boy. He could see how he failed the Entrance Exam with a Quirk like that, honestly. Controlling people didn't help much when you had to fight robots and it would have limited use when trying to get rescue points too. Still, that didn't mean it was impossible though.
His Beowolf back at the King Taijitu zone was blown up by Bakugo at that very moment, it seemed. Not only that, but people had already picked up on the fact that they had moved. So, with that in mind, Kazuki let them dissipate, going to create more that were closer.
Back to Shinso, the purple-haired mind controller, Kazuki sent his Beowolf close by towards him. Would that Quirk work on his creature? If it did, would it overrule his own control of it? Ultimately, he was just curious, because at the end of the day, if he could control them, then he'd just dissipate them and make a new one. He could keep that going forever, after all, so it would be more annoying that bad.
Thus, when the boy talked to the grimm and the grimm roared in response… Nothing happened. 'Good,' Kazuki thought, grinning widely as the boy's team had to face the beowolf. 'Weird that Ojiro's with him though,' he noted with some confusion. The other two were Class 1-B, which he knew less about, but still… 'Did he mind control a team for himself? That's… questionable, I think, but whatever. Maybe that's just from my perspective…'
It didn't matter though. If what the other boy did was good or not didn't matter. That'd be something for the crowd and the school to judge. Kazuki didn't have time to worry about how some other person was going to be perceived by others. He had enough on his plate with just his own situation.
It sucked for Ojiro, but Kazuki didn't have the time to try and help him… Or did he?
"Can that control be broken somehow?"
"Not that I know of,"Togeike answered, to which he grimaced. 'Ok, I'm going to give them a smack and see what happens, I guess. If that doesn't work, they are on their own,' Kazuki decided.
Besides, on a more selfish side of things, if he could snap those three out of it and make them turn on Shinso, that'd be one less team to worry about. That wasn't very heroic of him, but so long as he didn't make things worse for himself, Kazuki would take any advantage he could. Being mind controlled through the Sports Festival couldn't be nice for those boys either, so… that counted as a good deed too, Kazuki was sure.
So, he commanded his beowolf to attack that team. Ojiro wasn't going to do much besides hitting it with his tail and that wouldn't be very effective. Shinso literally couldn't do anything to it either. Kazuki was pretty sure the other two didn't have anything much better than that. At most, they'd keep the grimm at bay for a bit.
"They are getting closer!" Togeike called, and Kazuki's attention snapped back. He'd focused too much on that. In fairness, however, he did have to spend most of his brain power keeping the leash on his grimm. 'Maybe I should tone it down so I can think? There's three other people in this team though, I don't have to do everything…'
"Can you get the guy with brown hair in this Shinso's team?" Monoma asked, making Kazuki blink and glance in that direction again. "His Quirk would be really useful."
"My grimm are kind of busy," Kazuki muttered, keeping his creatures in check as he tried to battle the teams all around. Fortunately, some of them had stopped trying to rush his, but they definitely were still coming. Todoroki seemed to be especially determined, but a new King Taijitu and a Nevermore were keeping that team and a few others away. "I can make one more but I need you guys to keep an eye on things. My focus is stretching really thin right now."
"Do it, we can keep this side of things for now," Monoma urged determinedly.
Immediately, Kazuki closed his eyes and focused on his grimm and created a Beringel. Nothing else mattered. There was just the grimm and controlling them. His body was there, holding his position for the warhorse, but little else. He had to trust his team. They weren't idiots, he knew. At least Togeike didn't seem to be and Monoma was being surprisingly good too.
So, he rushed Shinso's team with his Beringel while the Beowolf kept them busy. That's when the brown haired guy he was targeting breathed out and the Beringel seemingly hit an invisible wall. 'Oh yeah, that would be useful,' Kazuki decided, making the Beowolf rush in in a sort of sacrificial move to take a swipe at the guy, making the warhorse stumble before Ojiro used his tail to stabilize it.
It was too late for the other guy, who was grabbed by the Beringel and then brought to Kazuki's team.
"Thanks, Tsuburaba," Monoma said, a grin on his face as he touched the guy's arm. "Done here, boss."
"I'm not your boss," Kazuki mumbled, throwing the boy off just as his blonde teammate used the new Quirk to hold people back once more. They just needed to hold on for a bit. "How much longer?"
"We are past the twenty minutes mark, boss!" Hatsume answered, making him purse his lips. They were doing it on purpose, weren't they? He wasn't even picking up any bad emotions from them besides some nerves. They had to be joking or something. Assholes.
"Tell me when there's a minute or two, yeah?" he said, keeping the sixth grimm out. He could do this. The Beringel left the Beowolf in charge of the Shinso team to rush towards the King Taijitu area. It'd make a good meat shield to keep Midoriya away from him, at the very least. The giant snake only needed some occasional help so as to not get turned into a frozen piece of negativity. That's what the two Nevermores and one other Beowolf were there for, on top of fighting other teams. Besides, Togeike was still shooting people occasionally with Monoma, who was also shooting out the invisible air things with the Quirk of his classmate.
And that's when everything went to shit, of course.
The first thing to happen was Bakugo appearing out of nowhere in the air, flying with his explosions and apparently having completely ditched his warhorse. 'You absolute madman,' Kazuki thought, trying and failing to have a Nevermore intercept him. Monoma had his back there though, because Bakugo seemed to smash against an invisible wall. That bought just enough time for his bird creature to hit him from the side and send him away.
The next thing that happened was that Todoroki seemed to have decided to go all out, his ice seemingly going full power and freezing the King Taijitu before it could do anything. 'If he could do that though, why didn't he do that sooner?' he wondered, but his answer was given by the eyes of a Nevermore, who saw that Todoroki was half frozen himself, and not in a nice way.
However, there was something else that was going on there, because the boy was using his fire, something that Kazuki knew was rare. He was pushing away the ice on his own body with it, fighting the symptoms of his Quirk overuse. All the while his warhorse moved him past the now frozen grimm.
"Fuck!" Monoma exclaimed then, and Kazuki felt it too. The pain on his hand. The hand that wasn't actually attached to his body. Now that was a strange feeling. Kazuki felt it like it was, but it very obviously wasn't. 'Interesting that,' he thought, even as he grimaced. "They got my hand," the blond explained with a bitter smile.
"3 minutes left, boss!" Hatsume called and Kazuki nodded.
"Buy me a minute or so," he said, getting a nod from all three of them. "We are almost there. I'll get us through. I just need you guys to be ready for some rough emotions to hit you…"
And so, they prepared. Hatsume pulled out the Capture Gun and kept it aimed forward and towards Kazuki's side. Togeike seemed to start shooting even more needles. Monoma followed suit, sending invisible walls everywhere to stop people, especially Bakugo, who was keeping himself going up and down around them and trying to find an opening.
Until the bomber got shot with a net from Hatsume's baby.
"Great job!" Kazuki cheered as he saw the blonde fall to the ground, away from his horse. His team was carrying things, though, and that meant he had a job to do now. Thus, he pushed everything to the side and he let his grimm dissipate, leaving out only three, two Beowolves and one Nevermore. He needed to be hundred percent focused on this, after all.
Reaching inside himself, he pulled on the strings he needed, forming a new grimm as he took deep breaths in and kept his mind clear. Keep the grimm under control, make the new grimm. Nothing else mattered. There was nothing else at all, just those two things.
And so the grimm rose from the ground, slowly, with its ominously glowing eyes and the wisps of darkness flying about. The crowd didn't like it, but they didn't like when he made any grimm so he ignored them. He was here to prove that he could do things. He couldn't just refuse to make grimm because of them, after all.
'Prove yourself… for yourself, not acting as something you are not,' he remembered Inui telling him once. 'Show them the best version of yourself. You can't turn into something else for others, Endo. No matter how much you want to, it won't end well.'
Kazuki hoped those words were as wise as they sounded. He really did, because he might just ruin his chances with his next move. 'I'm going to win this. I'm going to show everyone. No matter what.'
And so, the Apathy opened its mouth… and screamed.
Chapter 38
The shift in emotions in the immediate surroundings was very easily noticeable even without Kazuki's sense of them. He could see it all, the way all the participants sagged and even Midnight, off to the side, seemed to slump a little. Fortunately for him, the effect didn't seem to reach far enough to affect the stands, which he was grateful for. He hadn't quite managed to test the range of the Apathy, after all.
He couldn't imagine it'd have done wonders for his image if it hit the spectators, but that was just how it was. That was the main reason why he'd waited for the very last few minutes. At least that way he had the element of surprise and he also made sure that he wouldn't put anyone under the effects for too long.
Pushing off the emotions, he was feeling, he looked at the clock. The seconds were ticking by, but he'd need time. So, he fed the Apathy more negativity, to make sure it kept going. He made the rest of his grimm disappear, just to be sure that nothing would happen due to unforeseen circumstances. Considering the specifics of practicing with the Apathy, he hadn't gotten much done in regards to getting used to it or knowing how exactly it worked in regards to a number of things.
"It's almost over now!" Present Mic called, the commentary breaking through Kazuki's concentration for once. "Now for the countdown! Everybody with me! Ten!" And so the countdown started.
Next and in front of him, Monoma and Hatsume seemed to fall a little, which made Kazuki's eyes widen. They'd held for a solid minute, which was a fair bit, he supposed. He wouldn't know for sure though, since he couldn't accurately know how being affected by the Apathy was.
He moved himself so that Togeike would fall sitting on his shoulders instead of to the floor. Using Grimm Guard, he made some Imp arms to hold her in place. She couldn't fall. They were almost done. Almost… 'Just hold a little longer,'Kazuki thought to himself, eyes darting between their surroundings and the timer for the event. Present Mic's and the crowd's countdown continued.
"Three! Two! One! Time up!" Only as he heard that did Kazuki let the Apathy dissolve. "Now, shall we see our top four?!" Looking up, he saw everyone start recovering from the Apathy, looking up at the scoreboard.
"Well, that warning you gave was clearly not enough," Monoma grumbled from the side, moving to help him lower Togeike, who was shaking a little. "But we won, so it's whatever."
"Asshole," the Gen Ed student groaned, slapping him in the chest with no real force. Then there was Hatsume, who turned to look at him with a blank expression before…
"How did you do that?!" she exclaimed then, all curiosity and no bad feelings coming from her whatsoever. "Do you think you can help me apply that to a baby? Want to make a baby together?"
"First of all, phrasing," he answered, leaning back a little. "Second of all-"
"In first place, Team Endo, who managed to hold off everyone else and keep their ten million points!" Present Mic unknowingly interrupted him then, making Kazuki grin regardless. They'd won. They'd stayed at the top. "Second place goes to Team Midoriya, who did a spectacular job staying under the radar compared to the other teams led by Class 1-A students!"
At that, Kazuki turned to look towards that particular team. Midoriya had worked together with Uraraka which was not really all that surprising. Tokoyami was more surprising though and then there was… 'Kamakiri?' Kazuki thought, eyes widening a bit. Had the 1-B boy interacted with any of those three at any point? Tokoyami and Midoriya had been to training sessions with Endo at times but still… That was unexpected.
'I might have focused too much on keeping everyone away,'he realized then, a little amused. He'd been so concentrated on that, he hadn't even really paid attention to the other teams much until they were running towards him. His Grimm might have gotten a look at things, but he'd been more worried about controlling them and keeping every front under control.
'Awareness might be a problem,' he thought, gulping down his sudden insecurity.
"As for third place, that one belongs to Team Todoroki!" Beside him, Kazuki heard Monoma click his tongue in annoyance. It was no surprise though and he could understand. After everything, to see so little of the other boy's class was… He felt a little bad, honestly. On top of that… "And for fourth place, we have the upset, Team Shinso!"
There was more commentary then, but he turned his attention to his team.
"Good job, everyone. Couldn't have done it without you," he said, drawing a smirk from Monoma, although it looked muted. There were some lingering effects of the Apathy there, he noticed. Maybe he was more affected because they were close? Hatsume seemed fine though. Maybe it was something else? "Thank you for helping me."
"Yeah, well, just returning the favor for the training," Togeike mumbled, looking away as she spoke. "Besides, now I might have a shot at getting into a hero class, especially since I worked with two others and even got support equipment. That'll look good."
"Glad to help then," Kazuki replied bemusedly. "Good luck in the next part."
"I don't need luck, but thanks anyway," Monoma told him, still grinning. "You are not bad, for a 1-A student."
"I'll take that."
"Do you think people saw my babies?" Hatsume asked, looking towards the stands as if the crowd could give her the answer to that. Kazuki did the same with completely different reasons, reaching for every source of negativity over there. How many of those were because of him? Because of who he was? Because of what he'd done?
"Sure did. And you'll get to show off more in the next stage," he said, suddenly feeling a lot less happy.
"The next event will be in one hour, so, get something to eat and drink, because you'll want to be at your best for what's to come, people!" Present Mic called and Kazuki nodded slightly.
"I'll go check on my class then," Monoma said, starting to walk away. "See you at the next stage."
"I've got to look over my babies. They need to be perfect for the next part!" Hatsume announced before rushing off. That only left him and Togeike, who was suddenly feeling very uncomfortable, from what he picked up. She didn't seem very sure what to do, evidently not eager to go together with her Gen Ed classmate.
"Want to come with me?" Kazuki offered, making the girl turn towards him with wide eyes. "My friends are weird, but they are nice."
"Huh, em," Togeike mumbled, stumbling over her words in her awkwardness and surprise. Kazuki just waited, realizing that she was probably a bit overwhelmed by the bunch of things that had happened in the last few minutes. He was guessing that was why Monoma had rushed off. Hatsume might have just been herself though. "Sure?" the girl eventually answered, more a question than a statement, but Kazuki would have felt bad if he left her by herself, so he took that.
"Great, come on," he told her with a smile and then took off to where he saw his usual group talking to each other. They were feeling a little downtrodden, of course. All except for Yaoyorozu, that is, since she'd been in Todoroki's team. However, they weren't feeling terribly bad. "Hey, guys, had fun?" he asked, making them turn towards him. "Did I miss much? I was a little too focused on my grimm and the general… mess that the whole event was, honestly."
"I did worry a bit when you summoned so many grimm," Yaoyorozu answered first, making him rub the back of his neck uncomfortably. She wasn't wrong, he supposed. "Todoroki wanted to get through your snake grimm really badly, which is why we didn't get as many headbands as we probably could have…"
"Better than the rest of us," Mineta continued then. "I think the girl from 1-B that can separate her body parts took our headband. Either that or your teammate when he used the same thing," he continued, giving Kazuki a half-hearted glare. "That sucked, by the way. Our strategy was good, with Asui and I inside a cocoon of Shoji's arms, in case you didn't see us."
"Rocky and I teamed up with Sato and Kaibara, from 1-B," Hagakure took over then, moving to stand next to him. "We… didn't do a terribly good job, and I'd rather not talk about it," she added then, shifting in embarrassment.
"I'm consoling myself with the fact that Bakugo is out," Mineta commented, actually looking quite happy with that fact. "Dumb bastard wouldn't stop going after you, and lost his chance because of that. Sometimes Karma really is great."
"You shouldn't wish bad things upon your own classmates," Yaoyorozu chidded, making everyone turn towards her and raise an eyebrow. Her eye twitched then. "Anyway, that was an interesting team you formed, Endo."
"I know, right? We were great," he bragged goodnaturedly. "Togeike here was a great find, I gotta say. I really lucked out meeting her and earning her favor, it seems. And Monoma is… Monoma, but he's… not that bad."
"Wasn't that good…" the Gen Ed student mumbled, but Kazuki doubted anyone heard her. Maybe he'd have to work on her self-esteem or something? That was getting a little weird.
"What about the Support Course student?" Jiro asked curiously.
"She's… really into her gadget making," Kazuki answered hesitantly. "Hatsume was great too though, those devices came in handy a time or two."
"We noticed," Hagakure said and he could hear the amusement in her voice.
"Endo," a voice called, cutting through their conversation. "Could we talk… in private?" Todoroki asked him. 'Huh, deja vu,' Kazuki thought to himself as he regarded the other boy.
"... Sure," he answered after a moment of thought. "Don't be too weird with Togeike, ok, guys? And Togeike, please feel free to ignore or smack Mineta if you feel like it," he said to his friend group. The Gen Ed student felt a little spike of nervousness there, so he felt the need to reassure her. "You've met Yaoyorozu, right? They'll look after you and I'll be back in a bit."
"What's with that, man?" Mineta protested then, looking mighty offended. This time though, it was his turn to be the target of everyone's stares. "You guys suck."
"I'll be fine," Togeike replied then, apparently having gotten a hold of herself and going back to her usual resting-bitch face. That was good to see… in a way, at least.
"Great. Don't get anything to eat before I come back, yeah?"
"No promises!"
[}-o-{]
"So… What did you need?" Kazuki asked once they'd moved to a spot that was distanced enough from everyone else. There were some fluctuating emotions coming from Todoroki, as far as he could tell, which usually meant conflicting thoughts. He didn't like guessing though, especially in a situation like that, so he'd take what he could read and go from there.
"You said that it would help to talk to someone about things," Todoroki replied, making Kazuki blink at the blunt, out of the blue statement. Whatever he'd been expecting, that wasn't it.
"I might have, yeah. I do advise that to people a lot," he said, not really remembering word for word what he'd told the boy in their only other meaningful interaction. "So, you wanted to talk about something or just check?" he asked, unsure of what to do.
"I wanted to… talk, yes," Todoroki answered, looking down. As he did that, he brought his left hand up and started at it. "I used my flames today, to stave off the cold of my right side," he added, but Kazuki didn't know very well where that was coming from. The most he guessed was that using his flames meant a lot to Todoroki. After all, the boy hardly ever did. Hell, he didn't even remember seeing much of it at all before that day. "I promised myself that I wouldn't use it."
"Can I ask why?" Kazuki said then, making the other boy look up.
"You must know about my father, Endeavor," Todoroki answered before a bitter expression formed on his face. "He's been the Number Two Hero since forever ago now," he added, and there was something in the way that he said "hero" that expressed a lot more than the words did. Especially when Kazuki took into account the emotions rolling off of Todoroki.
"I'm familiar, somewhat," he said in the end. And it was difficult to forget Endeavor. Back in juvie people felt a lot more identified with the less than friendly man than they did All Might, the hero of legend, shining example of everything they'd never be.
"Do you know anything about Quirk Marriages?"
"Can't say that I do, no," Kazuki admitted, watching Todoroki take a deep breath in to calm himself. Judging by what he was picking up from his sense, he wasn't very successful.
"After the first few generations of Quirks… People started trying something," Todoroki started explaining, looking off to the side for a moment. "They started choosing who to have children with, trying to enhance their own Quirks for the next generation."
'And he has Endeavor's fire, obviously, so the ice… I'm getting the picture, yeah,' Kazuki thought. He didn't know where it was all going, but he had some ideas as to why Todoroki didn't use his fire much. He'd thought it might be because it was more destructive than ice. Maybe he had a bad memory in regards to the burn mark over his eye… Now he knew he might be right, but also not close at all.
"So, my father ingratiated himself to my mother's family," Todoroki confirmed with a smile that held absolutely no mirth or happiness behind it. "For the sake of his ambition, he took his Quirk, took my mother's… And created me. His tool, the one he'd raise to finally stand above All Might."
Kazuki gulped, suddenly feeling terrible. He'd been feeling Todoroki's emotions for as long as they'd been in the same class. How had he not noticed anything? Why had he dismissed all the negative emotions like that? Was it because they were too low? Was it because it was easier? He didn't know.
He hated that he didn't know.
"In my memories, my mother is always crying," Todoroki continued then and Kazuki almost wanted to tell the other boy to stop. How was he supposed to deal with this? 'You encouraged him. You are going to be a hero,' he told himself in his mind. 'So, listen and be a hero.' "She told me that my left side is ugly," the boy said, bringing his left hand to the scarred part of his face. "And she dumped boiling water on me."
"Are you even listening to me, you stupid-!" Kazuki heard then, as if his father was right next to them.
"So, I promised myself that I'd be the Number One Hero, and that I'd do it without his power," Todoroki said, looking straight at Kazuki with his determination shining bright in his heterochromic eyes.
"My father was the one that caused me to snap when I was a kid," Kazuki told the other boy, making his eyes widen. Obviously, Todoroki hadn't been expecting that, it seemed. "I guess one could say it was both my parents, because they hated each other and they hated me… But that day, it was just my father. My mother was long gone and we were there… He was shouting at me, he hit me, there was more shouting… and then I just found that I could create my grimm… in the worst way possible."
"The Black Rampage," Todoroki finished unnecessarily.
"The Black Rampage," Kazuki confirmed with a nod and a bitter smile. "I swore, after that. I swore that I wouldn't summon a grimm ever again… But I couldn't. It was a part of me and it didn't want to be contained. I couldn't contain it, no matter how much I tried."
"I can."
"You can, so I wish you all the luck trying to get to your goal," Kazuki told the other boy, drawing a blink from him. "I've seen you start using it."
"I had to use it back at the USJ. If I hadn't, Hagakure…" Todoroki replied, his emotions spiking once more, full of shame and guilt. "I couldn't not use them."
"And that's good," Kazuki told him. "I think it says a lot about you, that you gave up your resolution to save someone. It's a good thing, as far as I'm concerned. Sticking it to your father is great and I'm all for that, but… The people you have to save, the people that you are a hero for, they deserve your all, not a literally half-assed attempt."
"I know that," Todoroki replied with a nod, his expression blank but his emotions a mess. "Does it get easier, hating it?"
"No, but I've learned to make the best of it," Kazuki said with a half-smile. "I've learned to try and see the positives instead of reminding me of the negatives. I don't do a great job at it, admittedly, but I like thinking I'm getting better."
"I hope to do the same myself then," Todoroki replied, looking to the side, outside the passage they were standing on. "As it is… I think you were right. Maybe talking about things does help."
"Well, glad that I could help then. If you need a chat, I'm always available… I can't promise I'll be able to help, but I can listen," Kazuki told the other boy, unsure if he should be doing that at all. He couldn't very well turn his back on Todoroki after all that though. "I do suggest you visit Hound Dog though, he's much more qualified than I am."
"I'll keep that in mind… For now, I think I've taken enough of your time, Endo," Todoroki said, giving him a nod and then starting to walk away. Kazuki stood there for a long moment, however, unmoving.
That had been a lot to get thrown at him. He didn't even know what to do or say in regards to that. Should he just go on as if he hadn't heard all that? And yet, he didn't know what else to do, at least for the moment.
After some time, he moved towards the lunch hall, his mind clouded by the many thoughts demanding attention.
And behind a corner wall, looking at his retreating back, a third person stood.
[}-o-{]
"So, do I have to smack Tiny here or do I have to smack him twice?" Kazuki asked once he reached the table where his friends were sitting at.
"The hell, man?"
"Surprisingly, you don't have to hit him at all," Jiro answered, twirling one of her jack-lobes. "I know, right?" she added, seeing his mock shocked expression.
"I already made a wish!" Hagakure joined in.
"... You guys suck," Mineta grumbled. To the side, Kazuki was happy to see that Togeike seemed to have calmed down a bit. He'd even say that she was having fun, judging by the way her lips seemed to twitch into a smile. 'Victory for the weirdos.'
"So, what did I miss?"
"Bubbly is trying to make Togeike a gacha addict," Yaoyorozu informed him, to which he hummed. "Something about needing more people to give her points on some base thing? I'm not very sure."
"Really?" he asked, turning towards the invisible girl, who seemed to shift on her seat, embarrassed. "Any luck? I could use some of those myself."
Both Yaoyorozu and Jiro facepalmed loudly at that.
"You actually play that?" Togeike asked, seemingly surprised.
"Yeah? It's a fun game to play whenever I have a minute to waste. Distracting too, which is nice. I like the roguelike mode."
"Roguelite,"Mineta corrected.
"Same thing," Kazuki said with a shrug, getting a groan from the shorter boy. "Actual levels are too hard for my smooth brain though, so I check guides for those."
"Disgrace," Hagakure and Mineta both hissed at him, making him roll his eyes.
"This is my friend group now," Jiro lamented, deflating and looking up at the ceiling. Next to her, Yaoyorozu gave her a comforting pat on the back. As for Togeike, she just… looked confused.
"By the way, Kirishima and Ashido didn't join us?" he asked, looking around. He found those two a moment later, sitting at the same table as their cavalry team, with Sero and Bakugo. The latter of which looked anything but happy, that much was evident. As he glanced in search though, his eyes found Kamakiri, Yanagi and Monoma, all of which waved at him when they caught him looking at them. Even the latter one, surprisingly enough. Sure, they'd just gotten through the last event together, but he'd just thought it'd be a little harder to befriend the blonde.
"Fine by me," Mineta grumbled, clearly still not quite done forgiving the duo. Kazuki appreciated that, but he'd honestly prefer if they could let go of what happened. Sure, they weren't great friends anymore, but there was no need for hostility. "I know, I know," the short boy muttered, rolling his eyes. Apparently, Kazuki was so easily read that his friend could basically read his mind or something.
The rest of the lunch break was a calm affair, with some idle conversation and some more talk about what had gone on in the last event. With how little attention he'd paid to what actually was happening away from his team, Kazuki appreciated that last bit. He welcomed the familiar peace more than ever too, considering he was still hyper aware of the negativity around. Not even the talk with Todoroki had made him forget, because he just couldn't forget.
It was going to be there the whole time, he knew, at the back of his mind.
'This day can't be over soon enough,' he lamented, as he ate his lunch. It was nice to be away from the spotlight for a bit, despite everything. At least that way he didn't have to worry about every move he made, every expression, every word… He didn't have to watch himself or worry about his already slim chance at a good impression on the public going down the drain.
Instead, he could relax, as much as he could with his damn Quirk on all the time.
Eventually, the break was over and they had to go back out.
"And after that!" Present Mic started eventually, once the break was over. It was time for the show to go on. "It's time for the last event to be revealed! From the four teams, sixteen participants have made it through. And the last stage is… a tournament!"
'Does that mean what I think it means?' Kazuki thought, glancing towards his competition on both sides as they all walked towards the stage. They were all standing straight, nervous, but nothing else. There was no fear, no frustration. It was not the time for those.
He had an idea of what was coming and judging by some expressions around, he wasn't the only one. None of the events were ever fixed, but the one that followed was a common enough one appearing often as the last stage. It was, after all, a rather dramatic and showy event. One that would also offer a great way for students to show their potential without there being a any attention directed any other way.
Which is to say…
"We are pitting them against each other!" Present Mic confirmed his suspicions then. "In One-On-One Combat!"
'Ok then… Let's do this.'
Chapter 39
"All right," Midnight started then, picking up a box that she'd had set by her side. "Now, we'll determine who fights who through this lottery," she continued, shaking the object so that they could hear the numbers inside. "Once the matchups are decided, we'll have the recreation events before the final round. Whether or not the sixteen of you want to compete in the recreation events is up to you since I'm sure you'll want to prepare and save your strength. So, starting with-"
"Excuse me!" called one of the students. Turning to the side, Kazuki saw Ojiro with his hand raised. "Sorry," the boy added, looking and feeling very uncomfortable. There was rock solid determination on his face though. "I'd like to sit this one out."
Kazuki's eyes widened then and he wasn't the only one shocked. Several of their classmates voiced their own incredulity. This was the biggest event of their lives so far. This was their chance to show the world what they had, who they were, what they were capable of.
To not participate in the last, most important event of them all was…
'What's going on here?' Kazuki wondered, frowning as he tried to read his classmate's emotions.
"Truth is, I didn't do anything during the Cavalry Battle, really," Ojiro admitted, making everyone else blink. Kazuki though, had an idea of what was going on there. 'So it wasthe kid's mind control Quirk, huh?' he mused, turning to look at the purple haired student from Gen Ed. "Because of him," Ojiro added, turning to give a side glare as he confirmed Kazuki's suspicions. "I know it's a big chance, but I didn't earn my place here like everyone else. It wouldn't feel right to stand there."
Kazuki understood the point, he truly did. However, like the rest of their classmates, he didn't think it was a very smart thing to do. It sounded very noble, for sure, but he had to wonder how many of the heroes that were watching and how many people in the public would care all that much. Sure, it was great that he didn't go for an unearned prize but… He was still not showing them as much as he could. The heroes wouldn't know as much about what he could do, which could mean they wouldn't want to risk picking an unknown. The crowd might like it more, but ultimately they were here for the spectacle.
'This is getting ridiculous,' Kazuki thought then, as the two other 1-B students that had been on the Gen Ed guy's team decided that they were out too. The worst part was that Midnight looked like she'd allow the whole thing to happen. 'I guess it's whatever. Their decision,' he mused, grateful that at least it wasn't one of his friends that wanted to do such a thing.
He might have had to smack them on national TV if they were.
Thus, Midnight also decided that the three members of the fifth team would fill in for the three students that were stepping down. 'So, the 1-B girls, huh?' Kazuki mused. He knew Kendo, sort of. They mostly just saw each other at the class representative meetings, really, but she'd also made an appearance in a training session or two. Same for… the mushroom girl he'd forgotten the name of. Yanagi was an old training buddy by that point. The fourth member of that team, he didn't know though. 'Wonder which of them will join the tournament.'
In the meantime, Kazuki was fairly sure that he heard an explosion somewhere away from them. 'Bakugo's not happy,' he thought, somewhat amused but also very annoyed, mainly because all that anger was reaching him. 'Skill issue,' he added, refocusing on the talk for the event. Besides, he couldn't say he wasn't happy that the boy wouldn't be part of the last stretch.
He hadn't expected the blonde to keep his promise to behave all that much to begin with.
"And these are the matchups for the final event!" Midnight called.
'Of course I'm matched against the one I don't know,'Kazuki thought with a wry smile on his face as he read the name of his opponent. 'Setsuna Tokage,' he thought, tilting his head to look at the green-haired girl. 'Isn't that the one Monoma talked about during the Cavalry Battle? The one that can separate parts of her body?' he wondered, trying to remember the specifics of what was said and all. Alas, he'd been a little too focused on his grimm and the general chaos of the whole thing.
If he was honest though, Kazuki wasn't as worried about that matchup as he was the next one. Because right next to his name and Tokage's were Kamakiri and Todoroki. 'Kamakiri's very unlucky… If he doesn't win, so will I be, provided I win,' he thought, taking a deep breath in and then letting it out.
Turning his head to the side, he locked eyes with Todoroki. It seemed that the half and half boy was having similar thoughts to his. Kazuki wasn't going to take it easy on him though, sad backstory or not. He had one of those himself, after all. He didn't care for which was the saddest, but none of that really affected things for him.
He needed the greatest showing he could manage in this event, regardless of everyone else. Todoroki would continue on his path to heroics if he failed. Just like Ojiro would even though he gave up before the last stage. Everyone could afford to lose or do badly.
Everyone but him.
'So, sorry, but I ain't going easy on anyone,' Kazuki thought to himself then, taking another deep breath in before starting to walk away. He had little interest in recreational events, if he were honest. He was sure they were nice and all, but participating in those just added more risk of him messing up and he'd rather not have to ruin everything for something that he could just not do. It just wasn't worth whatever meager boost it would give his image, or so he guessed.
'Besides, I have to prepare for the fights,' Kazuki thought, determination filling him even through the emotions that reached him from all around. He'd been doing well keeping those away and he'd continue to do so. 'I'll win this whole thing,' he told himself.
[}-o-{]
"You two have to represent our group now!" Hagakure demanded, although she sounded too excited to exert any kind of pressure, really. "This is gonna be amazing! What if you meet at the final?!"
"I very much doubt that," Yaoyorozu commented weakly, drawing into herself a little. Kazuki could feel the nervousness and the insecurities there. That wouldn't do.
"You'll do great, Beauty," he told her with a smile. "Uraraka might be a hard opponent, but you've been training a lot. I'm sure you'll do well there. And after that it's either Kendo or Hatsume, you should have more than a fair chance against those."
"I know," the girl mumbled, fidgeting with the drink she'd gotten for herself. "I'm just unsure if I'll do well in a straight fight," she said, pursing her lips.
"I mean, just by showing your Quirk people will know you have a lot of potential. Fights aren't everything," Mineta commented, idly picking up one of his snacks and bringing it to his mouth. "And that's the point of all this, really? At least you'll be on the main stage with everyone looking, so even if you lose, people will know who you are and what you can do."
"Wow, that's actually very encouraging," Kazuki told his vertically challenged friend.
"Why do you sound surprised?"
"He's not wrong. You have a great Quirk, you trained hard and you are probably the smartest person in our class. You'll be fine regardless, Yaoyorozu," Jiro told their worried friend.
"I don't want people to pick me just because I have a good Quirk. I want to prove that I deserve this," the girl said then, half filled with determination and half with dread. Kazuki was very much aware of the second, at the very least.
"And you'll do it. You've proven it to me, at the very least. I'm sure you can prove it to everyone else," he told her then, drawing her eyes towards him.
"Have I?"
"For sure." "Yeah!" "Of course." "As if that were even a question."
"Need I remind you how much ass you've kicked during our training sessions?" Kazuki added with a half-smile. At all those responses, a watery smile formed on Yaoyorozu's face and she looked like she might start crying any second.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it," Kazuki replied with a smile of his own.
"That's what friends are for," Mineta added, as if it were obvious.
"What the pervert said," Jiro deadpanned.
"Oi!"
With that out of the way, there was someone else that Kazuki needed to bring attention to, else he'd feel shitty… And not only because of his Quirk.
"So, do we have to cheer you up too, Togeike?" he asked, causing everyone to turn towards the Gen Ed student. Maybe he should have been more subtle or something, considering how uncomfortable the girl got right after that. There was even a small spike of fear. "You are up against the other Gen Ed, right? Shindo?"
"Shinso," she corrected, her voice barely above a whisper. "And yeah. I think I should be good against him. He won't be able to use his Quirk on me and I… probably won't be able to use mine on him. It'll be just regular fighting," she explained, causing him to hum and nod. It was just bad luck that they were probably going to fight there in the middle of a stage, with no liquids whatsoever for her to use. "I have an idea, but I kind of… want to see if I can save it for later."
"An ace up your sleeve?" Jiro asked, being the first one of the others to join the conversation. "Well, make sure you can actually use it later. It'd be a shame if you lost before that because you refused to use it."
"Yeah, I know that," Togeike replied, gulping down her nervousness. "I'll try not to let that happen… What about you though?"
"I have a fairly good idea of what Tokage can do," Kazuki answered, leaning back on his seat. "Not to sound like an asshole, but I think I can take her."
"Language."
"I just have to be careful not to look bad while I'm doing it," he continued, ignoring Yaoyorozu with practiced ease. At that point, even she didn't seem to realize, saying it in reflex more than anything else. "I do know not to be too confident… I think. Is there some way you can actually strike a balance?"
"Pretty sure there is," Mineta said, not sounding quite as confident on that, amusingly enough.
"We'll tell you if you go over the limit, Creepy, don't worry," Hagakure added with a salute… or what he imagined was one.
"Well, good to know then," Kazuki replied with a slight smile. He wasn't sure how much he trusted them with that though. His friends were great, they really were, but they were also biased. On top of that, they also didn't quite understand the fine edge that he needed to walk in order to get people to like him. Not too incompetent, not too competent. Not too soft, not too harsh. Not too forceful, not too meek.
He needed to be perfect.
And by God was he going to try, even if it was futile.
"... Ugh, I need something to distract me, can we play cards or something?" he asked.
"Great idea," Yaoyorozu answered instantly, already extending her hand to make some.
"Please," Togeike added, slumping down on her seat.
Evidently, he wasn't the only one that was dreading this upcoming tournament. 'Soon though,' Kazuki thought as he was dealt the first card. 'It'll happen soon and it'll be over soon.'
And he could only hope it'd go well.
[}-o-{]
"First match!" Present Mic called over the speakers as Kazuki walked towards the battlefield Cementoss had created for the event. "The undisputed leader of this whole Sports Festival for the First Years so far! From the Hero Course, from 1-A, Kazuki Endo!"
There were screams from the crowd, but they sounded muted to his ears, weak compared to the usual ones. Expected, really. Kazuki didn't care. He couldn't do anything about any of that other than continue what he was doing. If it didn't work… Then it didn't work and he'd deal with that afterwards.
"And on the other side, one of the recommended students for the Hero Course, from 1-B, Setsuna Tokage!" Present Mic introduced them as they started climbing on the field, each from a set of stairs on opposite sides. Kazuki looked at the grinning girl with as calm an expression as he could muster. Flexing his fingers, he felt the shadow at his feet twitch accordingly.
The negativity flowed through him. The grimm were rearing to go inside the shadows. His mind was clear and focused despite the emotions around him. He had plans and training. He had put on the work and prepared for this.
He was ready.
"The rules are simple!" Yamada continued and Kazuki narrowed his eyes. "The match can be won by ring out, rendering your opponent immobile or getting them to give up!"
As if anyone would give up just like that. Kazuki imagined it was more likely that one of the other two would happen, regardless of anything else. If you could give up, then you could still fight. Or maybe he had a more extreme view of things because of his situation?
"Recovery Girl is waiting in the wings, so feel free to let loose!" Present Mic announced then, which sounded a little concerning when said like that, but this was a school for heroics. Expecting them to pull their punches was… probably a little naive. "Obviously, if you endanger someone's life, you are out." And, once more, they were a school for heroics. Putting someone's life at risk for your own benefit was extra shitty. There was a difference between wanting to win and being a psycho.
"Ready?" Midnight asked them from where she stood on a platform to the side. "Both of you?" she added, turning to look at them as they nodded. "Ok then."
"Ready!" Present Mic called then and Kazuki's body tensed up. "Start!"
Two things happened at the same time then. For one, Tokage's body immediately split into several parts that floated as they spread around. For another, Kazuki's shadow exploded outwards, causing spikes of emotion to flare up all over the crowd, but he ignored those. A Nevermore spread its wings behind him, covering his flanks and back from any of Togake's floating parts.
Then he gave Tokage a slight grin as he had the bird creature fold its wings so that he was covered completely. Maybe she could send a small part inside from a hole somewhere, but she'd have to find one first. Before she could, he could bet that he'd get her with one of his grimm. After all, immediately after doing that, he'd started generating a Beowolf.
"And it seems that Endo has managed to defend himself from Tokage's barrage!" Present Mic called when a handful of body pieces hit his creature's wings. Kazuki couldn't see the field now, but he could get a sense of everything from the Nevermore and the Beowolf – soon to be Beowolves – so as to know what was happening if not in detail.
He didn't need details. He needed them to do their jobs and he knew they could do it. Tokage was a slippery one, for sure, with her ability to turn into pieces and be able to float around away from his monsters. However, the Beowolves weren't just any creatures. They weren't weak or slow or dumb.
They proved this when one of them finally managed to do what he was urging them to and got a hold of one of Tokage's parts, snatching it from the air. 'Ring out, wasn't it?' Kazuki thought to himself, starting to guide his Beowolf off the ring and into the ground. He just needed to make that part touch-
Something got under the Nevermore's wings at that very moment, because of course. A hand, from what he could tell, and one that was climbing towards his neck. 'Well, it'd be too easy if that was all, right?' he thought wryly.
Immediately, he switched tactics, making the Nevermore open its wings and shoot feathers around. Now with his vision unimpaired, Kazuki got a hold of the limb that had gotten under his defenses. There were more coming, but he was ready for those. Grimm Guard rose to Boarbatusk's side in front of him to stop many of the pieces that shot towards him.
The number was low though, because Tokage had bigger worries at the moment than getting to him. Mainly keeping herself in the game by stopping his beowolf. After all, there was no way she'd take him out before he took her out. He was closer to victory and much better positioned.
Soon, she called most of her parts on that beowolf, wrapping around the thing's neck to kill it. 'And give me the biggest opening in the history of openings,' Kazuki thought, now free as he guided the other two grimm he had out to join that scuffle. His guard Nevermore would stay though, just in case. He couldn't risk letting his metaphorical guard down and he needed to be ready to raise his literal one at a moment's notice. He couldn't mess up now.
He couldn't mess up, period.
Tokage managed to take out his Beowolf, unsurprisingly. Her Quirk might not make her stronger but she was a Hero Course student. On top of that, Present Mic had said she was a recommended student. No way she'd be unable to take at least one of his creatures. However, the problem with Kazuki was that there was never only one grimm to deal with.
That was the issue Tokage found herself facing immediately after she disposed of the first Beowolf, when a second one and a Nevermore rushed at her. To her credit, she reacted fast, spreading herself all over the place to avoid them. However, she now knew that she was at a disadvantage here.
If she tried to go for Kazuki, she opened herself to being in a weak spot if she needed to fight one of his creatures whenever they inevitably caught one of her pieces to take it out of the ring. If she turtled up, making sure that those didn't get a chance to take her out, then she couldn't take him out. A rock and a hard place, that was her dilemma as Kazuki considered something for a bit.
After a moment of thought, he created a Beringel instead of a Beowolf to cover for his defeated creature. Some variety would be nice and he wanted to show as many of his grimm as possible. Not that he expected many hadn't had their eyes on him, but it never hurt to show a bit more. Besides, it wasn't like it was a bad decision anyway.
'Regardless, this is a matter of time,' Kazuki thought, walking with his Nevermore guard hopping behind him as he positioned himself in the middle of the arena. No need to risk being pushed out because he was overconfident. 'I can't mess up. I can't,' he told himself as he watched Tokage keep flying around his grimm, avoiding them as best he could. 'So, sorry, but I have to take this win,' he decided, raising a hand and making the guard Nevermore point its wings towards where there were the most Tokage pieces flying around.
Then he started shooting feathers, feeding negativity into the bird construct so that it could keep going forever. Now Tokage had a barrage of feathers to deal with on top of three grimm. Safe to say, she wasn't having a good time, Kazuki could bet.
'I could make some more grimm to speed this up though,'he thought then before stomping on that thought. Maybe it was true, and maybe he could manage that, but there was no need to risk it. There was no need and no justification for such a thing at that very moment. Finishing the fight faster might have been the right call for other people, but if it meant pushing his control more for just a minute or so, then it wasn't worth it.
"It seems Tokage is in a bit of a situation right now!" Present Mic called over the speakers. "Can she overcome these obstacles or will she fall under the pressure of Endo's creatures?!"
'Come on, give me half an opening,' he thought, narrowing his eyes at the flying parts of Tokage. She was making things difficult for no reason now. It was getting annoying, if he were honest. But he wasn't going to slip. No, he needed-
Whatever he needed, it wasn't what Tokage did then and there as her parts stopped storming around the grimm and instead all of them spread around all of a sudden. In a moment's notice, everything was rushing towards Kazuki. 'Last ditch effort?' he thought, preparing his Nevermore to cover himself with. Tokage had also already spotted at least one hole in that plan, so he needed to be careful, but he was confident she couldn't take him out fast enough for him not to come up with something to do.
Still, just in case, he had his grimm rush behind her. As he saw them coming at him though, he tilted his head. 'Is that her plan?' he wondered. It could be. She didn't know how in control of them he was. On the other hand, it wasn't like she had many options, so might as well, Kazuki supposed.
'It's not a good call though,' he thought while holding back a grin. If he played along, maybe he could catch her off guard. So, as she rushed him, wrapping around him like she had the Beowolf before, he prepared.
"Can't rush me if I'm on you can they?" Tokage asked, sounding both excited and relieved. "Wouldn't want to risk-What?" she started asking before interrupting herself.
Kazuki pulled up his Grimm Guard then, under her arm. Pulling her off of him by putting something in between, he kept his creatures rushing. When she started splitting so that she could better deal with this new situation, Kazuki capitalized on that. All his grimm immediately caught at least one piece each and then started going for opposite sides of the ring.
"No! Wait!" Tokage called, desperation lacing her voice and her emotions. "How-? No!" She cried out, trying to rush to the closest grimm. It was too late though. Even if she managed to take it out, which she did, the others were already well on their way. There was no stopping them and thus, no stopping the inevitable.
"Tokage is out!" Midnight called then, waving her fan towards Endo. "Endo passes to the second round!" she announced then.
"And another win for Kazuki Endo of the Hero Course, 1-A!" Present Mic shouted through the speakers. Kazuki was actually wondering if he was going to keep repeating from which class he was. Maybe it was to drill into people's heads what he was trying to become? A subtle – or maybe not – PR move in his favor?
Kazuki could only hope it worked, if that was the case.
The emotions were getting worse, and the cheering felt so very weak at that moment.
"Good fight," he said, walking up to the girl and helping her up. He almost sighed in relief when she took it, because it made his mind focus on something other than his sense.
"Yeah, same," she replied with a groan as she stood up. "Those things are annoying though."
"They are," he agreed with a chuckle.
"Such good sportsmanship, am I right? We are so proud of them," Present Mic said and Kazuki could almost imagine him wiping off a tear from his eye. "But can anybody stop Endo?! Or will he keep the lead all the way to the end?!" The teacher exclaimed then and Kazuki had to wonder that himself. After all, as he walked off the stage/field and back towards the main building, he crossed paths with the next combatant. One that was bound to get in the way of that happening.
"I guess we'll see who's stronger in the next round," Todoroki told him as he passed by.
Kazuki could only grin, half dreading and half anticipating the next battle. After all, no offense to Kamakiri, but Todoroki was in another league, really. And the winner of that fight was the one Kazuki would have to face afterwards.
'This Festival doesn't want to make things easy for me, it seems.'