Chapter 22: Sports Festival, Part 8
By the time she made it to Recovery Girl's office inside the stadium, Momo's adrenaline from the fight was already running down, and she was feeling every burn that Bakugo had left her with. Her shoulder was in agony, but every place where he'd managed to tag her during their fight ached and stung.
At the moment, it felt like she had dozens of those smaller burns.
Reaching the door to the clinic, Momo pushed it open and practically staggered inside. "My goodness, dearie, are you all right?" Recovery Girl asked.
"My last match was rather…punishing," Momo replied, mustering a weak smile.
"Ah, yes, the med bots brought in your opponent already. I just finished seeing to him," Recovery Girl said, gesturing in the direction of one of the patient beds, which was currently obscured by the privacy curtain.
Judging by the lack of loud, angry profanities, Bakugo was not awake yet.
"Have a seat so I can take a look at you, young lady," Recovery Girl said, gesturing to a free bed.
Momo sat down and pulled off her gym top, grimacing slightly as she got a better look at the damage done it. The shoulder was almost entirely gone, with the accompanying sleeve hanging on by a thread, while the rest of it was dotted with holes and scorch marks. Thankfully, the black bra she had underneath was free of any noticeable damage; being strapless, it had been spared from Bakugo's assault on her shoulder. Small mercies.
"My goodness, I swear these festivals get more brutal on you students every year," the old heroine groused, pulling the privacy curtain around her bed closed before she examined Momo's burns more closely.
"Is it very bad?" she asked nervously.
The "youthful" heroine shook her head. "Most of these burns are quite minor," she said. "Your shoulder's worse, but it's nothing my Quirk can't handle. You won't even have any scarring."
She leaned forward and planted a kiss on Momo's cheek, her Quirk taking effect immediately. Momo let out a sigh of relief as the pain rapidly ebbed, not finding the drain on her stamina as bad as she'd feared.
"Thank you," she said.
"Just doing my job, dearie," Recovery Girl said, taking out a container of gummy candies and giving her a few. "You eat these, they'll help you regain a bit of your energy."
"May I have a few more please?" Momo asked politely.
"Ah, right, I'd forgotten you have an eater Quirk," Recovery Girl said.
That wasn't how Momo liked to describe it, but she wasn't about to quibble over such a small thing, especially since it wasn't technically incorrect anyhow. "How is Bakugo?" she asked as the heroine shook a few more pieces of candy into her upturned palms.
"See for yourself," Recovery Girl replied, moving aside the privacy curtains around both her bed and the blond boy's.
Bakugo lay on his back, motionless but for the slow rise and fall of his chest, still quite unconscious but otherwise looking completely unharmed.
"He had some bruising and cuts, but nothing too major. I healed that up no problem," Recovery Girl said. "I'm planning to let him sleep for a few minutes longer. It'll take the edge off the weariness caused by my Quirk."
"You…may wish to give him more than a few minutes, for everyone's sake," Momo said, not looking forward to Bakugo's reaction when he woke up and found out he'd lost the match.
Recovery Girl hummed thoughtfully. "Given his performance out there, you may have a good—"
"Yaomomo!"
The two of them turned to see Midoriya, Jirou, and Uraraka standing just inside the office. All three of them had come to a sudden halt upon seeing her relative state of undress, with Midoriya's face rapidly turning darker and darker shades of red.
"Damn it, Green, I told you that you should've waited in the stands with Iida!" Jirou moving to slap her hands over Midoriya's eyes.
Momo sighed. "Jirou, you don't need to cover Midoriya's eyes like that," she said. "He's seen me like this before."
"Oh my, you young people certainly move fast these days," Recovery Girl remarked.
Jirou's face purpled, while Momo was pretty sure steam started rising from poor Midoriya. Uraraka's hands flew up to cover her mouth and stifle her obvious laughter.
"I didn't mean it like that!" Momo said, somehow preventing herself from outright shouting as she felt her own face heat up. "Midoriya and I frequently meet at my home for training, and—"
"Ah, is that what you kids call it these days?" Recovery Girl asked.
Uraraka's face reddened and tears started to stream down her face.
Momo was pretty sure she would've started yelling at this point if she hadn't noticed the mischievous glint in the old heroine's eyes. As it was, she refused to rise to the bait. "My family maintains a training facility at our estate, and Midoriya frequently joins me there. I usually wear a sports bra while we're training, which doesn't show off that much less than what I have on now. And neither is all that different from my hero costume, so far as that's concerned," she explained with as much dignity as she could muster.
"Ah, I see," Recovery Girl said, though she still wore a wicked little grin that said she didn't entirely believe Momo.
Momo chose to ignore that. "Uraraka, isn't your match next?"
The petite brunette's brown eyes widened, and she finally pulled her hands away from her mouth. "R-Right! I mean, it is! I'll see you all later!" she said, rushing off.
"Jirou, would you please go and get me a new gym shirt?" Momo asked.
The punk rock girl agreed, reluctantly freeing Midoriya's eyes and departing.
Which left just her, Midoriya, and the school nurse.
And the unconscious form of Bakugo, but she didn't think he really counted at the moment.
"Um, do you want me to leave?" he asked.
Momo shook her head. "That's not necessary. I meant what I said before. You seeing me like this is no different than you seeing me in my training attire or hero costume, so far as I'm concerned," she assured. "Though if you wish to go and watch Uraraka's match, I certainly won't stop you. I'll rejoin you as soon as Jirou gets back with that shirt, assuming Recovery Girl releases me." She threw a questioning gaze at the healing heroine.
"Yes, yes, you can go once your friend comes back," Recovery Girl said, closing the privacy curtain around Bakugo's bed again. "But lay down until then, and try not to do anything strenuous until your next match."
Momo nodded and obediently lay down on the bed.
"Um, I'll stay here, if it's really all right with you," Midoriya said, surprising her. "How are you?"
"Just fine, a little tired," Momo replied.
"And, um, how's Kacchan?" he asked.
"According to Recovery Girl, he's fine. I believe she intends to let him sleep for a while longer, though, rather than use her Quirk to wake him now," she answered, not mentioning that she herself had suggested not waking Bakugo just yet.
"Oh, good," he said, sounding relieved. "I mean, uh, it's good that he's okay, of course."
"Right," she agreed.
An awkward pause followed. Momo popped a few of the gummy candies that Recovery Girl had given her in her mouth and chewed, half expecting the green haired young man to declare he was going to watch Uraraka's match to flee uncomfortable moment.
He didn't.
"You were amazing!" Midoriya exclaimed abruptly, startling Momo enough that she nearly started choking on her candy.
Recovery Girl gave him a withering look. "Young man, I realize one of my two patients is dead to the world and you're speaking to the other, but this is still a medical room," she scolded him. "Keep your voice down to a reasonable volume."
Midoriya gave the elderly pro heroine a bashful apology, then turned back to Momo, immediately regaining his earlier momentum. "Seriously, that was one of the most incredible things I've ever seen!" he continued in a more hushed but equally excited tone. "First that smokescreen that totally caught him by surprise! Then that headbutt when I thought he was about to win! And spraying him with water like that to temporarily disable his Quirk like that was genius!"
Momo could feel her face rapidly growing warmer under his effusive praise. "Thank you, but I followed up that stroke of 'genius' with a bit of foolishness. It never occurred to me he might just abandon his shoes to escape the glue."
Midoriya waved this significant error off like it was nothing. "But you still won!" he said. "I…I didn't want to say anything, because I didn't want to freak you out or something, but I was so worried when I found out that you would be facing Kacchan! Not because I think you can't handle yourself! I know you can! You're super smart, have an incredible Quirk, and you're amazing in a fight!"
Momo felt sure her face was at least as red as her hero costume by this point, but she didn't stop his stream-of-consciousness gushing. She couldn't quite bring herself to interrupt.
"But Kacchan, he…he's never lost at anything, not when it really mattered. He always wins, in the end," Midoriya continued, and for a moment he seemed on the verge of despair before an excited smile lit his face again, threatening to dazzle her. "But you did it! You won! You were incredible!"
Momo looked away, not quite able to maintain eye contact with him in the face of this avalanche of praise.
"Thank you," she said softly. "I never would've made so much progress with my Quirk if it wasn't for your help."
Something in her tone must've jarred him somewhat, because the next time Midoriya spoke, he was quieter, his overwhelming excitement replaced by his usual, vaguely nervous tone. "I just gave you an idea and told you how to copy the nitro stuff Kacchan makes, you're the one who applied it and then went to Midnight about hers," he said.
"You've also been an excellent training partner," she added with a little smile.
"Um, I guess," he said, scratching the back of his head. "I'm still impressed with how many other Quirks you've figured out how to duplicate. How were you able to figure out the chemical formulas for Bondo's glue and the material that Kamakiri's blades are made out of?"
"My family owns a lab," she explained, relieved that the conversation had moved to more technical matters. "Once I had a sample of both, I just had to ask them to do an analysis. Bondo was able to give me a bit of his glue easily, but Kamakiri needed to break off a piece of one of his blades to give to me. I think he rather enjoyed the challenge, though."
"I know you said Bondo's glue was perfect for you to use, but what about Kamakiri's blades?" Midoriya asked, hands twitching in a way that she knew by now meant he was itching for his notebooks. "I've never seen you use something you created before you expelled it from your body. I didn't even know you could stop creating something halfway through."
"I can't, actually, so instead I slow down the speed at which I create the blades so much that their growth isn't visible to the naked eye," she explained.
"That's really clever!" he said.
She blushed but resisted the urge to turn away this time. "Thank you," she said, then she continued in a hushed, conspiratorial tone. "And please don't spread this around, but the blades I make are actually sharper than the ones Kamakiri produces. My Quirks allows me to make the very edge of them only one molecule thick."
His eyes widened. "Wow, a blade that sharp could cut through almost anything. No wonder you sliced through Ibara's vines like they were nothing," he said. "But why do you want to keep that a secret?"
She shrugged. "I suppose it would feel…needlessly boastful to make it known that I can do what Kamakiri does with his Quirk better than he can," she said. "Truthfully, I feel very lucky that, with the exception of Bakugo, none of the people whose Quirks I've duplicated so far have been upset about it. I don't want to invite a more negative response than I've gotten so far."
"Oh, yeah, that makes sense," he said, fidgeting nervously, and she could tell he wanted to tell her she didn't need to worry about that but wasn't doing so because he knew it wouldn't be the truth.
She wondered when she'd gotten to know Izuku Midoriya this well. Sometimes it felt like she could practically read his mind.
"Well, if the light my Quirk creates was something that had a chemical formula, I'd be happy to give you a sample of it," he said instead.
"Thank you," she replied, giving him a warm smile. She was perhaps more gratified than she should've been when she got a blush out of him this time.
"Hey, I'm back," Jirou announced as she walked back into the office, startling them both. "I got the shirt."
Momo blinked. She had almost entirely forgotten that she was topless save for her bra. That seemed like something she should remember while having a conversation with a young man.
"Thank you, Jirou," she said, sitting up and accepting the gym uniform shirt and slipping it on, missing the disappointed look that flitted across Midoriya's face as she did.
"So, do you want to watch whatever's left of Uraraka's match or do you need to stay here for a bit longer?" Jirou asked.
"Recovery Girl's said I can leave now so long as I take it easy until my next match," Momo said as she swung her legs over the side of the bed, getting a nod from the school nurse. "Let's go."
"And it's not looking good for young Uraraka out there, folks," Present Mic announced. "So far, 1-A's gravity girl is finding herself overwhelmed by her classmate's significant agility and acrobatic abilities!"
Eraserhead grunted in agreement. "Ashido knows that Uraraka only needs to touch her, and she loses, same as Shishida did," he said. "So she's doing everything she can to avoid that, and it looks like Uraraka doesn't have any fallback plan. That may well be enough to see her eliminated."
"Seems like this isn't going well for her," Momo remarked as took her seat in the 1-A box.
There were puddles of acid splashed all around the ring, some of them having made craters in the concrete. As they watched, Uraraka was desperately chasing Ashido around, but the horned girl easily avoided her every time she got close, either excreting more acid and sliding atop it like an ice skater or employing a flip or cartwheel.
"Indeed," Iida agreed after welcoming them back. "I wasn't aware that Ashido possessed such a high degree of athleticism!"
"She mentioned that she's big into dancing," Jirou said. "I assume that's where this is coming from."
"I think this may be it for Uraraka," Iida said.
"I wouldn't be so sure," Midoriya said. "Remember how intense she looked when Mr. Aizawa first told us the festival was coming up? I wouldn't count her out just yet."
Iida frowned. "You must realize it takes more than the will to win to emerge victorious?"
"Of course, but I think just having enough willpower can take someone further than most people would believe," Midoriya said.
Iida was about to make a reply when Uraraka suddenly threw herself forward like a baseball player trying to slide into home, through one of the puddles of acid, heedless to what it might do to her, the moisture allowing her to move forward faster and further than she ever could've on dry cement. The audience gasped with surprise and not a little bit of horror.
The maneuver also caught Ashido entirely by surprise, and she was a bit too slow in getting out of the way. Uraraka reached up and grabbed her ankle, activating her Quirk.
"Oh, shoot!" the pink skinned girl shouted as she began to float.
Wasting no time, the brunette sprang back to her feet, grabbed Ashido by leg, and sprinted toward the edge of the ring with her, letting her go and then pressing her fingertips together. "Release!"
Poor Ashido crashed down onto the ground outside the ring.
"Ashido is eliminated by ring out!" Midnight proclaimed. "Uraraka proceeds to the next round!"
The crowd roared with applause, but Uraraka didn't even stop to acknowledge them, instead running off immediately. "Ow ow ow ow ow ow!" she cried.
It wasn't hard to see why. A significant portion of her gym uniform was soaked, and they could all see angry red skin around the drenched areas.
"Uraraka!" Momo shouted, gesturing for her friend to approach.
She was afraid the gravity girl would run all the way to Recovery Girl's office, which she knew from recent experience could feel very far away to someone in pain. Thankfully, Uraraka noticed and ran over to her.
Momo immediately activated her Quirk, generating a mildly alkaline foam from her palm, which she proceeded to spread over the acid-soaked areas on her friend.
"Ahhh," the brunette breathed a sigh of relief. "That's much better. Thanks, Yaomomo."
"You're welcome," Momo replied. "You're still going to want to see Recovery Girl, though."
"That was most reckless!" Iida scolded. "You could've gotten hurt!"
Uraraka chuckled weakly. "I kind of did get hurt, Iida. But I couldn't just let myself lose, and that was the only way I could think of to win," she said. Then she turned to Momo. "And this means one us will definitely be in the final match! How cool is that?"
She held up a fist. Momo, much more accustomed to formal bows or professional handshakes, depending upon the culture of the businesspeople her parents were meeting with on any given day, blinked but eventually raised her own hand to complete the fist bump.
Uraraka grinned and made a little explosion sound with her mouth as she opened her hand. "I'm going to go see Recovery Girl, but remember Midoriya, you have to win your next two matches so you can meet me or Yaomomo in the final!"
"I will! Please go see Recovery Girl!" he said, his obvious worry making Momo giggle.
Nodding, Uraraka scampered off to visit the nurse and get the collection of chemical burns she'd picked up treated.
Ashido made it back to the 1-A box just as she left. "Remind me to never tick Uraraka off," she groaned to no one in particular. "It's always the nice ones…"
"And another round down as Uraraka manages a shocking upset!" Present Mic announced. "What were you saying earlier about matches between first years tend to be all about who has the Quirk advantage?" he asked Eraserhead smugly.
The underground hero sighed in a long-suffering sort of way. "There's been a surprising number of reversals and students overcoming disadvantages today," he admitted. "It may be that 1-A's experience with a villain attack, though terrible, taught them an early lesson on how to persevere and overcome."
"Maybe, or maybe we just have an exceptional group of young people," Present Mic said, sounding a bit less boisterous than normal, possibly because of the mention of the USJ attack. Or maybe he didn't like talking about it like it was a good thing. "In any case, two matches of this round remain, and then we move onto the semifinals! With the way today's been shaping up, it's truly impossible to say how the rest of the tournament will go!"
Chapter 23: Sports Festival, Part 9
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen, to the UA First Years Sports Festival!" Present Mic said. "With the ring restored, we're diving straight into the next match! Please welcome to the ring, the rock solid fighter from Class 1-A, Eijiro Kirishima!"
The redhead dashed ran out into the ring, pumping his fists and waving to the audience. From Class 1-A's spectator box, it was obvious he was shouting something, but it was drowned out by the roar of the crowd.
"He's even more enthusiastic than he was last round…" Midoriya noted, a drop of sweat rolling down the back of his head.
"Honestly, I kind of envy the way he's able to feed off the crowd's energy," Jirou remarked. "I know I couldn't be that amped in front of this many people."
"And his opponent: when you're up against this young man, it's like you're fighting on quicksand! Put your hands together for Juzo Honenuki of Class 1-B!" Present Mic exclaimed.
Honenuki entered the stadium in a much more sedate fashion, the lipless boy waving at the crowd a bit before he stepped into the ring.
Momo withheld a giggle as she saw Midoriya produce his notebook from wherever he kept it and open it, clearly ready to start recording observations the moment the match began, if necessary.
"Eager to see how this plays out?" she asked with a smile.
He nodded vigorously, not taking his eyes off the ring while Midnight reiterated the rules of the matches once more. "Of course!" he said. "Even with watching the last round, I haven't gotten to see nearly as much of Honenuki's Quirk in action as I have for the members of our class. And I will be up against whoever wins this match, if I beat Komori."
" 'If' you beat Komori," Jirou scoffed. "Honestly, Green, I can't tell if you're way too modest or just being polite."
Midoriya frowned. "You saw what she did against Sero," he said. "I don't want to underestimate her."
"Indeed!" Iida piped up. "It would be the height of folly to grow arrogant here, and disrespectful to our fellow hero students as well!"
"Uh huh," Jirou grunted, clearly unimpressed. "Maybe it's not the smartest idea for you to already be figuring out where to keep the medal, Green, but if anyone manages to make you sweat before the finals, I'll eat my guitar pick."
Both Midoriya and Iida looked ready to argue—Iida more so than Midoriya, Momo noted—but Midnight brought an abrupt halt to the conversation when she brought her whip down.
"Begin!" the R-Rated heroine shouted.
As they watched, Kirishima activated his Quirk, his body taking on the familiar sharp angles and rocky appearance. With a loud roar, he charged toward his opponent.
In stark contrast to his fiery opponent, Honenuki was the portrait of a cool and collected exterior, almost casually tapping a foot on the ground and causing a wide strip of the concrete before him to suddenly transform, becoming soft and squishy.
Kirishima released a cry of dismay and frustration as he began to sink into the ground, struggling mightily to get free.
Honenuki abruptly released the effects of his Quick, the concrete suddenly growing rock hard again. With a loud roar, Kirishima burst forth from the ground, spraying bits of gravel everywhere.
"Damn, Kiri's really been eating his spinach," Ashido remarked, sounding surprised by the display of raw strength.
"The concrete might not have been the most stable after being resolidified so quickly," Momo said. "It is still impressive, though."
Midoriya didn't say anything, scribbling furiously in his notebook.
Honenuki immediately reactivated his Quick, causing Kirishima to get mired in the transformed concrete once again.
And once more, Honenuki removed the effect after only a few moments, allowing Kirishima to brute force his way to freedom.
The cycle repeated several more times, and while Kirishima was making slow progress toward Honenuki, it was soon clear that he was having more and more trouble breaking through the resolidified concrete as time went on. Also, even if he could get near to his foe, there was no reason Honenuki couldn't just leave him trapped for a bit longer and retreat.
"Trying the same thing over and over and expecting different results," Jirou said. "That's the definition of insanity, right?"
"That's not actually how it's medically defined," Momo said. "…still, I can see why a layperson might think of it that way." She allowed.
"It does seem most strange that Kirishima's not even attempting to change tactics," Iida said.
"He's a very straightforward guy," Uraraka said, making her return from Recovery Girl's office, the marks on her skin from Ashido's acid gone and clad in a fresh, dry uniform.
"Too straightforward. Did he not watch Honenuki's last match?" Jirou wondered. "And welcome back. Feeling better?"
"Much better, thanks," Uraraka said.
In the ring, Honenuki trapped Kirishima in hardened concrete once more. The redheaded hero student strained to escape, but this time he couldn't quite manage it.
"Kirishima, can you move?" Midnight asked.
"Yes!" he exclaimed, still struggling unsuccessfully to break free. "Just let me…!"
The R-Rated heroine was good enough to give him a few more seconds before calling the match.
"Kirishima is immobilized! Honenuki advances to the next round!" she announced.
"And that's all she wrote folks! Honenuki shows why he deserved to be a recommend student with another decisive victory!" Present Mic announced.
"He did well, but frankly, Kirishima totally failed to fight smart, opting instead for a head-on, brute force assault," Eraserhead grumbled.
Momo was starting to get the feeling that any member of Class 1-A who'd made it to the tournament and didn't put in an exemplary performance was in for a rather unpleasant homeroom period when classes resumed.
"The damage to the ring is significant, but nothing our colleague and friend Cementoss can't handle!" Mic said. "So expect the next round to commence in ten to fifteen minutes!"
"I guess that's my cue to get to the prep room," Midoriya said, standing up.
"You got this, Green," Jirou said.
"Yeah! Make sure to win like we promised!" Uraraka said. "And also to make that Monoma guy stop doing…that." She added, gazing over at 1-B's box where the blonde student appeared to be in the middle of some sort of victory dance, with Kendo attempting to catch him, presumably to force him to knock it off.
"Good luck," Momo added.
"Thanks," Midoriya said, giving them a smile before departing.
As the remainder of the group settled down to wait for the next match, a dejected-looking Kirishima returned to the 1-A spectator box, still brushing bits of gravel off his uniform.
"Hey, Kiri, sorry you didn't win," Ashido greeted him.
"It was a good effort, though," Sero added.
"And you did look pretty badass bursting out of the concrete like that," Kaminari put in.
"Thanks, guys," he sighed, plopping down in one of the seats. "By the way, where's Bakugo? Thought he'd be back from Recovery Girl's office by now."
"Oh," Uraraka piped up. "He was still unconscious when I left. Recovery Girl said something about letting him sleep to regain stamina, I think."
"Huh," Kirishima grunted. "Didn't think he'd need that, but if she's feels it's best, I guess it must be important."
Momo pretended to scratch her cheek so she could use her hand to hide her little smile.
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! If you're joining us at home, you're just in time for another electrifying match!" Present Mic announced.
"…you were planning to use that line for one of Kaminari's matches if he made it to the tournament, weren't you?" Eraserhead asked.
"No comment!" The voice hero replied cheerfully. "Anyway! Now that the ring has been restored to normal, we can proceed to the final match of the second round! And it's another clash between classes! Make some noise for 1-B's mistress of mushrooms, Komori Kinoko!"
The very short brunette waved shyly as she entered the ring, then balled her fists and planted her feet, looking determined.
"And her opponent: the lean, green glowing machine of 1-A! He won the obstacle race, was on the winning team for the cavalry battle, and clearly intends to win it all: Midoriya Izuku!"
"Literally every student still in this wants to win," Eraserhead pointed out flatly, which Present Mic completely ignored.
Meanwhile, down in the 1-A spectator section, Midoriya's friends watched as the green haired boy took to the field, somehow looking even more bashful than Komori did.
"I will never get over how someone so powerful can look so nervous all the time," Jirou said with a smirk.
"Do you think he can win?" Uraraka asked.
"I'm certain he will," Momo replied.
The gravity girl blinked. "I mean, I know he's smart and has a crazy strong Quirk, but after what Komori did against Sero…" she shuddered at the memory of the creepy giant fungi that had filled the fighting area.
"Indeed! That kind of overconfidence would be a mistake!" Iida agreed. "Midoriya himself said as much!"
Momo shook her head. "How I feel won't have an effect on Midoriya's performance," she pointed out. "In any case, Komori's Quirk has an obvious weakness. I have no doubt that Midoriya will realize it and easily be able to exploit it."
"Guess we'll see in a sec," Uraraka said.
"Begin!" Midnight called out, cracking her whip.
Mushrooms immediately started to grow out of the cracks between the concrete slabs that made up the ring. They were tiny, but they had all seen how quickly Komori could make them grow and multiply in number to take over the area with them if she was allowed enough time.
Midoriya's response was immediate. A beam of green light shot out from his hand, then took on the form of a certain figure.
"Is that Burnin?" Jirou asked.
"Hmm, I thought he'd go with Endeavor himself, rather than one of his Flaming Sidekicks," Momo remarked.
She wondered if he'd chosen the sidekick over the Flame Hero out of respect for Todoroki or because Burnin's fiery green hair made her work better as one of his constructs.
"You knew he was going to do that?" Uraraka asked, surprised.
"Fungi can't thrive in very hot and dry conditions," Momo said as though that explained everything.
Which of course, it did.
As they watched, the Burnin construct grabbed handfuls of its fiery hair and sent them raining down on the ring around Komori, abruptly bringing an end to the mushrooms she had just made sprout.
"Oh, shitake!" the tiny student exclaimed, turning and fleeing from the flames.
A bead of sweat ran down the back of Uraraka's head. "Girl really sticks to her theme."
"Not gonna lie, I respect that." Jirou replied.
Back in the ring, Komori was desperately trying to grow more fungi, but the relentless, fiery assault of the emerald copy of Burnin was making that impossible. Not only that, but the flames were blocking her path at every turn, clearly corralling her toward the edge of the ring.
Even if Komori realized it, she was powerless to do anything about it, and pretty soon it was all she could do to stay inside the ring, the small brunette practically tap dancing on the very edge as she tried to avoid the emerald flames all around her.
She was so preoccupied with avoiding the fire that she never noticed when the Burnin construct itself approached until the jade facsimile of the sidekick was practically right on top of her. By then it was too late.
"Argh!" she exclaimed as the construct simply gave her a shove, sending her tumbling out of the ring.
"Komori is out of bounds!" Midnight proclaimed. "Midoriya proceeds to the semifinals!"
"No big surprise these," Eraserhead remarked. "It would be foolish to count out any of the students at this point, but between the strength of his Quirk and his performance so far, Midoriya was the clear favorite here."
"And just like that, we have our final four contestants! Yaoyorozu, Uraraka, Honenuki, and Midoriya!" Present Mic said. "One of these students will be the winner of the first year sports festival!"
Eraserhead grunted. "The ring's still in pretty good shape, so I expect the semifinals will commence with little or no additional delay."
"Midoriya, that was amazing!" Uraraka exclaimed as he made his way back to the 1-A section.
The green haired boy blushed. "Th-thanks."
"Indeed, a very impressive display!" Iida agreed. "My congratulations!"
Momo nodded. "I knew you'd do well."
"She totally did," Jirou said with a smirk. "After what Komori did to Sero, I think most people thought she at least had a shot, but Yaomomo knew you had it in the bag. I think she knew almost exactly what you were going to do, too."
"Midoriya and I train together frequently, including Quirk training, so I'm very aware of his capabilities," Momo said, giving the punk rocker an unamused look.
Ever since the USJ, Jirou had clearly been of the opinion that was either romantically involved with Midoriya or was about to be. Momo would admit, at least to herself, that the notion was rapidly becoming increasingly attractive the more time she spent with Midoriya. Still, she didn't really appreciate the remarks, if only because they made Midoriya uncomfortable.
Though she wasn't about to make an issue of it, if only because she knew it could be so much worse. She knew that Tooru or, heaven forbid, Ashido would be relentlessly teasing her and constantly demanding her for details if they knew how close she was getting with Midoriya. Compared to that, the occasional comment from Jirou was really nothing.
"This is so cool," Uraraka said. "The final's going to be either me or Yaomomo against Midoriya!"
Midoriya blinked. "Um, I do need to get past Honenuki first…"
"Pfft! Like he's going to stop you," Uraraka scoffed.
Midoriya looked like he wanted to either protest or blush until his face combusted, much to Momo's amusement. However, Iida broke in before he could start stuttering.
"Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, shouldn't you make your way to the preparation rooms?" he asked.
"Eep! You're right!" Uraraka said, getting up. "See you after the match, guys!"
"Indeed," Momo agreed, much more calmly.
Meanwhile, in a seedy bar far away from the stadium, a lanky young man was sitting at one of the stools, watching the sports festival on a small, old television set through his long gray bangs.
"It's them," he rasped out. "There's no doubt any longer."
Kurogiri looked up from behind the bar, where he was cleaning glasses. "What was that, Tomura Shigaraki?"
"I'm finally certain which students are the ones who managed to knock out Nomu and force us to abandon the raid before the final boss," Shigaraki growled.
"That wasn't already obvious?" Kurogiri asked, recalling the trio of students who'd emerged from cover after Nomu had fallen unconscious.
The young man gave him a dirty look. "I wanted to be sure, and to know which of those brats did what, exactly," he said. "Now I know that creating that green All Might summons and filling it with sleeping gas was a combo move two of those UA students did together. The short girl with the earlobes had nothing to do with it."
"And now that you know that, what are you going to do?" Kurogiri asked.
"I'm going to kill them," Shigaraki rasped.
Something about the way he said it disturbed Kurogiri, despite the misty figure's familiarity with the young man's sadistic streak. Still, he wasn't about to object.
He was, however, privately relieved when a much never TV than the one Shigaraki was using to watch the festival clicked on by itself, the words "AUDIO ONLY" appearing on the screen.
"Come now, Tomura, don't you think that's a bit hasty?" the familiar, deep voice rumbled out of the speakers.
"But, master, they ruined the League's debut!" Shigaraki protested. "And the girl! She can use her Quirk to imitate a bunch of other Quirks! It's an insult to you!"
"An insult, or a case where imitation is the sincerest form of flattery?" All for One asked with a chuckle.
It was clearly a rhetorical question, since that girl wouldn't even know All for One existed, of course. Still, it obviously amused the crime lord that one of the UA students who'd helped snarl Shigaraki's plans was like him, in a way.
That amusement could be the girl's salvation, or her doom.
"…what do you suggest, master?" Shigaraki asked, though Kurogiri could tell he wasn't happy about it and still wanted to turn the two hero students to so much dust.
"Why destroy something you can use?" All for One asked.
Chapter 24: Sports Festival, Part 10
"Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen! I'm pleased to announce that my colleague Cementoss was able to repair the ring in record time, so now that the break has passed, it's time for the first match of the semifinals!"Present Mic announced.
"You said yourself that the damage done to the ring in the last round was very minor,"Eraserhead pointed out.
Mic ignored him. "Entering first, she's the rep of Class A, the young lady whose bag of tricks is never empty, Yaoyorozu Momo!"
The audience applauded wildly as Yaoyorozu stepped out onto the field, with a disturbing number of wolf whistles from several spectators as well.
"And her opponent: don't let her cute looks fool you, this girl can literally punt you into the sun if she wants to…Uraraka Ochako!" Present Mic added.
"Both of these students faced tough matchups to get here and were able to reverse what appeared to be losing situations," Eraserhead put in.
"That's right, at this point in the tournament, we're dealing with some the best and brightest from classes already made of elite students!"Mic added.
"This is definitely going to be quite a match," Jirou remarked.
"Indeed!" Iida agreed. "Both of them have performed extremely well so far, both in the tournament and beforehand! Even the one who loses here will have put in a performance to be envied."
"Yeah, I wish I'd at least made it to the tournament, too," Jirou said wistfully.
"I…well, yes, though that wasn't…I hadn't meant to imply…!" Iida stammered, caught by surprise.
"It's okay, Iida," Izuku said. "I'm sure you'll do better in next year's tournament, and have other chances to show people what you can do."
He couldn't fully understand the pressures associated with the legacy that came from being the descendant of generations of pro heroes, but he was sure that his friend had wanted to show that he deserved to be associated with the well known members of his family. That he hadn't advanced to the final round of the festival must've been a blow to him.
Despite knowing it was a competition, and that Iida would've taken his team's points in the cavalry battle if he could've—something Izuku wouldn't have held against him for a minute—he felt almost compelled to apologize. He probably would've done it, too, if he'd thought it would be well received.
"So, Green, who do you think is going to win this?" Jirou asked, changing the subject.
"Both of them have a chance," he said. "But I definitely think Yaomomo's likely to win."
"Of course you do," Jirou smirked.
"Not because of that!" he objected, face reddening. "Yaomomo just has more options, and she might have some other new tricks or techniques she hasn't shown yet."
"Sure, Green, sure," Jirou said, a small, wicked little grin on her face.
Izuku sighed.
"We won't need to wait very long to see if you're correct or not," this time Iida was the one to change the subject.
Nodding with relief, Izuku cast his attention toward the ring and the two contestants.
He never would've admitted it to anyone, because he didn't want to be seen favoring one friend over the other, but he hoped Yaoyorozu won. Uraraka was a great friend, and he'd absolutely congratulate her if she managed to achieve victory here, but he'd seen Yaoyorozu work so hard, and apply such cleverness to the task of becoming a more formidable fighter and future pro hero, that he felt she deserved to make it to the finals.
Also, he really hoped to face off against her in the finals.
Go for it, Yaoyorozu, he thought.
Ochako took a deep breath as she stepped into the ring. She knew she'd done really well so far, but aside from possibly Midoriya, there wasn't anyone in their class she thought was more formidable than Yaomomo.
"It looks like we made it here, just as we promised we would," Yaomomo remarked. "So long as Midoriya defeats Honenuki, everything will have gone exactly as we vowed."
Ochako nodded. "Hey, no matter how this match goes, no hard feelings, okay?"
"Of course," Yaomomo agreed at once.
"Students, are you ready?" Midnight asked.
They both quickly told her that they were.
"Then…begin!" Midnight cracked her whip.
Ochako knew that Yaomomo's Quirk allowed her to fight at range, while she was aware that Yaomomo knew her own Quirk required her to actually touch whatever she wanted to use it on. So she prepared herself for a rough time trying to get close, knowing the taller girl could and would send glue, reams of tape, and goodness knows what else flying at her.
So she was caught completely off guard when Yaomomo instead charged directly at her the moment the match started.
The raven-haired girl created a bo staff as she closed the distance between the two at a sprint, and Ochako was so shocked that she wasn't fast enough to avoid taking a sharp blow to the stomach with it.
"Oof!" she grunted as the air was knocked out of her and she nearly doubled over.
Yaomomo went for another blow, but Uraraka threw herself into a desperate roll, managing to wrap her fingers around the taller girl's ankle as she did so.
"Gotcha!" she grunted out as she removed Yaomomo's gravity, and flung the now weightless girl in the direction of the closest edge of the ring.
She barely had time to feel relieved and triumphant before a piece of tape landed and stuck to the ring right next to her.
"Uh oh," she said, looking up just in time to see Yaomomo zooming back towards her, firing off some small explosions from one hand to speed her approach.
The other student crashed directly into her, feet first, and Ochako went tumbling to the ground.
Why didn't I see that coming? She wondered dazedly, even as she scrambled to her feet, narrowing avoiding a stream of glue that Yaomomo sent her way.
"Release!" she said, pressing her fingertips together, hoping that having her gravity abruptly restored would throw her opponent off balance for a moment, since clearly being weightless wasn't much, if any issue for Yaomomo.
The Creation user managed to land on her feet, if only barely, and Ochako knew her last, best chance was now. Tapping herself and ignoring the immediate wave of nausea, she launched herself at her opponent.
It was a longshot, but if she could take Yaomomo by surprise, remove her gravity again, and get them both in the air outside the ring before the other girl could respond…
She almost thought she was going to manage it, too, but she'd failed to notice that Yaomomo had never actually dropped her staff. The swung the staff like a baseball bat, landing another direct hit on the brunette. Ochako yelped as she went flying in the opposite direction of her opponent, her universe spinning wildly as she went.
"Release!" she shrieked, pressing her fingertips together again and went crashing back to earth.
The reaction from the audience told her what had happened even before Midnight could make it official.
"Uraraka is out of bounds! Yaoyorozu proceeds to the final round!"
Yaomomo was next to her a moment later, offering her a hand up. "Are you all right, Uraraka?" she asked.
The brunette managed a nod. "Another few seconds of flying through the air like that, and I would've lost my lunch," she chuckled ruefully as she stood up.
Yaomomo didn't respond immediately, her dark eyes concerned. "I know how much doing well in this tournament meant to you," she said. "I know you said no hard feelings, but—"
"It's really fine," Ochako was quick to reassure her. "I'm happy that I got this far and was able to show what I can do to any pros who may be watching. And that I did as well against you as I did. I was half expecting you to beat me in two seconds!"
Yaomomo smiled. "I admit, I was hoping to end the match quickly."
"You almost managed it, I didn't think for a second you'd just charge at me like that!" Ochako said. "Listen, you're both my friends, so I can't really cheer for one of you over the other, but good luck against Midoriya, anyway."
Yaomomo briefly looked like she wanted to point out that Midoriya still needed to beat Honenuki to get into the finals, then decided not to.
"Thank you," she said. "I'll give it my best."
"Okay, seriously, did you two really have to be impressive enough out there to make most of the rest of us look bad?" Jirou asked with a playful smirk as the two young ladies returned to the 1-A spectator section. "I think Green here's the only one left who can keep up." She added, getting a fierce blush from Izuku.
"I had to give it my best," Uraraka replied with a grin and a shrug. "I knew Yaomomo would probably win, but I couldn't just let her have it, after all."
"It was clear you did everything you could have, considering that Yaoyorozu has multiple ways in which she can regain control of herself when you remove her gravity," Iida put in. "You should be proud of your performance, despite your defeat!"
The brunette smiled. "Thanks, Iida."
"Um, Uraraka, do you maybe want to go to Recovery Girl?" Midoriya suggested. "You did take some pretty hard blows there."
"I'm fine, Midoriya. I'll go after the end of the tournament," she said. "I don't want to risk getting stuck there and missing one of the last matches!"
Iida was about to say something when his phone went off. Checking the caller ID, he quickly excused himself, making his way from the 1-A box into the relative quiet of one of the hallways that led into the stadium's innards.
"Hello, brother," he said, answering the call.
"Hey, Tenya, how's my favorite little bro doing?" Tensei replied, though the younger brother could immediately tell something was off. Tensei sounded…strained.
"Brother, if you feel I've disgraced you and Team Idaten—"
"Oh, geeze, no, it's nothing like that, Tenya! You did great! Better than I did at my first sport's festival, too," Tensei was quick to reassure him. "Remember how Mom and Dad wanted us all to out to dinner tonight?"
Tenya felt an unpleasant squirm in his gut at the reminder, knowing that plan had been made on the presumption he'd do well enough in the tournament to deserve a celebratory dinner. "Yes, I remember."
"I wanted to let you know I won't be able to make it," Tensei said. "Something big just came up."
"I understand. You have important duties," Tenya said, more relieved than he cared to admit that Tensei apparently wasn't disappointed in him, considering that he'd known his brother would never feel he'd disgraced him by failing to go further in the festival competitions. At least, he'd known that on an intellectual level, apparently not on a gut level. "May I ask what's happened, or is it confidential?"
Tensei chuckled. "It's going to be all over the news by this time tomorrow, at the latest, so I don't see the harm in telling you," he said before growing more serious. "One of my sidekicks found the hero killer. Or rather, they found his remains. Someone killed him and dumped the body in an alleyway."
Chapter 25: Sports Festival, Part 11
Izuku took a deep breath as he waited by the entrance to the stadium grounds for Present Mic to announce him.
He told himself it was silly for him to be this nervous about facing Honenuki; he already had his strategy all planned out, and even if he did lose, well, making it to the semifinals of the tournament was nothing to sneeze at.
Goodness knew it was so much better than he'd ever really believed he could do, before he got the ring. Just attending UA was something he'd more hoped for than actually thought he could manage, before that.
Still, the promise he'd made to Yaoyorozu and Uraraka weighed heavily on his mind. He had to win.
It should be a fairly easy victory, yet part of him was just constantly expecting someone to pull the rug out from under him and turn him back into a useless Deku.
Stop it! That won't happen! You can't dwell on this, or it'll mess you up! He commanded himself sternly. No fear!
Right, he would beat Honenuki.
Then, it would be time to face Yaoyorozu.
The idea thrilled him. It was absolutely amazing the way she'd been able to expand the use of her Quirk, and while he didn't believe he deserved nearly so much credit as she seemed to want to give him for it, the fact remained that he'd given her the initial idea and told her how to create the nitroglycerin-like substance that Kacchan used. It filled him with pride to think he'd helped her realize some of her amazing potential. He couldn't wait to see if she had added any more tricks or Quirk substances to her repertoire, despite the fact that they'd be used against him in the final round. Win or lose, the eternal Quirk nerd in him was giddy at the idea of seeing everything she could do now.
Also, if he was being honest, he was really relieved that he wouldn't need to face Kacchan in the tournament, regardless of what happened next.
The sound of the stadium's loudspeakers coming to life pulled him from his thoughts.
"All right, you fine folks, time to get the second and last match of the semifinal round on the road!" Present Mic said. "Entering first, this green glow bug's been on a winning streak since the obstacle race and he's eager to keep the momentum going! Put your hands together for Izuku Midoriya!"
The green-haired young man found himself walking out onto the grounds before he'd quite realized it, feet moving on autopilot. He awkwardly waved to the crowd, wondering if it was even possible to get used to this sort of thing.
He made a mental note to ask All Might about it when he got the chance. The number one hero always seemed to handle big public events like there was nothing easier in the world.
"And his opponent, the recommended student from Class 1-B whose foes always need to watch their step, give it up for… Juzo Honenuki!" Present Mic announced, as the pale-haired young man made his way into the ring.
"Five thousand yen says Midoriya wins this," Kaminari proclaimed from his place in Class 1-A's spectator section.
"Kaminari! It's illegal to gamble on such events, and doubly so for minors like us!" Iida exclaimed. "As a UA hero student, you should be setting a better example!"
"Also, who here do you expect to take that bet, anyway?" Jirou asked, shaking her head. "Do you really think any of us expect Green to have trouble winning this?"
"That Monoma guy in 1-B clearly has faith in Honenuki," Uraraka said, glancing over at their sister class's section, where the blond student was alternating between loud cheering for his classmate and reminding him that the hopes of 1-B now rested entirely upon him.
"Fair," Jirou said. "Kaminari, go take that guy's money, instead of trying to talk us into an obviously bad bet."
Iida released a strangled, wordless yelp of surprise and indignation.
"Nah, Monoma seems like the type of guy who'd find some excuse to refuse paying up later," Kaminari said. "Anyway, I obviously think Midoriya will win, but does everyone here really feel the same? Honenuki's done really well so far."
"I mean, yeah," Uraraka shrugged. "Honenuki's main tactic seems to be softening the ground under his opponent, and Midoriya can fly."
"Just because that's what he's been doing so far doesn't mean he can't do anything else," Kaminari pointed out. "The guy is a recommended student, after all. I'd be surprised if he doesn't at least get in a decent hit during the match."
"I feel quite certain that Midoriya will win this match as completely as he won his match against Komori," Momo spoke up, entering the conversation for the first time.
"Is that so?" Kaminari asked, grinning. "Want to wager two thousand yen on that?"
"No bet," Momo answered at once.
The electric student's eyebrows rose. "And why's that?" he asked. "I thought you had total belief in Midoriya."
His tone made it clear that he too believed that the two of them were more than friends.
"As UA hero students, we should be setting an example and not partaking in illegal gambling," Momo answered primly.
"Thank you!" Iida exclaimed. "I should've known our class rep would be above such things!"
"Also, I wouldn't feel right taking your money," Momo added.
Jirou burst out laughing at the matching looks of consternation that both Iida and Kaminari wore at that.
"Contestants, are you ready?" Midnight asked.
"Yes," Izuku said.
"As I'll ever be," Honenuki answered.
"Then…begin!" the R-Rated heroine cracked her whip.
Honenuki immediately applied his Quick to the ring, softening a long strip of it that included the part Izuku had been standing on. However, the green-haired hero student had expected that after watching him do the same to his previous opponents, and he'd already taken to the air before the effect reached the patch of concrete he was standing on.
"Damn," Honenuki cursed softly, before reaching down to touch the ring again.
Almost immediately, the whole concrete square liquefied. The 1-B student took a deep breath and dove beneath the surface.
"Interesting strategy from Honenuki!" Present Mic said.
"It's about the only option available to him after his opening gambit failed," Eraserhead grunted. "Students like Honenuki who need outside objects to use their Quirks on have nothing but the ring in these matches."
"A good point, mummy man! Now the question is, what can he do now that he's transformed the ring?" Mic asked.
"Play keep away and hope Midoriya gets impatient enough to make a mistake," was Eraserhead's blunt response. "I don't see how he can win this otherwise. It's a bad matchup for him, but that's just what happens sometimes in the field."
Izuku felt a spike to sympathy for his opponent and hoped he wasn't able to hear the two teachers' commentary under the liquefied concrete.
Regardless, he didn't plan on making a foolish mistake and losing the match, so rather than diving down to try and fish Honenuki out himself, he channeled his willpower into the ring, bringing a construct of an industrial-sized vat and a piece of machinery with multiple hoses into being next to the ring.
"I don't believe it! Midoriya is using his hard light constructs to drain the liquefied ring!"Present Mic exclaimed.
"Huh. This is not how I would've guessed this would go," Eraserhead remarked with mild bemusement.
There was a brief yelp as Honenuki was sucked up by the pump that Izuku had created, which deposited him into the emerald vat a second later.
"So…Honenuki is outside of where the ring was, but it's kind of moved with him. Ref, is he in or out of bounds?" Present Mic wondered.
Before Midnight could answer, Izuku dismissed the construct of the vat. There was a massive "sploosh!" as the Quirk-liquefied concrete suddenly gushed out in all directions and poor Honenuki went tumbling to the ground. The 1-B student cancelled the effect of his Quirk a moment later, causing the tidal wave of concrete to abruptly freeze before it could totally flood the area.
"It's a moot point now! Honenuki is out of bounds! Midoriya proceeds to the final round!" the R-Rated heroine proclaimed.
"You okay?" Izuku asked, approaching his defeated opponent.
"Yeah," Honenuki grunted with a cough. "Didn't want to lose, but once you started flying, I guess my fate was pretty much sealed."
"The format doesn't really favor you, and you were super creative with your Quirk!" Izuku said, trying to be encouraging without being dishonest.
Honenuki smiled, or at least Izuku thought he did. It was hard to tell, considering he had no lips. "Thanks," he said. "Good luck in the finals. I'd like to be able to say it took the overall winner to beat me."
"Thanks, I'll do my best," Izuku vowed.
Nodding, Honenuki turned to head back to the 1-B spectator area, where a distraught Monoma was practically in tears at the reality that no Class B students had made it to the final round.
"And just like that, the semifinals are over!"Present Mic said as Izuku also made his way back to his own class's viewing section. "Which means the final match is set: Yaoyorozu Momo, the class rep of 1-A, versus her vice rep, Midoriya Izuku!"
"It's probably going to take Cementoss a while to clean up after that last match," Eraserhead remarked, looking at the petrified tsunami of concrete. "So expect the break to be longer than the standard fifteen minutes."
"That's right! So if you need to grab a snack or use the restroom, do it now! Because you're not going to want to miss one second of the final round!"
Izuku made it back to the 1-A box just as the two teachers stopped announcing.
"Congratulations, Midoriya!" Yayorozu greeted him with a smile that sent his heart fluttering. "Creating that pump was a brilliant strategy!"
"Told you that you'd win!" Uraraka put in, grinning smugly. "Now everything's gone just like we promised!"
Izuku chuckled awkwardly. "I suppose it did," he said, before turning to Yaoyorozu. "So I guess it's just you and me left now."
"Indeed. I look forward to our match," she agreed with a smile.
"Still have tricks up your sleeve that you haven't shown yet?" he asked.
"You'll just have to wait and find out, won't you?" Yaoyorozu grinned.
Izuku was aware that he was grinning back like an idiot, but he couldn't quite bring himself to care.
At least not until Jirou turned to Uraraka and remarked, "Wow, flirting between super elite hero students sure is weird, isn't it?"
Izuku immediately went completely red, so embarrassed he couldn't make a sound. Which was probably for the best, considering he likely would've gotten nothing out but one of his stutter storms if he could.
"Not now, Jirou," Yaoyorozu said in annoyance, her cheeks also having a crimson tint, though nowhere near as bad as what Izuku felt sure he looked like at the moment. She turned back to him. "In any case, we're guaranteed first and second place. Regardless of the exact result of our match, that deserves some celebration, I think, and I believe we get at least one day off after the festival. We should get lunch and then do something together to enjoy the day. You, too, Uraraka. You will get one of the third place medals, after all."
Izuku was simultaneously relieved and disappointed when it became clear that Yaoyorozu didn't intend for it to be just the two of them.
"I'm game," the brunette said cheerfully.
"Jirou, Iida, you're both welcome to come as well," Yaoyorozu said.
Jirou quickly agreed, but Iida was noncommittal, saying he would go so long as no family matters came up.
"Are you okay, Iida?" Izuku said. "You seem distracted."
The bespectacled young man gave him a smile. "I'm quite fine, my friend," he said. "My brother recently shared a piece of news with me that's quite shocking. I'm afraid I can't go into more detail, but everything is all right. Thank you for your concern, though."
An awkward silence descended, at least until Uraraka gently elbowed Jirou. "So, what's the over-under on those two destroying the entire stadium before they're done?"
Yaoyorozu sighed while Uraraka descended into a fit of giggles.