"What?" Khorne chuckled, "You think I wouldn't know? Come on kid, I'm not stupid." Khorne spoke with a chuckle.
How? How did he figure it out? Did he drop a hint? But there was no such thing, nothing in Kenji's behavior even suggested that he planned to escape, there was absolutely nothing!
Kenji was in deep shit now, if he told that other guy he'd definitely go through with his threat of blowing up the orphanage, the kids... Shingen and the caretakers... all of them would die immediately without even being able to put up a fight!
Without knowing, Kenji begun breathing heavily. He started hyperventilating.
Khorne sighed and scratched the back of his head, "Scared him too much..." he muttered and swiftly jogged up to Kenji.
He patted his head, "Breathe, calm down. You're not in danger, nothing is going to happen to either you or the orphanage you so cherish."
But Kenji wasn't listening at all, his eyes were hazy. His mind obviously plagued with dangerous thoughts.
Khorne slapped him hard across the face once and that was enough for Kenji to snap back to reality.
Kenji turned his head towards Khorne sharply, his eyes wide open and his lips trembling.
"Have you calmed down?" Khorne questioned.
Kenji took a shaky breath, "...How did you know?" he asked, his voice low. Khorne barely heard him.
"It ain't hard to figure out, I'm not dumb and neither is the guy who gave you those abilities. He obviously knows that the only reason you're staying is because of the threats to the orphanage."
"Ah... I see..." Kenji muttered.
"You're not the only one who uses his brain around here kiddo," Khorne spoke, "Though... I wouldn't recommend escaping, or doing anything drastic right now, the timing isn't right." Khorne gave him a piece of advice.
Kenji's eyes narrowed immediately when he heard his words, "...And why're you giving me that piece of advice? Aren't you gonna stop me if I do escape from here and tell the authorities?"
Khorne just shrugged, "To be completely honest, I don't give a shit about what you do. The only thing I care about is strength, I'm training you because you have potential and I want you to reach the peak of it. I don't care much if you escape his clutches and become a hero, or stay and become a villain. I truly, do not care what path you choose." He smiled widely under his mask at the last part.
"All of my work, the underground ring, kidnapping kids and stealing them from their parents... actually, more than half of those kids were sold to me but that's beside the point. All of what I did was in pursuit of strength, I want to see the pinnacle of human capability, the pinnacle of a Quirk and the pinnacle of martial ability all combined into one person to create the ultimate, most invincible combatant that has ever walked the earth." Khorne's tone turned more and more frantic, "I couldn't reach it... I wasn't talented enough, but with my experience... perhaps I can help you and that other Oni reach it... Shingen doesn't need my help, but I'm not too sure that he'll be able to reach that. So I have to make back-ups... you are one of those back ups. You and that other guy, Oni."
"...What a sick fucker you are," Kenji muttered rubbing his forehead, "Couldn't you have just become a personal trainer or something? Why'd you have to do all this other bullshit?" Kenji questioned.
"True, but that would've been too slow. This is faster. Also, fights where you risk your life provide the most growth."
"Don't you feel any remorse for anything you did? Those kids had families too!" Kenji growled out.
"...Takako," Khorne spoke his name, his tone turning serious. "I'm well aware of what I did and I feel no remorse. None at all."
"All of what I did is for my ambition, for my wish... besides, I'm not as big of a piece of shit as you imagine me to be." Khorne paused and continued, "Those who were too injured to continue fighting, were given medical treatment and my subordinates took and left them at different orphanages around the entire country."
Kenji's eyes widened slightly, he wasn't expecting something like that, "That still doesn't make you any better, in fact, you're stepping up towards becoming some self-righteous piece of shit instead of a regular one. because the fact still stands that you kidnapped and forced children to fight."
"I said I know what I did, I'm not some demented fucker who doesn't understand what he's doing. I know what I did, what I'm doing and what I am. Now shut up, go take a shower, eat and rest."
With that said, Khorne turned around and walked out of the large room, or arena, whatever it is you want to call it.
Kenji stood there in the arena for a bit longer, getting his thoughts in order, then he clicked his tongue and went outside, going to his room.
-----------------------------------------
U.A was closed down for a couple of days, Shingen spent most of that time hanging around at Lightning Gym, working part-time and all that. Occasionally helping Izuku with training and such, since he was determined and all... how could he ignore his friend's fierce determination? He couldn't.
Though, U.A. soon opened back up and their regular classes continued, right now, Shingen was sitting on his chair next to his desk surrounded by his classmates.
"You're back already?!" Kirishima questioned, in complete awe, "Dude, I saw the kind of condition you were in, how did you manage to get back to top shape so quickly?"
"Yeah, Yamazaki-san... it was bad, like real bad." Jiro spoke, nodding her head along.
"Recovery Girl helped a lot and since I take my cardio training seriously, I had lots of energy to get back in top shape pretty quickly." Shingen spoke, "Anyways... let's leave that subject alone, I don't really want to talk about it."
Yep, he had something different to think about. About Izuku's Quirk and how to help him better control it, though Big Z would probably be the best person to ask that question to. Other than that, he heard from Izuku about how when he fell unconscious, his body began to still move and fight somehow.
Shingen didn't understand how that happened at all since he really had no memory of that ever happening, the only thing he could do was wait and see if he could somehow trigger that state again in the future and get more information regarding it.
"Yamazaki-san!"
Shingen jumped slightly, perhaps he went too far in his thoughts.
"What? I'm listening." Shingen responded, looking at Kirishima.
Kirishima glanced at Jiro standing next to him.
Jiro was the one who was calling out to him.
"Right..." Kirishima nodded, "Onto more important matters, who do you think is gonna teach class today?"
"I'm betting Aizawa-sensei will." Shingen spoke with a smirk, "It'd be... irrational, if he skipped a class."
Jiro hummed, thinking about it. "Hmmm... it actually makes a whole lot of sense."
"True, Aizawa-sensei's one hell of a manly man."
"...Sure buddy."
Then, a moment later the door to the classroom slammed open and their vice class rep, Iida Tenya came rushing in like a robot, swinging his arms around and stuff.
He stood in front of the entire class, "Everyone! Homeroom is beginning, take your seats immediately!"
"Talk to you later." Shingen said to Kirishima.
Everyone obeyed the vice reps demands, they took their seats calmly and obediently, Iida smiled almost shedding a tear because of how proud he was that his classmates were capable of following such simple instructions.
Right?
The door slammed open once more.
"Good morning." A very familiar monotonous voice came from the person standing in the doorway.
It was...
Aizawa Shota, his face was covered in bandages or wraps, one of his arms were in a cast though,
"Aizawa-sensei are you okay?!" Iida spoke,
"Can you call that all 'okay'?" Uraraka who sat behind Iida spoke to herself.
"You're too much of a pro hero Aizawa-sensei!" Kaminari said.
"My well-being doesn't matter all that much, more importantly... the fight isn't over yet." Aizawa spoke.
"Huh?" Bakugo let out, clicking his tongue, "Villains?"
"Tell me it's not villains..." Mineta began to tremble in his seat.
"The U.A. sports festival is drawing near." Aizawa spoke, his tone extremely serious.
"I swear this guy loves shit like this." Shingen muttered to himself, "Getting us all worked up like that."
"For real..." Shoji who was sitting next to him agreed.
"Wait!" Jiro stopped Aizawa from speaking further about it, "Is it okay to have a sports festival right after the villains snuck inside a U.A. facility?" She questioned.
"She does raise a fair point Aizawa-sensei," Shingen agreed, "What if they attack us again?"
"They wouldn't attack in the middle of an entire city, much less an event where lots of heroes in the country will be at and if that's not enough... the security will also be strengthened by five times that of previous years, so there's really no need to worry about anything. Other than doing well in the sports festival."
"More importantly, the sports festival is necessary, it's a huge change for you greenies to get noticed by heroes and to gain valuable experience through internships... but I'm sure many of you already know that. If you expect to go pro, then the path to your future will open up at this event. Make sure to prepare well and give it your all. That's it, homeroom is over."
Then Aizawa walked out of the class, Shingen got up immediately and chased after him.
"Shin?" Izuku called out from behind, surprised by his sudden movement.
Shingen got out of his class and rushed down the hall towards Aizawa-sensei.
"Aizawa-sensei." Shingen called out, Aizawa turned back towards him.
"Can we talk privately? Just the two of us?" Shingen questioned.
Aizawa slowly nodded, "Yes, I wanted to talk to you privately as well. I'll find you during lunchtime, we can eat together as we talk."
Shingen let out a sigh of relief, "Thank you Aizawa-sensei."
"It's nothing, go back to class. Cementoss will be coming soon."
Shingen obediently turned back and walked back inside the class.
Chapter 31
After Cementoss' class finished, it was time for a quick lunch break.
The class was getting really excited about the U.A sports festival coming up... though there were some who were a little more excited about the whole thing.
"I'm getting pumped up!" Kirishima shouted, "Just the thought of working with the pros gets my heart pumping real fast!"
Sero bumped him with his elbow, "Right there with you! We'll be soon taking our first steps to becoming pros!"
Shingen let out a sigh as he leaned back and stretched in his chair, he almost fell over but luckily caught himself with his foot.
"I'm pretty excited too, hopefully there will be some fighting..." Shingen spoke.
"There will be! If you watched the previous sports festivals there always is a bracket-style tournament! To determine who'll win the whole thing." Kirishima turned towards him, "Hey, Yamazaki-san, can we train together? I want to see if I can learn some tricks from you, since you seem be the best close-quarters fighter we have in class."
Shingen shook his head, "Maybe after the sports festival, we're gonna be competing, don't want me to learn your weaknesses do you?"
Kirishima's mouth hung open for a second, then he thought about it and nodded rapidly, "True, true, I don't want that. Alright, then after the sports festival we're gonna train together!"
Shingen nodded and then got up from his seat, "I'll be going out to get some grub."
He then walked out of the classroom and into the hallway which was filled up with many other students.
"I wonder what's up with him." Iida questioned, looking at the classroom door.
Izuku glanced towards him, "Sorry Iida-san, but it's personal. The less people know, the better."
Iida turned back towards him and nodded slowly, "I see. Apologies if I stepped out of line, I was just worried because you two didn't seem to be interacting much in class, I just... found it odd."
Izuku shook his head with a smile, "Don't worry about it."
Izuku glanced over at the entire class, everyone was talking amongst themselves about the upcoming sports festival, "Everyone's really into the sports festival thing." He spoke out loud.
"Of course," Iida responded with a smile, "It's our chance to get noticed by numerous pros, so of we course everyone would be fired up!"
"Don't you feel the same Midoriya-kun?" He questioned, making the 'chopping motions' with his hands.
Izuku smiled, "To be fair... yeah, I kind of am..." He spoke, then glanced to the side at Uraraka.
"Not as much as she is though," He said to Iida with a nervous smile.
"Deku-kun! Iida-kun!" She called out to them, her face... how on earth do I describe this expression? Perhaps one that someone who loves battles makes? Actually, sure, let's go with that one.
"Let's do our best at the sports festival." She practically growled.
"Uraraka-san... your face! It's not even the same art style!" Midoriya spoke, astonished by what he was seeing.
Iida nodded frantically while fixing cleaning his glasses to make sure he wasn't seeing things, "Indeed! The design is completely different!"
-----------------------
"Seat wherever you'd like."
Aizawa and Shingen entered the same room they were in previously when they talked.
Shingen took a seat in front of Aizawa and placed the tray of food he was carrying on the table.
"...How are you feeling?" Aizawa questioned, "You seem all healed up."
Shingen nodded, "Yes, Recovery Girl helped a ton. I was at her office this morning too to add up the finishing touches, and I can say that I'm in top condition."
Aizawa let out a small sigh of relief, "Good... that brings me to the next topic of discussion. Your actions at USJ."
Shingen paused, his eyes locking onto Aizawa.
"What you did was dangerous, stupid. You endangered your life and almost died in the process." He then paused, "As the teacher Aizawa Shota and pro Hero Eraserhead... I'd be praising you for your heroics and your strength." He paused again.
These constant pauses made Shingen increasingly more and more nervous.
"But as an adult... I thank you for saving my life, I thank you for risking your life to save my own and the lives of your classmates... and... I'm sorry that you had to do that, I should've been the one standing up to the intruders... but due to my own weakness... my student had to do it for me. For that, I'm truly sorry."
Aizawa bowed deeply.
Shingen was completely overwhelmed by what his teacher was saying, he didn't know how to respond at all.
Shingen scratched the back of his head, "I-It's nothing Aizawa-sensei, I did what I had to do to buy time. P-Please don't trouble yourself over that matter. I'm fine... everyone's fine... except you... in fact, I should be the one apologizing for not being able to hold off the Nomu properly."
Aizawa let out a small sigh, beneath the bandages, a small smile had formed on his face.
"My wellbeing doesn't matter compared to yours and your classmates'." Aizawa spoke.
"It does." Shingen spoke, his voice turning strict. "Your life matters just as much as ours. Aizawa-sensei, don't say things like that."
Aizawa was momentarily speechless, he was actually being scolded by his student. "...I see, I apologize."
Shingen let out a sigh and took a bite of fish he had on his tray, then he looked up at his teacher again.
"Aizawa-sensei... I came to speak to you about something else... it's about my friend... Takako Kenji."
"I remember. I'm listening, speak your mind."
Shingen let out a deep sigh, "I'm... suspecting that the 'League of Villains' might've captured him and are holding him there. Possibly with some threats. Because otherwise, Kenji would've escaped the same day he was captured."
"I made the same conclusion as well, the hint he left you, I assume that helped you to come to your deduction?"
Shingen nodded, "Exactly, those guys might be threatening Kenji with something... if information does get out that we know that Kenji is with them, they might do something to him and possibly the orphanage we live in, since that's the only thing they can actually threaten him with. Though the police does know about the hint..."
Aizawa hummed, "I see. That's a fair and rational deduction, though I'm curious about how you learned that. As for the police, don't worry. They're more tightlipped than you'd think." He was pretty impressed with Shingen's thinking.
Shingen smirked, "Video games."
Aizawa let out a deep sigh, slightly disappointed by his answer.
----------------------
"So... you told him?"
Inside a different room, Midoriya Izuku was sitting in front of a skeletal man.
Toshinori Yagi, or some might know him for his other identity. All Might.
"Yes... It didn't feel right to hide this from him, since he's my close friend and the person who helped train me." Izuku responded.
Toshinori was silent for a moment, "Alright, Yamazaki-shonen is a trustworthy young man. I won't berate you on that."
Izuku let out a sigh of relief when he heard those words, "More importantly... All Might, are you... okay?"
Toshinori looked down at the ground, his fists tightening slightly, "I can now... only use my power for fifty minutes a day." He responded.
Izuku's eyes widened, "Fifty minutes?!"
"Yeah, I overdid it too many times... and that Nomu hurt me quite a lot, though if I push myself further... I can maintain the muscle form for a bit longer."
Toshinori poured a cup of tea for Izuku and placed it in front of him, "More importantly, you still aren't able to regulate One For All, are you?"
Izuku smiled, "No, I can regulate it to some degree now. Let me show you something..."
Izuku stood up from the sofa he was sitting on and stood aside, then he took a deep breath.
Suddenly, red vein-like energy began climbing up all across his body before they disappeared and instead were replaced by green lightning around his body.
"Woah! Midoriya-shounen!" Toshinori jumped to his feet, with a proud look in his eyes.
"I call this... One For All: Full Cowling, 10%!" he told Toshinori, then slowly the lightning disappeared from his body.
"Someone I know taught me how to do this Quirk, he had a similar ability and taught me how to spread my power and further regulate it." Izuku spoke with a happy smile.
Toshinori's eyes widened in surprise, "Well who was it? Do tell! I'm very curious."
Izuku scratched his cheek, "Well... I'm not sure if you'd know him, but his name is Big Z, he owns the 'Lightning Gym'. Shin works part-time there as well. He was the one who introduced me there."
"Big Z... Big Z... Z..." All Might mumbled to himself, thinking about the name.
Then he froze completely.
"ZEUS?!" Toshinori suddenly shouted, "You met Zeus?! And he taught you?!" Toshinori coughed up blood as he shouted.
"Zeus? Are you talking about Big Z?" Izuku tilted his head.
"Midoriya-shounen! That man was the number 1 hero in Greece decades ago!" Toshinori spoke, admiration could be clearly heard in his voice, "I didn't know he was in Japan!"
"Really?!" Izuku shouted, "He was a top ranking hero?! I didn't know at all! Shingen didn't tell me either!"
"Maybe he didn't know either?" Toshinori reasoned, "But still... to think you met Zeus and he taught you, that's amazing Midoriya-shounen." Toshinori spoke.
Izuku chuckled, "Yeah! I'm going there today as well to work out."
"Make sure you don't overdo it."
"Since you seem to be capable of regulating One For All, then I don't have to worry about you when it comes to the sports festival." Toshinori breathed a sigh of relief.
Izuku smiled, "Yeah, don't worry at all, I'll make you proud and show you, that you made the right choice with me."
Toshinori chuckled, "You don't have to show me anything, I'm already proud of you. Just do the best you can so that you won't regret it later."
"Alright! I'll do my best!"
Chapter 32
After the lunch break, the students of class 1-A got back to their class and too their seats, it was time for one final lesson of the day and after that, the school would be over and they'd get to go home.
The class finished fairly quickly and the bell rung, the teacher, Ectoplasm left shortly after he gave homework. Which was actually pretty tame when you compare it to other math teachers who give tons and tons of homework as if the school only teachers one subject.
Right?
Class 1-A got to packing their bags they didn't realize that a crowd of students from other classes was quickly forming near the entrance to their classroom.
Uraraka, Shingen, Iida and Midoriya approached the door and Uraraka opened it.
"Wh-What's going on?" She questioned out loud, taking a couple of steps back in nervousness.
"What business do yo have with our class?" Iida questioned.
Though he didn't really get an answer from anyone, the crowd was too busy talking amongst themselves.
"We can't get out! What did you guys come here for anyway?" Mineta who walked up from behind them whined.
Shingen glanced down at him, his face scrunching up slightly in disgust and took a small step to the side.
Iida noticed his action and slapped him lightly on the arm, Shingen glanced at Iida briefly to see his disapproving look, then he just crossed his arms and looked away.
"They're scouting the competition, small fry." Bakugo's condescending voice came from behind.
He passed by everyone and walked right up to the crowd.
Mineta looked toward Midoriya and pointed at Bakugo with an expression that spoke, 'can you believe this guy?' Midoriya just shrugged.
"We're the ones who made it out of the villains' attack." Bakugo spoke calmly which was pretty out of character for him, "They're checking out the competition before the sports festival begins."
Bakugo stood face to face with the crowd, "There's no point in doing stuff like this, out of my way extras!" He growled out in their face with a glare.
"Stop calling people 'extras' just because you don't know them!" Iida shouted from behind, his arm making that chopping motion.
Shingen just chuckled to himself, this was pretty entertaining to watch.
After Bakugo said what he said, a person began to walk through the crowd.
"I came to see what the famous class 1-A was like, but you seem pretty arrogant. Not a shred of humility in you."
The owner of the voice made his way to the doorway and stood in front of Bakugo, he was a tall boy with purple hair, also had eyebags under his eyes.
"Are all the students in the hero course like this?" He questioned.
Iida and Uraraka shook their heads rapidly, denying that.
"Huh?!" Bakugo let out, getting a bit heated up.
"Seeing something like this makes me disillusioned." The boy scratched the back of his head, "There were a lot of people who enrolled in the general course or the support course just because they didn't make it to the hero course."
"And what business is that of ours?" Bakugo questioned, tilting his head. "You couldn't make it because you weren't good enough."
The purple-haired boy clicked his tongue, "What I'm gonna say is... this sports festival gives us the chance to transfer to the hero course, meaning... one of us will transfer, and one of you might loose your spot in the hero course."
Bakugo raised an eyebrow, a smirk began to form on his lips.
The purple-haired boy smiled as well, "Consider this a declaration of war. Don't let the fact that you survived some villains get to your head... you just got lucky that the heroes made it in time."
Midoriya frowned at his words but didn't interrupt just yet.
Shingen could tell from the corner of his eye that Midoriya didn't like where this was going.
Then he paused again, looking over Bakugo and glancing at everyone in the classroom.
"Oh. Also, who is the classmate of yours? The one that got hospitalized in the villain attack. Maybe I ought to take his place instead?" He declared with a condescending smirk.
"Huh...?" Midoriya almost growled, his eyebrows furrowed as he began to walk toward the purple-haired boy.
"Midoriya-kun?" Iida called out, Midoriya's behavior was strange.
"I don't think I heard you properly from back there, you said you wanted to be in the hero course? To take our spot from us?" Midoriya spoke, scratching his cheek.
"Do you even have the abilities to do that?" He questioned.
Shingen raised an eyebrow at how Midoriya was acting.
Then he crossed his arms and hummed, today was a strange day, everyone was acting out of character.
For one, Bakugo was speaking calmly, not threatening to murder anyone, which was a pretty damn big improvement.
And now Midoriya was... acting like that?
Midoriya smirked, "If you did... you'd already be here wouldn't you?" Izuku swiftly reached out, grabbing the boy with his collar and pulling him.
"From what I can see... you don't deserve a spot among us at all." Then he pushed him back a bit forcefully.
"Now... you gonna move aside?" Midoriya stepped up towards him again, "Or not?"
Major shock.
Shingen's mouth fell open, completely bewildered by the bold and aggressive stance his friend was making.
"Woah! Midoriya-kun?!" Kirishima shouted, a bead of sweat rolling down his cheek.
"Look at this nerd..." Bakugo watched from the side with a wide smirk, "Didn't think you had it in you, Deku."
Shingen shook his head, snapping out of the bewildered state he was put in by his close friend, then he glanced at Iida who stood motionlessly as if he was petrified.
Shingen slapped him on the shoulder, just like Iida did before, snapping him out of his daze.
"If you still think that someone like you deserves a spot among us..." Bakugo begun, "Then you better show it during the sports festival. Declaration of war my ass."
He then pushed through the crowd and walked away, his aggressive nature discouraged the timid lot from speaking out. Same with Izuku.
Shingen rushed forward, slinging his arm over Izuku's shoulder while laughing hysterically, "Hey hey! Where'd you learn how to talk smack like that?"
Izuku went a beet red, a bit embarrassed, "U-uhm well... f-from Big Z..." he muttered.
"Haha!" Shingen laughed, "Why am I not surprised, of course it was Grandpa Z."
"Anyway, good job. Thanks for standing up for us." Shingen ruffled Izuku's hair with his other arm, "Let's go now, I've got a part time job to do and you're coming to the gym too."
"Woah, you work part-time?" Uraraka spoke out from behind him, "How do you even manage to both attend U.A. and work? When do you have time for studies?"
Shingen turned back and looked at her blankly, before he smirked mysteriously.
He doesn't do homework. Most of the time. Though he actually does well in modern literature and English.
Class 1-A went home after that and they begun training for the sports festival.
Of course, U.A. provided the necessary facilities for all training they might need to do on their own to become stronger and better at using their Quirks to win the upcoming sports festival.
Shingen's training was rather simple, since he didn't really need much training when it came to actual fighting skills, instead he focused more on his physical strength.
Izuku had to focus on martial arts and his body to further strengthen his vessel for One For All.
Bakugo just blew stuff up, making his explosions stronger and stronger.
Iida ran a lot.
Tsuyu was swimming a lot.
Shoji Mezo was benching a lot and doing other weight lifting exercises much like Shingen and Izuku.
Mineta was... training. Yeah. Let's go with that.
Uraraka trained by using her Quirk to make things float, steadily increasing the number of items she could disable the gravity for, if she overused her Quirk she'd get nausea, so she was training to get rid of that.
Mina Ashido focused on her production of... acid.
Yaoyorozu was studying... things, to help her create more items that would help her win the sports festival.
As for the rest of the class... well their training styles were pretty interesting too. Kirishima just climbed up buildings and jumped off and slammed into the ground with his hardening Quirk active.
...It was actually pretty effective despite how strange it was.
Shortly after, the day for the U.A sports festival finally arrived.
Shingen was putting his shoes on at the entrance of the orphanage.
"Be careful not to get hurt." Kikyo-sensei's soft voice came from behind him.
"Don't worry, I got this." Shingen reassured her with a smile, "Will you be there?"
Kikyo smiled sadly and shook her head, "Unfortunately... I won't be able to come watch you from the stands, but me, Mai and the kids will be watching you in the TV. Do your best Shingen." She patted him on the back.
Shingen smiled, "It's alright, I'm happy that you'll be watching. See you later, Mom." Shingen said, turned around and left the orphanage, closing the door behind him on the way out.
Kikyo's eyes widened and she froze completely.
A stray tear dropped from her eye, then she smiled once more. "Good luck... Shingen," she muttered to herself, wiped her tear and turned back.
Shingen was walking the street when he froze, "Oh. I called her 'Mom'..." he muttered, his face going bright red from embarrassment.
"D-D-Damn..." he muttered to himself, rubbing his face with his hands.
Then he slapped himself on the cheeks, "I'll... worry about this later." he muttered, got up and continued on his way towards U.A.
Chapter 33
After the students and everyone assembled at U.A. they were taken to the stadium, the place where the sports festival would be held for the entire world to witness the pride and joy of their young heroes in training who would protect the peace and uphold justice after their graduation.
The area outside of the large stadium was packed with stands, all of them selling different merchandise. Starting with some fast food, ending with the merch of numerous heroes.
The area around the stadium was patrolled by many heroes. Some of the more notable ones would be Kamui Woods, Mt. Lady, Death Arms, etc.
It wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that this place was quite possibly the most secure area in the entire country, nay, in the entire world perhaps.
Right now, the students were in the waiting room after they were done changing into the sports uniform they wore on the first day to school.
"Bummer, I wanted to wear my costume." Ashido spoke, glancing down at her clothes.
"They wanted to make it fair for everyone, so they didn't allow the costumes." Ojiro said to her, stretching his arms.
Shingen was sitting in the chair rocking back and forth while humming a tune he heard from somewhere.
Izuku was much the same, sitting in a chair looking up at the roof. Very deep into the dreamland.
"Wonder what the first round would be..." Rikido Sato wondered out lout.
"No matter what comes, we will deal with it." Tokoyami Fumikage responded.
Just then, everyone's favorite vice class rep who probably should've been the class rep burst into the room.
"Everyone! Are you ready?!" he shouted rather loudly, breaking both Shingen and Izuku out of their stupor.
"We will be entering soon!"
Shingen immediately went back to daydreaming after he heard Iida's words, Izuku gulped from sheer nervousness. This sports festival would be broadcasted to the entire world. He didn't even want to think about how many would be watching in live.
"Midoriya, Yamazaki." Someone called out to them, the voice seemed cold as heck.
Shingen glanced to the side, the person who was calling out to him was the boy with red and white hair and a scar on his eye.
"What is it? Todoroki right?" Shingen responded casually, not minding the coldness in his voice.
"Todoroki? What's up?" Izuku turned towards him.
"Midoriya, looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you are, however... All Might has his eye on you doesn't he? I won't pry into that. But I'm gonna defeat you."
Izuku scratched the back of his head, "Sure, is that all you wanted? To pick a fight?"
Todoroki just nodded.
"Then you got one, I'll be going at it with everything I have so be prepared." Izuku spoke calmly.
"I don't know what Big Z has been doing with him but I'm kind of liking it..." Shingen muttered to himself.
The class sensed the tension between them and turned their heads, their attention was entirely on the two of them.
Then Todoroki turned towards Shingen, "I'm going to defeat you too."
Shingen just shrugged, "Do it if you can."
Bakugo clicked his tongue and got up from his seat, "You're treating this too casually... you painted gorilla." he growled at Shingen.
Shingen sighed and slowly got up from his seat and stepped towards Bakugo, "I assure you... I'm not treating any of this lightly. I still remember what you said, don't worry. I won't loose to anyone until I fight you."
Bakugo smirked, "Damn right, I'll murder you if you loose to anyone else but me."
Shingen smirked widely as well, "If you do lose... don't bitch about it."
"I could say the same to you. I won't lose, prick."
"Language!" Iida screamed from the door, "Watch your profanity! Yamazaki-kun! Bakugo-kun!"
Shingen flinched just slightly, "Sure, sorry. Got a bit too heated."
"Tch. Mind your business, four-eyes."
"Well well, looks like the top brass in our class just declared war. Oh! That rhymed, sweet!" Kaminari spoke out.
Kirishima walked up to them, "Why're you guys picking fights? Don't do it! We're about to start."
"We're not here to be friends, so why does it matter if I pick a fight?" Todorki spoke coldly.
"We're not picking fights, Kirishima. Don't worry, it's just friendly competition." Shingen reasoned.
"Friendly my ass." Bakugo clicked his tongue.
"Language I said!" Iida screamed once more.
---------------------
"Hello everybody!" Present Mic's voice resounded throughout the entire stadium, his face also appeared on the many large screens around the stadium.
The audience erupted into cheers upon seeing Present Mic.
"Pay attention audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, is finally beginning! The U.A. sports festival is about to begin! Everybody! Are you ready?!" Present Mic shouted.
"Yeah!" Came the simultaneous answer from the stands.
"It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!"
"Class 1-A! Now entering the stage!"
Class 1-A, strolled into the arena from one of the many tunnels that were in the stadium.
Shingen walked out, shielding his eyes from the glaring sun.
"Man... couldn't they have held this indoors? or during the night? The sun is annoying..." he complained.
"For real..." Jiro agreed with him, "You don't seem nervrous at all, Yamazaki."
Shingen shook his head, "Nah, I'm not at all nervous. Why would I be?"
"It's just the... many people, you know?" She reasoned.
"Nope, that doesn't bother me. It shouldn't bother you either." Shingen answered.
Remember the underground ring? There were lots of people there too, so Shingen was quite used to the attention.
"There are a lot more people than I imagined..." Izuku muttered, looking around the arena, beads of sweat were rolling down his forehead.
"Indeed... will we be able to give our best performance, since we're being watched by so many people?" Iida questioned.
Izuku turned towards him, "Yeah, think of it as... part of training to become a hero. Since heroes are almost always in the spotlight... that's what I'm doing at least."
Kirishima glanced around the entire arena, "Man I'm getting nervous... what about you? Bakugo?"
Bakugo smiled widely, "Nah, if anything I'm getting more into it."
After introducing the class 1-A, Present Mic moved onto introducing other classes.
"Though they haven't gotten as much airtime, this class is also full of talent! Entering, Hero course, Class 1-B!"
The new wave of students came in the arena, led by a boy with silver hair and a girl with orange hair.
"Next up, general studies! Classes C, D, and E! And of course... our beloved support course! F, G and H! Along with the business course! I, J, K!"
"All of U.A.'s first years are here now!" Present Mic shouted once more.
The cheers from the massive crowd of spectators were at their loudest.
The students found their place in the middle of the arena, right in front of a large stand where a woman stood.
A tall, curvaceous woman with sky blue eyes and dark eyelashes. Long spiky dark purple hair. To be frank, her appearance could only be described by the word... beauty!
Though her outfit was... let's just say, not very appropriate for this sort of event but since nobody voiced out any complaints... it wasn't a big problem.
The outfit in question was a standard dominatrix outfit, complete with a mask and a whip too.
This was the pro hero, Midnight.
For the first time in his life, Shingen was completely enchanted by the member of the opposite sex.
This lady... her face, her build, her height, simply everything about her was divine in his eyes.
He didn't notice it, but he found himself gawking at her.
Midnight noticed the look, and gave him a little smile and a wink. Sent shivers down his spine.
"..Gotta wife her." He muttered to himself.
(Joke. no romance. I don't wanna write it.)
Then he felt somebody lightly elbow him in the side, he glanced over and noticed Yaoyorozu giving him a disapproving look.
Shingen shrugged, "What? She's a total beauty, even I'm not immune to that."
Yaoyorozu sighed, "It's not that... please don't gawk at her. Don't stoop as low as Mineta-san..."
Shingen chuckled, "Don't worry about that. This is the first time something like this has happened to me, never have I ever gawked at a woman before. Safe to say, my standards went through the roof."
"...Never before? Really?" Izuku, who was standing next to Shingen questioned
Shingen nodded with a smile, "Yeah, I'm not lying."
"Huh... that's... interesting." Kaminari who stood behind them spoke, not finding any other words to describe the moment.
"Quiet down everyone!" Midnight's stern voice washed over the students, "Representing the students is Bakugo Kqatsuki from Class 1-A!" Midnight announced.
Shingen barely holding back a laugh, spoke, "This ought to be good."
"Shut up. Gorilla." Bakugo pushed Shingen aside and walked right over the elevated platform, and slowly went up the stairs. Hands in his pocket, a very relaxed expression.
His entire being oozed confidence and self-assuredness.
Katsuki stood in front of the microphone, he was silent for a brief moment. Then he took a deep breath.
"I pledge... that I'll be number one." Bakugo spoke, complete confidence in his words.
"What the heck!"
"Stop messing around blondie!"
"Don't get so full of yourselves, class 1-A!'
All sorts of comments flew around the crowd, all of them directed directly at Bakugo and his class.
"Hahahaha!" Shingen was having the time of his life, laughing at the chaos Bakugo caused by his words.
"Yamazaki-kun! This is no laughing matter!" Iida shook him, trying to get him to stop but to no avail. It made Shingen laugh even more loudly instead.
"Hold on! I ain't done just yet!" Bakugo suddenly spoke in the microphone.
The crowd became quiet for a moment, waiting for him to continue his words.
Bakugo grabbed the microphone, turned around and pointed directly at Shingen.
"Yamazaki Shingen, this whole competition is between just you... and me. So, I swear here, in front of so many people... that I will beat you today."
Shingen stopped laughing, but a wide smile was present on his face.
He raised his hand and made the 'Come at me' gesture, if you know what that is.
Bakugo scoffed, placed the microphone back in place, and walked off the platform surrounded by boos and everything.
Chapter 34.
"Now, let's get started right away." Midnight picked up the microphone and announced, then pointed at a screen behind her.
"The first game is what you'd call a qualifier! Now, here is the fateful first game."
The screen lit up and what looked like a slot machine in a casino began to roll and finally it stopped.
'Obstacle race.' That would be the first game in the U.A. sports festival that would decide whether the students would qualify for the next round.
"All 11 classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium which is about four kilometers!" Midnight explained, "Our school's selling point is freedom," She snapped her whip.
Midnight licked her lips, for some reason, "As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!" She finished off.
With that said, lights turned on top of one of the tunnels and the students swiftly crowded the place, all of them trying to get a spot at the front so they'd have the advantage.
Let's just say, that there was a lot of pushing and pulling despite the fact that race hadn't even started yet.
Midoriya was taking deep breaths, trying to calm his beating heart down.
Shingen was digging in his ear, clearing out of ear wax.
Bakugo was scowling for no reason.
Todoroki was staring blankly at the lights, waiting for them to go off.
...And then it did.
"Start!" Midnight's voice came from behind, along with the crack of her whip.
The mob of students rushed into the narrow entrance, all of them trying to get to the front to swiftly get out of this tunnel. Which means, once again. Lots of pushing, elbowing, punching, headbutts.
Shingen was in the mob of students, not hurrying himself at all. This was the first stretch, he didn't have to rush ahead of others just yet. Once they got out of this tunnel, then he'd actually start trying.
Midoriya Izuku also shared the same thoughts, he hadn't activated his Quirk at all. He was simply waiting for the chance when he'd be able to.
Someone however, had different ideas about this.
Just when everyone reached the entrance, a slight chill could be felt in the air.
And in the blink of an eye, large amounts of ice erupted from beneath one student, that student being Todoroki Shoto.
Shingen reacted Quickly and managed to jump, he avoided having his feet frozen to the ground. Many students were quite unfortunate though.
Most of class 1-A managed to avoid the ice, the other students weren't able to.
Shingen began to rush forward, his feet slamming in the ground forcefully, leaving craters in shapes of his feet.
"Starting off strong huh... Todoroki." Shingen spoke with a small grin, admittedly, he was having tough time with the ice because his feet were slipping, that's why he had to apply this much force to keep himself grounded.
This way, he shattered the ice and advanced forward.
He got out of the tunnel, followed by his classmates Yaoyorozu, Bakugo, Aoyama and Kirishima.
"Come back here icy hot! Gorilla!" Bakugo screamed, blasting explosions off of his palms to propel him towards the front.
Shingen glanced back briefly and exactly when he did that... he saw somebody small, jumping around on purple balls he was throwing around.
"I've caught up to you! Yamazaki! Take this, my special attack!" He popped a ball off of his head, "Gra-"
He didn't get to finish, because a robotic hand slammed into him and knocked him away.
Shingen came to a stop immediately, he stood beside Todoroki and looked forward, taking in the scene in front of him.
Numerous green robots that appeared in the entrance exam were here as well.
"Lots of targets... found!" The voice came from the robot, as it turned it's gigantic head below and gazed at the crowd of students that formed behind Todoroki and Shingen.
They were the massive zero pointers.
"Oho! Looks like Obstacles have shown up already!" Present Mic's voice resounded back in the arena, he was currently serving as a commentator for the sports festival.
"Starting with... Robo inferno!"
The path was blocked by a line of extremely large robots, they were the zero point robots that were used in the entrance exam a while back.
Shingen gazed up at the robots, then looked at Todoroki who was still thinking, muttering something to himself.
Shingen stepped forward, his movements catching the attention of the camera that was observing them, as well as the attention of the many students who were behind them.
He rushed forward, stepping hard on the ground before he leapt off of his one leg, right towards one of the zero pointers.
He didn't use a martial arts technique, or anything that even resembled one.
Instead he drew his arm back and above his head, his fingers opened like a claw. He brought his hand down with a grunt of effort.
This was a move he was working on ever since he got healed up completely after the fight with the Nomu. He realized that he needed a medium-long ranged attack just in case things went south.
This movement combined with Shingen's impressive physical prowess, created a move that Shingen would call...
'Tiger's Claw.'
FWIIP
By utilizing his strength, he can create five shockwaves, or air slices, whatever it is you want to call it from each finger that could cut things down that were far away.
The robot that he swung at had parts of it's body completely clawed out and the body of the robot fell backwards.
Shingen utilized the gap in their defense and immediately charged forward, clearing the area and getting ahead of everybody.
"Woah! Yamazaki Shingen has cleared the path for himself so quickly! His strength is truly terrifying!" Present Mic complimented him, the crowd also began to cheer for him.
Todoroki drew his arm back and with a wave, an enormous amount of ice erupted from the ground that crashed into a robot that was in motion already. It froze completely before the ice gave way and broke off, the robot came tumbling to the ground.
Todoroki rushed forward also clearing the stage while closing off the way forward to the other combatants.
Meanwhile the students were left facing the numerous giant robots that were blocking their path.
"Hey... someone got trapped underneath the robots!" One of the students yelled from the back.
Then, from the head of one of the zero point robots, a spiky-haired young man burst out. This was Kirishima.
"Damn it! If it had been someone other than me, they'd have died!" Kirishima gnashed his teeth.
"Woah! Kirishima was inside the robot all along! Kirishima, Quirk: Hardening! His body can get super hard! Meaning he can be either the strongest shield, or the strongest spear!"
Present Mic introduced him to the entire crowd watching. Present Mic was doing this to focus the attention of the crowd, and of the pro heroes on these students to make sure they receive lots of requests for internships.
Right next to Kirishima, another person burst out from inside the robot.
"That class 1-A... is really filled with bastards! If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!" A boy whose entire body was silvery-gray, starting with the skin and ending with even the eyes.
"Woah! Tetsutetsu was underneath the robot too!" Present Mic shouted, "Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu! Quirk: Steel! His body can become exactly like steel! He can either be the strongest shield or the strongest spear!" Present Mic shouted.
Kirishima turned around and started running off the robot, tears streaming from his eyes.
"I have a hard enough time standing out as it is! And now someone has pretty much the same Quirk as me!"
"Wait you little-" Tetsutetsu gave chase immediately, not wanting to be left behind.
Down on the ground, Izuku was glancing up at the robots, a completely calm expression on his face.
Then he let out a sigh, "Alright... I should probably go now too..."
He quickly activated his Quirk, his body quickly surrounded by green electricity.
He then rushed forwards with extreme speed.
"Oh! Midoriya Izuku from Class 1-A! Guess he had enough of standing back didn't he?! Look at those moves! Midoriya Izuku! Quirk: Super strength! What it does should be pretty obvious!"
Aizawa's eyes widened and a large smile began to stretch across his lips, "Midoriya Izuku... you've finally managed to control your Quirk!"
Back in the arena, Izuku's classmates watched the green blur outmaneuver the robots easily and were stunned by what they were seeing.
"Woah! Midoriya's moving so well!" Uraraka exclaimed.
"Indeed! It looks like he has managed to control his Quirk! Simply phenomenal!" Iida smiled proudly as he gazed at Izuku.
After them, Bakugo came blasting all the way from the back. He expertly maneuvered around the robot much like Izuku and bypassed them completely, leaving the others to deal with the hassle. This was a race, if it wasn't... Bakugo would destroy the robots faster than anyone else could.
The gap between the first place Shingen and the second place Todoroki was widening considerably, as strong as Todoroki's Quirk was, he was simply no match for Shingen in this specific match.
Not to mention, Midoriya Izuku and Bakugo were hot on his tail and were catching up as well.
After travelling quite some distance, Shingen arrived at the second obstacle course.
"So the first obstacle course was a piece of cake for you?!" Present Mic shouted in the mic, "Let's see how you do here! It's 'The Fall'!"
The area ahead of him was basically a large drop, but there were pillars connected to each other with a rope. The idea here was to get these students to climb over the ropes.
Unfortunately, Shingen's physical strength and fitness made this a bit too easy.
Shingen jumped around the pillars and swiftly got to the other side without any trouble at all.
"...This course might need some revision, for people with super strength it's turning out to be a walk in the park. What do you think? Eraserhead?" Present Mic scratched his forehead and turned towards his colleague.
"I find myself agreeing with you." Eraserhead
"Hey hey... this is looking a bit too easy, what gives?" Shingen questioned to himself, he couldn't help but feel a smirk from forming on his mouth.
Chapter 35.
Slowly, the race was reaching it's climax. The students who were left behind got through the robots and 'The Fall', some had an easy time like Tsuyu Asui, Bakugo, Todoroki and Izuku, but others who didn't have Quirks for this had to grapple on the ropes and slowly make their way across.
Izuku and Bakugo were slowly catching up to Todoroki who was running as quickly as he could.
"Deku you bastard!" Todoroki heard Bakugo's voice coming from behind, he glanced back and saw Izuku running towards him with astonishing speed with Bakugo chasing right behind him by propelling his body forward with explosions.
Todoroki clicked his tongue and pushed himself even further, he begun spreading ice on the field using his foot do hamper at least Izuku since he was running, perhaps this ice would be enough to slow him down even a bit.
For Bakugo it wasn't a problem since he was already in the air, but for Izuku it did cause some issues.
Bakugo got ahead of Izuku with a small grin, his eyes were now set on the bigger prey ahead. Todoroki Shoto, and then finally... Yamazaki Shingen.
For the entire duration of the race, Shingen barely even sweated. Mostly because of the blazing sun, this distance of running wasn't enough to fatigue him at all.
Right now, he seemed to be approaching a different zone.
"Looks like a contestant has entered the final zone!" Present Mic shouted into the microphone again, "Danger mines! Welcome to the minefield, it's set up in a way so that you can tell exactly where the mine is! Exploit those eyes and legs!"
Shingen glanced at the minefield and chuckled to himself, "Too easy."
So he begun to jog, thanks to his eyes and motor skills, he was capable of stepping around the minefields and moving forward with decent enough speed.
"Looks like even this challenge is a piece of cake for this man! Eraserhead, what kind of a student is this Yamazaki? He has cleared every stage with no difficulty!"
Eraserhead sighed and spoke in his monotonous tone, "Yamazaki Shingen is the student who I believe will win the sports festival." He spoke, "Everything about him is head and shoulders above the rest of his classmates and peers. However... he still hasn't shown us his greatest strength just yet."
"Oh?! So he still has something up his sleeve then? I'm very intrigued by what it could be! Perhaps we will get to see it in the next competition."
Shingen was almost halfway through the minefield when he heard noise coming from behind him, he glanced back and saw Bakugo Katsuki was approaching him rapidly and behind Bakugo was Todoroki chasing him.
"Come here! Painted gorilla!" Bakugo shouted at him.
The mine field obviously wasn't a problem for Bakugo at all, he was rapidly clearing the distance between himself and Shingen.
Shingen turned around and ran to cross the mine field, accelerating as much as he could.
But, the mine fields prevented him from unleashing his top speed like before.
"Yo. Gorilla." Bakugo appeared behind him.
Shingen's head snapped back towards him, Bakugo threw his palm outwards but not at Shingen.
Instead... he aimed for his foot.
Shingen grinned, "Tricky bastard."
BOOM
The mine exploded covering the area in pink smoke.
Shingen looked down in surprise, the mine field wasn't all that powerful it seemed.
Because of this pause, Bakugo got ahead of Shingen and was already crossing the end of the mine field.
"Looks like the first place was taken from Yamazaki's arms! And I can't blame him at all, this student simply possesses the perfect Quirk and capabilities for this race!" Present Mic commented.
"Indeed, Bakugo Katsuki's Quirk, Explosion, is strong enough to propel his body in the air which gives him the advantage since he can simply skip the minefield altogether."
"Okay..." Shingen took a deep breath as he tensed his legs, "Here goes!"
Then he begun to run at high speed, much higher than before. The ground beneath his feet shattered and the mines exploded all around him but Shingen wasn't deterred at all, instead he begun to accelerate more and more.
And soon enough, he crossed the mine field as well and rushed forward.
"There we have it folks! Another person cleared the minefield, very easily in fact. It seems the mines didn't even affect him! Why didn't he do that from the start though?" Present Mic spoke. He knew exactly why, just wanted to give his colleague Aizawa a chance to speak.
Aizawa didn't like doing this, but Mic wasn't really leaving him with a choice because he was acting dumb.
Eraserhead let out a sigh, "Because he was being cautious, he didn't know how strong the mines were and didn't want to risk it."
"Oh! That makes sense, it seems your student despite looking so brutish actually has a good head on his shoulders huh?"
Bakugo Katsuki was flying forward with Shingen behind him in close pursuit.
The finish line was in sight now, Bakugo boosted up his explosions as much as he possibly could.
Shingen was still catching up, he was about 10 meters behind Bakugo.
The two entered a tunnel.
Shingen was 7 meters behind.
The light at the end of the tunnel was blinding.
Shingen was 3 meters behind.
"And that's it folks! We have a winner!" Present Mic shouted and the crowd erupted into cheers.
Bakugo Katsuki managed to cross the finish line first. He came to a skidding stop, he was completely out of breath.
Shingen was doing better compared to him, his breathing wasn't even labored. As if he didn't just run 4 kilometers.
Shingen approached Bakugo, "Good job there, Bakugo. You actually beat me, nice!" Shingen complimented him with a smile.
Bakugo finally managed to catch his breath and looked up, "This is nothing. We both know that I want to beat you in combat! Not in some stupid race!" He shouted aggressively, very much in character.
Shingen just shrugged, "A win is a win, just accept it. We will get to the fighting part later.."
Bakugo scoffed, "We better. I waited a long time for this."
"Looks like we have a rivalry going on here folks!" Present Mic commented with a small chuckle, "Doesn't just get your heart pumping in excitement?!"
Slowly, the other students came into the arena and finished the race.
The third place was taken by... none other than Todoroki, the fourth was Midoryia and so on.
Shingen jogged up to Midoriya and stretched his hand towards him, Midoriya perfectly dapped him up.
"Didn't know you could do that, guess training with grandpa Z has shown some terrifying results."
Izuku just chuckled, "Yeah, I guess... I've gotten a bit better at utilizing my Quirk. I traded raw power for more control and it might've been the best trade so far."
Shingen nodded rapidly, "For sure, it's better to be weaker but have greater control over your Quirk than to be much stronger and have none. Combine my martial arts with this and you'll be a terrifying opponent, I hope we meet in the matches Izuku." Shingen flashed him a very wide smile.
Izuku shivered a bit, "I hope we don't." he muttered.
Shingen just laughed and lightly slapped him on the back.
"The first game of the first-year stage is finally over." Midnight announced, "Take a look at the results!" She spoke.
And once more, a familiar screen appeared behind her stating all the rankings of everyone who participated in the race.
"The top 42 made it through to the next round. Those who didn't... don't worry, we've prepared other chances for you to shine."
She paused and again... she licked her lips.
"The real competition begins now!" She announced cracking her whip.
"Now then... here is the second game, I already know what it is," The screen behind her began to 'spin' the events
"What could it be? What could it be?" She teased, voicing out what everyone was probably thinking.
And then it stopped, 'Cavalry Battle.' That was the next game.
"It's this!" Midnight pointed at the screen.
Shingen looked at the screen for a second, for two seconds. He didn't get what the heck this cavalry battle was.
Though some people gulped nervously, among one of those was Kaminari. "I'm really bad at those!"
Midnight glanced at the students and begun to explain, "Let me explain." She turned around, facing the screen.
"Two participants form teams of two to four people as they wish." She spoke and an image of the heroes Thirteen, All Might and Present Mic appeared.
Shingen hummed, "So it's like... one is the rider and the others make up a 'horse'." Shingen muttered to himself, rubbing his chin, "Seems... interesting."
"This is basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but one thing is different... very different." She turned just her head around and looked at the students with a small smile.
"Based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value." She explained.
The screen begun to display the leaderboard and the points were written next to the placements."
"The points go up by five, meaning... number 42 has 5 points, 41 has 10 and so on." Midnight then paused briefly, and pointed at the first place, "However... the first place has 10 million points!"
Instantly, everyone's heads snapped toward Bakugo Katsuki who smiled dangerously. "Come at me!"
It was pretty clear that most people would be gunning for Bakugo Katsuki.
"I don't envy this guy." Shingen chuckled to himself, then glanced up at his position.
2nd place, 205 points.
"Guess I can work with this." He muttered and he yawned.
"Now you have fifteen minutes to find a team! The timer starts now!" Midnight announced and immediately the students begun to ask around and look for teams.
Shingen felt somebody tap him on the shoulder, he glanced back to see who it was.
"Team up with me, Gorilla." Bakugo Katsuki's aggressive voice came from behind.
"I'm honored but... I already have my own ideas about a partner and... you're too aggressive, even with 10 million points I know for sure that you'll go on the offensive, so I'll pass on that. Sorry, Bakugo." Shingen bowed and apologized sincerely.
"Tch, fine." Bakugo clicked his tongue and walked away, Shingen's assessment was completely on the spot. Bakugo planned on going on the offense to crush his opponents.
Shingen then glanced around and his eyes landed on one lone girl.
"She'll do." He muttered and began to walk towards her.
The girl in question was someone of medium height with green, thorn-covered vines for her, one set wrapped around her in the shape of a cross, she was kind of... cute too.
The girl's eyes landed on him as he approached her.
"Hey, Shiozaki-san right? Want to team up?" Shingen asked her casually.
The girl thought it over, "Do you have other teammates in mind? Yamazaki-san?" She questioned.
Shingen shook his head, "Too many teammates are unnecessary, I only need the 'rider' and that will be you."
"May I ask why me in particular?" Shiozaki questioned.
Shingen nodded, "You should have no doubt seen my physical capabilities and overall strength. What I have in mind is that you'll be the only rider, you'll sit on my shoulders and we will play on defense the entire time. Or if you're feeling ambitious, we could try gunning for the ten million points. My real reason is your Quirk, you can hide the headbands with your hair to make it difficult for others to take them, so we won't really need much more defense-wise."
Shiozaki hummed, thinking over the proposal, "...It seems sound," She muttered to herself and then glanced up at Shingen, "I accept the proposal, Yamazaki-san. I look forward to an excellent partnership with you."
Shingen grinned, "Lovely."
Then he offered her a hand, she shook it, although a slight blush covered her cheeks.
(No romance. Just reminding you guys once more.)
Author's note: Some of you might be pissed that Shingen didn't get first place. Most of the MHA fanfics have the mc take first place in the race but not in this case, Bakugo's Quirk is too busted for this. I genuinely do not know how he didn't win in canon MHA, it makes absolutely zero sense to me. He can literally fly over all the obstacles. Anyways, if you drop this fanfic because of this then I don't know what to tell you.
Chapter 36.
The teams were swiftly formed.
Shiozaki Ibara the rider, Yamazaki Shingen the steed, combined points 385.
They were very comfortably in the fifth place tied with Hagakure's team, beaten by teams Midoriya, Todoroki, Tetsutetsu, and Bakugo.
Not in that order.
"So, are you ready? Shiozaki-san?" Shingen spoke, as he stretched his body.
"Yes, I am ready." She responded calmly. Shingen gave him his headband of 205 points, combined with Shiozaki's 185 meant they had 390 points.
"Do you want to aim for first place? Or should we focus on defense? I'll follow your lead." Shingen asked her.
Shiozaki fell silent, thinking about it for a brief moment. "...We should try." She spoke.
Shingen nodded, "Alright then."
"Take your positions!" Midnight's voice cut through the arena,
Shingen took out the bunny hair tie Mirko gave him a while back and tied his hair into a man bun to make sure it wouldn't get in Shiozaki's way.
Then he crouched down and Shiozaki somewhat shyly made her way over and climbed on top of his shoulders.
Shingen got up, "Shiozaki-san, make sure you use your wines to cover the points and if you can, use them to hold onto me as well so you don't fall off, I'll warn you in advance when I'll accelerate at high speeds but... just to be safe."
"I know Yamazaki-san, I' won't disappoint you." She spoke, a slight blush forming on her cheeks, then her eyes locked onto the rabbit hair tie he wore, she covered her mouth with her hand and giggled to herself.
Then, the vines on her head began to spread, they covered the headband that was on her neck and made it impossible for someone to get to them, and then some vines spread and wrapped themselves around Shingen's torso.
"...Feels ticklish." Shingne muttered as he looked down at the green vines that were slowly covering his entire torso.
Present Mic's voice came from above, "Alright! Everyone's made their teams right?! I'm not gonna ask if you're ready or not!"
"3...2...1... Start!" Present Mic shouted and almost immediately everyone started heading for Bakugo Katsuki, minus Shiozaki and Shingen.
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I'm gonna be skipping over the entire cavalry battle shit, I genuinely don't even know how I should even go about this particular part. Sorry if you were looking forward to it but I'm gonna skip it, I will write a quick summary here though.
Shingen and Shiozaki managed to snag some points and comfortably placed top 3, right behind Todoroki's team. Bakugo Katsuki managed to keep his lead of 10 million points, once he realized that he was outmatched he played defensive the entire time.
Again, this is probably the only thing I'm going to actually skip. I don't think that anyone ACTUALLY wants to see the entire cavalry race right? But if you guys REALLY want to see it then sure I'll try to write it, but it's gonna take me a long ass time.
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"STOP!" Midnight shouted in the microphone, "Game over! Cavalry Battle is finished."
Shiozaki let out a breath of relief, she slowly untangled her vines from Shingen's torso and climbed down.
"Nice work out there Shiozaki-san." He complimented with a small smile and offered his fist for a fist bump.
Shiozaki smiled and bumped her smaller fist with his, "You too, good job."
"Now then! Let's take an afternoon break to gather our strength and we will continue after!" Present Mic announced, the crowd up in the stands slowly got up and left.
"I'll head over to my classmates. See you around Shiozaki-san." Shingen bowed, turned on his heel and walked towards Izuku.
"See... you, Yamazaki-san." Shiozaki muttered, a small smile on her face.
Shingen walked up to Izuku who was sitting on the ground and trying to catch his breath, "Yo! Izuku, nice work out there. You almost had me a couple of times." Shingen grinned, "Though... you still need some practice to beat me."
Izuku chuckled, "Yeah, didn't realize how... advantageous it is to have only one teammate, you basically ran around the entire arena without so much as breaking a sweat."
Shingen nodded, "Mhm, for me it's easier to have only one teammate, though you do give up on more versatility at times because there are only two people. Plus... if my teammate wasn't Shiozaki, I probably wouldn't have done so well."
Izuku playfully clicked his tongue, "That Quirk of hers is really good, you protected the headbands so easily! Nobody could even steal it! Maybe... Tetsutetsu could've done it, but I guess he didn't target her since she was his classmate."
"Quite the gentleman isn't he?" Shingen smiled.
Izuku laughed, "Anyway, we should probably get something to eat... I'm really hungry."
"Yeah I agree." Shingen spoke and then he grabbed Izuku by the back of his shirt and pulled him up on his feet.
"Let's grab Iida and Uraraka on the way too."
"Fine by me." Shingen shrugged.
They then located Uraraka and Iida and the four of them went out of the field looking for a cafeteria.
The cafeteria itself was pretty large and the food was made by yours truly, Lunch Rush. Everyone's favorite.
They bought whatever they wanted and took an empty table.
"Yamazaki-kun, who was that girl you were teaming with?" Uraraka questioned with a smile.
"Shiozaki Ibara from class 1-B, she seemed strong so I teamed up with her." Shingen answered calmly.
"Hmm..." Uraraka hummed her eyes narrowing slightly, "So... girls like that are your type then?"
Iida froze while Izuku almost choked on his food.
Shingen turned his head towards her, "No. She's beautiful and strong, that's for sure. Frankly, anyone would be lucky to be with her. However, I currently don't have any interest in romance. Would only get in the way."
Iida clapped his hands with a proud smile, "Great thinking Yamazaki-san!"
Uraraka slumped, "Aww... I was expecting something else, I thought you'd be all embarrassed and bashful."
Shingen chuckled, "You're gonna have to try harder than that, who put you up to this anyway? This doesn't fit well with your... personality."
Uraraka flinched slightly and scratched the back of her head, "Hehe... you caught that huh? Well... it was the girls who put me up to it."
"Should've expected that. Anyways, if I were to suddenly develop an interest in romance... the girl has to be... I don't know, extraordinary or something." Shingen shrugged.
Then he felt a hand tap him on the shoulder, "As extraordinary as Midnight?"
Shingen glanced back towards the source of the noise, it was a classmate of his that he hadn't had a conversation before.
"Kaminari-san." Shingen muttered.
"Yeah, that's me!" the yellow-haired boy smiled widely, "Anyways, what was that about? You were gawking at her man! I understand completely though. Just... didn't think you'd be like me in that regard."
Shingen snorted, "Just because I have no interest in romance or relationships doesn't mean I'm completely immune to charms of beautiful women... Especially older women..." Shingen muttered that last part.
Though everyone on the table heard it.
Kaminari's eyes widened and his mouth fell open, "He... He's just like me!" He shouted.
Uraraka's eyes were shining at the new information she just received, probably planning to tell her friends already.
Midoriya nodded, "Right, I remember you mentioning something about that a while back." He muttered, "Something about a woman in Lightning Gym?"
"It's okay if you didn't say anything more, Izuku." Shingen spoke, his noise going just a pitch higher than normal.
Izuku laughed loudly, "Alright I won't say anything more."
"This... vulgar talk aside, the next competition would no doubt be one on one battles right? Just as it traditionally is every year." Iida questioned straightening his glasses.
"I hope so, I want to fight Bakugo again." Shingen spoke, his mouth full of food then paused, "Actually, I want a piece of Izuku and you too, Iida-san."
The two both smiled, "Bring it on, Shin." Izuku said with a large smile.
"I'd be happy to show you exactly how strong my kicks are." Iida spoke with confidence.
A bead of sweat dropped from Kaminari's forehead, "Alright well... I'm just gonna go, see you guys around."
"See ya, Kaminari."
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Afternoon break was finally over and now the students back in the field and the stands were slowly being filled out by spectators.
"Now that lunch is finally over it's time to reveal the last game, but there's good news for those who didn't manage to make it this far! Before we get to the final game... we offer you! The recreational games!" Present Mic shouted with great enthusiasm.
"Oh yes! We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!"
And yes. They actually did that. To the side there were some girls in cheerleading outfits doing... cheerleading.
Shingen frowned a bit, he didn't feel very... cheered up.
Shit joke.
But Shingen still laughed at it, looking a little crazy. Some students moved a couple steps away from him.
Shingen let out a sigh and then yawned, "Oh man... just start the final game already." he muttered.
As he was spacing out, the girls from his class entered the field. They also wore the same cheerleading outfits.
"Eh? What are they doing over there?" Mic's confused voice was heard, "Class 1-A what kind of fan service is this?" He questioned.
The girls though wore blank expressions.
"I see... I should've known." Yaoyorozu muttered, "I should've known not to trust a word out of Mineta-san's and Kaminari-san's mouth."
Yes, during lunch right before Kaminari made his way over to Shingen, he and Mineta managed to trick the girls into wearing... that.
They gave each other thumbs up.
Shingen let out a sigh as he scratched the back of his head, his eyes were locked onto Mineta and his face was scrunched up in disgust. Again.
He just couldn't fathom how this guy was in the hero course, or why Aizawa kept him around this long.
"The cheerleading aside! Everyone, let's have fun competing in the recreational games!"
Then the large screens on top of the stadium lit up, "When that's over, the sixteen from the top competitors who made it to the final round will duke it out in a tournament-style one on one battles! Yes, yes! I know all of you were waiting for this! Trust me, I was too."
The people who'd participate in this specific tournament would be...
Yamazaki Shingen, Shiozaki Ibara, Midoriya Izuku, Tokoyami Fumikage, Uraraka Ochako, Hatsume Mei.
Bakugo Katsuki, Sero Hanta, Kirishima Eijiro, Mina Ashido. Todoroki Shoto, Yaoyorozu Momo, Kaminari Denki, Iida Tenya.
And lastly. Shinso Hitoshi, Aoyama Yuga, Ojiro Mashirao, Shoda Nirengeki.