Chapter 10: Vigilante's Life: Breaks are Necessary
Vigilante's Life: Breaks are Necessary
Kaine swung through the city at rapid speeds. He had recently just taken down a small-time gang that was connected to Land Shark and was helping by donating money to Yoshii Realty. For almost a week now Kaine has been taking down these smaller time criminals, slowly checking off the list of names of those affiliated with Suda, Ridge Racer, and especially, Yoshii. At this point he was looking for anything that could lead him to his next target, however, everything has been dark. The streets have been surprisingly clean of the filth he deals with. Normally, anyone else would be happy, but for Kaine, he was frustrated.
"Not a damn peep." he grumbled in English.
"From the sounds of it, these men connected to Land Shark, The Abarai, and Ridge Racer have began doing their dirty work in the day where they know you don't work." Aleks said over comms, "You've been scaring them, spider. They're getting desperate. Some have called you a ghost."
"Ghost?" Kaine echoed.
"Da. I've heard chatter of The Spider-Man stopping crime." Aleks laughed, "Looks like you've become a boogeyman."Kaine stopped on a lamppost and sighed, "Sorry, spider. Thems the breaks, as you Yankees say. Best thing to do now is to take break. Lay low for a while. Let them think you've given up. Then you jump them when they are vulnerable."
Kaine sighed again as he jumped in the air and began swinging again. "HEEEEEEEY, SPIIIIIIDER!" an aggressive voice called out.
"Oh, Jesus Christ." Kaine looked back and saw the little stalker he's had on his back for the last week or so. "GOD! Will you piss off already!?" Kaine shouted as he swung from building to building. Right behind him, however, was the sixth rank hero: Mirko. Evidently, it seems she was truly adamant about chasing after him, he thought she was joking! "I'm a vigilante, not a massive villain, don't you have anything better to do?"
"You kidding?!" Mirko yelled out as she hopped from building to building, keeping a frighteningly close distance between herself and Kaine, "With you beating up all the villain punkasses around the city I have nothing else to do!"
"You do this every day! Take one from the Americans and go fight another hero or something!" Kaine tried to escape by swinging higher in the air by swinging up a tall building.
"Nah, chasing after you is a lot more fun!" Mirko yelled out as she did the unthinkable and jumped off a building to one of Kaine's hanging weblines, then she began to chasing him by swinging from the webs he left behind. "Hey, this is a pretty fun way to travel, I see why you do it!" She went for the next webline, however, when she jumped to it she just barely missed the strand and went into free fall, "Oh shit..." she groaned.
Kaine looked back and his eyes widened in surprise as he saw the hero fall. He immediately stopped swinging and shot a webline behind him and launched himself downward at rapid speeds. He fired another webline at Mirko's torso and pulled her to him. He embraced the hero in a one armed hug before firing another webline with his free arm and swinging himself up to a rooftop.
Kaine set the hero down on the roof and let out a sigh of relief, "ARE YOU INSANE!?" Kaine yelled out, "That's like a five story drop! You would have died if I didn't catch you!"
"Oh-ho, so you care?" Mirko teased, "I thought you wanted me to leave you alone. The hero began pacing around the vigilante, looking him up and down.
"I-I don't want people to get hurt!" Kaine defended, "You're doing your job, I get that but...what I'm doing is important and is kinda above your head...metaphorically and literally." Mirko's ear twitched in frustration upon hearing that, "So, just leave me alone and let me do what has to be done."
Kaine went to swing away, but as his feet left the roof, he felt his back leg get gripped before he was spun and slammed back onto the roof of the building. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Mirko asked, a crazy smile now on her face, "I told you, chasing you is a lot more fun than dealing with two-bit morons. So you're gonna stick around and you're gonna fight me like a man!"
Kaine stared at the hero for a few seconds, a little tense...but then he relaxed and straightened himself out. "What? No." Kaine shot a webline to a billboard before launching himself in the air and swing away.
Mirko was left baffled, her eyes widened in shock as Kaine just left without even attempting to fight her. "Hey, where are ya' going!? Get back he-" she was cut off as she tried to hop after him again, but couldn't move her feet as they were webbed to the ground below her. "When did-?" she looked up again and saw that Kaine was already gone and out of sight. The hero grabbed her ears and covered her eyes in frustration, "SON OF A BITCH!"
Elsewhere...
In a large dark room, a man stood facing a window, raindrops falling against it and sliding down. Down below the man could see practically the entire city of Musutafu, the lights shining and some of the flashier quirks of heroes being shown as they do their jobs. He took a long puff of his cigar before blowing it out, watching as the smoke hit the glass and spread out like some sort of weird explosion. "We have a problem." he said with a gruff voice.
Behind the man was The Assassin, who stood at an opposite end of the large table that was in the room. This was the first time she was meeting her employer face-to-face and not through Tatsu. However, despite that, she still couldn't actually see him as he was shrouded in darkness, the only light being from the different city lights outside that made it so she could only see a silhouette. "He's...tougher than I imagined." Looking in front of her, Assassin was presented several photos from CCT footage that showed a vigilante clad in black with a white spider on his chest. She could see a picture of a web firing out of his wrist and she knew right away it was the same vigilante she that she had disposed of at Suda's residence. "How long has he been active?"
"How long has he been active," the man echoed, "THE WHOLE DAMN TIME!" he yelled as he slammed his fists on the table, cracking it from his side all the way to the pictures on the opposite end. "I pay you a lot of money to be my personal hitman and you fucked up the job! Now the flow of revenue has slowed to a halt and it doesn't look like it'll let up any time soon! The men have no room to breathe out there." the man turned around again and took another puff of his cigar, "I've come too far, worked to hard this last decade for my plan to be squandered by some bug in cargo jeans."
Without facing Assassin, the man pointed to her, "I don't mind getting my hands dirty if necessary, but I would prefer not too. I hired you for a reason. So now you are pest control." he growled, "I want this bug stamped out, and if he's not...just know you are replaceable. Don't make me call...Him." Assassin gulped at the mention of Him. "Take care of the bug. The moment he shows his face again I want him cut to ribbons. Bring me his head on a pike!" he took another puff, this time Assassin saw a slight reflection of the mans face in the window, but it was too distorted to make out, "Now go." With that, Assassin nodded and left the building.
The next day...
Kaine sat in his desk at school the morning after his vigilante exploits. He had actually shown up rather early, but that's mostly because he was out so late the night before he was scared that if he closed his eyes he would oversleep and miss classes. So, his solution was to stay up the extra three hours and show up to homeroom early so he could just sleep there. He was tired, he ached, he was hungry. It wasn't ideal, but it was better than nothing, at least he could solve one of those issues now.
He leaned in his seat and tilted his head back, he was the only one in the class and he was going to take advantage of the quiet. I need to figure out what to do about Ms. Mirko.Kaine thought as he closed his eyes. She's been on my ass like a stalker. I either need to be more discrete or take her head on like she wants. Kaine winced as he remembered his first fight with Mirko at Heroes Paradise. Maybe the latter isn't that great of an idea. I only did so well because it was an enclosed space, even smaller than the actual room. Open area fights like on that rooftop...I don't know, I could probably just hide and get the jump on her if I needed to. But I felt the strength of her kick. If I got hit in my shin by that again I probably would have snapped my leg. Kaine adjusted himself in his seat as he thought about the potential dangers of fighting Mirko. Yeah...maybe I should just keep running. I would rather not fight heroes if I don't need to.
"YO, KAINE!" Kaine jumped in surprise and shot his head forward as his desk was slammed on and his name yelled. When his head went forward he collided with something and heard a loud thunk sound. "OW! Oh...damn!" Kaine opened his eyes to see Setsuna crouched in front of his desk, holding her head in pain, "Ow, owowowowow...that kinda backfired didn't it?"
"Wow, that was a loud thunk." Kodai mentioned, allowing Kaine to hear her voice for probably only the third or fifth time since he's been in class. "Is your head made of bricks or something."
"I told you not to bother him." Kendo said with a sigh as she pinched the bridge of her nose, "Well, live and learn right?" she gave a slight smile and looked towards Kaine, "You're here early. Couldn't sleep or something? I only ask because...well, you have some massive baggage going on in the eye area." she chuckled.
Kaine rubbed his eyes, yawned and stretched his arms out before popping his back. "Just a little bit." he chuckled, "Stayed up a little too late last night. I was playing some old arcade emulators so that when me and the boys go back I can absolutely wipe the floor with them."
"A-HA! I knew you were practicing! You're a dirty liar!" Tetsutetsu yelled out as he set his stuff down.
Kendo rolled her eyes and lifted Kaine's chin up so she could get a better look at it. "You're lying. You're face is bruised up. Did you get into another fight? Or is this from you're 'training'?" Woah, she sounds pissed. Kind of rare from her. Kaine thought.
"I didn't get into a fight, relax. I just took a blow to the head in training. It was my fault, I wasn't paying attention, relax." Well, what he said wasn't wrong. He did indeed take a blow to the head, but it was more along the lines of the number six hero slammed him head first onto a rooftop. Yes, it did indeed hurt, but something told him the frustration Mirko had for not being able to escape for two hours was oh so worth it.
Kendo frowned at Kaine's response and put her hands on her hips, "It's great you are taking training so seriously, but you and everyone else here need to know when to take a break. You can't exert yourself so much that you are covered in bruises before the festival even starts." she sighed, "Look, the festival starts tomorrow. Maybe take today off, huh?"
Kaine scoffed, "Why would I do that? What would be the point of doing all this training if I'm gonna quit at the end? I'm gonna take this all the way so I can go out there and kick Class A's ass!" Kaine received a cheer from many of the male students in class all the while the girls groaned.
"Men, I swear." Kendo said while shaking her head.
"Well, at least he's lively." Setsuna laughed.
The day continued as normal, or rather, as normal as it possibly could go. Kaine was still doing his best to sleep, he had become quite the stealth sleeper in middle school and was able the master the ancient art of 'Sleeping With Your Head Up'. Needless to say, Kaine didn't really catch much of what was being said, however, he DID know someone who was paying attention.
"Kendo, please!" Kaine begged as he sat at the table with the girls, trying his damndest to get Kendo to hand over her notes, "I promise you, I'll do anything! I'm a bit of a handyman, do you need your pipes cleaned out? I'm your guy!"
Setsuna spit her juice out on her tray and gasped for air as she couldn't contain her laughter. "Oh, bold choice of words. I respect it."
Kaine blushed slightly at what she was saying and threw a couple of french fries at her head, "Shut up!" he said as his voice cracked.
Many of the girls looked to each other with confused expressions and Kendo shrugged, "I don't get it."
Setsuna had a large grin plastered on her face, "It's a euphemism for-MMPH!" she was cut off just in time by Kaine webbing her mouth shut.
Kaine took a deep breath and stretched his body across the table so he was in front of Kendo's face, his hands claspped together, "So, what'ya say? Wanna lend me your notes from the last week? I'll owe you big time." he gave a nervous smile and all he got as a response was Kendo grabbing his head with her enlarged hand and pushing him back. "But Kendo, sleeping is important and you said we have to take care of our bodies!" Kaine whined, his voice muffled from Kendo's hand.
The class president rolled her eyes and let go of Kaine, "So NOW you care about your body's health. Sorry, Kaine. You're gonna have to ask someone else. Consider this a punishment."
"What are you, my mom?" Kaine groaned. He then left the girls table and went to where the other boys were sitting, hoping to get a different response.
"Harsh." Setsuna stated, the webbing now off her face, however, there was a slight red mark left from the fluid where she ripped it off, "You could've given him your notes and he'd give it back the next day. Kaine's a pretty reliable guy, it's not like he's Tetsutetsu or something."
"Not the point." Kendo sighed, "This is the fourth time in two weeks Kaine has asked someone for their notes, he's not paying attention. It's a bad precedent. He has to realize he can't always rely on others to have the information for him. And maybe it'll teach him to actually get some sleep instead of staying up all night doing what? Playing games? C'mon, save it for the weekend."
"Absolutely right," Ibara nodded, "Kaine is an intelligent and studious classmate, but he lets other things get in his way. Training for hours a day to the point you are hurting your body isn't healthy. It'll hurt him more in the festival than help him."
Well this sucks. Kaine thought as he rubbed the back of his head in frustration. I totally have no idea what we talked about today. Tetsutetsu let me see his notes but...man that dude writes so little he may as well have given me nothing at all. He began walking back home but stopped when he heard his name get called out. Turning around he saw Kendo walking approaching him, a book in one arm and her backpack strapped around her shoulders. "Kaine, where are you going? To go do training, I assume?"
Kaine shrugged his shoulders, "I mean, I guess, that's the plan. Why? What does our great class president have for me to do?" he asked with a mock salute, "I'll do anything for our great prez, even if it means...taking a life." he then made a finger gun with his right hand and made a cocking sound as he pulled his thumb back, "Agent Double-0 Shida, license to thrill!"
Kendo held a hand to her mouth to hide a smile, "So...in English, it would be Yooshida?" she asked with a chuckle.
"Still working on it." Kaine shook his head, "Um, what's up? Seriously. Do you need something?"
Kendo sighed, "Listen, me and a bunch of others are just concerned about your training. I'm worried it's putting too much strain on your body."
Kaine cocked an eyebrow, "You're worried?"
"Of course I'm worried!" Kendo retorted, "You're a classmate. If anyone else was being put through the wringer like you are I'd be worried for them. I mean...what sort of class president would I be if I didn't show concern for my fellow 1-B classmates?"
"Pfft. Not the answer I hoped." Kaine mumbled.
Kendo shifted her eyes back and forth a few times, "Then...then why don't you come over to my apartment?" Kaine blinked a few times in disbelief in what he heard. The boy even cleaned out his ears and looked around to make sure that he did indeed hear what he did. "I just...I'm worried you're gonna get in trouble. And, I think it would also be a good chance to help you with your studies or at least make sure the notes you got were adequate."
"I got Tetsutetsu's." Kaine said with a frown which lead both students to cringing.
Kendo rubbed the back of her neck and bit lip, "Okay, so maybe we'll have to go through everything again. Just...I want to make sure you're not falling behind while everything is going on. Training is good, but you need a balance." she made her point by balancing a pen on her finger. Kaine had to admit, the fact the pen wasn't moving was pretty impressive, "So, come on. I'll help you study, make some tea, maybe some food, and you can fix my garbage disposal."
"Ah," Kaine laughed, "So you are taking me up on the offer."
"Well, I didn't want the others to know. It's embarrassing." Kendo frowned, "Plus I can't afford someone to look at it, and you happened to offer earlier today. Can you blame me?'
Kaine clicked his tongue as he thought about what Aleks told him the night before. He smiled and nodded, "Yeah, sure. I'll fix your garbage disposal. But you better be serious about feeding me! I'm damn near out of food, I haven't hit the store yet."
Kendo chuckled, "Yeah, I'll feed you."
As the two walked away Setsuna watched and had a devious smile plastered across her face. "Oh, very interesting." she laughed, "Guess this means it's time for Operation Wingman! WOO!"
Kendo led Kaine through town to a set of apartment towers. There was quite a few of them bunched together, at least eight or nine complexes as a part of one whole 'village' of sorts. That's too many bunched together for Kaine's taste. Bad enough you usually have like twenty or so people living in the same complex as you, but then you have nine other buildings right next to you with just as many people. And that was being generous! The complexes clearly held more than twenty people though, each floor looked to hold eight or so rooms and there was EIGHT FLOORS. EIGHT! That's sixty-four people to a building, five hundred-seventy-six in the entire lot! That's so many people to be right next to you. That's basically one of those bourgeois resorts rich people would go to, minus all the cool stuff that came with resorts like babes in bikinis or coked out businessmen trying to fight off a shark.
Kaine continued to follow Kendo up the steps of one of the further buildings, she wasn't on the top floor, thank God, however, she was in the middle on floor four. She was on building four, floor four, apartment 4. Really weird string of coincidences, but at least Kaine knew he wouldn't get lost if he came back! Wait...why would I come back? This is a one and done deal right? Kaine thought. Then again, it is possible something else breaks, and I'm a lot cheaper than finding a licensed plumber or electrician to fix your issues.
"Here we are," Kendo said with a chuckle, "Home sweet home." she unlocked the door and let Kaine inside. The boy wiped his shoes on a carpet just in front of the door and removed them, followed by Kendo who began showing him the apartment. "Here you have the living room, obviously, over there you have the kitchen, if you go down the small hallway there it will lead you to a hallway closet, the bathroom both of which are on the left, and my room to the right." the girl shrugged and she leaned up against a counter in the kitchen, "It's not much, but for now, it's home."
Kaine was absolutely baffled by that line, Not much? he thought, This place is damn near three times bigger than my apartment! The living room alone is bigger, but you're own room too? This place is crazy. Kaine whistled, trying not to look too dumbstruck, "What do you mean? The place is nice." Kaine complimented, "It's clean, it's very open, fairly close to the school. I say this is a solid apartment." he nodded.
Kendo chuckled, "Thanks. Now, if you want tea and something to eat I ask that you fix the garbage disposal first."
Kaine nodded and set down his backpack in the living room followed by removing his blazer and rolling up his sleeves. "Okay, what seems to be the problem?" he asked.
Kendo sighed and flicked a switch that was by her sink several times only got nothing to happen. "See, before it was just making a weird sound. Not the Grkrkrkrk sound it usually makes when getting rid of food but more like a Ooooooommmmmm sound like a microwave." Kaine had to desperately hold his composure so he wouldn't laugh at Kendo imitating sounds of the appliance. "But now, nothing is happening!" she complained, "No sound, nothing. It's like it's jammed or something."
"Mm, strawberry or grape?" Kaine replied, gaining a questioning look from Kendo. "You said 'jammed' I said 'strawberry or grape' you know, like jam that you spread on toast? Nevermind, it's fine." Kaine flicked the switch that Kendo had a few times, nodding to himself. "Best guess is that it isn't getting power right now, you'd be able to hear at least...something. But I'm not getting anything." Kaine then opened up the cabinets that lead under the sink and looked towards the back. There he saw the outlet plug-in that belonged to the garbage disposal just lying on the ground. "Bad news: it's a wiring problem." Kaine joked.
"How can you tell?" Kendo asked.
Kaine came up from under the sink and flicked the switch, turning on the garbage disposal and allowing it to make that Ooooommmm sound Kendo was describing, "Well, you kinda need it plugged in." Kaine chuckled. Kendo's face became red from embarrassment and she began to bang her head against her kitchen counter. "Lucky for you, this isn't a serious issue. Sounds like it's just clogged." Kaine lied down on his back and turned on his phone flashlight so he could see the bottom of the disposal better. "Now there should be a-A-HA!" he had been moving his hand around the appliance looking for a specific piece when he finally felt tape. He removed the object from the tape to shoe an Allan Wrench. He then used the wrench to manually unclog the machine. "Turn it on, you get anything?" he asked. Kendo flicked the switch and they still got the clogging sound. Kaine clicked his tongue and rotated the wrench a different way, "How about now?" This time when the switch was flipped, Kendo and Kaine heard the sound the appliance was supposed to be making. Again, Kendo began to bang her head against the kitchen counter in embarrassment.
Kaine silently laughed at Kendo banging her head as he shut off the water and removed the bottom of the disposal so he could throw away the big chunks that clogged the thing. "What the hell?" Kaine pulled out the small cylindrical tube to find what looked to be chicken bones and fish bones. "Oh, I know you did not throw bones in your disposal."
Kendo's eyes widened slightly as she began darting them around the room so she didn't look at Kaine, "Noooooo." she replied while trying to whistle...poorly.
Kaine face palmed before throwing the contents in the trash, "I know it's called a garbage disposal, but that doesn't mean you can just throw your garbage in there. It's for small things like vegetables or excess pasta. Not bones." he said with emphasis while he dumped the contents in the garbage and then reattaching the disposal and turning the water on again. "I'll take that dinner and studying now." he replied with a clap of his hands.
Kendo covered her face with her hands and groaned. Had she known it would have been that easy to fix she would have done it herself, now she just looks like a fool. "Is ramen okay?"
The two sat in the living room for some time, Kendo helping Kaine with his notes while they waited for the delivery Kendo had ordered. Kaine was thankful in the end because at least he didn't have to try and decipher Tetsutetsu's handwriting to try and get a grasp at what they had been learning. Though, of course, Kaine wouldn't be in this situation if he had been paying attention from the beginning, but that's neither here nor there now. However, it wasn't entirely his fault, he was out doing good after all, though Kendo didn't have to know that part.
Eventually, the food that Kendo ordered had arrived and the two decided to take a break from studying and just do things you would normally do when trying to get to know your classmate better. "So like...I noticed you said there was only one room." Kaine started, "You and your parents share or something?"
Kendo slurped her ramen and chuckled, "No, I live alone at the moment. I'm from the Chiba prefecture. I got into UA and my parents set me up in this complex."
Kaine let out a whistle, "Wow. So parents are pretty loaded then, huh?"
Kendo shrugged, "Eh, not really. Dad owns a gym and mom is a voice actor. They get by."
Kaine blinked a few times, "Um...anything I may have heard your mom in?"
Kendo nodded, "Maybe? She was the Japanese voice for April O'Neil in the last animated Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles show. She does a lot of dubbing work for foreign shows. She was even in one of the Wolfenstien games."
Kaine's mouth was agape, trying to comprehend what he was told, "Your mom is rad." He shook his head quickly before getting back on track, "Um...if you aren't that loaded, then how are your parents paying rent here?"
"Oh, I'm in the hero course, so UA pays for two thirds of my rent." Kendo explained.
"TWO THIRDS?!" Kaine nearly choked on his food.
"Yeah. A lot of out of town students get holed up in apartments like this. There's a few students from Support in this very building. Why, didn't you know?"
Kaine shook his head, "I'm from Musutafu. Born and raised." he said, letting a slight smile show.
Kendo nodded, "Still, that must be nice. Getting to be close with your parents all the time." Kendo looked up and saw Kaine's expression change to one that looked sorrowful.
"I...actually live alone." Kaine replied quietly.
Kendo's eyes widened as she was able to put two and two together, "O-Oh my God, I'm SO sorry!" she apologized, "D-Did they both go?"
Kaine shook his head, "No, I never knew my father. Dude abandoned my mother when he found out she was pregnant." Kaine's face briefly turned to an expression of malice as he gritted his teeth, but quickly softened when he thought of his mom. "My mom was a great woman. She was a nurse at one of the bigger hospitals. But um..." he gulped, "One day she got really sick. They found a fairly large tumor in her ovaries. They say she had been living with it for years. The nodules had already spread to her stomach and were spreading further. It then became a question not IF she would die, but WHEN." Kendo saw his eyes water up and a tear roll down his cheek, "I lived in that hospital for nearly a year. One day I was coming back from school and she was just...gone. She past in her sleep while I was at school. I never got to really say goodbye."
"That's...that's awful." Kendo replied as she tried to console her classmate...no...as she tried to console her friend. They had surely reached that point by now. "So...it's just been you? For what? Two, three years?"
"Six." Kaine said bluntly.
Kendo recoiled slightly from that. Six? she thought, He's been on his own since he was nine? Kaine began to stand up and Kendo quickly followed, "W-Where are you going?"
Kaine rubbed his eyes, "I'm sorry. I-I don't want to talk about this right now. Now I just..." Kaine sighed, "I need to clear my head."
"Kaine!" Kendo tried calling out to Kaine as he left her apartment, but to no avail. Instead she sat in silence. "I...must have asked too much. We barely know each other, I was overstepping his boundaries." she sighed. Looking to her left she saw Kaine's bag and blazer, "Oh, he left his stuff. I better make sure everything is in there so I can take it to him tomorrow."
Kendo opened the bag and began looking through it to make sure the notes they took were in there. However, as she was rummaging around she found something...strange. "What is this?" Kendo grabbed the object and pulled it out, her eyes widening at what she saw. "Oh, Kaine! I am SO giving you an earful tomorrow!"
"Gather around mass media! This year all your favorite high school kids will let their youth run free like a bucking bronco once again! The UA Sports Festival has begun!" Present Mic yelled out at the entrance to the large stadium where the main events would take place. Outside the stadium was a large festival full of different food stalls and games for people to play, a large screen on the outside of the stadium facing them.
Finally, the day had come. The long awaited, yearly UA Sports Festival was here. It was time for the students to put there mettle to the test, show the world and other heroes, what they are made of. Heroes from all over Japan were in attendance, even some foreign heroes took time out of their day to watch it. Hell, even STARK Industries CEO, Antonio Rodrigo Stark III was one of the big names in attendance, after all, the young CEO has been one of the few funders the last couple of years. "Mr. Stark, Mr. Stark!" a reporter called out, "Just what are you doing here of all places? You aren't a hero, so are you here just to see the action up close or is there someone in particular you're rooting for?"
Antonio, Tony for short, grinned and removed his vintage aviator sunglasses, "Please, please, Mr. Stark was my father...and grandfather, and most notably my great-grandfather, Iron Man." he said with a chuckle in broken Japanese, "No, I'm just here like many other big companies, I'm hoping some of these support students impress me, I'm always looking for the best and brightest new minds after all. Plus, I had heard a student destroyed one of the massive training robots I helped design, so maybe I'm on the lookout for him." he smiled, "Please, no more questions, I have a suite and a bottle of champagne calling me." he smiled at the reporter, "Of course, it could be calling you too. If you're willing to take the day off?" The female reported blinked a few times before removing her press badge and microphone and tossing them to her cameraman before locking her arms around the multi-billionaire as he lead her to his suite.
Another surprising guest that the reporters were trying to harass was sixth rank hero, Mirko. Though she wasn't in costume and looked irritated that the press found her. "Ms. Mirko, Ms. Mirko, just a moment of your time!" a male reporter yelled out, "In the 8 years you've been a pro hero, not once have you had a sidekick or even an intern! Does that trend stop today, and if so, who do you think it'll be?"
Mirko, clearly frustrated, shoved the camera back out of her face and flipped it off, "Do you see what I'm wearing assholes!? I'm in civilian clothing, which means I'm off duty. SO FUCK OFF!" Yes...that seemed very on brand considering the reaction from other reporters. I'm looking for one kid and one kid only. Mirko thought with a grin, You better be here, Kaine!
And, as part of the increased security, dozens, upon dozens of heroes were at the festival in costume and on duty. Some there for leisure, but ready to help in case something happens such as number two hero, Endeaver, a fire based hero with a bad attitude and bad hairstyle since he had a flame beard. And some of the heroes were there on guard duty and had special passes, including Mount Lady, Kamui Woods, and Death Arms.
While the visitors enjoyed the events up top, below the stadium, the classes of students were split into their own locker rooms. Despite what Kaine thought, however, it wasn't two locker rooms per class for boys and girls. It was one locker room for both. Meaning they were expected to already be dressed when they arrived. That wasn't the case for Kaine who had to change into his gym outfit there, gaining a whistle from Setsuna when he stripped down to his underwear to do so.
"Kaine!" Kaine turned to see Kendo who was standing half a meter away from him with her arms folded. "We need to ta-" Kendo stopped as she looked down and saw Kaine still hadn't put his shirt on. It was only...slightly distracting. "Put...put a shirt on!" she groaned as she covered her face with her hand. She looked up to see other 1-B students staring at them. When Kaine finished putting his shirt on, Kendo grew her hands and grabbed the teen before walking to a different side of the locker room where they could talk in private.
"Is this because I left early yesterday?" Kaine asked, "Look, I'm really sorry and all that if that was rude, I just needed to go. Memories were...distracting. And I just didn't want to bother you."
Kendo frowned, "This isn't about that." she whispered. She then took off the backpack that was slung around her shoulders and handed it to Kaine, "You left your bag at my house yesterday."
Kaine smiled as he took the bag back, "Thanks. You know, I thought I left it there. I was gonna ask you to grab it today so I could get it tomorrow, so really nice that you-"
"Kaine." Kendo interrupted with a stern tone, "I know what you are hiding in there."
Kaine's eyes widened slightly and he gulped. Oh shit...did I get found out?
Chapter 11: UA Sports Festival
UA Sports Festival!
Kaine gulped as Kendo stood in front of him with a stern expression and folded arms, "I know what you're hiding in your bag." she repeated.
Damn! Kaine thought, How could I be so careless! Leaving my suit in the bag? What a stupid blunder! I could have prevented this if I just stopped taking my costume with me. I mean, why would I? I usually head home and wait until night anyways? Why would I chance keeping it with me?! STUPID, STUPID, STUPID! Kaine was broken out of his thoughts when he looked up and saw Kendo's composure was weakening as her face was turning red.
"I mean seriously, Kaine. Ero-Doujins? How the hell did you even get ahold of those! You aren't eighteen yet!"
Wait what? Kaine cocked an eyebrow in confusion, then, realization dawned on him.
Two days prior...
The boys were sitting at the lunch table, doing as they normally do. They were talking, going back and forth on various topics, Kaine was dog tired. The usual type of day. However, today was a little different because Tsuburaba brought something for their little show and tell, "Guys...check it." he said quietly as he brought him and the boys into a more compact group. He reached into his bag and pulled out a small stack of Ero-Doujins. "A jackpot, man!" he whisper yelled.
"Woah! Where the hell did you get all of this?" Tetsutetsu asked, "It's like a gold mine!"
Tsuburaba laughed and had a smug smirk as he cupped his chin with his thumb and index finger. Kaine just assumed it made the teen feel superior. "Well you see my steel skinned friend, I was walking back to my apartment the other day when I stumbled across a weird box on the street. I think it fell out of some dude's truck because it had rolled off the road to the river bank below." Kinda cliché. Kaine thought. "I went to check it out, being cautious because what if it's a trap or something, right? And when I opened it up I saw all these babies, plus even more! I didn't grab all of them, obviously, there were things in there that just didn't suit my tastes. You know, like tomboys and girls with muscles, netorare or something like that." Tsuburaba cringed.
Kaine seemed to completely wake up after hearing that, "Wait, so there is just of stack of tomboy and muscle girl ero-doujins down by the riverbank?" he asked.
Tsuburaba cocked and eyebrow in confusion, "Uh...yeah? Girls should be slim and cutesy, not boyish. Like, look at Kendo. She's cute and all, bit she's too boyish. She has muscles, that's a massive turn off for me." upon saying this, most the boys nodded in agreement.
Kaine then reached across the table and grabbed Tsuburaba by his collar before forcibly shaking him back and forth, "THAT'S THE BEST PART!" he yelled out, "I'm never this verbal about anything. But I will not have tomboy slander while I'm around, no sir."
Kaine then went to the riverbed after school and before he hit his patrol and put several ero-doujins in his backpack, all relating to tomboys or muscle girls.
Present day...
Kaine stood with his mouth agape as he remembered what happened. Not only was his bag full of ero-doujins, but he also remembered throwing his suit in the laundry that night because he remembered how bad the sweat smell was. OOOOOH! Saved by the porn manga gambit! Kaine internally cheered. Maybe his priorities weren't in the right place, but for now, he didn't care. He was just glad he wasn't caught red-handed instead he was caught red-handed in a different way. "And they were all..." Kendo blushed, not being able to finish, "And there was stuff spraying on their stomachs."
"Um..." Kaine felt he should say something, but at the same time he wasn't sure what to say, "Feisty tomboys are the way to go?"
Kendo opened her mouth to reply, but she was cut off by the sound of Present Mic booming over the intercom, "Freshman! You're time has come! Please make your way to stage!" Class B looked up and nodded to each other.
"We're not done here!" Kendo said sternly as she pointed to Kaine, a slight blush on her face. "I mean, honestly!" she continued complaining as she walked out the doors to get to the main field. Meanwhile, all Kaine could do was wipe the sweat from his forehead, That was too damn close.
Kaine soon followed suite with his class and walked through the long tunnel to their entrance onto the field. The whole time they could hear Present Mic hyping up the crowd, unfortunately, it sounded like Class A was getting all the attention...and that made Kaine a little jealous for some reason. "The UA Sports Festival!" Present Mic started, "Where we see the hero world's little eggs finally hatch and attack each other's throats while aiming for the top! Kaine finally stepped out of the tunnel with his class and looked around to all the people in the crowd. Hundreds of thousands in attendance. Kaine felt so small in comparison, he felt like he was starting to get stage fright. "And let me guess, all you beautiful people are here to see 'them' right? That's right, I'm talking about Class 1-A! The class that shrugged off the unsuspecting villain attack!"
"Should they really be applauding that?" Kaine asked as they walked to their place on the field.
"It's to hype of the crowd." Monoma pointed out, "Plus it makes them sound good to the pro heroes in attendance."
The classes lined up in a big group in front of a small platform. Kaine looked to his left and right and saw the different courses. Class A to his left, General Studies and Support (what few joined) to his right. He gulped as he realized that, not only was there a lot of people watching him, there was a lot of people he'd have to compete against including his own class! He looked ahead to the platform and watched as the R-rated Hero: Midnight took the stand which her whip in hand and mic connected to the collar of her suit. Oh Jesus Christ! Kaine thought. He hadn't seen Midnight up close before, but one look and he felt his whole body tingle. Her suit was a skin tight leotard with thigh high boots that connected to a belt via a garter belt. She also wore a corset that connected to a collar around her neck by going between her cleavage and accentuating her chest. Kaine gulped and wiped sweat from his forehead. The real thing was too powerful.
"Wait, Midnight is overseeing the freshman?" Kaine turned to his left to see a 1-A student with a bird head. HOLY SHIT HE HAS A BIRD HEAD! 1-A is weird as hell! "Isn't she an 18 plus hero? Is it really okay for her to be here?"
"SILENCE!" Midnight shouted out, cracking her whip and making the students go quiet, "I'll have you know my tenure here is perfectly on the level. Now, player rep!" she shouted out as she pointed into the crowd to Class A, "Katsuki Bakugou, you will give the commencement speech!"
"Bakugou is the representative?" Kaine asked with a cringe.
"Huh? Kacchan is representative?" Midoriya asked, not to far from Kaine.
"Yeah, it's because he placed first in the entrance exam, remember?" the black haired kid Kaine saw in the hallway a week ago had said...he thought he heard the kids name be Sero, but he may had misheard.
The students watched in silence as Bakugou walked up to the platform next to a microphone. His hands in his pockets, the boy was being very nonchalant, despite what Kaine thought of the teen he had to admit Bakugou oozed confidence. Bakugou tapped the microphone a few times and cleared his throat. "I just would everyone here to know that I'm going to win this whole thing, and that I literally could not care about those who are supposed to be my competition. To me they are nothing more than measly stepping stones on my path to victory."
Very quickly the student body began booing the hotheaded teen. Got to admit, guy definitely knows how to make a statement. Kaine thought with a chuckle. Next to him he saw Tetsutetsu seething. already gritting his teeth and clenching his fists. "That damn 1-A punk is awfully confident, isn't he? I can't wait to be the one to bring him down!" he growled.
"Relax, Tetsutetsu." Monoma reassured, "Just stick to the plan that we discussed and everything will work out."
"Screw that!" Setsuna argued, "We're here to make an impression. More than that, I don't feel comfortable trying to sucker punch 1-A. Let's stand toe-to-toe and look each other in the eyes as we battle, like warriors!"
"I'm with Tokage," Kendo replied with a nod, "We should all be trying our best. Not purposely lowering peoples expectations. need I remind you they can choose to kick you out of the hero program and replace you with someone else should they see fit?" Kaine gulped at that last remark. He really hoped his vigilante work would help him out this time around.
Suddenly Kaine's eyes widened in realization, SHIT! My vigilante work! What if they realize who I am? I mean...I've done a good job evading authorities at this point. I don't think I've ever left noticeable evidence. My webs dissolve in like an hour. The only one who's had a good look at me is...Ms. Mirko. Kaine's eyes darted back and forth before he smiled, Wait, wait, waitwaitwaitwait. What am I worried for? Mirko doesn't do sidekicks or interns! She's not gonna be watching this. She's probably off doing hero work or working on her tan. Wait...can you work on a tan if naturally dark skinned? Does she have tanlines? WAIT! Kaine, focus!
"Alright! Time to move onto our first event!" Midnight shouted and she snapped her whip and pointed to the large jumbotron that was on one of the stadium walls. "Onto the preliminaries, as they are called. A lot of tears are choked in this event every year, so let's see what the dream crusher is this year!" The screen showed a virtual wheel that began to spin making a beeping sound like on The Price is Right. "And the first event is..." the wheel slowed down and eventually stopped on Obstacle Race, "THE OBSTACLE RACE!"
Midnight let out a laugh, "The course makes a nearly four kilometer ring around the stadium!" she explained as a large gate began to open its many sections behind the students. As it opened Kaine saw what looked like a massive trench of an exit that lead outside of the stadium. Something, he didn't know what, made every part of his body freeze up. The hairs on Kaine's body stood straight up and his spine jittered. It was such a surreal sensation, he had never felt it before yet whatever it was made it impossible for him to move. "We always sing about our freedom on campus," Midnight chuckled, "Well this is what its all about! So you're free to do anything to get an edge, as long as you remain in the course. Without further ado...on your marks! Get set!"
Kaine held his breath, he didn't even hear Midnight say 'Go' he just saw all eleven classes run for the tunnel to exit the stadium, but that feeling...it told him not to move. Like something bad would happen if he did. Was this stage fright? He had never really felt this many eyes on him before, and as a vigilante he always wore his mask, so performance issues were never really a thing.
"Yo, lone student!" Present Mic yelled from a boothe where he and Aizawa sat so they could commentate on the festival. "Pretty sure you were supposed to move."
Snapping back to reality (oops, there goes gravity), Kaine blinked a few times and looked to Midnight. "I knew that." he replied with a nervous chuckle, "Just a little...frazzled. Guess it's a bit of stage fright." Looking towards the tunnel again, Kaine saw practically the entirety of the participants get their legs frozen by ice, thanks to that scarred kid from 1-A. Kaine didn't know his name, so he's settled on Pinky. Because his hair is half red, half white and those colors make pink. Not of course to be confused with the pink girl in 1-A that he actually recognized from entrance exams, she was Queen Pink. "Oh would you look at that. It seems my hesitancy has saved my ass." he chuckled, "I'll...go...now." and with that, he was off!
"And the last one's off!" Present Mic announced.
In the stands, Mirko looked down with a frown. Wait...that was him, right? I can't really tell because he didn't show off his power. I couldn't really hear his voice...and I don't know what he looks like now. But the height seems right. She leaned back in her seat and tossed a gummie bear into her mouth, "Guess I'll just have to wait and see."
Back with Kaine, he was quick to catch up with the group of students who were either wedged in the exit of the tunnel, or were frozen to the ground. Not seeing an easier way around, Kaine gave up on courtesy and began using the sea of students as a walkway, stepping from shoulder to shoulder as he inched closer to the tunnel exit. "Sorry, excuse me, terribly sorry, no way around it, yeah fuck you too buddy." the last student Kaine flipped off as he had tried to grab the spider teens leg to keep him in place, but everyone else he really was sorry for!
When Kaine got to the front, he noticed a lot of the student body breaking free of the ice and continuing along, including his friends and classmates, hooray! However, the good vibes didn't last as he saw a short kid with purple hair get smacked across the ground by one of the robots from the entrance exams. "Oh...son of a bitch." Kaine groaned as he saw the first obstacle they would be encountering. Not just villain robots from the exam, but there very terrifying cousin that's worth zero points.
"Here are the first obstacles, and so soon too!" Present Mic announced, causing the crowd to cheer at the sight of three of the zero point robots. "The very first barrier, is a robot inferno baby!"
Kaine heard some of the dumbfounded voices of the General Studies students who had no idea that the hero course students had to deal with the large robots during entrance exams. "Just where does the school get all the funding for this?" a beautiful girl asked, her black hair put into a spiked ponytail while she had several loose strands hung down next to her right eye. Kaine looked at the robot before moving over to the girl, which he believed to be in 1-A, and tapped her shoulder to get her attention. He then pointed to a logo on the robot's leg that clearly read, 'STARK Industries'. "Oh, of course." the girl said with a groan as she hung her head, "At least that explains 90% of the funding in the school."
While everyone was still dumbfounded after encountering three of the large bots at once (many of the students for their first time it sounds) Kaine noticed Pinky making the first move. He crouched down low and swung his arm, just gliding above the ground, before swinging into an uppercut motion and sending a massive ice barrage towards one of the robots, and freezing it. He then immediately began dashing ahead, leaving the others in the dust.
"Hey, he opened the way through!" some of the students began to cheer.
"Don't." Pinky warned, "I froze them while they were off balance."
Kaine looked up to see the robot was on one leg and was already beginning to fall. Looking to his right he wrapped his arm around the ponytail girl and to his left he grabbed Shoda by his collar before jumping backwards to avoid the collapsing robot ahead of him. The collapse of the giant machine caused a giant cloud of dust to cover the area for some time, when it cleared up Kaine saw one collapsed robot and two that were still blocking the way. "Ahem." Kaine looked to the girl and quickly removed his hand when he realized he was copping a feel. Holy shit, they were so soft!
"Sorry." Kaine said quickly before moving towards the downed form of the robot. I'm pretty sure I saw Tetsutetsu get crushed. He can take it, but I don't know if he can break- Kaine's thoughts were interrupted as he saw Tetsutetsu break out from underneath the robot, same as the red headed student from 1-A. Ah, yeah, never mind. I should have known.
"Looks like 1-A's Todoroki has forged ahead and left the others in the dust! Talk about being...ICE COLD!" Present Mic announced with a laugh. "Wow, you know, actually looking at it, he totally removed himself from the rest of the competitors! This may actually be a little bit unfair."
Wait, Todoroki? Kaine thought, As in Enji Todoroki? As in Endeavor?! Is that guy Endeavor's kid? Kaine blinked a few times and let out a sigh, Talk about out of my league. Dude probably has such an acute understanding of his quirk. Kaine looked ahead and saw a lot of students were just deciding to run past, Tetsutetsu being one of them, though he seemed to be chasing the red headed guy from 1-A. Kaine, of course, thought about doing the same but..."Dammit, there's a lot of people who may need help with the robots." he sighed, "Okay, help out my classmates...and maybe some others...then move forward!" he clapped his hands together before catching what would have been a punch to the face by one of the robots, and broke its arm off with ease. "Wow...that was easier than I remember."
Kaine swiftly jumped into the fray, assisting some of his classmates like Komori and Yanagi, however, he also helped some of the General Studies students and even a few Class A students. One of which was the earlobe-audio-jack-girl he met back during the entrance exams. Good to know she made it. "Just as expected folks, a lot of those who are running past belong to Class A!" Present Mic announced. Does that make them determined to win or cowards? Kaine thought with a smirk before shaking his head, Woah...was that like...smack talking? Where did that come from?
In the middle of the commotion, Kaine heard large explosion sounds and looked up to see the remaining large robots collapse as large chunks of their body were destroyed. "Piece of cake!" Kaine looked to the ponytailed girl who had destroyed the machines herself...WITH A CANNON! Wait, she has a cannon? Where the hell did she get a cannon!? The rest of the students finally had a way through and they continued their trek through the course. Kaine looked at all the debris and, despite what everyone else was doing, he decided to quickly stay back. Something told him that the cannon would come in handy.
"All of the students are moving on...except what's that 1-B student doing? He's just picking up the scrap from the robots!" Present Mic yelled out. Kaine looked up, a little confused as to how he was being seen and then saw one of the camera bots. He simply smiled and waved. "Kid, it's okay to be environmentally conscious, but I promise you, WE'LL CLEAN IT UP LATER!"
"I have a plan for this!" Kaine yelled back as he began crushing the scrap into medium sized balls, roughly the size of bowling balls. "You'll see Mr. Loudmouth, I'll stun you with my plan so badly they'll call me Present Mic Drop!" Man, I am getting WAY to into the pageantry here. Kaine thought with a smirk.
Up in the boothe, Present Mic covered the mic with his hand so he could speak to Aizawa, who was wrapped in bandages after the USJ attack that happened a few weeks prior, "Did he just call me a loudmouth?" he asked with a frown.
Aizawa simply chuckled dryly, "I knew there was a reason I liked this kid."
Kaine finished grabbing the scrap and loaded one of the scrap-balls into the cannon before he picked it up with one hand and began running to catch up with the other students.
"Look at that folks! Already on the second obstacle!" Mic yelled, "Remember kiddos, you fall, you're out! So try not to slip okay!?"
Fall? What, do they have a narrow walkway or something? Kaine thought. He soon received his answer when he caught up with the other students and saw dozens of rock spires that were connected together by tightrope. Down below was a large makeshift canyon, the fall was so big, Kaine didn't even know where the bottom was. Already he saw that Todoroki was on the other side, witch Bakugou close behind. He also saw what looked to be a support student use rope darts to swing herself across. I...I can sue for that right? That's totally my schtick!
"Looks like the leader is keeping that lead comfortably!" Mic laughed, "Oh, but it looks like Bakugou isn't far behind! That's a student to watch out for. He's always sure to get some explosive results!But, you better watch out guys, BECAUSE YOU'RE NEARING THE MINE FIELD!"
A Mine Field, huh? Kaine thought, Guess explosions are the theme for today. He double checked to make sure the cannon was loaded. He then took a deep breath and held the cannon in both hands, before he made a made sprint for the cliff. Kaine jumped up and pointed the cannon down and fired. The resulting explosion made a few of the students nearby either fly onto their back, or fall off (whoops!) but the desired result was achieved: Kaine had successfully rocket jumped.
Well...technically he Cannon Jumped, but regardless, it looked super cool.
While he was in the air he quickly reloaded the cannon with one of the balls of scrap he had stuck to his back and fired at the pillar below him before he landed, sending him flying again. "WOOOO-HOOO! I knew grabbing the cannon would work out in the end!"
"WOAH! What's this? What kind of strange technique is this!? It looks like the 1-B student is doing something out of an old video game!" Mic yelled out, completely astonished, "Well, I have to admit. I am stunned. But I'm not a loudmouth, kid!"
Kaine finally made it to the other side, and he had miraculously gone from last to tenth! Before he continued out he set the cannon down and patted it on the barrel, "That'll do, cannon. That'll do." he then pushed the cannon off the edge with a kick and gave it a salute as it fell to the depths below.
Kaine ran ahead and made it to the mine field where he met with Midoriya who had carried a large piece of the robot with him since the beginning. For whatever reason, Kaine just can't help but be friendly to the guy, "Yo-ho, Mi-dor-i-ya!" he laughed as he pat the green haired student on the back.
"Oh, Kaine!" Midoriya replied with a nod, "I saw you use a cannon to help launch yourself across. That was really cool!" the boy's smile quickly turned to a frown, "I think...I think my goose is cooked. The lead's too far. And I don't know of I'll be able to make it through here with my body intact."
Kaine rubbed the back of his head and shrugged, "Well, you don't need to get first. But, I'm sure you'll figure something out and surprise everyone, even yourself. You did get into Class A after all."
"KAINE!" Not to far from where the boys were standing, Ibara called for the tall teen, "I have a way across!" she began to extend her vines and motioned for him to follow.
Kaine smiled as he saw his classmate so eager to assist him. "Hey, I'm gonna take the assist. You wanna come? I could probably help you out if you're that strung up about it."
Midoriya looked at Kaine, a form of realization hitting him. "No, Kaine...I think you've helped me enough. I know what I can do."
Kaine shrugged and ran towards Ibara. When he got to her he heard a massive explosion. He looked back to see Midoriya was no longer where he was standing, but instead he was flying at a rapid pace towards the entrance. "Son of a bitch, he's using the grenade jumping idea!" Kaine laughed, "I knew he'd figure something out!"
"Talk about a massive explosion folks! Who would have thought that Class A's Izuku Midoriya would OVERTAKE THE LEAD!" Mic shouted as Midoriya on his metal flying carpet surged past both Todoroki and Bakugou at rapid speeds as he flew towards the finish line. Kaine continued to laugh as he ran along Ibarra's vines to the other side as Midoriya flipped in the air just in front of Todoroki and Bakugou and slammed the metal against the ground, causing another massive explosion that flew him towards the finish and cemented his victory. Kaine could hear Bakugou yelling all sorts of obscenities. It felt good knowing the blonde was knocked down a peg. "Damn, Eraserhead, you're students are INSANE! Just what are you teaching them?!"
"I didn't do anything." Aizawa responded calmly, probably having first actual line of his 'color commentary'. "This is the fire they lit in each other. Besides...I'm pretty sure he got that idea from Mr. Yoshida." The camera quickly focused on Kaine and Ibarra who were now clear of the mines and running towards the finish. As a show of his thanks, Kaine picked up Ibara bridal style and continued running to the finish, smiling and winking towards the camera...however, he did turn his body and run backwards at the last second. He desperately wanted fourth for some reason.
"Well folks, let it be known that his name will be one to remember. The winner of the preliminaries is: IZUKU MIDORIYA OF CLASS A!" Mic yelled out, sending the crowd into a frenzy, "And here comes the other contestants! Second place, Shoto Todoroki! Third place, Katsuki Bakugou! Fourth place, Kaine Yoshida of Class B, with Shiozaki Ibara in his arms right behind him putting her in Fifth! And here come the others!"
In the stands, Mirko's eyes widened as she got to see the close up of Kaine on the monitor. So it WAS him! she smirked, From last to fourth. Not bad, spider. Not bad at all. Now let's see how far you'll take it!
Kaine set Ibara down to her feet and let out a cry of victory. He was so pumped up! Even doing vigilante work, he hadn't felt this type of adrenaline...except for maybe the time he fought Mirko. It was like the whole world was telling him to have fun with it, the whole world telling him to enjoy the pageantry, and boy was he going to soak up that lime light! Looking up to the screen Kaine was elated to see that his entire class made it into the top forty-five. Even Class A did, which was not much of a surprise to him.
"The forty-two at the top have earned the right to advance!" Midnight announced as the rest of the students made their way to the finish line, "I'm sorry fod the kids who failed, but TAKE HEART! The festival's showstopper is still being prepared." Ah...shit. Kaine thought as he looked back to the board, So one of Class A didn't make it, huh? I guess I was likely the variable on that one. I barely got into Class B and it was by a special circumstance. These guys genuinely made it in. I kinda screwed him didn't I? Kaine looked over to the Class A student who didn't make it, Yugo Aoyama. He was hunched over, gripping his stomach while the pink skinned girl consoled him. Guess the guy was sick, it's a miracle he placed forty-third.
"Now!" Midnight began, cracking her whip go get the attention of the remaining forty-two students, "Time for the post-preliminaries! From here on out, even the press will be teeming in a white heat of excitement. So go all out!" What? Kaine questioned. "Now, for today's heart pounding special even, I already know what it'll be, but the suspense is killing me nonetheless!" the large screen spun the wheel again until it finally landed on it's decision, "Today's final even shall be: A Human Calvary Battle!"
"Isn't this just a party game?" Kaine asked, having the whip snapped at him in response.
Midnight cleared her throat before continuing, "You may form a two to four man team freely and form a horseback configuration." her point was shown as an example was shown on the jumbotron of Present Mic and Space Hero: Thirteen, a fairly tall woman in a large white space suit, complete with an astronaut helmet, carried All Might. "Everyone will receive starting points based on their performance from the last trial. Each human warhorse will change point values depending on who's in the team. These point values will be 5-points at forty-second, 10-points at forty-first, 15-points at fortieth and so on, and so on." Midnight then stopped and smirked, licking her lips in the process, "With the exception being first who will have TEN MILLION POINTS!" Everyone turned and looked at Midoriya who looked as if he was going to have a panic attack. "Now, without further ado, everyone form your teams, annnnd...HAVE FUN!"
"That was a weird way to end it." Kaine mumbled. He looked around to see who was forming teams. He thought about going to Midoriya, guy could use it...but he didn't really want a target on his back. He looked at his classmates, but they were already formed together. He was the odd man out, and he wouldn't be able to join because they were all four-man teams already, he'd mess up the whole dynamic! However, he did seem to notice a team that could use an extra man. He walked up to them, mostly because they looked to be the most hodge podge group, he'd fit right in! "Hey, I notice you only have three members, but you can go up to four, what say I help you out! I promise I can be big help!" Kaine said as he held his hand out to shake of the person he was talking too, "I'm Kaine Yoshida."
The young teen, the one Kaine recognized from a few weeks back, the purple haired kid with large bags under his eyes, held his hand out and shook, "Hitoshi Shinso." he greeted, "So, how much of a help can you be?"