Chapter 26: Lunch Break at the Sports Festival
"NOW, WE'RE GOING TO BREAK FOR A BRIEF INTERMISSION, EVERYBODY, TO ALLOW OUR DEAR STUDENTS A CHANCE TO EAT LUNCH! WE WILL BE BACK BY TWO FOR ROUND THREE, THE TOURNAMENT ROUND!"
✨👻✨
Finally!
Ellie stretches her legs as the plane finally makes a landing. She doesn't normally fly in planes—after all, she can fly herself, so what's the point?—but there's a fun novelty to it.
Bad airplane food hasn't changed since she was created, but the seats had finally started to become more comfortable in the last few visits to the Alpha timeline. Not to mention, it was definitely less work to hitch a ride on an airplane than to fly halfway across the globe, following her compass to the new Champion.
It's a rather uneventful plane ride. It lands just in the later hours of the morning, and Ellie is one of the few in the first class section. There are other businesspeople with their business-type dress, and one person with a mutant superpower that needs more space to keep their larger stony body and long tail. Oh, what are they called again—Quirks, right!
The living and their silly names for silly things. She's not going to say she'd be any better at it, but still. Quirks are a fun silly name for superpowers that mutated from ectoplasmic radiation that swept across the globe after Danny—Equinox-- was coronated. Even when the monarchy was dissolved a century or so ago, the radiation still remained, and here they are.
She flashes her passport at customs when she arrives. It's fake, given that Ellie is technically older than Quirks. But those few families left in Amity Park who know the truth about everything, descendants of the Fenton family, are really good at faking paperwork when it's needed, and whenever Ellie comes to the timeline, they always welcome her with open arms. Aunt Jenny had her second child recently, and named her daughter Eleanor—Ellie could notcontain herself at that news.
It gets her through, and that's what matters. She doesn't have a return flight planned, but nobody in the airport stops her, even if she is a young American girl with just a single backpack. They're all too absorbed in their own worlds, in their phones, or on the TV screens of some sort of event going on in Japan.
She walks up to one of the screens. It's playing highlights of something, but Japanese kanji is harder for her to read than just simply understanding the language. She glances to a man standing not too far off, watching the screen as well.
"Excuse me, sir?" As a clone, she does have a similar Allspeak ability to her donor. Unfortunately, sometimes it takes a few minutes to warm it up, and it makes her sound like a tourist at first. Oh well. "What is playing on the television right now?"
"Huh? An American?" The man asks, in English, a little awkwardly. "Ah, the U.A. Sports Festival."
"Sports Festival?" Ellie repeats in English. "And I can speak Japanese, too."
The man slips back into his native tongue. "The U.A. Sports Festival is going on today. For the number one hero school?"
The hero school rings a bell in her head. Clockwork had sent her to Japan a few decades ago to do… Something. They send her on so many missions, it can be hard to keep up with it sometimes, but she did do something that was supposed to benefit U.A, or at least, she hopes that's what she was supposed to do. Clockwork is a little cryptic like that. Apparently things were a little glitchy in the Alpha timeline, and they needed someone to go in and do the dirty work, someone who wasn't being observed by the old eyeballs. And Ellie was the right candidate for the job.
She nods, and gives the innocent man a smile. "Ah! Thank you, sir. Have a great day!"
"You, too, miss." The man replies, turning back to the screen, enthralled by the highlights.
Ellie couldn't really be bothered with it. As fun as it'd be to go sneak in and watch it, she has a mission. Not an official mission from Clockwork—she'd know if the Ancient of Time wanted her do to something, and they hadn't popped in on her yet—but a personal mission.
Once she gets through the airport security, Ellie digs out the compass again. In her human form—which hasn't changed since she'd turned eighteen so many years ago—she keeps it on a chain as a necklace. A bit of a tacky one, but nobody looks at her strange for it. Stepping aside and out of the crowds, she holds up the compass again. The needle twirls, before pointing her in the direction that she needs to go.
And then her stomach growls.
Ellie is a neverborn halfa; something that shouldn't quite exist, yet she does. She never died, but she was never born to begin with. She might still have a "human" form that functions similarly to an actual human body, but it doesn't usually require much more than a nap every now and again. But the smell of the small restaurant kiosks in the airport did make her mouth water, as much as she tried to deny it.
"Take me to food, first, actually." She mutters to the compass in a language no one else around her could understand, and the needle swings into the opposite direction. She's not on a time crunch, after all; Ellie can meet the new Champion of Balance whenever she wants to.
✨👻✨
Lunch break for the students at the Sports. Festival is pretty long; an hour for students to rest and recover after the first two rounds before the final round. Hitoshi is pretty glad that they're not trapped by anything, once they return to their locker rooms after the second round, the students are free to get a free lunch from the cafeteria (made by Lunch Rush, of course) or catch up with their family and friends before the final round.
This time is also supposed to be when they can schmooze with heroes, or when heroes can talk to them, but despite Hitoshi's performance so far, he melts into the background of the crowds.
"Hitoshi!" Izuku's voice catches his attention immediately, and he can spot the other jumping through the crowd to get his attention. Jumping pretty high, really—he wonders if he's using his ghost-powers to do that…
Which, wow.
He isn't sure he's given himself the time or energy to properly process everything from the last week; from the last-minute sports festival training to discovering his first and best friend is a vigilante who also isn't all that human. It doesn't change Hitoshi's opinion of Izuku, of course. But it makes things really, really bizarre, all of a sudden.
"You're looking amazing out there, Hitoshi!" Izuku says the moment that he's sure Hitoshi will hear. "Like yeah you're not in first place, but first place is kind-of overrated, isn't it? I'm sure that K—Bakugou and the Todoroki boy will definitely place top five, but that isn't to say you don't have a chance, either! The great thing about your position so far is that Present Mic hasn't announced your Quirk yet, so you can really use that to your advantage—"
Too fast. "Izuku." Hitoshi interrupts. "Are you even breathing right now?"
"Uh." Izuku glances around. Hitoshi's dad stepped aside to get them some festival food. "I forgot?"
"You… forgot?"
"Well, when I'm… Y'know." Izuku nervously clears his throat, lowering his voice. Loud enough for Hitoshi to hear, but a passersby might miss the details. Nor would they really care to pay attention, though, about the discussion from a Quirkless boy (the shoes are a giveaway, now that Hitoshi knows what they mean) to another boy who is good at blending into the background and not being seen. "I don't need to breathe. So, I guess, when I'm me-me, I don't need to breathe… that much?"
"Ah." That makes sense but feels a little more—pun intended—haunting. "Right."
"Anyway. I think you still have a shot to make it into the top ten! Maybe even top five, if you get lucky with who you're against." Izuku continues, as if their awkward conversation about how he doesn't need to breathe that much to live anymore. Like, they're just going to move on.
"Back up. We're just going to move on from the whole… breathing thing?"
"I mean—I guess, yeah?" Izuku shrugs, nervously playing with the edges of the notebook he brought with him. "U-Uh, sorry. I guess, on a second thought, it does sound kinda. Creepy when I explain it more."
"No, when you say it that nonchalantly, it's a little odd, but it's not creepy."
"Oh." Izuku's face falls, a bit.
Hitoshi shakes his head. He'd invited Izuku to have fun, and wasn't expecting to somehow insult him in the process. His dad is still haggling with the stand owner for a lower price, so he tries to push the awkward conversation aside. "Look, let's just. Uh. Move on. You think I could make top ten?"
"Top ten? Of course!" Izuku perks up almost immediately. "It's not just all based on luck, either. You just have to be smart with your Quirk."
Smart? With my Quirk? Hitoshi has pretty good grades, sure—but he's not top-of-the-class smart. He's average all around, really. "How can I be smarter than some of my classmates? Some of them are, like, geniuses, you know, and they know my Quirk."
"Well, then, maybe don't use it?"
"What?"
"Well, that's what they'll be expecting, right?" Izuku asks. Hitoshi doesn't answer, so he continues. "You've been training your body and your Quirk for the last few weeks for this, and you have the self-defense training with your teacher, too. Your classmates will expect you to try and trick them out of the ring immediately with your Quirk, so they won't be responsive, but they won't expect you to not use it. Especially since this is the biggest event in all of Japan!"
Don't use your Quirk? Hm. It's an interesting strategy, for sure. "But what about Todoroki? He'll just glacier me right out of the stadium and it's over for me."
"That's true, his Quirk is really powerful. Hypothetically you could try to outlast him and let him freeze himself, but he has fire, though, doesn't he?"
"I think. I've never seen him use it."
"Even still, you'd need something to help you against the ice." Izuku hums, opening his notebook that was now full of notes from just about every member of Hitoshi's class and then some. "Does he like jokes?"
"I don't think I've ever even seen him smile." Hitoshi says. Then, he pauses. He hasn't seen Todoroki's smile. Why is this now noticeable?
"Oh. That's. Hm. Interesting." Izuku grabs a pencil from his pocket and scribble something onto his notebook page. By then, Hitoshi's dad has haggled the festival vendor's price down, and is bringing two orders of takoyaki and one order of taiyaki for Izuku. They find a picnic table that's out of the way and sit down at it.
Takoyaki probably isn't the best food to eat at the Sports Festival when Hitoshi feels like he's staring down immediate doom, but it's better than nothing. He might swipe an onigiri from the cafeteria before their hour lunch break is up to help tide him over, but he's not even all that hungry.
It feels like Hitoshi is in a shark tank, and he's bleeding.
"I think the best strategy is to just try to think outside the box against your opponent, yeah?" Izuku suggests, having already swallowed his order of taiyaki almost whole. "They might expect you to use your Quirk, so don't. Or do it when you finally get their guard down! Or just play the cool, silent type the whole match!"
"You've got this, Hitoshi." His dad adds. He still looks a little pale after having watched Izuku swallow the taiyaki nearly whole. It was definitely a slightly terrifying experience.
"Thanks, I guess." He mutters, poking at his Takoyaki. It's nice that at least two people have faith in them, but he has a feeling that faith is mostly unjustified.
✨👻✨
"WELCOME BACK MY BEAUTIFUL LISTENERS! THAT WAS SOME REALLY GOOD GRUB, WASN'T IT? BUT DON'T REST UP ON YOUR LAURELS JUST YET, STUDENTS! SIXTEEN OF YOU STILL HAVE THE FINAL ROUND AHEAD OF YOU—THE TOURNAMENT ROUND! MY DEAREST CO-HOST, CARE TO EXPLAIN THE RULES?"
"No."
"PLEASE?"
"No."
"OKAY, I GUESS I WILL. BUT THE RULES ARE PRETTY SIMPLE. A ONE-ON-ONE MATCH AGAINST A FELLOW STUDENT. WHOEVER GETS KNOCKED OUT OF THE ARENA FIRST OR CAN NO LONGER PARTICIPATE LOSES! THE WINNER WILL MOVE ON UNTIL WE HAVE ONE REMAINING! EASY, RIGHT?"
"A child could understand this. I don't see why we have to explain it."
"FOR THE AUDIENCE, MY DEAREST CO-HOST! FOR THE AUDIENCE!"
"Please, end me."
Chapter 27: Let The Matches Begin!
The students gather around the main stage, watching as the screen pops up with the first rounds. Hitoshi watches, eyes wide, as the names pop up on the screen.
Bakugou and Hatsume? That'll be interesting. Kaminari and Iida? Iida will definitely win. Where am I, where am I…?
TODOROKI SHOUTO
RIN HIRYU
KENDO ITSUKA
URARAKA OCHAKO
KAMINARI DENKI
IIDA TENYA
BAKUGOU KATSUKI
HATSUME MEI
HAGAKURE TORU
KIRISHIMA EIJIRO
SERO HANTA
SHINSOU HITOSHI
SATO AIKIDO
ASUI TSUYU
ASHIDO MINA
KODA KOJI
Ah! Hitoshi spots his name. The second to last fight of the first round, which gives him more time to relax. Or even more time to panic and freak out and make himself anxious over everything. But who's he against…?
…Sero?!
He hadn't talked to Sero all that much. Usually, Sero was a part of Bakugou's friend group. If one could even call it a "friend" group, but Bakugou had at least stopped the foaming at the mouth routine whenever Ashido, Kaminari, Kirishima, and Sero would sit by him at lunch, so it was some sort of friendly group? It was one Hitoshi avoided nevertheless. Not only was Bakugou's personality too much, but he was also Izuku's number-one bully for his whole life, so maybe Hitoshi is holding a grudge.
It's not a good look to hold a grudge as a hero but fuck that, honestly.
Sero isn't what he expected, sure. He's a skinny beanpole of a kid, even skinnier than Hitoshi himself, but with his long legs and Quirk, he's got leverage against Hitoshi. Leverage and a physical Quirk, too.
But the Quirk itself—it was similar to Aizawa-sensei's capture weapon. So, maybe…
Think outside the box, Izuku said.
Hopefully, he can.
✨👻✨
Shouto doesn't know who Rin Hiryu is, but he's up against them as the first match of the final round. He's obviously from Class 1-B; a fellow hero student. One that a part of Shouto wishes he didn't have to fight. Even not knowing his Quirk, Shouto knows that this match is stacked in his favor.
He just has to ignore the boiling in his blood to deliver a swift and cold victory.
Shouto's father had stopped him at lunch, as he was heading back to the locker rooms before the hour was over. He isn't even sure how or why that man was there; he just was. Probably used his number-two status to get back there. Either way, it was unexpected, and it's left Shouto with a fiery hot anger he's trying his best to extinguish before it grows into a blazing inferno out of control.
"You must stop this childish game immediately, Shouto! Your Quirk is not just Ice, it is also Fire! Your senseis have told me you have not been using your Quirk to the fullest. How dare you disrespect me like this!"
No, no, no, no no no no--
Shouto takes a deep breath. He steps onto the arena stage.
Rin is staring at him from across the way. He offers a polite smile and a wave.
Shouto doesn't return it. He's focused on getting the fire to cool off, to freeze over, so it doesn't break through again. He's usually good about focusing on his ice—only his ice—but there are times where it slips out, suddenly, before Shouto can stop it. Those times have only ever happened at home, after training with his father goes a hair too far, and he's left beaten and broken on the mats and begging for relief and for it to stop—
The sound of the flag in the wind catches Shouto's attention, bringing him out of his thoughts and bad memories. Rin's arms stiffen up into emerald green scales. That must be his Quirk.
It's unfortunate that it isn't enough. Shouto locks eyes with Rin before Rin charges, but by then, it's already too late. It's a simple movement, a turn of his right heel. The ice explodes from underfoot, and it spreads like a glacier across the arena, freezing Rin solid, mid-attack.
"IT LOOKS LIKE WE ALREADY HAVE A WINNER! TODOROKI SHOUTO, WITH ANOTHER FABULOUS GLACIER OF ICE!"
The ice kills the heat threatening to build up in Shouto. Just a little bit.
"WE'RE GOING TO TAKE FIVE MINUTES TO THAW OUT THIS GLACIER, AND THEN WE'LL MOVE ON TO THE SECOND MATCH, Y'ALL!"
"We're in Japan, why the hell are you using 'y'all'."
✨👻✨
Katsuki isn't sure what he's supposed to be expecting going against that pink-haired freak. She's from one of the Support Classes and the only non-hero department student to get to the tournament round.
When he steps on stage, she steps just as eager, but her head looks like it's in her own little world. Katsuki assumes it'll be an easy win.
She's a Support Class weirdo, after all. They build stuff and make their hero costumes. He doubts that she has any sort of offensive Quirk, especially with all the tech she brings on stage with her. She's got weird metal boots up to her knees, braces around her wrists, something around her belt, and stupid-ass goggles, along with a silver bag on her back. He can't tell if she's just got a thing for things in silver or if she made a bag literally from silver.
Deku would've been good in the Support Class, he thinks to himself, but pushes that thought out of his head almost immediately.
The sniveling coward wouldn't be anywhere near U.A. if Katsuki had something to say about it—and he has a lot he could say about it. He hadn't heard from the Quirkless idiot since he'd left Aldera, but looking through the crowd, it looks like a head of curly green hair is sitting amongst the crowd in the distance—no, no, no.
Focus, Katsuki.
Focus!
The speakers squeal to life, and Present Mic's voice cracks over them.
"LET'S GIVE IT UP FOR THE FOURTH FIGHT OF THE AFTERNOON! WE'RE ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH THE FIRST BATCH, ISN'T THAT CRAZY!?"
Hobo-sensei's voice is picked up over the mic, but barely. "Time passes."
"AS IT DOES, MY FRIEND! ANYWAY, WHO DO WE HAVE FIGHTING HERE, YOU MIGHT BE ASKING? FROM CLASS 1-A, THE HOT-SHOT, HOT-HEADED, HOT-BLOODED, EXPLOSIVE, BAKUGOU KATSUKI! FROM 1-H, THE ONLY NON-HERO STUDENT IN THE FINAL ROUND, IT'S THE TALENTED, BRILLIANT, AND ALSO EXPLOSIVE-PRONE HATSUME MEI!"
Just to show off, Katsuki allows a few small fireworks to go off in his palms.
Goggles doesn't look too intimidated by it. In fact, she's not even looking directly at him. She's looking at the crowd, her eyes wide and sparkling.
"GET READY FOR AN INTERESTING MATCH, FOLKS!"
"It'll be quick, too!" Katsuki snarls, holding back as Midnight-sensei raises her flag. On the count of three, she drops it, signaling the start of the first match.
Katsuki charges, but Goggles is faster. She taps the heels of her metal boots together, and a burst of fire explodes from right under them, shooting her up into the air. It's fast and instantaneous enough that it nearly sends him careening out the edge of the arena, which wouldn't be good because that would disqualify him. He barely catches himself before he crosses the line.
Bitch! He thinks, again, glancing up. Goggles grabs something from her pocket. Is that a fucking microphone?!
"Greetings, ladies, gentlemen, and esteemed nonbinary guests!" Goggles says, and her voice picks up in the speakers around them. "I'm Hatsume Mei, it's a pleasure to meet you all! Now, I'm an inventor, not a fighter, so let's talk inventions. More specifically—my babies!"
What.
The.
Fuck.
✨👻✨
The last few matches were very… interesting.
Bakugou is still hilariously steaming over the match he had with the 1-H support girl, Hatsume, and Hitoshi definitely enjoyed every second of that. Any time that the blond had tried to jump into the air and knock her down, she managed to effortlessly dodge and float to the side. Hatsume went in with a mission to pitch herself, and when her pitch was over, she landed and walked right off the stage before Bakugou could do anything.
Unfortunately for Kaminari, Iida had managed to defeat him in record time. After short-circuiting his brain with a huge electric attack that Iida managed to power through, he'd been flipped out of the arena with very little fanfare.
Other matches were more tense. Uraraka managed to hold her own against a girl from 1-B, Kendo, long enough to knock her out of the ring. Kirishima had a rough time against Hagakure after the girl had completely disappeared on him, and Hitoshi really, really hopes that she's not completely nude out there, but Kirishima was able to squeak out a win against her by hardening his hands into the dirt of the arena floor and sending dust into the air, which clung to Hagakure enough for him to see.
And of course, there was the match with Todoroki and Rin, from Class 1-B. But that match was over before it even started.
Now it's Hitoshi's turn, and he feels like he's going to explode. Explode into a big bloody mess that lines the walls of U.A.'s stadium. They'll have to use spatulas to peel his body off of the sides. It'll be embarrassing. Izuku might even laugh at him.
Okay, that's enough catastrophizing for now, he thinks, taking a deep breath.
Sero is not the dumbest of the class, and he's versatile with his Quirk. In comparison to Hitoshi's own Quirk, Sero has the power and skill above him, not to mention, Sero knows what Hitoshi's Quirk is, so he won't fall for any of his tricks to get a response.
It's times like these where Hitoshi wishes he'd been born different. Born with a different Quirk—something strong, something powerful. But he's stuck with what he's got right now, and right now, he needs a plan, even though he feels like he's about to melt right out of his uniform.
"WE'RE ALMOST THROUGH THE FIRST ROUND, FOLKS! ISN'T THAT AWESOME?! NOW, WITHOUT FURTHER ADO, THE THIRD-TO-LAST MATCH… SERO HANTA VERSUS SHINSOU HITOSHI, BOTH OF CLASS 1-A!"
"Hey, Shinsou!" Sero's smiling and confident, because, well, of course he is—as far as everyone knows, Sero has this match in the bag. All he has to do is knock Hitoshi out of the ring, and he can do that from the other side. "No hard feelings, right?"
No hard feelings. Hitoshi bites back a laugh but still nods. His voice is a little quieter, but Sero is able to hear it over the roaring crowd. "No hard feelings."
Think outside of the box, Izuku's voice reminds him.
Midnight's flag swings in the air, the fabric catching in the wind.
The match begins.
Sero technically moves first, knocking his forearms back to shoot out his cellophane tape. It shoots out immediately, right for Hitoshi, but he ducks under it just in time.
Even Hitoshi is surprised that he managed to dodge the first attack, but he takes the chance to sprint at Sero, keeping his mouth shut. Sero shoots his tape out again, just from one elbow, and Hitoshi grabs onto the piece and pulls down on it, pulling Sero with it.
"Whoa—hey!" Sero yelps, stumbling forward.
Hitoshi doesn't give him a second to bounce back from the attack. Quiet, close, and quick. As Sero stumbles forward, Hitoshi kicks his leg up, and his knee connects with Sero's chest. Quiet, close, and quick.
From the classes that Hitoshi could remember before the Sports Festival, he had noticed that Sero kept himself at a distance in training. He never engaged in anything up close, not a lot of hand-to-hand combat, just relying on his Quirk.
But Hitoshi has to fight Quirkless. He has to fight Quirkless against his classmates most of the time. A few of them (Kaminari) are easier to trick than others with his own Quirk, but most of his classmates know Brainwash now. Not all of them are that comfortable with being controlled, either, which sucks because Hitoshi needs to strengthen his Quirk, but not many people are willing to lose the control they have of their mind and body.
Managing to wind Sero with the kick to the chest, Hitoshi panics. He didn't think he'd get this far with Sero. He was expecting the first attack to wrap him up or throw him out of bounds, but by some miracle, Hitoshi dodged it. Quickly quickly quickly--
One of his hands is still stuck to the piece of tape that Sero had shot out. Without a lot of plan and mostly prayers to whatever deities might be watching him, he took the piece of tape (about a foot long) and quickly wrapped it around Sero's right arm, sticking his own elbows together. The slits on his elbows are barely covered. He could probably still break out easily, but at least Hitoshi can say he'd attempted to use Sero's Quirk against him and he can say he made it this far in the finals.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! SHINSOU HAS MANAGED TO GET SERO WRAPPED UP IN HIS OWN TAPE! HOPEFULLY HE'S STRONG ENOUGH TO BREAK OUT OF IT ON HIS OWN, OR HE'LL BE FIGHTING WITHOUT HIS QUIRK!"
Sero breaks out of Hitoshi's grasp and jumps back. Still in the ring, unfortunately. He smirks, still confident in the match, even with the tape around his elbows. "Smart thinking! I'm surprised you haven't said anything yet, though. Cat got your tongue?"
He might fall for it now, Hitoshi thinks. I could try and end it now. But he doesn't, holding his tongue. It might be missing his shot, but like Izuku had suggested—he needs to stay unpredictable. Plus, if he doesn't use his Quirk, it won't be announced to the audience and the other students fighting.
Even though most of them are 1-A students who know his Quirk.
Sero charges at Hitoshi, arms still stuck together, swinging them like a bludgeoning weapon. Even without his Quirk, Sero's still pretty fast. Hitoshi gets knocked in the side by Sero's arms, nearly knocking him over.
Present Mic's commentary isn't helping with his match. "OUCH! THAT'LL LEAVE A BRUISE!"
"I've gotta give it to you, Shinsou. I wasn't expecting this much of a fight from you!" Sero laughs. "No offense, dude, but your Quirk—"
Hitoshi was getting really tired of what people were saying about his Quirk at this point. Without even thinking, he charged again, ignoring the pain erupting in his side, and he swung at Sero's face. His fist connected—for once— with a crack, and it sent Sero down.
"OUCH! THAT WAS A STRONG HIT FROM SHINSOU! CAN SERO RECOVER IN TIME?"
Sero glances up, a bit of blood leaking from his nose. "What the hell, dude—I think you broke my nose!"
"IS SERO GOING TO GET BACK UP AGAIN? OR WILL SHINSOU CLAIM THE VICTORY THIS ROUND?"
Midnight clears her throat, and Hitoshi glances to where she's standing. Her eyes are trained right on Sero. "Are you still able to fight?"
"I—" Sero tries to push himself up, but with his elbows still tied together, and the bloody nose, it doesn't go very well. "—Probably not, actually. Ouch. You have a mean left hook, Shinsou."
Midnight nods, and swings the flag into the air.
"AND THERE WE HAVE IT, FOLKS! SHINSOU HITOSHI MOVES ONTO THE NEXT ROUND OF THE TOURNAMENT, WITHOUT EVEN USING HIS QUIRK!"
He did it.
Hitoshi actually did it.
He reaches down and helps pull Sero up. "Sorry about the punch. And the, uh. Taping your arms up."
"No, it was a good idea!" Sero admits. "I underestimated you. I thought you'd go right for your Quirk. It was smart, getting me in close quarters. Guess I need to work on that!"
"Aizawa-sensei is going to grill you on this."
"Oh, yeah, that'll suck. Good luck with the next round, Shinsou."
I probably won't make it much farther, Hitoshi thinks, but he doesn't say it aloud. "…Thanks."
Chapter 28: May The Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!
Ochako is nervous.
Of course, she's thankful to have made it this far in the Sports Festival. The Labyrinth was scary, but she'd made it through. Her team-up with Shinsou in the team game helped propel her this far. And Hatsume had even given her a business card—a business card—with some tips and ideas for inventions that could be used to help her Quirk. So, she'd made a new friend (though, the friend part is a little questionable). The fight with Kendo, the girl from 1-B, was hard, but she'd pulled through! She was getting so far!
But now she knows she's about to walk into a match that she is going to lose.
"You can't feel too discouraged, Uraraka!" Iida tries cheering her up, but even his silly, signature hand gestures aren't cheering her up. "Todoroki might be powerful and strong, but you've made it just as far as he did!"
"You might lose."
"S—Shinsou, we're here to try to help cheer Uraraka up!" Iida chastises. "Not make her feel worse!"
"It's okay, Iida, really!" Ochako sighs. "You know, I made it this far— and we're only first-years, you know! I have two more shots to make it even higher after this!"
Scratch that. Ochako is terrified and has been terrified ever since she'd seen her name pop up next to one Todoroki Shouto.
It's not an overexaggeration to say that Todoroki is probably the most powerful student in their class. Even though he's reserved and quiet, he's a powerhouse with his ice. As should be expected of the son of the No. 2 Hero, Endeavor. Supposedly he can control fire, too, but he doesn't seem to ever use that aspect of his Quirk.
(Ochako doesn't know why, it seems like it'd be pretty helpful with his ice. Maybe he's scared of fire? That brings up the next question—if his father, Endeavor, can control fire, too, why would he be scared of it?)
But that's not the point, anyway. The point is—Ochako is set to fight Todoroki next, and she knows she is going to lose. No matter what sort of plan her brain tries to come up with—getting her out of the air before Todoroki can make her an Ochako-popsicle in a glacier like he'd done to that poor 1-B kid is her best option. But using her Quirk on herself would make her too nauseous to fight. She doesn't have the braces from her hero costumes, since they're not technically considered a support item like Aoyama's belt is.
There's also not enough on the field that qualifies as debris. She could try to hack off some ice with her bare hands to float back towards him, but ice is cold. She knows how cold winters get, especially when the heaters don't work, and she never likes it. Winter is just too cold.
Shinsou interrupts her thoughts. "Well, if you're set on losing, at least have a fun time with it."
"Shinsou!" Iida chastises, again.
It makes Ochako laugh, at least, and Shinsou awkwardly smirks.
✨👻✨
"Um, uh, I'm going to run to the bathroom!"
Shinsou's dad glances at him over his sunglasses. "You, uh, don't need to tell me when you're going. But you'll miss the next match, Midoriya."
Right, right… Izuku wishes he could stay to watch the match, but it's obvious what's going to happen. Iida Tenya versus Bakugou Katsuki? Kacchan is going to demolish his competition, just as he always does. It sucks for Iida, but it's predictable. Bakugou is gonna start with his right hook, and then it will all be over there for him.
"Bakugou's gonna win. It'll be over in, like, ten minutes at most." Izuku replies casually, slipping his notebook and pen into his bag and tucking it under the stadium seat before awkwardly squeezing by Shinsou's dad and walking down the stairs.
Something's nagging at Izuku.
That something being the one boy.
Todoroki Shouto.
Now, maybe it's his experience being the vigilante Phantom for the last few months that's made him this way, maybe it's his half-death and his obsession to know things, or maybe it's just the way Izuku has always been—he's not good at minding his own business. He knows he used to creep people out when he asked them about their Quirks on the streets, and he stopped doing that after he'd been yelled at too many times by strangers when just asking simple questions. He stopped sharing analysis with his so-called "friends" when they started to mock and tease him for not having the one thing he so desperately wished for, a Quirk of his own. Most of it was kept to himself, now.
But he can't ignore the feeling in his core right now.
Transforming on not only U.A.'s highly guarded grounds, surrounded by hundreds, if not, thousandsof pro-heroes, is not a good idea. He might get picked up by sensors he can't even see, Quirks he doesn't even know exist, and could easily be apprehended.
But. He's getting a little dizzy ignoring the feeling in his core, to go, go, go, and figure out what the Todoroki boy's deal is with his Quirk. He finds himself in the stalls of the stadium bathrooms, which are completely empty, with everybody watching the match with pure glee. A television hastily added into the bathrooms is giving the same highlights that the larger screens are giving, and the match between Bakugou and Iida Tenya starts the moment Izuku locks the stall door.
It's an easy change, allowing the two rings to wash over his body. It's definitely a lot less obvious than his bright flashes of light, and once he feels weightless and free again, Izuku lets himself disappear and tries to juggle intangibility at the same time. It's not something he's done often, but it is something he should try to practice more, because going completely undetectable like this is really, really handy.
He flies through a few of the floors below the main seating a little quickly. He isn't sure how he's going to find Todoroki, but from what Izuku could see, he wasn't sitting with his classmates across the stadium, so he had to be somewhere down below them, right? Maybe in a waiting room or one of the locker rooms, since his match is right after this one, and it'll be coming quickly.
Izuku drops down to the main floor, landing as quietly as he can. He keeps ahold of his invisibility and looks around at the hallway intersection he's come to.
Endeavor walks in from one side.
Izuku's never seen Endeavor this up-close before. The No. 2 Hero isn't one of Izuku's favorites, especially for the amount of property and collateral damage the man seems to cause without a single care in the world. But Izuku can't deny that the flames aren't oddly comforting, to him. Flames like the ones his father was said to breathe out.
Izuku wonders if he had been born with a Quirk, if genetics would have played out to give him similar abilities to the No. 2 hero. If he wasn't born Quirkless, probably.
Right behind him is his son, the youngest Todoroki.
And he looks…
Terrified.
The pro-hero stops the two of them in the hallway intersection. Endeavor must've caught his son walking to one of the waiting rooms, it seems. And Todoroki doesn't look pleased, under the terror he's so desperately trying to hide.
Endeavor huffs angrily, the flames around his face glowing brighter. "We are going to need to train this fear out of you, Shouto. This is ridiculous."
"It's not a fear." Todoroki mutters back.
"It is something childish and outright stupid." Endeavor bites back at his son. "I did not have to spend all those years training you, Shouto. I did it because I am your father, and you will be the hero that will surpass all other heroes."
Todoroki Shouto opens his mouth to reply, but clearly thinks better of it, closing it instead.
"If you do not use your fire in your next few rounds at the Sports Festival, we will just have to spend more time coaxing it out at home." Endeavor adds, crossing his arms behind his back. "Am I clear, Shouto?"
Todoroki looks small. He nods.
"Am I clear?" Endeavor repeats, louder.
"Yes, sir." Todoroki replies.
Izuku wasn't sure what to expect with this—but this was not it. A raging, white hot fury felt like it was building up in his core. He couldn't turn visible—not now, not in front of the No. 2 hero, without causing a bigger scene than needed, but what the hell did he just witness? It's known that Endeavor can be brazen and uncouth; but most people believe it's just an act to go with his hero persona. Most people hoped it was just an act, Izuku included.
Well, they say never meet your heroes. Izuku met All Might, and now look at where he is. And while he didn't technically meet Endeavor right here, and he quietly floats above the pro-hero as he walks away and leaves his son behind; he kinda met one of his back-up favorite heroes and they also managed to crush all his hopes and dreams again. Or, well, his hopes that heroes are generally good people.
He's still doing good, though, Izuku sighs. But how can we measure someone's character in public when they're like this in private?
And poor Todoroki—now Izuku understands why he doesn't use the fire of his Quirk.
But it's his Quirk. It's Todoroki's Quirk. The fire aspect might have come from Endeavor—and Izuku assumes the ice is from his mother—but they merged together to create Todoroki's own Quirk. They came together to bring Todoroki into this world, but he's not anybody's property. He's his own person.
Izuku now feels like he's added another thing to his mental to-do list. Help Todoroki Shouto. Easier said than done, of course, but hey—Izuku isn't one to back down from a challenge.
Todoroki watches his father walk away. His fists clench at his side, and ice frosts over one, while steam rises from the other. "Bastard," Todoroki mutters in perfect English, before sauntering off in the opposite direction, probably towards the waiting rooms.
Izuku should probably try to sneak back, now, before Hitoshi's dad starts to really wonder where he is at this point.
✨👻✨
She can't tell if Todoroki's few-second hesitation at the start of the match is an attempt to give her a fair fight or not, but if Ochako is going to lose, she's at least going to try to go down swinging.
Without a glacier against her, she taps her gym clothes to make her lighter, a trick she learned a long time ago, and bolts for Todoroki. He seems to snap out of whatever funk he was in soon after that. The glacier he summons is large, but not as large as the one he used against the 1-B student, Rin. Uraraka ducks and rolls around it, before jumping back up on her feet.
Her plan is a little simple—but it doesn't need to be a complicated strategy. She just needs to get close enough to grab ahold of Todoroki, and when he's weightless, fling him out of the arena.
The odds of that happening, though?
Close to zero, in all honesty. Ochako knows that she's a little outmatched by the strongest kid in her class. But, hey, she's going to give it her best try.
Todoroki doesn't stutter again, and another glacier rises from her side with a flick of his wrist. He's probably picked up on her simple, easy plan—or perhaps he just figures that it's what Ochako would go with anyway. She notices that he does shiver, a bit, with summoning the next glacier, and his breath looks a little frosty.
Why, though?
Present Mic had explained Todoroki's Quirk earlier, on the speakers, but it didn't make any sense to Ochako then, and it doesn't now. In all the time of knowing him, she's never seen him use the "fire" side of his Quirk. Never. Not even in training. Not even on accident. Something is keeping the flames buried within. What is it, and why? He could be so much stronger with a blast of fire, too; and he could easily warm himself up without the risk of frostbite. So why--?
The ice circles Ochako quickly. She's not completely frozen in, but slippery ice is surrounding her in every direction. The ice even creates a dome over her before she can even consider trying to float out of the top, which sucks. He was so fast and quick with it, his control of his Quirk is impressive, and Ochako is jealous.
"IT LOOKS LIKE TODOROKI HAS URARAKA TRAPPED! WILL SHE BE ABLE TO GET OUT, OR WILL THE MATCH END HERE?"
I'll try, Ochako thinks, and sprints to one of the sides of ice. It does chip under her when she hits her body into it, but not enough to get through. Still, she tries again, even if the cold air of the dome is really, really, cold. She can see her own breath. The ice chips more, but not enough. Of course, it's not enough.
"IT LOOKS LIKE OCHAKO IS FROZEN IN!"
Well, at least she'd tried. Bummer she didn't even get a good hit in on Todoroki, but she's lasted the longest out of everyone who's ever tried to go against the number-one student of Class 1-A. So-- hey, that's something to be proud of.
✨👻✨
"Hey, Shinsou!" Kirishima yells from across the arena as their match starts.
Of course, he's up against not only a close-range fighter, but he's up against Kirishima, of all people. Hitoshi can't rely on Quirkless fighting alone; he has to be even smarter in comparison to his last match.
Kirishima charges, arms already hardened and swinging. The last thing Hitoshi needs is to be hit by one of those.
"I kinda had a thought! I know how your Quirk works from training, so as long as I keep talking, you can't get a word in! Isn't that a great idea?"
Oh, and he even came in with a plan. Well, isn't that great.
Hitoshi holds his tongue, though not that it would help, any. Kirishima is still, somehow talking.
"So, I'm just gonna talk about something random and drown out your own voice! Anyway, I was walking home from school the other day, and—"
He starts into a story about spotting Aizawa-sensei after class a few weeks ago, but Hitoshi isn't really paying attention. He's focused on not getting hit by Kirishima's jabs and punches. Even if they weren't as rock-solid and concrete-breaking with his Quirk, being hit by Kirishima hurts normally. The other boy is a lot stronger and bulkier than Hitoshi is, probably due to his Quirk and a touch of genetics.
Hitoshi is lean and not as muscular, but he's just a little bit faster, which is barely enough to dodge what Kirishima is throwing his way.
He's talking to himself so loudly so he can't hear what I have to say, and he's stronger than me, physically. How do I get this fight in my favor?
Think outside the box. Think outside the box.
"Can you believe it? Aizawa-sensei was baby-talking to a little cat! I don't think I've ever heard his voice that soft before! He was so gentle with the cat. It really made me re-consider the persona he puts on in class, yeah?" Kirishima is still prattling on, but he is getting a little breathless with it.
And then a thought comes to Hitoshi.
"I mean, don't get me wrong, I'll still take him seriously—"
He stops, mid-action, right as Kirishima slides to his left. In a loud, monotone voice, Hitoshi announces, "This isn't worth it. I might as well just step out." He turns around, and starts walking towards the edge of the arena.
That catches Kirishima's attention, mid-sentence. Even Midnight starts to raise her flag, but she waits for Hitoshi to make his step over the line. "Wh—really?!"
Yes! It's enough of a response. Hitoshi grabs at Kirishima's mind, and pulls as hard as he can. The lights in Kirishima's eyes flicker out quickly, and Hitoshi can feel him completely under control.
"WHAT'S THIS?! KIRISHIMA HAS COMPLETELY STOPPED HIS ATTACKS! WHAT IS GOING ON?"
"Walk out of the arena." Hitoshi commands, and Kirishima turns around, mind lost in a fog, and starts walking towards the edge of the arena, right next to Hitoshi. "And stay there."
"AND KIRISHIMA IS WALKING OUT OF BOUNDS! OH, HOW THE TABLES HAVE TURNED! ARE YOU SEEING THIS?"
"Yes, I am. I am right next to you. I can see everything."
Present Mic's voice ignores Aizawa-sensei's comment. "BUT WHAT'S GOING ON, YOU MAY BE ASKING! WELL, DEAR LISTENERS, THAT'S SHINSOU HITOSHI'S QUIRK IN ACTION! BRAINWASH—IF HE GETS A RESPONSE, HE CAN TELL YA WHAT TO DO! AND OH, NO, KIRISHIMA IS OUT OF BOUNDS, MEANING THAT THE MATCH GOES TO SHINSOU!"
It was a close call, really. And he was lucky enough to trick Kirishima. Once the match is called, Hitoshi releases his grasp on Kirishima's mind, and the boy blinks, before loudly groaning.
"Man! I thought I had the best plan!"
"It was good." Hitoshi says, stepping off next to where he stood. "You got a little too excited that I said I was going to quit."
Kirishima laughs, nervously scratching the back of his neck. "Yeah, that cost me, didn't it? I should really expect that from you, though! You're all tricky and smart with your words like that."
Hitoshi shrugs in response. Most of the time, he doesn't exactly mean what he's saying. Calling people names and making fun of them is one of the easiest ways to make people reply to him, but when people are already aware of his Quirk, it makes it a little more difficult. Still, he does try his best.
He'll probably get knocked out in the next round, but hey—he made it to the top four, so that's definitely enough to be proud of, there. Hopefully Izuku and his dad are still cheering on him from the crowd.
✨👻✨
Of all the times to get a call from someone that Toshinori used to know, it has to be in the middle of the Sports Festival, of all things! The caller ID nearly makes him jump out of his skin. He wasn't expecting him, of all people, to know exactly how to use a cell phone.
Hell, that old man emails him every few months with the same question. Suddenly getting a phone call from him is definitely worthy of a jump. And maybe a drink, later.
"So, you find any successor at that fancy-schmancy school, yet?"
"I—uh, well—" Toshinori glances out of the booth he's in. One of the many teacher booths scattered throughout the first-year's stadium. The match between Kirishima Ejiro and Shinsou Hitoshi had just ended. "A few, uh, there are a few I'm narrowed down to."
"A few?! You don't have that much time left, Yagi Toshinori!" Oh, god, no, not the full name. It makes him feel like he's being scolded by his parents. "Look, you've gotta settle on a successor in the next two weeks, right? That's what your stupid deal with Sir was. Which, by the way, I do have a lot to say about that thing—"
"Oh—crrsh—uh oh, Torino-san, uh—crshh—duty calls, gotta go!" Toshinori hangs up without even saying goodbye. He ignores the following ringtone of his phone, and shoves it as deep into his pockets as his phone can go.
Torino is right, though—Toshinori doesn't have that much time left. The deadline for the deal he made with his old partner, Sir, all those years ago is coming up. It's the only thing Sir had spoken to him about in the last few years, just a simple question asking if he even remembered the deal. Toshinori almost didn't, and was almost so overwhelmed by an old friend reaching to speak to him again he almost forgot why they'd had a falling out.
If you can't find a successor by your 48th birthday, then I'll find someone for you.
It'd been a promise to each other, so very long ago. Toshinori didn't even think Sir still thought or caredabout him like that, but having his old friend reach out with the same promise, even after all they'd said to each other… It was a little heartwarming, at least.
But still. The choice isn't something that should be taken too lightly; and Toshinori doesn't want somebody to take the choice away from him.
He glances back down to the field, as both Shinsou and Kirishima leave it, and Cementoss comes on stage to brush it off. Not a lot of mess had occurred during that match, but Nedzu demanded every arena stage be as clean as possible for each and every match, even if the students didn't cause a lot of damage. A strange rat-man, the principal was… Either way, his thoughts wandered to those two boys.
I wonder…
Chapter 29: OwO What's This?
It's scary how fast the rest of the Sports Festival passes for Hitoshi.
After he defeats Kirishima, the matches line up as follows:
TODOROKI SHOUTO
BAKUGOU KATSUKI
SHINSOU HITOSHI
ASUI TSUYU
He's against Tsuyu in the semifinal round, but that's not the fight that's getting people's attention. No, it's Todoroki Shouto and Bakugou Katsuki that will draw the attention for the afternoon.
Which he supposes is good, because then his failure against Tsuyu will probably be forgotten by the crowd in favor of everything.
It's an interesting match-up. Ice and fire, cold and hot. Even though Todoroki's Quirk supposedly has a fire aspect to it—not one anyone has ever seen, and there are some rumors going around at the Sports Festival between matches about why—he's reliant on his ice. Bakugou, on the other hand, is pure heat and fire with his explosions. He can shatter the ice quite easily. But Todoroki seems to have regained a little more color since his fight with Uraraka, and as the two of them step out onto stage, Shinsou can't help but look on from the bleachers.
"Uh, Shinsou?" Uraraka asks, a little nervously. "Shouldn't you be in the locker-room downstairs, getting ready?"
"Eh." He replies with a shrug, not looking up from his phone as it chimes with another message from Izuku.
MINIGHOST
It's super hard to say which one will make it through the fight. Bakugou's Quirk is based on his explosive sweat, so all Todoroki needs to do is freeze Bakugou out. But!!! Bakugou is fast and has probably been working up a sweat all day, so he can probably get a good hit in before Todoroki can do that, too. It's one of the few matches that feel like a total toss-up, but I'm putting my money on Todoroki winning.
CATNYAP
are you just saying that cause you want k to lose
MINIGHOST
I will neither confirm nor deny that accusation.
CATNYAP
anyway that didn't answer my original question.
MINIGHOST
Right, sorry! But you definitely have enough time to watch the match from the stadium seats here. Even if the match isn't long, there's going to be enough destruction to hold yours off a bit
CATNYAP
great more time to put off my inevitable failure
MINIGHOST
You don't know that! You could definitely win against Asui!
MINIGHOST
Either way, I'm still super proud of how far you made it, Toshi!
"They're going to completely destroy the field, anyway." Hitoshi says, pocketing his phone. He glances around. "Where'd Iida go, anyway?"
"Um, I don't actually know." Uraraka replies, shrugging. "He got a phone call during your fight with Kirishima, and he had to leave early. I think it was a family emergency."
Oh. "I, uh, hope everything's okay with him."
"I do, too. I don't think I've ever seen him that… darkly serious? Like, he's a pretty serious guy, but he just looked… I dunno, so sad, I guess." Uraraka sighs, turning back to the field, as Midnight motioned for the match to start.
He'll have to give Izuku credit for the predictions of what would happen, because what Izuku suggested did happen. He'd also have to ask if prophetic visions of the future are another ghost power, because he was creepily accurate with everything, too. Even the fact that Bakugou started the fight with a right hook, that Todoroki easily blocked with a shield made of ice before that shattered into hundreds of pieces.
It does take a bit longer than expected, and there's a lot of damage on the field when it's done. Todoroki is half-frozen over by the end of their battle, covered in layers of hoar frost that they could see all the way from the stands, and Bakugou looks more like a popsicle than a human at the end of it. The ends of both of their hair are white from ice and frost, and the chill is starting to creep up the sides of the arena towards the spectators.
Also, Bakugou is frozen completely in ice except for his head.
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! IMPRESSIVE WORK DONE BY BOTH SIDES, BUT TODOROKI SHOUTO EMERGES VICTORIOUS!"
"YOU BASTARD!" Bakugou's voice somehow carries over the loudspeakers in the stadium. "YOU'RE NOT EVEN FIGHTING ME AT FULL POWER! WHAT THE HELL! I WANT A RE-MATCH!" Never mind the fact that he's immobilized and so cold he isn't sweating anymore.
His phone buzzes as he steps out and down towards the locker rooms to wait.
MINIGHOST
This is like a dream come true.
CATNYAP
what, the sports festival?
MINIGHOST
No, seeing K get humbled like this.
Hitoshi chuckles.
CATNYAP
anyway gtg about to get owned by tsuyu
And, as he'd thought, he did end up getting his ass kicked by a frog.
✨👻✨
Can any person say it's surprising how the Sports Festival ended up?
Shouta probably couldn't say it was.
Shinsou making it to the finals and tying with Bakugou for third place was definitely a bit of a surprise, and he could see the shock on his face when he was escorted out onto the platform next to the other boy. But it wasn't completely unexpected. The boy is smart and quick; he needs to acknowledge it more in class. Maybe for their finals…
No, that's a decent time away, still. He's not even going to deal with thinking about that for now.
The odds were against Shinsou from the very start. Without a physical Quirk, he could have easily been left behind by his peers, but he works hard enough in and outside of class to still keep up with most of them. He doesn't rely on his Quirk like the others, either; it's just another tool in his arsenal, as all his kids students should see it. Just something he'll have to beat into their heads before the end of the year.
Bakugou isn't as thrilled as being third place on the podium. Compared to his classmates, though; he was easy to figure out and rile up. Had Shinsou been against Bakugou instead of Asui, there might have been a chance for him to place higher, but the matches were as randomized as they could be (a process that involved Hizashi pulling names out of a stupid old hat). Asui had strength and speed over Hitoshi, but he'd made it pretty far with barely using his Quirk, unlike the rest of his class.
"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT, FOLKS!" Hizashi's voice just as loud in-person as Shouta imagines it is out on the field, as the fireworks start, and ceremonial music starts to play. "ANOTHER SPORTS FESTIVAL COMES TO A CLOSE. THANK YOU ALL FOR ATTENDING, AND AS ALWAYS… PLUS ULTRA!"
Plus ultra! The crowd cheers. Family members, U.A. alumni, pro-heroes—they all cheer for not just the four first years on the podium, but for the rest of the students who might not have placed as high up. Everyone did their best (well, almost everybody, Shouta was dreading the conversation he's gonna have with Mineta after this), and that does deserve a little bit of appreciation, at the very least.
But thank god it's finally over. Shouta takes off the headphones and sighs, the ceremonial music fading in the distance.
"That was fantastic, Shou!" Hizashi says, once he's unplugged and his mic is turned off as well. "Your students—all of them were the top winners for this year! Vlad is going to be so pissed."
"Good. He should be." Shouta replies, stretching his legs out.
"And that one boy, Shinsou—he's practically a mini-you at this point. Did you see his smile up there? It looked just like yours when you'd won the Sports Festival our first year." Hizashi adds, glancing off into the distance, as if mesmerized by the memories.
Shouta tries to not remember that. Working his way up from the General Education department to the Heroics Department, and eventually being drafted into Nedzu's special one-student class was enough for him to remember. He doesn't need to think about all the dirty tricks he'd done on future colleagues to get there. Well, none of them really remembered or cared at that point.
"Do you remember—"
"Nope." Shouta interrupts before Hizashi can pull him down memory lane, too. He stands up quickly, kicking out the desk chair from behind him. He pulls out his phone, unlocking it to check the time. 4:02. Not that bad. "I've got work to do, now."
"Oh, Shou, c'mon! The Sports Fest just ended; can't you wait until—"
There's a missed message on his phone from somebody; and unknown number. Shouta stops in his tracks, ignoring Hizashi's pleas. It'd been sent an hour ago, about the time Iida had to be excused for a family emergency.
Iida. A family emergency.
Oh no.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
Hello, is this Aizawa Shouta?
"…Shou? Is everything okay?"
Heart pounding, Shouta responds quickly.
ME
Yes, this is. Who is asking?
UNKNOWN NUMBER
This is Iida Masamichi, Tensei's father.
UNKNOWN NUMBER
I have some bad news.
✨👻✨
"That was amazing!" Izuku says as he and Hitoshi walk back to Hitoshi's apartment.
His mom had given him permission to stay late with the Shinsou family to celebrate Hitoshi's win. She'd seen highlights between her shifts at work, and having met Hitoshi and his dad just a week before, was more than willing to let him come home a little later than curfew normally just this once.
"I can't believe it, either."
"People were recognizing you in the store, too!"
"Were they?"
"I—they looked like they were recognizing you, at least." Izuku adds.
Hitoshi smirks, taking a sip of his to-go order of coffee. Izuku didn't think he needed any more caffeine after everything he'd drank at the Sports Festival, but there's a time and place, and, hey, he had been tied third place, so as far as Izuku was concerned, Hitoshi could drink as much coffee as his human heart could handle.
"Or were they too distracted by your attempts to try to use the automatic door?"
Izuku flushes. That's a downside he's found to the whole "dead" thing. Some things don't work the same for him anymore. Anything electronic that is supposed to sense a presence doesn't apply for him anymore—sensors especially, like the ones in automatic, sliding doors. Hitoshi had even stepped back and watched Izuku attempt it a few times before finally relenting, the bastard.
He laughed! At poor Izuku's suffering!
"No, they were definitely recognizing you." Izuku replies, though a few of them were likely to have been confused by that whole situation. He takes a sip of the water he'd bought.
For a moment, they're silent together, walking back down the path they'd traveled many times before to Hitoshi's apartment. Izuku had told his mom he'd be catching the train pretty soon, and while he didn't technically have to catch the train anymore, it was nice to still use it sometimes. Simplicity and ease, perhaps? Or maybe less energy spent flying back and forth? Or both, really.
But the moment of silence is broken up by a noise.
Izuku hiccups, and he feels the puff of air escape from his lips.
Oh no.
Hitoshi hadn't noticed, luckily; glanced away at one of the stores they'd passed for a second.
"Hitoshi—" Is all Izuku can get out before he feels something invisible slam into him and take him down into the ground.
It's disorienting, being flung through the ground like this. Of course, Izuku's traveled through the ground before during his vigilante escapades. It's an easy way to get from one place to another. But he doesn't do it that often—even though he doesn't feel a thing when he's doing it, it still feels cramped. Claustrophobic. He only ever tries to do it in short spurts, when he knows where he'll jump out at the other person and not end up half-phased into a wall again.
But being flung into the ground and pulled with the mysterious force—a ghost, no doubt, by his weird hiccups—is disorienting and terrifying. It feels like they're flying through there for hours, and he can't even get a good look at his attacker, the dirt and concrete and stone flying by fast enough to make him dizzy.
And then it stops.
They soar up from the ground. First, through the water, which Izuku chokes on a bit of saltwater, and then into the air above the ocean. His attacker flings him up, and in the moment where Izuku stops going up and starts free-fall, he lets himself transform into his ghost half, clenching his fists and glancing down at his attacker as gravity lets go of its hold on him.
"Hey, what the heck was that?!"
"A test." The ghost says. She's pretty small—close to Izuku's size—but looks like she's in her twenties, at most. White hair like his is pulled back into a ponytail, wisping out into the air. She's wearing a monochromatic outfit of stark black jeans, complimented with a black tank-top and a white cropped jacket. A large and heavy object hangs from a chain around her neck. Her eyes are a vibrant green, the color of ectoplasm, and they narrow at Izuku. "Your reaction time sucks."
"Wh—" Before Izuku can even start another question, the ghost girl raises one hand and shoots out a quick and fast blast of ectoplasm right to Izuku. He's barely able to dodge it. "Hey!"
"Okay, that was a little better. Still sucks though." She disappears completely on Izuku, before reappearing behind him and shooting at him again.
Izuku doesn't dodge this one fast enough, and he feels it graze his arm. A little annoyed at this situation, he twists quickly in the air before firing off the strongest ectoplasmic blast back. It's not something he likes to practice a lot, because he's fighting humans, after all, and the accidental damage he's seen it done just to buildings and stone makes him think that it would really, really hurt a human.
The ghost girl doesn't look impressed, summoning up a shield in front of her to bounce the blast back off. "Lame." She fires off three blasts in quick succession. Izuku dodges two of the three, and the third one strikes him in his other arm, and he can feel the sizzle of the ectoplasmic energy hitting his skin. It burns, but it's not the worst pain in the world.
"C'mon, kid! Give me everything you've got!"
Izuku tries to fire back, but the ghost girl easily dodges it, instead, twisting around him and throwing a good old fashioned jab to the stomach. This one Izuku dodges easily, used to the physical attacks from the wannabe villains and thugs he often fights.
He doesn't know how long they fight mid-air. It's a trade of punches, kicks, and jabs from Izuku; fiery hot ectoplasmic blasts and jabs from the girl. Izuku starts using his own shields to reflect attacks, giving up on trying to shoot her on his own (since it seems to not work at all). Eventually, the anger threatening to bubble in Izuku's core subsides as the sun starts to sink closer into the horizon, and he's covered in a thin layer of sweat.
He didn't even know ghosts could sweat. Or that he could in his ghost form. Weird!
They don't quite draw to a standstill. The ghost girl draws back, crossing her arms, floating a few feet above him, mid-air.
She smirks, showing off her fangs. "You're pretty good at close combat. It's when you have to rely on long-distance attacks where you suck ass."
Izuku blinks at her. "Uh. What?"
"Hello, test? I'm testing you? C'mon, you're not thatdense, are you, kid? Or should I say… Phantom?" The ghost girl snickers.
Izuku clenches his fists again. He's low on power—and time, he's got a curfew and Hitoshi is probably worried sick since Izuku had literally just up and vanished on him—and doesn't have much more fight in him. Not even for a quick patrol tonight, but the nights of the Sports Festival are usually quite quiet in Musutafu due to the high hero presence, and most heroes stay the night in the city and leave in the morning. He should be able to at least get himself home.
"Who are you, anyway?"
The ghost girl looks at him. Her skin is already pale, but Izuku swears it goes paler.
"Oh, Ancients, I forgot to introduce myself, didn't I?" She asks herself. "Damn it! I said I would do this properly, but I finally found you and I got so excited and I just jumped into it—" She sighs. "Sorry. I should have introduced myself properly. Hi! I'm Ellie Myling! Nice to meet you, Phantom! Or do you prefer Midoriya Izuku?" She stretches her hand out—a very American greeting, though her Japanese sounds perfect. It's hard to tell with ghosts (but, granted, Izuku's only ever met Amorpho before).
Izuku freezes. "Wh—how do you know…"
"Your name? Uh, you're kinda the talk of the 'Zone right now." Ellie says. "Though, I don't think many ghosts know your living name. I could just keep it to Phantom, if that's what your comfortable with?"
"I…" Izuku trails off, still a little in shock that this random ghost who had attacked him out of nowhere just suddenly knows his name. Does she know his address, too? Is he going to have to convince his mom to move (somehow) or worse, run away from home so she doesn't get hurt?
"…I'll just keep it to Phantom. Okay." Ellie says. "Anyway. Sorry for not introducing myself. Anyway, where was I? Oh, yeah. You need to work on having more long-distance attacks. Your aim is pretty okay with your ectoplasmic energy blasts, but your power and speed are abysmal. Do you even practice with that?"
Izuku blinks at her.
He's so done with this already.
"I'm going home." The coastline of Japan is barely visible in the distance. Or, at least, Izuku hopes it's Japan. Since they were intangible in the water, at least his phone made it through alright, so he could GPS himself back home if he needs to. Izuku drops a bit, before flying to the closest land mass he could see.
"Wait—hey!" Ellie flies after him. "Look, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, yeah? I just got really, really excited… And I guess I could've explained the whole attacking thing, too, huh?"
"Maybe you should have," Izuku replies, stopping.
"Right, right. Hold on." She reaches into her pockets, before pulling out a small notepad. Ellie snaps, and a pen manifests out of nowhere. She scribbles something onto the paper. "I'll be in Japan for a while. This is the hotel room I'm staying in. Room 250B. Right on the end. Meet me there tomorrow night, and I can try my best to explain things better then." She passes it over to him.
It's a hotel in Musutafu, which is nice, since it's so close. "Why does a ghost need a hotel room?" He asks.
"I hate to break it to you, but you have to sleep, even when you're dead." Ellie says, with a bit of a chuckle. "If you don't wanna talk to me now, that's fine, I know I messed up by not explaining things, but maybe give me a second chance, yeah? It seems like Amorpho didn't explain a lot to you when they were here."
And just like that, the mystery ghost girl Ellie vanishes, leaving Izuku floating above the ocean by his lonesome.