866Chapter 25: Round One.
"Any idea what took Eraser?" Snipe asked while the microphones were muted. Present Mic sighed, leave it to Eraserhead to not mention what was going on to the person taking over for him. Present Mic double checked the microphones and did a cursory glance around the room. "Mic?"
"A Cleaner came into town - he didn't mention which one." Present Mic said as he put a hand over his microphone just in case. He watched as Snipe gave him a double take at the answer. Honestly, he'd expected a bit more energetic of a response - Cleaners were never a good thing, but thankfully there was rarely someone stupid enough to get one called in around U.A.
Until today, apparently.
"Pretty sure we have our own sheriffs for that sort of thing. Why'd one get called in?" Snipe asked as he brought out his phone. Present Mic held back a snort as he saw the man start flipping through the news. Anything that brought a Cleaner to Japan wasn't going to be on the news. "Doesn't the HPSC handle that?"
Present Mic nodded. "Normally, and preferably, they would. That's why checking the news won't help narrow the reason down. If they needed to call in a Cleaner then they don't want any Japanese ties to whatever happened. Eraserhead's just… doing his job as an underground and verifying whoever it is knows the rules."
"The rules?"
Present Mic nodded. "Boundary setting for the most part; going over who's in charge, where to direct information to, as well as literal rules as to how far they can go." He said as he watched the students come out to the main field. Midnight was in charge of this particular event - the intermission rarely needed commentary. It was usually something fun like a treasure hunt or some kind of hidden clue game. Something to remind the audience that these were children and therefore each participant would end up being even more powerful than they were showing off now.
Snipe looked perturbed. "You… know an awful lot about this?"
Present Mic looked over his sunglasses at the cowboy themed hero. "You wouldn't believe how many coded messages go through my talk show disguised as 'awkward questions' - same with the replies.". He said before looking back down at the pitch. He contemplated calling Eraserhead, make it clear that despite being underground he had allies who expected him back. As the kids moved onto the pitch once more he shook his head - no Cleaner would be that stupid. "Plus, I tend to act as an intermediary to Eraserhead, like hell I'm not well learned on what they're asking of hi - what are the girls wearing?"
His phone immediately started buzzing, with Eraserheads name showing on the caller ID.
Shit.
30 Minutes Prior
Denki was a lot of things, he knew and understood that. He was smarter than most people believed, especially in things like language arts, fitness - and to a certain degree - electronics. He was quick on the uptake too - just not with traditionally scholastic information. He could read a room, he could figure out what sort of person most people were from a distance - Denki was the sort of person who knew who to go to for most situations.
So when he realized their teacher was currently away… he knew who to go to.
"Really? He went to you?" Momo asked as Denki rubbed the back of his neck. The plan was relatively simple. There were seven girls in his class - one of which would probably hurt him for his trouble, one who would probably go too far, so on, so forth. The goal was to see if he could get the girls in his class to wear some cheerleading outfits prior to the main tournament. It would be harmless, it might even boost their popularity. It wasn't \because he wanted to see how hot they'd all look, definitely not.
"More like I happened to be in between him and wherever he was going - he was in kind of a rush. He said 'Cheerleading, intermission, make sure they know.' and left." Denki gave a shrug, making sure to keep his vision aimed towards Momo's face but look at the bridge of her nose. Body language was important, and the quickest way to get caught in a lie was to break eye contact while being questioned further - but he also didn't want to look at her disbelief, it'd make him question how he was doing. Looking right between her eyes however gave the illusion of eye contact while detracting from how much visual distrust was on her face.
Momo raised an eyebrow, and started crunching numbers on how much of her reserves seven cheerleading uniforms would take.
"... If this turns out to be a lie Denki, you won't like the result."
Denki had a feeling it'd be worth it.
Now
It was so worth it. Momo filled every part of the uniform just right, same with Mina and Ochaco! Jirou's face and defensive posture next to the open and technically impossible to see Toru was a great contrast, even if he only knew where Toru's limbs were because of her shoes and pom-poms. The way her uniform hugged her too, even if he couldn't see her skin he had a better impression of her silhouette now that there weren't multiple layers to muddle it up.
Tsuyu and Midoriya made an interesting match up too. Both green but one has messy hair while the other hand smooth, styled hair. One stood up tall while the other had a slouch, one was apathetic while the other was innocently curious… Denki could die happy now. Now to see which guys were thankful for the view. Katsuki was his first guess, no way he wouldn't appreciate a good eyeful of the childhood friend - why did he look so pale? So was that purple haired guy from 1-B, and Minoru too - he'd expected Minoru to start freaking out. He followed their eyes to Izuku's stomach.
It was impressively smooth, save for one set of stitches across her stomach and hips…
"I'm a zombie!"
Oh. Right.
He suddenly felt like he had no electricity in his veins.
"Hisashi!?"
Hisashi was still as the world shook around him like an earthquake and there was a high-pitched tone tuning almost everything else out. He'd heard about his baby girl's quirk, how the stitches disappeared over time save for certain ones - like the ones on her head from when she'd, when she'd…
And now he could see there was another set across her stomach. Jagged and imperfect, as if she'd been -
"Hisashi, it's on your knees!". The voice was foggy and distant, he felt bile in his throat, everything looked fuzzy and blurred save for that small spot in the middle of the TV where he could see the proof that his precious daughter has been -
He grabbed the metal bucket Inko had placed on his knees and puked a mix of vomit and fire, the bucket glowing from the heat. He coughed, tears and smoke pouring from his face into the bucket as Inko pulled him into a hug. He could hear Eraserhead yelling at something. It was faint, like it both was and wasn't there. He leaned into his face, shielding her from his face so his mess wouldn't get on her. She rubbed the back of his neck and between his shoulder blades, he felt her lips just brushing over his left ear as she whispered - he knew she was whispering, even as the words seemed louder than the TV and enraged heroes roar.
"I'm right here, Izuku's still here, we're all still here. It's okay."
Hisashi nodded as he started to breathe, when had he stopped? He forced himself to breathe.
One two three four five six seven eight, one two three four five six seven eight nine ten. In. Out. In. Out.
It took another ten breaths to realize he hadn't been still while the world shook, it had just been him shaking.
He forced himself to his feet and looked at his daughter's teacher, the man stared back, his hair down and his eyes dark.
"We're seeing our daughter. Either you move or-"
"I'll escort you. You're not entered into U.A.'s system yet."
Hisashi gave a curt nod as Inko linked her arm with his, helping him stand straight as they walked to the car.
One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten. In. Out. In. Out.
Green smoke started to wisp off his body, fire glowing in his eyes and cheeks.
Inko squeezed his arm, the glow and smoke dimmed but didn't disappear.
"And whoever thought it'd be funny to make my students dress up like that is going to become intimately familiar with regret." Eraserhead added as he took the driver's seat. Hisashi let a bit of fire color his breath as he spoke.
"I extend my services free of charge." Hisashi said, Inko sighed and leaned into her husband.
"You will not, the holidays are coming, and Izuku was a whole agency of new favorite heroes."
The thought of Izuku snuggling up to a stuffed hero before abandoning it to hug him did a bit to help cool him down.
"At a discount then."
"Um, are you okay?"
Katsuki felt something on his shoulder and the world refocused. He didn't know the specifics of what happened in the clinic - it was one of the few things Izuku seemed tight-lipped about. He knew it was bad, he knew she saw someone die.
He didn't know that she'd died.
Izuku seemed unfazed by the fact the cheerleading outfit exposed the stitching - she hadn't realized it yet, why hadn't she realized it yet? She refused to talk about it but then she lets the evidence show on live TV? Why was she even in a cheerleader outfit? Definitely not the grape-head - no way he'd relapse this hard and risk both a beating and a flashback mid-festival. The Birdbrain and his Rockhead friend didn't seem the type and more importantly they seemed to be actively trying to avoid looking at the girls - the Masked Octopus was indifferent, or maybe just hard to read because of said mask.
Shitty Hair was out, if only because he seemed genuinely surprised and looked like he wanted to get a male cheerleading outfit to join them. Probably thought it 'manly' to motivate your friends or something - good way to look at it, Katsuki's first thought was who had the balls to try and sideline a chunk of their class based on gender. Tenya looked confused and was trying to get an explanation from Momo. Now Momo looked embarrassed - great, someone was getting a beating.
"You lied to me, how could you!"
Katsuki drew a line from her eyes to the first person to look properly called out - and a mix of smug and uncertain of his actions. Dunceface scratched the back of his neck as his pale ass looked away from Izuku's stitches and tried to save face. Katsuki was about to walk up to him when a hand dropped on his shoulder. Elbows isn't holding him back, but the hand anchors him before his anger can slip, before he can really get mad at Dunceface. "He-"
"If you're this mad now, imagine how pissed Mr. Aizawa is going to be when he gets back to find his name was used to make this happen."
Amusement flooded his system as Dunceface overheard Elbows and paled enough to look physically sick, even losing some motor control based on the slump and stumble. Katsuki took a few breaths before giving a low chuckle. "Good point… Elbows?"
"Sero Hanta."
"No promises."
Elbows shrugged before letting go of his shoulder while the girls seemed to divide on whether they should roll with it or change back to their uniforms. Eventually the vote came to rolling with it and between a few competitive games during their little intermission period they started cheering on both sides. Aizawa's future punishment aside, he made it a point to go against Dunceface throughout those games - let him embarrass himself in front of all the girls.
Soon, the games came to an end, and it was time to find out who he was taking down first.
"Alright and welcome back viewers to the U.A. Sports Festival - the first years have been giving it their all and now it's time to see who's gonna win it all!"
"Their teams have gotten you this far, but only one person can be the true-blue winner. Soon, our own Cementoss will be forming the arena you all will be fighting head-to-head on."
"Each of them have been matched up in brackets, winners advancing to face each other until only one student is standing as the number one!"
"We have sixteen students ready to prove themselves, but which one will come out on top?"
Midnight cracked her whip to get our attention as we all started to congregate in front of her. "Rules are simple, so don't make me punish you by breaking them."
Mineta, who stood beside him, cracked under the provocation - or maybe decided the joke was too easy. "If I hadn't already been dropped I would break all the rules."
Katsuki let himself snort at the comment, grapehead could let himself have that one - pretty sure ninety percent of the male competition was thinking the same.
"Rule Number one, this is on national television - don't do anything censorship worthy, no matter how much I'd like to encourage otherwise."
"Isn't the age of consent sixteen, should she really say stuff like that to us?" Elbows whispered next to him. Midnight cracked her whip again.
"I'm sixteen." Katsuki whispered back.
"Rule Number two, if I call the match, that's it, match over, all combat stops. As part of rule two, just because I'm mid-sentence on my call doesn't mean 'vent off any extra energy with cheap shots' - you don't want to rile me up by screwing around mid-climax."
"Pretty sure that entire last sentence needed to be censored." Earlobes remarked, to which Midnight just winked.
"I'm allowed to be naughty, you are not. Speaking of things you're not allowed to do, rule three, we know mistakes can happen and you're here to show off, but keep the firepower controlled - you can be flashy, but it better not approach lethal force."
As she finished, the ground under our feet started to rumble before squares of concrete pushed out under our feet and started to move around - with us riding on top of them. "To win, you can either push your opponent to surrender, get them out of the ring, or leave them unable to continue fighting! Show me just how virile you all are!"
"I think she might be worse than me!" Mineta half shouted as he struggled to keep from falling off of his concrete block.
The concrete squares lined up with sixteen students in the middle as the rest of the students were moved to the outer edge of the arena, surrounding them. Katsuki looked around to see who had gotten in - some of them he knew, some he didn't.
"Now let's see who's facing who!"
Another chunk of concrete burst from the ground, this one as big as the entire arena and with names and brackets pre-carved into it. Katsuki took one look and felt his eyes twitch before growling. "You bastards put my match last!? Seriously!?"
Rounds one through four were Hitoshi, Tsuyu, Izuku, Manga, Yui from the Support class, Yasashi from Gen Ed, Rikido, and Shoto in that order. Rounds five through eight were Ibara, Hachishi from Gen Ed, Momo, Setsuna, Kikaiko from the Support class, Tenya, Pony, and then finally himself. Elbows started laughing as Katsuki's hands began to pop - what little patience he had simply giving up upon seeing how long he'd have to wait.
"Will everyone but Hitoshi Shinso and Tsuyu Asui please make your way to the observation seats."
Hitoshi sighed deeply as he prepared himself. This was it, his proving ground. So far he'd made it by on the skin of his teeth - expulsion or a class drop always feeling like it was skinning his ankles with each attempt to bite down on his heels and drag him down.
Class 1-B might not have been what he'd chosen, and if he was honest part of him wished he'd been there at the Unforeseen Situation Joint for all of the wrong reasons, reasons he thought he'd know better than to think after the clinic. If he'd been there, he could prove just how amazing his quirk was for heroics…
He shook his head and stepped out onto the ring, keeping a confident, ready to win smirk on his face. His opponent… kind of looked like a frog. Tsuyu Asui, her eyes were a bit bigger than most, her face a little flatter, and her hands were fairly large too. Could go the body shaming route but that rarely worked well on mutants - not to mention it was just rude. Flirting was also just in bad taste, that would definitely leave a scar somewhere. Maybe he could… that might work.
"His hair might be crazy, but you can bet he'll keep both his and your heads right on track, lemme hear you cheer for Hitoshi Shinso of Class 1-B!"
Oh yeah no just go ahead and tip them off out the gate, thanks…
"She might bluntly speak her mind, but you won't find a sharper tongue in this tournament, get those hands clapping for Tsuyu Asui of Class 1-A."
"Ready…?" Midnight said as she prepared her flog.
Hitoshi didn't have much time, needed to start now. "Hey so, a thought occurs."
Tsuyu tilted her head.
Hitoshi stepped forward and held his hand out. "Quick show of sportsmanship? Shake hands, go back to starting positions?"
"Go!" Midnight shouted as she snapped her flog, meanwhile, Tsuyu nodded.
"Sure."
Hitoshi nearly sighed in relief as he walked up - play cool, play nice… The two of them met and shook hands quickly, leading to a sort of awkward silence from the crowd before they walked back to their starting positions. First, initiate a secondary source for his control for those who don't know him to assume might have been the trick. Now he needed to actually take control the only way his quirk allowed.
"Well, if no-one else is going to say it, good on the kids for showing some actual sportsmanship." Snipe said over the comms as the silence dragged on.
"I'll be honest, I was kind of hoping for some kind of small cheer to start… you?"
"I'm sure there are still a few heroes who noticed, ribbit."
He felt his quirk make a connection, and he seized it, grabbing control of Tsuyu's mind and sighing in relief as her large eyes went blank. He was probably still going to have to apologize a bit, but to be fair this kind of small talk would probably be his main way of getting jumpers away from ledges.
"Turn around and walk out of the Arena."
"Huh? Wait, she's just walking away!?"
Midnight waited, and as Tsuyu walked off, she cracked her flog once more. He decided to release his control then, hoping to make it look like the sound was enough to snap people out of his control. "Tsuyu is out of bounds, The Winner is Hitoshi Shinso!"
Tsuyu blinked looked at him, and he scratched his head while mouthing an apology. She closed her eyes, nodded, and gave him a thumbs up - he'd take it.
Now he needed to clear out based on the looks Midnight was giving him as Present Mic called for Izuku and Manga.
"She's lean, green, and so far proven to be an absolute machine, let's hear it for Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-A!"
Izuku practically skips her way out onto the Arena. She hasn't met Manga yet but - oh my god is that him!? His quirk gave him a manga speech bubble for a head, so cool! The Sports Festival is the best, and so far she's already at the last stretch… just need to win the rest now. A quick roll of her neck nearly startles her when she mistakes a pop of her neck as a stitch popping.
"His head's a little out there, but so is the power of his quirk, let's give it up for Manga Fukidashi of Class 1-B!"
Both of them bowed to each other. This was it, their moment, win or lose.
"Fight!"
"Dead-"
"BRAAAAAAAAAN!"
Izuku nearly lost her footing as the sound of a foghorn tried to launch her out of the Arena. She knelt down to lower her center of gravity before digging her fingers between two of the Arena tiles and flipping one as a form of cover.
Next, she buried her shoulder against it and shoved the tile forward.
"KRAKOOM!"
Something slammed into the tile and shattered it into a dust cloud, but that was okay - she'd already stepped to the side and was rushing at Manga as he turned towards her.
'Vocal Quirk, turns onomatopoeias into physical effects. Seems to have a shorter time limit, plus he needs to speak - no visible mouth thanks to his quirk's mutation so the best way to shut down his quirk is…' Izuku thought to herself as she lunged forward like a rapid zombie. 'Make him use things that aren't onomatopoeias, like screams or calls for help!'
"AAH!"
Izuku tried not to laugh at the high-pitched squeal that left Manga as he suddenly caught a glimpse of how close she was to him and the face she was making. She used the moment to catch his midriff and spin behind him.
"Now, take this!"
Manga felt himself go weightless as the small zombie decided of all things to suplex him, so he threw his head back and roared at the ground before he could be slammed into it.
"FWOOOM!"
A gust of air not unlike the exhaust from a jet engine ripped through his mouth - god if it didn't rip his throat a new one, but it launched him out of her grip and seemed to throw her off balance as he sent himself well above the area - close range was never in the cards for him and she seemed to specialize in it. Business as usual for him then.
"KRAKOOM! KRAKOOM! KRAKOOM!"
He tried to track and even lead her with his attacks - but she wasn't just erratic in her movements, she was also using the dust from his attacks for cover. Gravity was still bringing him down closer to her… he just had to wait until she attacked, and then - what just flew by him - did she just launch higher herself than him, how strong is she!?
Manga turned and saw a jacket with a piece of rock in it, and then he saw an arm go around his neck.
"KRA-"
His vision shook as he was slammed into the ground.
Izuku, dressed in a black undershirt and her P.E. sweats, grinned as she grabbed Manga from behind in a headlock and guided his body to fall headfirst to the ground. Thankfully in blasting the arena with his quirk, he'd made a few areas of crushed stone that might not be as dangerous for her to slam him into. Option two, he can't talk with an arm around his neck, but she couldn't do much more than choke him out in that position - and that didn't show off much.
So, Option Three, it's hard to talk when your head is repeatedly hitting the ground, regardless if the ground was solid or broken up.
Izuku clammered off Manga's back and neck as she grabbed his ankles and swung. She heard him start to speak just in time for her to slam him against the arena, cutting him off. She twisted and swung again, turning him horizontal for a second before she shifted her feet and whipped him over her head to slam him vertically into the ground one more time.
That's when a whistle went off from Midnight's podium, Izuku froze and looked up.
"Winner by knock-out! Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-A!"
Izuku blinked and looked at Manga, whose head now resembled a dizzy spiral inside of a thought bubble.
"Oh… I thought he could take more…"
Izuku carefully put Manga's ankle down as medical bots came in and carried the boy to medical.
Why did people feel… fragile, lately? She walked out with the medical bots as she pondered that, eventually guided back to her class's viewing area to watch the next fight with her friends.
"Hey Izuku! Nice fight - totally rocked him!" Ochaco grinned at her, pumping her fists as if punching something. "Hey, you seem out of it? Did you get hit or something?"
Izuku shook her head. "I… uh… kind of expected it to be longer. He seemed to knock out pretty fast…"
"... Izuku you slammed him into the ground head first like, three times in a row." Hanta said with a grin on his face. "And his head is kind of bigger than the rest of us, just how tough are you expecting us to be?"
"Tough enough. You know if you actually tried meeting her expectations you'd be damn near unstoppable." Katsuki snorted as one of his teammates got into the ring with… the most average girl he'd ever seen. "Hey, does anyone know who that is?"
Izuku grinned. "Oh, that's -
"Coming in from the East, A General Education Student who proves her blood, sweat, and tears are just as capable of Heroic results, Yui Chiba from Class 1-E!"
"What Present Mic said."
"And from the West, another student proving even our General Education students are in a league of their own - quick, quiet, and stronger than he looks, it's Yasashi Kawamori from 1-C!"
"Huh, isn't that one of your teammates, Kacchan?"
"Heh, yeah. That weirdo with a Bat mutation who better not disappoint!" Katsuki grinned before yelling the latter part of the sentence towards Yasashi, who nodded as he slid into a combat stance.
Yui blinked, her face emotionless and cool. Pale skin and red hair pulled back with a black hairband, stood in front of the smaller boy, whose bat-like features almost seemed more pronounced by his topknot and human skin. "Small, fast, tell me, why are you here?"
Yasashi bared his teeth and started letting out rapid click-like noises. "Ain't that obvious, to show I'm good enough, no, that I'm better than just good enough!"
"I see. Good luck."
Yasashi was expecting a lot of things, but he wasn't expecting the girl in front of him to suddenly have a ghostly copy of herself to form half in half out of her body, giving her an extra set of arms, legs, lips, a third eye, and a second nose. Another series of clicks confirmed it for him - despite the translucent gray appearance, it was all solid enough for him to get an echo off of it. The translucent copy seemed to turn in place until it was behind her and… her backpack opened up - support gear!? A pair of drones unfolded from the backpack and the translucent limbs took a seated position amongst the unfolding gear, which came with a keyboard.
That part must control the drones. He almost bit back a curse as the drones opened up to reveal what looked like grenade launchers - seriously!?
Yui Chiba, Quirk - Twin, Yui Chiba can create a copy of herself in the form of a translucent siamese twin, allowing her to split her attention to complete multiple tasks or work in sync with her copy to do tasks at a more complex level. Even though her family is known for twins, Yui was born an only child - leading some to believe her quirk absorbed her twin while in the womb.
"Unfortunately, my sister and I have you outnumbered."
"One, Two, a Hundred… I'll still win!" Yasashi said as he pulled on a neck brace Mei had made for him. Once they were on, the crack of a flog told them both it was time to go. The drones opened fire while Yasashi jumped back and turned a dial on his neck brace before ducking into it slightly. The grenades exploded into foam as Yui pulled out an oversized revolver that seemed to have similar ammo. He let out a scream into the microphone of the neck brace, a high pitched noise he could only achieve due to his quirk.
The neck brace took his high pitch and enhanced the volume while directing it. It didn't produce a concussive wave of noise like Present Mic but more like a directed, ear piercingly high-pitched sonic assault. All four of Yui's hands stopped what they were doing to cover her ears, dropping her gun and halting her drones.
Yasashi rushed forward and grabbed Yui's hair before using the more bat-like muscles in his shoulder and elbow to let loose a series of punches right into Yui's face. His arm became a blur as he fired off thirty punches in just over a second. He stopped when he felt a crack and saw he'd broken Yui's nose and she was looking completely disorientated. His hand also felt like he'd probably sprained or cracked something, so he let go of her.
She dropped to the ground. Yasashi could feel as he started to hyperventilate - he hadn't meant to hurt her too badly, he just wanted to -
"I give up."
He nearly jumped as Yui spoke from the ground, her quirk deactivated. Her voice was a bit off with the broken nose but she was talking clearly.
"I don't think I could take another combo like that, it's got me pretty dizzy and I'm disarmed too."
Midnight nodded and cracked her flog. "Winner by Forfeit - Yasashi Kawamori!"
Yasashi felt excited and numb all at the same time- he honestly didn't know if he would make it this far, and it had happened so fast - he thought he'd have to claw his way up but he also hadn't meant to go so far - A groan snapped him out of his spiral as he looked down at Yui.
"Ah, sorry, let me help you to the medical area!" Yasashi said as he knelt down and with Yui's permission, put her arm over his shoulder before standing back up.
"You're pretty fast for someone without a speed quirk…"
Yasashi let out a nervous laugh. "Ah, I mean, I'm still slower than an actual bat, they can move their arms nearly sixty times a second… I can only manage thirty punches…"
"I imagine punching is more complicated than flapping a wing, be proud."
"Jesus, I'm not sure which shocked me more - the blistering pace of that beating or that she was still conscious and coherent after." Denki rubbed the back of his head as he watched the two walk away from the arena. "How many times did he hit her? I couldn't keep count."
Katsuki gave an almost proud grin. "Last time we clocked him in using one of that psycho inventor's toys, he's around twenty-eight to thirty punches a second - Bat quirk also came with the more rapid firing musculature - he just didn't know it until we questioned him about it."
Izuku sighed, seeing her teammate lose the first round. "Poor Yui. Her quirk was pretty cool though, and those capture grenades… maybe we should have Mei and Kikaiho work together?"
Katsuki twitched. "That's… no."
"But-"
"She doesn't need more help making explosives!"
"On one side of the area - ready to crash through anything in his way and a sweet tooth like none other before, Rikido Sato of Class 1-A!"
Izuku pouted at Katsuki for a moment before returning her attention to the arena where Rikido Sato was scratching the back of his head and waving to the crowd. On the other side… Even from here she could tell Shoto was mad - the air around him almost seemed… misty? Foggy?
"Hey… Kacchan?"
"I see it. Half-and-Half either isn't holding back in the slightest, or someone set him off before the match." Katsuki said as he went over to the wall dividing their class and Class 1-B's viewing seats. Before anyone could stop him and pulled himself over the divider - but thankfully didn't invade their space.
"Hah!? Come to see what a superior-"
"Can it. Much as I'd love to play the whole 'who's better' game and win, real talk - did any of you guys talk to Half-and-Half? Even we don't know all the guy's buttons and he usually has better control than to chill the air around him like this."
"On the other side - bringing about a modern-day Ice-Age wherever he goes - It's Shoto Todoroki, also of Class 1-A!"
Monoma looked like he was about to snark or cut a comment when Kendo put a hand on his shoulder and shook her head. "Not that I'm aware of, anyone?"
The other students all shook their heads as well or gave verbal negatives - Katsuki clicked his tongue and nodded to them. "Something else then, damn it…" He dropped back down to Class 1-A's side right as the call to start the match began.
Five things happened at once.
First, patches of ice and even a few ice crystals grew on Shoto's right side as he lifted his foot.
Second, Class 1-A's eyes went wide as Katsuki rushed to the front of their viewing area along Eijiro, Mina, and Kyoka - All of them prepping their quirks.
Third, Cementoss's eyes went wide as he formed a large barrier between the arena and the people behind Rikido's side of said arena.
Fourth, the window between Present Mic and the arena flew open as he got up to possibly jump down - his free hand twisting a dial on his directional speaker.
Fifth, in a bar on the other side of the city, Tomura's eyes widened as he realized what was about to happen.
Then, Shoto stomped his right foot onto the ground, only for his eyes to go wide as he felt his entire right size become covered in ice.
What followed wasn't so much Ice forming from his right side as much as the world in front of him turned so cold the air itself turned to ice - as if all of the oxygen and hydrogen in the air were forcibly recombined into water molecules and then flash frozen into a glacier that took up a quarter of the stadium. Cementoss's barrier held but Rikido's body was encased in ice save for his head.
"Ri-Rikido Sato, c-can you m-move?!" Midnight called out. Rikido was unresponsive save for his head rapidly shivering. "R-Rikido Sato?! Hey?!"
People began to panic as the Heroes began to move - everyone coming to the same realization. Encased in ice like that, going from normal to so far below zero, had likely sent Rikido into shock and worse was probably causing his body temperature to drop rapidly - possibly lethally.
Present Mic grit his teeth - his Quirk would likely make things worse, shattering the ice would only make things worse as it might rip Rikido apart as well. "Hey! Snipe, got anything for this!?"
"My bullets would just crack and shatter the ice, same as your scream!"
Katsuki's eyes went wide as he saw the same issue as the other heroes. "Damn it! Spiky hair, can you get Mina to Rikido!?"
"I'm strong but not that strong!"
"What would I even do!?" Mina said as she looked at Katsuki, already tearing up.
"If you could melt the ice -"
"I'd risk melting Rikido!"
Momo ran to the divider and climbed over it. "Hey! You - the one who worked with Izuku, can you reach to Rikido!?"
Setsuna jumped up and nodded as Momo pulled her top up to reveal her stomach, forming a large tub of a salt based de-icing agent. "See if you can get this around Rikido - help melt the ice!"
"Right!" Setsuna said as she reached for the bucket and broke herself apart into pieces, flying her hands and head to the trapped boy as Shoto seemed to realize just what he'd done. "Come on - please work fast enough!"
As she poured out the de-icing agent, Shoto launched himself up to Rikido and pressed his left hand against the ice, producing enough heat to help melt the ice but not enough to form any flames. Another hero helped Manual, a hero with a water manipulation quirk, get up to them as well as he took control of the water as the ice melted to make it move and further help speed up the melting process. Lastly, a team of medical bots brought Recovery Girl, who took out a number of towels and heating pads to try and bring Rikido's temperature gently enough to not worsen his condition but fast enough to save him.
Soon, he was pulled from the ice and the Medical bots formed a stretcher to start taking Rikido elsewhere while Recovery Girl rode along with them, still trying to bring his temperature back up.
"I… that wasn't… I don't understand…"
Midnight ran up to the group and looked at Shoto. "Shoto Todoroki… did you mean to do that?"
"I was going to form my usual wave of ice, a bit bigger than needed but nowhere near this big or cold… I… It was going to just be enough to trap and immobilize him, like I did at the USJ…"
Midnight studied him, then nodded. "In that case Shoto, if we see your body growing that cold that fast again - Cementoss is going to form a dome around you and I'm going to knock you out for your safety and the safety of whoever you fight next. After the trauma you all experienced it's to be expected that you'd have some quirk trouble - but that was an accident that could have killed someone, understand?"
"... Yes."
"... Due to his opponent being unable to fight and requiring outside intervention, Shoto Todoroki wins - please excuse the delay between this and the next match as we clear and repair the arena." Midnight called out to an utterly silent crowd as they all took in what just happened. "Shoto Todoroki will be penalized outside of the tournament - to the other students, do not mistake this as an okay to 'make a mistake'."
Izuku let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding - granted, she was regularly forgetting that recently. "That was…"
"Way too much… why are they letting him continue!?" Kyoka said as she slammed her hands on the railing. "He nearly killed Rikido - we don't even know what set him off!"
"While we take this intermission, would the remaining contestants for the third round please come see me." Midnight called out as she moved to the less frozen part of the field. Izuku looked at the others, who all looked worried and decided that simply jumping from the railing would probably not do anyone any favors. Her death might not have much meaning, but her friends thought otherwise - and Hound Dog said it was important to remember that.
Seeing her die after nearly watching someone else die might be too much.
Meanwhile, in a bar on the other side of town, Tomura grinned.
A/N
I got nothing - save an omake
Omake: Karaoke Night
Jirou normally wasn't the sort to snoop on people - normally she didn't even need to. That said, there was a fairly clear line in Class 1-A, there was an exclusive little clique that also included some Class 1-B students. She would be fine with it, really, but then Mina had to ask her about it.
Only for Jirou to realize she hadn't overheard anything from them.
She always heard everything - she didn't gossip, but she knew - and the idea of not knowing never came to mind for her. Therefore, when she realized she, in fact, didn't know anything about the group, it started keeping her up at night. Now, she was following them on a trip outside of U.A. to God knows where hoping to catch something on them.
A karaoke bar was not high on her list of places she wanted to deal with. Still, the group singing their hearts out would certainly give her something to say she knew and silence the intrusive thoughts about how they'd managed to elude her hearing for this long.
She found a seat, got a drink, and waited. First up was the little guy, Minoru. They had to get the microphone down for him - but no-one laughed… Maybe they were regulars?
"When the door shuts, don't worry about me - it's not attention that I want from you. I need you to trust who I'm going to be, and in everything I'm going to do!"
Jirou blinked. She hadn't expected the little guy to actually be decent. He wasn't good - but he wasn't awful either. He won't make any singles any time soon, but he wasn't painful to listen to. The song continued, and the venue clapped him off stage as Momo walked up. She seemed hesitant, but Izuku gave her a thumbs up. She watched Momo take a breath to recalibrate herself before giving a fucking smirk to the audience.
"Mirror Mirror on the Wall, who's the baddest bitch of all-"
Jirou spit her drink across the table as Momo's voice practically purred out of the speakers.
"It's me, no need to think. Mirror Mirror on the wall, who's the baddest bitch of all - it's me, no need to think I know it's me."
Jirou also came to the realization that Momo was wearing fucking stilettos. The way she was holding herself screamed 'Queen', and Jirou gulped as the thought of 'paying homage to the Queen' came to mind.
"I never take shit from anybody, Don't know why you think it was wise to cross me. If you got a death wish, then I'm listening, I'll end the life that you're living. Just call me your genie."
So many wishes, Jirou shook her head and fought down the blush as she tried to cool off by sipping on her soda again.
"I don't take shit from anybody, Piss me off and I'm leaving bodies. Better get down on your knees and count your prayers, Cause nothing good comes after here, You're 'bout to meet your queen."
Jirou watched Momo lean in towards the microphone - holy cleavage that was Jirous new favorite dress -
"Ara Ara."
Jirou was pretty sure she heard someone bark. Also, when did Katsuki take the stage… did… did she faint!?
She stood up and headed to the bathroom to clean up - she needed to look presentable.
Meanwhile, Momo felt like strutting as they started the walk back to U.A.. That had been exhilarating - walking up with that kind of song, that kind of confidence. She hadn't thought it would feel that good to just… do that. True, she knew her hero outfit was a bit risque, she also didn't have many issues showing off a bit more skin than other girls - but that was all for quirk-related reasons. She'd never done it in an outright flirtatious manner before - let alone tell people they'd better either learn to simp or perish.
"Are you sure this was training? Kind of seemed too… fun?" Momo eventually asked once she'd calmed down a bit. Minoru gave her a side eye before sighing into his book. Momo looked down at him with a raised eyebrow and he pulled his face out of the pages.
Katsuki however was the one to answer. "Training and Fun aren't mutually exclusive, and confidence can be difficult - even if you have it, talking in front of an audience can be an entirely different beast. It's good to go out and put yourself in situations like this to build up a certain resistance to the sheer number of eyes focused on you."
"Also knowing how to get eyes focused on you is important. A lot of heroines use sexuality to get not just media attention but also their opponents attention in the moment - the more focused on you they are, the less likely they'll notice your team moving to capture them or evacuate nearby hostages." Minoru added. "Rude as it might sound for me to say, past actions considered."
Izuku shook her head. "No, it's a valid strategy that heroines and heroes use, that's part of why skintight suits are the norm in the hero industry - as well as certain costume design choices."
Minoru paled and looked at Izuku. "Wait… you don't think…?"
"They gave you a diaper shaped 'belt' to 'appeal' to a certain 'fetish'? Thinking about it in this context… that's fucked up, effective, but fucked up." Katsuki said as he looked behind them. "Hope you don't mind hunting for a certain kind of person online."
Minoru closed his book and slammed it against his forehead. "Damn it - if I wasn't going to therapy…"
Momo sighed. "I'm sure Mei can help fix it…"