I do not own My Hero Academia or any of the characters. Any OC or idea you like are free for use, all I ask is that you send me a link to the story if you are writing one.
Chapter 10
"Our gracious audience! It is time for the second round of the final competition of the sports festival. The students that have advanced will once again fight to prove their strength and aim for the first place. Unlike the first round however, the matches will be announced one at a time meaning that the fighters won't know who their opponent is until few minutes before the fight." Midnight brought everybody's attention from their conversations about the first round as they waited to see what fight they're gonna see next.
'Makes sense, they want to make the rounds more difficult since we all saw what the other students could do.' Shino analyzed the decision.
"And now the first match is…" Two dials appeared on the screen and started spinning until each of them stopped showing the pictures of the two fighters.
"MIdoriya vs Shinso! May the two students go to the waiting room; you have three minutes to ready yourself and will be called upon when it's time. This will be the case for all matches of course. Nobody is allowed inside the waiting room except the competitors." The two boys in question got out of their seats and headed to their designated waiting rooms.
Midoriya was more than nervous as he sat in his waiting room alone trying to think of a way to defeat Shinso's quirk. He and his friends had created a general idea of how the quirk worked but it was all just theories and hypotheses with no real evidence to back most of it. But unfortunately, it was all he had to work with.
After thinking, he had made a simple plan to counter Shinso, simply do not talk and without using his quirk he would knock his opponent out. Since Shinso was a general studies student, he couldn't have gotten much in terms of physical and fighting training. He also seemed to rely on his quirk too much, which meant that if you don't fall for it, the threat level of Shinso drops significantly.
The speaker in his room announced that his three minute were up and he was required to head for the arena. This broke him out of his mumbling habit that he didn't even know he went into since there was no one around to point it out or stop him. He franticly got up almost tripping on of the chair's legs and ran to the arena.
When Midoriya arrived, the audience locked their eyes on him as he moved to take his place in the arena. To the crowds that gathered to watch the festival or the people watching around the country, Midoriya was as much of an enigma as Shinso was. Despite doing great for himself so far in the festival, coming in second place in the previous competitions and winning his first match in the final competition, he did it all without using his quirk even once. This made some people think he somehow cheated or it was all just dump luck that got him this far. Midoriya could hear some of these whispers and it wasn't doing good to his already weak self-confidence.
'I don't like the looks everybody is giving me. Hopefully I can do this, not speaking should be easy right?' Midoriya was and still is a shy person that didn't like being in the spotlight very often and despite it being the last competition, he didn't get any better at handling it and right now the voices of doubt were filling his mind. Luckily, his friends and classmates were there to cheer him on.
"You can do it Deku!" Uraraka shouted encouragement to her friend trying to raise his morals and getting shouts of approval and support from the rest of their classmates with the exception of Bakugo who only starred at the back of the boy with a scowl and if looks could kill, Midoriya would be dead ten times over by now.
"If anyone can do it, it would be you!" Shino was sure there were others too but right now, he was cheering Midoriya.
A big smile found it's way to Midoriya's face as the cheers and support rejuvenated his drive like fuel to an engine and their voices kicked any and all doubts he had and filled his head instead as he stood in front of his opponent.
"Nice friends you have there. Must be nice." Shinso tried to start a conversation but Midoriya stayed silent.
'Is he trying to use his quirk on me before the match even began or is he genuinely trying to talk to me? Either way I mustn't drop my guard, one wrong move or slip up and I'm finished.'
"Come on don't be like that, it pretty rude to ignore someone talking to you." Shinso's smirk dropped and his eyes narrowed.
"Let the fight begin!" Midnight announced the start of the match. Immediately, Midoriya rushed at Shinso with his fist reeling back ready for a punch.
"What? Do you think you're too good to respond?" Shinso needed to make Midoriya respond and fast as he knew he would stand a chance against a hero course student in physical fight.
"The great class 1-A think they're better than the rest of us. Are you so full of yourself that you won't even use your quirk to fight me?!" Shinso's words caused murmuring among the crowd to start.
'Of course not! I know he's trying to force me to talk.' Midoriya could feel the stares and the looks of disapproval but he couldn't defend himself at the moment so he focused on defeating Shinso and continued charging.
"You must think you're so lucky, being porn with the perfect quirk to achieve your dreams. Being given everything on a silver plate without working for it!" Shinso yelled as he spread his arms.
This seemed to hit a nerve for Midoriya and he couldn't hold it anymore.
"That's no-" Midoriya stopped moving and stared with a blank expression exactly like what happened to Kaminari.
"Finally, you almost got me there you know." Shinso rubbed the back of his neck as he released a breath he didn't know he held.
"Now turn around and walk outside the arena like your friend before you." Much like Kaminari, Midoriya turned around and started walking towards the edge of the arena wearing the same blank expression.
"Not again! Come on Deku, you have to pull yourself out of this! You can't lose like this!" Uraraka shouted trying to snap Midoriya from the state he was in and was joined by some of the other students like Kirishima and Ashido.
"Don't lose now Midoriya! Didn't you say you were here to become number one?!" Shino and Iida also joined the cheering.
"He can't hear you anymore guys." Kaminari's words silenced his classmates as they stared at him waiting for an explanation.
"When I was under Shinso's quirk it was like my body was on autopilot. While I could see, everything was hazy and felt like a dream. I couldn't hear or feel anything around me. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't control my body. It was like the connection between my brain and body was severed." Kaminari described his experience as everyone listened in solemn silence. After he finished they all turned to the arena again to see Midoriya had almost reached the edge.
"There has to be a way for Midoriya to break out of this!" Uraraka looked to Shino and Iida in desperation but neither of them had an answer.
Inside Midoriya's mind, he was struggling to regain control of his body with no success.
'Come on, move in the other way. I have to regain control or at this rate I will lose, I can't lose, not like this. I promised All-Might and my friends I would win and show everyone my progress.' Midoriya was getting really desperate to find anyway to release himself from the purple-haired boy who was watching him with a smirk.
As he reached the edge of the arena, something strange happened. When he looked on towards the gate he had entered from, eight figures covered in shadows stood staring at him as he stared back. He couldn't recognize any of them although one of them did resemble All-Might a little but it was hard to say since the figures had little to distinguish themselves.
Suddenly his quirk activated in two of his fingers and these fingers somehow raised themselves and came down creating an air shockwave that pushed Shinso back and the damage done to his fingers due to that move helped Midoriya regain control over his body again.
Everybody starred at Midoriya in disbelief including Midoriya himself as he looked down on his broken fingers. However, unlike everybody else, he didn't have the time to think about it too hard and turned to face an angry Shinso.
'Did Midoriya's quirk activate on it's own? Is All-Might's quirk, no…Midoriya's quirk, so powerful that it can overpower brainwashing now?' Shino watched in amassment at his friend.
"How did you break free?!" Shinso couldn't wrap his head around how his green-haired opponent got out of his control. To his credit, even Midoriya didn't know the answer to that.
Midoriya didn't answer Shinso's question and presumed the attack he began before being brainwashed.
"So you were saved by your quirk! Must be nice having such a strong and useful quirk huh? You must feel so lucky. I wanted to be a hero too you know, but everyone called me a villain just because of my quirk with no other reason. They avoided me fearing that I would use my quirk on them." Shinso tried again to force Midoriya to respond but he wouldn't fall for the same trick twice.
'No it's not useful, not yet. I know what it feels like for people to judge you for something you had no hand in.' Midoriya couldn't voice his responses right now but he understood where Shinso came from. Nonetheless, he had to win right now and that meant Shinso had to lose.
Midoriya went with a right hook that Shinso barely dodged then grabbed Midoriya's arm and pulled him towards himself switching their positions with Shinso now pushing Midoriya to the bounds.
Unfortunately, Midoriya had more fighting experience as he used this to his advantage. He grabbed Shinso's arm and much like what he did with Bakugo in the battle trial, he flipped Shinso over his shoulder throwing him out of the arena and winning the fight.
"Shinso is out of bounds! The winner and the first to advance to the semi-finals is Midoriya!"
While the audience cheered for Midoriya, Shinso slowly stood up and walked towards the gate before Midoriya stopped him.
"Shinso, wait!" The purple-haired boy turned with an annoyed look fully expecting Midoriya to rub his win in his face. "I just wanted to tell you Good fight." much like Shino two weeks ago; Shinso felt nothing but honesty in Midoriya's word.
"And for what it's worth, I think your quirk is great, and would be great for a hero. You would easily be able to extract information from villains and it would be very useful in hostage situations."
Shinso was taken off-guard by the shorter boy's mumbling spree but what he understood was that he thought his quirk was good for a hero. There were two firsts for Shinso here, first time anyone willingly talked to him know what his quirk did, and first time someone called his quirk good or impressive. This caused him to smile ever so slightly.
"Thanks." Was all Shinso said before he walked away which was enough to snap Midoriya from his thinking and he smiled knowing that he somehow helped.
When Midoriya returned to the seats, he was swarmed by his classmates congratulating him on his win and asking him how was he able to break out of Shinso's hold with the only exceptions being Shino and Bakugo.
"To be honest guys, I myself don't know how I did it exactly." Midoriya's answer confused his classmates but they opted to not pressure him just after his match.
"You were awesome anyway Deku!" Uraraka ran to her friend's side holding his hands and shaking them violently.
"Indeed Midoriya, your fight was most interesting." Iida stated.
Midoriya face burned red at the compliments he was getting and other reasons, "Thanks guys."
The celebratory atmosphere changed however when the next match was announced.
"The second match has been decided! The two fighters are Bakugo and Uraraka!"
A scoff was heard as Bakugo got off his seat and headed to his waiting room without saying a word. Class 1-A then all turned to Uraraka with sympathetic looks but Uraraka gave them a determined one instead, although she couldn't stop her body from shaking.
"Guess it's my turn now. I better head to the waiting room." Uraraka didn't want her friends to see her break down, she needed to be strong, she had to win even if the opponent was Bakugo.
"Uraraka wait!" Midoriya stopped Uraraka before she rushed to the waiting room.
"Take my notebook. It has everything on Kacchan you'd need to make a plan and win." Midoriya extended a hand holding said notebook.
"Thanks Deku, but I have to do this on my own. I can't rely on you to win this." Uraraka was thankful for Midoriya's offer knowing how much he treasures his notebook, but this was her fight to win her own way.
"Yeah but-" Midoriya tried to argue but was stopped when Shino placed a hand on his shoulder.
"She's right Midoriya, it's her fight, and she must fight her own way, not have what amounts to a cheat code on her opponent. And as much as I don't like Bakugo, it's not fair for him either to be have such a disadvantage." Midoriya lowered his head starring at the ground realizing his mistake.
"You're right. Sorry Uraraka." Midoriya raised his head with a smile. "I know you can beat Kacchan your way. I believe in you."
"Thank you Deku." Uraraka was barely holding her tears at this point but smiled at her friend's kindness and trust.
"Remember Uraraka, do your best, that's all anybody can ask of you. Do your best and everything will be okay." Shino gave his own smile trying to comfort the brown-haired girl before her fight.
"Indeed Uraraka, you are a formidable fighter and I am sure you will be fine." Iida too encouraged his friend.
"Thank you guys. I heading off now, wish me luck." Uraraka hurried to her designated waiting room.
At the waiting room, Uraraka raked her brain trying to this of a plan to counter the explosion-user. Unfortunately, her brain came empty and she was starting to give up, until her friends' word came to her mind. 'I can't give up! There is too much at stake here. I must win for my friends and for my parents.' Remembering her reason for fighting gave Uraraka the push she needed to think up a plan to win her upcoming fight against one her class's most fearsome fighters.
When it was announced that it was time for the match to start, Uraraka took a deep breath and steeled her resolve. Now was time for action.
The two fighters reached the arena as the audience's cheers grew louder. Uraraka had a determined fire burning in her eyes while Bakugo was surprisingly quiet and his stare looked sharper.
With a signal from Midnight Uraraka charged at Bakugo ready to touch him with her pads but Bakugo didn't hesitate to blow her up with an uppercut explosion. This didn't dissuade Uraraka from charging again from a different angle looking for an opening to exploit. However, Bakugo wouldn't allow it as he turned to face her with another explosion a little bit stronger than the previous one that knocked her back while breaking parts of the arena.
As if the boy's explosions didn't matter, Uraraka resumed her charge but once again Bakugo's explosion met her. This time though, she recovered faster and came at Bakugo as he noticed her through the smoke, and once again blasted her only to discover that it was only her floating jacket. The real Uraraka came from behind him and tried once again to touch him wither pads but Bakugo's reflexes were just too fast and he turned around blasting her once more, this time the force of the blast caused her to hit the ground hard. Even that however didn't seem to discourage the young girl as she got up fast and continued with her plan.
The audience that was cheering at the beginning of the fight were now horrified at the poor girl's suffering and many of them were booing at Bakugo and demanding that if he was that much powerful then he should just throw her out of bounds instead of drawing out the fight. He on the other hand didn't even respond and instead kept his gaze focused on his opponent.
At the students' seats, many of them couldn't believe Bakugo was so merciless as to not hold back even against a girl and some of them even hid their faces not wanting to watch this one-sided fight any longer.
"How can Bakugo be so brutal? And against a girl too?" Kaminari asked.
"How did someone like that want to be a hero?" Yaoyorozu got many nods of agreement as they couldn't help but feel sorry for Uraraka.
"You're all wrong." Shino's words shocked the others as he, Midoriya, and Iida closely watched the fight not letting the brutality stop them from supporting their friend.
"What are you saying?! That what Bakugo is doing is okay?!" Jiro asked furious that this came from the girl's closest friends.
"Look at Kacchan." Midoriya pointed at the explosion-user prompting them to look too.
"He's not smiling, he's not angry like usual, he's focused. It's because he acknowledges Uraraka as a real opponent that he can't let his guard down or else he may loss. He is doing everything he can to win. And so is Uraraka." Despite knowing all that, Shino couldn't help but shake in anger and Iida used his glasses to hid the glares he was giving Bakugo right now. They had to believe in Uraraka and that meant watching the fight to the end, whatever that end may be.
Everybody's attention then switched to Uraraka and were shocked to see that despite the damage done to her and that she clearly looked exhausted, her eyes showed nothing but determination and the desire to win was still burning strong in them as she stood facing Bakugo.
"Thank you Bakugo, for not holding back." The half-conscious girl was barely standing at this point; much too tired from all the hits she received.
"The hell are you talking about?" Bakugo questioned her.
"Because you kept your focus on me, I was able to do this!" Uraraka connected the pads on her hands together releasing her quirk's hold on the huge rocks and debris that no one noticed were floating in mid-air.
"She collected the broken parts of the arena caused by Bakugo's explosions and released them all at once?!" everyone realized what Uraraka was doing the entire match wasn't out of desperation but a plan she had constructed to win.
Rocks of various sizes came falling down like a meteor shower directed at Bakugo and at the same time Uraraka charged again extending her hand to touch him once again.
'He won't be fast enough to deal with the falling debris and my attack. He will have to choose one but either way, I win.' Uraraka was confident in her plan and herself.
Bakugo however didn't move or try to dodge. He raised his arm and held it by the other arm then released a massive explosion akin to a missile hitting it target towards the falling debris wiping it all away and the force of the explosion managed to throw away Uraraka cancelling her attack as her plan fell apart.
"I thought you were planning something. I was right to not let my guard down." Bakugo was getting excited now. Uraraka on the other hand, looked in horror as the plan she worked so hard to execute amounted to nothing.
"I can't give up now!", 'if Deku was here he wouldn't give up this easily, he would fight to the end.' With these thoughts Uraraka once again stood up to continue the fight.
"It's time to get serious, Uraraka!" Bakugo shouted for his opponent to come at him finally calling her by her actual name. But when Uraraka moved to charge at Bakugo, her legs finally gave out and she fell to the ground unable to push herself further. Even though, she tried to crawl showing her dedication and determination to the world. Nonetheless, her body couldn't keep up with her willpower and she passed out from exhaustion.
Midnight came down to the arena to check on the unconscious girl then made the announcement.
"Uraraka is unable to continue the fight. The winner is Bakugo."
Bakugo glanced at the girl on the ground before leaving the arena to return to his seat.
Soon enough, the medical droids came with the stretcher and carried Uraraka to Recovery Girl for healing as the audience cheered for the brave girl.
Before anybody could notice, Midoriya, Iida, and Shino rushed to the infirmary to check on their friend not caring for the fact that two of them still had matches that might be next.
When they arrived at one of the infirmary rooms, Iida opened the door a little too hard startling Uraraka who was now awake and Recovery Girl who was treating her wounds, which were surprisingly not that dangerous.
Recovery Girl was quick to reprimand Iida for almost breaking her door as the latter apologized heavily while bowing his head repeatedly. While that was happening, Midoriya and Shino chose to check on their friend's recovery, both physically and mentally.
"How are you doing Uraraka?" Shino asked. He knew she was taking her defeat very hard but he needed to see if she was willing to talk about it.
"I'm fine Shino, Recovery Girl was almost finished treating my injuries when you guys came." Uraraka did her best fake smile and lied; she knew what Shino was asking about but didn't want to talk about it because she knew that if she did, the tears she's been holding up since she woke up and learned of her loss would finally fall.
Shino understood what the girl was going through and didn't push any further. If she didn't want to talk right now then that was her choice. However, that won't stop him from trying to comfort her anyway, that's what friends are for right?
"But you were amazing out there Uraraka. Your plan was well thought-out and you were so brave and strong." Shino wasn't the only one who understood Uraraka's pain, Midoriya too wanted to comfort his friend that always cheered him on and encouraged him.
"Yeah Uraraka, I am proud to call you my friend. You have set an example for all of us to follow." Iida, finally free from Recovery Girl's grasp, also tried to cheer the shorter girl.
"Thanks guys, but I don't think I was that good. I didn't even land a hit on Bakugo." Uraraka's tears were getting harder to hold back as she remembered her fight.
"Nonsense!" Shino now chimed in, "You might have not heard it but the audience was so moved by your bravery and determination that they kept sheering for you well after the match ended." Iida and Midoriya nodded in confirmation.
"It's like Shino told you Uraraka. Do your best, that's all anyone could ask of you. And you did that and more." Midoriya gave Uraraka a reassuring smile.
"Thank you," Uraraka was so grateful for her friends but didn't want to talk about it any longer, she changed the subject, "but speaking of matches shouldn't Shino and Iida return since one of them is bound to be in the next match?"
Right on cue, the speaker in the room spoke.
"Contestant Shino and contestant Iida, please head to the waiting rooms. Your match will start shortly."
"Wait does that mean we're fighting each other?" Shino wasn't expecting that.
"Looks like it, well it seems only one of us can advance to the semi-finals I'm afraid. Let the best man win." Iida extended his hand to Shino with a smile that said 'and that man well be me'.
"Don't worry I will win." Shino shook Iida's hand with a smile of his own as the fire of competition burned between the two friends.
"Then I will return to the stands. Uraraka you still need to rest right?" Midoriya asked Uraraka.
"Yeah Recovery Girl hasn't finish bandaging me yet but when I'm finished I will join you in the stands. Good luck you two." Uraraka said.
"Now that's over, all of you get out of the room it hard to move around with you here." Recovery Girl pushed the three boys out of the room then turned around to Uraraka with a sad face.
"They are good friends you know, you could have told them." Tears that Uraraka was holding for so long finally broke free as she cried and cried.
"I know…I know but I didn't want them to see me like this." The elderly woman wrapped the teen in a warm and comforting hug.
"You don't have to hold it in anymore, let it all out." Recovery Girl rubbed her head as Uraraka continued to cry on her shoulder.
While Shino and Iida headed to their waiting rooms, Midoriya returned to the stands, reassured the rest of the class about their friend's wellbeing, and took his seat to watch the match between two of his best friends.
When the time came both Iida and Shino climbed the arena and readied themselves for the fight ahead of them.
On the signal, Iida charged at Shino. He wasn't as fast as he was against Hatsume but he was fast enough that Shino didn't have time to touch the ground but instead created a small platform to block the incoming kick headed to his face.
On the first instance of contact between Iida's leg and the platform, Shino folded it catching Iida by the leg and rising him off the ground so he wouldn't be able to run.
In response, Iida tried to use his other leg to kick the golden cast breaking it and freeing himself but Shino was quick to wrap that leg as well immobilizing Iida then he threw him out of bounds winning the match.
After Shino was announced the winner, he went to Iida, removing the gold and helping him get up as the two friends walked together back to their seats. However, as they were walking in one of the corridors leading to their seats, Iida's phone rang and he identified the caller to be his mother.
"Go on without me Shino, after I finish this phone call I will join you once again." Iida was a little bit embarrassed to talk to his mother right after his loss.
"Sure thing Iida, see at the stands then." Shino left Iida to deal with his family but as he walked, he started thinking about who would be in the next match. That's when he realized that the only two competitors that are yet to fight were Kendo and Todoroki, meaning that it was their fight next. Shino started running to catch up with Kendo before she went to her waiting room but when he arrived, he couldn't find her with the rest of class 1-B.
"If you're looking for Kendo she already left to get ready." Tokage caught Shino's attention.
"So she left huh? What a bummer." Shino pouted.
"What? Are you sad that you didn't get to see her off?" Tokage smirked thinking she was gonna get a blush out of him.
"Well yes actually, I was hoping to do that but it's okay, she's strong, she doesn't really need that." Shino answered with straight face surprising Tokage and ruining her plans.
"You're really open with your feelings huh?"
"Why shouldn't I?" Tokage doubled down in shock at the gold-maker's response.
"You know some people are embarrassed to show how they feel." Tokage tried to explain it to Shino.
"I know but I never understood it, it's part of being human, why should I hide it or feel embarrassed by it?" Shino explained his reasoning.
Before Tokage could argue with Shino on that, their attention was drawn to the arena when Kendo and Todoroki exited. Both Shino and Tokage decided to just go to their seats to watch.
Shino found Midoriya and Uraraka sitting in their usual seats. When the two noticed his presence, a smile drew itself on their faces.
"Congratulation Shino, you and Iida were awesome," Midoriya then noticed that Iida wasn't with Shino, "By the way, where is Iida?"
"He had a family call and said he will join us after it's over. I'm actually surprised he hasn't finished yet." Shino said as he sat down next to his friends.
"I hope his family isn't angry at him for losing." Was concerned for her friend.
"I'm sure he's fine. Now let's focus on the match." Shino ignored the looks his friends gave him in favor of watching Kendo's fight.
Todoroki started the fight the same way he did with Sero, with an ice wave attack, but this one was significantly smaller in comparison, probably to not hit the people outside of the arena.
Kendo quickly enlarged her fists and used them to shield herself from the attack but her hands became stuck in ice. She returned them to their normal size to free herself.
Before Todoroki attacked again, Kendo broke some of the ice from the previous attack then threw the pieces at him. Todoroki created an ice wall to shield him from the attack but in the process lost his visual on Kendo who took the chance to finally get closer to put Todoroki in her field of expertise.
'If I can just get close he won't have time to create more ice and I'm much superior to him in close combat.' was Kendo's thought process as she charged at the ice shield breaking it but she found no one behind it. Suddenly, another ice wave hit her as Todoroki emerged from the behind some of the ice from his first attack.
"You tried to use the fact that I couldn't see you from behind the ice wall but you forgot that the same logic applies to you too." Todoroki explained.
Kendo was quick to get up but she knew that Todoroki won't give her a chance to escape so she charged forward. Todoroki made another wave in order to freeze her in place this time but before the attack hit her, she punched the ground raising part of the pavement to act as her shield.
After surviving the attack, Kendo picked up the frozen pavement and threw it at Todoroki. This time he didn't try to shield himself from the attack, instead he sent a wave that froze the projectile in place while attempting to attack kendo who was charging at him. Kendo was able to dodge the attack because it was slower than the previous attacks.
Kendo was able close the distance and throw a punch at Todoroki but he created a small ice pillar that caught her fist trapping her.
"Your determination is admirable, but it's not enough." Todoroki said as he came close to finally incase his opponent in ice and secure the win. However, that's what Kendo was waiting for. when Todoroki was close enough, she shrank her hand freeing herself then used the pillar to make a swing kick at Todoroki's left side because she knew from what Shino told her before and her own observations that he can't emit his ice from it. Kendo's kick connected with Todoroki's side sending him into an ice wall.
"Don't underestimate me Todoroki." Kendo felt like she had a chance against him now that she delivered a powerful hit.
"As you wish." An ice attack lunched from where Todoroki was. The attack was so fast and sudden that Kendo couldn't fully dodge it and her left leg was caught in ice.
"This is nothing!" Kendo raised her fist ready to break the ice as she did before but another ice attack froze her Fist as another covered her body and she became unable to move anything but her head.
"You fought well, but I'm simply stronger." Todoroki stated as he walked away.
"Kendo is unable to fight; the winner of the last match in the second round is Todoroki!" Midnight made the announcement, as Kendo was freed from her icy prison with a look of defeat on her and walked away to return to her seat.
When she reached the class 1-B seats, Shino came from behind the small wall that separated the class 1-B seats and class 1-A seat surprising Kendo, but she was quick to calm down.
"Hey Shino, sorry it seems I was the one to break our promise." Kendo looked down in disappointment.
"What are you talking about? Kendo you fought the most powerful student in our class and possibly out of the entire first year students and you were the first to actually do any kind of damage on him. You should be proud." Shino put his hand on her shoulder.
"But I lost anyway." Kendo argued
"So what? Losing is not the end of the world, you know. It can be a learning experience if you're willing to learn. So cheer up, okay? You know what I always say."
"As long as you do your best, everything is gonna be fine. I know I know, you told me that phrase so much it's engraved in my mind." Kendo gave little laugh when she remembered the time she spent with Shino before the festival.
"You better keep it engraved, it's true and you know it." Shino gave the warmest smile he could muster.
"Yeah I know. Thank you Shino, I really needed this." Kendo felt her worries and doubts disappear and replaced with a warm feeling in her chest, she was thankful that she met Shino.
"Glad to help." Shino was happy to know that his attempt to cheer his friend was a success.
Awkward silence grew after that as they had nothing to talk about at the moment and Kendo saw it appropriate to just end it here before it became unbearable.
"I think I should get back to my seat now. They will probably announce the semi-finals match-ups any minute now."
"Yeah sure, see you soon then." The two separated and returned to their seats and their friends.
"After much anticipation the four students that fought their way through to the semi-finals will now face off against each other to see who will raise to the finals. The matches will be Todoroki vs Midoriya and Bakugo vs Shino."
The color almost drained from Shino's face as looked at the board announcing who his opponent would be and his worst nightmare came life.
'No no no no, god damn it! Why does life just like screwing with me?!' Shino mentally screamed but eventually accepted his fate and started thinking of how to deal with situation he was now in.
'Okay, how am I supposed to keep my scars a secret when I'm fighting him?...There is no way I can do that!' It seems that some secrets are destined to be uncovered.
Thank you for reading.
AN: WOW! Ten chapters done. Considering my habit to leave things unfinished, this is a huge achievement. And I know I couldn't have done it without everyone that took the time to read this story, thank you. I hope that you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.
Once again, I ask you that if there is anything you feel needs to be improved or if you have any questions to please tell me so I can improve the story's quality.