At the infirmary, Recovery Girl watched over the unconscious bodies of Shiozaki and Mina when somebody knocked on the door three times.
"Come in."
The door opened, and Midoriya and Hatsume entered, followed by Kirishima, Kaminari, and Bakugou. "Sorry for barging in."
"You knocked the door and I gave you permission to enter, I don't think that counts as barging in," the miniature nurse responded. "Also, if you came here to talk with the patients, I'm afraid you'll have to come back later, they're still unconscious."
"We're just here to see if they're okay," Bakugou remarked. "Trust us, if I was here to give Pinky a piece of my mind, I'd need to be restrained by Deku, his girlfriend, and Shit Hair over here. Maybe Dumbbolt too."
Kaminari shot a look at Bakugou before he took a step forward. "Is Shiozaki going to be okay?"
Recovery Girl hummed. "Well, yes and no."
"What do you mean, yes and no?" Midoriya asked.
"My Quirk only helps speed up the natural, physical healing process of the body. It doesn't affect any mental scars," Recovery Girl frowned and lowered her head. "So treating their wounds will be one thing, but there's no helping their mental states."
"They could go to therapy, just like what I did," Hatsume remarked.
"Unlikely: Pinky's part of my family, so she's probably too prideful to do something like that," Bakugou argued, ignoring the looks he got from his students. "As for Tarzan, she doesn't seem like the kind of person who'd be willing to share what happened with a stranger."
Then, the explosive blonde turned to Midoriya. "If she's going to even humor the idea of therapy, it'll have to be with someone she knows, and trusts."
Everyone else turned to Midoriya, who scanned his surroundings before he realized the implication.
"W-Wait, me?! Shiozaki and I aren't that close!"
"You're friends, and that's good enough," Bakugou stated sternly. "If you can find someone else to do it, fantastic, but just remember that Tarzan's not gonna take the therapy unless it's with someone she trusts. And also..."
Bakugou turned to Mina, narrowed his eyes, and took a deep breath before he bowed to Midoriya.
"I apologize for what Mina did to your classmates."
Everyone in the room gasped and looked dumbfounded at the explosive blonde boy as he lifted his head, pocketed his hands, and stomped out of the infirmary.
"Did... did Bakugou just apologize?" Kaminari asked in disbelief. "And not even for something he did?!"
"Well, I can safely say that Mina wouldn't apologize for what she did," Kirishima remarked as he walked up to the unconscious, acidic girl. "She kinda... never really apologized for anything back in middle school."
"Um, well, I have to go get ready for my match with Mineta," Hatsume remarked, placing a hand on Midoriya's shoulder. "Izuku, could you come with me?"
"Dude, did you just call him by his first name?" Kaminari asked.
Hatsume flinched, and without wasting any time, she grabbed Midoriya's hand, and the two bolted out of the room.
"Dang it, Midoriya's barely halfway through his semester, and he's already on first name basis with a girl," Kaminari whined.
"Actually, those two have been hanging around for nearly a year, I think," Kirishima remarked as he went to Mina's side. "They kinda remind me of Mina and I."
"But I've never heard her call you by your first name."
Kirishima frowned. "Yeah, truth be told, she's... never done that."
"You have my condolences dude," Kaminari scratched the back of his head. "Sorry that my date beat her up so badly."
Shiozaki's vines moved and slapped Kaminari. "Ouch! I thought she was unconscious!"
And as Kirishima laughed, another duo entered the infirmary: this being the duet of Detective Tsukauchi and Inko, the latter who smiled as soon as she saw Recovery Girl, who thought:
About time they came for her.
"I can't believe I made such a simple screw up!" Hatsume cried, pulling her hair. "Now they're going to blabber about it to their classmates!"
"Calm down, Hatsume, Kaminari and Kirishima seem like nice guys, they wouldn't blurt out something like that whenever they wanted," Midoriya replied, putting a hand on Hatsume's shoulder. "Plus, even if they tried, Melissa would put a stop them in an instant."
Hatsume stopped, and Midoriya did the same as she grabbed his hand, and gently removed it, her concerned expression finally getting Midoriya's attention.
"Izu... Midoriya... have you noticed something about the way we refer to each other?" Hatsume frowned. "Something that seems a little... uneven?"
Midoriya paused and tilted his head. "What do you mean-?"
"I've called you with both your first and last name, but you only ever call me by my last name!" Hatsume snapped, startling the boy. "And the fact that I sometimes call you by your first name, but you haven't done the same for me... I don't know why, but it really bothers me!"
"I-I don't mean to make you upset, Hatsume!" Midoriya blurted, causing the girl to pout. "I-It's just, you know, using someone's first name should be reserved for someone you think's special-"
"YOU'RE DEAR TO ME!"
Hatsume's scream echoed across the hallways for a few seconds before she continued with her rant:
"You saved me from Stain! You helped me get used to the pink-hued vision I was stuck with until recently! And most importantly, you've given me the chance to make so many incredible babies!"
Midoriya blushed, and Hatsume rolled her eyes. "Oh come on, Izuku, you know I'm talking about my gadgets-and fuck, I did it again!"
Hatsume grabbed her hair and pulled hard as she finished, "After all of that, and after I did as you asked and began calling you by your first name, it just feels so frustrating you haven't done the same! Sometimes I even wonder if I mean anything to you at all!"
With that said, Hatsume released her hair and sulked. She kept facing the ground for a while as Midoriya calmed down and frowned.
"I'm sorry."
Midoriya blinked twice. "Huh?"
"I just... that little fact had been bothering me for a long time, and I felt that if I didn't vent out now, I'd blow up during the finals or something," Hatsume twiddled her fingers. "A-And you're the only one I can really talk to about this, partially because you're part of the problem but that's besides the point."
"I'm at fault too," Midoriya sighed. "You're dear to me, too, Hatsume, you really are. You've been a great friend, training partner, and even just talking to you from time to time helped me deal with some of my insecurity when talking to girls!"
Hatsume smirked. "You're still pretty bad at it."
"But I was even worse before I met you," Midoriya smiled and lowered his eyelids. "And sure, hanging around with the girls in my classroom helped, but you were the one who helped me in the first place."
Then the boy raised one of his legs, and pointed at his boots. "And of course, I can't forget this little baby you made for me."
Hatsume gasped. "You called it "baby!"
"O-Oh, right, that's your thing, isn't it? S-Sorry, I'll drop it-"
"Nonono, it's fine, it's totally fine! Now, what were you saying?"
"Oh right, thanks to these boots you made for me, I've been able to use my Quirk without having to get angry every five minutes: if it wasn't for you, I'd have to go through the second half of the festival, practically Quirkless! Not that there's anything wrong with that, but-"
"I get the idea, Midoriya." Hatsume giggled. "I still would like it if you called me by my first name once in a while." then she turned around and folded her arms behind her back. "I mean seriously, at this rate, I'm gonna have to force you to do it!"
Midoriya shook his head and snickered. "Don't you have a match to get to?"
"COULD THE NEXT FIGHTERS HEAD INTO THE ARENA, PLEASE?!"
"Dang, saved by Present Mic's irritating voice!" Hatsume chuckled. "That's the end of this conversation, Midoriya! But we will continue another day!"
"Hatsume."
The girl turned around and raised an eyebrow.
"Good luck out there."
The gadgeteer formed a smile and nodded.
"Thanks, Midoriya."
"ON THIS CORNER! HIS WITS AND SMARTS PROVES THAT SIZE DOESN'T MATTER! IT'S THE SUPPORT COURSE'S MINORU MINETA, EVERYONE!"
"Whoo! Go, Mineta!" Eri shouted.
"I still think you should've dressed as a cheerleader and gone down there," Shinsou teased, jabbing the girl's shoulder. "Let him get a good look at what you're willing to do for him and such."
Eri slapped Shinsou, who snickered in response.
"AND ON THIS CORNER, ALSO FROM THE SUPPORT COURSE! THE QUEEN OF GADGETS HAS DESCENDED DOWN FROM HER THRONE TO PUT A PEASANT ON HIS PLACE! IT'S MEI HATSUME!"
As the audience cheered, Hatsume rolled her eyes and muttered, "At least make Mineta a noble or something."
"Go, Hatsume!" Midoriya shouted from his stand. "Show everyone why you're the Queen of Gadgets!"
"Dude, that's a nickname Present Mic came up with on the spot," Monoma pointed out.
"Don't be a buzzkill, Monoma," Kendo chided.
Meanwhile, over on Class 1-A's stands, Melissa stood up and raised her fist. "Show everyone the might of an inventor, Hatsume!"
"Before we begin the round, a couple new rules will be established!" Midnight exclaimed. "First of all, any attack with the intent to hurt or kill is prohibited! Performing any such attack will result in the disqualification of the perpetrator!"
Everyone sighed in relief at the rule.
"Secondly, taking into account the state of both Shiozaki and Ahisod, the tie from the last match has been declared a double knock out! Therefore, this will be the lost one-on-one match of the tournament!"
"Wait, what?!" Mineta exclaimed. "This is the last one-on-one fight?!"
Hatsume's eyes widened as she processed this information. If this is the last one-on-one brawl, then that means the next fight-
"START!"
Hatsume flinched and gritted her teeth as she reached for her back and took out... a small microphone, with Mineta doing the same moments later.
"Hey, wait a minute! They had gadgets hidden with them?!" Nejire asked. "How many more do they have? Is that even allowed?"
"They're from the support course, it's their thing!" Midnight argued with a laugh. "I might as well allow it!"
"BESIDES, THAT'LL MAKE THINGS MUCH MORE INTERESTING!"
Hatsume smiled, and promptly raised her arms as she spoke:
"Ladies and gentlemen! It's quite a pleasure to meet all of you today!"
"We got quite a showcase of gadgets coming up for all the world to see!" Mineta continued. "So if you could be nice enough to sit still and look agaped at our creations, we'd greatly appreciate it!"
Midoriya and Melissa laughed at the comment, while everybody else just stood dumbfounded at what was happening. Even Present Mic and Midnight were speechless as Hatsume spoke:
"Now, to begin this little showcase..."
Hatsume reached for her back once more, and took out two small rocket-like gadgets.
"I present you, the Hatsu-Boosters!"
Hatsume put the little gadgets on the side of her shoes, and pressed them, causing her to zoom towards Mineta as she continued:
"With these magnificant babies, you will quickly clear the distance between yourself and your enemies before they even notice!"
Mineta flashed a smile as Hatsume reached for her back with her whole arm.
"And right after that comes, the Hatsu-Fist!"
Hatsume took out her arm, now enveloped in an arm brace almost identical to the arm brace Melissa invented, only silver. She then raised the arm brace and swung it down just as Mineta jumped away, the brace connecting and shattering the ground.
"Based on Strength-enhancing Quirks, the Hatsu-Fist allows someone to throw a punch that's twice as strong as the average one! It's strong enough to even crack cement! All without injuring the user's own hand!"
Wait a minute, an arm brace that can unleash strong force without hurting the user's hand? Isn't that the same thing I built for myself? Melissa scratched her chin. But I never showed the thing to Hatsume, did I? No, I didn't... right?
"At least you keep your thoughts to yourself."
Melissa flinched and turned around, seeing Bakugou staring at the fight with a stern expression. "If you and Deku swapped places, he'd be muttering up a storm."
"Oh, well," Melissa sheepishly smiled. "I guess I wanna keep the muttering for gadgets?"
Bakugou eyed the blonde inventor before he slightly nodded. "It's an improvement. Not a big one, but an improvement nonetheless."
"Is she seriously going to do a sales pitch for her gadgets now?" Monoma asked incredulously.
"Well, she did tell me she was gonna do it eventually," Midoriya chuckled, scratching his chin. "And if there's a good time to do it, why not with another member of the support course?"
"Still, this feels like such a shift from the last match," Kendo spoke. "Not that that's a bad thing, but still."
Midoriya nodded at the statement, and the instant he remembered the previous fight with Shiozaki and Mina, an unnerving chill went down his spine. Even if he was one of the people who wanted to see Mina get her comeuppance, he still quaked in his boots at the thought that Shiozaki of all people would deliver such a brutal punishment.
But that was something he could think about later. For now, there was a sales-pitch-disguised-as-a-fight to watch.
"Those are some nice inventions you got there, but I too have some tricks up my sleeve!" Mineta proclaimed as he crouched down. "Presenting..."
The boy pushed a purple button on the side of his boot, and its purple underside expanded, revealing a pair of balls underneath.
"The Mine-Bouncers!"
Using the balls' bouncing properties, the boy took a huge leap into the sky, bouncing up and down all over the arena as he explained:
"With just a push of a button, these customized boots will allow their user to bounce all over the place, avoiding their enemies' attacks while confusing them all the same!"
Hatsume quickly ran up to where Mineta was falling to and prepared to throw another punch.
"And if you're about to be blindsided by an enemy attack, no problem!"
Mineta pushed a second, different purple button, and the balls detached, sending Mineta up again while sending the underside straight into Hatsume's face.
"With a simple push of the secondary button, the underside will send you propelling away, while the underside acts as a projectile to strike your enemy's with!"
Hatsume giggled like crazy as the underside fell and hit the ground with a loud *THUD* "I totally didn't see that coming!" then, she smirked. "However..."
Activating the Hatsu-Boosters once more, Hatsume closed the distance between her and Mineta and reeled back the Hatsu-Fist.
"You're not getting away that easily!"
Mineta smiled, reached for his back, and took out a purple circular shield-like object he mounted on his shoulder, just in time to block the attack.
"Nice try, Hatsume, but you've fallen right into my trap!" Mineta proudly answered. "You've hit my Mine-Shieldron instead!"
Hatsume raised an eyebrow. "Shieldron?"
"A mix between a shield and a pauldron!" Mineta explained. "By equipping the Mine-Shieldron on one's shoulder, not only do they get to block an attack, but..."
The gadget began glowing purple, and Mineta smirked as he pushed a purple button.
"With the push of a button, it can send the force back!"
An intense gust of wind sent Hatsume flying back, though she luckily managed to stop short from landing over the boundary. Once that was over, Hatsume flashed a cocky smile before she and Mineta ran towards each other, unleashing gadget after gadget at each other.
"Hatsu-Web!"
"Mine-Cutter!"
"Hatsu-Bomb!"
"Mine-Wind!"
"Hatsu-Piercer!"
"Mine-Wall!"
They're not taking this seriously at all. Melissa and Midoriya thought in unison, both trying to hold back their laughter.
"Hey, Mineta! When are you going to take it out?!" Hatsume asked as she was sent back once more. "The invention you used fighting the Hardening guy!"
Mineta smirked. "I dismantled it!"
Hatsume's eyes widened. "You what?!"
"I knew that after showing my invention, you'd get an interest in making something to counter it, so I dismantled it during the time between that fight and this one!" Mineta folded his arms. "I used the parts that remained to create the Mine-Boots!"
"Dismantling your own invention and recreating it into something entirely new!" Hatsume recapped in shock, before she got the widest, proudest smile she'd ever put on. "Amazing, Mineta! You definitely earned your place in the support course!"
"I'm flattered you think so," Mineta reached for his hair and began pulling his balls out. "Now let me make you more proud by beating you!"
The purple dwarf shot some balls to the ground, and began jumping from ball to ball until he was close enough to push Hatsume out of the boundary...
At least that was the plan, but he instead wound up falling into... something. All he knew is that it was pitch black inside, with light only coming from a small circular exit on the... ceiling?
"Presenting, the Hatsu-Cannon!"
Wait, what?!
"Don't let its bulky design fool you, this baby is lightweight enough to be mounted on one's shoulder!"
Mineta crawled up the darkness until his head popped out of what he assumed was Hatsume's gadget. He looked around as Hatsume continued:
"And not only that, it can shoot anything from small projectiles, to even a small human! And all with the push of a button!"
Mineta couldn't even verbalize his shock before he was shot out like a human bullet. As he flew off into the beyond the boundary, and into his inevitable loss, he noticed something about Hatsume:
She smiled proudly at the boy, and was giving him a thumbs up with a wide, sincere smile.
Mineta smiled back, and returned the thumbs up as he hit the ground, and rolled off until he hit a wall.
"Mineta's out of bounds! Hatsume goes to the next round!"
The audience roared with cheers as Hatsume jumped off the arena and ran up to the purple dwarf, who got up and dusted himself.
"Are you okay?" Hatsume asked, dropping the shoulder cannon to the ground. "Sorry that I took away your moment with the Hatsu-Cannon."
"Are you kidding me?! Being shot out of that thing was amazing!" Mineta shrugged. "Although, I would suggest adding a secondary mode in order to keep the villains trapped. I mean, if I could crawl out, anybody could."
"Interesting proposal," Hatsume scratched her chin. "How about we give it some upgrades when we have the time?"
Mineta flashed a thumbs up once again. "I'd feel honored."
"AND THAT CONCLUDES THE QUARTER FINALS, EVERYONE!" Present Mic interjected. "NOW, NORMALLY WE'D HAVE THE SEMI FINALS NEXT AND THEN THE FINALS!"
"But as Midnight pointed out, Shiozaki and Ashido have been both knocked out, leaving an uneven number of participants remaining!" Nejire added. "And you know what this means! You do right? I'm not the only one who doesn't know?"
"THIS MEANS, FOR THE FIRST TIME SINCE THE YEARS OF ALL MIGHT, THE SPORTS FESTIVAL WILL END WITH A BATTLE ROYALE!"
The audience shot up in cheer once more, while Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, and Hatsume all reacted to the announcement with shock... and excitment.
In Hatsume's case, though, there was also a mix of worry...
