-Chapter 11 - Trepidation: Part 2-

Everlasting darkness and caliginosity were all that accompanied Hitomi during her descent into the unilluminated chambers of the metallic vessel. Her body shifted into several positions while slamming against the walls of the machine's insides before her fall finally ended with a resounding thud.

She was instantly reminded of the pain in her lower jaw when her face impacted against the harsh, metallized flooring. She couldn't see much of anything else. All that aided her were a few azure-colored lights and the gleaming of several electrical circuits, both of which were leading from the mouth of the automation and further towards the darkened abyss within.

'That… wasn't an accident… that rat dropped me on purpose…' Shakingly, Hitomi stood on wobbling legs, though it was quite a struggle, considering her disorientation. Regardless, dizziness was the least of her worries at the moment. After all, her anger was the only thing keeping her from falling once again. She gritted her teeth in fury. She'd had a strategy, and it was absolutely full-proof. Yet here she was… engulfed within the chambers of an unsuspected behemoth, even when she was sure that victory was within her grasp.

She'd had a plan.

She'd had a goddamn plan.

Staggeringly, she ignored the resonance of the machine while moving, looking like a woman on a mission for vengeance. Her body quivered violently, both from her strenuous efforts to hold herself upwards and the pure, unadulterated rage flowing through every blood vessel within her body. Her left ankle felt just as bad as her jaw. A strain, perhaps? Regardless, she didn't have the time or patience to figure it out, so it would have to wait until all of this was over.

This school… just what kind of budget did they have to birth such atrocities? More importantly, were there any safety regulations in place that advised against needlessly hazardous machinery? Was there any sort of order in this place at all?

Her mind flashed back to the day where they had been forced to fight against a fully trained Pro Hero, and a powerful one at that. Then, she recalled the idiosyncratic man that ran the school and the slightly wicked look in his ruby-red eyes. Hitomi wasn't blind. She could literally see every trace of madness swimming within those endless pools of crimson.

Such a man was truly unfit for the role of headmaster.

'That man… Wonder-Worlder… why is such a man in charge of a full-fledged school? Were there no kind of mental evaluations in place to decide if this was a good idea or not…?' Shaking her head to clear her conscience, Hitomi ridden her mind of the prospect as she stalked towards her destination. 'No, of course not… look at the obviously unstable children that'd run amok in this class on the very first day, what a stupid question…'

With every step, Hitomi could feel more and more discomfort radiating from her left ankle-bone region, forcefully morphing her angered charge into a more aggressive limp. The powerful doddering of the automation that trapped her didn't do her balance any favors either.

Hitomi had made a mental note to chew out (and possibly slap) Makise after everything was said and done. Right now though, she couldn't think about anything else other than putting both Yuuto and Shinon out of commission, just so all of this could be over with. She slipped her hands into the back of her track pants, fingering about before finally pulling out two shrunken canisters and shuffling them within the palms of both hands. Without warning, the plastic canisters expanded to their original size, giving Hitomi the faintest feeling of relief before she carefully placed them upon her hips.

"Now, I've lost my baton because of that… surprise encounter," Hitomi sneered as she bitterly recalled the memory of her trusted weapon slipping away from her grasp as the giant insect-like creation devoured them. "So… it looks like I'm going to have to be a little more creative this time around…"

Hitomi carefully scanned her surroundings, though with the vast darkness engulfing her and the distracting pains, this proved to be an incredibly difficult task. Fortunately, for her, she came across what appeared to be an electrical pipe that held several components in place.

Her cobalt-colored eyes shone lightly before she prepared herself, gripping two ends of the piece and pulling with all of her upper body strength.

"Come… on," Hitomi felt her teeth gnash against each other, creating a soft grinding noise that was masked by her heavy grunts and the snapping of several cables during her efforts. Sparks lit up in front of her face, causing the teen to pull her own head away to avoid suffering a severe shock. She could feel the pipe loosening up enough for her to twist and turn before finally, she flew backwards with the pipe within her grasp, both ends of each side sparking with electricity. "Got it… finally."

SPARK

With a loud, startled gasp, Hitomi stepped even further backwards in surprise before gazing upon the bright, deadly-looking electrical currents exposed and twirling about before her.

She clicked her tongue in mild annoyance before shaking her head, wearing her usually scrutinizing expression before cautiously avoiding the wild sparks of high voltage and powering forward. "Yet another safety deficiency… Why am I not surprised in the slightest?"

BUMP

As she moved forward, Hitomi noticed the sounds of commotion coming from before her, gradually growing louder, featuring a series of grunts and yells, signaling that Makise must've been dealing with both Yuuto and Shinon all on his own.

"Seems like our adversaries have awakened. I guess it was inevitable…" She then examined both sides of her newly-created staff, raising her eyebrows at how both ends were still surrounded with electric energy before increasing the size of the weapon to rival the size of a school-bus. Despite hearing the loud noises intensify, Hitomi only grunted with indifference.

'Since Kobayashi-san wants to be petty and drop partners, surely he thinks he's confident enough to handle those two on his own… so… who am I to get in the way of such a thing? I'll take my time."


Confusion.

Complete and utter confusion.

Shinon was honestly not sure if he was dreaming or not at this point, nor if he really wanted whatever was going on to end. Was the fight still happening? It was dark wherever he was, just like the observation room. Maybe they were there? No, that couldn't have been right, he figured. Since when did the observation room roar and vibrate? Unless… was there an earthquake?!

Faint sounds of sighing alerted him, confirming that wherever Shinon was, he wasn't alone.

"I swear, that girl has been insufferable since this entire thing began…. Make a simple little quip and tell me to shut up?" That voice was familiar, who was that? It sounded pretty nice and kinda melodic, for sure, but he was struggling to put a face to it. "She is literally an endless, black void that totally sucks the fun out of everything, and that's before you've met her…"

'Aw yeah, that's Kobayashi-san! Wait, does that mean we're still fighting?!' Shinon looked downwards, feeling his wrist being constricted by cold metal and noticing the makeshift handcuffs wrapped around them. 'Oh darn, we are! Why have I let these things stay on me for so long anyways, blah, lemme just use a little bit of Reinforce!'

Smiling quietly, Shinon beamed mischievously as his arms were shrouded with a pink essence, allowing him to eventually pull his arms outwards and snap the restraints into two halves.

"Eh?"

'Shoot, he heard me!' Expeditiously, Shinon moved to dematerialize the energy, not wanting the pinkish glow to give away his location while he softly stood up and used the shaking walls within the interior as leverage. 'Gee, I guess that hit that Kobayashi gave me rattled my brains a little… that, or my common sense is non-existent. Still! If I can't see him, odds are that he can't see me either!'

"I might not be able to see much of you, but that's not really a detriment when you're thinking out loud, Yanaihara." Shinon froze suddenly at the close proximity of the voice that flowed like honey through his ears and looked to the side to see two emerald-green eyes staring back at him within the darkness. He didn't even need to see his face. Shinon could practically feel that the boy had an amused smirk on his face from his actions.

Yeah, he was definitely lacking in common sense, that's all there was to it.

"Wait, let's talk about-"

"Nope!"

BANG

There wasn't a single moment of preparation for Shinon before he found himself flying backwards, his back colliding against the metallic walls of the centipede's interior with powerful force. He released a pain-induced grunt before falling to the ground below.

Shinon moved in an attempt to stand upon his feet once again, but he only managed to hold himself upward on one knee before Makise rushed him once more. With precision and smooth execution, Makise aimed and tossed several of his throwing knives towards the lower half of Shinon's body, most of which slipped and cut several areas of his torso and pants legs, leaving his legs bare and unprotected.

'Shoot, any more and these track pants are going to be turned into gym shorts!' In a frantic manner, Shinon was able to slip past the knives in a dance, avoiding any potentially serious damage to his lower limbs. 'And I don't even have my fencing sword anymore, what am I going to do?! I'm basically a sitting duck against him at this rate!'

"Thinking out loud again, Yanaihara-kuuuun~!" In the blink of an eye, Shinon was once again sent reeling into the opposite direction after savagely being deflected by a powerful blow from Makise punching towards his left kidney area.

This time, however, the white-haired boy was somewhat prepared, as he quickly covered his clothing in a pink, translucent aura before hitting the ground in a punishing heap. The moment his shrouded track uniform landed on the floor, a reverberating clang echoed throughout the room while Shinon grinned and executed a kip-up, revealing that he was completely unscathed.

"Heh!" Shinon chuckled, lightly wiggling his eyebrows at a visibly impressed Makise while softly knocking against the hardened fabric of his clothing. "Reinforce allows me to pretty much increase the physicality of anything that I wish! That includes my clothes, so this tracksuit is basically high-grade armor for as long as my Quirk is in effect—!"

Fwip-Fwip-Fwip

Makise didn't wait a single second longer. Even in his panic, Shinon couldn't help but turn completely crimson-red from the girlish scream that arose from his throat as a barrage of knives collided with the sleeves of his tracksuit as he raised his arms towards his face. The white-haired teenager pouted briefly. He could've at least waited until he'd finished his monologue, he thought.

The speed of the knives were almost too fast for him to react. With every collision, Shinon found himself stumbling backwards until his back was hard-pressed against the walls of the metallic chamber. He realized what Makise was trying to do, but with the high velocity of his assault, he could just barely see where the hits would land next.

And in the blink of an eye, the bombardment came to an end, which he would've been grateful for if not for the sounds of rapid footsteps coming towards him. Shinon was struggling to keep the pink, translucent aura around himself by this point, and he could feel fatigue gradually settling into his body. Finally, he uncovered his face once the noise of shoes clanging with the metallic flooring ended, fearing what he'd see next.

And he was immediately greeted with the sight of Makise high above him, winding up for what he guessed was an axe kick.

WHACK

Shinon felt the familiar feeling of the protected heel slamming into his head, almost completely destroying his equilibrium. It was bad enough that he hadn't even fully recuperated from the hits he'd received earlier, but now this?

And, unfortunately, that wasn't the worst of it, for Makise then fully unleashed an onslaught of rapid-fire kicks, some even burying into his stomach and the side of his jaw where the energy shrouding Shinon's garments flickered. Every now and then, he could block one of them, but it was getting harder when extreme soreness could be felt within parts of his rib-cage and jaw area.

'Okay, this just won't do anymore, dang it!' Shinon struggled, determined and a tad bit frustrated as well.

Quickly, he managed to grab Makise's leg in a quick swipe, which completely caught the boy off-guard (and Shinon noticed that, for a millisecond, Makise had an almost terrified expression, but it was gone in an instant). The quick interruption was enough to disrupt Makise's focus and momentum for a few seconds, which was all Shinon needed.

He spun in a circle, easily carrying Makise's gracile body along with him and pirouetted towards the walls surrounding them, promptly slamming Makise's head into them with tremendous force.

There was a loud ringing within Makise's head as he tried to recover from his daze, but Shinon wouldn't allow it. He was baffled by how much strength Shinon possessed within his small body to be able to pull off such a thing. And incredibly, Shinon seemed nowhere near finished. The white-haired boy repeated this action several times before finally raising Makise within the air and dropping him to the floor.

As Makise fell from his grasp, Shinon exhaled loudly and looked about. The teenager knew that giving Makise any sort of breathing room would be a disaster. His eyes were in a frenzy as they rolled about for any sort of aid in possibly restraining his enemy.

'Come on, think!' He was frantic and dolorous, but he managed to compose himself enough to notice the several hanging wires that surrounded all of them within the mouth of the bumbling automation. 'Bingo! I'm more of a fencing guy, but I'm sure that a whip isn't too different, right?'

He breathed inwardly, feeling his lungs expanding as a result before jumping within the air and cowling his arm with Reinforce. The activation of his Quirk allowed him to easily rip the long, extensive wiring from the upper surface of the machine before landing gracefully on his feet. The sight of pure electricity startled him, but after everything that's happened so far, Shinon figured that electricity was the least heart-racing thing he'd encountered today. He turned to see Makise regaining his balance, shaking his head while doing so.

Shinon didn't have even a single second to spare. He spread the pinkish aura from his hands to the long cord and, with lightning reflexes, unraveled the cord and swung backwards, preparing to hopefully put the match to rest with one rapid-fire attack. 'Apologies in advance for how much this will hurt, Kobayashi-san, but I'm in it to win it!'

Unfortunately, Shinon never saw the impassioned expression upon Makise's face before-

WHACK

Shinon felt his body fling upwards as the makeshift whip was sent back to the ceiling abruptly, easily breaking through the roof of the mouth and exposing the inner components above. He ducked his head as sparks from the roof twinkled and shot downwards, threatening to strike everything below it.

His body slammed into the ground, further agitating the bruises covering his lower torso as he tumbled. Somehow, he managed to keep his grip on the whip as he sprawled across the floor. His heart pounded against his chest, and his breathing became more erratic.

Wildly, Shinon stood once more, though the pain coursing through his torso brought him into a lurched state. Taking the time to spit an inkling of blood from his mouth, Shinon paled when he saw Makise in a crouched position, with emerald eyes that seemed… sharper then they normally were. Almost predatory, in fact. It was a drastic change from the usual coolness that radiated from Makise's gaze.

It was almost as if Makise was a different person entirely.

It… startled Shinon, he would admit, but he tried not to let it show.

His feet, however, moved on their own as he began to trek backwards, tightly gripping the wiring in his hands as he followed along with him, now standing at his full height.

Shinon couldn't help but let out a small chirp of panic. He swung his arms backwards for another swing, but this time, he didn't even get the chance to bring the whip forward before Makise rushed, swiftly ducking underneath the whip as it swung towards the opening of the automation.

CRASH

The makeshift weapon immediately demolished the closed opening, causing various metallic fragments to fly in several directions. Shinon's grip slipped from the whip, and he quickly tried to reinforce his clothing once more. However, before he could, a solid fist connected with his abdomen. Spittle flew from his mouth as he hung in the air for a few seconds.

For the briefest second, Shinon could've swore that he'd seen Makise grinning evilly.

"Gyuk!" Shinon felt as if his inner organs were being tenderized from the hellish impact. In an instant, Makise deflected his body away from his fist, sending the white-haired teen spiraling across the floor. It was a struggle for him to breathe, and Shinon felt tears welling up as incredulous pain surged throughout his entire being. An inkling of bile erupted past his lips as he finally ended his tumbling, slamming against the harsh, cold ground.

"Huh… that was pretty close there, Yanaihara-kun~!" Shinon gasped loudly. That voice…. Was that Makise? It sounded like him, but something was… off about it. "You almost had me for a second! It was kinda scary!"

Shinon looked towards Makise, desperately trying to balance his arms for leverage in order to stand up. He tilted his head in confusion. Makise's eyes seemed almost erratic and unstable as they quaked violently. Unsettlement was abundant alongside the excruciating pain within his body. He covered his head, desperately attempting to guard himself for whatever was coming. In his current position, Shinon was far too injured to even stand , let alone fight.

"Heh, thanks, Kobayashi... " Shinon curved his lips into a shaky smile. Despite his heart being gripped by the unrelenting hold anxiety, he still managed to keep a hopeful yet faltering grin. "So since I was so impressive and you've basically won… mind just… kinda tying me up and leaving it at that?"

Makise smirked, bringing Shinon to swallow a heavy lump down his throat. "Oh? But I remember you breaking out of those restraints pretty well earlier, Yanaihara-kuuuun~!" Shinon watched as Makise's nimble fingers reached to his side pockets before pulling out a pouch filled with silver marbles. Judging by how Makise held them, they seemed rather… dense and heavy. "Sooooooo, I gotta be honest… I don't think that tying you down would be beneficial to me because you'll only reinforce yourself and break out later~!"

'Oh boy…' All of the color drained from Shinon's face as Makise lifted his arms in preparation to toss the marbles within the air. "Uhhh… what are those for? Are we playing… that one American game? Jumping Jacks, I think it's called…?"

Makise shook his head in response, his smile spreading in a demented fashion while doing so. "Oh nooooo, no, this is a completely different game entirely~! One that'll be fun for me… maybe not so much fun for you though!"

"Yanaihara! Move!"

A breeze was felt as Shinon felt someone running past him, alerting him and Makise to their presence. Buying what little time he had, Shinon rolled away in a matter of seconds before Makise tossed the marbles within the air and, with power, deflected them towards the spot that his adversary once laid.

BANG-BANG-BANG

The silver projectiles ricocheted noisily across the enclosed space. Shinon could barely make heads or tails of what was happening, only being able to keep his head directly towards the floor in an attempt to protect himself from being hit. Amidst the commotion, sounds of a scuffle could be heard, gradually growing in volume with every passing second.

'Wait a minute… that voice… that was Tomoyuki-kun!' Shinon willed himself upwards, looking into the direction of the disturbance and saw exactly who he expected. 'It is him!'

"Yanaihara, his Quirk is dependent on his focus!" Meanwhile, Yuuto found himself within a struggle as he tightly held Makise within a headlock. Unbeknownst to Shinon and Makise, he'd been conscious since Shinon had managed to get the drop on their adversary.

Quickly, Yuuto flipped Makise backwards, slamming the male towards the ground and making use of the little combat experience he did have by restraining him. "I'll hold him in place for as long as I can, but I need you to hurry and get something to incapacitate him or to trap him-AGH!"

Yuuto grunted from the sensation of sharp elbows brutally embedding themselves within his kidney areas. He could slowly feel his grip easing away with every jab that Makise gave him in a desperate attempt to break free from Yuuto's hold. He tried to retain his hold, but it was rather difficult because of the impulsive movements of Makise's squirming to get free.

"Ah darn~! I should've known that I was forgetting SOMETHING… or someone… in this case..." Within the tenebrosity of the automation, Yuuto could still see Makise's emerald eyes shining through, seemingly staring directly into his soul. It was bad enough that he was struggling to keep his calm demeanor; to see Makise in such an… unhinged fashion wasn't something that he was used to. "Took ya long enough, you know~? I was hoping that you would come a lot earlier!"

Yuuto blinked away a few tears that had welled up within his eyes upon feeling Makise's elbows slam deeper into the side of his abdomen. He then felt himself moving upwards slowly, causing him to panic as Makise grunted and powered through his hold. In an act of desperation, Yuuto promptly raised his knee and brought it down towards Makise's back, completely disrupting the other boy's momentum entirely. His opponent fell towards the floor with a violent thud, allowing Yuuto to place more weight upon him.

"Yanaihara, hurry please!" Yuuto cried out to his partner, who was finally upon his knees in an attempt to retain his balance. With every passing second, however, Makise seemed to get more and more irritated. His hands reached to grasp Yuuto's forearms, deciding that brute force was the only way he'd escape. "I can only hold him for so long, he's way stronger than he looks!"

Shinon breathed heavily in order to dig deep and amp himself up enough to get to his feet. Adrenaline pumped through his veins as the pains gradually became less noticeable. The white-haired boy turned to the side and spat blood to the flooring below him before staggering towards the wrestling teens. He noticed the whip from earlier in front of him and grabbed it before sheathing the cord in pink energy once more.

"Welp!" Shinon grinned, though it was obviously strained from the tremendously painful bruises covering every inch of his abdomen. He cracked the whip, jumping slightly when it tore through a part of the flooring within the moving hulk of a machine. "I think we can go ahead and call this a wrap, huh—?!"

"Yanaihara, please, for the love of god, hurry UP!"

"Okay, okay!" Immediately, Shinon moved urgently towards the two, bending as best as he could on one knee and reinforcing his wrists to pry Makise's hands away from Yuuto's forearms. "No puns, no puns, I understand—!"

WHACK

"Agh!" Without warning, Shinon felt traumatic agony as a powerful force burrowed into his ribs, effectively snapping at least two. In addition, he could feel the burning of his flesh as a small spark of electricity spread along his side before he was sent soaring towards a different sector of the machine.

BANG

Shinon's head collided with a metallic wall, sending him into a daze in an instant as his eyes struggled to stay open. In his final moments of consciousness, he could see a pair of frosty and unsympathetic blue eyes before everything faded away. All that was heard of the outside world were echoes of Yuuto's crying his name out loud.

'Welp… again, that could've gone a little better…'


"Yuu, oh my god, thank you for suggesting this manga to me, I am in love with it! The action is so well-paced, the power system has an incredible learning curve, and Don't even get me started on the action!"

"Heh, I think you already mentioned the action, neesan."

"Well, it was just so good that I had to mention it again! You've got great taste, little bro! Also, the protagonist is so much like you! I mean, the similarities are so obvious!"

"...Well… thanks for the compliment, but… I don't think I'll ever be capable of doing all of what he does, nor could I really ever call myself hero material-"

"Stop that."

"Eh?"

"The self-depreciating thing that you like to do all of the time, Yuu. I want you to stop it…. You're definitely just as amazing as the MC for this story is, okay?"

"...The MC doesn't have a Quirk that's ill-suited for heroics, and he also doesn't get headaches all of the time…"

"That might be true, but you know that's not what I meant… potential… one of the main vocal points for a protagonist's character development in anime is potential. The goal is to see them reach their peak, and the journey along the way can be very hard and filled with struggles… which leads me to another thing that you have, Yuu…"

"..."

"You have heart… so much heart and a brain in that head of yours to match it in size! That's all that our MC had at the start, now isn't it?"

"I… guess so, Chika…"

"I KNOW so! Please… stop being so hard on yourself, okay? You are the author of your own fate, and you determine if you're able to achieve something or not. Don't let societal views on what's strong and what isn't steer you away from what you're truly capable of… you're only fifteen years old, you haven't even reached your peak!"

"I… yeah, that's right, Chika, I haven't."

"Yes! Now! Stop tearing yourself down, or at least try? For me, please?"

"...I'll do my best."

"Good! Now come on and help me with this cosplay, I really wanna do one for Winry!

"Sure..."


There simply was no denying it by this point, and Yuuto knew it.

This was officially the worst day of his entire life.

Fear and the familiar sensation of hopelessness surged throughout his body as he watched an extended pole slam into Shinon's stomach with a force so great, he could've sworn that he heard a few bones snapping. The moment that he saw Shinon's head hit the wall and his body bounce backwards, he knew that it was all over for his partner.

He trembled uncontrollably, allowing Makise to break from his grip with relative ease. Yuuto crawled backwards, watching as Shinon's attacker twirled a giant-sized pipe with two electrical sides within their hands before flashing him an expression of indifference.

'That's… Nikimura…' Yuuto could feel himself on the edge of hyperventilating as Hitomi stalked towards him. 'But… I thought she was at the body of this thing?'

"Ah, Nikimura," Meanwhile, Makise massaged his neck, growling as the pain from being constricted subsided. "So nice of you to join us! Kinda wish it would've happened sooner though—"

SLAP

A stinging sensation lingered across one side of his face, catching him so off-guard that he'd almost lost his balance and fell on his posterior. It was so sudden that he wasn't so much stunned from the pain, but more so because he was having a hard time processing what exactly happened. Makise raised his hand and cusps one side of his cheek slowly. His hesitation was quite obvious.

"You're lucky that's all that you'll receive from me, you fool." Hitomi didn't so much as bat an eye in Makise's direction as she continued walking towards Yuuto, who was quite wide-eyed, most likely from her actions against her partner. "We're supposed to be working as a team and you think you have a right to drop me while we're in the middle of it?"

While Hitomi scolded Makise, Yuuto was looking past her to get a glimpse of the latter. His back was turned, so Yuuto had a hard time seeing his facial expression. The darkness was of no help either. However, Yuuto's eyes shined slightly as he looked at the faint outlines of Makise's arm.

'His arm… it's… trembling…' Although it was rather faint and almost unnoticeable, Yuuto's trained eyes could make out the feverish shake spasming through Makise's arm. Unfortunately, he barely had time to fully process things as he suddenly found himself attempting to dodge the sparked edge of a pipe slamming directly beside his head out of pure instinct.

Hitomi was far from finished, however, as she quickly shifted in one spot, spinning the pipe wildly before swinging towards Yuuto in a frenzy. Though he wasn't the strongest, Yuuto was rather grateful for his flexibility. In a split-second, he ducked lowly and side-stepped Hitomi's attack before sliding backwards in order to gain distance.

However, Hitomi was relentless and persevering. Realizing that Yuuto had moved, she skillfully twirled backwards with the grace of a ballerina and swung the pipe upwards. It didn't end there though, for she expanded the width of the weapon in the final second, causing it to completely tear through the roof of the automation's insides.

The harsh sounds of crunching metal could be heard from above Yuuto as he barely managed to avoid large pieces of detritus that rained from above. Electricity danced along the ceiling, sparking similarly to a fireworks show.

BOOM

Yuuto suppressed the scream that threatened to arise from his throat upon seeing how closely the massive pipe had come to breaking every bone in his body. As the weapon collided with the ground, its impact was powerful enough to create a monumental vibration that entwined with the heavy movements of the machinery.

'Gah, come on, Yuuto, think! Think of something! Anything!' His mind raced. He could feel his heart coming dangerously close to pounding completely through his chest. Yuuto's blue eyes met Hitomi's unforgiving glaciers, and he immediately paled. He searched for some sort of opening in Hitomi's offense, but she seemed to be more guarded than anyone he'd ever seen in his life.

'The only way I'll be able to fight on equal grounds with her is if I get in close enough for her to not be able swing that… thing around…' Yuuto's vision fluttered towards Shinon, observing the broken state of his friend with a melancholic expression. 'I've gotta try… I don't want to let Yanaihara down… I don't want to let anyone down anymore…'

His fist tightening and his teeth gnashed against each other, he lifted his head to meet the eyes of his attacker once more. Though the fear that once filled his eyes was still quite evident, they were also clouded by a glow of frustration and bitterness. Without warning, Yuuto blitzed forward, completely throwing caution to the wind as he moved to meet Hitomi head-on.

Raising her eyebrows in mild amusement, Hitomi readied her stance before decreasing the width of her weapon to meet with Yuuto's torso. With his adrenaline at an all-time high, Yuuto's eyes shined before he executed a tremendous leap over the weapon and extended his foot outwards. Hitomi's eyes widened as she felt the heavy pressure of Yuuto's foot connecting with her nose.

"Gnng!" A rush of blood flew from her nose as her head was forcibly pushed backwards by Yuuto's heel. The pain radiating within her face was horrid, but her grip on the pipe never loosened. Yuuto landed on his feet, and was instantly rushing forward again, aiming to take advantage of Hitomi's dazed state. He pummeled his fist into Hitomi's unprotected chest, pushing her backwards in her stumble before lifting his leg up high for a well-paced high kick.

Hitomi, somewhat recovered, sidestepped the attack and proceeded to swing her pipe towards Yuuto's open leg area in an attempt to knock him off of his feet. Fortunately, Yuuto, with his mind moving at lightning speed, performed another hop above the attack. Hitomi saw it coming though. As he hovered in the air, Hitomi tossed the pipe to the side momentarily and moved to spear her own body directly into Yuuto.

The pain that surged through his diaphragm completely took the boy by surprise. He was well-aware that Hitomi wasn't a slouch by any means, but the impact from her throwing her entire weight into his stomach was almost hard to believe.

THUD

Yuuto struggled against her grip after his back hit the floor, but his efforts were useless as she held him to the ground like he was merely a leaf in her grasp. He could feel her wrapping her arms around his waist before squeezing tightly and effortlessly lifting him in the air

It was then that he felt himself getting weaker and… smaller with every passing second, resulting in him trying to squirm his way out of the girl's harrowingly strong grip. His bones felt as if they were on the verge of snapping into halves. His sight faded into a blur of obscurity before he desperately tried for a headbutt.

The distance between them was far too great for that, however, and Hitomi was aware enough to turn her head away. Her nose was lopsided, so perhaps his kick had been a little harder than he anticipated.

"Kobayashi… why are you just standing there!?" The frustration in Hitomi's voice was quite evident to the restrained teenager. Yuuto cursed to himself as Hitomi viciously constricted him with more pressure. He could see flashes of Makise in the corner of his vision, who was still standing in the same place as before. "Stop pretending as if I shot you in the heart, you fool! It was merely a slap on the cheek, now do your part in helping me to restrain him!"

The only acknowledgement she received was the lowering of Makise's head and soft whispers. However, his words were unintelligible to his partner over all of the commotion taking place. Clicking her tongue in annoyance, Hitomi tossed Yuuto's shrunken body to the floor, eliciting a pained whimper from the weakened boy as he curled into a ball to soften the impact.

"Kobayashi!" She glared daggers into the back of her partner's head as she approached him, half-tempted to slam her fist into his head. "Either you fail to understand basic Japanese or you're truly as dumb as you appear to be, which is it?!"

Makise, with his back turned towards her, still offered no response.

"KOBAYASHI!" Enraged by the dismissal, Hitomi's hands shot outwards as she prepared to push the boy to the floor.

BAAANG

The next thing Hitomi knew, her body was flying towards the ceiling at a high speed before slamming against its surface. She was dangerously close to connecting with the loose electrical wiring in her crash before descending back towards the floor. She wheezed heavily, feeling a heavy pain within her chest that burned like blazing embers. Shakingly, she gritted her teeth before looking towards Makise, who had finally met her gaze.

His pupils were dilated, yet there was a rancorous glow within them that seemed almost foreign on the usually level-headed boy. Hitomi remained unshaken, only glaring right back at the boy as she stood once more. Her breathing, though slowed, was recovering slightly. Pure spite alone and disapprobation was enough to will her back into standing once more.

"Okay… okay… so this is how we're going to do things, huh?! Fighting with partners leads to disqualification… which means that not only did you break the rules… but you ruined our chances of winning." Hitomi spit a gush of blood from her mouth as she held her still bleeding nose within her hand. "And that… is something that I simply cannot forgive…"

Hitomi blitzed forward, quickly grabbing her electrical pipe from earlier before making a break for Makise. The boy was silent, only lifting his hand in preparation to deflect the blow. However, this was expected by Hitomi as she ducked to the side, being careful to not get too close to the boy.

She skidded to a harsh halt and was back on the move once more, enlarging the pipe once more before pulling backwards for a powerful shot at Makise's solar plexus.

Unfortunately for Hitomi, he seemed to have timed her movements precisely. The pipe never even reached him before his hand nonchalantly deflected the pipe, causing the massive weapon to fly from Hitomi's hands and tear through the walls of the automation.

SCREECH

Hitomi cursed before shielding her ears from the shrill clanging of her pipe burrowing into the enclosed spaces of the mech. Moving backwards, she played it safe by not being any closer to Makise than she needed to be, but she could hardly tell where he even was at this point.

She would soon find out, however, for as soon as she opened her eyes, she found him right in front of her. The cold smile that spread across his face and his contemptuous eyes were all she saw before everything went downhill.

THUD

All of the air within Hitomi's lungs was brought up to the surface in a loud gasp after Makise extended his fist to meet her stomach, twisting into it for good measure. Hitomi seemed to almost hover in mid-air for a few seconds. Blood flew from her mouth, splashing against Makise's face before the boy activated his Quirk for one final time.

From there, her body was sent soaring through the inside of the metal behemoth, wildly twisting and turning in her flight. Amazingly, she was still awake and fighting against the pain, but the endeavor was quite useless. Even she was aware of that.

An incoming light was shining from behind her, but her body was flailing so wildly, she could only have hoped to shift her body in a correct position to see what it was. Her eyes were closed, realizing that her plans were completely wasted and washed down the drain. In that moment, she hated everything.

She hated the randomness of this assignment and how they had to fight on only their first day.

She hated the recklessness of the students in all of their fighting and how the school seemed to have little to no care about putting stricter prohibitions in place.

She hated how close she was to victory… only to have it stolen from her at the blink of an eye by this metallic monstrosity.

But most of all? She hated Makise more than anything else. He would pay for this… for everything.

Until then, all she could do was prepare for the inevitable as she tightened her eyes for what was to come.

BOOOOOOOOOOM

From the outside world, the centipede-like automation squealed a caterwauling howl as the middle portion of its body exploded into two halves. Both sides flipped across the ground violently, desolating the surface of the earth as they continuously tumbled, ripping through trees and boulders in the process. Soil and smoke filled the vicinity, masking the devastation left by the enormous fulmination created by the automation.

Shrieks of pain could be heard from inside the upper-half portion of the body as Yuuto fell from the opening, slamming hard into the grass. Shinon then came not far behind him, almost landing on top of his partner as they rolled to a brutal stop. By sheer luck, they managed to miss several large, dangerous pieces of metal fragments in the process.

Yuuto was now unconscious, and so was Shinon. The other two students seemed to be nowhere in sight. All that was heard was the heavy destruction created by the machine as it finally came to a stop.

Silence followed afterwards, as if nothing had happened at all. A buzzer was set off in the distance as the simulated skies above darkened, signifying that it was all over.

Winners by disqualification: Tomoyuki Yuuto and Yanaihara Shinon


That… was difficult, even with my crippling motivation. Well, you guuuys… there it is. A chapter, yaaaaay. Anyways, I don't really have much to say other than I thank you all for your patience, those of you that are still around.. At least.

Also.

To I-Don't-Know-Any-Username.

I lived, bitch.

Are you happy now? Take a good look at it because you'll be getting blocked in a day or so after this is posted. :)

Anyways, sorry for the wait, you all, but this fight was incredibly difficult, and I have been struggling with it for these past few months, and I finally have it.

That's… pretty much it.

Bye y'all~