CHAPTER 17 – Software Update

"I… I want to…", Nanami wanted to participate. But she blamed herself for their loss in the first place! Expecting to be the one to move forward when it was her fault, didn't seem right.

"I'm fine without going into the next round, I didn't do much anyway! So, Ibara and Tetsutetsu pull these straws, the one with the longer one moves forward!"

"That's fair!", exclaimed both of them. Tetsutetsu probably wanted to fight more than Ibara and perhaps as much as Nanami, but his respect for Nanami's passion was greater! Despite their different reason the team unanimously agreed that Nanami would be the one to move forward!

"I will not let you down!", Ibara exclaimed as she pulled the longer straw.

"Guys… why are you doing this?"

"You are the one with the best chance of winning!", reassured Kendo.

"Guys… I… I WILL NOT LET YOU DOWN AGAIN!"

"You better not!", Tetsutetsu said while giving her a big thumbs up.

"The spirit of Youth is brilliant!... So here are the updated draws!", Midnight sensei exclaimed as she showed the draws, Nanami was up against Kirishima in round 1 in the second last match of the round.

While most students participated in the activities, Nanami chose not to. She felt guilty that she took Tetsutetsu's spot but at the same time, the feeling of responsibility was sort of overwhelming! Her opponent wasn't a problem, since it was made painfully clear that both Kirishima and Tetsutetsu are similar down to their personalities, it was a merely a fight till Nanami touched him and disabled his quirk. And a 1 on 1 quirkless fight had always been her speciality!

Soon, it was time for the first fight. Everyone was excited in one way or the other, but Nanami wasn't.

"Can I not have a headache this time!", she said to herself.

"This is probably the last one.", said someone. But no one near her was talking! Perhaps it was some sort of a delusion, but even so, this fight was one which she was willing to watch even if it meant that she got a headache. This Shinso guy was very intriguing!

Her wish, however, was not granted as she ended up with a headache while spectating the match, which was more annoying than painful at this point. But, more importantly, they got to know what Shinso's quirk was, the fight against him was unwinnable, at least the first encounter was!

The ominous figure on the other side of the stadium had not been happy since Ojiro and Nirengeki backed out, but now that viewer had seemingly lost interest and could be seen fiddling on her phone! The match was fairly boring to an unsuspecting eye, but the feat of strength displayed by Midoriya in order to win the match and break Shinso's brainwashing captured Nanami and her team's awe as they had experienced the brainwashing firsthand!

The next few matchups were exhilarating to watch but even shorter than the first match. Todoroki iced half of the field and the ice almost hit the students! However, in the next match, i.e. Ibara vs Denki, didn't hurt the viewers as much as hit hurt Kaminari's chances with girls. While this match was concluded, the B section block could hear constant muttering, but they could not see who was speaking. Soon enough Nanami lost it and looked over the divide onto A Section's block and shouted, "For the love of God, can you please keep it down!"

"I'm sorry, it's a habit," Midoriya frantically apologised before shutting up. Most people got shocked by this sudden outburst from the other block, Uraraka, however, looked pissed off. However, shouting didn't help Nanami as taking a look at Midoriya gave her another headache. She wasn't afraid but the nerves were getting to her. She was done with failure and was not willing to take another loss!

The next match, however, was perfect for curing headaches. The only downside was getting a stomachache from all the laughs it entailed! As most people were surprised, others laughed their ass off but the unknown person on the other side of the stadium couldn't care less, her phone seemed to have the most interesting things one the planet! However, after a rather long time, Iida finally managed to win the match against Mei Hatsume.

The next match was surprisingly the longest yet, at least the longest match which wasn't an advertisement! However, it was as one-sided as Ibara vs Kaminari and as expected, Ashido finished it with a swift punch. Since most of the students in the finals were from the hero course section A, they knew about the quirks of each other in quite a bit of detail!

"They started with an advantage because our tactics were cowardly in the last round. The tournament format has been well thought out!", Nanami thought as her head was now clearing and it was time for the next match, the last match before her match.

As Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami went onto the stage, everyone watched eagerly as this was the second student in the finals who had come to UA by recommendations. The previous student had left their jaw hanging by his sheer strength. However, Yaoyorozu couldn't live up to their expectations but Tokoyami's Dark Shadow left everyone in shock by not just its versatility but its strength too!

"Doesn't the name Dark Shadow make his weakness obvious?", said Kendo.

"What do you mean?", the name wasn't a good enough hint for Nanami.

"I mean there's 'Dark' in the name, just bring some light and he's bound to get weaker!"

"Now that you say it, I saw Dark Shadow seemingly cower when against Kaminari's lighting. Was it because of the light?"

"Most likely!"

Just being strong wasn't good enough, being strategically sound, like Kendo, was an integral part of being a hero. Nanami was thankful that she got to be among such worthy future heroes, but now it was time for her match!

As she was making her way to the arena, someone on the other end of the stadium was done with their phone and was about to leave, only to stop once they saw that the next match was Nanami vs Kirishima. As Nanami was making her way down the stairs, she caught a glimpse of Midoriya and instinctively looked away as she didn't want another headache. Earlier it didn't matter how long she looked at him, she always got a headache, but somehow, that didn't happen this time!

"There is a god, huh!"

As Nanami walked onto the ring, she took off her shoes, as any martial artist would do. Once on the field, everyone in her class started cheering her on. Though some people had radically different ways of cheering, her whole class was behind her! Section A didn't seem as passionate, though they increased their cheering manifolds as a reply to B Section. Even before A section got into the mood of cheering for their team, one could clearly hear Mineta cheering for Kirishima like an absolute madlad!

"On one side we have the Manly and Passionate hardening! From the hero course, we have Eijiro Kirishima vs Versatile and scary Fast when needed, she ended 4th in the first round! From the hero course, we have Nanami! Let's start the 7th match!"

Not having much idea as to what his opponent's quirk is Kirishima started by doing what he did best, he started on the defence. As Nanami charged at him with no visible opening, he hardened his hands and defended himself. Intending to just make physical contact, she landed a fairly strong punch on Kirishima. But, as expected, Kirishima took no damage but was slightly pushed back. However, Nanami's job was done and accordingly she started backing off!

But the ominous figure in the stadium, who had waited for Nanami's match was making her way out now. Maybe, she saw enough? But just before leaving, she turned back, with a smirk on her face, as she visibly lifted a finger and walked out of the stadium. Some people in the crowd noticed her but dismissed her as a weirdo and got back to see the ongoing match.

However, this small act of lifting a finger had some almost unnoticeable changes with big repercussions! As Nanami was now backing off from her first attack on Kirishima, she tripped on the second last tile, which had been put slightly out of place! This would have thrown anyone, without the ability to fly, out of bounds.

But no matter how hard she tried, using a quirk was never her instinct, it was a process which needed conscious effort. Thankfully Nanami was fairly athletic and she managed to do a flip to just stay in bounds! However, she was so off balance a simple push would have thrown her out of bounds.

"Are you all right?", asked Kirishima, instead of going for a simple push to win the match! Winning like that was not the 'manly' thing to do and thus it was not something he would do! This gained him Tetsutetsu's respect, but the same could not be said about how Nanami felt!

"Are you kidding me! ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME!", instead of being happy that her obvious knockout had not taken place, Nanami was infuriated! Anyone witnessing the match could easily tell that even a feather touch would have been enough to push her out of bounds. Call it stubbornness, or just being dumb, but Nanami didn't want to acknowledge that! Sure, she didn't want to lose, but being pitied! In a tournament where everyone was giving it their all to progress, her opponent PITIED her when he could have won, nothing could be a worse insult for her!

Enraged as she was, she charged towards Kirishima, only for them to be stopped by Midnight on Cementoss' request! The official reason was 'Technical Difficulty'.