Chapter 28- Ideals

"Shinso."

The voice had spoken my name, but it barely permeated the haze of sleep that I was currently enjoying being immersed in, and it took every piece of discipline that I had to stop myself from simply blocking out the voice and settling back into sleep.

"Shinso, wake up."

It took significant effort, but I managed to force myself awake, opening my eyes to see a face hovering above me. It was Shoji, and he was looking at me with a fairly bemused expression on his face, or at least the part of his face that I could actually see.

"Are you alive down there or do I have to kick you or something?" Shoji asked, though the slight levity in his voice made me realise he was joking

"I'd rather you didn't." I murmured, still waking myself up "I think I'll get enough of that in the arena."

"Certainly." Shoji replied, still looking down at me "I admit, I foresee these matches getting rather heated."

I grimaced at that, my conversation with Ojiro coming back to mind as my sleep-addled brain struggled to process what I was being told by Shoji. I still didn't relish what was likely about to transpire between me and Ojiro, though my commitment to defend my ideals was as strong as ever. Thinking of Ojiro led me to thinking of the rest of Class 1A, which were conspicuously absent from the seating area that currently just contained Shoji and myself.

"Where's everybody else?" I groaned, stretching and clearly the last of the sleep stiffness from my body.

"On their way." Shoji gestured to the door behind him "I thought I'd get here first and spare you the embarrassment."

"You're a real Hero." I grinned, looking up at Shoji before a thought came to mind. "Wait, how did you know I'd be asleep up here?"

"I could see you from when I was down there." Shoji pointed to the side games being cleared up in the centre of the stadium, the distance of which reminded me of how incredible Shoji's sense were "You sleep with your mouth open, I thought you should know that."

"Don't make me regret being nice." I chuckled, always enjoying Shoji's dry sense of humour "Anyway, I'd better get to the preparation rooms."

"They haven't called for you yet, but it should only be a few minutes." Shoji's gaze followed me as I stood and made my way to the exit, ready to prepare myself for the fight.

"I'll be glad of the extra time to prepare." I replied, already thinking through strategies and plans to put into effect against Ojiro "I'll see you soon."

"Good luck." Shoji nodded in solidarity, before turning and sitting on one of the many seats that overlooked the arena where I would soon be fighting against Ojiro.

I made my way to the preparation room surprisingly easily, and I spent my time in the room stretching and warming up, preparing my body for the trial that lay ahead of me. Ojiro was clearly no slouch physically, and it would be foolish of me to assume that I was in for an easy fight, so I did everything I could to prepare myself. Basic stretches were all I needed to get myself ready, and soon enough my heart rate had risen to the point that I felt that I was ready for combat.

Beyond physical preparation, I spent every second I had thinking of strategies and plans that I could use to win the fight and overcome Ojiro's own formidable skill and strength. I made a habit of observing all of my classmates during training exercises and combat practise, and Ojiro was one of the people that I made sure to keep note of due to our overlapping skills and specialities. By my own observations, the students most proficient in close combat were Ojiro, Kirishima, Iida and myself, as all of us favoured a close-up style using punches, kicks and other such techniques in tandem with our Quirks. Bakugo and Midoriya were also partially within this category, though Bakugo's ability to fight at any range and Midoriya's poor control and incredible power meant that they could both fight at long distances as well.

Anyway, Ojiro lacked both Kirishima's incredible defence and Iida's speed, but he made up for his comparative lack of power with skill and precision combined with mastery of several Martial Arts. In a sense, we were parallels of each other, both lacking in destructive power and making up for this deficiency by using close-combat techniques to overcome our opponents. But we contrasted in our approach, Ojiro was straightforward and used his techniques to fight his foes and beat them with his own skill, and this had clearly shaped his ideals of the honourable Hero that would face down Villains and defeat them. In contrast, I had been taught to be pragmatic and vicious in how I fought my opponents, using whatever trick I could to come out on top.

Reflecting on our differences was a strange sensation, and it made me realise just how far I had strayed from the conventional ideals of heroism, and part of me wondered just how some of the people I knew outside of UA would react to some of the things that I had been trained to do.

An announcement from the speaker above my head shook me from my thoughts, the announcement stated that the first match was about to begin, and that I should make my way into the arena as soon as I could manage. I guess I was out of time to plan or strategize, and I could only hope that what I had come up with thus far would be enough to win me the match.

I walked through one of the large tunnels that led from the preparation room into the main arena, the noise and light of the stadium got louder and brighter as I moved through the tunnel. Truthfully, I was even more nervous to be standing in front of the crowd this time around, given that I wouldn't be able to blend into a group like I had in the past two events. Soon enough, I emerged from the artificial light of the tunnel into the bright day of the stadium, the endless sea of people present all around me cheering and clapping at the start of the first match.

The arena was a smaller version of the one used in the Cavalry Battle, being a featureless concrete square surrounded by a sea of green grass. A concrete path led from the entrance tunnel to a small set of stairs that led onto the slightly raised arena, and it was this path that I steadily walked across, heading towards the arena. As I walked up the stairs, I caught sight of Ojiro for the first time, walking a path opposite to mine, apparently having emerged from a tunnel identical to my own on the other side of the stadium. As we both made our way to the centre of the arena, I caught sight of Midnight standing on a raised platform, and the commentary from Present Mic informed me and the crowd that Midnight would be acting as the referee for the match. Cementoss was also sitting to the side of the arena, ready to repair any damage to the arena, though that likely wouldn't be needed for this first match.

Present Mic's commentary cut through the crowd again, this time announcing the participants of the fight.

"First up, it's a plain-looking guy with a tail and skills straight out of a Bruce Lee movie!." Present Mic called out to a cheering crowd "It's Mashirao Ojiro!

Ojiro looked faintly offended at being called plain-looking, which was admittedly a little harsh, but nonetheless fairly accurate.

"On the other side, he's a quiet guy with eyebags to rival Eraserhead here!" Mic called out to even more cheering, constantly building hype and anticipation "It's Hitoshi Shinso!"

Now it way my turn to be offended, did I really look that tired? True, I had been sleeping less and less since I had started training, but I didn't realise that it was that noticeable…

As Present Mic's announcement rang out through the stadium, his words were also transmitted all over the world as the public watched the unfolding festival on TVs with keen interest. And as Shinso's name was called out by the Voice Hero, it provoked a variety of reactions from the people watching.

Back in the Shinso household, Jōnetsu Shinso and her other two children, Maindo and Karisuma, cheered on Hitoshi's appearance. The sight of the eldest Shinso son standing proud in the centre of the UA Sport's Festival was one that they could scarcely have imagined before his encounter with Aizawa. They all had faith in Shinso's determination to become a Hero, but seeing his dreams coming into reality was enough to bring Jōnetsu to tears.

All across Japan, Shinso's old classmates and teachers watched with wide eyes and disbelieving expressions as they saw Shinso walk into the arena. Their memory of the quiet and withdrawn Shinso that they had either ignored or outright shunned seemed barely connected to the confident figure they saw on the screens in front of them.

Sitting right next to Present Mic, Aizawa watched as the first match begun, interested to see how two of his students would perform under the conditions of the match laid before them. Shinso and Ojiro were arguably the two most skilled close-combat fighters in Class 1A, and he expected an impressive display from both of them. Another part of Aizawa's mind moved to the conversation he had just had with Shinso, and he settled his thoughts with the knowledge that he would be able to resolve all of his confusion soon enough.

Unbeknownst to both Shinso and Aizawa, there were two other figures sitting amongst the crowd at the Sports Festival, dressed as civilians simply going to enjoy a day of spectacle, though that couldn't be much further from the truth. The pair had watched Shinso's performance throughout the whole Festival, and they both watched closely to see how this first fight would unfold.

"Alright, you both know the rules, so let's get this started!" Midnight yelled with a characteristic crack of her whip.

Only a dozen metres sat between Ojiro and myself, though even from this distance I could see the conflict in Ojiro's expression. I knew that my own expression was likely similar despite my best efforts to appear focused and impassive.

I knew that this was my only chance to prove that my own methods and ideals were as heroic as Ojiro's and all the other Heroes in UA and beyond. I knew that I could never be the next All Might or Hawks, but that didn't mean that I couldn't be a Hero in my own way. If I lost this fight, then Ojiro would forever see my methods as lesser and unbefitting of a Hero, and that was an insult to myself and everybody who had helped me get this far.

"You don't have to go through with this Shinso." Ojiro looked me dead on, a mixture of emotions that I couldn't identify visible in his expression.

"3!"

"Yes, I do." I replied, determined to protect my ideals and show that I hadn't gotten this far simply through luck.

"2!"

"Have it your way then." Ojiro shot back, his fists tensing in anticipation.

"1!"

"I will." I replied, not knowing what else I could say to Ojiro beyond simply asserting my position again.

"Begin!"

As soon as Midnight announced the start of the fight, Ojiro and I began to walk towards each other, closing the distance of a dozen metres that sat between us until we were only a few paces away from each other. Once we were close enough to each other, we each dropped into our respective fighting stances. Ojiro's stance was solid, legs spaced perfectly apart and with arms raised to defend or attack, he was the image of a traditional martial-arts master. My own stance had seen a few revisions lately, and I had settled for something fairly unorthodox, a low stance that was almost crouching, ready to spring upwards and attack at any moment.

There was only silence for a moment, as we both assessed each other's strengths and weaknesses, though truthfully I could see little to exploit in Ojiro's stance. I knew that Ojiro was likely making the same assessments of me, and I could only hope that his trained eye wouldn't pick up any glaring weaknesses in my stance that I hadn't accounted for myself. The pause couldn't last forever though, and soon enough, Ojiro made his move.

Ojiro's opening move was a high kick aimed squarely at my head, a quick and acrobatic manoeuvre that would put a lot of Pro Heroes to shame, and possibly even catch them off guard. Thankfully, I had spent a lot of time blocking and dodging attacks from Aizawa, and while Ojiro was fast, Aizawa was like lightning. My low stance let me drop to the ground and swing outwards with my left leg, aiming to sweep out Ojiro's other leg and send him to the ground. I made contact and felt Ojiro's leg give out, sending him backwards and stopping him from changing the angle of his kick. Unfortunately, I hadn't accounted for Ojiro's Tail, and he used the extra limb granted by his Quirk to stop his descent and quickly put himself back on stable footing.

I leapt upwards and backwards, putting a bit of distance between Ojiro and myself so that he couldn't capitalise on me being momentarily wrong-footed by my failed attack. Ojiro used his Tail as a springboard to launch himself at me with a flying kick, which caught me on the shoulder and put me off balance. I compensated for the lack of balance by dropping to the ground, which at least stopped me from falling and being totally exposed.

Ojiro moved in to try and hit me while I was on the ground, but as soon as he was close enough I struck upwards with a kick of my own, lashing out in a quick and precise use of force. The kick struck Ojiro squarely in the chin, and the force of the hit pushed Ojiro away from me and send him reeling.

I used the brief opening I had brought myself to get back on my feet and assess my next move, though I only had a few seconds to plan before Ojiro had recovered and was ready to attack again. We both faced each other down again, only a little worse for wear after each taking a single strike, though it was already clear to me how skilled Ojiro was. Observing him was one thing, but actually facing down Ojiro was a wholly different experience.

I lunged forwards towards Ojiro, seeking to seize the initiative and catch Ojiro off guard with a sudden strike that he wouldn't have the time to respond to. I ducked low to avoid getting hit by a punch to the head, and I was barely a metre away from Ojiro before he had even hit back. I pulled my fist back and struck Ojiro squarely in the chest, feeling the impact of my strike connect solidly with my target.

Ojiro staggered back, but he didn't totally collapse or falter as I had expected, and I didn't have any time to follow up on my hit before Ojiro hit back. Ojiro spun on his heel and hit my right side with his Tail, the appendage lashing out with a speed that belied the large and muscular nature of the limb. I winced in pain at the sheer impact of the hit, Ojiro's Tail was basically pure muscle, and taking such a direct hit was staggering to say the least.

It was all I could do to stop myself from staggering or being sent to the ground by the hit, and only a solid stance and practise at taking hits like that stopped me from being totally floored by the strike. I lashed out with an elbow to Ojiro's stomach, adrenaline fuelling the speed of the strike and blocking out the pain form the last hit I had taken. Ojiro also managed to endure my attack, and we were both left face-to-face with each other, ready to attack or defend in an instant.

Once the slight distance between us had been closed, our careful combat devolved from precise counters into a more traditional fist fight, though each of us blocked or dodged as many strikes as we had landed. Our fight hadn't devolved into a disorganised scrap, it was instead more like a rapid-fire series of punches, blocks and counters that each of us applied in our own way. We were far too close to properly use kicks, though each of us threw in the occasional elbow or knee in an attempt to catch our opponent off guard. Although I landed several hits on Ojiro, he had also landed several on me, and pain emanated from several points on my body. I was keen to break up the combat for a moment, so I stepped backwards and lashed out with a spin kick, which hit Ojiro on the shoulder and pushed him slightly backwards. I took a short leap back to increase the distance between us, giving me some time to assess the situation of the fight so far.

I used the brief reprieve from the combat to catch my breath, though it took a good deal of effort to keep my breathing level and stable, keeping oxygen flowing through my body. I felt a warm liquid trickling from the corner of my mouth, and wiping my hand over the area revealed a smear of blood on the back of my hand. I couldn't even remember what hit had split my lip enough to draw blood, though I had taken several solid hits that all qualified to deal that kind of damage. Then again, Ojiro wasn't looking too fresh either, and it was clear that he was feeling the impact of my hits.

We faced each other down again after barely a moment's pause, ready to launch into combat again.

The arena watched the fight in shocked silence, the sight of the battle unfolding in front of them stunning the onlookers. Even the Pro Heroes and UA students who were no strangers to combat found themselves watching with barely a word passing their lips. All eyes were on Shinso and Ojiro, and the clash that the pair were currently embroiled in.

Everybody who had come to see the festival knew that they would be seeing combat, as it was an unavoidable fact of the heroics industry that students needed to fight in order to learn how to be the best heroes possible. But there was something different about this fight, this wasn't the clash of mighty and powerful Quirks that everybody had expected to open the final round of the festival; this was more like a fight from the days before Quirks, where people would clash with nothing but punches, kicks and other physical strikes.

But beyond the physical nature of the fight, the most shocking thing was the sheer passion and ferocity that the two fought with, the pair were totally focused on each other, neither of them seemed to even register the outside world around them, instead being totally zoned in on their own clash. The sheer brutality of some of the strikes was enough to make some of the onlookers wince, and the display of martial skill from both students drove home that they were both well-trained in the various forms and moves that they were executing.

Even the students of Class 1A were watching with uncharacteristic silence, shocked by the display of ferocity from both Shinso and Ojiro. To the class as a whole, they were both fairly friendly students, though Shinso was noticeably withdrawn and secretive at times. They couldn't imagine what had provoked this fight to the levels it had reached, which to many seemed to go far beyond a simple competition.

More than anybody else, Shinso's three closest friends watched with confusion, wondering what had provoked their quiet companion to the point he would fight with such fire in his eyes.

I wasn't sure how much longer I could keep this up for, Ojiro hit hard, and this was probably the first time I had fought an opponent who could match all of the techniques that I had with his own, and knew how to fight back just as well. The last time I had fought an opponent like this was when I fought Aizawa at the end of my training, and back then I at least had my Capture Tools. My knuckles ached from throwing so many punches, and the strike that Ojiro had landed on my ribs still hurt now.

At the very least, I could see that I was giving Ojiro just as much trouble as I was going through, at least that seemed to be the case from his expressions. We seemed to be a perfect match for each other, each of us were left unable to overcome the other with either skill or strength, so we were stuck at an impasse.

That meant it was up to me to break the stalemate and come out on top, as I didn't think I could win in this current scenario.

I didn't have much I could do to tilt the fight in my favour, the arena was small and featureless, so moving to favourable terrain or finding an improvised weapons was impossible.

Or was it?

Before the idea that I was forming could be completed, Ojiro attacked again, using his tail to launch himself forwards and attacking with a series of kicks aimed squarely at my head. I ducked under the first few blows and grabbed Ojiro's leg before he could pivot and continue striking me. Using the force of Ojiro's own attacks, I threw him over my shoulder and slammed him into the ground with as much force as I could manage. Before I could follow up, Ojiro launched another kick from his prone position that hit me square in the stomach, forcing me away from Ojiro and making me unable to capitalise on my advantage.

Ojiro leapt to his feet, using his tail to propel himself upwards with impressive speed, and he leaped towards me without even hesitating. I managed to react just in time by rolling out of the way, simultaneously launching my own kick towards Ojiro, which caught him in the shoulder before he could react. The hit wasn't solid, but it sent Ojiro slightly off balance, sending him spiralling away from me as he tried to regain his footing before I could follow up on my attack.

I knew this was my best chance to put my plan into action without Ojiro noticing what I was up to, so while Ojiro was recovering and readying himself for my attack, I unzipped the UA sports shirt that we wore for training events that didn't require us to use our Hero Costumes. Thinking my plan over, I was silently grateful that I had had the foresight to wear a black vest under the shirt, as I didn't really feel like being shirtless in front of most of Japan.

I had practised quickly throwing off the shirt while in the preparation room, thinking of the manoeuvre as a last resort if Ojiro had managed to push me into a corner or if we had reached a stalemate. I knew that I was far more adept in combat when I had a weapon or tool at my disposal, and while the shirt wasn't my Capturing Tools, it would suffice. But in the end, I probably only had one shot to pull this off, and I wasn't sure that I could win if I didn't catch Ojiro off guard and tilt things in my favour.

Ojiro was back on his feet and ready to fight again, and if he had noticed the slight change in my appearance, then it didn't seem to phase him or factor into his approach. He likely thought that the shirt had simply come undone during the tangle of combat between us, which was exactly the thing I was counting on for this gambit to work. Ojiro's words about fighting dirty flashed through my mind, and I wondered if I would only cement his view of me with what I was about to do.

Putting my plan into action, I fell to one knee while clutching the side of my head, a false expression of anguish and irritation on my face as I clamped my eyes shut for a moment. I was doing my best to fake a concussion or other head injury, something that wasn't exactly unexpected given the hits I had already taken this fight. I staggered back up to my feet with false difficulty, doing everything I could to sell the impression of being on my last legs. I raised my arms in a loose and messy stance, one that was wide open to an experienced fighter like Ojiro, something that he would surely know how to capitalise on.

Sure enough, Ojiro lunged forwards towards me, surely intent on pushing me out of the ring to end the fight as quickly and cleanly as possible. It would have been a smart move in any other situation, my back was close to the ring and I appeared to be almost out of fight as it was, if I was in Ojiro's position then I might well have done the same thing. But as Ojiro held both of his hands forwards to give me a strong shove, I knew that my plan had worked.

As soon as I was sure that Ojiro was committed to the move and wouldn't have time to change his trajectory, I made my move, the sequence of actions that I would need to take burned into my mind. The façade of weakness dropped in a second, and I put one leg backwards to reinforce myself against Ojiro's push so that he wouldn't be able to take me out of the ring or throw me off balance. At the same time, I threw my shoulders back to loosen the shirt and pulled one of my arms out of it, using the other arm to bring the discarded garment in front of me.

I stepped forwards slightly to push myself into range, and pulled the shirt upwards and around Ojiro's arms, using the shirt in a similar manner to my Capture Tools to bind his arms together and restrict their movement. I pulled the shirt tight to ensure that Ojiro couldn't get free and then yanked him towards me as best I could manage. All of this transpired in only a few seconds, and it was clear from Ojiro's lack of immediate reaction that I had managed to catch him off guard.

Once he was close enough, I lashed out with a knee to Ojiro's stomach to try and daze him as much a possible, still keeping a tight hold on his arms to stop him from getting free or striking back at me. The knee connected solidly, and I saw Ojiro grimace in pain and shock as soon as I had hit him. I followed up with a headbutt that struck Ojiro solidly again, and I had managed to strike in such a way that I wouldn't feel as much of the pain from the attack as he did. I didn't like using a technique as sloppy as a headbutt, but my arms were busy and I needed to get Ojiro as disoriented as possible.

A second after this hit, I put the last part of my plan into action, pulling Ojiro towards me again as I span on my heel and lunged towards the very edge of the arena. I used all of my strength to throw Ojiro behind me, sending him flying towards the edge of the arena as I released my hold on his arms, though I still clutched my shirt in my hand. Ojiro flew towards the ground, and it was clear from his movements that he didn't have the means or awareness to stop himself from hitting the grass outside of the arena. A second later, he hit the ground with an audible thud, and I was left alone, standing in the ring.

The entire exchange from Ojiro leaping towards me to him hitting the ground had taken less than ten seconds, even though it had felt a great deal longer to me. The crowd was in stunned silence for several seconds, the audience taking time to process what had just unfolded in front of them, and even the Heroes sitting on one side of the stadium were quiet for a moment. All I could hear was my own breathing, and the frantic sound of my own heartbeat thumping in my ears as I waited for whatever would happen next.

Then, in an instant, the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, the deafening wave of sound hitting me and shaking me from my stupor of exhaustion. It was an exhilarating experience, and it was only my better judgement that stopped me from staying in the arena and basking in the sound for any longer than I needed to. I turned and walked back across the arena towards the archway that I had entered the arena from, hearing Midnight's announcement cut through the cheers behind me.

"Ojiro has been knocked out of the ring!" Midnight called out, though her voice barely registered over the sound of my heartbeat in my ears "The winner is Hitoshi Shinso!"

Author's Note

I forget how much fun I have writing fight scenes, which is pretty lucky given how many of them are coming up in the next few Chapters. I hope that the fighting was entertaining for all of you, and that the outcome was satisfying.

I can't say I have too much more to add on this one, so I'll just leave it here. The next Chapter will be Shinso observing the other fights (though this might be split into two Chapters depending on how things pan out), and the one after that will be Shinso's next fight.

I have a Discord server now, and it would be great to see some more people join. The link is in my profile page, and I'd love to see you there.

Thanks for reading, I'll see you next time.

And to answer some reviews:

Donovan2771: Wow, I didn't even realise at first. It's a shame I haven't been able to write nearly as much as I would like, but I'm committed to doing better this year. Thanks for reviewing, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter as well.

Hatakewerbenjagermanjensen: Thanks for the kind review, I hope you enjoyed this Chapter as well. I'm glad to hear that I'm keeping the hype coming, I'll be sure to keep things exciting.

Constellation112: Thank for you for the very kind review, I'm glad to hear that you've been enjoying the story thus far. I'm also pretty relieved to hear that you're enjoying the Underground Hero stuff, since that will graduate to the Main Plot pretty soon.