Hello Everyone! I'm back with another chapter of Blood for Blood. This chapter is the preparation for the final round of the Sports Festivals, things could either get heated or silly. So I hope you all enjoy this chapter. I had to redo the bracket to fit it best in here, sorry if it doesn't look great.
Chapter 23: The Finale Looms.
The second round of the Sports Festival had reached his end. Kazume ended up with the ten million points he stole from his best friend. He was able to redeem himself from the upset in the first round, losing to Midoriya by just a tip of his finger. However, deep down inside, he felt bad that he had to eliminate him from advancing in the final round… or so he thought.
"LET'S TAKE A LOOK AT THE FINAL RANKINGS! THE TOP FOUR TEAMS WILL ADVANCE TO THE FINAL ROUND! IN FIRST PLACE, WE HAVE TEAM SHIELD WITH 10,003,050 POINTS! EXCELLENT DETERMINATION AND SKILL SET FROM THE AGILE NINJA HERO!" announced Present Mic the final results.
Kazume smirked, "It was inevitable really, thanks to all of us working together. Told ya guys we'll win this, not quite unanimously but good enough," he said, all of the others nodded, with Mineta off somewhere doing something perverted.
" NEXT UP IN SECOND PLACE IS TEAM BAKUGO WITH 760 POINTS! HOWEVER, HE DOESN'T LOOK QUITE PLEASED!" announced Present Mic.
Bakugo wanted to kill anyone who ever talked to him. Whoever looked at him was gonna be blinded too!
"Stupid-ass ninja bitch… Stupid fucking rigged headband motherfucking..." Bakugo exclaimed in frustration.
"Yo Bakugo, you alright man? We got second place, it's not that bad. We at least go to the final round," said Sero.
"I don't think Bakugo will appreciate being a runner-up," said Kirishima.
"Of course, I don't, Shitty-Hair!" Bakugo snapped.
"ALRIGHT, IN THIRD PLACE WE HAVE… WAIT HOLD ON, WHAT'S THIS?! TEAM MIDORIYA LEAP-FROGS TEAM TODOROKI FOR THIRD PLACE WITH 285 POINTS! I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS! AND AT THE LAST MINUTE AS WELL!" announced Present Mic.
"UWAHHHHHHHHHHH!" Izuku cried a large waterwork of tears, "WE MADE IT!"
"Yeah, good job, Deku!" Ochako exclaimed.
"Hm, yes, well done, Midoriya," Tokoyami said.
Mei just worked on getting her damaged babies patched up.
"AND THAT LEAVES TEAM TODOROKI IN FOURTH PLACE! THEY HAD A VERY TALENTED TEAM! WHAT HAPPENED?! ANY IDEAS, ERASERHEAD?!" announced Present Mic, as he looks at Aizawa for an explanation.
"That's simple… Kazume happened. They had a great plan on using Denki to electrocute the battle while being protected by Momo's insulation sheet. If they continued with their plan, they would've had an excellent strategy to steal points with Iida's speed. But they left an opening for Kazume to go after him. Usually with all that talent, he wouldn't bother going after his team, but with the Ice wall, he used not only did he protect his team from his knives, but at the same time left a big opening for Kazume to strike. Kazume almost would've capitalized big time if he licked Todoroki's blood and took all his points. In other words, Todoroki underestimated Kazume's mind for tactics and clinical actions. He's been used to being under pressure," Aizawa commentated, summarizing what happened to Todoroki's team.
"Hmm…" Todoroki looked up into the stands, seeing his father burning there and gritting his teeth, silently marching away. The others felt worried, while Denki was also MIA.
"Todoroki, is there something wrong?" Momo asked, concerned for her team captain.
Todoroki was silent as he walked away from his room and headed to the waiting room, feeling frustrated for his performance. More than frustrated, he felt livid. Why couldn't the old man just shut up? Why couldn't he leave him alone?
"ALRIGHT FOLKS, LET'S TAKE A ONE HOUR LUNCH BREAK BEFORE WE CONTINUE ON WITH THE FINAL ROUND! ALRIGHT ERASERHEAD, LET'S GO GET LUNCH" announced Present Mic.
"No thanks, I'd rather take a nap," said Aizawa.
The arena emptied out and raided the food trucks and stalls throughout the area. The lines were like a human traffic jam or scurrying ants.
Meanwhile, the students were chatting with one another, congratulating the people who get to advance to the final round, others a little disappointed with their performance and letting out their frustrations. In a world where heroes have to compete with each other to reach the top, it's normal that some heroes get mad at their lack of success.
"Damnit, how did we lose to those crappy 1-A students?! I want a rematch!" shouted Tetsutetsu in frustration.
"Excellent job out there Mina. Ribbit, you were amazing out there," commented Asui to her friend.
"Yeah but it's not like I did amazing during the battle. Bakugo only chose me because I was able to melt Todoroki's ice. We weren't expecting that your team would have that pervert Mineta and deal with his sticky balls. Thank goodness that my quirk can dissolve those balls away," said Mina.
"Man, once again your team came out on top, Uraraka. I'm sorry for my betrayal to you and Midoriya, I thought I was gonna beat you this time," said Iida.
"It's okay, Iida. I understand that you wanted to compete against us." Izuku said. His mood is serious and trying to stay that way.
"Well… we didn't do too much," Uraraka sighed.
"We did enough," Tokoyami piped up.
"No, we didn't, if I was able to control my quirk, I would've done more. I'm not good enough. You guys did amazing, but I should've done better, I let Kazume slip away with the ten Million points," said Izuku, feeling down that he wasn't much help for his teammates.
"Hey, we still won in a way, right? We did our best!" Uraraka piped up, "So all that matters is that!"
"Right…" replied Midoriya, still not feeling confident about his chances in the final rounds… not good odds against the likes of Kazume, Todoroki, or even his childhood friend, Bakugo. They would wipe the floor with him, but deep down, Izuku knows that it doesn't matter, he will give it his all in the final round.
Izuku felt a tap on his shoulder, he looked back to see that it was Todoroki.
"Do you have a minute, Midoriya? I want to have a private chat with you," said Todoroki.
"Um… sure," replied Midoriya, unsure of Todoroki's intentions.
To continue with the strangeness of the encounter, he was brought to somewhere private.
"So… what do you want to talk about?" Izuku asked as both stood in a dark, empty hallway, with only the sunrays providing them a bit of light.
". . . . . ." Todoroki was silent, trying to process what he saw from Midoriya.
He looked at the time Midoriya used his quirk on Kazume on one finger, which knocked him back very far into the minefield. All that raw power in just one finger, he couldn't imagine what he could do with an entire fist.
"It's about your quirk, it kinda reminded me of All Might. Other than All Might, I've never seen such a powerful aura from any of my opponents… until I saw you. It's similar, too similar, are you sure he's not your dad or something?" Todoroki concluded.
'Wait, hold on… WHAT?!' thought Midoriya.
"U-uhm… what?" he vocalized his thoughts.
"You heard me, so are you?" asked Todoroki.
"O-o-of course not. I-I'm p-pretty sure that w-whatever gave you that i-idea, it m-must be j-just a coincidence," stuttered Midoriya, trying to deny any connections about him and All Might's true relationship as his successor of One For All. Izuku then asked, "But… why do you really think that about me?"
"I don't, it's just that… I do believe that there is something between you two that probably shouldn't be shared with others. But anyway, my father is the number two hero, Endeavor. You probably have heard of him, right? But if it's true that you're connected to the number one hero somehow, then that means I have a much bigger reason to beat you," stated Todoroki.
Somewhere near a stairway…
All Might wanted to have a chat with the number two hero. It has been ten years since they last met in a press conference. The number two hero was bathed in fire, waves of heat rolled off him, making the air ripple. Just being around All Might pissed him off. All Might stood awkwardly.
"It's been a while… Enji," All Might said oddly.
"Endeavor," Endeavor snarled, smoke curling out of his mouth.
"Right… my bad Endeavor," All Might corrected.
"What is it that you want, All Might?" Endeavor asked as he gritted his teeth.
"Why I just only wanted to say hi and have a little chat," replied All Might.
"If that's seriously your intention, then I'm not interested, trivial talk is for the weak-minded," scolded Endeavor as he started walking away.
However, All Might wasn't quite finished talking with him as he flipped over him and stopped him in his tracks while keeping his fancy suit in one piece.
"Whoa now, why the cold shoulder? I wasn't quite finished with our little chat. You should be happy that your son is doing great throughout the Sports Festival… even though he's only been using half his power," said All Might.
"If I want to be proud of my son, come back to me when he's using his full power, other than that, leave me be,"
"I see… well, glad we had our talk then," said All Might, feeling a bit puzzled with Endeavor's hostility towards him. They're both great heroes, right? Yet, they're not able to get along?
Endeavor stopped halfway down the stair to give All Might one more statement, "One day, when this is all over, you're going to see me standing where you are, and when you do, I'm going to ENJOY my time, and my son will surpass yours, that green-haired one. Oh and don't get me started on that Kazume kid. I believe you're somewhat responsible for his change of character. One day, he was a murderer, and the next day, he disappears for three years, comes back, and now wants to be a hero. I've heard word that you weren't on duty that day and visited the hospital on the day he disappeared. Whatever, I'll figure it out one way or another."
Back to the hallway…
Izuku and Todoroki continued their conversation where they left off, as the fire and ice quirk continued to explain to All Might's successor about his father.
"My father has eyes on only reaching to the top in the rankings… and he'll do whatever means necessary to achieve that. He's never stopped chasing that goal for over twenty years and he never will until either him or one of his children achieves that goal," explained Todoroki.
"I don't understand, what are you trying to tell me, Todoroki?" asked Midoriya.
"Have you ever heard of… quirk marriages?" Todoroki asked.
Izuku was speechless, he had heard of it, but only in hushed whispers, mostly back when he was younger and researching more and more about the society he was growing up in.
"It was a big issue in the past, due to the rise of quirks. People tried to breed with one another to create children with powerful quirks. It was like an old-fashioned arranged marriage, but it was such a dishonorable act. My old man not only had an impressive hero record but also a large amount of wealth to dispose of his problems," explained Todoroki.
It summed everything about him up. Izuku realized that he was some sort of special chimera, he was just born to be strong. Todoroki saw the gears turning in Izuku's head.
"Two people with strong quirks are forced to marry each other, in the case of my parents… they were lucky, with lucky being a grossly operative term," Todoroki sighed heavily, "From what I heard, my mother's family threw her away when she needed them most, that's how I got this," he gestured to his scar.
Izuku didn't know why Todoroki was telling him all of this.
"You see, the reason why I declared war on you is to prove to that bastard that I can win this competition by rejecting his powers. I'll become a hero by only using my right side," said Todoroki.
Todoroki started to walk out of the hallway and headed away from the stadium to take a breather, finished with his chat with Midoriya. Little do they both know that Bakugo was also silently hearing their conversation at the end of the dark hallway, hiding behind the dark corner on the right.
After Todoroki headed out into the bright sunny outdoors, he crossed paths with Kazume, who was holding nine mochi bags. Kazume was still a little heated with Todoroki since the incident in the waiting room, and it didn't help at all seeing Midoriya coming from the same area Todoroki was at. It rubbed him the wrong way.
"Oh… it's you," growled Kazume.
Todoroki knew of Kazume's stealthiness. His first thought was that he was listening in.
"I have nothing to say to you," Todoroki stated.
"Aw c'mon, I just wanted to be a good classmate and share some of this… Nah, what the fuck were you doing with Midoriya?!" said Kazume with a bit of a threatening tone
"Nothing that concerns you," Todoroki snarled.
"Oho! It seems like the rich boy's got BALLS!" Kazume snapped, "Let me fucking guess, you're telling him secrets about how to defeat me? Nah, that's very unlikely. Perhaps… you were telling him a story about your shitty ass father, were you?"
"So what if I did?" Todoroki asked.
"Then you're a fucking fool if you think Midoriya will feel pity for you. Your past doesn't mean jack shit… same can be said about your existence and purpose. If you really want to deny that bastard, then quit UA and never become a hero in the first place!" Pain insulted, "That's the only way! The only way to beat your predetermined 'destiny' or your 'purpose'!"
Todoroki glared at him, "No, the only way I can beat him is to become a better hero than him, something a villain like you can't understand…" he denied.
"Ka-ha! A villain like me, huh? Isn't that what Kazume is trying to do? The same thing as you are? Surpassing his brother?"
Todoroki saw Kazume through new eyes, at least a little bit.
"He made me because the bloodshed was a little too much for him to swallow, so here I am, acting for him,"
Midoriya put his hand on Kazume's shoulder, "Kazume?" he asked.
"Hm?" Kazume grunted.
"I… I see where Todoroki comes from, and it's clear you do too in some way, just… weren't you the one who never tried to kill me? I mean, come on, you're both the same, surpassing the bad pasts you're from," Midoriya reasoned.
"I see… so Midoriya, you want some mochi? Here's a bag if you want one," asked Kazume.
Izuku nodded and took it, munching on some.
"I appreciate you trying to help the both of us but me and him… we're not the same… not even fucking close. I'm much worse than his past," said Kazume.
"I never said that you were the same, I said you're similar, both pushing towards the same thing,"
"I'm never gonna push towards the same thing with this fucker over here. He wants to deny his father, I have other plans. I'm gonna change the hero society and fix its shitty flaws and take down the corruption involved in it. Now if you don't mind, I have other students I need to share these mochi bags. Good luck in the final rounds, Midoriya, and not you Todoroki, because I don't give a fuck how far you go. If any case we do meet in one of the matches, you better give it your all, or not, because you have another thing coming to you," said Kazume as he walked back to the stadium.
Once Kazume returned to the stadium, he had a delivery he needed to make to give mochi to each of the girls in his and the remaining one to Iida. The other students who didn't make it to the finals were participating in the side games to kill time before they exit the field to watch the final round.
"Hello ladies, I was wondering if you all would love to eat some mo-" Kazume dropped the mochi bags as he was gawking at what they were wearing, immediately, Pain brought up the thought of Melissa in one of those uniforms and it made him so much worse.
"WHAT THE ACTUAL FU-"
"WHAT'S THIS?! WHOSE IDEAS WAS TO MAKE THE GIRLS OF CLASS 1-A GO FULL ON FANSERVICE?!" announced Present Mic, cutting off Kazume's lash out.
"Uhm… you girls look… lovely," Kazume said nervously, as he saw the girls' faces of humiliation, "So… why the cheerleading uniforms?"
"Why do you think?" Jiro sighed, "Stupid Kaminari…"
"Oh… and Mineta?" Kazume asked.
"You must be psychic," Mina huffed.
"And I can't believe I made these for everyone with my quirk," said Momo, sitting on her knees feeling ashamed.
Kazume tried to hold in his laughter, it was just too good to be real. But his efforts were futile.
"PFFT HAHAHAHAHA! HAAAAAHahahahaha! You're telling me that you were fooled by that perverted midget and made everyone cheerleading costumes to wear? Oh this is rich, the student vice president's listening to orders from a pervert?! Pfftt Aaaaa hahahaha," Kazume laughed.
"Hey! If this situation were reversed, would ya be laughing?!" Jirou snapped.
"Well that's what you get for listening to the fucking midget. So anyways you girls want some mochi?" asked Kazume. Uraraka seemed to grow serious, trying to tackle him with somehow adorable murder in her eyes. The other girls watched the odd game of keep-away from the Mochi Maniac.
'Okay! Okay! Didn't expect Ochako to pull a Crocodile Dundee on me! Dodge! Dodge!' Kazume thought, panicking.
"Gimme! Gimme! Gimme!" Ochako urged, reaching for it, with Kazume avoiding seeing her cleavage through the shirt.
'Eyes closed! Eyes fucking closed! Think of Lissa! Think of her!' he continued to think, imagining Melissa in Ochako's place, 'OH FUCK ME THAT MADE IT WORSE!'
"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT! If I give you three bags, will you calm down?!" Kazume yelled.
"Yes, yes! I promise!" Ochako gasped, "Now GIMME!"
"Fucking… ugh…" Kazume handed them over and sighed, dusting himself off, in the bedlam, one was at Jiro's feet.
"Look, I lost my footing, due to Ochako fucking going all Terminator on me, and I handed one… to… Toru? Seriously, every time I'm in an empty room I say 'Hi, Hagakure.' Just in case. So are we all good?" asked Kazume. The girls nodded their heads.
"Good because I got some grape smoothie I need to make and I require a generator to operate the blender," said Kazume as he drew out his bear claws, and he said one final thing before chasing the perverts, "Good luck in the final rounds for those who made it and do your best!"
Uraraka started scarfing it down, her cheeks swollen with the stuff, "Hrey! Hrant Haargue Hrith Hree Hoood!" she whined a little as the others looked a little shocked at her savaging the poor mochi.
"Kazume did pay good money, so… I guess we eat it?" Momo mumbled reaching for one and Uraraka bristled a bit, thinking that she was reaching for one of HER bags.
Meanwhile, Kazume was approaching the grape boy and a walking Tesla coil with murderous intent.
"Oh hey, Kazume! I was just talking to Denki about how badass our team was in that previous round. We were such a great team, huh?" said Mineta, not knowing what was coming to him and his friend.
Kazume drew out a bear claw on his right hand.
"Hey now, what are you doing with that claw out? We're all dudes here, we can discuss this like civilized men, right?" Denki nervously asked.
"I think a grape smoothie and a niiiiceee new generator for my Mel's lab will do… Whaddya you two say?" Kazume threatened.
"If it's about the girls in their cheerleading uniforms, it was all Denki's idea!" panicked Mineta.
"Hey! Don't blame me! It was your idea!" Denki argued.
"Oi! Who the fuck cares?! All I see is some new wiring and some more wine for the swanky guys!" Kazume barked, "START RUNNING!"
The perverted duo made a beeline running away from the menacing Kazume, even though with his elite speed, their efforts won't matter since he'd chase them down easily.
"GET BACK HERE!" he yelled, slinging out a grapple line and yanking Mineta back. He borrowed it from Hatsume, who was all too happy to lend it.
"KAMINARIIIIIIIII!" Mineta yelled.
Kaminari screamed and ran faster. He darted behind a wall, breathing hard, 'Whew! Okay! I'm okay…' he thought, backing up, feeling an arm around his chest.
"Hi~" Kazume crooned.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Kaminari screamed.
"Did you hear that, Eraserhead? Sounded like a scream of pain," said Present Mic.
"Shhh, It's just the wind, let me sleep in peace," replied Aizawa as he continued to nap in his sleeping bag.
The two perverts had a heaping helping of karma shoved down their throats… and Kazume finally understood what it felt like.
A few minutes had passed and everyone who made it to the final round stood front and center to the stand, where Midnight was ready to explain about preparing the final round.
"Alright contestants, each person must pick a lot in this box to see who you will face in the final round. The contestants have the option to participate in the side games or sit out and rest to prepare for the final round. That's all I have to say so time to do some matchmaking," announced Midnight.
After all the final contestants picked their lot, the bracket was set.
Midoriya Asui Sero Todoroki Kaminari Shield Hatsume Iida Ashido Mineta Yaoyorozu Tokoyami Kirishima Shoji Uraraka Bakugo
...|_M1_| ...|_M2_|... |_M3_| ...|_M4_|.. R1..|_M5_| ...|_M6_| ...|_M7_| ...|_M8_|
...|_._._._._._| ...|_._._._._._._| 2nd Round .|_._._._._._._._._| ...|_._._._._._._._|
...|_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._| ...Semi-Finals ...|_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._|
...|_._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._| Finals
'Ohohoho! Round 2 for lightning boy, huh?!'
Kazume smirked at Denki like a predator sizing up his next meal. Denki schooched as far away from Kazume as space would allow.
"Hey, where are you goin'?" he drawled, stabbing one of his katanas into the wall, pinning Denki to the wall, "Got anything to say?"
Denki opened his mouth, "No, no, don't answer that," Kazume scoffed, "You're about as threatening as a Cocker Spaniel,"
"You know metal is a conductor, right?!" Denki spat, smiling, "That means y-you… got… no… chance of… oooh…"
"BITCH, I can kill you with my PINKY!" Pain yelled, coming back to Kazume, "But we'll see about that when we face off!"
Meanwhile, the other students faced towards their matchups, wishing them to bring it their all.
"I ain't gonna hold back on my punches, Shoji. I'm gonna give you the manliest fight people will ever see," said Kirishima.
"Same here, Kirishima. Let's give it our best," replied Shoji.
"I'm gonna give it my best," said Tokoyami.
"Good, that's all that I want to see from you when it's time for us to spar," said Momo.
Mina cracked her knuckles, looming over Mineta, "I will break you," she growled in her best impression of a beefy Russian man, "For what you did to us… for making us wear those dumb cheerleading outfits! You better hope that my acid won't melt your balls!" with her voice back to normal, she pointed towards Mineta's crotch and he let out a high-pitched squeal.
"Why do these things always happen to me?!" Mineta whined.
"Teehehehehehehehe… Oh Leggy~" Mei crooned, "I wanna have some babies on ya if that's okay!"
"YOU BROUGHT HUMAN BABIES?! WHERE ARE THEY?" Iida yelled, "I must find their parents!"
"I meant my gadgets, silly!" Mei laughed, "Geez, you're so serious! Lighten up, grandpa!"
"Well then, I wish for your best performance and nothing else," said Iida.
"Gotcha!" Mei chirped, 'Goodbye, stuffy ol' Leggy… Hello, Support Companies!' she thought.
"I'm the first matchup of the final round and I have to face Asui. How do I win my first matchup without causing too much harm to her? Her quirk makes her very agile and can attack me with her tongue from a far distance," muttered Midoriya, making strategies inside his mind before he got interrupted by Asui herself.
"I told you to call me Tsu," she stated.
"WAH! You heard that?!" Izuku gasped.
"You muttered it all out, ribbit," she croaked, "Just try not to break all your bones,"
"M-message r-received, Tsu!" replied Midoriya.
"Wow, still having trouble talking with the ladies, Midoriya? At least you're having some luck with Uraraka," stated Kazume.
Midoriya went beet red, "O-oh… o-oh thanks?" he squeaked, "Y-you're n-not b-bad a-at it…"
"Don't worry, you'll get over it. Maybe one day, I could give you advice on how to ask her out," said Kazume.
"A-a-ask… h-her… out?" Midoriya's brain crashed, as his face froze.
"Snap out of it Deku, you have a round to win, recruiters you want to impress and make the Symbol of Peace proud of you," Kazume stated, "It's pretty obvious that you and him have a somewhat similar quirk. All Might might have trained you, but here's the deal: I won't hold back just because you're my friend," he pleasantly continued, squeezing Izuku's shoulder.
Izuku shut down again, "Crap! Stay with me, Pint-Size!" Kazume snapped, shaking him a little.
"What makes you think I'm similar to All Might? I'm just a big fan of him, and he seems to have interest in me due to my quirk!" asked Midoriya, trying to throw him off from the big truth.
"I see, I hope it pays off big time in the future. Wish you luck, Midoriya," said Kazume as he walked off towards the waiting room.
Meanwhile, Todoroki was just silent as he stared at Midoriya, he didn't care much about his upcoming matchup against Sero.
'Midoriya could possibly be my second match. He better advanced to the next round so I can prove that I can defeat him by only using my right side,' thought Todoroki.
Bakugo looked up at the screen to see that he's up against Uraraka in the final match of the first round.
"Uraraka? Who the fuck is Uraraka?" Bakugo once again acted self-centered.
"What…? You don't even know my name?" Ochako mumbled gently, 'I guess I shouldn't be surprised…' she thought, a little glum.
After the contestants' exchanges with their opponents, the side games began. Some of the final round contestants participated to have some fun and ease their minds off the fight that will come up in the next 30 minutes. The others either decided to either rest up somewhere around the UA facility, or think of a strategy on how to beat their opponent as well as any possible future opponents. Kazume was doing the latter in the waiting room, finding out any scenarios and gameplans his opponents might come up with and thought of counters for how to beat them. He led his team to the final round, now it was time for him to win it all.
The lunch break had ended and Cementoss used his quirk to create the battlefield for the final round. The participants headed to the stands to watch the fights, as the first match was about to start.
Kazume's thought process was interrupted by a text he received from 'Bastard'.
Bastard: THE DEATHS OF HEROES WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS! I'LL BE SEEING YOU SOON! HEHEHE!
TO BE CONTINUED…
Thank you all for reading this chapters. Please leave reviews, always appreciate you sharing me a review. If you enjoyed this series and want more, Favorite and Follow this story. Until next time next week, the final round begins.