Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.

A couple that will go down in legend

Chapter thirty-six: The exhibition battles mini-arc, part three

The teacher of Shiketsu High School sat in the VIP booth of his hero high school's stadium arena, looking down with a look of total, absolute shock on his face. Sitting in the VIP booth with him was Mrs. Butterbean, the principal of Royal Woods High, a high school located over in Royal Woods, a city that's located over in the United States. Accompanying the American principal was Lincoln Loud, a twelve-year-old boy who was brought along as a translator due to his fluency in Japanese, and an eighteen-year-old blonde girl who Mrs. Butterbean had identified as Lincoln's older sister Lori, a senior year student at Royal Woods High.

There was one other party in the VIP booth as well, a party that took Lincoln by surprise; it was the group of four mages who had previously visited Royal Woods on a quest to stop a drug ring that had reached as far as the mages' hometown of Magnolia Town, Fiore. Natsu, Gray, Erza and Gajeel, as well as the exceeds Happy and Pantherlily, were all watching the same show that the folks from Royal Woods and the Shiketsu High School teacher were all watching.

"(Well wowee,)" Erza remarked in English as she gestured down into the stadium's arena, "(That Hispanic fellow has some serious wind magic at his disposal. I'd have never guessed it.)"

Both Lincoln and his oldest sister turned around to face the mages. The lot of them were here because they were invited by Shiketsu High School, who was hoping to humiliate the American high school that was aiming to challenge U.A. before their fated team battle event could take place. The hero high school that values dignity and obligation even sent the mages guild Fairy Tail an official quest request that was basically offering to pay a group of mages to come by and watch the exhibition match. It was Natsu and his party that accepted the invitation.

Erza, who noticed that the Loud siblings were looking at her, turned to regard them. "(You all never told the boys and I while were in your town on that quest that you had fellows that could use magic, and such powerful magic at that.)"

"(My Bobby Boo-Boo Bear isn't using magic,)" Lori explained, "(He's using his quirk.)"

Lincoln nodded once in the affirmative. "(There are differences between magic usage and quirk usage, Ms. Scarlet.)"

"(Hey, I got a question,)" Gajeel said in a gruff tone, his arms crossed over his chest. Gesturing down into the arena, the Iron Dragon Slayer mage asked, "(Why the hell is he fighting one-hundred people on his own and all at once? Isn't he part of a team of ten, which still isn't enough if you ask me?)"

Lori, with a calm, mildly amused look on her face, gently shook her head. "(…There is no way that Bobby will lose. He is literally too strong for the students of this hero high school we're visiting to defeat.)" Lori turned her attention to look back down into the arena, prompting the mages and Lincoln to do the same. "(Now shut up, everyone. That's my future husband down there fighting in the exhibition battle.)"

Lori's sole brother, who sat next to her, let out a knowing hum. "(...Yeah, I want to see the extent of what my future brother-in-law can pull off.)"

…

A nameless Shiketsu High School second year student with a black, featureless head and face save for two completely white circles for eyes, was thrown back by at least a dozen feet by a great blast of wind. After that second year student was caught by a few first years, a trio of other second years consisting of Nagamasa Mora, Seiji Shishikura and Camie Utsushimi, accompanied by Shiketsu High School first year student Inasa Yoarashi, looked forward as the person who had sent the nameless second year flying back.

He was a young adult Hispanic man, no more than eighteen years of age. He wore a green long-sleeved shirt under a traditional south of the border poncho that made use of mainly reds, whites and blacks. He wore dark-colored pants with fringes on the outer sides of the legs, a pair of dark leather cowboy boots, and a dark-colored bandana over the lower half of his face, plus a fairly moderate sombrero; it was nothing elaborate. If his Mexican desperado outfit was all that this guy had, then the Shiketsu High School students facing him wouldn't worry.

But that cloak of golden winds that enshrouded him completely was another story.

"Grr…" Inasa growled in an annoyed tone. Using his own wind manipulation quirk, Whirlwind, the Shiketsu first year created a mini tornado that he used to lift himself up high above the field of battle, allowing him to fly over everyone. "You may have given me and my fellow Shiketsu High School students a great battle, and I sincerely thank you for that!" Inasa then punched the air before him, sending a spiraling blast of winds right down at his golden counterpart. "But I am the master of winds here!"

The spiraling blast of winds fired by the Shiketsu first year struck his Hispanic opponent right on, only for his efforts to be rendered meaningless by that protective cloak of golden winds. He looked up at the first year student, a boy who spoke in a language that the Hispanic man by no means have any understanding of.

...It's not like he needed to understand the Japanese language right now, mind you.

The Hispanic man pulled his right fist back before punching it forward, sending a golden version of the attack that was launched at him at the person who had launched that attack. Inasa ended up getting it, knocking him down from the air as his tornado that he was using to fly had dissipated. Luckily for Inasa, Nagamasa caught him and set him down gently. Once he had regained his bearings, Inasa turned to regard his three named sempais as the Hispanic man was taking on a big group of third years.

"I'm…I'm sorry," Inasa said, sounding totally defeated, "I failed to prove myself as the master of winds."

"Relax, Inasa," Seiji replied in a sympathetic, understanding tone, "At least you can use your quirk on him, even though your attacks are all blocked." Seiji turned to face the Hispanic man, who had just finished mowing through the third years from a few moments ago. Seiji gently shook his head out of sheer disbelief as he looked to where the wielder of golden winds was now facing a trio of first years that tried charging him. "I had no idea that the Americans had a guy as strong at that monster that they brought-"

Seiji was cut off when Camie, without even looking at him, gestured to him by waving her hand up and down in very quick order. "Boys, not now." The glamour user gulped nervously as she saw her team's lone opponent raise both of his hands up into the air. "…I think that monster is about to unleash a really big move."

Just as the second year girl had predicted, the lone opponent that was facing off against the massive team that Shiketsu High School had thrown at him in this exhibition battle was whipping up a massive amount of golden winds. With a single jump, he flew back and landed on the far end of the stadium's arena while still being in the pit; this put everyone from Shiketsu High School who was still fighting right in front of him. The Hispanic man thrusted his hands forward as he unleashed one of his super moves.

"(Hurricane Santiago)."

Over at U.A. High School, the Big Three had the first years in class 1-A and 1-B all gathered in Gym Gamma, where a number of cafeteria tables had been set up. A buffet of food, all of which had been prepared by Lunch-Rush who manned the buffet, was off to the side. This set up had essentially turned Gym Gamma into something of a personal restaurant for the fifty first years and three third years.

"Okay, everyone!" Nejire called out to all of the first years as she clapped her hands together a few times to get their attention, "Due to orders from the teachers and Principal Nezu, all of our classes until after the team battle event will be suspended so as to give all of us as much time as possible to train and prep." Jerking a thumb over her shoulder to the buffet, the lone girl of the Big Three continued, "The teachers are even taking steps to give us what we need to make sure that we all stay here in our training grounds as much as possible."

Everyone looked over to the buffet manned by Lunch-Rush, who merely gave a thumbs-up when he saw everyone looking at him. Clapping her hands together once, Nejire said, "I'm sure this isn't what a lot of you would expect first thing in the morning, but the teachers and Principal Nezu find it necessary if we're to get in the training we need to help us defeat that girl with the crazy earth manipulation quirk. But you can't train on empty stomachs, so get in there and get yourself some breakfast!"

The fifty first-years got up from the tables they sat at and made their way over to Lunch-Rush's buffet. They gathered trays, formed lines, and picked what all they wanted. A few made a second trip after setting their trays down at tables, but they all had the excuse that they needed both hands to hold their trays, and they hadn't gotten anything to drink; Kurama in particular noted that he wanted to get some of the coffee, especially since there was hazelnut creamer.

After everyone had gotten what they wanted, they proceeded to eat. Over at one of the tables, Izuku sat with Todoroki, Tenya, Uraraka, Shinso and Sakaki. "Wow, I can't believe how many stops are being pulled out to get all fifty-three of us here ready just to handle one of the ten students on the team Royal Woods High is bringing with them," Uraraka remarked after she took a bite of a bagel she got. After chewing and swallowing, the gravity girl looked to Izuku, Tenya and Todoroki, a look of concern on her face. "Are…are these 'Sacred Heritage' quirks as they are called really that big of a deal?"

"You saw that video clip that dad recorded while he was at Ketsubutsu," Shinso replied, "How one girl on her own took on and defeated one-hundred opponents all at once because she has one of those quirks." The brainwasher then gave off an involuntary shudder, shaken to his very core by the mere prospect of facing off against such an opponent. "No wonder the Americans are so confident that their school's team can defeat whatever team U.A. can throw their way."

Sakaki, hoping to raise the morale of the party she sat with, spoke up by saying, "Well there's a good reason that Aizawa-sensei had us do that special sparring with Pixie-sensei, whose quirk is very similar to that of the teen girl on the Royal Woods High team. He had a hunch that things might have turned out that way, and since they did, we have a shot at actually winning." Izuku was about to say something that would have shot down what the fat cat girl said, but he stopped, gave what she said some thought.

After mulling it over a bit, the green-eyed boy thought that Sakaki had a point. Due to a mix of the underground hero being a paranoid twat and the fact that he (Aizawa) was able to get away with doing some recon, the U.A. team knew ahead of time who one of their opponents is. And with all of the training that Izuku and the other first years have done as of late, they had a reasonable chance of actually pulling off a win, even with the fact that their opponents have such an ace in the hole.

The green-haired cinnamon roll nodded once in agreement with Sakaki, happy that she had offered the group such a point. "You got a point there, Sakaki. Besides, we're U.A., the top hero high school in Japan. There's no way that-"

Izuku was cut off when he and everyone else in Gym Gamma heard the harsh, strong whooshing of winds outside. The students all looked up at the windows, a good number of which were rattling due to the force of the winds outside. The rattling of the windows, plus the whooshing of the winds, made so much noise and was so loud that it made Eunice hunch over in panic, her hands over her ears. Habuko, who sat next to the autistic girl, gently patted her shoulder to get her attention and, after getting her to relax a bit, moved her noise-canceling headphones from around her neck to over her ears.

The strong winds outside lasted for about fifteen seconds after Eunice put her headphones on, but the silence from everyone in Gym Gamma that the winds commanded still lasted well after a minute had past, up until it was broken by Artemis Norio of class 1-B. "…What in the hell was that?"

Over where Uraraka and Sakaki sat with the boys, they turned to face each other. "I didn't hear of any wind storms on the weather report this morning," Uraraka said, drawing a nod of agreement out of the former Vulcan student. Uraraka turned to face the boys, saying, "Where do you guys think that-"

The gravity girl stopped as she, along with a mildly confused Sakaki and Shinso, looked at Izuku, Todoroki and Tenya, all three of which were still looking up at the windows that were rattling with the earlier winds. All three boys had looks of resigned worry on their faces, their respective gazes mildly grim. Uraraka was about to try asking the three silent boys again what they made of the winds just now, but she was cut off before she could get a word out when Bakugo came walking over from his table with Kirishima and Kaminari; similarly, Tokoyami came walking over from the table he was at.

Once those four boys had come over, it was Tokoyami who first spoke to the guys. "I guess that those winds just now gave you all a spook as well?" the bird-headed student asked as he gestured to all of the guys aside from Shinso.

"It was creepy as hell how those winds have me scared, as if I was shaken by some sort of primal fear or whatever," Bakugo remarked with a mildly annoyed snarl, his arms cross over his chest as he spoke.

Izuku looked back up to the windows of Gym Gamma, his worried expression persisting. Just like Bakugo and the other guys there (aside from Shinso), Izuku was particularly unsettled by the winds that had just blown. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but the green-haired cinnamon roll had a feeling that not only had those winds represented an oncoming terror that nobody could even begin to predict.

Over at a somewhat shady bar whose entrance was located in a somewhat shady alleyway in the city, a number of the lieutenants of the Paranormal Liberation Front were hanging out, enjoying a few drinks. Over at one booth in the villain's pub, the trio that consisted of Dabi, Spinner and Toga all sat together, with the former talking while the latter two listened on, although the look on Toga's face made it pretty clear that she had zoned the fuck out.

"On to point nine-hundred and eighty-seven out of twelve-thousand on why my massive prick of a father is such a massive prick," Dabi remarked as he sounded like he was giving an educational lecture, "Did any of you know that he's committed no less than-"

The blue flame villain was cut off when he, as well as Spinner and Toga (who had snapped back to reality) and everyone else in the somewhat secluded villain's pub, all looked up and over to the one window in the wall that showed what was going on outside. The window was rattling something fierce, and the powerful sounds of great winds blowing outside could be heard easily.

Everyone in the villain's pub was silent during the interruption from the winds outside, and remained as such a few moments after the winds had died down; the silence ended up being broken by Toga, who remarked with a look of total confusion on her face, "What in the name of Anubis was all that about?"

"That wind sounded too powerful to be a naturally occurring phenomenon here in Japan," Spinner said with look of mildly grim apprehension on his face. The lizard man then turned to face Toga, giving her a wry look. "Also Toga, Anubis?"

Toga shrugged indifferently, saying, "So one of the ancient Egyptian gods is my patron deity. Some pro heroes out there worship friggin' Gilgamesh, you know." Spinner, and Dabi to a lesser extent, merely face palmed at their psychotic associate's bizarre tastes in worship.

All that remained of that Shiketsu High School uniform hat was a bill with a few shredded scraps of cloth attached to it. The hat, ruined beyond all hopes of repair, laid on the ground in the arena of the Shiketsu High School stadium, were all one-hundred of the school's students that took part in the one-hundred versus one fight against a lone boy from the Royal Woods High team laid in absolute defeat.

Inasa, not wearing his cherished Shiketsu High School uniform hat, was dragging himself forward with his left arm, weakly struggled to pull himself over to the ruined remains of the Shiketsu High School uniform hat. Getting within reach of the remains, the Shiketsu first year grabbed the ruined hat by its bill and pulled it closer. His eyes became watery as he looked at what remained of his hat, even though it can technically be replaced. The beating that he had received in the battle overwhelming him, Inasa passed out, still holding onto what remained of his beloved Shiketsu High School uniform hat.

Inasa was the last person in the arena to pass out, but there was still one person down there still in perfect condition to continue. Sitting on a large rock mound in approximately the center of the arena was Bobby Santiago, also known as the Duststorm Hero: Desperado. He sat with his legs dangling off the side of the rock mound, hunched forward with his elbows resting on his knees. He was resting after having fought and defeated one-hundred opponents all at once and on his own, but said rest was more for recreation rather than recuperation or anything else along those lines.

As Bobby waited to be collected by his school's party, the people who were watching up in the VIP seats were all shocked, aside from Mrs. Butterbean and the two Loud siblings. In fact, Lori was even squealing happily like an excited school girl. "(Did you all just see what my Boo-Boo Bear did just now?)" Lori exclaimed excitedly in English, "(Not only did he fight one-hundred opponents all at once and on his own, but he literally won!)"

Lincoln, unlike his oldest sister, looked down at the Hispanic young adult with a look on his face that suggested that he just now had some suspicions of his confirmed. "(...Yeah, I suspected that this would happen. Bobby is one of the main reasons why the crime rate over in Royal Woods is at an all-time national low for cities in the United States.)"

"(Okay, I know that his wind powers and attacks aren't derived from magic,)" Gray began as he and the other Fairy Tail mages looked down into the arena where Bobby was collected by a blonde fellow who was garbed very similarly to a samurai, "(But he would still pass for one of the more powerful members of Fairy Tail, should he ever be inclined to try out being a member of a mage's guild. It helps that his powers can easily pass for magic.)"

The Shiketsu High School teacher that sat in the VIP seats with everyone else was trembling in fright, beyond alarmed that there was someone as strong as that Hispanic monster down there in the arena in his school's stadium. The teacher then gently shook his head in disbelief; that guy was just one of the ten members on the team that Royal Woods High was set to throw against whatever team that U.A. was going to come up with. But the Shiketsu High School teacher didn't think that all of that was necessary. The Shiketsu High School teacher firmly believed that Bobby Santiago alone would be more than enough for Royal Woods High to very easily cinch the win.

Over at U.A., the Big Three were back to training the fifty first years in preparation for the upcoming team battle event. On this occasion, the training was supervised by Aizawa and Sejikiro, both of which stood off to the side as they watched their combined fifty brats get put through the wringer by older students. It was as the two pro heroes/teachers watched all of the training that they were approached and joined by Hizashi.

"Hey, you guys hear about that big wind storm earlier this morning?" the cockatiel-haired pro hero asked when he reached his co-workers.

"I straight up heard the wind storm myself, Hizashi," Aizawa remarked dryly when he turned to face the pro hero Present Mic, "Frankly, I'd like to know what in the name of Gilgamesh could have caused winds like that."

Shrugging helplessly, Hizashi merely shook his head. "If I knew the answer to that, then you'd be the first person that I would tell, my good man."

Aizawa nodded once to acknowledge his co-worker and friend, before turning his attention back to where the Big Three were working with all of the first years. "Okay, everyone," Aizawa called out to the U.A. students, "Let's take a break. It's getting close to lunch time, and from what he told me and Sekijiro on the matter, Lunch-Rush has a few meal options at the buffet available that he's been dying to try his hand at preparing."

All of the students dropped what they were doing, with many of the first years thankful that they were able to take a break from the grueling training that their third year sempais were putting them through (okay, it was mostly Nejire being a grueling drill sergeant type; Mirio and Tamaki, while they were still firm, were a hell of a lot more lax than the sole female member of the Big Three). The combined fifty-three students proceeded to collect themselves up from where a lot of them had all collapsed onto the floor when a break was called, then walked over to the buffet that had been set up in Gym Gamma.

Izuku, Todoroki and Tenya, to the surprising bafflement of Uraraka, Shinso and Sakaki, chose not to sit with them during the lunch break, unlike what they all did during breakfast. Uraraka looked a bit troubled by how three of her main friends all chose not to sit with her, and what she feared was the reason for this made the gravity girl let off a resigned sigh of worry, drawing both Sakaki's and Shinso's attention.

"Izuku's not comfortable around me because of what happened when my journal was among those read aloud over the intercom system," Uraraka said when she was pressed on the matter of how she was feeling by Sakaki, "Since those mean second year girls from the Gen Ed course read aloud what I wrote about how I'm in love with him and that I'm jealous of Bakugo's mom because she's the one dating Izuku and not me."

"That would logically make Midoriya feel a bit unsettled, yes," Shinso remarked, understanding and seeing how Uraraka's explanation would work. He looked over to where Izuku, Todoroki and Tenya sat at one of the tables, with their current dining mates being Bakugo, Kirishima, Kaminari and Tokoyami. The brainwasher turned his attention back to Uraraka as he gave her a wry look of knowing. "…But I don't think that's Midoriya's reason for not joining the three of us for lunch like he did during breakfast."

Uraraka, as well as Sakaki, both looked at Shinso with mildly confused looks. Seeing this, Shinso pointed out to where Izuku and the others all sat together, making both girls turn around and see what the green-eyed boy and the other boys he was friends with were up to. "From what dad told me on the subject, those seven were the ones in our class that were curb stomped by a Sacred Heritage quirk user a while ago, during the field trip that took place before all of the new girls and I were placed into 1-A."

Lowering his hand he was using to gesture with, Shinso looked at both girls he sat with. "All seven of them reacted more or less the same way to the winds that blew earlier," Shinso went on, "It alarmed all of them as if it had triggered within them a primal fear. I may sound like just as much of a paranoid twat as dad when I say this, but I have the sinking feeling that those winds may have been the product of a wind-attribute Sacred Heritage quirk being used."

"But the only Sacred Heritage quirk user in Japan right now is that Native American girl on the Royal Woods High team, Hitoshi," Sakaki pointed out, the sound of her tone suggesting that she was a bit rattled by what her boyfriend had come up with. Gulping nervously, the fat cat girl went on, "And her quirk manipulates earth, not wind."

"Besides, there are other wind manipulation quirks," Uraraka pointed out to the brainwasher, "Hell, that Inasa guy that goes to Shiketsu High School has a really strong wind manipulation quirk. Those winds may have just been Inasa going a bit crazy in pumping out the power while fighting someone with his quirk, is all."

Shinso closed his eyes and gave off a gentle sigh, suggesting that he found the gravity girl's reasoning to be foolish in the naïve sense. He was about to say something, but Shinso was cut off when Aizawa, with Sekijiro and Hizashi following him, walked into the area where the tables had been set up for the students to eat at while undergoing their team battle event prep training. The underground hero clapped his hands together a few times to get everyone's attention.

"Hey everyone, there's some breaking news story going on just now," Aizawa announced, drawing surprised worries out of most of the first years, as well as Mirio and Tamaki; all of the other U.A. students simply looked as if their interest had been piqued.

Aizawa, along with Sekijiro, both gestured to Hizashi, who then proceeded to make the announcements. "About an hour ago, a large group of one-hundred Shiketsu High School students had to be admitted to various hospitals all over the city after all of them had lost an exhibition team battle to the Royal Woods High team that we're set to face." Hearing what the cockatiel-haired pro hero announced just now got a lot of the students muttering to one another in something of a panic.

Stepping forward to stand next to Hizashi, Sekijiro remarked, "We've confirmed that none of the Shiketsu High School were grievously hurt, only beaten roughly as bad as what some of you kids got during the sports festival a while ago." The Blood Hero crossed his arms over his chest, a look of suspicion on his face. "Personally, I'm guessing that Royal Woods High did what they did to Ketsubutsu's team of one-hundred students when Aizawa visited the school at Ms. Joke's invitation, and simply sicked that girl with the Sacred Heritage quirk on them."

"That being said," Aizawa called out, "Once you all finish eating lunch, its right back to training in preparation for the team battle event. We have the advantage that we know ahead of time who the Royal Woods High team has, as well as what she's capable of and you first years have had training under someone who has a quirk that is fundamentally similar. It's the best that we can do since we can't exactly back out of the team battle event." Aizawa then turned to face where the Big Three sat and asked them, "Hey, would it be okay if Sekijiro, Hizashi and I got some lunch from the buffet over there? None of us have eaten yet today."

The other two pro hero teachers nodded in agreement with Aizawa, with Sekijiro even gesturing over in the direction of the buffet. "Yeah, and from the looks of it Lunch-Rush has actually prepared some borsht. I haven't had a good bowl of borsht in ages."

"Oh, I'm certain that none of us here would mind, senseis," Tamaki replied, "Hell, I got it from Lunch-Rush that he felt you guys should have joined us for breakfast earlier." Looking over where Lunch-Rush manned the buffet, everyone could see him nod once in the affirmative while he gave a thumbs-up; apparently, he was able to hear what Tamaki said.

The three senseis, with Hizashi rubbing his hands together in eager anticipation as he talked about the tacos he was seeing at the buffet, proceeded to make their way over. Some of the first years watched as the senseis got some lunch, but Izuku, as well as the boys he was sitting with, weren't paying it too much mind. They were still worried about the winds frim earlier, with said worries compounded by what the senseis had announced about the breaking news report about the Shiketsu High School students.

Izuku, personally, couldn't help but think that Sekijiro wasn't entirely correct with his theory.

END, CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

Author's notes;

There's still a bit more to get through until the fated team battle event between U.A. and Royal Woods High, which as I've been saying will catch a lot of you off guard in regards to what will happen. Anyway, the next chapter will see the last exhibition team battle before the main event, as well as some set up for some of what's to come in the later parts of this arc. There's a fair bit of set up to take care of, actually.

Especially for what's in store for the girls of Seiai Academy.