Hello, I'll make this one quick. Please stay safe out there. And enjoy this one-on-one battle rounds.

Chapter 24: Breaking Habits and Records

Kazume was slowly walking back to meet up with the rest of Class 1-A to watch the first match between Izuku Midoriya and Tsuyu Asui. The hallway was mostly pitch black and the only source of light was Kazume's phone as he constantly stared at it, reading the same message received from him.

Bastard: THE DEATHS OF HEROES WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS!

Kazume was unsure of what his bro- no, the Hero Killer was up to. However, this was not the time to worry about that, he had a Sports Festival to win. After that's over, he could go take him down once and for all.

As he made his way back to the stands to watch the battle, his friends were glad he arrived after being worried about his absence.

"Oh, there you are. Where have you been? We were worried about you." said Uraraka.

"I was just in the waiting room, having some alone time. Did you think that I would abandon all of you or something?" replied Kazume.

"You just left without saying anything, and you're supposed to stay with the group," Iida chided gently.

"Well… I'm here now. I was just trying to prepare myself for the final rounds, that's all. I don't need to be instructed to arrive at my seat. You may be our class rep but you don't tell me what to do. Now did you guys find me a seat?" asked Kazume.

He saw a huge gap and decided to fill it, neither side wanted to sit near him, 'Good, more time to strategize.'

"ALRIGHT FOLKS LET'S TURN UP THE NOISE BECAUSE IT'S FINE FOR THE FINAL ROUND TO BEGIN!" announced Present Mic.

The crowd noise was like an uproar, as they were pumped up to see the young students battle it out and show the world what they're made of.

Match 1: Izuku Midoriya vs Tsuyu Asui

Izuku stretched, about to take the field. He heard.

"YOUNG MIDORIYAAAAAHHHHHH!" All Might yelled, charging at him.

"AHHH! A-All Might!" Izuku yelled.

"I just want to say congrats on getting this far in the competition, you really made me proud out there," said All Might.

"I… I don't think I deserve it… y'know? It was thanks to my teammates that I picked up the headband that Kacchan dropped," Izuku huffed

"Huh? That's nonsense! You won the ten million points in the first place, right? It took a well-aimed smash at Kazume to secure that, didn't it. It's not the quirk that makes the hero, it's the person using it for good intentions, and it worked well for you in that obstacle course. And you teamed up with great classmates to secure a lead for a while, and was able to just bounce back at the last second to reach the final round," stated All Might before he coughed out blood and deflated out of his muscular form, "The point is it wasn't luck at all, young Midoriya. You earned this chance, now make the most of it and show the world that you are here!"

"Right," Izuku nodded before heading towards the stadium.

"IT'S TIME TO START THE FIRST MATCH OF THIS EVENT! WE HAVE ON THE LEFT ENTRANCE THE LEAN, MEAN, GREEN MACHINE: IZUUUUUUUUKUUUUUUUUU… MIDORIYA!" announced Mic.

The crowd cheered as the One For All user entered the battlefield.

"AND ON THE RIGHT, SHE'S QUEEN OF THE POND, THE FROGGY MISTRESS OF MAYHEM, TSUYU… ASSSSSSUUUUUUUUIIIIIIIII!" shouted Mic on the loudspeaker.

"The rules are easy to follow, you win by knocking the opponent out of bounds, immobilizing them, or knock them out cold without killing them of course. After the battle is over, you can go treat your injuries by visiting Recovery Girl's office," said Midnight.

"ALRIGHT! LET THE BATTTLLLEEE… BEGIN!" announced Mic.

"No holding back, Asui," said Midoriya.

"I told you to CALL ME TSU!" shouted Asui as she stretched out her tongue to attack Izuku.

Izuku rolled to his left to dodge her attack. As more barrages of her tongue lashed out towards him, Izuku was stuck on the defensive. He was at a disadvantage, moving around to dodge the attacks coming from Asui's tongue, leaving him no clear shot to use his quirk. Even if he did, how could he hold back the power if he still can't control it? Besides, Tsuyu can easily avoid her frog-like maneuverability.

Izuku was clearly outmatched in this fight, and he knows it.

'How can I beat her? She's not giving me time to act. I can't use my quirk on her, I might go overboard and severely hurt her. Think Izuku, think,' thought Midoriya.

*SLAP* Tsuyu's tongue hit the forehead of the One For All user, making him off-balanced and was about to step out of bounds,

"DEKU, LOOK OUT!" yelled Uraraka.

Izuku looked back to see he was about to go out of bounds. He leaned forward to push his momentum away from the baseline. He quickly gained back his footing.

'I got him right where I want him,' thought Asui as he stretched her tongue to make the finishing blow.

However, Izuku leaped over her tongue and dodged her attack once again. As he was airborne, Izuku continued thinking about how he can beat his opponent so strong and skilled like Tsuyu.

He remembered a flashback to Aizawa's statement of how Kazume almost bested Todoroki.

"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," commented Aizawa (From Chapter 23).

'I need to find an opening, that's how Kazume was able to steal Todoroki's headband,' thought Midoriya.

"You're finished Midoriya," said Asui as she launched her tongue at him, planning to wrap it around him and throw him out of the ring.

"NOW!" shouted Midoriya as he caught her tongue and yanked hard, yanking her towards him, he dodged the gob of vomit coming at him, knowing about her abilities she shared back in the USJ.

"I can also spit out my stomach so I can clean it for any case I swallow something poisonous or indigestible. That's not much of a good use for me," said Asui. (From Chapter 13)

He threw her hard out of bounds, huffing a little, he used all the strength he could.

"Tsuyu Asui is out of bounds, the winner is… Izuku Midoriya," announced Midnight.

"WHOA! WHAT A NICE BIT OF STRATEGY! MIDORIYA WINS!" Mic yelled.

The crowd cheered and Izuku helped Tsuyu to her feet.

"Good job, ribbit," Tsuyu croaked.

"Yeah! N-nice going with the whole vomit thing, if it landed, I'd be a goner," complimented Izuku.

"T-thanks, ribbit," Tsuyu's cheeks blushed a little from his compliment. They walked back, side by side and the crowd awed. Almost as if they were a couple and not because they were friends. Once they made it back up, Uraraka jumped to her feet.

"Deku! Tsu! You two were so cool out there!" she cheered, "Especially when Deku used your tongue against you!"

"I see that you've become a big fan of Midoriya. I saw the way you yelled at your bestie when he almost screwed up stepping out of bounds, Uraraka. So when are you two gonna ask each other out?" teased Kazume.

Izuku blue-screened and Uraraka's face glowed neon. Kazume smiled widely.

"C'mon, make the fanfics true!" he sighed, "Seriously, I got a lot of money I've bet on this…"

"LET'S GET THE CONTESTANTS READY FOR THE NEXT MATCH TO BEGIN IN ABOUT FIVE MINUTES! UNTIL THEN, LET THE FUN CONTINUE!" announced Present Mic.

"Oh yeah, we have Mr. Tape dispenser and Mr. Disappointment up next," said Kazume.

Todoroki just stepped out, no reaction, not a single motion.

"Fine, keep on disappointing your shitty father then," said Kazume.

Somewhere in a hallway…

Todoroki was walking down the hallway and took a left in another hallway leading to the stadium. However, there was a burning wave of flaming garbage standing in his way, making him breathe in noxious fumes of flame. It seemed like the man was proud, overly proud.

"Oh look, a flaming trash bag. What do you want?" Todoroki asked his bastard father.

"This little act of rebelling your powers is getting annoying. It's completely disgraceful. Look at what that little ninja did to you in the Cavalry battle! I raised you better than this! You're different from your older siblings. You are wasting this perfect gift your mother and I granted you!" exclaimed Endeavor.

Todoroki stopped walking, still avoiding eye contact towards that bastard. He felt furious about the mentions of his mother coming out of that thing's mouth. He felt the heat flare and the cold increase.

"Gift?" Shoto snarled, "Mom's side, that's a gift… your side… it's trash, not worth even USING. It's all your fault mom's in the hospital… it's your fault that Natsuo hates you and Fuyumi tries to keep things together… and it's all your fault that Touya-" He was cut off by Endeavor punching the wall, making a good sized dent.

"DO NOT. BRING UP. THOSE FAILURES. SHOTO," Endeavor snarled.

"Or what? You're gonna beat me? I know for a fact that if you do, those cameras are gonna see it," Todoroki snarled back.

Todoroki walked outta there with frustration and determination to win without ever using his left side. It was one thing to be insulted by Kazume, he can hold in his grudges, but after seeing that bastard… he lost it. He needed to find a way to lash out his frustration.

Match 2: Hanta Sero vs. Shoto Todoroki

"IT'S TIME TO START THE SECOND MATCH! ON ONE SIDE WE HAVE THE MAN WHO'S BETTER THAN SPIDERMAN: SERO HANTA! WATCH OUT, HERE COMES THE TAPE MAN!" Mic screamed.

The crowd went loud as the second match began, thundering and rolling.

"THEN ON THE OTHER, HE'S A PRODIGY IN HIS OWN RIGHT! HE'S STONE COLD, HE'S NOT THAT OLD, IT'S SHO-TO! TO-DO! ROOOOOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!" shouted Mic on the loudspeaker.

"Let's get this show on the road," Sero said as he cracked his knuckles,

"Ready!" announced Midnight.

"Mmm, I'm not really in the mood of winning," Sero stretched his arms up in the air, but quickly wrapped tape around Todoroki.

"BEGIN!" shouted Midnight.

He performed a surprise attack right as the match started, "SIKE! But I ain't in the mood of losing either!" shouted Sero.

Crowd was getting hyped up, thinking Sero could pull off the upset as he was throwing Todoroki around in a circle, ready to release him out of bounds. However, Todoroki had other plans.

"I'm sorry," Todoroki said in a dark tone, forming large shards of ice on the ground.

The large ice reached a height much taller than the stadium, and it covered up a large shade in the entire right section of the stands. Todoroki went completely overkill with his quirk as he successfully immobilized Sero while at the same time making sure the ice never hurt any of the audience.

Everyone went silent, not even a single soul spoke or moved, seeing the giant glacier.

"Sero… tell me the truth, are you able to move?" asked Midnight.

"Are you kidding? Hell no, he got me real good," replied Sero.

"Well then, Sero is immobilized, making our winner to be… Shoto Todoroki!" announced Midnight.

"I… I don't…" Mic started, "I DON'T BELIEVE IT! TODOROKI WINS BY A LANDSLIDE!" announced Present Mic.

"Um… good try, hero!" said one of the fans.

"Yeah, good try!" said another.

Then, the whole crowd started to cheer "good try!" to Sero, congratulating him for reaching this far, but not being given a chance at all to beat such a gifted talent like Todoroki.

"Well then, I wish you the best of luck in your second round Midoriya. I'll be right back real quick," said Kazume as he walked out on his friends, preparing for his match.

"LET'S SEE HOW THE NEXT MATCHUP WILL GO! HOPEFULLY IT WON'T BE ANOTHER LANDSLIDE LIKE THE RECENT ONE!" shouted Mic.

"So Midoriya, why do you think Kazume walked out with such a confident statement? Kaminari's got a strong quirk," Iida asked.

"It's easy, Kazume's got speed and power, and Denki relies too much on his quirk. Either way, whatever happens, the match shouldn't go for long,"

Match 3: Denki Kaminari vs. Kazume Shield

"Oh this poor boy… AHEM! In one corner, THUNDERBOLTS AND LIGHTNING AREN'T SO FRIGHTENING TO THIS BOY, HE'S HERE TO FRY CIRCUITS AND WIRING: IT'S DENKI KAMINARI!"

The arena screamed and Denki jived in to walk-up music he could only hear, winking and grinning. Living it up, "HEY MOM! I'M ON TV!" he yelled to the cameras, waving.

"And in the other corner, the one guy you don't want to see in a dark alleyway, with all kindsa tricks up his sleeve, the for- I mean, the man, the myth, the up-and-coming legend: KAZUME SHIELD!" Mic yelled, keeping it short due to the elbow knocking into his ribs and the glare he felt even from here in the commentator's box. Aizawa didn't want Kazume's past defining him as a charity case or something to be feared, and was glad he stopped Mic when he did.

"Ready to go, Rusty Cage? You better be ready, 'cause you're gonna get Thunderstruck!" Denki yowled.

"Those with the loudest mouths get shut up first," Kazume snarled, "Which means you, dumbass."

"BEGIN!" shouted Midnight.

"Indiscrimi- WHOA!" Kaminari was cut off by an incoming knife thrown towards his right cheek, just 0.3 seconds into the match.

He tilted his head to barely dodge the knife just a millimeter away from scratching his face.

*SLLIICCEE* right as he dodged the knife, Kazume charged at him at an insane rapid speed and successfully made a small slice on his right leg with his katana 0.3 seconds later. Kazume in just 0.7 milliseconds was able to lick the blood off his blade, grab the back of his head, and threw him out of bounds into the walls of the stadium. The battle ended in 2.5 seconds, a Sports Festival record, and Kazume threw a knife right near his right side of the neck, sending a message that he should not be messed with.

"Kaminari has been knocked out of bounds, the winner is… Kazume Shield!" stated Midnight.

"WHAAAAATTTTT! HE JUST KNOCKED THE OPPONENT OUT IN 2.5 SECONDS! THAT'S A SPORTS FESTIVAL RECORD SURPASSING ALL MIGHT'S MATCH THAT ENDED IN 3.2 SECONDS!" announced Present Mic on the loudspeaker.

"Pfftt! PATHETIC!" spat Kazume.

He stopped, seeing the crowd silent, drinking in the realization that Kazume broke the record. Not just broke a record that a GOD AMONG MEN had set, but SHATTERED IT. He wondered if Melissa was ecstatic or just as mystified at the speed the match had ended.

Then… They cheered, and Kazume smiled, he felt the cheering and the positivity crash into him like waves from a typhoon. He felt accomplished, loved, appreciated. That he finally felt like he was on the right path.

'They're cheering… for me…' he thought, 'For me!'

'Feels good, doesn't it?' Pain piped up.

'Yeah…' Kazume thought.

Kazume walked back to the stands to meet up with the class minus Iida, who's about to be up next for the match with the mechanic, Mei Hatsume. Denki was able to return back to the class after the paralysis wore off in four minutes, since his blood type was O.

"Well that went well, I did say I'll be back real quick after all," said Kazume.

"Went well? I could barely follow what happened!" Ojiro gasped, tail fluffed up and eyes wide.

"Yeah, that was cool, but… really manly? I couldn't follow it, but it seemed cool," Kirishima commented, shrugging.

"Oh my gosh, I gotta be psychic…" Izuku mumbled.

"I appreciate your gratitudes and all, but it wasn't that amazing," said Kazume.

"Are you serious?" Uraraka asked, "It was so cool!"

"I didn't win because I easily overpowered him. In fact, it was not easy at all. Ojiro's right, it was hard to process, but to say it was a cakewalk is wrong. Everything had to go exactly how I wanted it, him dodging the knife instead of continuing to charge up his lightning. Otherwise, he would've won with his 1.3 million volt discharge. Of course I wasn't gonna hit him directly in the face with that knife. To sum it up, the quickest one-on-one match in Sports Festival history took a lot of improvising and a lucky outcome," summarized Kazume.

"Lucky? I'll say…" Denki mumbled, shorted-out, "Goo' Job…"

"Ya seemed to be flyin' by the wind outta yer ass," Bakugo snarled, "Dumbass woulda fried ya anyway, yer covered in it, armed to the damn teeth,"

"Enough with my matchup, let's go see how our class president is gonna perfo- WHAT THE FUCK IS HE WEARING?!" Kazume yelled seeing Iida equipped with plenty of support items on him.

Match 4: Mei Hatsume vs. Tenya Iida

"ALRIGHT FANS, WE'RE APPROACHING OUR FOURTH MATCH! THE A-MEI-ZING MEI HATSUME VS. THE METAL-MAN WITH A PLAN: TENYA IIDA!" Mic yowled.

"Uhh, Iida? Why are you wearing all that? Only support course students or students that signed forms to use equipment are allowed to use support items," asked Midnight.

"I apologize, but to make it fair, she suggested that I wear some of her gear," Iida explained.

"My, my, such chivalry! Turns me on!" said Midnight in her wild persona, before switching back to her normal self, "I'll make an exception!"

"WAIT, REALLY?!" questioned Mic.

Mei cracked her neck and adjusted her mic, 'Here we go… Leggy, work your magic!' She cleared her throat.

"All-righty! Here we go!" Mei chirped, stepping out. With Iida coming out the other side. Then…

*SKREEEE- KHCK!*

"So sorry for the feedback!" Mei started, "Kinda gotta wrench the soundsystem away from our lovely commentators,"

"Uh, Aizawa, why isn't our mics working? Was this some stunt from the support student?" Present Mic asked his friend.

"Who cares, that means more nap time for me. Wake me up when this commercial show ends," said Aizawa, wrapping himself up with a sleeping bag.

"Alright, come at me, Iida!" Mei commanded, he started jogging, "Do ya feel lighter, Mr. Panzermensch? That's 'cause those harnesses on your legs make ya feel lighter than air!"

Iida came in for a pass and Mei elevated, "These babies make me nigh untouchable! Also, the harnesses help keep ya stable!" she continued.

'Lessee… Ooooh! They're looking this way!' she thought, seeing a few support men looking her way and muttering at each other.

"Alright! Next up, here's somethin' cool!" she continued, clicking two buttons on the sides of her boots, floating and dodging more attempted KOs from Iida. She smiled.

"E-lectro-mag-nets! That's what powers this baby!" Mei squealed, "Impressive, huh?"

"JUST STOP ALREADY!" Kazume thundered, vocalizing what everybody was feeling.

"Sorry Raph! There's aboooouttt… five more!" Mei responded.

"FUCKING SUMMARIZE!" Kazume yelled back.

"Nope!" Mei denied. It took ten minutes, and Kazume was stewing, wanting to be a badass again. Soon, she stepped out of bounds, "Well friends! My time is over! I've done what I've come to do!" Mei cheered.

'Thanks to Leggy, I'mma score big time with those companies! You guys made Mommy so proud!' she thought, grinning.

"Uh…. Hatsume is out of bounds," Midnight mumbled a little.

"NOOOOOOOOOO! YOU LIAR! THAT WASN'T A FIGHT! THAT WAS A DANG INFOMERCIAL! GOLLY GEE WILIKERS! I'LL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" Iida yelled, frustrated that he couldn't curse as well as Kazume and Bakugo could.

"Well, uh… we got the mics back, took ten minutes, and was probably the most long-winded explanation of tech I've ever heard in my adult life but uh, here's Ashido and Minoru," Mic sighed, out of energy from raging in the booth and shaking the crap out of a sleeping Aizawa.

"Huh? How long has it been?" asked a groggy Aizawa.

"Twenty…. Nine… minutes…" Mic growled, getting twitchy.

"Really? What a waste of twenty-nine minutes. I almost had a good nap… almost," said Aizawa.

Match 5: Mina Ashido vs. Minoru Mineta

"Aw HELL YEAH! Imma compost your FACE!" Mina roared, "For all those times you peeped on us, REVENGE IS AT HAND! HERE I COME!"

"Uhh… you sure you're trying to be a hero? P-please don't t-try to h-hurt me!" stuttered a sweaty grape boy. 'She's… she's so… angry… and hot… and angry… and HOT!' he thought, 'Alright… time to use my size… wait no! Stupid! Mt. Lady and Midnight are watching! You gotta reel it in!'

"Shshshshshshshhhh… don't talk," Mina soothed, "Lemme win,"

"Girls? Anyone? Want some free popcorn? Because this match is gonna be FUN!" exclaimed Kazume as he passed the extra boxes filled with popcorn.

The match ended up being one-sided, since Mineta's quirk doesn't work well to immobilize Mina and her acid. He was at a complete disadvantage and he knows it. So to make the most of his opportunity, he thought about groping her sweet boobies, but thought otherwise to not scare away the recruit… and the lovely ladies. So he thought of one final solution.

"I resi-" Mineta was splashed with acid on his face before he could resign, "AHHHHHH MY FACE! IT BURNS!"

"TAAAASSSSSSTTTTTTTEEEEEE MYYYYYY VENGEANCE!" Mina screamed.

"OK I'M SORRY FOR MY ACTIONS, MINA! JUST MAKE IT STOP! I RESIGN! I RESIGN! I RESIGN!" groaned Mineta out loud in pain.

"Mineta has forfeit the match, the winner is… Mina Ashido!" announced Midnight.

"Talk about one sided and brutal!" announced Mic, gaining his energy back a little bit.

"DAMNIT! THAT FUCKING MIDGET CAN'T HANDLE A LOAD OF ACID ON HIS FACE! Fucking pussy!" said Kazume.

"LEAVE THE SEXUAL JOKES TO ME, YOUNG MAN! THAT'S MY FORTE! " Midnight lashed out at Kazume.

"Is that a threat or a promise?" Kazume taunted, smiling and sticking out his tongue tauntingly.

"It is if you want it to be, Kazume-chan…" Midnight teased, and Kazume almost looked like a red-faced demon, he covered his face, embarrassed. He knew she meant something explicit, judging by her pose and wink. What made it worse was Denki.

"Ara Ara, Kazume…" he murmured in Kazume's ear.

"S-shut up! It's just… a sunburn that's all," Kazume made up an excuse to hide his blush.

"Oh yeah, if the sun was Midnight…" Mineta whined a little, eyes covered, "Good for you!"

He was giving a thumbs up to the wall instead of Kazume.

"You sure you don't need to see Recovery Girl?" asked Kazume.

"Wait, where are you?" Mineta asked.

"Right," Kazume sighed, "Let's go, shit for brains,"

"I'll do it," Denki said, grabbing Mineta and carrying him.

"I'm sorry… but, Denki, you got soft hands," Mineta stated.

Match 6: Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Momo Yaoyorozu

"So Midoriya, any predictions for this match?" Ojiro asked the intelligent broccoli boy.

"Well… hard to say but timing is key," replied Midoriya. He didn't want to give away Tokoyami's biggest weakness against bright light.

"WE'RE THREE-FOURTHS OF THE WAY DONE INTO THE FIRST ROUND! FOR THIS ONE, HE'S THE NIGHT, THE MAN WITH THE STAND AND THE PLAN: TOKOYAMI! IN THE OTHER CORNER, SHE'S A LIVING SWISS ARMY KNIFE, IKEA, WHATEVER YOU WANT SHE'S GOT, IT'S MOMO YAOYOROZU!" Mic screamed.

'Time to strategize. His quirk is useful on both offense and defense. If I can find a way to hold off his Dark Shadow and close in on Tokoyami, I can take him down by immobilizing him. I doubt I could knock him out of bounds with Dark Shadow on his side. Maybe… a smoke screen to blind him? Yeah.. that sounds like a good-'

"BEGIN!" shouted Mic, cutting Momo's thought process and Dark Shadow spawned out and attacked Momo.

"Crap, I don't have enough time to plan, shield now!" shouted Momo, creating a shield on her right forearm to counter Dark Shadows attack.

The force of the impact knocked Momo back, giving Tokoyami a major advantage to overpower his opponent. Momo tried to quickly think of a plan of attack but she didn't have much time as Dark Shadow was about to strike back. Dark Shadow attacked again, once again hitting Momo's shield, but with extra force to knock her back much further than earlier and made her lose her shield.

Momo quickly formed another shield to prepare to defend another one of Dark Shadow's attacks, but… it stopped attacking.

'That's odd, why did he stop attacking? Oh well, time to attack,' thought Momo.

"Yaoyorozu is out of the ring, Tokoyami advances to the next round!" announced Midnight.

Momo stood there frozen, as Tokoyami bowed for a great match and returned to the stands. She felt upset deep down inside, wasting a great opportunity to show off her amazing intellect and skillset, only for it to end in disappointment in fourteen seconds.

Kazume was… laughing? Why was he laughing? It wasn't funny at all.

"PFFT, THIS DUMB BITCH CAN'T FUCKING HOLD HER GROUND FOR NOT EVEN TWENTY SECONDS! THIS GIRL RIGHT HERE IS CLASS 1-A'S RECOMMENDED?! WHAT A FUCKING JOKE OF A HERO! AHH HAHAHAHA!" laughed Pain, making Momo feel even more upset.

Kazume punched himself hard in the face, "SHUT THE FUCK UP! LOOK WHAT YOU DID! YOU MADE HER FEEL WORSE YOU FUCKING SCUMBAG! THIS IS WHY I CAN'T MAKE FUCKING FRIENDS! BECAUSE OF YOU! ALL BECAUSE OF YOU! I WANNA TEAR YOU OUT! I WANNA PUT YOU INTO A ROBOT AND SHATTER YOUR ASS!" Kazume lashed out at himself in front of everyone.

Everyone sat in stunned silence. Izuku, Ochako, and Tenya all knew about this, but… Kazume just grit his teeth and tried not to say anything else, 'Now they all think I'm a damn freak…'

Kazume walked out on all of his classmates, as he made his way towards a back room, slumping against the door. He hated it. He hated Pain. He hated his brother. It was his fault, it was all his fault that Pain was created. Is Momo gonna hate him? Is everyone gonna… abandon him? She saw him, the real him. They all did. So that's why he was throwing up into a garbage can and crying at the same time.

He was scared, panicking. Everything was loud and bright and wrong. Pain was meant to protect him, not fight him. Pain was meant to shoulder the pain of hurting people who had done no wrong, who were just making a living.

Just when he thought it couldn't get any worse, "Kazume?"

"Please… don't come any closer. I'm not worth giving a damn. Leave me here to rot," Kazume tried to push her away, distancing himself from causing more harm.

"Kazume, you don't have to push away anyone or say anything, just listen," Momo said, "It's true that you hurt my feelings, but I didn't know about… him and you being separate people,"

"Well we have two things in common… we don't deserve any friends, and we're not good enough to be a hero," replied Kazume.

"That's not true, it can't be at all. Those are the lies you believe. That's what you have to beat, Kazume, Pain is just a manifestation of that personified and given too much control. Growing up the way you did… it doesn't surprise me that you made him," Momo sighed, seeing Kazume still flinch away and hide further.

Kazume was silent, wishing he could tell her the real truth about Pain, the truth about his past. She's too kind and caring… and he doesn't want to ruin that by mentioning the past of a young and dangerous criminal that the hero society feared, remembering how merciless and violent he was back then.

"Don't you have people you care about? I know that there's at least one, and I know they're still believing that you can become a hero, no one is alone or likes to be," Momo stated, "Just think, if you walk out there right now and win? Think of how much they'd be proud of you, think about that,"

Kazume imagined Melissa watching the TV, seeing him wearing that gold medal and freaking out, mostly due to relief, but he also wished she was here in the flesh, at least Pain held back when Melissa was around.

She'd smile, hug him, and tell him to get back up. So why was he down? If he lost now…

Stain would be right.

He stood, shutting his eyes and imagining himself up there, hearing the roaring crowd and the cheering as he finally held the medal in his hands. Then and only then Pain would finally be destroyed and the only other link to the past would be in front of him.

"Alright, let's get back before Kaminari assumes we're up to something explicit…" Momo sighed.

"Oh? Why would that be, Momo? That'd be quite the interesting story," Kazume taunted, "Just kidding, stop blushing! I already got someone I've got my heart set on,"

"Um… I'm just glad I… hear the Kazume we all know," Momo mumbled.

Match 7: Ejiro Kirishima vs. Mezo Shoji

The two walked back together to the stands to meet up with the rest of the class. Some of the classmates had some funny ideas in their heads.

"Soooo… what took so long?" Denki asked.

"He just needed someone to talk to," Momo said.

"But he's covered in filth. I'm pretty sure you did more than that. I can't believe you, Kazume. Hitting on a hottie like Yaoyorozu," said Mineta.

"GUHHHHH!"
"GAHHHHH!"

Jiro stuck her earjacks into the pair's ears, "Idiots," she growled.

"HERE WE GO! TWO MANLY MEN, KIRISHIMA: THE WALL. AND SHOJI: THE OCTO-MAN!" announced Present Mic, as the crowd started to roar.

"Hold on a minute, where's Midoriya and Iida? Kinda odd for them to be missing out on watching a match between our classmates," asked Kazume.

"The two of them walked out, probably after they realized Uraraka went missing. She wasn't feeling too well. Maybe it's because of her matchup with Bakugo?" answered Ojiro.

"I see," replied Kazume. He had a moment to think if he should go look for them as well. He was afraid he could cause more harm to them. But he overcame that doubt, because they were his best friends, and those three understand how he behaves.

He walked out once again to find them. It wasn't hard for him to track down where they would be, since it was Uraraka's turn up next after this match, he figured that she would be in a waiting room. He stopped into a room labeled "Waiting Room 2: Ochako Uraraka" and he heard voices from outside the room.

"I feel so bad for her… who's to say that Bakugou would hold back?" Tenya sighed.

"A-as long as I've known h-him… 'Holding Back' isn't in… K-Kacchan's vocabulary,"

"Kacchan? What kinda fucking name is that for that fucking asshole?" asked Kazume, jumping into the conversation.

"GAH! K-Ka-Kazume?!" Izuku gasped.

"What? You expected the other me?" asked Kazume, "Anyways, what's up with you and this 'Kacchan' that constantly bullies your ass?"

"W-well… we were friends once… an- and then… before… you know…" He motioned to himself, "There was bullying…" Izuku admitted.

"So that shithead is bullying you 'cause you got stronger? You know what? I'm gonna give him a piece of my mind…" Kazume growled, "How could someone do that to someone like you? Just because his ass hurts from getting fucked by his ego?"

"Maybe he won too much?" Tenya supplied.

"More like not enough in his eyes. So anyways, how's Uraraka feeling about this?" asked Kazume.

"Well… that's the thing, we don't know," Izuku mumbled gently, blushing a little.

"Let's go see her then," Kazume said, "Gotta make sure Izzy's girl's okay,"

The three opened the door to the waiting room to see Uraraka, looking down the ground feeling nervous and scared of her next match with the big bad bully, Katsuki Bakugo.

"Hello princess, just came to see what's bothering our fine maiden," Kazume blushed a bit, embarrassed with his horrible attempt to cheer his friend up by… flirting? What the hell was that? He completely regretted doing that, "I'm so sorry. That was fucking embarrassing. I thought it would cheer you up."

"Haha… well, it did a little bit," Uraraka admitted, "To tell you guys the truth… I'm worried,"

"I understand… it's Bakugo you're up against. Knowing how close you are with Midoriya, he probably wants to blow you up into tiny pieces. But you're Uraraka, a strong gifted girl who can control gravity, a girl who won't back down on a fight. You have something to prove and recruiters to impress, right? Then give it your all in this fight and… KICK HIM IN THE FUCKING DICK!" yelled Pain, cutting off Kazume in the last part.

"NO! NOT FUCKING HELPING, HERE! That'll make that piece of shit even more pissed!" Kazume argued with his other self out loud in front of his friends.

'Awwww! But Daaaaaad! Please?! Please?!'

'I'm gonna forget I heard 'Dad' come out of your mouth.'

'I'm gonna tell Mom.'

'Who the fuck is the mom in this equation?! On second thought, don't you DARE answer that.'

'Oh sweetie~' Pain-Melissa crooned, showing up in a rather… lacy undergarments.

'I TOLD YOU NOT TO FUCKING ANSWER THAT QUESTION!' yelled Kazume to his doppleganger.

Uraraka was shocked a little bit but started laughing at the absurdity of Kazume's facial expressions, from shock to fear to a manic smile to anger again. Only for the show to end with Kazume making what only could be described as a 'Oh my fucking god that's hot' face mixed with an 'OH DEAR GOD THAT'S DISGUSTING' face and having a geyser of blood shoot from his nose.

"HAHAHAHAAHAHAHAHA! OH MY GOSH THAT'S… THAT'S… HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAAAAAAH!" Uraraka howled.

"Pain's… quite tough for him to handle, isn't he?" asked Midoriya, feeling a little worried for Kazume.

"Well… what matters is our fair maiden- FUCK! I mean Uraraka is feeling better. I'm just gonna… go now. You can handle talking to your little girlfriend. I believe in you," Kazume spat out, hustling out and still being laughed at by the scantily-clad Pain-Melissa.

Izuku and Ochako looked at each other, faces alarmingly red.

"So… what can I do to stop Bakugo from turning me into a pile of mochi?" Ochako casually asked, a little awkwardly.

"I have no idea… I didn't beat him…" Izuku admitted, wishing he would have helped better rather than a weak assurance.

"It's okay, Deku. I'll find my own way to win!" Ochako said, her tone making Izuku believe she could, "Besides, I can't really be as great as you," she sighed.

"What? No way, I'm not that c-cool…" Izuku mumbled, "You can make things float, and the best part is that you can control it…"

"Says the guy who punched a GIANT ROBOT IN THE FACE," Ochako said.

"Then I broke both legs and an arm…" Izuku sighed, "But I can't forget that you saved me from falling…"

Ochako grabbed Izuku's hand, squeezing hard, "Then let's help each other! Let's be heroes together!" she decided.

"Hurry up, Uraraka! Your match is gonna come up soon, and you don't wanna be late and make everyone disappointed. As heroes, we can never afford to be late!" Tenya yelled, storming in.

Uraraka grinned, "Thanks for cheering me up, Izuku," she said.

"Y-yeah, no problem," Izuku mumbled, getting up and leaving.

As Midoriya and Iida returned to their seats, the match between Kirishima and Shoji was reaching its end. Kirishima was too much for Shoji. The punches Shoji landed wasn't enough to overwhelm his hardening quirk. Sure, his strength alone could cause enough force to knock him back but not hard enough to push through his hardening and knock Kirishima out of bounds. It was a battle of physicality… and that advantage went to Kirishima as he landed one final punch to Shoji's head to knock him out.

"Shoji has been knocked out, making the winner to be… Ejiro Kirishima!" announced Midnight.

"Man, that was such a manly fight! I wish I can thank Shoji right now," said Kirishima, looking at the KO'ed Shoji being dragged by Transport-bots to rest up in the nurse's office.

Match 8: Katsuki Bakugo vs. Ochako Uraraka

"Oh my, this battle could get ugly. Ribbit," said Bakugo.

"Yeah, this might be hard to watch. I just hope she can make it out in one piece," said Jiro.

"THIS ONE'S GONNA BE HARD TO WATCH! EVEN FOR ME: WE HERE AT UA DO NOT CONDONE CHILD VIOLENCE, BUT HERE WE ARE SHOWING IT ANYWAY! IT'S BAKUGO VS URARAKA!"

"So, you're the one that controls gravity, isn't that right, Round Face?" asked Bakugo.

"R-round face?" Uraraka felt a little awkward.

"I'll give you this one chance to just forfeit, because you're just a waste of my fucking time," said Bakugo.

"Like I'll do that!" Uraraka refused.

"BEGIN!" announced Mic.

Uraraka started to run towards Bakugo, planning to touch him in order to make him off balanced with her quirk.

"NOT A CHANCE ROUND FACE!" yelled Bakugo.

*BOOOOOOMMM!* Bakugo set off an explosion, knocking Uraraka back. A large smoke screen blocked his view.

"You should've just surrendered and ran back to that shitty Deku!" exclaimed Bakugo. He saw something come out of the smoke, and he set off another explosion.

He pinned down what he thought was Uraraka, but it was just an empty UA gym uniform.

"WHAT?! URARAKA USED HER GYM CLOTHES AS A DECOY! AMAZING STRATEGY!" yelled Mic.

"WHAT THE FUCK MIC?! DON'T SPOIL HER COVER!" yelled Kazume, as he was watching the match.

'I just need to capitalize this quick opening and I can win this' thought Uraraka, as she was about to touch him.

'Go right Uraraka, go right! He's gonna blast you again!' thought Kazume.

But she didn't follow what Kazume just thought, as she didn't realize Bakugo's quick reaction time, and caught her sneaking up on him.

*BOOOOOOMMMM!* he blasted her once again, countering her sneak attack.

"DAMNIT URARAKA! HE'S TOO QUICK, YOU GOTTA EVADE!" yelled Kazume.

Then, Bakugo let loose, blasting her over and over, howling out a roar so loud it could barely be heard over the sound. The crowd started to jeer and boo, and Kazume was about to intervene.

Aizawa snatches the mic from his friend to chat with the hostile crowd.

"He's trying to keep her back, Kazume, don't think I don't see you. Back up, Kazume or you'll be disqualified to continue competing," stated Aizawa on the loudspeaker.

"But… you're gonna let this continue? She'll die out there!" Kazume tried to reason with Aizawa.

Aizawa went silent, maybe she would, maybe she won't. Bakugo was relentless. The smoke cleared and she was still standing.

"DAMN IT, WHY WON'T YOU FUCKING STAY DOWN AND DIE, ROUND FACE?!" yelled Bakugo.

"Don't you get it Bakugo? I'm not trying to fight you… I was distracting you," replied Uraraka, "Thank you for focusing your blasts on me."

"Whoa, what in the…?" said Kazume as he looked up to see a massive amount of rocks floating above the stadium.

"RELEASE!" shouted Uraraka, as she cancelled the effect of the quirk, making the rock fall towards Bakugo.

'Go get him, girl!' thought Kazume.

'This is my chance, now that he's distracted with my meteor shower. I can close in on him and claim my victory,' thought Uraraka.

Her fingertips from both her hands touched each other, making her weightless in order to close in on him quickly. But as she was just a half a meter away from touching him…

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMMMMMMM* a massive explosion came out from his left hand, blasting her back and blowing up the debris at the same time. Uraraka released herself from her own quirk before the force of the blast knocked her out of bounds.

She layed on the ground, feeling defeated when her own plan failed. The crowd was stunned, feeling bad for the underdog not being able to pull off the upset. She had no chance to beat him now, it took all the strength to endure the blasts and hold a large weight of debris with her quirk. Her body couldn't take it much longer…

But...

She still hadn't given up. She got back up on her feet, barely able to keep her balance.

"Damnit, Uraraka. I TOLD YOU TO JUST GIVE UP ALREADY!" yelled Bakugo, finally saying her name after almost getting the best of him on that meteor shower.

Bakugo had enough of this, he set up one final blast to finish her once and for all.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM* he set off an explosion from his right hand but it didn't hit Uraraka… it hit a large stone wall.

"That's enough, this isn't the Roman Colosseum," Cementoss said, "It's clear that Uraraka has lost,"

"I'm not done! NOT UNTIL SHE TELLS ME THAT SHE GIVES UP!" replied Bakugo.

He looked wild, unchained, feral, looming over Uraraka.

"Do you give up?" he snarled, "Say it loud and clear: DO YOU GIVE UP?!"

"I… I do, I give up," Ochako conceded, with Bakugo smirking.

"There you go, was that so hard?" he asked.

Ochako wobbled and passed out, leaving Bakugo standing. 'That wasn't half-bad…' he thought, he'd never admit it. He gained a lot of respect for 'Round-Face.'

'I'm sorry… mom and dad… I… failed,"

"Uraraka is unable to go on, the winner is Katsuki Bakugo," announced Midnight in a lower tone than usual.

"Well… as much as I don't want to say this right now, but… AFTER THAT BRUTAL MATCHUP! IT'S TIME TO TAKE A BREAK AS THE SECOND ROUND WILL START IN ABOUT FIFTEEN MINUTES! I REALLY DO FEEL BAD FOR URARAKA, BUT THE SHOW MUST GO ON!" announced Present Mic, having some bias with cheering for Uraraka.

As the first round of the one-on-one battles had come to a close, Midoriya and Kazume made their way to check up on Uraraka.

*BZZZ* Kazume stopped for a minute as Midoriya continued on towards Waiting Room 2, where Uraraka… awaited. He checked on his phone that vibrated on his left pocket. He received a notification from an app called 'Hosu Crimewatch'. It said:

[BREAKING NEWS: Stain's currently at large. Heroes on the way, stay indoors and lock all doors and windows, a mandatory curfew is in effect!]

'Whatever you're up to, Hero Killer, I'll put an end to you, when I finish with this festival' thought Kazume as he put his phone away and caught up with Midoriya.

TO BE CONTINUED…

Thank you all for reading. Please leave a review and let me know what you think of the first round so far. Follow and Favorite if you enjoyed this fanfic. Next up is the big one with two highly talented students. Stay tuned.