Hello, it's RLeb10 again. So here's the final chapter of the Sports Festival Arc. Before you start the chapter, I would appreciate to give a read to my side series: Kazume Shorts. It's side events of my character story that took place before the main story of Blood for Blood started. The reason why is because it will be a key point headings toward the Hero Killer Stain arc. That's all I have to say in the author's note. Enjoy the chapter!
Chapter 27: Return of the Bloodhounds?
The stage was set one last time before the final match will start in a moment. But before they sent the contestants to the battlefield, the staff had to make preparations in case a certain student decides to… snap.
"Okay, we got a problem, Mic's keeping everybody distracted, but Cementoss, Midnight, make sure that you two are ready to stop him, we have All Might on standby if push comes to shove," Aizawa said, visiting his colleagues, Snipe unholstered his gun, "I'll shoot to kill,"
"Not to kill, disarm," Aizawa sighed.
"Still, the kid acts like a rabid dog, I'd be doin' the world a service," Snipe growled, vengeance getting to his head.
"His brother took my brother, it's only fair I repay him with the same kindness," he stated.
"Okay, Snipe, I don't think the Hero Killer gives a single fuck about Kazume, you're gonna do him a favor and make everybody here look bad by proxy, if you want revenge, once the Hero Killer is caught, it's better to watch him rot in prison, right?" Aizawa reasoned, Snipe grumbled and holstered his gun.
Final Match: Katsuki Bakugo vs. Kazume Shield
"Alright, instead of my normal fiery commentary, let's just… get on with the show, blah blah blah Kazume Shield vs. Katsuki Bakugo, now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna skip town," Mic announced, bracing himself for the massacre that might happen, he was about to sneak out.
"I'm not doing this by myself," Aizawa growled.
"Every man for himself, I'm not about to get skewered… and… well… ugh…" Mic sighed, plunking back down but keeping his eyes shut.
"Well, I guess I'll take a nap then if we're not doing commentary…" Aizawa almost wrapped himself up in a sleeping bag but remembered that he had to keep watch for Pain, "On second thought, maybe another time."
Both contestants enter the stage, staring at each other with murderous intent.
"Here we go… I'll burn you to ashes! Actually, no… I'll send you waaaaaaayyyyy over there STAINING THE WALL!"
"You know what, fuck this fake act of that stupid weakling Kazume, I hope you have something good up your sleeve because you're NOTHING TO ME! At least Iida can land a good blow on me!" Pain taunted.
The others now noticed that maybe sending a potential serial killer and a murderous egotistical maniac into an arena together was probably a massive oversight. Izuku looked over at Uraraka, who looked like she was praying or something, Kirishima looked downright terrified and his feelings were echoed by many of the others. Enter Todoroki, wrapped in bandages and stoic as usual.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked, he was concerned for Todoroki.
"Yeah, just banged up a bit, that's all," Todoroki scoffed.
"Banged up? You call that banged up?" Mina asked, "Seriously, he almost turned you into a modern art painting!"
Todoroki sighed and closed his eyes.
The two contestants waited for one of the two announcers, Midnight or Present Mic, to say go. Midnight took the initiative, seeing that Mic had just… went quiet.
She raised her whip, seeing the two contenders, Pain was prowling, snarling, circling as Bakugo glared at him, she brought it down without saying begin, and the pair went for it.
Pain kicked out both katanas on his back with his right foot, catching both of them and charged rapidly at Bakugo. Bakugo charged up his explosion on his right hand after he launched off with an explosion with both hands, charging towards Pain.
*BOOOOOOM* Bakugo launched an explosion before he set a collision course with his opponent, but Pain flipped to his right to dodge the explosion. And in just less than a second, he almost countered by trying to slice his left arm, but Bakugo hopped back and dodged it. Both had amazing reaction time to dodge attacks. Defensively, both even out but offensively, a pissed off Pain has the advantage by a longshot. Pain's speed is much faster than Kazume's. And Pain lands harder blows to his opponent than Kazume.
Bakugo came in with an explosively charged kick, clashing harshly against Pain's guard, the dust cloud rushing past him, making his scarves billow harshly, Bakugo's eyes widened at the cracks in the arena around his feet.
The blow was softened by the spikes… there… he didn't…
Pain smiled, "You think that intel was just for my bastard of a brother?! I made modifications to my equipment to deal with your dumbass!"
'Brother? Kazume never told me about him having a brother,' thought Midoriya, spectating the fight.
Bakugo stared right into Pain's scars, seeing all the wounds from Pain's training.
"My BROTHER taught me never to hold back! SO HERE I GO!" Pain shouted.
This time, Bakugo was on the defensive, waiting for Pain to come after him. As Pain made a beeline towards the explosive blond, Katsuki set off a large explosion as he was twenty meters away from attacking him.
However, Pain knew he would do that, after watching Uraraka's fight with him. He somersaulted to his left to dodge the explosion. He continued to close in on Bakugo.
Bakugo quickly prepared another explosion to blast him away but Pain front flipped in the air above Bakugo and made a small slice on his right shoulder. As Pain was about to lick the small blood on his katana…
*BOOOOOOOOOM* he got launched back by an explosion from Bakugo. Before he got knocked out of bounds, he stabbed both katanas to the ground to stop his momentum just before the edge line. It made Pain furious that Bakugo actually landed a hit on him. He used his katanas to launch himself at Bakugo like a catapult.
"WHY WON'T YOU DIE?!" yelled Bakugo, as he set off a massive explosion with both hands.
A large black smoke screen blocked the vision of Bakugo and the crowd, but Pain jumped into the air and threw knives at the explosive boy. Bakugo dodged as he created an explosion with his left hand to blast away from the incoming knives.
The smoke screen still hadn't cleared out, leaving Bakugo on the defensive again, trying to keep his guard up since he can't see Pain inside the smoke.
"You can't attack what you can't see. You really left yourself vulnerable if you can't see your enemy, Bakugo. Some shitty hero you are!" exclaimed Pain.
"SHUT UP AND COME OUT YOU FUCKING COWARD SO I CAN BLOW YOU UP INTO SMITHERINES!" shouted Bakugo, giving away his position.
Pain quickly took notice of his location and threw knives at rapid velocity. Bakugo didn't have time to dodge and since he had a charged up blast on his left hand for a counterattack, he had to use that blast to blow up the throwing knives out of their trajectories.
*BOOOOOOOM* as he blasted the knives away, similar to what he did with Uraraka's meteor shower, Pain made a beeline towards Bakugo at a rapid speed of 80 kilometers per hour (50 MPH) and made a small slice five centimeters deep into his left side of his chest.
This time Pain had got him and was about to lick the blood off of the blade, but instead…
*SHUNK!* He faked out licking the blood and used that same blade to stab him through the back in a nonfatal area. He grabbed Bakugo in the back of his neck and threw him down in front of him. Pain planted both feet on Bakugo's forearm with spikes activated on his shoes, making sure he cannot set off explosions on him.
He licked the blood without faking out this time, making the explosive blond paralyzed. Now all that's left was…
"Oh this part feels really familiar, like I've done it before. What was it… oh yeah, I tell you to give up and forfeit the match. OH WAIT, YOU DIDN'T GIVE THE SAME FUCKING CHOICE TO URARAKA, DID YA?! SO WHY SHOULD I SPARE YOU THIS TIME AROUND?! No… you don't deserve a choice… JUST LIKE YOU DON'T DESERVE TO BE A FUCKING HERO! YOU DESERVE TO LOSE THAT EXPLOSIVE POWER…" Pain drew out his katanas, ready to stab it right through his arms to slice them off, "PERMANENTLY!"
*BANG! BANG!* two bullets disarmed him and Pain howled, he took out knives to throw it towards Snipe's direction but it got blocked by a fresh cement wall in the way.
"LET ME FINISH THIS! THIS FUCKING WASTE DOESN'T DESERVE TO BE HERE!" shouted Pain.
Pain stared down at Cementoss's direction with his glowy blood red eyes, as he rushed right at Cementoss but he quickly acted by putting a cement wall in the way.
*BAM!* he collided headfirst into the wall. Cementoss quickly surrounded Pain with walls around him and on top, leaving him without any escape.
*BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM! BAM!* Pain tried to break down the walls with his bare fist, as he started to leave cracks on the walls.
"Quick Midnight, there's a small air hole on top!" Cementoss snapped, indeed, there was a hole between the walls, with a quarter-sized hole in it to filter gas into between the top and below. The rabid sounds of Pain were quieted by Midnight's quirk filtering in, and it… sounded a lot like… crying? She needed to use some more, because that only got him out of the weird feuge state of pain, not passing him out.
*Bam…. Bam… bam…*
*shrrrr…*
*Whump!*
"Due to intent of harm, Kazume Shield is disqualified!" Mic's announcement was soft, choked with fear.
The crowd went silent, a few people were sympathetic to Kazume, they all heard the slamming, but at the end? There were tears, like he regretted it all. It was bitter. All of it was. Kazume slept soundly for the first time in years, yet for the last few seconds of consciousness, he was scared.
'Not the room! Not the room! Not again! Stop! Stop!' he had thought, curling into a little ball, crying and sobbing, remembering how his brother would toss him into a room just like this, he fought against the need to sleep, he tried and failed miserably.
Bakugo got up, "Gggh… this isn't a win…" he growled.
"What?! He almost killed you!" Snipe yelled.
"How long is it for someone to time-out? I was beaten! You disqualified him after the time-out! This isn't a win… this is a pity! I don't need a medal! Or a trophy! I don't feel like I won! I'm out," Bakugo ranted, marching out without a single word further.
Award Ceremony…
All Might jumped down into the field to congratulate the top four students of the sports festival with Iida in fourth, although he was gone to visit his brother, third is Tokoyami taking the bronze medal, second is a bandaged Todoroki earning a silver medal, and first place is Bakugo… but he wasn't present.
"Congratulations not just to the top four but for everyone participating in the Sports Festival. We apologize on behalf of the rampage from young Kazume, he was just having a bad day, yeah that's it. Now please drive or walk safely on the way home but before that, I have one final thing to say, let's shout it out together!" announced All Might.
"Oh my goodness he's gonna say the motto," said one of the fans in the stadium.
"Congrats on the great work!"
"PLUS ULTRA!"
Both All Might and the crowd said different things at the same time. The crowd were mad that the Symbol of Peace, the alumni of UA did not say 'PLUS ULTRA' with them. The crowd started to leave the stadium with a bit of disgust and disappointment. Everyone knew that Katsuki Bakugo wasn't the true winner in that Festival, it was the violent ex-villain Pain that was the true winner. They understood why Bakugo wasn't present receiving the medal since it was just an empty award, which insulted him by pretty much saying 'Congrats on getting your ass kicked out there, here's a gold medal'
While the classmates head back to homeroom class. Aizawa stood up behind the teacher's desk to make an announcement before the students headed back home.
"Well done, class. The school will give you two days off for you to rest. During that time, the pro heroes will be giving offers to recruit you to intern with them. Well that's all I have for today, any questions?" announced Aizawa.
Meanwhile in a dark room…
Kazume slowly came into consciousness, seeing the darkness around him again, he shot up and was covered in a cold sweat, his eyes adjusted, it was the infirmary, seeing something gleaming on the nightstand.
You kicked my ass, here's the medal you earned.
He picked it up and sighed, he let himself breathe. Finally, the nightmare of being stuck in that cage was gone, now he had to clean up the bomb he blew up…
He hoped Melissa didn't hate him...
Back in the classroom…
"Sir, what about Kazume and Iida? Are… are they gonna be okay?" Izuku asked.
"Iida's on an excused absence, visiting the hospital after what happened to his older brother, and for Kazume, he's in the infirmary but I advise all of you to DO NOT visit the infirmary," answered Aizawa.
"What's gonna happen to him…?" Uraraka asked.
"Well… what happens to people that attack heroes?" Aizawa replied.
That hit them like a ton of bricks, he was going to jail.
"NOT JAIL!" A good amount of the others yelled.
"Just teasing all of you, we'll interrogate him a bit with questions, unsure if he's still… him, and then Nezu will decide his fate on whether he'll still continue here or rot in the streets," Aizawa continued. Everyone was in shock.
School had ended for the students of Class 1-A. They all headed out the gate of the UA entrance and walked their way back home with concern in their faces, even Bakugo's too. How can he get payback on Kazume if there's a possibility he won't be at UA anymore? The ones that are the most worried and upset about the news were Midoriya and Uraraka who were walking together towards the subway.
"I can't believe Kazume let the other him take control for the final rounds…" Izuku mumbled, "I don't think I'd survive fighting him…"
"Still, I'm glad it's all over, it was so nerve-wracking," Uraraka sighed.
"I think there's a connecting thread to Kazume losing it and Tenya leaving… something to do with all the hero killer stuff…" Izuku said, "Kazume is similar to what they describe of him… then Tenya got that call…"
Izuku continued to murmur and mumble.
Uraraka sighed, some things just don't change. Yet…
Something was coming. Something dark, something even worse than the USJ, something even worse than that couldn't be anywhere near good.
All Uraraka could do was hope and pray. They got on the train, with their closeness, they sort of blushed a little bit. They didn't talk, just stood there, due to most of the seats being conveniently taken.
"Oh, this is almost my stop, see ya, Urara- ka?" he asked, she shoved a piece of paper into his hands. He almost went into orbit. He got her phone number. At this point, We are the Champions blasted in his head. Spraying champagne, fireworks, jets, the works. Then, reality hit him hard when he saw the headline…
[Ingenium in critical condition!]
His heart sank. It hit him hard and stayed there.
It was going to be a long road...
Back at the Infirmary…
It was nighttime and Kazume was sleeping in the hospital bed until he was awoken by the sound of the sliding door opening.
Principal Nezu and Aizawa entered the room.
"Sleep well, Mr. Shield?" Nezu asked, "Let's get down to business,"
"Sir?" Kazume asked, feeling the scarf of Mr. Aizawa tightly wrapped around him below his neck.
"We just wanna ask a few questions and I suggest you should answer them with absolute honesty if you want to stay at UA. Aizawa is here in case Pain is still taking over you," Nezu stated.
"Why did you snap, first off," Aizawa flatly asked.
"What are you talking about? What did I even do?" asked Kazume, not remembering the final two rounds he was matched up.
"Play the tape, Aizawa," Nezu sighed. Aizawa pulled up the day's video on a tablet. Kazume watched his darker side run the show. He wasn't surprised, but he was shocked at the increasing brutality.
He never imagined he'd pull that on a classmate. The Guillotine of Pain was a highly dangerous move meant for villains. Then he just magically pulls it out of thin air when he gets angry enough to resort to Pain's help.
If he could even call it that. Then Bakugo's round played and he saw himself brutally fight him like it was the Roman Colosseum.
"Pain took over…" Kazume sighed in defeat, "I can't control him, no matter what I do, even if I try to, he always comes out."
"Then how was he created?" Nezu asked.
"My brother. He fought me every single day non-stop, no breaks, no nothing. Constant training, constant fear," Kazume growled, "Until one day… I snapped,"
"I looked over… and I saw him smile… and ever since then we hunted heroes, and he finally started acting like a brother should," Kazume muttered, "Finally, something fucking good in my life."
Nezu and Aizawa debated it and nodded, "So… you created him as a shield and now it's gone rouge?" Aizawa asked.
"Yeah," Kazume said, "He takes over my body, too."
"Just ask Uraraka… god, I almost hurt her…" Kazume huffed, "And I say things that I don't mean when he takes over."
Kazume thought of Melissa in that moment, "He takes over and I lose my mind,"
"So what happened before your final two rounds that probably made you lose it?" asked Nezu.
"My fucking bastard of a brother fucking sent me… this," Kazume said, holding out his phone with the message on it. Their eyes just about popped out of their skulls at the prone body of Ingenium.
Bastard: YOU NEVER WERE A HERO! YOU'RE DEAD TO ME AND TO THE ENTIRE SOCIETY! GIVE UP AND DIE LIKE THIS PIECE OF SHIT!
"See?" Kazume asked, "That's what made me snap,"
Kazume also showed the two UA staff the image of the fallen Ingenium bleeding out from a stab to his spine.
"Oh my, that is quite a hateful message. I really won't tolerate cyber-bullying, and that picture is… oh goodness, that's real," Nezu looked a little green, "Get me a trash-can, would you?"
"I wish I can, but… can't you see that I'm a little tied up?" said Kazume, telling Nezu the situation he's in.
"Mr. Aizawa, would you please release Kazume?" asked Nezu.
"You gotta be kidding me right now. He tried to attack two pro heroes in Snipe and Cementoss, and you want me to let him go?" asked Aizawa.
"It's clear that Pain is a psychological threat, as long as we don't trigger him, we'll be fine," Nezu flippantly said, "But still, be on standby."
Aizawa released Kazume from his grasp. He went to pick up a trash can for Nezu.
"So what do you want to do with the trash can?" asked Kazume.
"Please, hand it to me and excuse me for a moment…" Nezu said, getting it and running out, they heard gagging.
Nezu came back in after dumping it out and put it back, "Okay then, where were we?" he asked.
"That I tried to attack Snipe and Cementoss for some unknown reason," Kazume told Nezu.
"Ah yes," Nezu continued.
"It's mostly due to my fight or flight response, I don't like the dark or enclosed spaces…" Kazume admitted, "And the surprise attack,"
"I see, one more thing before you're dismissed. Have you talked with any of your classmates after Pain began to take over?" asked Nezu
"I'm not quite sure, after that message, my mind went blank until I came back to my senses and ended up surrounded by cement," Kazume said bluntly.
"Well I guess I'll have to set up meetings with your classmates starting tomorrow," Nezu concluded.
As Kazume walked out to head back to his dorm room, Aizawa and Nezu remained in the infirmary.
"So what now?" Aizawa asked, "It's clear he needs something to solve that alter ego of his before he pulls a Mr. Hyde."
"I'll think about having an upper class student volunteer in helping him with his mental state," answered Nezu.
"Which one?" Aizawa asked a little in dread, secretly praying for Kazume if he thought he was right.
"Miss Nejire Hado was rather eager to volunteer," Nezu chuckled, "She barrelled her friends over and screamed 'PICK ME' at the top of her lungs,"
Aizawa sighed, 'Great, another person with a million questions and boundless energy… I can never escape this, this is hell, my purgatory,' he thought, 'what kind of sins did I commit to get this?'
"We must find a way to stabilize Kazume's mentality, and after all what happened in that festival, expelling him would make things worse now that the Hero Killer is at large again. The last thing we need is the Return of the Bloodhounds. I'm suspending him from doing internships. I can't risk another triggering; it would cause chaos with the agency he might be working for. Also I can't have Kazume interning specifically in Hosu city. I will not allow him to encounter the Hero Killer. And lastly, I cannot let his hostile actions against his classmates and the staff go unpunished now, can I?" Nezu stated.
"I agree, and the normal punishments won't work… we need something to replace the internship grade…" Aizawa mumbled.
"Well… glad that's all settled. We had a really busy day today, let's get some rest," said Nezu.
After the two UA staff members headed home and went to bed, the day was finally over.
The day of the most fantastic, most entertaining, but also chaotic Sports Festival ever seen in the history of UA.
But it was also the day that the Hero Killer had returned to cause chaos once again.
The Future was in danger… and there was no way to stop the omen of that future.
There was no stopping Stain.
TO BE CONTINUED…
So what do you think of me adding in Nejire to the story earlier than usual? I want to give her a bigger role to developing the broken mental Kazume. Please leave a review of your thoughts. I really need them to give me inspiration to excel in the future chapters. If you love this story and can't wait for more, stay up to date by favoriting and following the story.
And once again, please read the Kazume Shorts. I would recommend it for the upcoming arc to understand his past before his UA career.
Until next time...