Chapter 15: The Aftermath
[A few minutes ago…]
Kyoka watched silently as Denki and Shiozaki made their way onto the arena platform.
"Woohoo! Go Kaminari!" Kirishima exclaimed, pumping his fist into the air.
Mineta followed suit, rooting for his friend, "Denki, if you lose, bring me back one of Shiozaki's vines!"
Jiro thumped Mineta over the head in annoyance, "don't broadcast your pervertedness, idiot," she murmured.
"I hope Kaminari is able to defend against those vines," Uraraka said from her seat, "it's going to be difficult if he can't deal with her offensive attacks."
"True," Midoriya chimed in, focused intensely on the match below, "what's more, Denki has a limit on how much electricity he can output, so he has to be careful not to overuse his quirk."
"Geez, this is gonna be a close match," Eijiro mumbled.
After the announcer had finished introducing the two competitors, he signalled the beginning of the match, allowing the opponents to finally go at it.
Denki was the first one to strike, launching a full-on assault towards Shiozaki; however, she was much quicker than he gave her credit for, and she was able to deflect the attack with relative ease by forming a wall of vines. The electricity made contact with the structure but then seemed to magically disappear, failing the attack in the process.
"Hey, what happened to Kaminari's attack?" Jiro exclaimed, sitting up in her chair.
"She was able to ground the electricity!" Midoriya said in amazement.
"What do you mean?" Jiro questioned.
Deku opened his mouth to answer, but his words were quickly interrupted by another voice.
"Shiozaki's vines contain water," Bakugo said, slowly approaching the group of students, "water can conduct electricity, which means that the current will flow according to the vines."
"But won't that be bad for Shoizaki?" Eijiro questioned, "I mean, if Denki's electricity makes contact with her vines, won't it eventually make its way to her?"
"On its surface, that seems obvious," Midoriya continued, much to Katsuki's chagrin, "but Shiozaki's quirk allows her to disconnect the vines from her body, keeping the electricity from reaching her. In addition, if she keeps her disconnected vines attached to the floor, she can safely guide the electricity into the ground and away from her."
"Wait, so you're saying that Kaminari's attacks don't have any effect?" Kyoka wondered with concern.
"He was never gonna win anyway," Bakugo said with a glare, "he was doomed from the start."
Jiro wanted to shout at him, to berate him for underestimating Kaminari like that, but deep down inside, she also had her doubts; sure, Denki was powerful in his own right, but he didn't seem to have anything beyond that. Heck, the only thing his quirk could do was stun people for a little while, but it didn't have a whole lot of destructive potential.
As the teens continued to watch the match unfold below, Kaminari's legs had been seized by some of Shiozaki's vines, which allowed her the time to grab him with the rest and hoist him up into the air.
"Interesting," Midoriya mused as he wrote something down in a small notebook, "Shiozaki's quirk seems to be capable of both forceful restraint and aggressive domination. Something to take note of."
"Did you say 'Domination'?" Mineta said, his pupils dilated.
"Perv! Keep your attention on the fight!" Kyoka demanded, pounding the short teen on the head again.
Kaminari looked as though he was at his wits-end; although he seemed to be struggling against the tangle of vines, his opponent didn't seem the least bit concerned.
The speakers suddenly came to life with the announcer's voice, "WELL, IT APPEARS AS THOUGH WE HAVE A WINNER!"
Eijiro let out a sigh, "It's over," he said dejectedly, "he lost."
Everyone else seemed to share the same sorrow for a couple of seconds, as if mourning Kaminari's loss.
"What more did you expect was gonna happen?" Bakugo snorted, "the little shit didn't stand a chance."
That was the last straw; angrily, Kyoka jumped up from her chair and glared at Katsuki, "Shut the hell up! What is your problem?"
Bakugo didn't blink, but he shot Jiro an irritated sneer, "What? You mad that I'm talkin' shit about your boyfriend? Face it, he didn't have a chance in hell."
'Boyfriend?'
Kyoka opened her mouth to retort something, but she stopped when a sudden flash of light emanated from the center of the arena. The flash of light started out as a glow before slowly transforming into an irregular flickering of static, illuminating the whole stadium with its brightness. Then, out of the light, came bolts of lightning that shot around indiscriminately, flashing about and reaching for whatever was nearby. Each stream of lightning lasted a little less than a second, seemingly branching out in random directions before then instantly transforming into a separate bolt.
At this point, Kyoka had to shield her eyes, as did everyone else watching the match; the brightness was too intense for anyone to continue watching. Although Jiro was forced to narrow her eyes, she refused to close them, forcing herself to instead continue watching the match.
For a while, nothing seemed to happen; then, out of nowhere, a random bolt struck Shiozaki's body, sending her sailing backwards and landing along the outer perimeter of the platform. As the light began to simmer down and everyone no longer had to shield their eyes, Kyoka could now clearly see Kaminari standing in the center of the arena. The vines that had previously bounded his body now lay motionless on the floor, as though they had been ripped apart.
There was a silence that spread throughout the stadium, and people stared down at Denki's standing figure in awe. From the sidelines, a medic ran over to Shiozaki's body and, after a few seconds, gave the 'all clear' signal.
"AMAZING!" Shouted the announcer from the PA, "IT SEEMS AS THOUGH DENKI KAMINARI HAS MANAGED TO KNOCK SHIOZAKI OUT OF BOUNDS, RESULTING IN AN IMMEDIATE WIN! KAMINARI ADVANCES TO THE SECOND ROUND."
As if he only remained conscious to hear those words, Denki dropped to the ground in an unconscious heap. The people in the crowd began murmuring to themselves.
Jiro wanted to see if Denki was okay, but before she could leave her seat, the interior of the stadium seemed to suddenly get darker; thankfully, the light from the sun above managed to still illuminate the building.
"Hey, did it just get darker?" Eijiro asked, glancing around in confusion.
"Yeah, all the stadium's lights just shut down for some reason," Ochaco observed.
"Uraraka's right," Midoriya said, "look. Even the stadium's broadcasting screen is turned off," he pointed to the large, rectangular display that would often follow the events below. It was black now.
"Dude, what the hell is going on?" Mineta demanded.
"I think I know," Tenya said, emerging from the staircase to the right, "all of the lights in the building's interior have also gone down."
"Ida, what is it? What's happening?" Deku asked.
"It's an EMP burst," Tenya explained, peering down at the passed out Denki, "during his final attack, when Kaminari released a discharge of electricity, he had released enough energy to create an electromagnetic pulse that shut down every major machine in the building. That's why the lights are all off….and why we no longer hear the announcer over the PA."
"Geez….Kaminari's attack was THAT powerful?" Eijiro exclaimed.
Kyoka glanced over at Bakugo for a moment and what she saw was sweat-inducing; Katsuki glared down at the arena, and even though his mouth was shut, she could tell that he was tightly clenching his jaw out of anger. His red pupils were surrounded by blood-shot eyes, and his nostrils appeared to flare in rage.
"That….piece of trash!" he growled.
Kyoka remained silent, but she would be lying if she said she wasn't a little bit concerned; Bakugo looked like he was out for blood, and Kaminari was the main course.
After the round had ended, some of the medics on stand-by rushed to transport Kaminari and Shiozaki into the stadium's medical room. Thankfully, a few minutes later, the lights came back on - apparently, there were a series of backup generators all about the facility, making it possible for the festival to continue.
"Well, Ida, I guess you're up next," Eijiro said to the spectacled teen.
Tenya nodded his head in earnest, "Yes! I hope to do my very best in this upcoming match!"
"You got this, Ida," Midoriya and Uraraka said in unison.
As the other students were busy wishing Tenya good luck, Jiro silently snuck off and away from the group, descending down the stairs into the facility; wandering through the empty hallway, she scanned each door carefully, reading the inscripted titles above them. She hated to admit it to anyone, but Kyoka was actually searching for the Medical room, hoping to see if Kaminari was doing alright. He had used a ton of his quirk during his match with Shiozaki, which meant that he would either revert to his 'stupid' self or remain totally passed out for a while.
Turning the corner, she eventually came to a door on the right side of the hallway; written in black letters on a banner just above the entrance were the words "Medical Room". Hesitantly, she raised her hand up to the surface of the door and, after a few seconds, bashfully knocked at it with her knuckles.
A pretty woman with soft features answered the door, "Yes?...can I help you?" she politefully hummed with a smile on her face. She wore bright blue uniform, which made Jiro realize that she must be a member of the medical staff.
"Uhhhh….I came here to see if Kaminari was alright. I'm a friend. Is he here?" Kyoka asked, still shocked by how attractive the woman appeared.
"Oh, yes, the cute blonde boy," the woman said.
"Uh, yeeeahhh," Kyoka responded, raising an eyebrow a bit.
'Cute?' she thought to herself.
"Here, please follow me," the woman said, opening the door even further, "I'll take you right to him."
"Thank you," Jiro added as she stepped through the threshold and into the room.
Almost immediately, Kyoka was hit with a stunning scent, the kind of scent that one might detect in a hospital of sorts - it was a combination of antiseptic spray and plastic. The smell wasn't enough to make her cover her nose, but it was at least intense enough to make her take a few testing sniffs at the air.
The female medic lead Jjiro through the room, past a row of unoccupied beds, to an area that was concealed by white, plastic dividers that ran along a curving, metal rod; the woman came to a halt in front of the divider before pulling it aside as if it was a window curtain.
Just behind the divider sat an incredibly stupid-looking Kaminari, who idiotically grinned up at Kyoka once he saw her.
"Yaaaaayyyy!" he sang, almost as if to say, "Hi, Jiro."
The dark-haired girl had to cover her mouth to keep from laughing on the spot, but a short chortle managed to escape her mouth anyway. Actually, it was a good sign that she could laugh right now, because it meant that Denki was okay enough for levity to come forth.
"I'm guessing he's okay, then?" Kyoka questioned, only barely capable of keeping herself in check.
"Yes, you don't have to worry about his physical condition. He hasn't sustained too much damage, so the only thing you have to worry about is exhaustion," the medic woman explained, "The only other worry is his current mental condition, but I'm told that's only a result of using his quirk."
"Yeah, he'll be fine after an hour," Jiro said thoughtfully, "then he'll return back to his old, annoying self."
The woman smiled, "what an amazing quirk," she noted, gazing down at a distracted Kaminari "self-regeneration is always such a helpful ability."
For a moment, Jiro didn't have any idea what the woman had said, but she eventually furrowed her brow in confusion and turned to the medic, "Huh? 'Self-regeneration'? What do you mean by that?"
The woman blinked in astonishment, "Wait, his quirk isn't self regeneration?"
Jiro shook her head.
The medic then stared down at Denki, "When he was first brought in here…..he had sustained third-degree burns all over his body."
"What?!" Kyoka yelled, looking to the woman, "I thought you just said he didn't receive any physical damage!"
The medic calmly glanced at Jiro, "Well, that's because, within the next few minutes of him being here, all of his wounds had fully healed. So, technically speaking, by the time I had to record his condition, he was completely fine."
Kyoka looked stunned. Self-regeneration? That didn't even seem possible given Denki's true quirk. As long as Jiro had known Kaminari, his only abilities (as far as she could tell) were limited only to electrically shocking opponents, releasing a discharge of lightning, or connecting to radio waves. None of that had anything to do with a healing ability, especially not one that was active while the user was unconscious - it just didn't make sense.
"Miss? Are you alright?" came a voice just beside her.
Jiro turned to look at the woman once again, still trying to process what she had just been told; such new information was enough to make her want to sit down somewhere.
"Uh, yeah, I'm fine," she finally said, giving the woman a weak smile.
The medic didn't look convinced but she nevertheless decided to give Kyoka some space, so she gave Jiro some words of encouragement before walking off to continue her duties elsewhere in the room. Still mulling over this whole 'self-regeneration' business in the depths of her mind, Jiro decided to take a seat in a small chair that was situated just beside Kaminari's bed.
"...I just don't understand it," she whispered, watching Denki absentmindedly pick at his nose.
In truth, Kaminari had been acting strangely for a while now, ever since that whole fiasco between the two of them outside of the cafe; back then, Kaminari wanted to race - he was so sure he was going to win - but when he lost to Kyoka, it was like something broke inside of him. He told her he had developed a "New Technique" that would allow him to reach incredibly high speeds - the way he talked about it made him sound proud of this achievement. Of course, Jiro thought it was just a prank of his; after all, claiming to run faster than 100 miles per hour out of nowhere would just seem crazy to most people. She was so sure he was joking. But then…..he got mad. When he lost, he actually became angry, as though she had stolen something from him. They didn't talk for weeks after that.
Suddenly, Jiro blinked in realization.
Actually, come to think of it, Denki had come in second during the obstacle course race; that's an insane feat - to come in second place out of dozens of competitors. But surprisingly enough, Jiro never wondered why. It finally clicked to her now. Kaminari must've mastered that speed technique he talked about in the cafe, he must've used it during the race.
Somehow, some way, he had adapted his quirk in such a way to the point where he could use it for other purposes; if super speed could be a product of his original quirk, then maybe 'Self-regeneration' wasn't that far of a stretch.
Kyoka glanced over at Kaminari once more, as if he would confirm what she was thinking; instead, the blonde teen had apparently laid back down onto the bed and had fallen asleep, his chest now rising and falling with each breath.
Jiro blinked.
Her theory about Denki's powers could potentially be correct, however, she was wrong about one thing. Kaminari hadn't started acting different just at the Cafe - no, he was already different by then. There was something else that happened before that.
Kaminari must've changed after he was taken away by Shigaraki, after he was kidnapped.
End of Chapter 15
Author's Note: Hey y'all, how're you guys doin'? I understand that this chapter didn't have that much action in it, but believe me, it was important. I'm not sure how I want to go about things right now, but I know that I want Jiro to realize more things about Denki as the story progresses. Hopefully, the pacing of the story is okay so far and that the style of writing isn't too annoying.
Anyway, if you enjoyed this chapter, please leave a comment telling me your thoughts.
Thanks! Bye!