I do not own any part of My Hero Academia, this is a fanfiction for entertainment purposes only.
"AND NOW, LISTENERS, THERE WILL BE AN INTERMISSION WHILE THE TOP SIXTEEN GET A LITTLE REST. BE SURE TO GET YOUR SNACKS AND DRINKS BEFORE WE START UP AGAIN. YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS ANYTHING!"
"Um, Izuku-kun, you can let us go now." Ibara was blushing madly, Izuku's arm still wrapped around her waist. He had landed and had seemingly forgotten to release the girls.
The use of the "kun" at the end of his name didn't escape him, but he chose to let it go, for now, and instead removed his arms from around Ibara and Tokage before gently lowering Pony to the ground. "Alright, Ladies, thank you for joining me for that. Pony, I'd love to hear more any time." He winked at her before retrieving his cane from where it was propped against the wall, and made his way to a waiting room.
The three girls stared at his retreating back before huddling up to discuss what had just happened in hushed whispers and with many giggles.
Izuku found an empty break room and sat down with a bottle of water. He took a moment to reflect on everything that had happened up to this point. "It's going well. I made my entrance in the first event, and made the connection I needed to in the second. Now to win this thing without looking like I'm putting in any effort. " He took a deep drink, staggering slightly in his seat. He hadn't realized how thirsty he really was. "I guess I've been putting in more effort than I knew." he chuckled to himself.
"It's good to know it's harder than it looks."
Izuku's head jerked up. "Aizawa Sensei, what can I do for you?" He had only ever seen Aizawa look this alert once before- during the attack on USJ during his first year. It worried him.
"You are putting on quite a show. You're slinging around power like it's nothing. You need to be careful not to cross the line from inspiring, to frightening. It's a delicate line; make sure you learn to tow it."
Izuku stared at Aizawa's back as he turned and left.
"Hmm, he's right. I didn't think about that. I was going for overwhelming strength to get a good offer from a top hero agency, but if I'm TOO overwhelming, no one will want to work with me."
He retreated into his own thoughts for a while, not caring about the extracurricular events for the students that had been knocked out. A few students peeked into his room, but quickly left once they realized who was in there. Soon enough, the display monitor in the break room listed the brackets for the single elimination matches.
Hmm, in the best of sixteen round, I'm up against Lida. I'm not surprised that he made it through. Should be easy.
A staff member found him not long after, and informed him that he should move to the arena as his match was coming up. He stood and stretched, feeling the muscles tighten before he relaxed into an easy stance. "Showtime."
ARE YOU READY FOR THE FIRST MATCH IN THE SINGLE ELIMINATION ROUND!? THE SPEED DEMON LIDA TENYA, FACING OFF AGAINST THE THUS-FAR UNTOUCHED MIDORIYA IZUKU, ARE YOU READY LISTENERS?!
Izuku walked on the field to ear-splitting screams. He had been expecting some new fans, but a disproportionate number of them seemed to be female. He smirked to himself. "Every teenage boy's dream, huh?"
He strolled easily to the center stage where Lida and Midnight Sensei were waiting for him.
"Alright gentlemen, let's have a clean match. The match is over when I say it's over, when your opponent is knocked out of bounds, or if your opponent is unable to continue. Any questions?"
Both boys shook their heads, signaling understanding. Izuku eyed Midnight Sensei. He had never really appreciated her appeal until now. Sure, he had noticed her, but until now, she had always intimidated him. Not anymore.
They two young men shook hands, Lida whispering, "Do I even have a chance, Izuku?"
Izuku just smiled and walked to his place.
Midnight Sensei raised her cat-o-nine-tails whip and spoke, "Three… two...one… go!" She cracked her whip in a swift downward motion and turned to stare at Izuku.
The instant her whip had cracked, his eyes had glowed green. She could feel the power radiating off of him, and "Holy shit," she thought. She had never felt anything like it before. She turned to look at Lida, and saw him hovering a foot off of the ground, drifting away from them towards out of bounds.
Lida sighed in resignation and raised his hand. "I give up."
Izuku walked forwards and shook Lida's hand again.
Izuku's next two matches went much the same way; at the crack of the whip, he lifted first Eijiro Kirishima, and then Momo Yaoyorozu, and gently moved them to the out of bounds. Each time, Midnight could feel the power radiate off of him, and by the finals, she was shivering in anticipation.
Izuku looked across the arena to where Bakugo, his final opponent of the tournament, stood. They went to shake hands, and Bakugo said, "Are you going to fight me like a little bitch? Or are you going to fight me like a man? I bet Uraraka is looking down on you right now, crying at what a little bitch you're being, fighting the way you are. Fight me for real, you damn nerd!"
Izuku kept his smile plastered on his face and said nothing, merely turning to walk to his side of the arena. Midnight winced, knowing that Bakugo was trying to provoke Izuku into making a mistake, but thought that might not be the right thing to do.
She raised her whip and counted down, "Three… Two… O" BOOM!
The arena shook. Bakugo had jumped early, pounding a massive explosion into Izuku while he stood there calmly. The audience murmured as they waited for the smoke to clear to see what had happened. Surely even Deku, who had put on such a wonderful display of strength couldn't be unaffected by that.
"You know, Katsuki, you run your mouth about fighting like a man, and then you jump early? What kind of MAN does that make you?"
The audience gasped as the smoke cleared to reveal Izuku standing exactly where he had been. Scorch marks marred the concrete on either side of him, but the area in a wide cone behind him was unscathed. He had clearly taken the hit head-on and been unaffected. Izuku made a "Tch" of irritation as he batted at his jacket to remove the soot. He had had no trouble keeping his costume clean during the race, but Bakugo had taken him a bit off guard with the early start.
"Resume your places please, gentlemen. Bakugo, if you false start again, you forfeit the match." Midnight was torn. On the one hand, she was upset that Katsuki had jumped the gun. On the other hand, she was immensely impressed by the seeming immovability of Izuku.
Once Katsuki had moved to his side of the arena again, she raised her hand. "Three...Two… One… CRACK BOOM!
As her whip cracked, Izuku had vanished and the wall behind Bakugo had shattered. She stared, disbelieving at where Bakugo had stood. Standing there now, radiating red and green lines of power through his clothes, stood Izuku. She looked to the wall and blanched. "Medic!" she called. "We need a medic here, NOW!"
Izuku stood calmly, looking at the broken form of Bakugo smashed into the wall. The concrete had cracked in a spiderweb around his point of impact, and there was a line of blood running from the corner of his mouth. "He shouldn't have baited me like that," he thought. Years of bullying and baiting had led to this, maybe Bakugo finally learned his lesson.
The crowd howled. Many of them could remember Bakugo from the last few years. Always cocky and always a jerk. He would be fine, they were sure, but this was a good lesson for him to learn. "THE FASTEST FINAL MATCH OF ALL TIME, LISTENERS! I PRESENT TO YOU YOUR WINNER, MIDORIYA IZUKU, OR RATHER, SOON-TO-BE HERO DEKUUUUUUU!"
The crowd continued to lose their mind as Midnight, still visibly shaken by what had just happened fifteen feet from her, approached Izuku with a Mic in her hand.
"Do you have a moment for a quick interview, as the winner, Deku?"
Izuku looked at her blush and winked at her, "For you, Midnight Sensei, anything!"
"So I've got to ask, what's with the tuxedo? We all remember you as the boy in the green hero costume, what happened?"
"Well, I figured it was time for a change. The age of gaudy costumes and capes is over. Heroes should be remembered by their actions, not their costumes. I wanted to look professional and deliberate. We aren't living in a superhero movie, this is real life, even if superheroes are real."
"Well, I hope you can make that happen, but for those of us who have created a… fanbase, based on an image, I'm sure we will stick to our bright costumes for now. Next question! What are your plans for the future? You made a bold statement at the beginning about being the next pillar of peace, what does that mean to you?"
"That's two questions, Midnight, Sensei, but since it's you, I'll answer both. To answer your first question, I plan to become a pro hero. I plan to make the future a brighter, better place to live in, whatever it takes. And as for your second question… that's a little harder to answer. All Might had been the pillar of peace for so long , fighting the big fights that no one else could. And deterring smaller villains just by existing. I plan to step into those shoes, and continue to bring them to new heights. Creating a world where a villain is someone who chose to do wrong, not someone who was forced there out of desperation."
"Ahh, big words, for a fresh hero! I hope you keep your optimism forever, it's inspiring, isn't that right, everyone?"
The crowd roared its approval.
Izuku waved to the crowd and thought to himself, "If only you really knew how far I was willing to go, maybe you'd be afraid instead of inspired."
A/N I will be starting a new story soon. It will be a sister-story to this one, and will be one-shot lemons of THIS Izuku and others. This story will continue to have an occasional lemon, but I wanted to have a place to put some lemons that wouldn't progress the story line or develop the relationships of the characters.
As always, thanks for reading, and if you have any feedback, please review!