will bombs stop going off near me?
「爆弾和私の近くで消えなくなりますか？」
"Alright," Akagawa exhaled. "Let's have fun, Iida."
"I look forward to our fight!" Iida gave a bow. Akagawa matched the bow, wanting to show his courtesy for once.
"Iida Tenya against Akagawa Masumi! Both are from Class A's hero course! Will who win, who!?" Present Mic announced. The crowd cheered with anticipation, but it was just white noise to Akagawa. From the audience, a male in his late twenties eyed Akagawa suspiciously.
"Ready! Set! Start!" Midnight counted down.
Iida was first to make his move. Using his jets, he ran full speed at Akagawa, who stood there watching with a smile on his face. Just as Iida got close enough, Akagawa used his scythe to cut off Iida's straightforward path. Iida spins around, having expected that, and lands a punch toward Akagawa.
Instead of Akagawa receiving impact, a red surface created by Akagawa deflected the punch. Akagawa kicks Iida in the knee. Iida, unbalanced, zooms through Akagawa and regained his balance by using his Quirk. Swirling around Akagawa like a shark in the water, Akagawa had no choice but to keep his scythe close while attempting to follow Iida's body in the mess of after images circling around him.
"Akagawa and Iida both rely on their amazing speeds! With a matchup of speed against speed, will one triumph over the other by simply using their Quirks!?" Present Mic asked in anticipation.
Akagawa was thrown off his balance by a punch in his upper back, nearly knocking him on the ground if it weren't for his fast reflexes. Akagawa caught himself and rolled forward before Iida could grab his leg, as Iida had attempted. Akagawa instead kicked his leg out, kicking Iida in the stomach and making him stagger back.
Iida's eyes widened when Akagawa sent a flying platform his way at top speed. Iida dodged it by rolling to the side, only to have to dodge more rectangular platforms until he was at the edge of the stage and couldn't roll to the right anymore. Akagawa smirked as the platform smacked against Iida and pushed him back towards the edge of the stage.
Akagawa narrowed his eyes as the platform went slow, Iida using his Quirk against it. Akagawa snarled, using a considerable amount of energy to keep the platform at bay, to no avail. Akagawa disbanded the platform, making Iida run straight toward him. Akagawa launched himself into the air, seeing how much momentum Iida had, it would send him all the way out of bounds on the other side.
Iida was quick on his feet, however, and swerved his legs after putting his hand against the stage to steady his turn. Akagawa conjured a scythe, landing against Iida's kicks just in time. The two glared at each other between the sparks their weapons created, friction pushing against friction until they finally broke apart. Iida went directly for a barrage of kicks. Akagawa used his scythe to block each of Iida's kicks, endless hits, and endless twirling of the scythe to dodge them all consistently.
"Such a fast-paced battle! It's barely been a minute and things have already kicked off to the max!" Present Mic laughed. "What a matchup! With Iida's ferocity and some amazing scythe maneuvers from Akagawa! Its obvious Akagawa has trained with the scythe for a long time! And it seems as though Iida has practiced some martial arts outside of his Quirk! They're both so focused!"
Iida's final kick sent Akagawa's scythe flying out of his hands. With Akagawa left defenseless, Iida went in for the punch. Iida landed a punch on Akagawa's jaw, seemingly sealing his victory by knockout. Iida was taken aback, however, as Akagawa didn't budge from where he stood. Instead, Akagawa looked back toward Iida with a smile and a fiery look inside his eyes, his nose crinkled as it snarled.
"Oh!? What's this!? That punch should've sent Akagawa flying! Where in the world did that punch go!?" Present Mic shouted in disbelief, on the edge of his seat.
Iida had questions running through his head as he stared at Akagawa's smirk off guard. Little did he know, a conjured long scythe was already positioned behind him without him noticing. By the time Iida did notice, it was too late. Akagawa sent Iida flying off to the edge with one wide swing. Iida tried to grab hold or use his Quirk, to no avail, he was too high in the air to get any sense of grounds. He landed outside of bounds, claiming Akagawa as the winner.
"Holy crap! What a play from Akagawa!" Present Mic awed.
"Akagawa took the hit so Iida wouldn't notice the trap being set up behind him," Aizawa stated.
"Yes! With his Quirk, he can numb the pain! Akagawa used his Quirk to it's fullest extent! Iida did, too, but sadly, it just wasn't enough! That sure was a close one, though! Iida definitely would have won had not been for Akagawa's overzealous behavior!" Present Mic laughed to himself.
"Akagawa Masumi wins!" Midnight announced. Iida looked down in frustration and disappointment. Akagawa saw Kirishima and the others waving at him from the 1-A seats. Akagawa headed up there, wondering what they wanted. But not before he walked over to Iida. Iida, sulking, looked up at Akagawa expecting the snarky remarks to start.
"You sure were annoying." Akagawa smiled, holding a hand out for Iida. "Better luck next time."
Iida sighed and accepted the handshake. He smiled, knowing this was the best he would ever get from Akagawa in terms of being nice. "Yeah." he exhaled. "Thank you."
"Oh, quit that. Just do better next year." Akagawa rolled his eyes and headed back up to the bleachers where his classmates waited for his return. When he finally returned with Iida, those four idiots were first to greet him with smiling faces and looks of pride.
"You were great out there!" Kirishima exclaimed.
Ashido stood. "You did great, Akagawa!"
Sero and Kaminari also said their pieces. Meanwhile, Bakugou pretended not to even see Akagawa. Not that he expected otherwise. Akagawa nodded, not sure what to say to the praise they gave him. Ashido then headed down, her battle with Aoyama starting. Akagawa noticed Midoriya mumbling away and writing profusely into his notebook, mumbling things about Iida and Akagawa both.
"Oh, that's wrong." Akagawa pointed to something Midoriya wrote in his notebook, causing Midoriya to yelp per tradition. "My energy supply is damn near endless. I just made sure to save all my energy for the next fight."
"Oh, ah, y-yes!" Midoriya wrote what Akagawa said.
"You took Iida lightly," Tokoyami commented. "You didn't think he could beat you. You held back on him."
"I was being smart," Akagawa replied. "Either way, I still won. I told you all before. None of us are friends. I just want to get to the finalists. Iida wouldn't have won, anyway. Not in a million years."
"You're cocky." Tokoyami shook his head.
"Akagawa..." Midoriya frowned.
Bakugou eyed Akagawa. "It doesn't matter. If he plays like that, he has no chance against me or Todoroki. Hell, Deku can probably beat him. 'Specially if the nerd is studying him like a lab rat."
"I just respect Akagawa's Quirk!" Midoriya interjected. "I don't study people just to beat them! I just enjoy learning!"
"That's what a stalker would say."
"Leave the nerd out of this, he's just sitting there." Akagawa spat. "All you do is bully Midori here and there. Pick a struggle, already. You can't bully him after he's one-upped you so many times. Quit beating a dead horse."
"I'd beat you into the ground!" Bakugou growled.
"Sounds fun, but save it for later." Akagawa winked. "Whether you like it or not, you and I will face off in the end."
"Is that a threat?" Bakugou warned Akagawa glaring down at the slightly smaller boy. Akagawa's smile didn't waver.
"It isn't a threat. It's a guarantee."
"Bird Brain was right. You are cocky. And I'm going to make sure that that changes." Bakugou warned before leaving the first row. Akagawa looked back at Midoriya as Bakugou went to the third row of seats. Midoriya made positive sure not to make eye contact with Akagawa or Bakugou. Uraraka chuckled nervously and kept Midoriya's mind off of the two rivals.
The matches continued. Akagawa sat mindlessly beside Midoriya, nearly fallen asleep until Uraraka and Bakugou were up. Akagawa was wide awake at that point, interested to see if Bakugou would hold back on a girl or not. Bakugou was true to his word. He didn't hold back on her, even if the audience said he was being too rough on a girl, he knew he had to be. Uraraka was decently scary when she wanted to be. She used many different strategies to attempt to defeat Bakugou. Something told Akagawa that Uraraka's resolve really made her a scary person.
Bakugou won by Uraraka collapsing, her energy all but spent. Akagawa leaned over into Midoriya's ear, seeing how he paused writing notes because he was so entranced by what he witnessed. Akagawa looked down to see a drawing of Uraraka and sentenced scrambled somewhat neatly around the page. Akagawa silently took his unhanded pencil and drew hearts around Uraraka for Midoriya to see later.
"Uraraka sure is impressive, isn't she?"
Midoriya nodded. "Yeah." he exhaled.
"Welcome back, Firecracker." Akagawa greeted Bakugou after he returned. Bakugou looked worn out but was already giving a lot of energy into making an angry face at Akagawa.
"What? You want to criticize me, too?"
"No way." Akagawa smiled. "You did really good against someone running on sheer willpower! If Uraraka had an offensive Quirk, we'd all be toast! Still, she was really strong. I think she's mastered her Quirk, now she just needs the right mindset and she could destroy all of Japan if she wanted!"
"Akagawa could be right..." Midoriya thought about it. "Given her personality and the common traits I've noticed about her, she could definitely have the willpower to—"
"Tch!" Bakugou slumped in his seat. While Midoriya continued to mutter to himself, Akagawa jumped from one seat to the one beside Bakugou. "I could destroy all of Japan right now if I wanted." Bakugou gloated. Akagawa put his legs over the arm of the chair, nearly kicking Bakugou's knees. Thankfully, he didn't seem to notice.
"Maybe. But you'd have to be mind-controlled or something." Akagawa spoke, taking a soda that Ashido had gathered for the entire class.
"Why?" Bakugou demanded, cracking open the soda and gulping down quickly.
"Well, for starters, your subconscious. No matter what you say, I know you're not some villainous idiot who'd destroy everything just because he could. Plus, even if you really wanted to, knew you had no other choice but to, I know for a fact you wouldn't be able to do it in the end and you'd just ignore your problems like usual until it all explodes in your face."
"The hell!?" Bakugou demanded, crushing the now empty soda can in his palm. "Oh, you think you're so clever, hah!? Dumbass, you can't tell me how I'd feel! Stop acting like that old hag! Go die!"
"Wow..." Akagawa trailed at Bakugou angrily stuffed chips into his mouth. "Was it something I said?"
"Bastard!" Bakugou replied simply, snatching the bag of chips out of Akagawa's hands and munching down on his. Akagawa crossed his arms and watched with a smile as Bakugou ate his chips as angrily as possible. He found it hilarious that he could make someone act like that.
Kirishima returned from his fight against Testutetsu. They ended up having an arm-wrestling contest to determine who moves on to the next round; Kirishima wins and the two seemed to become good friends over it. Midoriya leaves to prepare for his fight with Todoroki. The guy was shaking in his stupid red shoes. He drank a lot of water, also. Akagawa hopes he uses the bathroom before going out there for his own sake.
Midoriya and Tosoroki begin their match shortly after. Akagawa watches in anticipation, remembering how Midoriya and Todoroki shared quite a few words today. There were many times where the freezing cold wind from Todoroki's ice and Midoriya's smash froze the entire stadium.
"It started!?" Kirishima interrupted.
"Good job making it to the second round." Kaminari gave the redhead a thumbs up. Kirishima smiled and looked toward Bakugou.
"Yeah, I'll be up against you next, Bakugou. Let's have a good fight!"
Bakugou didn't even give him a death stare. Just a stare of annoyance and discomfort as he continued to watch the fight below. "I'll kill you."
Kirishima laughed. "I'd like to see you try!" Kirishima put a hand on his hip. "But man, you and Todoroki can both shoot off powerful attacks that cover a lot of ground. Like "Bam"!"
"And you can do it with no time lag," Sero commented.
"I'm not just shooting them off. Don't underestimate 'em." Bakugou responded, not even sparing anyone a glance. "If you overuse your muscles, the muscle fibers tear, and if you keep running, you'll run out of breath. There's a limit to how much power I can produce, too. That's why I designed my costume so that I could fire blasts in excess of what my body allows without any risks. Quirks are physical abilities, too. They must also give some kind of limit."
"Wow. I didn't know Bakugou was such a nerd." Akagawa commented. Kaminari and Sero laughed as Bakugou slapped Akagawa on the back of the head.
"If I think about it like that, I guess that makes sense..." Kirishima narrowed his eyebrows in concentration. "Then, against the instant-killer Todoroki, Midoriya wants..."
"An endurance match!" Akagawa exclaimed. Bakugou rolled his eyes at Akagawa before concentrating on the match, the five students getting on the edges of their seats.
Todoroki let's out another wave of ice, making Midoriya break all the fingers on his right hand to disassemble. Todoroki then charges, not recoiling from Smash's winds, and instead gets in close. Midoriya smashed at Todoroki, making Todoroki dodge by jumping into the air above Midoriya.
Midoriya dodges Todoroki's punch, only for the ice to chase after him. Grazing his shoe, Midoriya prepares another Smash. This time, he uses his entire fist, creating a hurricane that nearly blows away half the stadium. However, it still wasn't enough to knock Todoroki out of bounds. Still, Todorki was visibly tiring down. Still, he releases another ice barrage his way.
Everyone is shocked as Midoriya breaks it's coarse instantly by using one of his already broken fingers. The wind nearly sends Todoroki out of bounds. Midoriya speaks to Todoroki. Everyone could hear them. Midoriya lectured Todorooi about not using his full power. Cockily, Midoriya tells Todoroki to come at him with everything he's got.
Todoroi, enraged, charges at Midoriya. Midoriya readies Smash into his fist and lands a direct hit onto Todoroki's chest, sending him back. This cycle continued, with ice and Smash blowing it away, back and forth. Until they were both out of options and landing dry punches, their energies all but spent. Midoriya landed another Smash punch and shouted, sending Todoroki off.
Before Midoriya, flames erupted, nearly reaching ten feet into the sky. Midoriya struggled against the flames. Todoroki smiled toward Midoriya wildly. However, #2 pro hero, Endeavor, begins shouting encouragement at his son, Todoroki. Todoroki ignores it and uses ice and fire to his advantage against Midoriya, who puts One For All in his foot. The two propel themselves at each other. Midnight attempts to stop the fight, to no avail.
Before the two's powers collide, Cementoss's walls get in between them and stopped the impact on each of the participants. A smokescreen is all that's life for a while, the wind brings more unbearable than ever. Everyone was on the edge of their seat to see would still be standing. When the smoke resolved, Midoriya fell to the ground, claiming Todoroki as the winner.
"Holy shit!" Akagawa shouted. "Oh, boy, Midoriya actually managed to do it. Eh, Blasty?" Akagawa nudged Bakugou beside him, who could only stare with his lips agape. Akagawa could tell that even he was surprised.
"That gave me chills!" Sero exclaimed.
"Midoriya is gonna get an earful from Recovery Girl." Kirishima laughed. Uraraka, Iida, and a few others instantly got up to go see Midoriya in her office. Todoroki didn't return to the Class 1-A bleachers. Akagawa got up, dusting himself off before heading down to the arena.
"Good luck!" Kirishima exclaimed
He was abruptly stopped by Bakugou grabbing his wrist forcefully. Akagawa flinched slightly when he felt his wrist burn slightly. He looked at Bakugou to see him staring down. "You better not hold back on a girl."
Akagwa snickered. "'Course not."
Akagawa made it onto the platform across from Shiozaki. Shiozaki sent her vines at Akagawa. Akagawa conjured dual daggers to cut them down and get in close to Shiozaki. Shiozaki had no defense against Akagawa other than her vines, which were easily disposable to the redhead. Akagawa sent kicks her way, all the while using the daggers to cut down the vines that were rapidly reaching for him.
Shiozaki was sent back by a kick that landed on her shoulder. Akagawa closed his hands, making the daggers disappear, and instead created one big movable wall Shiozaki's way now that her guard was off. She tried using her vines to stop the wall, to no avail. She was sent out of bounds by the wall, claiming Akagawa the winner.
"Shiozaki out of bounds! Akagawa wins!" Midnight announced. With a drown, Shiozaki regained her bearings and headed toward the Class 1-B bleachers.
"Hey, Shiozaki!" Akagawa taught up to her. He turned back to her after gaining her attention, giving her a wink. "Your Quirk is super cool!"
Shiozaki gave a small nod, surprised to see the eccentric Akagawa compliment her. Then again, it wasn't like he complimented her. He did have a reputation for only caring about people's Quirks more so than the person themselves. Still, Shiozaki gave a small smile as Akagawa headed to his bleachers.
After that, Tokoyami and Ashido had their battle. Tokoyami won by respectfully pushing Ashido out of bounds by holding her back with Dark Shadow. Ashido's acid didn't have an effect on Dark Shadow, making it a rather easy fight for Tokoyami. Ashido returned to the bleachers with a defeated smile, hearing words of console by her classmates.
"He won in an instant, too," Satou commented.
"Tokoyami's Dark Shadow is amazing," Asui said. "Ribbit. Are you worried about Midoriya?" Asui leaned into an absentminded Uraraka.
"She said she had to do surgery..." Uraraka replied.
"Recovery Girl will make sure Midoriya gets proper care." Satou reminded the girl.
"Definitely. There's no way Midoriya will come out worse than he was with her healing him." Akagawa told her. "Plus, would you want Midoriya to see you like that? Cos' he sure wouldn't want to see you sulking like this."
Uraraka looked at Akagawa with wide eyes before she smiled. "Yeah, you're right. Sorry."
Bakugou and Kirishima then went down for their battle. Granting them both good luck, Akagawa waited contently for the end result. Bakugou did his best to hurry and knock Kirishima out, but with Kirishima's Quirk, his Explosion was practically useless. Attempted to land more punches on Bakugou, Kirishima sent sharp attacks the blond's way.
"Bakugou's having a hard time fighting back against Kirishima's fierce attack!" Present Mic shouted.
Bakugou kept dodging every punch Kirishima sent his way. Akagawa was surprised to see Bakugou on the defensive, but against a Quirk like Kirishima's, it couldn't he helped.
"Bakugou counters again! What's this!? Unlike before, it's working!" Present Mic shouted as Bakugou landed a hit. Kirishima, having used his Quirk from the get-go, was running out of energy to keep it going. Bakugou expected this and was using that knowledge to his advantage.
Bakugou sent a barrage at Kirishima, knowing that he wouldn't be able to dodge all of it at once in his current state. Laughing at he sent explosion after explosion, Kirishima's body wearing out, everyone waited to see what would happen to Kirishima. After that, Bakugou went in for the finishing blow.
"Die..!" Bakugou blew Kirishima away. Kirishima landed on his back, knocked out and immobilized. Bakugou wins.
Akagawa whistled at the radius of the explosions. He swears he could also hear Tetsutetsu calling Kirishima an idiot for losing, wanting him to win. That makes the advances to the third round being Todoroki, Tokoyami, Akagawa, and Bakugou.