Chapter 58: An interesting offer
"With Midoriya Izuku being knocked out in the semi-finals, we will now have the final: Tokoyami vs Hatsume!" Mic announced.
The crowd cheered.
"Tokoyami's appearance is unsurprising considering he was one of the favorites but for the first time, we'll have someone from the support department in the finals! Maybe she'll even be transferred to the hero course!"
"OI!" Hatsume intervened, "Who said I want to be in the stinky hero course!?"
"Erm, it's, of course, your choice," Mic laughed nervously, "Let's just get on with the fight,"
"Who do you think will win, Izuku?" Kaminari turned to his friend but found Izuku lying on the ground, gloomy, "Izuku!?"
"I should have won that fight. If only I wasn't so stupid and just went on with my attack!" Izuku groaned and flopped onto his stomach.
"He's really taking it hard, huh?" Uraraka whispered. Kaminari twitched and pulled Izuku up by his ears, "OW OW! What the hell?"
"I thought you were an impostor. It's not like you to be so regretful," Kaminari let go with a grin.
Izuku pouted, "I'm being serious! If I had just gone on… Watanabe was right, I'm too scared,"
"Not necessarily a bad thing," Momo intervened, "Heroes aren't meant to hurt people, even villains shouldn't be hurt unless it's for public safety,"
"Let's just enjoy the fight, ok Izuku?" Uraraka said gleefully. Midoriya just gave a simple nod and slumped onto the railing. Kaminari shook his head at Izuku's antics and gave him a shove, "Act like the class rep you dumbass!" he shouted and pulled him up, making him sit straight.
"It really isn't your fault Izuku. If you keep regretting your actions, it makes it seem like you're thinking that Hatsume isn't deserving of it," Shouji pointed out critically.
"What! Is that what you think Izuku? That's so unmanly!"
"No, of course not!" Izuku quickly defended himself, "I just think I could have handled it better. She deserves the final."
"Well, Tokoyami better win the fight!" Bakugou said adamantly, "I'm not going to be the guy who lost to the runners-up! I'm going to be the guy who lost to the winner!"
"Oh, have you given up on your dream of being number 1 Kacchan?" Izuku asked innocently.
"Tch, there are more chances for that,"
Izuku pretended to wipe a tear, "Ah, I've never seen you so emotional before Kacchan. It warms my heart!"
"What was that, you damned nerd!?"
"I thought you had redeemed yourself Bakugou?" Kaminari teased.
"That excuse isn't gonna work all the time!" Bakugou shouted.
"Man Bakugou is really easy to piss off, huh?" Kirishima laughed.
"What was that, Shitty-hair!?" Bakguou demanded.
"What, it's true! You can't even take a joke!"
"I can take a joke!"
"No, you can't,"
"Yes, I can!" Bakugou yelled and unintentionally activated his quirk. Fortunately, it had no effect on Kirishima, who hardened himself, and brushed aside the dirt while laughing, "See!"
"Eh don't worry Kirishima. Kacchan will eventually stop. He might not say sorry though," Izuku hummed.
"Seriously, isn't the class rep supposed to stop all these antics?" Momo shook her head in disapproval as Bakugou started chasing Izuku and Kirishima around, "Want me to help?" Shouji asked.
"I'm not sure what you're going to do, but fine," Momo responded, absentmindedly.
The next moment she heard a loud thud and three high-pitched squeals. Momo turned to see Shouji holding all three of them in a chokehold, "I suggest you apologize," Shouji warned them.
"S…o…r….r…y" Kirishima and Izuku gasped out, and they were let go but Bakugou refused to apologize. Shouji didn't have a problem with that and kept holding him, "See, I told you he won't apologize," Izuku grinned at Kirishima who laughed. Shouji gave a warning look to Midoriya, making him shut up.
Shouji and Bakguou were at a standstill when the crowd erupted with cheers. Shouji let go and turned towards the fight, "It's already over!?" Izuku exclaimed.
"You're the one who was distracting us!" Kaminari grunted angrily, giving Izuku a slight static shock. Izuku chuckled, "Sorry,"
"Seriously, who made you class rep?"
"You guys," Izuku reminded Kaminari.
"Tch, we should have a revote,"
"Oi Jiro, what happened?" Kirishima asked. Jiro had simply ignored the three and had carried on with watching the fight attentively, "Nothing much. Hatsume kept throwing random stuff at Tokoyami but Dark Shadow kept catching them. Finally, she took out her homemade flashbang and exploded it. Dark Shadow disappeared and Hatsume shot him with a taser, knocking him out,"
"That's it?"
"Well it looked more entertaining, but yeah,"
"HAHA! Leave it to 1A to lose to the support department," Monoma rushed to the divider and tried to rile up 1A.
"At least we got to the finals. You guys didn't Kero,"
"Only because your classmate kept cheating in the cavalry battle. It's only because you're 1A that you were allowed. If it was 1B then-" Monoma was cut off with Kendo knocking him out, "Enough with your conspiracy theories," she sighed, getting a headache, "Sorry guys," she apologized to 1A and dragged Monoma behind her.
"ASTONISHING! FOR THE FIRST TIME THE SPORTS FESTIVAL HAS BEEN WON BY SOMEONE IN THE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT!" Mic yelled as loud as he could, clearly excited, "Eraserhead what do you think happened to the hero courses,"
"They became complacent. 1A must have gotten cocky after their fight with villains at USJ and gotten too complacent. I can't say the same for 1B, but clearly, they were also looking to mock their opponents rather than win," Aizawa said brutally, not mincing his words.
"So this is what All Might's class can do? Unbelievable!" Some hero yelled out.
"Being a top hero doesn't mean you are a top teacher," Majima reminded, "Anyway, Eraserhead was being too harsh, the hero course did fine. Hatsume is just too much of a prodigy," Majima praised his star student.
"You must be elated," Joke said.
"Of course I am! When have I last had a student of my own win the sports festival? Never!"
As the crowd and the rest of the heroes bickered, Nighteye fell into deep thought, "Is All Might really that bad of a teacher? It could be possible considering how pathetic Midoriya is at controlling One for All, but even so, he can't be that bad!" Nighteye argued in his mind, not wanting to sell his idol short, "Watanabe's defeat is manageable. He really didn't have too much of a chance fighting against One for All,"
"Sir Nighteye," Bubble Girl interrupted his thought.
"What is it?"
"Shouldn't we send an offer for Watanabe?"
"Relax, we have time. I'm sure he'll be jumping at our offer no matter what other offers he gets," Mirai said confidently.
Hatsume walked through the halls, excited at having won the finals, "I should be getting tons of offers every second!" She thought, visibly shaking from all the excitement, "I wonder whether any hero agencies will give an offer. Ah, who cares! I'm not going to go there anyway. I want to make things!"
Unable to keep her excitement in any longer, she pumped up her fist with a yell.
"You are really happy, huh?"
Hatsume turned to see a man wearing all black, with long hair, staring at her, "Who are you?" She demanded.
"No need to get so aggressive," the man laughed, "The name's Tomoyasu Chikazoku. I'm here to hand in an offer for you to join our company on your internship,"
"Your company? Where do you work?" Hatsume asked, her interest rising.
"Detnerat,"
That rang a bell in Hatusme's mind, "Sorry, but Detnerat isn't a support company. They just make things specialized for certain quirks,"
"You're right. But we are planning to reach out into the support industry too,"
"Yeah, I know. I saw the ads," Hatsume replied, "I respectfully decline. Other successful companies would want me too. I can learn more with them,"
"Wait!" Tomoyasu said urgently, causing Hatsume to turn, "What?"
"In other companies, you'd probably not get so much freedom considering there's a hierarchy. But at Detnerat, while you would not get as experienced people to learn from, you would get a host of equipment to work with. And you wouldn't have anyone barring you. Plus, you can always learn from your teachers at UA."
This caught Hatsume's attention. It definitely was an interesting proposition but if she had learned anything, it was that there was always a catch, "What do you want in return?"
"We want to keep the blueprints of the inventions you want to make,"
Hatsume snorted, "That's not possible. I want to create my own industry. If you steal my blueprints, there's no way I'll be able to make it. Sorry, but I refuse," Hatsume turned to walk away again.
"Ok, what about just 3 blueprints of our choice?"
"Nope,"
"Come on. We'll even pay you 20% of the profit!"
Hatsume turned, "Really? 20%?"
Tomoyasu nodded, "Yup. Imagine all the things you could buy from that money and create even more stuff!"
"Just to be clear, you wouldn't be able to get the blueprints of any of my other work including the things I make with the money?"
Tomoyasu faltered a bit at that, "Damn it she's observant. But if I don't get her, the boss will be super stressed."
"Fine, we agree," Tomoyasu said.
Hatsume grinned, "Good, then I accept your offer. I'll sign it once I get it from my teachers,"
"No, I have the letter with me now," Tomoyasu handed her a letter, "We wouldn't want you to get nabbed by some other company after already discussing terms, now, would we?"
Hatsume opened the letter, "Don't you need to send a copy to the principal?"
"Already done. Now sign it already. I need to take it back to Rikiya-san,"
A part of Hatsume's gut told her to refuse the offer, to tear the paper and burn it, but it was too good of an offer to miss.
She took the pen and signed away, "Here," she handed the letter back and walked away.
Tomoyasu smiled at the signed piece of paper and called Rikiya, "We got her,"
"Good, good. What terms were agreed?"
"The minimum you had asked for. She's too observant,"
"I suppose that it's expected from a UA prodigy," Rikiya Yotsubashi sighed, "Shame we couldn't give any warped clauses. Principal Nedzu is too smart to not catch any clauses,"
"Yeah. At least we will get three blueprints, right?"
"Indeed. Make sure you don't lose the paper,"
"Yes sir,"
Here comes the MLA...
Can't believe it's been a year since I started writing this, didn't know I had it in me lol. Thanks for reading, hope you liked it and have a good day