A.N: Hello there! Back again with another chapter. If the last one was the calm before the storm, then this is where the typhoon finally erupts! (Or something, does 'typhoon' and 'erupt' even work together?) Thank you all so much for the continued support! Let's get to reviewin'!
Vince Fangway: Ding-Ding, right on the button! Rappa already has great punching-form, and combined with his natural weight, strength, and Quirk, then he's already really amazing. However, like you noticed, he's focusing too much on arm-strength and his upper-body, rather than using his feet and toes as the root of his power. Don't worry, he'll learn soon enough. ;D
SkeenTheDream: Hah, that's a good one! You'd be surprised actually, considering the hints that Kendo sort of drops in this chapter, that just might be applicable here!
God Doesn't Love You: Well, funny you should mention that... because the story does go past Kendo graduating finally becoming a hero! With him in this current position, there are a number of changes that happen to the canon of Bnha. We ain't there just yet, but... we're getting there.
Thank you all again for the support, and I hope I can continue to interest people in this crazy idea of mine. Either way, back to the show!
Rumble, Young Man Rumble!
Chapter 13
Speech for the Soul
"… and please be careful! There's no need to get hurt senselessly, alright?" His mother fussed as she brushed off his shoulders.
"Just don't be reckless son," His father said, patting him on his arm. "Whatever the case, always be aware of your surroundings, and fall back in you need to. No shame in retreating of its necessary."
"Heh, you ain't incorrect, but you're wrong about that pops," Kendo chuckled as he rolled his shoulders. "I've got one mode today, and that's to go straight forward! I swore that I'd make you guys proud, and there's nothing better to the Rappa household than for me to prove myself on the national stage."
"…Kid, we're already proud of how far you've come in the past month," His father said warmly, a small smile on his face. "And we're both amazed to see how much stronger you've become! It's not that we doubt your strength, we just…"
"I get ya, I get ya, parental worry and all that jazz," Kendo chuckled, pulling both of them into a giant hug. "But I meant what I said, I ain't backing down from anything today. There's… there's someone who I owe my full effort to." His mother's eyes went wide as Kendo's face turned bashful and a bit pink.
"…My goodness, it's Rumi isn't it?"
"…Yeah…" He chuckled, a bit more nervously.
"Graaaandchildren!" His mother cheered, much to the exasperation and amusement of Kendo and his father. "So, I'm guessing you've pledged your love to her and you want to win the Festival for her hand? Goodness, that's so romantic!" His mother gushed.
"What? Mom, no, we promised to fight each other in the finals of the one-on-one's! We're gonna give the crowd a show and slug it out to the end!"
"… I'm entirely done with trying to understand you kids," His mother sighed after a moment, massaging the bridge of her nose while Kendo and his father shared a booming laugh.
"Miss Usagiyama seems like a tough cookie considering all the training you two do together," He father said, "I may not be a fighting man, but I'm certain that you'll both give a good showing!"
"That's my intention pops," Kendo said as he smashed his knuckles together, smirking. "It's time to get this show on the road!"
…
"Do you understand? If I see any sign of you flagging or, god forbid, if you lose, then I will not hesitate to cut your funding. If you present yourself as a-!"
"Liability, then you'll drop me without a second thought, I know," Rumi snarled into the phone.
"Watch your tongue girl!" Her father spat, immediately silencing her. "The damn audacity of you, thinking you can take that tone with me!"
"I… I apologize… father," She said, her voice trembling with rage and just a hint of fear.
"Hmph! You'd better. Anyway… it's come to my attention that the final event of the Festival is to be one versus one fights. I expect you to reach the event, first and foremost, and when you do, win with any means necessary. Break bones, tears muscle, dislocate joints, I don't care. Just show me that you have some skill to warrant your position in U.A. Clear?"
"…"
"Have I made myself clear?"
"Yes father."
"Good. I will be watching you."
"I know." She waited for him to hang up before she burst into silent tears, her face twisted into despair as she outright crushed the phone in her hand. She curled in on herself, trying not to sob. 'I hate him… I fucking hate him!' Her mind screamed as she tried to squeeze her eyes shut. 'I-I…' Her mind flashed back to the image of Kendo's grin, the words of promise calming her somewhat. She breathed in deeply, sniffling and wiping the tears from her eyes, smiling a bit. '…Screw you father. I'll strive to win, but not because of you. I've got someone to aim for, and it isn't your shitty legacy or pride.'
…
Walking to the beginning area of the first event was a combination of exciting, nerve-wracking, and outright terrifying for Shinji Nishiya. As grateful as he was for managing to make friends with people such as Kendo, Rumi, and Sendo, he was still a fairly shy person who had his share of difficulties with crowds, especially big ones. It wasn't something that he necessarily had to worry about as of this moment, but he could feel them watching. It made his skin tingle, his heart tremble nervously as he began to sweat slightly. "No, I… I can do this!" He said, trying to hype himself up.
"Oi, Shinji, you okay?" Kendo asked with a grin, patting the smaller boy on the back.
"I-I'm… simply nervous," He admitted, idly scratching his arm.
"All you gotta do is kick ass, and you'll be fine!" Kendo laughed, giving Shinji an honest smile. "You're stronger than you know. You were able to hold me back. Besides," It was Kendo's turn to look a bit nervous, rubbing the back of his head. "I've actually got a speech to do today, since I got the highest score in the Entrance exam."
"You, a speech?" Shinji asked, a hint of dubiousness.
"Dickhead!" Kendo laughed, "But, yeah. I think… I think it's a good one, but I'm a bit nervous too. Speeches to giant crowds ain't my thing."
"I understand," Shinji chuckled. He felt far more relaxed, being able to casually talk with someone as open and honest as Kendo. "I am certain that you will be fine."
"Just don't trip up on your damn words and you won't die!" A voice laughed, the two of them turning to see Rumi walk towards them, Sendo following not so far behind. Rumi and Kendo walked right up to each other, confident grins on their face. "So, today's the day huh?"
"Yup. Gonna be one hell of a day. You ready?" Her voice wavered a bit, something that Shinji and Kendo caught onto.
"Usagi…?"
"I good, sorry! Just a bit on edge." She chuckled, covering it up well. "But yeah… I'm ready." Kendo looked like he wanted to say something, but he let it go for now. He held out a hand and she took it, the two of them sharing a strong shake. "Let's do this thing."
…
'Nevermind, this is too much!' Shinji thought. The Festival was to take place in a giant arena, row upon row of seat, the place entirely packed with heroes and civilians alike. Yet, despite the overwhelming amount of people, the cheers and applause as the students walked into the middle of the arena helped relieve his tension somewhat. "Hey, Woods." He felt a nudge to his arm to see Yu Takeyama looking at him, concerned. "You okay? You're shaking." He stared at her for a moment, captured by her soft face before he managed to shake himself back to focus.
"Y-yes, I'm alright. Big crowds of strangers aren't my… thing."
"Hmm, fair enough. I think you'll be alright though."
"… I suppose you're correct," He said, breathing out and fully calming himself. "You have my thanks, Yu."
"Mmm. Don't cower or flee, you're stronger than you think you are," She said with a small smile as she walked a bit ahead of him. It got him thinking, about his past, how it could've twisted him into an utterly horrible and demented person. Years of abuse while locked up in that cellar, forced to produced wood for a 'family' that didn't truly care for him should've broken him. Yet, here he was, on a path to becoming a hero, to breaking out of his shell in order to help others.
'I… I guess I am stronger than I think,' He wondered, looking at his hands. Wooden in appearance, but not like texture. Still, that didn't hide the scars that refused to heal, refused to disappear, even if nobody looked closely enough to see them. 'Can I really show it? Can I show how far I've come since I was a scared little boy?' He had zoned out so much that he got startled at Midnight walked up onto the podium, calling out Kendo for his speech. His head snapped up as he saw the big teen walk up, slightly shaking out his hands as he got to the mic. He tapped it, one, twice, a bit of feedback whining through the speakers as everyone went silent to listen.
"…Cool, it's on," Kendo said, drawing a few chuckles from the crowd. "So, uh, I'm Kendo, Kendo Rappa. And as the guy doing the opening speech, I just wanna say…" He grabbed the mic, turning to look at the crowd of students that were staring up at him. "I pledge to win this thing." Immediately, he was met with jeers and boos from the other classes, though 1-A remained silent (aside from Tetsude's grumbling). The crowd murmured, their eyes still on the grinning Kendo.
"Shut up, asshat!"
"You're just all talk, you jackass!"
"I wasn't finished!" Kendo laughed, having expected people to get angry at him. They fell quiet, though still upset. "I pledge to win it, but… I know that everyone here also wants to as well. I guess that's the point of the Sports Festival. Right?" There were a few muttered agreements at that, and Shinji was curious as to what he was going to say next, among the others of class 1-A. "Yeah, it is the point of the Sports Festival!" Kendo answered with a grin. "But I don't really think that's all there is to it. I'm not the smartest, or the strongest… yet." Again, a few laughs rippled through the crowd. "I think that the point is, for those of us who don't win, me included, is that we put our heart and damn soul into this thing. We don't just show off how physically strong we are, or how good our quirks are so people can pick and choose who to say is the real number one. Someone… someone special to me taught me that." It was hard to miss Rumi's face going pink, and the giant smile that stretched across her face, especially when the crowd hooted at Kendo. "We're all here to put our mind, body, and soul on the line. Even if punches aren't thrown, it's still a fight to the finish, and I don't think that as students, there's anything more heroic than being here now, ready to spill our blood to scream to the world, 'LOOK AT ME, BECAUSE I'M GONNA BE A HERO, AND THERE'S AIN'T A DAMN THING IN THIS WORLD YOU CAN DO TO STOP ME!'" Something in Shinji's chest seemed to clench as he heard those words, that something in his heart beginning to smoulder.
"I was a dropout from a regular highschool, and all I wanted to do was fight. Had I not met a certain hero, I think I might've ended up in the Yakuza or something. I didn't have the best lid on my urge to fight, I wasn't good at studying. But I'm here now, aren't I!?"
"It does matter who you are, what you've been through. It matters right here and right now how you deal with who you are, and the things you've experienced. No matter the place you come in, you fight for that place, you fight through what's holding you back, because that's what makes you a damn HERO! PLUS ULTRA!"
The crowd, the students, everyone exploded into an uproar of cheers. The speech may have been somewhat clichéd, but it was a speech that exemplified who Kendo was at his core, and that was more than enough to win the crowd over. A simple person with strong voice a heart of gold tended to do that, and Shinji himself wasn't exempt from this crowd either. 'He's right,' He thought to himself as he clapped, a small, determined smile on his face, 'I'll fight my past, I'll prove how far I've come since then. I'm not a scared boy anymore, I'm Shinji Nishiya, and I'm going to be a hero!'
…
"You've got a hell of a way with words," Rumi grinned as she nudged Kendo, the boy laughing bashfully.
"Yeah, took me eight days to write that thing up," Kendo said with a bashful smile, "Scrapped a load of my drafts before I got the final thing down last Friday."
"Why'd you scrap the other drafts? Hell, your speech just now was pretty good in my books!" Rumi asked, curious. She wasn't prepared when he let out a soft and honest smile, a look that made her heart skip a beat.
"Had a spark of inspiration, and thought it'd be best if I just wrote my heart out instead of some random macho-shit. I wanted to write it without any regrets." She clammed up. Rumi Usagiyama was unashamedly standing there, clamming up as her ears shot straight up and her cheeks burned. Kendo just chuckled and walked past her, gripping her shoulder. "See you at the finish-line, Rumi." Even after that, she wasn't able to move, her face practically glowing.
"…Oof, you've got it bad for him, don't you?" Ryuko teased, managing to snap her out her daze, the two of them laughing. Rumi was a bit embarrassed for getting caught like that, but it was ultimately worth it.
"Yeah… yeah, I guess so."
"AWWWLLRIGHT STUDENTS!" Present Mic shouted, his bombastic voice echoing through the arena. "MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE STARTING LINE, AND LET'S FINALLY GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD!" Immediately, like a switch had been flipped. If Kendo's speech had stoked a fire in them, then the walk to the starting-line had made that flame even brighter.
"Show time," Rumi muttered, smirking as her blood raced.
(To Be Continued…)
A.N: A bit cheesy? Yeah, admittedly. Wanted to try and flesh out Kendo's current state of mind here. Also wanted to delve a bit more into Shinji (aka Kamui Woods) and how his past affects his interactions and thoughts of self-doubt here. I find him to be a pretty cool character, and always wondered what his deal was with his dark childhood, so I wanted to have my personal take on it. Also, Rumi's got parental issues? More on that later ;P Either way, hope you enjoyed, and see you next time, because you'd better be ready for the RUMBLE!