A.N: We've done it. You fucking madlads, we've actually reached it. After four, FOUR years of writing, I'm honoured that every single one of you, new fans and old, have brought this story up to 100 Follows. I know it's not much compared to some of the other bigger stories out there, but it's a really big moment for me, and I couldn't have got here without your support. Thank you all.
Longnose: Once more, I am unashamed at my ability to leave something hanging by a thread XD.
JaxTheGamer: One of the first to ever have viewed my story and saw potential in it, I thank you, old chap, for your kind comments and words of encouragement. I'm glad that you've enjoyed the chapter, and the story so far having led up to this moment. I will do my best to continue holding this story to a high standard for everyone around, and thank you for your continued support by good fellow! Tally-ho, for I must find the lost treasure of the Romans!
THORN29535: Ooh, I've actually started reading into Kenichi! It's a funny series and a classic gem of Shonen protagonist stories, though I do know the overall plot of it. To say Kendo is a mix of Takeda and Berserker is pretty accurate within its own right. Regarding the Seikuken, you'd be surprised. It actually isn't so much a special move, it's a real-life conceptual technique that all fighters use (myself included, just minus the giant glowing shield XD). As for Kendo learning it... well, you'll just have to see ;D. Thanks for the thoughts, ideas and support dude!
SkeenTheDream: Glad you liked the fight my man, and especially the cliffhanger XD. The question as to who will be interning with who shall be answered... in due time ; you so much for sticking around from the very beginning and seeing this crazy story of mine through. Read on my man!
ChernoAlpha117: Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to have Ippo teach Kendo directly. Hajime No Ippo takes place in around the late 1900's, whereas Bnha is several decades, if not a good two centuries past that (I think) However... that's not to say that clips of Ippo's old fights still aren't floating around ;D. As for the Dempsey Roll, well, you'd be surprised as to what I have in mind. Thanks for the support my guy!
StandUpKeepMovingForward: ;D
God Doesn't Love You: Well now, who's to say that Kendo gets to fight All Might? Hell, who's to say that he even fights All for One? Well... no comment on All for One, but as for fighting All might sooner or later... you'll see ;D.
All that being said, onto the show... a think y'all are gonna like this one.
Rumble, Young Man Rumble!
Chapter 24
Little victories and silver linings…
"KAMPAAAAAI!" Almost all of class 1-A and a few members of 1-B shouted. It was the night of the Final Match between Rumi and Kendo, everyone coming out to celebrate a job-well done. Everyone, without exception, was in incredibly high spirits, and what better way to celebrate than a bunch of teenagers going out to eat a massive amount of food? Even Tetsude of all people had mellowed out and lightened up, enjoying the atmosphere of the casual restaurant/diner they were in.
"God, it's so weird to see you without some kinda snarl on your face!" Ryuko laughed, lazily kicking back on the booth.
"Oh shut up before I change my mind!" He barked, the lack of any real bite to his words and the small grin on his face making everyone laugh. Shinji was no exception to the rule, chuckling slightly.
"It is somewhat strange," He chipped in, "But ultimately, if eating some humble pie got you to this point, then I don't really mind."
"Mhm," Tetsude nodded. He was still guilty about his words and actions in his fight against Shinji, but the past was the past. Shinji ultimately didn't hold it against him and was even glad, in that had Tetsude not done what he did, Shinji wouldn't have pushed himself so far.
"Time for the Kaibara family song!" Kaiten shouted right after he swallowed a slice of pizza whole, "PIZZA, MOZZARELLA~! PIZZA, MOZZARELLA~! 'ELLA, 'ELLA, 'ELLA!" Again, another round of boisterous and hysterical laughter made its way through the group. Yu actually shot out two streams of water from her nostrils in a vain attempt to stifle her laughter, ironically only bringing about even more laughter from the group.
"NOBODY SAW ANYTHING!" She shrieked, mortified but unable to stop laughing herself. Sendo only laughed harder, his drink almost spilling from his cup. What only added even more to the overall humour was the fact that literally everyone was injured in some capacity. Yu still had a few bandages on her face, Sendo was holding an ice-pack to his jaw, Tetsude's arms and other parts of his body wrapped up in gauze.
"Speaking of seeing things," Yu coughed into her hand, "You two were absolutely amazing in that fight, almost as much as me!"
When it came to injuries, literally nothing topped the comical patch-ups that Kendo and Rumi had. Rumi herself was sporting a thick cast from her right shoulder all the way down to the tips of her fingers to support the healing bones underneath, much of her bruised face filled with gauze and an ice-pack literally tied to her head in between her rabbit-ears to help alleviate her aches. Even still, that didn't top Kendo's. Mirroring her in a way, his left arm was in a similar cast, shoulder to fingertip. Through his black tank-top, it was easy to see the multitude of gauze wrapped round his chest and arms… and almost everywhere else. Small lumps underneath the gauze were proven to be warming-packs to aid in the relaxation of his previously stretched and torn muscles, something that he had in spades. He too sported bruises across his body and face, an ice-pack also tied to his head. There was a particularly thick layer wrapped around his previously pierced thigh, the gauze concealing a pack of cooling gel around the closed wound to help promote his recovery.
"Yeah," Kendo chuckled, "But I look like a fuckin' mummy now!" Again, everyone laughed, but it didn't distract them from just how close Kendo and Rumi were. Literally. He casually had his (relatively) uninjured arm around her shoulders, her hand resting on his thigh. Not to mention, it was apparent to everyone that the two of them were very well aware of their closeness, goofy grins and light blushes on their face.
"Don't take it too hard," Rumi chuckled, managing to somehow scoot even closer to him. "You were just a single step away from taking me down."
Hold on.
What?
Indeed, you heard that correctly: the winner of the U.A Sports Festival First Year Tournament was none other than Rumi Usagiyama. 'But how?!' I hear the cries of the audience asking. Indeed, let us go back to the very end of that fight.
With his back against a wall, no other options left at his disposal, his mind blank from all other thoughts, Kendo unleashed a technique based entirely off of instinct, a move that would baffle and intrigue him until he fully understood the inner workings, combined with one final burst of his Advance.
Demon-Bane X Advance.
Indeed, such a technique was incredibly powerful within its own right, surely strong enough to live up to its own name and slay demons. It did. It also missed its mark. Even if his final move was far more powerful than normal, Rumi still saw it coming and barely had enough time to react. Instead of taking it right to the gut, she had barely managed to shift to the side, catching the Demon-Bane on her right arm, promptly shattering every bone in it. Even still, he had missed, and was left wide open.
Even if it was done on instinct, he knew in the back of his mind that pulling it off was risky in its own right. And when that risk didn't pay off, he was struck clean across the chin by one final roundhouse-kick from Rumi, knocking him out cold. Thus, that was how the Tournament ended. Despite the loss, Kendo was far from unhappy, the complete opposite really.
'I never realized how damn small Usagi is, at least compared to me.' He thought, 'She smells like carrot-cake. Dunno why, but that just makes her even prettier.'
'Is it weird that I really like that jawline of his?' Rumi wondered, her eyes roaming his face. 'Because that is a Grade-A jawline. Damn, you could probably cut stone with a jaw that strong.'
"Ahem," A voice startled them out of their gazes, "If you two are done staring into each other's souls, our food's finally arrived!" Bashful at getting caught, they still both laughed as everyone loudly thanked and blessed the food.
"ITADAKIMAAAASU!" They all yelled, positively starving. The for next half hour, the little diner was filled with laugher, joy, and the near-disturbingly loud sounds of food being eaten and swallowed. Truly, such a night couldn't be made better… right?
Oh please, I think you know how this is going to go.
…
"That was a lot of fun," Shinji sighed, everyone having exited the restaurant fairly late into the night. "But I think we can all agree that we ate a bit too much." Warbled and slightly pained laughter made its way through the group. Indeed, they had become overindulgent and stuffed themselves to the brim. Such was the situation at hand.
"That's just part of the fun!" Rumi laughed, her arm around Kendo's waist, supporting him and helping him walk. "But fun's over now. Today was a blast and thank all of you guys for coming out to celebrate. I think that regardless of what place you came in today, we all put our best foot forward and fought our asses off."
"Well said golden-gal!" Ryuko laughed, a few claps going around.
"Alright then, you know what time it is!" Kendo bellowed, "1... 2… 3…!"
"PLUS ULTRA!"
After a few more jokes were shared, Rumi and Kendo eventually decided that now was the time to make their way home. Goodbye-handshakes and hugs were exchanged, and it appeared that the rest of the group prepared to walk off. Shinji was well on his way to zoning out before he realized something: the rest of the group had abruptly turned around. He turned his head to look at them confused.
"What are you all doing?"
"Pfft, isn't it obvious?" Yu giggled, "We're gonna spy on Kendo and Rumi!"
…
Oblivious to the group of people stealthily watching them from behind, Kendo and Rumi were having a mellow, enjoyable chat with each other.
"Seriously, I can't get it out of my mind," Rumi chuckled, "If I shut off Kengan for that last attack, you would've won! God, I'm not exaggerating when I say that you were a step away from beating me."
"Heh, what can you do about it?" He sighed, "We're both strong, but you won in the end. I don't have any regrets about that fight, and I never will. I gotta say, after all those ties back when we trained before the Entrance exam… losing to ya feels pretty refreshing."
"Losing?" Rumi gasped dramatically, "Who the hell are ya and what have you done with my Kendo Rappa!?"
Both of them laughed at that, but he couldn't ignore the tingling in his cheeks. 'My Kendo Rappa.' The walked onward for a bit longer before Rumi noticed something.
"Oi… I might be the one holding you up right now, but I can tell that you're trying to lead me somewhere," She said with a grin. "Where are we going big-guy?" He grinned back, unashamed at having been caught.
"Just give it a minute or two, you'll know when we get close." The minutes ticked by, and bit by bit, (granted, they were injured and had to walk fairly slowly) Rumi started recognising certain landmarks. She chose not to say anything, but she had a feeling in her gut where they were going and she couldn't help but smile. Her thoughts were confirmed when they reached the entrance to the park where they first met.
"You sappy little shit!" She laughed, outright hugging him. "I should've guessed. Still, this is… oddly thoughtful of you."
"Yeah, well I thought it was appropriate," He chuckled, managing to hug her back. "Let's sit down before we keel over or something."
"Pfft, fair enough," She laughed, both of them helping each other. They walked all the way to the tree that they chopped down all that time ago. In a weird way, they unintentionally made a shockingly good seat out of the stump of the tree, the very middle of it spiking up and providing something to rest their backs on. Both of them grunted and stifled a few groans of pain as they sat down side-by-side, just enjoying the moment for a while, basking in the moonlight and the cool night-air.
"…Hey Kendo, if you don't mind me asking," Rumi said after a few minutes, "What was that thing you threw out at the last moment? The Demon-Bane, I think you called it? You're plenty strong but that… that was insane."
"To be completely honest, I'm not too sure myself," He chuckled, leaning back and looking up into the sky. "My body sorta moved on its own and I just… did it. Though I do know two things for certain. One is that it ain't perfect, not by a longshot. Forget the fact that I don't really know what I did, but it actually wreaked the bones and muscles I used to punch. Hell, Recover Girl said that it actually damaged parts that I didn't even really use. I ain't strong or skilled enough to use it to its fullest yet."
"Not yet," Rumi stressed, Kendo grinning right back at her.
"Yeah, not yet," He agreed, "And secondly… I said I don't know what I did to pull it off, but I just remember the sensations that I needed to use it. The feeling of redirecting your kick, my body completely limp, my feet on fire, my fist and arm clenched like steel… there's something more to Demon-Bane. Those four sensations are the key to me being able to use it properly next time. If I can… break it down and master them…"
"…then you could properly pull off Demon-Bane again," Rumi finished with a grin. "You've got some homework to do Kendo."
"Homework I'll actually fuckin enjoy!" Both of them cackled with laughter, stopping only because of how painful it was to laugh.
"Haah… I got some shit to work on too," Rumi said, "Back when I was fighting Ryuko, punching her broke my hands, my right one got the worst of it. My combinations are good, but my upper body is actually pretty weak. God, don't get me started on Kengan… it's such a rush using it! But the moment I've got it on for too long and shut it off, I'm toast."
"Huh, that actually reminds me of the Advance," Kendo chuckled.
"But you were able to control it right? Your output wasn't as high as when you fought Yu or Tetsu. Hell, you were able to keep your precision as well."
"Yeah, but I barely had it under control," He argued, "Manually trying to control your heart when it normally operates on autopilot is really damn tricky. It felt like it wanted to just go wild, like I'm trying to reign in a full-throttle sports car. I need more practice with it."
"You and me both," She chuckled, leaning back as well. After another moment of silence, her lazy smile turned a bit bashful. She surprised Kendo as she scooted closer, leaning into him. He froze for a moment before he grinned, wrapping an arm around her waist to pull her closer. She rested her head on his shoulder, letting her ears flit by his cheek.
"Hey Kendo," She said softly, "You kept our promise."
"Pshh, of course!" He chuckled, "Why the hell would I not? It helps that our fight was badass as all hell too. Sure, I kept the promise and that's my job. But you helped me improve, you pushed me beyond my limits, and you've given me a goal to work towards rather than just All Might."
"You're such a softy," She snickered before she closed her eyes, completely relaxing against him. "But… I'm glad we managed to leave everything on the table, no regrets. At that, she felt him stiffen up. He was nervous. "…Kendo, what's up?"
"O-oh, nothing really."
"…Did you just fuckin' stutter?" She asked with a massive grin, turning as best as she could to face him only to be met with a visual treat. He was squirming in his seat, his face scrunched up and red.
"No."
"Dude, a blind person can tell you're lying out of your ass!" Rumi snickered, outright sitting on his lap. He squirmed a bit harder, fighting off a goofy smile as best as he could. "Tell meee~!"
…
"Oh my God, he's gonna do it!" Yu whispered excitedly, shaking Shinji.
"Indeed, Kendo's showing a great deal of courage in the face of immense danger," He managed to say while being shaken.
"You think they're gonna bang out in the open here?" Kaiten wondered aloud, drawing more than a few weird looks. "What? This is Japan, the birthplace of hent-!"
*BONK-BONK-BONK*
"All of you, shut the hell up!" Tetsude whispered harshly as he hammered his fists on the top of their heads. "Don't ruin this!"
"…since when did you root for this?" Ryuko asked, curious.
"I'm a sucker for romance," He answered shockingly casually, drawing more than a few surprised looks. "Now shut up before we get caught!"
…
After a moment, Kendo managed to steel himself. "Here goes fucking nothing," He muttered, much to the amusement of Rumi. "There's… one more thing that I gotta say, one last thing I need to put on the table."
"I'm listening," She chuckled as she made herself comfortable on his lap, avoiding his damaged leg. He payed it no mind, (outwardly at least).
"…So, um. Yeah, uh…"
'God, he's adorable when he gets flustered,' Rumi thought with a widening grin.
"…holy crap I'm bad at this," He chuckled, Rumi doing the same but staying silent otherwise. "…Okay, I think I got it. Rumi, I owe you too much."
"Idiot, you don't owe me squat," She said softly, getting just a bit closer.
"I do. You've helped me out before I was in U.A, you helped me get stronger, you were there to show that you didn't care about my issues, and you helped today to show me that the sky is the limit to what I can improve on. You call me cool, but you're fuckin' amazing, Rumi Usagiyama."
The way he said it so strongly, unwavering, looking directly at her, Rumi couldn't help it as her heart fluttered and her face burned. Never in her life had she ever had someone tell her something like that.
"And… y'know, I still made a promise to myself, after you… you kissed me on the cheek a while back."
"Y-you still remember that?" She giggled a bit.
"Kinda hard to forget," He chuckled breathily. Was he closer than before? Yeah, he was, and she really didn't mind. "But… I was wondering… could…" He visibly shifted closer, their foreheads almost touching. He couldn't get over own goddamn gorgeous she looked, reddened cheeks, soft eyes, her face framed by her hair and illuminated by the full moon. "Could I pay you back for that one?"
"…I mean, you sort of did," She muttered, closing the distance even more, her forehead on his, their noses almost touching. In her eyes, his normally hardened face was relaxed, a little dimple on his cheek that she never noticed before. The strong jawline, hooked nose, but soft eyes… he was undoubtedly handsome. "Back before you fought Sendo."
"I know," He said, "But… I made a promise to repay you ten times over. That was step one. Do… do you mind the second step?" Her heart skipped another beat, her hand instinctively intwining with his own larger one.
"…together?" She whispered, looking into his eyes.
"Together," He affirmed, looking right back.
Together, they closed their eyes and moved forward, gently pressing their lips together.
'He's warm,' She thought, pressing closer to him. She smiled through the kiss, her cheeks tingling as she deepened it. 'God, he's so gentle… this feels amazing.'
'HOLY SHIT SHE KISSED ME.' Kendo thought, 'I KISSED HER? SHE'S AWESOME! THIS IS AWESOME! SHE'S STILL KISSING ME! Wow her lips feel really nice.' After a few more moments, they parted, breathing a bit heavily before breaking out into giant, radiant smiles.
"So uh…" He started.
"Yeah, that happened," She snickered, pressing their foreheads together. "You're a shockingly good kisser, you know that?"
"Really? Oh thank god," He laughed, absolutely relived. She laughed with him for a while before they lapsed into simply enjoying each other's warmth. "I'm pretty sure I got my message across, but I really, really like you Rumi." She snickered again before she pecked him on the lips again, much to his delight.
"I can tell dummy," She chuckled. "I like you too. Like a lot." She suddenly kissed him again, deeply for a moment before backing off, blushing. "Y'know, just in case you didn't get the message." He yelped slightly as she felt his arm wrap around her waist, eliminating any space between them.
"Loud and clear Usagi," He said before he initiated one more kiss, Rumi melting into it. Oblivious to the world, their eyes locked only on each other, the completely missed the quiet cheering of their classmates right behind them.
Perhaps it is better to say that the final fight of the tournament had ended with a clear victor and loser, but the day had truly ended with celebration, joy, and a hint of something more to come. A silver lining and a little victory for everyone on an already bright day.
(Part 1, END)
A.N: When I said 'END' I don't mean it's the end of the story, so don't worry XD. I'll be taking a little break, maybe a week at most, just to refresh my mind and focus on a few other thing son my plate. Of course, this story isn't going anywhere but up, and once again, I have every single one of you to thank for that. As a matter of fact, I might be dropping some Omake chapters in celebration of reaching 100 followers! But anyway, Kendo and Rumi have FINALLY confessed, good GOD that felt like it took forever XD. I hope the buildup to this moment was believable and worth the wait, and their bond only gets stronger from here on out! Thank you all one more time for getting me to this point. It's been an honour, and I hope to keep up the good for you guys! Peace out!