"Let the fourth match begin!"

The bob-haired girl decided to go on the offensive and started sprinting toward her opponent. She knew her best bet was to try and use her quirk to float Iida out of the ring, the strategy with the easiest solution, for there was little else she could utilize her quirk for to form an advantage. All she would have to do is find an opening to exploit to ensure her victory.

The speedy teenager swiftly dodged his opponent's hand movements and pushed himself back in an evasive manner. The bob-haired girl's eyes hardened, and she continued to do her best to tag Iida with her quirk, but the blue-haired teenager was proving himself to be too quick, his reflexes too sharp for Uraraka to properly touch.

"And the round starts with a fierce attack from Uraraka, but Iida's still holding strong, using his awesome speed to keep up against his opponent!"

In the stand, many of the students could see how easily Iida was managing Uraraka's swipes and other attacks. Midoriya and Kageyama were frowning: it was difficult to decide who they wanted to win more, for both of them were friends who held equal value in their hearts. All either of them could hope for was that both of them could prove what they were capable of.

While the spectacled teenager was continuing to dodge Uraraka's attacks, he was computing a countermeasure in his mind and trying to think of the best way to take care of Uraraka without causing too much damage to her. At the moment, the best option that he had in mind was to push her out of the ring. That was the strategy that had the easiest solution and would not force him to use very lethal force against his friend.

So while the the bob-haired teenager attempted another swipe at Iida, he swatted her hand away, activating his engines and proceeding to grab her by the shoulders in an attempt to push her out. It appeared to be working at first, and he managed to get her only feet away from the edge of the ring. But before he could get her to the edge of the ring, he saw the girl reach her hand out, trying to take advantage of his close proximity, and she was indeed extremely close to grazing him with her fingers.

"I apologize for this, Uraraka!" Unfortunately for her, even at such proximity, the teenager was fast enough to counter, using his engines to engage in a back flip and kicking her square in the chin, causing her to let out a grunt of pain.

"And Iida lands a devastating kick to Uraraka's chin!" shouted Present Mic, "A close call for Iida, but he manages to get out of there just in the nick of time!"

The mutant-quirk teenager let out an internal sigh of relief: that had been too close for comfort. Any attempts to push her out of the ring would be affected by her quirk and the close proximity, which meant that he had to find a way to somehow take her quirk out of the picture, perhaps find a way to ensure that Uraraka's hands couldn't reach him, make it more difficult for her to reach out towards him. And he'd need to be faster too.

In Uraraka's mind, she was struggling to figure out what her next move would be. Iida's reflexes were proving to be too impressive for her to handle, and there weren't many other ways for her to use her quirk. There was nothing around her to lift into the air to use against him. And yet, she couldn't just give up! She owed it to her parents to try as hard as she could to win this sports festival! So she'd keep on going with her assault, no matter what!

Uraraka screamed with the determination to stand victorious, but before she could even take a step, the speedy teenager's engines began to burst with a fiery trail, and Iida blitzed behind her.

"Recipro Burst!"

The girl barely had time to process what was happening: she felt him grabbing the back of her shirt. What followed next was a series of rapid spins, acelerated by his quirk. The speed at which he was throwing her and the position from which she was being held made it impossible for Uraraka to reach her arms around to touch him. The students were surprised to see a sudden burst of speed from Iida: he'd never displayed this kind of speed watched the way in which Uraraka was rendered helpless, being spun around helpless. After several spins, Iida felt he'd gained enough momentum and used that momentum to toss her out of the ring, and the girl was helpless to stop herself from flying through the air.

"Uraraka has been knocked out of bounds! Iida advances to the second round!" The crowd's energy burst up, while a few of the students of Class 1-A were uncertain of how to feel of this victory, especially Kageyama and Midoriya. Iida's speed was simply too much for her to handle, and even her quirk wasn't enough to help her create a proper defense against it.

"Have any of you ever seen Iida move so fast before?" said Kaminari.

"Never," replied Ojiro.

The bob-haired girl was splayed on the ground, her senses knocked off-balance by the high speed at which she'd been thrown around. She was having a hard time getting up, but as expected of someone so respectful and noble, Iida quickly rushed to his friend's side. "Let me help you up, Uraraka."

Uraraka accepted Iida's hand to help herself up, but she couldn't hide the rushing emotions of shame and defeat that were beginning to prick sharply on her tongue. "What was that speed?" said Uraraka.

"I forced my torque and RPM into overdrive, which gave me explosive power, though it stalls my engines for a while. No one in the class knew about it: I was saving it up for the right time, and you forced me to use it in order to gain the edge over you." The spectacled teenager extended his courtesy and respectfully bowed to his opponent. "It was a well-fought match."

Uraraka still could not hide the building shame and disappointment of her loss, and her voice was only above a whisper when she thanked Iida for the compliment before silently walking out of the arena. In the stands, both Kageyama and Midoriya were saddened by the events that had transpired, for they both knew of the dream that Uraraka was holding onto, the thing that was motivating her to become a hero. They remembered the words she'd said to them both just before going off to her match: that she'd see them in the finals.

After a few minutes, the fifth match between Aoyama and Ashido was announced, and the two competitors prepared for their fight. A short while after, Iida returned to the spectator stand, where a few of the people were curious as to the burst of speed, and Iida gave the same explanation he gave Uraraka, as well as the backlash that came with the increase of speed, which was his engines stalling for a short period of time.

"Hey, where's Uraraka?" said Yaoyorozu, "Did you see where she went?"

"I saw her going into the waiting room. She said that she needed to talk to her parents, so I think she won't join us for a little bit."

Upon hearing this, the two friends decided to simply wait and let her speak to her parents, even though both were planning on going in and consoling her over her loss. Her parents must've been eager to call her, since they undoubtedly were watching the sports festival. So they decided to sit and watch the fifth round of the sports festival play out. While this was happening, the bob-haired teenager finally returned to the spectator stand, though several of the students of Class 1-A were taken aback by her eyes, as though they'd been drained of their liquid.

"Something horrible's happened to your eyes," said Iida, "You need to see Recovery Girl!"

"Oh, this is from... something else," replied Uraraka. Upon sitting down, Kageyama and Midoriya immediately approached her to give her their words of consolation.

"Thanks, you two," replied the girl.

Watching the way Uraraka had cried her eyes out, Iida grimaced, feeling a pit of guilt in his stomach. Even though he wanted to win, it still hurt him to know that he'd defeated his friend in such a manner, that she couldn't have advanced further. "If I were in your shoes, I'd be frustrated too, Uraraka," the spectacled teenager said, "I'm sorry."

Sitting beside them, Tokoyami did not mince his words so kindly. "There's no time to wallow in misery and regret now. Use these following fights as a source of encouragement and learning."

Uraraka nodded her head in agreement, her bubbly and optimistic nature allowing her to take his words to heart, while Iida was impressed by his words of wisdom, openly validating his words as such. They all then sat in silence and watched as the battle between Aoyama and Ashido continued. The male student fired a volley of energy beams from his stomach, but Ashido was able to deftly dodge all of the blasts with grace before spraying his outfit with acid, causing his pants to drop down as well as damage his belt, and giving her the chance to finish him off with a fierce uppercut.

After the fifth round ended, the next two that were up were Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami. As expected, Kageyama wished both of them luck for their matches, though to tell the truth, the esper also didn't know who he wanted to win more, similar to the battle against Uraraka and Iida. He was close to both of them, and even though he hadn't shared as many moments with Tokoyami, he was still the one who fought alongside him in the U.S.J., and the one who'd also waited for him after his fight with the Nomu, so he was still a friend.

"Hey Midoriya," said Kageyama, "I want to know how you think this battle is going to end."

"Well..." The fanboy looked in his notebook to see everything he'd learned about both of their quirks. "Timing is going to be the key thing here."

Ojiro decided to pop in on their conversation, for he was also curious about how this match would play out between them. "How so?"

"Well, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow possesses amazing speed and power, and it can also be used for a variety of purposes, which means that Yaoyorozu's gonna have to find a way to create an opening to attack Tokoyami, since it's him that has to be taken out of bounds. If he can find a way to engage him in close combat, she might have the edge, since I don't think Tokoyami's all that strong physically. Still, that's easier said than done..."

The d.j. hero performed another riveting and thrilling introduction for the two competitors, but as they were on the ring, the female teenager's eyes were not focused and determined like Tokoyami's were, and she was rubbing her arm with unease. She knew of how formidable Tokoyami's quirk was, and was unsure if she had the necessary power to stand up against it, for its defense and offensive power were a force to be reckoned with. If she could make a shield, she could block all of his attacks, but still, she had to be quick on her feet, or else this fight would be over in seconds.

"Begin!"

"Come forth, Dark Shadow!" The avian student made the first moved and called upon his creature of the darkness, which quickly rushed over towards Yaoyorozu. She made a shield as she'd planned, but even so, Dark Shadow was able to easily toss her around. The creature focused its strikes on Yaoyorozu's shield, and its power was too much for her to retaliate against. After several of these strikes, Dark Shadow suddenly stopped its assault, perplexing Tokoyami's opponent. Still, she saw it as the chance she'd been waiting for, and formed a spear to counterattack.

"Yaoyorozu is out of bounds! Tokoyami advances to the next round!" The girl gasped in surprise, then looked down to see that her foot was sticking out of bounds. She'd been defeated without even getting the chance to show what she could do.

"Tokoyami is way too powerful..." The green-haired teenager was in awe at the way Yaoyorozu had been so thoroughly overtaken, "He focused his attacks on her shield and forced her out of bounds."

"Maybe he didn't want to hurt her," suggested Ojiro.

"Yea, I think so," replied Kageyama, "Tokoyami wouldn't be so violent. He's a very respectful individual. Still, she didn't even get to show off what she could do. She must be feeling so disappointed..." The esper's heart went out to her just as it had gone out to others. He didn't really blame Tokoyami, since he was only trying to win, and had even bowed in respect once the match had ended, just as Iida had done with Uraraka after their match had ended, but a loss was still a loss, and this had been a very unfortunate one for Yaoyorozu.

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Upon returning to the spectator stand, all of the students could detect the palpable sense of agony emanating from Yaoyorozu, and a few of them attempted to console him, the biggest ones being Kageyama and Jirou. Yaoyorozu felt her female friend's hand on her shoulder, while Kageyama was at her side, giving his sympathy to her.

"I'm really sorry, Yaoyorozu," said Jirou.

"I wish you'd gotten more of a chance to prove yourself," added Kageyama.

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Yaoyorozu momentarily held Jirou's hand, and mustered up whatever she could to give a small smile of appreciation back to her friends, though the smile quickly faded, and her eyes went back to the ground, and she had no voice to give her classmates.

Shortly after, the seventh round began, and Present Mic gave the introductions for Tetsutetsu and Kirishima, though both of them were practically identical, which was fitting for the fact that both of them had nearly identical quirks. The two competitors also noticed this similarity and found it greatly annoying, since both of them wanted to use this sports festival as a chance to stand out.

"Can't wait to see how this one ends!" shouted Present Mic, "Begin!" The two teenagers roared with determination, and the two of them activated their quirks before fiercely clashing their fists. Due to their similar quirks and manly nature, Kirshima and Tetsutetsu fought with all they had, attempting to give neither opponent an inch in their fight. Furthermore, because of those similar quirks and the hardened substance surrounding both students, it was difficult for the attacks of either opponent to significantly stun the other, and because of this, their fight was dragging on for quite a while, far longer than any of the battles thus far.

After several minutes of this long battle, the two were finally pushed to the limits of their quirks, and after final punches to both of their cheeks, Kirishima and Tetsutetsu lost consciousness and fell on the ground simultaneously. Midnight approached both students, declaring that this match was a tie and that a tiebreaker would be done after the eighth match, most likely an arm-wrestling match.

But now that the seventh match had finally come to an end, that meant the eighth match was on the horizon, the match that every single person in the stadium was waiting for.

"Kageyama, your time's finally up!" said Kaminari.

"I wish you well in your battle, Kageyama," Tokoyami remarked.

"Go get'em!" Uraraka said with boisterous energy.

"I'll try..." The esper got out of his seat and began to exit the spectator stand, while Bakugo was also exiting through the same path. As they exchanged glances with one another, Bakugo's intimidating aura and fiery gaze unnerved the psychic, and he gulped.

"You're dead." These were the only words that Bakugo had to say to his opponent before the two of them headed in opposite directions. As the explosive teenager continued walking through the hallway, his thoughts were only on the battle, the chance he would have to rectify his first loss against the esper.

The images of his loss were vivid in his mind: those red eyes, burning with a smoldering anger. The shy, weak-willed nerd had absolutely vanished in that moment, replaced by the vicious, hardened warrior that laid dormant inside. That experience had made Bakugo feel something unlike anything before, something that not even his fight with Deku had managed to elicit. With Deku's fight, the loss was bad because it was at the hands of someone who'd always been weaker than him. But against Kageyama, it had been sheer, total domination. It was the feeling of helplessness, of having no power against an opponent, of knowing that the enemy could end your life with a single thought if so desired, and knowing you could do nothing to stop it.

"Was that supposed to be an attack?"

"That barely counts as a tickle."

"Since you didn't get the message the last two times, let me make this crystal clear: if you ever hurt Midoriya the way you did today again, I'll make sure you feel the full weight of this unyielding rage."

The way Kageyama didn't even blink at his explosions, the way he absolutely manhandled Bakugo and threw him around like an old rag doll, those images were burned into his mind. Without even realizing it, Bakugo's body began to tremble, and as soon as it did, Bakugo immediately stopped in place.

"What the hell? Why am I trembling? Am I..." The teenager did not even want to finish that sentence, for saying it out loud would be to admit it was true, and Bakugo refused to admit this. He did not want to accept this feeling, he just wanted to get rid of it.

"I have to win this! I have to get rid of this feeling, prove that I'm the best, that even Kageyama can't beat me!" The explosive teenager attempted to smile to give him a sense of self-confidence, reignite his fiery passion, and yet that could not mask his growing emotions of fear and doubt. Bakugo was facing a truly high hurdle for this sports festival.


"Alright, all you eager fans out there, after seven intense matches, we come to the final match of the first bracket, and if I'm being honest, this is the one I've been the most excited about! And I'd say the audience agrees!" This statement was proven to be true when the crowd roared with fervor and intensity much higher than any of the previous matches. All of them were eager to see in what way Kageyama would impress them, use his quirk against Katsuki, and in their minds, they already felt that Kageyama would win, no matter what Bakugo tried.

The number one hero observed from the teacher's stand, supremely confident in the esper's ability to attain victory. Bakugo may have had some sort of trick against Kageyama, possibly, but no matter what kind of tricks the explosive teenager may have had, it would likely not be enough to get the edge over Mob.

"On the right side! He was kind of a hot-shot in middle school, and just look at that determined face! From the hero course, Katsuki Bakugo!"

"On the left side, we have the lightning-fast psychic who blitzed through the obstacle course, who can lift building-sized robots like he was lifting pebbles, and who can surround himself with basically impenetrable barriers! Shigeo Kageyama!" The esper was astounded by the thunderous applause throughout the stadium when his name was announced. It seemed like he'd made quite the impression with the audience, just as All Might had hoped for.

"Like I said, I'm gonna murder you in front of the whole world!" shouted Bakugo, "And that crowd's gonna be cheering for me once I've finished kicking your ass!" Bakugo's comments could be heard by everyone in the stadium, and many of them scowled at the course, unfiltered harshness coming out of his mouth. A few of the students in Class 1-B were annoyed by his behavior, seeing it as exactly the high-and-mighty attitude they had believed Class 1-A to possess.

"God, that guy's such a tool," said Tetsutetsu, "I'm rooting for Kageyama."

In the adjacent spectator stand of Class 1-A, many of the students were equally eager to see how this round would play out.

"Bakugo seems to have been waiting for this moment for quite some time," Iida noted, "Kageyama is an obstacle he desperately wants to overcome."

"But do you really think he can?" said Tsu, "Kageyama's just got so much power and skill at his disposal, and if he gets serious, then Bakugo's not gonna stand a chance."

"The match has not been told yet, so it would be unwise to automatically assume that Kageyama will win this," said Tokoyami, trying to be practical despite knowing of Kageyama's incredible strength, "Perhaps Bakugo has some sort of strategy in mind."

"I can definitely see that being the case," Midoriya remarked, "Though I'm curious how Kageyama's gonna fight. He's not a vicious fighter like Bakugo. He's probably gonna try and hold back, though by how much I'm not too sure."

Midoriya's assumption was correct: in the esper's mind, he didn't want to make this an instant elimination. After all, even Bakugo deserved the chance to show what he could do, and Kageyama could take his explosions. Despite what Bakugo had demanded of him, he simply couldn't call upon that anger as he asked of him.

"Let the eighth match begin!"

The first move of the round was made by Shigeo. The esper brought his hand up and proceeded to lift several of the tiles off of the ground and threw them at Bakugo. His hands ignited, and with his lightning-fast reflexes, he proceeded to destroy all of the tiles thrown at him with minimal effort. Bakugo decided to go on the offensive and sprinted forward, using his explosions to propel himself forward at startling speed which Kageyama was not anticipating. The esper continued to try and throw more tiles at his opponent, though Bakugo was still able to expertly dodge or destroy the tiles. Then, with unbridled ferocity, Katsuki unleashed a powerful explosion, but Kageyama created a barrier to block the blow.

"And Kageyama erects his powerful barrier! Will Bakugo be able to break through it, or will the barrier hold like it did during the cavalry battle?"

The teenager did not relent, however, and unleashed a series of powerful explosions which clashed against the barrier. "I finally found a flaw with your quirk!" The crowd silently gasped when Bakugo made this proclamation. Kageyama had a weakness? "During the cavalry battle, there was one time where I saw you drop your barrier: when you were lifting your team. The only reason you would ever drop your barrier during that fight is if you had to, which means that you can't attack and defend with your powers simultaneously!"

Present Mic narrated this revelation with a tone of mild shock and suspense in his voice. "So Bakugo has managed to find a flaw in Kageyama's seemingly flawless quirk, but will this change the tide of the battle? In what way will this flaw give Bakugo an edge in this fight?" Though it may have seemed to some that this was not a particularly fatal flaw for the esper, they would soon find that it had a few more implications than they have have realized. Even now, despite Bakugo's consistent barrage of explosions, the esper's barrier was still holding for more than ten seconds of explosions. But as the seconds passed, the audience began to notice that the explosions were beginning to increase in size and potency, enveloping a larger area of the stage. For those who were unfamiliar with the fundamentals of Bakugo's quirk, this would be confusing, but the students of Class 1-A understood what was happening.

The explosive teenager smiled with wicked glee: this was a plan that he'd thought of in preparation for Kageyama's fight, after observing everything he'd seen about his quirk. In order to give a serious challenge to Kageyama, he'd need to use all his skills and power he had in his disposal. His regular explosions hadn't even left a scratch when he was angry, so he'd have to kick up the force of his explosions by several notches, which was why he'd done some active exercises just before the match to kick up an initial degree of sweat, though he would not admit that part of the building sweat was from nervousness and fear. Compounded with the sweat building up from his rapid arm movements and the intensity of this fight, Bakugo would be able to get a decisive victory.

Finally, Kageyama's barriers were proven to the world that they were breakable, and the barrier was shattered into dozens of pieces as Bakugo's explosion tore through and sent the esper flying across the ring. Mob stopped himself using his telekinesis, though not before the hot-headed teenager was up at him again, propelling himself at a much faster speed thanks to the increased kick of his explosions. He sent himself flying up into the air, then he used his explosion to propel himself down with one hand, while preparing an extremely powerful blast in his other hand. The esper put up a very quick and hastily made barrier, though Bakugo's explosion was much more potent than before, being enough to envelop the entire ring and actually managed to break through the barrier, sending Mob sprawling across the ring, though the explosion caused a throbbing pain through Bakugo's arm. The crowd shouted with excitement, feeling impressed that Bakugo had been able to break through the barrier and that he was able to hold his own against such a formidable opponent.

After getting back on his feet, Mob decided to try and send Katsuki out of bounds with a strong telekinetic blast. Bakugo felt himself being blown away, and was being rapidly sent to the edge of the ring. The crowd felt their hairs stand up with anticipation: was Bakugo going to be sent out of bounds?

Fortunately for Bakugo, the teenager was able to stop himself from being blown away by firing his explosions in the opposite direction, the force managing to nullify the momentum being built and allowing him to land a few feet away from the edge of the ring.

"And Bakugo narrowly avoids being thrown out of the ring with those powerful explosions! Man, this match isn't going as I thought it would. Bakugo's not half-bad."

"Bakugo's using his skills and proper thinking to keep himself in the ring and put his opponent on the edge." While Eraserhead and Present Mic were giving praise to the hot-headed teenager, Bakugo was beginning to feel his blood boil. Those attacks from Kageyama had been far too nice, and his facial expression hadn't changed at all.

"Goddamn it, Kageyama! I told you to stop screwing around!" yelled Bakugo, "You wanna know what's gonna happen if you underestimate me? I'll kill you!"

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The esper's face began to morph into uneasiness: Bakugo had this unwavering desire to prove that he was better than everyone, a belief that was especially strong toward Kageyama.

"There's not gonna be any doubt that I'm the fucking best one here, and that can't be done if you're not giving it your all and acting like you wanna destroy me!"

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The explosive teenager was not pleased when he saw his opponent's face only grow more uneasy and unsure: hell, his words seemed to be having the opposite effect of what he wanted. He had to find a way to incite some more anger inside the bowl-cuts heart, and he was pretty sure he knew just the way to do it.

"Either way, there's no way you're gonna make it as a top hero! You may have a strong quirk, but at the end of the day, deep down, you're just a loser, like Deku!" The explosive teenager smirked when he saw Kageyama's nostrils begin to flare upon hearing Deku's name mentioned in a negative fashion like that. "That damn herd may have gotten a lucky victory against me, but that doesn't change the fact that he's still a pathetic weakling at heart! And once I kick your ass, I'll be sure to destroy him once I make it to the finals! Nah, even that's jumping the gun: there's no way he'll even make it past the second round!"

Many of the spectators viewed the teenager's actions as disgusting: insulting a classmate simply to get him to fight at his best, slandering another classmate's name. The students of Class 1-A were also aggravated by the way Bakugo was attempting to provoke Kageyama, as well as the way he was devaluing Midoriya.

"Don't listen to what Bakugo's saying, Deku," said Uraraka.

"No, I'm fine," replied Midoriya, for he was more concerned about how Kageyama would be reacting to this. As the people were anticipating, the esper felt a rising sense of anger toward Bakugo. This fight didn't have anything to do with Midoriya, and yet he was still bringing him up, still insulting Midoriya's name and everything he'd done to make it this far. How dare Bakugo say that Midoriya's win was only lucky, that he was still a loser at heart! He'd beaten Bakugo through perseverance, skill, and physical abilities, and yet he still refused to acknowledge that victory as impressive or giving it the merit it deserved. Now he was getting angry!

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The psychic's hair began to stand up, and several very large boulders were being lifted from the ring. Bakugo's battle smile showed itself: now this was what he was talking about! Now he was starting to get the message through to the bowl cut!

"And things are beginning to go up-tempo!" said Present Mic, "Looks like Kageyama's not fooling around anymore!"

"Bakugo might get his wish after all," added Eraserhead.

The esper threw the large boulders at his opponent, though he was more than ready. He rushed his enemy once again, managing to obliterate the large boulders with his powerful explosions while making his way toward Kageyama. "Now this is mo-" The teenager's sentence was cut off when Kageyama disappeared from his sight and reappeared behind him. Bakugo gasped: that speed was incredible! He couldn't even see him move! The esper grabbed the teenager by the back of his shirt and threw him across the ring. The teenager once again stopped himself from being thrown out of the stage, though it was too close for comfort, as he only landed a few inches away from the edge of the ring.

Bakugo internally frowned: though his eyes weren't red, he could feel a pressure growing around the ring very similar to the confrontation he had during the battle trial. That meant that Kageyama was fighting seriously or at the least getting close to exploding with anger. Bakugo had to play it smarter then: he had to find a way to somehow incapacitate Kageyama for a moment before delivering the finishing blow, his ultimate attack he'd been preparing just for this sports festival. As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn't hope to match Kageyama in strength or speed, so a drawn-out match between them wouldn't be possible. That meant he had to end it in a single blow. But he had to make sure to attack when he was vulnerable: if he used his barrier to defend himself, the impact of his attack would significantly decrease, and it wouldn't be enough to send him out of the ring. No, there had to be a way to disorient him, give Bakugo an opening to exploit, and he had just the move to do it.

Bakugo propelled himself forward with his explosions, and the esper anticipated another string of explosions, so he put up another barrier, but he was soon to find out that Bakugo had another plan in-mind. Katsuki stopped right in front of Kageyama and put his hands together. In the center of his hands, multiple explosions were being formed, and Bakugo opened his palms to unleash those explosions against Kageyama.

"Stun Grenade!"

The explosions created a blinding light that illuminated the entire ring and caused the esper to drop his barrier as he clutched his eyes in pain. "I can't see!"

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"Now's my chance!" Bakugo shot himself up into the air, where he began to use his explosions to propel himself in a circular motion. The rapid spinning began to form a twister, which collected oxygen and gained momentum to fuel the explosion which was about to follow next. The teenager wickedly smiled to himself: this was it! This was the time he'd finally take the victory he needed!

"Howitzer Impact!"

The explosive teenager proceeded to release the enhanced blast at a point-blank range on Kageyama's chest, for he didn't have any fear of killing Kageyama because he knew how durable he was, how he managed to hold his own against the Nomu, an insanely strong opponent. The force of the blast was enormous: the entire ring was enveloped in the explosion, and the radius of the blast nearly managed to reach the spectators. Everyone in the stadium felt the tremendous heat and pressure emanating from this insanely powerful explosion, as well as the cloud of smoke covering the ring.

"Bakugo combines speed and rotation with a huge blast and turned himself into a human missile, striking Kageyama at a point-blank range."

"He also used his stun grenade as a way to disorient Kageyama, knowing that his barrier would likely provide him enough protection to at least keep him inside the ring, allowing him to land the finishing blow."

The d.j. hero began to grow worried: no one could take an explosion like that point-blank without serious injury. What was Bakugo thinking?

"But what the heck is up with Bakugo? Dealing a blast like that at such a short range? What's become of Kageyama?"

Everyone in the audience was at the edge of their seats, all of them desperately waiting for the smoke to clear, to see what had become of the two competitors, if Kageyama had been taken out as they assumed. The students of Class 1-A all felt a sense of growing anticipation and dread: they just couldn't be sure that Kageyama would have been able to make it through that unscathed. Even All Might and Izuku were unsure of who could be the victor here. So who was it? Who was there to claim victory?

The smoke began to clear, and as soon as it did, everyone felt their jaws drop to the floor: standing in the exact same place as before stood Kageyama, and keeping him floating only inches apart was Bakugo, who looked as though a train had hit him.

Present Mic was too shocked to give a proper response at first, as was Eraserhead or really anyone else in the stadium. After a few seconds, the announcer managed to regain his voice and narrate what had just happened.

"It looks like Kageyama is still standing. Even after taking the force of a missile, he's somehow able to withstand it without a scratch on him. Is he indestructible or what?"

The spectators of the stadium were expressing their disbelief. "How could anyone be so durable?"

"Just what the hell is this kid made of?"

In the spectator stand of Class 1-A and Class 1-B, many of the students were seeing the esper in a new image, an image of invulnerability. This was a student who was on an entirely different playing field than the rest of them, and even Midoriya was beginning to see what All Might meant when he said that the esper was already near his level. Only someone like All Might could possibly tank an explosion like that.

As everyone in the arena was trying to wrap their heads around what they were seeing, in the ring, the two competitors were still and quiet.

"No..." The explosive teenager felt as though all the blood in his body had run cold, frozen up. Kageyama was still standing, as if the blast he'd experienced had been nothing. Not only that, but he was trying to break free of the psychic grip, and just like before, the teenager was absolutely immobile, at the mercy of Kageyama. As the teenager floated in the air, he felt the same immense pressure he'd felt before when Kageyama had gotten angry, but something about this was... different. As he looked into his opponent's eyes, he could see there was no anger or hatred dancing inside, but...

100% Disappointment

Though the explosive teenager had gotten what he'd wished for when he asked for Kageyama to give this fight 100%, it wasn't quite the 100% he was expecting. No, as Bakugo began to ignite his final move and the teenager began to regain his vision, for some reason, the esper thought of their last confrontation, his desire to stand better than everyone and put down everyone to prove his superiority. He then compared that battle to the battle that was going on right now, and saw how similar they were.

"Someone once told me that some people never change, no matter how many chances you give them." Kageyama's voice was soft, not much louder than a whisper, preventing the audience from listening in to their conversation. "I'm starting to think that you might be one of those people."

"I mean, what's changed with you? You don't even remember the names of your classmates or their quirks, showing how lowly you think of them, how you're only thinking of yourself. You still don't show any respect towards Midoriya, despite everything he's done to make it here, and your only interest is still proving everyone is worse than you, proving you still judge people based solely on power. You haven't taken anything I've said to heart."

The esper scoffed and shrugged his shoulders with frustration. "I don't get it. Hanazawa was just like you, but he changed. So why can't you?" Kageyama sighed. "I have no idea what it could be."

Shigeo knew this fight was already over, and he decided to use one of Midoriya's moves to finish the fight, for he knew it was possible with the power surging through him. For the audience, they thought they couldn't get many more surprises from the esper, that he'd already shown what he was really capable, but they were sorely mistaken: with a simple flick of his finger, the esper unleashed a powerful blast of air which dissipated all of the smoke from Bakugo's explosion and sent the teenager flying through the air. Bakugo tried to repeat the same opposite propelling motions, but this time, the force of Kageyama's blast was too powerful, and he was sent out of the ring and onto the grass.

"Bakugo is out of bounds! Kageyama advances to the next round!" The stadium burst in a fiery frenzy of applause and cheering, far greater than anything before. As they'd anticipated, the esper managed to stand victorious, though he displayed abilities that even they were not anticipating.

"And Kageyama takes victory with a powerful air blast! Is Kageyama's quirk simply the greatest of all time? I'd say so!"

"Did you see what he just did," a spectator said, "He created that huge wind blast with only a flick of his finger."

"It's the same move that that other kid used at the beginning, though he seems fine after the attack."

"This kid... he's probably gonna make it to the top ten after he graduates. Hell, he might even take the number two spot away from Endeavor."

The students of Class 1-A stood even more baffled than they were before, as if that was even possible.

"Did you see what Kageyama just did," said Sero, "He blew Bakugo away with only a flick of his fingers."

"It kinda reminds me of your move, Midoriya," said Tsu, "Except..."

"Except he doesn't break his fingers when he does it, I know." The green-haired teenager looked down at his bandaged fingers, then back at his friend in the ring. Yet again, Midoriya was being shown the astronomical difference in strength between the two of them. Despite the fact that both of them had been trusted by All Might to win this sports festival, it was becoming more and more clear that Kageyama would be the victor if they fought. He just had so much more going for him, so much more power and control at his disposal that Izuku couldn't hope to compete with right now...

"Yo, Bakugo's totally freaking out," said Mineta, "Check it." The students and the audience looked down to see how Bakugo was reacting to his loss, and boy-o-boy, it wasn't pretty. Katsuki was crouched on the floor, his entire body trembling with anger, frustration, sadness, so many negative emotions.

"NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO! NO!"

The student slammed the ground with his fist repeatedly, exploding the ground, and before he knew it, tears of frustration were beginning to flow down Bakugo's face. Bakugo continued screaming like a little infant throwing a tantrum despite the fact that the next match was going to be following soon. Watching from the ring with the emotion of disappointment still coursing through him, Kageyama reacted to this display in with harsh judgement and criticism, folding his arms together, an act that was very uncharacteristic for the gentle and understanding esper.

When Bakugo's head lifted up, the world got to see the ugly, distorted face of Bakugo and all the tears of frustration flowing down his face, and when he saw the esper's expression, those folded arms and that disapproving look on his face, he just lost it. That was the one thing he absolutely could not stand more than anything else: being looked down upon.

"DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT, YOU-" The teenager's consciousness began to fade, for the dominatrix hero had decided to make a move, activating her quirk and surrounding the air around Bakugo with a sleeping gas, until he fell back to the ground unconscious.

"Oh, looks like Midnight had to intervene after Bakugo freaked out with Kageyama's stern, disapproving expression," said Present Mic, "Though I'm with Kageyama there: insulting classmates like that to get a rise out of your opponent isn't cool. It's a cheap shot."

Many of the spectators agreed with Present Mic's commentary, and showed disdain at the pathetic attitude Bakugo was displaying over his loss.

"Wow, Bakugo's such a drama queen," said Monoma, "He's whining and crying about his loss like a little baby. I guess all the students of Class 1-A are a bunch of sore losers like he is."

"Yea, just shows what an asshole Bakugo is," Tetsutetsu continued.

The esper stood in silence as medical bots came with a stretcher to wheel the teenager out of the ring. Shigeo closed his eyes and let out a hefty sigh: even though the esper had won this fight and advanced to the next round, it wasn't a truly fulfilling victory for him, or a true victory in general. He felt as though nothing had been accomplished, that history had just repeated itself and Bakugo would remain as self-centered and inconsiderate as always. But that wasn't what he wanted: he wanted to be friends with him. He wanted to help Bakugo become a better person, and yet he refused to accept anything he'd told him.

Kageyama stuffed his hands inside his pockets and walked out of the ring with his back slightly hunched and his hair still standing up, as the power was taking a bit to dissipate and reset to zero, though basically everyone in the stadium couldn't comprehend what Kageyama was looking so bummed about, adding a bit of mystery to his character for them.

After a few minutes of walking, his power dropped down and reset itself, and his hair went back to its usual shape. Once he made it back to the spectator stand of Class 1-A, he was greeted by rather loud and supportive voices of his classmates.

"Dude, that was a freaking intense match!" said Sato.

"You had me on the edge of my seat the entire time!" added Mineta.

"I just can't believe you were able to tank Bakugo's explosion like that! I swear, you're like a tank yourself!" stated Ashido.

"A truly phenomenal display of power," remarked Tokoyami.

"Thanks," the esper replied before taking his seat next to his friends, where they also patted him on the back and gave him words of praise. As he sat down, though, there was a question on the mind of the frog-like girl.

"Hey Kageyama, what were you talking to Bakugo about near the end of the fight?" she said, "You were speaking too softly for anyone to hear, so I'm wondering what you said to him?"

"Oh..." The esper leaned back in his seat as he recalled that moment the two of them shared on the ring, "I was expressing my frustration for the way he insulted Midoriya, the way he treats the class so poorly. It's just not right."

"I totally see what you mean," said Jirou, "I mean, I get wanting to win, but there's a limit."

"Right?" continued Ashido, "I mean, he didn't even know my name and called me Black Eyes."

"Bakugo is overwhelmingly tenacious," said Iida, "But his one-track mind and disrespectful attitude is indeed wrong, and it should not be condoned in a hero, though he doesn't seem particularly keen on improving his behavior."

"That's right," the esper said with a heavy tone in his voice, "It's unfortunate."

"Hey, check it! The tiebreaker for the seventh match is about to start!" Sero brought their attention to the ring, and the students looked down to see that the tiebreaker was an arm-wrestling match, and both opponents had already taken their places on the opposite ends of a stone block constructed by Cementoss. Midnight waved her hand, and the two of them started their tiebreaker. Both of them were gripping the concrete so hard that the block was fracturing.

"We're about to learn who the true winner of the seventh match is! Kirishima or Tetsutetsu!" yelled Present Mic, "Whoever wins this arm-wrestling match will advance to the second round!"

The two students appeared to be neck-and-neck, neither giving the other an inch, and it was hard to determine who would reign supreme. But then, after great resistance, Tetsutetsu's steel finally hit its limit and began to crack. The student groaned in pain, and Kirishima used this moment to take the victory and slam his opponent's hand down.

The red-haired teenager raised his hand and shouted with triumph, though he did not ignore the heart and spirit his opponent had put into the fight. As Tetsutetsu laid on the ground in defeat, Kirishima held out his hand and complimented his adversary for their well-fought battle, which Tetsutetsu gladly accepted, cementing a bond of friendship and respect between the two of them.

But now that the tiebreaker event was over, that meant that second bracket matches were going to start, and that meant it was Midoriya's turn next. The green-haired fanboy got up from his seat, and the esper was about to get up and join him to see him off, but Izuku stopped him. "You can stay put, Kageyama."

The esper hesitated at first, but decided to let his friend be. "Alright. Just know that I'll be watching you."

"Same goes for me," chimed Uraraka, waving her hand to Midoriya, "Good luck."

"Excel as best you can, Midoriya," Iida said.

The teenager looked at the support his friends gave him and felt his lips begin to slightly tremble. "Sure thing." A few of his other classmates also wished him luck, and he made his way to his fight against Todoroki.

"This is the other match that I've been itching to see," said Kaminari, "Another of the two best students of our class duking it out."

"They do possess extremely powerful quirks which can cause devastating damage," said Yaoyorozu.

"Yea..." Now that the fight with Bakugo had ended, the fear and anxiety that had been building up over the battle with Midoriya and Todoroki was now returning. Even with using only his right side, Todoroki was able to use that ice for so many things and summon so many large ice constructs at incredible speeds. Not only that, but every time Midoriya used One For All, it would break his body, significantly limiting his fighting capacity. So what was Midoriya's plan? How would he find a way to achieve victory?

Shortly after, the two students of Class 1-A walked out of the exits and made their way to the ring, while the audience cheered with exhilaration. Present Mic set the move and gave the introductions for both of the students, while the esper continued looking on in concern.

"Tokoyami, how do you think this match is going to go," said Kageyama, looking to him for an opinion on the battle since Izuku wasn't there to give his input.

"It depends on whether or not Midoriya is going to be able to get close to him," the avian teengaer replied.

"That's the problem," Uraraka noted.

"Come on, Midoriya," thought Kageyama, "Do this. Come out of this on top!"

In the ring, the two opponents took their stances, both ready to dish out their strongest attacks and reign supreme for this match.

"BEGIN!"


My Hero Academia/Mob Psycho 100 Ultra Analysis

- The Howitzer Impact used by Bakugo against Mob was stronger than the one used against Todoroki due to building up more sweat and exerting more force.

Sadly, Bakugo is an early loser for the one-on-one fights in the sports festival, despite his best efforts. While it may seem like some that I hate the character since I'm bashing on him so hard and giving him so many losses, here's a reason I'm doing this the way I have, and there's gonna be proper character development, I assure you, though to be perfectly honest, I'm not a huge fan of the character. Well, now you'll just have to wait and see Bakugo's reaction to his loss once he wakes up, as well as how the following fights with Mob will go, so stay tuned!