"WE'VE SEEN BOTH OF THEM SHOW OFF AMAZING ABILITIES! STARTING THE QUARTER FINALS OFF, WE HAVE KAZAMI YUUJI VS BAKUGO KATSUKI!"
With this being the last remaining roadblock on my way to the finale, there's a small bit of weight on my shoulders staring down with Katsuki. A lot of my strategy for this fight is going to be dependent on a few separate factors working out well. Namely, his demeanor, range output, and weather conditions. Those three things will be the keys I need to make this all work. However, for the small chance that I can breeze right through this, I try something you could describe as 'cheeky'.
"STAAAAART!"
Bang!
The moment I hear him give the all-clear to engage, I fire a round in Katsuki's direction.
BOOM!
"That won't work on me!"
As I thought, his explosions pack enough punch to stop my non-lethal rounds without much trouble. It wouldn't be an issue loading a round with enough power that it bypasses the force of the explosive wave entirely, but a round like that would probably leave a fatal wound. I know Recovery Girl is on standby, but someone in my position can't be taking risks like that. Don't want the higher-ups thinking that their 'asset' has blown a fuse.
Bang! Bang!
A few more shots taken in different angles, but it's all the same. His reaction speed is inhuman. Which means I'll have to go with my actual plan. There's a saying for American snipers. That they're the last thing you never see. I'll be applying that here. You can't react to something that only makes itself known after it hits you.
With the end of my barrel, I switch targets from Katsuki, to a random spot in the sky.
"Ehh!? What the hell do you plan on hitting out there!? You mocking me?"
Bang!
I fire. There's step one done. Now we go on to step two.
"Ahem…If you really think you can beat me, go ahead and try you maggot!"
Use what I know of his mentality and persona to manipulate his demeanor.
"...!? YOU'LL PAY FOR THAT!"
Here he comes.
Launching himself towards me with reckless abandon, Katsuki winds up his right arm. I simultaneously jump towards him to try and close the distance with my rifle retracted.
Boom!
"Tch!"
I had only a split second to block, but instead of trying to hit me dead on, he sent an explosive wave toward me at the last second. He never intended to get close in the first place.
Despite his overall character making him look like nothing but a raging bull, his combat sense is impressive.
When I glance at his feet, I frown. Not yet, I can't let him turtle up yet.
Despite the massive risk involved, I leap high into the air towards him to shift his attention high.
"Heh, big mistake!"
Hearing the repeated pops of miniature explosions on his palms, I brace hard while hoping my technique actually works.
Boom!
"...Huh!?" Katsuki is forced to jump back considerably to keep the distance he desires.
"OOOHHH! LOOK AT KAZAMI'S RIGHT ARM! IS HE FINALLY PULLING MORE OUT OF HIS REPERTOIRE!?"
"You bastard. Where'd this come from!?"
Instead of a rifle, my right arm takes the form of a large, black, and fleshy shield. It's almost funny enough to make me shake my head. This thing inside of me, protecting instead of attacking.
It's probably not strong enough to take repeated piercing attacks, but for something more widespread like Katsuki's explosions, this should serve as the perfect herding tool.
I don't bother to try and talk to him, to keep him moving, all I need to do is charge ahead in the right ways.
Boom!
Boom!
Every time I'm blasted back, I land right on my feet with little if any damage.
"Are you going to keep running at me like a dumbass!? Come on! Show me more of that rifle you love so much!"
Katsuki slowly switched from an angry look on his face to one of chaotic glee. He feels like even though he's on the defensive, he's fully in control. Good.
Attempting to rush into a sweeping attack just causes him to raise the concrete itself, if I attack from the air, I get sent back so hard I'm in danger of falling out, and if I try diversionary tactics, his reaction speed lets him force his way through. Pound for pound, he's one of the strongest at this academy, and I wouldn't doubt that he could give many top pros a run for their money.
"WAH! KAZAMI LAUNCHED OFF HIS ARM TO GIVE HIM A BOOST IN SPEED!"
One last push is all I need. Of course, I had told myself that going into this, but I didn't expect him to feel threatened by our rapidly closing distance and do this-
BOOOOOM!
Aimed point blank, an explosion over ten times in power from anything else he's shown knocks the wind out of my stomach and knocks me prone into a rolling tumble.
"AND BAKUGO RETORTS WITH THE MOTHER OF ALL BOMBS! IS THIS THE END OF KAZAMI'S REIGN!?"
"Ghk…" Katsuki clenches his palm and bites down hard to stifle a painful moan. Whatever he used just now, it wasn't easy.
After failing a few times, I finally get myself onto my knees in a pathetic display of resistance. I cough loudly a few times, and even my arm has returned to normal.
"You…you're not dead yet."
Damn it, is he still registering me as a threat? Out of some strange desperation, I lift up my arms weakly into a fighting stance, while still on my knees.
"That's it! Let's get serious KAZAMI!"
It worked.
Running at me, smoke coming out of his palms and smiling like a wild animal closing in on a kill, he doesn't stop even when Midnight snaps out of her stupor and tries to intervene. I'm glad she didn't get to, because mere feet from my body-
Thunk
A strange object, traveling at speeds beyond the eye's ability to comprehend, smashes into Katsuki's temple and sends him down. Confirming that his eyes have gone white and a bit of drool has begun leaking from his mouth, I get up off the ground with ease and lightly dust my body.
"Huh. Took a bit longer to arrive than I thought. Good thing he nearly called my bluff back there to give me that extra second or two."
"WHAAAAT!? KATSUKI IS DOWN! DID KAZAMI CALL DOWN AN ATTACK FROM GOD!?"
No. Not even close. The process was pretty simple. The mental note I made before called for a set of different factors needed to make this victory possible. His range, demeanor, and weather conditions. Funny enough, from a certain perspective the only one that actually seemed to be within my liking was the weather.
After confirming that I couldn't just shoot him from the get-go and win, I carefully aimed a very special 'boomerang' round into the air. With its slow velocity and large range, it gave me a very small window of time to position Katsuki exactly where I needed him. I had hoped that I could goad him into a goose chase by attacking his ego, but he ended up being a lot smarter than that. Next, my plan relied on him not being able to attack me from a large range.
Though from the size of that explosion, he definitely has the capability if he could use that large attack of his multiple times without tapping out. It's a damn good thing that was a one-and-done. From there, all I had to do was time it right and hope for the best.
"The winner, is Kazami Yuuji!"
"Mmm. Nn."
"Ho? Big brother makin' you feel things downstairs?"
Makina shines a bright smug grin towards Yumiko, after catching her shuffling around with an interesting look on her face.
"W-what!? What do you think you're saying!?"
"Mhm! I can tell by the way you got embarrassed instead of angry. Them red cheeks don't lie woman!"
"Don't push her like that Makina. Do you want to get stabbed or something?" Michiru said.
"Hmph. I'd appreciate it if you didn't refer to me as some deranged murderer."
"Issat not what you are?"
Click click click click click
"Woh! No need to get mad! We're all on the train now!"
Yumiko, not sure if she should even question what that could possibly mean, sighs before retracting her knife.
"Just what are you babbling about now?"
"Hehe, Amane might be the cun-duct-er of the love train, but after a pu-for-mince like that, we're all on the love train now!"
"Eh!? We're going on a train trip!? No one told me about this! I didn't buy my ticket!" Michiru practically shoves her way past Yumiko to yell in Makina's ear.
"Chiruchiru, I meant a train to big brother's heart. That's why I said love train. Pretty simple right?"
"You expect us to fit a TRAIN inside Yuuji's heart!? Don't tell me! Is your quirk the ability to shrink things!? I don't wanna go! I don't wanna be shrunk!"
"Lady Michiru, look! Some leftover chips and dip! Here, I'll feed you directly so eat up okay?"
"Gah…om om. Mmm~"
"Good right? By the way Makina, where is Amane? Did she perhaps get tired?"
"Nuh-uh. Amane is taking a break until the finale."
"Suou seems to have a harder time with heroes than any of us…"
Makina shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She's enjoyed the theatrics of the festival so far, and especially liked watching her 'big brother', to the point that she's nearly forgotten that this was a hero-oriented event in the first place.
"Mrhm."
Just like Hanta's last match, this one came to a close in less than a single minute.
"Sorry about that Sero! But I'm not losing!"
Grabbing onto his arms, Ochaco spins and tosses Sero high into the sky, where he flops around and waves his limbs to no effect.
"Wha! H-hey! Alright, I get it! I concede alright!?"
"Sero Hanta has conceded the match! The winner is Uraraka Ochaco!"
The crowd cheers for the girl after midnight's announcement.
"Amazing Uraraka!"
"Did you teach her to move like that?"
"Nope. She's been training all by herself!" Izuku responded.
As soon as their match started, Hanta attempted the same trick that he did against Momo. Though whether she was just that much better at thinking fast, or was ready for it after watching his last fight, she sidestepped the tape and grabbed a hold of them, erasing gravity's effect on not just the strands shot at her, but whatever organ actually dispenses it.
He quickly realized that all tape he attempted to release was flimsy and floaty, and fell into a panic, not unlike his last victim. All Ochaco had to do was touch him and she won. With no way to get down on his own, she could wait until he was at the right height, and break all his bones.
As for Izuku, he didn't seem to be that injured aside from the two fingers he broke in the second event. And I'm relieved that he didn't hold my victory against me, and even congratulated me on beating his so-called 'Kachan", though he never gave me the impression of someone who would hold a grudge over something like that to begin with.
"How's Katsuki? He was in there with you for a bit right?"
"Ah, yeah he's still out…"
"I see. I hope I didn't overdo it, but I didn't want to take a chance, nor injure him unnecessarily, so this was the best I could do. Don't worry, when I face Ochaco, I'll make sure to go easy on-"
"No."
"Hm?"
I see that face of his return. He holds eye contact and frowns just slightly.
"Don't…don't disrespect her effort like that."
"Disrespect?"
"Everyone here is trying their absolute hardest. It's not right to win with only half your effort. If you want to do right by her, then give it your all."
Half my effort. Now who does that remind me of? I don't think I'm the only one who needs to hear this.
The rest of the quarter-finals came and went in two back-to-back instant victories. When Fumikage stepped into the arena with Hitoshi, he didn't even give him a chance to do anything before tossing him out with his sentient shadow. It was quite a disappointment after the impressive showing he had against Mei.
Similarly, Kirishima wasn't able to do a single thing when that mountain of ice forced him out. He might have impressive defense, but that's not enough to stand your ground against that kind of power.
When it was time to walk down onto the field once again, Izuku shot me a pleading look. He was serious about what he said earlier, and repeated them to me when I had stood up.
'If you want to do right by her, then give it your all'
I just hope no one thinks of me as that guy. Oh wait, aren't the girls watching back in the dorm? I already feel a migraine start to grow on me. I'll be walking into a storm, probably Michiru screaming like a banshee about how I didn't take her 'be kind to girls' thing seriously. Or Amane begging me to get rough with her out of misplaced jealousy.
"Haha- Gack!" After a few deep coughs to clear my throat, I feel the sun on my skin as I walk out onto the grass.
"Guess I'm still not used to laughing…I was going to laugh?"
Something strange is afoot for sure. I'll have to make sure I'm not under the influence of some strange quirk when I make it back to the dorms.
"READY OR NOT LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, WE HAVE MADE IT TO THE SEMI-FINALS! THESE TWO ARE AMONG THE BEST THAT THE FIRST YEARS HAVE TO OFFER! STARTING US OFF IS URARAKA! A SMALL GIRL WITH A LOT OF HEART!
AND ACROSS FROM HER, YOU KNOW HIM WELL! GIVE IT UP FOR KAZAMI YUUJI ONCE AGAIN! HOW WILL URARAKA SURPASS HIS MONSTROUS SKILLS? LET'S FIND OUT! LET THE FIRST SEMI-FINAL MATCH…STAAAAAAART!"
Ochaco wastes no time running straight at me. It's not a sound strategy, but when your quirk only functions through physical touch, there's not much you can do other than try to close the distance. If I had my way, I probably would have played around a little bit, let her get a bit close, or maybe even let her activate her quirk and pretend to struggle.
However, Izuku really insisted I don't hold back. And so-
Bang!
"Nffft!"
With the screech of her shoes sliding backward on the concrete, Ochaco loses balance and falls onto her back.
But amazingly, she stands right back up. That's weird. That should have knocked her out for sure.
Bang!
"Aie!"
Furrowing my browns in confusion, I keep myself calm and fire a couple more rounds as the girl essentially does nothing but charge right at me, the way I had assumed Katsuki would have when we fought.
But after this latest shot, I realize what's happening.
"Y-you're…a nice guy Kazami…"
"..."
Her arms and hands are covered in red welts.
"I've watched you closely since the very first event. You aren't the kind of guy to hurt someone more than you have to. You always go for the head. And that makes you predictable!"
She runs at me once again. And now that I watch a bit closer, she's raising her hands at the last possible moment to pad her head. If this continues for long, she's going to break the bones in her forearm.
Bang!
"HhhHH!"
So because I'm such a 'nice guy', I shoot her right in the gut instead. She's not launched backward as hard, but she doubles over in immense pain.
"Ptoo! Fuhaaa…" After spitting some drool, she forces a harsh breath into her lungs.
"Nice…it's not the first word I'd use to describe me. Now, will you block your head or your stomach?"
"Tch!"
She takes a step forward.
Bang!
She guessed correctly, it was her head. Doesn't make the bleeding arms any less painful. And yet, she looks straight at me with eyes even more intense than Izuku's. I feel something stir in me, I feel a hint of sadism grow in my gut.
This back and forth continues until she begins to block both her head and stomach with each arm. It's not as effective, but it guarantees she won't take full damage from any single shot.
"Not bad, not bad. Let's take it up a notch. You still conscious Ochaco?"
"Ghk!" She doesn't answer, only glaring at me, trying to figure a way out of this scenario.
"I'm going to begin aiming for your legs and shoulders. Take enough hits to your shoulder, and you'll dislocate it. Take enough hits to your legs, and you won't be able to stand anymore. You can only block two places at once, so choose wisely."
"I…I have a better idea." She speaks with pained breaths.
"Hm?"
"I have to thank you Kazami, for delving too deep into your little villain routine, that you never noticed."
"...!?"
I don't care who you are, or how in command of the situation you think you are, when you hear words like that, it makes your heart beat faster. 'Villain routine' she said. What the hell was I talking about?
I completely snap out of my sadistic state of mind and heighten my focus. Searching for whatever she could be referencing.
Then I look up.
The sky is full of my bullets. There must be dozens of them. Several dozens. More. Just how many times did I shoot her? The inflamed bruises and cuts she bears tell me all I need to know. Every time that I shot her, she moved in such a way that they not only ricocheted high up into the sky, but stayed there as she activated her quirk.
This girl might not look it, but she's a star talent in her own right.
Wait, no. I can think about that stuff later. I need to get out of this right now. They're high enough that they'll be reaching terminal velocity before they reach me. With that many of them, it's going to do some damage.
"Release!"
They start to fall while she once again sprints at me like a cheetah. I see, a two-front attack. If I focus on her, I'm going to take a lot of damage in a short time frame. If I focus too much on the falling bullets, she'll grab me and turn me into Major Tom. Hmm…I didn't want to use this before the final. But so be it.
The rifle retracts its barrel, and the blackened bones and flesh shift around before a set of six rounded barrels extends in its place.
Widening my eyes to take in every possible detail, I breath out slowly.
BRRRRRRRRRRRRRT!
With a deafening buzz, iconic to anyone who's seen videos of old war planes, my 'rifle' fires roughly a hundred times in the span of a couple seconds. The concrete below me cracks like a fissure from the pressure of the downward recoil.
Slam!
And with a hard swing, I smack her with the outrageously large gun to the side of the body hard enough to flip her across the arena.
Taking a second to register the pain, Ochaco looks into the sky, where it's as clear as it ever was.
"H-he…shot them all down? But…that's impossible, not that many…not that fast…"
Still holding the side of her stomach, where I suspect a few broken ribs are, she uses her free left hand to make a fist.
This feels a bit hard to watch, but Izuku must have seen this fire in her eyes. Even with her plan gone in an instant, she has no plans to give up.
I replace the minigun with my rifle once again. A single burst of that damn thing would probably kill her from internal bleeding alone.
"Give up."
"Not. YET!"
Only one arm lifted up, she takes to a running start just like she had before. But when I carefully take aim at her, she suddenly falls onto the floor. Her whole body limp aside from her head.
"Damn it…body…won't move."
She inches towards me with her chin alone, never taking her eyes off of me, until they roll back into her skull.
Midnight tells me to wait while she checks on the girl.
"...She's unconscious. Uraraka Ochaco can no longer fight! Which means Kazami Yuuji is the winner!"
'Quirks are just another organ'. It's a saying you see thrown around quite a bit. And in a way, it's very true. Like the muscles in your arm, the density of your shin bones, and the capacity of your lungs, they have to be trained. They have to be built up. And most of all, they have limits. No matter what kind of quirk you have, it won't function to an infinite degree.
Someone with the quirk to absorb fire can be overpowered given enough heat. Someone with the quirk to regenerate their body can be destroyed past the point of regeneration. Everyone will hit a wall sometime. And luckily for me, those limits are often given very visual tells.
It's through this that I figured out how to beat the hero in training known as Todoroki Shoto.
His battle with Fumikage wasn't anything spectacular in terms of complexity. Hoping for another quick win, he had blasted the damn bird with the same attack he did everyone else. Except this time, Dark Shadow burrowed through it. Shielded from the sun, he came out a bit stronger than usual.
This is when Shoto used that ice move a second time, then a third. It was all a song and dance, the real attack was a small trail of ice he had been steadily growing around Fumikage's blind spot. Not one for direct combat, he stood in the back the entire time and was easy pickings for Shoto's stealthy freeze attack.
The thing that I, and a certain angry blonde who had recently awoken, saw that no one else did, was the frost covering Shoto's right side. Each subsequent attack from him was weaker and slower. His own movements were staggered until the match ended and he finally warmed himself up. This is when I realized-
That ice is a double-edged sword. Every single one of his attacks is meant to incapacitate the opponent due to the simple fact that Shoto freezes himself with every ability. With that in mind, the battle is already won. So I should use the rest of this period to kick back in relax…
'Everyone here is trying their absolute hardest. It's not right to win with only half your effort'
But of course, these damn words keep ringing in my head. Mixed with what Shoto told me earlier, I get odd feelings inside. I know that I said that I saw my past self in him, but what do I care? He's a competitor and nothing more…
Beep Beep Beep
Hrm. My alarm. It's time to walk out one last time. I do this and become an overnight celebrity. Hell, maybe I already am at this point? My aversion to the limelight has never really been out of security for my job, there wouldn't be a point. One of our best active field operatives is the third-ranked hero for all of Japan. You can hardly get more of that lime-colored light to shine on you if you tried.
"Hm?"
And speaking of the third-ranked hero, approaching me outside the waiting room is number two.
"Ah, Kazami Yuuji was it? Took me a while to find you."
"Is that so? What does a top-ranked hero want with me?"
"Your match. You probably guessed already that Shoto is my son."
"There is a resemblance. The eyes, yeah..."
"Your quirk, there's no doubt about it. You must be related to the former pro hero, Lady Nagant."
"Hrm…" He ignores my little tease and turns the conversation in an awkward direction.
"Your skills, your power, and your strategic mind. They all show me that you've been trained since you were a child. My boy, Shoto, I've done the same to him. I've molded him for years, to engrain in him a single duty: to surpass All Might. This final match, it will prove a worthy test, so if you don't mind me asking, give it your all. That's all I came to say."
Engrained into your son, was it?
"When I was trained, it might have been hellish and grueling at times. I'm sure Shoto went through the same. But I was put through that hell to save me. To give me the strength to take back my life. Meanwhile, all you've done is stolen Shoto's."
Endeavor stopped in his tracks, and turned to narrow his eyes at me. As if asking me 'you dare?'.
And honestly, I don't know why, but this whole thing has me riled up. Between Shoto's incessant brooding, and Endeavor reminding me a bit of my own father, I'm starting to wonder what the hell is going to happen when I step into that arena.
-Extra-
2163/05/06 After Todoroki's match with Tokoyami
"Kazami Yuuji, nice to meet you."
"Oh, it's you. Why are you here?"
Figures, I didn't exactly expect him to give me a cordial greeting in return. With my final match coming up after a small break, I decided to wander around the interior corridors for a moment before settling on an unlocked breakroom. Though inside I found the purple-haired Hitoshi laying on a bench inside.
"It's me? Have we met? Maybe I need my medication."
"Everyone knows who you are by now. Why wouldn't they when you have a quirk like that."
"I think you're calling the pot black here. In fact, I had hoped to run into you sometime. I was curious to learn about your quirk. I think everyone does."
"My quirk? Don't get it twisted. It's not some flashy power you can wave around and get the crowds to swoon over you like a giant gun."
"You seem to have a strange distaste for my quirk."
Funny, I thought I was the only one. That aside, he talks with a strong sense of self-victimization. I can almost feel the envy radiating from his eyes.
"Distaste? No, no. absolutely not. It's just that your quirk is amazing that's all. You see, with my quirk, I've been behind from the very start."
"You talk a lot of trash on it, but you won't even show it to me?"
"Hmph. Are you sure you want to see it?"
"Why, what's the worst that-"
n
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"HuuaAaa!" Suddenly, I feel reality come back to normal around me and I suck in a large breath of air.
What the hell was that? Where am I?
A quick glance shows me that I'm not even in the same room.
"Brainwash. By responding to my voice, you're forced to submit to my every whim. They don't even remember what happens afterward…"
"That's, your quirk?"
This is the so-called horrible quirk that he has?
"You're thinking about this all wrong. In what scenario would my quirk ever allow me to move forward in this society?"
"Well, that's obvious, you could-"
"The UA entrance exam was against robots. The recommendation exam required connections to agencies. And agencies only want flashy powerful quirks that are easy to market. Physically, I am no different from a normal human."
"Hrm."
"You see? From the very beginning, I've been behind. 'Your quirk suits a villain' they'd all say. I'm getting tired of it all."
"I see your point. But in the end, there's still no one to blame but yourself."
"That's easy for you to say! You, the number one! You've been blessed with an amazing quirk! How could you possibly understand me!?"
"Your quirk is what you make of it."
"..."
"You're right, I don't understand you. But you don't understand me either. You call my quirk a blessing? You couldn't be farther from the truth. This quirk of mine is a curse unlike any other. The things my quirk…"
The things my quirk has done. Has made me do.
"You get what I'm trying to say. You told me you were born behind everyone else. Well, I started from rock bottom, no lower than that. I turned it into what it is today. You wouldn't be here if you didn't want to be a hero, so stop blaming those more fortunate than you and start working towards doing what you came here to do."
"...!"
Without another word, I walk back to my actual break room. After I calm down a little, I realized something.
Why am I playing therapist? I'm not some damn miracle worker, existing just to solve other people's emotional problems…
"Today's been a long day."