Apparently some people have been looking forward to this one.
I hope you all like it! ^^
The fourth match. The half-way point.
The one who passed the Hero Evaluation with the highest score, Bakugou Katsuki.
The lowest ranked esper, no AIM field at all, truly a zero among zeros, Kamijou Touma.
The strongest versus the weakest.
The boy of spikey blond stood across from the one of spikey black.
"…Being up on stage has a lot more pressure than I expected…" Touma commented, rubbing the back of his head.
"Shut it, you don't need to talk to me like I'm your friend or something." Katsuki responded.
"Who said I was talking to you? Just because someone near you is speaking makes you think they have to be talking to you? That's really conceited, you know." Kamijou shot back.
"What was that you piece of shit!?" Katsuki angrily shouted.
As the two continued their un-pleasantries, Izuku looked on in the waiting room with a conflicted expression.
"Is something wrong Midoriya?" Tenya asked.
"I can't decide who I want to root for…" He replied. "On one hand, Bakugou and me go back a really long time… but Kamijou seems like a really nice guy… and really friendly…"
"It's also difficult to tell a winner…" Tenya added.
"It depends on if that right hand of his works on Quirks." Accelerator suddenly joined the conversation.
"Huh? What about his right hand?" Kirishima joined in as well. "What's so special about it?"
"You'll see… maybe." Accelerator replied. "If it works on quirks, Kamijou wins. If it doesn't, your friend with the bad attitude wins. Simple as that."
"Is it… really that cut and dry…?" Izuku asked.
"Kamijou Touma… I haven't seen him since the Daihasei Festival…" Sogiita suddenly spoke, watching from one of the windows.
"…Is he strong?" Shouto asked, watching the event next to him.
"Don't scare us like that Shouto! Speak more often!" Kirishima shouted.
"Sorry…?" Shouto responded confused. Just because he wanted to keep to himself wasn't anyone else's business.
"… Incredibly." Sogiita replied, his arms crossed. "He is incredibly strong. You might think that by removing his power is how you defeat him, but doing so only unleashes a secret weapon of unstoppable proportions…" Sogiita punched his fist into his open palm, grinning. "I wonder if my guts are good enough to force him to use it!? I can't wait to see if an opportunity will show itself!"
"He's a little… eccentric…" Izuku commented.
"Fucking dumbass." Accelerator gruffly stated.
"I don't know, I think he seems kind of cool!" Kirishima said. Izuku sighed and turned his attention back to the match that was about to begin.
"Alright! Who here is ready for the next match!?" The announcer asked enthusiastically. The crowd responded with a roar of cheers.
"…Hey." Katsuki suddenly called out in the middle of their argument.
"…What is it?" Touma answered cautiously.
"You fought that Accelerator guy before, yeah?" Katsuki questioned.
"Why are you asking about that?" Touma answered.
"How'd you do it?" Katsuki gruffly asked. "He said he was after revenge… how did you fight against that…?"
"Well… I have a way." Touma answered. "But it won't work for you. You can't use it." Katsuki's face turned to anger again, but calmed down as he lowered his head.
"…Fine." Katsuki responded, arousing confusion from Touma.
"Let the match begin!" The announcer sounded, signaling the start of the match.
"If you don't want to tell me, then I'll force you to! Right after I'm finished blowing you to pieces!" Katsuki held one of his arms towards Touma, his wrist aimed down. On the front of the grenade-like gauntlet, Touma noticed a small hole.
"Huh…?" Touma took a step back.
"R-right off the bat with this!?" Izuku yelled form the waiting room. "If he uses that, he will really kill Kamijou! Don't do it Bakugou!"
"Go straight to hell! You scum-fucking son of a bitch!" Katsuki shouted as he pulled what looked like a pin out of his gauntlet.
A series of explosions rocked the arena. In a straight line, Katsuki discharged a massive blast straight forward. Smoke covered the south half of the ring because of it.
Everyone waited. Waited for a call from the announcer. Waited to see if the level zero was still alive.
Slowly, the smoke cleared. A single figure stood with in the smoke, arousing anger and confusion from Katsuki.
Kamijou Touma stood, holding his right hand outward towards Katsuki, in the smoke. The damage of the arena extended outward until it reached Touma, then it stopped suddenly.
Somehow, Kamijou Touma stopped the blast. Katsuki's gauntlets store the sweat from his arms, which by the effect of his quirk, becomes nitroglycerin at will when expelled, and includes the ability to expel it of his own accord. However, it seemed to have absolutely no effect. Not even Touma's hand seemed to be damaged.
"T-t-thank g-god!" Touma stuttered out, noticeably shaken. "I-Imagine Breaker works on q-quirks! Haha!" He laughed, but mentally cursed himself. 'You idiot! If that didn't work, you would have died!' he thought, trying to calm his body down.
Katsuki looked ready to scream.
"So that's it huh!?" His hands formed fists. "Fine! Fucking fine! If that's how you wanted it, I'll blow you apart piece by piece!" Katsuki held out an open palm behind him and an explosion triggered, propelling Katsuki forward. His hand reached out in an attempt to attack Touma with another explosion, but he dodged to the side. The explosion forced Katsuki into a stand-still, which he then used to try and follow up with another; this one was negated by the explosion coming into contact with Touma's right hand. Ever ruthless, Katsuki kept up his violent assault.
This continued for a while. Each attack Katsuki launched was either dodged or blocked by Imagine Breaker. But all the while, Touma never counter attacked.
"A-amazing…" Izuku commented.
"Bakugou is as ruthless as ever… but his skill with his explosions has grown considerably." Tenya stated.
"Kamijou's reflexes are lightning quick though… by the time Bakugou attacks, he's already in the momentum to either dodge or block it… his combat intuition is way above mine…" Ochako added.
'With an ability like that… no wonder he somehow managed to overcome such a devastating ability.' Fumikage thought to himself, glancing at Accelerator. 'A key to defeating him was on Accelerator's own team the entire time… but what he said… there must be another way.'
"That kind of battle prowess is something you get from years of fighting." Sogiita said. "Who knows what kind of enemies he's made… and his guts guided him through it all! I'm excited!"
"You're not even fighting him, remember?" Misaki suddenly added. "Even if your guts-power is at maximum, you won't have an opportunity to clash with him.
"It is just as Accelerator said! If the teams become uneven, anything is possible!" Sogiita retorted.
"And don't forget! You have to beat me, first!" Kirishima shouted.
"Very well! I accept your challenge!" Sogiita made a fist out toward Kirishima with a grin. Kirishima returned the grin with one of his own.
"You two are already going to… ugh, forget it." Misaki shifted her attention back to the match. She wore a concerned expression on her face, seemingly eyeing Touma.
'Huh… she looks worried… Kamijou really does know a lot of people… I wonder if…' Izuku thoughts trailed off.
'Don't go using that thought-power of yours to jump to conclusions~' the voice of Misaki sounded inside Izuku's head.
'Y-you're still in my head!?' he thought.
'Indeed!' Misaki cheerfully answered, leading Izuku to audibly groan. Izuku shifted his attention back to the match, looking concerned himself.
It was a match where he didn't want either one to lose.
"Come on! Dodge, block, dodge block! Do something else! Fight me you bastard!" Katsuki mocked. Touma gritted his teeth. Katsuki lunged forward with his right hand open, the explosion already starting to trigger. Touma however, side-stepped to the right, and was now in his blind spot.
"Fine, if that's what you want, here you go! And you better not complain to me later!" Touma brought his hand back and formed a fist. He threw it, aimed for Katsuki's face; it smashed into it like a truck. The force from the impact outright launched Katsuki backward, causing him to roll. He had to reach up and slam his hands against the ground, grinding against it, to slow himself so he wouldn't fly out of the ring. Katsuki looked up, as angry as ever, with a trickle of blood forming from his nose, as well as the right side of his lip.
'This guy...! This guy…! He makes me so god damn mad! It's driving me crazy!' Katsuki thought, but suddenly started to grin as he reached up to wipe the blood off of his face. 'But… at the same time… he just makes me come right back at him with everything I've got!' His palms exploded, launching him into the air. One arm back, one forward, he came down on top of Touma. He stood ready, but just as Katsuki would reach his target, the palm behind him exploded, propelling him over Touma. Katsuki landed and struck Touma in the back, forcing him forward.
Touma cried out in pain, but quickly turned around to counter attack, but Katsuki dodged the flying punch and slipped into Touma's guard and blasted him in the chest, knocking him onto his back. Katsuki leapt on top of him to attack again, but Touma kicked him in the stomach and rolled, using the opportunity to get back on his feet. He felt the area's where he had been hit; his clothed were fried and his flesh was singed; not quite bloody but definitely burnt, and painful.
"That… really hurts, you know…!" Touma panted.
"No shit!" Katsuki shouted back, immediately jumping back onto the offensive. He charged straight toward Touma with his hand outstretched. Touma, however, dodged into Katsuki's guard and grabbed his arm, and then flipped him over his shoulder and slammed him into the ground on his back; a successful judo throw.
"Come on man…! Why do you got to be so violent!? If I didn't know any better I'd say you were trying to kill me…!" Touma panted as Katsuki got to his feet.
"Shut up… will you!?" Katsuki breathed out. That impact had knocked the wind out of him. On top of that, the combination of all of his movements and the drastic over-use of his quirk was starting to wear him out.
Touma, however, also had major blows to his stamina because of the explosive attacks on his back and chest.
"I'm not… going to lose… to you!" Katsuki breathed out as he suddenly burst into a run again. They started the chain again of blocking and dodging. Touma was being forced backward towards the edge of the ring. Touma tried to step back but felt the edge with his heel, and instead had to move to the side after an attack.
They were both now right next to each other, on the side of the ring.
They both chambered a fist, aimed to knock each other out of the ring.
Touma's right, Katsuki's left.
Fists flew, smashing into human flesh.
They both hard struck each other, the force of the hits and the angle combined knocked them both out of the ring.
But Touma's fist had struck first.
So with mere mili-seconds of time difference, Katsuki started to tumble first. He hit the ground hard, as did Touma. But because of that time difference, he landed first.
Katsuki had lost, and Touma had won.
The weakest had defeated the strongest.
The crowd roared with applause and cheers as the announcer declared the winner. Both could hear it rather dully, suddenly the world seemed to fade away, the last things they heard was Kamijou Touma being declared the winner by a photo-finish. They both faded into unconsciousness shortly after.
-Waiting Room, 18 minutes later-
Touma's eyes opened slowly, the lights on the ceiling blinding him briefly. He slowly sat-up to try and take in his surroundings; everything around him was dulled by a fair bit of confusion.
"Hey… where am I…?" Touma asked out loud.
"Kamijou, you're awake! Are you ok?" Touma heard Izuku's voice. He rubbed his eyes in an attempt to clear up his vision, and finally recognized that he was in the waiting room.
"Y-yeah… I think so." Touma answered. He searched himself; his over and under shirts had been removed and his chest and back were covered in bandages; looked like first-aid was performed on him rather recently; it couldn't of been more than 15 minutes ago.
"S-so… Y-you fought and won huh!? L-looks like you got really messed up though! T-too bad I could s-see it!" Mikoto had apparently returned sometime after the match. She tried to speak in a mocking tone, but the constant stutter ruined her attempt, in addition to the blush on her face.
"Eh? You ok biri-biri? You look like a tomato. Did you catch a cold or something?" Touma questioned.
"N-n-no! I-I'm fine! You idiot!" Mikoto shouted.
"If I may interject!" Sogiita suddenly joined the conversation. "Railgun has been like this since she returned with her friend! Around the time she saw you all bandaged up, Kamijou!"
"Maybe she's embarrassed to see a manly-man's nearly bare chest! Her emotions can't stand the intensity!" Kirishima joined in.
"N-n-no way! Shut up! Take it back!" Mikoto sparked violently, but her blush deepened. Touma looked on, but suddenly got an evil idea. If what Kirishima said was true then…
"Hey, you guys used ointment on my burns right?" Touma spoke up. "They are starting to sting; I think I need some more. I'd do it but I have trouble getting these bandages off myself." Touma finished. Mikoto paused mid-sentence, blush intensifying even more.
"I can do it! My hardening also makes my hands really ridged; I can cut through those bandages no problem!" Kirishima replied back.
"Y-you can't!" Mikoto argued.
"Why not?" Kirishima protested.
"I-it's not decent! T-there has to be a nurse's station s-somewhere around here, right!?" Mikoto argued further.
"But we have the materials we need right here… unless…" An evil grin formed on Kirishima's face. "…Do you want to do it?"
"M-m-me!? W-why m-m-me!?" Mikoto choked out.
"Well someone has to do it. If you don't want me to, then you must want to, right?" Kirishima replied.
"N-no w-way! W-why would I w-want to d-do something like that!? I d-don't even know first-aid!" Mikoto shot back.
"Come on guys! It's starting to get bad!" Touma fake-whined.
"Fine, if you won't then I will." Kirishima started to undo Touma's bandages.
"N-no! F-fine! If I have to t-then I'll do it!" Mikoto practically leapt forward, reaching for Touma's bandages in an attempt to undo them. Before she could even undo the first strap, however, she froze. She realized where she was and what she was about to do.
Undo Kamijou Touma's bandages firstly, but more importantly, expose his bare chest. All to herself.
Her face turned a bright red as she started to shake. Her heart thumped loudly; it was nearly audible to the room around her. She slowly looked up to Touma's face, her shaking form unable to control itself.
"Something wrong Misaka? I hope you take good care of me…" Touma trailed off, but spoke in a very cheerful tone. That did it. Using her last name did her in; it pushed her over the edge. She couldn't take it anymore.
"T-t-t-there's n-no w-way I c-can do something l-like this!" Mikoto virtually screamed, outright falling backward and quickly going for the door, practically running from the room. Touma let out a content sigh, amused by what had transpired. Kirishima did the same.
"W-wow… s-she really does like him…" Izuku commented quietly.
"Y-yeah… There's no mistaking it…" Ochako added.
"In my own opinion… it would be arguable that her feelings for him go beyond just… being interested in him… possibly…" Tenya chose his words carefully. Both Izuku and Ochako nodded in agreement simultaneously. "She just… has difficulty… conveying those emotions…" He continued. Once again, Izuku and Ochako simply agreed. After a short time, things settled back down. The arena was being fixed due to Katsuki's explosion assaults severely damaging it, so the next match had been delayed yet again.
"Hey… Midoriya?" Touma spoke up suddenly. "Where did Bakugou go?"
"Bakugou? He's… in the far corner, looking out the window… b-but I really wouldn't recommend talking to him right now… he was really angry when he came to!" Izuku tried to warn.
"It's fine, I got some stuff I need to say, and it's better to do it now that I'm thinking about it." Touma answered.
"A-are you sure? Like I said, he is really angry!" Izuku argued.
"It's fine. I've had worse injuries." Touma sat up and got off the couch he was resting on as Izuku tried to convince him to hold off on everything, and looked for Katsuki, approaching him when he found him. Katsuki glanced at Touma's general direction, but then quickly looked back out the window.
"Hey…"Touma called out. No reaction. "Umm… are you ok? It seemed like you really got messed up like I did." He tried again. No reaction. "…I hear there is half off on a buffet up the street! Since our match is done, how about I buy lunch?" Touma tried once more. Still no reaction. "…Ah, this is harder than I thought…"
"The hell do you want? Spit it out already." Katsuki spoke in an irritated voice.
"I… just wanted to apologize." Touma replied. "I know you had some things riding in this but-"
"Then why the fuck didn't you just let me win?" Katsuki interrupted.
"That was actually the plan…" Touma admitted. Katsuki was now looking at him. "I had intended to do the dance for a bit, and then take a dive when it looked believable… but..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his head.
"What changed…?" Katsuki asked plainly.
"You tried to blow me to bits with that grenade-cannon-thing…" Touma answered.
"Oh." Katsuki looked at his right arm, and then clicked his teeth. "Whatever. I would have despised that kind of win anyway. What the hell is the point of trying to win when it's guaranteed?" Katsuki looked back out the window. Touma sighed.
"I just wanted to say that… I know you had some stuff you were working toward in this competition, and I'm sorry that my own bad luck got us thrown into a match together…" Touma stated. After waiting for a while, Touma decided he wasn't going to get a response back and started to walk away. Katsuki gritted his teeth.
"I won't lose to you again." Katsuki muttered.
"Huh?" Touma asked, just barely hearing him.
"I said I won't fucking lose to you again! Either you or fucking Deku! You hear me!? Next time we fight, I'll blast you straight to hell!" Katsuki shouted, loud enough for the entire room to hear.
"… Yeah, I understand." Touma responded. "I'll fight you anytime you want. As many times as it takes for you to be satisfied. Sounds good, right?" Katsuki appeared surprised, but then grinned.
"You're going to regret making a statement like that, you know that right?" Katsuki replied.
"Wouldn't be first time…" Touma answered, remembering a certain level 5 who keeps trying to electrocute him.
Izuku, who was watching, slowly started to smile.
"That's good that it's settled..." Izuku stated. And how true that statement was.
Because there is still four more matches in just the first round of this tournament.