Kasai carefully observed the many screens of the observation room, each one showcasing what was happening inside of the building- the inside built like a labyrinth.
From one side of the building, Hikaru and Reiko carefully trekked through the halls of the warehouse.
Hikaru's costume was relatively simple. She had on what seemed to be a more slim and compact combat vest, the bottom of which spreading out like a short skirt. The vest was unzipped, showing the white shirt and black sweatpants that she was wearing. Similarly to Kasai, she also had on gray gloves, but unlike Kasai, she had on protective boots.
Reiko's costume was a skintight black spandex suit that covered her entire body up to her neck. The costume was designed to stretch when she transformed and had holes on the back to allow for her wings to emerge.
While they were walking, Hikaru suddenly stopped. "What are you doing?" Reiko hisses, turning to Hikaru with confusion.
"Reiko, keep looking for the item." Hikaru said with a smile.
"Why aren't you coming?"
"They're nearby.."
Reiko raised an eyebrow at this. "You think you can take both of them on by yourself?"
"I can definitely keep up with Kata, but that other boy might be a bit of a problem... You'll be fine by yourself, right?"
Reiko hesitates, but the moment of doubt is brief. She nods, and dashes off, in search of the item.
Kasai's attention then turned towards the other team of Sora and Kata, the pair heading in the direction of Hikaru.
Similar to Reiko's costume, Kata's costume was skin tight, though it was separated into the shirt and pants. On her waist, she had several pouches, each containing what seemed to be pieces of paper.
Sora had on a big, puffy, waterproof coat with kevlar protection and a hood, and boots similar to rain boots. He also had on a necklace with things that Kasai couldn't see from the camera, and several containers on his waist.
Neither of them seemed to notice the path ahead was ever-so-slightly more illuminated than the rest.
As they were about to turn the corner, Kata's eyes widened,and she quickly grabbed onto Sora. With barely any time to react, Hikaru flashed beside them and let out a devastating kick, crushing through the wall right next to them.
From the rubble, a dust cloud enveloped the room, blocking the camera's view of the participants. The class broke into mumbles, and then gasps- as the room slightly rumbles with the shockwaves of the kick.
"Oh no… Are those two okay?"
"That kick looked like it would've gone clean through them!"
"Ms. Ekuri, I think we should stop this round and go check on them! They may be too injured to go on!"
Even their teacher's expression had a degree of concern. For a moment, she looked as if she was going to reach for the intercom, but she hesitates, squinting her eyes at the screens. The cloud of dust was beginning to settle.
And as it did, three figures could be seen, all standing.
XXXXXXXX
Hikaru still had her leg up where the wall had once been. She smiles cheekily at Kata, bringing her leg back down.
"Hikaru!" Kata yells- sweating. Her concern for her fellow student quickly turned to irritation. "That could have caused permanent damage!" She gestures to Sora- face blank, as if his life was still flashing before his eyes."If I didn't react to that, you could've sent Sora to the hospital!"
Hikaru looked rather nonchalant as she responded. "I knew that you would've reacted. That's why I went through with it! If it was anyone else, I would've used wayyyy less force."
Kata sighs, deeply, before tapping Sora on the shoulder.
He blinks at the physical contact, snapping out of his daze. "D-Did she just… Is she trying to kill us?!"
"Make a wall or something, slow her down! Hurry!"
Still frazzled, Sora nods, and starts to breathe out some sort of cloud. He starts to mold it into a shield, a wall between them and the now-glowing Hikaru.
"No! Not like that!" Kata yells, panicked. "Make it surround u-"
Before she could finish, a line of light like a laser bounced off the walls behind her- once, twice, and ending at a point on her skin. Hikaru flashed into existence, right next to Kata, rearing back her leg for yet another devastating kick.
Before her leg could make contact, the sound of metal being struck resounds through the corridor. Between Hikaru's leg and Kata's face, a white plus-shaped object floated, unmoving. Hikaru flashed backwards into a crouched position, and a disappointed frown on her face.
Kata raises an eyebrow. "Something the matter?"
"Just that your quirk's one of the most insanely versatile I've ever seen…" Hikaru mutters, before smirking. "Yet, you never spice it up."
"That's just because you've never seen me getting creative with my quirk. I'll show you when it's actually needed."
"Hah?.." Sora stares at the object Kata had created, confusion evident on his face, " Is this your quirk, Ikunangaku?"
Kata nods, not even sparing Sora a glance. More of the plus-shaped objects began to spawn around her. "These are what I call 'wheels'." Kata responds. With a flick of her hand, the edges of the "wheels" turned razor-sharp, each of them starting to spin.
XXXXXXXX
Confused murmurs break out in the observation room. With a lull in the action, Kasai takes a moment to listen in.
"I knew Hikaru could teleport, but I didn't know that she could hit that hard!"
"Didn't Kata say that her quirk was too complicated to explain? Rotating plus signs seems… pretty easy to understand…"
"So all Kata can do is create those wheel things? Seems weak."
Kasai's brow furrows in frustration at that last statement. With a short sigh, he turns his attention back to the screens.
XXXXXXXX
Hikaru and Kata were going blow for blow. The former would flash and attempt to land a hit on the latter, but would be promptly blocked by one wheel, and a second would aim for a counterattack, and she would need to flash back in order to dodge the potential hit.
Sora could merely watch- it felt like it wasn't possible for him to keep up with the two of them. If anything, he'd just get in the way...
… But, maybe that's what Kata needs. With that sudden realization, he dispersed the cloud-wall he had created, molding it back into a simple cloud, taking up a bit of the corridor. Hikaru and her light completely avoided it, while Kata and her wheels had dodged into it a few times. As Sora moved the cloud in the direction of the scuffle, just like his prediction, Hikaru started to move the battle further away from the cloud.
Armed with this information, Sora exhales, breathing out a large cloud. It quickly merged with the other cloud, and soon enough, it enveloped the entire hallway.
Kata jumped back to his side with a smile on her face. "Hikaru can't teleport anymore because of this." She patted him on the back, "Good work."
"I saw that she wouldn't fight near the cloud, but why is that?" Sora looked at her inquisitively.
"Guiding Light allows Hikaru to become light itself. It gives her lightspeed reaction time and momentum, but she becomes completely blind, and can't touch anything." Kata explains. "She moves based only on previous information in that form. But, the water particles in your cloud would make the light scatter and cause her to go in a completely random direction. Hence, once she turns back, she'd have no information to go off of."
Sora looks at Kata with wide eyes, "S-She can move at light speed?!"
"Yep." Kata nods, popping the P. She then turns her attention back into the fog, squinting. "Hikaru, what are you doing?"
"Hey, Kata!" Hikaru answers back. Sora could hear the excitement from her voice. "Remember a few years back, you told me that I should practice with a weapon?"
Sora felt a chill down his spine- something was moving through the clouds. It rushed forwards, and on instinct, he tackled Kata onto the floor. Something flew over his head a moment later, and then clanked, the tell-tale sound of metal hitting metal.
From Hikaru's direction, Sora heard a gust of wind. His heart beats louder, faster as he felt his cloud being pushed away from whatever Hikaru was doing. With a grunt, he pushes back, forcing his might into the cloud. But, in a few seconds, Hikaru stopped, and he heard her seemingly dash away.
He sighs in relief, turning down to Kata. Kata, who had been… Lying underneath him. His face flushes a bright red with realization, as he quickly jumps off of her. "I-I AM SO SORRY!" Sora yells, voice shrill, and bows. Kata merely rolls her eyes, hopping back onto her feet.
"We're in the middle of a battle exercise,we don't have time for this." She says, and points a thumb forwards. "Come on, we still need to look for the item. Be vigilant, we don't need Hikaru or Reiko sneaking up on us like that again."
Sora nods, letting her take the lead. "She wouldn't want my help in this. I'm nothing more than an impediment to her." He thinks to himself- but blinks, shaking his head as if to shake himself out of that spiral. "Now isn't the time for my quirk to be working against me! Pay attention."
When his focus returned to reality, he saw Kata walk up to a wall. As she approached, it seemed to cut into two parts, both of them bending away from each other, forming a hole big enough for them both to walk through. She then turned her head in his direction, raising an eyebrow. "You coming?"
"Ah! Yeah, sorry." Sora nods, rushing over to her, slowing down once he was a fair distance away, back to a walking pace. As he followed her, to prevent himself from spiraling again, Sora's thoughts turned to Kata's quirk.
"Maybe she can break an object apart and bend the two pieces to her will?... No, that can't be it. She was making those 'wheel' things before… " The two passed through the wall, and as he glanced back- the split wall simply returned to its prior shape, like what Kata had done to it never happened. "Maybe it's some form of metal manipulation? But there's wood and concrete between these walls as well…"
"Hrm… Hey, Kata?" Sora speaks up.
"Hm?"
"If I'm not intruding… Can I ask what your Quirk is?"
Kata sighs. "It's complicated, but… Alright. It's called Geometrical Dominator. With it, I can create or control any sort of geometry in a 15 meter radius around me. It does take some stamina to manage. The big downside is that I have to know the formula to be able to create or control something. It doesn't have to be the exact formula, but just one that covers the general shape of the object." She holds up a finger, and a small, pinkish-red sphere forms, slowly rotating and floating above her finger. "As an example, to create this, I have to know how to solve for the volume of a sphere: four-thirds pi by radius cubed."
Sora's eyes were wide with shock, "Y-You have to remember every single formula?"
Kata nods. "That's right. Though, I've always been pretty good at mathematics. Side effect of my quirk, I suppose."
"I see…" Sora nods- but pales as a new question pops into his head. "S-So, uh… would you be able to… split apart a… a p-person?"
Kata didn't reply. Sora gulps, and opts not to press it.
The two students continued trekking through the labyrinth in silence, footsteps echoing off the empty corridors. However, an additional sound soon joined them, the sound of metal being dragged, scraped across a surface. At first, it was faint, but slowly grew louder and louder- closer and closer… As Kata and Sora tensed, preparing for whomever was approaching, the sound suddenly stopped.
"Reiko! Now!"
A transformed Reiko hurtles towards them with a roar, gliding towards them with the help of her wings. With only a few moments to react, Sora releases a new cloud from his mouth in a big burst. It compresses, forming a buffer and shield between them and Reiko.
Reiko skids to a halt on her heel, and flaps her wings, hard enough to create a large gust of wind to try and blow the shield away. Kata grunts. She had stopped, but where was…?
"Duck!"
Reiko ducked down, as low as her massive body could go, and Kata saw the bladed head of a scythe, swinging towards them from their left. Kata grunts, a rectangular prism rising up to block the weapon. It succeeds, but the scythe-head lands with a rumble, the tip just managing to crack through the wall.
Kata gasps, stumbling back, but catches onto the wall behind her. The scythe head flew back, ripping through and crumbling the wall. Connected to a chain, it retracts, right onto a handle that Hikaru was holding.
Kata's eyes were wide with shock. "W-When did you…?"
"You're not the only one that has secrets~" Hikaru grins.. "Since we can't find the object, we figure we may as well just capture you two instead. Are you ready?"
Reiko dashes forwards, through the cloud and towards Sora. With a wince, he puts his arms up, in a feeble attempt to block. He felt the impact of her punch, skidding back a few feet. Yet, he didn't feel any pain in his arms. As he looked to his arms, rather than being snapped in half, a pair of hollow cylinders were covering them, reaching from his hands to his elbows. He sighed in relief- they must have been made by Kata. The gauntlets quickly disintegrated, but it gave Sora enough time to prepare himself proper.
He spares a glance and looks over to Kata. Her breathing was heavy, the same hollow cylinders wrapped around her arms, but she tightens her hands into fists, ready to fight.
However, Sora brings his attention back to Reiko, cracking her knuckles, ready to lunge at him again. He generates more clouds from his breath, pulling forth the ones blown away, and begins to compress them- essentially solid balls of white, only stabilized by his quirk. One of these orbs slowly floated behind him, and with a deep breath, he released his quirk's hold upon it.
The cloud ball explodes in a high-pressure burst, sending him rocketing forwards to the transformed Reiko. She tries to bring up a hand, but just misses as he throws a punch to her stomach, throwing her back.
She stabilizes herself mid-air with the help of her wings, and rushes at him again. Sora brings a cloud bomb forwards to intercept, but she uses her wings to bank aside and push it away. Close enough to strike, Reiko swipes with her stony claws, which Sora barely manages to hop away from. He pulls forth one last bomb, and lets it explode, pushing the two away from each other.
Sora tries to gather more of the clouds, to form another grenade, but with a flap of her wings, Reiko bursts forwards, closing the distance between them. Reiko pulled her arm back, and he steeled himself for a broken nose. But Reiko didn't punch him. Rather, she grabbed his head, and continued flying forward. And to his horror, she lifted him up, and attempted to drag his head along the floor.
Panic filled his mind- he tried bringing a cloud bomb forwards, but they were too slow to reach him. Centimeters away from the concrete floor, Sora began to release vapor from the pores on his back in a last-ditch effort, just enough to resist Reiko's downward push. She kept her grip, and continued flying, taking him further and further from his teammate, the only thing keeping his head from being scraped to mush was his Quirk, and if the dryness in his mouth was any indicator, it wouldn't last in this struggle. He needed to find a way out of this deadlock- before his vapor gave out.
XXXXXXXX
Kasai winces. He felt sympathetic for Sora, who was barely keeping himself from being dragged through concrete. Kata wasn't faring much better either, overwhelmed by Hikaru's sheer speed. Likewise, she wouldn't be able to dodge forever. Beside him was Kami, looking in shock at the exercise.
She manages to pull her eyes off from the display of power, instead looking towards Kasai, clearly concerned. "T-T-That... T-That's t-too brutal." She stuttered out."T-They'll be alright… r-right?"
"Hikaru and Kata will be fine. I know that both of them won't seriously harm the other…" Kasai mutters. "Sora, on the other hand…"
The class watches as Reiko threw Sora against a wall, a collective, sympathetic wince as he made impact. Reiko shrunk down into her human form, panting. Sora grimaces, slumping onto the floor against the wall in pain. Body trembling, he slowly began to stand back upright, meeting his opponent in the eyes with determination.
Kasai feels relieved- it seemed Sora had more endurance than he thought. He looks back to the screen, to the camera recording Kata and Hikaru's fight. It looked like even Hikaru was now feeling the effects of Quirk overuse. She was sweating, her barrage of attacks slowing down, weakening ever slightly. Kata took notice, and it seemed to bolster her resolve.
Hikaru flashed to the opposite end of the corridor, wiping her forehead as she pants. Kata was likewise breathing heavily, but gave the golden haired girl a smirk.
"Seems like… you're finally running out of steam, Hikaru."
Hikaru's brow furrows- but her lips twist to a smile. "I just… didn't think I'd have to show off my ultimate move yet… Even if it's a bit toned down."
Hikaru stuffs her hand into a pocket, and pulls out a coin roll. It looked to be about 30 coins in the roll, all shining like they were newly made. Kata's brow furrows in bewilderment- which was mirrored by many of the people in the observation room. Even Kasai tilted his head. He hadn't seen her do anything like this when they trained together…
Though quiet, a giggle breaks out in the observation room- drawing the attention of their students. And Kasai recognized that as Hoseki's laugh.
"Oi, what are you giggling about?" Growls out a blonde-haired classmate. Said classmate was Yuuta, a boy with some sort of magma-based quirk. He didn't seem like the social type, based on how seldom he made himself- but, Kasai knew his quirk was nothing to scoff at- it had gotten him 5th in the apprehension test.
But, Hoseki didn't seem bothered, merely smiling and looking back up to the screens. "Just watch and see~"
All eyes were on Hikaru, as she flashed away, and… Threw the coins at Kata. Kata blinked- it wasn't even thrown that hard. Half of them missed, and the ones that made impact only seemed to bounce off.
But, while those coins were airborne, bouncing and scattering, Hikaru flashed and vanished. A ray of light bounced and reflected off of each of the coins- visible for barely a few seconds as they all hit the ground. Hikaru re-appeared behind Kata, fumbling forwards and falling to her knees.
But in comparison to Kata, Hikaru seemed right as rain. Shallow cuts ripped through her costume, and skin, and Kata promptly fell face-first, unconscious. Her manifested geometries began to disappear, fading out of reality
Kasai's eyes widened in surprise. From what he could gather, Hikaru had entered her physical form for fractions of a millisecond, cut Kata, and transformed back into light, continuing to bounce, aided by the reflections of the coins guiding her path. Kata had been cut hundreds of times within less than a second- and she must have passed out from the shock. He'd never seen something like this from her before.
Kami cringed at the violence, quickly looking away from the screen of the now-finished fight. Instead, she turned her attention towards the screen showcasingSora and Reiko. Reiko was no longer in her gargoyle form, fighting Sora in hand-to-hand combat. However, she failed to notice a cloud bomb rearing behind her. It promptly detonated, causing her to fly towards a wall. On instinct, Reiko's body quickly grew and transformed, and she oriented herself so that her feet would touch the wall first.
Using the wall as a launchpad, she flapped her wings and flew forwards. Sora didn't have time to react, as she tackled him with the full force of her gargoyle body, knocking him unconscious. With a final skid, she landed on the ground and shrunk down to her normal size, wheezing and rubbing her temple with one hand, using the other to balance herself on the wall.
Seeing this, Tsuki grabbed onto her microphone. "This round is concluded. Team F wins!"
The class erupted into chatter and applause, using this moment to reflect on their classmate's battle.
"I don't think that I could've blocked an attack that could break through concrete!"
"I know, right? That was… intense!."
"Nokogiri and Ikibayashi seem pretty strong. I'm surprised that Ikunangaku and Terubozu kept up for that long…"
Kasai gazes along the students praising the battle- but again, his eyes lock onto a particular person. Mary seemed to be scowlingas she listened to the students praising the participants. When she noticed his stare, again, her face turned into a smile, but to him, it seemed more predatory than friendly.
He opts to look away, and towards their teacher. She had turned to make her way towards the trial area, but before she could leave, Suiiki tapped her shoulder. They seemed to have a short conversation, and the both of them left. The class barely seemed to notice amidst their chatter- for a few moments later, Kasai noticed the two on the screens- the four participants within Suiiki's bubbles, being carried off. He assumed they were being transported to the Nurse's office.
A few moments later, as the class began to simmer down, Suiiki and Tsuki returned to the observation room.
"Now, for the next match. Team C, Katsuo Sugimoto and Tominaga Hidako, will be going against Team A, Maneki Kin and Suiiki Utakata. The two teams may now make their way to their starting locations."
The two teams made their way to their starting locations, and the class once again awaited the start of the round.
XXXXXXXX
Suiiki was never one for social interaction. It wouldn't be right to say he was bad at interacting with others, so to speak. He simply found that it took a lot of energy to keep up a conversation, energy that he couldn't say he had much to spare.
Such irony, however, that he was paired with Maneki, of all of the students in the class.
"So with your quirk- you can just make bubbles anywhere?"
"Will they pop if I scratch them?"
"How many bubbles can you make at once? Have you ever counted?"
Suiiki sighed, rubbing his temple. The exercise hadn't even started yet. Hopefully it wouldn't take as long to finish as it did to start. But, as though some god heard his internal plea, he at last heard the signal to begin.
Maneki crouched down, low and close to the ground with a grin on her face. As if to pounce, she was ready for takeoff- pushing herself off the ground with her arms and legs- but as she did, her momentum ceased, and she began to gently float upwards. It was as if gravity stopped working just for her. She looks to Suiiki, confusion evident on her face as she tries to orient herself. Without the everyday force pulling her down, such a thing was much more challenging than she realized.
"We should probably stick together. If we split up, it'll make it easy for them to pick us off one at a time." Suiiki explains, his voice a dull, almost bored monotone.
"That makes sense- but… How am I floating?" Maneki exclaimed.
"You haven't noticed yet?" Suiiki sighed. "You're inside a bubble."
That appeared to do the opposite of calm her down. Maneki's eyes widened, and she started to hiss and struggle.
Suiiki closed his eyes, and let out another, longer sigh. "You can stop struggling, it's not even made up of water."
Maneki's floundering ceased, and she looked at him, again confused. "I thought… Don't bubbles have to be made of water?"
"Not necessarily. A bubble can be made of any liquid or liquid-acting material. I'm using the air to create a bubble."
"But- what?" Maneki still looked confused.
"We don't have enough time to get into the science of it. Come on." With a snap of his fingers, the bubble pops, and Maneki lands soundly on her feet.
The two make their way into the warehouse, a deceptively massive maze. With each room and each hall, they'd take a moment to check for whatever item they were supposed to find. But, each time, nothing would stand out.
Suiiki closes the door of yet another empty room- before his ears manage to catch the footsteps of someone bolting his way. As he turned back, he saw Katsuo with a fist mere inches away from his face.
On pure instinct, Suiiki surrounded himself in a bubble, letting him quickly move to the side. A smaller bubble separated from his barrier, taking his place in front of Katsuo's fist.
"Huh..?" Katsuo mutters- he was prepared to hit flesh, but instead, merely felt a soft mass. The energy had left his body through the punch- but this bubble, whatever it was made of, seemed to be mitigating it, somehow.
Suiiki pulled the bubble Katsuo had punched into his hands- said bubble now glowing a faint blue. It then split into four- each of them almost invisible, and he released his hold upon them.
With a fair distance between the two, Suiiki pulled his arm back, seemingly getting ready to throw a punch Katsuo's way. Katsuo sees this and smirks- clearly this kid didn't know how to fight. However, Suiiki surrounded his arm within a bubble, and a piece of it shot off- carrying Suuiki's upper arm with it.
The seemingly-dismembered arm caught Katsuo off guard- grabbing onto him. With a pop, the arm shot right back onto Suiiki, whose other fist was reared back for a proper punch.
The flabbergasted Katsuo was too late to activate his quirk for the blow- Suuiki's fist met his stomach, knocking the air out of him, and sending him onto his back.
Maneki's eyes gleamed- she darted towards the downed Katsuo, and went to slash at him with her claws. But, as her claws made contact, all of the momentum she was using for the slice suddenly ceased, and she had barely made a scratch.
Confused, she jumps back quickly to Suiiki's side, crouched on the ground almost on all fours. "What gives?" she asks.
Katsuo sneers, hopping back up onto his feet. "My quirk. And that's all you need to know." He raised his fists, settling into a fighting stance akin to that of a boxer. "Now, get ready for a real fight."
Maneki hissed, claws outstretched, and Suiiki flexed his hand in anticipation. But, before anyone could make a move, a fourth voice rang out.
"So you couldn't just wait for me, eh?!"
It was Katsuo's teammate, Tominaga- and she looked quite pissed as she stomped towards the three. Her costume was a punk styled outfit, the bottom of her face being covered by a mask with a smile painted on it. She also had on gloves which had nozzles on the wrists.
Katsuo turned to his teammate- "You took too long." he huffs.
"Well, excuse me for wanting to come up with a plan! I was gonna set up a type of trap or something with…" Tominaga's rambling trailed off, as she took notice of Maneki and Suiiki.
"Go on, take your time." Suiiki hums.
Tominaga took a breath in, using her quirk to shift and augment the air within her lungs. But, before she could breathe out, the force of a punch hit her in the gut, the air knocking out of her before it could be fully shifted.
She winces as the pain subsides- and she looked up in confusion. Neither of Team A had moved. She huffs- and then glances to her partner.
"What are you-" Katsuo began. But again, before he could finish, he also seemed to be struck by the same force that had hit Tominaga. "The hell?!"
Tominaga jumped back to put distance between her and the opposing team- yet, her teammate had stayed in place. She took in a deep breath and let it out fully, causing a cloud of pale gas to envelop almost the entirety of the room in front of her.
"OI! COME ON, LET'S GO!" Tominaga yelled out.
Suiiki and Maneki had been encircled by another one of Suiiki's bubbles. It was managing to keep the gas out, but Suiiki was starting to sweat. His bubbles usually allowed liquids and gasses to pass through its outer layer, but if he wanted, he could make it so that the bubble wouldn't allow anything to pass through, making it a completely enclosed space. The problem, however, was that he had to allow air to pass though in order to allow the two of them to breathe, but couldn't allow any of the gas that Tominaga made to get in. Actively filtering what went in and out took a significantly greater amount of focus and energy to do, and it was starting to take a bit of a toll.
To lessen the strain on himself, he cut the bubble that the two of them had been standing within in two. Maneki hisses in shock, as the bubble began to slowly shrink- becoming slimmer and slimmer until they were merely a thin layer over their skin.
He looked to the two members of Team C- and his eyebrows furrowed as he saw Tominaga take in another breath. It would be best to err on the side of caution. The bubbles surrounding them began to take in pure air- forcing it into the small space between the layer and their bodies. Maneki squirmed- and Suiiki figured it would be uncomfortable. But, Tominaga was about to do what he thought she was about to do… Tominaga released the breath- and the gas surrounding them combusted. A massive explosion enveloped over half of the hallway that they were in.
"Hah! How about that?!" Tominaga cheered- as the dust and smoke built up, and then began to settle. However, she was then quickly able to see Suiiki and Maneki's forms standing upright- a few scrapes and singes, but they were mostly fine. But, they were promptly starting to clear the distance.
As the pair ran, Suiiki generated more bubbles, sending them towards the opposing team.
Maneki reached them first, and clawed at them. Katsuo and Tominaga both managed to dodge- but her claw managed to poke one of Suiiki's many bubbles. It didn't pop- simply floating off. She hisses, continuing her barrage of swift slashes. With quick movement, she could safely say that many of them hit their mark- a few shallow cuts to wear the opposing team down. Though- out of the ones that missed, almost all of them seemed to be hitting bubbles.
After almost a full minute of a literal game of cat and mouse, Maneki finally stopped her assault, jumping back to Suiiki's side.
"What is with all of these bubbles!" She hisses. "They're annoying, and they're starting to get me wet! I thought you said they were made out of air!"
Suiiki tilts his head, holding up his cup- which he had somehow managed to bring with him into the exercise, "The more dense the liquid, the more they can hold."
She looked back to the other team shaking her hands in an attempt to clear them of the accursed water. The other team had learned their lesson, however- focused on the bickering pair, waiting for some sort of counterattack.
The sound of a sloshing liquid caught everyone's attention. The many bubbles that Suiiki created started to quickly move around, surrounding Tominaga and Katsuo. A bubble near Katsuo popped, and a shallow cut suddenly nicked his shoulder.
Katsuo's brow furrows, and he takes a step backwards- into more bubbles. As soon as he touched them, each of them popped, earning Katsuo his fair share of swift slices.
Tominaga's eyes narrow- and she glares towards Suiiki. "So that's your gimmick, eh? You copy other peoples' attacks in your bubbles, and once they're popped, they're let out."
Suiiki shrugged, hands in his pockets. "You can believe what you want."
Tominaga took in another breath. As she exhaled, rather than coming out as a cloud in front of her mask, the gas emerged from the nozzles on her gloves. With it, the gas seemed to pressurize like a spray can, enough to push the bubbles away from them both.
Maneki dashed forth, seeing an opening to attack Tominaga. She braced herself for the damage that the bubbles would cause, but to her surprise, the bubbles didn't pop when she got near them- or even as they brushed past her skin. She ran right towards Tominaga, too focused on defending herself and Katsuo from the bubbles to be able to dodge or block. She raised her clawed hands for a swipe, but right as she was about to swing, she felt something grab her leg.
She looks down to see none other than Katsuo, his hand around her leg. With a yell, and with all of his might, he threw her towards a wall. With such force and ferocity, she didn't have time to try and land, or lessen the impact, as she hurtled through the wall.
The three could only watch, stunned- even Katsuo himself was surprised at what he had done. Suiiki approached first- an alarmingly serious expression on his face.
"We should… We should probably bring her to the nurse's office." Tominaga snapped out of her trance. Suiiki turned towards them- his face which was once completely serious now calm. "We will most likely have to deal with injuries like this in the future. Perhaps even worse." With another wave of his hand, Maneki was enveloped in a bubble- one that Suiiki promptly entered- and they drifted off.
"Wait, where are you going?" Katsuo's voice yelled after them, as the bubble picked up speed. They sharply turned a corner- and Maneki whimpered, holding onto her leg. Suiiki flinched- but he kept forwards, until they were a suitable distance away. The bubble lowered them both to the ground, and then popped.
"Let me see…"
Maneki's eyes widened, with worry. "W-Wait a minute, y-you're not going to try and snap it back, are you?.."
Suiiki's hand ghosted over her exposed leg, a piece that was purple in color and bent at an odd angle. Maneki flinched, expecting pain- but a bubble had formed around her leg, moving it away and closer to Suiiki's face for analysis. Despite it seeming as though her leg had been severed, she didn't feel any pain around the "amputation".
"Looks like a clean break."
He reaches into a bag on the side of his hip, and from it emerged a shimmering bubble. It merged with the bubble housing Maneki's separated leg, and then connected back to her body. The bubble continued to shimmer, and Maneki felt the pain in her leg slowly beginning to fade away.
Maneki looks at him with pure confusion. "I-I… I thought your quirk was just b-bubbles."
He nodded at this. "That's not wrong, but… there were a few details I withheld. I'll tell you the details when I take you to Recovery Girl, but for now, you should be able to walk." Suiiki hums, satisfied. But, a grin then formed across his face. "Unless, you're thinking what I'm thinking." Maneki pauses for a moment- and lets out a small giggle. "Yeah, I think I am."
XXXXXXXX
The observation room was deathly silent- a silence that had begun after they all heard Maneki's leg crack. Yet, the silence persisted still, because of what Suiiki had done. Their teacher had also been caught off guard by what occurred. The communication device was in her hands, and she was prepared to call the match off for almost two minutes.
Kasai could absolutely consider himself confused. He figured the match would have ended, or Maneki would have needed to be taken out of the match. But never would he have thought that someone with a bubble quirk would be able to almost instantaneously heal a broken bone.
They watched in silence as Maneki curled against a wall, acting as if she was still injured. Tominaga and Katsuo turned the corner, and ran over to the girl- both of them with a degree of concern. They almost made it to her side, before a hand touched their shoulders. Suiiki, who had been hiding behind a corner, enveloped the two inside of a bubbly prison. They struggled within, before coming to the conclusion that they didn't have enough strength left to escape.
"Team A wins!"
Maneki then shot upright- before fumbling and almost falling back down again- while Tominaga and Katsuo looked at the girl, completely dumbstruck. The bubble around the two expanded, and Suiiki grabbed his teammate by the arm and jumped into the bubble, using it to transport them all out of the labyrinth.
"So… did anyone else know he could do that?" Minato spoke up with a furrowed brow- more curious than confused, watching the four exit the building- and likely head towards the nurse's office.
"I want to ride in a bubble!"
Kasai and Kami jumped at the loud, but familiar voice. Hikaru had come back in a flash- and seemed like she hadn't lost any energy. Even though Kasai knew her, it felt as though every day was something new with her…
"Well then, let's start the next round." Ekuri then spoke up "Team H, Yukina Tsubasa and Haruka Shinomiya, will face Team E, Kurai Taishi and Minato Nosaka."