Izuku finally arrived to where his classmates were sitting as Ochako was the first one to notice and stood up with a wide smile on her face. "Dekiru!"

Ochako immediately ran towards Izuku and hugged him tightly as Izuku widened his eyes from the pain as tears streamed down his cheeks. "D-Does no one know how to be gentle anymore?! I'll end up being back at the nurse's office at this rate…"

"Uraraka, it's probably for the best that we treat Midoriya as if he were a fragile glass." Momo suggested as she watched this exchange between the two of them.

'I wonder…. Is it possible that Uraraka's situation could be similar to Jirou's? However, Uraraka is overly friendly to everyone, so maybe it's just my talk with Jirou earlier that is giving me these types of thoughts. Either way, I probably shouldn't mention the hug to Jirou…'

Ochako released Izuku as soon as she heard that and sheepishly laughed, her face getting a little red. "M-My bad… I hope I didn't hurt you too much, Dekiru. I'm super sorry."

Izuku sighed in relief as he sweatdropped before sitting down. "You don't have to be that careful with me, but some restraint wouldn't hurt… But you don't have to feel bad, Uraraka. Kyouka did the same thing earlier."

"Oh, you saw Jirou earlier?" Ochako asked, sitting down right next to him.

Izuku nodded as he placed his notebook on the empty seat that was in between him and Momo. "Yeah, I actually came back during Kacchan's match against Kirishima, but then I ended up talking to Iida and then Kyouka arrived before they both had to leave for their respective matches."

"Ah, that explains why we didn't see Iida as well after his match. I was hoping to congratulate them both in-person from their matches in the second round." Momo said before sighing. "However, it's a shame that Iida lost his match against Todoroki. And no offense, Midoriya, but Jirou's chances aren't looking too well against Bakugo."

Izuku didn't respond to that and stayed silent as he looked down at his lap with no expression on his face.

The issue was that Momo was probably correct. Even Izuku can't think of a proper strategy that Kyouka could use against Bakugo, using her quirk. He tried to imagine what he would do if he had her quirk, but his mind kept coming to a blank.

"Yaoyorozu! You're being a downer again!" Ochako loudly whispered towards the other girl.

Momo bowed her head down right away. "I deeply apologize, Midoriya. I didn't mean it like that, I promise you."

"It's alright, Yaoyorozu. I know your words had no ill-meaning." Izuku said before turning towards Momo, smiling. "But we'll keep on cheering on Kyouka the whole time no matter what, right?"

Ochako raised her fist. "Totally!"

Momo sighed in relief that Izuku didn't react negatively to her words before smiling as well. "Yes, we will."

Izuku then turned his attention towards the arena, waiting for the match to start. 'Do your best out there, Kyouka. Show Kacchan and the entire world what you can do. I may still have this bad feeling in my gut, but I have this other feeling as well that you'll surprise me. So I think I'll listen to the latter feeling…'

Kyouka was currently standing in the corridor that led to the arena, rubbing her arm. "Fuck… I'm going up against Bakugo any second now…"

Did she honestly think she could win against Bakugo? Definitely not. In terms of power, he's leagues above her and it's not like she has any of her support gear to help her out like she did during their combat exercise.

'I definitely can't beat him by tricking him out of bounds or making him give up. He'd probably try being nice before doing either of those things.'

And it's not like she can depend on him losing his temper and stop thinking clearly. From what she saw from his match against Ochako and Kirishima, he seemed surprisingly level-headed.

She thought that maybe she could try pushing his buttons and say whatever she can to make him lose his temper, but she doubts that he would mess up his own chances at winning this festival. Plus, making him angrier might just increase his brutality, and then she won't have a chance in the world.

Kyouka groaned in frustration as she put her hands on her face. 'I wish I got to spend at least a little more time with Izuku before coming here. Maybe that would put my mind in a calmer place. Maybe I should just go back to him and-'

She suddenly slapped herself across the cheek, snapping herself out of her thoughts in an instant.

"Dammit, get a grip, Kyouka! Having doubts now is just going to fuck you over!" Kyouka scolded herself as her cheek was now a bright red from that slap before making a fist. "Izuku wouldn't want me having these types of thoughts right now. I have to believe in myself the same way he believes in me. Yeah, I'm going to win this."

"Time to get to the next and final match of the semifinals!"

Kyouka then smirked, having an idea to give herself some extra motivation to win this match. "If I win, I'll earn the right to give Izuku another kiss on the cheek. Now that is the perfect reward."

Flames erupted from the four corners of the arena as Kyouka and Bakugo stood at opposite ends of each other.

"Both of these competitors come from the same middle school! But they seem to hate each other's guts! I can feel the tension from way up here! From the hero course, Katsuki Bakugo! Versus, the one I'm totally not rooting for -wink- another one from Class 1-A, Kyouka Jirou!"

"Did you actually say 'wink'?"

Both competitors were glaring at each other, not taking their eyes off of the other person for even a moment.

"So did that nerd give you a plan? You're even closer to him than that other girl, after all. He must've given you something, right?" Bakugo asked as he scowled.

Kyouka crossed her arms. "Hate to break to you, but Izuku didn't give me a plan of any sorts. However, I like to think I won't need one."

"Are you all ready?!"

Bakugo cracked his knuckles. "I'm gonna pay you back for that damned stunt you pulled at the cavalry battle, Earlobes. That really pissed me off."

"Is that so? Well, every single action you've ever taken has pissed me off so I'd say we're about even." Kyouka smirked. "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for this chance, Bakugo. You really don't."

"Huh? The hell's that supposed to mean?" Bakugo asked, but wasn't met with a single response.

"Begin!"

However, both competitors stayed in place with Kyouka slightly raising her earphone jacks and Bakugo slowly pulling back his right arm.

'Bakugo. This is where I'll avenge Izuku for all the years of torment you've casted upon him. I failed back during our combat exercise, but I won't fail here. Someone has to teach you some humility in front of all these people.'

'Just what the hell is Earlobes thinking? That damn girl is going to have something up her sleeve. And I know it's going to be annoying, considering she's friends with Deku. In the end it doesn't matter. I'll kill her anyway.'

"Um, guys? Did you not hear me? You can fight now! Don't let the audience start snoozing here!"

'I can't let this match get drawn out. Cause Bakugo will end up accumulating more sweat and when that happens, his explosions will only get more powerful. Those explosions that come out of his hands are a real pain in the ass as it is.' Kyouka then widened her eyes, having an idea pop in her head. 'Wait… His hands… God, I didn't think I'd have to use this move and this whole plan might be totally stupid, but it's worth a shot.'

"Right." Kyouka simply said before running towards Bakugo at full speed.

"Oh no, what is she doing?!" Ochako asked, leaning forward. "That's exactly how I started off my match with Bakugo and that went horribly for me!"

Momo shook her head. "I have no clue. But wasn't it a part of your plan to continuously get blasted with more explosions to have a smoke screen and gather enough debris?"

Ochako nodded. "Yeah, but this is different. Jirou can't gain anything by getting blasted by his explosions. I'm scared of what'll happen to her."

"I hate to admit that I agree. I can't imagine what kind of strategy Jirou is thinking of right now. Do you think maybe she's possibly making it up as she goes?"

"No. She knows what she's doing." Izuku affirmed with confidence, closely watching Kyouka's movements. "Even if I don't know what's going through her mind right now, I can tell by the way she's moving that she has a plan. I have total faith in her."

Both girls widened their eyes at Izuku's words before they smiled and returned their attention to the match.

"Man, Midoriya's faith in Jirou doesn't waver one bit, huh?" Ojiro whispered to Tokoyami.

Tokoyami closed his eyes. "As unwavering as the darkness that resides in the abyss."

Izuku wished he could've asked Kyouka what her strategy was against Bakugo so he could have a clear idea of what's going on right now. If he didn't know her so well, he would assume that she's being too careless by running at Bakugo like that and that it could only result in her loss.

Izuku was fairly disappointed in himself that he doesn't have a single clue what Kyouka is planning. 'Win this, Kyouka, and try to be careful while you're at it. Unfortunately, I don't think you will, considering how much I've rubbed off on you.'

Kyouka was closing in on Bakugo and looked him right in the eyes.

Bakugo was about to fire an explosion towards Kyouka before noticing that her earphone jack was coming right towards his face.

He then quickly grabbed the earphone jacks with his right hand before immediately firing an explosion in front of him with his still free hand. "Moron, did you really think you could distract me with tha-"

Bakugo stopped himself, noticing that Kyouka wasn't in front of him anymore before looking around and seeing that she was now running towards his left flank. 'Just what does she have to gain from this? All she's doing is delaying her death.'

Bakugo kept a grip on the earphone jack, turning towards his opponent and seeing another earphone jack coming towards his face before catching that one as well.

Smoke started to come out of Bakugo's hands before he smirked at Kyouka. "Don't know what you were planning, Earlobes, but all you've done is render your only weapon useless."

Kyouka stopped running and seethed in pain at feeling her earphone jacks getting burned before giving a pained smirk, barely moving the tip of her jacks. "Funny… Cause I was about to say the same to you."

Kyouka then quickly stabbed her earphone jacks into Bakugo's palms before immediately channeling her heartbeat into them.

Bakugo pulled back his hands as soon as possible and fired off an explosion, directly hitting Kyouka's earphone jacks before his arms fell limply at his sides.

Kyouka grunted in pain and pulled back her earphone jacks right away before inspecting them.

A little bit of blood dripped from the tip of her earphone jacks and saw that they were looking pretty burnt and bruised from taking a hit from Bakugo's explosion, before moving them a little, feeling instant pain. 'Damn, it hurts to even move them. But on the bright side, I don't think I'll need them anymore.'

Bakugo tried to move his arms but was met with no response before he growled at Kyouka. "You bastard… I can't feel my arms…"

"Unfortunately, that effect is only temporary." Kyouka remarked, her smirk widening as she clenched her fists. "But it's going to last long enough for me. I wonder how you'll fare without your precious little quirk. Cause you'll need it for what's coming next."

"What's going on?! The unstoppable Bakugo has finally been stopped?!"

"Hey, what happened to Bakugo's arms?" Kirishima asked, pointing at the explosive boy.

Sato crossed his arms. "Don't know, but he looks like he can't move them. Freaky."

"Whoa, she used that move!" Izuku shouted, leaning forward.

"Huh? What are you talking about?" Ochako asked, looking at him. "What move?"

Izuku glanced at Ochako for a second before returning his attention to the match. "It's a move Kyouka came up with recently that allows her to use her earphone jacks on other parts of the body."

"Is that so?" Momo asked, cupping her chin. "I wonder why she didn't use that against me after she failed to jam them into my ears. It certainly would've saved her the trouble of injuring herself."

"She probably wanted to save that as her trump card for someone who depends more on their limbs more like Ashido or Kacchan. I'm honestly surprised to see her using it during the festival. I would've thought she'd want to get some practice in first."

"So how'd you know about that move in the first place, Dekiru?"

"Well, it was just a few days before the Sports Festival after Kyouka and I had gotten done with a light workout…"

Flashback

Izuku and Kyouka were sitting on the sands of Dagobah beach after another one of Izuku's "light" workouts. The girl's clothes were drenched in sweat and she was now reading through her hero's notes on her quirk, an idea beginning to brew in her head.

"Hey, Izuku?" Kyouka called out, getting the boy's attention. "Mind if I get your opinion on something?"

Izuku put down his water bottle. "No, what do you need?"

"Well… after looking through these notes, I think I may have found a new way to use my quirk."

Izuku's eyes immediately sparkled at these words and stopped himself from taking his notebook from Kyouka's hands so he could start writing. "Is that so?! Please, share your idea!"

'So adorable. I should've known he'd get so excited.' Kyouka thought to herself, placing her hand over her mouth to hold in a laugh before clearing her throat.

"Okay, so you know how when I plug my earphone jacks into someone's ears and channel the sound of my heartbeat into them, they basically become paralyzed temporarily, right?" Kyouka asked, getting a nod from Izuku. "Well, let's say I stabbed my earphone jacks into someone's limb, like their arm or leg. Do you think I could get that same effect on that limb?"

"On a limb, huh? Yeah, I think that could possibly work… A move like this could really help you in the middle of battle when an enemy won't leave their ears exposed or if your earphone jacks are somehow detained by the enemy. But honestly, I doubt it's a move you'd be able to use very much, considering that it would be common sense to avoid your earphone jacks. You would either have to catch them by surprise, be close enough so you can do it before they could react, or use it if they don't know you can do that in the first place." Izuku muttered as he internally reminded himself to write all that down in his notebook once he gets it back. "But yeah, I think it's an amazing move. Great thinking, Kyouka."

Kyouka's face went a little red at the praise as she rubbed her arm. "Nah, it wasn't anything impressive. Honestly, I should've came up with that move a long time ago. But with your words, I feel even better about this move."

"Now we should put it to the test to see how effective it really is." Izuku said before patting his arm. "Try here."

"Are you crazy?! No way! Nuh-uh!"

"Come on, this could really be beneficial to you."

"That's besides the point! You want me to stab your arm with my earphone jack and channel my heartbeat into it! Do you know how ridiculous and dangerous that sounds?!" Kyouka asked, standing up.

"I know, but I can always go see Recovery Girl tomorrow at school if it ends up seriously injuring me."

Kyouka gave a deadpanned look. "Can you please stop using her as an excuse to try reckless things? And remember, she said she'll stop healing injuries that you intentionally get from training."

Izuku dropped his head. "Oh yeah, I forgot about that…"

"Why don't I just test it on myself."

"That won't do much good." Izuku disapproved, shaking his head. "You're more sensitive to sound vibrations so the results will be manipulated and not very reliable."

Kyouka groaned and sat back down. "How about I just test it out on one of our classmates? Those will definitely give the results I need."

Izuku sweatdropped. "I don't feel very comfortable subjecting our classmates to that kind of idea."

"Fine. But I could've gotten some willing volunteers." Kyouka said with a smirk, cracking her knuckles. "But do you think there'll be a time where I'll have to use this move during the Sports Festival? It'd be best if I practiced before then, right?"

"Huh? N-No… I was thinking it'd be something better used for a villain, you know? But maybe if it was an emergency then you can resort to that move."

"A villain…" Kyouka quietly repeated to herself, looking at her earphone jack.

"What a turn of events! Bakugo isn't able to move his arms and now he's completely open to whatever Jirou might try on him! This could be devastating to him!"

Kyouka didn't waste any time and ran at Bakugo with her arm pulled back while he still tried to move his arms.

She then delivered a right hook directly to his cheek, sending the boy stepping back a few steps and strangely didn't feel any pain from that first punch unlike when she punched Momo. No, she felt something entirely different.

It was fulfillment.

Kyouka remembered after their first round of combat training when she tried to punch Bakugo before being stopped by All Might. And now she finally gets to deliver it.

'This… All of this is for what you've done to Izuku… Everything that's wrong with his life is because of you!'

Everything around Kyouka began to slow down after that first punch.

She could see Bakugo's saliva fly out of his mouth from that first punch before hitting the ground.

The cheers of the audience were merely background noises as all sounds became muffled to her now.

'I hate you.'

Kyouka immediately pulled back her other arm and landed another blow on Bakugo's face.

'I hate you so much.'

Right now, Kyouka's mind was only focused on one thing and one thing only.

Making sure that Bakugo gets exactly what he deserves and more.

At this moment, she started to remember the many words that Bakugo had said to Izuku in the past. And all of this only fueled her hate for him.

Kyouka continued to punch Bakugo's face, not giving him or herself a break while her eyes were filled with anger and hatred.

"Whoa, look at her go! She's turning Bakugo into a punching bag!" Ochako exclaimed, punching the air to copy Kyouka's movements.

Momo put her hand over her mouth. "I don't think I've seen such fierceness before. It's a little terrifying."

'Is this something personal due to her love for Midoriya? Uraraka has told me about Midoriya's past with Bakugo. At least from what Jirou told her. It's only logical to hate someone who mistreats a loved one, but this seems deeper and I can't put my finger on it…'

Meanwhile, Izuku watched in total silence, being both shocked and uncharacteristically satisfied from seeing Bakugo take such a beating by Kyouka. He didn't want to admit that he wished that it was his fists instead of hers. It felt so wrong to wish for such a thing.

Maybe he was thinking too much with his emotions, getting a little angry for a moment that his best friend is the one that could get hurt, especially after seeing her earphone jacks take a direct hit from an explosion.

Or maybe he actually has some bottled-up anger over everything he's gone through because of Bakugo. He thought he got rid of it all when he punched his old friend before U.A and fought him during their combat exercise.

'I shouldn't be wanting to beat down Kacchan simply because of my personal feelings… That isn't right for me to do.' Izuku thought to himself in disappointment, feeling a little uncomfortable with himself. 'Even if I do secretly harbor this feeling of hatred for Kacchan, I shouldn't be wishing that it was me beating him down. Instead, I should be giving her my full support… Keep him on the ropes, Kyouka, and win this before he can use his arms again.'

Kyouka's punches were at a consistent rate until she remembered one specific thing that Bakugo said to Izuku a year ago.

"You know, Deku, there actually might be a way for you to be a hero since you want it so badly. Just pray you'll be born with a quirk in your next life and take a swan dive off the roof of the building."

Those words will probably be seared into her memory for as long as she lives. Even if Izuku forgets those words himself, it would never change a thing.

Those words came out of Bakugo's very lips and were directed straight at the man she loves. And she'll never forgive him for that no matter what he does.

"I hate you!" Kyouka shouted out as a few tears escaped her eyes before delivering another punch, this one being much harder than the last ones.

"Hardcore! Jirou is seriously delivering Bakugo a pummelling of a lifetime and boy oh boy is it satisfying to watch!"

Kyouka was suddenly broken out of her thoughts from Present Mic's yelling and looked down at her hands to see her knuckles were all bruised and had some blood on them.

Pain suddenly shot through her hands as it all came at her at once from all of the punches she threw at Bakugo.

Kyouka held her hands together, groaning in pain as she resisted closing her eyes. 'Izuku didn't let his injured hands stop him so why should I? I just have to keep pushing.'

"Right…" Bakugo said, spitting out some blood. "Now that you're done playing, I can get more serious with you. But I'll admit, that last punch hurt quite a bit. You're dead for that."

Before Kyouka could react to his words, Bakugo quickly delivered a kick right to Kyouka's side as hard as he could, sending the girl sliding a few feet away.

"What's this?! Bakugo is starting to fight back with his legs! Could this end up turning the tables?!"

Kyouka was caught completely off guard by the attack and coughed while feeling an intense amount of pain from her side. 'How hard can he hit?! I didn't know he had this kind of strength… It might be more than Izuku's… Dammit, I gotta end this match. Bakugo could regain feeling in his arms any moment now. My hands may hurt, but they're not unusable. I can still win this. No, I'm going to win this.'

"Idiot. Did you really think I wouldn't be able to put up a fight just because I can't use my quirk?" Bakugo asked, jumping and raising his knee, getting ready to knee Kyouka in the chin.

Kyouka barely ducked in time before seeing Bakugo's other foot right in front of her, getting kicked in the face before she could have another thought.

The kick sent Kyouka falling onto her back and she looked up to see that Bakugo was about to stomp on her face before she caught his foot, struggling to keep it away from her face.

Izuku grabbed onto the railing with his left hand, not noticing that the railing was dented beforehand as he began to slowly squeeze them, denting them even more as worry filled his face. "No, Kyouka…"

Izuku was starting to feel tempted to jump in there himself and save Kyouka as if her life was in danger. He didn't want to think of Bakugo as a villain or anything, but right now he wanted to take down his old friend to protect Kyouka.

"Bakugo… That crazy sadist." Mineta mumbled to himself. "What kind of sick pleasure does he get from this?"

"Come on, Jirou! You beat me so you can do the same to him! Don't make me look bad!" Mina cheered on.

Ochako took notice of the boy's actions and gasped. "Dekiru, take it easy. You're still injured."

Momo grabbed Izuku's left arm and gently pulled it back, luckily having a lot less resistance compared to Kyouka. "It's alright, Midoriya. It isn't over for Jirou yet. You don't honestly believe she'll be beaten so easily, right?"

Izuku widened his eyes at her words, snapping back to reality before shaking his head. "No, I don't." He then sighed. "I guess I wasn't being myself for a moment there and getting a little too emotional. Thanks for breaking me out of that, Yaoyorozu."

Ochako sighed in relief and gently patted his back. "Just don't scare us like that again, okay? I like it when you're more positive."

"Yeah, so do I." Izuku said, standing up and smiling before raising his fist in the air. "Get him off of you, Kyouka! I know you can beat him and win this!"

Bakugo glared at the bleachers as he kept putting pressure on Kyouka's hands. "Can't he learn to shut up?"

Bakugo's foot was getting closer to Kyouka's face as she grit her teeth, hearing Izuku's shouting. 'Izuku… I won't let you down. But I'm not sure how much longer I can hold him off with his strength… And my hands are gonna give in any second now… Wait, I have another option.'

She did her best to ignore the pain in her earphone jacks before sending them towards Bakugo and he jumped away in time to avoid them.

Kyouka stood back up and panted a little as she looked at Bakugo, now with some distance between the two of them. 'It's okay, Kyouka. He may have gotten some good hits on you, but that's only because he caught you off guard.'

Kyouka could taste the iron in her mouth before spitting out a bit of blood. "Hope you're ready for round two of this!"

Bakugo watched as Kyouka began to run at him again, smirking before a couple of his fingers started to twitch. "Hm?"

However, Kyouka's focus was purely on Bakugo's legs, preparing herself to counter any move he might throw at her.

As soon as Kyouka got close enough, Bakugo threw another kick at her side, but was blocked by Kyouka raising her arm right on time.

Kyouka grunted in pain from the force of the kick before smirking. "I win."

She immediately wrapped her arms under Bakugo's right arm and around his head before tackling him to the ground and holding him in place. "Wh-What is this…?"

"A technique taught to me by Izuku." Kyouka answered, putting pressure onto Bakugo's throat. "How does it feel, Bakugo? You're about to be beaten by something Izuku taught me."

"Jirou has performed a hold on Bakugo! But what kind of hold is it?"

"It's referred to as the arm-triangle choke. Its purpose is to hold down an opponent stronger than you and press on their carotid until they pass out from a lack of air."

"Scary!"

'It won't take long for him to pass out with the current pressure I'm putting on. Then victory is mine. I would've loved to get a few more punches in, but I'm sure I'll have future opportunities for that.'

"Let go of me… You bastard!" Bakugo shouted in rage as he kicked around while feeling his head starting to get light from the lack of air.

'I'm not losing in such a lame way! Not like this! Not to Earlobes! I'm going to be the champion of this festival and kill that Icy Hot bastard!' Bakugo internally screamed at himself before beginning to feel his arms again. 'I'm going to kill her.'

Kyouka could feel Bakugo's kicking and almost laughed at his desperation. 'This is perfect. I could almost enjoy this moment forever. Maybe if I try putting even more pressure on his throat, he could suffer some permanent damage… Shit, I'd probably be disqualified if I did something like that and Izuku wouldn't want me using this technique like that. I should just focus on winning this and seeing Izuku so I can collect my reward.'

Kyouka then imagined how flustered Izuku would be from a kiss to his cheek and maybe that could lead to the two of them finally becoming more than friends. It would be the perfect way to end off the festival. They could leave while being known as the power couple of U.A.

Unfortunately, her imagination was cut short as she suddenly saw Bakugo's palm right in front of her face before she gasped. "Wait, no-"

Kyouka was immediately cut off by having an explosion fired on her face and immediately losing her grip on Bakugo.

Bakugo pulled her arms away as soon as she lost her grip and threw her off of him with an explosion, sending Kyouka tumbling across the arena.

"Oh no! Bakugo has gotten the use of his arms back! This is looking totally bad now!"

"That was a close one." Bakugo said to himself, feeling the air properly returning to his lungs before looking at his opponent. "If you were counting on me fighting without my quirk and got my legs too, you might've stood a chance. Or if you tried to use that last technique on me right off the bat instead of trying to beat the shit out of me."

Kyouka groaned in pain as she slowly stood back up and looked at Bakugo, not believing what just happened. "N-No, that wasn't how it was supposed to go… Your arms were still supposed to be paralyzed… Did I really waste that much time?"

Even Kyouka's ears were in pain and simultaneously ringing from taking an explosion right to the face as she placed her hand on them. 'No, it can't be over like this… There has to be something I can still do.'

Bakugo stretched his arms and smirked. "You've fucked yourself over Earlobes. You know, forcing me to put in all that effort seriously built up a sweat. Now it's time for you to die!"

Bakugo ran at Kyouka and she tried to send her earphone jacks at him but was met with pain. "F-Fuck… I won't be able to send my earphone jacks that far. It was hard enough to send them at Bakugo when he was right on top of me. Maybe if he gets close enough then I can strike."

Bakugo was closing in on his opponent and saw that she was sending both of earphone jacks at him, before he quickly fired an explosion at them, sending them away. "You think you can get me with the same trick twice?!" He then aimed both of his hands at Kyouka. "Now Die!"

Bakugo then fired a large explosion right at Kyouka, sending the girl flying out of the arena and her back slamming against the wall before landing on the ground.

Kyouka's entire body throbbed in pain and felt herself slowly losing consciousness as she tried to keep her eyes open, looking at Izuku and feeling tears streaming down her cheeks. 'I'm so sorry, Izuku… I couldn't beat him… I failed you… Please, forgive me…'

Kyouka then fell unconscious as her eyes closed before Midnight pointed her whip at Bakugo. "Jirou is out of bounds. Bakugo moves on to the final round!"

"That means our final fight will be between Todoroki and Bakugo!"

"Kyouka!" Izuku shouted in concern, seeing Kyouka's unconscious body laying on the ground.

"Man, and she was so close too!" Ochako exclaimed in frustration.

Momo placed her hand on her chest. "Jirou… I hope she'll feel better soon."

"Of course she will. Recovery Girl will heal her up in no time." Mina reassured, patting her back.

"I know, but that's not what I meant..." Momo quietly mumbled to herself, remembering how Kyouka acted when Izuku lost. "I wonder how she'll take her own loss."

Izuku watched two robots place Kyouka on a stretcher before taking her away. "Dammit…"

He began to feel tempted to jump down there and check on her right now, but disapproved of that thought, knowing it would only cause trouble.

Izuku then stood up and began to run out of the bleachers without any warning, surprising everyone around him and passing by Iida without even noticing.

"Midoriya, what's going-" Iida cut himself off as he turned around and noticed that Izuku was already gone. "Why is Midoriya in such a rush?"

"Jirou just lost her match against Bakugo and he's probably going to check up on her." Momo answered.

"Ah, I see. That makes sense, knowing how close they both are." Iida said, unknowingly gaining a small frown from Ochako before his body began to violently vibrate.

Kyouka sat on the hospital bed, her earphone jacks covered in bandages with a couple of bandages on her face as she stared at her lap. 'I was so close to beating him. Bakugo was right. I would've had a better chance if I went for his legs too or performed that chokehold right away. I underestimated him and paid the price for it. I'm such an idiot…'

"Don't get so beaten up over your loss, sweetie. This happens to everyone." Recovery Girl comforted the girl, having just healed her a minute ago. "You'll feel a lot better soon."

"Yeah… But can't blame a girl for being a sore loser, right?" Kyouka asked, still staring at her lap.

'One day, Bakugo… One day I'll beat you for sure. I won't make the same mistake of underestimating you and next time, I'll definitely have new moves to use on you. That'll be our real match.' Kyouka thought to herself as she opened up her jacket and saw a bunch of bruises on her body.

Thankfully, the bruises weren't anything serious in the least, but it was a total bitch to move around with them. Getting hit with Bakugo's explosion at point blank range and having her body slammed against the wall really did a number on her. It felt as if she had just tumbled down a hill.

'Maybe next time you'll be this bruised up... or worse.'

"I would heal those bruises right now, but that would leave you drained for about an hour. Stay here and regain your stamina so I can heal you up some more. Unfortunately, you'll be missing the final match." Recovery Girl informed. "But don't worry, you'll be able to make it to the awards ceremony just in time, feeling refreshed."

"That's just fine. I can't say I'm excited about watching that match anyways." Kyouka said before quietly mumbling to herself. "And seeing either of those fighting for first place is the last thing I want to see."

'At the end of the day, I couldn't care less on who wins or not. Either option would be a horrible one cause none of them deserve victory. The only one who does deserve it is Izuku. He should be in that match with Bakugo and kicking his ass.'

The only thing she cared about now was seeing Izuku again and finally going home after this long day. A nice warm bath with some music playing in the background while she writes in her notebook sounded perfect to her. Of course, there are other ways that bath could be even more perfect, but she didn't want her mind to wander there while she's in the nurse's office.

'Who knows, maybe there'll be a cliche interruption like villains attacking out of nowhere, and then we never get a winner. Now that'd be the ideal scenario.' Kyouka thought to herself before frowning, thinking more about that scenario. 'But then countless civilian lives would be in danger and even with so many pros here, Izuku wouldn't hesitate for a second to jump in and help as many people as he could. And in the state he's in right now, he'll surely get hurt and probably injure himself further by using 100% of his quirk. Fuck, now I don't want villains to show up…'

The door suddenly opened, revealing a panting Izuku as he looked at his best friend. "K-Kyouka... how are you feeling?"

Kyouka widened her eyes before smiling at seeing her hero. "I'm feeling alright. The pain has mostly dulled by now and I'll be getting healed almost as good as new soon enough. At least my earphone jacks were healed just fine though." She moved around her earphone jacks with ease before narrowing her eyes at him. "But why did you run here? You're still injured. What if you tripped and hurt yourself even more?"

Izuku rubbed the back of his neck and chuckled. "Don't worry, I was careful… for the most part."

'I probably shouldn't tell her that I did end up tripping and feeling a lot of pain from my right arm.'

"You better have been. Compared to your injuries, I might as well have just stubbed my toe."

"Those hurt a lot too. These days, breaking my fingers hurts less than that."

"Goodness, you children have no respect for privacy, do you?!" Recovery Girl scolded, smacking Izuku's head with her cane. "Do you not see that the girl isn't decent right now?!"

"Ow! What do you mean?" Izuku asked, rubbing his head before looking at Kyouka and realizing that her sports bra was exposed from her open jacket, as his entire face became red, covering his eyes. "S-Sorry, Kyouka! I-I didn't mean to!"

Kyouka's face went red as well, closing her jacket. "I-It's all good… I know it wasn't on purpose… It was only bad timing from both of our ends."

Internally, Kyouka was feeling depressed as her face went blue. 'Great… If he didn't already have an idea of how small my chest is compared to the rest of the girls, then he definitely does now. Fuck the universe and its stupid tricks. I hope he doesn't keep that image in his head.'

Meanwhile, Izuku was doing his best not to freak out at seeing his best friend practically in her underwear. 'Just don't think about it! Just don't think about it! Kyouka has already forgiven me and if I keep thinking about it more, then I'll end up being a huge mess! Even though she looks nice-No! Stop! Now isn't the time to have those types of thoughts! Wait, I shouldn't be having those thoughts at all! Gotta change the topic of conversation!"

Izuku cleared his throat, his hand still over his eyes. "Y-You know, I couldn't take my eyes off of your match…"

Kyouka immediately looked away upon hearing that, preparing herself for the worst. She honestly had no clue what exactly scared her. Her thoughts were going to the most irrational places, imagining him actually saying that he's ashamed of her. Or him saying that Ochako had a much better performance than her. Of course, she knew that Izuku wouldn't berate her for losing or compare her to someone else. He isn't like that and never would be, but that didn't stop her mind from going to those places.

"Oh, my match… You wished me luck and I just gave you lame old match before losing." Kyouka said, doing her best to hold in her tears. "I honestly wouldn't blame you if you were disappointed in me."

"Stop it, you're talking crazy right now." Izuku stated, taking his hand off of his eyes.

"Huh?"

"You were absolutely amazing out there. If I'm being brutally honest, you surpassed my personal expectations. It was probably the same for a lot of people as well. I mean, you've seen the difficulty Uraraka, Kirishima, and I had against Kacchan." Izuku said, looking at Kyouka without the slightest hint of doubt in his eyes. "You probably came the closest to beating him so far. Better yet, you'll clearly grow from this match and if you get the chance to fight him again, I know you'll do a lot better. This might sound a little weird for me to say, but I'm proud of you, Kyouka."

Kyouka looked back at him in surprise at those words, seeing in his eyes that he meant every word he said, feeling tears starting to well up in her eyes before they slowly fell down her cheeks.

"Ah! P-Please don't cry!" Izuku panicked at seeing her tears, clearly confused. "Did I say something to upset you?! Crap, why am I so bad with words?! Maybe it was too weird for me to say that!"

Kyouka shook her head, giving a small chuckle and wiping her tears. "No, you didn't upset me at all... You said exactly what I wanted to hear. But yeah, next time I'll show off how much I'll have improved by then. Bakugo won't know what to expect."

Izuku smiled. "I'm looking forward to it."

"This is very sweet to watch, but I'll have to ask you to leave, Midoriya." Recovery Girl requested, standing in front of the boy. "This dearie has to stay here for some more healing for quite a while. And she will have to remove some of her clothing in the meantime so I can apply ointment to her bruises to lessen the pain."

Izuku's face turned a little red at that, and rapidly shook his head to get rid of any indecent thoughts before looking at the Pro Hero and sighed, obviously feeling guilty at leaving his best friend. "I-I understand… Please take good care of her, ma'am. But is there anything I can do before I go?"

Kyouka internally sighed, being a little disappointed that Izuku can't stay with her. 'But maybe it's for the best that he doesn't get a better look at crappy body… And forcing him to stay with me would be real selfish of me in general, especially since the Sports Festival is one of Izuku's favorite events of all time.'

The girl then put on a smile, taking notes from Izuku. "I'll be just fine. All I gotta do is rest and wait for more of my stamina to recover. And I know you, you really want to watch the final match. Make sure to text me the results, okay?"

Izuku nodded, looking like he feels a little better about his current situation. "Yeah. I'll see you soon, Kyouka. I'll make sure to share your condition with the others."

Izuku then left the nurse's office, closing the door behind him while Kyouka looked at the door. 'I definitely owe Yaoyorozu a proper thank you some time. I don't think I would've gotten this far if it wasn't for that talking to she gave me earlier…'

"The first year students have completed all of the events for the U.A Sports Festival! Now it's time to relax and enjoy the awards ceremony!" Midnight announced as the audience cheered.

Three podiums began to rise up from the ground, revealing Kyouka standing on the 3rd place podium, Todoroki standing on the 2nd place podium, and Bakugo standing on the 1st place podium.

However, Bakugo was in an interesting state to say the least. He was kept restrained against a stone pillar with both of his arms locked in a metal box that's being held down by chains as he struggled to break free of them. Even his mouth had a muzzle on it as he screamed in rage.

He looked like a feral animal right now and Kyouka couldn't help but smirk at him. "You look so stupid up there. I could almost take a picture."

When she initially found out that Bakugo won his match against Todoroki, all she did was groan in response. But then she learned the details of the match and how much Bakugo tried to get Todoroki to use his fire, getting very petty over it after his victory.

'You know, even if Bakugo won, I'm happy he gets to be humiliated like this and that he hates his own victory. At least something good came from that final match.' Kyouka thought to herself before looking at Todoroki. 'If only I got my chance to take a crack at you. I probably would've lost, but I could have at least given you a nice punch to the face. However, I'm sure I'll have that opportunity one of these days.'

"Tenya Iida actually shares third place with Kyouka Jirou. But unfortunately, he had to leave for family reasons. Gotta love those familial bonds." Midnight said, blowing a kiss.

Kyouka already kinda knew about Iida's situation. While she was still regaining her stamina, Izuku texted her that some villain attacked Iida's brother and that he left for the hospital. 'Damn, hope nothing too horrible happened to Ingenium. I could even tell how much Izuku is worried about him from that text.'

"Now let's break out the hardware! Of course, there's only one person worthy of distributing the awards!" Midnight shouted as All Might laughed from above the stadium before he jumped.

"Citizens! I am here with the medals!"/"All Might, the number one hero!"

An awkward silence came after All Might landed with him and Midnight talking over each other as Midnight sweatdropped. "Ruined that, didn't I?" She then handed him the three medals. "So, now that you're here, All Might, why don't you start the presentation?"

All Might laughed off the awkwardness and walked over to Kyouka's podium. "Young Jirou. Congratulations." He put the bronze medal around her neck. "You displayed excellent technique and used your quirk as a fine tool."

Kyouka played along and nodded. "Thank you, All Might. Those words mean a lot."

All Might then embraced the girl and patted her back before whispering. "Both you and young Midoriya are growing so much. I'm proud to know the two of you. There's more I want to say, but I can't spend too much time on you."

"I know." Kyouka whispered back. "But are you sure you can't accidentally lose those two medals right now? Maybe accidentally crush them?"

"Young Jirou, you know I can't do that."

"Yeah, yeah, I know. Worth a shot though."

'Jeez, young Jirou. I knew you weren't young Bakugo's biggest fan, but is it the same with young Todoroki? If that's so, then why am I the one that always suffers your wrath?' All Might asked himself as he internally cried a little.

The hero then made his way to Todoroki's podium, putting the silver medal around the boy's neck. "Young Todoroki. Congratulations. I'm assuming there's a reason you didn't use your left side. Though it cost you the final."

"Midoriya opened my eyes during our match, but then I started to doubt myself. I think I now understand a little about why you're so interested in him. I want to be the kind of hero you are, but my path isn't as clear as I thought it was. I have a lot to think about. And I still need to settle things with someone. Very soon."

"I've never seen this sort of look on your face before." All Might said before embracing Todoroki, patting his back. 'I won't ask for details, but trust yourself. I'm sure you'll work things out."

"Right."

Kyouka rolled her eyes and stopped herself from sticking her tongue. 'Nice little speech, Todoroki. Bet everyone is loving you now, huh? It's that same kind of bullshit from you that made Izuku take pity on you…'

"And now, young Bakugo." All Might finally arrived at Bakugo's podium and saw the state he was in before beginning to remove the muzzle. "This is a little much... You showed great tenacity with such a powerful quirk with excellent skills to boot. An amazing performance indeed."

"All Might…" Bakugo growled out. "Winning 1st place this way doesn't prove that I'm the best one here! Even if the world considers me a winner, I refuse to accept it like this!"

All Might felt intimidated by the boy's anger and cleared his throat. "In a world where we're constantly being compared to one another, there are very few who can keep their eyes focused on the top spot. You're one of them." Bakugo kept growling in response with a demonic-looking face as All Might pulled out the gold medal. "Please accept this medal. Even if you have to think of it as a scar. Something you'll never forget."

"I don't want that piece of garbage!"

"Come on, now…"

All Might began to try to put the medal on Bakugo, but the boy resisted as he raised his head. "Get that trash off of me, you idiot!"

All Might kept pushing down until finally having to resort to keeping it in Bakugo's mouth, the boy biting down on it. 'Maybe I should've followed young Jirou's advice and gotten rid of at least this medal so I wouldn't have to deal with this…'

"Here they are! The winners of this year's Sports Festival!" All Might shouted as he gestured to Kyouka, Todoroki, and Bakugo. "But listen closely. Any of you first years could have ended up standing on these podiums. Think about what you've done today. You've challenged each other, learned, and climbed closer toward your goals of being pros. I think the next generation of heroes is proving to be our most promising one yet." He raised his finger up in the air and looked at the audience. "So I have one more thing to say! I want to hear everyone yell it with me! You know what it is!"

"Thanks everyone for your hard work!"/"Plus Ultra!"

The audience then began to scold All Might for not saying "Plus Ultra" as the hero apologized while Kyouka lowered her head. 'He can be so embarrassing sometimes… But he is an amazing and powerful hero who will be succeeded by Izuku one day. Speaking of which…'

Kyouka then began to scan the crowd of students in front of her before finally spotting her hero and smiling at him. 'What do you think?'

As if Izuku read her mind, he smiled back and gave her a thumbs up.

Kyouka's smile widened before taking off her choker and raised it over her head, showing it off to everyone as if it was more important than her medal. 'Look out, world. Because next year Izuku is going to be on top. You'll never see it coming.'

A/N

And chapter 44 is done! My god I'm finally finished with the Sports Festival! This arc has been both fun and hellish for me. But I hope I was decent with it.

You know, my original plan was to make the fight really short. Like Bakugo would immediately just blast Kyouka off the arena and then boom done(Which probably makes more sense). But some of your guy's reviews gave me the idea that I could do more with that fight. So thanks a lot for that.

I think I might've made Bakugo a little OOC during the fight, but I just did what I could to make it more entertaining for myself so yeah.

Also, I may have finalized a decision on Kyouka's hero name since I'll need that for chapter 46. Izuku's hero name is now something I gotta think of. Damn, I should've just stuck with Deku lol.

Now onto the reviews!

Kid74c: Well, he definitely hurt her. Hehe.

SenatorConfer: Really? I thought I was being too mellow with her behavior. That would be fun to write. She and Bakugo both not liking her very much.

Vizard Masky: She'll remind him, but I want to wait for that.

Shisarakage: And so was Izuku.

Hirude6012: Hell yeah she did. Too bad it ended in failure, but at least she got those punches in.

Ghostcraft9: She better not stare too long.

Ability King KK: Momo's and Kyouka's friendship is going to be a fun one to write. I like to think Izuku has liked her for a while, but it's a slow realization.

Lockheart25: Not much of a mobile game guy myself, but I will admit that it looks cool.

papaprep: Honestly, same.

xxblakexx27: Do you want to bet money on it? I'm poor and I will make them get together in the next chapter for that money!

Guest: Maybe it'll get addressed one day.

Dragon storm: Definitely the first one.

the only 95: Yo diría que la lista es Bakugo, Todoroki y luego Ochako. Pero habrá otras personas a las que odiará en el futuro.

Well, that's it for the reviews!

That's the end of this chapter! Please feel free to leave a review!