My Jirou Academia Chapter 6: League of Legends

Not many people have the gall to stand before a crowd and call them literal extras. Not many people happen to label themselves as number one. Not many people are Katsuki Bakugo.

Most definitely a unique individual. His antics simultaneously placed subconscious fear and boiling rage on the rivaling classes. While that situation was somewhat off putting, the alternate outcome was doubly worrying. Unbeknownst to most of the classroom, a subtle clash had been festering between two people on opposing sides. This being the silent staring match between Yaomomo and that orange maned girl. This inaudible battle started garnering palpable tension. The subtext between them both probably holding a hostile undertone. An unforeseen blondie's interruption that could not have been timed better.

Beauty? Smarts? Physical strength? Height even? Any one of those was a possibility for the confrontation. Jirou racked her brain deep into the night, unable to sleep. She was worried for her friend, all things considered, that fierce woman's eyes brought a chilling feeling. Almost like she'd seen those same soul piercing globes trained on her somewhere before. Heightened by the Sports Festival closing in, the punk rocker was unable to even place her head atop a pillow.

Naturally, Jirou resorted to picking up her phone. It wasn't too late, twelve minutes to eleven, would Yaomomo be awake? She scrolled through her LINE contacts, stopping on her dear friend. Being a second away from texting, she reconsidered. The time being basically midnight on a school night, a prim and proper type would surely be asleep by now. She was anxious, sure, but not enough to wake someone up by a random call. Her hand tapped the button to go back and she resumed looking for anyone that would settle her nerves.

For a few minutes she considered opening the door back up to her childhood friend. That bridge was long since burnt, the other girl had avoided acknowledging Jirou's existence after that happened. So the tomboy looked over every contact once more, her eyes landing on a certain hero successor.

"H-h-h-h-hello Jirou?" Izuku stammered tremendously, this was the first time he spoke to a girl on the phone.

"H-hey green." Jirou had chosen a nickname for the boy. This happened as a result of their exchange in the infirmary. No longer feeling obligated to be somewhat distant, she input his contact name as such. They'd spoken once or twice since, exchanging menial remarks about their classes. It seems he's already acclimated to being called a color.

"I-is this about the Sports Festival" He cut to the chase instantly, anxious about the situation at hand.

"Yes…. and no. I'm worried about Momo.'" Jirou rubbed the back of her neck. Both ear jacks were hidden inside her hair, traditional phone usage hurt them somewhat. "A girl leering at her sent a shiver down my spine." A slight sigh escaped her lips.

"W-well it's normal, Kaccha– Bakugo stirred up e-everyone's mood." Izuku tried his best at calming her down. Being unable to fully grasp the root of the problem, he defaulted to

"I guess he did but …. nevermind I'm probably overthinking it." She probably was to an extent. A sensation of dread stayed nonetheless, those eyes she swore to have seen somewhere before.

"Y-yeah." He struggled to keep his breathing at rest. A girl's soft tone entered directly into his eardrum. "So …. uh ….. a-are y-you practicing for the sport's festival?"

Recognizing the conversation was no longer selfless and now focused on her, Jirou's demeanor changed. She played with her hair flirtatiously, though nobody could see her. In addition, a blush accompanied by a faint smile set in.

"Just strengthening my jacks." She spent the entire afternoon shooting darts exclusively with her quirk. The goal being to gain a more consistent grasp on their accuracy. This was everything she could do to strengthen her abilities within such a short time crunch.

"Oh. I had ideas for some moves with a new hero costume." A sound of shuffling was heard amongst some static, followed by some pages flipping open. In response, the already faint smile upon her face became wider. "See, I was thinking…." When speaking about heroes, his confidence skyrocketed.

For around forty minutes, Izuku detailed changes he would make to Jirou's hero costume. He settled for practicality above all else, she valued this even if he completely butchered the existing aesthetic. It gave her some ideas which she'd probably implement in the future, like adding more amplifiers on different body parts. The helmet idea was entirely a no go however, it would mean complete departure from the rocker archetype. Were she leaning towards a synthwave outfit then it would've made complete sense.

Jirou arched her back and yawned in unison, their conversation was nearing one hour past midnight.

"Good night, green." This sentence came out in between stretches, a breathy tone leaving her lips.

"G-good night." He sported a blush of his own now, realizing how long winded their conversation had been. Yet he finally had someone to vent his hobbies to, someone who would actually listen.

Jirou pressed the end call button and laid her phone down on the bed. She let out a sigh and then softly placed her cheek atop a pillow. She couldn't help but giggle to herself at the pleasantly long conversation they shared. All of her anxiety, nerves, worries seemed to melt away at the sound of his voice. She'd never admit it, but her heart raced at the mere thought of him.

Or maybe it was just this night where her body picked up heat. The dark phone screen leaving ample space for imagination. What his face looked like, his soft, nervous voice when near her, his scruffy hair. The way his hand brought her close right outside the cafeteria or how near their faces got inside the infirmary. How he confided everything about One For All with her. That determined expression which constantly took over his countenance.

Her hands got lower and lower until she let them slip inside her undergarments. Her breath ragged and her eyes closed, Jirou did something drastic that night.

No hero costumes whatsoever. Equal conditions for everyone. All first year classes and courses present. A gigantic stadium filled with avid onlookers. This was U.A.'s Sports Festival.

Each class stood separated from each other facing a podium. Before them all was the R-rated Hero Midnight whose beauty took everyone's breath away. Just a second ago, their class' spokesperson was called forward. This title wasn't at all related to Iida, who was their actual elected representative. The worst possible person for the job was assigned, Katsuki Bakugo.

It wasn't like the decision was nonsensical, he was the top scoring individual in the entrance exams. Therefore, his name was already somewhat renowned amongst pro heroes. If only Midnight knew about his character type.

"I pledge — That I'll be number one." Right, of course, how cordial. Now every other class here has a designated target. Way to go 'representative'.

A swarm of rightly pissed off students started jeering. All rival classes vocally rejected what the blonde said.

"Why are you doing something so disgraceful?!" Iida stepped forwards and directly confronted Bakugo. His arm repeated an up and down motion continually.

"At least become a nice bouncy step for me to jump off of." Astonishingly, Bakugo continued elaborating past his outrageous initial statement.

Those weren't empty words, the old Kacchan would've laughed whilst saying that. Izuku understood as much and took his words as a show of pure confidence. Just, maybe he could've done so without putting everyone in hot water.

He looked back as the stellar representative injected himself back in line. As he did so, his eyes met with Jirou who seemed as enthusiastic about that representation as everyone else. He had arrived late so this was his first time seeing her today. Izuku raised one hand to wave at her. The greenie was met with a rather confounding answer of darting eyes and a slightly raised right hand. Did he do something to her?

Whatever that was, he had no time to start sweating about it. The mature heroine started spinning a wheel to decide which activity came first.

Why did she do that? Just why? She made such good progress and now can't even look him in the eye. All because her body asked for release, well it was almost involuntary if you include her rampant imagination into the equation.

Nevermind what happened said night, the shame of meeting a person you did that to is unmatched. She did her best avoiding any sort of face to face meeting with Izuku. Even when Todoroki basically declared war on the boy, she just sat there in pure shame. Jirou cursed her own shameful and simultaneously shameless nature.

She wasn't even able to fully wallow in embarrassment as they were subjected to a race around the stadium. Along various points, they were met with troublesome obstacles. Their first major roadblock were the same robots from the entrance exam. This time, class 1A basically dispatched most of them with Todoroki spearheading the charge. Pitfalls, fake landmines, they were made to basically undergo military training through the race. Though she wasn't at all confident before these trials, her finish at the 21st spot wasn't horrendously bad. Even as she compartmentalized her discomfort throughout the race, it was all thrust back onto her face when 'Izuku Midoriya' was lauded on a wide screen as the first to finish.

Yet in spite of this, the cavalry race right after benefited those with lower positions. She used the excuse of him having way too many points to avoid the greenie, much like others did. A bit of disappointment did hit when she saw Uraraka all chummy next to him along with another attractive pink haired girl. Moreover, she found her heart beating uncontrollably when looking at his hair. How she hated feeling this powerless.

Nevertheless, unlike the previous activity, Jirou was confident in her abilities at snatching other headbands with her earjacks. Her accuracy training dealt with that aspect well enough. Although, at the end of the exercise she was eliminated from the tournament. Jirou was unable to snatch meaningful points from the top scoring teams, every headband she took swiftly made it back to its original owner. It helped very little earning points if her team was unable to hold them. Totally and utterly eliminated from the sports festival, she went over to the student bathrooms to wash her skin.

The halls were surprisingly hollow around this place. She expected more people to inhabit this area before the combat round. After throwing some water onto her face to calm herself down, she walked out of the bathroom only to see someone dubiously leaned against a wall. On closer inspection, this was Bakugo who was listening in on someone further down the hall. This other person, or people, were too far away to discern so Jirou did something morally gray, much in the same vein as the blonde nearby. Her earjacks injected onto the wall allowing her to hear:

"Midoriya are you …. All Might's secret love child or something?"

Huh? What kind of airheaded question was that? Judging from the deep tone, this was Todoroki and the other person seemingly being Izuku. Wait. He was catching onto the similarities between the two. If the greenie failed to properly deny that ridiculous question, then it could spell trouble for their secret. Jirou began to shift her feet in the conversation's direction, getting ready to interject if the situation called for it. She was also prepared to let Bakugo in on a part of the classified information. Nathless, the denial was equally as airheaded as the question. From there, the dialogue turned to typical men's rival talk so the punk rocker sighed in relief. She waited until the other two left before approaching. She tapped Izuku's shoulder as he passed the corner.

"H-huh? Oh Jirou." He looked genuinely startled for a second but then relaxed his gaze upon realization.

"Did pretty good huh green?" A faint smile stayed on her lips when speaking. She gave him a playful closed fist punch on the shoulder. Her previous apprehension looks to have disappeared.

"Oh uh, yeah." His eyes were weird, like derelict of any confidence. This wasn't like him, Todoroki's provocation affected his psyche significantly.

"Izuku. Look at me." Jirou dropped the sly tone and looked directly into the boy's eyes. She grabbed both his shoulders and made him face her. Being this close, she noticed he's slightly taller. "I can't imagine the pressure you're feeling because of your bond with All Might. That doesn't mean you don't deserve to be here. Cheer up."

He blinked for a few seconds before realizing what was said. Then, he gently pushed both hands off his shoulders and started walking down the hall without saying anything. His back seemed broader, like it became wider with self-assurance. Izuku would be fine by himself.

Someone who wasn't fine at the moment stood behind him. Her heart raced into oblivion and her cheeks gained unfathomable warmth. She partook in such a cringey, intimate interaction without hesitation.

Itsuka Kendou, class 1B's orange haired ball of intensity. Well, not exactly an accurate description. Her eyes gave off an entirely different vibe, she wasn't at all like that.

Her eye was on Momo, sure, but it wasn't out of hatred or animosity. There's this thing teenagers tend to do, assume rivalries after one look. That is exactly what happened between her and the heiress, nothing more, nothing less. It's just, Momo wished she didn't find out how she did.

Eavesdropping on a conversation between basically two unknowns hadn't been her intention. She wished to follow Jirou who had looked off the entire day, the reason behind this she probably could guess. Momo was met with two people blocking the hall with their exchange which astoundingly mentioned her by legal name.

"Who is she again? Sorry, I'm bad with names." A girl with luscious dark green hair spoke freely with the orange haired woman.

"You know." Orange here mockingly cupped imaginary boobs in front of her chest. Presumably, her face wasn't meant to elicit laughter. This was probably the easiest way she had thought of to convey which student was being talked about. It didn't dissuade Momo from looking downwards at her own assets.

"Oh, that girl huh? Well I definitely see the allure." Allure? What kind of discussion was this? The dark green haired girl put a hand on her chin.

"Yeah but I literally leered a hole through her." Orange clutched both sides of her head in a stressful manner. "I hate being awkward." She slumped over in a depressed motion. So that staring match from the other day wasn't a declaration of battle? Safe to say, Momo's confusion grew as the gossip went on.

"Oh Kendou, relax, all you need to do is talk to her." The dark green haired girl placed a supportive hand on her back. Kendou as in Itsuka Kendou huh? At least now there's a name to the face. She had heard that name thrown around somewhere, on the topic of students snubbed of their class 1A spot. This other girl was a complete unknown.

"I know but she's just so…. Breathtaking." Breathtaking!? Kendou's face flushed right after saying this. Momo raised one hand to cover her own mouth and nose, preventing any sudden sounds escaping them.

"At any rate, it should probably wait until after the sports festival ends." The dark green haired girl pushed against the wall and started towards Momo's direction. In response, the heiress bolted down the hall, stopping before two bathrooms. She pushed the door open to the women's restroom and stood there stunned.

Breathtaking, a term often used to overtly describe someone as attractive. Not like this was the first time someone labeled her so, some of the Yaoyorozu families' business partners creepily highlighted her conventional beauty. With that said, this was certainly the first time someone of appropriate age openly designated her as so.

Yaoyorozu was far from oblivious, an entire lifetime of looking at herself in the mirror revealed a good looking young woman. She struggled to not let that aspect define her entire personality. She did not want to be a statue for admiration or an object for sexual gratification. Momo was a complex person just like anyone else. Therefore, she actively avoided ever acknowledging being gorgeous.

Why was her heart racing then? Well, maybe bottling everything up wasn't a solution. This new budding emotion had originated from every repressed feeling of inadequacy she ever had. This Itsuka Kendou person had struck a cord deep within and her heart would start to melt. Undoubtedly, this was affection, likeness for another and for once she finally understood what it meant to feel attraction.

There was just one problem, someone else popped into Momo's mind in the midst of this revelation. Someone who already had their heart stolen. Someone who was a friend. For some reason, Kyoka Jirou's features associated themselves with this new sensation of love.

"What is wrong with me?" Momo placed a palm on her eye socket, she rubbed her healing scar. A migraine settling in.

Todoroki's provocation came as a surprise. Yet, looking at things objectively, it was only natural that this happened. Izuku was someone unremarkable with no prior accolades, coming from nowhere to take the top spot. A person accustomed to being number one wouldn't take that lying down. His eyes showed determination, but their focus was on somewhere else. Todoroki was here to prove something by becoming number one, his goal had not been to aim for blind victory. Although, that blatant restraint for his other half displayed a great deal of trauma.

Wasn't like he lost on purpose. The previous round against that Shinso guy with the mind control quirk said otherwise. Without proper control of One For All, his opponent simply had to hold on until his injuries hampered him enough. Even without teachers interfering and stopping the fight, Jirou wasn't sure beating Todoroki was feasible.

Beaten and battered, medics carted off Izuku on a stretcher. No matter how many times she would witness it, looking at the boy damage himself to the point of losing consciousness shrunk her heart. She fully understood that was his choice which is why the thought of stopping him never manifested. This still hurt Jirou anyways, it felt like deliberately sending someone into a lion's cage. She was torn between protecting Izuku the person and letting Izuku develop as a hero.

She bit down hard on her lip and after a few minutes of mindlessly staring at the people fixing the arena, Jirou shot up awkwardly from beside her classmates. She slowly made her way through the stands. Fully intending to walk straight to Recovery Girl's room.

"Jirou." Tsuyu's blunt tone of voice stopped her in her tracks. She looked away from the frog girl, feeling that those dark round marbles would beckon her to stay. That's right, apart from Momo, she was the only other person who knew.

"You're going to see Midori aren't you?" Mina had a sly smile on her face as she leaned forwards, her head appearing from beside Tsuyu's shoulder. Huh? Had Tsuyu spilled the beans? How many others knew? The pinky, seeing Jirou stare a hole through the girl beside them, beamed wider. "It's pretty obvious, you know?." She playfully raised a hand up to her mouth and giggled quietly.

The punk rocker covered her face in embarrassment, sporting a blush from ear to ear. Even Uraraka, her potential biggest enemy, fervently nodded at the insinuation. She sat beside Mina, three seats over. Thankfully, Yaomomo wasn't present to rub in the growing shame. Actually, had anyone seen her after she lost her match?

"I'm rooting for you!" Jirou jumped at a voice that suddenly chimed in. Hagakure, sitting above the group next to a sleeping Kaminari, waved her arms in support. Or at least it looked like it, only her sleeves were visible.

Jirou twirled her ear jacks and cutely nodded, turning around and resuming her trip to the stadium's infirmary. The whole cheering squadron boosted her declining morale. Her mind now focused on what she would say to the boy.

The internal stadium halls were now a lot more populated. The standby after Todoroki and Izuku's clash left a lot of time for a break, even to static onlookers simply sitting on the stands. Along the way to the infirmary, Jirou spotted someone who was suspiciously absent earlier. She carefully made her way over to Yaomomo, who seemed to be deep in thought, her shoulder rested against a wall. A prim and proper staple, this girl.

"Yo!" Jirou raised one hand and called out to the heiress. Momo raised her face to meet the calling, only for her to immediately avoid eye contact. That's weird, she hadn't pinned the taller girl as someone who lacks social confidence. The tomboy stopped moving when she was close enough to Yaomomo.

"H-hey Jirou, sorry I'm just… focused! On the next match of course!" Her eyes seemed to dart all over the place, sometimes looking straight upwards at the ceiling. Was she nervous?

"You're… already eliminated." Jirou, looking genuinely puzzled at what she just heard, cocked her head to one side.

"R-right! Of course! I meant whatever… next match awaited our class as aspiring heroes!" This time, her eyes were shut.

She was probably distressed from losing so early into the third event. Momo was one of the students accepted straight through recommendations, naturally she would have higher expectations for herself, and from others. It would probably be wiser to leave her to her own devices, she constantly displayed great mental fortitude in situations similar to this. Aiding her poorly would only accentuate whatever complicated emotions she was suffering from.

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Green, sorry, Izuku got injured again so I'm off." Jirou started walking once again, leaving Yaomomo behind. There was a sound of flesh hitting something solid, and Jirou could've even swore it came from Momo's direction.

There were more pressing matters, however, namely the injured greenie.

He sat silent on the hospital bed, a new scar permanently embedded onto his right arm. A grim reminder of how far he'd gone. In his eyes, healing Todoroki's past was worth it, permanent damage being a side effect he's forced to accept.

He would've been able to compartmentalize things, cope with this problem with no imminent worries, had it been consequences that only affected him alone. Jirou stepping into the room and seeing him in this state, chaining another person to his suffering hurt him more than whatever physical pain he inflicted on himself. Multiply this feeling by a hundred after some small tears escaped the girl's eyes.

Recovery Girl sighed deeply and walked out of the room, leaving the pair alone. Jirou covered her mouth and tried hard to keep more tears from coming out. She failed at this latter part. Izuku stayed silent, unable to say anything to defend his self-sacrificial actions.

"Y-your arm." Her voice was intercut by an incredible amount of pain. Her tears had slowed down significantly but some still rolled down every few seconds.

"I-It's fine, I did it to myself." He tried to reason with her, feeling obligated to give an explanation. The girl's quiet whimpers creating a pit in his stomach.

"I-it's not fine, every single time you hurt yourself for other people's well being." Jirou's tears had stopped completely, her speech patterns now going into an argumentative mode. She stepped forwards and closed the gap between them. Izuku's eyes grew a bit narrow, he was a little infuriated by those words but he relented retaliating. "Even when you were quirkless, you threw yourself at danger for another. There will be a point where you instinctively throw your life away!"

As much as he wanted to be mad at the girl, there were undeniable truths in her words. He was disregarding his own safety, his body all to save others. His motivation to be like All Might aiding in his constant sacrifice.

"I don't know what else to do, my body moves before I can think." He was now looking upwards at the tomboy, who stood at the corner of the hospital bed. His eyes were defiant, but also soft, like he was pleading a case.

"Y-you don't understand. When you jump in there it's not just you, Izuku." Jirou got even closer, she placed one knee on the bed next to his own leg. "It's everyone that cares about you, everyone that ever gave you a helping hand." An image of his mother, All Might, Uraraka, Iida and even Bakugo all flashed in his mind. As well as an image of Jirou, whose eyes let two more tears out.

She leaned forwards some more, her right kneecap touched the bed as well. Their faces were incredibly close, eyes trained on each other. Jirou's left ear jack extended far enough to get inside her left hand. She opened her palm, letting the long appendage rest inside of it for a second. Her body language showed some level of being uncomfortable, apprehensive. Izuku's mind was focused on her words and intent, he wasn't at all considering how close a girl was to him. Then, the left ear jack extended further, allowing her to gently connect the tip of her jack to Izuku's right ear. The quirk didn't break skin nor did it injure the boy, it simply connected, entering like it were natural. Soon enough, a sound similar to a heartbeat started to reverberate within his eardrum. The pace was incredibly fast, like that of an exhausted athlete. Earphone Jack only projected her own heartbeat, no sound other than that came out of it. Jirou placed her right hand on his shoulder as she continued to show him her heartbeat. Her entire face was flushed and one single tear fell onto his lap.

"W-what?" At this moment, Izuku came back to his senses. Her body was basically on top of his, only separated by a few inches.

"I-I c-can't say it .. but this is my heartbeat so…" Jirou's eyes narrowed and she looked directly into his own, a pink circle covering her cheeks.

Oh, that couldn't have been any clearer. Izuku expected this moment to be different, like his heart would beat out of his chest or something. He didn't exactly dream of a girl ever feeling something for him since that was inherently a long shot in his quirkless days. He was taken aback, for sure, but he didn't panic or feel overwhelmed.

"J-Jirou I uh, I'm not sure.." He still struggled to answer, but not from shame.

The earjack disconnected from his ear, retracting back to Jirou's earlobe. She then softly leaned inside, resting her head on his chest. Her cheek was warm and her hair was soft. His own heart rate started to pick up in response. Such a gesture of affection made him catch his breath.

"Take your time." Jirou pressed against him, resting there softly. Her body was now directly touching his own. She was so small, yet so massive.

He looked down at the purple hair strands touching his chest. For a moment, only they existed, the world around them had disappeared and the girl below was the only thing that mattered.

"I… Yes." Izuku hesitated, but in the end accepted the punk rocker's advancement.

He awkwardly placed one hand atop her head, moving it back and forth lovingly.

Uncertain about their relationship going onwards, he cherished this precious moment.

To be continued…..

A/N

Hey readers, how's life?

I only have one thing to say about this chapter. To my knowledge, there is no moment in mha where Jirou injects her jack onto a living being so I had to take liberties there.

Also, about the chapter title: it's the student's time to go into an entire new league, where they can become legends. Is it a reference to something? Well, ;).

I have to say I'm quite happy with the direction this is going in.

I'm open to any and all criticism, if you feel a character misrepresented then please point them out.

Have a good rest of your day.

The Grand Ballad.