The final tournament begins, but first lunch.
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It's still 15 minutes till midnight so this will be on sixth of August as promised, unless you are on time zones +4 and up.
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Comments:
Psy-Kick: Of course she would if it let her make more babies.
Chronolocked: If I ever get to include Nagant in the story, that would make sense.
Dsman: Of course our Izu is, though Kirishima might take the number one spot in that contest.
OLIVIAISLAND & ShinobiNoYami : I hope you love this chapter too. This is one of my favourites, right up there with chapter 14.
AnimeFan13579 : Talking about Hatsume is really easy to take out of context, like "her quirk helps with baby making." :D Pretty sure All Might is older than 49 though. I think he was around the same age as Izuku when he got OFA (14-15) and I think he canonically held it for four decades, so he should be in his mid fifties.
GgeorGge: "acoustic challenge"
OLIVIAISLAND: I am aware of that text to speech. You are second reviewer to mention that. Unfortunately the person behind that channel never bothered to even ask and I found out about it in the first place from that other reviewer. At least two of you found the link in description rather than thinking the person behind the channel wrote it.
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Chapter 39: Izuku Versus...
As Izuku got his lunch he noticed a nice corner table they often used was free and started heading towards it.
"Izuku," Tenya interrupted him.
"Yeah?"
"I think we need to find a larger table than that."
Izuku looked at the four-person table again and then at the group around him, six people including himself. He smiled.
"I think you are right."
He followed Tenya to a longer table that could have seated half a class. He sat between Tenya and Todoroki opposite Kirishima who already had his mouth full of a juicy steak.
"Mmmmh…" he mumbled and swallowed. "Lunch Rush has really outdone himself today."
"For sure," Hitoshi said after a single bite. He was sitting next to Kirishima.
"Perhaps, but we should still remember all of the relevant table manners as UA students," Tenya commented, glancing at Kirishima who had his mouth full again.
"More importantly we should be careful with how much we eat," Izuku said. "The final tournament is going to start soon, and you don't want to fight on too full of a stomach."
"That makes sense," Tenya agreed. Kirishima on the other hand looked at his already half empty plate.
"Man, I wanted to get seconds. Just looking at all that food is making me drool."
"You'll survive it," Izuku said while cutting his steak. "I keep drooling any time you or Todoroki show off what you can do and have gotten through it so far."
"Eh?" Kirishima looked at Izuku surprised. Todoroki raised his head and Hitoshi smirked.
"I think that came out a bit wrong?" he said just as Izuku started realising what he had said. He suddenly found his own plate very interesting but that did nothing to the embarrassment he was feeling. Still it was out.
"Well, not exactly. It has happened more since coming to UA with people using their quirks constantly. Just looking at them, especially really strong ones, makes me well, hungry. Coming to school is like stepping into a buffet after starving for days."
"So you want to eat Kirishima. Be careful or your teeth might break," Hitoshi said, making Izuku even more embarrassed.
"It's not like that. It's just that… Well I think my quirk makes me attracted to strong quirks like I get hungry when my stomach is empty and I see good food."
"Ha," Dark Shadow said as he emerged from Tokoyami, "I knew you wanted to take me from Fumi."
Izuku tensed as did the others, but Dark Shadow stayed small and nonthreatening next to Tokoyami.
"Good thing you didn't," he continued and most of the tension disappeared.
"That seems logical," Tenya said, "though people are likely to interpret it badly, especially in your case. We shouldn't talk too loudly."
"I know," Izuku whispered and glanced at Kirishima and Todoroki. "Sorry if that sounds disturbing. I would never act on it."
"Eh, we know that, but can a quirk really do something like that, like change how you think?"
"I believe so," Tenya said, "at least there are hypotheses."
"They are more than some hypotheses," Izuku said gratefully distracted from his embarrassment. "It might not be the same for every quirk, but there is a connection between how people behave and what quirks they have, though people don't agree on the exact cause. Like for Kirishima. You take things on head on and don't generally yield or give up. It is the most natural way to use your quirk, but is it because your quirk makes doing that in a fight easy or because it makes you instinctually behave like that?"
"I've never thought about it like that," Kirishima said. "I thought you don't like when people think people's quirk determines how they behave?"
"I don't. Just because your quirk might be able to make you feel one way or make something more attractive that doesn't remove your free will. Even in the worst cases people should get help to deal with the effect, but usually they are just called mad or a villain. After you survived that robot, which could have killed someone when it fell," Izuku weighted the last words and stared at Todoroki as he said them. He kept the quiet stare for a few seconds before returning to talk to Kirishima and the rest.
"I get 'hungry' just looking at you and thinking about your quirk, but that doesn't mean I would choose to take it, I hope," the last words were barely audible. "Tokoyami likes dark probably because Dark Shadow prefers it, but he still lives in daylight like the rest of us and Toshi has a really sharp tongue, but he can control what he says to different people rather than trying to provoke everyone, most of the time."
"Now that you say that they do really… fit their quirks."
"No wonder you are so interested in studying quirks then," Hitoshi added. "But should I be worried you haven't mentioned mine or Tenya's quirk. Don't you think they are strong, or… taste good?"
Tenya shook his head before Izuku responded.
"I don't think it is like that. I'm just… used to it. I didn't get to experience much of your quirks when we met and then we were already training together. Also… you didn't really even show your quirk to us until the same day you let me," Izuku paused, "taste it."
"Figures, what better way to deal with hunger than eating."
"You might be onto something," Tenya said, "but it seems a little more complicated than that. If he just wants your quirk, then wouldn't the 'hunger' have returned when he gave your quirk back?"
"You might be taking the comparison a bit too far," Izuku said. "I think I just got used to the quirk faster when I could try it."
"Oh like eating sweets?" Kirishima said.
"I'm not sure what you mean?" Izuku said.
"Well, if you see a new candy, you haven't had before you really want to try it and the first one is really good, but if you eat a whole bag the last one isn't as good anymore and you don't want to try another bag as much. Also, you need to spend a lot more time at the gym afterwards."
"That…" Izuku started, "that actually sounds surprisingly right."
"So we are like bars of chocolate now and you want to constantly try new tastes," Hitoshi remarked. Izuku wanted to counter that but could only smirk and give up.
"If you want to put it that way. I just hope I don't get distracted by the new tastes when they try to punch me in the face."
"Is it really that bad?" Kirishima asked genuine concern in his voice, though he might have just been worried he couldn't get as good of a match.
"It usually hasn't been, but with that robot there was a moment I couldn't focus on the race."
"Oh," Kirishima looked down, "I'm sorry."
Izuku blinked and considered slapping the redhead for blaming himself like that but he was too slow. Kirishima's head jumped up and he put his hand on the table in front of Izuku who could only stare at it.
"You said it isn't as bad with quirks you have tried."
"Really?" was all Izuku could say and even that was barely a whisper.
"If all you need is… a taste then why not. I need it back before the tournament."
Izuku was tearing up barely holding back the flood as he grabbed the offered hand. Kirishima's grip was unsurprisingly tight.
"You know, we haven't yet seen which one would win in arm wrestling," Kirishima said a lot more emotionally stable than Izuku. Izuku brushed his eyes with his other arm.
"Yeah, we'll have to find out about that. Okay, it's done."
Kirishima let go off Izuku and looked at his hand. His whole arm shook a little as his muscles tensed, but his skin remained normal.
"So it works by tensing your body."
"Yeah, sort of. You have to tense your skin not the muscle. I can't explain it any better."
Izuku pulled up his sleeve and tried to do as advised. After a few tries part of his skin hardened for a second and only slightly. He focused on repeating how that felt and suddenly something snapped and his arm hardened.
"Yeah, just like that."
With a few more tries Izuku managed to repeatedly harden and unharden his arm and even widen the hardened area. His entire body shook as he tried to use the quirk everywhere.
"It can be harder to harden a larger part of your body and keep it up," Kirishima explained.
"Everything is always hard with you," Hitoshi said.
"I mean… yes," Kirishima said.
"Yes," Izuku celebrated as he could feel his entire body change, though it was still shaking from strain.
"Wow you actually did it this quick," Kirishima said, "really manly."
"So how do you like your quirk dessert?" Hitoshi asked.
Izuku's skin returned to normal unable to maintain the quirk any longer, but the smile on his face was so wide one could have thought he had a stretching quirk.
"Great, really really great. I feel stronger than ever, like I could be hit by a truck and the truck would lose."
"I think Kirishima has already established that much," Hitoshi said. "Still hungry?"
"Not… as much," Izuku said as he repeatedly flexed his arm to harden and unharden it. "Now how did you…?"
He held his fingers together like Kirishima did sometimes and tensed a little more around them. His hand hardened into shape like a rocky sword. As it did, he kept an eye on Hitoshi's reaction, or lack of one as it turned out.
"You've kept up with your treatment."
"Huh, oh right, yeah. At least with Kirishima it doesn't really have that impact anymore," Hitoshi responded.
"Good, good," Izuku said offering his hand to Kirishima. "Maybe I should buy him too a second quirk."
Kirishima stopped mid motion to grab Izuku's hand and rest of them just stared at Izuku, well everyone except Hitoshi who was shaking his head.
"You keep talking about it so casually. You should understand how big deal it is to everyone else."
"I know."
"And you'd need people willing to sell their quirks which is equally big deal to them. It's possible you might not even get any offers."
"He already did," Todoroki spoke for the first time during the meal.
"He did?" everyone else asked.
"You already have a new quirk?" Hitoshi continued.
"Well no," Izuku corrected, "I still need to arrange the payment and contract and things to make sure I don't get in trouble later, especially since she is another student and her parents might not be as excited for this as she is."
"That is very wise and considerate," Tenya nodded.
"It wasn't my idea. Dad told me to check with his lawyers before buying anyone's quirk. They worked the whole night before being confident enough to instruct me on how to arrange these trades."
"So what kind of quirk is it?" Kirishima asked as he finally remembered to grab Izuku's hand.
"She called it Zoom. It is a vision enhancing quirk that lets her see further away. Could be really useful if I ever need to follow someone from a distance."
"Nice."
"Izuku," Tenya interrupted. "While we are all eager to know more, we don't have much time. You should eat while you still can."
With Tenya's dedication to keep them on schedule they arrived back at the stadium with time to spare as they were gathered on the arena. Soon Midnight got back to the podium.
"Welcome back everybody. It is finally time for the first years' final round of competitions, the fighting tournament. The remaining competitors will fight in a series of one-to-one battles until one person surrenders, is unable to continue or leaves the arena. For safety the fights are also monitored by myself and todays judge Cementos. If we deem the fight is over both fighters must stop immediately. Use of quirks is naturally permitted. Does everyone understand the rules?"
There was a complete silence among the remaining competitors. Izuku made sure to memorize the point about quirks word for word.
"Now, we have randomly selected the fights for the tournament roster. Are you ready to see who you are going to face?"
This time there were some reactions among the students at least. Izuku was satisfied just staring at the large screen and waiting.
"Well here it is!"
The pyramid structure of the tournament appeared on the screen. Izuku's lips fell from an almost smile into a frown.
"Well, my sports festival is over," Hitoshi said. "I wished I could at least show how useful my quirk can be."
The first match of the tournament was Izuku Midoriya versus Hitoshi Shinso and after all their training neither had any delusions on which one of the was going to win as long as Izuku remembered to keep his mouth shut.
Izuku leaned closer to Hitoshi to whisper to him.
"Do you want to win this fight? People need to see how your quirk can stop people."
Hitoshi was quiet for several seconds before whispering back.
"Remind me to slap you when a million people aren't watching. Even if you mean well how do you think I would feel if you gave up because of me."
"It isn't just about winning or not. People are looking into this tournament to offer internships."
"The answer is still no. If you aren't going to let Todoroki fight with less than his best don't even think about doing any less yourself."
Izuku didn't respond but leaned back with feelings he couldn't quite place, pride perhaps, but also deep sadness and fear.
"You should focus more on your second fight," Hitoshi said. "Depending how Yaorozu does, you might get to face off with Monoma. You were interested in him right?"
"Yes, but if he acts like last time…"
"You get to punch him in the face completely legally."
"Well, that is true."
"You still need to learn how to see the silver lining with things like this."
"You call knocking people's teeth out a silver lining?"
"Depends on the person, but for the record, I didn't say anything about anyone's teeth."
Both of them were well aware that the topic of their discussion was standing right behind them.
Everyone except the first two contestants please leave the arena. We will start the first match in a moment," Midnight announced.
"Good luck man," Kirishima told Hitoshi as he passed by.
"Thanks, I'll need it."
Not long after Izuku and Hitoshi were facing each other in the middle of the arena.
"Begin," Midnight announced. Hitoshi held his fists up as Izuku had taught him.
"Try not to whoop my ass too badly," he said.
Izuku didn't respond.
"It was worth trying. Well get on with it. Try not to make it too embarrassing of an ass kicking. Better get it over quickly."
He seemed so sad and resigned to his fate that Izuku wanted to say a lot of things to him, but he wasn't going to fall for that trap, especially since there was clear exaggeration in that sad resignation to his fate, right? Hitoshi knew exactly where his best chance to catch Izuku off guard was but, if he wanted a fair fight no matter how it would end that was what he was going to get.
"Fine, I guess we have to do this for real," Hitoshi said. "I could try using Bakugo to provoke you, but that might just make you punch me harder."
Without waiting for a response that wasn't coming Hitoshi charged. He was moving a lot faster than just a few months ago and that also applied to the punch he threw towards Izuku's face. It never connected as Izuku dodged and Hitoshi staggered back as Izuku's response emptied his lungs. He didn't have enough time to attack again or get away as Izuku grabbed his arm too slow in pulling back after that punch. Hitoshi's feet left the ground as Izuku flipped him over his shoulder. Hitoshi never got to catch his breath after that first punch as his back hit the floor emptying rest of the air in his lungs.
Hitoshi let out a loud squawk followed by a gasp of air and quiet whimpers. Izuku froze still his grasp of Hitoshi's arm failing. He took a step back. Midnight approached them.
"Shinso can you continue to fight?"
Hitoshi pushed up to his side with one arm gasping a few times.
"Yeah."
A few seconds later he had his feet back under him and got back standing up.
"He can still continue," Midnight announced and backed away.
"Remember to not overextend," Izuku reminded Hitoshi. "You aren't fast enough to avoid my counterattack if you leave yourself so open for one. We've trained that for 't let the audience distract you from the fight."
"When did this become a lesson?"
Izuku couldn't respond immediately of course and by the time it would have been safe Hitoshi was attacking again. To his credit his punches were now much more controlled and somehow a little faster. Most importantly there wasn't just one. Izuku had to actually focus to avoid and block all of the attacks while looking for an opening.
As soon as he found one, he didn't even need to think as his body moved without thinking guided by combat instinct honed by his father's training and brought his fist into a meeting with Hitoshi's face. The barrage of punches ended immediately, and Hitoshi staggered back holding his face with one hand. This time he stayed on his feet though.
"I told you," Izuku said, "I don't punch you for fun. If you want me to fight you seriously it should at least help you improve."
Hitoshi blinked a couple of times while staring at Izuku. Izuku stepped closer about to attack.
"One more punch like that and I'll forget the previous lessons."
Izuku stopped mid step. Before he could finish the step, Hitoshi's fist was already approaching his nose. Izuku's training made him move without thinking again and dodge, but Hitoshi's follow-up punch connected with his stomach. It wasn't much compared to a Nomu's punch, but Izuku also wasn't Kirishima and grimaced a little. It wasn't enough to slow him though. After all the training to hone his combat instinct he didn't even need to think to return the favour except twice and harder. Hitoshi bent over from the force of the impacts.
While he was still gasping for air Izuku swept his legs from under him. Hitoshi had another meeting with the floor this time falling on his stomach and face. Izuku quickly lowered his knee against Hitoshi's back, grabbed his arm and held it behind his back just below the point where it would have started really hurting Hitoshi. If Hitoshi was unable to continue the fight Izuku wouldn't need to hurt him anymore.
Hitoshi struggled but couldn't get up and out of Izuku's hold. The stadium had fallen completely quiet.
"It's okay," Izuku whispered. "They saw you can fight. You don't need to make this any more painful."
Midnight came to them and started counting.
"10… 9…"
"That how lowly you think about me?" Hitoshi stabbed Izuku's hear or said in sad voice, but it felt like the former. Izuku hesitated. "Now let go!"
The Surprise-quirk struck like a hammer. With the real emotion in the situation, it hit even harder than usually. Izuku jolted back and barely stopped himself from responding verbally by slapping a hand on his mouth. Before the shock waned, he got air kicked out of his lungs and the next moment Hitoshi wasn't under him anymore. A shadow moved across the floor sparking Izuku to roll out of the way of Hitoshi's feet coming down on him quickly. He pushed with his hands and bounced back to his feet.
He got another shock seeing Hitoshi stare at him angry. Had that even happened before?
"Both of us know how this is probably going to end, but until you actually beat me stop acting like I'm any more easily breakable than anyone else here. That I couldn't take the pain of a single tournament. I might be weakest in our group but have just as much right to get a real fair fight as anyone else here and if I'm going to lose, I want to at least lose to someone taking me seriously."
Izuku had to force himself to meet Hitoshi's stare. He sighed and raised his fists again. After the window for brainwashing was gone, he responded:
"Okay, I'm sorry. I promise I'll… beat you seriously."
He charged at Hitoshi, who surprisingly dodged his first punch thought not the second. Hitoshi did his best to defend and had some success, but he didn't get a chance to attack. That didn't mean he didn't try. After barely ducking under one punch towards his face he tried to move under it to attack Izuku only for his chin to meet Izuku's knee in an automatic response. Inevitably he kept backing away or staggering as the case was most of the time. That wasn't enough though. After a particularly nasty hit blood started bleeding from his mouth. Hitoshi staggered longer than before to steady his footing, gasped and spat more blood.
Izuku forced himself to not look away in shame, but he started noticing the noises around him. Individual people in the audience were surprisingly audible and understandable considering the size of the stadium.
"… then stop acting like a villain! If you are so good just send him out of bounds! Stop toying with the guy and end this match!"
"Yeah, you heard the guy!"
So now actually fighting properly in the tournament made him a villain. Of course people would have preferred to see Izuku lose and embarrassed. His thoughts were interrupted when Aizawa's voice came from the speakers.
"Where is the man who started this uproar? Are you a pro?"
How he had heard anything all the way in the room he was narrating from seemed even larger mystery than where Izuku hid his notebooks.
"Because if you are being serious, you can go home and hang up your cape. I'd suggest looking into another career if you cannot distinguish respect and self-control from villainous violence. If Midoriya could simply and safely throw Shinso out of bounds he would have done so from the beginning."
If only it had been so easy. Izuku glanced past Hitoshi at the edge of the arena they had been moving towards since the beginning.
"Those two are the best of friends. Despite the apparent skill gap between them, Shinso is the worst possible opponent to Midoriya. I would not be surprised if Shinso had to demand him to fight this seriously. If anyone attacked Shinso like this outside of the tournament Midoriya would be the first one hunt down the attacker."
Hell yeah he would be, and that made Izuku hate every punch even more.
"The fact he has let the fight continue this far means he respects his opponent's skill and could not end the fight cleanly faster, at least not without unacceptable risk of more severe injury. You should not mistake his strength as weakness on Shinso's part."
That might have been the nicest thing the man or almost anyone had said about Hitoshi.
"Of course, that only matters if you care about their actual abilities and actions. Seems like you are only looking for more excuses to call Midoriya a villain or dismiss Shinso as weak because of his nonphysical quirk that you cannot see working since Midoriya is also the worst opponent Shinso could face, being the most experienced with his quirk and how to avoid it. This is a fight of minds and self-control as much as physical ability."
The man had certainly paid attention. Izuku wasn't sure whether to be happy or worried, but if it made even one person reconsider their attitudes Izuku would take it. Unfortunately, he still had to finish this fight. Hitoshi was only a few steps away from the edge. If they kept fighting like they had, he would soon step over. Hitoshi spat blood again… and his eyes didn't seem to focus well as he looked at Izuku.
Then again strong enough push might end the fight right then.
Izuku charged pretending he was about to throw just another punch but at the last moment he moved his hands to grapple and push Hitoshi. Next instance Hitoshi was just a little bit to the side moving surprisingly quickly. Though it seemed to be at the cost of his balance, Izuku observed. Also, he was smirking.
That thought almost cost Izuku as he failed to follow his own advice about not overextending. Despite his unsteady state Hitoshi reached out quickly enough to get a hold of Izuku's shirt and yank Izuku towards the edge while he himself fell away from it.
"Clever," Izuku muttered as the edge approached. He was going to fall right on it, far enough to lose. If he was in the festival just for the competition, he would have gladly fallen out with Hitoshi getting an earned victory. Unfortunately, there were things he still wanted to achieve, and more importantly, he had made a promise to a friend.
As Izuku was falling he twisted around enough for his back to face the floor at least in an angle. At the last fraction of a second his shoulder mounted jet flared through the slits sown on his shirt. At that point he didn't have enough time or control to get straight back on his feet, but the short burst of thrust turned him enough to land fully in the arena and from there he bounced quickly back up on his feet with a flip. Hitoshi was slower at doing that and was still on his knee.
"Damn it. That… was my last plan."
Izuku waited for the window to brainwash to pass.
"Don't say that if you can still fight."
"Yeah… I'm not sure I can."
Hitoshi kept his eyes on Izuku as he was supposed to in a fight and pushed up to get back on his feet. The look in his eyes turned hazy only a fraction of a second before he stumbled and fell forward. Izuku moved faster than he had done with any of his attacks during the fight and had to lean next to Hitoshi to catch him just in time.
"Toshi, Toshi are you okay? Talk to me."
"At least I now know how much you held back while punching us for training," Hitoshi answered quietly.
Izuku opened his mouth to criticize Hitoshi for joking about his health. He snapped it shut remembering to watch out for tricks but immediately cursed that this contest made him suspect Hitoshi.
"Tos…" he started. Hitoshi shifted suddenly to turn his head away. After a few gags vomit burst out of his mouth and on the arena barely missing Izuku. All Izuku could do was to turn and shift to better support Hitoshi as Hitoshi's stomach emptied. As the stinky flow ended Hitoshi raised his head, the simple action seeming to take much effort.
"Either Midnight has an identical sister or there is something wrong with my eyes."
Izuku breathed in sharply and quietly cursed himself. He looked at Midnight who arrived to check on them.
"You have to end this fight. He needs to see Recovery Girl."
Midnight looked at Hitoshi and even kneeled to meet him on the same level.
"Shinso are you...?"
"No," Hitoshi responded and gagged up some more vomit straight on her feet. "I can't fight any more… Is the arena supposed to spin like this? It seems faster than when we were fighting."
Midnight nodded and stood up.
"Hitoshi Shinso can no longer fight! The winner is Izuku Midoriya!"
Izuku didn't bother listening to the audience reaction. It barely existed in his consciousness almost as if he had used Calm Mind. He shifted ready to pick up Hitoshi over his shoulders like at USJ.
"Don't worry," he said. "It is over now. I'll get you to Recovery Girl. She is going to make you feel better."
"Wait…" Hitoshi whispered. "I need to walk off the arena."
"Toshi, you can't even stand straight."
"I know," Hitoshi paused, "but I don't want to look like a bag of rice with so many people. Please."
That magic word from Hitoshi was almost as effective on Izuku as the Brainwashing.
"Okay."
Izuku stood next to Hitoshi and moved his arm under Hitoshi's arms to support him. He could feel Hitoshi's weight shifting from pressing against him to pulling away and back as Hitoshi struggled to remain upright. Izuku braced himself against Hitoshi to prevent that struggle from being visible as much as possible.
"I'm sorry. I tried to fight for real, but maybe too real. It's supposed to be just a competition but I…"
"Izuku," Hitoshi whispered, "shut up. This is what I asked for. You wouldn't have gone any softer at Tenya let alone… Eijiro."
"Well not Kiris… Eijiro, but with Tenya I should at least watch hitting the head."
"Well… I didn't do that."
"You never hit my head."
"Doesn't mean I didn't try."
"How are you feeling?"
"I think the arena is spinning the other way now, but at least I have three of you for a crutch. I think that is the best part of this whole thing."
"Toshi," Izuku said trying to speak in a reprimanding tone but failed to change the tone of worried sick in his voice.
"I mean who wouldn't like to have three Izuku's around, well, besides Ojiro, Bakugo, Death Arms, most of the audience here, media... Not sure about mister Aizawa. I think one of you is plenty enough for him. The man doesn't get enough sleep as is," Hitoshi fell quiet for a moment. "Just happy I didn't need to fight all three of you."
"I wish I didn't need to fight the one of you."
"You know I'm glad you did."
"That's just the concussion talking."
"No I… We both knew you are stronger. I learned to fight from you, and you are always the one coming to my defence. Those are some of the best things about you," Hitoshi fell quiet for a moment. "I know punching isn't everything there is to being a hero and we are still training but lot of the time I don't feel like that with you guys. Even as we have kept training, I only feel weaker. Sometimes, especially at USJ I just felt like another burden you needed to carry."
"No, you…"
"You literally had to carry me out of there," Hitoshi interrupted. "The thing is I can't change that, at least not quickly. It takes time to get better or stronger, but… I don't want you to feel you'd need to hold back or slow down for me at least more than with everyone else. Even if I was going to lose, I wanted it to be a real fight for you. At least show I could take a punch if nothing else."
Hitoshi choked and spat blood.
"Didn't go that well."
"No, actually… honestly you did better than I expected," Izuku sighed. "I feel bad about saying that. Maybe you are right that I haven't believed in you enough. The truth is I'm scared. There are a lot of dangerous people out there. No matter how much we train it never feels enough."
"How did you put it…? You'd rather put me in a hospital than a morgue. You are really man of your words."
"I never wanted it to go this far."
Izuku glanced behind them. They had already entered the corridor to the arena and were deep enough to not be seen. Izuku leaned down and hoisted Hitoshi onto his shoulders.
"Yaah, hey I…"
"People can't see us anymore. You made your point already. Even if you can walk you shouldn't push it if you don't have to," Izuku said. Hitoshi sighed and slumped against Izuku's shoulders lacking the strength to resist what was going on. His opposition was quiet enough that approaching footstep were clearly audible over it.
"Oh, who we have here," Monoma said announcing his presence, "class A's great thief and the friend he pummeled."
"What did you say about people not seeing us again?" Hitoshi muttered.
"Have to say I didn't expect that level of brutality. At least not towards a supposed friend."
"You should watch your words talking about things you don't have any idea of," Izuku said in a low threatening tone while giving Monoma a stare only a killer could manage. The annoying blonde tensed and raised his hands up like Izuku had pointed a gun at him. It might not have been the best reaction from Izuku considering his goals for Monoma, but he was currently carrying a bleeding Hitoshi and wasn't exactly in the mood to deal with anything annoying.
Monoma kept his hands up as he passed Izuku and Hitoshi under Izuku's stare. As he did his hand brushed against Hitoshi's hair. If Izuku's hands had been free he might have grabbed the offending appendix even with the risk of breaking the wrist, but after that initial instinct he thought a little further and let the annoying blonde walk away without consequence. He was Yaoyorozu's problem now.