JOUSTING

"Dishonorable cur!" Iida shouted. "Lower your lance and have at thee!"

"You're going down, dude! I'm too rock solid to ever lose!"

Shoji pushed Kirishima forward, while Iida's engines rocketed his chair. The two students met in a deafening clash of broom on trash can lid. Kirishima's broom went wide while Iida's stayed on center, but Kirishima had too tight a grip on his chair to fall off.

"A valiant defense!" Iida said, "But you are no match for a knight of the Iida family! Our bloodline has raised the finest knights in the land!"

"Doesn't matter who your parents are, dude. All that matters is your own manliness." Kirishima thumped his broom against his check. "I drank three protein shakes and a raw egg this morning. I am peak manliness!"

"Then turn about and face me once more. We tilt until one of us falls!"

Their chairs surged forward. Kirishima got another glancing blow, while Iida's broom dipped below the lid and rammed straight into Kirishima's gut. He nearly pushed Kirishima off, but the broom's handle snapped.

Iida held up the shattered broom and shouted, "Another lance, squire!"

Momo drew a broom out of her cleavage. Iida held it up to the light and said, "A valiant weapon! May it smite my foes, then pass to my grandchildren to continue our legacy."

This time, Kirishima's lance made contact first and stuck. Iida tried to lean into it, but the momentum from his own engines sent him tumbling head over heels. Kirishima held up his battered lid and shouted, "Victory!"

"Valiantly fought," Iida said, bowing. "I yield to a worthy opponent."

Kirishima did a victory lap in his chair and shouted, "Anyone else got the balls to challenge Kirishima the Red Lance?"

"I do."

Tsuyu rolled into the room on a green chair. Her lid had a frog crudely painted on it.

"Excellent!" Kirishima shouted. "Let's rumble!"

Shoji gave Kirishima another shove, while Tsuyu hopped forward with her legs. Both brooms went wildly off-center, and they rolled past each other.

"Defense doesn't matter if you can't land a hit," Tsuyu said.

"I could say the same about your offense."

They hit shields the next time, but Kirishima's blow glanced over Tsuyu's head, while Tsuyu's lance broke. Tsuyu held out her tongue, and Momo gave her another broom.

Tsuyu flexed her tongue, waving the broom in the air. "This gives me an idea."

When they lined up for the next tilt, Tsuyu kept the broom in her tongue. Right before their brooms clashed, she snapped her tongue out like a spring. The broom punched through Kirishima's lid. His hardened skin absorbed the impact, but the sheer power behind the blow launched him through the drywall of their dorm building.

With white dust shaking off from his skin and hair, Kirishima emerged from the ruined wall and shouted, "That. Was. Awesome!"

Tsuyu patted the chair and said, "Thanks Midoriya-kun."

The chair wiggled back and forth in response.

495

Iida, old and wrinkled, hands his grandson a weathered broom and says, "Make our family proud."