Author's note :

Yey ! Lot of reviews ! AWESOME !

Just to address some. I used Pear Phone to not say Apple. I have never seen the two series in that review.

As for using "I am my own master" when the Youkai Unit (name for the trio Touya/Toga/Twice inside the HPSC)... *Scribe down quickly that idea*

I am taking it! Thanks a lot and only one chapter before the end of the tournament !

Chapter 24: The final countdown.

Izuku felt restless, as Toru gave him a smoothie to calm him down. She managed to get two free smoothies, as long as she said that they were Izuku's favorite on her way. Uraraka approved, as there was no such thing as too much free stuff.

However, Izuku was now under the pressure of being in the top 4 of the first year. Top 4. Oh, he expected to do well, and like anyone, he hoped for a climatic battle with Katsuki in final, but it was only now that he realized that. He had a shot for the final, and to get a medal delivered by All-Might himself.

"… Izuku, I think most people would feel restless not because they get All-Might goodies, but because they are on the spot in front of everyone else."

Izuku looked at his girlfriend, who ruffled his hair peacefully. Sure, she had lost, but Itsuka had proven against Mei that she was highly capable in the fighting area. If you got in close combat against her, you were down, and she was smart enough to create opportunities so she could close the distance gap.

Izuku was a decent fighter in close combat, but he was nowhere near her level, and he knew it. The only person who had a decent shot at a pure technical fight with Itsuka was Ojiro, and even he admitted he would be the underdog.

"Oh, I also feel restless, because I will avenge my girlfriend's loss."

Not that Toru was feeling any wrath or resentment toward Itsuka. However, Izuku knew she would like the attention, and she would continue to ruffle his hair while he leaned back on her. It had tremendous effect to calm him down, and damn if he would not take it. Hell, he thought that this kind of moment was for something to regenerate his stamina, so he could continue to fight well.

However, he was also damn conflicted, as he truly saw the difference in the way Katsuki fought and the way he fought:

Katsuki didn't seem to look for the fight after the one he was in, giving every time his all. Meanwhile, Izuku had to, because his quirk was still growing and as such, had to be careful to not explode his brain, quite literally. He… He also had something planned for his potential fight with Katsuki. He wasn't kidding when he said he had a card with Katsuki's name on it. It was really something he had planned for their epic fight.

However, as Izuku heard his name, he had to get up and win this fight. He also knew that if he lost because he didn't give his all against Itsuka, Katsuki would most likely kick him in low orbit. The fact Katsuki had apparently done the math to do it right was highly worrying. However, it was in character to make the nerd take everything seriously.

"Wish me luck!"

"Good luck, Izu-kun! And if you win, I will let you treat me to a date!"

Another excellent motivation to win, right?

——————

"Popcorn?"

"Thank you Mirio."

It was weird to speak so casually with heroes, but… The big three really had something in them, Tomura had to admit. Tamaki was a mood kindred and both of them seemed to almost telepathically speak their thoughts about the ambient noise. Mirio was so smiling and beaming it was actually hard to not smile too with him. Tomura actually had to wear a mask after his smile made a child cry in front of them. No, he wasn't jealous at all that people feared his smile. He was a villain, he should be scary! Except he had trouble remembering that when Nejire was laughing next to him. It was… a bit mesmerizing.

Somehow, Tomura had a thought. What if his life had been a little bit different, such as Sensei not finding him? Would have he become a hero?

Suddenly, his brooding ended when Nejire poked his cheek. It was hard to stay somber when she smiled at you like that.

"Hey, you should cheer for your cousin!"

"… He isn't my cousin, I said I consider him as my cousin! That's different!"

Nejire noted he didn't refute the cheering part, though. Especially as when Izuku got in the ring, Tomura rise up and yelled.

"KICK THIS NPC'S ASS; IZUKU!"

——————

For a second, Izuku could have sworn to have heard Tomura. However, it was highly unlikely as Tomura hated crowds and heroes. Izuku should truly tell him, though, about the whole student at U.A… Especially as it will be hard to hide that after today. Hell, the shopkeeper of the card store was probably yelling he was the one who supplied Izuku's cards.

In front of him, Itsuka Kendo, who was all smiles and sunshine, but Izuku knew she was ready to kick his ass, at a moment's notice.

He would have to play his cards fast, if he didn't want to take one of her punches.

"ARE YOU READY, TO FIGHT FOR THE RIGHT OF BEING IN THE FINAL ROUND?"

"Yes!" "Yes!"

"Then… Let's begin!"

As Izuku expected, Itsuka blitzed, to not let him have time to do a summon. It was logical, and if he wanted to fight correctly, he had to create his own opportunity to fight right, especially as Itsuka had learned from Monoma's fight. So he did something highly illogical and ran toward her.

While it made Itsuka pauses for a fraction of a second, she was enough of a seasoned fighter, thanks to her uncle, to react promptly to the attack, with a good old right hook to the face.

Izuku managed to avoid the hit only barely by sliding to his left, and almost squealed when he saw the ground under him break apart and chunks of concrete shift under the weight of her fist. Oh boy, it would have hurt. Thankfully, since the rise of the quirks, humans were notoriously sturdier. He wouldn't have died, but he wouldn't have liked it either.

However, between him dodging her hit, and her infinitesimal pause, Izuku had the time to let a card drop next to her. A card that should allow him to buy time for a concrete strategy.

"MACHOMP!"

A Machomp, simple, powerful and highly motivated to fight strong opponents. Why did Pokemon lose its fans again? Oh right. It was because no one could remember every Pokemon past the 14th generation and the rise up to 2000 different pokemons, not counting the alternative's, shinies, fusions, boosters and radioactive versions.

However, while Machomp was powerful, its speed wasn't necessarily up to the task, especially as it was an apparently rather common card. Izuku had discovered the power of a card was also tied to its rarity. Which would explain why even Kings in his tarot deck were only on the level of a strength enhancer quirk user.

As a result, Izuku could see Itsuka methodically cross-countering every punch Machomp tried to do. Agile, strong, fast and smart. It was just like fighting a Katsuki, but with less explosion. If he wanted to beat her, he needed something equally strong and fast. So…

As a result, Izuku grabbed his "Hero" deck, before taking a card in it. Marking his cards was a good idea to find each one he needs quickly and efficiently. Each deck had its own symbol, heroes, villains, tarot, pokemon, items are all grouped together and there is also a few videogame characters all with one symbol, : along with marks for the, commons, rares, epics, legends and lastly Ultimates, the heroes… And this time, he pulled his only rare villain card so far.

"I SUMMON… THE KING OF UNDERGROUND BATTLE! RAPPA!"

Rappa was known as a high C-tier/low B-tier villain, and he wasn't a priority for most heroes, as he allowed the underground rings to be highly moderated and he wasn't interested in anything else than that. Honestly, all that was needed to turn him into a star was a legalization of his fights. However, it wasn't the case.

Anyway, Rappa was a low-tier villain because of the lack of danger he represented. However, there were rumors floating around that he used to fight against Miruko and the latter said nothing about it when journalists asked about it. To be fair, Miruko never said much to journalists.

However, it also caused Rappa to be one of the few cheap villains Izuku had.

One that surprised Itsuka for a second, as she saw the hulking villains cracking his fists before delivering a barrage of punches.It wasn't nearly as powerful as the real Rappa, but it should stop and weaken a bit Itsuka, while Izuku was catching back his breath.

Itsuka, on the opposite side, was freaked out for another reason. WHY DID HE HAVE TO PICK THIS CARD? WHY DID HE PICK HER UNCLE?!

Her family had broken ties with him when his activities became known… And also because he used to bring Itsuka to watch a fight in his club every now and then. She remembered that time fondly, as the local barman brought her cherry milkshake and she could see people beating others up! She actually had a Miruko's autograph, thanks to that!

It was also her uncle who taught her how to beat people up! Correctly so as every movement and stance she had was due to her uncle beating it into her mind and soul, her body was just beaten into the padded ring in the process.

Then, as soon as the initial onslaught died out, as she had kept her guard up, Itsuka exhaled her breath with a fire in her eyes. If her uncle was watching this, she would be a deception to him, being beaten up by a fake him.

"FIST OF THE NORTH STAR!"

At first, Izuku was going to ask if she was going to do some Hokuto technique, before he saw her taking a karate stance. Instinctively, Izuku ran out of dodge.

"GENBU!"

As the Rappa summon was done cooling down, Itsuka gave only one punch. However, it was a punch done with her whole body, and her quirk was activated. The fake Rappa fell into pieces as her enlarged fist twisted in the furx villain's gut, as the breaker punch destroyed him in one hit, and the card turned into cinder soon after. Izuku was actually blown away by the punch, he looked up only to see Itsuka with a bit of anger burning in her eyes, walking toward him slowly but methodically.

Crap basket.

———————

In a certain Yakuza stronghold, a battle master was enjoying the fight on a small portable TV, and cheered up quietly for Itsuka. After all, Overhaul forbade them to watch it at work, but… They were Yakuza, they broke rules anyway, right? He just needed a good excuse. research on the next generation's quirks? That should work if he is caught, Overhaul is always paranoid, Rappa giving him time to plan countermeasures on strong quirks might give him a good scapegoat.

———————

It wasn't time for witty banter or small talk, for once. The old "Make the enemy mad to trap them" only worked if the enemy wasn't superior to you physically and only if you had a plan, a strategy, to work upon their anger.

It was a stupid idea to do that when you were cornered and didn't have the mobility to get out.

Therefore, it was for a good reason that a pale Izuku wasn't speaking, as Itsuka was marching toward him, carefully for his next move. Good.

Being scared didn't mean not having a plan, though. Izuku always had a plan, especially now he had seen Itsuka fight twice, too.

While she used punches, she always finished her fight with throws to avoid hurting her opponent. Despite her strange angriness at the situation, something he would probably look to fix after the fight, he had no reason to expect her to act differently: even during pain and being blinded by Toru; she acted like that.

Besides that, he was also exactly where he wanted to be: cornered by the ring.

——————

"… Your cousin is in a dangerous situation, it seems."

Tomura was too tired to yell and instead, simply threw a handful of popcorn at Tamaki for his observation.

"You dummy, Izuku is in a rough spot, but so is the girl, the difference is she doesn't know it… yet. I know him. See his smile, a bit forced, but still there? And the fire in his eyes? He still has a plan."

"How do you know that?" Nejire asked with a tilted head and a sparkle in her eyes.

"He is always like that when I am dominating him in our games."

"Oh?" the blue fairy asks to help her latest interesting person continue his thoughts.

"He does manage to win sometimes. Like one battle out of every ten? Something like that."

"You do know it isn't a lot?" This time it's buff Tintin that speaks.

"Yes, but I also know that this girl isn't me. The guy that knows Izuku's every card and play style, it's not that he only wins due to only being that good. He wins only so much because even when I always have a newer stronger deck and a new set of moves he will always get me close to defeat before I pull out something new. It's when I don't have something new that I lose. That girl… he just watched her fight three times."

In opposition to The Big 3, Tomura had faith in his friend. He knew he had a plan, an ace up his sleeve, probably literally. It was going to be interesting to see an Izu gambit in real time.

——————

Itsuka was fairly sure of her victory. She knew about Izuku having a power-limit on what he could summon. According to the punch of the Machomp, the Blaziken and the fake Rappa, Itsuka had a fair understanding of the limit.

Izuku, most likely, couldn't summon anything stronger than that and didn't have that many cards as powerful as them. It also explained why he didn't summon them earlier, if they burned away after only one use.

As for the others, weaker cards… She was now certain she could punch them away easily.

Having intimidated Izuku enough, the ginger girl decided to end the battle. She rushed him, to end him with a grab and throw.

Then, in front of her, Izuku smirked before disappearing.

What?

As she darted her arms in front of her, she felt a pressure on her belly and something catching her arms. Something that was clearly using her own strength against herself, and she was going to be thrown out! The surprise was gone, Itsuka managed to grab whatever was trying to throw her out. Wait. Oh… She could see where Izuku should be, a floating uniform. That was right. If he could copy Monoma's own copy, why couldn't he copy other's quirks? Still. All she had to do now was a counter-counter grab. As she was vastly stronger than him, she could simply throw him first on the ground, and she would qualify!

At that moment, Itsuka made a fatal mistake.

She forgot whose quirk Izuku took and how well he knew it.

Izuku simply thought about getting hugged by Toru for his win, just before Itsuka managed to grab him the light burst out in a sparking ray. Then, unlike his girlfriend, Izuku used all of his strength and technique to throw his opponent out of the ring. Grabbing one of her arms as they instinctively flew up to her face, the one he had gave him a focal point. spinning on his heel he spun her off the stage and into the grass in a roundabout toss that sent her rolling.

———————

"MY EYES! OH GOD THE PAIN!" The only time you could hear Eraserhead yell out of anything but anger or teaching a lesson, his eyes are more sensitive to them most due to his quirk.

"… And dear people, blinded by that problem child, is why I have sunglasses all the time. Don't worry, your sight should be back in a few seconds." Permanent damage only happens if you see it for days on end, which can happen to heros or UA teachers. Mic, being both, adopted the shaded prescription glasses into his costume after his first week as a teacher.

———————

Itsuka was on her back, stumped. She had been countered, because she forgot something about her opponent. THAT WAS FUCKING IDIOTIC OF HERSELF.

Of course, if he knew about Toru's quirk and special attack, he probably also knew the trigger! Shit!

All she could hear was Izuku, clearly panting because of the effort. The result was because of a gambit and he did his best. However, it had also been because Itsuka went easy on him, and they both knew it. If she had been serious, and had just smashed him or slapped him with her giant hands, she would have won. Sure, Izuku would have most likely had a few broken bones.

However, she would have won.

By not taking him seriously, Itsuka had forgotten a part of his ability, and he exploited that kindness… Or was it truly kindness? Wasn't it more like pity? Shit.

She could almost hear her uncle disgruntle and swear because of that stupid defeat.

For once, Izuku wasn't in a state to be a fair play gentleman, as his last actions took a lot of energy inside of him. He knew he had the strength for… Well, still a few summons, but clearly, it had truly taken its toll on him to act like that.

Honestly, he could only hope that Katsuki's fight against Todoroki would wear him down just as much as him.

———————

"WAAAAAAH OUR BOY IS IN FINAL!"

"Indeed, he is!"

Seriously, Compress wanted to check if Backdraft wasn't linked to the Shimura's family one way or the other, and ask Inko to be classified as a double quirk person.

"However, you need to cry less Inko, otherwise we will get flooded by complaints and litteral water… again."

"BUT I AM SO PROUUUUUUUUD"

It was going to be a long evening, right? Still, having an Inko all over him was really nice, and he would not trade that for anything in the world. Especially if it leads to more cuddling later on.

————————

"See? Told you he would figure out something. Izuku is resourceful." Tomura beamed with pride as Izuku won his fight. He knew he had it in him!

"Impressive… Now, we know the last fight is going to be really interesting."

"Nejire, once you finish your… Isn't that your third ice cream?"

"Yes, it is!"

"… You are lucky your power needs a lot of calories. Anyway… So, what's your prognostic on the winner?"

"I like the ice guy!"

Mirio nodded, while Tamaki grunted.

"I prefer the explosive man. Yes, he is loud, but he clearly takes the tournament more seriously."

The ashen bluenette says with a glare at the stage.

"How about a bet then?"

"Another one ?"

"Yep! If Todoroki wins, you owe me another favor. If Bakugou does, I owe you!"

"If Bakugou wins, I need a rematch against you!"

"Deal!"

Mirio leaned on Tamaki to ask.

"Do you think he know he just locked himself again in another date with Nejire?"

That made chuckle Sun-eater.

———————

Once again, two people stood there, against each other. One with a maniac smile and the other being Todoroki, who simply smiled quietly.

"Hey, Blue Fairy! I need to thank you for this trimester."

Bakugou, hearing his… Well, yes, he could call him that. Shouto was his friend and his disciple. Hearing Shouto taunting him and thanking him made him smile even more.

"So… How do you intend to thank me? By giving up?"

This actually made Shouto chuckle.

"AH! As if! You would kill me if I did something like that!"

Once the chuckle stopped in his body, both halves of his quirk activated.

"No, I will thank you by beating you! Not for my father, not for my mother, or not even for you. I will do it for me!"

Katsuki smiled as a warm feeling was growing inside of him. Pride in someone else? That was a new one, and he liked that. Finally, Shouto was growing a spine and standing up for himself! Huh, it was Izuku all over again, just with complete social exile rather than anxiety.

"GOOD! YOU BETTER USE BOTH QUIRKS, BITCHY BOY, OTHERWISE IT WON'T BE AS AWESOME AS IT SHOULD!"

Midnight and Cementoss had the proper flair for the dramatic scenes, and as such let the kids have their moments, ready to fight.

"Are you ready? GO!" she called quickly.

At that instant, Shouto used his gliding technique, though this time, he added himself being propelled by his flame, increasing drastically his speed compared to the initial race. However, the speed was apparently something new for him, as he wasn't able to dodge Katsuki's fist crashing down into his stomach, the right hook stuned the dual eyed boy. . The exploding man had thrown himself toward the Genius of the 1A, correctly guessing he would try out his full power during their fight. However, it was not enough for Shouto, who was used to getting worse from his father on a daily basis. He just didn't expect Katsuki to intercept him.

He took that opportunity to let out a large burst of ice right up to Katsuki's neck from point blank range, but Katsuki took his distance immediately. While the sarcophagus of ice appeared where Katsuki stood just before, Katsuki was already in a safe area, preparing his next attack. Unlike Shouto who had a fairly constant and powerful quirk, the blond knew his specialty was more about bursting and charging in varying moves. Against someone like Shouto, staying in close range was a bad idea, especially now he was okay with using his fire.

The real question was 'Did he already work out some attacks with it?'. Simply by increasing his mobility, Shouto was even more dangerous than before, and Katsuki had to admit his mastery on ice was impressive.

On the other side, Shouto took the brief respite as an opportunity to get back his breath. Good. He could take on Katsuki's punch and continue to attack. So, what should he do?

"When your enemy has a biological component in their quirk, neutralize it."

… Shit, once again, Endeavor's old advice and teaching were on point and useful. It would be easier to hate on his father if he was an incompetent corrupted hero. Sadly, Enji Todoroki was competent in everything else besides family matters, apparently.

Still, his first fight with Tokoyami took a lot of his strength. Had he fought with his fire from the beginning, he would have been in a better shape. He could still do a big move only once or twice, but he needed them to be decisive, and not waste them.

As Shouto was still thinking about his next move, he suddenly felt an impact on his guts. In front of him, Katsuki was aiming at him with his finger, shooting explosions all around him. Shouto's guess was he had fine tuned his control over his explosion to propel his own sweat as a bullet. That was actually really impressive.

——————

Meanwhile, an actually still frozen Endeavor was watching the fight with Rei. He couldn't bring himself to think "his wife" despite still being married to her, because… Well, the "still" was the operative word.

However, even if it was just for an instant, he forgot about all of that, and melted the ice, while yelling…

"SHOUUUTOOOOO"

Then Rei iced his head, by reflex, icing his mustache and his eyebrows, giving him a funny face.

"Calm down, or you will activate the fire alarms!"

"… Actually, Nedzu set the alarms so I don't activate them before I actually burn something."

She totally knew it, according to her smile, though. She just cooled him down for fun, and that made him chuckle.

"You think Shouto will win?"

"He will, now that he is finally using both halves of his quirk and stops hurting himself… and if he doesn't then you will be there for him after the fight."

Enji said with a more genuine smile on his face.

"… You know he never used it as a rebellion against you, you know?"

Rei said with a brittle spite mixed into her voice.

"And I pushed him even harder to avoid a second Touya…"

A pang ran through both of their hearts, a mix of sadness and anger at the thought of Touya and what had happened to him.

Endeavor had more than enough time to do his introspection. Hindsight, being 20/20, the hero himself was his harshest critic.

"But now, our youngest son is doing his best."

Ironically, all it took was to get Endeavor out of the picture for Shouto to not become his brother… And the irony was not lost on both adults in the room.

———————

Shouto decided to compromise and slammed his icy feet against the ground, creating a sudden wall of stalagmites toward his opponent. That way, he would create a wall and an attack against him. As a result, Katsuki flipped a tile in the sky with his explosions. It was a good idea, as clearly Shouto had memorized his move and used a wave of flame to hit him. Sadly for the genius, Katsuki was gifted for battle, and he shared to a degree Izuku's passion for quirk. He loved to study their battle application, and boy, did he think a lot about a serious fight with Shouto before. Now, he has finally gotten one!

Katsuki, once again ruining his shoes, redirected with violence the tile, aiming at Shouto. The Icy-Hot boy had to move sideways to dodge it… Or he might create an ice structure to deviate the attack, while he pointed his finger from his fire-side as a gun. Katsuki grinned as he saw his friend aiming carefully, before shooting at him. Not a bad move, but he clearly needed more work! As a result, as Shouto was using the tile as cover from Katsuki's explosion, he didn't expect him to use a projectile.

The projectile being Katsuki himself of course, who used his explosion to drop full force on the "roof" above Shouto's head. However, it wasn't enough, to Katsuki's surprise, to make it crash on Shouto, while he did hurt his feet from the impact.

"I took the teacher's advice about proper support for my ice constructions."

Shouto explained quietly from under Katsuki, before encasing the area above him in ice, to restrict Katsuki's mobility in the best case, and in the worst case, cool him down enough to stop him from sweating.

Honestly, no one saw Katsuki's counter coming. As he felt the incoming cold, the angry, proud boy did something he saw once in an old game with a good story.

He flexed against the cold, propelling as much sweat in the process, and producing even more heat that way. In addition, it weakened, and cracked Shouto's pillar, while the explosion was blinding him.

Still, as the tile was finally coming down on him, Shouto smiled, and he lifted it, to everyone's surprise, before throwing it and Katsuki away.

His quirk wasn't the only thing strong about him, his body was also trained by the number two hero.

"Not bad, Shouto."

"Thanks… Katsuki."

Name. The ultimate sign of respect from Katsuki, as a nickname was simply friendship.

Both boys were panting heavily, as that much quirk use in one day was bound to tire one. It was even more visible in Shouto's case, as he worked out his fire quirk, something he didn't truly do before that day. As a result, his control, his power over it took a lot of energy. Now, he understood why his father always insisted on him learning how to control it.

However, now was the time to go all out. Both Katsuki and he were set apart on the ring. Katsuki took damage from his failed kick, and would have a hard time dodging his next attack. In fact, Shouto could probably move, but he wasn't sure he could capitalize enough on his speed to win. However, he knew how to create a situation where no dodge would be involved.

"Katsuki? Block."

Katsuki felt his blood boil intensively when Shouto's body flared up in his quirks. Heat and frost coming together in one final, giant and big attack.

"Because I will use all of me."

The same cold voice, but his face and his smile showed his fun. His happiness, the fact he was having the time of his life.

Somehow, he could feel cheers all around him vibrating the air, while his attack continued in its preparation.

Then, he heard the sparkles, going crazy on Katsuki's body. Explosions at the end of each hand, getting bigger and bigger, while taking a cross-like posture. Of course, he took the challenge in a fight for power as Shouto expected of him. It was going to be a battle between both of their powers, and all of it will be decided here and now..

Cementoss and Midnight, finally noticing the danger, prepared to intervene to stop both students, but it was a bit too late.

"BIG BANG…."

"THERMODYNAMIC…"

Both students felt the power of the others, while walls of cement rose from the ground, and a strange smoke on the ring. As said earlier, too late.

"ATTACK!"

"CANNON!"

Shouto's attack was vastly bigger than Katsuki's. It wasn't a match on that aspect, as it showed the strength Shouto had, destroying everything in his way. Large spikes rip through the concrete while fire rides the top of the spikes making waving currents of air that propel bursts of fire ever farther as the duelist attack rages on as a beam of twisting air rappidly cooling and heating in a spiral while being supported on all sides by his fire and ice working in tandem. The air rushed to the only place uncovered from the tunnel, right where Katsuki was standing.

However, beside a fiery temper, pride and a maniacal smile when happy, Katsuki had another common quality with Endeavor: an absurd control over his quirk, thanks to an even more absurd training. For him, it was useless to have a big beam, all he needed to have was a powerful one.

So, while Shouto's air beam was indeed the most powerful of the two attacks, its wide area made it lose efficiency. With the precision of a scalpel, Katsuki's attack pierced the dual elemental super move pushing the twisted beam back into its cocoon, ice cracks and fire sputters causing the attack to collapse in on itself and blow away the air in the stadium for everyone. More than one hat and fake hairs were lost that day.

When the concentrated explosion finally arrived in front of Shouto, it exploded once more, violently enough to project him outside the ring. In fact, he rolled across the grass for only a moment as he felt his back against the wall; the shock-wave being so powerful that his body didn't even register pain yet..

Still standing in the ring was the winner of the match, who had a smile on his face. He was… The best. He fell on his knees, having lost a lot of his strength with that attack. Shouto had fought him at the best of what he was capable of, and Katsuki sliced it apart like it was nothing.

"SEE PEOPLE?! THAT IS WHY I AM SAYING I AM GOING TO BE THE NEXT #1! SO WATCH ME!"

What was bravado at the beginning suddenly turned into a declaration in front of everyone, with Katsuki looking… Like a shonen protagonist, blasting away his opposition again and again with each match showing a burst of strategy and strength that they never thought he had..

"And if you want to prove me wrong… GET BETTER. BECAUSE I DEFINITELY WILL BE EVEN BETTER TOMORROW!"

The applause was deafening, and Katsuki rose up again, walking slowly and with some pain toward Shouto, and looking at him.

"So, how does it feel, Shouto?"

"… Is it weird to be sad and happy?"

"I don't know, I never lost."

Both cackled a bit, before Katsuki helped him on his feet again, his friend's arm was pulled over his shoulder as the two stumbled out of the arena together leaving the hyped crowd behind.

"More seriously, yes. You had your fun, and you finally noticed you would have liked to be the best. That feeling? It is your pride. Never forget it. Because you are one of my rivals with Yui and Izuku."

"… Should they get a penalty for the destruction they just caused, Mic?"

"Well, to quote Nedzu "I said 'Plus Ultra' to my grandson, and I TOTALLY ASSUME"."

———————

Rei and Enji blow up a wall together. Nedzu could bill them later, they didn't care. Their son… He had been so close to win, and failed so close to the goal.

"That attack… I told him to not do wide area attack! Smaller and stronger!"

"It looked quite cool though. Hmm…"

Rei seemed pensive, and Enji noticed her look.

"You have an idea?"

"Well, I just thought. Let's say we discover the HPSC did in fact hold Touya. Instead of letting you do a Prominence Burn… Would be interested in…"

"… Combine our quirk in a heat/frost intense combination, enough to blow apart their building and most of the block in one shot?"

He finished his wife's sentence.

Rei, nodding with a smile, was a spectacle Enji had missed.

"Does that count as a date?" He says with a cheeky smirk.

"Don't push your luck Enji." She replied coldly, but not as much as he thought she would.

Dammit.

———————

Meanwhile, Izuku was resting in meditation. He took a card, that was until then wrapped in a protective sleeve. It had indeed written "Katsuki" on it, and it was also going to be an important experimentation for Izuku.

Sure, his opponent was a person of mass destruction, but it would not deter Izuku now. He was too far to fail now.

It was time to use his Endgame Strategy against Katsuki.