"Hmph. That was sad." Bakugo grinned, arms folded in his seat. The personal heater sitting in the fetal position next to him prevented his body from feeling the cold temperatures of the giant wall of ice that was currently covering a whole section of the stadium. Habanero's quirk had its moments and this was one of them.
"Hey. He did his best." Ami defended, talking back to Bakugo. A tiny bit of smoke escaped her mouth as she talked.
"Too bad his best was weak." Bakugo replied, getting a stern look from Ami. Bakugo gave the stare no attention, for he knew he was right. Once Sero was freed from the ice, his whole body was blue from the cold. He was quickly put on a stretcher and carried to Recovery Girl's Office by robot helpers.
After Todoroki warmed up the section of ice that contained the frozen Sero, he had conversed with the robots that took Sero and left the battlefield, eventually returning to the stands where Class 1-A was seated. When he reached the class, he was greeted by silence. All eyes were on him as he stood at the entrance with a cold solemn expression. He paid no attention to the eyes that watched him and made his advance. Bakugo, Ami, and Izuku, kept a close eye on Todoroki as he approached. The twins examined the cold stare on his face and felt a frown form on their lips. It was his usual cold stare, but there was also an underlying emotion hiding behind it. They could tell that he was frustrated and possibly conflicted about something. Their subdued thoughts were interrupted by Jiro speaking to Todoroki.
"Shouldn't you have helped get rid of the ice?" Jiro asked, raising her head up to catch a glimpse of Todoroki walking by. Todoroki stayed focused on heading back to his seat so he didn't bother looking at her when he replied back.
"The machines told me to head back and let the heroes handle it." Todoroki explained, walking to his seat in silence. Bakugo heard the explanation and shook his head in disappointment. He looked back at the battlefield and watched as several heroes came down from the stands and volunteered to help clean up the ice. He heard the civilian section of the audience cheer and wave at the line up of heroes that entered the battlefield.
"Be sure to give a warm welcome to the heroes volunteering to clean the ice, folks!" Present Mic said. Wyvern looked up at the audience and felt a grin break through his stoic face. He raised his hand up and waved at the audience, hoping above all else that they'd recognize him. If nothing else, he could at least give his organization good publicity. He slicked his red hair back and pointed at his insignia on the right shoulder of his costume. He and a dozen other heroes approached the ice and readied themselves for a good show of their quirks. Wyvern took a deep breath and cranked his neck and cracked his knuckles.
"Let's get this taken care of." Wyvern grinned, talking to himself. He placed both his hands on the frozen ice and felt a chill go down his spine from the freezing temperatures. As soon as he made contact with the ice, a small bit of flame shot out the back of his neck and slithered around his hero costume. He watched the flames reach his arms and cover his hands, instantly reacting to the ice. The ice he made contact with sizzled and glowed orange as it melted upon contact with the fire, emitting steam.
Wyvern looked up at the hero stands and tried to find Backdraft in the crowd. He darted his eyes back-and-forth and looked row-after-row, eventually finding him conversing with the heroes beside him. Wyvern grunted at the sight of him. Not because he was mad at him, but because he could tell he was telling the other heroes around him about all kinds of facts about firefighters. That or a true story about a burning apartment building and a man saving a fish. It was either or.
"He doesn't waste time finding someone to talk to, huh?" Wyvern questioned, talking to himself. The flames on his hands and arms flared up in response, causing him to sigh. He continued looking at the hero stands and caught notice of the flaming hero watching them from above. He raised an eyebrow at the intimidating man and squinted his eyes at him. The fires on his face and costume gave him away instantly. He was looking at the Number Two Hero, Endeavor. Wyvern stared and examined the expression on Endeavor's face and raised a confused eyebrow.
"For a father who just saw their son win their first match. He doesn't look very happy." Wyvern observed, getting back to work. The heroes around him that helped melt the ice all made quick glances at the Number Two Hero and nodded in agreement at Wyvern's comment. They immediately went back to melting the ice and kept the chatter to a minimum. Up in the student section, Bakugo watched the heroes melt the ice and saw one using fire that covered his neck, arm, and hand, to melt the ice. He raised his eye and furrowed his brow upon noticing that the hero was looking at something else in the hero stands, piquing Bakugo's curiosity.
He raised his head up and looked in the hero stands, catching sight of the large man staring down at the battlefield in silence. He stared at Endeavor and took notice of the way he was staring at the ice. He felt his grin return to him upon seeing the contempt that was visible on Endeavor's face, causing him to flare his nostrils.
"Hmph." Bakugo scoffed, grinning at the behavior of the Number Two hero. He could tell he was mad just by the scowl on his dumb face and the way he had his arms crossed.
"What's the matter, Number Two? Don't like staring at your son's mess?" Bakugo wondered, thinking to himself in silence. He admitted that after hearing Todoroki's story, he could find some amusement in the way Endeavor looked at Todoroki and the gigantic iceberg. Meanwhile, Ami had her focus on Todoroki the entire time. She frowned at him as he reached his seat and sat down. He kept quiet and put his hands on his lap, clasping them and staring at the ground, deep in thought.
"Hey, Kacchan. Did Todoroki look a little sad to you?" Ami said, feeling the flames kick up in her mouth while she spoke.
"Didn't you learn not to talk with your mouth full, Habanero?" Bakugo insulted, glancing at Habanero. Ami glanced at Bakugo with half lidded eyes that emphasized her unamusement.
"What are you gonna do about it? Cover my mouth again?" Ami replied, sarcastically. Ami caught sight of Bakugo's glare and saw he was offended by her remark. As if he was mad that she'd dare to bring that up. Bakugo scowled and narrowed his eyes at her.
"If I did that again, your lips would blow right off, wouldn't they, genius?" Bakugo barked back, gritting his teeth. Ami reeled back at his words and realized he had a point. The thought of his hand covering her mouth again caused her face to get red in embarrassment. She quickly covered up her embarrassment and pretended to gag.
"Yuck. Don't remind me. I had to get your sweat off my face before I could activate my quirk again." Ami whined, thinking about earlier. Directly after Izuku and Todoroki's conversation, Ami and Bakugo had reached a drinking fountain on the way to the exit. She promptly dipped her head into the fountain and washed off her face with water. It had been some time since his hand was on her lips but she was being cautious for her own safety. She knew very well that nitroglycerin and fire didn't mix well. She lowered her head and removed her hands from her legs. She dropped her legs back onto the floor, leaving the fetal position she was previously in. She stretched her legs out and relaxed. Bakugo rolled his eyes at her and slowly responded to her original question.
"Yeah. I saw that look on his face. And I still don't care." Bakugo said, leaning into his seat. Ami looked at his serious face and rolled her eyes at him.
"Really? You sure?" Ami asked, hiding her frown behind a straight face.
"Damn, sure." Bakugo replied, nodding his head. Ami looked at Bakugo and cracked a grin at him. An emotion that didn't go unnoticed by the blonde who turned his head to look directly at her. Habanero saw her opening and took the chance to ask him a question about his lack of sympathy.
"If you didn't care, then how did you notice?" Ami teased, raising an eyebrow at Bakugo. Bakugo heard her question and felt his eyes widen by just a bit. He leaned his head back in surprise. He stared at the smug grin on Habanero's face and formed a scowl, looking away from her. Ami expected he'd leave that question unanswered, prompting her to shift her gaze towards the stadium battlegrounds.
"Still acting like you don't care, huh?" Ami said, folding her arms. Her comment pissed off Bakugo even more.
"Quit it." He sternly replied. Ami contemplated ignoring his request but she could hear the increasing anger in the tone of his voice and gave in to his demand, sighing. She didn't quit empty handed though. The way Bakugo acted confirmed to her that something about Todoroki's past was definitely pissing him off. The two remained seated and ignored each other for at least two minutes before Ami's quirk had gotten the attention of the students near her.
"Hey, you got a fire going?" Kaminari asked, leaning his head over the seats. He bent down and poked his head in between Bakugo and Ami, getting both of their attention.
"Get out of my face, Sparky!" Bakugo complained, causing Kaminari to yelp and lean back into his seat.
"Hey, I was wondering why it was so warm behind me. Good thinking, Ami. Todoroki's ice was starting to give me the chills." Kirishima said, turning around in his seat. He placed his arms on the top of the seat and dropped his chin on them. Bakugo narrowed his eyes and silently grumbled to himself.
"Great. Now I have to hear all three of them." Bakugo thought to himself, keeping their faces away from his vision.
"Thanks." Ami smiled.
"Shouldn't you be saving your power for your match, Habanero?" Bakugo questioned, slightly growling. Kaminari glanced at Bakugo and agreed with his question, nodding his head.
"Yeah, won't you get burned out?" Kaminari asked, looking down at Ami. Ami shook her head and brushed their worries off.
"It's fine. I'm just keeping warm until the ice goes away. It won't be very long till then." Ami answered, flashing a smile of assurance to her friends. They both nodded at her response and allowed Ami to continue. Bakugo scoffed at her response and continued to look away from her. Ami noticed his eyes were facing away from her and felt an idea form in her head.
"Oh, and, how very thoughtful of you, Kacchan." Ami smirked, causing Bakugo's eye to twitch. He gritted his teeth and growled, feeling a vein bulge out on his forehead. Ever since Habanero started hanging out with him more, she's been getting braver at fooling around with him. Even worse, he was getting used to it. Kirishima looked at Bakugo's reaction to Ami's comment and felt a small grin form on his face. He didn't understand Bakugo's response to Ami thanking him, but it was humorous. Kirishima then saw movement on the left in his peripheral vision and raised his head off his arms. He focused on the entrance to the stands and smiled upon seeing Sero stepping into view.
"Hey, Sero." Kirishima waved, causing Ami and Kaminari to turn around. Ami smiled up at the top of the stands and saw Sero enter with a blanket wrapped around his head. He was slightly shivering, holding onto the edge of the blanket with both hands.
"Hey, guys." Sero said, shakily waving his hand at them.
"Hey, Sero. Nice try." Kaminari said, giving him a double thumbs up. Sero sighed at the electric blonde's comment.
"Oh my Gosh, Sero. You look like you're freezing!" Ami gasped, her voice full of concern, "Why don't you come sit next to me?" She offered, causing Bakugo to raise his eyes at her.
Huh?" Bakugo blurted out, disagreeing with Habanero's suggestion. Sero heard the offer and nodded in appreciation. He let out a deep breath and squeezed the blanket tighter around him.
"Thanks, Ami." Sero said, walking down the steps to Bakugo and Ami's row. Bakugo glared at Sero and groaned.
"Ugh. Great. As if hearing them talk at lunch wasn't bad enough." Bakugo thought, rolling his eyes in disapproval. Sero reached their row and scooted past Bakugo's legs, hearing Bakugo mumble to himself in protest. He walked past Ami and felt a strange warm sensation go through him as he scooted past Ami. He reached the empty seat next to her and promptly took a seat and relaxed into the chair, audibly exhaling. The warm feeling surrounding him was stronger on his right side, prompting him to investigate the source of the warmth.
"Wow. It's really warm over here." Sero said, letting go of the blanket and folding his arms.
"I'm using my quirk to warm us up while the heroes melt the ice." Ami said, giving Sero a thumbs up. Sero nodded and relaxed, throwing the blanket on his face.
"That's nice." Sero said, reclining in his seat, "Thanks, Ami." Sero groaned, appreciating the fire. He leaned his head back on top of the chair and rested. The blanket he arrived with covered his face while he relaxed. Ami nodded in appreciation and looked at the blanket that covered Sero's wet face. Examining the details on the blanket she noticed a familiar face stitched onto the blanket. The blanket featured miniature cartoon versions of Principal Nezu, who looked very happy on the blanket. Ami made a tiny chuckle at the image of Principal Nezu and raised her eyebrow at the blue blanket, feeling her curiosity slowly rising.
"You did great, man. I'll be honest, that match was a little unfair, but you fought like a man." Kirishima said, clenching his fist. Ami smiled and nodded in agreement with Kirishima. Sero nodded his head in appreciation and lightly grumbled to himself.
"Why couldn't I have gotten one of the pre-matches? At least then I'd have a better chance to show off my quirk." Sero thought, feeling drained. Kaminari nodded his head in agreement, speaking up.
"Yeah. I'm surprised you managed to last so long against him. I thought you'd lose instantly, but that was a whole five seconds longer than I predicted." Kaminari ignorantly complimented, patting Sero on the shoulder from the upper row. Sero acknowledged Kaminari's comment and let out a groan through the blanket. Bakugo heard Kaminari's comment and shook his head at his rudeness. Ami gave Kaminari a side glare that emphasized her disapproval at his rude comment. Kaminari caught their looks and tilted his head in confusion.
"What?" Kaminari asked, furrowing his brow. Ami rolled her eyes at the electric teen and returned her focus on Sero.
"Hey, Sero." Ami said, getting Sero's attention.
"Hmm?" Sero mumbled through the blanket.
"That's a nice blanket...Is that Principal Nezu on it?" Ami asked, looking at the adorable cartoon Nezu design.
"I didn't know Recovery Girl gave out blankets to people?" Ami questioned..
"Thanks. Recovery Girl said it's for free. They're apparently selling blankets just like this one at the Gift Shop." Sero explained, lifting the blanket off his head. Everyone around Sero raised their eyes as soon as they heard the word Gift Shop escape his mouth.
"Wait. UA has a Gift Shop?" Ami asked, tilting her head in confusion.
"Oh, right. Apparently the gift shop opens up for the civilians whenever the school is open for the public, like for the Sports Festival." Sero explained.
"Ah. That makes sense." Ami nodded, putting a hand on her chin.
"I wonder what's in it?" Ami pondered, imagining all the shirts and hero merchandise they could be selling. It seemed like an interesting place to check out after the matches were over. Offhandedly, she wondered if they sold Aizawa's sleeping bag there.
"Hehe. Oh, and apparently, whenever someone walks into the gift shop an All Might hologram pops up talking about how great the store is." Sero snickered, remembering what Recovery Girl had told him about the origins of the blanket and the Gift Shop. Sero cracked up when he heard All Might's lines from Recovery Girl.
"Greetings, Citizen! My name is All Might and this is my favorite store in UA High! HA HA HA!" All Might smiled, giving a thumbs up. He pressed his other hand into his stomach and let out a big hearty laugh.
"That sounds hilarious." Ami grinned, laughing out loud.
"I've gotta check that out later." Ami said, making a mental note.
"Hey, looks like they melted all the ice." Kaminari pointed out, raising his finger towards the battlegrounds. The students watched as the volunteer heroes waved their last goodbyes to the audience as they exited the battlefield. Feeling the cold air dissipate, Ami relaxed and swallowed the flames in her mouth. She felt the heat return to her body and deactivated her quirk. As soon as she extinguished her flames, a string of confetti launched out toward the audience. The fire pits around the corners of the battlefield spewed out thirty foot tall flames like before, signifying the start of the match.
"Welcome back to the finals, everyone! Sorry for that long wait. The insane amount of ice from the second match has finally been cleared, so, it's time to welcome our new competitors!" Present Mic announced.
"Finally." Ami sighed, deactivating her quirk. She rubbed her hands together in excitement and readjusted herself in her seat.
"It's about time." Bakugo complained, narrowing his eyes towards the empty battlefield.
"I wonder who's fighting this round?" Sero wondered, folding the blanket and placing it on his lap.
"Unlike the first and second round, folks, this match isn't to see who advances to the next fight but to see who gets to stay in the bracket. This is the first pre-match of the game!" Present Mic exclaimed, receiving excited applause from the crowd.
"Oh, that's right. The first pre-match would be in round three." Ami said, reminding herself of the jumbotron
"That means someone on your team is gonna be fighting, right, Ami?" Kaminari asked.
"Yeah, but I'm not too excited about who's fighting." Ami laughed, shrugging awkwardly.
"Huh? Why?" Kaminari asked.
"Enough waiting around, folks. Let's get right into this match." Present Mic shouted.
"On this side, we have quite possibly the shortest contestant ever from Class 1-A. Try not to get short with him. It's Minoru Mineta!" Present Mic announced, receiving claps from the audience. Everyone in Class 1-A looked at Mineta with a silent glare, all except for Izuku who was clapping with an innocent smile on his face. He looked around the stands and saw no one else was clapping and awkwardly stopped.
"Oooooh. Yeah, I get it." Sero said, understanding Ami's lack of enthusiasm towards their classmate.
"Definitely." Kirishima nodded, agreeing with Ami's sentiment.
"Hey! I'm not short. I'm still growing!" Mineta shouted, aiming his fist at the announcer room. Mineta's complaints were muffled by the excited screams of the audience.
"Moving on!" Present Mic said, ignoring Mineta's complaints. Mineta stopped what he was doing and stared at the other side of the battlefield, a blush forming on his face.
"And on the other side of the battlefield, even beautiful flowers have thorns. Fighting to keep her spot in the bracket, it's the assassin from Class 1-B! Ibara Shiozaki from the hero course!" Present Mic announced, getting a round of applause from the stadium. Ami and her classmates all stared at Ibara as she approached the battlefield.
"Alright. Vine Girl." Ami smiled, clenching her fists. A rush of excitement shot through her upon seeing the green haired girl. This was a chance to see her vines in action again since using them in the cavalry battle. She looked around to see her classmates' expressions and noticed a few of them had slightly sadistic looks on them. The girls most of all wanted revenge for having to wear cheerleader outfits. Ami understood their feelings. To her right, she heard Bakugo shuffle around in his seat and glanced at him.
"That pervert's gonna get his ass kicked." Bakugo stated, clenching his fists in amusement. Ami saw the sadistic smile on his face and wondered what was up with him.
"You're awfully excited." Ami observed. Bakugo glanced at her then back at the ground and relaxed.
"He's annoying." Bakugo answered, thinking of all the times he'd catch Mineta staring at his female classmates when he thought they weren't looking.
"I can't believe I'm rooting for someone in Class 1-B." Sero admitted, staring down at the field. Down in the battlefield, Mineta saw the girl that he was up against and felt a blush form on his face.
"I must be dreaming. My first match in the Sports Festival and it's against this freaking hotty!" Mineta thought, getting hearts in his eyes. Drool came oozing out of his mouth as he stared at her. Up in the stands, Mineta's former cavalry teammates all looked at the expression on his eyes and visibly rolled their eyes, cringing in second hand embarrassment. They shook their heads in unison with disappointed eyes.
"Wow. She's gorgeous." Kaminari said, leaning over his seat with hearts in his eyes. Ami heard his comment and rolled her eyes. Mineta also couldn't get his eyes off her, the world around him ceased to exist as his attention was put entirely on Ibara Shiozaki.
"Her smile. Her face. Her boobs. Her body. She's the perfect mix of cute and hot. I can't believe I didn't notice during the Cavalry Battle." Mineta thought, feeling his face start to sweat. His nose bled a bit as he held his breath. As he contemplated in his head as to how he missed this fact, a familiar girl went through his head. Ami Midoriya. Her two conditions were ingrained in his head and he followed them. That is, until she said to forget about them. Mineta returned to reality and felt his bloody nose touch his lip. He looked ahead to make sure the 1-B girl didn't notice and watched her hold her hands in prayer. He quickly wiped the blood off and thought about his situation.
"What's with all the hot girls having green hair in this school?" Mineta questioned, thinking of Ami, Tsu, and that other green haired girl in 1-B.
"Keep those eyes peeled. I wanna see a super flashy battle this time!" Present Mic shouted.
"Excuse me!" Ibara interrupted, quieting Present Mic down.
"Please pardon the interruption. I'm not sure why you called me an assassin. I've come to the festival in search of victory, not to take my opponent's life. That wouldn't be in line with the values of a hero at all, sir." Ibara reprimanded, surprising the audience. A few amused whispers and silent snickers swept through the stands. Present Mic was caught off guard by Ibara's interruption and grimaced in the announcer room.
"Right. I'm sorry." Present Mic apologized, awkwardly.
"Gentlemen, I didn't enter UA for wicked or selfish reasons, but to deliver salvation to others! It is my humble quest to spread true good across this world." Ibara proclaimed with an almost heavenly glow lighting up her face.
"Listen, I said I was sorry! That was my bad, okay?" Present Mic apologized once again, getting more amused chuckles from the audience. Some heroes were already a fan of her kindness. Backdraft and Wyvern looked down at her from their seats with amusement.
"At least her heart is in the right place." Backdraft said, getting a nod in agreement from Wyvern.
"I thank you for your kind understanding." Ibara smiled, bowing gracefully in appreciation and respect. Up in the stands, the students of Class 1-A were caught by surprise by Ibara's kind nature and politeness.
"I thought everyone in Class 1-B was a jerk." Kaminari commented, feeling blessed by the sound of her voice. Ami smiled at her attitude, feeling vindicated. She knew not everyone in Class 1-B hated them and this was proof. Then again, the person she's up against happens to be the most perverted teen she's ever met. Ami frowned at the idea of what could happen in the fight and narrowed her eyes at Mineta, grinding her teeth.
"Don't you dare embarrass us, Mineta." Ami said, clenching her fists.
"Oh...wow...She's so nice it hurts." Mineta said, feeling his heart skip a beat.
"Her personality…Her calm attitude...The excessive praying. It's obvious she's a religious girl." Mineta thought, clenching his fists. He flared his nostrils and narrowed his eyes at Shiozaki, an intense blush forming on his face.
"Heck, yes! I've always wanted to touch a religious girl! God's a total bro, so he'll understand." Mineta thought, rationalizing himself.
"So, anyway. Begin!" Present Mic shouted.
"Hehehe. After all, I'm not the one who made contact first." Mineta thought, thinking inside his head. A memory from the Cavalry Battle flashed through his head. The memory was shortly after they had stolen their first headband from Hagakure's group. They were so distracted by what was going on to the other groups that they didn't notice they were getting robbed. Mineta didn't even feel them slip off of him, but by the time he did, it was already too late. He remembered the emotions he felt upon realizing his headbands were gone.
"Mineta, your headbands." Tsu pointed out. Mineta felt his eyes shrink in fear as he processed what he had just heard. He patted his head and looked around for his headbands, quickly realizing they had vanished.
"No way. Our points are gone! NOOOOO! Where the heck did they go!?" Mineta whimpered, having an emotional breakdown. The painful memory disappeared inside Mineta's mind.
"I remember you from the Cavalry Battle. You're the girl that stole my headbands!" Mineta shouted, pointing at the girl. He narrowed his eyes as best he could at her and flared his nostrils. Ibara looked at the tiny teen and frowned, nodding her head in shame.
"It's true. I confess that it was my plan to take your headbands from you that my teammates happily agreed upon. Please forgive my underhanded actions." Ibara apologized, bowing her head. Mineta saw the apology and wanted to faint at the mere fact a girl was bowing her head at him, regardless of it being an apology.
"You're forgiven!" Mineta blurted out, feeling his nose bleed even more. Ibara was put off by the sudden outburst of his forgiveness but respectfully smiled nonetheless. Mineta shook his head and calmed down immediately. He then tried to play it off and act cool.
"Uh. I mean...That's alright, I forgive you." Mineta said, truthfully, "I should be more mad about that, but..to be honest, I'm super grateful." Mineta admitted. Ibara heard the comment and raised an eyebrow at him. Wondering why he would be grateful about such a thing. She was even more confused when she noticed the drool on his face. Another past event played out in Mineta's mind. It was after Ami regained consciousness and freed him from his icy prison. It was the final minute of the Cavalry Battle that went through his head.
"Mineta." Ami said, getting his attention.
"Yeah?" Mineta replied,awaiting orders. He wondered what Ami's plan was for him but he never imagined what she would say next.
"Remember what you did to Yaoyorozu? You used your balls and hitched a ride on her back." Ami said, reminding him of his past actions. Mineta made a tiny smile and felt a small blush form on his face as he thought about Yaoyorozu.
"Heck, yeah, I did. But why are you bringing that up?" Mineta asked, proud of that defining moment of his life.
"I want you to do that again but on me this time." Ami said, being completely serious. Mineta did a double take after hearing that command. He gasped and felt his jaw drop at the request.
"What?! But, what about your conditions?!" Mineta panicked, feeling an intense blush warm up his face. The slightest bit of blood shot out of his nose. It was so sudden that he wasn't sure if the ice made him hallucinate.
"Screw the conditions! I need you on my back! This is part of the plan." Ami exclaimed. Even when she was serious, he could tell Ami was struggling to say those words to him.
"You really mean it?" Mineta asked, seeking double confirmation. He watched her face his direction and saw the internal struggle in her eyes. It was only after the obvious fake smile and the thumbs up of approval that Mineta realized she was being 100% serious. He felt his nose bleed more intensely with a smile forming on his face as he realized his dreams were coming true.
"Yes!" Mineta exclaimed, triumphantly. Whether or not they fail or succeed, Ami's plan was officially the greatest plan ever. The memory ended and Mineta returned to reality with a creepy smile on his face.
"If it wasn't for you, I would've never gotten a free ride on Midoriya's sister." Mineta said, rubbing the drool off his lips and chin with his wrist. Ibara raised an eye at Mineta's response as well as his actions. She had heard what he said and almost got caught off guard by it. She took a cautious step back in response. Alarms went off in her head as she glanced at Mineta's face. The look of degeneracy frightened her, giving her an unsettling feeling about the tiny teen. Mineta didn't seem to notice the frightened look on Ibara's face and continued.
"That's why I have to win this. So I can do it again!" Mineta shouted, grabbing hold of his hair balls. He plucked the purple balls off his head and threw them at Ibara at a rapid pace. Shiozaki saw the incoming barrage of purple hairballs coming towards and narrowed her eyes on them. She remembered the trouble her classmate, Juzo, had when he had his foot stuck on one of them. She clasped her hands together and closed her eyes, feeling the vines on her head lift up into the air. She launched her vines forward and allowed the balls to make contact with her vines, quickly sticking them all in her hair.
"Huh?" Mineta stuttered, stopping his barrage. Shiozaki opened her eyes again and stared at the balls caught tangled in the vines. She felt each one of them tied to her vines and nodded in satisfaction. Mineta stared at the vines and felt his jaw drop.
"She grabbed my balls on purpose..." Mineta muttered in shock, ignoring the phrasing of his sentence. Shiozaki quickly settled the sticky vines into the ground and snapped them off her head, surprising Mineta and his classmates.
"What? She can detach her vines just like that?" Ami questioned, surprised to see Shiozaki replace her hair with a new set of vines. The memory of their interaction during the entrance exam played out in her head. She put a hand on her chin and solemnly nodded, reaching a conclusion in her mind.
"She must've learned that trick after the exam." Ami thought, staring down at the battlefield. She had thought that Mineta might be able to overwhelm her by trapping her vines, but now, not so much. From her perspective, Mineta's chances of victory got even lower. Mineta looked at Ibara with surprise, feeling his anxiety shoot up.
"No fair…" Mineta muttered. Ibara paid close attention to the shocked expression on Mineta's face. Seeing his reaction, she felt the need to explain things to him.
"I can see the surprised look on your face. I'm familiar with how your quirk works. I figured it out after you took back your headband." Ibara said, recalling the past. After Team Mineta ran off after Kendo's team, Tetsutetsu's team were stuck dealing with a sticky problem on their front horses foot.
"I can't shake it off." Juzo complained, struggling to get his foot off the purple ball.
"C'mon, Juzo. We're gonna have to double time it if we're going to catch back up with Kendo and Monoma." His other teammate said, pressuring Juzo to pull harder.
"I know." Juzo strained, he closed his eyes and tensed his muscles and pulled his leg up as hard as he could but to no avail. Ibara watched Juzo struggle and placed a hand on his shoulder, getting his attention. Juzo turned and looked at Shiozaki in confusion.
"Allow me." Ibara said, calming him down with a comforting smile. Juzo stopped struggling and watched Ibara stretch out a few strands of her vines towards Juzo's leg. The vines reached his knee and wrapped around his leg. A separate strand of her vines bursted out of the ground beneath Juzo's foot and wrapped itself around the sticky ball. Juzo questioned what she was doing but didn't speak publicly, instead choosing to trust Ibara. He looked back up at Ibara and saw the serious look on her face.
"Together." Ibara commanded, getting a nod from Juzo. Juzo lifted his foot up again and tried to pull himself off of the sticky ball. Ibara's vines helped him and assisted him with raising his leg up. The other strand of vines that wrapped around Mineta's ball pulled just as hard to get Juzo free. After a few seconds, the ball detached from Juzo, sending him reeling back. Luckily, Ibara and his other teammates assisted him. Ibara released the hold she had on Juzo's leg and retreated her vines back into her hair. Ibara then separated the other strand of vine that had Mineta's ball on it. Juzo looked at Ibara with a relieved smile.
"Thanks, Shiozaki."
"Alright! Let's get back in there and win!" Tetsutetsu commanded, getting hyped up. The memory faded away in Ibara's head, bringing a smile to her face. She looked back up and stared at the tiny purple teen in front of her and prayed.
"Us meeting again was fate. The lord works in mysterious ways." Ibara prayed.
"What do you mean?" Mineta questioned, staring at Ibara with a puzzled look.
"You see, both our quirks function using our hair. We can detach our hair at will and immediately grow it back, however, that is where the similarities end between us. You can throw your hair like a projectile at an opponent to trap them, while I can extend the length of my hair and control the direction of each strand individually. I'm blessed to have been gifted by God with a quirk like mine." Shiozaki explained, confusing Mineta even more. He wasn't sure why she needed to explain that to him. Thinking it through a bit and taking what she said about their quirks in comparison, he felt a little bit of jealousy growing.
"Hey, wait a second! Are you saying your quirk is superior to mine? So what if you can control your hair better than me? I can throw them wherever I please." Mineta asked, grabbing a ball on both hands. Ibara looked at the distraught look on Mineta's face and frowned, bowing her head.
"No. Not at all. My apologies, you misunderstand what I'm trying to say. I think you have a good quirk." Ibara said, placing a hand on her heart. Mineta stopped frowning and felt life enter his face again.
"Huh? You do?" Mineta said, surprised to hear that from her.
"Mhm. It's similar in concept to mine but useful for different situations. I've seen firsthand how difficult it is to break free from its grasp once it's stuck on you. A quirk like that would do well to capture Hell's demons." Ibara praised. Mineta stood there in silence for a few seconds before his face turned red from blushing alone.
"...Awesome!" Mineta said, feeling his body start to sweat.
"Is this real life? I have to be dreaming. A cute girl complimented me and I didn't even have to do anything!" Mineta thought, feeling like his dreams were coming true with every minute.
"This is the greatest day of my life!" Mineta thought, excitedly. All of a sudden, a loud cracking sound interrupted his thoughts. He immediately put a stop to his excitement and froze. He let out a confused squeak and glanced to his left, where he saw the ground next to him start to crack. As soon as he saw the cracks, the ground beneath him started to shake. Another cracking sound to his right had also caught his attention, glancing towards it. He darted his eyes left-and-right and heard the ground shake more and more. Fearing for the worst, Mineta tensed his whole body and tightly squeezed the purple balls in his hands. He looked straight ahead and gulped anxiously for what awaited him. All of a sudden, the ground tore open, revealing two single strands of vine. Mineta saw the vines fly up out of the ground and gasped. The vines quickly whipped towards him within seconds. The vines' quick speed sent Mineta into panic mode, instinctively raising his hands up to protect his face. However, the vines latched themselves onto Mineta's hands. Mineta opened his eyes and saw the vines wrapping around the balls in his hands and gulped.
"Oh. Crap." Mineta muttered, feeling the vines grab him. He looked around and stared at the vines that wrapped around his hand, trapping both him and the purple balls he held onto. He gritted his teeth and attempted to move, struggling to free his hands. He stopped struggling and gasped as he was suddenly lifted off the ground. The vines slowly raised his whole body up in the air. Mineta stared at the ground as he rose higher and higher, gulping once again in fear.
"I can't move. I'm stuck. I should've known. Religious girl's always have some secret kinks." Mineta thought, contemplating the situation he was in. He was suspended in the air with nothing holding him up but the vines attached to both arms. The audience was amazed by Shiozaki's surprise attack and went into an uproar of applause. Present Mic felt a smile forming on his face and unmuted the mic.
"Shiozaki has trapped Mineta and lifted him in the air! Could this be the end of the match?" Present Mic questioned, wondering if the third match would end as quickly as the second match.
"She's got that kid now." Wyvern said, stoically.
"The amount of control she has over the vines is impressive. Not to mention the strength needed to pull off digging through concrete with just vines." Backdraft said, staring at Ibara with astonishment.
"Crap." Mineta thought, looking ahead at Ibara. She looked at her and noticed her hair wasn't stretched out at all.
"But how? Where did these vines come from? You weren't even moving!" Mineta choked out between crying and kicking the air. Ibara heard his complaints and shook her head in response.
"That's not entirely true." Ibara said, correcting him. Mineta looked at her and raised his eyebrow in confusion. Ibara slightly twisted her body around to reveal her backside, causing Mineta to gasp. Two single strands of vine were still attached to her hair. The vines extended all the way down to her shoes, perfectly hiding behind her body. The sight of the hidden vines caused Mineta to frown angrily.
"Oh, c'mon!" Mineta complained, glaring at her.
"Ibara Shiozaki! Her quirk: Vines! The vines on her head can extend to great lengths. Plus, they're detachable! As long as she gets plenty of water and sunlight, they can grow instantly! It's one killer head of hair." Present Mic announced.
"Ha. Nice move, Shiozaki." Ami said, nodding her head in approval. She looked back at Mineta and saw the scared look on his face and felt sorry for him.
"There's no way Mineta's gonna get out of this one." Ami frowned, clenching her fists in anticipation for what Ibara would do next. Bakugo heard Habanero's comments and scoffed, blowing air away.
"Not yet." Bakugo said, surprising Ami. Ami glanced at Bakugo and stared at his face, noticing the serious expression on it. She raised her eyebrows at him in confusion and looked back at the battlefield. Mineta was in the air with his arms tied. There was no way he could escape, right? She wondered what Bakugo was seeing that she couldn't and focused her vision on the vines attached to Mineta's hands. Upon further examination, she let out a gasp in realization.
"Wait, I think I get it now. But does Mineta know?" Ami thought, continuing to watch the match.
"If there's a brain in there, he'll know." Bakugo said, insulting the tiny teen. Meanwhile, Mineta was too busy freaking out.
"Damnit! I can't move. Why me? I don't wanna lose. If I lose, no girl will ever want to talk to me now! Even worse, none of the sexy women heroes will wanna scout me. Think, Mineta. Think!" Mineta thought, straining his body as he pushed as hard as he could in an attempt to break free from the vine. He glanced at the vines holding him in place and frowned. This was it. He's gonna have to surrender now. Mineta frowned as his will slowly faded away.
"Damnit." Mineta thought, relaxing his arms. He frowned and dropped his head down in defeat, loosening his grip on the purple ball in his hand. His loose grip on the ball caused Mineta to shuffle ever so slightly. He raised his head and moved the loose arm, quickly touching the purple ball again. He fondled the ball for a few seconds before he realized something.
"Wait." Mineta thought, looking at the purple ball in his hand. He quickly noticed the vines were mostly stuck to the ball and not his hand. He loosened his grip on the ball again and shifted his arm around the vines. It was a tight squeeze, but his hand could slip right under the vine.
"She's got her vine attached to my ball. Does she not know? I can get free!" Mineta exclaimed, inside his head. The slightest bit of hope revitalized him. Feeling his spirits rising, a smile formed on his lips.
"But what do I do after?" Mineta thought, hiding the smile on his face from Shiozaki.
"There's gotta be something I can do? Ooooooh, c'mon. Think of something. Think of anyone." Mineta said, thinking of the first person that he saw in his head.
"I know! What would Ami do?" Mineta thought, imagining Ami in the situation he was in. He imagined Ami and pictured the angry look on her face from the cavalry battle as she freed herself from Shiozaki's vines.
"Enough is enough! I have had it with these stupid freaking vines on this stupid freaking battlefield!" Ami shouted, releasing a blast of fire that burned the vines in an instant. The flames from her fire travelled down the vines and turned them to smoke. Ami fell to the ground and cushioned her landing by using her flamethrower. Ibara stared at Ami with horror as she stood up in the middle of her flames. Mineta imagined Ami walking out of the flames with her clothes on fire, glaring at Ibara with a stare that signified her doom. Ibara gulped and made the sign of the cross on her body, preparing herself to face the wrath of Ami. Mineta returned to reality as he visualized Ami's burning clothes and smiled shamelessly. Reminding himself to think of that later.
"Wow, that was hot. But, I can't do that." Mineta said, shaking his head in denial. He thought about his imaginary scenario and felt a burst of inspiration. Looking back down on the ground, he smiled as an idea popped into his head.
"That's it! I've got it." Mineta thought, thinking up a plan. Up in the announcer room, Aizawa and Present Mic stared at Mineta with bored looks.
"Is he gonna do anything? Or should we call it?" Present Mic questioned, muting his mic. Aizawa stared at the tied up Gremlin and saw the look on his face. He could tell he was up to something. Mineta wasn't technically out of bounds so he saw no reason to declare a winner just yet.
"Keep watching." Aizawa said, with absolute certainty. This was the most thinking he's ever seen that kid do. On the battlefield, Mineta finished up thinking out his plan and looked at Ibara with a devious smile. He quickly hid his emotions and adopted a sad frown.
"Hey!" Mineta shouted, getting Ibara's attention.
"That stuff you said before. Was that just to distract me!?" Mineta accused, voice filled with betrayal. Ibara looked at the tiny student and frowned.
"Forgive my deception, but I needed you standing still." Ibara apologized.
"Oh, yeah? So, it was a distraction. Well, listen up!" Mineta said, glaring at Shiozaki with anger.
"This isn't going to end like this! I won't allow it! Millions of chicks are watching this fight! If I lose now, I'll miss my chance to look cool in front of them! So, I'm not giving up that easily, you hear me? Even if you're hot!" Mineta shouted, loud enough for the class to hear. Mineta's shout caused the entirety of Class 1-A to collectively facepalm. Ibara was easily distracted by Mineta's crudeness. She wondered what was wrong with him and theorized it was demonic possession.
"I got here on the backs of two of the hottest girls in class! Literally! So, I'm not about to lose!" Mineta shouted. The class all heard Mineta's comments causing them to glance at the girls he was referring to. Yaoyorozu facepalmed harder than she ever did before, squirming around uncomfortably in her seat out of disappointment. Meanwhile, Bakugo, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero all glanced at Ami at the exact same time with disturbed looks. Ami buried her head in shame, staring down at the floor with an embarrassed face.
"That tiny pervert. I'll kill him." Ami growled, imitating a look that emulated Bakugo's murderous expression.
"You are quite vulgar. It appears a demon has taken hold of your soul. In which case, I must perform an exorcism." Ibara said, bowing her head in prayer.
"Don't bet on it!" Mineta shouted, letting go of the purple ball in his hand. He shifted his hand around and pulled his hand back with all of his strength. Sure enough, his hand slipped out of the vine, freeing him. Ibara's eyes widened in shock at Mineta's freedom.
"What?" Ibara gasped, shocked by Mineta's escape. Or so she thought.
"Ha. Ha! Bet you didn't see that coming!" Mineta exclaimed, wiggling his fingers with his free hand. Mineta looked down at the ground and readied himself. However, he didn't get any closer to the ground. In fact, he was still in the air.
"Huh?..." Mineta squeaked out, looking dumbfounded. He looked up at his other arm and felt his eyes shrink to the size of pinpricks. The vine attached to his right arm had a better grip on him than he realized. He gasped and felt his mind begin to resume panicking.
"Oh, no. That was supposed to be cool. I didn't break free! What do I do now?" Mineta shouted internally, scared senseless.
"It was a good effort but even with one hand freed there's nothing you can do. I have you now." Ibara said, forming a prayer. Mineta felt the veins on his head bulge out as he contemplated his situation. His hopes of freedom were dashed by the grip of a single vine. It was the only thing that kept him in the air.
"It's over. I'm screwed." Mineta thought, wincing in defeat. He looked at the vine on his arm and gritted his teeth.
"That religious girl has a tight grip on my arm with just one vine. I can't get out of this!" Mineta thought, opening his eyes. He looked around his environment and thought about what he could do. Memories of him using his quirk went through his head. He soon enough began to relive the memories of the Sports Festival. His nearly successful attempt to capture Todoroki with his balls entered his mind. It would've worked had the robots not showed up and ruined everything. He then thought about the Cavalry Battle. They were the most stressful 15 minutes of his life, but they were also one of the best. Thinking back to the last minute of the game, he remembered what Ami said.
"We're gonna strike hard and strike fast. Todoroki's gonna regret taking a headband from Team Mineta." Ami said, staring menacingly at the ice wall. Those words were the start of Ami's last ditch plan to get their headbands back. Mineta remembered her master plan in detail. Despite there only being a minute left, Ami wasn't quitting. And her no quitting attitude was what saved the team in the end. As he thought about Ami, his memories went further back to when the class was at the USJ. His interaction with Ami's brother, Izuku, and the frog chick, Asui, went through his head. He remembered how he acted then. He was scared out of his mind. The fear of death caused him to breakdown and cry. Yet, despite being in the same boat as him, Izuku and Asui remained calm. Calm enough to even come up with a plan to beat the villains. And when Izuku enacted his plan, he put on a brave face and jumped off the boat.
"Now, die!" Izuku shouted, jumping off the boat. His imitation of Bakugo's words gave him strength and determination. Mineta watched Izuku fall towards the water with a firm grip on his hand, seeing a glowing light shine through Midoriya's glove.
"Even though he's as scared as I am. Even though he's shaking, he's still going through with this." Mineta thought.
"Take this! Delaware Smash!" Izuku shouted, unleashing a blast of air pressure towards the water with only a flick of his finger. All the power stored inside his finger broke the bone upon use, causing Izuku an uncomfortable burst of pain.
"Tsu! Mineta! Now!" Izuku exclaimed, getting grabbed by the Tsu's tongue and catapulting out of the boat. Mineta watched as Izuku did what he just did and gasped at the sight of the villains in the water. The villains were thrown off by Izuku's powerful attack. Seeing his bravery caused Mineta to clench his fists.
"What the heck, Midoriya? How do you do it? You're acting so cool, and I'm not helping at all." Mineta thought, feeling inspired by Izuku's bravery. His memories faded away and he returned back to reality, still hanging in the air.
"Yeah, that's right. Izuku acted calm in a dangerous situation. And Ami remained strong and didn't give up. It was Izuku's plan that saved me and Tsu's life. And it was Ami's plan that brought us to the final round! Even when the situation was hopeless, the twins never gave up!" Mineta thought, clenching his fists. He squirmed a bit and gulped down the saliva building up in his mouth. This was it.
"No! I'm not a quitter! You hear me, Midoriya's!" Mineta declared, screaming at the heavens. He glared at the vines and swung on the vine. He lifted his body up towards the vine and grabbed onto it with both hands. He let out a battle cry and sunk his teeth into the single vine that suspended him in the air. Ibara was caught off guard by Mineta's attack, not expecting him to try using his teeth on her vine. Before she could even counter Mineta's attack, the vine snapped off. Ibara gasped at the teens strength.
"He gnawed my vine off using his teeth." Ibara said, gasping in shock. Mineta panicked a bit as he fell towards the ground. He looked at the ground and kept his cool. He placed both hands on top of his head and threw a barrage of balls towards the ground beneath him.
"Grape Trampoline!" Mineta shouted, throwing them on the ground. The balls stuck to the ground easily and formed a landing pad for him. Mineta pressed his body together and made contact with the trampoline, successfully bouncing back into the air. Ibara was once again completely thrown off guard.
"Huh? He bounced into the air again using the balls he threw on the ground. Of course, I should've realized." Ibara thought, realizing that Mineta's hairballs have a different effect on him than to others.
"Ha! How do you like that? I'm gonna go over there and take you down!" Mineta shouted, pointing at Ibara with a determined look. Mineta bounced on the trampoline and threw more of his balls towards Ibara, who blocked them all using her vines. Each vine she used to block the purple balls stuck together and became useless. Each vine became an entangled mess as more and more balls impacted the vines.
"Hm. I never imagined you'd put up a fight like this. God must be watching you, too." Ibara complimented, making sure she avoided all of Mineta's balls.
"Well, I don't know about that…" Mineta admitted, bouncing up and down his self made trampoline.
"I see now what I have to do." Ibara said, praying once again. She had this move saved for an important moment but she realized there was no other choice.
"Via Dolorosa."
"Via-...Huh?" Mineta asked, watching as Ibara's entire set of hair tunneled into the ground beneath her. A rumbling started to occur beneath him. The rumbling was nearly as intense as Todoroki's ice attack from the previous match. Mineta looked at the ground below and felt his soul escape his body. Everyone in the stadium watched in awe as the entire concrete floor bursted open, revealing a huge plethora of long and entangled vines. All the previously discarded vines with Mineta's balls on them sunk into the vines. Mineta felt his eyes bulge out of his sockets as the vines tore apart the landscape.
"Are you freaking kidding me!" Mineta screamed, freaking out again. He watched as his grape trampoline vanished beneath the massive amount of vines. It only took a few short seconds before the whole entire battlefield was enveloped in vines.
"WHOA! A shocking amount of vines have just erupted underneath the ground! How's Mineta gonna get out of this one!?" Present Mic asked, receiving silence from the stunned audience.
"Oh, man. She's wicked strong." Kaminari gulped, shocked by the amount of vines that popped out of the concrete.
"Mineta's in for it now." Sero said. Ami nodded in agreement and felt nervous.
"It's a jungle down there." Backdraft said in pure amazement. He looked at the massive vines out of curiosity and was in awe.
"That kid is screwed." Wyvern admitted, being honest. The flames on his shoulder flared up and peeked at Mineta.
Mineta saw the covered battlefield and screamed. He screamed and started hyperventilating at his impending doom.
"All it takes is just one vine and I'm done for! How do I get out of this?" Mineta thought, panicking. In a split second a single flash of memory went through him. It was Izuku jumping off the boat again without any fear. Mineta felt his air time decrease and realized he was falling back to the ground. He gritted his teeth and narrowed his eyes, roaring at the vines.
"Bring it on!" Mineta shouted, throwing more balls onto the vine. Ibara narrowed her eyes as well and raised a few of her vines and attempted to grab him. The vines smacked Mineta's face and body but were too slow to grab onto him. Mineta coughed in response to the pain and landed on the hairballs. Before he could bounce away, he grabbed the side of a vine and prevented himself from bouncing into the sky again. He balanced himself on the grape trampoline and screamed again, throwing more and more of his balls at the vines around him. Ibara raised a few of her vines up to shield herself from his attack, blocking them. She closed her eyes and focused her vines on the borders of the battlefield and raised them up. Mineta turned his head and stared up at the rising vines and felt his jaw drop.
"Looks like Shiozaki's turning this fight into a cage match!" Present Mic announced, hyping up the crowd.
"Don't freak out. Don't freak out. You can get out of this, Mineta!" Mineta repeated to himself, watching the vines create walls on the battlefield. He stared at the vine walls and tried to come up with a plan. His heart was racing but he continued fighting. His eyes darted around the vine walls and then back at the ground that was covered in vines. He began to notice bumps in the vines that caused some of them to go higher than the others. He gasped once more as he saw an opportunity reveal itself. He looked around the vinefield and threw his balls at the ground and in the walls, feeling blood trickle down between his eyes.
"This whole time you've been trying to imprison me! Well if you want me so bad, then why don't I come to you!" Mineta said, jumping straight off his trampoline and onto another self-made trampoline. Mineta belly flopped onto the trampoline and bounced off it, flying forward towards Ibara. She frowned and quickly made a wall in front of her with her vines. He smiled and threw even more balls onto the vine, creating another trampoline. He bounced off the vine wall and landed on another pile of balls, bouncing even more.
Ibara peeked through her vine wall and gasped. Mineta had covered most of her vines with the sticky balls he called hair. And to her surprise, he was bouncing off of them at extreme speeds.
"Experimental move: Grape Ricochet!" Mineta shouted, throwing as many balls as he can on every single vine he saw, leaving no solid surface unscathed. Ibara watched as Mineta picked up even more speed as his body bounced off the balls attached to her vines.
"Oh, dear. He's bouncing off the ground and using my vine walls to his advantage. He's used my vines to create a human pinball!" Ibara panicked, losing track of Mineta in the vines. Her new move, Via Dolorosa, had become her undoing. She tried catching up to Mineta bouncing off the walls and gulped as he picked up even more speed. Mineta was a blur to her now. A blur that she just couldn't touch. Her eyes scrambled to catch up and failed each time she tried. Seeing the trouble he was causing for her, Mineta saw his chance and bounced on it. If he messed this one up, then it was game over for him. He twisted his body and repositioned himself, bouncing around the vine wall Ibara put up to cover herself.
"Surprise!" Mineta shouted, getting Ibara's attention.
"Huh?" Ibara said, turning her head towards the source of the voice. Ibara raised her eyes in shock and saw Mineta flying straight towards her at incredible speeds. Seeing no hope of escape, she quickly raised her hand and formed a cross on her body. She grimaced and prepared herself for what would happen next.
WHAM
The audience gasped and reeled back into their seats upon hearing the loud smack. None of them knew what happened but judging by how loud it was, there was no way the match was still going.
"That had to hurt." Backdraft cringed, unsure of which student received the loud smack. Seconds after the deafening silence of the entire stadium, the vines that were raised around the battlefield started to fall. It was as if whatever was keeping them standing was no longer in control. Within seconds the vine walls had collapsed onto themselves, allowing the stadium to get a clear view of what just happened. The stadium collectively gasped when they saw the outcome.
Mineta panted heavily in exhaustion. He landed face first into the ground and coughed. Blood was all over his head as he realized just how much he overdid his quirk. Mineta rubbed his head and felt lightheaded. He raised his chest off the ground and sat on his knees, feeling around his body with his hands.
"I-… I'm fine. I'm still alive!" Mineta said, feeling an intense amount of relief. He was so happy that he almost forgot about Shiozaki. Once he realized what had just happened, he stopped breathing and rfelt his eyes shrink in fear. He gulped and turned around, staring at Shiozaki.
"WHAT?" Mineta screamed, staring at the unconscious body that was Ibara Shiozaki. Midnight stared at Ibara's body from afar and raised a flag, declaring the winner.
"Ibara Shiozaki is unconscious! Mineta is the winner!" Midnight announced to a silent crowd. Everyone was still processing what had just happened. Mineta's classmates all stared at him slack jawed and wide eyed. Class 1-B did the same. Both classes were shocked that he won.
"Amazing! Mineta used his own body as a weapon and used the balls on his body to bounce around the battlefield. That was so cool!" Izuku exclaimed, clapping loudly. His blind excitement ended the silence that had overtaken the stadium. Ami snapped out of her shock and stared at Izuku. She watched as the people next to him broke out of their shock and followed Izuku's example. Iida and Ochaco clapped with Izuku, followed soon after by everyone else. Ami huffed and grinned, leaning back into her chair. While doing so, she saw Bakugo's surprised reaction on his face and grinned.
"Disappointed he won?" Ami asked, looking at the annoyed glare on Bakugo's face with a sly smile. Bakugo heard the question and scoffed, looking away in annoyance.
"Like you were rooting for the pervert, either." Bakugo grumbled, rolling his eyes. Ami giggled and looked at the destroyed battlefield.
"Yeah. Even so, I guess this is all right, too." Ami smiled. Bakugo saw her smiling in his peripheral vision and raised his eye at her. He stared at her and rolled his eyes, shrugging it off. Inside the announcer room, Present Mic and Aizawa stared at the destroyed battlefield in astonishment.
"What the-? That was like a pinball machine! How did he come up with that?" Present Mic questioned, completely in shock. Aizawa watched Mineta cry and throw his fists in the air in celebration and kept his tired eyes on him.
"He's done it before." Aizawa explained.
"He has?" Present Mic asked.
"Yes, though it was on a much smaller scale. He did the same thing in the fitness test. He threw the balls on his head all over Shiozaki's vines and bounced off them so that he could gain enough speed to act as a human bullet. Shiozaki never stood a chance against an attack like that." Aizawa explained, looking down at Mineta.
"Shiozaki outmatched you in every way. But it was creative thinking that won you the match. Well done." Aizawa thought, keeping his serious face unchanged.
"I can't believe it. Mineta actually beat her." Sero said, cracking a grin and folding his arms together.
"There's a man in him after all." Kirishima exclaimed, feeling hyped up. Kaminari on the other hand had a different reaction to Mineta's victory.
"Aw, man. Why'd you have to win? That girl was super cute. I totally wanted to ask her out after I beat her, too…" Kaminari said, slumping in his seat with sorrow. He was saddened by Shiozaki's loss.
"I doubt that." Bakugo said, out loud. Ami and Sero both snorted at Bakugo's insult, causing Kaminari to glare at them.
"Oh, c'mon! If Mineta can win, I can, too!" Kaminari shouted back.
"In fact. I'll avenge that sweet girl and shock Mineta." Kaminari said, closing his eyes and clenching his fist.
"Hey, Class 1-A!" A voice said, over the barrier. The students all turned and faced the source of the voice. Staring at them with only their head visible above the barrier that separated 1-A and Class 1-B was a blond student with eyes that said, "I am unhinged."
Bakugo and his teammates grimaced at the sight of him. They were familiar with himl. Ami and the other students looked at the 1-B student with questionable looks. Some were just confused why he was talking to them over the barrier.
"You, again?" Sero asked, recognizing the blonde.
"That despicable classmate of yours may have gotten the best of Shiozaki, but mark my words, Class 1-A. Tetsutetsu will show you the superiority of Class 1-B. Hahahah-" Monoma exclaimed. His laughs were interrupted by an unexpected karate chop to the back of the head. The students eyes widened in surprise by the size of the giant hand. The impact instantly knocked Monoma unconscious, causing him to fall behind the barrier. Soon afterwards, another head popped up over the barrier. This time, it was an orange haired girl with a more friendlier attitude that appeared above the barrier. She stared at Class 1-A and smiled apologetically at them.
"Sorry about that." Kendo apologized, returning the unconscious Monoma to his seat. Most of Class 1-A was confused as to who that blond was and decided not to worry about it. Ami remained seated and shrugged, staring down at the battlefield. Mineta was still celebrating while Ibara was being put on a stretcher by robots. She looked at the happy expression on Mineta's face and couldn't help but smile with him. It turned out there was more to Mineta than meets the eye. And now they had to wait once more for Mineta to face off against Kaminari.
"Mineta's victory over Ibara was unexpected. Everyone was surprised by the outcome. Team Mineta had seemingly performed yet another miracle. I remember it like it was yesterday. With the first pre-match over with, the groundwork had been laid for what was expected in the next matches to come." Ami narrated.
Author's Notes: Important
Hello, everyone. Thank you for reading this very late chapter. As much as I am relieved to have this posted, I'm still very much sad that this was all I was able to produce in the time between now and the last chapter. There's a reason for why this chapter is only focusing on just the pre-match instead of the entire episode.
Unfortunately, on September 11th, our dog had to be put down. She's been in my life ever since Kindergarten and I've loved her for a very long time. Before her passing, we used to have three cats but they also passed away one after the other in 2016. The last of our cats passed away in December 2019. So my dog was the only pet in the house until now. Now I don't have her anymore and it's been hard getting used to that. I thought I could move on by focusing on College and writing this story but it proved to be far harder than I realized. Every chance I had to write the chapter was met with emptiness. I literally could not think of anything. I couldn't very much ignore my College work so I pushed myself and focused only on the assignments for the time being. Even now, I'm trying my best to work on the whole chapter but It's been hard for me. That is why this chapter is only focusing on the pre-match. Believe it or not, but even though this chapter has more than 10k words, this was still only about 30% of the original chapter. That I think about tells you how hard it's been to work after dealing with our loss. Recently, I've been getting my spirits up again, so, I hope to get back into things for the month of October. Hopefully, I can get the full chapter done this month but we'll see.
All of you readers, both here and on Archive of our Own, you have my deepest apologies for the progress of the story. Even if my reason for the delay was justified, I feel terrible knowing this was all the progress I could make. It's even worse knowing I said I would never give up on this story in the last chapter and yet here I am telling you why I was unable to keep writing for the entirety of September. I'm getting better now and I'm starting to write again. Thank you all for reading this story and bearing through all of this text. I'm not done though as I still have to explain what happened in the chapter.
So, in this chapter, I learned that you should never make the characters you have the toughest time writing about fight each other in a one-on-one match. The amount of time I spent thinking about what Mineta would say in the fight was long. It was really hard writing his lines because I didn't know whether it sounded perverted or not perverted enough. I had the same problem with Ibara where I was deciding whether her sentences were religious or not religious enough. Lesson learned. When I was deciding how the pre-matches would go, I had a tough time figuring out the ending. Borrowing what was seen in the 1A vs 1B fights in season five, I used their moves from their fights and reintroduced them in the Sports Festival. Mineta's Grape Ricochet move that I named myself and Ibara's Via Dolorosa. This fight could have gone either way but I decided to let Mineta win on this one.
What I was trying to go for in this chapter was that Mineta's confidence got boosted whenever he thought about what the twins would do in his situation. In canon, he already looks up to Izuku after the USJ so I imagine Izuku's sister would provide relatively the same effect for him. Though for Ami, it's more of a, "She's attractive, but she also scares me," kind of vibe, you know?
In all honesty, this chapter is incomplete for me simply because it was part of the original chapter and now it's not. Not only that, but I don't feel like its good enough. I was affected by grief while writing this chapter and I hope that didn't shine through too much in the writing. When I am in a better mood, I will see if I can fix this chapter up and add more detail later. Right now, the only things I will correct about this chapter is the grammar or spelling mistakes. And I'd be grateful if you pointed that out in the reviews. Because of the fact this chapter was only 30% of the original chapter, I don't really have much to say about this pre-match in general.
I hope that, despite me feeling inadequate, that this chapter will be enough to satisfy. Next chapter will follow the rest of the original episode. As a reminder, please tell me if you think Ami should eat Aoyama's lasers in their pre-match later on. Right now, I'm leaning towards Ami not being able to, but I want to hear what you think in your reviews. I appreciate reading reviews so I'd love it if you could post more. And if you only want to say your condolences I'm fine with that, too. I'm running out of things to say now so I'll end these notes here.
Once again, thank you to everyone who's reading this on Fanfiction and Archive. Please leave reviews about the chapter and point out any mistakes I've made. I could really use some right now. Thanks for reading the chapter and have a good October! I don't know when the next chapter will be posted, but, just in case, Happy Halloween!