Chapter 40

"Pretty good job there, man," Mineta commented, sitting beside Kazuki as they looked at the battlefield where Todoroki was going to face Kamakiri. It was nice of the organizers to delay things long enough for participants to reach the stands once more, truly. "Hagakure got a little scared at parts though."

"She did?" Kazuki asked with a half-smile, turning just in time to see the invisible girl smack Mineta. "I appreciate the concern."

"I wasn't scared!" the girl denied vehemently. "Tiny should learn to not tell lies!" she added, giving the short guy another hit for good measure.

"But you were-"

"I was nothing," Hagakure hissed and Kazuki could almost see the glare she was directing at Mineta.

"They are starting," Yaoyorozu told them, making him turn his attention back to the competition. Mineta could deal with his own problems, after all. Surely Hagakure wouldn't do anything too bad to the guy…

Probably, at least.

"Predictions?" Jiro asked.

"Todoroki," Kazuki answered instantly. "Nothing against Kamakiri, he's great. He'd probably have a good chance of placing high in this thing, but against Todoroki? Forget it."

"Yeah, that makes sense," Jiro replied, looking slightly amused. "Doesn't really help his odds of showing much to the crowd, does it? One would think the school would try for something a little more fair."

"Like Aizawa said at the beginning of the year, we have to prepare for unfair situations," Yaoyorozu, ever the know-it-all, pointed out, which was fair enough. "This can help us show how we'd do in a situation with the odds completely against us. Would we crumble? Would we surrender?"

"Very deep, yeah," Kazuki agreed. "I guess there are situations for anything though. It's not like you can be expected to throw your life away against impossible odds as a hero. You might need to, depending on the situation, but that doesn't excuse being fucking suicidal."

"Language," Yaoyorozu chided, making them all roll their eyes. "And yes, I agree with that too."

"Good to know," Togeike mumbled from the side and Kazuki was once more struck with that awkwardness. He really needed to pay more attention, considering how uncomfortable she must be with a group of people that were all close to each other except for her. It was all starting to blend together with the flood of emotions around. If he didn't actually pay attention, it was hard to pick up on where a specific emotion was coming from. "I might need to bow out after my fight."

"And there's nothing wrong with that," Kazuki said firmly. "Knowing your limits is good too. Throwing your life away can be heroic, but it shouldn't be the go to option, that's for sure. At least, that's what I think. Your life is as important as anyone else's, after all."

"Joining Beauty in the deep club, huh?" Mineta asked with a grin that Kazuki returned right back at him. He wasn't wrong about that, after all.

Whatever else they might have said was interrupted by Midnight calling for the start of the match. Immediately – and predictably, really – Todoroki froze half the stage. The thing that was a little less expected was Kamakiri dodging the ice by jumping and then hitting the frozen wall that rose with his blades when they got too close.

"Putting up a fight," Kazuki commented, watching his training buddy start to make his way towards Todoroki, who seemed surprised to not have finished the match with just that. "Nice," he added, because he didn't want to watch the guy lose instantly. That'd have sucked.

A second wave of ice came then, and it seemed to catch Kamakiri this time, if only slightly. The end of his pants seemed to be torn a little before he could get away from the attack. 'What are you gonna do now?' Kazuki asked in his mind as he watched the 1-B student try to recover and cover more ground.

He was never going to get close enough to Todoroki to get a hit in though. However, Kazuki was pretty sure that just trying and surviving for as long as he did was a good enough showing. He hadn't given up and he'd actually "put up a fight" in a sense. It was impressive enough on its own and it should be for any hero watching too. In his opinion, at least.

"Welp, he tried," Mineta said as one of Kamakiri's legs got completely stuck in ice. He was right, the fight was over. The 1-B student was aware of that too, because he sagged as he surrendered. In a good show of sportsmanship, Todoroki reached towards the leg and started using his fire to-

'... Nice of you, I guess,' Kazuki thought with a small smile. He could feel the struggle coming from Todoroki, but he soldiered through it. It seemed the guy wasn't going to shy away from his fire, if still refusing to use it all that much. Or maybe he was reading too much into it? Regardless, it was good… Or so he thought. He honestly didn't know what the right answer was with that situation.

Because Endeavor deserved to have his Quirk spat on, from what Kazuki knew, but then again, Todoroki deserved the freedom to use his Quirk completely. It wasn't like he was a menace if he did so, like Kazuki was. It was a great Quirk, but the circumstances…

'Yeah, that's a mess I'll leave to Hound Dog if I can help it,' he thought, watching as the two students left the stage after their fight.

That's when he was distracted by a few other students close by standing up. Midoriya and Kaminari, the ones that would go after Togeike and Shinso. That was for later though, even if the two seemed jittery enough to get up already.

"Good luck," he told Togeike as she moved to leave. "You trained for this and you know his Quirk, so I'll be cheering for you to kick his ass."

"Language."

"And this wouldn't have anything to do with what happened with your class?" the Gen Ed girl asked him, completely ignoring Yaoyorozu. 'She's learning,' he thought, seeing the hint of a smirk on Togeike's face. 'Much better,' he added then, feeling her nerves dissipating.

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about," he told her, doing his best to play innocent. Not only Togeike, but the rest of the group around snorted. "Well, you guys suck too."

"You couldn't pull off innocent even if you actually were," Mineta commented with a chuckle while Hagakure joined with a giggle behind her hand. Kazuki wasn't sure what the point of that was. Nobody could see her giggle anyway.

"Go take that win, yeah? You deserve it."

"Of course I do," the girl replied, huffing at him before walking off.

Leaning back against his seat, he turned towards the stage waiting for her to get there and then for her match to start.

"Predictions?"

"She's gonna win. Unless that guy is tougher than he looks, which I doubt, she's got this," Kazuki said, a hit of a frown on his face. "She's practiced hand to hand against my Imps a bit. She should be able to kick him out of the stage or beat him up."

"He doesn't look that weak, you know?" Jiro asked, making him grimace.

"... Fine… I don't know, ok? I just don't want that guy to win. I don't like him," Kazuki muttered, glaring at the stage. "I'm gonna beat him up if she doesn't."

"There there, your friend will be fine," Jiro told him, patting his arm condescendingly. His eye twitched and not just out of annoyance, but also because there was some stirring in the emotions from the crowd.

He felt a pit form in his stomach.

Had he ruined Togeike by asking her to be on his team?

'Fuck,' he cursed internally.

Then he blinked.

Turning to the side, he saw that Todoroki had sat on the seat beside him that Togeike had left empty. Glancing around, he saw that the rest of the group were as caught off guard as he was. 'Welp, just roll with the punches, I guess,' Kazuki thought to himself. 'From helping one awkward person to another,' he added with a slight smile as he felt the uncomfortable feeling rolling off of Todoroki, not unlike Togeike had been before.

"Thanks for helping him out like that. You didn't need to," Kazuki said, leaning back and waiting for the next match.

"He's a friend of yours?"

"I mean… I guess I'd count him. We're not close, but we train together almost every day at the school's facilities," Kazukia answered with an uncertain expression before shrugging. "That must have gotten you a lot of points with the crowd, I imagine."

"... Ah." Evidently, it seemed that he hadn't even thought about that. It made Kazuki laugh, honestly. Here he was, hyperfocusing on crowd reaction and his classmates seemed to be mostly just vibing. He envied them that, honestly.

"That you did it without even knowing makes it even better," he pointed out, still chuckling.

"We are not gonna ask how this happened?" Mineta asked, eyes wide as he looked between the two. "Is my best-bro role getting usurped? Because I can't fight Todoroki, man. Don't do this to me!" he exclaimed dramatically.

The aforementioned ice and fire user tilted his head, confused.

As for Kazuki, he just sighed, even if he was also grinning.

"Your role is fine, man, don't you worry," he reassured, unable to stop a chuckle from escaping his lips. Especially at Mineta's exaggerated sigh in relief. "Don't listen to him, okay?" he added, patting Todoroki on the back. "We are dramatic idiots like that at times."

"I'll… keep it in mind?" Todoroki replied, unsure.

"You get used to it," Jiro supplied, clearly very done with their antics, even if she continued sticking around.

"Gotta say, it's nice not to be outnumbered by the girls anymore," Kazuki commented, looking towards the stage. They were already setting everything up for the next battle, it seemed. "They are starting," he said, and everyone turned towards the battlefield before they could say anything.

Shinso wasn't looking so good, and he certainly wasn't feeling it either. There was annoyance and frustration rolling off of him like there was no tomorrow. 'What's up with people in this school and their emotions?' Kazuki thought while grimacing. First Bakugo then Midoriya then All Might and now this guy…

"Begin!" Midnight called and Togeike rushed at Shinso. He was talking to her, and Kazuki could pick up the fact that he was getting to her. The emotions coming from the girl were starting to spike… but she didn't answer. She didn't fall for it, the smart cookie that she was.

Maybe it wasn't very heroic of Kazuki, but fuck that guy. He had just rubbed him the wrong way in all sorts of forms. For one, belittling the effort that all his teammates had put into being in the Hero Course. For another complaining about his lot in life, like he'd had it rough compared to others. Kazuki wasn't one to try and start a misery competition, but he wanted to know what that guy had gone through that compared to him.

"Come on," he muttered through his teeth as the two Gen Ed students started fighting each other hand to hand, Quirkless style. To his eternal annoyance, Shinso was standing his ground, but the fact that he was struggling against Togeike, who was no powerhouse in that department, was very telling.

'Not to sound like Shinso, but fuck do I wish there was some water there for Togeike to use,' he thought, very aware that it was at least slightly hypocritical of him.

Then he paused.

Bringing his hands to his face, he massaged his eyelids and sighed. 'Fuck, the crowd's getting to me,' he thought, feeling the emotions washing over him from all directions. 'Too many people, I knew it,' he added, his hand starting to tremble. 'Come on, get a grip.'

"Creepy?" Hagakure asked, making more than one turn away from the match and towards him.

"I just… I'll take a minute off after this fight is over," he said, taking a deep breath in as he tried to calm himself down. He needed to focus, filter the emotions. "There's too many fucking people here," he hissed. "And they have no reason to be as negative as they are."

Except they did, and that reason was him.

For once, Yaoyorozu didn't comment on his language, which he appreciated.

'Don't feel, just think,' he told himself as he witnessed Togeike's match against Shinso. He analyzed it as objectively as he could, pushing all emotions aside. It was easier at the moment than trying to separate what was others from what was him, at least. Not precisely what he'd call healthy, but he needed to get a grip on his emotions before he started spiraling.

Shinso was fighting well, now that he wasn't letting emotional bias get in the way. He was pushing Togeike and it was all the girl could do not to be subdued or pushed off the stage. It seemed that the mind controlling Gen Ed student wasn't as much of a slacker as Kazuki had thought. Still not enough, but whatever.

Someone else would kick his ass if Togeike didn't. And if not, then he would, because he knew the guy's stupid gimmick already. 'Let's see what whining you'll- For fuck's sake,' he interrupted himself, dragging a hand over his face as he held back a groan.

He almost shouted something when he saw Togeike opening her mouth. She was the one that told him how Shinso's power worked. He knew she was growing desperate and all, but still-

Except, she didn't answer anything. Instead, he saw something shoot out of her mouth. 'Saliva needles?... Gross, but smart,' he thought, his lips pulling up into a smile. That was sure to get her some creativity points, right? He wondered how strong those were though, because while Shinso pulled back, he didn't really look like he'd been hit hard.

'Probably a new addition? Or maybe shooting them from her own mouth makes it hard or something,' Kazuki thought, pursing his lips. He'd have to help her train that. And hand to hand combat. Damn it all if he didn't want to see Togeike succeed, knowing how she'd worked to place well in this tournament. 'And especially because I might have lowered her chances,' added in his mind, grimacing.

It wasn't like he could participate in the Cavalry Battle without a team though…

'Come on,' he thought, watching as Togeike started pushing back now. He was fairly sure that she'd been trying to save that as an ace up her sleeve, but it wasn't to be. As it was, it was a weak trump card anyway, and it wouldn't have done her any favors if she got knocked out of the competition without showing it.

He groaned then, when Shinso managed to pin her down to the stage and Midnight called the match shortly after.

"She did fairly well, all things considered," Yaoyorozu commented, but despite the tone and her expression, she didn't seem to be feeling all that bad. That was fair though, Kazuki supposed. Togeike was more his friend than she was anyone else in his group. "She just wasn't strong enough in this setting."

"She did great in the Cavalry Battle with you though and she put up a fight. That has to count for something, right? Because if it doesn't, we are kind of screwed," Hagakure pointed out, ending it with a nervous laugh.

"I mean, it probably does… for us. The two of them kind of depend on doing really well to get the spot in our class. They are basically competing for that," Kazuki said, smiling bitterly as he realized that Togeike's chances of reaching the Hero Course were pretty much shot.

"They are unlikely to kick out someone that's already in the Hero Course, even if they do worse than the Gen Ed," Todoroki pointed out. "With that said, even if this Shinso goes further than her, it doesn't mean he's better than her, and the school knows that. They'll do an analysis of their whole performance in the Sports Festival, I'm sure," he explained when everyone turned towards him.

Kazuki tilted his head, not because he was considering those words – even though he was –, but considering the twinge of nerves that were coming from Todoroki then and there. 'Is he feeling awkward about the group too? Maybe about socializing in general?' he wondered. As he sat there, he couldn't recall any instance in which he actually saw the guy interact with someone when it wasn't absolutely necessary.

"That's actually reassuring, man. Thanks," he replied then, smiling slightly when he felt the nerves go away a bit. Then he took a deep breath in. "I'll go see if I can catch Togeike and a breath, because this whole thing?" he said, gesturing towards the stadium. "It's getting a little overwhelming."

"Sure thing, Endo. Do you need one of us to come?" Yaoyorozu offered and he smiled as he felt their worries and other emotions start to show.

"No, it's fine," he waved her off. "I just need a moment to gather my thoughts."

They weren't very reassured, but it was what he could do at the moment. Kazuki was barely keeping it together, after all, so he'd rather rush out before he caused a mess. Looking down, he saw his shadow darker than normal. It wasn't particularly concerning, but it was a sign all the same.

He couldn't let it get further than that.

"You did well," he said as he reached the hall where Togeike was walking away. She had no reason to stay in the balcony with them if she didn't want to be. Maybe it was a slight favoritism, but other courses were in a separate area from the Hero ones. Kazuki imagined the reasoning was that they needed more experience and a better view of the fights and such so they might learn a thing or two.

He wasn't too sure and he didn't feel like analyzing that kind of thing at the moment.

"I still lost," Togeike answered bitterly, with an expression to match.

"But you gave him a few good kicks and spit all over him," he commented, drawing a sheepish look from the girl as she turned bright red in embarrassment. "I mean, you should see some of my classmates. There's this girl that'll get sick when using her Quirk too much and this one dude fries his own brain cells for a while when he goes overboard. Spit needles aren't the worst thing ever."

"They didn't do that on national TV though," the Gen Ed student pointed out, even though she did feel a little better from what he could pick up.

"Yet," he replied with a grin. "And even then, I thought it should add you points. Creativity in the face of adversity and all that, right?"

"I sure hope so," Togeike answered with a sigh, her shoulders dropping. Then she got a good look at him. "Are you ok?"

"I'm… dealing with a lot of emotions right now," he admitted, moving to the side of the hall. "I don't want to make this about me though and I'd rather just think about something else."

"Doesn't sound healthy," she pointed out, to which he chuckled.

"It's probably not, but I'd rather not talk about it. It's not going to go away anytime soon," he said, feeling himself getting drained just trying to keep himself together.

"It'll be fine," she told him. "People are idiots, but not all people are idiots."

"You sure?"

"I mean, I'm fine with it, aren't I?" she asked, to which he turned to give her a weak smile that he was sure didn't reach his eyes. "It'll be fine," she repeated, placing a hand on his arm. "And if it's not, you can stick it to them that you are still good, whether they like it or not."

"That sounds better… more plausible too," he replied with a chuckle.

"Now, go, will you? You need to observe the competition," she told him, turning him around and pushing him.

"You aren't coming?"

"Nah, I'll stick with my Gen Ed friends now, if you don't mind," Togeike said, giving him a smile. "Also… thanks, for all the help with training and choosing me for your team. It was nice, being at the top for a bit."

"You deserved it. Worked on it as much as the rest of the team," Kazuki told her firmly. "If it were up to me, I'd give you the spot."

"Doesn't have anything to do with you not liking Shinso, right?"

"I'm sure I don't know what you are talking about."

Togeike snorted, shook her head and then just turned to leave.

"Kick his ass if you fight him, yeah?"

"That was a given."

[}-o-{]

When he came back, it seemed like the fight between Midoriya and Kaminari was underway…

In a sense, at least, because it looked like a bit of a silly game of tag, with Kaminari trying to get Midoriya and getting nowhere.

"They just started," Mineta supplied as Kazuki took his seat once more. "Midoriya seems to be thinking it over."

"For good reason," he replied. After all, Midoriya might have learned not to break everything when using his Quirk, but he couldn't quite do what he did best – read, punching – against Kaminari. That'd just leave him open to the other boy's Quirk, if he didn't immediately knock the guy out, which would take more control than he probably had.

"Yeah," Mineta agreed, before turning to look at him. "You doing ok?"

"Yeah, I think so. I might need to take a moment here and there though," he answered, taking a deep breath in. "Today sucks on so many levels."

"It'll get better, probably."

"Very reassuring, man."

"No prob- Woah!" Mineta exclaimed, interrupting himself as Midoriya took action. Unexpectedly, he didn't go for Kaminari, which was really the smart move. It was still surprising to see him suddenly punch the ground and then start chucking the concrete pieces at Kaminari though. 'Surprising but smart,' Kazuki thought, watching as the roles were reversed and it was the blonde's time to struggle against Midoriya.

"Keeping his distance and attacking anyway. Resourceful," Todoroki commented.

"Kaminari will have to try and get the fight he needs up close or he'll get taken out by those pieces of debris," Yaoyorozu continued then, as they all watched and tried to analyze the fight.

"Do you think he's good enough to avoid them while-? Ouch," Hagakure started before interrupting herself. Ouch indeed. Kaminari had gotten a piece of concrete right where no man wanted to be hit with one of those… or anything, really.

"Didn't know Midoriya had that in him," Jiro commented, leaning forward. "Gotta hand it to the nervous guy, that was brutal."

"I don't like how impressed you sound, Rocky. I really don't," Mineta mumbled while Kazuki and Todoroki leaned away from the girl.

"We offer Tiny as sacrifice."

"Wh-"

"What he said," Todoroki agreed quickly.

"You fuc-"

"Oh hey, Midoriya is winning!" Hagakure exclaimed, apparently having been disconnected from the conversation there. It was for the better, Kazuki decided. He didn't want to know where that ended.

Thus, resolutely, Mineta, Todoroki and him turned towards the battlefield.

Sure enough, after that… absolutely crushing hit from before, Kaminari was getting slowly but surely pushed off of the platform by Midoriya with more pieces of concrete. The green-haired boy was one on a mission, evidently, because he just wouldn't stop. Whenever he ran out of debris to throw, he'd just make more by punching the stage.

It took a minute, but eventually Midoriya won.

"Unfortunate for Kaminari," Yaoyorozu commented. "Never got quite close enough to at least use his all out. And if he did, he hesitated."

"He did a good job with the team. I'm sure he was able to get people to notice him, at least," Todoroki pointed out, that awkwardness still there, but he was trying and things were going pretty well. Or so Kazuki thought, at least.

"Speaking of teammates," Jiro said, and they all dutifully ignored the way Mineta flinched a little. "Yours is up next, Endo."

"Against Yanagi, wonder how both of them will do," Kazuki thought out loud, leaning back on his seat. Seemed like the tournament would take a while, but that was just how it was. At least he didn't have to be in front of everyone for the duration. Being able to take a break from the public was nice…

Even if the fucking negativity was still awful.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, there go a few secondary battles. I know people aren't a fan of this kind of thing, but that's just how tournament fights go, I guess. I'm not a fan of this kind of thing myself, so I'll try to sprinkle some other things in between so it'll hopefully make this event better. I might fail, but I'll try.

And Kazuki is doing great so far, right? Especially dealing with the emotions of the crowd.

Everything's fine.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: How's that Top 3 looking, eh?

See you.