"Go time, baby!" Suiiki rushed out into the stadium. "The wonder of water has finally taken the stage!"

"Knock 'em dead! You've got this!" Ranika yelled.

"Best of luck, Suiiki." Daisuke's voice somehow carried past the roars of the crowd.

"Go Suiiki, Go…as they say." The bespectacled brainiac said in monotone.

"Who's they?" Daisuke asked Genso.

"I've heard that is an oft repeated chant at events where they cheer for their…" He noticed Daisuke's mouth tugging upwards and slumped back in his seat. "I do not find these games you play amusing."

"You do make it easy."

"Arrreeeee you ready for a legendary match?!" The announcer was met with raucous applause for an answer. "That's what I hoped you'd say! I'm sure you all know what's next, it's probably what inspired half of you to come here in the first place, so let's not dawdle! It's the Hydro-Master, Suiiki vs The Flamed Fighter, Hinote! In this battle of Water and Fire, who will come out on top?"

Climbing the stairs into the arena, Suiiki saw Hinote waiting for him on her line near the middle. The expression on her face was intimidating to say the least. Her eyes were honed in on his and she had taken on a low stance that was almost feral in appearance.

"Woah there tiger! Round hasn't started yet! Chill out a bit!"

"Once I've won."

The sheer determination in her voice made Suiiki's heart skip for a moment. "Call it a hunch but I'm sensing some hostility here."

"Without further delay, you may BEGIN!"

Even though the bell sounded off, neither one of them made an attempt to throw out an attack. Knowing he was at a disadvantage until he got water to use, Suiiki kept an eye on Hinote's every move. Likewise, she did the same to him.

Hmmm…looks like she doesn't know I can't make water myself. And that's probably because of what I did during my demonstration, when I…made my own water. Now would be a good time to remember how I did that.

He dashed to the side to fake her out, switching directions when he got close to her in case she went for a counterattack.

She tossed a small ember his way, much too miniscule to have hurt him even if it landed. Easily avoiding the tiny projectile, he tried to bait a more serious attack with yet another quick feint. He got much closer to Hinote than the first time and made sure to be extra careful of any movements she made.

But she stayed completely still, even when he was less than a meter away, she didn't budge, her foot still on the line where she started.

Are we playing Statues and Scarecrows? Usually, people attack when you're that close.

"What's the matter? Afraid to make the first move?" He shuffled his feet back and forth while gyrating his arms. She said nothing but raised a brow at his movements. "Are you in awe of my flawless technique?"

Distraction's no good, she's like a hawk. If I put my hand behind my back to make some water, she'll probably guess what I'm trying to do and go for something. Either way, this dance is giving me a workout, I'm already starting to heat up.

He wiped the sweat from his forehead while he backed away. Feeling it drip from his hand, he started panting to relieve himself from the heat.

The hell? I didn't move that much, why am I so hot?

"…wait, hot!?" He turned around to see the rest of the arena was now covered in flames, heating up the environment around them.

No wonder! She planted that tiny spark earlier so she could-!

He barely processed the blast of fire that plowed through the spot where he once stood. Thankfully, his body had reacted out of self-preservation once the fire had nearly made it to him and jumped out of the way. He then rolled backwards to narrowly evade a ball of fire that exploded on impact with the ground. He saw the space within the arena getting smaller from what was already a tight circle of fire to begin with. With all the heat coming from the fire that was slowly closing in, he was now drenched.

Damn it, it's hot! How did she make all this from just one tiny flame hitting the floor?! I'm sweating bullets out here…wait a minute…perfect!

He manipulated all the sweat on his body and turned it into a sharp blade of ice. Hinote let up her onslaught immediately upon seeing his newly formed blade, giving up her advantage and allowing Suiiki to make his own. Telekinetically, he swung the blade after her every which way, and he managed to nip her a few good times on her arms.

Suiiki was suddenly licked by the flames of the wall of fire behind him. It made him lose his focus and nearly drop the weapon he'd just created for himself, though he held fast to it knowing what would happen should he lose his only means of offense and defense. He went further into the center of the ring to get some distance from the wall.

A trail of fire snaked from one of the walls towards him at blinding quick speeds, faster than he could run from it. He turned the ice blade back to water and threw it onto the flame to put it out, which stopped it in its tracks instantly.

Hinote capitalized on this by quickly burning the puddle of water with a blast of heat so hot Suiiki had to take a step back not to pass out. The puddle evaporated into steam, momentarily leaving Suiiki defenseless again.

"Wow, I did not expect this much from you, fire girl. That was a pretty good idea," He praised her.

Hinote pushed forward on his position past the cloud of steam into striking distance. It seemed she was not above simply hitting the opponent as well.

"But were you expecting this?!" He turned the steam back into water and used it to coat her arms in ice. "Oh yeah, my brain is set on overdrive right now!"

With her arms stuck inside the ice, he controlled the two appendages and slung her outside the firewall. He released her from the cold shackles to morph the ice into water again, and made sure to wet the ground to douse the fire all around the arena. By the time she'd recovered, he had extinguished the fire completely.

"And time for a super attack to finish the job!"

With a burst of energy, he compiled some more sweat off his body and began hurling balls of ice at her repeatedly. She blocked them with her arms but the pushback was edging her closer and closer to the edge of the arena. Seeing his victory in sight, he took all the chunks he'd tossed at her, combined them into a single large ball, and hurled it at her. In the short time he had taken to merge the small bits together, she quickly created a wall of flame in front of her to shield her from the massive sphere.

"You really think that's going to be enough to stop it?"

The enormous ball of ice vaporized as soon as it was within proximity of her shield.

"…cause if you did, you were spot on."

She expanded the wall across the ground towards him, and when he tried to dodge, it curved in both directions at once while continuing on straight. Having not been able to get the evaporated water back, he was without any means to protect himself. He saw the fire curl around and envelop him in a barrier of flame.

No…no, no, no! This can't be happening! He futilely splashed the small pocket of water he could manage to conjure up into the wall. Seeing it evaporate made his heart sink even further into his stomach. Did I miss something in chemistry? Actually I think I slept through that class but I know sure as rain that water isn't supposed to lose to fire! So how is she gaining the upper hand? Why is her quirk so powerful?! I've never heard of fire users doing all this crazy stuff! Where's my insane power at?!

She started to shrink her own fire sphere around him. "Don't wanna hurt you too badly, so I'll let you cry uncle here."

"As if! I've got the perfect comeback strategy!" He blurted with no plan in mind.

"Suit yourself. Ace Flare!" She rapidly compressed the sphere until it was mere centimeters from his body. Suiiki curled up to make himself as small as possible. Seeing the sweat on his body accumulate, he speculated it likely wouldn't be enough to overcome this amount of fire, especially when she had easily sublimated an entire chunk of ice.

No way, not like this! Think, Suiiki! What about all those people who said my quirk was the best they had ever seen? I can't let them down!

"Probably going to be top ten one day with a quirk like that!"

"You came out with such a good quirk, you lucky son of a gun. You're set for life with that thing, kid."

Remembering the praises and words of encouragement he'd always heard kept him from giving in, though they also instilled a sense of shame for performing so poorly against his first opponent. He didn't even feel the flames hit his body while he concentrated on thinking of any way out of this, going into a state of panic as the dome cut off his vision of the world.

"My boy is even cooler than I thought! Your quirk is so awesome! Your old man now has a million and one reasons to be proud of you."

The memory of his father's excitement when he'd first learned his son's power ignited his resolve. On instinct, his body turned into water, supplying him with a huge reserve to pull from. The water exploded from his body in a forceful blast, instantly overtaking Hinote's dome and pushing her far across the arena drenched in it.

"Ah, hell." Hinote said. "I was hoping that time at the demonstration was a fluke, but you can make your own liquid."

Surprised himself, he also saw he was easily pulling water from his body, evident by a small whirl forming in his right hand. "Sure can!" He attempted to make a second whirl in his left, but it proved difficult to make it as stable.

Come on! What the hell do I have to do to make this thing consistent?

Tsubame's face appeared hazily in his thoughts. "Think about it. Your quirk is water, a free-flowing element. It's not something that you can force to do what you want. Water won't succumb to your will. You must be a part of it."

He calmed himself and simply opened his palm up. The water poured forth from his arms and levitated just above his hand. Not taking it for granted, he immediately combined them to make a big whirl of water.

I'm a little mad that Tsubame actually helped there, but whatever works. "By the way, Ace Flare? Really cool name for an attack, I'm kind of jealous of it. I didn't think people would actually name their moves."

"Yeah, I thought it would be a pretty dumb thing to do," She temporarily ignited herself to dry her clothes off. "But seeing Watsuji embrace it made me want to as well."

During this time, Suiiki finally noticed the roars of the crowd. He hadn't paid any attention to them since he was so preoccupied giving his all against Hinote, but hearing them clearly, they were the loudest they'd been today.

Listen to that! I'm getting goosebumps! This has been a very awesome fight so far. There's something to give Kisho, he set up a great tournament…ugh. Never mind, I'm not giving him anything besides the finger.

She spun a ball of fire into existence and lunged at him. "Now it's time for you to embrace defeat!"

"Jokes on you, I don't have a foot fetish!"

"What?"

With his water whorl in hand, he charged forward and smashed it into her fireball. The superheated fire colliding with the subzero temperature caused them to violently explode with a loud crash. Suiiki ducked low enough so the force wouldn't push him away and went to grab her waist. Hinote, having been pushed farther than he expected by the concussive blast, had ample time to react to his attack and grabbed his arms with hers. She heated her hands up to burn him but he was able to counter by freezing the sweat in their hands, causing smoke to rise from their clenched palms.

"Although that's not to say I would be disgusted at the idea of embracing someone's feet. But it always seems to go down a weird road of domination and such. And besides, who gets their kicks from feet anyway? No offense, Hinote!"

"Suiiki, what the hell are you talking about?"

"Satoriiiiiii, I'm so booooooored!" Sunako wailed before stuffing her face with yet another cone of cotton candy. "Even this is starting to lose its taste! Let's just watch some of the fights!"

"Hold on, I got another report of missing change. That's the fifth one today." Writing down in his ever-present notepad, he looked over his info carefully. "Very strange. No one's lost any paper currency, just the change. That can't be efficient at all."

The girl popped over his shoulder to peep on his notes. "I wouldn't even notice if a rando took some coins out of my pocket. Actually, I might thank them for freeing up space."

"Hmm, that's a theory. More people might have been robbed than they realize." Satori scribbled in some more notes before he closed the book and stored it away in his chest pocket. He brushed his partner off his shoulder and began pacing back and forth. "With that in mind, the person most likely has a quirk that either lets them permeate matter through fabric, or they have telekinesis of some sort."

Sunako ate the last of her cotton candy and tossed the stick to the ground. "You said no one has reported missing bills?"

"Yes, and your trash please." He gestured to a decrepit garbage can across the broken sidewalk.

Sunako rolled her eyes and kicked it towards him. "If I was stealing, I'd at least take a couple of bills from some people. No way I'm going through all that trouble for some change, unless I can't specifically get the dollars. If that's the case, then I'd guess magnetism. We have these all the time in Kyoto. Tricky to track down since it's a pretty common quirk."

"…magnetism fits the bill pretty well. And me and Rinasa faced off with a group not too long ago with a member who used magnetism. Never got a look at his face, so we can't be sure on his appearance." He pointed towards her trash still lying at his feet.

"Cool, since I solved the mystery, how about you throw that away for me? I'm going to get some funnel cakes."

"I'm not picking up after you."

"Pretty please?"

"No."

"With a cherry on top?"

"The addition of cherries doesn't-"

"Pretty please with a cherry on top covered in a banana sundae?"

"You…you really are something." He picked up the cone and placed it inside the trash beside him.

"Attaboy! Now was that really so hard to do?" She smiled as he glared at her.

"I'm docking an hour off your pay for that."

"What!? So I littered with like, one cone. Big deal, no need to…" She trailed off while she squinted her eyes at something behind Satori. Seeing her attention shift, he turned around and was startled by the sound of money hitting the pavement. Some passerby looked down and saw the loose coins, then checked their pockets and purses.

"Hey, some o' that's mine! Which one of ya's? Huh? Was it youse? Spit it out!"

"Me? You dare accuse me? I've been minding my own business this entire time!"

Satori tried to calm then down before a panic set in. "Please, let's control ourselves!"

"Satori!" Sunako pointed to a man headed towards the entrance in a hurry. "That's definitely the guy! I'll keep up with-"

Before they could give chase, a loud explosion was heard from the opposite end of the stadium, where Rinasa and Aki were stationed. Panic broke out as people pushed past each other to run in different directions. Satori pulled out his walkie and called the two other members of his unit.

"Rinasa! Aki! Report! What's your status? Repeat, status?"

Sunako ran ahead to the area the explosion had come from, where there was now smoke billowing upwards into the sky. "I'm going ahead! We have to make sure they're alright!"

"No! We can't leave this place unattended!"

"What about the guy running away? This might be a distraction for him to escape!"

"Tsk! Suit yourself, I'm at least catching him!"

"You'll remain here! That's an order!"

She leaned against a nearby pole while shaking her head. "This is why I don't work with you people anymore."

"It's mutual. Rinasa! Do you read me?"

BZZZZZT "I hear you, all fine on this end. It happened about a block away from the stadium, I'm going to chase after them. Aki will remain in my station, but if we don't update you in five minutes, head over and fill in for me. Don't let the stadium go into a frenzy, the last thing we need is a citywide panic. Erina should begin evacuating everyone shortly."

"Holy shit, Satori!" Sunako cried out. Satori turned his head towards the street where a huge, muscly man was impaling civilians on a massive stake attached to his arm. He seemed to be clearing a path to the two of them.

"Hello, old chums! Hope you don't mind if we cause just a bit of chaos here, do ye? Kinda got a deadline to meet, and you're in the way." He held his stake in the air while it rapidly went up and down

"We need Hanako!" Sunako pushed Satori behind her. "I'll take care of him easy, you just use your wires to speed over to her."

"Ho-Ho! Playing the hero, are we? I love me some good old-fashioned sport! But I can't just let 'em get away like that. Boss' orders and all."

Satori hooked a line into the building and ziplined away from them. "You sure you've got this, Sunako?"

"You guys always ask that! I'm still alive, aren't I?"

Sparing no time, he used his wires to fly down the hallways high above the raucous crowd on the floor. Worriedly, he forced himself to ignore them hoping she'd be able to keep her word.

"Oi! Get back 'ere, you lousy weasel!" Despite his provocations, Satori was long gone. "Blimey. That's no good." Turning back to Sunako, he grinned while he jacked his stake driver in intimidation. "Hah! Surely ye don't really think that you can take me all on your lonesome!"

"Of course I can! And don't call me Shirley!"

Erina secretly hoped no one would radio her about the explosion, though she knew she'd eventually have to face reality. The festival would have to be put on postponement to ensure the safety of everyone present. But she also didn't want to interrupt possibly the most anticipated battle of the day and risk losing the attention of all the parents looking for a school to enroll their children in.

BZZT!

The sound of her walkie buzzing to life made her heart sink. "…Erina! We have a situation outside of the main gate and an explosion just outside the other end of the stadium! We have suspicions there's a third hostile still at large inside the building! Shut this down and evacuate everyone to the west exit, Aki should still be over there to help!"

She lowered her head low in the bleachers to hear him better over her walkie. "Satori, are you certain that this calls for a complete shutdown? I'm sure you all can handle it just fine, can't you?"

"Negative, we've been taking casualties at the gate already, this guy's really dangerous! I don't want to take any chances against him! And we still have yet to receive word back from Rinasa! This could be-"

"Shouldn't Hanako be able to save those people? You might want to get to her first before we discuss anything else, time is crucial!"

"I'm coming up on the infirmary right now. Make sure to get everyone out of there as quickly as possible, we can't risk having this get anymore out of hand!" BZZT!

That got him off the topic at least…damn it all. Everyone's been waiting for this and it's been delivering just as we'd hoped. Ending it now would cause a massive panic, it'd be unsafe to do it so haphazardly. I'll just have to wait until a winner is decided.

Suiiki and Hinote flung attacks back and forth down on the stage, and watching the crowd's enthusiastic reactions made Erina feel at ease with her decision.

Plus, they probably wouldn't be able to hear me anyway, even with telepathy.

In the downtown urban areas of the usually bustling town, now mostly empty thanks to the festival happening just up the road, a small crater expanding an entire intersection prevented the few cars on the road from crossing. The glass on nearby windows was shattered and cracks were on practically every building in the vicinity.

A hand reached down and touched the ground. It immediately recoiled as a low curse was muttered from the woman it belonged to. She studied the shape of the crater and made note of its angle.

"Hot. Impact was angled to the left. Some type of explosive." Rinasa surveyed the hole again with a grimace. She pulled out her wire blades and shot them into the top of the pit, then reeled herself to the top akin to a reverse zipline. She shoved past the people who were taking pictures and inspected the roads and walls on the surrounding structures.

"No residue or scattered parts. Not a sign of shrapnel either." Hearing the snap of another camera alerted her to the residents who were now getting dangerously close to the edge of the crater.

"Clear out." She spoke at a much lower volume than needed. They continued taking snapshots and videos with no sign of having heard her order. She jumped back into the crater and slid down its sides into the center. Once there, Rinasa pulled out the blade named Iblis and swung it dangerously near the surrounding citizens.

The crowd scurried away while trying to take a few extra snapshots of the woman and her weapon. Satisfied with their safer positions, she noticed a trail of smoke faintly rising near a rooftop.

"If they fall in, it's their fault." She grappled onto the top of the house and saw the rest of the trail going down the street. Following it, she finally saw a glimpse of what appeared to be a jet flying down the street just as it turned the corner.

Rinasa pulled out her other blade and hurriedly searched for the nearest roof. Seeing one a little up the street, she spared no time and threw the blade into the structures walls and reeled herself in to it. Drawing the other blade back to herself, she similarly launched it into another building and repeated the process. Building up speed, she began to almost slingshot herself from one roof to another. Rounding the corner she had seen the jet take, she arrived to see the smoke trail end at a man walking with a slight kick in his step.

"Not certain he's the one but no one else is around." She implanted the blades into the ground and slung herself toward him.

The man heard her blades strike into the asphalt and immediately morphed into the form of a missile, taking only seconds to cover the distance of several building blocks.

"Alright, definitely him."

She swung after him as fast as she could but his naturally fast rocket-like power easily let him outpace her. She stayed the course and tried to predict which turns he would make, eventually making up ground by correctly guessing his path and going across the tops of the roofs and alleys. Within a couple of minutes, she was almost able to throw her knives inside of him. Hearing the sounds of her knives again, he took a look behind him and his jaw dropped at the sight of her.

"If only this could happen with girls I like, huh?" He joked.

She wrapped one knife around a nearby flagpole and the other thrown into his metallic outer body. Letting her weapon's mechanism do all the work, it began to reel in the wire attached to him like a fishing rod. Even as he pushed his rear thruster as hard as he could, her wires held strong with no issues.

"Crap on a stick." Seeing how futile his efforts were, he turned his nose towards a building her knife was sunk into and careened right into it. The moment he made contact with the wall, a massive blast sent Rinasa flying into the wrecked apartment.

Just as she landed on a couch, the ceiling caved in and Rinasa fell deep into the rubble, losing her visual on the man. Struggling to simply stay away from falling debris, she rolled back her blades and used them to try and grasp into anything solid to break her fall. After she finally slid onto one of the floors that hadn't collapsed, she tried to gain a proper view of the area. Hearing movement behind a couple of smashed up debris, she rose to her feet quickly.

"Come out and just surrender yourself, before you really get yourself hurt!" She shouted.

"Has anyone ever complied to that?" The chunks of debris began to grow jets of fire and shooting off in her direction. Several smaller rocks and pipes flew away, but the bigger ones seemed to have a more dedicated course for her, slowly picking up speed and airtime as they started to fly over to her like miniature meteorites.

Gripping tightly to Iblis, she activated her quirk and ran the plasma right through the wire into the blade, coating it in a vibrant pink field of plasma all around. She sliced easily through the rocks and metal while she made her way towards him at breakneck speed.

"Okay, so that's what it does." He picked up his pace, hurling bigger pieces her way in a frenzy. No matter how much he threw, nothing could withstand the sheer power of her quirk. Even the few jagged pieces he'd thrown at the wire to make it snap disintegrated on contact. "You're kidding, even the wire's got it?!"

Once he exhausted his stockpile, he morphed into his missile form to try and make a desperate escape from her, but she had since recovered Mordred from its own anchored spot as well. As soon as it touched his outer shell, he turned back into his human self, and the rockets he'd placed on all the wreckage disappeared in an instant.

"…what. What the hell just happened?" He strained his body several times, becoming more panicked with each one.

"It negated your quirk." Rinasa turned off her plasma, making Iblis safe to touch again, and wrapped him in its wires. "Try anything and you'll feel the surface of the sun on your body."

The radio crackled to life on her side just as she finished tying the final knot. "Young Miss, are you quite alright? I've yet to hear anything from you, I'm preparing to head to your location now."

"Negative Aki, I've already apprehended the suspect. Older man with a missile quirk caused the disruption earlier, most likely just a distraction. Stay where you are, eyes peeled."

"I have some terrible news though. I've been made aware of a wretched happening outside the entrance. I take it you have no idea but Satori requested back-up from Hanako."

"Hanako? Sunako wasn't able to handle it?"

"I believe it is less about the enemy and more the wounded. We might have a high body count to deal with."

She looked at her prisoner as he sheepishly smiled. "You're involved in this, aren't you?"

"With what? No clue what you're talking about, I just crashed by accident, that's all!"

"Tell me the truth or…" She tugged on the wires he was bound by.

"Okay, wait! Yes! Yes, I was! But I didn't know he'd really kill people. Guess I shouldn't have picked the first guy who showed up on the wanted list."

"Who else?"

"That's it."

"Who else?" Her monotone voice was unchanged but he flinched slightly from the repeating of the question.

"…some guy with magnetism but he never gave us a name."

"Likely the same one who got away a while back. Aki, I'll be over in just a minute with my captive. I'm going in to help Sunako get control of things down there. How are you all handling the evacuation?"

"…actually, now that you've said something, I haven't seen anyone seem concerned about it. Oh my."

"That idiot."

The radio crackled again as a new voice channel came on. "What?! Aki, Rinasa, can you confirm what I just heard? Erina hasn't begun the-?"

"Afraid not, Satori. You might have to keep this discreet so we don't cause a panic in the stadium, no telling what the structural integrity can handle if everyone funneled to the entrance in a hurry, father's stadium was sketchy as it was."

"I can't believe this! This is why I hate working with her! She never sticks to guidelines, precedent, any rule of-"

"Satori! I got the big guy all gunky funky!" Sunako yelled over the walkie. "But some of these people he hit aren't looking so hot right now. You're on the way with Hanako, right?"

"I just reached the infirmary; we'll be there shortly." Satori's call sign went out.

"Perhaps I should assist them, for extra assurance?" Aki asked.

"I don't want to leave any blind spots so I would say not to. Unless we also get Hijiri…no, with all the damage he's done, I can't trust him. I do need someone to watch over this guy…but he'll weigh me down if I…" Rinasa began rubbing her head. "Uh…Fuck! I'm signing off, I'll be there now!" She reeled the Iblis back to her, which unraveled the captive and left friction burn marks on the places where the wire once was.

"Ow! Ass-wipe, be gentle! You've caught me already!"

She ran the plasma through the blade and cut off his leg. His scream was piercing, his hands instantly flew down to hold the remaining part of his knee. He pulled away when the surface of his burnt skin burned the tips of his hands.

"You won't bleed out." She opened a broken window and hooked one of her knives into a building across the street. "I cauterized it. In theory, you could make an escape while I'm gone but you'll be missing a leg the rest of your life, plus your quirk is still negated from Mordred for another four minutes. I'd suggest waiting here until I bring my healer back to fix you up."

"I'll be here! Promise I'll be here, just please hurry! It hurts…"

She jumped out the window and swung back towards the stadium.

A stream of fire met with a wave of water; every ember extinguished by a splash of liquid. Suiiki could feel the tide was turning in his favor, and from Hinote's angry expression, she could too. Another blast of fire came from behind him, giving him only a second to react to its fast movements. He rolled left and shielded with a block of ice to obscure her vision of him.

She isn't messing around. I'm all for a good sweat but…

With all the dousing he'd been doing, there was ample water spread all around the arena. Somehow, I keep stumbling into success! Seeing all these puddles gives me an idea! "Check it! I'm gonna do what's called a pro gamer move!" He smashed the ice wall into shards that flew towards her, temporarily distracting her with protecting herself. In the few short seconds she took to evaporate them, he surrounded her with a large mass of water and ice.

"Huh!?" She shouted. "Damn it, what now?"

It began to form a rotating sphere, using the excess water on the stage to add to its mass and density. The fiery teen slung a large fireball at the inner walls only to see it only make it a couple inches before it was snuffed out. Glad to see her escape option fail, he stuck his hands out at an arm's length from each other and began to close them together. The globe started shrinking down even as its density continued to increase.

"Hey, that's the thing Mizucho does!" Runoso shouted from the stands. "The sly dog stole it!"

Yes! Someone recognizes it! "Correct, my observant friend! Except I'm going to make him look like a wuss!" He coated the outside in ice to ensure Hinote couldn't blast her way out. The girl was getting crushed by the higher pressure of the water, preventing her from even trying to pull out an attack, though she still emanated steam from her body. He quickly raised the ball several meters into the air, letting the sunlight hit the sphere like a disco ball for extra effect.

"Now witness my ultimate attack: Water-Fall!"

"Suiiki!" Erina spoke telepathically. "This is too much! You're seriously going to hurt her!"

"Relax, Erina. It'll just shake her up real good! Promise!"

The spinning orb shot to the ground while the crowd went into a frenzy of cheers, boos, and general hollering. Off to the side, Ikasaki worriedly headed over to the arena as his vines snuck their way to the site of the impact.

Hinote shakily rose to her feet, to Suiiki's surprise, far from the epicenter of his ball. A trail of black burn marks behind her led to the remains of his trap. With her hands ablaze, she menacingly walked towards him with a fire in her eyes more furious than the flame she commanded. Ikasaki opened his mouth then shook his head and shrugged, with a nervous glance to Erina.

Alright, so that was supposed to be the part where I win, I don't know what script she's reading off of.

"I will not be a stepping stone." Her hoarse voice was unlike her usual high pitched battle cries. "No matter how much you try and make me one."

"W-what?" he squeaked.

She let loose a surge of flames from her body, hotter than anything she'd created in their fight. It engulfed the entirety of the stage in a hellish landscape so thick that the audience could barely see what was happening inside the raging inferno.

"This is fine." Desperate, he dunked some of his own water on his head to stay cool. There's no way she isn't just as worn out as me. I'll shoot icicles at her until she can't keep up…hopefully.

Going back into action, he threw tiny spikes of ice at her in a wide arc to make sure she couldn't dodge. They immediately evaporated within her vicinity, skipping the water stage and going right to steam.

It didn't even turn to water? Is that even possible? Man, do I need a chemistry refresher course! Ah! Focus! Ice armor, now! I'll throw her out of bounds when I get the chance.

Coating himself in ice, he charged towards the source dead-set on tackling her. Hinote tilted her head slightly, and a rush of volcanic wind blew all around her. Its temperature was so extreme, it was all he could do not to pass out from the heat alone. The armor he'd created for himself began to boil, and he realized just in time to dispel it before it left serious burns.

Even during this already nightmarish onslaught, Hinote's flames hadn't let up on their goal to conquer every square inch of the stage. They seeped their way in-between the two fighters and rapidly advanced towards her opponent. It took every ounce of his water and strength just to keep the flames at bay. The snaking paths of fury were by themselves so heated that he could feel every swell of the fire's dancing peaks. His vision began growing blurry, his eyes going red, even his teeth felt dry as sand, while Suiiki tried to fend off what seemed to be the pit of Hell itself coming forth to our world.

"Damn…" He cursed to himself. "Water's so versatile, they said! yeah, versatile. My ass is versatile! Where was I when they were handing out this craziness?" A building roar with an accompanying wave of warmth alerted him to his oppressor, charging up something undoubtedly powerful.

"Crossfire Hurricane!" An ankh made of fire blazed across the stage. It exploded with a vengeance on contact, and Suiiki flailing body flew outside the ring. Thinking fast, he mustered up enough water – likely the last of his own – to form a bridge of ice to save himself from hitting the grass.

"Okay, what the hell!? Can you do whatever-"

Another ankh rose from the ground beneath his bridge, launching him high above the arena. He fervently gathered the ice that was flung into the air alongside him even with no clue how it could possibly help, not to mention it was evaporating faster than he could shift it back.

Hinote blasted herself into the sky with the same technique she used to launch him. Once she had reached the apex of her jump, she ignited her leg and kicked him back down to be engulfed by the sea of flame. He made impact with a soft thud, and with what little vision he had left from his half-lidded eyes, saw nothing except Inferno. Three magnificent orbs orbited around his curled-up form, circling in closer and closer until…

They vanished. The arena was as it ever looked, minus the one scorch mark Hinote had made escaping his ball of ice. Any sign of the firestorm that previously occupied its limits had completely disappeared without so much of a trace of residual heat.

After having hit the ground from such a height, Suiiki was surprised to find that rising to his feet was a much easier task than he'd imagined it would be. Hinote kneeled onto the ground while blowing smoke out of her mouth.

"Huh…did you run out of coal or something?" He asked while forming a small whirlpool in his hand.

"Darling." A vine wrapped around his arm gently. The student realized Ikasaki's plants were wrapped around him to help him stay balanced. Not only that, but the foliage was the reason why his landing was so soft compared to how it would have felt on the concrete arena floor.

"Oh. Balls."

"And that's our fourth match! Though the battle was long lasted, each student finding themselves in treacherous situations, Hinote managed to emerge victorious! With her crazy calamitous conflagrations, she ultimately overcomes her opposite and advances to the next round! Can we get a cheer for that amazing duel!"

The crowd was mixed. Many people cheered for her victory, while many others despaired and booed outright.

"The one time we get a cool water user." An older man said just above the student section. "And of course…the fire wins anyway."

The woman sitting next to him nonchalantly scrolled through her phone. "I won't say she should have let him win…but it would've been more interesting if he'd gone on instead of her."

"What are you guys saying?!" A child jumped up from between them. "She was freaking incredible! She was freaking the bees knees!"

"I'm glad you liked it, junior!" He lifted him up over his head. "But tell me when she has to fight again so I know when to go to sleep."

Hinote bowed respectfully towards her rival and calmly walked back to the field entrance. Suiiki hesitantly returned the gesture and slowly hobbled off the field with help from the officer.

"You got guts, kid!"

He looked up to see a stranger pumping his fist to the air.

"You could've beaten her, don't let it get to you!"

"Uh, thanks!" He forced a smile for the crowd.

"Wish I had that quirk!"

"I know, right!? The magic you can do with something like that!"

To the loser's own bemusement, several others joined in heaping praises on him. Suiiki carefully arched his neck to see the officer helping him walk. "…they do know she won, right?"

"Just accept the accolades, dearest! Never deny those who wish to offer their adulation!" After they made it back to the entrance, he was hugged by Daisuke lightly. For once, he was thankful his friend was always very reserved physically. "Ranika, you know where to go?"

Ranika exercised care as she took him out of Ikasaki's grip and held him up herself. "Uh…right. Yeah, the infirmary."

"Are you okay? You seem a little out of it, sweetie?"

"Uhm, I-" She snapped her fingers next to her own face. "Sorry! I'm just…"

"Mesmerized, I take it. The little lass did indeed put on quite a feast for the eyes!" He returned to the field where the next fight was about to begin.

"Yo, water spout! If it means something, I'm fucking lost too." Ranika said while Daisuke helped carry his weight. "Had a feeling she'd be pretty good but…holy shit."

Genso, the weakest of them, merely pat Suiiki on the back while simultaneously flicking Ranika's head. "Language, please. The quirk was quite formidable, even more than I predicted it would be. Truth be told, I am unsure even a tsunami could've had a chance, let alone a young student of your caliber."

Hearing his groan made Genso cringe at himself. "But still! To be even with her until the very end is something you should take pride in. Even if the outcome was rather unfortunate."

"Thanks guys, but I don't really want to…think about it."

"Come on, you gotta admit-"

Daisuke frowned at her before she could say anything. "…we understand. If it means anything, I think you did well. Don't feel too down about it, okay?" He rustled his brown hair playfully.

"Uh-huh."

Approaching the Infirmary room, Ranika began practically carrying him all by herself in a rush to get there against Daisuke's wishes. "Well, on the bright side, once we get you to Hanako, you'll be all fixed up in no time! Then, we can watch the rest of the matches while shoveling popcorn in our faces! Sound good?"

"…yeah." Suiiki said despondently.