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Chapter Twelve

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Kazuya massaged her temples to ease her growing headache. She had been healed by Recovery Girl and was waiting in the nurse's bed to replenish some energy, all the while listening to Shinso recall what happened in the hallway. "So, this whole fight has been a big misunderstanding?"

"You do have horrible timing," he quipped. His chin rested in his palm as he pulled up a chair and leaned onto her bed. He had been patient with her as she tried to wrap her brain around it all. When she buried her face in her hands and spewed countless apologies, he tried to hold back his laughter but ended up making this weird choking sound instead.

"You're not off the hook completely!" she threw a pillow towards his face, but he caught it, "Didn't you tell me to not pick fights without backup?"

"That applies to you only. I can brainwash my way out of it," he snickered and threw the cushion back.

"Alright, Lovebirds," Recovery Girl tapped her syringe-shaped cane against the ground, "Since you seem to be feeling better, you should go enjoy the rest of your lunch before the games start again." Kazuya thanked the healer and then left the room with Shinso at her heels.

"Where are you going?" he asked when she started running in the opposite direction.

"I saw a takoyaki vendor near the entrance! I'll meet you back at the cafeteria!" she spun on her heels and backpedalled down the hall. With an impish smile and a brief wave goodbye, she turned once again and faded from his view.

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Kazuya fought the urge to salivate as the scent of her freshly-bought treats wafted through the air and into her nostrils. Her footsteps echoed through the empty hallway she had used as a shortcut back to the cafeteria.

"Oh, street food, you lovely, lovely temptress," she mumbled before popping one of the fried treats into her mouth. As the toothpick hung out of her mouth, she paused to stare at the blonde posted up against a nearby corner. His focused expression said he was listening to something important.

Angular, scarlet eyes briefly passed her but when she cocked her head to question him, she was grabbed and slammed into the wall. Kazuya had been so startled that she swallowed her mouthful of hot food and held her toothpick up like a shank. Tears pricked at the corners of her eyes as she tried to ignore her burnt throat.

Quit whining, Bakugou's glare seemed to say.

"My father paid off my mother's relatives to get his hands on her quirk."

She froze. When the cobalt-haired girl turned her head in the direction of Todoroki's voice, the firm grip on her upper arms tightened to keep her in place. Was he talking about…a quirk marriage?

Quirk marriages were pre-arranged unions of two individuals, usually set up by their parents. It was originally meant to put two desirable quirks together to make an even stronger offspring, but the results were unpredictable. A powerful child was not certain.

"My father has not only the money but the power to do whatever he wants. Now, he's raising me to usurp All Might and I refuse to be his tool," Todoroki explained, voice low and bitter, "Every memory I have of my mother is of her crying. I remember she called my left side unbearable…before she poured boiling water on my face."

Kazuya's shoulders sagged at the revelation, suddenly remembering how she had teased him about having problems with his father. Obsessive father? Traumatic experience with his mother? Looking down at her hands that nearly crushed her snack box, she realised how much of a piece of shit she was.

"The reason I picked a fight with you was to show my old man what I was capable of doing without relying on his damned fire quirk. You see, I'm going to show him that I reject his power and I can take first place without using it," Todoroki's declaration was met with tense silence. Midoriya must have been the one he was talking to since that was the only person the dual-quirked boy had challenged. If that's true, then why was Bakugou —

Nosy son of a bitch, she shot the blonde a menacing glare.

Footsteps said the red-and-white-haired boy had begun to walk away, "You're connected to All Might in some way, even if you won't tell me about it. No matter how fiercely you come at me in the future, I will defeat you using only my right side. I can assure you of that."

When Midoriya ran after him, Kazuya slowly released the breath she had been holding in. She didn't bother listening to her green-haired friend's motivational speech because, goddamn there had been too many declarations of war in the past few hours.

"Not a fucking word," Bakugou finally let her go, giving her a moment to think over what she learned. Todoroki wasn't an asshole, he was just toughened by the hell he'd been through. Thinking back to the first school day after the USJ attack, she said she was going to repay him for not killing her father. Maybe this was how.

There and then, Kazuya decided she wanted to become friends with Todoroki Shoto, whether he liked it or not.

First things first, though. She needed to get back to Shinso so she could eat her snacks in peace —

"Kazuya!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?" she grumbled. When she turned, she found Ashido and all the other girls in her class waiting. "Uh…what's up, guys?"

Acknowledging them was the worst mistake of her life.

"Why did we agree to this, again?" Asui croaked, green locks cutely pulled up into two bows on either side of her head.

"There was…no cheerleading competition?" Ashido was nearly too stunned to speak.

"How could I believe them so easily?!" Yaoyorozu dropped to her knees in defeat. Kazuya took a step away from the group when the rest of their classmates walked by, an eerily warm smile on her face. Her yellow pom-poms fell to the ground in a pathetic lump as she approached the unsuspecting Kaminari and Mineta.

The uniform that Yaoyorozu made wasn't like anything she'd worn before, given that she usually got hand-me-downs. The cropped, orange cheerleader getup was tailor-made to her specific measurements and showed off the development of her muscles. They still had a ways to go before they were as toned as she wanted, but she felt less uncomfortable than she would usually be.

"Boys?" she called sweetly, leading them into a false sense of security. The moment they turned to her, she grabbed the front of their shirts and pulled them up to her level. Mineta was entirely off the ground while Kaminari had to stand on his toes to compensate for the four centimetres of height difference.

"H – Hey, Imai! How's…it going…?" the yellow-haired idiot stammered when he noticed the way her eyes turned cold with deadly intent.

"Pull shit like this again and I'll gut the both of you. Then, I'll fry your remains like nuggets, stuff them in a Happy Meal box, and give it to your mothers, so they can WEEP OVER YOUR MANGLED CORPSES! DO I MAKE MYSELF CLEAR?!" she shook them until they started to cry. When Mineta looked dangerously close to pissing his pants, she dropped him and put a foot on his small chest.

"Do. I. Make. Myself. Clear?"

"C – Crystal," the grape boy wheezed.

"Kazuya, you're terrifying," Midoriya added as the boys of the class walked by. Kazuya swore under her breath with smoke blowing out her ears. With sun-kissed legs, arms, and midriff left uncovered, she couldn't help but feel exposed. Unconsciously, her eyes lingered on a certain scarred face. This is my chance!

"Hey, Todoroki!" she ignored Mineta's pained wail as she stepped over him, "I just wanted to say I'm sorry. I shouldn't have tried to pry into your personal life."

"It's nothing," the dual-quirked boy nodded curtly and kept his eyes on her face. Many of the boys in their class made it a point to turn away from the girls, especially after Kazuya's threat, so she admired his civil bravery.

A small, kind smile grew on her face as her face softened, "Be your own person. That's the one thing no one can take from you." He seemed confused at first, but it clicked once she turned away. Todoroki opened his mouth to ask why she was spying on a private conversation but she waved his question away and watched Shinso slowly approach, "Don't worry, I'm not telling anyone. I'm not that into spreading gossip."

"Ironic for someone who keeps finding herself right in the middle of it," the tired-eyed boy commented bluntly. Kazuya shot him a deadly glare as his eyes did a quick sweep of her new outfit. "So, this is what you ran off to do during lunch?"

"I was tricked into it," she scoffed.

"Really? Who dares to commit such a sin?" Shinso's mocking tone did not sit well with her. She shifted her eyes towards the cowardly boys in the corner and he followed her gaze. Fair enough, his raised brow seemed to say.

"It's time to move on to our recreational games! After that, our remaining sixteen contenders will fight one-on-one in a tournament-style competition! I promise that you won't want to miss these epic match-ups!"

Kazuya frowned at this. Out of the sixteen, there were a handful of students she wouldn't want to fight. This list included her best friend and some of her stronger classmates. Six out of the twelve competitors would be bad type match-ups simply because she wouldn't be able to establish contact with them. It didn't help that the matches were decided by randomly picking names.

"Um, excuse me," Ojiro raised his hand as Midnight stepped forward with the lot-drawing box in her hands, "I'm sorry, but I'd like to withdraw. It just wouldn't be right. I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle." Kazuya felt a pang of guilt shoot through her like a bullet to the chest.

"I think…it was that guy's quirk."

She glanced at Shinso through her peripherals.

"But you'll miss your chance to get scouted!" Iida frowned at the tailed martial artist.

"Wait, who was on Ojiro's team again?" Midoriya asked the group. Kazuya went to raise her hand but Shinso kept it down by holding her hand tightly.

This is your fault, said the judgemental gleam in her umber eyes.

"Shoda Nirengeki from class 1-B," the short boy that had been the fourth member of their team also stepped forward, "I want to resign for the same reason. Regardless of how strong I am, this isn't how I wanted to get here. It would go against my morals and the spirit of the festival."

"Listen to these guys! So manly!" Kirishima burst into dramatic tears. Kazuya rolled her eyes while Shinso's displeased face turned away from the scene. Ultimately, Midnight accepted their requests and chose two replacements from class B, that steel kid, Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki.

"Take a look at the bracket, my dearies. These are your opponents!" As soon as the screens pulled up the completed match lineup, Kazuya scanned for her name and found that she was set to fight against Ashido. The two girls stared at each other for a beat, silently agreeing that there would be no bad blood between them, no matter who won.

"Get ready for the ride of your life, Pinky," Kazuya smirked confidently.

"I can't wait to melt your ass!" Ashido winked and stuck her tongue out. Sometime during their playful teasing, Shinso snuck off to confront Midoriya. The moment his friend approached, she knew he was going to toy with him. His lips twisted into a sly smirk that hid his true intentions. Before Midoriya could reply, Ojiro swung his tail up and covered his mouth.

Kudos for intuition, Kazuya's lips twitched up.

"Not so fast," Ojiro looked between her and Shinso carefully. After a full minute of the boys staring each other down, she sighed in defeat.

"That's enough," she patted Shinso on the shoulder, "You've scared them plenty." He rolled his eyes then shuffled away with his hands in his pockets, mood effectively dampened.

"You can't say a word to him. That's how he gets you, right?" Ojiro's tail flicked behind him anxiously, "I saw that you were on my team, as well, Imai. Did he get you, too?"

"Get me? Please, he knows better than to pull that shit on me," she scoffed. Noticing the strange looks thrown her way, she cleared her throat and shrugged, "I can't help you guys with this one, sorry." After a rather quick and awkward goodbye, she ran off to play cheerleader with the other 1-A girls. It was a good distraction from the inevitable defeat she'd face at the hands of one of her fellow students.

When the recreational games finished, Kazuya hurriedly changed out of her uniform and into her tracksuit so she was in time for the first match. Midoriya and Shinso were up and she was excited to see who would come out on top, even though she was rooting for both teams.

Present Mic announced for the match to start just as she settled back into her seat. She could see Shinso's lips moving, but couldn't hear what he was saying. When Midoriya's brows furrowed and he angrily stomped towards his opponent, she knew he was being baited into a loss. The second he opened his mouth to retort, the match was decided.

"And so it begins," she smirked, one leg thrown over the other. Her classmates snapped their gazes in her direction when Midoriya stopped dead in his tracks.

"You know how his quirk works? Why wouldn't you say anything?!" Ojiro snapped, hands gripping the railing of their balcony with knuckles white from tension.

"We're going to face opponents with unknown quirks eventually," she shrugged, unbothered by the exclamation. She refocused and watched Midoriya walk towards the arena's boundary. As he grew closer to the edge, she found herself silently begging some higher power for him to find a way out of Shinso's brainwashing.

Her prayers were answered with a giant explosion that had her on the edge of her seat with anticipation. A kicked-up cloud of dust dispersed and revealed that Midoriya had stopped shuffling towards his doom. Both he and his opponent looked shocked by the sudden energy burst.

"He broke his fingers!" Uraraka gasped, jumping out of her chair to point. How she saw that far, Kazuya didn't know, but sure enough, she squinted and caught sight of the purple tint of Midoriya's broken index and middle finger.

Shinso's shock turned to visible agitation. Kazuya could just barely hear the words he was shouting as he was rushed by his green-haired opponent; "You're lucky enough to have a heroic quirk! It'll be so easy for you to reach your goal!" Her fists clenched so tightly when her classmate shoved her best friend towards the boundaries that her nails indented crescents into her palms.

Shinso punched Midoriya, breaking his nose as he shifted out of his grip. He then turned and shoved the poor broccoli boy within an inch of losing the match. Midoriya let out a scream as his broken fingers grabbed Shinso's arm and swung him over his shoulder. The crowd had gotten so quiet that the hard thud of his body against the cement echoed through the stadium.

"Shinso is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to the next match!" Midnight raised a hand to mark the end of the fight. Kazuya hadn't realised she stood and leaned over the railing until she had to back up to find her chair.

"These idiots are gonna kill me," she huffed, hands covering her face as her spirits deflated. Down in the pit, Shinso laid on his back for a minute, most likely processing his defeat. Kazuya's lips twitched downwards when he ignore Midoriya's extended hand and stood up on his own. The disappointed frown on his face made her chest tighten until she couldn't stand it anymore.

"Hey, Imai, what's up?" Kirishima asked when she hurriedly exited their student section.

"I've got an emo to cheer up!" she shouted as she ran off. By the time she found Shinso, he had left the arena and was stalking around the empty halls with a far-off look on his face.

She doubted he even saw her until she was in his face, wrapping her arms tightly around his neck and shouted, "Hey, hey, hey! That was awesome!"

"What?" he came crashing down to Earth.

"You'll definitely get into the hero course at this rate," she giggled, easing the tension in his muscles. Slowly but surely, he brought his arms up to her back.

"I wish he hadn't found out how to escape my brainwashing so easily. He made me look so lame," he sighed. It was unintentional, but her mango and ginger scent wafted into his nose and wouldn't leave him alone. It was peppery yet sweet, much like its owner. He hadn't realised he buried his face in the crook of her neck until he could feel her shake from laughter.

"You looked amazing and you better agree with me or I'll kick your ass myself," Shinso rolled his eyes at her friendly taunt.

"At least now we won't have to fight each other," he trembled slightly when she backed away. There was a crestfallen undertone to his words that she no doubt caught, judging by the flicker of worry that flashed across her face.

"I am so proud of you, 'Toshi. Don't forget that," she held her face in his hands, squishing his features. His eyes stayed glued to her face as his lips parted ever so slightly. He muttered something, but his voice was drowned when her classmate, Sero, passed by.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything," he chuckled while nervously scratching the nape of his neck. Kazuya's hands dropped and she suddenly beamed.

She shook her head, "Not at all! ¡Buena Suerte!"

"Gracias, la voy a necesitar," a bead of sweat rolled down the raven-haired boy's temple. She froze, eyes broadening so greatly that they were close to popping out of her head.

"¡¿Tú hablas español?!" little stars shimmered in her eyes. Sero nodded enthusiastically.

Shinso watched Kazuya speak faster as she got more excited, and it was clear that even her bi-lingual classmate got a little lost. That didn't make watching them interact any easier. After a few minutes, Sero said something that had her laughing her ass off and the frown on Shinso's face grew.

"What did you say to him?" he asked once the raven-haired intruder waved goodbye. Kazuya scoffed playfully.

"Do I sense the sweet odour of jealousy?" she elbowed him in the side.

"You're crazy," he scoffed and avoided eye contact.

"Oh, just admit it already. You're hopelessly in love with me," she snorted amusedly. Because walked ahead, she didn't see him stop and purse his lips into a fine line.

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Kazuya found it harder to hide her nervousness when she stepped into the arena for her first fight of the tournament game.

"She's been the subject of some controversy, but she's here to show off just how fearless she can be! It's Imai Kazuya from hero course class 1-A!" Present Mic gave her a slight ego boost, but she found herself frowning at the negative shouts she picked out of the crowd's roaring. It was nothing she hadn't heard before: villain, you should leave, why is she here, etc.

"And is there a purpose for those things on her head? From the same class, Ashido Mina!"

"Don't listen to them. You're gonna do great," her pink-haired opponent offered an encouraging smile, "Even so, I'm going to kick your ass."

"I'm glad that we finally get to go toe-to-toe, but don't get too butthurt when I win," Kazuya snickered as she tightened the velcro of her gloves. Ashido laughed at her friendly taunt then cracked her knuckles.

The match began with a shout from Midnight and the two started circling each other. In this open setting, both close-ranger fighters were given no cover and were simply waiting for the other to make the first move.

"You know, I've been meaning to ask…what's going on with you and that Shinso, kid? There's no way that you're just friends," Ashido spoke first, eyebrows raising suggestively.

"What makes you say that?" Kazuya's smile faltered. The pinkette across from her scoffed.

"Girl, he carried you to the nurse, he looks at you like you're the only person in the room, I've seen the way you guys act in the hallway…It's a no-brainer!" she threw her hands up dramatically and rolled her eyes. Her words flooded through Kazuya's mind like an angry swarm of bees until the cobalt-haired teen stopped pacing.

"Mina, darling," she shook her head free of the incessant buzzing, "You should stop running your mouth. It'll get you hurt." With a hand against the ground, she activated Repel and leapt up so that she was fully off the ground but still within Ashido's range. She very well could have fallen or twisted out of the way, but she let her right shoulder get burnt by the acid anyway.

"Crap, I thought you'd dodge! Are you okay?!" Ashido called as she rolled to the floor, arms discreetly slipping out of her singed tracksuit.

"Peachy."

A single chocolate-coloured eye glistening dangerously was all the pinkette saw before Kazuya's jacket was thrown into her face. No matter how hard she tried to remove it, her opponent's Repel quirk kept pushing it away from the cement spot she was touching.

"Imai's got Ashido blindfolded!" Present Mic roared, the sound of a chair being knocked over barely coming through the speakers.

"Her quirk is simple enough to figure out, but she's smart enough to use it in ways that catch her enemies off guard. She'll make a decent hero if she can control her power influx and keep her emotions in check," Aizawa explained from beside him. That was the nicest thing he had ever said to her, yet there was still a hint of an insult in his words.

Kazuya quickly established contact with the poor girl's shirt and psychically threw her over the boundary with much more force than intended. Again, she was unable to control how much energy she was using, but the thought fled her mind instantly.

"Ashido Mina's out cold! The winner is Imai Kazuya!" Midnight raised her whip once Cementoss went to check on the acid queen's status. Her athletic body had made a dent in the stadium wall and effectively ended the match. Kazuya would be the first to admit that the roar of the crowd inflated her ego, probably more so than necessary.

The paramedics that arrived to take Ashido away advised her to stop by Recovery Girl's office to take care of the burn on her shoulder, but she didn't stay long. Her friend's previous comments had been floating around the back of her brain until they decided to become the only thing she could think about.

"You are not going to ruin the best thing you have going for you by thinking like that," she pointed an accusatory finger at her reflection. The girl in the mirror smiled.

Oh, please! Don't act like you never knew. You tease him about it all the time!

"That's just what we do. We joke about it."

Is it? Do you not see how he changes when you "joke" about him being in love with you or does your pride get in the way?

"It's not like that. He's my best friend, he would tell me if something like that happened," Kazuya gripped the porcelain sink so tightly that her knuckles turned white. Her reflection rolled its eyes.

That's exactly why he wouldn't say anything, pendeja. He doesn't want to make things awkward. Heaven knows that you've done enough of that.

She thought back to their celebratory hug after Shinso's fight. The way he looked at her. The way he glared at Sero was like he wanted to brainwash him into taking a long walk off a short pier. The way he held on to her so tightly. The way he looked down at her lips before he whispered something —

"I'm so proud of you, 'Toshi. Don't forget that."

"I want to make you proud."

She smashed her hand through the mirror. The awful, bubbly sound of her own laughter mixed with the shattering of glass, echoing until a high-pitch ringing was all she could hear. Warm crimson dripped from her knuckles and hit the floor with taps timed like a metronome. It wasn't until her legs began to numb that she realized she had sent the fragments flying throughout the bathroom with such force that they stabbed into the walls.

Everything is fine.

Everything is off.

Everything is supposed to be fine.

Everything is different.

Everything will be fine.

Everything is overwhelming.

Everything is…?

Everything is wrong.

"Fine," she mumbled so quietly that she wasn't sure she had even spoken at first, "Everything. Is. Fine."

By sheer luck, no one saw her sneak into the locker room. Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu were currently fighting, but Kirishima and 1-B's Tetsutestu were up next. The redhead stayed in the stands until his match, giving Kazuya all the privacy she needed for a proper nap.

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Taigen sat in the low lighting of the Kamino bar, fingers rhythmically tapping against the table he sat at. Kurogiri placed a whole bottle of whiskey in front of him but he paid no mind as his eyes were glued to the tv. The doctor let a subtle smile take over his grim expression and lifted the glass to his lips.

The incredibly short fight between the engine-legged boy and the plant princess had finished a few minutes ago and it was Kazuya's time to walk up to the cement platform for her second fight. She was up against a boy named Tokoyami Fumikage and his Dark Shadow quirk if Taigen remembered correctly.

He instantly noticed she didn't look as enthusiastic as before. The bird boy standing across from her said something that her father couldn't make out but was probably him asking if she was okay. Taigen furrowed his brows when she shook her head and applied an obviously fake smile.

She was already so different from the scared little girl she had been in Junior High, her last fight proved that much. Taigen couldn't help but feel saddened by this thought. His little girl was growing up, becoming a real hero, and he wasn't there. Surely something good had to come from this? What doesn't kill you makes you stronger and whatnot.

She's got her mother…they'll keep each other afloat, he thought while eyeing a closed door through his peripherals. The chipped paint and splinters coming off the wood made him frown. He missed his house.

"Do you think he's okay in there?" he nodded to the door.

"It's nothing you should worry about," Kurogiri explained after pouring a glass of something strong and unlabeled. He took it into the room and left Taigen to his own devices. The good doctor turned to the television again as that unbearably loud hero, Present Mic, called for the match to start.

Kazuya didn't move at first. Quirks capable of long-ranged attacks weren't good matches for her unrefined hand-to-hand style and they both knew that. When the shadow of her opponent appeared and lashed forward, she crouched down low. Her hand and the concrete glowed red as she was flung into the air like a tossed ragdoll. Her dodging left her inches away from the beast's claw and when she finally landed on the ground, she stumbled slightly.

Taigen understood how hard manipulation quirks could be to work with, what with all the trouble he went through to learn the ins and outs of his own as a kid. He also knew sacrificing energy for the sake of control was not the solution. He wanted to help, to reach out somehow and mentor her, but opted for chugging the rest of his whiskey instead. The burning sensation he had become so accustomed to filled his throat.

Seconds tick by and Kazuya only grew closer to the dark claws of her competitor. Taigen thought the tables would turn when she flipped over Dark Shadow's next attack and grazed its back, but her quirk's aura faded instantly.

"Dark Shadow is technically a living creature, therefore Imai's Attract and Repel won't work on it," Eraserhead explained while Kazuya's hand was quickly grasped by Tokoyami, who had managed to sneak up behind her. She was so distracted by Dark Shadow that she forgot about its host.

"She's a promising one, Doctor," Kurogiri spoke up, re-entering the bar with a stack of dirty dishes. The tension of Taigen's muscles thankfully went unnoticed.

"Cleaning up after him in the literal sense, too? I didn't take you for the babysitting type." He huffed while refusing to look at the mist man. Eyes of glowing gold narrowed in annoyance.

A growl of disapproval left Taigen's throat when Kazuya was pulled to the ground. Didn't that idiotic bird know whose daughter that was? She must not have appreciated it either, judging by the pissed-off glare she threw his way. Her head tilted and gave the zoomed-in cameras a good look at the burning forest in her eyes while she sank her teeth into Tokoyami's right wrist.

Taigen's shoulders were hunched as he tried not to spit out his drink from laughter. Yet another optimal use of her mother's spunk.

He watched the bird boy wince and give Kazuya the opening she needed to elbow him in the stomach. Without hesitation, she forced the switching of their positions with a roll and used Attract to keep herself grounded. Dark Shadow tried to pull her off its host, but she was unmovable.

With his opponent so close, Tokoyami took the opportunity to say a few words. Kazuya tilted her head and listened to him with widened eyes, the audience unable to hear the conversation. Whatever it was, though, must have rubbed her the wrong way as she attacked instantly.

The aura covering his shoulders began flickering between red and blue like flashing police lights. Frowning with a distracted look in her eyes, Kazuya stood up and rolled the poor birdy over with her foot.

"Is he…just gonna roll out of bounds?" Present Mic asked as she continued to kick him over like a rock constantly sitting in her path.

"This is new. The constant change in force from Imai's quirks is keeping him in stasis," came Eraserhead's dry yet slightly intrigued reply. There was just no reading that man, yet he was telling the truth.

Taigen had no way of knowing for sure, but he guessed Kazuya was making it so Tokoyami's clothes were being pushed and pulled away from her at such a fast rate that he couldn't move. He silently agreed Stasis was a good word for it.

Kazuya side-stepped past Dark Shadow's frenzied swipes, the beast trying its best to keep her as far away from its host as possible. At the expense of her tracksuit's sleeves, she used her arms to protect herself from what she couldn't dodge and willed her quirks to settle.

Blue luminance gave way to red as Tokoyami was thrown in the opposite direction with whiplash-inducing speed. Taigen paused in anticipation, watching as Dark Shadow covered its host at the last second, softening his impact. Kazuya also seemed relieved that she didn't hurt him too badly.

Her father bowed his head, a proud smile hidden behind the hands that covered his face. Present Mic's voice fell upon deaf ears as the cobalt-haired man began chuckling to himself. Kurogiri scoffed.

"What's so funny?" He asked, bringing over a second bottle of whiskey. Taigen raised the first one with a childish grin and flushed cheeks.

"She's stronger than she's ever been!" There was something to be said about the fact that Kazuya was doing so good without him, but he was too drunk to care. His little girl was going into the finals! He couldn't be more thrilled, yet an odd sense of fear bubbled in the pits of his stomach.

Chocolate eyes shifted toward the figure behind the bar and then to the closed door. The pro heroes weren't the only ones scouting the kids. While he missed his little Spitfire dearly, he would rather die than have her join the League. His safety didn't feel important anymore.

He was going to warn her, whether he was arrested, killed, or whatever.

"Where are you going?" Kurogiri asked when he stumbled toward the stairs of the abandoned bar. The upper two floors were home to a few apartments the League commandeered for make-shift bedrooms.

"Dun' matter," he drawled and waved his cohort's question away.

Upon reaching his room, the doctor pulled out his phone and dialled Kazuya's number. He hadn't realised how dizzy he felt until he sat on the dirty mattress that was shoved into the corner of the room. The line rang once…twice…thrice…a fourth time…

"This is, uh, Imai Kazuya. I can't come to the phone right now or you've been ignored. I'm not sorry for either."

Beep.

"Hey, Spitfire. It's…erm – It's Dad."