Chapter 42

After his group wished him good luck, Kazuki found himself on the way to the stage once more, this time accompanied by his opponent and – maybe – new friend. To his group's credit, they had also wished Todoroki good luck and they'd meant it. They were cool like that, after all.

They'd also crossed paths with Yaoyorozu and they had exchanged quick congratulations and good luck, one for her and one for them. To be perfectly honest, Kazuki hadn't spared much attention to other things since Yaoyorozu's fight had ended.

After all, he was fighting Todoroki now.

He might have held the boy off during the Cavalry Battle, but that had been in completely different situations. He hadn't focused on him all that much, admittedly, having to cover the other teams, but Todoroki had had to be on guard too. He'd also seemingly spared enough focus to get some other headbands too. On top of that, it was more difficult to be placed in a one on one battle on top of an empty stage than it was to be in a field with a lot more people.

They'd be able to go a lot more seriously now and that worried Kazuki. Just with his ice, Todoroki could be a nightmare. If he decided to use his fire too, then that'd be… problematic. 'Almost regret encouraging him to use his fire,' he thought to himself wryly. Then again, he hadn't exactly told him to use his fire all the time. He'd just said that the people he'd save deserved his all. So… Maybe he wouldn't use it for this fight, since it was just for show?

He could hope, even if it sounded shitty of him.

After all, Todoroki was probably one of the biggest blocks against his goal to win the Festival. There were a few other concerning ones, like Yaoyorozu, Midoriya and Monoma, but Todoroki was likely at the top of the list, at least in Kazuki's opinion. 'And of course I don't even get this fight for the finals,' he thought bitterly.

At least, if he lost in the finals, it would look better than right then and there, even if it was against the same opponent. People didn't remember those that fell early in tournaments like that, even if they lost against the winner. It was stupid, but it was what it was. It wasn't like Kazuki himself went about it differently, so he wasn't one to talk.

Didn't make him feel any better though.

"Endo," Todoroki said when they were close to exiting the building towards the open area where the stage was. "I want to go all out for this," the other boy told him and he almost groaned. "I'll use my ice and my fire… And I want you to come at me with all you've got."

"... I can't do that," Kazuki replied, seemingly catching Todoroki off guard. "Going all out means a lot for me, and I won't do that in this tournament. If it were up to me, I'd never do it," he said, holding back a frown. He didn't blame Todoroki for what he'd said, but he was about the last person who should be told something like that. "Excuse me if I don't want to cause another Rampage," he added as lightly as he could, which wasn't much but with some luck it'd get the message across.

"..." Todoroki didn't say anything then as they continue walking a little bit. "That was insensitive of me. I'm sorry," he apologized with a bow of his head. "I'd still like to do it, if it's all the same to you, going all out."

"And I'll do my best," Kazuki replied with a grin. "I might not be able to go all out, but you can bet I'll do anything I can so long as it's remotely reasonable," he said resolutely. "I have a lot to prove here, Todoroki. Maybe it's arrogant of me to think so, and no offense to you and the others, but I have more to prove than anyone else here."

"I'm only a little offended," Todoroki said flatly but Kazuki knew that to be a lie. 'He'll fit in perfectly,' he thought to himself with a chuckle. "May the best win."

"I'll try not to beat you too badly."

To that, the boy snorted and Kazuki was actually a little taken aback. He was pretty sure that was a first. He was happy for Todoroki though. With the things he'd said and the ones he inferred from those… Todoroki deserved some laughter in his life.

"He'll be watching," Todoroki commented, drawing an interested look from Kazuki. They were already walking towards the stage. Soon, they'd have to separate and go towards one end of it each. "My father," he explained simply.

"... Well, call me the bad guy here… But I'll kick your ass regardless," Kazuki replied flatly. He did wonder though, if he should be worried about that. Even if he said that, it'd be really shitty if he won just because Todoroki was distracted or something like that.

"That's reassuring," the other boy said, which was unexpected, if Kazuki was honest. "I'm counting on you to try."

"Good luck, Todoroki," Kazuki told him as they started walking away from each other. After all, there was more to do here than fight. Both of them had things going here that went beyond the simple tournament. It wasn't about winning, even if both would prefer it. They needed to do a lot more than reach further through the Festival.

"Same to you, Endo," his opponent replied, and that was that.

It was time for their fight to get going. The walk around the stage and going up the stairs from his end felt like it was a lot longer than it probably was. The seconds dragged by and Kazuki almost wanted to just run that short distance so it'd be over sooner.

"Both are ready?" Midnight asked and that was the first time Kazuki paid attention to anything else, really. Yamada continued his commentary with Aizawa, but he honestly couldn't bring himself to care. He had enough on his plate as it was, keeping his nerves under control and keeping the crowd's emotions from affecting him.

He remembered what Io had told him.

He remembered what Hagakure had told him.

He remembered what Inui had told him.

"Start!" Kayama called with a sharp wave of her fan.

Immediately, Todoroki's right side froze over as did the ground by that side. That was expected though. What wasn't expected was his left side bursting into flames, even when he'd told Kazuki he'd be using that part of his Quirk too.

He wasn't surprised though.

No, Kazuki was too angry to be surprised. He was too full of hate to be anything other than furious. Not because of Todoroki, or the crowd, or his situation. None of that was really in his mind because all he could think of was the hate and the fact that he couldn't let out any of the anger coursing through him at that moment.

Instead, he channeled it, straight into his shadow as an Alpha Beowolf materialized behind it. The monster rose, black fur, bone white spikes, bright red lines on its mask and glowing eyes. Not only did Todoroki deserve Kazuki's best but he also required it. There would be no holding back, no saved cards and no hesitation.

Todoroki was, understandably, done with his "preparations" before Kazuki was, if they could even be called that. He didn't have to use time to set up his Quirk, after all, and no matter how fast Kazuki might have gotten in his summoning, it still took time. All this meant that there was a wave of ice coming his way before his Alpha Beowolf was halfway done.

He was ready for that though, growling as he stomped on the ground and brought his hands up. The movement and motions weren't necessary, but they did offer his scattered mind something to grasp on. It was a mnemonic device, Inui told him. Something to associate with something else, so that he didn't have to think nearly as hard.

Just because he trained in the U.A. facilities a lot didn't mean that was all the training he did, after all. He needed some aces up his sleeve, and that was one of them. After all, his whole group knew how he struggled with his upgraded versions. He'd had to prepare something to cover his own back during that period.

And so he'd worked the gestures out in his scarce free time while in the privacy of his apartment.

In this case, making it easier for his hatred-filled mind to summon a Boarbatusk Grimm Guard in front of him to block the ice for a bit. That second or two was all his Alpha Beowolf needed to be done appearing in the world. The creature wasted no time at all jumping over Kazuki and his improvised – and now frozen – barrier to go towards Todoroki.

Obviously, when the monster appeared in his vision, the other boy blasted it immediately with his fire. Kazuki guessed that he was a great person to use that part of his Quirk against, since it didn't really matter if Todoroki burned his Grimm. Unfortunately for him, the Alpha Beowolf wasn't as similar to its normal counterpart as one would think.

One such difference was that it was much more resilient.

So much so, that the thing took the fire wave directed its way and didn't so much as twitch as it continued on its way towards Todoroki. Sure, there was some smoke coming out of its fur and the visible bone structures on its body were a little stained, but otherwise? The Alpha Beowolf was perfectly fine, keeping to its charge like nothing had happened.

As it did, Kazuki took the moment of distraction it brought to let his shadow extend into shaping three new beowolves, this time normal ones. He didn't know if he could manage three Alphas now and he didn't want to test that at that very moment. At most, he'd risk having two, but that was in case he saw himself struggling and maybe not even then.

Winning wasn't worth truly risking a Rampage, after all.

He needed to remember that.

Todoroki responded to the undeterred Alpha Beowolf by switching to his ice side. That proved to work much better, stopping the Grimm in place… A second too late, because the newly created Beowolves were already moving towards him.

'You need to do better, Todoroki,' Kazuki thought as he saw the other boy use his flames to burn his normal Beowolves. It didn't matter. Those that weren't completely wiped out he'd repair. Those who were, he'd recreate. And on top of that-

The sound of ice cracking sent a tinge of fear through his opponent that Kazuki could easily pick up on, because he was looking for it.

The Alpha Beowolf might have been frozen, but it was certainly not out. More cracks appeared on the ice around it before one of the paws broke out. A few hits later and the Grimm had freed itself from its cold cage. 'It's called an Alpha for a reason,' he thought with a determined grin.

Even with the battle in his favor, he didn't stop. Both sides of Todoroki's were occupied at that very moment. His fire kept at bay the normal Beowolves while his ice went back to freezing the Alpha. Now, four grimm wasn't a huge struggle for Kazuki anymore. It was manageable, really. However, four grimm with one of them being the Alpha Beowolf was different.

'Just a bit, that's all,' he told himself as his shadow extended to create a Nevermore this time. He needed something to break the balance that the battle had struck. He could probably wait for the other boy to tire himself out, but he couldn't risk giving Todoroki more time. Chances were non-zero that he'd come up with something to tilt things in his favor and Kazuki wasn't about to wait for that to happen.

As if to prove his point, Todoroki switched things up, turning his ice arm towards Kazuki. Just as the Nevermore behind him took flight, he brought up another Boarbatusk barrier in front of him. However, this time the other boy was pushing more than before, the frozen trail of the Quirk going over the grimm piece that he'd slapped between himself and Todoroki.

'Ok, that's more troublesome,' he thought, moving to the side, careful not to get anywhere close to one of the stage limits. Fortunately for him, the Nevermore from just now was already raining its feathers on his opponent, interrupting the ice attack. On top of that, Todoroki could only take his eyes off of the Alpha Beowolf for so long too.

Kazuki himself had to keep an eye out, just in case. Todoroki might be occupied, but he was far from dumb. The ice and fire user would come up with some other trick, he was sure, and the boy was certainly not going down anytime soon, even with the full might of the Alpha, the three Beowolves and the Nevermore. 'Stubborn bastard,' Kazuki grumbled to himself even with a grin on his face.

Maybe being on the stage wasn't so bad. He had something to focus on and something to channel the negativity towards. It was better than being on the stands, with nothing but emotions constantly bombarding him and the less than effective spectating to be done to keep his mind occupied. Now though, in a battle? There was a lot more pressure making him focus, it honed his senses and gave him an aim for the emotions that only grew stronger when he was on display.

Kazuki just had to make sure to be the one in control instead of the negativity.

'Easier said than done,' he thought, but that was fine. He had things under control, even with five grimm, one of them being the Alpha. He was on top of things. He was the one that dictated how things went.

He could even make more grimm if he-

'No,' he hissed in his own mind and maybe even out loud. His grimm momentarily hesitated, all but the Alpha who charged with even more abandon towards Todoroki. That slip was enough to give his opponent breathing room. 'Fuck,' he cursed as, in the blink of an eye, the whole stage was covered in steam.

Immediately, he let his Nevermore dissipate and pulled the Beowolf pack back to him while the Alpha looked for Todoroki in the middle of the mist. 'Smart, but not that smart. My grimm have improved senses… they'll find you,' he thought confidently. Even with that, however, he started creating another grimm that might be useful in that situation.

A King Taijitu.

If he couldn't see where Todoroki was while his grimm looked for him, then he'd be sure to cover himself as much as possible. The Beowolves did the job well enough, but the gigantic double-headed serpent would do it better by coiling around him like a wall. It wouldn't even trap him, since he could just dissipate it if Todoroki tried to freeze it. He knew he couldn't take it out fast enough for him to be unable to get out.

Just in case though, he left a Beowolf with him inside.

'Come on, where are you?' he wondered, frowning. 'Does the mist hide his scent too? That'd suck,' he thought to himself, pursing his lips. Taking a moment to consider that, he let two of the normal Beowolves join the Alpha in its search. 'The King Taijitu and this one Beowolf should be enough to cover for me while the others-'

Then he paused as the Alpha barked something to the other two. Kazuki hadn't done that though. 'What?' Even weirder still, the normal Beowolves seemed to twitch and adjust their movement a little. 'What is-? Oh shit!'

Whatever was going on there, he'd have to think about later, because it was at that moment that Todoroki revealed himself. Ice spread over the floor from Kazuki's side, rising in spikes that formed a wall all the way until they touched the King Taijitu that surrounded him. But it didn't stop there, quickly shooting over it too. 'Too fast,' he thought, moving to the side and having his Beowolf swipe at him with its paw to push him over the King Taijitu's body and to a safer area.

The Alpha was already charging at Todoroki's newly revealed position with the other two Beowolves, but Kazuki had other things to worry about. Mainly dissolving the creatures now encased in very thick ice. 'That was stronger than normal, which means Todoroki's dealing with the backlash of that,' he thought to himself. Still, he couldn't and wouldn't let his guard down.

Thus, he moved, running on the stage, keeping away from Todoroki's general position while his grimm attacked. From his shadow, he created another King Taijitu. Carefully, he positioned the serpentine creature's head as high as possible, peeking over the mist zone that Todoroki seemed to be creating to keep himself hidden. He needed to have at least somewhat of an idea of how the stage was positioned. Last thing he wanted was to fall off the side of it by accident.

That'd be a terrible way to lose.

Fortunately, he just had to move a little more to be safe from that fate. Todoroki on the other hand, was being remarkably troublesome for his beowolves to find in the mist. That was starting to get annoying really fast, actually. 'And I can't have that,' Kazuki thought with a frown.

Coming up with a new plan, he let the pack of Beowolves dissolve too, including the Alpha. From there, he started creating a new group of grimm. 'Go big or go home,' he decided wryly as he started summoning more King Taijitu.

If Todoroki was going to hide in the mist forever, he'd just make something big enough that it could get a hit in without even looking. Or several somethings that could try that, in this case. 'If I can't see you, then I'll just hit everywhere and be done with it,' Kazuki thought as the second King Taijitu finished appearing and started sweeping over the stage trying to find Todoroki. He immediately started making another one too, because he wasn't going to take any chances.

'I can't see you, but you can't see me either, can you?' he thought, keeping his guard up. Todoroki had to find him just like Kazuki did, and that meant it was a race… A race that he was going to win, especially with the changed situation.

Evidently, his opponent realized, mostly because the third King Taijitu he created found him with a swipe of its white side. No sooner had it been created, the thing had moved and found Todoroki. Evidently, he'd been trying his best to avoid the other one and gotten caught in turn. A little ironic, some would say.

Kazuki didn't much care for that at the moment though. The serpent started getting frozen, but the other two were already on the move. Immediately afterwards, flames exploded in that general direction. They did so in such a violent way that the mist was blown away. Not that it mattered much. At that point, it might as well have been in Kazuki's favor, really.

Todoroki was evidently getting desperate, not only because of his actions but Kazuki could feel the nervousness creeping inside him. 'Come on,' he thought, starting to create a Nevermore just in case the three giant serpent grimm weren't enough. Which they very well could not be, if the way they were getting burned by Todoroki was any indication. 'Come on,' he repeated in his mind as he directed his negativity towards the serpents to repair the damage, trying and failing to match the rate at which the flames destroyed them.

He couldn't, but he put up enough of a fight that he was optimistic. Maybe he could keep that up until the backlash started getting to Todoroki? Surely the fire side had about the same problem as the ice one, right? 'Come on, come on,' he wished, making his Nevermore take flight over the pseudo-sphere made of flames, waiting for an opening.

At the same time, he made himself a Beowolf, just in case. It'd make a meatshield if Todoroki managed to get a hit sent his way. Otherwise, it'd make a good reserver player.

Ultimately, neither the Beowolf nor the Nevermore were necessary. The flames stopped eventually and when they did Kazuki was quick to have one of his King Taijitu swipe at Todoroki, sending him flying out of the stage. The boy didn't look so good, admittedly, which worried him a fair bit. The most he was getting from him was some… not burns, but close, from what he could pick up, besides the smack he'd just gotten, that is. That was reassuring, at least.

"And Kazuki Endo gets another victory! He's unstoppable, people!" Present Mic announced through the speakers. It made Kazuki smile… for all of a second before he became more aware of the emotions he was getting from all around. There was a lot more negativity than before. Maybe it was because he'd been able to ignore it through the fight, for the most part, but he felt like it spiked, like it was worse than before he got out and on the stage.

Aizawa was saying something about how the fight had gone. Kazuki was pretty sure it was complimentary to his performance, but he didn't hear him. Instead, he could almost feel the glares in the crowd. 'I did well. I did great even! Why… Why?' he wondered, his hands shaking and he felt the pull of his grim, the pull of the anger, the pull of the disgust-

He took a deep breath in and let the grimm vanish before they could tempt him further.

'I won… I did a good job…' he thought bitterly as he felt the negativity wash over him. 'Am I getting anywhere?' he wondered, closing his eyes dejectedly.

After a moment, his shoulders dropped and he turned to look at Todoroki. Walking up to him, he offered him a hand to stand up. As he did, he felt the emotions spike further. 'What do you want from me?' he asked in his mind, aware that he wouldn't get an answer even if he did voice that.

"Good fight," Todoroki told him and he only half-listened.

"Good fight," Kazuki forced himself to say back, but the result was a mechanical answer that seemed to confuse the other boy. "It was smart, the mist trick," he added, his voice still coming off about as brittle as his expression.

"Are you ok?"

"No. No, I'm not," he answered, turning and walking towards the exit. "So, I'll just get out of here, if it's all the same to you," he added, trying his best to not speed up on his way to the building. He wanted to shout, and cry, and release grimm… But it would get him nothing. None of those things would.

He refused to let them see him break.

"Think about it, yeah? When you start thinking that everyone hates your guts for what you did… Think about the mini-yous and the mini-mes that will be watching you. Think of the people that were in juvie and got out. Think of the people that were in prison and got out. All of them will be watching… And I think they'll cheer for you, Endo."

Maybe the crowd hated him, but there'd be people cheering for him, Kazuki knew and reminded himself. His friends were on his side. His teachers were on his side. The people like him were on his side.

Fuck the crowd.

If they refused to give him a chance, then he'd win to spite them.

He could do that… He could…

… Right?

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, there you go, guys! I hope the fight with Todoroki was to your liking. It was a little earlier than where I would have put it, but the Randomizer Gods spoke and I listened. It's just how it is.

And I'm sure that last part is not concerning at all.

Hope you guys liked the chapter as a whole!

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:

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

See you.