Chapter 21: Sport Festival: Tournament, Finals; Epilogue
*CHUUUUUUU*
I could never get used to the sight of Recovery Girl using her quirk on people. Healing quirks are amazing, but I wouldn't like to kiss everyone just to heal them. I wonder what is it like during her prime?
After his grueling fight with Bakugou, Taikou has obviously overtaxed himself and his quirk, which led to me helping him to the medical ward for treatment. Despite the ferocity of their fight, the most serious wound he has receive is at most the near second-degree burn around his gut where he took that Howitzer Impact move. Surprisingly, no broken bones at all.
Guess Bakugou has learned since that fateful Battle Training lesson…
"There you go." She tells Taikou as she drops a few sugar gummies into his hand, my childhood friend having bandages wrapped around his gut, "They aren't as serious as I thought, but I suggest you get plenty of rest. Can't have you passing out during award ceremony now."
"I will." He nodded as he pops in one of the gummies. He then turns to me, "Are you going to watch the finals?"
"Nah, I think I'll stay here and rest up as well." I stated as I stretch out my back, "I think I have enough excitement for one day."
"The beds are free, if you want to take a snooze." Recovery Girl tells me, "But no hanky-panky business. I've yet to change the sheets for the beds since I joined, and I'm not starting now."
"Uwah, gross!" Taikou gagged, "There's no way I'm doing the dirty with her!"
"Same here!" I shuddered at the thought, "It's like banging my brother… that's just disgusting…"
"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." She shrugged her shoulders as she sat down at a table and start going through some papers, "Just keep quiet, okay?"
With that said, I lay down on the bed next to Taikou's and closed my eyes, letting myself slowly drift off into slumber.
Only to wake up minutes later when the medical ward's door is slammed open.
"Taikou, you here!?"
Tetsutetsu's voice echoes all over the ward much to our agony. Behind him are a few of Class 1-B's students, some I recognized like their class president and Pony, as well as that one black haired girl from the Cavalry Battle, but the last couple of them aren't known to me.
"Keep your voices down!"
"Ah! Haha… sorry…"
While the metal powered teen is getting scolded by Recovery Girl, Pony walks up to him and asked, "How are you doing, Taikou?"
"Yup. Just peachy, until you guys barged in and woke me up." He grumbles out.
"Ahaha… sorry…" She nervously laughed.
"You sure you are fine, Naru?" Kendo asked him, "That last attack looks like it really struck hard."
"Yeah, that got to hurt. Like, a lot!" A sharp-eyed girl stated with a chuckle, the black-haired girl nodded in agreement.
"Oh, it hurt." Taikou laughed, "But they are mostly flesh wounds, nothing too severe. Recovery Girl healed me up in no time at all!"
"If you say so." She shrugged her shoulders, before turning her attention to me, "Oh, aren't you from Class 1-A?"
"Ah, hi." I greeted with a smile, "I'm Tatsuya Genko."
"Oh, right! You're the girl who got out of that ice but got froze over anyway!" She points out with a laugh, oblivious of the verbal stabs she has inflicted on me.
"Tokage, watch your words." Kendo scolded, before turning to me, "Sorry for that. I believe we've never truly introduced ourselves. I'm Kendo Itsuka, Class 1-B's class representative."
"Name's Tokage Setsuna." The sharp-eyed girl greeted, "Nice to meet ya."
"Kodai Yui." The black-haired girl spoke softly.
"I'm Honenuki Juzo." The blonde teen that looks like Eren Jaeger's titan form greets me, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."
I bowed my head in response to their greetings, "Pleased to meet you all."
"Huh. That's quite a change in character." Tokage noted, "You're a completely different person during the Sport Festival."
"My mom drilled me on proper manners my entire childhood that it's second nature." I explained to her.
"So, why are you guys all here?" Taikou asked his classmates, "Aren't you going to watch the finals?"
"Not when it's just Class 1-A's people out there." Tetsutetsu stated, "Just seeing them on that stage grinds my gears, especially that Bakugou fellow…"
"Also, we want to discuss some things involving our class." Kendo added.
I blinked before quickly turning away and blocking my ears with the pillow, "Don't mind me. I won't hear a thing."
"It's not that confidential, Tatsuya-san." She assures me, "Besides, it involves your class too."
"Huh? Really? What is it?"
"Well, after discussing among ourselves, we have come to an agreement that we should try and work together with Class 1-A." Kendo explains, to my surprise, "We wanted to ask if you are okay with that, considering your beef with Bakugou Katsuki…"
"I'm down with that, no problem!" Taikou nodded, "But isn't Monoma…?"
"He agrees, if a bit reluctantly." Tokage explains, "He then went on a tirade of how this would help them in overtaking Class 1-A or something."
"Yup, that sounds like something he would do…"
"What do you say, Tatsuya-san?" Kendo turns to me, "Any objections?"
"Not from me personally." I stated before frowning a little, "But I can't say for certain about the rest of my class. You might want to check with our class representative for that." Not that Iida wouldn't mind. In fact, I think he'll be delighted to go through with it. The only problem would be Bakugou, for obvious reasons…
Can't see that going too well with him…
"I see. Then I'll check with him after the festival–"
*BOOOOOOOOOMMMM*
The entire room shook for a moment, much to our surprise.
"What the hell was that!?" Tetsutetsu cried out in shock.
"My guess is that Bakugou did that same move from the semi-finals." I pointed out.
Not much of a guess than I'm certain that it is the case. Which means that the Finals will be over soon enough. And the Awards Ceremony would begin shortly…
"I still can't believe that you took that attack and can still walk it off like it was nothing." Tokage says to Taikou with a grimace, "I don't anyone except for maybe Tetsutetsu could tank that no problem. And even that's a stretch."
"Hey! Are you implying that I'm weaker than that blonde dickhead!?"
"Lower down your voice! This is the medical ward, not the stadium!"
"Ack! S-Sorry…"
"He's faking it, you know." I pointed out to her, ignoring my childhood friend's cry in shock, "He would have collapsed in the hallway if I didn't support him all the way here."
"H-Hey! Genko!"
"I thought he was acting strangely…" Kendo noted.
"Stubborn and prideful." Kodai noted softly, "Like all men."
The door to the ward then opened again, with Shinsou walking in ready to say something, only to close his mouth when he saw the Class 1-B's students around Taikou. With his eyebrow raised, he asked:
"When did you became a harem protagonist?"
I found myself howling in laughter at that comment, much to Taikou's embarrassment.
"Now, let's all move on to the Awards Ceremony!"
I felt a sweat slide down my cheek as I watch Bakugou struggle against his metal bindings with a ferocity of a caged beast. If weren't for the mouth gag, I'm sure he would be cursing up a storm that would be a nightmare to censor for the broadcast team.
Though I can't say that about the paparazzi taking our pictures, though…
After that explosion, the final match is officially over and everyone is called to gathered in the stadium for the last ceremony and the closing speech afterwards. Both me and Taikou are to ascend to the podium together at third place, while Todoroki and Bakugou are to be at the second place and first place podiums respectively.
Of course, the blonde delinquent was putting up quite a fight to not go up on to the podium. So much so that Midnight has to put him to sleep with her quirk before he is chained and bind up onto the podium against his will.
I'm not sure that is ethical in any way, but with how much Bakugou is screaming and struggling, I don't blame them for doing it.
"Man, I've seen stray dogs more tamed that him…" Taikou whispers to my ear, which I nodded in agreement.
"And… Presenting the medals this year is… you know who…!"
"HAAHAHAHA!"
A boisterous laugh echoes all around the stadium, a large figure leaped off the stadium roof with poise and cartwheels down.
"I AM–"
"He's everyone's hero–"
"–HERE WITH–"
"All Might!"
"–THE MEDALS!"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"…"
"Snrk."
I let out a snort as I struggles to keep my laughter from exploding at how awkward they did at delivering that announcement. For being the charismatic Symbol of Peace, All Might sure can be a really awkward goof at times. Guess that's part of his charm, I suppose.
Regardless, I was able to calm myself in time for All Might to come up to us with our respective medals.
"Congratulations, Tatsuya-shoujo!" He says to me as he hung the bronze medal around my neck, "You are a really strong fighter, and your use of your quirk is ingenious! But ingenuity could only go so far. You got to work on covering your weaknesses too. Understand?"
"Yes. I do." I nodded as he gave me a hug and a pat on the back.
He then did the same to Taikou, complimenting on his tenacity and fight-or-flight decision making skills, while advising on overdoing it with his quirk. He must have been watching the match to notice that.
Todoroki took a little longer, with more words exchanged that most likely have something to do with his family's situation. Nothing else can be said before All Might just gave him a tighter hug while patting him softly.
And then, there's Bakugou.
It's pretty obvious that he really didn't like how he came first place, and with one heck of an expression to match. If I were to describe it, it would be like a bomb just a few ticks away from blowing everyone to kingdom come. Naturally, he didn't want to accept the medal as his win isn't 'worth it', but All Might forcefully made him take it anyway by hanging it on his jaws.
Well, as long it is on his person, I suppose…
"Well! These are your winners!" All Might addresses to the audience, "But hold on, everyone! Everyone here today has the potential to be standing up here! As you all witnessed! Competition! Encouragement! Pushing each other to climb higher and higher! The sprouts of today will grow into the Heroes of tomorrow!"
"And in that spirit, let's all give one final cheer! Everyone, say it with me! One, two, and…!"
With a pump of his fist, the entire stadium shook with a 'single' cheer.
"PLUS ULTRA–"THANKS FOR THE HARD WORK!""
"We're supposed to say 'Plus Ultra', All Might!"
"Read the mood!"
"Oh, right… it's just they worked really hard and I wanted to… you know…"
"PFF-HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"
This time, I couldn't stop my laughter at all.
After the closing ceremony, the Sport Festival officially ended.
Every student is ushered back to our respective classes, changed back into our uniforms before gathering in our classrooms for further debriefing from our homeroom teachers.
As we waited about in the classroom for either Aizawa or dad to arrive, Midoriya for some reason walks up to my seat, bandages all over his body with an arm in a sling and limping on one foot, "Tatsuya-san."
"Hm? What is it?" I asked.
"Um… I-I wanted to say… I'm sorry."
Sorry? Why is he apologizing all of the sudden? "Why the sudden apology?"
"After you willingly given me so much advice, help me so much, I still… I couldn't even make it past the quarter-finals…" He stated with a sense of somber in his tone before bowing down in front of me, "I ended up wasting all your time for nothing… for that, I'm sorry…"
"Deku-kun…" Uraraka muttered from behind him.
"…" I let out a small sigh at that, "Midoriya-san."
"Hm?"
The moment he raises his head, I flicked his forehead hard.
"Ow! W-Wha-?"
"That's for being an idiot, you loveable doofus." I stated before smiling at him, "It's not a waste if you improved, is it not? You may not have beaten Todoroki, but you have put up quite a bit of a fight regardless. Compared to how you are at the start of the semester, that's a huge improvement."
"I think so too!" Uraraka stated, "You have really improved, Deku-kun! And your fight with Todoroki is jaw-dropping!"
"I agree." Tsuyu nodded.
"That's right!" Iida shouted in agreement with his hands waving wildly, "You did amazingly well in the Festival! Do not let one loss put you down! You are a wonderful student of the Hero Course and I would not let you forget it!"
"As would I!" Kirishima agrees with a loud flex, "Your match was amazing, Midoriya! You are a man amongst man!"
"Quite a beautiful match, that it was~!" Aoyama noted with a pose and wink, "Magnifique!"
"Same here!" Sato nodded.
"You guys…"
"Speaking matches, whose match do you think is the best?" Hagakure asked, "I personally find Kirishima's and Ojirou's fight absolutely amazing!"
"Really? I honestly find the match between Midoriya-kun and that Class C's Shinsou to be amazing!" Ashido noted, "You didn't expect to see a martial arts fight in the tournament, after all! With them flipping each other over and over again like that!"
"Don't forget Tatsuya's fight with Iida!" Sero stated, "Man, I never think he could move like that before!"
The class burst into discussions on the matches in the tournament, Midoriya's little apology fades into the background. I turned to him, giving him a hard pat on the back, "You did good, Midoriya-san. Never forget that."
"O-Of course!"
The classroom door slides open as a bandaged Aizawa walked in with a firm stare under his overly bandaged face. "To your seats, all of you."
With that command, everyone all rushes back to our seats and sat up straight by the time he got to the podium, quietly awaiting whatever our homeroom teacher has to say.
"…7 seconds…" He muttered, "A small improvement, but still a bit too slow."
"Aizawa-sensei." Tsuyu raises her hand and asked, "Is it alright for you to be walking about?"
"Technically speaking, no. But regardless of my condition, I'm still your homeroom teacher and I need to brief you on a few things before you are let off to your long weekend." He pointed out, "In the light of that, I like to inform you all that you will be given tomorrow and the next day off to rest from the festival. Scouting reports and such from the Pro Heroes will be waiting for you after the break, so look forward to that when you come back."
"Other than that, I like to remind you all to watch yourself during the break and not do anything rash that would ruin your chances of become Pro Heroes." He added on sternly, "The entire nation now knows your name and what you can do, so try not to damage any good reputation to manages to achieve for yourself. Am I clear on that front?"
""Yes, sir!""
"Good. With that, I bid you all a wonderful break."
With those last words, we all start packing up and leaving the classroom. As I pick up my bag, my mind wanders to what's next in the timeline.
After this would be the Stain Arc, also known as the Workplace Experience Arc. Originally in canon, Iida went on a revenge quest against the Hero Killer to avenge his brother's forced retirement from the Hero business. He would be confronted with a life changing lesson would strength his resolve to be a Pro Hero worthy of the Ingenium's name.
But here, thanks perhaps to me enrolling and catching the attention of his brother, Iida wouldn't be going on a revenge spree due to Stain not attacking Ingenium as he is here in Musutafu, and not in Hosu. As such, I highly doubt he would actively seek out Stain, and that alone would change his character a fair bit.
After all, it is due to his experience with dealing with Stain that helps him in the mid-terms practical.
Most importantly, it was due to him seeking out the Hero Killer that finally put him behind bars in the first place. Sure, it nearly got him, Midoriya and Todoroki into a whole lot of legal troubles, but the anti-hero is off the streets in the end. If the events that would unfold didn't happen, that's a good chance that Stain would remain uncaptured, leading to more Hero deaths and would worsen the aftermath of All Might's retirement.
I can't just ask Iida to chase Stain and hope that it would go according to canon, and I do not know anything about the Hero Killer's whereabouts besides what the general public already knows, so I can't just tip the police and expect them and the Heroes to find and put him behind bars. Sure, I would know who would target next, but who knows how much the timeline as changed from my existence.
For all we know, he would go after Ingenium after all.
That leaves only one option. And that's…
"Hey, Tatsuya? You okay?"
"Hm?"
A hand waved in front of me, I turned up to see Kirishima with a small concerned frown on his face, "You are staring at your bag for at least a minute now. Almost everyone has gone home."
I took a good look around, seeing the nearly empty classroom with exceptions to Tsuyu, who has a similarly concerned look on her face, Iida, Midoriya and Uraraka. Aoyama is there in the background as well, with a fabulous pose as the usual for him.
"Oh, I'm fine." I assures him, "I'm just thinking about the scouting reports Aizawa-sensei mentioned."
"Ah, that." He nods, "Yup, it's nerve-wrecking, isn't it? Well, I don't think you have to worry about it. With what you have done up to the semi-finals, there's no doubt that all the Pros would want you!"
"Is that so?" I chuckles, "Thanks, Kirishima-san."
"No problem!" He grins before taking off, "Well, I'll see you after the break!"
"Yeah, take care!"
As he left, Tsuyu turns to me with her finger under her chin, her habit when pondering about something from what I've observed. She didn't say much, just a small farewell croak before leaving the room. Midoriya and his two close friends left as well, not before the freckled cinnamon roll took one more look at me before turning away.
After all that, I took my bag and proceed to exit the classroom, my plans for the Stain Arc still rolling in my head.
…
To Be Continued…
Omake
"I'm soooooo proud of you!"
Taikou grunts as he and Genko are smushed against each other into the cleavage of Midnight, with Shinsou watching in amusement. For a normal and hormonal teenage boy, such a thing would be heaven on earth. But due being desensitized from being with her since he was little and already well acquainted with her overall sex appeal, it's more akin to torture to him.
When you get smushed into the same valley of breasts for most of his childhood, you would grown used to it eventually.
After the three friends meet up and was about to leave the campus, Midnight shows up and proceeds to give them the biggest embrace she could give to him and her niece. Shinsou was lucky enough to escape her grasps, leaving only the two suffocated in her arms.
'That damn son of a bitch…'
"N-Nemuri-nee!" Genko grunted out from her face pressed against the voluptuous chest, "I can't breathe!"
"Oh, I can't believe you have done it!" She cries in happiness, Midnight still in her full Hero costume, "To think that those precious little kids from so long ago has come this far! OH! The youthfulness of it all! It makes me so–"
"Okay, that's too far." Her cousin tells him as Maki pulls her away and freeing the two childhood friends, both Taikou and Genko taking the moment to sucking in as much air as they can, "Nemuri, control yourself."
"Tch, you're no fun."
In the background, Mineta could only cries tears of blood as he watched. "Damn that normie…! I hope you explode, Taikou!"
There! Finally, Sports Festival is finished! Sorry if this is quick chapter, as I didn't feel that adding Todoroki fighting Bakugou is going to add to anything since it's still play out as in canon.
As for why there's no fight to determine who gets third and fourth place, it is stated in canon that both Iida and Tokoyami are going to be on the third-place podium if weren't for the whole Ingenium getting critically injured thing going on. So, I just have my two OCs up there on the podium.
Now, with this, I can finally start writing the Stain Arc, which means it's time for me to decide who my SI is going to be interning with. (Although, it is stated that it is not internship and more akin to an on-the-job training regimen)
That being said, I have already an idea who it would be, if the last couple of chapters didn't give you enough hints. If you guys have any ideas on who it should be, please let me know. I'll put your ideas into consideration.
Although, I'm sad to say that I'm going to put this story on hiatus for a while.
I'm not abandoning this fic, far from it. I'm just going to take a short break on this fic to focus on another fic I have an idea for. It'll be out soon, so stay alert!
As for what fic it would be, you just have to wait and see.
With that, I thank you for reading this!
