Chapter 35: In the Vines of the Angels

"Midoriya, you're back!" Sato exclaimed happily as I descended the stairs into our suite, prompting a chorus of greetings from my other classmates.

Giving them a small wave of acknowledgement, I pointedly ignored the cheshire grin Jiro was sending me from beside a mortified Momo and walked over to sit beside Ojiro.

"You made it just in time, man." Ojiro said, pointing down to the field where Iida and Shiozaki were just exiting their respective tunnels.

I blinked in surprise before turning to Ojiro. "They're just starting? It's been almost an hour. I figured I'd be lucky to catch Todoroki and Kirishima's fight."

Leaning over the back of the empty seat beside Ojiro, Sero gave me an incredulous look. "Dude, you and Bakugou blew up half the arena. Cementoss literally just finished fixing it five minutes before you got here."

"I mean, I was a bit shell shocked from the giant explosion. Not to mention my arm was shattered. So forgive me if I wasn't paying much attention to the field." I countered defensively.

"You are way too casual about breaking your limbs, man." Kaminari observed uneasily.

"Meh, you get used to it." I replied with a dismissive wave.

"Yeah, I think I'd rather not…" He trailed off just as Present Mic's voice boomed over the announcement system, presenting the two competitors.

Taking stock of my classmates, I noted that all of my fellow quarter finalists were absent. Getting ready for their own matches, I presume. Uraraka is also still resolutely avoiding eye contact with me, or anyone else for that matter. Great…

"Begin!"

Focusing back on the field, I watched Iida drop into his starting stance.

Well this should be-

Before I could finish the thought, Iida shot forward like a bullet towards Shiozaki. The vine-haired girl waited serenely, her hands clasped together in silent prayer as she watched him close the distance.

My eyes narrowed quizzically before widening in realization.

"Oh shit…" I muttered.

Ojiro turned to me with a questioning look, but before he could ask what was wrong, Shiozaki's hair plunged into the concrete beneath her. An instant before Iida reached her, the vines exploded from the ground beneath him. Iida reacted immediately, but his maneuverability was crippled by his sheer momentum. Unable to adjust his course, Iida attempted to jump over the emerging vines, only to be grasped around the ankles as he flew over Shiozaki's head.

Iida cut his engines in a desperate attempt to prevent them from propelling him out of bounds, but without the use of his quirk and entirely at the mercy of Shiozaki's vines, the fight was decided. A moment later, Shiozaki unceremoniously dumped Iida head first outside of the boundary, ending the match.

The crowd roared its approval while murmurs of shock rippled through the Class 1-A suite, multiple students expressing their disbelief that Iida had been defeated so decisively.

It makes sense, all things considered. The canon fight had been ridiculous. Maybe if Shiozaki had no clue what Iida's quirk was, he could have caught her off guard, but with Engine on full display throughout the day, he was always going to run into a phalanx of vines.

Deranged laughter pierced the din of the crowd, drawing the attention of our suite to the dividing wall between ourselves and Class 1-B.

"Well would you look at that? Looks like Class 1-B will have someone in the semifinal after all! So much for 1-A's so-called 'superiority'!" Monoma taunted over the barrier.

His hysterics continued for several more seconds before a hand appeared over Monoma's shoulder and chopped into his pressure point, rendering him paralyzed. Just as she had after Shiozaki's fight with Kaminari, Kendo appeared over the divider.

"Sorry, again. My fault for not keeping an eye on him." She apologized sheepishly.

I chuckled at the bewildered looks many of my classmates were sending towards Monoma's slumped form before turning back to the field where Tokoyami and Ashido were being hurriedly ushered into the arena.

"Alright folks, due to the delays we've experienced in the previous rounds, we're going to roll right into the next match!"

My curiosity piqued after Shiozaki's unexpected victory, but the remaining quarterfinal matches proceeded without much in the way of surprises. Just as in canon, Ashido was simply no match for Dark Shadow, and while Kirishima versus Todoroki was novel, there was little in the way of excitement to be had from Todoroki trapping Kirishima in a tower of ice. Mercifully, Todoroki seemed to be in far better control of his emotions this time around, and it didn't take long for him to melt Kirishima out of his frozen prison.

Inhaling deeply, I steeled myself for what was to come. Stepping out of the tunnel, my ears were immediately assaulted by the roar of the crowd. I noticed a few scattered attempts at getting a chant going, but all of them failed to materialize. Sending silent thanks to my father for having a name with an inconvenient number of syllables, I made my way to my starting position in the arena.

Coming to a halt across from Shiozaki, I attempted to raise my voice over the crowd. "Good luck!"

Shiozaki smiled softly and gave a shallow bow before replying in her usual demure tone that, through some form of black magic, was able to carry its way to my ears. "May the Lord watch over you and grant you strength."

Or maybe it's through divine grace with her…

Flashing a bright smile of my own, I shouted back. "May He guide you as well!"

She blinked in surprise at my response. Ignoring Present Mic's call for the match to begin, Shiozaki continued, now far more intelligible as the crowd had calmed in anticipation of the opening move.

"You are a true believer, as well?" She asked excitedly.

"Of course! He's the reason I'm here, after all." I replied with a smirk.

Chuckling at her confused look, I channeled eight percent and pushed off the ground, propelling myself across the field. Snapping out of her befuddlement, Shiozaki plunged her vines into the ground. Flipping my legs in front of me, I brought them back to earth and skidded to a halt halfway between my starting position and Shiozaki.

"Oh ho, looks like Midoriya remembers how Shiozaki grabbed Iida in midair! I guess he doesn't want the same thing to happen to him!" Present Mic proclaimed through the announcement system.

Smiling widely at his erroneous observation, I held my ground, gambling that Shiozaki would make the same mistake as Present Mic. No more than a second later, vines erupted from beneath me, aiming straight for my head.

Smart girl. She knows that if she wraps me up I can just break my way out, so she's going for the knockout. Smart, but pointless.

Surging twelve percent into my right arm, I reached out and grabbed a hold of the approaching vines before yanking upwards as hard as I could. The result was instantaneous, and Shiozaki jerked backwards, slamming head first into the ground, earning a collective 'ooh' from the crowd.

Walking leisurely over to her, I found Shiozaki splayed across the concrete, blinking tightly to try and clear her head.

Ouch. Yeah, that's a nasty concussion. Thank God for Recovery Girl.

Waving over to Midnight, the heroine descended from the referee podium and made her way towards us. Checking over the still dazed Shiozaki, Midnight gestured to the waiting medical bots and raised her whip into the air.

"Shiozaki is unable to battle. Midoriya advances to the final!" She declared.

The audience roared, and I winced sympathetically for how that must have felt to Shiozaki's concussed mind. Hesitating briefly, I mouthed a silent apology to the girl before raising my arm in victory, further increasing the decibels crushing down on us from above.

Uninterested in worsening what was already certain to be developing tinnitus, I waited for Shiozaki to be loaded onto a stretcher by the medical bots before making my way off the field and back up towards the class suite.

Arriving at our floor, I noticed Iida leaning against the wall beside the stairwell, his eyes downcast.

"Iida? Is everything alright?" I asked concernedly.

Wait… Shit, that's right! I forgot about his brother! Stain crippled him during the Sports Festival.

Lifting his head, I almost recoiled at the haunted look in Iida's eyes. Pushing away from the wall, he turned to face me, his normally ramrod straight posture slouched and trembling.

Ignoring my question, Iida responded with one of his own. "Midoriya, I was waiting for you. Do you have a moment?"

"Yeah of course. What's up?" I asked, ascending the final stairs to join him on the landing.

Iida didn't respond immediately, instead dipping his head back down to stare miserably at his feet.

Fuck. I can't believe I forgot about this. Is there anything I could have done even if I remembered? Pondering the thought, I quickly came to a negative conclusion. Even if I found some way to warn Tensei that Stain is in Hosu, he's a pro hero. He would have just gone after the Hero Killer anyway.

"I didn't want to make a scene with the rest of the class." Iida said, his head still lowered. "As our class representative, I know I should have brought this to Yaoyorozu as well, but…" His words trailed off, fueling my growing apprehension.

Iida acted like everything was fine in canon. This is the exact opposite. Did he just put on a brave face because he was class rep?

"You don't have to explain. We're friends, and you know I'm here for you." I reassured him with a forced smile I hoped was more encouraging than it felt.

Finally raising his head, my stomach dropped at the tears streaming down Iida's face.

"My brother is dead."