Chapter 31: Victory and Defeat, Triumph and Turmoil
"Ready? Begin!" Present Mic announced through the speakers.
Standing a few paces across from me, Shinso rubbed his neck in resignation. "Well, I guess we better get this over with."
"I forgot to ask earlier, but I assume you'd rather I use my quirk? If you want, I'm down to fight quirkless." I offered with a sympathetic smile.
Shinso chuckled ruefully and shook his head. "It wouldn't make much of a difference. Besides, it'll be embarrassing for you to win in half a second, but that's better than you not using your quirk at all."
"Well, technically, it's already been like fifteen seconds." I replied with a wry grin as I dropped into my battle stance.
Snorting in amusement, Shinso lowered his head. "Midoriya… Thanks. It means a lot that you trust me enough to even talk to me right now."
I shrugged dismissively. "You don't strike me as the type to take advantage of a friend's trust."
With a small gust of wind, I shot forward, noting the shadow of a smile on Shinso's lips before I dragged him across the arena and placed him just outside the boundary.
"Shinso is out of bounds! Midoriya advances to the next match!" Midnight declared from the referee podium, cooing in delight when I helped Shinso to his feet.
As expected, the applause from the crowd was polite but incredibly muted, and Present Mic quickly shared his opinion on how anticlimactic the match had been.
"I'll meet you outside the 1-A classroom at lunch next Monday. We can talk to Aizawa then." I said, only needing to raise my voice slightly in order to be heard over the disappointed crowd.
Shinso nodded his agreement and we both headed back towards our respective tunnels. Deciding to wait near the entrance for Uraraka to arrive for her match against Katsuki, I brightened when All Might came into view, waving to me in his cartoonishly oversized suit from a hallway adjacent to the entrance tunnel.
"Hey, All Might. How's the show been so far?" I asked as I walked over.
All Might smiled at me fondly but remained silent for a moment before placing a spindly hand on my shoulder. "I know I say this a lot, but I'm so proud of you, young Izuku."
Even after nearly a year in this world, All Might's praise never fails to lift my spirits.
"I haven't won yet. There's still a long way to go." I reminded him bashfully.
Shaking his head, All Might pointed in the direction of the field. "No, what you said during the commencement address. That is what I'm proud of. The first two events too, of course, but your words for your fellow students exceeded anything I could have imagined. Win or lose, you have already made your debut as the Symbol of Peace. Decades from now, when future generations are looking back on your career, they will point to that moment as when you first captured the hearts of the people."
I fidgeted uncomfortably under my mentor's praise. "I thought it came out as a bit pretentious and pandering if I'm being honest. I sounded like a politician."
All Might chuckled and ruffled my hair. "You did great, young Izuku. You have nothing to worry about."
Smiling gratefully, I made to reply when All Might perked up, tilting his head to listen for something. Looking over his shoulder, I recognized the shadow on the wall heading towards us.
"Go big." I whispered.
Immediately, All Might inflated into his muscle form, just as Uraraka rounded the corner.
"Oh, Deku, All Might. I didn't know you were here. Sorry if I'm interrupting!" She apologized frantically.
"Nonsense, young Uraraka! I was just congratulating young Midoriya on his performance thus far in the tournament." All Might reassured her with an elaborate thumbs up.
"Oh, that's right. Congratulations on your win, Deku! Sorry, my head's all over the place right now." Uraraka said as she rubbed the back of her head with a forced laugh.
Sensing her trepidation, All Might spoke up again. "I know you face an intimidating foe, but fear not, young Uraraka! He is far from invincible. Use the knowledge you have gained from your schooling thus far, and trust in yourself and your abilities. I know you have what it takes to give young Bakugou far more than he bargained for."
With a weak smile that didn't quite reach her eyes, Uraraka nodded.
"I know Katsuki's quirk better than my own. If you want any tips…" I trailed off, leaving the open-ended offer on the table.
Uraraka lowered her head, obscuring her eyes behind her bangs. No more than a couple seconds later, she looked back up, a bit of determination having found its way onto her features.
"Thank you so much, Deku, but no. Sorry." She declined politely. "I've been thinking. Whether by chance or by choice, we're constantly paired up together. Don't get me wrong, I love teaming up with you, but I think I've been relying on you in order to get by."
Present Mic's voice sounded over the loudspeakers in preparation to begin the next match, and Uraraka slowly walked past All Might and I towards the field. I noticed All Might take a half step forward, struggling with how to help his distraught student, but I held out my arm to cut him off.
She needs this. Everyone reaches a point in their life where they need to fail on their own, without anyone else's interference.
Halfway down the tunnel, Uraraka turned back with a wavering smile and raised a trembling thumbs up. "I'll see you in the next round."
With what I hoped was a far more convincing smile than hers, I flashed Uraraka a thumbs up of my own. "You got this."
She most decidedly did not have it.
Just like in canon, Katsuki blew apart half of the field on route to defeating Uraraka relatively comfortably. While he had been forced to exert himself far more than he might have liked, she had never come particularly close to laying a hand on him.
Not like it would have mattered anyway. I never understood Uraraka's strategy for this fight, even prior to coming to this world. She wanted to get a hand on Katsuki so she could float him out of bounds, but Katsuki is not only fully capable of maneuvering in midair with his explosions, he excels at it. He would need a brief moment to adjust to the change in acceleration brought on by being weightless, but he's adaptable enough to compensate quickly. If anything, he'd be even more difficult to defeat if he were weightless. That fight only ever had one outcome.
Despite the predictable result, I couldn't help but feel bad watching my friend being carted off the field by medical bots.
"Poor Ochako. She must be so upset. Should we go see if she's okay? It'll be a while until Mr Cementoss can repair the field anyway." Asui asked the rest of the class from her seat next to Jiro.
I pondered the idea for a moment before shaking my head. "No, I don't think that's a good idea. Uraraka wanted to fight that match using nothing but her own power. She needs to process the aftermath in the same way. Besides, U.A. brought her parents out for the festival, so I imagine she'll want to talk to them first. If we go see her now, we'll just be interrupting. Give her some time to settle. She'll be back up here with us before you know it."
Asui brought an elongated finger to her chin in thought and nodded hesitantly. "I see what you mean, but I still feel sorry for her. I wish there was something we could do."
"It's important to be there for your classmates when they need you, but it's equally important for each of us to be able to come to terms with failure in our own way. Some of us will need a shoulder to cry on today, but others will need to reflect on their defeat in solitude. I believe Uraraka to be one of the latter." I replied earnestly.
"Wise words." Tokoyami intoned from beside me.
His agreement seemingly settled the matter, and the class fell into idle chatter while Cementoss repaired the field. It wasn't long before Katsuki returned, looking only marginally worse for wear.
"Hey, Bakugou. Playing the villain, huh? Must've been tough." Sero teased over his shoulder as the blonde stomped his way down the steps into our suite.
"Even if it was just because of who you were up against, you did make a pretty convincing bad guy." Asui added.
"Shut up, you idiots! Or else!" Katsuki spat back before fixing his glare on me.
"It was your idea, wasn't it?" He growled. "That stupid, desperate plan of hers. You would come up with something that annoying. Next round I'm gonna-"
"No, actually." I interjected bluntly. "Uraraka came up with that plan herself. I'll give you the same advice I gave Todoroki. Don't underestimate anyone here, Katsuki, or you may quickly find yourself regretting it."
Bakugou scowled but made no reply, holding my gaze a moment longer before clicking his tongue and angrily dropping into a seat as far away from anyone else as he could.
The matches that followed proceeded in much the same way as I remembered from the anime. Kaminari had been thoroughly embarrassed by Shiozaki, but the true entertainment came from Iida's match with Hatsume. There were moments during the eccentric inventor's de facto gadget expo that I legitimately feared I may die of laughter. Mercifully, I did survive, though I was left wondering why Mei hadn't taken one of her many opportunities to defeat Iida and progress to the next round of the tournament.
I get she only wanted to make the knockouts in order to show off her inventions, but given the bracket, she probably could have made it to the semi-final. The hype around her would have been massive.
While I contemplated whether or not to inform Hatsume of the missed opportunity, the speakers buzzed to life once more and the next match began.
"We're gonna charge right along to the fifth match!" Present Mic began, eliciting thunderous applause from the audience. "Let's hope that gaudy belt serves some kinda purpose. It's Yuga Aoyama from the hero course!"
I snickered as the flamboyant blonde posed and preened for the cameras. Given how tumultuous his true self-image was, the ability to maintain a constant air of superiority was rather impressive.
"Versus! Is there some kinda purpose for those things sticking out of her head? From the same class, Mina Ashido!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the stadium, sending the audience into a frenzy as the two students below prepared for battle.
Seriously, though, what is up with her horns? Reminds me of Joker asking Liara about her hair tentacle things in Mass Effect 3…
"Come on, Mina! You can do it!" Asui shouted.
"Don't show her any mercy, Aoyama!" Mineta screamed from where he was now standing on his seat. "Fight like you're in one of those video games where everyone's clothes get beaten off!"
Without hesitation, I channeled one percent into my finger and fired off a Delaware Smash into Mineta's legs, sending him tumbling head over heels off the seat. Only timely intervention from one of Shoji's arms spared Mineta's face a rather painful convergence with the concrete floor.
I have to be careful not to bully the kid, but holy shit does he make it difficult not to punch him.
By the time the commotion had died down from Mineta's brush with death, the match was practically over. I turned back to the action just in time to watch Ashido ring Aoyama's bell with a surprisingly vicious uppercut.
"Wow, Mina is amazing." Asui exclaimed.
Mineta abruptly slammed his fists on his knees, drawing all eyes in our suite to the trembling boy. "I got to see panties, but why were they his?"
"Oh, for crying out loud." Jiro groaned in exasperation.
"Careful, Mineta, otherwise Midoriya might send you flying again." Sato cautioned worriedly.
Turning his nose up to the sky, Mineta looked to be fighting back tears as he replied miserably. "May as well. At this rate, I'll have nothing to show for this entire stupid tournament!"
A renewed bout of sighs and scoffs of disgust erupted behind me, but my focus had returned to the field where Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami were already making their way out of their respective tunnels.
Uraraka needed to prove to herself that she could fight Katsuki without anyone else's help. That loss will sting for a while, but it was good for her at the end of the day. Yaoyorozu's near instant defeat at the hands of Tokoyami on the other hand…
Running a hand through my hair tiredly, I released a heavy sigh. Is this how Aizawa feels, like, all the time? It's very psychologically draining.
"How do you think this one will end? Any clue?" Ojiro asked as he leaned over the back of the chair next to me.
"Depends." I replied plainly. "Yaoyorozu can beat Tokoyami as easily as I did Shinso, but only if she has time to think. If Tokoyami starts on the offensive, I doubt Yaoyorozu will be able to adjust. Either way, this will be over within thirty seconds."
I saw Ojiro double take and gape at me in surprise out of the corner of my eye, but I kept my focus on Tokoyami and Yaoyorozu as they stepped into the battle area.
"Sixth match, begin!" Present Mic heralded.
I briefly wondered if the changes I had made since coming to this world would result in a different outcome, but that theory was quickly discarded as Dark Shadow lashed forward, striking against the small shield Yaoyorozu created on her forearm. Utilizing the momentum from his attacks, Dark Shadow looped around and continued raining down blows directly onto her shield, forcing Yaoyorozu backwards towards the boundary.
"And that's it. Game over." I stated impassively.
A few seconds later, canon held true, and Yaoyorozu stumbled backwards just far enough for her back foot to cross the line.
"Yaoyorozu, you're out!" Midnight declared with a snap of her whip.
Given how she had so effortlessly dispatched several zero pointers in the first event, Yaoyorozu's swift defeat briefly rendered the crowd speechless, but a moment later applause erupted throughout the stadium once more.
With a polite bow to both his opponent and to Midnight, Tokoyami made his way off the field. Yaoyorozu remained frozen in place for several seconds before hanging her head and slowly walking back towards the tunnel.
"I bet she's really upset about how that went down. I feel bad for her." Ojiro said sadly.
"I can't believe she lost…" Jiro added dumbfoundedly.
Looking over, most of my classmates were wide-eyed in shock. Yaoyorozu had one of the most powerful quirks at U.A., so such a decisive defeat had been completely unexpected for most of them. The girls in particular seemed worried for their friend, with Jiro nervously twirling one of her earphone jacks around her finger and Hagakure and Asui fidgeting in their seats.
Yaoyorozu definitely needs to talk to someone, but who should it be? I originally planned to just have Jiro do it. She's Yaoyorozu's best friend and unlike any of the other girls, she'll actually be able to help Momo address her crisis of confidence instead of just throwing a pity party with her. But will Jiro know what to say? Most people overanalyze when they fail, but Momo is the exact opposite. In canon she stopped analyzing entirely and started doubting her every action.
I stroked my chin pensively as I looked over the rest of my class. Yaoyorozu likely didn't want to see anyone at the moment, let alone half the class, so sending multiple people was out of the question. Jiro was probably the best option in terms of getting Yaoyorozu to open up, but I knew from the anime that Jiro was not particularly comfortable discussing feelings. Unfortunately, I couldn't recall if that was merely in regards to her own emotions, or deep conversations as a whole.
But what about Momo? How will she respond if Jiro goes to her? They're close, but Yaoyorozu knows that most of the class looks up to her as a role model. She might bottle everything up if she thinks anyone is concerned about her. Our relationship is more equal, but that could be even worse if she feels like I'm only checking on her out of pity.
Looking over at Jiro, I saw her tapping her earphone jacks together, the contemplative look on her face likely a mirror of my own. Tossing aside the potential consequences, I made my decision.