It was a sunny day on the out of the way hamlet simply known as "X".
It had once had a proper name, but in the aftermath of the societal collapse, when millions died, and so many cities, towns and hamlets became ghost towns, this little place had been abandoned and resettled, abandoned and resettled time and again.
All the way until a Hero rose, who had stalwartly defended it.
Amongst Japan's first Pro-Heroes, he had only been known by the name X.
He had defended this town for decades upon decades, and as it had become resettled for good and all, in the aftermath of his death in the days after All Might's rise when peace truly returned to Japan, the citizens had renamed the place to its current name, after its number one son.
There was absolutely nothing of value in this town. It was, by any and all metrics, a town for farmers, surrounded by farmlands and the people who worked them.
In the days of chaos, that had made it very attractive for villains and thieves, but the days of mass famine, and with it the skyhigh price of food, were over.
Which was why the appearance and rampaging of a powerful villain was so surprising.
A massive, powerful boar man, impervious to the police's gunfire, and who's appearance had forced them to call in Heroes from nearby cities, as ironically enough, this town had none of its own at this point in time.
It was as he was holding a child over his head, and gloating, that suddenly a stranger to the town jumped through the air.
In an instant, all eyes were on him as he soared.
Villain, police, citizens, terrified child.
Then he brought down an umbrella and with a sound like a log hitting a stone, he SMASHED it down upon the criminal's neck!
Then, as he used the suddenly crumpling villain as a jumping post, he grabbed the child with one hand, and then landed on his feet.
"SAMU!"
A woman rushed up to him, and the stranger without asking any questions handed the screaming child over to her hands… Before turning back to the Villain, who had now turned every bit of attention at him with a murderous gaze.
"So… You wanna play Hero Kid?"
Said kid, leveled his umbrella at him wordlessly.
"THEN YOU CAN FUCKING DIE LIKE ONE!"
He charged, the woman behind the stranger flinched and twisted to put her own body between the giant monsterman and her kid.
The stranger though didn't move from the spot, and simply brought his arm back… Then stabbed forward, the umbrella hitting the charging boar man in the snout, a distinct sound of cracking bones followed as he came to a complete stop.
Then, without any further words, he brought the umbrella back and brought it under the man's body.
He flipped the massive frame into the air above him…
Then he roared, as he brought the weapon down… Before stabbing it skyhigh!
The impact sent the villain flying some good 27 meters into the air before he came SLAMMING DOWN upon the concrete.
A loud groan of pain emanating from him… But the young man did not seem to care, instead walking up to the nearby policeman.
"Officer."
He then unfurled a map, and held it up to his face.
"Do you know the way to Nerima? I'm Looking for a particular Dojo… But I'm Currently settling for simply finding the place itself first."
The policeman was taken aback… But decided to roll with it.
"Well, this overall map is… Wait… Nerima Tokyo? That's all the way to the East!?"
"And the way?" The boy asked calmly.
"Well… It's that way, and straight ahead for some 200 Miles, but…"
The man hadn't even finished when the lad began walking in that direction.
"Thank you officer. I will leave this foul knave in your custody. I have another prey to chase at the moment."
The townsfolk stared after him… Except for the woman whose child he had just saved, who cried after him words of thanks.
The policeman shook his head as he went to arrest the downed man and put him in cuffs.
"Man… The Heroes just become younger and younger, these days, don't they?"
The "Young Hero" in question continued his walk… Straight on east, and rather than following the road as it curved, he instead followed the direction literally, crossing mountains, forests and dales for the entire rest of the day.
I
As the days began to pass by, Izuku began to settle into his new life.
Getting up in the morning, eating a good, nice, nutritious and delicious meal, then go to school, usually crush Kuno in a duel on the days he actually came to fight by the entrance(Which was most days), then move on to the far more difficult battle against math, hang a bit back in class and after as he never really fully integrated into the local ecosystem at school, then after all was over, go home with Akane, eat, take a nice bath, do the homework from Hell, go to bed, get up in the morning, rinse repeat.
It was how most days went by.
Of course, there were complications… Sometimes a spar, sometimes he went out on a night walk after his endless fight with the demons of Math.
When he went out into the night, he sometimes saw some incredible things and fights, as he looked down on the city landscape from rooftops.
Heroes, villains, and just… Civilization.
It was a wonder, the modern world, that it was. One that most of its inhabitants took for granted.
Seeing it all from above, the lights, the movements, listening to the sounds of human beings, it felt unreal to finally be back where he belonged.
And then there were his interactions with his family… On both sides of the bed. Marriage or otherwise.
His mother seemed even more relieved than he was about being back to a solid, settled life, and had thrown herself eagerly into helping Kasumi out in the house… Though she had her own worries as well.
One they both shared was his father's… Not exactly perfect mental health.
The price for reopening his Ki flow after having deliberately sealed them for years had always been something that had taken its toll on his body ever since he did it, evident through his scarecrow-like appearance… But it had mostly been a physical thing. Until lately.
Now and again… His father would act and talk strangely, like he had in Tofu's clinic.
There wasn't really anything they could do about that.
Both mother and son understood though, the wordless worry neither actually spoke about to anyone.
How much longer would it be before the inevitable happened?
As for his in-laws…
He got along well enough with Soun, but his father, by coming marriage, was not as eager to share tales and experiences about his Hero days as Izuku had hoped.
He liked telling stories though.
Though those were generally stories of him and Hisashi's training days, from the time they met for the first time, their journeys through Japan's obscure and desolate regions, their victimization by a thief and a robber on the road, that had through a campfire argument and bet, had led to the creation of the Yama-Sen Ken and Umi-Sen Ken, and much more.
Few times did he willingly and eagerly delve into later periods of his life.
As for his relationship with his brides to be, they were a bit… Varied.
The one he got along best with by far was Kasumi… Though there were problems there as well.
The older girl had been in a darker mood than usual, ever since her turning down Tofu.
Izuku did not really know what sort of feelings she had on the matter… But he saw the melancholy on her face when there wasn't a task to be done, nor words to be said.
Whatever she felt, she was not entirely happy about it all.
Izuku was… Not really able to easily help her pick herself back up. He did not really know what to say to do that… But she seemed to perk up when he was around her. As if his mere presence helped her lessen doubts or internal arguments.
That said, if Kasumi was feeling down, it was nothing compared to Akane.
The girl was in a downer mood… And unlike Kasumi, it seemed Izuku being there just made it worse.
At least… He usually did.
She'd glower at him, look annoyed regardless of what he said or did, snipe at him, but… Sometimes when he talked to her she'd perk up, or look bashful if he said something nice to her… Or she'd act like she was happy he was there.
It was weird.
It also came and went with no discernable rhyme or reason.
At least that was not a problem he had with Nabiki.
Nabiki, despite what her sisters might claim, seemed rather straightforward to Izuku.
She liked cuddles, compliments, and money… And just flirting with him in general, and would find great amusement at him becoming tongue tied… But she also seemed to be spending a lot more of her time making Kuno miserable, than anything else.
He wasn't sure how he felt about that either.
On one hand, he understood it. Kuno was a massive dick. His continued talks at school proved he had learned nothing… But on the other hand… This was kinda straight up revenge. Not justice.
As for other people… Izuku wasn't really an outcast at school… But he didn't make any close friends either.
Ironically enough, the closest people he had there was Akane's own friend group who he was getting better and better along with every day, even if his relationship with Akane was uncertain and stormy at best.
He mostly kept to himself though… Waging his war on the school curriculum in silence.
And as for old friends outside school… It was a bit of a total miss.
He didn't have phone numbers of the people he had known before all of this began. Then again, given how young they had been last time he saw them, he kinda doubted Kacchan, Shinobu and Elle remembered him at all, and if that, probably just a fleeting memory.
As for people he had known in Japan during his trips throughout the Empire…
None of them seemed to be available.
Mei had not returned his calls since his confirmation that yes, he would be attending Yuei. Why, he had no idea.
Nagisa, the boy he'd learned the art of Sumo alongside, had apparently gotten engaged as well despite their similar ages… And whose fiancee had plainly told him to go to Hell when he'd explained his connection to him over the phone, before hanging up on him… He could only assume that potential marriage was even more on the rocks than his and Akane's relationship.
Ukyo didn't even have a phone, nor a permanent place of residence from what he recalled.
Neither did the 3 people living inside of Ryugenzawa. Then again… Even IF he had any particular wish to call up Shinnosuke, it wasn't like the forest keeper would have remembered him.
The grandfather had been a fun man, but the fact was, Izuku didn't have any interest in talking to the two men there.
And as for the third…
Whatever thoughts he had on seeing her, were irrelevant. Because she certainly did not want to see him.
And finally, there was the Hibikis.
Getting in touch with the family was actually pretty easy.
Well, in the sense he had called up their neighbor who had remembered him as "The boy Ryuga always chased", and informed him not too surprisingly that none of the Hibikis were currently home.
He'd have been shocked if they were.
And that was about it.
Other than his grandparents, and martial art teachers(Many of whom had died in the last 6 years of old age)Izuku knew nobody else.
As for said grandparents, his own parents had been adamant that they would not seek them out.
And so, Izuku's plan as the days passed on, and August neared its end, was to just focus on schoolwork, and making sure he passed before he worried about how to go about his personal life outside of his new home.
Given how things would turn out, starting on that final day of August, and only getting more and more hectic and complex, every day, all the way until Yuei's own entrance exam, it was in hindsight a rather hilariously unrealistically optimistic plan for the future.
I
Ryoga yawned.
He sat up, hearing the sound of the city in the background.
For a moment, he just listened to it all, wondering where he was now.
He'd come to this place in the utter darkness in the chilly, mist-covered, utterly dark august night, and had set up his tent by the side of a road without any idea of where exactly in Tokyo he was.
There had been a time when he'd felt ecstatic at finally reaching Tokyo, and looking forward to actually setting out in the morning.
That time had passed.
He'd wandered in and out of Tokyo 7 times now this last month.
Just because he was close, did not mean he would actually find what he was looking for on the morrow, as he knew from deep, deep experience.
No, joy was not what kept him going. If it ever had.
That would be hate.
HATE and anger, and deep, deep resentment was the only thing left that kept him going.
The desperate thirst for revenge was the only feeling that still lit up the fire in his heart every morning!
As it did then, when he felt his teeth clench as he heard the sound of school children outside, laughing and playing.
He'd been one such once.
He'd given it up, to chase a boy… And here he was, all those years later, still on that same eternal hunt.
But this particular chase would be different.
This time, there would be a conclusion to it all.
As he got dressed, he imagined that conclusion, the only thing fitting for leading him on this merciless humiliation that had been the waste of time known as the better part of 10 years of his life.
Yes, hate was the only fuel that still kept him going.
And it WOULD keep him going until he finally found his prey and brought about his DOOM!
After picking up his umbrella, and opening his tent well away from the door, making sure there was no rain outside before coming out, he quickly began packing his tent up, so he could begin that day's trek.
The place he'd ended up was outside some school named Furinkan.
"Furinkan…"
The name… Yes he recalled a map from weeks ago. This place was in that forsaken part of Tokyo known as Nerima.
He was close.
He grabbed a student, who was walking in through the gates, by the collar. Not gently either.
"You there, Boy!"
The boy in questioned turned to him looking flabbergasted,
"Boy? You can't be any older than me buddy."
Ryoga felt a massive urge to punch the boy hard… But he held it in. The boy was not the target of his wrath.
"Which way to Tendo Dojo?"
The boy looked at him confused.
"To… The Tendos'? Why do you want to go there?"
He sounded like he knew the way.
Ryoga felt a small pang of… Something go through his veins.
"I'm looking for someone named Izuku Midoriya."
"Midoriya?"
The boy turned his head.
"Isn't that him? Yeah, that's him over there."
Ryoga let go, as his head turned, and there… He was.
The same freckled boyish face, and green haired mop around his head.
Years of searching, once more come to an end.
He leapt into the heavens.
It was FINALLY time!
I
Izuku was walking to school, Akane a bit away chatting with her girlfriends, when 2 Things happened.
The first was a jolt of his senses telling him that there was DANGER above him.
The second was an oh so familiar voice, roaring from the heavens.
"IZUKU! PREPARE TO DIE!"
Izuku looked up, and for a brief, brief moment as he looked to the skies for that one second, his mouth spread out in a grin of joy… Which was rather bizarre, given the sight that greeted him was of an angry boy soaring through the heavens down at him, holding an old school umbrella he was clearly aiming to hit him with.
As Ryoga brought the umbrella down with both hands as if it was a blade, Izuku jumped back as the padded tip smashed into the ground… And the shock from it cratered the ground around in a perfect circle around him.
Not burst or split, no it created a perfect, circular indented crater in the ground below, as Ryoga turned his gaze from it, to where Izuku was now standing.
The two boys' could not have had more different expressions, as one snarled like a wild animal, while the other gave a grin that made him look like the purest cinnamon roll to ever walk the earth.
"Ryoga! Took you long enough!"
"You haven't changed at all, Izuku. Still all you do is run and dodge."
"Well obviously, you are the strongest boy I know. Your punches hit like boulders. I'd have to be insane to just let you pummel me."
One thing that immediately struck absolutely everyone around the two of them… At least once the initial shock wore off… Was how ridiculously affectionate Izuku's voice, tone, expression and body language was.
He looked for all the world like nothing so much like a lovestruck maiden, someone who was just welcoming back their partner from a long, long period of separation.
By contrast Ryoga looked like nothing so much as a demon, a beast from Hell itself in the shape of a man, with an expression that made it clear that the ONLY thing that he wished from Izuku was misery!
Then there was the charge in the air, the taste that lingered as suddenly the air itself was pumped full of Ki and the temperature all around began to rise.
That last part was lost on no one… Except for Akane, who's ability to sense such was actually the weakest in the entire school, despite her own reserves of Ki ironically being even bigger than either boy.
The first part though, in particular how Izuku looked at the boy, was not.
"...Friend of yours?"
"Yep!" Izuku replied cheerfully, completely oblivious to Akane's sudden discomfort at how he was acting.
"This is Ryoga, the one great, true rival of my life!"
Ryoga replied to that by cracking his neck, his murderous expression making the expression have a tinge of immediate danger Akane had rarely seen anyone express.
"The last time we saw each other was during my last days in Mongolia! That was before we went into China… He never did meet up with us there though."
"You think… I was sitting about LEISURELY while you were off in China!? I overshot my mark south and ended up in Vietnam! Then again, as I traveled I went too far North and ended up in Alaska! On my way back over the straits west I overshot and swam back home to Japan! Then once I crossed the western straits and got back on track, I ended up in Tibet! …And when I FINALLY caught up to you in China… You left the valley THAT SAME DAY! Running away from me!"
This finally seemed to take Izuku aback, though everyone else was just utterly dumbfounded by Ryoga's seemingly terrible sense of direction.
"Wait, you mean we were actually just by each other back in China? What valley was this?"
"The valley… Where my life and future came to a crumbling end…"
The boy moved his umbrella into position to strike anew with a stab.
Izuku didn't seem to take that threat very seriously… Or rather he did get into a position where he could react, but his face did not suggest he thought he was in any particular danger.
"Well… I suppose you can tell me all about that later. For now, I'm guessing you wanna continue off from our previous fights!?"
His smile returned, and off to the side, Akane couldn't help but think that here and now, he finally did seem like a cute and energetic schoolboy, rather than the sorta reserved guy she'd known so far.
The only other thing that brought that side out of him was Heroes.
Ryoga, though, only got even angrier.
"Our fights!? You think I care about finishing our fights!? This is my revenge, Izuku!"
He was about to launch himself forward, when suddenly…
A clock rang.
Izuku, who had seemed to be willing to throw down, even without their designated teacher, froze.
"Oh, right… School. I… Kinda forgot about that. Listen Ryoga, we gotta do this after school!"
To that, Ryoga was utterly incredulous.
"SCHOOL!? I CAME ALL THE WAY FROM CHINA FOR THIS, ONE FINAL FIGHT WITH YOU, AND YOU THINK I GIVE A DAMN ABOUT YOUR SCHOOL SCHEDULE!? WE ARE FINISHING THIS NOW IZUKU! HERE AND-"
"Happogoensatsu!"
A MASSIVE vortex of red energy suddenly burst out from Ryoga, siphoning like a maelstrom through the air.
Izuku's head immediately snapped to where it was all going, and there, their English teacher Hinko was standing, holding one hand out in front of herself with a coin between index and middle finger.
The stream of red energy all went into that coin, and before their eyes, Ryoga slowly, slowly began sinking to the floor, his grip on his umbrella fading.
As the energy faded, Hinako took several deep breaths, and suddenly wearing a truly wroth expression, she stomped off to Ryoga, and grabbed him by the hair.
"Duels on school grounds have to take place BEFORE or AFTER school you naughty, naughty boy…"
In her normal tone, that would probably have sounded a bit lecturing.
As it was, it sounded like a demon from the depths of Hell.
"Damn… Dammit all…"
Ryoga seemed really, really out of it.
As he would be.
Happogoensatsu, or the Happy Five-Yen Satsu, was one of the most terrifying Ki techniques ever devised… At least against other Ki users.
If there was even the slightest hint of anger in the target, It RIPPED every bit of Ki out of the body by force, leaving them a weakened husk.
His father had once described it as the closest real world comparison to Devilman's Beam of Evil from Dragon Ball, in how it was so difficult to truly defend against, but a one hit victory against any and all defenses if it managed to take the slightest hold.
Of course, there were some rather noticeable drawbacks.
For one, it locked the user into only being able to use this technique and its sister one for the rest of your life.
Said sister technique, the ability to fire that absorbed energy like a blast, also had another, HUGE drawback… Said drawback probably being the reason Hinako wasn't using said technique to get rid of Ryoga's current anger along with his Ki.
That was good and bad… Good in the sense she now had all of his raw, brute strength until it wore off… Bad in that this kind of physical power increase was the only thing she would ever be able to get.
Then of course there was the whole "Absorb the victims temperament" thing too.
"The duel will take place after school tomorrow, on the training grounds, Is that alright with you Midoriya!?"
He nodded.
Ryoga however, still tried to feebly struggle… For which Hinako promptly SMASHED his head into the ground!
"And as for YOU, YOU shall be punished for YOUR WANTON and UNAUTHORIZED DESTRUCTION OF SCHOOL GROUNDS!"
Then she promptly began dragging him behind her by the hair, and only stopped to pick up his umbrella before continuing on to… Wherever she was taking him.
Poor guy.
Ryoga was a nice boy, but he had a tendency to get himself into the most outrageous troubles.
Izuku felt a moment of pity for him, having no idea what Hinko's actual "Punishment" entailed… Then he felt himself light up.
Tomorrow, they would have another match.
It was like… Something was finally coming back into place.
Something he'd been missing was finally where it belonged.
Behind him, suddenly to drag him back into school by the cuff, Akane appeared.
"So… You seem… Happy to see him."
"Yep! Finally, it's good to have him back again. I've missed that guy!"
That did not make Akane feel more at ease.
I
"Ryoga's back?"
Akane had considered just asking Izuku all about Ryoga himself the way a lot of their class had… But she had in the end decided she would seek her information out from a more unbiased source.
And so, as the women of the Tendo Dojo were all currently in the dining room, doing various things, she had asked Inko about it.
Inko did not seem too happy about this bit of news, in sharp contrast to her son.
"Well… That will make Izuku happy at least… Hisashi too…"
"But not you?"
Inko shifted in her seat, then shook her head.
"Ryoga is… A positive influence on Izuku… And a good enough boy… But there is no getting around the fact that his and Izuku's relationship is based rather fundamentally on the two of them pummeling each other senseless."
"Yeah… They're… Rivals right? Martial arts rivals. That… Kinda comes with the territory, doesn't it?"
Inko sighed.
"Yes. That it does."
"They have a duel set for tomorrow."
Inko nodded.
"I'm not surprised. He always brings out… Well Izuku is always so happy to see him after each separation period…"
Was… Was she just imagining it?
She… She had to be, but she just… It seemed to her like she could not stop reading very blatant undertones in this rivalry.
"Ryoga… Doesn't really seem to share that. Quite the contrary."
Inko sighed, and continued her work of helping Kasumi sew something.
"He's always like that. He'll come in roaring and angry… They end up fighting, they beat each other senseless, and after it's over he calms down a bit. That's how it always goes."
Kasumi nodded.
"Sounds like daddy and your husband in the old days."
Inko made a… So-so face.
"It's… Not quite like THAT. Ryoga is way too proper for that… But he will get Izuku in all kinds of nonsense and trouble. He always does.
"How does he get into so much trouble then, if he's so proper?"
Nabiki asked curiously.
"By being an idiot."
Inko said bluntly.
"To put it very bluntly, he is an absolute moron. Such a moron in fact, he can actually manage to make Izuku mad by it…"
That… Seems like such a weird statement to Akane.
But Kasumi and Nabiki both nodded, the latter being the one to reply.
"So in other words he's the stupid little brother? Who manages to exasperate his older sibling?"
"He's… Actually a bit older than Izuku… But yes. You'll see all of it in time I'm sure. Ryoga… Brings out sides of Izuku no one else does… Both good and bad."
The fact that Akane completely missed the rather obvious allusion to herself from her own siblings, probably showcased better than anything else, that in this regard, she and Ryoga had something in common.
I
Izuku had gotten used to having his baths mostly to himself(Sometimes with his parents), ever since that first day.
And so, as he laid in the bath and just let it engulf him, he was taken aback when there came a knocking on the door.
"It's me." An older, feminine voice called out behind the door.
"C-Come in." Izuku said, suddenly feeling almost as awkward as he had on that first day.
Kasumi did indeed come in, and she was wearing the same two piece bikini as that time… Though as she handed Izuku another towel, her face did not have that same kind of calm energy as then.
Nor the melancholic one of recent days either.
Instead she seemed… A bit worried.
After he sat down on the plastic seat again, Kasumi began washing his back as she had back then… But this time she was silent.
Several minutes passed before she spoke again.
"This fight tomorrow… It's going to be a real duel, isn't it? Not the kind of fights Akane has fought with the boys' of Furinkan."
Izuku considered that… But she was right.
"Yeah… It will be. Ryoga is the real deal. He… Didn't exactly get to show it off before Hinako-Sensei drained him… But he is STRONG."
Kasumi seemed to consider that.
"Are you stronger than him?"
"No. The fact is Ryoga has always been stronger than me. And far more durable. But I'm faster, and far more skilled."
"Not to mention smarter."
"That… Well that is true. Ryoga has done… Mind Bogglingly stupid things over the years. He often makes massive mistakes in fights."
He didn't really notice it in the moment, but the feeling he'd had the last time she did this… The nervousness over having her hands on his back was nowhere near as strong as it had been.
Behind him, Kasumi nodded at his words.
"These mistakes… Are they the kind that adds up over time, or the ones that immediately brings him to ruin?"
"A… Bit of both. He once brought down a mountainside on us, and almost got himself thrown off a cliff as a result. But… He also makes mistakes in fighting itself. He has… No ability to deal with counters beyond the fact he's stupidly durable and just powers on through. And that's just one problem of his."
"I see…"
Kasumi resumed her silence for a bit as she washed him.
"You are… Looking forward to this fight aren't you? I can tell."
How she could possibly tell that, he didn't know, but he didn't deny it.
"I hadn't figured you for a man who truly lived for battle…"
There was an obvious question in her tone.
"I… I'm not. I don't really love fighting other people in and out of itself..."
Not like his dad did.
"So… It is Ryoga specifically then?"
"I… Guess it is. He's… Different than all other rivals I've had."
He'd never had someone else like Ryoga.
From his first Rival in Kacchan all those years ago, all the way to Kuno in the present day, Ryoga was the only one who had treated their rivalry as an integral part of himself.
No one else had ever chased after him, no one else had sought him out to challenge him anew time and again, and nobody else had been there to compete with him across the entire world.
"Hmmm… I cannot claim to understand that part… But I see your mother was right… It's not quite the same as our fathers relationship."
"That… Yeah, it's really not."
Kasumi seemed to consider that.
Then, without any further comment, she suddenly leaned in and hugged him.
It immediately made Izuku go completely stiff, and cheeks blushing, but it wasn't actually a truly tight hug.
Just strong enough that he felt the pressure from her arms, and her body against his back.
Far, far more importantly he felt her chin on his shoulder, and could hear her breath just by his ear.
"I understand… What it means to be a wife to a man who goes to fight, Izuku. I will not try to talk you out of it. Just… Win or lose… Come home in one piece alright? I don't want to see you come home without an arm..."
Izuku… Nodded.
He felt her warmth. Her sincerity.
"Alright… I will... I promise."
She hugged him a bit tighter at that, but for a while yet, they just remained like that in silence.
Well, until the door opened, and Akane walked in on them.
She hadn't even seemed to consider anyone else might be in the bath, and was deep in her own thoughts… Then froze immediately at the sight of her older sister hugging Izuku as she did.
Thankfully, she was wearing a towel in front so this wasn't QUITE as awkward as it could have been… But it was awkward as both of their eyes met hers in total silence.
The way she slowly, slowly backed out the way she had come was also very, very awkward.
I
Awkward, was the only word to describe the walk to school the morning after.
Neither Izuku nor Akane said a word, for the entire trip, walking in total silence.
Inside though, it was a very different story.
Akane didn't know what Izuku was thinking, but for her already depressed state of mind, the events of the entirety of yesterday had been one strange buildup, capped off by an out of nowhere shock.
There were so many questions there… Unanswered.
And she wasn't entirely sure she wanted to have them answered either.
She felt like she had completely fallen out of the events in her own home.
It wasn't the first time she'd walked in on people in compromised situations… At school she and the rest of the girls had to deal with perverts breaking into the girls locker room to steal… And at home she'd at two different occasions walked in on Nabiki and her then boytoy as they were doing it, far, far more graphically and further along than what she'd seen with Izuku and Kasumi… And yet somehow it hadn't seemed halfway as intimate as they had.
Just looking at their body language and postures, she'd been able to tell that they had been hugging like that for a while when she walked in.
Had… Had the two of them really grown that close? It hadn't even been a month.
She'd have believed it if it was Nabiki… Frankly speaking she'd have had way less conflicting feelings about it, if she'd found her and Izuku right in the middle of it… Then she could have just labeled it all as mindless, perverted sex(and the two of them huge perverts) and called it a day.
But… That wasn't what she had walked in on.
She'd walked in on something much more… Intimate and… Mature than that.
Kasumi wasn't Nabiki.
She'd stumbled in on something deeply, deeply personal… Something that hadn't been meant for her eyes, and she… Honestly, she wasn't sure how to feel about it.
For so many reasons.
For one, it just hammered in her own doomed romantic prospects with Doctor Tofu… And the fact that once again, her sisters both surpassed her in practically everything.
Apparently… Kasumi liked Izuku… She wasn't really particularly happy with that… But who Kasumi liked was her own business. Not Akane's.
The bigger point as she saw it… Was that she'd done in less than a month, something that Akane would never have had the guts to do with Tofu.
She couldn't even tell him she liked him.
And yet Kasumi was already…
Then of course there was the fact that it was Kasumi.
That just made it worse.
The same girl who Tofu's heart had always belonged to, had seemingly without trying, taken Izuku's as well. Her current betrothed. THEIR betrothed.
Again… She would have felt so much less complicated about it, if it had just been Nabiki instead.
Honestly… For all that Nabiki showered him with affection, Akane was somewhat doubtful Nabiki was even capable of feeling true, genuine romantic love.
Maybe one day, that might change… But at the moment, for Nabiki, Izuku was both an attractive boytoy, and a meal ticket to great wealth. Nothing more, nothing less.
It would have been so easy to just roll her eyes and move on with her day if it had been her.
But it wasn't Nabiki.
It had been Kasumi.
Her older sister who was more beautiful, more feminine, more mature, and…
Why couldn't this just have been a regular, monogamous union?
Even if she HAD been the girl ultimately chosen to be his bride, that would have been so much easier and less stressful than this…
Yes… It would probably not have been perfect… But it certainly would have been more free of complications than the current arrangement.
Complications… That was the word.
It seemed like her entire current life was just riddled with them.
And then there was Ryoga.
She had almost forgotten about him… And yet now as they passed his tent where the boy had set up just outside the school gates where he was currently busy cooking and eating bacon, she suddenly recalled that him and Izuku were going to come to blows later in the day.
The boy glared at Izuku, a truly demonic, murderous glare… But he neither said, nor did anything other than keep eating… At least not until Izuku said something.
"Sorry Ryoga… I… Can't really stop to chat. Later man."
"After school… Yes, I REMEMBER."
"Oh it's good to see a bit of manners isn't it Akane-Chan?"
Ryoga IMMEDIATELY flinched and almost dropped his frying pan and fork as Hinako poked her head out of the gates.
She then narrowed her eyes at Ryoga, who didn't really say anything.
Izuku and Akane just kept walking.
"Man… I've heard the stories, but… Actually seeing how the Happogoensatsu breaks you… That's something else…"
"Is that… Is that thing really that bad? I've seen how people react after they've been hit by it once, but…"
"Well… You know how you instinctually learn to fear the flame after getting burned? It's basically like that, but for your soul, rather than your body."
They then returned to awkward silence, before Akane finally just asked the question that had been bouncing around in her head all night.
The rather obvious question.
"Izuku… Do you… Like Kasumi?"
She would have prefered if he just immediately answered, one way or another.
He didn't. Instead he was silent for a bit, before finally.
"I… I think so, yeah."
She… Wasn't sure what she had expected to feel after being given the answer she had probably expected.
Relief? Anger? Annoyance? Jealousy?
Whatever she had in her mind expected, didn't come.
"I… I think she likes you."
He nodded.
"Yeah… I kinda figured that out on day one."
She actually turned to look at him with the single most baffled look she had EVER sported around him.
He didn't notice anything was off… Right up until Akane walked straight into another student and with her massive strength easily knocked him over as she crashed to the ground on top of him.
"You okay?"
I
As the day went on, and the promised hour turned closer and closer, Izuku began to feel the old anticipation.
The one he felt when waiting for Ryoga, at their promised match spot.
He was almost always late, unless there were some circumstances like today, where he was parked right by it.
But… He ALWAYS showed eventually. Two weeks, three days, a month… He ALWAYS showed up eventually.
I
Outside, Ryoga stared into the fire.
It was happening.
The end that had been cut short by the damned teacher and her horrible, HORRIBLE ways, was about to happen. For real this time.
All his wanderings, his journey's his training… It was all about to hit the final, satisfying climax.
As he heard the logs crackle and split, he imagined the sound being that of breaking bones.
I
Akane was alone as she walked to the training grounds for the duel.
Her friends hadn't wanted to come… Not that she had particularly wanted, nor tried hard to get them to do so.
Yuka, Sayuri, Asami and Hiroko had all declined to come.
In large part due to all of them believing that Izuku would easily defeat Ryoga and as such going would be a total waste of time… Not that they missed the chance to tell her that SHE should absolutely go and cheer on her betrothed!
No, that was just completely natural.
In her own mind… She kinda thought they were probably right.
This probably wouldn't last that long.
Not that this thought was what was on her mind as she waited for both boys' to actually show up and fight.
First day… What the Hell did that mean?
Had this… Been a case of love at first sight?
That would have been… Romantic in its own way she supposed… But… She just could not see that.
Not from Kasumi.
And yet…
First day?
How had he even figured that out?
Had she COMPLETELY misread Izuku? Was he actually a master savant at reading people's emotions? And it was just his awkwardness that kept him from really making that obvious?
In her imagination, she conjured up some scene where Kasumi passionately told him she had actually been in love with him since she saw him in the hallway the first time… But she waved that away.
Again, she could NOT see it.
It just… She honestly had no idea what the heck had happened. And she'd been there as it did.
Apparently she REALLY had not been paying attention to what was going on inside her own home
These thoughts though, were for the moment chased away as Ryoga came onto the field… From the wrong direction, rather down the stairs, but he came nonetheless.
Then, the about a dozen total students who had turned out to actually watch this bout, turned their heads around, as from the stairs leading up to the school itself, Izuku finally arrived.
Shirtless.
Akane felt herself blushing, but also distinctly annoyed by him so… Brazenly showing off his muscles, as he stepped down the stairs.
Behind him, at the top of said stairs, Hinako stopped to stand, watching down over it all with a neutral expression.
As Izuku stepped down, many of the students around had the same feeling wash over them, as they for a moment could have sworn that a long, serpentine dragon descended the stairs down unto the field, where a large, black lion awaited it.
Izuku stepped up to Ryoga who in turn leveled his Large, old school umbrella at him.
"You… Not gonna take off your shirt?"
"Why!? So that your classmates can see the shameful wounds I have taken while chasing you? No, I'm not gonna take off my shirt!"
Izuku seemed strangely annoyed by that, as if some ancient tradition had been broken.
"Allright…"
Up above, Hinako loudly began to declare:
"AND THE MATCH BETWEEN IZUKU MIDORIYA AND… RYOGA BEGINS NOW!"
Ryoga moved quicker than anyone there except Izuku and Akane was able to follow, as with a series of low quicksteps he pivoted forward in short bursts as he tried to bludgeon Izuku to death with a barrage of jabs from his umbrella!
Izuku for his part moved even quicker as he backstabbed several times over…
Then he sidestepped to the side and with a roundhouse kick, he hit Ryoga in the back of the head with enough force to send him flying through the air!
Most of the students didn't realize any of what had happened, only seeing the aftermath as Ryoga sailed through the air, accompanied by a a loud crack from Izuku's kick.
Ryoga slammed into the ground, HARD… Then immediately ripped himself off the ground to face Izuku again, completely none the worse for wear.
Akane, the only non combatant who had caught everything that had just happened in full, actually gaped.
It wasn't… THAT much faster than her and Izuku's sparring, but the sheer force and energy behind each movement was on a whole different level.
Ryoga sped forward, but this time, he didn't try to stab, but rather bludgeon Izuku with massive, powerful swings of the thing, which looked kinda goofy despite the speed… Until he slammed the thing into the ground, barely missing Izuku, and caused another huge crater to appear.
"Still only good at running away are you!?"
In response, Izuku barreled forward, then as Ryoga slammed forward a fist to greet his face, Izuku dodged under it, and with his own fist in the distinct L shaped hand, SLAMMED it into Ryoga's gut, causing a massive, booming sound across the field!
The boy was stunned for a brief moment by the force of the blow, and his shirt was obliterated by the force… But Izuku wasn't done.
Instead, in the brief second as Ryoga was stunned, he suddenly got into a proper boxing stance, and still remaining exactly where he stood, he swirled his upper body from side to side, pivoting on his feet from one side to other foot as he moved in an 8 shaped mobius strip at immense speed.
The Dempsey rolls momentum completed, he then used the gathered momentum to hit Ryoga in the face with a blow that sent him flying several times faster than the kick had!
He hit the hillside, which EXPLODED into dirt and grass as if an artillery shell had just pounded it.
Akane blinked, the sheer, sudden force taking her breath completely away… But rather than staying down, Ryoga instead EXPLODED out of the hillside with a roar, and once more engaged Izuku…
A flurry of blows then were traded, with Izuku blocking, or deflecting… Until one, single, lucky blow got past his guard.
He too SMASHED into the hillside on the other side of the field.
Izuku had no more difficulty getting out of the dirt than Ryoga, though he did so less dramatically.
What immediately stood out to Akane though, was that to her horror, that one, single blow had now given Izuku a clear, big black eye.
"...Holy shit!"
The tone of horror took Akane completely by surprise.
She had been so focused on Izuku and his clear difference in sheer POWER between the two of them, that she had for a moment stopped looking at Ryoga… Who now, stripped of his shirt, found himself the center of attention of every single student there.
The thing that immediately struck Akane was the differences between him and Izuku.
Both were medium height, skinny guys… But that was where their bodies' similarities ended.
Izuku was built strong and solid, with little fat left on his body, clearly showing a training regiment dedicated to maximizing every single bit of muscle power of his entire body.
Ryoga by contrast was also a mass of muscles, but he was built more like a prizefighter of old, the boxers before the classic boxing glove was invented.
His muscles were big, but not as pronounced, and his stomach was far less athletically molded than Izuku's, lacking the clearly defined all the way six pack abs Nabiki loved so much, instead looking more naturally well built.
However, there was also another thing that set Izuku apart from Ryoga.
Izuku didn't really have scars, and those he had were clearly old ones that had almost faded.
Not so, Ryoga.
On the left side of his chest and upper arm he had massive, circular scars that she, to her shock, recognized as bullet scars… Though the fact they weren't on the other side of his body suggested they had lodged themselves into him without penetrating.
One scar on both sides of his body was a small line on his stomach, which looked like it could have been the result of a blade being rammed through it.
And on the left side of his ribs, were 4 massive scars that Akane recognized as wounds from Claws, only larger, as if some massive, oversized tiger had tried to disemboweled him.
He had plenty of smaller scars that like Izuku's would probably fade in time as well… But it was clear these 3 were from events that would mark him until the end of his days.
Akane was horrified by the sight… Her imagination conjured horrible scenarios, and she felt her heart go out to him in pity.
She could have saved herself the imagined scario's though, as Ryoga helpfully provided context for all of them.
"Exploding machine gun fire from the Army in the Andes… Your blade through my gut in Poland… And the damn claws… And yet Izuku… Despite ALL of THAT… THEY ALL PALE IN COMPARISON TO THAT ACCURSED VALLEY!"
Izuku, surprisingly, took this in stride as he cracked his neck as he walked down the slope.
"You REALLY did not like that valley did you Ryoga? What's its name?"
Ryoga began moving towards him, once more raising his umbrella to stab.
"Do you think… A mere NAME is enough to convey my SUFFERING!? BECAUSE OF YOU… I HAVE SEEN HELL!"
He once more stabbed forward, to which Izuku somersaulted over him, twisting around in the air to face him as he landed.
"Ok, you're not usually THIS mad… What happened to you in that valley?"
Ryoga raised his umbrella, which unfolded, then sent it flying at Izuku, spinning around like a spinning top…
Izuku dodged sideways so he wasn't cut by the top which easily cleaved through the school's gym metal fence, before petering out a bit beyond it.
The umbrella though, was only a distraction.
Once more, Ryoga stepped forward, but this time rather than punch Izuku, he instead unfurled his bandanna, and snapped it around Izuku's wrist where it folded itself into a tight knot like he'd actually tied it himself rather than slapped it.
"There! THIS WILL KEEP YOU FROM RUNNING AWAY!"
Around the two of them, at quite some distance, the students of Furinkan was staring quite slack-jawed at the incredible violence and power ahead of them.
Akane for her part suddenly felt an incredible feeling of dread and horror as she realized Izuku had just been effectively handcuffed to a boy who by all accounts seemed WAY stronger than him.
She felt the warning come past her lips, way, way too late.
"IZUKU! DON'T STAY CLOSE WITH HIM! STAY OUT OF HIS REACH!"
I
Ryoga had improved.
A LOT.
His Iron cloth had now reached a point where it vastly surpassed Izuku's, and as he proved by the fact he now still wore a bandana on his head, he'd finally managed to get the hang of hammerspace.
It was genuinely impressive growth in less than two years.
However, one thing he'd not improved on, ironically enough, was his trademark durability.
He was not particularly more durable than the last time they fought. Probably hadn't taken that many heavy blows since then, then.
Though that didn't matter so much, if he could somehow get into a position where Izuku couldn't easily escape, and he was able to put his superior raw, brute force to use.
Like his hand being shackled to a very short leash on Ryoga's iron grip.
It was actually pretty smart. WAY more cunning than anything Ryoga usually did.
As the two of them danced and traded blow for blow… An Exchange Izuku was decisively LOSING… He couldn't help but admire Ryoga.
It was so weird… He wasn't like this with anyone else.
He was always a tactical fighter… Even when he lost all sense of reason like his second bout with Kuno, there was usually still some semblance of tactics and plan remaining… But he never just was able to coast through fights with a happy heart free of all worries.
That just wasn't him.
Except… Except with Ryoga.
Even here, in a massive bind, he was still not overcome with any feelings of worry… Just a Question of how to win?
He saw it as Ryoga was about to deliver a full powered blow to his face.
He ducked down, and went, legs first between Ryoga's knees.
Then, using the momentum from his massive speed, and the cloth still anchoring his hand to his, he swung up and latched his feet over Ryoga's shoulders.
"Wha-"
He didn't get to finish, as Izuku delivered the finishing touch and SMASHED his free hand into one of Ryoga's knees, meaning that as his balance went completely out, and he toppled to the ground face first, he had no footing at all, as Izuku repeated what he'd just done with his other knee.
In a complete reversal, Izuku was now completely on top, having planted both his knees on Ryoga's spine.
It looked absolutely ridiculous, as Izuku was now straddling him, but as Ryoga had Izuku's knees planted firmly in his back, no footing, legs splayed to the sides, he had not real way to break free from the grapple beyond letting go of his bandanna to get both hands free.
Izuku had a ton of obvious, and clear bruises, and a clear cut across one cheek, but as he'd proven many, many times during their fights, the tides of battle could turn immediately at any time.
His ability to do just that, was generally why he won these fights with Ryoga.
"So… You gonna give up and let go… Or am I gonna have to take it to the next level?"
He switched one of his legs, so rather than both knees, one of them now had his foot on Ryoga's back, letting him channel his strength and weight much, much easier.
"You… DARE… TO TRY TO FORCE ME TO MY KNEES!?"
Ryoga did not let go.
Instead, he planted his one, good hand into the ground, and used it to lift himself, and Izuku along with him, off of the ground in a handstand… Then, bending it down, he effectively PUSHED himself off of the ground with MASSIVE force and a not too small outlet of Ki, so they effectively were sent flying through the air!
They soared through the air, however, this did not immediately work to Ryoga's advantage, as though they twisted through the air, forcing Izuku to readjust completely, they still ended up with Izuku behind him as they came crashing down to earth again.
Still, the piece of cloth now being held to the side of his body, rather than between his legs, meant Ryoga now had a much better position to counterattack once on the ground. Izuku did not plan to give him that opportunity.
The impact of his face being driven face first into the ground was not enough to make Ryoga let go… But Izuku hadn't thought it would.
He hadn't planned on it either.
His plan was related to a piece of gym equipment that had been left behind for the day by staff, which they landed right by.
He didn't know exactly what this thing was called, but it was a piece of cement in the shape of a roller, attached to a steel set of handles.
Whatever it was called, and whatever it was used for, it was perfect for Izuku, who grabbed it, lifted it up over his head and bashed it down on Ryoga's skull!
He then lifted it up anew before bashing it again into his head at full force, and on the third blow, Ryoga's grip finally went out, leaving Izuku free to grip the thing with both hands before using his full strength and bringing the entire thing down upon Ryoga's skull with a massive "KRRAAACKKK!" sound as it splintered into hundreds of smaller pieces.
Ryoga lashed out with a swipe of his hand, that though Izuku blocked it perfectly, still managed to send him flying, if not at full speed.
As the black haired boy got to his feet, he spat out a glob of blood, and Izuku could see he'd clearly split his lip, though that was the least of his worries, with his entire head covered in blood from a dozen smaller cuts under the hair.
His entire back also had a massive amount of scrapes from the cement pieces broken over it, though few of them actually bled. Mostly they were smaller bruises.
Izuku wasn't going to win.
It was such a weird, yet brutal feeling as she finally realized it.
As the dance of brutal violence continued, Akane was seeing clearly that though Ryoga took damage, it was nowhere near the same degree that Izuku did.
Ryoga was bleeding profusely from his head, and as Izuku slammed him in the face and made his head ring like a doorbell, he could add a bleeding nose to how beaten up he was, but in terms of bruises she was astonished how few he actually had despite the pounding Izuku was giving him.
By contrast, Izuku had a whole host of very obvious, large injuries, huge black bruises and scrapes all across his upper body.
The massive black eye was already beginning to swell, and soon Izuku wouldn't be able to see well out of it at all.
And yet he kept going. Like an utter maniac, he still traded blows for blows with Ryoga, even when one blow from the black haired boy was enough to do to him what 20 of his own couldn't do to Ryoga in return.
If this kept up, Izuku was going to lose. Badly.
Izuku slammed Ryoga through the air, and he smashed into the ground again… The direction though turned out to be a mistake, as Ryoga spotted his trademark umbrella, and before Izuku could stop him, he had grabbed it and stabbed at Izuku once again, an attack Izuku barely managed to twist out of the way out of, as he soared through the air and landed a flying kick to Ryoga's face.
He then, before Ryoga recovered, launched another roundhouse kick at Ryoga's head, which he then followed up by grabbing his arm and sending the other boy flying through the sky with an overhead throw.
He then followed with a massive jump, and as Ryoga twisted to land on his feet, they engaged in an aerial clash as Izuku pursued, while Ryoga jumped backwards, suddenly on the defensive.
Still haven't gotten good at aerial clashes, have you Ryoga? He mused to himself, though truthfully he should have seen it from the way he bungled his escape from Izuku's grapple.
Good tactic, but then the followup in the air was mediocre.
This way of thinking though, didn't get to follow up for much longer though, as Izuku once more prepared a powerful jump kick… Which as Ryoga jumped away, meant the kick slammed right into a bit of concrete he'd been standing in front of…
The concrete in question being Furinkan's water fountain.
Ryoga immediately and with immense speed readjusted his umbrella to block the massive amount of water that just exploded in a geyser all around from the pressure, before it subsided.
Izuku however, did not let him rest, as he used the opportunity as he jumped out of said water geyser to flank Ryoga before hitting him square in the lungs while he was blocking the water.
It was a perfect blow both in execution and taking Ryoga unprepared.
However, Izuku immediately recognized how little damage it actually did.
The strength-decrease Izuku got as he transformed into his female form didn't usually matter all that much… But against Ryoga, who was able to shrug off most of Izuku's blows anyway, it was an entirely different story.
He needed that bit of extra strength to genuinely damage Ryoga.
On the other hand… This form did have its own advantages.
As his strength decreased, his speed went up a not insignificant amount… But it was not that speed he then used to PUMMEL Ryoga.
No, that was a head's worth of additional reach.
Ryoga was absolutely shocked by Izuku's new form… But it was the pummeling he then took by arms and legs suddenly considerably longer than his own, which really was what allowed Izuku to lay a brutal smackdown on him.
The boy crashed into another fence, a bit stunned, but more than anything else, just shocked and surprised.
Izuku didn't wait for him to get back up again.
With the sudden massive amount of water all around, it was not hard to conjure the lightning.
And so, as Ryoga got back up, and into stance again, the punch that landed on the same spot Izuku had hit Kuno with the same move.
It was, in hindsight, one of those "Big mistakes" Kasumi had mentioned yesterday.
Izuku's logic was that with Ryoga's complete lack of the same kind of electrical resistance Izuku had, the tradeoff would be completely worth it, in exchange for managing to break through his defenses.
It was the most obvious way for his female form to do just that.
And if they had both been unharmed, it would have been… But Izuku, absolutely pumped on adrenaline and enjoying himself, had not really registered just how BADLY Ryoga had beaten him up.
A massive thunderclap sounded, as two screams echoed across the place, one male and one female!
For a second after, they just stood there, Izuku's hand still against Ryoga's ribs, both completely still…
Then at almost the exact same time, they both stumbled backwards Ryoga back into the fence, and Izuku into the remains of the water fountain, where he felt his pants become completely soaked through.
That was the least of his problems though.
Pain. EVERYTHING was pain.
Izuku had been damaged worse before… But RARELY had he been in such, utter, catastrophic pain.
On the other hand, Ryoga wasn't doing much better, but his situation was a bit reversed, having taken far more actual damage, but not in quite as much pain as Izuku.
Both slowly, slowly began to get back on their feet, Ryoga using his Umbrella to steady himself on.
Two pairs of footsteps echoed in Izuku's ringing ears… But when he finally looked up, he only saw Akane's concerned face.
"It's over… Let's go home, Izuku."
He suddenly felt a rush of energy that managed to make him actually get into a stance, despite the pain.
"No… It… It's fine. We're not done!"
Not yet anyway.
Akane's concerned expression suddenly became really, really angry… But before she could say anything, Ryoga ROARED!
"OVER! LIKE HELL IT IS! IT'S NOT OVER TIL THE LION HAS ROARED IT'S LAST!"
He then pulled off a whole host of bandannas from his head, and in a move that Izuku recognized immediately, he spun them around in his hand as if they were ropes with weights on the end, before he threw them.
The golden projectiles now span like buzzsaw circles through the air, infused with Ryoga's immense force and his wroth Ki!
Izuku pushed Akane out of the way, then began to dodge… But not quickly enough.
3 projectiles missed him entirely… But then as he danced, the fourth one hit him straight in the gut, just below his breasts.
It did not hit hard enough to actually cut deep, deep into him and damage his innards… But it hit more than hard enough that suddenly his entire stomach was covered in flowing blood, as he backed away.
"IZUKU!"
Akane ran to him.
"AN OPENING!"
Ryoga Roared as he threw his umbrella and its weighted tip straight at Izuku's head, then, before it had come even halfway, he had ripped off another dozen headbands and sent them through the air!
Without the windup circular motion, they might not have quite the same power as the previous ones, but they limited his movements by closing off avenues of escapes.
Akane was there, rushing him. She didn't have the reflexes to react to the sudden threat.
The Umbrella was flying at him, the speed, weight and power easily enough to punch straight through his now battered defenses.
And then there was the headbands. A dozen, cleaving through the air in arca like boomerangs, heading straight for him.
He had to deal with all 3 at once.
As it was, he only saw one way out, use one to deal with the rest.
He grabbed Akane around the waist, and pulled her close to him.
He then kicked the umbrella from the underside, flipping it, and then grabbing its handle, before unfurling it open.
Then, as he jumped back, he infused the Umbrella with Ki, and used Ryoga's own weapon to shield himself and Akane from the barrage of golden projectiles, which harmlessly bounced off the thing.
"What th-RUNNING AWAY YOU COWARD!?"
Izuku tried to shout something along the lines he was just gonna bring Akane to safety.
As he tried, his lungs told him that WASN'T happening, and only a guttural sound came out.
With every landing, and every jump, his body was PAIN.
He kept going anyway, until he landed on the building that usually housed the student body's bicycles.
Now it was empty, given almost everyone had gone home.
He let the umbrella just… Sorta drop to the roof floor, as ALL his energy was suddenly gone.
Akane's hands had closed around him, in a hug.
He'd… Not really noticed that in his haste to get away from Ryoga.
They were strong, and clung to him in a desperate, yet somehow tender grip. So different from Ryoga's.
Somehow, it… Reminded him of Kasumi's hug.
Then, suddenly, she seemed to realize what she was doing, and began immediately pulling away and scampering backwards, until a full meter was between them, both on their knees.
It seemed only then she realized her entire lower dress was covered in blood.
Her eyes went over Izuku's stomach.
"You're bleeding…"
He nodded, his hand going up to it.
Despite the sharp, sharp PAIN as he did so, he prodded the wound, to see how deep it was.
Not that deep as far as cuts went. He'd heal from this on his own… Provided he didn't bleed out first.
"I… I need to stop the bleeding."
Akane, without asking, promptly ripped a large piece off her lower dress and handed it to him.
It… Wasn't exactly great for the purpose… But it would have to do, as he hastily put a makeshift bandage over the wound, and tightened around his body.
It would hold… But probably not for the rest of the fight.
It was as he finished, that he noticed Akane's gaze.
Had his female form been shorter, and breasts about half their size… And not naked… It would probably have been easy to miss where her gaze was just then.
But it wasn't, they weren't, and they were on full display.
It… Really made it hard to miss what Akane was staring at then.
"Guess… Hiroko was right… Sorta."
He hadn't meant to say it out loud, he just… It came to him, and he said it without thinking.
Akane blinked.
Then blushed, and immediately looked away.
Izuku, realizing it was not the best time to discuss the topic, instead focused on something more at hand.
"Thanks… For the bandage… It's… Not gonna hold though… Not for the fight…"
Akane snapped around again.
"The fight!?"
He blinked, her face suddenly being right up against his.
"The FIGHT is OVER Izuku! You can barely STAND!"
"What?"
He said, suddenly flabbergasted at her sudden anger.
"I-I can still fight!"
That was… A bit of an over exaggeration… But not entirely untrue, he was not incapacitated. It just… Hurt. A LOT.
"What, you think Ryoga is going to be satisfied with that!?"
He suddenly felt incredibly annoyed, though not actually angry the way Akane suddenly was.
"A fight where I gave up just because I was in a bit of pain?"
"You think I care what HE thinks!? You're a COMPLETE MESS IZUKU! You CAN'T continue this fight! You could BARELY hurt him as a girl! And that was when you could actually move right! What the hell are you gonna do now!?"
Again, it was genuine annoyance, far, far more than any anger that went through his mind then.
Okay, so he WAS beat up. BADLY. But it wasn't as if he had no means left to fight.
Hell, he had plenty of those, and from what he'd seen, Ryoga wasn't in that much better shape than him.
On that estimation, he was right.
I
Ryoga, followed by a set of golden shoed steps behind him, staggered his way over to follow Izuku and Akane… And finally, he came over to the bikeshed.
There, he steadied himself, before he loosened his cloth belt, and holding both ends, he snapped it through the air, where the cloth, formerly bendable, suddenly found itself stiff, hard, and sharp like a blade.
Then, with two cuts, he cut down the outer pipe on one side.
It wasn't enough to get the whole thing to tumble down on its own, but the added weight of two people on top of it, did the job.
The entire bikeshed began caving in on itself, leading to Izuku and the other girl yelping, as he grabbed the girl, and Ryoga's own Umbrella, and jumped, the force of which was the final nail in the coffin as the entire thing collapsed.
Ryoga did not wait for it to happen though.
Instead, he jumped.
He did not care to listen to what the two of them were screaming at each other.
Only Izuku mattered.
He raised his cloth blade high… But as it came down, Izuku brought his own umbrella up to block it!
Rather than bouncing off though, Ryoga immediately loosened his iron will and the cloth belt loosened and wrapped around the umbrella like a rope instead.
He'd meant to rip his trusted umbrella out of Izuku's hand as he wrenched his arm back, but Izuku instead just let the Ki flow into it stop, leading to Ryoga neatly ripping his only defense against rain in twain instead.
Another sin to add to the ones Izuku had inflicted upon him!
Ryoga was about to continue the attack, when sudden pain wracked his body!
He had pushed it one step too far, and he slammed into the ground on one knee.
He did not stop though, instead, despite the PAIN he wrenched his head up to… Watch Izuku getting slapped?
The sight was so surprising, that he actually froze for a moment.
I
Izuku felt a massive, and fresh, pain across the side of his face, where on top of his cut, Akane had left a red, hand-shaped mark.
He was stunned.
It was only then, that he finally realized that Akane, despite an angry expression, actually had tears in the corner of her eyes.
"Well… If I'm such a nuisance that my thoughts don't matter at all to you… Then… Then…"
She then stomped off.
"Uh… Akane…?"
He turned after her, Ryoga suddenly, completely forgotten.
At least until he staggered to his own feet, and still holding his belt, he began swirling it, before he rushed at Izuku!
"IGNORING ME ARE YOU!?"
Izuku snapped down under it, and delivered an upwards kick to his wrist, sending the spinning belt flying sky high!
He suddenly felt a massive pang of anger and annoyance.
"GIVE IT A REST MAN!"
He then grabbed him in another overhead throw, and threw him, though this time it had nowhere near as big a distance as last time.
He then began… Well, running was not a way you could describe his movement. More like a mix between walking fast and shuffling, as he went after Akane.
"Akane! Wait! Unnnhhhggg!"
It was the sound he made as he buckled forward, ending up on one knee, that finally made Akane stop.
Izuku slowly stumbled back unto his feet, then walked towards her, hesitantly.
"Akane…?"
"Oh, so NOW you care… Honestly… If winning this stupid fight matters SO MUCH to you… Then go back there and see if I care how beat up you get!"
On those final words, she snapped around and snarled at Izuku, her hair snapping in the wind from the motion.
It was, at that exact moment, that like a meteorite, Ryoga's belt suddenly came down, just behind her head, taking most of said long hair down with it, almost to the scalp at the closest, as it cleaved its way into the ground.
Akane and Izuku just stood there in absolute shock… Then Akane's hand slowly went up to her head, where almost nothing remained on the back of her scalp.
Below, her long, long blue mane tied together near the end in a bow, lay crumpled.
"A-Akane?"
Izuku… Was in equal shock.
He just… didn't really have anything he could do about it all.
Up behind them, dragging a clearly hurt leg, Ryoga came slowly. His expression was furious… Then it softened.
"What the hell happened? Did she get hurt?"
"Well… She got a bad cut I suppose…"
He hadn't meant to make it a pun. He winched at how utterly thoughtless and insensitive it was.
Before he could do anything else though…
"And Izuku Midoriya wins!"
Izuku and Ryoga, both jumped, despite the fact doing so just made pain shoot through their entire bodies, as Hinako was suddenly there behind them.
"By virtue of Ryoga having hurt a bystander, he has been immediately disqualified, thus rendering Izuku the victor by default!"
Ryoga and Izuku just stared at her in utter disbelief…
But before he could actually say anything for or against this, Akane suddenly seemed to snap back to life.
She grabbed both boys' heads from behind, and BASHED them together with a resounding sound, and both of them crumbled down on their knees!
Then she turned and stared down at her shorn locks… Before slowly beginning to walk off.
I
Akane felt numb.
There were several reasons for that.
Many which had been building for the entire day, slowly but surely… Right up until it had all just come out exploding in a few moments.
And then of course… There was her hair.
The loss of her hair, her ONE actual pretty, feminine attribute, that she felt was better than Kasumi's was… It was a blow that hurt in a way no bruise in the Dojo ever had.
The further humiliation that Izuku had, unintentionally or not, bought his victory with it was also…
She tried really, really hard not to think about any of it.
She just focused on trying to get back home, before she started crying.
It was as she passed a sign that was some happy add for something… She didn't really take care to read what… That she snapped.
It was too much.
Suddenly feeling like the ad itself was personally mocking her, she put her fist through it… And suddenly felt pain in her hand as she realized she had just punched through a bit of paper… And the glass behind it.
Great.
Perfect.
As she pulled her hand back, she quickly pulled out pieces of glass, and bandaged her hand with a ripped off piece of her uniform.
It was utterly ruined already… So what did ripping off another piece matter?
She looked down at her "bandaged" hand.
She… She had to go see doctor Tofu about that.
But… Later.
Right now she just… Wanted to go home.
I
Behind her, holding a massive lock of blue hair in one hand, and cradling his side with the other, Izuku kept a good distance, but made sure he had his eye on her as he walked… Or rather hobbled his way back.
He'd gotten his shirt, and bag back from Hinako, but that was little consolation for him, given it caused him nothing but pain on his back.
His entire body screamed in pain.
He just… Wanted to get home and lie down.
But rather than just doing that, he instead made sure to follow Akane every step of the way.
He'd… Screwed something up today.
Badly. He… Wasn't sure exactly what to do about it… But making sure Akane got back home safely seemed like a logical first step.
The next was probably to let Akane calm down a bit, before he tried to make it up to her.