Chapter 44

Soon, Kazuki found himself walking towards the stage once more.

He didn't feel ready… at all. His short walk with Mineta had helped him keep busy, but the emotions kept drilling a hole in whatever stability he managed to get. No matter what he did, his Quirk continued relentlessly chipping away at his mind.

He took a deep breath in, glancing to the side at Midoriya.

The other boy's nervousness should have made him feel better. It should have reassured him that at least he wasn't the only one likely to screw up there. Instead, it just added on the already huge wave of emotions that he kept trying to push back against.

'I can do this,' Kazuki thought to himself, doing his best to calm down his mind and let the emotions pass him by.

It didn't work. Every step he took out in the open towards the stage, he could feel the emotions. Maybe it was his imagination, but he could almost feel them grow worse the closer he got. By the time he reached the stairs, Kazuki was doing his best to keep his mind in check.

'Five. Four. Three. Two. One,' he counted, closing his eyes and taking another deep breath in as he reached his spot.

Yamada and Aizawa's voices reached his ears with their commentary but he ignored them. He only kept an ear open for the call to start and nothing else. Opening his eyes, he looked at Midoriya, who was very visibly solidifying his own resolve for the fight. Kazuki could relate.

'Channel it,' he thought, taking the emotions being poured on him like an unending rain and grasping at them with his Quirk. They sucked, majorly so, but they could at least be useful once things got started. He just needed to keep it together. Once the fight started, he'd have an outlet. 'Just need to make sure not to let out too much,' he reminded himself, feeling his calm crumble a little.

"Start!" Kayama called, and it felt like it had been both too slow and too fast. Kazuki didn't care for that, however. His shadow exploded outward from under him. Across the field, Midoriya's feet cracked the stage before he dashed forward, his body in pain but holding together as green sparks seemed to course through him.

The green-haired boy's fist was stopped by a bone white and pitch black surface as Kazuki brought up the thickest layer of Boarbatusk Grimm Guard he could. Behind him, he started creating a Beringel and a King Taijitu. He wasn't sure exactly how strong Midoriya had gotten, but if he couldn't just fight him off, then he'd restrain him.

He'd have liked to go for an Alpha Beowolf, but that'd require him to channel emotions that he wasn't sure he could deal with at that very moment. His quickly crumbling mind wasn't likely to hold as well as it had against Todoroki, he assumed. So, that fight was probably going to be done with regular Grimm unless something happened.

A second punch sent Kazuki stumbling to the side as the fist pierced right through the Boarbatusk barrier he'd created. 'Well, there goes that plan,' he thought with pursed lips as he moved to the side, readying himself for a second Grimm Guard. When Midoriya noticed that he'd moved, at least, because the teen sent a third punch at the now more or less pointless Boarbatusk side.

He grinned as his first Beringel jumped over the Grimm Guard to attack Midoriya while the King Taijitu continued building itself up. 'Oh, come on,' Kazuki thought then, his smile being wiped off his face as a single punch from Midoriya seemed to tear off the Beringel's arm. Feeding it more energy to help it regenerate, he started thinking of a Plan B.

His Grimm were too weak, it seemed. 'I have all the negativity in the world though,' he thought then, pouring more and more energy into the King Taijitu. Efficiency went out the window, of course. But what did he care when he seemed to have an infinite source of negative emotions anyway? What did it matter if he spent a ridiculous amount of it for a meager improvement?

So, that's what he did for his King Taijitu and the Beowolf he started forming then and there. It was a little late for his Beringel, but that one would be a good distraction, at least. If he could get his numbers up, then that was more advantageous to him. Early game was where he struggled and he was holding his own-

As if to dash his hopes, Midoriya's eyes darted to the side where he was, realizing that Kazuki wasn't where he was targeting anymore. 'Nope,' he thought then, noticing how his classmate started turning to charge after him. He couldn't allow that though. Close combat against Midoriya might as well be admitting defeat.

Thus, he took what was there of his King Taijitu and threw it down on top of Midoriya before he could move. His Beowolf finished forming a moment later and he immediately started building another. He'd have gone for a Beringel, but those were slower and he'd already risked one of those for little success.

Maybe if he could stabilize things a little better, he'd try again. For the moment, he needed to stack the cards in his favor and that meant getting more Grimm out in the field instead of trying to make strong ones. The King Taijitu would be enough to carry things for the moment. Or so Kazuki hoped, at least, because he needed Midoriya busy or he'd be punched out of the stage in the blink of an eye.

For the moment, he finally finished creating his snake Grimm, which he immediately set on his opponent, making it coil around the teen. Midoriya was too strong to really subdue with just that, but it blocked his vision and that was great for Kazuki.

With his opponent's sight blocked, he started moving somewhere else, continuing to create more Beowolves. He had a nice pair at the moment, but he needed to replace his Beringel, who had been destroyed by a handful of punches from Midoriya. He needed more and he needed them fast.

'Come on, come on,' he urged himself and his Grimm. His King Taijitu struggled to squeeze harder on Midoriya while the other teen continued using his super strength to push it off, trying to find enough room to make his way out. Which he seemed to find, somewhat, when he made enough space to throw a short punch that took off a chunk of the serpentine creature. 'Not so fast,' Kazuki hissed in his mind, already sending more negativity to repair the damage while still making the monster continue to hold onto Midoriya.

His increasingly big pack of Beowolves waited on the sides, ready in case his opponent worked his way out. They'd jump right in if that happened, but Kazuki had his doubts regarding them being enough. Taking a deep breath in, he grimaced as he made a decision.

'I have to win,' he thought, reaching inside towards the nodes in his negativity pool. The Alpha Beowolf was too dangerous to attempt, considering he was already on the verge of breaking his control. The Apathy, however, was much more manageable, considering the emotions were more… subdued, in a way. Depression at that very moment would be absolutely awful, but it had a lot less risk of him exploding, so it would have to do.

A second punch shook his King Taijitu as he started on the process. It was quickly followed by another as the creature struggled to make up for its quickly breaking body with the parts that were intact. Midoriya was going for quick succession though, each time taking more and more off his monster. He was going much faster than Kazuki could repair the damage and that was more than a little concerning.

He needed to hurry.

As a last ditch effort, when there was little left of the King Taijitu to coil as best it could around Midoriya but not to hold him but to throw him in the opposite direction from Kazuki. It worked, somewhat, but it took the green-haired boy less than a second to get his bearings and recover. That was at least some time that his Beowolves had to make their charge though.

All the while, Kazuki felt like there was a hole in his chest and his mind had grown numb. Did it all really matter? His efforts would get minimal results at best and make things worse at worst. The crowd hated him. They'd likely hate his team by association. They'd probably hate his friends once they found out about them. The press would have a field day with his story.

There was a reason why people like him didn't get anywhere, especially when regarding heroics of all things. Io had seen things from his perspective, but not from others. If nobody else had achieved what Kazuki was trying it wasn't because they hadn't tried, he was sure…

It was all useless…

"... They'll cheer for you, Endo."

"You aren't weak, Endo."

"That's why I know you can be a hero. Because you already are."

"We can keep trying together…"

'Just a bit more,' Kazuki thought to himself, narrowing his eyes as the Apathy finished appearing by his side. His eyes recovered some of their focus as he looked towards Midoriya, who had finished punching the third Beowolf into non-existence. 'I'm not done yet,' he thought, frowning as he pulled on his control of the Apathy.

A second later, the creature looked up and screamed. Midoriya sagged where he stood, but to his credit he continued fighting the Beowolves anyway, if a little more sluggishly. 'I'm not done yet,' Kazuki repeated to himself, his shadow extending and starting to form two Nevermores. He had a new plan and he really hoped it'd be the last.

As the bird creatures finished forming, Midoriya punched the last Beowolf away and started running at him. The corvids weren't fast enough to react, but Kazuki himself was, building up another Boarbatusk barrier in front of him. The punch was much stronger than before, however. It went right through his Grimm Guard and hit Kazuki himself, sending him flying back and skidding on the stage.

With another quick use of Grimm Guard, he created a pair of Beowolf arms around him to stab their claws on the ground and stop his movement. 'Too close,' Kazuki thought, feeling his face pale. The edge of the stage was barely a few steps away.

He looked up towards his opponent, feeling the pain of Midoriya's broken arm. That'd obviously been a bit of a last ditch effort, but that didn't mean Kazuki was going to get overconfident. That had been way too fucking close. His shoulder hurt like hell too and his left arm hurt to even move. 'Nothing is broken though,' he noted to himself, snarling.

That only meant one thing…

'I'm not done yet, damnit!' he hissed in his mind, his Nevermore doing what he'd made them for and grabbing Midoriya with their claws. They didn't keep their hold though. He knew that'd just get them punched into non-existence, even if Midoriya only had one good arm remaining. Instead, he used a series of quick grabs and releases with their claws and smacks with their beaks and wings to get the other teen in the air.

His Nevermore basically started juggling Midoriya in the air while he made more to add to that. All the while, his Apathy continued its screaming, chipping at his opponent's will about as much as the crowd did his sanity. 'I'm going to win,' he thought, gritting his teeth.

"I'm not done yet," he hissed out loud as the new batch of Nevermores joined just in time, when one of the other ones was punched into dissolving. He continued making more. He needed to keep it up. The sudden, semi-random movements of the juggling were making it difficult for Midoriya to really hit anything, nevermind his broken arm.

'Come on.'

Kazuki just needed to continue and then slowly, very slowly…

'No!' he shouted in his mind when Midoriya kicked to the side, getting two of his Nevermore at once. 'No, I'm not done!' he screamed internally, making a new pair of Nevermores charge at the still airborne teen. This time they didn't go for a grab though. Instead, they just went for a tackle, sending Midoriya flying back even if that got one of them punched into nothing.

As his opponent fell to the ground though, Kazuki felt his lips twitch up.

He grinned then, looking down at Midoriya from the top of the stage…

… While the other teen stood on the ground, out of bounds.

"And another!... Victory!… For Endo!" Yamada shouted through the speakers. Despite how excited the man sounded, Kazuki felt like he almost couldn't hear the cheers in the crowd. That was fine though. He wasn't expecting them anyway, so what little there was felt like a victory of its own. It wasn't great, but it wasn't absolute silence…

He'd take what he could get.

Present Mic continued speaking, but Kazuki just took a deep breath in and dissolved his Grimm as he walked off the stage.

"You ok?" he asked Midoriya, who was now looking like he didn't know if he should hold his arm or not. Fortunately for the teen, the medical robots of the school were already approaching him.

"Yeah…" the green-haired boy said, looking down at his arm and glancing at the stage. "Yeah… I'm fine… I guess one of us had to be less of a mess, right?" he asked then, turning towards Kazuki.

"I don't feel like I'm the lesser mess right now," he replied, his expression twitching.

"I meant it, back then," Midoriya told him, drawing a confused expression from Kazuki. "I believe you can be a hero, Endo… Do you think I can be one?"

"Definitely," he answered immediately, looking at the other boy like he was crazy. With a power like his, how could he not be a hero? Had he gotten hit too hard in the hea-?

"That's how sure I am that you can be a hero," the other teen said, interrupting his thoughts and making his eyes widen. "That's how sure I am that you can be a great one too, so… don't let others make you think otherwise."

"... I'm trying."

"Good," was all Midoriya said before letting the robots around him take him away. Looking at him go, Kazuki stood there for a long moment without moving. Eventually, he turned to leave through the same passage he'd come through before.

As he did, he came across both Yaoyorozu and Monoma.

"No offense, Monoma, but I hope Yaoyorozu wins," he commented, trying to muster a casual tone but barely managing a weary one. Regardless, the blonde chuckled goodheartedly.

"It's fine, she needs the luck more than I do," the 1-B student boasted, drawing an unamused smile from Kazuki and a raised eyebrow. "See you in the final, Endo," Monoma added before just continuing forward.

"Kick his ass, yeah?"

"... I won't even bother," Yaoyorozu replied to him for the curse with a shake of her head and a smile. "But thank you for the encouragement," she added, her grin widening a little before she started walking again. "See you in the final," she finished with, mimicking Monoma.

"See you in the final then," he shot back at her, drawing a giggle from her and a wave of her shoulder.

"Good job so far," Inui told him, making him jump a little. He hadn't expected him to be there once more, but sure enough, the counselor was leaning against the wall of the corridor. "There should be a mini-break between this fight and the last two. So, you can take a little time off to gather your thoughts."

"I'd rather be done with this as soon as possible," Kazuki grumbled as he started walking. He'd go, get a drink for himself and then see what he could catch in the current fight. Predictably, Inui followed after him. "I feel like I keep going from holding it together to falling apart at the blink of an eye and then back again."

"Makes sense. Even if you manage to calm yourself, the emotions keep coming. It's not like the problem goes away. Like treating the symptoms but not the disease," Inui mused out loud, seeming more thoughtful than anything. Kazuki caught the feelings of sadness and pity though, but he didn't point them out.

"Apt analogy," he commented, sighing as they reached a vending machine. Getting a drink, he took it and then started making his way to where his classmates were. "Any advice?"

"Just hold on for a little longer, kid," Inui suggested, placing a hand on his shoulder as they walked. "There's only one more fight ahead and then it's done. You've made it to the Top 2 now, that's not a small thing. If you want to just give up now, it'd be fine."

"After all this, just go up there and say I give up?..." he asked, frowning. That idea didn't sit well with him. He was feeling like shit, sure, but he was almost there. One more fight to see if he could win the whole thing… No, he couldn't just allow that to happen. "No… one more fight."

"That's the spirit, but still, don't push yourself more than you think you can manage, Endo," the man told him, somehow managing to sound both proud and concerned. Or maybe that was because Kazuki could pick up on the latter without it actually being expressed? Sometimes it was hard to tell that kind of stuff.

"Fights are, ironically, easier than just standing aside. At least then I have something to focus my mind on, even if they are chaotic," she commented, running his fingers through his hair. "Just one more fight… I'm not done yet."

"... Then good luck, kid. Not that you need it," Inui told him, giving his shoulder a squeeze before letting go.

"Sounds like you are playing favorites there," he pointed out with the smallest of smiles. The school's counselor just chuckled before giving him a light pat on the back.

"Go spend some time with your friends, relax a little and then go for the gold, yeah?"

"Really want to win that bet, huh?"

"Of course," Inui replied with a grin on his dog's face, which looked… fairly unnerving, really. Not that Kazuki was one to talk about an unnerving face, he supposed.

"Better give me a part of the winnings then."

"I'm sure we can arrange something."

Shaking his head and chuckling, he walked into the room where the rest of his classmates were. He felt a little better, if not amazing. That was a win in his books by then, really. With a deep breath in, he walked up to his group and stood behind his seat instead of taking it. Glancing over the railing, he saw Yaoyorozu's fight had already started.

By the looks of it though, he'd barely missed anything. She seemed to have just begun creating things from her body. Monoma, for his part, used Yanagi's telekinetic Quirk to pull away the staff Yaoyorozu had made which was… unfortunate. That'd be complicated to fight against for her, Kazuki guessed.

The sound of him opening the can he'd got from the vending machine drew some looks from his friends.

"Feeling ok?" Hagakure asked, beating everyone else to the punch.

"As ok as I'll be today, I think," he replied with a bitter smile as he took a gulp from his drink. "How did she do against Kendo?"

"It was a bit close at first, but she pulled the advantage after a few items," Jiro summarized. "I got a video, if you want to watch it but…" she added before grimacing. Yeah, he got it. Monoma had used some other Quirk to break the stage by him into chunks. 'I already know where this is going,' Kazuki thought and, sure enough, Monoma started pelting Yaoyorozu with debris.

The girl made herself a shield, but it didn't look like it'd do much.

"She seemed to be running low on resources to create stuff," Todoroki commented and that made sense. She needed to recover those and she'd probably been creating stuff ever since the Sports Festival started to get through all the events. While most of them could at least get some rest and recharge batteries, Yaoyorozu needed a little more to get herself back to top condition.

"Unlucky," he sighed, drawing some affirmative reactions from the rest of the group. He could only grimace as he watched his friend struggle more and more before ultimately being slowly but surely pushed off the stage. That hadn't been a grand fight, unfortunately, but Yaoyorozu had made it to the Top 4, so that was fairly impressive by itself. "She doesn't have good chances against Midoriya for that third place, does she?" he asked, drawing some hisses and more grimaces from the group around him.

"No, doesn't look like it," Mineta answered, sounding like he'd rather say anything else. "Which sucks. Although, do you think he'll be allowed to fight with a broken arm?"

"It's… I'm not sure, actually," Todoroki mused out loud.

"Creepy is our only chance at winning this thing now!" Hagakure exclaimed with a gasp. "We believe in you, Creepy!" she added, jumping out of her seat and hugging him from the side. It was a little awkward, admittedly. Not only because of the position but also because he wasn't really used to physical affection yet.

"Er, thanks?" he replied, shifting a little where he stood.

"Don't mention it," the girl said, pulling away and allowing him to relax a little. Admittedly, at least the gesture had certainly managed to get his mind away from other things. He'd take being awkward and uncomfortable over the myriad of other negative feelings that continued to bombard him. "Anything for my provider of fluff!"

At that, Kazuki smiled, shook his head and created a beowolf puppy. It took some work, considering how increasingly bad he felt, but if nothing else, Hagakure had managed to cheer him up some. It probably wouldn't last, but he'd savor every second.

"You are the best!" she exclaimed then, picking the creature up and hugging it against her chest.

"Lucky bastard," Mineta grumbled.

Jiro cleared her throat then, pulling Kazuki's attention towards her. He blinked though, when he saw her shyly looking to the side. That was very unlike her, for sure.

"Could I have one?" she asked in a low voice and he chuckled. He did make a second puppy though, but he did so while laughing. "Oh, shut up," the girl grumbled, which kind of lost a lot of strength when she was hugging her very own puppy.

Kazuki was going to reply something to that, but he interrupted himself when he felt someone approaching from the corridor behind. He didn't need to be a genius to know who that was, really. There was only one person that could be going there while feeling so defeated. Well, two people, but this person didn't feel like they had a broken arm.

"Couldn't manage in the end," Yaoyorozu said as she entered the room, looking the very picture of someone that had lost. "I guess it was a little silly of me to tell you that going into the battle," she added, looking at Kazuki.

"Nothing wrong with having confidence," he reassured her with a smile. "You still did really well in the Festival anyway. You should be proud."

"... Thanks," she replied with a shy smile of her own. Kazuki was happy to notice, too, that her negative emotions receded a bit. "You better win now though."

"I'll try my best," he told her.

Then he took a deep breath in and looked at the empty stage while Yamada and Aizawa commented on the battles up to that point some more.

'I'm not done yet,' Kazuki thought, taking a deep breath in.

[} Chapter End {]

Hey guys! How's it going?

Well, we are almost at the end of the road for this Sports Festival. How long has it been? A bunch of chapters, that's for sure. I'm too lazy to actually check, sorry.

Anyway, I know I find it annoying when stuff like this gets drawn out but I just couldn't think of a way to speed things up more than I already did. I feel kind of bad for skipping some stuff over already like certain fights and such, but we'd have been here forever and I'd rather not. Hopefully getting through this thing wasn't too much of a bother…

And if it was, then I'm grateful you stayed around.

I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

As always, if you can't wait until next week for next chapter, or if you just feel like supporting my writing, there's up to three new chapters in my Pa tre on:

P a treon . com (slash) AdrianKing

Discord Link: discord .gg/UTDransjJZ

Random Question: Man, people have been getting real aggressive regarding me repeating the same question for the duration of this tournament, which... I don't know why. You guys could just leave a normal review instead. I prefer that instead of just an answer to a literal random question. Anyway, I guess I'll change it for you. How's the weather over there? It's raining over here, which is nice because I've been melting for like a week already with how hot it's here. Yesterday it was like 53°C Apparent Temperature.

See you.