Reader20448: Thanks, and yeah, Monoma's antics will get him in trouble someday. Izuku and Shoto's conversation was simple, and no offense to the original Izuku, but their discussion was too competitive for my liking and not fitting for Shoto's mental health. Don't get me wrong, I love the conversation which shows that Shoto isn't just a cold person based on the first impression of the early chapters/episodes, but Izuku's response to him seems a bit off so this Izuku made sure to choose his words carefully.
Fatah D Astraf: yes, I know. *deadpan*
VIP Section, UA Stadium
Musutafu, Japan
"Aww, man. I wanna congratulate Izu…." Hackmon moans while lying on the seat, disgruntled.
"Hackmon, you know the rules. No spectators are allowed in the competitor's section, that includes you." Yagi states as he gives Inko a new bucket of popcorn since her tears not only flood the entire VIP section but also ruin everyone's food. She had apologized profusely but everyone didn't seem to mind, but again, they're too confused to be mad at Inko.
"I hate how restrictive the rules are," Hackmon grumbles while Gammamon seems sad.
"I wanna see Aniki…" Gammamon whimpers while Hackmon decides to comfort the young Mon.
"You know, I never got to ask much about Digimon, but what exactly are you guys? And how does the partnership work?" Vlad King asks.
"Well, we're a being from a world we dubbed as Digital World, where everything is made of data instead of atoms, including us Digimon. Each of us was made from different data, like me who're made of data of heroes, knights, adventurers, and so on." Hackmon says before pausing. "Or at least that's what Izu's theory states about us, but it is somewhat accurate. Most Digimon didn't exactly research much about it, just think that it's just how it works."
"….maybe you should since we're so confused right now." Midnight stated in a dry tone as Hackmon rubbed his head sheepishly. Meanwhile, Eri is hiding behind Kota as Falcomon tries to approach her while Kota shields her from the Digimon. Falcomon could only look at them in utter confusion, unable to understand why she was scared of him and became even more confused when Himiko pulled him away. Meanwhile, Mandalay simply takes a picture of Kota acting toward his new friend before sharing it with the rest of the Pussycats, earning an explosive reaction from each member of the group chat.
"As for partnership," Hackmon begins as he pats Gammamon on the back soothingly. "It's….a bit complicated. It was like a selection between Digimon and Human, looking for possible candidates and seeing which of us matched with each other. Once it was done, we Digimon could instinctively recognize which one was our partner."
"Doesn't that feel….like you were taken away from making independent choices? Like do you guys even partnered with humans?" Midnight asks, a bit unsure.
"It may look like that, but usually the partnerships were made based on our inner desires, which mostly are seeking friends," Hackmon says before looking away. "And….sometimes, it could be a selfish desire…"
"…." The teachers look unsure of how to react, as this is completely new and foreign information for any of them.
"A-anyways, let's focus on our next round," Hackmon says while looking slightly uncomfortable talking about it.
"All right, welcome back, everyone! I hope you are all able to enjoy your lunch break because things are about to go wild once again, especially with all of these competitors based on the previous rounds!" This earns a cheer from every spectator. "And before we officially start our final event, there's good news for those who dropped out of preliminaries as this is still a Sports Festival. We're having a recreational event exclusively for you all. And let's not forget, the cheerleader we hired from America! Look how cheerful they are-!"
"… What is going on?" Aizawa says blankly, getting Izuku's attention. The sudden halt was caused by a 1-A girl wearing a cheerleader uniform, and since Mineta isn't here, that shouldn't happen. So, what's-!?
Izuku's mind blanked when he saw the majority of class 1-B girls end up being the victim this time before he noticed Tsuburaba standing on the side while not-so-subtly snickering at the scene. He forgot that Tsuburaba was somewhat of a degenerate given how he reacted to the unintentional BDSM moment while wrapped by Tsuyu's tongue in the original. But, it doesn't make sense since Tsuburaba seems to be the guy who prefers not to show it, and yet, he openly shows his perverted side. He then found Sero approach him and giving the Solid Air user a thumb up before deadpanned. He felt a second-hand embarrassment being a class president, allowing his classmate to do something like this.
"That…explains so much…" Yaomomo says, looking slightly embarrassed. "Kendo-san asks me to help make some cheerleader uniforms…..I was confused since I had zero idea why, but I didn't ask further, just complied…I should've done more to prevent this…"
"You didn't know, Yaomomo. Don't blame yourself for this." Ochako pats Yaomomo's shoulder comfortingly, making Yaomomo feel slightly at ease.
"And also, it seems that some of them enjoying this," Jirou says while pointing at Setsuna and Pony happily waving their pom-poms.
"…I suppose." Yaomomo sweatdrops.
"Who would done such trickery towards our sister class!? This is unbecoming of our school!" Iida exclaims.
"I don't know, but I'm enjoying the view," Kaminari says with a dopey grin but yelp when Jirou stabs him with his cord. Izuku can't help but frown at it as he hates how the anime simply plays for a laugh, especially given how lethal Jirou's attacks are. So, he gently pulled the cord from Kaminari.
"Jirou, I understand Kaminari may have done something stupid, but there are other safer ways to reprimand him. Remember, your heartbeat waves could shatter rock and not to mention, annoyance increased heart rates, so you could lethally harm him." Jirou looks slightly pale before looking apologetic and ashamed as she mutters an apology at Kaminari. Kaminari looks at Izuku in surprise before smiling.
"Um, thanks, bro," Kaminari says as Izuku flicks the boy's ears. "O-ouch! What the heck!?"
"Appreciating a female's appearance has its time and place, and right now, it's not one of them," Izuku says in a deadpan tone. Kaminari looks sheepish while everyone looks at Izuku with a raised eyebrow, questioning the boy's choice of words.
"….what?" Izuku asks blankly.
"Appreciating a female's appearance?" Ochako says with a raised eyebrow.
"I don't want to hear it from the one who shamelessly ogling my abs." Izuku deadpanned as Ochako's face exploded before stammering, making everyone laugh.
"Okay, so that was something," Present Mic coughs. "Anyways, let us explain more for our final round! From 5 teams, 25 individuals have made it to the finals! It shall be a tournament! Each of you will fight against each other!"
"Huh, you're right, Izu-bro," Eijirou says.
"You all must be wondering, how are we going to arrange this fight? Well, I shall let you all draw lots!" Snipe exclaims before pulling out a box and letting every competitor draw numbers from the box. "Those who got the same number shall be paired and pitted against each other."
"I got one…" Koda mutters.
"I got one as well," Awase says with a raised eyebrow.
"So do I…?" Tokoyami furrowed his brow before looking at Snipe.
"Due to the large number of contestants, we have decided to split the first and second rounds of the tournament with three contestants fighting against each other, and only one winner able to go to the next round. Now, contestants, please show your ticket numbers." Snipe states. Izuku looked at the ticket he drew and got 2 before showing it to Snipe. He then looked around and found that Sen and Iida had 2 as well, meaning he would be fighting the two of them. "All right, now here are the matches!"
First Round:
Match 1: Koji Koda vs Yosetsu Awase vs Fumikage Tokoyami
Match 2: Izuku Midoriya vs Tenya Iida vs Sen Kaibara
Match 3: Hanzo Hasashi vs Itsuka Kendo vs Rikidou Sato
Match 4: Ochako Uraraka vs Togeike Chikuchi vs Jurota Shishida
Match 5: Eijirou Kirishima vs Juzo Honenuki vs Shugo Kyouriki
Match 6: Miles Prower vs Kinoko Komori
Match 7: Mei Hatsume vs Tokage Setsuna
Match 8: Shoto Todoroki vs Denki Kaminari
Match 9: Kenshi Takechi vs Jirou Kyouka
Match 10: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu vs Momo Yaoyorozu
Second Round:
Match 11: Winner of Match 1 vs Match 2 vs Match 3
Match 12: Winner of Match 4 vs Match 5 vs Match 6
Match 13: Winner of Match 7 vs Match 8
Match 14: Winner of Match 9 vs Match 10
Semi-Finals:
Match 15: Winner of Match 11 vs Match 12
Match 16: Winner of Match 13 vs Match 14
Finals:
Match 17: Winner of Match 15 vs Match 16
"Hmm…." Izuku's mind ran at 100 miles per hour as he thought of the idea of how to fare against a speeding robot and a guy with a bunch of drills that could pierce the heaven itself. Thanks to the fight club and training with each other, Izuku has ideas of what they could do, but fighting against them is completely another story. He must be careful against them.
"So, I fight against two Hero Course students," Togeike muses before looking at Ochako and Shishida, both looking at her curiously with the former showing suspicions. "Well, let the best fighter win."
"…" Ochako merely nods. No offense to Togeike as she seems nice, but she's a bit wary towards other classes since they show they're out for them because of USJ. Ochako will give her the benefit of the doubt, but she will make sure to keep an eye on her.
"Indeed, and if any of us lose, there will be no hard feelings, okay?" Shishida says gently, which surprises Togeike a bit since his appearance and attitude don't seem to match at all.
"Well, this is gonna be a drag," Hanzo mutters while rubbing the back of his head.
"What was that supposed to mean!?" Kendo, who already changed back to her gym uniform, snapped at Hanzo. She's still miffed by the fact that she got tricked into being a cheerleader by the perverts.
"I-I mean, it'll be a drag to fight against two people at one!" Hanzo exclaims, waving his hand frantically. "You gotta make sure you are always on guard and remind yourself that there's more than just one opponent, and it made us less focused!"
"…oh," Kendo had the decency to look embarrassed while muttering an apology to the former vigilante.
"Well, either way, I'm cooked," Sato says dryly before Komori lightly hits Sato's leg. "Ouch, that wasn't even a pun at all!"
"No food pun," Komori says. No offense to Sato, but the majority of his attempted humor was just horrible food puns, so they made sure to not let him cook with jokes.
"So, how many babies you'll be showcasing today?" Mei asks.
"Well, I was only able to fix half of my inventions while eating lunch, so…." Miles says while holding his newly repaired bag. Mei merely gives him a blank look, wondering why the boy nonchalantly shows his skill and sounds like it wasn't a big deal when in reality, no one could do half the thing he does.
To Mei, Miles is a child prodigy whom everyone wishes to be, and he's a perfect rival for her since his crazy inventions always make Mei determined to build a better one. Mei always takes a lot of projects and leaves the rest of the students with almost none, but she doesn't do it out of malice, she sees it as an opportunity. Not to mention, in Mei's opinion, some students seemed less motivated when given the project, and Miles being a genius didn't need much improvement. She has stopped doing that since Miles pointed out that what she did is equivalent to sabotaging. Mei may be eccentric, slightly unhinged, and a pyromaniac, but sabotaging other inventors was never her intention. She still has pride in being an inventors after all.
"All right, let us give it our all!" Eijirou exclaims.
"Haha, spoken like a true man! Let us show our chivalrous spirit to everyone in Japan!" Shugo exclaims before Eijirou and Tetsutetsu freeze before looking at him.
"….bro, you're a fan of Crimson Riot?" Eijirou and Tetsutetsu look at Shugo with a gleam in their eyes.
"Bro, you too!?" Shugo asks excitedly, a bright grin plastered on his face.
"Bro."
"Bro."
"BRO!"
"….oh, no…." Togeike mutters as she facepalmed while Sato and Komori sighs.
"….can I for-?!" Honenuki flinches when he sees Eijirou and Shugo look at him intensely, causing him to let out a weak whimper.
"…welp, I'm dead," Kaminari deadpanned as he looked at Shoto, who seemed to be in his world.
"…." Momo distracts herself by thinking of an idea of how to beat her tanky opponent while ignoring the loud cheer in the background. For some reason, the entire Victoria Housekeeping got themselves tickets to watch in the stadium and they went all out with their cheer. But, since Lycaon is a boomer, his way of cheering seems a bit old-school and made it awkward, Rina bit her lips to hold herself from laughing out loud, and Ellen simply took a nap while Corin looked like she was dying on the inside. It was utter chaos and Yaomomo could only feel embarrassed by this.
"Now that the matches are set, let us put aside our tournament and let the others enjoy the recreational events!" Present Mic exclaims and immediately, everyone goes to enjoy the event. The first recreational event involves a team event where they all push a giant rubber ball and reach the finish lane. Izuku decided to join in along with Takechi and Hanzo, the three of them were enjoying the moment given how they didn't get the chance to participate in such competitions in their past lives. Izuku due to his lack of social skills, Hanzo being a shut-in, and Takechi being bedridden for most of his life. The three of them take the chance to enjoy it as much as possible, laughing cheerfully while pushing the giant ball and getting first place. A lot of competitors feel displeased but they didn't have the heart to be mad when they saw the trio enjoy it.
The second event involved finding objects based on the card given to every participant in the stadium. Each participant can either buy from a stall or borrow the item they're looking for from the spectators. Izuku didn't participate this time, but he was dragged by Ochako and Eijirou since for some reason, he's the person they're looking for. Izuku sneakily peeked at their card, but both of them made sure he couldn't see it, much to his annoyance. When they present their cards to Snipe, he takes a glance before giving them a thumbs up, much to Izuku's displeasure.
Also, the girls of Class 1-B were split into two, one group beating the shit out of Tsuburaba and Sero, consisting of Kendo, Ibara, Yanagi, and Kodai. Another group takes the chance of having fun by cheerleading, consisting of Tokage and Pony. Izuku can't help but notice the imbalance in the boys-girls ratio of the current class 1-B, wondering if a lot of girls seem to be less interested in this kind of job while ignoring Sero's cries for help as he is getting his ass whooped by the girls.
After the recreational event, the stadium is cleared as Cementoss forms an arena using his quirk while Snipe ignites each torch using his gun and modified bullets, earning cheers from the spectators.
"All right, thank you for your assistance, Cementoss. Now, after so many events, we're finally here in the tournament section! The only person you could count on is yourself! However, even without being a hero, you'll face these kind of situations in everyday life, right!? Will, ability, resistance, and justice! This will be the moment where you shall put all of them in play and achieve glorious victory!" Present Mic says excitedly as everyone cheers. "Now, let us start our first match! On one side, we have the golem that could attract animals and request assistance. He may look shy but don't underestimate his strength. We got Koji Koda of Class 1-A!"
"You got this, Koda!" The majority of Izu-squad cheers for the boy, which gains his attention as he nervously waves at them.
"On another side, we have the night, we have the vengeance, we have the bird-head himself! With the power of the shadow, he can call an entity that packs a lot of punch and takes a lot of hits! The edge lord himself, Fumikage Tokoyami of Class 1-A!" As Present Mic says this, Tokoyami walks towards the arena. If it wasn't for his black feathers, his embarrassed blush would be visible.
"What kind of introduction is this…" Tokoyami mutters in embarrassment while Class 1-A struggles to choose either to feel bad for the poor boy or laugh at his expense.
"And from the another, another side, we got…." Present Mic paused. "I'm sorry, but other than his shonen-protagonist-looking black hair and his bandanna, he hasn't done something noteworthy! But, let us still cheer for our third participant, Yosetsu Awase!"
"Oh, come on!" Awase exclaims in utter disbelief while Sen is on his seat laughing and wheezing his ass off. Tetsutetsu and Takechi cover their mouth to hold their laughter. Izuku could only facepalm in exasperation, not expecting the introduction pulled by Present Mic while the majority of the vestiges laugh their asses off.
"The rule is simple! Your opponent will lose the moment they either out of bounds or shout 'I give up'! And don't worry about overdoing yourself, Recovery Girl will immediately patch you up in no time! So, forget your morale and-! Gakh!" Everyone was taken aback when a giant syringe blitzed through the floor at the spectator's section and went through the commentator's section's window before hitting Present Mic's forehead, knocking him out.
"DON'T LISTEN TO THAT MORON AND OVERDID IT! IF I CATCH ANY OF YOU DOING IT, THEN REST ASSURED, I WILL MAKE SURE ANY OF YOU WILL FALL UNCONSCIOUS FOR AT LEAST 4 HOURS AFTER I HEAL YOU WITH MY QUIRK, WINNER OR NOT! THIS IS A SPORTS FESTIVAL, NOT A GLADIATOR RING!" Recovery Girl's outrageous shout sent shivers to everyone, but some of the spectators near the hole witnessed the current youthful Recovery Girl and started swooning over her, earning glares from either Recovery Girl or some of their girlfriends.
"….anyways, in this battle, you should give it your all, but of course don't overdo it to the point of putting risk on opponent's life, it will earn you an immediate disqualification. Without further ado, the battle starts now." Aizawa decided to take over after confirming that Present Mic was out cold. Tokoyami summons Dark Shadow and immediately went to attack both Awase and Koda. The two of them dodge the attack with ease, and Koda's agile movement seems to surprise the spectators as they don't expect such a bulky kid to be moving fast.
"My avian friends, come and lend me a hand!" Koda shouts before a flock of birds flies down and starts pecking Dark Shadow. But, Koda wasn't given a chance to take a breather as Awase charged at him. Koda barely dodged, but Awase managed to weld Koda's shoes to the ground before he followed with a roundhouse kick. Koda barely blocked the attack and pushed back, but since Koda's leg was stuck on the ground, he was staggered and almost lost his balance. Awase was going to weld him once again, but Koda grabbed his wrist to make sure he wouldn't weld him. Both wrestle with each other and are locked in a stalemate.
Meanwhile, Dark Shadow manages to get rid of the flocks from pecking him and tries to swing at the two of them. Koda takes the chance to lie down and pushes Awase towards the line of attack, causing Dark Shadow to land a blow on Awase and send him back. Koda takes the chance to take off his shoe before rolling away from an incoming attack. Koda let out a shaky breath as he was still inexperienced in heavy workouts, looking at Tokoyami keeping his distance while Dark Shadow protectively guarded the bird boy. Meanwhile, Awase shakily got up before glancing at both Koda and Tokoyami, holding his bruised arm.
"…." Koda takes a shaky breath as he recalls the training he has with everyone. He especially remembers the training Izuku had for him, training to conquer his fear. Ever since Izuku figured out Koda's fear of bugs, he decided to help the boy with it, by using exposure training. It was bad for the first few times and it always left him in tears. Izuku is guilty of making the poor boy cry, but he is determined to help the boy conquer his fear so he continues to do so.
He recalls what Izuku said regarding his fear when he was once again on the verge of giving up.
'Fear is merely temporary, and someday, you need to confront it. Today, tomorrow, or someday in the future. How to handle such fear will determine the fate of the rest of your life. Will you be able to experience adventure and live without any regret, or let the fear consume you and lead you to a terrible path?'
Koda chose the former, and he did everything to conquer his fear with Izuku helping him. It was quite slow, but now, Koda doesn't mind the presence of bugs. Sure, it might still make his skin crawl when touching it, but it didn't leave him in tears like usual. Koda takes a deep breath before opening his mouth.
"My friends, lend me a hand!" Koda shouted before suddenly, a brief glow came from his horn before it disappeared. Then, out of nowhere, multiple ants start to crawl at Tokoyami's legs before biting his skin, beetles start to crawl through Tokoyami's clothes, mosquitos continuously suck Tokoyami's arms, and centipedes start to crawl on Tokoyami's head. Dark Shadow immediately went to work and tried to get rid of the bugs crawling on Tokoyami, but to Dark Shadow's surprise, a bright light appeared around him causing him to hiss. He takes a look and sees a bunch of fireflies flying near him.
'Fireflies?! I won't look a gift horse on the mouth, but where did they come from.' Koda thought before remembering the forests in UA, including those in the stadiums.
Awase gulps nervously at the insane amount of bugs crawling at Tokoyami before steeling himself and charging towards Koda but stops his track when multiple honey bees appear in front of Awase, buzzing loudly while exposing their stingers.
"….oh, not cool, Koda. You threaten me with my allergy…?" Awase groans before raising both of his hands in surrender. "I give up."
"M-me too," Tokoyami grunts while scratching his skin with Dark Shadow hissed as the fireflies got closer while exposing its bioluminescent towards the sentient quirk. Koda looks at Snipe who simply nods and Koda commands the bugs to get off of them.
"T-the winner of the first round goes to Koji Koda…" Snipe exclaims, trying to hide his fear at Koda. He may not have entomophobia, but having tiny critters crawling on you will always send shivers through anyone's spine and skin. The spectators slowly clap and cheer, still trying to process the horror Koda had pulled off.
Meanwhile, Izuku can be seen sweating profusely as the Izu-squad glaring holes at him. They know Izuku help Koda to overcome his fear of bugs and it ends up biting on their asses as they will be future victims of Koda's new tiny critter allies. Izuku may have good intentions, but he may have just doomed everyone.
'Please stop staring at me…' Izuku thought as cold sweats fell from his head. He decided to get up from the seat and walk out of the competitor's section before Iida joined him.
"So….we're facing against each other, huh?" Iida says as he adjusts his glasses. "Then, let the best fighter win this match."
"Yeah…" Izuku says as they walk side by side before splitting up to difference entrances.
"Oh…that was painful. Um, what did I miss?" Present Mic was back on the air. "Oh, the resident's golem has won? That's great for him. Anyway, let us begin the second round! From one side, we got the Goliath with the capability of thinking outside the box, a deadly combination! No one would expect someone who can manipulate speed pulls a flamethrower or a cold gun! He has kept his 1st rank for the entire Festival, but will he be able to maintain that rank or will he fall!? Give it up to Izuku Midoriya of Class 1-A!"
Izuku was taken aback by how loud the cheer was. He was expecting him to be a bit controversial since he calls out the bigots and the idiots, but having the spectators do nothing but cheer for him seems a bit weird. He hopes that he didn't slowly turn into a Gary Stu because he rather die again than be one.
"From another side, we got the legacy of the Iidaten Agency! But, don't let his privilege fool you, because he's more than just being the little brother of a famous pro-hero! You have seen how he is against Midoriya, his speed rivals the boy and he can deliver a deadly kick with that beautiful engine that could make every racer jealous! Let's give a cheer for Tenya Iida of Class 1-A!" The spectators loudly cheers at the boy as Iida stiffly walks towards the arena.
"And last, but certainly not least, we got the man who has the power of the drill that could pierce the heaven itself! He could spin part of his body so fast that getting hit by it would be a suicide! Like his classmate, he hasn't done anything notable but don't dismiss him because of it! Give an applause to Sen Kaibara of Class 1-B!" Present Mic says as everyone once again cheers and Sen walks towards the arena. All three contestants face against each other, determined to win the match.
"You all know the rules, right?" Snipe asks as they all nod.
"All right, then start!"
To be continued
