There was only one word to describe the fourth round: indisputable
I, along with everyone else on the platform, stared at screen with wide-eyed disbelief as Bakugou stood over an unconscious Setsuna Tokage. Her purple-scaled body shook with the repercussions of Bakugou's final blast. I wasn't surprised by that - he had blasted her at such a close range even our teachers would've barely survived.
What I was surprised by was how Bakugou stood tall. His breath was slightly laboured, but no victorious grin stretched his lips. There was no degrading comments or bragging. He just stood there, an expression of acceptance relaxing his usually harsh features.
Tokage's words just before her fatal blow rang in my head.
'How is it that you've changed so much?'
In the beginning, I'd thought this fight would get ugly. But Bakugou had protected his teammates, with Sero, Kyoka and Sato protecting him in return. No questions asked, they just did it despite obviously not having a solid plan. They didn't necessarily work together, but they worked off each other, adapting their moves to follow their teammate's previous attacks.
Something the other team hadn't considered, and that was why they lost.
'I haven't changed,' Bakugou said, contemplating Tokage's shaking form. 'My goal has always been the same. To surpass All Might and become the Number One Hero.'
Vlad King's breath shuttered into the mic. 'The horror... the shame... The match didn't even last five minutes!'
'All right!' I cheered along with my classmates, watching Bakugou and the others place Class B's entire team into their jail, the small Principal Nezu sign on top lighting up with congratulations.
'Thanks to some unexpected teamwork, Class A wins with the day's perfect score of four to zero!'
'About time he stopped with the biassed commentary,' Kirishima mumbled near me. 'Although, he sounded more upset than anything.'
'Baby steps, Kiri,' I said as I pated his back, a broad smile on my face. 'The fact still remains: our classmates rule!'
It didn't take the two teams long to make their way back to the platform, although Class B looked a little worse for wear. Tokage was being held up by Awase while Bondo and Kamakiri walked with their heads hanging down. Sympathy coursed through me at the sad sight. On paper, they had an excellent team and an executable plan to boot. It should've been an easy win and they knew that.
But as I watched my friends walk together - Sero, Sato and Kyoka chatting cheerfully amongst each other while Bakugou walked in front silently - my sympathy dissipated completely. My friends deserved this win, indisputably so.
The two groups walked up to there respective teachers and awaited their analysis.
Mr Aizawa started by giving a simple thumbs up. 'You didn't do unnecessary damage and you neutralised your opponents efficiently. Bakugou might have taken the lead, but you three supported him. Solid win. Great job today.'
'That's the nicest briefing he's ever given,' I murmured to Shoto beside me, both of us watching the briefing intently.
'He's just telling the truth,' he replied matter-of-factly. 'Nothing to pick on if they made no mistakes. Which, for the most part, they didn't.'
I gave him a skeptical look. 'Are you actually giving Bakugou a compliment?'
'I'm giving the team a compliment. There's a difference.'
I smirked and turned back to watch the briefing. 'Keep telling yourself that, Sho.'
He groaned quietly beside me, no doubt rolling his eyes too. 'You're unbelievable.'
'And you're in denial. If Bakugou can play nice, so can you.'
He grumbled something incoherent under his breath (probably a curse upon me) but went back to quietly observing with me. Another point to me. I had no idea how many points I had now, but I'm sure I was beating him.
Now it was Class B's turn. Vlad King clenched his fist with frustration, a pained look twisting his rough features. 'Given what you knew about the other team, you came up with a strategy that should've given you an edge. Agh! But you were stuck on it and needed to be more flexible like Honenuki.'
Tokage turned to her classmates, her face the picture of embarrassing defeat. 'I'm sorry that I made our team look lame. I failed.'
'No, let's carve this loss into our hearts and learn from it,' Kamakiri said, bringing Bondo and Awase into a close hug, his smile making the pincers coming out of his mouth just a little less menacing.
'Yeah, sure,' Bondo agreed.
Awase nodded. 'If a monster like Bakugou turns into a team player, there's no weakness for us to exploit.'
Kamakiri shook his head remorsefully. 'I'm afraid that's true.'
'I agree,' Bondo added as the team made their way back to their classmates.
'I know we're meant to be rooting for our classmates...' I turned at the sudden entrance of Midoriya, who held his notepad open as he observed Tokage and the others walk away. '...but I'm glad they're not completely down on themselves. For the most part, they did everything right. And their team work - incredible!'
I nodded and stepped closer to him, Shoto now seemingly busy with talking to Tokoyami. 'There's no doubt they've been working just as hard as us. They've forged bonds as strong as ours, just under different circumstances. That's not something to underestimate.' Midoriya finally faced me, eyes locking with mine intently. 'We cannot underestimate them in our battle, Midoriya.'
He nodded his agreement, his determination to succeed burning bright in his emerald eyes. I could feel it - his want to win. I also felt something else, another presence. The same unknown presence from before. It was buried deep within Midoriya, but it wrestled and writhed with desire. Whatever it was, it wanted to be freed.
'L/N?' I broke out of my reverie at the sound of Midoriya's concerned voice. His eyebrows were knitted together with worry too, and the presence died down. 'You okay?'
'Y-Yeah,' I replied. 'Just... going over the plan in my head. Don't want to forget it.'
'Right.' The sound of approaching footsteps had us both turning to see Bakugou and the others walking not too far away back towards our group. 'Kaachan!'
'Out of my way!' Bakugou bellowed, face twisted with irritated rage.
I sweat-dropped. 'We're not even standing in front of you, so what does that even mean?'
The blond hedgehog sighed, his rage dissipating but not his intensity. He took another long look at us before continuing walking. 'I'm pushing ahead,' he said not glancing back as if to emphasise his point.
'Yeah,' Midoriya said. 'You were amazing.'
Bakugou scoffed. 'I'm moving so fast you won't be able to catch up.'
His tone may have been insulting, but Midoriya simply smiled, looking after his frenemy with admiration and determination. 'Yes I will.'
'Shut it nerd! Dumb words don't mean anything! I won't let you beat me! You're trash! A frickin' extra!'
'You speak to your mother with that mouth?' I called after him, a knowing smirk on my lips. 'Tsk, tsk, Bakugou.'
That finally caused him to stop his rampage, turning back to point an accusatory finger at me. 'Shut it, Lightbulb. You're nothing but a battery like Pikachu over there. Don't think for a second I won't beat your ass the chance we get to fight. I'll squash you like a bug!'
'Oooh! Can I be a cockroach? I've heard they're hard to kill.'
He bared his teeth and growled in annoyance, swiftly turning around and walking away. 'I'll still kill you. Especially you, Deku. You won't stand a chance.'
Midoriya's smile remained as he gazed after Bakugou, and quietly said, 'Just watch me.'
'You have a good childhood friend in him.' We didn't turn around to see who it was because we didn't have to. Midoriya simply nodded at All Might's statement, nothing more needing to be said.
It was true. Underneath his rough exterior and harsh words, Bakugou just proved how loyal he could be. I sweat-dropped however as I watched him yell at Kirishima for probably no reason whatsoever. 'Yeah. If only he were a tad more polite.'
'Agreed, young L/N.'
'Students in the fifth battle please make your way to them held. The match will start shortly.'
Midoriya and I both turned to each other at Vlad King's announcement and nodded. It was time.
'Good luck you two,' All Might said, clasping both out shoulders in his spindly hands. 'Do your best. And don't let your guards down.'
'Will do,' I said. With one final farewell we gathered with Ochaco, Mina and Mineta at the top of the stairs that led into the arena. 'All right guys, let's do this.'
The others took the lead and walked down the stairs first. But just as I was about to follow, a gentle grip around my wrist pulled me to a halt.
'Shoto?' I asked, eyeing the heterochromatic-eyed boy with concern. 'Something wrong?'
He remained silent for a moment, eyes flicking between mine and the floor and where he held my wrist. They finally locked with mine. 'I just wanted to say... go crush it.'
My heart had been wrestling with nerves and the icky feeling that something bad was going to happen all day. But it warmed at the small confidence his words injected into me. It was like a ray of sunlight had pierced through the cloudy sky inside me.
I brought my free hand around to squeeze the hand clasping my wrist. 'I will. Just watch me.'
'I won't miss a second.'
My heart soared at the sincerity of his words, feeling that he truly meant it. I gave his hand another reassuring squeeze before gently tugging myself loose and heading to join my friends. I practically bounced down the stairs I was now pumped with adrenaline. We definitely had a huge fight ahead, but so did Class B. We were both in the same boat sailing on rough waters. In the end, it would come down to who could hold on the longest.
It will be us. It must be us.
It didn't take me long to join the others, but I noticed that a distinct green-haired member was missing. 'Where did Midoriya go?'
'I think he's looking around our area trying to familiarise himself with our surroundings,' Ochaco answered.
'But you would've known that if you weren't talking to Mr. Icy-Hot and making heart eyes with him,' Mina teased, falling into a soft chuckle.
My cheeks burned immediately. 'I was not making heart eyes with Shoto. H-He was just wishing us luck. You know, like a decent person would.'
'Don't try and hide it, Y/N,' she continued. 'You're both totally smitten with one another. I'm both so happy and so jealous of you!'
'That's not...' I released a defeated sigh. 'You know what, never mind. Let's just find Midoriya so we can go over the plan.'
'Why not start it now?' Mineta said, walking backwards out in front of us. 'Yeah, so we should just start by going after Shinso, right? I'm kinda freaking out about that weirdo. I don't want him snooping around in my head.'
'I wouldn't worry, Mineta. I'm sure he wouldn't find much,' I said, earning a glare from the Grape Gremlin and a snort from Mina.
'Remember, though,' Ochaco started, raising a finger to emphasise her point. 'Don't get too caught up on one member of their team. They've got a bunch of people who can attack from anywhere and catch us by surprise while not giving away their location.' She carefully took off her helmet, her finger tips glowing pink for a second and causing the object to float just above her head. 'And we make things... float!'
'Melt!' Mina said, acid pooling in her palms.
'Stick!' Mineta added too, popping off a ball from his head with way too much enthusiasm.
As if realising what that particular combination meant (or didn't mean), all three dropped their hero poses, sad expressions lengthening their faces comically.
'Not great,' Ochaco mumbled.
'Now I'm bummed,' Mina added tearfully.
'Now, now, don't be like that,' I said, patting both their backs in comfort. 'We have great quirks. Not ideal for this kind of training, yes. But we've overcome harder things before. Made things work when they shouldn't have in the toughest of times.'
Mina pouted. 'But... if we can't lay and wait, or attack...'
'Then we should go with my special pop-off vineyard operation and kick their butts!' Mineta exclaimed, to which I sweat-dropped.
'No one is going to fall for that,' I said. 'Perhaps we should find them first, assess the area and then make them fall into a trap or something. Easy.'
'I can act as the bait.' Jumping from over the top of the jail came Midoriya, green lightning flickering all around him and electrifying the air. He landed in a crouch on the ground, his head lifted towards us with unwavering certainty.
'Deku,' Ochaco said in surprise.
'Hang on,' Mina said, crossing her arms skeptically. 'Didn't you say your quirk was acting weird or something?'
Midoriya looked to me for a second, and I immediately felt the anxiety he'd had earlier this morning stirring once again. I hoped he saw my own concern in my eyes. Whatever was going on wasn't natural, not to our knowledge at least. All Might had no knowledge so we were on our own as to what was happening with the vestiges. But I had trust Midoriya, and he had to trust himself.
So I nodded, urging him to continue. He nodded in return and tuned back to the others. He shook his arms and clenched his hands, warming up I supposed. 'Yeah, it was. But I think it's fine now. After watching that fourth match, I think the other team will be on guard around me. L/N too. They don't want a repeat of Bakugou in the previous match.'
'You'll need to move more than usual, then,' I concluded. 'Keep them busy and with all eyes on you so the rest of us can attack from the shadows.'
'You sure you'll be okay?' Mineta suddenly asked, his voice soft and the most vulnerable I'd ever heard it before. There was no bravado, no confidence. Just concern for his classmate. 'We're all counting on you.'
Midoriya clenched a fist over his chest, a sign of resolution to what his task will be. 'Don't you worry,' he said, the hint of a smile dancing on his lips. 'We can definitely win.'
Mina and Ochaco turned to each other and broke out into wide smiles.
'Yeah!' Ochaco cried as Mina interjected with, 'Wohoo!'
Mineta sweat-dropped beside them. 'Weren't you two just saying we're not suited for this?' he asked, completely deadpan.
I laughed at that. Maybe the grape gremlin wasn't so bad after all. 'Come on team, let's go over the plan. We've got a match to win.'
Five minutes later and we were ready. Well, as ready as we'd ever be considering the situation. Both teams were even in number compared to Shinso's first match, so it wouldn't be a matter of numbers. It would be a matter of how to best utilise those players. And who would be the first do so.
'All right, guys,' Midoriya said. 'We know the plan, but remember, let's be flexible. We may know only a fraction of what they're capable of, so don't underestimate them.'
'If the situation starts to get out of hand, fall back completely if you can't fabricate an immediate solution,' I added. 'We can't risk losing teammates early on because we tried to push for a play that wasn't there. Regather back here, the furtherest point from their jail.'
'Right,' they all agreed.
With that, we fanned out, prepping our costumes and ourselves for the upcoming battle. While the others were busy, I pulled Midoriya aside and spoke in a quiet voice. 'You feeling okay still?'
'Yeah,' he said, looking down at his hands. 'Everything seems to be fine. Maybe it was just the dream.'
I shook my head. 'I'm not so sure. My gut and quirk is telling me otherwise. Something isn't right.'
His eyebrows screwed together with worry. 'With me? What do you mean?'
'I-I don't know exactly. Just a feeling I've had all day. And I haven't been wrong on these sorts of things before.'
'Well what should I do then?'
I paused, contemplating his fearful face and then my teammates behind him. They were back to chatting with one another, animatedly it seemed based on their laughter. I released a sigh and turned back to Midoriya. 'Just... be careful. Do what you gotta do for now. I suppose it isn't a problem until it makes itself known.' I brought my fist up and held it between us, an encouraging smile on my face. 'Let's crush it Midoriya. Show Bakugou how far you've come.'
His worry melted away thankfully, bumping his own fist with mine with a smile. 'I will. And let's show Monoma how good Class A truly is.'
'With pleasure.'
'It's now time for the fifth and final training match,' Vlad King announced over the loud speaker. 'This one's for all the glory. Are you ready? Do your best until the last student's down. Begin!'
Green lightning flickered in the corner of my eye, Midoriya's energy levels increasing by the second. Mineta, Mina and Ochaco stood on the other side of me, determination radiating from them all as we stood in solidarity. My own energy flowed through me, the faintest white glow lighting my skin and fuelling me with power.
'Let's go, team,' Midoriya announced.
'Right,' we answered, swiftly following Midoriya into the maze of pipes to take our victory.