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Hitoshi took a deep breath and exhaled. Okay. The race was won and his team had scored just enough points to win the second event. Cool. Cool. Cool cool cool. Two down, one to go. Now it was time to do the actual tournament. Okay. And who was his first opponent?
“Izuku Midoriya.” Hitoshi read aloud, looking up at the board. “Izuku Midoriya.” He repeated, mulling over the name in his mind.
“The green haired kid,” interjected a black haired kid with tape dispensers in his elbows.
Hitoshi looked back at the other boy confused. “Aren’t there five kids with green hair in the hero course?”
The black haired kid mouthed a few names while counting on his fingers. “Oh yeah, uh, the freckle-faced kid. He scored a million points in the obstacle race.”
“Oh that kid!” Hitoshi recalled. “Okay, what’s he like?”
“He’s a great guy but he’s a psycho,” Tape Boy explained.
“Pardon?”
“Yeah, he’d give you the shirt off of his back but for some reason the guy just can’t really control his quirk, so if he uses his power, he’ll literally break his freaking hand.”
Hitoshi felt like he was about to shit himself.
“Tough break pal.”
“Who’s your opponent?”
“Endeavor’s kid. He’s got fire and ice powers.”
Hitoshi snorted. “Tough break pal.”
“Okay, yeah, I deserve that.” Tape Boy laughed before walking away.
Hitoshi took another deep breath as he ran through freckle face’s feats in the festival so far in his head. Well he’d made a point to avoid the top three during the cavalry battle but he did see the stunt he pulled during the obstacle race. He’d dug up a bunch of mines and then belly flopped onto them with a piece of one of the robots and then somehow outran the loud jerk with the explosion quirk and Endeavor’s kid.
Okay then. Not someone he’d want to try to take on in a straight fight, not like that was ever the plan, but still.
But saying that, it was probably a bad idea to try to get a response from him by saying something mean. Maybe brainwash him with something nice? Well, what else did he know about the guy?
He could compliment his tactics from during the race? No, no, at least two of the kids in Class A were on his team for the Cavalry Battle, one of them was bound to have told him about his quirk. Just talking about the festival felt like it might be too obvious. Rage baiting him could probably work if he really was such a nice guy, but it could backfire on him. What else could he do?
Hitoshi racked his brain, what else was there about this guy?
He looked across the field to see him talking with a brown haired girl in a cheerleader outfit and blushing up a storm. Hitoshi couldn’t say he blamed him, she was cute.
But now that he thought of it, he was also pretty sure he was blushing when talking to her earlier, even straight up looking like he was having a stroke just talking to her.
A crush? Maybe even a girlfriend? Maybe say something about her? Could that work at all? Maybe he could flirt with him? If he likes the brown haired girl, he could try to turn him down and then he’d have fallen into his trap.
Failing that, maybe he could try to make him laugh? Or say a shower thought? Or ask something personal? Like his politics? Or something invasive?
“Eh, I think I’ll stick with rage bait, it’s served me well enough so far,” Shinso mused out loud, shrugging his shoulders as he walked over to Class 1C’s waiting room.
Hitoshi took a deep breath as he stood across from Midoriya.
This writer is having me do that a lot. Hitoshi mused internally.
…
Now, I debated it earlier, what’s the best tool for this situation?
Hitoshi recalled when he tried to talk with Midoriya earlier but was grabbed by Ojiro before he could say anything back. The monkey boy had probably warned him about his quirk.
“He’s a nice guy. He’d give you the shirt off of his back.” Talk smack about his classmate maybe?
“So you can just give up huh?”
Midoriya looked back at Hitoshi in surprise.
“In a way this contest is about how strong your spirit is. If you know what you want your future to be, you can’t worry about what other people think.”
“READY?!?!?!” Present Mic’s voice hollered over the stadium’s speakers.
“That monkey was going on about his pride earlier…”
“BEGIN!!!!”
“But I just think he’s an idiot for throwing away his chance like that,” Hitoshi remarked, finally putting his quirk into his words.
Midoriya looked at Hitoshi in shock before gritting his teeth in anger. “DON’T YOU TALK ABOUT HIM THAT WAY!”
Midoriya’s charge immediately stopped as his face went blank.
“That’s it, I win,” Hitoshi smirked. “You’re lucky to have been so blessed, Izuku Midoriya. Now walk out of bounds like a good little hero.”
Midoriya did as instructed, steadily walking in the direction opposite Hitoshi… Until something very weird happened.
Midoriya involuntarily broke his own fingers… Somehow.
The force of which caused a massive gust of wind for about five seconds… Somehow.
The pain of which snapped him out of Hitosh’s brain washing.
Midoriya turned to face Hitoshi with a murderous expression.
“Shit.”
Hitoshi took a deep breath.
Okay, I need a new plan… And the writer really needs to think of another action for me to do besides taking a deep breath.
…
“How did you do that?!” Hitoshi asked, sounding incredulous. “Seriously, that was incredible!”
Midoriya said nothing and steadily marched towards him with a determined expression.
“Oh c’mon man! Don’t be like that! I’m just trying to win the match just the same as you, I wasn’t being a jerk just to be a jerk.”
Midoriya remained silent and started running towards him, his injured left hand tucked into his right armpit as his right hand pushed Hitoshi towards the edge of the ring. The kid was strong. Even without his quirk.
“You sure you don’t wanna call it quits now? I mean you just broke two fingers! That’s really gotta hurt!”
Midoriya stayed quiet and kept pushing.
The white lines were starting to look a lot thicker now.
Hitoshi groaned. Okay, he could either go way below the belt with some more rage bait or…
“That brown haired girl’s probably gonna be all over you after this.”
Midoriya blushed. “Brown haired gir-?”
Hitoshi let out a sigh of relief. Got him.
“Okay, okay, for the record, I’m sorry about this, but it was either that or say something really disgusting, and I’m not about that. I’m a trickster, not a bully.”
Midoriya didn’t react.
“So with that being said, why don’t you hop on out of the ri-”
Another shockwave blasted through the stadium.
Hitoshi looked down, Midoriya’s left pointer, middle, and now ring and pinky fingers were all broken now.
“This is fucking bullshit!” Hitoshi whined before being hit with a right cross to his jaw that drove him to his knees and then onto his back.
Midoriya was hyperventilating, he was clearly in pain.
“Seriously, how do you keep doing that?”
“I don’t kn-”
Hitoshi shook his head. “Okay, now I’m actually kind of disappointed."
Midoriya remained still. Hitoshi glanced behind him and could’ve sworn he saw a really skinny man with long blonde hair in a teacher’s outfit standing in the tunnel Midoriya had come out of looking incredibly nervous. His father maybe?
“Okay, Midoriya, please just walk out of-”
A third shockwave was released.
“OH YOU’VE GOTTA BE KIDDING ME!” Hitoshi screamed.
Midoriya recovered and struck Hitoshi as hard as he could with his elbow. Hitoshi lost consciousness and fell to the ground, just outside the boundary.
Midnight cracked her whip. “Hitoshi Shinso is out of bounds! Izuku Midoriya has won the match!”
The crowd erupts with cheers.
“However both students and the rest of our competitors should be made aware of an update. I have just received word from Principal Nezu, the tournament portion of this year’s sports festival will no longer be contested as under single elimination rules but as a round robin tournament. Meaning that every competitor will face every other competitor. Each competitor will receive anywhere from 1 to 5 points for each match. 1 for a loss, 2 for a tie, 3 for pushing your opponent out of bounds, 4 for knocking your opponent out, and 5 for forcing them to surrender outright. So congratulations to our first two competitors for a hard fought match and best of luck in the rest of the series.”
Hitoshi held his head then ran his fingers across the back of his skull, his head didn’t feel wet at all so that fall didn’t crack his head open.
The purple haired boy steadily rose to his feet.
“Hey, by the way, Shinso, that quirk of yours is really cool!”
Hitoshi looked back at Midoriya and smiled. “Thanks. I would say the same but I’m not sure I want a quirk that makes me break my own fingers every time I use it.”
Midoriya laughed. “Yeah, I know what you mean. I’m still trying to get a handle on it, but your quirk could be really good for something like stopping a bank robbery or a hostage situation.”
“Exactly! Everyone always said my quirk would be better for something like committing a bank robbery but I don’t wanna be a bad guy, I wanna be a hero!”
“Did you try to apply to the hero course?”
“I did try, but I failed the practical exam. Winning the Sports Festival is my only chance at getting in.”
Midoriya nodded. “Well good luck, Shinso! I’d offer to shake your hand but…” He held up his busted fingers.
Hitoshi laughed. “Yeah, I think we’d better go to Recovery Girl, I’m still feeling a little woozy after that elbow strike.”
Hitoshi was still massaging his jaw. That all really sucked but he liked his odds better against this opponent than he did against Midoriya.
Sero cracked his neck and rolled his arms and cracked his neck. “Well, it looks like both our matches didn’t go so great, but at least I can blow off some steam now.”
“Did anyone ever tell you Tape Arms is kind of a lame quirk?” Hitoshi teased.
Sero shook his head then mimed zipping his mouth.
Hitoshi smirked. “I wasn’t using my quirk that time.”
Sero tilted his head. “Really-”
His expression went black and his arms went slack.
“I seriously can’t believe you fell for that,” Hitoshi snorted. “Okay, do me a favor and walk out.”
Sero turned around and walked out of the ring.
“Hanta Sero is out of bounds! Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!” Hollered Miss Midnight.
“Oh thank God, no living quirk bullshit this time,” Hitoshi muttered, letting out a breathy laugh.
“That nonsense with Midoriya really had you scared, didn’t it?” Midnight teased.
“Did it not scare you?”
“No comment,” the teacher replied, a smug look on her face as she pantomimed zipping her lip.
Denki shifted his weight back and forth on each foot like a boxer. He was ready this time. He wasn’t ready for Shiozaki but he was ready now. He was gonna put this jerk from General Studies in his place!
“You good man?” Asked the purple haired prick.
“Oh no! I’m not falling for that shit!” Denki hollered, a proud defiance in his voice.
Shinso looked around like he was puzzled. “Fall for what?”
“Fall for you trick-”
Denki felt his mind go blank. It was like an out of body experience. He could feel the heat of the torches around the ring, the wind on his skin, the weight of his clothes on his body, but he couldn’t do anything.
“Okay, is anyone in this freaking class not going to fall for this?” Shinso snorted. “Walk out of the ring.”
Denki turned around and began to walk.
No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no!!!!!!!!!
Midnight cracked her whip. “Denki Kaminari is out of bounds! The winner is Hitoshi Shinso!”
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!
Shinso shrugged. Onto the next one then.
Momo stared carefully at the young man across from her. Tall, thin, didn’t seem to fill out UA’s gym uniform very much, and judging by his reliance on his quirk, he seemed like a bit of a one trick pony, she could probably beat him in a straight forward fist fight, even Midoriya outdid him physically and he scored the lowest on their physical tests.
“Listen, I know we’ve just met, but I’ve gotta say you’re really pre- AGH!”
Shinso’s words were cut off by Momo conjuring a handful of gravel from her hand and throwing it in the poor boy’s face.
“POCKET SAND!” The heiress hollered before running through her opponent as if she were a pre quirk era NFL linebacker.
“MANLY!” Hollered two voices from the stands.
“Hitoshi Shinso and Momo Yaoyarozu are both out of bounds!” Midnight hollered. “This match is a draw!”
Momo cursed under her breath. She’d done pretty badly against Tokoyami and was now a bit too eager to redeem herself.
“Fucking hell…” Shinso groaned.
Momo stood up, looking a bit frustrated, she looked down. “Oh! And thank you for the compliment, that was very sweet of you.”
“You’re welcome,” Shinso grumbled, moving onto all fours as he struggled to get to his feet.
Hitoshi looked over Kirishima. All he knew of the guy so far was that he was clearly athletic with a quirk well suited for combat. He needed to think of something quickly before the match actually started. He looked up at his hair. His long red hair. He’d styled into three horns, with the middle kind of looking familiar, almost like…
“You a big Crimson Riot fan?”
“Oh hell yeah man! I love Crim-”
Kirishima’s face went blank.
Hitoshi let out a sigh of relief. “Phew! I did not want to have to fight you big guy. Go ahead and walk out of the ring.”
Midnight cracked her whip again. “Eijiro Kirishima is out of bounds! Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!”
Shinso counted on his fingers. “1 point from Midoriya, 3 points from Sero, 3 points from Kaminari, 2 points from Yaoyarozu, 3 points from Kirishima. Maybe the hero course wasn’t so tough afterall!
Hitoshi looked back at his opponent. “I am really glad there’s only one of you.”
Tetsutetsu slammed his metallic fist into Shinso’s face before the purple haired kid could say a word.
“Hitoshi Shinso is knocked out! Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu is the winner!” Hollered Midnight.
“Rcvry Grrr,” Shinso gurgled, blood spilling out from his mouth and nose.
Hitoshi groaned as he held an icepack against his face.
Aoyama looked at him with a deeply concerned expression. He almost felt bad that he’d have to blast him out of the ring. He looked up at Miss Midnight.
“Tu es sûr qu'il devrait encore se battre?” Asked the Frenchman, still trying to hold up his pants.
“What did you say?”
“Oh right, I asked if they were sure that you-”
“J'ai pris le français en option au collège, je sais que tu l'as dit. Maintenant, sors du ring.”
Aoyama complied, though his walk somehow still had a camp feeling about it.
“Wonders never cease,” Hitoshi murmured.
“Yuga Aoyama is out of bounds! Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!”
“HEY EYEBAGS!” Hollered a girl covered head to toe in support gear.
“Uh, yeah?” Hitoshi replied.
“I’M YOUR NEXT MATCH! LET ME USE YOU TO SHOW OFF MY BABIES AND I’LL SURRENDER TO YOU!”
Hitoshi shrugged. “Uh, okay, sure! Let’s do it!”
The general course was now firmly behind Hitoshi by this point with everyone loudly chanting “SHINSO! SHINSO! SHINSO!”
They were sadly drowned by the rest of the crowd booing Hitoshi relentlessly. They were definitely getting sick of his ass.
“Miss Midnight, could I borrow your microphone?” Hitoshi asked.
“I suppose it would be fine,” the teacher decided, looking at her student skeptically as she handed him her headset.
“Okay, so just for the record,” Hitoshi began, speaking into the mic. “She came up to me, unprompted and asked if I would demonstrate her gear-”
“BABIES!” Hatsume corrected.
“Her babies,” Hitoshi shrugged. “And in exchange, she’d give me the win.”
Hatsume snatched the headset from Hitoshi. “SO ANY SUPPORT COMPANIES WATCHING SHOULD BE SURE TO INVEST IN HATSUME INDUSTRIES! BYYYYYYEEEEE!!!!!”
Hitoshi hummed as he paced in a circle on his side of the ring before the match formally started. He was facing the brown haired girl that Midoriya liked. Judging by the look on her face, making a crack about relationships wasn’t really the best idea nor just trying to make her angry. What would be the best tool for this situation?
“Hey Uraraka, knock knock.”
Uraraka shook her head and charged him, slapping his shoulders with both hands.
Hitoshi suddenly felt weightless, like his feet weren’t on the ground anymore. He looked down at his feet, they actually weren’t on the ground anymore.
Hitoshi panicked. “Uh, fuck, this is bad, uh, okay,” the purple haired boy swallowed. “Hey, you didn’t say ‘who’s there?’”
Uraraka rolled her eyes and pushed him towards the edge of the ring then pressed her fingers together. “Release.”
Hitoshi’s weight returned instantly and he collapsed onto the ground, unbalanced, he fell outside the white line.
“Hitoshi Shinso is out of bounds! The winner is Ochako Uraraka!” Midnight announced.
Hitoshi groaned.
Mina bounced on her feet excitedly. All she had to do was ignore the douchebag’s words and then skate around him with her acid and knock him on his ass again like she did with Aoyama, Kaminari, and Sero.
“Hey Ashido, I just had a thought.”
Mina waved her finger in a dismissive gesture.
“No, no, just hear me out, okay?” Shinso chuckled. “So tomatoes are a fruit right? So what does that make ketchup? Is it a smoothie? Or maybe yogurt?”
Mina stopped in her tracks. Oh shit, that’s a good question.
“You know, I’ve never really thought about i-”
“I heard from a friend you really like to dance, so do me a favor and do the Macarena as you walk out of the ring,” Shinso instructed.
Mina wanted to protest, but she actually thought the idea sounded like fun. She put her arms out with her palms facing down, right first, then left, as she shook her hips while walking. She then reversed her hands so that her palms facing up, right first, then left again. Then once her left palm was facing upwards, she put her right hand on her left shoulder, then left hand on the opposite shoulder. After that, she placed each hand, one at a time, behind her head, followed by placing them both on her opposite hips, right hand on her left, left hand on her right side, as she finally exited the ring.
The crowd tried to boo but it was actually pretty funny.
Hitoshi gulped. Now he had to face someone who was really powerful and wasn’t a moron.
“Tough break indeed,” he muttered to himself.
Midnight was still announcing both competitors. He had to think fast. He’d had a big emotional outburst during his fight- well “fight”- with Sero and didn’t use his fire quirk at all until the end of his match with Midoriya. His dad was Endeavor, so there’s probably some big feelings there of some sort. Okay, here’s a Hail Mary play.
Hitoshi took a deep breath.
Again man?
…
“Hey Todoroki, I just wanna say, you’re your own man. Okay? You don’t need to live up to what anyone else says.”
Todoroki began to tear up. “Thank you-”
Todoroki’s body went stiff. He stopped crying because his face no longer held any expression.
The crowd began booing Hitoshi relentlessly.
Hitoshi let out a heavy sigh. Yeah, I deserve it for that one.
“So just for the record, Todoroki, I meant what I said. I might have specifically said it because I needed to trick you, but I did mean it. You are your own person, so now I want you to walk out of this ring and go straight to the guidance counselor’s office once this is all over. Okay?”
Todoroki walked out of the ring but the idea of speaking to the guidance counselor had been thoroughly implanted by Hitoshi.
“Shoto Todoroki is out of bounds! Shinso Hitoshi wins again!” Midnight announced.
Hitoshi let out a sigh of relief. 11 down. 4 to go.
Now who all was left?
Hitoshi groaned.
His final four were 1) A guy whose entire family was littered with pro heroes, including the current Ingenium. 2) Another 1B kid, specifically the one who completely overpowered the electric dumbass from 1A. 3) The bird headed kid whose quirk was an eldritch monster whose weakness was light. And finally, 4) The guy who came in first in the entrance exam and had thus far dominated the competition.
He took a deep breath.
Again man?
…
“Whatever. It’s okay. I’ve come this far. I just need to take four more steps, four more steps and I’ll be in that rare ai-”
“DON’T EVEN THINK ABOUT TRYING THAT BULLSHIT WITH ME, EYEBAGS!”
Hitoshi looked back at the obnoxious asshole who’d interrupted him while he was thinking out loud.
If he was like this with everyone, he had a feeling he’d have no problem getting dirt on him.
Hitoshi looked over Iida as the two of them sized each other up.
“You know your big bro is a hero of mine. I mean who doesn’t love Ingenium?”
Iida opened his mouth to speak then closed it and began running towards Hitoshi.
Almost had him.
Hitoshi turned around and started running towards the edge of the ring. If his quirk couldn’t get the job, then he had a backup plan.
Iida kept rushing for Hitoshi, holding his hands out to finally push his opponent out of the ring. The purple haired boy flopped onto the floor of the ring just shy of the white line. Iida was moving too quickly, he had no time to stop himself. He stumbled over Hitoshi’s body and fell outside of the ring.
“Tenya Iida is out of bounds! Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!” Midnight hollered.
Iida and Hitoshi both stood up, Hitoshi wearing a guilty grin and Iida looking mildly offended.
“You tricked me!”
“That’s been kind of my M.O. here,” Hitoshi pointed out.
“Well, yes, but… It’s not very heroic!”
Hitoshi wanted to bite the other boy’s head off but held back. “What’s more heroic? Actively fighting or just using subterfuge to defeat a villain without violence?”
Iida grumbled. “Fair point, I suppose. Good luck in the rest of the tournament.”
“Thank you.”
“Not another living quirk,” Shinso groaned.
Fumikage smirked. “Dark Shadow! Atta-”
Dark Shadow was about to charge at the purple haired kid but paused when Fumi stopped talking midsentence. “Fumi? Buddy? You in there?”
“He’s in there for sure, he’s just kind of out of sorts right now,” Shinso explained. “So Tokoyami, do me a favor and go for a walk. Get yourself together man.”
Tokoyami began doing just that, walking out of the ring.
If Dark Shadow was physically capable of doing so, he’d have rolled his eyes. “You’re a really clever guy, Shinso, but being clever isn’t going to do you any favors this time.”
Shinso’s eyes went wide with horror as the living shadow charged at him, pushing him out of the ring at the same time as its owner walked out of it.
“Fumikage Tokoyami and Hitoshi Shinso are both out of bounds!” Midnight hollered. “This match up is a draw!”
“And people say my quirk is evil,” Shinso groaned.
Okay, based on Shiozaki’s prior matches, she was obviously very religious, so Hitoshi opted to do something he never thought he’d have to do to become a hero, download the bible app on his phone. It was all fairly interesting but he was pretty sure he wouldn’t have the time to go through everything before their match even if he tried to speed read it.
Well, if all else failed…
“Hey Shiozaki!” Hitoshi hollered once they were in the ring. “Will you date me? Breath if yes, recite the Bible in Chinese if no.”
Shiozaki looked at Hitoshi with an annoyed look. “Qǐchū, shén chuàngzào tiāndì. De shì kōngxū hùndùn, yuān miàn hēi'àn; shén de líng yùnxíng zài shuǐmiàn shàng. Shén shuō:“Yào yǒu guāng”, jiù yǒule guāng. Shén kàn guāng-”
Shiozaki’s face went blank.
Hitoshi whistled. “That was actually really impressive. I’ll have to ask you later how you actually knew how to speak Chinese, but in the meantime, walk out of the ring and have a blessed day.”
Shiozaki followed Hitoshi’s command.
“Ibara Shiozaki is out of bounds! Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!” Midnight hollered out, cracking her whip once more.
Hitoshi took one more deep breath.
I’ll let you get away with that one.
…
“14 down. 1 to go.”
Hitoshi steadily walked into the tunnel after his match when he was grabbed by Uraraka.
Hitoshi blinked. “Can I help you?”
“Bakugo is in second place right now with 55 points. Todoroki’s first with 59. You guys are the last match of the tournament, if he knocks you out, he’ll tie Todoroki. If he makes you quit, he’ll surpass him.”
“And what of it?” Hitoshi asked, looking confused. “Wouldn’t you want your classmates to be first and second? Does it really matter if number one is the Ice Prince or the Explosion Jackass?”
“Because Bakugo is a jackass to everyone, not just people from other classes.”
“Okay, so how do you propose I beat him?”
She looked around the room suspiciously. “He really doesn’t like Midoriya.”
Hitoshi looked at her puzzled. “How the hell is that possible? He’s probably the nicest kid I’ve ever met.”
Uraraka shrugged. “I don’t know, but he really has it out for him. So while he’s probably gonna try to come at you as soon as the match starts, you gotta hang in there and keep needling him about ‘Deku.’”
Hitoshi nodded. “That’s what he calls Midoriya?”
“I call him that too, but it’s an affectionate thing with me.”
Hitoshi smirked. “Because you like him?”
“Well not like tha-!”
“Go back to your seat in the stands, then pass out in Midoriya’s arms.”
Uraraka quietly walked away from Hitoshi.
Hitoshi let out a small chuckle. “Have fun you crazy kids.”
Hitoshi took a deep breath.
Seriously dude?
…
Okay, ragebait’s the tool we use today. Ragebait. Midoriya fueled ragebait.
“Don’t you try any of your bullshit, Eyebags! Just give up now!”
Hitoshi smirked. “You’d like that wouldn’t you? Mr. ‘I’m gonna win’?”
Bakugo’s face turned into a snarl as he let off a series of explosions.
Less powerful than against his hero course opponents. Just scary.
He’s not taking me seriously. Hitoshi concluded. Good.
“C’mon man, you’ve had five surrenders and four knockouts, are you telling me that the whole hero course only lost to you because they’re pussies?”
That pissed Bakugo off even more, he started putting more power behind his explosions.
Hitoshi evaded as best he could, but still got pretty singed. He let out a painful hiss as he pulled off his jacket. “Oh Jesus tapdancing Christ! I’m glad I managed to trick Todoroki, I don’t wanna get burned by the guy with an actual fire quirk. I can’t believe a wuss like you managed to beat him.”
Bakugo saw red. He let off an even more powerful explosion.
Hitoshi tossed the jacket. It was immediately annihilated, Hitoshi expected that, but it still absorbed some of the force from the earth shattering ka-boom.
Hitoshi laughed. “I’m really surprised a pussy like you tied with Midoriya, I thought for sure he’d have you beat, he seemed so confident when we talked after our match, he said he was gonna kick your ass for sure.”
Bakugo’s entire face contorted with a savage rage. “DEKU SAID FUCKING WHAT?!?!?!?!?”
The rage immediately disappeared. Bakugo’s face was completely blank.
Hitoshi let out a sigh of relief. “Holy fuck, you’re scary.”
Bakugo stared at him vacantly, but his entire aura projected an intense rage.
“Okay, you’re gonna walk right out of this ring and straight into an appointment with anger management. Have a nice day, tough guy!”
Bakugo quietly walked out of the ring.
Not a single indication that he was now plotting to murder Shinso in his sleep.
Midnight cracked her whip for the last match of the tournament.
“Katsuki Bakugo is out of bounds! The winner of this match is Hitoshi Shinso!”
Present Mic’s voice filled the stadium once again. “AND WITH THAT OUR TOP THREE COMPETITORS ARE…”
Aizawa grumbled. “Number one, 1A’s Shoto Todoroki with 59 points. Number two, 1A’s Katsuki Bakugo with 56 points. And number three, 1C’s Hitoshi Shinso with 41 points.”
Hitoshi fell to his knees.
“Third place?” He murmured, shock filling his body and tears welling in his eyes. “I made it to third place,” he chuckled. “I MADE IT TO THIRD PLACE!” He hollered triumphantly.
Hitoshi was still grinning from ear to ear as All Might presented him, Todoroki, and Bakugo with their medals. He was quite literally the happiest student on that stage. Bakugo was being restrained and forced to accept his silver medal, he was still mad that Hitoshi had managed to trick him. Todoroki looked like he had a lot on his mind but was still happy to have gotten the win.
He felt like he was going to cry all over again once All Might gave him a hug. He was never a huge All Might fan, nothing against the man, he was great, just not his favorite hero ever, but being hugged by him felt like getting hugged by the emperor, the prime minister, Jesus, prime LeBron James, and his dad all at the same time.
“You’re really good at this man,” Hitoshi murmured.
All Might laughed. “Thank you young man! I merely do what I can to make sure you youngsters feel like you belong, and make no mistake, you’ve definitely proven your worth. I don’t believe there’s a single person in this arena that would have expected you to come this far and you’ve proven every single doubter wrong today. Congratulations! I look forward to having you in Foundational Heroics next year.”
“Foundational Heroics?” Hitoshi repeated, looking shocked.
He felt lightheaded.
All Might laughed. It was boisterous but warm and friendly. The kind of laugh Hitoshi was sure his colleagues enjoyed hearing while having drinks after a successful mission. “I know it’s a lot to take in, young man, but don’t pass out on us here. You’ve got a lot of work to do now.”
Hitoshi nodded and took a deep breath.
Again with the freaking deep breaths man?!
…
Hitoshi shook his head. All Might was right. This was just step one. He needed to put in a lot more work if he wanted to get into the hero course and even more work than that if he wanted to succeed while he was there.
“If you need help getting in shape for the course, I know young Midoriya would be happy to help you.”
Hitoshi nodded.
“How do you know Midoriya so well sir?” Asked Todoroki.
“Well, we-”
“Is it because he’s your son?”
Hitoshi whipped his head back, even Bakugo stopped foaming at the mouth to eye Todoroki weirdly.
Oh God, was everyone in the hero course gonna be a weirdo like Todoroki?!
“Be careful what you wish for, Extra,” Bakugo murmured through his muzzle.