Sports Festival pt.8
Nedzu was an enigma of a mammal. It was his main selling point actually.
But there was one human child that he considered to be as puzzling as he himself was. One Momiko Hisashi.
The boy himself was pretty ordinary looking in today's world of mutant type quirks. But that was only if you ignored the mask. And the sometimes visible scarring around his neck, wrists, and ankles.
What made Momiko truly puzzling though was his invisible connection to Rogue. Nedzu knew for certain that even if he wasn't the vigilante then he knew who was. He wouldn't even entertain that notion if Momiko himself hadn't given him Rogue's contact.
A civilian that shouldn't even know who the vigilante was gave Nedzu his phone number.
And if his background was also examined, it was peculiar. Momiko Hisashi, the Quirkless son of Akirita-Momiko Ichika and Momiko Hisashi. He has one (1) sister named Momiko Ari who's quirk is yet to be properly diagnosed and recorded in the federal database.
His mother Ichika has a brother named Akirita Aito. Aito is the father of a pair of siblings, an older girl named Akirita Haru and a younger boy named Akirita Kuma. Their quirks as well have yet to be recorded and diagnosed federally.
All of the information had been double and then triple checked by Nedzu himself. The family tree went so far back it was impossible to believe that it was fake.
When Detective Tsukauchi and Eraserhead asked the apartment complex Momiko lived at previously about why Momiko and his sister (now with addition of two cousins) were living alone at such a young age they got one answer.
Abuse.
As Nedzu gradually learned more about Momiko Hisashi he felt confident in saying that only Momiko knew everything about himself and that he never let people see too deep.
So, when Nedzu saw how frightened the three children were when lunch was over his fur stood on edge. The Momiko's had seen someone who had caused harm to them at one point. And UA had just let them waltz onto campus.
How disgraceful.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
There were just two match up's this round.
Todoroki Shouto vs. Bakugou Katsuki
Yaoyorozu Momo vs. Monoma Neito
The two main powerhouses of class 1A were being pitted against each other and the two people with the most versatile and unpredictable quirks were as well.
Even the Business students were hesitant to make their bets for this round. It was like pitting someone against themself.
The contestants of these fights were thinking something very different though. One of them was going to end up in 4th place no matter what at this point. So that was a 3/4 chance for everyone to place in the top 3.
If they wanted internship offers they were going to have to place in that top 3. It was even more important for Monoma who would get overlooked with the rest of the class if he wasn't on those podiums in an hour.
Todoroki however, he just had a date with his sorta-kinda-crush on the line. (It was still hard to admit he was crushing hard on his best and only friend. They were co-parenting three kids together though.)
*
Shouto walked into the arena for the third time that day with his head held high. Momiko may not know what Shouto's father had said to him but he had restored his resolve to finally use his fire this round.
Shouto had been sitting in the waiting room just slowly getting a feel for regulating his flames. He had flames dance on his palm and then ups and down his arm to get used to the feeling of his fire.
He was ready. He had put up the precautionary walls up in his mind and had felt his flames. He wasn't going to lose.
Midnight recited the rules as quickly, and clearly, as she could. Thankfully she would only have to do this three more times after this match was over.
With a wave of the flag the two contestants sprung at each other. Bakugou was propelling himself with his explosions and Shouto was using his ice.
When they got close enough Shouto ducked under Bakugou's left hook (good for him for switching it up. His leading right hook was way too predictable) and sent a wall of ice towards his opponent.
Bakugou easily blasted through it and lunged at Shouto again. For the next few moves Bakugou continued to take the offensive as Shouto danced out of he range on the defense.
Shouto's first real offensive move was him finally managing to succeed in trapping Bakugou's legs in a thick case of ice. And before the boy blasted out of it Shouto showed half of his hand. With minimal effort he completely encased the stadium in a thick layer of ice.
The temperature plummeted and Shouto knew from his careful observations that so had Bakugou's quirk. If Bakugou's quirk relied on his sweat then he would just have to make that impossible.
Bakugou freed himself with a roar and swung at Shouto's right side and it was the perfect opportunity to reveal Shouto's true trump card.
His right side ignited in unfamiliar flames and Bakugou's eyes widened for a split second before he had to completely redirect his trajectory so that he wouldn't get burned.
From there Shouto took a ruthless offense as he slowly wore down Bakugou.
In the end Bakugou passed out due to the cold. Leaving Todoroki Shouto the winner. Shouto was going to fight in the finals.
*
Neito was never nervous. Not even when he stepped foot in the Sports Festival arena to face off Yaoyorozu in the semi-finals. He wasn't nervous because at the beginning of the year he had decided to play the long game.
Instead of patronizing his class like he so desperately wanted too he formed solid alliances with his classmates. It was easier to access quirks from a class full of people who liked you than from a class who hated your guts.
And he had copied the perfect three quirks to combat against Yaoyorozu.
So, he confidently stepped up to the concrete and half-heartedly listened to Midnight explain the rules again. And when she finally waved her flag Neito smirked and rolled his shoulders before pinching his nose shut and using his first quirk as Yaoyorozu darted towards him.
Mushrooms of all shapes and sizes suddenly sprouted from the concrete. Thanks to the previous match the concrete was just damp enough to accelerate their growth.
Kinoko's quirk at it's finest.
Yaoyorozu yelped and quickly made a gas mask so she wouldn't breathe in any of the spores.
She lunged at him again with a shield and a dulled sword. One was made for protection and the other was made for school safe offense.
Neitodanced out of the way and activated his second quirk. He brushed a hand against both of Yaoyorozu's weapons and they immediately welded together.
Awase's quirk was called 'weld' for a reason.
She had to abandon the now useless hunk of metal and make new and different be tools.
It went on like that for too long in everyone's opinion. Yaoyorozu would make a pair of weapons and Neito would simply touch them both at the same time and then they'd be useless.
Not to mention that Yaoyorozu's breathing was impaired thanks to the gas mask. The mushroom spores didn't bother Neito because he and Kinoko had made sure he wouldn't summon any life threatening ones.
When Yaoyorozu was starting to wear down Neito revealed his third and final quirk. They were just close enough to the out of bounds line that Neito was able to inflate his hand and shove Yaoyorozu out of lines and disqualify her.
Neito was going to be fighting in the finals.
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The fights had just ended when Izuku got the call from Mizuki. She only said two sentences but still Izuku felt his stomach drop.
"Ingenium has been attacked and gravely injured by The Hero Killer Stain, his current condition is unstable. They don't know if he's going to make it to the end of the week."