RESOLUTION

Dean quickly shortened the distance between himself and Kiyoshi, his fist cocked back and ready. Kiyoshi quietly watched him as he rapidly approached, guard up and ready for whatever he did. His punch made contact with a thin film that shattered with the sound of breaking glass as he received a blow to his stomach. The Kiyoshi he was seeing, was a bit further to the right than the real one. As expected, the punch was weak with little force behind it. A punch to his face had him leaning back only for a punch to hit his chest with a kick following closely for his gut. He jumped back creating a bit of distance but the image of Kiyoshi followed closely. Or was it the real one. Sand was rapidly gathered in a small circle around him as he lifted it up to form a thin veil that whirled around him. Kiyoshi paused at the site of the veil and bit his lip. The circle wasn't large, but it was enough space for him that Dean could just barely react to whatever happened. The rest of the sand was gathered back into the capsules near his hands and feet with a bit left around his right hand and leg, slowly compacting. He didn't care if Kiyoshi knew where the attack came from. All he needed was to land one solid blow. It gave him the chance to focus on maintaining the sand veil that would give him the chance to react. He made his way forward at a brisk pace, never forgetting his target, the missile. He couldn't charge at it but he would shorten the distance whenever he could. Then it happened. An announcement declaring Buli had been captured briefly took his attention off of Kiyoshi who swiftly attacked. He responded quickly, waiting to see where the attack would happen only for a rock to smash into his sandveil, headed straight for his back. It wasn't huge and he had managed to dodge most of it leaving him grazed in a crooked line across his waist. Kiyoshi had never stopped moving, swiftly heading to where it would be most difficult for Dean to react to. He really needed to get armor on his costume. Somthing like a jacket to protect his torso. Turning around, he heard the sand shift and knew that a blow was approaching from his back left and it landed again on his stomach. Kiyoshi felt a hand grasp his as he tried to rapidly retract his fist. Dean was aware from the start that the Kiyoshi in front of him could be an image but he couldn't help but focus on what he could see. He also knew that with the illusions Kiyoshi created, he could easily throw something at him without him even seeing him move, and so he set up his sand veil. Its purpose was never to help him avoid Kiyoshi's attack but help him respond to it. He hadn't forgotten what Buli had done.

From the start, Buli had aimed to delay them. Kiyoshi had moved in a similar way. First the image of the missile being right at the centre where he could easily reach it if he ran. If it wasn't for sand cascade, he would have never worried too much about reaching the weapon during the fight. This could've been disastrous. Then there was his fight. Kiyoshi clearly knew he was weaker than him and that he couldn't take him down easily. His blows were weak, but rapid. Like gunfire. One led to another limiting his range of motion and forcing him to confront and focus Kiyosh. Someone he wasn't even sure he was looking at. Kiyoshi had managed to keep him from physically approaching the weapon and keeping track of it. A fight with him, as it was, would be borderline impossible to finish in a short time with how much time was left. The announcement had come at a perfect time. It gave him two options, to either restrain Kiyoshi or touch the missile. Kiyoshi would definitely be a lot more cautious with his blows to avoid capture, but if he was to go after the missile directly and avoid combat, Kiyoshi could literally just move it and run around for the remainder of the time and he would be none the wiser if he couldn't see it happen. So, he would somehow have to incapacitate Kiyoshi at least temporarily before going for the missile. His stamina was low, but he could still manipulate his quirk. He would have preferred to finish this with one large attack but there was a limit to how much sand he could move and so he had set a trap. A simple one but it had been effective.

He held tightly to Kiyoshi's wrist with his right hand and pulled him forward with his left hand cocked back. It had no sand to reinforce it but he swung it down with every bit of frustration he was holding back. The entire force of his weight and then some crashed right into the skinnier Kiyoshi's gut making him spit out whatever liquid there was in his stomach, crashing into the ground hard. The crash was highlighted by the sound of shattered glass as the boy became visible and lay unmoving on the ground.

Dean took a moment to breath, with his hands on his knees as his sand veil collapsed. He turned to look at the downed Kiyoshi to the side before approaching the missile in a brisk walk, still panting from the previous exertion. His head was pounding from the repeated blows to his head as he swayed towards the missile, determined to finish this battle as soon as possible. The closer he got to missile the clearer he could see the timer. 18 seconds left. He took off in a dash for the missile. He would make it in time but just barely. That was when he tripped on air. Not exactly air but that was what it looked like, falling just a few steps shy of the missile. The sound of shattered glass from his sudden trip had him turning to Kiyoshi who still lay unmoving on the ground yet looking right at him. Kiyoshi had made a piece of rubble invisible and Dean had tripped on it, right before he could reach the missile. Just a few steps away. He could see the sly smirk on his face, something that would have him silently raging. It reminded him of that infuriating Torvald from 1B. But that was not what caught him off guard. In Kiyoshi's regular brown-eyes he saw a fire. It burned silently but it was terribly fierce. A mix of both determination and desperation. Something that spoke of a tangible resolution to win. Something he thought was limited to only him. Short as it was, it was a gaze that managed to cause his very being to shake. Kiyoshi was someone that was definitely considered weak in his class. His physical capability had proven to be exactly that, weak. He was someone who no one would question for being at the bottom of the pack by virtue of his performance so far. He could probably just coast through the course and nobody would think twice about it. That would probably be true in a regular high school, but this was the hero course of UA. A school known on a global scale to be ridiculously difficult to get into. A school that had produced some of the greatest heroes he knew. Every single student enrolled was determined to be a great hero by virtue of their own ability. How could it be possible that he would be the only one determined to rise to the top.

Kiyoshi had an inferno in his eyes. One that screamed that he was never to be judged based on his weak appearance or previous test results, and he could see it. He could imagine Kiyoshi, bulked up and stronger with more knowledge on how to fight and how to move. It made him tremble in excitement. How would he beat him then? It was a question for the future. Now he scrambled to his feet. He wouldn't be able to move fast enough to reach the missile but he'd be damned if he didn't try. Rapidly approaching steps had him ready to dash forward only to be feel a strong blow to his back that had him flying straight at the missile. He barely had the time to wrap his arms around the missile falling forward with the surprisingly light model before completely loosing consciousness with the beeping of the timer and a declaration from their teacher.

"Hero team wins. Times up."

The students in the observation room continued to gape. Maru couldn't think of a time during the entire fight that his mouth had stayed closed for more than a couple of seconds. Gumi's fight with Buli had been interesting with Buli somehow managing to stall her by using his quirk in ways no one could imagine, himself included. He had looked surprised when he managed to transform his existing weapon into something else when Gumi had him almost completely immobilized. Then there was Gumi who in the midst of all the unexpected situations had managed to fully restrain him. The fight had the tension in the room go through one whirlwind after another. Then there was Kiyoshi, the skinny kid. He had been one hell of a shocker. How he used his quirk was absolutely genius. Reflection, as Abe-sensei had called it. What Dean had seen had been exactly what they had seen. Creating false images by playing with the light in the room. The brooding boy many had assumed weak had thoroughly shocked every student in 1A with his ability. Maru sensed a bit of a sadist in him with how he tripped Dean when he was so close to the missile. His fight with Dean had the entire class hyped up like a live wire. It was shocking to see the fight conclude with Gumi catapulting herself on her gum right at her own teammate, bashing him into the missile and giving them the win.

How exciting. He couldn't wait to see the next fight. He glanced at Youta who coincidentally was also looking his way. He smiled; a bit manic from the shock on Youta's face but he smiled right back. He couldn't wait for his fight either.