Chapter 24: Mano y Mano

Momo stood in her place, shocked. However, Araki just walks towards her in response. She then summons a lightweight metal staff.

"I can still fight!" She said to him. As he reaches her range, Momo immediately struck down the staff but he merely parried it. Suddenly, he quickens his pace before proceeding to bear hug her. This made everyone blush including the audience, Midnight, their classmates, and even her.

He puts her on his shoulders as she struggles but didn't say anything.

"I thought you wouldn't hold back!" She complains to him.

"I don't. It's just unnecessary to hit you. A hero must know when to stop using force when dealing with a villain." He cheekily answers before walking to the edge.

Just before they reach it and he throws her out, she retaliates and tries to reverse his actions. But just like again, it was useless he just reverses it throwing her outside of the arena. With this, she accepts her defeat giving Araki a disappointed but satisfied smile.

"Can you help me?" "How?" Araki replies with a smile.

"Help me get stronger. And I won't take a no for an answer. Hehe!" Momo said as she stood up with a smile and look at Midnight.

"The winner… Araki Yamamoto!"

For the next few match, everyone was awed at how hyped it was. Kirishima against TetsuTetsu, Bakugo against Uraraka, and the intense fight between Midoriya and Todoroki.

The last two fights caused large destruction to the arena. This isn't the aspect that is making Denki nervous while waiting for his turn. Currently, he was backstage, waiting for the start of his fight. The thing that was making him nervous but the fact that the same contestants that did so, cannot win against his opponent, which is Araki.

--Weeks ago--

Denki and Araki were in a training facility at their school. Along with them were Jiro and Momo who were resting as it was the two boy's turn to spar. As they were about to begin, Denki decides to ask Araki.

"Hey, man. I just wanna ask. You can refuse if you don't want to."

"What is it?"

"What's your weakness?" Denki shamelessly asks with a slightly embarrassed smile. Since they were training for the festival, he thought that it may be shameless on asking your potential opponent first-hand what their weaknesses are.

"I mean… Bakugo did nothing to you. And he's pretty powerful. I haven't seen you fight Todoroki but he's no less powerful than him. Even with that, aside from the long-range attacks, which you probably can endure, what are you weak against?" Denki said, slowly feeling more comfortable as the latter didn't show any discomfort to the question.

"My weakness? Probably close-combat. You told me that you've started learning martial arts, right?"

"Psh, you can just say that you don't want to, man. Who would believe that?" He says as he taps his friend on the back.

"I'm not lying. My weakness is close-combat and explosive power." "Explosive power?"

"Explosive strength, not the quirk. An explosive burst of pure strength or physical force. That's my weakness. And on the contrary, I'm strong on long-range attacks. I'm an expert on guns and bows." Araki said as he finishes putting a hand wrap on his hand and he takes one of the grappling gloves.

"Are you really not lying?" Denki said while looking at his friend's poker face.

"Damn… Then how do you know so much? You're an expert at hand-to-hand and long-range weapons. You're also among the top 5 in the class. How are you that talented?" He said, amazed at the absurdity of Araki's abnormal skillset compared to him and normal high-school students.

"Genetics. I also don't sleep nor eat and I've lived more than you." Araki said as he walk away.

"Is that a metaphor for dedication and wisdom?" He said as he takes his gloves and run after his friend to spar in the middle of the facility.

Back on the stage, Denki is now facing Araki who was looking at him with confidence.

"Do you need a pat on the back or a punch in the gut?" Araki suddenly said, catching him off-guard. "Huh?"

"You're shivering more than Momo. Am I that scary?" This made Denki laugh and more comfortable.

"Should we do the usual?" "Up to you," Araki replies.

"Yeah. Sure. Let's do the usual." Denki replies as he stretches his body. He cracks his knuckles, he cracks his neck, he stretches his legs and shoulders, and Araki did so too.

Midnight announces the start of the fight but the two didn't give the usual intense energy. On the contrary, they calmly walked to the middle of the arena where there was a gap of about a meter or two between them which made everyone watch closely. Meanwhile, Jiro and Momo just looked at each other before shrugging and laughing.

"I'm sure Denki has a trump card," Momo said to her friend.

"What makes you say that?" Jiro asks.

"I saw that he initiated that challenge for their usual routine even though… he hasn't won a single one."

"Oh… but even then, I think his quirk doesn't affect Araki. It was just a suspicion though. They're starting! Let's concentrate."

Facing one another, the two students look at each other eye-to-eye. They then took a lower stance and Araki flicks his pants up for a more comfortable position. They then both took one step closer at a time to each other where they held their arms to where they touched each other and took an open hand for their striking hands.

"Looks like the two settled on a hand-to-hand fight." Aizawa commentates. Seeing this, many people took notice of that fact.

"Who do you think will win with this style of fighting, being that you're their advisor and all." Present Mic asks.

"If I would judge normally, I would say that this fight would be in Araki's favor. However, from what we've seen from Kaminari so far in the tournament… All I can say is for us to wait."

"That's it, folks. It seems like this fight will not be as destructive as the first match of our quarterfinals with Midoriya and Todoroki. On contrary to that, we now have a mano y mano fight like the two peas in a pod earlier."

"Miss Midnight, can you count on us again? And for the audience too. From three." Denki requests as he keeps his eyes on his enemies.

"3!" Midnight counts as the audience scream too in the hype.

"Don't hold back like you did to Momo," Denki said to Araki.

"2!" The audience gets hyped up more.

"I didn't hold back from her. On the contrary, I think that she gave me quite the challenge." Araki replies.

"1!" The two fighter tenses up.

"Fight!"