Reaching down to the floor rapidly, Sora picked up a piece of debris caused by Nejire's attacks and tossed it over to the bomb.
Then, he simply turned back to face Nejire's incoming attack.
He looked at the large wave energy and accepted it with wide arms.
Bang!
…
The small debris that Sora tossed flew across the air and landed next to the bomb, hitting an orange patch.
"Hm?"
Tiger lifted his head tiredly and looked around confused before recalling where he was. What was only supposed to be a moment of rest turned into him falling asleep.
Shaking his head fiercely, Tiger focused on his ears as he got up on his paws. He focused his hearing and finally heard some breathing near him.
Lowering his body, Tiger pressed on the ground with his hands and lifted his behind into the air before dashing forward. Moving like a cat, Tiger moved swiftly as he made his way to the sound of the breathing.
Then, he finally caught sight of Mirio.
"Stop right there!"
Tiger yelled as he sped up and the claws on his hands extended out, ready to claw at an enemy. His lips quivered upward and revealed his sharp feline teeth in anger. Tiger lunged forward and attacked Mirio as best as he could, but all his attacks went through him.
'Stay on him.'
At that moment, Tiger recalled what Sora had told him and moved. Standing between the bomb and Mirio, Tiger pressed himself close to Mirio.
"You won't win!"
Tiger proclaimed as he spread his arms outward.
Grinning nervously, Mirio punched at Tiger, ready to take him down rapidly. He didn't want Sora to come back and knew he didn't have much time before such a thing happened.
Without saying a word, Mirio gnashed his teeth and furrowed his eyebrows. Swinging his left fist, he struck Tiger's jaw with all his strength.
"Eughhh!"
Tiger's head bounced back from the hit but his claws continued moving. They made an arc in the air, cutting and making their way to Mirio.
Permeating his body, Mirio simply let the clawed hand go through him. He watched as it entered his body and swiped to the end, ready to exit. Yet that wasn't the end, Tiger leaned forward, inclining his body into Mirio.
"Guh… what…"
Mirio was confused.
Again!
What was Tiger planning to do?
Mirio grew curious, what if he didn't slip away this time.
'No… I can't afford to lose here…'
He began to grow confused. Conflicting emotions in his body, wanting to know what Tiger was planning and wishing to win this fight.
Then, Mirio just stood there as Tiger entered his body. He needed to permeate his entire body and he ended up slipping through the floor.
It happened without Mirio realizing it.
As he slipped back into darkness, Mirio cancelled his permeation and shot out of the ground. Light came into his eyes and he saw Tiger waiting for him.
Claws greeted his face and Mirio activated his permeation, but at the same time, Tiger began to lean forward and into Mirio again.
At that point, Mirio reflexively permeated his body, slipping into darkness once more.
Tiger followed him, clawing at Mirio as he jumped out of the floor before slipping back into it. Mirio's face was serious and he couldn't handle slipping into darkness so frequently.
He grew serious and Mirio didn't permeate.
Mirio put his hand out and blocked Tiger's clawed hand before swinging his other hand.
Pa!
A hit landed on Tiger's waist, his eyes rolled and his knees went weak. A groan escaped his lips as he knelt on the ground with a thud.
"Ugh…"
Tiger fell to the floor, unconscious as Mirio stood there. He panted, a slight fear settling in his heart.
The darkness. He never really liked it, especially when he can't sense anything when in his permeation state. Sound, light, time… it all goes through him in that state. His loses every sense and is plunged into darkness.
"You did great, Tiger."
A voice suddenly came from behind Mirio, making him turn in shock. Sora stood there behind him, looking at Tiger with a smile.
How could he be here already? Where's Nejire?
Mirio looked behind Sora and found Nejire bound by bent metal. Her face was turned to the side, her face flushed red and her lips pouting.
'What happened?' Mirio grew curious.
"Looks like you won't be winning this time around either, Hero," Sora said, enunciated the 'Hero' slowly. His lips curled into a smirk, eyes narrowing into amusement.
"It's my win." Sora muttered.
Mirio furrowed his eyebrows.
"No! I-!"
Then, before Mirio could finish his words, a loud and brassy horn interrupted him.
Mirio's face fell.
It was the end of the Battle Trial. Sora had won, once more like always. Right when he thought he might be able to win.
A hand patted his shoulder and he looked up at Sora who's facial expression turned gentle and the air around him returned to what it once was, calm and serene.
"Haha, you'll get me next time, Mirio. Unlike my quirk, yours has a lot of potential," Sora said as he pulled his hand away and walked over to the metal bound Nejire.
Mirio stood there. He let out a sigh and smiled.
"You're right! I'll get you next time!"
Bouncing back up from defeat, Mirio walked over to Tiger and helped him up. He helped Tiger up and placed his arm over his shoulder to help Tiger walk.
Turning with Tiger on his shoulder, Mirio saw Sora untangling the metal bar on Nejire. He was being gentle, talking with her with a smile. Sora was speaking to her and she merely nodded her head.
It was surreal.
Mirio's smile stiffened.
"When did they get so close?" Mirio muttered to himself.
…
Sora chuckled.
"You've grown stronger, Nejire. It won't be long before you surpass me."
Nodding her head, Nejire had a small smile on her face. She watched as Sora carefully removed the bent metal from her body. Carefully, he placed his hand on her hand, gently holding it in place as he freed Nejire's fair arms from the metal.
"You're strong. I'm sure you will always maintain the top rank," Nejire responded, her eyes staring at Sora's gentle actions.
"Hahaha."
Sora kept quiet, maintaining a smile on his face.
"There. All free now," Sora said, removing the final part that wrapped around Nejire's ankle.
Moving her foot around, Nejire tapped it on the ground and smiled.
"Thank you!"
With a light step, she moved a little more, stretching her body. She stopped next to Sora and looked up at him with a grin.
"Let's go, winner!"
"Let's get going," Sora nodded.
***
School ended and Sora stood at U.A.'s exit with Mirio, Tamaki and Nejire.
"Let's go to an arcade." Tamaki proposed.
"I should probably go home…"
Nejire said, her eyes on her phone before putting it away and looking at everyone else. Mirio, like always, smiled and nodded to Tamaki's idea.
"Let's go! Let's play all day!"
Mirio fist pumped the air, a large smile on his face. Curiosity, he turned to look at Sora, wondering what todays winner planned to do.
"Mm, I don't have anything planned for today. I'll join you two."
"Mmm… looks like my plans changed. I'm free to join you three," Nejire chipped in after checking her phone.
"Great!"
"Let's go have some fun."
"I'm fine just watching, I wouldn't want to end this winning streak of mine."
"Winning streak of one?"
Mirio chuckled, followed by Tamaki and Nejire's giggle. Sora rolled his eyes, a smile on his face as he followed behind the three of them.
"What game should we play?"
Mirio asked, starting a conversation regarding their plan for the arcade.
"Hmmmmmmmmm… I'll play some skeeball!"
"How about some Highway Brawlers?"
Nejire and Tamaki answered Mirio.
"Highway Brawlers sounds good right now!" Mirio nodded to Tamaki.
Nejire smiled as she listened to her two friends talking. She looked at their smiling faces and turned back to look at Sora looking around. Her walking pace slowed down until she was walking next to Sora, joining him.
"Do you want to join me, Sora? At the skeeball machine?"
Withdrawing his gaze from his surroundings, Sora turned to look at Nejire. His eyes fell on her bright blue eyes and innocent smile.
"That will be fun," Sora agreed.
Nejire walked with little hops to her steps, really showing her cheerful and innocent nature.
Looking at Nejire, Sora grew a little curious. In a low voice, Sora asked Nejire a question.
"How's your father?"
"He's much better now. The doctor said that as long as he goes to physical therapy, he should be able to return to hero work in a couple of months."
"That's good news. I'm glad your father is healing all fine."
Nejire nodded, thankful that Sora was showing some worry for her father. It had been a while since his accident and her father was finally discharged not too long ago as well.
Now, he was at home and recuperating.
***
Later that night, Sora was in his underground base, deep beneath the ground.
He was building a new robot.
Or rather robots.
"Why are they so small?"
Eve stood next to Sora, watching as he worked curiously. Her hands clasped behind her back as she leaned forward.
"I'm working on nanotechnology. They're highly versatile and can aid in various ways. Right now, however, I'm planning on using them for one purpose." Sora explained as he used a machine to aid in making his new highly efficient and enhanced nanotechnology.
With his talent, Sora is plenty clumsy. With the aid of robots and machines, Sora is able to work on projects that require skill and precision to accomplish. Much like when he made Eve from scratch and made her into a whole new life form.
"What purpose?"
"Gathering blood from every quirk user out there. From children to elderly. This will help in gathering more Quirks instead of having to create our own through reverse engineering quirks through my blood until a certain point where we start getting various different quirks."
"What's the difference?"
"Gathering blood is much more simply and doesn't require me to clear an entire area to make a specially made machine to simulate the growth and evolution of cells to make quirks. Not to mention catalyzing the cells to speed up their growth and obtaining results much faster than having to wait years."
Eve nodded, understanding what Sora meant.
"You will control them and personally see that you collect blood. I've granted them various functions to keep them safe and away from anyone's hands. They will only work with you and me, Quirks will prove ineffective on them."
…
"I'm going to sleep. Let the nanomachines create more nanobots by 'eating' some resources. Once you think there's enough, you can head out."
Sora was inside the shed, already out of the underground lab. Behind him was Eve, silently standing behind him and listening to him respectfully.
"Yes, Master!" Eve nodded.
"Don't worry about my mom's protection. You did a good job leading those robots made to protect her. Leave the rest to them. I have better plans for you in the future."
Waving his hand, Sora stepped out of the shed and closed the door. Eve stayed behind and respectfully kept her head lowered until five seconds later.
She turned around and stepped into the corner before heading down to Sora's lab. She waited for a couple of seconds, eventually arriving and stepping out of the elevator.
Making her way to the nanomachines, Eve was shocked at what she found.
Before leaving, Sora had left a large 5x5x5 meter metal cube. Now, that large cube was already halfway suggested by the nanomachines. Yet what shocked her wasn't what they had accomplished, but the nanomachines themselves.
Originally, there was only three nanomachines, so small in both size and numbers. Yet now there were so many nanomachines that they worked together to form into something.
They joined together like a ball and moved around in that form. Whenever they wished to go up or down, like on stairs, the nanomachines would move like a sentient liquid being.
In other words, the nanomachines turned into a Slime.
After consuming half of the metal cube that measured 5^3 meters, the size of the 'slime' had increased to the size of a large polar bear.