Chapter 19 Deku: The Telekinetic Hero by sremiehzla

The Sports Festival Stops Continuing

There was a fifteen minute break in between the last semifinal match and the finale. But it wasn't helping Izuku relax at all; he was just getting more anxious as the minutes dragged on. And it wasn't just nerves for the match, but he was worried for a completely different reason as well. Tenya had suddenly said that there was a family emergency and that he needed to leave. Of course he expressed that he regretted being unable to see the final round, but whatever happened seemed really important. There were plenty of things that it could have been, but Izuku had a bad feeling. At least Ochako was with him to help calm him down in the prep room.

"Really, I'm sure it's nothing," she said. "I mean, it's definitely something, and he did say it's an emergency, but I'm sure it'll turn out fine."

"Yeah, probably," Izuku nodded. "I wish he could be here though."

"So do I," she agreed. After a few seconds of silence, Ochako got tired of it and addressed the main issue. "So this is more than just the finale of the Sports Festival, isn't it? Everything with you and Bakugo is coming to a head."

"Something like that," he sighed. "After the battle trial, Kacchan said that I wouldn't get another win on him again... He's probably been training like mad outside of school just because he wants to win this. I dunno if I can win..."

"Ugh, stop with that," she sighed. "You're way above him Deku! You totally got this!"

"I'm not way above him at all," he laughed. "Thanks for the vote of confidence though Uraraka."

"Did I stutter?" she deadpanned.

"... No?"

Ochako got up close and poked his shoulder. "You. Totally. Got this."

"I-I, uh... Okay?" he tilted his head. Then, with a smile, he chuckled, "You know, if Iida was here, he'd say not to root for me over another classmate."

"Yeah," she sighed. "But don't worry about that! He'll record your fight and watch it on the TV!"

"Probably," he nodded. "Uraraka, I'm serious when I say that I don't know if I can beat Kacchan. He knows me better than anyone, so he'll know that I have some sort of plan... That makes him hard to plan against."

"You said that you have 3 or 4 viable plans though," she frowned.

"That was optimistic," he sighed, reaching back and taking his notebook out of the waistband of his PE pants. "The more I think about it, the more I realize that he can get around them. Only two of my ideas really have any shot."

"I-I see," Ochako sighed. WAIT A MINUTE– "Did you just pull your notebook out of your pants?!"

"O-Oh, yeah," he scratched his neck and laughed nervously. "There wasn't anywhere else to put it, so..."

Izuku had been keeping his notebook in the backside of his pants. Not a pocket, but actually in his pants, held by the waistband. Why... Why did that seem exactly like something he'd do?

"W-Well, anyways..." Ochako trailed off, looking for anything that might distract her from the fact that Izuku had kept his notebook essentially pressed against his asscheeks the whole time. Then, she met a stroke of genius. "H-Hey, I have an idea! I think I know a plan for you to beat Bakugo!"

"You do?" he asked hopefully. "What is it?"

Ochako was smiling to herself as she walked back to her seat. Not only had Deku enthusiastically agreed to her plan, but he had said that he wanted to hang out later. Grab dinner or something, like they had done before beginning their first semester. Alone, just the two of them.

She internally freaked out just at the prospect. Of course she knew it wasn't supposed to be a date or anything, just a get-together between friends to celebrate his making it so far in the tournament. But then again, he'd specified that it would be just the two of them. Not Katsuki, Shinso, Eijiro, Mina, and not Tsuyu. Just the two of them getting dinner, which made sense because they were pretty much best friends due to their time socializing before the school term, but Ochako couldn't help feeling simultaneously ecstatic and nervous.

'Don't get all nervous, it's just like what we did during the break before school started,' she told herself. 'Yup, just a couple of friends hangin out!'

Safe to say that she was thoroughly distracted from the odd revelation that Deku kept the notebook in his pants.

"Hey Chako, what's with that dopey smile?" Mina teased, jolting the brunette from her thoughts as she realized that she had already made it back to the stands. "Something special happen during your one-on-one time with Mi~do~ri~?"

"N-No!" Ochako pouted at the pinkette. "Just t-talked!"

"Talked about what?" Toru asked.

"Y-Y'know... First we talked about whatever might be going on with Iida. Then we talked about the match, the strategy and stuff. And... That's it."

"No! No it isn't!" Mina exclaimed, throwing a napkin in the air (which landed on Denki beside her). "That 'and' definitely had something else behind it!"

"N-No, it didn't!" Ochako insisted.

"Watch where you throw your napkins!" Denki was ignored entirely, and he elected to settle with a small grumble as he dropped the offending material under his seat.

"You're blushing really hard though!" Toru said to Ochako.

"Uwah!" the brunette cried, slapping her cheeks.

"C'mon Chako, what happened?!" Mina begged. "The suspense is killing meeee!"

"How about you drop it?" Hitoshi grunted from his spot two seats over from Ochako. "You're being too loud."

"No way! Not–!" Mina, who had been frozen by Hitoshi's Quirk, received a nudge from Toru before continuing, "Not until she tells us!"

"Yeah! Spill the beans Ochako!" Toru agreed.

"I... He invited me to dinner tonight, okay?!" she finally admitted.

"Oh... OH MY GOD!" Mina shouted as she wrapped her arms around the blushing girl sitting below her.

"It's a date!" Toru gleefully exclaimed.

"Shut up," Hitoshi sighed.

"It's not!" Ochako insisted. "We've gone together for food before, this isn't any different!"

"How many times?" Mina asked, suddenly serious.

"W-What?" Ochako asked.

"How many times have you gone on dates?"

"They're not dates–"

"Answer the question Ochako!" Mina said.

"Twice, aside from weekends when we work out together," Ochako tilted her head. "Why is that important?"

"You're supposed to make the relationship official on the third date!" Mina yelled. "It's the procedure!"

"The procedure!" Toru echoed.

"Stop, it's not a date!" Ochako shouted.

"It totally is!" Mina retorted.

"Shut up, please!" Hitoshi said more loudly this time.

"No!" Mina furrowed her eyebrows at the brainwasher.

As the group continued fussing, Denki leaned over to Eijiro and asked, "Why are they arguing so passionately about this?"

"It's important not to have misunderstandings in these situations," the hardening teen mused. "But Ashido, there's no reason to assume it's a date."

"But Kiriiii!" she whined.

"B-Besides," Ochako said, "Deku w-wouldn't wanna go on a d-date with me."

Everyone sitting in the row behind her laughed uncomfortably.

As soon as Aizawa asked for Izuku to get to the entrance tunnel, he hopped up from the bench and started on his way. He was ready, more so than he had been for his fight with Momo, and more than his fights with Shoto and Tenya. The almost full month since the battle trial had been leading up to this last engagement. Finally, on the national stage, he'd compete with Katsuki no-holds-barred, and one of them would be officially ranked as number one. Of course he was nervous, but he was more eager than anything. And how couldn't he be eager to test out the plan that Ochako had come up with? Admittedly it was identical to one of the two he'd been thinking about already, but it was really a good plan and he was more than glad to use it simply for the fact that she was the one who suggested it.

And, speaking of Ochako, another reason that Izuku was in a good mood was that he was all set to hang out with her later. Neither one of them had been able to put much relaxation time aside while they were busy with school and preparations for the Sports Festival. And although they saw each other in school and during their weekend workouts, he really missed the couple of times that they were able to spend time together before their attendance at U.A. started. He smiled at the thought that they'd be able to just hang out again.

When he reached the tunnel, Izuku took a final deep breath in preparation. He was fully recovered from Momo's taser, although he was thoroughly fatigued by his prior matches and healing from Recovery Girl. Then again, Katsuki had used that huge explosion to end out his first match against Ibara and had received some healing for his arm. Although his last two matches hadn't been much of a challenge for him in comparison, so he was probably already recovered. Yeah, Izuku was at a definite disadvantage stamina-wise.

"HEY ERASER!" Present Mic shouted. "IT'S TIME FOR THE FINAL MATCH! AREN'T YOU EXCITED?!"

"Absolutely ecstatic," Aizawa droned.

"Aww, need a nap?! AHAHA!" the voice hero laughed.

"Always, but I can never get one around you," Eraserhead sighed. "Whatever. Are we ready?"

"I THINK SO! AUDIENCE, ARE WE REEAAADYYY?!"

The audience exploded with cheers, the volume making Izuku wince even in the tunnel.

"Alright!" he announced. "First up, let's call these contenders out! I'll forgo the announcement of their classes, because they're both from 1-A! The first student out is the guy who we have all been watching! The student rep for the first years, the winner of both of the other rounds of the festival, the mean green fighting machine who's already become the hottest hashtag on Twitter within the past couple of hours: IZUKU MIDORIYA!"

"Wait, hashtag?" Izuku asked himself, blanching as he realized he hadn't checked his social media since the Sports Festival began. "Hottest hashtag?!"

Despite his utter bafflement, he walked out onto the stage to thunderous applause. He looked up at the stands and saw his classmates cheering. But it wasn't just them, or his mother, or the pros or crowd or even All Might watching that was now putting pressure on his shoulders. Everyone in all of Japan now knew who he was and they were all talking about him and this battle. And that almost put as much pressure on his shoulders as the death glare that he could feel from Katsuki in the opposite dark tunnel. But Izuku was best under pressure, especially when he already had a plan laid out. And all that pressure just meant he had to push harder so that he wouldn't disappoint.

"And the next student of the final match is another impressive contender!" Mic continued. "The third finisher in the obstacle race, although he was the first one to finish that had a somewhat reasonable time if you ask me. He also got third in the cavalry battle and has been dominating the tournament with his overwhelming amount of force! Give it up for KATSUKI BAKUGO!"

Katsuki walked out, receiving just as much applause as Izuku had. But he wasn't phased by the outsiders. His glare was completely focused on his opponent.

"Fun fact!" Present Mic said as Katsuki was walking up. "Last year, these two were involved in an incident with a slime villain! Bakugo was captured as a hostage, and Midoriya saved him before All Might came in and captured the villain! Ain't that funny?! It sounds like Midoriya has been winning over Bakugo for a long time! I wonder if he can keep–!"

"THAT'S NOT TRUE AT ALL!" Izuku and Katsuki shouted at the same time.

"Kacchan has always beaten me until recently!"

"This guy's been a total loser his whole life!"

"KACCHAN!" Izuku hissed.

"You damn moron, it's your fault for acting like a total wimp the whole time!" Katsuki chided with a sneer. "Seriously, it pissed me off to no end!"

"Then I bet you've been having the time of your life since I stopped," Izuku grinned.

"Shut the fuck up!" he shouted.

"Whoops, didn't mean to open that can of worms!" Present Mic laughed. "Don't mind me, just looking for interesting commentary!"

"Idiot," Midnight sighed with a shake of her head. "Alright, this is it. Do either of you have any reason for me to postpone the final match?"

"No," they both said while staring at each other.

"Alright then," Midnight grinned. With a shiver, she said, "Ah, this youthful aggression is really invigorating, hah! *Ahem* Are you two ready to begin?"

"Yeah," they both nodded.

"Great!" she announced. "The final match of the Sports Festival's First Years' tournament starts in 3... 2... 1... BEGIN!"

"Alright Deku!" Katsuki grinned as small pops burst from his hands. "COME AT ME!"

He fired at Izuku and release a large explosion that hurt him a good bit, though he was about to hold steady under the force thanks to his Quirk. Izuku dove forward past the follow-up explosive right hook. Katsuki tried to catch him with another explosion as he passed, but barely missed that one. He kicked off back at the greenette and shoved his hand at him, this time sure he would hit, but then Izuku grabbed the hand with his telekinesis and pointed it at the ground. Katsuki's explosion sent himself flying straight up, but then he just rocketed back down at his opponent. He blasted straight down at Izuku, who could only take the blast head on. However, he landed a kick to the explosive blonde's stomach as he did so.

"Gah! What the fuck?!" Katsuki shouted as he stood back up. "Is your strategy to just wear me down, Deku?! Cuz that's a dumbass strategy!"

Katsuki ran at him again, and Izuku took a lowered stance before he attempted to roll out of harm's way. It didn't work this time, as Katsuki caught him with an explosion and proceeded to pummel him with several more, sending him rolling to the edge. Izuku froze Katsuki in place long enough to scramble up and away from the edge and then decked him across the face just as he was about to break free, knocking him on his ass.

"Damn it!" Katsuki growled as he got up and glared at Izuku who had already gotten to the opposite edge of the ring.

'Just a little bit more,' Izuku thought as he clutched his pained side and panted. 'Damn, I'm even more worn out than I realized.'

Katsuki fired towards him again, powered by his explosions which were angled slightly downwards. Izuku anticipated another right hook, but of course Katsuki realized that he was probably expecting that and threw a left uppercut instead. As Izuku flew a couple of feet in the air from the blast, he used his Quirk on his own leg and kicked his opponent in the chest, apparently knocking the wind out of him.

Izuku landed on his backside and quickly got up as Katsuki tried to regain his breath, then surveyed the ring. He wasn't satisfied quite yet so he ran up to Katsuki, who was trying to stand up, and kicked him back down.

"I thought you were gonna be number one, Kacchan!" Izuku yelled as he knelt down above him and cocked back his fist.

Katsuki could hardly breathe, let alone talk—or more likely yell—but he was able to raise up his arms and ready a couple of explosions meant for his opponent's face. But that was exactly what Izuku wanted. As soon Katsuki had begun to raise his arms, Izuku grabbed his hands and pressed them down against the ring below them. The blonde wasn't able to stop it in that split second and fired the explosions straight into the ground, sending both of them flying up. They each used their Quirks to land a bit more safely, and then glared at each other as they panted.

"Hah... Deku..." Katsuki growled. "What the hell are you doing? Playing this so defensively... What's your plan?!"

"I'm just trying to conserve energy," Izuku lied. "After all, I'm more tired out from my matches than you are."

"Even if that's true, you still have something up your sleeve," he said. "No way you're just playing this by ear."

"But you're holding back too Kacchan," Izuku replied. "What're you up to?"

"Just conserving energy," Katsuki grinned. "After all, I can't be too prepared for whatever you're scheming."

"Well, I've caught my breath," Izuku said with a confident smile. "You ready to get back to it?"

"Fuck yeah!" Katsuki shouted before firing at him one more time.

Izuku started running away from his opponent. Not that he would've been able to outrun Katsuki unless Ochako had made him weightless, but he was able to at least avoid any match-ending blows. And the explosions that did hit him as he ran around the ring were worth putting his plan into action. He used his Quirk to pick up a decently sized chunk of the ring that had been broken out by Katsuki and slammed it into the back of his head to get him to stop pursuing him.

"Argh, what the fuck?!" he exclaimed as he vigorously rubbed the back of his head.

Katsuki's hesitation before resuming his mad dash at Izuku lasted only about a second, but it long was enough for Izuku to collect the debris that had been blown up from the ring (he had put all of it under his Quirk as he ran around) and put it up as a wall in between the two of them. He made the massive cement wall fall down towards Katsuki, but the blonde fired a massive explosion into it before it reached him. The explosion wasn't as big as the one he had used against Ibara, but it still shook the stadium. It broke much of the rubble from Izuku's hold, and vaporized more of it instantly.

"Hah... Crushing me with rubble? That was your plan?!" Katsuki laughed, wiping sweat from his brow. "You disappointed me Deku! Let's finish this!"

But what Katsuki didn't know was that the wall of rubble that Izuku had attempted to drop on him had only been made up of some of the debris. The pieces of cement that were still under Izuku's control had already formed another wall just outside of Katsuki's peripheral vision.

"Here I come Dek–!"

Izuku moved the wall as fast as he could, and it slammed into Katsuki from the side before he even had a chance to charge. The telekinetic hero-in-training kept the force up until the rubble had pushed the surprised Katsuki out of bounds, and then he let the wall collapse.

"And that's it!" Midnight announced. "Katsuki Bakugo is out of bounds! IZUKU MIDORIYA IS THE WINNER OF THE FIRST YEARS' U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL!"

The huge thunder of applause didn't do much to phase Izuku, who wasn't moving at that point. The entire thing was still processing in his head as he stared at Katsuki out of bounds. The blonde slowly stood up and dusted himself off, then looked at Izuku for a moment. He scowled, then the scowl deepened sharply.

"Damnit!" he shouted before kicking a piece of rubble away. He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned away, saying, "Next time, damn Deku."

"I can't believe it!" Present Mic exclaimed. "He won all three rounds! Is there a triple crown title for him or something like that?!"

"No," Aizawa said simply.

"Hey kid," Midnight said, shaking Izuku's shoulder. "They're gonna do the awards ceremony soon, so come this way."

"Y-Yeah, okay," he nodded.

"Uh, you okay Midoriya?" she asked.

"Yeah, why?"

"You're crying."

"I am?" he asked. After wiping away some tears, he chuckled, "Y-Yeah, I guess so."

"Now, let's move on to the awards ceremony!" Midnight announced.

Three pedestals labeled '1', '2', and '3' rose up from the ring. On them stood Izuku, Katsuki, then Momo and Tsuyu respectively.

"Presenting the medals," Midnight said, "is you-know-who!"

"I AM," the booming voice of All Might announced as he jumped down and learned in front of the pedestals, "HERE WITH THE–"

"He's the one and only All Might!" Midnight said at the same time. With an uncomfortable laugh she apologized, "Sorry, I spoke over you."

"It's fine," he grumbled before clearing his throat and approaching the third place pedestal. "Young Yaoyorozu, Young Asui, you have both demonstrated excellent skill in battle! I'm happy to say that you've both earned this!"

"Thanks, kero," Tsuyu croaked as he placed the medal over her head.

"Your Quirk has many advantages, so don't be afraid to focus on those," All Might said as he gave her a small hug. "Being the best at one thing is sometimes better than being good at many things."

"Kero."

"I'll not let this experience go to waste," Momo said with a slight bow as she received her own medal.

"I'm sure you will find ways to grow in the usage of your Quirk," All Might hugged Momo as well. "I can't wait to see how you'll improve."

"Thank you, All Might."

"And next... Ah, Young Bakugo!" All Might said as he approached the second place pedestal. "You definitely proved that you deserve to be here today. Wear this with pride."

"Don't want it," Katsuki said as he leaned back to avoid the medal.

"Huh? But... It's kinda, you know... Why not, anyways?"

"Second place is just the first loser," Katsuki scowled. "If I didn't win the whole thing, then that's about as good as failing altogether!"

"Ah, but you have to..." All Might sighed as Katsuki still refused to let him put it over his head. "Then, you should wear it as a scar. Let it remind you of how things went here, and inspire you to do better!"

"Tch, the lack of a first place medal will be enough motivation," Katsuki scoffed. After a moment, All Might suddenly tried to force the medal over his head, and Katsuki started wrestling over it. "Oi, stop it! YOU WANNA DIE?!"

"AHAHA! Preferably not!" All Might laughed, before he finally got the medal over Katsuki's head and pulled him into a firm embrace. "Your strength is great, but you're quick to anger and got overconfident in the last moment. You have insane potential, Young Bakugo. Let this improve you."

"TCH, WHATEVER," he scoffed as he shoved All Might away. "I fucking got it."

"Good. Next, Young Midoriya," the number one pro hero turned to Izuku. "You've definitely made your mark young man! AHAHA! It's only your first year and I can tell you have a shining career ahead of you!"

"I, uh," Izuku muttered as All Might slipped the medal over his head. "Thanks, All Might."

"I'm so proud Young Midoriya!" All Might whispered as he hugged him. "I knew there was something about you!"

"Stop, that's embarrassing," he chuckled.

"All right!" All Might announced to the stadium as he stepped away. "Here are your winners! But before the applause, I'd like to commend every student that participated here today! You all gave it your all, and we could tell! Oh, I can already feel the spirit of competition pushing these sprouts to grow into mighty oaks! In that spirit, let's give one last cheer! You all know what I'm about to say, so let's say it together! One, two, three...!"

"PLUS ULTRA!" everyone in the stands yelled.

"THANK YOU ALL FOR YOUR HARD WORK! Uh, wait..."

"All Might, we're supposed to say Plus Ultra," Midnight sighed.

"Ah, but I just thought they put in so much work, you know?"

"AHAHA! WHAT AN END TO SUCH AN AMAZING SPORTS FESTIVAL!" Present Mic laughed.

"Yeah, it's over," Aizawa said. "So everyone go home. Except the students, you all need to go to your classrooms for some more announcements."

"Deku, you won!" Ochako squeaked as she met him on the way to their classroom. "That was so great!"

"Yeah, guess so," he chuckled nervously.

The students had changed back into their regular uniforms, and Ochako consciously made sure that she saw the notebook safely resting within the confines of a pocket.

"Did your mom call?" she asked.

"Yeah, she said she's gonna make a big katsudon dinner," he laughed. "I told her that you and I were going to get something, but she said that you should come over to our place for dinner. I told her I'd let her know."

"Y-Yeah, that's fine with me," she smiled. 'It's definitely not a date Mina.'

"Great, I'll text her," he said.

Ochako glanced down at his phone and saw that he was on Twitter, which was filled with... images of him.

"What's that?" she asked.

"Oh. When Present Mic said that I was blowing up on social media... I got really scared of what they're saying about me," he chuckled. "It looks all good, but it's still really embarrassing that I'm... trending."

"It's just practice for when you're a famous pro!" she laughed.

"Maybe," he laughed too.

They entered the classroom and walked to their separate seats. Ochako was suddenly reminded of Tenya's family emergency as the seat in front of her was empty, while Izuku was ignored by the sulking Katsuki aside from a single grunt. That suited him fine, by the way, as he was too tired to deal with any arguments.

"Anyways," Eraserhead sighed after everyone got situated, "you'll have the next two days off because of the sports festival today. When you all return, the internship requests from the pro heroes will all be accounted for, so be ready to receive those. That's really all there is, so you can leave now if you want. I'm going to be taking a nap."

"Congratulations Midoriya," Hitoshi said as the class began to meander.

"Thanks Shinso," he smiled.

"Seriously though, I wouldn't want to fight you," Hanta said. "I mean, you could just grab my tape with your Quirk. That's totally unfair."

"... It really is," Fumikage nodded.

"But both of you guys were super manly in that finale!" Eijiro said as he popped into the conversation. "Midoriya, that strategy of waiting for Bakugo to scuff up the ring was really smart!"

"Actually, Uraraka came up with that one," he chuckled.

"WHAT?!" Katsuki whirled around, finally breaking his silence.

"Well I was already thinking about something like it," Izuku said quickly. "And the backup wall was my idea too, since I knew you'd blow up the first one."

"Damn, shitty Deku and Round Face," he grumbled before stalking away.

"How vulgar," Momo shook her head.

"Hey Deku," Ochako said as she walked over. "Since we have the next couple of days off, are we on for working out?"

"Yeah," he nodded. "I'm definitely up for it."

"Oh, you two are working out?" Eijiro asked. "Self-improvement, I like that manliness! I might just get in some hard exercise myself!"

"I mean, it never hurts to put in some extra effort I guess," Hanta shrugged.

"Indeed," Fumikage nodded again.

"Anyways, I'll get going home now," Izuku said as he stood up.

"Ah, me too," Ochako said.

After saying goodbye to their classmates and getting involved in a couple more small conversations on the way, Ochako and Izuku finally started walking away from class. They talked a little bit about the festival as they walked to the station, more specifically about the attention Izuku was getting online. Even as they walked, there were several people who stopped them to congratulate him on the win.

"H-Hey, Deku," Ochako said. "I'm fine with eating dinner with your mom, but... Everyone congratulating you makes me think... Do you wanna go out and grab lunch to celebrate? Just the two of us?"

"Oh, uh, I'm fine with that," he said. "It's not really lunchtime yet though... Man, the festival felt way longer than it was. So, how about we meet up later? I kinda want to go home and shower after that anyways."

"Yeah, makes sense," she chuckled.

The two of them reached the station and talked for a little while longer. They decided on a time to meet up for lunch before Ochako's train arrived, and Izuku's arrived not much later. On the way home, there were even more people who stopped Izuku to congratulate him on the win.

"Information travels fast," he mused as he reached his home.

Upon entry he was picked up in a tight hug from his mother, who was so overexcited that she couldn't do much more than sputter fragmented remarks about how proud she was of her baby boy. He convinced her to let him go in under 5 minutes, which he thought was fairly impressive, and went to take a refreshing shower.