Chapter 61: UA Sports Festival (V)

"Midoriya Izuku, you advance to the next round!!"

After Shinsou got up from the ground and walked back to the centre of the stage, Present Mic continued his commentary,"Yah-hah! Bit of a no-frills battle to start the tournament off. But clap your hands and give these two a round of applause! You fought well, boys!"

"Why heroics...Shinsou...?"

At his question, Shinsou turned his head away. He wasn't very happy with the results, but what was done was done. There was no choice but to accept the result.

"I can't help what I long to be, can I?"

Without saying anything else, he walked off the stage. With his head down, he was walking to the tunnel which led to the audiences' seats when he suddenly heard a shout.

"You were so cool, Shinsou!"

Lifting his head up, he found his friends waving at him and cheering for him.

"We were on the edges of our seats, dude! For real!"

"You're like our star of hope, for all us general department kids!"

"You gave the kid who placed in the top three from the obstacle race a real run for his money!!"

The students from the general department were all present and waving at him. It wasn't just them who were cheering for him however, even the various pro heroes who were watching the match started complimenting him as well.

"That quirk would be incredibly useful against villains! I definitely want it!"

"Man, Yuuei Musta been idiots to relegate him to their general department."

"Can you hear them, Shinsou? Your friends, your family, strangers all cheering for you."

He heard a voice from his ear but could not pinpoint where it came from.

"You're amazing, so don't beat yourself down."

He continued turning his head from side to side, trying to find where the voice came from.

"Don't try to find me, I won't appear in front of you until you join the department of heroics. And that will be soon, that I promise. It's not everyday I meet somebody with similar quirks like mine. Now, walk back to wherever you're supposed to go."

Before he could even figure out the meaning behind the mysterious voice, he found himself walking towards his class.

'So this was what he meant by having similar quirks?' Shinsou couldn't help but think to himself. 'But I didn't reply to him though?!'

Analysing the entire situation, he concluded that the mysterious person's quirk was a lot stronger than his.

'Sigh, whatever.'

He didn't have much hope in the voice's promise, but still prayed that he could actually get into the department of heroics.

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While Shido was conversing with Shinsou, the next match was going to begin soon.

"You really like that kid, huh?" Yoshinon faced Shido and asked him.

"Hm? Not really. He's gloomy, not sleeping enough and pretty depressing overall. But he's still fighting so hard to go against his fate. Might as well help him a little."

"Sigh, just do whatever you want." Yoshinon found out that Shido had been taking a lot of initiatives recently, going out of his way to help others.

"You've changed..." Yoshinon muttered very softly, but of course, Shido still managed to catch it with this enhanced hearing.

[A/N: Since Shido is a ******, he has enhanced physical capabilities and senses which includes, but are not limited to strength, sight, hearing etc. The above is a spoiler for future chapters so I'm not going to spoil it, but it's pretty obvious.]

"Have I?"

"Yep. You used to never go out of your way to help others. But ever since you became a teacher, you've been caring more and more about others. Doing things you would never have done like initiating a conversation with the mouse." Yoshinon said seriously.

"Is that wrong? Helping others, that is."

"Helping others is not wrong. But you have to prioritise yourself. You don't have to go out of your own way to help others."

"But it's not like I'm going to lose anything. A small talk wouldn't harm me at all." Looking at Yoshinon, he continued,"You're pretty protective of me, aren't you? You're my friend, not my guardian."

"Well, as your friend, I do everything in my power to keep you safe. Do you remember the time when we first woke up in the middle of the alley? What was the first thing that came into your head?"

"That time?" Shido thought back to that time,"If I remember correctly, it should be the information of the abilities I could use. What's wrong?"

"Well, the first thing that came into my mind was not the abilities that you could use." Yoshinon looked at Shido with a very serious expression and continued,"The first thing that came into my mind was an instruction, order, command or whatever you call it."

"Instruction?" Shido was very curious. Yoshinon had never mentioned this before this conversation,"What instruction?"

"'Protect him at all costs.' This was the instruction in my head."

Seeing Yoshinon's earnest expression and tone, Shido could not help but smile and rub his head,"Protect me, huh? I don't think I would need protection, but thank you. It makes me warm to see you doing your best for me."

"So don't think of me as a bother or a nagging person. I would never harm you."

"I know that you'll never harm me. You're my best friend after all."

"And your only friend."

"...E-"

"Eri doesn't count. She's your girlfriend." Yoshinon retorted and continued before Shido could say anything else,"Don't even bother denying it. It's pretty obvious that both of you like each other romantically."

"..."

"Fine, but we're still not going out. We're only twelve, and 'time' is something we don't lack."

"Urgh...whatever you wish. It's your love life. If you keep going like this, I bet I will find a rabbit girlfriend faster than you would actually start dating Eri." Yoshinon said sarcastically.

Shido heard his words and said nothing. He doubted that his friend would actually find a rabbit girlfriend anytime soon.

He just turned his head towards the stage and observed the match between Hanta and Shoto.

However, to call it a 'match' was an overstatement.

It was more of a one sided slaughter.

As soon as the match began, Hanta stretched his arms a little before tape rolled out of his elbows and tied Shoto up.

Swinging his elbows towards the left, he attempted to throw Shoto, who was tied up in his tape, out of bounds. But as he tried to do so, Shoto decided to freeze Hanta.

In less than a second, a huge ice boulder appeared out of nowhere, freezing half the stage along with Hanta. The audiences were spared either. Everyone behind Hanta began shivering slightly from the cold emitted from the ice boulder.

"....Sero..can you move?" Half of Midnight's body was frozen and encased in ice, but that didn't stop her from announcing the match results as soon as Hanta gave up on the match.

"Sera Hanta is unable to move!! And so Todoroki Shoto advances to the next round!!"

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The matches continued as planned as soon as Shoto melted the ice boulder, leaving nothing but a small patch of puddle of water in its wake.

The third match, Kaminari versus Shiozaki, from class 1-A and class 1-B respectively.

Like the second match, this wasn't a match at all.

Shiozaki dominated the match using her hair vines. Kaminari used an excessive amount of electricity, causing him to fry his own brain while Shiozaki just wrapped Kaminari up in her vines.

Shiozaki Ibara quirk: vines.

The vines at her head are extensible, and could even be cut away. To grow them back, all she needs is to bask in some water and sunlight.

"And so Shiozaki advances to the second round!

The fourth match was Tenya versus Mei.

It lasted ten minutes long and contrary to expectations, there wasn't any fighting involved.

For ten minutes long, Tenya was dashing here and there, trying to catch Mei around the stage but to no avail. Using her support items, she managed to dodge all the attempts to catch her, and while she was doing that, she even tried to introduce and sell her personal support items.

"You played me for a foooool!!!" Tenya screamed after Mei decided to step out of the ring out of her own volition.

"And now I have nothing to regret!!" Mei wiped off her sweat and faced the sun, acting like she was in the middle of the spotlight.

"Hatume is out of bounds!! Iida advances to the second round!!" Midnight announced the result normally. She was a bit surprised at Mei's actions, but decided to just announce the result because she didn't want any more trouble.

The next two matches were between four students from class 1-A. After a while, Mina managed to spray some acid on Yuga's belt, causing it to malfunction. And the moment he panicked, she snuck in a one-hit KO straight to his jaw.

Fumikage managed to win by striking immediately after the match started, making sure that Momo could never use any of the things she prepared.

Shido was observing each and every battle closely, watching out for their fighting style, strengths, weakness, trying to figure out how to improve each student's battle and where they fight wrongly.

He managed to find a lot of flaws in each student, whether in their preparations beforehand, or their on-site battle.

The seventh match, Kaminarii was fighting against Tetsutetsu. Both of their quirks were similar, one was hardening while the other was steel. Their names were different, but their effect was basically the same. Both hardened their body, and the match was decided in a close quarter combat brawl. There was no fighting technique. stance, positioning. Just pure physical and crude blow-for-blow combat.

The match ended up in a draw and would be decided in a simpler match later on, namely, arm wrestling.

And finally, the final match for this round.

"It's the last match of the first round...the boy who's been somewhat famous since middle school!! But that face ain't the face of a kid on the straight and narrow! Bakugo Katsuki of the department of Heroics!! Versus...the kid I'll be rooting for!! Uraraka Ochako, of heroics as well!"

Hearing Present Mic's very biased commentary, Shido's lips twitched but he didn't say anything.

"Start!!"

As soon as Present Mic gave the signal, Ochaco immediately rushed towards Katsuki.

As Shido continued observing the match, he found Ochaco's strategies very interesting. It made use of Katsuki's various habits, and used them to predict his next move of action. From one decoy to another, barely dodging each explosion from Katsuki, to trying to touch Katsuki, every single move was planned out.

'Must be Izuku's work. Ochaco could never think of this by herself.'

Shido had observed Izuku long enough for him to realise that Izuku's influence in this match was a lot more than what people expect. In simpler terms, without Izuku, Ochaco would have lost a long time ago. Forget dodging and counter attacking, the moment the match started, Kaatsuki would have taken her out in a minute or two.

In the middle of the match however, some heroes decided to be an extra and screamed,"Hey!! Do you mean to be a hero with conduct like that?! If your strength level is that much bigger, just blow her out of bounds already!!"

"How dare you toy with a girl like that!!?"

"Yeah, that's right!"

Shido, hearing their words, felt like laughing. All of a sudden, many organ pipes appeared around the stands, and his voice rang out,"Hahaha! Who's the idiot who said he's toying with her? Are you a pro hero? If so, how many years have passed since you became one?"

"If you actually think that is the case, and said that when you're thinking straight, there's no point for you to keep watching. Please, just go home already. In fact, you should keep watching the match at a career turnover site." Shido sneered at them,"Do you why he's not just 'blasting her out of bounds' like you said? It's because he recognises the strength of the opponent who's reached this far and is on guard as a result. Unlike a certain someone who thinks he could just rush in without any preparation and just 'blast her out'."

"It's because he's doing everything in his power to win that he's refusing to let his guard down or stay his hand. Your judgement is clearly failing you. Are you a pro hero? Or are you just a reckless idiot with a 'justice-only' mindset?"

After Shido finished mocking the heroes and explaining Katsuki's actions, he removed all of the organ pipes from the stands, and silence prevailed throughout the area, leaving only the constant blasts of fighting from the stage.

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