A Tournament

*General POV*

The heroes sitting in the arena and watching from their screens all have their own opinions on Shiro.

The Ninja Hero: Edgeshot mutters to himself, "What skill. His strategy and physical abilities are at good levels as well. He may be a good first intern..."

The Mineyama Hero: Mt. Lady takes a sip of her tea, 'He certainly is good.. Plus he's pretty cute.'

Midnight licks her lips as she watches the retreating Shiro, 'I never expected his chloroform to be so effective. It works almost as quickly as my somnambulist. If only he were older…'

The Flame Hero: Endeavour silently looks at Shiro, 'His usage of his quirk is creative and he is very analytical and uses what he can… but that drive to reach the top…'

A smirk appears on his face as he thinks of himself, 'Although he beat Shoto, he is very promising.'

There were also those that had a few negative thoughts.

Gran Torino shakes his head, "So he's the type to do anything to win. Even if it means betraying his own classmates. I was mildly surprised from the Obstacle course, but this… this is too much."

The Dragon Hero: Ryukyu frowns slightly, 'I can't tell if he's extremely rash or extremely meticulous. His planning is meticulous, but his methods say rash…'

Sir Nighteye narrows his eyes, 'He certainly is skillful, but the way he acts… he's too focused, too hungry. It's almost like he's desperate.'

But all of them think the same thing, 'I want him.'

*Shiro POV*

Kaminari, Sero, Kirishima, and I were all sitting in the cafeteria, while Momo and Mina were sitting with the other girls of Class 1-A.

"That was dirty, Shiro," Kaminari complains to me, while I eat my curry ramen.

Sero nods his head solemnly, "A true hero should never abandon their friends."

I smirk slightly and put my chopstick down, "Fine, what if you run into a burning building, and Kirishima is trapped under a piece of the ceiling or something. Next to him is the prettiest girl you've seen in your life. But you only have time to save one. What do you do?"

Kaminari and Sero both think about this and walk over to Kirishima, before looking at him seriously, "You would understand, right, Kirishima?"

Kirishima looks aghast and holds his heart while tears start to fall from his face, "Just do me a favor…"

He slowly nods his head, "Anything."

Kirishima slumps down onto the table while whispering to him in a hoarse voice, "You better marry her."

"KIRISHIMA!!!"

A fountain of tears emit from Kaminari's eyes and he holds Kirishima's hand, "I will never forget your noble sacrifice, my brother…"

There is a moment of silence as everyone mourns Kirishima's "death," until Kaminari yells out, "Wait, damn you and your devilish tongue Shiro. You made me pick a girl over Kirishima."

I shrug my shoulders, "I didn't do anything, that was all you."

Kirishima gets up and starts laughing, "Still, I'm heartbroken. Can't believe you would abandon me like that."

I pat Kaminari's hand and Sero's shoulders, "Don't get too down on not making it. You'll get another chance next-," but I stop as I feel a forceful hand on my shoulder.

My eyes look down at the hand and notice the bruised knuckles and slight singe on the fingers, 'I had expected a confrontation.'

"What do you want… Bakugo?"

I hear him kiss his teeth in annoyance, and he lets go of me, "Follow me, I wanna talk."

I sigh and turn around. To my surprise, the area around Bakugo's eyes was slightly puffy and tinged red.

'Oh yeah. He's still a kid. The way he acts makes me forget shit like this. Plus with his type, the bigger their ego is, the harder they fall. Hell, I'm surprised he hasn't outright attacked me yet.'

"Sure."

Standing up, I pick up my tray and drop off my bowl at the counter and follow Bakugo outside. We start walking towards the forest and the whole time, neither of us talk.

We reach the edge of the forest and Bakugo finally stops and stares at a tree in front of him.

"So, what did you call me out here for?"

He continues looking at the tree, "Why?"

"Why did I eliminate you?"

He stays silent and I sigh, "Your explosion quirk is something that I counter. But your battle sense and intellect when you are calm are both to be feared. You should understand the rest."

He clenches his fist, "Tch. I knew it. You saw me as a big threat and eliminated me. You really are a bastard, you know."

I shrug my shoulders, "You said it yourself. It doesn't matter…"

I turn around and start walking back to the stadium, "As long as you rise to the top."

Before I get too far, Bakugo yells at me, "Shiro!!!"

I turn and look at Bakugo, tears appearing on the corners of his eyes, "Next year! No, by the end of this year… I will surpass you!"

A small smile forms on my face, "You can try."

But as I turn back around and leave, the smile quickly fades, replaced by a serious expression, 'Sorry, but I can't let that happen. If I want to kill him, I need to be number one.'

A few minutes later, I walked back into the cafeteria to see an interesting sight, Kaminari, and Mineta talking to Jiro and Momo.

"I'm sure you already know since you are the assistant class rep, but they said everyone has to wear those outfits for a cheer battle this afternoon," says Mineta.

I stay out of eyesight and listen in, 'No shit he's lying. But how will you deal with this, Momo?'

Momo raises her eyebrow suspiciously, "Ho? I didn't hear anything like that? How would you know… Mineta?"

Mineta shrugs his shoulders, "You don't have to believe me but we heard from Aizawa Sensei."

"So, if I ask him then he'll say that we have to."

Mineta and Mineta both freeze up momentarily but quickly shake it off and Kaminari nervously laughs, "Hehe, yeah. He'll say yes."

Momo pulls out her phone and scrolls for a bit, "Okay then. Let me call him."

Mineta takes a step back, "W-W-What! You have his number?"

Momo nods, "Yeah. As an assistant class representative, it is important to be informed at all times, so I and Shiro both have."

The phones start ringing and Kaminari and Mineta start panicking, "W-wait, Momo. We were joking. It was just a joke."

Jiro scowls at them, "Bastards."

Momo hangs up and sighs, "Go pull your dirty tricks somewhere else."

Both boys leave, dejected that their plan failed.

I walk towards Momo, "You handled that well."

Jiro looks shocked, "You knew?"

I nod my head, "I just happened to hear it. Anyways, Momo, do you really have Aizawa's number?"

She rolls her eyes, "No. This is Asui's number. She gave me her contact recently and it was just at the top of the list."

I smirk, "That was a good bluff. C'mon, let's head to the stadium. The third event is starting soon."

Ten minutes later, the courses gather onto the floor of the stadium and I see both Bakugo and Todoroki. Bakugo is looking at me with determined eyes, but Todoroki is glaring at me. I look over at Izuku whose arm looks healed, but he looks mildly tired.

'Tch, damn it. He's basically in good condition.'

Present Mic kicks off the announcements, "Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game!"

The crowd cheers wildly and Present Mic continues, "But before that, there's good news for those of you that didn't make it to the finals! This is a sports festival after all! So we've prepared recreational games for everyone to play in, too! We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!"

A line of cheerleaders start dancing on the field, 'Why the hell do all of them have pointed noses? They don't look like Americans, they look more like elves. What the fuck?'

A fancy tournament bracket display on the screen shows up and Present Mic explains, "When that's over, the sixteen from the four qualifying teams that made it into the final round will duke it out, one-on-one tournament style!"

My eyes narrow, 'A tournament, huh? This should be interesting. That means for every round I win, that's just another chance for me to show off.'

AN: So, It's not a tournament every year, just a one on one competition. I fixed Shiro's thoughts for that one chapter when I said that a tournament was part of every sports festival.

Kirishima pumps his fist excitedly, "I'm gonna stand on the stage that I watch every year on TV!"

Midnight yells out, "Once the bracket is determined we'll have the recreational games and start! The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the games. I'm sure some of you want to preserve your strength."

She starts walking over to me with a yellow box in her hands, "Now, starting from the first-place team,-"

But before she gets any closer, Ojiro speaks up, "Uhm, excuse me. I'm withdrawing."

My eyes narrow, 'How stupid.'

Izuku asks, "Ojiro, why?"

Ojiro looks down at the floor, "I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until almost the end. I think it was that guy's quirk."

I give a side glance to Shinso who is glaring at Ojiro before looking back at Ojiro, 'Maybe he can help me figure out what the condition is.'

Ojiro continues, "I know this is a great chance, and that it's foolish to waste it. But everyone here competed by giving their all."

He clenches his fist and closes his eyes briefly, "I can't… I can't be up there with everyone without knowing what happened."

Many other students that didn't make it all glare at Ojiro, thinking the same thing, 'Ungrateful bastard. You have a chance and you're just gonna throw it away!?'

The girls of our class try to cheer him up, but Ojiro shakes his head, "I'm talking about my pride here… I can't…"

Nirengeki Shoda, a short round boy with pale blue hair, from Class B steps up, "I'd like to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability, don't you think it goes against the goal of this sports festival for those who didn't do anything to move onto the final round?"

There is an awkward silence as Midnight stands there thinking about what to do, until she finally speaks, "Youthful talk like that is something… I like! Shoda! Ojiro! I accept your withdrawal!"

I facepalm, 'She decided based on her tastes… but then that means…'

Midnight puts her hand to her lips, "In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fif-, ahem, the longest-lasting team from the cavalry battle… So that would Team Kaminari."

Kaminari and Sero meet up with the two general studies kids who were on their team and talk for a bit. Very quickly they break off with Sero and Kaminari both looking extremely excited.

Kaminari clears his throat, "So, they said that we can do it because they aren't really combat-based, so…"

Midnight flails her whip, "Well then, Sero and Kaminari both move up into the finals! Now then, time to draw!"

Midnight starts drawing names out of the yellow box and mumbles a few things, incomprehensible to the rest of us.

A few minutes later she cleared her throat, "Ahem, This is the bracket based on the result of the drawing!"

The screen flashes, showing sixteen names in the tournament bracket slots.

'This will be interesting.'

Shiro Hirota vs. Eijiro Kirishima

Hanta Sero vs. Hitoshi Shinso

Tenya Iida vs. Mei Hatsune

Momo Yaoyorozu vs. Denki Kaminari

Yuga Aoyama vs. Ashido Mina

Asui Tsuyu vs. Izuku Midoriya

Ochako Uraraka vs. Minoru Mineta

Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Mezo Shoji

AN: This is what the bracket looks like. I have some plans for this tournament.

I look at my side of the bracket, 'I will most likely be versing Shinso, and Momo after Kirishima. Sero will easily get beaten by Shinso, and Momo can counter Kaminari. That support course girl will be quite unexpected and might beat Iida, but Momo should be able to deal with either one.'

I look towards Momo and she is looking at me, and we both nod, thinking the same thing, 'That means from here on, we'll be enemies.'

My eyes go to the other side, 'On the other hand, this one will be a little more troublesome.'

I turn around and head outside of the stadium as Present Mic announces the start of the recreational games.

Walking inside the nearby forest, I wait till I am in a secluded area and lean up against a tree, 'Finally, I have time to talk to you… Kuro.'

AN: Guess the speech is the next chapter.

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