Chapter Text
A staggering, faceless monster stood behind Izuku.
Some Quirks could summon or create beings to fight for their users. There were a few scattered examples of that throughout the Hero industry, though they seemed to be a fairly rare sort. Had she not seen his ability to generate and move this black… Matter stuff, she might have assumed that that was what his Quirk was. That was what it looked like right now.
She knew that it wasn't though. This was another aspect of his Quirk. Some other method of manifestation that he hadn't displayed before now.
How was she even supposed to begin to describe what was in front of her right now?
The same black matter that oozed from Izuku's body seemed to be going into the construction of the creature that was manifesting behind him. It was lanky tall, and inhumanly shaped, even though it was a humanoid being. The black matter crackled off of it, rising and dissipating into the air around it. It appeared to be covered in what looked like bandages, black in colour, but which were wrapped around absolutely nothing. Indeed, at the midriff of the creature, there were two, maybe three bandages that connected it's torso to its legs.
Limbs were long, extended beyond the normal Human proportions. The arms in particular. Each finger looked like a claw, capable of tearing down whatever came its way. They mimicked the way the same matter was wrapped around Izuku's hands and fingers. Somehow, Mina understood just by looking at this apparition that it was strong. That it could probably tear down the nearest wall without any difficulty. It's fingers still clung onto Izuku's shoulders though, even as it towered over him.
Easily the most unsettling thing about the thing before her was it's face - Or lack thereof. Where a face should be was a completely featureless nothing. Even the lines that would otherwise indicate a bandage-like thing that were present everywhere else were blocked out for the darkness that enveloped it's face.
Mina had no idea what she was even looking at.
A demon? A ghost? A monster?
The last few seconds played in her mind.
'You think I'm fucking afraid of you?!'
'No… I don't…But I think you should be."
Kirishima was right. Izuku's Quirk was unsettling. Unsettling in a way that Mina had never experienced before in her entire life.
What the hell even was it? Chills went up and down her spine.
Izuku didn't move - He waited to see who was going to make the first move. Like he was daring for someone to attack him. Like he already had a counter strategy in the works for whoever was stupid enough to make the first move.
He only needed to wait for a second.
"I'm gonna crush you into the dirt, Deku!"
Bakugou shot himself at Izuku like a bullet, propelling himself via the power of his Quirk. Detonating his Explosions behind him and riding on the force they emitted, he fired himself straight through the air at a speed that was impressive in it's clear intended ferocity.
That was when the spawned ghost made its move.
It was fast - Faster than Mina was able to comfortably understand everything that she was seeing. From behind Izuku, it had clambered onto the wall, hung there for a second, and then sort of lurched itself towards Bakugou, trying to grab him with both its hands.
Battle instinct ready though, Bakugou swung one of his hands in front of his body to let loose an explosion against the creature. How much actual damage it did was hard to say - It didn't seem to respond to pain - But it seemed to only be one part of Bakugou's overall plan to inflict actual damage to the creature. Instead, he once more relied on the force his own explosions gave off to allow him to propel over the ghost creature. His plan became clear then - To bypass the ghost entirely, and to strike Izuku directly.
Speedy as it was though, the ghost realized this too, and lurched once more to prevent Bakugou from getting anywhere near Izuku. Suddenly it became a game of swipe - explode - dodge - explode - strike - duck - and strike again with the apparition, it moving to counter every effort that Bakugou made to get through. That just seemed to anger him more and more though, and made him up his attacks each and every time.
But the ghost wasn't slowing down either. It kept swinging attack after attack with an unnerving groan.
For a moment, Mina stood there in complete silence, absolutely still, just watching what was going on, and wondering what on earth she was even supposed to contribute to that fight.
The ghost Izuku had brought forth was as unsettling as it was possible for something to get. It was almost impossible to look away from it. She had to steel herself to do so.
Remind herself what was happening.
Iida. Or even Izuku himself. The ghost wasn't around either of them. She could go for them. Or she could run back to the target. Set up some kind of defensive perimeter. Somehow she had a feeling they needed one after all.
She tore her eyes away from the sight to scan her surroundings.
Izuku had moved.
The moment she realized that was the same moment her eyes caught him. He'd moved outside her peripheral vision.
Now he was lunging straight for her.
Like he'd done this a thousand times.
His left forearm launched towards her throat, designed to pin her against the wall while knocking the wind out of her and cut off her breathing - A temporary move. Almost instantly afterwards, his right hand was armed with capture tape - If he could wrap that around her, he could 'Capture' her, and knock her out of the exercise altogether. He was banking on that, obviously, so he and Iida and his ghost could dogpile Bakugou and win the match right then and there.
It was ruthlessly efficient.
The forearm was already against her throat, and she found herself literally pressed up against a wall, maybe two or three seconds before she'd wind up knocked out of the trial, with no other options. So she took the only one available to her.
Activating her Quirk around the skin underneath his arm, Mina allowed her acid to collide with Izuku's bare skin - Not enough to leave a permanent mark, but enough to get him to let go - Which he did do, though it seemed more like it was more out of surprise than any actual pain, but it was enough to throw off his concentration, and make him not willing to go through with the capture tape method right now. Quickly he jumped back, giving himself a bit of distance.
Acid burns covered his forearm. They weren't all that serious, and would heal quickly. He glanced at them.
Then grinned.
"So that's your Quirk." He commented, sounding genuinely fascinated. "Some kind of corrosive liquid…"
There was a dichotomy between the Izuku that seemed to be actually complimenting her Quirk, and the Izuku that had just summoned a giant ghost monster to fight for him and had just attacked her as efficiently as he had. Mina didn't have the first clue what to make of it.
Then his expression fell. Like something had clicked in his head.
Mina generated more acid in her hands, and lobbed them at Izuku, hoping to drive him away from her so she had room to breathe and back on out of here. The acid was generated to be viscous, so as to make a person's shoe stick to the ground, make moving around more difficult - She wasn't trying to kill Izuku after all.
He dodged them though, ducking and weaving around the acid as it handed, though he didn't take any steps to get closer to Mina - Her attacks were keeping him at bay. He couldn't get closer to her without making it easy for her to strike him out of action.
"Iida!"
Off to the side, Mina heard what sounded like pistons firing. Her eyes darted in the direction she heard them in, and was met with what looked like a blur - It was Iida, and he was using his Quirk to shoot himself down the corridor.
Izuku's ghost-thing had Bakugou preoccupied, and Izuku himself had Mina pinned - There wasn't anything stopping Iida from making a run for the target and claiming victory just like that. That had to have been the plan from the start!
It'd get her knocked out of the match, but if the alternative was losing it outright here and now? Well, she'd take one for the team.
Generating as much of her acid in her palms as she could, she switched targets from Izuku to Iida, and slung her Quirk in front of the Engine-Quirk user.
Her Acid didn't hit Iida directly, and that wasn't the plan. The plan was to stop him in his tracks, or slow him down at the very least. Her Acid was as non-corrosive as possible as she launched it at the ground in front of Iida. Moving as quick as he was, Iida couldn't stop himself before he ran straight into the acid that now coated the floor in front of him - For a moment, he lost balance. In the next, he realized it was harder to move - the floor had dissolved into a sticky mess.
Quickly, Mina threw the second ball of acid right at the back of Iida's legs, this time sealing the exhausts. If Iida wanted to use his Quirk, he was going to have to clear them out first. The melted floor wasn't going to hold him forever, so this was a good way to make sure that she had bought her team at least a minute or two.
If she went out, hopefully Bakugou would decide to actually be a team player and take advantage of the situation.
In doing what she had done though, she had given Izuku the opening to close the gap and take her out.
And that was exactly what he was doing - He lunged straight for her. Quickly she tried to turn to counter him, her arm covered in her Acid to try and repel him, but he was far faster than he looked -
"Fight me, you bastard!"
A sudden flash occured right in front of Mina's eyes - An explosion, launched straight at Izuku's head. In the last second before Izuku had reached her, Bakugou had shot himself straight past Izuku's ghost, and fired himself directly at his opponent like a cannonball. It sent Izuku flying right down the corridor, until his skidding against the floor pulled him to a stop.
He looked hurt, but didn't flinch at whatever pain he was in.
As Mina glanced around, she had to correct herself. Bakugou hadn't shot past Izuku's ghost - Izuku's ghost was just gone.
Had Bakugou destroyed it? If he had, then that meant that there was only so much damage that the ghost would be able to take. That thought was reassuring to Mina.
"Thanks." Mina said to him, wiping sweat from her forehead. "Wasn't sure that I was -"
"Where the fuck did you go Deku?"
The pink girl blinked. "I'm pretty sure he's still right there." She said, looking towards Izuku. He was on his feet again, but aside from that, he hadn't moved. He looked less confused than Mina felt right now.
"You shut up." Bakugou growled at her, before he turned back to Izuku. "You've been missing for two years - Two entire fucking years where no one heards a damn thing from you, and you show up here like this with a Quirk?! What the fuck is going on here, Deku? Answer me!"
"I don't owe you a damn thing."
There it was again. That venom.
A special brand of venom that Mina was quickly starting to realize he had saved for Bakugou and Bakugou alone. It was obvious there was history between the two of them. Just what that history was though, she didn't know.
All she was certain on was that it probably involved a lot of punching and screaming.
Bakugou didn't give a response. He just continued to growl.
Izuku continued. "You don't get to demand anything from me after everything." Once again, he was short and snappy with Bakugou - A tendency he didn't employ with anyone else from what Mina had witnessed of him.
To which, Bakugou fired himself straight towards Izuku, ready to fight. "I'll beat it out of you then!"
A right hook was launched.
Almost like a finely tuned machine, Izuku ducked, grabbed them arm, and threw Bakugou over his shoulder and into the ground. It was so quick and such a perfect counter that if Mina didn't know that these two clearly hated one another, she might have said it looked staged.
From this distance, Mina could see Izuku saying something - But he said it quietly. Mina couldn't tell what it was.
But it seemed to infuriate Bakugou, who shot himself from his position on the ground into the air, before shooting right back down to take another swing at Izuku.
It was hard to tell exactly what happened from where she was standing, but Mina watched the pair of them engage in a close-quarters brawl. Bakugou would swing his hands, detonating explosion after explosion wherever his hands faces, and Izuku would dodge, block, and attempt to use some sort of improvised martial-arts against him, relying on dodging or blocking his attacks, before following up with a counter attack, seeking out weak points. Bakugou would counter those himself, and detonate across a wide berth to try and keep Izuku at bay - Izuku would always charge again though.
He didn't know the meaning of fear, it seemed.
Turning her attention back to the task at hand herself though, Mina glanced back at Iida. He was still stuck, trying to get himself out of the predicament she had gotten him into. She reached for her Capture Tape, and quickly ran towards Iida, before he could escape.
"Sorry, dude." She said as she used the tape to 'Capture' him, wrapping it around his wrists like he was a common criminal.
"Curses…!" Iida cursed, and started mumbling something about failing his duty as a Hero - Mina didn't have a clue, his helmet made his voice more muffled than she could understand. That or he was muttering underneath his breath. She couldn't tell.
One down. Izuku would be able to free Iida if he got past Bakugou. Right now, it was apparent Izuku was the real threat between him and Iida, so she and Bakugou had to either keep him away from Iida and the target for the remainder of the time limit, or capture him too. With Iida down, that let them focus on Izuku entirely. The advantage was theirs. Now they had to just act on it.
"You arrogant fuck!"
Another detonation shook the corridor as Bakugou launched another attack. Izuku had managed to dodge it, so Bakugou ran his hand along the wall, detonating it every couple of seconds, and swinging the blasts towards Izuku.
As the smoke cleared, it was revealed that Izuku had made a jump back, and decided that now was a good time to make a tactical retreat, using the smoke as a cover.
Unfortunately for them, behind him had been the stairs.
"Oh, crap." Mina groaned. This had been an inherent risk of their strategy of meeting the opposite team like this, and was the worst case scenario.
With nothing and no one to protect the target, it would be easy for Izuku to just run up and claim it, ending the match then and there. He wouldn't even need to double back for Iida. If he could generate his ghost again, he could even just send that to collect Iida if he wanted to.
Whatever the case may be, even now that they had the two-against-one advantage, they were working at the disadvantage.
"Get back here, Deku!"
Immediately after seeing what was behind the smoke, Bakugou charged straight up the stairs to hunt down Izuku, though Mina had a feeling it had nothing to do with their objective, and that he was motivated by whatever personal vendetta he had against Izuku.
So much for whatever scant possibility of teamwork there had been with this guy.
She ran up the steps herself, thinking to herself.
And decided to run back to the target. With any luck, she might be able to get there before Izuku did, and could at least offer some resistance against him.
Even though he'd made himself commit the floorplans to memory, Izuku couldn't help but find the building to be a labyrinth.
Corridors led to a series of rooms, which led to other corridors, which led to stairways that took you up one level, and then made you go across the floor filled with another combination of corridors and rooms to reach the next set so you could go to the next floor. Even memorized, the layout was still liable to make him get turned around. No actual building was designed like this - The utterly absurd complexities of this building was meant to train people, after all. If they could handle this place, an actually logical layout would be of absolutely no issue whatsoever.
It was how places like Yuuei always produced the most effective and efficient Heroes. The funding that this place got was beyond imagination.
The thought made Izuku growl. Just one of the many reasons he hated this place.
Behind him he could hear the echoes of detonations - Bakugou was chasing after him, bursting down every door he could find to make sure that he wasn't hiding from him. That was to be expected, given Bakugou's personality, and how it hadn't changed in the last two years. Another thing he despised about this place. And yet, it wasn't a shock that Bakugou was here.
After everything he did. But of course Yuuei let him in. He had a strong Quirk and good grades. That was all it took.
Whatever. It didn't matter now. The exercise right now was what Izuku had his mind focused on. He wanted - Needed - To be a good student at this place. He needed the credibility he could earn from this place if he wanted to make the moves he wanted to make in this society. Everything else he could set aside.
Pride, morality, admiration. Whatever it took.
He had his goals. That was all that mattered.
The speed Bakugou was moving at, Izuku knew that it was only going to be a matter of time before he was going to be caught up with. He bit his lower lip. Ideally, he would have liked to swing around, release Iida, and then launch a two-pronged attack on the target. That would have led to the best chances of victory. He couldn't do that now without running into Bakugou.
What about his IBM?
...Perhaps.
He stopped running for a second, and blinked. The thought had been in his mind from the start, but now that he had all the information that he needed - Namely, the Quirks of his opponents, it was nearly all but confirmed in his mind.
There was something off about this exercise.
Obviously he knew he was being watched, he understood that much - The teachers had been clear from the start that that was going to be a part of the test, and that made sense - This was a school after all. A teacher couldn't teach without seeing the performance of their students. That part wasn't suspicious. Uncomfortable, but not suspicious.
It wasn't that. It was the teams that they had ended up in. The match ups were just too perfect.
Him going up against Bakugou was a one-in-nineteen chance - A ninety percent chance for failure. But up against that Ashido girl too?
Someone who had a Quirk that could mess with his IBM? The only one in 1A if he remembered right.
Two one-in-nineteen chances?
It was conceivable, sure. Weirder things had happened.
But they weren't odds that Izuku had learnt to bet on.
Thankfully, the information on Varients was limited. They couldn't outline the possibility that his Black Matter was just a Quirk they hadn't seen before. So few Varients existed that it played into Izuku's advantage this time around. But they seemed to have figured out how to lessen his control over it.
That was what this test was about.
He knew the risks involved in coming here. He knew what he was in for when he signed up for this. He knew that he had to play this carefully.
And he certainly knew not to give them what they wanted.
He had to be careful. Smart.
Give them what they wanted, but not what they were looking for.
The Black Matter began to form from his skin and began to form a mass that towered over him, until his Ghost appeared once more, awaiting his orders. The scratching noise that it emanated never was one that Izuku had gotten used to.
"Go and release Iida." He ordered, simply. "Follow whatever orders he gives you."
'But don't answer anything that would give us away.'
The look he gave conveyed that last part, as his Ghost understood. Tilting forward, it ran back down the way Izuku had come. It would be able to find its way back easily enough, but he didn't want to risk losing the Ghost again. Aside from looking bad, he didn't think that if the Ghost did fight Bakugou, it would only slow him down a bit. Freeing Iida would be more valuable.
He looked around as he thought of an idea. As he had run through the corridors, some had open doors. Some hadn't. But thinking back, he recalled, those rooms that he had checked, he had seen windows. A door was near him, and he opened it. There was a window.
An idea came to him.
"Use the window." He ordered. That was all the Ghost needed.
Five seconds later, the Ghost had shattered the window and was now allowing gravity to pull it down to the surface. It would then work from the bottom up, located Iida, free him, then bring him back to the fight. With any luck, Iida would be able to come up with a plan of his own to help Izuku.
Black Matter formed around Izuku's hands, manifesting into claws. He was going to use the window too.
But he was going in the opposite direction.
He swung his arm out of the windowsill, and dug his claws into the outside concrete.
"Bakugou? Bakugou! You there?!"
This was the fourth time she had tried to get in contact with her partner, and now it was abundantly clear to her that he either was ignoring her, or had gotten rid of his communicator. The end result was that either way, Bakugou was unreachable. So if Izuku got here, she was on her own.
She sighed, and gave up trying to contact him. Of everyone that she could have been partnered up with…
Somehow she had made it back to the target within running into Izuku or Bakugou, and had gotten here before either of them. Just a few seconds ago too, and she was still catching her breath from running up every set of stairs that she could find.
The fact she'd gotten back before either of them was one that she was surprised by. Izuku was a lot faster than he looked, and Bakugou's method of propelling himself with his explosions gave him a lot of speed. Mina could use her Acid to slide along the ground , but it wasn't a ton faster than just running at top sprint - At least, not right now anyway. That was a skill she still intended to work on.
Maybe Izuku had gotten lost on his way up. This building's layout was confusing after all. Mina had only managed to find her way back because she had returned the exact way she had come, and it was still fresh in her memory. She took another few deep breaths, steadying her rhythm.
How long did they have left? A couple of minutes maybe? She'd lost track of time if she were being totally honest, and they hadn't been provided with any way of tracking how long they had left. Maybe if she was lucky Izuku would stay lost on the lower levels -
No sooner had the thought entered her head than one of the windows on the opposite side of the room shattered inwards, scattering glass all over the floor. When Mina looked up, she saw the person she'd just been hoping was lost reveal that they were anything but. Izuku was in the window frame, and climbing into the room.
"You've gotta be kidding me…" She said aloud, moving to position herself between her opponent and the target. "How did you even do that?! How'd you get in here from the outside?!"
Izuku's answer was simple. He held up his right hand, covered in his Quirks manifestation, still shaped like a claw. "I climbed."
He then began to circle around the target, and around Mina. He kept a distance from them, so that if Mina wanted to launch an attack, he would get plenty of warning. She could tell he was assessing his options, seeking weaknesses, looking for a crack in her defenses.
Mina followed him. When he circles around to the front of the target, she would move so she remained in sight, parallel to him. If and when he made the charge, she'd be ready to block it as best she could.
Her best chance was to keep him at range. In spite of whatever his Quirk was supposed to be, it was clear his advantages were in the close range. He hadn't brought his Ghost - Maybe he could only summon it once in a certain amount of time? She would have to work off of that assumption. She didn't have a reason to suspect otherwise.
Out of nowhere, Izuku said, "Your Quirk is impressive."
Mina blinked at the sudden compliment. She wasn't…. Entirely sure how she was supposed to react to that in this situation. "Er… Thanks -"
"And you're dedicated, aren't you?"
"What?"
"You put yourself between me and the target. You were willing to get knocked out to slow down Iida for just a few seconds. And I heard you trying to get in touch with Bakugou before I ended up top here." Izuku stated. "It's hidden behind your personality - The free spirit, hyperactive way you behave." His eyes narrowed. "But you're serious about being a Hero, aren't you?"
"Am I on trial here?" Mina couldn't help but joke. "Of course I am. Everyone who got into Yuuei is. You have to be to get in."
Izuku nodded. "Right. And if you have a strong Quirk."
As he spoke, more and more of his Quirk manifested around him, but it didn't manifest itself into anything. It seemed almost like it was just some sort of a show of force for him, showing off his Quirk. Similar to how Bakugou would fire off detonations in his palms just to show off his strength.
"My Quirk is called Black Matter." Izuku told her. "When I was a kid, all I could do with it was release some of it from my body. Since I always wanted to be a Hero, it was an embarrassing Quirk, so I kept it hidden from people, and trained with it. Now it lets me generate a black substance that I can manipulate and shape into whatever form I like. Including that Ghost that I used earlier. It takes a lot of concentration though. And thats… Really only the start of it. There's a lot I can do with it."
He sighed. Mina wasn't sure why he was saying… Any of this. He was supposed to be the attacker. If anything, shouldn't she be the one trying to slow him down with conversation?
"...I'm jealous of your Quirk." Izuku said.
He sounded…
...Sad.
"...I hate mine."
Then he charged.
The juxtaposition was instant and it took Mina a second to fully register, and the moment she did, Acid formed in her hands, and was thrown in his direction - Her best option was to keep him as far away from her as she could, like she had down during their previous fight. Just like before, Izuku was fast, and was incredibly adept at dodging, keeping out of the way of each glomp that Mina lobbed at him. It forced him to keep his distance though, so he could see what projectiles were being lobbed at him.
Between now and their earlier encounter though, Mina was starting to feel the strain of using her Quirk a lot. Her hands were starting to get sore and itch from the overuse.
Was that the strategy he was relying on? Waiting until she was sore with overuse?
Even if it wasn't his plan, it was what was going to end up happening either way, unless she was going to be able to find a way to keep him back without melting her own hands in the process.
How long did they have? It had to be less than a minute, right?
She wasn't sure her Quirk was going to last that long - Already it was getting harder and harder to generate the Acid that she needed. Her ability to throw them was slowing down too, as was her accuracy.
Screw it.
She charged.
And it surprised Izuku.
Mina sprinted right at Izuku, weaved her way under his guard, grabbed his shoulders, and began to shove - To push him back, and keep him away from the target for as long as possible. All her weight went into it, trying to push him back out of the room and into the corridor - Whatever it was going to take to keep him at bay for as much time as possible.
For the first couple of seconds, it was nothing short of a complete success - Izuku had clearly been caught off guard, and Mina was able to push him back a few steps. When he recovered though, Izuku forced his feet to the ground, digging in to stop Mina from pushing back any further.
His own hands reached forward - His left forearm pressed against Mina's neck, to keep her from lunging forward, and his right arm pushed back against her shoulder in the same way she was doing to him. It then was a contest between which of them could hold their ground better, and which of them was stronger. And Izuku was quickly learning that Mina was far stronger than she looked.
All Mina had to do was keep him here for as long as she possibly could. It was a last ditch effort but it was all she could offer. She activated her Quirk. Easy.
The struggle lasted for maybe twenty seconds where no one budged at all, but Mina's resistance got even tougher for Izuku to counter. Even pressing against her neck, she wasn't backing down or hesitating. In fact, she'd just gotten harder to push back. For those twenty seconds, Izuku couldn't understand it.
Until he saw the smoke coming from her feet.
Her feet.
She'd activated her Quirk at her feet, and the costume modifications she had asked for meant that her Quirk could be released through her boots. She'd made a mini dug-out for herself, and was using it as leverage. She was pushing against the back of the indent to increase her ability to resist, a bit like pushing one's foot against the wall to increase their pushing strength when pinned against it.
"Impressive trick." Izuku said, actually smiling as he did so. Like he admired the creativity and tenacity.
He then switched from trying to push back, to pulling her out of her cove. And since she was pushing back, it didn't take any effort at all. Mina practically threw herself down the corridor and onto the ground.
"Oof!" Mina grunted as she collided with the ground. Quickly though, she scrambled to get back onto her feet.
"Deku!"
No sooner had she heard that shout from behind her than Mina heard the sounds of explosions echoing from behind her, and felt the windrush blow right past her. Bakugou must have checked just about every other room he could find before thinking to come back to the target room. The moment he saw Izuku, he shot himself at his enemy, seeking to come to blows.
If they could hold Izuku off from just a few seconds then they might well be able to win this!
"We have thirty seconds, Midoriya!"
Nevermind. Turned out Bakugou hadn't figured it out, actually - Iida had gotten free. It must have been Izuku's Ghost.
Bakugou must have put two and two together and figured out that Izuku had used his Ghost to free Iida. And Iida had chased him up here, and was using his Quirk to sprint towards the room to try to do something to help.
So - Where was Izuku's Ghost then?
Everything that happened next happened fast.
Launching a forward lunge, Bakugou struck, aiming to strike Izuku immediately in the face. Izuku dodged it, blocking his face as the smithereens sparked his way from Bakugou's palm.
And then his Ghost reappeared.
From where, Mina didn't know - Maybe from the window? She didn't know - If she had showed up so quickly and so suddenly that it was impossible to tell.
Bakugou glared at the thing. It's swing forced his hand to face the ground. "Get the fuck oiff of me!" Bakugou yelled while he launched a series of explosions to free himself. They ultimately failed. The Ghost just took the blows, and slashed open some kind of mechanism that were a part of his gauntlet.
A sort of pin was revealed.
Even just glancing at it, it became abundantly clear what it was for. Just what he had put in as a requisition order.
There was just a moment of hesitation from everyone.
Then Izuku pulled the pin.
All hell was then let loose.
Izuku's team won in the end.
It was in the confusion and the dust that they had managed to claim victory, though it looked more like a victory in the sense that dropping a tactical shrapnel bomb on an industrial complex could be considered a success.
After the floor caved in, Bakugou was too disoriented to be of any real use, and Iida was too fast for Mina to be able to stop him. The utilization of Bakugou's gauntlets against him had thrown her for a massive loop anyway - That and the absolute destructive power that they demonstrated.
An entire floor just caved in and obliterated... Mina was just as disoriented as Bakugou was after witnessing that.
It was far, far more intense than she had expected to come into contact with here. Especially for a first combat trial.
But she had done her best. There wasn't much more she could have done.
After the floor had caved in, Izuku and Bakugou had fallen into the next floor down. Both were relatively unharmed, somehow. It was the disorientation and dizziness from the speed and force of the maneuver that had stopped Bakugou from protecting the target, and previous injuries that had apparently built up over time that stopped Izuku from claiming victory himself. It had been Iida that had claimed victory, jumping down and hitting the target with just a second or two to spare.
It didn't look like much of a victory though. Nor did it really look like it felt like one for Izuku.
For starters, he looked absolutely battered - Mina hadn't noticed while they were fighting, but his face and body were covered in burns and bruises, mostly from his fight with Bakugou. His opponent hadn't held back at all. Compared to him, Bakugou looked untouched.
And while there was a certain level of congratulations coming from the two teachers, he ended up with a lecture on how in an actual Hero environment, blowing up the floor of a multi-apartment complex was probably one of the worst conceivable ideas imaginable. If someone had been under there, they would have been killed - And using Bakugou's gauntlets against him in the way that he had could have gotten the pair of them killed, nevermind this hypothetical group of civilians he was supposed to be keeping in mind.
Still, at the end of the day, he wasn't reprimanded or anything of the sort. In fact, Mina could have sworn they looked relieved to a certain degree.
Bakugou looked shaken by the whole event, but given how he had acted throughout the trial, Mina found it hard to sympathize. Meanwhile, she was praised for her efforts, and for not giving an inch that she didn't have to, and fighting until the absolute end. The praise made her smile.
"You're dedicated."
It had come not long after the class had ended, after they had watched everyone else's fight, and were separating to head to the changing rooms to switch from costume to school uniforms. Mina turned from her contemplation when she heard the same compliment as earlier being thrown her way. Izuku was there, his arm wrapped in bandages from an earlier visit to the infirmary. He offered her a simple smile.
That was all he said though. He then nodded and left. She didn't see him again that day.
Mina didn't understand the first thing about him.
There was something odd about him. There couldn't be any question about it. His Quirk, the way he acted towards Bakugou, his weird diatribes on his Quirk… There was something odd about him for sure.
But Mina was sure he wasn't a bad guy.
There had been two moments that looking back, Izuku realized were stupid mistakes where he let his anger get the best of him at the trials at Yuuei. Two stupid mistakes that if he wasn't careful about, could completely expose him.
The first was pulling the pin on that gauntlet thing. God knew what he would have done if he'd gotten Bakugou killed.
Or himself killed.
It had been a stupid, stupid moment of anger.
'It's because of you that this happened. Not me. You. Remember that.'
That was what he had said when he had Bakugou pinned down, early in the fight. That was the second stupid thing he had done. That comment had gotten him a lot of burns and bruises from the near constant attacks that Bakugou then threw his way. It had easily set him off, just as he'd known it would. He had wanted that - Just that little satisfaction of seeing Bakugou lose control for a few moments.
Burns had been worth it. But long term, it was too risky.
He needed to learn to keep himself calm, especially now that he was in Yuuei. He couldn't let everything he wanted to say, everything he wanted to scream, destroy everything he'd worked for. Everything he had to achieve.
He looked around his barren room. It wasn't anything special really. Government property. One good thing that had come from the last two years was getting his name wiped from the suspicion list. Since he was legally classified as an orphan, the government had stepped in to provide him with accommodation when it was clear he was a Yuuei student.
An orphan… It still was hard to get around that. Two years since...
….
...He missed his mother.
She didn't deserve what happened to her…. Because of him.
Because of what he...
He shook his head. No. He couldn't let himself be like that. He didn't have that luxury. He had work to do.
He had to make things right.
He had to make it up to her. And he wasn't going to do that while he was mourning.
None of the teachers seemed to think that his IBM was anything other than an aspect of his Quirk - It seemed like his bluff had worked. His little tirade about how he admitted Ashido's Quirk, how he hated and hid his own. It seemed to at least throw them off his trail for the time being. That was good. Keeping that up was essential.
The feelings in his stomach let him know that his body was hungry, but he wasn't. He didn't feel like eating. He felt like getting a shower, and heading out to do his usual recon.
From the drawer, he retrieved a fine-tip knife.
That would solve his hunger issues. As well as the rest of the pain from earlier.
He had work to do.
Twitter - https:// /QuartzQuartz
Tumblr - https://www. /blog/artofquartz