41 U.A. Festival (4)

A month ago.

"Masato-kun~"

Masato felt shivers run down his spine when he heard that voice. Sneakily glancing back at Himiko, he tried to find any signs of aggression on her.

"... Are you angry about something?"

"Mou~ Just what do you think of me?"

Thankfully, Masato knew better than to answer the question truthfully and kept his mouth shut. Her golden eyes narrowed in on his face, as if sensing his thoughts.

"I will forgive you just this once so never think anything strange about me, okay?"

Her face had a beautiful smile but her eyes were bloodthristy. How could one deny in this position?

Masato nodded his head vigorously.

"Good boy. Now, what's wrong with your body?"

Patting him like a dog, she changed the topic.

"Something's wrong with my body?"

Even the boy himself was shocked. Was it too strong? Perhaps too handsome? Was the blessing of death circulating in his veins?

"Yeah, my quirk [Transform] tells me the current state of another's body, you know. It's not only limited to damage but also the complete diagnosis."

Himiko could easily surpass a doctor's diagnosis but because this way of checking the patient was dangerous, it could harm her one day if the patient had a infectious desease.

"So what was wrong?"

He had relaxed quite a lot since she wasn't here to beat him up. Yet he held a small amount of vigilance since it was a matter of blood. 

'Never trust Vampire when it comes to blood.'

That was the golden rule. Her [Hero Costume] had a feature capable of holding blood for a month but she usually drank it all, saying something about the blood becoming tasteless. She usually took his blood as it gave her a boost in strength and speed after drinking.

"Nothing's wrong so I probably ignored it. But there is something significantly different between you and others."

Her gaze was shining with a radiance of curiosity. She really wanted to know the secrets of the blood that he had. Why was his blood so different than others?

"What's strange about it?"

Masato quirked his eyebrow up.

"There's a part in your body that is more used than other's. Not exactly a part but a point. 5 if I was right. Two in the brain, two in the spinal cord and one in the abdomen."

At the end of her words, he wasn't calm anymore.

'Is it the 'Hachimon Tonkou'?'

In reality, 'Hachimon Tonkou' wasn't Masato's quirk but a technique. Only Kaito knew about it and he helped keep it a secret, registering it as a quirk.

"Ha~ Listen, it's about time I tell you a secret. But promise me, that you will never try and mess with those points in your body."

His brown eyes became completely serious as he glanced at Himiko. The only reason his body could handle the weight of Hachimon Tonkou was because of continuous training and the system's assistance.

"Umu! Trust me!"

Somehow, he wasn't relieved yet he explained about his technique not being a quirk.

"Are you sure you want tell me this?"

It was too much to trust another person with such a secret.

"Honestly, I just forgot to tell you about it. I was going to do it a long time ago but was too lazy."

Himiko nodded as it was in line with his personality.

***

"Gate of Opening, Gate of Healing, Open!"

Himiko's voice resounded in the entire stadium.

"I shouldn't have done that."

Masato regretted his decision. And he felt a bit aggrieved about her breaking his trust but it wasn't that much of a problem since friends were in some ways, worse than enemies.

On the other hand, Himiko was feeling great. The kick that Masato sent her way was moving too slow for her. The most amazing thing about this was Masato's pout.

'It's cute. Now then, I wonder how his blood will look on top of that?'

He felt chills but it was too late to regret his actions. His leg was caught by Himiko as she smiled.

The boy weighing almost 70 kg, was lifted like a piece of paper and slammed on the ground.

"AGH!"

***

"A-aizawa!? What is that!?"

Mic screamed the name of his friend, confused about the current scenario.

".... That's Anzai Masato's quirk. Hachimon Tonkou, an ability that opens up his potential in 8 stages."

Aizawa was shocked himself but held on to his rationality.

"You mean to say that she didn't only copy his body but also his quirk!?"

The chaos that those words caused shook the entire stadium. All the pros were looking closely at the battle now. Their earlier sympathy gone, leaving only a strange sense of excitement and awe.

"... I think so...."

Even the heroes didn't know how Himiko's quirk would react after this.

"Now, that boy is getting beaten one-sidely!!"

Once again, the stadium's atmosphere was raised up by Present Mic. Most of them were cheering for the girl to win as the previous scene of brutality had left a bad image of the boy.

"Go, Blood Girl!!"

"Hey, her name is Toga Himiko!!"

"Toga! Toga! Toga! Toga!"

"Beat that bastard!!"

If she wasn't fully concentrated on the fight, Himiko would give out a huge, heart-piercing smile under the cheers of everybody.

***

Back on the stage.

Knowing that this was bad, Masato tried to use his other leg and kick her. Only for her to smash him again. No matter how skilled he was, Himiko had more than five times his stats and a strong grip on him.

She threw him on the other side of the stage.

"Cough! Cough!"

Gasping for air, he stood up and glanced at her. Somehow, a slight smile graced his lips.

"How did you do it!?"

She didn't say anything and rushed towards him. Only for him to disappear.

No, he didn't vanish, he just fell to the ground. Himiko noticed that but couldn't stop herself from moving forward, tripping on his body.

"I had a worse time controlling my gates."

Stendhal had almost killed him, even with 3 gates. Himiko was only using 2, increasing her control but it was still the first time she used it.

Crashing on the ground didn't hurt her but it was probably the adrenaline in her blood. She stood up and slammed her fist towards Masato.

Feeling her eyes on the attack spot, he tilted his body. She was fast but he was still more skilled. He couldn't dodge the attack completely but did redirect most of the pressure.

His right shoulder was hit by her fist. Twisting his body back, he kicked her shin with his left leg, doing almost no damage. When the left punch hit his stomach, he jumped back and try to lessen the blow. 

Most of the attacks hit his torso but none were strong enough to defeat him. On the other hand, Himiko was getting weaker by the second.

- Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

It was stamina. Though she had transformed into Masato, her insides couldn't hold the force of opening 2 gates. After coutering one of her attacks, Masato saw a kick heading for his face.

He tried to block the kick with his own leg... Or at least, it seemed like that before he was trown in the air, slamming in to the ground 20 meters away.

With weak legs, he stood up again and had a victory smirk on his face.

"Hah! Hah! Hah!"

As blood leaked out of Masato's lips, his battered body still seemed to be in a much better shape than hers. Except for the damage that Masato caused, there were no other signs of damage on her. But her muscles were torn, bones were almost cracking by her own power.

"Give up. Your body can't handle it."

On shakky legs, it looked like Masato was begging for mercy to others. But Himiko looked at him and knew that he was still capable of fighting, unlike her. Her heavy breaths refused to give up, trying to circulate the power in her better. To last even a second longer.

Because of her unnatural pause, the audience began to notice the state of her body too.

"You said that this place isn't about winning, right? To show one thing that makes you special? Then look closely! I would rather die than admit defeat!"

"Toga! Toga! Toga!"

"Beat that guy!! Defeat him using his own quirk!!"

"Woohoo! You go, girl!!"

The cheers of the people finally got to her. Her blood started dashing faster, on the verge of opening another gate.

"I'm betting my life on this. Just to say this one sentence to you, not anybody else. 

I WILL BE A HERO TOOO!!"

So look forward to it.

She screamed her heart out and dashed towards Masato. Her speed caused a gust of wind to spread across the stadium as she reached before him. Her fist was pulled back, holding the full strength of 2 gates.

It wouldn't kill him... Probably. But it would surely hurt a lot.

'Damn... When I wasn't looking.... She became cooler.'

He had that thought but his eyes still held the confidence that he had in the start. It was because he knew what the state of Himiko's body was.

- Thud!

Himiko fell in the middle of the stage while Masato only side-stepped her. 

"Ha~ That was fun. I hope that someone was betting on me because most of this stadium just lost~"

With a sadistic grin, he taunted the spectators.

"You bastard!! I lost 10,000 yen!!"

The most angry of them all was Present Mic. Who received a glare from Aizawa. He probably wanted to knock Mic out and take him somewhere else but there were a lot of spectators.

He had no choice but to beat up Mic on a later occasion.

"Achoo! Huh? Do I have a cold?"

Mic felt shivers run down his spine as he shook his head.

Soon, a few faculty members came in, taking Himiko away from the stage.

"That was harsh."

Mina's voice got Masato's attention, who returned to Class 1-A's spectating room instead of the infirmary.

"... Was it?"

His actions were cruel and he knew it. But public opinion didn't matter to a dying man. He was just happy.

"At least, she's gotten stronger."

"Don't you need to go to the infirmary?"

Momo asked with a tinge of helplessness and care in her voice.

"Nah~ I will be fine. And it would be a shame to not see these guys at their brightest."

"You did a great job back there."

For some reason, Fumikage supported his style of gaining the hate of the entire stadium.

"Who's the next match?"

"Ida-kun and Monoma-san from Class 1-B."

Thos words came from Mezo, who was sitting right behind them.