42 U.A. Festival (5)

The match between Neito and Tenya, ended up in Neito's victory as he had already stocked up on quirks before the match.

Unlike Himiko, he didn't need blood so the fairness of the match wasn't doubted.

The fifth match of the first round was between Fumikage and Mashiro. Both of them had received advice from Masato on the usage of their quirks.

One had to get beaten for it endlessly while the other joined the cul-Ahem! Just had a few snacks and talked about a 'certain' topic.

It was a fast battle, only falling short of Shoto's battle against Sero.

Mashiro was incapable of fighting against Fumikage, probably because he could fly with the help of [Dark Shadow] now. His body was covered with his own quirk increasing his close combat abilities.

In the end, seeing no way of victory, Mashiro gave up to save his pride.

"Hmm~ Tail needs more training."

Masato frowned as he said that. Giving up because of pride? What next he would lose to a villain and let them go free? No, he had to endure the embarrassment and the dirt. Then he could be proud in his own way.

Cracking his knuckles, he gave a sadistic smile, thinking about the training plan.

"Don't go to hard on Ojiro-kun."

Mezo tried to calm down his friend from beating his other friend.

"Jeez, why are you talking like I'm some kind of a demon?"

At that question, Mezo decided to plead the Fifth. Sadly, it wasn't America so he just looked away.

"Masato-kun, can you not move so much?"

Mina was currently bandaging his wounds while he was busy glaring at Mezo.

'Tch! Just you wait. I'm going to increase your training too, Six-Arms.'

"Fin-Ow! Too tight."

Noticing his thoughts, Mina pulled a prank on him. To be fair, Mezo offered to bandage him but he refused, saying that he would rather bleed to death than be touched by a man. Only in face of Mina's persistance, did he give in.

"Sorry~"

Mina showed her pink tongue and hit the side of her head, like a kid. Soon, he was all fixed up. The bandages only highlighted his firm muscle lines. It was so manly that Eijiro kept screaming something but no one paid him any attention.

Wearing his shirt again, Masato looked at the next fight.

Between Momo and Denki.

The two entered the stage and decided to fight it out, only for Momo to produce a dress for herself. It was called a dress but it was more of a rubber suit.

No matter the voltage, the rubber suit didn't allow Momo to get even a bit hurt. In the end, she drew out a baton while Denki went all out, shocking himself in the process.

The full-voltage finally broke through but it barely did any damage while Momo struck the stupified Denki and won.

Compared to the earlier fights, it was a bit too low-leveled. Especially since it wasn't an overwhelming defeat nor a hard fight.

"It will be my turn soon. I should get going."

Saying so, Mina left in a hurry. The nervousness was clear on her face but so was the determination.

Sadly, her opponent was Katsuki. The moment the fight began, that guy rushed in, cruising through the barrage of acid attacks.

In the end, the final line of defense that Mina made from acid was burned away by his explosions. It was similar to Shoto's one-sided fight.

Katsuki easily won the fight and proceed. Although Mina didn't look like it, she was clearly in need of cheering up after the match.

"I will be back."

Masato stood up from his seat, feeling that he should do something. He walked towards the backstage room.

A suger drink in his hands. Normally, taking care of Mina would be Himiko's job but a certain someone pushed her too far. Himiko was currently unconscious and slowly recuperating from the after-effects of 'Hachimon Tonkou'.

Even Recovery Girl couldn't completely heal her but her condition was stable.

- Knock! Knock!

It was about time to empty the room so Mina thought that the next participant must have come.

"Oh, sorr-Huh? Masato-kun?"

Unlike what Masato thought, she was smiling while she greeted him. Not one bit deterred by her defeat.

"What are you doing here?"

He didn't say anything but raised his hand, showing the sugery drink.

"Oh~ Is that for me? Thanks. Never thought you would be so thoughtful to buy me a drink."

That was rude. But it was similar to how she always acted.

"...."

"Do you have anything else?"

Mina tilted her head, waiting for something.

"Here."

From his pocket, he took out a pack of tissues and gave it to Mina.

"I will make sure that no one enters the room."

Masato wasn't great at comforting kids and he didn't want to be great at it either. He would rather just let them cry and scream.

"... Thanks!"

She took the tissue with red eyes and slammed the door in front of his face. Not taking any offense to that attitude, Masato stood away from the door but keeping an eye on it. To make sure that no one else entered it.

"Ha~ I really wanted to see the next match in person though."

Anyway, he noticed Deku and Shoto talking about something while Katsuki was listening in. He just ignored them and returned to the topic at hand. 

Between Eijiro and Ochaco, it would probably be a close fight since both of them can't use ranged attacks.

But there was no need to worry about it. He took out a pair of earphones and wore them, watching the match on his phone. Since the fights were going live anyway.

'Damn, I think I'm going to be hated by the entire country.'

Those thoughts were scary. Imagine buying some magazines, tissues and lotion, only for the cashier to shoo you away. 

Why would one buy those things?... Well... You see.... For... That...

The fight between Ochaco and Eijiro began.

Ochaco won in the end, despite Eijiro being stronger and sturdier. She just had to touch him once and let him float before cancelling her powers.

The problem with this was that she couldn't get hurt during that period. It took a lot of skill and grit for her to dodge all the attacks that Eijiro threw at her but she won.

'I guess Boom-Boom will be fighting against Female Deku.'

- Whoosh!

The door to Mina's room opened up. She walked out of the room, with her slightly puffy eyes and waved to Masato.

He just nodded before standing up.

"See you later, Tissue."

"Huh!? Tissue?!"

It was the nickname of Momo before she became 'Exhibitionist'.

"Yeah, from now on. That's your name."

A sly smirk decorated his lips as he returned to the spectators seat.

"Yo, Exhibitionist, Tail and Fumikage."

Momo had returned and so did the other two.

"Huh!? Why is my name 'exhibitionist' while you call Tokoyami-san by his name?"

She felt cheated.

"And for the last time, I'm not an exhibitionist. It only useful for my quirk."

While the others did believe her a bit, Masato just snickered.

"If that's true, then Midnight is the most decent person too."

That comment hurt one hero and one hero aspirant at the same time.

"Hmph! Forget it."

Perhaps because of the victory, Momo was in a better mood than usual. And she let go of it.

"THE MATCH IS BETWEEN!! Midoriya Izuku!! VS!! Todoroki Shoto!!"

Honestly, this match was too amazing for people to even care about anything else.

Even Mic forgot to comment on the result for a few minutes.

Unlike the original, Izuku won the match while Shoto lost, even after using his fire quirk. But since Izuku was too hurt to fight again, no one would go up from their side.

"I'm going."

The next battle would be between Neito and Masato.

They entered the stage from their respective entrances, standing at their own side. While Masato looked hurt but calm, Neito was tired. Like he just ran a long race.

"Honestly, I thought you were cooler than the rest of the Class 1-A students."

Neito was angry at him for the way he beat up Himiko. Since she hadn't woken up yet, there was no one to stop Class 1-B from taking revenge on Masato.

Unfortunately for him, Masato didn't reply.

'He's copied [Mind Control], huh?'

Because they were in a team earlier, they both knew the limits of the other to some extent. For Neito, it was the ability to copy many quirks at touch but only use one at a time.

"Tch!"

Seeing that Masato didn't fall for it, Neito rushed in. There were more quirks that he had stored in his body, all for the purpose of defeating him.

[Engine] appeared on his legs as he hastened his speed, a quirk taken from Tenya.

With his speed, he reached right before Masato and raised his leg to kick him. But his [Engine] vanished midway.

Since he had only five minutes of usage after contact, Neito had to make the best of his quirks.

Masato easily blocked the kick with his own counter kick, even pushing Neito back.

But the corners of his mouth were raised up.

[Zero Gravity], it was the quirk that Neito hastily copied before coming to the stage. Now, the kick that was in Masato's favor turned against him, pushing him like he had no weight whatsoever.

Soon, Masato's feet disconnected with the ground and he started floating in the air.

"Did you see that guys!? That's an amzaing combo of quirks from Neito!!"

Mic believed that this would be the end of Masato, as all Neito needed to do was crash him down when he went high up.

And that moment would come soon because Masato kicked Neito really hard and all that force was now throwing him up.

"This got troublesome."

Yet Masato wasn't deterred. He calmly removed his shoe and aimed it while floating up. Neito smirked knowing that it wouldn't work.

The [Zero Gravity] made it extremely difficult to use projectiles without any weight to support it.

Sadly, he was mistaken. Masato didn't aim at Neito.

- Boom!

Using all his force to throw the shoe, Masato used it like Katsuki's explosion. The recoil of the throw slowly floated him downwards to the ground.

"What!?"

Katsuki who was in the spectator's seat was pissed.

"HOW DARE HE COPY MEE!?!"

"Did you have it CopyRighted!?"

Mashiro's question silenced him but his anger wasn't defused yet. He would beat the hell out of that bastard in the finals.

"Hah!"

The effect of [Zero Gravity] vanished as Neito took a deep breath. Masato landed on the ground and glanced at Neito.

His 5 minutes of quirk usage had passed. But he wasn't the least scared.

"I won't lose just because I can't use quirks!"

His resolve to avenge his friend was stronger than his fear of getting hurt. Even if he lost, he wanted to get a punch in on that bastard.

- Punch!

Surprised, Neito saw his punch go through, hitting Masato on the cheek but it barely did any damage.

"She has made some good friends."

Neito saw his opponent smile while his feet disconnected with the ground.

'Huh? Did someone use [Zero Gravity] on me? Why am I seeing the sky?'

Those were his last thoughts as he blanked out.

Masato raised his leg and kicked his chin, with a sadistic smile.

Just because Neito was a good friend, didn't mean that Masato would let him win. His pride was on the line here.