Chapter 10- Yeah, Just Do Your Best, Bakugo!
"Well done, teams! Now for the last battle! Team I will be the heroes, and Team D the villains!"
"That's fitting." Todoroki chuckles to himself, glancing at the angry juvenile beside him.
"SHUT UP, IDIOT!" Bakugo explodes, nearly grabbing the younger teen by the throat.
"Woah, there. Calm down, you two."
"HE STARTED IT!" Bakugo yells, causing All Might to sigh, holding the bridge of his nose and shaking his head.
"Enough with the petty squabble!" All Might smiles, waving Bakugo away from Todoroki. "You'll fight in a few minutes. Away you go."
"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." Bakugo mutters, leaving the room by himself.
"Aren't you his teammate, Teruhashi?"
"Heh… yeah. I should go catch up with him!" She smiles, concealing her fear perfectly.
"Good luck, Teruhashi!"
"You'll do great!"
"Thanks, guys!"
"Huh? Buddy? What are you doing in this dark corner?"
[Damn, I've been found. And by Nendo, no less.]
"Wait! Buddy, what are you wearing? That can't be your hero costume!" I shrug, not caring to look down at my outfit. I didn't feel like designing anything and I don't really need support items, so I'm just wearing the pants and undershirt from my PK uniform. Nothing special, that way I don't draw unnecessary attention. "Here, let me fix it!"
"There you go, buddy! Perfect!" He steps back, creating a rectangle with his thumbs and index fingers and staring at my new "costume" through it.
"I used permanent marker so you can't get rid of it!"
[That's what you think.] I use restoration on my shirt, rewinding its clock to yesterday when it was clean. Nendo does not hesitate in redrawing the abs and nipples, creating them to be identical to before.
[What the hell? How did he do that so fast?] I try to restore the shirt again, but to no avail, since I can only restore once a day.
"Saiki! You have to go; the others are waiting for you!"
[This won't work. I'll just mind control everyone so they can't see the marker.] That is what I do, but Nendo once again appears, out of seemingly nowhere, and draws his beloved illustration on once more.
[Why can't I hide it?] Nendo's eyes glint a menacing red as he leans next to my ear, whispering so only I can hear.
"The author is on my side, Saiki." He walks away, leaving me trembling slightly. He waves over his shoulder, not bothering to look back at me. "Good luck, buddy!"
'I can't believe I was paired with Saiki of all people! Ahh! I'm so nervous! He's so dreamy...' Yumehara gushes to herself, crouched outside the designated building. I ignore her thoughts, staring at the building in front of us.
"Oh, Saiki! Hi!" She shoots to her feet, her face red in embarrassment.
'Good thing I basically starved myself last week! I never would've thought I'd be lucky enough to get Saiki as a partner though!'
CHIYO YUMEHARA. HER QUIRK: WEIGHT FLUCTUATION!
SHE CAN CHANGE HER WEIGHT AT A MORE RAPID RATE THAN MOST! IT TAKES 10 MINUTES OF EATING JUNK FOOD TO BECOME AS FAT AS POSSIBLE, BUT A FULL DAY OF NONSTOP EXERCISE TO GET AS SKINNY AS POSSIBLE! THE LARGER SHE IS, THE MORE STRENGTH SHE HAS, AND THE SMALLER SHE IS, THE MORE AGILE SHE IS!
[It's just my luck to be paired up with her. I don't have time to deal with her affections. I'll just have to ignore her.]
'Ahh! I have to win this, for Saiki! I have to get closer to him no matter what!'
[What a pain.]
"Bakugo?"
"What do you want?"
"I was just wondering… why doesn't my quirk work on you? You're the only guy I've met that it doesn't work on and…"
"Why the hell should I know? I don't even know what your stupid quirk is."
"Right." 'What is this feeling? I can't be- no. He's nowhere near my standards! He's not even rich or anything! And yet…'
"What are you staring at?"
"Ah! N-nothing!" Teruhashi whips her head away, covering her heated cheeks with her hands. Bakugo tchs, annoyed that he got paired with someone so useless.
"I'm going to go find that idiot. You watch the weapon."
"Shouldn't we stay together?" Teruhashi questions, turning around to find Bakugo already gone.
'This is so awkward. He won't even look at me.' Yumehara pouts silently, following Saiki through the empty halls.
"Hey, Saiki? Shouldn't we make a plan of some sort?"
"Can't we at least share what our quirks are?"
"Huh?"
"You… can read minds?"
"WHAT? Why didn't you tell me!"
'He probably heard everything about how much I like him! This is so embarrassing!' I glance at the girl, trying to hide my annoyance. 'AHH! He can hear me!'
'Where the hell is the bastard? He better not be hiding. I'll destroy him!' Bakugo storms through the hallways, his thoughts easily warning any nearby psychics of his presence. I roll my eyes, shushing Yumehara and flattening myself against the nearest wall. She follows suit, soon hearing Bakugo's footsteps for herself. Her eyes widen but she remains silent as he passes, mumbling to himself.
"That was close." She breathes, glancing in the direction of their foe.
"Well, we have to find it."
"What?" Yumehara hisses, careful not to alert Bakugo.
I teleport to the bomb, appearing before Teruhashi.
"Ah! Oh, Saiki, it's you." Teruhashi sighs, getting to her feet. "Could you pretty please leave until I win? It would mean a lot! I'd make it up to you!"
[What a pain. Good thing her quirk doesn't work on me. I'm not sure why it doesn't- it probably has something to do with my more complex brain. Or maybe I need to see her skin for it to work. Maybe it's similar to why it doesn't work on Bakugo. Who knows. Either way, it doesn't really matter.]
'Wha- he's not leaving? Does my quirk not work on him either? But how? Am I losing my abilities?'
'…What?'
"How do you know that's what I was thinking?"
'Is it not obvious?'
"No?"
[Eh, no use explaining it. She'll figure it out.]
"SAIKI!" Yumehara dives into the room, her eyes wide with panic. "I'M SO SORRY! HE SAW ME AND-" At that moment Bakugo crashes into the room, immediately glaring at me.
"I found you, you bastard." He smirks, adrenaline rushing through him. "DIE!"
He jumps forward, ignoring the possible hazard of having a bomb- whether real or not- in the same room as him and his quirk. I begin to speed around the room, creating multiple mirages of myself in the process. Bakugo, not knowing where to aim, slams his palm into the ground, creating an explosion that ripples outward and disrupts the images of me.
He gets to his feet, angrily whipping his head around to find me. I stand inches from the back of his head, trying to hold back a yawn of boredom. He spins around, fists pulled in a fighting position, and dives at me once more. I teleport to the other side of the room, making him plunge into a pillar, which crumples and disperses a cloud of heavy dust that coats the room.
When the dust settles Bakugo is left standing, his foe nowhere in sight.
"WHERE DID YOU GO, YOU COWARD?"
Little does he know, his foe is standing right before him, invisible to him and the others in this room.
I could easily touch the weapon and win right now. I glance at the bomb, noticing Teruhashi and Yumehara both seated near it, excitedly chatting about the fight like some kind of announcers for a radio broadcast.
"So who do you think will win?"
"Well, Saiki is clearly more powerful…"
"Yes, but Bakugo has more drive to win, it's clear that he's very passionate!"
"Yeah, maybe, but he's not nearly as hot."
"What?"
"What?"
'Now that she mentions it… Saiki does have something going for him.' Teruhashi thinks, biting her lip, deep in thought.
'What? I'm hearing Saiki in my head now? Am I… in love? But I love Bakugo! I can't… or can I?'
I return my attention to the blonde teen, who is angrily mumbling to himself.
'That idiot's going to die I swear…'
"WHERE DID THAT BASTARD GO?" Bakugo questions Teruhashi, his rage boiling deep inside him. While he does that I reach for the bomb, careful not to alert Teruhashi.
"You mean Saiki? He was just here…"
'Useless.'
"WHY AREN'T YOU HELPING AT ALL?"
"What? I'm distracting the opponent! Obviously!" At that moment she lifts her arms up, smacking my hand and revealing my presence. Her face goes completely red as she stares up at me, shocked. "Saiki?"
'What a pain.'
"YOU BASTARD!" Bakugo tackles me, pushing me away from my goal. I sigh, laying beneath Bakugo as his legs straddle my stomach.
'You two look like a couple!'
His face flushes a bright red, caused by the rage coursing through him. This gives me the chance to teleport. I switch places with Teruhashi, placing her in a rather interesting position. To top things off, I mind control Bakugo to see Teruhashi as me.
"Ba-Bakugo?" Her face- or, rather, my face- flushes red as well, nearly matching Bakugo's shade. Bakugo growls like a feral animal, pulling his hand back to punch. Teruhashi suddenly squeals, pulling her hands up. "It's me! Teruhashi!"
"Huh?" Bakugo relaxes his arm, caught off by his prey.
'That bastard would never scream like that.' I release my grip on his mind, revealing Teruhashi beneath him.
"WHY WON'T YOU LOVE ME?" Teruhashi suddenly cries, her eyes wet with potential tears.
"That's what this is about?" Bakugo questions, rolling his eyes and getting off of Teruhashi. "I'm too angry for love."
"What…?"
"That's why your stupid quirk doesn't work on me."
"Oh.…"
"Don't take it personally, I guess." Teruhashi glances at the ground, her face still red in discomfort. "Now, if you would leave me alone, you useless extra, I have a physic to beat up."
He turns to me, hatred radiating off him like the smell of roadkill in the desert.
"You've really pissed me off." Bakugo puts an arm out, his finger wrapped around the pin in his gauntlet.
"Bakugo, don-" All Might yells, but he's cut off by a large explosion, which is aimed right at me.
"DIIEEEE!!!!" The explosion shakes the whole building, crumbling the wall behind me. Smoke and dust rise, ruining the view for both the class and the fighters.
"There's… no way he could've survived that."
"You just killed Saiki."
[Of course, they are incorrect. I am fine.] The smoke and dust is still impairing their view though. I take the opportunity to walk to the weapon, placing my palm on it.
"How could you…?"
"I… I didn't…" Bakugo looks honestly terrified, he's staring at his hands as if they had down this on their own. "I didn't mean to…"
"But you did! He's dead! What kind of hero are you, anyway?"
"I didn't mean to," Bakugo whispers, sliding to his knees. The accusing voices surround him, suffocate him, almost as much as the smoke in the air.
"And yet, here we are."
"You're no hero."
"You're a murderer."
"What a disgrace to heroes." Bakugo grabs his head, gritting his teeth in anger.
"I DIDN'T MEAN TO!" He screams, tears welling up in his eyes.
I sigh, pushing the dust and smoke out of the room with my telekinesis. The room grows silent for a moment, the fighters looking around in confusion.
"THE HEROES WIN!" All Might booms, his smile tight with relief.
"What?" Bakugo's head shoots up, his eyes now filled with anger. "YOU'RE ALIVE?" He snarls, his red eyes gleaming with rage.
"YOU BASTARD!"