Chapter 040

"I'm gonna try and beat you, too!" Midoriya was saying.

Shoto looked back. Midoriya had an earnest, determined expression on his face. He'd just told the green-haired boy about his past. He still wasn't sure why he felt like he needed to. He wasn't sure about a lot of things right now… but Kagamine's words flashed through his mind again.

"You'll be a good hero, but a bad person. Just like your father."

He realised he should say something to Midoriya. This boy… whatever his connection to All Might is… I DO respect him. That's what Kagamine has failed to see… 

Maybe because I haven't ever conveyed it all that well. He came off as cold, he supposed. "Right," he said to Midoriya stiffly, suddenly feeling awkward. "I… expect nothing less." Then he continued to walk away.

Forget Kagamine for now. What he said isn't relevant to the main issue. My old man.

Regardless of the others around me, I have to show him… that I don't need his power.

𖦹𖦹𖦹

"Alright, we've gathered up the cavalry battle participants on the field yet again! Let's have another round of applause for 'em!"

The crowd cheered as the students walked out on the green. Midnight stood up on the platform as they arrived. "Everyone here? Good. It's time to announce the final event… one on one matches!"

The crowd went nuts, but Len noticed all the other students were silent. "Huh? What's going on?" he whispered to Sero.

"Erm… yeah. This was kinda predictable. They do matches like this every year. Not much point in building up to it in secrecy, but it always works on the crowd."

Midnight waved up at the big screen, which now became an empty bracket. "The sixteen students that were part of the top four teams in the cavalry battle will be set against each other in a tournament! The first matchups will be decided at random!"

Len swallowed. One on one fights. I'll have no one to support me, and no large group of other participants to potentially catch audience attention. All eyes will be on me, and one other person. If THAT wasn't nerve-wracking…

"Excuse me?" It was Ojiro, stepping forward. Kaminari was behind him. "I… we… the two of us, I mean…"

"We'd like to withdraw," Kaminari said loudly.

The crowd went silent, whispering and murmuring. All the other students' eyes fell upon the two boys. Midnight raised an eyebrow. "Why?"

"We… um…" Ojiro's tail swished back and forth. "Neither of us remember anything in the cavalry battle."

"We didn't feel like we did any work," Kaminari supplied. Both of them had grave expressions on their faces. They meant it.

Other Class A members were urging them not to.

"Kaminari, are you serious?"

"Ojiro, this is a chance to show off your skills!"

"Yeah, it doesn't matter if you didn't get to last round! Just take the advantage you've gotten!"

"This is DIFFERENT, okay?" Ojiro erupted. "It's a matter of pride!"

Len couldn't believe it. They… they're willing to give up for the sake of their pride… shouldn't I be willing to do the same? If he hadn't managed to actually accomplish things in the cavalry battle, he might very well have. But I already promised Mina and Sero. We're all gonna compete, and support each other!

"I still don't get what you mean when you say you can't remember anything."

"It was someone's Quirk…" Kaminari shook his head and shuddered. "Like we were put under a spell."

"In any case, we talked it out and decided we can't go through with this," Ojiro told Midnight.

The pro heroine sniffled. "The morals of youth… I love it! And I'll allow it!" She struck a pose, making an absurdly emotional face.

Most of the students sweatdropped. She decided based on tastes.

Present Mic's voice cut in. "Well… this is highly irregular! There can't be a full bracket with only fourteen participants!"

"I'll allow the fifth place team to choose two people to move forward!" Midnight announced.

The 1B team chose Tetsutetsu and a girl with green, vine-like hair to represent them. Meanwhile, various students swarmed Ojiro and Kaminari to say that they respected their decision. Len caught notice of Aoyama standing off to the side, smiling nervously. He was on their team, wasn't he? And he decided to not speak up. Guess he really wants to "shine" or whatever.

Wait, hadn't they been on the team with the purple-haired boy, Shinso? Len scanned the crowd for him, and saw him. The general studies boy looked… off-putting, to say the least. He was watching Kaminari and Ojiro in anger.

"Alright!" Present Mic yelled. "Here's the bracket for the first eight matches!"

Match 1: Midoriya Izuku vs Shinso Hitoshi

Match 2: Sero Hanta vs Todoroki Shoto 

Match 3: Iida Tenya vs Hatsume Mei 

Match 4: Tokoyami Fumikage vs Yaoyorozu Momo 

Match 5: Kagamine Len vs Ibara Shiozaki

Match 6: Aoyama Yuga vs Ashido Mina 

Match 7: Kirishima Eijiro vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

Match 8: Bakugo Katsuki vs Uraraka Ochaco 

Midoriya was looking at the scoreboard in confusion and fear, and then looked back to Shinso, who grinned.

Sero made a noise of annoyance next to Len. "Damn, I'm up against Todoroki. Guess that rules out me meeting you in any match. I should probably come up with some kind of strategy to not make a complete fool of myself."

Hatsume, apparently the girl from support, was approaching Iida and talking to him so quickly and energetically that even the boisterous class rep was having trouble keeping up.

Yaoyorozu and Tokoyami exchanged a serious glance.

"Who's Shiozaki Ibara?" Len muttered aloud.

"The vine girl from 1B," Mina cut in, leaning in front of him and smiling. "Did you see who's after you? Me and Aoyama! I can beat him easily, and if you beat her, then we can fight each other in the quarterfinals!"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. That's true." Len smiled. "Here's to hoping we win our first matches, and get that second dance battle after all."

"Hehe. What if we actually turned it into a dance battle, though? Instead of fighting, we just start bustin' some moves."

Sero made an exasperated face. "Please do not do that, you two."

"GRRR! I'm fighting a guy with basically the same Quirk as me!" Kirishima and Tetsutetsu roared, at the exact same time, with the exact same vocal inflection.

"Huh? Uraraka?" Bakugo was looking at the scoreboard in confusion.

Meanwhile, the brunette was shaking in fear. " Why him, of all people?"

Len's eyes fell upon Shiozaki Ibara, his first (and potentially last) opponent. She was not paying any attention to him, talking instead to a bunch of Class B kids. Her hair was indeed made of vines, and he seemed to recall that she was ahead of him in the obstacle race. What sort of Quirk is that? If only he'd gotten someone from his own class, he might have been able to prepare.

"Let's get to the stands," Sero was saying. "They've got to set up."