The look on Bakugo's face was absolutely hilarious.
At least, that was what Raiden thought as he watched from above.
The blond boy looked like he had just been told the world itself had cheated him. His eye twitched. His fists clenched. Every muscle in his body seemed ready to explode.
For a few seconds, Bakugo simply stood there staring at the boundary line.
Then he looked at Todoroki.
Then at Present Mic.
Then back at the boundary line.
The entire stadium could practically feel the frustration radiating from him.
And, for a moment, it looked like he was about to ignore the result entirely and continue the fight anyway.
The crowd certainly believed he would.
Several teachers did as well.
However, before Bakugo could take another step, he suddenly felt a familiar pressure settle over his shoulders.
His body froze.
His eyes narrowed immediately.
He knew exactly what it was.
Telekinesis.
Not enough to restrain him.
Just enough to remind him.
The answer came a second later when a voice echoed directly inside his mind.
"Learn to lose. Maintain your dignity, idiot."
The message was short.
Direct.
Brutally honest.
Bakugo's eye twitched again.
He hated it.
Absolutely hated it.
Yet despite that, he obeyed.
Not because he agreed.
Not because he wanted to.
But because the owner of that voice was Raiden.
And Raiden was also the same person who could beat him into the ground during training next week if he decided to act like an idiot today.
After a few tense seconds, Bakugo clicked his tongue and finally stepped back.
The crowd relaxed.
Present Mic relaxed.
Several teachers visibly relaxed as well.
The crisis had been avoided.
With the second semifinal finally over, it was time for the last battle of the tournament.
Seeing that, Raiden stood up from his seat.
His movement immediately caught the attention of Mirio, Nejire, and Tamaki.
Without saying a word, he walked toward the edge of the stadium and looked down at the entrance tunnel where the finalists would soon appear.
Then he jumped.
The audience gasped.
Halfway through the fall, a flash of psychic energy engulfed his body.
Purple light expanded around him.
And in an instant, Raiden transformed into Mewtwo.
The sudden transformation immediately drew the attention of the entire stadium.
Thousands of spectators looked upward.
And then the cheers began.
After everything that had happened at the U.S.J., Mewtwo had become one of the most recognizable students in Japan.
People immediately recognized him.
The purple aura surrounding his body.
The tail.
The horns.
The psychic energy radiating from him.
All of it.
Wrapped inside a sphere of glowing violet light, Mewtwo descended gracefully toward the student entrance tunnel.
The crowd cheered even louder.
Several students looked on with admiration.
A few first-years looked downright starstruck.
Meanwhile, back in the upper section of the stadium, the remaining three Yonkou watched the entire scene with completely flat expressions.
Even Nejire.
For several seconds, none of them said anything.
They simply stared at Mewtwo dramatically floating toward the arena.
Finally, Tamaki broke the silence.
"He is going down there to heal the finalists, isn't he?"
"Yes."
"Yep."
Nejire and Mirio answered simultaneously.
Tamaki remained silent for another moment.
Then he adjusted his posture and pointed toward the glowing psychic spectacle descending through the stadium.
"It was necessary all the show?"
There wasn't even a second of hesitation.
"No."
"No."
Mirio and Nejire answered immediately.
The response was so fast that it sounded rehearsed.
Tamaki slowly nodded.
That was exactly what he expected.
A moment later, Mirio crossed his arms and laughed.
"He's just showing off."
"Definitely showing off."
Nejire nodded in complete agreement.
Meanwhile, completely unaware—or perhaps completely aware—of what his friends were saying, Mewtwo continued descending through the stadium surrounded by glowing psychic energy, looking every bit like a legendary hero making a grand entrance.
Which only proved their point even more.
When Mewtwo arrived at the area where Midoriya was waiting, Recovery Girl had already treated part of his injuries, though not all of them.
The reason was simple.
The boy still had another fight ahead of him.
Using her Quirk too much would only leave him exhausted before the final match, and while his broken arm had been stabilized, completely restoring him would come at a cost.
Mewtwo immediately got to work.
Without wasting time, he placed a hand over Midoriya and used Life Dew.
Once.
Then a second time.
Soft blue light surrounded the green-haired boy, flowing through his body and accelerating the healing process.
The swelling disappeared.
The bruises faded.
Most importantly, the fracture in his arm repaired itself completely.
Midoriya blinked in surprise and flexed his fingers.
The pain was gone.
He opened his mouth, clearly wanting to thank him.
However, Mewtwo had already turned around.
"There, fixed."
And before Midoriya could say anything else, he rushed out of the room and headed toward the second waiting area.
There, Todoroki was seated alone.
The dual haired boy was breathing heavily, trying to recover his stamina after his brutal fight against bakugo .
His injuries were less severe than Midoriya's, but exhaustion covered every inch of his body.
Without ceremony, Mewtwo used Life Dew again.
Blue energy washed over Todoroki .
The cuts vanished.
The bruises faded.
The fatigue lessened considerably.
Todoroki immediately felt his body returning to peak condition.
Not perfect, but close enough that nobody could complain about fairness.
Now both finalists were entering the championship match in optimal shape.
Todoroki didn't understood what happened
With his work done, Mewtwo left the waiting room and headed back toward his classmates.
This time, however, he deliberately avoided the main path.
No dramatic entrance.
No floating sphere of psychic energy.
No crowd cheering his name.
Instead, he moved around the side passages of the stadium and returned almost entirely unnoticed.
Or at least that had been his intention.
The moment he arrived, three pairs of eyes immediately landed on him.
All of them completely flat.
Even Nejire.
Mewtwo immediately felt that something was wrong.
The first one to speak was Nejire.
"Showing off."
Mewtwo froze.
Tamaki adjusted his posture and nodded.
"I didn't know you liked attention that much."
"Yeah, same," Mirio added with a grin.
"I know you don't dislike attention, but this was on a completely different level."
Mewtwo opened his mouth.
Then closed it.
Then opened it again.
"Well..."
The psychic glow faded around him as he returned to his human form.
He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
"A little attention from time to time isn't that bad... right?"
Silence.
Three people stared at him.
Judging him.
Nejire crossed her arms.
Mirio was trying very hard not to laugh.
Tamaki looked almost disappointed.
For some reason, that one hurt the most.
Only then did Raiden fully realize how ridiculous his entrance must have looked from the outside.
His face immediately turned red.
Very red.
And unfortunately for him, that only made Mirio burst into laughter.
Nejire wasn't much better.
Even Tamaki looked like he was fighting back a smile.
Meanwhile, below them, the Sports Festival final was about to begin.
Yet for that brief moment, Raiden wished he could disappear.
Luckily for him the fights continued, however there was a problem, he didn't healed kirishima, recovery girl did it, and he wasn't in condition to continue, so bakugo ended in third place.
And it was time for the final, present mic announced the final, midoriya vs todoroki.
Both of them entered the stadium healed and looked at each other, in that moment, both of them even before present mic gave them the go, they activated they powers.
They didn't attack of course or they could be discualified, they just prepared for the moment present mic gave them the go.
Ice expanded on one of todoroki sides and lightning moved around him and red marks appeared in his body, however something surprised midoriya, he now could use 2% without issue.
At least the strain on his body was considerably lower than before, and he could use the power far more efficiently.
He had every intention of finding out why later.
Why his control had improved.
Why his body seemed to accept the energy more naturally.
But those were questions for another day.
Right now, he had a battle ahead of him.
And he needed to focus.
Midoriya took a deep breath and looked at Todoroki.
The half-cold, half-hot student stood across the arena while ice slowly spread around his feet, creeping across the floor like a living thing.
The atmosphere grew colder by the second.
Then Present Mic's voice echoed through the stadium.
"START!"
The moment the signal was given, both of them launched forward.
Todoroki moved first.
Massive spikes of ice erupted from the ground, shooting toward Midoriya from multiple directions.
The attack covered an enormous area almost instantly.
Yet Midoriya didn't attempt to destroy it.
Instead, he adapted.
He weaved through the openings.
Jumped over one spike.
Ran along another.
Changed directions repeatedly.
Only striking the ice formations that completely blocked his path.
The result was a constant barrage of movement.
A dance between offense and defense.
Ice continued appearing.
Midoriya continued advancing.
Step by step.
Meter by meter.
The crowd watched in excitement as both students demonstrated why they had reached the semifinals.
However, once again, Todoroki refused to use his fire.
Even so, he seemed to be handling Midoriya fairly well.
At least from the perspective of the audience.
The professional heroes watching knew better.
Midoriya wasn't simply attacking.
He was waiting.
Observing.
Analyzing.
He had expected Todoroki to refuse using his fire at the beginning of the fight.
And because of that, he had built his strategy around it.
The more ice Todoroki used, the more his body would cool down.
The colder he became, the slower his movements would grow.
Eventually, an opening would appear.
And Midoriya intended to capitalize on that exact moment.
That was what it looked like, at least.
Then something unexpected happened.
Both fighters suddenly jumped backward.
The attacks stopped.
The ice stopped spreading.
The movement stopped.
For several seconds, neither attacked.
Neither advanced.
Neither defended.
They simply stood there facing one another.
The audience immediately became confused.
Even the commentators didn't seem to know what was happening.
From afar, it looked like they were speaking.
However, the distance between them was too great.
And there were no microphones close enough to pick up the conversation.
Above the stadium, the four Yonkou stared at the arena with visible curiosity.
The first one to speak was Nejire.
"Nee, why did they stop?" she asked loudly.
Her head tilted to one side.
"That isn't advantageous for either of them."
The others nodded.
She was right.
Neither fighter had any reason to pause.
Especially not during such an important battle.
For a few moments, nobody understood what was happening.
Then Tamaki suddenly spoke.
"It looks like they're talking."
The other three immediately turned toward him.
Tamaki's eyes looked different.
Sharper.
Almost predatory, like a hawk.
"What are they saying?" Mirio asked.
Tamaki continued staring at the arena.
After a few seconds, he answered.
"Something about leaving the past behind."
The others blinked.
Tamaki kept watching.
"Something about Todoroki needing to keep moving forward."
Another pause.
Then:
"And something about the power being his own."
The three immediately looked at him again.
This time with surprise.
Raiden raised an eyebrow.
"Are you reading their lips?"
"Yes."
Tamaki answered so casually that it made the question sound completely normal.
Mirio blinked.
"When did you learn how to do that?"
Tamaki scratched his cheek.
"With Hawks."
That answer only created more confusion.
"Hawks taught you how to read lips?" Mirio asked.
Tamaki nodded.
"It was one of the first things he taught me."
The three stared at him for several seconds.
Then Nejire slowly nodded.
"That's actually impressive."
Tamaki smiled awkwardly and looked away.
Meanwhile, below them, whatever conversation was taking place between Midoriya and Todoroki seemed to be reaching its conclusion.