Chapter 62: Todoroki vs. Sero
Cementoss's hand touched the ground, and the massive concrete platform descended slowly like an elevator, returning to the arena floor. Midoriya stood on the giant hand, staring blankly at the cheering crowd, a smile spreading across his face.
I won!
He then looked toward the spectator stands where Toru Hagakure had been sent flying, a wave of concern washing over him. Did I go too hard on her?
Before Midoriya could think any further, Cementoss set him down onto a stretcher held by two medical robots that had rushed onto the stage. Still in his "knocked-out-of-the-sky" pose, he was carried off to the treatment area.
Ryanne was standing there. Seeing Midoriya, she put her hands on her hips with a sigh, then broke into a triumphant smile. "It's you again, Midoriya-san. But Kira won't be here to help you this time. Your treatment is my opportunity!"
"Dr. Ryanne..." Midoriya said, lying on the stretcher. He looked at her in her white lab coat, her smile a little too mischievous for comfort, and couldn't help but shiver.
To be honest, Yoshikage Kira hadn't expected this result either. He knew Midoriya had a high chance of winning, but he never thought it would be so... brutal.
Although Toru Hagakure had been defeated by Midoriya's last-ditch effort, her performance had been impressive—at least, in the eyes of the Pro Heroes.
"This match is ridiculous. It's just some kid running around in circles. There's no entertainment value at all," a man sitting two empty seats away from Kira complained to the woman beside him. "We should really reconsider sending our Gian to this high school."
"Exactly. The people at this school have no class. Just because our baby broke their camera, they gave us such a nasty look. Do they think we're just pushovers?"
The woman was overweight and was constantly stuffing potato chips into her mouth. A chubby little boy was squatting beside her, fiddling with the screws on his chair.
"Those jerks... I can't take it. I'm going to go teach them a lesson!" Hearing these two people freely criticize the match, Toru Hagakure couldn't stop herself.
"Don't be rash," Yoshikage Kira said, placing a hand on her to hold her back. "Someone will deal with them."
"By the way, how did you know where I was sitting?" Kira asked, lowering his head. Although there was nothing there, he could feel a weight pressing down on him.
Its name was Toru Hagakure.
"Heehee! It must mean we're fated to be together," she said with a laugh.
Kira's match against Kaminari was still two fights away, so he had gone up to the stands and found a quiet corner to sit. But right after Hagakure had been blown out of the ring by Midoriya's powerful attack, he had suddenly felt an invisible weight press down on him. He had to use Hamon just to counteract the force of her landing.
She hadn't spoken at first, but based on the sensation he'd felt when he'd instinctively caught her, the softness and firmness were exactly the same as what he'd felt during the combat simulation. Annoyed, he had dumped her into the empty seat to his right.
Faintly, a few streaks of blood appeared in the empty air.
Yoshikage Kira suggested she go see the doctors below, but Hagakure stubbornly stayed, saying that she had lost her dignity and the match, and she couldn't possibly face anyone to seek treatment.
Despite her words, her cheerful voice suggested she wasn't taking it seriously at all.
Tired of the hassle, Kira had simply taken her hand and channeled Hamon into her body to heal her injuries. This way, he could avoid the light from his Quirk revealing her outline.
To his surprise, Hagakure's injuries were all minor scrapes and bruises. After he had healed her, since she didn't want to leave, he let her be.
"Hey! Your seat looks pretty good! How about you give it to me?" Kira turned his head and saw a chubby little boy in a yellow and brown striped shirt push his way over from his parents' seats.
"I, urk—"
Kira quickly clapped a hand over Hagakure's mouth. "Who are you? Do I know you?" he asked, his eyes half-lidded.
"My name is Takeshi Goda!" he said, proudly puffing out his chest. "Whatever I see is mine!"
"...Is that so?" Kira chuckled and stood up from his seat. "Alright then. The seat is yours."
With that, Kira pushed Hagakure and started to walk down the stands.
Takeshi "Gian" Goda jumped onto the seat Kira had just vacated, squatted on it, and put a hand to his forehead. "So these are U.A. students? Nothing but a bunch of wimps!" he laughed. "The great Gian would never come to a school like this in the future!"
Several people around him glared, but seeing that he was just a child and that his parents looked like trouble, they swallowed their words.
"Let go of me, Kira! I'm going to teach him a lesson! He's just a little brat, but his mouth is so foul! And his parents, is this how they raise their child!?" Hagakure fumed.
Kira had also heard what Gian had said. He paused for a moment, a slight curve on his lips. He reached out and ruffled Hagakure's invisible hair, saying with a straight face, "He's just a child."
"Honestly, Kira, you're too soft," Hagakure said. Although she was still unhappy, she accepted it, her voice growing quieter. "And stop messing up my hair."
Yes, he's just a child. Which is why... he absolutely cannot be spared.
After Kira left, Gian found a golden game coin in the crack of the chair. Delighted, he picked it up and ran to his parents.
"Dad! Mom! Look! I just found a game coin!"
The middle-aged man's expression changed. It's golden. Could it be a gold coin?
"Gian, my boy, this is a bit too valuable. Why don't you let Dad hold onto it for you?" Without waiting for an answer, he pried the coin from his son's hand and stuffed it into the inner pocket of his jacket, ignoring the boy's protests as he turned back to the match.
During the match between Todoroki and Sero, as he was watching the field of ice, he suddenly felt a warmth in his chest. He took out the coin and was shocked to see it melting. The scalding hot coin fell from his hand and rolled into the gap under his seat.
Shoto Todoroki had defeated Sero in an instant with an ice attack that covered half the arena. He used his left hand to thaw the shivering Sero out of the ice. "Sorry," he said in a low voice. "I'm in a bad mood today."
"AS EXPECTED OF A RECOMMENDED STUDENT! AFTER QUALIFYING WITH A FIRST AND SECOND PLACE FINISH IN THE FIRST TWO ROUNDS, HE'S DEFEATED HIS OPPONENT IN AN INSTANT WITH A BEAUTIFUL DISPLAY OF ICE! TODOROKI IS CLEARLY NOT ON THE SAME LEVEL AS THE OTHER CONTESTANTS!"
Amidst Present Mic's exclamations, an anxious voice suddenly erupted from the stands. "Fire! Someone call for help!"
Flames were roaring from the seat of a portly, middle-aged man. The fire wasn't large, covering only his seat and the one next to it. His pants were already burned away. He quickly took them off, revealing a pair of red underwear, and continued to beat at the flames.
The woman sitting next to him, whose shawl had also been burned away, wasn't looking at her struggling husband. Instead, she was kneeling in the other empty seat, wailing, "My shawl! I just bought it! It cost me several months' salary!"
Surprisingly, despite the commotion, the people sitting around them were just watching with cold indifference, seemingly with no intention of helping.
A few people who tried to help were stopped by those below, and after hearing about the family's behavior, they too adopted a look of disdain.
Shoto Todoroki didn't understand what was happening in the stands, but he saw his own father, the Pro Hero Endeavor, standing at the very back, looking past the flames, his gaze fixed on him, completely devoid of any emotion.
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