In the infirmary, I let out a sigh of relief I hadn't even realized I was holding.
The girls accepted Himiko just the way she is, and that made me really happy.
My eyes drift to my girlfriend lying on the hospital bed, already dressed in an extra sports hoodie, completely healed and sleeping peacefully.
I gently caressed her sleepy face, which drew a soft murmur from her.
The girls went back to the stands after Himiko received treatment from Recovery Girl, and she practically passed out from exhaustion right after.
I couldn't help but think about the recent events in the locker room.
The reason I didn't turn toward the girls was actually quite simple: Himiko had been pretty intense earlier, and I ended up having some… technical difficulties.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I focused on the match being broadcast on the monitor: Fumikage Tokoyami vs. Tenya Iida.
The fight was basically a tug-of-war between Dark Shadow and Iida's engines.
The boy with glasses had a good initial advantage thanks to his speed, landing a solid opening hit on Tokoyami.
Dark Shadow tried to land blows on Iida, but it wasn't fast enough.
Tokoyami was slowly pushed out of the arena, with the victory going to Iida.
─── ◆ ───
Still in the infirmary, I watched the fight between Todoroki and Bakugo begin.
The monitor had its audio muted so Himiko could rest properly, meaning no commentary or explosion sounds.
Todoroki refused to use his flames this time, which irritated Bakugo quite a bit.
He was probably swearing nonstop, judging by how his mouth kept moving while exchanging Quirk blows with Todoroki.
At one point, Todoroki created his massive iceberg against Bakugo, trapping him in ice.
But Bakugo managed to break out by blasting through it with explosions.
After that, Todoroki was already too overburdened from using his Quirk and was easily knocked down and cornered in the arena by Bakugo, who looked extremely pissed, stomping out of the arena as Midnight announced his victory.
─── ◆ ───
Shortly after, Todoroki was brought in by the rescue robots, receiving a huff and scolding from Recovery Girl.
Himiko woke up to the sound of the old lady's reprimands and looked at me, still groggy.
"Participants: Tenya Iida and Ken Kaneki, please report to the arena," a robotic voice echoed through the corridors.
Seeing Himiko awake, Recovery Girl turned the sound back on in the infirmary TV.
"Is it your match already?"
"Mm-hm."
"Good luck~ Yawn"
I gave Himiko a quick head pat and stood up, giving a short nod to Recovery Girl and Todoroki before heading toward the door.
But I had barely taken two steps when Aizawa and Present Mic, who were commenting on the upcoming match, were suddenly replaced by Midnight's image in the arena.
"Hmm… Unfortunately, Tenya Iida will not be able to participate in the remainder of the competition due to family issues."
The announcement caught everyone's attention in the infirmary.
'Damn… I hope he's okay.'
"So, Ken Kaneki will advance to the finals, where he will face Katsuki Bakugo."
"After the commercials." Midnight gave a wink to the camera, and the broadcast switched to ads.
─── ◆ ───
"You better come at me with everything you've got! Use that weird armor from the USJ!" Bakugo shouted wildly from the other side of the arena.
"Not happening." I released my Rinkaku as I answered him.
"Huh? WHY?!"
"I want to be able to walk home after this." I lied.
The only problems I had with my Kakuja were due to lack of blood and overuse of regeneration.
The real reason I don't want to use it is simple: I don't want to kill him.
I still can't control the Kakuja's power properly.
"Tch." He clicked his tongue, not having a good counterargument for that.
"Ready?" We nodded.
"Then… BEGIN!!!"
Bakugo pulled his arms back and launched himself forward using explosions, circling Kaneki in the air and trying to hit me with multiple consecutive blast shots.
Tec.
I made a few side jumps using my Rinkaku until Bakugo finally landed on the ground, his hands still smoking.
"You and Half-and-Half aren't taking me seriously…" he gritted his teeth.
Then he propelled himself again, this time coming straight at me.
I tried to strike his legs with my Kagune tentacles, but he barely managed to dodge, though it was enough to keep him at a distance.
He fired an explosion at the ground, creating a cloud of dust toward me.
I took a step back, raising my arm slightly in front of my face to keep the dust out of my eyes.
Even so, I stayed alert to the sides of the dust cloud, and just as I expected, Bakugo came out from behind it, already preparing a charged explosion in one of his palms.
I dismissed my Rinkaku and switched to my Koukaku, forming a shield on my right arm and raising it defensively against the blonde.
"DIE!"
He unleashed a medium explosion, but it was enough to make the arena tremble slightly.
I switched back to Rinkaku, lunging toward Bakugo and passing through the explosion's smoke.
Bakugo blinked in surprise when he saw me, but quickly recovered and put distance between us, throwing himself backward with an explosion.
I whipped my Kagune toward him, not wanting to give my opponent time to recover.
Bakugo blasted the air multiple times, trying to gain distance to fix his posture, which was tilting toward the ground, while I kept the pressure on him.
He then stopped trying to retreat and regained his balance. The Kagune tentacle sliced through the air sideways toward his ribs; he raised his palm and fired a point-blank explosion at it.
Unlike when he fought Himiko, the tentacle wasn't deflected, this time it only reduced the momentum of the strike.
The Rinkaku hit him directly, but learning from his previous fight, Bakugo managed to bring his arm up in time to block the attack, softening the impact.
He almost fell to the ground but managed to stay standing, rubbing the spot that was hit, an irritated expression on his face.
Bakugo took a deep breath and launched himself at me again. I kept my Kagune in front of me, pointed toward him.
Bakugo used his explosions to avoid the attacks, and when one tentacle was about to catch him, he fired a stronger blast at it, deflecting it this time.
He was dangerously close to me now, already raising his right palm with a charged explosion.
I didn't have time to switch to Koukaku, so I let my tentacles form a barrier between us.
But, breaking my expectations, Bakugo lowered his palm, blasting the ground and launching himself high into the air, "floating" in front of me, inside the Rinkaku shield.
He spun midair and then pointed his left palm at me.
I only had time to raise my arms.
BOOOOOOM!!! Bakugo unleashed the biggest explosion he could, making the entire stadium shake.
'…' The crowd remained silent, a whole stadium in complete silence.
A massive cloud of smoke rose in the arena, quickly dissipating as the spectators held their breath, trying to see the outcome.
Then, from one corner of the arena, Bakugo emerged, holding his trembling left fist, biting his lip to keep from groaning in pain.
He scanned the smoke with his eyes, trying to find a white-haired figure.
─── ◆ ───
[A/N]: My second book was released today! "Demon Slayer: Shadow Breathing"
The chapters will be released there on Friday and Sunday, and shouldn't interfere with the launch of this book.
If possible, take a look there <3
If you'd like to support my work and receive bonuses such as 5 to 10 advanced chapters, spoilers, early access to my new books, polls, and more, check out:
P @ t r 3 0 n - Condor7