"And now!" Present Mic sang. "The third quarterfinal. On this side, Class 1A's bubbly bubblehead! Don't let her get too handsy if you know what's good for ya… from the hero course, it's Ashido Mina!"
Shota sighed. "That was not appropriate."
"What? I was talking about her Acid!"
Ashido came strutting out of the tunnel, pointing at the crowd and positively beaming. The spectators were going wild for her. Shota didn't usually think about these things, but Ashido was made to be a popular hero. Her looks were instantly recognisable, and she seemed to thrive on attention.
"And on the other side, poor guy! He keeps having to fight girls despite being so nice! From the hero course, it's Namikaze Haru!"
Shota was surprised at how Namikaze had progressed today. Earlier in the day he'd been thinking about how to properly make the boy move forward in future classes, but he seemed to be working it out somewhat on his own, having made it this far. And he was waving and smiling too, engaging with the crowd.
Of course. He hasn't figured it out on his own; he's got friends to help him. These two are somewhat close, aren't they? At least, as close as two high school students could be after only a few weeks. If they start getting all lovey-dovey in MY classroom, there will be hell to pay.
"What are you grumbling about, Eraser Head? That's two of your students out there! Be supportive!"
"Yeah, yeah." Shota leaned forward to watch.
Mina met Haru's eyes with the center of the platform halfway between them. The whole arena seemed to swallow them up. The space was terrifyingly freeing and oddly intimate all at once. And of course, the crowd would be watching the whole time. Mina felt thrilled, excited.
Shiozaki may not have done it on purpose, but she gave me an idea. If I can push the two of us as romantics… the crowd, and the agencies, might eat it up! More publicity for the both of us!
Plus… she stretched her arms behind her head, not breaking eye contact with the boy across the way. I really want to beat him.
He's tired, and unfocused. I've unfocused him. It's a shame that he caught on… and that he thought that's ALL I was doing. Oh well. For a different time.
Mina had known exactly what she was doing with all that flirting. She wanted him to not be confident about this, because… deep down, she didn't really think she could beat him. His Quirk was just too amazing. But she couldn't think about that right now!
Haru's eyes finally moved to the ground, and his face turned red. I don't think he's even thought of a strategy yet. That's good.
Mina reckoned she could shoot acid about as fast as Shiozaki had shot vines, which meant it was possible to hit him… although she had to get in much closer than the vine girl. Plus, she was athletic enough to not let him just push her around if he got in close, like Shiozaki had done. If she could just land a light acid hit, burn him a little but not too badly…
She would make him lose his will to continue. There was certainly no hope in trying to knock him out of the ring. If all else fails, I'll just uppercut him like Aoyama. A bit of tough love, that's all that is!
Midnight looked between the two of them. Haru still seemed sheepish, embarrassed. "Ready?" she asked.
"Ready," the boy mumbled.
"As ever!" Mina reported, saluting the heroine.
"Third quarterfinal, start!"
"What's with the red face?" Mina asked him, loudly. "Still thinking about that kiss I gave ya?"
The crowd heard, and many of them gasped. Haru looked up at her in shock… and Mina skated toward him, sliding quickly on her acid.
She closed the distance, and not until she reached out and began to spray her hand acid did he warp backward, keeping away from her attack. As I thought, no one wants to get burned. She kept up the offensive, skating after him and shooting out sprays. He kept warping back and sideways, circling her and avoiding her. When she realised they'd just swapped places from the initial position, she hesitated a moment.
Haru's face was red as a tomato. "Why would you tell them about that?" he asked her, not very loudly.
The crowd was whistling and whooping.
"KISS?" Present Mic yelled. "WHATEVER IS SHE TALKING ABOUT? WE THOUGHT THERE WERE SPARKS FLYING BETWEEN NAMIKAZE AND HIS LAST OPPONENT, BUT IT SEEMS WE SAILED OUR SHIP TOO EARLY!"
"Who's we?" Aizawa complained.
"DAMMIT!" Kaminari shouted, followed by the sound of a slapping earplug.
Mina smirked. This was all she could have hoped for, except…
Haru just stood still, watching her. His face had paled a bit, and his eyes had regained their focus. Only he did not attack.
"What's the matter?" Mina teased, although inwardly she was a little unsettled. "Afraid to hit your girrrrrlfriend?"
"GIRLFRIEND?!" Present Mic shrieked. There was chaos in the crowd, and absolute war was breaking out in the Class A and B boxes.
"Hey!" someone shouted, a dissenting voice in the din. "Stop screwing around for the cameras and fight already!"
Mina took a step toward Haru, who remained still in his defensive position. Another step. And another. He didn't do anything.
"What's the problem?" Mina asked, suddenly annoyed. "Remember our promise? To not hold back?"
"Why are you doing all this?" he asked her, keeping an infuriatingly straight face.
"Ugh! It doesn't matter! Just fight me already, jerk!" She slid towards him, shooting more acid, but he warped to the left. She threw a punch, but he avoided that too. "URGH!"
Mina skated and sprayed and punched, but all she got was air. One after the other. Haru led her on a wild goose chase in circles around the platform, ducking and sliding back and warping when necessary. He was even being frugal with the teleports, often choosing to just dodge her manually. And not once did he attack.
The crowd was beginning to notice.
"Did he lose his confidence from before?"
"Why's he just playing with her like this? He's got enough power to throw her out if he wants!"
"Hey kid! She wants you to hit her back, you know!"
"You just gonna deny your girlfriend like that?"
"Haru!" Mina cried, getting more and more desperate with every swing. She wasn't even using acid anymore. "JUST FIGHT ME ALREADY!" He kept backstepping, keeping that same straight face on.
"WHY?" she yelled, feeling tears form in her eyes. "Why… won't… you… fight… ba… huhhh?"
She gasped, as Haru suddenly warped… forward.
Golden light filled her eyes, and Mina stumbled, confused. She had the briefest second to see that she was standing right in front of the boundary line.
Then, she felt the most rudimentary of impacts against the bend of her legs.
A kick, from behind. Haru had deadlegged her.
Mina tripped and fell… landing partially outside the boundary.
"Ashido is out of bounds!" Midnight declared. "Namikaze advances to the semifinal!"
A mixture of cheering and booing erupted around the arena.
"He really was just leading her on the whole time! I wonder if that's their relationship, too?"
"What a jerk!"
"I thought it was a neat trick!"
"A cheap trick, more like!"
Mina turned over and looked up at Haru, feeling shock and disbelief.
He was smiling, and leaning down, extending a helping hand to her. "I'm so sorry, Mina," he said, his blue eyes glistening. "But two can play at the psychological game."
"What… did you do ?" She didn't know if she was angry with him anymore or not. She certainly wanted to be, but…
"I had to get you near enough to the line to where I could warp through you and give you a push from behind. I knew I didn't stand a chance engaging you physically in any other circumstance. You can outpunch me, outkick me, and probably burn me too. It wasn't because I wanted to hold back. It was because I was scared of you."
Mina sniffed, her lip quivering. "You…" she grinned weakly. "You… jerk."
She stood up on her own, not taking his hand.
A bunch of "ooooohs" went up from the crowd.
Mina gave him a daring grin, her eyes alight. "I guess that makes us even, doesn't it? But just you wait. Tomorrow we're doing DDR again. Rematch, me and you." She winked, and turned on a heel, walking proudly off with her nose turned up.
Shota couldn't bear to watch any longer.
The crowd was in uproar. Some were laughing at Namikaze for unwittingly making his "girlfriend" mad, while others were angry at him for playing with her during the fight. As Ashido walked off, Namikaze stood there dumbly as the spectators continued to turn against him. Even Mic was silent for once, leaning back in his chair with an awkward grimace. I cannot let this nonsense continue.
"Are you all blind, deaf, or just stupid?" Shota spat into the mic, causing the crowd noise to sharply zip out.
"Namikaze wasn't messing with her, just like Bakugo wasn't messing with Uraraka. How many times must I explain this? As I am their teacher, I have all their results from the initial Quirk assessment that we did on the first day of school. I have them right here." He shuffled through the papers. "In any event where Quirks could not come into play, Ashido outclassed Namikaze entirely. The boy KNOWS this. He knew he couldn't stand up to her acid or her physicality. He wasn't leading her around because he was in control. He was on the defensive! He kept it going for so long in order to lead her to the boundary line! And as for the romance nonsense, I know my students, and I am sure this was some invention of Ashido's. Namikaze certainly didn't know what she was doing, and had no plans to play into it." At least I hope.
The crowd murmured and hummed sheepishly. They seemed to still be on the fence about the whole thing.
Namikaze Haru walked slowly off the platform and into the tunnel, putting an arm over his face.
"Awww…"
"Poor kid. I'd be embarrassed too."
"He's just trying to win and do well like the rest of them."
"Damn."
Up in the Class A box, Mina had returned.
"Yo, Ashido, you good?"
"What was the deal with all that?"
"Did you really kiss Namikaze-kun?"
"I'm sorry, everyone…" she smiled as she sat down. What do I tell them? All eyes were on her.
"… No, I didn't kiss him. It was all just a show to try and throw him off and make it interesting for the cameras. I couldn't… think of another way to win."
They all seemed to accept this.
"Mm."
"Makes sense to me."
"Thank goodness. Maybe Namikaze doesn't have game after all."
"Shut up, Kaminari."
"What?! I'm just saying!"
Mina leaned back in her seat, realising that eventually Haru would come back to sit next to her. Or he might move to a different seat. Or he might not come back at all.
The crowd turned against him… she'd only heard part of Mr. Aizawa's speech, but it only seemed like it had been partially effective. The spectators were all still murmuring amongst themselves.
"That match was the first that didn't really feel like it had a winner, ribbit," said Tsuyu. "And there have been some confusing matches."
"Well, the promise was kept, at least," Sero put in. "Even if the crowd might have gotten a little feisty, there's no hard feelings between us, the competitors… right?" He leaned sideways to look at Mina.
She shrugged. "I'm not upset with him, although I guess I was during the fight. Yeah, I suppose I broke the promise." She chuckled. "I HOPE he's not mad at me. I guess I kinda did embarrass him."
Tsu and Sero remained silent. Mina couldn't help but feel uncomfortable, like they were quietly blaming her. Maybe it is my fault. Haru didn't actually break his promise. I was the one who got angry, but…
He's upset too! If he's not come back, he's probably moping around somewhere!
But that's because of the crowd reaction, which is a different matter entirely. As if he'd get upset about you. He didn't even take your flirting for what it was.
He doesn't like you that way.
You came on too strong and made him uncomfortable.
He and his Quirk are so beyond you that he can defeat you while on the defensive and make it look effortless.
Mina's face twitched. She couldn't get like this right now, in front of everyone.
"I feel bad for Namikaze-kun…" Toru mumbled. "He's probably just really embarrassed right now."
"I'm gonna go look for him, ribbit." Tsu got to her feet.
"I shall as well." Shoji followed her lead.
Sero turned to look at them. "Whoa, whoa, the next match is about to start! Namikaze still has to fight the winner of this fight next, remember? Probably Bakugo! If he's not back here, then he probably needs some space!"
"At least, he might THINK he does," Toru corrected, standing up. "But in reality, he needs friends by his side!"
Sero winced. "That's cheesy. I still don't think you should go, but… if you find him, give him my regards."
"Understood," said Shoji.
"Guys…" Mina got up. "I'm coming too, obviously."