The syringe was a specialized support item. It was designed to be painless and could draw blood automatically. It even featured a safety mechanism that stopped the draw once a specific limit was reached.
Per the exercise rules, the amount of blood it could take was small—only about 30cc. Even so, Rina had spent a long time persuading Toga to use it, arguing that she couldn't go around biting people in public to replenish her supply. Rina had only secured Toga's agreement by promising to carry the same device herself.
Watching from the monitor room, Rina felt a wave of relief. She had been right to give it to her, and she was glad Toga was actually using it in this situation.
"Mmm...! It's delicious! Ochaco-chan, you really are the best!"
"Ugh... are you serious...?"
The scene was one of total contrast.
Toga, having already uncapped the syringe and downed its contents, let out a cheer of pure, unadulterated joy. Ochaco, meanwhile, looked on with profound disgust, having just watched someone drink her blood and look thrilled about it.
Still, Ochaco hadn't given up. The moment the grip on her loosened as Toga drank, Ochaco lunged forward and made contact. She activated her Quirk, rendering Toga's gravity zero.
"Huh? Oh?"
"Yes...! I'm free!"
Toga drifted upward into the air with a look of blinkered confusion. Ochaco, finally unshackled, scrambled toward the "nuke."
"Nooo... wait up!"
Toga tried to use Force Pull again, but without gravity to anchor her, she couldn't stabilize her orientation. Her aim was all over the place.
Thinking fast, she reached for a support item on her wrist. It was a high-tech grappling hook—a "future rope" that fired a hook and retracted a wire to pull the user along. It was a masterpiece of Galactic Republic engineering, crafted by Rina herself, much like her lightsabers and droids.
"Wha—!?"
Using the hook, Toga swung past Ochaco, positioning herself to intercept the girl head-on. But she didn't stop there. As they crossed paths, she activated her own Quirk.
She layered one Quirk on top of another.
"Wh-what!? Is that... me!?"
A moment later, Ochaco found herself floating in zero-G, following right behind Toga.
But the person in front of her no longer looked like Toga. Standing there was a perfect double of Ochaco, right down to the tiny scratch on her neck.
"This...! My 'Zero Gravity'!?"
"That's right! Ehehe, now we're matching, Ochaco-chan!"
The girl who answered had Ochaco's face, but she wore a wicked, predatory grin that the real Ochaco would never make. It was Toga.
Yes, her Quirk was—
"—'Transform'! So that's your power, Himiko-chan!"
"Yay! You figured it out! I'm so happy!"
The two identical girls floated in the air, voices overlapping. But now they were at a stalemate. Both were weightless, and since the cancellation of the effect depended on the other person, they were stuck. With no way to move or attack effectively, they had reached a deadlock.
"Ugh... I can't do anything...! It's my own power, but it's so annoying when it's used against me...!"
"I'm having fun, though! I like this!"
"Oh, uh... thanks, I guess?"
"You're welcome!"
In truth, Toga still had options. She had more support items and the Force.
However, her "Transform" Quirk was a literal mimicry, including clothing and equipment. This meant she was currently wearing her own clothes underneath a layer of Ochaco's skin-tight bodysuit. It was incredibly restrictive. Usually, she solved this by wearing a costume made of her own hair fibers that transformed with her—but Ochaco's suit was a full-body compression garment. It squeezed Toga so tightly that her support items were rendered useless.
Furthermore, because her transformation worked at a cellular level, she had lost access to the Force. Her body was currently Ochaco's—and Ochaco was a non-sensitive with a low Midi-chlorian count.
Toga hadn't consciously known about this drawback, but she had sensed it. More importantly, having surrendered to the Dark Side, she was currently prioritizing her own whims over winning the exercise.
This "draw" was entirely her own fault; had she intended to finish the fight from the start, it would have been over in seconds.
However, the match wasn't quite over.
Ochaco had a weakness: if she used her Quirk beyond her limit—or on herself for too long—she would suffer from intense nausea. Toga had a similar limit: using the Quirk of someone she had transformed into drained her transformation time at an exponential rate.
The battle had devolved into a test of endurance.
(Ugh... I feel sick... I'm not supposed to be using it on myself, but it feels like I am...!)
"Ow... ahhh, I guess using other people's Quirks really does wear me out fast... what a letdown..."