While Cementoss diligently repaired the shattered platform with his Quirk, the eager audience buzzed with anticipation, awaiting the next thrilling match. Following the incredibly intense and visually spectacular fight between Lena and Todoroki, the vast majority of the spectators had begun to coalesce their support around Todoroki as the undisputed favorite to win the entire Tournament. Endeavor, in particular, watched from the stands with a broad, unsettling smile plastered across his face, and although the common populace misinterpreted it as paternal pride for his son, Todoroki himself perceived only the ingrained arrogance and sadism that sinister grin represented.
The next participants, Kyoka and Tenya, were already ensconced in their respective tunnels, meticulously formulating their strategies to disqualify the other. Kyoka, a little more serious and focused than usual, meticulously pondered how to defeat Tenya—a task far from simple, given his Quirk's reliance on blinding speed. Tenya, on the other hand, was deep in thought, devising a method to approach Kyoka without being sent flying by one of her concussive sonic waves. He might possess considerable velocity, but it paled in comparison to Lena's unparalleled speed, and it was undeniably far slower than the very speed of sound itself.
'No choice, I have to use my Quirk to its absolute fullest if I want to face Todoroki,' Tenya resolved, his mind racing through countless possibilities.
'I wonder how Lena's doing...' Kyoka mused, her eyes involuntarily wandering from side to side. Lena's recent defeat, and the intensity of her power, starkly reminded Kyoka of the USJ incident... specifically, Lena's 'death.' Kyoka shuddered subtly, a visceral reaction, before closing her eyes and taking a deep, calming breath. She had genuinely believed that after two weeks, she could finally banish the haunting reminder of her own perceived worthlessness. Yet, it seemed her inner demons chose this precise, critical moment to resurface, eager to torment her once more. It was profoundly ironic that Kyoka's most formidable enemy was, in fact, her own mind.
'Focus, you have an opponent to beat...' she sternly lectured herself.
At Present Mic's booming call, both contenders stepped onto the newly repaired platform with determined, resolute strides. Both participants exuded distinctly different auras but shared the same unwavering, determined gaze. The crowd erupted in a frenzy as they watched the two opponents lock eyes. Without uttering a single word, Kyoka adopted an unusually low, almost coiled fighting stance, while Iida assumed the classic, disciplined posture of a racing competitor. Neither broke eye contact, for them, there was only the fight, no audience, no prize, just a battle to win or lose. And no one, absolutely no one, enjoys losing.
"START!"
Iida immediately activated his 'Recipro Burst,' and the engines in his legs dramatically changed color, the extreme heat making them appear as if they were forged from incandescent iron. Very soon, a vibrant blue flame began to forcefully erupt from his engines. However, Iida made a fatal, critical mistake. To activate 'Recipro Burst,' one must stand completely still for precisely three seconds.
Kyoka, already positioned incredibly low to the ground thanks to her initial stance, brought her two earphone Jacks together on the platform and unleashed a powerful, devastating sonic blast across the entire arena! The audience gasped, believing it would utterly obliterate the platform, but instead of exploding as it had previously done with the robots, this time the blast seemed milder, like a localized, miniature earthquake. This was the core of Kyoka's meticulously crafted plan: If they beat you in speed, cut off their legs. Or something to that effect...
In less than a second, the entire platform was violently reshaped, leaving behind large, jagged rocks, deep fissures, and several treacherous drops. Although there was also a small, unfortunate part of the arena that was completely destroyed. Iida, witnessing the utterly chaotic state of the arena, desperately wanted to cancel his attack to analyze the new terrain and improvise a fresh plan... but it was already too late. Like a blur, Iida vanished from his starting position to reappear a few meters to Kyoka's left, his foot instantly sticking in a deep crack, causing him to stumble awkwardly forward.
!!!
Kyoka was momentarily stunned, and she immediately looked to her left, taking a few precious seconds to process what had just transpired. 'He could move that fast?!!!' Without a second thought, Kyoka unleashed another enormous sonic wave that completely obliterated what was left of the arena and the poor Iida, who was still struggling to maintain his balance. The crowd roared with loud shouts of excitement and profound shock.
"JIROOO KYOKAAA KYOKAAA WINSSSSS!!!"
After blinking a couple of times, Kyoka turned around and slowly walked down the platform as the crowd roared her name, which felt incredibly awkward; she neither liked nor cared to be the center of attention at the Festival. Walking at a brisk pace, she entered the tunnel and immediately headed for the medical area to find Lena. She hadn't been able to visit her earlier due to the teachers' urgent desire to speed up the remaining battles, as very few were left.
Turning the corner, she saw a door with a window adorned with the Red Cross logo. Entering the room carefully, she observed the renowned Hero Medic Recovery Girl attending to Midoriya, who was lying on a medical bed. Not far away was Toshinori — All Might's representative — observing the young man with a worried expression. As she entered the room, the two adults turned their gaze towards Kyoka.
"What can I help you with, young lady?" Recovery Girl inquired upon seeing Kyoka enter. The latter slowly closed the door to maintain quiet, which earned her a proud look from the doctor. "Are you hurt?"
"I was looking for Lena..." Kyoka replied, her voice a little lower than she had expected. Seeing Recovery Girl's confused face, Kyoka began to describe her more precisely. "The tall girl who seemed to be able to teleport."
"Oh! Don't worry about her, she's currently sleeping in that bed," Recovery Girl said, pointing to a bed surrounded by curtains. "Her father came by not too long ago and explained to me that the cause of her fainting was apparently due to the abuse of her Quirk and the lack of energy she had when she used it, essentially exceeding her energy limit, so her body automatically shut down as a protective measure."
"I see... Thank you so much for treating her," Kyoka said as she approached the bed and pulled back the curtain to reveal her friend sleeping peacefully. "Do you think she'll wake up soon?"
"Who knows," replied Recovery Girl with a shrug as she approached Midoriya. "She's pretty exhausted, so I have no idea when—"
A movement from Lena's bed caught the Heroine's attention, and she turned her gaze to see Lena stirring slightly. "Well, that was a lot quicker than I thought."
"Ugh..." groaned Lena, her eyes widening slightly. "Kyo?"
"Lena-! Agh!" Kyoka said before hissing in pain from a blow from the Medical Heroine's staff.
"DON'T SCREAM IN THE NURSERY!" exclaimed Recovery Girl, emitting an angry aura around her that made Kyoka and the usually calm Toshinori unconsciously shiver.
"Understood..." Kyoka said as she rubbed her head and suppressed her shiver.
"Where... am I?" Lena asked, confused, as she tried to sit up on the bed, only to fall back onto it. "I feel sick..."
"You mustn't move, young lady, you're too exhausted. You, go get her something to eat, and make it a lot of food, got it?" said Recovery Girl, pointing at Toshinori with a dead stare. Toshinori immediately understood that he could not refuse and quickly went to get plenty of food for the patient. "So, how are you feeling?"
"My head hurts..." Lena said, putting a hand to her forehead, obvious pain etched on her face. "My body feels weak, like I have a cold."
"Anything else?"
"I'm very hungry and have a horrible headache... but fine overall..." Lena replied, letting out a tired sigh as she closed her eyes. "How long... was I unconscious?"
"About 20 minutes or so," Kyoka replied as she looked at the clock on the wall, then turned her gaze back to Lena. "After my fight, you will have to fight Iida if you want to win third place."
"You beat Iida?" Lena asked with a smile on her face. "The robot must be sad, hehe."
Kyoka smiled, seeing that Lena was okay, before walking over to her bed and giving her a hug. "Be more careful next time... we all worry, you know?"
"Agh... don't make me feel bad now... I tried really hard, you know..." Lena replied with feigned pain before Kyoka broke the hug. "Why don't you stay a while longer hugging me, it felt good, you know?"
"What are you, a spoiled brat?" Kyoka said accusingly, only to receive a giggle from Lena that made her sigh in amusement. "I have to go to my match with Todoroki. Any advice?"
"Don't try to break his ice blasts with your Jacks; it will only create more," Lena said with a thoughtful expression before frowning. "And... that's it. I guess you can wear him down enough so he can't use his ice, but if he uses his fire, then you're screwed—"
"Language in the infirmary," interrupted Recovery Girl.
"Sorry," Lena apologized to the Heroine as she resumed her advice (?). "As I was saying, if he uses fire, surrender... maybe some sound blast could take him down, but considering the distance between you... agh, I don't know, come up with your own plan, don't ask the patient..."
"Now you're the patient, aren't you?" Kyoka snorted with derision at Lena's comment.
"Well... Duh?"
"Phew, thanks for the advice, I guess..." Kyoka groaned as she rubbed her temple; her strategy against Todoroki would have to wait a bit then. Their confrontation was looking bleaker and bleaker, though she secretly told herself that she had already gotten much further than she had initially expected.
"You're welcome," Lena replied proudly as she sketched a big smile.
Kyoka sighed as she stood up from the chair and stretched a bit. "Well, I'm going to go to the prep room; at least we have more time to rest..."
Kyoka started walking towards the door when she suddenly stopped and turned back to Lena quickly. Kyoka stared at Lena's face for a few moments before giving a mischievous smile. Lena started looking around, feeling strangely nervous. "What's wrong, Kyo...?"
Suddenly, Kyoka leaned over to Lena and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek! The next moment, Kyoka shot out the door with a laugh. Lena simply froze, trying to process what had just happened.
"Fufufu... these young ladies today," Recovery Girl laughed as she looked at Lena's dumbfounded face.
"Did I miss something?" Toshinori asked as he walked into the room, looking at Recovery Girl's smiling face and Lena's blushing face.
Todoroki stared at his last opponent. A short girl who looked at him expressionlessly, but still exuded a serious aura around her while adopting the same fighting stance she had used against Toru. The two simply looked at each other without saying a word. The atmosphere on the platform was so tense that the spectators could not help but swallow nervously. The once noisy stadium had been completely silenced.
"START!"
Todoroki immediately touched the ground with his hand, freezing the entire arena floor and Kyoka's legs in less than a second. Kyoka responded by breaking the ice quickly with her Jacks as she carefully slid on the ice, approaching Todoroki as fast as she could, but it was difficult to move with the entire platform covered in ice. Todoroki began to slide with the help of his ice, creating something like an ice board on his feet to maintain distance, while simultaneously creating constant ice spikes around Kyoka.
"Damn!" With the ground frozen, her already prone mobility was further reduced. All she could do was stand still and destroy all the spikes with her Jacks. Taking advantage of the small gaps between attacks, she tried to attack Todoroki with sonic waves, but the cold boy easily predicted her moves.
'That's not working...' Kyoka thought in frustration. 'All or nothing then...'
Suddenly, Kyoka became completely motionless. Todoroki took advantage of the strange situation to create more ice spikes, but before he could throw them, Kyoka opened her eyes and brought her two Jacks together before giving Todoroki a pained smile. If you looked closely, Kyoka's Jacks were shaking uncontrollably, as if they were holding a great pressure inside them.
Todoroki had a very bad feeling. He quickly froze his legs and back before deciding to finish Kyoka off with his most powerful attack.
"BOOM BASS!!" Kyoka shouted as she unleashed a thunderous sound that burst from her Jacks. The vibration was so strong that it could be seen with the naked eye. The great sonic wave came out in bursts, destroying everything in its path!
"GATEN HYOHEKI!!" Todoroki shouted as he created a huge mountain of ice in Kyoka's direction, countering her attack!
Both attacks collided and fought each other, neither seeming to have an advantage over the other. Kyoka's huge sonic blast fought against Todoroki's constant generation of ice; it was a tug-of-war where no one wanted to lose. Chunks of ice flew all over the arena as the arena itself was destroyed by the power of the two attacks...
Until Kyoka's big sonic blast began to lose power, giving way to Todoroki's mountain of ice.
"Damn!" Kyoka exclaimed; her Jacks were starting to lose power and were beginning to hurt too much to stay focused on maintaining the constancy of the sonic wave. Todoroki, meanwhile, was unconsciously using his fire to keep himself from freezing and maintain constancy over his attack, although due to the constant temperature changes, his body was starting to feel dizzy.
In the end, Todoroki's mountain destroyed Kyoka's attack by completely enveloping her in ice and pushing her out of the arena while creating a mountain as big as the stadium.
"""..."""
The entire arena fell silent due to the great strength just demonstrated by two of the U.A. students. Some heroes' hair stood on end, thinking about being the one to receive one of the two attacks. It was no mystery to anyone that both participants were incredibly powerful and terrifying. At this very moment, a thought crossed the minds of everyone in the stadium.
'Monsters.'
"Jiro Kyoka has been eliminated. Todoroki Shoto wins the U.A. tournament, congratulations," Aizawa announced because Mic was still in shock from the great power of the two participants. Even Aizawa, although he wouldn't admit it, was shocked by this.
'Looks like someone was training...' Aizawa thought as he looked at Kyoka's unconscious body that was buried in a large mass of ice.
When the infirmary door opened, Lena stood up a little to observe who had entered... only to open her eyes wide when a fainting Kyoka entered on a stretcher.
"Kyo! BONK" Lena shouted as she got off the bed to check on her friend when Recovery Girl hit her with the cane at an imperceptible speed.
"Don't scream!" scolded the old woman with an aura that promised pure pain. Lena apologized shakily as she lowered her voice. The demon in the old woman's skin nodded and went to quickly check on Kyoka's condition.
"Is she okay?" Lena asked with concern.
"Yeah, she just passed out; she has a few scratches, but nothing serious," Recovery Girl reported, causing Lena to let out a sigh of relief that she didn't know she was holding back. "I'll take care of her in the meantime. Shouldn't you go get ready for your last battle?"
"Yes, but..."
"No buts, now go," the old woman exclaimed, making it clear that there was no negotiation on the matter.
Lena reluctantly left the room. After walking for a while, she went to see Midnight to inform her of her participation. While she was healed, she still felt tired from Recovery Girl's Quirk, though she should be able to fight Iida without too many complications.
"Oh dear, you're fine! I was worried that someone with your... potential, yes, potential, has been damaged. Glad to see you in one piece, hehe," Midnight said as she looked Lena from head to toe with analytical eyes and a perverted smile that made Lena sweat internally.
"Well... as you can see, I'm fine, so I'd like to participate against Iida for third place."
"Ah, don't worry about that, honey, Iida has given up the match."
"What?" Lena asked instinctively; she didn't know Iida very well, but she didn't get the feeling that he was someone who would just quit. "Why?"
"A family emergency. From his face, it must be something very serious... he almost looked on the verge of tears..." Midnight explained as she put a hand to her chin, remembering the words Iida said to her before rushing off towards the exit.
"..."
"In a few minutes, we'll be doing the awards presentation to the winners, so stay close," Midnight said before walking away like it was nothing, leaving a bewildered Lena in the middle of an aisle...
"After the short break, we continue with the awards ceremony!!!" Midnight announced as she waved to the audience. Behind her were three pedestals with numbers on each of them.
On the pedestal with the number 1 stood Todoroki, looking at the cameras and the audience expressionlessly... although to the most observant, he seemed to be a bit annoyed. Perhaps because Endeavor was looking at his son with a strange smile.
On pedestal number 2 stood Kyoka, with some small bandages on her arms; her Jacks and ears were completely covered with bandages. Apparently, the last attack she unleashed pushed her Quirk to the limit, severely damaging her Jacks and ear. The good news is that the effects were not permanent, and she should recover if she rests properly for a few days, but until then, she must not use her Jacks under any circumstances. She glanced nervously at the camera as she tried to avoid the gaze of the thousands of people. She hadn't rationalized that almost the entire country had been watching her in combat until now.
'God, Mom is going to take so many pictures of me, it's not funny...' Kyoka thought, shuddering as she felt her future embarrassment.
On pedestal number 3 was Lena. The athletic girl looked a little paler than usual, but she was still looking at the cameras and the audience with her classic smile. At first, she was annoyed that Iida withdrew from third place... but on second thought, it was a great blessing for Lena; she was in no condition to fight after the battle against Todoroki.
"Third place was originally going to be a battle to determine the winner of the position," Midnight explained as she posed for the cameras to take hundreds of pictures of her erotic body. "But due to a personal problem, the last participant had to withdraw."
"Now, the person who has the honor of handing out the medals this year is none other than..." said Midnight, returning to her position as presenter and creating suspense among the cameras and the audience: "ALL MIGHT!!!"
"I'M HERE!!!" As if out of nowhere, a huge figure fell from the sky in an epic entrance. "AND I'M HERE TO HAND OUT THE MEDALS!"
The crowd immediately went wild with the appearance of Japan's No. 1 Hero and one of the strongest in the entire World.
"ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT! ALL MIGHT!!!"
After standing still for a moment, he moved his gaze quickly to Midnight, and she gave a whisper to All Might that said, "It's your turn to speak..."
The latter stood motionless for a moment, before quickly getting up and approaching Lena with a copper-colored medal in his hand.
"LENA, THE FASTEST GIRL IN THE WHOLE CLASS!" exclaimed All Might as he placed the medal around Lena's neck and gave her a tight hug. "You did an admirable job at your first Festival! I'm sure you'll be a fantastic heroine in the future! My recommendation is that you should work on combining your Quirk with your fighting style!"
"Um," Lena nodded in confirmation and took All Might's advice to heart. After all, he was Japan's Number 1 Hero; he must have had a lot of wisdom about Quirks... right?
"KYOKA! THE MUSICAL GIRL OF THE CLASS!" All Might said as he put the silver medal around her neck; he didn't want to hug her because of how sensitive her Jacks were right now. "I could see a huge improvement in you in such a short time! Impressive! Keep it up, and you'll go far!"
"Even with my ears and jacks plugged, I can hear you... you're very loud..." Kyoka said while looking at All Might with a flat face, which made the big hero sweat inside.
"AND THE WINNER OF THE FESTIVAL! TODOROKI!" shouted All Might excitedly before turning his gaze towards Todoroki and speaking in a lower tone. "I could see that you hesitated several times to use your left side? I won't pry into the matter, but it's always good to ask for help."
"I... I realized a few things... things I need to improve... I'm not as good as I thought I was... the fight against Midoriya confused me, but it made me realize some things..." Todoroki replied, looking into the void for a moment before looking the Hero in the eyes again. "There are things I need to figure out..."
"That's fine," All Might nodded as he put his big smile back on his face. "I won't intrude."
"AND THAT CONCLUDES THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! REMEMBER THAT THESE 3 WINNERS WILL MAKE GREAT STRIDES IN THE FUTURE AND BECOME GREAT HEROES FOR THIS SOCIETY! THIS IS THE NEW GENERATION OF HEROES WHO WILL DEFEND OUR LANDS!" shouted All Might passionately as he pointed into the air, symbolizing the greatness of the U.A. students. "PLUS ULTRA!"
"""PLUS ULTRA!!!!"""