Shikigami Dance: Naruto/BNHA Crossover - Chapter 29

Midnight snapped her whip, [Kaminari is unable to continue and has been restrained! Bakugo wins!]

The crowd cheered, but the cries were mixed with a large amount of chatter concerning the move Haru had just used.

[OKAY, I’M IN THE DARK HERE… BUT DID BAKUGO ALSO CREATE ELECTRICITY? I KNEW HIS QUIRK WAS EXTREMELY VERSATILE AND ALL, BUT WHAT THE HECK? ERASURE EXPLAIN THIS!]

[No, I gave up trying to understand his Quirk a long time ago,] Aizawa refused in the blandest way possible.

The murmur rose higher as the audience watched the nurse bots place Kaminari on a stretcher.

***

Class 1A was silent for a moment.

“Okay, are you sure Class Rep has only one Quirk?” Sero asked no one in particular.

“…”

Everyone looked at Katsuki.

The ash-blonde didn’t bother answering, leaving them in the dark with no way of sating their curiosity. Jiro and Kaminari were both guarded by Recovery Girl so asking them was a no-go and even Kirishima wasn’t feeling confident enough to calm the elder Bakugo if he blew up.

“Bakugo, does your brother have more than one Quirk?” Todoroki asked out of the blue.

Class 1A mentally screamed. ‘NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!’

Much to their relief, Katsuki only glowered, “Go to hell, half and half.”

***

The next two fights were pretty short. Tokoyami and Iida’s round ended with Iida getting pushed out of the ring by Dark Shadow. The class secretary had put up a good fight, but his speed and high-powered kicks were no match for Tokoyami’s defense.

Katsuki and Kirishima’s match was initially a close call, with Kirishima’s hardening protecting him from Katsuki’s explosions. Unfortunately for him, Kirishima hit his limit way too quickly under Katsuki’s ferocious barrage, leading to his defeat.

[AND THAT’S IT FOR THE SECOND ROUND! WOW! THAT GOT MY BLOOD PUMPING! I CAN’T WAIT FOR THE NEXT MATCHUP! WHILE WE WAIT FOR THE THIRD ROUND OF MATCHES TO BEGIN, LET’S CHECK OUT THE MATCHUPS, SHALL WE?]

Shoto Todoroki vs Haruko Bakugo

Fumikage Tokoyami vs Katsuki Bakugo

[AS YOU CAN SEE, THESE NEXT BATTLES ARE GONNA BE BRIMMING WITH TALENT AND REALLY OVERPOWERED ABILITIES! THIS BATCH OF FIRST YEARS IS OFF THE CHARTS, FOLKS!]

***

Just outside Class 1A’s seating area, Haru rested the back of his head against the wall he was leaning against and sighed.

“You okay?”

Haru looked up at Jiro’s voice. The girl’s right earphone jack was bandaged but otherwise, she appeared unhurt.

Haru turned his head away, “Hey…”

Haru was still upset with himself for carelessly hurting Jiro and Jiro was unsure how to placate his guilt without revealing her knowing about him healing her, especially after Recovery Girl had asked her not to say anything.

“Sorry…”

Haru’s sudden apology took Jiro by surprise and she immediately began to protest, “What? Why are you apologizing?”

Haru ducked his head in shame, “I know that this is the sports festival and we are all bound to get injured, but that last attack I used shouldn’t have been aimed at you in the first place. It was too lethal a strike”

Jiro narrowed her eyes and jabbed her uninjured earphone jack into Haru’s ear, causing him to jerk in pain and nearly let out a pained yell.

“Agh! What the hell?” Haru clasped a hand to his ear sending the girl a disgruntled look, “What was that for?”

“Don’t pity me,” Jiro’s voice was colder than below zero, “You won. That’s it. End of story. I know you used your Quirk to heal me,” to hell with secrets. Jiro was speaking her mind. She grabbed Haru’s arm and pulled on the bandages, revealing the new bite mark among the few that already covered his skin, “If you still feel that bad about it, then take responsibility and man up! Don’t mope about it!”

Haru’s eyes widened in surprise, “Umm…” he hesitated a moment before flushing a light shade of pink as he rubbed the back on his head, “Then… How about I take you out for a day… All on me…”

Jiro’s upset expression dropped as her mind screeched to stop, “…Wait, that’s not what I mea-”

“Or not! Sorry, I said it before thinking!” Haru said, immediately trying to retract the offer.

Jiro ducked her head, “Sure.”

“Huh?”

“Text me the time and we’ll meet up.”

Haru blinked, unable to think of any way to respond besides, “Okay…”

In a trance, he turned and left the hallway.

Once he was gone, Jiro stood there for a moment, her mind in shambles.

“…Dummy…” she sank down on her heels as she said the word, pressing her hands to her face to hide the smile she couldn’t hold back, “You sweet dummy…”

***

(With Class 1A…)

Tsuyu looked at Ashido in concern, “Do you think he’s nervous about his fight with Todoroki?

Ashido raised her hands in an ‘I don’t know’ gesture.

Sero shook Haru’s shoulder, “Hey, man! You’re going to be late for your match with Todoroki!”

Haru blinked back into focus, “Oh… uh…” his face changed into a panicked expression, “Wait? What?”

As if to confirm this, Present Mic began his commentary, [AND WE’RE BACK TO THE NEXT EXCITING BATTLE, MY FANS AS WE WELCOME THE NEXT TWO CONTESTANTS!]

“Dude! You’re gonna be late!” Sero cried out.

Haru ran a hand over his face. “Oh, thank goodness,” he sighed, pulled back his hair into his hair tie (for the millionth time), “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”

Before anyone else could tell him to hurry, Haru’s body slowly shifted into a kaleidoscope of paper buŧŧerflies.

“Oi!” Haru looked at Katsuki who had just come back from his last match, “You better make it to the final round, dumbass.”

Katsuki responded in kind by flipping him the bird.

***

[AND HERE ARE OUR NEXT CONTESTANTS! FIRST, THE STUDENT WHO BLEW US AWAY IN HIS LAST MATCH. FROM CLASS 1A, SHOTO TODOROKI!]

Todoroki approached his side of the arena looking a little subdued but with a determined look in his eyes.

[AND THE STUDENT WHO DISPLAYED SUCH SHOCKING VERSATILITY DURING HIS PREVIOUS FIGHT. CLASS 1A’S HARUKO BAKUGO!]

Haru was revealed to have his arms crossed over his ċhėst as his body reformed itself on the opposite side of the arena from Todoroki.

Both boys stared each other down, their power and competitive auras radiating off of them in waves.

***

Play: Demon Slayer: Gurenge | EPIC VERSION (Attack on Titan Style) [feat. Unravel – Tokyo Ghoul]: youtu.be/UWCwnnO0SuI

Play: Naruto OST 3 – Dance: youtu.be/vOlo_mjwhyo

***

Todoroki gave Haru a stern look, “I won’t lose.”

Haru uncrossed his arms, spreading them outward palms down as he sank into a fighting position, “Even if you hold back, I will still fight you at full power.”

Todoroki also sank into a similar stance, “I don’t intend to hold back. Not against you.”

[BEGIN!]

There was a rumble as a wave of ice formed a frozen cascade across the arena.

Haru pressed his hands together, raising them above his head, “Shikigami Dance.”

The rumble in the air increase as a wave of paper erupted from the surrounding area to gather in front of him. Haru swung his arms down, pushing them outward as he directed the origami to part the ice. The walls of paper followed his command as it clashed with the glacier, forcefully seeking to push it to either side

The wave of ice shuddered as the force of the paper walls redirected it, causing it to divide. The arena shook as a cloud of frozen mist hissed from the cold surface of Todoroki’s attack.

[TODOROKI STARTS WITH A CRAZY ICE BLAST! BAKUGO SEEMS TO HAVE BEEN-WAIT! BAKUGO HAS SOMEHOW MANAGED TO PUSH THE ICE AWAY FROM HIMSELF!]

“Futon!”

A blast of air blew the mist away, revealing Haru, his right arm stretched out from when he created the wind. He slowly walked in Todoroki’s direction, his boots hitting the ground with a dull thud. His golden eyes burned in the bicolored-haired boy’s direction.

“My turn.”

Haru’s body flickered as he appeared directly in front of Todoroki.

“Eight Trigrams Air Palm!”

He slammed both palms into Todoroki’s body blasting the other boy away with a pressurized blast of air.

Todoroki was sent flying back quite a distance. He caught himself by creating ice underneath his feet to both cushion the fall and using it to skate away from the boundary line.

[WHOA! BAKUGO JUST USED THAT SAME MOVE MIDORIYA USED IN THE LAST ROUND AND NEARLY KNOCKED TODOROKI OUT OF BOUNDS! HAS TODOROKI MET HIS MATCH?]

“I see…” Todoroki said slowly as he got off his knee and stood up. “I thought Midoriya’s move was unusual for his style. You were the one who taught it to him, weren’t you?” his tone was calm and matter of fact.

Haru didn’t answer as his origami Rinkaku Kagune shot from his back and stabbed forward in a full-frontal ȧssault. Todoroki jumped to the side, deftly swiping his hand across two of the tentacles, freezing them. Haru clicked his tongue as the frozen Kagune broke and dispersed all four of them.

Todoroki slammed his hand on the ground, sending a smaller wave of ice in Haru’s direction. Haru’s body seemed to partially turn into paper as he swayed to the side, avoiding the attack. This turned out to be a ploy on Todoroki’s part as a chunk of ice shot backward toward the younger Bakugo’s exposed back. Much to everyone’s shock, Haru spun around and shattered the ice with a roundhouse kick.

‘So, he really can sense his surroundings…’ Todoroki thought.

Haru spread his arms, causing the paper around him to rise and take form as a pair of wings as he shouted, “Shikigami Dance: Waltz of the Flowers!”

He took to the air, his wings rustling as he moved.

Todoroki slammed a hand on the ground, sending up an ice pillar in the attempt to knock the redhead down. Haru spun away gracefully, evading the ice as he rose even higher from the ground. The air was filled with rustling as streams of paper followed Haru’s movements.

In the crowd, Izuku and All Might’s gasped in recognition, seeing the same motions Haru had practiced on the beach all those months. Only this time, the movements weren’t just Tai Chi.

Using a style no one had ever seen before, Haru’s figure performed a series of dancelike movements as he swayed, banked, and spun away from all ice pillars Todoroki sent his way as the audience watched in awe at the performance.

Realizing that he was simply wasting his time and energy trying to hit such a quick-moving target, Todoroki paused his attacks for a moment.

The instant he did, however, Haru turned to face his direction.

“Paper Shower!”

A multitude of origami blades rained down in a deadly storm as Todoroki was forced to hide himself behind his ice. This didn’t last long as it shattered under the continuous ȧssault.

Todoroki performed a diving roll as his ice blew apart. Sliding a hand along the ground he swung upward.

Haru grunted in surprise as a trio of icicles flew up towards him. Reacting on instinct, he created a second pair of wings that folded in front of him in a protective shield.

As it turned out, it was a good thing he did not try to directly touch those icicles. The instant the frozen spikes hit his wings a layer of frost spread across the papery surface.

Hoping to catch his opponent off guard, Todoroki slammed his hand to the ground creating a massive ice pillar directly underneath Haru’s floating figure, making it as wide as possible.

Haru senses the rising ice and opening all his wings he launched himself upward. As he moved, he began to spin, his wings deconstructing themselves and reforming into a disk-like platform under his feet.

“Improvised Move: Descending Red Lotus!”

With a slight nudge of his foot, he sent the rotating disk back towards the ground. As it fell, the disk expanded in width as the bottom shifted into a resemblance of a giant lotus flower, each petal sharpened into a steel-like blade.

Haru wasn’t finished, however, and in inhaled, “KATON!”

He blew downward, releasing a stream of fire from his mouth. The flames engulfed the lotus, wreathing it in fire.

Todoroki’s face was stunned as he watched the attack demolish the ice pillar he had created, the heated blades shredding it to slivers. He was forced to back up a short distance to avoid getting hit by the destruction.

As he did so, he shivered a little and used his left side to melt the frost that had formed on his body. He wasn’t refusing to use his flames in this match. True, he was reluctant to use them, he had refused to use them since he was five. Even if Izuku had helped him overcome his hatred towards his Quirk, change did not come overnight.

Haru was aware of this and knew that the only way to get Todoroki to actually use his fire was to give him a push.

But he was unsure how…

***

Izuku shot up from where he sat and gripped the guardrails, yelling at the top of his lungs, “COME ON TODOROKI! DON’T GIVE UP! DO YOUR BEST!”

***

Todoroki stiffened at the familiar voice. ‘Midoriya!’

A wave of fire blew away the cold in a heated blast. Causing a massive updraft.

Haru was sent somersaulting backward for a moment before recreating a single pair of wings to balance himself. Still finding himself rising dramatically, Haru created the Fueguchi One and swung it down, burying the tip into the cement of the arena as an anchor.

With his fighting spirit back at full throttle, Todoroki glared up at Haru’s levitating figure anger set in every line of his face. “I see your wings are not what make you fly. They act as your medium for attack and defense,” he raised his left arm. “In that case, I’ll burn them to cinders!”

Cementoss and Midnight gasped as they had the urge to stop the fight but stopped upon seeing Haru’s completely calm face.

“Paper Shower.”

Once again, a rain of paper blades rained down. Todorki’s eyes widened upon seeing that his flames were hardly affecting the paper. As a matter of fact, his flames were being completely kept at bay.

“Fire isn’t my weakness, Todoroki,” Haru stated matter of factly, “But I admit that even my paper can’t completely go unscathed against your heat.”

Gritting his teeth, Todoroki swung his arm, sending out a wide slash of fire in Haru’s direction. Haru swung the Fueguchi One in a wide slash attack, extinguishing the flames. Todoroki frowned as he noticed the weapon was only bearing a few scorch marks.

Taking a deep breath to calm himself down, Todoroki sent another burst of fire.

Haru whirled away, avoiding it completely. ‘Now he’s using his fire, but not his ice. What is he-‘

He jerked his head to the side narrowly avoiding several needle-like projectiles of ice fired from Todoroki’s fingers.

A slight trickle of blood flowed from the scratch left on Haru’s cheek.

Ignoring the slight wound, Haru raised an arm transforming the Fueguchi One into a series of shuriken.

“HAH!” he sent them hurtling down in a deadly flurry of spinning stars.

Todoroki raised a wall of ice to block the barrage before melting it and sending another stream of fire in Haru’s direction.

Haru dodged the flames, creating another wave of shuriken.

It was then the unthinkable happened.

To Haru’s horror, the weapons began to fall apart.

‘They’re soggy! How! Where did the water-‘ He glanced at the melting ice below him. ‘Don’t tell me… The ice!’

While the pair had been fighting, the heat from Todoroki’s fire had caused the ice to melt. Instead of just becoming a liquid, the water had evaporated into vapor as the surrounding heat had risen. As a result, thanks to the amount of ice on the arena, the air had become extremely humid, causing Haru’s paper, which had also been supplied from the surrounding area, to slowly absorb the moisture without Haru noticing.

Now, thanks to this, Haru’s origami was now rendered practically useless.

Todoroki narrowed his eyes thoughtfully at Haru’s alarmed expression as he noticed that not only the shuriken but Haru’s wings begin to fall apart.

“Your weakness is water.”

Haru couldn’t help but flinch, slightly agitated that his secret trump card had been exposed by accident.

He kept his cool, however, “Guess that means a change in tactics.”

Haru tucked his wings close to his body and divebombed directly as Todoroki.

The other teen was bȧrėly able to jump back in time as Haru somersaulted, slamming his heel into the ground. The cement cracked under the force of the blow.

Haru jumped back, weaving hand signs. ‘This is not perfected yet, but…’ He inhaled. ‘Fire Style: Misty Flames Dance!’ He placed his thumb and index finger to his mouth and blew out a misty-looking cloud in Todoroki’s direction.

Seeing such a widespread attack, Todoroki swung his left arm, letting out a wave of fire to ward it off. This turned out to be a mistake, however. The instant Todoroki’s flames touched the air, the gas Haru had blown ignited into a blinding inferno.

[THIS IS INSANE! BOTH TODOROKI AND BAKUGO HAVE BOTH PULLED OUT THE STOPS AND ARE FIGHTING FIRE WITH FIRE!] Mic screamed as the area lit up from the firelight.

Todoroki wasn’t harmed from the heat, having used his right side to keep himself from getting burned, but his vision was blurry from the sudden light that had blown up in his face.

He blinked.

As he opened his eyes, he saw Haru burst through the flames, his leg swinging around in a kick.

Todoroki swayed back, feeling the air from Haru’s kick against his face. Moving quickly, he caught Haru’s arm with one hand and gripped the front of Haru’s shirt with the other.

Haru’s eyes widened in surprise before his body was easily lifted up and slammed into a nearby ice pillar that Todoroki had created.

In his panic, Haru charged up a massive amount of chakra into his arm.

‘Raiton!’

With a shriek, a burst of electricity appeared on Haru’s palm and he chopped his arm in Todoroki’s direction. The flickering light reflected in Todoroki’s blue and grey eyes as Haru swung at him.

Haru suddenly realized that if that attack hit, he couldn’t guarantee Todoroki would walk away without a massive injury. Not wanting a repeat of what happen with Jiro, he snapping his wrist away, clamping his hand over the lighting, snuffing it out.

Todoroki swung Haru’s body over his head and into the ground.

Haru’s felt several ribs crack from the force as his back slammed into the cement. He coughed, spitting out saliva from the force of the blow.

Todoroaki cautiously stepped away, his ċhėst heaving from the amount of energy he had used up so far. Even when balancing his Quirk, it was still exhausting.

Midnight started to raise her hand, thinking Haru might be out for the count.

Haru slowly opened his eyes. Raising his head slightly, his golden orbs flickering to glance at Todoroki’s face. For a moment, the two boys stared at each other, neither wanting to end the fight.

Haru blew out a long breath, letting this head fall back as his eyes closed. His body slowly began to dissolve into multiple white buŧŧerflies that scattered around the arena.

Todoroki tensed as he looked around, unsure if Haru was going to try a sneak attack.

“You know, you are the first person to notice two of my worst weaknesses,” Haru voice commented behind him.

Todoroki turned around to see Haru’s body slowly reformed to reveal the redhead, nursing his injured side. The hand held against his side was glowing green as he used the healing chakra of the Mystical Palm to give himself rudimentary first aid.

Todoroki’s blue and grey eyes met Haru’s in an emotionless stare, “I didn’t notice until I picked you up. You are really light.”

Haru grimaced in annoyance, “Don’t rub it in. Turning into paper might be convenient but somehow it also made me freakishly light.”

[BOTH CONTESTANTS ARE STILL STANDING! BUT WHAT’S THIS? THEY ARE AT A STANDSTILL!]

[Their previous moves proved ineffective to end the battle so they’re trying to strategize a new plan.]

[OOOOOOO!]

Ignoring the commentary, Haru pulled his hand from his side, “I may be light, but as you know, I can throw quite a kick.”

The ground crumbled under his feet as he shot forward, sending out a small shock wave. Todoroki raised an arm, blocking the kick. He tried grabbing his opponent’s leg but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his shoulder as Haru’s other foot slammed into him.

“Sorry! I won’t fall for that again!”

Todoroki stumbled back a few steps. Haru flipped back, landing on his feet. Both boys were breathing hard now, knowing they were nearing their present limit.

They needed to end this fight quickly.

Todoroki ran toward Haru, both hands ready to strike out with either heat or cold. Haru ran to meet him, his body braced to bring a series of devastating kicks to Todoroki’s upper body.

Todoroki flexed his arms in preparation to block.

To his confusion, Haru’s figure seemingly disappeared. Before he could discover where the redhead had gone, Todoroki felt a stunning force hit his ċhėst before he found himself flying into the air. In that split second, he saw Haru, his hands pressed against the ground to anchor himself as he had driven his leg to the center of his opponent’s ċhėst.

‘He tricked me into thinking he’d attack me from above when he was really aiming from below!’

Haru’s body flickered from sight and he appeared directly above the still airborne Todoroki. With a flying kick, Haru spun around, slammed his foot into Todoroki’s body, sending him back to the ground.

Still keeping his presence of mind, Todoroki hit the ground rolling, managing to use the momentum of his fall to push himself back up. While he was still sliding, he created ice under his feet, skating in a semicircle around Haru.

Haru pressed both fists to his left hip, creating an origami katana with remnants of his dry paper. With a sudden burst of speed shot away, avoiding the many icicles Todoroki had fired from his fingertips. The two boys circled each other all across the arena, Todoroki skating across his ice and Haru using his chakra to run along all surfaces. Todoroki would fire small amounts of ice or fire and with a flick of his blade, Haru would deflect it.

After several exchanges, Todoroki suddenly had a crazy idea. ‘If water is his weakness, I just need to find a way to keep him wet. I am able to create ice, but it doesn’t affect him unless I melt it. If I can find a way to-‘

The dual-quirked boy cupped his hands together, forming a chunk of ice the size of a softball. Pointing it in Haru’s direction, he used his fire to shoot it in the younger Bakugo’s direction.

Haru saw the ball coming and with a skillful slice, cut it in half. The ice shattered to reveal its outer layer was only a vessel. Todoroki had used his heat to melt the inside of the ice ball and his cold to preserve the outer shell. Liquid splashed all over Haru’s katana causing a few sheets of paper to peel off.

Haru clenched his teeth as he sensed Todoroki shoot another sphere at him.

Skidding to a halt, Haru swung the katana in a horizontal arc, cutting the second orb in half scattering the water into a glittering stream.

“Suiton!”

Letting go of the blade, Haru telekinetically grabbed the water as it fell, hovering it over his hand. Weaving it in a compact stream he swung down, destroying the third sphere Todoroki had fired at him.

His breath now coming out in ragged gasps, Haru gave Todoroki a long look, “You’re a tough opponent when you go all out.”

He looked at the ice traveling across the arena from Todoroki’s feet to his legs that here now trapped in ice.

[TODOROKI HAS FROZEN BAKUGO IN PLACE AND HAS HIM AT HIS MERCY!]

Todoroki’s breath came out in a frozen cloud, “You puts up a worthy fight. Thank you.”

He raised his left arm, sending a wall of fire in Haru’s direction.

Haru spread his arms, palms facing opposite directions, “Shikigami Dance!

A tornado of paper rose from the ground rotating at a blinding speed. The fire hit the tornado and fused to create a fiery cyclone.

Todoroki’s eyes widened. ‘He still has that much paper in reserve?’ He took a deep breath. ‘This is the last move. If this doesn’t work, there is no way I can win!’

The stadium shook as a wave of ice erupted from the ground threatening to outsize all of Todoroki’s previous attacks in the festival so far. It moved slower than most of the others, but the scale was so large there was no chance of dodging it.

“Futon!”

The tornado scattered in a blast of wind. The fire and paper dispersing to the surrounding air.

Haru amber-colored eyes glinted upon seeing the approaching attack.

With only seconds to spare, Haru’s hand blurred at inhuman speed. He ended the sequence as he pressed both wrists together and thrusting both hands forward.

“Shikigami Dance: Zennyo Ryuo!”[1]

If those watching had been terrified at the scale of Todoroki’s attack, Haru’s Jutsu would have done little to comfort them. The landscape behind him was stripped bȧrė as it was sacrificed to create a maelstrom of paper.

With a blood-chilling roar, a massive dragon formed around Haru’s hands, growing in length as it shot towards the oncoming glacier.

A thunderous shockwave boomed across the stadium as the two offensive attacks hit.

The ice buckled under the force of the dragon’s charge and spiderwebbed cracks formed across its frozen surface.

With the sound like that of shattering glass, the glacier exploded into hundreds of pieces as the dragon rammed through.

Seeing the monstrous white creature heading in his direction, Todoroki didn’t even bother to defend himself.

The dragon hit the arena directly in front of him, sending the teen flying backward.

The clouds of mist and dust clouded the audience’s vision for a moment.

Midnight’s voice pealed out across the speakers, [Todoroki’s out of bounds! Bakugo proceeds to the final round!]

The mist cleared, revealing Todoroki sprawled on his back, still fully conscious but unable to move.

Haru sank to one knee, nursing his injured side.

The audience went insane.

[WHAT THE FREAKING HELL? I DONT THINK I CAN HANDLE THIS LEVEL OF INSANITY!] Mic was nearly hoarse from the level of screaming he was doing.

From where he sat next to the DJ, Aizawa flinched in pain as he blinked owlishly.

***

[1] Zennyo Ryuo is a god of rain in Japanese lore who is often depicted as a dragon.

***

Kaminari has a blank look on his face, “You know, realizing we were not that close to winning actually makes me feel better about losing.”

Jiro popped a vein and rammed her earphone jacks into Kaminari’s ear, “Shut up.”

Mineta was trembling in his seat, “Class Rep is so…”

“Scary, we know,” Sero deadpanned.

Mineta stood up in his seat, “HE’S SO COOL!”

Everyone’s brains short-circuited, “HUH?”

Mineta wiped an arm across his eyes, “He’s just stares everything in the face and meets it head-on! He’s just overflowing with so much charisma and power!”

Tsuyu tilted her head in, “Wow, I never would have thought Mineta admired Haru so much.”

Mineta gripped his head, “I can’t even feel jealous,” he raised his head, revealing bloodshot eyes, “WHY DO I FELL THAT’S WRONG?”

Yaoyorozu put a hand to her mouth as she hid a disgusted look, “For a moment I thought he was changing for the better somehow, but I gave him too much credit.”

The other girl nodded in agreement.

***

(Later at Hosu City…)

Blood dripped from the battle-scarred katana wielded by a dark-haired figure as he crouched on a nearby building, eyeing the police as they worked to keep citizens away from the injured Ingenium while the hero was being ferried into an ambulance.

The man ran his abnormally long tongue across his bloody sword, “You haven’t even noticed it have you? This warped society mired by hypocrisy… and vanity. That’s fine, I’ll open your eyes, heroes. You’ll see the world that you’ve created.”

He placed over at a nearby news screen watching the overview of the remaining contestants of the UA sports festival. It seemed the semi-finals had ended, leaving two contestants to face off in the final round.

A glint appeared in his eyes upon recognizing one of the finalists.

‘So those boys went to UA.’ The anti-hero fixedly watched the replay of key moments in Haru and Katsuki’s fights to that point. ‘The blonde boy is quite interesting but seems to have been tainted by this cursed society. A pity, but not a lost cause. He seems to care more about winning instead of popularity.’ Stain’s expression became thoughtful as he studied Haru’s expression during his fights. ‘It’s almost the same with this one. So, focused on winning, yet he radiates a gentle calm. Haruko Bakugo… what is your goal as a hero?’

Suddenly, moving at a blurring speed, Stain swung his katana behind him in a deadly arc.

The blade sank harmlessly through Kurogiri’s portal.

“Please, remain calm,” the villain’s deep voice was respectfully commanding. “We are of the same mind. I have been searching for you, hero killer Stain. I heard of your exploits and want to meet you in person. I think you may be interested in what I have to offer.”

Stain narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

“What offer?”