---

Tsuyu felt excited, but also a bit nervous about Izumi´s fight.

"Hehe, you two are really cute, you know?" Ochako giggled.

"Excuse me?"

"You were the one who told Izumi-chan not to worry, but now look at yourself! Completely worried for her! You are really adorable!"

She blushed. "No comment. Kero."

"Cute!"

"Argh!" They heard Katsuki gag as he walked to his seat, an apologetic Mina on tow. "You are doing that on purpose to make puke, right, you bastards?!" He was nonchalant despite the multiple bandages covering his arms.

"That would be funny to see," answered Ochako with a fake innocent expression.

"The fuck it would! Why the heck do we even have to sit all together like this?!" He seemed truly offended about having them exist around him. "And to make it worse, now I have to endure the most boring fight of this entire thing. Dammit!"

She frowned. "Boring? Why?" She kinda was expecting him to go on and on about how Izumi was going to lose spectacularly against Eijiro. "Weren't you supporting Kirishima-chan?"

"Of course fucking not! And if you don't get why this will suck then you don't know shit."

"Girls, don't mind him," said Mina in a slightly awkward tone, trying to test the waters after hurting Katsuki during their fight. "He still doesn't realize being all tsundere doesn't work for him."

Ochako snorted, causing Katsuki to glare at her. "Just so you get it in your tiny brains, in a one on one fight shitty-hair is basically just a glorified unbreakable shield, he can't do shit besides tanking damage and brawl like a fucking gorilla. While Deku is the shittier glass-canon on world history. So she will wreck herself after a while, or in the best of cases, they´ll just kill each other and make me a favor."

"See, 100% tsun-tsun."

"THE FUCK I AM!"

Tsuyu chose to ignore him and waited for the start of the fight. There was no point in trying to correct Katsuki´s misconceptions, not when he expected the worst of Izumi.

He had to see it with his own eyes; how much Izumi had grown since they fought each other.

(…)

"AFTER THE AMAZING SPECTACLE THAT WAS THE LAST ENCOUNTER, WE ARE BACK WITH ANOTHER OF THE FAVORITES! THE WINNER OF THE FIRST ROUND, WHOSE QUIRK HAS NOT SHOWN ALL ITS POTENTIAL YET, ALL MIGHT´S NO.1 FANGIRL, IZUMI MIDORIYA!"

"W-wait, what?!" whimpered the green-haired girl.

"VERSUS A TRUE MAN OF MEN, BOTH THE SPEAR AND THE SHIELD, HARDENING MORE THAN ANY OTHER MAN HAS EVER HARDENED BEFORE, PUTTING THE HARDON HAR−!"

"Please don't make jokes like that. Kids are watching this."

"Okay, party-pooper. IT´S EIJIRO KIRISHIMA! NOW− BEGIN!"

Izumi waited for Eijiro to make the first move, but it didn't seem as if that was going to happen any time soon.

"You know, Midoriya? When they first announced we were going to fight… I was kinda scared," the guy confessed.

"Scared…? O-of me?!" She couldn't believe it. "Why w-would you?"

"Why wouldn't I?" He was smiling, but there was a bit of self-deprecation in his voice. "I mean, you are you! You have a really cool Quirk and are really manly yourself. Meanwhile, I can only do this." His arm hardened, acquiring some rough edges. "See, nothing impressive."

The idea that someone with a Quirk would feel inferior in any kind of way compared to her would be so ridiculous for the Quirkless Izumi of a year ago… It was still quite weird even now, but she could at least understand the reason behind it. It was something she had realized very recently:

Having a Quirk doesn't make you special.

As hypocritical as it could sound at first, the fact was that having a strong ability didn't change the fact you could still be an unhappy person with a lot of difficulties in life… As it was the case with Shoto.

"That's wrong! Your Quirk is amazing and you too, Kirishima-san!"

"Eh? T-thanks. Didn't expect that." The guy scratched the back of his head in embarrassment. "Anyway, my point is -right now- I feel a lot better. After seeing how cool everyone has been, I realized it would be totally unmanly if I just gave up because I felt nervous. So let's do our best, okay?!" The guy extended his arms to her.

Such a gesture in any other person would make her doubt or be really careful, but she knew Eijiro was a truly honest guy. "Okay!" They bumped fists and observed each other attentively, like gun-fighters waiting to see who would try to shoot first.

Ultimately, they moved at the same time, but it was Izumi who got the first hit.

"10% - DETROIT SMASH!" Her charged punch connected straight to the center of Eijiro´s chest. For the inexpert eye, her attack probably looked the same as when she fought against Katsuki, but it wasn't.

Against her old friend, she had simply accumulated energy on her fist and freed it all at once like an explosion. It was brutish, but the only thing she could do at the time.

But now, even if only by an instant, she used her entire body to attack, the energy flowing through it resulting in a perfect punch that used AFO in an effective way.

And yet, except for pushing Eijiro back one or two meters, it didn't make him much damage.

"I knew it! Y-you really pack a punch, Midoriya!" Practically ignoring her attack, he closed their distance and threw a barrage of punches at her.

She dodged easily, thanks to her opponent being clearly slower, but that wasn't much of a relief. Not after he tanked one of her stronger attacks so easily.

"You got tougher, Kirishima-san!" She knew he was resistant, but not to THIS extent.

"Right?! That's all thanks to Baku-Bro! Even if he always won when we fought, I still got a lot better!"

She immediately paled, understanding the situation.

Eijiro was probably the only person capable of taking Katsuki´s attacks without getting hurt, while instead, he got beneficiated by it. Those two were perfect training buddies for each other.

"15% - DETROIT SMASH!" The instant Eijiro showed an opening she struck him a second time, this time at his ribs.

It barely moved him from his place. But it sure made her fingers ache terribly.

"Gotcha!" He managed to catch her retreating arm. But before he could do anything else, she swung her body forward and threw a charged kick at his jaw, making him to let her go. "Oof, I g-guess I don't."

She jumped back, increasing the distance between them.

This was bad. After her training, she was able to use OFA without worrying about breaking her limbs even after a dozen of attacks. But that didn't matter if Eijiro could just block them all. So hitting him right now was like hitting a mountain.

It sure felt like that.

Such a situation forced her to consider her options. And she only found two:

The path of strength. By using OFA at her max -safe- output, Izumi believed she should be able to defeat Eijiro… Probably.

But she would completely burn herself out in her very first fight.

The path of speed. By using her new technique, she should be able to fight for a bit longer.

But not only she would use the ace under her sleeve before time, she wasn't even sure if it would be effective. After all, she was already faster than Eijiro. What good would it be to get even faster, if her attacks went also weaker in exchange? Besides, even now she couldn't keep that for long without feeling the strain in her muscles.

No. None of those would work. At this rate, she would end up losing or winning but being too weakened to continue.

So she just kept dodging Eijiro´s attacks, not knowing what else to do.

"Come on, Midoriya!" Feeling consumed by the excitement of their battle, Eijiro ripped his shirt off. "Let´s fight with everything!"

And then she saw them: The small cracks produced by her previous attacks, and she had a realization.

It was just like she thought, Eijiro was a mountain, and you couldn't punch or kick a mountain -OBVIOUSLY. And wind -like OFA- could wear the mountain down, but only over a REALLY long time… Time she hadn't.

But what she could do, was to drill a hole through the mountain and blow it by setting explosives inside -as scary as that metaphor sounded while applied to her current situation.

So she unclenched her fist, and the next time Eijiro showed an opening, she made her move.

Using only about 1-2% of One For All, she jabbed him in the chest -in the same section, she punched him the first time- with her index and middle finger. It was a really fast movement, but so light that she could probably repeat it for hours without repercussions. And with his hardening, it probably wasn't even painful for Eijiro.

That would play in her favor.

"Eh? What are you planning, Midoriya?" He tried a strike at her head, but she dove under it and jabbed him again, in the same exact point.

"I´ll win!"

"Darn right! Then show me what you got!"

Dodge, jab, dodge, jab, dodge…

It was almost rhythmic.

And even if Eijiro realized her plan, he couldn't do anything to stop her.

Jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge, dodge, jab, dodge…

He couldn't effectively protect himself, no matter how he tried. She only needed an instant, less than a second, to jab him twice or more times.

"I shouldn't have taken my shirt off! It's freezing!"

It was subtle, but it was there. With each jab, the crack in his chest grew and made itself deeper and deeper.

Jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab…

"You are really amazing, Midoriya! You are so fast it´s hard to keep up!"

It didn't matter that she wasn't using much strength. The damage was growing because she was concentrating all her attacks in a small single point, slowly meeting the threshold of how much force Eijiro´s skin could resist.

Dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, jab, dodge, jab, jab, dodge …

Because he could be a mountain… But only on the outside. And she could break that outside.

´NOW!´

"DETROIT SMASH!" She punched at the weakened point, and unlike her previous attacks, the strength behind it didn't just go past the mountain, it pierced through it, making all of Eijiro´s hardened skin to crack at the same time.

And then, with his armor disabled, the remaining force of her smash blasted him away.

"Eijiro Kirishima is out of bounds! Izumi Midoriya is the winner!"

"OKAY! THAT WAS UNEXPECTED! I really thought rock-boy was going to take the victory!"

"Just strength isn't enough. You need to know how to apply it too."

Sweating and breathing in slight exhaustion, she went to make sure Eijiro was fine.

He didn't look fine at all.

"K-Kirishima-san…" She expected to find sadness or anger in his expression, but no. Despite the pain and defeat, he was still smiling.

"M-Midoriya, t-that w-was… R-really m-manly..." He was making no attempts of getting back on his feet. Actually, he seemed barely able to speak at the moment. "W-we should spar one of these d-days… If y-you aren't busy…"

"T-that…" She shook her head. "Yes, that would be nice." He nodded slightly, as he was taken away on a stretcher.

She sighed while flexing her slightly bloodied fist. It was difficult, but she did it.

One step in the right direction. Now, she only needed to continue like that.

She was going to make it. Show everyone that she was there.

(…)

Meanwhile, on the stands.

"Yay, Izumi-chan! Well done!"

"That was awfully intense, Kero."

Just as Izumi was declared the winner, Ochako turned Katsuki with the intention of making fun of him and his wrong prediction. But she went silent after seeing his expression.

She expected him to be surprised, or incredulous, or -like always- simply pissed off at Izumi´s victory. But he wasn't.

He looked… calm.

Too calm for the kind of person she knew he was.

"See, fucking boring." But despite his words, something in his eyes told the contrary.

And Ochako found herself noticing that when he wasn't angry like a rabid animal and his face relaxed like that… He looked kind of nice.

Ochako almost slapped herself after thinking something so utterly ridiculous and threw that thought on the deepest part of her mind possible.

"Hey, going to make Kiri some company, want to come?" Mina asked him, a recovered Kaminari along with her.

Ochako expected that would finally set Katsuki off, but it didn't. "Why fucking not? Soy-face will win if he knows what is good for him." They stood up and exited the stands.

"Huh. Bakugo was acting kind of weird, right?" she said to Tsuyu.

The frog girl tilted her head. "Really? Didn't notice."

"Eh?"

She wasn't the only one that notice, right?

She looked around, and the rest of her classmates were too busy talking to each other to have been paying close attention to the blond.

So yeah, apparently she was the only one who did.

´Dammit!´

(…)

When Izumi returned to the stands, she saw her friends waiting for her.

"Are you fine, Izumi-chan?"

"Y-yeah. Don't worry about me, girls. I'm okay." She smiled. Her plan had saved her a lot of energy, so she should be fine for her next combat.

"So now is the turn of Sero-kun and that scary-looking guy, right?" asked Ochako.

"Yeah. His name was Shinso, kero." She looked at Izumi. "And he is dangerous."

"Uh?" That was a peculiar thing to say. "You w-were in his team along with Ojiro-san and Aoyama-san, right, Tsu?" Tsuyu nodded. "I really didn't see much of any of you during the cavalry."

"That's normal. We weren't after the Ten Million Points, after all. But that's not the important part, Izumi-chan." She lifted an eyebrow in curiosity. "I made sure of telling Sero-chan about that guy´s Quirk, so he should win. But assuming he doesn't..."

"T-then, I'll have to fight Shinso next."

Tsuyu nodded. "So, just in case, I should tell you while I can… I'm not completely sure of how, but he can control people." Both Izumi and Ochako flinched. "Before the cavalry started, he approached and asked me to join his team. I tried to tell him no, and then he used his Quirk on me. Suddenly, I stopped being able to control my own actions, and my memory of the whole thing is really fuzzy."

"So he spoke to you, and it j-just happened?"

"Not exactly. I was in the middle of telling him I wanted to join your team instead, when he took control, kero."

She started to think of the implications. Was his Quirk automatic? Did Hitoshi simply will it for Tsuyu to follow his orders? Or did Tsuyu somehow triggered his Quirk?

"Izumi-chan, what does that mean?" asked Ochako.

"I… I guess we´ll find out."

(…)

"THIS IS A PECULIAR OCCASION! YOU ARE ABOUT TO WATCH THE FIGHT NO ONE WAS EXPECTING OR ASKING FOR! THE BATTLE OF NON-DESCRIPTS! WHO´LL WIN?! THE BORING-LOOKING LORD OF TAPE FROM CLASS 1-A, HANTA SERO!"

"Man, that was kinda mean," said Hanta.

"OR THE FORGETTABLE STUDENT FROM THE GENERAL DEPARTMENT, THE UNKNOWN VARIABLE, and my dear co-host love-child−"

"Hey. Don't say outrageous things people can actually take seriously," hissed Eraserhead.

"HITOSHI SHINSO!"

Despite the slightly insulting words directed at him, Hitoshi seemed perfectly okay with it as he basked in the public´s attention.

"START!"

"So non-descript, huh?" Hitoshi snorted. "I didn't ask to be grouped with the likes of you−" The purple-haired boy barely managed to dodge the tape his opponent shot at him. "Rude. No one taught you not to attack someone while they are speaking. Now apologize!" Hanta didn't. Instead, he kept attacking, and Hitoshi was having a lot of trouble keeping on.

At that point, while looking at the serious expression on his opponent's face, it was obvious for Hitoshi that Hanta wasn't going to answer to his words. Obviously Hanta knew how his Quirk worked, but who told him? Was it the monkey, the frenchie, or the frog…? Or someone else entirely?

"Tape, what stupidly unrefined Quirk, don't ever think you'll−" Suddenly a roll of tape wrapped around Hitoshi´s foot, and Hanta pulled it, making his opponent fall on his back roughly. "AAARRGGHH!" Hitoshi screamed in incredible pain, with enough intensity that most of the public flinched and started to murmur in worry.

Hanta wasn't the exception. "D-dude, are you fine−?!"

And that was it. Hanta´s eyes dulled and he stopped moving.

"Naïve idiot." Hitoshi ripped the tape off his leg and stood up. He gave no signs of having any pain or injuries. "We are competing. If you were worried about my wellbeing, you should have waited until after being declared the winner. Now, learn your lesson and walk outside the platform." And that's exactly what Hanta did.

"Hitoshi Shinso is the winner!"

"Eh? What?" Getting the control of his body back, the black-haired boy looked around, not really understanding how he lost.

"EH?! WHAT THE HECK DID JUST HAPPENED?!"

"Stop acting as if you don't know how Shinso´s Quirk works. It´s a waste of time."

"Man, don't take the tension out of things…"

(…)

Everyone on the stands was equally incredulous and confused about what occurred.

Everyone, except for Izumi.

"He can't use his Quirk automatically. It needs to be triggered by his target answering to his words!"

"He didn't exactly talk, though. He only screamed, faking an injurie!" said Ochako, feeling indignant that Hitoshi had tricked one of her classmates like that.

"Apparently, that´s enough, kero… Just as I thought, he is a dangerous opponent. And is not only his Quirk, he is also a truly manipulative person. So be careful, Izumi-chan."

She gulped and nodded. Now, she fully knew how his Quirk operated, so she should be fine… But it was the same with Hanta, and he still lost.

As much as she tried, Izumi couldn't but feel worried about her next fight.

(…)

The girls wished Tenya good luck and waited for the start of the fight.

Taking a look at Tsuyu, Izumi noticed the frog girl looked bit gloomy.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." But she and Ochako knew that wasn't the truth.

"Your fight will be the next, Tsuyu-chan. Are you getting nervous too?"

"No, I'm not. I know I'll win against that girl." By the hostility in her voice, they knew Tsuyu was truly confident about it. "But I'm uncertain about what will happen after that."

"Um, you mean your second opponent?" By the arrangement of the matches, if Tsuyu won, her second fight would be against whoever wins between Iida and Todoroki…

´Oh´.

"Kero," Tsuyu nodded, noticing the recognition in her eyes. "I feel kind of bad about wanting Iida to win just because it benefits me, but if he loses..."

Izumi looked down, not sure what to say.

The situation had gotten awkward and Ochako didn't understand why. "I don't get it! What's the problem?"

Tsuyu smiled bitterly. "I'm a frog, Ochako-chan. Frogs don't do well in the cold."

(…)

"AND A CLASH OF TITANS IS INCOMING, PEOPLE! TWO PARTICIPANTS FROM TWO FAMOUS HERO FAMILIES! THE SON OF THE FIRE-HERO ENDEAVOR, THE DUAL QUIRKED MARVEL, SHOTO TODOROKI! AND THE YOUNGER BROTHER OF THE TURBO-HERO INGENIUM, THE HUMAN ROBOT, TENYA IIDA! WHO'LL WIN?! I-HAVE-NO-IDEA!"

Just being related to Endeavor in his presentation had ruffled Shoto in the wrong way, and Tenya had no idea how bad that was for him.

"Let's have an honorable fight and make our families proud!" Tenya extended a hand at Shoto, but the other boy just glared at him.

"SO LET'S FIND OUT− NOW!"

Not wasting time, Shoto sent an iceberg towards Tenya.

The speedster dodged to the right with ease and advanced towards his opponent, only to be blocked by a second ice attack.

A movement to the left let Tenya with an iceberg on each side. But not fearing the ensured frontal attack, he kept running forwards.

Shoto didn't disappoint and sent a gigantesque blast of ice to finish him off.

The dark-haired boy jumped to the ice structure on his right and with a kick, launched himself over Shoto´s attack. Taking advantage of his fall to aim a guillotine kick at his opponent.

Seeing the attack coming, Shoto skated out of the way and shot some ice spikes to intercept Tenya, but his foot smashed easily through them, and after a second to recover from his landing, the taller boy was ready to keep going.

Shoto was quite annoyed already, and left his right-side be covered by a very thin layer of frost, the air around him freezing. "I'll finish this quick." And sent attack after attack towards Tenya.

Not having where to escape -with ice blocking the path behind him-, Tenya could only go forwards. "RECIPRO BURST!" He destroyed the masses of ice and rushed to his opponent.

But just reaching Shoto didn't mean anything. After all, Shoto had a better maneuverability in short distances. So it was easy for him to just dodge at the last moment and keep Tenya at a safe distance by spamming his Quirk.

And for about a minute, -just like Shoto´s hair- the probabilities of victory for each combatant seemed 50-50. But they truly weren't.

Shoto sent a humongous ice attack intending to freeze Tenya. Again.

And Tenya moved to smash it with his special-move and reach Shoto to kick him out. Again.

Shoto was the one to succeed.

"RECIPRO− w-wha−?!" Just at the middle of his attack, Tenya´s speed abandoned him, and unable to defend himself, ice covered his body. "H-how…?" He tried to escape, but it was impossible.

Shoto just looked at him. Any previous hostility had disappeared. "I'm sorry. It seems the inside of your engines froze."

It was that simple, really. The combat had lasted about two minutes, which was exactly the time Tenya´s engines needed to succumb to the cold air.

So if he the young speedster ever had a real possibility of victory, it was under that couple of minutes. Like a race against time.

And this time, not even his speed helped him.

"Because his opponent can't move, Shoto Todoroki is the winner!"

(…)

Izumi was worried for Tsuyu.

Her best friend couldn't take her eyes from the mountains of ice that covered the battle the frog girl was supposed to deal with that if she won her first combat…

"Tsu." She held her hand tightly. "It will be fine."

Tsuyu looked at her. "I know, kero. I'm not worried about it, I'm just thinking. In any case, the one I have to fight right now isn't Todoroki-chan, but that girl. I have no idea what she'll try to do, but I'll win, anyway, kero."

Izumi smiled, seeing her friend was being positive, after all. She looked tense, though.

That girl. Setsuna Tokage.

Izumi could remember how weirdly affectionate the lizard girl had been to her before, just like Tsuyu was. But unlike the frog girl, Setsuna made her kind of uncomfortable for some reason.

Meanwhile, having Tsuyu around made her feel… Safe. And she wanted to make Tsuyu feel like that too.

"Y-yeah, you will." Ignoring her embarrassment, she hugged Tsuyu. "G-good luck!" If hugging each other felt as good for Tsuyu as it felt for her, then it should help her relax. And considering the way Tsuyu seemed to melt in her embrace, it was working.

"T-thank you, Izumi-chan. I better should be going, kero." Tsuyu separated from her slowly and Izumi liked what she saw.

Tsuyu was a cute girl, but Izumi was just realizing how much cuter she looked when she let her emotions show on her face.

(…)

"THIS WILL BE A BATTLE OF GREEN AND COLD BLOOD! ON ONE SIDE, THE AMPHIBIAN QUEEN, TSUYU ASUI FROM CLASS 1-A! IN THE OTHER, DIVIDING AND CONQUERING, SETSUNA TOKAGE FROM CLASS 1-B!"

"You seem really mad at me," said Setsuna. "So what then? Did you decided to accept the bet, after all?"

Tsuyu simply kept glaring at her.

"LET´S BEGIN!"

Setsuna´s split in half just as Tsuyu tried to strike at her using her tongue, and joined back immediately after. "Okay. I guess that's a no."

She jumped at Setsuna, aiming a kick at her body. But the girl simply divided into various pieces and slipped out of the way.

"I'm very good at dodging. You'll need to try harder."

And that's exactly what she did.

She started shooting her tongue around like a whip, but Setsuna kept dodging and dividing to escape unharmed. Nothing she did seemed even close to reaching her.

"I think about thirty seconds have passed since our fight started. So what about this? I'll keep on defending just for another thirty seconds to give you an opportunity." She smiled smugly. "As you can see, I'm a really nice person."

"I wouldn't describe you as nice, kero." Tsuyu kept rushing at Setsuna and attacking her over and over but it was useless. She had underestimated how much of an advantage Setsuna had for being able to basically fly.

If this were a scenario like she being a pro-hero and Setsuna a villain, the lizard girl would have escaped eons ago. It annoyed her to accept it, but it was the result of a bad Quirk compatibility. So unless Setsuna messed up big, things didn't seem good for her.

Everything was about to change, though.

"Okay, the thirty seconds are up. Gonna give up, Frogger?"

As her expression soured in indignation, Setsuna´s body floated in the air, only leaving her feet on the ground.

Tsuyu tried to pull her back, but the lizard girl was too high up for even her tongue to reach.

"Hmm, you are really stubborn. That's something I can respect. However, I need to get serious and take off the child´s gloves already. So try to keep up, okay?" And then Setsuna´s body started to split over and over.

It was a quite disturbing scene; and after only a couple of seconds, the girl was divided into fifty (50) pieces. The only one that wasn't split beyond recognition was her head.

00/50

"This is my special-move. I call it ´Body Carnival´. Hope you enjoy it!" All the body parts rained upon Tsuyu and she had to jump back to avoid being hit, but they immediately changed their course and rushed towards her again.

They were so fast, she was forced to block as they collided against her body one after another. It hurt, but she endured, until a foot bounced and hit the back of her head, making her fall on the ground.

Trying to avoid being hit while she was defenseless, Tsuyu rolled sideways. But when she got on her feet again and looked around, she knew everything was wrong.

"Now you are trapped. Let's see how much you can last."

01/50

Tsuyu was surrounded by Setsuna.

She jumped out of the way of her fist, just to be hit on the stomach by a part of her leg. And then blocked a piece of her torso, just to be tripped by a piece of her abdomen.

It was like being trapped inside a twister, being constantly hit by all the things flying around in total chaos.

04/50

So this was Setsuna´s super-move.

"Be sincere, am I cool or what?"

05/50

"You are annoying, kero." That was the absolute truth, but the fact her opponent liked so much the sound of her own voice could be a good thing. Because she had already an idea of how to defeat Setsuna but needed more time to make it work.

So she had to keep the conversation going as she tried -and mostly failed- to dodge.

6/50

"Come on, Frogger! Don't be a bad loser. Accept it, I'm amazing! But I have to be sincere too; this wasn't exactly what I expected."

"What about it?"

10/50

"The difference in power levels, of course."

"Kero?"

"You know I'm a recommended student, right?"

That caught her by surprise. "I d-didn't." Unfortunately, getting distracted in her situation meant being hit in the ribs.

12/50

"Just like my classmate Honenuki -the one without lips- and that chick with huge boobs from your class. We all got recommended because we have really amazing Quirks we can use in a creative way, not necessarily for beingstrong in combat... But then you have Endeavor junior and his Quirk, which completely breaks that mold."

Just for a moment, Tsuyu saw no obstacles in front of her. So she jumped, intending to escape from Setsuna´s technique.

14/50

"Not going to happen!" Rushing in front of her, Setsuna head-butted her back to the center of her Body Carnival. "You won't escape, I designed this technique specifically with this tournament in mind, so I made it impossible to escape. Now be a good girl and listen… Where was I?"

16/50

"T-Todoroki-chan?"

"Yeah, him… Not to offend him, but he is a monster. Too OP compared to about 80% of us, the first-years."

18/50

"So I doubt I can win against him, considering the magnitude of his attacks."

A foot kicked her in the stomach. "Ugh, y-you are already assuming you'll win against me."

23/50

"Of course I do, Frogger! That's the point…! I can't show how amazing my Quirk is against him so I'll do it against you instead."

"My original intention was to use my Body Carnival in the semi-finals or later, but obviously that won't happen now. So no better time like the present, am I right?"

29/50

"No, kero."

"Being serious, shouldn't you give up already?"

"Never."

33/50

"I told you, you won't escape. And I won't leave you alone until you end up unconscious or surrender."

"Believe me. You are just making this worse for you. And between you and me..." Setsuna said quietly, as if trying to be secretive.

38/50

"The truth is that I don't dislike you that much or anything!"

"Well, that's sad, kero. Because I do."

"Ouch! That hurt. Here, in my heart… Wherever it is right now."

42/50

It was her own body that hurt and a lot. At least, the parts that weren't numb after being struck so much. Even if everything went right and she won, she´ll end up with a lot of bruises after this.

But it was fine. She only needed a bit more time. Only a bit more… Because she was about to uncover the weakness of Setsuna´s super-move.

"You are getting better at dodging, huh? That's nice, but useless in the long run."

45/50

"You are going to get tired eventually."

Setsuna was smart, and she had to recognize the control the lizard girl had over her Quirk was amazing. But actually controlling fifty body-parts at once and moving them independently was inhuman. The girl would need to have a super-computer for brain to do that.

47/50

So the answer Tsuyu arrived at was simpler.

"Then you'll commit a mistake and will end up like my boxing bag."

48/50

It was something she noticed through observation; that during her Body Carnival, Setsuna was simply making her body pieces move automatically in a settled pattern, creating the illusion of total control and chaos where it didn't really exist.

"And if that happens, I know Izumi will get mad at me."

49/50

But if she learned how those pieces moved, then the victory would be hers!

"Come on, say something, Frogger! It´s boring to be the only one speaking."

"I won..."

50/50

Because she did it. She analyzed the movements of all of Setsuna´s body parts. The result: Her head was the only one that moved freely. The rest moved the same over and over.

And with that, finding the path to victory was outstandingly easy. She only needed to move in the right way at the right moment.

"I won, kero!" She dove as two body pieces went flying over her head, dodged another by moving to the side, jumped over a torso piece, and finally backed up a step to avoid being hit by a forearm piece.

Then she saw it, a clear path towards Setsuna´s head right in front of her. And there were no body-parts that would hinder her actions.

Setsuna noticed the situation, but she didn't have enough time to react. So with surprising ease, Tsuyu shot her tongue and pulled the girl´s head to her. "Eh?!" And when it was close enough, she connected an overhead kick that sent it flying away, the rest of Setsuna´s body following right behind.

"Setsuna Tokage was sent out of bounds. The victory is for Tsuyu Asui!"

"Ouch... I'm going to have a headache," complained Setsuna, while getting on her feet. "Hmm. I took those five seconds on the ground to think about the things I did and what I said, both now to you and before with Izumi, and that maybe I should apologize for my behavior… But it was fun, so I'm not quite sure." Tsuyu glared at her. "Okay, okay! Sorry! I'm really sorry! So, friends again?"

"We were never friends, kero."

"ARGH! 9999 damage! You just broke my heart!" The girl put her hands over her chest as if pained, a square-like hole when her heart should be, and then she left herself fall on the ground.

Tsuyu just rolled her eyes and started walking away.

"Hey, wait a sec!" She looked over her shoulders. "Even if you didn't accept the bet, I will follow it and leave you two alone... But if things with Izumi don't work…" Setsuna brought her hand to her ear and mouthed ´call me´.

Tsuyu walked away at a faster step.

That girl was a bit too much.

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Next chapter – Quarter-Finals:

Ochako VS Mei

Ibara VS Katsuki

Izumi VS Hitoshi

Shoto VS Tsuyu

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