Chapter 53: Chapter 52:
The crowd was roaring in anticipation of the fights, desperately wanting something new to watch. But, who could blame them? They were subjected to an obstacle course race, and 50 minutes of people destroying robots in a fancy laser tag match.
They just wanted some good old-fashioned punches to be thrown, people's faces being slammed into the concrete, teens desperately fighting to prove their worth in their eyes.
So, naturally, they were a bit excited to see the classic tournament being revealed. The matchups were somewhat exciting, and many scenarios ran through their heads on who would win.
The betting websites were in full swing and had already calculated the odds for each matchup. Some people in the crowd were betting amongst themselves, with favors and cash typically being on the line.
However, the more observant people in the audience noticed something about the tournament's structure. It was made in such a way that would inevitably force conflict amongst the previously leading students in the competition.
The people that noticed this, were ready and waiting to rake in all of the cash from the bets on who would be the finalist. Because, in their eyes, it would be a 1 in 4 chance in getting it right, and with those odds, most were comfortable placing some money on the line.
Cementoss had already evacuated the field of students, and placed them all in their respective seating areas, because he needed to get to work on making the stage for the tournament.
Present Mic, and Eraserhead, were trying to hype the crowd up for the matchups to come. Well, it was mainly Mic with Aizawa being there to keep him in line. It was working too, the charisma of the radio host/hero was working wonders on the crowd.
In short, everyone attending, and those watching across the globe were very excited to see the matches.
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One person, in particular, Shinso Hitoshi, was not excited at all.
In fact, he was dreading when his name would be called up for the first match.
His friends in the general studies course were, of course, trying to cheer him on and lift his spirits, but words could only go so far in terms of motivating the realist that he was.
Flowery words, and claims that weren't based on some sort of evidence, were useless to him currently. The only words he wanted to hear are the ones in a plan detailing how he could defeat the, as Present Mic called her, "Second coming of All Might".
He knew that she was one of the tougher people in the tournament, and he had no chance in hell at beating her head-on. He would be SMASH'ed right into one of the stadium walls, or concrete floor before he would be able to register what would happen.
Sure, he trained his hand-to-hand combat to some degree in preparation for this event in particular; but he was in no way deluded to think that he would be able to take on someone of her speed and power just yet, perhaps never.
The purple-haired insomniac knows that his only chance at victory is being able to brainwash her before the match can even start up properly. The only question running through his stressed-out mind is about how to get a reaction out of her.
Her family is too cheap of a shot, and they are well off with no scandals to abuse. He would also have to be careful of any backlash that may happen when insulting the family of one of the most influential scientists, and support gear makers in the world.
He didn't want what happened to Monoma to happen to him.
Insults and mockery are easy ways to get responses from most, but they are a double-edged sword. They could hurt him in the long run if he didn't handle it properly.
He could go too far, and piss off the entire stadium accidentally; it was a delicate balancing act that he didn't have enough experience in handling.
They also could end up angering her, and she could forget to hold back when hitting him. Her kicks can destroy reinforced concrete, and he does NOT want to have one of them connect with his body in any way possible.
Just imagining the pain he would be in would be enough to make him cringe, that was if he would survive.
Don't get him wrong, he trusted that the adjudicators in Midnight and Cementoss would do their best to make sure he wouldn't die on live TV.
But, their best wouldn't be enough considering she can nullify Cementoss's concrete, and her kicks are strong enough to blow Midnight's gas away. They are both rather slow, and wouldn't be able to stop Melissa from at least getting one blow in.
He didn't know why Eraserhead wasn't the adjudicator for the match, everyone fucking knows his damn quirk at this point anyway; so there's no point in keeping the poorly kept secret, a 'secret', any longer.
His appearance isn't a secret either if the figures the purple-haired student had in his room were any valid indicator.
In his eyes, it was illogical to have the clearly bored teacher commentating, instead of better utilizing him by swapping his and Midnight's jobs around. Sure, Midnight may say a few sexual innuendos on the mic now and then; but it was a risk worth taking for his safety, right?!
He decided to just throw caution to the wind, and call her a lucky bitch or something. He didn't know what he would do, but at this point, it didn't really matter as he was called up to the stage.
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Melissa was very nervous, not because of the fight, no.
It was because if she somehow lost, Sakuya wouldn't be silent about it.
A shudder surged through her body upon thinking about her 'Gracious Teacher'. She had been, for lack of a better word, tortured by Sakuya and her clones while she tried to develop this mythical Danger Sense quirk Sakuya said she had within her.
There were many hours where she questioned if she even had such a quirk within her- or rather- inside of One For All. Thoughts about the Bootcamp being constructed with the sole purpose of letting Sakuya take her sadistic urges out on her littered her mind throughout the process.
Yet, despite how much she utterly hates the Bootcamp and its leadership; she had to admit that it did indeed help her out in the end.
Sure, the results didn't show until her skull nearly caved in after a blow with a training bokken, but they did show in the end. It was enlightening when the quirk manifested, even though it did manifest in a sharp pain to the brain.
She still remembers the dream that she had later that night, one of the dead people that inhabit her quirk, and by proxy, her body, talked to her.
Melissa knew who the person was because Sakuya went into explicit detail about all the previous holders' lives when explaining the quirk to her. Thinking back on it now, she probably only did that to see if I would keep listening or not, only to punish me when I didn't.
His name was Hikage Shinomori, a person with notable scarring on his face due to the quirk destroying him from the inside due to it competing with the previous quirk factor present. He did literally nothing with the quirk besides training until his early demise, due to old age, at age 40.
I could understand why he went into solitude; All for One was in his prime during that time frame, so he locked himself away in the wilderness to strengthen the quirk for future generations.
I did, however, ignore any and all words he was saying and began ranting at him. He was strengthening the quirk for future generations, yet, let me get my cranium crushed inwards multiple times before his lazy ass decided to let the quirk manifest.
Cussing him out was not my proudest moment, but it was justified, I think.
If she lost despite Sakuya helping unlock and train a new quirk, Sakuya would deem me as a failure; and failures get extra training. Not the helpful training either, it's just her using me as a punching bag.
She doesn't want to go back to that hellhole known as 'Bootcamp' any time soon, and when she does; she wants it to be of her own free will when choosing to do so.
Sure, she also wanted to make her family, and Uncle Might proud; those were just less important to her because they don't decide whether or not she gets extra 'training'.
As her name was called out, she gradually made her way to the stage; thanking her classmates for the encouragement as she did so.
Mentally, she began listing off the rules that Sakuya made sure to instill into her about fighting.
'Number 1; If you have time to talk during a fight, I have the time to slit your throat, so keep your mouth shut during fights; it's a waste of time and energy.
Number 2; Don't you dare use those suicidal 100% smashes unless your life, or someone else's life, is on the line.
Number 3; Don't close your eyes during a fight EVER unless you are being flash banged or something similar.
Number 4; If your opponent begins screaming, or powering up in any way, you take advantage of that and smash their skull into the pavement.
Number 5; If your opponent starts talking shit, just smirk at them with as smug of a smirk as you can produce. It will piss them off, and shut them up; a win-win scenario in my book.'
Before she could get to listing the 6th rule out of the 20+ Sakuya drilled into her, she found herself on the stage.
[[Here we have it, ladies and gents! It's the first match of the tournament!!
On one side of the battlefield, we have the mastermind behind team Shinso's wonderful performance in the tower, and general studies student, Shinso!!
On the other side of the battlefield, we have the powerhouse, and second coming of All Might, a potential carbon copy of the American number 1 hero Star and Stripe, Melissa!!
Let's find out who will win, brains or brawn!!]] Present Mic's voice boomed.
(A/N: Alright, if you haven't read the newest manga chapter as of reading this, you won't know who Star and Stripe is. All I gotta say is that she is just genderbent All Might, and nobody can deny that. Would still smash though, get it? Smash? ...Alright.)
Taking a look at her opponent, she recognized him. He was the person who was humiliated by Sakuya when he came to our class.
She thought that after this event was all done, and ended, they maybe could bond over that experience. They had both been humiliated in different ways, but it was by the same person, and she needed comrades in that aspect.
She noted that he looked rather confident, or that was what she would have thought previously. Spending enough time with Sakuya, and her scheming mind, she has learned how to read people's facial expressions a little better.
He was nervous, and bracing himself for the worst.
"Second coming of All Might? The next Star and Stripe? You were born lucky with a quirk like that!
Do you know what I was called?! The next bank robber, thief, and villain by everyone!
How does it feel to be born with a free pass in life, to not know how powerless people like me feel?! To be up on your pedestal, looking down on people like me?!" The tired-looking boy ranted.
Remembering rule 1, she kept quiet.
She really wanted to shout that she understands his pain, she had it worse than he did in some aspects, being quirkless in this quirk-oriented society.
The only thing she had was wealth, that was it. No friends, no support by her peers, and looked down upon as if she was nothing but a helpless worm in the dirt.
She was so angry that he would assume that she judges people like him, that she has become a person like her previous tormentors over in I-Island.
It hurt deeper than she had hoped, but she remained silent waiting for the buzzer.
[[3, 2, 1, MATCH START!]] Mic's voice announced.
She powered up into full cowling and saw just how her opponent, Shinso's eyes widened in fear.
Crouching down, she felt her leg muscles building up the energy in preparation for a burst of speed. Her opponent took advantage of her crouching and began closing the distance. She felt her leg muscles tense and knew she hit the limit.
As soon as the limit was reached, she took off like a rocket, cracking the concrete beneath her as she did so. The speed was far too fast for her opponent to react to, but he did manage to hold his arms up in a defensive X position to help soften the incoming blow.
Sadly, the blow did not come as her opponent expected.
Melissa grabbed the back of his shirt, dug her heels into the concrete for leverage, and launched Shinso out of the ring with as much force as she felt necessary. He catapulted into one of the stadium walls, leaving a crater in the sturdy wall upon impact.
[[What an explosive match!! I sure hope nobody blinked, otherwise they would have missed it!! Melissa Shield has proven her worth once more, and has moved on to the next round!!]]
De-powering her full cowling, she moved over to where her opponent was buried in the wall.
It was a surreal sight, seeing just how much her power can affect a normal human, her only other experience using the quirk was on Bakugo and Sakuya; both of whom are much more durable than the general studies student she faced.
Perhaps the insults got to her more than she thought, and she didn't hold back enough subconsciously due to them. She only hoped that it would be a passing performance in Sakuya's eyes.
"Tell me, did you already know what my quirk was? If so, who told you?" the purple haired student requested.
"Nobody told me anything, I don't even know what it is right now. I apologize for going a bit overboard, your words hit deeper than I thought." she confessed.
"Sorry about that, I just wanted to get a response out of you, it's how my quirk activates. It was also my only win condition. Because, as you can see, you outclass me in close quarters combat by a long shot."
"It was just an unfortunate matchup, my teacher drilled into me not to talk during fights. So, if you had faced anyone else, it would have been an almost guaranteed response if they didn't know about your quirk beforehand."
She began pulling him from his concrete prison, with Cementoss's assistance, and freed him within a few seconds.
"Yeah, luck just isn't on my side, never has been. I guess that this means I will have to wait another year to try out for the hero course, only that they will also know about my quirk too. Hah~ how annoying." he expressed his annoyance at the situation at hand.
She could only chuckle at him, knowing that Sakuya wanted to get rid of Mineta for so long; and that the sports festival would give her the perfect chance to do so. Shinso's spot in the hero course might as well be official.
When she managed to drag him to the doctor's office they were met with the sight of their worst nightmare, Sakuya Izayoi, in a doctor's outfit.
"Ah, patients! Perfect, please set him down on one of the beds Melissa, I'll perform the surgery soon~!"
"Huh?! Melissa, get me outta here now!" he flailed and screamed, trying to get out of Sakuya's office.
"Uhm, Sakuya, he doesn't need surgery. He just needs to have his elbow reset, and maybe a few muscles healed."
"Tsk, you're both no fun at all. Anyway, Melissa, congratulations, you don't need to go for extra training... yet."
Melissa never thought such heavenly words could be said, then her brain registered the word 'yet'. Her euphoric expression was soon turned into confused horror.
"Damn, she's your teacher? Sucks for you."
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. She's gonna be the one resetting your elbow, I'll see if you're laughing then."
She savoured the look of realization that made its way onto Shinso's face. She felt wonderful turning the tables on him like this.
"Melissa, unless you have any injuries yourself, I will need you to leave. Only I get to savour his screams as I pop his elbow back into place."
Not wanting to push Sakuya, she decided it was best to take her advice and leave. She did hear a satisfying yelp when she closed the door, though, and that was enough.
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Hyberions
Hyberions Creation is hard, cheer me up! Love the book? Review it!
Hope you enjoyed the chapter, even with the fight being not great. But, it was never going to be great due to how weak Shinso is compared to Melissa. The only reason he had a chance against Midoriya was due to Midoriya suffering from plot-induced-stupidity when replying.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone