Chapter 20

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Shinsou stared at the screen, taking a deep breath in before letting it out. He was up first, against someone in his own class, Ojiro Mashirao. Shinsou doubted that he could beat him in a hand-to-hand fight, especially with that tail and the fact that Ojiro most likely knew martial arts as well. 

Not only that, but Shinsou was pretty sure that Ojiro also knew his own quirk. So there were a few options that could lead him to victory.

1. Make him angry. Now this would either a) make him shout in anger or b) if he remembers Shinsou's quirk, proceed to beat him up.

2. Figure out how to throw him out of the arena. There had to be a reason that there was a white line there. There just had to be. How he would do this, Shinsou had no idea. He could just wing it.

And finally, there was the last option. 

3. Overwhelm him. Now this also could be done several ways, but if he WAS trained in martial arts, then he must've had some pretty clean fights at his dojo or wherever he trained. But in real life, in the hero field, villains weren't going to fight clean. Shinsou might as well just wake him up that way. If he also used his quirk and talked back at him while doing so, that might also work. Or, he could just get beat up. That was also an option.

In any case, Shinsou might as well be going down to the waiting room. Since his name was placed first, he'd have to go to waiting room 1. Which was inconveniently placed on the other side of the stadium. 

Shinsou stood up from his seat and walked over to the stairs. Climbing up them, he reached the top to go down another flight of stairs to a hallway which he would use to go to the waiting room. 

With a sigh, he stuffed his hands in his pockets. He wasn't looking forward to this walk or the wait until his match started.

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Shinsou really hoped that his brain wouldn't malfunction. He was standing in the middle of the stadium, on top of the arena. On the other side of the stage stood his opponent, who was stretching his arms. 

"Are you ready?!" Midnight yelled, raising her whip, trying to rile up the crowd, which was successful. Cheers rained down from the bleachers. 

Shinsou rolled his shoulders before putting his right foot in front of his left, turning his body to the side. His two feet were around shoulders-width apart, not too wide but not too close together. 

"If you're ready like I am, then let's get this match started!" Midnight continued. "Shinsou, Ojiro, are both you alright?"

Shinsou and Ojiro nodded. 

"Then," Midnight smiled, "battle, begin!"

"Hey, Ojiro," Shinsou started. Ojiro narrowed his eyes. "How's your girlfriend?" 

Ojiro tilted his head. 

"Don't you have a girlfriend?"

Ojiro shook his head slowly, his eyes still trained on Shinsou. His confusion was obvious. 

"Oh, my bad, I thought you and Hagakure were a thing. Sorry, dude," Shinsou shrugged.

Ojiro flushed a bright red and opened his mouth before closing it. Damn it.

"What, you wish Hagakure was your girlfriend?" Shinsou asked. "You two'd look good together. Too bad you can't actually see Hagakure."

Ojiro ran forward. Perhaps that was a mistake, Shinsou thought as he waited for Ojiro to reach him. In an instant, Ojiro was swinging at him with his tail. 

Leaning back, Shinsou dropped to the floor and swung out his leg, trying to trip Ojiro, who jumped to avoid it. In return, Ojiro straightened his leg and swung it down like an ax. Shinsou quickly rolled out of the way, barely making it. 

"Aren't we a bit riled up?" Shinsou chuckled, albeit a bit out of breath. "Perhaps I should play matchmaker, hook you two up?"

Ojiro grit his teeth as Shinsou quickly stood up and kicked him like a mule, towards the white line. Looking back, Ojiro quickly brought his foot behind him. 

Almost at the white line, but not yet. 

"Jeez, I thought you were going to be a tough opponent. Turns out you're just all talk, if you even talk. To be honest, I wasn't too worried about this match," Shinsou fibbed, "After all, you look and fight like a mediocre guy. I doubt you'll even be a hero - "

"What is up with you?!" Ojiro snapped before turning pale. His eyes turned glossy as tension disappeared from his body. 

"Gotcha," Shinsou smiled. "Turn around and walk out of the ring."

Ojiro straightened up and walked forward. Shinsou released his control from Ojiro, who quickly got out of it and looked behind him. 

"Ojiro is out of bounds!" Midnight shouted. "Meaning that Shinsou Hitoshi is the winner of this match!"

"AND WHAT A SHORT BUT EXCITING MATCH!" Present Mic yelled. "SHINSOU HITOSHI MAKES IT TO THE SECOND ROUND! OUR NEXT MATCH THAT WILL START SOON IS TODOROKI AGAINST SERO!"

"You..." Ojiro began.

"I didn't mean any of it," Shinsou quickly said, "I was just doing as much as I could to win."

Ojiro sighed, "That's valid, I guess. But that really stung." 

Shinsou winced. "Sorry."

"It's okay," Ojiro waved it off before rubbing the back of his neck, "Didn't think that I'd get this far anyway." 

"Well, you must've done something right," Shinsou shrugged and he walked down the stairs to the grassy area that separated the arena from the hallway in the stadium. He had survived. And with any luck, he could go far. 

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Bakugou POV

"It's IcyHot's turn now," Bakugou muttered, loud enough for Kaminari to hear. 

"Well, yeah. Why? You want to go against him?"

"Tch, I know I can beat him," Bakugou rolled his eyes. 

"Yeah, yeah," Dunceface said. "So is this going to become a rivalry between you two?" 

"Dunceface, you read into things too much, which is fucking concerning, seeing how dumb you can get."

"Bakugou!" Dunceface said, offended, but there was a sparkle in his eyes, "How dare ye, one of my bestest of friends, the Pomeranian of Pomeranians, Bakugou Katsuki!" 

"Bakubro, how could you do such a thing?" Shitty Hair shook his head in mock disappointment. 

"To think we thought of you as a friend," Pinky continued. A tic mark appeared on his forehead. 

"You little pieces of shit," he swore, "aren't you gonna cheer on Soy Sauce, who is literally standing right fucking there?" Bakugou pointed down at the arena. 

"Oh yeah, we should," Dunceface thought, his finger on his chin. He then cupped his hands together. "GO SERO, GOOD LUCK!" 

Soy Sauce, hearing this, turned to him and gave him a weak thumbs up. 

Bakugou snorted. If Soy Sauce were to win this, he'd need a lot of good luck.

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