(Kenjiro's POV – First Person)
The first round was a damn bloodbath.
Tokoyami drowned Momo in darkness before she could even manifest a plan, Dark Shadow overwhelming her like a living nightmare. Kaminari short-circuited himself trying to electrify Shiozaki's vines—kid lit up like a human toaster, then keeled over twitching. Iida technically "won" against Hatsume, but let's be real—she spent more time pitching her gear to the crowd than actually fighting. It was like watching a tech expo in the middle of a war zone.
Then there was Uraraka. She threw everything she had at Bakugo. Lifted concrete, rained it down on him like a meteor storm. Her hands were bleeding, her body shaking, but she never gave up. Didn't matter. Bakugo still blew through it all like a damn nuke. He didn't hold back, not once.
The arena was silent after that match, the kind of silence that settles in after a bomb goes off and people are trying to figure out if they survived.
And now?
Now the real games began.
Midnight's voice cracked through the tension. "The quarterfinal matchups are SET!"
The bracket appeared behind her in a flare of blue holograms.
Izuku Midoriya vs. Eijiro Kirishima
Sasaki Kenjiro vs. Ibara Shiozaki
Shoto Todoroki vs. Fumikage Tokoyami
Katsuki Bakugo vs. Tenya Iida
I couldn't stop the grin from creeping onto my face.
Let's go.
Kirishima smacked his fists together, hardened skin clinking like stone. "Midoriya! No hard feelings, yeah? But I'm giving it everything I've got!"
Midoriya smiled back, the light of One For All crackling along his arms. "That's how it should be!"
I liked that energy. Two guys throwing down with respect. No drama. Just fists.
Across from me, Ibara Shiozaki pressed her hands together in prayer, vine-like hair coiling at her feet. "May this contest honor the Lord's will," she murmured, eyes locked onto mine with unnerving calm.
Okay, sure. Let's just skip the part where you strangle people with plant tentacles, yeah?
"May the best warrior prevail," she said aloud.
I tilted my head. "Oh, I will."
She didn't even flinch. That serene thing she did? Creepy as hell.
I'd studied her style. She was a control type—keep the enemy at a distance, trap them in vines, grind them down over time.
Which was cute.
But I don't play slow games. I crush them.
Bakugo's voice cut through the background. "IcyHot! You better not lose before I get to blow you to pieces!"
Todoroki didn't even glance at him. "Focus on your own match."
Bakugo scoffed. "What, Four-Eyes? Please."
Iida straightened his glasses. "I assure you, I will not go down easily."
Their energy was explosive, but I tuned them out. My match was next.
Present Mic's voice thundered through the stadium. "FOLKS, WE'VE GOT A MATCH-UP OF STYLE VS. SAVAGERY! WILL SHIOZAKI'S DIVINE VINES HOLD FAST, OR WILL KENJIRO'S MOCHI ONSLAUGHT BREAK THROUGH LIKE A BATTERING RAM?!"
"Please stop shouting," Eraserhead muttered beside him.
"NEVER!"
I stepped into the ring, mochi rising beneath my feet in soft ripples. The ground felt alive under me, every step pulsing with potential.
Shiozaki glided in with an eerie calm, vines trailing behind her like a cloak.
Midnight cracked her whip.
"BEGIN!"
She moved first.
Dozens of vines burst from her head, whipping toward me like vipers. I ducked, weaving between them, my arms already shifting.
"Mochi Shield!"
A dense wall of hardened mochi snapped up in front of me, catching the first wave. The vines slapped against it with a wet, woody thunk, then slid off.
Not enough.
"Mochi Shuriken!"
I launched a barrage of sharpened mochi discs, each one spinning like a buzzsaw. She dodged the first few—barely—but one grazed her shoulder, ripping cloth.
Her vines hissed back like they were alive.
So that's how it is.
She slammed her palms together.
"Vine Bind!"
The entire floor beneath me ruptured in green. Roots cracked through the stone, surging toward my legs.
I jumped, easily escaping the entanglement—then spun in midair.
"Mochi Boost!"
A burst of compressed mochi exploded from my feet, launching me forward like a missile. Shiozaki raised a wall of vines in response.
"Mochi Drill."
My arm twisted, hardening into a spinning spiral. I hit the wall like a wrecking ball—punching straight through.
She gasped, backpedaling—but I was already in her face.
"Gotcha."
I spun, sweeping her legs with a mochi-formed whip. She fell back—vines softening the blow—and immediately tried to counter.
"Thorn Lash!"
A thick, spiked vine shot at my chest, faster than I expected. It slammed into my ribs and then it phase through my body.
I grinned.
"That all you got?"
She didn't answer. Just closed her eyes and raised both arms.
The stadium dimmed.
More vines exploded outward in a massive radius, forming a living labyrinth. They twisted, curled, snapped across the field like a cage made of thorns.
She wanted to trap me. Choke me out in her jungle.
Not today.
"Mochi Expansion."
I slammed both fists into the ground. Mochi burst outward like a tidal wave—smothering vines, crashing through walls, consuming everything in its path.
Her forest collapsed.
I sprinted through the debris, ducking low.
She leapt back, reeling in her vines to defend—but it was too late.
"Mochi Snare!"
A tendril launched from my hand, wrapping around her waist.
I yanked.
She stumbled forward—right into my uppercut.
CRACK.
She flew backward, vines flailing, and hit the boundary wall hard.
Midnight raised her whip.
"SHIOZAKI IS OUT OF BOUNDS! SASAKI KENJIRO ADVANCES TO THE SEMIFINALS!"
The crowd erupted.
I exhaled, shaking mochi dust from my sleeves.
She stirred, groaning.
I walked over and offered a hand.
She took it silently, her face unreadable.
"That was a hell of a defense," I said honestly.
She bowed slightly. "You are a warrior of formidable will. May you continue to fight with strength and honor."
Okay, that was weirdly wholesome.
I returned to the waiting area just in time to see Midoriya and Kirishima enter the ring.
Kirishima hardened up to his Unbreakable form, standing like a stone wall. "Let's go, Midoriya!"
Midoriya nodded, green lightning already crackling. "I'll give it everything!"
The match started with an explosion of movement. Midoriya was faster—zigzagging, dodging—but Kirishima tanked his hits like nothing.
Then Midoriya jumped.
"10%!"
He came down like a meteor.
BOOM.
The shockwave cracked the ring.
Kirishima staggered, cracks spiderwebbing through his armor.
Midoriya didn't give him time to recover.
Another punch—this one to the gut.
Kirishima's eyes rolled.
Down he went.
"IZUKU MIDORIYA ADVANCES!"
I folded my arms, watching as Midoriya knelt to check on his friend.
The semifinals were shaping up.
Me vs. Todoroki or Tokoyami.
Midoriya vs. Bakugo or Iida.
I licked my lips.
This was it.
No more games.
No more warm-ups.
The real fight was coming.
And I was ready to tear through it.