Len's brain was going crazy.
Jump! Back! Right! Left! Forward! Come on come on come on, lemme at him! Give em the ole one two! Fight fight fight! A brawl is SUUUURELY brewin'! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!
The yellow light glowing from his eyes and mouth and ears was impeding his vision. He'd forgotten to activate his new metal mask, and was paying the price for it. I could always do it now. Another swing from Kirishima, another warp dodge. No, there's no time. He mistimed the next flash, and took the hit with a grimace. Every fourth swing or so Kirishima actually would manage to land, and his blows hurt. In a physical fight, Len had no resistance-related abilities. Two pushes of the button, that's all. He overestimated his next warp a little and ran into the wall.
None of his measly punches would do anything to Kirishima, which left him to either tire his opponent out or try and get past him. The former seemed like a good option, except Kirishima might knock him out first. The latter was all but impossible with Len's brain going too crazy to focus on doing such a complicated warp. He would have to flash through Kirishima to get to the door, and without a second to pause and focus his overdriven mind, it could end in disaster. Kirishima seemed determined to not give him that second.
Len gave a little bit of ground with each warp-dodge. Kirishima was driving him back, and although the hardened boy was clearly getting worn out and strained from all the swinging, he was grinning like he was having the time of his life. "Come on, Kagamine!" he yelled. "Where's the beast from before? Fight me like a man!"
Yeah yeah yeah let's do it let's fight him! Yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah nah nah nah man SHUT UP man
GOD, PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP! Len let out an exasperated, inhuman yell and reached up to activate his mask, pushing the button twice.
It folded over his eyes and nose, and as Kirishima saw it, he faltered and whiffed his punch. The mask closed over him with the sound of compressed air, and all senses seemed to dull like a warm haze. The yellow relaxed, and Len felt the glow leave his face. He'd done it; he'd calmed down. Len let out a sigh.
Then, Kirishima punched him in the torso.
The warping boy staggered, suddenly trying to take in air through his nose and, failing due to the mask, wheezed in through his mouth. He was crumbling to the ground, all wind knocked from him. He tried to flash away, but his legs refused to flex. The yellow had settled much too deep in him.
Through the mask, he saw Kirishima grin apologetically. "Sorry about that, man. I honestly thought you could take it. Hey, are you sure you're okay?" He heard a sound from the bomb room behind him, and whirled to look with a concerned face. "BRB," he told Len on the ground, running away. Len only whimpered.
***
Tsuyu Asui felt kinda embarrassed, in all honesty.
The fight with Sero had been going really well, until he'd targeted her tongue, and she'd paid for it badly. He'd rendered her immobile like that, because who would willingly tear their tongue just to keep fighting? It felt awfully violating, too, but it was her fault for trying to use it in battle anyway. With someone with a Quirk like Sero's, she'd basically been asking for it.
And now he's just gonna walk over to the bomb and it's all over.
But as he finished wrapping her and stood up to go claim his prize, Kirishima burst into the room and tackled him.
Sero tried to fight him off, the two boys rolling on the floor in a kind of wrestling match. Tsuyu watched blankly, trying not to move at the risk of tearing her tongue on the tape. Then, the alarm sounded.
"Huh?" Sero stopped, looking at the bomb in confusion. "Was that… the timer?"
"YES!" Kirishima got off of him and jumped up and down, pumping his fist. "We did it! We won! High five, Asui!" He looked over at her, and his expression sank. He lowered his hand awkwardly. "Sorry. Let's get you out of that."
As the two boys unwrapped her, Lenny came staggering into the room, clutching his stomach. Tsuyu saw that he was wearing a dark metal mask of some kind, but then he punched the side of his head twice, and the mask retracted, revealing weary blue eyes. "Was that it?" he asked weakly.
Sero finished tearing the last of his tape off of Tsuyu and stretched his arms with a yawn. "Yep. We lost. Ran out of time."
"Oh. S-s-sorry."
Sero gave him a laid-back smile. "It's chill. No biggie. Get 'em next time, right?"
Kirishima nodded and grinned, closing a determined fist. "The most manly outlook! It was good fighting you both!"
***
The class was, to put it curtly, mixed.
"Did Kagamine just randomly put that mask on mid-battle? Why?"
"I think he must have forgotten he had it or something. Still don't know what it's for, though."
"Forgot? Is he nuts?"
"He didn't seem okay most of that battle, actually. I thought he and Sero had it in the bag, too. All he had to do was flash forward to the bomb with his Quirk."
"Warping doesn't much help you if someone like Kirishima lands a hit, though."
"Whatever. Kinda lame, to be honest."
Jiro slapped Kaminari with her ear jacks.
"OW! What was that for?"
"Show some respect. We don't know the full circumstances of Kagamine's Quirk. Besides, you're next."
"Oh right, I am. Let's go, Shoji!"
"Koda-kun?" Yaoyorozu called sweetly to the quiet rock-headed boy at the back of the room. "We're up."
The boy only nodded with a nervous face and followed behind her meekly.
Mina watched as the four combatants re-entered the room.
"Hey, Asui and Sero! Great fight, you two! Probably the best to watch so far!"
"Thanks!"
"Thank you, ribbit."
"Don't forget Kirishima. He was the MVP there. He took out both the heroes."
"No biggie! That's how you get stuff done as a man… or, err, a villain, I guess. Haha." The red-haired boy scratched at his neck sheepishly, enjoying being the center of attention.
No one complimented Len on anything. Tsuyu was watching him closely with her wide eyes. Mina was too. It was hard to tell where Toru was looking. As Shoji left the room, the multi-armed boy also gave Len a lengthy passing glance.
The warp Quirk user trudged to the back of the room and leaned against the wall, still clutching his stomach.
"Young Kagamine," All Might called. "Are you alright? Do you need to see Recovery Girl?"
Len looked up and saw that most of the class was watching him. Their expressions ranged from concern to confusion, but none of them were positive. Fucking. Hell. He was pretty confident he heard someone snicker.
"I'm okay, All Might. Thanks for asking." Obviously he wasn't going to talk about it in front of a crowd like this.
Then, the last match was starting up, and they all turned their attention to that. Well, all except three.
"You should go talk to him, ribbit."
"Huh? Why me?" Toru asked. The three girls were standing a ways in front of Len, the two visible ones backlit by the blue light from the screens. They were trying not to glance at him back against the wall, but he could definitely tell they were talking about him.
"Because you've known him the longest."
"Hardly! I think it should be Mina who talks to him."
Mina sighed. She'd sort of predicted this, in all honesty. "I'll do it." Not like it should be someone's burden or anything. Kinda gross to treat it like that.
She walked over to Len. When he saw her, his expression shifted a bit, but it was hard to tell what that meant in the low-lit room.
"I thought I told you to win," she joked gently.
"Well, you know me. I've got a rebellious streak. Don't want to do something just because someone told me." At least he was still being himself, she supposed.
"Listen, uh, Lenny…"
"I didn't pity you after you lost your match. Show me the same respect."
"Wha… hey, that's not fair! You don't know what I'm going to say!" A few nearby classmates, notably Todoroki and Uraraka, heard her raised voice and briefly broke attention from the ongoing match.
Len shrugged infuriatingly. "Sorry, Mina. I'm already over it. This is only our first hero class. I'm sure I'll get more chances to train and power up and not make a fool of myself. Here's to hoping." He pushed himself off the wall.
"Whoa. Hey. Don't shut me out like that. Friends support each other, remember? If you're going to focus on getting better, then I'm right there with you!"
He blinked at her. "Of course. You're going to be a great hero, Mina. Don't let me hold you back or anything."
His behaviour was confusing her. "Stop being… weird about it. Just come on and watch the match."
"Right. Okay."