The first years sat in the stands, though a lot closer to the ring so that anyone fighting could go down without any delay. In the few minutes it took for Midnight to announce the round winner and call out the next round's participants with more than a little fanfare- or fanservice, as it were the pro-hero and UA teacher Cementoss would have gone down there and fixed up whatever damage had been caused by the destructive students. And this before the participants called could make it down to the stage. Everything ran with a precision and effectiveness that I couldn't help but appreciate… Even if I knew the bastards were match-fixing.

"And… Our participants for the next fight will be Inasa Yoarashi and Eijiro Kirishima! Make your way down to the stage immediately!" Midnight called.

Inasa stood, excitement evident. "Well, that's me off then. Wish me luck!"

I snorted. "You won't need it."

He jabbed me on the shoulder. It hurt. "Don't be so crabby, Izuku."

"Fine, fine. Good luck with this incredibly challenging match. You happy now?"

Inasa gave a thumbs up in reply. "It's good enough, thanks."

Instead of calmly walking down the steps and into the arena floor like everyone else Inasa sprinted to the edge of the stands and dove right off. His glide down would have been a lot cooler if he'd been a bit more smooth about it, I thought.

Embarrassingly, Kirishima decided to follow suit and dove right onto the stage, his landing cracking up the floor and having Cementoss- who had just finished fixing the ring up and was just about to walk away- glare at him sourly. Like Inasa, Kirishima wasn't able to pick up on basic social cues and ignored the rightfully upset man altogether.

"Let's have a manly fight and give our best!" Kirishima yelled.

"What..." Inasa frowned intently when he landed himself. "Passion! I'll make sure to give it my all!" Inasa shouted like a maniac, eyes alight.

I shrank into my seat, hoping that no one nearby called out my friendship with him.

"You two are a bunch of morons…" Midnight muttered into her mic, forgetting it would sound throughout the stadium. I heard mutterings of agreement all throughout the stands. I couldn't refute it either.

"Miss, are we free to start?" Inasa asked.

Midnight gave a suffering sigh. "Sure. Fight start." She said dispassionately.

"Great!" said Inasa. Immediately strong winds encircled him, violently flapping his and Kirishima's clothes and making it difficult for anyone to get to him.

"And here I thought you were the type to go on the offensive from the start!" Kirishima yelled through the whipping currents and seeming to struggle to stay on his feet.

Inasa grinned sheepishly. "Looks like you've got me pegged. I just need a minute to ready this move I've been wanting to try since I saw Izuku do something similar!"

I groaned. I'm trying to keep our friendship on the down low right now Inasa, and you're calling me out on national television?

"Well, don't expect me to just wait around for you!" Eijiro replied, grinning at the admission and making for him with an impressive speed after reinforcing himself. When using his hardening Eijiro's skin seemed to crinkle and turn stone like. I had wondered if hardening his body actually altered his density, making him heavier. If it did the combat uses for rapid switching between the two would be tremendous, and it looks like my musings had been right. I should jot it down as a win for note taking.

Inasa was completely undisturbed, looking on coolly at the charging Eijiro while his legs were spread and his hands cupped to his side, evidently in the middle of his planned attack... It was a stance that looked eerily familiar.

"He wouldn't..." I thought aloud.

"Gale... Force..."

The waves of air were rolling, twisting as they migrated to between Inasa's hands. "Wave!" Thrusting his hands out and open, a chaotic beam of spiraling wind lanced out. It looked like a tornado, condensed, focused and flipped on its side.

Naturally Kirishima had no way of doing anything to defend against an attack so overwhelming. He tried to dodge it with a deft flip left but the beam actually course-corrected mid-flight, like a heat-seeking missile and he bounced against the barrier wall, his hardening possibly the only thing stopping him from making a splat. As it was he left an ugly scar in the wall for Cementoss to fix. The guy would probably think it was deliberate too.

The attack was, clearly, a replica of the signature Kamehameha Wave of DragonBall Z. This guy... He was actually ripping off cartoons for quirk ideas... Why hadn't I thought to do that?

Not just that but the attack had also clearly taken inspiration from my previous mimicking of Bakugou's explosion with his Gale Force quirk. Condensing, concentrating the wind into a ball so that when breached it would rapidly expand to create a powerful explosion. He'd actually managed to copy my own method and further refine and enhance it many times over without a second of practice… If I'd thought he was a monster before my thoughts were doubled.

"Inasa Yoarashi wins by ringout." Midnight announced glumly. She had a sour look on her face, likely upset that the match didn't go on longer, the blood-thirsty witch.

Eijiro's prone form twitched and groaned before he achily made to his feet, stumbling. He was actually still in fighting shape, a testament to his ridiculous durability. "I know I said you should give it your best but that was ridiculous." He said, shooting Inasa a grin that the crazy wind-demon shot back.

That fight, short as it was, got my blood pumping for the next fight. I hoped it would be just as exciting to watch, but hopefully last a bit longer.

"Our next fight will be Katsuki Bakugou vs Momo Yoayorozu. Will the two make their way down please." Midnight called and my stomach dropped.

"Shit…" I muttered, grinding my teeth.

Despite giving off a confident visage on screen Momo was nervous. She stared at Bakugou with a grim determination, to be sure, but from where I sat I could see her hands tremble. It was just a few weeks ago that Bakugou had completely decimated both of us in All Might's class and the memory of the struggle was still fresh. Putting the two together so soon seemed cruel. I didn't have high hopes that this would turn out well.

"Fight start!"

Momo ran back, trying to create some distance between them. She needed time to use her quirk, if not a plan of action. I was sure she'd thought of something already, even if I doubted it's utility against somebody like Bakugou.

Bakugou appeared behind her almost immediately, his movement barely a blur to my eyes. He had evidently mastered firing his particular blend of nitroglycerin from his feet, crossing half the stage so quickly my eyes, even enhanced as they were, could barely pick it up. I wonder if cutting holes in your PE clothes was allowed? To Momo it must have appeared as though he'd disappeared from vision. She only noticed when he grabbed her shoulder and then she jerked in surprise, head whipping back to look at him. They stood motionlessly for a moment and he must have whispered something to her, too quiet for anyone to hear, because she started to shake with fear.

Bakugou shoved her forward and she tripped, falling to her knees. Before she'd even scrambled back to her feet he was back in his starting position, hands in his pockets, looking on with impatience. Momo took a moment to breath deeply, trying to calm herself.

I struggled with the irrational urge to jump in the arena right then, to show the bastard just what I thought of him. Only Inasa's voice managed to keep me from doing something stupid. I hadn't even noticed him coming back to his seat, engrossed as I was in the farce of a fight.

"Relax, Izuku."

"Don't tell me to relax, Inasa."

He raised an eyebrow. "What do you think you can do right now? I know it's not cool that he's not acting all that nice but anything you do now is going to cause more trouble than good."

"He's a fucking asshole. I'm going to kick his ass." I spat, furious.

"Then kick his ass in your match. I know it's difficult for you to watch her get hurt, I'm not happy about it either but this is the way it's got to be. Momo is a classmate, and one of the best in our class. She can handle this, no matter which way it goes. You shouldn't think so little of her."

I wanted to argue with him, that I didn't think little of her, but I was too focused on the match. On the floor Momo was busily making something, her shirt lifted up to expose her stomach. They could have at least pointed the arena camera at Bakugou while she was making her weapon. Someone in the camera crew was a goddamn pervert, that was for sure.

"… Why is she taking so long?" I wondered aloud. She had already made a staff and was part-way through making some sort of device but it was taking way longer than usual. I'd been around Momo often enough to get a feel for how much time she needed to make something and even if it was ridiculously complex she didn't need much more time at all. Her showing when making the massive hydraulic platform a half hour back proved that. But as it was she seemed to be operating at less than half speed.

Bakugou was getting really impatient. He didn't seem all that bothered by her staff or even the device she was making. I didn't think he would be. If I had to guess the bastard had told her that he would give her as much time as she wanted to make whatever and he'd still beat her. He'd probably said something like I'll crush you no matter what you make. It would be right in line with his personal brand of pompous threats.

God, I couldn't wait to take him down a notch.

Finally, after more than a minute of waiting Momo's device was completed. "I'm ready!" Her voice called through the speakers.

"Finally." Bakugou replied.

This time he appeared infront of her, just as fast as before. To her credit Momo had already moved, swinging the staff right at him pre-emptively. He just palmed it, yanking it from her grasp in one smooth move. The metal staff exploded just as quick, blowing shards all over the place. Midnight yelped and jumped to avoid one of the shards, a look on her face that was both unhappy and panicked.

With the same move he had grabbed her by the throat, the threat of an esophagus-explosion unstated but obvious. The whole fight, the real fight, had taken a few seconds.

This time even the audience were loudly proclaiming their unhappiness at Momo's treatment, calling Bakugou names and booing. He ignored them and just calmly stared at the trembling Momo.

"I… I give up…" Momo said, her eyes looking watery.

"… That's match. The next fight will be in block two, Todoroki Shouto versus Ibara Shiozaki. Could the two please make their way down." At least Midnight seemed to express her disgust with Bakugou in her disapproving tone and pointed glance. Bakugou didn't give her even a second look, ignoring her and the boos and jeers of the audience.

After Momo had slunk off the stage and plopped into her seat beside Jirou still shaking, I came to a realisation. The reason she had been so out of it and had so much trouble with Creation was because she'd been pushed so hard in the earlier round. Even I'd noticed that she was absurdly quiet throughout the whole second round, near-mindlessly maneuvering the platform. She must have been on her last legs before she'd even gotten in the ring with Bakugou.

Who's to say she couldn't have done better, made better equipment or weapons if she'd been in better condition? Maybe she wouldn't have won, but at least she wouldn't have had to suffer such an embarrassing defeat. A defeat that would be on national television, that her parents and family would be watching.

I got to my feet, an unpleasant knot in my stomach.

"Where are you going? Your next match will be happening soon." Inasa asked, puzzled.

"I need some air. I'll be back in time."

"Okay." He said, nodding in understanding and giving me a look of concern.

The cheers and yells of the audience up in the stands echoed through the emptied innards, everyone so enthralled in watching what was one of the greatest entertainment events of the year that they wouldn't leave their seats for even a moment. My breath came in fast and shallow as I paced through the deserted halls of the arena. I was beyond furious and more than a little anxious at my fight to come with Bakugou.

The guilt was overwhelming. There was so much else I could have done instead of the platform. I hadn't needed to go that far. I could have come up with a better plan, could have had the same result without pushing her to her limits. But I'd really wanted to stroll around the field tossing people around with a wave, to show my superiority by standing without a care on a machine while bringing destruction and crushing peoples spirits. To cut it short I'd wanted to show off. And because of that I'd humiliated Momo, and she hadn't even said a word about it! She hadn't complained at all!

I pounded a wall in anger then stilled, hearing frantic, panicked speaking. My fury, guilt and anxiety was momentarily stilled as I followed the on and off talking until I found Iida Tenya on the phone. I felt wrong for sneaking into what must have been a private conversation but I couldn't help myself. Iida seemed to shrivel before ending the call. He just stood there for a second before choking on air, a stream of tears breaking.

I couldn't be seeing this, I realized. Whatever had just happened, I had no right to be seeing this. And so I stepped back- but Iida immediately perked back up at the sounds of movement with a smoldering glare.

"Who's there?" he asked, his voice croaky.

"Shit" I muttered softly

"I know someone's there!" Iida called.

I wanted to take off then, run out of this embarrassing situation. But the guy was fast- he had engines strapped to his legs for heaven's sake- and I was certain that if I took off and he had to chase me down this would turn out even worse.

"It's me, Izuku." I said, stepping into view with my hands held out in surrender. "Look, I really didn't mean to spy on you. I just heard someone who sounded really panicked and I didn't know what was happening so I came over to make sure everything was okay."

Iida didn't appear convinced. "You think I'll believe that?" He scoffed.

"I promise. Really."

His anger evaporated and his shoulders sunk once more. "It's okay. I'm sorry. I'm just… on edge right now. I- I got some really bad news."

With that opening I couldn't help myself and asked without thinking. "What was the news, if I could ask? It's okay if it's private, though."

Iida frowned. "It is." He paused. "But there isn't any reason for me not to tell you, I'm sure you wont go spreading it around. And it'll probably be on the news soon anyway."

Now I was really interested. On the news?

"My brother… My brother was just attacked by the Hero Killer Stain."

My eyes widened. "Is he…"

Iida sighed. "No. Thankfully. But… they say that he- he'll probably never be able to stand again."

"Im… I'm really sorry to hear that… Your brother- he's Ingenium isn't he?"

"You knew?" Iida asked, surprised.

"I guessed. Ingenium has a quirk really similar to your own and you both look really alike. You have the same surname too."

Bringing up his brother's occupation made Iida shrivel more. "Yes… He was becoming really popular too… He was just starting to make a real name for himself, he was just starting to show how well he could help people. Now it's all been cut short… Because of that man!" Iida yelled, his croaky voice echoing over the now out of place cheering of the audience.

"I'm sorry." I said. "I'm really sorry Iida. I know it can't mean much, I know that. Do you… Do you want me to go with you to the hospital?"

"What?"

It was a spur of the moment offer. I had no idea where it had come from, or even what it could possibly do to help. I guess I'd never been placed into a situation like this and I had no clue what to do to make things better. But I wouldn't back out now that my cards were on the table. "Do you want me to go with you to the hospital, to visit your brother? That's where you're going now, right?"

"And just what do you think going with me is going to do?" Iida asked, looking genuinely affronted.

"I don't know." I said honestly "I just figured that maybe it would be a little difficult for you to go on your own, you know? And even though I didn't want the job, I feel like the class president should help out his classmates whatever way he can."

Iida still seemed somewhat confused as to what my going along would do but seemed to mull it over. "… Okay. I'd appreciate it. But… What about your match?"

I waved him off, both satisfied and mortified that he'd accepted the offer. "Don't worry about it. To be honest, I'm starting to think that this whole tournament isn't worth my time."

Iida pushed up his glasses. "That's not true. The sports festival is a way for the teachers to place us into novel combat and rescue situations against opponents we aren't intimately familiar with, and all with the pressure of being watched by the public." He said, not being able to help himself off of lecturing even now.

"Like I said, don't worry about it."

"Okay…" Iida accepted reluctantly.

"And don't worry about Stain either. He is going to pay for this, sooner or later."

Iida's eyes flashed dangerously. "He will…" he promised.

Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Kirishima's second-rate clone from 1-B was already waiting in the ring for me. He seemed eager to start the match. I ignored him, looking to Midnight. She was examining her nails with extreme interest and I coughed to get her attention.

"You sure took your time." Midnight said.

"I forfeit." I announced.

Midnight narrowed her eyes at me. "… And just why would you be doing that?"

I shrugged. "The last match took a lot out of me. It takes a lot of effort to copy so many quirks at once, especially as far out as they were. There's no way I can continue and still make a good showing."

She looked me up and down, her peaking distrust visible on her face. "You look perfectly fine."

"Well I'm not."

She grit her teeth and quietly switched off her mic. "You're doing this on purpose… You aren't really out of it at all. Do you take me for an idiot?"

"Well, you can't prove that now can you?" I said, acidly spitting back her earlier comment. I wasn't ashamed to admit that the look on her face at that gave me endless delight. I could almost hear her incoming aneurysm as I left without waiting for a response.

Making it out of the arena after that was a cakewalk. When I was just beyond the glassy entrance I felt a familiar quirk coming towards me from above. Sure enough, when I looked up I saw Inasa gently gliding down to meet me.

"Are you really that tired? I mean, you can't really be, could you?" He asked before his feet even touched the ground.

"Nope, I'm fine." I said nonchalantly.

Inasa blinked a few times at the answer. "Then why?" He asked, confused.

"Because there are things more important than this tournament." I said firmly.

"Huh?" He said, now even more confused.

"I'll tell you about it later, I'm holding Iida up enough as it is. I'm sorry we wont be able to have our finals match, but this really is important. Just, do me a favor right?"

Inasa smiled at my sly vote of confidence. "If it's really important, don't worry about it. What do you need me to do?"

"Teach that explosion bastard a lesson for me. And it really is… but I'll admit a part of me is pretty glad I get to screw over the examiners, just a bit." I admitted sheepishly.

He laughed, slapping me on the shoulder.

Iida and I rushed to the hospital, at one point sprinting for miles from the train station to the hospital proper. By the time we made it Iida's elder brother was still in critical condition and the nurse refused to let anyone in, saying that the doctors were still operating. The situation, tense and anxious as they waited to hear if a loved one would make it through the night, wasn't exactly the best way to meet Iida's family either. They'd wondered what I was doing there and Iida had, thankfully, defended me before I could utter a word.

"He's a really good friend of mine. I asked him to come with me. It- it was really difficult for me to come out on my own."

I gave him a nod of appreciation at the white lie which he returned. His explanation seemed to win them over and they looked at me a lot more fondly but were otherwise too worried to engage in small talk. Instead we all nervously sat outside the room without saying a thing. Iida barely looked like he was breathing and I felt completely useless right then. Two hours passed just the same before the nurse returned.

"Mr and Mrs Tenya, your son is in stable condition…" Here she stopped, looking baffled.

The relieved parents sighed in relief, then noticed the nurse's confusion. "What's wrong?" They asked, a tinge of nervousness in their tone.

"Nothing, nothing's wrong. It's actually really, really good. Your son is already awake and asking for you. He doesn't even seem addled by the operation." The nurse said.

Iida and his parents broke into relieved smiles. "That's fantastic!" Mr Tenya said.

"Yes… I just haven't seen anyone recover so fast after such a serious injury. I suppose Pro-Heroes really are something else…"

So saying she lead the Tenya's into their son's hospital room. Out of courtesy I stayed back, Iida giving me a thankful nod.

… Why did I decide to do this again?

Inasa's Gale Force Wave isn't just an attempt to pay homage to the signature attack of a childhood anime but also there to show that this BnH universe has many things in common with our real life world and that Inasa is not just a dopey character with super strong wind powers and that the people around us help shape who we become. In canon Izuku took a lot of inspiration for his eventual fighting style from Iida as an example, and in here Izuku's friendships and indeed enemies will help shape each other. Bakugou's massive power up after his seeming humiliation is an example of the latter.

There will be some people upset that Izuku bailed on the third round to go with Iida, an action that isn't really all that helpful for Iida anyway. So am I if I'm honest. I guess that Izuku is starting to discover that he isn't quite so uncaring about other people as he thought, though he doesn't realize it just yet. What this means though is that there will be people who think that the only reason Izuku disappeared is because he was scared of facing Bakugou, his inevitable competitor after his match with Tetsutetsu. So will Bakugou, to be honest. And the ramifications for his attempt at kindness will be more than just that.

And Izuku's seeming mistreatment by the staff isn't because of some personal grudge against the guy, at least not wholly. I'd wanted for this to develop and be shown over the story, but the staff are harder on Izuku because to put it simply, he can take it. UA knows that not everyone is equal, that some students have more potential than others and for those students they do little things to up the difficulty rating. If your kid is a master gamer don't set the game to casual, shove them into hardcore and see what happens. And UA has insane standards regardless, so it's not like the reverse is true. They don't put on kid gloves for anyone. If you don't make the cut you're tossed. Better to humiliate someone then send them to their deaths in the future. They wont go to extreme lengths to make things harder for him, that would be too much, but they do put him and the students with greater potential in tougher situations. And since Izuku can be a stubborn bastard he reacts accordingly to what seems like clear mistreatment.

Aizawa still doesn't like him all that much though, to be fair.

I hope that saying the above doesn't take anything away from the story, but since I've already shown multiple cases of it so far in the story I don't think it will.

Also, on a personal note I want to say thank you to everyone who's been following, favoriting and reviewing the story. We've passed 100 reviews, 500 follows and we're nearing 500 favorites and that couldn't have happened without you taking the time to in your own way show that you've liked what I'm doing. I know it's been a slow burn and there's a lot of things not to like but it means a lot regardless. I'm not going to pretend that all that stuff doesn't mean anything to me, because it does. Who doesn't like being appreciated?

When you have the time please show that you like what's going on by leaving a review, following or favoriting. It's the silver bullets I use to shoot down the werewolves that dare interrupt my writing time. Thank you :)