Chapter 108: The matchups.

After reviewing some things on his computer with Sage, Kai ate something quick, and then returned to the stadium, where everyone had already come back. He was the last to return, but when he arrived, his eyes couldn’t help widening slightly in surprise at the clothes worn by the girls in his class and some others.

“…What happened to your uniform, Momo?” Kai asked while holding back laughter as he saw Momo in an orange cheerleader uniform with the letters U.A. on the chest. She responded with a dark expression on her face.

“I was tricked by Kaminari-san. He said that it was an order from Aizawa-sensei and Kan-sensei that the hero course’s female students had to come dressed like this, and I even made the uniforms with [Creation]…”

Hearing Momo’s explanation, Kai glanced briefly at the girls from the other class, who were wearing exactly the same outfit. Some had an expression similar to Momo’s, while others seemed to be enjoying it quite a bit. He then started walking toward where Kaminari was standing, smiling wickedly alongside the small boy whose hair looked like a bunch of purple grapes.

“You look good, but let me deal with a little matter concerning Kaminari.”

“Don’t hit him too hard. He still has to participate in the festival.” Momo commented with a slight smile, greatly surprising the nearby girls. At that moment, Kai spoke casually.

“Don’t worry, if I go too far, I’ll heal him.”

Shortly after, Kai reached the smiling Kaminari and placed a hand on the boy’s shoulder. At the same time, he used his Conqueror’s Haki to emit a terrifying pressure, causing the electric boy to visibly tremble. Kaminari turned to face Kai, filled with panic, and spoke in a halting voice.

“H-hello, Saito.”

“You know, the prank was fine and all, and I might even have found it funny, but why did you have to involve Momo?” Kai said in a dark voice, staring into Kaminari’s trembling eyes. The terrified boy, legs shaking, replied.

“I-I let myself be tempted and didn’t consider the consequences, Saito.”

“Wrong, very, very wrong. Because of that foolish decision, I’m now obliged to at least take one of your arms off, or people will think they can make fun of Momo whenever they want, and that just can’t happen.”

Kai commented with a demonic smile as he gripped Kaminari’s shoulder tightly, to the point of making it crack. At that moment, Salem jumped off his shoulder and grew in size to stand in front of the little grape-haired man, who was slowly backing away, his face completely pale.

“M-mercy, Saito. I’m still young; it was just a little joke. I swear I’ll never do it again.”

Utterly terrified, Kaminari pleaded, completely drenched in cold sweat and with violently trembling legs. He truly felt he was facing a demon disguised as a human, mainly due to the terrifying pressure Kai exuded. In response, Kai smiled even more wickedly and commented.

“You know, since we’re classmates, and you’ve been to my house, and it would look bad for Momo if one of the students under her care were absent from the festival, I’ll let you participate, and after the tournament, I’ll only break your arms. How does that sound? I’m very generous, aren’t I?”

“M-mercy, Saito…”

Nearly crying, Kaminari begged for mercy, completely convinced that the terrifying blue-eyed boy was capable of carrying out his threat. At the same time, he cursed mentally the moment he let himself be convinced by the pervert from Class B, who until just a few moments ago, seemed like a nice guy to him.

Meanwhile, not far from there, the girls of Class 1-A gathered around Momo, watching the scene with various expressions. That was when Jiro turned to look at the relaxed high-class girl and asked in a worried tone.

“Momo, are you sure about letting Saito handle Kaminari? Look at him, he’s about to burst into tears.”

“Don’t worry, girls. Kai is just scaring him; at worst, he’ll just break his leg and that’s it. He won’t do anything too extreme.” Momo answered with her typical elegant mannerism, appearing quite happy, causing all the girls to turn to her, dumbfounded.

“And you don’t think breaking a leg is something extreme?” Mina asked, full of incredulity. Momo nodded casually and then explained.

“Well, it might sound bad without context, but we’re talking about Kai, someone who could kill him with a casual punch. So, taking that into account, do you think it’s very extreme that he only breaks a leg? Besides, that would be the worst-case scenario; he’ll probably just hit him a bit and that’s it.” Momo explained with a small smile, which inevitably made the girls nod. After all, Saito was indeed a very strong and therefore very dangerous guy.

“Though you’re right, we can’t allow Saito to do something like that.” Jiro commented seriously, which made Mina smile wickedly and nod, adding with a mocking tone.

“Yeah, we can’t let Kaminari get hurt, right Jiro?”

“Hey! What is that supposed to mean?!” Jiro quickly snapped back defensively. At that moment, Tsuyu commented with a more serious tone.

“I think we should stop Saito right now.”

“Yes, we should go…” Uraraka agreed, and Momo could only sigh and nod, then spoke while walking toward Kai.

“Alright, I’ll talk to him.”

Upon reaching Kai’s side, Momo placed her hand on his shoulder, causing the blue-eyed boy to turn and look at her. At that moment, she spoke with a small smile as she looked into his eyes, wanting to show how much she appreciated him defending her.

“Kai, let him go. Don’t do anything to him. We’re at the sports festival, and I’m not mad about it; it even seems kind of fun.”

“If you say so…” Kai commented casually while delivering a light punch to Kaminari’s shoulder, causing the poor boy great pain, though he didn’t dare move. Momo then turned to look at the electric boy and spoke in a serious tone, staring directly into his eyes.

“And Kaminari-san, I hope there won’t be any more pranks like this in the future. It was really in poor taste.”

“O-of course, Yaoyorozu-sama, I would never think of doing something like that again.” Kaminari quickly responded with a firm tone, trying to hide his pain. Momo nodded, satisfied, then took Kai’s hand and walked away.

“I trust you, Kaminari-san.” Momo commented casually as she left. Salem returned to her master after electrocuting the annoying dwarf a bit. At that moment, Present Mic announced to the entire stadium.

“The lunch break is over!!! We will now reveal the final game!!! But before that, we have good news for those who didn’t reach the semifinals. This is a sports festival! So we prepared games for everyone to participate in!! And when they’re over, we’ll start a one-on-one tournament between the 14 finalists!!!!”

Upon hearing Present Mic’s words, a visible excitement appeared in most of the finalists. At that moment, Midnight climbed onto the stage again, holding what looked like a box with a hole in the top, and then spoke in an enthusiastic tone.

“Now we will draw the tickets to determine the matchups, and since the first group only has two members, they will get a free pass to the next round!! Additionally, the 14 finalists can choose whether to participate in the recreational games or not. We are sure some of you will want to rest and save your strength. So now we’ll go with the second group, team Todoroki.”

With Midnight’s words, Todoroki and his team went up on stage, where each of them reached into the box that Nemuri placed on a table and drew a numbered ball. This was quickly followed by the other finalists, who were called up by the beautiful hero.

...

“And these are the matchups after the draw!!”

Once all the finalists had drawn their respective lots, Midnight announced loudly. At the same time, all the stadium’s screens showed the pairings, with Kai and Momo at opposite ends of the second round, indicating that they would not meet until the final.

“Damn, I’m up against Todoroki. My championship dreams end here…” Seeing her opponent, Mina couldn’t help commenting, disheartened. Momo responded with a small laugh.

“Fufufu, don’t worry. Have more confidence in yourself. You’ve improved a lot with the training.”

“It’s true I improved, but do you think it’s enough to beat someone like Todoroki?” Mina asked, somewhat discouraged. Momo smiled and asked.

“Well, look at it from the following perspective: What’s the main objective of participating in the sports festival?”

“Umm… to catch the attention of hero agencies…?” Mina answered hesitantly, to which Momo nodded, satisfied, then explained.

“Exactly. So, do you think there’s anyone else among the finalists against whom you could better showcase your skills than Todoroki-san? I think not. Your quirk is a very good countermeasure against his ice, plus you’re agile, fast, and your technique has improved a lot with training. So far from being a bad thing, I think what you have before you is a great opportunity.”

“Well… seen that way, it really is a good chance to shine…” Mina commented, somewhat pensively. At that moment, Uraraka, who was nearby, spoke rather gloomily.

“In my case, I really did get a bad matchup, since I won’t be able to touch Kaminari-kun…”

“Certainly, although he’s an idiot, Kaminari is dangerous with his electricity. Touching him means Game Over.” Jiro agreed with Uraraka’s words, and the invisible girl added cheerfully while waving her cheerleader pom-poms.

“Don’t give up, Ochaco-chan!”

“Though I think you could use your ability to fly to force him to use his most powerful attack. After that, it’ll be an easy win.” Tsuyu commented with a serious expression while looking at the other matchups, and Momo nodded in agreement.

“I agree with that idea. Although he can now use his attack a couple of times, you should find a way to force him to use all his power.”

“Yes, you’re right. I’ll try asking Deku-kun for ideas; he’s good at that kind of thing!” Uraraka commented cheerfully, then ran off to find Midoriya. This caused the girls to exchange amused glances. At that moment, Mina teased in a mock-dreamy tone.

“Aww, love…”

Shortly after, the recreational events began. The girls of Class 1-A and 1-B, already dressed as cheerleaders, decided to stay and cheer, although some from Class B chose to participate in the games since they still wanted to show off a bit to the recruiters.

As for Kai, he decided to return to his workshop to kill some time. At that moment, Sage showed him a hologram in [In] mode of a message sent by Ryuko, informing him that they had escaped and wanted to meet him in a secluded place. Kai quickly sent them a map of how to get to his workshop, then took one last look at the matchup brackets before heading to his workshop.

Group 1: Aoyama Yuga vs. Midoriya IzukuGroup 2: Seto Hanta vs. Kirishima EijiroGroup 3: Bakugo Katsuki vs. Tokoyami FumikageGroup 4: Todoroki Shoto vs. Ashido MinaGroup 5: Kaminari Denki vs. Uraraka OchacoGroup 6: Iida Tenya vs. Hatsume Mei