Chapter 96: Fighting style?

At the end of classes, Momo and Mina showed up at Kai's private gym at UA—one he almost never used, but since it was part of his perks upon enrolling, he could use it as he pleased. But for some reason, not only did they arrive; other students showed up as well.

Among them was Tsuyu, whom he had already met and got along with relatively well, so that was fine. But in addition to her, there were three other people. One was a petite girl with fair skin and a slender build, short black hair, and what appeared to be two cables hanging from her earlobes.

Besides the girl, there was Kirishima—a robust boy with red hair who could harden his body—and another thin student with blond hair and a curious black lightning-shaped mark on the left side of his bangs. All of them were looking around somewhat uncomfortably due to the way the terrifying blue-eyed boy was staring at them.

"Well, can I know why all these people are here, Momo?" Kai asked as he stared directly at Momo, who only smiled shyly but quickly responded in an almost childlike tone, like a girl caught doing something mischievous.

"Hehehe, well, they were also unsure about the sports festival and needed a few tips."

Upon hearing Momo, Kai could only sigh exasperatedly while massaging his temples, now genuinely regretting having voted for her—to the point where he was very tempted to find the other three people who voted for her to "thank them" very specially for such an immense "favor".

"You're going to be my downfall..." Kai muttered under his breath, to which Momo just gave a sweet smile, like an innocent child.

"Hehehe."

"Well, since it is what it is, let's go one by one. Tell me your names and what you're feeling insecure about, and I'll give you my perspective."

After one last sigh, Kai spoke while staring intently at the uncomfortable strangers in front of him. At that moment, Mina spoke up excitedly, trying to lighten the mood while also showing the others that Kai was just a grump and not as bad as he seemed.

"I'll go first! Ashido Mina!"

"An introduction wasn't necessary, but fine. What are you feeling insecure about?" Kai could only roll his eyes at the energetic pink girl, who quickly replied with a huge smile on her face.

"Everything! I don't know how to be more attractive to the agencies!"

Hearing Mina, Kai could only facepalm while sighing, then looked at the energetic pink-haired girl and commented casually.

"Alright, show me what you can do. I don't know what could make you more 'attractive' to the agencies, but I suppose that as long as you're more effective, that should increase your chances."

"Okay, then I guess I'll start with the basics. My quirk is Acid, and it allows me to shoot acid from my body. Also, I can control its solubility and viscosity." Mina responded as a whitish liquid began to seep from her hands. Kai nodded with a hand on his chin, then asked.

"And how do you usually use it?"

"Well, I generally just spray it on an enemy or use it to skate like this." Taking advantage of her special shoes, Mina began to skate around the gym, to which Kai asked curiously.

"And what fighting style do you use?"

"Fighting style?" Mina tilted her head cutely, prompting Kai to ask with a blank expression.

"Don't tell me you want to be a hero and don't even know how to fight properly?"

"Hey! I do know how to fight; I just don't get what you mean by 'style'." Mina exclaimed, looking somewhat offended. Kai just shook his head, then placed his hands behind his back and commented casually.

"Then try to hit me. I'll only use the strength of a normal human, and I won't use my arms. If you manage to land even one hit on me, I'll do anything you want."

"Really?!" Mina asked, surprised and excited, to which Kai nodded casually before responding.

"Really. So go ahead and try to hit me."

"Hehehe, I'll gladly accept this gift."

Mina commented with an evil smile on her face, while Momo could only shake her head. After all, she herself had fallen for the same trick who knows how many times. Meanwhile, the other three students, who were hesitant to speak up, wore different expressions: the boys were filled with curiosity and anticipation, while the girl watched Kai skeptically.

"Go ahead, give it your best shot." Kai said with a slight smile as he looked into Mina's curious yellow eyes with black sclera. She quickly exclaimed excitedly.

"Here I come!"

Right after speaking, Mina accumulated acid in her hands and skated across the floor using her quirk, starting to circle around Kai, who simply stood still without moving an inch. Mina quickly hurled the accumulated acid at him, making sure to dilute it so as not to hurt him.

"You don't have to dilute it—go all out."

While dodging with minimal and fluid movements, as if he were dancing rather than evading, Kai commented calmly. Mina hesitated a bit but, seeing Momo's nod, quickly exclaimed in a serious tone.

"Then I'll give it everything I've got!"

Using the same tactic, Mina launched acid at Kai again, but this time it was corrosive enough to melt the floor. The blue-eyed boy casually dodged it with minimal movements, preventing the acid from even coming close to grazing him.

After repeating the same tactic a few more times, Mina realized it was utterly useless—Kai could dodge anything she threw at him. So, using her great mobility, she approached him to try to land a punch, but Kai, with the same ease as before, dodged by slightly moving his head.

Feeling frustrated by Kai's faint smile, Mina began to use anything that came to mind, flinging acid everywhere and throwing all kinds of strikes. She ended up adopting an almost acrobatic style that primarily used her legs, as they were longer and stronger, allowing her at least to make that annoying Kai move a bit more—but still, she couldn't even graze him.

...

"Well, that'll do. As you could see, you don't know how to fight. You were just throwing random punches without any technique or strategy. Plus, you waste too much energy and leave too many openings for a counterattack."

After some time—and without even a single drop of sweat on his face—Kai commented calmly to the severely exhausted Mina, who was breathing heavily on all fours on the ground. After taking a couple of deep breaths, she could only mutter in a low, ragged voice.

" Damn...you..."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say. First of all, you need to work on your stamina—you didn't last at all. You also need martial arts training. Later, I'll give you the names of styles that suit your acrobatic leg-based approach so you can find a good teacher. As for your quirk, you need to think of more effective ways to use it.

"For example, you could expel large amounts under pressure, like an 'acid gun'. You could also coat your fists and kicks with a more acidic and viscous version to increase your destructive power, and you could experiment from there—like creating whips, armor, barriers, etc. You could even use a slippery version to destabilize the enemy or something similar. In short, you have a lot to think about."

Ignoring the exhausted Mina, who ended up collapsing on the floor, Kai explained casually. He then turned to look at the other students, who were watching him with various expressions, and asked nonchalantly, still with his hands behind his back.

"Who wants to go next?"

"Me! Kirishima Eijiro! Saito, I was really impressed by what you did at the USJ, and I want to get a few tips from you!" Kirishima exclaimed loudly, looking at Kai with determined eyes. Kai nodded casually before asking.

"Do you have something specific in mind, or do you want to try hitting me?"

"Actually, I'd prefer a little sparring match. My style is more based on counterattacks." Kirishima hardened his body and clashed his fists together forcefully, producing a metallic sound. Kai commented casually as he approached one of the punching bags in the gym.

"Well, I understand why you prefer that style, considering your quirk. But that could cost you dearly one of these days, since your defense might not be very effective against certain types of people—like me."

After speaking, Kai threw a casual punch toward the punching bag, stopping just before touching it. Moments later, the bag exploded violently, sending its stuffing everywhere, which greatly surprised the students—especially Kirishima, who observed the scene with a serious expression. Meanwhile, Momo could only smile, amused to see Kai showing off like that.

"As you can see, this simple punch would let me find out if you're as tough inside as you are outside. And if by chance you're not, you're a dead man. And even if you were, what do you think would happen if that punch hit your head?" Kai asked with a slight smile on his face, which appeared especially terrifying from the students' perspective.

"But anyway, just keep that in mind. You shouldn't blindly trust your defense and should look for an 'ace up your sleeve' in case it's not effective. Besides, Momo already defeated you once because you couldn't withstand her blows. So you should work on improving your combat style, as it's also terribly predictable given your quirk. And, of course, work on your hardening—if you use it well, you could do interesting things."

With a calm stride, Kai reached the gym wall, then turned to look at Kirishima and commented casually.

"For example, you could harden selective parts of your body to create powerful and lethal attacks that don't consume too much energy, like this." With terrifying speed, Kai drove his index finger into the gym's reinforced walls, leaving several holes. He then commented casually.

"As you can see, a single finger would be more than enough to kill or incapacitate an enemy, which would undoubtedly be much more efficient than hardening your entire body. Although, if you like doing it that way, you could also do more interesting things than just being a punching bag before counterattacking. You could, for example, become a sort of reinforced tank that charges at your enemies, or something like that.

"In any case, the first thing you need to refine is your technique and learn martial arts that specialize in strength. You could even learn something like Aikido or similar arts to surprise the enemy by deflecting their attacks. You could also use it to deal with annoying opponents like me, who can break through your defense."

With a complex expression on his face, Kirishima watched Kai walk slowly until he stood once again in front of him, hands behind his back. Kai then asked with a slight smile—which by this point was becoming a bit irritating.

"So, what do you say? Still want to fight me?"

Upon hearing the question, Kirishima could only look silently at the blue-eyed boy for a moment. But after taking a deep breath, he clashed his fists together forcefully again, exclaiming loudly.

"As a man, I still want to! I want to see how far I am from the best student in the class!"

"Hehehe, I like that attitude. You're an interesting guy, Kirishima—you remind me a bit of myself."

With an amused smile on his face, Kai commented as he looked into the red-haired boy's eyes, finding him much more agreeable. Then he assumed a casual boxing stance, which led Kirishima to ask, somewhat surprised.

"Really? I thought someone like you was always at the top."

"Well, although I certainly can't complain about what life has given me, I wasn't born as powerful as I am now. My strength is the result of years of training and hard work. But let's leave that for another time—let's fight."

After speaking, Kai threw a jab that seemed straight out of a textbook. Kirishima quickly covered himself with his hands, but the power was much greater than he expected; he felt his arm ache as he was pushed back several centimeters.

Realizing that this was far from all the power the blue-eyed youth possessed, Kirishima wanted to shout for him to take him seriously. But he quickly understood that if he did, he probably wouldn't even realize how he lost, considering the speed and strength Kai had shown at the USJ weren't very different from All Might's—not to mention his strange ability to knock people out.

Quickly, Kirishima approached again and sent a punch with all his might at Kai, who defended him in a similar way as he had done. But to his surprise, he felt as if he had hit a metal plate with his bare hands, to the point where his fist hurt. But even so, the blue-eyed boy did not move an inch.

"You can harden yourself?!"

Kirishima asked excitedly—partly because someone so strong could do the same as him, and partly because, unlike himself, he couldn't see anything unusual about Kai, who looked exactly the same as before. Kai replied with a small chuckle.

"Hehehe, I can do many things."