Monoma Time Loop (MHA)

[iamawesome300]

"Congratulations on your victory, Young Awase, Shishida."

All Mights speaks to the returning victors before giving the same discussion he has always done.

"Which of the competitors did you think was the MVP?"

I answer without hesitation. "Shishida."

All Might seems a bit disheveled but recovers quickly. "Yes, that's correct."

I'm sure if Kendo was here she would say Awase was the MVP.

I continue. "Awase helped Shishida get his head together, but ultimately Shishida's demerits were less than Awase's."

Awase looks annoyed while Shishida's adrenaline hasn't worn off, making him look vacant.

All Might tells Tsuburuba and Kodai to improve the strength of their quirk's. Which is obvious, but the Battle Trial is meant to be a wake-up call, so I can't criticize him that much.

"Hey, Monoma. Why did you help Tsuburuba?"

I turn to Setsuna. She's returning my look with a difficult to read smile, her favorite expression. It makes me uneasy.

"Like I said, I want to help our classmates?"

Setsuna looks up at me, her eyes begging me to explain.

No, that's not right. It's more like she's trying to tear answers out of me just by looking.

She "hmms" softly before turning her gaze back to All Might.

Finally, some mercy.

Ugh. If I weren't in public, I would be burying my face in my hands. I'm not even Tsuburuba at this point, I'm Kuroiro.

All Might has pulled out the names. "Honenuki and Kaibara as heroes with Kuroiro and Komori as villains."

I speak to Honenuki before he leaves. "Don't destroy the bomb. Be careful with your quirk's strength."

He looks down on me. "I don't need your help."

I back off. Can't help those who don't want it.

Honenuki returns hunched over, having failed exactly as he had twice before.

I glance at him from the side. He averts my gaze, a look of anger on his face.

I don't need to say anything to him. He already got the message. Besides, Kaibara probably said everything I needed to and more.

His failure can be just as useful to me as a success.

Setsuna stands to my side. She speaks after Honenuki passes by. "Hmm. Seems the recommended student isn't so perfect after all." She turns to look up at me, arms on her hips.

"Really?" I laugh at her forgetfulness. "Does that apply to you too? Aren't you the other recommended student?"

Setsuna gets a manic grin.

I don't like that look on her face.

Setsuna adjusts her body so that she's standing directly in front of me. She crosses her arms. "What are you implying, Monoma? Are you saying I'm not perfect?"

A voice in the back of my head starts screaming. She was baiting me. She wanted me to call her out. There is no good answer here.

"Shiozaki and Rin as heroes with Kamakiri and Fukidashi as villains."

Shit, I forgot to give criticism. I hope All Might did well enough.

I'm just glad he interrupted.

Kamakiri comes up to speak to me. "Do you have any advice?"

He isn't asking me because he respects me. He's asking me because he wants to win. It's a start, but not enough.

"Are you capable of blunting your blades?"

Kamakiri winces. "No."

"Then you will have to use your hands once you get up close."
He raises his voice. "I already know that! Your advice isn't useful!"

I raise my hand to assuage him. "Good. That means that you know what you're doing."

He walks away angry but smiling.

Rin doesn't hesitate. "And me?"

"I'm sure you're already aware of your limits. This battle will be between you and Kamakiri."

I turn to Fukidashi, whose face never gets easier to look at. I could suggest plenty of attacks to him, because he used so many on me.

"Use this for practice. This is designed to be a low stress scenario with enough pressure to prepare you for a real fight. Try things you've never done."

"Ok."

And now Shiozaki. Her face is down, already aware of what I'm going to say.

"Shiozaki, I understand you don't like attacking people, but understand this is not just you, this is also Rin."

Her face turns to misery. "I know! I just-"

"You think the violence will change you?"

She pauses, surprised. She nods.

"It won't. You're still a good person deep down."

All Might fetches a new bomb and the Battle Trial starts.

"Wow. Surprised you were able to help Shiozaki so well."

I stand as straight as I can. Setsuna is making my anxiety spike.

"Oh, really?" I say in a calm voice. Which is even more impressive than anything else I've done today.

"Yes, you really seemed to see her for who she is, not just the surface level."

"Uh, huh?"

I don't know what Setsuna is thinking, which is scary.

She knows I don't know what she's thinking, which is horrifying.

She closes her eyes and grins. "Oh, that's all. I didn't have anything else to say."

Setsuna isn't just attractive, she's the kind of beautiful that's intimidating.

I desperately turn my attention to the viewing screen.

The Battle Trial goes better than previously. Kamakiri and Rin are just as good, but Fukidashi is more creative and Shiozaki is more aggressive.

Shiozaki and Rin lost the same as previously, unable to surpass their exhaustion from climbing the stairs.

No matter. Yet another problem that can be solved with training.

After All Might announces the final teams, Pony doesn't hesitate.

"Got edvides fuh mee, Monmuh?

I smile. "Make sure to keep track of your partner. You'll need to stick together."

Bondo takes a massive step in front of me. He holds his hands in front of face in anticipation. It looks uncanny on his large body. He reminds me of Twice.

I shake my head. No, this is not Twice. This is Bondo, my friend. My actual friend.

I stand up as straight as I can to look directly at Bondo. "As long as you follow Yanagi, you will do no wrong. You are a big, strong man and you will win with teamwork."

Proud, Bondo leaves with Yanagi. Shoda passes by me without speaking.

I glance at Setsuna. She seems to just be watching the viewing screen.

I take a deep breath.

See? I'm not in love with Setsuna, I just think she's the most attractive woman I've ever met, I care more about her opinion than anyone else's, I constantly get terrified of how I act around her, I dream about having her confidence, I get excited whenever she listens to me, I am perpetually distracted when I'm near her, I feel like her eyes burn a hole right through me, I can hear my heart beat like a drum in her presence and I desperately try to come up with reasons why I'm not in love with her.

…

Oh, for fuck's sake.

The result remains the same. Bondo and Yanagi win as they always have. Shoda and Pony stuck together this time, but it wasn't enough to protect them from the combined might of Cemedine and Poltergeist.

All Battle Trials ended in the same result as originally. The only change at all, was that Bondo became the MVP in All Might's eyes instead of Shoda.

The teamwork between Shoda and Pony is more important than Shoda's personal skill. Even so, it's unfair to Shoda to see his work as lesser because of it.

Judging only by what can be measured is foolish anyway. Things that can't be measured: respect, confidence, trust. These things are what will lead Class B to victory, what will lead me to victory.

 

[iamawesome300]

The other classes are uneventful. I do however start a conversation at the end of the day.

"Tsuburuba, Bondo, how would you both feel about staying after school on some days to train your quirks?"

Talk to the people you already know will agree.

Bondo gives a joyous smile. Tsuburuba is surprised but he speaks. "Uh, yeah, I guess."

Pony enters the conversation without warning. "Ooh! End mee!"

That's right, Pony. You want to be included.

"What are you talking about?"

That's Rin.

"We want to stay after school sometimes to train our quirks."

He nods. "I'd be willing to do that."

Kamakiri enters. "Sure, no problem."

Those two want to be stronger.

I turn to Shishida. "Would you like to join?"

Shishida seems confused that I asked him, but I know he always feels a bit distant from the rest of Class B. "Erm, alright, Monoma sir."

Let's get two with one question. "And you, Komori?"

"Eep!"

She doesn't handle attention well at this point.

Pony pulls on her shoulder. "Please, Gomori! Don't leh mee be the own lee gur!"

Komori can't find it in her to say no.

I turn to Kuroiro who has made his way to me.

"I'm in."

Of course.

Kaibara makes his way into the crowd. Pony and Komori are begging Kodai. Kamakiri and Rin are trying to drag in a surprisingly downbeat Tetsu. He would usually jump at this sort of thing.

He turns to look at Kendo before he answers. She has a disapproving look on her face. "I'm not sure about this, guys."

Ah. She must have a deeper hold on him this time.

Tsuburuba and Kuroiro have wrangled Fukidashi. The three girls are talking up Yanagi right now.

That's too many people now, they can't say no.

"We shouldn't start right away, this was just our first day as a class, after all. After we get it together, right?"

Agreeable murmurs and nods meet my senses.

I wave off my friends as I leave, wishing for the millionth time that I still had the dorms.

However, I am not going to my apartment right away.

"Where's Nighteye?"

Bubble Girl is clearly not happy to see me. I don't know why she's so annoyed.

"He's in his office. Just be quick."

I open the door to see Nighteye at his desk, as she described. When he sees me, he gets a look of worry on his face.

"Monoma please tell me you aren't here to tell me about another villain you forgot about."

"What? No. This is more important."

I take a deep breath. Telling Nighteye is difficult too.

"I want to ask one of my classmates to be my girlfriend. Can you see the future and tell me if she says yes?"

"What."

He says it immediately, without thought, without emotion.

Nighteye doubles over in laughter, pounding the table with his fist.

"Stop laughing! This is serious!"

Nighteye laughs even harder, now sinking deep into his chair.

It's clear I'm getting nothing out of him while he's like this. Best to wait until he's done.

Nighteye eventually recovers, wiping tears out of his eyes and leaning back in his chair with a gentle smile.

"Oh, Monoma. I'm glad that you're hilarious."

"I wasn't trying to be funny."

"I know. That's why it's funny."

I'm pissed off. "Look, will you tell me or not?"

Nighteye waves his hand in a failed attempt at pacification. "Monoma you have died three times and you are scared about asking a girl on a date."

"Um, actually I've died four times. It's just that the first one wasn't in a time loop."

"And you find dying four times easier than confessing to your crush?"

"I'm pretty sure most people would agree with that statement."

Nighteye runs his hand through his hair. "And I thought Mirio was difficult. Having you as an intern will drive me off the deep end."

Nighteye sighs. "I'm glad you're still human."

I remain silent. I won't suffer the indignity of asking again.

He pushes up his glasses. "Monoma, if I view your future and it turns out she rejects you, are you going to kill yourself?"

"What? No. I just won't ask her in that case."

Nighteye sighs again. "This is such a waste of my abilities." He grabs my head and looks into my eyes.

"How is this a waste? Isn't a hero supposed to make people happy?"

Nighteye pulls his head back. "Yes, she loves you. Happy now?"

"Yes!"

I jump out of the seat and run straight out the door, running right into Bubble Girl, knocking us both over.

Okay, let's be slightly less excited.

For Bubble Girl's part, she doesn't seem to be that mad, she seems more incredulous that I ran her over.

She pulls herself up and speaks. "You made him laugh. What did you do to make him laugh?"

Oh. There's also that.

It takes a while to fall asleep.

I arrive in class the happiest I've been in a while.

Tsuburuba is the first to speak to me. "Thanks for the help yesterday, Monoma. I wish my quirk was strong enough to stop Shishida, though."

"Don't worry Tsuburuba, with practice your quirk will become unbreakable."

Wait, have I already told him that? Ugh, this is all blurring together.

Pony jumps in too. "End mee! Sanks fur yur help Monuhmuh!"

"Of course, Pony."

Setsuna sits down behind Tetsu. Just calm down Monoma, don't do anything to ruin it at the last minute.

Ugh, why does she have to sit behind me? Now I'll keep thinking that she's looking at me.

Mr. Vlad enters the classroom, sparing me from my thoughts. He talks about the training, asks about the injuries, just a bunch I've heard before.

"Today you will vote for your class representative."

This is my last chance. I can't fail now.

"Each candidate will have a chance to give a speech, detailing what they would be like as class representative. Monoma, you go first."

I take a deep breath and walk up to the podium. I've never been awful at public speaking, but that's just because I'm good at pretending to be confident, not because I actually am.

I look at my classmates and see how their faces haven't changed. They're still the same people I remember. I'm the only one that's different.

Let's hope that's a good thing.

"This is the greatest class in U. A. I can tell that everyone in this class is strong, intelligent and compassionate. I promise to be more than just a class representative, I promise to be your friend. If you vote for me, I know that we can do anything working together."

Class B doesn't really understand how to react. If any other person delivered that speech it would come off as melodramatic. But I believe wholeheartedly.

They seem to recollect themselves to applaud as I leave the podium. I sit down smiling.

Mr. Vlad tallies the votes and I win, beating Kendo, the other front-runner. I offer my thanks to my classmates who are congratulating me. Kendo won't fail Class B again.

"And now we will vote for class vice representative."

Oh shit, I forgot.

I lie to myself and think that Shoda will win, but that's a false hope, Kendo wins in a completely one-sided election.

The both of us take our places standing at the front of the class. I do what I can to look happy even though I'm annoyed that I have to work with Kendo. From the look on her face, she's doing the same thing.

I return to my seat and reflect on my victory. I realize that my speech sounded a lot like something Kendo would say. I feel a little disgusted that I had to imitate her behavior to become class representative, but whatever it takes for victory. Kendo might not be good at convincing people to do what she wants, but she's good at getting people to like her.

No matter, Kendo's a problem to be solved later. Right now, I have something far more important on my mind.

The rest of the day is exhausting. It's bad enough that I have this weighing on my mind.

The day ends and some students pour out of the halls, while others languish. Thankfully, Setsuna is someone who never felt the need to leave as fast as she could.

Ugh, how can I be so panicked, even when Nighteye already told me she reciprocates? This isn't logical behavior at all.

Setsuna is busy talking with some of the other girls. I feel paranoid right now. What if she thinks I'm stalking her?

I struggle to pay attention while also looking like I'm not paying attention.

After a few excruciating minutes, they leave and Setsuna grabs her stuff to go home. I follow her to the exit.

"Hey Setsuna, Can I talk to you for a moment?"

She turns around to look at me. Now that I think about it, this is the same place she asked if I was okay in a previous loop.

I didn't pick this place intentionally, it's just the way we usually go. But now that I'm here, I'm glad this is the place I chose. The fact school is over gives it a calm feeling.

It doesn't fit with how my heart's racing.

I decide being direct is best.

"Setsuna. I love you."

Setsuna fluffs her hair, brushing some of it off her shoulders.

"Well, obviously."

…

Huh?

 

[iamawesome300]

"Hey Setsuna, Can I talk to you for a moment?"

I whip my head to see Monoma talking. He looks like he's about to have a mental breakdown.

He takes a deep breath before speaking. "Setsuna. I love you."

Oh. You're weirdly scared.

I close my eyes and brush the hair off my shoulders. "Well, obviously."

He's silent for a moment. "Wha- What do you mean, 'well, obviously?'"

He seems surprised.

"I just assume everyone is in love with me."

Wait, that makes me look bad.

I let my arms down and open my eyes. Monoma's anxiety is gone, but he's still shocked.

"I know that sounds bitchy, but I'm usually right."

He's clearly still stunned. He stumbles on his words. "Um, okay, so…"

So desperate for an answer, aren't you?

I smile. "Yeah, yeah, I'm your girlfriend. I'm sorry, " I apologize, sarcastically, "I know you're speechless because of the uncontrollable passions swirling inside you. As you can tell, I am deeply overcome with emotion." I say in a monotone emotionless voice.

Once again, he is stunned.

I'm confused. Monoma seemed well put together. I don't understand why he's so overwhelmed by this specifically.

He blinks a few times before he hastily pulls out his phone.

"Uh… phone numbers." He cringes at himself.

You weren't prepared for this at all.

I pull out my phone as well. "Well, Monoma, I guess I'll be talking to you later."

"Uh… Yeah…" He says bewildered.

I wave him off.

When I get home Suraisa has already started cooking. I poke my head into the kitchen, before heading upstairs.

"Hey, are Mom and Dad-"

"Yes, they're still coming." She interrupts, annoyed. "How was school?"

"Another boy poured his heart out to me. So, you know, it's a Tuesday."

She murmurs something of acknowledgement before returning to her cooking.

I drop my stuff from school in a neat little mess in the corner and flop into bed.

I scroll through my phone for a while. When I look through my contacts list, I reach Monoma and remember that I never discussed keeping our relationship secret.

Shit, I need to message him about that.

"I just realized we didn't talk about how you were going to tell the class that you're dating me now."

Perfect. Hit send.

He responds reasonably fast.

"I don't think we should make such a show about it. It should come out naturally. We don't want to come off as bragging."

That's surprising. I thought you would want to tell literally everyone.

"Really? You don't think I'm someone worth bragging about?"

"I don't need to brag about you. It's obvious just from looking at you."

That reads like it's really what he thinks, although it's hard to tell from text.

I wonder why you waited to the end of the day to ask me out?

I'm a bit surprised, but I don't understand why he was surprised. Did he think I had time to do something tonight?

I guess you wouldn't have known that, but I'm still annoyed by the lack of time.

"Sorry for leaving so quickly, but it's your fault. If you wanted to do something together you should have asked earlier."

"I didn't want to ask you around other people. I wanted it to just be us."

Huh? Why? Weren't you the guy that begged to fight Kendo and Tetsu on his own? I thought you were desperate for attention.

"Really? I thought for sure you would love to make some big dramatic moment."

"Not for something like this. Not for something so personal."

I don't understand. Why are you so different from what you normally are?

"I wouldn't have expected that from you."

"Other people's opinions shouldn't matter. We should be the most important part of our relationship."

Does- does he think this is serious?

Oh this poor boy, I am going to make him suffer.

I wake up easily. I don't really care enough to waste time getting to school. But that makes sense. I was able to have dinner with Mom and Dad. They've been busy lately, so it's been difficult.

I get it, though. I mean, hey, that's why I'm becoming a hero, right?

I wander into class only barely paying attention to my surroundings. Kendo is the only one here and gently greets me.

"Good morning, Tokage."

"Hey, Kendo."

"So, what do you think of U. A. so far? Are you feeling good about it?"

"I'm fine, Kendo. You don't have to worry."

She shakes her head. "I'm not worrying, I just have to fulfill my duty as class vice representative."

"I'm a recommended student, I know what I'm doing."

I don't want to look like I'm bragging, but Kendo's "I care, but I'm going to pretend I don't care" persona is annoying.

"I am here for you if you ever need anything."

Pony and Komori enter the classroom next. Pony is babbling about anime to Komori's clear disinterest.

Kendo motions for them to join us, as she begins asking them how they're feeling.

Other classmates begin dragging themselves in, ranging the gauntlet of emotions from Tetsu to Kodai.

Monoma enters the room and looks over the students before finding me and smiling.

His body language says he's happy, but he's wearing a smaller smile than normal for him. Weird.

He takes a seat and turns to look me.

"It's good to see you."

He says that as though he hasn't seen me in years.

"Miss me so much and it hasn't even been a day."

During morning classes, Monoma does everything perfectly, offering assistance to other classmates that need help.

Why are you good at this? Why do you switch between genius and idiot depending on what you're doing?

Lunch begins and I turn to Monoma, finding that he's not in the room.

He must have already gone to lunch.

I grab a tray and search for Monoma in the cafeteria. Failing to find him, I sit with Kendo.

"Tokage, are you alright? You seem grumpy."

"I'm not grumpy."

"You huffed when you sat down."

She's lying.

"Kendo, have you seen Monoma? I wanted to speak with him."

The smile drains from Kendo's face. "Oh, Tokage, not you too."

"What do you mean?"

Kendo crosses her arms. "Almost everyone in class wants Monoma to help them with their quirk or assignment or whatever."

She sighs. "I don't understand how everyone is so taken in with his act."

"Act?"

Kendo nods. "Can't they tell that it's not real? It's so obviously fake. Monoma is supposed to be some perfect student? That's just a character he's playing. He's clearly repressing."

Repressing? I think back to yesterday when Monoma was very uncomfortable asking me out. That would fit with his other behavior with me.

"You think Monoma is repressing his sexuality?"

Kendo is dumbfounded. "Monoma is repressing his everything. How am I the only one who sees through this?"

Monoma is repressing. That explains why he's so different so much of the time. How much of it is real, though? Nobody can keep up an act like this forever, so the only question is: How long will it take?

"Tokage, I don't like the look of that smile you're wearing."

I zoned out for a second there. "It's fine, Kendo. You said Monoma was playing a character? Well, I can make him break."

Kendo was dismayed.

I get up and leave the cafeteria to go search for Monoma. I don't really know U. A. all that well, yet, so I'm not sure where he could be.

Seriously, where is he? I pull out my phone and send a text. A few minutes later and nothing. I'm getting annoyed by the lack of response.

Does he think he can just ignore me? He must think I'm not going to do anything to him. I can easily break up with him, because this isn't serious yet.

Right. This isn't serious. That's why you're so mad at him for not eating lunch with you. Because this isn't serious.

Shut up, voice in the back of my head. I've never listened to you before, and I'm not listening to you now.

I wait outside the classroom until lunch is over.

Eventually, Monoma returns from wherever he disappeared to.

"Where were you during lunch? I looked everywhere for you. I sent you a message."

Monoma glances at his phone.

You didn't even look at your fucking phone?

"I'm sorry, Setsuna. Nighteye was here during lunch and I decided to follow him as his intern student."

What the fuck? Intern student?

"You have a hero internship?"

"Yes." He says, as if that's something normal.

"You have an internship on day three of hero school."

"Well, if you want to be technical, I've been his intern since two weeks before school."

You're missing the fucking point.

I run my fingers through my hair. "Do you not understand how insane that is?"

"Well, Nighteye is a respected hero, so they let him get away with things that others can't."

I stop for a minute as Monoma's obliviousness begins to set in.

"Okay, but why are you his intern?"

Realization dawns on Monoma as he finally understands my point.

"Well, I'm just special."

He's just special. That's why he's an intern student before he even enters a hero school.

Because he's just "special."

This fucking piece of shit.

I know that I am far too angry, but he needs to learn to open his fucking mouth.

I manage to respond without shouting at him. "Monoma, I get the feeling you don't understand just how special that makes you."

He shakes his head. "Well, that makes sense. You didn't think it was that important that you were a recommended student."

"Monoma, there are tons of recommended students. I have never in my life heard of someone that had an internship before entering hero school."

My parents are pro heroes and I'm not even an intern student.

"I don't think it's that important."

He clearly doesn't want to talk about this.

I sigh and stare at the ceiling. "Okay, now where did you go? I couldn't find you."

"I just went to eat with Nighteye somewhere on campus."

I smile, finally getting a response from him. "Well, if it's someplace special, maybe you should take me there next time?"

He gets uncomfortable again. More embarrassed than worried. "It wasn't that big of a deal, Setsuna."

Hmm. I want to know your secret spot, but I guess that can wait.

"Well, if you say so."

We move to enter class, but Tsuburuba barrels through Monoma before he gets the chance.

I grab a bickering Monoma, pulling him back up. He takes his seat, annoyed.

"You all right?"

He smiles. "Yeah, I'm just mad."

"Good. Wouldn't want you injured for rescue training."

The smile drains from his face. "Oh no."

"What's wrong?"

"I've never done rescue training before."

"So? You've never done anything else before, and you had no problem being Mr. Perfect."

Monoma looks off into the distance. "Somehow I think it's different this time."

You are insecure about the strangest things.

Rescue training ends and it's clear I was completely wrong, as Monoma manages to fail rescue training to the point I wonder if it was intentional.

Until I remember that it's Monoma.

"I'm sorry I built you up so much. I should have listened when you said you were awful."

A pathetic looking Monoma looks in my eyes to answer. "Well, it's just one more thing to learn, right?"

Why are you so different? Why is this something you're so bad at? Why do you keep switching between perfect understanding and helpless stupidity?

Is it really just a character, or is it all you?

Why do you feel the need to be so dishonest?

I want to find who the real Monoma is, deep down.

…

…Wait, that sounds like a lot of work.

…

…On the other hand, I can just wait until he feels comfortable enough to tell me.

Eh, whatever, I'll figure it out later.

 

[Dr. Bob Doom]

Well, I just binged this over the course of an evening and it was a delight. Monoma is so fucked up, but I'm very invested in seeing how this goes... For better or worse.

 

[iamawesome300]

I'm angry, but that's nothing new.

It wasn't enough to forget about rescue training, was it? No, I also had to forget to meet Setsuna during lunch and now she's mad at me and is demanding an explanation for where I was.

That's going to be a difficult conversation to have, because under no circumstances am I telling Setsuna about Eri, because that will lead to worse conversations.

I try to get a grip but it's clear I'm losing it; this is just way too much to keep track of.

Breathe, Monoma. Remember you promised to help train your friends' quirks today.

I smile. Yes, something that's easy. Something with a clear and obvious answer.

Afternoon classes have nothing I pay attention to or care about.

After classes end, I tell everyone in Class B to meet outside the school. We choose an area that is mostly covered in grass as seems necessary.

I turn to address the class as Kendo moves to stand beside me.

Apparently, she's aware of when I'm going to deliver speeches.

Setsuna stands on the other side of me as I begin. "The Sports Festival will be coming up soon. For the most part, it exists to help measure our progress as hero students."

I grumble to myself as I wonder why the fuck one of the most important opportunities to show off a student's abilities is the first thing done in a year.

"But it also is used by hero agencies as a way to see potential hires. We will split into groups to train together as U. A. has not done much to help learn teamwork despite it being a massive part of what the Sports Festival demands of its participants. Now, I've already planned out what teams will be-"

"What the hell are you talking about?"

I turn my head to Kamakiri as he interrupts me.

"What do you mean-"

"I mean that you promised to help us train our quirks. Why the fuck do we need to 'learn teamwork' or-"

"Were you not listening?" I ask Kamakiri as he gets angry at me for interrupting him. "The Sports Festival demands teamwo-"

"Yeah, I heard what you fucking said! I just don't understand what the fuck that has to do with me? I don't care how much teamwork the Sports Festival demands; I can just push through it on my strength alone. I don't need to learn teamwork, I need-"

"Well, clearly you do, if you're acting like this."

Another flash of rage washes over Kamakiri. "You promised to help us train our quirks. I wanted to fight the man who won the Battle Trial by himself. I'm not going to sit down in a circle and talk about my fucking feelings. If you're-"

"Very well." I motion for everyone to step back. "If you feel that this is unnecessary, then we can skip to training for right now."

Kamakiri blinks before smiling and entering a fighting stance.

"Let me make one thing clear," I announce, "I am not going to use my quirk for this and neither will you."

"Why would we be fighting without quirks? I thought you said you wanted to help us train them."

I smile. "Well, isn't it obvious? If we're not using quirks, I can beat you effortlessly."

Kamakiri grits his teeth. "There is no chance that you-"

"No, you are far too dependent on your quirk to ever beat me. It would be an embarrassing defeat."

Kamakiri screams. "I have far more training than you could possibly have!"

"It doesn't matter how much you've trained, I'm just better than you." I smile again.

Kamakiri's voice turns cold as he loses his anger. "I'm going to beat the shit out of you."

Both of us move away from each other as I turn my head to the crowd. Some are worried, some are excited.

"Would someone be willing to stand between us and announce the start of the match?"

Kendo sighs and stands at the midpoint between Kamakiri and me. "Start!"

Kamakiri rushes ahead. I don't move at all, instead watching his arms to see which one he will hit me with. He swings at me, as I turn to the side and push his arm away.

I know it's pointless to try to block or counter Kamakiri's attacks.

Kamakiri immediately recovers and turns to kick me in the face. I dodge and continue moving backwards to stay out of Kamakiri's range.

Kamakiri grins. "What, you're not going to try and attack me?"

"I'm waiting for you to exhaust yourself like the dumbass you are."

He screams and rushes at me. I dodge to his side before he even comes near me. He responds by turning mid-charge to attack with his opposite side. I push his attack to the side again. He lost far too much momentum by changing direction.

"Fucking fight me!"

"What, can't handle a little waiting? I'm very good at it."

His next charge has him change tactics. He decides to jump at me so I can't push him away again. My only possible response is to fall on my back. I'm injuring myself by doing this, but he stumbles on the ground having expected resistance.

"It must have been so easy for you. Being born with such a powerful quirk."

Kamakiri stands up, brushing himself off. "You don't know shit about me."

I smile. "I know that you're a little bitch who's mad he can't use his quirk because it's the only thing that makes him special."

Kamakiri moves forward as he speaks, probably hoping to distract me. "Don't act like you know anything about how-"

"I know everything about you because it's the same story I've heard a thousand fucking times. 'Wah! Kids bullied me!' That doesn't mean you get to walk all over everyone else. You're just mad some kids were mean to you."

I stare Kamakiri directly in his eyes, making sure he has no choice but to listen to me. "You don't have any actual problems."

Kamakiri launches himself at me. He adjusts his arm, pulling one higher above the other.

Finally.

I do the same thing I did last time, fall on my back. The only difference is that Kamakiri is prepared for this and follows through, planning to land on me. He activates his quirk as a blade appears coming from his arm. I roll out from under him as he lands on the ground, impaling his blade deep within the dirt. I stand up and move right in front of Kamakiri. He is on his hands and knees, stuck in the grass. He looks up at me as I pull back my foot, swinging it beneath his chin, kicking him with all of my strength. He might have landed on his back if it wasn't for the blade that was stuck. The whiplash hits his arm as he is pulled to the ground, collapsing, one of his arms forced upright due to the blade.

Of course, I had no chance against Kamakiri if we fought without our quirks. That's why I spouted all that nonsense to trick him into using his.

I turn to our audience, who are staring at me in disbelief.

"Now, who wants to learn what team they're on?"

Nobody responds.

The important thing is that no one will question me.