Life is Simple, Love is Not (Izuku x Miruko)

Chapter 23: A Tough Lesson

Down in the observation bunker once more, Rumi watched the many screens as Izuku and Kirishima faced off in the empty street. Her ears picked up the faint sound of panicked breathing, and Rumi glanced over to see the brown-haired girl looking like she was going to be sick. For a second, Rumi considered giving the nervous girl some words of encouragement. However, she decided it would be crueler to replace the girl's fear with false hope instead of leaving her to her own thoughts.

Standing on the side of the street opposite of Kirishima, Izuku rolled his shoulders several times before nodding towards his opponent. "You know the rules, start whenever you are ready."

Kirishima nodded wordlessly and adopted a classic fighting stance as Izuku readied his shotgun. For several seconds the two fighters stared at each other in silence, the only sound being the wind gently blowing through the street.

Then the battle began.

Kirishima's body instantly hardened as Izuku rapidly fired two shots from his shotgun, the beanbag rounds impacting uselessly against the teen's torso as Kirishima grinned. Rushing straight towards his opponent, Kirishima quickly closed the distance between him and Izuku and began delivering a flurry of crushing blows. Put on the defensive, Izuku dodged every attack with ease as each attack turned the street into a series of crumbling craters. Sliding backwards, Izuku holstered his shotgun and turned around to run away. Immediately, Kirishima picked up a cinderblock-sized chunk of concrete and threw it at Izuku like a baseball pitcher. But it seemed that was exactly what Izuku had wanted to happen, as he ducked under the projectile and suddenly reversed direction, sprinting straight at a surprised Kirishima.

As Kirishima tried to bring his arms back into a classic boxing guard stance, Izuku reached forward and sprayed a can full of military-grade pepper spray directly into Kirishima's eyes. Stumbling backwards in surprise, Kirishima growled in frustration as he uselessly pawed at his burning eyes.

Rumi frowned as she watched the battle unfold on screen. Izuku might have gained a temporary advantage, but it would not amount to anything if he did not figure out a way past Kirishima's seemingly impenetrable defense.

"Argh! Fight me like a man you coward!" Kirishima yelled in frustration as he blindly swung wild haymakers in Izuku's general direction.

Taking the opportunity to blast some more pepper spray into Kirishima's swollen eyes, Izuku laughed mockingly as he easily evaded his opponents attacks. "Why? You only want me to fight fair because you benefit from it. If you were a real man like you say you are you would fight me and win regardless of the circumstances. Grow the fuck up you brat."

Roaring with frustrated anger, Kirishima continued to wildly throw punches around him as Izuku reached into one of his tactical pouches and pulled out a rectangular device. The many cameras zoomed in on the device in Izuku's hands, revealing that it was a menacing looking stun gun. Reaching into another pocket, Izuku threw a weighted wire at Kirishima's feet. Like a modern version of the classic South American bola weapon, the steel wire had two magnetic weights on either end that ensured whatever the wire wrapped around was thoroughly entangled.

With the modern bola tying his legs together, Kirishima fell forward with a thud and began to thrash around as he tried to untangle his legs. As the teen struggled with the wire around his ankles, Izuku threw another metal bola at the teen's hands. With both his hands and feet tied together, Kirishima growled in frustration and changed tactics. Instead of trying to untie the wires himself, the teen decided to break out with brute force. With the sound of creaking and straining metal, Kirishima used his enhanced strength to slowly stretch the cables to their breaking point. But before the red-haired teen could make any progress, Izuku casually walked forward and looked down apathetically at the struggling teen.