Red Shoes: an MHA Tale

Chapter 21: Kota VS Katsuma

There they stood. Katsuma and Kota face to face in the hall leading out to the stadium.

"W-We should get going. It's going to start soon." Katsuma suggested. He wanted to avoid this confrontation anyway.

"I need to get something straight with you." Kota stated.

"Is it about being heroes together?" Katsuma asked. "Like what Asui and Eri suggested?"

"Partially." The spike-haired Water Jet Quirk user sighed. "I mean it when I say that I will do everything I can to beat you today. Because you're as much a threat to my victory as anyone else out there."

Katsuma nodded. "I can understand the competition."

"So you'll treat me as an adversary as well?" Kota asked, cocking one of his pointed eyebrows at his classmate.

Katsuma nodded again after a second of thought. "I will."

"Good. Because I also want to let you know, Eri is not open to being flirted with."

The curly-haired boy's eyes widened. "Is that was this is about? Is he jealous of me and Eri?" He thought.

"Is she with you?" Katsuma asked. Not in a tone like his question was serious, more of a challenge at Kota. As he asked it, he looked his classmate in the eyes after facing down.

Kota's fists tightened. "It'll be for her to decide. But her choice is obvious."

Katsuma personally felt that if Eri liked anyone more than just a friend, it was himself. He wasn't one to hold on to such hopes and feelings. He's had crushes before but never really let it get to him unlike his drive to become a hero.

"I'd like to know why you think that, Kota." Katsuma declared. He narrowed his eyes, hoping for a better answer than just some stupid comment about how much better Kota was than him in general.

Kota cut the conversation and stormed out because the whistle was blown for the remaining students to enter.

"I hope you're watching me, Deku..." Kota thought to himself as he marched on to the arena floor towards the pyramid. Around him, the other students walked at the same pace. All their faces had the same look of determination. Their eyes burned whenever they happened to look around and meet.

Katsuma followed behind and looked up at the crowds still watching in just as much anticipation as they had the very first match.

The forty students got into place on the pedestals in sheer silence.

"Boy, a real talkative group, this one!" Present Mic announced on the intercom.

"Same as before. The one who holds the spot at the top for the longest wins!" Mirko announced from her stage. "Try not to bleed everywhere. It's more to clean up." She snickered.

Kota and Katsuma were at opposite sides of the pyramid, practically facing each other. Katsuma certainly didn't plan for that. But maybe Kota did.

Eri watched from the infirmary with other students. "Oh no... Guys, what are you doing?" She asked them indirectly.

Katsuma closed his eyes to focus. "You have a point, Kota. There's only one victor today. Whatever you are to me: friend, rival. Today, right now..."

The whistle blew out and his eyes opened.

"You're my opponent!" He thought as he charged forward as his Quirk sprang through his cells. With great speed, he easily passed all the other students as they clashed and scrambled over each other to get up the steps.

"It looks like Katsuma's in the lead! A good head-start!" Present Mic shouted.

Before long, he reached the top and instantly met his gaze with Kota, who used his water to blast himself up.

Katsuma gasped and ducked as Kota immediately whipped a stream of clear water at his head.

He did it again at Katsuma's feet. The Cell-Activation Quirk user not only dodged the attack but lunged at his classmate.

Kota blasted into the air as an endless jet of water blew from both of his palms.

"My Quirk, and anything else I can do is pointless from a distance." Katsuma thought as he analyzed Kota in the sky. "But if he wants to win so badly, he'll have to come down."

Kota growled as he noticed Katsuma's score growing on the leader board. He angled his hands and began to spin directly above the pyramid.

The water began spiraling down at great speed. While Katsuma's face was out of the way of the streams, his shoes were growing wet and he realized just how much water was being forced downward.

The other students began to lose balance as the pyramid grew slick and wet.

"Kota Sosaki seems to have turned the entire arena into a Slip-N-Slide!" Present Mic stated the obvious.

Katsuma tried his best not to move, but the water picked up even more the more Kota spun above him. It began to generate a current that actively pushed his legs, not just gravity.

With quick thinking, although not the brightest idea, Katsuma threw himself down on the pyramid's top and thrusted both of his fists into the concrete.

They stayed there, anchoring him down as the water's force increased, flushing everyone down.

However, he was entirely submerged.

Present Mic explained the situation as quickly as everything was occurring. All eyes were now glued to the two rivals at the top.

Kota began slowing down, because his Quirk was beginning to wrinkle his skin and additionally because he didn't see directly beneath.

Seconds passed as he lowered himself on to the platform and watched the board as his number began to rise. But Katsuma's was still rising too.

His head shot over to Katsuma who began coughing and spewing out water as his head finally broke through and the streams stopped.

"What?!" Kota glared at him and saw his fists still stuck in the ground. "You idiot!" He ran over and kicked Katsuma's side.

The freckled, curly haired boy groaned loudly as he loosened his grip on the pavement. His wrists and knuckles were cut up but his Quirk was still in overdrive.

Kota roared and blasted him with water in the same place he had kicked him. But the water wasn't as strong as he could get it before.

Katsuma couldn't find a grip fast enough as the water both bruised his already injured side and pushed him off the edge. Yet at the last second, he gripped the end tight enough to crack it.

Kota blasted his hand as he attempted to climb back up. Instead, Katsuma jumped up with great speed and height over the blast, flipping over Kota's head and landing on his feet, to then turn himself around with his leg firmly out, round-housing Kota's ribcage.

The teen yelled out as Katsuma's shoe broke something inside him.

He reacted quickly by placing his hands on both sides of Katsuma's head as water circled around his skull. His head was now covered in the gravity-defying water that was now circulating around in a bubble between Kota's hands.

The audience gasped and screamed throughout it.

"Mirko, Cementoss! Stop this match!" Mr. Aizawa shouted out to her.

Katsuma began to choke as air bubbles escaped his mouth and nose. He threw his fist forward and hit Kota in the jaw. He then collapsed instantly with the water.

Katsuma too fell to the ground unconscious right after his classmate. And then the whistle blew.