Nightfall (quirkless vigilante deku + dadzawa)

Ch31- The sports festival: the 1v1 battles p4

[word count (including this + authors note):1961]

(Continues directly from the last chapter)

3rd person POV

Recovery girl came part of the way to meet him and helped him over to one of the beds they had set up. Izuku winced as he dropped down on the bed, his half healed burns and the ones from the match rubbing uncomfortably against his clothes. Luckily his discomfort didn't last long, recovery girl came over and gave him a quick kiss on the arm, Izuku watching in fascination as parts of the skin began to regrow around the burns and over them leaving him a lot more comfortable than before. A wave of tiredness washed over him immediately afterwards, his eyelids feeling heavy and moving his body seeming like an impossible task. "You should get some rest dear, you'll need more energy before I can heal you up entirely for your final match." Recovery told him with a sweet smile.

Still in a daze and not really having much of a choice to do otherwise, Izuku nodded and allowed his eyelids to fall as he drifted off to sleep, allowing his brain some downtime to fully process what had happened.

A couple of hours later, Izuku woke up once more to find Todoroki sat to the side of him "O-oh hi Todoroki. W-What are you doing here?" He asked with a nervous smile "I just came to wish you luck." Todoroki told him in his usual monotone voice "And to as I said earlier, I'd like for you to win this festival. You're obviously the most skilled one here and you deserve the win even if you think you don't. I can't force you to but for my sake, do you think you could at least try?"

 Izuku lay there in silence, not making eye contact with the split haired boy once. After about three minutes of this, Todoroki stood up to leave.

"Think about it. Ok?" He called back as he left recovery girls station, leaving Izuku to drown in his thoughts and in memories that he'd rather not remember.

40 minutes later

With all of his burns mostly healed up, Izuku was feeling much better than before, it was a lot easier than before to move around without all of the chaffing. Izuku thanked recovery girl for her help before heading out to the field where present mic was calling for his appearance.

On the opposite end of the field, approaching the ring, was his opponent, Bakugou Katsuki. Izuku knew that he knew Bakugou somehow, likely back when he was at school still, when he was first diagnosed with the curse that sent his life down this path. He couldn't be 100% sure but it did seem like the most likely outcome which is why he'd been extra careful while covering his freckles and making sure absolutely none of his green roots would show among the purple dye. Someone recognising him could prove to be a real nuisance for him.

The two of them enter the ring for the final time as Midnight cracks her whip, beginning the final match of the UA sports festival.

Bakugou wasted no time as he flew towards Izuku who was stood at the other end of the ring "DIEEEEEE!" He screeched with explosions popping from his hands that were acting to propel him forwards, a manic grin plastered across his face. Izuku activated his zero gravity tech, floating him above the blondes attack in a similar fashion to Bakugou's own explosions.

This continued on as a pattern for a while, Izuku making sure to land closer and closer to the boundaries every time he went down while staying on the defensive. He knew inside that throwing his matches like this wasn't really fair for the other competitors giving it their all but it'd end up being dangerous for them and too much attention could end up becoming dangerous for him. Anyone could be up in the stands watching the festival. Anyone. A n y o n e.

Izuku continues to dodge mindlessly, his body just simply moving on autopilot like he'd been trained to do. All he had to do was lose, it'd all be fine if he lost this match. Another fist came his way and Izuku swung himself under it. Probably fine. A feint kick to the shin with an uppercut to the jaw, izuku grabbed the leg and pushed the blonde back throwing him off balance. Hopefully fine. Fine. Fine. Fine. F i n e.