Red Shoes: an MHA Tale

Chapter 24: Everyone Loses Once

Kota awoke suddenly in the hospital wing. He sat upright quickly and looked around.

"Hey." Eri addressed him with a calm voice as she placed her hand on his leg. She sat in a chair at his side. But on her other side, Katsuma was sitting in his own bed.

"Did I win?" Kota asked with a smirk.

Eri frowned. She didn't feel like talking about what she saw. It may have started out as a competition but they both knocked each other completely unconscious. It was brutal to see as their friend. She was beginning to get tired of being the one to hold this trio together.

"Of all the reckless, self-destructive and destructive behavior I've seen in my years at this school!" Recovery Girl shouted as she marched into the room and swatted all three teens on their foreheads with a newspaper. "If you're all trying to be just like Deku then congratulations, you're off to a great start! You might just one-up him in terms of trying to kill another student! There's only so many beds in this hospital. You're lucky that line outside my office is only minor scraps and bruises."

They all lowered their heads in shame. "M-Maybe we did go too hard..." Katsuma admitted.

Kota scoffed. "Do you expect villains to go easy on us?"

"Guys." Eri stopped them both. "Not now."

"The scores are in!" Present Mic announced to the crowds on the television screen.

Eri, Katsuma, and Kota turned their attention as the scoreboard flashed in front of their eyes.

"It was insane! Izumi and Shimano were neck and neck but check out this instant replay!" The loud teacher insisted as the broadcast cut to the camera footage. It made Katsuma feel sick tackling Kota so hard. According to Recovery Girl, he received serious whiplash. Any harder and his neck would have been broken. He felt bad as he noticed his foot was on the platform the entire time. Only a few seconds longer than his classmate.

Kota remained silent as the teachers declared Katsuma the winner of the round.

Eri turned her head and gave him a reassuring smile. "Deku didn't win his first Sports Festiva-"

"We shouldn't try to be exactly like him! I never knew him as a failure! I met him after his festival! He was a warrior that never gave up no matter how impossible the challenge before him!" Kota snapped.

This drove Katsuma to turn around and stand up. "You know, why must you always make it some big honor thing? Like you don't have a purpose if you can't impress your hero?"

"Oh yeah?" Kota jumped to his feet and got in the curly-haired boy's face. "What about you trying to copy everything he did?! Even your face looks like his! I will be the first to admit that Deku is not a perfect individual."

"How about you stop talking about him since you don't know the first thing about the kind of hero he is!" Katsuma barked.

"You need to stop treating this like a fan club!" Kota barked back, shoving the teen away.

Eri pried herself between the boys and stared at each of them in the face. She didn't say a word. She couldn't. All she could communicate was the disappointment in her eyes as they welled up with tears.

"H-How dare you..." She proclaimed in her soft, broken voice.

Kota gruffed and walked out into the office waiting room. "Young man. You have not been excused yet!" Recovery Girl called as he passed her and the line of injured students by.

He stormed out of the door and into the hallway. Other than the nurse's office, the school appeared empty. Everyone was still at the Sports Festival. Now it was on break before the final showdown. Cheerleaders and other student performers were out on the field giving the cameras and audience different shows. But he didn't care. He didn't care about it anymore. All he wanted was to keep stomping away.

But as he was about to walk out of the school doors, he heard crying in a nearby classroom. His heroic instincts kicked in, with a roll of his eyes, and he turned to the source. Peeking his head inside, he saw Satsuki Asui sitting against the far wall with her arms around her knees. She was back in her school uniform, although it was messier than her usually more conservative look. Instead of her tie being done professionally, it was loose on her collar. Her shirt and skirt were wrinkled, one of her socks was white, and her shoelaces were untied.

Satsuki seemed to stop crying and look at him the same time he got a closer look at her. She bowed her head to welcome him to her private moment of humility.

"You look like a mess..." Kota bluntly stated. "You okay?"

"Y-Yeah I just..."

She didn't need to finish. Kota suspected she was acting this way because of her embarrassing defeat. Not to mention she was practically exposed in front of millions of viewers, even if she had the scoreboard to shield her. "I-I saw your match... I'm sorry..."

Kota shook his head. "Don't be. It happens to everyone at least once."

She wiped her cheeks with her sleeve. "My sister called me."

Kota felt like, if she was okay, she wouldn't need him here and he didn't need to stay longer than necessary. But he stayed to listen.

"Froppy. She called me and said she was proud of me. But I just... felt like... I let her down." Satsuki sniffed.

Kota sighed. "I feel like I let down my hero today too."

"I'm sure you did..." She said. Her froggy blunt side coming through. "But not for the reason you might think."

Kota groaned and slid down the wall to sit beside her. "And what reason would that be?"

"You fought your friend. Not as a rival. More like... you both were really trying to hurt each other." Satsuki explained.

He rolled his eyes. "He's not my friend. He's been an annoying dweeb since he came here. And Eri's on his side now too."

"...That's not true." She frowned. "Eri is a great friend. She sees the faults in both of you."

To change the subject, Kota reached over and tied her shoelaces for her and habitually tapped the side of her shoe with a smile. "I'd hate to see you trip."

He stood back up. "We should probably get back to our seats. It's not over yet."

Satsuki gave him a small smile. Her cheeks lit up pink for a moment. "Th-Thanks, Izumi."

"Don't mention it." He smiled back.

As they walked out of the classroom together, someone else walked into the school and passed them. He looked like a student, wearing a UA sport uniform. But he didn't look too familiar. He did however have a very irritated look on his face as he stormed down the hall. Could have just been upset that he lost too.

But his pace was shifting repeatedly. As if he wasn't too recognizing of his surroundings. It's not like they could have gotten lost this late in the semester. Even most first years found their way around quickly. He was looking for something, or someone.

Despite Satsuki's state, she took one concerned look at Kota before silently following after the strange student.

"Asui." Kota reached out and followed after her.