Latibule

21 - ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴇᴍɪ-ꜰɪɴᴀʟꜱ

Previously on Latibule:

I sighed as the match ended, standing up once again to go down to my match.

I was a bit nervous. I was up against Todoroki, after all. But I pulled myself together, taking a deep breath to calm myself down.

Alright, it's time to do my best.

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Latibule — Chapter 21///The Semi-Finals

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On my way to the arena, I passed Bakugou. "Hey, good job—"

His hand landed on my shoulder, cutting me off as he gazed directly into my eyes. "Don't you dare lose."

My lips twisted into a teasing smile. "Why do you care?"

He scoffed, pocketing his hands. "If you lose, I won't be able to fight you in the finals."

"You haven't even made it to the finals, Katsuki," I deadpanned, keeping in mind the agreement we had about names.

He huffed a laugh. "I won't lose, Y/n."

I smiled determinedly. "Then I'll try to do the same."

The agreement was left hanging in the air as we both walked on, Present Mic introducing me to the crowd as I entered the arena.

I looked around, taking everything in while I let my mind wander to just have one carefree moment before my fight.

The midday sun was blazing down at the top of my head, the heat consuming my body whole. It was interesting, really, how much I'd improved. Just a few months ago I couldn't bear being in the sun for too long but now I was holding my own against the strongest students of my year.

The cheers of the crowd around me were almost deafening. It seemed that they, too, were gaining energy as the day went on.

"Begin!"

Todoroki didn't move, nor did I.

"Don't hold back," he advised, raising his right hand to take action.

"Likewise."

A second after I closed my mouth, an iceberg was on its way. I crouched, directing the energy from my body into the ground. The iceberg crumbled as it didn't have a stable base anymore.

Todoroki attacked again and I countered, putting my hands up as I released a wave of energy off of my forearms.

My breath steamed into the air and I shivered, both of us taking a moment to breathe. It was obvious that the current strategy wasn't working well on either side.

Todoroki raised his left hand, seemingly having come to a conclusion. I backed up a few steps as his body was engulfed in flames.

The flames blossomed through the air and I released another wave of energy. However, it only cut through the flames once and held them back for a split second before they advanced once again.

No matter how desperately I tried and no matter how much energy I gained from the flames themselves, they kept coming closer.

The world swayed and I panted, my guard dropping for a single second.

It was all the time Todoroki needed to completely engulf me in flames.

I felt the warmth of the fire and expected to feel the pain, too, but it never came.