Ticked Off [Boku No Hero Academia]

9: SPARRING & ONI

It had taken a little while to line up their schedules, but Izuku finally managed to find a date and time where he, Shinsou, and Shouto would be free to spar. He'd even gone to Aizawa to ask if they could practise on school grounds, which allowed the use of Quirks, and the teacher had begrudgingly agreed after blankly waiting out the mumble-storm of explanation that followed the request.

Izuku bustled around the gym, pulling out mats and equipment with the enthusiasm of a madman as he waited for his friends to arrive. Shouto turned up first with flawless time regulation, walking uncertainly through the doors on the exact minute they had delegated to meet. Shinsou appeared ten minutes later, tired eyes half-closed as he yawned, brushing a hand back through his shock of purple hair. The two boys stared at each other awkwardly for a moment, not sure how to interact since they'd never really spoken before.

"He involve himself with your problems, too?" Shouto finally asked with an impassive face.

Shinsou arched an eyebrow, a tiny grin playing on his lips. "Something like that."

"Solving problems is easier with help!" Izuku said brightly, clapping his hands together as he came to a stop in front of them, ten times more cheerful than both the other students combined. "Today I figured we'd spend most of our time sparring so we can see what needs to be improved upon, but if we have time at the end then we can work on Quirks!"

"I have a feeling I'm at a disadvantage," Shinsou stated dryly, staring pointedly at the muscular forms of the other boys in comparison to his lean body.

"Not for long," the student assured enthusiastically. "We're going to improve together and learn from each other until we're the best we can be."

Everyone was wearing casual work-out clothes in colours that represented them, which meant that Shinsou was wearing mostly dark colours, while their temporary-teacher was wearing a mint green tracksuit. They ran through some basic warm-up exercises, jogging around the room and stretching out their limbs. Izuku stepped onto a mat, motioning for Shouto to stand opposite him.

"We'll fight first, okay? Shinsou-kun, watch carefully," he said with a lazy point, offering a flash of a smile before shifting into a fighting stance.

Shouto moved to attack first, stepping to one side and rushing forwards, swinging out a right hook only to alter his form at the last second and dart into close quarters and slam a punch towards his opponent's gut. A brief look of surprise crossed the boy's face before he pivoted on one foot to avoid the hit, reaching out to grab onto his friend's wrist and pull him forwards, using his momentum against him. Izuku went to press a hand into the back of his classmate's head, only for Shouto to drop into a forward roll, picking himself back up and twisting around with an unexpected kick that was blocked with a forearm. He retracted his leg rapidly, steadying his stance and staring down his opponent.

"In spars like these, it's a good opportunity to analyse your enemy in a situation that isn't dire. You can learn a lot just by looking, but in real battles, villains probably won't give you a chance to think, which is when you need to rely more on muscle memory," Izuku explained calmly, making the most of the short distraction to dart forwards, wrapping his arms around Shouto's waist and bringing him to the ground with an aggressive tackle.