• Benevolence •

Chapter 14

My peers chattered excitedly around me as I turned my attention to Midnight. She held up a box with a grin.

"The matchups will be decided by drawing lots. Once that's taken care of, we'll move onto the festivities and then the tournament itself. It's up to each of you 16 finalists if you want to participate in the fun. I expect some of you would rather take a break and save your strength," she gestured with the box. "Now, lets start with the first place team.."

"Um... excuse me?"

I looked over to see the guy with a tail, Ojiro, raising his hand. I was mildly confused to hear him ask to drop out.

After explaining his reasoning, I suppose it made sense. Tetsutetsu was added to the roster in his place, bringing the list back up to 16 competitors.

Looking to the board, I saw I was up against Kaminari. He'll probably take me down pretty easily unless I can come up with a decent strategy...

I opted out of the games, instead finding myself sitting at the end of an empty hallway. Unless I could somehow overwhelm him, the electric quirk user could easily paralyze me.

I was startled out of my thoughts at the sound of footsteps walking towards me. I looked up to see Kirishima waving to me.

"[L/n]! I've been looking for you," he finally reached me and sat down to my left. "Nervous?"

I smiled grimly, "That obvious?" The redheaded teen bumped my shoulder lightly.

I sighed, "There's no way I can beat Kaminari in a fight. My quirk is hardly suited to fight anyone..." I trailed off, frowning.

The redhead rested an arm around my shoulder and pulled me to his side. "Come on, man! Your quirk is super cool. I'm sure there's a way to use it to your advantage."

I picked at the hem of my shirt, "Unless I can somehow avoid his attacks or get him to overuse his quirk, I can't think of a way to win without getting shocked."

Kirishima shook me slightly. "You can do it, man! Don't give up yet, the battle hasn't even started."

He stood up and offered me a hand. "Let's get out there. The first match is about to start! It's Midoriya and your pal, Shinso." He pulled me up before smiling brightly, leading the way to the stands.

"The first match! Making a weird face despite his excellent performance, we've got Izuku Midoriya from the Hero Course! Versus... Sorry but this guy hasn't really done anything to standout yet! Its Hitoshi Shinso from General Studies!"

I leaned forward in my seat as I watched Shinso walk onto the field. His hair ruffled lightly in a breeze as he entered the field. While Midoriya was my classmate, I couldn't help but cheer for my lilac haired friend.

With the rules announced, the match was underway. I could see Shinso talking. Something he said must have upset Midoriya causing the green headed boy to rush at him with a response.

Suddenly, he froze in place and I saw a smirk dance across Shinso's face. I heard Ojiro groan something from my right but I ignored him.

"Midoriya's frozen in place?! He's not even twitching! Could this be Shinso's quirk?! We barely even knew this guy existed but now... He sure is one to keep an eye on!"

Aizawa-sensei was quick to jump in, "Like I said, the entrance exam is completely irrational. While Shinso failed the practical exam, losing a spot in the hero course, he landed a spot in the general studies course. Its all he could have hoped for. His quirk is extraordinarily powerful but given the format of the exam, his ability didn't help him out."

I watched intently as Shinso ordered Midoriya to walk out of the ring. I found myself bouncing my leg excitedly. Maybe Shinso will win and get transferred!

I tuned out Aizawa-sensei's analysis, his words droning on.

Suddenly, a blast of air blasted around the green haired boy and he stopped right before crossing the line. I heard myself gasp in surprise. I zeroed in my focus on Shinso and saw his face contort into one of confused anger.

At first, his voice was too faint to pick up but soon he was shouting as Midoriya turned and ran at him.

The green haired boy had reached him and started pushing him out of the ring. I watched as my friend threw a punch in an attempt to fight back, before pivoting out of the way.

In an instant, Midoriya grabbed him and tossed him over his shoulder. I grimaced as I watched my friend hit the ground, bouncing slightly. That had to hurt.

"Shinso is out of the ring! Midoriya moves on to the second round!"

While my classmates erupted into cheers, I felt my heart ache for my friend. Even from the stands, I could see the pain in his eyes. I felt a sullen look cross my face and felt a hand on my shoulder.

I turned to see Kirishima offering me a reassuring smile. "I know you were rooting for him... It sucks that he lost but hey! He was amazing! There's no way anyone will forget about him anytime soon!"

I glanced down, "Yeah, I just know he'd be an amazing hero... It'd be really great if he'd won and gotten transferred, you know?"

He nodded before leaning back. "I'm sure it'll work out for him somehow, [L/n]!"

I gave him a soft smile, humming in agreement. Turning back to the arena, I complemented going to find my lavender haired friend for a moment but was interrupted by the next match beginning.

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I'm kinda bad at writing fight scenes so I'm sorry if this sucks!