Stuck In The Middle

Chapter 16: Why Don't You Try Me On Out

"You need to learn to hold back! Laying me out like that hurts y'know!?" Kyoka berated, sitting flat on the ground as Izuku's fist laid right in front of her face.

The two of them had been doing combat training, and in their sparring match Izuku ended up tripping her. He opened up his hand to help the girl up, which she gladly took as he yanked her back up to her own two feet.

"S-Sorry. B-But I'm not going to hold back, Kyoka. W-We have to do this to get stronger." Izuku replied, getting back into a fighting stance. Kyoka sighed, and got into a stance of her own.

"Yeah, yeah... I just dislike how monstrously strong you are." Kyoka stated, before rushing the boy with a flurry of punches. Izuku dodged a majority of them before slapping her fist downward, disorienting the girl.

He then swung a right hook to her side, obviously not hard enough to hurt or leave a mark, but it was enough to bring her to her knees. Kyoka expected as much, and brought her hands to the sand and used them to propel herself upward doing a bicycle kick, hitting the boy right in his chin.

Kyoka lands on her feet and smirks. She finally got a good hit in, and took the opportunity to rush the boy once more before he could recover. Izuku had fallen onto his back after Kyoka's kick, and Kyoka jumped onto the boy, straddling him, and holding a fist to his face.

"So... Do I win?" Kyoka questioned, panting. Izuku smirked, and before Kyoka could realize what he had been doing, she had been flipped onto the sand of the beach. Their positions were reversed.

"It was a good attempt!" Izuku replied, chuckling. Kyoka glared at her friend, and jacked him in the neck, sending vibrations straight into it. He yelped and writhed in pain, flopping right onto the sand beside her.

"You fight dirty! I totally had that too!" The girl complained, releasing Izuku from her wrath. A whistle was soon blown as All Might finished analyzing their fighting styles.

"That was good, you two. Young Midoriya, you should focus on making your movements less pronounced. Even if you were able to get past Young Jiro, you still are as easy to read as ever. Be more subtle." All Might started, turning to Kyoka after. "Young Jiro, you did quite well against a strong opponent. I think you should be incorporating your quirk more into your style; however, next time try going for surprise attacks."

Both teens nodded and All Might's teaching's and went back to sparring. Izuku had gotten increasingly used to using One For All at 3% and was now working his way up to 5%. It was straining to fight like this, but he was getting more and more acclimated to it as he progressed.

They had been at the beach for quite some time, but training had to be cut early, for the two of them had planned to rest due to the sports festival arriving tomorrow. Today was just for them to run combat drills, and they'd say that it was quite the success.

"Hey, think you can come over today?" Kyoka asked as the two of them walked back to Izuku's home. The two of them had been walking side by side, and Kyoka's parents wouldn't be home until late, so naturally Kyoka wanted to get in some time to cuddle with Izuku.

"I-I might be able to, but my mom said she needed me home for a few. I'll meet up with you in like an hour. I-If that's okay with y-you of course!" The boy replied, waving his hands frantically. Kyoka simply hummed in response and the two continued their walk, eventually splitting apart so that Izuku could both shower, and see what his mother wanted.

"You know he doesn't really like me, Inko... I-I haven't been around for years, a-and suddenly I'm here to support him..? I-I don't know about this.." Izuku heard a masculine voice say. A voice he heard only once before, though he couldn't match the voice with the face as he entered his home.