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Chapter 49: Calamities and Predators
🕑 Added 2025-02-14 20:16:47 +0000 UTCWith Tetsutetsu and Kaibara having managed to pass their match, it was time for Rin and Tokage to take to the field against Thirteen. The arena that would serve as their testing ground was modeled after the ruined cityscape from the USJ. It would suit Thirteen well in her preferred zone of operations and allow the woman greater liberty in destroying them in trying to capture them or run out the clock.
Well, Tokage supposed that as a villain, she would have done that regardless of the zone, but it at least meant it was easier for the two to sneak through the place trying to find their teacher or the exit. Tokage sent out both eyes to do just that, and when one went dark, she sent the other to investigate, and that was how they managed to find Thirteen's location, standing guard at the exit, which seemed to have been cleared of most debris, so they couldn't just sneak past her.
"We can't just keep attacking like this, Tokage. We need a new plan." Rin hissed as they took shelter behind some debris; most of the place they realized had been cleared by Thirteen, who had fired her quirk without restraint, stripping entire buildings to their bones before she stopped.
“Well, it’s not all bad.” Tokage gave a confident smirk, her head incomplete as she had an eye hovering not too far from them, watching Thirteen from a distance.
“Says the girl missing both arms.” Rin pointed out that in their last two attacks, Tokage had tried to grab the woman while Rin distracted her by running and gunning. It was a solid plan, sure to work on most, as who would suspect hands snaking along?
Well, Thirteen certainly did as she near casually turned a hand towards where she had her arms and activated her quirk, sucking up debris and her limbs along with it and turning all of it to dust. Yeah, not a pleasant side, and it had nearly ended with Thirteen trapping Rin if he hadn't got his head back in the game and booked it.
“They’ll grow back.” Tokage was more worried about needing to get her nails done again. Still, the look Rin was sending her, despite having a weird paper mask covering most of his face, told her enough of what he thought about that. "What? I didn't say you were wrong; I just wanted to keep a positive attitude. We kinda expected that this wouldn't be easy."
"I have a feeling this is more karma for how you were so laid back earlier; at this rate, we'll run out of time," He peeked over the wall before ducking back down, too late for them as Thirteen turned her quirk in their direction. They could hear how everything was getting sucked up. The building next to them where Tokage had her eye torn to pieces and pulled towards the hero. “Or cover before we can make a move.”
Thirteen seemed to be having a bit more fun than they hoped now that she didn't need to worry so much about collateral. Hell, it was encouraged to force their students into a corner. "Where are you, heroes? I thought we were having fun, but if it's hide-and-seek you want to play, we can play!" She targeted another house further to the side, and, like the rest, it was no match for her black hole.
Rin gulped at that sight as the woman laughed at the destruction she was causing. “She can sound scary when she wants to.”
“Noted.” Tokage's left arm regenerated fully; now she just had to wait for the right. "But I think we have a means to defeat her."
"What's that? We can't get close, and her quirk's far too dangerous to try and rush her." Rin reminded her, as even when he aimed both arms at her and fired as many scales as he could, not a single one reached her, and trying to close the gap with no cover would be suicide.
Tokage knew that, but that was what she was also counting on. After all, this was an exam, right? They were meant to really push the envelope. "Oh, I know that, but the thing is, she knows it too."
Rin got worried when he saw the glint in her eyes, which, combined with the girl lacking a quarter of her face, made her seem like a demented zombie from some nightmare. "Tokage, I don't like that look in your eye; it spells bad news."
“Oh, I’m hurt, Rin. Do I really look like that type of gal?” She placed a hand on her chest as if wounded.
“Yes.” Rin was flat in his response.
“Ouch, someone’s been spending way too much time with buzzkill, Kaibara.” Tokage laughed despite another building getting targeted, while Thirteen laughed like a mad woman. His face showed that he was very much focused on the field that would capture them or force them further away from the exit. "Oh, fine, but it's not that dangerous, and you'll be in the thick of it. Trust me, for the plan to work, it has to be you."
Rin wanted to deny it, but he was training to be a hero, and if nothing else, Tokage was the same. He could trust that for all her teasing and laid-back attitude, she earned her place at U.A. and was serious about it. “…Lay it on me.” Hearing her plan, Rin hoped that she was serious, as it was insane, but he went along with her.
A couple of minutes later, it was well underway as they split, and Tokage went for Thirteen's side, splitting her newly regrown arms into several pieces and attacking Thirteen while her head and torso floated overhead.
“Come on, Thirteen, I’m still floating here!” Tokage taunted, even as she had to fly about to avoid getting caught in the pull of Thirteen's quirk, which she was swinging about like a cannon.
“Not all of you, little hero. How many more parts can you regrow before you throw in the towel?” Thirteen called back at her, as the girl was smart, trying to confuse her when she wasn’t a combat hero, but this was too easy for her to deal with, again-she didn’t need to care for damage to the area.
To the other side, she spotted Rin approaching. The boy had shifted his arms and legs into scales, which in turn gave him claws and talons to anchor himself into the ground. He would lean back, grab onto the ground, and fire at her.
Still, while he wasn't being sucked as fast, she was slowly slowly pulling him in, while his scales were no threat to her like this. "It'll take more than some scales to take me down; didn't you figure that out already."
‘I hope this works.’ Rin thought before he took a breath to get some confidence into him. Then, he released his quirk and leaned forward, letting the overwhelming gravity of Thirteen's quirk pull him in. “Then I’ll get up close!”
“What?” Thirteen sounded confused by his move, which could only be described as suicidal.
Rin kept an eye out, praying it'd work, and there, right there, he saw it. Her arm shook as she finally released her quirk, the cap covering her finger. ‘There!’ He was still being carried by his momentum towards her. Still, he planted his foot on the ground and kicked off, adding speed as he crushed into the surprised hero, sending them tumbling to the ground as he reached for the handcuffs. “I got you!”
“Do you?” Thirteen shot back, as she wasn't the best at hand-to-hand, but she wasn't a novice either, only for her attention to be pulled when she saw a whole leg of all things zooming past.
“Yup!” Tokage yelled as her leg continued on its journey, not towards aiding Rin subdue their teacher but towards the gate. Rin, in the meantime, used the distraction for all it was worth. Having already slapped one shackle onto his wrist, the second went around Thirteen's right as she aimed her other hand towards the exit to try and stop Tokage's limb.
“Tokage has crossed the exit-wait, Rin has captured the villain…Oh my," the announcement called out, sounding confused by the turn of events as Tokage cheered at their victory, which could be counted as the fastest one yet.
“That’s right, we got a double victory!” she called out. Rin breathed a sigh of relief but smiled nonetheless as he got up, aiding his teacher as well.
Dusting herself off Thirteen, the two exited the field together, where Tokage called back her leg and re-attached it; most of her left arm was gone, however, a victim to Black Hole.
“It was pretty risky to pull that stunt; if I were a real villain, I wouldn't have cared nearly enough to avoid harming him." Thirteen critiqued.
Tokage chuckled a little. “Yeah, we figured. But that was why we aimed for a double plan." It was also why she couldn't have been the bait; with how her quirk worked, as long as she wasn't completely sucked in, she could survive, and Thirteen would have known that, so they needed someone who very much couldn't regrow limbs, organs, and brain matter.
“I would get close to you while he got into position. Even if you managed to fend him off, I was able to get a piece through the exit.” Tokage explained further.
“You’re lucky that Nezu didn’t say that your entire body needed to get over, but we can’t fault you for finding loopholes quite the opposite.” Thirteen seemed to be smiling under the helmet as she gave them both a thumbs up.
“Good job.”
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The fourth match started not long afterward, with the two students entering the labyrinth of walls, warehouses, factories, and pipes. The area fit the whole industrial plant aesthetic—or it did initially, as the two students ran for their lives. It seemed like everything was falling apart around them, and they knew who was to blame. “Did I say how much I hate that rat?” Kamakiri yelled as he slashed through a thick pipe that would have hit his head if he had been any slower.
"I'm not sure that Nezu counts as a rodent," Kuroiro replied as he came out of the shadows, only to duck back in with a cry when the wall behind him crumbled, the result of an explosion inside the building, caused by what in detail? They didn't know and sure as shit didn't have the time to find out; they just kept running, something they've been doing for maybe 15 minutes now.
“Well, he sure as well does after this!” Kamakiri yelled as she raced down the path, only for both walls to explode and throw him back with a grunt; hearing metal groan and noting that it got dark all of a sudden, he looked up to see what looked like a steel walkway falling, and he was in the way. “How is he doing this?!” He scrambled to get out of the way and kept running, not bothering to turn to the sound of steel cracking and buckling as it smashed into the concrete.
His partner popped out of the shadows and ran with him, the two keeping their heads on a swivel. They knew Nezu wouldn't show himself; instead, he would continue to do…whatever it was he was doing to cause the arena around them to seemingly come to life with the sole purpose of devouring them. The best they could manage at this point was listening to when stuff got close and reacting to that instead of the far-off bangs, cracks, and crashing.
"I'm more concerned where he is; we can't make a move against him like this." Kuroiro frowned as they were no closer to figuring out where Nezu was. He could be in the dead center, but he could just as quickly be off the wings or perhaps close to the exit-wherever that was.
“Can’t you just vanish and look for him?” Kamakiri asked him before swearing as he dived to the side to avoid another overhead pipe crashing into them.
"The place has too much light," Kuroiro replied, exiting the shadow next to his teammate and then pointing out how the place was covered with lights, some small and others flood lights. No doubt they were turned on at this time of day to hinder him, or Nezu just had that level of control over the field. And where would I even go to look?”
"Damn it, I wanted a fight, but he has us dancing to his tune!” Kamakiri yelled as they turned and kept running.
Off in the distance, Nezu watched them dance. Not from the center of the arena —no, that would be too easy. He had commandeered a crane off to the left. Its being one of the taller ones meant that he had an impressive view of the field and where his students were.
He was well aware that he could never fight his students; even first-year applicants wouldn't find it hard to defeat him. But he didn't get his hero license because of that; he got it because of his brains, and he was enjoying having the chance to let loose as he sipped tea, one paw resting on one of the control yolks for the crane.
He took a sip of the blend, a lovely number straight out of northern India, as he observed his students' progress. They were close to him, not enough to spot him, but certainly enough to be a threat. Well, he couldn't have that, could he?
"Let's see, which chain reaction should I cause next? Oh, this is so much fun, being just a bit more challenging than a game of dominos." His gaze went over the arena, all its buildings, walkways, pipes, etc.; landing on the wall of one, he directed his crane to send his wrecking ball into it, starting a cascade of destruction which, in seconds, made its way toward the students who he could bet were losing their minds trying to understand how he was doing any of this.
The answer was simple. Math and probability. "The math really isn't all that difficult; if you know the variables, you could do it in your head as easily as you would remember the recipe for a well-made cup of tea!” He laughed as it was all just a puzzle, one with so many pieces from what he hit, the speed, its own weight and construction, the materials used, its breaking points and explosive yields of generators and batteries, even things like wind speed and more. It was so much for most to even begin to comprehend, yet here he was, proving once again why he was the smartest being in Japan!
He couldn’t help but laugh as he drank his tea, the drink getting all over the place as he shifted the yolk about like a mad-man, sending his wrecking ball into any and everything he so pleased, sending disaster after disaster after Kamakiri and Kuroiro who ran from them like rats in a maze!
"Come on, students, you can do better than that! Not all villains will be the brutes that fight you one-on-one; the real dangerous ones are the ones that control the battle from the shadows! You gotta think further ahead, think on your feet. Think, my students, think, and you'll catch me; I’m closing off the paths to the exit and to me, so you need to work fast if you want to pass!” He continued to cackle as he watched them like he had been watched once before.
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In the observation room, only Recovery Girl could hear him seemingly lose his mind, to which she let out an amused sigh. "Some terrible people did awful experiments on Nezu in the past, but while his body might be scared, his heart remained strong, which is why he became your principal," she stated.
Her words, however, felt hollow to the students present, who could only gawk at what they witnessed, a nervous sweat forming on their brows as they witnessed just a part of what Nezu was capable of. "But when he has the chance, he does indulge by letting out his true self. I just hope he remembers this is an exam, " she finished.
“He’s terrifying.” Bondo gulped. He thought Vlad could be scary, but this…this was something else.
"No wonder the older students are scared of him, and I have a feeling he's still holding back," Kaibara added, the ever-silent Kodai nodding. Still, this time, she felt just as scared as the rest.
“Dude, I’m never giving him a reason to have to call me to his office.” Tetsutetsu uttered with a shiver. Like…damn, he couldn't even begin to figure out what Nezu was doing, even though Tokage had explained it after the first 5 minutes. How would anyone even start doing that level of math? And in their heads at that?
"That…might be the smartest thing you've ever said, Tetsutetsu," Tokage uttered as she tried to do the math, but in the time it took for her to just understand the variables she would need to consider, Nezu had already created another 6 incidents with nothing more than a wrecking ball from a fixed point.
That math, already leagues above any of them, only grew more complicated when she realized that this wasn't just him causing shit in his immediate area. Nezu wouldn't have taken that position if he couldn't strike any point in the arena, so he would need to factor in more to get the same result, and he was handling it like nothing.
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Kamakiri wiped the sweat from his face with a growl, the two getting a brief respite from the chaos that seemed to strike whenever their proctor deemed fit. Somehow, he knew Nezu was enjoying that he could toy with them, and he sure as hell was toying with them. "Dammit, we got no choice. There's no way we'll find him when he's wrecking the place around us!"
“Retreat?” Kurorio looked as winded as he did. For nearly twenty minutes now, all they've done was run, dive, and duck like they were in the world's most dangerous and unpredictable obstacle course.
“As much as I hate it.” Kamkiri sounded as he took a deep breath and forced himself to move, running a little ways ahead before they turned the corner, only to see it wouldn’t be so easy.
“Dammit, it’s blocked off!” The path was covered in a pile of debris, the building to the size having suffered an explosion of some kind
Kuroiro's eyes narrowed, and he looked at the spot as he knew they hadn't come through here yet. "That can't just be chance with the principal. He's trying to slow us down, either trap us or slow us down so we run out of time."
“That might work with others, but we can handle this. You go under, I’ll go over!” Kamkiri yelled, his words followed by a familiar yet dreadful series of bangs and bangs, each getting closer. Their dread proved founded when the buildings to their rear exploded, raining debris across the place. Still, more importantly, it chased after them like a hungry beast.
“Right.” Kuroiro sank into the shadows and dashed into the debris, as there was no way Nezu had lights there, while Kamakiri scaled it, jumping higher and higher, slashing through obstacles while also creating new footholds to use. When he got to the top, he didn't slow as he descended the other side, Kuroiro forming out of the shadows and waiting for him as they took off, Nezu's destruction never far.
“Should we try and find cover?” Kamakiri asked, huffing as he kept up the pace even though he was getting a serious workout from his.
Kurorio looked worse than he did, being the slower of the two but refusing to stop. He wouldn’t be the one of those who failed because he wasn’t in the best shape. “I don’t think it wise; he's causing all this destruction from an unknown spot. We go into the buildings, and we risk letting him trap and bury us in it."
“So the alternative is remaining out here,” Kamakiri replied before he noticed more debris coming down on them and pulled Kuroiro along, slashing at the bigger pieces, but even if he had both arms, it was too much. Pieces and fragments were getting through, hitting them and undoubtedly leaving behind bruises and welts they'd feel later. “Where he can sure as shit see us!”
Kurorio forced himself into his 3rd wind and broke Kamakiri's hold on him, diving into the shadows to give his teammate better odds of intercepting the unpleasant rain Nezu was sending them. He couldn't stay in them long, as it seemed like this area had more lights than the rest, and there were so many that even with the place all coming apart at the seams, there were enough lights left to cover him.
Diving out from the shadows, he ran beside Kamakiri, his black face shining with sweat. "It gives us better options for evasion. Besides, maybe he's trying harder because we're close to the exit."
“I hope you’re right!” Kamakiri yelled. The two felt like they were trying to outrun a literal disaster, like an earthquake, as Nezu was throwing everything at them, even the kitchen sink. At one point, they had to duck under what had been most of a sink; where it came from, Nezu knew!
They worked in tandem, keeping the other appraised of the situation, moving ahead when one slowed, and using their quirks to either find easier paths or make them, in the case of Kamakiri, the earth beneath their feet shaking every few seconds till it felt like it never stopped, the destruction certainly didn't as they turned a corner, both feeling like they had run for hours. Still, there seemed to be mercy at last.
“There, I see it!” Kuroiro pointed, seeing the exit, the colorfully designed thing with an, at this point, depressing cartoonish picture of Nezu waving at them.
Hearing an especially loud explosion behind them, followed by what sounded like several buildings coming down, Kamakiri didn't dare turn to see what the hell Nezu had waiting for them. “Run, you like death’s chasing you!” Kamakiri took off.
“More like a Rat God!” Kuroiro was close behind him, pushing his legs to move as fast as they could take him. It felt like the ground beneath them was becoming more like a stormy sea, falling apart as they ran, ran faster, ran harder than they ever thought they would. With the exit there, they forgot about the exam, and now we're just trying not to be consumed by Nezu's chaos.
Once they were close enough, with their hearts in their throats, they jumped through the exit, crashing on the other side in twin piles of pain and exhaustion.
“Kamakiri and Kuroiro have crossed the exit. Team Kurorio and Kamakiri pass.” They couldn’t even take joy in the fact they would join the last 3 teams that passed. They were just happy they were alive at this point.
“Thank God…!” Kamakiri cried out, his legs feeling like Honenuki turned them to mud.
Kuroiro felt that and so much more, as he couldn't barely move. He slumped over face first in the first, and he just turned his head to the side, his face covered in sweat and dirt. “How can one small being…be more terrifying than the endless dark abyss?"
Nezu, despite losing, felt like the actual winner. His students proved their mettle and managed to escape, and he had fun testing them. "Well, I had left a route open, but it wasn't a bad plan to escape either. I even delayed my attacks by 2.7 seconds so they'll have an easier time!" He continued to laugh
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After the hell that Nezu put their friends through, those in the observation room felt nothing but relief that they somehow managed to pass, though both looked so exhausted that Recovery Girl had to send the robots to collect them, the elder muttering about Nezu needing to remember to hold back more as the zone looked like they had let All Might practice in it for 20 minutes with more than 70% of it leveled.
The next match was much easier for them to follow, as it pitted Awase and Monoma against Midnight, and well…it hadn't started well for them.
Like Vlad, Midnight hadn't stuck to a single point like the exit but had been hunting them. The woman moved through the rocky quarry like a battlefield with ease. Tokage wondered what her heels were made of to withstand such punishment as Midnight ran, dashed, and jumped about, all while remaining unseen by the two boys.
Monoma was at something of a disadvantage, as while he had only left recently for his exam and made sure to give each of them a handshake when he did so, it had been well past his time limit, so he could only copy Awase's quirk and Midnight's if he was lucky. Tokage bet that he was counting on that, as Midnight had immunity to her fragrance, so it'd be much easier for them to pass if he could manage to touch her and copy her quirk.
The thing was, Midnight must have realised that herself, as when she finally appeared, she had snuck up on them. As Awase called out her presence, she had already got Monoma, and he was out like a light. The woman wrapped him up in her whip and, with a flick of her wrist, sent him spiraling into a wall. If he wasn't knocked out before, he sure was now.
After that…well, if Nezu had been the calamity for Kamakiri and Kuroiro, then Midnight was the predator as she didn't just stay in one spot; she hunted down Awase, barely giving him a chance to escape if those were chances at all. Tokage knew that Midnight was a bit of a sadist, but damn, she was a ruthless one; all the while, she was surrounded by her quirk, which made approaching her or even being in the spot she had recently been in danger.
Awase managed to weld himself a face mask using bits of his costume and clothing, but it was seemingly just good enough. While he did make it to the exit, he didn't so much dash over it as pass out and happen to land on the other side.
"Will that even count as a pass?" Tetsutetsu asked as Midnight sighed but carried the still unconscious Monoma out to where the robots were waiting to collect him.
"It could go either way, though it could be more an issue of whether the team passed or not, as that wasn't the best performance," Rin commented that while the last match hadn't been great either, both had managed to make it to the other side. Here…well, it was more luck than anything else that even just one of them made it through.
"Midnight's brutal," Kodai added.
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The sixth math seemed to be a little more even. Well, even as it could be when your opponent was a hero. Mic didn't stay at the exit but moved back and forth, blasting his voice into the forest and keeping Shoda and Yanagi pinned.
They tried to attack him, but while Yanagi could use her quirk on plenty of stuff, it was largely just large branches, as small pebbles wouldn't cut it, even with Shoda's twin impact giving them that extra force. Present Mic, for his part, was able to handle those well enough, and his quirk either shattered the smaller and weaker debris or knocked it off course, leaving him untouched.
But there was hope, something that Kuroiro and Kamakiri saw when they entered the observation room, still looking like they'd been through the ringer. Where they had panicked and been on the retreat the entire time, and Monoma and Awase had been soundly defeated, Shoda and Yanagi kept level heads. At least, it looked like they did. They kept up the attack, and Kaibara noticed they seemed to be planning their timing. Tokage put it together that they had to be timing the responses between when they launched their attack and when Present Mic countered.
From there, their plan changed to leave some debris in the forest and slowly launch them; Present Mic, not realizing this, kept up his pattern of entering the forest and then retreating. They hammered him with the collected bulk of their attack when he was in the forest. It didn't do much, most of it. Present Mic was able to destroy, and what did get through probably didn't hurt him, but it gave them time to escape and 15 minutes to boot. The second-best time of the class so far.
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As the last match continued, Midoriya and Komori left their waiting area and were escorted to the starting area of their match, which they saw was to be a building, a tower, to be more specific.
Walking through its halls, the interiors were marginally more finished than the interiors of many of the buildings in U.A.'s other test sights, well-lit and spotless. Komori also pointed out that there were a lot of cameras about, probably so the others could watch them through their match.
Eventually, they reached their starting area, which seemed to be the very center of the tower, which happened to be a wide, circular space that went up until the very top of the place. The many floors that made up the tower had circular walkways overhead, all supported by several dozen marble pillars. It was, if nothing else, beautiful in its simplicity and sparseness.
"Why do I have a feeling we got the special treatment where we start?" Midoriya asked as he performed some last-minute stretches to ensure he was as limber as possible.
Komori focused more on her mushroom-themed squirt guns, pulling the trigger on each to ensure they were in tip-top shape as she smiled and giggled towards her teammate. “Probably because of you, shoom. You’re the strongest in the class.”
Midoriya hummed, as it was pretty arrogant to say such, especially when he recalled the last person that loudly declared themselves the best. Still, she wasn't wrong in her assessment. But it seemed ill-designed if this exam was meant to force them into a corner. "Then wouldn't they have put us against All Might or something? It's been bugging me for a while, but Cementoss doesn't seem the best fit."
“Maybe they have something planned?” Komori suggested, though she was just happy that they didn't go the All Might route as Midoriya was tough. She could pull some rabbits from a hat if pushed into a corner, but All Might…well, someone with his speed could probably knock them out before they ever saw him coming, weights or not.
“Doubtless, but I just have a…feeling that it won’t be easy.” His master and Shizune had hammered it into him to trust his gut as beasts did their instincts, and right now, it was unsettled.
"It would have helped if we had watched some earlier matches. All we know is that everyone passed, but not how." Komori blew out a raspberry, as they had gone over what the other could do extensively. She was, sadly, no closer to figuring out just what Midoriya's quirk was, as he had been cagey about and only spoke about what he could and couldn't do.
It would seem like his challenge at the beginning would go unfulfilled.
"We'll just have to make due; that is what we've been taught," Midoriya started, only for the speakers to crackle to life and interrupt him.
“Team Midoriya and Komori, practical exam. Ready go!” No sooner had the announcement been made did glowing sludge from nothing cross between the two; a moment later, that sludge took the familiar shape of Ectoplasm, only instead of one of him, it was seven.
"I hope you understand that we teachers aren't going to go easy on you. If you wish to pass like your friends," Midoriya fell into a ready stance, his ears picking up the sound of other clones behind them; a glance revealed it was another 5.
Now surrounded, Ectoplasm's gaze grew much more dangerous as Komori gulped. “You’re going to have to fight your way through us.” That was all their teacher and opponent sent before his clones rushed them.
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This chapter was a bit of a departure from my typical writing style. Unlike with the Sports Festival, where I tried to give more characters a chance to shine through it, I decided to sort of…speed through things here, not with everything but the goal of trying to finish their finals with this chapter so we could move on. If you have any issues with that or think I missed something, I wouldn't mind reading your comments on it.
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Yeah...you know that thing I said at the top, as you all just read, wasn't able to actually finish all the matches. I wanted to finish the fights, but I couldn't just skip over all of them. Present Mic vs Shoda and Yanagi was simply enough to do, as they wouldn't have panicked, nor would there have been the same weight as what Jiro and Koda had. Monoma and Awase vs Midnight was a lot like what Sero and Mineta would be like, only I wanted to display more of Midnight's…well, sadist side as well as make it clear that Monoma wasn't the only one that struggled as while I could have given him a moment like Sero-it felt better to write it like that, and more manageable as it meant I could leave out dialogue and focus on how just overwhelmed the two were from a 3rd person POV.
