(Daily Music: Persona 5 OST 100 - Rivers In the Desert)
We all had finished our three days of writing our Midterm exams. Now, we were going to have our practical exams.
We were guided to a meeting site, where we also saw lots of the UA teachers.
(Canon explanations about how they are going to be fighting the teachers for their practical instead of robots)
Everyone would be put in pairs to go against different teachers. However, Nezu would be going twice. Once against Kaminari and Mina, and afterwards, against me.
I didn't know what Nezu's Lura did, so that was a very large disadvantage right off the bat. However, all the teachers knew mine, so there's another.
-After Nezu wins against Kaminari and Mina-
It was my turn against Principal Nezu. I had no idea what to expect in this fight, so I was going to be cautious.
I went into the fighting grounds, and manifested a blunt bone from my shoulder and grabbed it, pulling it out. I felt more secure with a weapon, since I don't know if he has something that heavily enhances his physical capabilities or something that lets him manifest some kind of offensive force.
-Nezu POV-
Jokara Kowai. Most definitely our strangest student. Extremely young, but with a mind on a level higher than most adults I've met, even ones with Quirks similar to mine. Almost everyone else his age, even those much older than him, have some shred of blindness to the true ugliness of the real world. However, he hasn't even once shown that blindness. In fact, I would be willing to bet that the main reason for his negativity to everything is because of his knowledge of the truth.
Not only is he very strange, he is also extremely strong, especially for his age. Even though he's 7 to 8 years younger than even the first years, he has power that would put him at the top even amongst our third years. Possibly even better. However, his Quirk, while very powerful, is extremely unfortunate when you see it's biggest drawback: The fact that he doesn't have a completely safe way to use it. While he does have what seems to be an accelerated healing factor that crudely recovers the damage it causes, I fear that he is very likely to develop trauma from the agony that his pain causes. In fact, it might be another factor to his negativity.
When me and the rest of the teachers of UA were discussing which students would be assigned to which teacher for their practical battle, we all unanimously decided that it would be best if I was the one assigned to fight him. All Might, while he is the current Number 1 Hero, is rather terrible as an actual teacher. It would just turn into a fight of attrition, and there would be extreme injuries on both parties. Not only that, it seems Jokara harbours some hatred toward All Might, and if he were to be assigned to fight him, he would probably end up doing something that would make his injury worse, since something very prevalent in his fighting style is brutality.
Suffice to say, if we chose All Might, even if Jokara did end up winning, he wouldn't end up realising some big weaknesses that he has that he would be able to find out if I battled him.
So, I got some things that would help against Jokara in this fight. Acid from Mina Ashido, Recordings of Present Mic using his Quirk, subwoofers to maximize those recordings effects, and pumps that are attached to canisters filled with Midnight's sleeping gas. I had Power Loader modify the subwoofers to be able to actually handle the sound of Present Mic's Quirk, and had him place lots of those modified subwoofers around the grounds. I also had all the areas leading to the exits blocked by the pumps that were constantly pushing out Midnight's sleeping gas, making it impossible for him to win through retreat.
And there he is.
-Jokara POV-
I didn't like this silence. I was on alert, but I didn't see or hear anything. I wonder if Nezu's fighting style is reliant on stealth? Maybe that's why nothing has happened yet?
Before I could continue thinking to myself, a sudden, extremely loud blast of noise made itself known. Despite the fact that, at least judging by the fact I couldn't see anything that could make such loud sound near me, that it was far away, the sound heavily disoriented me, and made me drop the bone I was holding in my hands.
Before I could recover, another blast of the same sound arrived, and this one made me fall to the ground from the pain.
I struggled to get back to my feet, and looked frantically around. I saw a small, white thing on the top of a building.
That's Principal Nezu.
I was going to jump up to get to him, but suddenly, that sound returned from four different directions at the same time. I fell to the ground instantly, clutching my now bleeding ears. My body was rattling from the vibrations caused by the sound waves vibrating my bones.
I knew that I wouldn't be able to do anything with these blasts of sound without trying to locate where they were coming from. But that had multiple problems. First problem: Getting closer to the source of the sounds would make them much louder the closer I was to them. Second problem: There is a good chance that they're very well hidden, and besides, by the time I might get to one, who knows how damaged I would be from the sound of the blasts. Third: I'm sure Nezu has more tricks to use, and this could very well only be the first one, so even if I do get the source of the sounds, I wouldn't be healthy enough to combat anything else.
So, I did something that many would consider stupid and insane.
The only reason I even know this is because of all the medical practice I did at my internship.
The way sound is heard by people is that sound waves entering the ear travel through the external auditory canal before striking the eardrum, which causes it to vibrate. The eardrum is connected to the malleus, a small bone located in the middle ear. One of three, actually. The malleus transmits sound vibrations to the incus, which, in turn, passes them on to the stapes, which then pushes in and out of a structure called the oval window, an action that is passed onto the cochlea, a fluid filled structure that contains the organ of Corti, the organ of hearing.
In short, the process of the realisation of sound starts when the vibrations from sound strike the eardrum, which starts the whole process of realising the sound in it's entirety.
So, what if I made the thing that starts the whole process unable to do it's job because of damage?
I tried my hardest to picture a long and sharp bone from my shoulder. As soon as it manifested, I grabbed it out of my shoulder. I shakily got up to my knees. I held the bone out in front of me, and hit it with my knee to snap it in two pieces. I held the two sharp bones in my hands.
And stabbed my ears.
All of a sudden, all the sounds of the world went away. Silence overtook everything. I couldn't hear anything, not even the slight sounds of my breathing.
I could feel the torrent of blood raining out of my ears, though. But I couldn't worry about that right now.
I looked up at Principal Nezu. He was still on the top of that same building. I jumped over to the building, and began running up the building's walls at my full speed, reaching the top almost instantly.
I saw Nezu, with a horrified look on his face. Obviously about the fact that I stabbed my own ears. I was going to dash at him and take him out quickly, but the pain wasn't gone, and my move to stop the problem with the sound didn't help, so I almost fell to the floor from the stinging pain.
-Nezu POV-
I cannot believe this child.
I had thousands of theories of anything that could happen throughout the course of this battle. The way he would approach the battle, his reactions, his responses to the traps I set, everything. But, not one of them had an outcome even slightly resembling this.
When he manifested the sharp bone from his shoulder, I was confused on what he was going to do. That confusion amplified when he broke it into two pieces. But when he stabbed his own ears with them, that confusion turned into sheer horror.
This was probably just as much of a shock to me as it was when we all first saw All Might's injury from his last fight with All For One.
I wanted to end the battle right now, before anything else happened. But then I realised, I had no way of telling him that it was over. Talking wouldn't help, since any and all sound would not reach him, and, when I tried to communicate with sign language saying "Stop the fight", he showed a look of confusion, so he didn't understand sign language either. I didn't have any way to tell him to stop, so I would have to end this as quickly as possible.
It's a good thing that Jokara had made contact with Takata Yoro. She would be able to heal the damages to him after this fight.
-Jokara POV-
I was far too injured to go anywhere near my top speed. Hell, I wouldn't even be able to exert enough strength to take off my weights to increase my speed. So, I wouldn't be able to rely on my biggest strength, speed.
I ran as quick as I could muster with my injuries. It wasn't fast at all, only slightly above the speed of a city-borne athlete with no Lura.
Nezu took out a vial with a liquid with a colour similar to that of water, and splashed some of the liquid in front of him, where I was running.
I managed to evade most of it, but some of it got on my left leg, and it inflicted a burning pain, making me stumble from the pain of that added to my already existing injuries. I fell to the floor. I struggled to get back to my feet, and began sprinting at him again, but I was slower than before.
He took another vial of what was definitely acid, and splashed it again, this time covering a much wider area around him.
Once again, I managed to evade some of it, but this time, a lot more of it managed to get me, covering some of my left and right leg, as well as a bit on my chest.
The searing pain made me fall to the floor again, and this time, I didn't have enough strength to get up.
-Nezu POV-
It's over, finally.
I walked over to him. There was still blood streaming out of his ear. I had to get him out of the grounds, give him to a teacher there, and run to get his phone to contact Takata.
I went to pick him up and carry him out of the grounds.
Until he grabbed me by the neck and slammed me onto the ground, wrapped his legs around me to pin me, and went on top of my now pinned body.
He had a face that resembled a wild animal.
Before I could do anything, he punched me in the face with a surprising amount of strength, considering how injured he was.
The punch almost broke my nose. The second punch did. The tenth punch probably pulverized it into bone dust.
But before he could go onto an eleventh, he passed out from his injuries.
For determination alone, I would say he passed, even if he didn't beat me, or go through an exit. He has the qualities we need in heroes. It would be stupid and a waste to ignore all that just because he didn't go through a door or knock me out when he was heavily injured.
I got myself out of his pin, picked him up, turned off the pumps that were pushing Midnight's sleeping gas to block the exits, and began sprinting to the entrance as fast as possible to get him to a teacher so that I could get his phone to contact Takata.
-Jokara POV-
I don't know how much time passed since I got my tenth punch in on Nezu, but it must have been quite a while, because it was dark outside when I came to, judging by the fact that it was black out the windows. I was on a medical bed, and there were IV drips attached to me at multiple areas, pumping blood into me. I was also heavily bandaged on most of my body. I had a nebulizer on my face as well.
The first person I saw was Takata. Why was she here?
"Oh, you're awake! Oh, thank god!" she said, relief in her voice. She gave me a gentle hug.
"I'll go and tell your friends that you're awake. They've been worrying a lot ever since the spiky red haired boy came in, yelling for my name, holding your heavily injured body. All of UA came, actually. They were all just as scared for your life."
She went out of the room. A few minutes later, I heard lots of heavy footsteps approaching my room, and suddenly, the door to my room was slammed open, and I saw all of my classmates.
Kirishima was the first one to run up to my medical bed, with a face of extreme relief on his face.
"Bro!! You're alive!" he exclaimed, a worried intonation in his voice. "When Nezu brought you out of the fighting grounds, you looked like you were dead! Please, don't ever scare me like that again!!"
I never knew that they cared this much for me. I didn't know how to describe it exactly, but a warm feeling made itself known in me. I don't know what it's called, but it feels nice.
"Thank you for your concern for me, Kirishima." , I said.
All my other classmates told me their concerns. Except for Bakugo. But he did seem to be a lot more calm than normal, and he looked apprehensive when he came into the room and saw my condition.
The teachers came into the room soon. I guess the students ran the second Takata even began speaking, and the teachers moved only after she finished.
"First of all, Jokara. There are of things I have to say about your performance. But the most important one is: You pass."
Looks like I did good enough to pass, even though I technically failed.
(Longest chapter yet, excluding this author note, this chapter is 2523 words long.)
(How did I do with the fight? Please be honest)