One piece is kinda crazy lately! Also, I had Himiko have fingerless gloves since I think it kinda fits. Hairpins seemed not enough color red for someone who thrives in blood or something like that.
Anyways, thanks for reading!!!
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All six of them had moved to a more deserted area to fight, they were going to use their quirks to beat the shit out of each other, so drawing public attention was not in their best interest. Their friends followed them, which included Oka and Himiko, they would not miss out on one of these fights since they had nothing better to do, it was also for some 'problem-solving' since Yoshihama's friends didn't fight fair.
Tomomi and Yoshihama stood exactly 8 meters apart from each other, their friends waiting on the side while bickering, Himiko was grumbling something under her breath, Oka, on the other hand, had bought popcorn from who-knows-where, Himiko's complaining got loud enough that Oka just asked.
"What got you so angry?" She asked while rolling her eyes.
"Tomomi did predict this would happen" Himiko spoke with a bit of a grumpy tone.
"It wasn't that hard" She nodded lightly as she shoved more popcorn into her mouth.
"We've only been going to this park for like, a few weeks!? And he already found it!? That just stalking at this point. How can he be so dumb to not just talk to her and go away?" Himiko stomped the ground and hmph-ed while facing away from the fight in annoyance.
"You did the same with her two years ago" Oka pointed out with a flat tone.
"So? That I also did it doesn't make it smart"
"True"
"But I shouldn't have bet my lunch money on that..." Himiko's voice trailed off as she looked at her allowance "...should've said three weeks instead of six" not a lot of saving was going to be done today.
"I told you not to tempt fate like that" Oka's tone was once again unamused at her despair "Now she can be smug about it while you owe me 30 dollars" The sentence made Himiko raise an eyebrow.
"Wasn't it 35?"
"Nah, you bought the popcorn, so I'll spare a bit of pity for you" Oka moved her bucket of popcorn over to her "Want some?"
"Sure" Himiko took some of the offered popcorn as she watched the staring contest.
Tomomi was standing around while not taking an eye off Yoshihama, she wasn't annoyed enough to pummel him instantly. So she was waiting with a small smile, a bit of sparing was always fun for her, it would be even more fun if she had a bigger challenge than him, but beggars can be choosers.
"Ahem" Yoshihama coughed to make sure that he had her attention and spoke loudly in a deeper voice to try and sound more intimidating.
"This battle will be the last one we have this year-"
[That's what you said last time, I highly doubt you will not challenge me again]
"- It will resolve everything between me and you-"
[I have nothing against or in your favor, you were just a bit of a prick in your early childhood and now a slight annoyance]
"-In this Mexican standoff!!!" Yoshihama ended his declaration which made Tomomi take a breath for her retort, it was customary to say something to your opponent after he said something like that, isn't it?
"Anyth-" Tomomi immediately cut herself off as she frowned "This isn't a Mexican standoff..." She said with a raised eyebrow at Yoshihama who froze at her response.
"It's not?" He said in honest confusion.
"Yeah, pretty sure you need at least three sides for it to work" Tomomi turned to look at Himiko who had already whipped out her phone and double-checked the fact.
"And equal conditions" She added, making Yoshihama choke his words at the obvious jab at him, Oka couldn't contain her laugh anymore and busted out laughing while spilling popcorn all over the place.
[Pretty sure that bucket can't contain that much popcorn but whatever]
"Neither of those two conditions is met by a long shot..." Tomomi shrugged "So is it just a normal trashing of your person, ready for it lightbulb?" She added as she shifted into her usual fighting stance.
Nothing too complicated, two closed fists, one high and ready while the other low and guarded, her body at a 45-degree angle from Yoshihama's, and her feet extremely grounded. Yoshihama had the same stance since he figured that Tomomi had a better grasp on what she was doing than he did.
"That changes today!" He shouted, concentrating his quirk on his leg making it glow.
He kicked the ground as hard as he could, propelling himself forwards at Tomomi, with his fist already clenched, and reeled back. Tomomi stood still, not surprised at his basic attack. She raised her arms in an 'X' to guard, she deemed it necessary this time. His fist actually flashed with a bright light as it landed dead center of her guard.
*Bam*
The combined force of his speed, innate strength, and solar energy quirk was felt by Tomomi in her arms, numbing them a bit. She heard it both through the sound it emitted by the impact and because of the vibrations of it, which were transmitted through her rubbery body, all the way to her ears.
The hit generated a slight breeze that was felt by everyone around them, and Tomomi was pushed back a few meters from it, making Yoshiham's friends cheer in awe. Himiko and Oka slightly widened their eyes in mild surprise, both of them said 'woah' in the blandest way possible and continued to eat their popcorn.
Yoshihama smiled when he saw how the punch made Tomomi slide back a few meters, it wasn't that impressive since it was the best shot he was going to get in this fight, but it was way better than his last duel, where she barely even moved from her initial position.
[It is still not enough...]
Yoshihama wasn't completely stupid, he understood that Tomomi was stronger than him, and she made him realize that he was just a kid with an above-average quirk. He neither had the training, nor the motivation necessary to be declared a genius or a prodigy like some of his other family members.
He already knew this, his family made sure that he knew it. But he wanted to affirm his worth, to be acknowledged by anyone, so he tasked himself with proving his mettle against other kids even if they didn't want to. In the end, he only really wanted attention, from anyone, but even if he tried his best or did his worst, nobody batted an eye at him.
Everyone except for her.
Of course, there were many caveats to that. He had to, as she once put it, 'fuck around and find out' to know how she would actually agree to something. Provoking Tomomi by either threatening her friends, other kids, or her straw hat would generally end up with her kicking the air out of his lungs, leaving him on the ground in three seconds. She was merciless when it involved others so he switched strategies.
Requesting a duel actually had a chance to succeed, she would always refuse but if he was just annoyi- PERSISTENT enough, he would get a duel where he would lose, not outstanding or remarkable at all.
But it was something that nobody of her strength had given him.
And so, he became an annoyance to her by requesting a duel over and over to the point, she would rather play a board game and lose half the time. For Yoshihama it was great, Tomomi was truly considerate of him by humoring his personality while keeping in the clear that she was not to mess with him.
"Not bad I guess" Tomomi said as inspected her arms, she looked at him with a small smile "Can you block this though?"
She swung her right arm as it started stretching toward him at incredible speeds, Yoshihama concentrated his solar powers on his arm, he needed the extra toughness since Tomomi's punches were nothing to scoff at. He barely managed to block the punch, except this time, there was no punch, and there was no feedback, his eyes quickly skimmed his arm and found that she had not punched, but rather grabbed his arm.
[Oh not this again...]
Tomomi had already 'de-stretched' her arm, launching herself forward at max speed towards him to destroy whatever advantage he thought he had. Yoshihama's brain worked at full capacity as he moved on instinct, his power switched from his right to his left hand as he tried to match the punch that he guessed she was going to throw at him.
*Boom*
He felt pain in his arm as her speed came to a halt. He smiled at not being hit with her first punch, she always managed to do it in every duel. He quickly tried to see her reaction and show her his meanest smug smile, he had outmaneuvered her this time, and he was not going to live this down.
He lifted his eye to see her, but what entered the first thing he saw was his fist blocking her... foot.
His eyes widened as he realized he had blocked a kick, his vision lifted up as he saw how she used his fist as a scaffold, she was already above him. He did stop her, but she read him like a book. Her smile grew larger as she already had her fist reeled back aiming at his head, which told him everything that he needed to know.
[Fuck, she tricked me twice toda-]
A fist instantly connected with his face, interrupting his thoughts, and sending him barreling toward the ground with enough force to slide down a few meters before he stopped. It took a second for him to stand up and get his bearings in place, he looked at Tomomi, who was smiling while waiting for him to recover from her first punch.
He once again shot off towards her with enough force to lift dust in his way, but she blocked his kick without much of a reaction. Their real brawl had commenced as the spectators watched with varying degrees of enthusiasm.
Yoshihama was being beaten badly, he was NOT overestimating the sheer amount of skill Tomomi had. He knew he would be on the ground if she tried her best, but she did not, she restrained herself to be 'just' above his skill level at all times.
Her punches were barely dodgeable for his current speed, her strength was brutal but not insurmountable if he knew it was coming, and her fighting style was chaotic and flexible, but still a bit foreseeable if he paid attention. She was fighting with his skill level in mind, punches were calculated to exploit his weakness and openings, she let some blows land on her if they were good, even if she could block them, and much more.
Calling what she was doing training would be dumb, she was doing the equivalent of handing someone a test, and hitting them with a ruler every time they got a question wrong. One only needed to replace the ruler with a punch, and the test with an actual battle.
Yoshihama had learned a lot nonetheless. He had never won, but he was taught to think, to improvise, and to never stop moving while in a fight. His quirk was being used for far more than just strengthening, it was a method of movement, a way to block and blind your opponent, an extension of oneself.
It was brutal, but he felt accomplished and acknowledged by her, she had genuinely complimented him a little when he made some breakthrough with his fighting style or surprised her. So he eventually found himself being on friendly terms with her and her friends.
She still considered him an annoyance, but she still indulged him, and that meant a lot to him.
But he was confused, She was stronger than him by a long shot. Shouldn't she have dismissed him or beaten him hard enough to not show up again if he was annoying? That is what every strong person he has met in his family did, so why was she not doing it? Why bother humoring him?
He had asked himself these questions, and he had no clear answer. Asking her would be redundant since she would probably say something like 'You're a person' or 'Do I even need a reason?' and those were not very logical answers for him.
He didn't even have that much time left to ask, his plan to ask in middle school failed since she was not going to the same one, even if she was more fit for it than him. He was going to surpass her then, maybe then, he would understand something about her.
I mean, the gap in powers couldn't be THAT big, right?
*Smash*
Yoshihama had snapped out of his thoughts by an uppercut from Tomomi that sent him flying upwards.
[Oh that's the sky]
He thought as he began crashing down back to the floor, he was not that hurt, his power was almost automatic at this point when it came to blocking, concentrating on where he thought he was going to get hit, so even if he was lost in thought he was fine...
*Crash*
"Ow"
... Mostly fine, he raised up from the cloud of dust his crash made, he heard Tomomi click her tongue in while shaking her head.
"You got a bit distracted there, buddy" Tomomi said as she approached him slowly with a battle-thirty smile on her face.
"Well... I-I" he said stuttering while she approached him, making blood rush to his face "You keep SMILING like THAT how could I not! it's YOUR fault I get distracted you damn battle maniac!!!" Yoshihama pointed out in anger as he also started closing the gap between the two.
Tomomi smiled when she fought, he had noticed that it felt way more real than her normal one. Problem was, she always wore it when they dueled, it was distracting for him to have to look at her smile. Her big, ear-to-ear, sunshine-like innocent smile was directed at him while was getting closer to him... He hated it! absolutely hated it! He didn't fight her to see her smiling!!!
"Get ready to snap rubberband!" He almost growled to get the distracting thoughts out of his head.
"Try not to fizzle out then lightbulb" She answered back.
His fist glowed even brighter than before as they started sizzling he tried to punch her as fast as he could. One, two, three, all of his punches and kicks were blocked, redirected, or grazed her as she got cheap shots on his arms and chest with relative ease.
Tomomi took a step forward, but she felt how the ground seemed to suddenly be made of soap, as there simply was no friction. She was falling to the ground with a frown that Yoshihama saw, he, of course, knew what was happening, but it was not his desire at all for this to happen.
One of his friends had used their quirk to try and make Tomomi slip in the duel. He was angry at them for interfering, normally, he would duel Tomomi alone so this type of stuff wouldn't happen, he just thought that maybe bringing his friends would entice her to join his middle school. He didn't know if it would in fact work, but it at least sounded reasonable enough.
But he was not someone to waste an opportunity, he attacked Tomomi with all his might even if it was cheap.
On Tomomi's part, she was sure it was one of Yoshihama's cronies whose name she never bothered to remember that had a quirk to make frictionless surfaces, and she was definitely in one. She simply took the easiest path of stability at the moment.
[Oh that's the ground]
She tough as she saw the floor coming at her, she punched it with enough force to crack the soil and burry her hand on the ground, she supported her entire body by doing a handstand as she used her legs to block Yoshihama's glowing hand, it felt a bit hot but it wasn't that hard to do.
Their clash made Yoshihama and her jump away from each other, the ground regained its friction thanks to the help of her friends who immediately jumped to stop the cronies from further interference.
[Damn rubber!]
Yoshihama had used enough solar energy to scald someone if they blocked for several seconds, but the rubber girl was damn resistant to heat, so she was fine by blocking them barehanded, or barefooted in this case, like his powers meant nothing.
*Clash*
*Shish*
*Clash*
The sound of wood colliding with wood and slicing metal was heard by both of them, they didn't even need to look to know that Oka and Himiko decided to have their duels with Yoshihama's friends so they would not interrupt again. Yoshihama was a bit relieved that his duel was 'fair' again, even if Tomomi herself didn't care that fairness wasn't guaranteed since it was a 'pirate fight', whatever that meant.
[Well it definitely isn't very heroic, so props to her I guess]
Yoshihama wasn't worried about his friends, they were a lot stronger since he also spared with them, they weren't going to win at all, but they at least could live to tell the tale. They never liked fighting to begin with, so they never trained hard with him, weird thing was that he also never liked fighting them as much as he liked to duel with Tomomi.
[I must hate her that much huh?]
Yoshihama's conclusion was reasonable, why would he like to fight the smiling Tomomi if he didn't hate her? He was pretty sure he was spot on with his deduction.
Tomomi jumped back and started running towards Yoshihama, who also wanted to continue their fight without much thought. he knew Tomomi wanted this duel to not last that long so he was giving it his best.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the deserted park...
*Clash*
"Damn you're supposed to be slow down by my quirk you blue-haired witch!!!"
*Clash*
"What do you mean? This is me slowed down"
*Clash* *Clash* *Clash*
Three consecutive slashes from Oka's sword made Kawashita back down. He is one of Yoshiham's friends, the one with the quirk to slow down objects. He was fighting Oka, who brought a practice wooden replica of her sword since she couldn't bring her real sword as a mere 12-year-old.
It wasn't deadly, but it still hurt a lot!
Kawashita HAD to bring a wooden bat to even clash with her, he knew that once they interfered with the fight, Tomomi's friends would jump them immediately after. Kawashita had the task to clash against Oka after winning the Rock paper scissors game.
Don't get him wrong, Oka had the raw strength to win if she wanted to...
*Clash**Clash*
"Agh-"
"Can you use your quirk me more often? This could be useful in training"
"SHUT UP!"
*Clash*
...Each clash with her even with the bat would numb his hands slightly, but he persevered, he had a good motivation to fight her! he simply had to look at his side and see...
*Shish* *Shish* *Stab*
"WHERE DID YOU GET THAT KNIFE FROM!!!"
"Tee hee~"
"DONT 'Tee hee~' ME!!!"
...Whatever that bloodthirsty girl was going to do to his friend.
*Clash*
"Don't get distracted" Oka scolded him, which made him almost pop a vein in anger
"I'll try" He said while clenching his teeth.
They disengaged from their clash, Kawashita let out a breath of relief while Oka changed her stance slightly while eyeing him with her crimson eyes. It unnerved him that Oka, the simple and slightly dumb girl that was a bit too stubborn for her own good, could change into a hyperfocused warrior whenever it came to fighting.
*Clash*
At least he learned to use his quirk better while training with Yoshihama, his friend was a bit too obsessed with that rubber girl but he at least knew how to fight, he had teched him a few things. Kawashita's quirk didn't work on people, so he had slow down specific clothing on their person for it to work.
Combined with the training he did, that increased the number of things he could slow down, he could put a lot of people in a pinch, but Oka seemed to not be bothered at all, even when he switched which clothes he affected to throw her balance off. Oka simply adjusted in a few seconds, so he had constantly changed it and that was wearing him down.
{One sword style...}
Oka said as she grabbed and sheathed her sword with both her hands, slowly lowering herself as her scarf started fluttering a bit due to the sheer amount of pressure she was emitting.
Kawashita was neither blind nor deaf, he heard that mutter loud and clear! She got the same habit of declaring her attacks as Tomomi, it did help him prepare physically, but it destroyed him mentally, it was intimidating to announce your attacks, as if it didn't matter that they knew what you were going to do.
{...Twin-headed Snake!}
Oka's outright absurd speed made her disappear into an azure blur with a single strand of red due to her scarf, making Kawashita's senses flare out.
He decided to trust his instincts as he gave it his all to jump as far back as he could. He was thankful for that when he saw the wooden blade whizz past him at full speed. She had dashed all the way to him in less than a second, but she used way too much strength and overswung her sword, making her back visible to him.
He immediately capitalized on the opportunity presented by her slip-up, his bat was already at full speed before his mind registered that something was still swinging at full speed toward him.
A single strand of red.
*Bam*
"Agh!"
He was hit in the face and sent rolling a few meters back, he shook his head as he looked at Oka slowly turning towards him. He had been hit with her scarf, he learned that it was a support item when she started wearing it that helped with the cold and heat while looking, in his opinion, pretty cool.
It also became hard as a rock if it hit at certain speeds, she had essentially whipped him with it. He didn't like it, but it was at least better than being hit with the wooden sword. Oka looked at him with disinterest while continuing to inspect her sword.
"So? do we continue?" She said while clumsily trying to whirl her sword around her hand.
He sighed, slowly got up, and dusted himself, he really hated fighting against these training maniacs, but friendship was a bit more important than this... Right?
*Shish*
Some people were starting to reconsider that friendship may not be worth all the effort, especially when they got the worst odds of them all.
*Shish*
Abura immediately turned to look at his attacker and he immediately yelled.
"Alright! that's it prepare to-"
*Shish*
"Let me speak! Cateyes" He shouted at her with exasperation.
Himiko actually stopped in her tracks, which almost made Abura trip in his step, he managed to right himself off as he watched Himiko put her finger on her mouth as she thought for a second. She looked like she was truly giving a second thought, he was dumbfounded about how his pleas worked, before she smiled widely making him pale.
"Nope~" she said as she popped the 'P' and tried to stab him again.
*Shish*
"You witch!"
Abura wasn't exactly pleased with this matchup, he KNEW that a sword is technically more dangerous than a knife. but he FELT like he would be better off fighting Oka rather than this psychopath off a girl that rebelled in his suffering!
Another knife swing grazed his back, and he stopped immediately and spun his body to deliver a kick at her, which she blocked with ease, before trying to stab his leg again with a smile.
*Shish*
"That's too close to comfort! Can you stop doing that!?" He yelled as he backed away.
"I'm just trying something new~" She said as she approached him with a reversed grip on her knife.
"Oh yeah! try THIS" he said as he also started running at her.
He was scared shitless of her, but he knew in his heart that she wouldn't hurt him, each time she had 'stab' him she had made sure that she hit him with the blunt part of the knife. Himiko was just that dexterous, she could reverse which end of the knife she could hit him within less than a second.
It didn't make it less scary, especially when she was 'trying new' abilities.
His fighting experience was certainly less than whatever she had, his attacks were mostly redirected and blocked. She is the other hand had already tagged him repeatedly, if it wasn't because her punches and knife slashes slipped away due to his quirk he would already be on the ground.
Using his quirk in a variety of ways was hammered into his head by Yoshihama, he never really paid attention to his training and he never really cared for it. He kinda just liked to go with the flow of things, and the flow right now was removing the friction of the ground while kicking Himiko away.
It was funny to him seeing her slowly slide away from him at a constant rate until she hit the max range of his quirk. But the way she remained upright sis tick him off.
[She has way too much equilibrium, is she really a cat?]
"Nice trick there, it is annoying to try to catch you slippery child" Himiko said as she started fiddling with her knife clumsily.
"Who are you calling child!" He shouted as he felt his back against a tree.
"You?" She answered while slowly closing the distance.
Himiko was trying to grab her knife, she had noticed that it was extremely hard to continue grabbing it, if she wasn't concentrated enough it would've already fallen off her hands. She clicked her tongue as she looked at Abura with narrowed eyes.
"You made my knife frictionless..."
"Of course! Now it is a fair fight!!" Abura proudly declared.
His quirk worked at the range of 10 meters, but only on objects that were generally not moving already, if they moved constantly they needed a bit more of a personal touch for his quirk to work. He managed to actually touch her knife, making it almost impossible to grab.
*Whizz*
Himiko threw her knife on the ground so hard that it got stuck there, she shook her head, disappointed in herself for losing a knife to this Abura guy. He was known as the weakest of the trio of idiots who antagonized Tomomi. She simply put her hand in the inner pocket of the cardigan she was wearing and took a few things.
First, she put on a pair of fingerless gloves, they were colored crimson red and had a flat wine-colored disk on top of them. Abura gulped as he saw how she put them on, he never saw her wearing those. He figured it would be bad since her friends also wore some red thing on their person.
Himiko then simply took a few knives out of the cardigan she was wearing, unlike the kitchen knife she had before, these resembled cutlery knives if way sharper and bigger on their blades. They had holes on their grip end and along the blade itself. she simply twirled these around playfully while looking at him with a smile.
"These are my fun knives!" She said with an upbeat voice as she tested how sharp the knives were.
"Uh huh?" Abura was on edge at her demonstration, she simply continued circling him while he tried to hug the tree.
"I haven't tried them on... civilians. So this will be a fun test~"
"WHAT!? I HAVEN'T AGREED TO ANYTHING!!!"
Himiko flicked her hand, throwing one of the knives at him, Abura was already used to this so he dodged by simply tilting his head, he heard the sound of the knife perforating the tree beside him, he sighed in relief but noticed that she was already throwing another knife at him.
[Screw this!!]
Abura immediately ran at her, he knew that it was dangerous but they WERE cutlery knives, even if a bit modified, so using them as a close-range weapon would not be so effective in his opinion. He simply raced while dodging another knife that also impacted somewhere outside his field of vision.
But, he felt how something was off, Himiko didn't move at all and she was still smiling, and then, he felt it. The feeling of wetness was on his cheek, he stopped in his tracks as he touched his cheek, he inspected his hand and saw blood, dripping from his cheek.
He was cut.
The how and the why were important to him, since he dodged the knives, he backed out as more knives were thrown his way. Most often weren't even aimed at him, but he was still getting cut at random intervals. He panicked and tried to rush forwards by using his quirk to remove the friction out of the floor.
As he shot towards her, he reeled his fist and tried to punch with all his might. He didn't have all that much going for him, but this was enough to make her move at least.
But it didn't reach her.
His fist froze an inch away from her smiling face, it didn't even hit anything, it only stopped due to being restrained. Abura looked into his arms trying to find anything under the glistening sun. He noticed that his arm had markings of small lines wrapped around it.
[...Strings?]
"It seems you noticed, you're pretty observant when you want to be" She mentioned as her fingers moved around, making all the string attached to his arms reel back to her gloves.
Abura was fearful as looked around himself, he noticed all the strings placed around their whole fight area, they were visible only because they glistened a bit in the sun. These strings were small and were all coming from the disk on her gloves and spread through her knives, her smile never faded as she manipulated the strings to close on him.
He actually didn't know what to do, what was one supposed when they were trapped in a bird cage? Himiko didn't care for him as she threw more knives into the air, they never fell, each rested on a string that was already placed there while moving alongside them in an orderly manner.
[How the fuck can she manipulate all of these strings so precisely? AND WHEN DID SHE PLACE THEM???]
"Anyways~" Himiko said as the knives slowly stopped moving, the eerie silence made his quivering even more noticeable.
"Try your best" Abura froze, and all of the knives immediately turned to point at him at the same time.
"I ALREADY WAS!!"
All of the knives immediately shot off, due to Himiko's fine control, her finger, hands, and arms were moving smoothly as knives rained onto Abura who was trying not to get cur by either steel strings or knives.
[NO WONDER SHE IS DEXTEROUS, WHAT THE HELL IS THIS SHIT!!! HOW DID SHE ACCOMPLISH THIS ANYWAYS]
Aura truly believes that this was his last day on earth.
Abura screamed for help while trying not to get swished kebab by Himiko's knives, everyone heard it, but they did nothing to help him since screaming was kind of his thing anyways.
Tomomi and Yoshihama had already been fighting for half an hour, a whole 5 minutes more than Yoshihama's personal best that he managed to snag half a year before.
But he was tired, Tomomi was barely sweating the whole thing, she was taking it pretty lax while just letting her friends do whatever. He was pretty pissed off about that, he decided to sweep her legs but she jumped high into the air, evading him completely.
{Rubber...}
He frowned even harder as his hands moved at the fast they had in his life to try and block, Tomomi had a habit to name her attacks, even more than most heroes would. He only knew this because her friends told him about it, he barely saw her naming her attacks in their fights, so he guessed he wasn't prepared enough.
AND HE WASN'T, all of those attacks hurt like hell! They even left marks! And apparently, they were her normal! but whatever, it seemed she was willing to use them here, and he was already blocking so it was something. At the very last moment, he saw Tomomi's hand aim lower than before and he got a bad feeling in his gut.
{-Culverin!}
[Fuck!]
Her arms shot off and hit the ground in front of him, but instead of stopping there, they bounced off it, with less force but enough that when it impacted Yoshihama in the chest, it sent him once again into the rolling on the ground for several seconds, Tomomi simply landed safely. Their fights didn't last that long so she was going to end it here.
Yoshihama thought otherwise, even with his labored breath he approached her at his top speed. She wasn't that surprised, she needed something more potent to take him down. So she tried to punch him at a distance, but he evaded with sheer determination as he approached her.
Tomomi was pleasantly surprised at his evasion, but she wasn't an easy target! her last punch was dodged, but now that she threw a {Rubber Pistol} it would be over. Yoshihama had decided to contest it with his own. His hand glowed so much she had to squint to see his silhouette.
Yoshihama took a deep breath as he tried something new, his entire strength and back were in this punch that she threw at her, she, of course, was doubting the effectiveness of the move since he was pretty far away still. His fist continued glowing as they reached their peak speed, and the glow left his hand and became a projectile that shot off even faster than he could see.
{Equinox!!}
"Wha-"
*Boom*
Tomomi was hit with a fist made of light that she barely had time block, she wasn't prepared for the amount of force behind it so she was completely thrown back towards the wall.
*Bam*
Yoshihama for his part knew that he needed to tank Tomomi's {Rubber pistol} if his attack was to surprise her, it paid off pretty well, but he had to be punched halfway through a cross the park.
"..."
"..."
He sighed as he heard steps coming towards him, slowly, Tomomi's figure appeared in his sight with a smile on her face and extended a hand at him as she spoke with an upbeat tone.
"That last attack was quite something!"
"I worked pretty hard on it... only to be barely effective"
"It shows, it definitely caught me off guard, but I am basically immune to blunt attacks, and it still hurt!" That part made him happy, if she said that it hurt then it meant that it was something more than a mere blunt attack.
"Congratulations Lightbulb, you actually evolved your quirk somehow!" She said, almost cheering for him.
Yoshihama continued frowning but he was quite happy inside, that last attack was improvised on the spot but it did use all of the things he had learned to even use it. He took Tomomi's arms and lifted himself.
"Alright the duel is over, you can spare your test dummies," She told her friends, who nodded at her.
"Don't call them dummies!" Yoshihama protested to which Tomomi rolled her eyes.
"Alright, spare your test smarties then, girls" She said, earning a chuckle from Oka and Himiko.
Oka stood up, she was sitting on top of Kawashita to restrain him, while Himiko stored all her wires, making the web of strings holding a frightened Abura in the air collapse, he fell to the ground soundlessly as he scurried away from Himiko, took a few seconds to skillfully use her strings to get all of the stray knives that were spread on her side of the park, including the kitchen knife.
They reunited and formed their groups, one of them being visibly more roughed up than the other. Yoshihama had lost once again, but he had learned a lot more. They talked for a few minutes as they always did, Yoshihama's friends complained a whole lot while Tomomi simply relaxed on the side without much worry.
[Well I already have learned a lot from her... Maybe it's time to let this whole duel thing pass]
Yoshihama stepped up to try and talk but Tomomi had already said her goodbyes and turned around while waving dismissively at him, he was going to stop her but he froze on the spot.
Tomomi was yawning so she didn't notice anything off as she bumped into something, she fell on her butt and got up rapidly as he look at what blocked her path.
A man thrice her size almost built like a block for what she could see, her pupils shrank due to the sheer amount of bloodlust he exuded directed at everything he saw. He slowly looked at her as he spoke in a low tone that made her whole being shake.
"Do you know of someone called Mizushima? she supposedly goes to the same school" He spoke slowly, while studying her reactions, Tomomi thought for a second before choosing something out of the ordinary for her.
"U-uh No, I think she already went home" Tomomi answered while trying to calm her nerves, she didn't have many options but lying was definitely there if it meant not fighting whoever this guy was.
"Not bad at lying..." He said as he inspected her with his gaze, which made her freeze at the killing intent directed at her.
"...Too bad your friends can't control their expression very well" Hi saw how all of them reacted to her name, it didn't take a genius for a deduction.
*BOOM*
Before she could even figure out what he meant, she felt her guts crushed and her vision darken before she was sent flying away, crashing into the metal dumpster that was in the park.
"Gah!" She spat out blood and coughed violently.
Her friends were snapped out of their daze as they heard the crash, Tomomi disappeared out of their field of view before their eyes, it was way too fast for anyone to notice it. Oka and Himiko were having a hard time trying to move out because of fear, while Yoshihama and his friends didn't even process what had happened.
The guy smiled at the trail of blood and dust that Tomomi left from his fist to the end of the park, he looked at the other kids in his vision as she sighed.
"No witnesses" He sighed as he already had his fist reeled back.
Oka and Himiko were barely functional at the moment but they were starting to block Yoshihama and his friend. even if futile they were not going down without a fight.
{Jet Pistol!}
A blur of pink punched the guy with enough strength to making slide backward several meters. he looked in the direction of the blow and saw the girl he had supposedly killed, she had blood dripping out of her mouth but she was rather fine. If one excluded how her skin was a shade of pink and was generating steam.
"I don't get crushed easily big guy, prepare to get curb-stomped!"