Peter watched as Amajiki narrowly avoided blue lightning all around him, blocking any bolts he couldn't dodge completely with a tough-looking clamshell that replaced his left hand.
Talk about a light show, huh?
Seriously, this was probably the coolest looking fight yet!
A still shot of this match would be an awesome album cover.
"Wow, that girl's quirk is insane! I almost never see electrification quirks like that!" Nejire commented from beside him, in the middle of eating an energy bar.
You know, he had to agree on that part.
Outside of the barely visible lightning-shaped scars he saw, which were probably electrical scars now that he thought about it, it didn't look like her quirk had any major drawbacks.
Down at the stadium, Amajiki jumped out of the way of a blue bolt of electricity that left the spot it landed on scorched before he grabbed the girl by the foot with a tentacle.
It didn't look to be as fast as actual lightning either since Amajiki was dodging it, but still.
She could shoot lightning! How cool is that, man?
A small sigh escaped him, Peter holding his head up in one hand. He wished the spider that bit him gave him electric powers.
Or like, invincibility or something.
That'd be so cool.
Peter rubbed his eyes for a moment, looking to the side and at the empty seat where Togata should have been sitting in.
"Hey, where's Togata?" Peter asked, leaning forward in his seat while Nejire ate the last of the energy bar.
She hummed for a moment, cupping her chin before snapping her fingers.
"I… think he's waiting at the tunnel to the arena for the match to be over so he can surprise Amajiki and get some 1 on 1 time with him. At least that's what I think he said."
Huh, that… made sense, actually.
Peter nodded, pulling his mask out of his pocket and running his fingers through the soft material.
It brought him a small sense of calm, you know? Feeling the cloth, that is.
In his other pockets, he could still feel the presence of those two cards that Tony Stark had given him earlier.
A part of him wanted to just… throw them away and never think about it again, but that was something he knew he couldn't do.
Even if he wanted to.
Whatever, he'd just… deal with it when he got home.
"Hey, Peter?" The voice of the girl next to him made him perk up, Peter quickly putting the mask back in the pocket where his goggles were.
"Hm? What's up?" He sat back in his seat, stretching and sighing at the way his bones popped.
Man, he should probably do some stretches before his next fight.
Nejire sat there for a moment, looking down before looking up at him with an expression he couldn't exactly read.
"So… I know it's not my place to ask or anything like that, but uh, what happened with you earlier? When you said you ran into someone?"
Just like that, Peter's heart dropped.
Damn it.
Looking around for a moment, Peter was about to respond before Nejire beat him to it as she held her hands up.
"I-I don't wanna force you to tell me or anything, you know? You just really looked like you needed to talk about it and I got worried with all of that." She said, giving a vague wave of her hand.
Should he even talk about it? It was like a huge government cover-up or something! Could he even talk about it?
Well… it was his 'quirk', even if S.H.I.E.L.D technically had legal ownership of mutates like him.
And besides, Nejire was right.
He really wanted to talk about all of that.
But now? Maybe not.
"I mean, you're right. I really wanna talk about it, you know? Like, it's been bothering me ever since and it's super hard to concentrate but… do I have to do it right now?" Peter said, running a hand through his hair that somehow made it even messier than it already was.
If that was possible.
Peter sighed, giving the frowning girl a small smile.
"Can it be after school? I get I should deal with it but… y'know." He waved at the stadium around them, Nejire immediately nodded in understanding.
It was hard to fight on national TV after a vent session, you know?
Who would've thought.
"Oh! Yeah, you're right. It's kinda hard to talk about stuff in the middle of all of this." She laughed lightly, a sound that made Peter feel warm for whatever reason. "So, after school, then?"
"Yeah, wanna try tomorrow? Aizawa said we'll have the day off and I really wanna try to relax after this." Peter asked, smiling at the girl as lightning crackled down in the arena.
"Sure! Pretty sure I'm free tomorrow, so I should be good! Maybe we could watch a movie or something!"
Peter was about to start talking about all the movies he had in his room but was quickly cut off by the sound of an explosion followed by a whip cracking.
"Tamaki Amajiki is out of bounds! Inazuma Raimei moves on to the next round!" Midnight announced, the crowd cheering for the two teens down in the stadium.
Wait, it was already over?
Man, he was honestly rooting for Amajiki!
Peter listened to Nejire quickly change subjects from what they'd do tomorrow to talking about the fight, his eyes set on the bracket changing up on the giant screen.
Looks like he'll be fighting someone from 1-B and that they'd take a half-hour break between rounds.
And wow, did he wish he paid attention to the match after his on the first round! Maybe then he'd know what the guy he's fighting could do.
Still, he should probably go to a waiting room and get ready for the fight.
Silently, Peter began to stand up from his seat before stretching, the boy watching as the teens down at the field walked back into the stadium.
"Hey, I'm next up so I'll go-" Peter started, quickly being cut off by the feeling of Nejire hugging him tightly.
What was it with today and hugging?
Either way, he probably shouldn't complain.
"Hey, hey, you better win this, alright? If you beat your guy, and I beat the electric girl, then we can fight! So you gotta win, alright?" She said, smiling up at him as her hug got tighter. "Oh, and you know you're supposed to hug back, right?" She added that last part with a small blush and smile.
Oh, right! He was supposed to hug back!
He forgot about that part, but could you blame him?
Slowly, Peter wrapped his arms around the girl, blushing and smiling down at her.
"Yeah, I-I'll win, alright? Gonna make that fight extra exciting, promise." He laughed, hugging her for a bit longer since she wasn't seeming to let go.
He didn't really care about that, the fact that her hair smelled like apples was more important in his mind even if he already knew that.
"You better! It'd be super boring if I didn't get to fight anyone in our class!" She giggled, the blush she had contrasted both her pale skin and blue hair in a way that made Peter's heart beat faster.
Almost reluctantly, they both let go and stood there awkwardly for a bit longer.
"Alright, I-I'm gonna… yeah." Peter let out an awkward chuckle, pointing to the hallway.
"Oh, yeah! Sure, I- yeah, sorry for like, keeping you and all." Nejire stumbled over her words for a moment, laughing awkwardly.
Peter laughed, smiling down at the girl before beginning to make his way out into the hallway.
"Hey, Peter!" She called out to him, hands behind her back.
He paused, looking back at his friend as the sunlight made her hair shine in a way Peter was sure wasn't possible.
"Go get 'em, tiger." The girl smiled, looking at him in a way that made Peter feel like nothing could ever go wrong in his life from that moment.
Just like that, he felt his heart skip a beat as a stupid smile was plastered across his face.
He nodded, stepping out into the hallway with that dumb smile and no way to make it go away.
Hearing her say that, just… hearing her voice in general, was enough for him to keep going through the day.
It was enough for him to keep going and forget about S.H.I.E.L.D and Tony Stark and just… everything else.
That was the first time he ever heard those words, but deep down it felt as if they had some huge meaning in his life.
They were all he needed right now.
All he needed to do was hang on for one second longer and keep going.
He dug into his pocket, grabbing the mask and goggles before sliding them over his face.
Time to get to work.
...
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