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As Suzaku and Itsuka walked through the maze-like insides of the building where the test was being run down, doing their best to find the stairs to the upper floor, Suzaku glanced at Itsuka with a curious look.
"So… you have a plan?" He asked, occasioning Itsuka to freeze for a moment as if that question had taken her by surprise.
Their team had been selected as the Heroes team, and as such, their objective was to arrive at the bomb room where the opposite team was, and "deactivate" the explosive device planted there, which as a rule, they could do by simply touching it.
The objective of the other team, the Villains, was to prevent them from deactivating the bomb before the time ended or to capture them.
It was a simple dynamic, but seeing how worried Itsuka looked, Suzaku thought it might be more challenging than he thought.
"... Not really" Itsuka shook her head as she let out a distressed sigh.
Then, after she gave a glance at the ceiling, she turned to look at Suzaku with a troubled expression.
"The problem is Ibara-san, her Quirk gives her enormous defensive and offensive capabilities, making it hard for us to even approach the bomb. If both of them decide to play it smart, then they will most likely take advantage of that fact and wait for us to come at them to the bomb room, instead of them coming here to look for us"
Crossing her arms while closing her eyes for a moment after finishing her explanation, Itsuka then turned to look at Suzaku with anticipation dwelling in her eyes.
"My Quirk, Big Fist, might help us brute-force our way to the bomb for a bit by covering us from their attacks, but it's still pretty risky. So… If you don't mind asking, what is your Quirk?" She locked eyes with Suzaku—or with where she thought his eyes were. His glasses did a good job reflecting light and hiding his eyes behind them, after all.
"..."
At that, Suzaku fell silent, not knowing how to tell her that his Quirk wasn't exactly what you could call a last resort skill.
However, his silence was misinterpreted by Itsuka, who thought he simply felt apprehensive about sharing details about its functionality.
"Depending on what Quirk you have, the possibilities of us managing to make our way to the bomb might increase, so…" She mumbled with a pout, causing Suzaku to let out a sigh of resignation.
"I can change the shape of these" He said dryly, as his hand moved to touch his glasses and prompt them to expand and cover completely his helmet in the bio-glass. Causing him to look like he had an astronaut helmet for a moment.
"...?"
Witnessing that, Itsuka tilted her head for a moment, thinking that Suzaku's explanation could have more to it… Like most people did when Suzaku explained his Quirk.
However, her expectations were rapidly shattered when Suzaku touched his glasses again and reverted them to their previous shape of visors for his helmet as he said "That's it"
In response, Itsuka stopped walking and stared at him speechlessly for a few seconds.
"That's it?" She felt the need to make sure that was truly everything.
"Oh, there's one more thing" Suzaku suddenly said as raised his index finger.
"Really?!" Itsuka asked in an excited tone, thinking that maybe there was still hope.
"I can change their color. Check this out" Suzaku placed his finger on his glasses and began changing their color. Making them look like some kind of RGB glasses, before then reverting to the usual light blue.
"Pretty cool, right?"
"..." Itsuka didn't know what to say.
Though, eventually, after caressing her temples, she voiced her confusion.
"How did you even beat the 0-pointer?"
Suzaku simply shrugged as a grin found its place on his face. "I just got inside of it, and began wrecking everything I found"
"... We might be doomed" Itsuka facepalmed.
"Hey hey, no need to despair. You said that Ibara girl was the problem, right?"
"Yeah?" Itsuka nodded while frowning a little, confused as to why of the question.
However, her eyebrows lifted pretty highly when she saw Suzaku taking out a retractable staff from his back as he shrugged confidently.
"Then just leave her to me. I got a gist of what her Quirk was from yesterday's fitness test, I should be able to take her on… Oh, and that Sen guy too, he shouldn't be much of a problem either"
"..." Itsuka glared at him in doubt.
Seeing the look in Itsuka's eyes, Suzaku shook his head.
"Hey, my Quirk might not be a planet-destroying power, but that doesn't mean I am a pushover... And besides, what other option do we have? Either we continue planning here until the time remaining ends and we lose by default, or we go to them and give our little plan a chance"
"It's still too risky…" Itsuka mumbled with a hesitant look in her eyes. However, her distress was quickly interrupted by Suzaku when he reassured her with a pat on the head.
"Like I say all the time, whoever is scared to die might as well not die" He said with confidence evident in his voice.
"I don't think that's how it wen—"
"Shhh…"
Suzaku placed a finger on her lips and shook his head.
"Don't question the wisdom, just accept it"
Itsuka looked at his finger for a few seconds, before she pushed his hand away, and shook her head as a long sigh escaped her mouth.
"Very well, it's do or die"
"That's the spirit!" Suzaku laughed loudly into the air.
After concluding the matter, both of them nodded their heads at each other and began walking forward once again.
…
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|A few minutes later, at the building's upper floor…| (A/N: Bang Ost from One Punch Man might be good to hear during this part... Though, put it on loop because otherwise the song might end midway through the fight)
...
-Bang!-
The door of the room opened abruptly, startling both Ibara and Sen, who had been patiently waiting for their opponents to arrive until then.
"The great Suzaku has arrived, who is going to fight me first?" Suzaku asked as he entered the room with a confident pace, looking with a smirk at both students, who were bewildered by his flamboyant attitude despite having entered enemy territory completely alone.
"Ibara-san!" Nevertheless, they didn't stay confused for much, as immediately after, Sen shouted and made the righteous girl snap out of her daze.
"Yes!" Once she regained her focus, the vines on her head shot rapidly toward the red-haired boy, aiming to bind him and thus immobilize him for the rest of the test.
However, they never got a hold of their objective.
-Bang!-
Without wasting a single second, Suzaku kicked the ground beneath him and soared high into the air, dodging the vines' attempt at getting a hold of him, and approaching the bomb in the process.
"Not so fast!" Unfortunately, his path to the bomb was quickly intercepted by Sen, who, immediately after seeing him avoid Ibara's initial attack, jumped to block his advance aiming his drill-like arms at the still-airborne Suzaku.
"Yes so fast!!"
-Swooosh!-
Sen's attack, sadly, did not do much to Suzaku, who rapidly took out his staff and used it to redirect Sen's attack to the side, before using his momentum to shoot a flying kick at the guy's face. Knocking him a few meters away from just the impact alone.
"... I avoided hitting the nose, so, you should be fine" Suzaku muttered with a hint of pity in his voice, before his eyes immediately locked onto Ibara, whose vines were already on their way to bind him.
-Swish!-
With a swift motion, Suzaku spun his staff around before swinging it at the vines and cutting them like butter.
Then, without wasting a single second, he spun his staff once more, before he threw it at Ibara like a javelin, who, despite being startled by the sudden long-range attack, created a wall of vines in less than a second and intercepted the staff midway before it could hit her.
"What a wicked attack, if I had not reacted on time, that staff would have hit me… How sinful!" She voiced aloud for Suzaku to hear. However, once her wall of vines receded and she retrieved Suzaku's staff, she noticed that the red-haired teenager was nowhere to be seen.
-Bang!-
"Where—" Ibara's question was interrupted when suddenly she heard a long sound from the wall a few meters away from her.
"To your right!" A voice said from her left side.
When she turned her head, she saw Suzaku swinging a fist at her.
"Super deadly punch to the face!" He yelled, causing the girl to widen her eyes and turn her head in a hurry to use the vines to shield her face.
-Thud!-
However, the impact on the face never came, and instead, a painful sensation on her legs along with a loss of balance was all she was able to feel.
"Wha—" She asked in a confused tone, however, her words were cut short when her face met the floor, having just been sweep-kicked by Suzaku.
When she regained her focus and turned to look at her opponent, she saw Suzaku retrieving his staff, and about to swing it at her.
"...!"
-Clang!-
However, fortunately for her, before Suzaku could move, Sen reappeared from the side and blocked Suzaku's swing with his drill-like arms.
Using that small time frame, Ibara's hair moved, and immediately tried to grab Suzaku's feet.
-Thud!-
However, the red-haired youth simply kicked the ground and escaped from the vine's grasp, eventually making some distance between himself and the two.
Once both parties were at a certain distance, neither of them moved. Reaching a stalemate and waiting for the other to make the first move first.
"This guy is like a ninja" Sen muttered, using his fist to clean the drop of blood that was flowing down his nose.
"He said he was gonna punch me in the face but attacked my feet instead, oh what a sinful act… I must whip him" Ibara looked sadly at the ground as she prayed silently on her spot, gaining a strange look from both his companion and Suzaku.
"You two fight better than I expected" The sus youth said, swinging his staff around as he locked eyes with both Ibara and Sen. "Your Quirks sure are a pain in the ass to deal with…"
"How are you so agile, man?" Sen asked aloud, bewildered by the speed that Suzaku was demonstrating while he fought both of them.
In response, Suzaku simply shrugged as a mocking tone came from inside his helmet.
"Skill issue, I guess"
"You—" Sen was about to say something to him.
-Bang!-
However, his words were cut short when Suzaku slammed his staff on the floor and caused a loud sound to reverberate across the room.
"Enough of playing games… It's time to get serious" He said in an icy tone. Causing both Ibara and Sen to tense up and ready themselves for what was to come.
-Swish!-
In an instant, Suzaku's finger moved towards his glasses, before he yelled out loud with a serious tone.
"Lethal move: Eye-beam of Doom!"
Once those words left his mouth, his glasses began acquiring a mixture of yellow and red color, as if they were heating up.
""...!!""
When they saw that, both Sen and Ibara tensed up, feeling danger from the incoming attack.
Thus, in a hurry, Ibara erected a thick wall of vines that covered both her and Sen.
"..."
However, no attack came.
"Eh?"
Once they realized they had been bamboozled, the wall of vines receded and both of them saw Suzaku running towards the bomb while laughing loudly into the air.
"Gyahahaha, Suzaku the master of deceit has done it once again!"
"That guy—!" Frustrated, Sen ran towards the red-haired youth as both of his arms began to spin once again.
Ibara on the other hand, knelt on one knee and did a prying motion.
"Oh lord, please grant forgiveness to this sinner!" She voiced, soon shooting her vines through the floor, and making them move towards Suzaku stealthily from below.
"Victory is mine!" Suzaku yelled, just a meter away from touching the bomb.
"I don't think so"
However, Sen managed to block his path once more.
Then, as Suzaku was about to swing his staff at him, a vine sprouted from the floor and grabbed Suzaku's ankle, startling him, and stopping his attack.
"You're done!" Making use of the gap in his defense, Sen swung his drill-like arm at Suzaku, who, after the vines began crawling up his leg, became capable of only blocking.
-Clang, clang, clang!-
Being in a troublesome situation, Suzaku started to parry all of Sen's attacks with the staff while he struggled to free his feet from the vine's grasp.
However, to his fortune, the vines suddenly began lifting him in the air.
While others would consider being lifted into the air while having their feet tied up by vines a disadvantage, to Suzaku it was the perfect opportunity to escape.
-Clang!-
-Thud!-
"Argh—Not the face again!"
Thus, after counter-attacking and hitting Sen in the face again, Suzaku made use of the small time frame he created to swing his staff at the vines to escape from their grasp. Cutting them as a result, and landing on the ground away from the grasp of both.
"Accept your punishment!" Seeing Suzaku escape once again, Ibara gritted her teeth as she controlled her vines to chase after Suzaku. However, she was forced to stop when she saw Suzaku throw his staff at her again, shifting her focus to shield herself from the projectile.
Like before, Ibara managed to catch the staff. However, expecting an attack to come immediately after just like earlier, she took the wall of vines down and rapidly scanned her surroundings.
"...?"
Surprisingly, however, Suzaku had not moved from his previous spot.
When she saw that, she dared not make a move. Uncertain of whether Suzaku was waiting for that so he could create an opportunity.
As both she and Suzaku stared at each other, Sen returned to the fight and approached Suzaku's side. Leaving the red-haired teenager trapped in a corner by Sen and Ibara.
"It seems like it's check-mate" Sen said with a hint of irritation in his voice. Apparently being done with Suzaku playing with them.
The red-haired youth, however, simply shook his head.
"You are right, I guess I have no more option but to use my secret technique" Suzaku said in a helpless tone.
Hearing that, Sen sneered.
"You think we will fall for that again?"
"This time I'm not fooling you guys, this technique is really lethal" Suzaku warned from behind his helmet. His tone carried a glimpse of worry for them as if he was telling the truth about his next move being dangerous.
"Enough, Ibara-san, let's finish this!" However, not bothering to listen to Suzaku, Sen shouted, gaining a nod from his companion.
An instant later, both of them began launching their attacks at Suzaku.
However, before they could reach him, Suzaku pointed behind them and yelled out loud.
"Look, an alien!"
"..."
"..."
When they heard that, both of them froze on their spot.
'Is this guy serious?' Was what both of them thought at that moment.
However, just when they were about to continue their attack, a voice coming from the speakers stopped them.
{"HERO TEAM… WINS!!!"}
When they heard that, both Ibara and Sen widened their eyes, turning to look at the bomb in shock.
And once they did, they saw it.
There, Itsuka was touching gently the bomb as a sigh escaped from her mouth.
""...!!""
Still in shock, both turned to look back at Suzaku, who had already taken his helmet off and was shrugging his shoulders as he shot them a smirk.
"Well, it wasn't exactly an alien, but I warned you"
"You—you've got to be kidding me" Was all Sen was able to say before he fell on his knees powerlessly.
Ibara on the other hand, simply stared at the air blankly. As if not believing what had just happened.
"I can't believe our plan actually worked" As both grieved over their loss in different ways, Itsuka approached the three, looking speechlessly at both Ibara and Sen.
Then, as she glanced at Suzaku, she found him smiling fondly at her.
"Well, it wasn't so hard now, was it?" He asked while shooting her a smirk.
"... You say that as if you didn't do almost everything yourself" Itsuka sweatdropped. The guy had taken both of them on alone, and actually managed to drive them to focus solely on him, allowing her to sneak her way to the bomb without issues.
In truth, she hadn't done much.
"Well, they did corner me a bit at the end, so it's thanks to you that we won in the end" Suzaku said, before he pointed at the timer of the bomb. "...And besides there were only 30 seconds left, had you not been there, I could have lost regardless of whether I beat their asses up in the end"
Hearing that, Itsuka blinked her eyes for a moment, before she darted her eyes aside as an embarrassed expression appeared on her face.
"Well, if you say so…"
"No need to be modest!" Suzaku laughed loudly as he glanced at the cameras from where All Might and the rest of his classmates were watching "We destroyed them!"
Itsuka glanced at the defeated Ibara and Sen, sending a wry expression at Suzaku "Shouldn't you be a bit more modest?"
In response, Suzaku turned to look at her with a weirded-out expression.
"Modest? That's something only sissies—" He stopped midsentence, as a frown formed on his face.
Then, as he looked at the defeated Ibara and Sen, Suzaku clicked his tongue.
"The damn old man's antics are rubbing off me…"
…
-To be Continued…-
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(A/N: Tatsuo's art of trash-talking is slowly being passed down to Suzaku, he just doesn't know it yet.
Also, how was the action-filled chapter? Was it boring, or was it good?
It might have come out a bit too goofy, but since Suzaku isn't fighting to the death, I thought why not goof around while he fights?
Anyway, I hope you liked the chapter)
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