Chapter 32

They gave everyone a longer break before the finals, which made sense because nobody wanted the last match of the day to be rushed; they wanted the last two fighters to be close to their best.

I spent most of it sitting in the locker area, staring at the wall, running through everything I already knew about Bakugo's fighting style just to have something to do with my hands.

‘Bakugo isn't faster than Iida. But he certainly does more damage. He just needs to land a good attack, and I could be down in one hit. If I want to win, I have to do my best.’

While I was thinking, Shinso knocked on the doorframe before stepping inside, with Ojiro following behind him.

"Figured we'd walk you out. Considering the whole stadium's probably going to lose it either way this one goes."

Shinso said, with Ojiro nodding behind him.

"Thanks, I really appreciate it.”

"Don't get cocky out there," Ojiro added. "From what I've heard, Bakugo is not the type to care that you've won every match so far. If anything, that's going to make him angrier."

“Seems like I'm the last one to arrive," Yaoyorozu said, leaning against the doorway, "Good luck in the finals. Bakugo is going to be aggressive, but I know you'll handle it,” she added, offering a warm smile.

For a second, the tension in the room eased before Midnight's voice crackled over the speaker system, announcing that the final match was about to begin.

Yaoyorozu stepped aside to clear my way to the arena.

"Go out there and finish this.”

"I'll see you guys after the closing ceremony,” I said, stepping past them toward the quiet hallway leading to the stage tunnel.

The walk to the ring felt longer than it had all day; the crowd noise was building up steadily the closer I got, until I stepped through the tunnel entrance. The sound hit me all at once like a wall.

Bakugo was waiting for me on the opposite side of the ring, his palms crackling faintly even at rest.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!" Present Mic's voice exploded through the speakers, loud enough to rattle the stands themselves. "WE HAVE ARRIVED AT THE MOMENT YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR: THE FINAL MATCH OF THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL!"

The crowd's roar swelled in response, but that didn't seem to bother Present Mic in the slightest.

"IN THIS CORNER, KATSUKI BAKUGO, A FORCE OF NATURE WHO HAS BULLDOZED HIS WAY THROUGH EVERY OPPONENT PUT IN FRONT OF HIM! AND HE IS *NOT* HAPPY TO BE FACING A CHALLENGER HE'S ALREADY LOST TO TWICE IN THIS COMPETITION, FOLKS, THIS ONE IS PERSONAL!"

Bakugo's grin sharpened at Present Mic's words, not bothering to deny it.

"AND IN THIS CORNER ARATA SEIJI! THE FIRST YEAR STUDENT REPRESENTATIVE, FIRST PLACE IN THE OBSTACLE RACE, FIRST PLACE IN THE CAVALRY BATTLE, AND UNDEFEATED SO FAR IN THIS BRACKET TOO! IF YOU CAUGHT HIS PLEDGE EARLIER, YOU'LL KNOW HE TOLD US HIMSELF HE INTENDED TO WIN THE WHOLE THING, AND SO FAR HE HASN'T GIVEN ANYONE A REASON TO DOUBT HIM! SO THE QUESTION ON EVERYONE'S MIND, FOLKS, IS THIS THE MATCH WHERE BAKUGO FINALLY STEALS THE VICTORY HE'S BEEN CHASING ALL DAY? OR DOES ARATA SEIJI WALK AWAY FROM THIS FESTIVAL COMPLETELY UNDEFEATED?! LET'S FIND OUT!"

"Took you long enough," Bakugo said, once the announcer's voice finally let up.

"I wanted to make an entrance."

"Brag all you want; you're going down this time."

Midnight raised her whip, glancing at us with something almost like anticipation of her own.

"Are both fighters ready?"

Bakugo took his stance, grin sharp, entirely too pleased with himself for someone who hadn't beaten me yet.

I didn't move. Didn't need to, but the black ghost was already beside me.

"START!"

Bakugo charged with his palm crackling with explosions.

‘He's so predictable,’ I thought to myself.

Using his explosions like thrusters, Bakugo launched himself straight at me, face twisted into a violent grin, right hand cocked back and glowing with heat.

"This time I'm going to beat you!" he roared.

I just willed the Ghost forward to meet his mad charge.

A sharp draft whipped past my face as it materialized a few paces ahead of me, arm already extending upward to meet him.

Bakugo's blast detonated in mid-air. The shockwave blasted dust and heat across the arena, but none of it touched me. To everyone watching, he'd just slammed into an invisible wall mid-flight. The force bounced him backward hard, but he was already expecting it this, Bakugo didn't pause for a single second. The moment he regained balance, he propelled himself forward again, angling his trajectory slightly to the left to bypass the exact spot where he had bounced off.

"I KNOW HOW YOU WORK, YOU BASTARD!" Bakugo screamed, his voice hoarse as he fired another rapid sequence of explosions from his right palm. As he closed the distance, aiming another explosion directly at my neck, I gave the Black Ghost a silent command.

It swept its arm across Bakugo's oncoming path, striking him square in the ribs mid-air.

The force of the unseen blow broke his momentum entirely, turning his forward rush into an awkward, spiraling mid-air roll. Bakugo slammed hard into the concrete floor, skidding across the dirt, but his instincts were absurdly sharp; he instantly fired a blast into the ground to absorb the momentum and push himself back to his feet.

"All you do is hide behind that quirk of yours," he said, breathing hard. "Why don't you come closer, try to fight me for real? Maybe you'd actually have a chance."

"Seriously, You're trying to bait me. Let me guess: the reason Shinso's quirk got you so easily last round is that you thought our quirks worked the same way, and if you could resist his, you'd have figured out a way to beat me too, right?"

Bakugo ground his teeth together before his grin came back.

"So what if I do? Doesn't matter now. Your quirk won't work on me anymore. The second you try to open your mouth to use your little trick, I'll blow your jaw off. Either way, you're still going to lose."

"You're naive Bakugo, but don't worry, I'm not going to ruin your fun by trying to explain why."

"You're bluffing."

"Suit yourself. Though if I were you, I'd pay attention to my right."

He turned right on instinct. But a punch caught him on his left instead, sending him stumbling sideways.

"Oops. Sorry, I meant your left."

"Bastard—"

Before he could fully get up, a second hit landed square in his gut, doubling him over, followed immediately by a blow across the back that dropped him half a step lower. He didn't let it stop him, though. Even hunched over, he detonated a blast around himself big enough to clear the space around him entirely, using the force to launch himself straight at me, arm already extending, ready to unleash another explosion at point-blank range.

I caught his wrist before he could trigger it, used his own momentum to flip him clean over my shoulder, and slammed him into the ground. He gasped as his back hit the floor, but he didn't get a second to recover before a kick landed against the side of his head. I had to jump back immediately after that as he detonated his surroundings again on reflex, blowing dust and debris out in every direction.

He was shaken by the kick; that much was obvious, but he still managed to push himself off the dirt, every muscle in his arms quivering from sheer rage. Smoke poured continuously from his palms,

"I don't care what kind of invisible trash you're hiding behind or if you know how to fight," he snarled, "I'll just blast everything in this entire stadium into dust!”

He put both arms forward, gathering everything he had left into one final attack.

He never got the chance to release it.

“FREEZE.” I let my paralysis scream out before he could finish the winding-up. My scream didn't travel far; it didn't need to. Bakugo froze mid-motion, arms still raised, every muscle locked exactly where it had been a half-second earlier.

“Sorry, Bakugo. I can't let you do that.”

‘...The hell,’ Bakugo thought, still trying to force his arms forward. Nothing moved.

‘ Why can't I move? I clearly succeeded earlier.’

"You're surely thinking something along the lines of *Why can't I move? I clearly succeeded earlier*, aren't you!" I said. "As I said to you earlier, you're Naive; Shinso's quirk and mine couldn't be more different."

‘Move,’ Bakugo thought while trying to move even a finger ‘MOVE!’

Unfortunately for him, nothing happened. Not a twitch, not a shift in his stance, nothing at all.

For a second, something shifted in his mind not pain, not even frustration exactly, closer to genuine disbelief. Like his body refusing to answer even after trying his best was a concept he hadn't actually accounted for.

I turned to Midnight before asking,

“Sooo, what now? Did I win or do you want me to finish him first?”

She didn't respond to me; instead, she turned to the crowd and announced.

"Katsuki Bakugo is unable to continue fighting!" Midnight said, as she raised her whip towards me. "The winner of the U.A. Sports Festival First-Years Tournament is... ARATA SEIJI!”

The horn sounded a half-second later, with the crowd cheering. I let the paralysis effects continue for a few seconds past the horn before finally letting go. Bakugo dropped to one knee the second his legs answered again, chest heaving.

He didn't get up right away. Just knelt there, staring at his own hands as they'd betrayed him.

Yaoyorozu, Shinso, and Ojiro were already making their way down from the stands by the time I stepped off the ring, all three of them talking over each other about the fight.

"You could've mentioned you had a paralysis quirk buried in there somewhere," Shinso said.

"Didn't come up."

"It's kind of a big thing to not have come up," Ojiro added, grinning despite himself.

"Bakugo's never going to let this go, you know. Losing to an invisible opponent is one thing; you've already paralyzed him once before, and now he lost because he literally couldn't move his own body. This is a whole different level of pride damage."Yaoyorozu said.

"That's not my problem. Besides, he'll be back to his usual self in no time; after all, it happened once before."

Yaoyorozu didn't say anything right away, glancing instead toward the staff box up in the stands. I followed her gaze without meaning to.

Aizawa was there, as expected, but he wasn't watching the ring or watching Bakugo and the medical staff helping him. He was looking straight at me.

"Arata?" Yaoyorozu said, noticing I'd stopped walking. "Everything okay?"

"I'm Fine, don't worry about me," I said, already turning back toward the tunnel, keeping my voice as even as I could manage.

‘ I don't know why, but Aizawa seems to be more and more focused on me.’