Chapter 43 - Surprising Outcomes (2/2)

”After new information, it seems like the verdict will be redone! Toru wins due to Todoroki leaving the ring!” Midnight, just as shocked as anyone else in the stadium, shouted into a mic. She had put him as a favorite to win the entire thing, with a Quirk as strong as his was. It was hard to believe that he had lost to such a simple strategy, against a girl whose Quirk wasn't exactly built for straight on combat.

”Change of announcement, Toru wins!”

'... What... but... I was confident I froze her legs in place... Damnit... I need to take some time to cool my head.' Todoroki growled in self-anger, he had allowed his annoyance with Naruto ignoring him, to cloud his judgement against Toru. When Present Mic had announced his victory, he had just taken it at face value, and neglected to check to make sure he had actually frozen her.

”I won... really... I WON!” Toru started to jump for joy, her visible pants showing her actions.

The crowd didn't cheer, they were just mostly still in shock.

-With Naruto-

”... Ribbit...”

”I know, I'm surprised too... I guess luck is pretty important to being a hero... I guess.” Naruto didn't know a lot of what happened, but he was pretty sure that Toru got super lucky there. He hadn't expected her to pull a win out of her ȧss though, no matter how lucky she was. ”Anyway, I'm going to go and watch them, I was just here to make sure you were okay. Take it easy Tsuyu.” Naruto rubbed the top of her head, and grinned down at her.

”You're like a dad ribbit.”

”Pfffft?!” Naruto spewed the air he was breathing when she said that. He hadn't been expecting her to saw something so off the wall like that. It was literally out of nowhere, but the girl just spoke her mind. ”I'm sorry, what?” Naruto asked as he quickly tried to regain his composure.

She looked up.

”... or a brother. I thought you were really scary when I saw you. I was wrong though, you're really nice. Whenever anyone asks for help, you always try to help them. You're very dependable. You would make a very good big brother.” Tsuyu just spoke as she looked at him. Over the course of their time together in school, she had lost her opinion on him as this man who was unapproachable and scary. Now, it was hard to even relate her first impression of him as a big grumpy guy, to the kind and caring figure that took great care of others. 'So adorable...' Tsuyu thought as she watched Naruto's cheeks turn red.

He forced himself to look away from her, but his eyes kept glancing back.

So this was his embarrassed face.

”Sh-shut up, you're head must be injured more than I thought. I better get Recovery Girl back in here.” Naruto quickly got up and started to leave the room, as quickly as possible.

'... Really adorable...' Tsuyu couldn't help the thought. She didn't know that Naruto was this bad at accepting such genuine compliments from others that he wasn't expecting. She could consider this her little revenge for him beating her up, she could, but she wasn't going to consider it that. She was a little surprised when Recovery Girl actually came back into the room.

-In the Stands-

”Kaminari is surprisingly strong.” Kyoka pointed out as they watched Denki take Shoji down with a massive burst of electricity. Shoji had been knocked out almost as soon as the round had started, the round taking about 2 seconds from start to finish. It had taken them awhile to clear the ice off of the stage, but when the next round started, it had started off with a very bright flash.

”Shoji is unable to continue... but neither is Denki... ref?”

”Idiot...” Kyoka palmed her forehead, and she wasn't the only one. Denki had short-circuited his own brain, so he was just walking around with his thumbs sticking up. With a dumb looking face, while Shoji was face down on the stage. ”He's so powerful, but he is such a glass cannon.” Kyoka was embarrassed for him.

His own power was his weakness, and overusing it caused him to become helpless.

”Got word from Midnight, it seems Denki will be announced the winner!”

”Feel sorry for the guy, he got the short end of the electric Quirk stick there.” Kirishima spoke, having returned to the stands after his own humiliating defeat. The second his match had started, Sero got him with a surprise attack by wrapping him with tape. Being a close range fighter, he had been taken by surprise and thrown out of the ring. ”Tenya vs Bakugo... think Tenya stands a chance?” Kirishima asked around.

Mina was just pale and sweating.

”I don't care about that... I fight Naruto in my next fight... I'm so going to get my face punches.” Mina was shivering in fear.

”... If you want, I've been watching Naruto fight, and might be able to help you with a strategy.” Izuku said as he held his notebook up. He didn't know if it would help any, but since he met Naruto, the guy had been really cool. He had taken tons of notes about how Naruto fought, his Quirk, and the way he fought without his Quirk. He had originally thought of strategies to fight Naruto himself, not that they ever worked in the past.

Mina gave him a big hug, before she took the notebook.

”Thank you! With this, I might only suffer small injuries!” Mina had never been so happy to be in the same classroom as Deku the nerd before. ”I'm going to go use the bathroom, just in case.” Mina stood up with a shiver.

Never hurt to be safe.