Walking back onto the field after the end of lunch, Katsuki heard Mic resume his commentary over the speakers.

"Now that lunch is over, it's time to reveal the final event! But before that, there's good news for those of you that didn't make it into the finals! This is a sports festival after all! So we've prepared recreational games that anyone can participate in! We even have a cheer squad to liven things up!"

At that, a tournament bracket appeared on the screens around the stadium.

"When the recreational games are finally over, the 16 students from the four teams that made it into the final round will duke it out in a tournament style one-on-one!"

The crowd all cheered at the announcement, with all the students gathering up in the center of the field.

Kirishima spoke up at the announcement.

"The last round is a tournament huh? I'm gonna stand on the same stage I watch every year on TV!"

Mina spoke up.

"Wasn't it something other then a tournament last year?"

Sero spoke up to answer her question.

"It's a different event every year, but it's always a one-on-one competition. Last year it was apparently some kind of sword fight."

Midnight stood on center stage holding a box labeled 'Lots'.

"All right! Time to determine the bracket. Once the bracket is determined, we'll have recreational games and then begin the tournament. The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to compete in the recreational events. I'm sure that some of you want to rest or save your strength."

Midnight reached a hand into the box.

"Now, for our first matchup, we have-"

Midnight was interrupted by a hand from the students.

"Um, Excuse me! I'm withdrawing."

Everyone turned to look at Ojiro in shock, questioning his choice.

"I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle. I think it was my team rider's quirk…I know this is a great chance, and that it's foolish of me to waste it, but…Everyone here competed by giving it their all! I can't stand on that stage with everyone else knowing that I didn't put in the same effort they did!"

Everyone else stayed silent at Ojiro's statement, some of them still questioning his decision.

"I know it may simply be my pride here, but I just can't accept that."

Another voice came from a different section of the crowd.

"I'm Nirengeki Shoda from Class B. I wish to withdraw as well for similar reasons. Regardless of ability, wouldn't it go against the goal of this sports festival for those who did nothing to advance to the final round?"

Kirishima was tearing up at the side.

"What's with these guys, they're so manly!"

Everyone in the crowd seemed to mutter as Midnight thought over the requests. Finally, she spoke up.

"Youthful talk like that…Is something I like!"

Midnight cracked her whip.

"Shoda! Ojiro! I accept your withdrawal!"

All the students deadpanned when they realized she'd decided based on her own tastes…

Aoyama put a hand on Ojiro's shoulder.

"I'm gonna compete anyway, okay?"

Midnight continued her decision.

"In that case, we'll need to move up 2 students from the 5th place team, Team Kendo."

The four girls all looked at each other, then had a quick huddle while they decided who would progress. Finally Itsuka and Setsuna stepped forwards.

"Myself and Setsuna will be progressing to the final round."

Midnight cracked her whip again, a smile on her face.

"And so, Kendo and Setsuna have moved up to make sixteen! And now, here's the tournament bracket determined by random draws!"

[https://i.ibb.co/4M7r8st/original-bracket.jpg]

Katsuki looked over towards his first round opponent, seeing Kirishima grinning at him with a thumbs up.

"Lets both do our best Katsuki!"

Katsuki nodded in return.

Turning to head towards the exit, Katsuki noted Ojiro talking to Mina.

Shaking his head, Katsuki headed towards the stands.

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Heading towards the stands, Katsuki suddenly ran into the blondie he'd stolen a headband from first round.

"You! What is up with your quirk! I couldn't feel it! Even if it was a mutant type, I should have gotten something!"

Katsuki noted the rest of class 1-B watching the confrontation, curious looks on their faces.

Deciding it was time to bite the bullet, Katsuki decided it would be better to just say it.

"I don't have a quirk."

Everyone in the hallway seemed to freeze in shock. One of the other members of 1-B spoke up at that.

"Bullshit! How are you pulling all this crazy shit then! Oi, Monoma, tell us he's talking shit!"

Monoma continued looking at Katsuki in shock as Katsuki continued his walk towards the stands along with the rest of his class.

It had to happen eventually.

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Katsuki spent the rest of the time during the recreational games just relaxing in the stands while everyone else who wasn't part of the tournament continued their festival events.

Katsuki had no idea what all the other competitors were doing during this period.

Finally, Cementoss got to work constructing the stage with his quirk near the end of the games. Finally, the stage was finished.

Present Mic's voice echoed over the speakers.

"Hey guys! Are you ready?!"

A massive cheer erupted from the crowd. Katsuki sat up in his seat.

"A lot has happened today, but it's all come down to this! A serious battle! You can only depend on yourself here! Even if you aren't a hero, you will face plenty of situations like that! Heart, skill, body, wisdom and knowledge! Use all of that today!"

Katsuki watched as Sato and Izuku walked out of their respective entrances.

"Audience! The finals you have been waiting for are finally starting! On one side, we have the sugar fueled Juggernaut, whose strength nearly catapulted his team to victory in the second round, Sato Rikido!"

Katsuki noted how Sato appeared to already have downed his sugar before the match began, with how his muscles were bulging through his uniform.

"In the other corner, we haven't seen much from him so far, the flame controlling Izuku Midoriya!"

Katsuki noted Izuku's nervous walk towards the stage, fire starting to glow in his mouth.

"The rules are simple, force your opponent out of bounds or immobilize them! You can also win by making your opponent say 'I give up!' Bring on the injuries, since we have Recovery Girl waiting on standby!"

Katsuki furrowed his brow. They really weren't even trying to hide this was bloodsport huh?

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"Put your morals and ethics aside for a moment! But of course anything life-threatening is crap! It's not allowed! Cementoss will intervene if a fight becomes life-threatening."

There was a moment of pause as they let the competitors get ready.

"Ready?! Start!"

Instantly Sato attempted to rush Izuku with a roar, hoping to throw Izuku out of bounds before the shorter student could react.

Backing up to gain distance, Izuku started exhaling fire as fast as he could, hovering a ball of fire directly in front of Sato's face.

Sato immediately halted his charge and started backing up in an attempt to get the fire out of his face.

Izuku quickly took advantage, using the fire to corral Sato, whose quirk left him too dumb to realize what was happening.

Over the course of the next minute of so, Izuku used his fire to get Sato to step out of bounds, the taller boy seeming confused when the round was called in Izuku's favor.

"And with that fiery first round out of the way, we have our first competitor to move onto the second round, Izuku Midoriya!"

Izuku waved towards the crowd, a relieved look on his face as he walked towards the exit.

Katsuki leaned back in his seat, Kirishima talking to him.

"Darn, Sato lost!"

"It makes sense. His quirk makes him dumber while he's using it. And without being able to strategize or feint, he was a sitting duck."

Kirishima nodded at Katsuki's explanation as Present Mic called the next set of competitors to the field.

"From the hero course! The determined Ochaco Uraraka here to show her stuff!"

Ochaco got into her stance, palms forward as Mic announced her.

"Also from the hero course, he's super duper sparkly! Yuga Aoyama!"

Aoyama posed for the cameras.

"A battle of the cute against the fancy! Let's get going! Second match start!"

Ochaco instantly ducked to the side to dodge Aoyama's opening laser.

The rest of the class ooh'd and aah'd at the acrobatics Ochaco was doing as they watched. Tsuyu noted that Katsuki wasn't nearly as engrossed as they were.

"Aren't you worried about if Ochaco gets hit, kero?"

Katsuki scoffed.

"After all the dodge training she's gone through from someone better then Aoyama? He isn't even going to manage to touch her. Not to mention it looks like frenchie's is starting to hit his limits. He's slowing down."

True to Katsuki's words, Aoyama's lasers got noticeably slower and spaced out, letting Ochaco start to close the distance. Panicking, Aoyama tried to force her away with lasers until he finally just started holding his stomach with both hands.

Taking the opening, Ochaco rushed forward and used her quirk on Aoyama.

The follow-up laser Aoyama fired in panic sent him spinning out-of-bounds.

Mic followed up with commentary as the crowd cheered.

"And with that we have a winner! By ringout, Ochaco Uraraka!"

Ochaco waved to the crowd with a massive smile on her face as she walked towards the exit after releasing her quirk on Aoyama.

The croissant landed in the grass basically unharmed, but clutching at his stomach as he stood up and walked out.

"Things are really heating up here! Next up! The slinger of sticky stuff! From the hero course, Sero Hanta!"

Sero walked into the ring, head held high.

"And from the other side, straightforward and glasses-wearing! From the hero course, Tenya Iida!"

Iida walked into the ring as the crowd cheered him on.

"Alright audience, are you ready for Match number 3? I know I am! Match 3 Staaarrrrrttt!"

Instantly Sero launched out two lines of tape in an attempt to capture Iida before he can dodge.

Iida, predicting the sudden move, attempted to dodge out of the way. Unfortunately for Iida, he wasn't quite fast enough to dodge the attack completely, one of the lines of tape managing to snag Iida's legs.

Before Sero could capitalize on his victory by pulling Iida over or out of bounds, Iida's legs suddenly started spewing fire that burned through the tape.

Those in the stands could just barely hear Iida yelling a name.

"Recipro Burst!"

Suddenly Iida flew across the stage, sending Sero flying with a massive kick.

Sero was unable to recover before he went flying out of bounds.

"And with a super awesome move, Iida instantly forces Sero out of bounds! Iida Tenya is the winner!"

Katsuki thought back to Iida's move as the rest of the class gushed over it.

"That move was so cool!"

"Iida was just suddenly kicking Sero out of nowhere!"

"I wonder why he didn't use it before now?"

Tokoyami was the one to speak up next.

"The greatest of lights cast the darkest of shadows."

Everyone gave the bird-headed teen a look. Katsuki nodded.

"Probably."

'"Huh?!"'

Katsuki looked over at the rest of his confused class.

"What? Any move that powerful must have serious drawbacks. Judging by the way Iida was rubbing his engines at the end of the match, and the gouts of fire they were putting out, I'm gonna say they make him unable to use his legs for a bit."

At that point Present Mic began calling for the next match.

Realizing it was time to head to the waiting room, Katsuki nodded to Kirishima, then walked out of the stands and headed to the now empty waiting room.

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Entering the waiting room, Katsuki noted a table and a small television set to show the sports festival.

Katsuki sat down and started watching while waiting for his match.

"After that explosive performance, lets move on to the next match! She sure is really pink! From the hero course, Mina Ashido!"

Mina waved to the crowd as she walked towards the arena, to thunderous cheers.

"Next up is a student who has been keeping a low profile! From general studies, it's Hitoshi Shinso!"

The purple haired student walked into the ring, keeping a level expression

"Time for these two to duke it out in our fourth match! Start!"

As soon as the round started, Mina rushed Shinso on a trail of acid, while Shinso seemed to be saying something to Mina, and seeming increasingly upset when she ignored him.

Finally Shinso seemed to just start yelling stuff at Mina as she finally got within fighting distance. At this distance it was basically impossible to tell what he was saying, but it seemed to agitate Mina, who finally got within fighting range and nailed Shinso with a straight to the diaphragm.

As Shinso was trying to get his breath back, Mina nailed him with another punch to the jaw, laying him out on the arena ground.

Mina looked to Midnight as if questioning what she was supposed to do at that point.

Deciding what to do, Mina used her arms to roll Shinso over with one of his arms trapped under his body. Putting a knee on his back, Mina used one of her arms to pin Shinso's remaining arm as he tried to squirm out from under her.

After around 10 seconds of trying to escape, Shinso finally slumped to the ground, no longer attempting to escape.

Midnight decided then was the time to call it.

"Winner by immobilization, Mina Ashido!"

Mina stood up and waved to the crowd as Shinso rose to his feet, a sour expression on his face as he walked out of the arena.

Katsuki walked out of the waiting room, heading towards the stadium. As he was heading towards the exit, he passed Shinso along the way.

The two didn't say a word to each other, though Katsuki noted Shinso's upset expression.

Finally, Katsuki reached the tunnel right before the exit.

Standing there waiting, Katsuki could hear Present Mic shouting over the speaker system.

"Are you ready for our next match?!"

The crowd roared back, excitement filling the air after that last match.

"Me too! Now, from one side, Manly and passionate hardening! From the hero course, Eijiro Kirishima!"

Katsuki watched Kirishima walk out onto the stage as the crowd cheered.

Finally, it was Katsuki's turn.

Katsuki took a deep breath, then started walking.

"And here we have our underdog daredevil! Also from the hero course, Katsuki Bakugo!"

Katsuki heard the roar of the crowd as he walked to the enter stage, getting into a fighting stance.

Kirishima smiled at him.

"Lets give it our all!"

Katsuki nodded as Mic finished up his commentary.

"Lets get this battle rolling! Start!"

Katsuki immediately started rushing forwards as Kirishima did the same as the crowd roared in the background along with Present Mic's commentary.

Meeting in the middle, Katsuki ducked Kirishima's telegraphed punch and attempted to counter with a hit to the abdomen, clicking his tongue when he found it hardened.

Kirishima simply ignored the counter, going to another punch towards Katsuki's head.

Dodging out of Kirishima's range, Katsuki decided he needed to change tactics. Katsuki moved in with another obviously telegraphed punch towards Kirishima's jaw with his right hand while dodging Kirishima's next swing.

Watching carefully as Kirishima's eyes fixed on his right hand Katsuki launched another punch with his left, seeing if catching Kirishima by surprise would make a difference.

Katsuki let out another grunt as both punches failed to have much of an effect at all aside from knocking Kirishima back a bit.. Apparently Kirishima was hardening his entire body at the same time. That made things far more difficult.

Katsuki jerked back as a surprise left from Kirishima found its target in Katsuki's abdomen, sending Katsuki back as he caught his breath.

Unwilling to let Katsuki regain his breath, Kirishima attempted to capitalize by immediately charging in for a new assault. Dodging to the side, Katsuki attempted to trip Kirishima, only for the hardened teen to simply roll to his feet like nothing happened.

At this point Katsuki started circling as Kirishima attempted to close.

Deciding now was the time to see if his preparations paid off, Katsuki ran in for another assault, dodging Kirishima's strike and firing off a kick to Kirishima's inner thigh.

This time the reinforced toes of the boot finally had an effect, Kirishima audibly grunting at the impact and backing off.

Katsuki smirked as he realized he had something effective he could use.

Immediately darting into Kirishima's space, Katsuki started throwing kicks at Kirishima's body, but especially his legs in an attempt to wear Kirishima down, with push kicks to the body keeping Kirishima at a distance where Katsuki could keep throwing kicks.

Seeing Kirishima raising his arms up into a more obvious stance, Katsuki loosed a switch kick into Kirishima's ribs that had him letting out a clear groan.

After a couple minutes of this, Kirishima was clearly starting to get desperate land hits that he'd been missing for most of the fight.

With no other options, and his legs clearly starting to hurt, Kirishima rushed in for a clear attempt at a bear hug, leaving his body and head entirely open.

Not willing to ignore the opportunity, Katsuki went for a roundhouse kick towards Kirishima's chin with his entire body behind it.

The kick sent Kirishima stumbling backwards, clearly feeling a bit dazed at the impact.

Shaking his head to clear it, Kirishima missed Katsuki closing for a jump kick towards Kirishima's head. The sudden impact sent Kirishima flying backwards and laid him out, breathing hard as he tried to recover.

Before Katsuki could land another kick, Kirishima rolled out of the way and scrambled to his feet, stance still shaky. At this point both of them started circling, neither wanting to commit to an attack at the moment.

Still with a smile on his face, eyes fixed on Katsuki, Kirishima spoke between pants.

"You're really, amazing Katsuki."

Katsuki gave Kirishima a nod.

"You too."

Deciding giving Kirishima more room to breath wasn't in his favor, Katsuki rushed in to try and land another kick.

Rushing forwards, Katsuki set himself up for another kick as Kirishima stayed defensive, focusing on Katsuki's legs and waiting for him to commit to an attack.

Katsuki still managed to catch Kirishima off guard by feinting a kick, then letting loose a hook to Kirishima's chin that turned Kirishima's head with the impact.

Not wasting the opportunity, Katsuki followed up with another pair of punches to Kirishima's face before the he could recover from the punch.

Seeing an opportunity, Katsuki wound up a right using his entire body, then let loose a straight to Kirishima's abdomen that folded him over Katsuki's fist and sent him flying across the boundary lines of the ring, and entirely off the stage into the grass surrounding the ring.

There was a moment of silence from the crowd, before it was broken by Mic's voice over the speakers.

"And with an incredible performance, Katsuki Bakugo WINS~~!"

The roar of the crowd instantly became deafening as they all cheered for Katsuki's victory in the fight.

Stepping out of the ring and hopping down from the stage, Katsuki walked over to where Kirishima was lying in the grass catching his breath, extending a hand to his downed classmate.

"Good fight."

With a massive smile on his face, Kirishima took it and Katsuki helped pull Kirishima to his feet, the crowd cheering.

What an excellent show of sportsmanship ladies and gentlemen! Lets give them both a round of applause!"

Walking next to each other, both of them exited the arena to the cheers of the crowd.