Chương 53: Chapter 53: Tournament's Beginning I
Wow, and he thought the recreational games from before were boring!
At least they had something to watch while UA got the bracket ready, so it wasn't all that bad.
But still, a treasure hunt? Seriously? Wouldn't it be better to have something that would get people excited for the tournament, you know, before the tournament?
Whatever, UA probably didn't care that people were kinda bored out of their minds right now.
"Wow, look at that girl's quirk down there! The one carrying that beach ball! She has four arms and stuff! That's crazy!" Nejire laughed from beside him, bouncing up and down while pointing out interesting quirks that belonged to both the audience and the students in the field.
Well, looked like someone was actually entertained right now! It was almost as if she was doing a treasure hunt of her own at this point.
Out of pure boredom, Peter decided to try and start a conversation with Togata who was sitting next to him in 1-A's very own viewing booth.
It wasn't like the one Tony Stark had when it came to luxury, being just two rows of seats, and… that was it, really!
At least the seats were comfortable and they had a nice view! He could do with the AC in the other booth, though.
Turning to his left, Peter tried to say something to Togata before stopping since he seemed to be talking to Amajiki right now.
And by talking, Peter means borderline flirting that neither actually seems to realize is flirting.
Yeah, they uh… did that a lot.
Like, a lot.
Without hesitation, Peter swiftly got up from his seat and went to sit on the other side of Nejire.
Yeah… he was gonna give them some space to do all of that. You wouldn't believe how awkward it could get if you were near them sometimes.
Nejire looked at them for a moment once he sat down, then back to him with a knowing look.
"They're doing it again, right?" She asked, Peter only nodded. "Man, kinda crazy neither of them has taken a hint yet."
Again, Peter nodded and laughed lightly. Finding nothing better to do and not wanting to interrupt Nejire checking out quirks, he simply pulled out his phone.
Might as well check how people were talking about the festival, right? Might be fun!
Opening up Twitter, Peter was immediately shown that Spider-Man was trending 4th, only 3 spots behind the Sports Festival in the chart.
"Woah, Nejire." Peter nudged her slightly and pointed to his phone. "I'm trending! Again! But like, not for fighting a hero!"
At least he hoped it wasn't for fighting a hero, pretty sure he hasn't fought any lately.
"Wait, seriously? That's crazy! Let's see what they're saying." Nejire tapped his phone, and then they both froze.
"Is that an… edit of you?"
Peter was positively, absolutely, indubitably, 100% flabbergasted right now.
He was astounded, impressed, weirded out and so many other things right now.
Mainly confused, though.
In front of him was… him! Someone straight up took random clips from the festival and some of him before his arrest from who knows where and just put them together!
Now, a lot of the more… devoted fans of famous heroes tended to do stuff like this, that was a thing that everyone knew.
But like… him? He had seen stuff like this for basically everyone in Japan's top 10 along with every single Avenger and a few X-Men, but why him?
"That's… wow, that's actually super well made," Peter muttered, letting the video play for a second longer before closing it. "But still, what the hell?"
Her eyes went from the still video, then to him and back before she ended up shrugging.
"I mean, people do this stuff for a lot of heroes so… I haven't seen one of someone at a Sports Festival, though! How do you feel?"
How does he feel?
Wait, how does he feel?
"Kinda… weirded out and flattered, I guess? It's cool that they took time to edit all of that together and all but like, they don't even know what I look like! Why would they even spend time making that?"
Again, Nejire shrugged before beginning to swipe down the trending page they were on.
Looks like he found something to do while they waited on the bracket! But who knew it would be finding out he had fans?
Wait, could he even call them fans?
God, this was so weird.
They spent the next 5 minutes or so simply scrolling down, seeing what people said about him.
Imagine his face when it just ended up being a bunch of people calling him hot.
That along with the usual hate he got from a few people, but that was expected.
Not even about what he did, or the people he helped, or even about how he was doing in the festival or anything!
It was just a bunch of random people calling him hot even though he has had a mask over his face the entire time.
Silently, Peter turned off his phone and put it away before rubbing his increasingly tired eyes.
This was so weird.
"So… how do you feel about… all of that? Weirded out?" Nejire asked, giving a vague wave of her hand.
"Yeah, it's just… I am pretty sure I didn't like any of that, man. It was just weird and stuff, do they even know I'm 15? They're not even talking about what I actually do, it's just about how I look! And they don't know what I look like!"
Peter groaned for a moment, dragging his hands down his face while Nejire gave him a comforting pat on the back.
First, all that stuff with S.H.I.E.L.D, now this?
Well, the S.H.I.E.L.D thing was way worse for him than this but you get what he's saying.
"The internet is super weird, you know? That's why a lot of heroes don't use social media and stuff. I was gonna suggest making a Twitter account for hero stuff, but… yeah."
They stayed in silence for a moment, Peter running his hands through the fabric of the mask in his pocket.
A Twitter account for hero stuff sounded kinda cool, but after all of that? He'd have to think about it.
He had never actually thought of having fans, you know? Some people would probably like him, and he interacted with people he helped all the time, but this?
Like, social media and fans at that level?
After being hated by most people for so long, and then coming to accept it as something he'd have to deal with, this happens?
Still, he was happy that people seemed to like him, he was really glad about it! But…
This was just… he doesn't even know how to describe it! Social media would just be a mess to deal with, you know? He's seen heroes accidentally saying the wrong thing on a random post and getting shunned!
Besides, Spider-Man was simply about helping people! Not like, being famous or anything! He doesn't want that to be muddled or anything.
Even trying to get into that stuff would probably screw him over sooner or later, anyway.
But still, some of the stuff he saw on there was pretty great.
A few seconds of neither speaking passed, the silence is broken by a small laugh from Peter.
"At least the memes were funny."
"I know, right?"
...
The crowds roared and cheered around him, Peter standing on the field along with the 15 other students as his lenses narrowed at the giant screen in front of them.
So, that was the bracket?
His lenses scanned over the names a few more times, a look of growing confusion under his mask.
He didn't know who anyone on there even was! He didn't even know who he was supposed to be fighting!
Apparently someone named… Kuron Kemuri?
If his Japanese was a bit better then maybe he could get something important out of the spelling.
"And here is the bracket, ladies and gentlemen! I hope you are all excited for the battle tournament!" Midnight announced with a crack of her whip, the crowd roared in response.
At least he wasn't going first! His match was the second one in line but still.
Maybe he could make a plan or something! Which would have been great if he actually knew who he was fighting!
Man, he was gonna pay attention to other classes from now on.
But from what he knew, the bracket was made up of 11 hero course students, 3 support course, and 2 general education.
He kinda feels bad for the general education people, they're kinda set up to lose, you know?
Like, they're just putting them up against people with strong quirks and training along with people with support gear! They were at a huge disadvantage!
Still, maybe some of them might do good! Aizawa managed it back when he was in his 1st year so it's possible.
"Now, let's see if you understand the rules! The fights will be 1-on-1 matches, with someone only winning when their opponent is either incapacitated, unable to battle, or lands outside of the ring for whatever reason! Me and Cementos will be on the field to enforce the rules, any and all villainous actions will result in an ending of the match and immediate disqualification! Am I understood?"
...
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