章節 37: Juku- A Rough Start
A short time and a change of clothes later, Kai sat in the middle of the field, legs crossed, eyes closed, breathing steadily. He listened carefully for movement. There were soft footsteps coming towards him. And further behind, a set of footsteps that scuffed the ground with every step. Angry. Arrogant.
"I'm quite surprised we have an extra from the start, but welcome just the same." Kai opened his eyes and stood up. Midoriya, as expected, was right in front of him. Somewhat surprisingly, Bakugo had come, likely with the intent of using this opportunity to attack Kai or otherwise show him up. Or to see Kai destroy Deku.
"Midoriya, or do you prefer Deku now?"
"U-um, either way, I guess." Deku said nervously.
"Well then, if you accept the name, I will call you Deku. First, I need to set a benchmark with you. Come at me. No Quirks, no weapons. Just skill against skill alone. Sportsman like."
Kai took a ready stance, putting one foot forward, his hands raised in blades pointed towards Deku.
"I thought you were going to help me control my Quirk," Deku said questioningly.
"That is later. For now, let's see what you can do without it," Kai replied.
Without another warning Kai lunged forward, thrusting his palm towards Deku's face. Quickly, Deku leaned to one side, letting Kai's hand pass over his shoulder. Good reaction speed. Kai pressed forward, repeatedly striking with open hands. Over and over again, Deku blocked or dodged, slowly moving backwards.
Just when he thought he had a grasp of Kai's movements, Kai sent a kick towards his ribs. He was unable to dodge this time, expecting another punch.
"Decent defense." Kai stepped back and took his original ready stance. "Now attack."
Deku hesitated. He just didn't have too aggressive a nature.
"Any time now, Deku, I want to see your full combat potential. Bakago isn't exactly a great example of a good opponent. If it helps, think of me as someone who wants to kill you and All Might. Now, attack!"
Deku attacked. But the moment he threw his punch, Kai stepped in, grabbing his arm and thrusting his own under his armpit. Then, using Deku's own momentum, Kai threw him to the ground. It was just like when Deku had done so against Bakugo yesterday. And Bakugo recognized it.
"Ha! Deku you nerd! You're useless, aren't you?"
Kai pulled Deku off the ground. He had made sure that his landing was more on the legs than the back, so he needed no time to recover. He needed Deku to show his full ability, and constantly taking attacks or relying on a single hit was not going to work.
"Try again. Don't worry about me, I can take quite the beating, and if you ask anyone, I probably deserve one. So, act like you're a hero of justice and fight! Again!"
Deku tried again. This time, he made a feint, punching with one fist toward Kai's face, then stepping forward and sending his other toward his gut.
Kai grinned. Now this was good. Improvisation was good. He simply stepped out of range, gesturing for Deku to try again. The cycle of attack and evasion repeated. However, unlike when Deku was pressed back, Kai held still within a set area. Through the whole fight, he drew a two-meter square in the dirt with his footsteps. Rather than simply stepping out of the strikes, he redirected them, or launched his own attack to change Deku's attention to defense instead of his attack.
This was how a real fight was supposed to be. Not one-sided. Kai stepped up the rhythm, keeping time to the song of battle. Though the timing was irregular, he could feel it. One, two attack. One, two, three, dodge. One, block. One, two, three-step-strike-kick.
Kai accelerated the beats until Deku stumbled. Until he couldn't react fast enough anymore.
"Enough. You have a good foundation. If I'm not mistaken, you have learned a little bit of judo, but have little experience with real fights. Your strikes are trying to echo All Might, unfortunately, and you aren't using your full potential."
"What do you mean?" Deku asked.
"Well for one thing, if your Quirk is strength enhancement, your whole body is your weapon. You need some proper martial arts training. You could use some more options than punching at everything like All Might." Kai shook his head. Well, it wasn't a bad starting point. It was merely forgotten knowledge in a blind spot, not ignored knowledge. With that in mind, he turned to Bakugo.
"Well, Bakago, you seem to think that you can do better. Same deal from me. No Quirk, no weapon. You, on the other hand, are free to use your Quirk as much as you can." Kai flared his Quirk in his eyes for dramatic effect. "You're going to need it."
He took his stance again. Unlike Deku, Bakugo needed no encouragement to attack.
"DIEEEE!!!!!!"
Big right swing, rocket swing from the left, flying kick. Kai dodged easily. Bakugo repeated his attacks, blasting for mobility, for smoke screen, and for attack. Kai stepped around easily, slapping Bakugo's attacks away, and occasionally just slapping for the sake of it. Once again, he stepped around, marking the dirt with a square and never stepping foot outside of it. Deku's eyes widened, since he hadn't been able to see that when he was fighting Kai before.
"Ha, who the heck have you been fighting to have such confidence? You fight like you've only fought five-year olds," Kai scoffed. Slap to the arm. Slap to the neck. "Your attacks couldn't be more obvious if you hired a skywriter!" Slap. Slap. It was true- Bakugo moved as if he needed a huge windup for a punch, but instead sent a blast towards Kai. Just a waste of energy. But Kai wasn't about to tell him. Not just yet.
He stepped forward as Bakugo blasted into the air above him and blocked the strike that came from overhead. He stepped back as Bakugo landed. Now he was back to back with Bakugo, in his blind spot. As Bakugo turned around, Kai stepped with him to stay hidden. After an awkward moment of looking, Kai separated and let Bakugo find him and start attacking again.
"Stop laughing at me, you bastard!"
"Give me a reason not to!" Kai laughed. The scale of Bakugo's blasts escalated with his rage as the fight went on. "Are you even taking this seriously?"
Bakugo just screamed in response.
"DIEEEE!!!!!"
"Make me. Ooh, close one. Try again!" Slap. Slap. "How about you answer some questions for me?" Slap. Slap. "Why do you hate Deku so much? Is it because he dares to be your equal, or that you see that he is actually better than you?" Slap. Slap. Slap. "Don't tell me it's as simple as you hating that he isn't groveling at your feet. Uh, oh, doing better. Wait, don't tell me it's unrequited love! Hate to tell you, but I'm pretty sure he's straight! Have you seen how he acts around Uraraka?"
"DIE, DIE, DIEEE!!!!!" Bakugo redoubled his efforts. Kai was no longer able to hold to his square, but he still avoided every single attack.
"Was it something I said? Did I hit a nerve? Well, I think I've seen enough of you attacking. My turn!"
Suddenly Kai planted one foot forward, thrusting his palm into Bakugo's chest. With his opponent's forward momentum stopped, Kai lifted his hand straight into Bakugo's nose. As Bakugo blindly swung in an attempt at a counterattack, Kai caught his arm and slammed his elbow down on it. Kai stepped back to admire his work- one dangling, lifeless arm and a bloody nose. Bakugo glared at him, enraged, but suddenly felt a chill. Kai channeled his Quirk into his eyes and chuckled evilly. Bakugo subconsciously stepped backward.
This guy's crazy, he thought.
Kai dashed up to Bakugo as the latter turned to run. He looked a little amused as he watched Bakugo attempt to accelerate himself with just one hand's explosions. Well, at least he was determined. Between the awkwardness that Bakugo introduced himself by trying to go faster and the psychological damage dealt by an increasingly psychotic laughter (thank goodness for Mark Hamill's Joker) it wasn't hard to catch up and trip him. He was practically doing it himself. As soon as he hit the ground, Kai stomped on his back and grabbed his uninjured arm. With a twist and a pop, the shoulder was dislocated.
Kai sighed and picked up Bakugo by the collar. He tapped the ground with his foot and summoned a changeling, which took his own likeness. Then, he pulled Bakugo's face close to his own and flared his eyes to a deep burning purple.
"Bakago, you have a long way to go. Didn't I promise you I could beat you Quirkless both ways at the same time? Listen when someone warns you. Well, here you are, one arm broken, and one shoulder dislocated, and it was just skill. You are even worse than Quirkless, because if you try anything, you can only injure yourself.
"Your power means nothing. Not to me, and not to the hundreds of thousands of people stronger than you. You may have been special in middle school, but you are nothing special to this one, or the world. The sooner you get that into your head, the sooner you can actually become something great. Learn the difference between your head and your ass so that I can tell too. Remember, if you keep on trying to murder people, I can make this permanent at any time. Leaving you armless wouldn't cost me any sleep.
"Now, go and get healed up. Ayako is hanging out with Recovery Girl, waiting for you, so you should be right as rain in an hour or so."
Kai grabbed Bakugo's shoulder and set it back into place. The changeling grabbed Bakugo's sleeve and pulled him towards the nurse's office. He needed medical attention so the damage wouldn't have lasting consequences. Even though he understood at some level, he walked away with murder in his eyes.
Deku felt a chill down his spine. Though he'd heard from both the class and All Might, it was something else to see Kai's brutal side in person. He was grinning ear to ear the whole time, and somehow even wider right now.
創作者的想法 
Tvrkm
Tvrkm Deku needs confidence and will to act, Bakugo needs to, as Kai put it, learn the difference between his head and his ass. Or at the very least, widen that difference.
Kai doesn't think Bakugo is gay, and neither do I. But, his fixation on Deku is a bit much. It had to be addressed. It made Bakugo mad, at least.
Then again, what doesn't make him mad?
I'm getting ready to torture Deku and get his strength up, but I figured Kai needs a little time to figure out just how he's going to do it.
Anyone want to guess what he's smiling about?