[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

How inspiring.

A hero’s life was short; their career shorter. It was the same lofty ideals that brought Icarus crashing down to an untimely demise. And these two — friends, lovers, whatever — swore to chase their dreams to the very end. If I could have ignored her emotionally manipulative spiel, my life would have been better for it. There was a level of narcissism that disgusted me. The ego on her to think the school, or the world even, would have been any different with or without her turned my stomach. An intrusive thought entertained me as I watched Michael struggle against the weight of the rabbits.

We could leverage numbers. While he was fighting the inevitable, I could step over to Yoko and bring an end to the battle. And if I cared about victory I might have. But there were more important things than winning in a technical sense. I’d like to pretend it’s my job to introduce them to a cruel, unfair world. It was abundantly clear, however, they were familiar.

Instead, I’d break her spirit… by breaking his.

I was admittedly surprised. Not at the tactic itself — it was a reasonable conclusion and countermeasure against a swarm-type summoner. They weren’t strong enough to cause significant damage, not unless I decided to set the arena ablaze (which I’d rather not). Therefore, I would be forced to use their numbers… and in a desperate attempt to help his friend he came crashing down.

Let me reiterate: I am surprised, but not for the reasons you think. This was an obvious tactic if it were not for a clear oversight on his end — his emotions overtook what was an otherwise elastic, adaptable mind.

I sold him his dream. Crash, Hindenburg. Set your spirit ablaze. It’s the kind of fire that burns for the heavens. It’s the fire that takes all of you with it. The kind of flame that crosses the threshold of ideal and manifests into reality. Believe, for a moment, if possible that there was anything you could do to help your precious, precious friend.

And have it burn to ash.

A cloud of black smoke breathes to life a meter above Yoko and Jun. Somewhere in the midst is Michael, remembering the smoke I conjured earlier and the rabbit I grabbed from it. The signs were there. Every clue available to him.

The smoke is hot but it won’t kill him. It might not even burn him. Not in any way that would stop a man like him from fighting. But I was never here to win. I wasn’t here to make a point either — not until he refused to engage with me in a meaningful way. And by the time he did, he proved to be everything I wasn’t.

One day he’ll be a great hero. He’ll go on to save many lives before he is snuffed out. People will grieve and mourn and, eventually, they’ll move on, too. A few friends, like Yoko, might remember him for the rest of their lives until they meet their untimely end. He will have made a difference.

But today is not that day. He did not make a difference.

---

tl;dr

it's yap o clock

all he did was snap his fingers and turn his bunnies into smoke a meter above jun and yoko to make his countermeasure futile.

all he do is be judgmental and eat chip and he's all out of chip

---

junsuina Yanai Yoko Samaritan

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun was a little disappointed in Yoko's performance, but at the very least she couldn't say the girl was trying. The jabs, though...those cut a lot deeper than they should have. Coming from Gen she'd easily ignore them, but Yoko? Jun actually cared about her opinion, so the comment about her having fun made Jun pause. Jun let the shields fade away, and while she was dropping her guard a bit she wasn't going to be totally defenseless. "Yoko, this match isn't something to be taken too seriously," she says, sighing. "It's just a way to show everyone what we're up to, how far we've come, and in a manner learning how we can improve. But like...if we can't take some level of fun out of this, then what's the point?" The more Jun talked, the more she felt bad. "I just...I want to see how far you've come. I can't be everywhere, so I'm actually excited to see what you're capable of-" She stopped, looking up at the cloud of bunnies that were above her. Well, that's not good! This could be karma for not taking a greater hand in dealing with Michael, or just leaving him all to Rahul. Regardless, Jun put her arms over her head...only to be surrounded by smoke. "Are you serious, Rahul?!" She called out, backing up in a bid to gain some distance. She was unfortunately too annoyed to employ any meaningful construct, but she didn't want to risk getting into the thick of things and get ring'd out by Michael or Yoko. It was better to conserve her strength. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 Yanai Yoko Samaritan

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✿

[Yanai Yoko]

Was she hearing Jun correctly right now, not to be taken seriously? The Sports Festival was a huge deal, not just to her, but to Michael too. She wanted him to be noticed by some bigshot professional hero so he could learn from them. For once in her life Yoko was learning to take something seriously, to actually work towards becoming someone, and that someone was a hero. To have this whole match be discredited by someone that actually inspired her cut her just as deep as any of her weak jabs at Jun.

''Well... There you have it.'' She held her arms out, as if to say this was all she was. After all this time she had hardly improved. She wouldn't be surprised if she was in exactly the same place power-wise as when her and Jun first sparred together. ''Don't like what you see? Well I'm sorry I'm not doing this for fun. Is that inconvenient to you? What, am I not talented enough to have a 'fun' match with the best students at UAU? You-'' She was about to continue, but to be honest she was glad that she was interrupted by Michael and Rahul's fight spilling into theirs, as she didn't want to hurt Jun any further.

''ONIKI! MOVE!''

And she did just that. She was just pretending that she was too tired to use her quirk, when in fact she was just biding her time. Unfortunately her temper got the better of her and where she would have used this sudden change of events to go after Jun, she instead sprinted across the ring to get to Rahul. ''Let Michael go, shithead!'' She shouted, turning into a troll mid-run so that she could try to punch Rahul with as much strength as possible. ''You don't want to take this match seriously? Then ring me out, cowards!'' This insult she directed at both Rahul and Jun. She didn't know what Rahul's deal was, but he was standing around being all smug while Michael was doing his best, and no one was going to mess around with Michael and get away with it.

Samaritan, junsuina, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

What was left for me to do?

Either his spirit was broken or it wasn't — whatever the case may be my point had been made; the naiveté of his worldview was exposed. Bare, raw, and naked for everyone to see. Most important of all, of all the people privy to what was happening in the arena, was Yoko. She yelled and chirped and yapped and all the tell-tale signs of someone who was on the edge of vigilante-ism. Let's see if she ever takes the leap.

In the meantime, while she clings on to whatever keeps her here, I take a leap. Not into vigilantism but out of the arena. I forfeit.

"She's right, Jun." I throw my hand up as I walk into the waiting area indoors. I have no interest in seeing the outcome of this match. A win, a loss... none of these were people who mattered to me or what I was doing. And once they were heroes, none of them would be worthwhile enough to have found the good graces of. "Take her seriously."

---

junsuina Yanai Yoko

[Samaritan]

Michael Faraday

Drop the Mike

Michael was just about to crash with all these quirk constructs into the arena, only for them to burst into a smoke right before impact. This caused a thick cloud of smoke to envelope the arena, but the momentum was still going strong for Michael. He squished into himself so hard that his head pressed down to his feet. Rather than having to tank the impact of all those bunnies and himself, he now felt the full force ripple through him. His body compressed into itself entirely, before launching him up into the air like a rubber band propelled rocket. The heat engulfed Michael harshly, but his bounce against the ground was so fast, the smoke and heat just was pulled up with him as he was launched back into the sky. It was all happening so suddenly, Michael wasn't even sure if he was feeling the heat from the quirk or the burn of his body bouncing harder than it ever had.

Michael was dizzy. That much strain on his body, first pushing himself through inflating and then following it with that bounce, Michael began to black out as he reached the apex of his ascension. He was so high up and disorientated that the crowd below sounded like it was underwater. The world was blurry and warm... but perhaps that was more from the smoke. Michael began to plummet from dozens of meters up, dropping listlessly towards the arena below.

Notes & Tags: Yanai Yoko ,junsuina ,𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲 ,Samaritan ,

TLDR: Michael starts to black out and plummet after the strain from the impact onto the arena that bounced him dozens of meters into the air.

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Yoko had hit Jun with something that just didn't feel good. When it came to things outside into the great blue yonder, Jun wasn't too concerned. She knew what path she was on, and she was confident she could land a job...even if to an extent she felt like she didn't deserve it. But Yoko and Michael were coming into this with something to prove, where Jun didn't care. She had her values, her own things to prove, and she didn't want anyone's validation outside of her circle. It was a little too late to take back anything she said. Michael's crash, and subsequent rebound, made Jun stop, watching him. She wasn't going to do anything about Yoko or Rahul in this moment, as she figured her partner was going to do some uncouth thing and embarrass her. Instead, she focused on Michael. Tapping into compassion, she created a pair of shields and flung them up in his direction, each one gently sandwiching him and prevent him from falling down a second time. He might be made of rubber, or something like that, but it still couldn't feel good hitting the ground. Moving him off to the side, she'd gently lay him on the grass to ring him out. Sorry, Michael, she thinks, letting the shields dissipate. As the smoke cleared and the field became visible, Jun looked around and saw that it was only herself and Yoko left. Taking a deep breath, she held up her hand with her index finger pointing up. "One. Stop cursing. If you're worried about visuals, then that is the first thing that must stop. It is a bad look for heroes to be cursing like that. Two." In front of everyone, she did the unthinkable: she bowed. Not a mocking one, but one of those deeply respectful apologetic ones. "I'm sorry! I...I have a lot to prove, but none of it has anything to do with anyone watching. Or...even participating. I don't...I can't explain anything here, but...I realize I'm being selfish. You have more to prove than I do, and I'm robbing you of that opportunity. So...Miss Oniki. Do you care if we begin again? More seriously this time?" In truth, Jun wasn't sure how well this would work out. Yoko couldn't maintain that form for very long, and Jun still had a decent amount of material to work with. The match was rigged from the start, and restarting would just mean Yoko would be exhausted. Which in turn made Jun feel even worse. Maybe a draw could be done, or even Jun just walk out...maybe that'd set the stage for a rematch. 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲,junsuina,Yanai Yoko,Samaritan,

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✿

[Yanai Yoko]

She froze in place when Rahul jumped out, her fist practically ready to strike him only be denied at the last second. ''No...'' She muttered, staring in disbelief before anger returned to her eyes. ''No you get back here! Get back in here right now you coward! I'm not done with you!'' Perhaps it was his intent all along, or maybe it was just a coincidence, but Rahul had dealt her a blow even worse than just tossing her out of the ring. ''Answer for what you did!'' She punched a small piece of the ring loose and tried to toss it at the back of Rahul's head, but her aim was far off the mark.

Panting, she turned back to face Jun just in time to see Michael being lowered out of the ring gently. In her blind rage she hadn't even noticed how badly her friend got hurt. She should have been there to catch him, she should have been strong enough to handle Jun and help him. She felt like absolute shit. Not just for how weak she was, but for the underhanded tactics she had used against Jun. Tactics that didn't even end up paying off in the end. All she did was hurt people. A troll with super strength... All she could do with her power was destroy. That's all she was.

Then Jun started lecturing her again. She felt something tug at her heartstrings as she shouted back. ''I don't give a shit about visuals! This is about him!'' She pointed over at Michael, her hand shaky. ''How can I help make him number one if...'' Tears started to fill her eyes as she fell silent. She couldn't even retort anymore. All she could do was listen to Jun. Maybe this was what she deserved all along. She was taken by surprise when Jun bowed and apologized, stumbling a couple of steps backwards. ''S-Stop apologizing, you dumbass!'' She felt a couple of tears break through and stream down her face. ''Be selfish! Do what you have to, to get ahead! You're holding yourself back by being such a dork!'' She stopped shouting and took a moment to breath as she considered Jun's offer. Truthfully, part of her wanted to have the rematch right here and right now, but she was exhausted. She had failed Michael, she had failed Jun, she couldn't even stand up to Rahul and to make matters worse she was crying in front of everyone like some sort of loser. She looked back at Jun with tears in her eyes, but she couldn't say anything.

Deactivating her quirk, Yoko ran to the edge of the ring and jumped out to check on Michael, before helping carry him to the back. As they walked, a small, gray rain cloud formed over her head.

Samaritan, junsuina, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[junsuina]

[attr="class","bmsk"] in blackest night... Jun looked up, and seeing the pain and sorrow on Yoko's face just made Jun feel even worse. She didn't make any move to join her, and a few members of the staff were heading towards Michael to help him. This was a match that Jun wasn't putting all that much into, and yet it left a foul taste in her mouth. Feeling the eyes of too many people on her she headed off the stage herself, moving in the direction of Michael and Yoko but giving them some space. She didn't know what was going on between the two of them, but she could just imagine the level of disappoint they had. She really screwed them out of what should of been a hard-fought win... 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲,junsuina,Yanai Yoko,Samaritan,

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✿

[Jinx]

☆ MISSION SUCCESS ☆

Welcome to the Sports Festival, where everyone has a good time!
Great thread y'all!

+ 100 Tokens!!

Jun: 530 // 630 Tokens
Rahul: 175 // 200 Tokens <4th SF prompt>
Yoko: 13,750 // 23,750 EXP
Michael: 22,000 // 32,000 EXP

tag: Samaritan,Yanai Yoko,junsuina,𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲