Scumbag Hero Academia Chapter 6

A/N: So here's the first story post. You guys wanted the second most sinister protagonist in my repertoire so... Here it is. Saiki being his usual charming self.

Oh, and since this is on Patreon... UA is a post high school vocational college. Just so we're all on the same page. Changes absolutely nothing about the story but hey.

-(-)-

They eyes of a young man, a prospective hero in training, focus squarely on his phone, locked on a picture he had taken only weeks ago. It was the high point of his life up 'til then. He has experienced greater thrills since but very few quite so special. Looking at the picture now, instead of the sweet taste of pride and accomplishment, it now only leaves him with bitter feelings. 

 “I'm breaking up with you.” 

 “... Excuse me?” 

 “You've only been going to UA for two weeks and your life is already crazy! You were attacked by villains! Real ones! They broke into your school!” 

 “So?” 

 “So I'm scared! I don't wanna get murdered by some psycho just so they can get at hero students!” 

 “I'll protect you! I'm gonna be a hero, that's the job!” 

 “Do you even care enough to protect me?” 

 “What's that supposed to mean?” 

 “Who was that girl leaving your apartment yesterday?”

 
 “She's a classmate.” 

 “Just a classmate, huh? Just a classmate that you had moaning like a whore! Who limped out of your place twenty minutes later?!” 

 “That's not–“ 

 “DON'T LIE TO ME! I thought you loved me but you never said it did you?! Do you even care about me at all?! Well if all being with you is gonna get me is cheated on and targeted by villains then we're through! I hope that skank gave you herpes you asshole!” 

 That bitch. Thinking she could just leave him like that! A whole fucking year of her giving him blue balls and then only weeks after she finally spreads her legs she wants to dump him? Him?! Does she think she'll find someone better?! 

 From a purely practical perspective the whole mess could have been avoided if he just fucked Katsumi somewhere else instead of bringing her to his apartment. But Saiki isn't a purely practical person. He has a dream. A dream of having the kind of money, power and fame that means he can do whatever he wants. The kind of status that sees people bend over backwards and forwards to please him, just so they can have a taste of the privilege he enjoys constantly. 

 He had gotten a swelled head. He had been enjoying success after success. Getting into UA, popping Juri's cherry, scoring first on the quirk tests, getting that fat-titted Izuku wrapped around his finger, popping Katsumi's cherry, fighting real life villains, making Katsumi come as he pounded her back door. Is it any wonder that he believed himself untouchable? And then of all people Juri, ordinary, boring Juri, is the one to bring him back down to Earth... 

 Fine, he decides. It's a shame. He won't have anyone there to drain his balls on demand anymore, but he had his fun with Juri. He'll just have to replace her with someone ten times more impressive than she could ever be! 

 There's an impulse, for just a moment. An impulse to post the picture online. Posing for the camera, putting herself on naked body on display with a smile on her face? She'd be labelled a whore for the rest of her life. But no, the last thing he needs is to have this come back on him more than it already has. If she wants to live a life of mediocrity then that's what she deserves. She doesn't get to bring him down with her. 

 -(-)- 

 “Your trials aren't over.” 

 The entire class are brought to sudden, terrified attention by the ominous words of Aizawa. 

 “The UA Sports Festival is coming up.” 

 And so the recently mildly traumatised class get yet another lesson in what kind of man their teacher is. One who would use terror as a way to get his point across. Can't argue with the results. 

 The UA Sports Festival. The one event of the year where students are able to truly sell themselves as future pro heroes! A chance to compete and show what they're really made of! It's a chance to get major media attention before going pro! Maybe even a chance to get scouted by a major agency! It's an unmissable opportunity for any aspiring pro! 

 And as a minor bonus for one vindictive boy, it's a chance to show his ex-girlfriend what she just gave up on national television. But he should stop focusing on her. Instead, he should put his money where his mouth is, work on finding someone better. And what better chance is there for him to see if the seeds he planted have borne fruit? 

 “Hey Momo!” he calls out to the class representative the second class ends, “You wanna train together for the sports festival? We could bring Izuku and Jirou along too.” 

 “Ah,” the elegant rich girl looks oddly awkward, one hand wrapped around her other wrist, eyes averted. “That's... I appreciate the offer, really I do! But I'm sorry, I have to decline.” 

 Saiki's teeth clench, hard. Another rejection? Another rejection? “I see. That's a shame. Izuku, you interested?” 

 “Oh, uh, sure! That sounds–“ 

 “Ugh, don't you idiots get it?!” the rough voice of Katsumi Bakugo rings out angrily. “Even Fancy Hair gets what's going on here!” Even though as she looks over her shoulder at Saiki he can see the smirk creeping onto her face. She's enjoying how riled up he's getting. Even if he's still managing to hide it from everyone else, she knows his true face. She can see he's livid. “Until the sports festival is over we're not just classmates anymore! We're rivals! Every single one of us is gonna have to step on the rest if we want to stand at the top!” 

 Saiki's eyes narrow at the ash-blonde girl. “Is that so? So I'll be making sure you're under me then.” 

 “You'll try and fail, Creeper,” she denies, giving a vicious smile that's all teeth. “I'm gonna be on top.”   

 Only the two of them are aware of the subtext of the exchange. Another challenge has been lain down. 

 -(-)- 

 Weeks. For weeks, Saiki's life outside of classes is nothing but training, training and more training. Filled with frustration, he pushes himself like he had done for the years before getting into UA, only this time he doesn't have the luxury of time to get stronger. He knows the entire class will be training just as hard as he is and they have the luxury of creative quirk use to grow stronger. All he has is sheer perseverance. 

 Twice more he gets himself sent to the hospital, once to Recovery Girl who gives him a stern talking to the way only an old woman can. Considering the ridiculous things he does in hopes of enhancing his abilities the number of visits should be much higher. That it isn't is actually a detriment. 

 The truth is he's struggling to find things that can cause enough trauma to trigger his quirk. He can improve his active parameters still. Strength, speed, endurance. But those are all things that he trains anyway and spending more time on them won't have significantly greater returns. But for durability and body efficiency? He's hit a wall. Efficiency is probably fine. Things like going without oxygen or food or water are things that are only occasionally useful, especially considering he's already better on those fronts than the vast majority. But durability? That special move Katsumi used on him... He knows the other students will have things like that waiting for him in the festival and there's not much he can do to gain resistance to that kind of power. Not on his own. Saiki can sit in a bathtub of ice for as long as he wants, it just won't compare to Todoroki's power to flash-freeze a building. 

 There are few students Saiki feels he has to worry about... But the ones he does? They're probably improving by leaps and bounds while he's stuck right where he is. Even though he made the invitation mostly to get into Momo and/or Izuku's panties, it turns out he really does need other people to train with. 

 Without that... He does what he can. 

 Before long, the big day arrives.   

 “Let's hear it for Class 1-A!” 

 The first big day, that is. The sports festival is a three-day event, one day for each of the three years of students. Walking out onto the field is an invigorating experience that pushes past Saiki's nerves. The enormous crowds in the stands, all cheering for him! Well, also for his classmates but that's a less important detail. The class lines up in front of the stage alongside their sister class 1-B and the classes from other courses who honestly weren't important and in Saiki's opinion, shouldn't really be there. They're a bunch of people who didn't cut it in the entrance exam, what were they going to do here? 

 Speaking of the entrance exam, Saiki sees a vaguely familiar face, familiar only because the boy is so distinctive. Standing all of two foot nothing with hair made of purple balls. In that moment the little twerp catches him looking and glares on realising who it is. That's right, Saiki realises. Saiki stole that kid's kill in the entrance exam! Small world! 

 A sudden whip-crack snatches his attention back to the stage where Midnight looking gorgeous and also probably saying something important. “And now for the student pledge, Katsumi Bakugo!”  

 Katsumi shoulders her way through the crowd to the front, climbing the stairs onto the stage with her hands in her pockets. Even so, she doesn't slouch, giving her an air of casual confidence. She takes a breath through her nose before leaning into the mic. “I just wanna say... I'm gonna win.” 

  Leave it to Katsumi to piss off everyone. Well not like it matters. Every other class hates 1-A anyway so it wouldn't change anything there. And for the audience... Well if she lives up to her words then it's an impressive called shot. And if she doesn't it makes the one who takes her down look even better for putting the arrogant girl in her place. Of course, it would also make the people who do worse than her look even more inferior no matter what. Katsumi just made herself the benchmark for the first years and the centre of attention.  

  Saiki has to hand it to her. Intentional or not, it's an impressive and ballsy move. But he knows well enough by now that no matter what you can say about her negative traits, she's always willing to put everything on the line.  

 “And here we go! The first game of the festival!” Midnight announces after Katsumi vacates the stage, an animate reel spinning on the big screen behind her, “What could it be?!” The reel snaps to a stop on 'Obstacle Race'. “Ta-da! All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest! The track is 4 kilometers around the outside of the stadium! I don't want to restrain anyone... At least in this game...” she adds with a seductive lick of her lips.  

 Near every male student fill their minds with the aesthetics of baseball, old people, or whatever else they can think of to desperately avoid getting a hardon on television! For the love of God, woman! They're all wearing tracksuits! There'd be no hiding it! Have you no mercy?!  

  … Oh, right. Dominatrix-themed hero. Fair enough. Stupid question.  

 “As long as you don't leave the course you're free to do whatever your heart desires!”  

  So no holds barred. In other words, 'time for the hero course students to immediately weed out all of the other classes'. No restrictions when only two of eleven classes have combat training? Foregone conclusion.  

 The throngs of students crowd around the starting line, doing their best to find a position they think is favourable. Very few are eager to be at the front, knowing a poor start would probably see them trampled by the 219 people behind them. Saiki himself opts to be towards the back, finding a good spot right as the starting lights start blinking out.  

 Beep. Beep. Beep. “BEGIN!”  

 It's a stampede towards the narrow gate followed by an immediate crush as more than two hundred people jockey for position in a space wide enough for only six. Saiki can't be happier for it. If asked, he plans to say he intended it from the start, seeing the trap of the gate before the race even started. In truth he just intended to hang back and let the idiots take the brunt of whatever the organisers have lying in wait. But with the racers stuck in a barely moving, constantly jostling mass he can't not take advantage of the situation. Using his well-trained agility, he approaches the back of the crowd and leaps over their back and on top! With them all crushed into such close quarters there's not a thing they can do to stop him from using the crowd as a makeshift floor! Of course he doesn't want to look bad. He's a hero course student. So he does his best to kick as few people in the face as possible.  

  It's as he reaches the halfway point of the crowd that it happens. Bullshit Todoroki does his Todoroki bullshit and freezes the surface of the entire tunnel! “It looks like Todoroki has frozen many racers to the ground! That's one hell of a cold open!” Saiki is safe from the ice but it thins out the crowd enough that he's stuck dealing with the slippery surface same as everyone else! Out of the tunnel. That's all he needs. Get out of the tunnel and the frosty bastard won't be able to slow him down anymore. Dropping from on top of the human carpet he lets his body skid along the ice as far as possible before walking with solid, deliberate, flat-footed steps. He makes slow but sure progress until he escapes from the tunnel.  

  His success is bitter though. What he sees on emerging into the light is truly frustrating. The little twerp with his stupid hairballs gaining on Todoroki! Of all people he's being beaten by a gen-ed nobody?! This will not stand!    

  Six paces! That's all it takes to get off of that fucking ice and from there he's back to being one of the fastest people on the hero course! He sprints full tilt, not willing to get left behind again!  

  From off to the side, Saiki sees robots like the ones from the entrance exam moving to block the course! The gen-ed twerp doesn't see one coming and gets cold-cocked by a mass of metal twenty times his size, surely putting the little bastard out of the race for good.  

 “And we have several students from Class 1-A leading the pack! The frosty Shoto Todoroki, the hot-tempered Bakugo and the speedster Iida blaze ahead of the competition!  

  Robots? Easy. Only the big ones even give him a moment's pause and that's just for how best to avoid dealing with them. They're big and slow. All it takes is climbing onto one and they'll be too slow to deal with him before he's off and running past them! None of the little ones even give his classmates pause. Not great for him since while he's gaining a lot of ground they're keeping pace pretty damn well. Even so, he's in the group where he belongs; with the fastest. Todoroki, Bakugo and Iida are ahead while Saiki stays level with pink girl and- “Izuku!” Saiki exclaims in surprise at seeing her so far toward the front, for some reason carrying an armour plate from one of the robots.  

  “Saiki!” she answers with surprise.  

  “Wow, you've gotten way better,” he notes, watching her strides that are more like repeated long jumps, “See you at the finish line!”  

  “Hey wait!”  

 But he's already gone, sprinting away. In the distance he can see Todoroki and Bakugo battling it out for first place, Iida closer in third making his way across– “Oh, shit, no stopping now!” Saiki exclaims! Moving far too fast to stop himself before hitting the cliff edge in front of him, he leaps forward, sees the rope lines they're supposed to use to cross the rock platforms. With both hands he reaches out and grabs one as he passes, using his momentum to swing from one to the next to the next, passing Iida as the more serious, bespectacled student takes a safer course. 

 “Looks like 1-A's Saiki Saisei is living up to the name of his quirk! He's making a real comeback with some fancy acrobatics!”  

  Third place. He's in third place! He can see Katsumi blasting her way forward through the... Minefield! Shit! Well... No! It's not so bad! Good eyesight was one of the things he trained so he can see the mines just fine. It's just a matter of finding a good path through them. And with Katsumi's bull in a china shop approach, her explosions have partially cleared a path! All he has to do is follow that path as quickly and carefully as he can!  

  … Wait.  

  If he can take one of Katsumi's strongest blasts...  

  Taking a quick glance back to see Iida kicking into high gear again after clearing the rope bridges, Saiki decides to take a risk by tapping a foot on one of the mines.  

 Boom!  

  All flash and no substance! Saiki can't help but cackle as he lands from being blasted slightly into the air. He takes a runner's pose... Ready! Set!  

 “WOAH! Saisei throws caution to the wind, storming right through the minefield at top speed!”  

 Boom boom b-boom boom boom! “I'M COMING FOR YOUR ASS, KATSUMI!” Saiki roars as he chases the girl down at top speed!  

  She looks back, angry grimace on her face as she sees him slowly gaining ground on her! “FUCK OFF, CREEPER!”  

  “HAHAHAHAHA!”  

 “Our race leaders Todoroki and Bakugo are neck and neck with Saisei slowly gaining ground! Looks like we might get a photo finish here folks!”  

  The minefield isn't short. It must run at least a third of the course. It's the most tricky hazard, levelling the playing field for those who don't have an easy way to bypass it. But the few who do just move further and further ahead–  

 BOOOOOOOOOM!  

 If Saiki blinked he would have missed it. But because he didn't he sees Izuku Midoriya soaring past him! Not only past him, past the frontrunners! How the hell did she–! Doesn't matter, he tells himself! There's nothing for it anymore but to keep running, his own speed, strength and repeated mine detonations propelling him forward!  

 BOOOOM!  

  … So that's how she did it. She used the armour plate to protect herself from the explosion and using it to propel her forward. Basically the same thing as Saiki is doing, she just did it in a more efficient way, throwing herself forward with a single blast.  

 “WOAH! And with that crazy move, dark horse Izuku Midoriya rockets into first place!”  

 She's well ahead now, no hope for anyone to catch up. Todoroki and Katsumi try but don't manage it.  

  The standings after the first round, Izuku in first, Todoroki in second, Katsumi in third, Saiki in fourth.  

  “Hah, hah,” Saiki pants, just a couple of puffs of air as he shakes off the adrenaline rush. His tracksuit mostly whole if scorched in some places. He sees Izuku looking overwhelmed by her victory, her clothes looking a little tattered from her trick with the mines. His feelings about that are... Complicated. On the one hand she beat him fair and square and it's pretty impressive how far she's come in so short a time. But at the same time... She beat him. Not just Todoroki who he truly believes he can't beat as he is now. And for Katsumi it would be a simple coin flip for who would win a race like this between them. And he can take a little pride in beating Iida who was practically born for this sort of event.    

  But Izuku? It's yet another blow to his pride in a time that's been full of them. Only a month ago she had been barely struggling to earn her place in the class. And all of a sudden, even if in just this one circumstance, she surpasses him?!  

  “Ahh Izuku you got first place I'm so jealous!” he hears Uraraka say as he approaches the victor.  

  Be a hero. Be gracious in defeat. “Congratulations, Izuku,” he tells the girl whose eyes are rimmed with tears even now, offering her a congratulatory handshake.  

  “Ah, thanks!” she answers as she takes his hand, beaming a smile at him. 

 
 “The first game is over and what a game it was!” Midnight's voice rings out over the PA system. “Now let's take a look at the standings, shall we?” 

1st: Izuku Midoriya 

2nd: Shoto Todoroki 

3rd: Katsumi Bakugo 

4th: Saiki Saisei 

5th: Ibara Shiozaki 

6th: Juzo Honenuki 

7th: Tenya Iida 

8th: Fumikage Tokoyami 

9th: Hanta Sero 

10th: Eijiro Kirishima 

  On and on the list went, all the way down to 42nd place. There are a couple of surprises on there. Namely the little twerp apparently named Mineta coming in 30th place. Some other gen-ed guy in 26th, and a support course student barely scraping by in 42nd place. But more important than the non-hero students who managed to hang with the hero course are the placings at the top. Notably Iida all the way down in 7th. Two class B students beat him and Saiki doesn't know how, nor does he know anything about their quirks. That makes them people to watch out for.  

 “Only the top 42 will continue on to the next round. But don't feel too let down if you didn't make the cut. We have other opportunities for you to shine!” Once again the dominatrix heroine's tongue flicks out over her lips. Lucky for the male students they have other things on their minds by now, too focused on the competition. 

 The spinning reel reappears on the main screen. “Now what do we have prepared for you next? Oh, what could it be? The waiting is torture! Prepare yourselves... For this!” The reel stops on 'Cavalry Battle'. 

 The rules are fairly straightforward. Teams formed from two to four people, each team given a headband with their point value determined by the team's placement in the race. The only wrinkle... “And the value of the contestant in first place... TEN MILLION!” 

 Every eye falls on Izuku, looking even smaller and more fragile than she normally does. 

 Of course. This is what the hero business is. This is what society in general is. The reward for being at the top is becoming the target of everyone who isn't. A winner has to keep winning or else be torn down and forgotten. 

 But that's Izuku's problem. Saiki has his own success to worry about. The first instinct is to make a team of four for versatility but a team of that many also needs great coordination or else they lose mobility. He knows he can carry just about anyone in the competition without even sweating it. If he just takes a single person who can attack and steal headbands, someone with a decent score so they won't even have to do much to move ahead– “Saisei.” 

 The sudden interruption of his thoughts comes only a couple seconds after the signal to form teams is given. Following the voice, he sees three of the MVPs of these games. Todoroki, Momo and Iida, the speaker being Todoroki himself. 

 Saiki smirks. “I'm in.”