Chapter 11: Interlude two: Those Warriors Of Midnight (Are totally different, we swear!)
"What did you need from me, Giran? I'm busy, go away!"
As was typical as of late, Jin had found himself in the rather paradoxical room he normally met up with his normal broker in. The couch he sat on was ostentatious, with clean, quality leather, but at the same time, most of the room was vile, covered in mould or rotting away.
Thus, if you don't want to look at muck, you've either gotta look straight down or right in the eyes of who you're meeting. Win-Win for the big man.
The Bag Jin was using itched as he looked towards the broker, who smiled, puffing out a fresh batch of cigar smoke.
"You've been looking for work as of late, Twice? A place to belong?"
Jin nodded, flexing his fingers. "I'm tired of being on my own. I'm a lone wolf, Sod off!"
Ignoring me, that asshole Giran simply continued on. "Well then you've got good timing. You see… the big guy is sending out feelers."
Jin raised an unseen eyebrow at that. He was a low-ranking Villain, but even he could take a guess about who Giran was talking about. That asshole sent a few snatchers after our quirk back in the day, but he gave up after he realised how fragile the Mini-Mes were. "And? What are you proposing?"
Giran smiled through crooked teeth, taking another puff from his cigar. "Say, Twice… You ever heard of the League of Villains?"
~---INTERLUDE TWO - THE LEAGUE OF VILLAINS---~
Dabi looked to the rather ugly looking bar, simply labelled "Closed." He couldn't deny the location worked well enough as a Villain base, at least.
He sighed, stomping his cigarette against the rotting wood in front of the door. Giran had vouched that the group he was about to meet "Had turned themselves around" and "Were looking for new, skilled blood" or whatever, but he had his doubts.
Nonetheless, Stain was lying low at the moment, and he was running out of assholes to torch and steal from, so he figured 'Oh, what the Hell'.
He opened the door to a resounding squeak thanks to worn hinges. Taking a look inside, he found the expected bar, empty except for two members. Instantly, both people turned to face him. The misty guy looked him up and down, remaining silent. Meanwhile, the slouched man simply glared, looking up from what he guessed was some game console. What was he getting into, huh?
Crusty dude glared. "You're the pyromancer Giran was bringing me? Tell me your stats."
So, the guy was nuts. Who was he to judge, though? He sparked a few flames through his hands for dramatic effect. "Call me Dabi. I can throw flames, and I can't say I'm a fan of Heroes. What more is there to tell you?"
The man continued to glare, but the misty one simply raised a hand. "Shigaraki Tomura. Remember, you cannot expect someone to work with you right away."
Shigaraki, as was apparently his name, seemed to calm down, nodding. "Right… gotta do it like Sensei taught me. I'm Shigaraki Tomura. I reduce things to dust. That's Kurogiri. He's our warp gate."
Dabi scoffed but looked to the group anyways. "Right. Give me a reason I shouldn't turn around and leave this dinky bar now. I can't say this group has much to it."
"You hate Endeavour, right?" Instantly, Dabi snapped his eyes open, glaring at Shigaraki, who was now sitting upright, looking at him straight.
The man smiled faintly, eyes almost glowing. (Damn, you ever heard of moisturizer, my man?) "Sensei said I've got to learn how to predict plot points ahead of time, analyse things, all that. You said you hate Heroes, you have a fire quirk, and you've got burns all over. Isn't that a paradox? Oh, and there's been a son of Endeavour dead for years. With a blue fire quirk." As Dabi's eyes widened, Shigaraki smiled. "What? I did my own research into my potential party member that Giran told me was coming this way. Is that so strange?"
Dabi simply continued to glare. "And what are you going to do with that knowledge?"
The man shrugged. "Oh, I'm just gonna shout it over the rooftops! Jack Shit is what I'm going to do with it. While you're not my enemy, I can't trust you until we get deep enough into the plot to erase your traitor flags, so I need the leverage. But... The League's goal is to bring down Heroes. Perhaps, as Sensei told me, we weren't as ready as I thought we were. But now, I want to bring together a strong raid party. And if one of said raid bosses just so happens to be Endeavour…"
Ah. So that was this group's game. He was silent for a moment, thinking. Clearly this Shigaraki was inexperienced, but then again, it wasn't like he himself was much better. But if the man could develop himself…
Dabi laughed. "Well then, Dusty. I think you've gotten yourself a new teammate."
Smog pulsed through the building. The pink swirling gas pulsed, and he could feel everything within it. The twitching of fingers and pulsing of lungs, the steps of those who could resist his gas, slowly decreasing in volume. Eventually though, it faded into a faint background noise, ignored.
He had made sure this batch of Gas would be nonlethal. Sure, it would hurt, but in the age of healing quirks, all of their lungs would have no lasting consequences. He knew plenty of people who deserved to die, heck, people he wanted to make die himself, but these were not those people, instead being sheep who were simply living their lives.
*Snip* *Snip* *Snip*
He took another look at the mirror, ignoring the smog flowing around him. His practice meant he and the mirror were at least safe, but his lungs were starting to itch. He'd need to throw his mask back on soon enough. Damn body making so much hair he didn't even want. ("Come on, Kasumi! Your hair is so pretty!")
He shook his head out of memories. His classmates always heckled him about his hair, but he would keep cutting it off. It wasn't like any of them would bother tracking him down, let alone thinking about his appearance now. (Not even his parents.)
"Sheesh, kid. Your terrible at cutting hair."
Instantly upon hearing a voice, he turned around, swapping the scissors he had taken for his revolver. The figure raised their hands in surrender. "Woah, woah! I'm not gonna hurt you. I'm not a Hero, not a cop, what have you!"
The figure stood far taller than him, not that it was a competition. They had long auburn hair, were sporting simple dress clothes, and were carrying a… magnet? Alongside that, they were sporting his main weakness: A gas mask.
He glared at the figure, gun not moving away. "What are you, then? Why do you have a gas mask?"
The figure simply shrugged. "I keep one in my beauty bag. Never hurts to be prepared, and it looks to have paid off. Now, are you gonna let me sit down and get to work on my own hair?"
"I…huh?"
The person simply shrugged. "You think you're the only criminal who has to break into a barbershop to do their hair? I can applaud the method, though. Usually, I just conk whoever's here at this time of night and get out before they wake up. What's your name, kid?"
He flinched at being called kid, but when the person simply ignored him, he glared. "Mustard. I don't like my other name."
the person simply laughed. "Heh, me neither! Call me Magne! Lady with the big whacking stick works too, but only if you're running away from me!"
Mustard looked Magne up and down, reorganising his blossoming mental image of her. "Are you a Villain, then?"
Magne grinned, sitting herself next to him. "Sure, if that's the label you wanna use. Ran out of other options when my last boss died. Beat people up for cash, break into barbershops to do my hair, et cetera. I do performances on weekends but you're a little out of the age bracket for those. What about you, bean sprout?"
He sat down, no longer considering the lady in front of him a threat. "Parent's kicked me out because of" -He gestured to the mist surrounding them, that was slowly dissipating since he wasn't paying attention- "this, and, well, the other thing, but that's not important. I'm gonna try and join a group soon."
Magne raised an eyebrow at that, finishing adding curlers to the bottom of the sides of her hair. "League?"
"How'd you know about that?"
She pointedly ignored him, continuing to work on her own hair. "I got an offer, too. I'm gonna go check it out. They seemed like assholes, but since Giran is preaching that they're turning their act around I figured I might as well see."
Mustard simply sighed. "That guy's annoying."
Magne laughed at that. "Damn right. He does good work though, so we've gotta deal with him."
The pair were silent for a little while. Once he realised that yes, this lady wasn't going to beat him up, he allowed his Gas to dissipate. Feeling his breathing become easier, he turned back to the mirror. The people he knocked out would sleep for about half an hour, so he wasn't worried.
Eventually, he arrived at the worst part of his hair, which was the back. He took a deep breath, preparing to guess wildly.
"Would you like some help there?"
He turned to Magne, who had finished up cleaning her own haircut, as well as dressing the occasional wound and blemish on her face and had packed up her bags. When Mustard blushed lightly, she simply chuckled. "I'll take that as a yes. I couldn't cut my hair at any reasonable speed when I was as small as you are. What are you, nine?"
"I'll have you know, I'm fourteen!"
"And that's such as massive difference, bean sprout."
Getting up, she grabbed a pair of scissors and began cutting the back of his hair.
"So, where are you staying?"
He flinched at that, thankfully not getting himself stabbed with scissors. "Uhm…nowhere."
Magne simply sighed. "Of course. You're coming with me to my apartment tonight, and we'll check out that group tomorrow. Deal?"
Instead of responding with he wanted to say ("Ew, no, go away!") he stewed in silence as Magne continued to cut his hair. The lady had done nothing to make him doubt her, and she was cutting his hair with no promise of repayment.
"I'll add in some noodles if that'll sweeten the deal. I know I nice place!"
His stomach chose that exact moment to rumble. He hadn't eaten something tasty in… weeks, even, and his current diet wasn't exactly friendly. (Hey, being thin made you fast!)
"Fine. But don't try anything, alright? I'm not ditching my gun."
Magne simply chuckled. "A smart choice. Now, how do you want this mop styled?"
The rest of the night involved Magne talking a lot and him not talking much at all, but for whatever reason, it didn't feel as bad as it usually did.
(Not too long after, he would find a new group of people, and while said group would be annoying, he found that dealing with them wasn't so bad after all.)
Yoink. Gimme. Don't mind if I do. Snatch. Et cetera!
Another four marbles enter the sack, and another four important documents disappear from the Serpentine Hero Agency. He takes the moment to also steal a few priceless pieces of jewellery that really shouldn't be stored in a Hero agency, but Uwabami is nothing if not predictable, and neither is Mr Compress.
Giran had requested the documents in exchange for information on a troupe that Sako had been curious about. The broker's snippets regarding the League Of Villains had made him rather interested, in perfect honesty! To rebuild Hero society, even if it was by force… a noble goal, if not rather ostentatious.
But more importantly… they were tied to a much stronger Villain. Someone he knew was far above his rank, which meant… opportunity to spread the legend of his family name.
He had his hesitations… but there was no harm in giving them a look, no?
Slipping through the agency's front door, triggering the alarms all too late, he checked his schedule.
Might as well check them out while he was still up and drop off his haul to Giran (jewels excluded) while he was there!
In a building in Hosu City, a tired man meditates, weapons and mask strewn across his floor in front of him. The night is still young, and there is much work to be done. There are fakes to be purged.
Not far from there, in back alleys and tired basements, people watch his work through news reports and forums or by foot with sharp eyes.
Change was coming at a rate no one could prepare for.
While those of Twilight and Daylight gather under the banner of Heroism…
Those who shout for Madness, for the Damned…
They gather at Midnight, preparing for the storm.
Chapter 12: Thunderstruck
Crowds surged through the winding paths of U.A, jumping from stall to stall, snapping pictures or partaking in friendly (or occasionally unfriendly) gossip.
Students of all ages wandered around, enjoying the fun before they were thrusted into the thick of it in the form of the day's activities. The third and second years both enjoying their time to unwind before their own coming days, smiles bright.
Excitement spread like wildfire through the populace, because the sports festival had once more begun!
"And yet we still have to walk around, guarding stuff!"
Shinji sighed as his co-workers continued to groan. "At least we get to observe the festivities at all, Lady. Most Heroes still have to patrol as normal."
Death Arms grunted. "Ingenium was kicking up a fuss in the casual chats about not being able to see his kid brother in action. At least you get to see your sister."
Mount Lady, as was typical, retained her dramatics. "Yeah, yeah. Still gotta patrol anyhow. It's not like I'm even that good in a fight here! I'll just crush civilians!"
Shinji simply sighed again, continuing to walk towards the food stands which would hopefully placate the Heroine. "We're all getting paid double for this. It'll do you good to get out of the red anyhow."
Mount Lady's eyes bulged as she glared at him.
"Hey, I'll have you know…"
~---SPORTS FESTIVAL: THE RACE---~
"You know, I kind of wish I could have worn for my costume for this…"
Yousetsu looked to Jirou, shaking his head as he secured his own P.E uniform. "Something something fairness, or whatever. My costume's revamp isn't done yet, so I'd be screwed either way!"
Sen turned to face him, face curious but mostly blank (knowing Sen, it was mostly suppressing his nerves.) "You're getting a new costume?"
He nodded. "Still pretty similar to the last one, but I figured that since the thing got thrashed by those Villains, I'd update it. Midoriya helped me iron out the issues! It'll be a surprise."
"Everyone, it's a few minutes to showtime!"
Yousetsu turned to the middle of the room, spotting Midoriya and Shinsou. "What are you two doing here?"
Shinsou smirked, scratching the back of his neck. "We came to wish you luck. You won't see me in the crowd. Kick butt, alright?"
Midoriya smiled. "I won't be able to say it directly, but I'll be cheering for you too, alright?!"
With a series of cheers, Midoriya and Shinsou disappeared to who knows where, leaving the remaining members of 1-A to stew in silence.
Hagakure was the first to speak up as they waited to be called. "Gah! This is so nerve wracking! What If something happens? What if the plan…"
Ojiro put his tail on Hagakure's shoulder, smiling. "Now's not the time for worry, everyone."
Standing at the front, face set, the tail wielding boy smiled. "For most students in U.A, the sports festival is to make their mark. To establish themselves in the eyes of the world, to have advertisers, businessmen and the common man look at them. We don't need to do that. We'll show the world our gusto, sure, but in the end, we're studying to be Heroes to save lives, not to be on the camera, right? So instead of looking at this like an advertisement… we can look at this for what it is- A competition. One we already have plans to win."
Silence stewed in the room, but instead of the stress flowing through the room before, the students of 1-T were filled with vigour.
Ojiro raised a clenched fist, looking to the class. "I'm not the best at inspirational speeches, but we're here to show the rest of U.A that Heroism isn't just a celebrity sport. So let's do our best, alright?"
"Alright!" "Let's do this!" "Mmh!" "Aw yeah!" "Let's Raise Hell!"
As Yousetsu felt his classmates become excited, they heard the raging bell indicated that it was time to go. As Ojiro returned to his position in the group, Tsu stepped forward, entering class rep mode. "All right, Kero. Let's go!"
"HEY, HELLO, AND WASSUP, WORLD! WAKE UP FROM ANY STUPORS, AUDIENCE, AND LIGHT UP THOSE CAMERAS, MASS MEDIA! IT'S THE U ... A … SPORTS … FESTIVAL!!!"
Present Mic smiled to the cameras as the crowd in the stadium roared. "That's what I like to hear! Alright, we're starting this three-day setup with a bang: Come into the stadium: First years!"
Mashirao flinched as he was blasted with sunlight as his group emerged from the tunnel. There were fewer camera's then he had seen at previous sports festivals, but he took a deep breath, bracing for the storm.
(Supposedly, U.A had needed to be a whole lot more careful about what groups got recording rights for the sports festival. The threat of 'if you leak even an ounce of student information no one will ever find your body' was effective enough to scare off at least some of the mass media.)
"AND THERE THEY ARE! HERO COURSE A AND B, OUR STARS OF THE SHOW, HERE TO SHOW THEIR METTLE! NOT TO BE LOOKED DOWN UPON ARE OUR TRIO OF GEN ED COURSES: C, D, AND E! COULD A SURPRISE EMERGE FROM THEIR RANKS? SNEAKING IN WITH THEIR MADDENING MACHINES AND MOUTH-WATERING MATH, IT'S SUPPORT AND MANAGEMENT F THROUGH K! AND LASTLY, OF COURSE, WE HAVE OUR MYSTERY GROUP, THOSE WHO GOT THROUGH A VILLAIN ATTACK WITHOUT BACKING DOWN, IT'S OUR CLASS T! WHAT COULD THEY BE LEARNING BEHIND THOSE CLOSED DOORS?"
"Sheesh, Mic-sensei didn't take a moment to breath there, damn!"
"If Midori was here I'm sure he'd go on about the guy having big lungs or something…"
Mashirao tried not to wince at the roaring crowds, instead looking to his opponents. As expected, Gen Ed and Management seemed to be to various degrees unhappy to be there, bar a few that seemed to simply be in it for the heck of it. Support was similar, although he spied someone near the front decked out in all manner of gear. They would be an interesting opponent.
And then there was the Hero courses, who were doing their best to look proud while inconspicuously not looking at any members of 1-T directly in the eyes, which was a sign that Midoriya's plans were working.
(Mashirao himself had enjoyed the antics promoted by Midoriya, once he got into it. Sure, it felt dishonourable at first, but hearing some of the boasts from 1-A and 1-B… speaking a made-up language with Tooru and randomly disappearing into walls to freak them out did end up being kind of fun.)
"And now's it's time to meet the rest of the crew! First of all, Folks, our Umpire... He's rooting, he's tooting, he's… SNIPE!"
A blank shot burst out of one of the Western Hero's many revolvers as he stepped up onto the platform. "Pleasure to be wrangling some kids this year. Let's make this clean, folks!"
Snipe was considered a bit of a wild card in the rankings, an Action Hero who didn't patrol, but inspired a whole lot of fear in Villains when he made his presence known. Thus, the media seemed all too happy to snap a myriad pictures of the gunslinger, who simply returned his revolver to his holster, crossing his arms.
"Aside from our umpires, I'm joined by TWO commentators today! How about you folks say hello?"
On the screens, Mashirao noticed two things. One, the presence of their homeroom teacher, tiredly observing, and a small popup display in the corner next to the pair depicting a blank icon.
"Why did you drag me into This, Mic? I was going to nap!"
"Uhm…H-Hi! It's good to be her-re!"
The third voice had the distinct sound indicative of a voice changer, but to those who spent time with the boy they knew often, it was easy to see through. Instantly, Mashirao and the rest of 1-T looked up to the TV in awe.
"So that's what Midori was working on?" "Talk about cool!" "That's Greenie for you!"
Present Mic sighed dramatically, shaking his head. "Since neither of my co-commentators actually bothered to introduce themselves-" –"Shoot, sorry!"- "Don't worry about it, I'll handle it myself! On my Right is my good buddy Eraserhead! You probably haven't heard of him, but he's a darn cool Hero who'll give us insightful commentary! And from that little icon you'll hear my good buddy Guidance! He's a student, so we can't have his identity screamed out to the world, but he'll be here to help me talk shop about the competitors!"
"Thanks, Sir. I'll be doing my best, so please bear with me!"
While members of the crowd either roared in excitement or listened on in curiosity, Snipe took control again. "Now that everyone's introduced, there's one last thing to get out of the way before we get to the real start… the student pledge. Representing our students is the one with the highest number of combative points in this year's exam: Dynamight!"
(Supposedly, there were quite a few prefixes before that, but they were denied by Midnight)
As a figure marched forward to the resounding (and also somewhat concerning) dissatisfaction of quite a few of his classmates, Mashirao took a look at him. It took a few seconds to register, but…
Standing at the edge of the crowd seemed to come in handy as Kamakiri quite literally growled. "That's him! That's the guy!"
Many of Mashirao's classmates figured out the boy's identity at the same time. He was one of the ones Midoriya had warned them of specifically, after all.
"That was one of the guys that used to bully Greenie!"
*PHWING*
While on the surface, it appeared nothing had changed, a dark atmosphere quickly began to cloud over class 1-T. Many of them immediately turned to glare daggers at the boy now standing on the podium.
Said boy simply grunted, all but ignoring them. He seemed to be angry, with a vein clearly visible on his head. "All I'll say is… I'm gonna be the number one in this competition."
As the explosive boy simply walked off the stage, glaring at his booing classmates all the while, Mashirao and his classmates simply continued to glare.
(The poor Management students next to them shivered. It helped that the temperature had in fact dropped a few degrees thanks to Poltergeist)
Eventually, as Snipe turned to announce the first event, Asui cleared her throat, snapping most of her classmates out of their anger. "I know we want to knock him out as soon as possible, Kero, But he's important to the plan. Besides, wouldn't it be more embarrassing to knock him out when more cameras are on him?"
At that, everyone was forced to agree. They would deal with the boy for now.
After all, this whole Festival was, should things go to plan, organised to the letter.
[
The class sat in a semi-circle, all staring at the whiteboard in front of them. In the corner of the room, Shinsou sat, observing the proceedings with a faint smile.
Midoriya stood at the front, looking to the group. "Alright. First meeting of Operation 'Sports Wreckstival'… which is the name ever. Thanks, Hagakure."
"No problem!"
Mezou raised one of many hands. "How are we supposed to predict anything for the sports festival if we do not know the events?"
Midoriya nodding, quickly writing onto the whiteboard. "Well, that is true, but there are always qualities that we can predict. Namely, the general themes of the three events, and more importantly… the other players."
Midoriya smiled, paging through one of the four notebooks he had prepared. Meanwhile, Mezou watched his classmates pull open their own notebooks that they had been instructed to bring.
"The first match is usually designed to eliminate large swaths of people, is inherently non-cooperative, and is first winners pass with no time limit. The previous three years events have been a variation of capture the flag, king of the hill, and secret hunting, respectively. But those rules mean…"
]
Mezou stood amongst his group towards the back of the crowd as they prepared for the start of the race ahead of them. He stretched, feeling the weight on his back.
"Huh. I'll be damned. This is pretty comfortable, Shou- Tentacole!"
Mezou smiled lightly. "Thank you, Invisible Lady."
The countdown began to reach its close, and 1-T braced. A moment later, a blast was shot from Snipes revolver, and the race had begun!
"And we're off! What's your take on the competition for this race, Guidance?" "Well, a lot of people will be taken out by the first obstacle." "What? We haven't even started yet!" "O-oh, you see…the first obstacle is-"
*SCHLINK*
A burst of ice flew forward as students scrambled to get past each other through the narrow entrance.
"The gate."
The source of the ice dashed forward, face set. "Sorry, but I have a goal to achieve here."
["Todoroki Shouto. He's widely considered a shoe in for the school's strongest as son of the number two. For whatever reason, he avoids the use of his fire, which means he specialises in ice. At the start, he'll likely aim to stop you all, but-]
"HAH! Nice try, Idiot!"
Shouto looked back while running to see quite a few people had escaped his trap. He saw Dynamight blast forwards alongside a decent number of his classmates, but more importantly-
Class 1-T surged forward as one, launching forward in all manner of ways.
Mezou smiled as roars of confusion could be heard from the crowd.
"WHAT? While most people got delayed by the Ice king's lethal attack, ALL of Class 1-T made it out in no trouble! What are you teaching these kids, Eraserhead?" "Nothing they couldn't have figured out themselves. Shouto icing the ground is effective until you see it coming, then all you need to do is jump."
(Did that boy really use his own name as an alias?)
The initial dash of their group was interrupted by the frontrunners of Shouto and Dynamight coming to a stop at the sight of the first real obstacle.
"TARGET SPOTTED."
"For those who've never seen them, this is the Robo Inferno! These are the bots U.A Hero students fight in the entrance exam but ramped up to eleven!" "That's right! Can these students make it past the mighty titans of metal?"
"So, these are the robots the people at the normal exam faced? Very well."
While Mezou and his group crashed through the smaller robots, Todoroki seemed to be unperturbed by the giant robots- Mezou recognised them as the tank like ones described by Hagakure, Tsu, and Shinsou- simply continuing to run forward.
As was already apparent, Todoroki responded with his standard attack: Giant blasts of ice.
"And Shouto eliminates the Zero Pointers with practiced ease!" "He isn't a recommendation student for nothing… purposefully freezing them while they were tipped over… a tactical move."
Mezou was forced to leap back, bracing so as to not knock his passenger off his back. "Everyone get back! It's set to collapse!"
A few moments later, the large robots fell over, crashing into the swarms below. A student he didn't recognise crashed through the metal, screaming, followed by another student who looked eerily similar. "Hey, Todoroki! You could have killed someone else if they were underneath that!"
Running past, them, Todoroki shouted out. "That's why it was only you!"
"Oh, Damnit, Ice man!"
Crawling out of the scrap, the two students began dashing over the top of the robots.
Asui regained her focus first. "Those two have the right idea! Everyone up and over, Kero! Prepare the Beam as well!"
Maintaining their lead, Mezou and his group stormed ahead. Most of them had various ways of making their way over the crashed robots (in the case of those who didn't, they were quick to piggyback on those who did), while the other students, who had begun cooperating to pierce through, gawked. Awase, very rapidly welding and unwelding his shoes on and off the metal to climb up, grinned. "Toodles, folks!"
Once Mezou made his way up (there were subtle bits of metal built into the robot, perfect for climbing. By design, he guessed.) he placed his passenger down. "Good luck, Invisible Lady!"
Hagakure braced, before dramatically spreading her arms out. "Alright, Everyone! Look over here!"
Foolishly, most of the competitors immediately looked up. Meanwhile, most of Mezou's classmates dashed onwards. "HAH, made you look! Super Light Refraction BEAM!"
A moment later, a bright flash of light emerged, bewildering many of competitors below, forcing many of them to shut their eyes, shouting out in pain. A moment later, Hagakure sagged, but still managed to stay conscious and standing. "Pho! That practice with Midori really paid off! I can do that without knocking myself out!" she quickly grabbed one of Mezou's arms, and he heaved her back onto his back, sprinting off to catch up with their opponents.
Present Mic gawked as he rubbed his eyes. "With a devastating attack, Invisible Lady has revealed a power no one saw coming, and they certainly won't see it now!"
Eraserhead remained neutral, but his tone indicated a level of pride. "Invisible Lady has been practicing that move for a while. It's perfectly tuned to be a flashbang rather than causing any degree of permanent damage. It also doesn't break any rules, since as far as she knows, everyone consented to being attacked when they looked up at her when prompted."
Hagakure cheered wearily on Mezou's back as they made their way down the other side of the robot. "Hell yeah. I love semantics!"
"Hey, is it just me, or are class T's students sticking real close together there?"
Over the loudspeakers, Tsuyu made out the faint laughter of Midoriya. "W-well… there's no rules directly denying them from working together. I can't let any bias show, but… they all practiced hard."
"Well then, let's see how their teamwork can handle our next obstacle… the fall!"
Tsuyu peered over the edge as the remainder of her class caught up. She could faintly make out protective nets below. Looking over to Shouji, she smiled. "Good work, you two. How long do we have before more folks arrive?"
Shouji nodded as Hagakure continued to sag on his shoulders, tired out by her blast but slowly recovering. "Not long. A few people made it over."
"Alright, Kero. Everyone across! I'll make it across fastest, so I'll stand guard."
Tsuyu watched as her classmates used various methods to overcome the large gap, Midoriya and Yamada-sensei prattling on about quirks all the while, with Aizawa-sensei making the occasional comment, albeit rarely. A few people passed by, but none of them made any effort to sabotage, so she prepared to cross the pit herself and catch up to her classmates.
"Urk. Damn Shouto and his stupid ice robot attacks…"
Tsuyu turned around, looking over to the arrival behind her. The girl had chestnut brown hair, flushed cheeks and seemed to be doing her best not to hurl. "Are you alright, Kero?"
The girl looked up, eyes wide. "O-oh! No, I'm fine! Just… quirk drawbacks, is all."
Ah. She thought back to the notes Midoriya had provided them all.
["Uraraka Ochaco. Five finger activation quirk that nullifies weight temporarily. Very friendly, and a useful ally."]
"I see. Do you have much energy left, then? Perhaps we can cooperate."
Uraraka's looked up, curious. "Oh. Alright. What do you need?"
Tsuyu turned around, gesturing to her back. "Hop on, Kero. You can nullify gravity, right? Nullify my gravity for a little while and I can get us both over. Then I can help you out in the second round. Deal?"
The girl remained confused but nodded. "Alright!"
She nervously hopped onto Tsuyu's back. The feeling of having one's gravity lessened was strange, but Tsuyu had experienced similar feelings when effected by Yanagi.
She quickly hopped over the series of holes, leaping over the various presented gaps with practised ease.
"Wow! Class T's Froppy has bridged the gap, forming an alliance with Uravity from Class A! they're soaring over the course!"
"Froppy? That's a super cute name-Urk!"
"Thanks for the compliment, Uravity-chan, but maybe keep your mouth closed."
A few moments later, the pair found themselves on the other side of the pits. Tsuyu gently placed down her ally gently, smiling. "Thank you for your help. Good luck!"
As she hoped away, she didn't notice the curious look on the girl's face.
"Maybe those students aren't as bad as everyone is saying… URK!"
"While 1-T does their best to catch up, our frontrunners, Shouto and Dynamight, have made it to the final obstacle… the MINEFIELD!"
Midoriya nervously coughs. "D-don't worry though! The mines pack a punch, but they're designed to cause next to no harm, and thanks to Recovery Girl, any injuries won't cause any real danger!"
"Nice save, Guidance." "Thanks, Eraserhead-sensei!"
Todoroki and Dynamight both were forced to make their way through the course nervously, not wanting to make a path for the approaching horde from class T behind them. Said horde gathered near the start of the field, contemplating.
Ojiro looked to the mines, pulling one up from the ground with gentle precision. "You wouldn't need much force to set these off. None of us are really suited to make it through this at a reasonable speed."
Kaibara nodded as well. "We could leap over like with the ice, but it'd be a gamble…"
"Mmh!"
All eyes turned to Yui, who had elsewise remained quiet, simply following behind the group, relying on her natural agility and the occasional grown plank of wood stolen from a fence to get across the pits. Kaibara looked to her in confusion. "You've got a plan, Rule?"
She nodded, walked over to Ojiro, taking the bomb.
Immediately, the crowd's attention was back on the group, away from the two frontrunners, as Yui walked forward.
Present Mic raised an eyebrow. "What exactly does Rule plan on doing with that… mine…"
Eraserhead disrupted his all the way through blank face with a wicked smile. "Rule is going for a strategy that I'm fairly confident is going to pretty much be immediately banned after this is done."
A moment later, the crowd roared as the mine swelled, growing to be ten times larger than it was before. Yui smiled airily, turning to Yanagi, who nodded. "I see. It will certainly make quite the show. I shall execute our ultimate move… Grand Phantom Eruption!"
With exertion from Yanagi, the bomb was flung forward, before landing with a-
*KABOOM*Instantly, a series of explosions erupted across the entire mine field as the massive mine caused a spiralling chain reaction. Shouto and Dynamight were quickly knocked to the sides, wincing in pain but not permanently injured.
"The bombs are gone! Go!"
Ojiro didn't have to tell them twice. The group surged across the field as fast as they could, overtaking the two frontrunners. Eventually re-entering the tunnel to the stadium.
"With that Explosive" - "Present Mic-Sensei, no!" "Mic." - "Surprise, our two front runners have been overtaken! As the race nears its end, with the rest of the students catching up, our winner is-"
Present Mic held the s for a decent long while, before looking up in confusion. "Eh?"
Turning the cameras to the one's within the hallway, they found the T-class… standing still?
Yui smiled as they collectively looked into the cameras, smiling. A moment later, Shouto surged forward, overtaking them.
"Shouto secures first place! What an… upset?"
To the shared confusion and excitement of the crowd, Yui's group quickly dashed over the line once the boy had taken the first place slot, smiling and, in the case of Awase, making various strange gestures of celebration.
Eventually, the remaining students (including a fuming Dynamight, who was seemingly being held back by another Hero student, Red Riot) made their way across the line, ending the match. A few Hero course students were upset about having not made it, but the occasional gen-ed student (and a very enthusiastic support student) were dotted amongst the crowd of Hero students that had survived the chaos. Yui was happy to see the purple haired boy that had been causing the school's girls no small deal of problems hadn't made it either.
"Class T has made the strange choice of willingly giving up their first place slot, but the show must go on! It's time for our second round…"
The passing students all looked up to the large screen as the rest returned to the stands. It slowly landed on various options, before finally ending with-
"THE CAVALRY BATTLE!"
Midoriya's speaker picked up the rustling of paper as he took a deep breath. "Students will split up into teams of two to five people, with one person being the rider! If that person falls to the ground, they're out! Quirk use is allowed, but if you purposefully injure someone to force them down, you'll be disqualified! As for earning point's, each member of your team adds to your total score, which will be displayed on a headband the rider must wear! At the end of the game, the groups with the highest score thanks to their headbands will be the winners, with a certain number of students advancing to the final round. Lastly, the points for each headband are determined by your position in the race, with the exception of first place!"
With that statement, all eyes turned to Shouto, who himself was looking at their group in something akin to shock.
Present Mic laughed loudly. "So, it would seem first place was given away for a reason, because the largest headband is worth TEN MILLION POINTS!"
["The ranking you get in the first round typically effects your starting position in the second round. Flags, headbands, ammo, elimination points… the first-place scorer is always a target. Therefore, even if you can reliably get yourself into first, figuratively giving up the win is a major tactical choice…"]
Instead of any of them, someone else had become a target, and the Hero students looked to said someone else like sharks who had smelt blood.
Yui took a calm breath as her class smiled sharply, preparing to form teams for the second round.
Rankings weren't important to them, after all…
Achieving first place at the sports festival and winning the sports festival were very different things.
Chapter 13: Call in the Coolvalry
MEANWHILE:
*KABOOM*
Hitoshi chuckled as quietly as he could, just about hearing the commentary from where he had hidden himself. It sounded like Rule was causing chaos, at least.
By the sounds of it, though, this part of his job was set to start soon.
Maybe he had been spoiled by the main U.A building's hidden passageways, because cramming yourself into a normal vent was not comfortable. His back would be pitching a fit for the next long while.
But, well, it was either that or say no to helping Nedzu deal with Quirk traffickers, so…
["No matter how many people do truly try to do good, Shinsou-kun, The crimes of our dear government and its constituents are vast, writhing and all around hard to process, and neither you nor I can deal with them on our own, but… I do quite like making myself a thorn in their side. Besides… what are they going to do? Arrest me, the principal of a school for Heroes, for stopping criminals?"]
Hitoshi was at least grateful he had always had a strong stomach. the Commission's child training programs were... unpleasant, and one he was fairly sure most people would rather not have their taxes going towards. Nedzu had said he hadn't been able to track what happened to any of the previous attempts, but he had his theories, as always. Because that didn't give Hitoshi anxiety, no siree.
The question of how many Heroes were doing their job by choice was a...
Nonetheless, if he could at least help prevent the project from starting back up, he would do so.
Even if it meant staying dead still, wearing a fancy coat to hide your bio signs from scanning quirks and a recording device that used tech three times as old as he was. For the kids, Hitoshi, for the kids.
Finally, after a gruelling time spent waiting, the office room he was above finally opened up to a bunch of old coots walking in.
"Hmph. And your sure theres nothing hidden here?"
"No sir. Every quirk and device we've used has read negative. Nedzu's promise appears to be true."
"Good. I pay good money for you people."
He smirked, hearing the shuffling of chairs as the Commission agents made their way in on the premise of 'observation'. Hitoshi could just about imagine the claws closing in around them.
"Alright…" Hitoshi murmured, turning on his own listening device and hearing it whir to life. "Let's get some incriminating words."
~---SPORTS FESTIVAL: THE CAVALRY BATTLE---~
Shouto knew that he had been tricked, fooled, or as Natsuo had used once and then never again, bamboozled.
While he had technically achieved first place, it might as well have been eleventh, and all it got him was a massive target on his back. Nonetheless, now he had the far more… unpleasant… task of finding teammates. It was about now that he was regretting choosing to avoid talking to people much, but…
"Hey, Red-White."
Shouto was snapped out of his consideration by the arrival of someone he didn't recognise. He knew the boy was from the group that had bested him. "What do you want?"
The bug looking boy towered over him and had sharp protrusions on the sides of his mouth. He thought back, remembering him using his Quirk to leap forward with the rest of his class, over Shouto's own ice. The scoreboard had called him Jack Mantis.
"Good luck with this next round."
Shouto blinked, looking at the boy. "Sorry?"
The Hero in training simply laughed. "It was a bit of a jerk move to hoist the high score on you, so I figured I'd apologize, at least. So... sorry. But putting that aside… I want to see you in the finals."
Shouto remained silent for a moment, questioning his words. Jack Mantis and their crew had certainly made their presence known.
The boy leaned down, whispering. "Doesn't mean we won't fight you at our best though. All I ask is that you stop holding back."
Shouto raised an eyebrow at that. "What do you mean?"
Jack Mantis shrugged. "You know… whoosh." He meanwhile made flickering motions with his hand. "I don't know what's stopping you, so I won't pry, but don't think us so weak that you gotta hold back."
Shouto felt a spark of anger stir in him, but when he looked up, the boy was already walking away, gesturing to his classmates.
He swore he would never use his fire, and he wasn't backing out of that now.
He would just need to find a few teammates.
"Our strategizing time is almost over, folks! ARE. YOU. READY?!"
"The audio quality is pretty much the same either way, Mic. No need to shout." "Oh, don't ruin my fun!"
Izuku watched his classmates nervously through the many screens surrounding him. He had to avoid showing bias, but he was wondering what his classmates would decide to do here…
"Quite an interesting situation your group has caused for us, Midoriya-kun!"
Making sure his own microphone was off, he turned to Nedzu, who had walked into the small office he had seized. "Nedzu-Sensei? Weren't you in the stands?"
The mammal smiled. "My guest quickly popped to the bathroom, so I figured I would check on you here! Your class has caused our sponsors no small deal of trouble."
Izuku gulped. "What do you mean, Sensei?"
Nedzu simply shook his head. "Oh, nothing for you to worry about, Midoriya. Some of our friends in marketing aren't happy about how secretive we're being about identities, most notably for your class. The media wants their scathing pieces, Afterall! Nonetheless, have you checked the news as of late?"
Midoriya shook his head, pulling out his own phone. He nervously opened up his social media app.
What he found made his head twirl.
-Mysterious Support Hero commentator and Mystery class at U.A Sports Festival – A new paradigm?-
-U.A's 1-T and efforts to decrease Heroics marketing saturation-
-All eyes on Sports Festival as conventional Heroics students beaten out by…-
"Huh."
Nedzu simply chuckled as he turned around. "Your group is certainly causing quite the stir, Midoriya-kun. Be proud. No matter what happens, I think you've already achieved your goal."
With that, Nedzu disappeared, leaving Izuku alone with his thoughts.
["The second round always covers some variation of resource management. Flags, bullets, control points, headbands… but who said there's no such thing as divide and conquer?"]
"ITS GO TIME, FOLKS! SNIPE, GIVE US A COUNTDOWN!"
Tsuyu braced with her group as the gunslinging Hero began his countdown.
"FIVE!"
On her left, Iida, who she had scarcely interacted with (So far, she had only met up with Yaoyorozu and Kendou. Perhaps she should try and organise meetings that included the vice-reps?), looked to her. "You appear to be the only member of your class who did not team up with your group, Froppy-san. May I ask why?"
"FOUR! THREE!"
She croaked, looking over to her various teammates. "It is never wise to put all your eggs in one basket. Besides, we planned on getting five people into the finals, and that's too much for one team. But I don't think you should worry about that now, Kero."
Engentive (A name that supposedly took the younger Iida far longer to come up with than his brothers own name) had a brief look of confusion, before nodding. "Right. Let us fight as hard as we can!"
Behind them, HatsuMei (Which was barely a codename, but as a support student Tsuyu was fairly sure it didn't matter) chuckled darkly. Her gear had been placed onto their rider, who was braced for battle.
"TWO!"
Uravity smiled, looking to their first threat, two students from the B class. "We might not win this round, but we'll get into the finals! Let's do this!"
"ONE… ZERO! Get goin', ya' varmints!"
A moment later, there was ice, explosions, shouts, screams, and all hell broke loose.
"Oh my! I can barely tell what's going on down there!"
"The first few seconds of the second round are always chaotic, and with Shouto and Dynamight's presence, it was bound to be loud. Thankfully it should clear up in a few seconds, and you own son should be quite excellent at explaining, no?"
Inko chuckled, immensely proud of her son, if not a little disappointed that she wouldn't be able to see him in action (there's always next year, Inko. Can't raise him to just sit in the back, now, can we?"), taking another sip of her tea.
She couldn't really deny that getting a private sports festival booth was something she ever saw herself having, and it definitely gave her quite the story to tell to Izuku when the day was done, but she certainly wasn't complaining. Nedzu was always a fun person to be around, especially once you got through the many fake layers of personality the man had. He reminded her of her memories of chats with her own father (not that she knew the man, or any if her relatives for that matter, all that well, sadly, his father mutually cutting himself off from his sister and parents for reasons he never divulged.) when she was young. She was fairly confident she had gotten most of her smarts from them, which she had thankfully passed down to Izuku.
(Needless to say, Hisashi certainly didn't pass down much, in her humble opinion. But if it wasn't for him Izuku wouldn't exist, so she had allowed him to disappear. Nedzu had offered to track down the man a week after meeting Izuku and Inko, but she had told him not to bother. He wasn't worth it.)
Inko looked back to the screen in front of her alongside Nedzu, the dust finally settling.
Present Mic, as was standard, shouted with enthusiasm. "Wow! After an intense few seconds, we can get a proper view of the battlefield!"
Izuku, firmly in his newly forming Hero persona, took up the slack. "It would seem that the many participants have split into factions. While the A and B class seem to have split into a brawl, mostly targeting Team Shouto for their high scoring headband, Team Jack Mantis is standing their ground as the other teams of the T class seem to raise havoc!"
Aizawa-san simply sighed. "Team Invisible Lady and Team Beat Up have formed fast moving teams with Tentacole, Constructi-man and Rule acting as their supports. Meanwhile team Jack Mantis has a core built for defence."
"A-alongside that, we have many interesting teams fighting as well. Team Dynamight and Team Phantom Thief appear to be locked in some kind of conflict, while Team Uravity seems to be setting up its own area of influence with their access to support gear. What will happen next…"
Inko chuckled to herself as her son descending into mumbles, politely muted by Present Mic. She was happy he had gained enough confidence to do things like this, but he would still always be her son.
(She still wasn't answering Mitsuki's calls. There would always be at least a little cowardice, and she couldn't really admit to herself that she had let Izuku suffer for as long as she had, no matter how many times she apologized and Izuku forgave her)
Shaking her head out of her negative thoughts, she looked back at the screen, observing the continuing chaos. Nedzu continued to observe, chuckling, before his phone (one of many, of course) rumbled.
The mammal took it out with a neutral look, before smiling briefly, then soon after frowning. "Oh, my friend, I must apologize. An important case is reaching a conclusion soon, and I'm afraid I must go intervene."
Inko shook her head, smiling. Even taking a few hours of the principal's time on a day like this was a sign of immense respect she was happy to have earned. "It's a shame, but it has to happen. I'll simply go sit with the other parents in the stands!"
At that, Nedzu smiled. "Thank you, Inko. Ah, right, before I go, there's this fascinating expo coming up, I was wondering if you were interested in attending…"
Somewhere in the hordes of the cavalry battle, a group of 1-A students made their way through the hordes, grabbing headbands wherever they could.
"We're not doing all that bad! It's finally time for us to show that we're not side characters in our class!"
The voice that spoke out was gravelling but cheerful, spoken by a boy held up by two classmates, bone like structures jutting out of his pale ashen skin.
Next to him, Satou sighed. "Don't get overconfident, Grimmswald! You know we're five seconds away from getting stomped at any moment!"
Wakiyaku, holding up the rear of the trio by matching the appearance of Satou, gulped. "Ah, guys?"
The skeleton boy simply laughed manifesting another bone weapon to hopefully steal more headbands. "Relax! We'll be fine! No one is close-"
"GUYS!"
"What?"
*BOOM*
"Oh, come on!"
Katsuki scoffed as he was caught by Tape face (Sero. Remember the damn names, idiot). He tied the headbands back on his head, looking to the rest of the field while his teammates huffed and puffed.
Kirishima looked up, smiling way too brightly as usual. "Where's our next destination, Dynamight?"
Katsuki took a look at the battle around him. Their group had made pushes on the other top scorers, Team Shouto and Team Jack Mantis, but neither of them were budging in their defence, and team Uravity was annoyingly out of reach. He twitched but did his best to keep his rage contained.
(the last time he had let all his anger out he had told Deku to jump off a roof, and then he never came back, and now he was here, and he was better than him-)
Katsuki shook his head. He hated it, but there was no way they could get the top score. They'd simply have to secure fourth place. He'd secure his gold medal in the finals.
"The team with the blondie from the B class is picking up a bunch of headbands from the stragglers. Let's go after him."
"Alright!" "Just say the word!" "Sheesh, this hurts my elbows…"
Katsuki huffed as his group moved forward. He had made a lot of enemies with his opening speech, but that else could he do?
(Maybe, he thinks, perhaps denying the truth that his mistakes are irreparable, he can get the gold, overcoming the odds of his enemies, and then he could look at Deku again and the scale would be even again, instead of somehow the boy keeping on beating him without ever even looking down on him-)
He shook his head again, dispelling the distracting thoughts. The Hag and the Shrink lady said it was good to have those thoughts, but now wasn't the time.
He had a tournament to win.
"With a blast of force, Team Dynamight has knocked team Phantom Thief out of the running by stealing most of their headbands! With a few minutes left on the clock and time for comebacks, how will this match end?"
"Sheesh, Toshinori, you weren't kidding. These brats certainly have potential."
Sorahiko watched as Toshinori sighed, looking at the many students fighting with a gentle smile. "They certainly do. I hope to live long enough to see them all become Heroes."
he nodded. "And you're sure you don't want to pass One for All down to any of them?"
Toshinori's face shifted to one Sorahiko saw very rarely on the man. One of tired resolution. "Yes. They could all use the quirk well, but One for All deserves to rest. And if All for One still lives… I do not wish to pass down that conflict as well if I can avoid it."
"And Sasaki still isn't responding to your messages?"
"I believe he needs time to accept my choice. It is a shame, as well. I feel he would be a perfect Hero to help teach young Midoriya."
At that, Sorahiko grinned. "Now that is something you haven't properly explained to me yet. That boy some kind of secret love child? You're clearly biased to him and his classmates!"
He felt himself laughing manically as the country's number one Hero sputtered in embarrassment. "I'm just messing with you, Toshinori. It's good that you've got your eye on that boy, though. From what I can tell he needs all the support he can get."
Toshinori nodded. "Right…"
Sorahiko looked to the crowd. Next to them, outside of their private booth, he looked many of the Heroes present up and down. "Hm…if All for One is truly still around… maybe I should dust off my old Hero outfit again."
His student's eyes widened at that. "Oh-oh! It would be excellent to have another Hero who is aware of the fine details in the coming months, Torino-san!"
"That's Sensei to you, brat. Now… maybe I should take an intern, refresh my memory that way…"
Sorahiko didn't react, but he internally laughed as his former student gulped. He wouldn't be as bad on any students he took as he was on Toshinori, at least, considering that said brats don't exactly have the fate of the entire country on their backs…
"Ooh, I like that one! What's his name?"
"Oh, him? That's-"
*BANG* *BANG*
"Oh, so when that guy uses his flesh to make GUNS, it's allowed, but when I spin a little too fast-"
"Now's not the time, Kaibara!"
"Yeah, yeah!"
Sen winced as he deflected another vine from one of their various attackers as they ran across the field. Even with Yanagi's great defence and Ojiro basically carrying Kamakiri by himself, they were under siege quite a bit. Sen had the feeling no one wanted to fight them in the final round.
Kamakiri winced as he slashed a vine that went for their headbands. "We've got one solution to our problems! It'll be rough, though!"
Sen looked to their rider. "We can handle rough, I think. What's your scheme?"
Kamakiri pointed over to another area of the field, coated in ice. "We stall over there for the last two minutes!"
Ojiro seemed to do the math in his head. "I think it'll work! We'll be fighting Shouto and his team, but we don't have much other choice. Come on!"
Kamakiri nodded as his team pushed forward. "Hey, Distraction squad! It's go time!"
Immediately, Shouji and Jirou notified their teams of Jack Mantis' shout, and they were quick to action, jumping in to interrupt the teams behind them.
"WHAT? Team Beat up and Team Invisible lady seem to have abandoned hunting for headbands to instead charge after those with equally few!"
"Those two teams are made up of those who aren't particularly skilled at solo fighting, do not want a large amount of spotlight on them, or are simply too drained to do well in the third round. They likely never intended to pass in the first place. Instead, they're ensuring their class gets in at all."
"Is that even allowed?"
Sen chuckled as Midoriya nervously interrupted their conversation. "Class T was very careful about reading the rules. There's nothing that explicitly forbids it."
"You hear that, folks? Giving up your own success for the success of your team! How Noble!"
Someone Sen didn't know, wrestling with Shouji, shouted at Present Mic's comment. "NOBLE MY ASS!"
Meanwhile, Shouji, holding back the team simply with his massive presence, Hagakure on his back, smiled. "We simply do what gets us the highest odds of success. Did you not consider doing the same?"
Somewhere, in a derelict bar, just out of sight of most people, a misty figure stands, drying glasses and preparing the area to serve it's secondary purpose of functioning as a legitimate business.
He watches the TV with a curious eye, even if somewhat unconsciously.
He sees faces he recognises fighting intensely for what they believe in. Noble ambition to bring change through action. It is not entirely dissimilar to what Sensei has taught young Tomura to do, but it in some way feels different.
Nothing truly stirs within him. The Doctor had been far to thorough for such a thing to happen.
But if Kurogiri the bartender cleans his glasses a little slower, thoughts filled with a few more thoughts that he perhaps should not have… no one will be any wiser.
Yet.
Togaru braced himself on the shoulders of his teammates as they approached Shouto's area. There wasn't long left on the clock, and they had gotten most of the people off their backs, but Shouto's team of three had seemingly noticed them.
"Sorry, Shouto! We'll have to ask you to back off!"
The frigid boy simply glared at them. "Creati, Chargebolt!"
Chargebolt smirked as Creati be pulling something out of her arm. "It's a conductor! Phantomime!"
Yanagi understood his request as Chargebolt rapidly sparked. "Sorry, folks, but I want to do well here! TEN MILLION VOLTS!"
As Kaminari sent out a wave of electricity, Yanagi quickly pulled all of them into the air for a brief moment. Togaru knew this would take her out for the remainder of the match, but it would at least allow her to have recovered by the beginning of the third round.
"Both team Shouto and Team Jack Mantis have lost a member! But it looks like Team Shouto is looking to knock team Jack Mantis out of the running!"
Togaru winced as they returned to the ground. "Alright! Here goes nothing…surprise attack!"
Thankfully, his teammates seemed to understand what that meant, as they all surged forward, with Ojiro and Kaibara pretty much carrying Yanagi with them as she recovered.
While Chargebolt seemed entirely out of it, both Creati and Shouto's eyes widened at the charging force.
Shouto braced, preparing to summon ice to defend his group, but-
"AAAAAAAH!" "WHEEEE!" "THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA!" "KERRRROOOOO!"
Their clash was interrupted by the sudden arrival of a massively speeding object in the form of team Uravity, pretty much crashing into them with the combination of Engentive's speed boost and HatsuMei's gear.
Shouto and Creati flinched, stepping back in shock of the crashing students, who miraculously recovered, standing at a still a little further past both groups, dizzy but safe.
Togaru didn't waste the moment.
He leapt forward, creating a blade in his hand, hoping to tear the hand bands off of the head of his opponent, eliminating their greatest threat even if they didn't get the points themselves.
Three things happened in that moment.
Creati created a large paddle, forcing Togaru to leap back to his own team.
Shouto lit up, flames that he had seemingly avoided like the plague covering half of his face.
And a large buzzer screamed out.
"AND THE CAVALRY BATTLE IS OVER!"
Instantly, all pressure ground to a halt as the various team quickly stopped.
As the crowd roared out, Present Mic began listing out the results.
"In first place, playing a great defensive game, it's team Shouto, holding onto their TEN MILLION POINTS!"
While Shouto seemed to be having some kind of crisis, Creati took a breath of relief, slowly dragging a cheerful Chargebolt to the exit.
"In second place, team Uravity speeds into their own spot, with a crisp seven hundred points!"
Togaru smirked as the group cheered. At least someone in their group was trying to make friends.
"In second place, with their efforts firmly shown, it's team Jack Mantis, not behind by much with their own six-hundred-twenty-five points!"
Kaibara whooped. "Hell yeah! Class T represent!" The other three members smiled, knowing their victories had been earned.
"WOO, YEAH, WE WIN!" And that was Awase.
"You didn't even win, Flailing guy!"
"First of all, screw you! Second of all, Yeah, we did, we're just not playing the same game you are!"
"In fourth place, just scraping through, it's team Dynamight, with their explosive strategy earning them five hundred points!"
At that, Togaru smirked. He really wanted to fight that Bakugou guy in the finals.
"And lastly, although they didn't make the cut, team Comic-Man, our fifth-place team, can pick someone to represent them!"
Togaru spied the final team, at least happy to have gotten close. They were quick to push a girl with vines for hair forward, who smiled airily. He knew not to underestimate her, though, considering his group had to dodge said vines for a large portion of the round.
As class 1-T began to gather on the field, Togaru recognised the voice of Midoriya over the loudspeakers. "Uhm, there's an hour break before the next set of afternoon activities, which are the side events! Feel free to go grab some food!"
With that, the screens all cut to ads, and the students were left to themselves.
Asui separated from her group, reuniting with her own class "Kero, great job, everyone. Now, how about we go grab some food?"
"Yeah!"
"Cheers!"
The clinking of plastic cups, equal to a grand celebration, of course, surged around the group of 1-T students, who were revelling in their time off in the field not far off the stadium. Reiko stood bastion with her own cup, smiling gently.
Ojiro smiled, tail definitely not wagging. "We've made it to the third round. Now we can pretty much revel in the fun, if you will."
A gruff voice spoke out from behind him. "You better do your best, though. No point in slacking off now."
"Oh, sorry, sensei!"
The man smiled lightly; mouth almost hidden by his capture weapon. "You all did well. To say the least, you're all pretty much guaranteed to get plenty of internship opportunities. I'm… proud of you all."
Hagakure cheered. "Thanks, Sensei! You were really good at commentating!"
"He barely said anything, though." "Exactly!"
Awase, who had seemingly splashed more drink in his excitement than there should even be in the cup, at least thankfully on the floor rather than himself, raised an eyebrow. "Speaking of commentators, where's Midoriya snuck off too? I wanted to compliment him!"
Asui answered, face neutral. "He and Kamakiri apparently had to talk to someone, Kero. He'll catch up later."
Aizawa-Sensei nodded, looking over his students. "Alright. Now, go brag to your parents. I need to talk to Yanagi for a minute."
Reiko looked at her sensei, confused, as the rest of her classmates ran off to wherever their parents sat (with the exception of Kaibara and Awase, who both immediately dashed off to go make themselves sound cool in front of the younger Asui children, which she, in perfect honesty, could get). "Is something the matter, Sensei?"
Aizawa-Sensei shook his head, standing… awkwardly? "Nothing is the matter."
The man stood quietly for a few moments, seemingly considering his options, before looking back to her. "Would you like to come sit with me during this lunch period?"
Reiko took a step back, surprised. "I…may I ask why, Sensei?"
Aizawa frowned, but his face quickly turned back to one of neutrality. "Since you are a ward of U.A, I am technically one of your… legal guardians… and it's never good to sit on your own."
Reiko looked her sensei up and down, shock slowly switching to a quiet happiness. Her experiences before being able to come to U.A had been… less than pleasant, but she had found herself more than welcome within its walls when she had expected to struggle.
Regaining her words, Reiko nodded. "Alright, Sensei."
Considering neither of them were of many words, Aizawa simply turned around, walking towards his own table. "Good. It does mean you'll have to deal with Yamada and Kayama."
"I think I will be alright, Sensei. Midnight is very insistent on visiting the dormitory at least once a week... plus... she and Hound Dog bought me nice clothes..."
Instead of saying something, her sensei simply smiled, just about reaching his eyes.
Twelve months ago, she had been convinced she mould have disappeared into the nothing. Instead, she had a chance of making a difference.
Perhaps damnation was not the only fate for a phantom.
Izuku nervously stood, bracing his fingers. On his left, Kamakiri did the same, staring down the person that had sought him out.
The three remained silent for a few moments, no one really confident enough to make the first move.
Eventually, thank goodness, Kamakiri levelled Todoroki Shouto with a glare, and grunted. "Alright, Red-White. What do you want?"
Todoroki was silent for a few moments, looking both of them up and up. Eventually, he took a deep breath.
"Are you Twilight Students Time Travellers or something?"
"EH?"