I genuinely tried not to be an overconfident jerk, so I first discussed the idea of a basketball match for our class with Aizawa. If he was surprised, he didn't show it. He seemed more indifferent than enthusiastic but overall reacted positively. He didn't mind as long as we didn't start trying to kill each other. Nevertheless, he helped me find an available gym, providing the schedule of other classes and sports clubs.
The gym seemed ordinary at first glance, but it was equipped with gear resistant to quirks. Clearly, I wasn't the first to have this idea, and similar games, especially baseball, were quite common at U.A. But there were also specialized items for basketball—a reinforced rubber ball, hoops with steel-reinforced nets, and jerseys with numbers—one team in blue, the other in orange.
The next few days were uneventful, but by the end of the week, everything was set. So, on this "fine day," right after classes, before anyone had the chance to leave, I stood up and loudly announced:
"Free checkout!"
Just kidding.
"Hey, guys, don't go yet, I've got a suggestion!"
Feel like I'm turning into Tenya Iida now.
Most of the class turned their attention to me, so I continued:
"We've been studying together for two weeks, but we still don't know each other very well. So, I thought we could… celebrate that. But," I raised a finger to stop Kaminari from shouting "party," "not with a party, but something fun and at the same time useful. What do you say?"
Tsuna smirked knowingly, while Momo cautiously asked:
"And what exactly are you suggesting?"
"Well, Setsuna and I," I gave a friendly nod toward her, "used to train together before we got into U.A., and sometimes we'd play basketball matches. However! We played with our quirks at full blast!"
The initial disappointed murmurs quickly died down. The group began to think it over, while Bakugo and a few others turned away, packing their things. Not so fast, my friend!
"I'm in!" declared Tsuna, stepping up beside me. "Who else?"
I decided to strike while the iron was hot:
"A short, half-hour game will not only let us blow off some steam and relax, but also give us valuable teamwork experience and a chance to better understand each other's quirks. We haven't really worked in large teams yet, and we won't be doing so anytime soon, according to the curriculum. But in basketball, it's five-on-five. Sure, they're teaching us group cooperation already, but why not go beyond the standard? Plus Ultra, right?"
"I, I'm in!" cried an enthusiastic Iida, approaching with zeal. "Extracurricular activities are an excellent way to showcase any student's dedication, and we are not just any students, we're from the best academy in the country!"
He started flailing his arms around like a windmill.
"Thanks, Iida. Also, this is a challenge," I grinned. "I plan on winning."
At this, Kirishima jumped up, activating his quirk on his arms and cracking his knuckles.
"Count me in! I'm always up for a challenge!"
After a brief pause, tall Sero joined us with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Well, we've got one team already," I said, though internally I tensed up. This was the pivotal moment—either I'd manage to bring a few more loners into the group and the rest of the class would follow, or I'd only make the wall of isolation even thicker. I had some last-minute doubts about whether this was even a good idea, but it was too late to turn back now.
"I'm in!" exclaimed Mina, punching the air and inserting herself into our group. "This sounds like fun! Plus, Kirishima's in! And Setsuna's in! We'll show them all!"
"We're playing against each other…"
"We'll show you all!"
"Great, Mina! That makes six of us. That's already enough to play, right?" Kirishima asked, turning to me.
Tsk, not ideal… but I was confident I could pull at least two more in.
I nodded and replied:
"In an ideal situation, we'd have more players. But that's right—you don't all have to participate to enjoy it, guys. You can just watch from the stands, cheer for a team, maybe offer some advice…"
"Oh, then I'll join!" said Uraraka with a sigh of relief, stepping up. She laughed awkwardly. "I'm not very good at sports… not good at all… but it'll be fun to watch, right, Tsuyu? Are you joining?"
"I think I'd like to play," said the small, slim, almost delicate Asui Tsuyu, walking over and thoughtfully pressing a finger to her lips. With her hair tied in a quirky bow that stuck out like wings, she looked more like a fairy than a frog. "How are we dividing into teams?"
"We'll just draw lots, I think. Or we can go by how we're standing now," I said, motioning behind me to the group that had gathered. "This could be my team. Midoriya, are you in?"
The guy, who had been sitting nearby, hesitated for a few seconds before nodding excitedly.
"Hai!"
"Awesome. So, that makes eight of us…"
"How can you play in the gym using quirks?" Yaoyorozu asked with concern.
"The equipment is specialized. I talked to Aizawa-sensei, and we've got the gym reserved for two hours. No one will interrupt."
As Bakugo passed by on his way out, pants hanging low in a stereotypically anime-like manner and his bag slung over his shoulder, I threw out a mocking, calculated jab. The key was not to overdo it:
"And where do you think you're going, Bakugo?"
"None of your damn business," he spat. "Move!"
"You're just afraid of losing again, huh?" I grinned cockily.
Bakugo froze. Midoriya squeaked.
"What did you say?" he growled, turning around slowly, trying to look menacing, but…
I simply shrugged:
"Well, if Mr. 'Second Place' doesn't have the guts to join us…"
"Shut up! I'll kill you!" Bakugo roared, stomping back toward me. "I'll win this damn match!"
He puffed out his chest and tried to intimidate me, but the effect was somewhat lost since I was half a head taller than him. A dwarf. I looked down at him, raising an eyebrow.
Now, I had to be careful. If I emphasized too much that I had just manipulated him with the ease of controlling a three-year-old, he might pick a fight. Better to shift focus.
"Great. So, your team is these three? And we need one mor—"
"What the hell is this shitty nerd doing on my team?!"
Midoriya flinched and recoiled. My eyebrow raised again.
"Do you want to swit—"
"Shut up! I don't care! I'll win even if I'm playing alone!"
Bakugo stomped off and tossed his bag onto a table. Seriously, like a bouncing Brownian particle, almost chaotic, almost unpredictable.
It was tempting to take him at his word, but I needed this match for other reasons. I noticed the thoughtful look on Todoroki's face as he paused in his packing and listened.
"He's so loud…" Tokoyami muttered, as much as one could judge from the black feathers around his beak.
"What was that?!"
"Okaaaaay," Sero drawled, glancing nervously at the blond as did most of the class. "We need one more player, right? Is anyone else joining? I'm already curious, but…"
No one volunteered. I could ask Yui or Himiko, but for my purposes—and for theirs—it wouldn't be useful.
"We could play with four-person teams," Tsuyu suggested, looking at me with her huge, round eyes. Hmm. Was that a question? "And someone could wait for their turn…"
Not the best option…
Luckily, things worked themselves out.
"Tokoyami!" Mina yelled, popping out like a jack-in-the-box at the dark, goth-looking bird-headed boy. "You're strong! I saw it when we were against you in practice! Come on, you've got a cool quirk! Be on my team!"
"I'm not interested in such…"
"It'll be fun, don't be shy!" She grabbed his arm and literally dragged him off the desk, causing him to lose some of his gothic poise.
"I'm not shy… let go of me, woman…"
Kirishima, standing nearby, just laughed apologetically and spread his arms:
"Well, that's Mina for you. She's always been like that…" He grinned and waved the others over. "Let's go!"
***
In the end, the entire class showed up at the gym, except for Kiyotaka. I wasn't entirely sure about that shady guy, though. Maybe he was hiding somewhere behind the doorframe, sitting, watching? Even Todoroki, after seeing everyone else go, thought it over and joined us, chilling (pun intended) on the farthest bleacher.
The players went to the locker rooms and changed. My team got orange jerseys, which, according to Setsuna, clashed horribly with my hair. Perfect! Another hidden weapon, hehe.
Here were the teams:
Orange: Me, Setsuna, Iida, Sero, and Kirishima.
Blue: Bakugo, Mina, Tsuyu, Tokoyami, and Midoriya.
I wasn't sure what the last one would do on the field among superhumans without having proper control over his power, but I hoped he wouldn't get hurt. Just in case, I notified Recovery Girl in advance, warning that there might be injuries. In any case, I considered this experience extremely valuable, both for Izuku and for the rest of the guys. Of course, in the future, we would have hundreds of encounters with other superhumans, but so far, there had been only one, during the last practice with All Might! Well, two, if you count the exam. So – it was necessary.
Some might think I'm overdoing it. Getting too caught up in this pointless manipulation, caring too much about people who, in essence, aren't even that close to me. But they… they weren't strangers to me. Even if I erase these two calm weeks of classes from my memory, during which I grew somewhat attached to these guys, in a way, they all, or at least most of them, were the heroes of my… second childhood, if I can put it that way. I grew up a second time, but instead of interacting with the kids around me, I imagined how I'd interact with the heroes of the reality I perceived this world to be. Those who were at the heart of the events, those on whom so much ultimately depended...
I guess there's a small… slight chance that I might be a little… obsessed with these guys, and with my goal too. Right?
I'll have to think about it. Later. Maybe.
… We decided to make Uraraka the referee. Her quirk was perfect for tossing the ball high above our heads and managing to get out of the way without risking getting hit. As it turned out, Ochaco had some control over whether the momentum of an object affected by her quirk remained.
In general, her quirk is really hard to understand.
First of all, the weight of the objects under its influence remains. "Zero gravity" doesn't make objects weightless but rather generates something like a pink energy field that shields the affected objects from gravitational forces, only creating the illusion of weightlessness. As a result, a "zeroed" softball can still be thrown, and a hundred-kilogram chunk of a robot hovering in the air can support a tiny brunette sitting on it.
It goes further. During the entrance exam, she managed to touch the body—or rather, the face—of a plummeting Midoriya, and he almost immediately lost all the momentum he had gained, being saved from the fate of becoming a pancake. As I had to conclude, she knew that inertia didn't zero out immediately, which is why she had to first levitate herself a couple of meters in the air so that the effect could take hold.
At the same time, the ball in Aizawa's test that was affected by her quirk didn't lose its momentum when thrown—it flew far into the distance.
Why? As far as I could tell, it mattered whether the physical impact on the object occurred before or after it was affected by her quirk. Ochaco's ability not only nullifies gravity but also seems to affect other fundamental physical processes impacting the object. At the very least, it cancels out the momentum and possibly kinetic energy.
As far as I can tell, the object isn't damaged in the process, considering the girl used her quirk on Izuku without any problems. "Object," heh.
This raises an immediate question: What other effects can she cancel out? Heat? Electric potential? Vibration? Friction?
At the very least, the last one seemed possible—Aizawa might have been joking, but I understood that Uraraka's ball throw sent it straight into orbit. That would have been impossible if Ochaco's anti-gravity field didn't nullify air resistance.
But if that's the case, why can we still see and hear the objects she affects with her quirk? Shouldn't they be shielded from external forces? So, only from some of them? If the quirk protects objects from friction, how does it allow them to be thrown? How does this work?
After observing her quirk for a week, I formulated a hypothesis, which still needed to be tested—that the girl's anti-grav protects objects from any impact that does NOT come from her. She can throw a zeroed object, but another person can't...
What if she uses a rope to throw the object? What if the "object" isn't an object at all but Izuku Midoriya, who decides to jump using the power of One For All? Will he just fly off into another galaxy without air resistance and gravity?!
No answer.
Ochaco Uraraka herself didn't have the faintest idea, which caused me a wave of frustration. You've had this quirk for over ten years! How could you not figure out at least the basic properties of it?!
However, pressing her with questions was simply inappropriate right now—we didn't talk, and neither Yui nor Setsuna were particularly close to her either. Even with Midoriya, they'd only interacted a couple of times, as far as I knew. Another trampled butterfly of Bradbury.
They should be listed in the Red List of Threatened Species soon...
Okay, everything after the Simulation Joint, everything later.
Both teams gathered into two small circles, assigning roles. I wasn't particularly experienced or skilled in basketball, preferring soccer in my previous life, but I still knew there were a few roles in this game: point guard, center, shooting guard, forward.
The rest of the class, those who weren't participating, took seats in the front rows of the stands (excluding Todoroki, but that's just who he is) and enthusiastically cheered. Since there was no one to root for just yet, Ochaco, Kyoka, Toru, and Denki cheered for everyone. Sitting calmly nearby, Yui and Momo resembled caretakers. Himiko was bored.
It just so happened that Bakugo and I were chosen as team captains. While the blonde spent the whole two minutes yelling at his teammates—mostly at Izuku, of course—I assigned my team thoughtfully, based on my reasoning and understanding.
Hmm, he calls the protagonist "Deku"? "The one who can't accomplish anything?"
I smirked. Well, in that case, Katsuki, you're in for a big surprise in the coming months.
I put Iida in as the second number, that is, the shooting guard (a ridiculous name, but I didn't choose it)—this position on the wing requires a lot of running, breaking up attacks, passing, and stealing the ball. Usually, this role also requires the best shooter, but I'll handle that myself. And with our lineup, we need to focus on close-range play.
Sero was made the center, the player who protects our basket—he could cover it completely with his tape, and with a well-aimed throw, he could also snatch the ball away.
Setsuna was our main attacking force, the small forward. She would be dunking near the hoop, easily getting past the defense, with an undeniable advantage in height. Although with her quirk, she could play any role.
Finally, Kirishima's abilities didn't make him the most versatile player—he was highly specialized. So I placed him in defense, as the power… something: his job was to pressure the opponent and try to take the ball by force, boosting Sero's chances of retrieving the ball and using the same method to attack under the opponent's basket. Let them be scared!
I took on the role of playmaker, or scoring point guard—speed, agility, and jumping ability were almost the best in our team. I could see the bigger picture, link the plays, and choose a specific tactic. In theory, Setsuna could beat me even in this role, but she was almost unbeatable in any sports game involving a ball in three-dimensional space. It was better to leave her in a pure offensive role—bet you, they'll struggle to block attacks from all directions.
And yes, by the way, we slightly altered the rules of the game because of Setsuna. In basketball, when a player steps out of bounds, it's an out, and if the ball hits the floor, wall, or a spectator outside, it's also out. But with Tokage on our team, who could easily return the ball to the game no matter where it flew, that changed things. Tokoyami and Bakugo could theoretically do the same. So could Hanta, and…
In short, considering all this—the speed of the ball's flight and the fact that the court was simply too small for us—we decided that if a player tried to catch someone's throw, meaning if the ball was already out of bounds but hadn't yet touched the floor, it was still allowed to step out and attempt to catch it.
In other words, regular volleyball saves. All or nothing—a cool comeback or a faceplant into the stands.
And no, of course, after battling against Setsuna for a whole year, I wasn't personally invested in this rule at all—no way, what are you talking about? … Well, maybe just a little…
I took my position, Bakugo stood opposite.
I smiled. Bakugo didn't.
His face looked grim, focused, and perhaps even too serious for a friendly (if you can call anything with Katsuki "friendly") match. Hmm... what's up with him?
Uraraka didn't throw the ball so much as lightly pushed it into the air, where it glowed pink and floated up to the ceiling—then plummeted down.
We both bolted into action at the same time.
The match had begun!
Author's Note:
Well, friends? A few more parts on basketball and its aftermath, and in the one of next chapters, there's going to be action, action, action... And then, starting from Chapter 15-X, we'll move on to the adult life. In every sense :)
But more in the dark sense.
P.S. I've brought you the protagonist of the fanfic—Niren Shoda in the flesh :)