The next challenge was a cavalry battle. Essentially, you form groups of two to four people, with one group member being held up by the others.
The objective of the game was to collect headbands from the other players. Depending on how well you perform in the race, the more points you're worth. Last place was worth one hundred points while first place was worth... Well, I'll let you hear it from Midoriya himself.
"Ten... Million..." Midoriya mumbled.
"Bro," I said, patting him on the back. "You are cooked. Good luck."
Everyone, and I mean every single remaining student, stared daggers at Midoriya, and I could tell she was crumbling under the weight of it all. I mean, I was only with two hundred and five points, yet I was even nervous. I could only imagine what was going through his head.
"So, uhm, Morales..." Midoriya tiptoed toward me, and I already knew what he was going ot ask.
"No way. I'm not putting that kind of target on my back."
And with that, we went our separate ways. I almost regretted it since I struggled to find teammates, that is, until an unlikely individual approached me.
"Morales, right?" Asui asked me with her ribbity voice.
"Yeah, what's up? Tryna team up?"
Asui pointed toward Mineta and Shoji. The pair seemed to be in a team already.
"You see, Shoji, Mineta, and I have a plan. We're going to sit atop Shoji, and he will cover us with his Quirk so we can attack without our defenses being down. However..."
Asui looked at Mineta, who was practically drooling at the thought of being alone with Asui while concealed beneath Shoji's arms.
"And you don't want to be alone with Mineta. I understand. I'll join."
I was lucky that our Quirks synergized so well. Even if they didn't, I would've still joined because I could see the fear of god in Asui's eyes. I wasn't going to let her be alone with that little freak.
After fifteen minutes, everyone had found their teams, even Midoriya. Of course, Uraraka was on his team, but Tokoyami teaming up with him was a surprise. This girl with pink hair also joined them, and based on the equipment she and Midoriya were wearing, it's safe to say she was one of the support students.
Asui, Mineta, and I were hidden beneath Shoji's wing-like arms, concealed in shadow. The headband I wore had the number six hundred and thirty on it, the sum of all of our points. Though I wanted to go for first place, it came with a cost, and the others agreed. Instead of going for the ten million, we decided to go for all of the other headbands while everyone was distracted with the grand prize.
When the battle began, Mineta started firing his purple orbs -- I am not going to call them his balls -- at the feet of our opponents. Once they were stuck, I would subdue the leader with my webs. This opened up the perfect window for Asui to shoot her tongue at them and steal their headband.
It wasn't long before we had about six headbands in our possession. I would go into more detail, but that's all there was to it. I'm sure if you had Midoriya's point of view or something, it would've been a little bit more exciting.
What I can tell you is that there was a three-way explosion between Midoriya's team, Todoroki's team, and Bakugo's team. In the end, Todoroki's team ended with the ten-million-point headband.
As I figured, the amount of points we received didn't matter in the end; all that mattered was that we passed. Since my team had collected so many headbands, we got second place with one thousand two hundred points.
All that was left was the one-on-one tournament, and its bracket was revealed to us. Since Mineta got cold feet, he was replaced by someone named Tetsutestu from class 1-B.
[Miles Morales vs Hanta Sero]
[Denki Kaminari vs Tsuyu Asui]
[Momo Yaoyorozu vs Fumikage Tokoyami]
[Tenya Iida vs Mei Hatsune]
[Mezo Shoji vs Izuku Midoriya]
[Mina Ashido vs Shoto Todoroki]
[Testutetsu Tetsutetsu vs Eijiro Kirishima
[Uraraka Ochaco vs Katsuki Bakugo]
But before then, those who moved on were given a time of respite while the others engaged in side activities.
I had lunch with Midoriya and the others, but I ultimately decided to skip the side activities. Instead, I mentally prepared myself for what was to come; at least, that's what I would have been doing if it weren't for my unexpected visitor.
"Are you Miles Morales?" said the stranger -- actually, upon closer inspection, I'd recognized him as one of the class 1-B students. I didn't know much about his Quirk, but he'd caught my eye before due to our similarities. Rather than shooting webs from his wrists, he shot tape from his elbows.
"I am. And you are?"
"I'm Hanta Sero. Your first opponent during the one-on-one tournament."
"For real? I was wondering who Hanta Sero was. It's funny that they put the two of us against each other first, huh?"
I smiled at him, but he did not reciprocate it. Instead, he glared at me with his arms crossed. He had this look in his eyes. It wasn't the same look that Bakugo would give Midoriya; I'd classify that as contempt. No, instead, he looked at me with the same eyes that Todoroki looked at Midoriya with. If I were to put it to words, I'd classify that look as relentless covetousness.
"It's not funny at all. Do you know why I'm in class 1-B?" he asked me.
"You didn't do well enough in the entrance exams?"
"It's because they chose you over me. Our Quirks are too similar. It's the same thing that happened to my classmate, Tetsutetsu. That red-haired kid, Kirishima, took his place."
"Did you want an apology? Look, man, I'm sorry-"
"I don't want your apology! That's not why I'm here! I'm here to declare war."
The guy was serious, his brows furrowed beneath his spikey, black bangs. The more I looked at him, the more depressed I felt about what he must've gone through. Sometimes, you can look at a person and you can tell when the expression they wore was a mask. His eyes were too kind for the whole tough guy act; I knew more than anyone that it wasn't anger brewing within him, it was anguish.
"I accept your declaration, but let me get something straight with you. You 1-B kids can think all you want that your spots were stolen from you; it truly doesn't matter to me. Still, don't think that we 1-A students haven't been working our asses off to keep our spots. You guys probably think being in 1-A is all fun and games, but it's not. We almost died to villains just weeks ago! We work our asses off, training every day to become stronger so a close call like that never happens again! And if you think that I'm just going to let you waltz onto that stage and take my spot, you're in for a rude awakening. I'll show you exactly why I was chosen and why I deserve my spot in class 1-A."
My body excitedly discharged electricity, and I could see Sero take a step back. Still, he didn't express even a fraction of fear. Without a word, Sero left. I wasn't looking forward to my match with him; to be honest, all I cared about was beating Midoriya and the others. However, at that moment, I wasn't thinking about anyone else.
I wanted to beat Sero, to prove to the world that my spot in class 1-A was mine and no one else's.