*What a truly intriguing exercise. Eighteen students split into groups of three, placed against the top three of the class.*
My brainwave reader caught Iida's surface thoughts.
*I guess it all makes sense. Bakugo is the top scorer of the entrance exams, we all know that much. Todoroki was admitted through the recommendation exams, and him...*
His head shifted, giving me a side glance.
*He's our class's special case, so no surprise there. His placement in yesterday's assessment means he's very strong. It seems this exercise must not be taken lightly...*
My gaze turned elsewhere.
*Ken-kun... And Kaachan... On the same team?* I saw Midoriya swallow nervously. *This is gonna be bad, isn't it?*
He probably wasn't wrong.
*Dammit! Why him? What about my rematch?*
Bakugo's thoughts practically screamed his frustration.
"So we're up against the top percent huh? This should be fun."
"Those three against the rest of us?"
"Well, it's not exactly a full gang up. We're all going to be split into teams, so we can't cooperate."
"Still. 3 against 18 still feels a bit bullying. Don't you think?"
*Bullying?* I raised an eyebrow. That last one belonged to Kaminari. Did they seriously think this was unfair for us?
"BEFORE WE BEGIN!" All Might's voice echoed across Training Ground Beta, "LET ME EXPLAIN THE FULL SCENARIO!"
He gestured broadly at the sprawling mock city around us—multiple city blocks, alleyways, rooftops, underground passages. Way bigger than I remembered from the anime.
"THE VILLAIN TEAM HAS ONE HOUR TO ACCOMPLISH THEIR MISSION!" He held up a metallic briefcase. "INSIDE THIS CASE IS A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION! THE VILLAINS MUST HIDE IT SOMEWHERE IN TRAINING GROUND BETA AND DEFEND IT AT ALL COSTS!"
Eighteen pairs of eyes tracked that briefcase like hawks.
"THE HERO TEAMS MUST LOCATE AND SECURE THE WEAPON BEFORE TIME RUNS OUT! BUT BEWARE—THERE ARE DECOY WEAPONS WITHIN THAT CASE AS WELL. THE VILLAIN TEAM CAN SCATTER THEM THROUGHOUT THE TRAINING GROUND AT THEIR DISCRETION. THE EXACT NUMBER IS UNKNOWN, AND ONLY ONE IS REAL!"
He tossed the briefcase to me. I caught it one-handed, feeling its weight. Definitely heavier than it looked. Instead of the large bombs from the original timeline, these were portable nukes.
"VILLAINS WIN BY ELIMINATING ALL HEROES OR RUNNING DOWN THE CLOCK! HEROES WIN BY SECURING THE REAL WEAPON OR CAPTURING ALL VILLAINS! BUT REMEMBER—ONLY ONE HERO TEAM CAN CLAIM VICTORY! AND CAPTURING VILLAINS ONLY WORKS IF ALL VILLAINS ARE ELIMINATED BY THE SAME HERO TEAM! THE SAME DOESN'T APPLY THE OTHER WAY ROUND. COOPERATION IS PERMITTED, BUT REMEMBER—YOU'RE COMPETING AGAINST EACH OTHER AS MUCH AS THE VILLAINS!"
Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "What constitutes 'capturing' someone?"
"CAPTURE RULES ARE SIMPLE. IF A STUDENT IS THOROUGHLY RESTRAINED OR KNOCKED UNCONSCIOUS, THEY ARE OUT OF THE EXERCISE!"
Kaminari looked nervous. "So if we get caught, we're done? No respawns?"
"NO RESPAWNS!" All Might confirmed cheerfully.
The gears were turning in everyone's heads. This wasn't the usual training exercise where you could afford mistakes. One screw-up and you were spectating from the sidelines.
All Might pulled out military-grade communication devices from an equipment case.
"EACH TEAM GETS STANDARD HERO COMMUNICATION GEAR. VILLAINS GET THE SAME, PLUS ADDITIONAL TACTICAL EQUIPMENT TO HELP LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD."
He tossed earpieces to each group. The villain team—me, Bakugo, and Todoroki—got the same basic setup as everyone else, plus the briefcase and a map. Apparently that qualified as "additional tactical equipment."
"NOW THEN, LET'S DETERMINE TEAMS. I'LL DRAW LOTS!"
The chaos of reorganization began immediately. I honestly couldn't tell if these were random draws or if All Might had rigged the ballot boxes based on whatever would make this the most educational disaster possible.
**Team A:** Midoriya, Iida, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Koda, Sato
**Team B:** Yaoyorozu, Jiro, Tokoyami, Kirishima, Ojiro, Hagakure
**Team C:** Kaminari, Shoji, Mina, Sero, Mineta, Aoyama
I could already see where this was going.
Team A would probably have leadership split between Iida and Midoriya. Midoriya as tactician, the rest providing versatile quirks. Team B looked the most tactically sound with Yaoyorozu's intelligence and creation abilities. Team C was... well, Team C was going to be either brilliant or complete chaos. Possibly both.
"Dude, we're so screwed," I heard Kaminari mutter to his teammates.
Everyone had some idea of their classmates' quirks after the assessment exam.
"NONSENSE!" Aoyama struck a pose. "With my dazzling brilliance, victory is assured!"
"ARE THERE ANY MORE QUESTIONS BEFORE WE BEGIN?" All Might asked.
Iida's hand shot up immediately. "All Might-sensei, what are the specific rules of engagement? Are we allowed to cause property damage? What about potential injuries?"
"EXCELLENT QUESTIONS IIDA! WHILE THIS IS A TRAINING EXERCISE, TREAT IT AS A REAL COMBAT SITUATION! AS HEROES, THE HERO TEAMS SHOULD TRY THEIR BEST TO KEEP PROPERTY DAMAGE TO A MINIMUM IN URBAN AREAS. THE VILLAINS HAVE NO SUCH RESTRICTIONS THOUGH. FOR THEM PROPERTY DAMAGE IS ACCEPTABLE. THESE BUILDINGS ARE DESIGNED EXACTLY FOR SUCH SCENARIOS. HOWEVER," his expression became more serious, "NO USE OF EXCESSIVE FORCE THAT COULD PERMANENTLY INJURE YOUR TEAMMATES. THIS IS AN EXERCISE. AND IF YOU HEAR ME CALL TO STOP, STOP IMMEDIATELY!"
He gestured toward the urban training area behind him—a massive facility with multiple buildings, streets, and enough complexity to make this genuinely challenging.
"HERO TEAMS! YOU'LL BE INSERTED AT THREE DIFFERENT ENTRY POINTS AFTER THE PREPARATION PERIOD! VILLAINS..." All Might's grin turned sinister. "YOU HAVE A FIFTEEN MINUTE HEADSTART TO STRATEGIZE, HIDE YOUR WEAPONS AND POSITION YOURSELVES. I HOPE THAT CLARIFIES EVERYTHING."
Meanwhile, Yaoyorozu was already pulling her team into a huddle, her voice carrying ideas that sounded like a tactical briefing.
"...Alright. Now that I have a preliminary understanding, here's how I think it should go. Information gathering first... Jiro's hearing... Hagakure for reconnaissance..."
Team B found their de facto leader quickly.
Team A seemed to be having a leadership crisis as both Midoriya and Iida tried to take charge simultaneously, talking over each other in their enthusiasm.
"GOOD LUCK! YOUR TIME STARTS... NOW!"
All Might turned to everyone else. "ALRIGHT HEROES. LET'S GET YOU ALL TO YOUR STATIONS."
They left right after.
Leaving the villain group to discuss strategy with our current timeframe.
"Alright, extras..."
Or at least that's how it was supposed to go.
Too bad.
Bakugo turned to Todoroki and me, his expression somewhere between excited and homicidal.
"Here's how this is gonna work—"
"No," Todoroki said flatly.
"WHAT?!"
Bakugo snapped toward him.
"Did you just say something Mr. Freeze?"
*For Pete's sake.* I groaned internally.
Todoroki held Bakugo's glare without blinking or changing expression. "I don't think you're qualified to give orders."
Bakugo crossed his arms, explosions crackling from his palms. "Listen up and listen well extra. I don't care what fancy scores you got—I'm taking point on this."
Todoroki's right side flared with cold. "I have no intention of following orders from you."
Perfect.
Before either had experienced their respective character developments, these two would probably try to kill each other before working together.
I watched this trainwreck about to happen and decided intervention was necessary before they started an actual fight.
"Both of you, shut up for five seconds."
They turned to glare at me instead. Progress, I guess.
"Look, we can either waste our fifteen-minute head start having a pissing contest, or we can figure out how to not get overwhelmed by eighteen people who actually know how to work together."
*Who does he think he is? All Might?* Bakugo's eye twitched. "I don't need—"
"You don't need what? A strategy? Because that's exactly what got you captured by the sludge villain."
His explosions flared brighter. "THE HELL DID YOU JUST SAY?!"
Todoroki's surface thoughts were practically screaming: *This is pointless. I should have just gone alone.*
I needed a different angle.
I activated Meta Eye, scanning both of them quickly. Bakugo's stress indicators were through the roof—classic fight-or-flight response triggered by his ego being challenged. Todoroki was showing signs of emotional withdrawal, probably reverting to his usual 'everyone else is irrelevant' mindset.
"Bakugo," I said, keeping my voice level, "you want to prove you're better than everyone else, right?"
"Obviously!"
"And Todoroki—my guess is you want to win without relying on others because you think we'll slow you down."
His eyes narrowed slightly, but he didn't deny it.
"Perfect. Then here's the thing—we're all getting what we want, but only if we don't lose in the first ten minutes."
I opened the briefcase All Might had given us. Inside were four identical devices that looked like miniaturized nuclear warheads, each about the size of a thermos. One was slightly heavier than the others—probably the real one.
"I can guess what you're both thinking. All Might said it himself. We're the strongest in the class. So I bet that just like me, you're both probably thinking coordinated tactics are a waste of time."
I raised the first bomb.
"Do we agree on that?" Neither responded. I took that as a yes.
"Good. But here's the plain truth. We hardly know each other, and we're not close enough to trust each other, so I don't trust either of you to handle 18 heroes on your own. Look at this objectively. Eighteen people, split into three teams that can't fully cooperate but still want to hunt us down. They have a full hour to search an area the size of several city blocks. We need to survive that long while protecting one specific target."
Bakugo was still scowling, but I caught his thoughts: *Tch. He's not wrong though.*
"What are you suggesting?" Todoroki asked.
I pulled out the tactical map All Might had given us—a detailed layout of Training Ground Beta. Multiple buildings, underground passages, rooftop access points, and what looked like a park area in the center.
"Simple. We don't try to out-muscle eighteen people. I don't trust you to handle eighteen people, but you should at least be able to handle six, right? So since we all want to fight separately and prefer to eliminate our targets instead of waiting out the time, let's take one team each, stay out of each other's way and get this over with."
I dropped my suggestion.
Both pondered it. Neither immediately objected.
"We split up, but stay in communication. Each of us takes a device and positions ourselves in a different area. Then we cause three different commotions to draw them away. The hero teams can't win by working together—only one team gets the victory. That means if two teams find us at the same time, they're going to be watching each other as much as fighting us. So if we cause three different scenes, they'll have to split their attention between multiple targets, and they won't know which one is real until they actually secure it."
I took out the final bomb.
"That is, of course, if you can finish yours alone. It would be a shame if one of you fails, then it's up to the other two to finish it."
"Huh? Me? Fail?..." Bakugo grinned, seemingly offended. "Think again. Though I'll say, for an annoying guy, your plan isn't half bad."
Todoroki didn't respond to the question, but asked one of his own.
"Why keep in communication if we're acting alone?"
*This guy sure isn't making my job any easier.* I clicked my tongue with furrowed brows.
"Because this is a teamwork exercise. Don't forget that U.A has unique teaching standards. We can crush our classmates individually yet possibly fail simply because we went alone. We don't need to work together, but we should at least make them think we are. Any objections?"
"Hmph. Whatever." Bakugo waved dismissively.
"Good. Now, we need to decide who takes the decoys and who keeps the real thing." I looked at both of them.
___
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