Chapter 19: The Remnant
Several minutes earlier.
"Mineta-kun, could you perhaps walk a little faster?" Tenya Iida said, jogging in place as he waited. He shouted to Minoru Mineta, who was not far behind him, "We don't have much time!"
This time, Iida was paired with Mineta. Because Iida, while intelligent, was not very flexible, he had accepted Mineta's suggestion: first, they would scout their entire assigned area, then identify the most likely hiding spots. This would save a lot of energy and prevent them from wasting effort on empty areas.
Originally, Minoru Mineta's intention was to have Iida scout the entire area by himself so he could slack off, but to his surprise, the guy was completely straightforward. He was stubbornly insistent that if they were assigned to work as a pair, then no one would be left behind...
"Stop nagging! If I had your kind of speed, I wouldn't need you to tell me!" Minoru Mineta ran, panting, his pace slowing until he finally stopped about five meters from Iida. He bent over with his tongue lolling out, trembling as he clutched his legs. "We just ran over a thousand meters in four minutes!" he complained loudly. "That's nothing to you, but it's killing me!"
"My apologies, Mineta-kun! I was being too hasty!" Hearing this, Tenya Iida immediately bowed in apology. "I should have considered your stamina!"
Mineta's eyes darted back and forth, and a sly grin spread across his face. "Hehe... I can keep going with you, but... you have to agree to one condition!"
Tenya Iida looked up, confused. "...A condition?"
"Whoa-ho! Iida Chariot, engage!"
With Minoru Mineta's excited cry, Iida activated the jets on his calves. The moment the flames ignited, his Engines roared to life, and he burst forward with incredible speed, racing through the ruins like a speeding motorcycle.
At that moment, four or five round, purple balls were stuck to Tenya Iida's metal hero costume. Minoru Mineta clung tightly to them, the sheer speed pulling the corners of his mouth back into a wide, unending grin. "Iida-kun, you know," he shouted, "ever since I was a kid, I've had this dream of riding a motorcycle down the highway with a super-hot girl on the back!"
While running at top speed, Tenya Iida was also observing his surroundings, building a mental map of the earthquake zone. He didn't answer, merely listening in silence.
"But! You know, with my height, I can't even reach the pedals! And I'm not gonna ride some kid's bike! I'm 15 years old! Even if I'm the same height as an elementary schooler, that doesn't change the fact that I'm a normal, energetic high school boy who likes girls!" Mineta's mood seemed to lift as he shouted out things he would never normally say, as if he believed the roaring wind would carry away all his troubles.
"Iida-kun, the first time I saw your hero costume, I thought of this! It's flashy, it's cool, and it's fully automatic! It's everything I ever imagined in a motorcycle! I never thought you'd actually let me ride on your back and make this dream come true!"
Soon, Tenya Iida saw a dusty rock wall ahead, realizing he had reached the edge of the earthquake zone. He instantly stopped moving his legs, and his metal boots screeched against the ground as he executed a perfect drift, turning himself around to once again face the ruined city.
"Thanks, Iida-kun!" Minoru Mineta hopped off Iida's back. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, revealing that they were slightly red. "Jeez," he mumbled, "that was so fast, I got sand in my eyes..."
Tenya Iida said seriously, "I have observed our surroundings. The optimal hiding location is at the halfway point of the route we just ran. There is a high concentration of ruins there, making it difficult to search. I believe someone must be hiding there."
"If that's the case, then let's go together." Mineta was satisfied. That feeling of being buffeted by the strong wind was truly exhilarating. No wonder so many people in his neighborhood liked to take their motorcycles out for a spin at night.
Just as Mineta climbed onto a rock behind Iida, preparing to remove the super-sticky balls from his back, Tenya Iida spoke.
"Mineta-kun, would you like to go again?"
Minoru Mineta's eyes lit up. He thought Iida hadn't heard a word he'd said, but he was actually offering him another ride!
Without a moment's hesitation, Minoru Mineta leaped onto his back, sticking his arms and legs to the purple balls. "Let's go, Iida-kun!" he commanded excitedly.
Shoto Todoroki was in a basement. Light streamed in from a window at the top, and the golden rays fell upon him like a spotlight on a stage, illuminating only him while plunging everything else into darkness. He was the sole protagonist of this stage.
He sat on a pile of stacked stones, silently watching the darkness, waiting for someone to find him.
"...It's been about eight minutes now, and still no one has come. Did I choose a spot that's too well-hidden?" Todoroki began to worry if the search team would be able to find him. He considered changing his location, but Thirteen-sensei had said that once a spot was chosen, it couldn't be changed...
Originally, this wasn't the spot Todoroki had picked. But he had seen the open door to this building's first floor and had curiously stepped inside. In the center of the room was a large stone slab. When he lifted it, he found a basement with a hole in the ceiling.
Seeing this cellar-like environment, Todoroki was surprised, and then decisively chose it as his hiding place. But now it seemed... perhaps it was too well-hidden?
Thump... thump...
Footsteps. Heavy footsteps.
At first, Todoroki thought it was the search team and felt a mix of disappointment and relief. But he quickly realized that the sound wasn't coming from above, but from the other side of the wall.
Todoroki was instantly on alert. Frost covered his palm. As he watched, a massive, dark figure slowly emerged from another room he hadn't entered.
The man was over two meters tall, dressed in overalls like a lumberjack. A fearsome, jagged metal mask covered his face, glinting in the dim light.
He turned his head, stretching his body. A low voice rumbled from behind the mask. "They've had me hiding for four days. It's about time they let me cause some havoc..."
"A remnant of the League of Villains... No wonder I found this place. You left this opening intentionally, didn't you...?"
A stream of ice erupted from under Todoroki's feet, sharp ice spikes shooting towards the enemy. However—in that same instant, the enemy was already behind him, a fist the size of a sledgehammer hurtling towards his head.
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