Chapter 43: The Human Cable Car
"Class Rep, isn't this a little... flashy?" Momo asked, her voice a little helpless next to Kira's ear as the wind whistled past them.
"You got here a little late. You didn't see the girl from the Support Course. That was flashy," Kira replied. Seeing the next stone pillar rapidly approaching, he narrowed his eyes and shouted, "Momo!"
A palm-sized iron plate instantly appeared in Momo's hand. Although the stone pillar wasn't shoddily made, it had been constructed in a hurry and wasn't particularly sturdy.
Holding a simple spring-loaded launcher, Momo took aim and easily shot the plate into the rock face. Kira forcefully kicked off the plate, using the leverage to leap onto the pillar.
Looking at the finish line, which was now not far off, Kira set Momo down. "We're not far from the end," he said, turning back to her. "Let's go."
"Wait, let me catch my breath," Momo said, waving a hand. She stood with her hands on her hips, head lowered, and laughed. "You really know how to have fun, Class Rep. I can't believe you thought of a method like that."
Kira looked at the climbing axe and the pulley system in his hands and just shrugged with a smile. "Maybe it's because I like to play a lot of games."
"WHOA, LISTENERS! DID YOU SEE THAT!? WITH PERFECT TEAMWORK, KIRA AND YAOYOROZU HAVE SUCCESSFULLY REACHED THE PENULTIMATE FOOTHOLD! THEY'RE ONLY ONE STEP AWAY FROM THE EXIT! LET'S TAKE ANOTHER LOOK AT THEIR AMAZING PERFORMANCE!"
As the crowd roared, Present Mic hit the replay button. The large screen once again showed the image of Kira and Momo at the starting point of the chasm.
The drone zoomed in for a top-down view. A rainbow-colored mosaic appeared over Momo's chest. A few seconds later, it vanished, revealing its true form: a climbing axe and a pulley system loaded with gears.
Kira took the two items and combined them. He crouched down and gave Momo a look. With some reluctance, Momo climbed onto Kira's back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
To the gasps of the audience, Kira leaped into the air, gripping the climbing axe with both hands and hooking it precisely onto the steel cable.
The pulley system then activated, carrying the two of them along the cable toward the next pillar like a human cable car. As they neared the pillar, the pulley slowed down. Momo took the opportunity to materialize another piece of metal in her hand, just big enough for a foothold, and jabbed it into the rock face. Kira instantly stepped on it and leaped up to the top of the pillar.
"I'M SURE YOU'RE ALL A LITTLE CONFUSED, RIGHT? SO LET'S TALK ABOUT THEIR QUIRKS!" Mic knew that anyone who really wanted to could look up their Quirks, so he might as well just announce them freely.
"YAOYOROZU'S QUIRK IS CREATION! AS LONG AS SHE UNDERSTANDS ITS COMPOSITION, SHE CAN CREATE ANY NON-LIVING OBJECT! IT'S AN ALL-PURPOSE QUIRK! AS EXPECTED OF A RECOMMENDED STUDENT, JUST LIKE TODOROKI!"
"AND KIRA WAS OUR HERO COURSE'S TOP-RANKED ENTRANT IN THE EXAM! HIS QUIRK IS HAMON, AN ABILITY WITH EXTREMELY WIDE APPLICATIONS! AND I DON'T NEED TO TELL YOU HOW POWERFUL HE IS!"
"WHEN THESE TWO EXCEPTIONALLY TALENTED STUDENTS COLLIDE, THEY CREATE SPARKS OF CREATIVE GENIUS! USING THE CLIMBING AXE TO HOOK THE CABLE, KIRA USES HIS QUIRK TO POWER THE GEARS, AND WITH THE PULLEY SYSTEM TO REDIRECT THE FORCE, THEY'VE SUCCESSFULLY OVERCOME THIS HURDLE! LET'S HEAR IT FOR CREATIVITY!"
Watching their performance, Shota Aizawa muttered to himself, "That's Lara Croft's ability from the Tomb Raider series, isn't it...? Which one of them plays games from half a century ago?" The answer was obvious; Aizawa already had a good guess.
After successfully landing on solid ground, Yoshikage Kira set Momo down from his back. Although her chest had been pressed against his back the whole time, her arms had been wrapped so tightly around his neck that he could barely breathe, so he hadn't really felt much.
Besides, Kira had been expending a great deal of energy trying not to stare at Momo's hands, so other than feeling tired, he hadn't had any other sensations.
However...
"Yaoyorozu, you're surprisingly a bit heavy."
Momo's figure was well-proportioned and pleasing to the eye, but based on Kira's estimation, her weight was around 65 kg, comparable to that of an adult male.
The moment he said it, Momo's face instantly flushed red. "That's because my Quirk requires me to store lipids!"
"Right, right..." Kira replied dismissively, looking back at the chasm. By the time he and Momo had finished, the people who had started before them were only about halfway across. In the distance, he could vaguely see a small, pink bundle inching its way along a cable.
Momo, who had been a little indignant about Kira's comment on her weight, looked back at the others and couldn't help but sigh. "If I hadn't partnered with you, I'd still be back there with them..."
Kira started to run. "If we don't take this opportunity to get ahead, when will we?"
After running for a bit, Kira noticed that Momo hadn't followed him. Puzzled, he glanced back at a corner but still couldn't see her.
Shoto Todoroki, Katsuki Bakugo, Tenya Iida, Mei Hatsume, and Tsuyu were all ahead of him. Based on his current standing, he was probably in about tenth place.
Judging from past Sports Festivals, the number of students who advanced from the first round was usually between 40 and 50. He was safely in a qualifying position. With this in mind, Kira's pace slowed. He maintained his breathing and settled into a steady run.
Since he didn't know how long the break between the first and second rounds would be, he needed to conserve as much stamina as possible.
Suddenly, a hand tapped Kira on the shoulder. He turned his head in surprise and found Momo smiling, her hands behind her back. She was on a pair of roller skates, keeping pace with him effortlessly, with no intention of speeding up.
"...If you could make those, why didn't you use them earlier?" Kira said, rolling his eyes as he continued to run.
"Although I made a pair for Uraraka and the others earlier, it didn't occur to me at first..." Momo said, not the least bit embarrassed. "I should be thanking you. You've made me understand a few things."
"What did you understand? The reason you're heavier than I am?"
Momo knew that with her current ranking, she had no trouble qualifying. She relaxed, remembering what Erina had told her before. She skated up to be level with Kira and held a hand up, measuring the space between the top of his head and her own body.
"What are you trying to do?" Although he didn't understand her action, it gave him an uncomfortable feeling. "What is it?" he asked, annoyed.
Momo suddenly had the urge to tease him. She smiled and said, "Class Rep... no, Kira-kun. Turns out you're not even as tall as me."
Ugh. Kira suddenly felt a knife twist in his heart.
All Might had told him before that he wasn't tall enough, but in Kira's mind, All Might was in a league of his own. He was currently 172 cm tall, which wasn't particularly tall or short for his class. But compared to Momo, who was the tallest of the girls, he was still a few centimeters shorter.
As everyone knows, there are two taboos that should never be mentioned: a woman's weight and a man's height. It was clear that after Yoshikage Kira had violated the first, Momo was now maliciously bringing up the second. The problem was, he had no way to refute it.
"I'm sorry. Please spare me."
He apologized immediately.
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