He found a seam in the armor near the eye sensor.
Bracing himself, he began pummeling it, each strike fueled by desperation and borrowed strength.
The metal groaned, then buckled. With a final shout, he drove his fist through the wiring beneath.
Sparks flew. The robot' red eye flickered and died.
He slid off the motionless machine, breathing heavily, the nausea returning full force as the girl's Quirk faded from his body.
One robot. He'd defeated one robot. He had maybe two points. It wasn't enough. It was nowhere near enough.
Suddenly, the ground trembled. Not from robots, but from something far, far larger. A shadow fell over the entire city block. Kaito looked up, and his blood ran cold.
The zero-pointer. It was a moving skyscraper, a monster of metal and destruction, crushing buildings under its treads.
Panic turned into pure, unadulterated terror. Examinees turned and fled. Kaito was about to join them when a cry of pain cut through the din.
It was the girl. The one with the brown hair. She was trapped under rubble, directly in the path of the giant robot's relentless advance.
Without thinking, Kaito ran. Not away, but towards her.
His mind raced, analyzing, discarding plans.
'Zero Gravity is on cooldown, my body can't handle activating it again so soon. My other slot is still empty. I have nothing!'
He skidded to a halt next to her, grabbing at the rocks pinning her leg.
"Hey! Can you use your Quirk?"
"I... I tried! I overdid it... I think I'm going to be sick..." she whimpered, pale and trembling.
The shadow of the zero-pointer loomed larger. They were out of time. Desperation clawed at him. He needed power. Real power.
His eyes scanned the fleeing crowd. And then he saw him. The boy with the engines in his legs.
He was carrying two other examinees, trying to get them to safety, but he was looking back at the trapped girl, his face a mask of helpless conflict.
An idea, insane and reckless, formed in Kaito's mind.
"Stay down!" he yelled to the girl.
Then he turned and sprinted, not towards safety, but on an intercept course with the engine-legged boy.
"Hey! You! Ten Million!" he shouted, the ridiculous nickname the boy had been given during the briefing popping into his head.
The boy, Iida, turned, startled.
"What are you—? We must evacuate!"
"Your Quirk! I need it! Trust me!" Kaito yelled, not slowing down.
There was no time to explain. As he reached Iida, he didn't offer a hand.
He lunged, his fingers brushing against the exposed engine on Iida's calf for a critical three seconds.
Iida yelped in surprise and indignation.
"What is the meaning of this—?!"
But Kaito was already gone, pushing past him, his body screaming in protest as a new, incredibly powerful and complex Quirk flooded his system.
It was like trying to drink from a firehose. His legs burned with a pain he'd never felt, muscles and tendons threatening to tear apart from the raw, untamed power now stored within them.
He stumbled, nearly falling.
"Engine... Recipro Burst... too much... can't control it...'
He focused, pouring every ounce of his will into containing the energy, into understanding it just enough to not shatter his own bones.
The zero-pointer's fist was rising, about to crush the entire street, and the girl beneath it.
Kaito didn't have a cool catchphrase. He didn't have a plan. He just had a stolen power and one chance.
He bent his knees, pointing a foot behind him like he'd seen Iida do. He imagined the ignition. The burst.
"RECIPRO..." he gasped, the word tasting like blood and fire. "...BURST!"
A roar erupted from his calf, not the refined hum of Iida's engine, but a ragged, explosive 'BANG!'
Agony lanced up his leg, but it worked. He was propelled forward in a blinding, uncontrolled burst of speed, a green-and-silver missile.
He wasn't aiming for the robot. He was aiming for the girl.
He hit the rubble pile surrounding her like a cannonball, shoulder-checking the largest chunk pinning her leg. The rock shattered under the impact.
He scooped her into his arms, his body shrieking in protest, and kicked off again with his one good leg, the engine sputtering and dying as his Quirk's timer hit zero.
They tumbled together, a tangled heap of limbs, rolling to a stop just as the zero-pointer's fist slammed down exactly where they had been, the impact shaking the very foundations of the city.
Silence, for a moment, broken only by the girl's ragged breathing and his own pained gasps.
Then, a loud air horn.
The exam was over.
Kaito lay on his back, staring at the fake sky, his body a constellation of pain.
He'd saved her. He'd used a borrowed strength to do it. He had no idea how many points he had. Probably not enough.
The girl sat up, wincing, and looked at him, her eyes wide with awe and gratitude.
"You... you saved me. Thank you. I'm Ochako Uraraka."
He managed a weak nod, too exhausted to speak.
'Kaito Sōma,' he thought.
As the medical bots arrived, he closed his eyes.
He hadn't won with his own power. He'd won with theirs. Uraraka's. Iida's. And maybe, just a little, with his own stubborn will.
It wasn't the victory he'd imagined. But for the first time that day, it felt like a hero's victory.