The two minutes of observation had yielded useful information.
Fukidashi's team used the text balloons as physical projectiles, which was more effective than the quirk's description suggested, because the balloons could vary in size and the impact of something large and solid against a horse formation was enough to destabilize it. The team also had a 1-B student with a mass-multiplying quirk, making the front horse position considerably harder to move than its initial size suggested.
This was not an easy team. Still, it was the right team to target, because easier teams had fewer points and stronger teams had more defenses.
The second relevant piece of information: Shinso's team had stolen a third band.
Six hundred points now. They were in the zone where other mid-range teams would start considering them a target.
And Shinso knew it.
The dark-violet-haired team had changed their behavior over the past ninety seconds. Previously, they actively hunted small teams. Now, they moved more cautiously, choosing positions where at least one side was covered by the edge of the field or by another team acting as an involuntary barrier.
They're using the field as defense, Mineta thought. That means they're starting to feel observed.
—Move toward Fukidashi, —he said. —Asui-san, I need you to intercept the projectiles before they reach the formation. Shoji, at the final impact, I want you to use your extra arms to anchor the position. Ojiro, if anyone tries to approach from the tail flank, you handle it.
—And you? —Ojiro asked.
—The spheres at the shoulder joint of Fukidashi's front horse. If I block lateral movement before they can pivot, they can't reorient the attack.
Asui was already observing the target team, calculating distances and trajectories with that calm precision she always had.
—The mass student is the main problem, —she said. —If we can't move him, the formation won't destabilize.
—We don't need to move him, —Mineta replied, scanning Fukidashi's team. —We just need the rider to not reach our band while we reach theirs.
—Height, —Asui said.
—Height, —Mineta confirmed.
Without being asked, Shoji slightly adjusted the formation to raise the rider's position by a few centimeters. Not much. Enough to make the reach difference real.
Three years of work. This body is one hundred twenty-three centimeters tall and disadvantaged in reach in almost any physical contest. Compensating isn't optional—it's the prerequisite for everything else.
—Let's go, —Mineta said.
The approach took twelve seconds.
Fukidashi's team saw them at eight. By the time they reached striking distance, the text-balloon student had already launched two large projectiles at the formation, executed with the precision of repeated practice.
Asui intercepted the first with her tongue, redirecting it to the ground before it hit the formation. The second came lower, aimed at the horse's legs rather than the rider.
Shoji absorbed the impact with his extra arms, redistributing the force without losing position.
The formation kept moving.
Mineta launched the first two spheres at the mass student's right shoulder—the joint controlling the formation's pivot to the right. The spheres adhered with their characteristic sound, and the student attempted to pivot to adjust the rider's position.
The joint resisted.
The pivot was partial. Not complete.
Partial was enough.
Fukidashi's rider reached for Mineta's band and came up fifteen centimeters short—the exact difference created by Shoji's added height.
Mineta grabbed Fukidashi's rider's band.
One hundred forty-five points.
Fukidashi's team immediately reorganized for a second attempt, but the reformation required the mass student to release his grip on the ground. By the time he did, Ojiro had already pushed the formation laterally with his tail, creating enough distance that the second attempt was out of range.
The team retreated.
Six hundred seventy-five points. It worked.
—Good, —Asui said with her typical objectivity, not distinguishing between difficult work and easy work, just evaluating whether the result was correct.
—For now, —Mineta added.
From the center of the field came something that changed the dynamics of everything happening simultaneously.
Midoriya's team attacked Bakugo's team.
Not head-on. Using the mobility Hatsume had installed in the last few minutes, the team moved toward Bakugo's left flank on a trajectory that Iida might have executed faster, but Hatsume had added unpredictability rather than raw speed.
Midoriya reached for the band.
Bakugo responded with a downward-directed explosion—not at Midoriya, but toward the ground in front of the horse formation—creating a pressure wave that destabilized their advance.
Midoriya's formation wobbled.
Tokoyami used Dark Shadow to regain balance.
Hatsume activated something on the formation's sides that Mineta couldn't fully identify from this distance but that stabilized the team.
The exchange lasted four seconds. Neither team stole the other's band.
But something had changed.
Bakugo's team had to expend energy on defense. Not much, but the field saw it. Teams with ten million points using energy to defend were no longer perceived as completely invulnerable.
Present Mic:
—1-A'S IZUKU MIDORIYA HAS JUST CHALLENGED THE TEN-MILLION-POINT TEAM! HE DIDN'T GET IT, BUT HE DIDN'T GO EASY EITHER!
The stands responded.
Mineta watched the field.
Now all the mid-range teams will recalculate. If Midoriya can get close to Bakugo, so can the others. That means Bakugo's team will start feeling more pressure, and teams that were waiting will start moving.
Including Todoroki.
Including Shinso.
Todoroki's team moved.
Iida surged with that speed that made distance irrelevant for teams that couldn't pivot quickly enough, crossing the field diagonally toward Bakugo's team with the determination of someone who had decided this was the moment.
Yaoyorozu raised her shield.
Bakugo saw them coming.
—Kirishima, —he said.
Kirishima hardened.
—Ashido.
Ashido adjusted laterally.
What followed was the most technical exchange of the Cavalry Battle so far, with Iida changing direction twice before reaching striking range so that Yaoyorozu's shield could intercept at the correct angle, and Bakugo responding with measured explosions designed to apply pressure without spending all his power in a single clash.
Kendo used her large hands to push the formation's body forward at the peak approach.
Bakugo's band moved.
He grabbed it with the hand not used for explosions.
Todoroki extended ice toward the ground.
Iida skated a meter before compensating with his propulsion.
The exchange ended without a band transfer.
But Todoroki's team had approached close enough for the field to notice.
Mineta observed all this from the flank, then glanced at Shinso's team.
They had moved.
Shinso's team was no longer at the field's edge.
They were twenty meters from Sero and Kaminari's team, which had 155 points after stealing a band during the Todoroki-Bakugo chaos, moving with no entirely clear direction because Kaminari's brain was still half-out and Sero was making decisions for both.
Mineta saw Shinso open his mouth.
He couldn't hear what was said over the noise of the stands.
But he saw Sero respond.
And then he saw what happened next.
Sero froze. His expression shifted from active focus to something calmer, a quietness typical of someone whose attention had stopped processing the environment autonomously.
Kaminari looked at him.
—Sero?
Sero didn't respond.
Kaminari processed this for a second with the limited brainpower he had left.
—Hey, Sero, are you…?
And he responded to Shinso without realizing he was responding.
Sero and Kaminari's team stopped completely while Shinso's team approached unhurriedly, patiently executing the final step of their plan.
Mineta was already moving before Shinso's team reached for the band.
—Quick, —he said.
The distance was thirty meters.
Thirty meters with Shoji and Ojiro's formation was enough to reach in time if Shoji put everything into the movement—which he did without being asked twice because Shoji was the type to assess urgency and act accordingly.
Shinso's team noticed the movement.
Shinso looked.
Mineta held his gaze, silent.
Do not respond. No matter what he says, do not respond.
Shinso said something.
Mineta couldn't hear it clearly over the stadium noise, but enough to know it was a direct question designed to provoke an automatic response before the listener realized it.
Mineta didn't respond.
Asui didn't respond.
Shoji didn't respond.
Ojiro hesitated visibly, nearly responding, but didn't.
Shinso's team reached toward Kaminari's band.
Mineta launched three spheres.
Not at Shinso's team. At the ground between Shinso's team and Kaminari-Sero's team, creating a sticky zone they would have to bypass, knowing contact with the spheres would stick to any surface touched.
Shinso's team stopped.
Shinso looked at the spheres, then at Mineta.
At that exact moment, the stadium did something unexpected: the volume dropped. Not completely, but enough for Present Mic to notice.
—It looks like 1-A's Mineta team just positioned itself between General Studies' Shinso and his target! What's happening in that corner of the field?
Mineta looked at Shinso.
Shinso looked back.
It was the first direct eye contact since the Cavalry Battle began, and there was a mutual recognition: two people aware the other knew something most of the field didn't.
—Interesting, —Shinso said calmly, without theatrics.
Mineta didn't respond.
—A team that protects others during an individual competition, —Shinso continued. —That's unusual.
It was phrased to provoke a response: an assertion about the other's behavior designed to make Mineta confirm or deny. Basic mind-control quirk structure.
Mineta didn't respond.
Shinso regarded him for another second, processing an unexpected variable.
Then Shinso's team turned toward another target.
Mineta let them go.
Not yet, he thought. It's not time to confront him directly.
Kaminari regained control when Ojiro's tail gave him a firm shoulder strike, breaking the quirk's hold. Not delicate. Effective.
—What…? —Kaminari looked around, confused and disoriented.
—I move first, —Sero said, having also regained control once Shinso's quirk lost effect.
—What happened?
—Later, —Sero said. —Now move.
Kaminari moved.
Mineta observed and checked the stadium timer.
Seven minutes forty seconds.
Seven minutes twenty remaining.
The field has to keep changing. Todoroki will try Bakugo again. Midoriya will try too. Shinso's team will keep gaining points from teams unaware of their threat until it's too late.
And me?
Mineta checked his team's points on the scoreboard.
Six hundred seventy-five.
Provisional qualifying zone. Four teams advance. Right now, five teams are above us.
I need one more band.
He scanned the field for the right target.
Then, from the center, something Mineta hadn't fully anticipated—even though he'd seen it in the anime—happened.
Midoriya's team attacked Todoroki's team.
Not Bakugo's. Todoroki's.
And in the way Midoriya shouted toward Todoroki as the two teams approached under the watchful eyes of the field, Mineta realized this wasn't Cavalry Battle tactics.
It was something more important.
This is where it begins, he thought, observing Todoroki with that focused attention of someone who knows what's about to happen, even if he can't fully name it yet. This is what changes everything for him.
The stadium held its breath.
End of Episode 29.