"ALRIGHT, HOPE YOU ALL LIKED THAT LITTLE BREAK, BECAUSE WE'RE BACK IN ACTION! ANY THOUGHTS, HADOU?!"
"I have no idea what's coming next, and that only makes me more excited!"
"THAT'S THE SPIRIT! LET'S HOPE THE STUDENTS DOWN THERE HAVE THE SAME DRIVE AS YOU!"
All students remaining lined up, and from what could be seen, most of the students were an even split between Class 1-A and 1-B, with two from the support course and one from general studies. There was also a very tiny white-haired girl around the lines, but Midoriya couldn't for the life of him figure out which course she belonged to.
"Geez, that last event certainly thinned out the numbers," Tenko remarked, scanning the lines with slight concern. "How many more can be taken out now?"
"Well, from what I remember," Mina hummed. "The last event's a one-on-one tournament of 16 students, so-"
Melissa jabbed Mina on the neck, and grabbed her as she collapsed. "We're gonna be fine, Shimura."
"I sure hope so."
Meanwhile, with 1-B, Midoriya stole a glance at the talk between Melissa and Tenko, before he turned to see Hatsume standing uneasy alongside Mineta and Shinsou, the former glaring at the latter as if to warn him not to do anything.
"Hey, Midoriya, stay focused," Monoma said, snapping his fingers. "This event is critical: we need to get at least you, Kendo, Tetsutetsu, and Shiozaki to the final tournament round!"
"Huh? Me?" Midoriya asked incredulously. "I mean, I understand why I needed to pass during the last event, I was carrying Tokage and Shiozaki, but why am I included in the lineup?"
"Kendo's arm might still be injured somehow, but she can still pack a punch; Tetsutetsu's Quirk makes him a decent tank and he's pretty strong, so as long as he doesn't face off against someone with a stronger Quirk, he'll be fine; Shiozaki's vines are extremely versatile and fast, so as long as she doesn't face fire or ice
Midoriya blinked once and shook his head, earning a baffled look from the copycat.
"Midoriya, you can fly!"
Oh right, he could do that, couldn't he? And furthermore, with the boots Hatsume made for him, he didn't have to worry about the jumping requirement. And going from what he had seen so far, there weren't many people who could fly as well, except...
Yaoyorozu...
He stole a glance at the winged girl from 1-A's line, and once she noticed him, she... shyly blushed and avoided eye contact. Well, that was certainly not the reaction he was expecting.
Okay, how about Hatsume over at the other line? She spotted him and smiled, waving hello before she turned back to wait for the unveiling of the next event.
Yup, that was more to Midoriya's liking.
"And now!"
Everybody turned back to the stadium, and they saw the R-Rated heroine, Midnight, standing right next to a wheel with several events written on it. "Let's decide the next event!"
She spun the wheel, and as everybody waited for the wheel to stop, some students talked among each others:
"Where the heck did she come from?" Monoma inquired.
"It's Midnight, don't question it." Kendo answered.
"Is that outfit really appropriate for a hero?" Shinsou asked, activating no bells.
"If you think that's provocative, you should've seen her original costume," Mineta spoke, trying to hold back his laughter. "It was so controversial it created a new law!"
Midnight cracked her whip, and the murmurs stopped just in time to see the wheel stop... and point at an event simply titled "Free For All."
"Free For All?" the students asked in unison.
"The event rules are simple: two third years from U.A. will wear headbands on their bodies, eight a piece, and those who manage to snatch the headbands go to the final event! And once you snatch a headband, you'll go back to the stands to wait for the event to end! But don't think this'll be a piece of cake, for this year, we have the two remaining members of The Big Three rounding up the second event!"
At Midnight's sides, two platforms rose up, holding the two mentioned third years. Each sported the headbands around their legs, arms, wrists, neck, and heads.
"A round of applause for Mirio Togata and Tamaki Amajiki, everyone!"
The audience roared in applause as Mirio waved hello and Tamaki saved his hands on his pockets and lowered his head. "Too much attention..."
Mirio Togata and Tamaki Amajiki... Midoriya lowered his eyelids with determination. Lemillion and Suneater...
You have to be kidding me... Hatsume grimaced, her eyes widening in sheer disbelief. We'll have to face two of The Big Three just to reach the tournament?! And then she smiled. I'm so pumped!
Mirio Togata, I think Gran Torino told me he was a potential candidate to get One for All... Melissa smiled with excitement. I guess now's as good time as ever to test if he would've been a better pick than me...
And then she noticed something. "Wait a minute, Midnight! I only see seven headbands around Togata's person! Combined with Amajiki's eight, it only adds up to fifteen!"
"Ah yes, I was hoping to save that revelation for later, but since you pointed it out," Midnight giggled and aimed her whip at Melissa. "The first place winner of the obstacle course will wear the sixteenth and final headband!"
"What?" was all Melissa could utter.
"Alright, we'll give everyone fifteen minutes to prepare, and then we'll begin the Free For All!"
Midoriya reunited with the remaining students of Class 1-B to form a strategy, Hatsume and Mineta talked about strategy while putting some finishing touches on some gadgets, the gen ed students looked at each other before looking elsewhere, and Class 1-A hyped themselves up for the upcoming event.
And watching them all was Melissa, who stood frozen in the middle of the arena with Mirio and Tamaki.
I'm so screwed... Melissa thought as she wrapped her headband. I just wanted to test my strength against the other potential inheritor, but now I'm gonna have to fight for my life just to get to the next round!
"Oi!"
Melissa flinched and turned around, meeting Mirio's friendly smile. "You look a little nervous, first time doing this?"
"Y-Yeah," Melissa twiddled her fingers. "I had no idea getting first place would give me such an... overwhelming position on the second event, so, I'm kinda nervous."
"You don't look like a first year to me," Tamaki blurted. "You look old enough to be either a second or third year. Did you hold back a grade?"
"Oh no, no, I just didn't bother going through the entrance exam when it first happened, I was still focused on my inventions back then," Melissa explained. "But now that I'm at U.A., I want to know all there is to be a hero, and so, I'm going to need to go through all three years to get a good idea, right?"
"I see..."
"AND START!"
Melissa flinched as Mirio and Tamaki took defensive positions... for about a second before the trio separated; Mirio and Tamaki jumping away, while Melissa flinched forward, narrowly missing a bursting wall of white fire.
"W-What's going on?!" Melissa asked as she turned around and leaned her hand closer to the wall. "What's this thing?"
"I wouldn't touch that if I were you."
Melissa flinched and turned to face the source of the voice, the white-haired girl from before, who parted her hair to reveal a glowing white horn.
"Just because the fire's not red or blue doesn't mean it doesnt burn."
"WOW! ERI HASSAIKAI FROM GENERAL STUDIES HAS SPLIT THE ARENA INTO THREE, SEPARATING MIRIO TOGATA, TAMAKI AMAJIKI, AND MELISSA SHIELD INTO THEIR OWN INDIVIDUAL ARENAS! BUT WILL THIS MAKE GETTING THE HEADBANDS EASIER, OR HARDER?!"
It's definitely easier for me, Shinsou smiled as he turned to Midoriya. Especially since I got the same group as Midoriya. Now, I just need to get close...
And as Shinsou sneaked his way towards the swan knight, he crouched down, ready to leap into the air.
Okay, Midoriya, the arena might've been split into three, but you got this in the bag!
Midoriya eyed Monoma and some of his fellow classmates, including Shiozaki and Kendo.
Some of your classmates did make it into the section you're in, and you have a plan! You just need to make sure you don't mess anything up!
Midoriya looked down at his boots, and got ready to push the button.
I already activated the boots once, and Hatsume said it could go four more times before she needed to fix them. And as long as the plan goes smoothly, I should only need to use them once, so-
"Hey."
Midoriya raised an eyebrow, and Tamaki showed a headband to Midoriya. "If I give this to you, would you stop muttering? It's scaring me."
"Oh, right, sorry, it's an old habit of mine," Midoriya grabbed the headband and wrapped it around his head. "Now, where was I?"
...Wait-
"UNBELIEVABLE FOLKS! USING THE POWER OF MUTTERING ALONE, IZUKU MIDORIYA OF CLASS 1-B HAS ALREADY ADVANCED TO THE NEXT ROUND!"
"What?!" Midoriya exclaimed as the audience roared in joy. "No, wait, I-I didn't mean to do that!"
"WHO CARES? YOU PASSED, SO GO TO THE STANDS AND WATCH THE REST OF THE SHOW, PLEASE!"
"B-But-"
"Who cares if it was an accident, Midoriya, you passed!" Monoma said with a thumbs up. "Now go to the stands."
"But what about the plan?!"
"We can improvise from here," Kendo said as she walked up to the boy. "You got the headband, so go take a breather. You're gonna need it for the tournament."
"But-"
Suddenly, Midoriya was grabbed by Kendo's gigantic hand, then promptly thrown towards the stands by the redhead, activating his wings just before he crashed on them. He calmly flew down, landed on the seat, and gave his classmates a thumbs up.
"Alright, everyone!" Monoma narrowed his eyes with determination. "Time to improvise!"
Meanwhile, on Mirio's side of the arena, he sighed and shook his head. "Poor Tamaki, peer pressure has always been his biggest weakness."
Then, a steel-covered Tetsutetsu jumped out of nowhere and reeled back a fist. "I don't think getting scared of muttering counts as peer pressure!"
Tetsutetsu threw the fist, but as soon as he did, it phased right through Mirio, who turned to look at him with half his arm on his face.
"What the hell?!"
Mirio promptly responded by throwing a punch that not only connected with Tetsutetsu, but sent him flying straight into a wall, cracking it in the process.
"Whoops, that hook might've been a little too strong!" Mirio said as he waved his hand. "Sorry about that, kid! I thought I needed to give it my all since you got steel for skin! Are you okay!"
"I'm okay!"
"Great!"
Soon after, a smoke bomb dropped next to Mirio's feet, and once he looked at it, he turned towards the direction it was thrown from: Yaoyorozu was there, holding a serious expression on her face.
"Clever."
The bomb blew up, covering Mirio in a smoke cloud.
"Everyone, now's our chance!"
Yaoyorozu flew forward into the smoke cloud, followed by a couple of other students, and a couple seconds later they came out, and Yaoyorozu dispelled the smoke cloud by flying up, revealing she was wearing one of the headbands.
"Alright, got one!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed with pride. "What about you guys?!"
"I'm in!" Kaminari chirped, showing the headband on his hand.
"Me too!" Uraraka added, wrapping the headband around her head.
Yaoyorozu looked around for any other headbands, but her classmates looked at her and shook their heads with worried frowns. And soon after, Mirio came out of the smoke cloud, clapping slowly and looking at Yaoyorozu with a little smile.
"I got to admit, that was a neat little trick you pulled out there, totally didn't see it coming! I'm kidding of course, I had a plan ready in case something like that happened, but still, points for trying!"
"AMAZING! MOMO YAOYOROZU HAS MANAGED TO SNATCH HEADBANDS FOR HERSELF, DENKI KAMINARI, AND OCHAKO URARAKA, BUT MIRIO TOGATA STILL HAS HEADBANDS LEFT TO BE TAKEN! NOW, PLEASE LEAVE THE FIELD AND WAIT UNTIL THE EVENT'S OVER!"
Yaoyorozu glared at Present Mic, but after processing the fact, she took a deep breath and grabbed Kaminari and Uraraka.
"I'm sorry everyone." she said before flying off back into the stands, leaving the rest of her classmates to figure out how to get the headbands.
As that happened, Melissa's side had Melissa surrounded by a mix between her classmates and Eri, the latter who got up, dusted herself, and ran straight for the blonde inventor. Melissa clenched her fists and prepared to use her arm brace...
And then Eri was struck by a Sugar Rush'd punch from Sato.
"Huh, Sato?!" Melissa exclaimed as she deactivated One for All. "What are you doing?! You're supposed to head for my headband!"
"Perhaps, but you're the strongest student in Class 1-A by far!" the man replied, clenching his fist as he flashed a little smile. "If there's anybody who can win this festival, it's you!"
"Sato has a point!" Sero stated as he prepared to shoot his tape. "Considering someone from Class 1-A will go to the next round regardless of whether we take your headband or not, we should make sure you advance!"
With that, the rest of the 1-A students got ready to stand by Melissa's side, and though she didn't lower her guard, she flashed a little, relieved smile as she clenched her arm brace and prepared to fight back.
Guys, I'm so glad I have you on my side!
Mina rolled on the ground and stopped just short of hitting the fire wall. She promptly stood up and lunged at Mirio once again, phasing right through him and crash landing on the floor.
"Dang it, he keeps becoming intagible!" Mina snapped as she stood up. "If only there was a way to stop him from doing that..."
"Pinky."
Mina turned around, and saw both Bakugou and Kirishima approaching her, the former with his hands on his pockets while the latter looked rather... upset.
"Oh hey, Bakugou, Kirishima, I'm so glad you both are still here!" Mina said as she approached the guys. "Congratulations on that speech at the start of the festival, Bakugou! I'm really impressed with how you managed to avoid feeding your own ego!"
Mina extended a hand forward, but Bakugou slapped it away.
"I heard what you did to Sharpshooter."
Sharpshooter? Was Bakugou talking about Hatsume? Well, they did meet before when she snitched on her with him, but besides that, she never thought Bakugou and Hatsume would meet eye-to-eye. Hell, she never thought he'd actually bother to give her a nickname!
"Perhaps I did something to Hatsume," Mina said, waving her hand. "What about it?"
"Listen, just because everyone knows you're an asshole doesn't mean you can just freely do dick moves like that," Bakugou narrowed his eyes, and Mina could only hope he realized how hypocritical that statement was. "Remember how I said I would beat the shit out of you if you got out of line? You're coming dangerously close to that line."
"It's cute how you keep spouting empty threats like they had any meaning," Mina giggled with a hint of malice. "I can't wait to hear you boasting and hissing when you get kicked out. At least you can rest easy knowing you're on the path to becoming a true hero."
Bakugou gritted his teeth and growled.
"Kirishima, you still have to prove your worth as a true hero, or "manliness" as you keep saying," Mina raised an eyebrow and smirked. "Facing off against one of The Big Three sounds quite manly, don't you think?"
"We've already seen you phase through him, though," Kirishima pointed out. "We won't be able to get any headbands if we just straight up rush him."
Mina lowered her eyelids. "Well, I got a plan for that."
And as the trio talked about the plan, Mirio watched them with folded arms and a tilted head. They're actually thinking up a strategy now, huh? That's definitely a step up.
Suddenly, he heard someone running up to him, and once he turned, he saw the steel-skinned Tetsutetsu doing just that. He wasn't very impressed.
Definitely more of a step up than this guy.
Then he heard another scream, and he saw Kirishima, Bakugou, and Mina rushing towards him, the former two hardening his skin and creating firecrackers respectively.
Okay, nevermind, maybe they still got a few ways to go.
Mirio got ready to attack, but without warning, Mina grabbed Bakugou's hand and launched him straight for Mirio. He prepared to block the attack, but Bakugou simply aimed his palms forward and unleashed an explosion big enough to cover Mirio in the same old smoke cloud trick.
This was followed by him, Kirishima, Mina, and Tetsutetsu all rushing in. Bakugou blew up the smoke cloud soon after, sending Mirio towards the wall, though the guy himself was barely bruised. However, he did notice one peculiar thing about the quartet:
They all had headbands around their heads.
"Nice," Mirio said with a smile.
"AND IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE, KATSUKI BAKUGOU, MINA ASHIDO, EIJIRO KIRISHIMA, AND TETSUTETSU TETSUTETSU HAVE ADVANCED TO THE NEXT ROUND! AND THIS EFFECTIVELY LEAVES MIRIO WITHOUT HEADBANDS! ONLY TAMAKI AMAJIKI AND MELISSA SHIELD REMAIN!"
Tamaki heard that, and he shivered as he looked back at the students at his side, Class 1-B and the Support Course students. Also a gen ed student looking like he really needed to sleep.
Then he looked at himself. He had just enough headbands for seven more students.
This was too much. Too much!
"Hey, something wrong?"
"Huh?"
Before he could say anything else, Tamaki's eyes went completely white and he stood dazed, while Shinsou walked up to him with his hands on his pockets.
"Well, my plan with Midoriya might've gone up in smoke, but at least I can still get an easy win with you," Shinsou sighed. "When I snap my fingers, you'll take off one of your headbands and give it to me."
Shinsou snapped his fingers, and Tamaki did as he told him: he took off one of his headbands, and presented it to Shinsou, who said "thank you" as he reached for it.
Just before he grabbed the headband, however, a pink blur flashed by and snatched it instead.
"Thanks for the headband, sucker!"
Shinsou turned to the spot the blur went to, and he saw a grinning Hatsume looking smugly at him as she wrapped the headband on her head.
"OH! LOOKS LIKE MEI HATSUME HAS SNATCHED THE HEADBAND HITOSHI SHINSOU WAS GRABBING! THAT MEANS SHE GOES TO THE NEXT ROUND, AND SHINSOU HAS ONE LESS CHANCE TO ADVANCE!"
"Ugh, that freaking girl!" Shinsou snapped his fingers. "Quick, give me another headband!"
Tamaki took off another headband, but just as Shinsou grabbed it, a purple blur snatched it. He turned to the blur, and this time it was Mineta who had taken and wrapped the headband around his head.
"Thanks for that!"
"Oh come on!"
"AND MINORU MINETA GOES TO THE NEXT ROUND TOO! THAT'S ANOTHER CHANCE LOST!"
"Tell me something I don't know!" Shinsou snapped, then turned back to Tamaki before snatching one of the headbands. "Just give me the headband and turn back to normal!"
"ABOUT TIME, KIDDO! HITOSHI SHINSOU GOES TO THE NEXT ROUND!"
Shinsou growled, and once Tamaki turned back to normal, he turned to him and said "I'm sorry" with a sincere tone.
Shortly after that, Hatsume's gadget sent her flying back to the stands, but she didn't land back with support; rather, she landed right on top of Midoriya's lap.
"H-Hatsume!" he exclaimed, blushing wildly. "Why did you land here?!"
"Weird, I'm sure I adjusted it to send me back to the support stands," Hatsume scratched her chin and turned to her side. "Mineta! Did your gadget suffer the same issue?"
The boy promptly crash landed... right into Yanagi's bust. "Yeah."
"Hey, look at the bright side, at least you didn't crash land into Shiozaki's chest," Tokage smirked with a giggle. "Poor guy would've broken his nose once he got a faceful of that chopping board-"
"I heard that, Tokage."
Everybody turned around, and saw Shiozaki, Kendo, and Monoma standing on top of a large plant platform, though oddly enough, only Kendo and Shiozaki had headbands.
"Aw come on, Shiozaki, you know I'm just joking!" the lizard girl laughed. "It was just some friendly ribbing!"
Shiozaki growled and walked past Tokage-slapping her in the process-as she and her classmates took their seats.
"Hey, Monoma, where's your headband?" Midoriya asked, raising an eyebrow.
"The ones that needed to go to advance were you, Kendo, Shiozaki, and Tetsutetsu," the copycat responded. "As long as you four reached the tournament, I don't need a headband."
"You'd get kicked out as soon as your match started, anyway," Hatsume pointed out."
"Unfortunately, I agree with you."
"AND TIME'S UP!"
The walls of white fire dispersed, revealing both Mirio and Tamaki with no headbands left... and Melissa still having her headband tied around her head.
"AND, HAVING KEPT HER HEADBAND THE ENTIRE EVENT, THE FINAL STUDENT TO ADVANCE TO THE TOURNAMENT IS MELISSA SHIELD!"
The audience cheered as Melissa's surprised stare slowly morphed into a joyful smile.
"Congratulations, Melissa!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed from the stands.
"You did great!" Midoriya corroborated.
Melissa kept glancing between everybody as more congratulations flew towards her, until she turned to her fellow Class 1-A classmates, mostly Sato and Sero.
"Thanks, all of you," she said. "I don't think I would've lasted that long without you."
And then she turned back to see Eri, down on her knees and catching her breath while sporting a mix between an angry and forlorn expression. She approached the exhausted white-haired girl, and offered her hand.
"Oh, and you did good too. That was pretty smart move, splitting the arena into three."
Eri gasped and looked angrily at the hand, before she looked up at Melissa's reassuring, sincere smile. Eri frowned for a second, before she forced a smile and accepted the offer.
"T-Thanks," she said as she stood up. "I didn't expect it to work."
Eri separated from Melissa and walked back to the stands, waiting until she had her back turned against Melissa before gritting her teeth and furrowing her brows, growling all the while. Melissa, for her part, tilted her head and put her finger on her cheek, before she joined the rest of her classmates at the stands.
"WE'LL TAKE A SHORT BREAK TO PREPARE THE ARENA, EVERYONE! AND ONCE WE RETURN, WE'LL BEGIN WHAT EVERYONE'S BEEN WAITING FOR! CIAO!"
