Chapter 13
Izuku could hear the approaching sounds of ice and explosions, and he was starting to panic. Even while riding spikes, he still had to get off when there were unexpected turns or hills. Todoroki and Bakugou had the luxury of increased mobility, meanwhile all Izuku's lame-ass spikes could do was go forward and up. At least they were significantly faster that Todoroki's ice and Bakugou's explosions.
"Any plans, dumbass, or did you overhaul your brain to remove the wrinkles?" Kurono asked. Izuku grit his teeth, as it seemed that Kurono was not aware of the fact that it's harder to plan when you can hear a sentient bomb and anthropomorphic antarctica approaching, with full knowledge that they want to kick your ass.
"How about I chuck you at Todoroki or Bakugou? Then not only will one of them be slowed down, but I won't have to deal with your annoying ass!" Izuku snarled. He could hear Kurono gulp.
"Have I ever told you how much I appreciate you as a friend?" Kurono asked. Izuku groaned, rolling off his newest spike with Kurono and immediately preparing another one. At that moment, Kendo managed to catch up with them.
"Thanks for leaving me with that Clash guy and the Weather girl, assholes!" She yelled. Izuku grimaced.
"In my defense, we neutralized Mitsudo," Izuku replied.
"I'm sorry, we?! That was me!" Kurono yelled.
"Technically the devil gave you the bomb, so really it was the Pink Devil who did it!" Izuku yelled back.
"Touché," Kurono replied. Suddenly, Izuku became acutely aware of the fact they were approaching a cliff. He stopped and began looking at the problem.
"OH, AND KENDO, MIDORIYA AND KURONO HAVE NOW REACHED THE PIT OF DESPAIR! THEY HAVE TO GET THEIR WAY ACROSS, AND IF THEY FALL IN, THAT'LL BE AN INSTANT DISQUALIFICATION!" Present Mic announced. Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. This was something his quirk was great at. Even better was that it was a straight jump, so he wouldn't have to get off at those little islands.
"Hehe, now's my time to show off…all of my magnificent babies!" A familiar voice exclaimed. Izuku looked beside him to see a girl with pink dreadlocks wearing all manner of support gear. She also looked kind of crazy, but at this point 'crazy' was just a synonym for 'normal' in Izuku's life.
"Oh, hey Mei," Kurono casually said. Izuku was confused as to how they knew each other, as Kurono had never mentioned a Mei. But then Izuku realized her hair was pink, and she was clearly in the Support Department, and suddenly the pieces clicked together.
"She's the Pink Devil?" Izuku asked. Kurono nodded.
"Yep, that's her," Kurono replied.
"How have my babies been servicing you, Clock-Kun?" Mei asked as she fiddled with something on her hips.
"It's surprisingly fun throwing a bomb at someone," Kurono commented.
"That's fantastic! Anyways, Support Companies! Watch my fantastic Wire Arrow and Hover Soles in action!" And with that, Mei began gliding past them, being dragged towards where a wire had hooked into the wall from her hips. Suddenly, Bakugou and Todoroki came out of nowhere, either blasting over them or sliding past them, and Izuku became aware of the crowd of people that had now caught up.
"Shit, we got distracted! Let's go, Kurono, Kendo!" Izuku yelled. Kendo immediately jumped off, and Izuku made a bridge over to the other side and began running across with Kurono.
"You know, people can just run across this, right?" Kurono stated. As if to prove his point, Iida sped past them.
"Well, that's why I'm going to destroy it once we're across!" Izuku replied. However, this plan was quickly thrown out the window then the bridge suddenly started to melt underneath them.
"Sorry, but we can't have a guy like you in the next round," A guy with teeth on the outside of his mouth said, and before they could do anything Izuku and Kurono began to fall. They began screaming, most likely because they were falling, but they stopped when they landed on something hard.
"My apologies, I could not find another way to make that landing any softer. Are you quite alright?" The cool voice of Reiko asked. Izuku looked up to see she was floating. Or well, she was using her quirk on a piece of rock, and looking below them showed she was doing that to a rock underneath them.
"It's fine. Thanks for saving us!" Izuku replied.
"You have rescued me from mortal peril at least twice. This is possibly the very least I can do for you," She stated, which made Izuku blush as he realized he really had done that.
"That's sweet and all, and you guys should really get married and stuff, but can we get a move on?" Kurono said, which made both Izuku and Reiko blush, and they began floating across the chasm at a relatively high speed, soon reaching the edge where they descended onto the ground.
"Thanks," Izuku grunted.
"That's twice you've said thanks in the last 30 seconds," Kurono pointed out. Izuku got up and pulled Kurono up by the collar of his jacket.
"Shut up. Let's go, Reiko!" Izuku said, and the trio began running together towards the next obstacle.
"So, do we find ourselves on a first name basis now, Izuku?" Reiko asked, making Izuku raise an eyebrow.
"H-huh?"
"Were you unaware? You referred to me by my first name just a moment ago," Izuku blushed.
"O-Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight, and-,"
"It is fine, Izuku. To be honest, I had been hoping we would be at this point earlier, but I was too afraid to ask if we could begin using first names," Izuku chuckled.
"You don't have to worry about that! Worst case scenario, I would have just been embarrassed!"
"No, that's the best-case scenario. Worst case scenario is she breaks you and you just shut down," Kurono butted in. Izuku rolled his eyes.
"I've never done that before!" Izuku replied. Kurono smirked.
"Not yet," He stated ominously.
"OH! IT SEEMS BAKUGOU AND TODOROKI HAVE REACHED THE FINAL OBSTACLE: THE MINEFIELD! THAT'S RIGHT, FOLKS! THIS FIELD IS FILLED WITH MINES, MEANING THEY'LL WANT TO BE VERY CAUTIOUS IF THEY WANT TO MAKE IT ACROSS! DON'T WORRY THOUGH, THE MINES ARE ONLY FILLED WITH GLITTER!" Present Mic yelled.
"They also cause an explosion, but it's not a hot one," Aizawa (How did he get convinced to join Present Mic of all people to commentate on the Sports Festival?) added, "Oh, and for the love of god, stop flirting with Yanagi, Midoriya" Izuku immediately blushed upon hearing that, and so did Reiko.
"H-Huh?! I'm not! We're just talking! I don't even know how to- wait, how can you even hear what we're talking about?" Izuku asked. However, he got no response. So, he decided to grab just make another spike forwards, bringing Reiko and Kurono with him.
"You know, we don't need to come in first place, just avoid placing too low. It's like that saying: you don't need to be the fastest when running away in a group, you just need to be faster than the slowest person," Kurono said. Izuku shrugged.
"It would be nice to be first though," Izuku replied.
"Personally, I do not believe that coming first would provide many benefits. It would most probably paint a target on your back," Reiko commented. Izuku hummed.
"Well, if you say so," Izuku replied.
"Izuku, remember what Aizawa said!" Kurono teased.
"I'M NOT FLIRTING!" Izuku yelled back.
"Why do I have to watch the brat as well?" Nemoto whined as he sat next to The Boss, Irinaka and Eri, who were all watching the TV while cheering for Kurono and Izuku.
"Because, Nemoto, it's fun watching you suffer," Irinaka replied. Nemoto gave him the stink eye and went back to lazily watching the screen. If he had a choice, he wouldn't be here, but The Boss asked him to join, and Nemoto wouldn't ever say no to his Boss. Even if it meant watching Izuku on TV.
"-Meanwhile, a little further away from Todoroki and Bakugou is the Dream Team of Midoriya, Kurono and Yanagi! Let's see what they're talking about!" Present Mic exclaimed on the TV. The next thing they knew, the aforementioned trio's conversation was being broadcasted for them to hear.
"-Do we find ourselves on a first name basis now, Izuku?" The girl who must be Yanagi asked.
"H-Huh?" Izuku asked.
"Were you unaware? You referred to me by my first name just a moment ago," Nemoto saw that Izuku was blushing.
"Ha! That must be that girl he saved from the Entrance Exam!" Irinaka said.
"They are so oblivious to how in love they are," The Boss chuckled.
"Who is she?" Eri asked, pointing at Yanagi.
"She's the girl Izuku's gonna marry one day, Eri-Chan!" Irinaka replied. Nemoto sighed.
"You don't know that for sure," Nemoto stated.
"Just look at them! I'll eat my shoe if they don't get together sometime this year!" Irinaka bet.
"Shut up so we can listen," The Boss ordered.
"O-Oh! I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking straight, and-,"
"It is fine, Izuku. To be honest, I had been hoping we would be at this point earlier, but I was too afraid to ask if we could begin using first names," Izuku chuckled.
"You don't have to worry about that! Worst case scenario, I would have just been embarrassed!"
"In love," The Boss said.
"In love," Irinaka said.
"In love!" Eri cheered.
"Probably in love," Nemoto grumbled.
"No, that's the best-case scenario. Worst case scenario is she breaks you and you just shut down," Kurono butted in. Nemoto was inclined to agree with the kid as well.
"I've never done that before!" Izuku replied.
"Not yet," Kurono stated ominously.
"So," The Boss said, clapping his hands together, "What should the cake look like for the wedding?"
"Oh my god THEY AREN'T EVEN CLOSE TO GRADUATING!" Nemoto yelled, finally snapping.
"So, Mr. Genius, how do you propose we get past this?" Kurono mockingly asked as they stood on the edge of the minefield. Bakugou was just blasting his way across; either the mines weren't sensitive enough to be detonated by his explosions, or they recognized him as a long-lost relative. Todoroki, on the other hand, was taking it slow and steady. Izuku hummed.
"Well, I reckon that I could use Overhaul to make a wall ahead of them, which should either slow them down or stop them completely. Then, I'll just make a spike over it so we can beat them!" Izuku said.
"You have a serious infatuation for spikes, Izuku, are you aware of that?" Reiko asked. Izuku just chuckled.
"Well, I always say, 'If in doubt, just use spikes!'," And with that, Izuku put his hand on the ground and used his quirk.
That was where everything went wrong. Or, more accurately in Izuku, Kurono and Reiko's case, where everything went right.
You see, in order for Overhaul to reach the ground in front of Todoroki, Bakugou, Iida, Kendo and Shiozaki (who had overtook them at some point), it had to affect all the ground. And considering these mines were sensitive enough to be detonated from a footstep, it's not hard to imagine what may have happened when the entire field was suddenly shaken thanks to Izuku's quirk.
BOOM
In an instant, all 4 contestants were launched up into the air, screaming as they were not expecting that to happen. Even Bakugou and Todoroki, who prided themselves on their ability to not scream in fear, were screaming in fear.
"HOLY MOLY! IT LOOKS LIKE MIDORIYA USED HIS QUIRK TO DETONATE ALL THE MINES AND HAS FLUNG EVERY CONTESTANT IN THE TOP 5 INTO THE AIR! TALK ABOUT A PLAY OF THE GAME!" Present Mic yelled.
"I'm fairly certain that it wasn't his intention. He was lucky that this even happened at all," Aizawa added, being as critical as always.
"Oh," Izuku said lamely as Reiko and Kurono watched in awe as glitter flew about the entire stadium. He quickly shook himself out of it though, and he spiked himself and his 2 friends to the other end of the field. On the way, Kurono managed to hit Bakugou with his hair as well, but when he went to hit Shiozaki-
"Oops," Kurono said. And suddenly, Shiozaki was dragged to them, her hair tangled in Kurono's arrow.
"W-What on earth?!" Shiozaki yelped as she held on for dear life to Kurono's jacket.
"What the hell happened?" Izuku asked. Kurono laughed nervously.
"Uh, it appears my hair got tangled in Shiozaki's hair when I shot it at her, and because of that she got dragged here?" Kurono explained. Izuku sighed in resignation.
"Oh well, no harm done, I guess. Sorry about that, Shiozaki-San," Izuku apologized.
"I-It's understandable. I'm unfortunately going to have to stick with you 3, as it appears my hair has been tangled within this devil's hair. Oh, god, what have I done to deserve this punishment?" Shiozaki asked as a spotlight shone down on her. 'Oh, great, she's religious' Izuku thought to himself. He got off the spike after a bit, and they were now at the final stretch, the finish line in view.
"Oh, joy, a 4-legged race. I'm having the time of my life," Kurono said in a voice that conveyed absolutely zero joy.
"I'm trying to untangle it! It's your fault you attempted such a devious scheme!" Shiozaki scolded.
"It's called 'attacking', cutie!" Kurono retorted, which made Shiozaki blush.
"C-Cutie?!" She parroted.
"Oh, so when Kurono flirts with a girl that's fine. But when I even talk with a girl everyone loses their shit," Izuku grumbles. Suddenly, he became acutely aware of the sound of ice approaching them. He chanced a glance behind him to see Todoroki skating towards him.
"I'm still going to beat you, Midoriya," He stated coldly.
"Oh, for the love of- WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PROBLEM, MAN?!" Izuku yelled. Todoroki didn't respond.
"I'm sorry, but what is the current situation between you two?" Reiko asked.
"He said he's gonna beat me today in the changing rooms," Izuku explained. Reiko's eyes filled with horror.
"He is going to beat you in the changing rooms? I believe that's sexual assault," Reiko replied. Izuku could have laughed at the misinterpretation that Reiko had of the situation, but he currently had a guy hellbent on beating him chasing right after him, so he was more focused on that at the moment. Izuku was about 10m away from the finish line when Todoroki had caught up to him, and by the looks of it he would probably beat Izuku by a bit as well. In annoyance, Izuku swung a hand without thinking towards Todoroki, who immediately stopped, already knowing what damage that hand could cause.
And so, with a decent lead, Izuku crossed the finish line, with Reiko just behind him.
"OH! AND THE WINNER OF THE PRELIMINARY ROUND IS IZUKU MIDORIYA! AND, COMING IN 2ND PLACE JUST A MOMENT LATER IS REIKO YANAGI!" Present Mic announced, which made the crowd cheer with joy. Izuku looked around with excitement and euphoria, the adrenaline from earlier wiping away any feeling of anxiety within him. He'd done it. He'd won the first round. He raised his arms in celebration, and he high-fived Reiko, soon followed by Kurono, who'd come in 7th (It turned out that whilst bickering/flirting with Shiozaki, he'd left enough time for Bakugou, Kendo and Iida to get past them, and Shiozaki's athletic abilities already far exceeded Kurono's, allowing her to beat him even while they were basically tied together.
"Holy shit, we won!" Izuku said excitedly to Reiko.
"No, you won, Izuku. I simply came in second, which I happen to be fine with anyways," Reiko replied. Kurono and Kendo came up to them, looking happy as well.
"Woo! I got 5th!" She cheered, which Izuku and Reiko were proud of.
"Oh, sorry for the massive explosion thing. I swear, I was only trying to make a wall!" Izuku defended, which Kendo rolled her eyes at.
"Meh, I would have only gotten 4th or 3rd if it didn't happen, and your placement really only matters in the 2nd and 3rd round, seeing as Hero Students rarely lose the 1st round," Kendo replied. Izuku then turned to Kurono.
"I see you got your hair untangled," Izuku stated.
"Yes, and I also got a date!" Kurono replied smugly, which shocked all of them.
"What? How?!" Izuku demanded, which just made Kurono laugh.
"Just my masculine charms," He explained.
"We both have hair related quirks. Wanna go out for coffee sometime?" Kurono asked with all the charisma of Aizawa
"Eh, okay," Shiozaki replied.
"Cool. I'll give you my number later," Kurono said. Truly, he was a master at asking girls out.
Izuku looked over at Bakugou.
Which was a mistake, seeing as he was glaring at Izuku. And this was no ordinary glare, either. It was so terrifying that it surpassed the ability to kill an elephant. If Izuku had to guess, he'd place it at the power level to blow a hole in the side of Mars. He quickly looked away from him and instead turned to Todoroki. Thankfully, Todoroki just looked slightly annoyed, although Izuku wouldn't be surprised if mentally that Todoroki was absolutely pissed.
Turning to see the other contestants, he watched as a mix of Class 1-A and 1-B students all entered. One thing he noticed was a boy from 1-B with weird purple balls for hair had stuck himself to Momo's back, and he was saying something about 'two birds with one stone'. And while Izuku was used to Kurono's occasionally perverted jokes or comments, Kurono wasn't that bad. At least he knew how to properly ask someone he liked out. Either way, Izuku was glad that midget wasn't in his class.
"ALRIGHT! Congratulations to the top 42! To everyone else, nice try! We'll have plenty of activities for you to partake in later after the 2nd Round. Speaking of which, Midnight, would you do the honours of announcing it?" Present Mic announced, and Midnight flicked her whip.
"With pleasure, Mic. I already know what the 2nd event is going to be, but the suspense is killing me. The 2nd Event is…," Midnight said, pointing at the screen behind her, which spun through a number of events before landing on 'Cavalry Battle'. Izuku was confused, as he had zero idea as to what a Cavalry Battle was. Were they going to be riding horses? Why would an event involve students riding horses to fight each other? Wouldn't Koda just-
"Izuku, I consider you one of my greatest friends, and I truly find your intellect remarkable, but you are a fool sometimes," Reiko said. Ah, he'd been mumbling. Oops.
"Ah. Sorry, Reiko," Izuku replied. He decided to listen to what Midnight was saying.
"You can form teams between 2-4 people and form a horse-back configuration! Essentially, it's the same as any old Cavalry Battle; swipe headbands from enemy teams and guard your own," Midnight explained, with helpful diagrams being shown on the screen.
"Everyone will receive points based on their performance in the last round, so 42nd will have 5 points, 41st will have 10, and so on until 1st place, who gets a modest amount of 10 million Points!" Midnight continued. Izuku sure felt bad for whoever was in 1st place.
.
.
.
"Wait a minute…that's me!" Izuku exclaimed as he suddenly felt every single competitors' eyes on him. He heard Midnight say something about 'targeting the person at the top', but he was far too preoccupied with the fact he basically had a target painted on his back…oh, it turned out Reiko had been right about that.
"You have 15 minutes to get into teams! I'd recommend you be quick at getting people on your team!" And with that, everyone was scrambling around to find teammates. Izuku took a moment to clear his head.
'Ok, so the goal is to collect headbands, got it. So, who would be best at…' Izuku looked over at Reiko, and he already had a plan cooking up in his head?
"Reiko! Let's team up!" Izuku yelled. Reiko looked over to him, a rare smile crossing her lips.
"Even if the odds are stacked against you and whomever joins your cause, I put complete faith in your ability to win, Izuku," Reiko replied. That was one person, just 2 more to go. Luckily, Izuku didn't have to worry about points, seeing as he had way too many, so he could focus on quirks and potential instead. Izuku set his sights on a specific person from his friend group.
"Hey, Yaoyorozu!" Izuku called out to his friend, who looked at him with a look that didn't look good.
"Oh, Midoriya. I appreciate the offer, but I'm not sure if joining your team is the safest," She stated. Izuku sighed.
"I have a plan, Yaomomo, and you are a big part of it. We'll get into the 3rd Round, no problem, but it all hinges on you joining my team. So can you find it in your heart to help me?" Izuku begged. Was he being slightly manipulative by making it sound like she was the only one who could help? Yes. Was it working? Absolutely.
"Well…if you really are that in need of me, I suppose I can trust you," She replied. Izuku smiled and started looking for a 4th member. In all actuality, he only needed Reiko and Momo, but having a 4th person always helped.
"Are you forgetting about me, old pal?" Izuku jumped when he heard Kurono and he turned to see him wearing something completely different. It was a white coat, with a hood pulled over a mask with a bird beak, with his eyes covered by some built in eyeglasses.
"Kurono? Why are you wearing that?" Izuku asked.
"Well, I didn't want to wear it in the Obstacle Race because barely anyone would notice me due to the hundreds of other students, and I didn't want it to get too dirty. There's only 42 people here this time, and if I join your team, I'm bound to get noticed!" Kurono explained. Izuku forgot that Kurono most likely was allowed to wear his costumes for the festival.
"Well, I was going to grab you anyways, so you gonna join?" Izuku asked. Kurono nodded, and they now had their completed team. They got everything sorted, and once they were given a headband with their combined values (10 000 515) they got into their formation. They decided to put Kurono on top, as Izuku, Reiko and Momo were more athletic. Izuku was up the front, with Reiko to the left and Momo to the right.
"Well, Eraser, we've got some pretty whacky teams out here, don't we?" Present Mic stated, and Aizawa sighed.
"Most of them probably had to improvise, as there were most likely multiple people that were highly sought after. This will prove how well they'll work with a mixture of familiar and completely new quirks and people," Aizawa commented. Present Mic made an exaggerated snoring sound.
"Man, what a bore! I feel sorry for your class! Anyways, would Miss Midnight open the game?" Present Mic requested. Midnight gave a seductive smile and flicked her whip.
"Let the Cavalry Battle begin!" She announced. And it was pandemonium. Almost every single team went right at Izuku's team, and it truly dawned on Izuku how dumb these students were. Like, even if they got the band, what the hell are they gonna do about the 30+ other students chasing them down? It was illogical…
Oh god, he was turning into his teacher.
"Reiko, start phase 1 of the plan!" Izuku ordered, trying not to think about that sudden realization.
"Affirmative!" Reiko replied. The headband around Kurono's neck was suddenly glowing an ethereal pink and was flung towards a guy who looked like he was Chinese – Hiryu Rin, if Izuku remembered from the board – who was currently riding a beast-like student like a demented horse-bear-wolf. Rin fumbled with the band for a moment before he looked up and realized that everyone was targeting him.
"Oh," Was all the poor boys could say before absolute chaos broke out. Izuku couldn't even see Rin, and he felt a twinge of guilt. But hey, they had to win by any means necessary, even if it was cruel.
"AND TEAM KURONO STARTS BY…giving away their headband?" Present Mic trailed off, feeling confused.
"Wow, it's almost like they realize that having 10 million points to protect isn't a good idea and it'd be better to get rid of them," Aizawa sarcastically remarked. Izuku now looked over at Momo.
"Momo, make me a microwave and a bunch of glitter glue! Like, an industrial barrel of glitter glue! And make it super sticky!" Izuku ordered. Momo raised an eyebrow.
"A microwave…and glitter glue? I know you said there'd be some weird things I'd need to make, but-,"
"JUST DO IT! WE DON'T HAVE LONG!" Izuku yelled. Momo yelped and quickly made the odd items.
"Wait, is this going where I think it's going?" Kurono asked, getting excited. Izuku smirked as Momo handed him the objects. He quickly tensed his fingers on both of them, disassembling them. Then, with expertise gained from 8 months of overhauling all manner of junk on the beach, he reassembled the items into 1 completely different object.
"I-Is that a bomb?" Momo asked incredulously.
"Now, now, Yaoyorozu, we are not entire sure if it is or is not a bomb. For all intents and purposes, it could very possibly be something else," Reiko defended. Izuku handed the object to Kurono.
"And what else could it be?" Momo questioned. Rieko shrugged.
"It has the possibility of being a nuke," Reiko suggested.
"Is it really okay for me to do this? To wield this much power in my hands?" Kurono asked incredulously, looking at the item he held as if it were the second coming of Christ.
"I trust nobody but you to do this," Izuku replied. And with that, Kurono chucked the object at the crowd of students, who were all too busy trying to now get the band from Bakugou to see what was happening.
"You, uh, might want to close your eyes for a moment," Izuku suggested.
"Oh, and what is this unidentified object that Team Kurono has thrown into the fight?" Mic asked. Finally, the other teams realized something was up, but it was too late. The object touched the ground, and a flash of blinding light exploded from it, along with an industrial amount of glitter glue. It exploded all over the competitors, who found themselves stuck to each other.
"Did…was that a bomb? Did Midoriya from Team Kurono turn a microwave and glitter glue into a bomb?" Present Mic questioned. Aizawa sighed.
"My ass would have stayed in the primordial soup if I knew there were gonna be days like this," His long-suffering teacher groaned. Izuku smirked and glanced at Reiko.
"Reiko, would you be kind enough to grab us some points?" Izuku asked. Reiko obliged, and they were soon in 2nd place with 890 points (Yui's team currently had the 10 million Points) and they moved to greener pastures. Izuku then looked over to the only 2 teams who actually had a brain. Monoma's team looked unsure of what to do, and the kid named Shinsou from Gen Ed was eyeing them warily. Izuku was aware that they could be a problem, and it'd be better to have them on their side.
"I have a proposition!" Izuku announced to the two teams, "We give you both a headband each, and we don't target each other! If we work this out together, we all win!" Izuku suggested. Team Monoma had a group huddle, and Shinsou shrugged.
"…Whatever, I suppose that would work," Shinsou said. Izuku smiled.
"Reiko, give him a band, please," Izuku asked. To Izuku's interest, Shinsou looked slightly annoyed after Izuku chose to speak to Reiko. He'd need to remember that; perhaps Shinsou had a voice-based quirk? Either way, Reiko flew a headband over to Shinsou, who took it begrudgingly.
"My team and I have come to a conclusion!" Monoma announced, getting their attention, "Us in Class 1-B will gladly form a temporary alliance with the lower lifeforms of Class 1-A!" Izuku shrugged off the comment, and Reiko gave him a headband as well. They were now all in the top 4 (Team Setsuna now had the fabled band. Honestly, it was a miracle they could move really while being stuck together). Team Monoma then rode up to Izuku and his team.
"So, why are you giving the orders if you aren't the rider?" Monoma asked.
"My quirk requires me to be still to be used. That, and my loyal steeds are more athletic than me, meaning we can have better speed," Kurono answered. Monoma hummed before lightly tapping Kurono. Instantly, Monoma's hair grew into arrow shapes, while keeping their blonde colour.
"Woah, do you have a copy quirk? That's amazing!" Izuku said. Monoma smiled.
"Yes, I do suppose it's fantastic. It's a shame that if nobody else is around I'm essentially quirkless," Monoma replied, a twinge of sadness in his voice.
"Even so, it's super cool! Do you mind if I ask a couple questions?" Izuku asked. Monoma hummed.
"On the condition you tell me about your quirk," He replied. Izuku smiled.
"Deal!"
And so, the two boys began conversing rapidly, both interested in each-other's quirks. This left their teammates to watch in confusion.
"Did they just become best friends?" Kuroiro asked.
"It would seem that way," Kurono replied, exasperated.
To nobody's surprise, Team Shinsou, Monoma and Kurono all ended up passing into the 3rd round. Nobody ended up escaping Izuku's trap, but by the end of it one team had come out on top.
"-And in first place, with over 10 million Points, it's Team Todoroki!" Present Mic announced. Izuku was glad that Itsuka had made it in, and Iida and Kaminari seemed pleased with their results too. Todoroki, however, just seemed…off. Izuku was just now realizing that this wasn't normal levels of Todoroki coldness, something must be making it so bad. Was it all the attention? No, he was the son of Endeavour, surely he was used to that. So what was it? Izuku noted that he was looking up into the crowd, and Izuku followed his line of sight to see Endeavour himself watching from the stadium. Then Izuku remembered how awkward Todoroki was when his father was mentioned during the conversation with Kyōsaku.
'Is something…going on at home with Todoroki?' Izuku wondered. He had to get to the bottom of this, one way or another. But for now, he'd just enjoy the moment in the now.
"Congratulations to our top 16! You'll be moving onto the 3rd Round, where you'll engage in a tournament of 1v1 fights against each other! We'll announce the fights later, so for now, why don't you all go get lunch?" Midnight suggested. It was at this point Izuku realised he was hungry. He stretched his arms and turned to his team.
"…You reckon they have burgers here?"
Kai Chisaki watched as the Cavalry Battle concluded. He took no small amount of joy in watching Shigaraki get annoyed at the Midoriya kid's double victory. A shiny metal arm now replaced the one that was once there, although it wouldn't let him use his quirk with that hand ever again.
Truly, Kai was impressed with Izuku Midoriya. From what he could gather from old records, their quirks were alike in the way that they could both turn people into nothing more than a fine mist, and their intellect was most likely at a similar level from when Kai was 15 as well. And yet, somehow, they had gone down completely different paths. Kai could only wonder what had happened that had caused such a drastic difference for such similar people.
He got up and stretched. No point wasting time here if they were gonna take a lunch break, so he would just go to his study instead. He made his way up the stairs to the second story of the bar, making sure to avoid touching the handrails. He made Kurogiri wash them twice a day, but still, there was no knowing just how dirty they might have gotten since they were last cleaned. He walked over to his door, letting it scan his face. After all, why risk touching the doorknob when he could just use a face scanner? The scanner recognized his face and let him into his dark room, which was fixed by the auto lights that turned on when they detected his presence.
On a corkboard to the side was a whole bunch of papers, all detailing anything from theories to quirks. The newest addition to the board was the file on 'Rewind'. It annoyed him to no end how lazy the Quirk Doctors had been when studying Eri's quirk. They hadn't even found out what powered it. It almost made Kai want to go grab Eri right now to run the tests on her. He could easily do it as well, the problem was that as soon as he did that, heroes would be immediately looking her. And no matter how hard Kai tried to find her, he knew there would be some Hero that would find him eventually. And that would be the end of it all.
No, if Kai was going to relocate her so as to research her quirk, he'd need to make a double of her or something. Something that could act like her while he had the real Eri.
But that could wait.
Right now, he figured he should start planning out his newest idea for a Nomu. There had been one fatal flaw with the Nomu used at the USJ, and it wasn't that it wasn't strong enough. No, it was plenty strong enough (but it would be wiser to switch out 'Shock Absorption' for 'Shock Nullification' if he made it again) to defeat All Might. What it lacked was the ability to think. If a Nomu like that had the capability of sentient thought, then there would be no Hero alive that could stop it.
Yes, his newest idea, the High-End Nomu, would be one of his greatest creations to date.