Midnight stood in front of a screen that displayed everyone's placements and results waiting for everyone to see where their friends placed.
"It's unfortunate if you didn't make it, but we've prepared other areas for you students to shine!" Midnight licked her lip, happily.
That's…a little creepy. Why are heroes like this? Toru wondered. Midnight had certain aspects to her character which was seen as 'eccentric' and fun, verses 'inappropriate to do in a workplace near underage students'.
"The competition is heating up! The next event the press will be all over!" Midnight was very good at pumping a crowd up. Her and Present Mic seemed to excel at the part of their jobs where they had to excite the common populace. "Give it your all!"
Midnight whipped her little flogger whip, "Now onto the second game! I already know what it is, but I wonder what it will be?"
Toru looked at the board, briefly wondering what the event would be. The second event usually changes every sports festival. Because there's a smaller crowd to deal with they have more room for creativity with it.
"I just said it and here it is! A calvary battle!" Midnight announced.
"Oooh I like those! Those are fun!" Mina cheered.
Midnight explained for those who didn't know what a calvary battle was. "Let me explain…The participants can form teams of two to four people, as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular calvary battle, but the one thing that's different is…" Midnight paused for anticipation, "based on the results of the last game everybody has been assigned points. The points assigned go up by 5 starting from the bottom." Midnight gestured to the screen.
People started chattering and strategizing to themselves.
"Hey be quiet! I haven't finished talking!" Midnight scolded looking at Mina and Urakaka who were chatting among themselves.
"As I was saying 42nd would be 5 points, 41st 10 points and so on…" A screen started showing everyone's results so they wouldn't have to do the math themselves.
Toru looked for her name to confirm her number of points. 25 points…So if I want to be eliminated quickly, I should pair up with people who have a good number of points so that we'll get targeted quickly.
She wanted to lose, but in a non-suspicious way. Her group had to have no chance of winning, and Midnight hadn't said yet how many groups would pass. Anything she could add to her chances of being eliminated would help her. She didn't want any media attention.
I should make sure Mei and I don't group up… Toru thought to herself. If her goal was to not be noticed by the media and to lose, Mei could not be brought down with her. After all Mei was the one person Toru might truly be rooting for to win this. She deserved the media attention. And since Toru and Mei's goals were incompatible, they could not group up. Not only that but her point number is 10. If she and I group up nobody will target us because our number would be so low. It was a smart strategy, if she wanted to do well, which she didn't.
She hoped Mei didn't ask her to group up. It would be awkward to politely reject her.
"And the point value assigned to first place is 10 million!" Midnight yelled and finished speaking.
Toru hadn't even been looking at Midoriya's numbers. She had been scanning the lower numbers figuring out who it would be a bad idea to group up with.
Something looked like it broke inside of Midoriya. He froze as Midnight said those words.
Well, I guess the team that gets Midoriya's points gets an instant win. Toru thought to herself. But everybody's probably thinking that. That means it will be easy to convince my team to waste all their time chasing him.
There was a small chance Midoriya could keep his points the whole time. He had surprised her by using his wit to get into first place, after all. But she knew for a fact that whoever had those points Todoroki and Bakugo would likely chase after too. Meaning as long as she avoided being on Bakugo, Todoroki's or Midoriya's team she had a good chance of failing.
"It's survival of the fittest with the chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!" Midnight proclaimed excitedly. "Those at the top will suffer more! You'll hear this many times at UA. This is what 'Plus Ultra' means. Izuku Midoriya who placed first in qualifier is worth 10 million points!"
Now then I'll explain the rules of the calvary battle!" Midnight smiled now that everyone's everyone was looking at Midoriya, "The time limit is 15 minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members points and the rider will wear a headband with that number on their forehead. Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up so the more you steal the harder it will be to manage them!"
On screen there was an infograph with more information, like how the headbands were velcro. All Might was currently being buried in headbands on screen.
I wonder who talked him into posing for that photoshoot. Toru thought.
"And the most important thing is even if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you aren't out!" Midnight finished.
That meant there would be 10 or 12 teams on the field the whole time, bringing in absolute chaos.
Everyone seemed to be starting to think up strategies, except for Toru.
"One strategy could be letting someone steal your points right away so you could be more free…" Mina suggested.
"It's hard to say how the points will get split up, Mina." Tsuyu pointed out.
"During the game, it will be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But it is still a calvary battle. You'll be disqualified if you are doing attacks that are purposefully trying to make the rider fall!" Midnight explained.
Bakugo looked disappointed.
Oh, poor baby Bakugo. Can't beat people up. Cry me a river. Toru glared.
"Now I'm giving you fifteen minutes to build your teams! Start!" Midnight yelled.
Fifteen minutes sounded like it was a lot of time. But the students were probably given so much time to encourage them pairing up with people from other classes and to learn their quirks. Class A and B knew nothing about each other after all. And there was a single general studies student nobody knew about. There was also a support student.
Now…What strategy should I use? Should I pair up with people at the bottom, so we have no chance of winning even if we keep our own points? Or do I go for a mix and lead my team into wasting time on Midoriya? Toru thought to herself.
If she wanted to pair with people in the bottom she should try to appeal to Aoyama, Setsuna from class B, and the dude with a word balloon for a head. She was good at appearing friendly so she could try asking them if they wanted to pair up.
It might be better to avoid Setsuna though. She shouldn't realize I sabotaged her, but her quirk would be pretty good at stealing headbands. She could just shoot her hands at people and grab headbands. Likely without sabotage Setsuna would win this event and thus should be avoided. Aoyama and the word balloon kid might be a good possibility of teammates though.
Before Toru could approach either of them her choice was made for her. Most of Class A opted to talk to nobody in Class B and instead clustered around Bakugo and Todoroki. Toru, determined to go with the crowd followed the rest of them.
Ah so their strategy is to leech off someone who will definitely win. Makes sense. Toru realized.. They didn't have ten million points, but they were strong. They were likely going to win.
Toru didn't want to win. So she clustered around Bakugo like a rabid fangirl. There's no chance in hell he's picking me. I'm not strong and I won't improve his chances to win. So bugging him is the perfect choice.
Todoroki probably wouldn't choose Toru either, but there was the chance he'd let her on his team due to pity. He did seem to still feel guilty for putting Toru in danger and Toru couldn't risk Todoroki and his feelings.
Other people who hadn't gone the leech route were already forming groups. Most of Class B was choosing to work with someone they knew instead of exploring the option of collaborating with Class A. Toru noticed Setsuna grouping up with stronger looking girls from Class B, one of which being Kendo one of the class B big name representatives. The word balloon kid also grouped up with a guy with a glue head and a class B girl. They looked satisfied with their team picks.
Ah darn, there goes my ideal bottom of the barrel team. Toru frowned.
Other teams included Tokoyami and Ojiro, and Midoriya seemed to be talking to Uraraka and Iida which was predictable.
"Team up with me!" Sato yelled at Bakugo.
Mina also seemed to be trying to get Bakugo's attention. "What nooo, Bakugo, team up with me!"
It makes sense that Mina and I shouldn't be on a team, since I'm aiming to lose, and she wants to continue on. She made the right choice to try to leech off Bakugo. Toru thought.
"Don't you want to team up with me?" Aoyama asked clutching his stomach. He looked like he was in considerable pain.
Bakugo won't choose Aoyama because he looks weak and is in pain right at this moment. So, after Bakugo rejects both of us I can probably grab him. Toru thought to herself.
"Bakugo, Bakugo, Bakugo, let's team up!" Toru chattered, trying to make herself as excited and chipper as possible. It also added the effect of being annoying to Bakugo.
"We could make a great team." Shoji pleaded.
"You mean he and I would make a great team!" Sero said confidently.
For all the arguing around Bakugo, he was just staring forward blankly. "I don't know what any of your quirks are!"
Toru blinked. Really? You haven't been paying attention to any of us in the last weeks? That made sense…But Sero, Shoji and her quirks were quite obvious! Sero literally had tape elbows after all. And Aoyama's quirk was hard not to notice with how often he talked about it.
"I can understand not knowing Class B's quirks…." Mina looked startled.
"But he doesn't pay any attention to what's around him, huh?" Sato finished.
Neither of them said the obvious that Bakugo seemed a little dumb for this considering a man with multi arms, tape elbows, and an invisible person were asking to be his teammates.
Kirishima came over. "Hey, Todoroki already chose his team!" It seemed like Kirishima had attempted to get in the good graces of Todoroki before Bakugo. He put his hand on Toru's shoulder to push her aside a little so he could get closer to Bakugo. He then smiled and pointed his thumb at himself. "Bakugo! Team up with me!"
Toru moved away a little bit so Kirishima could get past.
"Weird hair." Bakugo didn't seem to remember Kirishima's name but did remember what he looked like which was better than how he treated most of his classmates.
"I'm Kirishima! At least try to remember!" Kirishima looked hurt. "And my hair isn't that different than yours!" Kirishima pointed at both of their very spikey hair.
He stopped yelling and looked like he had gotten an idea. "You're going to be the rider, right? Then you'll need a front horse who can take your blasts." Kirishima hardened his body as if to illustrate he was the perfect match for Bakugo.
"Someone with guts." Bakugo responded, not realizing that Kirishima meant he was immune to Bakugo's explosions.
"Not really, but yeah! Me with my hardening! I can do it!" Kirishima grinned confidently. "I'll be a horse that never wavers!"
Bakugo looked actually interested for once in that declaration. Kirishima got a bit closer.
"You're going to get it, right? The ten million?" Kirishima asked.
Bakugo grinned. "You got guts, weird hair! I'll let you on my team!"
Kirishima stuck his hand out to give Bakugo a manly handshake. And for once instead of ignoring someone Bakugo shook back.
I don't know what I'm seeing. Is this the start of a friendship or something? Did someone actually get through to Bakugo? Toru wondered.
"So, who else is on our team?" Kirishima asked.
"I don't know. Don't know anyone else's quirks." Bakugo replied back.
Shoji was already gone. He seemed to have given up on getting Bakugo's attention. To Toru's horror she saw him over in the corner talking to Mineta.
"I have acid! I can move really quickly so I'll be a great horse!" Mina tried to sell herself. "And I work really well with Kirishima—" She seemed to try to put a good word in for her connection with Kirishima.
"I have tape elbows!" Sero said, "I can grab you if you blast off."
"I'm strong!" Sato pointed out.
"I have an amazing dazzle-" Aoyama vaguely said.
"I'm invisible!" Toru explained.
Bakugo didn't seem very interested in what they were saying. He pointed at Sero though. "You, I like how your tape can grab things. And…Weird hair, do you really work well with raccoon eyes?"
"The name's Mina Ashido." Mina glared.
"Well, we went to the same middle school…" Kirishima replied. "We weren't really in the same friend groups though. But she is very tough! I'd suggest Ashido!"
Bakugo nodded. "You heard him raccoon eyes. Welcome to team Bakugo. The rest of you are rejected!"
Sato looked sad, and Toru pretended to look sad. Aoyama waddled away to look for other options.
"Sorry Toru…" Mina apologized and then ran off to strategize with her team.
All right. I got rejected by Bakugo, like my goal was. Now I gotta find Aoyama….Toru looked around to see where Aoyama had gone to. She spotted him around the general studies student already in a team.
It was surprising to see Aoyama try to work with someone not in Class A since most of the rest of Class A had elected to work with the people they knew.
That team only has three people so far though. I can probably ask to be on their team. Toru realized. It was the general studies student, Aoyama, and a Class B guy with white hair.
She started approaching. The purple haired student immediately looked at her and frowned.
Oh, that's the guy who kept trying to talk to me in the obstacle race. Toru recognized. Was he still offended over her not answering.
"Come on." The purple haired student gestured to the other two and moved away from Toru.
"Aoyama wait-!" Toru called after him. But Aoyama didn't show any recognition for the fact that Toru had spoken to him.
Aoyama and the Class B student followed the purple haired student in a daze.
Huh? That's not normal…Could his quirk perhaps be mind control? They looked like zombies following him.
The way he had glared at her was unusual too. Not like he disliked her, but like he was suspicious.
Oh. Perhaps his quirk is activated via talking to him? Responding maybe? Because she had ignored him during the obstacle race he must have thought she had figured him out, and was thus something to avoid. Really, she just hadn't thought he would pass the race and wasn't worth paying attention to, for her mission.
Well…I figured him out now. If he had mind control that was something she actively wanted to avoid. That sort of quirk might actually have a good chance at winning in this sort of battle.
Toru frantically looked around for other weak options. Sato approached her, Koda in tow.
"Hey, Hagakure. Be in a team with us." He requested.
"Huh? A team with you two?" Toru did the math in her head. Sato had 140 points, Koda had 115, together they'd all have 280 points which seemed like a lot, unless someone stole theirs.
Unfortunately, a lot of people in Class A had already found groups. Since nobody else in Class A had decided to work with Class B, she didn't want to be the one doing wild and unique stuff. That drew too much attention.
"Yeah, you see I'm no genius or anything, but I had this great idea." Sato smiled. "You're invisible, right?"
"I think so. I've been told I look invisible to all of you." Toru answered, knowing from Sato asking her if she was invisible, he certainly was no genius.
"Well, I was thinking if we put a headband on you, it would be pretty hard to see. Since you're invisible and all. Thus, it would be harder for other people to steal." Sato pointed out.
Jiro who was desperately looking around for a partner came on over to the three of them. "Are you guys going to group together? I was planning to work with Yao-Momo….But she got nabbed by Todoroki. And then Asui ditched me for Mineta of all people."
"Hopefully! We were just talking about that!" Sato replied, and glanced at Toru. "Well, what do you think Hagakure?"
Toru pretended to think for a moment. Just trying to protect a headband instead of going after others seemed like a good chance for failure. "I can't make other things invisible though. And it would be pretty obvious that I'm still there since only my head is invisible."
Sato blushed for a moment, looking flustered. "Well…That's the thing. For my plan to work I think you'd probably have to remove your clothes so it would be even harder for people to notice the headband. Um…What do you think?"
Toru stared. Ah. So, he's directly asking me to get naked in front of all these cameras. She had thought she'd be able to avoid this. The worst part was she didn't have a great excuse to reject his terrible idea either. If she said she didn't want to be naked he'd point out her hero costume.
"You idiot!" Jiro luckily was there to save the day. She whacked Sato in the forehead with one of her headphone jacks. "If Hagakure's going to be the rider, she can't be naked. We'll be holding her then! And even if we can't see anything it's horrible to suggest to a girl that you want to hold onto her naked butt to win some points."
"Oh…I forgot about that. I thought since we couldn't see, it was fine." Sato apologized.
Koda was covering his eyes not wanting to see the violence happen between Jiro and Sato.
Toru sighed. Thanks Jiro.
"How about she keeps her pants on then? If she takes off her top, we won't be able to touch anything and it will give us an advantage!" Sato kept at his idea. "Come on Hagakure, your quirk is invisibility and I heard you wanted to make a splash and get the media's attention. And I honestly think this is a great idea!"
Toru clenched her teeth, but Sato couldn't see that. She scoured her brain for a good excuse against Sato's logic besides the fact that she just didn't want to do it. "Fine." She tried not to sound mad. "It is a good idea! Let's team up!" She tried to pretend to have her cheerful voice again.
Sato didn't seem to notice. He wasn't that smart after all. Koda however did and looked worried.
"You don't have to if you don't want to." He signed with his hands. Jiro and Sato didn't seem to notice. Toru wondered if they even spoke sign language.
She wanted to sign back but she knew Koda couldn't see her hands.
"It's fine. I'm…Naked all the time in my hero outfit anyway. Might as well get used to the cameras." She pointed out. And at least Jiro had gotten her to keep her pants on. She turned around to start unbuttoning her shirt and bra.
She really…really hated how the cameras seemed to eye in on her. Why did nobody criticize hero culture's oversexualization of females? Especially young teenage heroes?
"What's the strategy besides keep away?" Toru asked trying to keep her mind off Midnight saying to the crowd that Toru was getting fired up and she approved of this course of action!
Sato seemed distracted. "Uhh…Hadn't thought that far ahead."
Toru wanted to barf.
"I can try nabbing other headbands with my earphone jacks. I can extend them pretty far!" Jiro pointed out. Approaching Toru to kind of cover her so the cameras couldn't see. Despite how she was trying to help she was blushing as much as Koda and Sato were.
Well, she makes it clear how she swings. Jiro wasn't looking but took Toru's bra so she could fold it up and hand it to a staff member to take to the locker room.
Toru tried to press down her fear as they all got into position. Sato, Koda and Jiro were now trying not to look at her, embarrassed by the fact they did have a topless teammate.
At least Jiro and Koda are decent. Toru reminded herself. She mentally cursed Sato in her head for suggesting this. Even though Sato's idea wasn't out of malice, it was out of ignorance she was still blaming him. Jiro and Koda at least seemed to realize this situation was a little uncomfortable.
"How about we aim for the ten million points? It is an instant win! It's what we're supposed to do!" Toru suggested, directing the team into the direction she wanted.
"I like that idea! Let's go for it!" Sato agreed, enthusiastically.
"I'm sure we can beat Midoriya." Jiro said optimistically.
Koda just nodded a smile on his face. It seemed he wanted to try too.
The clock finally finished counting down. It was time to begin.
"After fifteen minutes to form team and talk strategy 12 teams are lined up on the field!" Present Mic said into a loudspeaker.
"There are some interesting teams." Aizawa observed.
People cheered.
"Now raise those battle cries! It's time for UA's bloody battle!" Present Mic yelled.
Why are so many people out for the blood of teenagers? Was this really a hero-based society that she had infiltrated? She shook that thought out of her mind, patting her cheeks lightly.
The teams started charging forward. Toru looked around as they charged for Midoriya at teams that were weaker, and Jiro might be able to easily snag the headbands from. She needed to steer Jiro away from the weak teams and keep her attention focused.
Iida had decided to not end up on Midoriya's team like Toru had originally predicted. Instead, he had paired up with Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari.
Mei had paired up with Midoriya instead. Everyone's eyes will be on Midoriya. Smart choice if she wants media attention. Toru thought. They were joined by Uraraka and Tokoyami, both of them had enough power to raise to the skies and avoid all the teams on the ground level.
It was hard to guess the strength level of the other Class B teams, just because Toru didn't know very much about them. The team that had someone with vine hair would probably be able to defend against Jiro since she likely would use something elongated to steal headbands.
The purple haired general studies students' team had added Ojiro into their ranks. Due to the guys quirk probably being brainwashing it would be easy to lose their headband if they faced him.
It's Shoji's team I really need to keep away from. Toru noted. Only Shoji was visible in his team but she had seen him talking to Asui and Mineta. Likely they were hiding on his back in the hole between his arms. With a very tiny hole to have access too, Jiro could possibly grab Mineta's headband and eliminate their defense. So she needed to steer them away from the group at all costs.
"Now everybody…Count down! THREE…TWO…ONE!" Mic yelled, and the signal was fired. Everybody started running wildly at Midoriya. Toru's team included.
"It's basically a battle for the ten million points!" Tetsutetsu yelled loudly proclaiming most people's strategy.
Toru laughed trying to put on her cheerful persona. "Ha ha ha. Midoriya I'll be taking that!"
Her team was trying to run fast, but they all seemed slightly distracted from having a half-naked girl on top of them. They were all flustered which made them perfectly worthless.
She was grateful Jiro had ended up being the front horse so she could have her legs draped mostly around her instead of Sato or Koda. It was just slightly less awkward.
"Attacking without delay…The fate of the pursued…" Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was in front of them, protecting the team. "Make your choice, Midoriya!"
"Of course, our move is to run away!" Midoriya declared.
"I won't let you!" Tetsutetsu responded. The horse he was riding on stomped his foot and Midoriya's group started sinking.
Crap. Mei's got a jetpack but she might lose risking some of her equipment with a move like that. She recalled how Mei had refused to break any of her babies in the obstacle course. Would Midoriya's team risk being immobile because of them sinking into the ground?
Should I direct my team into trying to steal Tetsutetsu's headband? Toru wondered. That would give Midoriya's team a little bit more time, and they'd likely fail stealing since Tetsutetsu's team had the vine girl on it.
"Uraraka! Hatsume! Turn your faces away!" Midoriya yelled at his teammates, pulling out a button. He pressed the button and the jetpack on him activated, pulling his team out of the ground and making them blast over Tetsutetsu and Toru.
Good job! None of us can make it to the sky so as long as Midoriya remains there we'll lose. Congrats Mei! Toru thought to herself.
"Jiro!" Toru yelled as Midoriya fled, trying to pretend she was invested in the fight.
"I know!" Jiro responded as if they were on the same wavelength, her headphone jacks stretched out to grab at Midoriya, but Dark Shadow hit them away and grew larger to put a protective barrier around Midoriya's team.
"Tokoyami!" Jiro hissed.
Tokoyami looked like he was smiling. "Good! Dark Shadow, keep watching our blind spots!"
"Got it!" Dark Shadow responded.
Koda might still be able to grab their headband with his pigeons. But he seems pretty distracted by the whole me being naked thing so he shouldn't think of that. As long as I continue having the focus be on Jiro he won't remember he can order birds to do what he wants. Toru thought.
"Keep after them!" Sato instructed. "I'm sure they'll come down eventually."
Jiro, Koda and Sato's attention was completely focused on Midoriya.
Monoma's team was behind Toru. He had a big smile on his face even though he had placed so low in the obstacle course.
He's been looking at me while our attention is focused on Midoriya. I bet his plan is to grab people's headbands while they're chasing Midoriya. Good plan. She'd help him because she didn't want to keep her headband.
She angled her head slightly, so it was easier for him to grab the headband off her and also so he didn't risk accidentally ramming into her chest or arms, as he passed her. He then twirled the headband around his finger, grinning from ear to ear as if he had done a masterful move.
None of her teammate noticed. All of them were watching as Midoriya descended and landed on the other side of the field, a big distance away from them.
"We're going after them too! Come on Jiro, it's time to get our revenge!" Toru yelled hoping to get her team to continue pursuing Midoriya. Once there was a good amount of distance between her and Monoma who was now twirling the headband around his finger confidently, Sato finally noticed that Toru's headband was gone.
"Hey, wait Hagakure, your headbands gone!" He yelled surprised. His genius plan, had in fact not been very genius.
"Augh! When did that happen?" Toru asked, knowing in fact exactly when it happened.
Jiro frowned. "Did you see who took our headband, Toru?"
"No!" Toru lied even though the class B student was still twirling their headband eccentrically around his fingers.
"Darn, but I guess we didn't have that many points anyway! Let's continue pursuing Midoriya! I guess things are up to me now." Jiro declared, not giving up.
They continued running, not letting things get them too down.
"Now then not even two minutes have passed since we started, and It's already turned into a free for all! Fights over the headbands are breaking out all over! Ignoring the ten million points and going for second or fourth place isn't bad either!" Present Mic yelled.
So, it's only the top four places that finish…Good there's a low chance of being successful then. With groups like Bakugo's, Todoroki's and Midoriya's, Toru's group had a very low chance of grabbing that fourth spot. It would probably go to Monoma who was grabbing headbands while people were distracted, or Team Shinso, which happened to be the general studies student with mind control.
Toru's team continued to run towards Midoriya's team. With their spirits dampened though they didn't make it to Midoriya's team before he blasted off again after facing Tetsutetsu's team and Shoji's.
Toru saw the wreckages of one of Mei's hover boots left behind, stuck to one of Mineta's balls.
Mei must be so sad….Mineta broke her baby. That seemed pretty cruel and if Mineta got close again he'd probably continue to break Mei's stuff. I can't lead our team into facing Mineta's though…With Jiro's earjack we'd probably win.
Mineta's team did have Asui's tongue as a strong defense so it wasn't a certain victory, but it didn't seem like the cavalry battle was the place Toru could help Mei.
"Midoriya's team will be weakened now!" Sato also noticed the hover shoe wreckage. "So eventually we'll catch up to them!"
"Yeah! We just gotta keep trying! Plus Ultra, right?" Toru chipperly said. Dreams and working hard won't take that headband. But they seem to be convinced it will.
They kept running.
"Now let's take a look at each team's points! It's been seven minutes! Here are the current rankings on the screen!" Present Mic revealed.
Toru did not look up. All she cared about was that her points were in the 0's. Only eight minutes left of this nonsense.
"What? Wait a minute…Other than Midoriya Class A isn't doing too well…" Present Mic was showing his biases, shocked that Class A was failing.
With that mention Toru did look up at the screen. Bakugo's team currently had 0 points. But what was more interesting to her was that the general studies team also had 0 points.
Oh. I get it. If Shinso's quirk is mind control he wants to use it at the very end, so he doesn't risk a fight from stealing headbands. She assumed based on the team names that the general studies' student's name was Shinso.
This was good news. If she pointed her team in Shinso's direction in the last minutes and they did manage to have a headband they could just give it away. It would be easier to never have any headbands and lose spectacularly but in the rare occasion that they did snag a headband Shinso might be a good trashcan for it.
The clock counting down seemed to worry Jiro. "Crap…We only have 8 minutes left…"
"Don't worry, Jiro! We'll get him! With all of us working together I'm sure we'll get Midoriya eventually!" Toru promised her.
"But maybe we should expand our sights like the other teams are doing. Lots of people are going after Midoriya so maybe we should take some of their headbands while they're distracted!" Jiro suggested.
Those were the words Toru was dreading.
"Team Rin only has two members. They only have 125 points but it could get us out of the 0 point zone. I don't want to lose this match with just 0 points. I want a fighting chance." Jiro had determination in her voice.
Sato and Koda nodded in agreement.
"We can target Midoriya after we get their points, but I agree with you, Jiro. We'll lose definitely if we have 0 points." Sato agreed.
Hmmm…I don't like that. I don't want us to make any splash and stealing any headbands might make Present Mic pay attention to us. Toru looked at Team Rin to determine if their quirks were too strong for them to take.
A beast like quirk…Strengthens his speed and strength. And I think the one on top has scales on his arm which doesn't do anything to protect him from having his headband stolen. It seemed like they had kept their headband so long just because they weren't on anyone's radar. Class B had been stealing each other's headbands but Toru could guess based on the obstacle course and Rin's pleas for cooperation, that Rin was relatively well liked and none of Class B had tried to compete with him yet.
It looked like he was chasing after Midoriya just like they were and missing him every time he landed.
It will be fine. I have my strategy of using the general studies student to my advantage. Toru glanced at Shinso. Just as she predicted he wasn't really running around and was sort of in one place and watching the other teams compete. The horses carrying him all had pale, dazed eyes, confirming the mind control.
"Let's do it then! I also don't want 0 points! And this time I'll protect the headband super well!" Toru promised. "I'll wave my arms around my head to protect it!"
Jiro giggled. "You don't need to do that. You're not the one at fault for losing the headband, Hagakure. We're a team. We're supposed to protect you too."
Sato nodded. "A team of heroes' failures isn't just on one hero. It's on the entire team!"
Koda smiled, unable to sign in the position he was in, so he wasn't able to add any input into anything.
That works well for me. He's our most powerful teammate and as long as he doesn't realize that we're good. Toru smiled to herself as she looked at Koda.
The team started running towards Midoriya again, to keep Team Rin from suspecting that they were coming for them. Team Rin also ran for Midoriya, joined by Team Mineta, Team Todoroki, and Team Kendo.
It looked like Yaoyorozu was preparing something.
An insulated blanket. Kaminari's probably going to electrocute everyone in the area. Toru realized.
Her team didn't have anyway to protect against Kaminari's electricity. If they tried to run away, they perhaps wouldn't be as damaged, but Toru didn't warn them. None of the other teams had noticed, everyone's eyes were locked on their target Midoriya. It would look too smart if she was looking at everyone.
She prepared to take the hit. She was used to pain anyway. She had gone through a lot of training to ensure that if she was accidentally damaged while she was spying in battle she still wouldn't make a sound.
"1.3 million volts!" Kaminari shouted, discharging his electricity.
"KAMINARI!" Jiro let out an angry shout as everyone was electrocuted.
Toru joined the chorus of screams as they were all electrocuted.
"Less than six minutes left…" Todoroki realized. He iced everything behind him, making sure everyone's feet were stuck in place.
Toru's team shook off the pain of being electrocuted to try to struggle against the ice holding their feet.
"Todoroki took care of the crowd of teams in an instant!" Present Mic commented.
"He froze them after Kaminari's shock stopped them, taking care of the teams in an instant." Aizawa described. "I guess it's to be expected. But he took into account how many students avoided his ice in the obstacle course."
"I might as well take these." Todoroki pulled off one of Kendo's stolen headbands as well as Team Rin's headband as he passed.
"Crap-" Jiro cursed. Despite being in a lot of pain from the electrocution, it seemed to anger her more than stop her. "I'm not letting this stop me…If we're stuck so are the other teams! We can at least get Team Kendo's other headbands!" Her earjacks could reach far enough to swipe from Kendo after all.
Hmm…That's bad. Mostly because Team Kendo was in front of them and currently had 520 points. With Todoroki taking most of the headbands and about to take Midoriya's, Kendo could make it to the top four with her measly amount of points. All of her attention was focused on trying to chip away at the ice with her giant hands. She was undefended and within easy reach of Jiro's earjacks while they were stuck.
"That beast team just had their headband stolen." Sato pointed out, "So we should focus our attention on her."
"But we'll be an easy target for other teams to steal from us while we're in this ice!" Toru reminded. "Maybe we should wait until sooner to the end to steal?"
Judging by her observations that was when Shinso would make his move too.
Kendo looked like she was really struggling to chip at the ice. With only three weeks of hero training, she wasn't used to pain yet. She kept wincing and yelling from the cold and cuts she was taking from the ice.
"I could put mushrooms on it!" A brown-haired girl offered.
"I don't think that would help…And it might spread to our opponents and weaken their ice too." Setsuna reminded.
The brown-haired girl moaned.
"Do you think she'll still be here in five minutes?" Jiro asked, "But you might be right that it might be a better idea to wait so we can flee too…"
Koda nodded.
"Meanwhile we should work on breaking free!" Sato decided.
Jiro nodded. "Hopefully my earjacks can chip through this ice…."
Kendo had no idea they were being targeted.
I suppose while I wait, I should keep track of the scoreboard and if we'll somehow win with Kendo's headband.
Team Hagakure, Team Kendo, and Team Rin struggled against the ice for five minutes. In that time Todoroki had erected a giant ice wall separating Midoriya and him from the rest of the field.
"Ugh…I don't think I'm any closer to breaking free!" Jiro complained.
"I'm sorry, Jiro!" Toru said, having spent most of the five minutes giving Sato, Koda, and Jiro reassurance.
Kendo was close to breaking out too.
"Two minutes left!" Present Mic had mostly been commenting on Team Bakugo's and Team Monoma's fight throughout those five minutes and Team Midoriya and Team Todoroki. Midoriya had managed to do keep away pretty well in those five minutes but his attention was fully on those teams, instead of any others.
With not a lot of time left Team Shinso was finally making their move.
"It's Aoyama and Ojiro!" Sato noticed, "I don't know why they're with that general studies student."
Jiro wasn't listening. She was finally putting her earjacks into action and was flinging them towards Team Kendo. Kendo raised her hands to defend but Jiro wheeled around her.
"I saw another team use her hair like vines! Her movement was amazing! So, I'm stealing that!" Jiro smiled.
"Maybe they can help us? Aoyama's navel laser could probably blast through the ice." Toru waved her arms even though she knew nobody could see her. "HEY! Aoyama! Ojiro!" She wanted to get Shinso's attention so he would come over here and steal the headbands.
"Do you think it would be an illegal move to send my shins up there to help defend you, Kendo?" Setsuna asked. "I think Team Bakugo got away with being off the ground as long as his feet didn't land…"
"You don't need to. I've got this." Kendo said determinedly.
Jiro smiled at the confidence as Kendo trying to wrap her hand around an earjack. Her second earjack pulled back, giving Kendo a faint. It then striked quickly at her headband.
Just as it grabbed the headband, Shinso made it there.
Jiro glanced at him and his huge amount of headbands. Her eyes opened wide.
"Hey, is there anything I can do to help?" He asked.
"No!"
"Why would you want to help?"
"If you can get me out of this ice!"
"Sure!"
"No way!"
"Please!"
A chorus of answers replied back to his simple question.
Toru, wanting to see what would happen did not reply. There were loud explosions in the background probably from Bakugo, and the chorus of answers made an overwhelming noise making it too hard to determine who's voice was who's. Shinso was likely judging who had spoken by watching the movements of their mouths, meaning Toru could just pretend she was under mind control by not doing anything at all.
Shinso smiled as he assumed all of them answered except Koda who was just looked around horrified as everybody's eyes became pale and confused.
"Good. Now give me the headbands." Shinso ordered.
So his mind control makes a visible effect in the eyes. She waited to see if people could respond to him too or if they were more like zombies.
Kendo put her hands down and Jiro took the headband off her head and handed it to Shinso. There was no response.
Shinso strapped the headband around his head.
Koda looked terrified. He opened his mouth about to speak and order the birds to do something.
"Are you going to speak now?" Shinso asked.
"Birds, grab-" That was enough of a response to make Koda's eyes glaze over too.
Can he only speak to use his quirk? Or is he just shy? It looked like he had to work very hard to publicly speak so I'm going to guess he's shy and not mute. Toru observed.
Koda had fallen into the trap though.
And with that out of the way Shinso's team rushed off to get their last headbands from team TetsuTetsu probably.
Toru watched him go pretending to be just as brainwashed as her companions. She wanted to see how long this quirk worked too, and if they would remember the brainwashing.
"Start the countdown!" Mic yelled. "10…9…" and soon he was at 0 and it was over.
Shinso seemed to release the brainwashing on his own. Watching him, Toru could tell he just muttered a phrase alone to himself and everyone was freed instead of it timing out.
Todoroki melted the ice quickly and freed the teams. They all got down.
"What happened? Did the girl from Class A get our headband?" One of the girls on Kendo's team asked.
Kendo pat her head once she was down. "I…I don't know…"
Shinso was smiling as he gathered around the scoreboard. Tetsutetsu's team looked equally as confused as Kendo's and discouraged.
"Darn…We timed out…I thought we had more time left but I guess I wasn't paying much attention…" Sato hadn't even known he had been brainwashed.
Jiro cursed to herself. "We ended up with 0 points despite all our planning…" She looked super sad.
"I'm sorry, Jiro! We ended up making so little of a splash…" Toru sounded sad too. Her goal had been complete.
"It's all right…We should have probably gone with a different plan like not chasing after Midoriya the whole game…All we can do is change things in the future." Jiro reassured her.
"Now let's take a look at the top four teams!" Mic announced. "In first place, Team Todoroki, second place, Team Bakugo! In third place, Team TetsuTetsu…wait what no it's Team Shinso! When did you come from behind?"
Aoyama, Ojiro and the class B student, now freed, looked as confused as everyone else.
I guess Mic wasn't paying any attention to Shinso while Todoroki's battle raged on. Toru thought.
"In fourth place, Team Midoriya!" Mic cheered. "These four teams will advance to the final round!"
All of Toru's team looked sad, except for Koda who was shivering and was looking at Shinso, frightened. Toru couldn't be more satisfied though.
Mei won and I lost. And I learned about a dangerous quirk. Things couldn't have gone better. Toru thought to herself.
In my original rough draft of this chapter Shinso was much less big, but I decided I wanted to give him a bigger role.
Throughout the entire chapter I asked myself why didn't Koda ever call for a bird and try to get them to steal a headband? I know the answer is either cuz 1. UA got rid of all pests and animals for the big event so that their audience weren't flocked by bird poop or something, or 2. He was just shy which seems more likely, especially since this was on TV but I also think it would have been super funny if during Bakugo's dramatic battle and Midoriya's if pigeons just flocked from the sky and stole all the headbands. Like what is Bakugo going to do? Publicly explode a live bird on television? Sure, he probably would, but man it would be funny to see the audience's reaction to heroes publicly killing animals on live tv.
My mind just got distracted by what could have been.