Chapter 45: Obstacle course

"What is this? Hattori Watanabe of Class 1A is going through the side! Is this even allowed?" Mic yelled.

"The rules state that you only have to go around the entire course once. It does not state how you have to do it," Midnight responded, "Hattori is in the clear!" she delivered her verdict. Meanwhile, Nedzu cackled, "Finally, someone got the loophole!"

"You put it in purposely?" Natsume asked.

"Mhm. I'm pleased to see Watanabe was smart enough to see it. It's easier to come from the other way rather than take the main entrance,"

"How so?" Inko asked.

"You'll see,"

"Hattori has already reached the minefield, ladies, and gentleman!" Mic announced, "This is the last obstacle our other heroes in training will have to face! Can he persevere!?" Mic commented.

Watanabe intentionally stepped on one of the mines and was instantly blasted back. He got up with a groan, "Alright, the mines have quite an explosion radius. I can clear this easily and get on to the next two rounds, the cliffs, and finally the robots,"

Smirking, Watanabe switched to his X-ray vision and instantly had a map of where every mine was. He easily weaved in and out of the mines, never stepping on one.

"Oh! Hattori seems to know where every mine is!" Mic said.

"He has to be cheating," Some of the crowd pointed out but was instantly put in their place by Aizawa, "Idiots. You don't even know his quirk. What kind of heroes makes such a premature observation?"

"Oh, Hattori is digging up the mines now! Does he have something in plan? He better hurry, his classmates have almost finished the first obstacle!"

Watanabe grunted and stood up with the mines. He felt he had dug up enough mines and set off running. The whole thing had taken him about 35 seconds. Watanabe wanted to set a record and he took off running, fast. He came to the cliffs and stopped, getting ready.

"If it was Hattori's quirk indeed that helped him clear the minefield, I can't see him passing this obstacle without wasting time!" Mic said but he ate his words soon. Watanabe shoved the remaining mines under his shirt and placed two mines at the bottom of his feet. He jumped onto them and they exploded, propelling him to a great height. His instincts made him scream in fear but he managed to keep his plan in mind. He took out some of the other mines, and threw them at the wires connecting the cliffs, "No one said anything about sabotage!" he yelled with glee.

"Oh! An excellent move by Hattori, blocking those who will be arriving at the second obstacle!"

"Oi, that brat's so unheroic!" Someone yelled but Aizawa was not having any of it, "If you'd rather have a civilian die than do what it takes to win, you shouldn't be a hero,"

"Watanabe will face trouble now. He will meet head-on with his classmates who will surely give him a tough time!"

Indeed Watanabe had run straight into Todoroki and Bakugou. Shouto had stopped for a moment in shock, trying to understand why Watanabe was coming at them but Bakugou simply moved forward to intercept Watanabe, "I don't know what you pulled, but take this!" he let off an explosion.

Watanabe took no notice and jumped onto another mine and propelled himself up. He took out his last two mines and moved his hands to the back like Bakugou. He clasped them with force and he was sent flying. He yelled as if he was on a rollercoaster ride and flew above the heads of everyone stuck in the tunnel, landing ungracefully on the ground, "How does that damn bastard use his explosions?" Watanabe hissed in pain from the force of the explosions.

"Hattori Watanabe... is the first one back at the stadium! He wins the obstacle course in a record 1 minute 24 seconds!" Midnight announced.

The crowd roared at the display put on, clearly enthusiastic.

Majima grunted in the teacher's box, "Does he have any idea how long it took me to make the course? And he just finished it with a snap," he grumbled. "Still angry at Watanabe?" Inko asked her sister.

"I would have preferred him to go with a more prideful approach but, YEAH!" Natsume yelled. Inko chuckled.

"That bastard," Denki said to Izuku. Both of them were conserving their energy, making sure they pass but careful to not fall behind. Neither had used their quirk. They had understood what Watanabe had done the moment they saw him appear from the other direction, "Couldn't he tell us too?"

Izuku chuckled, "It's free for all right?" he said as they appeared at the cliffs. Most of the wires had broken apart but some were still intact and everyone was using those. Shouto had simply created an ice bridge to get over but no one was willing to use it after the fiasco with the robots.

Izuku wasn't entirely sure whether the wires would hold up. Plus he needed to get over faster. Reluctantly, he flicked his finger and launched himself in the air before gliding down and rolling to the other side.

Kaminari shouted something to him but he ignored it and kept ongoing. He still had the robot's armor plate with him. He stopped to see a sign warning of a minefield and saw Shouto and Bakugou fighting in front.

Izuku had already seen the destructive capability of the mines courtesy of Watanabe and dug up some himself. Once he had done that, he jumped on it and launched himself.

"Oh! It seems like Midoriya is also using the mines as propulsion! He has taken the lead from the Bakugou and Todoroki," Mic announced as the crowd cheered at the change of leadership.

"Damn it!" Bakugou shouted and tried to explode Izuku but he had already switched to full cowling and taken off running.

"Midoriya Izuku is the third person to be back at the stadium!" Midnight announced.

Izuku wanted but managed to smile at the crowd before realizing what Midnight said, "Third person? Was there was someone ahead of me?" He thought and turned to see Koda standing with Watanabe, "How the hell did you get here so fast?"

Koda just gave a cryptic smile.

"He seemed to know exactly where everything was," Majima addressed Koda.

Yagi objected, "Watanabe knew because of his X-ray vision. Koda probably asked his animals,"

"But how would he know about the mine placements?"

"He could have asked the insects," Yagi suggested.

"He hates insects though. I had to stop class once because a bug got on his table. It doesn't seem likely," Ectoplasm said.

"Anything wrong, Nedzu?" Yagi asked seeing the principal in what seemed to be a state of realization.

"I fed those damn birds!"

"Excuse me?" Yagi asked.

"Those ravens! They were on my windowsill while I was making the plans. I even fed them because they looked so attentive!" Nedzu groaned.

"Are you suggesting Koda spied on you beforehand?" Snipe asked.

Nedzu nodded, "It must be,"

"I highly doubt that," Yagi said until he saw a raven perch next to them with a message. Yagi took it and opened it, I'm sorry for spying on you Nedzu-sensei!

Yagi laughed as did the other teachers, "You are really losing your grip Nedzu! I can't wait till Mic and Aizawa hear this. They won't let you live it down," Thirteen laughed.

Nedzu however, regained his composure quickly and had a fire in his eyes as he declared, "I want him!"

The teachers and the parents seated nearby shivered as they held a silent prayer for Koda's soul.

Meanwhile, Kaminari had just finished the course, panting and an absolutely sweaty mess, "You bastards!" He declared in between breaths, "You left me!"

"We did say that we'll only work to help each other if it's a group round," Watanabe reminded him of their pact.

"I fucking hate you guys,"

"Time's up!" Midnight announced, "42 of you have passed, so now it's time for the next round!"

"Already? UA sure doesn't waste time huh?" Uraraka panted. "As expected of such a top-tier school," Iida complimented.

The board flashed, "The next round is... Cavalry Battle!" Midnight announced. The crowd cheered wildly, "In this round, you'll have to form groups of two to four. Each member will get assigned points based on their standing in the race. The total points of the group will be written on a headband that will be worn on the rider's forehead," Midnight explained while using a photo of All Might being carried by Mic and Thirteen as an example.

"Now for the points," Midnight announced as the board flashed again, "The last person gets 5 points. The one who finished above gets 5 more points and so on. But! The first person to have finished gets 10 million points to his name," Midnight shouted out.

The group of students froze for a moment before turning to face Watanabe with grins plastered on their faces. A collective thought ran through their head, "As long as we get him, we'll stand at the top,"

Izuku and Kaminari gulped. They both wanted to team up with Watanabe because they agreed to do so in a team event since they already had good chemistry between them. They were obviously not backing off but the thought of having everyone after them was frightening.

Izuku turned to see how Watanabe was feeling and was not surprised to see him so nonchalant. Watanabe grinned and as soon as he opened his mouth, both Kaminari and Izuku knew things were about to get harder, "You know. You guys didn't even see me use my quirk to take first place. You sure you can handle me?" Watanabe teased with menace.

"Heh! Don't get too cocky 1A!" Monoma declared as the attitude towards him became worse.

"Why did he go and paint ourselves as a bigger target?" Kaminari sighed.

Izuku just smirked and pointed towards the back. Most of the students from the other departments were backing away, their confidence shaken, "They don't know Watanabe's quirk so of course they are scared and think he has a powerful quirk which he didn't even use," Izuku whispered to Kaminari.

"Now, I'd like to start right away but Recovery Girl is already pissed at the number of injuries that will be occurring. So, you have half an hour to refresh yourselves and go to Recovery Girl to patch up any injuries," Midnight said.

"Sensei, does the headband have to be out in the open?" Izuku asked.

"No,"

Izuku grinned and turned to his friends, "I need to go to Recovery Girl. I broke my finger trying to propel myself over the cliff. I'll explain the strategy on the way," Izuku said as he pulled Shouji with them as well.

The rest of the students watched with great interest. That question had given them a clue on a loophole as well.

Nighteye watched Watanabe with great interest. The pro heroes that could send in applications for internships were given the quirks of each of the students. Under Watanabe's name, his quirk was only listed as eye color changing, something that surprised Nighteye, given the vagueness of the label.

He smiled smugly. So what if he didn't have the actual workings of the quirk? It was plain to see what his quirk actually was- Foresight! Just like him! There was no other way for him to know exactly where each mine was and exactly what lay in front of him, "Bubble Girl, put in a request for Hattori Watanabe?"

His sidekick stared at him in surprise, "So soon? Wouldn't it be best to wait for the cavalry battle to end so that we can take a look at whether he's a team player?"

"In normal circumstances, yes. But I am the only one who can teach him to use his quirk," Nighteye said vaguely.

"You mean, he has foresight too!" Bubble Girl all but yelled.

"Shh," Mirai tried but the pro-hero behind them had heard already, "Did you say foresight? Like you, Nighteye? That would make sense since he knew exactly where everything is but it could be just a coincidence. The boy who came second also evaded everything and it seems unlikely they can both have foresight quirk,"

"No, but the other boy seemed to have animals around him so it might have been something to do with that. And Nighteye is saying it, so it has to be foresight," Someone else interjected. And soon the pro-hero part of the stadium was conversing about what could be Watanabe and Koda's quirk. Someone else had joined in and added that many of them had not used their quirk yet which sparked another round of debate.

Nighteye sighed and gave Bubble Girl a shake of his head. He had to admit, he wouldn't have thought it's foresight if the quirk wasn't listed as eye color changing. His eye changed to purple when he used his quirk so it must be the same for Watanabe as well. It had to be!

"Shouto,"

The boy in question froze at the familiar yet despicable voice, "What do you want?" He snapped at Endeavour, turning quickly with an icy glare.

"I came to tell you that you should let go of your childish rebellion and use your quirk! You came behind 3 no-names and were almost beaten to 5th place. On top of that, you were beaten to first place by a boy with a useless quirk," Endeavour held up his quirk list book.

"That no-name is my friend!"

Endeavour stared with surprise and eventually started laughing, "Friend, don't make me laugh. You have no time for friends. Your purpose is to surpass me! Who else are your 'friends'?" Endeavour said with a mocking tone.

Shouto ignored it, "Kaminari, Uraraka, and Hitoshi. What's it to you?"

Endeavour fumed hearing Kaminari and Uraraka's name as he remembered the disrespect and humiliation he had to go through because of those two incidents. He nearly dropped down to third place in the rankings, "I forbid you from interacting with them!"

"Why should I? If I have to train with you because you are strong, I should maintain a friendship with Kaminari and Uraraka,"

"What do you mean?"

"Didn't Kaminari knock you out? And Uraraka had you as her prisoner. Hitoshi even defeated All Might in our mock battle," Shouto said, "They are all much more capable than you,"

Endeavour fumed and exploded, his skin glowing with fire, "Why you insolent brat!?" he yelled and moved to slap him. Shouto didn't flinch at the fire but he did flinch at what happened next. A wave of foam had engulfed Endeavour suddenly and the sound of a fire extinguisher running out was heard.

The smoke moved away to show Endeavour with foam on his face, making him look like a budget Santa, and a tall, scrawny blonde man behind him, fire extinguisher in hand. Shouto recognized him as Yagi. He had seen him sometimes in the staff room and assumed he was a teacher for the other departments. He always seemed nervous though, just like was now.

Yagi had actually not heard a single word of their argument. He had merely seen an orange flame and assumed there was a fire starting. He had simply grabbed a fire extinguisher and rushed to put it out. However, now that he saw Shouto, he had put two and two together pretty quick.

"Who the heck are you?" Endeavour demanded, "How dare you dowse the number 2 hero?"

"I am sorry, I mistook a fire starting out here. You should not have, however, tried to hit your child," Yagi said, trying to maintain a sweet smile instead of going with his instincts and slapping Enji.

"Mind your own business, stupid janitor," Endeavour turned to Shouto.

"I'm actually a teacher here,"

"Huh?" Enji faced Yagi once, "You must be some no-name bottom ranker then. Don't try and associate yourself with me,"

Yagi's smile wavered slightly and his face twitched, "That's not very heroic, Endeavour," Yagi said in a way All Might would. Enji didn't know of the dual identities and was spooked at how similar the voices sounded. Suddenly Enji's memories clicked, "You are the typewriter at the court, who was All Might's assistant," he remembered.

"Yes, I am. Shouto, you should go. Time is nearly up and you haven't made a team yet," Yagi said, "Endeavour if you would please come with me,"

"Why the hell should I go with a lowly assistant like you?"

"As I said I am a teacher. As a staff, I must report you to Nedzu for the security breach. If you do not comply, I will be forced to throw you out immediately.

Enji wanted to retort but knew Nedzu had enough manpower to keep his promise. He conceded defeat and turned away to form his team. He smiled at Yagi as a show of respect. He had never studied under him but he had helped him nonetheless.

"Daddy issues huh?"

Shouto froze as a female stepped out of the shadows, "What do you want?" he demanded.

"I'll be straightforward. My name is Hatsume Mei and I'd like to join your team!"

Shouto eyed her suspiciously, "I don't know your skills,"

"I'm from the support department. We can use anything that we have made and I have several babies!"

"Babies?" Shouto spluttered uncomfortably.

"Yes, my super inventions! I can make you fly, run, zip line, anything you want!"

"Why me?" Shouto asked with interest.

"I need public eyes on me so that support companies will eye me like a hot commodity when I graduate. As the son of Endeavour, you will have many eyes on you, and I want to take advantage of that," Hatsume said honestly.

Shouto started to walk away, "No thanks. I'm not looking to do my old man any favors,"

"Oh come on! Even your classmate, the first placed one turned me away because he already made a team. I need people to see my babies!" Hatsume urged but Shouto didn't budge, "And anyway, you're just exploiting your trashy dad's status. You'd be doing me a favor and get away with insulting him by associating yourself with someone from a support department," Hatsume tried to change his mind.

Evidently, this had struck a chord as Shouto turned and walked back towards Mei. She did have a point that it would anger his father if he learned she's from the support course, "All right. You can be on my team. We just need to find some more teammates,"

"Thank you! Thank you!" Mei said excitedly as if she had just won a lottery, "Now the world will learn of my babies!"

Shouto shook his head. Maybe he had made a mistake by accepting the offer. She seemed too crazy. Shouto grinned and banished the thought, they were all crazy anyway.

A/N: This is the last of the daily updates. I'll probably be shifting to 3 chapters per week schedule. For now, appearances will probably get two updates, and hero but not a pro will be getting one chapter. No promises though! Thanks for reading, and leave a comment!

Oh and someone had asked me to cross-post on ao3, so I just wanted to tell you it's already been done.