Mic's commentary boomed out some more. "THE FIRST ROUND'S OBSTACLE COURSE IS UNDERWAY! AND THE GOAL IS TO RUN ONE LAP AROUND THIS SPECIAL MADE STADIUM'S OUTER RING! THE RULES ARE SIMPLE - AND SAVAGE! ASIDE FROM LEAVING THE COURSE, THIS IS A BONA FIDE RACE WHERE EVERYTHING GOES! THE CAMERA BOTS INSTALLED IN EACH AREA CAN BARELY CONTAIN THEIR EXCITEMENT!

You think I'd just let you take the lead? I thought as I blasted my way right over those robots. It was a hell of a rush, feeling the eyes of the world on me. That's right. Watch me and see just what I can do.

"AAND 1-A'S BAKUGOU HAS ABANDONED THE GROUND AND VAULTED OVER THEIR HEADS, CLEVER THAT!"

"I thought for sure that with your personality, you'd just try to blast your way through!" Tape arms called out behind me. "But you went over them instead!"

Bird Head was neck in neck with him, held aloft by that weird dark thing that's his quirk. "Thanks for giving me a lift," he said to it. "We're landing." Dark Shadow.

"AS EXPECTED OF THSOE WHO'VE MADE IT PAST, LOTS ARE FROM CLASS A!" came more commentary as I ran all out towards the next obstacle.

"It's not that the other departments of Class B aren't any good," said Mr. Aizawa's voice. "It's just that Class A's learned not to hesitate. They've seen what the real world holds, and they've come to know what it is to be instilled with true fear. They coped and made it out in one piece, and now their experience has become a source of encouragement, drowning out their doubt and hesitation."

Say it louder so all those morons will hear it. Better be afraid. As I blasted around the corner, I arrived at the next obstacle on the track. The newest wall to climb. Almost literally…

"WELL THEN, IF THE FIRST BARRIER WAS A CINCH, WHADDYA THINK OF THE SECOND? YOU FALL AND YOU'RE OUT! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT IDEA MAYBE YOU CAN CRAWL! IT'S THE FALLLL!"

Tightropes course basically.

"IT'S TRUE THAT THEY'RE ENCOURAGED TO TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORN IN ANY NUMBER OF WAYS, RIGHT ERASERHEAD?"

"What are those idiots doing just standing around?" came the musing voice of our Sense in response.

Easy as hell. And you won't catch me standing around! I was blasting away across the fall. No need to bother with the ropes or the jumping course.

"THE PLAYER IN THE LEAD IS KEEPING IT COMFORTABLY!" called out Mic. I could see who he meant. God damn IcyHot, running ahead. That goddamn Icyhot bastard. I was just about keeping up with him. A little more energy, then. I was catching up to him, closing that gap. You made a mistake today, IcyHot.

"THE PLAYERS IN THE LEAD ARE SEPARATED FROM THOSE BUNCHED UP BEHIND! BUT WON'T SAY HOW MANY ARE PULLING AHED, SO DON'T GET COMPLACENT AND KEEP GOING FORWARD! AND NOW WE COME TO THE HIDDEN FINAL BARRIER! IT'S TRUE FORM IS NONE OTHER THAN - THE MINE FIELD! IT'S SET UP SO THAT IF YOU LOOK CAREFULLY, YOU CAN SEE WHERE THE LANDLINES ARE! STRAIN YOUR EYES AND FEET! IN ANY CASE THEY'RE LANDLINES, NOT OVERLY LETHAL BUT THEY BANG BIG AND BRIGHT!"

Oh, please. None of these are any problem for me. Seen my quirk at all? I blasted over all the mines. "HA! It Don't mean a thing to me!" I called out as I finally - at last - passed IcyHot.

"Yo," I told him, looking back to show him just what a mistake he'd made. "You think you might've issued your little war declaration to the wrong person?" That's right. Not Deku. Me. I'm your rival.

"AND THE LEAD HAS BEEN UPSET! REJOICE MASS MEDIA! THIS IS JUST THE SORT OF DEVELOPMENT YOU CRAVE! WHY EVEN THOSE WHO ARE TRAILING BEHIND ARE PUTTING ON SPURTS! HOWEVER, WHILE THEY'RE PULLING EACH OTEHR BACK, WE EFFECTIVELY HAVE TWO KIDS IN THE LEAD!?"

IcyHot was trying to grab me, as if thinking he could just seize my arm and toss me out of the way. He'd even activated his damn quirk to try and freeze me. No way in hell, IcyHot. But come at me with all you got ,and I'll still beat you.

BANG

This wasn't one of the mines going off. The sound behind us was an explosion about the size of my own maximum. A gigantic blowup like someone had set off a real bomb.

"A GIANT EXPLOSION NEAR HTE ENTRANCE?! WHY WAS THAT BANG SO BIG?! WAS IT HIS PLAN OR SHEER COINCIDENCE?"

I turned to stare. What the hell was going on? A test or -

And then I saw him. Holding onto a metal sheet, something he must've torn from the robots earlier, flying on the explosive wave high above the heads of everyone else…I couldn't quite see his face clearly, but I could still tell. That crazy look was in his eyes.

"CLASS A'S MIDORIYA MOUNTS HIS CHARGE - USING SHOCK WAVES?" Mic shouted.

NO, no no no no…while I was busy trying to pass Todoroki, trying to show him up -

"CLASS 1A'S MIDORIYA MOUNTS HIS CHARGE, BOY DOES HE EVER!"

We weren't fast enough. In an instant, Deku had flown over our heads.

"HE OVERTOOK THEM, THE LEAD IS HIS!"

I blasted off the ground straight at him.

"DEKU! DON'T YOU DARE GO AHEAD OF ME!" I shouted at him. i had to catch up. Gotta catch up, got to. I could see his eyes. He was starting to lose momentum though. Falling out of the sky. I'd catch up to him in a minute. I'd beat him. No way, no way in hell is he surpassing me.

IcyHot was doing the same, but still behind me. Catching up. Deku was still falling. No way he was winning. Some big scheme he'd popped up but no more than that.

"THE TWO WHO WERE FORMERLY IN THE LEAD HAVE STOPPED TRIPPING EACH OTEHR UP AND BEGUN TO BOLT AFTER MIDORIYA! THEY SAY IT TAKES A COMMON ENEMY TO PUT A HOLD ON STRIFE! THOUGH STRIFE WILL NEVER TOTALLY DISAPPEAR, RIGHT?"

He kept falling right in front of our eyes. Collapsing as his big fancy scheme failed. Didn't come up with a landing scheme, did ya? You ain't winning this. You're not you're not…

Then he flipped over. Almost like he was standing on our backs. Slammed that metal plate he'd been holding onto the ground. And the mines blew up again.

"IN NO TIME AT ALL MIDORWYA BLEW DUST IN THEIR EYES, AND NOW HE'S CLEARED THE LANDLINE AREA ENTIRELY! DAMMIT EARSERHEAD, YOUR CLASS IS INSANE?! WHAT'RE YOU TEACHING THEM?"

"I didn't do anything. This is all the fruit of the fires they lit in each other."

Dammit no - no you can't - he was retreating, getting ahead of me, even IcyHot was moving faster. I was getting left in the dirt, no matter how fast I pushed my quirk, no matter how much I pushed myself - everything was receding, and in no time at all -

"WHOEVER COULD'VE PREDICTED THIS OUTCOME WHEN THE TRIAL BEGAN? THE ONE WHO RETURNED TO HTE STADIUM IS NONE OTHER THAN - MIDORIYA IZUKU! HIS WILL BE A NAEM TO KNOW!"

Even moving across the finish line felt hollow and pointless. 3rd place. Only 3rd place. IcyHot in 2nd. And Deku. Deku had taken first place. I'd lost to him.

I held my arm, which was stiff from overuse. "Again? Shit. God-dammit!"

IcyHot was standing by me and watching Deku. Both of us were staring at his back as he stood there, absorbing all that damn praise. He was joined by Glasses and Round Face after a minute or two.

Round one, and I'd lost. 3rd fucking place.

Midnight announced, "The 42 at the top have earned the right to advance. I'm sorry for the kids who failed, bu take heart. The festival's show-stopper is still being prepared. And now fro the post-preliminaries, the final selection! From here on out, even the press corps will teem in a white heat of excitement, so go all out. now then, onto today's heart-pounding second event! I already know what it will be but the suspense is killing me! And what will it be? Behold!" The sign displayed said "Human cavalry Battle" You can all form 2-4 person teams freely and form a horse-back configuration! Basically it's the same rules as a normal human cavalry battle: Swipe enemy riders' headbands and guard your own, except for one thing. Everyone will receive points based on their performance in the last trial!"

"Which means the point value of each team will change based on who's in it," said Raccoon eyes.

"DON'T INTERRUPT!" Yelled Midnight. "But yes, that's right, and the number of points you're worth will be 5 points if you placed 42nd, 10 if you placed 41st, 15th for 40th and so on, with the exception of 1st place, whose head is worth TEN MILLION!"

Everyone had turned to look at Deku. Suddenly things weren't quite the same as before. Being #1 was, what, a punishment?