Their Hero Academia – Chapter 29: Class 1-A and the Sports Festival Part 2: Finish Lines and Score Cards
Izumi let out a small gasp as she saw the third stage of the race rise up before her and Katsumi. She might have expected another obstacle like the pillar field they had left behind. She might even have expected a mine field or something like that, but no, that wasn't it.
Before they, rising up and completely blocking any way around it, was what appeared to be a demolished office building, leaning sharply to the left and crumbling. It was too tall to go over it, above the flight ceiling they'd imposed, even if she could make that much ice that quickly.
"You're… you're seeing this too, right, Izzy?" Katsumi asked.
"Indeed I am," she said. "Any suggestions?"
"And the first students are coming on the final stage!" Present Mic's voice cut through the noise of the race and crowd. "They're gonna have to make their way past this destroyed office building if they're gonna get to the finish line! It's still anybody's race!"
"Smash through," Katsumi said. "Break through a window, maybe third floor or so… then we just have to push out the other side."
Below, she could hear the whooshing-zip sound of Isamu and saw him sliding towards the building, Mineta still on his back. Aoki, the girl with the wheeled monopod instead of feet from Class 1-C, was very close behind the two of them. Katsumi's suggestion seemed risky… but she was also not sure she had anything better. Especially since Isamu likely could simply just slide around the outside of the building. They were doing well… but she wanted to do even better.
"Then that's what we'll do."
"What, no arguments?" Katsumi asked. "Usually you try to talk me out of stuff."
Izumi smiled. "Sometimes, one simply has to act and be bold, things you excel at. I trust your judgement here."
"Thanks, Izz."
Izumi concentrated, lifting them up higher on her ice slide, pushing towards the building. "Clear us a path!" she told Katsumi.
"On it!" Katsumi broke a chunk of ice off, held it in her hand for a moment, and then threw it like a baseball. It impacted the window ahead of them and exploded with a powerful but short-lived boom, creating enough of a whole for them to pass through. She extended her ice slide, creating a bridge to the hole Katsumi had created and both stepped inside.
With her feet on solid (albeit crumbling) ground, rather than her own ice, Izumi suddenly realized just how bone-wearily tired she was. She hadn't made that much ice, processed that much heat in… she honestly couldn't remember when. Even with her regulator rig (which was flashing an urgent and vivid orange), it had taken its toll on her. Suddenly, she felt her legs collapse out from under her and she sank to her knees.
"Izzy!" Katsumi screamed, and she dropped down to her own knees, her face inches from Izumi's own. Katsumi put her hands on her shoulders. "Izzy! Speak to me! Are you okay?"
Her eyelids feeling heavy, Izumu shook her head. "I may… have overexerted myself," she said, quietly, ashamed. She'd been so certain she had the stamina for this. And now she was letting everyone down…
"Here," Katsumi said, turning around. "Climb on my back. Can you hold on, at least?"
"I… think so…"
"Then we'll do that. I'll carry you the rest of the way."
"You really do always have my back."
"Always, Izz. Always."
Her terror abated for the moment, and Izzy on her back, Katsumi ran as fast as her legs would carry her. She did take pride in her fitness. It wasn't her Quirk, it wasn't some mutation like Horse-Girl's hooves, this was pure physicality, all her. And she was in damn good shape, if she did say so herself.
Damn, though, if Izzy wasn't light. Her friend was thin and willowy compared to her, but she hadn't realized by how much. She couldn't be much more than forty-five kilograms. No wonder Izzy was so winded from all the exertion.
Legs pumping, Katsumi made her way through the wrecked office they'd found themselves in. She leapt over a desk, landing with a hard thud and a "Huhp!" shout from herself. She dodgeg a chair, avoided a fallen I-beam from the ceiling, avoided the dangling wires… It was probably some kind of controlled collapse, but there were still plenty of obstacles to avoid.
There was no one else around though. They meant everyone else had taken some other route. They weren't so far ahead that others shouldn't have been catching up, but it looked like they were the only ones on the third floor. Which also meant that she couldn't tell how far ahead or behind anyone else they were…
As much as she would have liked it, she didn't expect first place. It stung, gnawed at her mind. She was competitive to a fault, but she was also a realist. She just needed to do well enough to make her mark and get her and Izzy to the next round. She could be happy with that. Or at least, that's what she told herself.
And maybe better than Toshi or Kana. Show them she still had plenty of game. Not that either of them would look down on her. But she had to keep pushing.
They were close to the other side of the other side of the room now and Katsumi grabbed a desk chair as she ran by, imbuing it with the explosive power of her Quirk. She gave it a hard shove, sending it careening across the floor on its wheels until it impacted with the wall.
KABOOM!
The explosion left a large hole in the wall and Katsumi didn't slow down for a second. She'd gotten real good over the years at figuring out exactly how long it would take something to explode and how big an explosion it would make. By the time the smoke from the explosion had cleared, she was right upon the hole she'd created…
"Hang on tight, Izz," she said.
And she jumped right out the hole.
Maybe not her smartest idea. But she always was impulsive. It usually served her well. A good yell and a good solid punch were what she considered basic necessities in the fight against evil. Knock the guy out early, you don't have to worry about untangling their plans or strategizing.
The ground was coming up awful face and she braced herself for impact. It hurt like crazy, but nothing seemed broken. Instantly, she broke into a run, with the finish line in sight.
"Still with me?" she asked Izzy.
"To the end," Izzy told her.
Behind them, she could hear the sounds of shattering glass and smashed steel and concrete as other students burst through other floors and windows of the collapsing building. With some of them decidedly faster than her, Katsumi ran, as hard and fast as her legs would carry her.
"And now the first runners are coming up on the finish line! Will it be one of the duos from Class 1-A? Or will it be… someone else? Those last few meters are still anyone's game! One thing's for sure… they better have those cameras ready down there!"
In all honesty, the third leg of the race had been the easiest for Isamu, even with a passenger to account for. He'd had to rely on Mineta to protect him during the swarm of minus one-pointers, had to use a lot of care and caution during the pillar zone, but the building? Unlike a lot of the others, he hadn't even needed to go inside. With his Slide and Glide Quirk, he'd been able to simply slide over the outside of the building, putting him on the ground before anyone else had even made it outside.
"We're doing it! I can't believe we're actually doing it!" Mineta shouted from his back. She was remarkably cheerful considering she'd nearly fallen off three times during the pillars. Where, admittedly, she'd come in handy too. She'd actually been able to keep a couple pillars from rising up at them with her sticky balls. He'd not, if he was forced to admit it, had much of a high opinion of her prior to this, even if he'd been warming up to her slightly. But maybe she was all right after all.
"We are!" he shouted back, a little surprised by it. All these other people competing, all those Quirks, and he was winning? He was half convinced he was actually in a coma after having been set on fire and this was all just part of his coma dream.
And there it was: the finish line.
"Hang on tight," he said, putting everything he could into his speed. He couldn't go full out and expect her to hold on (not to mention the effects of wind burn or being able to breathe, things he was adapted to) for long, but one powerful, short burst to carry them over the finish line should be okay.
He was still going when he felt her digging her hooves into his sides. "Hey! Hey! You can stop! We did it! We did it! SLOW DOWN I WANNA GET OFF!"
Her words drew him out of his focus and he skidded to a rather sudden stop, applying a bit too much breaking force. Mineta went flying forward as the laws of physics kicked in, landing upside down on the ground in front of him. She let out another cheer. "I'm okay!"
Isamu helped her to her feet, then turned to watch the big screen as others started coming across the finish line.
"And second across the line are Haimawari and Mineta from Class 1-A! I guess you could say he made this a real slide show, eh, Eraser?"
"…You can make me sit up here, but you can't make me respond to your dumb jokes, Mic."
"Looks like your class teamed up for this one! Anything you'd like to say about that?"
"It's technically within the rules."
"That's it? That's all you've got to say?"
"Anything else is between me and my class."
"Oh, you're no fun!"
"Thank you."
Well, if that wasn't ominous…
"And that's number forty-two over the finish line! We'll be putting the countdown of our winners up on the charts in just a minute, but for now, let's go down to Hawkeye and get the scoop on our first place finisher!"
The camera zoomed in on Hawkeye, who stood with the guy from 1-E who'd apparently come in first. Jin Ando was a short boy, with dark hair cut into a bowl cut. Rather than looking excited (Right now, Isamu felt like he had enough energy to Slide and Glide his way around the whole world) though, he just looked bored, like he wished he was somewhere else.
Some of the others from 1-A had gathered around. Isamu turned to Midoriya. "Do you think they're going to let him win?" he asked. "Are there rules for teleporters or something?"
Midoriya shook his head. "I don't know… teleportation Quirks are super rare. There's maybe a dozen listed on the Public Quirk Registry. I mean, there's probably more on some super secret registry or something, but still. It's probably not something they planned for. Of course, if they don't let it count… that means you won, Haimawari!"
Isamu felt himself go pale. He hadn't thought about that! He definitely did not need to be worth a bajillion points in whatever came next!
Toshi gave Haimawari a reassuring pat on the shoulder. "Relax," he said. "Whatever happens, we've got your back."
"I… thanks, Midoriya," Haimawari said. He didn't look any less tense, but Toshi did see that he was breathing again, so that was good. He probably shouldn't have said anything and gotten him all panicked.
"After deliberation with the Principal and the other teachers," Hawkeye said, "we have decided to allow Ando's first place finish to stand."
A combination of cheers and boos went up from the crowd. Toshi wasn't really sure what side of the fence he fell on. On the one hand, Ando had used his Quirk, the same as any of them. On the other hand, he'd completely circumvented the obstacles all the rest of them had had to negotiate. He firmly believed people should be able to use their Quirks as freely as possible… but it just didn't seem in the spirit of the event. It wasn't pushing himself, it wasn't rising up to a challenge… If Ando was a long-range teleporter, than what he'd done wasn't any more difficult than walking across the street for him.
And with a Quirk like that, why wasn't he in the Hero Course?
"However," Hawkeye said, "we will be issuing rules going forward to that will further clarify and restrict the use of such Quirks during similar events for future Sports Festivals."
Ando took a step forward. "I just want to say thank you for recognizing my victory. I'll now be withdrawing from the Festival. I hope everyone keeps me in mind as I begin my delivery business going forward. As you can see, I can offer near instantaneous delivery times."
He vanished from the stage in a flash of white light.
A long moment of silence held the crowd, until Hawkeye spoke again. "All right," she growled, "with that over with… let's take a look at how our top forty-two did!"
Toshi looked over to the big board, this time displaying the ranking students. Pictures appeared alongside them as their names and classes appeared.
Jin Ando, Class 1-E, General Studies
Isamu Haimawari, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Good for him! He knew his friend had it in him! Hopefully this didn't put too big a target on him for the next event. He'd heard rumors they were doing away with the million points…)
Mika Mineta, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Well, mostly getting the benefits from being paired with Haimawari, but still, maybe this would inspire her to take things more seriously?
Yui Aoki, Class 1-C, Hero Course (The wheeled girl from 1-C, Toshi realized. How did that work, exactly? How was she able to stand still like that without falling over? Wheels were not a natural organic shape… and what was hers made of?)
Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo, Class 1-A, Hero Course (That was… probably bad. Katsumi didn't usually take losing well. And Haimawari really bugged her for some reason. So losing to him was… He ought to stay close to him just in case.
Izumi Tododoki, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Izumi looked a little worse for wear. He hoped she was okay. Had she pushed herself too hard?)
Haya Tanaka, Class 1-C, Hero Course (The comet girl from a last month… good for her! It looked like she'd recovered nicely and was back to using her Quirk.)
Kana Tetsutetsu, Class 1-B, Hero Course (Now that was actually really impressive. Not that he doubted Tetsutetsu's skills, but her Quirk wasn't really one that did much for speed. Toshi definitely wanted a chance to see how she'd done it.)
Chizue Kuroiro, Class 1-B, Hero Course (The shadow-skinned girl could bring stuff to life, right? She'd probably called up something to carry her through.)
Sora Iida, Class 1-A, Hero Course (What was the proper boyfriend behavior when your girlfriend finished in the top ten of the U.A. Sport's Festival? Was there a card for that? Did you get her congratulatory flowers?)
Chihiro Kaminari, Class 1-A, Hero Course (He could see Kaminari very pointedly not listening to Mineta. The horned-girl was probably trying to brag about her victory.)
Tensei Iida, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Sora seemed to be taunting her brother with something. What that was, he couldn't possibly guess.)
Takiyo Aoyama, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Hopefully it wouldn't go to his head…)
Toshinori Modoriya, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Not bad… he wished he could have placed in the top ten, but in the top fifteen wasn't bad at all.)
Shota Shinso, Class 1-A, Hero Course (He was pretty sure Shota was going to vibrate himself out of sync with this dimension with how he was shaking from excitement!)
Hizashi Koumori, Class 1-B, Hero Course (A bestial, bat-winged boy. Was there more to his Quirk? That wingspan shouldn't have supported flight at all…)
Takuma Sero, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Sero was preening, trying to fix his hair while the camera was still on him.)
Kenta Sato, Class 1-A, Hero Course (He'd seen Sato and Sero riding the robots during the minus one-pointer swarm. It was a good idea. Therefore, it had probably been Sato's.)
Inori Tagikawa, Class 1-C, Hero Course (She was a blonde and otherwise normal looking girl. Toshi thought he remembered her doing some kind of screaming during the race. Like Shota, but different.)
Goro Gomusuk, Class 1-B, Hero Course (The guy who'd inflated himself like a beach ball and bounced around during the race. Maybe he had some kind of elasticity-based Quirk?)
Yoru Kan, Class 1-C, Hero Course (The daughter of the former U.A. teacher, Vlad King, she was a pale girl with fangs who looked a bit uncomfortable in the sun.)
Asuka Tokoyami, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Asuka had done well and it looked like she and Akaya had worked well together. Good. Though right now it looked like she was trying to corral Frog-Shadow.)
Akaya Koda, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Koda seemed as calm and at peace as ever. There were days Toshi really envied her calm.)
Taichi Yamachi, Class 1-C, Hero Course (He had a centaur Quirk? Definitely more heteromorphic than Toshi had usually seen.)
Kimiko Dashi, Class 1-B, Hero Course (A girl with short hair in three stripes of red, yellow, and blue, and what looked like a traffic light strapped to one arm. Toshi remembered seeing her slowing down and speeding things up during the race. That was potentially a very powerful and useful Quirk indeed.
Rukia Yagami, Class 1-I, Support Course (A tall girl who looked like she was made on diamond. It would have made a fine Hero's Quirk, Toshi thought. But then again, given how often things in the Support labs blew up, it was probably just as useful there. Mutant or Transformation-type, he wondered.)
Joichiro Koichiro, Class 1-B, Hero Course (A guy with short, dark hair, and… two pupils in each eye? He didn't recall seeing him during the race, so he wasn't sure what his Quirk was. He supposed he'd find out during the next event.)
Momoko Mogura, Class 1-F, General Studies (A short, mole-like girl with glasses. She probably had some kind of digging-power to go with her appearance. Digging under the track would have worked really well.)
Ichigo Minoru, Class 1-C, Hero Course (A lion-like boy who towered over most of his classmates. He was more than a little intimidating looking, but none of his classmates seemed bothered by it.)
Sasuke Kido, Class 1-B, Hero Course (A red haired boy who seemed to be shimmering slightly. During the race, he'd simply just walked through the minus one-pointers as the robots had exploded against some kind of force field. Was there more to it than that?)
Ken Tenoh, Class 1-D, General Studies (A guy with a wild, untamed mane of black hair and claws on his fingers. Probably a fairly limited Quirk then, but they'd be good for climbing…)
Rei Endo, Class 1-E, General Studies (A blue-haired girl with pointed ears, but no readily apparent Quirk. In fact, Toshi didn't remember seeing her during the race at all. Which meant something… stealthy?)
Anime Fukidashi, Class 1-B, Hero Course (A girl with too large eyes and who looked like a living animation cel. It honestly hurt Toshi's eyes a little to look at her for too long.)
Mio Yamaguchi, Class 1-B, Hero Course (Some kind of vibration Quirk, if he remembered what Tetsutetsu had said. Could be dangerous if she made it to the tournament round)
Chiasa Kamakiri, Class 1-B, Hero Course (Her Swarm Quirk might not have come in too hand during the race. Would she have had to get all of herself across the finish line, or would just one of her split-segment clones have counted?)
Hisashi Horikoshi, Class 1-D, General Studies (Was he carrying some kind of sketchpad? What kind of Quirk did he have exactly? Toshi had been too far ahead to see.)
Koharu Kocho, Class 1-F, General Studies (A slight, butterfly winged girl, with big eyes and feathery antenna. She'd been doing really well early on, but had gotten overwhelmed in the robot swarm. Toshi was glad to see she'd made it.)
Shikha Mizuno, Class 1-C, Hero Course (A girl with antlers and big ears, Koda had mentioned her recently. Another one with no heroic pedigree. Good to see she'd made it. They needed plenty of new blood in the Hero world, not just dynasties.)
David Togata, Class 1-G, Support Course (Was that a flying skateboard? Good for Dave! He'd originally planned on not really putting much into the competition, but Toshi and Shota had talked him into giving it a try. It looked like it had paid off.)
Daisuke Shoji, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Toshi was glad to see Shoji had made it, even if he'd been towards the back of the pack. He knew the six-armed boy sometimes through of his Quirk as pretty plain or utilitarian. Maybe it would be more useful in the next round)
Kimiko Ojiro, Class 1-A, Hero Course (Ojiro was over with Sero and Sato, waving her arms excitedly, probably telling them about her race experiences. Neither looked like they were getting a word in edgewise.)
Shiro Monoma, Class 1-B, Hero Course (Well, some things couldn't be avoided)
"Of course," Hawkeye went on, "with Ando withdrawing, everyone will be advancing one spot and we will be moving up the current forty-third place finisher. That student is Jin Choyaku, from the Hero Course, Class 1-C!" Toshi watched as a boy with curly dark hair and what looked like coiled springs below his knees in lieu of lower legs and feet joined the other kids from 1-C who had passed.
Various cheers and congratulations went up among the students. So many students in the race, and only these forty-two had made it. Toshi was proud to count himself among them, and even prouder that unlike any of the other classes, everyone in his had made it. There were a lot of Gen Ed kids who'd made it this time too. Five all together. Which really wasn't all that much, given that there were two from the Support Courses and thirty-five from the Hero Courses, but definitely more than most years. If they were serious about getting in… well, he hoped they did. There was additional room in the Hero Courses (not to mention a third Hero class these days) exactly for this kind of thing.
"I'll give you this, Toshi," Katsumi told him. "your teamwork idea really paid off. Got everybody through just fine." She gave Haimawari a harsher look though. "Doesn't explain how you pulled off a win, though."
Haimawari let off a little terrified shriek, but he didn't try to hide behind Toshi (difficult, considering he was taller) like he might have a few weeks ago. "Trust me," he said, "I don't know how I pulled it off either! I, ah, I guess I just had the right Quirk in the right place for it. But you were doing really good too! I saw you booking it at the end there!"
Katsumi crossed her arms, but gave a small nod of approval. "And that was pure me. So watch yourself, Newb."
"Yes, ma'am," Haimawari said. "Watching it, ma'am."
He went quiet for a moment, as a thought seemed to strike him and the color drained from his face again. "Wait a minute. The teleporter kid's win counted. But he dropped out. That means…"
Toshi gave a pat on the shoulder, trying to be reassuring "It means you won!"
"I won!" Haimawari shouted, triumph temporarily overcoming panic, throwing both arms in the air. "I won! I won! I… won."
He took a moment to look around at the other forty-one who'd passed the first round. "Ooooh, this is gonna be bad."
Hakweye called for silence again. "And now for the Second Stage! For this, we'll be splitting you into two teams. Those of you whose placement was an odd number will be on the Blue Team and those of you whose placement was an even number will be on the White Team. Team Captains will be Isamu Haimawari and Katsumi Kirishima-Bakugo, as the first place finisher and first even-placed winner to complete the race under her own power rather than riding or being carried."
She pointed to opposite ends of the stadium. "For now, both teams should proceed to end zones. You'll be met by a teacher there who will hand out equipment and then I will explain the rules for our next event: Quirk-Ball!"
Toshi saw Katsumi flash Haimawari one of those grins she got right before she screamed and punched the hell out of something. "Looking forward to competing against you, Newb," she growled.
Well… this was going to be interesting.