"Those who reach th top merely encounter fresh new hardships. And the kids who have enrolled here will hear it countless times. Plus ultra. The time limit is 15 minutes. The point value of each group's headband is worth the total point accompiuation of each of the horse's members. The one to wear the headband will be the rider. Think of them as a standard bearer. Until time is up, you'll all be fighting and stealing as many of each others' headbands as you can. You may not equip your headband on any area besides above your neck. As more and more headbands are taken, maintaining control of the situation will become more and more demanding. And the most important aspect of the game is that even if you should lose your headband or break configuration, you're still not out of the game."

"So that means," i murmured to Sato, who was standing beside me, "That with 42 contestants, around 10-12 horses, will be on the field the entire time."

"Quirks are of course allowed," continued Midnight, "so I want to see some fine brutality out there! That being said, this is still just a human cavalry game! If you attack any other group to break them up on purpose, that's a read card and you'll be forced to sit out the rest of the game. All right, you now have 15 minutes. Start your teamups!"

I started calculating. Had to do well at this round. Had to find my own team to lead.

"Yaoyorozu," said Todoroki, approaching me. "Are you taken?'

"No," I told him. It was gratifying to be sought for, though I rather suspected Todoroki would want to be the team leader himself. "I would be honored to join your team, Todoroki."

He immediately turned away, having gotten what he wanted, and headed for Kaminari.

"Join me," he told him. Kaminari grinned and ran over to me. "Yaoyorozu, hey, we're on the same team again!"

Before I could ask Todoroki who we should be thinking of picking for the fourth, he'd already headed over to ask Iida. Who agreed. And again, before I could give any suggestion, Todoroki had gathered us together and was talking about his strategy.

"The reason I chose all of you is because I think this is the battle formation with the best balance. Kaminari, you're on the left. You'll send out some sparks to make sure the enemy never gets too close. Yaoyorozu, you're on the right. You'll be making us an insulator sheet, plus whatever defense and mobility you can provide. Iida, you're at the front with your engine power. You'll be our physical defense as well."

As he said all this, it occurred to me that Todoroki hadn't chosen me because of my skills, but simply to use my quirk. And that he was going to be our team leader, no matter what I said or thought.

"And Todoroki, you can feint your attacks by using either ice or heat, right?" asked Iida.

"No," said Todoroki, looking into the stands. "While in combat, I'll never, ever use my left side."

As we spoke, a voice called out Iida's name - the familiar voice from Midoriya. He had joined up with Uraraka already, and didn't seem to realize Iida was already taken. Iida would perhaps, from his perspective, prove useful for his speed, but as he returned to my team, it wasn't clear what else Midoriya was going to do.

"NOW TIME'S UP! RAISE YOUR WAR-CRIES AND FIRE HTE SIGNAL" Boomed Mic's voice. "LET'S START THE COUNTDOWN! 3!"

We'd assembled. I was the left horse, supporting Todoroki had in hand with Iida. Todoroki's eyes were squarely on the main target. "The only target." Team Midoriya.

He'd added Tokoyami, the boy with the Dark Shadow quirk, and a girl I didn't recognize from another class, to complete his horse.

"2!" 1! Go!"

An all out rush began towards Team Midoriya. Every team in the yard was targeting him all at once.

"Now?" asked Kaminari.

"Wait,"said Todoroki. As we watched, just like I'd predicted, Team Midoriya took off and was airborne - though assisted by the support gear, as well as by Uraraka's float quirk. Thanks to Dark Shadow, there was pretty much no touching them.

They landed and were assaulted again - parried, moved, dodged. Went airborne again, only to dodge an attack from Bakugou. Once again, Dark Shadow countered.

"HAVE AL OOK, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! NOT EVEN TWO MINUTES HAVE ELASPED AND ALREADY WE HAVE A MELEE OF TUMULTUOUS PROPORTIONS ON OUR HADNS! ANYWHERE YOU REST YOUR EYES, THERE'S TWO TEAMS VYING FOR AND STEALING EACH OTHER'S HEADBANDS! AFTER ALL, IT'S A FINE STRATEGY TO AIM FOR 2ND TO 4TH PLACE INSTEAD OF THE BIG 10, MILLION!"

"THAT'S RIGHT, WHETHER IT'S THE FIRST PLACE WHO'S BEING CHASED, RO THE REST OF CLASS A, NOW DOING THE CHASING THIS HERE'S A VERITABLE CONGREGATION OF TOP DOGS! LET'S BRIEFLY CONFIRM THAT BY CHECKING THIER POINT VALUES!"

There was a gasp. "WHOA, DAMN! JUST ONE GASH SECOND! YOU MEAN CLASS A AREN'T TAKING IT BY A MILE? WELL, APART FRMO MIDORWYA, AND BAKUGO U - WHAT HAPPENED?"

Time now, then. Time for us to enact a longer scheme. Our team had cornered Midorwya's.

"Guess we won't be getting such an easy ride after all, huh," murmured Midoriya as we faced each other off.

"The time has come,"said Todoroki. "I'll be taking that."

"IN THE MISDT OF CLASS B'S ASCENDENCE, THE TITLE FIGHT COMES TO THE FORE! UPON WHOSE HEAD SHALL REST THOSE TEN MILLION POINTS?" Called out Mic.

The other teams were helpless. We'd be snagging Midoriya's headband. I'm going to overtake you two, I thought.

"Iida," said Todoroki. "Advance."

"Got it!" he replied.

"Yaoyorozu," he told me."Prepare our guard and conductor."

"On it!" I said, readying the same shield I'd used for Kaminari's attack before.

"Kaminari," Todoroki finished.

"Yeah, man, I know!" he said with a grin. "Hang tight!"

Guarded by the shield, we were blocked from the Indiscriminate discharge, which was released all around us to freeze the surrounding teams in place - the others heading for Team Midoriya. Unfortunately, Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was able to guard their team from the discharge, preventing the plan from working quite perfectly.

"There's less than six minutes left on the clock," Todoroki said as I handed him the grounding rod I'd created for the completion of our plan. "There's no going back."

Dangerous for the other teams…they were still people and classmates after all. "Sorry about this. Just endure it for a little while," said Todoroki, as he unleashed his ice to the ground along the creation I'd handed him, a long pole. We were wearing skates to prevent us from being electrocuted or frozen.

"WHAT'S THIS?" announced Mic. "TODOROKI HELD BACK THE MOB OF HORSES IN ONE FELL SWOOP!"

"He used Kaminari's electricity to stop everyone firmly in their tracks so he could be sure to freeze them all," chimed in Mr. Aizawa. "He's looking back on the obstacle race, where too many were able to dodge his ice for his liking."

"NICE COMMENTARY!" called Mic.

We sailedo n past the other teams and Todoroki swiped another headband from someone in class 1b.

"I'l be taking these," he commented as we headed towards Team Midoriya.

Dark Shadow went on the offensive attack, swooping in towards us.

"Yaoyorozu!"said Todoroki. I was already on it, throwing up a shield in the way of the creature's hands. just in time to stop it. From a distance, it looked like Midoriya was starting to get nervous. The ice around us provided an excellent barrier, meaning that nobody could get in. We were the only team that could end up with the 10 million. Down to just the two of us now.

We headed forward towards him. He moved then, suddenly with confidence, to the left.

"THERE'S ONLY ABOUT A MINUTE LEFT! AND TODOROKI HAS SET HTE FIELD! ALL THAT'S LEFT NOW IS TAKING THOSE TEN MILLION POINTS! IT'LL BE SWIPED IN AN INSTANT! OR SO I MIGHT HAVE THOUGHT FIVE MINUTES AGO! BUT MIDORWYA HAS KEPT AWAY DURING ALL THAT TIME, EVEN IN THIS CONSTRICTED SPACE."

Again we moved - and again, infuriatingly, Midoriya moved out of range. He's got us, I thought with annoyance. I couldn't think of a way around it. Dark Shadow could block my or Kaminari's attacks. Keeping to the left meant that Todoroki couldn't use his ice without hitting Iida, and he'd already declared he wouldn't use his fire. We were running out of time.

"Guys," said Iida. "We have less than a minute. I'm afraid I'll be useless after this, so I'm counting on you."

"Iida?" said Todoroki.

"Hold on tight," he said. "Take it, Todoroki! TORQUE OVER RECIPROBURST!"

A sudden jet of speed from Iida's engines caused us to move faster than I had ever been moved in my life, faster than I had thought possible before this. We flew past Midorwya's team and Todoroki snatched the headband from him in an instant. we sped to a halt like a car.

"WHAT HAPPENED? IN AN INSTANT! WHY DIDN'T HE USE THAT SPEED IN THE PRELIMS?" said Mic, and agreeing with him I asked "What was that?"

"I can forcibly rev up my torque to explosive proportions if need be," said Iida. "However, as kickback, I'll suffer from Engine stall in short order. That was the trick up my sleeve I had never told my classmates." He turned to smile at Team Midoriya. "I thought I told you, Midoriya" he called out "I'm challenging you."

Mic Announced "THE BACK AND FORTH HAS ENDED AND THE ONE HAVING THE LAST LAUGH IS…TEAM TODOROKI, WITH THE 10 MILLION! AND MIDORIYA HAS CRASHED DOWN TO 0!"

Midoriya wasn't standing still. His team was running towards us, and I remembered what Iida had said: that he couldn't move after using this special move. We were stuck in place. We had all the headbands, and we couldn't move anymore.

Midoriya was heading for us at an unprecedented speed and had lifted his arm. He was going to use his power, fire off a power strong enough to wreck a building straight t Todoroki, and I couldn't move fast enough to prevent it.

But he didn't use the full force - rather, simply swiped at the air in front of Todoroki to break his defense. And grabbed at the headband on top - probably guessing that was his lost 10 million? How naive.

They sped past us to a halt.

"Pull yourself together, Todoroki!" Iida said. "That was too close!"

Midoriya was looking down dumbstruck at the false headband he was holding.

"We switched the order, just in case," I told him. "That was naive, Midoriya."

"IT'S NEARLY OVER! NOW FOR THE COUNTDOWN! EVERYBODY SAY HEY!" Cried Mic's voice. As the countdown began, Midoriya was headed for us once again.

"10! 9! 8!"

Blasting through the other side of the ice came team Bakugou.

"7! 6!"

I threw up a guard for the electricity as team Midoriya flew our way again.

"5! 4!"

Midoriya headed for us once more. I had to make something new. Tokoyami kept blocking. No more time -

"3 - 2 - 1! TIME UP!"

At last, we could breathe again.

"NOW SHALL WE SEE WHO ARE TOP 4 ARE? IN 1ST PLACE, TEAM TODOROKI! IN 2ND PLACE, TEAM BAKUGOU. IN 3RD PLACE, TEAM TETSUTETSU - WAIT? HEY, IT'S TEAM SHINSO! AND IN 4TH PLACE, TEAM MIDORIYA!"

I wasn't entirely sure how that had happened…it seemed Tokoyami had used the space Midoriya made to snatch a headband we'd stolen earlier, entering into 4th place.

"THE 1ST FOUR TEAMS WILL MOVE ON TO THE FINAL EVENT! NOW STEP FORWARD! THE EVENT WILL BE AFTER AN HOUR'S LUNCH BREAK! SEE YOU TEHN!"

I headed with Kaminari and Iida back towards the lunch room. Uraraka cornered Iida, looking annoyed.

"Iida, that super duper speed was sneaky!"

"What sneaky? It's simply not in the manual, that's all. I just wanted to be a proper rival to Midoriya."

"I guess that's what guys do - he, where is Midoriya? I mean, Deku?" she said, looking around. Midoriya had indeed disappeared, and Todoroki along with him. Remembering the earlier challenge, I supposed they'd gone off somewhere together.