I just realized that it's April Fool's Day. I totally should've pranked you guys ಥ‿ಥ
Oh well, enjoy the chapter :))
A human cavalry battle.
Where groups of two to four band together to form a horse with one member as the rider. That group then faces off against the other groups in order to steal their rider's headbands.
A team event.
The second event, where Ritsu had planned to deliberately fail, was a team event.
It wasn't too much of a surprise. One of the last Sports Festivals he had watched involved a team event. He was just hoping—praying—that the festival for this year wouldn't have one. It was a foolish hope.
"Your points will be based on what you placed for the obstacle course!" Midnight pointed to the screen with a whip that definitely wasn't school appropriate. "42nd place will have five points, 41st will have ten, 40th will have fifteen, and so on and so forth.
"The only exception to this is first place!" A foreboding smile settled onto her face. "Their head is worth ten million points!"
Ten million? He didn't pity whoever got first place. Having that many points was practically like having a giant, blinking target on your forehead.
Speaking of first place, all of the remaining students had begun to silently but intensely stare at them. Ritsu followed their gazes and his eyes landed on a familiar bush of green hair. He winced.
Poor Midoriya.
"Boys and girls! You have 15 minutes to form your horses and strategize! Remember, the value of your horse will depend on your team members!"
Everyone immediately avoided Midoriya like the plague, Ritsu included. He didn't need the attention that ten million points would certainly bring. However, he didn't start to dog pile onto Bakugou like many of his classmates were, begging to be a part of his team.
But when he noticed Midoriya walking toward him, he began to somewhat wish that he at least feigned asking Bakugou, because then he wouldn't have to deal with the very uncomfortable conversation that awaited him.
"Kageyama." The boy motioned Ritsu over to join him, Uraraka, and Iida in a small huddle. For some reason, there was a giant puddle on the ground and still drying tear tracks on Midoriya's face*. "Let's make a four person horse. With your telekinesis, Uraraka's zero gravity, and Iida's speed, we'll be the perfect evaders."
Uraraka and Midoriya were smiling. He and, surprisingly Iida, had their mouths drawn to a thin line.
Iida was the first to lean away from the huddle. "You're amazing as every Midoriya." He adjusted his glasses. "However, I refuse."
Midoriya's eyes became wide.
"Ever since the entrance exam, I've done nothing but lose to you. You're an amazing friend but that's exactly why I must stop following you. If I don't, I'll never grow myself." He turned away from them and began walking towards Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari who all waited expectantly. "I see you as a rival too, my friend. So I'll be doing my best to challenge myself against you!"
"Iida..." Uraraka mumbled, looking from the tall boy to Midoriya.
"It's alright, Uraraka." Midoriya looked to her and Ritsu. "There's still enough of us to form a horse."
"About that..." The look the two of them have Ritsu made him dread the upcoming moments and whatever poor excuse he'd have to come up with. "I won't be joining you guys."
Uraraka gasped. "You too Kageyama?"
"Sorry." Ritsu shrugged lamely. "I was actually hoping to use the Sports Festival to get to know our classmates better. So I want to team up with someone new," he lied. Then, as a semi-guilt trip, he added, "If that's alright with you guys?"
"Oh...yeah," Midoriya said, even though he clearly wanted to say otherwise. "That's alright. We'll manage."
"Good luck Kageyama!" Uraraka gave him a shaky smile.
"Thanks, you too. Bye!" Ritsu turned on his heel and had to keep himself from running rather than walking straight into the mass of students. Many of them had already broken into their own groups with people from their class. Actually, a lot of students had already found their groups.
He searched the area. There had to be some teams looking for another member. His eyes flicked from side to side. There was no way that he could return to Midoriya and Uraraka after just rejecting them. He needed to find a group. Even just one.
Someone tapped his shoulder.
He snapped his head around to find Tsu. She waved a finger between herself and Shouji standing next to her. "Would you like to join us, Kageyama-chan?"
Tsu and Shouji. Both calm students, neither of them were loudly talking about being number one, and neither of them were going around and handing out declarations of 'I'm going to beat you'.
"Yes." Ritsu gave them a small smile. "Thank you for asking Tsu. Do you two have a plan?"
The two of them nodded and Shouji suggested that they get away from any potential eavesdroppers to discuss. Ritsu walked off with the two, and when the second event began, he was confident that it would be his last.
They had been driving for a long while now. With the way that Dr. Ikande had behaved in the alleyway and the shady nature of this 'job', Teruki had figured that the ride would be silent and stifling. What he didn't take into account was the talkative nature of Toga.
"The doctors I see on TV all wear white lab coats, why aren't you wearing one Doc?"
Nor did he account for Dr. Ikande's willingness to indulge her.
"Well, Toga-chan, you don't wear your uniform when you're not in school, do you?" the doctor said with the patience of someone who was responding to their first question rather than their 30th.
They had been going back and forth like this for the majority of the car ride. Truthfully, Teruki enjoyed it. The exchange was almost enough to make him forget that he was assisting a kidnapping.
The only person who didn't look to be enjoying it was the driver. A man with messy facial hair and an ever-present scowl on his face.
"Will you bitches shut up?" he growled once they reached the next stop light. "All you do is talk away. A man needs to be able to—"
Teruki blinked and in that timeframe, the driver had been silenced by a fist to his face. The punch was solid and far too fast for Teruki to even begin to register it. How was it possible for one to move so quickly?
The one in question being Dr. Ikande. She somehow managed to lean forward far enough in her seat to land a punch perfectly into the driver's cheek without Teruki or Toga being able to stop her.
"—'to focus on the road'. Don't give me such a weak excuse and don't cuss in front of children." The doctor drew back her arm as she relaxed back into her seat. "And keep your head down, heroes are coming."
Heroes? Teruki peaked out the window to see a group of figures in white racing down the street. At the forefront was Ingenium, wearing white, metal armour that made him look like a robot. They would reach the car soon enough, but they were still a ways away. How had Dr. Ikande noticed them already?
When the group of heroes ran past the car, the driver raised his head and sighed. "That was close. Those assholes almost got in the way of a robbery I was doin' one time. Barely escaped before getting arrested but they definitely would'a recognized me." He smiled at Dr. Ikande. "Thanks for that sweetheart, but minus points for the punch."
"Minus points?" Dr. Ikande mumbled, looking down at her fist as though she were contemplating punching him again. When the car started moving, she ultimately decided on forcefully kicking the back of his seat. "What did I say about cussing in front of kids? No fucking class."
"It's not that big of a deal," Teruki responded; It was the first time he actually spoke to the woman.
Her eyes went wide as she turned to look at him. "You can understand me? Sham it." She pinched her nose. "Forget about what I just said, kay?"
"Sham it?" he parroted. "I'm not a child. You don't need to use substitutions."
Dr. Ikande scoffed. "What are you? 15? You're practically a fetus."
"Incorrect. I'm 17 actually." Also incorrect. He was only 16, but his (fake) birth certificate said otherwise. "And I'm not a fetus."
She raised her eyebrows, looked over his tacky outfit, and no doubt took note of how short he was, but said nothing. Her message was clear.
"Are you sure about that?"
Teruki was stuck between laughing it off or being frustrated at how little she took him seriously. He's lived by himself for years without the need for help or parents. He's gained the respect of both delinquents and adults. He's been in fights, far too many to count, against mere humans and crazy espers, and has come out of each one the victor...!
'Not all of them.'
He shoved the thought away.
And he's definitely heard people cuss before.
So, who was this stranger to say otherwise? To call him not even a child, but a fetus?
"Hey!" Toga called, drawing away Dr. Ikande's attention and Teruki's fire. "We weren't done talking!"
"You have to be patient, okay?" Dr. Ikande chided, focusing their attention back on the girl. "Although I do apologize for getting sidetracked. Did you get what I meant with the school uniform comparison?"
"Have you looked at my outfit?" She gestured an arm to the seifuku she wore. "Plus, I haven't been to school since I got a taste of one of my classmate's oh-so pretty blood, so I really don't know."
Teruki and Dr. Ikande exchanged a side glance.
"Do you want to unpack that?" The doctor's voice was soft. She reached out her hands to grab Toga's before stopping. "Can I touch you?"
"Sure!"
She grabbed the girl's hands in hers and looked at her as though she were the center of the doctor's world. The interaction reminded him of the way his mother used to hold him. Jealousy bubbled up in his throat.
Something in him scoffed. What happened to not needing his parents? Teruki really didn't know. Ever since his fight with Kageyama, this tug-o-war between ego and humility began inside him. He had yet to see which one would win.
"Have you talked to anyone about this?"
Toga furrowed her brows. "No? I was too busy running away."
"Gosh," Dr. Ikande sighed. She looked like she would've massaged her temples if she wasn't holding onto the girl. "Would you at least like to talk to me about it?"
"Nah! Sounds boring." The blonde then tightened her grip on the doctor's hands, keeping her in place. "You know, most adults try to get away when they hear about what I've done."
Teruki shivered. He recalled what the girl had said about how 'pretty' Dr. Ikande's blood would look on her. The knife the girl carried on her practically screamed "Look at me!"
'Run doctor.'
"Yet, you're still here. Even holding my hands." She removed one of her hands to reach for her knife. Then she smiled. "I like you! Can I have some of your blood?"
Teruki blinked twice. She was asking for permission?
He leaned forward to get a good look at the exchange. Dr. Ikande looked between the knife and Toga and then herself. She stayed looking at herself for a good minute before her head shot up. A wide smile plastered on her face.
"You may take my blood—" Toga shot out the hand with the knife and the woman grabbed the girl's wrist before it could pierce her—"only if you promise me that you'll find yourself a stable place to stay. If you're still in your uniform, then I doubt that you have a place to live, much less a place to keep your clothes."
"Deal!" Toga hardly seemed to consider what was said as she tried to stab the doctor again. She was stopped again.
"Also, do you have anything smaller? Like a syringe?"
A syringe? Teruki was beginning to wonder if Toga wasn't the only crazy one in the car. Did Dr. Ikande actually expect a teenager to carry around a syringe, of all things, on their—nevermind.
Dr. Ikande had already rolled up the sleeve of her navy blue sweater to allow Toga to stab her with a syringe. The girl looked ecstatic watching the plastic tube fill up with blood. She pulled it out of the doctor's arm and put it into her thigh pouch. Only when she went to reach for another one did Dr. Ikande look reasonably panicked.
"How about we stop for now, okay Toga-chan?"
Toga pouted but put it away regardless. But her unhappiness only lasted a moment before she was back to asking questions.
"Hey Doc, how were you able to beat up those to big guys?"
"I've been taking Muay Thai classes."
"How did you know that heroes were coming back there?"
The woman actually looked startled for a moment. She was quick to calm down, but not as quick as Teruki's eyes and definitely not as quick as her punches.
"We're in Hosu," she started. "This is where the Hero Killer hangs out, so it's best to be alert."
"The Hero Killer?!" Toga squealed.
"The Hero Killer?" Teruki blanched.
"That guy freaks me out," the driver grumbled. "I ran into him once. Wide mouth. Hunched back. A scarf the color of blood—"
Toga shook in her seat.
"The sword he carries around ain't the prettiest but it's nothin' to scoff at." He shook his head, probably trying to get the image out of his mind, and made the van go faster.
"His name's completely unimaginative though," Dr. Ikande snorted. "'Hero Killer', there's no mystery in that. Apparently, he wants to purge society of 'fake heroes'. I get where he's coming from, but if he really wants change, we have to focus on caring for the youth and teaching them to be compassionate."
"How...How many heroes has he killed?" Teruki followed up, afraid of what the answer might be.
"Ohh! I know! 17!" Toga answered like she was on a game show and not talking about people's lives. "Another question," she quickly continued on, undisturbed by the topic of the Hero Killer. "How come you've given up?"
The mood in the car went flat. The driver had already taken himself out of the conversation to focus on the road, so the three of them were left in their silence.
"Huh?" Dr. Ikande finally asked.
"Actually, I'd like to know too," Teruki added. "You took down two big guys and now you're not even trying to fight against two teens?" Not that Teruki thought she could win. His powers alone wer—
'You're doing it again.'
Teruki took a deep breath.
"There's no point," she seemed to deflate in her seat. "It's too late for me to go back. She's long gone by now."
'Long gone? Who?'
Dr. Ikande directed her eyes to the front window. They were blank now, holding no desire to continue answering questions. Toga seemed to understand this since she turned away, instead peering at the blood she had taken from the doctor. Teruki followed suit, looking through his own window at nothing in particular.
His eyes looked across the people and buildings of Hosu. They only stilled when a shadowy figure caught their attention. He leaned closer to the glass and squinted.
Far off, in an alleyway between two tall buildings, stood a man. He looked to be standing over a figure in white, metal armour. His back was hunched and he faced away from Teruki. A scarf the color of blood was wrapped around his neck, blowing in the wind. In his hand he held a jagged sword that was most certainly 'nothin' to scoff at'.
Teruki's heart skipped a beat. Then it raced.
They made an awkward, 420 point horse. With Shouji being the tallest in the class and Ritsu and Tsu being among the shortest, it was a bizarre sight to behold, but it worked.
Tsu was the rider. She could use her tongue to reach for headbands and keep others away from hers. And with her enhanced jumps, she could extend her reach even further if needed. Taking her height into account, she couldn't really be anything but the rider.
Shouji stood at the back. With his extra limbs, he could watch out for anyone attempting to attack them from behind. He did have to crouch a bit but he had reassured them that he was fine.
Ritsu took the front. The shield. It was the position attacked the most other than the rider but with his telekinesis, he could stop any attacks before they could reach the group.
Their plan for the event was to focus on every band other than the ten million. Ritsu knew that it was a smart plan—competing against everyone else for the ten million would just waste their time—but he wanted to waste time.
"Got one," Tsu said about four minutes into the event. She fixed a 125 point headband around her neck.
One of Shouji's mouths spoke up, "Let's go for them next." He then pointed one of his hands behind them towards a two person horse worth 70 points.
Ritsu frowned a bit. With that headband, they would be at 615 points. That would place them at about 5th place, tying with Todoroki's team.
Why? Why couldn't they just uselessly chase after the ten million? He wanted to bang his head against something. At least let someone try to steal from them.
"Oh. You have a girl as the rider?"
Another team appeared to the right of them, blocking them from chasing the 70 points. Ritsu recognized two of the legs, Ojiro and Aoyama. The third leg was unfamiliar but he shared a common trait with his two classmates: glossy, dazed eyes. As for the rider?
Shinsou.
'Thou ask and thou shalt receive.'
Ritsu really wanted to bang his head against something.
"I expected that from you, Kageyama," the boy gibed. He then looked to Shouji. "But I thought that someone big like you would've found someone more on your level."
Ritsu snapped his head to the tall boy. "Shouj—!"
"Sexism?" the boy already started. "Real—"
Shouji stopped and Shinsou smiled.
"Don't worry about him, Shouji-chan," Tsu assured. "Let's focus on the 70 points."
"I don't think that'll be possible Tsu," Ritsu mumbled.
"What?" she croaked. She turned to look at Shouji, who was supporting most of her weight. "Come on Shouji-chan, let's go."
When Shouji didn't even look up at her, she turned to Shinsou. "What did you do to him?"
Shinsou's team slowly began to move towards them. "Nothing to worry about," he remarked.
Ritsu looked to Tsu just as she opened her mouth to rightfully retaliate. He clamped it shut with telekinesis before she could say anything.
"Don't respond to him," he warned. "That's how he's able to brainwash you."
It was at that moment—Tsu processing what Ritsu said and Ritsu making sure that she got it—that Shinsou's horse ran past them and grabbed both of their bands off of her. Tsu went still from the shock of steal.
Ritsu watched as Shinsou's team ran off. He was torn between being relieved that his team's headbands had been stolen and being annoyed that Shinsou had been the one to steal them.
He brushed it off, ready to try (and fail) to regain their points from any of the teams. That's when he noticed that Shouji hadn't said anything, because Shinsou had yet to release him.
Immediately, Ritsu grabbed onto the legs of the fleeing horse. Shinsou let out a groan and opened his mouth to talk, but Ritsu cut him off.
"Let go of Shouji," he demanded.
Shinsou looked down at his frozen team. He let out a faint noise that Ritsu could've sworn was a snort.
"H-"
Ritsu shut the boy up.
"Either you let him go—" he took hold of the other boy's entire body— "or I keep you frozen for the whole battle and we'll both fail."
Tsu let out a concerned "What?" that Ritsu ignored. He looked directly to Shinsou, recalling what the boy told them when they first met.
"You're a hypocrite, you know that?" Shinsou raised his eyebrows but Ritsu continued on. "You looked so mad when I 'forced' you to let go of me but you forced your 'teammates' to join you like you forced Shouji to stand still. That's really hypocritical."
Every trace of cocky humor left Shinsou's face. He looked at Ritsu with such anger. It was the most expressive Ritsu had ever seen him. If his mouth wasn't being held shut and his team frozen, Shinsou probably would've cursed him.
Ritsu didn't care. The boy was a hypocrite and had no right to be so angry. Ritsu glared back at him, willing to wait as long as needed.
"What's going on?" Ritsu turned away from Shinsou to face Shouji. The tall boy was rubbing his forehead with one of his hands. "Where did that sexist kid go?"
As Tsu filled Shouji in on what had happened, Ritsu looked back to Shinsou, glared one more time, and then let him and his team go. He made no attempt to get back their headbands.
Shinsou didn't leave yet. He still looked as angry as ever as he bit out, "I'm not mad about force. What I'm mad about is something that I doubt a hero student like you would understand." He got ready to head after another horse but not before warning, "You're calling the wrong person a hypocrite, Kageyama."
Ritsu looked at Shinsou as he ran off. A million questions filled his brain. If not force, what was he mad about? What does being a hero student have to do with anything? Who should he be calling a hypocrite?
Before he could futilely ask any of them, somebody tapped his forehead.
"What a useful quirk."
He flicked his head in the direction of the voice and found that it was another student. He had blond hair and was the rider in a team of four. A good number of headbands were wrapped around his neck.
Ritsu could hardly ponder what he meant by 'useful quirk' before another person touched him. This time it was Tsu, who tapped his shoulder.
"Come on, let's go. We can't waste anymore ti—"
"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! WE'RE SEEING SOME REALLY FLASHY MOVES FROM CLASS A!" Present Mic cut off whatever Tsu was going to say.
Ritsu looked towards Midoriya's team, where the flashiness was bound to be, and found that they were using gadgets like a jetpack to keep them in the air. With them was Bakugou, setting off a giant explosion that Tokoyami just managed to block with his Dark Shadow. It was a loud and 'flashy' spectacle.
"THIS HERE'S A CONGREGATION OF TOP DOGS! SEVEN MINUTES HAVE PASSED SO LET'S SEE IF THE SCORES MATCH UP!"
A big screen hanging above the seats of the stadium flickered to life, revealing the scores for everyone to see.
To say that what it presented was a surprise would be an understatement.
"Whoa...WAIT A GOSH DARN SECOND! YOU MEAN CLASS A ISN'T TAKING IT BY A MILE?"
Team Midoriya: 10,000,325
Team Monoma: 1360
Team Tetsutetsu: 1125
Team Kendo: 685
Team Todoroki: 615
Team Shinsou: 125
Team Uroko: 70
Team: Bakugou: 0
Team Kodai: 0
Team Tsunotori: 0
Team Asui: 0
Team Hagakure: 0
"Except for Midoriya, of cours—HOLEY MOLEY! BAKUGOU, WHAT HAPPENED?"
The blond in question was busy getting his headband stolen by another blond. The same blond that had touched Ritsu's head.
"What the fuck, fucking assrag piece of shit motherfucking fuck?" The slew of curses filled the arena. "Give it back! I'll kill you!"
'How does so much vileness fit in one body?'
"Class A really is filled with simpletons," the other blond taunted. "If you actually bothered to pay attention to the previous festivals, you'd know that the 'first event' is always more of a preliminary round. So, if you think about it, only around 40 of us were going to be let into this round."
This guy was really pushing his luck.
"The obstacle race was a great opportunity to check out the quirks and personalities of one's rivals. Anybody with a brain would've aimed for a place more reasonable than first. Especially in this round, where a dumb and temporary point summit is being dangled like carrots over horses, wouldn't you agree?"
Ritsu could see that they thought the same. The only real difference was that Ritsu seemed to value his life a lot more than the cocky blond.
"We have zero points and only have three minutes left," Shouji spoke up. "I say we go for the ten million."
"I agree," Tsu seconded.
"Sounds good." Ritsu thought it sounded great. What a perfect waste of time. He turned away from the fighting blonds and the three of them went after Midoriya.
They weren't the only ones to do so. Many of the horses were running toward the ten million. Todoroki's team was the closest but they definitely wouldn't be able to successfully steal the ten million without a challenge.
However, something was off.
Yaoyorozu was creating something. Ritsu squinted at the object until he realized that it was a blanket. And it looked to be made of rubber.
'Why would they need a rubber blanket?'
Ritsu began to slow down a bit as he took in the sight.
The blanket looked big enough to cover the whole horse. It was almost as if it was supposed to shield them from something. But what was the thing? And why rubber? He looked over the members of the team and it clicked.
'Kaminari!'
Ritsu immediately lifted himself, Shouji, and Tsu off the ground. The other two made confused noises but stopped when everyone still chasing the ten million became paralyzed by high amounts of electricity.
Not a second later, the floor became covered in ice. It held onto the legs of the paralyzed teams and basically glued them to their spots. The only teams that were spared were the ones that weren't focused on the ten million, Todoroki's, and Tsu's.
The ice also served to corner Midoriya's team. They were trapped between the edge of the playing field, Todoroki's team, and the ice that encircled the two teams.
"TODOROKI HELD BACK THE MOB OF HORSES IN ONE MOVE!"
"He used Kaminari's electricity to stop everyone in place so that he could be sure to freeze them all." Aizawa assessed. "He's looking back on the obstacle race where too many were able to avoid his ice for his liking. Only Team Asui was able to escape it this time."
"NICE COMMENTARY!"
From up in the air, Ritsu looked down to the teams grunting and uselessly struggling against the ice. While they were struggling, Todoroki had gone and stolen all of their headbands.
"Is he ever going to get tired of that move?" Ritsu grumbled as he dropped his own team back onto the ground outside of Todoroki's jagged ice border.
"Thank you for that Kageyama."
"Thanks, Kageyama-chan."
Ritsu accepted both Tsu's and Shouji's thanks and took in the small fights going on around them. Midoriya and Todoroki were playing a game of keep away with Tokoyami's Dark Shadow acting as a shield for his team, and Bakugou was furiously attacking the blond from class B.
"There's less than a minute left," Tsu spoke up. "We won't be able to get close enough to grab any more bands in that amount of time."
Shouji nodded. "We've all done the best we can."
"Yeah." Ritsu looked to the both of them then added, "I enjoyed working with the two of you."
They both thanked him and said they thought the same. Then the three of them just waited. Seconds passed like minutes. Bakugou had managed to steal all the headbands away from the other blond. Even Iida was able to move faster than Ritsu had ever seen him, allowing Todoroki to grab Midoriya's ten million and leave the crowd a cheering frenzy.
This was good. It was what Ritsu wanted. He had teamed up with some of the least competitive classmates of his and got the result he had expected.
And yet, a voice was going on in the back of his mind, nagging him. It asked him how he could agree with Shouji when he hasn't done his best. It asked him how he could say he enjoyed working with the two when he never actually worked.
The voice was not Ritsu's. No, his voice was one of reason. It would tell him that he couldn't worry about a cavalry battle of all things when he was trying to save two worlds. It wasn't Teruki's either. The blond was annoying, but he would agree with Ritsu.
If it wasn't his voice and it wasn't Teruki's, then whose was it? Who would make him second guess himself?
His mind helpfully gave a face to the voice in his head.
'Shige-nii.'
Of course. If you presented him with facts and reason he'd step on them on his way to go over and shake your hand. Shigeo had never been one for logic. He cared about others and always doing his best. Who else could possibly have such a hold on Ritsu's actions?
But in the end, they were his actions. Not Shigeo's. He had final say in what he wanted to do, and his voice told him to just wait until this was all over. There was no need to help. Why should he?
'Because it was the right thing to do.'
The reasoning he had given to Bakugou after helping him out of his panic attack decided to invade his head and—dang it. Helping Tsu and Shouji would be the right thing to do. It would also be good, like Shigeo, yet so very foolish for Ritsu.
He would just have to compromise.
"Tsu." Ritsu spoke with purpose. There were about 30 seconds left. "Look at Midoriya. He's going to try and steal his headband back from Todoroki any second now. The moment he does, I'm going to use my telekinesis to grab one of Todoroki's other headbands. Be ready to grab it."
"Got it," she croaked.
Todoroki had turned all of his bands inside out, concealing their values, but since he'd just stolen the ten million points, it wasn't far-fetched to assume that it was the one on top of the stack around his neck. So Ritsu just had to make sure to grab the headband on the bottom of the stack. It shouldn't be enough for his team to actually place, but it would at least bring them up to fifth and get some of the heroes' attention to Shouji and Tsu.
Ritsu kept his eyes trained on Midoriya's constantly shifting expression, waiting. In a split second, it morphed into resolution and Midoriya's horse raced toward Todoroki's.
Midoriya's arm, encased in a strange lightning, came up to Todoroki's left arm, encased in fire.
'Not yet.'
Tokoyami and Iida, the front of their respective horses, drew so close that it looked like they were going to knock foreheads.
'Not yet.'
Midoriya knocked aside Todoroki's fiery arm and Todoroki stared at it with strange disbelief.
'Not yet.'
Midoriya's fingertips brushed against the band at the top of Todoroki's neck.
'Now!'
Ritsu tore away the band at the bottom of the stack at the same time Midoriya snatched the one at the top. As Midoriya's horse raced past Todoroki's, Ritsu quickly guided the band he stole to Tsu and she grabbed it out the air with her tongue.
"Good job Kageyama," Shouji said with one of his extra limbs.
"Thanks."
Tsu—unnoticeably at the time—was quiet.
"Wait, that's not our headband!" One of Midoriya's teammates, a girl with pink hair, exclaimed, grabbing Ritsu's attention.
"70 points?" Midoriya looked down at his hand and all sense of victory visibly left his body. "They tricked us!" he choked out.
"Get a hold of yourself Todoroki!" Iida chastised. "That was too close!"
Yaoyorozu looked over her shoulder at Midoriya. "We shuffled the order of the headbands! It was naïve of you to overlook that!"
The bands were shuffled?
Todoroki, who had been quiet for quite some time, quietly said, "I only have one headband around my neck."
The class president snapped her head back to Todoroki. "Wait, seriously?"
"Shouji-chan, Kageyama-chan." Tsu, who had also been quiet for quite some time, let out a soft ribbit, pulling Ritsu's focus away from the two stunned horses. "Look at this."
She showed the band to Shouji who let out a choked gasp and then to Ritsu, making him choke on his saliva. That was far too many zeroes than he had intended.
"IN JUST SECONDS, THE TIDES HAVE SHIFTED!" Present Mic's voice filled the stadium. "TEAM ASUI HAS STOLEN THE TEN MILLION POINTS! WHAT AN UNDERDOG MOMENT!"
"They cleverly took advantage of the chaos and used Kageyama's telekinesis to steal Team Todoroki's prized band. Although, we do have to remember that the headbands were concealed. I doubt that they were expecting this."
"EXCELLENT ASSESSMENT ERASERHEAD! LOOKS LIKE THE EVENT'S ALMOST OVER! EVERYBODY, JOIN ME FOR THE COUNTDOWN! 10, 9!"
Ritsu turned away from Tsu and faced the rest of the teams. Each and everyone of them had their predatory eyes locked onto the headband Tsu fastened around her neck.
"8, 7..."
They all sprang into motion. Charging straight for the ten million.
Even Todoroki's and Midoriya's teams managed to escape the ice circle to pursue it.
"6, 5..."
"Run," Tsu croaked.
"Can't." Shouji grunted. "We're surrounded."
"Kageyama-chan, can you carry us over?"
"4, 3..."
Bakugou, the maniac, launched himself off of his horse and into the air, aiming to attack from above.
"Yeah, I don't think we'll be able to get too far."
"2..."
"Then we'll have to fight." Tsu opened her mouth, ready to punch anybody who got too close with her tongue.
Todoroki, Midoriya, and even Tokoyami's Dark Shadow reached out for them.
"1!"
Tsu slapped both Todoroki and Midoriya with one swipe of her tongue. Ritsu was going to hold back Dark Shadow but it changed its target before it could reach them. Bakugou poorly calculated his trajectory and ended up crashing to the floor, just short of Shouji's feet.
"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic sounded ecstatic through the speakers. "LET'S SEE WHO OUR TOP 4 ARE!"
Tsu made her way down to the ground and smiled. "That was great, Kageyama-chan! Good job you guys."
Shouji seemed to smile behind his mask. Ritsu didn't bother smiling behind his. The only thing he could focus on was the ten million (and 325!) point headband he hadn't meant to grab.
"IN FIRST PLACE, TEAM ASUI!"
That was far from great.
Ritsu looked up to the cheering crowd. There was no hiding from them, not after pulling the ten million. He turned from them, not willing to face their eyes.
In doing so, he ended up facing Todoroki. The boy had clearly been looking at him for a while now. His eyes were calculating, as if he were readjusting his perception of Ritsu.
"IN SECOND PLACE, TEAM BAKUGOU!"
Bakugou was sitting on the ground, growling to himself. Ritsu was expecting nothing less, but then the boy looked up to him, and he looked livid.
"IN THIRD PLACE, TEAM TETSUTE—wait...TEAM SHINSOU?!"
On the scoreboard, Shinsou was indeed listed as third place. He had 'somehow' managed to steal all 1125 points from Team Tetsutetsu. Ritsu looked at the robbed team as they scratched their heads, wondering what happened.
"IN FOURTH PLACE, T—ANOTHER TIE?" Everyone, including Ritsu, looked up to the scoreboard. "TEAM MIDORIYA AND TEAM TODOROKI TIE AT 685 POINTS!"
Midoriya was a mess of tears. They were so powerful that they managed to push his legs up to his knees into the ground directly below him. Ritsu actually made his way over to the boy and awkwardly pet his back before pulling him out of the ground. It seemed as though Tokoyami had managed to steal the band around Todoroki's head, getting them to the tie.
"I-I'm," Midoriya sniffled through happy tears. "I'm s-so relieved. Thank you Tokoyami!"
Tokoyami gave him a silent thumbs up.
Midoriya looked towards Ritsu, most likely just processing his presence, and rubbed the tears from his eyes. Just as he opened his mouth to talk, he was cut off.
"Man Kageyama!" Uraraka came up to Ritsu with a smile on her face. She good-naturedly punched his shoulder. "You really got all of us, huh?"
"I really wasn't expecting that," Midoriya added. He then chuckled. "But I guess that was the point, right?"
Ritsu still couldn't find it in himself to smile at the turn of events, but he tried. The two of them didn't question him so it must have been fine.
"Thanks you two."
"That was a clever move Kageyama." Iida came up to him with more praise that Ritsu replied to with a weak "Thank you". The other boy continued to stare at him though, giving him the same calculating look as Todoroki. "Perhaps Midoriya isn't the only one I'll be challenging myself against."
"Iida!" The anti-gravity girl came up to the tall boy, cutting through the competitive air. She swung arms by her sides as though she were running in place. "That burst of speed was super sneaky!"
Iida looked offended. "Sneaky? I'm not one to pull tricks!" He then calmed down a bit and turned to look at both Uraraka and Midoriya. "You two did good out there. We'll just have to wait and see which one of our teams will be chosen to progress."
Uraraka smiled at him and Midoriya gave him a firm nod. "Yeah, I look forward to seeing what happens."
"THE NEXT EVENT WILL TAKE PLACE AFTER AN HOUR-LONG LUNCH! WE'LL HAVE FOURTH PLACE DECIDED BY THEN! Hey, Eraserhead, let's go get some food!"
"I'm taking a nap."
The students all made their way to the cafeteria. Iida and Uraraka chatted to Ritsu's left, Midoriya had gone off somewhere, and most of the students were talking amongst themselves. Some were silent. Like Bakugou, who glared at everyone and everything, especially Ritsu. Or like Ojiro, who cautiously looked at the people around him, as though he didn't know how he got among them.
Ritsu already had plans to throw his first match running through his mind. He really didn't expect to get this far. He didn't want to. Hopefully Teruki was having a more successful time than he was.
Author's random thoughts they had whilst writing the chapter
The puddle is Midoriya's tears after Uraraka said she wanted to join him
I shite you not, the math for this took me like two hours. The total points that could be gained weren't making sense so I had to go and get a notebook and pencil. I did algebra! I used summation notation! It's spring break, I shouldn't be doing math! And, I shite you not, Midoriya and Todoroki legit ended up having the same points by the time I was done. I was 100% ready to give Todoroki the L but I guess I was wrong.
Also, Ritsu's team being worth 420 points isn't a joke. Ritsu got 18th, so that's 125 points. Tsu and Shouji got 13th and 14th respectively, so that's 150 and 145 points. That all adds up to 420.
More math:
In the manga, I kept on doing the math for the different results and it was honestly confusing. So, I set up a summation notation where n=2 and stops at 42, and the equation I put was (5×(43-n)). That all added up to 4305 (I excluded the 10 million from the equation). Which is like 1000 off from the 3855 displayed in the manga.
Final results for anyone interested:
Asui: 10M + 325 (325 is from Uraraka, Mei, and Tokoyami's point values)
Bakugou: 1360
Shinsou: 1250 (1125 + 125 since the 420 band was stolen by Monoma which was stolen by Bakugou)
Midoriya: 685
Todoroki: 685
...
Bakugou's string of curses was legit copy and pasted from the manga. I couldn't stop laughing.
...
My original plan for Ritsu was to have him grab everybody's headbands and carry them into the air. Then he would float his team up so that they could grab them. All the while he'd be cursing himself for pulling such an attention grabbing move but he'd be happy to help out. But I realized that that wouldn't make sense when he could do something on a much smaller scale. So the sneak-grab it was!
...
I honestly found this chapter boring, idk. My favorite part was actually Teruki's. I'll probably edit it later or something. But I'm looking forward to the next ones! I actually wanna start updating twice a month.
...
Who was Dr. Ikande talking about? What's Stain doing in Hosu? What do you think will happen to Ritsu during the lunch break? Will Bakugou shout in his face? Will he win his first match despite desperately wanting to fail?
Who knows! (I do ;] )
Favorite, follow, and review and I'll sign you up for Muay Thai classes
