The race started off a bit rocky, but as he got beyond the first barrier, Izuku did something he probably shouldn't have done.

He started believing in himself.

Ryoya, as expected, was the single biggest challenge he'd have all day. Izuku had a bit of a lead on him early on, but the speed difference, no matter how small it had gotten, had still existed. And, a bit to Izuku's frustration, still was wide enough to be noticeable. He didn't want to look back, because he knew that it was possible that he could still be hit by a few stray robots, but he had learned years ago to never take your eyes off of your opponent. Especially not one as dangerous as his rival. He wills himself not to look back; instead opting to focus hard on Ryoya and him alone, as well as keeping Mind's Eye up for the inevitable attack that was sure to come at any minute.

Izuku felt a ki spike as well as his back get blisteringly hot, before he dove out of the way. The fireball was large, and very well aimed, and he narrowly escaped with only a light singe on his coat. He lands in a combat roll, picks himself up, and starts running again, without wasting a single second because he knows a second of hesitation could be disastrous. He responds to Ryoya's assault with an attack of his own, using Denjin Renki's magnetism to pull a stray nut from one of the destroyed robots, quickly charges it up, and fires it at Ryoya's right shoulder to throw him off balance. It lands successfully, and Ryoya swears as he stumbles forward, but catches himself in a masterful front flip. He lands somewhat off-balance and recovers just quick enough to jump off of his right leg with his left leg fully extended and do a complete 360, shouting "Reppo Hadoshu!" and sending two Hadoken back.

Izuku knows that they aren't meant to really damage him, he can tell by their ki that it's more for a hindrance than an attack, but he doesn't take the chance. "Hadoken!" He shouts in return, performing the entire motion in the blink of an eye. The three balls of energy meet somewhere in the middle and produce a small explosion on impact, as well as a surprisingly powerful gust of wind that kicks up enough dust that Izuku and Ryoya are forced to cover their eyes.

In that split second, ice encapsulates them both, feet to waist, and Todoroki can be felt approaching them from the rear. He says something that neither pays attention to as he skates near, before both powering up and shattering the ice, making Todoroki pause in his advance. Surprisingly, neither gives him more than a passing glance, since Izuku is the one to reinitiate the combat with his rival, blurring towards Ryoya to take advantage of an opening and punching him in the jaw with an electrical fist.

"Wowza! We have a serious brawl going on for first place! It seems like 1-A's Todoroki interrupts the battle between 1-A's Midoriya and 1-C's Harushi!"

The big screen zooms in on Izuku as he manages to avoid being frozen yet again by Todoroki, and then pans to Ryoya, who has regained his composure, and started running again. Shortly after, the sounds of explosions start coming up in fourth, closely followed by Ochako, Rumi and Momo. Itsuka comes out of nowhere, in a full sprint and plows through a crowd of students, fists enlarged and moving people aside like a snow plow.

"The race is heating up folks! The top students have just arrived at the second barrier! Fall and you're out! Gotta crawl to make it across! This is The Fall!"

Whatever Mic expected, it certainly wasn't for Izuku to just run faster across the tightrope, not slowing down at all, displaying such an impeccable grace and balance that one could class that as a quirk in itself.

The teacher mutes the PA system and leans back in his seat, astonished. "Who on earth trained these kids?"

Aizawa, who had much less bandaged since the attack, and had barely said anything until this point, just shrugs. "I don't know. I have intended to ask Midoriya this very question, but could never find the time. I have spoken to both Nezu and All Might about it, and they claim to know the source, but are keeping it on the down-low for some irrational reason."

"We could ask Nemuri about Harushi." Mic suggests as he watches the tanned teen mirror Midoriya's moves. His feet are on fire, but the rope does not burn. Or at least, it doesn't burn seemingly until Harushi wants it to, since it goes up in flames the second his foot leaves it for solid ground.

Going back to his 'announcer mode', Mic comments. "Whoa! 1-A's Midoriya and 1-C's Harushi both tear through the Fall like it's nothing! Hot-footed Harushi's fire control reminds me of a certain flamin' pro! Are we sure he's not a secret Todoroki!?" Hizashi chuckles to himself as he cuts the mic, amusing himself at the very low-hanging joke.

Todoroki however, does not laugh. He freezes one of the ropes and makes a large enough platform of ice for himself to stand on and begins to ponder... was Harushi his father's secret love-child? It was possible. He definitely possessed the power. And now, seemingly had the red hair. Sure, it wasn't the exact tone, but did he always have it and just dyed it to remain a secret? Questions for later. Shouto starts to skate along the rope, only slowing down again when he hears explosions rapidly approaching. He turns back and is mildly surprised that Bakugo is closing in on him.

"Not so fast!" The blonde shouts. Todoroki only raises a brow.

'He's all fired up now. Must be a slow starter. No matter, he's not the one I care about.'

"Man, those kids in front can't be stopped. They've been fighting this whole time and only barely slow down long enough for the other students to catch up."

"Look at the kid in third, that's the Flame Hero, Endeavor's son. Strong, awesome quirk, incredibly athletic, and perceptive. And even then, he still can't catch up."

"Ah, that's insane! He's got the blood of the number two hero after All Might in his veins and it's still not enough to catch up to those two."

"The leads keep breaking ahead while the rest of the back is more bunched up! Our racers don't know how many will get to move on, so all they can do is aim for first place!"

Then an explosion shakes the ground.

"And our two leaders have reached the final barrier! The minefield! It's a deadly Afghan carpet! A quick glance is enough to reveal the mine's location! So keep both eyes open and watch your step!"

Izuku swears under his breath. The minefield itself wasn't an issue, far from it. Even if he couldn't see the small, visible clumps of disturbed dirt, Denjin Renki's magnetic field had grown larger than anyone, even Ryoya, had realized and he could sense where most of them were anyway. No, the issue wasn't the mines themselves. The issue was trying to figure out how to slow Ryoya down. It was very possible, and likely that he'd just run through it since he was annoyingly fast and straightforward.

He had an idea of how to do it, but he had no idea how strong the mines were.

"I should mention, our mines don't pack a deadly punch but they're loud and flashy enough that you might need a change of underwear when it's all over!"

"Depending on the individual of course."

It was like a lightbulb went off in Izuku's mind. He had a plan. It was stupid, wild, outrageous and Ryoya would probably be very upset at him for doing it, but he had no other options here. He needed to win this race and this was the only thing he can imagine that would be enough to slow his rival down. The low, constant hum that's usually present when Denjin activates doubles and gets louder. Then, like always, the chirping of a thousand birds.

The entire stadium seems to focus on it. "Izuku..." Ryoya warns.

"Sorry, friend." He wasn't sorry at all. "But like Principle Nezu and All Might said, we have to show we belong here."

The ground starts to rumble and Izuku sticks out of arms. Lightning is jumping off of him in all directions, dancing along his person, and even raising the hairs of some people in the audience. 'I'll have to thank Uraraka for giving me this idea.' He calls forth more ki, and then mines, one by one, then two by two, start to lift out of the ground. They were green, and circular and rose about five meters out of the ground before locking in place. He had dozens of them that all menacingly started to drift around.

Ryoya, to his credit, keeps a completely straight face. "...Mo-chan will read you the riot act if you do what I think you're about to do."

Izuku grimaces, but holds firm. "Plus Ultra!" His magnetism flares and he throws his hands forward, sending the large cloud of mines toward his best friend.

BOOM!

"WHOA! WHAT! 1-A's Midoriya just raised up a third of the Minefield and threw it at 1-C's Harushi!"

Momo could feel the stress aging her fifteen years in seconds. She looks at the big screen as it shows a replay of what happens, and makes a sound between a sigh and a groan.

Ochako is amazed by the power that Izuku displayed. He never actually explained the limits of his magnetism, and she never asked, but she didn't think he'd be capable of something like that. A familiar pit forms in her stomach. He was already so far ahead, both in the race and in general... Before she could get too deep into her own dark thoughts, Rumi's boisterous laughter draws her attention.

"Ha! Those two are really on another fuckin' level, huh!? I can't wait to get up there!"

"Honestly, I often wonder why I even bother trying to stop them at all." Momo sounds... weird. Ochako wonders if she'll be alright.

"It's okay, Yaomomo." It is Itsuka who comes up and pats the girl on the shoulder. She doesn't seem tired or winded, but also seems somewhat upset at her friends' unreasonably intense battle for first place. "I'm sure he's fine."

"Oh, I'm not worried about him being fine." Momo says simply and catches Ochako off guard. "I'm more worried about what he'll do in retaliation."

Todoroki was nearest to the display and stares forth with his eyes widening minutely. 'I see, so Midoriya's power also extends a bit further than I thought at first. He's shaping up to be a bigger problem than I expected.'

"Ha! That crap might work on Piss-Eyes," Bakugo shouts as he rockets up and keeps pace with Todoroki. "But I resist explosions, Deku! Don't think that weak shit can slow me down!" As he passes Todoroki, he gives him the stink eye. "Hey dumbass! Your declaration was to the wrong person."

Somehow, as Todoroki watches Midoriya get a bigger lead and Harushi vanish in a cloud of smoke, he doesn't believe he was wrong in the slightest.

"And Midoriya is all alone out there, uncontested in his path to first place! Your class is really something fierce, Eraserhead! What are you teaching them!?"

"I didn't teach them any of that. They're been spurring themselves on this whole time."

"Well, who could've predicted such an incredible turn of events so early on!?

"Did you invite me up here to ignore me?"

"The one who made it back first is none other than IzukuMidoriya!"

"Hm," Death Arm observes. "It's the kid from a year ago, Kamui."

"Oh yeah, the green haired kid. Man, he really powered up his quirk, didn't he?"

"He's quite strong indeed, isn't he?" Flect-Turn says to no one in particular.

"Yes, sir."

"His use of magnetism is nothing short of impressive."

Flect makes a sound of agreement. "He also seems capable of at least some level of brutality. Think about it, if you will. Had those mines been real, Midoriya would've not only taken the life of his target, but everyone around him." His blue skin seems to glow all the more brighter as his amusement level grows. "As it stands, he is very interesting. But we still have to see how he fights to know for sure."

"I can't believe he just threw landmines at his friend, Dad!" Melissa said for what seemed to be the fourth time. She had to take a moment to look up from her very important notes to make sure that was actually what she saw.

Dave wasn't doing much better. His jaw dropped at the frankly absurd display. "Wow, the limits of ki go further than I realized... Why don't more people know about this? This is unprecedented."

Melissa shrugs. "It's probably some important, international secret. I can't imagine it being anything other than that."

Dave seems to consider it. "You're right. I'll have to ask All Might about it when I can... Say, what are you doing? You've been typing there for a while now."

"Um, uh. Important stuff."

"What stuff?"

"Mostly wondering how two quirkless people like those two could've gotten to where they are now. Since Uncle Might did say they train together and are the best of friends." Melissa says honestly.

"Oh," Dave shrugs. "Okay."

"...and a possible romance between two warrior friends."

"What was that?"

"Nothing, Dad!"

"So, what do you think?"

"Doubtless, Midoriya's stock is about to rise big time. He's looking like the most marketable right now. Strong, skilled, has a really powerful quirk, innocent face. It's all there."

"Say a hero agency were to take him on, how would they market him? I'm curious to know your opinions."

"Well, he isn't much to look at in the face. He's kinda plain. But he is in great physical shape. You'd have to put a heavy emphasis on his crazy skill with his quirk."

"What about the other guys?"

"Meh, they didn't come first. Their stock hasn't gone up or down."

The other racers came in shortly afterwards, panting in some cases, while others took deep, measured breaths.

"God. Fucking. Damn it!" Bakugo grit his teeth and growled. "I lost to him a-fucking-gain!" He was trembling in fury, and clenching his fist so tightly, it began to hurt. "That little...!"

Todoroki was much more reserved. He only stared at Izuku with an intense look in his eyes. He at least placed higher than Harushi, but he only did it because of Midoriya's rather extreme but understandable counter-attack.

"Racers cross the finish line one after the other! We'll go over the standings later, so catch your breath for now!"

Uraraka trudges her way over to Izuku as soon as she can. She is tired, sweating and panting hard, but still looks extremely determined. "Deku!" She takes a second to gather her breath. "That was awesome!" She's flanked by Iida.

Izuku smirks. "Uraraka, Iida."

"To lose a race of all things, with my quirk..." Iida doesn't seem to realize where he is, instead staring at his hands, mortified. "It's clear I still have a lot of progress to make."

"You got first place! Man, I'm jealous!" She means it as a joke, mostly. But a small part of her actually is. And that small part is crushed when Deku smiles and rubs the back of his head sheepishly.

"You did great, really." He says simply, but his mind is wandering. 'I got a bit lucky there. Circumstances worked out in my favor. Each of my chance strategies worked out a bit too well. Even the mines shouldn't have stopped Ryoya as long as they did. I'm confident in my skill, but that was just a race. The real tests start now.'

"How could this happen?" Momo arrives, hunches over with her hand on her knees, pants and takes deep, slow breaths to cool down. She feels disappointed in herself that she couldn't place higher. She could've and should've, but the way her body carries extra weight made the tightrope back at the Fall more difficult than it should've been.

"Look alive, Yaomomo!"

Momo makes an ugly sound when Rumi walks up and smacks her on the buttocks. "Walk it off or you'll pull a muscle!" The rabbit says casually, completely ignoring Momo's glare.

"Ouch, Usagiyama-san! Don't do that!"

"Don't have poor habits then!"

Momo pouted and rubbed the sore spot. "It's not a bad habit..."

"Yes, it is!"

"No," Ryoya, coming out of nowhere, interjects. "It's not." They both look at him. His uniform is slightly damaged and torn in some areas, and he has some soot on his face, but otherwise, perfectly fine and dandy. His usual body scent, which is warm and spicy, like a slightly singed cinnamon, (which Rumi knows because she's a rabbit and has a good nose, don't judge her), has been overtaken by the scent of smoke though. He notices that they're staring at him and feels a bit uncomfortable. "What?"

"Dude! You got hit by landmines!" Rumi points an accusatory finger at him while Momo looks up and down at his person.

"That I did."

"And you're just..." She flails and gestures wildly to all of him. "...okay!?"

"It's not the worst thing Izuku has ever thrown at me."

Rumi opens her mouth then closes it. Then she just stares at him. Momo, done with her unnecessarily thorough investigation, just pats Rumi on the shoulder.

"You get used to it."

"So it's finally over, ladies and gentleman!" Midnight announces with glee. "Let's look at the results!

1. Class A: Izuku Midoriya

2. Class A: Shouto Todoroki

3. Class A: Katsuki Bakugo

4. Class C: Ryoya Harushi

5. Class B: Ibara Shiozaki

6. Class A: Ochako Uraraka

7. Class A: Rumi Usagiyama

8. Class B: Itsuka Kendo

9. Class A: Momo Yaoyorozu

10. Class B: Jozu Houneki

11. Class A: Tenya Iida

The names keep going, but Izuku pays no heed. He has seen what he needed to.

"The top 42 from this qualifying round will be moving on! But those who placed lower, don't worry! We've got another place for you to show your stuff. And now, the real main selection begins!" Midnight posters and pauses, giving the crowd a chance to go wild. "The press's going to be jumping out of their seats! Give it all you've got! Now, onto the second event! I already know what it is, but do you? Can you guess!? Dying in suspense!?" Midnight has been Ryoya's teacher long enough to recognized his completely exasperated groan anywhere, and she definitely hears it. "Next up is... this!"

Calvary Battle

"Calvary battle...!"

"So we're teaming up, but how exactly? Kero."

"Participants will, on their own, form teams of two to four members each and get into a horse-and-rider formation!" Midnight explains. "The rules are fundamentally the same as those of any ordinary calvary battle - snag your opponents headband, keep yours, but this is UA! We do things differently!" The students perked up at this while some deflated. "Each of you have been assigned a point value based on your ranking in the last event!"

Students started to mutter and theorize about what the event would be like, and Midnight cracked her whip.

"I'm about to explain it, so just shut up already!" The teacher snapped before clearing her throat. "Yes! And your individual point values start at five, at the bottom! So the student who earned 42nd place is worth five points, 41st is worth ten, get it? But here's the twist! First place is worth 10... million!"

Izuku, who had been completely calm and composed until that point, opened his eyes a bit wider. All eyes turned to him, and unexpectedly, Izuku didn't look scared or nervous. His eyes widened and then narrowed. On reflex alone, Denjin Renki activated and a low humming filled the area. He was ready, after all, his training with Ryu-sensei and Ken-sensei had prepared him for moments like this when he needed to keep his emotions in check.

"Higher ranked students are the ones to aim for! This is a survival game, everyone! It's a game of comebacks! Anyone can win!"

'The eyes on me remind me of the eyes back at Aldera...' Izuku thinks to himself, 'But it's different here. Before, I was a target for bullying. For being weak. But now, I am a target because I won the last event. My skill has earned me these points. It's a lot of pressure, but... I asked for this. Worked for this.'

"The match will last 15 minutes. Each team's points will be determined by the team composition. The rider will be wearing a display headband totaling the team's points! Until the end of the match, you'll all compete to grab the other team's points while maintaining the other's you have."

As Midnight went on to explain the rules, Izuku started to drift off into his mind. He was subtly looking around to see any potential teammates and any potential quirk combinations to watch out for. Katsuki and Todoroki teaming up would be devastating but also very unlikely. Uraraka is also very, very dangerous, likely the single biggest threat on the field. Her quirks in combination could be downright frightening to deal with, and he struggles to find an actual plan to defeat her if it came to it. There are others he's watching too, like Kendo and to a lesser extent, Jiro, but he knows there're still many quirks out there that he doesn't know of. When he finally rejoins the world, Midnight's explanation is finished. "You've got fifteen minutes to form your teams!"

'Most people are avoiding me like the plague... I guess I should've seen that coming.'

"Deku! Team up with me!"

Izuku perks up and stares blankly at her before positively beaming. "Y - you mean it? Everyone's probably gonna come after me for the ten mil - "

"Yeah, I'm sure." Ochako cuts him off. "I trust you and your plans. Plus, you'll win if you just run away!"

Izuku chuckles sheepishly. "I think you're overestimating me, Uraraka..."

'No, I most definitely am not.' She doesn't say. "Who cares!? That's fine! Teaming up with you - my friend, just seems right!" The way Ochako smiles at him makes it hard for him to actually look her in the face. She's like the sun, personified.

"I actually wanted to team up with you too, so it works out. Now that we're got your quirks, Uraraka, we just need one more person and I've got the perfect plan."

It doesn't take him and Ochako long to find the person he's looking for, but to her surprise, it's not Harushi.

"Iida!"

Ochako listens to their conversation without much to add to it herself. Deku's plan seems simple, but effective. He's wanting to prioritize movement and evasion over combat, with Iida's speed potentially being used to remain on the move and defensive until combat is a must. They would make a good team, and Ochako can already see the three of them with a fourth breezing through this round. So imagine her surprise when Iida says no.

"Ever since the entrance exam... I've been losing to you." Iida starts with an air of seriousness she's never seen before. "It's precisely because you're a wonderful friend that I cannot follow you. Un-tempered as I am currently." Iida turns and begins walking away. "Bakugo and Todoroki aren't the only one who sees you as a rival. I challenge you as well."

The team he joins is composed of Todoroki, Kaminari and Yaomomo of all people. Ochako's disappointment in Iida is only rivaled by her shock at that revelation. Wasn't she Harushi's best friend or something? Why would she join the person who dislikes him the most out of the class? It didn't make sense, and it made Ochako somewhat annoyed.

Not annoyed as Rumi it seemed, since the tanned rabbit stomped in out of nowhere with her hands on her hips. "Hey! What the hell, Yaomomo!? You're teaming up with that bastard!?"

Todoroki glares, but says nothing.

Momo looks uncomfortable. "It's not what you think, Usagiyama-san... but uh, how do I say this?"

"It's because Harushi already has a teammate."

Everyone's eyes snapped around to see Shinso with a shit-eating grin, staring at them with his arms crossed. To his right, Ryoya Harushi. Only something was off. His eyes were distant and unfocused, and he stood stock still like an arrow.

"You...!" Rumi wanted so desperately to attack him, but she knew she couldn't.

"Me? You lot. Someone went around telling people my quirk, so no hero course student would listen to me." Shinso glares at them. "You kept talking about how great this guy is, so I figured he alone would be enough to get through to the final round. Don't be mad at me because he's so easy to make talk. Just say something about his little girlfriends and it's over like - " Shinso snaps his fingers.

It was enough to make people angry, but none more than Izuku. He openly glares at Shinso with enough vitriol that the purple-haired teen can feel it in his core. In response, he glares back. "See you on the field."

"Ugh, losing Iida was bad, but losing Harushi is..."

Izuku waves off Ochako's concerns. "Ryoya was never gonna team with me. He and I are rivals, so we try to go against each other whenever possible. I never would've offered and he never would've accepted." As he explains, Ochako gives him an increasingly incredulous look. "It's a bit hard to explain but... he and I would rather just go against each other."

She doesn't get it at all, but nods nonetheless.

"Team up with me, Mr. First Place!"

When the teams have already been decided, Shinso lets go of his hold on Ryoya.

"...what?" He asks, only for it all to come back to him. He gives Shinso a look, and not the same kind of look that Shinso was used to getting. It wasn't one of dislike, or general disdain. It was one of malicious intent. Like, Harushi looked at him the same way a wolf would look at its prey and it made his skin crawl. "... the fuck did you do? Ryoya's voice made Shinso's knees tremble.

"I - I "

"Let's get a battle cry! Here comes the starting signal! Blood begets blood in the UA grand match!"

A/N: Shout out to Fire and Ripslash. Both of whom have kidnapped my family in an attempt to get me to ship Kyouka with Izuku and Ochako.

Yes, Mel is writing fanfictions shipping Izuku and Ryo. The idea came from the Discord chat. Hilariously enough.

Feel free to join Jade's Discord where I'm usually at to just chill out, meme around, discover new authors, or just bully me into adding things into the fic! Kidding on that last one... mostly. discord. gg/ pkmgFzUkBu

Monster King: Thanks!

Marbled Gold: I know right? Makes perfect sense for Humarise to exist the way it does. Izuku's gonna be in for a hell of a time. And yeah, Ochako holding back laugher at Todoroki is funny because like, he wasn't actually watching the Nomu fight, nor does he know about Izuku's Shinku nor Denjin Hadoken like Ocha does.

Acosta Perez Jose Ramiro: Thank you, it was a thing I had planned for a while with Humarise. Can't wait to get into that. Also, Shinso's humbling is coming soon.

Ryuujin96: Thank you. Izuku's drive wasn't high for the Sports Fes because it takes place right after his best friend almost died and got removed from the Hero Course. As for the world travel thing, well telling will be spoilers for some major events, but I will say... kinda? Sorta. And yes! I am also ready for Humarise.