Ignited Spark

by 3PeopleInACoat

When Midoriya Izuku was four years old, his quirk finally manifested - not a combination of his parents' quirks, but an entirely different mutation of its own. With the ability to blast lightning out of his body, a horrible accident convinces Izuku to give up his dreams of becoming a hero. But with the help of two girls, Izuku finds the inspiration to fight and become a true hero!

26. Conflicts and Scheming

…

…

…

… oh, this wasn't good. He wanted to go and sit with the Midoriyas, the Urarakas, and the Kendous.

With a low, defeated sigh, All Might leaned back in his seat up in the teacher's box, watching as the students gathered around the podium that Midnight was standing on, far below on the field, to receive the headbands that they would have to wear around their heads for the entire game. After the confirmation that the students had half an hour to make their preparations, the crowds relaxed a bit, either sitting back to talk excitedly about what they had just witnessed and who they're predicting to pass on to the next round, or getting up to go grab food from the various stalls set up along the stadium or head to the washrooms.

All Might, on the other hand, felt his eyes scanning around the arena for where the three families might be before he let out a small, defeated sigh, and leaned back in his seat. It would be impossible for him to see them from up where he was sitting - at best, they'd be nothing but tiny specks along a sea of people. So he decided to try and get his mind off the families that he had reluctantly parted from this morning, a lonely feeling continuing to burn in his chest, as he turned to the screen as one of the cameras focused on Katsuki, detailing him as the one in sixth place.

From what he could see, Katsuki wasn't very pleased with he'll have to be doing for this upcoming game, ripping the headband from Midnight's hand when she offered it, and All Might felt himself frown as he leaned forward a bit, aware of Tenko turning around in his seat beside him to chat with Ectoplasm sitting behind them.

Indeed, this ended up being Aizawa's idea when it came to Katsuki, completely approved by Nezu - forcing him to be on a team with, and be forced to rely on, Izuku and Ochako in order to succeed. As one could probably guess, All Might had been … well … not exactly enthusiastic about this idea when he had first heard about it, back at the USJ after everyone had left to get on the bus so Izuku could head to his spar with Mirio.

He could already see several holes in this plan - but ultimately, he had kept his thoughts to himself, seeing as Aizawa had far more experience with this kind of thing than he did, and when his idea had been brought up at one of their meetings, Nezu had been more than happy to tweak his plans for the sports festival to accomondate for it.

But … well, All Might frowned again, as stated before, he definitely had his own thoughts about what Aizawa had planned. Being forced into a situation where Katsuki would have to rely on someone else to win might force him to change his perspective.

But that was the key word, though: 'might '.

He did support Katsuki growing out of this mindset, of course - he supported all of his students, no matter what their personalities and behaviors might be like, and he knew that there was genuine talent in the kid - once he graduated, All Might could see him going places. He wanted Katsuki to succeed and become a hero just as much as he wanted to see Itsuka, Ochako and Izuku succeed. But, he sighed, in order to change someone's attitude, that person has to be willing to do so, and, as a thought he kept to himself, he had the feeling that making Katsuki team up with people he obviously disliked and trusting him to make the change by himself is probably not what All Might would've done.

He was an observant man, despite Aizawa's clear doubt on that matter - he knew that the relationship between Katsuki and Izuku and Ochako was not … exactly the best. He knew that ever since Ochako had first come to the beach, All Might furrowed his brow as he thought back to that conversation that she had with Itsuka.

"It isn't all the time, but there have been a few instances where Bakugou or one of his cronies hit him to try and provoke him, or someone throws something at him. I tend to be the one to get in their faces for that, though."

"Bakugou?"

"Kacchan."

"Ah. 'Kacchan'. Got it."

"You know about him?"

"I know the general story about him. I know enough about him that I hate his fucking guts."

"Oh, same! He's such a tool!"

"God, don't tell me he bullies you too?"

"Sometimes. Mostly because I get in his face and tell him to buzz off."

At the time, All Might had pushed that little tidbit from his mind, not really thinking about it and being more relieved that the situation with Ochako had winded down to a peaceful resolution. But after his talk with Aizawa on the first day about a problem child in Class 1A, All Might had walked away from the school that day with the feeling that he had heard the name 'Bakugou' before, and began to observe closely. It had only been a little while after the battle trial that All Might had connected the dots, seeing the harsh glares Katsuki was throwing Izuku, Ochako and especially Itsuka, and after reviewing the camera feed and seeing their confrontation whne he had stepped away to bring the next batch of students down to their battle trial to explain the rules of the match.

And it was only after their meeting a week after the incident at the USJ, and seeing Katsuki clearly about to hit Izuku after All Might's prank there, was when he remembered where he had heard Katsuki's name before.

It was clear, at least to All Might, that Aizawa and Nezu were definitely correct. Katsuki would eventually need a reality check, and it was better to do it now than risk it being beyond the school gates and out of their control. But … to force Izuku and Ochako, who clearly had a bad history with the young man, to have to deal with him? To get this hypothetical 'introspective' started for him? Well, it left a bad taste in All Might's mouth.

There was a part of All Might that just wanted to take Katsuki aside so they could talk privately - perhaps he could open up to him about the heroes he had seen that had attitudes similar to Katsuki, and tell them how it ended for them in an effort to scare him straight.

But at the end of the day, All Might sighed as he leaned back and watched Katsuki stomp out with the rest of the students as they began leaving the stadium, he would have to trust that Aizawa and Nezu knew what they were doing. He was only a novice when it came to this kind of thing, anyway.

No, he shook his head slowly, he should be focusing his thoughts on what he had seen during the end of the first round. That being what he had seen before his three protégés had gone through the finish line.

Itsuka running faster than he had ever seen her run, using a single punch to somehow blast all of Shouto's ice back at him in a gust of wind, and then jumping higher than he had ever seen her in order to catch Izuku and Ochako as they fell.

It was obvious, at least to him, that Itsuka had been clearly using One for All to perform those feats, he realized as he leaned forward in his seat, cupping his pointy chin. The speed and strength she displayed was clearly not an ability from her own quirk, but from the quirk that they currently shared, even as it diminished in All Might. He couldn't help but feel immense pride for her - it was clear that deep down, she must have some kind of understanding about how the quirk works, even if it was an unconscious feeling.

Now all they had to do was figure out how to make sure Itsuka could harness that power consciously, and not when she was in the heat of the moment with no chance to think. Perhaps … with Gran Torino was doing internships this year, perhaps he could -

Before he could muse about it any longer, however, his phone suddenly chimed, hearing his own voice calling 'A TEXT IS HERE!'. Jumping a bit in surprise, and ignoring the eyerolls and groans from the other teachers at the sound of the chime, All Might reached into his pocket for the phone, pulling it out to see who was messaging him -

- and then he felt his dark eyes suddenly bulge out of his head as he read the texts starting to come in.

INKO

Hello, Mr. Yagi! I was wondering if you were busy at the moment?

Eri wants me to go over to one of the stands to pick up some popcorn for her to try, and I was

I was wondering, if you weren't busy, if you could walk me back to our seats to say hello to everyone?

I understand if you're busy, though!

Letting out a sputtering cough, All Might abruptly stood up from his seat in his shock, unaware of the other teachers looking around at him in confusion. His hollowed cheeks suddenly felt like they were on fire, for some reason, as he stared down at the texts that had just been sent to him in shock and a bit of terror.

But before he could even blink, he was opening up the messager app and quickly responding back.

YOU

Of course! I'm not busy at the moment, so I can most certainly meet with you!

Just let me know what concession stand you're at, and I'll be there soon!

"Er … All Might?"

The pro hero jumped a bit in surprise at the voice uncertainly calling his name, along with the feeling of someone tugging at the arm of his suit jacket, and quickly looking down. In the seat beside him, Tenko was giving him a concerned look, leaning forward while raising his eyebrow at his mentor, while on Tenko's other side, Thirteen was turning to give him an interested look behind her helmet.

"You, uh … are you okay?" The teaching assistant asked him, "You're kinda … you know, you're blocking Vlad's view."

Blinking in shock, and looking around at Vlad King as the blood hero gave him an expectant look, All Might quickly apologized to his coworker with a small bow, and everyone watched as All Might awkwardly climbed out of his seat, Tenko continuing to give him a confused look.

"All Might? Is everything okay?"

"O-oh! My - my apologies, Young Tenko," All Might turned to give the young man a shaky grin, quickly bringing his hands together in apology as he glanced over at the door leading outside the box, "I just, uh - I got a text about - er - yeah. I'm just gonna - go do something for - for a bit. I'll be back before the next round begins!"

And with that, he quickly buffed up to his true form, making Tenko blink, and without another word, quickly wheeled around so he could begin running up the steps and out the door of the teacher's booth without even looking back.

While Tenko looked after the number one hero in clear confusion, Thirteen chuckled in her seat, leaning back.

"Well, isn't that funny?" She giggled to herself, "Looks like the Symbol of Peace isn't much different than our students when someone of the opposite sex asks to talk."

"Huh?" Tenko blinked, looking around at her with a furrowed brow, "What does that mean?"

"I'll tell you when you're older."

"Senpai, I'm not a little kid anymore. And it's not like you're that much older than I am, anyway."

"I've got a whole ten years on you, Tenko."

"That's not much."

While the two bickered lightly, All Might quickly made his way down the steps of the stadium as fast as he could, keeping his eyes on his phone for Inko to text him back as he flipped down each stairwell, grunting as he landed on each stairwell and twirling in the air as he flipped down the steps, before he finally reached the bottom of the stairs. Once he had made his way down, he took off in a brisk speed walk - which, due to One for All, was fairly quick, speeding down the hall so fast some people nearby watching the game blinked at the rush of hair that blew their hair around.

Thankfully, once Inko had sent a picture of the stall she was at while telling him which floor she was on, it didn't take long for All Might to get there, speed walking halfway across the stadium in under a minute. Once he finally reached the other side, he skidded to a halt behind a pillar, breathing thorugh his nose a bit rapidly as he tried to catch his breath (and not due to being winded) as he quickly looked around for the mother of one of his students.

And then, just as he felt his heart begin to beat a little faster than normal, he spotted her at long last, standing near the front of the line waiting for popcorn with a few yen in her hand, surrounded by multiple people as she glanced around for where he could be.

Feeling his dark eyes widen and a smile appear on his face, All Might quickly stepped forward, raising his hand to call out to her in greeting -

- and then, just as everyone suddenly looked around at him, he glanced at his own arm, seeing how large it still was, and felt himself pause in his step, realizing, to his horror, that he forgot one small thing in his delight in seeing Inko.

"Wait, is that All Might?" Someone from the concession stand gasped, which drew even more people's attention around to the cringing pro hero as he stood there like a deer in headlights.

"Whoa, All Might really does teach here!" Another civilian squealed.

In the blink of an eye, All Might was quickly swarmed by a massive entourage of fans, all of them speaking very loudly and excitedly as they raised pieces of papers and pens into the air, which, to All Might, they pulled out of nowhere. It was very hard for the pro hero to maintain his smile in front of the masses, as he would glance down at them and then back up at Inko as he saw her blink in surprise at the presence of the Number One Hero.

And then, after she had taken in his appearance, she glanced back around, clearly looking for 'Coach Yagi'. Completely unaware that he was currently getting swarmed by fans not too far away from her.

"Uh … ha, ha, ha, ha, ha!" All Might tried his best to make sure his signature laugh came across as genuine and not stiff at all as he put his hands down on his hips, throwing his head back and laughing. "Y-yes, it's me! I'm here to - uh - well, yes! I am here!"

Several cheers filled the hall of the stadium at that declaration, but all that mattered to All Might was when his eyes flickered back up to Inko as she accepted the bag of popcorn from the concession stand, still looking around for where his alter-ego was, and raised her phone to begin texting again. As All Might hastily accepted a pen and a pad of paper from a young man, he glanced back up to see her beginning to walk away slowly as she kept looking around for him, his smile beginning to feel strained as she flickered her gaze between her phone and her surroundings - but between everyone asking for his autograph or a handshake, he was unable to call out to her, feeling his phone vibrate in his pocket.

And soon enough, after waiting around for a few minutes, she began making her way back to her seat, and All Might felt his face fall a bit even as he tried his hardest to keep the smile on his face.

It only took about ten minutes to get through everyone in the crowd, shaking their hands or signing their notebooks, and once they began to return to their seats, or heading back over to pick up the snacks they initially set out for, All Might took that chance to jog over to the nearest empty stairwell, checking to make sure he really was alone, and with a weary sigh, stopped trying to maintain his muscle form. Shrinking back down to his emaciated form, All Might coughed and wiped some blood from his lip with the handkerchief in his pocket, cursing himself for his stupidity.

Leaning against the wall, he raised a hand to hold over his eyes, biting his lip slightly as he tried to fight down the disappointment he felt that he wasn't able to spend any time with Inko - she knew that she would be disappointed as well that he blew her off, just like he was, so he quickly brought out his phone so that he could send her an apology text.

There was … well, All Might wasn't an idiot, which was something that Aizawa and Gran Torino would cast doubt on immediately. He knew that was a reason why he was so disappointed that he coudldn't spend time with Inko. Something that he couldn't just pass off as … friendly.

There was something about Inko that just … made him feel like his heart was beating out of its chest. It wasn't a feeling that he'd felt in a very long time, not since …

… not since high school. Before … before what happened to Nana on Jed'ha Island.

Frowning, All Might lowered his head, staring down at his phone as he absently texted an apology to Inko, technically telling her the truth about someone interrupting him on his way down to meet with her while guilt churned in his stomach. Once he had sent it to her, he put the phone back in his coat pocket, and looked up at the ceiling as he sighed again.

Like he said, he wasn't a fool. He knew what these … feelings he had for Inko were. He knew why why he felt flustered around her, why the sound of her laugh made his heart soar. It had been clear to him, at least, ever since the dinner they had a few months ago before he left to investigate the Trigger theft, when Izuku had been out with Ochako and Itsuka so they could study for the entrance exam, so it was just the two of them. It had been that dinner, All Might remembered, that he realized that he hadn't felt that safe and warm with someone in a long time, and had to realize that his feelings for Inko were not exactly platonic.

At the time, he had immediately pushed them down - he had believed, during that period, that Inko had still been a married woman, and he knew that doing anything like that would be disrespectful and probably earn him a slap to the face. But then he found out that they were separated a few weeks ago, and the thoughts he had about her were starting to get a lot harder to push away.

Added to the fact that Inko seemed to like spending time with him, ever since he had gotten back from the investigation, it had been … rather hard not to think about her.

But …

Frowning, he turned to look at the window beside him in the stairwell - but instead of looking out at the forest of UA, instead he stared at his own reflection. Staring at the dark, sunken eyes, his hollowed cheeks, the automatic grimace, his long stringy bangs having over his face and his messy hair. And then he looked down to his body, seeing how frail and gangly he was. And with a sigh, he looked away, staring down at the ground.

No matter what he felt for Inko, he knew that there would be no way she would think the same of him. She was beautiful, and in this form, he was … he just wasn't very nice to look out. The only way she would look at him in that way is if he were to be in …

… in his true form.

Immediately, All Might shook his head, shoving that thought out of his mind. No, that would not be possible - to entertain revealing his true identity to Inko, that would mean he would have to include her in on the secret. And if he was to do that, he would have to give her a downplayed, small version of his past. No, that wouldn't be possible - if he had to tell her the truth, it would have to be everything. From Nana to One for All to …

… to him.

All Might's expression darkened at the mere thought, clenching his fist, and shook his head as though he were disgusted by himself. Here he was, entertaining the possibility of revealing himself to Inko just so he could act on his feelings, when not even a few weeks ago, he learned the possibility of All For One's survival. Even if Nine wasn't somehow connected to him, All Might should still treat this with the utmost seriousness. He cared about Inko, and not just her, but the Urarakas and the Kendous as well.

Including them, including any of them, in his secret would just give All For One more ammunition to use against not only him, but Itsuka as well. If he really survived what happened five or so years ago, it was of the utmost importance for All Might to be the one to finish their rivalry before he fully lost One for All, and the responsibility be fully transferred onto Itsuka's shoulders. And that meant that she alone would be the one to face him.

So no, that was not going to happen. With the last of his strength, he had to be the one to finish All For One, once and for all. And that meant that any pleasing thought of being with Inko would have to be put away.

Before he could think about it anymore, however, the sound of his phone beginning to ring filled the empty stairwell, the proclamations of 'A CALL IS HERE!' making All Might jump a bit in surprise. Blinking, he reached in for his phone again, somewhat expecting (and maybe hoping) for it to be Inko calling him, but then tilting his head when he saw that it was an unknown number attempting to reach him.

After a moment of hesitation, wondering how an unknown caller had gotten his number, he answered the call, and brought the phone up to his ear.

"Er … hello?"

"Ha! Don't you know that it's a bad idea to answer unknown calls, Toshinori? Or whatever Hana told me."

"S-sensei!" All Might quickly straightened up, fear slowly crawling through him as the chuckles of Gran Torino filled his ear. "It's - wait, are you calling from a payphone again? I thought Hana bought you a phone for Christmas?"

"I broke that thing week one."

"Er - accidentally, or -"

"It made too much noise!"

"- purposefully," All Might lamely finished, sighing as he raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. "I suppose that's why Tenko said that Hana's been complaining about you not answering her calls."

"Well, Toshi," Gran huffed over the phone, "maybe she shouldn't try calling me so often. Maybe she should try to just come and visit me! It's almost as though those two brats don't care enough about me to take the train once and a while."

"Sensei, you live halfway across the city from them, and they both have jobs. I'm sure that Hana wouldn't mind you coming to visit her once -"

"Excuses!"

All Might had to fight down a sigh of exasperation.

"Anyway, Toshinori," Gran let out his own sigh, the jovial tone he had before fading away suddenly into a more serious tone, "as much as I'd love to talk to you more about those two brats, I'm afraid that I'm actually reaching out to you with news."

"News? About what?"

"Tsukauchi got back to me. He's returned from up north. Do you have the time to talk?"

At that news, the slightly confused, yet bemused look on All Might's face from talking to his teacher vanished at once. His eyes widening briefly, All Might's face then fell into a grimace, quickly looking around for anyone who might be coming up or down the stairs. Once he was sure that he was alone, All Might moved towards the railing, putting his hand against it and stared out the window as he slowly nodded to himself.

He shouldn't be that surprised, though - he had thought of the devil, and then came news of him.

"I'm alone. What did he say?"

"Endor Forest is still a crater," Gran told him, "same as it was when we left it. He's spent the last three weeks since the Consortium attacked the USJ going through the records at the hospital we stayed at and the morgue, trying to see if anything had been edited or changed, and interviewed the forensic technicians we entrusted with the body."

"And?"

"Nothing. The reports are the same as ever - confidential, the only ones able to read it are you, me, Tsukauchi and Chiyo, and anyone else who might wanna try have to fight a legal battle with the Hero Commission. And the morgue's reports were the same - Nighteye and I brought in an undisclosed corpse, they were paid not to question it, and we burned the bastard to ash."

"And are there any records of what happened to the ash?" All Might began to glare out the window the longer they talked about this. "So we can check."

"If any normal person was hearing the Symbol of Peace asking about the ash of the bastard he brutalized, they'd probably be horrified." Gran tried to joke, but then he let out another sigh. "But no. After we burnt the body, Nighteye had instructed the morgue to dispose of the remains. It'll be next to impossible to track down exactly where they are at the moment - for all we know, they were dumped in some garbage bin where he belonged."

"So until we see those ashes for ourselves, we have to assume All For One survived."

"Looks that way," Gran scoffed, "I think the only assurance we have right now is that there's no chance in hell that he's in good shape. You smashed that bastard's head against the ground hard enough to reduce it to sludge - the best we can hope for at the moment is that he's clinically brain dead, and this Nine guy is just using his quirk while he's busy laying around being a vegetable."

"I'm not assured by that," All Might shook his head, "if Nine has access to All For One, either the quirk or the person himself, that means that the Consortium has the potential to become a bigger threat than anything we've seen before. But I don't believe it, Gran - I have a feeling that if he could survive being cremated, there's no chance that he isn't a threat."

"We'll have to hope. But at least I'm not coming with just bad news. Tsukauchi found a lead."

"A lead?" All Might blinked.

"After we linked the Villain Consortium to those two heroes they attacked for their quirks," Gran explained in a gruff voice, "we started keeping an eye open for any similar cases. We aren't gonna get answers out of those two anytime soon - one of them passed away a month ago from complications from his injuries, and the other's still in a coma. But Tsukauchi's been keeping his eye open for any kind of hospital records showing the signs we've seen from All For One's past victims - and we found one, along with an admittance to the nearby hospital back in March."

"March?" All Might blinked. "That was around the time the entrance exam for UA took place … it might give us a hint as to All For One's current location, and if he's close by, if he's working with the Consortium - it would make sense, since they were targeting me, if they tried to track my location and attacked this victim. Which hospital was this person admitted to? A location in Musutafu?"

"Yep," Gran confirmed, "and funny of you to bring up the entrance exam - it's what drew Tsukauchi's attention. The person who got submitted to the hospital was a kid who tried to apply for UA's hero course."

"A …" All Might found himself stopping, staring blankly ahead as his eyes widened, "… a kid?"

"Yeah," Gran sighed, his voice growing quiet, "a middle schooler by the name of Yuuga Aoyama."

---

She had half an hour.

Itsuka had half an hour to figure out how she was going cooperate with Shouto, the guy who declared her his rival and that she was angry at for trying to stop her from saving Izuku and Ochako, that Shinsou guy who kept giving her dirty looks and made it clear that he hated her guts, and the Monoma guy from Class 1B who kept trying to whisper to Yuuyu as though they were in on a conspiracy, and throwing her a suspicious glare.

So … well, quite honestly, she wasn't feeling very confident, but at least she wasn't in Izuku and Ochako's shoes, what with them having to figure out how they were going to get Katsuki to cooperate, so there was one small bright side to this.

As Midnight had explained to them before sending them off, the four groups would be going into the forest where their 'territories' were before their half-hour of making preparations, the large screen behind her displaying the countdown of thirty minutes. As the arena's massive doors slid open so they could head out to the forest, Midnight acknowledged that they all needed time to get to their zones, and confirmed that once all four teams had made it to their areas, the half hour countdown would begin, giving them time to prepare for the big fight, set up their territory for traps, and make their plans.

With great reluctance, Itsuka had parted ways from Izuku and Ochako for the moment, giving them a sympathetic look as they looked over at Katsuki and realized what they had to deal with, Izuku looking like he was dying on the inside and Ochako having a vein twitching in her forehead. As they walked out of the arena, she sighed as she glanced down at the black headband with the screen in the middle that Midnight had given her, seeing the number '310' flashing there, before she turned it around to wrap around her head, making sure to tie it properly so that the slightly heavy screen didn't slip down and cover her eyes.

Once it was on, she sighed, looking around as the four groups began walking into their territories, and followed her own group into the forest, noticing Yui and Setsuna flashing each other looks as they bumped fists before she turned back to her group. Which, of course, gave Itsuka ample time to look around at her team and gulp nervously at how difficult it was going to be to get them all to cooperate.

Now, she knew that Nejire, Yuuyu, Eijirou and Fumikage would be very easy to get along with - not only was she classmates with three of them, but she was friends with Nejire, Yuuyu and Eijirou, and Fumikage at the very least seemed to respect her as the class representative, so that wouldn't be a problem. No, the problems would be with the other three - Shouto, mostly because of the obvious fact they declared war on each other and she reprimanded him not a half hour ago; Shinsou, for how much he clearly disliked them if his glaring at them was anything to go by (and for being a smug little jerk); and Monoma, looking twitchy and paranoid while he turned to whisper to Yuuyu as she blatantly ignored him.

So … yeah, this was probably going to be very difficult.

But, Itsuka sighed as they walked in silence, she knew that like it or not, they were her teammates, and there would be no way for any of them to get to the next round without working together. So in that case, she had to be the one to extend her hand, since neither of the three were going to.

So that meant she had to put aside the plans she was currently brainstorming for getting them through this challenge, to make sure that they could cooperate long enough to even get through it.

With another sigh, Itsuka hurried her pace, jumping over a tree that had fallen over, and slowed her pace so she could walk beside Shouto.

"Todoroki."

The boy with the burn on his face paused slightly at her calling his name, and turned to look at her with clear dislike. It was pretty much what she expected, however, so Itsuka didn't let it get to her, putting her hands in her pockets as she met his eyes while trying to keep her face neutral.

"Look," She shook her head slightly, "I realize that you and I don't exactly get along, what with you declaring war on me and me yelling at you earlier. But like it or not, neither of us will be able to get through this challenge without at the very least cooperating - if we fail here, we won't be able to face each other in the final round. So with that in mind …"

She took a deep breath, and then held out her hand.

"… truce? At least for now?"

Shouto took a moment to clearly think it over, glancing down at Itsuka's hand before his gaze flickered back up to her face. Itsuka kept pace with him, meeting his eyes as he gave her a once over as though trying to check for any kind of trick or deception. Finally, after a few awkward seconds of holding her hand out to him, Shouto raised his own and took hers, giving it a shake.

"Fine," He nodded, "at least until we get through this challenge."

"Okay, good," She nodded back at him as well, letting go of his hand and starting to walk forward so she could run over to Shinsou -

"But I do have to question your intentions."

Feeling herself falter, Itsuka's step slowed a bit, and she looked back at Shouto. His own face, similar to hers, was neutral, but there was a noticeable look of suspicion in his eyes as he walked alongside her.

"Huh?" Itsuka's brow wrinkled, "What does that mean?"

"Back during the race," He put his own hands in his pockets as they walked through the forest, the headband he was wearing displaying the number '280', "you yelled at me when I tried to stop you from saving your friends."

"Yeah, I did do t hat," Itsuka's eyes narrowed slightly, "are you saying that you were in the right for doing that?"

"No," Shouto shook his head, letting out a small sigh as he looked off to the side, "I wasn't thinking back then. I saw you running forward ahead of me, and I acted out of impulse - I wasn't paying any attention to them. But that just makes me question you now, seeing as they're both on the team that we'll probably have to go up against - the one with the ten million points. The team that's already guaranteed to move on ahead in the festival."

"And … what exactly is your point here?"

"Those two," He turned to look at her again, "are your friends. I was behind you three at the start of the race - I saw how close you are when you were talking, even if I wasn't really listening to you. But those friends that you fought so hard to save are now going to be your enemies. They'll be who we have to gun for. Are you going to be comfortable with that? Forcing your two friends out of the sports festival?"

Itsuka fell into silence for a moment, walking with Shouto as he stared at her suspiciously - and then she let out a small sigh, folding her hands behind her back as she stared ahead.

"What," She joked a bit, "trying to make me doubt myself, Todoroki?"

"Perhaps," Shouto bluntly admitted.

"Well, don't," Itsuka huffed, looking away from Shouto as they walked together, "you don't need to do that. I'm not going to sabotage our team's efforts because I really like two members of the opposite team. Of course I can go up against Izuku and Ochako - we trained together, I'll have you know. I never hesitated to beat them down in the dojo or during our battle trial a few weeks ago."

"Those are just low stakes situations, though," He pointed out, "you'd be forcing them out of an event that they're supposed to show off in front of the hero community."

"You think that would be enough to break our friendship?" She asked him, shaking her head, "I know you said you weren't really listening, but I believe you heard me say during my speech that I'm aiming to win today, and I know they are too. We'll be able to face each other, fight each other, and walk away with our friendship stronger than ever. And if they were to go easy on me, I'd be insulted, and they know that."

"Is that right?"

"That is right. In fact," She raised her eyebrow as she looked over at him, "I don't think we should be questioning me sabotaging our efforts. If there's anyone here who would sabotage us, it'd probably be you."

"What?" Shouto scowled, "What are you talking about?"

"I'm friends with Haya," She was sure to give him an unamused look as she kept her hands folded behind her back, "she told me a bit about your quirk. Fire and ice, right?"

Shouto, for his part, didn't respond to that.

"She told me about how you're always holding back during your lessons. Finds it kind of insulting, and to be honest," She turned to look off to the side, not really considering what she was saying due to Shouto angering her with his own accusations, "if I was in her shoes, I would be insulted too. It seems like you're mocking your classmates by always holding back. They're going to be out there giving their all, and then there's you not even trying that hard. I suppose -"

"Let me make one thing clear, Kendou."

She faltered at the sudden tight anger in his voice, and became aware of a strange chill emulating from him. She then realized, perhaps a bit too late, that she was probably pressing a button she shouldn't be, as she turned to look at Shouto as he stared ahead, his face filled with anger and his fists clenched tightly at his sides.

"In battle," He said in a low, almost growling voice, "I will never use my left."

With that, he stomped away from her, keeping his head low and his hands stuffed in his pockets. Itsuka watched him go with a small look of surprise on her face, before it quickly morphed into regret - she knew, right then and there, that she had probably gone a bit too far and pushed something he was uncomfortable with, and even if he was acting like a prick to her, she felt pretty bad about pushing him.

That, and she couldn't help but criticize herself for being a hypocrite - here she was, criticizing Shouto for holding back with his quirk, when she was over here with her two quirks that she had to carefully use so she didn't blow her arm up. But … well, at this point, she knew that there wasn't anything she could say, and any apology she might try to give him would probably be brushed aside.

Besides, there was still the matter of the other two teammates that still hated the rest of them that she still needed to get around to try and convince everyone to get along with everyone else. So, at this point, she would have to let Shouto go, and simply be content with this … fairly chilly alliance.

… god, she hated puns.

With another sigh, she began to walk over towards where Shinsou was moving down the path by himself, already bracing herself for what she knew was going to be an unpleasant conversation, and tried to convince herself to not to be so antagonistic this time as she reached out and patted his shoulder to get his attention.

"Hey," She nodded as Shinsou looked around at her, a look of dislike immediately appearing on his face and letting her know that this conversation wasn't going to be fun, "can we talk?"

"Sure," He huffed, "you can talk. I think that's all you're good for, anyway - talk."

"Oh, boy," She muttered, despite herself, "here we go."

Shinsou merely scoffed, and shook his head as he looked back around, as though she weren't worth his time, "What do you want?"

"Well," She put her hands in her pockets again, criticizing herself for that small crack in her attitude and trying to keep positive, "like I was telling Todoroki, I, uh … I realize that you probably don't like anyone on this team. But I know how important the sports festival must mean to you -"

"Oh, do you?" Shinsou looked back around at her, sneering at her in a way that told her that she, once again, found a button to press, much to her regret, "Do you know how important this is for me?"

"I do," She nodded simply, trying to keep moving forward with the conversation instead of being tempted to take the obvious bait he was laying out, "this is your chance to get noticed by the teachers and be put in the hero course. I did my homework, remember? I know how it works."

Shinsou, for his part, didn't say anything about that.

"Listen," Itsuka tried to give him a smile, "I know how it works. And - you know, I do wanna help you out. Back when you confronted us before, back at my classroom, I can tell that you want to get into the hero course. And I don't see any reason why we can't help you out now. We just need to work together and -"

"Oh, please," Shinsou shook his head, scoffing again as he raised his eyebrow, "you're so preachy."

"… preachy?" Itsuka's attempts to remain nice began to waver once again.

"You're trying to get through to me with the power of friendship. Well, don't - you just come across as condescending. Pretending that you're so much better than I am, and wanting to offer little old me a handout to get through the festival. Well, I didn't need your help to get through the first challenge, and I won't need your help to get through this one. Just tell me what you actually want and leave me alone."

Itsuka felt her brow furrow for a moment before she let out another sigh. There was a part of her that wondered if she was coming across as condescending, but if Shinsou didn't want to get along with her, there was very little she could do to convince him otherwise - besides, the way he was smugly smirking a bit at her at the look of annoyance on her face was really not helping with the bad mood that kept building up inside her.

"Fine," She said coldly, "you wanna keep up this thing where you act like a jackass to everyone? Go ahead. But like it or not, Shinsou, you're wrong about one thing."

"Oh?"

"You do need us to get through this challenge. That's the whole point of the point-keeper thing. So just tell me what your quirk is so we can make a plan -"

"No, I don't think I will."

Itsuka let out a sputter at that, quickly looking around at Shinsou as he continued to smirk.

"What," He gave her a smug, knowing look, "shocked?"

"I - what? Dude, just stop with the smug shit and tell me what your quirk is."

"I'm not gonna do that," Shinsou shook his head, "it'd give you an advantage over me in the next round if we were to fight. I'm not gonna explain my quirk - but I'll be able to work along with whatever stupid plan you -"

His little insult was interrupted, however, by the feeling of Itsuka's hand suddenly clamping down on his shoulder, forcing him to slow down. Shinsou faltered, looking around at Itsuka as she glared up at him with a noticeable scowl, and he seemed to realize, if his eyes widening slightly and his smirk falling off his face, that he may have pushed the 'nice girl' a little too far.

"Listen, buddy," Itsuka's eyebrow twitched, feeling her patience finally pack its stuff up and leave, "I get that you've decided that you hate us. I get it already. You've already made it clear. But if you wanna go to the third round, and you wanna impress our teachers to get into the hero course, you're gonna have to work with us. But if you wanna be an ass and sabotage your own efforts to get into the hero course, be my guest. You're the only one here with that much to lose, and if I'm being honest at this point? I'd like to see you get into the hero course, but if you fail, it's no skin off my back."

Letting go of his shoulder, she started to stomp ahead of him - but then stopped, and looked around at him over her shoulder.

"Oh, and one more thing," She was sure to give him a scornful look, "you like to go on and on about how people condescend and look down on you - but honestly, I'm amazed at how many rocks you can throw at your own glass house without it toppling over."

With that, seeing Shinsou begin to glare at her, she whirled around and left the general studies student in the dust as she began to jog over towards where Yuuyu and Monoma were walking together.

Yyyyyyyep, she was in a very bad mood now, she scowled. Being on a team with two people that clearly hated her tended to do that, especially when they weren't doing anything to hide their dislike. And quite honestly, she knew that her attempts to get them to cooperate only made their anger towards her worse, but - well, it was a very stressful situation, and Itsuka couldn't really think clearly at the moment.

But … well, she had to remember that Izuku and Ochako had to deal with Katsuki right now. Itsuka felt herself blink as she remembered that, and she suddenly felt like an idiot for getting annoyed with Shouto and Shinsou. They had to deal with the same guy that bullied them their entire lives, and here she was losing her temper over two guys looking down on her. If they could somehow manage to get along with him …

… well, that'd probably be the most impressive thing she'd ever seen. But she shook her head - she was getting distracted by her feelings of annoyance at the two guys. If Izuku and Ochako could get the biggest jackass in their class to cooperate with them, she could get one icy guy and one annoying jerk to get along.

So, trying to keep her smile on her face, she jogged over to walk with Yuuyu as she walked with her classmate, blinking at the annoyed expression on her fellow class rep's face as the blonde guy continued to whisper frantically to her, and Itsuka felt her eyebrow raise when Monoma noticed her coming and immediately went quiet.

"Hey," She nodded to both of them, patting Yuuyu's shoulder as she started walking alongside them, "what's up with you two?"

"Nothing," Monoma turned away, not looking either girl in the eye as Yuuyu rolled her own eyes.

"He's still trying to come up with strategies with me," She shook her head and told Itsuka, "trying to 'unite us and Todoroki as the sole three 1B members' to somehow throw you guys under the bus. Even if, you know, that means that we would lose too."

Monoma merely growled at his class representative's betrayal, and Itsuka let out a small sigh as she glanced off to the side, seeing Nejire, Fumikage and Eijirou walking together and glancing awkwardly at the other four students not belonging to their class.

"Okay," She grimaced weakly at Eijirou, talking in a low voice so as not to let Monoma know what she was saying, "already alienated and made our problems with the other two worse, let's go for one more."

Eijirou chuckled awkwardly and flashed her a thumbs up, and Itsuka sighed as she straightened her back and turned back to the two members of Class 1B, trying to put a friendly smile on her face.

"I mean," She raised her voice in order to get their attention again, Yuuyu looking around at her with a raised eyebrow and Monoma giving her the third dirty look in a row, "I commend you for trying to figure out a way to do that, Monoma, but … well, from what they described, we won't be able to move on without working together, right? So -"

"Ha!" Monoma suddenly and haughtily laughed, and Yuuyu let out a groan as a vein immediately clenched in Itsuka's forehead. "I imagine that you'll be attempting to appeal to me with the power of friendship? Confirming that you'll be rooting for us anyway?"

"Oh, boy," Yuuyu sighed.

"Well, my apologies, but I don't think that'll happen. We are meant to be rivals, and the only reason I am bothering to go along with this is because Class 1B has already suffered too many casualties in the last game. But let's make one thing clear - I will not be rooting for this team."

"Is … that so?" Itsuka tried her hardest to remain polite even through clenched teeth while Yuuyu smacked her hand over her eyes at the large hole Monoma was digging for himself.

"Indeed," Monoma smugly nodded, "from what I saw, Group Three has the most of us - Hagakure, Komori, Sato and Tetsutetsu. Which is why I will be supporting them, even if I have to sabotage our own -"

He wasn't able to finish that, however, due to Itsuka suddenly reaching out and grabbing the back of his neck. He froze in his step, his eyes widening slightly, and looked around at the angry look in her eyes as Itsuka glared right at him, and he realized, too late, that he may have said something that he shouldn't have.

"Let me make something clear to you, Monoma," Itsuka said in a low voice, aware of everyone glancing around at her, "if you try and sabotage us out of petty spite, I'm gonna just knock you out now and make plans without you."

Monoma looked like he was going to say something back to her as she let go of his neck, but Yuuyu giving him a small zap managed to take his attention off of her, making him yelp as Itsuka looked around. At this point, everyone was looking at her, including Shouto as he stared at her dully over his shoulder, and Shinsou sent her a dirty look while Nejire and Eijirou gave her worried looks, and Fumikage raised his eyebrow.

Itsuka, for her part, only let out a sigh as she raised a hand to rub her eyes - it was clear, no matter how hard that she tried, she couldn't help but let her annoyance and the three boys' words get to her. However, before she could try to regather herself to try again, Eijirou shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Oi!" He tried to get everyone's attention, everyone glancing around from Itsuka to him as he jogged forward, turning around so he could speak to everyone in their small clearing. "Look, I know that everyone's stressed about what's gonna happen - but we shouldn't be making Kendou shoulder all the responsibility of getting everyone get along! At least she's trying to get everyone to behave - and she's right, none of us are gonna be able to get to the next round if we keep fighting."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded in agreement, clenching her hands into fists, and then hopped over to put her hand down on Itsuka's shoulder. "I know that I've been keeping quiet, but everyone's kinda acting like jerks! Like you, Shinsou - I mean, I always thought you were kind of a jerk ever since you came in and were all 'oooooh you guys think you're so much better than us', even when we didn't think that way! Never have, never will! And you, Monoma - it's rude to try and throw us under the bus!"

Itsuka grimaced slightly as Nejire began to get worked up, seeing Shinsou and Monoma beginning to glare at her, and quickly patted her hand on her shoulder to get her attention, causing Nejire to look around at her in confusion as she tried to flash her and Eijirou a thankful smile, and then she sighed as she straightened up, looking around at everyone as she tried to clear her thoughts.

"Look," She said in a loud, clear voice, making it clear that she was talking to everyone, "I know that, overall, we don't exactly get along. We have people from different classes, and people who definitely don't like each other. But at the end of the day, Kirishima's right. We're all here to achieve the exact same goal - to get to the next round. And we can't do that if we're going to be antagonistic or arguing with each other, so we need to - at least right now - put all that aside."

With a small sigh, she looked around again, trying to give everyone a smile.

"If it makes you feel better," She tried to joke, "we'd all be fighting each other in the next round anyway, so let's try to put our differences aside for now to make sure we can do that."

There was a long pause in the small group, with everyone glancing around at each other - Eijirou and Fumikage exchanged looks, Monoma gave her a haughty stare, Shouto stared directly at her with a slight narrowing of his eyes, Shinsou rolled his own eyes at her, and Nejire and Yuuyu glanced at each other. And then, with a sigh, Yuuyu nodded, turning to smile at her.

"Yeah, of course, Kendou," She confirmed, giving her fellow class rep a thumbs up, "we're gonna be working together. I'll make sure my idiots are in check so they don't act up."

"What?!" Monoma gasped, whipping around to stare at his class representative in shock, outrage and betrayal. "You would willingly work with 1A, Haya?! I thought that you were -!"

ZAP

"Ow!"

As Monoma yelped from Yuuyu's finger giving him a good zap right in the back of the neck, he jumped a bit in surprise as his hair began to stick up a bit. While he rubbed the spot she had zapped him, Yuuyu looked around at Shouto as his gaze flickered to her.

"This gonna be a problem for you too, pretty boy?" She asked him, her voice devoid of any playfulness to indicate that she didn't really mean that compliment.

Shouto, for his part, merely sighed as he looked back around at their path to the territory, taking his hands out of his pockets.

"Got it," He nodded to his class representative, turning to begin walking again.

Shinsou, for his part, merely scoffed at Itsuka one more time, but didn't offer any complaint as he followed his fellow aloof teammate up the path, leaving Itsuka, Nejire, Eijirou and Fumikage near the back as the other four began walking ahead, and Itsuka sighed as she started walking again.

"Well, I'm with you, Kendou," Eijirou confirmed, flashing her a grin and a thumbs up again, "as far as I'm concerned, you're the boss."

"Kinda wish I wasn't," She sighed, shaking her head, "but at this point, I might have to take charge, if three members of our group aren't gonna play nice. Thanks again, Kirishima, Hadou - I definitely wasn't making things any better trying to get those three to get along with the rest of us."

"You're welcome!" Nejire happily said.

"In that case," Fumikage spoke up for the first time in a few minutes, "I suppose you've been coming up with a plan?"

"I … well," She grimaced slightly, looking around at the shorter boy, "I was concentrating on getting Todoroki, Shinsou and Monoma to cooperate - but I have been thinking about it, a little bit."

"Oooh!" Nejire clapped her hands. "So what's up? I'm curious! What have you got in mind?"

"Indeed," Fumikage bowed his head slightly, "I'm sure that whatever plan you come up with, we will back you up. And Haya, as Monoma and Todoroki's representative, can keep them in line, and she will at the very least listen to you."

"Yeah!" Nejire nodded happily. "And if she doesn't, I'll give her the puppy eyes! She can never resist those! We're good for Plan Kendou! So what is the plan? Huh? Huh? What do you have in mind?"

"Okay, okay," Itsuka was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit from Nejire's questions, raising her hands to prevent Nejire from coming any closer to her than necessary, "I'll tell you. Well, keep in mind that I was mostly brainstorming, but … well, anyway, I think I'm starting to come up with something."

As her three teammates looked around at her, Itsuka straightened her back, glancing around at them.

"Tokoyami," She addressed the raven-headed boy, "you should be the point-keeper. You have Dark Shadow to protect you in here -" She gestured around the forest, pointing out how shaded it was due to the trees, "- so you'll be the hardest of us to catch, if you just keep moving and be entirely on the defensive."

"A good point," Tokoyami nodded, while Dark Shadow poked its head out from behind him and flashed her a thumbs up.

"While you're keeping the points safe, Kirishima," she looked around at Eijirou, "you'll be defending Tokoyami with Haya and Shinsou, depending on what exactly his quirk is."

"Huh? Really?" Eijirou looked briefly surprised, and a bit disappointed, "I mean, if you want me to, but … well …"

Itsuka smiled, and patted his shoulder.

"As awesome as you would be getting us points," She assured him, "your quirk is also great for defense, and you're really difficult to get around. It'd make sense to have you defend the points. It's like my grandfather says when some of the kids at the dojo want to train for offensive moves and not defensive ones - a good spear isn't worth anything without a stable shield."

"A shield, huh …?" Eijirou slowly mulled that over, glancing off to the side - and then he let out a sigh, straightening his shoulders, and looked back around at her with a grin. "Okay, Kendou, I gotcha. You need me to be a shield, not a spear. I'm cool with that."

"Awesome," She smiled at him, and then looked around at Nejire as she continued bouncing around with a happy, curious smile, "so while they defend Tokoyami, Hadou - you, me, Todoroki and Monoma will go out to get points. We'll double check to see what exactly Monoma's quirk is, and if he'll be good enough to head out with us, but we'll definitely need someone fast enough to run the points back to Tokoyami - and you're the only one on our team who can fly."

Both Eijirou and Fumikage nodded, and quickly jogged over to speak with Yuuyu about the plan, while Nejire continued to keep pace with Itsuka as the two girls walked near the back together. While Nejire hummed and skipped ahead, Itsuka glanced over at her, seeing her long blue hair swinging around a bit, and raised an eyebrow.

"Are, uh … are you cool with my plan, Hadou?" She asked her, "I know that it seems kind of iffy, and - y'know, based on a lot of presumptions I've made about the others, especially since I just pulled it out of nowhere …"

"Oh, no! It's great!" Nejire was quick to spin around and assure her, "I mean, I kinda thought that I was gonna be the point-keeper, since I can fly! But Tokoyami also makes sense, because of his bird thingy!"

"Yeah," Itsuka nodded, grimacing slightly, "that, and … uh … you tend to get pretty distracted by other things, Hadou, so I thought … well, no offense, but I thought Tokoyami would have a better time concentrating on keeping the points safe. Sorry."

"Oh, no, no offense taken!" Nejire giggled, patting Itsuka's arm, "It's true! Yuuyu's always annoyed whenever I go off and do my own thing - like back a few weeks ago, when we played tag across UA, when you and Uraraka were in Recovery Girl's office! But I get it if you don't want me to hold onto all the points."

"Oh, uh - okay, good." Itsuka nodded, still feeling bad about pretty much admitting that she doubted Nejire's concentration skills, but at least the blue-haired girl didn't seem bothered by it.

"Oh, but I do have one question! Can I ask it?"

"Uh - yeah, sure."

"Okay!" Nejire smiled happily, and then put her finger up on her chin, "So, I was wondering about Midoriya's team! They've got all the points, you know, and they'll be a big target! Because of how many points they have. Like - ten million! That's so unfair! But anyway, I was wondering, are we gonna go after them? That makes sense, right?"

Itsuka paused at that, feeling herself glance off to the side for a moment in thought - and then, with a sigh, looked back around at Nejire.

"You're right," She told her, "that everyone's gonna be after Izuku and Ochako's team. But … well, that's the problem. Everyone is gonna be after them. If we just try and concentrate on getting those ten million points, we'll just be wasting time and resources. We should be going around looking for the people who got the most points besides Izuku - we can build up our own score that way, and if Izuku somehow keeps the ten million, that means we'll still have enough to move on."

"Oooooooh, that's smart!" Nejire praised her, but then she pouted, "but then, if someone touches their point-keeper, then they get half the points, right? So instead of ten million, they could get five million!"

"That's true," Itsuka nodded, frowning a bit, "if they lose half the points, then the field will descend into chaos. So … okay, here's what I think you should do, Hadou. We won't actively go after the ten million points - but if, for some reason, you do end up getting the points, then fly up as high as you can and avoid anyone trying to come after you. Only when the game's almost over - like thirty seconds until the end - you get those points to Tokoyami."

"Yeah … but it won't be easy! Everyone's gonna be fighting over those points anyway, but Midoriya's smart!" She pouted, "I bet he's coming up with something to throw us all off!"

"I …" Itsuka tilted her head, surprised that Nejire had pointed that out, "... maybe. I think you're right."

There was a small pause - and then Itsuka was unable to stop herself from giggling a bit, making Nejire blink and look over at her.

"Hm? What's up?"

"Oh, uh - well, it's nothing," Itsuka waved her hand while smiling, a bit embarrassed, "but … well, I mean, I just kind of …"

"Oh!" Nejire realized, smiling, "I did a smart thing, didn't I?"

"I - what?"

"Yuuyu reacts the same way whenever I say something smart," Nejire looked proud of herself, sticking out her chest and looking briefly smug, which only made Itsuka sputter a bit in laughter at the look, "she'll be like, 'whoa, you said something smart, Nejire! I'm proud!' And then I'll ask for a reward and she'll say no. Which sucks. I deserve rewards, don't I?"

"Yes, you deserve rewards," Itsuka chuckled, "anyway, I just … uh, well, I always kind of forget that you're a lot more capable than I tend to think you are."

"Huh?"

"Well, I mean," Itsuka shrugged awkwardly, "again, no offense, Hadou, but … I have a bad habit of thinking that you're less of a threat than everyone thinks you are. Like, back at the USJ you created a freaking tsunami - somehow I always forget that."

Nejire blinked a bit, and then let out a giggle.

"Yeah! I did that!" She clenched her fists tightly, looking up at the trees with a smile, and Itsuka watched her as a big smile appeared on her face - but then, for some reason, her cheeks went a bit red. "Hey, uh - speaking of that tsunami, Kendou - can I tell you something about that?"

"Huh?" Itsuka felt herself go still for a second, her smile fading, "I mean - yeah, you can. Is everything okay?"

"Oh, yeah, everything's fine! I remember what you said, back when we visited the USJ the second time -" She smiled fondly, "- it's okay if I'm not okay about what happened. But this is something good! It's just …"

She faltered a bit, slowing her step, and Itsuka found herself slowing down as well, letting everyone else go on ahead while Nejire glanced off to the side.

"… well …" She looked … suddenly bashful, making Itsuka falter a bit, "… I haven't actually told anyone about this. Not even Yuuyu! I would, but she always gets so bored of this kind of thing when I try to talk to her about it. But … but I feel like I can trust you, Kendou. Like - you wouldn't judge me! So, uh, can I trust what I'm about to tell you is gonna stay a secret? And you won't tell Midoriya, or Uraraka, or anyone else?"

Itsuka blinked a bit at that, seeing the strange look on her face - and then she quickly nodded, smiling.

"Of course, Hadou," She confirmed, not suspecting anything, "if you wanna tell me something, it'll stay between us."

"Okay, great!" Nejire giggled, raising her hand with her pinkie-finger out, and Itsuka let out a small giggle as she caught on, wrapping her own pinkie around hers for their pinky-swear. "So - this happened back at the bottom of the lake, but … well, I was down there, drowning, and … I kinda don't know, it just kinda happened!"

"Uh … okay?"

"Yeah! I was down there, kinda … dying," She grimaced slightly, a blush slowly spreading across her face, "and then I started thinking about things that I hadn't done yet. People I still needed to talk to. And … well, I just kinda …"

"Yeah?" Itsuka raised her eyebrow slightly. "You kinda …?"

"I just …" Nejire smiled bashfully, "… thought about -"

"Oi!"

At the familiar voice ahead of them, both Itsuka and Nejire jumped a bit, quickly looking around. Standing a bit further down the path was Yuuyu, adjusting her gym shirt a little bit, and giving them both a curious, slightly suspicious look as she glanced between them.

"What're you two doing?" She asked, "We're almost to where our territory is - once we're there, we've gotta start coming up with the plan."

"Oh!" Nejire gasped, her eyes widening. "We were just talking, Yuuyu! We'll be right there!"

"Alright," Yuuyu nodded, still looking unsure about what exactly was going on but not offering any complaint as she turned on her heel, starting to walk back down, and Nejire turned back to Itsuka with a smile.

"I … guess I'll tell you later?" She giggled unsurely, "Is that okay? If we talk later about it? I really kinda … wanna get this off my chest after everything that's happened, but maybe now isn't the best time? But later would be!"

"Sure," Itsuka nodded, smiling as she patted Nejire's shoulder, not suspecting a thing, "I'll be more than happy to hear what you're thinking, Hadou. But let's get past this challenge first."

Nejire giggled as well, and together, the two girls quickly began jogging to go meet up with the rest of their group.

"So, uh …" Nejire glanced back over at Itsuka as they jogged down the path, "… how do you think Midoriya's plan is coming along? I know Bakugou's part of it, and he's kinda stinky, but do you think they're having the same problems we are?"

"Midoriya's team?" Itsuka repeated, and then felt her shoulders sag a bit as she sighed, "Honestly, Hadou? I'd be surprised if they weren't."

---

"Fuck this!" Katsuki barked, explosions sparking in his palms as he looked around angrily at everyone, "I ain't working with any of you shitty extras!"

There was a good few seconds of silence in the small enclosure that they had decided to make their base - and then Mina let out a long, defeated groan, holding her hand over her eyes while the rest of the team gave Katsuki a deadpanned, unamused look.

"Oh, we're so boned," She shook her head, "we are so freaking boned."

Both Izuku and Ochako sighed, but knew that they couldn't exactly refute Mina's point. Indeed, their group was, as she put it, completely boned.

At the current moment, Midnight had just announced over some of the speakers set up in the forest that, since everyone had reached their districts, the half hour they would all need to organize their team and make their plans had begun, and automatically, Izuku and Ochako knew that they were going to be having more than a few problems. First, and the most obvious, was that Katsuki was adamantly refusing to work with any of them, crossing his arms and growling while Tenya and Momo attempted to appease him, although the way Tenya's voice was beginning to shake a bit indicated that he was reaching the end of his rope.

The second problem, meanwhile, was that the guy from general studies, who they remembered was named Mineta, wasn't contributing to the conversation at all, and had spent the entire time walking to their district staring up at Momo and Mina lecherously. It was bad enough that even Izuku was giving him a dirty look, standing protectively in front of Ochako so the little jerk couldn't look at her, but thankfully (or not) it looked like Mineta didn't even notice, too busy staring at Momo's chest while she tried her hardest to ignore him, although a vein was starting to throb in her forehead and Izuku and Ochako wouldn't be surprised if she was debating creating some kind of bat to smack the person irritating her away.

And the third problem, of course, was that the girl from the support studio seemed a lot more interested in tinkering with … whatever weird device she was holding, sliding the goggles she was wearing down her face and muttering excitedly to herself, and completely ignored everything else around her, with Mina's attempts to ask for her name ending in vain as she was far too busy tweaking her device with a screwdriver she pulled out of nowhere.

So … yeah. They were off to a great start. And when they said 'a great start', that actually meant that they were completely and utterly screwed.

"Bakugou, I must protest!" Tenya flung his hands up to chop at him, giving Katsuki a scandalized look as he scoffed at him and looked away. "As Midnight-sensei said, there is no way that we will be able to succeed individually! We must elect a point-keeper to hold all our points -"

"Then that's me!" Katsuki pointed at his chest with his thumb, making Tenya sputter, "I'll be the point-keeper, and I'll go get everyone else's points. You extras can just stay here and ride on my coattails."

"That is … it's a … bad idea," Momo barely managed to hold back her real thoughts there, which was getting harder and harder to do since she feeling more than a little angry at the moment, both from her teammate's stubbornness and Mineta blatantly looking at her rear, "Midnight-sensei was clear that the point-keeper is the only one whose points will let us get to the next round, and we have to get any extra points to them before the game is over. Having you blast all over the place means that any points we might gather up will be worthless, if we can't get them to you."

"Then let them be worthless! I'll get enough points by myself."

"That. Is. Not. Strategic." Momo started to growl through her teeth, "There are more than ten million points available for everyone, and we are the ones in possession of the most. The smart thing to do would be to stay here and keep guard of the ten million - as long as we have those points, we will be able to get through to the next round."

"That," Tenya nodded in agreement as he gestured to Momo, thankful that there was someone in their group with common sense, "and we will already be the other teams' target anyway! It is obvious that everyone on the other teams will be coming after us due to our having a guarantee that we will be advancing to the next round. The strategic thing to do would be to keep guard around our point-keeper and fend off anyone who comes into our district!"

"Huh?" Katsuki turned towards him with a sneer, while Mina, who had been letting them all talk, threw her hands up and stomped over to where Izuku and Ochako were watching their argument, "That's your idea, Four-Eyes? Stay here like cowards and hope the other teams can't get through your shitty defenses? Is that what your brother would do? Huh? Is he a coward too?"

"I -!" Tenya recoiled in both shock and outrage, "How dare you! Tensei is not a coward in the slightest!"

"Then why are you insisting on hiding?!" Katsuki barked at him. "I want an overwhelming victory! I want to give those other extras no chance to get to the next round!"

"That is foolish! If you are to do that, then you would need to - oh, for goodness' sake, would you stop looking at my chest?!" Momo suddenly wheeled around to shout at Mineta, her patience lost as the smaller boy wiped some drool from his lips.

"The hero course is the best …" He muttered happily to himself.

While the four of them were off in their argument, which was growing louder and louder by the second, Ochako watched her 'childhood friend' with an utterly dull expression while he snapped and argued with everything Tenya said, feeling her shoulders sink a bit as she scowled. Their planning for this round was clearly going down the toilet, with everyone's strategies being pushed aside and ignored in favor of Katsuki's massive ego, and now that everyone knew Mineta was too busy creeping on Momo to contribute, there would be no chance of cooperating with him.

So that meant … yeah, they were screwed.

"Man," Mina whined a bit, leaning against Ochako's arm as she pouted at the arguing group, "and here I was thinking we had this in the bag with Yaoyorozu on our team. Now we're probably not gonna make it to the next round."

"Don't give up so soon," Ochako shook her head, already half-way towards giving up herself as she scratched her cheek, "someone probably just … I don't know, they need to punch Bakugou in the face to get him to shut up."

"I mean … I would, but he'd probably blow me up."

"Yeah, that's the only reason I'm hesitating to do it too," Ochako sighed, and then turned to look at Izuku beside her, "so, what do you think, Deku …?"

She trailed off, however, as she turned to look at her best friend - and blinked as she saw him not paying attention to the conversation at all, leaning forward a bit as he stared down at the ground and tugged absently on his lip as his mouth moved quietly.

Feeling her eyes widen at the realization that he was clearly in mutter mode, she shushed herself and began listening carefully to what Izuku might be thinking, while Mina blinked and furrowed her brow at the odd look on Izuku's face.

"… maybe …" Izuku was muttering to himself, "… if that were to be the case, then he would … no, definitely … I'd have to make sure that he didn't …"

"Uh …" Ochako tilted her head for a moment, not entirely sure what was going through Izuku's head but seeing him looking more and more reluctant by the second as he glanced up at Katsuki, and then reached out to poke his shoulder. "… Deku?"

Thankfully, this pulled him out of his mutter mode, making Izuku blink a bit as she interrupted him, and he looked around at her in surprise as Ochako let out a small giggle at the look on his face.

"You were muttering," She explained, "so I thought I'd ask what you were thinking. So, uh - do you have an idea for the game?"

"Oh, uh … well, I have several," Izuku smiled sheepishly, making Ochako giggle again and Mina glance between them with a small smile.

"Y'know, that doesn't surprise me."

"I mean, I thought it wouldn't. But, uh, actually, I was thinking about … y'know … this whole thing with Kacchan."

"Oh," Ochako's smile fell a bit, glancing back around at Katsuki as he barked at both Momo and Tenya with a frown, "yeah. That's … definitely gonna be a problem. So, uh - did you think of something?"

"Maybe …" Izuku trailed off, still obviously in thought as his eyes narrowed somewhat - and then, with a small sigh, he nodded, straightening back up.

"… okay," He said, his voice already sounding like he was going to regret whatever it was he was going to do as he turned to Ochako with a wobbly, yet determined look, "I'll talk him into cooperating."

"…"

"…"

"… you … are?" Ochako stared at him blankly.

"I am," He nodded in confirmation.

"…"

"…"

"… uh …" Ochako gulped nervously for him, "… good luck?"

"Yeah," Izuku nodded, grimacing slightly as he sighed and turned to look back at Katsuki, "yeah. I'm … really gonna need it. We'll, uh - we'll be right back."

With that, he turned to begin walking over towards the arguing group, strolling towards Katsuki while his fists clenched nervously at his sides.

Looking at him worriedly, Ochako let out her own breath - the more she thought about what Izuku was about to do - somehow talk Katsuki into not being … Katsuki - the more she didn't like it, hating the thought of Izuku being alone with him in any capacity with all her being. But she knew that her presence would probably be detrimental to any attempt to get Katsuki to get along, the temptation to punch him being a constant feeling she had. So …

… so for now, she would stay back. At least for now. But the moment she felt like something was wrong -

"You two are so cute, y'know?"

Ochako blinked, looking around at Mina as she realized that she kind of forgot she was there. Mina, for her part, had a weird, catlike smile on her face, glancing between her and Izuku as he walked away, as she folded her hands behind her back.

"H-huh?" Ochako felt a bit confused, "What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean," She gestured with her head, her pink hair bobbing a bit, "I just noticed that you two are really in sync, you know what I mean? I guess it makes sense, though - I talked to Set a few weeks ago, she said that you two have known each other since you were kids, right?"

"Uh … yeah," Ochako nodded unsurely, not entirely sure where this was going, "since we were - uh four. Y-yeah."

"Childhood friends, huh …"

"Yeah …?"

"Well, I was just thinking that was cool!" Mina giggled, patting her shoulder - and then leaned forward, raising her hand to her mouth as though she was going to share a secret, "And just so you know, girl - I'm rooting for you."

"Er …" Ochako glanced off to the side, completely and utterly lost but feeling her cheeks go a bit red for some reason, "… thank … you …?"

As Ochako gave Mina another confused glance, Izuku, meanwhile, walked over towards the three arguing teenagers, or more specifically, Katsuki, as he smacked his cheeks lightly to try and build up his courage. With a small glance to the side, glancing up at where he saw a camera was with a small wince, he saw a clock on the small screen above the camera, showing that five minutes of what was supposed to be their half hour of planning had passed, and Izuku grimaced a bit - if they kept this up, they wouldn't have any time to figure out what their plan was.

So, essentially, he needed to handle one problem at a time - and at the current moment, the biggest problem was Katsuki. And unfortunately for him, he had a feeling that he actually knew how to get Katsuki's cooperation - but the way he would have to get it would probably result in him getting blown up. Or hit. Or both.

So … well, the odds of being punched were pretty high, but he knew that he needed to get Katsuki to stop arguing with everyone. So … he'd take one for the team.

"And another thing -!" Tenya started to reprimand as Katsuki sent a smirk his way again, but then, as Izuku joined their small group, the boy in glasses faltered as he looked around at him. Both Katsuki and Momo looked around as well, Momo blinking at the serious look on Izuku's face and Katsuki not bothering to hide the dislike on his face at the sight of him as Izuku took a deep breath, closing his eyes. And then, as he opened them, he turned to look at Katsuki, ignoring the dirty look on his face.

"Kacchan," He said, trying desperately to keep the wobble out of his voice, "we need to talk. Privately."

"Ha?" Katsuki narrowed his eyes, a sinister smirk reappearing on his face as though tempting Izuku to continue his line of thought while his open palm sparked with an explosion. "And why would I go anywhere with you, Shitty Deku? You don't order me around."

Izuku let out another sigh, and braced himself for a punch.

"I wanted," He took another breath before he was sure to meet Katsuki's eyes when he said this, speaking in a slightly quieter voice, although still loud enough to still be heard, "to talk to you about … you know … the playground."

That single word clearly caught Katsuki off guard, his smirk vanishing right off his face at once. While Tenya and Momo blinked in confusion, glancing between the both of them, back near the tree, Ochako likewise straightened her back, her eyes widening a bit as she glanced between Izuku and Katsuki - she had no idea why Izuku would want to talk about that, and why he wanted to talk about it with Katsuki of all people.

Before she could even think to walk over, however, Izuku let out a small sigh.

"Unless," He felt his forehead sweat a bit in nervousness, already ready to get punched, "you wanna talk about it in front of everyone?"

Katsuki winced slightly at that, glancing around at the other members of the group - at this point, even Mineta stopped his staring contest with Momo's chest to give off a confused look - and then, with a small growl, wheeled around and shouldered past Izuku as he began stomping further into the forest. Realizing that he was supposed to follow, Izuku glanced back at Ochako, seeing her giving him a worried look, and tried to flash her a confident grin that still came off as shaky, as he quickly moved to follow their 'childhood friend'.

As he vanished into the bushes, Ochako took a moment to stare after him, her heart hammering slightly in her chest in worry - and then, without thinking, began to move. Both Tenya and Momo blinked as she hurried past them, and began following the two boys into the forest.

"I …" Momo scowled a bit as she looked over at the time, "… well, I suppose having him gone for even a few minutes is better than nothing."

"Indeed," Tenya nodded, sighing as he took off his glasses to rub at his eyes.

Deeper in the forest, meanwhile, Katsuki continued to lead Izuku down the path towards a slightly larger tree, with Izuku beginning to brace himself. Finally, once Katsuki stopped at the tree, allowing a moment of silence, he suddenly wheeled around at Izuku, a snarl on his face.

"What the fuck are you going," He barred his teeth, "bringing that shit up in front of those extras?"

"Kacchan -"

"Shut the fuck up!" He shouted, moving forward to slam his palm against Izuku's chest. Thankfully, it wasn't an explosion, but Izuku still let out a small gasp as he was shoved back, quickly catching himself before he tripped over a fallen branch.

Alas, he couldn't quite feel relieved that he didn't fall over, what with Katsuki suddenly grabbing his shirt and giving him a small shake.

"You were fine not talking about what happened that day for years," Katsuki barred his teeth, "but then you suddenly bring it up in front of these assholes?! Are you trying to fuck me over, Deku?!"

Izuku couldn't help but feel a bit confused - fuck Katsuki over? Katsuki had been his victim that day - but then, before he could open his mouth to answer, Katsuki suddenly paused, and then a grin began to spread across his face.

"Well," He let out a chuckle, letting go of Izuku's gym shirt and taking a step back as Izuku tried to straighten himself up, "I guess if you want, you can tell all of them about it. That is, if you want them saying the same things that the extras from our old school said about you."

It was a cheap shot, of course, but still, that small taunt did its job well, making Izuku wince a bit - forcing him to remember the horrible name calling and accusations thrown his way back in middle school.

However, before Katsuki could get any satisfaction for making Izuku uncomfortable, the green-haired boy shook his head, trying to take a deep breath to calm himself down, and moved to stand beside a tree near Katsuki's. He knew that Katsuki was just trying to rile him up, so he needed to keep himself calm and collected. At least for the next few minutes.

"That," He let out another sigh, "isn't why I was asking to talk to you, Kacchan - well, it is, but - well, anyway. I wanted to talk to you about - about this game we're about to play. We need to fully cooperate with each other, and you trying to run around as the point-keeper, taking everyone else's points - it's not going to work."

"Ha?" Katsuki leaned back against the three, smirking at the smaller boy as he folded his arms across his chest, "And why the fuck should I cooperate with them? You think I can rely on you and Round Face? On Four-Eyes and Ponytail?"

"Yeah - yeah, you can."

"And what about the perv? And pinky? And the one bitch who hasn't even bothered looking at us?"

Izuku did wince a bit at that, making Katsuki's smirk widen.

"Yeah. You really think I can rely on assholes I barely know? You think I can rely on Round Face when she hates my guts? Besides, I think you already know that I'm more than capable of getting through all those other extras."

Katsuki smirked at the lack of a response from that.

"Heh … you and Round Face know I'm more than capable of getting those points. So why don't you shut the fuck up and keep quiet when I'm telling them to -"

"Maybe," Izuku suddenly interrupted him, making Katsuki blink, "maybe we can rely on you. But that's just it, Kacchan - we can maybe rely on you."

"What are you -"

"We can maybe rely on you. And that isn't going to work," Izuku turned to look back up at him, seeing the smirk slide off his face, "we can't just trust you to have everything under control. We need to be fully sure that you can get us through the round, and we just … can't do that, because we don't know if you can. There's people out there that can counter you - like Kendou and Hadou. So that's why we need you to work with us."

"And why the fuck would I do that?" Katsuki decided to ignore that bit about Itsuka and Nejire, a vein clenching in his forehead.

"Because we can't guarantee that you'll be able to get us through to the next round all by yourself," Izuku grimaced slightly, "and it is a team exercise, Kacchan - I wouldn't put it past Midnight-sensei to fail us if we didn't do anything to contribute and left it all to you."

Katsuki, for his part, didn't have anything to say about that.

"So if we don't get past this round, we don't get to the final round." Izuku pointed out, and then took a deep breath, knowing that this would be the part where he'd probably get blown up. "And then, none of us will be able to fight each other in the finals."

"Ha? And why should I care about what you extras want?"

"Because," Izuku braced himself, "then that means that you won't - you won't be able to even the score between us."

There was a moment of silence in the small enclosure. Izuku glanced up at Katsuki, seeing him staring blankly at Izuku for a moment as though his brain crashed - but the vein twitching in his forehead told Izuku that his taunt worked.

Much to his terror.

"… what?" Katsuki said blankly, beginning to stare at him as though he had gone crazy. "What the fuck are you talking about? You've never beaten me in anything, Shitty Deku."

"That's … that's where you're wrong," Izuku gulped, "I did beat you, Kacchan - back on the playground. You and I went up against each other, and I -"

He didn't have the chance to finish that sentence. Katsuki was off the tree in an instant, and Izuku grunted as Katsuki's hand grabbed his throat tightly, shoving him back to slam against the tree Izuku had been standing in front of.

Izuku's eyes bulged as his air was cut off by Katsuki choking him, and all he could see was the look of utter rage on Katsuki's face as he leaned in to snarl directly in his face.

"You," Katsuki growled, squeezing a bit tighter and making Izuku snap his eyes closed from the pain of not being able to breathe, "didn't beat me. That didn't count, because you took me by surprise. If our quirks did go against each other, I would -!"

He suddenly stopped talking, however, and Izuku felt Katsuki's grip suddenly lessen a bit. Feeling his brow furrow, Izuku squeezed his eyes open - and then snapped them open, quickly looking around in surprise, as he realized that he and Katsuki were no longer alone - mostly due to the hand that had clamped down on Katsuki's wrist, squeezing it tightly to force Katsuki to lessen his grip on Izuku's throat.

"Get away from him," Ochako said in a low, angry voice, glaring hatefully at the blonde boy as he stared back at her in surprise, "now."

Katsuki stared at her in slight confusion as she forced his hand off Izuku's neck, Izuku letting out a small gasp as his airway was cleared, and she threw his arm down and moved to stand between them - and then he let out a chuckle, taking a step back.

"Should've guessed," He shook his head while Ochako continued to glare at him, "your little cheerleader was in trouble, Round Face, so you came to rescue him. Just like middle school."

Ochako merely gave him another dirty look while Izuku grimaced slightly, and they both watched as Katsuki stomped past them, being sure to shoulder check Ochako as he growled lowly and put his hands back in his pockets.

"I don't give a shit," Katsuki turned to look at Izuku, glaring right in his eyes, "what the fuck you think of me, Deku."

That's clearly bullshit, Ochako rolled her eyes, remembering Katsuki strangling Izuku a minute ago for pointing out that he won the fight in their childhood.

"All I know," Katsuki ignored her eye roll, "is that you're nothing more than a shitty nerd who got a lucky shot back when we were kids. But you wanna go another round with me? Just to prove that I'm better than you, once and for all? Fine. I'll play. But know this, Deku - that shit about you beating me as kids? That's nothing. I'll prove to you who's better once we get to the third round."

"That mean," Izuku managed to say, massaging his throat, "that you'll work with us? You won't go off on your own?"

Katsuki gave him another glare, and then huffed, turning away.

"Fine," He grunted, and without further ado, he walked away from the two of them, making Izuku and Ochako stare after him as he began moving back to the group. Izuku gave him a small, concerned look while he continued to massage his neck, and Ochako gave him one more hateful glare until he finally vanished from their sight.

Once they were alone, Ochako quickly looked back around at Izuku, the anger melting off her face and being replaced by a concerned look.

"Are you okay, Deku?" She asked him, staring at the small bruise forming on his neck as he lowered his hand, and raised her own hand to brush lightly against it. When he winced, she immediately withdrew it, eyes widening in regret.

"Oh, gosh, I'm sorry, Deku, I -"

"Were you listening?" Izuku asked her, seeing her wince and immediately look awkward, but thankfully, a smile appeared on his face as he straightened up.

"I … well, I didn't really trust him around you," She explained in a low, embarrassed voice, twirling her fingers together, "n-not that I didn't think you didn't had it covered, but I just thought that I'd stick around to make sure - and then he started choking you, and I - well - yeah. Sorry, Deku."

"No, no, it's - it's okay," He cleared his throat a bit, smiling up at her as he finally straightened up, gulping a bit, "I don't mind, Occhan, really. T-thank you for coming to help me - I figured I was gonna get blown up at some point, so him choking me was a surprise."

"Hm," Ochako frowned, looking back around at where Katsuki had vanished with a noticeably dour expression on her face for a moment. There was a small moment of calm between them, before Ochako let out a small sigh, and looked back around at Izuku.

"So, uh … do you think he'll really …?"

"Cooperate?" Izuku finished for her, putting his hands in his pockets and sighing, "Yeah, I - I think he'll at least go along with what we have to say - I was trying to bait him with a challenge, and - well, it looks like it worked."

"Yeah," Ochako slowly nodded, biting her lip somewhat, and then turned to look back up at Izuku, "So, uh - does this mean you have a plan? For what we should do?"

"I … think I do," Izuku nodded as well, turning back to look at her, "it's gonna - it'll definitely be risky, but - but I think we have a chance if we do what I'm thinking. It involves the both of us, and me doing something - well, me doing something pretty stupid."

"Okay …" Ochako slowly nodded, putting her hands down on her hips - but then she blinked as Izuku suddenly let out another sigh, raising his hand to scratch the side of his head where he was wearing his headband, the '10,000,000' points standing out as he gave her a slightly intimidated look.

"I'm … not gonna lie, I'm pretty anxious about it," He admitted to her, feeling his eyes turn downcast as he stared down at the forest floor, "it's definitely gonna be risky, and - and one misstep means that we'll be screwed over. Not to mention that Iida and Yaoyorozu and - and the rest might not wanna do it. I just … I don't know."

Ochako felt herself blink a bit as she stared up at her best friend as he glanced off to the side - and then, with her own sigh, she reached up to pat his shoulder to get his attention. When Izuku looked around at her, Ochako moved herself to stand in front of him, and gave him a small smile as she reached up to take both of his shoulders gently, making Izuku stare at her in surprise with a slight blush.

"Remember," She said in a quiet, yet assuring voice, "'Deku' means 'you can do it'."

Izuku blinked at that.

"I - huh?"

"Remember what I told you, back when we first met?" She giggled a bit at the confused look on his face. "I told you that 'Deku' means 'you can do it'. I don't just call you that because it's cute, Deku - like you told Itsuka back when I first met her, it's supposed to be a reminder that you can do it, not the stupid thing Bakugou told you it means. If you've got a plan, then I'm gonna back you up."

There was a small pause in the forest, in which Izuku stared down at Ochako in wonder and she felt her cheeks go red as she realized she was still holding his shoulders - but then Izuku let out a small laugh, causing Ochako to blink as he glanced away, raising one hand to brush against his eyes.

"Sorry," He said in a slightly choked voice, chuckling weakly at himself, "just … I hear that name be used so many times over the years for what Kacchan means it as, and … well, sometimes I forget what it really means."

Ochako smiled warmly at that, and then moved in to hug him. Izuku, for his part, didn't have any problems with hugging her back, wrapping his arm around her shoulders and the hand on his other arm on her lower back - it had been a while since they had properly hugged, after all the awkwardness ever since the USJ, but it felt nice and familiar to hold each other.

But then, as they pressed against each other, they both blinked as they felt their hearts beat a bit quicker, becoming suddenly … aware of each other.

As in, Izuku's hand on her lower back making Ochako suddenly shiver a bit at his thumb lightly brushing against her lower back and sending a slight bolt of pleasure through her, and Ochako's arms wrapping around his neck making Izuku feel weirdly lightheaded.

It felt like … like back during the race, when Ochako had jumped on Izuku's back, and both of them had felt these weird butterflies in their stomach that made them want to quickly separate from each other as soon as they could. But for some reason …

… for some reason, neither of them wanted to let go this time.

Slowly, they both moved slightly back, keeping their hands around each other, and glanced at each other's faces for a moment. Izuku … admittedly wasn't sure what was going on as he stared down at his best friend in shock for a moment as she stared back up at him in what looked to be a mix of confusion and wonder. He had no idea why his heart was starting to beat … a little quicker than normal. He had no idea why Ochako pressing herself against him suddenly felt so good. And he had no idea why Ochako was looking suddenly … nervous, for some reason, as she glanced up at him with a look that showed both shyness and … another expression that he wasn't sure what it was, but something that made him gulp a bit.

But then, as they both stared into each other's eyes, that was when they heard a strange sound near them, making them both blink.

As though something with engines was coming towards them.

"Heh, heh, heh …" An unfamiliar voice suddenly chuckled, sounding a bit sinister and mischevious, "… just as I thought. You really are planning to stand out … yes, this is great …"

Izuku and Ochako faltered, and slowly looked around at the pink-haired girl who hadn't said anything ever since they had come into the forest, staring down at the forest floor with those weird goggles on her face - and then she suddenly shot forwards, getting right into Izuku's face as they both squeaked, and one of the pink-haired girl's hands shot out to shove Ochako's face away from Izuku, making her grunt in surprise as she was forced out of hers and her best friend's weirdly intimate hug as Izuku looked panicked at a new girl getting right up into his business.

"You'll be the one to help me out with showing off my babies, person in first place!"

"Your what?! Who are you?!"

---

Oh, thank god. The Full Gauntlet didn't look like it was going to blow up after all.

With a small, relieved sigh, Melissa leaned back in her spot on the bed, stretching some of the kinks out of her shoulders as she kept her eyes on the holographic television in the corner. Right now they were in commercial, some company called Detnerat doing a peppy, happy commercial about clothing for mutant-types, but she wasn't too interested in that at the moment - not when she was leaning forward to write in her notebook, trying to remember what happened on the screen as best she could as she wrote down her notes, checking Yap!Tube for any videos of what had happened in the first round so she could double check for anything she might have missed.

Indeed, she had been very excited for this years' sports festival being broadcasted on TV, so much so that she had gone to bed extra early last night to make sure she got enough sleep so she could stay up late for tonight. Waking up grumpy and tired this morning was worth it, technically seeing her friends in person for the very first time even if it was through the screen, and she couldn't help but smile fondly as she looked down at the video she was playing on her phone, seeing Izuku, Ochako and Itsuka talking to each other before the event began.

Watching her friends perform, even if she was doing it from an engineer's point of view as she tried to analyze how Izuku used the Gauntlet, was something that made her smile even now as she jotted down her thoughts in her notebook. She had panicked a little bit when Izuku and Ochako had tried to launch themselves into space, but thankfully Itsuka had caught them - even if their landing was still rough, Melissa found herself giggling as she checked her phone again, zipping down to the end of the video, and saw Izuku laying there with his legs and butt in the air.

Shaking her head, she turned back to her notes to continue writing down her thoughts.

'With the Full Gauntlet's complete repair, it is apparent that it has been fully restored to its regular settings, being able to keep Izuku's outpour at a reasonable yet powerful output.' She wrote, 'The absence of gravity from Ochako's quirk demonstrated that the Gauntlet's firepower is still amazingly powerful, being able to launch two seemingly weightless objects high into the air - **NOTE THIS FOR POTENTIAL HERO TEAM UPS**. The landing for Izuku was pretty rough, so perhaps a hero costume that could absorb impact as well as electricity would work well - something to also offer Ochako due to the nature of her quirk. Designs, however, would have to be completed in person, to account for any growth that Izuku would do, to ensure that he doesn't grow out of it.'

'This, perhaps, would warrant a visit to Japan to meet Izuku in person and get his measurements, and to have a closer look at his current costume design. I should be able to record his measurements, including his height, width, arm size, leg size, and perhaps a measurement of his crotch for potential cup sizes, and while I am at it, I can also get a feel of his butt -'

At that last word, however, Melissa felt her pen go still, rereading that last couple of words that she had written into her journal. Blinking in surprise, she looked back down at her phone, staring at the paused video's image of Izuku's ass in the air, and stared at it for a moment, her eyes widening - and then she quickly took her pen to scribble out the last paragraph, making sure that she couldn't read what she had just wrote while her cheeks felt weirdly hot.

Rolling out of the bed, Melissa tossed her journal off to the side and got up, stretching her back slightly with a small grunt as she heard something crack, and then began to walk out to the kitchen so she could grab herself a drink and maybe a snack from the fridge. She was dressed in her comfy pajamas, the slightly-too big flannel pants dragging slightly against the floor as she opened the fridge to have a look at her food, and let out a sigh as she put the can of soda on the counter, and then, quickly making up her mind, walked over to the counter to pull out a bag of popcorn. She knew that Sam and her dad were still here, working in David's office, but she didn't mind if Sam saw her in her pajamas - seeing as he'd probably seen her in her pjs a hundred times, ever since she was a little girl.

Lifting her phone back up to check for when the commercial break was going to end - the teams had a half hour to make preparations, so now was the time to check out all the advertisements for hero support item companies - Melissa winced when she saw Izuku face down with his butt in the air again, and quickly flipped to another tab as she tossed the popcorn into the microwave, sighing as she pressed the time and leaned against the counter, putting the phone down beside her as she pouted.

She loved watching her friends perform on TV, of course, and seeing Momo, Tenya, Setsuna, Yui, Nejire, Eijirou and Yuuyu properly for the first time, even if it was through a screen, was probably sending enough dopamine through her mind that she was going to be happy for the rest of the weekend. And yet … well, there was a part of her that kind of wanted to be there.

She wanted to actually be at the arena right now, watching her friends perform in person, be able to shout her support for them in a way that they could actually hear, and not through the phone. She couldn't help but sigh a bit - the Kendousquad were her first real friends, not people that were trying to pretend to be nice to her or just playing the quirkless girl to make her look like an idiot like some people did back at the Academy, before she decided that having friends there would be more trouble than it was worth. She wanted to actually be there to support them, and not just talk to them through the group chat or the hologram projector.

She wanted to see Izuku perform in person - hell, it wasn't even that she was feeling lonely when she thought that, she pouted as she rested her face in her hand as she leaned against the counter. If she were to continue making support items for him, it would be much easier to do so in person where she could get a full demonstration of his power, and not through holograms or data on her laptop's screen. Those were fine, but it was different than being there to look at the Gauntlet herself.

It would definitely be easier if he were here, Melissa thought to herself as she leaned back, tucking some of her hair behind her ear. If she were somehow closer to UA, or if Izuku were somehow to be on I-Island, then maybe …

… wait a second.

It was then that a lightbulb suddenly turned on in her head, making her blink as her eyes went wide behind her oval glasses. Wait … if she wanted Izuku to somehow come to I-Island … if she needed an excuse to get him here … how could she forget?

The I-Expo! It was coming up at the start of summer - and she was going to be presenting her generator there this year - and since she was presenting something, that meant that she could get a ticket for a guest …

… and she … could invite … him.

Feeling her head tilt a bit, she moved so that she could put her hands down on the counter, her mind beginning to spin just like the bag of popcorn that was currently popping in the microwave. She would have the opportunity to invite a guest … and she wanted to see the Full Gauntlet in person for herself to test. It would take a bit of a while, since the Expo was still a few months away during summer break, but … but she could invite Izuku to have an in-person check for the Full Gauntlet.

She could do a few tests - and not even that, she could even show him around the island! Actually spend some time hanging out with him! With a bright smile, Melissa straightened up, hearing the microwave beep to confirm her popcorn was ready, and quickly brought it out to put on the counter before she turned to jog to her father's office.

She wanted to run her idea by him - and if he thought it was a good idea (which he probably would, he had been interested in how the Full Gauntlet was working out for him) she could probably use his help to eventually book some kind of hotel room for Izuku to stay in - she had a feeling that Izuku wouldn't be cool with sleeping on their couch during the expo.

However, as she approached the door to his office, Melissa's smile faltered slightly when she suddenly caught the sound of a slightly raised voice from the door that was cracked open a little.

Blinking, she paused for a moment, feeling her eyebrows furrow, and strained her ears to listen for a second - and then she realized who was talking at the moment was her dad, his voice sounding agitated, and the happy thoughts of Izuku visiting the island quickly faded from her mind.

"- after everything we did to make sure that it worked, it was just … taken away?! Having the research data was critical! I checked everywhere, Sam, they made sure they didn't leave behind anything we could use!"

"I suppose that's I-Island's board for you," She heard Sam respond to him, the portly man sounding sympathetic to her father's anger, "they're quick to supervise every tiny detail, and especially quick to take everything away once they realize it goes against what they want."

Her brow furrowing, Melissa couldn't help but feel confused - the board of directors confiscated something from her papa? What could that possibly be? She never recalled him making anything that would cause the board to step in.

Her curiosity overwhelming her, Melissa carefully tiptoed over to the door of her father's office, and, after taking a moment to breathe, peeked inside, making sure to remain hidden so she wouldn't be seen eavesdropping.

From what she could see, Sam's back was to her, facing the professor as he leaned himself heavily against his desk. Since the sun was continuing to set through the large window, it cast the room in an orange glow from the early evening light, making it a bit hard for Melissa to see her father's face. David himself was hunched over on the desk, a fist curled at his side, and Melissa stared at him in shock for a moment - and then flinched when he suddenly punched the desk.

"A way to artificially boost someone's quirk without the regular side effects …" David quietly muttered to himself, his shoulders shaking, "… a way for … for Toshi … and it's all gone, just like that."

"The entire wing that we created the device in was cleared out," Sam said in a small, painfilled voice, "not a single thing was left behind for us, professor. I tried to ask the movers where all the data was being taken to, but they told me that the board of directors refused to say. All they told me was that there was intense pressure from different governments across the nation to put a stop to the development, and that they would be taking the project itself to the top floor of the central tower - for confiscation."

"But it was done!" David's voice was filled with despair, making Melissa's eyes widen a bit as she watched him. "We finished it! All we had to do was put the finishing touches on it! An entire year of our lives spent on this, Sam … and now it's - it was all for nothing!"

There was a silence in the office, in which both adult men stood there in despair. Melissa had no idea what was going on, but to hear her father sounding so defeated made tears briefly well in her eyes, and even if she didn't understand what was going on, there was a part of her that wanted to come into the office to comfort him, to tell him and Sam that no matter what was taken from them, everything would be okay.

But then, as she slowly began to slide the door open, Sam spoke again.

"No," His voice was small, "it can't be for nothing."

"Sam -" Her father began to protest in a tired voice.

"I think there's a way to get the research back."

David froze for a moment while Melissa paused her attempt to open the door, her eyes moving over to Sam's back as he stood there in the shadows formed by the setting sun. And then David wheeled around, his eyes wide and his face shocked.

"We can get my research back?" He repeated, sounding completely shocked as he turned around completely to face his assistant. "How?"

Sam hesitated for only a moment - and then his shoulders squared, straightening his back to face the professor right on.

"Instead of doing it ourselves," He explained shortly, "we'll have villains steal it."

Melissa felt herself freeze this time, her eyes widening slightly as she stared at Sam in shock.

"What? Villains?!" David looked aghast, likewise taking a step back in shock before he scoffed and shook his head. "Don't be ridiculous, Sam, we couldn't -"

"They don't have to be real villains," Sam continued to explain, taking a step forward out of the shadows to face his boss as his voice turned pleading, "just actors that can disguise themselves as villains, and we can have it be stolen by them. They won't harm anyone, of course - if the directors are taking the device to the central tower, they'll make sure to keep it confined in the archives, and make it hard for anyone to unlock it. It'll take time, but we can find it - we helped design the archives. And if we can get the villains to take the building hostage and get us up there …"

He took a deep breath, and then let it out.

"… then we can take back the device. And once we have it back, we can continue the research somewhere safer than here."

There was another moment of silence in the office. Standing right outside it, Melissa turned to stare at her father, feeling her breath begin to leave a bit quicker than normal. She fully expected him to say refuse, to say no, to tell Sam that he was talking crazy.

So it was to her horror that he wasn't speaking at all, merely looking away with a conflicted look on his face.

"But …" He hesitated.

"I want to get the research back, no matter what," Sam continued to plead with him, sounding desperate, "don't you feel the same way?"

"…"

"I can organize everything. With your funds, we can carry it out on the day of our choosing, when the tower will be closed to make sure no one gets hurt. And we can head up to the archives to gather -"

"Dad?"

Both men stopped speaking at once, freezing. Melissa didn't even mean to have spoken up, but ultimately, she couldn't stop herself from pushing the door open, making her appearance known for the first time since she had stopped by the office.

After another few seconds of silence, both men wheeled around, Sam's usually smiling face showing absolute shock at her appearance, and David looking like the ground was dropping out from under him, staring at Melissa in shock and terror.

"Miss?" Sam spoke first, sounding incredibly nervous as she stood there. "W-what are you doing? We thought you were in your room."

"What are you guys talking about?" Melissa ignored Sam's question, her voice sounding blank. "Hiring … villains? To - to steal something?"

David winced as she walked into the office, her eyes never leaving his face.

"You're not … you aren't considering this, are you, Papa?" She asked him quietly, "Stealing research data? Hiring people to dress up as villains? Just … just to get some research back?"

"We're just trying to get back what was stolen from him!" Sam tried to hurriedly explain, walking forward and trying to put his hand on Melissa's shoulder, "We've - Melissa, we've done the impossible, and they just took it away from us. You have to understand -"

"I don't understand!" Melissa suddenly snapped, causing Sam to recoil his hand quickly as though she were suddenly burning, and David winced again. "Papa, I know you! You wouldn't do that, would you? Steal something?! What would Uncle Might say?!"

David cringed slightly, turning away for a moment - but then, he sighed, and turned back to his daughter with a pained look on his face as he finally found his words.

"Melissa," He said in a quiet voice, "this is for All Might."

"I - what?!"

"Listen to me," He quickly rushed forward, putting his hands on her shoulders as she stared up at him in shock, seeing the look of utter desperation on her father's face, "the device we want to take back - it's for All Might. I didn't want you to find out this way, Melissa, but he … your uncle … he's sick. His quirk is … the last time he did a check in with us, over a year ago, I found signs that his quirk is … it's slowly starting to disappear."

"What …?" Melissa felt her eyes widen.

"When I did a test with him," David's eyes closed, turning away slightly, "I found that he could only use his quirk for a few hours a day. And every day, he would lose more and more time, and eventually … eventually it's going to disappear completely. It's clear that at this point, it's inevitable. But - but if he uses my device, he can go back to normal!" His eyes opened again, showing his daughter the desperation there, "It could potentially make him stronger than he was normally!"

The grip he had on her shoulders tightened slightly, making Melissa wince a bit.

"Please don't think that this is - this is because my pride is wounded!" David gave his daughter a pleading look. "I just want to help All Might go back to normal, so he can continue saving people! Just - we need the device to make sure All Might can continue working. I swear, we won't do anything else with it! There isn't any time to remake it, so we need to take it back! After that, I - I don't care what happens to me, so long as he goes back to normal!"

Melissa stared up at her father for a moment, feeling tears building in her eyes as he gave her a desperate, pleading look - and then she shook her head, looking down at her feet.

"Papa," She said in a quiet voice, "this … this isn't what Uncle Might would want."

"I -"

"And what about me?" She finally looked back up at him, "Are you saying you don't care what happens to me if you get punished for this?"

David found himself falling silent at that, staring down at his daughter in shock as tears began to slide down her cheeks.

"Are you saying that you're okay with going to prison? With - with never seeing me again?" Melissa shook her head, and looked up at her father pleadingly, "Papa, please don't do this!"

"I'm …"

"Papa, please …!"

Once again, silence fell in the small office. Sam, who had been silent for the last few moments, looked between both the Shields, knowing that speaking up now would do nothing. David, for his part, searched his daughter's pleading face for a moment, his own expression conflicted and frustrated -

- and then he took a deep breath, and slowly let it out. Slowly, his frustrated face hardened into a more resolved one, and after a moment, he slowly released the grip he had on Melissa's shoulders, letting her take a step back - and then he opened his eyes, showing the sadness in his eyes.

"… alright, Melissa," He said softly, shaking his head and closing his eyes briefly again before opening them to look her in the eye, "I … I'm not going to do this. I promise. I - I'm sorry, Melissa, I don't know what I was thinking."

"Papa …"

"I - professor, please reconsider!" Sam suddenly stepped in, jolting both father and daughter as they looked around at him as though they had forgotten he was there, looking pleadingly up at David. "Do you not realize what we've made?! Yes, the device is still in testing, but it's not like Trigger! It can amplify the body without affecting it! The fact that the sponsors confiscated it and all the research data means that it can work, if they're afraid of it! And you're just -"

"Sam," David turned to stare at him, a frown appearing on his face as he sighed again, but still tried to speak in a soft voice, "I know how hard you fought for this device, and I will forever be grateful for that. And if I could have my way, I'd be storming right up to the tower to take it back right now. But … but Melissa is right. We can't stoop so low as to hire actors to stage a threat so we can get it back."

"But, professor -!"

"The board is right," David looked away with a frown, "the amplifier would change the structure of superhuman society, and it would be dangerous if it fell into the wrong hands."

"But it won't fall into the wrong hands!" Sam argued. "It'll be in ours!"

"By stealing it back?" David shook his head. "We can't do that."

"But -!"

"Sam," David's eyes suddenly narrowed, turning back to the portly assistant as he gestured up at the professor with his hands, "we can't. I'm sorry, it's over."

Silence fell once again, both Shields looking at Sam as his face fell, turning to stare at the floor as he let his arms fall to his sides - and then he let out a shuddered breath, and looked back up at David with a shockingly angry expression.

"In that case, professor," He turned away, his voice becoming flat, "you can consider this my resignation."

"What?!" David gasped, his eyes widening in shock while Melissa stared at Sam in surprise, and he quickly reached out for his assistant, "Sam, please -"

"I've served under you for all these years," The assistant turned back to David, his face twisting into a grimace that was so unlike Sam's usually happy expression it took Melissa aback, "but you let your research be frozen so easily. I had thought that … but no, it's clear that Melissa is all you really care about, not your friend."

That made David snap his mouth closed, staring at Sam in shock and a bit of anger as he walked away from them.

"I can't just - I won't let the honor and renown we were supposed to be known for get away from us so easily." Sam slowly shook his head, "It can't be - it won't all be for nothing. I can't let it be. If we couldn't make a profit out of it, then it'd be a waste of time!"

"Sam -!"

"It won't be for nothing, professor," He slid the door to the office open, stomping out, "of that I can assure you."

Slamming the door closed behind him, Melissa and David were left in silence as they both heard the sound of Sam's footsteps walking out of their apartment. David stared at the door that his now former assistant had stormed out of with a pained look on his face, and Melissa likewise looked shocked at the outburst from the kind man she had known for years now.

After the sound of the apartment door slamming shut filled their ears, David finally broke the silence, letting out a defeated sigh as Melissa turned to look at him.

"I … suppose that's that," He said to himself quietly, "I'll have to contact security to keep an eye on him. Just to be safe."

"Papa, I'm -"

"No, Melissa," He shook his head, stopping Melissa in her tracks, "please, don't think that you need to apologize to me. This wasn't your fault - you were the only one thinking with your head. I was letting my passion try to convince me …"

Biting his lip slightly, David shook his head again and turned to look at his daughter again, reaching up to cup her cheeks.

"Melissa," He sighed, "I was an idiot for even considering Sam's idea. Thank you so much for making me see sense - and I'm sorry that I had to force you to do that."

Melissa felt her tears begin to fall again, and she let out a small, wet giggle before she moved in to hug her dad. Letting out a small sigh, David hugged her back, running his hand through her wavy blonde hair for a moment as they slowly swayed in their spot, before he finally moved back, letting out a small chuckle as he took off his glasses to rub his eyes.

"Now then," He tried to clear the heavy air, trying to sound lighter and happier, "why don't we put this behind us for now? I swear, Melissa, I will tell you everything about what we were doing once I'm a bit calmer - so why don't we watch the sports festival out in the living room? I'm sure it's almost back on - and I don't think I'm going to get any more work done today, so I won't be needing the apartment to be quiet."

Letting out a small, watery giggle, Melissa nodded, wiping at her own eyes.

"Yeah," She managed to get out, "that - that sounds like a good idea, Papa."

With that, father and daughter walked out of the office together, David wrapping his arm around Melissa's shoulders as they made their way towards the living room - and then David sniffed the air.

"Is … is that popcorn I smell?"

"Mm-hm. Made some for myself."

"Oh … well, I guess in that case, maybe I can -"

"You'll have to make your own, Papa."

"Aw, man …"

"As … y'know … punishment for considering Sam's idea."

"… you know what, Melissa, that's - well, I guess that's fair."

---

The fool.

As the crowds in the arena continued to talk excitedly amongst each other, seeing the timer on the jumbotron and screens tick down closer and closer to when the next game was to begin, Endeavor let out a small sigh as he leaned against the wall of the stadium, watching the various screens as he crossed his arms across his chest and tapped his finger against his bicep. As the Number Two Hero, many people walking along to grab their refreshments or return from the bathroom saw him standing there and were very quick to hurry past him - he had built a reputation over the years for not being approachable by his fans, so thankfully everyone gave him a wide berth.

Which was good for him, because at the moment, he wasn't in the mood to entertain fans.

His flame beard flared a bit as he thought of his youngest son, his scowl deepening by the moment as he thought back to the last round that he had just witnessed - and was forced to watch Shouto utterly fail.

There was no reason why he shouldn't have won that, Endeavor lowly growled to himself. He had the advantage right at the start of the race, what with freezing everyone in place, and he got past the zero-pointers easily. He had the advantage on the ropes with his ability to slide across them, and the final part of the game would've been simple had he used his fire to stop that girl in her tracks, and then used his ice to bypass the falling platforms. And yet, he came in fifth place.

Fifth.

His son had been completely upstaged by that girl that he had formed a rivalry with, which made him frown - it was clear that UA had a few powerful students this year, and that especially included that class representative that had strength that rivaled …

… well, it was improper for him to think, of course, but the way she had used her quirk's power had reminded him of All Might. The way she punched the air to send his son's attack back at him, and the way she had leapt up into the air to save those other two idiotic students that had launched themselves into the sky … it was clear that behind her kind smile and notable charisma was someone not to be underestimated.

But if anything … she would be able to serve a purpose today.

Endeavor slowly nodded to himself, thinking. She had power similar to All Might - so if she and Shouto were to get through the next round, and get to the finals to face each other … indeed, it would be a good test for Shouto, to see if Shouto could truly surpass All Might.

He couldn't have his son go up against the man himself, of course, but this girl … she would be a fine substitute. And should Shouto face her, Endeavor had no doubt that he would eventually have no choice but to abandon the childish tantrum he was throwing and use his fire.

And then, once Shouto won using his flames, he would see the purpose of using his quirk to its fullest. And Endeavor would send him the internship invitation, and Shouto would be able to work alongside him and Touya to begin taking taking the necessary steps to become the new Number One Hero.

Indeed, Endeavor knew that this Itsuka Kendou would be Shouto's true challenge, and if his son was to overcome her -

"Ah! Enji!"

The familiar voice from the left calling his real name made Endeavor blink a bit, jolting him out of his thoughts and scheming. His eyes widening a bit behind the flame mask he had over his face, he looked around, seeing a familiar woman walking towards him. Raising his eyebrow for a moment, he felt his shoulders straighten up, attempting to dissipate the scowl he had to greet the person who was walking towards him with a kind, happy smile on her face and a hand raised in greeting, while her bodyguard stood a few paces behind her, keeping an open eye for anyone who may approach them.

"I had thought that I spotted you from the VIP box," The woman smiled up at him as she lowered her hand, adjusting her expensive purse on her other shoulder as she gave him a small bow, "so I wanted to come and say hello before the next round started. My apologies, I've been speaking to support companies all morning, they kept me quite busy."

"Mrs. Yaoyorozu," Endeavor got off the wall, turning to face the smaller woman as she rose from her bow, "I wasn't aware that you were invited personally to the sports festival - had I known, I would've greeted you before the event began. I assume that you came to watch your daughter compete?"

"That's correct!" Yukiri Yaoyorozu giggled, her heels clicking on the concrete floor as she turned to look around at the field, "It's all so exciting, isn't it? To see our children competing against each other! I'm so happy to see that Shouto and Momo still get along, especially after he defended her from that scoundrel that clung to her."

"Hm," Endeavor nodded, not entirely sure about that - as he recalled, his youngest son rarely even mentioned Momo nowadays - "I assume that you'll be pressing charges against that student's family?"

"It's definitely a possibility," Yukiri sighed, her smile dropping a bit, "I'll have to speak more about it to Daikoku when I see him at dinner tonight."

"Ah. I suppose he didn't accompany you here, then."

"Unfortunately not," Yukiri raised a hand to her cheek, pouting a bit, "he just got back from his trip to America a few weeks ago, and he's been busy over at our HQ writing everything up for a meeting with the stockholders next week. But I know that he's supporting Momo, even if he can't be here - he's having Skip meet with her at the gate once lunch comes along, so he can bring her to Daikoku to have a pep talk."

"Hm," Endeavor nodded.

"Anyway, Enji - why are you standing around here?" She turned back to him with a smile, "You could come sit with me in the VIP box! It's been so long since we've seen each other, I would like some time to catch up with you. How is Fuyumi?"

"She is doing well," Endeavor bowed to the woman, "she recently got accepted to a school to work as a teaching assistant, she's been working hard. And it's tempting to come sit with you, but I'm here to support Shouto, even if he is being resistant to my attempts to help him. I'd prefer to be down here so he can see me."

"Oh! Well, in that case," Yukiri giggled, "we'll have to organize a dinner party sometime soon - it's been a long time since our families last ate together, and since the arranged marriage is coming sooner rather than later -"

"ALRIGHT!" Present Mic's screech suddenly filled the air, interrupting Yukiri as she and Endeavor looked around at the giant screen, watching the timer finally flash the number '0', and then become replaced by the bold words of TIME UP, "AS YOU LISTENERS CAN SEE, THE TIME IS NOW UP! PLEASE WELCOME BACK INTO THE FIELD, OUR BEAUTIFUL REFEREE! SHOUT THOSE BATTLE CRIES! IT'S TIME FOR UA'S BLOODY BATTLE! IT'S TIME TO LIGHT THE SIGNAL FIRE!"

As renewed cheers roared throughout the stadium, and several screens began lowering down into the arena for everyone to watch the event happening outside the stadium in the forest, Endeavor turned back to Yukiri as she looked delighted that everything was about to resume, and turned back to Endeavor so she could bow.

"I'll have my staff reach out to yours," She giggled, giving him a small wave, and she turned around to begin walking back to the VIP box with her bodyguard, quickly hurrying so that she could return and watch her daughter.

Endeavor nodded, sighing as he moved back to lean against the wall, and returned his gaze to the screen as it began flashing images of the students, his eyes narrowing slightly at the sight of his son briefly passing by reminding the crowd that he had gotten fifth place.

"Don't disappoint me this time, Shouto," He muttered to himself.

---

Down below, in the stadium itself, Midnight stretched her arms above her head, cracking something in her shoulders, before she turned to beam at the massive crowd surrounding her, cheering as she walked back onto her podium, taking her flogger whip and smacking it down against the stage to get everyone's attention.

"Now then!" She called to them, "We've kept our lovely audience waiting long enough, so it's about time we get started again!"

As several cheers filled the air throughout the stadium, and Present Mic turned to poke Aizawa's shoulder to wake him up from his nap, the screens filled throughout the stadium flickered, and everyone quickly looked up at them. Since the teachers had known in advance that the round would be taking place outside the stadium, there were already several cameras and mics lined up throughout the forest, showing the students in their districts waiting for the games to begin. And since they did have speakers attached to the cameras, the students in the forest quickly straightened up at the sound of Midnight's voice, realizing that it was time to get started.

"We have given all four teams half an hour to come up with their strategies!" Midnight announced to the crowds, "But it's time to put those strategies to the test! As a reiteration, there are, in total, over 10,004,960 available points out on that field! Whichever two teams have the most points by the end of the next fifteen minutes will advance onto the next round! And since our students have probably been waiting long enough, we're going to begin on the count of three! I hope those little darlings are ready, because after the gracious half hour we gave you, we're not gonna give you much more time to breathe!"

---

Out in the forest, Itsuka let out a sigh, taking a moment to hop up and down before she moved down into a runner's crouch, ready to begin the moment Midnight gave the go ahead. As she put her hands down on the grass, she glanced up, seeing Shouto prepared to stomp his foot down as Monoma likewise got ready to run, already patting Yuuyu's shoulder for her quirk, and Itsuka turned back to look at the path that would lead them out of their territory.

"Ready?" She asked Shouto, keeping her voice even as she stared ahead.

"Are you?" He answered her dryly, making her grumble.

"IT'S ALL COME DOWN TO THIS!" Present Mic's voice shouted, with the students in the forest unsure if it was coming from the speakers or from the stadium itself with him being so loud. "LIKE MIDNIGHT SAID, I HOPE OUR STUDENTS ARE READY, BECAUSE WE'RE ABOUT TO GO!"

"On your marks!" Midnight called through the speakers, making Itsuka's shoulders tense a bit as she somewhat raised herself up.

"Get set!" Shouto's eyes narrowed in determination.

"GO!"

The moment Midnight called for the game to begin, the screens in the forest showing the new time counting down from fifteen minutes, Shouto acted. With a grunt, he stomped his foot down onto the ground, feeling ice begin to build, and threw his hand up. At once, a large iceberg immediately shot up from the ground itself, two giant walls of ice shooting up from the forest floor and through the trees, spreading out to cover half of their district.

"WHAAAAAAAAAA?!" Present Mic immediately began screaming. "A GIANT WALL OF ICE?! THAT CAN ONLY BE THE WORK OF TODOROKI'S TEAM!"

"A large wall for defense," Aizawa noted over the speaker, "to keep people out, or give them a harder time getting in to attack their point-keeper. Not a bad strategy."

As soon as the ice was up, a thin gap left in between both icebergs he had created, Itsuka started running. She knew where she, Shouto, Monoma and Nejire would head, with Itsuka mentally going over her plan over and over in her head. It was a battle for the ten million points, and everyone would be going after Izuku and Ochako's team. They'd go around and steal the points from everyone else, but Itsuka also knew that they needed to keep track of where the ten million points were, to make sure that if (or when) they eventually got split up, they'd be able to grab some of the points for themselves.

Besides, Shouto could try and make her doubt herself, but Itsuka knew that if she and her training partners eventually crossed paths, it would be a disrespect to them if she didn't go all out.

So she sprinted through the forest, fully intending to find the other two teams and begin taking their points before they might have to turn their attention to Izuku and Ochako's team - she had no doubt that Izuku would leave the ten million points behind with whoever they elected the points-keeper, so she would have to make sure to keep her ears open for when Mic screamed that the ten million were taken, since she knew that he would make a big deal out of it.

Running through the forest, she finally got through the two icebergs, Shouto running beside her and Monoma behind them while Nejire floated above them - but then, at the sound of a lot of footsteps heading towards them, Itsuka found herself sliding to a complete stop.

It didn't take long for them to find out where the footsteps were coming from, as a lot of people - and by that, she meant like everyone else - ran through the forest towards them. So much that Itsuka found her eyes widening - quickly looking around, she did a quick headcount, and saw that everyone in her class, Pony floating on her horns, Kyouka plugging her earphones into the ground, and Yui shrinking down a boulder, were grouped together with all with all the other members of Class 1B - but other than two or so people, they were all there, quickly coming to a stop as everyone faced each other in the massive part of the forest, with the only people she couldn't see being those on Izuku's team.

And they were all turning to look at her group.

"They're not … attacking each other," Itsuka slowly realized, a foreboding feeling in her stomach as she glanced around at the two groups, all of them looking over to where her small four-man team was standing.

"Uh-oh," Nejire looked pretty nervous, floating down a bit to be behind her as Pony looked menacingly at her, an impressive feat for someone so adorable.

"Hey, Ken!"

At the familiar voice above her, Itsuka quickly looked up, her eyes widening again. She saw Setuna's upper body floating there, her head disconnected from her body and her arms separated as well as she stared down at her happily. However, the look on her best friend's face didn't exactly assure Itsuka - in fact, Setsuna was looking at her with the same face she usually wore when she saw something she could prank. A wide, sharp grin was on her face, her eyes twinkling in mischievousness and malice.

And all of that … was aimed right at her.

"Er … hey, Set," Itsuka tried to sound conversational, while glancing around at the many students surrounding them with a bit of sweat beginning to form on her forehead where her headband rested, all of her points having been left behind with Fumikage, "what's … going on?"

"Oh, not much!" Setsuna giggled, "So, uh, get this! While we were all off making our plans, that kind of stuff, me and Yui - we asked our teams if we could all meet up, y'know, just for a meeting between us. And we all got to talking! You wanna know what we discussed?"

"Uh … sure."

"Well," She smirked, "we all realized that our teams together don't have the most points! That'd be between Midoriya's team … and you guys."

"Oh, boy," Monoma groaned a bit.

"So we had the thought …" Her smirk widened a bit at the look of registered acceptance on Itsuka's face that the next fifteen minutes was going to suck, "… why go up against each other when we don't have as many points as you guys? Wouldn't it make more sense for both our teams to team up against the other teams that have more points than we do?"

"Uh-oh," Itsuka shared Nejire's clear nervousness, gulping as she looked around at everyone staring menacingly at them while Shouto merely narrowed his eyes.

"So you know what, guys?!" Setsuna laughed loudly, throwing her hands up in the air. "It isn't four teams against four! It's now two teams against one against one! So, if you'll excuse us, Ken, we're just gonna slip by and go get your points while the rest of us head to Midoriya's territory to snag the ten million!"

Itsuka felt her eyes narrow, lowering herself into a crouch as her hands grew out, and Shouto prepared to stomp his foot down as several people got ready to charge, or throw out an attack at them as one of the girls in particular began to grow her long, vine-like hair out, aimed to shoot it towards them -

"Y-you don't have to go far, Tokage!"

At a familiar voice shouting on the side, sounding far louder than normal, the advancing two groups and Itsuka's group preparing to defend themselves stopped, blinking. Quickly, they all looked around, their brows furrowing -

- and then up, seeing someone quickly climbing up the nearest tall tree and face them while trying to keep his balance on one of the branches. Still, he was up high enough that he made sure everyone could see him.

Stomping his foot against the branch, Izuku made sure that he was in plain view of all three groups, sweating nervously. Standing up on the top of the tree, he was clearly at the center of attention from all three (technically two) groups - standing there with a few support items strapped to his arms, torso and legs, all of them a dull gray to contrast the red gauntlet he wore on his arm, and he raised that arm up to his forehead so he could brush the hair off his forehead -

- and showed, on his headband, the number '10,000,000'.

"He's still …" Itsuka's eyes widened, her jaw dropping a bit.

"… got …" Setsuna's eyes widened as well, her smirk likewise becoming sharper.

"… the points." Shouto's eyes narrowed.

"You all want these points?!" Izuku yelled at them, looking incredibly nervous but still determined as he clenched his fist, and allowed some electricity to be absorbed by the Gauntlet as everyone looked up at him. "T-then come and get them!"