For the first time, Izuku felt grateful that he'd gotten into the hero course via a special exam match. The stadium was as big now as it had been then, but he wasn't overwhelmed by it. It was certainly louder, now that it was crammed to bursting with people who had come to watch the show, but it felt less like a national stage and more like a facility at his school.
In reality it was both, but it was marginally less intimidating this way.
As he sat in the waiting room with the rest of class 1A there was a tangible tension in the air. Everyone was silent as they contemplated what was to come. Kaminari had tried to talk to Jirou, but she'd poked him in the eye with her earphone and he too went quiet. Izuku could swear he could hear the beating of his own heart like it was coming from next to his ear rather than inside his chest. His whole body felt tight, like the energy inside him was pressing on the barrier of his skin.
He was also acutely aware of Todoroki's eyes on him. They were sitting on opposite sides of two different tables, facing each other across the room. Izuku tried to look at something, anything else, but every time his eyes flicked back to Todoroki he found the other boy staring openly at him. No one else seemed to have noticed, or if they did notice, they didn't comment. Izuku wanted to say something to him, but he was not about to be the one to break the silence.
When it was time, a non-hero staff member came to get them, and led them to the hallway that opened out onto the pitch. Izuku looked out of the archway as they waited to be called, across the stadium to the other archways that led onto the field. He could see some figures in the shadows of a few, but he couldn't make out anyone he knew at this distance. In one of those shadows was class 1C, where Shinsou waited for his turn to step out into the sun.
"The hero course students of class 1A!" called Present Mic from the announcer box after a lengthy introduction, and Yaoyorozu led the way out onto the field.
The tension inside Izuku seemed to reach a crescendo as he walked out into the light. He let out a great gust of breath, and the roar of the crowd drowned out his racing thoughts. He could hear Mic calling out the other classes, first class 1B with their own glowing introduction, then the rest of the classes grouped together by study track. Izuku would have liked to go stand with Shinsou, but he knew it would be better for them to keep their distance from each other at this point. He gave a quick glance at the rest of the students, but he couldn't see the familiar purple hair in the crowd. Hatsume also stayed with the support course students, though when Izuku's eyes found her she gave him an exaggerated wink. Eventually all the first year students had filtered out and were standing on the field, before a small stage on which stood Midnight, and a microphone.
"And now the introductory speech!" called Midnight, not as loud as Mic but still audible to every
corner of the stadium. "For the student pledge, we have Momo Yaoyorozu, the Class President of class 1A!"
There was a loud cheer from the crowd, and Izuku looked at Yaoyorozu. She looked shocked to be called upon, but then her face fell and she looked at the ground. Izuku could guess what she was feeling. It was normally the person with the top score on the entrance exam who gave the first year speech, which should have made Kacchan the one to give it. Likely the school didn't want to draw attention to the fact that Kacchan had been quietly dropped from the hero course though, so they were giving his speech to the next logical person who wouldn't raise suspicion.
Yaoyorozu took a deep breath, then looked determinedly up at Midnight and walked up to stand before the stage.
"Excuse me," she called up to Midnight instead of joining her at the microphone, "I think the class 1B representative should give the speech. She actually took the entrance exam, and scored in the top five, while I was a recommendation student. She's earned it."
Midnight blinked at her, then smiled and cracked her whip. "Very well then!" she said. "The Class President of class 1B, Itsuka Kendou!"
A girl Izuku didn't recognize, not even from when several students from class 1B had come to throw down a challenge to class 1A, started in surprise, then quickly made her way onto the stage. From the same general area of the crowd, a blond boy who Izuku did recognize from that day scoffed.
"Fine," he said quietly to the person next to him, a boy with impressively large eyelashes who had clashed with Kirishima specifically, "maybe they're not so bad. I'm still going through with it."
Izuku wondered for a second what 'it' might be, before Kendou tapped the microphone pointedly.
"Um," she said, looking unsure but determined. "I, uh, think I speak for everyone when I say we all want a chance to shine. I hope we can all use this festival as a means of building each other up, rather than tearing each other down."
By the time she was done speaking she was looking directly at the blond boy. He looked sourly back at her, but once he had glared for a moment, he nodded slightly. Kendou nodded back, and turned towards the stairs.
"What a lousy speech!" screamed a familiar voice from the crowd, and Izuku looked over to see Kacchan standing not far from the stage. He was glaring at Kendou with fire in his eyes, and she looked back at him in indignation. "It's a competition dumbass, we're all in it for ourselves, and I'm gonna beat all you extras into the ground!"
Kendou rolled her eyes, then left the microphone without responding and went back to join the rest of her class. Clearly she had experience dealing with overly loud blond boys.
As Midnight started talking again, Izuku continued listening to the two boys from class 1B.
"Wasn't that guy in class 1A when we started the year?" the blond boy asked the eyelash boy.
"Yeah, didn't you hear?" Eyelashes sounded surprised. "The Gen Ed students were all talking about it for days. Some kid from 1C switched classes with him after he beat him in an exam fight."
"And he thinks he can win the entire festival?" the blond boy laughed a little. "I guess its good for him to have dreams. Who replaced him?"
"Dunno," Eyelashes shrugged. "Maybe he'll do something cool in the festival and then they'll talk about him."
"This is where you begin feeling the pain!" Midnight called out to the crowd of students before her, drawing Izuku's attention back to her. "The first fateful game of the festival!"
A giant screen was projected behind her, a spinning wheel of options displayed for all to see. It kept spinning for a few seconds, then landed on the first challenge.
"An obstacle race!" she called.
Izuku was sure to pay attention as Midnight explained the rules. The obstacle course was set up surrounding the stadium, and the first person to make it back onto the main field would win. They were free to use their quirks in whatever way they chose, as long as they didn't leave the course. That meant they could also use their quirks on each other, so Shinsou should be in the clear.
"Take your places!" Midnight instructed, and the students began to gather around the start line.
As a set of lights atop the doorway counted down, Izuku risked a glance up at the announcer box. He knew Mic was up there, and would be giving commentary just like during the exam match. He also knew Aizawa had been roped into helping. He wondered how Mic had managed that. Still, having two of his own teachers up there made him feel a little less judged. He'd seen Aizawa's dedication to the class at the USJ, and Mic was, well, Mic.
The last light atop the doorway went dark, and Midnight shouted, "Begin!"
Immediately there was a mad dash for the doorway. Izuku saw right away what the first obstacle was: the door was tall, but it was narrow, and an equally narrow hallway lay beyond. It was an uncomfortable press, and it took him a frustratingly long time to get outside. That didn't matter much though. He he had no intention of taking the lead so early.
What did matter was when Todoroki decided to ice the entire crowd of contestants.
Cries of protest came up from the mass of students as a layer of ice swept over their feet. Izuku was surprised to find that his own feet stayed perfectly warm in his boots, even as they were frozen in place, and the weight of them worked to his advantage. He jerked his feet free and ran forward; the ground was still slippery, but he had more traction in the boots than he would have had in his old sneakers.
Around him he could see various hero students using their quirks to avoid or deal with the icy terrain. He was careful to let a moderate number get ahead of him, including Mineta, who threw his sticky balls in a path in front of him and jumped from one to the next to make progress. Nearby he could see that Shinsou had managed to catch a few students from one of the other Gen Ed classes and they were carrying him across the ice. Still, he had clearly ordered them to prioritize not falling over speed. He was keeping to their plan.
Izuku turned his eyes front again, just in time to see Mineta taking aim at Todoroki, who was in the lead.
"Taste my special attack!" Mineta cried, only to get knocked harshly out of the air by something metal.
"What's this?" called Mic theatrically. "Enemies out of nowhere!"
Izuku stopped short, and around him everyone else did the same. Before them were three robots,
large and intimidating and with cameras eyeing the students. Looking beyond them, Izuku could see even bigger robots, standing as tall as buildings. Were these the robots the students had faced in the entrance exam? How had Hagakure beat one of these things?!
His own strategy, however, was obvious. He had no need to destroy the robots for points; all he had to do was wait for the other students to engage them and then sneak past in the confusion. Several hero students were ahead of him, and several more were close behind. He just had to let them handle it.
Todoroki, being in the lead, went first.
Sweeping his hand forward like an underhanded toss, Todoroki sent a wave of ice shooting up to encase one of the bigger robots. Izuku took a moment to note the formation the ice took, how it created a smooth arc up to the robots. It almost looked like a slide.
"Look, between its legs!" called one of the other students, pointing at the path Todoroki took as he ran forward. "We can get through!"
"Careful now," Todoroki called over his shoulder.
The rest of what he said was lost, but Izuku could hazard a guess what it was. The robot had been frozen mid-step, with its weight unevenly distributed. Almost immediately it began to tip forwards, and the path beyond it vanished as it crashed to the ground, leaving nothing but a pile of destroyed metal.
"That's Todoroki from class 1A pulling into an early lead with a devastating display!" Mic shouted as Izuku took in the wreckage of the robot. If it had collapsed into pieces under nothing but its own weight, clearly these things weren't very sturdy. It made sense, after all the school's budget wasn't unlimited and these things weren't exactly meant to last. It didn't make sense to build them from the best possible materials when they were only meant to get wrecked up.
That gave Izuku an idea. Maybe he didn't have to rely on the others after all.
All around him hero students were beginning to deal with the threats. Some were going over, but some were going through, and soon most of the robots were either down or focused on other students. Izuku's eyes swept the ground, looking for what he wanted, until they finally lit on a sheet of metal, a piece of the robot Todoroki had destroyed. Picking his moment carefully, Izuku darted forward, and immediately one of the two-point robots turned to him.
"Target acquired," it said in its mechanical voice, trundling directly into his path. Perfect, Izuku thought.
It swiped at him with one arm, but he planted his left foot and high kicked the appendage with his right. The toe of his boot was steel, and thicker than the average sheet of protection used for shoes; it hit the robot's arm with a terrible screech of metal on metal and kept going, sending the arm sailing away from the rest of the body. The robot stopped moving.
"Target acquired," Izuku heard again from somewhere behind him, but he didn't care. As soon as he was past the first robot he bent down, snatching up the piece of metal. It was heavy, but it wasn't too heavy to lift easily, and it was apparently made of stronger stuff than the smaller robots. He swung it at the robot that had targeted him, a three-pointer, and managed to bust its hull wide open. It sparked and went still.
Now no one can say I can't fight robots, Izuku thought to himself, and kept running.
Izuku quickly made it past the area with the robots, still holding onto the metal sheet. He didn't know what obstacles there would be later, but apparently the piece of scrap could be used as either a shield or a weapon. It wouldn't do to leave it behind. Not when he had something to prove to Todoroki.
For the days leading up to the sports festival, they were mostly left to their own devices. The last three heroics lessons before the festival were completely independent study: they were given the run of the campus, gyms and training grounds alike, and told to train in whatever way they wanted. Izuku had chosen to tag along with a few students who were doing hand to hand combat practice in a gym, including Uraraka and Kirishima. He didn't have a quirk to train with, so he might as well practice what he'd actually be doing.
Izuku didn't even notice Todoroki arriving. He had just finished getting beaten by Kirishima, and was anticipating sitting out for the next spar, as they had an uneven number. He didn't see anyone coming, and he wasn't really paying attention, so he had no idea Todoroki was there until he spoke.
"You take hits hard," he stated flatly. He said it from directly behind Izuku though, so it made him jump.
"Todoroki!" he said, whirling around. Todoroki was standing very close, and Izuku backed up a few steps to give himself time -- and room -- to think. "How long have you been standing there?"
"Long enough to know you don't know how you react to a blow," Todoroki replied vaguely. Izuku considered this. "I . . . yes I suppose I do take hits hard. I'm not as sturdy as-"
"Sturdy has nothing to do with it," Todoroki cut him off firmly. "You don't just lose ground, every hit throws you off balance and you take more hits while you're still reeling. You take too long to recover."
"How do I avoid that?" Izuku asked. "Besides not getting hit."
"Getting hit is inevitable," Todoroki told him. "You need to learn to roll with a punch and come back swinging. Spar with me next."
Izuku swallowed. Todoroki was undoubtedly the strongest fighter in class, with easily the most impressive quirk. Still, he couldn't back down.
"Good idea," he said shakily, moving to take up position on a practice mat while Todoroki moved to stand opposite him. "Fire is something I've faced before, so it'll be good to learn with."
Todoroki however looked off to one side. "I don't use my fire," he said simply.
"Oh," Izuku blinked, not sure what to make of that. "Well, show me how to take a hit then."
Todoroki did show him how to take a hit, how to use his momentum to circle back around and strike at his opponent with their own force. He also taught Izuku how to minimize damage from a hit, even one that came from a quirk, using smaller, more precise ice attacks than he would usually bother with. Izuku wished bitterly that he'd had this skill during middle school, but the past was the past.
"Better," Todoroki pronounced when Izuku managed to rebound from three ice attacks in a row
successfully. "You learn fast."
"Thanks," Izuku said, leaning on his knees and breathing hard. He took a few deep breaths, then straightened. "I know you didn't have to do that. I appreciate it."
Todoroki made a small noise of acknowledgement, then shifted into a ready position.
"Uh," Izuku contemplated how to ask his question politely. "Did you want to spar with any of the others? I know I'm not much of a challenge for you."
"Using close combat practice to exercise my precision work is important too," Todoroki assured him. Izuku nodded and shifted into a fighting stance, ready for Todoroki to attack. He didn't though, and instead spoke up again. "I also wanted to talk to you."
Izuku blinked. "Oh?"
"There's something I wanted to tell you," Todoroki said, then went quiet. Izuku wondered if he meant for Izuku to attack this time, and to have the discussion while they were taking swings at each other, but eventually Todoroki relaxed his stance, looking contemplatively off to one side.
"Is something wrong?" Izuku asked, also relaxing. He kept his feet planted though, in case Todoroki was faking him out.
Todoroki looked back at Izuku. He hesitated a moment longer, then said, "I don't want you to feel bad if you lose to me in the sports festival."
Again, Izuku was left blinking at him. He couldn't imagine where that had come from. Obviously there was a chance of any of them losing to any of them, since there would be a tournament-style challenge just like every year. He just couldn't fathom why Todoroki wanted to check in with him, of all people, about it.
"I need to win," Todoroki continued when Izuku didn't respond. "It's important. At some point in the festival, I may be forced to step over you. I want you to be prepared. I can't afford to hold back."
"I'm not asking you to hold back," Izuku said, narrowing in on Todoroki's last statement. "No one would expect anyone to go easy on them in a situation like this. Do you think I want that?"
"No," Todoroki said quickly, then sighed. "I just don't want you to take it personally."
"Are you worried about how anyone else will take it?" Izuku pressed. Something unpleasant was bubbling up in his chest, which he didn't particularly want to give a name to.
"No," Todoroki admitted. "It's just that you're-"
"A transfer student?" Izuku guessed. He kept his voice deliberately even, and low enough that only Todoroki could hear him. "Quirkless? Weaker than everyone else?"
For the first time in their conversation, Todoroki's expression changed. Suddenly he looked surprised, as though he had not expecting this reaction from Izuku. Izuku had to wonder what reaction he had been expecting. Gratitude perhaps?
"Thank you for your consideration," Izuku said, swallowing the lump in his throat in order to speak. "I'll keep what you said in mind, but I'd ask you to do the same thing. Please don't take it personally if at some point in the festival I have to step over you."
Todoroki stared at him a moment, his mouth slightly open. He looked like he wanted to say something, but wasn't sure what to say. After a few seconds Izuku got tired of waiting, and instead turned to the next practice mat over, where Uraraka was punching the air in victory.
"Hey Uraraka," he called, louder than he'd been speaking to Todoroki, and she looked over at him. "I'm gonna head to Training Ground Beta, ok? I wanna practice navigating urban terrain for a bit. I've been doing research on the basics of parkour, and I'd like to test some of it out."
Uraraka looked at him curiously. "Why?" she asked. "It's not like we're going to be doing that for the festival."
"You never know!" Izuku laughed, and Uraraka looked at him curiously, then smiled. "OK Midoriya," she said, "I'll see you later!"
"See you!" Izuku called to the others, then collected his things and walked out of the gym, leaving Todoroki still stunned into silence in his wake.
The next obstacle was a canyon.
Again everyone stopped short as they reached a massive cliff, beyond which lay a long, sharp drop into darkness. Scattered around at uneven intervals were tall, skinny plateaus, more like columns of earth reaching up to roughly ground level with the rest of the course. Hanging between these were a series of ropes, connecting one edge to the other with the most precarious path imaginable.
"If they wanna pass this test they'll have to get creative!" Mic shouted, his voice echoing over the course just as loudly as the stadium. "It's 'The Fall'!"
Hatsume was ahead of Izuku, along with several of the hero course students. As those in the lead made their way across, a few others pulling ahead due to their suitability to the task, Izuku heard her cackling in excitement. Several hero students turned to her, alarmed by the sound.
"Finally this is my chance to show off what I can do!" Hatsume said, voice brimming with vicious intent.
She paused only to explain to Ashido and Uraraka that support course students were allowed to bring their own tech before she was shooting a long wire from her belt across the canyon. In a matter of seconds she was flying towards the other side, her hover boots making it easy for her to skate up the side of one of the columns. Izuku couldn't help feeling proud of her as she showed her stuff for the camera drones flying around to monitor their progress. She had been working with him and Shinsou since the second week of school, helping them conceptualize and design weapons, but still she'd managed to complete so many other inventions.
Turning his attention back to the obstacle itself, Izuku considered his options. He would have to use the ropes, there was no doubt about that, and the piece of scrap metal would do him no good. Should he leave it here? Ahead of him, Todoroki was already across the canyon, having used ice to slide across the ropes. Izuku grit his teeth and looked down at his weapon, noticing a long wire dangling off. He could use that to secure it to his back. There was no way he was leaving it behind.
Traversing the canyon by hanging onto the rope upside down was a chore, but it wasn't cripplingly inefficient. Many of the students, even those from the hero course, were having trouble. Ashido for once could not slide around on her acid without the rope breaking behind her, sending her into the
ravine before she could get across, and Uraraka's quirk could only help her if she fell. By the time Izuku reached the other side, there were only about twenty students ahead of him.
He was still pretty far behind Todoroki when the last obstacle came into view. As he reached it Todoroki stopped short, and Izuku didn't have to wonder why for long.
"Everyone had better tread carefully," Mic warned the audience and the contestants both. "You're stepping onto a minefield!"
I was right, Izuku thought, and picked up speed. *
"So Mido," Shinsou said, once he, Izuku and Hatsume were all seated under their usual lunchtime tree, "what's this secret strategy you've got?"
Izuku took a deep breath and looked at his two friends. They were both leaning in, eager to hear what he had to say. Normally this was the kind of thing he'd mutter about to himself, looking at the ground as he spoke to no one. This time, he needed people to listen.
"I've watched the sports festival every year since I was a kid," Izuku began, putting a concerted effort into making sure his voice didn't grow softer as he talked. "The challenges are always different, but there are similarities from year to year. There's a pattern they follow, and if we base our preparations on that pattern, we should be able to get through the festival as well as anyone with a powerful quirk."
"Makes sense," Shinsou conceded, and Hatsume nodded along, making a small noise of interest.
"The first challenge will be something that tests as many different skills as possible," Izuku went on. "In previous years they used things like scavenger hunts, or follow the leader through rough, varied terrain. There's no real way to guess what the specific skills will be, but the students from other courses have to stand at least some chance of getting through the challenge, so they won't be impossible."
"Why does it matter if any of the students from other courses get through?" Shinsou asked. "I thought the point was to weed out the riffraff."
Izuku shook his head. "If the outcome is a foregone conclusion, that the hero students are definitely going to take all the available spots in the next challenge, then there's no drama. They need drama in order to make the festival exciting."
"It's true," Hatsume chimed in, glancing at Shinsou as she spoke. "I did a lot of research, and plenty of support course students have gotten big contracts by making it far enough in the festival to show off their inventions. Its only a viable strategy because the school wants some contestants to be surprising."
"So we don't have to worry much about the first round," Izuku concluded. "The second round will be a team challenge, always is, but there's another pattern there that I don't think anyone else has noticed."
"What's more of a pattern than it always being a team challenge?" Shinsou wondered.
"They always do the second round on the field," he said, then grinned, "but more importantly, they do it on the ground. The challenge takes place basically in two-dimensional space, with nothing to climb or use to get the high ground. That means the ability to get some elevation will put
us at a distinct advantage."
He turned to Hatsume. "You've been working really hard on a lot of inventions," he recalled. "Do you have anything that could get us in the air?"
Hatsume's smile threatened to split her face in half. "I think I have something that could add a certain verticality to things," she said teasingly.
"Good," Izuku said, "work on perfecting that before the festival."
"Can do!" Hatsume said with a thumbs up. Then, quite unexpectedly, she deflated a bit. "Although that does mean I'll have less time to work on your new support item," she said with a pout.
Izuku blinked at her. "My new support item?" he asked, nonplussed.
"Of course!" Hatsume grinned again. "You didn't think I'd let you be a bigshot hero without wearing any of my work, did you? I'm going to build you the best babies on the market!"
Izuku felt his face heating up as he looked at Hatsume's excited expression. Then he shook himself. This was no time to get flustered. They were strategizing!
"I can't use any support items during the festival, so worry about that later," Izuku told her. Hatsume pouted again, but he quickly caught her eye before she could look away. "There is one thing you can do for me though."
"Yeah?" Hatsume asked, suddenly excited again.
Izuku unfolded his leg a little to display his foot in its worn red sneaker. "If its not too much to ask, I'd like you to make me a pair of steel toed boots."
"I'm not a fashion designer," Hatsume complained.
"I know," Izuku said placatingly, "but you have experience making custom orders. I'm quirkless, which means I have an extra toe joint in my pinkie toe. The shape of my foot is different from a person who has a quirk. As such I need special shoes, since most shoes are made for people with only one toe joint."
He looked down, and to his dismay found himself mumbling the rest of his explanation.
"The stereotype is that quirkless people don't do much, so they don't really need athletic shoes or combat boots. I went looking for some, but . . ."
He trailed off. For a moment he let himself look at the grass, but then he forced his eyes back to his friends. Shinsou looked annoyed, which was pretty much the reaction Izuku had expected.
Hatsume, on the other hand, looked pissed.
"That's the producers dictating the market!" she shouted, punching one palm with the other hand. "That's supply decided without input from demand! That's the business course jerks telling me what to do!"
Izuku, not sure how to handle her tirade, glanced at Shinsou. Shinsou, for his part, looked just as alarmed as Izuku felt. He had clearly not been expecting her to care so much about the state of the market either.
Hatsume rounded on Izuku. "I'll make you those boots!" she declared. "I'll make them as a
prototype for some boots I was planning to make anyway, jammed full of useful stuff!" "Won't they count as support items then?" Shinsou wondered.
"Not if they don't have anything mechanical in them," Izuku shook his head. "I checked the rules: any shoes you want to wear are allowed, even costume shoes, as long as they're comparable to what's available to the general public."
"Count on me!" Hatsume ordered, and Izuku nodded.
Shinsou sighed and looked at the sky. "So that should get us through the first two rounds," he said. "From there its some kind of tournament, like it is every year. Pretty good strategy Mido."
"That's not all of it," Izuku told him.
Looking back at him, Shinsou blinked in confusion. "What else is there?"
Izuku fidgeted a bit. This was the part he had been dreading. He knew that this deduction was probably the most important, that it would effect their overall strategy and might make all the difference. Still, he knew it was a lot to ask.
"Your plan," he began carefully, "was just to be the best in the festival, yeah? You were just going to spend the whole time showing what you can do?"
"Well yeah," Shinsou said. He looked down at his own hand, making a fist. "I'm strong enough with all our training that I can probably place pretty high in the first round, and then we'll team up in the second round and between the two of us probably get first place, and then-"
"The second round maybe," Izuku said, causing Shinsou to look up at him. "The first round, no. I think . . . I think for the first round, maybe the first two, you should hang back."
"Why?" Shinsou asked.
Izuku took a deep breath, careful to look Shinsou in the eye and not let his poor confidence make him look away.
"It's like I said before," he began. "It's not good television for there to be no drama. Which means, its not good television for one person to dominate the entire festival. If its clear who's going to win from the very beginning, that doesn't keep people on the edge of their seats. Which means, they have to make sure that the people who take the lead early on don't keep that lead throughout the whole festival."
Shinsou considered this, then nodded. "I see," he said seriously. "They're going to structure the challenges so that those in the lead at first are disadvantaged later."
"So, I think," Izuku swallowed, then forged ahead. "I think its best if I try and win the first round, then we decide what to do in the second based on how big the handicap is, and then you win the tournament round. That way I'll get a chance to shine while I take the heat for you, and you can come in as a dark horse victor."
"Sounds good," Shinsou said immediately.
Shinsou's voice sounded determined, committed to taking on the challenge laid before him. To Izuku however, his tone was music, and it made him want to cry just a little. There was no distrust there, no hesitation. He was ready to do whatever Izuku thought was best.
Still, he had to be sure.
"It means though," he said in a small voice, looking down, "that you have to trust me." "Of course I trust you," said Shinsou.
Izuku looked back up at him, to see Shinsou smiling at him. He looked almost reassuring, like Izuku was the one who needed comfort, and it made Izuku tear up despite himself. He wiped his eyes,
and when Shinsou's hand reached out to him, he took it.
"It's a plan then," Izuku said, and the other two nodded.
No one was having a good time with the last obstacle.
There wasn't really any way to go about it quickly. If you couldn't clear the entire thing in one go, then trying to go over and landing in the middle was too risky. Speed wasn't enough to let you avoid the mines altogether. Being careless wasn't an option.
Most people were trying to navigate the field carefully, watching where they stepped and trying their best to not get blown up. Some of them were using their quirks, but only a handful of quirks were suited to the task. All of them, however, were looking at the mines as an obstacle. Izuku knew his perspective was somewhat unique among hero students. He couldn't afford to look at every quirk as something to be defeated. He had to be able to find a way to use them, even if they belonged to his opponents. He had to look at weapons and see tools. He had to ask himself at every turn: what can this be besides what it is?
He hefted the broken robot panel and began to dig.
Izuku knew Shinsou wasn't far behind him. As he used the piece of scrap metal to carve out the mines he risked a glance back, to see Shinsou once again climbing onto the shoulders of a handful of other students. He could order them not to step on any mines and they would do so meticulously, no matter how careless they would have been on their own.
Ahead of him he could see Todoroki, barely visible past the smattering of other students that had made it onto the minefield before him. Kacchan, who Izuku hadn't paid much attention to up to now, was vying with him for first place, using explosions to propel himself forward above the ground. Thankfully, they were paying more attention to each other than they were staying in the lead, so both of them were slowing down.
Finally, after what seemed like full minutes of effort, he had a pile of the mines. Everyone else was treating them as a challenge, but Izuku knew that part of the challenge was learning to look at them differently. What can it be besides what it is?
The piece of robot he'd picked up had once been an obstacle. He had set it to a new purpose as a weapon. Now it had another use.
A vehicle.
Holding the sheet of metal in front of him like a sled, he dove onto the pile of mines. The reaction was instantaneous: all the mines detonated at once and there was a noise like Yaoyorozu's cannon going off. Izuku was propelled into the air, the long wire wrapped around his hand, holding onto his advantage for dear life.
"What's with that huge explosion at the back?!" Mic cried in alarm. "That was way more powerful than it should be!"
Smoke billowed around Izuku, obscuring him from the vision of the cameras, but not for long. Soon his momentum carried him clear of the pink cloud, and he could see just how effective his strategy had been. He was soaring high above the other contestants, and gaining rapidly on Todoroki and Kacchan.
"Whatever the case, class 1A's Izuku Midoriya is suddenly in hot pursuit of first place!" Mic narrated, and Izuku felt almost as though he might have been even more excited than before.
Below him people were looking up, their faces turned toward his meteoric progress, but he barely glanced at them as his eyes sought out Todoroki. He too had paused, and was staring at Izuku with wide eyes. As Izuku passed him, he barely had time to see Todoroki begin to move again, ice spreading from where his feet touched the ground and his face set and determined.
"Strike that! The lead is his!" Mic screamed.
Judging his trajectory Izuku knew he wasn't going to make it all the way to the other end of the minefield. He also knew that Todoroki and Kacchan were still moving, and would probably be there to meet him when he landed. He'd caught up to them, but now he needed a means of getting ahead. That meant another explosion. As he fell towards the ground he went into a roll, dragging the piece of scrap metal behind him by the cord in his hand. He was just about level with Todoroki and Kacchan now, and he needed a safe place to stand while he threw his sled onto the ground again to activate as many mines as possible.
He brought his feet down, one on Todoroki's left shoulder and one on Kacchan's right. Bracing against them he slammed down the sheet of metal, judging that there must be at least a half a dozen mines beneath it.
In the few frantic heartbeats before the mines went off, he spoke without looking at his audience. "Sorry Todoroki," he said, and was blasted forward.
Beyond the minefield Izuku landed, went into a roll and popped back to his feet. The stadium was right in front of him. He could hear Mic bantering with Aizawa as he ran. Behind him he could feel cold creeping, but it was far enough away that no ice impaired his footsteps. The roar of the crowd was close enough that it might as well have been coming from all sides.
Then, suddenly, it was.
"Izuku Midoriya is our champion!" Mic crowed.
Izuku stumbled to a stop, panting heavily. The cheers and screams of the multitudes in the stands were deafening, almost enough to drown out Mic's quirk-enhanced voice. Izuku's cheeks were flushed with effort as he caught his breath, but they stayed red as he saw his picture displayed on the big screens at the top of the stadium.
He'd done it.
He'd taken his chance to shine.
He'd proved to everyone that he deserved to be in the hero course.
Now it was time to focus on his other objective, and Izuku turned his attention to monitoring the
rankings of the other students who made the cut. Todoroki had come in second, and Kacchan a close and furious third. Shinsou came eighteenth, comfortably in the middle of the students who advanced to the next round. Hatsume had scraped by in forty-first place, only two ranks above disqualification. Not that it really mattered. They were all in.
Izuku waited with the others for the second round event to be announced. His heart was beating harshly against his ribs as he wondered what sort of handicap he'd be given. It would be heavily influenced by what kind of game it was. They would probably have a few minutes to pick teams, which meant he had a little bit of time to strategize. He still didn't know whether he and Shinsou would be on the same team or whether it would be more prudent for Shinsou to avoid the pitfall by creating a team of his own. It would all depend on what kind of disadvantage Izuku would be given.
"Prepare yourselves," Midnight called as the wheel of activities spun on screen, "for this!" The wheel stopped displaying the next challenge. A cavalry battle.
As several students began to quietly complain to those around them, Midnight explained the rules. It was basically the same as the playground game, except that each student would be assigned a point value. The collective points for all the students made up the points for the team, meaning that if the team made the cut together, every member made the cut individually. The goal of the game then, was to steal the point headbands from the other teams to rack up as many points as possible. They were allowed to choose their own teams, and Izuku thanked his lucky stars for that. At first, it all seemed perfectly straightforward, with no sign of a handicap for the winners of the previous round, and Izuku wondered if he'd been wrong.
Then Midnight announced how the points would be distributed.
"The point assignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom," she explained after snapping at Uraraka and Ashido to be quiet. "For example forty-second place is worth five points, and forty-first is worth ten."
Oh dear, thought Izuku, closing his eyes. Here it comes. This has to be it.
"And the point value assigned to the first place contestant is-" Midnight paused for dramatic effect,
"-ten million!"
Izuku was suddenly acutely aware of everyone staring at him. He kept his eyes front, trying not to let the way his heart had leaped into his throat show in his expression. He had known this was coming. He had expected this, and factored it into his strategy. It was exactly the disadvantage that made the most sense for a cavalry battle.
But he could make this work for him.
Anyone holding the ten million point headband at the end of the game would be the undisputed winner. They wouldn't just take the lead, they'd be catapulted into first place. And into the spotlight. All he had to do was make sure that Shinsou, or Shinsou's team, would be the one with that headband.
Easy.