Chapter Eleven

Relay Race.

That was to be the second event.

"The forty students who passed King of the Mountain," Lady Nagant announced, "will form into groups of four for the race." As she spoke, Cementoss was back at it, forming a racetrack within the rim of the arena. It resembled a classic track-and-field circuit, but none of the students were fooled: this one would be full of surprises, too.

"Like a standard track-and-field relay race," Lady Nagant continued, the holographic display illustrating her words with generic figures running around a model track, "each racer will pass something to their next teammate to begin each leg of the race. Each racer must be carrying this object in order to compete — should the metaphorical baton be lost," one figure lost its item and left the track to get it back, "it must be retrieved before continuing. Your place on the track will be marked with a red waypoint as your spot to continue racing."

"And, as you are preparing for your efforts in a hero society," Lady Nagant's words grew a bit brittle at those words, but she seemed to shake it off, "your 'batons' will be these." She gestured at ten poles rising from the stage, each one supporting a differently-colored cape stitched with the UA insignia. "One more thing: If you leave your own track for any reason besides retrieving your cape," she added with a sly grin, "you will earn a penalty mark. Three penalties between any members of your team … and your team is disqualified from the second round."

"For you who did not make the cut on the mountain," Lady Nagant said, "we will have some extra games after lunch and before the third round as another chance for you to show your stuff." She nodded to them. "You have fifteen minutes to form your teams and arrange yourselves on the track. Go!"

As the students began searching for teammates, Katsuma was trying to keep his knees from knocking as his thoughts tumbled over each other. A race …? Even worse, a footrace based on speed?! Dread began to pool and twist in Katsuma's belly. His Quirk wasn't suited for that …! If it were an endurance race, he knew he might have an edge, but this? He'd be next to useless! And if he knew it, his classmates would, too! And Class B didn't know him, so they probably wouldn't take a risk on a dark horse.

And if no one teamed up with him, he wouldn't be able to compete! If he couldn't compete, he'd be out and probably lose his spot in the hero course! Oh god, what would Mahoro say? Or their dad? Or his new friends, who would smile sadly as they had to turn their backs on him and keep moving toward heroism? What would Mr. Deku think seeing him fail so miserably?!

Oh, what would he do? What could he do?! What-?!

"Katsuma …?"

Katsuma gasped and looked at the soft, pale hand on his shoulder, then looked further to find Eri looking at him with concern in her eyes. "Are you alright, Katsu?" she asked, her voice soft.

"I-" Katsuma swallowed and tried to manually restart his breathing. "I'm-" His thoughts were unjumbling, and they latched onto some random detail. "Did you just call me 'Katsu'?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Well, um-" Eri's cheeks turned pink, "I hope you don't mind." She placed her palm on his forehead, as if checking for a fever. "You looked like you were having an anxiety attack."

"Just really nervous," Katsuma admitted. "What'll happen when no one wants to team up with me?"

"No one what?" Eri asked, eyes wider with surprise. "What do you mean?"

"I can't boost my speed much with my Quirk," Katsuma said, his voice strained. "Who would want to pair up with me?"

"I would," Eri said firmly, sliding her hand down to pat his cheek with her fingers before withdrawing and holding her hands behind her back. She glanced behind him and smiled. "And I think we have our other two teammates."

Katsuma looked back to find Kota looking at them stonily with his arms crossed and Satsuki offering a tiny smile with her hands folded at her front.

"Guys?" Kasuma asked.

"You should be worried about Eri," Kota said with his usual grumpiness. "Her Quirk doesn't boost her stats at all."

Katsuma's eyes widened and he turned back to Eri, whose blush had turned to clear embarrassment. "So you wouldn't mind if I was on your team?" Eri asked. "Even though I'll be the slowest?"

Katsuma stared at her, hearing loud and clear what she was really saying. We're friends, Quirks or not. His breathing hitched as tears began to pool in his eyes. "Yeah," he whispered hoarsely. "Yeah, I'd love to be on your team, Eri."

"Then let's start planning," Kota said, a bit louder than usual.


By the time the countdown had finished, the team was prepared. All contestants were told to take their chosen places around the track, the lanes staggered inwardly to compensate for the smaller rings within much like a standard racetrack.

Katsuma focused on controlling his breathing as he focused on Cell Activation, channeling the stimulative energies of his Quirk into the muscle and nerve fibers of his legs, core, and arms, preparing them to be extra strong and reactive, and into his bone marrow to produce more red blood cells for greater oxygen distribution. He'd work on repairing his bones and joints later, after the race.

In addition to these sites, he also seeded energy into a pair of organs resting just above his kidneys. He'd never actually used this particular technique in earnest, but the theory was sound — he'd even run it by Recovery Girl, who had confirmed its validity before scolding him for reckless thoughts and beating his shin with her cane — and what better time than now to try it out?

Lady Nagant counted down and Katsuma gripped the cape wrapped around and clenched in his dominant right hand, his muscles twitching in preparation. "Three … Two … One … Go!"

Like an arrow from a bow, Katsuma bolted, getting a decent start from the line with years of running practice. As he made his first few steps, he took a deep breath as the energy he'd seeded took effect. His senses seemed to open up and any pain fell away, his body thrumming with more energy than he'd ever felt. He actually laughed as he ran faster than he ever could have before.

Time seemed to stretch as his heart thundered in his ears, each beat sending the product of his Quirk surging through his body: adrenaline. He'd funneled the power of his Quirk into his adrenal glands to induce controlled, increased production. And it felt amazing! No wonder people became addicted to it! His senses felt heightened, his body nearly bursting with energy, his perceptions sharp and clear.

Then yet another UA surprise came. Almost too fast to avoid, metal slats emerged from the track like hurdles to trip up the runners. But buzzing with adrenaline, his perceptions heightened and his muscles primed, Katsuma jumped before he had even realized he was airborne and then was back on the track and keeping up his sprint. More hurdles, because that's what they were, slid up at random intervals and he jumped over them just as he had the first.

His entire perception became a blur of sprinting, breathing, and jumping on reflex, too focused on the run to register the other runners or how they were faring with the hurdles. He blinked against beads of sweat in his eyes and pushed himself even harder.

Katsuma pounded and leapt down the rest of the track, still laughing like a madman between deep, rhythmic breaths, and followed the gentle curve of until he saw Eri waiting at the handoff, her hand extended and her beautiful scarlet eyes glittering. Wait, was she glowing? Was the adrenaline getting to his head somehow? It looked to him like a halo of golden light was shining down upon her, highlighting her silvery-white hair and those lovely scarlet eyes.

Such were the effects of the adrenaline burst that he could think about Eri's eyes while pushing his body to its limits as he drew quickly closer.

As he drew near, he pulled the balled up cape from around his fist and all but threw it into Eri's hands, and she was off on her own leg of the race. Katsuma stumbled to a halt and fell to his knees, his body shaking as he panted and tried to passively bolster his metabolism to burn off the excess adrenaline faster. As he calmed himself, he realized that his muscles were practically screaming and sweat was pouring in rivulets down his body, his stomach in knots as his entire frame trembled with the aftershock and his heavy breathing.

Yeah, that little trick was going into the "in case of emergency" folder of his brain. Most definitely.


"Come on, Eri!" Mirio shouted at the top of his lungs. Dressed in a flannel shirt and cargo pants with sturdy boots, it would take a discerning eye on his distinctive spiky blond hair and bizarre blue eyes to realize that the unassuming man cheering for his little sister was the famed hero Lemillion. Luckily, everyone was too focused on the sports festival to pay him any mind without his hero costume.

"Go, Eri!" shouted the older man beside him, of similar height, build, and eye shape, though with black hair slicked into a "greaser" style and a longer, pointier nose, dressed in a white shirt and jeans. "You've got this, Unicorn!"

Suzu Togata kept clapping and whooping for his adopted daughter as he closely observed Eri running for all she was worth in the footrace. Which, quite frankly, was quite a lot with her years of accompanying her older brother on his heroic training runs. Had it not been for Quirks, he had no doubt at all that his little Eri would be blowing the competition away.

UA, though, was clearly not ready to make it easy. The cement of the second leg of the track had crumbled into gravel and potholes, forcing the students to run more gingerly, or else slip and sprain an ankle if they were lucky. Eri had shifted to a shuffle-footed run to compensate, keeping pace with the other racers despite the odds stacked against her.

As it stood, those odds were well deserved. There was everything from students armored with bronze or scales to increase their strength, to a shapeshifted lion or elephant, to those running with extended legs or springs for legs, to a spider-bodied girl further down that made Suzu shiver just a bit. Suzu's heart ached a bit for his little girl, thinking that even his own Quirk could have cut down on wind resistance.

"Son, do you know why they're racing in this order?" he asked Mirio, just as Satsuki — a wonderfully familiar face as Eri's lifelong best friend — took the cape in her tongue to race along on all fours in a froggy crouch.

"Standard relay race for high school age, Pop," Mirio said cheerfully, still clapping. "That means beginning with the second slowest to get a decent start, then-" he swallowed and his cheer tamped down a bit, "the slowest, then the second fastest and the fastest to make up the lead." He shook it off and took back his smile. "C'mon, Suki! Hop like your life depends on it!"

For Satsuki's part of the relay, the cement was flash-frozen into a slippery mess. Students were sliding along the ice. The screens around the arena buzzed with penalty strikes as more students were forced out of their lanes than the other two legs of the race combined. A few were outright disqualified from the ice alone, and that forced many to slow down and navigate the ice more carefully.

Satsuki, however, had been born for this. With her ability to cling to any surface, she was hopping with surety, pausing only to keep her footing and gauge her next hop before continuing on far faster than any of the competition. A close-up of her expression as she took the lead showed her usual semi-stoic pout, but to those like the Togatas who knew her, she seemed very proud of herself. Alongside her was the spider girl gingerly flowing over the ice, though not as fast as Satsuki's hopping.

"Come on, Asui!" Suzu cheered, his own pulse rising with excitement as Satsuki neared their anchor, Kota.


Kota tapped his foot impatiently as Satsuki hopped ever closer, his hands already steaming. His eyes were almost sore from keeping an eye on his teammates, part of his brain cataloging the obstacles they had been put through and wondering what the hell he would be put through …!

Satsuki made a final high bound and lashed her tongue out to pass him the cape from fifty feet away, and Kota snatched it and cinched it around his waist before blasting off on a jet of water. As he rose through the air, a sudden shockwave almost knocked him off-balance and he looked back to find several craters where the water had dug into the ground, pink smoke clearing away.

"Mines?!" he wondered aloud before shaking his head and focusing on the curve of the track. There was no way he was letting himself lose their standing on the last part of the race. As he tried to gauge his place, lowering himself to judge the dividing stripes, explosions caught his attention. As did the fainter sound of wingbeats almost covered by said explosions.

Kota glanced back again to find Toreka and Silver both flying behind him — of course the flyers would be the anchors, duh — and gaining on him! A quick look down showed the elephant Quirked student from before literally barreling through the mines with almost contemptuous ease. Jeez, Class B really was full of their own share of crazies — not unlike his own class, really.

The faces of his friends flashed across Kota's mind's eye, and he redoubled his efforts, straining his water jets to their maximum. He screamed as he felt the strain in his arms and wrists, his speed building, but turned it into a snarling grin as the finish line neared. It was only feet away when a dark blur caught in his peripheral vision and he caught the moth-like Silver crossing mere seconds before himself.

So surprised by the sudden loss, Kota's concentration wavered and his jets weakened. His stomach swooped as gravity began to resume its tight grip and he began to fall. He caught himself and fired up his Quirk again, the jets weaker from acute fatigue. He knew from long experience that the landing, though slowed to survivability, would still be rough. He clenched his eyes and grit his teeth as the ground neared …!

And then grunted as something long and damp wrapped around his waist and juked him to the side into a group of waiting arms. He opened his eyes and found his friends holding him close, all of them looking at him with concern.

"You okay, man?" Shimano asked, looking terrible even as he was clearly concerned for Kota's near-miss.

"Probably just the shock of losing," Satsuki commented around her tongue, which she was unfurling from around his waist as they all settled him to his feet.

"We made it to the finals, Kota," Eri said with a soft smile, her eyes glittering beautifully. "It's not over yet."

Kota took a few long moments to kick his brain into gear before stepping back and brushing himself off. "Yeah, it's fine," he said woodenly, unable to resist casting a dark look at Silver as he was celebrated by Joren, Tategami, and Wani. The tall, slim mothman seemed to hunch down under the spotlight, clearly unused to it.

'Heh, get used to it,' Kota thought snidely. 'You're gunning for hero work, after all.'

A horn sounded and drew everyone's attention to the stage and Lady Nagant, who gestured at the holographic display that showed the winning teams. In first place for the race was the team of Tategami, Wani, Joren, Silver. Second was Katsuma, Eri, Satsuki, and Kota. In third was a team of students of Class B: Tamashiro, Sumisu, Mori, and Namerakana. The last four were Teashi, Yayoi, Hito, and Toreka.

"Well done to all," Lady Nagant said with a small smile. "But these four top teams will be moving on to the final round."

"It's been a roaring couple of events," Kaminari announced over the intercoms, "but even great heroes need a break now and then. Right, Mic?"

"Right you are, my young friend," Present Mic replied. "Which means it's time for an hour lunch break before we kick off the afternoon festivities. Yeah!"

"Ah, yeah!"

"Let's get some food," Satsuki said. "We're in the finals, so we can skip the other events."

"Yeah," Kota said, grimacing as he massaged his hands and wrists. Man, they'd be sore for the third event. But there was no way he'd let that slow him down!

"You guys go on ahead," Eri said distractedly as she placed her hands on Shimano's cheeks, as if feeling his temperature. "I'm going to take Katsuma to Recovery Girl and get him looked at. He looks terrible."

"M'fine," Shimano said, trying to wave her off even with an exhausted glaze in his eyes and his movements lurching like a drunk.

"We're going," Eri said firmly, and Shimano shut up and nodded, letting Eri guide him along like a lost lamb.

"Guess that leaves you and me to get their food, too," Satsuki said, her voice tinged with good humor.

"I guess so," Kota said lowly. He narrowed his eyes at Shimano's back, Eri having slung the guy's arm over her shoulders to help him walk despite his clear, impotent protests. Then a strange feeling prickled across his own shoulders and Kota looked back at Satsuki, his eyes widening a bit at her intense gaze passing around the stands. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"Not sure," Satsuki replied. "I know there's a big crowd and the whole point is that we're supposed to be watched, but …" She trailed off and shook her head before turning on her heel to follow the rest of the student body out of the arena, presumably toward the cafeteria or perhaps the food stands set up for the festival.

"But?" Kota prompted, both looking for a distraction and genuinely interested.

"I got the feeling that someone's watching for a different reason," Satsuki said vaguely.

Kota felt a chill run up his spine at the implications of such a thought. Resisting the urge to look around for himself, he sped up to catch Satsuki and kept his senses open. If someone thought they'd mess with his friends, especially on this day, they were in for an unpleasant surprise.


Up in the stands, a lanky man was scribbling away in a notebook. Adjusting his small, oval glasses as he wrote, his well-cut suit and symmetrical features would lead any passersby to believe he was nothing more than a businessman and a studious fan of heroes, or perhaps a scout for sidekicks for some pro hero employer.

However, looking at his notes would show some more … sinister implications.

Asset: No use of Quirk as of the second round. Has demonstrated close ties to three select individuals. Hard worker — will and spirit have grown. Will be more difficult to bring under sway without leverage.

Shimano: Undefined enhancement Quirk. Seems emotionally reliant upon the asset. Apparent lack of raw power; simple to remove or to utilize.

Izumi: Water emitter Quirk. Apparent raw power. Could be valuable as reversed leverage.

Asui: Close with the asset. Ties to famed Class A; difficult to leverage. Removal option?

The man adjusted his glasses again before blinking at the feel of his phone buzzing in his suit pocket. He fished it out and read the contact name "Clock" before nodding and answering. "Hello?"

"Nemoto, report," the voice of Chronostasis said.

"Moderate preliminary data, sir," Nemoto — Confessor — said briskly, affecting even more his appearance of a businessman. His life as a conman before joining the Shie Hassaikai was coming back to him like riding a bike, perfect for this mission. It had allowed him to purchase a ticket with some of the organization's discretionary funds and enter without a trace of suspicion for this very task: intelligence gathering.

He had more skills than just his Quirk in that regard.

"Anything on the growth of her power?"

"She has yet to showcase her skills, sir," Nemoto reported. "Though I would wager that the third, one-on-one round will change that."

"I will leave that observation to you, then," Chronostasis said. Nemoto allowed himself a brief eyeroll at the words, as if Chronostasis didn't have all of their people watching the sports festival on television or streaming to glean whatever information they could. He was here on the belief that an in-person viewpoint beyond such screens would offer deeper insights. Which was true, as the asset had foolishly displayed a particular closeness to the Shimano boy.

They could use that.

"What of Lemillion?" Chronostasis asked. He had held closely onto a particular grudge against the hero who had spearheaded the theft of the asset alongside Deku.

"He is almost certainly here, sir," Nemoto replied. "There is no buzz of him on the hero apps and it would be very much out of character for such a sentimental hero to not be as close to the asset for such a momentous event."

"Very well, Nemoto. Keep up the good work." He hung up, and Nemoto put away his phone to resume writing down his thoughts. Had he not known Kurono so well, the emotionless sound of his voice would have been insulting. But he knew the man well and felt the unspoken thanks in the words.

With a few more notes, he clapped his notebook shut and rose to find lunch. During which, of course, he would do what he could to locate the asset — Eri — and see what else he might learn before the finals showed him her capabilities.

Chapter Eleven, everyone! A few hours late, as it's been tougher and tougher to drum up the will to write after work. The schedule will probably get less predictable from here, but I will certainly try to keep it up!

*The team's chosen order of racers was based on an online search of generally accepted relay racer's strategy based on speed. It turns out the QAT from way back in chapter four helped solidify that.

*I've wanted to use the adrenal gland angle for Katsuma for a while now. It's not quite as dangerous to him as brain stimulation to increase his reflexes, but it's a definite second on risky maneuvers.

*Sumisu, meaning "smith" as in metalsmith, is the student with springs for limbs. His name comes from Hal Smith who voiced 'Coil-Man" in The Impossibles, who inspired his Quirk. Mori, meaning forest, is the student who can turn into an elephant. It's admittedly based on a bad pun of tree trunks and elephant trunks. The Japanese word for trunk is just toranku. Finally, Namerakana means "slick," and will become clear when we reveal her - yes, her - Quirk in the tournament.

*You didn't think there would be such a public event and our antagonists wouldn't make an appearance, did you? They won't try anything at something so public, but they're definitely preparing for something.

As always, I hope it's been a good read! Leave a review if you can! And may your own inspirations flow freely!