The Stadium had been full of excited audience members, protesters, and pro heroes; the latter of which were there to scope out future talent that they could recruit for their agencies in the near future. So far, only a few of them were impressed by what was to offer, but those were some of the lower-tier heroes that were just starting, and looking for people to help bolster their numbers and to make their names just that much bigger in the grand scheme of things.

If someone from U.A. had willingly come to their agencies, the media would be all over them, and then, their careers would skyrocket into popularity; even if it was only for the briefest of moments, that was all that was needed.

None of the larger named Pro Heroes in the rankings, namely the top twenty, were impressed, but they were hoping to be impressed sooner rather than later. Otherwise, all of this would be a waste of time.

All except for one Jonathon Kujo, or Johnny, for short. Though technically speaking, he didn't count, seeing as he wasn't from Japan, and he had a bit of a biased reason for being here. He had specifically flown down from America to watch his son participate in the U.A. Sports Festival, as well as get a glimpse at his niece, Yoshihara Kira and finally meet his other niece, Kyoka Jirou.

Regardless of any of their placements in the obstacle course, he was impressed with all of their performances. Especially Kyoka's due to the difference between the other two. She had a stealth-based Quirk from his understanding, and yet she was still able to move on to the next round without much trouble.

Of course, he was also proud of his son. While he wanted his son to take first place—what parent wouldn't—third place was still a monumental feat. As for his other niece, Yoshihara Kira, he had to admit that he was impressed with her getting in second. Granted, she was snubbed by that Midoriya Izuku kid at the last second for first place, but he found it more comical than anything else.

That being said when he came here to watch The Sports Festival in person, he noticed that several protesters had rather disgusting signs crying for Yoshihara to be arrested or worse. He didn't know why, and he didn't care to know why. All he knew was that he had beaten one of them up and scared away their friends.

"Honestly, the balls on some of these people…" Johnny thought to himself, stroking his chin as he slumped forward ever-so-slightly. He wouldn't admit it out loud, but although he was proud of his three relatives, he was also a little concerned.

But why was he concerned? They did do a good job, and it wasn't as if they were failing to meet his expectations—they were exceeding them. However, it wasn't them he was concerned about. Well, this also applied to Kyoka, but be digressed. He was concerned about everyone else. Why?

Because Josefumi and Yoshihara were Stand Users.

It was that fact alone that he had every reason in the world to be concerned for the rest of the student body, or at the very least, the other 42 contestants left in The Sports Festival. They were all put at an extreme disadvantage, because with this new All Out War event, if it was what he thought it was, then things were going to get messy.

It was a little-known secret to those in the know that Stand Users were a million times more powerful than people with Quirks; even with some of those Quirks being stupidly overpowered like Shoto Todoroki's Half-Cold-Half-Hot.

But even though his Quirk was powerful, it would likely stand no chance against something like his Tusk or his son's Soft & Wet, simply because they outperformed any Quirk user a millionfold. That wasn't to say that Quirks weren't powerful enough to contend with Stands. They could, especially under the right circumstances.

However, the one thing that all Stand Users had above all Quirk Users was that those with Quirks could not see Stands. Seeing was half the battle of Stand battles. That was why his favourite way of disarming an enemy was blinding them them beating them up. That way they had no way to retaliate.

So, if someone you were fighting was starting the fight already being essentially blind to what was truly going on, the battle was already over. Sure, you could combat that weakness by learning how to read air movements and getting really good at dodging, but what was the point if you couldn't properly retaliate?

The only few people who that didn't apply to were All Might—because he was fucking All Might, duh—and Star and Stripe. Both of which were Japan's and America's number one ranked Pro Hero, respectively. They were freaks of nature, so it made sense that, in select situations, they could overpower a Stand User.

However, things got a little dicey once you brought more complicated Stand Abilities into the mix. While some of them sounded pathetic on paper, in practice, they were so much more devastating.

Take, for example, Tusk. If he were to tell someone that Tusk allowed him to shoot his nails at an opponent, and subsequently let him regrow his nails after the fact, then that someone would laugh and call him pathetic whilst questioning how he was able to become the second-ranked Pro Hero in America.

However, when he introduced The Spin to Tusk, it suddenly became an absolute nightmare to fight against. Not only did Tusk enhance his Spin, but it also let him tap into the intrinsic understanding of the natural way the Universe communicated with itself, accessing Infinity, and using that to spin someone to death infinitely.

Of course, he required a horse to access The Infinite Rotation, but that didn't stop Tusk from being brutally strong physically. He once had Tusk demolish an entire skyscraper by itself. He remembered watching the whole building collapsing with a single punch delivered by Tusk; and that was when he wasn't angry. God forbid he was angry and wanted to punch something with Tusk.

And if that something was a person, and if that person was a villain with a Quirk…? Well, they wouldn't be able to defend themselves. Nothing in the world would stop him, Tusk and that inserted villain from having a very, very bad day—and it wouldn't be him having the bad day, it would the villain.

For another example of why Stands were devastating, and why Quirks had absolutely no way of competing, there was Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, or D4C, the Stand of the former and deceased President, Funny Valentine. His Stand had the ability to leap from one universe to another.

Literally.

It wasn't a joke, either. He could pull things from these other universes, and if it was the same thing as the other, they would cancel each other out. By cancelling each other out, that meant they would be erased.

Not killed.

Not broken.

Erased.

D4C was one of, if not the most busted Stand that he had the misfortune of encountering. It was made a thousand times worse when he gained access to Love Train. While Love Train didn't belong to either Funny Valentine or Lucy Steel, but rather The Corpse Of Jesus Christ, Valentine still used it.

Love Train made it so that Valentine was basically invincible. He couldn't be injured, and if you tried to injure him, whatever you did would be reflected back to you. Essentially, it relied on the concept of Misfortune to work. So, if any kind of misfortune were to encounter Valentine, it would be reflected elsewhere.

It almost killed Gyro, and had Johnny not achieved Tusk Act 4 or The Golden Spin he would've died and Gyro would've bled out from the gunshot wounds that Valentine inflicted upon him.

Johnny shuddered at the memory. He was so close to death when he fought Funny Valentine. He would've lost a lot of people who were close to him. He would've lost Lucy, he would've lost Gyro. He had already lost Diego—someone whom he learned to respect both as a friend and as a rival—and Hot Pants.

Funny Valentine deserved what happened to him. He not only would've doomed the world if his plan was a success, but for all of the people he killed to reach his goal… they deserved justice.

And if Johnny was sent back in time to confront Funny Valentine again?

He wouldn't change a damn thing.

That aside, Stands weren't always that extreme—hell, the chances of Stands like those popping up were one in a million. But even then, the weakest of Stands could compare to the Strongest of Quirks. If someone wanted an example, look no further than something like Karera Sakunami's Love Love Deluxe.

Love Love Deluxe could manipulate hair. On paper, like Tusk, that was pretty pathetic. But, when one looked at how it was applied, one would begin to realize that "manipulating hair" meant more than making it look funny.

Love Love Deluxe could manipulate hair down to the molecule, and use that to Karera's advantage. It could make the hair as strong as steel, adamantium, or even titanium. It could make it as sharp as a razor blade, or a scalpel.

And that wasn't even considering its physical strength. Love Love Deluxe could make whole buildings shake with just a single punch if Karera was feeling audacious enough. If she wasn't, then it could crack bones like someone could crack glass.

Quirks were limited to their abilities and the limits of the user. Stand Users were not limited to themselves, only limited to what their Stand could do. Of course, the example of Karera was kind of unfair, because, in all reality, Love Love Deluxe wasn't weak.

However, even someone like All Might would fall victim to the weakest Stand in all recorded history, Survivor. All it could do is cause others to lose control of their minds and fall into a primitive state and attack anything that person saw.

No matter how strong All Might purported to be, he could still be manipulated and controlled by Survivor. And from there, taking him down was easy. All someone had to do was put a bullet between his head or trip the poor bastard up and subdue him. Then, it was all over.

That was why exactly zero heroes who had Stands told the world about their Stands. Instead, everyone who was in the know collectively agreed that it would be much easier to simply masquerade them as Quirks to keep the public from freaking out.

Like, seriously. If the populous of America knew that the second most ranked Pro hero, Joekid, could not only shoot rapidly spinning fingernails like a gun, with said fingernails spinning anything they came across including architecture, but also send out a massive, nearly eight-foot-tall, invisible pink fridge with fists and a vendetta at someone, to say there would be an uproar would be an understatement.

The only reason why Cathleen Bates, aka Star and Stripe, was the number one hero in America was because of her stupidly overpowered New Order Quirk. That and Johnny really didn't want to deal with the pressure of becoming America's top hero.

And then there was his other reason for worrying about Josefumi, and it was a perfectly good reason, too. Because Josefumi and Yoshihara were a Stand User, and that would mean that almost all of the competition was cannon fodder. He wasn't saying it to over-inflate his pride in his family. It was genuine worry.

The last thing he wanted was for either of them to be involved in another controversy. Their family was already mired in it. The last thing it needed was another one due to an accident.

And given the next event was All Out War, there was a good possibility that a couple of the contestants weren't going to be walking away without at least a few broken bones.

There was a fine line between a sporting event and an absolute massacre. This had the potential to become a massacre if a couple of those Stand Users got a little trigger-happy. Johnny had seen six Stand Users in that crowd. Josefumi's Soft & Wet, Yoshihaara's Stand that he didn't know the name of, Karera's Stand Love Love Deluxe, Rohan's great-granddaughter's Stand, and two other Stands belonging to two other students.

Needless to say for the other 36 contestants, this next event would be nearly impossible for them. Unless the Stand Users planned to hold back, which he heavily doubted. While Josefumi might, he couldn't say the same thing about Yoshihara.

He just hoped Kyoka was able to keep herself safe. However given that she had a lot of determination in her eyes from what he saw, there was no way she wouldn't be able to keep her head above water. He was rooting for all of his family equally, and if even at least one of them made it to the finals, he'd be happy.

He just hoped things didn't go to shit.

Down by where the students were, it was a completely different story. Nerves were at an all-time high and confused yet also curious mumblings filled the showroom floor. Yoshihara, on the other hand, mostly ignored it. She tuned everyone out, just like she always did so that she could formulate a game plan going into this new event.

She was nothing if not meticulous. She knew that some people would be gunning for her throat the moment the event began. However, here, she could finally unveil her true strengths. There was no need to hold back. The only stipulation she would have to make was to reduce Killer Queen's explosions to a medium—still enough to leave 2nd-degree burns, but nothing too outrageous.

While using Sheer Heart Attack would also be a good idea, she wanted to save that for the finals. She didn't want to reveal all of her tricks right away. If she had to use Sheer Heart Attack, however, she would. If anything, it would be for recon and nothing else.

Otherwise? She would be beating people to a pulp, and making them regret going after them. After all, Present Mic said that killing wasn't allowed, but mutilation and maiming the competitors was not out of the question. Would it be frowned on? Yes. But Yoshihara wasn't exactly one to bend to social norms, now was she?

Oh, sure, she wasn't a barbarian. But, she wasn't about to not do everything in her power to come out of this with a win under her belt. If her winning meant that some kids had to go home with broken ribs or shattered kneecaps, so be it.

"Now, I'm gonna explain the rules of All Out War, so listen carefully!" Kayama-san began, and with a devilish smirk on her face, a burning cityscape showed up on the screen behind her. It looked like something pulled straight out of a disaster movie, which was probably the point. "The scenario is simple: Civil War has broken out within a small city, and the civilians are fighting over control of their once peaceful city. Those civilians are all of you!" as Kayama-san continued, a few of the students looked at one another nervously.

Those who were friends quickly broke that friendship for this event.

Those who were rivals saw this as an opportunity to show the other who was boss.

And those who made it from the General Studies saw this as a way to prove themselves worthy of joining the Hero Course.

"However, you're not alone. The robots from the U.A. Entrance exam will also be there, just to spice it up a little bit and to give those who don't have the mettle to fight other people a chance at winning," Kayama-san continued, cracking her whip in the air for dramatic flair as the screen switch to a scoreboard.

"The goal of this is to earn as many points as possible. You'll get 1 point for destroying any robot of any type. However, beating certain people will net you a lot of points. These points will be called Bounties! Upon defeating certain people, you will be able to claim their bounties immediately! For example, if you can beat Midoriya Izuku, our top placer for the obstacle course race you will be given… 10 million points!"

When Kayama-san dropped that bomb, almost everyone looked over to Izuku, who had a slightly concerned expression on his face, though nonetheless shining with a small amount of confidence not only in himself but in his ability to move on to the next round. Those around him, however, glared at him with a ferocity comparable to that of lions.

It was a no-brainer that everyone wanted to move forward and claim that number one position and be known as the winner of the U.A. Sports Festival. Almost half of the people who were originally thinking of sparing Midoriya due to his normal weakness now viewed him as someone who needed to be defeated to win.

But no one was more focused on beating Izuku than Katsuki Bakugo.

"If I can claim Deku's bounty, I'll be able to move on to the finals and make good on my oath. Not to mention, I can finally put that shitty brat in his place right where he belongs, and that's underneath my fuckin' boot!" Bakugo thought, a vicious grin on his face.

When Deku showed up at U.A.'s entrance exam, he thought it to be a joke. Sure, he had made his stupid statement about how no one was going to stop him from entering the school of his dreams, but in the end, Bakugo thought of it as nothing more than a last-ditch attempt to squeeze some sort of merit out of himself before being unceremoniously kicked off of the world's leg like a needy puppy.

The world needed fewer people like Deku. Useless garbage thinking they were meant to go anywhere. Honestly, if he heard the news that Deku did swan-dive off a building when he failed to enter U.A., Bakugo wouldn't have given less of a shit—at least, he thought so anyway.

Regardless of that, he knew that Deku would fail, and after that, that would be the last he would have seen of that stupid, worthless, shitty, no-good pathetic Deku. Even if Pompadork had threatened him to not lay a finger on him, that didn't mean he couldn't hate him from a distance.

Once Deku was gone, he could move on with his life and leave his old life at Aldera behind. He'd go into U.A. palms blasting and blast his way to the top! He might've had some pushback, but it would all be meaningless in the end.

But that didn't happen.

Because if it did, Deku wouldn't have stolen first place from him using whatever Quirk he somehow fished out of his ass. Not to mention that he was confident. Too confident. The only reason for it was that stupid copycat blondie.

When that damned copycat came into Deku's life, he got a spine. He'd admit he was a little bit impressed with the fact that he was able to stand up to him now, but that was about it. He didn't respect Deku, and that extended to the copycat. He didn't hate her, but she needed to get out of his way.

And more importantly, she needed to stop copying him! The damn bastard! She needed to get a better gimmick, and maybe then he'd respect her. Although, he did respect her based on the fact that she was willing to do the thing that most heroes wouldn't or couldn't do, and that was actually put piece of shit villains in the dirt where they belonged.

If nothing else, that was all that he respected about her. Aside from that, she was an obstacle and one that needed to be stomped out. Her and that bastard Pompadork.

He was going to beat those three into a pulp and make them look like fools! He was going to take the first place this time, and he was going to do so with ease! This was his territory! This was his advantage, and not a single person would stop him in his tracks!

"Now then!" Kayama-san called out, cracking her whip again as the screen updated with five people's names with large red numbers underneath them, she continued explaining. "The people who should try your damndest to beat are the following: Midoriya Izuku with 10 Million Points. Kira Yoshihara with 1 Million Points. Kujo Josefumi with 500,000 points. Todoroki Shoto with 250,000 Points. And Bakugo Katsuki with 50,000 Points."

Kayama-san cracked her whip again, which prompted the screen to change again, showing the rest of the contestants who all had a flat 100 points to their name.

"The rest of you will start off with 100 points. To move on to the next round, 16 people must have at least a minimum of 600 points. If we do not have 16 people by the end of a 10-minute timer, then those with the most points will be allowed to advance to the finals. Teaming up with someone is strictly prohibited, and if you do, you will be immediately disqualified. After all, this is an All Out War, meaning there are no sides in this. It is every man, woman, or whatever for themselves!"

As Kayama-san finished explaining the rules, two double doors to their right opened up, revealing a massive burning city. It stretched on and on with no end in sight with several branching off paths. It was a veritable maze and one that would be used for combat. "There will be a two-minute grace period for you to scatter about in this fifteen-kilometre-long and wide battleground. Once the two minutes are up, all bets are off! NOW GO!"

And with a blaring horn louder than the last echoed throughout the playing field, all 42 contestants ran into the double doors as the jumbotron in the center lit up with a massive sweeping camera took a look over the entire city.

"JUST SO THAT THE VIEWERS AND CONTESTANTS ARE AWARE, THE FIRE IS COMPLETELY HARMLESS TO THE STUDENTS! IT'S NOT REAL FIRE, BUT RATHER SOMETHING THAT ONE OF OUR STAFF MEMBERS CAME UP WITH FOR THIS EVENT!" Present Mic announced to the entire stadium, allowing any worries in the audience to dip away.

Inside the battlefield, Yoshihara was quick to secure a conspicuous location located within an alleyway. The place made her cringe internally, seeing as she had bad experiences with places like these, but that was beside the point. The place was secluded enough and it was out of the way enough to hide until the timer wore off.

"I'm a massive target. I'm actually kind of glad I didn't get first place. That would bring too much attention to myself," Yoshihara thought, her blue eyes glaring at the street corner. She watched as a couple of people, namely Shoji and some Class 1-B girl with long braided hair ran past one another. The only reason why she knew it was someone in Class 1-B was that they reminded her of a description that Karera gave her in the two weeks before the festival.

"Ibara Shiozaki. That was the girl's name…she will be my first victim," Yoshihara thought, shaking her head." Target, not victim…. Eh, same thing really."

"Are you—debating—kind of thing?" A masculine voice spoke out behind her, as Yoshihara looked over her shoulder, trying to find where it came from. It sounded broken, almost as if something was trying to reach through some kind of radio.

What she found was a ghost. A ghost in a white and green striped Valentino-style suit, kind of like her own. He had black and white striped hair, brown eyes, and a pale complexion. He looked to be glitching in and out of reality, his arms twitching unnaturally, before finally stopping as he sighed.

"Not—time—need to—warn you—something big is—be prepared—can't—need to—dammit!" His voice kept clipping in and out, like he was trying to speak to her properly, and with each word being skipped like a glitching radio—as if something was preventing him from speaking to her. With each passing word, his expression looked more and more frustrated. He cleared his throat and tried to speak again. "Killer Queen—shared—third ability—extremely useful—Sheer Heart Attack won't be—find The Arrow—too late!"

And then, just like that, almost as if a connection was cut, The Ghost of the Man In The Suit disappeared, leaving a confused Yoshihara staring off into the darkness of the alleyway. She blinked, trying to wrap her head around what it was that had happened.

What the hell was that ghost talking about? She… recognized it. She remembered seeing something like it when she was fighting her mother. Why did it show here now? What was it trying to tell her? That something big was coming?

What was it that The Ghost was trying to warn her about? And what did it have to do with a third ability that Killer Queen had?

What was it that The Ghost was referring to? What was coming that required Yoshihara to awaken some kind of third ability? And when exactly would "too late"? Was "now" too late? Or was he trying to tell her that was going to be too late at some point?

"Best not to think about what's to come and to focus on the present," Yoshihara thought as she pushed those thoughts out of her head, summoning Killer Queen behind her, a bright purple aura enveloping her body as she stepped out from the corner. The bell to begin the All Out War echoed throughout the makeshift city, and as soon as it did, one of the shadows grew a set of eyes and a creepy smile.

The eyes and smile were quickly joined by an outrageously dark-skinned male teenager dressed in the U.A. tracksuit. He lunged for Kira, hands out wide in a tackle, his face stretched into a smile as he shouted, "YOUR MINE!" The raspy, almost excited voice called out from behind Yoshihara, causing her to stop dead in her tracks and glance over her shoulder at the teen, narrowing her eyes.

The boy's Quirk seemingly allowed him to become one with Shadows. That meant that he must've been extremely good when it came to sneaking up on people. Technically speaking, if he had decided to go along with being a villain like everyone in his middle school told him he should do, he would've made a great assassin.

Unfortunately for him, even with his exceptional sneaking abilities, mixed with his natural-born abilities to merge with the area around him, his declaration made his appearance more choreographed than a movie fight scene.

Yoshihara didn't even so much as flinch when the boy shouted, her eyes narrowing with annoyance." The first of many attempts to claim my bounty, no doubt…"Yoshihara thought as she cursed under her breath.

"If you're going for a surprise attack, at least keep your mouth shut," Yoshihara stated as Killer Queen grabbed the boy by the neck, stopping him dead in his tracks as he slowly began to choke. His eyes widened as he tried to grab whatever had him by the neck, only to not grab anything.

He couldn't see what was holding him, and he couldn't see the expression Kira had on her face. But one thought was echoing through his mind at rapid speeds, so much so that he clouded all parts of his judgement.

"THIS ISN'T WHAT MONOMA SAID HER QUIRK WAS!"

With a powerful slam strong enough to crack the ground, Killer Queen threw the boy to the floor, leaving behind a small crater from the impact. The boy spat up a small amount of saliva mixed with blood, his eyes rolling into the back of his head as he was knocked out cold.

It was almost pathetic how easily the boy went down. So much so that it made Yoshihara scoff. Blood leaked from the boy's nose and lower lip as he twitched on the floor. His body rested in the crack in the ground, and for a moment, Yoshihara thought that she might have accidentally killed him. Thankfully, his chest rising up and down dissuaded that premature fear, allowing her to breathe out a sigh of relief.

"AND FIRST BLOOD BELONGS TO KIRA YOSHIHARA! MY QUESTION IS HOW THE GIRL WAS ABLE TO LIFT KUROIRO SHIHAI WITHOUT SO MUCH AS LIFTING A FINGER!" Present Mic commented as Aizawa sighed.

"It would seem as if Kira has a playing card up her sleeve, one that I'm sure she plans to use to her benefit."

With that announcement made, all Kira could do was shake her head. At least he didn't outright state what it was, although it did put a small wrench into her plan." Way to ruin my sense of surprise…"

And with that, Yoshihara's bounty went up by another 100 points, now up to 1,000,100.

[XXXX]

Hitoshi Shinso had a smirk on his face after hearing the announcement made by Present Mic. It was a shame how Kira was the one who got 'first blood' as it was called, but Shinso didn't care all that much about it. Either way, things were definitely about to get interesting.

He sat atop a small building, his right foot dangling over the edge as he held a wooden puppet in his right hand. The puppet itself was blank, having no features at all whatsoever. It was attached to a four-pronged handle that fitted comfortably in his hand. He had no qualms about being as relaxed as he was. After all, with his new Stand, he no longer had the weaknesses of his Quirk.

He heard footsteps behind him, and yet, he still didn't move. Most people would, especially if they were in such a place as he was. However, Shinso was confident. Because he knew that as soon as whoever was in his Everybody Loves Me's range, the battle would have already been over before it even began.

The person in question who was sneaking up on him was one Ochako Uraraka. She normally never did any sort of sneak attacks, but this guy left himself out in the open. He was easy points. All she'd have to do was knock him out, touch him, and have him float gently down to the ground.

It would be an easy way to get herself one step closer to entering the finals, and just one step closer to showing her parents that becoming a hero was a good idea. Sure, they were supportive of her, but they were concerned about her reasonings for becoming a hero.

Valid as it might have been, Ochako still wanted to prove to them that just because her reasonings were a little bit selfish, she could still be a good hero! By making it into the finals of the Sports Festival, she could no doubt make it there! Because that would mean she could overcome every adversity!

Now… was setting up a sneak attack unheroic? Yes. But was it necessary? Most definitely. She had no idea what Quirk he might have had. Sure, he was a General Studies student, but that didn't mean he didn't have something powerful.

For all she knew, it could be something outlandish like organ stealing or whatever! That's why she had to sneak up on him. But as she came close to him, around five meters or such, Hitoshi smirked. "You just got into my range."

That was all Hitoshi said as Ochako felt something dig deep into her shoulders, a pained gasp leaving her mouth as hooks invisible to her eyes dug deep into her shoulder blades through her gym uniform. Blood seeped from new wounds that appeared out of thin air, and at that point, the brunette lost all control over her body. Everything such as her limbs, her Quirk, or even titling her head was deemed impossible.

Yet, even so, she tried to flex her wrist and adjust herself in any way. However, no matter how much she attempted to move, there was nothing she could do. Hitoshi simply stared at her, a bemused smirk on his face as he lolled his head to the side.

"What's the matter? Paralyzed by fear or something?" Hitoshi taunted, a small smirk on his face as Ochako narrowed her eyes at him.

"W-What did you do to—" It was then that she realized something. He didn't even so much as lift a finger to hurt her, which was the same thing that happened to her during the USJ, and the same thing explained to her by Kira and Fumi-kun on the first day back to school. "You! You have one of those ghost things don't you!" Ochako blurted out, earning a raised eyebrow from Hitoshi.

"Ghost things? Is that seriously what you just called my Stand?" Hitoshi questioned, shaking his head with a disappointed gleam in his eye. "Seriously, this is ridiculous. And here I thought you would know a thing or two about Stands. At the very least you should know what they're called. Good grief…" As Hitoshi said that, he stood up, motioning his puppet to touch its legs, which made Ochako do the same thing.

And then, her Quirk activated, allowing her to float off the ground.

"If you really must know. My Stand, Everybody Loves Me, allows me complete autonomous control of whatever is hooked by it. The way I control that individual is through this here puppet," Hitoshi stated as he waggled it around. When he did so, Ochako was jostled around at the same likeness of the puppet, making her head spin. "In other words, you're mine to control and puppeteer, effectively making yourself unable to battle."

As Hitoshi said that, Ochako's eyes widened. "And since barely anybody here is a Stand user, they won't know you're being puppeteered! Because all I have to do to make you stay quiet is this!" Hitoshi continued as he slapped a piece of tape over the puppet's mouth, which shut Ochako's mouth completely. She tried opening it, but it didn't work.

"There's no point in trying. Anything I do to the puppet will happen directly to you… minus fatal injuries, of course. If the puppet breaks apart, you won't break apart… but you'll feel every ounce of pain that comes with falling apart. I found that out when I attached my Stand to a rat and broke the doll. Needless to say, the rat died of shock," Hitoshi finished, a mortified expression appearing on Ochako's face.

"Holy crap! This guy's insane!" Ochako thought as the purple-haired teen frowned. He looked almost… annoyed. She couldn't fathom why he was the annoyed one, if anyone it should've been her that was annoyed; not to mention scared.

"You probably think I'm villainous, right?"

The way he asked the question seemed more like it was a statement, however, seeing as she couldn't respond, all he did was sigh. "It's not like you can say anything. But I can tell just from the look in your eyes that you think I'm sort of a pyschopath. It's not my fault my Stand does what it can do. In reality, it's an enhanced version of my old Quirk. But you're not here to listen to my sob story."

Hitoshi maneuvered the puppet as Everybody Loves Me fully manifested behind Hitoshi, its hook launchers moving a full 180 degrees over to the edge of the building. Hitoshi masterfully made it look as if the puppet was jumping and completed the look by making Uraraka land in a heroic pose on the floor.

All the while Ochako's expression was one of fear as seven of the exam robots turned to face her, noticing her arrival. However, unable to do anything of her own accord, she watched in semi-terror and semi-awe as her body moved through the crowd at speeds she had never been able to perform through the robots, touching each one as she moved past them.

And then, as they floated up, Hitoshi puppeteered her to put her fingers together, deactivating her Quirk and sending all the robots to a quick demise as they shattered to bits upon making contact with the ground, oil spreading across the floor in waves as Ochako's face was blank and null of any emotion, unless, of course, one looked into her eyes. Hitoshi smiled, while Ochako's eyes glistened with fear.

Hitoshi's bounty went from 100 to 207.

Ochako was eliminated, now under the control of Hitoshi.

[XXXX]

A large, thick stock of hair shot past Josefumi destroying several U.A. entrance exam robots with pathetic ease. Josefumi ducked into an alleyway with a small grimace on his face as Soft & Wet punched at least several meters of hair away from his person. It wasn't as if he knew who his opponent was, however, he was a tad bit annoyed that Karera had chosen to go after him first.

She had chased him halfway across the city area and had it not been for Soft & Wet removing the friction a few times in random places where Karera was running he would've been caught. He had to admit that Karera and her Love Love Deluxe were terrifying. Especially when she was using her hair as giant snake effigies to wrap him up and squeeze him into unconsciousness.

And while it was a pain in the ass that she thought it was a good idea to chase him across the cityscape, he had a feeling that she would go after him first, either out of wanting the bounty over his head or just to distract him for someone else. She had a habit of helping people out inadvertently, which sometimes made for some funny circumstances that he had run into on several occasions.

However, that wasn't important right now.

Right now, he needed to defeat her. He wasn't in the mood for mind games, right now, he just wanted to end it right here and right now. And so, he dug something out of his pocket, that being a silver ball. The silver ball had the words 'JOJO' engraved into it. Despite being made of steel, it was easy to lift, and with a deep breath, he began to see small squares with spirals everywhere.

He could see the Golden Ratio.

It was everywhere, in the walls, on the floor, and even in himself! The Steel Ball began to spin, and with an arced throw, the ball tore the literal feet of hair and travelled through it to slam into the side of Karera's head.

A small shield of hair was enough to reduce the impact, but it just kept spinning, destroying the hair at the root before digging just a little bit into her skin and pinching a nerve, knocking her out and for the hair to retract back towards the head and for Love Love Deluxe to disappear.

If he was going to be honest that felt too easy. Even so, though, he wasn't complaining. Soft & Wet grabbed his Steel Ball and tossed it over to him through the window as Josefumi caught it with ease. He half expected to have run into someone from his class right about now, but he hadn't, which had surprised him just a little bit.

Although he knew Gyro and Gio were watching him back in Italy on the TV. It wouldn't have been too hard for them to get a connection to the Sports Festival.

Josefumi's Bounty increased by 100, giving him a score of 500,100.

He vowed to himself that he was only going to use The Spin to destroy anyone whom he came across during the majority of the Sports Festival, and once he did that, he was going to advance. He already had a free ticket to get in. All he had to do was hide somewhere no one would look for. But that was the cowards' way of fighting. And if there was anything that Gyro taught him during their two weeks together, it was to never be a coward.

"Remember, Josefumi. Never be a coward in a fight. If you do that, then you'll lose respect not only for yourself but for the others around you. That was something I taught your Father during the Steel Ball Run 2.0 all those years ago. Now, I'll tell you, as well. Even in times of stress, even in battles that you think you cannot win, you must always fight to the bitter end. To live and evolve by fighting, and if need be, by killing your opponent. That, JoJo, is The True Man's World."

"Sorry to do that to ya Karera, but I can't hold back," Josefumi said as he put his Steel Ball back into his pocket. Exiting the building, Josefumi was about to dash across the road when an explosion smacked him right in the side of the face, followed by a hallowing familiar "DIE" reverberating around the street.

Out of instinct, Soft & Wet positioned itself to absorb most of the damage, though it still reflected on Josefumi, knocking him to his back before the Joestar quickly got to his feet. Standing in front of him was Bakugo, a smirk on his face.

Bakugo's Bounty was 1/5th the amount he had, however, over his shoulder was Denki Kaminari, who was knocked out and riddled with burns. The explosive boy put Kaminari down on the floor, then kicked him out of the way as he cracked his neck side from side.

There was a look of anger and rage on his face. One not born of competition, but one born of actual malice and anger. For a second, Josefumi could've felt a wave of killing intent drip off of Bakugo. Yet, even so, it was nothing like any of the Stand Users he's faced.

In fact, if he were to compare him to a Stand User he fought and won against… it would have to have been his very first Stand Battle when he turned 10 years old. Even back then, he had a competent control over his abilities that his Great-Grand Uncle hadn't seen in a child with a Quirk, seeing as by that point he was living with his Great Grand Uncle due to something that his father had been going through at the time.

Then again, he was a Joestar, so that might have had something to do with it. They were natural-born prodigies, after all.

"I don't know how the hell you got 3rd place, but that doesn't matter! I'm going to wipe the floor with you!" And without any further delay, Bakugo jetted toward Josefumi, who stood perfectly still.

Even though they hadn't interacted with each other much, Josefumi knew that Bakugo was the type of person who would do anything to win. He could see that look in his eyes. It was one that Gyro said his father had so many years ago. The same with Giorgio when he was still a youngster. Though, unlike his father and Giorgio, Bakugo, from the looks of things, never seemed to grow out of that childish need to become stronger.

"Once I take out Pompadork, I'll go for that annoying whiny Deku next!" Bakugo thought, a snarl on his face. He readied an explosion to hit Josefumi in the face, only for something to slam into his gut, winding him and pre-maturely blowing up his accumulation of nitroglycerin. Josefumi was able to dodge off to the side and avoid most of the explosion. The only downfall was that some of his pristine hair had been singed.

The Steel Ball that Josefumi threw came right back to him he smirked. "As I declared before, I'm not going to use Soft & Wet till the finals. The Spin will carry me through this! I will embody The True Man's World!"

As Josefumi declared that in his thoughts, Bakugo slowly began to pick himself up from the floor, wiping the saliva from his mouth and narrowing his eyes at the pompadour-haired teen. The two stared at one another, both not moving an inch.

Because this was no longer an easy fight.

This was a duel.

-To Be Continued-