The next four days were anything but calm.
Every hour, the campus shifted into a new rhythm—games beginning, students running across courtyards, alarms and announcements echoing through the halls. But amid the chaos, the students had managed to piece together how the system actually worked.
1. The standard games could trigger at any hour—morning, afternoon, or even in the middle of the night—but they always had a cooldown. Once a match ended, the player needed to wait at least two hours before another one could begin. The quickest anyone could start again was after a two hour.
2. The difficulty of each mission was completely random. A C-rank mission could feel deceptively easy and a B-rank be unexpectedly brutal. Each tier increased exponentially in challenge, but so far, no one had reported an A-rank game. Not even among the third or fourth years.
3. The hidden games followed stranger rules. They only activated when a specific number of people entered a particular location. The trick was that every place offered a clue about that number. The bathroom game, for example, triggered only when Raiden entered alone. The library, as another student discovered, required four people to sit at a table before the game would appear. Each location hid its own pattern, forcing students to test combinations to unlock new missions.
4. The rankings were unstable—changing almost every hour. Raiden had jumped from twentieth to first in less than two days, just fall to twelve, but everyone knew it wouldn't last. Dozens of students were tied, rising and falling constantly as new games appeared.
That afternoon, Raiden, Nejire, Tamaki, and Mirio wandered across the sunlit campus together, scanning for clues that might lead to an A-rank game. They'd already tried libraries, gyms, storage rooms—even the botanical lab—but nothing triggered, just C-rank games.
Raiden spoke first, hands in his pockets.
"This can only mean two things," he began. "Either the A-rank missions haven't been activated yet, or—and this sounds more like Nezu—the A-rank missions have special conditions. Something we have to do before they appear."
Nejire tilted her head, floating slightly off the ground as she thought aloud.
"Hmm… like what? A secret achievement? A number of wins? Some kind of riddle?"
Raiden shrugged.
"Could be anything. Points, time, patterns. I overheard a few upper-year students talking—they haven't found a single A-rank either. That tells me this is intentional."
Mirio laughed, energetic as always.
"Same here! I've been spying on the third years and nothing! They're as lost as we are!"
Tamaki sighed, rubbing his temples.
"I heard them say something else though… that the first stage is always the hardest. The next ones are straightforward, but this one—this one's full of riddles and weird rules. Maybe I should just… quit while I'm ahead."
The other three turned toward him instantly.
"No, you don't."
Tamaki flinched, straightening up. "O-okay…"
Nejire laughed softly, patting him on the shoulder while Mirio grinned. The group continued walking through the courtyard, where other students rushed around like treasure hunters on a time limit.
"How many points do you all have now?" Raiden asked, glancing at his watch.
Nejire answered first, spinning midair. "Thirty! One B-rank game and seven C-ranks."
Tamaki followed, looking sheepish. "Twenty-seven. One less C-rank than Nejire."
Mirio grinned wide. "Thirty-six. I found two hidden C-rank games by pure luck. And you, Rai?"
Raiden smirked faintly. "Thirty-nine. One more C-rank game than you."
That put them all near the top of the leaderboard, though the positions changed constantly. A single win—or loss—could shift them down ten places in an hour.
They needed something bigger.
Something that could break the balance.
An A-rank game.
Raiden glanced at his friends, determination flickering in his eyes.
"If we want to stay ahead—and reach the main tournament together—we need to find one of those A-rank missions first."
The others nodded.
"I propose we go back to the classroom," Mirio said, his usual grin breaking through the tension. "When I lose something—like my keys—I retrace my steps. Works every time!"
The others exchanged glances, and Raiden gave a small nod. It was actually a good idea.
None of them had anything urgent to do. Most of the day's C-rank missions were already finished, and the next wave of fixed games wouldn't appear for at least a few hours. So, with little else to go on, they headed back toward the 2-A classroom.
As expected, the place was empty. The air was still, and the desks were scattered exactly as they'd left them. Most of their classmates were still out across the campus, hunting for more missions.
Each of them picked a random chair, and soon the conversation turned back to strategy.
"Sooo," Mirio began, leaning back in his seat, "if we can't find an A-rank game, and we've only seen two B-ranks—the one Raiden and I played—then maybe the logic's the same as the C-ranks. A location plus a number of players. But… nothing points out a B-rank until you're already in it."
Raiden's tail flicked lazily as he thought.
"There's something different, though," he said finally. "The B-rank missions are solo games."
Everyone paused—and then realized he was right.
Each of them had faced their B-rank missions alone.
Tamaki raised a hand weakly. "So… we just need to look for places you have to go alone? Like the bathrooms or the showers? But we already did those, and the games don't repeat."
Nejire nodded thoughtfully. "I also had one at the entrance exam site. Totally solo."
Mirio rubbed his chin, brow furrowed. "Private places, huh? Not many left. Some of the upper years said there was a bedroom game, but when we went to check—nothing. Probably cleared already."
The room fell quiet again. They'd searched almost every building, corridor, and corner that could trigger a solo mission. Even the C-rank ones were getting scarce.
Then Nejire, who had been idly tracing a circle on her desk, suddenly straightened.
"Nee, nee—how many of us are there?"
Raiden blinked. "What do you mean? There are four of us right now."
She shook her head, smiling like she was about to say something obvious.
"Nooo, I mean in our class. 2-A."
Raiden frowned. "Uh… eleven. You already know that."
Nejire's eyes sparkled.
"I see… Then why are there twelve desks?"
The others followed her gaze.
In the far corner of the room, tucked neatly into the line of desks, was an extra seat. A twelfth desk and chair that none of them remembered seeing before.
"Maybe… a mistake?" Tamaki offered weakly. But even as he said it, his voice faltered. None of them believed that.
U.A. didn't make mistakes like that—and certainly not in a building under tournament conditions.
Raiden's pulse quickened. Without another word, his arm began to glow, spreading across his body as light consumed his form. In a blink, Mewtwo stood where he had been, his eyes shining faintly blue.
He extended one hand toward the desk. The air shimmered. Pens rattled, paper trembled. His psychic field brushed across every inch of the seat, dissecting it down to the smallest particle.
And yet…
Nothing.
Just an ordinary desk and chair. No energy signature. No hidden mechanism. No residual Quirk trace.
Mewtwo's eyes narrowed.
"That's… impossible. It's just a normal desk,"
Mewtwo's mental voice echoed through their minds, heavy with disappointment. It truly was just a mistake—an ordinary chair, just a twelfth desk that shouldn't be there.
"W-wait a moment," Tamaki stammered, raising a hand. "Sometimes we're supposed to solve things without relying on our Quirks. What if we used forensic tools from the Support Course? Or maybe…" His voice faded, unsure.
But Nejire didn't wait for the rest of the thought.
In a flash of blue, she darted out of the classroom, leaving the others blinking after her. Barely two minutes later, she burst back through the door carrying a silver suitcase. She hadn't wasted a single second.
"Alright, let's see what this thing's hiding!" she said, kneeling beside the mysterious desk.
Without waiting for instructions, she spread a thin layer of forensic reagent over the surface. At the same time, Raiden lifted a hand, dimming the classroom lights with a faint telekinetic pulse.
The room fell into shadows. Then Nejire clicked on a UV lamp, and soft purple light spilled across the wood.
Jackpot.
A single fingerprint gleamed in the center of the desk—clear, sharp, and perfectly placed. No smudges. No dust. Just one print, right where a hand shouldn't have been.
"Got it!" Nejire grinned, her excitement contagious.
She quickly transferred the fingerprint onto a clear plastic film, sealed it, and shot out the door with the same boundless energy that always seemed to surround her. The others—Raiden, Mirio, and Tamaki—rushed after her, sprinting down the hallway toward the U.A. lab.
They arrived minutes later, slightly out of breath but eager. Inside the lab, the hum of machines filled the air. Nejire moved fast, sliding the sample into a scanner.
"Let's check who it belongs to," Raiden said, his voice calm but focused.
The others crowded around the monitor as the database loaded. In any other moment, they might've laughed this off. But not now. Not when the game itself had been so precise. Just one fingerprint, right in the middle of a classroom they knew too well.
As the system processed the data, a soft beep interrupted them. Their watches glowed in unison.
"Congratulations. C-Rank Game Cleared: Find the Suspicious Desk. +3 Points Awarded to Nejire-chan, Lemillion, Suneater, and Mewtwo."
A C-rank. Not what they expected, but still—progress.
They barely had time to relax when the lab lights flickered. The computer screen glitched, static swallowing the database interface until a single, massive letter appeared in the center of the monitor:
A.
Then lines of text began to appear one by one.
A-Rank Game Opened
Participants: Mewtwo, Lemillion, Suneater, Nejire-chan.
A villain has infiltrated the U.A. campus, disguised as a student.
Your mission is to locate and detain the infiltrator.
Be careful—villains rarely work alone.
Last confirmed location: Simulated Cities, Battle Campus.
Quirk type: Electric.
Detention tools have been placed in the back of your classroom.
Then the screen went black.
For a heartbeat, no one spoke. The only sound was the faint hum of the computers.
And then—
their watches lit up again.
A countdown appeared: 3:59:54
and beneath it, a single line:
If you don't capture the villain before the timer ends, you lose.
All four froze, processing the words—then sprang into motion.
Raiden transformed instantly, his arm glowing before psychic light enveloped his entire body. Mewtwo emerged, sleek and powerful, and lifted Mirio effortlessly with telekinesis. Nejire and Tamaki followed, and in a blur of color and wind, they soared out of the building toward the simulated cities.
At the same time, across campus, seven third-year students heard their own watches beep.
A-Rank Game: "We Are the Bad Guys"
Sometimes, to understand a villain, you must become one.
Today, you are the villains.
You've infiltrated U.A.—but you've been discovered.
Hide. Fight back. Survive.
If the heroes capture you, you lose.
Game Zone: Simulated Cities
Boundary Rule: Leave the perimeter, and you're disqualified.
Time Limit: 4:10:56
The seven exchanged uneasy looks. The objective was clear—resist capture—but the timer told them everything they needed to know. This wasn't a short mission. They'd have to hold out for hours.
If their opponents were teachers, they were doomed. But maybe—just maybe—it was another group of students.
Either way, it was worth it. An A-rank game meant more than thirty points—enough to shake the entire scoreboard.
They didn't hesitate. All seven bolted toward the simulated city, hearts pounding with adrenaline.