Chapter 09: The Race.
At the starting line, the air was a thick, static fog of nervous energy. Dozens of examinees bounced on their heels, stretched their muscles, or muttered to themselves. Kaito, however, stood perfectly still in the middle of the pack, his small frame almost disappearing in the crowd.
The violet glimmer in his eyes, so like his mother's, was steady. He was breathing slowly, pushing his senses. Focus.
His sensory range, usually confined to the space immediately around him, began to expand. It flowed past the massive gate, seeped into the streets of the mock city... and he felt them. Cold, dormant shapes. Robots.
It seems the range of my senses... it depends entirely on my focus. I must learn to concentrate better.
A metallic, synthesized scream ripped through the air, followed by a human one. "ALRIGHT, LISTENERS, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?! THE REAL BATTLE DOESN'T WAIT FOR A COUNTDOWN! GO! GO! GO!"
A moment of collective, stunned silence, and then: chaos.
The crowd surged forward. Kaito felt the sudden hot spike of determination from everyone around him as they scrambled for the gate. He ran with them, his shorter legs working hard to keep up, swallowed by the thundering footsteps.
Inside, the students scattered immediately, peeling off into side streets. Kaito took a sharp right, sensing a target. There. The first one.
A robot was rolling into the center of the intersection. Kaito raised his right hand, a faint, colorless aura gathering, and prepared himself.
A sudden, sharp blue flash—a signature of rigid, engine-fueled energy—shot past him. It was the boy with the glasses, Tenya Iida.
"First blood!" Iida yelled, his leg chopping through the robot's head in a clean, powerful arc. "Two points!" He was gone in a blur, his calf-engines propelling him down the street.
Kaito lowered his hand.
This isn't a test of who can destroy robots. It's a race of who can destroy them first.
He broke into a sprint, pushing his senses ahead, searching for another target. He rounded a corner and saw a strange sight: a cluster of three robots, floating motionlessly in mid-air. Are they flying?
Then they all crashed to the ground simultaneously, exploding on impact. The girl with the light, bubbly energy signature—Uraraka—was standing nearby, pressing her fingertips together. "That's... seven points!"
Kaito felt the fine mist from the explosion hit his face as a drop of sweat ran down his cheek. He had to move.
He sensed it a half-second too late. A three-point robot had emerged from a blind alley behind him. "BACK IS EXPOSED, TARGET!" it boomed, its metallic arm swinging down.
Kaito spun, not with grace, but with desperation. He didn't form a fist. He thrust his open palm forward. The same colorless-purple aura flared around his hand, and he touched the robot's metal chassis an instant before it could touch him.
There was no sound. No impact. Just... FWOOOOSH!
The three-ton robot was launched backward as if it weighed nothing. It flew like a cannonball, BOOOOM, smashing completely through the wall of a concrete building and collapsing in a silent heap of slag.
Kaito stood frozen, his hand still outstretched. He stared at the pale, warm energy that was now fading from his palm. He "looked" at the path of destruction. This... this was the first time he had ever used his power with the intent to harm. The first time in his life he had unleashed it like that.
In a dark monitoring room, the wall of screens flickered.
"My, my," Midnight purred, leaning forward. "He tossed that three-pointer like it was a beach ball. With a single touch."
"But his movements are slow," Director Nezu said from his chair, his eyes fixed on Kaito. "Terribly slow. It's as if he's had zero combat training. He hasn't prepared his body for this exam at all."
"You're right," Midnight agreed. "His Quirk has the potential to land him in first place, but this hesitation... this slowness... will stop him from getting there."
All Might, in his skeletal form, said nothing. He wasn't watching Kaito. His eyes were glued to a different screen, watching a frantic, green-haired boy run uselessly through the streets. He clenched his fists in silent tension.
Kaito was running, panting. His senses were screaming at him. Robot, 20 meters left! By the time he got there, a boy shooting lasers from his navel had already destroyed it. Robot, 40 meters, down the alley! A girl with vines for hair had it ensnared.
This is useless! he thought, his lungs burning. He was too slow. Every target was stolen before he was even in range. He needed a new tactic.
He stopped in the middle of the street, taking a deep breath. He shut out the noise, the explosions, the running. Focus.
The pale, colorless-purple aura enveloped his entire body. He pushed his gravity, not up, but down against the earth, and he began to float. He wobbled dangerously, nearly pitching face-first onto the pavement, but he gritted his teeth and stabilized. He rose, ascending past the second, third, and fourth-story windows.
Reaching the top of a five-story building, he grabbed the ledge, pulling himself over. He stood on the roof, the city laid out before his senses. He scanned. There. Closest.
A two-pointer was rolling into the square below. He also sensed the blue flash—Iida—sprinting toward it at top speed.
Kaito didn't hesitate. He thrust both hands downward. The colorless aura flared. The robot, just as Iida was cocking his leg for the kick, suddenly flew off the ground, rocketing straight up.
Iida's kick passed through empty air. He skidded to a stop, adjusting his glasses, his energy signature pulsing with pure confusion. "What is happening?!"
The robot shot past the roof, hovered in the air before Kaito, and Kaito slammed his hands down. He reversed its gravity, adding his own. The robot didn't fall. It was driven down, smashing into the rooftop with enough force to crack the concrete.
Iida looked up, saw Kaito's silhouette, and his eyes widened. His Quirk... it's like that girl's! He shook his head, engines flaring. "Another competitor!" He sped off.
On the roof, Kaito Kurosawa's violet eyes were already scanning for the next target.
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