Team Shinso remained outside the electrical blast.
Midoriya watched Todoroki freeze the center of the arena.
"They planned the order. Kaminari stopped everyone first, then Todoroki froze them before they could evade."
Shinso looked toward the immobilized teams.
"And left their headbands exposed."
Todoroki collected two as he passed.
Kaminari's discharge had stunned more than just the teams caught directly between Todoroki and Team Fushiguro. A cluster of students further out had been hit too, and while Todoroki was busy freezing the ground around Megumi, Team Monoma had swept through the stunned formations behind him, stripping three headbands off riders too dazed to fight back.
Team Shinso hadn't lost any headbands.
They'd simply been passed.
The scoreboard shifted.
They fell to fifth.
Uraraka looked up.
"We're outside the top 4."
"Then we need more points," Shinso said.
Midoriya searched the field.
Most low-value teams had already lost their headbands. The remaining points were concentrated around the strongest riders.
Megumi carried ten million.
Todoroki had stayed in second.
Bakugo had collected enough stolen bands to stay in third.
A Class 1-B formation raced nearby, Tetsutetsu at the front, two headbands hanging around the rider's neck.
Midoriya pointed.
"There."
Hatsume's eyes lit up.
"Maximum thrust?"
"Controlled thrust."
"That's less fun."
"Controlled."
Hatsume fired the engine.
Team Shinso surged forward.
Tetsutetsu looked back.
"Hey! It's you! You teamed up with 1-A!"
Shinso looked at him, flat and humorless. "I'll take whatever gets me into the hero course. Teaming up included."
"That's kind of pathetic, ain't it?"
His face emptied.
"Hand me the headband."
The rider removed the higher-value strip and held it out.
Shinso took it.
Midoriya's jaw tightened, but he didn't ask anything this time. He'd already seen exactly what that face going blank meant, back when Shinso had turned another rider around without laying a hand on him.
Uraraka looked back at the dazed team anyway.
"Doesn't get any less weird to watch."
Shinso tied the band around his neck. "Everyone here uses the quirk they were born with. It's the only one I've got." Something harder crept into his voice, worn in from a lot of use. "I've had this quirk my whole life, and I've heard people call it 'villainous' more times than I can count, from people who never once watched me actually use it on anyone. Doesn't matter what I do with it. The shape of it alone is enough for most people to make up their minds." He shrugged, like the subject bored him more than it bothered him. "So I stopped caring what it looks like from the outside a long time ago. I just use it."
Midoriya didn't say anything for a moment. There wasn't an obvious response to that, and he didn't want to make it worse by trying to force one. Something about it sat closer to him than he expected, a feeling he recognized without wanting to examine too closely right now, a version of being judged for something about himself he'd never gotten to choose.
"That's a lot to carry," he said finally.
"It's not carrying anything. It's just true." Shinso's tone had already gone flat again, the moment closed as quickly as it had opened. "Doesn't mean I need anyone feeling sorry about it. I'd rather be useful."
"I get it," Midoriya said, quieter than he meant to. "More than you'd probably guess."
Shinso glanced at him, something briefly curious in it, but didn't push for more.
The scoreboard updated.
Team Shinso returned to fourth place.
Shinso looked toward the final minutes on the timer.
"We protect what we have."
Midoriya continued watching Team Fushiguro.
Something in his expression shifted.
"No."
Shinso looked down.
"No?"
"If we only defend, one stolen headband knocks us out."
Midoriya pointed toward Todoroki's growing collection.
"We need insurance."
Shinso followed his gaze.
"You want to attack one of them."
"I want to win."
For the first time, Shinso looked genuinely interested.
"Good."
...
Three minutes remained.
Team Fushiguro still held the ten million.
They had added two smaller headbands through counterattacks. One had been taken by Dark Shadow while protecting Megumi. The other had been created when Momo's staff knocked a loose strip into Kirishima's reach.
Enough to advance if they lost the ten million.
Barely.
Momo looked toward the scoreboard.
"We cannot rely on these points."
Tokoyami watched the other teams.
"The strongest predators are gathering."
Team Bakugo approached from the left.
Team Todoroki from the right.
Team Shinso remained farther behind them.
Megumi looked toward Iida.
Smoke leaked faintly from the engines in his calves.
"He's building up to something," Megumi said.
Todoroki's eyes narrowed, the reaction of someone who knew exactly what that smoke meant even if Megumi didn't.
Momo looked back.
"You expect a burst of acceleration?"
"I don't know what it is. I know it's not normal for him."
Kirishima planted his feet.
"How fast?"
"I don't know."
Jiro pressed both earphone jacks into the ground.
"He knows," she said, meaning Megumi.
Todoroki answered without looking at her.
"Then we make him defend another direction."
He raised his right arm.
Ice spread across the field, forcing Team Fushiguro toward Bakugo.
Bakugo grinned.
"Finally."
Sero's tape pulled their formation forward.
Mina spread acid beneath Sato's feet.
Team Bakugo accelerated into the narrowing lane.
Megumi summoned Kuro.
It rushed towards Bakugo's left side.
Bakugo blasted it away.
Dark Shadow came from the right.
Bakugo fired again.
Both defenses opened.
Iida's engines screamed.
"Everyone, hold on!"
Todoroki glanced down.
"Iida?"
"This is what I've been saving it for."
Blue fire burst from his calves.
"Torque Over."
Megumi's shadow spread beneath the formation.
Too late.
"Recipro Burst!"
Team Todoroki vanished.
Present Mic shot out of his chair.
"What happened?!"
The pressure struck from Megumi's blind side.
Iida crossed the distance before Dark Shadow could turn.
Jiro had guided the angle through vibrations in the ground.
Todoroki reached across the gap.
His hand closed around the ten-million-point band.
Megumi caught his wrist.
For one second, neither released.
Iida's acceleration dragged both formations forward.
The cloth tightened against Megumi's forehead.
Then it tore free.
Todoroki carried the headband away.
Team Todoroki skidded across the arena.
Smoke poured from Iida's engines.
His legs locked.
The scoreboard changed.
1ST: TEAM TODOROKI
The stadium erupted.
Present Mic nearly lost his voice.
"TODOROKI STOLE THE TEN MILLION!"
Megumi watched him tie the band around his neck.
Kirishima stared.
"That speed was insane."
"Iida can't move properly now," Megumi said.
Momo looked toward the remaining time.
1:42
"We still have enough points to qualify."
"For now," Tokoyami said.
Bakugo changed direction immediately.
His eyes fixed on Todoroki.
"GET BACK HERE, HALF-AND-HALF!"
Sato drove after Team Todoroki.
Team Shinso began moving too.
Megumi looked toward the scoreboard.
Team Fushiguro had fallen to fourth.
Team Shinso sat third, separated by one headband.
If either team lost anything, the rankings would change.
Megumi lowered one hand.
"We take more points."
Kirishima looked back.
"From Todoroki?"
"We're getting the ten million."
...
Bakugo reached Todoroki first.
Iida's engines coughed beneath the formation.
Jiro listened to the approaching blasts.
"Above us!"
Todoroki raised an ice wall.
Bakugo blasted through it.
Sero's tape anchored their team to the ground while Sato absorbed the impact.
Mina melted the ice spreading toward their feet.
Bakugo reached for the headbands around Todoroki's neck.
Todoroki leaned away.
Ice climbed Bakugo's arm.
Bakugo detonated it before it could spread.
"Half-and-half bastard!"
Jiro's earphone jack struck toward Bakugo's wrist.
Sero intercepted it with tape.
The two lines tangled.
Mina pulled.
Jiro nearly lost her position.
Kaminari raised one hand.
Only a weak spark appeared.
"Whey."
Todoroki clicked his tongue.
Team Shinso approached through the opening created by the clash.
Midoriya saw the headbands hidden beneath one another around Todoroki's neck.
"They took them in order and never had time to sort them."
Shinso studied the order.
"The ten million went on last."
"It should be on top."
Uraraka reduced their weight further.
Hatsume adjusted the engine.
"Maximum thrust."
"Controlled thrust," Midoriya said.
"We're past controlled."
The engine fired.
Team Shinso launched toward Todoroki.
Jiro heard them.
"Behind!"
Todoroki turned.
Midoriya raised one arm.
Green energy flickered through it.
Todoroki's eyes widened.
For one instant, fire threatened to ignite along his left side.
He stopped it.
That hesitation was enough.
Midoriya swept his arm past Todoroki without striking.
His fingers caught one of the upper headbands.
He tore it free.
"I got it!"
Hatsume looked at the strip.
"Two hundred and five points."
Midoriya stared.
"That's not the ten million."
Jiro had shifted the bands when Todoroki stole them.
Shinso looked toward her.
"Good thinking."
Jiro glared at him.
"Don't talk to me."
Her expression emptied.
Todoroki saw the change.
"Jiro?"
Shinso pointed away from Team Fushiguro's approaching formation.
"Turn right."
Jiro obeyed.
Her movement pulled Team Todoroki off balance.
Iida could not correct fast enough with his stalled engines.
Megumi saw the opening.
"Toad."
A tongue shot from his shadow and caught the two-hundred-and-five-point strip in Midoriya's hand.
Midoriya tightened his grip.
Megumi pulled.
The headband snapped between them, but the Velcro held.
Team Fushiguro closed from the left.
Dark Shadow struck past Midoriya and tore a smaller band from Todoroki's neck.
Tokoyami caught it.
The scoreboard changed.
Team Fushiguro climbed to third.
Team Shinso fell to fourth.
Midoriya looked toward the points in his hand.
"We still need more."
Shinso released Jiro.
She blinked and nearly lost her grip on Iida's shoulder.
"What happened?"
"He controls anyone who answers him," Todoroki said.
Jiro's eyes sharpened.
"So that's his quirk."
The secret was gone.
Now every nearby team knew.
Shinso looked unimpressed.
"Took them long enough."
...
Forty seconds remained.
Bakugo tore two lower-value headbands from Todoroki during the confusion.
Team Todoroki still held first through the ten million. Team Bakugo hadn't moved out of second all match. Neither of them was going anywhere with less than a minute left.
Team Fushiguro held third.
Team Shinso sat fourth after Midoriya's two-hundred-and-five-point capture.
The rest of the field hadn't been eliminated, technically. Realistically, none of them had enough points left on the clock to close the gap. Whatever the other formations were still doing out on the fringes, everyone on the field seemed to understand it at the same moment. The real fight had narrowed down to four teams, circling each other, with nobody else close enough to make a difference.
The order among those four was still wide open. Third and fourth were close enough to flip with a single headband.
Present Mic shouted over the final scramble.
"IT'S PRACTICALLY DOWN TO FOUR TEAMS NOW, LISTENERS! EVERYONE ELSE WOULD NEED A MIRACLE TO CATCH UP, AND THE ORDER AT THE TOP IS STILL ANYONE'S GAME!"
Bakugo looked toward Todoroki's ten-million-point band anyway.
"We're not done."
Sero stared at the timer.
"We already have second!"
"I said we're not done."
Sato leaned forward.
"Then move."
Mina spread acid.
Team Bakugo launched again.
Megumi watched them.
"Let Bakugo draw the ice."
Momo created a hooked staff.
Tokoyami spread Dark Shadow wide.
Kirishima hardened fully.
Bakugo attacked from above.
Todoroki raised ice.
The explosion shattered it into a cloud of frozen fragments.
Megumi sent Nue through the debris.
Its wings scattered the ice and opened the route.
Team Fushiguro charged.
Jiro heard them.
"Front!"
Todoroki turned.
Great Serpent erupted from the shadow beneath his ice.
Its body rose between the formations and forced Team Todoroki sideways.
Iida's engines sputtered.
They could not escape.
Megumi reached for the ten-million-point band.
Todoroki froze the air between them.
Momo's staff hooked one of the smaller bands instead.
She tore it free.
"Enough to secure third!"
Megumi saw Team Shinso approaching behind them.
Midoriya's eyes were fixed on the same cluster of headbands.
He was not aiming for the ten million anymore.
He was calculating what they needed.
"Tokoyami," Megumi said.
Dark Shadow shifted to defend the right.
Midoriya changed course.
He used the opening between Bakugo and Todoroki to reach Team Fushiguro instead.
Uraraka reduced their weight to almost nothing.
Hatsume's engine fired.
Team Shinso rose from the ground in a short leap.
Shinso leaned from the rider position.
"Fushiguro."
Megumi looked up.
Shinso smiled faintly.
"You're going to lose."
Megumi did not answer.
"Tch!" Shinso said.
Midoriya reached beneath Dark Shadow's guard.
His hand closed around the lowest-value band around Megumi's neck.
Kirishima turned.
The formation shifted.
Midoriya tore the headband free before Dark Shadow could catch him.
The scoreboard updated.
Team Shinso moved into third.
Team Fushiguro dropped to fourth.
Ten seconds remained.
Present Mic began counting.
"Ten!"
Bakugo blasted toward Todoroki.
"Nine!"
Jiro detected him and warned the team.
"Eight!"
Todoroki raised another ice wall, attention split between Bakugo bearing down from one side and Great Serpent still coiled between the frozen wreckage on the other.
"Seven!"
Great Serpent shattered through the wall from behind, and in the half second Todoroki spent flinching away from Bakugo's charge, he didn't see Kuro coming in low along the ground at all.
"Six!"
Kuro's jaws closed around the ten-million-point strip and yanked.
"Five!"
Todoroki felt it give and grabbed for it on instinct, catching the edge before it tore free entirely.
"Four!"
Megumi reached through the gap Great Serpent had opened, closing his hand over Todoroki's wrist the same way Todoroki had closed over his minutes earlier.
"Three!"
For one second, neither of them let go.
Heat flickered along Todoroki's left side, there and gone before it could take shape, a reflex he crushed the instant he felt it building.
"Two!"
Bakugo's explosion caught the ice wall from the other side, and the shockwave was enough to break Todoroki's grip half a heartbeat before Megumi's.
"One!"
The headband came free.
The horn sounded before Megumi had even finished pulling it back.
Every team stopped.
Bakugo hung above Todoroki for half a second before Sero's tape pulled him back.
Momo's staff remained inches from Kaminari's headband.
Dark Shadow hovered over Team Shinso.
Great Serpent froze in the middle of the shattered ice.
Then Megumi dismissed it.
The enormous construct dissolved into shadow, and the ten-million-point band stayed exactly where it was, tied around his own forehead once more.
The stadium screens flashed.
TIME
Present Mic's voice rolled across the arena.
"THE CAVALRY BATTLE IS OVER!"
The final rankings appeared.
...
1st Place: Team Fushiguro
Megumi Fushiguro
Eijiro Kirishima
Momo Yaoyorozu
Fumikage Tokoyami
...
Megumi looked at the ten-million-point headband, still tied around his own forehead.
He had taken first place back with less than a second on the clock.
Kirishima let out a breath that turned into a laugh halfway through.
"We actually got it back."
"Barely," Momo said, sitting down without much ceremony, the shield generation having clearly taken more out of her than she wanted to admit.
Tokoyami settled beside her, Dark Shadow curling small and quiet against his shoulder, spent.
"For a moment I was certain we had lost it for good."
"So was I," Megumi admitted.
Kirishima grinned. "You didn't look like it."
"I wasn't going to look like it in front of the entire stadium."
...
2nd Place: Team Todoroki
Shoto Todoroki
Tenya Iida
Kyoka Jiro
Denki Kaminari
...
Todoroki stared at his own empty neck where the headband had been a second earlier.
He had held first place for almost the entire final stretch.
It hadn't been enough.
Jiro exhaled. "We almost kept it."
Iida lowered his head. "My engines became useless after Recipro Burst. I apologize for the burden."
Kaminari raised both thumbs.
"Whey."
Jiro stared at him.
"He's still gone."
Todoroki looked across the field toward Megumi, something unreadable behind his eyes.
...
3rd Place: Team Bakugo
Katsuki Bakugo
Rikido Sato
Hanta Sero
Mina Ashido
...
Mina let her arms drop. "Third."
Sero sagged with relief anyway. "We advanced. That's what matters."
Sato slowly lowered their formation. Bakugo remained on his shoulders, face gone frighteningly still.
"I had it," Bakugo said. "I had my hands on him."
"You had your hands on Todoroki," Mina said. "Not Fushiguro."
"Same thing."
"It is really not the same thing."
Bakugo's palms began smoking.
"Third."
Sato didn't look up. "We advanced."
"I said I'd take first."
No one answered.
...
4th Place: Team Shinso
Hitoshi Shinso
Izuku Midoriya
Ochaco Uraraka
Mei Hatsume
...
Midoriya stared at the result.
"We made it."
Uraraka's knees weakened as she released Zero Gravity.
Hatsume threw both hands toward the cameras.
"And every support company saw my babies!"
Shinso remained seated for several seconds.
His name filled one of the stadium screens.
Professional heroes discussed him in the stands. Some looked impressed. Others appeared uneasy.
Everyone knew his quirk now.
They also knew what he had done with it.
Midoriya looked up at him.
"You planned to join our team from the start."
"Once I saw the obstacle-race results."
"Because I came second."
"Because the other three didn't need me."
Shinso looked toward Megumi, Todoroki, and Bakugo.
"People already believed their strength would carry them through. Your team had enough room for me to show off."
Shinso looked away.
...
Midnight returned to the platform.
"Congratulations to the sixteen students advancing to the final round!"
The crowd cheered as the names remained displayed above the field.
...
Fushiguro.
Kirishima.
Yaoyorozu.
Tokoyami.
Todoroki.
Iida.
Jiro.
Kaminari.
Bakugo.
Sato.
Sero.
Mina.
Shinso.
Midoriya.
Uraraka.
Hatsume.
...
Sixteen competitors.
Only one champion.
Present Mic leaned toward his microphone.
"We'll take a one-hour lunch break before the afternoon festivities!"
Aizawa stood from his chair.
"Wake me when it starts."
"You're already awake."
"Unfortunately."
Students began leaving the field.
Hatsume chased a camera operator toward the tunnel while explaining the engine's maximum output.
Uraraka hurried after her.
"Your equipment almost threw us into another team!"
"That means the steering needs improvement!"
"That's what you learned?"
Iida walked stiffly while his engines recovered.
Jiro supported one side of him.
Kaminari shuffled behind them with both thumbs raised.
"Whey."
Bakugo passed Megumi near the arena exit.
He stopped for half a second.
"You got lucky."
"Maybe."
"Won't matter next round. No team for you to hide behind." Bakugo's palms crackled faintly, just from the memory of the fight. "Just you and me. I'm not holding anything back."
"I wasn't expecting you to."
Todoroki approached from the opposite side, empty-handed now, the ten-million-point headband long gone from him.
"You held onto it by half a second."
"I know how close it was."
"I won't be holding anything back next time." Todoroki's gaze sharpened. "Whatever's left of you after Bakugo's finished, I intend to take apart myself."
"Assuming I make it past him."
"You will," Todoroki said, like the alternative wasn't worth considering.
Bakugo stepped between them.
"Don't talk about me like I'm a speed bump." His glare swung over to Todoroki. "And if I end up facing you instead, half-and-half, I'll blow you straight to hell. Don't even think about beating me with those half-assed attempts you keep pulling. Go all out or don't bother showing up."
Todoroki walked away without even bothering to respond.
...
Shinso looked from the three students blocking the entrance to the scoreboard above them.
Megumi.
Todoroki.
Bakugo.
"This year's big three," Shinso said, mostly to himself, though loud enough to carry. "Same as the third-years have theirs. Guess U.A.'s never short on that particular problem."
Every student in the stadium understood the label now, even if no one had said it aloud until just now.
Shinso slipped his hands into his pockets.
The tournament would give him the chance to break it.
...
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