The twenty-minute break had that particular quality of intervals between important things—where the body rests, but the mind doesn't, because the mind is already on what comes next.
Mineta used the first ten minutes to hydrate and observe.
What he observed:
Bakugo at the edge of the field with Kirishima, who was speaking while Bakugo listened with that specific attention of his—processing information even if his expression didn't confirm it. Ashido nearby, stretching with the focus of someone preparing her body for what's coming without yet knowing exactly what that is.
Todoroki alone, as almost always, looking at his left hand with an expression that was new. Not his usual calm. Something closer to someone who has done something he didn't expect to do and is still processing what it means.
The fire, Mineta thought. He's looking at his left hand because he can still feel the heat of having used it. And he doesn't fully know what to do with that yet.
Midoriya stood with Uraraka and Tokoyami, the three of them outside the third event, sharing that specific dynamic of people who competed together and are now on the outside looking in. Midoriya already had his notebook open. Uraraka watched the field. Tokoyami held his usual serenity, though something beneath it was more active than normal.
Shinso stood alone at the far end of the participant area, looking at the ground with the concentration of someone processing something that doesn't require interruption from the environment.
He qualified, Mineta thought. With a quirk no one at UA had seen function until today. He knows exactly what that means for what he wants.
That problem arrives when it arrives. First, the bracket.
Midnight stepped onto the central stage exactly at the twenty-minute mark.
— Very well. The third event of the First-Year Sports Festival is the individual combat tournament.
The stands erupted.
Present Mic:
— THE INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT! THE EVENT THAT DECIDES WHO TAKES FIRST PLACE IN THE SPORTS FESTIVAL! ONE-ON-ONE MATCHES UNTIL ONLY ONE STUDENT REMAINS STANDING!
— The participants are the qualifiers from the four Cavalry Battle teams, — Midnight continued. — Sixteen students. Four rounds. The winner of each match advances. — She paused, resting her whip over her shoulder. — Elimination occurs by ring-out, immobilization, or surrender. Quirks are permitted within established safety limits. Matches will be fought in the UA tracksuit. No hero costumes or additional equipment.
No pneumatic shoulder braces. No extended-launch system. No rebound soles, Mineta processed. The spheres and the Resin Protocol function the same. The pneumatic range doesn't.
Work with what you have.
— The bracket will be determined by lottery, — Midnight said. — Now.
The screens displayed a spinning roulette of sixteen names.
From Class 1-A: Bakugo, Todoroki, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Kirishima, Ashido, Mineta.
From Mineta's team: Asui, Shoji, Ojiro.
From 1-B: Tetsutetsu, Kendo, Ibara Shiozaki, Yoarashi Inasa.
From Support: Hatsume Mei.
From General Studies: Shinso Hitoshi.
Qualification was individual-based. From Bakugo's team: Bakugo, Kirishima, Ashido. From Todoroki's team: Todoroki, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Kendo. From Shinso's team: only Shinso, his three teammates having insufficient participation to qualify. From Mineta's team: Mineta, Asui, Shoji, Ojiro. The remaining four spots: Tetsutetsu, Ibara Shiozaki, Yoarashi Inasa, and Hatsume Mei, highest-ranked individuals among eliminated teams.
Sixteen. Four rounds. And in the original canon, Mineta Minoru was never here.
The roulette spun.
FIRST ROUND — INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT
Match 1: Shinso Hitoshi (General Studies) vs Kirishima Eijiro (1-A)
Match 2: Ibara Shiozaki (1-B) vs Hatsume Mei (Support)
Match 3: Iida Tenya (1-A) vs Yoarashi Inasa (1-B)
Match 4: Mineta Minoru (1-A) vs Shoji Mezo (1-A)
Match 5: Yaoyorozu Momo (1-A) vs Ojiro Mashirao (1-A)
Match 6: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (1-B) vs Asui Tsuyu (1-A)
Match 7: Todoroki Shoto (1-A) vs Kendo Itsuka (1-B)
Match 8: Bakugo Katsuki (1-A) vs Ashido Mina (1-A)
Match four. Mineta vs Shoji.
Shoji stood a few meters away. He looked at him as well.
Mineta processed the fact: two hours coordinating without words—and the lottery had placed them against each other in the first round.
Shoji gave a slight nod. With the same economy he would have acknowledged anything else.
Mineta nodded back.
This wasn't a moment for Shoji. It was a moment for Mineta—and that was different.
Shoji had six additional arms covering angles most opponents couldn't defend simultaneously. His mass made pushing him out of the ring a basic physics problem.
But the ring has a floor. And the floor is mine. What Shoji can't cover is what's already compromised before he begins to move.
Preparation before contact. That's the key.
Participants were guided to the waiting area. No change of clothing.
Few spoke.
Todoroki at the end of the room, his left hand with that new activity—as if familiarizing himself with the sensation that it was available. Yaoyorozu looking at her notebook without writing. Bakugo had read the bracket long enough and since then stared at the ring: match eight against Ashido, and when he'd seen the name there had been that minimal adjustment of someone who had already made all relevant decisions. Iida stood straight-backed, eyes shifting between the screens and the empty space ahead, calculating distances that did not yet exist.
Shinso in the farthest corner, alone, looking at the floor.
Asui near a window, studying the ring with her usual attention. Shoji occupying more space than usual simply by existing, arms folded in. Ojiro stretching his tail slowly, eyes on the bracket.
Kirishima stood near Mineta. He alternately clenched his fists, hardening appearing and disappearing across his knuckles.
— Hey. — He turned toward Mineta without fully taking his eyes off the ring. — Shinso. First match. Against me.
— Yeah.
— I saw it on the bracket. — A brief pause, knuckles tightening. — I just wanted to say it out loud.
A moment.
— I don't know what he has. But he has something. I noticed it in the Cavalry Battle when Sero and Kaminari… — He stopped. — I don't know how to describe it.
— Don't respond to anything he says, — Mineta said.
— You already told me.
— I'm telling you again.
Kirishima kept his fist clenched.
— Is it mental?
— He needs you to answer for it to work. If you don't give him that, he has nothing to work with.
— And if he provokes me?
— Hit him, — Mineta said. — A physical response doesn't help him. Only verbal.
Kirishima looked at him for a second. Then he smiled—not his usual wide grin, but something smaller, more grounded.
— That I can do.
— I know.
Kirishima released his fist and looked back at the ring. The hardening faded slowly from his knuckles.
Mineta shifted his gaze to Shinso.
Still. Focused. With that quality of someone who has been preparing something in silence for a long time.
You're going against someone who knows not to answer you. That's different from everything you've faced so far.
What does Shinso do when he can't use his quirk?
Whatever happened in that ring was genuinely unpredictable.
And that's the most interesting thing that's happened all day.
Present Mic's voice boomed through the stadium:
— LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, THE INDIVIDUAL TOURNAMENT BEGINS NOW! FIRST MATCH: SHINSO HITOSHI OF GENERAL STUDIES VERSUS KIRISHIMA EIJIRO OF CLASS 1-A!
Kirishima stood. Rolled his shoulders once, like releasing something, and became still. He looked at Mineta for a second without speaking.
Mineta nodded.
Kirishima nodded back.
And stepped toward the ring.
End of Episode 32.