Chapter 24 - A Measured Sword
Yaoyorozu was a smart girl, someone who would always get a perfect grade in whatever subject she was studying.
Some labeled her a prodigy, even more of them had called her a genius, but as much as she liked to believe that, Yaoyorozu knew the truth.
Ever since she had faced Emiya Shirou in that training exercise several days ago, she knew the difference between what she was and the touted 'genius' her old peers all thought that she was.
A genius was someone who was above their peers by a substantial degree, one who was awed from a distance by those who could not compete.
A genius was someone whose peers could only compete against them through sheer effort, determination, and hard work – enough so that it'd make the genius' efforts utterly pale in comparison – all in order to catch up to him.
Perhaps in the past, they were correct. Yaoyorozu could certainly be called a genius… but what happens to a genius when they were surpassed?
"–followed him! Fellow class 1-A student and tied in the entrance exams with the first-year speaker, Bakugo Katsuki, Emiya Shirou!"
Yaoyorozu was a genius before, but she was far from being called one now. Now, she was the one who had to work hard to catch up.
The frozen towering machines came tumbling down like overgrown paperweights, creating enough panic below it that the other students ahead of her had to scramble to retreat.
She was the biggest fish in her pond, but now that wasn't so. There were others who were ready to usurp her place should she be lax, and those who had already usurped her.
The current first-place in the obstacle course, Todoroki Shoto, and the second, Emiya Shirou.
Out of all their peers, they had clawed their way to the top, including herself. Granted, it was a race so her own quirk wasn't going to be much help on the physical side of things, but it was still somewhat frustrating to see how far away they were.
When she stared at their swiftly advancing forms, with a palace of ice collapsing behind them, she could only stare in reluctant awe.
It was like their backs carried something more than her, but she didn't know what it was.
That thought made her feel… something.
She shook the distracting thoughts away and focused on the objective, namely getting around or through the gigantic lumbering machinery before her. Perhaps she could try to run around beneath their legs?
No, that wouldn't work. Yaoyorozu wasn't physically weak or anything, in fact, she was one of the fittest in her age bracket. She'd need to be if she wanted to sustain her quirk, especially since it consumed her lipids every time she used it.
Which means I shouldn't use my quirk as much. There are still two more events after this race, after all.
However, even with a healthy body, she wouldn't be able to run fast enough under those robots. She didn't even know how Emiya managed to do it, seeing as he had a somewhat similar quirk to her.
As the other students were figuring out how to get past the robots, and the subsequent wreckage that Todoroki had left behind, Yaoyorozu considered her own idea.
It'd open up a way for others, but she didn't have any other way through subtly.
She'd have to force her way through.
Yaoyorozu preemptively tried to use her quirk but instantly noticed something wrong, which she rectified quickly.
She wouldn't be able to create what she wanted with her clothing in the way. Tearing it open from the front seemed prudent.
"Yaomomo!" She heard Jiro shout in what sounded like aghast horror. "What're you doing!? Put your shirt back on!"
Still concentrating on what she'd be creating, Yaoyorozu spared but a single hand for a reassuring thumbs-up.
"Don't worry, I still have my underwear on!"
"That's not the problem here!"
A sudden burst of metal from the wreckage in front of them dragged their attention. Tetsutetsu from Class-1B burst out of the heap of wrecked steel and said some words. He wasn't close enough for Yaoyorozu to hear.
Coincidentally, Kirishima had also burst from the wreckage earlier. They were both making their way over the robots manually, with no fear of getting crushed by them.
"–RAAHH!"
Yaoyorozu's concentration lapsed for a split second as she saw the explosions leading up and above the machinery, most likely from Bakugo torpedoing himself past the obstacle.
She saw her other classmates, and some from Class-1B, start to make their own way through the obstacle. Compared to the vast majority of them, she was behind.
What happens when a genius was surpassed?
What happens when they were left behind by those who worked a hundred or a thousand times harder?
The moment Yaoyorozu finished creating her object, she used it.
The sound of a 'Mortar's' cannon fire impacted a nearby giant, blasting its head back as if it was a mere toy. It cleared the way for a bit, but there were more giant machines behind it.
Not enough.
She fired another shot, and another, and another.
Not enough!
When she fired the last mortar shot, a path had been cleared for her – and unfortunately others – to use.
When a genius is surpassed, all they need to do to get back their position… is do the same.
Work.
Hard.
"Piece of cake."
Those words slipped through her mouth before she could catch herself, but ultimately it meant nothing.
Before her peers could realize what happened, Yaoyorozu put her feet into motion and rushed past them, past the students standing in wonder and awe, and past the crumbling giants from her onslaught.
A genius is someone who is awed at from a distance by those who could not compete…
"Thank you, Yaoyorozu-san!"
"Nice job, Yaomomo!"
A rushing Iida Tenya and Kyoka Jiro made their way past her.
"Thank you, Class A!"
"An opportunity beckons me!"
The copy-quirk user who was her ally once glided past her whilst merged to the scorched-black floor, followed by a tuft of white hair and inky black skin.
"Thanks!"
"See ya later, Momo!"
Sato Rikido rand and Ashido Mina slid farther away from her.
"Hello, and farewell."
The mind controller rushed past her on the back of her once-enemy and likely mentally captured peer, Shishida Jurota.
Now, however, there were others who could compete.
She needed to work harder. Hard enough to catch up to them – the ones who stand at the zenith.
Don't wait for me, Todoroki, Bakugo, Emiya. I'll catch up to you all soon!
Shirou inhaled carefully, regulating his breath, and exhaled shortly after.
Trying to run over the trail of ice before him was a task that Shirou never thought he'd ever thought that he'd be doing in his lifetime, but here he was, using another pair of traced boots to run across it.
Even though Todoroki was ahead of him, he was technically still in the top three students for the obstacle course, at least for now. There was no telling when a student would end up passing him by, especially considering Shirou was only using the bare minimum of reinforcement for the course.
There wasn't any point in using his reinforcement to the fullest. Shirou still didn't believe that there was any reason to give it his utter best.
Bakugo had long since passed him by, screaming his usual profanities as he did so. That had been a minute or two ago, yet Shirou knew he was still keeping pace with the explosive teen.
He could still hear his classmate, screaming after all.
Deciding to take a peek back at the towering robots behind him, he found that they began falling over. Their heads caving in as if something had impacted them, most likely a cannonball.
Either it was someone with a suitable quirk, or it was Yaoyorozu. She could probably make something to take them down.
"Hey, hey! The first obstacle's a piece of cake?" Present-Mic's echoing voice arose. "Then what about the second?"
In less than a second after the announcement, Shirou saw it.
A ravine filled with differently shaped pillars of stone, each with loosely hanging ropes in between them.
"If you fall, you're out! If you don't wanna fall, then crawl!"He bellowed. "It's 'The Fall!'"
Shirou frowned, noticing Todoroki's ice trail had faded away already, and promptly detraced his boots.
Isn't this a bit too dangerous? What if someone fell down there!?
Shirou took a peek below, but all he could see was pitch black in an endless cascade of darkness. Using reinforcement on his eyes, which was reckless and he knew it, he managed to see that there was a large rubber net below that would catch them if they did fall.
With that worry out of the way, the third-rate magus mentally addressed the situation.
Getting through this obstacle as fast as possible would be a good idea, but taking the loosely hanging ropes would undoubtedly be the slowest route.
Bakugo was already flying over it, and Todoroki was freezing over some of the rope and sliding his way forth. Between him, the third place in the race so far, and the top two, the distance was quite large.
Luckily for Shirou, the distance between the ravine pillars wasn't that large in some areas.
Before anyone else arrived, Shirou traced a simple spear and ran straight ahead.
It's been a while since the last time he tried pole vaulting.
Before he reached the end of the platform, he jabbed the spear into the ground, which bent it into an odd arc, and leaped into the sky. With his minor reinforcement, he was able to traverse the distance quite easily.
He didn't waste any time landing on the closest platform, rolling forward instead of landing on his feet, and tracing another spear.
"And now, the leader of the pack is easily getting through first!"
Todoroki already finished, which meant Bakugo was close to doing so too.
If Shirou kept this pole-vaulting up, then he'd reach the other side at an alright pace. He could've simply reinforced further and leapt the distance without the need of the pole but that wouldn't be right.
Also, he couldn't really feasibly explain some of the resulting superhuman movement with a sword-creating quirk. Any reasoning he'd have would be quite a stretch.
By the time he was across, he saw the other students finally arriving at the very start of 'The Fall' platform.
Asui Tsuyu was already climbing her way through, alongside a slew of other students who were making their own unique ways across. Shirou was even sure that a girl with vines for hair – Ibara Shiozaki if he recalled correctly – was making her own path whilst shaking off anyone who latched on.
Everyone was trying their best, that was good.
"The lead pack is a step ahead, but below them, everyone's clumped together!" Present-Mic shouted. "They haven't announced how many people will make it through, so you can't relax! Push forward!"
Deciding to waste no more time, Shirou pushed on forth the path and climbed a set of red stairs before him. The third obstacle was basically on the horizon.
"Did you see that!?" Yu shouted as she latched onto Shinji's back, which looked more like she was choking the life out of him. "He just vaulted over the ravine! I mean, I can do the same with my quirk, but did you see that!?"
"Yes, yes I did, Yu! Now can you stop choking me!"
Scratch that, she was actually choking the life out of him.
Takeyama Yu complied and let Nishiya Shinji go, much to the wood-quirk user's appreciation.
"Your son is certainly doing well," Shinji decided to comment after regaining his breath. "Being consistently third out of all of those participants is not an easy feat to achieve."
"I know right?" Yu cheered. However, the smile on her face dropped as she sighed. She turned back to the screen with a look of conflict as she ate a ball of Takoyaki.
"Still 'on the fence'?"
"Yeap," Yu replied. "The weird thing is that I don't see anything wrong, but I'm still worried deep down. Weird, right?"
Shinji decidedly shook his head in disagreement. "Although it may seem that way, it is alright for you to be worried. It is something that all parents go through, or at least it is from what I observed. Even if they are in the safest place in the world, a mother will worry."
"… Those are some smooth words, wood-boy," Yu playfully jabbed. "You get all the single mothers like that?"
"N-No! I would never–!"
Yu just laughed louder. "I'm just screwing around! No need to get your panties in a twist."
… but thanks anyway.
As Shinji calmed himself down, Yu turned back to the race.
Shirou was still running – no surprise there – but there were others behind him who were quickly catching up.
She wasn't going to be hard on him if he didn't get a good spot on the leader boards, but his quirk wouldn't be able to help here anyway. She was just surprised that he was close to the number one position for so long.
Maybe she'd treat him to some Takoyaki later, that'd be good. It'd be a nice reward, and not just because there was a chance that he could find out how to make a better version.
Yeap, no ulterior motive here folks.
"… Farran-san! Look how well Shoto's doing!"
"I see it, Todoroki. You don't have to shout."
"I-I was just making sure you heard! There's a lot of people around here."
… and she was just starting to get into a good mood too.
She couldn't stop her head from pivoting behind her. In doing so, Shinji followed suit and caught the sight of a wonderfully familiar waitress in a jacket and an equally familiar yet not as wonderful cafe owner in his usual garb.
"We need a place with a good view… Oh wait, look! It's Takeyama-san, let's go say hi! Maybe they'll let us watch with them!"
Farran sighed and nodded in reluctance. "As you wish."
"Greetings, Todoroki and Farran," Shinji started as they approached. Which was good, seeing as Yu would've only greeted one of them. "What brings you two here? I had thought that you would be busy managing your cafe."
Hmm.
"Yeah, that is kinda weird," Yu pointed out.
"With all the people here, there's hardly any point," Farran coolly stated, sighing to himself somewhat. "Most of our regulars opted to see the venues here, along with the U.A. sports festival of course. We get occasional customers but Setsuno should be able to handle the small amount just fine."
"No, I meant that it's weird that you'd be here," Yu emphasized. There was a difference.
He rose a brow. "And you've apparently known me long enough to know that? Color me surprised."
If she wasn't a Professional Hero, she'd probably try to sock him. There was a reason it had 'Professional' in the title.
Still tempting though.
"I suppose you could humor her?" Shinji tried to placate. "She does have a point. I do not see much reason for someone such as yourself to be here."
Thanks, Shinji.
"I invited him!" Fuyumi called out. "I wanted to see Shoto in the tournament and asked for a leave, but I thought that Farran-san would've been bored so I asked him to come."
"I would've been perfectly fine tending to the cafe, Todoroki," the tanned man murmured. "I still don't know why Setsuno even thought it was a good idea."
"You've been working too much! Every day on my shift, you're always working." Fuyumi pushed. "You need to take a break every once in a while. Working too much isn't good for you."
That was the same argument that her secretary liked to use. Yu momentarily frowned at the thought of a mountain of paperwork slowly growing. Maybe she could sympathize with him for just a little…
Nah, no way, no way in hell. Not even if All-Might asked– begged her to on his meaty knees.
Yu trusted this guy as much as far as she could throw a whole mountain, which was an inch or two. She trusted him enough to train Shirou, but she wasn't going to completely trust him at all. Not one bit.
If even Aizawa, of all people, thought of the tanned cafe owner as someone to be wary about, then she was going to damn well be wary of him!
Not openly of course – which she admittedly failed somewhat here – because that'd be a surefire way to end her career. She could see the headlines now, 'Pro-Hero bullies poor cafe owner'.
Yeah, not worth it.
"Landmines…?" Fuyumi muttered. "That's kinda dangerous, right?"
Yu blinked and refocused on the screen. There was a lot she missed out from her inner deliberations.
"Shoto's taking it slow here," Fuyumi added with a murmur. "I wonder why?"
"Rushing forward without caution would likely be detrimental. He's thinking with a calm and rational mind. Nothing out of the ordinary."
"But… Shoto has his ice," Fuyumi said as she put out a good point.
"He's likely conserving his power. Using it here when it could be avoided would be a waste. There are still two more events directly after this."
Yu blinked as she heard the answer.
That didn't come from Shinji.
She turned to Archer with a raised brow. "Coming from a cafe owner, that was surprisingly detailed."
Farran huffed in dismissal. "Anyone would've made that observation."
Yu inwardly narrowed her eyes.
True, it was. However, most would only say that with some hesitation.
Farran said it with clear-cut confidence.
If even the Todoroki's sister wasn't sure of her brother's reasoning, and she was raised alongside the kid, then why would he be?
There could be a lot of reasons. It could be that Farran was just really confident… or he had enough battle experience to say that. His civilian record files were on lockdown by Endeavor himself, which could mean that Farran was a high priority target of protection… or observation.
It was a stretch – okay a huge stretch – but Yu was still somewhat confident in the observation. The observation was that Farran's files were 'protected' only because he could be dangerous.
She needed more to reinforce the idea.
"What about that Bakugo kid?" Yu prodded as nonchalant as she could. "What do you think of him?"
Farran shrugged in faint dismissal, likely seeing no harm in answering the question. "That kid's competitive, if his speech at the start was anything to go by. He's likely the type to try to be the first in everything he does."
Not enough.
"What about his quirk? It's pretty strong, right?"
He furrowed his brow and shrugged.
"True. His quirk packs a lot of raw fire-power, but he seems to lack finesse in some areas. With how much he's using his quirk, you'd think he could use it endlessly, but if that was so then he'd be using it every second instead of every few seconds. His quirk might have a cooldown period or he's limiting himself so that he doesn't overexert his quirk. It'd be similar to an athlete holding back from tearing a muscle in a race." He turned to his companion slightly. "Todoroki, there's always a tournament-style battle at the end, right? Your brother could probably beat him thereby making him overexert or by creating a situation where his firepower would backfire against him. Freezing all his limbs except his hands would make him nothing but an explosive paperweight, assuming it's just his hands that allow him to create explosions."
… Yeah, he's only reinforcing the idea.
If these were the kinds of thoughts he was having, identifying weaknesses in someone's quirk and thinking of ways to exploit it, then there was no way he was an average Joe.
Shinji and Todoroki Fuyumi didn't see that, they only applauded the analysis.
There was no way that his records were being protected by Endeavor because he needed to be protected.
They were 'protected' because Endeavor wanted to keep an eye on him personally.
Yu decided to not focus on the silver-haired tan cafe owner for now. Her precious Shirou was busy out in the field.
It was her duty to keep an eye on her son… and on Farran.
Whilst running along the beaten path, Shirou noted that couldn't hear Bakugo anymore so that either meant that the explosive teen was quite far ahead or he just stopped screaming.
"And now, we've quickly arrived at the final barrier!" Present-Mic called out once more. "The reality here is… that it's a minefield!"
What?
"It's set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs!"
Isn't that too dangerous!? There's a lot that can go wrong there!
"By the way, these landmines are for games, so they're not that powerful, but they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!"
"That depends on the person." Came Aizawa's muffled voice.
Shirou didn't even see the stage yet, Todoroki was certainly fast.
"Emiya, on your left,"
Shirou blinked as he saw Shinso running past him atop another student, which seemed to be Shishida by the look the fur.
"I'll be going ahead," He added with a slight, non-aggravating smirk.
Shirou didn't frown and kept his pace, albeit speeding up slightly. It did nothing to help him follow the rushing form of Class-B's bestial student, but it alleviated it somewhat.
By the time Shirou reached the third obstacle, he saw Shishida get blown away by a flashy explosion as Shinso leaped off of him.
"Right," Shinso muttered. "Lots of mines, Shishida can't get through very easily…"
Shirou took a glance and saw Shishida steadily getting up, shaking his head as if finally waking up from a stupor. "Oi, Shinso! You mind-controlled me, didn't you!?"
Shinso shrugged. "Guilty as charged. It didn't do much, everyone else is already here."
Shirou took a step to the side as another student ran past him, only to trigger a landmine and get blasted back where he came from.
"Looks like we'll need to go slow and steady here…" Monoma muttered as he arrived behind them, strangely coming out of the shadows like it was liquid. "Can't use Kuroiro's quirk here, what a shame."
Said Kuroiro, who seemed to be a Class-B teen that had extremely black skin – like the color of squid ink – and pastel hair, came out of the same shadow, with much more ease than Monoma, and groaned in exasperation. "Can't go around the minefield either."
"Ibara is almost here," Monoma thought aloud. "Maybe I'll just use her quirk when she gets here, or Honenuki's. They'd be perfect for this."
Shinso hummed, mostly thinking along the lines of something similar, except with replacing the 'copy' parts with 'mind control'. He'd still need to bait out a response from them.
Shirou, on the other hand, watched the minefield carefully.
There was no pattern in which the mines were placed, but as people got closer to the end, there were more explosions. This could mean that the minefield was more concentrated at the end, even Todoroki was taking it slow and tiptoeing around.
Oh, wait a moment. Bakugo ran and decided to have a fight with him.
As questionable as that decision was, at least they're both preoccupied now.
Shirou sighed in silent contemplation. Getting through this minefield was going to be a bit troublesome, but he could definitely do it.
The red-haired magus concentrated to flow his prana and added reinforcement to his eyes once more. There was one way he'd be getting through without triggering the mines…
Shirou ran forward, much to the surprise of the peers who waited behind him, and observed the floor before him.
"What's this!?" Present-Mic called in surprise.
All the other students were taking their time, slowly making their way past the obstacle like snails in a garden, yet the teen ran at full speed. In any second they could expect a cacophony of explosions to trigger and blow him away.
Yet it didn't.
Instead, every step he took triggered nothing. He wasn't going in a straight line, the path taken was closer to a crooked branch, but even so, the pace was a hundred times better than the pace that the other students had.
At his speed, one would think that he would inevitably step on a mine and reduce his progress significantly, but there was enough space between the mines that the magus' tip-toe could fit in, which he exploited.
"Emiya Shirou is running across the minefield as if there are no mines at all!? What is this insane luck! The chances that he'd step on a landmine is too high to ignore!"
"No, he's still avoiding them," Aizawa cut in. "He's not running across with reckless abandon, he's keeping an eye on where he's putting his feet."
Shirou found himself impressed.
Aizawa caught on quickly.
Indeed, there was one way he'd be getting through without triggering the mines… and that was to see the actual landmines first.
With the sound of booming and flashy explosions around him, it was somewhat hard for the average student to keep focus, but for Shirou, it was a cakewalk, especially with the added bonus of reinforcement to his eyes and using structural analysis on the ground before him. He had gotten better at using it at a range, especially on non-bladed objects like these landmines, begrudgingly thanks to Archer.
In short, he was literally running across the minefield and avoiding every possible landmine that he could've stepped on with his reinforced eyes.
Todoroki halted as he saw Shirou's quickly approaching form, which inevitably prompted Bakugo to do much of the same.
The reality of the situation caused the two of them to finally wise up and try to resume their progress in the obstacle race before Shirou made his way past them.
With his current speed, he certainly could.
However, Shirou's speed wouldn't last forever. The landmines in front of him were slowly but surely getting much more clumped together. Compared to the front of this particular obstacle, which looked like the spots on a grandmother's blouse, the front portion looked much more like ants on an anthill.
In short, he'd be blown away if he tried running over it.
Shirou would probably need to vault over the remained, and with the added boost of the following explosions that he'd be sure to trigger, the third-rate magus was sure that he would make it to the other end of the obstacle with almost no issue–
Thunder echoed out across the mine-filled field.
Shirou couldn't even turn around to see what happened before the utterly mind-numbing shock wave hit him from behind like the current of a river.
The sudden force stunted his footing, causing him to fall forwards like a string-severed puppet.
If he fell now, then he'd trigger a whole load of landmines underneath him. With that in mine, Shirou quickly traced two nameless spears and jabbed them in the nooks between the landmines.
In doing so, he held himself up and away from the mines, but that was not without threatening to tear a ligament if he hadn't reinforced his body beforehand.
Todoroki created a mini-ice platform and held himself up. Bakugo simply held his ground and blasted behind him, creating a shock-wave to counter the infinitely bigger one before them.
"The hell!?" Bakugo shouted out in surprise, instantly ruling him out of the list of possible causes that Shirou formulated in his mind–
"What's with that force!?" Present-Mic called out in surprise.
–and this was clearly not something they added in, too.
By the time the flashing light faded, the smoke cloud was still there… with something flying straight out of it.
"Was it an accident, or did he do it on purpose!?" The bellow came out once more. "Class A's Midoriya is exploding forth with a blast!"
Midoriya Izuku.
"Actually, he's taken the lead!"
That announcement shocked the top two from their stupor.
Shirou, having found his footing again, ran ahead and avoided the landmines as he did prior. Bakugo blasted above them like a missile, and Todoroki abandoned his previous approach and simply made an ice path through it.
"Deku!" Bakugo screamed out. "I ain't letting you get ahead of me!"
Shirou was keeping pace with Todoroki, but Bakugo was above them, and gradually widening their distance.
"The two formerly in the lead have stopped trying to slow each other down and are now chasing Midoriya!" Their English teacher called out. "Now that they have a common enemy, they've stopped fighting! The fight's not over yet, though!"
"What are you even saying?"
Shirou could hear Aizawa's annoyed tone there, but he didn't focus on it. He focused on the fact that Midoriya, the lead, was slowly losing speed.
At that height, if he were to land then he wouldn't be able to avoid some injuries. Should he stop and help?
The three of them – Todoroki, Bakugo, and Shirou himself – were almost there. With Midoriya slowly tumbling forward, Shirou could stop to catch him and continue the race easy enough. He'd lose his chance to be first in this obstacle race, but the sword-magus didn't see that as a loss.
The moment that they went past Midoriya, Shirou tried to catch him.
The keyword being 'tried'.
The intensity in the usually nervous teen's eyes made the third-rate magus's arms pause before he even raised them to catch him.
Where had he seen such intensity before?
The teen twisted midair whilst holding onto a rope attached to a metal sheet. Shirou didn't even waste time questioning where he got it and focused on how it arced above the teen, rushing down and impacting the ground.
The landmine-infested ground.
Shirou wasn't going to be caught out again. He swiftly traced a spear, jabbing it behind him for leverage, and covered his eyes.
It was going to be bright and loud once more.
The surging bright explosion surged out before him, shoving Bakugo and Todoroki to the side as Midoriya burst forth from the smoke cloud like a rocket.
"Midoriya swiftly blocks those behind him!" Present-Mic shouted. "Would you believe it? He cleared the minefield in an instant!"
Bakugo and Todoroki were quick to recover, but Shirou was already ahead of them by a small margin and rushed out of the minefield.
Midoriya was before him with dirt scuffling his uniform, likely from tumbling on the ground. He was incredibly far away, but that didn't seem to deter either Todoroki or Bakugo.
Shirou heard Present-Mic talk aloud once more, but he couldn't focus on it. He imagined that the others didn't either as they all entered the familiar tunnel towards the stadium.
The three of them basically neck and neck within the darkness of the tunnel, with Midoriya in the lead, it was likely that they'd manage to finish in the top four.
…
That was nice, Yu would be alright with that result.
…
This was fine, right? He managed to reach this far without Noble Phantasms, so it was fine, right?
…
Right?
The moment Midoriya passed the finish line, earning his first-place spot in the tournament for the meantime, Todoroki came after that in second, and then Bakugo in third.
… Emiya Shirou finished a bit slower than them at fourth.
The moment the final call from Present-Mic came out, Yaoyorozu noted the result.
She certainly didn't expect that Midoriya made it that far, but with his flashy show prior in the minefield, it wasn't out of place.
He was the hard worker who surpassed the geniuses before him, that which Yaoyorozu wanted to be. She could've made her way through the minefield with ease at the start by creating a magnet to scramble the nearby landmines wiring and prevent the explosions altogether, but that was only if she was close to the front with the ability to run ahead as she pleased.
In fact, she could've been near the upper echelons of the race by now. "T-This isn't how it was supposed to…" She huffed out in both exhaustion and frustration.
With her current placing, she was anything but… especially with this little demon on her back!
"I've killed two birds with one stone! I'm a genius!"
You absolutely sully that word!
"Y-You are absolutely the worst," Yaoyorozu wheezed out. "G-Get off! The race is over!"
When the little demon showed no sign of getting off of her, Yaoyorozu was prepared to take off her uniform entirely and throw him off, but his sudden complaining managed to grab her attention.
"Emiya! What're you doing!?"
"What a normal person would."
She turned her head just in time to see her savior and part-time teacher, Emiya Shirou, somewhat gently toss the little demon Mineta away. The short teen bounced on the ground before landing on his bum in mild irritation.
"Get ready for the next event," the Emiya added. "We don't have that much time to prepare, so make the most of it."
Mineta pouted for just a second but nodded in annoyed agreement. Actually, it absolutely stunned her that their mutual classmate deferred to his order in the first place. "Fine, fine. Later, Emiya!"
After he left, Yaoyorozu found it proper to sigh.
"I thank you for your assistance, Emiya-san," Yaoyorozu reciprocated. If she could've gotten that little demon away from her earlier then she would've gotten a much better placement than she had! She shook away the thought and stood tall and proud. "Well then, I suppose it's time we also prepare for the next… event?"
Why was he looking away?
"Clothes, p-put on some clothes please."
"I am already wearing clothes, though?"
"Then cover yourself! We're on national television!"
Yaoyorozu actually frowned at that. "It'll inhibit my quirk usage though. The more skin I have out in the open, the more directions I can create my items."
She could finally create a primed flash grenade from behind her too. That should be able to catch a few people off guard! Even a random spike from her body would do that too. Perhaps her pelvis, her cake butler always seemed on the verge of a heart attack when she did.
"I see the logic, however… " Emiya noted, yet he covered his eyes with some sort of emotion on his face. "… I'm not so sure others think the same way."
Yaoyorozu momentarily contemplated those words before sighing and creating a new uniform under her old and torn one. These uniforms weren't made with the function of front opening, after all. It was faster to make a new one rather than to repair it.
She created a small bag and stuffed the torn uniform inside. It was extra equipment that would normally be penalized, but since it was made from her quirk, that wasn't so.
"Thank you."
"I don't see why you should be thanking me, Emiya-san."
"There are reasons, some that your parents really should've explained to you." Emiya bemoaned, but Yaoyorozu still couldn't figure out what. "Anyway, good luck with the rest of the events."
"You too, Emiya–"
"SWORD-BASTARD!"
In an instant, Yaoyorozu took a step back as a familiar teen appeared and grabbed her classmate by the collar of his uniform. The girl who could create almost anything regained her footing and realized who it was.
Bakugo Katsuki.
"Bakugo-san?" Emiya blurted out in sheer confusion. "What's wrong–"
"You SLOWED down at the end!" He screamed out.
"Calm down, Kacchan!" Midoriya came and tried to placate.
"Shut it, you damn nerd!" He roared towards him. Luckily, most of the students weren't here yet so a crowd had yet to form, but if he kept it up then it would soon. In fact, a few spectators from the stands took notice. "You held back! I thought I fucking told you that my victory won't mean jack-shit if you didn't give me your damn best!"
"You really were serious about that 'giving your all' thing? I don't know whether to be impressed or shocked," A new voice commented, which dragged the enraged teen's attention to a copy-quirk user. "However, this wasn't your victory, was it? I believe it was your classmate Midoriya that actually won here."
His smug reply did nothing to calm the situation. In fact, it probably fanned the fumes of Bakugo's rage.
Judging from the way his ears and eyes twitched, that seemed to be the case.
"Butt out of it, Copy-bastard!" Bakugo growled, loosening his grip ever so slightly. However, Emiya didn't try to pry him off, likely thinking it was going to make his mood worse if he tried. "Listen here, you might not give a shit about this festival, but I sure as hell do! Either get your shit together or go home! Because if you dare make my victory worthless, then I'm going to blow you to hell!"
He shoved the red-haired teen and walked away, an intense frown eternally etched onto his face. He only stopped for a single moment to turn back.
"You got that, sword-for-brains? Give me a damn challenge!"
It took a while, but eventually, Bakugo disappeared from their sights, mostly due to an equally familiar yet separate red-haired peer going up and talking to him.
"That was… interesting. Looks like you're on his shit-list, congratulations," Monoma dryly said, his lip dropping to the side in exasperated dismissal. "So, any credence to what he said, Emiya?" His eyes quickly narrowed on him. "Did you hold back…?"
Emiya, who had been relatively quiet the entire time, simply sighed. "I was already going to be in the top four, I thought that I might as well save some energy in the last spurt."
So he did hold back… Yaoyorozu didn't know how she felt about knowing that.
"Conserving your energy… not a bad idea," Monoma noted with a bittersweet frown. "Honestly, I told everyone in Class B to do that in the first round, but they wanted to beat all of Class A 'fairly', to quote their words…" He sighed in mild exasperation and turned away. "I'll see you later, Emiya."
With not much more to say, Monoma Neito simply turned on his heel and walked off.
"I… will also be seeing you later, Emiya-san," Yaoyorozu forced it out.
She walked away, not a hundred percent sure of what her own thoughts were.
He held back.
She had to prepare for the next event. Everyone was currently resting and calming themselves, so being stressed wasn't a good thing to be.
Emiya wasn't trying his hardest.
She wondered what the next event was going to be? The first two were always random, but there was always the chance that it'd be a repeat of one of the previous events.
Did Todoroki even try at all either? He didn't even use the other half of his quirk…
The one who beat her and did better than she did, but he did not try his hardest. How was that supposed to make her feel?
What did she get fired up for?
As she awaited the next event, she noted that she had wandered pretty far away from the Emiya… but perhaps that was for the best. She wasn't even sure of what she'd actually say if he was right before her now…
Yaoyorozu blinked in surprise as she raised her hand to her face.
"Since when have I been clenching my fingers…?"
What a blunder.
"The top forty-two made it through to the next round," Midnight declared from her podium. "It's unfortunate, but don't worry about it even if you didn't make it through! We've prepared other chances for you to shine."
If Shirou had been focusing on her speech, he would've been off-put by the way she licked her lips as she said that. However, Shirou's thoughts were of something else entirely.
"The real competition begins next! Give it your all, and as the first-year speaker said, victory won't be worth anything if you don't give it your all!"
Those weren't the exact words, likely censored for the benefit of those listening at home, but it proved motivating enough for the rest of the students.
Unfortunately, Shirou was focusing on his most recent debacle with his classmate, Bakugo, to be precise. That particular memory took most, if not then all, of his current thoughts.
The teen had offended him by taking it slow in that last spurt. Shirou wasn't blind and acknowledged that fact. However, while he expected Bakugo to have some sort of negative reaction, he didn't realize that it would trigger one as serious as the one he got.
Maybe he should've actually tried more in that last spurt, made it look much closer than it was, or maybe tried to hold back much more discreetly. Maybe if he had done that, then Bakugo wouldn't have been so volatile in his reaction…
… Then again, if he had tried, then he'd be taking away the result that others worked hard for. Shirou was sure that Todoroki wanted that victory as much as Midoriya and Bakugo did, so he let them have it.
He didn't want it. Someone like him, who existed to help others, did not need recognition. He would've been fine fading into the background as those he helped cheered in happiness.
Those feelings, this time, backfired.
If Bakugo had felt this wronged at by the decision, then what did Todoroki and Midoriya feel? Moreover, how did the others, who had overheard them, feel? Did he cause them unease in some way?
Once the event was over, he'd go out and try to talk with them. There should be quite a bit of free time before the next event began, enough to console or explain himself to them if need be.
Although, Shirou wasn't sure Bakugo would take kindly to either.
The once-master of Saber took a deep breath. A quick shake of his head later, Shirou had cleared his mind somewhat, enough so that he focused on the R-18 hero's announcement with little issue.
"Now then, here is the second event! I already know what it is, but what could it be, what could it be?" Midnight teased in an effort to play up the crowd. "I just said it, and now, here it is…!"
A Cavalry Battle.
"… This! A Cavalry-Battle with the top forty-two from the qualifier!"
Ah, a familiar one.
Shirou recalled the few sports festivals he participated in, or rather the singular one. He didn't really see a point in participating in them for a few reasons. One was to let his other classmates have fun with it… sort of like what he was doing now, come to think of it.
The other was that he didn't really see the point in competing. He actually preferred the cultural festival much more because of how much help some classes would need with their booths. Shirou particularly enjoyed the time his class made a Takoyaki booth together, even if they made him do most of the work. It was his pleasure to do so.
"It's not an individual event, so I wonder how it'll work?" Tsuyu muttered in righteous confusion. She did have a point.
A Cavalry Battle was where a group of people would help support one person atop them all. That person would have a headband on his head, usually either red or white, based on what team they were on, and they would aim to grab the headbands of other Cavalry Battle Groups. The last team standing usually wins.
Emphasis on the word 'team'. All Cavalry Battles basically functioned as a team game, so how would that translate into an individual event?
"Let me explain," Midnight started as she turned to the board once more. "The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that's different is... well, based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value."
"In other words, each team is worth different points depending on who's on the team…!" Uraraka deduced.
"You guys don't hold back even though I'm talking, huh!?" Midnight berated, snapping her overgrown tassel at the noisy students. She huffed quickly and resumed her explanation. "Yes, that's right! And the points assigned go up by five, starting from the bottom! So forty-second place gets five points, and forty-first gets ten points!"
That'd create some dynamics for sure. Priority targets would exist just based on the top placers alone– Hang on, wasn't he the fourth out of forty-two? Wasn't that worth a lot of points?
Sure enough, looking at the holographic screen above, Shirou could see his own points at 200. Of course, this meant Bakugo was at 205 and Todoroki at 210, but curiously, it didn't show Midoriya's points.
"And the point value assigned to the one who received first place in the qualifier, Midoriya Izuku, is worth…" Midnight trailed off for suspense value. "Ten-million!"
…
What?
"Ten-million…" Shirou heard from around him. The voice of who, he couldn't pinpoint, but from the faces of those around him, he didn't have to.
His peers all wore faces of narrowed determination. In fact, they had all turned away from the R-18 professional hero and focused on one student.
Midoriya Izuku.
This was… interesting.
Interesting was one way to put it. With that amount of points, even the one at last place could win an undeniable victory if he got the headband from Midoriya's head.
An undeniable victory…
Shirou could not help but spare Bakugo a quick glance, only to find himself staring into a surprisingly calm yet unrelenting gaze. The teen was staring at Midoriya, his childhood friend if he remembered Midoriya mentioning, with a very different look to what Shirou expected.
However, Bakugo wasn't the only one. Another quick glance showed that Todoroki had a similar look directed at Midoriya, albeit simmered to some degree.
Bakugo's gaze broke into an angry growl the moment the explosive teen caught his line of sight.
Deciding to not push his luck, Shirou looked away. However, he could still feel his glare boring into the back of his head.
"Give me a damn challenge!"
"It's the survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!" Midnight called out, unaware of the repercussion of doing so. "Those at the top will suffer more. You'll hear this many times as you attend U.A. That is what Plus Ultra means!"
Midnight then decided to cough to clear her throat.
"Now then, I will explain the rules of the cavalry battle. The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members' points, and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads. Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So this means, the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them!" Midnight explained. "And, the most important thing, is that even if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you're not out!"
Forty-two people, which means there will be ten or twelve teams, assuming most groups will have at most four members. It'd be much more even with three members per group, which would result in fourteen teams, but you would definitely want four people for a more stable foothold.
… A few teams will be lopsided in that regard, then.
"During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks," Midnight continued. "But it is still a Cavalry Battle, so the standard penalties apply. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose! In doing so, you'll be removed immediately!"
Shirou could hear a few people being dissatisfied with that.
"Now! You have fifteen minutes to build your teams," She called out one last time. "Start!"
Shirou breathed in.
Well then, how would he handle this event?
The red-haired magus personally found no reason to advance into the next event. It was going to be the usual one-on-one fight, and with his goal of keeping his abilities secret, it'd be detrimental to participate in it…
Shirou breathed out.
… However, he did promise Yu that he'd give it his best. Dropping out would be pretty dishonest, and besides…
Shirou sent a quick glance at the explosive teen.
He didn't want a repeat of before. Bakugo was volatile enough as he is. Creating another reason for that engine to combust wasn't a smart idea. This time, he was going to be serious –
"SWORD-BASTARD!"
– even if Shirou himself didn't feel particularly inclined to.
He needed to find a team, which should be easy seeing as he was fourth-ranked. There would be people who could see that he was high enough on the totem pole that his points were worth it, and that he was low enough that he wouldn't be targeted as frequently.
Problem was… who was he going to have on his team?
He didn't really focus on what other people's quirks were other than a surface observation.
Maybe he could try and work with Yaoyorozu? Her quirk provided some worthwhile protection. Together, they could be able to be a frightening combination.
With the thought in mind, Shirou turned to find the pony-tailed girl but froze in his steps as he found her standing alongside several others already.
The others being namely, Todoroki, Iida, and Kaminari.
With that particular plan out in flames, Shirou sighed. Perhaps he could find others, then? The magus had no idea who to have on his team, but he was certainly pondering on the possibilities.
He had thought of Ibara Shiozaki from Class B, especially because her quirk was perfect for defensive options, but that was quickly ruled out due to her already being on a team with Tetsutetsu and other Class B students. He thought of Jiro and Sato, but those two had already found their own groups relatively quickly…
… Actually, now that he looked around, almost everyone already had groups. Didn't this mean that he was basically alone to pick from the stragglers?
"We're aiming for the ten-million, right guys?" Shirou heard from behind him.
"Definitely! Straight at him!"
"No, no! We'll get him when he'll expect us the least!"
Shirou turned behind him and found that their plan wasn't just one that they shared. All the students around him shared the idea of targeting the first-placed student. Midoriya Izuku.
Feeling a tad curious, Emiya Shirou turned to his fellow highly valuable classmate. What he found honestly surprised him. The messy mop of green-tinted hair had two other members. He didn't recognize the one with goggles, pink hair, and support gear, but he noticed Uraraka easily enough.
Strange, he had thought nobody would have wanted to pair up with him, especially with the metaphorically huge target on his head. Idly, Shirou noted that there were only three members on that team, which meant that they had one more slot available.
That slot would definitely need to be filled, seeing as those two girls alone might not be enough to carry Midoriya, especially if he was going to be the head… Or it might, seeing as Uraraka was there to lighten his load, which would definitely work well with the boosters she had on her feet.
Shirou tried to ignore the odd history behind the machine's development.
Their team had high mobility. However, even with that mobility, they'd still need to be able to avoid all the teams that come after them. They couldn't just keep running away. Midoriya would need some literal firepower on their side if they want to stay in the game.
Shirou did have firepower… but it wasn't something he could offer. If he joined their team, then it would be to their detriment. While he could fire swords and keep others at bay, it would do nothing with Todoroki's ice, which was what Midoriya should really keep an eye out for.
In short, Shirou couldn't help them as much as he wanted to. In actually pained him to look away from them, his own mind basically commanding him that helping Midoriya would be the right thing and that helping him to victory was a good thing…
… but he could already see the impending backlash that he'd get from Bakugo if he did. If he joined Midoriya, then the explosive teen's overly competitive mind would see it as Shirou not willing to compete for the top spot fairly yet again.
So as much as it pained him to close his eyes and try to focus on every single other possible option that the event could offer – which was incredibly limited based on how quickly the available students were dwindling – the third-rate magus closed off the possibility of joining Midoriya.
It was just a harmless event, Shirou would tell himself, and that there was no shame in not helping in this situation… but someone like him didn't have the luxury of time. Options were dwindling and at this rate, he would need to join the green mop of hair just to stay in the event.
All this convoluted mental juggling because of one teen's explosive reaction. Was it really all that important that Shirou tried and grant Bakugo's simple wish of a worthwhile victory?
… If Shirou really was thinking of it like that in the first place, then perhaps it was.
As Shirou made his decision, his feet stopped in abject exasperation. Fantastic. Midoriya already got Tokoyami on his team, and while the ginger-haired teen was happy for him, it also meant that he was straight out of options.
Looks like he was stuck with the leftovers, then. That wouldn't go over well with Bakugo.
"Hmm… That is quite the amount of points you have there," someone said, surprising him because he hadn't been talked to the entire time the fifteen-minute waiting period began. "One-hundred and ninety-five. Granted, it isn't exactly ten million, but we are not suicidal enough to willingly paint a target of all things on our backs."
Recognizing the voice, Shirou turned to find Shinso staring directly at him. Directly behind him were two other faces… two extremely familiar, faces.
"We seem to be lacking a rider. In our lineup, we lack the ability to keep others away if we take their headbands…" Shinso continued as he pointed at Kodai Yui and Shishida Jurota. "… However, I distinctly heard that you have some range in your arsenal, courtesy of one of your classmates. With this in mind, would you care to join us?"
Shirou spared a few seconds to blink.
Apparently, an instant answer was what they were looking for. Because he didn't give them one, Kodai took a few steps forward and bowed her head.
"Please. There is no one else left. Help."
Shirou didn't hesitate to answer a few seconds later.
There was no one else left, after all.