A total of forty-two students qualified for the cavalry battle. Midnight stands center stage, basking in the spotlight like she's performing on some overdramatic late-night show. With a flick of her whip and a grin that screams "I live for this," she explains the rules.
"Teams will consist of up to four people: one rider, at least one horse. Work together, strategize, and most importantly—" she pauses for dramatic flair, "—make it flashy!"
Her gaze sweeps across the students like a spotlight.
Because forty-two is a bit of an awkward number, the teachers decide to throw in the next three students who ranked after forty-second place to form an extra team.
And then there's… me. The "single dude." Some poor soul who was asked to participate alone to balance out the brackets. So, in total, there will be eleven teams competing. Five will advance to the finals—including me, obviously.
I can't help but smirk.
"They really changed the rules just to make things work… how touching. It's like I'm the VIP guest and this whole event is a dinner party they had to rearrange last minute."
The goal is straightforward: steal headbands to increase your team's score. Contestants can't knock each other down on purpose (except me), but even if they lose their headband or fall, they can keep competing until the thirty-minute timer runs out.
We're given fifteen minutes to form teams. Cue the chaos. The entire stadium turns into a noisy marketplace where students are frantically recruiting each other like desperate MMORPG party leaders.
Bakugo, sitting pretty at fourth place with 195 points, becomes the hot commodity of the day. Dozens of students swarm him like seagulls spotting fries on the beach. He doesn't even bother to hide his disgust.
In the end, he picks Kirishima, Sero, and Mina. A solid team—explosions, mobility, and acid. It's like watching a spiky-haired general select his soldiers.
Then there's Mineta. Yes, Mineta. The fact that he qualified still feels like a glitch in the matrix. Somehow, he manages to rope in a few extras from Class 1-B to join his team. I'd like to say I was surprised, but honestly, desperation is a powerful motivator.
Ochaco teams up with Midoriya, which is a given. She reasons that sticking with friends is the safest bet. They try to recruit Tenya, but in the most tenya-like fashion possible, he refuses dramatically.
"I will stand against you, Midoriya! I shall join Todoroki's team!" he declares like some knight pledging allegiance.
Shoto's team comes together nicely: Tenya handles mobility, Denki's their shock cannon, and Yaoyorozu is the defense line, insulating and shielding them. Shoto lays out the plan calmly.
Tenya, curiously asks, "Will you be using both ice and fire this time?"
Shoto shuts him down instantly. "No. I never use my flames."
I sigh internally. Same old song, same old dance.
Meanwhile, Mei Hatsume practically teleports onto Midoriya's radar. She approaches him with the confidence of a seasoned salesperson.
"Hey, green boy, you looked pretty flashy back there in the obstacle race. Lots of eyes on you. Wanna make a deal?"
She wants to ride his spotlight to advertise her gadgets. Smart girl, since the other hotshots already got their teams. Ochaco's already onboard, so with Mei joining, they just need one more person. They eventually get Tokoyami to round out their team.
Almost everyone else is grouped up now. Meanwhile, I'm just hanging back, watching.
The cavalry battle kicks off, and—exactly as predicted—everyone ignores me at first. It's almost flattering. They're saving the "big threat" for dessert.
But then Shinso, of all people, decides to make a move early. Instead of playing it smart and hiding, he marches toward me with his team. He activates his quirk, his expression smug.
"Do you plan to wait until they join forces to take care of you?" he asks, voice laced with confidence.
I stare at him blankly. Really, Shinso? On me?
I don't answer. His brainwashing doesn't affect me anyway, but nice try. Honestly, I kind of want him to do well. His quirk's genuinely useful, but reckless behavior like this? It deserves a quick reminder.
So I give him one.
With a burst of speed, I zip past them, snatch their headband, and knock them all out in one smooth motion. Shinso doesn't even have time to blink. Lesson delivered: don't poke the dragon.
After that, I mostly stand back and watch the chaos unfold. The team compositions are eerily similar to canon. It's like the universe itself is stubbornly trying to stick to the original script, no matter how many butterfly effects I toss its way.
Boring.
So… I spice things up.
I start darting between teams, stealing headbands at random, then tossing them to completely different teams just to watch the confusion spread. At one point, I even hand my ten million point headband to Mineta's team.
He freezes like he's holding a live bomb. "WHY ME?! I DON'T WANT THIS!" he yells, trying to throw it away.
I grin and stick it onto him with a flick of my power. His team collectively screams in panic as every other team suddenly targets them like sharks smelling blood.
Midoriya's team swoops in and takes both headbands in the chaos. Mineta's face looks like someone told him grape juice was discontinued.
Meanwhile, Present Mic keeps screaming into his mic, repeatedly drawing attention to me.
"Look at him! He's just standing there!"
Aizawa, ever the straight man to Present Mic's noise, praises me dryly. "He's trying to tire out the other teams. Smart move. The final clash will be centered on him."
Mic immediately counters, "He's doing whatever he wants! Is this strategy or chaos?!"
He's starting to annoy me. So, I do the obvious thing.
I make his voice sound like a chicken.
"KUK-KU-KAAAK!!"
The stadium falls silent. Aizawa blinks slowly. The crowd stares. Mic waves his arms in panic as every word comes out in chicken noises.
I let him suffer for a bit, then return his voice to normal. Half the audience looks worried, the other half confused. Me? I'm just suppressing laughter.
Twenty minutes in, the battlefield has thinned out. Only the top teams remain, and they start to close in around me like I'm the final boss of a raid.
Shoto Todoroki, Tenya Ida, Momo Yaoyorozu, Denki Kaminari
Katsuki Bakugo, Eijiro Kirishima, Mina Ashido, Hanta Sero
Itsuka Kendo, Reiko Yanagi, Setsuna Tokage, Kinoko Komori
Izuku Midoriya, Ochaco Uraraka, Fumikage Tokoyami, Mei Hatsume
With Shinso gone early, a Class 1-B team managed to slip into the top four. Midoriya's team currently has my headband, but instead of attacking him, they circle me. Brave. Or dumb. Possibly both.
I casually snatch the ten million points back and stare at them with the kind of expression that says, "You didn't really think that'd work, did you?"
They don't even look shocked—they were expecting this. Smart.
Todoroki, ever the tactician, calls out to the other teams. "Work together. Take him down first, then fight among ourselves."
Bakugo yells, "LIKE HELL YOU'RE TAKING MY WIN!" but still ends up agreeing because, well, it's me.
With ten minutes left, the top teams move in. On some invisible signal, Todoroki strikes first, creating a massive dome of ice to block my escape. Reiko tries to trap me with Poltergeist -The knock off telekinesis quirk, Mina splashes acid around me, and Bakugo comes blasting toward me like a very angry firework.
It's kind of cute seeing them try so hard.
So I decide to stop holding back as much.
I punch the ground lightly. The resulting shockwave cracks Todoroki's entire ice dome like a fragile eggshell and blows away all the incoming attacks.
The crowd collectively gasps. Class 1-B shouts, "WHAT THE HELL?! THEY SAID HE HAD A SPEED QUIRK! WHY IS HE BUILT LIKE AN ENHANCER?!"
Before they can complain further, I rush toward the nearest threat—Bakugo. But he dodged using his reflexes… in his dreams. My hit connects perfectly, sending him flying. His team scrambles to catch him before he hits the ground.
Midoriya decides this is the moment. He flicks his finger to test me, but I easily dodge and close the distance. In a split-second decision, he sacrifices his entire arm and punches at 100% power.
I can't dodge without blowing my cover, so I meet his punch head-on. The impact lifts me slightly off the ground, cracks echo through the stadium, and Midoriya is sent flying backward.
His own team barely manages to catch him before he hits the ground, their formation wobbling dangerously.
Bakugo's team recovers and charges back in, joining the offensive. I dodge, weave, counter lightly—stalling, really. If I wiped everyone out, the audience would probably throw their popcorn at me.
Eventually, the clock hits zero.
The top five advancing teams are announced:
1st — Me (naturally)
2nd — Todoroki's team
3rd — Bakugo's team
4th — Class 1-B's Itsuka Kendo team
5th — Midoriya's team (barely hanging in there)
We're given a three-hour break before the tournament starts, with some recreational events in between to keep the crowd entertained and give promising individuals from losing teams another shot.
And as expected, all eyes are on me. The spotlight's basically glued to my face at this point. Not that I mind.