"I'm not teaming up with you."
After hearing the explanation from Midnight regarding the headband-snatching points game, I had decided on a strategy. I approached Kacchan once more with a proposal to form a team, but I was met with a flat-out rejection.
Tell me it's a lie, my noble steed!
I tried explaining the tactical advantages, I tried some "feminine charms" (mostly for a laugh), I tried threatening to reveal his most embarrassing childhood stories, and I even tried fake-crying. Nothing worked. He wouldn't budge. Instead, he just walked off to find other members.
That jerk. I know it's my fault for not "feeding" him enough attention lately, but isn't betraying me at the last second a bit much?!
...Fine.
"Hey, everyone! Listen up! Did you know that Kacchan—?!"
I had to duck as a sudden blast nearly took my head off. "Whoa! Dangerous! Hey, stop eavesdropping on me, you traitorous Bomber-man! Do you just love the sound of my voice that much?! How did you even hear me from all the way over there? Are you a dog or something? Are you a little puppy who wags his tail and runs around the yard when he hears his master's voice?! Huh?!"
After I finished teasing Kacchan, a wave of despair washed over me as I began my search for a team.
Almost everyone had already formed their groups.
What...?!
Since my primary choice for a mount, Kacchan, was gone, I needed someone with solid defensive or deterrent abilities. My next big picks, Peppermint and Yaomomo, had already teamed up. In fact, they were in the samegroup. That team was already a fortress, rounded out by Iida for mobility and Kaminari for all-range suppression.
While I was busy fighting a war of words with Kacchan, Peppermint had swooped in and taken all the best pieces. What a crafty bastard.
As I stood there, wallowing in my own sorrow, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned around to see my best friend, Ochaco, waving at me.
"Nico! Let's be on a team together!"
An angel...! I have seen a literal angel on this earth.
"Wait, did you already have a team in mind? Because if you did—"
"OCHACOOOOOO!!"
"Whoa—?!"
I hoisted Ochaco into the air. Her eyes were spinning, but she'd have to forgive me. This was the only way I could express my pure gratitude.
"OCHACOOOOOO!!"
"Awaaah—?! Okay, okay! I get that you're happy, just stop spinning me—!!"
Aha... ufufu... Urp.
I might have overdone it. A few seconds later, Ochaco and I were both on all fours on the concrete. I won't say what happened next. Since Ochaco is an angel and I am a top-tier idol, such things are impossible. If anyone thinks they saw something, it was surely a hallucination.
Mr. Cementoss!! Please come clean up this section of the concrete!!
"S-So! Nico, who should our other members be?" Ochaco asked, acting as if the last thirty seconds hadn't happened.
Honestly, I wasn't even sure what had just happened myself. Moving on.
"My original plan was me, you, Kacchan, and Kirishima," I explained.
"Oh, so I was always in the plan?"
"Of course. If you make us float, we're invincible. We'd use Kacchan's explosions for high-speed aerial movement while he handles suppression. Kirishima would tank all physical attacks, and I'd just snatch everyone's headbands from the safety of the sky like a UFO."
"You really come up with the most devious plans, Nico," Ochaco said.
"Stop, stop. You're making me blush."
"I mean, it was kind of a compliment."
But the plan had fallen apart. Without Kacchan, our aerial mobility was practically zero. I could move using my Quirk, but that would leave me with no time to actually grab the headbands.
"So, since Kacchan is out, I was thinking of a ground-based defensive formation, but..."
"But?"
"Kacchan took Kirishima, 'Asura-san' (Shoji) teamed up with the Grape-head and Tsuyu, and the key suppression players like Peppermint and Yaomomo are on another team. I'm stuck."
"Nico, you really think about this stuff a lot... though, is 'Asura-san' supposed to be Shoji? You really need to learn everyone's names."
"Eventually."
"You're definitely never going to learn them," Ochaco sighed.
Still, what to do? Just floating wouldn't be enough. If we were going into the air, we needed a way to move.
"Ufufu! If that's the case, how about me, Second-Place Girl?!"
A strange girl wearing goggles called out to me. I sensed a dangerous vibe from her, so I looked away and tried to ignore her.
"Please don't ignore me!!" she shouted, circling around to get in my face. How terrifying.
Ochaco seemed to recognize her, so she wasn't a total stranger, but I didn't know her and I didn't like her energy.
"I'm not interested in joining a cult. I'm a devout follower of the Cream Puff Religion. May sugar be with you."
"That is a very strange religion! But that's a separate issue! Are you not looking for mobility?!"
...Oh?
"Awareness! Suppression! I can't do everything due to weight limits, but if you want to specialize in one area, my adorable little 'babies' can handle the rest! What do you say, Second-Place Girl?!"
"What do you mean by 'babies'?"
"The gadgets I'm wearing! In the Support Department, we can use as many of our pre-registered inventions as we want! And of course, since we're a team, I can let my teammates use them too! I've already checked the rules!"
I see, I see.
"...Tell me your name."
"Mei Hatsume from the Support Department!"
I see. Very interesting.
"I want victory," I said. "What do you want, Hatsume?"
"I don't care about victory one bit! My goal is to show off my babies to the big corporate CEOs in the most prominent spot possible! I tried negotiating with the First-Place boy earlier, but he shot me down. So, I figured I'd go for the girl who stood out the most after him! In short, my goal is to join your team and ride this Cavalry Battle to the top!"
"So you don't care about winning?"
"Ufufu! Well, I'd prefer to win! A 'winning baby' leaves a much better impression than a 'losing baby'!"
Hatsume and I shared a firm handshake.
"For our mutual benefit, let's crush them all."
"My pleasure."
"I feel like I just watched two very dangerous people join forces," Ochaco muttered.
A two-person horse would be unstable, so I tried to recruit Tokoyami, who was nearby. For some reason, he ran away at full speed. We were such good friends, too—I don't get it.
Left with no choice, I grabbed Ojiro, who was also just standing around, and formed our four-person team. Using Ojiro as a last-minute addition made me a little uneasy, but we'd make it work.
I'm counting on you, babies.
***
"I gotta say, I'm surprised. I thought for sure you'd be teaming up with Midoriya," Kirishima said, and I couldn't help but nod in agreement.
I had assumed the same thing. The more I heard about Nico, the more it seemed like she and Bakugo were practically a couple. They knew each other better than anyone, so I figured they'd prioritize that stability and synergy.
I was genuinely curious.
"Hey, Bakugo. Why us? I get Kirishima, but..."
"Yeah, me too," Sero added. "I mean, I get why you'd pick Kirishima since you're buddies, but me and Ashido? Wouldn't you have a better shot at winning if you teamed up with Midoriya? Quirk-wise, I mean."
Bakugo, looking like he was chewing on a bitter bug, finally answered.
"...You're right. If I teamed up with her, I'd win without a doubt. I know exactly what she's thinking. She's planning to have Round-Face make them float for an aerial battle. She'd use me for suppression and mobility, and Shitty-Hair as a shield for any attacks I couldn't block. Then she'd use her Quirk to snatch the headbands from above while everyone else is distracted."
The more I pictured it, the more demonic that team sounded. If they were in the air thanks to Uraraka, anyone who specialized in close-range combat would have no way to fight back. Even if someone had long-range attacks, Bakugo's reflexes and explosions would let them dodge easily. If someone managed to get close, they'd get blasted away. And if they somehow got past the blasts, Kirishima would be there to tank the hit.
Meanwhile, Nico would just keep 'Pulling' the headbands one by one.
"Whoa, that's brutal."
"I literally can't think of a counter-play to that," Sero said. "Plus, since Bakugo is there, they'd have the ten million points. They could just run out the clock in the sky. It's a perfect strategy."
"Wait, is my job in that scenario the hardest one?!" Kirishima asked.
Ignoring Kirishima's plight, I focused back on Bakugo.
"But that wouldn't mean anything," Bakugo growled. "Winning because she carried me... a shitty win like that is worthless!! That's not what it means to be number one! And that's not what it means to beat her!!"
The raw intensity in his voice made my heart skip a beat. I really don't know how Nico deals with him every day. My heart can't take this level of aggression!
"—It pisses me off to say it, but she can win even without me."
Kirishima tilted his head. "Isn't that a bit of an overestimation? You don't know until you try."
"Are you an idiot, Shitty-Hair? In this specific event, she is the most dangerous person on the field. You can't see her 'Pull' Quirk. As long as you're in her range, you have to be on guard every single second. The moment you lose focus, your headband is gone."
"I mean, sure, that's strong. But couldn't you just watch her eyes? There's gotta be a way to beat it, right?"
"She can select her targets by instinct," Bakugo countered. "As long as she has a general idea of where you are and what the object looks like, she can trigger her Quirk with almost no movement. She doesn't need to telegraph it."
"Ugh, seriously?"
If that was the case, his reason for not teaming with her made even more sense. To win with Nico, you don't even need to think about offense. You just build a team focused entirely on defense. Like Bakugo said, you could just run away, or use people like Kirishima to guard. Nico could collect the headbands all by herself.
"Since I'm not there, she'll give up on the aerial battle. Floating by itself is useless without mobility. So she'll look at a ground battle. She'll gather people who can act as shields. If she's thinking about suppression, she'd go for the half-and-half bastard (Todoroki) or the 'exhibitionist' girl (Yaoyorozu). The shitty crow (Tokoyami) is too scared of her to join."
Todoroki and... exhibitionist girl? Wait, is he talking about Yaomomo? I mean, her costume is a bit much, but that's mean! I'm telling Nico to scold him later.
"If that fails, she'll pivot to pure harassment. She'll prioritize sabotaging the enemy's mobility over her own. She'd look for people with specialized Quirks—like Soy-Sauce Face, 'Black-Eyes' (Ashido), or the Grape."
Black-Eyes... I'm pretty sure he's talking about me. I really wish he'd learn my name. I mean, my eyes areblack, but still. He doesn't even call Nico by her name, so maybe he's just shy about it? I'll have to ask her later.
Wait, does that mean I was one of Nico's potential picks?
"Me too?" I asked.
"Me too?" Sero added.
"Black-Eyes is good for pinning people down and slowing horses. Soy-Sauce is for capture and movement disruption, plus long-range harassment. She'd be an idiot not to use you. The Grape's Quirk is useful, but she finds him too repulsive to be on a team with."
I think that was a compliment, but it's hard to tell with how he talks.
"Man, you've really thought this through... Wait a sec. Does that mean...?"
Sero finally caught on, and so did I. Almost everyone Nico would have picked was already tied up in other groups.
Ochaco was with Nico, but Todoroki was with Yaomomo. Kirishima, the tank, and Bakugo, the mobility expert, were with us. Along with Sero and me, the 'sabotage' experts.
In other words, despite having an incredibly powerful Quirk, Nico was basically a free agent.
No mobility. No defense. No attack power.
The people she needed most weren't there.
But—
"Wait, wait! Isn't that weird?! Why would anyone let a Quirk that strong just sit there? What about the Class B students—?"
"They won't," Bakugo cut me off. "After seeing the results of the first race, there isn't a single person here who wants to help her win. She went too far."
That actually made perfect sense. Bakugo and Todoroki were amazing, and while I wasn't sure if I could ever beat them, I felt like I could at least see their backs. They felt like goals to reach for.
Nico didn't even show us her back.
She technically came in second, but after hearing the details, she was much scarier as an opponent than the boys. No one wants to help a person like that win. Everyone is here to become a pro, to be number one. That goes double for the other classes. They might want to get in her way, but no one wants to be her ally. Even if they wanted to use her, she's too dangerous to keep around.
Her situation was actually the worst it could be. Of course, as a friend, I wanted to help her, but...
"Can I ask one thing? Bakugo, do you really think Nico can still win?"
"Duh!! If she could be crushed by something like this, I would have broken her a long time ago!!"
He didn't hesitate for a second. It was incredible how much he trusted her.
"...It might be a little mean, but I get it. I'm with you, Bakugo."
"You okay with this, Ashido?" Sero asked. "You two are pretty close. This sounds like it's gonna be a bloodbath."
"We're not here to play games," I said. "There are times like this. We're all here to win. Nico, me, you—we're all the same, right?"
Sero scratched his head and muttered, "I guess so. It's not like we can all win together anyway. Alright, Bakugo! I hope you didn't pick us just to spite her."
"Of course not, you moron!! Black-Eyes, keep an eye on our surroundings and melt the ground as soon as you see an enemy horse! Buy us time!! Soy-Sauce, use your tape to mess with them and crush those bastards trying to snipe us from long range!! Also, if I launch myself out at high speed, be ready to reel me back in!!"
"You're really planning on flying? Is that even allowed?" Sero asked with a look of disbelief.
Kirishima gave a strained laugh, only to get glared at by Bakugo.
"Don't just stand there grinning, Shitty-Hair!! You're at the front, so hold firm! When I attack, you're the one closest to the explosions! If you buckle, I'll kill you!!"
"Got it! Thanks for the clear instructions! Leave it to me, I'll be a horse that never goes down!!"
With Bakugo as our rider, we formed our cavalry unit. We had one goal: to win this fight.
"Let's do this! It sounds like Bakugo really wants to show Midoriya what he's made of!!"
"Then we better work hard," Sero chuckled.
"Ah, young love," I teased.
"SHUT UP!! If you don't want to die, keep your mouths shut!!! Dammit!! I'm not protecting you if you slack off!! I'm gonna crush that stupid woman, that icy bastard, and everyone else!! We're winning this, you hear me?!"
Sorry, Ochaco, Nico. This time, we're the ones taking the win. Opportunities like this don't come often.
I'll buy you some ice cream later to make up for it!
***
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