The restaurant was located in an open area of the I-Expo, with tables spread outside.
A large blue umbrella shaded one of them from the sun, where Melissa was sitting with Uraraka, Momo, and Jiro. The four chatted animatedly, especially the girls from U.A., who shared details about their internships.
Melissa listened with shining eyes, asking questions here and there, clearly excited by every story.
"Wow… so that's how U.A. internships work?" Melissa commented, leaning forward slightly. "It sounds so over-the-top… but amazing!"
"It was tiring, but worth it," Uraraka replied with a confident smile.
But meanwhile, at the next table, the atmosphere was completely different.
Ryo was practically slumped in his chair, his forehead resting in his hands, muttering softly about how he could have possibly forgotten Dash. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt.
A terrible friend… that's how he saw himself now.
"I can't believe I completely forgot about him…" he grumbled, his voice heavy with guilt.
Midoriya, sitting across from him, gave an awkward smile and tried to help.
"Takeda, seriously… everyone makes mistakes. Dash probably wouldn't even mind and would forgive you."
The response only made Ryo let out a heavy sigh and sink even lower, as if he'd just taken a critical hit.
Midoriya froze for a moment.
"Okay… I guess that probably didn't help," he thought, starting to get nervous.
Before he could try to explain himself better, a waiter approached the table, placing a glass in front of Midoriya.
"Here's your drink. Thanks for waiting."
Midoriya recognized the voice instantly. He slowly looked up… and his eyes widened slightly.
"…Kaminari? Sero?"
The two were standing there, wearing staff badges. Kaminari flashed a wide grin, while Sero waved.
"You guys too?" Ryo asked, furrowing his brow as he turned to them.
"Yep!" Kaminari replied. "We saw a notice saying they needed temporary teams for the event. So we decided to sign up."
Sero gave a thumbs-up.
"You get to work, earn some money… and still walk around the I-Expo during breaks."
"Exactly!" Kaminari added, winking. "Not to mention we can enjoy seeing all the wonderful gatherings of cute girls around here."
"We? That's just you," Sero corrected immediately. "I really came for the pay."
Midoriya laughed, somewhat awkwardly.
"Yeah… that's a pretty convenient reason, really."
Kaminari leaned in a little closer to Midoriya and whispered:
"Hey… where do you and Takeda know that hottie over there from?"
"Huh?" Midoriya blinked, confused. "Who?"
Kaminari almost shouted in a whisper:
"The blonde beauty over there with the girls! Who else?!"
Ryo heard everything. He let out a tired sigh and shot a stern look at Kaminari.
"Stop acting like a pervert. This is exactly why you'll never get a girl."
It was a direct hit.
"Y-You didn't have to go for the weak spot…" Kaminari recoiled dramatically, clutching his chest.
Ryo just rolled his eyes and turned his face away.
Kaminari and Sero immediately picked up on the weird vibe and fell silent, exchanging slightly embarrassed looks, a mix of regret and guilt for bothering their friend.
Midoriya tried to change the subject, attempting to ease the tension… but before he could say anything, an explosion echoed in the distance.
"What was that?!" he asked, turning his gaze toward one of the attractions further back.
Ryo also instantly turned toward the source of the explosion. Before anyone could react, he had already shot off at high speed, the ground trembling under his feet as he left behind a sharp trail of wind.
"He's… fast," murmured Melissa, lowering her hands and staring open-mouthed in the direction Ryo had gone.
Uraraka, Momo, and Jiro stood up almost simultaneously.
"Let's go too," said Uraraka, already hurrying off.
"Melissa, you coming?" asked Jiro over her shoulder.
"O-Of course!"
Meanwhile, Ryo reached the location in mere milliseconds, braking at the protected railing edge. On the other side, a small artificial mountain was still shrouded in smoke. The giant screen above the arena zoomed in on the image, and as the dust settled, the revealed silhouette made Ryo's eyes widen slightly.
"Kirishima…?"
The announcer's voice echoed a moment later.
"Final time: 33 seconds. Eighth place!"
Ryo let out a low, incredulous sigh.
"Is everyone just popping out of nowhere now…?"
"K-Kirishima?!" Midoriya shouted as he arrived right behind him, also surprised to see Kirishima.
Melissa stopped beside the two and tilted her head, curious.
"Is he another classmate of yours?"
"Yeah," Ryo answered immediately.
Before more comments could surface, the announcer spoke again, announcing the next participant. Ryo narrowed his eyes upon seeing the figure in the arena.
"Isn't that—"
"K-KACCHAN?!" Midoriya shouted again.
Ryo shot a quick glance at him, and Midoriya immediately shrank back.
"S-sorry…"
"Ready? START!"
Bakugo shot off like a missile, crossing the field while blasting robots one after another without losing speed. When the sixth and final robot was destroyed, the announcer almost lost her composure.
"Incredible! He cleared everything in 15 seconds! Taking the first place outright!"
"Easy," Bakugo muttered as he landed, clicking his tongue.
"Hey… aren't those two up there Midoriya and Takeda?" Kirishima commented, looking toward the stands.
Bakugo followed his gaze and immediately gritted his teeth.
"Those bastards…!"
Ryo made a face.
"Midoriya, step back from the edge a little."
"Huh? Why?"
The answer came on its own.
An explosion echoed, and the next instant Bakugo appeared, grabbing the rails from the other side and starting to swing on them in an almost animalistic manner.
"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TWO DOING HERE?!"
"K-Kacchan?! Stop that!" Midoriya panicked. "People are watching!"
"I don't give a damn!" Bakugo snarled.
But then a hand covered his face.
Bakugo froze.
Ryo was staring at him closely, his eyes cold, sharp, and not at all happy.
"You might not give a damn," he said in a low, threatening tone, "but I do. Now, could you please stop thrashing around like a chimpanzee and act like a person?"
Bakugo felt a cold sweat run down the back of his neck but forced a hard expression. He slapped Ryo's hand away and climbed down from the railing.
"I'm only stopping 'cause I want to," he growled.
Around them, the rest of the class whispered. The general impression was clear:
"Takeda was scary..."
Before the tension could escalate, Kirishima crossed the space between them.
"Yo!"
Ryo noticed the redhead approaching and instinctively adjusted his posture. When Kirishima came within dap-up distance, the two landed a perfect dap, the impact echoing crisply through the area (and perhaps across the entire island).
"Bro!" Kirishima gripped Ryo's hand firmly before pulling him into a hug. "I didn't expect to see you here. Glad to see you're better… I missed you!"
Ryo was silent for a few seconds. Then, a small smile appeared.
"Taking it slow… but I'm doing alright."
Kirishima broke into a wide grin.
"That's it! Real men stay strong, even through the worst times!"
Ryo tilted his head slightly, thoughtful for a moment, before letting out a half-smile.
"So… how exactly did you end up here?" he finally asked.
Kirishima opened his mouth to answer, but any explanation died right there when an even bigger explosion echoed through the arena.
"WHAT?! T-that's impossible!" the commentator shrieked, completely incredulous.
Ryo immediately turned toward the arena, narrowing his eyes. Down below, at the center of the destroyed track, was Dash, standing atop the wreckage, arms crossed and a cocky grin on his face, posing as if for a magazine cover.
"Final time: 0.7 seconds!" announced the commentator, almost breathless. "New first place, by a ridiculous margin!"
Ryo leaned on the railing next to Kirishima.
"He won the tickets from his parents the second they said they weren't going," Kirishima continued, scratching the back of his neck as he watched the arena below. "Ended up with three seats. Invited me, Bakugo, and…"
The sentence died when a female voice echoed a few meters ahead.
"You were amazing, Dash!!" Pony shouted, waving excitedly from the edge of the stands.
Ryo raised an eyebrow, following Kirishima's gaze to the girl. Pony was waving enthusiastically, clearly thrilled, while Dash responded with a somewhat shy wave, his crooked smile giving everything away.
"I take back everything I said… I don't regret one bit not inviting that traitor."
Dash's smile vanished for a second when the blond noticed Ryo in the stands.
For a moment, he froze.
The next, a huge grin spread across his face.
"TAKEDA—!"
Dash simply vanished from the center of the arena.
"Huh…" Kirishima blinked. "Did he disappear?"
"Take a step back," Ryo advised calmly.
"Huh?"
Kirishima barely had time to react.
WHOOSH!
Dash blew past him like a yellow blur, leaving the redhead spinning like a tornado, and in the next instant, crashed into Ryo with a hug far too strong for someone with super speed.
"Gh—!" Ryo let out a grunt, his body being pushed back a few centimeters. "Damn, Dash… take it easy."
"I MISSED YOU, MAN!" Dash said, squeezing a bit tighter before realizing what he was doing and quickly letting go. "S-sorry, sorry!"
Ryo adjusted his posture, massaging his shoulder.
"…I missed you too," he admitted, his voice low but sincere.
Dash blinked a few times, clearly relieved.
"Really?" he asked, hesitant. "Are you… okay?"
"I am," Ryo replied with a half-smile. "I'm taking it one step at a time."
Dash let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding.
"That's good…"
Pony soon approached them, practically bouncing.
"Dash! You were amazing!" she said excitedly, before noticing Ryo. "Oh! Takeda! You're here too, like the others?"
"Hello, Pony," Ryo greeted, letting out a weary sigh afterward. "Believe me, I'm just as surprised as you are to find all these guys here."
He then turned to Dash, giving him a sidelong glance.
"And I didn't expect little blondie here to be spending so much quality time with… someone."
Dash froze.
"W-What?!"
Kirishima tilted his head, confused.
"Are you talking about me… or Bakugo?"
Ryo just shot him a quick look.
Kirishima's brain whirred… whirred… clicked.
"…OHHH!" he broke into a wide grin. "That's right! Dash *has* been spending a LOT of quality time with someone, huh?"
Dash turned red instantly.
"HEY! T-that's not how it is!"
Pony looked from one to the other, confused for a few seconds… and then chuckled softly, not fully understanding, but finding the scene amusing.
Ryo turned his gaze back to Dash.
"Your Japanese has gotten better," he commented. "You already know almost all the phrases. Just the pronunciation left."
Dash scratched the back of his neck, somewhat awkwardly.
"I'm trying my best…"
He then broke into an excited grin.
"Hey, since you're here… do you want to join the event? It's really fun!"
"Yeah. It'd be awesome to see what time you get!" Kirishima chimed in, excited.
Ryo looked at the arena, then at the three in front of him.
"If you guys insist..."
After a few minutes, Ryo was already in the arena, while part of the class spread out along the edge, watching curiously.
"It looks like Takeda is going to try too…" Midoriya commented, leaning forward slightly.
"Indeed," a firm voice replied behind him. "I am curious to see how he performs."
Midoriya spun around in a jump.
"I-Iida?! You're here too?!"
Iida adjusted his glasses with a polite smile.
"Yes. My family received invitations. We are, after all, a renowned hero lineage."
"As is mine," Todoroki added, appearing right behind him. "In my case, I just took my father's place."
Midoriya felt awkward.
"Ah… I-I see…"
But his attention quickly snapped back to the arena as the announcer raised her voice.
"Alright! The next participant is Rito Takeda! Ready? STA—"
Before the word even finished, the world around Ryo slowed down until it almost stopped.
Sound distorted. Colors lost their intensity. And people froze like statues.
"…3% should be enough for now," he murmured to himself, calmly walking past the frozen announcer.
He began to walk.
Each step left a glowing mark on the ground. In a few moments, Ryo was already in front of the artificial mountain. He climbed it as if it were nothing, reaching every robot along the way and delivering just one precise taps to each of them.
No explosions. No exaggerated impact.
Just… taps.
When he finished, he descended the mountain, walked back to the starting point with the same calmness, and took a deep breath.
"Inner Transition… off."
Time resumed.
"…RT!" the announcer finally concluded.
But the next second they blinked—
BOOOOM!
The mountain behind Ryo exploded into multiple parts simultaneously. The robots shattered all at once, waves of heat rising into the air, while the ground displayed a melted trail of footsteps where he had walked.
A stunned, absolute silence took over the place for a few seconds, until someone finally yelled.
"…WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?!" Bakugo shouted, his mouth agape.
"I… I have no idea," Kirishima replied. "I just blinked and everything blew up!"
He turned to Dash.
"Hey, did you see anything?"
Dash was motionless.
Eyes wide. Jaw clenched.
He had seen it all.
Or rather… almost all.
Even using his accelerated perception, he had to push himself to the limit to keep up. It was still difficult.
A slow smile spread across his face.
"…Now I see."
"See what?" Kirishima asked.
"That Takeda…" Dash said, not taking his eyes off the arena, "is right alongside me, at this very moment."
Meanwhile, Ryo was already turning to leave.
"W-wait!" the announcer called, clearly flustered. "It seems there was a technical issue! The timer didn't record the time. Would you like to repeat the test?"
Ryo shook his head.
"No. I'm already done."
"Ah… a-alright," she replied, understanding nothing. "Then… thank you for participating!"
Ryo left the arena calmly, while the system remained oblivious to the fact that he had completed the course in 0.03 seconds.
And no one there besides Dash had any idea what had really just happened.
Ryo looked at his suit, intact after being exposed to the high kinetic temperatures of his run.
"Hmm... that Edna woman wasn't lying when she said in that message my suit could handle high temperatures now."
He put his hands in his coat pockets.
"Good thing I didn't end up naked…"
----------------------------------------
Stone Goals:
̶5̶0̶0̶ ̶P̶S̶ – Complete
1500 PS – Not Complete
3000 PS – Not Complete
Here is your bonus chapter, the next one will be posted later.