The Heroic Chronicles of a Young Man (Youjo Senki/My Hero Academia) (post-edits)

Summary: First life Tanya (The Salaryman) as a teenager in My Hero Academia, proving that Tanya's essential character traits can get him into trouble, even without Being X jerking him around.

This story is complete on Spacebattles, but I'm doing an editing pass to clean up the first half and to fix any lingering errors. I will only be posting the edited parts here.

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My name is Deguchiya Tenya. I could only stare at the innocuous white headband, marked with red numbers, that I held in my hands. “How did it come to this!?”

In this modern world, the keys to success are simple. Signal the appropriate virtues to the society you are born in, climb up the social ladder in the defined manner, live frugally and save for your retirement, where the fruits of your labors are to be enjoyed for the rest of it. If your position allows, find a like-minded member of the opposite sex to start a family with.

When looked at with such a perspective, Quirks mean nothing. That said, the heroics industry is the largest, highest status industry one can be a part of, and Quirks do matter there. But it is also dangerous and fickle. I know all of the statistics. On average, only a single new agency every other year has what it takes to last more than ten years of business. Two get bought outright, completely subsumed by a different agency, and the rest dissolve within that time frame for one reason or another, with a portion of the surviving human resources of the agency getting picked up piecemeal by other agencies and whoever doesn’t goes into other, less prestigious industries or drops out of the workforce entirely.

No, being a hero is not something that can reliably lead to a comfortable retirement. Especially not for someone whose Quirk is poor for combat. My Quirk is called Mathemagician. While it includes a smattering of passive benefits inherited from generations past, the primary function is to use mathematics to affect the physical world. It sounds impressive, until you realize that even the greatest Quirk falls short when it lacks in power or endurance. I could enhance my strength to a quite impressive level… for a few seconds. I could fly… for a kilometer or two at most. I could cut through steel… for a few inches. I could shoot a powerful laser… once. After each of those, Mathemagician falls flat, requiring hours of recovery in order to do anything notable. More useful than any of those was an enhanced memory and calculative ability, and while it wasn’t anything special as mental enhancement Quirks went, those are still relatively rare, and as a result my academic rankings were always high, although never quite at the top.

With that advantage, I applied to the most prestigious high school in eastern Japan. UA high school. A truly top-tier business course, perfect for attaching yourself to the heroic industry, without that pesky ‘risking your life’ and ‘being in the spotlight’. I got fifth place in the general exam (why were there so many philosophy questions…), and second in the business exam. I had actually held out hopes that without Yaoyorozu participating, I could get first for once with that business exam, but as it always was, the first place podium was denied to me.

The culture of UA was significantly different from my middle school, or really any other school in Japan. In other schools, even UA’s rival Shiketsu, the expectation was to respect the hierarchy, to succeed silently and humbly, and to not create a disturbance of yourself, at UA the motto was ‘Plus Ultra!’. The worst thing anyone could ever accuse you of is being lazy, and of not trying your hardest to succeed. Someone who proudly declared their expectations of victory was still derided for arrogance and presumption, as that top heroics student demonstrated when he was supposed to recite the Athlete’s Oath, but open competition was the norm, with the hero course students exemplifying that ethos, as they were actually motivated rather than angered by that challenge.

So, coming in to the obstacle course race, in my regular gym clothes, I expected what my fellow management students expected: to valiantly try my best, but to be left in the dust behind the forty demigods who have trained their bodies far longer than I, with Quirks stronger than mine, and then quietly fade back into obscurity, carefully watching the rest of the competition as we fill out Nedzu’s assignment on predicting the marketability of each contestant and their resulting offers from hero agencies.

Hanging well back from the crowd at the beginning, the first obstacle was a bottleneck where all one hundred and forty first year students had to cram into one tunnel, wide enough for maybe five people to go through at once comfortably, but that still left the tunnel with a press of bodies that would be difficult to go through. One of the recommended students, the heir of the number two hero Endeavor, erupted in ice, trapping everyone in the press with only his classmates expecting it and breaking free before the ice could claim them.

Still, there wasn’t a rule specifying you had to go through the tunnel, as it wasn’t an explicit obstacle, just an implicit one. So I used the flight formula; the one that I haven’t used in six years, as flying is illegal and never lasted long enough for me to bother finding legal ways, and simply flew over the whole tunnel. The first actual obstacle were robots, who shot some projectiles up in the air, but a quick deflection formula easily pushed away what was left of their momentum after traveling that far upwards. The other two obstacles were… a chasm and a minefield. In other words, utterly ignorable.

I expected there to be another flier among the hero students. There were none. I expected there to be a speed Quirk that could outpace the thirty or so kilometers per hour speed that I was traveling at so I could withstand the winds and turns without using reinforcement formulas, which would be less efficient. None of those could easily traverse the second obstacle, much less the third. I expected some competitive hero student with a capture type quirk to impede my progress. None could reach.

Most foolishly of all, I expected my Quirk to fail me, like it always did when it counted. Instead, it drew on new reserves of strength, going beyond what I thought possible and instead taunting me with thousands of seconds of flight time when I expected hundreds.

All leading towards this one headband, eight digits of red numbers that might as well be concentric circles with how much of a target they made me. I can only repeat my mantra of despair. “How did it come to this?”

 

[Yaoyorozu Momo]

Of all of the people in the stadium, Momo felt that she was the most surprised. Tenya was someone she knew in middle school, and as such she knew the vague capabilities of his Quirk. Like her own Quirk, Creation, it allowed him to turn his thoughts into reality, and required he fuel that power by eating immense quantities of food. However, where her own quirk created matter of arbitrary chemical compositions, he instead created energy and twisted physics to the limits of his mathematical understanding. Also unlike hers, his food requirements were the same even if he wasn’t using his Quirk, which was a bit strange but Hinako always thought he was just hiding his Quirk training, and Momo couldn’t completely rule it out, even if she was sure Tenya would know that she would be happy to help.

Then again, Tenya always did come off as someone who always knew what to do, taking what life dealt to him with a stoicism that was the envy of the class. He was multitalented, succeeding with apparent ease, but was still polite in defeat, merely congratulating whoever he lost to (frequently her) with his usual placid expression, never emoting anything greater than annoyance, disappointment, and vague satisfaction at any point during the years she has known him.

Even in UA, he calmly sat next to her at lunch, as if being enrolled in the top hero school in the country was no more life-changing than sitting at the next table over. They discussed their classes, the teachers, what they’d done with their Quirks recently, normal things to discuss with classmates, even if he only ever spoke with her at lunch, even during middle school. At first, she thought he was trying to befriend her because of her parent’s wealth, but he seemed most comfortable just asking about her progress on becoming a hero, and asking her what she thought about the latest party trick he figured out how to pull off with his Quirk, which was all he thought it good for.

He did have a truly wide variety of those, though. Instantly melting or freezing water, making things float, turning random flat surfaces into mirrors, cutting paper by running his finger over it, making his eyes glow, a laser pointer out of his finger… the list went on. She honestly thought that he had a real chance at getting into the hero course if he had tried, but he didn’t get a recommendation like she did, and he resigned himself to the business course, which was plenty prestigious of course but in UA, everyone knew that it was the hero course that was what the school was made for.

He didn’t let that bother him though, unlike some other students Momo could point at. She didn’t see him during that fracas where about a dozen general studies students, led by that mysterious boy with the purple hair, spitefully issued a challenge to 1-A, and he gave insightful advice about her own Quirk use when the topic came up. She had even brought up to him how students who did well in the sports festival could transfer into the hero course, and while his words were bland and conciliatory, his eyes were more active than she had ever seen with that offering of hope. He was interested. He did promise to do his best for her, and knowing him, she was ready to be impressed.

But she did not expect him to literally just fly over every obstacle without a care and seize first place with casual ease. He never mentioned that he could fly, and that’s the kind of thing you brag about! She was so shocked that she completely missed that little troll Mineta affixing himself to her butt, forcing her to literally carry him throughout the entire course like he was a child. She couldn’t think of a way to easily ditch him short of ejecting sharp objects to cut away all of her clothes and replace them. She probably would have done that, but Ms. Midnight explicitly forbade her from doing anything that would damage her underwear even for a moment, and her jacket was too loose to cut away without collateral damage.

It was so unfair. Still, he wasn’t very heavy, so Momo trudged along, creating what she needed to overcome the obstacles in a way that was flashy enough to draw attention from potential heroes. In the end, she secured a reasonable place in the low 20’s, which while disappointing, was still acceptable.

Fortunately, Mineta knew not to press his luck and willingly released the orbs of his quirk that he was using as handholds within seconds of the race completing. Immediately, Momo went up to Tenya to congratulate him.

The boy seemed more lost than anything, which was something Momo had never seen from him. “Deguchiya?” Momo asked instead. “Could you always fly?”

Being addressed seemed to snap him out of it, but his expression still retained a much softer tone than his usual. “Momo?” He began, before flushing, another first. “I mean, Yaoyorozu, hello. I see you scored twenty-first, good job.” Now that was an interesting reaction. Tenya never addressed anyone by their first name, as far as Momo was aware. “Yes, I could. That was the first time in many years, though, I nearly crashed into the stands twice. It was more throwing myself into the air and missing the ground for long enough to reach the finish line.” Momo frowned at the self-deprecation. That was how flying generally worked, after all.

Well, at least she could be sure that Tenya hadn’t actually changed. “Are you hungry? I need to restock on lipids while I can, and I don’t know how much of your reserves were taken up by that, from what you’ve said it was probably a lot.” Walking away, she gestured for him to follow her to the snack table. “Let’s get some food.” Next to the snack table everyone else got to use, with easy pre-portioned food like onigiri, takoyaki, and healthy portions of soybeans and other vegetables, was another table with more substantial fare for those like Momo, who didn’t even blink at eating full meals as a snack. Soba, various combinations of meat, sauce, and vegetables on a bed of rice, and even desserts like cake and mochi for Sato. Lunch Rush stood proudly behind that table, making sure that no one sabotaged themselves by overeating before the next event by dealing out portions himself, assisted by two of his many robotic sous chefs.

Tenya seemed to appreciate the suggestion, if his audibly growling stomach meant anything. His expression hardened up again, and he adjusted his glasses, the light reflecting off of them in a flash. “Yes, good idea. One can’t do their best on an empty stomach, after all.”
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By the time Tenya had devoured the second massive bowl of food, passing the empty ones to the bulky dishwasher robot, he seemed to have fully recovered his usual equilibrium. He thanked Lunch Rush for the consideration and brought no more attention to the matter, which was a level of self-confidence that Momo could never quite manage whenever she needed to push her digestion to the limit to refuel her quirk. The stares and jokes were difficult to ignore, but it was something Tenya could manage without trouble. If he noticed her using him as cover from the other snack table, where most other people were, he didn’t say anything about it. Still, he could probably use some reassurance for the coming trials. “Don’t worry. If you do even half as well as you did in the first event in the other two, you’ll get in the hero course, no problem. I’ll put in a good word for you with the teachers, too.” She told him with a nudge to the side as they waited around for Midnight to announce the next event.

He waved off her offer idly, maintaining his unflappable mein. “You don’t have to do that, Yaoyorozu.” He paused as Midnight started her announcement about the end of the first event, going over each placement. When she paused to let people review the scoreboard as a whole, he continued: “No need to put yourself at risk on my account. The hero course is reserved for the best of the best, after all.” Momo could understand wanting to avoid the feeling of not having earned his place, it was why she didn’t plan on interning with Uncle Sobi if things went poorly here, so she’d just have to ask Mr. Aizawa about it later.

Midnight continued her explanation of the next event, a cavalry battle. Every team gets a headband with their point total, which is determined by their ranking in the race. Tenya, as first place, gets an eye-dropping ten million points, more than everyone else combined two thousand times over. The top four teams proceed to the next round, and fifth place gets a chance if smaller teams get in the top four. Directly attacking formations to make them fall was forbidden, of course, but despite that it was a simple enough exercise.

Momo was about to confirm that she was willing to partner with him despite the target on his back, when a girl with poorly washed pink hair bounded up to him. “Mr. Ten Million!” she shouted. “You have to take me on your team! Everyone’s eyes will be on us, and I can show off my beautiful babies to the world!” Momo hoped ‘babies’ was a euphemism and not a weird quirk thing. Momo was pretty sure this girl wasn’t in 1-B… “The support companies will see my work and they’ll line up to endorse my genius! What do you say?” Her mutated eyes, resembling crosshairs, were manic as they stared straight into the steely blue ones of Momo’s friend. Oh, she was just a support student. That made sense.

He took a step back when the support student invaded his personal space, but after she finished her proposal, he actually smiled before replying. “Yes, you have the right idea of things here. I will be in your care.” He examined the equipment she had strapped to her with vague interest.

The girl beamed at the compliment. Was she his type? “Great! Come on, the rest of my babies are over here with Baby 5, the robot over there. I’m not allowed to use her in the events, but she carries my spare gear.” She dragged him off to the robot wearing the maid outfit next to the organized pile of gadgets.

Before she could follow them, three of her classmates approached: Tokoyami, who was alone, and Todoroki, who was being followed by Kaminari. Both glanced at each other, before simultaneously speaking over each other. After a heated glare exchanged, Todoroki spoke first: “Join my team. We’ll crush that management department weakling and bring those points back where they belong, with the hero course.”

Tokoyami cut in with his own pitch. “I believe your Quirk’s ability to spread darkness will be quite useful, and I wish to join forces.” He spoke a bit more directly than he usually did, which was considerate of him. He glances over to Todoroki. “I do not object to binding all four of us in a dark brotherhood, Todoroki.”

Todoroki shook his head, his cold expression unwavering. “No. Our last member needs to be someone that can enhance our mobility. Iida ideally, but Sato, Shouji, or Kirishima will suffice.” It was difficult to discern Tokoyami’s expressions, given the bird head, but Momo was reasonably certain he was scowling.

With a cough, Momo cut in on their argument. “Actually, I was going to join Tenya’s group. We’re friends, and I promised to help him get into the hero course.” She nodded to Tokoyami. “You can join us, I’m pretty sure he’s only got one other teammate for now.” Despite his dramatics, Tokoyami was genuinely one of the more powerful members of 1-A, and without the ego of Bakugo or Todoroki.

Todoroki’s response was to darken his expression even more. “Are you sure? I’m coming for that headband, and you want to place yourself in my way?” Hm. Todoroki had been irritable and melodramatic since the festival began, but he was probably just feeling the pressure. His father was here watching, after all. Momo’s parents had always been very supportive and preferred to console her whenever she had fallen short rather than angry, but more than a few friends back in middle school had, when Momo offered them a sympathetic ear, complained about how high expectations could be. The number two hero likely had very high expectations indeed for his son.

After a moment of silence passed between them, Todoroki became convinced of her convictions and stormed off. “Come on Kaminari, we need to secure Iida. Then… maybe Ashido?” Momo glanced at the Iidaten heir, who was emphatically discussing strategy with Midoriya, Uraraka, and Aoyama. Good luck, Todoroki.

Still, Momo still needed to confirm the team with Tenya before anyone else joined him, although given the headband’s value Momo didn’t think it a serious concern. Jogging over, she called out to him once she approached earshot: “Deguchiya! This is Tokoyami, one of my classmates. He’d like to join us.” Momo turned to Tokoyami: “Tokoyami, this is Deguchiya Tenya, a friend of mine, and…” Momo realized the support student didn’t introduce herself.

Fortunately, she was quick enough on the uptake to notice the pause and presented her hand to the bird-headed boy for a handshake. “Hatsume Mei, at your service. What’re your Quirks? I’m sure I have some babies here that will make them pop!”

“About that,” Tenya interrupted. “While I’m unsure what role you would play as of now, I do have a strategy in mind: Hatsume is confident she could convert her flamethrower to act as a burner for a hot air balloon, if you were to create a cloth we could use as a gasbag.” He gestured to himself: “Naturally, I would be the one to provide the initial thrust. If I don’t need to keep us up there, it should be within my limits.”

Tokoyami grunted in approval. “If we are to soar into the air, Dark Shadow will rule the skies with a shadowed fist. All who approach will despair at his strength.”

“Perfect.” Tenya replied. “The plan is a go, then.” Momo removed her jacket for the large creation. The back would probably be best, the sports bra can be pulled out of the way then. “Now how much does everyone weigh? I need to crunch numbers to see how much I need to compensate for the balloon.” Oh. Momo never liked that question.

Hatsume immediately responded, quickly grabbing all of the equipment she intended to use to make sure it was counted. “How many significant digits?” She moved her goggles over her eyes. “My hover soles are reporting a total load of… 76453 grams.” Looking at the equipment in her arms and the size of those arms, Momo didn’t doubt that was accurate, despite her height.

Tenya nodded easily in response, and when Tokoyami muttered his own weight Tenya turned to Momo, who was shirtless and blushing, with those conditions having nothing to do with each other. “I’m not sure.” She eventually said.

Tenya understood the issue, fortunately. “Ah, of course.” He walked in front of her and gestured with his hands. Not entirely sure what he was up to, Momo nodded and immediately regretted it as he put his hands on her thighs and lifted her, weighing her like a grandparent would a child and with just as much effort, his eyes subtly glowing with the power of his quirk. “About eighty three or four kilograms, I’d say.” She usually ranged from seventy to eighty-five kilograms unless she went too far either stocking or using her Quirk, so that sounded about right after she restocked from the table. An embarrassing figure, but muscle is heavy, so… “Okay, so with the power of the flamethrower and the potency of the fuel, we’ll need the following dimensions:” Tenya deposited her on the ground, and walked behind her without even giving her heart a chance to slow down, rattling off the exact measurements of the nylon sheet that would be required.

Fortunately, Momo never bothered to learn the material and compositions of common materials when she could instead learn of superior ones. In other words, she wasn’t limited to a mere nylon balloon. There was an alternative from some Chinese laboratory Momo never learned the name of that was half the weight, three times as heat and tear resistant, and twenty times the cost. Momo learned it for the purposes of making parachutes, but it should work fine here with just a bit of bolstering of the thread count.

With the material and arrangement firmly in mind, Momo reached behind her and pulled up the back half of her bra as she focused, the cloth bundled up to barely be within the available area. Tenya pulled out the balloon, tossing it up and down to weigh it as Momo fixed her clothing.

As he was passing it to Hatsume to rig up to her flamethrower, Midnight came by, passing the team the headband with their team total on it. Tenya took it and stared at the eight numbers while mumbling to himself, probably thinking deeply on strategy and the logistics of his plan. As the dominatrix-themed heroine walked off with the last headband, Momo followed her for a bit and started whispering when she noticed and turned to listen: “Ms. Midnight? I’m going to be the rider, but could we be Team Deguchiya? Tenya’s trying to get into the hero course, so he could use the exposure.”

Midnight lit up at the request, with a grin that could only be described as filthy. “Oh ho? Do we have some childhood friend romances here? Want to think of yourself as Mrs. Deguchiya?” Before Momo could correct that severe misconception, Midnight cracked her whip like a judge would swing their gavel. “I LIKE IT! Approved!” The theoretical adult dashed off, passing the headband in her hand to the group of 1-B girls led by Kendo, their class president before taking an acrobatic leap back onto her podium.

Cracking her whip once more, she tapped what was presumably her microphone before making her announcement: “Okay! The Cavalry battle teams are now finalized! If you will turn your attention to the board, we have point totals and teams listed here!” Cracking her crop again, each team got a few seconds listing each of their names and point totals.

At around the fourth team, Tenya turned towards Momo and whispered a question. “Yaoyorozu, which do you think is our greatest threat, of the class 1-A teams?”

Momo took a glance around the field to check formations. “Well, if we maintain an altitude of sixty meters, we should avoid most Quirks. Exceptions would include Aoyama’s Navel Laser and possibly Todoroki’s fire throwing, but I’ve never seen him attack with fire directly, and I don’t think he’ll change that today.” It was a sensible decision really, fire inflicted a lot more damage and didn’t restrain people like ice could. Mr. Aizawa had made some pointed comments about how Todoroki wasn’t using his fire, but he still used it to melt his own ice and warm people who he hit with it, so Momo didn’t see the problem. “Moving on to mobility, Bakugo can fly short distances, but he struggles to fight gravity and won’t be able to build up any large explosions when he has teammates to worry about.” Really, the temperamental teen’s personality would be the bigger problem, because he was definitely going to try and seize the ten million points, even if there would be plenty of time to respond to his ascent. Wait… idea.

Right, other issues. “Moving on, Uraraka is the real threat on the mobility side of things. She can make her team weightless, and she’s teamed up with Midoriya and Iida, both of which could provide the necessary thrust to maneuver with the reduced weight.”

“Aoyama too.” Tenya observed. “Clearly, Team Midoriya is an incredible threat.” Hatsume finished strapping herself to Tokoyami, having utterly ignored the announcements, and Momo quickly helped the pair set up the harness, and with the bridge between the three “horses” of the formation Momo climbed onto it. Remembering what Tenya said about lifting off, Momo then proceeded to lean forward and grip onto his back, ready for whatever horrible G-forces he planned to inflict on everyone. She couldn’t see his face, but between the subtle spike in his body temperature and his tone, he seemed excited. “Just… perfect.”

Momo was a little surprised, Tenya never really seemed that competitive with how he kept flitting from sport to sport, but in this case she agreed: the event would be boring if there wasn’t at least one team that had a good chance to grab their headband.

It was a good thing she made that backup plan, then. All other thoughts were drowned out by Midnight’s pronouncement: “BEGIN!”

 

Japanese society was obsessed with quirks. The most demonstrative example of this fact is that talking about your own was considered to be basic introductory conversation rather than anything intimate. Heroes were asked about their quirks not because villains wanted to seek weaknesses, but understanding someone’s quirk was considered to be equivalent to understanding them, in a lot of ways. Which was halfway reasonable, given that many quirks provided significantly altered perspectives on a lot of things.

Of course, this also had something of a darker side. Bullies always exist, and their targets are selected on the basis of quirks. The quirkless got the worst of it, but in their absence quirks that were weak as well as subtle could be targeted on a ‘close enough’ basis. When Tenya was in elementary school, his quirk fell into that category. Small amounts of adding force to strikes, weak and clumsy telekinetic shoves, fragile barriers, easy enough to pretend doesn’t exist when Tenya couldn’t muster more than a few before needing hours to recharge.

So Tenya went to his father, when he was on leave, and asked him how to deal with bullies. Surprisingly, he didn’t immediately suggest that Tenya just punch their teeth in, which would have not ended well. Instead, he gave some solid advice: Become unassailable. Show no fear, smile when things approach violence, stand confidently and seem as large as possible, subtly. Bullies only prey on easy targets, so if you are not one, they will leave you alone. Of course, that’s when he said that bullies that have already targeted you need more forceful incentive to leave you alone and taught Tenya how to throw a proper punch, among other martial techniques, but the first part of that advice was genuinely useful.

The appearance of being something was more useful, when interacting with others, than actually being that thing. Fake it until you make it, in less sophisticated terms. Do quirk training, any kind of quirk training, in order to show to people that you were working towards being a pro hero. To that same end, participate in sports, and aim for the top. Sure, Tenya never actually reached the top, but the respect of his peers was fairly earned through those activities.

Once he got older, he was able to safely transition his rhetoric from ‘working towards being a pro hero’ and towards ‘hardworking and virtuous, but with too weak of a quirk to become a pro hero’. Never show weakness, always volunteer for more work, never shy away from action, do your best. This was Tenya’s mantra of success, and given that he got into one of the most prestigious high schools in the country, it had served him well. A degree from UA’s management course was just as good as a bachelor’s degree from a mid-tier university, and offered the opportunity to develop connections with hero students that were virtually guaranteed success in the industry. If not, UA’s letterhead gracing college applications was essentially an automatic pass into any higher education program in the country, with over a year’s worth of college credits already banked to boot, two with the right class schedule.

So with that in mind, remaining true to the school’s ethos and competing at maximum effort was essential to maintaining those connections. As the start time approached, Tenya started to run what he considered to be his greatest active use of his quirk. The math was a bit complicated, but what it essentially did was accelerate his thoughts and reflexes. To say that it slowed down his perception of time wasn’t quite correct, but it was what he generally used as a shorthand for the experience. His brain processed more detail, his senses increased in sensitivity and focus, and he started moving before he could finish processing the thought to do so, most of the time. There were plenty of quirks, like the one possessed by 1-J’s Class Representative, that did it better, but falling short was a long-familiar sensation to Deguchiya Tenya.

It was troubling, to see so many threats piled onto a single team. It was distressingly logical that someone like Uraraka would pair up with people that she could synergize with, and combining that with 1-A’s longest range quirk was also logical, but plan War Zeppelin was on some shaky logistics independently of anything other students do, so having a second team with the skies as their dominion was the last thing they needed. “Just… perfect.”

Still, the other two names brought up by Momo was also worth some consideration. Todoroki supposedly had long range fire attacks, but Momo should be able to produce a fire extinguisher to use as a defense, if nothing else. Both teams didn’t have much in the way of easy tells for their quirks, the invisible girl on Bakugo’s team as the sole exception.

Of the six teams that 1-B had organized into, none seemed like an obvious threat, but that girl with the hooves and horns carrying that vaguely insectile classmate by herself seemed to be the most likely when it came to flight capability. Hopefully she was just fast. When there’s only one horse, mobility was likely a focus, so all three such teams were suspect.

Still, Tenya valiantly ignored how Momo was pressing herself onto his back, gripping the gasbag and preparing the combination weight reduction and vector formula he was going to use to pull the team skyward.

Finally, Midnight announced the beginning of the event, and Tenya executed the plan. Todoroki had opened by spreading ice everywhere, ensnaring several less coordinated teams, which handily occupied everyone else with dealing with that.

Within seconds of the beginning, the gasbag was inflated with a quick temperature formula creating a small fireball within it, Hatsume’s flamethrower was maintaining that temperature, and the team was sitting pretty, seventy meters in the air.

Momo, as expected from a hero student, had already braced herself on Tenya’s back, so after the situation stabilized, Tenya turned down his quirk use and released some of the tension the quick ascent caused with a nervous chuckle.

“Woo!” Shouted a mass of darkness that emerged from Tokoyami’s navel. “That was amazing! Let’s do it again!” The bird-headed hero student was silent, staring intently at what was probably his quirk. “What? It was!” Dark Shadow said petulantly.

Present Mic, the announcer, began his part of the festival without missing a beat. “They’re off, listeners! Team Deguchiya starts the event by flying into the air on a hot air balloon! Hatsume Mei of the support course and Yaoyorozu Momo of the hero course have combined their talents and quirks to create a defensible position in the sky! Not many of their opponents even have a chance of reaching that high, folks!”

“You don’t really see management students past the first event.” Added the color commentator, introduced as Eraserhead. “It doesn’t surprise me that someone from there came up with a plan that involved the three courses working together.”

“They did name Deguchiya the leader despite being a horse, so he must be doing something right, leadership-wise.” Present Mic finished. When did that happen?

“Yaoyorozu, why is the team named after me?” Tenya asked.

Momo relaxed her iron grip on Tenya’s ribcage, shifting her weight back onto the center part of the harness that strung Tenya, Hatsume, and Tokoyami together and rolling her shoulders to limber up her limbs. “It was your plan, after all.” She said evasively.

“Their team composition is solid, with each member contributing something to the whole.” Eraserhead continued. “Deguchiya seems strong enough to carry his whole team with his flight, but probably lacked in endurance. Yaoyorozu’s addition of the needed materials could have worked, but when combined with Hatsume’s supply of support gear and engineering talents to optimize for weight. With additional fuel provided by Yaoyorozu, they can presumably keep their torch going for the entirety of the event.”

“But Eraserhead, “ said Present Mic in obvious faux-ignorance. “What does Tokoyami bring to the table?”

“Interference. Anyone who tries to approach them will have to go through Dark Shadow, and that’s no easy task.” As the gruff commentator said the words, the first wave of attacks for the ten million points began. The two-man teams from 1-B both made their moves first, the girl detaching a pair of her horns and using them to lift herself while the other team launched a dark swarm of tiny projectiles that Tenya couldn’t quite identify. Dark Shadow lunged downward, plucking and crushing the horns supporting the girl and ignoring her bug-like teammate’s bladed arms. The slower but more numerous projectiles were dealt with through wide swings of the living shadow’s arms, sweeping them aside and breaking whatever control the hero student had over them.

But Team Midoriya wasn’t considered their greatest threat for nothing. Dark Shadow recoiled as a bright laser shot out and struck the mass of darkness, retreating within Tokoyamis’ coat to recover from the damage. With their primary interceptor taken care of, Team Midoriya rapidly ascended towards Team Deguchiya, straight for the headband.

Tuning out the announcers, Tenya readied himself for the engagement. Hastume threw some grenade-like objects, which were dodged by the enemy team. Momo pulled out a metal plate, about the size of a riot shield, and threw it down when the team was reasonably close. Without room to dodge, Midoriya caught the plate, which instead caused his team to start to descend and spin uncontrollably. But Iida’s quirk, Engine, flared out, creating enough counter-thrust to right their team’s orientation, Uraraka tapped the plate to protect it from the cruel whims of gravity, and Aoyama twisted shot out a laser backwards to provide forward thrust so the team could once more attack the airborne formation, but this time with the metal plate protecting their advance.

Their teamwork was flawless and terrifying. Dark Shadow was incapacitated, Hastume and Momo’s attacks were defended against… It was all up to Tenya, now.

The most fundamental and basic implementations of Tenya’s quirk was increasing the force of his movements, adding fist to fist, in other words. By now, the physical reinforcement formula had undergone many iterative improvements since those early days, and it was still a needlessly complex and weaker version of father’s quirk, but from what little Tenya could discern of Uraraka’s quirk, it doesn’t take much force to fling things that she had used… but that worked both ways.

Tenya started running the strongest physical reinforcement that he had ever used, enough to run through his current reserve in a single minute, leaned back, lifted his leg, and brought it back down in a ringing stomp right on the metal shield they were using to protect themselves. The metal bent from the force, which was unfortunate as that meant the transfer of energy was imperfect and he should have used less of his quirk (how strong was he?), but Tenya removed the physical reinforcement before assessing the damage.

Team Midoriya had landed in a curiously liquid portion of the arena, Team Awase stealing their headband while they recovered from the impact. Also, the recoil utterly shredded Tenya’s shoe and pant leg, but it was of no concern.

“I don’t think they’ll be trying again except maybe towards the end.” Commented Momo. “Uraraka can only tolerate removing her own weight for short periods. They’ll need to secure some headbands before risking it again.”

“Yaoyorozu.” Muttered Tokoyami. “Dark Shadow is mostly recovered. Coating the area with darkness will increase his strength and fortify our defenses. He is an agent of darkness, and works best among his element” Tenya was glad the hero students were taking charge, now that things had become actually dangerous. That was their element, after all.

Momo pulled out a machine that started to produce thick fog. It quickly dissipated as the wind removed the mist faster than it could appear. “It’s not working, the wind is too much at this elevation.” Well there goes that idea. Momo tossed the machine as a projectile at the steadily ascending Bakugo, but he juked to the side and easily avoided it, with the red-haired front horse of Team Bakugo punching upwards to deflect the wayward machine away from the rest of his team. “Tenya, could you affect the light levels? I remember that one trick you did last month…”

Ah, the advanced shadow puppet trick. Tenya started formulating the request as he watched Bakugo ascend. A wide horizontal barrier, above the top of the balloon. It needed to be big enough to give Dark Shadow some room to maneuver… It was almost but not quite noon, so angling for the sun’s position would be at a minimum. The barrier would block solely electromagnetic waves, and even then only the visible wavelengths.

As Bakugo neared the formation, the formula executed, covering the majority of the arena in deep shadows. Tokoyami laughed dramatically as Dark Shadow swelled out from him to engage the temperamental hero student, contemptuously grabbing him in one shadowy claw and throwing him right back down to his teammates. “Dark Shadow’s power has hit it’s zenith! Total Eclipse: Celebration of Darkness!”

“What on Earth is Team Deguchiya doing? They’re blocking the sun! Dark Shadow’s coming out to play, people!” Peasant Mic exclaimed as Dark Shadow roared.

“How long can you keep that up, Ten Million?” Hatsume asked. To Momo, she added: “More fuel.”
“It matters not!” Tokoyami said, an edge of panic in his voice. “I’ve lost control over Dark Shadow! Cease it!”

Cutting off the formula, the floating upper body of the leader of team Monoma, presumably Monoma, started belting out profanities as the light of the sun suddenly started shining back down when he was looking straight at it, floating his torso back down to his team to recover from the trauma.

“There’s not much time left, Listeners! Tick tock, is anyone else going to try for the ten million points, or will we get not one, but two non-hero course participants in the third event?” Present Mic crowed over the loudspeakers.

“It’s a stupid risk.” Eraserhead added. “But in the end, the point of the Sports Festival is to shoot for the top and show everyone what you can do. Plus Ultra.”

Emboldened by the encouragement of their teacher, Bakugo and Team Midoriya, freshly laden with the headbands of most of 1-B and some of 1-A, shot up into the air once more to strive for the ten million points.

Dark Shadow once more went for Team Midoriya, delaying the larger threat while Bakugo passed by unimpeded. “Don’t underestimate me!” The explosive boy shouted. Tenya could only grit his teeth and smile in the face of such aggression. Once Bakugo got into range, Tenya attempted to lash out with a kick, but Bakugo gripped Tenya’s shin and pulled himself up, detonating an explosion right in Tenya’s face. “You’ve got a lot of nerve, villain of the week!”

Tenya blindly flailed, his concentration completely broken, at the boy climbing him, but Bakugo skillfully shut down every avenue as he went over and towards the headbands. “All right, Ponytail, you and me!” Bakugo lunged for the headband, and with that occupying his attention, Tenya managed to seize him by the armpits, and use a reinforcement-assisted heave to throw the boy off of the balloon, sending him off into the blurry chaos.

“Did he get the headband?” Tenya asked, wiping at his face to clear the debris from his shattered glasses.

“He got the fake.” Momo replied, smug as could be. “I had two headbands positioned so he couldn’t grab both and he grabbed the more protected one, assuming it was the real one. More importantly…” Several strips of cloth brushed the back of Tenya’s neck. “I got all these!”

Hatsume laughed at the subterfuge. “No one will be able to tell you hid the real one! Quick, swap it back.” Ah, a classic shell game gambit.

The sound of a bell rang out from the speakers. “That’s it, it’s over!” Midnight declared. The hot air balloon steadily lowered to the ground as Hastume cut the flame.

Surprisingly, only four total teams had headbands at all. First there was Team Deguchiya, who had retained the ten million points. Second place was Team Todoroki, who left the airborne foes alone and had half of the headbands as a result. Third place was the collection of 1-B girls that managed to put up an excellent battle as Team Kendo, and finally Team Midoriya, who managed to keep one of their headbands despite Dark Shadow’s best efforts. Bakugo was not taking the revelation of the fake headband well.

Still, with entering the third event, it has now become possible for Tenya to be pulled out of the academically stimulating management course and into the violence-filled heroics course, where Bakugo was. The Bakugo that was being physically restrained from attacking Tenya right this second. This could not be allowed to happen, but how to avoid it? Saying the truth was unacceptable, cowardice was unbefitting someone at UA, and taking a dive was problematic. One, Momo would likely be able to tell, and that would ruin the point of even getting this far. Two, there would likely be some serious hospital time in store if he tried to lose against someone strong enough to do it convincingly. He could probably take, for example, Hatsume, or perhaps Midoriya. He didn’t really do much besides lead his team, he must have a non-combat quirk.

If he didn’t see this through to the end, there was an unacceptable risk that he would lose the connections Momo represented. Even if she was a bit of a battle maniac, she was still a favored daughter of the Yaoyorozu conglomerate, the multi-trillion yen corporation with global reach and hands in diverse industries, from diapers to combat robots. An agency’s greatest source of income was corporate sponsorships, after all, and if Tenya managed to join up with her start-up agency, financial success was virtually guaranteed. That is, assuming she didn’t just take over her great uncle’s agency, and given that Yoroi Musha was far past a normal retirement age, it was a very real possibility. Either way, the safest place for Tenya’s future was supporting Momo in her own ambitions… but in a less literal way than the cavalry battle.

But that was only true if Tenya remained in Momo’s good books, and for now, it required Tenya to fight at his best, which was definitely below the overwhelming might of the number two hero’s heir. She wouldn’t understand his distaste of the literal gladiatorial matches that were about to commence, so Tenya would just have to lose to Todoroki and then he could remain safely out of the hero course. Easy.

Well, at least there was a whole hour between the two events. Momo was leading him to where Lunch Rush had set up a full meal for the participants. “Hey Tenya, what’s the prescription for your glasses?” She had her phone in hand, but Tenya couldn’t tell what she was looking at with it without his glasses. After he rattled it off, Momo input the details into her phone, looked at the result, zipped down her jacket, and pulled out a pair of glasses from her chest before zipping back up and passing the lenses to Tenya. Perfect match, as expected.

Still, it was probably a good idea to assess the situation through some subtle interrogation. “Yaoyorozu, how do you think I did?” How well does she expect Tenya to do? Meeting her expectations but falling short of the hero course’s standards would be the ideal position, after all.

Momo beamed radiantly at the question. “You did great, Deguchiya. Keep it up, and that hero course spot is yours. Mr. Aizawa was singing your praises out there, and that’s not something he does lightly.” Eraserhead? He was the color commentator, his literal job for today was to talk up the contestants. Further, the balloon plan was only necessary because of the weakness of Tenya’s quirk, and the actual execution was mostly Hatsume. Further, he didn’t even think about fuel requirements, an oversight that Tenya was only now getting around to kicking himself over. On top of that, the only reason they didn’t lose was because of Momo’s shell game with the headbands, so the plan didn’t even work properly. However, if she was impressed as well as her teacher, the best course was of course to allow her to think better of him, as that could only be helpful for his plan to remain in her orbit for the foreseeable future. “Also… about earlier…” Hm? What could she be… “You can call me Momo, if you want.”

Ah. She was referring to him accidentally addressing her by her first name earlier. Fighting by her side must have left her opinion of him even better than he thought, appropriate for a battle maniac like herself. Still, such an offer demands reciprocity, not that doing such was anything resembling a burden. “Then you may call me Tenya, Momo.” Tenya found himself smiling, vaguely giddy at the smooth development of this mutually beneficial relationship. Or maybe that was just the adrenaline, as the action-packed few minutes caught up to them. It would explain the light-headedness, as well as Momo’s flushed face as she turned forward, a skip in her step as she moved towards the food to replace the several kilograms of weight she lost making that fuel.

Tenya distinctly did not skip or jump as he followed Momo, but he certainly wanted to. Must be the adrenaline.

 

Turns out I forgot to post this here at the same time I posted on the other sites. Whoops.

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Every digestive quirk was different. As a rule, quirks that fell into that category had a few things in common. The only thing that everyone had was rapid digestion, but such a statement was akin to saying that all pro heroes had a license; the latter was required to be considered the former. Other common traits included more efficient digestion, so the amount that goes out doesn’t scale to what goes in, as well as some miscellaneous physical advantages related to the extra energy and efficiencies, most frequently an increased rate of recovery for both physical activity and healing of injuries.

As such, eating a full meal after less than an hour had passed since the last one was a simple matter for someone like Momo, who could, if pressed, eat for hours on end as long as she was willing to rapidly gain the weight or use her quirk to shed it. Tenya, on the other hand, was less capable in that regard.

This was easily missed in the chaos of the competitor’s lunch room, where Tenya’s aberrant performance was the most interesting thing in the room, rather than something more common, as Tenya wasn’t eating an exceptional amount for someone of his size for once.

While the hero course had their priorities straight, as they all made sure to eat before converging on Tenya for an interrogation, there were still over a dozen classmates of Momo ready with questions with plenty of time to ask them in. The first one to speak was the red-haired boy who was the one to restrain Bakugou after the cavalry battle, keeping the explosive boy from confronting Tenya. From the list of teams, his name should be Kirishima Ejirou. “That was a manly performance, throwing down with Bakubro like that when you couldn’t even see. I just wanted to make sure you knew that he’s just upset that he gambled and lost, and he won’t do any of those things he yelled after the match.” Having completed his duty, he nods to Momo. “That’ll teach him to underestimate the Vice Rep!”

Now this was a hero student with potential. Insightful, compassionate, and with a distinctive look and silhouette. “I agree completely. Our plan hinged on her forward planning and adaptability to handle any problems, and she delivered.” Tenya flicked out one of the business cards he prepared for the festival. “You seem like a hero student that can go far, Kirishima. The management course has access to information about the hero industry that you haven’t been introduced to yet, so contact me if you need the lay of the land, as it were.” Principal Nedzu was quite helpful in pointing out exactly how the management students were able to assist the hero course to help develop business relationships between them. A head start in learning how to research hero statistics and profiles was one of them. If Tenya was going to be sitting around with the hero students instead of with his classmates, he was going to take advantage of the opportunity presented.

Tenya kept his business card holder open in his hand as the next person took their turn to speak: Jiro, someone Tenya wouldn’t say he knew well, but had certainly spoken with over the last few months at the lunch table, and knew her as an audiophile that hated not knowing things. “Since when could you fly? Have you always been that strong? You said your quirk was weak!” With each question, she poked Tenya in the chest with the audio jacks that extended from her ear lobes, the fleshy cords lengthening as needed. Like most central features of mutation quirks, they had a strength and dexterity that was not immediately apparent from just looking at them.

“Ah, it has its good points, to be sure.” Tenya deflected. “But I haven’t used my quirk seriously in five years, and I could do maybe one or two impressive feats before exhausting it back then, so my performance was as unexpected for me as it was for you.”

Midoriya’s eyes widened as he caught into that detail. Taking out a notebook, he quickly started writing. “Ah, most quirks tend to increase in power drastically with puberty, many ‘hidden’ quirks get revealed then for that reason. Kaachan couldn’t muster anything greater than firecrackers until he was eleven, unless he soaked something in his sweat for hours.”

Kirishima gave the boy a considering look. “Is that what happened to you, Midoriya? That would explain some things Bakubro said offhand…”

The invisible girl seemed interested in something else, though. “Wait, did Bakugo make a bomb on purpose when he was a kid?”

Midoriya blanched. “We don’t talk about the gym sock incident. Don’t tell him I mentioned it.”

Tenya’s thoughts were racing. He had spent years convincing people that the only thing that prevented him from being a pro hero was a weak quirk, rather than not wanting to risk his life for only moderate pay with a small chance of incredible success. Management was a safer career, both in physical and monetary risk. No one knew that was why he never attempted the heroics exam, as the one inviolable truth in Japanese society was that heroes were amazing and while individual heroes could lose that status with improper conduct, as a whole the industry was what everyone wanted to be and to say otherwise was grounds for ostracization. Teya glanced at Momo, who plucked one of the business cards he had out of the holder and smiled at him while she input the number into her phone. Ah, they had moved on to addressing each other by first name and he had forgotten to exchange phone numbers with her? What a faux pas. At least she didn’t seem offended that he had not offered her one of the cards.

Still, he should probably reply to Midoriya. “I… didn’t know that, Midoriya. Thank you.”

Further conversation was stopped by the intervention of Hatsume. “Your quirk is amazing, Ten MIllion!” She said excitedly. “When you get into the hero course, you’ll need some gear, right? Look no further than Hatsume Industries!” She paused. “Actually… would you be interested in being a test pilot? With how versatile your quirk is, flight, durability boost, strength boost, reflex boost, barriers… You’ll be perfect for my babies. I’ll make it worth your while…” She winked at Tenya, possibly flirting, but she was manic enough that he couldn’t tell.

Did Hatsume not have a management course student giving her assistance? If she wanted to employ a test pilot, partnering with a student that wanted to tie their star to hers would allow them to handle that sort of minutiae. Let it never be said that Tenya passed up opportunities that presented themselves to him, so Tenya smiled back and put out his hand. “We should talk after the festival about our future business together.” He said. “Connections among the support course are just as important for managers as ones from the hero course, after all.”

The shrewd girl grinned widely at the agreement, taking one of the business cards when offered. “I’m at the Development Studio most days, I like the workstation closest to the door, so I should be easy to find. Come on by when you have time, we’ll make beautiful babies.” Despite the fact that she had referred to her inventions as babies already, the collected students still took a moment to stare at Hatsume’s face to see if she understood what she was saying.

“Once classes start back up, I’ll be sure to visit.” Tenya said. Hatsume had the right idea, focusing on business opportunities rather than competition. The battle maniacs of the hero course could learn something from how she kept her eyes on the prize, as it were.

Momo finished her meal and stood up, pulling on Tenya’s collar. “We have thirty minutes to strategize for the third round. Let’s put our heads together, Tenya.” She looked at her classmates and smiled sweetly, and the hero class dispersed, some disappointed but none arguing with Momo’s authority.

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“Okay, so first things first: what combat training do you have?” Momo asked to start the strategy session.

“Ah, my father’s taught me a thing or two about self-defense.” Tenya said, a little nervous. “Somehow I don’t think they’ll approve of me using a combat knife.”

Momo looked surprised. “You mentioned your father was in the JSDF, right?”

“Correct.” Tenya said. “I don’t really know much unarmed combat, not enough to be comfortable relying on it.” He could throw a punch, and academically understood a hold or two, but that was about it. Father always did prefer knives and guns…

“That’s alright.” Momo said. “We should really focus on how to use your quirk in battle, anyway.” She pulled out a list. “I’ve thought about the party tricks you’ve shown me, and tried to figure out which ones could be scaled up to an effective attack.”

Tenya glanced through the list. Laser pointer, paper-cutter, the paper bomb, and the rest was just derivatives of the things Hatsume talked about earlier. “The tricky part of directly attacking with my quirk is that I have a very limited reserve of power. Less limited than I thought, but what I’ve already done has taken out a significant chunk of it already. I need to make sure to minimize waste, protect myself from the effect, and keep it simple enough to not distract me in battle too much. The paper bomb is indeed quite useful, but the point of that formula is to replace extensive calculations for the position of the explosion with the position of whatever I’ve set to explode, simplifying aiming by just launching an object.”

“Okay, so what’s the ideal conditions for using that?” Momo asked.

“Ideally, I’d have a uniform projectile to work with, that traveled quickly, and didn’t require me to provide it with motive force.” Tenya never really mastered throwing things enough for it to not distract him from focusing on his quirk. Shooting? Yes. Archery? Mostly. Throwing? No.“A straight object with dimensions I know down to the millimeter would help immensely, double so if it was hollow and durable so a second explosion could send it down range. Ergonomics would be an issue, however, so some kind of handle would be necessary…”

Momo groaned as she understood what he was going for. “You’re describing a gun, Tenya.”

“Well, that seems to be the best use case, yes.” Tenya agreed. “Not very heroic, is it?” Well, there are a few heroes with guns, but most of them were heroes with gun quirks, not actual firearms. Snipe was a teacher at UA, wasn’t he?

“It’s a thought for your hero costume, I suppose.” Momo said, putting an optimistic spin on things as usual. “We need to think of something you can use without bringing in outside equipment.”

Wait… ‘outside’ equipment? There was an idea… “...I suppose I might have time to design a carving formula that could make a chunk of arena into a hollow tube with a grip… At short ranges even blanks can hurt, upscale the power a bit and you’d have a viable weapon.” Tenya took one of the papers Momo had written on, turned it around, and started sketching out the design.

Momo smiled radiantly at Tenya’s plan. “That’s the spirit! I remember that trick, you think it will be ready in time?”

Tenya double-checked the numbers he wrote down, creating a wireframe model with his illusion formula. “...it’s ready.” He said with confidence. “I can even get a single projectile by launching the interior of the tube out with an explosion.”

“Just be careful with being too violent.” Momo warned. “If you hurt someone badly, they might think you unsuitable for hero work…” Tenya could only hope. “...and Mr. Aizawa might expel you.”

Oh. “A fate worse than death.” Tenya said, only half joking.

“As long as you’re not worse than Bakugo, they’ll probably let you in.” Momo said encouragingly. “Do you have a backup plan?”

“...Maybe if I bind a blade formula to my fingertips, making it too small to cut deeply.” Tenya offered. To demonstrate, he cut up the paper with a negligent swipe of his hand.

Momo stared at the clean cuts. “...Tenya, we’re going to be on national television. Mr. Aizawa warned us about how the crowds hate seeing blood, even if Recovery girl can heal it.”

Tenya shrugged. “I’ll just resort to punching, then.” He took a fresh piece of paper. “Now, let’s go over the quirks of the competitors and strategize for both of us. What are your thoughts on Iida…”

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The crowd cheered as the sixteen competitors entered the arena, lining up to face Midnight as she presented the matchups.

Present Mic’s voice returned once more over the speakers. “AND WE’RE BACK! I hope you’re all well-fed and rested after the break, because it’s right back to the action! Midnight, take it away!”

The dominatrix-themed heroine cracked her whip. “I’m looking forward towards the intense matchups we have here! There’s going to be some hot-blooded excitement and I’m already wound up at the thought!”

The tournament board lit up, the names rapidly switching between each other and one by one locking in each position.

Deguchiya Tenya (1-J) vs. Kendo Itsuka (1-B)
Tokoyami Fumikage (1-A) vs. Iida Tenya (1-A)
Ashido Mina (1-A) vs. Uraraka Ochako (1-A)
Todoroki Shoto (1-A) vs. Tokage Setsuna (1-B)
Yaoyorozu Momo (1-A) vs. Yanagi Reiko (1-B)
Hatsume Mei (1-H) vs. Kaminari Denki (1-A)
Aoyama Yuga (1-A) vs. Sato Rikido (1-A)
Shiozaki Ibara (1-B) vs. Midoriya Izuku (1-A)

“Now, everyone back to the competitor’s area!” Midnight declared. “Kendo, Deguchiya! I hope you’re limbered up, because the safe word is ‘I surrender!” She cracked her whip one more time.

 

Ah, going first was bad… but also good. It maximized the amount of time one has between matches, with the slight drawback of having no time to strategize against the first opponent.

Well, that’s a drawback for those who didn’t plan ahead, anyway. Kendo Itsuka had used her quirk during the cavalry battle, increasing the size of her fists, large enough that Tenya estimated that their weight would each be as much as the rest of her body.

Even assuming that her ability to move and strike will increase on the arena, where she could exert better leverage than the shoulders of her classmates, she was still, in the end, a melee combatant. His advantages against her were too numerous to count, so it appeared that losing convincingly was just not happening.

Even if she did the smart move, and rushed Tenya the instant the fight started, it would be too obvious if he was ‘too slow’ to stop her from leveraging her strengths. Momo would see it as what it was: a coward’s move to stay out of the hero course.

Unacceptable. The instant Midnight announced the start of the fight, Tenya crouched low and placed his hand near the ground. The carving formula he created during the break activated. A vaguely rifle-shaped chunk of concrete separated from the arena, and Tenya leapt into the air holding it. Out of habit, he started to check the weapon’s sights before remembering that he didn’t have time to include them in the carving.

Still, there was a workaround. A quick laser formula ejected from the top of the barrel, creating a cheerful red dot on whatever he was pointing at, which turned out to be Kendo’s center of mass after a quick pivot in mid-air.

Kendo looked down at the red dot before moving her extra-large limbs into a defensive posture. “...You’re bluffing!” Kendo shouted at him. “That’s not a real gun!”

“It doesn’t have to be.” Tenya said back, letting a sound formula carry his voice. The barrel’s mass could carry about ten shots of concrete propelled by explosive formulas, so he fired one to prove he could. It bounced off of her enlarged hand, and it twitched from the impact. Right on target.

Present Mic decided to chime in on the event. “Kendo sure is in trouble, folks! Deguchiya has somehow invented a concrete gun, and is able to stay out of her reach without much problem. Eraserhead, your thoughts?”

“With her quirk, Big Fist, she has some excellent cover that can withstand the power of the concrete bullets. She may be hoping to exhaust her opponent with a solid defense, and wait until he runs out of them before making her move.” Eraserhead rumbled. “She might not be able to move her hands into position if she gives up the leverage from having her feet planted on the ground, so it’s a stalemate.”

Eraserhead really knew how to upsell the students, it was clear why he was chosen to become the color commentator, with that kind of dedication to his work. Still, Momo was probably wondering why he was taking so long, so alas. Tenya tuned up his reflex enhancement to improve his aim and rate of fire, targeted his homing formulas, and then fired off the rest of the concrete bullets in quick succession, forcing her to block high before scoring two hits on her right ankle.

Screaming in pain from the hit, Kendo huddled into her hands, interlacing her fingers to provide total cover. With his range advantage gone, Tenya closed in, ready to set an explosion formula off in the concrete gun, using the barrel to channel all the force in one direction.

Before Kendo had a chance to break her cover, a concrete wall separated her from Tenya’s line of sight. Midnight cracked her whip to draw attention: “I’m ruling this match in favor of Deguchiya Tenya!” The crowd roared, although it was difficult to discern whether the cheers or cries of anger were stronger. That was normal for a boy defeating a girl so decisively, though, so Tenya ignored it.

Tenya let his formulas fade, rubbing his face as the minor headache caused by ending the reflex enhancement surged and faded. Once he was able to reassert his usual cool mask, he walked out of the arena, not sparing a glance to the wall that still separated Tenya from Kendo.

Before he could make his way to 1-J’s section of the stands, Momo came out from behind a corner and grabbed his hand, gently leading him to 1-A’s section. “I had Lunch Rush set up some cake for Sato and I, and made sure he included some for you, too.”

“Ah, thank you Momo.” Tenya said as he followed her. It wasn’t terribly dignified, but Tenya always did have something of a sweet tooth. Even if eating didn’t increase his quirk’s replenishment by enough for it to matter, cake was still cake. By far, the biggest perk of attending UA, ignoring the primary purpose of education and connections, was the utterly amazing food. Lunch Rush’s desserts were good enough that Tenya had to remind himself that it was unseemly to act like a taste judge in a cooking manga.

As they entered the 1-A stands, a green-haired girl that Tenya didn’t recall seeing during the cavalry battle was in the middle of speaking: “-om for two Bakugos, ribbit.” Wait, there was that large boy who had two teammates on his back, hidden within the webbed skin that connected his six arms to each other. She must have been on that team.

Bakugo, for his part, seemed offended at the statement, his fist crackling as he started to stand up, but Kirishima, who was next to him interrupted whatever he was going to do by pointing dramatically at Tenya. “Hey, the winner’s here! How’s it going, Deguchiya?”

Momo pointed towards where a large boy was standing in vigil in front of a table, probably Sato, and Tenya started making his way over there. “I’m fine.” He said in response to the boisterous boy’s question, before adding: “She never even touched me.” Bravado was a pretty safe bet when dealing with a group of battle maniacs, right? From the enthusiastic arm pump, it was the right thing to say.

Setting his concrete rifle to the side, Tenya started digging in. Exquisite.

The match of Tokoyami versus Iida wasn't particularly interesting, in Tenya's opinion. Dark Shadow's range and speed initially allowed Tokoyami to box in the larger boy, but Iida was powerfully built and Dark Shadow was held back by the early afternoon sun, high in the sky and sapping the quirk's strength with every second.

Eventually, Dark Shadow's strength had faded enough that Iida was able to rapidly run around the perimeter, escaping the quirk's reach and attacking its master. Tokoyami wasn't even able to turn around completely before Iida's kick propelled his body into his quirk. Dark Shadow valiantly attempted to carry Tokoyami back into the ring, but its strength failed, achieving mere seconds of floating above the ground before collapsing.

The bloodthirsty crowd loved it, though. They loved it even more when Iida helped his opponent stand up in a show of sportsmanship, distracting from the gladiatory nature of the event.

When the pair returned to the 1-A section, Tenya was on his fifth slice of cake, nodding at them in acknowledgement as he picked up his sixth.

His gluttony did not go unnoticed; the invisible girl stomped over for a confrontation: "How do you eat so much? Not even Momo eats that much and her quirk is fueled by fat!" She hissed.

Tenya frowned at the blunt description. Momo always preferred to use the word 'lipids' for a reason… he silently put his hands together and pulled them apart, running an illusion formula of a banner with the mantra of all nonsense: "it's a quirk, just smile and nod"

Momo apparently felt that her classmates rated a more thorough explanation: "His quirk is somewhat like mine and Sato's, where our stomachs have changed to accommodate the needs of our quirks." well, the digestive system as a whole, really, but no one likes a nitpicker. "Sato's quirk only changes how he handles sugar, converting it into his strength boost in the short term, but also into protein optimized to increase his muscle growth." The boy in question nodded solemnly at the description, flexing a bit for emphasis.

"On the other hand, Tenya's quirk just makes all but a fraction of the food he eats vanish entirely, so eating six slices of cake is no more of an issue than eating one is for someone else of his size." The subject was a bit more complex than that, but that was an adequate summary.

Conversation paused while the class waited for Momo to provide exposition on her own quirk, but once it was clear none was forthcoming, Midoriya looked up from his furious note taking: "and your quirk let's you rapidly gain and lose weight as you eat and create objects! That's really cool, Yaoyorozu!" Personally, Tenya thought that the enhanced skin elasticity was the more impressive adaptation for her quirk, given that there wasn't much stopping Momo from walking around like Fat Gum except for vanity… which was a vital attribute if a girl wants to be popular in the pro hero business.

Kirishima looked a little confused, but smiled anyway. "That's some manly analysis skills, but..." He squinted as he looked Momo over. "...how can you tell?"

The other unknown person from 1-A, presumably the other mystery member of Team Mineta, scoffed at the red-haired boy. "How can you not notice how Yaoyorozu's boobs and ass change size a lot? It's obvious." Tenya immediately disliked the short boy with the hair quirk.

Iida took charge, standing up and immediately scolding the small boy: "Mineta!" So that would make the girl Asui. He should have guessed. "How could you say that in such a crass manner! It's rude to point out quirk side-effects in such a matter!" Iida gestured randomly while speaking, chopping the air like he was trying to play off a desire to violently assault Mineta. Tenya understood the sentiment, he kind of wanted to smack him too, but as Tenya was not a violent maniac, it was an impulse easily ignored.

The blond boy with a black streak in his hair, who was named Kaminari, nodded seriously in agreement with the Class President. "There's a reason no one points out that Ashido's breath stings like lemon juice, or that Bakugo smells like caramel."

“The match is starting, shut up!” Bakugou shouted, punching the other blond in the arm. No one commented on the immediate violence, so it was probably normal.

...going into the hero course was not an option.

-------------------------

The match between Ashido, the pink-skinned girl that Kaminari mentioned, and Uraraka started as many do: with both waiting for the other to act first. Each combatant kept their distance, hesitating to get closer.

Present Mic took the opportunity to provide exposition about the matchup: “Now this one could go either way. Uraraka’s quirk is Zero Gravity, and she showed it off in the Cavalry battle. Now, what could that dancing pink girl do that competes with one of the fundamental forces?”

Ashido’s fists were beginning to shake with effort, despite her not apparently doing anything at all. Present Mic continued: “Well, what her quirk lacks in exotic oomph, she can make up with raw power! Ashido Mina, Quirk: ACID!” On cue, a Ashido released a massive wave of acid at Uraraka, hopefully toned down enough to not be dangerous.

Unfortunately, while the attack was showy… she did not pick an appropriate target. Uraraka managed to leap clear of the wave, putting her fingers together as gravity reasserted itself and allowed her to fall into a kick… which missed as Ashido leapt out of the way with a twirl. Undaunted, Uraraka rolled forward into a tackle, and the two girls grappled in the arena.

It was pretty quickly apparent that neither girl had any real idea what to do in this situation, as while Uraraka tried to use her quirk to remove her leverage, Ashido used her own quirk to cause any grip Uraraka could get to slip, preventing the contact and causing some minor smoke as the acid ate away at the concrete and their gym uniforms.

Sensing his confusion, Momo explained: “Mina can control what her acid burns… to a limited extent. Chemically it’s just citric acid with some extra proteins and sugars mixed in, thus the appearance, but her quirk changes its properties without changing the molecular makeup.” Fascinating. “It’s a blacklist system though, she can only do a limited amount of protected materials, and it only reduces the intensity, not removes it.” Tenya surmised that Ashido usually focuses on making her quirk less corrosive to people, to lower the quirk’s lethality. It did explain why she was able to damage the arena so much without melting Uraraka into soup, though.

Eventually, the fight ended when Uraraka got Ashido into a complicated hold, choking out her opponent with her thighs. Midnight called the match at that point, and the girls took a moment to gather up the remains of their gym uniforms and shoes before leaving.

Mineta exhaled a shuddering breath. “That was the best fight ever.” He declared. “If only they lost their bras…”

The boy with the massive tail swung the limb with a twist of his hips, knocking the perverted dwarf onto the ground. “That fight was painful to watch, from a technical standpoint. Either of them could have ended it in half the time if they had any practice at all in grappling.”

The boy with the tape dispensers for elbows laughed. “Well Ojiro, they made up for it with enthusiasm.” He nodded sagely. “Or vicious stubbornness, same thing. Mina’s pretty strong in the gym, though, I’m surprised Uraraka could overpower her like that.”

Midoriya nodded enthusiastically. “Yeah, I’ve been going to the gym with her, and she’s actually pretty strong, even without removing the gravity of the equipment.” After a moment, he frowned and added: “I’m starting to max out the weights they have though, so I’ll have to go to Gym Upsilon instead pretty soon.” From the student handbook, that was the one for strength-enhancing quirks, so Midoriya’s musculature wasn’t just for show, then. That was good to know.

Sero looked back towards where Uraraka and Ashido would return. “Oh wait, they’re going to miss the next fight, they’ll need to get those scrapes and burns healed by Recovery girl…”

“Next two fights.” Corrected the invisible girl. “Todoroki’s next.” Everyone else took a moment to process that, before murmuring a general agreement with the assessment.

Tenya finished the last slice of cake he was going to eat for now. Placing the plate on the stack with its eleven siblings, Tenya decided to defend the student from 1-B. “Tokage can separate her body parts and fly.” He observed. “Even if he tries to freeze her legs to the floor, she won’t be out of it.”

“You haven’t seen Todoroki let loose.” Kaminari said. “He froze a five story building in one go during class.” He swallowed thickly before looking down at the concrete circle. “That arena? It’s nothing.”

With that pronouncement, Midnight cracked her whip to signal the battle’s beginning, and the opposite side of the arena was no longer visible, as the massive glacier that Todoroki produced obscured it from view. Midnight, half-frozen herself as collateral damage, awarded Todoroki his victory, followed by the boy using his left hand to melt the ice around Tokage’s body parts.

Momo hummed as she saw the display, completely unsurprised but studying the boy intently. “...Wish me luck.” She eventually said, turning and leaving to attend her own match.

Her classmates each contributed their own encouragements, and Tenya made sure to throw in his own. “Do your best.”

------------------------

Yanagi presented a bit of a conundrum to Tenya and Momo’s planning session, as she didn’t obviously use her quirk in a way they could observe during the Cavalry battle. Momo thought it had something to do with spirits, possibly possession or astral projection, just from her name, Reiko. Tenya thought that divining quirks by their name was stupid, but parents frequently named their children according to familial quirk trends, so it was accurate more often than not. It was mostly superstition.

As such, Momo opened the battle modestly, creating a shield and baton to engage in melee, as Yanagi’s willowy limbs and awkward stance indicated that she was not a close combat type.

Yanagi did have some combat training, as she weaved out of the way of Momo’s strikes, and her quirk was revealed in short order as she telekinetically stole Momo’s baton when she shifted her grip, floating away and using a sharp gesture to throw off Momo’s balance. However, she did not leave the ground, so whatever weight limit she had, Momo with that shield was beyond it.

Momo created a second shield to deflect the baton strike Yanagi was sending, and the white-haired girl sent the baton towards the arena repeatedly, putting cracks into the concrete. With the baton ruined, Yanagi threw it out of the arena only to reveal the nature of her plan as the damaged tiles floated upward into a swarm of projectiles.

However, Momo didn’t just do nothing while Yanagi executed her plan; she pulled out a long staff with weighted ends, gripping it firmly and using spear techniques to attack the girl as she slowly accelerated the many pieces of the arena to attack Momo.

Momo formed armor around herself, tearing the gym uniform off entirely as she continued to attack, striking solid hits that brought down her opponent while looking like a Yoroi Musha cosplayer. The chunks of concrete didn’t appear to bother Momo much through the armor, and Midnight called the fight after Momo swung hard at the downed Yanagi, stopping her strike short before impact.

After Yanagi stopped her quirk’s assault (and the fact that she had to actively stop it made Midoriya’s note-taking triple in speed), Momo removed the armor in a few quick motions to reveal… another gym uniform, an excellent bit of showmanship after the dramatic tearing of her previous outfit.

Kaminari left for his own match, passing by Uraraka and Ashido as they arrived into the 1-A section of the stands. “Hey, what’d we miss?” Ashido asked after high-fiving Kaminari.

Bakugo interrupted the generic greetings by answering the question instead of spending time on pleasantries. “Icyhot and Ponytail destroyed the extras. It’s time for Dreadlocks and Discount Pikachu to fight.” Bakugo gave a savage smirk as Hatsume entered the arena to Present Mic’s announcement. “Dreadlocks is dead.”

Tenya wasn’t sure he agreed, but Tokoyami spoke up first in their mutual teammate’s defense: “You underestimate the madness that lurks underneath that bright exterior. She burns with brilliance, approaching her fires is to court death.”

Momo hummed in agreement. “Hatsume is definitely someone you can’t underestimate. However, electrical attacks should be relatively effective, her inventions still seem mostly electronic.”

Tenya remained silent, merely nodding in agreement with both of them.

------------------------

Hatsume seemed to be trying to do something strange, as she spent the time during the announcements to discuss something with Midnight, and eventually the referee called Kaminari into the discussion.

Tenya was tempted to eavesdrop, but decided against doing it in front of Momo. After a moment, Kaminari emphatically refused whatever the proposal was, and after a brief attempt to change his mind, Midnight dismissed them to go back to their spots in the arena.

Hatsume’s voice erupted from the speakers, as she postured towards the crowd, ignoring her opponent. “Welcome to Hastume Industries product demonstration! I’m sure all of you will love my babies as much as I do at the end, Support Companies, pay close attention!”

Midnight finally cracked her whip to start the match, and Kaminari, not happy with being ignored, rushed forward. Hatsume’s backpack responded, shoving an extendable pole towards the ground and shoving Hatsume out of the way of the attack.

Present Mic started the commentary: “Kaminari doesn’t waste any time, but Hatsume evades with some kind of-”

The official commentary became silenced as Hatsume once more took over the speakers. “My Hydraulic Attachment Bars automatically respond to attacks, maneuvering away from danger while the hero can focus on important matters, like civilians or looking good!” Kaminari clutched the attachment bar, electricity crackling but not extending to Hastume for some reason. “It also functions as an electrical ground!” The instant Kaminari released the bar, it shot back into the rig.

Even angrier, Kaminari growled at the girl, approaching more cautiously but insistently. Hatsume brought out a small cannon, launching a net at Kaminari. Prepared for something like that, Kaminari sidestepped it, but his arm got caught by the edge.

As the net’s anchor points suddenly ignited thrusters and wrapped around Kaminari’s arm, Hatsume continued her sales pitch: “The net gun’s magnetic mini-rockets wrap around and tightly bind whatever it snags, no matter it’s size or shape. The carbon-fiber construction is the strongest lightweight material on the market, and it resists a broad spectrum of quirks, including electrical!”

Kaminari’s temper finally snapped, as he started yelling at the support student loudly enough for her microphone to pick it up: “Do you think I’m a joke? Do you think I’m too stupid to take seriously!?” He aimed the snagged arm at Hatsume, and erupted in an electrical aura. The aura flexed, unwrapping and launching the net so quickly it was as if he turned back time.

Hastume’s support equipment wasn’t nothing, of course, so her rig engaged, but the net snagged on the bar as it retracted, wrapping around the backpack. Kaminari, dead serious, pointed his finger like a gun at the support student and flexed his quirk once more, launching a bolt of electricity at the girl. The hydraulic piston still pushed Hastume out of the way, but the lightning curved and hit the support student directly anyway.

Present Mic whooped and cheered in lieu of actually describing the event, so Eraserhead contributed his analysis instead. “While not all electrical quirks can be bent to manipulate magnetic forces, when you’re using electromagnets, most of them can turn them around on you. Kaminari’s quirk in particular can ignore normal electrical routing to an extent, so he was able to use those electromagnets that were charged with his quirk as a lightning rod, overcoming the mobility advantage and doing severe damage to her equipment.”

“While I’m sure the little inventor hoped to give her opponent some support equipment ideas, somehow I don’t think this was what she had in mind, right Eraserhead?” Present Mic chipped in.

“Indeed. But as Power Loader could tell you, Hatsume’s a tough one. Kaminari’s improvisation was impressive, but this fight isn’t over yet.” Eraserhead replied, which caused Present Mic to call for a Plus Ultra from the crowd.

The fight paused while the announcers were talking, Hatsume disengaging straps and shrugging off the nonfunctional parts of her kit, including the microphone. Once she assumed something that could charitably be called a ready stance, Kaminari ceased glaring at his opponent and attacked once more.

The fight was brutal, with Hatsume resisting several shocks of increasing intensity as she brought out one gadget after another, only to have Kaminari disable them with his existent fighting skill. Eventually, she ran out of gadgets and disengaged, shouting at Midnight while walking away.

With a whip crack, Midnight announced the result: “Hatsume Mei has surrendered! Kaminari Denki is the winner!”

The 1-A stand, previously laughing at their classmate’s plight, had gotten quiet at around the time Kaminari launched the net, and after the cheers died down, Jiro was the first to speak: “Holy shit.” There were a few dumb nods. “He actually looked cool there.”

“Oh? What did I miss?” Momo asked as she entered the 1-A section, snacking on a ramen bowl filled with fried rice.

Jiro gestured vaguely at the arena. “He did amazing! He managed to win a fight without frying his brain, where did this come from?”

“Really?” Momo asked, just as surprised as Jiro was. “I’m proud of him, he’s really putting his best foot forward.” Momo smiled with an edge of mischief. “Did you happen to give him some encouragement, Kyoka?”

As Jiro sputtered denials, Iida vigorously gestured as he stepped into the conversation. “As Class President, it’s inspiring to see my classmates perform at their best!”

Midoriya’s notebook was looking to be concerningly full as he wrote even more notes. “How powerful of an electromagnet would be needed for him to use it that way? Precision was one of Electrification’s weak points, and those magnets only looked to be the size of a thumb at most; he could have half a dozen in a wrist-mounted device. His quirk would interfere with a magnetic launcher… pneumatic?” He mumbled at a rapid pace as he wrote down his ideas.

Tenya stared at the strange behavior. “Midoriya’s a hero course student, right? Not a support student that wandered into the stand?” Momo giggled at his joke.

“He’s just like that.” Momo said simply. “He’ll be a terror once he manages to use his quirk properly.” She pointed to the cover, labeled ‘Hero Analysis Special Edition: Sports Festival Year One’ “He’s got well over a dozen others, all very detailed. You should ask to see your section later, I’m sure there’ll be something you never even considered scribbled in there.”

“Has he helped you out before?” Tenya asked, curious. He was usually the one she brainstormed with…

“He wrote up a comprehensive list of useful supplies for various rescue scenarios, and there were a few I hadn’t considered before, yes.” Momo said, vaguely waving off the weak assistance. “My quirk’s always had something of a trade-off between complexity, mass, and utility, so it’s difficult for someone else to give functional advice.” She poked Tenya’s chest. “Your quirk, in particular, can’t handle improvisation as well as most, so he’d be a good person to get some ideas from, even if he won’t be much help on implementation.”

As usual, Momo made excellent points. "With your endorsement, I'm sure he'll be a rising star." Tenya made a mental note to pass the green-haired boy a business card at the next opportunity. "I'll be sure to consult him in the event of the transfer. Nedzu encourages the management department to foster cooperation between all students of the school, after all."

"He does?" Kirishima asked, curious. "I never got that vibe from him."

"The beast plays his games with the lives and futures of hero and villain alike, laughing at their dark suffering." Added Tokoyami.

What? Mr. Principal was one of the best heroes, showing a better path forward to all mankind. "Nonsense." Tenya said to the slander. "In his first lesson to the management students, he said that an average solo hero needed five support and management staff to be able to put in twenty hours a week doing real hero work. A great manager could instead let a team of five put in twice that much time in. No one can do everything alone, not even All Might."

"Wow, the principal said that? That's manly as hell." Kirishima said, in awe of Mr. Principal's wisdom. "Are all the management classes like that?"

Tenya adjusted his glasses. "The ones Nedzu teaches are. He spends his class telling stories about real events and discussing what lessons could be learned from them." Mixed in with actual lectures and assigning sections of books he wrote to supplement the essays he assigns. "It's very Socratic." Tenya noticed the number two hero standing around three sections over. Pointing, he gave an example. "Just last week, he told us about how Endeavor founded an agency from a hero office he picked up on the cheap due to the Yakuza killing the previous occupant, bringing with him four other heroics students from his year, two support students, and three management students. Within two years the Yakuza were gone from his territory, he had made it into the top fifty, and he parlayed that into greater visibility to reach the top ten within two more years." The lesson’s subject was about location and how those management students were able to bring attention to Endeavor, the man who broke the Goda family. The best way for a hero to reach the top was to have a strategy, leaving their mark on Japan within the first few years. “It’s an inspiring example that I’d follow in a heartbeat.” While the statistics for the hero industry as a whole were pretty dismal when it came to recent graduates, the figures specifically for UA graduates was a different story. Getting in on the ground floor of an agency formed by one of them wasn’t completely without risk, but the chance of outright failure was miniscule. A more likely fate was to have some money problems and end up being bought out by a top agency, and that’s not such a bad fate for the management staff. Middle-management positions in top fifty agencies were well-compensated with good benefits, and that would be Tenya’s probable fate in the case of a buyout.

But planning for failure was a fool’s gambit, so it was Tenya’s duty to stack the deck ever further in favor of Momo’s agency, and to do that, picking a mixture of the most bloodthirsty hero course students for effectiveness and the most photogenic and personable ones to supplement Momo’s kindness, charm, and beauty. Midoriya seemed to be rather high on the former, if someone so suited to the support course is in the hero track instead. With Hatsume on support gear, although it wasn’t entirely clear yet if she could listen to client needs rather than insisting she knew best, that’s a good bare-bones start for the agency.

Yes, getting into the third event in the Sports Festival will be a tremendous boon to his management career, if the hero course students could see him as ‘one of them’ despite not being in the same course. That would position Tenya as the most trusted manager among their peers, so he’d get first pick among the talented but less ambitious members of the course. It’s all coming together… Tenya just needs to figure out how to avoid winning, as the plan of ‘try to win and lose anyway’ doesn’t seem to be working… Todoroki’s overwhelming power seems like a good choice… he had something resembling a plan to deal with him, but it was an iffy plan as is, and relied on Momo’s incomplete understanding of why he rarely used his fire except to clean up his ice. Convincingly losing against him should be easy.

Contrasting the previous fights, Aoyama and Sato’s battle was simple and short. The larger boy just used his quirk to burn the cake he ate immediately before the match, bulled through Aoyama’s Navel Laser, picked up the svelte boy, and threw him outside the arena. Aoyama’s agility and maneuvering bought him some time, but a well-timed stomp from Sato quaked the arena, which tripped the blond up enough that Sato was able to lay hands on him before his quirk ran out.

After finishing his notes, Midoriya dashed down to the competitor’s locker room, and Tenya found himself a little bored as Present Mic announced a break for commercials and repairing the ring from Sato’s stomp. Glancing at his cement ‘rifle’, he considered it. He could just make another… but Iida would probably not give him the chance. Tanya picked it up, frowning as he saw the crudeness of the details. He could already hear his mother telling him that sitting around was not a good use of his time. …He based the dimensions off of his models, maybe if he… Tenya calculated the multi-blade formula he used for whittling, one of the few hobbies Father approved of him indulging in during the boring parts of hunting trips. Tapping them against each other needlessly, he started cutting through the concrete, adding sights to the top, making the grip more ergonomic, and filling in the details once he was done with those.

When Tenya blew away the dust, it drew the attention of one of the students that was about his height, the one with six arms. The nubs that replaced fists on the extra ones stretched out, becoming eyestalks that examined Tenya’s project. “Is that… the JSDF-M21?” He asked, his masked face barely moving. At Tenya’s affirming grunt, he followed up with: “What configuration are you planning on using? It’s too short for many options, but a Tengu pattern seems appropriate for that size.”

Hm. He’s right. Tenya wasn’t the biggest fan of shotguns, as he couldn’t use his quirk well with shot, but he’s not using bullets in this as he’s run out of spare stone, so that’s no longer a concern. “I was going to make it a bullpup Mondragon, but your idea is better.” He liked marksman rifles better, but again, without bullets it’s just an aesthetic choice without any merit. “It wouldn’t have had a scope anyway. Iron sights are the only choice with this thing.” Not like Tenya’s even going to use those, the targeting laser is all he’ll need due to effectively firing overloaded blanks. After he put in the last details, his fingers moving with the precision and speed of a 3-D printer, he dismissed the formula and held out his hand to the fellow military otaku. “Deguchiya Tenya.”

“Shouji Mezo.” He replied, taking Tenya’s hand and shaking it. After taking one of the business cards Tenya offered him, he continued: “I’m pretty good at carving myself; I’ve sold a few pieces back in Fukuoka for extra money. I’ve never done military models, though. Never had a good enough reference, where did you learn how to do that? Plastic models?”

Tenya shrugged. “My father is an enthusiast.” Tenya wasn’t entirely sure how Father got authorization to maintain an emergency equipment cache and shooting range in the basement, particularly when he wasn’t even home for months on end, but it existed.

“It’s time for the final match of the first round!” Present Mic announced. “Shiozaki Ibara from 1-B shall be pitted against the mysterious Midoriya Izuku! He’s managed to make it all the way here without using his quirk even once, but if he thinks he can beat 1-B’s pious powerhouse that way, he’s got another thing coming!”

Eraserhead groaned. “Mic, I blame you for what’s about to happen.” Tenya was impressed by how much they were hyping up Midoriya’s quirk. Will it live up to the reputation? It couldn’t possibly top the show Todoroki put on with that massive glacier, could he?

“Ah, it occurs to me, Momo.” Tenya said. “We didn’t really go over strategies for Midoriya. You mentioned he would probably try to win without using his quirk?” At Momo’s nod, he continued. “What, exactly, is Midoriya’s quirk?”

The match began. Shiozaki used the vines that composed her hair to burrow into the arena, rooting herself to the ground and bringing a few back out to create a barrier against any attack Midoriya would bring to bear. Midoriya went into the center of the arena, positioning his hand to flick something right at the center of the multi-ton concrete block the matches were held on.

Instead of flicking some kind of projectile, he waited until he flicked the stage directly. Immediately, the entire stadium felt a quake, as a crater formed where there once was an arena. Not done yet, Midoriya pivoted towards his opponent in mid-air, flicking a second finger to create a massive gust of wind, launching himself towards one of the remaining chunks of concrete while Shiozaki, bereft of her anchors, instead was blown right into Cementoss’s lifeguard stand.

Momo, bless her heart, answered Tenya’s question. “Ah, it’s called ‘Superpower’. It’s a strength-enhancing quirk.”

Tenya thought, a minute ago, that someone who he had no chance of beating would be good news. He knows better, now. How did it come to this?

 

"Welcome back, listeners!" Present Mic announced for the benefit of the television audience. "The second round is about to begin! First off, we have Tenya, the tall, dark haired, broad shouldered boy with glasses, against… hey, Eraserhead, which one did I introduce first?" Of course he went for the name joke.

"You're supposed to introduce Deguchiya first." Grumbled Eraserhead.

"Right! Thanks, you're a lifesaver." Present Mic replied. "Against Tenya, the tall, dark haired, broad shouldered boy with glasses." His joke over, Present Mic continued: "Which Tenya will earn the title of 'Top Tenya'?" the last two words were said in English; "Will it be the one from the management course, who can turn a random chunk of concrete into a startlingly realistic firearm prop in minutes?" He paused for applause, which was noticeably quieter than most other such pauses.

It's not like he expected to be popular, but Tenya flushed in embarrassment anyway. Present Mic whistled. "You can do better than that, listeners! Well the Tenya from the hero course may be more your speed: fast! Don't blink, this is a boy that considers a hundred kilometer sprint a morning workout! You'll miss it if you turn your attention away for an instant." The cheer this time was thrice as loud as previous, clearly demonstrating the crowd's favorite.

As the one facing the hero student without being one, Tenya supposed he was the villain by default. This could be useful. Momo mentioned that acting heroic was more important to the teachers than having skills, at least when looking at first years, so if he could thread the needle of having bad public opinion without spoiling Momo's opinion, that would be the best outcome. She should be capable of smoothing over any problems the rest of the hero course has.

So how does one act villainous while leaving enough plausible deniability to allow for an apology if Momo seeks an explanation? This is a critical question for all future operations. Violence and competition seems a good thing to focus on…

The plan to deal with Iida had two options: either get to the air first thing and harvest a concrete gun from Cementoss's pillar, or ramp up the reflex formula and joust the speed specialist. He already has the gun, albeit bereft of "bullets", and the stock of the tengu pattern did make for a solid melee weapon… and if it doesn't work, he'll have used one of the pre-planned strategies, so Momo would understand. Perfect.

The instant Midnight signaled the start, Tenya focused on his quirk, reciting the formulas necessary to keep up with Iida's speed. As expected, the other boy went on the attack immediately, veering to the right, away from the gun's line of fire, exactly as planned.

As anticipated, Iida sought to prove he could handle villains that were armed, by treating the concrete shotgun as if it was real. It was real enough, so this was smart. But he had no way of knowing that Tenya had trained reflexes on what to do when someone with quirk-assisted speed rushed him to take his gun away.

Before Tenya could think of doing otherwise, the butt of the shotgun had broken Iida's nose, bending him backwards as he comically flipped over himself from the momentum.

Slipping past the falling body, Tenya pivoted and pointed his shotgun at the fallen hero. Realizing the range was too great to accomplish anything without bullets, he scooted closer to the hero student that was clutching at his face. Hrm, not much blood. His nose is probably intact, then.

By the time the hero student recovered from having his face almost broken, he stilled as he looked straight down the scorched barrel of Tenya's shotgun.

Before Tenya could demand that he surrender, the boy lurched to get out from his prone position, which Tenya responded to by firing off the significantly underpowered explosion he had ready right in his face. It was more of a slap than anything actually dangerous, but after the abuse his face had taken from the shotgun's other end it caused the boy to clutch his face in pain again.

Seeing the boy roll and continue to stand up, Tenya used a more ordinary amount of power in another explosion to knock him back down. Allowing Iida time to get his feet under him would be a stupid mistake, so Tenya could not abide his stubbornness.

Before Tenya could approach Iida to demand his surrender, another concrete wall sprung up out of the damaged section created by the latest explosion. Midnight cracked her whip and made the announcement she should have made when Tenya was pointing a firearm right in Iida's face: "The winner is Deguchiya Tenya!"

Still annoyed at the waste of energy the latter half of that fight was, Tenya spun around on his heel and calmly walked back to the stands.

In the tunnel, Todoroki was already present and ready to walk into the public eye. Tenya politely nodded in acknowledgement at him but received an outright volcanic glare in return.

Pausing, Tenya turned towards the burning glare and raised an eyebrow questioningly. "Have I offended you, Todoroki?"

The glare flared up in intensity. "...You're well on your way to following in those footsteps, Deguchiya." Todoroki spat, presumably referring to Tenya's comment about Endeavor. Why would he say something so nice in such a spiteful way? "But for one thing: I am here, to stop you." Echoing All Might's catchphrase was not what he expected Endeavor's son to do, but then again, Endeavor's tried out numerous such phrases over the years, none really sticking...

Tenya took a moment to try and decipher what Todoroki found so objectionable about him. Was he buying into the villainous narrative that's been being built up by the crowd? One would think that someone trained by the number two hero would be more discerning than that.

But maybe Tenya could use this. Replaying the words in his head, Tenya calculated a response. Following Endeavor was the offense? What was wrong about wanting to emulate such a successful hero agency?

Of course. Clearly, Endeavor wasn't home much, too busy keeping his numbers high. Endeavor's branding placed him as Japan's emotionally distant but protective father figure. The epitome of the modern hero, really. Channeling their naturally violent desires in a way acceptable to broader society. This would naturally breed resentment among his actual children. Tenya didn't really sympathize with the position, but it was a common narrative. It was a little embarrassing that Tenya's reputation for competitiveness when it came to grades had led to this, but he had no intention of overworking himself once his position was secure, so letting Todoroki heroically defeat his 'ambitions' seemed to be the best way forward.

"Plus Ultra, Todoroki." Was Tenya's response. "Bringing everything one has is the bare minimum, at UA." While Tenya expected Todoroki's anger to flare, at his direct opposition to his words, he had underestimated the degree to which Todoroki's face twisted in burning hot rage. He didn't explode, however, storming off to the arena instead.

Perhaps Tenya has miscalculated. Motivating a hero course student to fight may have instead provoked him into losing sight of the objective. While even battle maniacs can be logical and respond to incentives, valuing danger and the catharsis of inflicting injury to acceptable targets wasn't something Tenya understood well enough, if the notoriously ashen Todoroki could change demeanor so much at the prospect.

Tenya was busy suppressing the mental image of Todoroki wielding bladed ice gauntlets to personally work out his anger on Tenya’s face when he realized that someone larger than him was blocking the way. As this was a very unusual event, his thoughts rebooted and he assessed the man in front of him. Just a handful of centimeters taller, but thrice as broad, with rippling muscles and a burning mantle of flame. This was the number two hero, Endeavor. Also known as Todoroki Enji, the father of Todoroki Shoto.

“Boy.” He began, his voice booming with derision. Tenya immediately straightened his posture, his hand twitching as the impulse to salute arose and was swiftly suppressed. Endeavor paused, raising an eyebrow before continuing: “You’re going to be fighting Shoto in the next round.” Normally, Tenya would be tempted to point out that Todoroki hasn’t actually won his match yet… but Uraraka doesn’t really stand much of a chance. Endeavor smiled, which was a welcome, if confusing, change in the conversational dynamic. “Your quirk… it’s strong.” It does look a lot stronger than it is under tournament conditions, Tenya couldn’t dispute that. “You’re a bit weedy, but that’s fixable. You’ll do, for showing the cocky brat the error of his ways.”

Tenya wasn’t entirely sure what Endeavor was getting at. “Sir?” He said, to prompt Endeavor to elaborate.

Endeavor’s smile sharpened. “In a fit of teenage rebellion, Shoto’s decided that he can be a hero without using the fire half of his quirk for anything but cleaning up his messes.” He shakes his head, smile fading as Tenya digested that statement. “Foolish. Not only does his quirk gain strength from balancing his usage, allowing him to act longer than if he used only one; his ice cannot be used to attack airborne opponents effectively. Further, it can’t be used to close into melee range without walls to brace his ice structures against. The mobility it offers him is strictly limited to the terrain, he’s stuck on the ground.” Hrm. The large glacier… Yes, Tenya could see how to work around it, if that was his limit. “But you, boy, can fly. On top of that, you can attack at range.” Endeavor’s smile returned. “He’ll have no choice but to use his flames or lose. I’ll make you a deal: draw the fight out a bit. If Shoto uses his flames in your battle, whether he wins or loses, I’ll send you an internship offer. You can gain experience in whatever facet of the heroics industry that you wish, I’ll ensure it.” After a moment, he repeated himself: “Any part of the industry.”

Tenya was shocked. Management internships were theoretically possible during the hero internship week. Usually, they were reserved for those with family in the business, which Tenya did not have. In future years, there was supposed to be connections from the hero course and industry events to use for such a thing, but first years don’t get to benefit from those. Such an offer from the number two hero’s agency was a dream… was this what was meant when it was said that a powerful quirk opens doors that nothing else does? Or is this just a natural consequence of attending one of the most prestigious academic institutions in the country?

Before Tenya could confirm anything, Endeavor held out his hand “I see you’re intrigued. Don’t say anything, this conversation didn’t happen. Shoto is the culmination of my legacy, and it is imperative that he stop this self-sabotage. If anyone asks, I was encouraging you to impress me, to convince me to send you an offer.” As Endeavor left, Tenya was left in awe of the paternal love that exchange showed. He risked his reputation with a potential scandal in speaking with his son’s opponent, but he did it not to ensure his son’s victory, as one would assume, but to make sure his son could move on to become the best hero he could be.

Tenya made a personal oath right then and there, that when he eventually becomes a father, he would make sure that he followed that sterling example.

--------------------------------------------

It took some running to make it back to the stands in time, but Todoroki’s match started after he sat down and greeted Momo, so it was effort well spent.

Much like Todoroki’s first match, it began with him stomping the ground, ice bursting forth to cover the entire arena, and his opponent attempting to escape into the air.

Unlike that match, Todoroki allowed the escape to occur, instead coating the concrete with a relatively thin layer of ice and creating blades of ice on both feet to skate around, keeping his eye constantly on his opponent as he maneuvered around with casual ease.

Present Mic didn’t waste any time. “It looks like Todoroki is changing things up! Such grace, such poise! Do we have a future Olympian here, Eraserhead?”

“Learning to ice-skate is just rational when you can make rinks anywhere, Mic.” Eraserhead corrected. “Agility-based routines are a good way for younger children to learn skills that will serve them well as a hero. Gymnastics, figure skating, dancing… even yoga.” Tenya nodded along, it was a good message for the younger audience. Mother signed him up for gymnastics for exactly that reason, before the weakness of his quirk was fully known.

“Uraraka seems to be having some trouble there, though.” Present Mic observed.

“Todoroki anticipated her first move.” Eraserhead explained. “From both watching her previous match and from classes, he knows that she must descend to fight him. With ice skates, he can move too quickly for Uraraka to be able to drop onto him, and with those turns? Remaining airborne is a losing proposition.” Eraserhead hummed sadly. “Limited area, no equipment, flat and featureless terrain… Uraraka’s quirk is less than half strength in this match, and Todoroki knows it.”

At that, Uraraka fell down, arresting her motion once more when Todoroki came to meet her on his terms. It was not enough, as Todoroki used his quirk again to create a ramp, gaining just enough elevation to snag her leg and curve back down. He tossed her down and attempted to freeze her, but she turned gravity back on and dodged the precise attack. This success lasted for exactly that long, as she then slipped forward on the ice, which gave Todoroki an opening to snag the back of her uniform, quickly turning that motion into a spin. After a few dozen revolutions with his impromptu figure skating partner, he released her to fly well over ten meters away onto the ground outside the arena, taking the opportunity to show off a quick twenty second figure skating routine, ending in a pose that prompted the crowd to erupt into cheers.

“Ten out of ten!” Present Mic said after Midnight announced the end of the match. “Give it up for Todoroki Shoto, the man who can make figure skating exciting!”

With one last show of power, Todoroki stomped his left foot, causing his ice skates to instantly melt and the ice on the arena to rapidly evaporate with a small but visible shimmer of flame. Finished, he stormed off.

Momo had already left for her own match with Kaminari, so it was Sero who started the conversation about what just happened. “I didn’t know Todoroki could figure skate. Regular skate, yeah, but those were some fancy moves.”

“Five years ago, he entered a prefecture-level competition and won it.” Midoriya mentioned idly. “I noticed he kicks out to gain angular momentum when he’s sliding along with his quirk, which is a skating technique. Endeavor’s family has their own fansite, so I checked there and it confirmed that he was a figure skater.” Tenya wished he could be surprised at that fansite’s existence, but he knows better.

Bakugo sneered. “What a waste of fucking time. Do you ever put anything useful in that stalker book of yours?”

For some reason, Midoriya took the question seriously, thinking as to how to respond. “...Todoroki directs the growth of his ice by turning his palm. He uses his left hand for that sometimes, so it’s just visualization.”

After a moment of digesting that, Bakugo snorted in wordless derision and focused back on the stage.

Not everyone understood the minor, but concrete value that information gave, though. “Um… how is that useful?” Ashido asked.

Midoriya shrugged. “He’ll still be able to shape his ice with his hands full, but he’ll be clumsier.”

Uraraka, having shown up at some point, raised her hand excitedly. “Ooh, do m-”

“Our next match!” Interrupted Present Mic. “On one side, we have Kaminari Denki, our electrifying contestant! You don’t see many heroes with electrical quirks, so you know this guy’s not here for the cash!” The crowd cheered, as appropriate. “On the other side we have Yaoyorozu Momo, Class 1-A’s Vice Representative and the second girl in this event with tons of technology at her fingertips! Will Kaminari’s advantage against electronics carry the day? Or will Yaoyorozu’s extensive training and endless supply defeat the electric wonder?” The crowd cheered even louder, and Present Mic led the crowd in a Plus Ultra to signal the beginning of the fight.

The plan for dealing with Kaminari was simple: make an electrical defense and let him blow his circuits trying to defeat it. Momo began by creating a white cloak and wrapping it around herself. Kaminari wasn’t quite stupid enough to attack anyway, so he charged in and went to grab the cloak to disarm her of the protection.

It was a good plan, but when Kaminari tore away the insulating cloak, it revealed… a second cloak. With the element of surprise secured, Momo leapt back, leaving behind a mine that Kaminari immediately stepped on as he pursued his opponent, falling backwards from the weak explosion.

Capitalizing on her advantage, Momo pulled out a weighted net that she threw over Kaminari before he could get back up, which was answered by Kaminari unloading his quirk to get himself out. Unfortunately, the net was made of rubber, so all he managed was burning himself as the non-conductive material melted under the voltage.

“That was fast!” Present Mic said after Midnight called the match, Momo staying behind for just long enough to cut Kaminari free from the net before making her way back upstairs.

Eraserhead, always the professional, added his own commentary: “Kaminari’s plan was good, as he anticipated that his opponent would try to counter him and moved to counter the counter. However, Yaoyorozu was his worst matchup. She has far too many ways of insulating herself from his quirk, and that’s before you mention her overwhelming offensive power.” Tenya admired Eraserhead’s subdued sales pitches. Momo had mentioned that he was coming to work with many injuries, so even then, he was dedicated to his job beyond all else. It was inspiring.

Momo arrived before Sato (who took a few slices of cake down with him) and Midoriya’s match started, beaming with happiness. “What did you think about my match?”

“The plan worked as expected.” Tenya replied. “The mine was an inspired addition, but no other outcome was possible. Superior products will naturally succeed in the market, after all.”

Sero chuckled at the blatant flattery. “Kaminari against the Vice Rep? No chance.” He waved dismissively at the concept.

“Dunce-face is a one-trick extra, getting past Dreadlocks was a fucking miracle.” Bakugo said as his own contribution to the conversation.

Jiro huffed, offended on Kaminari’s behalf: “He did really well against that support student, give him some credit.”

Momo’s beaming smile became even more radiant at the collective praise. “Thank you.”

“Hey, the match is starting!” Uraraka said, pointing at the arena. “Go Deku!”

“Let me hear you say YEAH!” Present Mic said, to the crowd’s enthusiastic answer. “Sounds like everyone’s as hyped for this as I am! Sato Rikido is class 1-A’s sweetest strongman, and that’s a position with some stiff competition! The lean, green, fighting machine Midoriya Izuku is one of the toughest contenders to that title, so it’s time for a head to head!”

On Midnight’s official commencement of the match, Midoriya assumed a strange stance, priming a finger flick as his primary weapon. Given the demonstrated power of those flicks from the last match, Sato’s caution and readiness to dodge wasn’t nearly as foolish as it seemed.

For his part, Sato took a boxing stance, slowly and steadily closing the distance while being ready to sidestep if it looked like Midoriya was going to unleash his quirk. When the distance was close enough, Sato attempted to get inside Midoriya’s reach and turn the fight into a grappling contest, where he would have the advantage. Midoriya ducked underneath the larger boy’s arms and scrambled to the center of the arena, and the pair ended their recovery periods close enough to each other that they had no choice but to resume the standoff.

Present Mic, for his part, attempted to break the stalemate. “Come on, the arena’s still in one piece! Eraserhead, help me out here: what’s happening?” Ah, the announcer was playing dumb so the color commentator could illuminate the audience.

“One could say that this match is strength versus strength, but that’s wrong. Sato’s quirk helps him build and keep muscle, along with a temporary strength boost when he needs it.” Eraserhead explained. “Midoriya’s quirk has overwhelming power, but his body isn’t really suited to it right now. He needs to be careful to ration out usages of his quirk, until he can learn to control it better, and build up more tolerance to it.” Eraserhead let the explanation settle in people’s minds before concluding his assessment. “Eventually, one of them will make a mistake, and that’s when the fight will be over.”

Present Mic chuckled. “So it’s a quick draw duel! Everyone likes those, right?”

Sato attempted a second grapple, but Midoriya ducked into a roll to avoid it. Before Midoriya could recover and attack, Sato engaged his quirk, his muscles bulging and speed tripling as he attempted to stomp on the prone Midoriya.

Unfortunately, Midoriya also managed to avoid that attack, and with Sato’s foot stuck in the arena for a brief second from the miss, Midoriya was able to get to his feet before Sato’s next lunge.

Pressured by Sato’s punishing speed and strength, Midoriya lashed out with a full fist, crackling with power as it landed dead on Sato’s abdominals. The effect of the strike was as fast as it was dramatic, with the larger fighter flying out of the arena and out of bounds, cracking the stands with the impact.

A sudden silence settled on the stadium as Midoriya looked in wonder at his hand, flexing the fingers that exerted such strength. When Sato started to stand up, the spell was broken as the crowd roared in approval for Midoriya’s victory, Midnight’s announcement to that effect inaudible in the face of the crowd’s applause.

Usually, the 1-A stands were calmer than the crowd, but this seemed to be an exception, with most of the class cheering for their green-haired friend. Ashido nudged Bakugo, one of the few who remained seated at this event. “Looks like Mido finally learned how to pull a punch. You better watch out, or else he’ll start swinging when you talk shit. Eh? Eh?” She continued to poke Bakugo until he warned her off by sparking small explosions on his palm, Ashido retreating from her childish antics with a giggle.

Momo, on the other hand, was next. She frowned in worry at the improved capability of her opponent. “This… could be bad.” She eventually said.

“New plan?” Tenya asked.

Momo nodded slowly, unsure. “I’ll need one, yes.”

“That makes two of us.” Tenya commented, glancing at Todoroki’s empty seat.

 

Tenya did not have much time to make a plan here. Before the incentive structure changed, his plan was simple, as Todoroki's overwhelming power meant that Tenya couldn't directly oppose him for long. Therefore, the optimal plan would be to put it all on the line, using the temperature regulation formula to directly oppose him for a few seconds and attack while the number two hero's son, trained in combat from a young age, was effectively quirkless.

It was a plan that both had the highest chance of success and had absolutely no reasonable chance of working. As such, perfect for Tenya's needs.

Now, Momo knew that this was the plan, roughly. As such, he'd need to have an explanation ready for any deviations from the plan.

So there were roughly three angles of attack that he could use to persuade Todoroki into using fire, as far as Tenya could tell. First, he could use Endeavor's plan, by continually countering his ice until he resorted to flame. This required Tenya's quirk to have far more endurance than it actually does, and as it played into Tenya's weakness, Momo would know he lost on purpose. The worst option.

The second possible approach would be to provide Todoroki with some kind of incentive, or trick him. Beyond 'moody, rebellious teenager', Tenya didn't know Todoroki or his preferences, so such a plan would not only be highly risky, but their respective status as competitors would stymie any attempt at seeking common ground.

Thus, the only practical approach is the third option, provocation. Insults don't generally have to be perfect in order to achieve their aims, and now that Tenya thought about it, compromising Todoroki's rational thinking would either make his quirkless fighting either improve or make him sloppy. A good enough excuse to give to Momo.

Tenya's feet stepped into the arena, interrupting his plotting out the inevitable conversation he would have with Momo as he was in an infirmary bed. Wait, her match is right after, he'd have to miss watching… and be hurt enough to still be in the bed.

Present Mic's voice echoed from all the speakers surrounding the arena. "Listeners, it's time for the first match of the third round! Introducing the continual number one of today, the high-flying fast-winning business student, Deguchiya Tenya!" Tenya flushed at the description. Was it really smart for him to hype up the villain here? The audience agreed, if the comparatively anemic applause had anything to say about it.

Heedless of Tenya's criticisms, Present Mic continued to announce. "Against this titan of industry, is the only one who won battles even faster than him! Todoroki Shouto, everyone!" A much louder applause drowned out all else.

Midnight raised her whip, and once the crowd died down, she started the match.

As expected, Todoroki opened the match with a massive glacier. His attempts to shape it so that it went extremely high first to cut Tenya off were less expected, but Tenya was prepared nonetheless. The temperature regulation formula was a brute force effect, which meant that Tenya couldn't use it at large scales for very long, but holding off the ice for a second was easy enough.

"It looks like Todoroki's opening move wasn't quite fast enough!" Present Mic shouted. "Deguchiya's in the air and free as a bird!" Good, he was reinforcing the plan.

Eraserhead, however, had other ideas. "It was fast enough. Deguchiya did something."

Well, heating up ice was vastly more efficient than snuffing flames, so blending plans could work a bit. Spending a moment defining the space, he used a sound manipulation formula to ensure his opponent could hear him, Tenya's voice raised to a volume loud enough to reach the ground. "Did you think I would lose to such a lazy move? I'm ready for everything you've shown today, you'll need something new to stand a chance." To punctuate his villainous monologue, Tenya flourished by pointing his prop downward and activated the temperature manipulation formula, setting a minimum temperature of five degrees to the entire arena.

The effect was as immediate as it was dramatic. The ice directly above the arena sublimated immediately, turning into thick mist as the parts outside the arena fell out of bounds with a crash. One of the pieces was over the audience, which made a beat of panic to thud in Tenya's chest, but Cementoss had the concrete wall in front surge upwards to deflect the chunk.

Ignoring the near disaster, Todoroki shouted back up at Tenya defiantly. “Did my Father get you to do this? What did he bribe you with?”

Uh oh. He accurately determined what was going on. At least he seemed to have fallen for Tenya’s deception on how many glaciers he could melt. It was somewhat inconvenient that Todoroki’s ice didn’t seem to melt into liquid water corresponding to the ice’s volume, as Tenya was hoping that the deluge would inconvenience his opponent.

“I told him!” Todoroki continued. “I will never use my left side in battle, and I will become the number one hero without using his power!” That was… the most ridiculous thing Tenya had ever heard.

But swearing a stupid oath to hold back? Sounds like something you’d put in a shounen manga. Did he get the idea from there? Ah, idea: “Excellent performance, Todoroki!” Tenya said back, allowing his quirk to convey the words at a much greater volume. “Lines truly worthy of a shounen deuteragonist. Sure, kayfabe plotlines haven’t been fashionable in the heroics industry for seven years at least, but you could bring it back! Be a trailblazer in the latest trends, all it takes is stubbornness worthy of the number two hero.”

Todoroki seemed appropriately pissed off at the insults, skating forward and into a line, gaining more height on his ice tower as he ascended. Rather quickly, in comparison to something like climbing, but still far too slow.

“Not even close.” Tenya taunted as he activated the temperature formula again, collapsing the boy’s spiraling ice tower and launching him almost out of the arena. Tenya had absolutely no idea what logic was passing through his opponent’s head, as becoming a legalized purveyor of violence was something that always stumped Tenya, ever since the first time his father took him out hunting, but what Tenya did know was the hero industry. This was a battlefield of words, and by drawing Todoroki into it, Tenya was now fighting under his preferred terms. “I hope you have your tragic backstory straight, the internet will riot at every minor inconsistency.”

“It’s not a tragi-” Todoroki shouted before interrupting himself. “It’s not a story!” he corrected. “I will defeat you, I’ll beat Midoriya, All Might or not, and I will show him how little his fire amounts to!”

He was getting back on balance. That couldn’t be allowed for Tenya’s plan. “Well, as pet issues go, ‘fire bad’ seems a bit discriminatory.” Todoroki’s expression became incandescent, but it was still a metaphor rather than literal. “It’s been fifteen years since heroes like Seizansha decided to use their career as political activism, championing one problem at a time to affect change. Nowadays, it’s all about brand diversity! Broadening your personal brand’s appeal is how you rise in the charts, which you then parlay into your pet issue like Wash does. You’re putting the cart before the horse here, Todoroki!”

Todoroki was gaping at Tenya’s nonsense, unable to create a proper retort. In a debate, such a thing was blood in the water. Now to go for the throat. “I’m sure your grand pissing contest makes sense in your head, Todoroki. But from where I’m standing, all I’m hearing is that you are rejecting Plus Ultra.” There was enough of a synchronized reaction to that line that Tenya could just barely make out the collected gasp. “Everyone else here has been trying their hardest, Todoroki! You’re saying that you’re so much better than everyone else that you can fight with one hand tied behind your back for this entire tournament and still win!” Tenya spat to the side for dramatic effect, putting in some real anger in his words. “You disgust me. Sure, as the number two hero’s son, you don’t need connections, you don’t need good grades, you don’t need anything. All you need to do is wait until Endeavor; who is already six years past the average retirement age with a very physically demanding fighting style; to step down and you’re on easy street.” There were enough quirk-assisted physical therapists that allowed financially successful heroes to maintain their professional careers well beyond normal athletes, so Endeavor still running his agency for another ten years was quite possible, but that didn’t support his arguments so Tenya ignored it.

“You’re wrong!” Todoroki said, his expression burning with desperation as he realized how much damage his image was taking from this battle/debate/argument. “I don’t need his help, my mother’s ice is all I need to become a great hero!”

“It was the Guts hero, Ganbatte, who said the words, as he announced the opening of Yuuei: ‘The effort and strength of a pro hero is akin to a quirk.’” Tenya gestured between the two of them. “So this is already a two-on-one fight, quirk-wise.” Normally, turning it into a three-on-one fight would be suicide, but as that was Tenya’s victory condition, Tenya didn’t hesitate to push forward. “You lock away half of your power, which is a matter of public record, mind you, so anything less than perfect performance in all things will inevitably cause the media and the public to ask: Why did you not use your flames? You could have defeated that villain faster, or caught that falling civilian at a higher elevation, or worked longer, had you used your flames.” Admittedly, it was rather difficult to conceive of events where the utility of fire was obvious enough to bring up, but being right wasn’t important here, being convincing was.

“Never!” Todoroki shouted, creating a spiral tower with an even tighter curve as he ascended towards Tenya’s position. This time Tenya saved on power by only melting the base, allowing it to fall and potentially put Todoroki out of the ring, but as expected he was able to recover without issue.

“Do you even want to be a hero?” Tenya questioned, and from Todoroki’s flinch it seemed to have hit some kind of nerve. “Japan doesn’t care about your internal struggles, Todoroki! All that matters, as a hero, boils down to two things: how many people have you saved, and how well do you inspire the people’s hope. Nothing else matters. Every single villain takedown, every investigation, every mission, every sponsorship and interview, all go back to just those two factors.” On the very first lecture of Introduction to Hero Management, Nedzu spent half an hour putting every single thing any hero ever does into those two boxes, or a third box labeled ‘irrelevant’. Having such clear metrics, even if one was difficult to measure, was incredibly gratifying. “Can you save people with your pettiness?” He could. “Can your spite inspire hope?” Quite possible, but time for the kill. “I’m not sure what kind of edgy ice-based pun you had in mind for a hero name, but to truly capture your heroic ethos, the only name that fits is the Half-assed Hero, Ice Prince!”

Todoroki didn’t immediately react, but the crowd exploded in riotous noise at Tenya’s projected insults, so discordant that it was difficult to discern whether they were excited that the villain’s monologue was done, or deciding that Tenya had a point. Unimportant, but hearing the crowd’s reaction seemed to do the trick, as Todoroki roared and launched a blast of flame, large enough to obscure the entirety of the arena.

However, Tenya was prepared. He had maneuvered to make sure that the flame was at an angle, priming his escape route, and dropped down with a burst of speed, reinforcing his body to soak the impact. As he charged forward with his concrete shotgun in hand, he adjusted the sound formula’s area into a temperature regulating one, putting a minimum and maximum temperature and shutting out all deviations from such. Todoroki noticed the approach and stomped his right foot, creating a burst of ice that immediately sublimated, and then tossed his left arm forward, creating a gust of hot air that was easily tolerated by Tenya’s minor heat resistance.

“What?” Todoroki exclaimed as his quirk failed him. He immediately attempted to overpower Tenya’s quirk, the optimal move from his perspective that would win him the day within five seconds, as Tenya’s reserves quickly depleted.

But he didn’t have five seconds. Tenya crouched low and launched a precise set of explosions from his prop, the concussive force first knocking the wind out of his opponent, then launching him off his feet, and finally causing him to fly outside the arena’s bounds and onto the ground. Cementoss raised a barrier at the edge of the arena, spoiling Tenya’s reflexive tracking of his opponent with the barrel of his gun.

Tenya immediately ended the formulas, as a result Todoroki burst into flames once more and rose slightly off the ground as ice burst forth before melting.

“It’s unbelievable!” Present Mic shouted over the intercom as Midnight announced Tenya’s victory. “Deguchiya Tenya is going to the final round!” The big screen showing the two heroes, Present Mic in his usual spikes-and-leather costume and Eraserhead covered thickly in bandages and a sling, trembled as Present Mic’s gesticulations hit the camera. “That said, I feel a little unwanted here. That’s two matches that decided to just start talking over me. Any thoughts?”

Eraserhead chuckled darkly. “Well said. Results are what matters, as a pro hero. To see someone risk it all to help their enemy, it’s reckless. Further, taunting your enemy to make them lose their cool is just a way to increase collateral damage.” Well, put a non-hero student in front of a crowd and you get unheroic behavior, that’s a logical result. Hopefully Tenya will be able to smooth things over with Momo, if she thought he went too far. “Combat therapy just doesn’t work like it does in manga, I’ve only seen it once in my career.” Well, it helped a lot that Tenya didn’t need it to actually help Todoroki, just infuriate him. Breaking his oath on national television will do more damage to any attempt to gain popularity with it than any theoretical situation you could name where fire would be the better option in comparison to ice. “To see it here… if I didn’t know better I’d call this orchestrated. It wouldn’t be the first time a management student tried to turn the festival into a wrestling storyline.”

That actually sounded like a useful idea to lean into, and the fact that he proposed it at all was promising when it came to Tenya not getting into the hero course. Still, Tenya had succeeded in his goal to make Todoroki use his flames, which meant that internship with Endeavor was secure. The victory was a bit unfortunate, as it meant that Tenya had to fight either Momo or Midoriya, and either option did not sound appealing.

He’d just have to live with it, as one usually has to when one gets carried away. Tenya made his way towards the side of the arena that Momo said she was going to use as he was leaving. He spared the medical robots that were carrying away Todoroki a glance, but the other boy wasn’t even unconscious, so he’ll be fine.

Now how can he further encourage Eraserhead’s impression that he’s manipulating things for drama? It sounded like a good fallback plan to ensure failure.

Once he entered the hallway, lost in thought, Tenya was surprised to have his musings interrupted by a hug from Momo. “You did amazing out there, Tenya!” Well, defeating the son of the number two hero is pretty impressive, particularly with only Father’s infrequent weekends worth of commando training to fall back on. “You’re sure to get into the hero course now.” Tenya’s heart skipped a beat at her beaming compliment, despite Momo having previously admitted to not knowing much about the requirements. So her opinion didn’t mean anything. Also, Tenya suspected she wasn’t able to hear Eraserhead’s lackluster opinion of his performance.

“It was all according to the plan.” Tenya replied vaguely. “I hope you have a plan for Midoriya, Momo.” She made a vague gesture, her expression tightening at the reminder. “His quirk is powerful, it is true, but it’s attached to… if you’ll pardon me saying so, a neurotic mess. If he manages to get his head in the game, there’s not much that can be done against such an opponent.” Tenya wishes he could provide advice on how to throw Midoriya off, but hopefully Momo knew her classmate well enough to know what manipulations would bear fruit.

Momo immediately understood his advice, her eyes widening as she immediately turned that vague direction into a full plan of action. “That’s a great idea, Tenya!” She immediately zipped open and removed her gym uniform jacket, revealing the lack of shirt and sports bra she wore underneath to provide a reasonable amount of skin access for the use of her quirk. Before Tenya could finish processing the previous sentence, she handed him the jacket and bounced past, skipping to the arena. “Hold this for me, okay?”

Nodding dumbly at the request, Tenya looked at the warm jacket in his hands, back to the arena door behind him, and back to the jacket. “What.”

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After coming to his senses and making his way back to the stands he was supposed to be at, for his own homeroom, the match had yet to begin.

“Yaoyorozu is in full compliance with the rules.” Midnight announced, using her authority as the referee to have the last word. “Now man up, Midoriya, she’s not even breaking costume law yet! BEGIN!”

Momo immediately capitalized on Midoriya’s off-balance start, his face visibly red on the cameras as he scrambled to dodge Momo’s opening attack routine. Every time he tried to bring one of his hands to bear, Momo adeptly struck the boy’s wrist away and continued to press the attack, switching between sweeping blows and jabs with refined skill.

“It appears Yaoyorozu’s weapon skills are quite good!” Present Mic declared. “Midoriya’s going to need to get focused if he wants to recover.”

Unfortunately, Midoriya wasn’t quite off balance enough to be zoned out of the arena entirely. The sound of Midoriya flicking his finger empowered by his quirk was akin to a small bomb, shattering a section of arena and creating a tremendous gale that sent Momo back towards the center of the arena, landing in an embarrassing pose before recovering by ejecting a replacement staff out of her collar, forcibly raising her upper body back to a standing position. Oddly, the staff had some kind of spear-like attachment at one end, but it wasn’t quite a spear… what was it?

Midoriya’s attention had, for some reason, been absorbed by the finger he had just flicked, which gave Momo ample time to pull out some more of her signature nesting dolls, the first thing she ever created turned into a marketing flourish. She tossed half of them towards Midoriya, the dolls exploding into smoke and blinding her opponent as well as concealing him from view. Momo pulled out some thermal goggles from her stomach and strapped it on, using the other half of the dolls to spread even more smoke.

“Midoriya’s attacks are powerful, but they’re focused, and he’s limited in usage.” Eraserhead commented. “Preventing him from getting a solid bead on his target makes it a matter of knowing how to fall, and while Yaoyorozu took some bumps from his unexpected attack, she did mitigate the damage.”

“But now we can’t see anything!” Present Mic whined.

At that, a second explosion detonated, blowing the smoke away in an instant and creating a gust that, evidently, Momo was well prepared for as she held fast to her staff, the spear-point proving it’s worth as an anchor into the arena. After the gust dissipated, Momo swing around the staff with a kick, throwing Midoriya off balance as he clutched at the hand he used his quirk on.

Eraserhead was smug with his next statement. “Another good strategy is to bait Midoriya into attacking ineffectually.”

“But can she turn this advantage into a win?” Present Mic questioned. “Or is this powerhouse too much for the girl who has everything?”

The match continued. Momo used her superior training and created weapons to obscure the battlefield and press the attack, but once focused, Midoriya did know how to fight, even as he treated his quirk arm lightly. After twenty seconds of fierce battling, Midoriya used his quirk again, clearing the new cloud of smoke and causing Momo to be launched away from the indirect hit. She fell a little better this time, but her hair tie had broken and she seemed to favor her right side. Midoriya shuddered as he gripped his left hand rather than press the attack. He had a cut on his forehead that was bleeding messily, as head wounds were wont to do, and as he firmed up his stance, Tenya noticed a slight tremor, a sign of weakness, when he put his weight on his right foot.

The crowd was loving the close battle, some cheering for the smaller combatant, and some cheering for the pretty girl. Tenya tried to weigh the cheers in his mind, but couldn’t figure out which was more intense.

“This is intense.” Echoed Shuji, his quirk-enhanced hands rapidly writing down a play by play of the action. From the three notebooks he had at his side, he had likely been doing that for the whole festival.

Hansha, the class president, whooped at Midoriya’s third quirk use. “You guys have got to see the stills for this fight afterwards. They’re amazing!”

“What’s he doing with his arm?” Asked Kagami, the Vice Representative. “He looks pretty marketable, but if his quirk does something unseemly, that could impact things tremendously.” She hummed as she considered the possibilities.

Hansha looked again, squinting as he presumably used his quirk to get some freeze frames of the action. “I think he’s hurting himself.” Turning to another one of the 1-J students he pointed towards the action. “Hey Onidori, do his fingers look bruised to you?”

The addressed student closed his eyes, activating his quirk to get a better view of the action. “...Yes, they’re heavily bruised, maybe broken.” That was unsettling. Is that what Eraserhead meant when he said ‘limited uses’? That he only has so many fingers to break?

“Well, they don’t seem to be drawing attention to it, which is good…” Kagami said.

“...but that’s not the kind of thing you can hide. If he’s not careful, Midoriya’s going to be ‘the bone breaking kid’ for at least until his formal debut.” Daikoku, Kagami’s boyfriend, finished for her.

Loliruca, a fashion-oriented girl who had the appearance of a preteen, shook her head in sympathy. “I do not envy the one who manages that mess.” She said. “He’s one of the hero course students who brought a homemade costume. Unlike Yaoyorozu, it’s actually homemade rather than professionally designed but created via her quirk.”

Several of the collected management students winced. Kagami poked Tenya as he watched the match. “Deguchiya, you were over in their section for a while, what was your take on Midoriya?”

As the arena was once again obscured by smoke, Tenya felt it safe to comment without missing much. “He seemed more suited towards the support department in temperament.” He eventually said. “He spent the fights he was watching taking notes on quirks.” Tenya gestured to Shuji. “Like him, but while mumbling.”

“Are you saying he’s an Investigative hero?” Proposed Loliruca. “With a costume like this?” She brought out her phone and showed off a picture of Midoriya in a hero uniform that looked like it was constructed in an afternoon of sewing after a single shopping trip to a sporting goods store. Well, if the half of the mask that was intact was indicative of the other half, maybe a weekend’s worth of sewing.

Tenya shrugged. “I’m saying he didn’t seem like the charismatic, public speaking type.” Midoriya’s raw power was worth quite a lot in the hero industry, but he’d need to carefully manage his image if he wants to go anywhere.

Several smaller explosions sounded out from the smokey arena, creating a small clear zone where the combatants could be seen. Neither one looked to be in good shape, with Momo’s pants having some tears on the thighs that looked too clean to be anything but intentional on her part. Midoriya, on the other hand, was standing up from the explosives that Momo had used to attack him. Before he could fully get back into a stance, Momo charged one last time with the presumably blunted one-handed sword she had procured, her other arm cradled at her side.

Breaking the pattern of the battle, Midoriya waved his entire left arm, creating a larger gust of wind than any previous and with a tremendous riot of noise, Momo was launched out of the ring entirely. The medical robots rushed onto the field, already escorting the combatants to Recovery Girl as Midnight announced the results.

“What a match! Even with all that smoke, the second and third years are going to have some serious competition on the highlight reels!” Present Mic declared. “Midoriya got pretty banged up, so while Recovery Girl determines if Midoriya is cleared to compete, enjoy some words from our sponsors!” The feeds from the monitors changed to a commercial about All Might’s biography, celebrating the thirtieth anniversary of All Might’s first billboard event as the number one hero.

Kagami swatted Tenya’s head. “Go check on them.” She ordered. “You probably won’t be kicked out, just leave before Midoriya does.”

While Tenya was going to do that anyway, he merely nodded and followed the Vice Representative's instructions. It cost nothing to listen to sound advice, even if it was unneeded.

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Tenya had never actually met the school’s nurse, as appropriate for someone who didn’t make a point to engage in physical contests. Recovery Girl was an elderly woman, whose size had atrophied enough that she didn’t even go up to Tenya’s waist. She wore her gray hair in a bun with a hair net and a syringe as a needle holding it together, and was dressed as a classic style heroine, wearing a dress that held bold lines of yellow and orange on a white background with a doctor’s coat thrown on top. She had a visor with bulky pink computers on the sides of her head as support gear and held a cane that she had fashioned to resemble a giant syringe, which she was currently using to physically abuse Midoriya’s right side, who had already had his injured left arm healed.

“Honestly, how you managed to avoid needing surgery for your foolishness is beyond me. Don’t use your left arm until at least tomorrow, or you’ll really be in trouble.” She said, continuing what was no doubt an extensive tirade. “Avoid the two fingers you used in your first match too, if you come back with those broken again I’ll let you heal them the slow way! Do you want to be unable to write for three weeks, minimum?” At Midoriya’s frantic shaking of his head, she gave him one last smack. “Then withdraw from the finals, or learn some damn restraint!”

Midoriya perked up: “You mean you’re going to let me compete?” Well, if there was any doubt that Midoriya wasn’t a battle maniac, that killed it.

Still, Tenya was here for a reason, so he approached the bed that Momo was laying on. “Momo? Are you awake? I brought your jacket.”

Momo opened her eyes, brightening as she got up from the bed, stretching before reclaiming her jacket. “Thank you, Tenya. I knew Midoriya’s quirk was strong… but finally getting to see it up close… I’m reminded of the time we saw All Might in action at the USJ…” Tenya resisted the impulse to wince at the mention of when her class was attacked by villains in a remote rescue training facility. That was a bad day for everyone at UA… “The world shakes with his strength whenever he uses his quirk.”

“About that.” Tenya said, giving an embarrassed cough. “How badly does it hurt Midoriya when he uses his quirk? I’ve heard some… troubling things.”

Momo laughed with a hint of nervousness. “I was pretty vague, I suppose.” She admitted. “I didn’t want to worry you. He breaks his own bones when he uses his quirk, it’s why he has to be so judicious about it.” So the speculation was correct. At least Eraserhead and Present Mic saw fit to downplay that aspect of things. “The breaks aren’t that bad, though. Just some fractures, I’ve never seen his arms bend out of shape or anything like that. I don’t doubt the pain is intense, though. It was why he never followed up on any of his quirk uses during the fight.” Ah, that was terrifying. To think that Midoriya was so eager to jump into battle with a quirk like that? “So do you have a plan? How exhausted are you from facing Todoroki?”

Tenya quickly used the flight formula again to raise up a few centimeters before dropping. Given how much he had before the battle… and the start of the festival… “I have maybe a fifth of my total reserve remaining. I had three times that much before the battle with Todoroki.” Presumably there was some replenishment over that span, but it was difficult to determine exact costs of things, as there are factors that Tenya never bothered isolating. “Not enough to even slow down one of those attacks.”

Momo hummed. “Maybe blinding flashes and throwing your voice to bait him out?”

That… could work. Of course, it wouldn’t be difficult for Tenya to “fumble” the sound formula and… risk serious injuries. There had to be a better way. His stomach was roiling as his mind desperately sought an alternative solution.

“Tenya? Are you alright?” Momo asked, concerned.

Uh oh. Tenya scrambled for an excuse that didn’t involve revealing himself as the coward he was.

Midoriya’s conversation with Recovery Girl ended as he cheered. “Yes! Don’t worry, if I need to use more than the two fingers, I’ll surrender. I’m used to explosions, and he can’t have much more left in his quirk after suppressing Todoroki like that! I have a plan.” Tenya’s stomach twisted in a knot at the thought of not only having to face such staggering power, but one that wasn’t going to underestimate him, who had his measure and still was confident in victory.

Recovery girl nodded. “I’ll hold you to that.” She said, grumbling as she approached Momo’s bed.

“First place, here I come!” Midoriya said as he prepared to leave. “Oh, Deguchiya! I didn’t see you there.” He said after looking around. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to beat you! I need to show the world that I am here, and I still have two unbroken fingers and an arm, so don’t count me out yet!” And he was even going to risk Recovery Girl’s wrath for the win!?

“I surrender.” Tenya said before he could stop himself. The room went dead silent as Tenya panicked and tried to figure out how to recover from that blunder. “I’m suddenly struck with profound nausea, and will be unable to give a good fight. You deserve the victory and I am satisfied with the business course. Please convey my forfeit to the officials.” Before anyone could respond, Tenya left and made a beeline towards one of the washrooms where he could properly fake an illness.

Distantly, Tenya registered Recovery girl and Midoriya conversing with Momo, but while surrendering for that reason was a stroke of genius, his execution of it was terrible and no doubt would be utterly transparent to someone as insightful as Momo.

His plan was ruined…

------------------------------------------

When Tenya surrendered, he hadn’t fully thought out what that meant. There was a battle for third place between Todoroki and Momo, which Todoroki won without too much trouble, as Momo was too exhausted from her healing session to do more than make him use more effort than a single glacier at his victory.

So here Tenya was, on the second place podium… again. His stomach had mostly settled, now that he wasn’t in immediate danger, but he could already hear his mother scolding him for chickening out from his chance at the first place podium. Which he never wanted.

Further, if he had been hit by Midoriya, he could probably have skipped the ceremony. Tenya probably would have lost anyway, but Tenya didn’t know a single person that would accept that as a legitimate reason to surrender.

Somehow, in his quest for an acceptable loss, he had found the one solution that was even worse than willingly getting punched by someone as strong as All Might.

Speaking of All Might, his theme music started blaring from the stadium’s speakers, leading the crowd to explode into cheers well before the man leapt from outside the stadium directly to the podium, the medals clutched in his massive fist. All Might was a mountain of a man, well over two meters in height and with the width of four Tenyas, and garbed in the simplest possible hero costume, for he needed nothing else: a unitard with bright colors and bold designs, red white and blue to correspond with his ‘All-American’ image. His muscles, fit for bodybuilder magazines, and his iconic hair, blond with two locks in the front pointed upwards in a V shape, were the only flourishes his costume needed.

With his entrance, he announced his catch phrase to the crowd, prompted even more enthusiastic cheering: “I AM HERE!” After a beat, he continued: “To present the medals!” With the sun at his back, his face was cast in shadow, but despite that his signature smile gleamed like a beacon. Idly, Tenya noticed that up close, his uniform looked significantly more rugged than one would think based on how well it conveyed his musculature.

Beginning with Todoroki, he gently laid the bronze medal over the boy’s shoulders. He spoke at a conversational volume as he spoke, Tenya slightly abusing his quirk to hear them clearly. “There are problems in life that no amount of money or quirk can solve, young Todoroki. But speaking as someone who knows what it’s like to have people not look past your status, know this: It’s your power, and no one else’s. It was passed on to you with the faith that you would use it wisely, and what you do with it is infinitely more important than where it came from. If you wish to become a hero, the only one who can stop you… is you. ” Hm. From Momo’s complaints, Tenya didn’t expect All Might to be that good at pep talks. “I know that’s a scary thing, to be handed so much power and feel that you can only take credit for your failures, but trust me: the will to save and protect is worth far more than any quirk. Think about that, Young Todoroki. When you are ready, I would be happy to discuss this with you over lunch.” All Might ended his advice with a Mighty hug, Midoriya seemed startled at that, but started grinning as All Might approached the second place podium.

As All Might placed the silver medal around Tenya’s neck, he spoke once more: “Young Deguchiya. While I’ve made some visits to the general and support courses to encourage them to do their best here, I’m ashamed to say that I never once glanced at the management course.” It was a little uncomfortable, getting apologized to for something one didn’t want anyway, but Tenya bore it stoically. “From what I’ve seen today, your ingenuity, your effort, your power, and the self sacrifice you showed in the final moments…” The usual bombast of All Might’s voice vanished as he finished his sentence. “Within your chest, beats the heart of a true hero. Don’t let anyone tell you differently.” All Might paused instead of coming in for the hug, and instead put out his hand. Immediately understanding, Tenya grasped All Might’s proffered hand and pumped it up and down, relaxing as he did so. Before leaving, All Might added: “That goes double for the man in the mirror.” Flashing one last smile, All Might moved on to first place.

Midoriya was crying streams of tears, which was probably a side effect of a water quirk in his ancestry, as All Might chuckled. “What did I tell you about the waterworks, young Midoriya?” Kneeling to be closer to the short boy’s height, he spoke so softly that Tenya had to turn up the sound quirk significantly to make out his next words. “When we first met, one year ago, my thoughtless words were still one of my greatest mistakes. But now look at you. You’ve shown the world that You. Are. Here. I know that I shouldn’t have put so much weight on your shoulders, we should have waited…” Midoriya flexed each finger contemplating. “...but you preservered, you held back, and you stand here, at the top. Get used to this feeling, Young Midoriya…” Once more All Might issued a big hug, an enthusiasm to it that eclipsed the other gestures of affection. With barely a whisper, Tenya could just barely make out with his quirk a single extra sentence from All Might: “I’m proud of you.”

If there were any other words exchanged, Midoriya’s redoubled sobs of joy drowned them out.

It was only later, when Tenya was on his way home, that it occurred to him that All Might had basically told him that he was going to be transferred into the hero course.

…Damn it.