Shikigami Dance: Naruto/BNHA Crossover - Chapter 25

***

[IT’S A REALLY CLOSE CALL! BARELY AN INCH, BUT OUR WINNER OF THIS RACE IS… IZUKU MIDORIYA!]

The said boy had his hands resting on his knees, his ċhėst heaving, and his face drenched in sweat.

He bȧrėly had time to react when Haru grabbed him in an excited hug, pounding his back while congratulating him. As the audience, those in-person and far away, roared their approval, Izuku’s eyes watered as for the first time in his life he was acknowledged. All the work he had put in all this time had finally born fruit.

In all his years growing up, he had never had his efforts acknowledged like this. When he was diagnosed as Quirkless, his teachers, classmates, and even his mother had given up on him. Haru had done his best, but he couldn’t be there all the time. Eventually, Izuku had even avoided the younger Bakugo, thinking it was better that way.

Now, thanks to all the support he had received, it seemed everything could finally turn around.

Haru was laughing, his face lit up in a closed-eyed smile, too overcome with joy at seeing Izuku’s happy face to care about his own placement.

Right on their heels, Todoroki and Katsuki ran in, both placing third and fourth respectively.

[THE CONTESTANTS ARE POURING IN ONE AFTER ANOTHER! LET’S HEAR SOME APPLAUSE FOR ALL OF OUR COMPETITORS AS WE PREPARE THE RESULTS!]

“Deku!” Uraraka ran up, her face beaming, “That was amazing! I can’t believe you got first place! I’m so jealous!”

Izuku turned pink and tried to hide it by pulling his arms up to his face, mumbling that it was nothing.

Haru grinned at them before sensing a certain pervert entering the stadium stuck to Yaoyorozu’s back.

“Mi-ne-taaaa!”

The small teen screamed in terror as his class rep’s eyes gleamed with death.

Haru pointed at Mineta and jerked his finger in a downward motion.

“Down.”

“Y-yes, s-s-sir.”

Haru stood over the trembling boy for a moment, letting out a small amount of killing intent before letting him off. Sometimes the fear of punishment was worse than the punishment itself.

“You okay?” Haru turned his attention to Yaoyorozu.

The girl nodded thanks, “I’m fine, thank you.”

Haru nodded and turned away with a short wave, “No problem.”

Midnight spoke into the speaker as the last student crossed the finish line, [The first game for the first years is finally over, and what a game it was! Now, let’s take a look at the standings, shall we?]

1st: Izuku Midoriya 2nd: Haruko Bakugo

3rd: Shoto Todoroki 4th: Katsuki Bakugo

5th: Ibara Shiozaki 6th: Juzo Honeuki

7th: Tenya Iida 8th: Fumikage Tokoyami

9th: Hanta Sero 10th: Ejiro Kirishima

11th: Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu 12th: Mashirao Ojiro

13th: Yosetsu Awase 14th: Tsuyu Asui

15th: Mezo Shoji 16th: Ochako Uraraka

17th: Momo Yaoyorozu 18th: Minoru Mineta

21st: Kyoka Jiro 22nd: Sen Kaibara

23rd: Kosei Tsuburaba 24th: Denki Kaminari

25th: Kojiro Bondo 26th: Reiko Yanagi

27th: Hitoshi Shinso 28th: Itsuka Kendo

29th: Jurota Shishida 30th: Shihai Kuroiro

31st: Yui Kodai 32nd: Hiryu Rin

33rd: Nirengeki Shoda 34th: Kinoko Komori

35th: Togaru Kamikuri 36th: Neito Monoma

37th: Pony Tsunotori 38th: Toru Hagakure

41st: Mei Hatsume 42nd: Yuga Aoyama

[Only the top forty-two will advance to the next round, but don’t be too let down if you didn’t make the cut! We prepared other opportunities for you to shine,] Midnight licked her lips seductively, [Now the real fun is about to begin. The chance to fully move yourselves into the limelight. Give it your best!] she snapped her whip as the hologram behind her picked the next challenge, [Let’s see what we have in store for you next!” she tilted her head, “Will your wildest fantasies come to life? What can it be? The waiting is torture!]

The projection blinked as two giant words appeared.

Calvary Battle

Kaminari blanched, “Calvary battle? I’m terrible at those,” he mȯȧnėd.

Tsuyu pressed a finger to her cheek, “It’s not an individual event. I wonder how they’ll split us up?”

Mineta got a perverted gleam in his eye that for once went undetected by everyone.

Midnight faced the screen fully, [Allow me to explain,] the hologram changed to show a demo image with All Might being held up by Thirteen, Present Mic, and Snipe, [The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit. In theory, it’s the same as a regular playground game, but there is one difference. Each player has been ȧssigned a point value based on the results from the obstacle course.]

“So that means each team will have a different point value based on which students are on it,” Uraraka said aside from Ashido.

The pink girl gave the brunette a happy smile, “Uh-huh!”

Midnight popped a vein, [Maybe you should shut up and let me explain things to you!] she cleared her throat after the outburst, [Now then… The point ȧssignments go up by increments of five, starting from the bottom. For example, forty-second place is worth five points and forty-first is worth ten, and the point value ȧssigned to the first place contestant is…]

Haru felt a sinking feeling in his stomach at Midnight’s sadistic aura. ‘Oh no…’

“Ten million!”

Izuku became whiter than a sheet. ‘Ten million?’

Haru began sweating buckets as he picked up on the malicious intent of nearly forty students directed at his friend. ‘This is scarier than when I watched Cabin in the Woods… which is not saying much because it suċkėd!’

Midnight smirked at the animosity she had created, “That’s right! It’s survival of the fittest! A chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!”

‘…Kinky…’

Haru felt a pounding in his head from all the emotional intensity he felt coming off of everyone, both audience and students, and quickly shut off his sensory. A figurative weight was lifted from his shoulders and he ran his fingers through his hair. ‘I keep forgetting how light I feel when I turn my sensory skills off. He shivered slightly. I know someone’s gonna sneak up behind–’

“You dropped this.”

Haru gratefully took the simple band, “Thanks.”

He quickly tied back his hair again. As he did so he studied the student nonchalantly. The teen looked like he hadn’t slept all week and need caffeine badly. Haru guessed from his earlier observations during the obstacle race that the boy’s Quirk could control people in some way. Whether it was more like Adelt Kirisaki’s Command or Issei Ichijo’s Persuasion, Haru had yet to find out.

“My name’s Hitoshi Shinso from general studies. Pretty cool getting second place.”

Haru nodded thanks, looking towards Midnight as she explained the rules. He didn’t mean to be rude, but he was heavily distracted at the moment. Distracted enough to not notice the slight annoyance reflected in Shinso’s body language

[These are the rules you’ll abide by. The game itself will last fifteen minutes. Individual point value will be added together to a team total. Everyone will know what you’re worth thanks to your headband. Swipe as many headbands as you can to raise your teams score. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up, so the more you steal, the harder it will be to manage them. Another thing. Even if your headband gets stolen or your team falls down you can keep playing until times up. This is going to be rough. You may use your Quirks as much as you like, but there are still rules. Make a team fall on purpose and I’ll slap you with a red card. You’ll be disqualified!] a timer appeared on the projected screen, [Now, you’ve got fifteen minutes to build your teams. I recommend you get started!]

A hand landed on Haru’s shoulder, making the redhead turn around to see it was Shinso.

“You want to be part of a team?”

The purple-haired teen blinked in confusion at Haru’s blunt question.

“Um, yeah… sure.”

Haru gave his new teammate a closed-eyed smile, “Let’s find the rest of our team then.”

Shinso gave Haru an apologetic look, “Sorry, I need you under my control.”

Haru’s eyes widened, “Wha…?”

He felt his limbs go numb as his mind was taken over forcefully. ‘Are you kidding me right now?’ A small spark of anger ignited inside him as he mentally chided himself for being so careless.

Shinso glanced around, “I can’t afford to have you back out on me last minute,” a bitter look passed over his face, “I need to win this festival no matter how many people I have to walk over.”

***

Elsewhere, Katsuki found himself surrounded by several of his classmates asking to team up with him.

“C’mon, Bakugo! Team with me!” Sero pleaded.

Ashido pushed him away, “No, you defiantly want me by your side!”

Aoyama held his stomach in pain, “I don’t want to beg, but please!”

There was a moment of silence as Katsuki just stared into space, “…Wait, remind me of your Quirks again and your names!”

Ashido gave the elder Bakugo an upset look, “You’re kidding! We’re your classmates! Can you really be that self-centered?”

“Bakugo!” Kirishima walked up, giving a pointy-toothed grin, “I was gonna try to team up with Todoroki, but he already picked a group and I can’t find Haru anywhere,” he jerked a thumb at himself, “So we should team up!

Katsuki gave the redhead a deadpan look, “Hey, dumb hair.”

Kirishima popped a vein, “My name is Kirishima and my hair isn’t much different from yours!”

The ash-blonde clicked his tongue and glanced about for teammates. Damn it! Where is he?

His crimson eyes finally locked on his target.

“Oi, Haru!” he stormed over to his younger brother, “You’re teaming up with me!”

He was intercepted as the purple-haired bastard from general studies stepped in the way, a ċȯċky smile on his face, “Sorry, but your brother had already teamed up with me. He doesn’t feel like dealing with your anger right now.”

A low rumbled sounded from Katsuki’s ċhėst, “Go get another team, Eyebags.”

He glared at Haru, who hadn’t turned when he called out to him, “Haru…”

Still no response.

Shinso smirked, “He’s not talking to you right now. Be a good brother and give him space.”

Much to everyone’s surprise, Katsuki lowered his clenched fists and turned away.

“You better get to the next round, Haru. If you don’t, I’ll kill you.”

After he walked off, Shinso let out the breath he was holding, “That was too close,” he closed his eyes, rubbing his neck tiredly, “Geez, your brother’s one angry guy.”

“Tell me about it.”

Shinso’s eyes snapped open in shock.

Haru stood in front of him, completely conscious, his amber eyes glinting in irritation. He raised a hand, flicking Shinso on the forehead.

***

Shinso felt the sharp jab of pain as Haru flicked him.

“Ow!”

He massaged his forehead.

“You shouldn’t use your Quirk so carelessly,” Haru’s voice whispered in his ear.

The purple-haired teen looked up at his double-crossed teammate, his face full of defiance.

That defiance quickly faded when he saw Haru’s face turn haggard as if all of the teen’s healthiness and strength had been suċkėd from his body. His hair slowly turned a pale white.

The worst part was in Haru’s eyes. The brightness in them had died. Now they gazed at him with dullness, all traces of his former flame, extinguished.

***

(A few minutes prior…)

Haru forced himself to remain calm as he was stuck under Shinso’s Brainwashing.

‘Okay, mental Quirks are similar to Genjutsu. If I use the same techniques for breaking out of one I can break out of his control.’

He focused his chakra, forcing it to slow down.

‘If I disrupt my chakra, it will break his control.’ He internally grimaced. ‘His Quirk is really strong.’

Haru felt his chakra become more sluggish, slowly but surely breaking free of the mind control.

Normally, breaking a Genjutsu or a mind-related Quirk was impossible for most people, but Haru wasn’t most people. His use and training of chakra had refined his control to that of a fine needle. True, his sudden increase upon his chakra reserves set him back quite a bit, but since his mind was still mostly aware, it was only a matter of time before–

‘Oh… there we go.’

He looked over at Shinso who was sighing relief, “That was too close. Geez, your brother’s one angry guy.”

Haru’s eyes narrowed to slits, “Tell me about it.”

Shinso whirled around, his eyes wide with shock. Haru sent him a disapproving look before flicking him on the forehead. Time for a little lesson.

***

Shinso gasped, his mind reeling from the image he had seen. He pressed his hands on his knees, his knuckles turning white, “Wha-what was that?”

Haru gave the frightened teen an apologetic look, “An illusion I created to warn you about abusing your power.”

Shinso looked up at Haru as his eyes hardened, “So you think the same too? That I have a villainous Quirk? You are no different from the rest of them!”

Haru met Shinso’s glare calmly, “What are the drawbacks to my Quirk?”

He was met by silence.

Haru crossed his arms, “Taking control of someone with the plan of using their Quirks when not knowing how it will affect them is very careless.”

Shinso scoffed, “What, so your skin will get flaky if you overuse your paper?” he asked scornfully.

Haru gave Shinso a steady look, “I die.”

Shinso choked.

“My Quirk is fueled by chakra, a mixture of physical and spiritual energy, namely, my life force. That illusion I showed you is what happens to my body as I die of chakra exhaustion.”

Shinso was visibly shaken, understanding how dangerous his plan was, “Uh. I–”

Haru sighed, “Trust goes both ways. I can’t understand what you’ve been through, but I get that your reasons for having trust issues are more likely good ones. The thing is… if you don’t make yourself trustworthy first, you can’t expect to trust others.”

He reached out a hand, giving off a green aura of light.

Shinso flinched back, “What are you doing?”

Haru smiled reassuringly, “I used my chakra to place that Genjutsu on your mind. Right now, I’m reversing the effects. You look like you lack enough sleep without me adding nightmares.”

He placed a hand on the other boy’s forehead.

Shinso felt his body tense as a strange warmth filled his senses. The image that had burned into his mind faded and he felt a relaxed calm take over.

Haru stepped back, “Now,” he looked around, “We used up a lot of time, hopefully, we can find some other people,” a small smile lit up his face, “We got one.”

Shinso blinked when he saw a paper clone walk up, accompanied by Jiro.

“Who’s she?”

Haru motioned at each person as he introduced them, “Shinso, this is Jiro. She’s one of my friends from class. Jiro, this is Shinso, he’s going to be our rider.”

The dark-haired girl nodded, “All right with me. He doesn’t look like he can carry much.”

Shinso glared at her, “Watch it.”

She smirked at him and looked at Haru, “What about the others? Kaminari is already with Todoroki.”

“Monoma and Shiozaki have already joined different teams as well,” Haru looked at his teammates, “We can make do with three people.”

“Hey!”

They all turned at the loud voice. Haru’s eyes widened in surprise.

Tetsutetsu stalked up to them, a grim look on his face, “Let me team up with you!”

Jiro narrowed her eyes, her earphone jacks shifting aggressively, “Why are you here?”

The silver-haired teen ignored her and stood in front of Haru, “You guys have quite a few range fighters, but no one who specializes in defense or combat. Make me your front horse,” when he was met with silence he continued, “Look, I don’t like your class or your brother, but what I said a couple of weeks back about all of you was out of line.”

Jiro scowled, “I’ll say.”

Tetsutetsu grimaced, “I can’t consider myself a man if I let that slide. Make me work for you as an apology.”

“No.”

Everyone stiffened.

Haru gave the 1B student a firm look, “You think working for me will act as an apology? We’re not here to make ourselves feel better,” a competitive aura began flowing off of the younger Bakugo, “We are here to fight!” he gave Testsutetsu a grim smile, “You got the guts for that?”

Tetsutetsu gave him a feral grin, pounding his fists together, “Hell yeah! Let’s demolish this round!”

Shinso suddenly smirked, “You guys are so weird.”

Jiro couldn’t resist a tease, “Really? Your hair kinda fits the vibe. Welcome to the weird group.”

The purple-haired teen suddenly chuckled, surprising her, “Whatever.”

Tetsutetsu looked at Haru, “What’s the plan?”

Haru and Shinso glanced at each other, their sadistic sides surfacing.

Jiro sweatdropped as the two boys emanated demonic waves, “Somehow I feel this whole thing will be changed to a horror game.”

***

(Fifteen minutes are up…)

[Oh goodie, it’s time to get this party started!] Midnight smiled.

Present Mic shook Aizawa’s shoulder, waking the pro from a much-needed nap, [HEY, HEY, LOOK ALIVE!]

Erasure Head slowly opened his eyes, glaring at the blonde hero beside him through his bandages as Mic started yelling again.

[AFTER FIFTEEN MINUTES TO PICK TEAMMATES AND CREATE STRATEGIES, TWELVE CALVARY TEAMS ARE PREPARED TO GO HEAD TO HEAD!]

Aizawa leaned forward, staring at the field below the announcer’s box, [I see some unexpected student combinations.]

[C’MON EVERYONE GET YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR! IT’S TIME FOR AN ARENA PUMPING BATTLE ROYAL! LET ME HEAR YUH SCREAM!]

Team Shinso sat waiting. Tetsutetsu was placed in the front for primary defense. Jiro was placed on the right and Haru was placed on the left. Shinso sat on top of the three of them, the team’s combined 560 points around his neck.

“Hey, guys!” they all looked over to see Monoma waving at them, “No hard feelings okay?”

Tetsutetsu nodded, “Right!”

Jiro gave the blonde a salute-like wave with one of her earphone jacks, “Don’t cry when we beat you.”

Haru grinned, “Good luck, Monoma!”

In a competition, there were no friends, just rivals for the top.

[LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED! ONE FINAL COUNTDOWN BEFORE THE GAME STARTS!]

Shinso hooded his eyes, calmly surveying the field, “Remember, we won’t try for the ten million unless an opening is given. We will focus on the straggling teams to avoid too much attention.”

[THREE!]

Over with his team, Katsuki cracked his knuckles as he glared at Izuku’s team, “Let’s get him.”

[TWO!]

Todoroki gave Izuku’s team a chilly stare, “He’s ours.”

[ONE!]

Midnight swung her arm out in a starting signal, [BEGIN!]

***

(Play: Boku no Hero Academia Season 2 OST – Cavalry Battle (Kibasen): youtu.be/IYbGqVkgpQE)

***

As expected, the majority of the teams made a beeline towards Izuku’s team, aiming to take the ten million for themselves.

“To the left,” Shinso ordered.

Tetsutetsu nodded, “Right!”

Team Shinso veered away as Izuku’s team composed of Izuku, Uraraka, Tokoyami, and the girl from the support course blasted into the air to escape the oncoming rush of teams.

Haru’s eyes didn’t miss a thing. ‘The support course student supplied them with a jet pack and hover boots for evasive action while Uraraka’s Anti-Gravity lightens their weight when they’re airborne. Smart.’

Shinso craned his neck back as the escapees flew over their heads, “Jiro, now!”

“I know!” Jiro stretched her jacks in Izuku’s direction, aiming at the ten million. Dark Shadow smacked them away, causing her to grit her teeth, “Stupid bird!”

Haru quickly analyzed the situation. ‘Tokoyami’s Dark Shadow acts as their defense. We’d best avoid them for now or else we’d be too vulnerable.’

“We won’t break their defense and be able to maintain ours,” Haru informed Shinso.

The purple-haired teen grunted, “Let’s focus on Plan A. Keep on the defensive!”

Haru felt a sensation with his sensory. A wall of paper rose from the ground, thwarting a student’s attempt to steal his team’s headband.

The other team gaped at his instantaneous reaction.

Team Shinso turned to face them, their namesake smirking, “Well, well, what do we have here?”

The rider glared at them, “We’re gon–” his eyes glazed over as Shinso activated his Quirk.

“Hand us your headband,” Shinso commanded.

The student did as he was told as his teammate watched in confusion. An origami hummingbird snatched the cloth and dropped it in Shinso’s hand.

“Thanks for the points.”

“Sorry, Rin, Shishida!” Tetsutetsu yelled as the four of them ran off.

[WOW! BARELY TWO MINUTES SINCE THE START AND ITS AN ALL OUT FREE-FOR-ALL!]

“WAH! MY BABY’S BROKEN!”

Team Shinso saw Team Izuku shoot into the air again amidst the wails of the support student.

Guess that means their maneuverability is limited now.

There was a boom and everyone saw Katsuki blasting himself after Izuku’s team, “DON’T THINK FOR A SECOND YOU’RE SAFE! I GOT YOU!”

Dark Shadow flew in the way and blocked the explosion sent towards its team, causing the audience to roar their approval.

Katsuki started to fall but was caught by Sero’s tape.

Haru sighed, “Man, I want to tease him so badly right now.”

Jiro shook her head, “Not a good idea.”

It all continues this way for a few minutes until Present Mic announced the scores.

[NOW, WHO WANT TO TAKE A LOOK AT EACH STUDENTS POINTS SO FAR? IT’S BEEN SEVEN MINUTES SO LET’S GET THOSE RANKING SHOWN UP ON THE SCREEN!] Haru narrowed his eyes, upon realizing he had not even noticed the exchange of points as he should have, [HOLD ON HERE… THIS IS AN UNEXPECTED TURN! OTHER THAN MIDORIYA AND TODOROKI, CLASS 1A’S NOT DOING SO HOT!]

“You forgot Team Shinso is comprised of students from Classes A, B, and C,” Aizawa deadpanned.

[WHAT? REALLY?]

‘He didn’t notice?’

Haru felt two familiar presences nearby and warned his team, “Guys, stop a moment!”

They all slid to a halt just in time to see Monoma steal Katsuki’s headband.

The blue-eyed blonde smirked as he twirled the cloth around his finger, “Your class is too small-minded,” he taunted, “Think bigger.”

Katsuki bristled, “What did you say? Get back here!”

Shinso looked at Haru, “What now?”

A small smile played at Haru’s lips as he watched the unfolding scene in front of them, “Let’s stay and watch for a moment. This ought to be good.”

Jiro hummed and nodded in agreement. Even Tetsutetsu was curious to see how this would play out.

Meanwhile, Monoma continued his baiting towards the elder Bakugo, “Midnight said the obstacle course was just the first game. We figured that they wouldn’t that many of us right off the bat.”

Katsuki glared at the other teen, “Heh?”

“It made sense that they would keep about forty contestants for the next event. All we had to do was stay within that group as we ran. From our spots in the middle ranks, we could fully observe the Quirks our rivals had and huge their capabilities. Only a fool would obsess with winning the preliminary rounds without multiple trump cards. Wouldn’t you agree, Haru?”

The redhead shook his head as Team Shinso slowly inched away, “Uh, uh. You’re not bringing me into this.”

He decided right then and there to ignore the copycat for the rest of the event.

He changed his mind a millisecond later. He was feeling fickle…

“Did you guys plan this as a class?” he asked.

Monoma placed Katsuki’s stolen headband around his own neck, “It wasn’t totally unanimous, but I say it’s playing out well. It better than chasing after a temporary front runner like a horse with a carrot waving in his face.”

Katsuki popped a vein.

While taunting was often a viable strategy to throw off an opponent, there was such thing as taking it too far or choosing the wrong victim. Monoma had taunting down in spades, but he generally chose the wrong victim or didn’t know when to stop.

Just like now.

“While I have your attention, you’re kinda famous aren’t you? Being attacked by that sludge villain. You’ll have to tell me about it sometime. It must be strange to find yourself in the role of the victim,” he turned away giving a mocking wave, “See you later… Bakahoe!”

Everyone on Team Shinso had the same reaction.

‘Ooooooooooooooooo!’

“Back it up,” Haru shuffled backward pulling Jiro and Tetsutetsu with him, “Just back it up.”

Shinso just nodded with a deadpan expression, “Uh-huh.”

Tetsutetsu just did as instructed, his face blank, “Man, that was unmanly.”

Jiro had a similar expression, “He dug his own grave.”

Haru bowed his head respectfully, “A moment of silence for the faithful departed.”

Team Shinso made a tactical withdrawal.

***

Katsuki was livid, “Kirishima,” Team Bakugo gawked as their rider emitted pure wrath as he spoke, “Before we take on Deku, we’re going to kill every one of these B-list idiots!”

“Monoma, don’t provoke him,” one of the blonde’s teammates, Kaibara, warned, “That’s the kind of thing he would do.”

“Yeah, maybe you’re right. It’s a bad habit.” the blonde agreed, surprising everyone within hearing, “Let’s go.”

Kirishima looked at Katsuki who was beginning to completely lose it, “Calm down, Bakugo. You got to keep a level head or we’ll never get out points back!”

Katuski pounded his fists together, causing his sweat to explode from the friction, “Shut up!” his voice turned dangerous, “I’ve never been calmer. Now get after them, Kirishima!”

The redhead furrowed his brow in concentration, “Please don’t make us regret this.”

Team Bakugo charged after Team Monoma with Katuski yelling at the top of his lungs, “You think you’re tough?” he stretched out a hand towards Monoma, “Die!”

With a smooth movement, Monoma used the palm of his hand to push Katsuki’s arm a little to the side, causing the aimed explosion to miss completely. With practiced ease, Monoma brought up his other hand and blasted Katsuki in the face with the copied version of his Quirk.

“You move too slow.”

Kirishima shook his head to get the smoke away from his face, “Whoa! He’s got your Quirk!”

Katsuki gritted his teeth swinging his arm down to blast at Monoma once again, “Damn it!”

Monoma didn’t seem phased as he blocked the attack with Kirishima’s Quirk.

Kirishima’s eyes widened in shock, “What? Mine too?”

Katsuki lowered his hands, his initial rage ebbing to a calculated simmer, “That bastard. He can copy other powers.”

Monoma nudged at his teammates in a secret signal to back away. If he had learned one thing during his two weeks of training at the Shuei-Gumi, he had learned to take a victory when he was able.

He had also learned how to create backup plans.

Seeing his person who had taunted him only a second before trying got leave, Katsuki growled and ordered his team to give chase.

A stream of glue spouted through the air and flowed around Team Bakugo’s feet, trapping them in place.

Monoma gave the student responsible a thankful wave, “Thanks for the backup, Bondo.”

Team Monoma continued their retreat. They hadn’t gone far however when Team Bakugo was after them again, having been freed from the glue by Ashido’s acid.

Katsuki palms popped with small explosions, “Losers, get back here!”

Monoma furrowed his eyes in annoyance, “Doesn’t he ever give up?”

He turned to make a snarky comment when he suddenly realized how close the rival team was.

Katsuki blasted himself away from his team a second time ignoring the yells from Kirishima.

Monoma nearly went into a panic and yelled to one of his teammates, “Tsuburaba! Stop him!”

The brown-haired boy in front of him inhaled and blew out a stream of air that hardened into a disc-shaped shield above his team.

Katsuki landed on the invisible surface with a splat, reminding Monoma of a bug on a windshield. The ash-blonde started punching the hard surface angrily.

Tsuburaba gave a self-satisfied chuckle, “You look stupid fighting with air,” he scoffed.

With a roar, Katuski smashed his fist through the barrier, much to Team Monoma’s surprise. Monoma activated Kaibara’s borrowed Quirk, Gyrate, causing his arm to rotate like a drill.

He managed to hit Katsuki back but failed to protect his team’s headbands.

***

(Meanwhile…)

Team Shinso was down to zero points.

Of the 675 points they had accumulated, they retained none.

It had all happened when Team Shiozaki had confronted them, leading to an all-out ȧssault that made other teams flee the scene to avoid getting caught in the crossfire. It had ended when Shiozaki used her vines to snag the points.

Two weeks after training had done wonders for the girl’s leadership skills and Quirk usage.

“I apologize,” the vines-haired girl called back as the team retreated, “You put up a good fight.”

Tetsutetsu was fuming, “Let’s go after them!”

Shinso shook his head, “No.”

“Why?” the silver-haired teen’s eye glazed over.

Jiro gave Haru and Shinso a look, “Do you guys have a plan B?”

Shinso stretched his arms over his head a grim smile on his face, “We’re actually going with plan D now. We let our points get stolen and harass other teams until the last minute.”

“Then we snatch back the necessary points to pass,” Haru finished.

Jiro jabbed one of her earphone jacks into Tetsutetsu, waking him up with a jolt, “I was wondering how we lost so easily, but it sounds risky. We have no idea where all the points will be by then.”

Haru tilted his head, a knowing look on his face, “Don’t we?”

Jiro blinked, “Have you… seriously been monitoring everyone in this event?”

Haru grinned, “I’ve been monitoring everyone since the obstacle course.

Tetsutetsu looked confused, still dazed from his previously brainwashing, “What are you talking about?”

“One of my subskills. Allows me to sense the surrounding people and what they’re doing,” Haru explained briefly.

Shinso cut off the conversation before it could go on a further tangent, “No time for explanations. Haru, do the thing.”

“Way ahead of you.”

There was a low-pitched hum accompanied by the cheeping of several small birds

Shinso had a smirk on his face when he saw what was coming from Haru’s exposed arm.

“Hummingbirds, huh?”

“Did you have a better idea?”

“No, this is actually better than what I had in mind when you suggested this plan.”

Tetsutetsu didn’t say anything as he watched the paper-befeathered chibis harassing the other teams.

[WHOA! MANY OF THE STUDENTS ARE BEING ATTACKED SIMALTANIOUSLY BY A FLOCK OF BIRDS! WHO COULD BE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS?]

[One of the students here does have a Quirk that allows him to speak to animals, but judging from the species, this isn’t his work.]

Jiro deadpanned at Haru, “You do remember that hummingbirds don’t exist in Japan, right?”

Haru scrunched up his face slightly, “Well… that detail seemed irrelevant when I first created them.”

Tetsutetsu suddenly realized something, “Won’t we be given a red card if a team falls down because of us?”

Shinso patted the silver-haired teen’s head, “No need to worry, if they fall, it won’t be because of us. They are merely a distraction for our plan.”

Haru grabbed Shinso by his collar and jerked him down, “Everyone, huddle together, now!”

There was a hiss and a rustle of paper as Haru encased them all in a large sphere as they heard Kaminari yell.

“Indiscriminate Shock: 1.3 Million Volts!”

A wave of electricity thundered across the field, stunning more than half the teams on the field and bursting Filo and her flock. Luckily, Haru’s barrier protected Team Shinso from the attack despite the pain the boy felt from losing so many animal clones at once.

“That was close,” Tetsutetsu breathed, letting out the air he did not know he had been holding.

Jiro looked at Haru in concern, “You okay?”

Haru’s furrowed his brows, “Brace yourselves.”

They all felt a chill crawl across the outer surface of their protective shell.

[WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT! TODOROKI STOPPED ALL THOSE TEAMS COLD IN THEIR TRACKS!]

“But only after Kaminari had immobilized the students using his electricity. Todoroki did not want a repeat of when so many students avoided his attack like during the obstacle race. He’s been adapting his strategy.”

“We’re frozen in,” Shinso hissed, “Plan D is a bust.”

[IT SEEMS THAT TODOROKI HAS ENCIRCLED TEAM MIDORIYA IN A CIRCLE OF ICE, LEAVING THEM NOWHERE LEFT TO RUN.]

Haru closed his eyes, whispering softly, “Katon…”

The outer surface of the origami sphere glowed with heat as flames melted away the ice that encased them.

Shinso gazed in awe as he both felt and saw a warm glow dimly lighting up the dark space they had been hiding in, “What is this?”

No one answered him as the paper shifted and shattered apart, breaking the weakened ice along with it.

For the first time, Aizawa commented first, [It appears that one team was able to counter both attacks that neutralized the other teams.]

[THAT’S CRAZY!]

The crowd cheered as an alarm sounded the one-minute mark.

Shinso nodded at Haru, “Do it.”

Haru held a hand, palm upward, and blew across it, “Yukine.”

A peregrine falcon sprang from his hand and took to the sky.

“Another bird?” Tetsutetsu asked.

“Not just any bird,” Haru watched the tony dot hovering above the stadium, “The fastest animal in existence.”

The redhead detected an unforeseen movement, “Speaking of speed…”

[WHAT? WHAT HAPPENED? IT WAS ONE BIG BLUR! HOLY SMOKES! WHY DIDN’T IIDA SHOW THIS AMOUNT OF SPEED IN THE PRELIMINARIES?]

Jiro blinked, “What happened?”

“Iida somehow increased his speed that moved his team faster than Izuku’s team could react,” Haru sounded impressed, “It’s quite a feat. I never thought he could move at that speed before,” he narrowed his eyes, “Izuku has gotten desperate. He’s charging Todoroki and–” he cut himself off, “Times up!”

[TIME FOR A COUNTDOWN!]

There was a flash as electricity sparked out over the ice hiding the battling Teams Todoroki and Midoriya.

An explosion shattered the ice wall on the side farthest away from Team Shinso as Team Bakugo joined the fight.

There was a shrill cry of a falcon as a white bullet plummeted from the sky at the record speed of the world’s fastest avian.

[TIMES UP!]

Haru flinched as he ‘saw’ Katsuki faceplant into the ground. There was a flutter of wings as Yukine settled in Shinso’s shoulder, causing the lavender-haired student to smile.

“Looks like we got the points.”