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[Race]
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...
"Today, I pledge—to make history."
Taka's pledge echoed across the entire stadium, breaking the silence that had held it until now.
A long, stunned silence followed, as everyone turned the words over in their minds.
It was such an extraordinarily confident—bordering on delusional—statement that no one could even muster anger or offense, unlike if he'd simply declared he'd win.
This was different.
It was the sort of declaration that stopped making you think the person ahead looked down on you, and started making you wonder if they had a screw loose. After all, what kind of teenager set out to make history? Most just cared about their immediate future—like winning—not something so far-reaching.
This one was an outlier, apparently.
That, or he was trying to sound profound and important—which maybe he was.
But some—those closer to him, or simply more perceptive than others—caught a deeper meaning beneath the simple statement.
What did it mean to make history?
To win? Perhaps, but that was just a part of it.
To earn internship offers, then? Recognition was a closer truth to his pledge, but in the end, still just a fragment.
No. To make history meant to leave a bigger impression than any previous year of U.A.'s Sports Festival had ever managed—to imprint his name in the minds of everyone present, and everyone watching from afar.
To make this the most impressive year the competition had ever seen.
—Even more so than All Might's.
Whether because he'd be winning in a way never seen before...
—or because today would mark the day someone bigger than All Might made his official appearance to the world.
—Or because he'd be losing so spectacularly, it'd become history in its own right.
Who could say what he actually meant?
In the end, whether he'd be making a fool of himself or truly delivering on his pledge... it was about to be seen.
In the teachers' area, All Might sweatdropped—feeling, once again, the weight of his student pressing down on him.
'You certainly don't hold back at all, young Takahashi...'
As everyone was still processing his words, Taka quietly made his way down from the stage and slipped back into the mass of students.
"..."
Having seen the player's pledge wrapped up in such short order, Midnight let out a sigh before stepping up to continue. The Festival couldn't grind to a halt over an outrageous pledge, after all.
"Now then, let's move on to the games right away!" She cracked her whip against the air.
In unison, the giant screens at the top of the stadium shifted to a spinning slot-machine display, cycling through possibilities while everyone watched, slightly overwhelmed by how fast things were moving.
As it spun, Midnight smiled into the microphone. "The first game is what we call a qualifier! Every year, many students have to swallow their frustration upon being eliminated right here, before things even get good!—Now, let's see what kind of torment awaits them!"
Her whip snapped toward the screens, and the spinning display began to slow.
Until it settled, at last, on a game.
{Obstacle Race!}
Taka's mouth curled slightly upward.
'So this stayed the same as in the show…'
Perhaps the teachers had already chosen everything beforehand.
That gave him a great deal of peace of mind. At least now he knew his plans wouldn't be thrown off by the events actually being random.
'Although I still haven't figured out who I'm going to partner with in the second game,' Taka deadpanned, feeling his asocial tendencies flaring up again.
While he calmly pondered such important matters, Midnight proceeded to explain the rules—basically, stay on the course, and anything goes so long as you don't go full terrorist.
The race was four kilometers long, running all the way around the stadium circumference.
Everyone swallowed nervously at the realization that the first elimination round was a flat-out race—meaning that if they weren't fast enough, they were basically as good as done.
Everyone except Taka, of course. He simply closed his eyes through the whole explanation, either uninterested or focused on something else entirely.
Eventually, the explanation ended, and all students began moving toward the starting gate—a massive arch leading out of the stadium.
Slowly, they gathered there, some elbowing others for the best spots at the front and sparking small skirmishes, while others settled calmly for what they could get or simply didn't care.
Amidst it all, while they waited for everything to finally begin, Class 1-A scanned the crowd for familiar faces.
Todoroki picked out Bakugo not far ahead. The explosive teen turned and grinned wickedly at him once he spotted him in return.
Behind them, Midoriya swallowed, taking slow, steady breaths and quietly preparing to kick his Full Cowl into gear the moment the race started.
The others looked around too, searching for who had once been their classmates—but who today were their opponents.
-BZZZ-
One light went out.
Everyone stopped looking around and fixed their eyes forward, locked on a single thing.
First place.
-BZZZ-
Another went out, leaving only one light remaining. Muscles and tendons tightened in unison, adrenaline beginning to surge through everyone's veins.
Beads of sweat rolled down foreheads. For a moment, the collective nervous swallowing of hundreds of students seemed to converge into a single audible sound.
The crowd held its breath.
Then.
-BZZZ-
The last light vanished.
"START!"
Midnight's voice was barely into its first syllable before every student had already launched off.
Everyone scrambled toward the exit as fast as they could, flooding into the tunnel leading outside and shoving others aside to carve out any position ahead.
Unfortunately, that same desperate surge forward was precisely what led most of them to their demise.
"M—move!"
"Agh, don't push!"
"Damn it, I can't move!"
In no time, the furious forward press became its own obstacle. The mass of students began condensing—eventually too dense for the tunnel to handle properly.
What had started as a breakneck race ground to a dead stop as everyone tried to push forward and found they couldn't, each one blocking everyone else.
Not even fifteen seconds in, and the race had already hit an impasse.
At least—until the truly exceptional began to move.
—Tsssssss...!—
—BOOOM!—
—Swoosh!—
Three figures shot ahead of the pack the instant the mass got stuck.
Todoroki, who released an enormous wave of ice through his feet—propelling himself forward while encasing the feet of those around him in the process.
Bakugo, who detonated an explosion and blasted off like a bullet in an instant.
And Midoriya, who bounced between the tunnel's high walls until he finally found a way through, shooting out alongside the other two.
But they weren't the only ones who made it out.
Just a few seconds later, several other figures began emerging from the tangle.
A ray of light cut through the air as Aoyama launched himself over the crowd with his laser.
A mass of pure black catapulted overhead alongside him—Tokoyami, now wrapped in Dark Shadow.
Yaoyorozu vaulted over the mass using her staff, clearing the tunnel and sidestepping Todoroki's freezing wave in the process.
Uraraka skipped the congestion entirely by levitating herself overhead, releasing her Quirk only once she was clear.
Meanwhile, deep inside the crowd, a charging figure began shouldering his way through the students, shattering the ice encasing his feet with nothing but sheer forward momentum.
That being Kirishima.
"Oryaaaa!"
He broke through, quickly picking his pace back up and charging after the others.
With Kirishima acting as an unclogger, the pressure that had built up inside the mass released, sending a wave of students finally spilling out of the tunnel—though many stumbled from the sudden burst, or found their feet still locked in ice and couldn't advance.
Still, most of Class 1-A managed to get clear quickly and resumed the chase.
Class 1-B was fast to escape as well, with a girl whose hair grew in long, vine-like strands having taken the lead some time ago.
And so the race was underway. Class 1-A with the immediate advantage.
{"Whoa, I can't believe it. Most of Class 1-A cleared the first hurdle without even breaking a sweat! You did an amazing job with them, Aizawa!"}
{"That's nothing but the result of their own effort. I had little to do with their improvement."}
{"Then what wonderful students you have!"}
While that exchange played out over the speakers, Todoroki, Bakugo, and Midoriya were already approaching the first obstacle zone.
"T-that's...!" Midoriya gasped, slowing down as he recognized exactly what lay ahead.
Zero Pointers—the same robots that had cost him an arm to bring down during the entrance exam. And not just one. There were many of them.
Alongside them, at their feet, smaller robots ranging from one to three points patrolled the area.
'The path is completely blocked, there's no way we can—'
{"It seems our frontrunners have reached the first obstacle of the race... ROBO INFER—!"}
"Out of the way."
"DIEEEEE!"
His thought and Present Mic's narration were both cut short as Todoroki and Bakugo launched ahead simultaneously—one generating a massive wave of ice that swept over one of the Zero Pointers entirely—
—TSSSSSSS...!—
—BOOOOOM!—
—before Bakugo rocketed in and drove an explosion straight into the robot's face, toppling it completely as shards of Todoroki's ice rained down by the dozens.
The Zero Pointer in the middle crashed to the ground with a tremendous tremor, throwing up an enormous dust cloud that swallowed the whole area.
Bakugo and Todoroki used the cover to slip past the remaining robots undetected and kept moving.
{"Whoa, I didn't even finish presenting the obstacle, and these kids are already past it!"}
Midoriya, meanwhile, watched it all unfold wide-eyed.
But seeing Bakugo and Todoroki press on without a moment's hesitation, he bit back whatever he'd been about to say and kicked off as well, shooting forward with Full Cowl active.
Having paused even briefly while the other two hadn't, Midoriya found himself a step behind.
Meanwhile, the rest of the participants who reached the obstacle slowed to assess the Robo Inferno situation.
But while most hesitated, unsure about charging through a battlefield of hostile robots, the Class 1-A students pushed on regardless.
Robots were smacked aside or avoided outright. Within seconds, the 1-A students had made the whole thing look almost effortlessly simple as they sprinted through, leaving the other classes to fend for themselves.
Back at the front, Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo soon arrived at the second obstacle and stopped for a moment to take in what they were looking at.
{"Now's my chance! Ahem—anyway, everyone, it seems our first obstacle was a piece of cake for those at the front. The rest of the students don't seem to be having much trouble either... but how about the second one?!"}
Stretching before them was a vast canyon-like obstacle—towering pillars interconnected by tightropes, serving as bridges all the way across to the far side.
{"If you lose your balance and drop, you're completely disqualified, so unless you're confident in your balance, crawl rather than risk it... this obstacle's name is... THE FAL—OH COME ON, THE THREE ARE ALREADY HALFWAY THROUGH IT, WHAT ARE THESE KIDS EATING?!"}
Just as Present Mic said, the three were already halfway across the obstacle, crossing it at a speed that was probably not intended for anyone to have—save Iida, who was unfortunately still on his way there, having fallen too far behind at the start due to Todoroki's ice.
By the time the rest of Class 1-A arrived at the second obstacle, with a few from other classes mixed in, the three at the front were already finishing it.
{"What's this?! These three are speedrunning through our carefully crafted race! Oi, Aizawa, tell your students to show some showmanship and let the audience enjoy it properly!"}
{"They're doing exactly as they should. This isn't an event where they can afford to hold back—unlike certain others..."}
{"Hmm? What do you mean, Aizawa?"}
As Midoriya, Bakugo, and Todoroki finally drew close enough to see the third and final obstacle, they couldn't help glancing at each other.
A frown settled over all three of them.
Something had felt off all the way until now, but seeing each other's expressions now made it clear.
Something… No, someone was missing.
And as if in sync with that realization—
{"WHAAAAAAT?!"}
Present Mic's baffled shout tore through the microphone, a few decibels short of deafening everyone in the stadium.
Students mid-race, crowd, teachers—everyone flinched.
Before anyone could ask what it was, Present Mic gave them the answer.
{"The proclaimed history-maker, Takahashi—IS STILL AT THE START OF THE RACE?!"}
The three at the front felt their eyes go wide, brows pulling into deep frowns.
Takahashi... hadn't moved from the start?!
The cameras shifted, swinging back to the stadium gate.
There he was. Still inside, hands in pockets, eyes closed.
The crowd erupted.
{"Dear student Takahashi, you are aware that you need to complete the circuit for a result to count, correct?"}
Taka gave a visible nod. But didn't move.
{"..."}
Present Mic was at a complete loss.
Aizawa, meanwhile, stared flatly ahead, suppressing the urge to call his student out in front of all Japan.
In the end, Present Mic let out a shrug. {"Well... if that's his decision, I suppose we have to respect it."}
Outraged cries rang out from all around—especially after what Taka had declared—but despite them all, he didn't budge.
The cameras shifted back to the three frontrunners.
The three moved neck and neck, none of them able to break away from the others.
Soon, they reached the final obstacle at last, all three stopping in unison as it came into view, with Present Mic's narration following right behind.
{"At last, we've arrived at the final obstacle! Most of the students are still halfway through the second, and one in particular hasn't even started running yet—but those in pursuit will catch up soon enough, so let's get into it!"}
All three narrowed their eyes, wariness spiking.
{"In short—and it's fairly obvious at a glance—it's a minefield!!! The mines are visible enough that you can spot them if you look carefully. However, doing so will slow you down, so—WHAT WILL YOU ALL DO?! YEAAAAH!"}
"Mines... are they out of their minds?" Midoriya's eyebrow twitched.
{"By the way, they're recreational, so they don't pack the same punch as a real one—but they'll still knock you around, so don't underestimate them, contestants!"}
—BOOOM!—
"This doesn't affect me!"
The moment Present Mic finished, Bakugo launched off with an explosion behind him, sailing clean over the mines without ever needing to touch the ground.
Todoroki and Midoriya gritted their teeth and shot after him.
They broke through the minefield like it was nothing. Todoroki using his ice to create an ice surface between him and the ground to avoid triggering any, Bakugo flying overhead and landing only in clear spots to launch himself again, and Midoriya pushing hard with his enhanced state while keeping a close eye on the ground beneath him.
As they crossed, the gate leading back to the stadium at last came into view.
Still far off—but in sight. And with it in sight, all three turned on each other.
"Deku—don't even think about running beside me!" Bakugo snapped, swinging an explosion that Midoriya had to dodge, almost losing his footing and coming down on a mine.
Luckily, his training with Taka had given him enough experience with high-speed mobility. He recovered quickly and pushed on.
"I just told you—SCRAM!" Bakugo attacked again.
"No!" Midoriya answered with a kick, batting Bakugo's hand away before it could reach him—and nearly sending him stumbling into a mine in return.
Using their skirmish, Todoroki slipped into the lead.
The two noticed immediately, shook each other off, and surged back ahead.
With that, they finally cleared the minefield, the path ahead opening up clean.
{"It looks like we're on the final stretch! From here it's a pure, flat-out sprint to the finish line. WHO WILL BE THE ONE TO REACH IT FIRST?!"}
The three glared at each other, the competitiveness between them reaching a boil.
"I told you, half-and-half—YOU'RE NOT TAKING FIRST PLACE FROM ME!" Bakugo burst forward, swinging an explosion at Todoroki.
—BOOOM!—
Todoroki barely dodged, then sent a burst of ice back in return, which Bakugo dodged in kind.
Midoriya caught the edge of it and had to wrench himself sideways to avoid getting hit.
As he ran, he swung one arm with enough force to generate a gust that broke both their rhythms.
The two struck back.
And so it went—as the gate drew closer and closer, the three lunged at each other more and more freely, like animals growing greedier the nearer they got to the prize.
They were so focused on each other that they'd completely forgotten the most important variable in this race.
Fortunately, it was kind enough to remind them.
All at once—students, crowd, teachers, and beyond—everyone had the strange sensation of hearing a voice.
Not quite hearing it, more like imagining it—and yet it came through with an uncanny clarity.
"Time is up."
Everyone froze for a moment. But since it felt more like a thought than a sound, most brushed it aside—everyone except the three at the front, who knew exactly whose voice it was.
A deep sense of foreboding settled over them.
Then they understood why.
{"What is this?! TAKAHASHI IS MOVING!"}
The three's eyes went wide.
""He's coming!"" The three thought in unison, quickly stopping their fight and focusing solely on the goal ahead.
The cameras swung back to the starting line.
There, Taka had taken his hands out of his pockets and was calmly rolling his neck.
While all eyes fell upon him, wondering what he was about to do, Taka calmly muttered under his breath something to himself.
"Let's see… If my calculations are correct—4 kilometers should take me about 20 seconds more or less to cross."
His eyes fixed ahead, sharp and unblinking.
Then, it happened.
—FWOOOOSH!—
A deep, fierce aura erupted around him—almost like a blowtorch given form—wreathed in crimson lightning.
Every eye in the stadium snapped to his blazing figure, drawn to it like a beacon.
Taka then settled into a runner's stance.
"Let's make this good."
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
[Imaginary Technique: My Theme](ACTIVATED!)
Song chosen: Spitfire - Eurobeat
· · ─────── ·𖥸· ─────── · ·
The instant he said that, a sound—or rather, a melody—detonated into everyone's head.
It was sharp and climbing, like an engine roaring to life, or an alarm going off, warning of impending doom—or perhaps, something better.
Whatever it was leading to, or whatever it was happening, everyone felt it from the goosebumps building up in their body and their caught breaths.
They wouldn't be able to blink for the next few seconds.
From his runner pose, Taka huffed lightly, his mouth curling slightly upward. "You have twenty seconds before I catch up, you three,"
Then his smile widened into a smirk, eyes catching a gleam of pure excitement.
"Let's see if you can make it before then."
—BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
The next instant, Taka's crimson figure shot ahead at a speed that defied processing—so fast, so violent, that the sheer explosion of kinetic force blasted a massive column of loose dirt from the stadium floor straight into the sky.
None of it reached the stands, but every pair of eyes in the stadium locked onto that rising pillar of earth—shooting up, then crashing back down.
Then the cameras found him, and all attention shifted to the cause.
A blur of red, tearing across the course like a fired round, moving so fast the camera had to pull all the way back just to keep it in frame.
5 seconds.
The blur hit the first obstacle.
Scattered across it, Zero Pointers and smaller robots still prowled—keeping dozens of students from other classes frozen in place, unable to push forward.
They didn't have to wait long.
The sound of splitting air arrived before he did—a sharp, screaming tear that snapped every head around.
—WREEAAAAK!—
—BOOOOOOM!!!—
—CRASH!—
—BOOOOM!!!—
The blur of red ripped through the Robo Inferno like a round through paper. The Zero Pointers didn't even register him before they were gone—hurled sideways, crashing into the trees beyond the course in a chain of impacts that shook the ground—clearing the path entirely.
9 seconds.
The gap between obstacles vanished.
The second obstacle soon came into view. The Fall.
For a fraction of a second, the red blur seemed to slow at the edge.
Until—
—BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
The ground cratered. Cracks spidered outward in every direction as the blur detonated upward like a rocket, the blazing aura trailing behind him only making the image more accurate as he climbed—and kept climbing—clearing the entire obstacle in one unbroken arc, not a single tightrope touched.
11 seconds.
Of course, what goes up, comes down.
The red blur peaked.
Then dropped.
A crimson meteor, falling fast and getting faster.
—BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
The landing shook the earth. A section of the artificial canyon crumbled at the impact, dust surging outward in a ring that swallowed the whole area.
And before it could even settle, he was already gone.
—SWOOOOOOSH!—
14 seconds.
At last, he reached the last obstacle.
Students still carefully picking their way through the minefield heard it first—the sound of air tearing apart somewhere behind them—and spun around with wide eyes.
At the far end of the tunnel leading back into the stadium, the three frontrunners heard it too.
They turned.
Their expressions said everything.
Bakugo stripped his explosions back to pure propulsion and poured everything he had into them.
Todoroki drove his ice output higher, even as the cold began crawling up his own legs.
Midoriya pushed Full Cowl up a few more percentages, feeling the current surge through his muscles, and damaging them—but granting him more speed.
With that, they faced forward and ran. No longer daring to look back or to the side.
16 seconds.
With no more curves, no more obstacles, and nothing between Taka and the finish line but a straight run for it…
He hit the turbo.
—BOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
Earth and wind split as he accelerated to the max. He moved like a bullet train that had cut its brakes—only even faster, a lot faster.
In his wake, mines the other contestants had carefully stepped around began detonating one after another—a chain of explosions ripping down the path behind him.
But none of it reached anyone.
The sheer vacuum of displaced air he left behind swallowed each blast as it went, collapsing them inward before they could spread.
Students in his path were already stumbling aside before he arrived.
Then he was in the tunnel.
18 seconds.
The three could see it.
The light at the end, the stadium, the finish line.
Victory.
So close they could feel it.
19 seconds.
—SWOOOSH!—
But just as they were a meter, maybe two from the exit—
He passed them.
Not through the middle of them.
Not by shoving them aside.
"Wha...!"
"That can't be...!"
"...!"
Up.
He was running on the ceiling.
—And worst of all... he was moonwalking while doing it.
Faster than them.
Inside the stadium, the crowd waited, breath held, already knowing somehow what was coming.
—SWOOOSH!—
A blur of red shot from the gate like a fired shell, spinning through the air—before slamming down onto the track and skidding, carving a long trail through dirt and dust that took a stretched, breathless moment to finally settle.
When it did, there stood Takahashi, frozen in the motion of finishing, completely still.
Then, slowly, he straightened up.
… And brushed his hair back as the cameras found his face, letting the sun fall on his smiling face.
{"TAKAHASHI FUKUMOTO WIIIIIIIINS!!!"}
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: Sorry for the wait, university wasn't kind this week. Lots of projects due, and homework. But we are back, and with a rather long chapter, since I didn't want this to encompass more than a chapter. How was the move Taka pulled up this time?)