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.
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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.