The day of the sports festival arrived, and Class E spent the morning quietly wrecking the competition.
Mostly because of Karasuma's training.
Kimura dominated the 400 meters. Hara devoured the bun-eating race like she was drinking water and crossed the finish line without breaking stride. Kayano tore through the obstacle course as if her body had no wind resistance at all.
On the Class E side, Koro-sensei kept taking photos in a disguise that consisted of one green cloak and an enormous amount of confidence.
"Woo! Awesome, Kimura-kun! Smile even bigger now! That's it, Justice!"
Akira stood beside him, watching the cloak flap in the wind.
"By the way, Koro-sensei, why the suspicious disguise? You could just appear in the open. We can call you our balloon mascot."
Karasuma answered before Koro-sensei could.
"No. It's too dangerous for him to fully show himself here."
Koro-sensei's eyes filled at once.
"That's right. But don't worry. No one will recognize my disguise."
Everyone looked at the green cloak.
He already looked like a mascot anyway.
Akira turned back toward the field, where another Class E student crossed the line first.
"They really are crushing it."
Koro-sensei nodded, his camera still clicking.
"Yes. Assassination has improved your physical fitness, balance, kinetic vision, and sense of distance. A competition like this is sure to show them off."
Then he looked at Akira and Erika.
"By the way, your match is coming up next. Are you two going to be all right? You only signed up at the last minute. Did you train for it?"
Erika looked faintly awkward.
"Well, about that…"
Akira smiled.
"Don't worry, Koro-sensei. We can win this."
Erika's eyes narrowed.
"How?"
Akira answered smugly.
"We're a great team. We can do it."
Koro-sensei's voice dropped a little.
"Akira-kun. Just don't use all your strength, all right? Whatever you do, try to win normally."
Akira raised a hand as if taking an oath.
"Yes. We will finish this three-legged race… normally."
---
A few minutes later, they sat on the grass, tying their inside legs together.
Erika pulled the knot tight and glanced at the difference in their height.
"Why did you suddenly want to participate in this anyway? We aren't even the same height."
Akira's smile softened.
"Well… I used to watch this race in anime. Back then, I always wanted to try it once with you, if we ever went to school."
Erika went quiet.
Then she sighed.
"Fine. But you should have told me before, okay? So we could have trained more."
Akira smiled.
"Don't worry. It's just running with one of our legs tied together. How hard can it be?"
Erika didn't answer.
They stood and lined up with the other pairs, waiting for the signal.
"On your mark."
"Get set."
The starter pistol fired.
The line surged forward.
Akira and Erika took their first step.
Their height difference and lack of coordination caught them immediately. Erika's tied leg was pulled off-balance. She twisted, about to fall, and Akira turned to catch her. His own tied foot followed instead of moving with him. Their legs tangled, his body pitched forward, and there was a sharp, ugly twist of sound.
Erika caught him before he hit the ground.
Something inside Akira's lower leg had snapped.
From a distance, it looked like a handsome boy and a beautiful girl had simply fallen into a hug.
The audience loved it.
"Ohhhhhhh!"
Erika's face, up close, was filled with nothing but worry.
"Are you all right?"
Akira, still half held against her, nodded.
"I'm fine."
She looked closer.
"What was that sound?"
Akira was silent for a second.
"…Probably my dignity."
Erika's eyes narrowed.
"Tell me the truth."
Akira turned his head away.
"It's my leg. I think it's a sprain."
Erika frowned.
"A sprain wouldn't make that sound. We should forfeit."
"No." Akira shook his head. "We have to finish this. And I still have the pole-toppling after. It's fine. Look. I'm already better. Don't forget, I have super healing."
He moved the tied leg up and down.
It bent.
It did not buckle.
Erika still wasn't convinced. She knew his pain tolerance too well to trust a demonstration like that.
Akira glanced at the course.
The other pairs were already more than halfway.
"Please. I always wanted to do this."
Erika exhaled through her nose.
"…Fine. If you want to do this, follow my orders. When I say one, we move the tied leg. When I say two, we move the other. Do you hear me?"
Akira straightened.
"Yes."
Erika narrowed her eyes.
"And if that leg is actually hurt, I will break it myself. Now. One… two."
They moved.
"One… two."
It was clumsy at first. Their steps were short, almost ridiculous. But the rhythm held. Their balance settled.
And once it settled, their bodies did the rest.
The gap started to close.
One pair.
Then another.
Then another.
Their rhythm became faster without either of them consciously deciding to accelerate.
"One."
"Two."
"One."
"Two."
Suddenly, they were beside the leading pair.
Then ahead of them.
The finish line rushed closer.
The announcer's voice cracked with surprise as they passed the last pair and broke the tape.
"Class E's Hoshino Akira and Sendou Erika win the three-legged race! What a reversal!"
Erika didn't celebrate.
She grabbed Akira by the wrist and dragged him straight toward the Class E side, already looking down at his tied-off leg.
"You better be all right. Or else."
---
By the time they reached the Class E side, Koro-sensei was already waiting with a stretcher and an alarming amount of medical equipment.
Karasuma and the others crowded around him.
"Come here, Akira-kun. Lie down. Sensei will conduct a preliminary check, then we can get a full MRI."
Akira stared at the stretcher.
"Koro-sensei, I'm not really that hurt. It's nothing."
Erika's voice cut across him.
"Shut up and sit down."
She pushed him onto the bench, pulled his pant leg up, and let Koro-sensei and Karasuma lean in.
Koro-sensei pressed two tentacles lightly along his shin, then froze.
"Your leg is a bit swollen. It looks like a fracture. Let me check more closely with my tentacles to see how badly it's broken."
Akira jerked back.
"Wait. What do you mean, using your tentacles? I refuse tentacles."
Koro-sensei looked personally wounded.
"Why?"
Erika was already unlocking Akira's phone.
"Don't worry. His phone has a scanner that works as an X-ray. Let's use that."
The students nearest to them all had the same thought.
His phone has a what?
Erika opened the app and passed it over the swollen section of his shin.
The screen lit up with a clean scan.
Everyone looked impressed.
It really did have an X-ray function.
Nobody wanted to ask what else was on that phone.
A thin white line ran through the tibia.
Erika's face hardened.
"It's broken."
Koro-sensei nodded.
"Yes. A hairline fracture of the tibia."
Nagisa stared at Akira's leg, then at the finish-line tape still visible across the field.
"Wait. How did you even win? No—how did you even run with a broken leg?"
Akira shrugged.
"I was trained by my mother to endure pain. This is nothing."
The class reached the same conclusion at once.
What kind of training did he go through?
Koro-sensei closed the phone.
"Anyway, it seems Akira-kun can't participate in the pole-toppling."
Akira protested.
"What? No. I can participate."
Basically everyone there screamed.
"Nooo!"
Akira looked around, confused.
"Why?"
Erika pointed at the scan.
"Because your leg is broken."
Akira complained.
"I'll be fine. I have super healing."
The reaction was immediate.
"You have super healing?"
Erika did not let that idea survive.
"No. He does not heal like Wolverine or Deadpool. He just heals faster than a normal human. That's all."
Everyone was still excited.
"Ohhhhh."
Karasuma folded his arms.
"How long will it take?"
Akira thought about it.
"If I rest for a few hours, it should close on its own."
Karma glanced at the schedule board.
"The pole-toppling begins in thirty minutes."
"It's fine," Akira said. "I can heal after the match."
Basically everyone screamed again.
"Nooo!"
Isogai stepped in, his voice firm.
"Akira-kun, you're hurt right now. We can take care of the pole-toppling."
Akira shook his head.
"No, you can't. Principal Asano definitely made countermeasures for me. If I'm not there to deal with them, you guys will lose."
Nobody answered at first.
They knew he might be right.
They also had no good way to say yes.
Akira looked down at his own leg, then back up.
"Let me play. A small crack like this is nothing to me."
Koro-sensei's voice softened.
"Akira-kun. You don't take care of your health, do you?"
Akira was quiet for a second.
"No… I know exactly how far my body can go. It's just that, for some reason, no one can accept that."
Erika drew a long breath.
"Fine. You can go."
Everyone, including Akira, stared at her.
"What?"
Koro-sensei leaned in.
"Are you sure, Erika-san?"
"Yes." Erika's tone was flat. "He'll keep whining if I don't let him, and I know he won't stop. So I might as well let him."
This time, Akira was the one who hesitated.
"Are you sure? You're not mad, are you?"
Erika looked at him.
"I am mad. But if you're going to do this, then after you finish, you will listen to whatever I say for the next few days. And if you get hurt worse, you will not refuse me the next time something like this happens."
Akira nodded.
"…Okay."
Koro-sensei and half the class immediately surrounded Erika, leaving Akira out of the conversation.
"Erika-san, is it really okay?"
Erika didn't look away from Akira.
"He won't listen anyway. But this is a good situation. If he gets hurt worse here, he has no choice but to listen to me. And since this is just a small fracture, it's like a controlled explosion."
The class understood at once.
As expected of Handler Alpha. She already planned for this.
---
A short while later, both classes gathered on the field for the exhibition match.
The announcer's voice boomed across the grounds.
"Now for the exhibition match! Seems E Class has challenged A Class to a battle! Okay, Kunugigaoka's elite… give 'em hell!"
Nagisa squinted at the opposite side.
"Foreigners?"
Maehara's voice jumped.
"That's gotta be against the rules!"
The announcer continued, far too cheerfully.
"And in the spirit of cultural exchange, this exhibition match will include all our exchange students!"
Maehara clicked his tongue.
"That Asano's being way too careful. Is that how badly he wants to win?"
Terasaka pointed.
"Look at those Americans. They look so buff."
Akira's eyes moved past them.
"They're probably American football players. But the ones we need to watch out for are the Chinese."
Nagisa followed his gaze.
"Those are Chinese? Wait. How can you tell?"
"Look at the short one. He's trained in Monkey-style Shaolin kung fu. Not just him. That lean one is trained in Mantis style. The tall one and the buff one are Crane and Tiger style. That tall, lean one looks like he's very proficient in Snake style. The heavy one… Dragon style, I think. None of them are masters, but for normal humans their age, they're well trained."
Then Akira paused.
"…Wow. It's the Furious Five and the Dragon Warrior in human form."
Maehara stared at him.
"Wait, wait, wait. How did you even know that?"
Akira looked into the distance.
"My father knows all martial arts. I didn't train with him much, but he did teach me how to recognize styles from posture and movement."
Maehara let out a breath.
"So cool…"
Isogai lowered his voice.
"They might be after you, Akira-kun. Can you take them?"
Akira watched the six of them settle into their stances. The referee on the Class A side was already looking anywhere but at their hands.
"They're the pieces prepared for me," Akira said. "I can handle it."
The referee raised an arm.
"Take position!"
Both sides moved.
Isogai's voice cut across Class E.
"All right, everyone. Absolute defense form."
Both sides took their positions.
A Class had the numbers for it. A defense team packed the tower around their pole, with Asano Gakushuu standing at the top. The rest formed an attack line: a few Class A regulars, the American football players in front, and the six Chinese echange students waiting off to the side.
Class E had no such luxury.
With fewer bodies, they went all in on defense, stacking themselves into a tower around their own pole. Isogai stood at the top.
The announcer sounded almost disappointed.
"What's with E Class? They're going all in on defense! Might they be cowed by the skill gap? Now, let the battle begin!"
Asano looked down at the field and smiled.
"Offense team. Plan F."
One of the Americans slapped his chest.
"Roger!"
He and three Class A students charged straight toward E Class's pole.
Asano's eyes shifted to the six waiting on the flank.
"Special team. Plan G. Eyes on the target."
The Shaolin group moved at once, sweeping wide around the side.
Isogai saw them from the top of the tower.
"Akira! They're coming from the side! Operation Molting! Everyone else, stay put!"
Akira's smile was immediate.
"Roger, Roger."
He peeled off from the formation and ran to meet them.
The American group kept coming.
Yoshida and Muramatsu lasted about two seconds before they broke formation.
"Dammit!"
"We're not just gonna roll over and take this!"
They met the charge head-on.
The size difference was ugly.
The lead American didn't bother with technique. He hit them like tackling dummies, lifted them, and threw them. Both boys left the field in a tangle of limbs and landed in the stands.
The announcer's voice jumped.
"Two down! They've been flung out to the stands!"
A Class's offense line kept coming.
On the flank, Akira stopped.
The six exchange students stopped with him.
For a moment, nobody moved. It was a quiet little confrontation in the middle of a roaring field.
Akira tilted his head.
"So… you guys watched Kung Fu Panda?"
None of them answered.
They spread out instead, trying to close a circle around him.
Tiger moved first.
It was a straight-line lunge, both hands raking toward Akira's face. Fast. Heavy. Honest.
Akira didn't block.
He stepped into the charge on his good right foot and turned his shoulder. His fractured left leg stayed planted just long enough to keep him from folding.
Tiger's strike tore past empty air. His own momentum carried him into Snake, who had been driving a spear-hand toward Akira's side from the opposite direction.
Fist met ribs.
Snake folded with a surprised sound. Tiger stumbled over him.
Monkey came in next, launching a high kick from the edge of the circle.
Akira caught the ankle, turned it in a small circle, and sent the whole body onward.
Elbow met Crane's temple.
Crane's perfect balance vanished. Both of them hit the dirt in a heap of limbs and pride.
Mantis tried to recover the rhythm with short, snapping strikes. Akira caught the wrist, dropped his weight, and let the boy's own step betray him. A low sweep and a turn of the hip sent Mantis flying into Dragon, who had just started his charge.
They went down together.
For one stunned second, all six of them were on the ground.
Akira shifted his weight carefully, favoring his injured leg as he settled back into a stance.
"Gentlemen. Just a reminder. Don't rush in at the start of a fight. If your opponent is more skilled, it won't end well."
They started getting up.
This time, they didn't all rush in at once.
---
At the pole, Class E had found their own answer.
The remaining offense team slammed into the tower—and met the pole itself.
Class E leaned it, then dropped it across the attackers as they overcommitted. Bodies went down. The pole pinned them there.
The stands erupted.
Even the announcer sounded betrayed.
"What happened?! They're playing dirty!"
Terasaka's voice carried anyway.
"There is no rule that says we can't use the pole as a weapon!"
On the Class E sideline, even their own classmates were staring.
Karasuma's eyes, though, were on the flank.
Akira had just turned another incoming strike past his shoulder. The boy who threw it collided with a teammate instead.
"…Is that Bartitsu?"
Koro-sensei tapped his chin.
"I think it is."
Kayano leaned in.
"Sensei, what is Bartitsu?"
"An old mixed martial art from the Victorian era, combining elements of pugilism, jujitsu, cane fighting, and French kickboxing," Koro-sensei said. "Mostly for gentlemen in urban situations. Nobody uses it much nowadays. It's considered niche."
Nakamura frowned.
"If it's like that, why did Akira learn it?"
Erika didn't look away from the field.
"Because it's what Sherlock Holmes uses. He said he wanted to be a gentleman."
The sideline reached the same conclusion at once.
Of course he did.
Kurahashi squinted.
"Wait. Why isn't he attacking them?"
Fuwa answered first.
"Probably because of the referee. If Akira makes a single mistake, that guy will punish him. So he's holding back."
Kurahashi winced.
"So they can attack, but he can't?"
Erika's voice was quiet.
"Because they know the referee—and they know who's paying his salary."
On the main field, the shape of the match changed again.
Asano lifted a hand.
Two side teams broke off to flank E Class's pole.
At the same time, Isogai dropped from the tower with a small strike group and charged straight up the middle toward A Class's pole.
Class E's offense team crossed the center.
The two side teams did not go for E Class's pole.
They turned inward instead, cutting off the retreat path from behind and boxing Isogai's group in the middle of the field.
On the flank, the six exchange students had learned from the first exchange.
They no longer charged together. They came one after another. Tiger drove in with heavy combinations. Monkey used the space to flip and change height. Mantis snapped at the gaps between those attacks, looking for the injured leg.
Akira could have ended it quickly in a normal fight.
This was not a normal fight.
Every time he wanted to plant his left foot, the hairline crack reminded him it was there. He kept his weight on the right and let their attacks pass him, collide, and miss.
Then he saw it.
Class E's offense team was boxed in.
Monkey chose that exact second to come from behind, launching into a high jump kick.
Akira moved his head.
The kick cut through empty air. As the boy flew past, Akira caught him around the waist, turned with the jump instead of against it, and used the whole body like a spinning staff. Shoulders, hips, and heels swept the circle in one smooth arc.
The others went down.
Akira let go.
Monkey hit the dirt.
Akira smiled.
"What? I didn't hit you directly."
On the main field, E Class's offense team broke toward the stands. A Class followed them straight into the crowd.
The announcer's voice cracked.
"E Class has begun fleeing to the stands! The whole place is in a panic!"
Karma stood on a chair above the chaos, perfectly calm.
"There are no rules about boundaries. Come on. This whole school is a battlefield."
While A Class chased the noise, Yoshida and Muramatsu came back from the side they had been thrown into. They hit A Class's pole tower at a dead run and latched on.
Isogai saw the opening from the stands.
"Everyone! Operation Sonic!"
The group that had been causing panic turned as one and rushed the pole. The A Class students who had followed them were left staring at empty space.
Asano's expression sharpened.
"Special team. Plan S."
Three of the Shaolin six broke off, trying to run back to the pole. The other three stayed on Akira.
Akira did not let them leave.
He pushed off his good leg, backflipped, and landed on that same foot in front of the three.
"Sorry. But you have to keep me company. At least until I run out of strength."
They came at him harder after that.
All of them went for the injured leg.
On the sideline, Erika crushed a metal flask in one hand. The sound made everyone near her flinch.
"Erika-san, please calm down," Koro-sensei said.
Erika did not answer.
She just kept watching the field, the ruined flask still in her grip.
Akira kept moving.
A Crane kick finally clipped the fractured tibia. Pain shot up the bone. His step stuttered. Tiger was already coming in behind it.
Akira turned late and let Crane's follow-through catch Tiger's ankle instead. As Tiger lost his balance, Akira took Snake's incoming punch and pulled it through.
Skull met skull.
Both boys dropped.
Mantis lunged into the gap. Akira sidestepped and let the strike carry him into Crane, who was still trying to stand. They went down together.
Dragon came last, dropping a heavy kick from above.
Akira caught the motion, turned with it, and dumped him onto Monkey just as Monkey left the ground for another jump kick. Both of them landed on Crane and Mantis.
For a moment, the six of them struggled to rise.
They did not get the chance to matter.
On the other side of the field, Class E had left only two on defense. Everyone else piled onto A Class's pole.
Itona hit the top with Isogai's help. His weight and strength did the rest.
The pole came down.
For one second, nobody made a sound.
Then the announcer found his voice.
"E Class is… E Class is… E Class won!"
The Class E side exploded.
"Yeahhhhhh!"
They barely had time to start celebrating.
Erika was already on the field.
She hooked an arm under Akira's back, another under his knees, and lifted him into a forceful princess carry in front of the entire crowd.
Akira's voice went up an octave.
"Wait, Erika! I am perfectly fineeee—!"
"Shut up and come with me."
She turned toward the medical tent and walked off without slowing down.