Bakugo Katsuki wore the grin of someone who had finally found the fight he wanted. He stepped onto the track beside Lock, lowering himself into a sprinter's stance.
His Quirk—Explosion, ignited through nitroglycerin-like sweat from his palms—was at a disadvantage in the cold. Less sweat meant less power.
So Bakugo kept rubbing his palms furiously, building heat, forcing sweat out.
Lock watched the little blackened clumps of dried sweat being flicked away and tried not to think about how unsanitary that was.
Aizawa Shōta lifted a hand, voice sharp despite his exhaustion:
"On your marks… get ready— GO!"
The moment the word left his mouth—
BOOM!
Bakugo blasted forward first, palms detonating behind him in rapid bursts that hurled him like a rocket down the track.
Lock did not move.
He stood at the starting line, murmuring softly under his breath.
"What's Lock doing?"
"Did he… not react?"
"No way—that's impossible."
Only Jiro realized what Lock was doing.
He was chanting.
He was preparing magic at full power.
"Godspeed."
"Wings of the Gale."
Two glowing magic circles flared beneath his feet.
And then—
Lock bent forward—
BOOOOOM!!!
A windstorm exploded outward.
The blast was so violent that several students stumbled and fell on their backsides.
The starting line cracked—
literally cracked—
a crater forming beneath where Lock had stood.
"What—WHAT KIND OF SPEED IS THAT?!"
In the fraction of a heartbeat it took for someone to shout, Lock had already become a streak of white light tearing down the lane.
He wasn't just fast.
He wasn't even simply beyond human.
He moved like a cannon shell.
Like lightning skipping across the earth.
Aizawa's eyes widened for the first time that day, pupils dilating in shock.
The timer beeped.
"1.28 seconds."
A breathless silence fell.
"Oh my god…"
"You're joking—YOU HAVE TO BE JOKING!"
"HOW is that even POSSIBLE?!"
Lock had waited before starting.
If he had launched the instant the signal sounded, he would've broken the one-second.
Students stared at the track as if it were cursed.
Even many Pro Heroes couldn't reach those numbers.
Lock decelerated far past the finish line, the force of his acceleration too great to stop on a dime. Only when he'd run another hundred meters did he finally slow.
A moment later:
"Bakugo Katsuki — 4.13 seconds!"
Bakugo slammed his fists into the ground.
"Damn it—DAMN IT!!"
He hadn't expected to win.
But losing by that margin—
It stung deeper than any explosion.
Still—
Bakugo stood up, eyes burning with rage, shame, and iron determination.
No collapse.
No despair.
He swallowed everything, burying it deep in a furnace that only burned hotter.
Lock watched him return to the group.
Yes.
This was the Bakugo he anticipated.
This was one of the people he meant earlier when he told Midoriya, "I want you all to grow until you can make things interesting."
"You're ridiculous," Jiro muttered, smacking Lock lightly on the arm.
She remembered clearly how his speed had blown her skirt up when he tested Mei's boots at home.
Seeing it so clearly now only deepened the shock.
Soon, Mina Ashido, Tsuyu Asui, and Momo Yaoyorozu crowded around Lock, peppering him with questions.
Meanwhile—
Minoru Mineta stood off to the side, tugging on his shirt and gnashing his teeth.
"Why does he get surrounded by all the cute girls?! Is it because of his grades? His face? His speed? EVERYTHING?!"
The little grape was one envious thought away from combusting.
Aizawa clapped to pull attention back.
"Next group— Iida Tenya and Asui Tsuyu."
Bang!
Iida streaked forward, engines roaring on his calves. Tsuyu hopped forward in powerful frog-like bounds.
"Iida — 3.04 seconds."
"Asui — 5.58 seconds."
Aizawa nodded, evaluating their Quirk control.
"Next: Uraraka Ochaco and Ashido Mina."
Gravityless shoes for Ochaco.
Just pure physical fitness for Mina.
"Ochaco — 15.00 seconds."
"Mina — 6.32 seconds."
Jiro Kyoka followed soon after:
"Jiro — 7.52 seconds."
Solidly average.
Then—
Mineta's turn.
He plucked his sticky orbs from his scalp and used their rebound force to slingshot himself forward—
"MINETA — 3.00 seconds!"
Then he immediately face-planted.
He rose with a swollen, purple, utterly unrecognizable face.
Everyone subtly shifted away.
Finally, the last pair stepped up:
Midoriya Izuku
and
Aoyama Yuga.
The entire class watched.
Midoriya swallowed hard.
After Lock's advice, he had a plan.
He still couldn't use One For All without injury, but—
What if I focus the power into the smallest possible area?
Small damage for massive output.
The gun fired.
Aoyama turned backward and fired his naval laser, using recoil to propel himself forward.
Midoriya lifted one foot—
"One For All…!"
CRACK!
His toe stomp blew a crater into the earth.
He rocketed into the air.
This power—
This was All Might's power—
even watered down, even compressed into a single toe.
He spun, adjusting his balance midair, then—
THUD THUD THUD THUD—!
He crashed and rolled across the ground, tumbling painfully, but somehow kept moving.
"Ah— ow— OW—!"
His toes screamed with pain—but they still WORKED.
He could still run.
He pushed himself upright—
and sprinted the remaining meters.
"Midoriya — 12 seconds."
"Aoyama — 5.51 seconds."
Aizawa's eyes sharpened.
He'd seen it.
Midoriya had changed.
He'd found a method.
And Aizawa couldn't help wondering—
What exactly did Lock tell him?
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