Location: Musutafu, Japan – U.A. Academy (Second-Year Stadium)
The U.A. Sports Festival ran three separate tournaments on the exact same day.
The media always pointed their cameras at the first-year stadium to catch the new faces. The veteran pro heroes sitting in the VIP boxes focused all their attention on second years and or third years.
...
The second-year stadium.
Up in the stands, the bleachers were completely packed.
Support Course students from Class 2-H leaned over the metal railings. They argued over equipment diagnostics, tapping on their tablets to track whose support gear would break first during the first exam.
A few rows down, the Business Course students were already calculating betting odds. They watched the entrance tunnels, tracking the brand value of the hero course kids based on crowd reactions.
Both of these departments already knew the results. Hero departments is always the focus on these festival. They are here just to make up the numbers.
Deep underneath the stadium seats, Class 2-A waited in the concrete prep room.
The tension inside was heavy.
Step. Step.
Kenji Daido paced back and forth across the floor. He wore his blue U.A. gym uniform. He kept hitting his metallic fists together, pacing in quick, tight circles.
"Calm down, Daido," Yuyu Haya said, leaning against the lockers and joked. "Haha.. The sports networks already put you as the favorite to win again. You took first place last year."
"The media didn't know okay," Daido snapped back quickly. He wiped sweat off his forehead. "They didn't see what happened to these guys for the past year."
Reiko Minami sat on a bench and adjusted her collar. "You're stressing yourself out over nothing."
Daido stopped pacing and pointed across the room.
"I just need to fight for myself better," Daido muttered, keeping his voice low.
In the corner of the room, Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado sat on the floor, stretching their legs.
They were completely relaxed.
ROAR.
A loud cheer vibrated down through the concrete ceiling from the stadium outside.
Tamaki flinched. His hands gripped the fabric of his pants.
He stared at the floor, feeling the familiar spike of social anxiety hitting his chest.
HUFF-PUFF.
He took a deep breath.
Tamaki forced his shoulders back. He lifted his chin.
Daido happened to look over. He caught Tamaki's little quirk.
"This guy already doing it again." Daido immediately complained.
Nejire giggled, floating two inches off the floor. "Your serious face works, Tamaki."
"I just want to go home," Tamaki mumbled quietly.
Mirio laughed out loud. He stood up and patted Tamaki on the back.
"Hehe... We can't go home yet," Mirio smiled brightly. He looked at his two friends. "Sir Nighteye is watching from the Tokyo agency right now."
"And Mr. Arisaka is watching from Texas according to to Bubble Girl," Nejire added, stretching her arms above her head.
Mirio nodded. "Exactly. Mr. Arisaka wrote our quirk development plans. Sir Nighteye spent a whole week fixing our bad habits."
Mirio clenched his fist and held it out.
"Today is the day we clear our names," Mirio told them, his voice full of resolve. "We show the whole country exactly what those plans turned us into."
"OOOHHHHH!"
Tamaki stood up. He bumped his fist against Mirio's. Nejire floated down and tapped her fist against theirs.
The overhead speakers in the room clicked on.
"EVERYONE!" a U.A. staff member yelled through the intercom. "TO THE FIELD!"
THUD.
The heavy metal doors groaned and slid open.
Bright morning sunlight flooded the dark hallway.
Out in the stadium, Hound Dog stood on a raised platform holding a microphone.
"LISTEN UP!" Hound Dog barked, his voice echoing across the fifty thousand fans in the stands. "THESE KIDS HAVE REAL BATTLE EXPERIENCE! WELCOME THE HERO COURSE TO THE FIELD!"
Ectoplasm stood down on the dirt track. He deployed four clones to stand around the perimeter, acting as strict referees to stop any lethal blows today.
Class 2-A walked out of the tunnel.
The crowd erupted.
"DAIDO! DAIDO!" the front rows chanted loudly.
Daido forced a smile and waved at the crowd.
The stadium cameras panned across the students, flashing their faces onto the massive jumbotron above the bleachers.
The camera stopped on Mirio and Tamaki.
The deafening cheers suddenly died down. A ripple of whispers spread through the stands. A few people in the upper decks pointed and laughed.
"Hey, isn't that the kid who got naked last year?" a man in the crowd yelled loudly.
"And the guy who threw up on the grass!" a woman added, laughing.
The public only remembered the blooper reel.
They didn't know anything about the summer camp or the Nighteye internship.
Mirio didn't look down. He kept his massive, confident smile locked on his face.
Tamaki just stared straight ahead, keeping his boardroom composure flawless.
Nejire waved happily at the camera.
They lined up on the dirt track, waiting for Hound Dog to announce the first game.
...
Location: Texas – Cow Lady Agency
Time: Night
CLINK.
CHATTER.
The agency breakroom was packed.
Eighteen people crowded around the center tables. Pam, Koichi, Mark, Dave, and the rest of the mechanics were celebrating the official launch of the Cow Lady new brand in Texas.
Kaito walked through the double doors carrying two huge aluminum trays.
He set them down heavily on the table. The smell of smoked oak and barbecue sauce filled the room.
The trays were piled high with thick slices of smoked brisket, jalapeño sausages, and heavy pork ribs.
"Grab a plate," Kaito said. "Before Dave and Koichi finishes all the brisket."
"I'm already in line!" Dave yelled from the back of the room, holding a paper plate and a plastic fork.
"Hey!" Koichi.
The crew crowded around the food, loading their plates with meat, potato salad, and thick slices of white bread.
On the wall-mounted flat-screen television, the U.S. sports network broadcasted the global live stream of the U.A. Sports Festival.
The time zone difference meant it was dinner time in Texas, but the morning sun was just rising over the stadium in Japan.
Pam sat down at the table and took a bite of a rib. She pointed a sticky finger at the television screen.
"Why are we watching a high school track meet?" Pam asked.
Kaito grabbed a smoked sausage link and sat down next to Koichi.
"I want to see how my students are doing," Kaito answered casually.
Mark stopped pouring his sweet tea. He looked over. "Students?"
Koichi smiled and kept eating his potato salad. He already knew.
"I wrote Quirk Development Plans for three interns at Sir Nighteye's agency last year," Kaito explained, taking a bite of his food.
"..."
The entire breakroom went completely quiet.
The mechanics actually stopped chewing. Dave stared at Kaito with a piece of white bread halfway to his mouth.
Everyone in the hero industry knew exactly what a custom development plan from the Golden Manager meant.
It was an elite consulting package. Agencies paid millions of dollars for Kaito to map out blind spots, stamina limits, and hidden quirk vectors.
"You gave custom blueprints to high school kids?" Dave asked, his voice shaking a little. "Are you out of your mind? You just handed those out? For free?"
"They had a lot of potential," Kaito shrugged. "They just needed a push."
'So lucky....' Everyone thought.
The television volume suddenly spiked.
[LISTEN UP, MAGGOTS!]Hound Dog's voice blasted through the TV speakers. [THE FIRST EVENT IS THE HELLSCAPE MARATHON! FIVE KILOMETERS OF ROUGH TERRAIN!]
The camera panned over a massive dirt track leading out of the stadium and into a deep, artificial canyon.
[WE PACKED THIS TRACK WITH EVERYTHING!] Hound Dog barked. [MINEFIELDS! TRENCHES! AND A FULL ARMY OF VILLAIN BOTS! FROM THE FAST TYPE-FOUR HUNTERS ALL THE WAY DOWN TO THE MASSIVE TYPE-ZERO GIANTS! GET TO THE FINISH LINE OR GET CRUSHED!]
BUZZ.
The starting gates slammed open.
Hundreds of students from the Hero, Support, and Business departments rushed the narrow tunnel all at once.
It was a massive race.
Kenji Daido turned his skin into silver metal. He shoved his way to the front, trying to push through the struggling crowd with sheer physical force.
But.
The camera quickly zoomed in on the tunnel exit.
[WHAT IS HAPPENING?!] Hound Dog yelled.
Nejire Hado didn't run through the crowd. She dropped into a low, wide stance. She brought the heels of her hands together, leaving a tiny diamond gap between her fingers.
A compressed blue kinetic laser shot straight down into the dirt.
The propulsion launched her fifty feet into the air. She flew straight over the entire packed tunnel in a blur of blue light, completely clearing the bottleneck in one second.
Tamaki Amajiki jumped out of the tunnel right after her.
He chewed quickly. Thick green grasshopper legs formed over his calves. Hard white crab shell armor layered perfectly over his skin. He bent his knees and jumped.
He cleared thirty meters in a single bound, landing right on top of a Type-4 speed robot. He used the robot's metal head as a springboard, crushing it instantly as he jumped again.
Mirio Togata ignored the tunnel entirely.
He phased straight through the solid concrete wall of the stadium. He dropped underground, angled his left shoulder down, braced his knees, and let the earth's physics violently reject him.
He shot out of the dirt like a human bullet. He bypassed the entire crowd and landed firmly in the lead.
The live Japanese audience on the TV broadcast went dead silent.
Ten seconds passed.
Then, the crowd exploded.
[WAAAAAHHH!]
[ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!] Hound Dog screamed into his microphone, the audio peaking wildly. [THREE STUDENTS JUST BLITZED THE FIRST KILOMETER IN TEN SECONDS! THEY ARE TEARING THE BOTS APART! THE REST OF THE PACK IS STILL STUCK AT THE STARTING LINE!]
The camera cut to a shot of a massive Type-0 robot trying to punch Mirio.
Mirio flashed a massive smile, phased right through the giant metal fist, and launched himself off the robot's arm to keep moving forward.
Back in the Texas breakroom, Pam dropped her rib bone onto her paper plate.
She stared at the TV.
"Those are your three kids," Pam stated.
Kaito took a drink of water and nodded.
Pam reached into her pocket. She slapped a twenty-dollar bill flat onto the table.
"Betting pool starts right now," Pam announced loudly, looking around the room. "Who takes first place in the one-on-one finals today?"
Dave threw his own twenty down immediately. "I'm taking the bug guy. Did you see that armor layering? He just crushed a Type-4 bot like a soda can."
"No way, I want the flying girl," Mark argued, pulling out his wallet. "She just cleared that wall like a rocket. She has the high ground."
Koichi joined and laughed and tossed a twenty onto the pile. "I'll take the blonde guy. Trust me."
The entire agency crowded around the table, shouting out bets and throwing cash down.
The TV showed the three students completely destroying the rest of the marathon course, leaving the other departments choking on their dust.
Kaito just smiled, eating his Texas BBQ and watching the chaotic room argue over his students.
...
Location: Aldera Junior High
TAP. SWIPE.
In the back row of the classroom, Izuku Midoriya kept his head down. The history teacher wrote dates on the chalkboard, completely ignoring the students.
Izuku held his smartphone flat under his wooden desk. The screen brightness was turned all the way down.
He swiped his thumb across the glass. The national broadcast app had three main channels running at the same time.
He tapped the first-year stream, watched a quick clip of a student throwing ice, and swiped back. He checked the third-year stream.
Then, he tapped the second-year broadcast and left it there.
[SECOND EVENT!]
Hound Dog's voice blasted through the phone speaker.
"Oh no." Izuku quickly covered the bottom of his phone with his palm to muffle the audio.
[URBAN CAPTURE THE FLAG! TEAMS OF THREE!] Hound Dog barked. [EACH SQUAD GETS A FLAG! STEAL THE ENEMY FLAG TO ADVANCE TO THE ONE-ON-ONE FINALS! GET TO THE STARTING ZONES!]
The camera on the broadcast switched to an overhead view of a massive concrete city replica built right into the stadium floor.
The remaining students from Class 2-A, Class 2-B, and a few Support Course kids stood in the center of the fake street.
The broadcast microphone panned across the crowd. It picked up the chatter from the Class 2-B students standing a few feet away from the Mirio and the others.
[Did you see the marathon results?] a tall 2-B student muttered to his teammate. [There's no way that's real. The naked guy from last year took first place?]
[And the kid who puked on the grass took second,] his teammate scoffed, crossing his arms. [They probably found a shortcut. It's a fluke.]
The camera zoomed in on Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire. They stood in a small circle.
[All right,] Mirio grinned brightly. [If the three of us stay on the same team, we take the enemy flag in about ten seconds. That ruins the game for everyone else.]
[Yeah, that's boring,] Nejire smiled, floating a few inches off the pavement. [Let's split up!]
[I'll take the left block,] Tamaki added quietly, pulling his dark hood up over his head.
The 2-B students overheard them. Their faces turned red with anger.
[Hey!] the tall 2-B student yelled, pointing at Mirio. [Are you underestimating us?! You guys were the worst students in the school last year!]
Mirio just looked at him and flashed a massive, confident smile.
[BUZZ!]
The stadium alarm blared.
Izuku watched his screen closely. The broadcast split into a picture-in-picture mode to show three different matches at the same time.
He tapped Mirio's feed to make it full screen.
Mirio was teamed up with two random Class 2-A students. They stood across the street from a full Class 2-B squad.
The 2-B students charged forward, activating their quirks.
Mirio didn't run forward. He dropped straight down into the concrete street.
He sank underground. He placed his physical mass against the dirt, angled his shoulder, and deactivated his quirk. The solid earth violently rejected his body.
[POP.]
Mirio shot out of the concrete directly behind the charging 2-B squad. He grabbed the blue flag right off the leader's back.
The 2-B students stopped running. They looked around, completely confused.
[MATCH OVER!] Hound Dog screamed through the speakers. [TOGATA'S TEAM WINS IN FOUR SECONDS!]
Izuku's eyes went wide. He swiped his screen to the left, opening Tamaki's live feed.
Tamaki stood in a narrow concrete alleyway. He was fighting a team of three Support Course students. The support kids held heavy, metallic stun rifles.
Tamaki chewed a handful of snack mix from his belt pouch.
Thick, powerful grasshopper legs formed over his calves.
He didn't stop there. He forced a hard, white crab shell to grow directly over the insect muscles, layering the natural armor.
He jumped backward and blended perfectly into the grey concrete wall using chameleon camouflage.
[There!] a support student yelled, pointing his rifle.
[ZAP.]
A heavy electrical blast hit the wall. It struck Tamaki right in the leg.
The electricity crackled over the white crab shell. Tamaki didn't even flinch. The hard shell absorbed the impact entirely.
Tamaki jumped off the wall, crossed the alley in a blur of speed, and delivered a heavy, sweeping kick that knocked all three support students completely out of bounds.
[AMAJIKI SECURES THE FLAG! HE CLEARS HIS BRACKET!] Hound Dog yelled.
Izuku swiped the screen one more time. He pulled up Nejire's feed.
Nejire was teamed up with Yuyu Haya. They stood at a dead-end street, facing three hero course students charging right at them.
Nejire didn't fly into the air.
She dropped into a low, wide stance. She planted her boots into the asphalt. She brought the heels of her hands together and interlocked her fingers, leaving a tiny diamond gap in the center.
[BZZZT-PEW!]
A compressed, hyper-fast kinetic laser ripped through the air.
[CRACK.]
The laser slammed into the street exactly one inch in front of the charging enemy team. The impact blew a massive, smoking crater into the asphalt.
The three opposing students froze instantly. They looked at the smoking hole, looked back at Nejire, and immediately raised both their hands in the air.
[THEY SURRENDER!] Hound Dog barked loudly. [HADO'S TEAM ADVANCES TO THE FINALS BY FORFEIT!]
[WAAAAAHHH!]
The live Japanese audience screamed so loud the audio on Izuku's phone started turning to static.
CLICK.
Izuku pressed the power button on the side of his phone. The screen went black.
He slid the phone into his pocket and grabbed his pencil. He gripped the yellow wood tight, staring down at his blank notebook paper.
The gap was massive.
...
Location: Musutafu, Japan – U.A. Academy (Second-Year Stadium)
Time: Afternoon
CLANG.
The stadium crew locked the heavy steel plates of the elevated combat ring into place.
Ectoplasm stood at the edge of the platform. He crossed his arms and looked at the remaining students standing on the grass.
"Listen up!" Hound Dog yelled into the stadium microphone, his voice echoing over the heavy speakers. "THE ONE-ON-ONE TOURNAMENT STARTS NOW! WIN BY RING-OUT, KNOCKOUT, OR SURRENDER!"
The early rounds moved extremely fast.
The crowd of fifty thousand people expected long, drawn-out fights. They got a complete sweep.
A Class 2-B student with a Tungsten Hair quirk stepped up against Nejire. He shot dozens of heavy metal needles across the ring. Nejire dropped into a wide stance, interlocked her fingers, and fired a compressed kinetic laser.
CRACK.
The laser shattered the metal needles in mid-air and blew the student completely off the platform.
Mirio faced a student with a Friction Nullification quirk. The student touched the concrete, making the entire surface as slippery as wet ice. Mirio sank underground, used the earth's repulsion to launch himself upward, grabbed the student by the collar, and casually tossed him out of bounds.
Tamaki fought a Support Course student holding a heavy gravity-trap gadget. Tamaki chewed a piece of insect mix, sprouted black chitinous wings, flew directly over the gravity field, and kicked the student in the chest to secure the ring-out.
The pro heroes sitting in the VIP boxes furiously scribbled notes on their clipboards. The top three students were completely untouchable.
"FIRST SEMIFINAL MATCH!" Hound Dog roared. "KENJI DAIDO VERSUS TAMAKI AMAJIKI!"
Daido walked up the concrete steps. He breathed heavily. Sweat dripped down his forehead.
He won the tournament last year. The crowd cheered his name loudly.
Daido ignored the crowd entirely. He remembered the summer camp and every practical hero exam in the past months. The person infront of him was strong.
Tamaki walked up the opposite steps. He kept his hands in his pockets. He stared directly at Daido, maintaining a serious, unblinking glare.
"BEGIN!" Ectoplasm shouted, dropping his hand.
Daido activated his Kinetic Plating. Thick silver metal covered his skin. He charged forward, dragging his heavy boots across the concrete, and threw a massive right hook aimed straight at Tamaki's head.
Tamaki chewed a small piece of his snack mix.
Thick green grasshopper legs formed over his calves. A single, hardened white crab shell grew over his left forearm.
SMACK.
Tamaki raised his left arm. The heavy silver fist slammed into the crab shell. The shell held perfectly.
Using the deflected momentum, Tamaki dropped low to the ground.
He sprouted a razor-sharp mantis sickle from his right wrist. He spun on his heel and kicked forward, driving the flat side of the sickle directly into the back of Daido's right knee joint.
Daido's metal armor was the thinnest at the joints to allow physical movement.
CRUNCH.
"Ugh!" Daido grunted loudly.
His right leg buckled. He lost his balance and stumbled forward.
Tamaki planted his hands on the concrete, shifted his weight, and delivered a heavy double-kick straight into Daido's chest plate.
SKRRRT.
Daido slid backward across the ring. He tried to dig his fingers into the concrete to stop himself.
The momentum carried him over the white boundary line.
THUD.
Daido landed in the dirt outside the ring.
"Daido is out of bounds!" Ectoplasm announced, pointing his hand toward Tamaki. "Amajiki advances!"
The stadium went completely crazy.
"TEN SECONDS!" Hound Dog screamed. "AMAJIKI TAKES DOWN THE DEFENDING CHAMPION WITH TWO HITS!"
"Damn!" Daido sat in the dirt. He hit the ground with his metal fist.
'How did they changed that much?' He realized he never even stood a chance against this guy. Not now and not in the future.
...
"SECOND SEMIFINAL MATCH!" Hound Dog announced a few minutes later. "MIRIO TOGATA VERSUS NEJIRE HADO!"
Mirio and Nejire walked to the center of the ring. They smiled at each other.
"Don't hold back, Nejire," Mirio said, stretching his arms over his head.
"I'm going all out," Nejire promised, bouncing on her toes.
"BEGIN!"
WHOOSH.
Nejire spun the spiral energy directly inside her boots. She hovered three feet off the ground, strafing sideways across the ring at high speed.
She dropped into her diamond stance and aimed her hands.
BZZZT-PEW!
A compressed kinetic laser ripped through the air.
Mirio phased his chest. The laser passed completely through him.
BOOM.
The beam blew a deep crater into the concrete wall behind him.
Mirio dropped into the floor. He sank into the solid foundation of the arena.
Nejire flew higher. She aimed her hands down, bombarding the surface of the ring with rapid, pinpoint lasers to predict his exit path.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
The concrete shattered into hundreds of pieces. Dust kicked up into the air.
Mirio placed his mass underground. He angled his legs and let the earth repel him.
POP.
He shot out of the ground directly behind Nejire.
Nejire spun around in mid-air and fired another blast.
Mirio phased through the beam. He solidified his hands the second he passed her guard. He placed his palms flat against her shoulders and shoved hard.
Nejire lost her aerial balance. She tumbled backward, falling out of the sky and landing on the dirt outside the white line.
"Hado is out of bounds!" Ectoplasm called out. "Togata wins!"
HUFF-PUFF.
Mirio stood on the broken concrete, breathing heavily. Sweat rolled down his neck. The high-speed evasions took a massive toll on his stamina.
"Aah, I got outplayed." Nejire sat up in the dirt and laughed, giving him a bright thumbs-up.
"WE HAVE OUR FINAL MATCH!" Hound Dog roared, hyping up the crowd as the stadium shook with applause. "MIRIO TOGATA VERSUS TAMAKI AMAJIKI! THE ULTIMATE SHOWDOWN BEGINS AFTER A TEN-MINUTE BREAK!"
Mirio looked across the stadium. Tamaki stood near the tunnel entrance, glaring at the broken ring.
The two friends locked eyes, ready for the final fight.
...
BEEP. BEEP.
The ten-minute break ended.
Mirio and Tamaki stood on the broken concrete ring.
Hound Dog grabbed his microphone.
"THE FINAL MATCH!" Hound Dog yelled. "MIRIO TOGATA VERSUS TAMAKI AMAJIKI!"
Mirio stretched his arms. He stared right at the tactical belt strapped around Tamaki's waist.
"If I let you eat that, you power up," Mirio laughed. "I am taking that belt first."
Tamaki kept his face completely blank.
"Try it," Tamaki replied quietly.
"BEGIN!" Ectoplasm shouted.
FWOOSH.
Mirio dropped into the concrete.
He popped up directly in front of Tamaki and threw a fast kick aimed right at the belt canisters.
Tamaki jammed his right hand into his pouch, grabbed a huge handful of dried insects, crab meat, and octopus tentacle, and shoved the entire mix into his mouth.
CRUNCH.
His body expanded. Heavy black rhino-beetle armor locked over his chest.
Thick green grasshopper muscles wrapped around his legs. Hard white crab shell plates layered over his shoulders.
Eight thick, purple octopus tentacles burst out from his back.
He grew twice his normal size.
SWISH.
Tamaki whipped all eight tentacles forward at the exact same time. They covered every single angle of the ring.
"Haha..." Mirio didn't back away. He charged straight into the tentacles.
SWOOSH.
A purple tentacle whipped right at his face. Mirio phased his head.
But.
The tentacle passed right through his eyes and the back of his skull. Another tentacle slashed at his ribs. Mirio phased his torso.
He kept his fists completely solid.
He slipped through the barrage of tentacles, closed the distance, and threw a heavy right hook.
CRACK. BAAM.
Mirio's solid fist slammed into the center of Tamaki's crab-shell armor.
"Hmm!" Tamaki tanked the hit.
He planted his grasshopper legs, spun his hips, and threw a heavy punch reinforced with a mantis blade.
Mirio dropped underground to avoid the blade. The strike hit the floor.
BOOM. CRACK.
The concrete shattered. Dust kicked up into the air.
Up in the stands, Class 2-A watched the fight.
Kenji Daido leaned against the metal railing. He stared at the dust cloud.
"I take it back," Daido muttered, his eyes wide.
"Take what back?" Goro asked, gripping the railing.
Daido answered. "We don't even belong in the same tournament as these two."
A few rows down, the pro heroes stopped writing on their clipboards. They just watched.
Down in the ring, the fight dragged on.
Ten minutes passed.
The concrete platform turned into a deep crater of crushed rocks and dirt. Both students breathed heavily.
Blood dripped from Mirio's nose. Tamaki's crab shell armor was cracked in three different places.
They stared at each other from across the crater.
HUFF-PUFF.
They bent their knees at the exact same time. They launched forward for one final strike.
"TAMAKI!"
"MIRIO!"
Mirio used his last drop of stamina. He dropped underground, bounced off the bedrock, and shot upward. He threw a heavy uppercut.
Tamaki used his grasshopper legs to launch himself forward. He pulled his right arm back, layering an extra thick clam shell over his knuckles.
They collided in the center of the ring.
BAAAM. BOOM. CRACK.
Mirio punched Tamaki squarely in the jaw.
Tamaki punched Mirio directly in the chest.
A heavy shockwave blew the remaining dust out of the crater.
Both students froze mid-motion. Their eyes rolled back into their heads.
THUD.
They collapsed onto the broken rocks at the exact same time.
They didn't move.
Ectoplasm jumped down into the crater. He pulled out a stopwatch.
"Both fighters are down!" Ectoplasm announced. "Starting the count!"
"ONE!"
"TWO!"
"....." The crowd went dead silent.
"THREE!"
"FOUR!"
Tamaki laid flat on his back. His insect armor slowly peeled away, reverting back to normal human skin. He was completely drained.
"FIVE!"
"SIX!"
"SEVEN!"
Mirio's fingers twitched against the rocks.
"EIGHT!"
Mirio gritted his teeth. He pressed his palms flat against the dirt. His arms shook violently. He pushed his chest off the ground.
"NINE!"
"OOOHH!" Mirio forced his legs underneath him. He stumbled, caught his balance, and stood completely upright.
He swayed on his feet and raised his right fist into the air and give a big smile.
"TEN!" Ectoplasm yelled, swinging his arm down. "DOUBLE KNOCKOUT! TOGATA RETURNED TO HIS FEET! MIRIO TOGATA WINS THE TOURNAMENT!"
WAAAAAAAHHH!
Fifty thousand people jumped out of their seats and screamed.
...
The stadium crew cleared the broken rocks away. They rolled a large metal podium onto the grass.
Nejire stood on the third-place step. Tamaki stood on the second-place step. Mirio stood on the highest step in the center.
They all had bandages on their arms and faces.
THUD.
All Might dropped out of the sky. He landed heavily on the grass in front of the podium. He wore his red, white, and blue Silver Age suit.
"I AM HERE!" All Might boomed into the microphone. He laughed loudly and scratched the back of his head. "AND I AM VERY LATE!"
The crowd cheered loudly.
"I apologize to the audience!" All Might announced, grabbing a tray of medals from a nearby robot. "The First-Year and Third-Year sports festivals ended thirty minutes ago! I just finished handing out their medals! Your tournament ran incredibly long!"
The audience laughed and clapped.
All Might walked up to the podium. He picked up the bronze medal.
He placed it around Nejire's neck.
"You have amazing control over your output, young Hado," All Might smiled. "Keep practicing that stance."
"I will!" Nejire cheered brightly.
All Might picked up the silver medal. He placed it around Tamaki's neck.
"You showed unbreakable composure today, young Amajiki," All Might told him, placing a heavy hand on Tamaki's shoulder. "You fought like a seasoned veteran."
Tamaki looked at his boots and gave a small, quiet nod. "Thank you, Sir."
All Might picked up the gold medal. He stepped up to the center block and placed it around Mirio's neck.
All Might pulled Mirio into a tight hug. He leaned in close.
"You did it, young Togata," All Might whispered so the microphones wouldn't catch it. "Mirai and Kaito turned you three into the absolute future of this industry. I am very proud of you."
Mirio hugged him back.
"Thank you, All Might," Mirio smiled.
All Might stepped back. He pointed at the three students on the podium.
"GIVE IT UP FOR YOUR WINNERS!" All Might roared to the crowd.
The stadium exploded with cheers again. Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire held their medals up to the sky.
...
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(9 Advanced Chapters)