The first ten meters were pure chaos.
One hundred eleven students starting simultaneously produced that kind of chaos that isn't disorganization but physics: too many bodies in too little space with too many different speeds trying to occupy the same point at the same time.
Mineta had anticipated it. What he hadn't fully anticipated was the actual scale of it, which in the anime looked manageable from above—but from inside, it wasn't at all.
He used the first meters to find lateral space instead of pushing forward, which was the instinct of most and exactly what turned the center of the course into a bottleneck. The lateral had fewer people, less straight-line efficiency, and more chances to move without anyone blocking him.
The course opened toward the outside of the stadium.
There are the robots, he thought. No one else knows yet.
Bakugo went first.
Not because he had pushed. But because when Bakugo started, people instinctively moved aside, a kind of respect that no one would call respect but that produced the same practical result.
He rounded the first curve of the course and saw them.
The zero-point robots.
Enormous. The kind of enormous that made all accumulated strategy instantly reorganize around a single question: how to pass by something like this without getting crushed.
Bakugo didn't process this as a problem.
He processed it as a variable that changed the optimal movement axis from horizontal to vertical.
He activated the explosions in his palms and shot upward, passing over the robots with that specific ease of someone whose quirk was designed, among other things, to ignore obstacles at ground level.
Present Mic, from the booth:
—BAKUGO KATSUKI OF 1-A FLIES OVER THE FIRST OBSTACLE BEFORE ANYONE ELSE HAS EVEN REACHED IT!
The bulk of the students rounded the first curve about five seconds after Bakugo.
And the robots were there.
The sound changed when the first ones saw them: that collective second of silence that precedes chaos, where a hundred people simultaneously process that what's in front of them isn't what they expected.
Todoroki arrived without changing pace, looked for a second, and extended his right hand toward the ground.
Ice appeared as a ramp rising above the robots, created in the time most students took to decide what to do, and Todoroki ascended it with his usual calm, leaving behind the mass of students still processing the first obstacle.
Midoriya arrived behind and made a different decision.
He saw the robots. He saw the joint at the ankle of the nearest one, the area where the mechanical structure was most complex and therefore most vulnerable to direct interference. He thought for half a second. He activated his quirk in his right index finger—not at maximum, but at the minimum he could control.
The strike was small compared to what the quirk could normally do. But it was aimed exactly where he wanted it.
The robot wobbled.
It didn't fall. But the wobble created a moment of mechanical reorganization that was enough for several students to pass by before it regained position.
Midoriya was already running.
Kirishima reached the robots and looked up at them.
Four times his height. Probably twenty times his mass.
Kirishima fully hardened and tried anyway, pushing against the nearest robot's leg with all his strength.
The robot didn't move an inch.
Kirishima pushed harder.
The robot still didn't move.
—Ah, —said Kirishima, processing this information.
He changed plans. He looked for space between two robots and ran through it, using his hardening to withstand bumps against the metal surfaces while making his way.
It wasn't elegant. It worked.
Mineta rounded the curve and saw them.
And the first thing he thought, even though he knew it beforehand, was that in the anime they were big—but in person, they were something completely different.
Keep moving.
He threw three spheres at the ankle joint of the nearest robot, at the connection point between the leg mechanisms where movement depended on the pieces sliding over each other without extra friction.
With the spheres there, extra friction existed.
The robot didn't stay still. But the leg responded with a delay that created the space Mineta needed to pass.
He passed.
He didn't activate the Resin Protocol. It wasn't needed yet, and spending control on something the spheres could handle alone made no sense.
The spheres are the primary tool. Remember that.
He kept running.
The second obstacle appeared at the one-and-a-half-kilometer mark.
The gorge.
A rope bridge over a considerable void, narrow enough that crossing it required choosing between speed and safety, and long enough for that choice to have consequences for the duration of the crossing.
Mineta arrived with the middle group and evaluated in three seconds.
The bridge was crowded. Crossing on the upper ropes was the freer route.
He threw four spheres onto the side ropes crossing the void. They stuck firmly. He put his foot on the lower rope as a foothold and started moving from sphere to sphere, hands advancing from adhesion point to adhesion point and feet using the upper ropes as support.
It was horizontal climbing with the void below.
It wasn't comfortable. It was faster than waiting for a turn on the main bridge.
He tried to activate the Resin Protocol in his palms to add grip at moments of less secure hold. It appeared on his left forearm instead of the palms. It disappeared. Then it appeared correctly on the right palm for four seconds before migrating to the shoulder.
Forty-five percent control means half the time it doesn't work where I want.
He finished the crossing mainly using the spheres, palms sweaty and arms protesting from holding his body weight horizontally during that time.
On the other side, he breathed.
To his left, Ashido crossed along the side wall of the gorge, acid on her palms creating traction against the rock, with the concentration of someone who has no extra resources to look elsewhere. To his right, Jirou advanced using her headphones inserted in the rock as successive anchors. Slow but steady.
No one spoke to anyone.
It was a competition.
The minefield appeared at the three-kilometer mark.
Mineta saw it from a distance, and he also saw smoke on the horizon where Bakugo had already passed.
Canon was canon: Todoroki had frozen the ground, Midoriya had calculated the pressure waves, Uraraka had gone higher than expected. Everything happening exactly as he remembered, with the extra weight of seeing it in person instead of on a screen.
He arrived at the field and thought about how to cross it.
The spheres adhered to surfaces. Mines were surfaces.
He threw spheres on the ground ahead of him along a diagonal path, creating fixed points. Then he moved from sphere to sphere with minimal contact with the ground between them. It was meticulous. Slower than most solutions used by those ahead. But he calculated the activation probability per step rather than crossing and assuming the consequences.
He activated only one mine during the whole crossing.
The pressure wave came from below.
The Resin Protocol appeared on his torso before Mineta could consciously decide to activate it, absorbing part of the impact with that automaticity of his that was still more instinct than control.
He landed. Rolled. Got up.
That's still the problem: it appears only when I need it and not when I ask for it. It's still not fully mine.
He continued.
The final kilometer was a straightaway, and Mineta ran it thinking about what came next.
Not completely. His body also thought, in its own way, sending messages about the state of his muscles and lungs that weren't exactly complaints but weren't enthusiasm either.
Thirteenth if I maintain this pace.
He could go faster on this straight. He knew it. But thirteenth was mid-range in the Cavalry Battle points. Not the main target. Not invisible. A secondary target had more freedom of movement.
Don't be a target from the first second of the next test.
The stadium stands became visible again.
The finish line.
He crossed.
He leaned his hands on his knees for the first few seconds after crossing, which was what the body did when it had finished something that had cost him and no one had asked if he wanted to do it.
Then he straightened up and looked at the screen.
Thirteenth.
Works.
The others arrived in the following minutes. Yaoyorozu with that composure of hers that was visible even after four kilometers, though her breathing said otherwise. Tokoyami with that serenity even in sustained motion. Kirishima with scrapes on his tracksuit and the smile of someone who enjoyed every second, including the painful ones.
Kaminari arrived, sat directly on the ground, and stared at the sky for several seconds without saying anything.
Sero, beside him, said nothing either. Placed a hand on his shoulder. That was enough.
Mineta looked at the screen as the rankings completed.
Twenty-fifth place: Shinso Hitoshi. General Studies. Ranked.
There he is, he thought.
No one knows what that quirk can do. No one except me.
He had to decide what to do with that information before the next test started. And he had very little time to decide.
Understood. The correct ranking was that of the previous episode, with flat points instead of Cavalry Battle points. Here comes the update:
FINAL RANKING — OBSTACLE RACE
UA Sports Festival — First Year
Rank, Student, Class, Points: 1º Bakugo Katsuki 1-A 10.000.000, 2º Todoroki Shoto 1-A 205, 3º Iida Tenya 1-A 200, 4º Yoarashi Inasa 1-B 195, 5º Ibara Shiozaki 1-B 190, 6º Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu 1-B 185, 7º Tokage Setsuna 1-B 180, 8º Honenuki Juzo 1-B 175, 9º Yaoyorozu Momo 1-A 170, 10º Shoji Mezo 1-A 165, 11º Kendo Itsuka 1-B 160, 12º Midoriya Izuku 1-A 155, 13º Mineta Minoru 1-A 150, 14º Manga Fukidashi 1-B 145, 15º Hatsume Mei Soporte 140, 16º Tokoyami Fumikage 1-A 135, 17º Awase Yosetsu 1-B 130, 18º Kirishima Eijiro 1-A 125, 19º Tsuburaba Kosei 1-B 120, 20º Sen Kaibara 1-B 115, 21º Uraraka Ochaco 1-A 110, 22º Bondo Kojiro 1-B 105, 23º Yanagi Reiko 1-B 100, 24º Ojiro Mashirao 1-A 95, 25º Shinso Hitoshi General 90, 26º Ashido Mina 1-A 85, 27º Kodai Yui 1-B 80, 28º Pony Tsunotori 1-B 75, 29º Kaminari Denki 1-A 70, 30º Rin Hiryu 1-B 65, 31º Jirou Kyoka 1-A 60, 32º Komori Kinoko 1-B 55, 33º Shoda Nirengeki 1-B 50, 34º Sero Hanta 1-A 45, 35º Kuroiro Shihai 1-B 40, 36º Hagakure Toru 1-A 35, 37º Aoyama Yuga 1-A 30, 38º Kouda Koji 1-A 25, 39º Shishida Jurota 1-B 20, 40º Kamakiri Togaru 1-B 15, 41º Vinesma Soporte 10, 42º Monoma Neito 1-B 5
End of Episode 26.
If you want, I can also translate Episode 27 and keep Mineta's tactical commentary in English for consistency.