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Chapter 27 - Episode 27: Cavalry Battle — Formation

The forty-two qualifiers were on the field when Midnight stepped into the center.

The sixty-nine eliminated students had been directed to the stands by the stadium staff, with that particular silence of people who had given everything they had and reached the conclusion that it wasn't enough for this specific moment. It wasn't failure exactly. It was simply the result of a competition where most had to lose for the minority to continue.

The stands greeted them with applause.

Present Mic:

—A round of applause for all the participants who gave their all in the Obstacle Race! Sixty-nine students showing that just being here is already an achievement!

The applause was genuine and lasted long enough for the eliminated students to be seated before the stadium's attention returned to the field.

Mineta was among the forty-two qualifiers, watching Midnight and waiting.

Around him, the others processed the results of the first test with varying energy. Bakugo with that posture of someone who came first and considers that was the only possible outcome. Todoroki with his usual calm. Midoriya with his notebook closed because he hadn't had time to open it between crossing the finish line and this moment. Kirishima with that expression of someone satisfied with the result, though knowing it could have been better. Kaminari still processing that his legs were working properly again.

Monoma Neito was in forty-second, the last qualifying spot, with that smile of his that hadn't changed even though the placement wasn't exactly what he wanted.

Midnight waited for the stadium to calm sufficiently.

—Very well, —she said. —Congratulations to the forty-two qualifiers. The second test begins now.

The field processed that.

—Now, —Midnight repeated, with the tone of someone who noticed the reaction and found it entertaining. —No extra rest. That's how it works.

Kaminari looked at Sero with the expression of someone with feelings about that information.

Sero returned the look with the expression of someone who shares those feelings but concluded that expressing them changes nothing relevant.

—The second test, —Midnight continued— is the Cavalry Battle.

The stadium screens displayed the name while Present Mic took over from the booth:

—THE CAVALRY BATTLE! ONE OF THE MOST EXCITING TESTS OF THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL! HERE ARE THE RULES!

—Each participant forms a team of two to four people, —Midnight pointed at the screens showing the formation diagram.— Within each team, one member is the rider. The others form the horse that carries them. The rider wears a headband with the team's point value.

Mineta heard that, and the calculations started automatically.

—The points of each team are the sum of the individual points of all its members, —Midnight continued.— With one exception. The team that includes the participant who finished first in the Obstacle Race automatically receives ten million points, regardless of the members' individual points.

The field looked at Bakugo.

Bakugo looked ahead with the expression of someone who already knew this would happen and had made decisions accordingly.

—The goal is to steal the headbands of the other teams, —said Midnight.— At the end of the time, the four teams with the most points advance to the third test. You have five minutes to form teams.

The field immediately reorganized.

Mineta calculated quickly.

His one hundred fifty points as a rider were enough to make the team visible but not enough to make it the primary target. What he needed were physically useful horses that added points without turning the total into something everyone wanted to attack immediately.

He scanned the field.

Asui Tsuyu was a few meters away, looking at the screens with that unreadable frog expression that, in this context, conveyed someone calculating options.

Mineta approached her.

—Asui-san.

Asui looked at him.

—Do you have a team?

—Not yet, —said Asui, with that calm voice of hers.

—Do you want to join mine?

Asui considered for a second with that calm of hers, not indifference but simply the time she needed to process a question before answering.

—How many points do you have?

—One hundred fifty. With yours, one hundred twenty, that would be a base of two hundred seventy. I need two more.

—Who?

Mineta scanned the field. He saw Shoji standing alone, his multiple arms folded and that physical presence that made the space around him slightly larger than anyone else's.

—Shoji, —he said.— And Ojiro.

Asui followed his gaze.

—The total would be five hundred thirty, —she said, calculating alongside Mineta.

—Mid-range. We're not the main target but we're not invisible.

—Agreed, —said Asui.

They went toward Shoji first. Shoji looked at them as they approached, with that calm of someone for whom few things produce visible reactions.

—Team? —Mineta asked directly.

—Yes, —said Shoji, with the same economy of words.

Then Ojiro, who listened to the proposal with the expression of someone evaluating if the formation made sense from his perspective.

—Who is the rider? —said Ojiro.

—Me, —said Mineta.

Ojiro looked at him for a second, then nodded.

—Agreed.

The team was formed.

Elsewhere on the field, teams were finishing formation.

Bakugo was in the center with that energy of someone who doesn't need to look because people come to him.

—Kirishima, —he said.

Kirishima appeared immediately.

—I'll go next, —said Kaminari from somewhere behind.

Bakugo looked at him.

—You freeze after you discharge.

—Yes, but I discharge first, —Kaminari replied, with a logic hard to fully refute.

Bakugo processed that for a second.

—Ashido, —he said finally.

Ashido appeared.

—Me?

—Lateral mobility.

Kaminari looked at Sero with the expression of someone unsure if he'd just been rejected or simply ignored.

—We'll form a team and look for more, —said Sero.

—How many points do we have together?

—One hundred fifteen.

—That's very low.

—It means no one attacks us first.

Kaminari processed that.

—Makes sense, —he admitted.

Todoroki stood with his usual calm when Iida approached.

—Todoroki-kun, if you don't have a team…

—I don't.

—I propose we team up. My speed could be useful in the horse formation.

—Agreed.

Yaoyorozu, who had been nearby, approached as well.

—Do you need a third member?

Todoroki looked at her.

—Yes.

—My points are one hundred seventy. The team total would be five hundred seventy-five before the fourth member. That makes us a secondary target of Bakugo's team and a primary target for the rest.

—Do you have a problem with that? —asked Todoroki.

—No.

They found Kendo Itsuka of 1-B as the fourth member. His quirk of large hands had obvious utility in the horse formation. Team total rose to seven hundred thirty-five.

Immediate secondary target after Bakugo's team.

Midoriya formed a team with Uraraka, Tokoyami, and Hatsume Mei.

Hatsume arrived with that specific energy of someone who had been waiting exactly for this chance to show what her inventions could do in real competition conditions.

—My babies will be perfect for this! —she said, in that voice of hers suited for someone treating the Festival primarily as a tech demo.

Midoriya looked at her with the expression of someone not completely sure of what he had just done but having made the decision anyway.

Uraraka looked at Tokoyami.

Tokoyami looked forward.

Dark Shadow said nothing, though its presence suggested opinions.

Shinso Hitoshi was on the field with his usual posture, dark purple hair, expression of someone who arrived with a plan and was executing it calmly.

He had formed a team with three students: two from 1-B and one from the Business Management course. Team points: two hundred sixty-five.

A small team in points.

Mineta watched from his position as the horse formation organized.

Two hundred sixty-five points, he thought. No one will attack them first. No one will see them as an immediate threat.

That's exactly what he wants.

Shinso's quirk was mind control activated by verbal response. If someone responded to anything he said, they fell under his control until they received sufficient physical impact to break it. In the Obstacle Race he finished twenty-fifth without anyone understanding exactly how. In the Cavalry Battle, he had a team no one would prioritize and a quirk no one knew about.

No one except Mineta.

It was a dangerous combination.

Mineta looked at his own teammates.

I have to tell them something. Not everything. But something.

—Asui-san, —he said quietly as they finished organizing in the horse formation.

—Yes?

—Shinso's General Studies team, —Mineta discreetly pointed toward Shinso.— If anyone from that team talks to you during the test, don't respond.

Asui looked at him with that frog expression, processing the information without fully revealing what she thought.

—Why?

Mineta hesitated for a second.

—Because I don't know exactly what he has, but he has something. And in the Festival, General Studies students who qualify don't do so by chance.

Asui looked for a moment longer.

—Understood, —she said finally, with that calm of hers, deciding the information received was enough to act even if incomplete.

Mineta looked at Shoji and Ojiro.

—Same for you. If anyone from that team talks to you, ignore them.

Shoji nodded without asking.

Ojiro frowned slightly.

—Why specifically that team?

—Instinct, —said Mineta.

Ojiro looked for a second, then also nodded, with less conviction than Shoji but enough to count.

Midnight raised the whip.

The stadium focused with that quality of thousands of people waiting for something, knowing it was about to happen.

Mineta looked at the field from his position as rider, with Shoji and Ojiro holding the platform and Asui in lateral position.

Five hundred thirty points.

Mid-range.

Bakugo's team with ten million to his right, already in circular defense with Kirishima hardened in front and Ashido ready for lateral mobility.

Todoroki's team to his left, with Iida ready to run and Yaoyorozu producing something small between her hands that Mineta couldn't fully see from this distance.

Midoriya's team somewhere behind, with Hatsume talking about her inventions loud enough to be heard from afar.

Shinso's team at the far end of the field, still, waiting.

Fifteen minutes, thought Mineta. And I know more than I should about what's going to happen in them.

The question was what to do with that information.

What I can control: my team's position, when to attack and when to defend, that none of my team respond to Shinso.

What I can't control: what the other thirty-eight participants do.

Work with what you have.

—Fifteen minutes! —announced Midnight, whip raised.

The stadium held its breath.

—Go!

End of Episode 27.

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