Haruto stood at the base with Mei locked firmly on his shoulders, the shield in front of her. He wore a pair of "hover-boots" with an oversized experimental thrusters directly tied to his back
"Get ready, Mei-chan. Hold on tight. We're cranking up speed"
"3... 2... 1... START!" Present Mic's voice exploded.
The field surged. Todoroki's ice spread through the dirt, and Bakugo launched himself like a rocket.
KABOOM
With a roar of blue flame, Haruto began to slide in a perfect circle around the field.
"Wheeeeeee!" Mei screamed from his shoulders, her hair flying back.
"The magnetic flux is holding! Look at the data, Akagi-kun!"
"I... can't... see... anything... but... brown... and... green!" Haruto yelled back, his voice vibrating from the sheer RPM.
The field was a chaotic mess. Haruto and Mei were a blur, a localized hurricane.
From the east, Tetsutetsu turned his entire body into steel and charged head-first.
"I don't care how fast you're spinning! METAL DOESN'T LO-" He dove toward the vortex, aiming for Haruto's legs.
Tetsutetsu was snatched into the orbit for a split second before being YEETED out the other side like a pinball.
"Tetsutetsu!" Monoma shrieked, his eyes wide. "This is ridiculous!"
From the north, Todoroki slammed his foot down. A massive glacier surged forward, a wall designed to stop the spinning pair.
His durability along with the 'windshield' locked him into an unbreakable projectile.
CRACK-SHATTER
The stadium shook as Haruto's frame met the ice, piercing through it.
Shards of ice exploded outward in a 360-degree radius, forcing every other teams to dive for cover.
Bakugo tried to blast his way into their path, but the wind pressure deflected him like a discarded soda can.
"YOU DEKU LOOKING FREAK!" Bakugo roared, smoke rising from his palms. "GET BACK HERE AND FIGHT LIKE A MAN!"
"NICE...TRY...SPARKY! BUT YOUR...SPLASH...DAMAGE..IS..NEGLIGIBLE...AGAINST THE...POWER...OF... BEYBLADES"
Haruto's voice was a series of doppler-effect echoes.
"WHAT IS THIS?! THEY'RE NOT MOVING! THEY'RE JUST SPINNING IN THE CENTER OF THE FIELD!" Present mic shouted
"He's kiting the entire stadium!" Aizawa muttered. "That is stupidly effective..."
The "Merry-Go-Round of doom".
The stadium was in an absolute frenzy. The audience wasn't even cheering for the combat anymore, they were laughing at the sheer absurdity.
Mineta tried to throw sticky balls into the trench, but they were caught in the wind and whipped back at him.
Iida tried to match the speed with his Recipro Burst, but the air pressure around Haruto was so intense he couldn't even get within five feet.
The Final 30 Seconds
The other teams took one look at the spinning death hurricane… and collectively decided they valued their bones.
They gave up on chasing Haruto and Mei, redirecting their attention to easier targets.
"Ten seconds!" Midnight screamed.
"3... 2... 1... TIME'S UP!"
"AND THE WINNERS... ARE HARUTO AKAGI AND MEI HATSUME!"
***
The round ended, but Haruto was still spinning, slowing down bit by bit until they eventually stopped.
Mei hopped off his shoulders, frantically scribbling notes on a charred tablet.
"Akagi-kun! The friction-to-torque ratio was off the charts! We stayed in the exact same coordinates for 98% of the match! My 'babies' are famous!"
"Yeah, and I think I've permanently rearranged my internal organs," Haruto joked, dusting off his clothes.
"But hey - look at the board. Number one, and I didn't even break a sweat."
He looked up at the massive screen where his name sat atop the leaderboard, glowing in gold.
A familiar, explosive presence cut through the air.
"YOU—!"
Kirishima was already there, arms wrapped tightly around Bakugo's torso from behind, heels digging into the dirt as he tried to hold him back.
"Bro - BRO - calm down! You're gonna pop a vein!"
Bakugo was practically fuming with rage, smoke curling from his palms.
"LET ME GO! I'M GONNA BLOW THAT SPINNING CLOWN APART!"
"Aw, don't be like that. I love you too, Baku-bro! Really, I do" Haruto said, blowing a mock kiss toward the fuming student
"JUST WAIT! I'LL CRUSH YOU IN THE NEXT ROUND"
"Yeah, yeah, sure. See you in the next round. Just try not to explode emotionally before that, yeah?"
The scoreboard on the stadium's massive monitors flickered one last time, the numbers flickering, before freezing to reveal the final four teams moving on to the championship tournament.
The stadium was silent for a heartbeat before erupting into a deafening roar as the names locked into place.
1st Haruto Akagi - 10,000,000
2nd Shoto Todoroki - 1,425
3rd Katsuki Bakugo - 980
4th Izuku Midoriya - 710
***
The adrenaline of the Cavalry Battle had begun to simmer. Most of the students had already retreated to the cafeteria to refuel.
Haruto was already in the hallway, leaning casually against the wall with his arms crossed.
He didn't move as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching him.
Midoriya jumped, nearly tripping over his own feet. With his notebook already out.
Behind him, Iida marched with his usual rigid posture, though his engines were still hissing with steam.
"Akagi-kun..."
Midoriya started, his voice a mix of awe and confusion. He pulled out his notebook, his pen hovering over a fresh page.
"The way you adjusted your center of gravity while maintaining that RPM—you weren't just spinning. You were creating a localized low-pressure zone to deflect Bakugo's heat signatures, wasn't you?"
"To maintain such a high-speed defensive perimeter... it was risky, Akagi-kun! But I must admit, your spatial awareness was formidable." Iida added, chopping the air.
Haruto tilted his head, confused.
"Is that what I was doing? Wow, guys, you make me sound like a genius. I just thought I was being a very expensive human Beyblade."
Before Midoriya could offer a technical rebuttal about centrifugal force, a bubbly voice echoed down the hall.
"Deku-kun! Haruto-kun!"
Uraraka came jogging toward them, her face flushed red from the exertion, with a pair of floating gym gloves - Toru Hagakure - bobbing along beside her in a state of invisible excitement.
"That was amazing!" Uraraka cheered, leaning over to catch her breath.
"I really thought we were done for when the points started flying, but we actually made the Top 4!"
"Yeah!" Toru's gloves waved frantically, narrowly missing Midoriya's nose.
"Haruto, you were like a blur out there! Every time I tried to slip into your blind spot, you just... spun! I couldn't even see where to grab!"
"It's all physics, boys. Action, reaction.
I just figured if I spun fast enough, I'd turn into a Looney Tunes dust cloud."
"Well, whatever the 'science' behind it is, you're the one with the target on your back now, Haruto-kun!" Uraraka chirped, giving a determined nod.
"We better go refuel. Coming, Deku-kun? Iida-kun?"
"Right! We'll see you out there, Akagi-kun."
Midoriya said, casting one last analytical look at Haruto before tucking his notebook away.
The group moved off toward the cafeteria. Haruto stayed where he was, his back still pressed against the wall. He waited until the sound of their footsteps had completely vanished before he let out a long exhale.
"Eavesdropping is a bit of a villain move, don't you think?" Haruto said, not turning his head.
Shoto Todoroki stepped from the shadows. His expression was as frigid, his eyes fixed on Haruto.
"I wasn't eavesdropping, I was waiting for them to leave" Todoroki said.
"In the tunnel, you moved before I even touched the ground," Todoroki continued, his eyes narrowing.
"And in the cavalry battle, you did that 'spinning thing' followed a perfect circular path, that requires control, it's not just 'physics' "
Haruto finally turned his head, meeting that frozen stare with a lazy, unbothered grin.
"You're overthinking it, Ice king. Maybe I just have really good ears."
"Regardless of how you do it, I'm only here to tell you one thing, I have no intention of losing to you."
"Wait, wait," Haruto said, holding up a hand. "That line... isn't that supposed to be for Midoriya? You're getting your dramatic declarations mixed up, Shoto."
Todoroki's brow furrowed slightly, his stoic mask slipping for just a fraction of a second.
"What are you talking about?"
"Nothing, nothing," Haruto waved it off, his grin turning sharp.
"Just feels like I'm stealing someone else's spotlight. But hey, if you want to make me your 'big rival' for the afternoon, I'm not gonna stop you. Just make sure to tune up the heat"
Haruto didn't wait for a response this time. He strolled down the hall, his hands behind his head.
"See you in the bracket, Prince Zuko!"
He shoved his hands deep into his pockets, his gaze dropping to the floor as his mind drifted away.
'Man, I wonder how the boys are doing. It's boring in here'