Heroes and Ninja

十五

"AND NOW THEY'RE STEADILY CROSSING THE FINISH LINE. ONE AFTER THE OTHER! WE'LL COMPILE THE RESULTS LATER, SO FOR THE TIME BEING ENJOY YOUR BREATHER!!"

"Kanna!!" Momo called. Kanna waved in return, sending the girl a smile.

"You did great! Second place!"

"Yeah, but it could have been first..." she trailed off, looking to Izuku.

"And so it's over! Now, everyone, here are the results!" A board lit up behind Midnight, everyones rankings on it. "The 42 at the top have earned the right to advance!! I'm sorry for the kids who failed, but take heart! This festival's showstopper is still being prepared!! And now for the post preliminaries, the final selection! From here on out, even the press corps will teem in a white heat of excitement, so go all out!!! Now then, onto today's heart-pounding second event!! I already know what it will be, but the suspense is killing me...What could it be?!! Well, I'll tell you!" The screen rolled behind Midnight, landing on human cavalry battle. "Behold!!!!"

"But that's not a game that works with players playing as individuals. How will it work?" Tsuyu asked. 

"You can all form 2-4 person teams freely and form a horseback configuration! basically, it's the same rules as a normal human cavalry battle: spree enemy riders' headbands and guard your own. Except for one thing...Everyone will receive points based on their performance in the last trial!"

"If it's anything like the entrance exam's point system then it'll be easy to understand," Sato said.

"Which means that the point value of each human warhorse will change based on who's in it!" Hagakure concluded.

"DON'T SAY WHAT I WAS GONNA SAY BEFORE I CAN!!!" Midnight roared. "But yes, that's right!! And the number of points you're worth will be 5 points if you placed 42nd, 10 if you placed 41st, and so on...with the exception of first place,  who's head is worth ten million points!!!!" 

Everyone's heads snapped to Izuku, who had broken out into a cold sweat.

"If I were you I'd aim for the guy who placed first...This is the chance for the low to supplant the high! Welcome to our survival game!!! The time limit is 15 minutes. The point value of each group's headband is worth the total point accumulation of each of the warhorse's members. And the one to wear the headband will be the warhorse's rider! Think of him or her as a standard bearer. Until time is up, you'll all be fighting and stealing as many of each other's headbands as you can! You may not equip your headband on any area besides above your neck! As more and more headbands are taken, maintaining control of the situation will become more and more demanding! And the most important aspect of our human cavalry game is that even if you should lose your headband or crumble as a horse configuration you're still not out of the game! Quirks are of course allowed, so I want to see some fine brutality out there! That being said...this is still just a human cavalry battle game!! If you attack any other group with the malicious aim of breaking them up, that's a red card and you'll be forced to sit out the rest of the game! All right, you now have 15 minutes until then! Start negotiating your team-ups!"

Right away, people began to find their teams. Everyone seemed to be avoiding Izuku. Todoroki seemed like he knew who he wanted on his team already, and most people from Kanna's class were flocking to Bakugou. Kanna looked around, that was, until two familiar figures walked up to her. "K-Kanna!" Izuku squeaked. "Hah? What the hell are you doing here, Deku?! I was here first!" Izuku flinched. "U-uh, sorry! I just wanted to ask Kanna if she would join my team..." He trailed off. "Well fuck off, I came to ask that too." Izuku jumped. "Oh! W-well, maybe we should let Kanna decide..."

"Can I be the rider?" Kanna asked. Izuku nodded timidly. "Hell no," was Bakugou's response. Kanna rolled her eyes. "Then I'll go with Izuku." And just like that, she was dragged away by Bakugou. "What the hell?! Asshole! I was gonna go with my bro Izuwu!" Kanna shouted. "Stop calling that nerd stupid ass nicknames!! And you're gonna be on my team, whether you like it or not, so fucking get over it." Kanna rolled her eyes once more. "Ugh, fine, since you're being such a whiny little bitch about it."