The crowd admittedly loved the spectacle. Their roaring was practically through the roof at this point.

  "ERASER. TELL ME WHAT YOU MAKE OF THIS KID."

  Present Mic leaned forward, still half-yelling into the mic.

  Aizawa didn’t answer immediately.

  His eyes tracked Yuta — the sharp pivots, the clipped steps, the way he used the momentum of his gear without letting the gear control him.

  Not natural. Not random. Practiced.

  'He’s reading the entire field,' Aizawa thought. 'His evasions aren’t instinct — they’re calcuted. Choosing engagements… and somehow tracking dozens of threats at once. That’s not normal for a first-year.'

  “… Kid's got good instincts. He’s not just fast,” Aizawa said ftly. “He’s processing the entire battlefield. That’s what makes him rather hard to hit. Frankly, he's troublesome.”

  That from him was extremely high praise.

  Present Mic whooped. “YOU HEARD IT FROM ERASERHEAD, FOLKS! TROUBLESOME!”

  ---

  On the field—

  Two explosions tore through the ice fog.

  Bakugo and Todoroki were locked in a vicious back-and-forth, their teams struggling to maintain bance as debris and steam mixed into a chaotic haze.

  Bakugo heard Present Mic’s announcement and snarled.

  “TCH! THAT BASTARD’S TAKEN ALMOST EVERYONE’S POINTS!”

  He bsted upward, forcing Todoroki back. “DON’T LET THAT FREAK EVEN LOOK AT OUR HEADBAND!”

  Todoroki’s eyes flicked across the field, seeing Yuta pass like a streak of color.

  Eight headbands… and counting.

  A small frown tugged at his lip.

  'If he’s gathered that many, he shouldn’t need the ten million anymore… but for someone who threw away first pce, we can never know.'

  His ice creaked under his fingers.

  'No matter … we'll deal with it when it comes.'

  He pulled back sharply as Bakugo dove at him again.

  In the distance, team Midoriya dodged where running away from the battlefield.

  “Only four teams left with headbands. This isn't good.”

  Iida responded sharply, “Indeed. This will be difficult to handle if Akutami targets us. My straight-line speed is high, but my directional agility is—unfortunately—not on his level.”

  He looked around.

  Many of the teams that had given up chasing Yuta… were now turning their sights toward them.

  “Worse still,” Iida. “others have set their sights on us.”

  "It's normal. We're one of the few with points left."

  Team Shinso on another end were experiencing the same problem. With the fierce battles so far, his teammates had already woken up, but none of them paid much heed to what happened and how ther team was formed without their knowledge when their qualifications were currently on the line.

  Ojiro's expression was tense. "They're closing in."

  Shinso's tired eyes swept the field.

  "…Keep moving. Don't stop."

  Aoyama whimpered. "Mon dieu… we are doomed…"

  "Not yet," Shinso muttered. "Just a little longer."

  “WOW, FOLKS! TO THINK THE MAJORITY STILL WITH HEADBANDS ARE FROM CLASS 1-A! ABSOLUTELY WILD!” Present Mic shouted. “AND WE’RE DOWN TO THE FINAL FOUR MINUTES! FIVE TEAMS HOLD HEADBANDS—FOUR WILL ADVANCE, AND EVERYONE ELSE IS DESPERATE!”

  “THE NEXT FEW MINUTES ARE GONNA BE INSANE!”

  “DON’T STOP MOVING!” Bakugo bellowed, bsting aside a wall of ice. “THERE’S ONLY FOUR MINUTES LEFT! PUSH THROUGH!”

  Sero and Ashido strained to keep bance.

  Kirishima hardened, bracing as Todoroki’s ice snaked toward their feet.

  “THIS GUY—!!” Bakugo snarled. “I’M GONNA—”

  “Bakugo! Look!” Sero shouted, pointing.

  Bakugo snapped his head sideways—

  And froze.

  Todoroki also stiffened, eyes widening.

  Because—

  Every remaining team with a headband

  Every team without one

  Every desperate group in between

  —was turning toward them.

  Bakugo’s team.

  The Ten Million Points.

  They came like a tidal wave.

  “ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!” Bakugo shrieked. “THEY’RE COMING BACK NOW?! AFTER RUNNING AWAY THE WHOLE DAMN TIME?!”

  He bsted a pilr of fire upward in sheer frustration.

  Even Todoroki grimaced. Not at Bakugo—

  but at the impossible pressure converging on them from all sides.

  ‘Of course… With Akutami stealing everything else… We’re the st easy target.’

  His gaze sharpened.

  'No… this is an opportunity.'

  The swarm closed in— Hands reached— Quirks activated—

  "Yaoyorozu!" Todoroki's voice cut through the chaos like a bde.

  "On it!"

  Momo's hands glowed, and from her arms materialized a massive insution sheet—lightweight but dense.

  "Everyone, get under—NOW!"

  In the distance, Yuta skidded to a halt on the far edge of the field, goggles glinting as he watched Todoroki's team huddle together.

  'That formation…'

  Momo's arms glowed.

  'Insution sheet.'

  Yuta's Sharingan spun behind the dark lenses.

  '…They're going for a mass disable.'

  He turned sharply.

  "Hatsume."

  "Yeah?"

  "It's time."

  Her grin widened.

  "FINALLY! YOU MEAN—?!"

  "The big finish."

  "YESSSSS!!"

  She spped a switch on the jetpack strapped to her back.

  It hummed.

  "Ready when you are, partner!"

  "Now."

  Hatsume unched off his back, jetpack roaring to life as she rocketed into the air.

  Todoroki's team huddled beneath the sheet just as Kaminari grinned like a maniac.

  "FINALLY! MY TIME TO SHINE!"

  "Kaminari—full power! Don't hold back!"

  "YOU GOT IT!"

  Electricity crackled across his body—

  Building—

  Surging—

  "INDISCRIMINATE SHOCK: 1.3 MILLION VOLTS!!"

  CRACKLE—BOOOOOM!!!

  A blinding sphere of golden lightning exploded outward, engulfing every team within a fifteen-meter radius.

  Screams erupted.

  Bodies convulsed.

  Teams colpsed, unable to move, muscles locked from the sheer voltage.

  Even Bakugo's team—caught at the edge—felt the brunt of it.

  "GHAA—!!" Bakugo's arms spasmed, explosions misfiring.

  "CAN'T—MOVE—!!" Kirishima's hardening flickered.

  Mina and Sero colpsed under him.

  Their formation crumbled.

  Beneath the insution sheet, Todoroki's team was untouched.

  Kaminari slumped forward, giving a dopey thumbs-up.

  "Wheeey… I did it…"

  "Good work," Todoroki said coldly.

  Momo immediately created metal rods from her arms.

  Todoroki grabbed them and smmed the tips into the ground.

  Ice surged from his right side—

  Spreading—

  Crawling—

  Freezing every stunned body in pce.

  The entire battlefield turned white.

  Teams were locked mid-colpse, encased in frost.

  Todoroki exhaled cold mist.

  "Now."

  He vaulted off Sato's shoulders, skating across the ice toward Bakugo's frozen team.

  Bakugo's eyes widened in fury—but his body wouldn't respond.

  "YOU—BASTARD—!!"

  Todoroki's hand reached out.

  Fingers closed around the ten million point headband.

  And pulled.

  “Got it. Go!” he ordered.

  His cavalry obeyed instantly, sprinting away from the battlefield as every other trapped team struggled inside iced-over prisons.

  Present Mic exploded into commentary.

  “INCREDIBLE!! TEAM TODOROKI JUST TOOK EVERYTHING FROM TEAM BAKUGO! AN ABSOLUTE TURNAROUND AT THE LAST MINUTE!!!”

  The commentary fell into his ears.

  "DAMN YOU!" Todoroki let out a breath at Bakugo's hateful roar. 'Finally'

  "We did it."

  Sato yelled with excitement. "Ten million is ours"

  Momo smiled in relief. "Todoroki, that was—" her compliments of admiration for his pns had barely begun when a gust of wind blew past them.

  TAP!

  A hand tapped Todoroki’s head.

  Time seemed to freeze. Todoroki turned sharply. Staring at him were two pitch bck goggles, a head of mousy red hair, and a slight smile of someone having the time of their life.

  "Hello."

  “…!”

  Todoroki's hairs stood on end. Before instinct caught up, heat exploded from Todoroki’s left side—raw, unrestrained fme bursting to life, aimed directly at the thief.

  A wave of torrential heat shot forward. Yuta who saw everything in slow motion, tilted his head accordingly.

  The bst missed its mark. Yuta's fingers reached unabated, and fell upon both headbands—The ten million. And Todoroki's own 715-point band.

  "Sorry," Yuta said.

  'When did he—?!'

  Yuta’s feet touched the ice—and he vanished.

  A crack split across the frozen ground as Todoroki, shocked by his own reflexive fmes, halted the surge. His right side clenched, ice erupting in panic to smother the heat he hadn’t meant to use.

  “Todoroki—!” Momo reacted.

  But it was too te.

  A blue and red streak flickered across the field. By the time Todoroki turned, Yuta was already fifty meters away, sliding effortlessly across the ice before—

  FWOOOSH—

  Hatsume descended from above, jetpack whining as she collided onto his back in a perfect nding.

  “WOOOH!! NAILED THE ENTRY!!” she crowed, pumping a fist in the air.

  The brief silence was followed by an erupting stadium.

  Present Mic's voice nearly shattered the arena.

  “UN-BE-LIEVABLE!!! YUTA AKUTAMI HAS— ONCE AGAIN — COMPLETELY TURNED THE MATCH ON ITS HEAD!! HE HAS STOLEN EVERY MAJOR HEADBAND ON THE FIELD!!!”

  At home—

  On Aiko’s couch—

  Eri shot up from her seat.

  “HE GOT IT!! HE GOT IT!!” she shrieked, tiny fists bouncing excitedly.

  Aiko blinked in surprise, lips tugging into a small smile.

  “…Look at you,” she murmured. “You really like him that much, huh?”

  Eri nodded rapidly without taking her eyes off the screen.

  Back on the field—

  The ice prison cracked apart.

  BAKOOM!!

  Bakugo detonated himself free in a rage-fueled explosion, roaring like a wild animal.

  “AKUTAMIIIII!!!”

  "THAT'S NOT FAIR!" someone screamed from the frozen crowd.

  "SHE FLEW! SHE WAS IN THE AIR!"

  "IS THAT EVEN ALLOWED?!"

  Midnight's voice boomed across the field, sultry and amused.

  "Allowed? Of course it is~! As long as her feet didn't touch the ground while airborne, there's no viotion!"

  She cracked her whip for emphasis.

  "This is U.A., darlings. Creativity is encouraged!"

  Groans and protests rippled through the crowd.

  "THERE IT IS. THE RULING STANDS AND I CAN SEE WHY. THAT WAS THE SINGLE MOST CLUTCH PLAY I'VE SEEN IN SPORTS FESTIVAL HISTORY!!"

  Aizawa leaned back, exhaling slowly.

  "…That kid's a problem."

  "A PROBLEM?! HE'S A MIRACLE!"

  "Same thing," Aizawa muttered

  Todoroki broke out of his daze with the announcement, steam hissing as he suppressed the st unwanted branch of fme with a grim frown.

  His gaze locked on Yuta.

  Cold air spilled from his lungs in slow, controlled breaths.

  “…I see.”

  "It seems we all overlooked the single biggest problem of this competition."

  He didn’t say more.

  Yuta, still carrying Hatsume high on his back, turned calmly toward the converging groups.

  Hundreds of eyes were locked on him, and Hatsume was practically grinning at the cameras.

  "HATSUME INDUSTRIES, BABY! YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST! JETPACKS! PROPULSION GEAR! GRAPPLING SYSTEMS! CONTACT ME FOR ORDERS!"

  Yuta sighed but didn't stop her.

  The cheers were loud.

  Louder than anything he'd expected.

  His chest felt tight—but in a good way.

  '...This is what it feels like, huh?'

  Victory.

  Recognition.

  He exhaled.

  Then—

  BOOM.

  "YOU THINK IT'S OVER?! I'M TAKING THAT BACK!!"