Fifteen minutes to form teams.
The clock started and the arena became a marketplace of desperation. Students rushed toward each other, pitching, begging, negotiating. Alliances formed and broke in seconds. Everyone wanted strong teammates, and nobody wanted to be left out.
Nobody wanted to be on Team Ten Million.
Or so some might have thought.
"Heh heh heh... Yes, you're in first place. You sure do stand out!"
Manga turned. A girl with pink dreadlocks and crosshair-shaped irises was standing way too close to him, her face about six inches from his speech bubble, grinning like she'd found a treasure chest.
"I'm Mei Hatsume, from the support course! I don't know you, but I could be useful to someone in your position!"
"Oh yeah? How so?" Manga positively asked.
"Joining with you means I'll inevitably be right in the spotlight, and then inevitably my super cute babies will be seen by the industry big shots! They'll have to take notice of me and my babies!" She held up what looked like a jetpack. "Perhaps this one's to your liking? It's modeled on Buster Hero Air Jet's backpack with a few additions of my own!"
"A jetpack? That’s pretty-" Manga didn’t need a jetpack but still.
"In the support course we develop equipment to make heroes' quirks easier to use! I've got plenty of my babies here, and I'm sure you'll find one or two that'll suit you! How do you like my babies?! Cute, aren't they?! That's how I made them!!" She hadn't let him get a word in. A sweatdrop emoji appeared in Manga's bubble.
"You're in." he said, when she finally took a breath.
"YES! My babies will shine on the biggest stage!"
Monoma appeared at his shoulder with a grin on his face.
"Do you want to beat some Class A into the dirt?" Monoma was excited.
"Let’s just focus on winning instead of settling any rivalries…" Manga laughed.
"We will show everyone that the B in Class B stands for Better and Best!" Monoma was ablaze with competitive spirit. "I have a plan."
"Let's hear it."
"You don't use your quirk."
Manga's bubble displayed a question mark.
"Just leave it all to me."
"So what do I do?"
"You sit on top and look intimidating. I'll handle offense and defense with your quirk. Save your voice for emergencies. One word. Maybe two. That's your budget for this entire battle."
"Cool, so who should be our final member?"
Monoma looked across the arena. Kodai Yui was standing by herself, waiting quietly, her expression neutral as always.
"Kodai," Monoma said.
"Kodai-chan!" Manga sang.
They walked over. Kodai looked at them.
"Wanna join us, Kodai-chan?" Manga said.
Kodai considered this for approximately two seconds.
"Mm."
"Is that a yes?"
"Mm."
"I'll take it as one."
Team Manga was formed. Manga as rider, Monoma at the front, Kodai and Mei on the sides. Mei was already strapping gadgets onto Manga and explaining each one at a speed that made Monoma's eye twitch. Someone like Manga doesn’t really need support items with his quirk… At least not ones like these.
Across the arena, the other teams crystallized.
The 1-B teams formed around existing bonds. Tetsutetsu grabbed Honenuki, Awase, and Shiozaki into a steel-and-vine fortress. Kendo pulled Yanagi, Tokage, and Komori into the all-female squad that had the best quirk synergy in the class. Kuroiro, Tsuburaba, Kaibara, and Bondo filled the gap Monoma left, forming a stealth-and-control team. Pony, Kamakiri, Rin, and Shishida formed a four-man wrecking crew.
Before the teams separated, Monoma caught the eyes of every 1-B team leader.
"Don't go after us," he said, just loud enough for them to hear. "Target anyone who comes for the ten million. Steal their headbands. Between all of us, Class B locks down the finale for ourselves!"
Kendo nodded. Tetsutetsu smashed his fists together. Kuroiro's pale eyes gleamed.
1-B knew the plan.
On the 1-A side, Bakugo had assembled Kirishima, Ashido, and Sero into a mobile strike team built for aggression. Todoroki had drafted Ida, Yaoyorozu, and Kaminari into a balanced squad with speed, defense, creation, and electric coverage. Team Mineta was doing whatever Team Mineta was doing. Team Hagakure was grouped up near the edge.
Midoriya had Uraraka and Tokoyami. Just three. No fourth member. Midoriya's eyes kept darting toward Team Manga with an expression that mixed analysis with anxiety.
Shinso had quietly assembled Shoda, Aoyama, and Ojiro through means no one at this time understood.
"LET'S GET A BATTLE CRY!" Present Mic's voice slammed through the speakers. "HERE COMES THE STARTING SIGNAL! BLOOD BEGETS BLOOD IN THE U.A. GRAND MATCH!"
The crowd screamed.
"STAAAAAAART!"
All of Class 1-A rushed Team Manga screaming like lunatics.
Team Bakugo from the left, Team Todoroki from the right, Team Midoriya from the front, Team Mineta and Team Hagakure filling the gaps. Ten million points pulled every 1-A team like gravity pulling satellites.
Monoma smiled.
"Gon."
The word left his mouth and Kodai touched it as it formed. The kanji tripled in size, expanding from a basketball to a boulder, a massive wall of blunt force that erupted outward from Team Manga's front. Team Midoriya caught the shockwave and Tokoyami threw Dark Shadow up as a shield, the two forces colliding with a crack that echoed off the stadium walls. Uraraka's feet left the ground from the blast and she had to hold on tight to stay connected.
"WHAT A START!" Present Mic lost his mind. "TEAM MANGA'S DEFENSE JUST SWATTED AWAY THE FIRST WAVE LIKE FLIES!"
Bakugo came from the left. Explosions popping from both palms, he launched himself from his horse formation toward Manga's headband.
"Mochi-mochi."
Monoma spoke and a springy, elastic, chewy wall similar to that of mochi formed in Bakugo's path. Kodai enlarged it. What had been a chest-high barrier became a wall two stories tall, solid and immovable, hanging in the air between Bakugo and the ten million points. Bakugo's explosion hit it and the wall ate it. He fired a second blast and the wall opened up a hole, but by then Mei had activated a thrust gadget on the horse formation and Team Manga had slid six meters to the right.
"GET BACK HERE, BUBBLE BOY!" Bakugo roared.
“Na na na na boo boo, you can't catch me! You can never touch this.” Manga shook his butt at his competitors.
Bakugo’s team never reached them as Team Tetsutetsu hit Team Bakugo from behind.
Tetsutetsu, in full steel, slammed into Kirishima's hardened back. Two immovable forces collided and the formation shook. Shiozaki's vines shot out and wrapped Sero's tape arm before he could fire. Honenuki softened the ground under Ashido's feet and she sank to her ankles, screaming. Awase welded Kirishima's foot to a piece of debris on the ground.
In the chaos, Shiozaki's vines slipped upward and plucked Bakugo's headband clean off his head.
"TEAM TETSUTETSU JUST STOLE TEAM BAKUGO'S HEADBAND!" Present Mic screamed.
Bakugo's face went through five stages of anger in two seconds and settled on plus ultra anger.
"WELL, BARELY TWO MINUTES HAVE PASSED, BUT THE BATTLEFIELD'S ALREADY CHAOTIC!" Present Mic announced. "WITH EVERYONE SCRAMBLING FOR HEADBANDS, IT'S NOT JUST THE TEN MILLION OUT THERE! THOSE OTHER HIGH RANKERS ARE WORTH A SHOT AS WELL!"
"Team Mineta uses its members' varying sizes to form less of a horse and more of a tank!" Present Mic added as Shoji's massive arms carried Mineta and Asui in a formation that looked more like a siege weapon than a cavalry team.
It didn't help. Tokage sent a detached hand behind Team Mineta to grab their headband while they were focused on Kendo's waving big hands. Yanagi floated the stolen headband back to Kendo's neck while also deflecting all of Mineta’s balls.
Team Kuroiro was doing what Team Kuroiro did best. Kuroiro phased into the shadow of Team Hagakure's horse formation and emerged behind Jiro, grabbing their headband before anyone realized he was there. Tsuburaba sealed off escape routes with invisible air walls. Kaibara drilled through any defense that tried to form. Bondo sprayed adhesive on the ground to trap teams that got too close.
"HOW ARE OUR TEAMS DOING AFTER SEVEN MINUTES OF PLAY?" Present Mic asked as the screen updated.
The rankings flashed across the stadium.
"CLASS B IS PULLING AHEAD OF CLASS A!"
The crowd murmured. The commentators leaned forward.
"I guess handling a real villain attack is comparable to some super secret training supposedly conducted by the current number one team's leader, Fukidashi Manga!" Present Mic said. "I hope he's willing to share that training with us after this Sports Festival! Who would say no to stronger heroes-in-training?!"
"The training is one thing," Aizawa said from the booth. "But look at the coordination. Class 1-B isn't just strong individually. They're operating as a unit. Multiple teams covering each other, sharing stolen headbands, creating diversions. Class 1-A is fighting for themselves. Class 1-B is fighting for each other."
Seven minutes in, the standings told the story.
Team Manga held first with ten million, untouched. They hadn't moved much, hadn't needed to. Monoma spoke words, Kodai enlarged them, and anyone who got close ate a giant onomatopoeia that either knocked their entire formation sideways or negated anything they tried to do. Mei's gadgets handled mobility, a thrust here, a smokescreen there, her mouth running commentary on each device to any camera that would listen.
"Aren't they cute?! That's how I made them!!"
Manga sat on top and watched the war unfold below him. His voice was fresh. His throat didn't hurt. Monoma's plan was working perfectly.
Team Tetsutetsu held second, loaded with headbands stolen from 1-A teams. Shiozaki's vine defense made them nearly impossible to approach, and Honenuki's ground softening turned the area around them into a swamp.
Team Kendo held third. The all-female team had been systematically dismantling every smaller team that came near them. Tokage's scouting meant nobody could ambush them, Yanagi's telekinesis grabbed headbands from a distance, and Kendo's fists handled anything that got through.
Team Bakugo held fourth, but barely, and only because Bakugo had gone completely berserk after losing his headband. He'd been blasting across the field hitting every team he could find, and Kirishima's hardening kept the formation stable through impacts that would have broken any other team.
Team Todoroki was fifth. They had headbands, but not enough. Todoroki's ice kept freezing teams in place and Kaminari's electricity stunned anyone who got close, but every time they tried to steal from a 1-B team, another 1-B team would appear and force them to defend instead.
Team Midoriya was struggling. Three members against four-person teams, no gadgets, no special equipment. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow was their lifeline, defending and attacking simultaneously, but Midoriya couldn't get close enough to any high-value target to steal. Uraraka's zero gravity kept them mobile but they had no offensive answer to the 1-B teams' coordination.
Ten minutes.
Todoroki had stopped trying to steal from 1-B teams. He'd turned his full attention to the ten million.
"We go for their team," he told his team.
"I have something in mind, Just hold tight when I give the signal." Ida said.
Team Todoroki cut through the field like an icebreaker. Todoroki froze the ground in a straight line toward Team Manga, creating a highway of ice that cleared the path of mushrooms, adhesive, and softened ground. Kaminari fired a wide-area shock that forced the nearby 1-B teams to scatter. Yaoyorozu created a battering shield for the front of their formation.
They were coming fast.
Monoma saw them. "Mochi-mochi!"
Kodai enlarged it. The wall formed between Team Todoroki and Team Manga, massive and squishy.
Todoroki froze the wall. Then he froze it more. Then he froze it until the wall was encased in a glacier of ice that he could climb over.
"He's going around it!" Mei shouted.
"Nuru-nuru!" Monoma called.
Kodai enlarged the slippery field. The ice path in front of Todoroki's team became frictionless. The formation wobbled. Ida's engines sparked against the ice but found no grip.
Todoroki adjusted. He froze the Nuru-nuru onomatopoeia, negating the slipperiness with sheer cold. The formation steadied.
"He's countering everything," Monoma muttered. "That ice is annoying."
Eleven minutes. Todoroki was closing the gap.
"Kaminari! Now!" Todoroki ordered.
A blast of electricity arced toward Team Manga. Monoma threw up another wall but electricity doesn't care about walls. The shock hit their formation and Mei yelped, her gadgets sparking. Kodai's hands clenched and her grip on the horse formation slipped for half a second. Manga had a grinning emoji in his speech bubble.
“SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT CLASS 1-A!” Manga cackled like a mad king.
Todoroki saw the opening.
"IDA!"
"RECIPRO BURST!"
Ida's engines roared to a pitch that shook the ground. Team Todoroki shot forward at a speed that turned them into a blur, the ice highway shattering under the force of the acceleration, Yaoyorozu's shield battering through Monoma's half-formed barrier like it was paper.
They were right there. Todoroki's hand reached for the ten million headband on Manga's head. Inches away. Fingertips touching cloth.
Manga spoke softly.
One word. The only word he'd used in twelve minutes.
"Ban."
The word left his mouth aimed directly at the ground between the two teams. The kanji formed, dark and heavy, the onomatopoeia of a loud bang, and Kodai, despite the electricity still tingling through her, enlarged it.
The Ban hit the ground like a bomb going off.
The shockwave threw Team Todoroki sideways. The entire formation went airborne, Ida's stalled engines useless, Yaoyorozu's shield cracking, Kaminari flailing. They landed eight meters away in a heap of tangled limbs and cracked ice.
Todoroki stared at Team Manga from the ground, ice still crackling on his right side. Manga looked back. His speech bubble displayed a single word:
No.
"INCREDIBLE!!" Present Mic's voice cracked. "TEAM TODOROKI'S UlTIMATE MOVE, JUST GOT SHUT DOWN BY A SINGLE WORD FROM FUKIDASHI MANGA! THIS KID IS SEEMINGLY UNTOUCHABLE!!"
Twelve minutes. The field was chaos.
Bakugo had abandoned all strategy and was blasting from team to team like a guided missile, stealing headbands through sheer violence and Kirishima's unwavering durability. He'd fought his way back from fourth to second, taking headbands from 1-B teams that didn't have the firepower to stop him.
"Team Bakugo has clawed their way from the brink of defeat!" Present Mic shouted. "That kid is RELENTLESS!"
But every headband Bakugo stole from a 1-B team, another 1-B team stole from an 1-A team. The points just kept circulating. 1-B's coordination meant that even when one team lost headbands, the class as a whole didn't lose ground.
Midoriya's team was barely hanging on. Three against four everywhere they turned. Tokoyami's Dark Shadow had been their shield for fifteen minutes straight and the strain was showing.
Team Shinso had been quietly accumulating headbands. Nobody was sure how. Teams kept walking up to Shinso's formation and handing over their headbands with blank expressions.
"10!"
"9!"
"8!"
"7!"
"6!"
"5!"
"4!"
"3!"
"2!"
"1!"
"TIME'S UP!" Present Mic shouted. "LET'S SEE WHO THE TOP FOUR TEAMS ARE RIGHT NOW!"
The arena went silent. Every student frozen in place, headbands clutched or missing, formations intact or crumbled.
The screen updated.
1st Place: TEAM MANGA — 10,000,175 points
The crowd erupted.
2nd Place: TEAM TETSUTETSU — 1,285 points
Tetsutetsu screamed. Honenuki nodded behind his visor. Shiozaki folded her hands in prayer. Awase fist-pumped.
3rd Place: TEAM BAKUGO — 980 points
Bakugo looked at the screen. Looked at his headbands. Looked at Team Manga, untouched, unscratched, the ten million still sitting on Manga's head like it belonged there.
His fists clenched so hard his knuckles cracked.
4th Place: TEAM KENDO — 870 points
Kendo let out a breath she'd been holding for fifteen minutes. Tokage pumped both fists. Komori clapped. Yanagi's expression didn't change, but her hands dangled a little higher than usual, which for her was celebration.
"THESE FOUR TEAMS WILL PROCEED TO THE FINAL EVENT!" Midnight announced.
"Ahh, my babies got ripped apart!" Mei held up the broken remains of her gadgets. "My babies! I guess there's always room for improvement."
"Your babies kept us mobile," Manga said. "You did great."
She beamed. Then immediately started pitching a replacement gadget to a nearby camera.
Monoma exhaled. His throat was raw. Raw from fifteen minutes of continuous onomatopoeia production. Kodai had made every word count, but the sheer volume of words had added up.
"You did amazing out there, Monoma-kun." Manga said, patting Monoma on the shoulder.
"Of course I did," Monoma replied. But the smugness was softened by genuine exhaustion. "Though I admit, watching you deal with their secret move with one word was... brillant!"
"Brilliant?" Kodai said.
Everyone looked at her. She almost never spoke actual words.
"Mm." She looked at Manga. "It was cool."
A fireworks blew off in Manga's bubble in celebration. “Kodai-chan! You said more words than mm!”
“Mm.” Kodai responded, which Manga and Monoma took as don’t get used to it. It’s only because they won and she was in a festive mood.
“Absolutely delightful!” Monoma cackled in absolute ecstasy as he looked at their placements. “LOOKS LIKE CLASS B ISN’T ALL THAT BAD CONSIDERING WE GOT TOP THREE OF THE FOUR PLACEMENTS!!!” Kendo somehow made her way over to him and chopped his maniacal laughing self down.
"WE'LL PROCEED TO THE AFTERNOON PORTION AFTER A ONE-HOUR LUNCH BREAK!" Present Mic announced.
The arena buzzed. Students from the eliminated teams congratulated each other, commiserated, or argued about what went wrong. 1-A students were gathered in clusters, processing the fact that only one of their teams had made the cut.
Bakugo. Just Bakugo's team. The rest of 1-A was out.
Meanwhile, three of the four advancing teams were 1-B. Eleven Class 1-B students in the tournament bracket. The class no one talked about after Class 1-A’s villain attack.
They were talking about them now.