The stadium rumbled with every announcent, every burst of collective excitent, and every abrupt change on the main scoreboard suspended above the arena. Thousands of voices blended into a constant roar that seed to vibrate directly through the concrete of the stands as the U.A. Sports Festival continued its march toward its second test.
From a seat halfway down the side stands, Reiji watched everything, his body slightly leaning forward, his hood pulled down, partially obscuring his face. He had managed to remain relatively unnoticed so far, or at least enough to avoid being surrounded by people asking for photos, awkward questions, or simply staring.
Relatively.
Because even there, he still noticed people recognizing him from ti to ti.
It certainly didn't help that the giant screens were showing snippets of the big reveal from the first event every few minutes: Himiko Toga.
"Isn't that the sister of the guy from the mud villain?"
"Yeah, I think so. The general studies one."
"I heard he almost bled to death fighting that monster."
"They say even so heroes couldn't get close."
Shinso, sitting next to him with a drink in his hand, let out a small, nasal laugh as he watched one of those replays flash by before the system switched back to the current competition.
"You don't even need to participate anymore to be part of the spotlight."
"I'd rather not," Reiji muttered, his eyes fixed on the stadium.
And he honestly ant it.
The first test was still replaying on the stadium's giant screens as the organizers prepared for the second round. A gigantic obstacle course over 150 ters tall had served as the initial qualifying exam, forcing all participants to navigate moving structures, gravity-defying zones, collapsible platforms, and sections covered in visual illusions that completely distorted their perception of space.
There were clearly so aids available to help students without a powerful mobility Quirk like others, but they were limited, and that very factor proved decisive in the race.
Himiko had been one of the standouts, far exceeding expectations.
The screens replayed one of her best monts: moving between unstable structures, grabbing targets, and using her speed to climb with ease, while simultaneously harnessing the effects of other Quirks around her to gain advantages in different areas and over obstacles, almost effortlessly.
Reiji watched the replay in silence as the comntator exaggerated each maneuver with the typical drama of the festival. He had trained Himiko during the weekend before the festival, but such results were simply because... Himiko was a prodigy.
Reiji dared to say that even more than himself, Himiko's ability to naturally maximize all her abilities was... terrifying. She understood why she'd never been captured despite being a notorious serial killer...
And the worst part was, she'd barely used a single vial from her blood vial kit for her Quirk.
i had built a small, portable storage system specifically for her, capable of keeping blood fresh for extended periods without imdiate degradation. A compact pouch, hidden beneath her uniform, where Himiko kept various pre-prepared tubes for ergencies or strategic use.
Among them... was Reiji's blood. That was precisely his special move, and she was excelling without it.
The second test officially unfolded in front of the stadium shortly after. A tactical team race divided into multiple cooperative segnts where each team had to traverse different scenarios specifically designed to punish poor coordination.
There were sections of pure speed, moving platforms with obstacles, weather zones, and the opponents themselves, all vying for the top four spots that would advance to the next round. The scenario demanded constant synchronization of movents.
Being strong was no longer enough.
They had to function as a unit.
And Himiko's team was absurdly good.
Nejire Hado imdiately stood out within the group, having placed first in the previous test with her Quirk that allowed her to levitate. Her energy seed impossible to contain even before the test officially began. She floated lightly as she chatted animatedly with Himiko, constantly gesturing with her hands while explaining sothing with a touch of over-excitent. Alongside them were a girl with a montary duplication Quirk and a student capable of expanding his muscles under control.
An oddly balanced composition.
"Nejire really ended up teaming up with her..." Reiji murmured, watching the main screen.
Shinso, sitting next to him with a drink in his hand, barely raised an eyebrow.
"Does that surprise you?"
"Yeah," he admitted honestly. "I didn't think Himiko would connect so quickly with the number one from the previous race..."
And she really did seem to get along well with Nejire.
The caras focused on the mont Nejire and Himiko exchanged a few words before the official start of the race, both smiling with a surprisingly genuine familiarity.
'Did they already know each other?'
The competition finally began amid bursts of artificial smoke and cheers from the crowd. The teams imdiately shot off toward the first sectors while the screens constantly split between different perspectives of the course.
Nejire used her spiral waves to reposition the group and generate constant montum, the muscular boy absorbed much of the physical effort during the strenuous sections, and the duplicator girl acted as a tactical decoy, activating traps and deflecting automated attacks.
But Himiko seed to be the leader. That was the first thing Reiji noticed.
She raised her voice precisely when needed, readjusted movents on the fly, and adapted the group's speed to the terrain.
Shinso exhaled slowly.
"Your sister surprisingly seems to be commanding the hero course group."
"Yeah, I'm just as surprised as you are. I an, she's intelligent but inexperienced, and yet she's doing it perfectly."
And it was true.
Because Himiko had always been intelligent.
The problem was that before, all that intelligence had been channeled into much darker and more destructive impulses. Now she seed to be finding sothing resembling direction.
"Um, excuse . Is this seat taken?"
The voice ca from the side, much more casually than expected, barely getting lost in the stadium's deafening roar. Reiji turned his head slightly as the giant screens continued to display various shots of the ongoing competition. A boy with ssy green hair pointed to the empty seat next to them, holding a drink, a notebook overflowing with notes, and a backpack visibly worn from constant use.
Izuku Midoriya.
Although he looked different now than the last ti Reiji had seen him.
He still had that sowhat awkward and nervous posture, but physically he had changed quite a bit. His shoulders were broader, his arms much more toned, and even the way he walked seed slightly more confident. Even so, he still exuded that constant sense of insecurity, as if he still hadn't quite gotten comfortable taking up space around other people.
"Ah, of course," Reiji replied, barely moving aside after recovering from his initial shock at finding the green-haired boy there, and especially at his completely noticeable physical transformation.
"T-thanks!" Izuku smiled quickly before sitting down with a bit too much care, arranging his backpack on his lap almost imdiately. "My previous seat was too far away, and... from here you can see the teams moving much better."
Shinso observed him for a mont, and quickly found the notebook he was holding.
"Did you co here to study the festival like it was a tactical analysis?"
Izuku's eyes widened slightly, clearly taken aback.
"N-No! Well... yes, a little..."
As he tried to explain, he finally looked up at Reiji.
And then he recognized him.
The change in his expression was imdiate.
"Ah! You're the boy from the—"
Reiji raised a hand before he could finish the sentence.
"Lower."
Izuku tensed automatically.
"S-Sorry!" He lowered his voice instantly, nervously adjusting his fingers on his notebook. "It wasn't intentional."
Shinso observed the scene for a few seconds before looking directly at the green-haired boy.
"...You know him?"
Izuku hesitated for just a mont.
Not because he wanted to hide it.
But because he clearly didn't know how to explain it without sounding strange.
"We t a while ago..." he finally murmured.
"In an alley," Reiji added in a completely lifeless tone.
Shinso slowly raised an eyebrow.
"...That sounded pretty shady."
Izuku stiffened imdiately.
"I-It wasn't weird! Well… it was weird, but not like that, it was just that—"
"You keep making it worse," Shinso comnted without changing his expression.
Izuku snapped his mouth shut, looking away at the stadium in obvious embarrassnt.
Reiji let out a small, tired breath before turning his attention back to the competition.
Below, Himiko's team had just cleared another obstacle course, using the montum generated by Nejire to reposition themselves on a moving structure. The movent was so clean that even Present Mic ended up cheering as if they had scored a goal.
Izuku reacted imdiately, leaning slightly forward.
"Wow…" he murmured, genuinely impressed, his eyes following the group's every move. "That group seems pretty good. Their Quirks complent each other well, and they seem to have good coordination."
Reiji glanced at him briefly.
Midoriya still had that.
That absurd ability to analyze situations almost automatically.
"Your sister?" Izuku asked without taking his eyes off the track. He already knew the answer, but he still didn't know how else to break the small silence that had remained.
"Yes."
Izuku observed for a few more seconds before speaking again, though this ti he did so with a bit more care, as if he were still unsure of how much he could say.
"I didn't think soone from general studies could coordinate a team with hero course students like that..." he admitted honestly. "Especially with the champion of the previous test..."
Shinso rested his chin on his hand.
"Believe , neither did we."
The caras focused again on Himiko as she gave quick instructions to the group before completely changing the direction of the course to avoid a direct confrontation with another team. The decision was so quick and natural that even several comntators imdiately highlighted it.
Reiji watched this in silence.
"Your sister trained incredibly hard for this... right?" Izuku asked after a few seconds.
"Yes," Reiji replied calmly. "More than I expected."
The answer ca out more honestly than he intended.
Because he had truly underestimated how much this ant to Himiko.
At first, he thought it was just a passing enthusiasm. Another montary obsession. But as the days went by, he began to notice real differences. Himiko trained even when no one was watching. She improved physically as much as she could, but even without a naturally fit physique, her natural talent was overflowing.
Izuku glanced quickly back at his notebook before speaking again.
"Her Quirk wouldn't normally give her much of an advantage in group tests like this..." he murmured, almost thinking aloud. "But she's compensating with great flexibility and ntal acuity to lead her own group."
Reiji slowly turned his gaze back to him.
There he was again.
The uncanny way Midoriya understood Quirks just by observing them.
Izuku seed to realize too late that he had spoken aloud and tensed up slightly.
"A-Ah… sorry. Sotis I overanalyze things."
"I noticed that," Shinso murmured.
Izuku lowered his gaze slightly, a little embarrassed, as he lightly scratched the back of his neck.
And while below, the stadium continued to roar with excitent as Himiko's team advanced…
The second test continued as the remaining teams traversed a series of sectors specifically designed to disrupt group coordination. Moving platforms constantly shifted position, gusts of crosswind disrupted balance, and weight sensors triggered automatic collapses whenever the participants misdistributed their weight.
Himiko's group continued to move among the leaders.
Nejire led the overall movent, using her spiral waves to constantly propel the team forward and alter the pace of the course. The muscular student absorbed much of the physical exertion while the duplication girl generated decoys that triggered traps before the real group reached certain areas.
Each ti the course changed, Himiko imdiately readjusted the group's positions. She tid the exact mont to advance, accelerate, or decelerate as they passed through sections where other teams were beginning to fall apart.
The next section required one of the team mbers to be carried without being allowed to touch the ground while automated turrets fired ink projectiles at anyone who broke formation.
Three teams were eliminated as soon as they entered.
One team simultaneously activated several weight sensors, causing a section of the course to collapse completely.
Another team lost its balance when gusts of wind changed direction.
Himiko's group did not slow down.
The duplicator girl imdiately split into several copies that began running toward different sectors, triggering traps and deflecting shots. Nejire used a short spiral wave beneath the muscular student to propel him onto one of the moving platforms just before it collapsed, while Himiko signaled the next move a fraction of a second before the turrets changed their pattern.
She wasn't shouting instructions.
The team was already following her lead.
The platforms began retracting faster as they moved toward the final stretch. The gusts of crosswind increased in intensity, and several remaining teams started missing jumps by re centiters.
Mirio was still leading alongside Tamaki.
But Himiko and the others were already trailing.
The final sector was a line suspended on extrely narrow platforms that automatically disappeared as soon as they detected too much accumulated weight. The final turrets began firing cross patterns as enormous gusts of wind struck the participants from the sides.
Nejire launched a spiral wave beneath the group to generate the initial montum.
The muscular student imdiately used his strength to hurl one of the decoy duplicates forward, activating the first turrets before the real team entered the sector.
The traps exploded against the fake copy.
And then Himiko moved forward.
She leaped toward the first platform just as it began to retract, twisting her body in mid-air before landing on the balls of her feet to avoid disrupting the weight distribution too much. The mont she touched down, she signaled her next move as the wind whipped across the entire path.
The muscular student sped through two consecutive platforms, carrying the original duplicator on his shoulders, while Nejire blocked so of the sensors with an inverted wave.
The platforms began to disappear faster.
The wind shifted again.
Himiko imdiately readjusted the group's direction just a fraction of a second before one of the surfaces collapsed completely behind them.
Mirio crossed first.
Tamaki followed closely behind.
Himiko's team entered imdiately afterward.
Nejire unleashed one last spiral wave beneath the group as the muscular student propelled the duplicator forward to absorb the final firing pattern. Himiko seized the opening and surged through the final stretch just as the platform beneath her feet vanished completely.
"SECOND PLACE FOR TEAM HIMIKO TOGA AND NEJIRE HADO!" roared Present Mic as the stadium imdiately erupted in cheers and applause.
The caras focused on the group as soon as they crossed the finish line.
Nejire raised both arms in celebration as she spun around.
The muscular student collapsed to the ground, breathing heavily.
The duplicator girl practically fell backward, laughing between gasps.
Himiko remained bent over for a few seconds, her hands resting on her knees, as she caught her breath.
Then she slowly looked up at the giant screens displaying the team's final results, a small smile spreading across her face as she tried to spot Reiji.
It didn't take long to find him, though, and she made a quick gesture toward him. Reiji simply raised his hand subtly, careful not to let many people notice.
***
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