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...
The hallway leading toward the cafeteria was loud with footsteps and chatter, but in Yuta’s head, Mineta’s words still echoed.
’A conspiracy...? Seriously?’ He exhaled through his nose. "Replace soone from the Hero Course," he muttered under his breath.
"If I wanted to act cool, I’d pick a theory that didn’t sound like it ca from the back of a cereal box."
It wasn’t even insulting—just dumb. So dumb it almost wrapped back around into being impressive.
’Well, it ca from Mineta.’
Still...
He wasn’t blind. Mineta wasn’t attacking out of malice. Well, maybe he was. However, it was most likely that the guy was terrified.
"Replace soone from the Hero Course..."
If anything, that fear ca from what Shinso said two weeks ago, not from Yuta’s actions.
Behind all the jealousy and bravado, Mineta had one core motivation in life:
Beco cool → get girls.
The Hero Course was his golden ticket.
If soone from General Studies suddenly looked better than him?
Of course he’d panic.
In Yuta’s view however, he was simply overthinking.
Sure, his performance at the sports Festival was far from ideal, but if anyone was at risk of losing their spot, it wasn’t Mineta.
For all his flaws, the grape idiot’s quirk had utility, range, mobility, area control...
He was weak in comparison to the top students in Class 1-A? Sure. But in the bigger picture? Hagakure’s quirk was useless in combat. Koda talked to pigeons and Half of 1-B were sowhat average.
Yuta sighed. From the looks of it, Mineta wasn’t going anywhere. His situation, while weak was far from hopeless, and Yuta felt like he would most likely replace Class 1b rather than 1A.
’How unfortunate.’
Either way, it didn’t matter. Transferring to the Hero Course was still a distant possibility.
And right now, he had bigger problems.
Like the throbbing ache in his calves.
"Tch..."
He winced slightly as he walked.
That burst of chakra during the Cavalry Battle especially while his pathways were still healing had been reckless. His body had barely healed only to be put to work once again.
’Need to be careful for the one-on-one matches...’
He shifted his weight, trying not to limp, and froze.
Up ahead, standing near the path leading toward the main cafeteria building, was Todoroki Shoto. Arms crossed. Expression unreadable. Body angled in a way that made it very obvious he wasn’t coincidentally standing there.
’...Is he waiting for ?’
Yuta approached slowly.
Todoroki’s eyes tracked him the whole way—cold, sharp, giving off an intimidating vibe. Stopping just a bit short, Yuta’s brows furrowed.
"Can I help you?"
"You’re strong." Todoroki spoke without preamble. "... And you’ve gotten ahead of twice today."
Todoroki exhaled, a thin cloud of cold mist drifting from the right side of his face.
"I won’t pretend that doesn’t bother ."
Yuta blinked. "Race and Cavalry Battle? Yeah, I guess." His tone wasn’t angry. It wasn’t hostile.
It was simply ... honest. So .. where exactly was this going?
"And?"
"During the Cavalry battle, Your last move caught off guard." His eyes narrowed. "I reacted on instinct. I didn’t choose to. My body did. That ans I was treating you as a threat. So much so that I broke a pledge I made to myself."
Yuta raised a brow. "...Thanks?"
"It wasn’t a complint." Todoroki’s tone didn’t change at all, making the deadpan sting even harder. "If anything, it ans I wasn’t in control. That’s unacceptable."
Right. Classic Todoroki phrasing:
You forced to respect you, and I’m upset about that.
’This? ... Seriously?’ Yuta resisted the urge to smack his forehead ’Do I look like Midoriya?’
"I won’t pretend that doesn’t bother either." He said looking at his left hand.
"Truthfully, I never expected soone like you to co from general studies. Nevertheless, that doesn’t change anything. I’m telling you this because when our match cos—"
Yuta blinked. "You’re assuming we’ll fight?"
"..." Todoroki paused. "Yes. I am."
It wasn’t arrogance. It was statistical confidence. And honestly? Fair.
Yuta rubbed the back of his neck. "...Go on."
"When our match cos," Todoroki said, voice lower, "I won’t let your unpredictability dictate the pace. I’m not going to repeat today’s mistakes."
A faint chill radiated from his right side again—barely noticeable, but deliberate. Like he was making a statent.
Yuta caught the implication.
This ti, I’m taking you seriously from the start.
He exhaled.
Internally, he wasn’t intimidated. Todoroki wasn’t being aggressive. He was being... Todoroki. Blunt. Awkward. Intense in a socially inconvenient way.
Still, Yuta decided not to poke fun. The guy was clearly sorting out his pride or whatever family nonsense he had going on.
Before Yuta could respond, the background noise shifted. From Todoroki’s slight change in expression, he didn’t even need to turn around to know what was happening.
But he did anyway.
Class 1-A was gathered near the cafeteria entrance—halfway through regrouping after the events of the day. Midoriya, Iida, Uraraka, Kaminari, Shoji, even Bakugo had shown up at so point, glancing over with his usual "I’m not looking but I’m totally looking" scowl.
They were all staring. So subtle. So not.
Kaminari nudged Shoji with his ebow. "Dude. What’s going on?"
Shoji quinted. "Can’t you guess? A standoff between the top two."
Uraraka gasped a little. "A challenge between n."
Iida chopped the air imdiately. "Uraraka! Please refrain from romanticizing a confrontation!"
Behind them, Class 1-B students also trickled into view, pausing when they saw the two frontrunners.
"...We will settle this in the arena," Todoroki said, lowering his voice. Then turned to head into the cafeteria to avoid a larger spectacle. "I’ll see you in the bracket."
Yuta exhaled. ’I’m not cut out for this.’
__
Yuta walked through the cafeteria doors.
Conversations didn’t exactly stop—but they slowed. Eyes tracked him, and whispers followed like a tide.
"—that’s him—"
"—first place—"
"—general studies kid—"
Pretended not to hear, he joined the lunch line.
The sll of grilled fish and miso soup filled the air, mixing with the buzz of a hundred overlapping conversations. Sowhere near the windows, a group of support course students were arguing about gear regulations.
At another table, business course kids were taking bets on the afternoon matches.
Normal lunch hour chaos.
Except every few seconds, soone would glance his way.
Behind the counter, Lunch Rush worked with machine-like precision—ladling curry, plating rice, sliding trays down the rail.
When Yuta stepped forward, the man smiled.
"Well, well! If it isn’t our star perforr! That was so world-class maneuvering out there, young man! Speed, strategy, timing—you had it all!"
"Thanks," Yuta said, accepting a bowl of rice.
"Tch. Move."
Yuta didn’t even have to turn to recognize the voice.
Bakugo brushed past him, tray in hand, scowl carved into his face like it was permanent.
"You’re clogging the damn line," Bakugo snapped.
"You’re behind ," Yuta replied calmly. "The line... moves with ."
Bakugo’s eyelid twitched. A dangerous sign.
Before he could explode—verbally or literally—two very familiar figures chid in behind him.
Sero nudged Kirishima. "Bro, he’s already mad."
"Yeah," Kirishima whispered back (loudly), "this is like... peak Bakugo irritation. We should rate it."
"Solid eight out of ten."
"Eight? Nah, nine. He’s got the vein popping."
"I WILL KILL BOTH OF YOU," Bakugo snarled.
Yuta walked away without looking back.
He crossed the cafeteria to the space for General Studies. There, his friends were waiting.
Hana scooted her tray aside excitedly. "Yuta! Over here!"
He walked over and sat down.
"Hey."
"Yuta!" Hana’s face lit up. "You were incredible out there!"
Kimura nodded enthusiastically. "Seriously. That was insane."
Tanaka leaned back, arms crossed, but his grin gave him away. "Yeah. You made the rest of us look bad."
Yuta shrugged. "Don’t exaggerate. It’s no big deal. How’d you guys do?"
Hana’s smile faltered. "I... didn’t make it past The Fall."
Tanaka sighed. "We both made it to the end, but at the bottom."
Silence.
Then Hana leaned forward, eyes narrowing.
"Okay. Explain."
"Explain what?"
"Your quirk. You’ve been telling us for weeks that it’s weak. And now suddenly you’re outpacing the entire hero course?"
Kimura nodded. "Yeah. Were you lying to us?"
Yuta t their gazes evenly.
"No. I wasn’t lying."
"Then how—"
"The accident."
They blinked.
"I was in the hospital for a few days rember?" Yuta continued. "Let’s just say I had a ... Peculiar encounter with .."
"Hold on! Did you fight a villain?"
Tanaka suddenly asked.
Yuta paused. "How did you? .."
"I guessed. It’s been on my mind since you ntioned it. I an, they are few things that are difficult to talk about .. so .."
"Hmm. Guess so. I was hurt pretty bad enough to be on life support for several days. Good news is I think my quirk got stronger. I didn’t know it could do that either."
Hana frowned. "That’s... convenient."
"It’s the truth."
Kimura exchanged a glance with Tanaka.
"So what, you’re like a shonen protagonist now? Near-death experience gives you a power-up?"
Yuta’s lips twitched. "Sothing like that."
They talked a bit more—small things, jokes, deflections—but the atmosphere had shifted.
Yuta stood, lifting his tray.
"Hold on a minute, guys. I’m grabbing a drink."
"Get one too!" Hana chirped.
"Sure."
As Yuta walked away, the three of them sat in silence.
"...He’s different now," Hana said quietly.
"Yeah," Kimura agreed.
Tanaka didn’t say anything.
Yuta headed toward the drink counter on the far side of the cafeteria—right past the Hero Course tables.
Halfway there, voices drifted over.
"...I’m telling you, it’s totally a Sports Festival tradition!" Kaminari was saying.
Mineta nodded vigorously beside him. "Yeah! All the girls are supposed to wear cheerleader uniforms before the elimination rounds. I heard it from Aizawa-sensei directly."
"Excuse ?" Yaoyorozu frowned. "I... never received any announcent about that."
"You don’t have to believe us," Mineta said, adopting the smuggest voice possible. "I just figured the vice-rep should know before she embarrasses the class. But hey—maybe Class 1-A wants to fall behind the others?"
Uraraka looked uncertain. Jiro grimaced. Hagakure tilted her head.
Yuta stopped at the drink machine.
He didn’t even need plot knowledge for this one.
The sche was obvious from a mile away.
He filled Hana’s cup first.
Then his own. "Alright. Let’s get so payback."
__
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