Arena, Sports Festival Stadium.

Friday, 7th 2149.

I eyed the first-year students surrounding me, taking in everything I could see and attempting to discover what I could before we were placed in direct competition. Each of the U.A first-year classes was present, moving as groups towards the tunnels that would bring them into the arena—but I'd only interacted with very few of them.

There were dozens of the stadium's staff present, a force of adults all wearing grey uniforms, working to organise us into neat lines in the tunnel. Our class had been ferried to the front of the groups, and now we stood alongside 1-B, waiting for some kind of signal that hadn't been revealed to us.

I used the time to quietly seed as many grains of sand into the uniforms of the U.A students as I could manage, marking each of them out in advance because I wasn't certain how much time I would have to do it once we were led out into the arena.

Present Mic's voice echoed around the arena ahead, amplified about a hundredfold but somehow carrying none of the power he was capable of—the idea that we were all one Quirk-empowered shout away from stadium-wide deafness spoke of just how trusted the Hero was. His current words were impossible to understand, the tunnel only catching part of the sound and distorting the echo further before it could reach me. Monoma, near the front of 1-B's line, turned and looked at us, a smile that was far too smug dominating on his face.

"Uh oh," Mina said, "Think we should be worried about that guy?"

"Honestly, I'm more worried about Bakugo," Eijiro said, tapping his nose. "He looks like he's about to break cover."

Katsuki did seem to be struggling to contain himself; the moment he'd spotted Monoma, he'd gone ramrod straight, and I almost thought I could see evanescent sparks of light hovering around his fingertips.

"Kacchan," Izuku managed.

"I know," Katsuki grunted before turning forward again.

There had been a concentrated effort since Midnight's first class on image and interaction with the public to keep ourselves in line. Katsuki had been taking great efforts to reign himself in, but it wasn't always perfect—for him or for the rest of 1-A. The man at the front of the tunnel touched a finger to his ear, nodded, and then directed them to start forward down the tunnel.

"—back to the U.A Sports Festival," Present Mic said, the man's picture depicted on a massive monitor hanging above the stands. "You've seen the third years, you've seen the second years—now get ready for the first years."

"It's kind of strange to hear one of our teachers hosting such a big event," Momo said. "Although he certainly possesses the qualities expected of an announcer."

"A natural choice for such a task," Tenya said in agreement.

"First up, we have U.A. Hero Studies, 1-A, and 1-B. General Studies, 1-C, 1-D and 1-E. Support Studies, 1-F, 1-G, 1-H. Business Studies, 1-I, 1-J, 1-K." Present Mic said, swinging his arm out towards them. "Give it up for the first-year students of U.A."

"There are so many people," Izuku managed, looking alarmed.

"We already knew that, right?" Kyoka said, bemused. "We spent how many weeks watching these things?"

"I know, it's just—" Izuku said, holding his hands up. "I just can't believe we're actually down here, and they're all cheering for us."

"This is a part of being a hero," Tenya said, clenching his fist. "We will just have to get used to this, as well."

"I'm starting to get a bit nervous, honestly," Eijiro said, grinning. "What about you guys?"

"I'm not worried," Katsuki muttered. "This just makes me want to win even more."

Midnight was already down in the arena, standing on a concrete stage that hadn't been there when I'd previously scouted out the area. Cementoss was obviously present somewhere, although I couldn't see him from my current position. The large marked-out area on the grass that took up most of the space worked as an assembly area, and each of our classes lined up on the right-hand side facing Midnight.

"That costume should come with a warning," Denki said, impressed.

"She's certainly confident to wear it in front of so many people," Kyoka said, scratching her cheek. "Hey, Momo—imagine if we did get to wear our costumes?"

"Yes, well, there are a lot of people here," Momo admitted, a bit taken aback. "I may have had to put in a rush order with the designers if that were the case."

"Next up, we have Shiketsu High School. Hero Studies, 1-A, and 1-B. General Studies, 1-C, and 1-D. Support Studies, 1-E, and 1-F. Business Studies, 1-G, and 1-H." Present Mic said, flapping his hand at them. "Give it up for the first-year students of Shiketsu—I guess."

"Present Mic is really reigning in his favouritism there, isn't he?" Mina laughed. "The crowd is even booing—wow."

The students of Shiketsu entered through another tunnel, fewer students overall but looking every bit the part of heroes in training. The uniform tracksuit they all wore was black, with gold trimming, easily distinguishable from the blue and white of U.A. They slipped into the assembly area directly next to our own school before coming to a stop in line with the boundary.

"Onto the next—we have Seijin High School. Hero Studies, 1-A, 1-B and 1-C. Support Studies, 1-D, and 1-E." Present Mic said, "Give it up for the first-year students of Seijin."

"They have more Hero studies classes than us," Fumikage said, noting the discrepancy. "They also lack General Studies and Business Studies."

"More Hero Course classes could mean a more lax threshold for entry," Momo wondered, "An easier entrance exam, perhaps?"

"Better not say that to them," Eijiro said, "That's bound to rile them up—wait a minute, are we competing against Shinobi?"

Every single student that stepped out wore a light grey uniform that included leg wraps, hand wraps, a cloth kabuto helmet, and a headband. Despite the variance in height, build, and sex, they almost all looked identical—although as they got closer, it became clear that several of them had hair that wasn't completely covered by the helmet, and that helped to further distinguish them.

"It would appear so," Momo said, frowning. "I don't recall seeing them participate in any of the previous Festivals."

"They're kind of cramping your style, Shoji," Denki said. "Ninja feud?"

"Another time, perhaps," Mezo said, amused.

"Next up is Seiai Academy. Hero Studies, 1-A. General Studies, 1-B, 1-C, 1-D and 1-E. Support Studies, 1-F, and 1-G." Present Mic said, pointing his nose up in the air. "Give it up for the first-year students of Seiai."

The students from Seiai Academy wore white tracksuits with golden trim, each one adorned by a large pink bow attached beneath the folded-down collar.

"Only one Hero Course this time," Tsuyu said. "A higher threshold for entry?"

"I believe so—they are a very prestigious institution that caters exclusively to women," Momo said, "It was actually my second choice after U.A."

"Oh, it's these guys again—Ketsubutsu Academy. Hero Studies, 1-1, and 1-2. General Studies, 1-3, 1-4 and 1-5. Support Studies, 1-6." Present Mic said, miming being sick. "Give it up for the first-year students of Ketsubutsu."

Ketsubutsu had light grey uniforms on, the contrast between them and the horde of Ninja enough that nobody could mistake them for one another.

"These are the guys that always have it out for U.A, aren't they?" Eijiro said, craning his neck to see them. "They don't look so tough."

"Neither do you until you start using your quirk," Mina said, grinning. "Sure you want to write them off before you know what they can do?"

"Hey, hold on now," Eijiro squawked. "I look tough without my quirk—I'm super manly."

"Last but not least, and participating for the first time—we have Isamu Academy. Hero Studies, 1-A, and 1-B. General Studies, 1-C, and 1-D. Support Studies, 1-E. Business Studies, 1-G." Present Mic said. "Give it up for the first-year students of Isamu."

The students of Isamu Academy were far fewer than the other schools and looked quite small next to the mass of students that was Ketsubutsu. Their uniform consisted of a light grey and dark blue combination, the word 'ISAMU' written horizontally down the left side of their backs.

Tsuyu leant forward in an attempt to get eyes on the group, but she couldn't quite see from her position—she was simply too short, and there were too many bodies blocking the view.

"Momo," Tsuyu said, "Is there a girl who looks like a snake in the Isamu group?"

Momo glanced back for a moment before turning to squint at the distant group; I used some of my sand to get eyes on the group, sliding it between the blades of grass to use as cover—almost immediately, I spotted the girl she was talking about. A large spiky mass of red hair surrounded her head, and as Tsuyu had described, she held the appearance of a snake from her shoulders up.

"I'm sorry, I'm afraid I can't quite see from here," Momo admitted.

"I saw a girl with spiky red hair and snake characteristics earlier," I said, speaking up. "She was in the Isamu contingent when we first arrived."

Tsuyu glanced up for a moment, looking surprised, and then she turned to look back in the same direction as if she might be able to see the girl through the mass of bodies. Whatever had driven her interest in the girl, she didn't seem prepared to reveal it now.

"Now that everyone is on-site and ready," Present Mic called out, "I'll be handing it back over to U.A's very own—Midnight."

"Thank you. Now, it's time for us to get started, and this is where you will begin feeling the pain." Midnight said, cracking her cat-o-nine tails. "The first fateful event for the first years—but what on earth could it be?"

Considering they'd already done this twice in a row now, she was almost entirely hamming it up for our benefit. The monitor hanging above the stand began to rotate through a series of blurring events before finally settling on 'Obstacle Race.'

"All of you will be participating in this treacherous contest, and the track will be four kilometres long—more than enough to take your breath away," Midnight said, winking at them. "It will take you around the outside of the stadium and through three key obstacles that you must get passed by any means necessary; run, evade, fight—the choice is yours."

That cleared up one of my concerns; the massive robots weren't something any of us had to fight, so long as we could get past them. But I still had others—Uncle Sajin had been right about the lack of knowledge, and after seeing just how many people were present, I was starting to realise the real danger here.

It was possible that someone amongst these hundreds of students could offhandedly defeat me through some esoteric Quirk—much like the Seiai Academy girl had done to uncle Sajin. I couldn't rely on just my individual strength to carry me through; I would need to take direct action to increase the probability of my own success.

"Now, I don't want to restrain you—right now, at least," Midnight hedged. "In this event, you may attack, lay traps, or otherwise hinder your competitors, but you must stay within the boundary of the track at all times."

"She's really having fun, isn't she?" Mina said, bouncing on the balls of her feet. "I'm so ready for this—no hard feelings when I win, right guys?"

"You wish," Katsuki said, visibly restraining himself now.

"All right, all of you, form up before the red gate; that will be the starting point," Midnight said, waving them on. "No fighting until we start the race."

Our proximity to the gate meant nothing because the other schools rushed forward, just as eager to place themselves at the front of the pack. I looked up at the gate above and at the tunnel, considering how little space we would have to move while inside. There was a beep as one of the three glowing green lights set into the top of the gate with black, indicating that the event was about to begin.

I used the markers I'd placed inside of each of the U.A student's uniforms to make a mental map of the area. Almost all of 1-A was in the first third of the crowd, with the exception of Yuga and Denki, who'd managed to find themselves jostled back quite a distance. Grains of sand crept through the blades of grass, spreading outwards into a very specific pattern. 1-B had more people outside of the newly marked area, but enough were inside that I decided to accept the loss.

Shoto, near the front of the group, glanced back once, scanning the people around him before facing forward again. Instead of focusing ahead of him to the obstacles beyond, he was looking back at the competition—he probably had the exact same idea that I had, although I wasn't sure it was going to account for friendlies.

The second light went out, and the crowd tensed, lowering their centre of gravity in preparation to burst forward down the tunnel. I sent sand forward until it reached the start of the tunnel, ready to prepare a countermeasure. The third light went out just as my sand completed its circuit—

"Begin," Midnight called.

Sand erupted behind me, a thick wall rising up out of the grass, encircling most of the U.A contingent and creating an additional barrier for the other schools to deal with. It wasn't perfect, and the safe area still had almost a hundred students from multiple schools inside, but it was enough. I surged forwards, leaving a pathway of sand behind me as I went, giving the rest of the U.A students a path over Shoto's incoming ice. The students from the other schools found themselves falling through the pathway as they attempted to sneak through, falling down into the mess of ice and being forced to deal with it.

Katsuki erupted out of the tunnel, hands held behind him as he went—and directly behind him, a large boy followed, encased in a whirlwind of visible air, laughing as he left us behind. I cleared the tunnel a moment later, emerging as an amorphous cloud of particles and spiralling forward in pursuit of the three leaders.

I let the pathway collapse, and then when I turned my attention to the wall, I found that it was rapidly eroding beneath the hundreds of Quirks crashing into it. The rest of the students began to push into the frozen tunnel. A boy with silver hair, whose feet were still frozen to the ground, let out a cry of outrage—and then exploded. Pink gas washed upwards, leaving people coughing and trying to clear the smoke with their hands.

It seemed to have some bizarre effect on those exposed to it, turning their skin grey and robbing them of any higher-brain function. Even the silver-haired boy who was responsible for it wasn't sparred, and soon everyone that had been frozen to the ground had broken free of their icy prison, suddenly able to generate way more force than before.

My plan had worked, for the most part, almost the entirety of 1-A and 1-B had made it through the tunnel, although Monoma, Juzu, Manga, Shihai, Togaru, Denki and Yuga had all been caught in the pink gas and seemed to be trying to bite the other students.

That meant that a significant portion of those who would fill the forty-two or fifty slots at the end of this course would be people whose quirks I was already familiar with. I let the sand orb I'd been using to watch the aftermath disintegrate and turned my attention back to the fight that was going on ahead of me. Shoto seemed to be trying to destroy the robots and fight off two other students at the same time—Katsuki and the tall boy from Shiketsu, who was still wreathed in a visible gale of wind.

I surged forward, ignoring all three of them, in an attempt to catch up to Tenya, who was outright sprinting between the massive robot's legs. Katsuki noticed us and gave a cry of outrage before sending a blast downwards, propelling himself up over the robot. It caught the attention of Shoto and the other boy—both of them breaking off from their engagement to catch up.

I caught up to Tenya as he arrived at the bottomless pit, the dozens of pillars tethered to one another by thin metal cables. The boy finally forced to slow down in an attempt to cross, his sense of balance not quite up to the task of sprinting across a cable that was swaying about in the breeze. I passed by him, dispersing myself as I went and leaving another sand orb behind to track the progress of everyone behind us.

The boy-wreathed wind arrived a moment later, passing straight over the obstacle without a need to address it. Katsuki followed, a continuous rapid fire of explosives pushing him forward. Directly beside him, Shoto skated forward on a fast-growing wave of ice, providing a pathway across the chasm that anyone else would be able to use after him—judging by the look on his face, he wasn't happy about it.

I kept moving, passing through the next pathway, staying low to the ground, solid enough that all of the cameras could see me—the goal here wasn't to win; it was to showcase versatility, planning and efficiency to the audience while also not giving away everything I was capable of to my direct competition.

The sand orb I'd left behind spotted Ochaco sprinting towards the pit before she leapt forward with a shout—instead of falling, she just kept on going forward. She'd managed a good speed before the jump, and it helped her cross the entire thing in about fifteen seconds before she cancelled her quirk on the other side. Ochaco stumbled, fell, and then rolled back to her feet before taking off down the path with a battle cry.

Mezo did the exact same thing, starting with a massive leap and then gliding across the gap with his multiple arms outstretched, skin connecting them like a wingsuit. Setsuna flew straight across it as well, already in two dozen parts as she went.

The Shiketsu student caught up to me just as I reached the minefield, moving like a missile through the air, propelled by the wind he was manipulating. Shoto, Katsuki and Tenya were now fighting for third place—literally fighting in Katsuki and Shoto's case. The Shiketsu boy sent a torrent of wind crashing down on me in an attempt to send me into the minefield below, and I twisted out of the way, reforming enough that he could see my face.

I'd seen a great deal of what he could do already, from his fight with Shoto and Katsuki to his attacks on me now—there was no need to fight him right now and reveal too much of my skill set. The boy hadn't stopped grinning since I'd first seen him, and it remained in place as I dropped back, letting him move into an uncontested first place.

The pathway curved back around towards a second tunnel, about ten meters before the one we'd started in. Without any form of opposition, I passed through the gate, reforming as I went and sliding to a stop on the grass—content with the second-place finish.

Shoto seemed intent on using his ice wave to carry him all the way to the finish line, and he'd bisected the minefield with it in the process, once again leaving a pathway for everyone else to use. Tenya had certainly made good use of it. Katsuki seemed single-mindedly focused on sabotaging Shoto at this point, and that was all the chance Tenya needed to kick it into high gear, leaving them both behind as he vanished forward with an entirely new level of speed I'd never seen him use before.

"Shiketsu High School takes the win, with Inasa Yoarashi as their champion," Present Mic called out, "He's set a hurricane pace with that windy quirk of his—but we've got more coming in right behind him—"

The massive screen changed, no longer showing Present Mic and instead showing a listing of the rankings as they came in.

"Congratulations on the win, Inasa," I said, coming to stand beside the boy. "You're very fast."

"To think a student of U.A would be complimenting me, I can't believe it," Inasa said, clenching his fist tightly. "Thank you—although I must ask, why did you slow down—"

Tenya burst through the gate, leg engines smoking as he straightened back up in an easy third-place finish. Shoto passed through a moment later, taking forth for himself, and then Katsuki came out of the tunnel with a shout of outrage, securing the fifth place.

"—U.A takes the second, third, fourth and fifth places," Present Mic cried, "That's; Hisoka Higawara, Tenya Ida, Shoto Todoroki and Katsuki Bakugo, respectively."

Once he was finished, I spoke up again.

"The difference between first and second place isn't so large that I would risk slowing both of us down unnecessarily," I said, smiling. "Besides, we still have two more events to complete, Inasa."

"An incredible perspective—exactly what I would expect from U.A," Inasa cheered, "I can feel my blood pumping; what an invigorating start to the day."

"—U.A continues to trickle in; Sixth, Tokoyami Fumikage. Seventh; Setsuna Tokage. Eighth; Mezo Shoji. Ninth; Reiko Yanagi. Tenth; Pony Tsunotori. Eleventh place; Ochaco Uraraka." Present Mic listed off, getting bogged down as they all came in one after another. "Twelfth; Ibara Shiozaki. Thirteenth; Jurota Shishida. Fourteenth; Mei Hatsume. Fifteenth; Momo Yaoyorozu—"

Cementoss stood at the entrance to the course, a series of thick concrete walls in place to contain the zombified students. Considering the cheers of the crowd above the immediate area, they were enjoying the student's continued attempts to escape confinement.

"Seijin High are getting some attention now." Present Mic said, "Sixteenth; Minamoto Daichi. Seventeenth; Matsumoto Dachi."

Two of the larger students wearing the shinobi uniform passed through the gates, each of them wearing an eye patch covering a different eye—given they had the same last name, had identical builds and were both in the first year, they must have been twins.

"Tenya," I said, spotting his approach. "Congratulations on your placement; you're as fast as always."

"To you as well, Higawara," Tenya said, "I must spend some time working on my balance; I'm afraid I wasn't quite as prepared as I had hoped, and it most definitely slowed me down."

"Another U.A student?" Inasa said, practically vibrating.

"This is Tenya Ida, the class president of 1-A—he is very reliable," I said as an introduction. "Tenya, this is Inasa Yoarashi."

I nodded my head towards the monitor above us, indicating the obvious method by which I'd learned his name.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Yoarashi," Tenya said, beaming at the introduction. "Congratulations on winning the event."

"Thank you so much," Inasa said, laughing out loud. "What a great day."

"U.A students seem to be dominating the rankings, don't they? I wonder why that is," Present Mic said, even as the crowd booed his favouritism. "Eighteenth; Tsuyu Asui. Nineteenth; Mashirao Ojiro. Twentieth; Mina Ashido. Twenty-first; Toru Hagakure. Twenty-second; Hanta Sero. Twenty-third; Eijiro Kirishima. Twenty-fourth; Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu. Twenty-fifth; Izuku Midoriya. Twenty-sixth; Kyoka Jiro."

So far, the plan to bolster the rankings with U.A students was working well, with only three places going to students from other schools. I hadn't seen what Quirk's the two boys from Seijin possessed, though, so I'd have to keep an eye on them in the next round.

"Seiai Academy makes an appearance; Twenty-seventh; Okuda Yoshi. Twenty-eighth; Sugiyama Jun." Present Mic called, "Seijin High; Twenty-ninth; Sama Takako. Thirtieth; Ige Masato."

Cementoss seemed to finally deem it safe to bring down the walls, letting the dishevelled students out of the cage—most of them looked like they had absolutely no idea what was going on. The silver-haired boy who'd nuked everyone seemed to be laughing his head off, pleased with what he'd managed to accomplish.

"U.A is back again. Thirty-first; Yui Kodai. Thirty-second; Itsuka Kendo. Thirty-third; Sen Kaibara. Thirty-forth; Kosei Tsuburaba. Thirty-fifth; Hitoshi Shinso." Present Mic continued, "Seiai Academy. Thirty-sixth; Kaneshiro Mai. Thirty-seventh; Soda Momoko. Thirty-eighth; Saiko Intelli. Thirty-ninth; Minami Ren."

That was a lot of unidentified quirks, and considering that most of them were from Seiai Academy, I'd have to be extra careful—I didn't want to end up like Sajin.

"Isamu Academy manages to make it through on their first attempt; well done," Present Mic said, clapping. "Fortieth; Kashiko Sekigai. Forty-first; Habuko Mongoose."

Considering the rankings only went to forty-two, it was pretty clear to me where the cutoff for the elimination was. The last girl panted for breath as she crossed through the gates before immediately tipping over onto her back in an attempt to regain some of her stamina.

"U.A fills the last slot. Forty-second; Kiniko Komori." Present Mic cheered, "The audience knows what that means—"

#

Waiting Room, Sports Festival Stadium.

Friday, 7th 2149.

"I can't believe how many of us made it through," Eijiro said, grinning. "How good is that?"

"I kind of feel bad for Kaminari and Aoyama," Ochaco said, rocking forward on her chair. "Did anyone see what happened to them?"

"I believe they were trapped on the other side of the wall Higawara put up," Mezo said, leaning against the other side of the table. "They were then caught in that pink gas that turned everyone into zombies."

"What wall?" Mina said, surprised. "I didn't see it?"

A great deal of attention fell on me after that, and I spoke up to address it.

"Considering the number of students present from other schools, we will invariably be coming into contact with unknown Quirks, with potentially dangerous effects. The best way to combat that danger was to ensure that the forty-two available slots were filled by U.A students." I said, prefacing it. "To that end, I raised a barrier between the bulk of the U.A contingent and the rest of the competitors as we moved into the tunnel with the goal of slowing them down."

"You realised that there were limited slots because all Obstacle Course events in the Sports Festivals share that feature—a remarkable strategy," Fumikage said, eyeing him. "Todoroki, were you involved in this plan as well?"

"No," Shoto said, eyeing the group with disinterest. "I was aiming to take you all out."

That sent a ripple of comments throughout the room, punctuated by Katsuki speaking up for the first time.

"Bastard," Katsuki hissed. "Don't think things are going to go your way next time."

"Kacchan," Izuku said, eyeing the camera in the corner.

"I know," Katsuki snapped, fists linked in front of his face in a white-knuckled grip. "Don't talk to me right now."

"Well, your plan seems to have worked, Hisoka," Momo said, "Although there were some who appear to have snuck through—particularly those from Seiai Academy."

"One student from Shiketsu High School, two students from Isamu Academy, four students from Seijin High School, six students from Seiai Academy and twenty-nine students from U.A," Toru said, listing them off. "Seems rather one-sided, doesn't it?"

A rather detailed accounting, considering we'd only had about two minutes out there before being shuffled back into the waiting room.

"It does," Tsuyu said, speaking up. "If we're worried about unknown Quirks, perhaps we should share any information we have gathered?"

I smiled as she opened the floor up to strategising rather than regretting things we could no longer change.

"Inasa Yoarashi possesses a very strong wind manipulation Quirk. He's capable of fast, manoeuvrable flight and in creating a defensive wall of wind around his body that is strong enough to block Katsuki's smaller explosions outright," I said, speaking up. "He has a high enough degree of control over it to send directed attacks at fast-moving objects and hit them accurately. Those same attacks are powerful enough to disrupt the balance of those large robots and to shatter Shoto's defensive ice formations on contact."

Katsuki made a noise in the back of his throat at his inclusion but managed to keep himself from saying anything in response. Shoto said nothing, but his eyes had narrowed to slits as he watched us.

"That sounds like a whole boatload of trouble," Eijiro said, drumming his fingers across the table. "I saw those two ninja-twins punch through a bunch of the smaller robots on their way through—I'm thinking strength enhancement Quirks."

"I saw them too; that's pretty much what I thought as well," Hanta agreed. "The girl with dark blue hair from Seiai Academy can make all these metal spikes come out of her skin like a hedgehog, I saw her use it to block an attack from the same robots, and she didn't take any kind of damage."

"The girl with ginger hair and freckles from Seiai can manipulate her hair—kind of like Ibara Shiozaki from 1-B," Izuku said, speaking up. "The silver-haired girl from the same school can make her arms turn into tentacles and stretch really far as well."

That was all useful information, and considering how direct each of their quirks was, I was starting to have far fewer concerns about them.

"The tall blonde girl from Seijin High can manipulate mud, and I witnessed her fire off a large wave that wiped out a dozen robots," Mashirao said, "The shorter boy that was with her can manipulate water in the same manner. They seem to have a high degree of teamwork, and their quirks synergise well."

"That leaves two girls from Seiai Academy that we don't know about and the two from Isamu Academy," Momo said, humming. "Tsuyu—you asked about the girl with the red hair earlier today. Do you know her?"

Tsuyu croaked at the question, looking like she was suddenly regretting suggesting the idea of sharing information.

"I know her," Tsuyu admitted, looking a bit trapped. "I—she can paralyse anyone by staring into their eyes. It only lasts for a couple of seconds, but you can't control your body at all during that time."

"Is there a cooldown between uses, or can she just stunlock us indefinitely?" Mina wondered.

"I think there is a small period between uses, but I'm not sure how long," Tsuyu managed. "Now I feel really bad—Habuko is my friend."

There was a bit of an uncomfortable silence after that before Toru cleared her throat from her place sitting on the end of the table.

"Seiai Academy, Kaneshiro Mai, the one with long brown hair, has a slingshot that fires pellets that hit hard enough to punch a hole in metal plating and also shock the target," Toru said, kicking her feet in the air. "Her weapon seems like a support item, while her Quirk is probably something related to accuracy or trajectory—considering some of the shots she was pulling off."

I glanced over at her as she spoke.

"Kashiko Sekigai, the other girl from Isamu Academy, can create a holographic map that reveals the locations of everyone nearby," Toru said, her tracksuit twisting around a bit as she turned to look over her shoulder at them. "I only saw it for a moment, so I'm unsure what other information she can get from that—I'm pretty good, huh?"

"The best," Mina said, grinning.

"That leaves two unknowns, both from Seiai Academy," Mezo said, "The girl with long light-blue hair and the girl with light-purple pigtails—do we know anything about either?"

"Their names are Saiko Intelli and Minami Ren, respectively," I said, speaking up. "I didn't see either of them use their Quirks during the event, although I wasn't in a good position to watch them."

"Hard to do when you're right at the front, huh?" Eijiro said, grinning. "Dude—that path really saved my ass; I almost became an icicle."

"I did become one," Mina complained, "I had to melt the stupid ice covering my shoes—thanks for that, Todoroki."

#