1-A Competitors Box, Sports Festival Stadium.

Friday, 7th 2149.

With Tsuyu in the process of approaching the stage and Tenya being pulled away suddenly by Midnight, I was left alone for the first time—at least for about thirty seconds. I waited a moment to see if they would say anything, and when that didn't appear to be the case, I turned my attention toward the audience below.

Almost without realising I was doing it, I found myself searching the audience for signs of blue skin, pink hair, and other physical traits that matched with Nanami's abductors. Considering it was something they could view from anywhere in the world, on dozens of different TV stations and streaming services, it was incredibly unlikely for me to stumble upon Kaito Habiki or Susumu Hoshi sitting amongst the crowd.

Still, the urge to make sure was strong enough that I couldn't quite overcome my need to keep searching—I rationalised it away under some combination of an abductor wanting to witness the Quirk use in person or that they possessed some unsettling drive to be physically close to a potential victim.

It had become pretty clear by this point that the most recent arrival at the competitor's box had no intention of announcing herself—although what her goal was in watching me like this was entirely unknown.

"Congratulations, Toru," I said, speaking up. "It was a resounding victory."

I felt her shift slightly, her uncovered foot twisting against the ground as she pushed off of the wall beside the door.

"Great, now all of Japan knows I'm here," Toru muttered. "How did you even know?"

Considering how quickly she had deduced the method through which I'd mapped her facial structure back on the rooftop, she absolutely should have used that information to figure out how I'd detected her presence—which meant she was pretending not to know, either to fool me into thinking she wasn't aware of it or to prevent the information being shared to every single person who was currently watching the Livestream of our competitors box.

"I heard you drop your uniform beside the door when you first arrived," I said. "Are you trying to discover my weakness before we inevitably meet at the finals? How diligent."

"Actually," Toru said, pulling her uniform out from behind the door. "I already resigned."

Which didn't address the question of why she was watching me in the first place, but whatever her motivation, it was clearly something she wasn't willing to reveal in front of our audience. I kept my eyes on the stage as she stepped down into the front row, once again dressed in her tracksuit. I watched as the pair of shoes she'd left under the chair were kicked out by invisible feet, and then she finally spoke again.

"What happened to Ida?" Toru said, pulling the shoe onto her foot. "Bathroom break?"

They'd already left long before she'd ridden the elevator back up, so I knew this was a genuine question, at least.

"Midnight came and retrieved him before you returned," I said, turning back to face the stage. "I'm not sure what the exact reason was, but it involved a member of his family trying to contact him."

"Pulling him aside at a time like this?" Toru wondered, "Must have been pretty important; I wonder if everything is alright."

"So do I," I agreed.

"—U.A, Jurota Shishida of 1-B, and Tsuyu Asui of 1-A," Shota said, "You may begin when ready."

Jurota started the match the same way he did the last time, sprinting across the stage as he began swelling in size, his already damaged uniform losing a second sleeve as he went. Tsuyu seemed incredibly small next to the boy, her short stature and lax posture only serving to highlight the disparity. Jurota swung his arm out as he reached her, aiming to finish her in a single attack, but Tsuyu leapt up over the top of him.

Jurota spun around with startling speed, already moving towards her before she managed to land; a second attack was narrowly avoided with another leap, but this time it carried far less upwards momentum as Tsuyu tried to make some distance. Jurota gave chase, but on the third lunge, he hit the breaks before fully committing to it, already twisting around as Tsuyu pushed off.

This time he reached her long before she had the chance to touch the ground, leaving her without a way to maneuver. Jurota reached out with one massive hand, almost the same size as her entire body—her tongue shot out, wrapping around his head in an instant and obstructing his vision in the process.

The point of contact allowed her to twist in mid-air, avoiding the grab by scant inches, but Jurota didn't panic; instead, he reached up and took hold of her tongue before she could retract it. He twisted in place, using a combination of momentum, strength, and her own body weight to lift her up off the ground. Tsuyu whistled through the air as the massive boy began swinging her around in a wide circle.

Jurota used his other hand to unwind the rest of the tongue from his head, and then during the next rotation, he let her go, flinging the smaller girl off of the stage. Tsuyu's tongue snapped back into her mouth before firing out again towards the only thing she could reach to anchor herself—Jurota cancelled his Quirk, shrinking in size as the tongue flashed through the space where his head had been an instant before, and then Tsuyu crashed down onto the grass.

"Winner; Jurota Shishida," Shota said, clearing his voice.

"That guy is a menace," Toru said.

"He's well rounded, with no obvious weaknesses, besides being larger than a normal target," I said, watching the boy move towards the steps. "But he seems to have a good enough grasp on his Quirk to minimise that by dropping in and out of it."

The fact that he'd started shrinking almost before the tongue had even left her mouth meant that Jurota had predicted her attempt at a second grab well in advance—likely before Tsuyu had even decided to try it. Either he was following the steps of a carefully laid out strategy, or his reflexes were simply that refined.

I considered the sand I'd left in Tenya's pockets and his current position, moving towards the front entrance of the stadium. He was evidently leaving the building now, whatever issue Midnight had brought to him carrying enough motivation to outweigh his next match in the tournament—considering just how engaged Tenya had been and his clear desire to win the tournament, it was a startling change.

"Hisoka," Toru said, uniform twisting as she turned to look at me. "Shouldn't you be heading down there?"

Rather than reveal that Tenya was no longer inside the stadium and be forced to explain how I could know such a thing while we were still being watched, I stood up, resigning myself to an unnecessary trip down to the stage. I only made it as far as the door when Present Mic's voice washed over the stadium.

"Due to an unforeseen personal emergency, U.A student Tenya Ida will be withdrawing from the third event. A total bummer, but what can you do?" Present Mic said, voice loud. "Match Four is toast, folks, so Hisoka Higawara will be moving onto the next round entirely uncontested—how's that for luck?"

I turned back, not quite out of the door, before looking up at the monitor.

"Either way, that concludes the second round of the first-year tournament, and we will rock straight on through to the semi-finals," Present Mic continued, "Match one, Inasa Yoarashi vs Toru Hagakure—hold on, what? You're—why are you only telling me this now? Gah."

Considering how few matches were actually in the semi-finals, I was left standing with one foot inside the competitor's box, waiting for confirmation that I would, in fact, be headed down to the arena after all.

"Come on, guys, you can't do this to me. Fine. Toru Hagakure has already put in a request to surrender, so Inasa Yaorashi gets a bye to the finals," Present Mic said, dragging a hand down his face. "That leaves us with match two of the semi-finals; Jurota Shishida vs Hisoka Higawara—if either of you even thinks about giving up, I'm going to lose it."

I turned and stepped out of the competitor's box, the sound of Toru's laughter echoing through the hallway. Jurota hadn't managed to make it entirely out of the arena yet, now forced to fight two consecutive matches without a break between them. I wasn't sure that mattered much to the boy, as he hadn't seemed even remotely winded after his previous battle.

"Eraserhead, take it away," Present Mic said, sounding a bit out of sorts. "Seriously though, why wouldn't you tell me before? Are you crazy—"

I climbed the stairs to the stage, the sand in Jurota's pocket telling me that he was already in position and waiting for my arrival. Cresting the top stair, I could see that the other boy's shirt was barely more than scraps at this point, although he'd made some attempt to loop them together around his neck, forming a ragged blue and white strip of a tie.

"This is the last round of the semi-finals," Shota said, clearing his throat. "U.A, Jurota Shishida of 1-B vs Hisoka Higawara of 1-A. They are both quite rational—begin."

Like every other match the boy had been a participant in, he took off across the stage, engaging his Quirk as he went. I sent two streams of sand forward, the first branching out to create a wall of sand that rose up ahead of me, blocking his path and leaving him two options to proceed. Either he attempted to crash through my defence, or—I smiled.

The second stream of sand reached the wall and then spiralled upwards, crashing into Jurota as he cleared the top of the wall. The massive boy was flung upwards, forced upside down from the impact, and I watched as his fingers reached for my sand, attempting to gain a point of contact to regain control of his flight.

I vanished the sand as his massive hand swiped through it, and the missed attack caused him to devolve into a spinning mess. Jurota shrunk down in the air, using the weight change to gain some control over his movements. The still present wall of sand burst upwards into the air, solidifying into the palm of a massive hand as it cut through the air towards his back.

Jurota must have seen it during the course of his spinning because he immediately swelled in size again, bracing himself for the impact as it crashed into his back. He rocketed towards the edge of the stage, hand stretching outwards in a desperate attempt to catch hold of the brazier. His fingers scraped across the too-smooth cement but found no purchase. Jurota twisted in mid-air and crashed into the top of the stadium wall, hand clamped around the railing to keep himself in place.

"Winner; Hisoka Higawara," Shota said.

Jurota let go of the shattered wall and dropped down the dozens of meters to the grass without any signs of injury. He shrank back down to his normal size and then spent a few moments dusting himself off. I watched as the boy adjusted his glasses, the fragile glass somehow surviving the exchange entirely untouched.

"We'll be taking a small break," Shota said, "When we return, the final match of the Sports Festival will occur."

#

I remained in the tunnel over the break, not seeing the point in returning to the empty competitor's box and then being forced to ride the lift down again. As far as drawing attention to myself went, I'd performed well enough throughout each of the events to stand out from the other students. The issue was that despite my research, I didn't have a good enough read on Hawks to know what array of traits would draw his attention.

Uncle Sajin's depiction of the man was far more informative than the publically available information, but even that wasn't a good basis. Hawks had no school, academy, mentor or training facility listed—suggesting he was a self-trained hero who'd applied for a license independently and had actually succeeded—a process that was both unusual and rarely worked out as smoothly as it appeared to do in this case.

"—you, I hope you're all back in your seats because we're racing towards an explosive finish for the 2141 U.A Sports Festival," Present Mic called, voice bright. "The second-years showed us that big power can come in small packages, and the third-years showed us that sometimes you just can't hide your package at all—I'm still reeling from that one, folks."

At twenty-two years of age, he was the youngest hero in Japan's top ten, which spoke of a level of exceptional competence. All of the accumulated footage that existed presented him as outwardly unconcerned by just about everything around him. There were no indications of visible stress, fatigue or discomfort at any point during his career. He was possessed of a laidback demeanour, and his interactions with the media and his fellow heroes were entirely irreverent.

"—seen them blasting through the competition and making waves all day long, from the Obstacle Course, the Cavalary Battle and the Elimination Tournament," Present Mic continued. "Now we get to see them go head to head in what might be the biggest spectacle of the entire day."

His day-to-day engagement with the public was low, but all of the candid footage that did exist showed him as friendly, and he was regarded highly by most. Hawks did have several vocal detractors, but they were universally other heroes, and the majority of them seemed to be one-sided rivalries, mostly likely fabricated for the increased marketing value narratives like that added.

"—give a round of applause for our two finalists, Inasa Yoarashi from Shiketsu High School and Hisoka Higawara from U.A High School." Present Mic said, letting out a cheer of his own. "Both competitors, please make your way into the arena—I'm dying to see some action."

I pushed off the wall of the tunnel and started towards the stairs. Recruitment for internships was built on compatibility, and that was something that rested far more on the man's personal outlook and process for decision-making. The outcome could change drastically depending on if he was the type to develop interest based on perceived effectiveness, something like shared personality traits or even general relatability.

I believed that we shared some surface-level similarities, maintaining an even disposition in public, avoiding displays of emotion—even my flat affect was a close enough approximation to Hawk's indifference that it might work to my advantage here.

Inasa crested the stairs opposite me around the same time, the massive smile that had been present on his face throughout the entire day unmoved. I came to a stop across from him, watching as the tall boy turned in place, waving at as much of the crowd as he could manage. I considered the situation, wondering if there was anything else I could do with the remaining time to incentivise the Hawks Agency towards requesting me in particular.

"To the Hero Agencies that are watching, please reach out to the staff of Shiketsu High School; we welcome all enquires and internment requests. For those of you who are looking forward to a hero education in the new year, we encourage you all to apply to our fine institution." Nyoko said, voice washing over the crowd. "Thank you. Now, this will be the final match of the tournament and the last event of the day; please welcome one of the two finalists, Inasa Yoarashi, a first-year student of Shiketsu, to the stage."

Inasa continued his attempts to personally greet every single person in the stadium, laughing at the rising cheers of the audience.

"As Nyoko mentioned, U.A is also accepting all enquires and interment requests. Make sure you send them in promptly; I don't like dealing with things at the last minute," Shota said, eyeing the camera through his bandages. "The other finalist, Hisoka Higawara, a first-year of U.A—this is the final match, begin."

Wind erupted around him, strong enough that I could feel it pulling my clothes, and I watched as he rose up off the ground, hands planted against his hips. Inasa Yoarashi reminded me of All Might in a lot of ways; physically large, always smiling and possessing a good nature that couldn't be ignored. He was someone that had been born to become a hero and who fit into the role with far more compatibility than I ever would.

"Sorry, Inasa," I said.

Hours ago, right at the end of the Cavalary Battle, when Toru had stolen the ten-million point headband from Kashiko Sekigai, I'd buried Inasa's entire team in sand under the guise of preventing a counterattack—but that hadn't been the only thing I'd done. Every stitch of clothing he wore now held grains of my sand lodged between the seams, the gaps and inside the depths of his pockets. All of it nestled safely beneath the defensive shield that looped around his body in an impenetrable force of wind.

Sand erupted from his clothes, expanding outwards and multiplying until he was covered from head to foot in it. Large flat protrusions burst outwards, aiming to interfere with the continuous loop, and destroying his ability to fly in the process. Inasa opened his mouth in shock, and I filled it full of sand, unwilling to test whether or not he could use his breath as a weapon.

The wind force surrounding him crashed into the flat protrusions, shredding them in an attempt to maintain his flight, but my ability to create more of it turned it into a constant struggle between our Quirks. Too much sand, too many blocks getting in the way of his loop and his inability to take a breath turned the situation into a timer that was quickly running out.

The boy was losing altitude now, all the while fighting hard to bring his sand-covered arms inwards to remove the mess covering his face. His prodigal size and physical strength straining against my grasp, but nowhere near enough to manage it. Unwilling to starve him of oxygen all the way to the point of unconsciousness, I dragged him out of the air and pressed him down against the grass.

"Winner; Hisoka Higawara," Shota said.

I vanished the sand surrounding him, starting with what I'd forced into his mouth until he was left on his hands and knees on the grass. Inasa pushed himself back to his feet, fighting to get air back into his lungs. When he finally managed it, he came up laughing, before raising a single fist into the air, the gesture a clear imitation of All Might, and the crowd cheered in response.

"With that, the final match is officially over, and what a shocking finale it was," Present Mic cried out, appearing on the monitor above. "The first-year champion of the U.A Sports Festival is—Hisoka Higawara, from class 1-A."

If this wasn't enough to gain the attention of the Hawks Agency—well, that wasn't the only Agency in Fukuoka.

#

Interview Room, Sports Festival Stadium, 4:01 PM.

Friday, 7th 2149.

"It's more or less a fancy dinner event for the big-wig sponsors and pro-heroes to get a chance to meet you all, you're more than welcome to bring your parents, but I'd leave any siblings behind—it's not really the scene for young children," Midnight said, holding her hand out, palm up. "Amajiki, you went to one of these last years, didn't you?"

"Oh no," Tamaki said, facing the wall. "Please don't ask me to speak up in front of all these people."

"He definitely went," Mirio said, nodding. "I remember him telling us all about it afterwards."

"That's not accurate at all," Tamaki managed. "Nejire forced me to answer all of her questions—you didn't let me go for over an hour."

"I totally did that," Nejire said, beaming.

I studied the three third-year winners of the Sports Festival, all three from U.A, and each extraordinarily different from one another. Mirio Togata, Tamaki Amajiki, and Nejire Hado—first, second and third place, respectively.

"Ms Nori," Nagamasa said, voice muffled by his hair. "Is this event mandatory to attend?"

"It isn't, but I would like to make the suggestion that all three of you come along anyway," Nyoko said, speaking to the three Shiketsu students present. "It's a chance to make a good impression on some important people, and you're only expected to attend for an hour at most."

"If you believe it is in our best interest, then we will, of course, attend," Nagamasa said, muffled by the mass of hair covering his face.

"You're deciding for us, Nagamasa?" Camie said, pouting. "So uncool—right, Inasa?"

Nagamasa Mora, and Camie Utsushimi, students of Shiketsu High School, who placed second and third in the second-year Sports Festival. I'd seen them interact with Inasa a bit since we first arrived, and they seemed to get on well with the younger boy.

"Wrong," Inasa said, beaming. "Nagamasa is super cool."

Nagamasa visibly straightened at the words, even as Camie rolled her eyes.

"Who is going to be there?" Mawata asked, brushing some hair over her ear. "If we're trying to make a good impression, we should probably start preparing now, right?

Mawata Fuwa, a second-year student of U.A, from 2-A, and the first-place winner of the second-year Sports Festival—she was far more unassuming than almost everyone else present, even with her bright pink hair.

"Exactly. There will be several pro-heroes attending, although I'm not sure about the full list," Midnight said, tapping a finger against her chin. "Let's see; Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Crust, Ryukyu, Mt. Lady, Kamui Woods, Shishido, Uwabami—I'll be there as well, along with All Might and Eraserhead."

"Oh, maybe we should go," Camie said, impressed. "Do you think Ryukyu will be down to give me an autograph?"

"That's for you to discover," Nyoko said, eyes on the door as someone knocked on it. "It looks like they're just about ready for you; please keep in mind our discussions."

"Yes, ma'am," Inasa said, hand smacking into his forehead in a sudden salute. "We'll be on our best behaviour."

"Midnight, may I borrow you for a moment?" Nyoko asked, "I'd like to discuss the chaperon situation for the dinner in question."

Midnight waved her over to the side of the room, the two of them leaving the group behind. The moment they were out of direct supervision, Nejire leaned forward with a grin.

"Nagamasa, right? What's under all this hair?" Nejire said, reaching out to touch it. "I bet it's something crazy—you can control this with your Quirk, can't you? Why don't you shave your face? Do you look funny? What's the reason, huh?"

"I—I've carefully cultivated the length and volume to provide maximum body coverage." Nagamasa said, a bit taken aback. "I'm able to harden each strand, and having it already in place to protect my vitals areas ensures I don't have to waste time or focus moving it around."

Nejire looked entirely captivated by the answer.

"What about your face, though?" Nejire prompted. "Do you have big lips?"

"My lips are remarkably average," Nagamasa admitted, "As is the rest of my appearance, I possess no heteromorphic features at all—would you like to see a picture?"

"No way—that totally dispels the mystery," Nejire said, shaking her head and sending her hair flailing about. "Just know that I'm totally picturing you with big lips."

"I—I see," Nagamasa managed.

"What about you—uh—Jurota? You're from U.A, aren't you? You're hairy too—you've even got a beard." Nejire said, leaning in. "What's that about? Aren't you younger than me? Why isn't there any hair on your face? Are those fangs?"

Jurota reached up and adjusted his glasses for a moment.

"I'm from U.A, class 1-B. I am hairy, and I do have a beard—it's caused by an increase in keratin production brought on as a result of my Quirk." Jurota said, "I am younger than you. I shave my face every single day. They aren't fangs; they are incisors; the increase in size is also a result of my Quirk."

Nejire gave a series of rapid nods as he answered each question in turn, practically brimming with energy.

"Whoa," Mirio said, impressed. "Did you hear that, Tamaki? He answered them all."

"I heard," Tamaki mumbled.

"Why are you facing the wall like that?" Mawata asked, stepping up to the boy. "Are you feeling sick? Do you want me to check your temperature?"

"Oh god," Tamaki said. "Mirio, please."

Mirio waved his hand about in front of his face laughing at the request but made no attempt to assist him. Another knock came from the door, drawing the attention of everyone again before Midnight moved to open it—a dozen people stood on the other side, men and women with cameras, microphones and other equipment.

"You've got fifteen minutes with them; stick to questions related to the Sports Festival, the individual, or hero-related topics," Midnight said, blocking the door. "I'll be listening for anything inappropriate, so you best behave—or I'll have to punish you."

There was a general agreement from the mass of people before she stepped back and allowed them to enter. Within seconds I found myself amidst a group of three reporters, and I turned my attention to the one who I recognised.

"Hello again, Yui," I said, nodding. "Did you have some more questions for me?"

"You should have told me you were going to win, Hisoka," Yui said, directing her cameraman to get ready. "I'm going to have to completely redo my write-up—"

#

Reception Room, Sports Festival Stadium, 6:01 PM.

Friday, 7th 2149.

I caught sight of Hayami's hair before anything else, twisted up into an elaborate knot I'd sometimes seen her wear at social gatherings. Sajin stood beside her, now dressed in his hero costume. I'd had far less time to interact with either of them today than expected. I'd only managed to have a brief conversation with them over the phone after the interviews had taken place, in which I'd provided them with the details and invitation to this dinner event.

They spotted me a moment later, angling away from the doorway and crossing the room towards me. I stepped away from the wall to meet them and was startled when Hayami threw her arms around my neck in a sudden, uncharacteristic hug.

"Hisoka, you were incredible," Hayami said, pressing my head into her shoulder as she attempted to crush me. "You said you were going to make it to the final event, and to think I tried to caution you—I'm such a fool."

"No arguments here," Sajin said, amused. "You should have seen her up in the stands, Hisoka; she was a total wreck the entire time."

"Don't tell him that," Hayami said, finally pulling back. "I was just—I don't know how you two can just throw yourself into situations like that without being worried."

"Thank you both for coming to watch me," I said, finding the space to speak. "I'm sorry I didn't give you more time to prepare for this; Midnight only revealed it to us after the award ceremony."

"That's quite alright, Hisoka," Hayami said, looking around the room. "Oh my, there are some very interesting people present, aren't there?"

"Minato and Ume Yaoyorozu are both here," I said, overtly glancing over to the far corner of the room to direct their attention there. "I believe they are actually one of the main sponsors for the Sports Festival."

"Oh, they are? How lovely," Hayami said, voice bright. "I almost called them earlier."

"Why don't you go on and say hello, Hayami," Sajin said. "I want to talk to Hisoka for a minute anyway—private boy stuff, no icky woman allowed."

"As immature as ever," Hayami said, amused. "Hisoka—do you mind?"

"I don't mind, aunt Hayami; please give them my regards," I said, not bothered at all. "I'm afraid I haven't had a chance to greet them yet."

Hayami patted me on the cheek a final time before vanishing into the crowd on her way across the room. We watched her go for a moment, threading her way through the bodies with far more skill than anything I could manage, seemingly at home in a place like this.

"Hisoka," Sajin said before shaking his head. "You've come such a long way, kid."

I looked up at the words, meeting his gaze.

"Watching you out there today was—I suppose it's got me thinking about how much you've grown over the years," Sajin said, clapping me on the shoulder. "I still remember when you'd come tugging at my sleeve, asking all these questions about something I'd never even stopped to think about—and now look at you."

I studied his face through the mask, thinking about the words and what he was conveying—Sajin was right, I supposed, about how far I'd come. Considering all the mistakes I'd made when I was younger and how they all inevitably spiralled into something I couldn't understand. I'd spent so much time feeling lost, struggling with basic facets of communication that everyone else seemed to just naturally pick up. I still made mistakes from time to time, and it hadn't been easy, but I'd managed to get this far.

"Strength and persistence," I murmured.

"I'm glad you remember, Hisoka," Sajin said, smiling. "Listen, the place you started at and the one you're at now—they're worlds apart, and I can't tell you how lucky I am to witness it."

I ducked my head, feeling a bit overwhelmed.

#

Hisoka's Apartment, Musutafu, 10:28 PM.

Friday, 7th 2149.

"—can't believe we got knocked out so early," Eijiro said, "You should have seen Bakugo, man—I seriously thought he was going to lose it."

"I mean, he did lose it," Mina said, flapping her hand at her web camera. "The only reason he didn't rush back in and fight that Shinso guy was that we all dogpiled him."

Eijiro tilted his head back and forth like he wasn't quite sure that constituted 'losing it.'

"It's unfortunate that your team started so close to Team Shinso," I said, "Without forewarning of his Quirk, there probably wasn't a single team in the Cavalry Battle that could have encountered him without being eliminated."

"That's exactly what I said to Bakugo," Mina huffed, "He told me to take my coping elsewhere."

"Aizawa warned us that we wouldn't always have knowledge of our opponent's Quirk," Momo sighed, brushing a comb through her hair. "I'm far more disappointed in my own performance—I thought I was prepared, and yet I lost my composure the moment my plan started to go awry."

"I panicked too," Tsuyu admitted, hair tied up in a loop above her head. "But even under better conditions, I'm not sure I could have defeated Shishida."

"I think that applies to most of the people in the festival," Eijiro agreed, "I've sparred with Shoji before, and he's hard enough to deal with—Shishida was manhandling him like it was nothing."

I considered the envelope that sat on my desk and how to best use the contents. Hayami had already confirmed our reservation, and even in the unlikely event that something caused her to change her mind at the last minute, I would still possess both the reservation and the authorisation to enter I-Island during the expo. Saving the ticket as a backup served no purpose, and so I was left to find a way to use it.

The obvious use case that came to mind was to gift it to someone I knew, although the immediate benefit of that was unclear. Minato and Ume Yaoyorozu would be present on I-Island, and I already intended to use them as a way to occupy Hayami's attention. Escorting Momo around would give me an alibi, but it would also reduce my ability to move freely to some degree—splitting her attention between more people would allow me the freedom to fade into the background or excuse myself without too much suspicion.

"Hisoka?" Eijiro asked. "You didn't fall asleep with your eyes open, did you?"

"Unless what I am currently experiencing is a dream, then I would assume that not to be the case," I said, lifting the envelope up in front of the camera. "Eijiro."

"Me," Eijiro said, leaning forward to squint at his monitor, his forehead growing bulbous in the video feed. "Uh—what am I looking at?"

"As an auxiliary reward for coming first in the Sports Festival, the first place winners of each year received a ticket to the I-Island Expo, with a plus two included," I said, "As it happens, my Aunt Hayami and I have already made existing plans to visit the Expo—thus we already possess a ticket."

I twisted the envelope around so they could see the lettering.

"I'm offering you this ticket," I said, "I have a suggestion, however, for you to invite Tsuyu and Mina along as your plus two."

"Whoa, seriously?" Eijiro said, surprised. "Aren't those things super expensive?"

"Yes," I said, nodding.

Eijiro looked a bit lost at how to proceed with such a matter-of-fact answer.

"This is a dilemma," Tsuyu said hesitantly. "What about Momo?"

"My parents already received a ticket of their own, and I will be attending the Expo as well," Momo said, smiling. "Hisoka was most likely aware of this when he made the offer."

"I was," I said, nodding in confirmation. "My aunt revealed it to me several days ago, although I wasn't sure if your parents had spoken to you about it yet."

"They brought it up at dinner last night," Momo admitted, "Thank you for your concern, Tsuyu—that was very sweet of you."

Tsuyu croaked at the words, and the sound of Mina tapping away at her keyboard finally stopped.

"How have I never heard of this thing before?" Mina said, alarmed. "It's stupid big."

"Hey, thanks man, this is really cool," Eijiro said, speaking up. "I'm totally down to check this place out—Tsuyu, think you can get your parents on board?"

"July 13th?" Tsuyu said, biting the tip of her thumb. "I'll call them now and find out."

#