Chapter 41 - The Race

[Authors Note: Just wanted to share that I just finished watching I want to eat your pancreas… I'm not crying, you are, this is just condensation, from breathing too much.]

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As per the rules of this training exercise, Hiroto was split into a group of 5 people. His group was to go second and the roster was as follows:

Hiroto Moriyama

Katsuki Bakugo

Tsuyu Asui

Ochako Uraraka

Shoto Todoroki

Everyone was currently sitting on an erected stage that had 5 large displays in front of them to keep track of each person within the group of 5.

The first group to go consisted of Izuku, Iida, Sero, Mina, and Ojiro (the guy with weird tail). Before they started, from the side Hiroto saw All Might gesturing with tiny hand movements which translated to 'Come here.'

Sitting on the ground, Hiroto thought for a moment, but then turned away and acted like he didn't see anything. 'I'm already in a comfortable position. If I move, someone might steal my spot.'

All Might, seeing him act like this, had his eye twitch. So, while everyone was busy warming up and getting ready, he slowly started to scoot his way over to Hiroto's position. Once he got close enough, he then said out loud in an overly exaggerated voice to showcase his incredible… acting skills.

"Ah, young Moriyama! It seems that you need a partner in order to complete your warmup exercises. Allow me to be of ȧssistance in your time of need!" All Might said, nodding to himself.

Before Hiroto could say anything, All Might put his hands on Hiroto's back and pushed forward to help stretch his back. Hiroto kept a calm face and said, "What are you doing?"

"Haha, why, isn't it obvious? I am currently in the act of helping you warm up!" All Might said, starting to sweat a bit, thinking to himself, 'Why can't he take the hint?!'

He then whispered to Hiroto, "After class, come to the teacher's restroom. There's something important to discuss. Very. Important." With that, All Might separated and gave a satisfied nod, leaving Hiroto and saying, "There we are! All stretched out."

"Thanks," Hiroto said, looking away and seeing the class give each other curious glances, then shrugging the whole act away. On the side, Todoroki had a thoughtful expression, then turned to the person next to him, Tokoyami, who looked at him with a confused expression, saying, "What?"

A few minutes later, All Might then clapped his hands, bringing everyone's attention to him. "Alright, that's enough warming up! Group one, move over to where the starting line is and get ready to move out."

As group one started to move out, Hiroto's gaze turned to where Todorki was, and he saw him sitting down with Tokoyami pushing his back forward. He then turned his gaze away quickly and paid attention to the displays in front of the class.

Momo and Eijiro sat next to Hiroto, with Momo asking, "Who do you think is going to win?"

Eijiro spoke first, "I'd say Sero since this place is practically designed for his quirk." Momo nodded, agreeing with what he said.

Hiroto merely said, "You're probably right, but it might be a close competition in the end." The two nodded in agreement and watched the race unfold.

Over the course of the race, everyone had their mouths wide open as they saw Izuku managing to jump across the metal cranes and pipes, seemingly having more control over his 'self-destructive' quirk.

However, he still slipped and fell in the end, which resulted in Sero being placed first, followed by Ojiro, Mina, Izuku then Iida, who was still wounded from the Hero Killer's fight.

"Well, that was a surprising turn of events," Momo muttered.

Eijiro nodded with a smile, saying, "It seems Midoriya is able to control his quirk even more now." On the display was Sero celebrating his win, with Izuku lying flat on the ground and Mina stomping her feet in frustration. Oh, Ojiro's also there.

All Might's then called out, "Alright, group 2, get ready!" With those words, Hiroto, Katsuki, Asui, Uraraka, and Todoroki went to where the starting indicator was and got ready.

Momo and Mina sat together, watching the display's, well, one display in particular intensely. "I think we can already guess who the winner would be," Mina said.

Momo nodded, to which the two turned to each other, then smiled, turning back to the display once more.

Standing with the other 4, Hiroto was still casual and relaxed as usual. Katsuki gnashed his teeth and shouted at Hiroto, "You better take this seriously, Hiroto! I'm gonna beat you legit, no matter what it takes!! So don't you dare take this easy now!"

Todoroki agreed, saying, "He's right. We don't want you to go easy on us, so don't hold back, or it would be an insult to us."

Uraraka, standing in the middle with Todoroki and Asui to her left, and to her right was Katsuki and Hiroto, she slightly trembled. 'These guys… Are they trying to get Moriyama to go all out? Are they crazy?!' She shouted inwardly.

Hiroto then narrowed his eyes, nodded, and said, "Alright. If you want all out, I'll go all out-"

"Young Moriyama!! Don't!!!" All Might's voice shouted through the intercom. "Wait, that didn't come out right! What I meant is that you should still give it your best, but just… take it easy, alright? We want damages to be kept to a minimum…"

Hiroto relaxed and just shrugged, saying, "Fine, it's not like I was going to break more than half of this place anyway."

'So you were planning to break half?!' All Might shouted in his mind, but then calmed down and started the countdown.

3

2

1

"BEGIN!!"

With the signal, besides from Hiroto, the group immediately burst forwards using their quirks. Katsuki used his explosions to propel him forwards while Todoroki used his ice to slide across and past the metal labyrinth. Uraraka just made her clothes lighter and could nimbly navigate the various pipes and cranes. Asui used her enhanced mobility and elongated tongue to grab and swing on the pipes occasionally.

Hiroto, seeing the group move forward, decided to also move. With a 'light' hop, Hiroto's figure disappeared from the display temporarily before it finally caught up to him.

The entire class that was watching the displays turned to Hiroto's but then they wished that they hadn't a moment later, their faces twitching while Momo and Mina merely clapped.

Todoroki turned back and saw that Hiroto disappeared with no sight of him nearby. 'Where did he go…' Before he could continue his thought, he heard an explosion next to him as well as a wave of heat.

Katsuki blasted past Todoroki, shouting, "If you don't pay attention, I'll leave you in the dust, you half-n-half bastard! Just stay put back there while I grab 1st place!" Putting his hands behind him, he exploded forward again using the shockwave created from his explosions.

Todoroki frowned and ducked under the explosion, creating a path of ice underneath him as he slid below some pipes and curved around a corner.

Asui was hot behind the two with Uraraka a bit behind them. She looked around and still couldn't spot Hiroto, tilting her head curiously but shook the thought away.

The competition between Todoroki and Katsuki was intense as they were neck and neck to each other. The limited space hindered their mobility, but it would still not prove as big of a challenge to the two, especially Asui as she was more nimble than the two combined, resulting in her almost passing them a few times.

As the group started to come closer to the finish line, Todoroki, Katsuki, and Asui were neck and neck, and with them inching closer they could almost taste victory.

"Ha, I still don't see him anywhere, so 1st place is mine!!" Katsuki shouted, putting all of his power into the next explosions to shoot him forwards to where the finish line was, on top of a circular platform.

Todoroki narrowed his ices and turned around, putting both of his hands in front of him. He then released both his flames and ice, creating a steam explosion that propelled him forward, coupled with the ice path that he had in front of him, he practically zoomed towards the finish line.

Asui had to take the brunt of the 2 explosions but wasn't going to be outdone, using her tongue to wrap around a pole. The shockwave from the explosion threw her back, but with wrapping around the pole her body swung backward and around the pole, using the momentum to release herself towards the finish line. Uraraka was still climbing and jumping back there somewhere.

As the 3 inched closer and closer to the finish line, the world practically seemed to turn slower as a smile encroached on their faces. However, in the next moment, all of their jaws were left hanging wide open, as the figure of Hiroto sitting on the edge of the circular platform with his legs dangling while reading from his phone.

He raised his hand and waved, saying, "What took you guys so long? My buŧŧ's almost numb from all the waiting."

All 3 of them then slipped, crashing into the various pipes, cranes, and metal scaffolding around the area. Before they could recover, Uraraka capitalized on this chance and obtained second place, followed by Todoroki, Katsuki, and Asui.

"When did you get here?!" Katsuki shouted as he grasped his side in slight pain, a result of his fall.

"Hmm, right after you guys started," Hiroto said with a thoughtful expression.

As Katsuki was seething in anger and indignation, Todoroki nodded his head and said, "As expected."

Asui merely shrugged, already ȧssuming this outcome from the start. Uraraka was merely celebrating by herself for obtaining second place.

[Authors Note: There were many ways that this could have gone done, but this was felt the most natural to me. One of the scrapped ideas was to have him just legit power walk through everything and to the finish line. But hey, gotta give the school a break sometimes.. Budget cuts man.]