I could see the students selecting groups. Izuku had the expected reaction upon hearing that, even though he has some semblance of control over his quirk he still doesn't have a lot of confidence in his own abilities.
In truth, he should be able to wipe the floor with most of the competition in the 1v1s. Even in the cavalry battle, all he should do is pick one teammate, preferably someone light, and carry them on his back while dodging attacks.
Since his headband is worth 10 million points he doesn't actually need to try and steal others.
It would be a bit difficult at first, but the others aren't going to stay focused on him the whole time. And his speed in close quarters would be hard to deal with for the other students.
But he seems to be bumbling about, searching for teammates desperately. I could see the sweat on Toshi's brow at the sight of his successor's lack of confidence.
At this point, Izuku is also copying All Might shamelessly. Which was also worrying for the old Symbol of Peace.
Toshi was seated somewhat near me and Rumi. He was about 5 meters behind us, he was just too transfixed on the festival to notice me.
I decided to go near him a bit, excusing myself to Rumi and heading in his direction.
"Hey! Toshi, what's wrong?" He looked really startled. Almost fell out of his chair in fact.
"N-Nothing Young Allan. I'm just a bit worried. Young Midoriya might not be prepared to take the mantle yet." He released a sigh.
"There shouldn't be any rush. Villains come and go, right now, things are already quite peaceful." He was still deep in his thought.
"Besides, there shouldn't be any need to rush things. He's only had your quirk for a few weeks." Since he was already transparent to all of the staff about his quirk I could talk to him without any worry.
He seemed to have calmed down a bit. He's been on edge for a while now, I hope our talk calmed him down a bit. Although there must be other things eating away at him.
For now, I took my leave. Going towards the toilet. Since I got up from my seat using that excuse.
When I got out on the hallway I could see a familiar face. Flaming beard, red hair, skin-tight costume that looks more like diving gear. Yep, it's Endeavor.
His back was facing me, so I guess I don't actually see his face, but you get the point.
Why is he wearing his hero costume here anyway? He should only be here as a spectator.
"Oy, Endeavor. Why are you not in the stands?" I said, tapping him on the shoulder. He turned around and looked up at me.
"Oh, Yellow. I'm just waiting for the round to start." He said in a neutral tone. Him calling me Yellow is fine since we aren't exactly friends.
"I thought you would be a bit more curious about who your son chooses to team up with..." He scoffed a bit.
"As if that's of any importance. He will pass regardless." Well, fair point. But don't pretend that you don't care flame face.
I shrugged a bit. His eyes suddenly turned fierce.
"I hear that you've been personally training a few students. You shouldn't bother much, Shoto is obviously going to win." Jeez, what a mood killer.
"Well, at least you're confident. Although, if he doesn't use his fire he has little chance of even making it in the finals." That's not even an exaggeration, I think both Bakugo and Izuku would be able to beat him as they are now.
Heck, even Naijeru might be though for him without fire. Even if he gets encased in ice, he can always break out. I thought him a few tricks after all. I didn't just injure him during our training.
He looked a bit mad at my statement, but didn't really disprove it, he just grumbled off. Probably going back to his seat.
I just continued on my way, finished my business and went back to my seat.
Eri just waved at me and said."Sit down! It's about to start." While Rumi just looked at me for a bit then back to the stadium.
From what I can see, Shinso did the same shtick where he brainwashed some students to carry him through the event.
Naijeru, surprisingly, teamed up with Shoji, Tsuyu and Mineta. He's playing as the horse alongside Shoji. But his task is more in the line of protecting the three of them while they try to capture more points.
The other teams were mostly the same. With Izuku not using his full potential and acting as a rider. That's just plain stupid on his part. With his mobility, he should've let Ochako or Tokoyami be riders...
But I'm sure he'll figure something out. Or maybe Tokoyami will end up saving the round for them, like in the anime.
The event started as expected. Everyone was going for Izuku, his headband was worth the most after all. But since he could actually fight now, it was still going a lot better for him than in the anime.
Naijeru started strong, extending his hair and pulling off the headbands of all the groups in his surroundings.
It wasn't exactly the best move, it painted a bit of a target on his group. But since everyone was gunning for Izuku's headband they chose to ignore him.
Naijeru's team was eventually attacked by Tetsu's team. But it seems that they didn't really succeed. Naijeru's nose hair entangled Ibara's vines and Tetsu's arms.
Tetsu tried to pull his arms out of the nose hair lock. But the more hair he ripped out the more he was entangled. His torso was quickly engulfed and pulled towards the ground.
He was saved by a combination of Juzo softening the ground under Naijeru and Ibara struggling to keep him up.
By the time Shoji managed to escape out of the concrete swamp and pulled Naijeru out with his extended arms.
Since he can just grow his hair endlessly he can keep them there. What I wasn't expecting was to see him pull Tetsu to the ground. I could hear the metal quirked teenager rage a bit at this development.
Shoto also interrupted most of the fights. Freezing the entire arena. Naijeru managed to suspend himself and his team in the air while the ice was spreading.
Some of his hair was frozen solid but he just discarded it and kept himself up.
Overall, the fights were decent. Izuku was using small shockwaves from his punches to push people away from him. And Tokayami kept the people from attacking him from behind.
Bakugo was getting mad at Monoma. Really not much changed there. Bakugo didn't grow much stronger than he was in the series. He didn't do any training to make his explosions stronger. Only his physical strength was a bit better.
Shinso just managed to talk people into not attacking him, very charismatic huh? Some even gave their headbands to him. I think his opponents were Canadian.
Jokes aside, Shinso was doing extremely well. Although he was a bit disrupted by Todoroki's ice.
By the end. The teams that continued in the last round were, Team Izuku, Team Shoto, Team Bakugo, Team Shinso and Team Mineta.
Mineta himself did the least in his team. Really keeping his uselessness consistent.
Shoto also ended up using his fire in the end. Just like in the anime, it was more instinctual than anything. Although that didn't stop Endeavor from cheering like an enthusiastic fanboy.
Rumi started to enjoy this at some point. Eri also never stopped looking at them in awe.
I really don't know what to think about little Eri becoming a hero, but I'll support her regardless.
If need be, I'll take her as a side-kick and train her myself.
___________________________________________________________________________
Sup?
Hope you enjoyed the chap!
Plug: https://www.patr.eon.com/VeganMaster