"Huff…"
Kirishima took a deep breath, staring at the number "8" on the wall, and muttered, slightly out of breath, "You think they're on the top floor? There are only three floors left."
"Yeah, judging from how things are set up, it has to be the top," Tetsutetsu replied confidently, straightening up.
Kirishima sighed, realizing how obvious it was. He approached the stairwell, looking upwards. "Alright, so what's the plan?"
"Plan?"
Tetsutetsu scoffed. "With our Quirks, what other plan do we need?"
Kirishima scratched his red, spiky hair, chuckling at his own pointless question. "Right, I guess there's only one way to go about this."
"Exactly, let's go! No matter what Yaoyorozu and Mineta have in store for us, we can only handle it head-on."
With that, Tetsutetsu activated his Quirk, covering his body in a layer of hardened iron, and slowly started walking up the stairs. Kirishima followed close behind, though he kept his Quirk inactive for now. His hardening ability, while strong, made it difficult for him to move freely, and it couldn't last for long.
Meanwhile, on the upper floor, Momo leaned against the wall, listening closely to the approaching footsteps echoing from the stairwell below.
She didn't make any unnecessary movements or try to lure them further. That would've been too obvious and might've tipped them off. Despite Tetsutetsu and Kirishima being straightforward in their approach, even they would sense if something felt too much like a trap.
So instead, Momo waited quietly, setting her trap carefully.
"They're coming…"
She could hear the heavy footsteps now, slow and cautious. Clearly, Tetsutetsu and Kirishima were on high alert.
"Doesn't matter how cautious they are," Momo thought with a sly smile. "They'll have to pass through this corridor anyway."
But her smirk faded quickly as she glanced to the side. Minoru Mineta, her partner, was once again staring up at her from an unfortunate angle, his eyes glued to her legs and the hem of her skirt.
"Uh… heh heh…" Mineta scratched the purple grapes on his head nervously when he realized he'd been caught. Despite his embarrassment, his eyes couldn't help but drift to her chest again.
"Wow, being teamed up with Yaoyorozu is a dream come true!" Mineta howled in his mind, practically drooling.
Momo sighed. Dealing with Mineta's antics was exhausting. Still, she refocused her attention on the task at hand, just as Kirishima's voice echoed through the corridor.
"Why is it so dark in here?" Kirishima hesitated, his eyes adjusting to the dim hallway.
Tetsutetsu noticed something was off too. He glanced back at the previous corridor they had passed through and then at the darkened hallway ahead. There was a clear difference in the lighting.
"They're definitely in the hall up ahead!" Tetsutetsu declared.
"Yeah, no kidding," Kirishima muttered. "The real problem is, this hallway is a hundred percent a trap, and we have to go through it."
Tetsutetsu pursed his lips. "And with our Quirks, there's no way around it, huh? We'll just have to go straight in."
"Man, why did we end up on the same team…" Kirishima groaned in frustration but accepted the situation. He activated his hardening Quirk, his body turning into solid stone-like armor, though he left a few joints flexible to maintain some mobility.
"Alright, let's do this!"
Both Tetsutetsu and Kirishima kept their eyes locked on the door at the far end of the corridor, wary of Mineta popping out and throwing his sticky "grapes" at them. They paid less attention to their feet, confident the path ahead was clear.
*Crack.*
"Huh?"
"What was that sound?"
They glanced at each other before looking down simultaneously. Kirishima's face fell. Something sticky and black clung to his foot.
"He dyed the 'purple grapes' black?!" Kirishima realized, noticing the cleverly camouflaged traps. The floor and walls had been coated in a way that made the traps almost impossible to spot.
"Take off your shoes—"
Tetsutetsu had a rare stroke of genius and was about to share his plan when Momo's voice echoed from the hall ahead.
"Tetsutetsu, look here!!"
"Huh?" Tetsutetsu instinctively turned toward her voice, only to see Momo and Mineta together, holding a massive magnet, pointed right at him.
"AHHH!!"
Before Tetsutetsu could react, the magnet's powerful force pulled him forward, slamming him into it with a heavy clang.
*BOOM!*
The impact rang out through the corridor, the sound of metal hitting metal resonating like thunder.
"It's now!!"
With the plan falling into place, Momo didn't waste a second. She pulled out a roll of tape from her waist, aiming to tie Tetsutetsu up. According to the competition rules, binding an opponent with this tape meant they were officially eliminated.
But Tetsutetsu wasn't going down without a fight. He deactivated his Quirk, his body returning to normal as he tried to break free. After all his training with Daimon-sensei, he had learned never to give up without a counterattack.
Meanwhile, Kirishima, having removed his shoes, sprinted down the hall at full speed. The match was reaching its critical moment!
But just as Tetsutetsu regained his footing, Mineta's seemingly sluggish demeanor vanished. His eyes sharpened, and in an instant, his hands moved with shocking speed.
In just a heartbeat, two black "grapes" flew from Mineta's hands, sticking Tetsutetsu's arms to his waist, immobilizing him.
"What the heck!" Kaminari shouted from the monitoring room, watching the scene unfold. "Is that what they mean by 'legendary single-guy hand speed'?! Seeing is believing!"
Tetsutetsu, his arms stuck together, could only watch in frustration as Yaoyorozu calmly wrapped the tape around him, sealing his fate. In desperation, he yelled for help.
"Kirishima! What are you doing? Get over here and help me!!"
His voice echoed loudly through the corridor, but even as he was fully restrained, no help came. Instead, he heard Kirishima's resigned voice from behind him.
"Forget it, man. We lost."
Tetsutetsu, still confused, didn't understand what had happened. But if he had been able to turn around, he would've immediately realized the problem.
Kirishima had stepped on another black "grape."
There was no way Mineta would rely on just one "grape" trap. Under Momo's guidance, several carefully camouflaged "grapes" had been strategically placed along their path, trapping both boys.
Back in the monitoring room, cheers erupted, especially for Momo's brilliant tactical performance. Even All Might, who had been quietly observing, was impressed.
"Well done, Yaoyorozu Momo. Excellent use of strategy and teamwork."
Kaminari also couldn't help but feel amazed. He had previously thought those elaborate battle strategies in anime were exaggerated. But after witnessing Momo's plan in action, he was forced to reconsider.
"The so-called 'IQ crushing'… turns out it's real after all," he muttered to himself, smiling with newfound respect.