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[Cavalry Battle? More like Raid]
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| Nine minutes later... |
...
"In the end, no one else volunteered to join us."
Jiro stared flatly at the already-formed teams around them before turning to Taka with a raised eyebrow.
"...But I guess that's fair. You've got one big target on your head. And after all those war declarations in the waiting room, probably no one wants to be seen mooching off you either."
"So you want to mooch off me?" Taka asked, giving her a look.
"I'm pragmatic..." She said with a grin, before it faltered slightly. "Though... with everyone's eyes on us like this, will we really be okay, Takahashi? I know you're strong, but forty people might be a bit much, especially since this isn't a fight to the death."
Taka closed his eyes.
"The question isn't whether we'll be okay. It's how far you want to go."
"What?"
A shady grin crept onto his lips. "I mean, I could just take everyone's headband now and hold onto all of them until time runs out. Then we'd be the only ones with points and win by default."
A pause followed, during which Jiro stared at him with a flat gaze.
"...Please don't. I need my internship offers, and I don't think winning by default will help me with that."
"It would have been fun," Taka said, shrugging.
"Maybe, but I need internships, Takahashi."
Taka let out a faint sigh. "Fair enough. Then I suppose we do it the other way."
"Other way?"
Taka leaned closer and murmured something to her.
Her expression grew progressively more horrified the longer he talked.
"...You can do that?"
"Yeah."
"Hey, Takahashi... is your Quirk really telekinesis?"
"I can walk you through the specifics later. Now's not the time."
"..."
Jiro didn't look satisfied, but in the end, she gave a reluctant nod.
"... Alright."
And as if on cue—
—HOOOOONK!!!—
The alarm signalling time was up rang out.
With the start of the game upon them, all teams began moving to their respective spots along the borders of the circular arena. Taka and Jiro among them.
Once in position, all teams took their formations. Jiro, for her part, ended up on top of Taka's shoulders, her face turning slightly sheepish.
"Did I really have to be the one getting carried?"
"If you'd rather carry someone who probably weighs twice as much as you, be my guest."
"...Never mind."
Rolling his eyes, Taka swept his gaze across the field, taking stock of the teams.
'Things ended up more or less the same as the show, huh?'
He couldn't pinpoint every exact combination, but from what he could see, they looked the same or close enough to what he remembered.
Though one thing did catch his attention.
Hatsume had still gone to Midoriya.
In the show, that was because he'd taken first place, making him the ideal showcase for her inventions. But first place belonged to Taka this time around, which made the choice stranger.
He shrugged faintly.
It didn't matter. Whatever her reason, good for Midoriya.
Besides, if she had asked to join him instead, Taka couldn't have known what to say. Her inventions were a bit redundant with his aura powers already there.
'Maybe that's exactly why she went for Midoriya.' He huffed.
Moving on, his eyes shifted to another side of the field.
'So he's still there.' He noted as he saw yet another equal team to that of the show.
Iida had also remained on Todoroki's team—again, despite the fact that Midoriya hadn't taken first place.
Though perhaps it's just that the rivalry between the two that had driven that choice in the show was still present regardless of whether Midoriya ended up in first place or not.
'But... that guy,' Taka's gaze lingered on Iida for a moment, eyes narrowing slightly.
After a beat, he snorted.
'Today would have ended badly for him. Luckily for him, I'm here.'
He looked back ahead, smirking.
'Or maybe not so lucky. This game is going to be a massacre either way.'
As those thoughts settled, the countdown began.
{"Now then, let's kick things off! Three..."}
The instant the countdown started, every single team on the field turned toward them. Their intent couldn't have been clearer.
{"Two!"}
Jiro tapped his shoulder, glancing nervously at the other teams as they converged their gazes on them.
"Uh... you sure your plan won't fail?"
"It won't."
{"One!"}
She swallowed nervously, but gave a firm nod. "I'll trust you, then."
Taka nodded back.
Then—
{"START!"}
The instant Midnight's voice fell, a stampede erupted.
The hammering of near-hundreds of feet, all converging on a single objective.
"Uh, Takahashi—they're coming."
"I know."
The ten-million-point headband.
"Gyahaha, Taka, that headband is mine!" Hagakure's voice rang out from one of the teams—Koda and Sato carrying trousers with no shirt above them.
Shame was not a word in Hagakure's dictionary, it seemed.
"Come here, you damn attention whore!" Bakugo announced himself as well, wide grin already in place, small explosions crackling from his palms.
Todoroki said nothing, but his cold, locked-in stare said plenty—as did the focused expressions of everyone on his team.
Shoji's team rushed just as silently, eyes fixed entirely on the headband sitting on Jiro's head.
Several others from class 1-B could be seen amidst the multitude of teams rushing in. Taka couldn't remember many of them, but he did recognize a certain blonde with a manic expression on his face.
"Let's see what the leader of class 1-A has to offer!"
And lastly, there was Midoriya and his team.
"Takahashi-san... here we come!"
Who, of course, had to deliver a shonen-ass line.
Suppressing the urge to simply flatten him and his entire team with a single aura hand, Taka glanced up at Jiro.
"All yours."
"Took you long enough." She grinned, then acted quickly.
Her earlobes shot to the ground.
And then—
—BZZZZZZ!—
—CRACKLE!—
The earth cracked apart and erupted in every direction, hurling approaching teams back and breaking their sight of Taka's team in an instant.
Plenty of teams nearly lost their footing entirely. But plenty of others were harder to shake.
"Iida," Todoroki said.
"Oh!" With a shout of determination, Iida's propulsors kicked in. Using a large piece of upturned rock as a ramp at a diagonal angle, the entire team launched into the air, clearing most of the broken terrain cleanly.
Midoriya's team adapted just as quickly. Hatsume's rocket boots, combined with Uraraka's Quirk stripping the team of their weight let them hover briefly above the chaos, bypassing it entirely.
Bakugo's team had no such finesse—but with quick thinking and a few well-timed blasts, they kept their balance and kept charging through the wrecked ground.
Other teams stumbled, had to fall back, or very nearly toppled.
In the end, though, the move had only bought a few moments of breathing room.
But that was all they needed.
"Damn, that barely worked," Jiro clicked her tongue.
"We only needed the time. Now focus—I'm about to start."
She tensed slightly at the pace of it all.
"H-hold on, how did you say I was supposed to control—"
Her words cut off as raw aura began bubbling off Taka's body like a crimson liquid, seeping into the air around him.
Then it expanded, washing over Jiro as well. In moments, both of them were completely enveloped in a pulsing, crimson glow.
"This feels weird."
Taka ignored her and closed his eyes. "Here it comes."
Then—
—BOOOM!—
An explosion went off, wrapping both of them in a thick dust cloud and cutting off the view of every rushing participant.
But that didn't stop the three teams on the front lines. They continued rushing in, planning on pressing ahead regardless of the blockage of vision.
What came after, though, did stop them pretty well.
"...!"
"W-what is that?"
"What is this bullshit?!"
The three nearest teams ground to a halt—the eagerness and bravado drained out of them in an instant as they saw what was waiting on the other side of the dust.
And not just them. Every student in the field turned, eyes widening, mouths falling open.
Taka and Jiro stood exactly as they had before.
With one difference.
A giant upper skeleton, built of crimson fire, loomed above them—its ribcage curving over the two like a cage, and its empty sockets staring down at the three teams with a presence that made the air feel heavier.
At first glance, it seemed completely motionless. Inert.
Until it suddenly moved.
The skull tilted. The arms began to rise.
Every motion mirroring Jiro's exactly.
Sitting on Taka's shoulders beneath it, Jiro looked up at the skeleton's movements and then back at her own hands with a complicated expression.
"H-how is this telekinesis, Takahashi?"
"It's complicated. Focus. The entire country is watching you."
"R-right..." She let it go and turned back to face the three teams ahead.
"..."
A long, drawn-out silence settled over both sides.
Then—
—SHAAAAA—
A wave of ice surged forward and engulfed the skeleton completely.
—SHATTER!—
Then shattered the next instant from a single movement of the skeleton's arms.
Another silence.
Then Jiro smiled, letting out a short breath.
"Well, Takahashi? Shall we put these people in their places?"
Taka nodded, eyes still closed. "Go on."
"RETREAT!" Midoriya shouted.
The other teams didn't even need to hear it.
All at once, they scattered.
Jiro reached for the nearest team—Bakugo's, who had the least collective mobility of the three to fall back on.
"You... YOU THINK I'M SCARED?!"
Seeing the giant hand descending on them, Bakugo launched himself off his team and shot straight at it, arm pulled back.
—BOOOOOOM!—
He drove an explosion directly into it.
-Tssssss...-
"H-how?"
But as the smoke cleared, his eyes went wide. The hand hadn't moved a little after the explosion, and had not even a crack visible on it.
Without support beneath him, he began to fall—eyes still locked on the hand he'd hit.
Sero's tape caught him before he could reach the ground and hauled him back to his seat.
Then, without waiting for his word, the team turned and ran.
Bakugo complained somewhere in the middle of it, but his team didn't listen and continued their tactical retreat.
"Gyahahaha, where are you all going?!" Jiro laughed, swinging her arms wide as the skeleton followed suit.
Taka, meanwhile, broke into a run after the fleeing teams, carrying Jiro and the skeleton with him.
-Boom!-
-Rumble!-
-Bang!-
Explosions rang out on all sides as the giant formation of raw aura struck the ground and surroundings with punishing force.
And through all of it—
"HAHAHA, THERE'S NO RUNNING AWAY FROM ME!"
Jiro had completely lost herself to it.
Taka sweatdropped as she forgot every word she'd ever said about moderation, flailing her arms without a care in the world and watching the skeleton throw itself into every swing with matching enthusiasm.
'I was going to use this myself, but... I suppose it's fine if she's having fun.'
Snorting, he kept running after everyone.
Soon, they hit the center of the field, and the full scatter began as teams bolted in every direction at the sight of the giant catastrophe bearing down on them.
Nobody wanted any part of it.
Up in the teachers' area, every instructor watched the carnage below with an identical flat expression.
All competition had ceased. No one was going for anyone's headband. They were just running from the giant crimson skeleton Taka and Jiro were piloting around the arena.
'You certainly are making history, young Takahashi,' All Might thought, sweatdropping faintly as he watched the sheer joy radiating from the skeleton's every movement, and by extension, from Jiro.
Whether the good kind or not, he still wasn't sure.
But one thing was certain. This festival was going to be talked about for years.
'I feel sorry for young Midoriya,' he thought grimly, watching Midoriya's team sprint for their lives. 'Trying to shine with that kind of competition around him is going to be extraordinarily difficult.'
Back on the field, Taka's team continued their rampage.
"Come on, fight back a little!" Jiro called out.
"You sure are enjoying yourself," Taka noted.
Her eyes snapped open. A blush spread across her face.
She cleared her throat and looked away. "Ahem. I was just... testing the range."
"With that laugh?"
"I got a little carried away, alright? Shut up."
Taka smirked. "So much for the moderation you're always preaching at me."
"Argh, shut up!"
{"Now, this is certainly an interesting turn the game has taken... but I must remind everyone: six minutes remaining!"}
Present Mic's announcement cut through the chaos and brought the field to a sudden standstill.
Six minutes.
Those two words were enough to snap everyone back to their senses.
Six minutes, and what had they done with it? Attempt to take the 10 million headband, fail, and then begin running away from the team they had originally ganged up on.
They had completely wasted the time so far.
That realization brought every team to eye each other instead, tactics shifting in their heads.
But as they began reconsidering—maybe ignore the skeleton entirely and start going after each other instead—
"That's no good," Taka muttered under his breath.
Then, every head turned back to the skeleton as something changed.
The crimson color was shifting, growing lighter—almost luminous. Like a lantern filling with pressure.
Then—
—Swoooosh!—
Like a porcupine shedding quills, the skeleton launched dozens of tendrils from all across its body simultaneously.
They moved like fired rounds. Nobody had a chance to react.
A blink later, they snapped back to the skeleton.
It took a moment of confused silence before the first person noticed.
"My headband... is gone?!"
That single cry spread like a lit fuse. Every student immediately reached for their own headband—and found nothing.
All eyes flew back to the skeleton.
Inside its open mouth, a dense ball of compressed headbands hovered, slowly rotating.
Then the jaw closed, as if it had swallowed them.
"IS THAT ALLOWED?!" Kaminari's voice cracked through the stunned silence.
Midnight and Cementoss, stationed on opposite sides of the field, exchanged a glance.
Then Midnight nodded and cracked her whip.
{"It's allowed!"}
"That bastard...!" Bakugo looked ready to foam at the mouth.
Todoroki and Midoriya weren't much better—both wearing grave expressions, genuinely shaken at how effortlessly their headbands had been taken, with no chance to fight back or even react.
But the shock didn't last long. Soon, it curdled into outrage.
And not just from them.
From all teams.
To steal every headband with six minutes left on the clock was a blatant provocation.
Taka wasn't just taking the game hostage—he was saying something with that action.
'Come at me.'
As that understanding settled, the field reorganized itself. Teams gathered at the far end of the arena, fixing their collective gaze on the pair with a new kind of focus.
"Oi, Takahashi, didn't you say you wouldn't do this?" Jiro asked, visibly panicking.
"Things needed spicing up."
"You turned the entire field against us to spice things up?!"
"Yes."
"HAH?!"
Sensing her panic rising, Taka glanced up at her.
"I'm not going to let it end like that. This is just to put on a better show." Then, he sent her a deadpan. "Besides, you already committed to the bit. There's no backing out now."
"You..." Jiro gave him a hesitant look.
Though ultimately, she simply clicked her tongue.
Her gaze settled back on the mass of students at the far end, readying themselves.
"Whatever. Let's do this."
Without realizing it, she was smiling a little at the end—even with a bead of sweat running down her temple.
Taka smiled, and did so as well, his eyes settling ahead.
Across the field, the assembled teams had found a new kind of unity.
No communication needed. Everyone understood who the enemy was.
This wasn't a cavalry battle anymore.
This was a raid against a single monster, to take back what they'd lost.
Teeth gritted, some swallowed quietly at the sight of that looming skeleton figure.
Eventually, they all mentalized themselves for what was about to come.
The tension stretched like a thread pulled taut.
Then—
"DIEEEEE!"
— it snapped... With Bakugo at the front.
The moment his team charged, every other team surged after. War cries tore across the arena as they threw themselves into it.
"Let's go, Takahashi!" Jiro shouted upon seeing the opposition make their move.
"You sure are going along with it now."
"Shut up!"
Without another word, they too moved.
The skeleton's giant form lurched into motion.
And on the opposite side, the army of furious students rushed against it.
… Until, at last, both parties crashed.
The crowd watched from the stands in stunned silence, then erupted. Baffled gasps, along with many recording with their phones, not about to let this moment be lost, could be seen on the stands.
Never—not once—had a Sports Festival looked like this.
In the VIP section, a wide-eyed Eri pointed at the skeleton.
"Seiji-san, why is Taka fighting everyone?"
Seiji looked briefly caught off guard, then snorted, a smile spreading. "He just loves getting attention. When he gets back after the festival, make sure to congratulate him a lot. I'm sure it'll make him happy."
"Hm." Eri nodded, eyes drifting back to the raging battle below.
Back on the field, the skeleton took everything the assembled teams had.
Bursts of electricity. Explosions. Waves of ice. A barrage of steel-hard scales. A smaller but no less vicious shadow formation from Tokoyami. Acid. Lasers. Horns. Razor slashes. Blunt force from every angle. Crashing vines. And more.
Somewhere in it all, a voice was shouting something at the pair—but it was completely swallowed by the noise.
Through all of it, the skeleton held.
It blocked, struck back, then blocked again.
"Jiro—push your Quirk through the skeleton's throat!" Taka said suddenly.
She didn't stop to question it.
"RAAAAAGH!"
The next instant, the skeleton let out a roar that shook the air hard enough to stagger teams outright from the shockwave alone.
"What kind of combination is that with my Quirk?!" Jiro exclaimed, batting back a close-range fighter with the skeleton's hands while her earlobes retracted.
"It's complicated," Taka answered.
"Argh!"
Brief as it was, the exchange ended there, with both going back to the battle right away.
The battle raged on for minutes after that.
Explosions hammered the skeleton's head, then its ribcage.
Enormous ice formations rose and slammed into it, only to be swatted aside moments later.
But the relentless volume of attacks was beginning to tell. The skeleton started to lag—flinching under an explosion here, lurching forward under a spike of ice there, unable to block sometimes.
Cracks began spreading through the aura formation.
Until Bakugo peeled off from his team, his manic grin stretched wide, already moving.
Midair, he began spinning, pouring explosion after explosion into the rotation until the air around him was a violent vortex. The concentrated oxygen fed his palms a dangerous build of heat.
"Eat this, shithead—!!!"
He leveled his palm at the skeleton.
"HOWITZER IMPACT!!!"
—BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!!—
The explosion was catastrophic, comparable to a missile, even.
The blast whited out the crowd's vision for a moment before dust and smoke swallowed everything.
Sero's tape reeled Bakugo back before he could reach the ground.
Then, the entire field watched the settling aftermath in silence.
"Did that do it?" Midoriya murmured.
Teams began edging forward, trying to close in and grab their headbands before the clock ran out.
But just as they were close enough—
—BZZZZZZ!—
Soundwaves detonated outward, tearing the already-ruined ground apart even further and forcing everyone back.
Then, through the disbelieving eyes of the assembled teams—
"You've got to be kidding..."
The skeleton rose again.
Bigger, with not a single crack in it, and with a second pair of arms, making it look almost divine.
It stared down at them from its full height, hollow sockets taking in the whole field.
Everyone's mouth and eyes trembled at the sight.
After everything they'd thrown at it… that thing had a second phase?
Despair settled over the assembled teams.
... And only deepened as the skeleton opened its mouth—and a dazzling and dangerous light began gathering there.
"Is that—?!"
"IT'S GOING TO SHOOT—RUN!"
Without question, everyone bolted.
But as everyone turned around and escaped, they failed to notice the skeleton tilting its skull upward.
And then—
-BAM!-
Shoot something that wasn't quite a laser.
As the enormous explosion everyone had been waiting for did not come, some turned to see what had happened.
And that's when they saw it.
"Those are..."
Headbands. Raining down across the field.
Present Mic's voice followed right after—his usual enthusiasm nowhere to be found, replaced by sheer bafflement.
{"... One minute remaining, everyone."}
Those words dropped onto the field like a stone into still water.
Teams looked at each other. Then at their teammates.
Then the understanding hit all at once.
The truce was over.
Chaos erupted.
Teams lunged at the falling headbands like starving animals. The ones with better positioning got there first—and were immediately cut off by others. Open brawls broke out as valuable headbands came into reach, teams colliding and clawing and sprinting through it all.
And through the whole mess—
"That was evil," Jiro said, watching the chaos from the sideline, the skeleton now gone.
"I know." Taka nodded.
A beat of silence settled while both watched the carnage unfold. Then Jiro turned to him.
"So now what, we just watch from the corner while hell breaks loose?"
"Pretty much."
"Damn."
She looked out at the raging battle for headbands with a wry expression, wondering whether she'd dodged a bullet by teaming with Taka and skipping all of that—or just put herself on every participant's permanent wanted list for everything that came after this festival.
Probably both.
Still...
"It was fun." She admitted, settling more comfortably as she watched. "No wonder you put on so much of a show."
Taka paused, then glanced upward.
'She sure is getting comfortable using my head as an armrest.'
Still, he didn't say anything about it.
At least she'd had fun.
{"Time is UUUUUP!"}
Seconds later, the game ended at last.
...
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-To Be Continued...-
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(A/N: How was that? I had planned on having Taka do the epic Susanoo thing first, but then I decided to let Jiro have some fun because why not?)