That night was hard — at least for Raiden.
He lay on his bed staring at the ceiling, eyes wide open, lost in thought. His mind replayed the question over and over: How many scenarios could put me in that situation again? A moment where he couldn't save everyone.
There were too many. And some of them, he had already lived through.
The first — and the most traumatic — was the hotel. Just thinking about the bodies, the massacre, the grotesquely deformed people twisted by chaos, made his stomach churn.
"The stronger I get," he thought, "the more chances I have to save everyone. But objectively… it could still be impossible. Even fighting villains, I could hurt innocents. It's not just about risk — it's about responsibility. The weight behind every choice."
He exhaled deeply, the room silent except for his own voice breaking the dark.
"Now I understand better… the responsibility of a hero isn't only about being accountable for your actions or the way you fight. It's also about living with the decisions you make — even the unpleasant ones. Everyone lives with their choices… it's just that normal people don't usually have to choose between other people's lives."
He stayed like that for a long time — still, quiet, thoughtful — staring into nothing.
That night, everyone slept with heavy thoughts, their minds circling the same truth.
---
The week passed quickly.
One by one, students began completing more A-Rank games. At first, the four from Class 2-A stood alone at the top, unmatched in points and performance.
But by the start of the second week, things began to change. More and more students discovered how the A-Rank games worked, and the rankings slowly began to shift — echoing the same pattern as the first week.
Even so, the four who had started first — Raiden, Tamaki, Nejire, and Mirio — held too much of an advantage. Their lead was enormous, almost untouchable.
Days passed. The only changes in the leaderboard were between themselves — some days Raiden was first, other days Nejire, or Mirio, or Tamaki. But none of them ever dropped below the top four.
By the end of the second week, their victory was all but secured.
They had gone through all kinds of games — battle simulations, strategy missions, ethical dilemmas — and each time, they emerged victorious.
Until now, they had been undefeated.
Still, none of them allowed themselves to relax — not until the last day ended.
Only when lunchtime came, and their watches beeped again, did they finally let out the breath they'd been holding.
> FIRST STAGE ENDED: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE PASSED TO THE SECOND STAGE.
HERO IN TRAINING: MEWTWO
TOTAL SCORE: 752 POINTS
RANK: #001
———
FIRST STAGE ENDED: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE PASSED TO THE SECOND STAGE.
HERO IN TRAINING: LEMILLION
TOTAL SCORE: 745 POINTS
RANK: #002
———
FIRST STAGE ENDED: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE PASSED TO THE SECOND STAGE.
HERO IN TRAINING: NEJIRE-CHAN
TOTAL SCORE: 734 POINTS
RANK: #003
———
FIRST STAGE ENDED: CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'VE PASSED TO THE SECOND STAGE.
HERO IN TRAINING: SUNEATER
TOTAL SCORE: 731 POINTS
RANK: #004
Their watches flickered with the golden light of victory.
The first stage of the A-Rank games was over — and they stood, side by side, at the very top.
However, before they could even celebrate, the damn watch beeped again.
TOTAL STUDENTS ADVANCING TO THE NEXT STAGE: 20
Stage Two: Hide and Hunt
During the next four hours, each of you will be randomly assigned a role — either Hunter or Defender.
Roles will change at random intervals.
Your watches will glow blue for Defenders and red for Hunters.
Hunter's role: Touch a Defender for three continuous seconds to steal one point.
Defender's role: Avoid being touched for too long, or you'll lose points.
The second stage will begin at 14:00:59.
Proceed to the Simulated City Campus before the timer ends.
At first, everyone had the same thought — finally, sleep.
It was already dinner time, so the second stage would begin the next day. They had enough hours to rest and prepare.
And so, the twenty students who had received the message all made the same decision: get some sleep.
For the first time in days, they were sure no game would interrupt their dreams.
No one stayed up late. The campus went quiet.
Just like that, the night began.
The next morning, everyone woke up early — not without enjoying a full nine hours of rest. They had time to prepare; five hours before the new stage began.
That morning, Raiden walked to the dorm kitchen to make breakfast. There, a half-asleep Nejire was already serving herself coffee.
When she saw him, she gave him a drowsy smile.
"Hello, ne… are you… gawgh… ready?" she mumbled between a yawn.
"More or less," Raiden replied, stretching. "I'd have liked a day to relax, but well, we have what we have. You?"
"I'm fine," she said, taking a sip. "Just a little sleepy — but coffee fixes everything."
Moments later, Mirio appeared, his trademark grin bright as ever.
"Guys! You ready? We're in the second stage now!" he announced, his enthusiasm impossible to hide.
"I–I'm not ready… I wanna go home," muttered Tamaki from behind, his voice small and gloomy as always.
Nejire glanced around the common room. No one else from their class seemed to be awake yet.
"Ne… no one else passed?" she asked, her voice hesitant.
Raiden sighed. "If we're honest, the four of us had an advantage. We worked as a team — that helped a lot. Some of our classmates didn't, and even the ones who did probably couldn't find enough A-Rank games, or didn't win them all. Remember, we're competing against all the upper courses."
"You're right," Mirio said quietly. "Maybe… we should've helped them."
"Ma–maybe," Tamaki added softly, but Raiden shook his head.
"We teamed up because we have good compatibility in battle," he said. "I don't wanna sound harsh, but—"
Before he could finish, Nejire placed a finger on his lips with a cheerful smile.
"No need to say more," she said gently.
Raiden paused, then smiled back. "You're right."
The four of them ate together in silence for a moment, then continued chatting lightly, keeping the mood easy.
When the timer on their watches began to tick closer to the start of the second stage, they finished their breakfast, washed their dishes, and headed out together — walking side by side toward the U.A. Simulated Cities.
As they left, their classmates watched from the dorm windows.
No one called out to them, not out of jealousy or resentment — but out of quiet frustration.
For the rest, it was hard not to feel left behind.
So, without saying a word, no one went downstairs.
They all stayed in their rooms, silently cheering for the four who had made it through, hoping not to break their focus.
Raiden, Mirio, Tamaki, and Nejire had two hours left.Still, anxiety gnawed at them, and waiting only made it worse.So, instead of wasting time, they left early.
By the time they arrived at the place, an hour and a half remained. They sat just outside the entrance of the simulated city, the afternoon sun hitting the pavement in soft orange tones.
They weren't alone for long. Slowly, more and more students began to arrive — some familiar faces among them.Chopper, Alice, and David from Class 2-B appeared, exchanging brief smiles and greetings. It was a pleasant surprise, even if short-lived. After all, they were now competitors.
As more students gathered, small groups formed naturally. No one spoke much; everyone knew what was coming.
When the full twenty participants had arrived — seven from second year, five from third year, and eight from fourth — the tension became palpable.
Then, when the timer on their watches reached zero, the devices beeped again, displaying new instructions.
"Your assigned entry point is #0034."
Each watch showed a different number.It was clear this would be an individual test.
When Raiden reached his designated entry point, he found himself standing in a narrow alley marked with the painted number 0034 on the wall.All around the simulated city, similar entry points were numbered. Technically, it was possible to enter by other means — like flying — but the numbers were meant to separate and organize the students evenly across the area.
Mewtwo waited. The air was quiet, the kind of silence before something begins.Then his watch beeped again.
Stage Two: START
Time Limit: 5:00:00Current Points: 752Current Role: Defender — Time remaining: 14:59
At the end of the timer, only students with more than 400 points will advance to the next stage.
To eliminate someone, they must reach 0 points. Otherwise, they remain in the game.
STAAAART!
The word flashed in bold white across the screen.
Raiden didn't hesitate. His body began to glow, and in a surge of psychic light, he transformed into Mewtwo.A pulse of energy radiated from his arm outward, bending the air around him.
The moment the light faded, Mewtwo was already levitating. His eyes scanned the ruined skyline ahead as he began to float forward.He had to resist for fifteen minutes until his role switched to Hunter. Until then, he only needed to survive.
"If I use Barrier and my telekinesis to scout the area, this should be easy," he thought. "The only real problems could be Mirio — he can phase through my barrier — and maybe David with that teleport Quirk."
He extended his telekinesis around himself like a radar, a constant psychic wave that prevented ambushes.
"The first Hunters will try to locate the Defenders," he reasoned. "And I don't even know how many Defenders there are… or who my classmates are playing as. For all I know, they could be my enemies."
He glanced at his watch — the metallic frame was glowing faintly blue."The metal even changed color… how did they manage that?" he murmured.
Floating quietly through the empty streets, he appeared calm — maybe even careless — but that was far from the truth.He didn't want to simply hide. Instead, he chose a proactive approach.
He had formed around himself a twenty-meter-wide psychic sphere — an invisible bubble that transmitted every movement, vibration, and sound directly to his mind.He could've expanded it farther, but that would require too much focus and energy. Twenty meters was the perfect range: efficient, reliable, and precise.
Ambushing him would be almost impossible.
And indeed, he sensed something.A faint disturbance to his left — small, quick, low to the ground.A rat? The shape was tiny, moving through the alleys, weaving from shadow to shadow.
He continued levitating, but kept his attention locked on the creature.A rat wouldn't normally concern him, but Quirks in U.A. could be… strange. The last thing he wanted was to be caught off guard.
His instincts proved correct.The rat moved erratically, sniffing the air — and then, another appeared nearby. Then another.Soon, several small shapes were creeping through the alleyways, circling closer.
But something was off. When Mewtwo examined one more closely with telekinesis, the texture felt wrong — unnaturally smooth, almost like glass.No heat, no heartbeat.
Then, one of them finally came into view at the corner.The creature's head peeked out, and Mewtwo saw it clearly: a rat made of translucent resin, like a perfect 3D-printed model.
"So… it is a Quirk," he muttered under his breath. "But there are too many of them. A long-range control type, probably."
As he spoke, the rats began to multiply. One, two, five, ten — spreading across the streets. Then came larger shapes — rabbits, cats, birds.
His expression hardened."So it's a large-distance control Quirk… and judging by how fast they move, the user either shares vision or gets information almost instantly."
The number of rabbits increased at an abnormal pace — from one, to ten, to twenty — all of them slowly approaching.He continued floating around as if nothing was happening, just to be sure, and he was right.
Slowly, the number became absurd, and he was certain there were more outside his perception range.And he was right again — when Mewtwo expanded his range, he saw it clearly: at least two hundred rabbits were getting close, moving from every direction, all converging toward him.