It's Not a Muskateers Reference!

Interlude II

Izuku fumbled with the target, attaching it to his chest. It was probably the best place for him too put it. Probably. He knew he didn't want it on his back, it would be to easy to sneak up on him. Hopefully, he'd be able to protect the target easier from it's current position.

He stood amongst the crowd of students, waiting at the entrance of Ground Omega. Once they were given the signal, they'd have five minutes to spread out before they could start eliminating each other.

Five minutes would hopefully be enough time for him too hide. Izuku didn't want to brag or anything, but he was pretty good at hiding in short amounts of time, with the way things were back in middle school. He shuddered at the unwanted memory, forcing himself to focus on what was happening.

Despite it being a smaller group than it had been at the start of the sports festival, the chatter was still just as loud, most of them in smaller groups of friends. Kirishima was over with the Bakusquad, although Izuku swore he saw him sending him a thumbs up.

He also managed to spot a tuff of wild, purple hair, confirming that the general studies boy he'd wanted to talk to had passed the first round. He seemed to be all alone, though, which made sense seeing as none of the other gen ed kids had passed.

"Hey there Mr. First Place!!!" said a voice from behind him. He yelped, surprised, before turning around to look at whoever was behind him. She had thick, pink dreadlocks, and dozens of gadgets on her, including the goggles covering her eyes. She took no time to get up close to him, "I'm Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume!!! Team up with me!!!"

Izuku stepped back, staring at Hatsume, dumbfounded, "I.... Wh-what? You.... you w-want to team u-up with me?"

Hatsume nodded enthusiastically, "Of course I wanna team up with you!! You got first place, so all eyes will be on you!!! Meaning, if I'm teamed up with you, all eyes will be on me and my spectacular babies!!"

"Babies?!"

She then pulled out a case filled with support items, "Yeah, aren't they so cute?!"

Oh, so she just means her inventions...

"Uhm, yeah..... But uhm.... Wh-why would y-you want t-to team up w-with me? I-I c-could e-easily s-steal your q-quirk, a-aren't you s-scared?" Izuku asked, and Hatsume shrugged, "As long as you don't try to steal my babies, we're on good terms! And plus, since we're teamed up I can share them with you, for now at least."

"U-um, okay.... B-but, is i-it even a-allow for u-us to team up?"

"They said anything goes, as long as we don't try to fatally injure anyone!!"

"Erm.... o-okay, s-sure, I-I'll team u-up with you... Uhm... w-we'll need a p-plan..."

A/N

I was going to have the second round start this chapter, but this scene ended up longer than expected, so we'll have too wait til next chapter. Sorry!!