When Sparks Fly

Chapter 10

"The first game of the first-year stage is finally over." Midnight announced.

"Thanks for waking me up, Denki."

"No problem. I made sure to wake you up a few minutes earlier, unlike earlier."

"It's fine, Denki. Don't worry about it." I smiled.

"N-No problem." He said immediately, turning his attention to our teacher. Was he nervous around me or did I do something wrong?

"Now, take a look at the results!" On the large screen behind her, I spotted my name in third place.

"I'm in third place!" I exclaimed excitedly.
"She's in third place?!" Katsuki yelled. "How?!"

"Denki if it's necessary, which it might be, could you hide me?"

"From, Bakugo? Totally."

"Thank you, I'll treat you to a smoothie after the festival."

"Aw, man. I'm twenty-fourth."

"At least you're not dead last."

"Yeah, you're right. It could've been worse."

"The top forty-two made it through to the next round. It's unfortunate, but don't worry if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine. The real competition begins next! The press cavalry'll be all over it! Give it your all! Now then, here is the second game. I already know what it is." The roulette wheel on the screen behind Midnight spun and landed on Cavalry Battle.

"A cavalry battle? I'm bad at those." Denki said.

"It's not an individual event, so I wonder how it'll work." Tsu-chan wondered.

"My guess is that the rider is the person with the highest amount of points carried by a group of people." I briefly explained.

"The participants can form teams of two to four people as they wish. There will be one team with five, so you'll have to hurry up and take your pick. It's basically the same as a regular cavalry battle, but the one thing that's different is based on the results of the last game, each person has been assigned a point value." Midnight explained.

"Huh, guess you were right. Are you sure you're not psychic?" Denki asked.

"Positive."

"The points assigned go up by five starting from the bottom. So forty-second place gets five points, and forty-first gets ten points! And the point value assigned to first place is ten million!" I looked over at Izuku and saw him sweating nervously. Around him were a bunch of people looking at him like a wild animal who spotted their prey. "It's survival of the fittest, with a chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top! That is what Plus Ultra means!" The crowd cheered as I started to think about the kind of strategy that would work best for this game. Since only one team would have five people, that left everyone else with a maximum of four people on their team. "Let me now explain the rules. The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its members' points, and the riders will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads. Teams will try to grab each other's headbands until time runs out, and try to keep as many points as they can. Stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. So the more you steal, the harder it'll be to manage them! And the most important thing is that if your headband gets stolen, or if your team falls, you're not out! During the game, it'll be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But it is still a cavalry battle. You'll get a red card for attacks that are trying to make people fall on purpose! You'll be removed immediately!" When the timer for fifteen minutes appeared on screen I already knew who I was going to team up with.