PUPPET // KATSUKI BAKUGO [1]

Chapter 49 // Anchor

You were doing good. You didn't have any of your targets hit yet, but you still only had one defeat. The most of anything you were doing was dodging.

Every time you went to attack someone, dozens of others appeared to gang up on you, and, the worst part was, somewhere along the line, you had gotten separated from Bakugo.

That meant no help, no one to have your back, and, worst of all, at least to you, no one to tease. How were you supposed to get through this exam without irritating Bakugo?

"The ninety-sixth competitor has passed," Mera's voice echoed throughout the stadium. "There's are four spots left, and thirteen examinees remaining."

"Dammit," you cursed as you slid down to the ground.

You had been hidden in one of the buildings of the city terrain for a few minutes now. You needed to rest. The other examinees were being more brutal than you thought. You and some scrapes and bruises and blood patches in various places. You scars ached, but you weren't going to give up. You just needed to take a breather.

"The ninety-seventh competitor has passed. There are three spots left, and eleven examinees remaining."

You pushed yourself to your feet and took a deep breath. There were three spots left. You needed one. You were sure all of you other classmates had already secured their spots.

"The ninety-eighth and ninety-nine competitors have passed. There is one spot left, and seven examinees remaining."

Make that one spot left.

If any of your classmates were still in the exam, they would've come looking for you already with the number so low. If you were the only Class 1-A student left, that meant the other six examinees would probably put off trying to eliminate each other for the final spot and work together to find you regardless of if they were classmates or strangers.

"Now or never," you muttered.

You walked out of the building and scanned your surroundings for the remaining players. You found no one. It was quiet.

They were probably waiting for you. It'd be a bad idea for them to split up to find you since they knew you were a top student, and it'd take them too much time to look for one person as a group in such a big stadium.

You shot out a string to wrap around the tallest pole you could find, which you pulled yourself on top of. You then shot out two more strings, one from each pointer finger, and pulled yourself up onto the tallest building, which gave you a view of the entire arena.

The other six competitors were waiting for you in the center of the stadium. They were six students from schools you didn't know. There were four males and two females.

The first male, black hair, had two of his three targets illuminated. He'd be a good one to eliminate.

The second male, long haired redhead, had one of his three targets illuminated. That meant he was good at defense but bad at offense.

The third male, brown hair, had two of his three targets illuminated. Another contender for elimination.

The fourth male, shorty, had none of his targets illuminated. He seemed drawn back, which told you he probably didn't hit anyone else's targets either.

The first female, blondie, had two of her three targets illuminated, but the third one was in a difficult place, the back of her thigh.

The second female, double braid, had one of her three targets illuminated, but the other two were in easy places, one on each bicep.

"Finally came out of hiding, huh?" Double Braid yelled.

"Sorry!" You apologized with fake sympathy. "I needed to re-energize after so much ass-kicking!"