To Find A Needle In A Haystack.

Chapter 5: UA Sports Festival, Second Round

Atsushi and Akutagawa naturally stuck together. They've been fighting side by side for almost a whole year now, so obviously they don't want to split up and ruin their chances of winning this thing. However, that meant they still needed two others. Looking around, Atsushi spotted the pink-haired girl that he remembers is from the support course, and he smiles as a plan starts to form in his head. After talking to Akutagawa about it, Atsushi jogs over to her.

"Hey there! I was wondering if you wanted to be on my team?" Atsushi asks, feeling a little more than nervous as the girl turns a manic grin to him.

"Of course I will! This is the perfect opportunity to show off my babies!" She says excitedly, sticking out her hand for Atsushi to shake.

"The names Hatsume Mei, future CEO of Hatsume Industries." The girl, Hatsume, says as Atsushi shakes her hand.

"I'm Nakajima Atsushi, and our other member is Akutagawa Ryuunosuke. I'm glad to have you on our team, Hatsume-chan!" He says as Akutagawa walks over with a nervous looking Midoriya. Atsushi raises an eyebrow in question, wondering exactly what Akutagawa's thought process is.

"Oh, so we also have Ten Million on our team?" Hatsume asks, eyes wide. Akutagawa nods in affirmation.

"He's smart, and he has the ten million points. With all of us, I'm sure we can keep all our points and get into the final round." Akutagawa explains. Atsushi thinks about it for a moment then nods along.

"Akutagawa is right. Midoriya is really smart, and if we manage to keep our points we can advance. So, anyone have a plan because I have a few ideas."

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Atsushi and the rest of his team decided to have Midoriya as the rider, with Hatsume and Atsushi as the main mode of escape, and Akutagawa as the main defense/ offense. Hatsume helps with that, too, but her hover boots are one of the best things to use to get out of range of attackers.

Midnight cracks her whip, and the second round starts.

Every team guns it to Midoriya's, and they are prepared. They shoot up into the sky, letting the teams under them crash into each other and scramble to stay in the game.

"Wow! What an impressive play by team Midoriya! Your students really are something, Eraser." Present Mic announces, and Atsushi hears the grunt of affirmation from Aizawa-Sensei.

"Obviously. You don't fight villains and then don't have a quick reaction time." Aizawa drawls, and Atsushi hears Midoriya snicker from above him.

They touch back down near a corner of the field, staying out of the spotlight and out of sight of the rest of the teams. A few teams are brave and try to get close, but Rashomon deters anyone by either going straight to them for an attack or trying to steal headbands.

"Team Bakugo and Team Todoroki are battling it out for second place!" Present Mic comments excitedly, drawing the attention of Midoriya's team to the fight. Sure enough, the two teams are in a heated battle with both riders using their quirks to slip the other team up. Mina helps Team Bakugo move around easily by using her acid to skate around on, but Iida is just as fast as her. Todoroki manages to snatch some points off of Bakugo just as the blonde takes some from him. Of course, Bakugo gets pissy about it and tries to blow up the other team, but Iida gets them out of the blast radius quickly.

"Isn't that against the rules?" Atsushi asks, his eyes narrowed at Bakugo.

"What do you mean? We're allowed to use our quirks." Midoriya chimes in, a confused expression on his face. Before Atsushi has a chance to speak, Hatsume pipes up.

"I think Tiger-kun is pointing to the fact that we can't use our quirks to attack with intent to hurt, and the result would be getting disqualified." She says, and Atsushi nods. Midoriya mulls it over for a bit, eyebrows furrowed in concentration.

"That rule won't be held up." Akutagawa says suddenly. Midoriya and Hatsume look at him with confusion, so he continues on with a sigh.

"Bakugo has a powerful quirk, one that most people deem suitable for heroics. They'll bend the rules for types like that." The mafioso drones, a rather bored expression on his face. Atsushi finds himself nodding in agreement, and also speaks.

"He has a point." Hatsume says with a slight frown, but then she grins widely at the rest of the team.

"But, that doesn't mean we can leave it be! I say we teach Blasty a lesson, and show him just how much damage we can do without getting disqualified!" She says, and Atsushi grins back. The weretiger somehow knows Akutagawa is also grinning slightly.

"That sounds like a good plan. We need to start by making him angrier, though." Midoriya mumbles from his spot on Atsushi's shoulders.

"So, just make him see you, got it." Akutagawa says as they start making their way from their corner. Midoriya splutters, and Atsushi can't help but chuckle.

Once the team is in Bakugo's line of sight, the explosive blonde instantly turns his attention to them.

"Get over here, Deku!" He yells, hands popping with explosions. The other team shoots forward, Bakugo launching himself off with his quirk. His hand is outstretched to try and take the headbands, but Rashomon wraps around his ankle. It tries to slam the blonde into the ground, but Bakugo manages to keep in the air with tiny explosions. The rest of Team Bakugo picks him up, and runs away to get distance. Atsushi chances a glance at the timer. A minute left.

"Guys, we have a minute left." He says to his teammates, who all nod in acknowledgement. With a minute left, there isn't much left to do other than defend their points and wait it out. However, Team Todoroki and Team Bakugo start to rush at them. Akutagawa uses Rashomon to try and slow them down, but it only helps a little, so he draws it back in to use more as a shield. Todoroki sends out an ice wall at the same time Bakugo lets loose an explosion, and Hatsume activates her hover boots as Atsushi transforms his legs and jumps up. The buzzer goes off.

"And that's the end of the second round, everyone! With ten million points and first place, we have Team Midoriya. In second place, we have Team Todoroki. Then in third we have Team Bakugo. And finally in fourth we have Team Shinsou!" Present Mic says over the speakers, and the crowd goes wild. It takes a minute for the cheers to die down enough for Midnight to speak.

"We will be having an hour long break for the games and lunch before the third and final round of the UA Sports Festival, which is gonna be one on one battles! Prepare yourselves, top four teams, and everyone else enjoy the break!" With another crack of her whip, Midnight gets off the podium and starts ushering students back through the tunnels. Atsushi walks next to Akutagawa in silence, too lost in his own thoughts about the next round. One on one battles? Isn't that dangerous, not to mention possibly deadly for those wanting to go underground?

"I know, Jinko. This entire thing rubs me the wrong way, too, but we have to put up with it for the sake of the mission and Yokohama as a whole." Akutagawa says in a low enough voice that he won't be overheard. Atsushi swallows nervously, but nods anyway.

"I know, Akutagawa. I know."

Authors notes:

This chapter was hard to write, as I didn't have any ideas for it, so I apologize if it seems a bit choppy. I was almost tempted to wait until next week to post, but I didn't want to put it off for much longer. 

Good news is that school is ending in three weeks for me, so I might post more than once a week with this fic. Also, let me know if you guys want more for the other two fics I currently have up!

As always, thank you for reading and have a lovely day <3