MHA Universe, Earth, Japan, Musutafu.
The time for team formation before the second event passed quickly. Before long, the teams took their final forms. And as the crowd saw who joined which team, their anticipation rose sharply.
However, the three Heroes who were in charge of the Sports Festival's on sight affairs, namely Hizashi, Shota, and Nemuri, were listening to some last minute changes through the earpieces they all wore. And when they heard the instructions they were given, two of the three showed uncomfortable expressions.
"I understand, I'll implement the new rules immediately." Nemuri said into her earpiece with her brows furrowed slightly, her tone making it clear that she was not comfortable with the instructions she just received.
{"Then, that will be all."} Nezu's cheerful voice said through the earpiece. {"And I know what you're thinking, Kayama-Kun. But trust me, Soramoto-Kun will appreciate this. Everything he's done so far, from provoking all the other contestants at the beginning to his mocking response after the Obstacle Race, was to make the Sports Festival more interesting for himself."}
"I'll trust your judgement, Principal." Nemuri replied in an uncertain tone before ending the communication.
Nemuri was not the only one on this communications line, as both Hizashi and Shota were also connected. However, unlike Nemuri, who was worried about how Tatsuo would take the suddenly implemented changes to the Capture the Flag/Fortress Defense event, Shota, who was his homeroom teacher, had a better grasp of his personality. As for Hizashi, when he saw how calm Shota was when hearing the news, he calmed down immediately due to the trust he had in his old friend.
Meanwhile, in Nezu's office in the U.A. main building, Nezu was sitting at his desk with a smile on his face and a teacup in his little paws. However, he was not alone, as Toshinori, in his civilian form, was also present, sitting on one of the couches in the office.
"This seems rather unfair to Young Soramoto and Young Matou, doesn't it?" Toshinori asked shortly after Nezu ended the communication with Hizashi, Shota, and Nemuri. "Especially since the Sports Festival is supposed to be a platform for those young, aspiring Heroes to show the country what they are capable of."
*Slurp!*
Instead of responding immediately, Nezu took a long slurp from his teacup, a completely relaxed and satisfied expression appearing on his face when he lowered the cup from his mouth. Finally, after savoring that feeling for a moment, Nezu turned to Toshinori to answer his question.
"You worry too much, Toshinori-Kun." Nezu said in a cheerful tone. "Just like I told Kayama-Kun, Soramoto-Kun will find these changes interesting. At the very least, he'll be happy that things won't be so easy."
While he had understood Tatsuo's personality fairly well over the time he trained Izuku at Alfonzo's gym, he still thought the way Nezu was going about this was the wrong way.
'It wouldn't have been so bad if you had announced these changes before the Sports Festival started, would it?' Toshinori asked himself while looking at Nezu with uncertainty.
"Just watch." Nezu said calmly while gesturing at the monitor hanging on the wall of his office. He then picked up his teacup once again as he continued. "You'll see that Soramoto-Kun truly does not mind. Though, I will probably have to find a way to make this up to him in the future. Because I doubt that Alfonzo-Kun will be happy about this given how protective of his cousin he is."
Following Nezu's gesture, Toshinori turned to look at the monitor that was showing the live broadcast of the Sports Festival. And at that moment, the team building period before the Capture the Flag/Fortress Defense event had ended, and the camera was focused on Nemuri, who was about to move on to the next part of the event.
"All the teams have been created, and the competitors look like they are ready to get started." Nemuri said with a slightly forced smile on her face. "However, before we begin the base building phase of the event, I have to announce an additional rule for this event."
Hearing that, the crowd fell silent immediately as all of their attention was focused on Nemuri's upcoming words. Meanwhile, the students were even more focused than the crowd, as the change in rules would definitely affect how the event was played.
"It has been decided by the Sports Festival Planning Committee that, for the spirit of fairness, teleportation abilities will be restricted for the duration of the Capture the Flag/Fortress Defense event." Nemuri said in a solemn tone. "Teleportation abilities will only be permitted within the base of the user. However, using it to enter another team's base or traverse the battle field is strictly prohibited. And any use of teleportation during the event will result in immediate disqualification for the entire team of the offender."
*Silence!*
The silence in the crowd was oppressive. Although not everyone in the crowd was a genius, no one was so dumb that they could not see that two of the students were being targeted with the rule change. And as the members of the audience realized that, they all turned their gazes towards the two students who would be affected by this change the most.
Namely, Tatsuo and Sakura.
*Cheer~~~~~!*
However, before anyone could see the reactions of those two, a large number of the remaining forty students burst into loud, raucous cheering.
"Hahaha! Even U.A. is tired of that guy's arrogance!" Monoma Neito shouted excitedly. "Now it's only a matter of time before the rest of Class 1-A is shown to be incompetent, as well."
"That guy had the nerve to ask who was coming in second." Tsuburaba Kosei, a young man standing at roughly 5'7" with short, spiky auburn hair and black eyes with large pupils, said enthusiastically. "Hmph! Now, he should be asking himself if he can even come in second place after I take the championship."
"Hmph! This is what happens when you talk too big before producing results." Shinso Hitoshi said with his arms crossed while standing with the rest of his team, who, for some reason, all had lifeless looks in their eyes. "Oh well, this will probably open up another slot in the Hero course in the long run. So, I guess it's not such a bad thing."
Many boys who were jealous of how much attention Tatsuo got from the girls were also jeering at Tatsuo for the rule change. However, not everyone was so hostile to Tatsuo. Most of which were girls.
"Hey… You don't have to be… so mean, do you?" Tsunotori Pony, a short girl, standing at about 5'1", with long, wavy blonde hair, big, round, blue eyes, a round face, a short, horse-like muzzle, a pair of horns, horse-like lower legs, hooves, and a short horse tail growing from her tail bone, said timidly in response to all the jeering from the boys.
"Would you stupid boys shut up?" Komori Kinoko, a short young woman, standing at around 5' tall, with honey-brown hair styled into a mushroom-shaped bob cut, bangs that cover her eyes completely, and a rather large mouth, shouted in irritation as her crush was being insulted.
*smack!*
At the same time, Neito, who was the loudest of those jeering at Tatsuo, was slapped on the back of his head by a large hand, causing him to face-plant into the ground.
"Ow! What was that for, kendo-San?" Neito asked while rubbing his face and the back of his head as he stood up from the ground.
"For being an idiot." Kendo Itsuka, Class 1-B's class representative, replied in an exasperated tone as her hand shrunk to a normal size. "Before you start running your mouth, why don't you think about why this rule was introduced."
"Obviously, it's because the school can't stand that guy either." Neito said stubbornly. "What other reason could it be?"
"*Sigh* You really aren't thinking clearly because of your grudge against 1-A." Itsuka said, her exasperation growing. "Fine… I'll spell it out for you. It's because Soramoto-Kun and Matou-San's abilities make them too strong in this event. They would only have to teleport into each team's base, take the flag, and teleport back to eliminate everyone before time runs out. In actuality, the school is only implementing this rule to give everyone else a chance."
Hearing Itsuka say that Tatsuo and Sakura, students from Class 1-A, were too strong, Neito gritted his teeth in frustration as he stared at the two with unrestrained hostility.
"Besides, look at the guy's face." Itsuka continued while pointing at Tatsuo, who was smiling brightly, which caused her, and many of the females in the stadium, to blush with varying degrees when they saw it. "I-I mean, he looks like he's looking forward to the challenge."
"Grrr!" Neito growled audibly after seeing that smile.
Meanwhile, Akatsuki looked at Tatsuo with exasperation.
"Why do you look so happy?" Akatsuki asked in a tired tone. "This is just gonna make things harder for our team, you know?"
"Not really." Tatsuo replied nonchalantly. "It won't change the basics of the plan we discussed, will it? Sakura and Hatsume are still going to stay behind for defense while we move through the battlefield to steal flags. So, what's the difference?"
"Yeah, but now people will definitely know that you're coming." Akatsuki shot back.
"And that will make things easier for you, won't it?" Tatsuo asked in response. "With me drawing all the aggro, you'll be able to perform all your back stabs and trick attacks with no problem, right?"
"Tatsuo-Kun is right." Sakura added. "I was not going to use my ability to move through the shadows in this event anyway." Sakura added.
"Okay, okay, I get it." Akatsuki said, admitting defeat. "If you two don't mind, then who am I to complain?"
Akatsuki could only shake her head with frustration after Sakura joined the conversation. Though she was a bit upset about things getting harder for their team, she knew that Tatsuo would like it better this way. So, she did not say anything else about it.
However, just because Akatsuki decided to drop the subject, that did not mean that the entire team would.
"No~~~~!" Mei screamed, sounding like she just found out the world was ending… Actually, she probably wouldn't scream so loud if she found out about that. Instead, it was more like she had just found out that she would no longer be able to make babies. "This was supposed to be one of my best chances to study your [Quirks]! I could have used that data to create babies that can teleport. And now… *Sniff* My babies will never see the light of day. *Sniff*"
"Stop being so melodramatic, Hatsume." Tatsuo said while rolling his eyes. "I already promised to let you study my [Quirk] after the Sports Festival. Anyway, I'm going to pick up the building materials and the flag. I'll be back in a few minutes."
With that, Tatsuo [Blinked] away, leaving Akatsuki, Sakura, and Mei alone. And as soon as Tatsuo was gone, Mei stopped her fake tears. She then turned to look at Akatsuki and Sakura with her crosshair-like pupils shining.
"So, what kind of babies can we make together?" Mei asked enthusiastically. "Stealth and shadow manipulation… Ooh~~~~~! The possibilities are endless."
Seeing how quickly Mei's mood changed after Tatsuo left, Akatsuki and Sakura could only exchange glances while listening to Mei shoot off ideas for Support Devices like a machine gun.
"She really does do things at her own pace, doesn't she?" Akatsuki asked while smiling wryly.
"She does." Sakura replied with a nod. "And seeing someone so passionate about their interests is nice, too."
"Oh, so you don't mind all the talk about making babies anymore?" Akatsuki asked with a grin.
"As long as she isn't talking about making babies with Tatsuo-Kun." Sakura replied, a hint of steel entering her tone.
Meanwhile, back in the stands, Alfonzo, Rumi, and Ryuko were talking about the rule changes for the upcoming event.
"Look at that kid's face." Rumi said while pointing at Tatsuo, who had been smiling brightly since the rule change was announced. "He looks like a kid in a candy store."
"It's a very attractive smile." Ryuko said absent-mindedly as she watched Tatsuo pick up his team's building materials.
"Oh ho?" Rumi exclaimed with a shit-eating grin. "I didn't know you were into younger guys, Ryukyu."
"Huh? What?" Ryuko exclaimed, snapping out of her slight daze. "What are you talking about?"
A moment later, she realized that she had said what she was thinking out loud.
"Oh God! What did I just say?" Ryuko whined as she covered her face with her hands.
"Don't worry, you're only looking." Alfonzo said while patting Ryuko on her shoulder, a shit-eating grin plastered on his face, as well. "T has that effect on women. It's not your fault. Besides, I think Mirko is into younger guys, too. Otherwise, why would she keep pestering me like she does?"
*Swoosh!*
Immediately after saying his piece, Alfonzo dodged to the side, avoiding a powerful kick from the, now, pissed off Rabbit Hero.
"What did you just say?" Rumi asked angrily as she prepared to throw another kick. "I'm only coming around because I want to fight you. I'd fight that brat of a cousin of yours, too. But I don't wanna end up in another country if I annoy him."
"And we're both younger than you." Alfonzo pointed out. "So, yeah… You're pestering younger guys to spend time with them."
"Hold on!" Rumi said, finally picking up on the other important part of the sentence. "You're younger than me?"
"Yeah, I'm only twenty-three and you're twenty-six." Alfonzo replied as he began sneakily moving pieces of metal towards Rumi in case he needed to restrain her. "It's in my public profile."
"Who reads those things?" Rumi asked with a frown. "They don't' tell me who's strong or not. They only tell me stuff that doesn't really matter like looks and age. Though, I'll admit you aren't too bad on the eyes... And you are really strong…"
As Rumi began to trail off at the end, Ryuko had to rub her eyes. After all, what she thought she was seeing could not be possible.
'Is… Is she blushing?' Ryuko asked herself in dumbfounded amazement. 'No way… The overly violent, Rabbit Hero can blush? That's impossible, right? Is someone using an [Illusion Quirk] on me?'
As her thoughts reached that point, Ryuko began looking around with vigilance. And every time her gaze fell on Rumi, she convinced herself more and more that she was under attack by someone's [Quirk].
Meanwhile, Alfonzo was doing all he could to not laugh. After all, he never thought he would be able to make Rumi admit she found him attractive. Plus, he could pretty much guess what Ryuko was thinking. However, before he could start making fun of them, Nemuri's voice sounded throughout the stadium.
"Alright, everyone has their building materials."} Nemuri said, her usual playful, yet sultry, tone returning. {"So, the base building portion of the Capture the Flag/Fortress Defense Event begins… Now!"}