Inside the monitoring room, no one spoke.
Midoriya had used his Quirk at the cost of an arm to break through three floors. Uraraka, seizing the opportunity, used her gravity-defying pillar to knock debris toward Iida and retrieved the "nuclear bomb."
The heroes won, but they were badly injured. The villains lost, but were unscathed.
Everyone—including Gin Kameshou—fell silent.
He'd rather hurt himself than use an uncontrollable Quirk on others. A true hero's resolve...
"It's fine now! Why? Because I am here!"
Suddenly, a little girl's voice imitating All Might's catchphrase echoed in Gin's mind.
She had once dreamed of becoming someone like that too… but in the end…
"I couldn't protect anything."
"Gin-chan, did you say something?" Hagakure asked.
Gin snapped out of her thoughts. "The confined indoor space made the building unstable. Midoriya and Bakugo's attacks didn't account for that at all. From Midoriya's injuries, it seems the whole thing only succeeded due to luck. Any small mistake, and the heroes would've protected nothing."
"G-Gin's summary is excellent! Any other comments?" All Might asked.
Yaoyorozu raised her hand. "Uraraka became careless midway. Her final attack was reckless. If that model had been a real nuclear weapon, she never would've risked it. In contrast, Iida planned around the scenario, which is why he was caught off guard."
"S-Such detailed analysis…" All Might wiped sweat from his brow. "Well, Iida needs to be more flexible too, but overall—great answers! Now, on to the second battle! Team B Heroes vs. Team I Villains!"
Gin was caught off guard but followed Ojiro to the staging area.
"Let's plan. My Quirk is 'Silver World.' I can turn special metal accessories and coins into liquid metal and control them. Ojiro, what's yours?"
"My Quirk is my tail. It's good for close combat."
"Shoji's Quirk is great for scouting and melee. Todoroki... we don't know the extent of his abilities, but he was a recommendation student. He must be extremely strong."
They exchanged looks.
"Feels like we have no edge."
"Don't give up before it starts!"
"I'm not," Gin replied, sticking a coin to the nuke prop. The liquid metal wrapped around it. Then she made several identical decoys. "Now they can't tell which is real."
"Looks convincing at a glance," Ojiro agreed.
"Let's move the decoys now."
"Two people in the fourth-floor hall. No movement," Shoji reported using his Dupli-Arms.
"They're probably planning a defensive strategy," Gin said. "But that's not my concern." Todoroki placed a hand on the wall, instantly freezing the building.
"They're coming," Gin warned. She and Ojiro jumped to avoid the ice.
"Whoa, that's intense." Gin tapped a coin to the frozen floor. "Time for No. 8."
"No. 8?"
"I'll explain later."
The coin turned into a huge mass of liquid metal, rapidly covering the building even faster than the ice.
"No wonder it's called Silver World."
"Todoroki and Shoji dodged it. Should we go defensive?"
"That favors us. But Todoroki could still pin us down. I'll stall Shoji. You handle Todoroki."
"Got it."
Todoroki dodged Gin's metal, frowning. "They've got wide-range Quirks too."
"What's the plan?"
"I'll distract them. You get the nuke."
"Not happening."
Gin leaped from the fourth floor, using her metal rope to soften the landing. Her kick missed, but she managed to separate Todoroki and Shoji.
"I'm coming, Todoroki!"
"No way!" Ojiro descended from the second floor, his tail knocking Shoji back. Gin pressed the attack, pushing Todoroki toward an interior room.
But Todoroki, anticipating her, dodged into a corner and created an ice wall to block her.
"What a convenient Quirk." Gin turned her ring into a blunt blade and smashed the wall. "Harder than expected."
Todoroki retreated and created a four-story-high ice wall.
"!" Gin pulled back, but still got scraped. She jumped atop the wall—just as Todoroki tried to scale it.
"Fighting with full force, even against an equal. I apologize for underestimating you," she said, appearing behind him much faster than expected. Her blade became a katana and slashed upward. Todoroki dodged and slid down the ice wall.
Gin followed. Todoroki retaliated with an ice spike, intentionally dull at the tip.
At that moment, a metal rope swung from a second-floor window, yanking Gin behind Todoroki. Her katana pierced the ice wall and rested against his neck.
"Miscalculated. I should've known she could manipulate the metal in the building."
"But the match isn't over until I'm bound with capture tape—"
"Time's up!"
Todoroki looked at Shoji, who apologized. "Sorry, Ojiro kept me busy."
"No, my fault," Todoroki said. "You win."
Gin retracted her katana. "Just luck. Where's Ojiro?"
"Here…" Ojiro groaned, climbing up. "Shoji's not human."
"Sorry."
"Ah! That was praise, Shoji, don't misunderstand!"
"I know."
They left together. Gin reclaimed her coins and nodded at Todoroki. "Fun fight. But why didn't you use fire? With fire, you'd have overwhelmed me easily."
"Personal reasons," he replied, finishing the defrost. "Also… sorry about your face."
"No big deal." She waved it off. "More importantly…"
Gin stepped toward Todoroki, her face suddenly close. He flinched slightly.
"Todoroki Shouto… you'll become an excellent hero someday. I'm looking forward to that."
...And even more so if you use your fire.
She swallowed the last line, turned, and left—leaving Todoroki stunned.
"Gin-chan's Quirk is amazing! So cool! As cool as Todoroki's!" Hagakure cheered.
No, not in that way, Gin thought.
"So detailed! Very clever and tactically aware! Excellent!" Yaoyorozu said.
Coming from you in a deep V-neck… please no.
"It got so big when it liquefied! You could sell it for a fortune!" Uraraka exclaimed.
They're my wings, Uraraka, please don't.
The monitoring room buzzed. Bakugo bowed his head, frustration plain on his face.
The 2-on-2 battles ended. All Might was now ready to start the 1-on-1 training with Hagakure.
"Uwaaah! I'm scared, Gin-chan! Fighting All Might!?" Hagakure wailed, hugging Gin.
Gin patted her head. "Didn't they say there are special rules? You won't fight him head-on. Chill."
"You're right! Hero Training is for growth, not despair! Today's special rule is…" All Might pulled out a mini blackboard from behind his cape.
Everyone: Where were you even hiding that?
"The rule is simple! Hagakure must retrieve the nuke within 15 minutes—while I defend it wearing noise-canceling headphones!"
"That sounds super easy for her," Ashido objected.
"Not quite! The stage is—an abandoned flour factory!"
"Ah! So the floor will be covered in powder. Even though Hagakure's invisible, she'll still leave footprints."
"Exactly, Yaoyorozu! I'm wearing noise-canceling headphones to even things out. Observing your environment and using all your tools—that's the key!"
"But this is still unfair!" Ashido said, pointing to the screen. "He cleared the entire area and spread flour to block all movement paths!"
"If it were me, I could jump in from above with my tongue, but for her… that's tough."
All Might rotated every 2–3 seconds, keeping guard.
"That's not enough time for Hagakure to rush in."
"So charging in is out…"
Uraraka turned. "What do you think, Gin-chan?"
"If visual stealth became a disadvantage, then she needs to turn her advantage into sound."