The roar of the crowd was a physical force, a tidal wave of sound that vibrated through the very concrete of the athlete's tunnel.
Kaito stood with the rest of Class 1-A, a knot of tension in his stomach.
This was it. The entire nation was watching.
He could feel the weight of Aizawa's words, of the U.S.J., of everything.
"ALRIGHT, LISTENERS!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the stadium. "WELCOME TO THE U.A. SPORTS FESTIVAL! LET'S GIVE A HUGE ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR THE STARS OF THE SHOW... THE FIRST-YEARS!"
They marched out into the blinding sunlight.
The scale of the stadium was overwhelming.
Kaito's eyes instinctively scanned the sea of faces, the pro heroes in the special boxes, the media section.
This was more than a competition; it was a gauntlet, and his Quirk was about to be put on trial.
Midnight cracked her whip on the podium.
"Now, for the student pledge! Representing the first-years is the top scorer in the entrance exam... from Class 1-A, BAKUGO KATSUKI!"
Bakugo stomped up to the microphone, grabbed it, and delivered his now-infamous declaration of victory.
The crowd was a mix of cheers and stunned silence. Kaito just shook his head.
'Typical Bakugo.'
But it served as a potent reminder: everyone here was a rival.
"Now, for the first event!" Midnight announced. "The qualifier! It's... AN OBSTACLE COURSE!"
A massive screen displayed the course: a narrow tunnel exit, followed by a straight path littered with various obstacles, ending back in the stadium.
"The top 42 students will advance! Take your places!"
Hundreds of students crammed into the mouth of the tunnel.
It was a bottleneck. A chaos of bodies.
Kaito's mind, honed by weeks of analysis, clicked into gear.
'Initial bottleneck. Goal: clear it quickly without getting trapped. Need mobility or area denial.'
He had two slots. He'd spent the morning preparing. His current loadout was: Hardening, his reliable defensive staple.
Rotating Slot, Currently empty. He'd deliberately cleared it for the first event, waiting to see what was needed.
As the start signal blared, the crush began. It was exactly as he'd predicted. A logjam of panicking students.
"Out of my way, Extras!" Bakugo yelled, using his explosions to launch himself over the crowd.
Todoroki, from the front, did something far more dramatic.
He stomped his foot, and a glacier of ice erupted, flash-freezing the entire crowd behind him, trapping them solid.
Kaito's eyes widened.
'Area denial on a massive scale. Brutal, but effective.'
He'd been near the back, avoiding the initial crush.
The ice was coming. He had seconds.
'Need to bypass the ice. Need traction or elevation.'
He spun around, his eyes locking onto a student from Class 1-B with large, thick tires for arms. A mobility Quirk. Perfect.
"Sorry about this!" Kaito said, shoving through the panicked students.
He slapped his hand against the boy's tire-arm.
'Three... four... five.'
The tingle. A new sensation of rugged, rolling energy filled him. He'd archived 'Tires'.
He overwrote one of the empty slots and activated it instantly.
His forearms morphed, his skin hardening into black, treaded rubber. It was a strange, disorienting feeling.
He dropped to all fours, his new tire-arms gripping the icy ground with incredible traction.
He pushed off, rolling forward like a sprinter, skating across Todoroki's ice field with surprising speed while others were still stuck.
He broke through the bottleneck, finding himself in the clear, but far behind the leaders like Todoroki, Bakugo, and Iida.
The next obstacle appeared: a series of giant pitfall traps with tightropes strung across.
'Precision and balance. Tires are useless here.'
Ahead, he saw Midoriya, using a piece of sheet metal as a skateboard.
He saw other students using their quirks in creative ways. He needed to adapt.
He saw a girl from General Studies creating small, floating platforms of light.
A perfect solution. But she was too far ahead to touch.
Then, he saw them. The Zero-Point Robots from the entrance exam. Dozens of them, blocking the path.
A wave of cold dread washed over him. But this time, it was different.
Todoroki froze them solid. Bakugo blasted them apart.
They were obstacles, not insurmountable monsters.
Kaito's mind raced. He had Tires and Hardening. Neither was great for this.
He needed to change his loadout. He needed power.