"Waaaaaaah!!!"
"I didn't think they'd actually win!"
"Insane! Against that Todoroki?!"
The monitor room was a den of excitement. Team B, previously seen as overwhelmingly disadvantaged, had seized victory through a truly bizarre and unconventional method.
After a short while, recovery robots from the infirmary arrived with stretchers to carry away the three unconscious students. Jiro also stepped out, her legs so weak that she had to slump down and lean on a robot for support as she trudged out.
The Infirmary.
Tori opened his eyes while staring up at a white ceiling.
His head was ringing.
"Ah… my ears hurt."
Frowning, he pushed himself upright. On the neighboring beds, Todoroki and Shoji were still fast asleep.
"Are you awake, young Marumine!"
The curtain was drawn back as All Might peered in. Behind him, a swarm of students—including Yaoyorozu, Iida, and Uraraka—poured into the room.
"Marumine! Are you okay?"
"That was amazing earlier! Making the nuclear bomb vanish like that!"
"That suicidal plan at the end was a bit reckless, but… to think you'd get the win!"
The look in the children's eyes had changed.
Up until yesterday, they had seen him as either quirkless or merely lucky. Not anymore.
Now he was someone with something more—a true unpredictable trickster.
Glances filled with wariness, curiosity, and even a hint of admiration were directed his way.
Tori's reaction was simple.
"No, no. It wasn't that impressive."
Tori used [Downplay]!
"It was just a simple misdirection. Besides, the villain side was overwhelmingly advantaged this round, wasn’t it? Todoroki’s specialty—the massive freeze—was locked down because of the nuke. Conversely, since our side had nothing to lose, we could act as we pleased. The situation was simply in our favor."
"Still! To think of taking the bomb hostage in that situation! Incredible!"
"He's right, Marumine! Your decisiveness when you gave that self-destruction order… honestly, you came off more as a perfect villain than a hero!"
"That is not a compliment, Uraraka!"
"Oh…! Ah, right, I didn’t mean it that way! Marumine!"
It didn’t seem to have much effect!
Iida and Uraraka’s eyes sparkled. The atmosphere was like an uncontrollable wildfire—once it started, it rapidly swallowed up all notions of logic. The lucky underachiever was quickly transforming, in their eyes, into a cerebral trickster.
But whether Marumine’s reasoning was logically sound didn’t matter.
The handicap of protecting a nuclear weapon, the constraints of an indoor battle, and the surprise self-detonation tactic combined to produce a victory that could only come about through their overlap.
Yet, how much did that theory matter to the students?
To them, the event unfolding before their eyes was all that counted.
Todoroki Shoto—the strongest of them all—had been rendered helpless, unable to act.
Tori Marumine, previously seen as lethargic and weak, had turned the tables.
The thrilling reversal and his dazzling performance were etched into their minds far more vividly than any theory ever could be.
'Agh, my head.'
Tori clicked his tongue internally.
His plan to suffer a moderate defeat and fade into the background had been completely upended. His dream of lurking unnoticed like mold in a classroom corner was now forcefully shifted into the spotlight of a leading role.
Then, All Might and Aizawa approached.
"Your tactical judgment was excellent, young Marumine."
All Might gave a thumbs-up, though his expression carried a hint of concern.
"However… your methods were a bit too villainous. Hostage-taking and self-destruction—remember that this could reflect poorly on your Heroics Foundation scores."
"Though it was rational."
Aizawa added.
"Making a scapegoat of your own comrade, Jiro, is a point deduction. Next time, try to find a more... hero-like method."
Tsk.
Outwardly, Tori replied, "Yes, yes, I'll keep that in mind~," but inwardly he pouted.
How was he supposed to use "hero-like" methods against a monster? He hadn’t even wanted to fight in the first place.
In truth, it had been a close call.
If Todoroki had ignored Marumine’s words and attacked...
If Shoji had struck Jiro before Marumine gave the order...
If Jiro had reacted even a fraction later...
If the power of Jiro’s Crazy Heartbeat had been any weaker...
This victory would not have been possible.
He glanced aside. Jiro Kyoka was sitting on the adjacent bed, wrapping bandages around her ankle.
She still stared dazedly at her fidgeting fingers, while the earphone jack dangling from her ear hung limply.
'Haaa, where is my school life even going?'
Tori thought bitterly.
He had always been weak when it came to girls.
Inside that frigid room, the sight of Jiro’s pale face trembling in fear...
...and the desperate, tear-filled look in her eyes that silently pleaded whether he felt any remorse.
The moment he saw that, even the deep-seated laziness within him faltered.
His body moved on its own. His head began to turn without his command.
All for the sake of turning a winnable fight into a victory, and to grant his teary partner her moment of triumph.
In the end, he had instinctively worked his magic.
As a result, he blended completely into the class. While he hadn’t managed to sour the atmosphere, he had at least avoided being ostracized or treated like trash—small consolation, perhaps.
Then, Jiro slowly turned her head.
Her eyes met Tori’s.
Though confusion still lingered in them, the earlier contempt and dismissal had vanished.
After a brief hesitation, she spoke bluntly—in a whisper so soft it could almost be missed.
"…Thanks."
"Huh? What was that? My ears are ringing—I can’t quite hear you," Tori teased, leaning in with a mock-serious air. Jiro’s brow furrowed slightly, but she spoke again.
"I said we won because of you. That… plan. It was reckless, but still."
Her gaze dropped to the floor. Her earlobes—and even her pale nape—had taken on a soft red hue.
"In the end, I... I thought I’d be useless. I expected to simply surrender and be done with it… but you gave me the final part to play… so… thank you."
It was genuine.
In the depths of her despair, when she was all too aware of her own weakness, what Tori had given her was more than just a victory—it was a role. A chance to contribute to the fight and become a key part of the win.
Tori couldn’t help but chuckle at her reddened earlobes.
Mischief began to creep back into his tone.
"Heh… is gratitude just words to you?"
He slid off the bed and suddenly leaned his face toward Jiro.
"What was it I said back then? Since it’s cold, how about we, as partners..."
He whispered with a sly smile.
"How about we actually put that plan into action—to raise our body heat by huddling together? The infirmary curtains are drawn, and the atmosphere is just perfect."
Before he could finish his sentence—
Stab!
"Gah!?"
Sharp pain shot through Tori’s earlobe as Jiro’s earphone jack flew out like lightning, piercing him.
"Die."
Jiro spat coldly. Her face flushed red like a tomato, yet her gaze remained fierce.
"Pervert. Scum. And here I was, actually thanking you."
She snapped her head away. Even in her chilly rejection, Tori caught a faint, relieved smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
'Well, I guess this isn’t so bad.'
Tori rubbed his stinging ear and lay back down on the bed.
He despised complications, but even so, messing around with a girl was always fun.
*
U.A. Monitor Room.
Even after the screen had gone black, the students’ fervor showed no sign of cooling. The match between Team J and Team B had delivered a shock that went far beyond a simple win or loss—the hollow defeat of Todoroki, once deemed the strongest, and the bizarre victory of the one who appeared weakest.
For hero hopefuls, there was no better topic for analysis.
"Now, shall we begin the review?"
Standing in front of the chalkboard was Momo Yaoyorozu. She picked up a piece of chalk, exuding her characteristic intellectual aura. Normally, her leadership might have felt imposing, but in that moment, no one objected.
"The core of this battle was psychological warfare and an understanding of the rules."
She wrote the names Marumine, Jiro, Todoroki, and Shoji on the board, drawing arrows to illustrate their relationships.
"The first thing to note is Todoroki’s blunder. He was overconfident in the freezing power of his Half-Cold, Half-Hot Quirk. Sure, freezing the entire building was an impressive display of power, but it actually served as a hint for Marumine."
She was echoing exactly what Marumine had said.
Large-scale freeze on the building equals an inability to freeze the room itself.
"Because of the need to protect the nuclear weapon, Todoroki couldn’t use a large-scale freeze inside the room. Marumine saw right through that. Then, using his Quirk to touch and secure the nuke, he took the bomb hostage—effectively sealing off Todoroki’s remaining means of attack."
The students nodded in agreement.
"Ah, true… he did hesitate when he realized the bomb was in Marumine’s hands."
"When you put it that way, he’s really smart."
"But that’s not all."
Yaoyorozu’s gaze sharpened further as she pressed the chalk down and circled Marumine’s name.
"The truly frightening thing about Marumine is that he even managed to throw his ally, Jiro, into a panic."
"Frightening?"
Uraraka asked, eyes wide.
"Jiro’s final attack, ‘Crazy Heartbeat’—it’s powerful, but it’s a double-edged sword that can sweep up allies. In a normal situation, Jiro would have hesitated. But by heightening the sense of crisis and deliberately creating chaos—making the nuke vanish and reappear—Marumine forced her to attack before she could think."
Yaoyorozu paused for a breath.
"He was reading the entire situation—the enemy’s mindset, the allies’ psychology, and even the training rules. Like a master chess player, he used every element to craft the most efficient, if utterly ruthless, formula for victory."
In a corner of the classroom,
Katsuki Bakugo, arms crossed and leaning against the wall, listened with a scowl.
'Tch.'
He bit his lip. Reluctantly, he had to admit that Yaoyorozu’s analysis was spot on—she had pinpointed the source of that indefinable irritation he felt.
A Deku-like bastard, a cockroach, a useless pebble—that was how he had dismissed Tori Marumine.
Yet the battle had not been a mere fluke.
He hadn’t scurried around like a rat in the face of overwhelming power; he had twisted the very flow of that power.
'An efficient victory……'
Those words echoed in Bakugo’s mind.
Explosion, destruction, suppression—these were different from the "overwhelming victory" he so prized.
Marumine’s method was pure cunning—making the opponent collapse with minimal force.
It was dirty. Cowardly. Petty. Villainous.
He could hurl every insult in the book at it.
And yet, the victory it produced was undeniable.
Somehow, that kind of win was disturbingly akin to what Bakugo himself sought.
'That bastard……'
Bakugo clenched his fists.
Tiny sparks flickered from his palms.
The memory of the Quirk Apprehension Test flared up.
Launching a ball 700 meters is impressive, no doubt.
But if the finish line is at 60 meters, a ball that travels 60 meters can’t be outdone by one that goes 700.
'Are you trying to say that fools who rely solely on strength are easy to trick?'
It was as if Tori were whispering that right into his ear. The remark scraped at Bakugo’s pride, stinging and igniting a fierce competitive fire.
"What do you mean 'strategist'? Don't make me laugh!"
Bakugo roared, shattering the silence. All eyes turned to him.
"Those are just cheap tricks! A fluke, maybe! It might work once, but never twice! Real strength isn’t about petty tricks—it’s the power to punch through any situation!"
He glared at Yaoyorozu—and even at the fading image of Marumine that still lingered in the air.
"Next time, I’ll show you. I’ll show you what it means to be crushed before you even get a chance to pull those petty tricks."
Just then, Aizawa entered the monitor room.
"Is the review over?"
The room fell silent once more at his arrival.
"Yaoyorozu’s analysis is mostly correct. And Bakugo—your language is rough, but you’ve hit the core in your own way."
Aizawa stepped up to the board, drawing a large "X" over Marumine’s name before erasing it.
"Marumine’s method is a double-edged sword. It risks losing an ally’s trust and instilling fear among civilians—a fatal flaw for any hero."
In that sense, the idea that a hero’s true strength is the power to push through any situation remains valid.
He scanned the room and continued,
"However, if you judge solely by the outcome—the fact that he won—then his method cannot be ignored. You’re hero hopefuls now. Decide for yourselves what to learn and what to discard."
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