Chapter 105: My apologies.

“Those 10 million points are ours!!!”

The gray-haired guy shouted loudly, but to his surprise, Kai casually leaped into the air, avoiding the liquid ground. After all, while he could walk on water using his aura—simply a matter of enhancing the surface tension of a liquid to support his weight—his Haki couldn't do that, and he was only willing to use his Haki and physical strength in public.

“There it is!! The first attack on the pair with 10 million points!!! Will they achieve their goal?!!” The excited voice of Present Mic echoed through the loudspeakers, causing an ovation from the stands.

While in the air, Kai turned toward the group that had 'attacked' him with an annoyed expression. In that moment, a deep terror invaded the students, who became completely motionless where they stood, like statues, nervously watching the young man in the air.

“Go play horsies somewhere else; otherwise, your participation in this event ends here, understood?” As he landed on the ground, Kai spoke in a dark tone that resonated throughout the arena, while his Conqueror's Haki spread, terrifying all the students.

“Whoa, whoa! What's going on here? Why does everyone look like they've just met the devil?!! Is Saito that terrifying?!!” Present Mic asked loudly over the loudspeakers, to which Aizawa commented in his typical tired voice.

“He certainly is. He's undoubtedly the strongest first-year student and very likely the strongest in the academy, but in this case, I suppose those expressions are due to his quirk.”

“Oh, how terrifying! But what will the students do against the strongest?!!!” Present Mic announced loudly, his voice echoing throughout the stadium, which greatly excited the audience.

The cavalry team that had tried to attack Kai quickly nodded with expressions of terror, then slowly backed away. At that moment, Kai deactivated his Conqueror's Haki and began to casually walk toward a corner.

“Looks like they've chosen to retreat this time!!” Present Mic commented in a commentator's voice, though much less animated than before, to which Aizawa added in a serious tone.

“A wise choice. Saito and Yaoyorozu are not easy opponents to deal with—one with immense strength and the other with the ability to create anything that might help her. They have power and flexibility, so the wisest thing in these circumstances is to retreat.”

…

“Why do you have to scare people like that?” Momo asked in a slightly accusatory tone while squeezing her thighs around Kai's neck. He replied casually.

“That's how my quirk is; I'm supposed to use it to win. Or what do you propose we do to win this?”

At Kai's question, Momo could only remain silent. After all, he was right, and there wasn't much she could say in response. So instead, she began to pet Salem while looking away and loosened her grip on Kai's neck, which made him smile amusedly.

After a while, as Kai chatted about random things with Momo, the blond-haired guy with the ability to copy quirks approached stealthily from behind, which made Kai smile somewhat amused, deciding to play dumb.

(How can he imagine that a group of four people can be stealthy...? Thinking really isn't one of his strengths.)

Shortly after, the boy managed to get close enough to touch him, at which point he began to laugh hysterically, full of arrogance.

“Hahahahaha!!! Class 1-A is so basic!!!!”

[Sage]

As he turned to look at the crazy guy, Kai quickly called his trusty assistant, who promptly showed him a hologram in [In] mode, while responding through the mental connection.

[No luck, Master. He couldn't copy anything; his quirk didn't react to you.]

[That's a shame, but start a research project on it. Also, gather all the information you can about his quirk and remind me to have the guy try to copy One for All; I'm interested in what might happen.] Kai commented with a slightly disappointed tone while looking at the bewildered face of the blond-haired guy, who didn't seem to understand why his quirk didn't work.

“Why didn't it work?!!”

“I'd like to know that too, but oh well, goodbye.”

With Kai's words, a powerful pressure hit the blond guy's group like a truck, blanking their minds. Shortly after, they fell unconscious to the ground like puppets whose strings had been cut, which shocked not only the students but the entire stadium, as it seemed the blue-eyed boy had 'killed' them with a glance.

“What happened?!! Monoma's group has fallen to the ground!!! We have the first elimination!!!” Present Mic announced excitedly, to which Aizawa commented in a tired voice.

“Most likely Saito's quirk; that quirk is really powerful.”

“Kai, let me do something; you can't do everything yourself.” Momo commented with a slight pout on her face, which made Kai smile amusedly as he replied casually.

“Alright, alright, then take care of the explosive nuisance that's flying towards us.”

“Umu.”

Momo nodded with genuine enthusiasm and happiness, sporting a beautiful smile on her face. At the same time, a futuristic red armor emerged from her arms, quickly attaching itself to her body automatically with a mechanical sound.

“DIE!!!”

When he was close in the air, Bakugo shouted loudly while extending his right hand toward Momo’s neck, where she carried the coveted 10 million-point band. Leaning slightly to the side, Momo dodged the attack while grabbing Bakugo’s wrist with her left hand and placing her free palm near the explosive boy’s stomach.

“My apologies, Bakugo-san.” Momo apologized in a calm tone while activating the repulsor in her right palm, which sent Bakugo flying through the air. At that moment, he was caught midair by Sero's tape.

“Bakugo, we told you not to mess with Saito and Yao Momo!” Mina, who was part of Bakugo's team, exclaimed loudly, looking incredibly angry, to which Kirishima, another team member, added.

“Yeah, they're on another level—not something we can handle!”

“SHUT UP, BASTARDS!!” Bakugo shouted full of rage while holding his aching ribs, wondering at the same time if they were fractured.

“But look at this interesting team...” Kai commented casually while looking at Kirishima, Mina, and Sero—the members of Bakugo's team—which caused everyone's skin to crawl.

“Saito... this is...”

Mina felt especially uneasy under Kai's gaze and tried to explain herself, knowing how much Bakugo annoyed the terrifying blue-eyed boy. But at that moment, Momo squeezed her thighs around Kai's neck and reprimanded in a serious tone.

“Kai, leave them alone; they’re free to team up with whoever they want.”

“Of course they can...” Kai commented casually as he walked off in another direction, which prompted an irritated scolding from Momo.

“Don’t do anything dumb, or I’ll tell Onee-chan on you.”

“Tell on me for what? What did I do?” Kai replied nonchalantly, playing the innocent, to which Momo scoffed mockingly.

“Yeah, right, like I don’t know you...”

A playful argument broke out between Momo and Kai. Meanwhile, Kirishima, Mina, and Sero could only wear complex expressions as they watched the scene. At that moment, Kirishima spoke in a more serious tone, to which Mina and Sero nodded, while Bakugo remained unusually silent.

“...Let's go somewhere else.”

While Kai and Momo were playfully arguing, they were suddenly attacked by a huge ice pillar. Kai punched the pillar, making it explode into a thousand pieces, revealing on the other side Todoroki atop Iida, along with Kaminari and Hatsune Mei, as well as a few other teams that wanted to try their luck.

“Kai, I want to do it.” Momo quickly spoke loudly while taking her guard over Kai's shoulders, who responded with a slight smile.

“Alright, I'll leave them to you; just tell me what you want me to do.”

“Stay on the left side and keep your distance; we're in a defensive battle.” Momo ordered in a serious tone, to which Kai nodded, while Salem meowed as if asking for her task.

“You won't do anything either, Salem; I'll handle this.”

At Momo's serious words, Salem could only meow indifferently, then lie down on her master's head and close her eyes for a little nap. After all, her master was able to keep her fixed on his body without the slightest movement, even when moving at full speed.

“Iida, move forward!” Todoroki ordered in a serious tone while clinging tightly to the young runner, who responded in an even more serious tone as he activated his quirk again.

“Understood.”

“Hatsume, the protection.” Todoroki quickly ordered Mei to his right, who used one of her gadgets to create a grounding pole while responding.

“My baby is ready!”

“Kaminari!” Todoroki quickly announced loudly, to which the spiky blond-haired boy quickly responded.

“Got it, 1.3 million volts!”

With Kaminari's shout, a powerful electric current struck all the nearby teams, including Kai, who didn't even move from his spot, receiving the current without flinching. For her part, Momo simply used her quirk to create an electrical insulator between her and Kai, allowing her to completely avoid the attack.

As the electricity halted all the other groups, Todoroki used Mei's grounding pole to freeze the ground and trap all the other teams, which caused great excitement in the stands. At that moment, Present Mic spoke with enthusiasm.

“Todoroki took care of the crowd in an instant!”

“He froze them right after Kaminari's electric shock stopped them; I suppose he considered the number of people who avoided the same tactic in the obstacle race.” Aizawa commented casually while watching the arena, at which point Present Mic asked somewhat confused.

“But why isn't Saito using his power to knock out the opponents? Is it due to some limitation?”

“I doubt it; most likely Yaoyorozu wants to showcase her skills, so Saito is just going along with it.” Aizawa explained in a serious tone, which generated several discussions and cheers among the audience.

“I'll only be useful for one more minute.” While staring intently at Kai and Momo, Iida commented in a serious tone, which caused everyone to turn to look at him a little surprised, but he continued speaking.

“So I entrust the rest to you!”

“Iida?”

Todoroki asked somewhat confused, at which point Iida bent down a bit, getting into a more suitable position for a sprint, while activating his quirk at full power and speaking in a serious tone.

“Hold on tight!”

Immediately after, Todoroki's team shot off at great speed toward Kai and Momo, thanks to Iida's quirk and the floating boots Mei had created. But to the entire team's surprise, Kai casually jumped to the left, dodging them, while Momo extended one of her armored hands.

“My apologies, Todoroki-san.”

Just as he was in front of her face, Momo apologized with a smile and activated the repulsor in her glove, while the ice-and-fire boy widened his eyes, stupefied. Instinctively, he activated his flames, which didn't help much against the blow he received, nearly knocking him unconscious.

“““Todoroki/-kun/Cold Guy!!”””

The entire group exclaimed with concern as they tried to move away and supported Todoroki as best they could. He looked around with unfocused eyes, feeling the world spinning. But at that moment, in the corner of his vision, the imposing form of a hero enveloped in flames appeared, causing his mind to reel.

“Did I try to use my left side...?” As he regained his composure, Todoroki murmured softly, at which point Iida asked with a concerned tone.

“Todoroki-kun, are you okay?”

“Yes, I'm fine, and sorry, guys—it didn't go as I expected.” Todoroki commented while looking into the distance at Kai and Momo, who had gone back to chatting among themselves as if nothing was happening, since no one dared to approach them anymore.

“Don't worry, Todoroki. Saito and Yaoyorozu are way too strong, but at least we tried.” Kaminari responded confidently, looking quite well despite having used his strongest attack just moments before.

“The electric guy is right, Cold Guy; don't worry, hahaha!” Mei commented cheerfully, to which Iida nodded seriously.

“Yeah, Todoroki-kun, we have to stay strong to at least take second place.”

“You're right; we still have a lot to do. Let's go, guys!” Todoroki nodded with a determined expression, and his entire group agreed firmly.

“““Yes!”””