The First "Enemy" Exits

Rows of houses, adjoining streets, and a noisy, crowded throng of people lay not far from the place where "enemies" and "heroes" were fighting.

Uraraka Shige was currently darting across the rooftops of the houses, heading for a half-collapsed building that was closest to the fighting.

After overhearing Uraraka Shige's careless murmur, the bystander's words had sparked a lively discussion among the crowd. They all declared that if they really could change the course of the battle, perhaps even turning the situation around in one stroke, they certainly wouldn't stand here as innocent bystanders. Instead, they would make full use of their abilities, shining and radiating heat like light bulbs, getting in the way of a few more couples and contributing to the world.

The onlookers, who were busily insisting they could do it too, didn't know that the person the bystander with the hearing-related support Quirk had mentioned was only a seven-year-old child. But Uraraka Shige didn't let his age give him an excuse to stand by with a clear conscience like the rest of them.

Uraraka Shige himself didn't know whether it was the restless urge that had stirred within him after he had that thought, or a sense of responsibility never before discovered in someone as selfish as him. But there was no doubt about the reality.

He had made his choice.

That was why Uraraka Shige was moving now, trying to reach that vantage point overlooking the battlefield.

As Uraraka Shige made his way toward the upper floors of the ruined building, the situation in the battle between the "heroes" and the "enemy group" also changed.

Boom!

The violent explosions still hadn't stopped. The three "heroes," who had continued to protect the wounded and the police, seemed to be growing somewhat dazed from the long, exhausting strain of fighting on the defensive.

One of the "heroes" held an alloy tower shield as large as three people. Short but powerfully built, with bulging muscles, he looked just like a dwarf. An explosion suddenly erupted beneath his feet and struck him, adding more black soot and scorch marks to his already covered body.

The object that had exploded was an utterly inconspicuous thing, seemingly a small piece of rubble from a collapsed building.

"Urgh!"

The "hero" holding the alloy tower shield opened his mouth and spat out a cloud of black smoke mixed with a little blood after taking the blast from beneath his feet. His body swayed, but he remained standing where he was and steadied himself.

"Phew... good thing I was the one who got hit..."

The dwarf-like "hero" muttered in relief. Then his somewhat dazed mind focused once more. He raised his tower shield again and shouted loudly.

"Everyone, watch out! There are disguised explosives under our feet. They look just like rubble, so be careful! Dodge right before they go off!"

This dwarf-like "hero's" Quirk gave him the endurance of a dwarf, so even after taking a direct hit from the explosion, he only spat out a small mouthful of blood mixed with thick smoke before roughly recovering.

"Really? That's crucial information!"

Another "hero" was sheltering with several police officers and wounded people inside a golden, translucent spherical barrier produced by his Quirk. Hearing the dwarf "hero's" words, he hurriedly laid a layer of "energy shield" beneath himself, the officers, and the wounded, separating himself, the officers, and the survivors from everything on the ground.

Boom!

The remaining "hero" wasn't as lucky as the one inside the "energy shield." Just as the dwarf-like "hero" finished telling everyone to watch their feet, he was engulfed by an explosion set off by something indistinguishable from a small stone and fell unconscious.

The police officers following close behind that "hero" had no choice but to abandon their plan to search farther in for survivors. Instead, they picked him up and helped him retreat from the battlefield.

The already scarce "heroes" on the field had suffered their first casualty in this battle. Under the more concentrated bombardment from the five "enemies," the two remaining "heroes" found it even harder to move.

Fortunately, Uraraka Shige had reached his destination by then: the half-collapsed building that happened to offer a perfect view of the entire battlefield, and from which he could even seize an opportunity to interfere in the fighting.

"Where is he?"

Uraraka Shige cautiously poked half his little head out, holding half a brick he had found in the nearby ruins in one hand. He began to study the battlefield, trying to find the "enemy" whose Quirk appeared to be a support type, intending to give him a taste of a brick from the sky.

"So that's where you were hiding..."

Uraraka Shige found his target beneath the shadow cast by a large rock, at the edge of the ruins of what should have been a shopping mall but had now been reduced to rubble. He was delighted at first, but after tossing the half-brick in his hand, his face fell again.

"Why is he so far away... If I miss, won't I alert him?"

After weighing the gains and losses, Uraraka Shige quietly began to have second thoughts.

"Maybe... I should just forget it? Nobody knows anyway... and the one who knows doesn't know who I am..."

Uraraka Shige instinctively scanned the entire battlefield again and happened to see the "hero" who had been knocked unconscious by the explosion retreating under police protection. He clicked his tongue to himself.

"Great. There were only three 'heroes' here to begin with, and now there's one less... How are they supposed to fight five against three? If it were still five against four, they might've had a chance... Sigh, they're screwed, totally screwed."

Having completely lost faith in the two "heroes" remaining on the field, Uraraka Shige shook his head and prepared to retreat.

But just as he hunched over and was about to back away, he suddenly noticed that, following the "hero's" departure, the five "enemies" had also begun moving to new hiding places as a precaution.

And the "enemy" whose Quirk seemed to be a support type happened to be walking toward the shadow of some ruins beneath Uraraka Shige's half-collapsed building!

He ducked back in.

"Oh ho! What a pleasant surprise."

Uraraka Shige narrowed his eyes and waited patiently for a while. Then, having judged the timing and distance, he suddenly leaped from his position.

"Rise!"

All five "enemies" on the field were focused on the two remaining "heroes." None of them noticed that, behind them, a child holding half a brick was floating down from the rooftop above the man responsible for storing the explosives.

"Fall!"

When he had descended to about four meters above the "enemy," the man seemed to sense something and began looking around. Seeing this, Uraraka Shige acted without hesitation, decisively increasing the strength of gravity and changing the direction altered by his Quirk back downward.

The whistling wind and the shadow cast near the "enemy" told him exactly where his uneasy feeling came from.

The "enemy" instinctively looked up. His pupils contracted sharply at the sight of Uraraka Shige, and at the same moment, the half-brick Uraraka Shige had released slammed into the bridge of his nose.

"Aagh!"

The crisp crack of bone reached Uraraka Shige's ears along with the "enemy's" miserable howl.

"Rise!"

Uraraka Shige used his Quirk to adjust the strength and direction of gravity once again, greatly reducing the damage from his fall and landing safely on the ground.

Then...

"Level! Heavy Shackles!"

Uraraka Shige lunged forward and delivered a kick whose power had been enhanced twice by his Quirk. It struck the neck of the "enemy," who had been knocked to the ground in one blow, his nose crushed by the half-brick of justice that had fallen from the sky. The kick successfully knocked him unconscious.

With that, the first "hero" and the first "enemy" to exit the battle had both been determined.