The Bet

"Uraraka, don't worry about him," Midoriya said resolutely. "You guys go first, I'll catch up with you later."

Izuku Midoriya glanced at the time; only two minutes remained until the 10-minute time limit. He had made his decision: to let his companions go first, while he stayed behind.

According to the Mask Man, the ship will explode in ten minutes, and no matter what happens to him, Uraraka and the others cannot be harmed.

Midoriya continued, "Also, the enemy is All Might; this is just a test."

"All Might!!" Mineta exclaimed in surprise, "Midoriya, are you sick? How could the enemy be All Might? He captured Shoto Todoroki!"

"I think All Might was asked by All Might to do this. Anyway, this guy isn't an enemy." Midoriya stared at the person opposite him. Although he subconsciously thought that the person wasn't an enemy, his actions puzzled Midoriya. He could only use this excuse to reassure his companions and tell them to retreat first.

"Is that so...? Then we should tell Iida- kun about this right away." Iida ran off to inform the school; it wouldn't be good if it turned out to be a false alarm...

Asui and Jiro didn't notice anything unusual and left the room. Minoru Mineta pushed Denki Kaminari's butt and also went out.

"Midoriya, we'll be waiting for you on the shore." Uraraka glanced warily at the Mask Man and said to Midoriya.

The man did not stop any of them from leaving the room; he even gentlemanly made way for them.

"So, what brings you here?" Seeing everyone had left, the man closed the door and smiled at Midoriya, saying, "Let me hear your last words."

Midoriya raised the remote control in his hand, looked up, and slowly said, "Actually, you didn't plant the bomb at all, did you?"

The man's smile slowly faded as he noticed that Midoriya had released the button sometime earlier.

"Do you think I would forget to think because I care about my comrades? Yes, I value my comrades very much. At first, I was indeed frightened, thinking that you really had planted bombs throughout the earthquake zone. But if I just thought about it for a moment, I would realize that you were actually lying, right!?"

"The building collapsed from the middle, destroying several nearby low-rise buildings. You planted a delayed-detonation bomb near a load-bearing column in the middle of the building, which is why it tilted in one direction."

Midoriya continued, his body trembling, "So, I made a bet that you didn't plant any bombs throughout the area, and that even the bombs on this ship were a lie!"

Tears streamed down Midoriya's face as he smiled with relief, "Luckily, I made the right bet."

No one knows how much internal struggle Izuku Midoriya went through and how many choices he made in those few short minutes, ultimately sacrificing everyone's safety for a chance to have an equal dialogue with Amadeus Mask.

"Who are you? Do you know me?" Midoriya asked, finding it unreasonable for someone to lie to a complete stranger.

"Emmm..." The man scratched his head in frustration, "It's like how you didn't say it directly earlier; if I had, it would have broken our agreement..."

"Did All Might send you?"

"To be honest, I acted on my own initiative." The man turned, opened the door, and ran out. "Since you've seen through me, I have no value staying here. I suppose it's over over there by now."

"Don't go!" Midoriya instinctively chased after him. "You still haven't told me why you lied to me like that, why you tortured Kaminari!"

The Mask Man ran up to the deck, leaned against the ship's wall facing Midoriya, and calmly smiled, "Well, well, now you have nowhere to run."

Uraraka and the others reached the shore, Asui looked up from below the hull to catch Midoriya. On this isolated and helpless boat, it seemed that the Mask Man had nowhere to go.

Midoriya gasped, "Most importantly... why did you say all those things to me?" What future hero, what about sticking to your principles...

"I won't let you leave until you give me an answer!" Blood-red lines appeared on Midoriya's right arm as he ran and swung it at the Mask Man. "Let me show you my rage, Smash!"

Seeing the fist getting closer and closer, the man leaned against the ship's wall, flipped headfirst into the water, and the wind from the punch, generated by Midoriya's Quirk, arrived instantly, creating a gust of wind that brushed against his face and whipped up waves several meters high!

The Mask Man fell into the barrier formed by the water wall, and Midoriya watched helplessly as he plunged into the water with a splash and then disappeared...

Midoriya rushed to the deck and looked down, his face ashen as he slammed his already bruised arm. "He still got away!"

Midoriya had a feeling that he couldn't hurt him, but he hesitated for a second or two before attacking. It was that one second or two that allowed his opponent to escape and block Asui's view.

Ten minutes passed, and no explosions were heard, nor was the ship damaged.

Asui used her tongue to rescue Midoriya from the boat, and then the two swam back to shore together.

"Midoriya- kun, you're badly injured!" Uraraka rushed over, her heart aching at Midoriya's bruised arm. "Why did you use your Quirk? Didn't you say he was someone All Might invited? Why did you attack him?!"

Asui said, "Midoriya- chan, if it's about Kaminari, don't worry, he's perfectly fine."

Jiro continued, "It seems that because he can absorb electricity, the electric shocks he received were just replenishing his energy. If that person wasn't an enemy, he should have expected this. As for the gag... I think it's just his perverse sense of humor, but... well done."

Kaminari found the sharp fragments on the shore, cut off the gag strap, and was now gagging by the water with the gag in his hand. He turned to Midoriya, gave him a thumbs-up, and said with a smile, "It's all over now. Why? Because I'm back!"

Upon hearing Denki Kaminari quote All Might's classic line, Midoriya snapped out of his reverie and turned to look at the lake.

The water wall vanished as swiftly as it had appeared, soon transforming back into gentle lake water, reflecting the sunlight streaming through the large hole in the top, creating a shimmering effect. Midoriya seemed to see a pale golden mask floating on the water's surface amidst that golden light.

Midoriya suddenly asked, "Tsuyu-chan, did you see what he looked like when he jumped off the ship?"

Asui thought about it seriously, "Hmm... I was blocked by the water curtain at the time. Although I saw his mask fall off his face, I couldn't see his appearance."

"However, if I had to say something, his fingernails were extremely long."