I Don't Smoke (bsdxmha)

Shock

Midnight announces that their fifteen minutes to find teams start, with their points displayed on the screen.

"Sorry Dazai, I'm going to get 10 million over there to team with me! You still owe me though!" A blur of pink passes Dazai and calls out to him, leaving him alone.

His classmates are slightly avoiding him because no one wants a teammate who takes away their quirks. Hatsume and he would have been such a good match though, but he is supposed to lay low. Dazai ponders just forfeiting this round just to avoid media attention, but then he would feel so humiliated that he must show his competence. It would simply be too embarrassing to fail this round.

Although he is not the only one who is at a loss about who their team should be. Dazai snakes over to approach the person he has in mind for his team.

"Hm, well it seems no one wants to team up with you after they saw you slip off your tower of contestants. You looked like a real failure, I bet people were feeling grateful that they weren't you. Poor Shinsou. I may be your only option. Unless you don't want to advance to the next round..."

The boy in question glares at him, crossing his arms.

"Don't act like you're so great. I'll team with you, but just for this. I'm going to get into the hero course, no matter what." Shinsou retorts.

"Splendid!"

Dazai advises Shinsou to brainwash other students if they fail to convince anybody else to join their team. After a few persuasive words, Shoji and Aoyama hesitantly agree to team with them without brainwashing, and that becomes their team. With just below 400 points altogether to start, it would be difficult to climb the ranks. But Dazai is sure they could win with his strategy.

"Just keep our approach stealth based and we can easily rack up points if we steal from weaker teams. Our quirks don't interact particularly well, so instead of working together quirk-wise, we will have to rely on teamwork. Shinsou, make sure to not be touching me because if you lose control of people's minds randomly it'll be a huge setback. I'll try to keep my hands to myself mostly and I'll hold onto all your clothes. You'll be the rider and Shoji and I will take the sides. Aoyama will be at the back to boost us if we need a quick escape. Shoji, you will be our lookout and the one who will take advantage of the confusion Shinsou and I create with our quirks." Dazai explains, making sure everyone was on board. To his pleasure, both his classmates seemed to agree with his ideas.

Shinsou again seemed to be displeased with his leadership, but it didn't particularly matter to Dazai. As long as he didn't mess anything up.

The start timer goes off suddenly and the field explodes into action. Bakugou and Todoroki's team take the lead with big flashy moves, which is good for Dazai. He orders his team to start making its way to a team of two from class 1-B, a boy with a mantis quirk who gets himself brainwashed by his brashness and carelessness. As Shinsou orders him to hold his teammate in place, Shoji reaches out to put the other two headbands around his head.

They continue similarly with a close call from Bakugou's team, combatted using Aoyama's Lazer to move them away quickly. Bakugou loses interest fast, only having eyes for Midoriya and Todoroki's team. With five minutes left, the field is dominated by Bakugou and Todoroki's teams having a full-on match. They've got enough points to qualify Dazai believes, and when the timer goes off he's satisfied to see his team on the big screen in third place.

Shinsou quickly departs away from the group, leaving Dazai to congratulate his other two teammates before also leaving the arena. The final round, the individual battles would commence after lunch. He is quite excited to test how his ability interacted with other students' quirks.