Chapter 7: A Cunning One

With All Might's signal, the two heroes enter the building. They were still on the entrance when the lobes of Jiro's earphone ears pierce the wall.

"You don't have to look for us, hero. I am here and my partner is on the fifth floor." Given the manly voice, they deduce it was Araki. They know he was acting like a villain with the speech so they just look in the direction.

When they saw him walking to them, they readied themselves.

"I can I assure you, I don't want to make this hard for both of us. How about… we make a deal?" The question confused the two enemies of his.

-Monitoring room-

"Teacher, what is Araki doing? Does he intend to fight them both at once?" Tsuyu is the one who asked the question but all of them want to know.

"He said he wants to make a deal." """A deal?""" All of them became confused at this.

"Let me open the microphone on the building and put the transmission to a loudspeaker so we can hear them. This is also going to be a good lesson to all of you." All Might press a button on the panel and the conversation is now hearable to them.

"A deal. Something that can benefit both of us." Araki smiles at the two.

Denki is still cautious when Jiro replies. "What is the deal?"

Araki placed his open hands forward and said, "I would surrender to you. In exchange, you would only move from your spot when there are only 5 minutes left. No bargaining."

This declaration became clear to the audience. He wants to exchange himself for the time. When he meant that it would benefit both, that means after 10 minutes, the two only have to fight one. They all exchange opinions on what they think is happening when All Might interrupts.

"You guys can't notice it but he is actually buying time in two different ways. He is serious about the deal because he is confident that his partner can win alone and by decreasing the time, they can win the match."

"Sir, what is the second one?" Mina asked.

"It is possible that the deal is only available within a specific amount of time. By doing this, he can buy a few minutes while maintaining his safety and, in that way, there wouldn't be a 2v1 advantage for their enemies. By limiting the time for the deal, he can maximize the time the enemy wasted on him."

With All Might's explanation, they understood what Araki is planning and how this can happen in real life. They were amazed by his cunningness and they themselves don't know what the most efficient decision would be.

With this, Bakugo interrupts and gave his own answer to the question that is bugging them.

"Why not beat him up? There're two of them and only one of him." Although his anger died down, the effects are still there with the very obvious question.

"It wouldn't be easy, especially in real-life situations Young Bakugo. The enemy's skills and abilities are pretty much unknown to them so they can't be confident. And since they are the first to enter the building, it isn't impossible to say that there might be undetectable traps laid for them especially if you think about his partner's quirk." All Might's answer shocks them again as they weren't able to think of it.

Given the time and the quirk, it isn't impossible to lay small but effective traps. Although they know that there are no traps since they are watching in the monitoring room, they can't say that if they're in the hero's shoes.

'What a smart kid. Even though he is studying to be a hero, he knows how to be a villain better.' All Might thought to himself as he thinks about the kid's potential with his intellect alone. They are only doing a simple school activity, but Araki already shows a performance opposite of what he usually portrays.

'His quirk is recorded as 'Physical Strengthening' but he may have super intelligence as well. Is he just that intelligent? He is deliberately doing this for the purpose of showing examples instead of wanting to achieve a good score.'

-Back on the building-

"Dude, this is just a test, you're too much into this." Denki complains as he gave an awkward smile.

"We also have a hostage. If you want to take a different option, I hope you are ready to accept your failure of saving them." Araki just sits down on the floor waiting for them.

"What hostage? There's no such thing as far as I know." The two are even more confused with this.

"That's what you know based on what you are told. But what if like the entrance exam, there is another hidden function reserved for villains?"

-Monitoring room-

"He is so bad. We all know that he is lying but Jiro and Denki don't know this and are even more convinced because he used the rescue points of the entrance exam as an example." Uraraka is the one who just spoke.

All of them are watching carefully as if they are watching a real villain situation, especially one person. Watching Araki's movements and plans trying to remember them to themself.

Four minutes since the start of the battle have passed. Araki stands, closes his eyes, and puts his hands on his back.

While this is happening, Jiro and Denki are planning what to do. They are whispering preventing Araki to hear their conversation.

"It doesn't seem like they really have a hostage. I used my quirk earlier and didn't hear other than a footstep above and him."

"Then let's just attack him. The hallway is dark bat it doesn't look like there're any traps. As long as I touch him, there is a high chance I can paralyze him." Denki suggests to which Jiro agrees. They soon face Araki who is now standing.

At the thirty-second mark, they walk towards him carefully. Although they can see him with eyes closed, they can't attack carelessly. At the halfway point of the distance did they realize that they are caught in a trap.

"You guys look good together." He said this with closed eyes. The two looked at each other and blushed instinctively. Then, a faint sound of metal can be heard and two pins can be seen falling on the floor. It was at this moment, that they knew they f*cked up.

"Think fast!" Araki smiles as he throws the two stun grenades that he got from Momo. The two immediately try to dodge it, but the emotional instability that Araki put them into made them a split-second too late.