[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

ABCS (ASSEMBLY, BUILD, CRAFT)

I had enough support credits to enter one of their events but that alone wouldn’t have been enough incentive to participate. I don’t care about the sports festival, my standing within the school, or the opportunities presented by performing well. As long as I graduate with a license and government-sanctioned violence, then I would have gotten everything I could have out of the institutions.

More important than institutions were people. Heroes were UAU’s primary export but support students were the backbone of the industry. If you think of the industry as theater there’s the talent and then there’s production. Kei Hada was not a genius. He was a hard worker. And more importantly, he was accessible. It was difficult to find stories where he denied helping someone. His skill derived from his inability to say ‘no.’

And that was fascinating.

Today we’re to build a randomly selected vehicle. That is beyond me. I’m not here to pass, I’m here to learn. And more importantly, I’m here to see if he’s the kind of man I can trust.

---

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

To the surprise of nobody, Kei was in the building game hosted by the festival. It was about the only one he took part in each year given it was less- fighty? Than the others. At least people would be so focused on their own projects that they didn't have time to target each other. The most he had to contend with were limited resources.

So he was here, alone by choice given it was a race so the quickest vehicle would be one meant for a single person. And in the spirit of the competition, Kei would not use his quarms.

...In the race.

Look, he couldn't just ignore their usefulness okay? Once the course was announced and the starting signal sounded, all four arms set out to grab whatever rods and metal plating were available before Kei returned to his station with them. Kneeling down, he organized the pieces and pulled his helmet over his face, lighting up his blowtorch to weld the rods and form the beginnings of the frame.

It was race car-shaped. Not the most innovative but simple was good when speed was the most important factor.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

I had undertaken an apprenticeship with Kei Hada. There was much I could learn from the likes of him, an average individual who had attained skill through deliberate time and effort. He was hesitant but his inability to say no applied to our relationship, too. What I failed to neglect earlier was my secondary motivation, something I hadn’t earned during supermove training, showing him I’m the type of man he can trust.

Still, he’s beyond me. I send a bunny to follow. It’s going to continue and split every so often to deliver memories to me. Keep a constant track on what he’s doing — I have a time lag. So, while I can see him now, I won’t be always be able to.

Oh, right. My third reason for being here?

I rev the engine to makeshift car. Except there’s no engine. Instead it’s more like a… four-wheeled, push scooter that I supplement with my physical stats. Stats that overwhelm every other student here. They’re support. They can’t compete. I catch up to those at the end and eliminate them first.

Rabbits pull me along. At least, they look like they are. They’re actually here to get run over by the other vehicles, only for me to duplicate them the moment before impact causing them to lose control and veer off course. Crash!

Two people down. Four more to go.

The bunny ahead duplicates, then one disappears into a puff of black smoke. What’s up ahead, Hada?

---

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

You know when Kei thought everyone would be too focused on their own projects to mess with each other? He forgot that only applied to the building phase of the challenge.

In the race itself these people were relentless.

It was funny, really. It was almost as if everyone had a gentlemen's agreement not to sabotage each other's creations before the race. Which made sense in a way. The competition was supposed to highlight everyone's crafting skill. Sponsorships would hold no interest in anyone attempting to ruin someone's creation before it could even be tested.

When running the course itself though? All bets were off. At least then it's invention pitted against invention. Or Quirk against invention in Rahul's case. Hopefully he'd be fine. He vaguely remembered there being a whole students vs. teachers attack simulation. If future heroes could hold their own in that exercise, the hero student would be fine here.

So Kei focused on the road ahead. And a good thing too, because the car in front of him was definitely spilling oil and- setting it on fire?

He was close enough behind that he sped past it before it spread too much, but how were the other racers going to fair against that?

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

Oil spill. Flames.

If I were interested in taking the victory for myself, I’d have used their ammunition and burned everyone ahead of me — but the chance of that killing them, or committing excessive violence was too high a wager to gamble on a race. We were expected to hamper one another, and some might argue that the driver had gone too far… but they were comically unskilled in everything except building.

I could only keep up with the less skilled students. The others were too fast on my feet alone. Instead, I’d opt to take the very vehicle creating a blockade. There are four more cars to deal with. One back here with me, the one spilling oil, and two ahead of Kei….

Instead of setting them on fire, I made them think the flames were chasing them. Using my bunnies as sacrificial pawns, they blinded my competitor and the driver ahead. I stole the vehicle as I kicked them off, bunnies catching them that weren’t set ablaze.

No killing.

Then, I looked at their system…. a giant, blue button. Recalling my memories, I found the rabbit that had studied this student’s vehicle. It was a stupid gimmick… but it was exactly the gimmick I needed right now.

Slamming the blue button, a giant shoe came from the button and launched me up like a spring. I jumped over the oil spill entirely, only to land in the front of the vehicle.

Crash.

It was out of commission. But so was mine. But there may or may not have been an explosion that launched both us and the vehicles zooming past Kei and into the lead. The only problem? We’d come to a halt way before the finish line showed up.

I need to find a way to jump. I’ll save my rabbit for later. Kei’s behind us… but so are the other competitors. Hate to admit it, but this has been more challenging than the hero department prompts.

---

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

What the heck was going on?

If Kei wasn't so focused on what was in front of him he would've turned his head around, but instead he winced with every explosion. There were too many for what was supposed to be a race. Too many creations broken, and for what? To be the one to survive the course much less be the fastest?

The worst part about the whole thing was he knew all they'd talk about in the end was of how weak their builds were. How it was their own fault they didn't prepare for a fire in a race. All because some asshole thought the only way they'd win was to destroy everyone else.

God. He was getting too worked up about this. He didn't even want to win, he just wanted to make a cool car.

Kei's thoughts were disturbed when another blast shook the road and two vehicles sped past him. They were fast but he was pretty sure they were in horrible condition from the little he'd been able to see. They wouldn't last until the finish line. Not something he'd care much about usually but as soon as he caught up- was that Rahul in there? The car he was driving looked drastically different from the one he created.

You know what? Whatever. He took a deep breath. Time to do something a little crazy.

Keeping pace with the ruined vehicle beside him, Kei opened the window of his car to let his quarms latch on the roof before removing it from his back, letting it reel itself to the room as he yelled out at the hero student. "Rahul! Hop on and use my gear to hang on! You're not gonna make it if you stay in there!" Would he even place if he passed the finish line this way? Kei didn't know.

But he had to try something so the guy wouldn't get slapped with a DNF.

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

Kei offered a helping hand — one I’d gladly take. As my mentor, our relationship was give and take. I had taken many things over the course of the race from vehicles to opportunity. And in the end, it’s Kei helping me across the finish line. There is one downside to his kindness however.

First and foremost, let’s make one thing abundantly clear: there is not enough competition in the race to care about placements. The reliability of his vehicle had been demonstrated, as well as the goodness of his character. While others chose to fight, myself included, he chose to help someone in the middle of wreckage. We may have been allies, but to the outside world, we’re as good as strangers.

But as I take his help, I also grab three wheels…

Because as we near the finish line, I hop off and carry the momentum with me. In between the wheels are a bed of bunnies keeping things together, as I lay atop it. It’s not an invention — at least not a practical one — but it earns me a humble second as I trail behind Kei.

Black smoke. The bunnies disappear. There I am standing and making my way toward him… one final gesture to sell it to the crowd.

“Good race.” I reach for a handshake. “Congratulations on first place.”

---

Kei Hada

[Kei Hada]

If there was one good thing to the competition thinning out, it was the fact that less sabotage can happen. Kei could just drive in peace. Well, as peacefully as he could with Rahul standing on his car but you know. He was a hero student. He's probably had to handle worse. He was going to be fine.

Kei screamed when his mentee jumped off the car.

He was quick to stop and get out to turn behind him. "Rahul are you crazy?! This isn't a movie, you can't just hop off a moving vehicle like that!" People can't just ride on the roof of vehicles either but that wasn't the point.

Once he was sure the guy was blind, he blinked at his commendation. "First place?" Kei looked at the finish line then his car, which just happened to pass it while he was trying to stop. Huh. Turning back, he took Rahul's hand and shook it with a laugh. "Is it bad I didn't mean to win? I don't really need it, I just wanted to make a cool car."

Kei peered behind the junior at the destruction on the road, eyes wide as he could finally take in the carnage done during the race. "Oh my god."

𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

[𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲]

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“You won in more ways than one.” Kei struggled with confidence and his self-worth, despite the fact that his hard work had put him in this position. And more than that, his kind, carrying personality propelled him forward, too. Even if it’s aesthetic was a mask for what really lurked underneath, something I looked to dig into eventually. There’s potential I can harness… that hero industry can harness… a mind that can do so much more than it already does. Between that and his quirk? There was a utopia on the other side of whatever threshold he needed to cross. Hopefully, this finish line was the first of many steps I could help him take.

“You made a cool car. You won the race.” And I look back with him. “And you didn’t have to sacrifice your values to do so.” I may not have played fair and have taken things into my own hands, but with the knowledge I had… I knew I had to escalate my method of sabotage to keep up with the contraptions of the other competitors.

Make no mistake: I would have done so anyway. But perhaps not as bombastically as things played out in the race.

“No one’s hurt,” I’m not even sure if that’ll help ease his concerns. “But it’s best we get out of the way of medics and cleaners… there are more upcoming races.” I’d guide him somewhere indoors, if possible. If I knew Yaoyao as well as I thought (you don’t have to know her at all to get a good understanding of her behavior) then she would’ve been somewhere supporting him. And with the wreckage…

Let’s get him to her before she comes out here.

---

Kei Hada

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[Fanthes]

[nospaces]

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✨EVENT SUCCESS!✨

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✓ And assemble they did! Amazing job!! [break][break]
Kei - 550 // 650[break]
Playboy - 200 // 225

+ 100/25 TOKENS!

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Tag: Kei Hada, 𝐏𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐛𝐨𝐲

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