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1 Corinthians 10:12
Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall.
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Shoto walked into the bomb room confidently like how owned the place.
"You can try to move if you want, but your feet are frozen in place. So it would be best if you just stay where you are." he said nonchalantly walking towards the bomb.
James acted like he was struggling with the ice holding his legs to the floor. "Do you think we'll just let you walk in here," he said feigning anger.
While James distracted Shoto, Toru had managed to sneak up behind him without Shoto realising and tie him up using the ribbon without him even noticing successfully eliminating him from the match.
"Good job Toru-chan," he said with a smile simply raising his legs breaking out of the ice as if it wasn't even there. He could see some frustration in Shoto's eyes as he realised he had been tricked, but unlike Katsuki he could actually regulate his own emotions. He knew he had been outsmarted and lost.
"Eheheh," she giggled skipping over to him. He could see her visibly brighten and even practically dance on the spot from the compliment.
James turned his gaze to Shoto looking him up and down and felt like having some fun.
He walked towards Shoto who was still tied up. "Sorry, the difference in our ability was too great," he said smugly while walking past Shoto. Using Shoto's own line against him.
"Mezo should be able to use his ears to locate you, so you should stay here and protect the bomb. Leave the rest to me," James told Toru looking back with a reassuring smile.
Toru smiled. "Good luck," she told him.
He chuckled that someone would wish him good luck. "I always have good luck," he responded cheekily.
James rushed down the stairs looking for Mezo, but he didn't find him until he left the building. It seemed after seeing Shoto's power he had fully embraced the bystander role and decided to just wait outside until Shoto was done.
"Did you guys already wrap up?" Mezo asked them. It seemed he was entirely convinced Shoto had already won despite All Might not calling it out yet. It seemed freezing the entire building had amazed him enough to stun him out of his caution.
James smirked and dashed towards Mezo without warning sending a roundhouse kick his way while grabbing the capture ribbon in his hands.
Mezo despite his shock managed to barely block the kick using all his Dupli-Arms, but he didn't have the necessary power. James blew his guard away with his kick leaving him wide open.
James immediately followed it up with a palm to the chin from below sending Mezo up. The blow rocked Mezo who lost control of his body for a moment. When it returned moments later he was already tied up with the ribbon.
"Team I wins!" All Might announced.
This match ended up more like the others had expected from the class before Izuku and Katsuki had their personal slap fight leaving Izuku in absolute tatters. Though there were impressive moments no one needed to be carted off to the infirmary unconsciously. Really the only injuries were some big bruises on Mezo's Dupli-Arms, but nothing more.
When All Might announced the end of the match James saw the ice encasing the building start to melt. He quickly headed back to the bomb room to find the naked Toru was already jumping around the room trying to avoid the hot water drops.
He unfurled his wings using one to shield Toru from the scaling water. After a moments hesitation she moved closer to him holding on to his side as he walked her out of the building.
"T-thanks," she said with a blush quickly taking a step away from him as soon as they got to safety outside.
Unlike the previous battle All Might managed to quickly lead all of them back to the watch room. He only needed to recommend Mezo drop by the infirmary after class to get the bruising taken care of.
As soon as they got back Himiko went out of her way to give James a hug. "Not bad," she said.
Momo jealously forced her own way into the hug. "Good job!" she said excitedly.
"Not bad? That was pretty cool!" Mina said.
"Todoroki-kun freezing the building was way cooler," Denki retorted with what looked almost like a pout.
The big screen showed.
[Person-To-Person Combat Training]
[Battle 2 Review]
"Is there anyone who would like to share their opinion this time?" All Might said.
"Oh! Me!" Momo responded excitedly.
"James performed best. He took his opponents abilities in consideration and worked together with his team mate to respond to the enemies." she said.
"I was surprised when Shoto-chan froze the building, ribbit. It's impressive James-chan was prepared for it. If he hadn't been Toru would have been eliminated right when the match started, ribbit," Tsuyu said thoughtfully.
"You were surprised?" Yuga said in surprise.
Tsuyu nodded as neutrally as usual.
"Second I would put Hagakure-chan. The match was over pretty quickly, but she reacted appropriately to changes and worked together well with her team mate to catch their enemies off guard," Momo continued.
"In third is Todoroki-kun. He had a strong start and a good strategy trying to bind his enemies. Unfortunately, he overestimated himself too much which lead to him getting caught off guard and having the situation turned against him before he could even respond. He could have performed better if he had gone in with more caution," she said.
"As for the fourth place I would have to put Shoji-kun. Although he started out gathering information which was good then once Todoroki-kun took control he became passive. Finally he was caught off guard due to not paying attention leading to a swift defeat," she said.
All Might nodded. "Yes!" he said.
Momo puffed her chest in pride having her analysis approved.
"The MVP for this battle was young Busujima! Shoto did start strong, unfortunately that didn't last long," All Might continued.
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Writing Soundtrack: Linkin Park - Various Tracks