The crowd eyed Midoriya like hawks on rabbit prey. In which case, poor Midoriya was the prey to the other forty or so students who all targeted for the same goal:

The ten million points headband. 

'You have fifteen minutes to gather up into groups of three to four! Starting now!' Midnight cackled. All the teachers enjoyed seeing the students suffer.

(Name) was about to approach some potential team members when a sudden rush of students passed by her, almost knocking her over with how many surged forward all at once. They clambered and yelled, trying to get the attention of Bakugou. He, however, looked ready to kill someone. But doesn't he always?

(Name)'s ear twitched. She turned around, greeting Todoroki politely when she saw him approach. Behind him were Yaororozu and Iida. Iida waved at (Name) as enthusiastically as always and Momo smiled. 

The attention went back to Todoroki, who was staring straight at (Name)'s ears. He was staring so intensely at her ears, she thought they would melt and recoiled them unintentionally. Just the action of the drooped ears made Todoroki want to snuggle them. They were fluffy. So cute. What he wouldn't give to caress them. But he would never let anyone know that. His face hid his emotions well. No one would ever have thought the cold, ruthless Todoroki Shoto was secretly fanboying over rabbit ears.

'Join my team,' he said, tone even and concealed of joy. 'We could use someone with a quirk to sense presences. And your stomp is wide-range, which will be useful for dealing with long-distance contestants.'

(Name) tilted her head, blinking curiously. This guy was so uptight. Although it did make sense to recruit team members based on powers, he should also consider relationships and cooperation. 

'But I can't control the stomp as well as my other attacks,' she countered, but gently because not much of this girl's demeanour is even close to harsh. 'I might accidentally hurt my teammates that way.'

'We have Yaoyorozu for defence,' Todoroki said, not looking at her eyes. His gaze was still on the ears. God, they look so cute and fluffy. 'So will you join?'

'Mm! Sure, I have no one else anyway,' (Name) grinned happily, ears flopping so much they were in her face. She sheepishly gripped them out of the way and hid her face in the fluffiness in embarrassment. Todoroki couldn't resist the urge anymore. In a slight daze, he reached out and placed his right hand on her head. His fingers grazed the base of her ears, feeling how she shivered under his touch. 

So soft. So fluffy.

Todoroki blinked, catching himself when he realised he had been rubbing her ears affectionately for a solid few minutes there. In front of his teammates. In front of the other students. The stadium. The cameras. The entire world.

He quickly retracted his hand and used it to cover up his blush. 

'A-ah... sorry,' Todoroki whispered hurriedly, turning on his heel and avoiding the curious stares of Iida and Yaoyorozu. (Name) stood there, a slow blush creeping up her cheeks at the sensation of someone touching her ears. No one did that except her brother. 

It felt nice.

.oOOo.

Everyone in the room flinched as the team captain glared the world's accumulated hatred at a small television screen in the far corner of the gym. 

Ushijima Wakatoshi didn't blink, opting to focus his intimidation on the image he saw presented on the screen, making the top eight headlines.

[ENDEAVOUR'S SON HAS A LOVER: UA FESTIVAL]

A hand was bravely (or stupidly, depends) patted Wakatoshi's shoulder. Tendou bobbed his head in fake consolation. He was grinning widely at the obvious contempt on his friend and captain's face. The rest of the team swallowed nervously.

'Hey, hey Wakatoshi~kun, don't worry,' Tendou drawled mischievously. Wakatoshi sighed, knocked out of his stupor. His teammate was right. He shouldn't worry. There was nothing to worry about. His sister would never go and date anyone without telling him, especially so out of the blue. She would never. The girl was too sweet for that.

'Don't worry Wakatoshi~kun, they aren't married yet,' continued Tendou, who earned stifled snickers from the others. Semi held his laughter in until his face turned purple. 

Wakatoshi froze. The drink bottle he had in his hand got crushed under his merciless grip and crumpled. The water oozed out the holes and dripped a puddle on the wood of the gym. It wasn't until their coach came back to realise what was happening did Wakatoshi snap out of it.

The coach's steady stare bore into Wakatoshi, then travelled to the mess of water on the floor.

'Make sure to clean up this mess, Ushijima,' the coach said. 'No one likes hazards lying around everywhere.'

Wakatoshi's eyes travelled from the puddle on the floor to the image that was still on the television. No mess. No hazard.

'Of course, coach.'

.oOOo.

'Ready or not! The Calvary Battle begins... NOW!'

Immediately after the signal flared, the students all surged toward Midoriya, a scene that knocked a sudden feeling of deja vu into (Name). Except, this time, the students looked ready to tear each other apart for the ten million.

'Our objective is one thing only,' Todoroki said from his position as the rider. 'We take the ten million point headband.'

A group crashed into them, attempting to take their points in the disguise of that accident, but (Name) quickly stomped her foot in retaliation, the air pressure released blew the opponents back to a safe distance. 

'We should head to the left of the arena,' said Todoroki, eyes not straying away from his target even once.

'Wait, I think it might be better if we stay here,' replied (Name), voice barely audible over the screaming of the stadium and students combined. 

'And why is that?' asked Todoroki, clearly sceptical of her. His hostility made her wonder if this was the same person who had shamelessly pet her ears in front of the world. 'Midoriya's team is moving to that side, in case you haven't noticed.'

Oh, I get it.

He's underestimating me.

'We shouldn't because all the other teams are also following him,' she answered, not letting herself be bothered by Todoroki's biting tone. 'Midoriya's team is moving, but if they get clumped again with all the other teams on that side, then they'll pull out their jet-packs and launch back here. While everyone trails back here, we'll be waiting with a headstart on the ten million.'

She... makes a good point. 

The hostility died down a bit when Todoroki admitted her idea was better. Yaoyorozu, who was listening in, was both amused and amazed with their interaction. It was... different.

After a small while of contemplation, Todoroki reluctantly agreed. The group stayed in their area, occasionally stealing headbands and throwing other teams off course when they got too close.

'BUT... WHAT'S THIS? OTHER THAN MIDORIYA'S TEAM, MOST OF CLASS 1-A ISN'T DOING TOO WELL!' Present Mic screamed. Aizawa sighed in the background.

(Name)'s ears twitched. She looked in the distance and saw Midoriya's team sailing upwards. 

'Watch out, Midoriya's team is closing in,' she warned her teammates. Todoroki frowned at the jetpacks and ordered Momo to make a protective sheet of thick metal, big enough to cover all of them. (Name) nodded at Iida's cue and left the group formation once she was assured that Todorki wouldn't fall and disqualify them. She sprinted to right in front of where team Midoriya would land and jumped. The ground underneath her shook and wind pressure whipped everyone around them back. Todoroki made an impossibly high wall of ice to isolate them from the other teams to get rid of interference. (Name)'s jump shook Midoriya's team and sent them crash-landing with their rider barely hanging on.

Midoriya gulped. 

'-- After this move, I'm afraid I will no longer be of use,' Iida said, his engines roaring. 'Reciprico... BURST!'

His engines flared a bright blue and suddenly, Todoroki's team disappeared and reappeared right in arm's reach of the ten million points. Todoroki snatched it, the team arriving at the other side of the ice wall in less than a blink. Midoriya was in shock, just like the rest of his teammates. (Name) rejoined her team, taking up the wing and supporting Todoroki so that he sat on her shoulder with a foot on her arm.

'W-What was that?' Midoriya mumbled.

'AND IN A BLINK OF AN EYE, TODOROKI'S TEAM HAS TEN MILLION POINTS! WOWZERS!'

'It's over, Midoriya,' Todoroki stated bluntly.

'No,' Midoriya replied. (NAme) knew from the look in his eyes that Midoriya was up to something. 'It's not over yet! Tokoyami!'

'We'll take back the ten million points!' 

'No!'

In a desperate last-ditch attempt to take the ten million points, Midoriya reached for Todoroki's left side -- his weakness. A plume of flames erupted from Todoroki on reflex, burning Midoriya's hand slightly. But that didn't deter him. He grasped the white headband and yanked. 

'Yes! We've got it!' Uraraka cheered. However, with how calm the opposing team was, the cheers died slowly. Midoriya flipped the headband over, revealing seventy points. 

What?!

But I was sure I took the right one!

'We swapped the ten million points last minute,' Yaoyorozu elaborated. 'It was a simple deception.'

That's so smart, Momo. I wish I was that smart. 

(Name) pouted, disappointed in herself for not thinking of anything useful. Momo saw and frantically tried to cheer her up. Iida pointed out how she found a shortcut for them to corner the ten million points. Todoroki watched the three converse and unconsciously patted (Name)'s head again, still in his position on her shoulder. This gesture made (NAme) smile, which lifted everyone's moods. Her smile was so cute. So freaking precious.

Momo and Iida shared a knowing look and nodded at each other. They then formed the same agreement Iida had with Uraraka.

This girl is too precious. Must protect.

The timer began the countdown from ten seconds. Bakugou could be heard flying with the use of his explosions over the ice wall. When the time ran out, the crowd snickered at the sight of the angry student face-planting on the ground.

'THAT'S THE TIME FOLKS! LET'S SEE THE LEADERBOARD, SHALL WE, LADIES AND GENTS?? IN FIRST PLACE, TEAM TODOROKI! IN SECOND PLACE, TEAM BAKUGOU! IN THIRD PLACE TEAM TETSU-- wait, team Shinso?' The audience heard Present Mic choke for a second in surprise before Aizawa smacked him back to his senses. Or what was left of them. 'WHEN DID THEY CLIMB THE LADDER SO QUICK?! AND IN FOURTH PLACE... TEAM MIDORIYA! THAT CONCLUDES THE CAVALRY BATTLE PEOPLE!'

(Name) released a sigh of relief when she could finally break off from the slightly uncomfortable position. She stretched, yawned a bit and patted her hungry stomach. Even moving around for such a short time had her craving for food. 

She was about to turn to find some food (preferably carrots, or cucumbers) when she picked up Todoroki's voice. 

'Midoriya, we need to talk.'