Third person pov

Harper was pretty sure she was dying. This was something she'd assumed in the past, of course, but this time she was positive. Her head felt literally ready to explode as she waited for the obstacle course to start. Between the roar of the crowd and the nervous mental chatter of those around her, she was going to keel over. Harper nearly felt like she was choking. The thoughts were so overwhelmingly stifling that she felt light headed and near passing out completely.  

"I've got to do this. I have to at least get past the first part of the festival." Iida was determined. He was setting his self deprecation aside for the time being to try and get into the mindset needed to participate. Harper was glad his depression hadn't consumed him so far that he couldn't function in a high-stress event such as this. Some people just ceased function all together, though Iida wasn't that type. He was the kind who bottled it up and tried to hide it from everyone. Even worse, he was succeeding. His acting skills were truly something to behold.

Harper raked through the thoughts of her peers, trying to find something that would help her. She didn't really care about passing. In fact, she'd begged Nezu to let her sit this one out. He'd insisted it would only draw attention to her if she did. This way, Mic could announce her quirk as being a reflex one to the world. Not just her schoolmates would assume her to have the predictive quirk. The entire world would. However, to get announced in such a manner, she'd either need to pass or at least make it towards the front. If it helped her with the league, she was here for it.

Sort of. 

The physical part of this whole festival thing was going to be her undoing, not to mention the crowd. She could barely hear Iida, and he was right next to her, his thoughts more booming than most. Harper couldn't exactly get the upper hand on people if she couldn't hear them over the roar of the audience. It would take a whole lot of focus, and she wasn't sure that's something she had. Not at the moment, anyway.

Harper searched anyway, gritting her teeth. Honestly, she knew deep downs he probably should have stayed back at Tsukauchi's apartment today. They could sleep in, lounge around. Kick back with some junk food and watch her classmates suffer on TV. Maybe they'd even laugh at their failure. The possibilities had been endless, and yet here she was, probing around people's brains in search of god knows what. Even she didn't know.

Kaminari's Wii remix evolved again, sounding more like trap than anything else at this point. Harper could barely heard the Wii part anymore. Some kid, she had no idea who, was checking out the ass of the person in front of her. Shoji was thinking of sock puppets for some damn reason, and she really didn't want to know why Tsuyu was wondering if you could use a water balloon as a condom. Seriously, there were several questions there and Harper hoped she never got the answers to any of them. Ever.

Harper didn't want to be here, in a giant stadium at fuck o'clock in the morning, wondering how she'd gotten to this point, and more importantly, how she was supposed to get back and away from it. She was in desperate need of a nap and stuck invading the privacy of everyone around to try and be a step up from the competition. She wasn't expecting to actually find anything of use. Luck didn't usually hand out favors to her like that, but she was pleasantly surprised when she hit Todoroki's thoughts.

"If I'm fast enough, maybe I can trap a majority of the competition in my ice... yes, they're all bound to get stuck in the narrow exit." Todoroki's mind mumbled. "This way, I don't have to use my fire to try and ward them back. I'll have to time it carefully, and make sure I'm first out of the tunnel to make it more effective."

Okay, so that was great information, totally dandy, very helpful. Issue: how was she supposed to avoid a shit ton of ice aiming to freeze her feet to the ground? It'd have to be pretty thick and strong to hold a lot of these people. Maybe if she jumped at the exact right moment she could, but that wouldn't be easy to pull off. Perhaps it would be if she actually had a reflexive quirk like she claimed to, but she didn't, so here they were. Suffering. 

"Now then, take your places, contestants!" Midnight grinned widely as the crowd of anxious teens teemed. Harper swallowed heavily as the lights indicating when they'd go began to go out, counting down to the exact moment everyone would try and surge through the exit. Harper was mentally preparing herself for her death, as were many others. The brunette wondered if she should have made funeral arrangements beforehand, written a will, all that stuff. 

"Hey, Iida." Harper says, just loud enough for him to hear. He eyes her. "When I say jump, jump."

"What?" Iida's thoughts seemed taken aback, but he nodded outwardly anyway as the last light disappeared. Harper clenched her teeth, her jaw locking into place as Midnight brought down her whip. The loud crack wasn't doing anything for her migraine. Honestly, it probably took a few years off Harper's life. With the way things were going these days, that could really mean anything. It could imply that her death was minutes away, or that it wouldn't be for a while. Harper wasn't sure which one was better.

"Begin!" Midnight cried out, any people were moving. Harper let out a hiss but forced herself to zoom on in on Todoroki anyway. Why did she agree to this, and more importantly, was it too late to back out? It's not like they could force her to participate, especially if all she did was lay down and curl up into a fetal position. You know, cry a little. Add a little hyperventilation in there just for shits and giggles. Top it all off with the refusal to respond to anything anyone said or did around her. It was fool proof.

The crowd was roaring, and excited to witness the Sports Festivals. Honestly, Nezu and Tsukauchi, who'd taken the day to come see his 'daughter' compete, really just wanted to see what Harper would do. Her quirk wasn't combative like most of the other hero course students were. Not to mention she had almost no training and didn't want to be here, unlike most of the UA students present who were aching for a chance to prove themselves. Even Gen-Ed was stepping up to do their very best.

"Now!" She heard Todoroki's mind exclaim, and heard a loud crack.

"Jump!" Harper hissed out, leaping as high as she could. Iida followed in suit just as Todoroki's ice shot out underneath them. Harper swore time seemed to slow as Iida's eyes widened. The girl couldn't help but snort at the near appalled look on his face, as though he'd just been personally offended by Shoto's attempt to thwart his and everyone else's progress. At the same time, Harper was immediately bombarded by shrieking thoughts of outrage and horror. 

Iida landed and immediately slipped backwards, letting out a muffled grunt as his legs flew up and right out from beneath him. Harper managed not to land on her ass, though she was extremely dizzy from the sheer amount of panic circulating around her. The brunette found her balance anyway and simply stood there, trying to block it all out as her head pounded so badly she felt the urge to vomit. She nearly did.

"That was a close one." Iida said near formally as he shakily got to his feet, one hand braced against the side of the tunnel. Harper nodded absentmindedly as she gathered herself. "If not for Harper, I'd already be behind. I suppose I really can't do anything right..."

Harper groaned at his thoughts, hand flying up to her temples. "Yeah, it was. We've got to get out of here before we fall too behind." She said instead of trying to curb his thoughts. She didn't have the time nor did she have the energy. She needed to decide what her next move would be. Dying, possibly? That sounded solid enough to her. League wouldn't bother her or her family if she was dead in some ditch somewhere. That being said, she couldn't do much while she was dead. You know, like catch traitors and stop Iida from offing himself.

"You're right." Iida said, already trying to move forward. One hand stayed planted on the side of the tunnel, the other extended out straight for balance. Harper stared at him a moment as his feet rapidly shuffled across the slick ice, and she looked down at her own feet almost as though to silently ask them what the fuck they were supposed to do now. for a moment, she considered that this might be the end for her before she was struck with a realization that made her feel like a huge idiot.

"I can ice skate." Harper blinked, and Iida's gaze snapped back to her.

"You can?" He asked, sounding almost relieved. Harper tried not to snort at that. Poor guy had a quirk that was, literally, in his legs, and yet he didn't know how to go fast on a slippery surface. "No, I can't count on her to help me again. She's already done so much. I'd only burden her, and I'm sure she wants to pass this just as much as everyone else. I have to... try doing this on my own, even if I know I'll fail."

"Yeah, I can. Come on. I help you, you help me. Heroes team up all the time." Harper grabbed his arm and began to tug him forward, her head pounding. She pushed the wave of thoughts around her back, hoping it would work out. She may have just snagged Iida, so that could definitely be a plus. Things would probably be fine. It would all work out!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It wasn't working out.

"Shit, shit, shit!" Harper hissed as a mine to their left went off, sending dust flying at them. She and Iida were both covered and dirt, and so was Kaminari, who they'd picked up at some point. Hagakure had been around as well, but they weren't too sure where she'd run off to. Now they were focused on not dying. Non-lethal mines her ass. As if getting thrown well over six feet in the air couldn't result in death if you landed the wrong way. Plus, what if you landed on another mine and simply got shot right back into the air again only to land on another? "How have they not been sued yet?!"

"That's actually a very good question." Iida's thoughts grumbled as he carefully scooted around one of the mines. "It's UA! Everything is perfectly under control. I'm sure none of us are in any real danger, and they do have Recovery Girl on standby should something occur." Iida reassured outwardly, forcing a smile as several explosions went off behind him, seeming to almost highlight the scene with irony. Harper raised an eyebrow dryly.

"I don't know, this doesn't seem super legal to me either." Kaminari said. How he could talk with that absurd Wii trap remix spiraling through his head, Harper had no idea.

"See, he agrees. Case closed." Harper was pretty sure Kaminari wasn't a very reliable source seeing as he really didn't have coherent thoughts, but that was besides the point. So long as Iida didn't know the inner workings of the electric blonde's mind, his word was still technically valid from a moral standpoint. Assuming Iida's morals included not writing off everyone as an idiot, even if they were most definitely a moron.

"Well..." Iida trailed off slightly as they continued slowly but steadily forward. "I completely agree that this is ludicrous and has the potential to severely harm someone, but I can't very well say that! It would dishonor and discredit the school. Clearly the organizers of the festival had some... lapse in judgement, that's all. I'm sure the next event will be more practical."

"Yeah, yeah, you don't believe me." Harper scoffed, knowing full and well that he did and feeling somewhat smug about that fact. "Let's just get this over wi-"

Kaminari let out a scream as he was vaulted away from them, sending a blast of hot air washing over both Iida and Harper. The blue-haired teen just barely managed to plant his feet and grasp Harper's arm to keep her from tumbling back and into another mine as Kaminari flew through the air, arms and legs flailing in horror. Harper's jaw dropped as she squinted through the dust it had kicked up, and Iida grimaced as their classmate spun through the air.

"Remember me!" The Wii music intensified as he landed on another mine, sending him flying off somewhere they couldn't see. Harper and Iida stared after him in mute horror, their eyes wide. 

"...We need to get the hell out of here." Harper seemed to decide. Iida cringed, and she didn't even need to read his thoughts to know he agreed. Resigning themselves to being sitting ducks would mean one of two things: either they'd die in one way or another, or they'd fail. Probably both. Not to mention there was no telling when the race would actually end. Was it when everyone crossed the finish line, or was there a time limit Harper had managed to look over?

"This is it. This is the end. Mom, dad? I love you. Remember me in the next- FUCK!" There was a boom near the back of the minefield. 

"Work those thighs, work those thighs, come on baby work those thighs." 

"I can do this. I can totally do this. This is totally fine, and I can do this. It's not like I'm in the middle of a literal minefield or anything. Definitely not. It's cool. Totally chill."

"May as well just give up here."

"Nobody is more Fergalicious than I am." 

"I don't think you can pull a rib, but I just pulled a rib."

"Should I go help Harper? She looks so adorable! I mean, she's covered in dirt, but that's so womanly. It was so smart to team up with Iida! Man, I should have asked to team up with her. Iida's such a lucky dude..."

"I know what Justin Bieber said, but here I go. I'm NEVER doing this shit again.

"Where the fuck is that shitty, hot, attractive, annoying, adorable Deku at?"

"That's it. It's going down. And you know what I'm yelling? Timber."

"This may be a bad phrase to use." Harper said nonchalantly, despite the fact that she was slowly but surely dying on the inside. And here she'd thought she'd died already. She held out her hand. "But let's blow this popsicle stand."

Iida couldn't hold back a grin despite his internal despair, not hesitating to slap his own hand right into hers. 

"Sounds like a plan to me." He said, and for a moment there, just a sliver of one, Harper was quite sure he was happy.  Actually, really happy. And despite the situation, and the fact that it was probably a fluke, the girl had never felt so satisfied.