IMPORTANT, IVE GOTTA ADDRESS SOMETHING

So sometimes I'll have people's thoughts just, randomly, no name attached. Like:

"Whoa, what the fuck?"

"I'd hit that."

"Can I get a yo holla in the house?"

Like that. And a lot of times, people immediately are like "I bet this is Monoma!!!" Or "Hey, this must be Hitoshi!!!!"

No, stop please you're killing me and I want to bash my own head in.

Harper hears EVERYONE'S thoughts. So when I do that, it's more than often just some random person around in the general area. Don't assume it's someone you know. Unless I make it super obvious who it is, it's probably a stranger. If she's in a hallway when it happens, you can assume not everyone in said hallway is in class 1-A. If it happens in the middle of a mine field during the sports festival, it's pretty obvious that 1-A, Monoma, and Hitoshi are not the only people venturing through the minefield. Thanks for coming to my ted talk. 

Third person pov

How was she still alive? This was a question Harper often times asked herself, no matter the situation. She could be doing something as domestically bland as paying for groceries, and she'd still make the same inquiry. This time, however, she was serious. Dead serious, pun intended. She had absolutely no idea how she and Iida had made it out of that race, let alone managed to place high enough that they were moving on to the next round. Even now she was in shock. How was her luck this bad? Legitimately, she was considering dropping out. 

The only thing stopping her was the fact that she wasn't sure whether or not her quirk had been announced. During parts of the obstacle course, it was impossible to hear Mic's voice over the roar of the crowd. That, and they drifted pretty far from the arena in general. Harper could still hear their thoughts. Though it was hard to pick out individual ones without it sounding like one static-y storm of noise, she was quite sure none of them had really been about her. She hadn't made it in the top ten, but she wasn't in last place either. Harper was with Iida, right smack dab in the middle. Average.

"Seriously, go ahead." Harper urged as Todoroki patiently waited for a very conflicted Iida to make his decision. Kaminari and Momo both flanked him, the blonde looking unconcerned as he grinned while the Wii remix blasted through his mind. Momo's smile was polite, but she was full of unvoiced worry and self-doubt. Harper knew they'd pass. Todoroki was a powerhouse on his own, and Kaminari was a box of energy sitting and ready to discharge. Momo could create a plethora of items, and with Iida on their team for speed, they'd be near unstoppable. Maybe it would give them all a much needed confidence boost. Even Todoroki could use one.

"I don't want to leave you. You helped me so much..." Iida frowned. "It would be dishonorable of me to simply leave her like this, even if this is a competition. I doubt I would have pulled through the first part of the festival without her. I can't just... no, I won't!"

"You're not leaving me, Iida. This is a competition, and I want to see you win anyway. We both know you'd be perfect on their team. I'm not combative." Harper urged, making sure to keep and and all exhaustion and impatience from her tone. She really didn't want to compete anyway, and that fact alone would put a damper on any team she tried to join. The will was half the battle. Skill was the other, and she had neither. Not to mention the fact that this was a cavalry battle. She didn't have the strength to carry anyone, and she didn't have enough friends to be carried. It was that simple.

"She's smart. She knows she and Iida on a team with two wild cards from another course will do them no good. She's being mature about the whole thing. It's a nice change." Todoroki's thoughts should have been flattering, but they really weren't. She just blew a piece of hair from her as Iida gazed at her with a stricken expression. Poor guy looked like a kicked puppy. It almost made her care. Almost.

"I can't possibly join their team knowing you're here and in need of one." Iida insisted. "Harper is one of my best friends. I can't just do this to her. She'll be bitter. She'll hate me like everyone else. I'm already letting so many people down, but if I could just... be there for her, maybe, things would be okay."

"Iida, I don't even want to be here. Go win for the both of us. Be a badass, or whatever. We both know me being on your team would only weigh it down. Todoroki over here is probably a certified genius, and if he's confident you're what his team needs, then he's probably right. You can't let him down." Harper made a shooing motion with her hands. "Sparky and Bingbing over there are counting on you, too."

"Bingbing?" Momo's thoughts mumbled. Harper couldn't blame her. She didn't know what she'd been thinking either. The brunette never knew what she was thinking anymore. It was hard to form coherent thoughts with Kaminari's mutated Wii remix blasting throughout her mind.

Iida now looked very conflicted, but Todoroki just gave her a nod. Harper raised a brow very pointedly as she folded her arms over her chest. She wasn't about to be Iida's downfall. His mentality really couldn't take that, and she wasn't Satan incarnate or anything of that sort. She knew well and good she'd only cause him to crash and burn. Knowing that meant there was no way Harper could team up with him in good conscience. 

"I- are you sure?" Iida gulped. "She can't be serious, right? This has to be a test. Leaving her would be horrifying! Not at all something a good friend would do. And I'm not... I'm not a good anything. Not a good person, student. I won't be a good hero either. Maybe I should give up. I'll only let Todoroki and his team down should I join anyway. But they're all so strong... they may make up for my lack of skill. I'm not sure Harper could compensate without a physical quirk on her side. That must be why she doesn't want me on her team! She knows I'll only cause her to fail in the end."

Harper shoved back a wince. That wasn't what she wanted him to deduce from this entire thing, but she wasn't sure how to reassure him without revealing her quirk or making it seem as though she wanted him on her team. Don't get Harper wrong, she would have loved to hog him all to herself. She just knew he'd probably fail if she did so. And again, she was more concerned with his mental state than passing the second part of this accursed festival. If failing meant he got a bit of a confidence in him, she was all for it.

"I'm sure. Go be amazing." Harper knew her smile looked more like a grimace as she once again waved him in Todoroki's direction. Time was running out, and she'd essentially just screwed herself over. It was fine. She was actually pretty surprised she'd made it this far, period. There weren't many things she had to worry about in life, but the things she had concerned herself with were important. Iida not killing himself, for example, was high on her list of priorities. Figuring out who the traitor was happened to be pretty up there. Not dying at the hands of The League was near the top as well, seeing as she couldn't accomplish much if she were dead.

Iida nodded hesitantly, shuffling slightly towards Todoroki's team all while shooting her pitiful and unsure glances. Harper very pointedly took two steps back, plastering a smile faker than Barbie's on her face. Iida didn't need to know it wasn't real, though. He looked relieved and immediately bought the expression. "I'm worried about her. I hope she doesn't hate me. I hope she doesn't think I'm useless. She's right when she says that, technically speaking, my quirk is a good fit for Todoroki's team. Hopefully I don't ruin things. I ruin everything, though..."

"Good luck, Iida." Harper gave a thumbs up before whirling around before the boy could change his mind, eyes immediately searching for somewhere to go. Dropping out seemed like a viable solution to the ever-growing problem. That problem being that she had essentially no friends, being fairly new and quite anti-social. Her quirk wasn't physical either, so people really weren't aching to team up. What good was a reflex quirk on a giant, open field where you could see everyone?

"This is it! This is where I die. Lay me down to rest. Jesus? Take me." Hagakure's thoughts sounded from somewhere behind her, but Harper didn't want to dwell on how much she related.

"Harper doesn't have a team! I should go over there and ask, right? I should. I should! That would be totally manly of me. We'd be an awesome team. And we could be friends. It would be totally amazing. Yeah... yeah, I'm going to go over there! After I... gather some courage and maybe... oh man, I'm sweating."

Harper resisted the urge to turn around and look at Kirishima. See, at first, she'd thought his weird crush thing was temporary and would go away after a week or two. Her immediate assumption had been that he got one on all girls he met, and that it would go away and he'd get a new weird infatuation with another chick. Only it hadn't gone away, and it seemed to be getting stronger as time went on despite them not talking. Even scarier, and you may want to brace yourself for this, Kirishima was genuine. Harper was severely considering asking Nezu to get the redhead a therapist too.

"You don't got none unless you got buns, hun." Was Jiro okay? Scrap that, nobody was.

"No, but if the socks matched, would it really be fashion? I don't understand any of these equations!" Tokoyami was having a hard time, poor thing.

"Froot loops? Fruit loops? Which is it..." Sero trailed off, squinting at his shoes.

"I'd let Deku sit on me any day of the damn week." Bakugo purred. Yeah, Harper wasn't going to go there.

"I see all, I hear all, and yet I tripped over a fucking pebble." Shoji was on the ground, suffering. Mineta and Tsu looked very concerned. 

"Hey, it's you." It took Harper a second to realize the voice wasn't someone's thoughts, and that it was actually talking to her. She turned with raised eyebrows, feeling more tired than she had in months. "You showed up in my backyard. You're Harper, class 1-A, right?"

Harper gazed at Shinso for a moment, trying to figure out what the fuck was up. His thoughts were waiting for an answer, but not like other people did. Something in him was hyper focused on what she was about to say. It was odd, and there was something else prickling in his brain. A non-combative, mind-based quirk? Like hers, but not, maybe. She couldn't tell. Was he trying to use it on her or something? Whatever. She didn't give a shit.

"That's me." Harper sighed. What happened next was near instant. A fog fell over her mind like a rubber band snapping back into place after being pulled too far. For a moment, everything fell into a blur. The brunette didn't have the energy to groan, because, oh hell, this guy really was trying to use a quirk on her. Scratch the 'trying', actually. He was actively using his power on her and she had no idea what to do about it. It didn't feel bad or anything. All control over her body was immediately taken from her though, and she wasn't sure she liked that.

Harper really did think his quirk would stick, but just as quick as it came, she felt it fall away. Something just broke, and she blinked away the daze that had fallen over her. Hitoshi's grin dropped like a stone, his brows furrowing slightly. He did nothing to disguise his utter confusion, and Harper certainly wasn't about to call the guy out on what he'd just attempted. This was a cut throat competition for a lot of the participants here, and she knew he was only trying to fight his way to the top. He wasn't in the hero course, but he wanted to be.

"What the hell? Did my quirk not work, or did she break it? She hasn't said anything. It's possible it didn't stick. Why wouldn't it? Was it just a fluke, or is it a part of her quirk?" Hitoshi's thoughts were a bit panicked. He was jumping to absurd conclusions such as 'my quirk must be broken' and 'the only explanation is that she's an alien.' She wouldn't discount that last one completely. All things considered, Harper finding out she wasn't completely human wouldn't phase her much.

"Ah... right." Hitoshi seemed to realize he'd been too quiet for too long. "Did you want to join my team? Seems like you don't have any teammates yet."

"Sure." Harper shrugged.

Again, a blur rushed over her mind. This one didn't last as long as the first, as though her mind had somehow managed to build up an immunity after having experienced Shinso's quirk once already. Why it wasn't working, Harper didn't know. Mental quirks against other mental quirks always yielded uncertain and odd results. Quirks based out of the brain, especially the non-combative type, were fairly rare. There wasn't loads of research on them quite yet. Especially not on Harper's. Nobody had hers that she knew of, and if they did, she pitied them. Greatly.

The blur faded, and Harper felt pity well up inside her. His quirk was clearly some sort of mind control, maybe brainwashing, she didn't know. At least that's what she was assuming from the loss of motor function. He wasn't counting on her being able to do much of anything during the fight, which meant her saying yes and being totally conscious and in charge of her own body was going to severely fuck him over. But he did ask, and had tried to mind control her sorry ass. That was rude enough. Harper needed a team anyway.

Harper continued to stare at him, not sure if she should assure him that she was just immune and he didn't have a brain tumor that was just now choosing to make its move. He looked mildly horrified as she continued to blink at him, not at all brainwashed like she was meant to be. "Oh no. This isn't good. This isn't good at all."

"H-Hey, Harper!" A voice called. Harper turned just in time to see Kirishima almost fall on top of her, and she blinked, leaning back as he scrambled to right himself before he tipped over. He grinned sheepishly, cheeks suspiciously red. "Oh god, I did it. I'm over here. Time is almost up. I even turned down Bakubro! What if she says no? Who is this guy, with her? Another teammate? Are they dating? Are they in love? Oh my god, I don't stand a chance against a guy with purple eyes and hair! Appearance alliteration!" 

Harper wanted to point out that his hair and eyes were both red, even if she'd heard him refer to his locks as dyed before. She knew it would only give her away. Ah, the pains of reading minds. "Hey, Kirishima. You got a team? Shinso and I just formed one. My quirk is sort of useless, so nobody wanted to pair up with me. I ate ice cream on his sofa, so." She shrugged as though that explained things. Shinso was becoming more and more horrified by the second.

"I wish you'd eat ice cream on my sofa." Kirishima thought dreamily. If the redhead offered, she would most definitely eat ice cream on his sofa. It was ice cream. "M-Me? You want me on your team? And your quirk isn't useless! It's super amazing!"

"Thanks, Kirishima, but your quirk is way more badass. Of course I'd want you on my team." Harper shrugged indifferently, tone blunt as usual. Seriously, he was in the hero course and could harden his skin into what was essentially rock, making him a good defense and close-range offense. Why wouldn't she want him on her team if given the chance? Behind her, Shinso was contemplating if there was a way to just drop dead right there on the spot. 

"This is the best day of my life. I want to marry her and have four kids. Two girls, two boys. Boy first, then a set of twin girls, and then another boy. We should be friends first. Are we friends? I'd give anything to be friends with her. Good thing I met her at a teenager. Now I can woo her, when we graduate we can get married, and then I can die happy! After having four kids. And watching her be happy. And letting her eat ice cream on my sofa." Kirishima was almost vibrating at this point with hopes, dreams, and innocent fantasies that made Harper want to raise her eyebrows in question. Harper decided not to mention the vibrating part There was a lot she was brushing off lately. Was she truly that numb? "Y-Yeah, alright! Let's do it!"

"Cool. Shinso, this is Kirishima. He can harden his skin into rock basically. You know me. I have a reflex quirk. If you were going to punch me, I'd know." Harper sighed heavily. Kirishima looked ready to fall over. Was allowing him onto the team a good idea? She doubted it, to be honest. He was almost overheating due to the fact that they were standing within arms reach of one another. Speaking of which, that was a bit too close for comfort. She would have taken a step back if she didn't know she'd be either sitting on him or holding him up in a moment.

"Ah, my quirk is uh... brainwashing. If I get a verbal response to a question, I can control someone." Shinso cleared his throat, averting his gaze. "Shit, they're going to think I'm a villain like everyone else. I should have left ages ago when there were still more people to get onto my team."

Harper had been right. "Nice. That'll be handy." She shrugged, because it would be. Plus the guy was insecure. Who was calling his quirk villainous? Dumbasses. Whatever, it wasn't her problem. Hopefully she didn't drag them down with her. Their team really didn't seem like it would work well together, but maybe she was wrong. Kirishima could shield at lease one side, and Hitoshi was an excellent defense against pretty much anyone with a mouth. 

"Yeah, definitely!" Kirishima immediately agreed before clamping his mouth shut. "I don't want to talk too much and annoy Harper. What if I'm not talking enough, though? She's even prettier up close and I don't know what to do with myself. Gah! I need a self-help blog, stat! Who knew being in love would be so stressful." 

Harper stared at him for a moment, squinting. Was he serious? He probably didn't know her well enough to be revolted. He'd see eventually. Still, his thoughts were cute in their own way. Harper didn't by any means consider herself attractive, but humans were nasty, and she'd heard some pretty vulgar and explicit things. The fact that Kirishima had so far had none gave her a very small amount of hope in humanity. And by very small she meant it essentially didn't exist. Kirishima was definitely one in a million, if nothing else. 

Hitoshi was blinking rapidly at them off to the side. "No comments? No cringing? Disgust? I'm so confused. All my classmates avoid me, why aren't they? I thought hero course students were stuck up. I think my life is a lie. That's fine. Cool. Should I brainwash the red one? No, ice cream girl would call me out. Besides, watching him sputter over her and blush is both sad and hilarious. She looks so done. I bet she has no idea."

Harper sighed heavily, bringing up a hand to massage her temples. Yeah, as if she'd ever be lucky enough to 'have no idea'. "Should we even try to find another teammate?" She asked aloud. They were almost ready to take the weird formation. They had not even the beginnings of a plan, the clock was ticking, and... yeah, their failure was imminent. Maybe, that is, she really wasn't too sure anymore.

"Hey, guys!" Hagakure chirped from behind Kirishima. The boy let out a brief yelp, jumping about a foot in the air before whirling around. Harper slowly turned to look at the girl, or rather, her floating uniform. Kirishima immediately became embarrassed with what he'd deemed to be an 'unmanly' reaction and was fretting over Harper's opinion. "Can I join your team?"

"Pleasepleasepleasepleaseplease-" The invisible girl's thoughts alone were enough to send Harper's headache straight into migraine territory. Harper wanted to throw her head back and let out a long, pained, dry groan to convey how much she hated everything on this god forsaken planet, as Hagakure herself had once called it.

"Yeah, of course. Welcome aboard." Harper instead muttered tiredly. Hitoshi eyed her.

"Mood." His thoughts seemed to decide, almost drowned out by those of the crowd's. He had absolutely no idea.