The morning of the UA Sports Festival is finally here. I find myself shaking all the way to school. Of course Ochaco texted saying she would be late. Opening the door to the class, I'm surprised to find I'm not alone. Todoroki sits at his desk, staring at his left hand with a mild expression of disgust on his face.

Is that his fire side? It looks to be the same expression he had when his father's arm was around him. Does he really hate his father so much that he has grown to detest his left half? Is that why in his hero costume design, that whole side is covered in ice?

I push the door open further and he looks up at me with a blank expression. If I hadn't already been there, I wouldn't have guessed anything in particular was on his mind, but of course I know better.

He's good at hiding things... Just like me...

I walk to my seat and sit, mulling over my own thoughts. None of us know what these tasks will be. I don't know how useful my quirk will be. I can't even use Echolocation because I need walls around me right now. I'm not used to that power yet. Plus it still uses too much of my energy. Even with all my extra endurance training. I'm getting better, but I don't want to risk it. But I can do many more things. I don't need to use it. Not necessarily. I can illuse to run faster. I can illuse to fight. I can illuse to capture enemies. I can do so many things without using my special move.

"I'm sorry," I jump at the sound of Todoroki's voice next to me. I look back questioningly, but he isn't looking at me. After a few moments, his eyes meet mine and he registers my confusion. "I'm sorry if I made the room too cold. It happens sometimes."

I didn't even notice the temperature change. It occurs to me just now that I'm shaking.

I shake my head and pull off the cap to my marker, writing on the whiteboard, "no no no, I'm just stressing out. It doesn't bother me anyway."

I turn the board around and he regards it for a moment. I see his eyes soften in the mildest amusement before he turns away.

Well that's rude, I think. How could he not be stressed? And to find amusement in my stress?!? That's really low of him.

"Frozen?" His voice is low and I look over in confusion once more. The corner of his mouth lifts in a small smile. From under his dual-colored hair, I see his eyes flick over to me. "Was that a Frozen reference?" I nearly fall out of my chair, turning back to the board.

Sure enough, there it is. "It doesn't bother me anyway," the board reads. I look back over to him, but his gaze is directed to the desk in front of him.

"My mom and I watched it all the time," he says, his mouth once again set in a fine line, but his eyes are alight with a small flame of reminiscence.

He watches Disney movies too?!? My heart rate increases at the prospect of making a friend who shares my love of the brand. Okay, calm down. He only said he watches one movie. I can't assume anything. It makes sense with his ice quirk. Is that her quirk as well?

I force myself to go back to thinking about the competition ahead of us. Namely, our competitors. The other day, they had come to scope out our class, but Bakugo started insulting them. Big surprise. I'm sure they'll be trying to go after us harder, thinking we all act like him. I roll my eyes, remembering his antics. If he weren't so loudmouthed, people would actually like being around him.

The door opens and our teacher walks in. He pauses, glancing at the two of us before unfurling his sleeping bag and placing it down on the floor. "Get into your exercise uniforms and go to the Class 1-A waiting room under the First Year stands." We both nod, standing and getting ready to go, but Aizawa calls me back. "Yamada, you've been given special permission you requested to wear your whiteboard arm band for the festival, so grab that before you leave." He pushes a button under his desk and one of the wall compartments comes out. I grab my suitcase and put it down, opening it quickly to grab the band and marker. I hastily replace the case and head to the changing rooms.

In the hallway, I notice Todoroki ahead of me, but decide to leave him be. He needs to concentrate before the competition.

I change as quickly as possible and head to the waiting room, claiming a chair and sitting down. I illuse a very quiet tune in my ears to calm myself. First Light by Lindsey Stirling is definitely one of my favorites from the playlist and it somehow always helps to reduce my heart rate. Taking advantage of the empty room, I tap my feet along with the beat. I do condensed forms of the footwork I choreographed for this song and lose myself in the music.

The sound of someone turning the doorknob stills my feet and I look off into the distance, inconspicuously as Todoroki enters the room. He also takes a seat on the far side of the room. Not too much time passes until the rest of the students walk in.

Fingers snap in front of my face and break my daze. I look up to the smiling face of Kirishima.

"Good morning, Yamada. How are you today?" He signs confidently, wearing a proud grin when he finishes the short phrase.

"I'm good, thanks," I sign in return. Sure it's a lie, but he doesn't have to know how anxious I am. I stop illusing music so I can focus on his next words.

"Well that's good!" He switches back to regular speech and sits next to me. "I'm ready to fight hard out there, huh?" He hardens his hands and pounds them together.

I give him a small smile and a nod.

"I'm sure you'll do great!" He says as the door opens violently.

"Everyone get your game faces on!" Iida shouts into the room. "We're entering the arena soon!"

The nausea in my stomach doubles and triples, sending waves of unease though my body. Am I really ready to do this? I think to myself as Kirishima offers me his hand. Oh, wait! We're going NOW?!?

"You'll be alright, trust me," he smiles reassuringly as I take it and he helps me up. His skin is rough with calluses. I mentally cringe at how sweaty my hands are compared to his.

"Midoriya," a cool voice says from the center of the room. We turn to the sound in confusion and shock as Todoroki addresses the trembling boy.

"H-hey Todoroki," he says, turning to face the boy towering over him. "What's up?"

"From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that I'm stronger than you."

Midoriya looks taken aback, but lowers his head and mumbles, "yeah."

"However, you've got All Might in your corner helping you out. I'm not here to pry about what's going on between you two, but know that I will beat you."

Todoroki stares down Midoriya with a cool glare as the latter's green eyes widen in intimidation.

"What's with all these declarations of war lately?" Kaminari asks from his seat, obviously entertained.

Kirishima leaves my side and places a hand on Todoroki's shoulder. "Yeah, what's the big deal? Why're you pickin' a fight all of a sudden? And right before we get started!"

"We're not here to be each other's friends," his low voice replies as he shrugs his classmate's hand off. "Don't forget this isn't a team effort," he says, turning and walking to the door. Midoriya looks after him in shock.

What happened just now? Where did that even come from? He never seemed like the confrontational type. That's been Bakugo's thing. And what was that about Midoriya and All Might? Is there something really going on with them?

"Wait a sec, Todoroki," Midoriya says quietly, but the boy stops in his tracks and looks over his shoulder. "I don't know what's going through your head or why you think you need to tell me that you'll beat me. And yeah, of course you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the hero course. That's why you got in so easily."

"Midoriya, maybe you're being a little hard on yourself! And us," Kirishima interjects, trying to defuse the tension in the room, but he is quick to reply.

"No, he's right, you guys! All the other courses. They're coming for us with everything they've got. We're all going to have to fight to stand out. And I'll be aiming for the top too," he looks Todoroki dead in the eyes with confidence set in his features.

"Fine," is all the boy says as he turns and walks out the door.

They really are going to be coming for us. Every single one of them. Will I be strong enough to hold them off?

"Deep breaths, let's go," Ochaco loops her arm through mine and leads me out the door with the rest of the class. "You can use your quirk for distance attacks and close combat while also working with your surroundings."

"She's right," Yaoyorozu says from her other side. "You have one of the most versatile quirks here. You shouldn't have anything to be worried about."

I nod, trying to hide a blush at their kind words. They have so much faith in me. Why can't I have that kind of faith in myself?

From the end of the tunnel, I hear Uncle Mic's voice echoing across the stadium. My heart rate increases and I swear I black out for a moment because next thing I know, I am standing among a large group of students who roar with indignation at a figure on the stage in front of us.

Bakugo? What did he say? I wasn't focusing.

Even our class roars with rage as he descends the stairs, returning to us. Another hero, Midnight takes center stage to announce our first task. Ugh she just pisses me off, I think to myself. Why does she have to dress like that? She's not exactly family friendly and we're AT SCHOOL.

"Ta-da!!!" She exclaims as the board behind her displays an obstacle race. She further explains that we must travel the four kilometers around the stadium doing whatever we please as long as we don't leave the course. I throw a wary look at Bakugo, knowing he must be planning to hurt people who try and get in his way.

We head over to the starting gate and I get a glimpse inside. The hallway appears to funnel down thinner and thinner as we go. People will surely get jammed and struggle to get through.

Maybe I can use my quirk to jump over everyone else, I think as the race starts. I'm pulled along with the crowd as they surge forward. Becoming claustrophobic quickly, I heave a frustrated sigh and jump up, illusing under my heels to project me further. It seemed to be at just the right time too, as the ground underneath everyone freezes, holding them down.

I look ahead to see other students from our class had predicted Todoroki's move and had also dodged the attack. I wave to Kirishima as I rocket over him. He had dodged the ice, but didn't provide enough force to avoid landing on it. The brief distraction causes him to slip as he lands, sliding to the edge of the ice. Bakugo uses his explosions to soar ahead of me as I'm forced to land. I run forward and soon, Kirishima catches up with me. He smiles as we race to the next obstacle.

A group of the giant robots from the entrance exam block our path, but Todoroki quickly freezes the front one as it tries to attack, running below it without hesitation. I know the robot will break the ice and fall, seeing as it was off balance when he froze it, but with enough force underneath my feet, I know I can make it between the treads in time. I illuse under my feet, lengthening my strides as I run after the boy.

The ice crumbles above me and I hear metal groaning as the robot begins to fall. "Yamada!! What're you doing?!? Get out of the way!!" Hands roughly shove me forward, into the dirt just beyond the collapsed robot.

Was that Kirishima?!? I pant and cough up dust, trying to keep going, but I steal many glances back at the robot. Guilt sits like a lead weight in my stomach as I think of my friend who was just crushed by the robot.

An instant later, he emerges from the heap of metal. I hear his voice carry though the air to me, but I turn and keep running, being sure to stay far enough ahead. Giving one last look behind me, I notice somebody else has popped out from under the robot. Interesting. He must have a similar quirk to Kirishima if he could withstand that.

I find myself faced with a sudden drop off. Looking down, my breath hitches as I stare into a giant gorge. Why did they make the fall so far? Various points of rock jut out and cables connect them. Good thing I'm able to wear the shoes from my hero costume. I take off after Todoroki, lightly jogging across the wires, illusing sounds on either side of me to keep my balance. I hear my uncle praise me from the loudspeakers for being so easily balanced. Todoroki glances behind him to see me entering the obstacle. On one of the rocks, I turn to see many of my classmates catching up. Iida slides across the wires while using his engines to propel himself. I hop back into action, taking the shortest route to the other side. Bakugo rockets over me, in hot pursuit of first place.

Running a little further, a minefield greets me. I can see where the mines are buried, so I lightly hop between them, putting my dance training to use. Bakugo and Todoroki duke it out in front of me, but it's a cry of frustration behind me that gets my attention.

I turn and look at Ochaco. She hops between the mines, but much more clumsily. Many other students surround her and rush ahead. Time to see just how powerful these mines are.

Focusing just behind her in relation to me, I illuse just over a mine, triggering it and sending pink smoke and students everywhere. Ochaco's eyes widen as she comes straight for me. I hold out my hand and she seems to understand.

She grabs it and suddenly, I feel weightless. I pull her also weightless form onto my back and illuse two sounds under my feet. We launch forward, over a cloud of smoke from under Midoriya. Wait... Midoriya? When did he become tied with the leaders?

Bakugo and Todoroki are thrown aside from the explosion, but keep rushing forward. At the very edge of the minefield, I hear Ochaco let out the breath she was holding and yell, "RELEASE!"

We tumble towards the ground, but I roll and regain my footing. The three boys are still ahead of us, but we have a sizable gap between those behind us, so we start running. I illuse vibrations under my feet to pull ahead. Running back inside the stadium, I breathe a sigh of relief. Fourth! I got fourth! And Ochaco! I turn to see her panting through the gates. She got fifth!

She runs into me and we wrap our arms around each other, falling to the ground in a hug.

"Koto! Ochaco!" A voice from above us yells. I wipe the sweat out of my eyes when I see Reina in the stands waving at us.

We both wave back enthusiastically and I sign that we'll find her afterwards. She smiles and gives a thumbs up. Ochaco runs off to congratulate Midoriya, but I just stand in place, stretching my legs and making sure I didn't damage them from all the force I put into my running. They're a little cramped, but otherwise okay.

A figure collapses to my right and I look down to see Kirishima. I bend down, putting a hand on his shoulder to get his attention. He jumps, but then looks up at me and breaks out in a smile.

"Thank you for saving me," I write on my arm band. "I would've been crushed if you hadn't pushed me out of the way."

My eyes fill with tears as I turn the band towards him, hearing the sound of Kati being crushed by the monkey bars.

Get out of my head! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!

His eyes return to mine and his smile falls. I don't know what comes over me in the moment, but I wrap my arms around him, burying my face in his shoulder.

"No problem, Yamada. I didn't want you getting hurt," his gravely voice rumbles through his body as he wraps his arms around me in return, clutching me close.

"Oh, grow a pair already!" Bakugo's voice says from just behind me. "How do you expect to become a hero when you're always crying?"

I turn around to face his mocking grin and wipe my eyes with my middle finger. His eyes widen and his smile immediately falls. Kirishima bursts into fits of laughter as his friend growls and marches away.

I pick myself off the ground, Kirishima following suit, and we walk with the rest of the competitors to the stage for Midnight to announce the next task and who will be moving on.