The first 42 students are displayed on the board, which Ochaco and I easily make it into. Kirishima gives me a high five as my face is shown with a giant 4 displayed next to it. "Whoa, Yamada! I didn't know you were that far ahead!"

Midnight announces a cavalry battle as the next event. Apparently each team will have a point value associated with them that they have to wear on a bandana and we gain points by stealing other people's bandanas. My stomach drops for Midoriya when it's announced that he will be assigned 10,000,000 points. Students turn their gazes to the small boy as he stands frozen in fear. 

Oh no, everyone's gonna go after him now.

She lets us go to create our teams. Ochaco leaves to join Midoriya and Kirishima runs to Bakugo. I look around helplessly for anyone who may need another member. Shoji catches my eye and waves me over. It appears his team currently consists of him, Tsu, and Mineta. I inwardly groan at the thought of having to work with the perverted midget, but I don't have any better options, so when he asks me to join their team, I say yes. 

We quickly work out a strategy that has Tsu and Mineta sitting on Shoji's back while his arms cover them and me on his shoulders, acting as a lookout. 

My 195 points add to their points to give us a total of 615 points. 

At the start of the battle, we run into the fight, mostly avoiding others, but keeping a close eye on the leaders. They have the largest group of teams surrounding them, but they are mostly just running away. Shoji rushes between the teams, pretending to be after Midoriya, while Tsu uses her tongue to grab unsuspecting team's headbands, bringing them into the shadows of Shoji's arm webbing. 

I notice people try to use their ranged attacks on the now flying first place team, but Tokoyami's shadow creature, Dark Shadow swats them away. 

I've never had to face Tokoyami in battle before, so I don't know how effective this will be. I illuse a voice into Dark Shadow, trying to unnerve him, but it only seems to make him more violent. 

Change of plans!! I move the illused sounds into Tokoyami, but that seems to force him to release his hold on Dark Shadow. The creature lashes out at all our teams, passing seamlessly through the wall of sound I create. I close my eyes, bracing for the impact. Soon enough, I'm hit hard on my left side, throwing me from Shoji's shoulders and knocking my breath out of me.

One of his arms branches out into two separate ones to catch me before I hit the ground. I dangle from his hold, trying to climb my way back up, but with Dark Shadow's constant barrage, it's very difficult, so our team is forced to retreat. 

After managing to climb back up, I notice Midoriya's team has landed, so I tap Shoji on the head and point. He takes off at a full sprint. I have to bend over him to keep from flying off. We get closer and closer without them noticing when all of a sudden, Mineta starts laughing. 

Idiot!

"This is too easy!" He shouts. "It's not a fight! It's more like a massacre!!!!"

I pray that Tsu smacks him on the head for that as Midoriya and his team turn our way. A purple ball soars past me and sticks to Ochaco's shoe, keeping them in place. She looks over to us and I wink at her with a small smile. However creepy he might be, Mineta has killer aim. 

He peeks out from Shoji's arms and waves at Midoriya. Way to give us away, kid. I push him back under as Tsu's tongue whips out at Midoriya's head, but he dodges the blow, her tongue instead hitting the guy from class 1-B with a similar quirk to Kirishima. She doesn't manage to get his headband, though. 

The leading team seems to realize they're out of options, so they take off, destroying the boot stuck to the ground. Bakugo flies through the air after them, sending an explosion, but Dark Shadow blocks it. The loudmouthed porcupine falls from the sky, but is caught by Sero's tape and reeled back into his team before he can hit the ground.

The current point totals are displayed on the screen, showing that our class isn't doing that great. Most of our teams have zero points, including Bakugo's team and… Wait! Our team?

I turn around in shock to see that all the headbands that were on Mineta are now gone. When did that happen?!? I was paying attention to everything around us! Except for… Except for when I fell in that giant group of people! Somebody must have grabbed them then!

My teammates seem to notice the same thing I have, but as we try to get close to everyone from class 1-B with bandanas, they stay far enough away from us that our quirks can't do anything. I try to illuse sounds at them, but we're not allowed to purposefully knock them down, so I can't immobilize them like before and whenever I target one person, their other teammates are ready to retaliate. Not to mention, when I attack someone with a ranged attack, they are still able to fire randomly when they're contorted with pain which is even more dangerous. This whole not knocking people over thing is pissing me off. 

We decide to go straight for the gold, Shoji releasing his protective hold on Tsu and Mineta to attack Midoriya's team fully. Before we can get there though, Kaminari sends out a large wave of electricity, immobilizing all the teams around him, including us. Shoji falls to his knees, placing all his hands on the ground as we all twitch from the taze, squeezing our eyes shut as we writhe with pain. I try to illuse a sound into Kaminari, not caring anymore about the rules about knocking down a team, but the mixture of electricity and illusing feels like a wooden pike driven right between my eyes. I gag from the pain, crying out as tears fall and my vision blacks out for a moment. I immediately stop and slump over on Shoji's back, head pounding worse than it has in a while. Cool air hits us and I realize Todoroki has frozen us to the ground. We can't fight anymore even if we tried.

The ending horn eventually sounds and Shoji lets all of us down. I fall to the ground, ashamed that I couldn't do anything. I was completely useless!! Why?!?

"We tried our best, it's okay," Shoji bends down next to me and says. 

I look around the arena and am in shock. There is a giant tidal wave of ice, surrounding an area of the field. I can only assume Todoroki's team is in there, probably with Midoriya's team and Bakugo's team as well, seeing as they aren't anywhere else on the field. After understanding that I won't respond, the rest of my team walks away. Probably to discuss the results.

I look up to a screen and my jaw drops at the results. Our classmates managed to get back in the game! If only we were able to as well. 

Todoroki, Iida, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu stand in first place, followed by Bakugo's team, Midoriya's team, and the team of some guy named Shinso from general studies. 

Uncle Mic announces a one hour lunch break before the afternoon events. All that's left now are the head to head battles. I illuse a powerful, strangled cry deep into the ground, somewhere people won't hear or feel it, but it lets me get my anger out. My head pounds even worse, but I welcome the pain. It seems like a deserved punishment.

I would be able to do so well in the head to head battles!! My quirk works best in those settings! Why did I fail so hard in this event?!?

"Yamada, let's go get lunch!" I turn to look at Kirishima as he approaches. He stops and his smile falls as he takes in my appearance. I'm still crouched to the floor, shaking. Tears flow out from my eyes while blood gushes from my nose. I'm sure my eyes show all of my rage and sadness. "Whoa, what's going on?"

I let my underground scream dissipate, ashamed about how much I felt like Bakugo in that moment. I stand and immediately feel light headed. I try to take in a breath, but begin choking on blood. I hunch over and spit on the floor below me, swaying back and forth, unbalanced.

"Yo, Bakugo! I need some help over here!" He shouts, running to my side and putting an arm around me to steady me. "We need to get her to Recovery Girl!" I shake my head wearily as I continue coughing. "What?!? Why not?"

"Bathroom," I sign, praying he remembers that word from a while back in our lessons. Recovery Girl told me not to do anything stupid with my quirk. I can't bear going into the infirmary because I had a temper tantrum and lost control. This is no worse than a few weeks ago, training with Mic. I can take care of it. I have built up my endurance since then. This just seems worse in comparison to how I've been ending my training lately. It can't be that much worse than that day.

"What?" Kirishima asks as another set of feet come into view. No such luck.

"Idiot," Bakugo barks at him. "Get her to a damn bathroom!"

Kirishima lifts me onto his back and runs out the exit, kicking open the door of the closest women's bathroom. He sets me down gently in the doorway. "Uh...I'll be right out here if you need me," he says. I notice he's trying not to step over the threshold. 

Aww what a bashful boi.

I nod as I trudge into the room, finding a toilet to hack my lungs up into. After a few minutes, I wipe my mouth and flush, exiting the stall and going for the sink. I wash my mouth out multiple times and cleanse the blood from my face. 

Looking up into the mirror, I can't help but notice how much paler I look than usual. My eyes are gaunt with shadows around them, the makeup I had applied having just been washed off. My cheekbones protrude a little bit more than they used to, my whole face appearing slimmer. Glancing around the room to guarantee I'm alone, I lift the edge of my uniform top to wipe my face. Small muscles grace my pale skin from all the physical training I've been doing, but I can also see the outlines of my ribs. A large purple bruise is forming on my left side from where I was hit.

I shove the shirt back down and splash some more water on my face, hoping to look a tiny bit better, but it doesn't really help. Maybe I can check with Yaoyorozu to see if she has any makeup I can borrow. Though she is much tanner than me. It wouldn't be the right shade anyway. 

I sigh, still looking at myself in the mirror. I readjust the choker on my neck as I hear yelling on the other side of the door. 

Suddenly, it bursts open and Bakugo storms in. "Enough primping, Curly! Get the fuck out there!" He grabs my shirt collar and drags me to the door. 

"Dude, let her go!" Kirishima follows after us as Bakugo pushes me onto a bench. 

He grabs a box from Kirishima and throws it at my head. I barely lift my arms to catch it in time. "Don't fucking waste it. You waste food, you waste energy. And you better not be allergic to anything in that," he demands as I fumble around, trying to open the box. He turns and walks away, mumbling under his breath, "allergies suck." I stop my movement and look up at him as he leaves.

Isn't that what I said when I found him crying that one day? Is this his way of saying we're even? That he doesn't owe me anything? Wait… Now that I think about it, he was the one who told Kirishima to take me to the bathroom. Was he actually paying attention and learning during my lessons at lunch so he could understand what I was signing? Or was he just using his best judgement to guess what I needed? 

I watch in shock as he rounds the corner and disappears. 

"That was…pretty manly," Kirishima says with an admirable smile for his friend. 

I shrug and finally open the box. The welcoming smell greets me and my stomach grumbles in longing. I look down at the okonomiyaki, mouth salivating. They seem to be the seafood variety of these savory pancakes. 

"Thank you," I sign to Kirishima, but he looks confused. 

"Nah, it was Bakugo that got you those. I was standing out here this whole time."

I turn back to the corner the blonde had just disappeared around. He sure is annoying, but he can be sweet when he wants to be. 

"Anyways, I have to go get lunch before the next task, so I'll see you later!" I gesture to the box, positive I won't be able to eat everything, but he just smiles and shakes his head. "After that threat he just gave you, I think I'm gonna let you finish those."

He waves goodbye and leaves me to sit by myself on the bench in the secluded hallway. 

Mulling over what just happened, I grab the plastic fork from the box and bring a tiny bite to my mouth. The flavor dances across my tongue and I sigh contentedly before standing and trying to find our class' section of the stands.