He had taken four pills beforehand, and someone from the support class had designed special noise canceling earplugs for him to wear, but the cheers that erupted from the gathered crowd still hammered against his eardrums as he and the rest of Class 1A stepped out onto the field. His knees shook with every step he took, and the familiar feint glow had appeared around his sweating hands. Part of him expected Yaoyorozu's hand to rest itself on his arm, offering a reassuring presence as she had in the past. Part of him hoped for it. But she, like everyone else, was focused on the upcoming tasks at hand. Deep breaths. Long, deep breaths.

The first years gathered at the center of the field where Katsuki Bakugou once again painted a target on Class 1A's backs, and with the briefest of explanations they were off to the races. A four-kilometer obstacle course along the perimeter of the stadium. At the sound of the buzzer the students were cut loose, racing towards the large double doors that lead to a corridor, and further down, the start line. They clambered over one another, eager to separate themselves from the herd and show their skills against the obstacles ahead, and in their haste, they disregarded what was truly the first hurdle.

"What should we be paying attention to in the early stages of the race?" Present Mic asked Eraser Head from the commentator's booth.

"The doorway."

Unlike the rest of the competitors, (L/N) had foreseen this problem. Just like the stampede in the hallway when the media had bypassed campus security just weeks ago. He had no desire to be caught in another situation of that sort, so he stood to the side and allowed the others to flood the doorway, pressed up against one another like sardines. It didn't matter that he could only fly a bit faster than he could run. Not when the other contestants were gridlocked as they were. A few deep breaths saw his body surrounded in the familiar glow, and with no real haste, he simply flew over the heads of the clambering mass beneath him.

So distracted fighting each other to get through the doorway, no one paid him much mind. They also didn't see the warning signs of the attack to come. The drop in temperature and the frost that began to form on their legs. Before they knew what happened they found themselves frozen to the ground. Todoroki had taken an early lead, but his attack wasn't perfect. A sizeable handful of the more adept students avoided his attack, most of them from Class 1A. They became the frontrunners of the race, and (L/N) was amongst them.

A few hundred meters down the track was where they encountered the second of the trials. Mineta's high pitched scream pierced (L/N)'s ears as he was batted to the side by a metal hand. The race seemed to come to a screeching halt as the first years gazed up at the behemoths in disbelief. Even Todoroki took pause. (L/N) showed no such hesitation. One of the advantages of being blind, it made him that much harder to intimidate. The shadows they cast spoke to the machines' colossal size, but to him they were nothing more than giant hunks of metal. Earlier that year he'd leveled a building just as large with no effort. These 'zero pointers' as he heard some of the students refer to them, were no different.

"Is it a bird? Is it a plane? No, ladies and gentlemen, that's (L/N) from Class 1A rocketing through those giants like a bullet through tissue paper!"

The crowd cheered as what appeared to be a comet sped straight through the chests of two of the mechs. Scrap metal and other debris rained from above as the machines teetered and threatened to fall, but another barrage of ice kept them in place as Todoroki regained his bearings and continued onwards.

"Dude, he stopped the robots."

"Look, between their legs. We can get through!"

"Careful, now." Todoroki called back. "I froze them while they were off their balance. On purpose."

"That's Todoroki from Class 1A pulling ahead to fight for the lead with a devastating display! Amazing! Those two are the ones we should watch. It almost seems unfair! Thoughts?"

"Todoroki's attack was both offensive and defensive." Eraser Head announced. "More impressively, he took advantage of (L/N)'s attack, freezing them just as they were about to fall. He gave himself enough time to get past and created an obstacle for the others to avoid, simultaneously."

(L/N) remained alert as he continued onwards, ready for any surprises the school had deemed fit to add as another obstacle. But other than the metronome of Todoroki's footsteps and the feint sound of the other competitors behind him, everything seemed relatively calm. It was another kilometer before he encountered the next hurdle; a deep ravine with a collection of large stone pillars interconnected by a series of tightropes. A unique obstacle to be sure, but one that did nothing to affect him. Todoroki was closing the gap between them, but (L/N) was still in the lead. It seemed it would take something more than what UA had prepared to cause him any real trouble. That something came in the form of Katsuki Bakugou. 

"Out of my way blindfold!"

To (L/N), the sound strategy would be to simply fly past the person in first place and take the lead. Apparently Bakugou thought differently, because instead of overtaking him from a safe distance away, he had elected to put himself on a direct collision course.

"I've got you now you damn bastard! Now die!"

(L/N) knew enough about Bakugou to predict what was about to happen. Rolling his body, he maneuvered up and over the other man's head, avoiding the large explosion.

"Get back here, dammit!" Bakugou shouted. "I'm not done with you!"

It wasn't that (L/N) was so concerned with keeping his lead in the race. In fact, he had already lost that to Todoroki thanks to Bakugou's interference with his flight pattern. To be completely honest, (L/N)'s thoughts had never been about winning the race. All the other students were so determined to reach their goals of becoming heroes and taking first place in this event was the first step in doing so. But all (L/N) wanted was to keep a reasonable amount of distance between himself and the other competitors. He didn't care about winning, he just didn't want to deal with another headache. And he wasn't too keen on the idea of taking one of Bakugou's explosions to the face. So, he rolled and dropped and rose in height, moving unpredictably so Bakugou couldn't get a bead on him. That was until Bakugou decided it would just be easier to grab hold of one of his legs, and using his quirk, quite literally throw (L/N) to the side.

After the initial shock wore off, (L/N) steadied himself in the air. He shook his head a bit, trying to regain his sense of balance which had been disrupted when he'd been launched through the air. Thankfully, it seemed that Bakugou had lost interest in him and was now in hot pursuit of Todoroki. From behind he could hear the other competitors getting closer. Not wanting to get lost in a sea of people, he continued onwards. 

[My Hero Academia]

To finish fourth out of over two-hundred competitors was no small feat. He supposed others might have been envious of him. Those just behind him might be thinking to themselves, 'If I had just been a little bit faster'. Those who barely qualified to move on would have been ecstatic to find themselves in fourth. Even still, the ones who finished too late to advance in the competition would have gladly accepted just one of the qualifying spots. And then, there were those to whom nothing would ever be acceptable other than first place.

To be honest, it didn't make a lot of sense to him. He had tried to understand. To comprehend their desire to be the best. To prove it to the world. In a way, he could appreciate where they were coming from. But their determination? Their motivation and drive and sheer want for something, that to him seemed so insignificant? He supposed there would always be some part of it he would never understand.

The forty-two who had qualified to move on to the next round gathered once again before Midnight's podium while the rest went to the locker room to change before rejoining the event as members of the audience. The next stage of the festival would be a cavalry battle. A modified version of the popular primary school playground game. Even (L/N) was familiar with the basic concept. Not that he'd ever played it himself, but as Midnight explained the rules his mind wandered back to a time at Shonien's. When he would sit beneath the shade of one of the trees and listen to the sounds of the other children laughing and playing with their friends. Friends. Just another aspect of childhood that his quirk had robbed from him. He smirked to himself. He supposed he did, at one point in time, have a friend.

"And the bass clef and the treble clef combine to form the grand staff?"

"Correct." (L/N) said. "And the tenor clef is technically between the two. So, the bottom line of the treble clef is the top line of the tenor clef. And the fourth line, F3 on the bass clef is the bottom line of the tenor clef."

"Then what's the alto clef?" Kendo asked.

"Well, the alto clef is another C clef, and it's the same symbol as the tenor. Basically, the notes on the tenor clef have all shifted down one line on the alto clef. But that's not really important when it comes to playing piano. So long as you know the bass and treble, and can read the grand staff, you'll be fine."

"Okay." She nodded.

"Ready to try again?"

"I think so."

Kendo hesitantly placed her hands on the keys of the orphanage's piano and began to play a simple melody while (L/N) sat next to her, listening carefully. He nodded in time with the music and gave words of encouragement as the redhead stumbled her way through Waldszenen's 'Einsame Blumen'.

"Remember, you want to hit middle C with the right thumb to free the left thumb for F3 in measure 72."

"Ugh, this is too hard." Kendo groaned, slamming down on the piano keys. "Oh, sorry." She said as (L/N) winced.

"It's okay." (L/N) said. "I know it's difficult, but you're doing very well. Besides, it's only been a few weeks. You shouldn't expect yourself to be perfect."

"I know, I know." She sighed. "Do you think you could demonstrate again? Please."

(L/N) nodded and Kendo slid over on the bench to allow him to take over. She watched in awe as his fingers delicately danced across the ivory keys, gliding gracefully along to a song long since committed to memory. She was in awe of him, truly. She had been ever since she'd first come across him in the home's music room, playing for an audience that had abandoned him before he'd ever taken the stage. She admired his talent and the hard work he'd dedicated to taming the instrument. But what truly captivated her was his face. She had known him for two years now, and she liked to think she knew him better than anyone. And in all that time she had never seen him look so relaxed as he did when he played. His usual forlorn frown replaced by one of ease. The tension that he released with every breath vanished as he lost himself in the music. And the furrow in his brow was one of concentration, not weariness.

Her cheek came to rest in the palm of her hand as her elbow propped itself on the edge of the piano. Her other hand lazily set atop the upmost register of the piano as she stared unashamedly, paying more attention to his features than the music. His fingers slid up the keyboard and tickled a trill along the seventh octave, his pinky brushing against her hand, causing her to blush and fumble. Her hand dropped down on the keys, the dissonant sound of the combined notes interrupting his cadence.

"S-Sorry." She blushed.

"I-It's okay." He stuttered.

His hands fell from the keys and into his lap. She cursed herself for having caused him to stop as the desolate frown once again muddied his features.

"So, where did you learn to play?" Kendo asked, fighting the heat rising in her cheeks. "Did Miss Sasaki teach you?"

"No." (L/N) said. "No, I... I taught myself."

"Hey, blindfold!"

Katsuki Bakugou's irate voice pulled him back from the past. Perhaps it was because he had just been thinking about her, but as the contestants began forming teams, he could have sworn he'd heard her voice.