Akina walked with Mina as they headed out of the stadium to head to the lunchroom. As they were walking they were stopped by Tsuyu.

"Mina, Akina, congrats." She said.

"Thanks, but Bakugo only asked me to join because I could melt Todroki's ice. It's not like I really helped that much."

"Nonsense!" Akina exclaimed, "Without your acid near the end we wouldn't of gotten enough speed for Bakugo to grab those headbands. You and your quirk were essential in that part!"

"Ah, you really think so?" Mina asked, a small blush tinting her cheeks.

"Of course I do! Man, the people here really seem to put themselves down a lot." She puffed her cheeks up. "Where I'm from everyone is extremely confident in their abilities!"

"Oh, that's right, I've been meaning to ask you. Where are you from?" Tsuyu asked. "Since you're a transfer student I assume you're from a different country."

Thank Mavis I went over this worlds map. "I'm from Canada!" She said with a grin.

"Canada, that's so cool!" Mina exclaimed.

Akina nodded, and the three of them continued on to the cafeteria.

The cafeteria was busy, but luckily they met up with some of the other girls from class 1-A who had saved a spot for them. After they had gotten food they all sat down and started to chat and eat.

"Is that all you're eating, Hayashi?" Someone asked, and Akina looked over to see a floating uniform.

Akina looked down at her tray, the only thing there was a salad. She wasn't that hungry and all she really needed was time to fuel her magic. Out of all the Dragon Slayers her and Wendy seemed to eat the least food "Yeah! This is more than enough." She said with a grin.

"Oh, alright then." Hagakure said, taking a bite of her own food. It was kind of strange to watch food just disappear out of seemingly nowhere.

"Hey I forgot to say it earlier, but that move you did during the obstacle course against the robots was amazing." Jiro said.

Akina's cheeks warmed up. "Really? Thanks!"

"Yeah, I thought you had a Nature quirk, though, not a strength one." Uraraka pointed out, placing a finger to her chin in thought.

Oh crap. I forgot that spell doesn't look too naturey- "R-right. I do. My quirk also powers up my strength and other abilities while I'm in nature. So being outside and near the earth gives me strength." Good one Aki.

"I guess that makes sense." Momo said. "I guess you must come from a long line of heroes, Hayashi."

"You could say that." Akina said, scratching the back of her head. "I don't really know what kind of line I come from if I'm being completely honest."

"What do you mean by that?" Hagakure asked.

"Ah, well, when I was a baby my parents sorta abandoned me in a forest." She looked up to see her classmates looking at her with pitiful expressions "I'm fine though! I was found by my foster dad and he taught me everything I know! It's hard to miss my parents when I don't even know who they were. Besides, my foster dad was the best parent I could of asked for!" It looked like some of the girls wanted to continue the conversation but they were stopped by two people walking up to the table.

"Hey ladies, hate to interrupt." A voice said and Akina looked over to see Mineta and Kaminari walking up to them.

"Ugh, what do you two want?" Mina asked.

"Yeah, I don't know if you knew this, but according to Mr. Aizawa all the first year girls have to wear those cheer uniforms this afternoon." Mineta said, as he motioned towards the American cheerleaders that were chatting happily a little ways away.

"Are you sure?" Akina asked.

"I wouldn't lie about something Mr. Aizawa said, would I?" Mineta asked.

"Yes. Yes you would." Akina said, looking at the small boy with an unamused expression on her face.

"Well I'm here to advocate that what he's saying it completely 100% true." Kaminari said.

"Uh-huh." Akina said as she raised en eyebrow.

"We're being serious!"

"I guess we should wear them. On the off chance Mr. Aizawa did say something like that." Momo said. "I'll get to work on making them for us."

Akina looked at the two boys who gave each other a thumbs up as they walked away. They were totally bullshitting them. But hey, who knows, wearing the costumes might be fun.

***

Akina and the rest of the girls headed down the corridor, Present Mic's voice echoing around them as he hyped up the crowd.

"Get those foam fingers in the air! It's almost time for the last round! But before that: Good news for everyone who didn't make the finals! Since this is a Sports Festival we've prepared some super-fun side games everyone can participate in! We even brought in cheerleaders from America to get your blood pumping! Hold up-" Present Mic said the moment Akina and her classmates stepped onto the field.

"What are they doing?" Aizawa asked.

So my suspicion was right. Those two were lying. Whatever, these costumes are still really cute! And I have to admit I look amazing. Akina thought.

"Looks like Class 1-A is goin' full-on fan service!"

"What you tricked us?! You're gonna regret this!" Momo shouted as she waved her Pom poms in the air. Then she let out a sigh and fell to her knees. "Why is it that I always end up falling for that little perverts stupid schemes? I even used my quirk to make these outfits."

Jiro growled and threw her Pom poms to the ground, crossing her arms over her exposed mid-section. "Ugh I hate those guys!" She exclaimed.

"Well, we do have a little time before the finals start, and I kinda like these uniforms, so... How 'bout we just role with it!" Hagakure exclaimed.

Akina grinned, "I'm with her! We're already here so why not cheer on our fellow classmates for a bit! Before the side games start?"

"Your guy's optimism is infectious, Hagakure, Hayashi." Mina sighed. "What the hell, let's do it!"

***

As soon as everyone had gathered, Present Mic started giving the run down of what side games would be available, the scavenger hunt seemed interesting to Akina, she might participate in it if she could.

Once Present Mic finished going over the side games, he continued on to explain what they would be doing in the final round. On the screens, a bracket system appeared, sixteen silhouettes shown at the bottom of the brackets.

"After the side games are over, the sixteen students from the top four teams will be duking it out one-on-one in a tournament-style fighting competition! I promise you're not gonna wanna miss these epic match ups!"

"Aw yea. Finally getting the chance to show what we're made of." Kirishima said, an excited grin on his face. "I watch these finals every year and now I'm actually in them!"

Akina grinned. She was starting to buzz with excitement. Hopefully she would be able to hold back a bit— she didn't want to destroy the coliseum or hurt any of her classmates too badly.

Midnight went up to the small stage, holding a yellow box in her hands. "Come closer and draw lots to see who you're up against. Then enjoy the pleasure of the recreational games before we start. The sixteen finalists have the option of participating in those activities or sitting out to prepare for battle. I'm sure you all want to conserve your stamina. I'll start with the first place team."

"Um. Excuse me." A voice called and Akina looked back to see Ojiro raising his hand. "Sorry. But I'm withdrawing."

Akina looked at him in shock. "Withdrawing?" She repeated quietly.

"But this is a rare chance for you to get scouted." Iida said.

"It just wouldn't be right. I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until the very end of it. I... think it was that guys'd quirk."

Akina looked around, trying to remember who Ojiro was teamed up with. Oh, right! Turnip! She remembered as she looked over at the purple haired boy.

"I know this is a great opportunity. I wish I could take advantage of it, but my conscience won't let me." Ojiro continued.

"Just think about this." Midoriya said.

"I have, okay? Everyone gave their all in round two, but I was just someone's puppet. No way. I don't wanna advance if I don't even know how I got here. It wouldn't be fair."

"You're making way too much of this!" Hagakure exclaimed, her Pom poms waving in the air. "Just kill it in the finals and prove you should be here."

Akina shook her head and walked up to Ojiro, placing a hand on his shoulder, watching as he looked over at her and widen his eyes in suprise. "You're doing a brave thing. Not a lot of people would refuse to continue on when it's something that could weigh this heavily on the future."

"H-Hayashi." Ojiro said.

"I know you're strong and clever enough to make it next year! Plus knowing when to follow your conscience and do something to keep your pride is a sign that you're going to become a great hero!"

Ojiro put his face in his hand, "Thanks... and uh, why are all the girls dressed as cheerleaders?"

Akina smiled, letting out a short laugh as her female classmates groaned.

"We were tricked by the Grape twerp and Kaminari!" She said.

She says that so cheerily. The girls of her class thought.

"Shoda Nirengeki from class 1-B." Another boy spoke up and Akina looked over towards him. "I think I should withdraw for the exact same reason. Regardless of how strong I am, this isn't how I wanted to get here. It would go against the values of the festival to advance without earning my spot."

Damn. Looks like there are plenty of people with pride here. I respect that. Akina said.

"Listen to these guys! They're so manly!" Kirishima exclaimed as he started tearing up.

"Well now, here's another weird turn of events." Present Mic said.

"We'll have to see what Midnight has to say about all this. She's the one in charge." Aizawa said.

Akina looked from Shoda to Midnight, a silence falling among the first years as they awaited her responded.

"This sort of talk is incredibly naive, my boys. That turns me on! Shoda! Ojiro! You're withdrawn!"

Turns her on? Is she aware that we're high schoolers? I'm pretty sure in this world that's like, really inappropriate or something. Akina thought.

"Now let's see... we'll have to move up two students from the fifth place Calvary team so we have enough contestants."

"We were frozen most of the time. Honestly we barely did anything in the cavalry battle." A ginger haired girl from 1-B said. "You should choose from the group that kept fighting the whole time. Team Tetsutetsu."

"Kendo!" The boy with silver hair exclaimed. He was one of the kids who had crowded 1-A before the festival.

"I'm not doing this as a favor. It's just fair."

After deciding that a girl with vines for hair— Shiozaki Ibara— and Tetsutetsu were going to be the ones moving on the sixteen students going onto the final round drew their lots.

"Take a look at the bracket my dears! These are your opponents!" Midnight exclaimed.

Akina looked up at the brackets. She found her name and looked to see who she was up against. Upon seeing who she was up against she grinned.

"Shiozaki Ibara. This match will be a piece of cake."