23

Akari hummed a song under her breath, calmly tapping a finger against her knee in beat as she waited. 

The rest of 1-A sat around her in the waiting room, muted sounds easily audible outside the closed door as they waited for their cue. Most of the class was nervous, fidgeting in their seats as they tried to hype themselves up for the upcoming event. Poor Koda was practically shivering.

Bakugou's stare was fixed on the wall, the blonde even more angrily focused than normal. Akari...had no idea what Todoroki was thinking, but he was glaring at her, for some reason. It was weird.

Jirou glanced over, probably picking up on Akari's low voice. "You keep a tune pretty well, Akari. Do you play any instruments?"

Akari nodded with a smile. "Not often, but I do have a crusma at home. I must be rusty with it, now."

"...I have no idea what that is." Jirou admitted. "But it sounds pretty cool, you'll have to show me sometime."

"Sure. What about you, Jirou? Any instruments?"

"Mostly bass, guitar, piano, violin and drums, but I've learned a bit of some others." Jirou said casually.

"Whoa. You must practice a lot-"

"How the heck are both of you so calm?" Tooru blurted out, rising to her feet. Akari could see the sleeves of her gym uniform flail around at the motion. "We're about to compete in the U.A Sports Festival-bigger than ever, since it's the first one in years. This is a huge part of our careers. There's going to be like, millions of people watching us!"

Akari blinked at her. "Tooru, you're invisible. I don't think you need to worry about people staring at you if you don't want them too..."

This seemed to be the wrong thing to say, the girl plopping back down in her seat with a heavy sigh. "Oh, right. The pros probably aren't going to pay much attention to me. I doubt I'll even get an internship. I'm not that-"

"Nope." Akari interrupted. "None of that. You've been practicing so much for this; you're going to do amazing . Trust me."

"You think so?"

"Yeah."

A pause.

"Okay." She heard her take a deep breath. "Thanks. How do you all keep your cool like that?"

Jirou shrugged. "I used to perform some, with small crowds. I'm just kinda trying to visualize the festival as the same sorta thing, you know? Though the scale's a lot bigger now..." She pointed one of her jacks at the boy next to her. "Meanwhile, Tokoyami here-his heartbeat's completely steady. You should be asking him."

Tokoyami fixed Tooru with an unwavering stare. "Hagakure. As the old proverb goes; 'Fear is only as deep as the mind allows.' As U.A students, we are strong enough to overcome it."

"Huh. That's cool, but I don't really get what that means..."

Dark Shadow poked out of Tokoyami's chest to flash a thumbs-up at her. "Fumi means you're super strong, Hagakure!"

"Oh, thanks!"

"That's not exactly what I-"

"Midoriya." Todoroki coldly cut the bird-boy off. He was suddenly right in front of her, his mismatched eyes burning into her as the conversations around them came to an awkward halt.

"Yeah?"

"Objectively, you are more powerful than me. Nonetheless, I will beat you. No matter what."

Akari raised an eyebrow. "Really? Are you going to use your fire?"

Todoroki blinked, taken aback, before he gritted his teeth together. "No. I'm going to win without his power-"

"So, you're going to come at me with half your strength." Akari stated. "Less than that, actually, since you can't regulate your own temperature with just your ice. I love challenges, but Todoroki, if you aren't even going to try...well, there's no way you're beating me."

The boy narrowed his eyes, and she met his stare with one of her own, unflinching.

Kirishima frowned. "There's no need to throw down the gauntlet before the festival's even begun, guys-hey, wait!" Todoroki didn't spare Kirishima a glance before walking away. 

Man, that boy really needed therapy. They had therapy here, right?

Present Mic's loud voice boomed throughout the stadium, easily reaching their waiting room. "Welcome to the Sports Festival, everyone! I'm Present Mic, here with the teachers of 1-A and 1-B: Eraserhead and Vlad King! Are you all excited?" Akari heard faint cheers. "Because I am! What about you two?"

"I literally couldn't care less." The audio picked up Aizawa-sensei's deadpan voice perfectly, and Akari snickered. 

"I'm honored to be here, and I can't wait to see how our students perform!" Vlad King stated, the complete opposite of his coworker.

"Great! And now, with no further ado, let's introduce our competing first-years today. Up first, the kids who fought off real villains within their first weeks in school...Class 1-A!"

Akari held back a wince at that terrible intro. She understood a little of what that steel guy was saying, now.

The wide doors opened, and all twenty of them stepped out into the bright spotlight.

There were suddenly thousands of eyes on them from all sides.

Akari simply waved as they walked over to their spot, mostly used to crowds from all the attention of being brought up as royalty-the granddaughter of the Queen of Heaven. That didn't mean she liked it, though. 

"Next, the other hero course that's no less talented: 1-B!"

There were less cheers this time, Akari noticed, as their fellow hero students entered. Kendo waved at her in greeting and Akari smiled back brightly. Monoma almost looked sick at the interaction.

There was even less of a reaction for the support, general, and business courses. Akari knew that the business students probably didn't care much, but plenty of general students wanted to transfer into the hero course and plenty of support students needed attention for their creations and future business.

"And now, over to our referee-the R-Rated Hero, Midnight!" Mic announced.

Midnight took the stage with a confident stride and a wide smile, clearly in her element. "Thank you, Mic. We have lots of fun events for you all today, and few... special surprises. But first, a short word from the top-scorer of the entrance exam, Midoriya Akari!"

Akari blinked. What.

"Midoriya Akari? Hello-ah there you are!"

Akari trudged up in a daze, slowly taking the microphone from Midnight's outstretched hand. She stared at the object for a long moment before glancing back up at her teacher, utterly baffled.

"...I'm giving a speech?" 

Midnight tilted her head. "Yeah...didn't you know?"

"Nope."

"Whoever gets first place always gives the speech. That's how it's always been!" Midnight said.

"How would I know that Midnight-san? This is the first sports festival I've even seen!" Akari exclaimed. 

"Really?"

"Yeah!"

"...Oh."

There was an awkward pause before Akari let out a resigned sigh, lifting the microphone and turning to her sudden audience. Her eyes scanned the silent crowd, landing on the small, silver-haired unicorn watching her intently.

Akari cleared her throat. Public speaking, okay. She could do that.

"Hello. I don't have a speech prepared...as you probably heard, so I won't take up much of your time. All of us here competing today will strive to do our best-not just the hero students and those of you gunning for the hero course, but our support and business students as well. So, watch everyone up here as we work towards our futures. There was a motto or something too, um..."

"Plus Ultra." Midnight whispered.

"...Plus Ultra." Akari finished lamely.

"Plus Ultra!" The crowd and students around her shouted back. 

Akari let out a breath of relief, handing the microphone back to Midnight as she walked back to her spot. Phew.

Midnight grinned, regaining everyone's attention once again. "And with that inspiring address from Midoriya, let's get straight into it." She cracked her whip against the ground. A large sign rose up behind her, huge glowing words easily visible to the audience.

Obstacle Course. 

"And there we have it, folks, our first event. The obstacle course! All 220 of our first-years will race each other in a circular course around our massive field, over there. The best part?" Midnight licked her lips. "Anything goes. You're free to use your abilities and skills however you wish to get past the obstacles and your opponents to reach the goal the fastest. The first 100 students pass to the next round!" 

They all gathered in front of the huge tunnel leading into the race, waiting for Midnight's call. She saw everyone, especially the hero courses, shove up to the front of the pack. 

Akari, meanwhile, waited all the way near the back. Most of the students sent strange looks at her as she gave up her lead, likely recognizing her as the person who just gave an impromptu speech on doing your best. Why was she putting herself at a disadvantage? 

A large chime signaled the start of the race, and all 220 students rushed forward at once...into the same tunnel that wasn't so huge anymore.

It was a mess of crowded students and flailing limbs, those with the right quirks pushing past other students. Akari leapt up, lightly stepping on shoulders and arms as she made her way through from the very back. They glanced up at her, startled, as she casually made her way to the exit.

There was a large ice cover freezing people to the ground and blocking up the frontrunners, and she broke it apart with a few well-aimed blasts. Todoroki, most likely. Akari landed outside the tunnel on both feet, gaining a clear view of the race.

"And Midoriya finally emerges from the tunnel, far behind the rest of the competition! Was she asleep?! What do you think her plan is, Eraserhead?" 

At the end was a mass of students, most of them running normally and some with some...interesting strategies. Props to the purple-haired kid riding on a chariot of other students, and that pink-haired girl on some kind of rocket. 

Aizawa-sensei just sighed. "That kid doesn't have a plan."

Akari placed her palms on the ground, knees bent in a runner's stance, the remaining students in general studies passing her without a glance.

"She's just going to-."

Akari sprinted forward, and the world around her seemed to freeze in place.

To Akari, someone who's worked on getting faster for decades like her dad, an obstacle race was probably the easiest event possible.

Akari took in the full picture as she moved forward at the pace of a jog, gliding through still air and ignoring the heavy feeling pushing back against her. She weaved through the unmoving bodies of the general studies course, her steps completely inaudible in a still world.

At the front of the race were Bakugou and Todoroki, the blonde aimed out like a rocket with explosions and flames pushing out of his hands and feet. The latter was surfing on his ice, spikes caught half-formed. The first obstacle, already conquered by the runners at the top, had been huge robots-a zero-pointer still toppling down with a massive hole in its head.

Iida was in third, his arms frozen mid-chop. Behind them were almost all of 1-A and 1-B pushing forward in a head-to-head race, their faces captured in determined expressions.

Her class had come pretty far, Akari noted. Even Koda seemed to be running pretty hard, a flock of birds around him...offering emotional support? It was hard to tell like this, really. Akari passed Uraraka, both of the girl's feet suspended off the ground, with a smile.

Where was Tooru...oh, there she was. She was doing well, already in tenth, and in the middle of throwing a light sphere behind her. Momo was raising a newly formed shield to block it, eyes narrowed in concentration. Hm.

In a totally unbiased move, Akari moved Momo's shield just a little to the left so the attack would hit. To make up for it, she placed one of Momo's discarded weapons-a whip-back into her hand before stepping back with a satisfied smile. There. It's not like anyone would know she helped, anyway.

Wait, her parents were watching. They would know. Fuck. Now she had to sabotage everyone else, or this was blatant favoritism!

Quickly, she searched for good targets.

Akari walked all the way back to Monoma, giving him a judgmental stare he couldn't see at his giant hands(how did copying those help in a race?). The blonde was clearly in the middle of saying something, his eyes closed shut.

Akari swept his legs out from under him, his body now floating almost parallel to the ground. Then she noticed the girl in front of him, and carefully moved Kendo out of the way.

Akari hugged Dark Shadow, whispering an apology he couldn't hear before wrapping him around his user like a cute, black snake. Akari kicked off the ground, rising up to Fuji's mid-air form and pushing his wings in front of him so that he couldn't see.

She wanted to mess with Setsuna-she doubted the girl would mind a prank-but what was she supposed to do to all those split body parts? How did that quirk even work?

Akari tied some of Shiozaki's vines into harmless knots. The girl wasn't using them for the race-she needed to stand still to use her quirk, apparently-so why not?

She took off Shishida's glasses-and then immediately reconsidered, putting them back on his face. That'd be way too mean, even for her.

Akari lightly drummed her fingers against Kirishima's red hair, wondering if she could press the little spikes down at supersonic speed. Then she took in the expression on his face, following his gaze curiously to see Mina mid-trip, her hands outstretched and mouth wide in a yell. Akari carefully placed the pink girl back upright.

Turning around, Akari accidentally ran into one of Tsuburaba's air walls. His quirk bended around her without resistance, eventually popping like a balloon as she kept moving through it. It was satisfying in a guilty way, and Akari moved the boy forward a few meters as consolation.

Akari scowled at the sight of Sero-he knew what he did-and lightly poked him in the cheek. His cheek rippled at the motion, which was fascinating to see but also quite weird.

Not nearly as weird as the boy in front of him, though. Akari stared at the mid-air word floating in front of Fukidashi for a full five seconds.

Boom.

Was that a manga sound effect coming out of a speech bubble? The fuck? She tapped the word experimentally, yet nothing seemed to happen. Huh. 

She frowned at Tetsutetsu, the steel guy who yelled at her class. He was currently diving to the side, narrowly dodging Aoyama's laser. Actually, if he was covered in steel, wouldn't the light just bounce off? In the name of science, Akari pushed him back into its path.

Aoyama himself was facing the back in a fabulous pose and with a dazzling smile, a faint blue glow still visible on his belt. It was almost ridiculous how photogenic her classmate was, so she just left him like that.

Jirou and Kamikiri were fighting fiercely, frozen side by side with Jirou's jacks aimed at his chest and Kamikiri's blades raising up to defend. A few paces behind them were Kaminari and Honenuki, the former looking absolutely terrified as the 1-B student chased after him. 

Couldn't Honenuki soften things? If he just made the arena quicksand...maybe he was probably saving that trick for later.

Akari lifted Jirou and Kamikiri up and turned them around, so they were facing the opposite direction in the same running positions. Then, she moved them so that they were just in front of Kaminari and Honenuki, working to suppress a gleeful laugh. 

She glanced over at the stands, and Sekhmet flashed her an excited thumbs-up. Mom rolled her eyes at her antics, but she was clearly smiling. 

Akari was doing great! 

Dad, meanwhile, was pointing to the front for some reas-oh, right, this was a race. She should finish up soon. Akari could hold this speed for a while, but eventually it would really start tiring her out.

Akari jogged up to the top three, lightly pushing Iida's arm slightly so his open palm would slap himself in the face. Then she slashed across the bottom of Todoroki's ice, ruining his platform, before leaping up to the Flying Bakugou Missile. Akari rotated him so that the blonde was pointed at Todoroki's now-floating form.

She stepped in front of all the chaos with a grin, taking in the perfect art she'd made-a picture just before disaster. So maybe Akari went a little overboard-it'd be hilarious . For her, at least.

With that done she ran past them, her body finally starting to ache, coming to a...giant pit? That must be the second obstacle, then.

Akari finally came to a complete halt. And with that, the world sped up again, flowing back to normal speed like a river suddenly getting unblocked.

"-run." Aizawa-sensei finished just as several things happened at once.

Monoma's face planted into the ground, hard. Tokoyami tripped over poor Dark Shadow, falling down with a confused squawk. The opposite happened to Mina, who, thinking she was still falling, leaned backward and toppled herself over.

Shishida, blinded from his newly fogged up glasses, ran straight into Tetsutetsu and nearly knocked him down. A second later, Aoyama's laser reflected off Tetsutetsu's steel and shot off into the sky. 

Fuji broke out of his dive just in time, swerving away from the ground. He smiled at the save-just before a blue beam struck him in the face.

Shiozaki twisted her head, abruptly noticing her newly knotted hair, and accidentally whacked Pony in the face. They both stopped running as Shiozaki frantically apologized, but she was speaking too fast for poor Pony to understand what she was saying.

Ojiro's tail met no air wall on its course for Tsuburaba's face-but then the 1-B student suddenly teleported out of the way. They just stared at each other, confused.

Momo was blasted back, barely keeping her footing, and Tooru sprinted ahead with a whoop. 

Iida slapped himself in the face so hard he nearly stumbled, his hand flying up to catch his glasses.

Todoroki started to fall, his ice-slide gone, but caught himself with another with his trained reflexes. Unfortunately, a rogue Bakugou slammed into him a second later. They hit the ground sprawling; the remaining ice shattered in explosions.

Akari laughed so hard she almost fell into the pit.

"What the f-heck just happened?!" Mic cried out. "The hero courses have fallen into chaos from a sudden, simultaneous attack-wait a second, when'd Midoriya get to the second obstacle..."

"Midoriya's quirk: Demigod. Just like her father, she gets exponentially more power the more she trains. She's gotten faster than we can see...somehow. Midoriya dashed past them, but evidently, still had the time to mess with her competitors."

"Wow, your kids are crazy, Shota. That's like something All Might would do!"

"No, All Might wouldn't use that much power to pull childish pranks." He paused. "Hopefully."

"We can't even see what happened until we review the slow-mo footage." Vlad King said. "And that'll take a while to process..."

"Aw, I wanted to see exactly what that genius little listener did!"

"Forget that, you two." Aizawa cut in. "The students are already moving again."

"Wha-oh! After that powerful move from Midoriya, both hero classes are starting to recover! Some of the other courses have slipped into the ranks in that delay, and the students unaffected by...whatever Midoriya just did have gotten even further ahead!"

Eri rubbed her eyes, confused. "Dad, what's Nee-san doing? I know she's moving, but usually she's only like..." The little unicorn waved her hand in front of her. "Whoosh. And then you can see bits of pretty purple."

Izuku smiled at her. "A blur?" 

Eri was twelve now, almost a teenager in human years. But her vocabulary was low compared to kids her age, both from a lack of social interaction and Overhaul clearly not caring about her education. It was something Izuku and Aurora had been working to fix these past few months.

They watched Akari slowly step across the pit on a bridge of light, ignoring the given ropes completely. Giant spiders climbed out on thin limbs, scratching against the rock as they raced towards her only to be blasted away without a second thought.

"Yeah. But right now, she's somewhere one moment and then just...somewhere else."

Aurora hummed. "Well, maybe think of it like this. What's Akari usually doing when you see a blur?" 

Eri scrunched up her nose. "Hmm...oh! One time, Nee-san was late for class. When I woke her up, she dashed off really fast, but that time I could still see her going..."

"Eri, when you go to get a glass of water, you don't run to the kitchen, right?" 

"Mm."

"You can get there as fast as you can, but you don't really want to. You walk. It's the same with Akari-you're used to seeing her jog around. Right now, though, she wants to run. Does that make sense?"

Eri thought it over in her head and nodded. "I think so. But Mom, why does Nee-san want to run today?"

Izuku chuckled. "Honestly? She doesn't need to. But she's having fun, isn't she?"

An enraged Bakugou blasted towards Akari, spinning himself into a spiral to accelerate further. His palm stretched for Akari's face, a powerful explosion speeding out-and then slowing to a full stop, floating harmlessly in the air. His target easily sidestepped the unmoving attack before gently pushing his palm up on a path for his jaw.

His daughter crossed the finish line, not even out of breath, not a single competitor near her. She stopped with a wide grin, pumping her fist in the air.

An entire path of mines exploded at nothing behind her. Back at the second obstacle Bakugou punched himself in the face and landed heavily on his back with a strangled scream.

"Midoriya reaches the end first by a landslide, earning herself first place!" Yamada announced.

"This...really isn't very fair." Aurora mused.

"Not at all." Izuku admitted. "But it is hilarious."

"True."

"Our Akari's very kind, isn't she?" Inko commented. "From what I can see, which honestly isn't much, she hasn't done more than trip opponents when she could have taken them out of the race entirely. It even looks like she helped a few other kids..."

"Yeah." Sekhmet muttered. "I still don't get why she doesn't just punch them." 

Izuku sighed. "We've been over this, Sekhmet. They'd literally die-"

"I'm not seeing the problem here."

"-which is not what we want."

Sekhmet rolled her eyes. "Speak for yourself."

Going from 220 students to 100 was a pretty big bump, eliminating more than half the students with the first event. Both hero courses made it through, naturally, and the rest of the spots were all filled by general and support students. The business students seemed to have hung back, not having any reason to advance in the festival. 

1-A and 1-B were both sneaking terrified glances at her, and Akari abruptly remembered that she just pranked all of them at supersonic speed. Clearly, they hadn't found it as funny as she had. 

Midnight was talking again, so Akari tuned in. "Those of you who didn't make it, better luck next time! But for those 100 of you who cleared the first event, get ready for the second one-"

A huge wooden stand rose out of the ground, carrying dozens and dozens of...swords? Oh, yes.

"-a free for all, decided by blades. And blades only!"

A second stand was revealed, this one full of what looked like small, metal bracelets. 

"For this round, neither magic nor emitter and transformation quirks are allowed." The students burst into protests before Midnight cracked her whip into the air, quieting them all down instantly. "Each of you will be given a single training sword, as well as a bracelet to monitor you."

"If it senses your ability activate before the round ends..." Midnight smirked. "It's an instant disqualification."

Silence.

"So, don't cheat! You can attack with the given sword or any other part of your body." Meaning mutation quirks were allowed. But while an extra limb might give you an advantage here, Akari realized, it could also make you an early target for the rest. "The bracelets also count hits-depending on how many you receive and where, the color at the top will change from green, to yellow, and finally to red. When the light goes out, it means that you're eliminated and must exit the arena. The last forty of you still standing will pass on to the next round!"

So, like health in a video game. That was interesting. But Midnight wasn't telling them exactly how the damage counted-for all Akari knew, a hit to the hand could do near-zero damage while a hit to the head could be an instant loss.

Akari took the sword and bracelet curiously. The bracelet went on her wrist easily and was light enough to not be an issue in combat. There was a bar on it, currently green and full.

The gray sword on the shorter side with a small handguard. It was made of impact-resistant material and blunted so that it couldn't cause serious harm. It balanced well in her hand, and she gave it a few test swings before nodding in appreciation. 

Cementoss's earth magic worked fast. Within a minute the flat terrain had shifted into a huge, grassy field. The center, where all one hundred students currently were, stayed level while the rest was quickly filled with rolling hills of varying heights.

"And one last rule." Midnight added almost gleefully. "Whoever gets a last hit one of the top three-either Midoriya, Bakugou, or Todoroki-gets an instant pass to the next round!"

Countless eyes turned to glare at her simultaneously. 

Taking Akari out now, while she couldn't use her 'quirk', must be the ideal scenario for those gunning to win. Those negatively affected by her actions last round would no doubt be going for her as well. In addition, everyone started in the same spot-meaning she was already surrounded and outnumbered. She was less likely to eliminate them if they attacked together off the bat. 

All valid motives...and then there were Bakugou and Todoroki, who just wanted to fight her. Altogether, a lot of enemies to take on while pretending to be a human.

Akari grinned back, wide. This was going to be fun.

"And begin!"

Instantly, there were dozens of students rushing at her from every direction. It didn't matter that most of them didn't know how to handle a sword, if a bunch of blades stabbed at her at the same time, there was no way she could block them all.

But Akari didn't move a muscle, her smile holding as the crowd continued to box her in. She waited as they got closer and closer, about to poke her skin-

Then jumped straight up into the air, rising above her attackers.

The students below ended up stabbing each other, a horde of bracelets flashing from green to yellow at once. They panicked, realizing they were getting damaged, but swinging swords in a clumped-up mass of opponents just caused even more chaos. 

Akari landed on a surprised set of shoulders before jumping to another. She made her way over the brawl like that, lightly touching across heads and swords in a feat of pure agility. They stared up at her, confused, as she used them as human steppingstones. 

"And Midoriya evades the targeted effort with ease! But can she keep it up?"

Akari hit the ground in a roll, grass tickling against her forehead as she rose to her feet in a run. The human speed she was limited to was still more than enough to escape the initial crowd of students, but now she needed a better spot before she was overrun.

Akari headed straight east for the tallest hill in the arena-with high ground and a point to defend, she would have a much better chance.

But unfortunately, someone else seemed to already have that idea. There was already a group of students on top of the peak, raising their swords up as they saw her approach. The weirdest thing, though, was that none of them were attacking each other-

They were teaming up, Akari realized. That was the smartest thing to do when you were in a huge elimination round like this. But there was no way she could team up with anyone when she was the number one target, so this just put her at a bigger disadvantage than before.

The formation was all 1-B students. She could easily make out Tetsutetsutetsutetsu(who the hell named their kid that? That was terrible) from this distance, his head an interesting splash of silver and grey even without his quirk. Next to him was a grinning boy, his spiky hair held back by a headband, and a tall guy with long hair and glasses. Awase and Shishida, her mind supplied a beat late.

At the center of the squad was Monoma, wearing his usual creepy smirk. The blonde was quite intelligent from what Akari knew, not to mention his obvious leadership capabilities, but wow was he irritating. He hated 1-A for being first in the alphabet, or something.

"You're charging straight at us, Midoriya? Alone?" Monoma laughed. "The nerv-"

Akari suddenly burst into a sprint, reaching the hilltop in seconds. She met four pairs of surprised eyes, her sword slashing down without hesitation.

Awase jumped in front of his leader, catching the blade with his own just before it hit Monoma's neck. Wow, rude.

 "Whoa! You're pretty fast, even without your quirk!"

She ducked, a hard swing from Shishida passing harmlessly over her head, before yanking her sword back to deflect another. The power behind it was much higher than Todoroki-the strength of unenhanced humans seemed to vary immensely.

"Tetsu, take point!" Monoma shouted.

Tetsutetsu lunged at her-with a fist instead of a sword, for some reason. Akari curiously batted away his arm, the little bar on his bracelet decreased the slightest bit. Any hit to the skin counted, nice.

Monoma tried to use the opening to slice at her legs, clearly realizing the same thing. She saw it coming and kicked his sword away, making sure it only touched her sneaker, finally having an opening for the blonde-

Awase leapt in before she could counter, protecting Monoma yet again, and Akari was forced to focus on defending once Glasses backed him up with his own volley of attacks. Awase's quick jabs and Shishida's slow yet intelligent slashes flowed together smoothly. 

"Hey, can I ask you something? Why're you going straight for Monoma?" Awase asked almost casually. "I mean, he is kinda an asshole-"

"Oi!"

"-but you don't seem like the grudge type to me-" An upward cut forced him to lean back, and he hastily added to his statement. "-not that that's a bad thing!"

Akari watched Monoma out of the corner of her eye as he skirted around the edges of the fight. "Well, he's your leader, isn't he? I need to take him out first."

Monoma huffed. "So, you came to assassinate me, the vice-representative. Of course, a classic 1-A strategy." Huh? "You didn't even bring a team with you."

Tetsutetsu was the distraction, Akari quickly realized. He didn't seem to have any practice with a sword, but he was creating a lot of openings that Shishida wasn't hesitant to use. Though now that she thought about it, she could take Tetsutetsu by surprise easily if she timed it just right. From how much damage he was taking already, a 'lethal' stab would probably deplete all of his remaining bar.

Akari rolled her eyes. "If anyone gets me, they have an instant pass to the next round. Midnight didn't give us any prep time-" She punched Awase in the gut, sending him stumbling back. "-of course, I don't have a team."

"Awase," Monoma called. Switch with me."

"Alright!"

It was weird to discuss your formations right in front of the enemy, in Akari's opinion. But Shishida successfully brought her focus on him long enough for Monoma to take Awase's spot. She'd scored a few cuts on him at this point(not that the weapon the school gave them actually drew blood), his bar now a high yellow, but the boy didn't falter. 

Akari sidestepped Tetsutetsu's next thrust, like he wasn't even a threat, before whirling around to lock blades with Shishida once again.

Shishida spoke respectfully even as they continued to clash. "I must apologize, Midoriya-san, for going up against you with a squad of four instead of a fairer approach. However, I know you are quite the skilled fighter-underestimating you would be foolish."

The difference between him and Monoma was huge, Akari couldn't help but think. 

Akari smiled. "Thanks...Shishida-san" She really hoped that was his surname, because Akari honestly couldn't tell. "But don't worry, it's cool. Plus, I actually get a real fight this way-"

Tetsutetsu's temper finally hit the limit, and his teeth visibly grit together as he rushed in.

"You 1-A students are way too arrogant-" Tetsutetsu growled, raising his sword high. 

Monoma's eyes widened. "Wait, you idiot-"

Gotcha.

Akari tilted her blade at just the right angle and Tetsutetsu's sword slid down the edge, catching fast on the handguard. She sharply twisted her hand, knocking his weapon clear out of his grip. A powerful kick slammed into his side and threw him flying off the hill, Akari's arm rearing back in the same motion.

By the time Awase shouted her blade was already slicing through the air, striking the falling Tetsutetsu's heart in an inhuman feat of accuracy. His bracelet clicked off, bar dropping from yellow to zero in a single blow.

And just like that, Tetsutetsu was eliminated from the event.

Akari caught his falling blade as a replacement for her own, flashing a grin at the remaining three students over her shoulder. They stared back at her, stunned.

"I prefer the word confident, actually."

Notes:

We're finally at the Sports Festival! I'm doing four events, instead of three, because why not?

I definitely feel like Akari would take this approach with Todoroki, as opposed to how canon Izuku acts. She doesn't know why he's holding himself back and putting the people around him at risk yet because he doesn't talk to anyone. You can make the argument that Akari isn't putting in all her effort, either, by reducing her strength when fighting her classmates, but those are two very different cases.

The race was just really hilarious to write. That's part of the reason why I put a bit of the second event in this chapter too, because I didn't want to leave you all with only a joke. Writing 1-B students is really hard-I had to keep rewatching the class battles to even get a little of their personalities. Some of them are so much cooler than the background 1-A kids...

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