24

Monoma unfroze first. 

The thrust was aimed straight at Akari's neck, much faster than his earlier attacks. She caught a glimpse of his expression, his haughty smirk completely gone and in its place a blank face and calculating blue eyes. 

The blade glanced off her own and to the side, and Monoma forced the movement back into another jab at her sword-arm. Akari rolled her hand to deflect again and then swung wide, forcing Monoma to leap back to his teammates. 

Akari hummed, delightedly surprised. "So you can sword fight, after all." 

Monoma's loose posture straightened in front of her eyes into something more controlled, his silver eyes gleaming. His free hand folded behind his back, and he twisted the slightest bit so that she was facing his right side. 

"Over a decade of fencing," Monoma stated proudly. His grip changed, fingers lightly yet firmly holding the hilt, and the sword slowly lowered until the tip was pointing at Akari's heart.

Akari knew enough to know that that was some kind of swordplay on Earth. At least half of his life was spent training, then.

"Cool. But uh, why'd you wait to start trying until after your teammate got eliminated?" Akari wondered. 

The three of them fanned out in front of her, clearly much warier now that one of their own was gone. Akari just waited, watching Monoma talk and Awase's hands twitch at his sides. Shishida simply observed her, long hair nearly covering his face.

"That's none of your business-"

"You were downplaying your abilities," Akari said. "You weren't trying at all in that race, too, now that I think about it."

Monoma scowled in realization. "You were there. That's how I fell, wasn't it? You knocked me down!"

Akari blinked, innocently. "Huh? I have no idea what you're talking about."

Meanwhile, Shishida's eyes widened. "I see. You were the one to fog up my glasses as well..."

That was an accident! Still hilarious, but a complete accident!

"Tsk. Anyway, you don't have any room to talk about my tactics, Midoriya-you did the same thing just now when you baited Tetsutetsu. You are certainly impressive for a 1-A student, I must admit. But now that we know exactly how skilled you are, we will show you no mercy! I, the vice-representative of 1-B, will take you out-"

Boring.

Monoma reflexively deflected a sudden slash with his sword, only for her fist to slam into his face a moment later and launch him backward.

Shishida dived forward and she caught his punch, throwing the boy over her shoulder with a single arm. He flew up in a slow, graceful arc before crashing down on her other side, forcing Awase to jump out of the way with a yelp.

Akari followed Awase, dancing past his quick jabs to slice at his arms. Awase's health hit red, but then Monoma recovered fast enough to cover him-leaping in boldly like a knight in shining armor.

"Not so fast, Midoriya! You won't take another 1-B member from us!"

Akari held back a laugh. "Has anyone ever told you that you're way too dramatic, Monoma?" 

"I have, actually," Awase admitted, lunging for her turned back. "Many times. But he doesn't listen to me-" Akari raised her weapon straight behind her, blocking the stab before throwing another kick at his gut, hitting the same place where she punched him earlier. He fell back, winded.

In front of her, Monoma wiped a bit of blood off his nose with a silent glare, raising his sword once again. 

He almost reminded him of Bakugou, like that. Both blondes were impossibly arrogant, yet while Bakugou's pride was completely personal, Monoma thought of his entire class as his own. That's why Akari was currently facing Monoma and his team on a tactical location, instead of dealing with a lone Bakugou.

Akari tried to finish the fallen Shishida, but Monoma was already there to stop her. She tilted her head and the first thrust just missed her head, the second nearly striking her shoulder. 

Monoma was skilled, Akari couldn't help but notice. She knew his quirk; an emitter that allowed him to copy the quirks of anyone he came into contact with. It only made sense that he had the best combat skill out of every student she had seen so far, excluding Tooru. 

In a world that cared so much about abilities, he must've had to work so hard to be seen as anything other than a leech. 

Akari moved faster, the fight's tempo rising with every blow. Monoma kept pace, quick thrusts aiming for a new spot each time. Each stab was precise enough to slide in and out of range with ease. 

She stabbed at his chest and his blade flicked over to stop it before instantly lashing back at her. Akari expected it and cut up, slicing across Monoma's shoulder and creating an opening.

Akari slashed straight down and Monoma raised his blade up parallel to hers to stop it. At the last moment, she tilted her hand, fingers guiding the hilt and flowing into a different slash that struck his open left side, hard. 

Monoma dug his feet in against the impact, his bar visibly dropping. He was right in front of her now, cornered. 

But then Monoma smiled, full of teeth. He threw a short stab, and up this close, all Akari could do was catch it with her own. Monoma then pushed both their swords up with all of his might, locking them in place above their heads. A strange move, since now neither of them could do anything-

Which is exactly what Monoma was counting on.

Akari let go of her hilt and dropped to the grass, Shishida's blade swinging through the spot her head just was. 

Now in a crouch, Akari reached out to grab her falling sword only for Awase and Monoma to stab downward at once, forcing her to abandon it and roll to the side. Clever.

Akari pushed off her hand and sprung to her feet, weaponless and vulnerable, and Monoma charged at her with a victorious smirk.

Akari watched him lunge, the arm extending out and aiming the blow, his sword piercing forward. There was no time to dodge, and blocking that would deplete her health.

But she knew exactly how fast Monoma was, exactly how direct his attacks were from the past few minutes. Judging from the angle his sword was going, he was aiming...here.

Akari clapped her hands around his blade with perfect precision, catching the tip just before it touched her neck, and her bar dropped the slightest bit.

Monoma's eyes widened. "How the fuck-"

Akari grinned back. "Skill."

Her knee ruthlessly flew into his chest, bending him forward, and a well-aimed chop forced him to drop his sword into her hand. 

"Thanks!" 

Akari slashed up with her new sword, striking his chest. He stepped back, defending fiercely, but after all of that intense fighting, he was finally tired out.

Monoma threw a palm strike and she ducked, swinging the hilt into his ankle. Monoma toppled over and Akari swung down-

Only for Awase to jump in the way, taking the hit to the chest and losing his remaining bar as his bracelet clicked off. The now eliminated boy fell onto Monoma's form. He really just sacrificed himself-

Monoma grabbed her fallen sword and stabbed up in her moment of distraction, scoring a cut on her side with a shout. "Shishida!" 

Akari glanced up to see Shishida's massive form bearing down on her and dove to the side on instinct. The tall boy rushed past her to lift Monoma up and run, carrying his leader with both arms like a princess and leaping off the hilltop to escape. 

Akari didn't bother chasing them-she'd already won the spot she wanted, and eliminated half of Monoma's team. Unfortunately, people noticed.

The mass of students below her hill suddenly turned their attention to her hill, realizing that Monoma's team was gone. It wasn't worth it to attack a strong group of hero students, but Akari, however, was alone and a much more valuable target.

Akari gripped the hilt of her sword tighter, watching the crowd rush towards her hill from all sides. If she made a mistake here, she'd probably be eliminated instantly.

Not to mention how she was essentially fighting an army of stickmen with a toothpick. Akari needed to carefully regulate the power she put into every strike, every swing of her given sword unless she wanted to shatter her sword and opponents. The longer she fought, the more Akari had to force herself to stay at this speed. It was an annoying test of control that she couldn't afford to forget about.

"Get her!" 

A girl with bright red hair rose into view first only to catch a harsh kick to the gut before she could react. She knocked over a student behind her as she fell, and they tumbled down the hill together. Ha.

Akari twisted around to block a slash before flicking her sword up, scoring a clean cut over the boy's entire body that instantly eliminated him. 

In the time she spent on them she'd already been surrounded. Akari's sword swung in a firm circle, pushing them back.

A blonde scored a slash on her arm in the opening, and Akari instinctively sent him flying with a punch. Her elbow swung behind her immediately after with a satisfying hiss of pain, but she was nearly eliminated by yet another opponent while distracted. 

Akari was good, but with human speed and a health bar she just couldn't take on this many people. At this rate, she'd be eliminated within minutes. 

She took a step back, giving herself a second to think. Her usual, bold fighting style wasn't working. She was leaving too many openings to fight an entire swarm-Akari needed to be more precise, controlled, but without using any more speed. 

This time she waited still, observing as three more students ran closer. Most of their technique was gained from action movies, Akari noticed. Huge, inefficient slashes with shaking arms. Something that was easier to counter the longer she watched.

A quick stab struck the first one in the forehead the instant he stepped within range. He blinked, stunned, as he was instantly eliminated. 

She loosened her hold, letting the sword swing back low under her hand, like a pendulum, to stop the second opponent's slash. Akari immediately thrust up, getting his throat, and then down, getting his heart. She stepped behind him, letting the surprised boy tank more attacks for her before his bracelet clicked off.

The third came from the front, and instead of a fancy block Akari simply leaned just out of the way of a stab, instantly reposting into their chest. She couldn't afford any wasted time-every single movement needed to serve its purpose.

Akari visualized a small sphere extending her maximum range, instantly taking out any student that stepped inside. Her blade was an extension of herself, a blur of gray streaking out in perfect arcs to someone's neck or piercing through the most efficient path to a heart. The damage system was working with her now; with enough aim, she could eliminate opponents just as fast as they appeared.

There were flashes of green at the edge of her vision-Dad carrying eliminated opponents off the arena as soon as she couldn't see them. She hadn't even noticed until now; she still wasn't anywhere near his top speed. But right now, as she easily defended herself without any of her abilities, Akari found she didn't mind that.

This was what Uncle Kensei meant, she finally realized, when he swung his stupid wooden bokken around and told her to fight more carefully while she was trying to go all out on him. She could see his slash in her mind, that perfect swordsmanship she was striving toward. Akari itched to try it, now-

Someone tried to backstab her.

Akari whirled around to deflect it, countering straight for his face. The purple-haired boy leaped back reflexively, the tip of her sword coming just shy of his face.

Surprisingly, the boy stopped and narrowed his eyes on her instead of simply charging in like the rest. Actually, he looked a little familiar, now that Akari thought about it...

"You're that guy who was being carried around the race, right?" Akari asked. Was he in general studies? "Do you have a fan club or something? That's kinda impressive..."

A lot of popular professional heroes had fan clubs, but getting one as a student? That must be an achievement.

Purple let out a harsh laugh. "They weren't my fans. I don't really have any of those."

Oh. "That must be hard," Akari said, sympathetically. "But why were they all helping you, then?"

"And why would I tell you that?"

Well, now she was curious-

Akari's blade rose up on instinct, catching an attack from above. She glanced up to see a flash of orange, Kendo of 1-B grinning down at her.

Akari jumped back and Kendo's fist slammed into the grass. Purple immediately tried to backstab her again-rude, but understandable-and Akari backflipped right over him. In his moment of confusion, her heel struck the back of his neck.

Kendo lunged right past Purple for her, and Akari deflected it and reposted for her jaw. The orange-haired girl dove to the side, her ponytail flying at the movement, before leaping to swing for Akari's face.

Akari blocked and Kendo's blade clashed against hers, crossing together.

"What's up, Midoriya? I haven't seen you in a while. And you're Shinsou Hitoshi, right?" Kendo asked Purple without turning around. "I've heard some stuff about you."

"I bet you have." Shinsou rose to his feet next to Kendo, facing Akari together. Akari raised an eyebrow at the two of them, and Shinsou shrugged back. 

"You're clearly the bigger threat here. No offense, Kendo." Shinsou's voice was deep and carried power, somehow, despite not giving off a hint of mana. 

"None taken!"

Kendo swung a right hook and Akari batted the fist away with her sword. Kendo didn't seem to care about the health loss, her leg snapping up for Akari's jaw. Akari leaned back, the attack flying by her face, and nearly missed Shinsou's thrust in the opening.

Right, two versus one.

Akari's blade flashed in front of her as she held both of them off. Kendo's punches and kicks were quick, but the martial artist was forced to reduce them as Akari's sword deflected them away and drained her bracelet's light. The purple-haired boy seamlessly flowed into Kendo's bold attacks with his own hidden, quick stabs. It reminded her of Monoma's first strategy but more effective, as Shinsou actually had the stealth and ability to blend in the background to pull it off.

Akari stepped back again, just enough for Kendo's next slash to pass harmlessly by her nose. She made her own slash in the opening, throwing a palm strike in the same moment. Kendo blocked the sword with her hand, not seeing the last attack until it struck her in the face. 

Akari moved in so that she was behind the stunned girl, letting Shinsou's stab hit the girl in the stomach and drop her health to yellow. She jumped back as Kendo struck behind her out of muscle memory before smashing her hilt down on Shinsou and knocking him into the grass.

"You're ruthless, Midoriya," Shinsou grumbled.

"Thanks!" 

This time Shinsou and Kendo dived in together, and Akari carefully weaved through the barrage of stabs, forced back. It didn't help that every random student happening upon the fight went for her, instead of the other two trained opponents. 

Akari deflected Kendo's blade to the right, tilting her head to dodge Shinsou's sword before stabbing back at him and getting a hit on his shoulder. 

Kendo was rearing back for another huge slash when Akari suddenly felt someone closing in behind her. She stepped back yet again-

Only for her foot to touch nothing but open air, already past the edge of the peak. 

Akari whirled around, desperately balancing on one foot, to see Momo swinging two swords for her face, smiling a bit too wide to be polite. For her, that was practically a shout for blood. 

Shit. How long had Momo been waiting for that opening?

Akari made a split-second decision, letting herself fall and narrowly dodging Kendo's slash. She tackled Momo in mid-air, the girl letting out a surprised shout as they slammed into the grassy hillside.

They rolled down the hill together for a beat, an awkward jumble of limbs and weapons as the world spun on its head. Momo finally thrust up with both swords, throwing Akari off her, and they both dug their feet into the steep slope to keep balance. Akari's health fell to yellow. 

Akari raised her sword once more with a small pout. "Even you, Momo? Wow, everyone's teaming up on me today. huh..."

Momo laughed, lowering into a practiced, slightly stiff stance.

"Yes, we are. And yet you're not even out of breath, are you Akari-san?"

"Nope."

"Then we're quite justified, no?"

Akari deflected the first slash to her left before batting away the second one. She kept her sword centered, not leaving any openings for either weapon as Momo pressed forward.

Akari jabbed out, sharp as a whip, probing at Momo's defenses. What people usually didn't realize was that while dual-wielding looked pretty cool, actually fighting with two swords at once took practice and a ton of coordination. Momo had that training, that practice, but she lacked the experience.

Akari pulled an unpredictable move, spinning around with her blade lifted at stomach level. She felt one, two impacts against her hand before she was facing Momo again, surprised onyx eyes meeting confident green ones. She thrust straight up, clipping Momo's temple, and the sudden damage threw off the brunette's timing. 

Akari swung down and Momo crossed her blades to defend-only to get punched hard in the gut. The creation girl narrowed her eyes, throwing a kick ruthlessly aimed at Akari's face in return-something that she definitely wouldn't have done before U.A(1-A was an excellent influence on her!).

Akari sidestepped the attack, slashing for Momo's side, and the girl caught the attack on one of her hilts. Momo stabbed forward with her other sword, forcing Akari to duck under it.

"I've been wanting to spar against you, ever since your show of skill at Atlas-sensei's exercise," Momo said, barely fending off a strike to her neck.

"You're doing really great, Momo. You might need a little more battle experience with swords, though." 

"I have spent the most time practicing my bo-staff, but in dealing with monsters a sword is much more effective...unless your Atlas-sensei, evidently."

Akari grinned. "He's certainly an exception." A flash of orange-they were out of time. "This is fun, Momo, but I'm going to have to postpone this spar for now."

"Wha-"

Akari's hand shot out behind her, catching Kendo's flying kick without a glance. 

Before Kendo could do as much as yell she swung the orange-haired girl over like a baseball bat, slamming Kendo into her fellow class representative without hesitation. Momo couldn't dodge in time and they collided with a shared hiss of pain, tumbling down the grass slope together uncontrollably. 

"Sorry!" Akari called over her shoulder(getting a muffled curse back) before turning to her final opponent, her bright green eyes meeting terrified purple ones. 

One more.

Akari was in front of Shinsou in seconds, leaping up in a graceful arc that just missed Shinsou's face. She twisted in mid-air, kicking the boy hard in the chest and knocking him down.

Shinsou rolled with the impact, pushing himself to his feet. He was clearly exhausted, wearing eyebags even bigger than the last time she'd seen him. Akari took the time to really look, glancing from his gravity-defying hair almost completely covered in grass, to his shaky breaths, to the white knuckles on the hilt of his sword.

"Shinsou, was it? Why aren't you in the hero course?" Akari wondered. "You're trying harder, way harder, than almost everyone here."

"Huh? Isn't it obvious? Someone like me could never pass that fucking entrance exam with all of you lucky, hero course students."

"Someone like you?"

"Not everyone has the luxury of being born with heroic abilities, perfect for destroying robots." Shinsou grit his teeth. "Even my horrible power works on real monsters, but what does that matter in an exam like that?"

Akari thought back to that blur of an exam, of fighting and chaos and destruction. The many examinees who gave up or didn't pass, being unable to destroy enough robots and fake monsters to succeed.

Akari slashed down and Shinsou moved to block, blades clashing together. She broke off and swung to the side, scoring a cut on his shoulder, before deflecting his next stab with a flick of her wrist.

All the while her mana buzzed under her skin, suppressed for the duration of this round. The unbelievable power she'd been born with and trained the hell out of to push even further.

"I don't get it," Akari admitted. 

Shinsou scoffed. "Of course, you don't understand. You're super strong--"

Her next blow cut him off, nearly knocking the sword out of his hand.

"You didn't let me finish. All you've mentioned is your quirk-some kind of mind control, probably." 

"How did you-"

"The 'not actually a fan club' thing, and now you basically just confirmed it." Akari waved away his words with her free hand, slashing with the other as she talked. "I think something like that's pretty useful, especially if it works on monsters. But true, I guess it's not a physical sort of ability..."

"Wait. You...you don't think it's villainous?"

"...Huh?"

"My quirk; Brainwashing. It controls minds. Isn't this the part where you call it a villain's quirk?"

Akari was so confused. "What does that even mean? Are you a villain, or something?"

"No!"

"Yeah, you're trying to be a hero, right? So your quirk is a hero's quirk." Akari paused. "Or well, a student's quirk at the moment. A boy's quirk? Whatever, you get the point. Also, 'Brainwashing' sounds lame, by the way. You should change that."

Shinsou just stared at her, eyes wide. Weirdo.

"See, your issue-" Akari pointed her sword at him. "is that you keep mentioning quirks. Quirk this, quirk that. They're not the only stuff that can kill things, you know."

"I don't have any potential for magic, either-"

"That's not what I meant. Your swordsmanship isn't bad, but it's unrefined as hell. Unlike those people you fought with, earlier, it's obvious that you haven't been training physically your entire life. I bet you started only like, a few years ago. If you worked on that-"

"It's easy for you to say, with such an overpowered quirk." Shinsou thrust straight for her heart with a glare. "You haven't had to work nearly as hard as I have."

Akari batted it away, skin prickling at that last comment. "And how do you know that?"

"You can move faster than a blink-without any effort, even! What would you ever need to train for?" 

This time, Akari didn't bother responding with words. 

It took two attacks to make him stumble, angles calculated to unbalance him. His footwork was easy to overwhelm, especially with no other competitors around to distract her.

It took another well-aimed strike to his arm to weaken his grip. His bar slid to red, and Shinsou seemed to get more desperate. Not that it did him any good.

It took one more slash to send the sword flying out of his hand and out of sight.

Shinsou was completely helpless as Akari's blade cut through the air beautifully on a path for his neck-

"Time's up, everyone!" Mic's voice boomed.

-and then stopped mere inches from his skin. Shinsou stared at her, frozen, and Akari casually turned her back on him to face the announcer's box.

"The second event of the sports festival is over! I know all you students down there missed my voice, yeah, but you see, I wouldn't forgive myself if I distracted any of you from the free for all!"

"Mic, we had to mute you-"

"We now have forty students left standing, soon to move on to the third event! But before we get into it, we have a short interlude. Stay tuned, y'all!"

They ate lunch in the stadium's cafeteria, thankfully away from the noise of the audience. 1-A had their own set of tables, and already formed friend groups drifted together within them. 

Momo was blazing through her food, fueling up for the rest of the festival, Tooru doing the same right next to her. 

Akari knew the invisible girl well enough now to tell how she was feeling from the shape of her gym uniform, and from how loose her shoulders were. Tooru was excited for the remaining events of the sports festival, nearly all of her earlier nervousness gone. 

Akari was happy for her. She hadn't seen Tooru at all during the second event, but she'd been confident the girl would make it through. Tooru was Tooru, after all. 

Speaking of the second event. "I'm sorry for throwing Kendo at you, Momo. That couldn't have been fun."

Momo laughed lightly, waving the apology off. She somehow still seemed elegant, even as she loaded up on quirk energy as quickly as she could. "Don't worry about it, Akari. It was a smart move to make, and Kendo practically handed you the opportunity. However, I can't deny that I was very annoyed at that moment. If I were you, I would likely avoid Kendo for the time being."

Akari winced. The 1-B girl was much more likely to hold a grudge. "...Yeah, I will."

"Now I feel like I missed something amazing, over there," Tooru whined. "Meanwhile, it was super boring where I was-barely anyone put up much of an effort!"

"Really?" Momo asked, surprised. "I assumed you would be targeted because of your quirk, Tooru..."

"Yeah, I was. But none of them knew what they were doing!" If Akari could see her face, she was sure Tooru would be pouting right now. "I'm pretty sure a lot of them didn't even want to be there..."

Akari shrugged. "They probably didn't. I honestly don't get why the entire year has to participate in the festival. Besides the hero courses, support courses, and few general education students, they don't have much of a reason to push for a top spot. Though, I suppose large-scale fights are good for a watching audience..."

"You talked about them in your speech, too," Tooru said. "I didn't really get a chance to tell you this before, but what you said was really cool. Especially since you clearly walked up there, like, completely unprepared."

Akari glanced at where Tooru's eyes were with a warm smile. "Thanks, Tooru."

"This event was challenging on my end," Jirou admitted. "I teamed up with Shoji and Tsu since all of us are seen as threats with our mutation stuff."

"Shoji made this big cave above him with his arms, and I hid inside it with Tsu. Tsu held her sword with her tongue and stabbed at far away enemies in cover, while my jacks and Shoji's extra arms worked as a defense against anyone who got too close."

"That's quite an ingenious strategy." Momo complimented.

"I can't really take the credit, it was mostly Tsu's idea," Jirou said modestly. "The only problem, though, was how fucking big Shoji is. He's basically a giant, walking hitbox for the other competitors-all they need to do is whack him with their swords and he's done. I felt bad for the dude. I was somewhat safe with Tsu up there, but I think his bracelet was near red when the round ended."

"I see. Did you pick up any swords from eliminated opponents?" Momo asked. "With Shoji's quirk, multiple weapons would've been quite powerful." 

Jirou just stared at her for a few moments, stunned.

She covered her face with a long sigh. "Damn, we really should have thought of that. I didn't even realize..."

"Yeah, Momo had two swords when I fought her," Akari said. "I was pretty surprised..."

Akari trailed off as a small girl stepped into the cafeteria, red eyes searching the room and a small, purple bag in her hands. She got a lot of curious stares from the tables around her, her fingers tapping nervously under the attention. Then she finally got sight of Akari.

"Nee-san!"

Eri ran over to their table, wrapping her small arms around Akari as far as she could reach. Akari happily hugged Eri to her chest for a moment, careful of the girl's horn, before lifting her little sister up and placing her onto the seat next to her.

"Eri!" Akari exclaimed. "How'd you get here?" Only the competitors were allowed into this part of the stadium. 

"Dad snuck me in." Eri lowered her voice to a whisper. "He said that as long as I was very stealthy, it was okay. But it's a secret, Nee-san, so you can't tell anyone!"

"Of course." Akari gestured to the rest of the table, where Momo, Tooru, and Jirou were staring back intently. "Are they allowed to know, though?"

Eri glanced at them for a moment before she nodded seriously. Adorable. Akari's lips twitched as she held back a smile, and her friends immediately leaned in. 

"Hey, Eri! How're you liking the sports festival so far?" Tooru asked.

Eri brightened. "I'm not sure what's happening, but Nee-san's so cool. She took on all of them so easily-even Momo-san. And Momo-san's super smart."

Momo smiled. "Thank you, Eri. Your sister's really quite strong, isn't she?"

"She is! She moves so, so..." 

"Effortlessly? Fluidly? Elegantly? Beautifully?" Tooru suggested.

"Yeah! You understand, Tooru-san."

"Please, just call me Tooru!"

"Okay, Tooru. Also, I brought a gift for you, Nee-san."

Akari blinked, her cheeks still bright red. "A gift?" 

Eri handed the bag over, and Akari took it curiously. The purple bag was small enough to fit in her hand, and weighed almost nothing-

Akari reached in to pull out a cone, colored a neat yellow.

"Ah, you made me one, too," Akari murmured happily, carefully poking the horn in her hands. It felt much more durable than her Dad's, for some reason. 

A horn from Eri was more than just an arts and crafts project because it truly meant that she was part of Eri's family. She would be Eri's older sister even if she didn't have a horn on her head, but this felt more symbolic, somehow.

(She hadn't been jealous that Mom and Dad were given horns before she was, not at all.)

"Dad said that you wouldn't be allowed to have anything with you at the festival. So I went to talk to Midnight-san about it, and she decided that the horn didn't count as long as it was made of paper!"

"But I knew you were going to be fighting a lot, and the horn could break. I asked Mom for some strong paper, instead, and she gave me some."

Looking closer, this wasn't something from Earth. It was some of the material they used to write on in Arcadia, conducting mana better while still having similar properties to paper. 

The precious horn in her hands glowed violet around the edges, Akari's reinforcement magic easily running through. Akari smoothed her hair down before gently placing her horn on the center of her head. It fit perfectly-like it was always meant to be there.

Eri beamed as she put it on. "Do you like it-"

Akari pulled her into a tight hug. 

"Yeah. I love it, Eri."

Notes:

I got way too into writing swordfights, as you can probably tell. I wanted to introduce Shinsou, and how similar he is to his canon counterpart despite the Drift(his opinion and message on quirks) while also different from his Drift(Shinsou actually trained during those five years). I think it's hilarious how someone not human would be confused over human quirk discrimination.

Akari finally has her horn, which she'll be wearing as she destroys the last two events of the sports festival. I'm trying to write 12-year-old Eri as well as I can, but please tell me if she comes off as older/younger than she should!

Our growing fanfiction discord, if you want to join: https://discord.gg/SVFFP5jXt5