Author's notes: Fun fact: this chapter was originally going to be posted tomorrow, but I have learned that today (March 22) is the World Goth day, and goth is definitely one of Victória's aesthetics so I rushed a bit with the editing to post it today. I hope there's not too many typos because of that lmao.
"Yes, you all heard me correctly. You are not going to be participating in this year's Sports Festival."
The once noisy room had now fallen into a deep silence. Anger, sadness, disappointment; all kinds of emotions could be felt swimming through the thick tension in the air. The man reporting the bad news, Shouta Aizawa, didn't seem too pleased about them either. Although it was hard to tell what his facial expression was due to the bandages that now covered most of his face – a result from the USJ incident – something in his voice told the students he had also been in a similar position in a distant past.
"Here is the reasoning behind this decision: truth be told, there is none, it was a small yet pretty considerable oversight." He explained, letting out an almost inaudible sigh. "After the incident with the villains at the USJ facility, the school has been focusing more on securing the campus than other matters – one of them being the foreigner program. You were not taken into account while preparing the school festival simply because the school forgot about it, and there is no time to properly fix this issue."
When all the foreign students were pulled away from their classes and placed into an empty classroom, they weren't expecting to be disappointed once more by the school administration. Victória herself wasn't very happy about the subject – she would be physically fuming it was possible for her to do so, and her eyes shot daggers at whoever was careless enough to meet her gaze. Omar seemed less upset about the fact, but as a Department of Support student, he definitely wasn't happy about not being able to show his inventions to possible investors.
"I am aware of how bad the situation is," Aizawa continued, "but there is nothing that I can do about it. As a Pro Hero, I'm saddened to see that you will miss such a great opportunity, especially because this is something you had no control over. But as a teacher, all I can do is inform you of the situation and make sure your participation in future events will be guaranteed. "
The students looked at each other worriedly. Then, as Aizawa was ready to leave, Victória took a deep breath and calmly raising her hand, looking at the teacher's uncovered and tired eyes with a more neutral expression.
"What can we do, then?"
"…I don't think I understand your question, Machado." He raised an eyebrow.
"You said there is nothing you specifically can do about the situation," She clarified, fixing her posture on the chair, "but what can we the people who will actually be affected, do about it?"
Aizawa stood there in silence not as a form of intimidation, but because he was genuinely thinking about the possibilities. "To be honest, I don't have any idea. Badmouth U.A. on social media, make some protest banners, I don't know. As long as you don't interrupt the course of the festival, everything is allowed. Just don't tell people I encouraged you to do this in case anybody asks, I have enough problems with the people higher up already."
Soon enough, ideas were popping in the heads of the students, their hearts filled with a newfound hope and determination. We can do it.
"So, what are we gonna do?"
Omar wasn't looking directly at Victória when he asked, but rather working on what looked like a bulletproof vest with circuits inside. He had simply said that it was a project he started recently due to an "unusual amount of inspiration", and refused to clarify until it was ready. The backroom them and the rest of the foreign students had been stuffed into in preparation for the festival was tiny and barely illuminated, but everyone in there seemed to be in an unusually cheery mood, despite what had happened the day before. Little stars, that together could illuminate their own path to whatever they desired.
"We? I didn't see you with us after the announcement as we started planning stuff. To be fair, you were probably working on… Whatever this thing is supposed to be, but your presence would have been appreciated." Victória rolled her eyes. "But it's fine now. There is already a plan formed, and it's a pretty simple one. According to Iida, there–"
"Who?"
"Iida Tenya, 1-A class representative. Don't interrupt me, please. According to him, there will be two students who are supposed to make speeches at the beginning of the festival. One is the guy who did the best on the entrance exam, I think he's from my class but he's annoying so I haven't tried to contact him about our plan. The ot–"
"Wait wait wait, when did this become our plan? You accepted me into the group that easily even though I didn't really do any work?" Omar turned around and answered to her annoyed gaze with a smirk and a wink. "Sorry, that's it for my snarky comments, go on.."
"Anyways. There is also going to be a speech by the representative of the foreign student body. They didn't tell us that we had to elect one until like one hour ago, but the people in the group chat decided it's going to be me. So I was planning to… Yes, Omar?" Victória glared at him and unsheathed her claws, the human part of her face turning into a light shade of crimson as she saw him quietly raise his hand to speak.
"…Why didn't you put me in the group chat?"
"You told me you had accidentally destroyed your phone while trying to build a propulsion system!"
"I bought one this morning! What kind of guy do you think I am, I gotta call my mom after the festival is over dude!"
Victória took a very deep breath before continuing. "You can give me your number later. So basically, we decided to–"
This time, she wasn't so surprised by the interruption, not so pleased by it for a different reason – nervousness. She could hear a kind of alarm blaring from inside the room. That was their cue to go out there! She groaned and headed for the exit, the students formed an organized line as they walked out of the room through a narrow hallway.
"And finally, sprinkled among the other classes, here they are, the chosen ones of U.A.'s new foreigner program!"
Cheers coming from all over the crowd could be suddenly heard from all directions, the sun hitting the newly arrived group of students that marched towards the center and making them visible to the crowd. The stadium was full and bustling with energy, and there were also cameras everywhere meaning the event was being watched by people from all Japan – and maybe even from the whole world! Victória obviously couldn't find her mother and Eros in the massive grandstand, but she could feel they were both watching and rooting for her. To think they might not even have the chance to participate in such an event, it filled her heart with insecurity an anger. Though she quickly covered those feeling up with her usual serious demeanor. There was no use in simply complaining anymore, it was time to act.
As they arrived near an elevated platform in the center of the stadium, a skimpily dressed woman could be seen standing on it with a wicked grin on her face. She wore a costume that was… Really bold, considering it was underaged teens she was working with. She was also holding an object that Victória (fortunately) didn't recognize, that looked like a stylized duster.
"Silence, everyone!" She shook the object around, and it made a whip-like noise. "Representing all the students, Bakugou Katsuki from class 1-A."
The student in question – which Victória recognized as the most stuck up and childish person in her class and maybe in the whole school – casually walked onto the platform besides the woman. He stood in front of the microphone for a few seconds, the little gears in his repugnant mind turning in just the right order to miraculously form a sentence that didn't include cussing or screaming, and finally opened his mouth.
"I pledge… That I will be number one."
The "speech" was quickly followed by a wave of boos and angry comments as Bakugou got off the platform, intentionally bumping into a few people he didn't like on his way back to the middle of the crowd.
"Silence!" This time, the woman had to shake her whip-duster twice to dismiss the chaos that Bakugou had caused. "Representing the students participating in U.A.'s new foreigner program…"
She froze for a brief moment then pulled out a piece of paper from her pocket – the same piece that had been handed to Aizawa mere minutes before they were guided into the waiting room.
"Victória Machado!"
This time, there weren't many cheers or comments as Victória wasn't a well-known student at all, but if anything, the silence made her nervousness a lot worse. She quickly made her way onto the platform and stood in front of the microphone. She took a few seconds to recall the words the students had agreed onto, then inhaled before speaking up.
"I will be brief as to not waste any more of your time like my fellow student just did." Victória paused. She had added that to the speech on the fly, so she had to reorganize it on her mind once again before speaking up.
"Due to an oversight made by the administration of U.A., we – students from all around the world who worked hard to be able to enroll into this school – will not be participating in the Sports Festival this year. We want you all, spectators as well as fellow students who are able to participate, to keep this in your minds once the winner stands on their neat little podium to receive their award. We were robbed of this opportunity by a pathetic mistake, and we seriously wish every international student who wishes to be at U.A. to reconsider their choices."
Victória was looking down as she stepped back into the crowd of foreign students, but she could feel that all eyes were on her at that moment. Together, the group collectively walked towards the exit of the stadium. Midnight herself stood there with her mouth wide open for a second, before shaking it off and properly beginning the festival as if nothing had happened. But deep down, she knew something had and was going to be done.
"Seems to be working so far, but what now?"
Omar browsed through his phone, not so coincidentally sitting on the portion of the table that Victória was going to place the pile of books and magazines onto. Already feeling emotionally exhausted from the events that transpired less than an hour ago, she decided not to get mad at him and simply push him aside a little. He didn't seem to mind.
"There's a lot of people commenting about that on social media. Heh, I even saw one of those posts that are like, "you idiots her name is Victória Machado don't dare to ignore her identity!" despite the media legally not being able to put your name in headlines yet. It's kinda silly."
She still didn't answer, but instead continued to organize the paperwork she had brought to the school library – one of the few places in the campus that remained open despite the Sports Festival. He leaned in onto the papers, essentially blocking her view. "Whatcha doing?"
"Preparing some material for my upcoming school club." Victória rolled her eyes and walked away from the table, getting yet another small box from the massive bag she had bought and opening it. There were some old photographs in there, as well as what looked like certificates and legal paperwork written in Portuguese. "Please don't touch those, they're fragile."
"Oookay then." Omar finally left the table, properly sitting on a nearby chair and turning his attention to the phone once again. "You still haven't answered me yet though."
"That's because I don't know what's gonna happen, Omar. We just have to wait for the school to make any sort of devision. I'm almost sure they will, since the media caught all of that and they probably want to fix their image right now, but I don't know what it'll be."
The library door suddenly burst open, and someone started running towards the two. It was a boy with not more than 5'5" in height, with short brown hair and a fairly chubby build. Victória recognized him simply as one of the foreign students, but couldn't really tell where or which class he was from.
"GUYS! GUYS! IMPORTANT NEWS! IMP–" He shouted, before being rightfully interrupted by a "shh" coming from the woman responsible for the library.
"Go back to the stadium right now, we're all gonna fight!"
Author's notes: Hey, we reached a double digits chapter number! This is by far the longest fanfic I've ever written, and also probably the longest not school related text I've ever written as well! I'm really excited to continue writing this story, and I hope you guys are enjoying it as well.