This obstacle race is scarier than I thought… Nana mumbled as Sana surfed her sand through the air. Adults are scary.
What do you mean? Sana questioned.
Anything is allowed as long as you stay on the track, right? This is encouraging us to demonstrate our Quirks, but one advantage that all students hold equally is that only our classmates would know about our Quirks. However, if you chose to demonstrate your Quirk and place close to the tops in the preliminaries, it means that everyone behind you would get a sense of what your ability is. This entire event is just an excellent chance to observe the Quirks and personalities of one's opponents from the rear. On top of that, this is all just a marketing strategy to manipulate our actions and display us in front of the mass media.
Yeah, that explanation is too long, can you shorten it?
…What I mean is: the higher your rank is in the preliminaries, the easier it is to take you down in later events.
But that's exactly the point of letting Sana, Nina, and I switch interchangeably though. Hina pointed out with a mutter. Because the Quirks of Nina and I can be easily be passed off as Sana's.
True. Nina yawned.
I should ask Hitoshi-kun's opinion on this… Nana mumbled. Sana, can you find him?
Eh, sure. Sana stood up on her floating cloud of sand and peered around the other people who had managed to dodge the ice attack. Ah! Found him! She sang and drifted closer to Shinso, who had brainwashed three other kids to carry him. "Yo!"
Shinso looked up at her with some sort of dread in his eyes. "Sana," He greeted. "I see that you've made it out of the tunnel as well. Congratulations."
"Ahaha!" Sana laughed half-heartedly. "There's no way that I'd also fall for the trick that Hana has fallen to before!"
"I guess so." Shinso recalled Nana mentioning that a student from 1-A had singlehandedly immobilized all the villains (including Hana herself) in the landslide zone of the USJ (though Hana managed to escape) by using an ice Quirk.
"So I see that your preferred method of transportation is being carried by slaves, eh?" Sana chuckled.
Shinso rolled his eyes in exasperation. "Can you not?"
"Ahaha! Well, anyways, yeah, Nana wanted to ask you something."
"What is it?"
"I don't really get it, but she said something like 'the higher you are, the heavier you'll fall', or something like that!" :D
How did you get that from what I said? Nana exclaimed.
"What?" Shinso's eye twitched. "Isn't that a given considering gravity? We learned that in physics."
"I don't know, I was never the identity to sit and listen in class." :P
"Oh."
SANA! Ask him his opinion properly! Repeat what I say: "Placing high in preliminaries will let others know about your Quirk, thus losing your advantage and giving you a handicap later on, what place should we aim for in the preliminaries? Should we aim lower to avoid having the handicap?"
"Uh, Nana is telling me to re-ask the question properly. She said that…uh… Other people would give you a handicap if you aim high, so you should aim lower to avoid letting others give you a handicap…?"
"…I'm fairly certain that no one would be mean enough to give you a handicap just because you placed high in the preliminaries." Shinso started slowly. "If they do, they might as well get expelled for lack of sportsmanship; U.A. won't tolerate such behavior."
Sana! Why can't you just repeat what I said? Nana was mentally throttling Sana. He's got it all wrong!
I can't help it that your question is too long for me to remember! Shorten it!
Shinso raised a concerned eyebrow. "Sana, are you sure you're delivering Nana's message correctly?"
"Oh, don't worry; she says that it's my fault that you're getting it all wrong." Sana rolled her eyes and said quickly before turning her attention back to Nana. Why don't we just switch? She groaned. Save me the trouble; I came here to have fun pulverizing people and asserting the fact which I'm better than them all, not to be your tin can telephone!
No! As soon as we switch, I'm gonna fall onto the ice and land on my bottom and it'll hurt!
Ah, true… Sana turned to Shinso. "Hey, if I switch back to Nana to let her talk to you right now, she'll drop straight onto the ice and hit her bottom, so would you mind catching her for me?"
"What?"
"Alright, I'm gonna switch back to Nana, you ready? One―"
W-Wait, SANA!
"Two―"
"Hold on!" Shinso laid out his arms frantically to catch her.
"Three―!"
Shinso gasped as the floating cloud of sand disappeared from underneath Sana, and he waited for the fall. However, the fall never occurred, for she continued to float in midair. It took him a second to realize that it was Nina who had taken control.
N-Nina… Nana gasped. Thank you.
Damn it, Nina! Sana whined. You're no fun!
You're welcome, Nana. Nina ignored Sana, for she was certain that either Itsuna or Hina would definitely give her hell sometimes later. She glanced at Shinso with empty, apathetic eyes. "Nana was gonna ask you: 'Placing high in preliminaries will let others know about your Quirk, thus losing your advantage and giving you a handicap later on, what place should you guys aim for in the preliminaries? Should you guys aim lower to avoid having the handicap?'"
"Oh, if that's the case…" He dared himself to let out a sigh of relief. "I'd go with lower…" He shot a sideways glance at a number of other students. "So it seems like the majority of class 1-B has chosen to throw the preliminaries on purpose as well."
"Alright..." Nina glanced downwards. "The ice ends here; I'm switching back to Sana."
No, don't! Shinso almost wanted her to stay, but Nina switched back to Sana anyways.
"Whoa!" Sana stumbled as she landed on the ground. "Well then!" She said cheerfully. "Now that the ice part is over, it's my turn to shine!"
Shinso hopped off his brainwashed servants and patted the dust off his uniform. "Were you not listening to us?" He hissed. "Avoi―"
His sentence was cut off as an amazing sight entered his eyes. Countless Villain robots which he recognized from the practical skills entrance exam of the Heroics Department appeared before him.
"HERE COMES THE OBSTACLES SO SUDDENLY!" Present Mic's booming voice could still be heard from inside the stadium (they must be watching them through a screen or something). "AND FROM THE VERY OUTSET, THE FIRST OBSTACLE WILL BE THE ROBO-INFERNO!"
"It's the Villain bots that was worth 0 points in the entrance exam!" A kid screamed.
"Hold on, you mean to tell me that the Department of Heroics kids had to fight that thing!?" Another exclaimed in disbelief.
"There's way too many of them to slip past!"
"Tsk…" Shinso noticed the kid from class 1-A whom had frozen the entrance tunnel scowl―Todoroki, was it? He was quite well known among the first years due to his father being the #2 Hero Endeavor. He had scooped down swiftly and as he brought up his stance, he raised giant shards of ice from the ground and frozen one of the robots successfully. Without a second glance back, he sprinted through between the spaces of the robot he had immobilized.
"Hey, he stopped them!" Another kid exclaimed. "He opened a way! We can go through!"
"Don't," Todoroki turned back to warn them upon hearing their naïve thoughts. "I froze them in a precarious position, so they're gonna crash down…"
As if on cue, the robot he had stopped crumbled to pieces, blocking their way.
Present Mic's voice boomed again. "1-A'S TODOROKI HAS FORGED AHEAD AND BLOCKED THE OTHERS IN ONE FELL SWOOP! THAT KID'S HARSH! INCREDIBLE! HE'S REMOVED HIMSELF FROM THE REST OF THE COMPETITION! IT KINDA FEELS UNFAIR, ACTUALLY! THE FIRST ROUND'S OBSTACLE COURSE IS WELL UNDER WAY!"
Unlike the excited audiences who had remained in the stadium, the kids who were actually participating in the event were terrified. "H-Hold on…oh my god…someone is under there! Is he dead!? Can people actually die in this sports festival!?"
There was a rumble of noises as the kid―who was assumed to be dead―broke out of the pile of rubbles just to spite those who thought he was dead. "Like hell I'd die!"
"1-A'S KIRISHIMA GOT CRUSHED LOL!"
Kirishima scowled. "I swear to god, Todoroki! You timed it just to topple at the right moment too! If it hadn't been me, someone else could've died!"
"…Class A really is but a flock of obnoxious brats…!" A voice snarled as another person emerged from the pieces of scrap metal. "What if it hadn't been me? Someone could've died!"
"You're the dude from Class B!" Kirishima gasped in surprise.
"PFFFT, TETSUTETSU FROM CLASS B ALSO GOT CRUSHED! WE LOVE YA, MAN!"
Kirishima dashed away with tears running down his cheeks as he recognized what Tetsutetsu's Quirk was. "Now they're just copy-pasting Quirks, even if it's already so generic!" He sobbed uncontrollably.
The remaining kids watched in awe as Kirishima and Tetsutesu dashed into the Inferno of Villain robots. "Man, I'm jealous; they never have to worry about getting crushed since they can break through easily…!"
"Hey, guys!" Another exclaimed. "For now, let's temporarily combine our efforts to open up a w―"
They didn't hear the rest of his suggestion, for Bakugou's explosions were too loud. He had lifted himself off the ground and was flying over the giant robots.
"AAAND 1-A'S BAKUGOU HAS ABANDONED THE GROUND AND VAULTED OVER THEIR HEADS! CLEVER, THAT! AS EXPECTED, OF THOSE WHO'VE RUN PASS, LOTS ARE FROM CLASS A!"
As he was talking, a girl from 1-A created a…cannon (!?) out of nowhere and knocked down a few other robots. "Not even a sweat!" She huffed.
"To think that she could beat one of those 0 point doozies so easily…!"
Sana's jaw hung agape at the sight of the dozen giant robots, and how countless 1-A students have already started to make their way though. She snapped her mouth shut and a crazed, bloodthirsty grin bloomed on her face. "…Now that's what I'm talking about!" She shouted with immense joy. "It's gotta be like this for this sports fes to be any fun, right!? Am I right!?"
"Honestly, didn't you hear us?" Shinso repeated in a deadpan. "Avoid using flashy moves; that'll leak info to our opponents."
Sana laughed it off. "Yeah, like they'd be able to beat me even if I told them everything about my Quirk!"
Hold on, Sana! Don't do anything rash
Sana wasn't sure who it was that told her to hold on; it could've been Nana or any of the other level-headed ones, like Itsuna or Hina. She ignored them completely and slammed her hands onto the ground. Almost at once, the ground started to rumble, as if they were experiencing an earthquake. Many other students lost their balance and fell. The ground they were standing on collapsed and a giant pit of quicksand appeared underneath each of the remaining villain robots. The other kids watched in absolute horror as the robots that were sucked into the quicksand got buried alive.
"S-She took down all of the rest in one go!?"
"Who is she!? Is she one of the Heroics people!?"
"No! She's in the General Department!"
"What's a monstrous Quirk like that doing in the General Department!?"
Sana enjoyed the amount of attention she was given immensely. "Well then, I guess I'll inspire ya'll even further." She paused the sinking of the robots into the quicksand, leaving only their heads poking out of the ground. "And now…!"
She balled her hands into tight fists and brought them straight down, causing the quicksand pits to cave in and implode. The robots were crushed to scrap pieces of metal.
"Hell yeah, take that!"
Midoriya Izuku witnessed the entire scene, and his heart thumped upon seeing the demonstration of Sana's power. Did she specifically apply for the General Department only? He wondered. But who would come to U.A. if they weren't aiming for their Heroics program? Did she fail the entrance exam? It couldn't be the practical skills exam, since she's defeating those zero point robots so easily. Would it be the written exam then? But the difficulty of the written exam is the same for both the Heroics department and General department, then how…?
He shook the questions out of his head. He didn't have time to think about them. He focused his attention back onto the obstacle race.
Shinso stared at Sana, unable to decide between facepalming or gawk in impressment. So I guess she has made her point…They wouldn't be able to defeat her even if she purposely leaked them her info… "Sana!"
"Yeah?"
He jogged up to her, "It's impossible to thin the herd extremely drastically in just the preliminaries, so there'd definitely going to be a ladder of events," he started, but Sana cut him off.
"Hold it right there; I have a feeling that you're going to say some super complicated theory or assumption, so I'mma peace out and let Nana take over for now." She made a disgusted expression.
"Oh, fine, fair enough."
Nana smiled at him awkwardly as she switched back. The two of them began to jog along the track. "I'm sorry; I wasn't able to stop her on her rampage."
"I guess that it doesn't matter anymore." Shinso muttered. "She is quite impressive"
"Ahaha…" Nana tried to laugh it off. "What were you gonna say?"
"Well, since it's certain that there's going to be a ladder of events, the rough number of places that they'd allow to advance to the next round has to be around forty or so."
"Okay, so we just stay above that line?"
"Yes, but in your case, you have an even greater advantage than most of us; asides from Sana, you also have Hina and Nina on standby as well. I think you should be able do anything you want."
Nana pursed her lips. "No!"
"Huh?"
"If I have an unfair advantage, then I'll give myself a handicap." She declared stubbornly. "Even if I made it to the front, I'll stop and wait for you."
Shinso stared at her incredulously. "Are you retarded? Don't do that! If you have an advantage, use it!"
"I never asked for that advantage though." Nana protested. "There's no way that I'd allow myself to advance into the next event without you."
"…" Shinso couldn't describe the amount of frustration he was experiencing. "Ugh, fine, do whatever you want!"
Nana smiled and looked away. Before they knew it, they had reached the end of the path and they screeched to a halt. The terrain before them definitely had to be artificial; they just had no idea when the construction occurred. There was an incredibly large, deep pit before them, with countless rocky stone platforms that were connected by wires.
"WELL THEN!" They heard Present Mic's voice again. "IF THE FIRST BARRIER WAS SUCH A CINCH, THEN WHADDAYA THINK ABOUT THE SECOND!? YOU FALL, AND YOU'RE OUT! IF YOU DON'T LIKE THAT IDEA, MAYBE YOU CAN CRAWL! IT'S THE FALL!"
"…I'm certain that this wasn't here yesterday." Nana stared down into the dark void. "How did they dig this overnight?"
Shinso shook his head as he watched a frog-like girl from 1-A hop onto the wires and ventured forwards with practical ease. "Don't think too hard about it," He muttered. "It's just a glorified tightrope walk."
"Fufufu…" A string of giggles came from the back; it was a girl from the Department of Support. "Now is the chance to up my appeal! It's time for my support items to bask in the spotlight! Behold! The support companies of Japan! My Wire Arrow and Hover Shoes!"
"The Department of Support!" A round-faced girl from the Heroic's Department gasped. "Hold on, you can take items into the race?"
"Department of Heroics kids routinely receive actual fight training, right?" The Support girl questioned back. "Just to keep things fair, we're carrying just those items and costumes that we developed ourselves! For Department of Support kids like us, this is the chance to show off the engineering we conceived and developed to appeal to the corporations! Fufufu!"
She pressed a button, and a wired arrow shot out of her belt, attaching itself firmly onto one of the stone platforms. She hopped off the path without any sorts of hesitation, creating a perfect parabola with the wire. "So keep watching! And I hope the company that's watching is a big one!" With another push of a button on her remote, she had climbed back onto the stone platform with her hover shoes. "This is my super adorable BABY!"
Shinso was relatively impressed as the others stared at the Support girl in disbelief. "Well, that's something, all right…"
"It is," Nana said in awe. "But I guess that I should switch back to Sana now…She's getting impatient."
"Oh, okay." Shinso nodded sourly.
"What is it with that reaction?" Sana demanded with a frown as she was handed the control. "Don't you want to see me?"
"Do you want me to be honest?" He asked bluntly.
"On second thought, never mind." Sana shot a sideways glance at the other kids who were still standing on the path. I have a feeling that they're all waiting for me to create a sand bridge or something.
Weren't you planning to do so? Nana questioned.
I was, but not anymore… Or more like, I still am, but I wanna add a bit of a twist to it… Sana whipped her head around. "Hey, Shinso!"
"What?" He grunted.
"Have you ever watched Indiana Jones?"
"Indiana Jones?" He was (still) having trouble following Sana's train of thought. Why the hell is she bringing up Indiana Jones at a time like this? "Which movie or book are you talking about?"
"The Last Crusade, the movie."
"Yes, I've seen that before. Why are you asking?"
Sana ignored his inquiry. "Alright, so which was your favorite of the three trials?"
Shinso had a bad feeling, so he repeated his question: "Why are you asking me thi…" He blinked and backed away slowly upon seeing Sana's stance. "Whoa, hold on, wait, Sana, what are you doing? Wait―HOLD ON!"
Before he could dodge away, Sana had tackled him with a wide grin plastered on her face. The two of them plummeted down towards the bottom of the abyss.
"Because I'mma bring the third trial to a whole new level."
If you don't get the Indiana Jones reference, the entire scene is on YouTube if you just search it up! If you're too lazy to do so, well, I'm too lazy to type out the explanation as well :P I actually really enjoyed writing Sana (and this chapter in general), she's a fun character (I hope she appeared badass enough in this chapter). If possible, I'd like her to have a nice showdown against Bakugou in the future XD Basically, I think just any interaction between her and class 1-A students would be fun to write; Mina would probably be quite interesting as well, but I'm still toying with the idea, because, you know, it's Mina...*looks away* Also, have I ever mentioned how much I hate going back and forth between the manga and Microsoft word to copy down the dialogue of characters? Well, if I haven't, you know now! I absolutely LOATH this exercise but I guess that it's inevitable D:
