Once again, Kae's heart was pounding, practically beating out of her chest. But instead of the nervous fear of being caught, this particular adrenaline running through her veins was an exhilarating rush that made her feel like she just won a marathon.

She managed to scent him. She actually managed to scent him!

And it wasn't like she pressed her nose up to one of the many pulse points on his body, no that would be very weird and Jurota would never let her hear the end of it if he found out, but she did manage to get close enough to compare his scent to that of the knight.

They were almost exactly the same, but now, up close, she could smell the lingering chemicals of hair dye wafting off him even with the soap that came off him. The same soap the fated handkerchief had. She giggled excitedly, even his face was the same! Actually, wait...Kae stilled, her hand still clutched to her heart even as she slumped against the wall. Was that even really true? Searching through her memories of her knight, desperately trying to conjure a mental picture of him, she realized again that the two boys with the twin scent did have similar features, their overall demeanors were vastly different.

Her knight had beautiful, rich black hair, almost as dark as her own, that fell around his handsome face like a shroud. She remembered looking into vibrant crimson eyes outlined in dark lashes and thick bangs, so sincere in their kindness, eager to extend comfort while she sat crouched and overwhelmed by the stimuli around them. She could see the straight contour of his nose sloped elegantly until it raised the slightest bit at the base as he stood over her with concern furrowing the high arch in his otherwise straight brows.

Most of all she remembered his hands, big-knuckled and covered in light scars, rough but surprisingly gentle when he handed her his handkerchief. Oh how she imagined her hands clasped in his or his fingers gently caressing her cheek when she finally returned his token to him. Perhaps she'd begun to romanticize her memory of him, but she couldn't help the way her heart skipped at the thought of those few moments when he so easily offered her reprieve. Kae was 14 and had never captured the interest of a boy or even been captured by one so was it really her fault that this particular one made her feel like she was drowning in butterflies?

Her mother would tell her no, it absolutely wasn't, and her father would urge her to seek him out to at least thank him and here she was doing just that; but all it left her was confused and doubtful of her own skills. Yes their scents were almost exactly the same, but they were just so different.

For one Kirishima had a scar over his right eye, one that she hadn't noticed on her knight, his hair was red (easily explained by the scent of chemicals he carried), he was certainly much more muscular, and worst of all his entire demeanor was confident, steady, and sure of himself. Very unlike her knight. How could that drastic change in personality be explained? No one just changed over night! And even if they did, would he even still want to talk to her now that he'd changed so much?

Looking up at the ceiling, Kae supposed that was the real root of her problem with accepting that Kirishima was actually the one who'd lent her his handkerchief. Would the boy even remember her if she confronted him about it?

"Yo, Kae! Hurry up! It's almost time for the next match."

"O-oh yeah! Coming!"

Mindlessly following whoever it was that called her, Kae considered her dilemma, unsure whether it was fear or nervous anticipation.

"Kae Itoyo! As much as it pains me to say, you're our class' only hope of defeating those 1-A mongrels, so don't mess it up!" Monoma yelled as soon as he saw her return to their seats. Scoffing unbelievably, the girl's tail puffed up and an angry blush, hidden beneath the spots on her cheeks, grew hot on her skin. "Don't patronize me, Monoma. I've totally got this! Don't even bother wishing me good luck- I don't need your cheap well wishes!"

Screw those weird feelings Kirishima kept dragging out of her. She had a match to win!

Standing once more on the field Kae banished all distracting thoughts from her mind as she faced her much anticipated opponent.

"Nice ta meet'cha, Iida! I'm Kae Itoyo, hope you're ready to get your ass kicked~" she winked.

"I'm afraid I can't allow you to do that, Itoyo."

As expected, Iida came right for her at full speed, but Kae wasn't about to let him steal her thunder. Stopping abruptly at her raised palm, he eyed her dubiously. Nonchalantly, the girl in question rolled her shoulders as she lifted her foot and hooked a clawed finger into the back of her shoe.

"Ya know what? I think I might have to go all out for this one. Be a doll and give me a sec?" Graciously, Iida allowed her to pause if only to admonish her for a moment, saying something about not letting people take advantage of his good nature in a fight, but she took off her socks and sneakers quickly enough. She even gave him a moment to compose himself to return the favor.

Due to her quirk, Kae's fingers and toes grew sharp claws instead of fingernails. In place of nail beds, Kae's claws grew straight from the tips of her phalanges. That is, her claws grew right off the bone. They weren't retractable per se but if she flexed her hands and/or feet, Kae could extend them to a frightening length like she did in her match against Kaminari.

Which was exactly the reason she removed her shoes. With the extra grip the claws her feet provided, and a little help from her tail, Kae increased her speed to match Iida. She wasn't as fast, but she gave him a run for his money. The advantage she did have over him, however, was her flexibility and the agility that came with it. Iida was a sprinter. He couldn't make turns on a dime the same way Kae could and this reason alone was going to turn their match into a glorified game of tag.

Carelessly tossing her shoes and socks out of bounds, she grinned courteously. "Shall we start?" With a firm nod, Iida sprinted towards her once again only to be momentarily shocked when she dodged right at the last second, taking off so suddenly, that he skidded to an abrupt stop. "I see. I'll have to work much harder to get you out of bounds, Iitoyo. Rest assured, I will not fail."

At the other end of the ring, Kae giggled with good humor. "Wasn't counting on it! This wouldn't be fun at all if you gave up just because you couldn't catch me on the first try."

With their eyes locked on each other, they took off. To spectators, their match was a series of flashing blurs and after images and kicked up dust. For the competitors, they were having a difficult time trying to both outmatch and outwit opponents who could for once keep up with them. They threw kicks and punches at each other, but they were too evenly matched. Iida was primarily the one who was giving chase while Itoyo sneakily managed to outmaneuver him with quick turns and slick movements like sliding between his feet and jumping over his shoulders when she wasn't able to dodge him fast enough. At one point, accidentally kicking him in the face.

It was at that point when she attempted to jump over his shoulder again, but Iida had already caught on to her strategy and raised his arms to reach for her. Quickly grabbing onto a thin ankle, he captured her in his arms and raced for the edge of the ring. Only slightly panicked, the cat girl began to squirm until her arms slipped from his grip, planted her hands on the boy's shoulders while he fumbled to contain her, and kicked off his back in a backwards aerial. "Whoops! Try not to manhandle me okay? I'm a little slippery when I don't feel like being held."

Flabbergasted, the boy held out his hands in disbelief. "What?! How?!"

Moving her arms in all sorts of directions in a disgusting display of flexibility, she smiled. "We're built different, you and I." Eyes still on him, she decided to show off a little while he stood dumbfounded by bridging slowly, taking care to curl her head inwards until each of vertebrae of her spine followed after, inching lower and lower to the ground until her palms were flat on the ground and her fingers brushed against the back of her heels. Grinning as his mouth dropped, sharp teeth glinting under the flashing lights of reporters' cameras, she continued to stare right at him as she slowly lifted her feet off the ground, curling her spine in a similar manner as she did earlier, and stood in a handstand for a moment before letting her feet fall in a quick back walkover. "See?"

Dusting off her hands, Kae readied herself for her next attack. "Now, let's get this show on the road. I've got a hot date."

They restarted their game of chase, this time with a great sense of urgency between the two students that both impressed and annoyed their spectators. Unbeknownst to the students, recording news networks had increasingly begun to highlight their match with slow motion play by plays for the sake of viewers at home who couldn't keep up with their blazing pace.

Suddenly coming to a stop, Iida held out his palm the same way Kae did at the start of their match. "I'm sorry, Iitoyo," he said with an earnest voice, "but this has gone on for too long." Watching him carefully, Kae's eyes widened dramatically as the boy loudly called out, "Reciproburst!"

"Shit!"

Scrambling to evade, Kae was suddenly swept in Iida's arms once more, his hold on her much tighter than the first time he captured her, and she panicked as she struggled to free herself. The edge of the ring kept coming closer and closer into view and Kae began to scratch and claw at the boy until his grip loosened just enough for her to swing her arm back and aim a heavy knuckled punch right into his temple. Her attack was disorienting enough that Iida let go of her completely and Kae tumbled out of his arms in a series of rolls. Quickly gathering her bearings, she dug the claws of her hands and feet into the ground, leaving behind two sets of deep indentations into the concrete.

Checking her stance and seeing that she was still in the ring, Kae let out a nervous chuckle. "Ha! That was pretty-"

"Kae is out of bounds! Iida advances to the next round!"

"What?!"

"You've stepped out of bounds little kitty," Midnight pointed behind Kae. Right towards the tip of a heavy black tail two inches outside of the bounds. Her jaw dropped, exposing a full set of sharp teeth. Gripped her tail with a look of scandalized betrayal, Kae screamed at her traitorous tail. "No way you gotta be kidding me! I lost because of that tiny technicality?!"

Iida stood and bowed politely. "Thank you for the match Itoyo. It was very educational. I'll be sure to work on my flexibility and agility to continue to improve as a hero!"

"That's totally not what I wanted you to get out of this match..."

The loss of her qualifying match at the sports festival, and Monoma's incessant 'i told you so', was only soothed by the encouraging number of invitations Kae received as a result. 76 invitations to intern at a hero agency was nothing to sniff at, but there was only one agency the cat girl prayed was listed on her sheet. She tore open the list of invitations, eyes hungrily scanning the names on the sheet of paper, searching, searching...

And promptly shrieked.

The entire class jumped out of their seats and turned to the girl with concern, ready to admonish her when she stood up with the pages in her hands held above her head, grinning wildly and with stars in her eyes. "He invited me! He noticed me! I can't believe it!"

Tetsutetsu stared at her open-mouthed, "No way are you serious?!"

"It's Edgeshot! I got an invitation to intern with EDGESHOT!"