A/N: Welcome back everyone! Another chapter for you all. I hope you like this chapter as it was fun to write. I am curious to see what you all think, and if you like her interactions with Bakugo, Kirishima, and Todoroki. Who are you here for? What would you like to see more of? Let me know in the reviews!
Chapter 6: Declarations of War
The two weeks of training fly by and before Katori knows it, she is at the sports festival with her fellow classmates. With the help of Todoroki, Katori feels a little better about going into the sports festival, though they only trained the one night.
With the continued tension of the League of Villains infiltrating the USJ, Katori has been unable to contact her father to help her prepare her Quirk adequately for the sports festival. She only hopes that he is watching her and he is proud of her.
She sits in the waiting room with the rest of the class, settled between Bakugo and Kirishima with Kaminari and Sero sitting next to them as they wait for the festival to begin. Her arms are crossed over her chest and she leans back in her chair with none of them speaking to one another about the day's events.
Katori glances down at the hand shaped scar that paints her forearm, hating that it is visible in her UA gym clothing. She feels as though the scar marks her to appear less desirable to scouts since she is damaged from a vicious attack. Something about the dark red mark makes her feel unconscious about her body. It is a clear indicator that she's had a run in with a villain, and if anyone knows the story, they will know that she returned the act just as viciously.
Her heart drops when Iida launches himself in the room with a crashing of the door and pulls her from her thoughts of the USJ attack. "Everyone!" he calls out to them in his strong class rep voice. "Get your game faces on! We're entering the arena soon!"
Her eyes catch Todoroki as he moves from standing next to their table towards Midoriya and Mineta who are situated in the middle of the room. She notices the hard look in his eyes as he approaches the green-haired boy with his hands dug in his pockets.
"Midoriya," he calls out to the boy with a smooth tone.
"Hey Todoroki, what's up?" the boy returns in a wavering tone.
Bakugo joins Katori in watching the exchange with curious eyes. "From an objective standpoint, I think it's fairly clear that I am stronger than you," he begins with a hard tone of voice that Midoriya simply responds with in agreement. "However, you've got All Might in your corner helping you out." This information makes Midoriya visibly uncomfortable and Katori notices the same, still unsure what the connection is between the two of them. "I am not here to pry about that, but know that I will beat you," he concludes with a threatening tone lingering in his voice.
Katori visibly sneers at this, not liking the tone that Todoroki uses with Midoriya while the rest of her group perks up as well. "What's with all these declarations of war lately?" Kaminari asks in a lighthearted tone.
Kirishima lifts himself from his chair, grabbing for Todoroki's shoulder as he says, "Yeah, what's the big deal? Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? And right before we get started?"
Todoroki shrugs off his hand with a rude harshness, "We are not here to be each other's friends," he says as he begins to walk away. "Don't forget, this isn't a team effort."
"Wait a sec, Todoroki," Midoriya says with a deflated voice. The two-toned boy halts his departure as the boy speaks with him. "I don't know what's going through your head, or why you think you need to tell me you'll beat me. Yeah, of course you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than any of us in the hero course; that's why you got in so easily."
"Midoriya," Kirishima begins with his hands up in surrender, "Maybe you're being a little hard on yourself, and us."
"No," he refutes, "He's right you guys, all the other courses, they're coming for us with all they've got. We're all going to have to fight to stand out." Todoroki turns to Midoriya, and the green-haired boy looks up to him with determined eyes. "And I'll be aiming for the top too."
"Fine," Todoroki presses with gritted teeth.
Katori and Bakugo look away from the exchange, seething in what they just witnessed. Both students know they are among the top to be considered and feared, but with no acknowledgement from Todoroki's threats, they find themselves light up with a passion to show the two-toned boy he is sorely mistaken in choosing Midoriya to declare his vendetta against.
Within a few minutes, the students are lined up and prepared for their entrance in front of the roaring crowd. Katori stands closely to Kirishima, never feeling comfortable in crowds, and hoping that her proximity to the extroverted boy will give her a bit more confidence.
They enter the threshold of the open field as deafening shouts fill the air at their appearance. Katori watches with wide eyes at the vast numbers of people in the crowds, scoffing at the sheer number of people attending the event. She scans the crowd as faces blur into black blobs and outlines of bodies. She wonders if her father managed to sneak in to watch her in person. She knows the idea is foolish, as he would never be reckless enough to surface in a place overrun by pro heroes, but she cannot help but fantasize that he is here as one of the faceless blobs to cheer her on.
All UA first years assemble around the stage where Pro Hero Midnight addresses the crowd as the chief umpire. Katori looks up at the scantily clad hero while the boys around her widen their eyes to the size of dinner plates.
"Ugh, someone should talk to Ms. Midnight about what she's wearing." Kirishima says with a light blush touching his cheeks.
"Yeah, that costume should come with a warning," Kaminari says, sharing the blush.
"Is it really appropriate apparel for a high school game?" Tokoyami criticizes with a drier tone.
Mineta grunts approvingly and Katori smashes her fist in the little pervert's head. She smiles, pleased with herself as Midnight continues her discussion. "Silence everyone!" she says whipping her flogger. "For the student pledge we have Katsuki Bakugo!"
Everyone in the immediate area stiffens or drops their jaws to the floor. Katori watches as the blonde approaches the stage with his hands dug deeply in his pockets. While she hears the students murmur about his credentials in finishing the entrance exam. Everyone waits with baited breath as the blonde takes to the stairs of the stage, approaching the microphone with little enthusiasm in his stride.
"I just wanna say, I'm gonna win," he says apathetically as the crowds begin erupting in boos and verbal jeers.
"Why are you being disrespectful!" Iida waves wildly at the boy, "You're representing us all!"
"Not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory," he deadpans as he departs the stage with no satisfaction or smugness painted on his face. She finds this curious as he is normally arrogant in his expressions and demeanor, but it is clear that he is not teasing any of them here; he means his words and he is taking this very seriously.
Their attentions turn to Midnight as she explains they will be competing in a race for their first course. She figures Iida will be a helpful person to be around, as well as Bakugo or Todoroki with their powers to blast herself through the air. She works on strategically placing herself near them as they begin to line up around the doorway of the starting line. She ties her hair back in a tight bun, knowing that her hair is her tell for when she is using a Quirk, so if they are unable to see she has possession of a Quirk, she will remain a formidable wildcard to everyone.
Midnight's voice bellows out their command to begin the race, as students begin rushing towards the entrance of the doorway. Katori is quickly crushed in the various bodies that force themselves into the hallway of the door. She realizes this is the first obstacle of the course, and she will have to figure out a way to get out of the masses of bodies that crush up against her.
She notices she begins sinking into the overwhelming crowd as her small frame collapses under the trampling of the hordes of students. She feels a hard hand grab at the collar of her shirt, pulling her back to the surface of the sea of bodies. She looks back to see the sharp-toothed smile of Kirishima, giving her a supportive smirk. She smiles back at him, knowing that he did not have to help her, and could have allowed her to be trampled by the rest of the students. She would have been one less person for him to worry about, but that is just not in his nature.
Katori finds Todoroki just before her and sees the skin of his right arm freezing as he begins his attack. She reaches out for his arm, gripping it and feeling the painful freeze of his touch. He turns back to her and she instantly catches his eyes.
"Lift me up!" she commands Kirishima and he hoists her up over the crowd without hesitation. She stands on some student's shoulders she doesn't know and uses Todoroki's fire to blast her into the air. She holds onto Kirishima with her free hand and launches him as hard as she can to the front of the line. He cries out with a triumphant laugh as he flies to the first-place spot.
Katori uses Todoroki's fire to blast her past the crowds below her, catching the rigid gaze of Bakugo who watches her with hard-pressed eyes from the crowd below. "Try to keep up, Bakugo!" she teases him as his eyes turn white with rage.
"You Copy-Paste bastard!" she hears his roar echo in the hallway as she is launched past him.
Todoroki is quick to freeze the rest of the students in the doorway, feeling his heart race at Katori's sneaky use of his Quirk, and wanting to crush her with the rest of the students.
"That was so manly!" Kirishima laughs triumphantly as Katori lands next to him. "Well, I mean… it was manly and womanly… in like a good way…" he staggers on his choice of words and she giggles at him with her eyes closed and fingertips touching her lips.
"That was 'thank you' for saving my ass," she tells him kindly. "And this is 'I'm sorry'," she says with upturned brows, quickly turning to him and freezing his feet to the ground.
"Hey!" he calls out with wide eyes as she gains footing on him.
"Good luck!" she shouts back at him as she continues to press forward and gain the lead.
Her eyes begin to water and she groans as she begins losing her power over Todoroki's Quirk. She inevitably closes her eyes and loses his power. She looks back to see Todoroki gaining footing on her. She turns back to look in front of her when she quickly falls back, tumbling to her butt as she tries to avoid hitting a colossal robot that looms over her. She quickly jumps to her feet and stands next to Todoroki who looks at the robots with the same wide calculating eyes as he considers his next move against the metal foes.
"So, this is what the other students' faced in their entrance exams," he says thinking more to himself than speaking with her. "You should stand back, and jump when I tell you," he commands her and she complies without another word. He tightens his form and launches an icy attack towards the robots. "Now!" he calls out to her and she jumps into the air as the area freezes over.
She looks up at the robots, seeing them frozen solid with one swift attack. She gasps at the sheer size of his attack and the power that he holds over his Quirk. He begins to run between the legs of the robot and she quickly follows. "Careful now, I froze them while they were off their balance… on purpose."
Katori quickens her pace at this, feeling the breeze of the robots falling only yards behind her, while she glances back to see Kirishima being crushed under the rubble. Her eyes widen as she considers going back for him, but she knows that if anyone were to survive that collapse, it would be him.
He looks back at her, seeing that she is following him on his heels. "This is not a team effort," he tells her with a harsh tone. "I am not here to help you."
She tightens her jaw at his sudden unforgiving tone, wondering what has gotten into him with his comments to Midoriya and now her. "I'm not here to help you either, Todoroki," she calls out to him using his fire to launch herself past him. "That's why I tied back my hair!" she says with a wide smile as she takes the lead.
"That's Katori Satsuma taking the lead, everyone!" she hears Present Mike announce her. "She does not have your average copy Quirk! Using her eyes to gain control of another's Quirk, she is able to handle up to three powers all at once!"
Katori pushes forward, glad that she spent most of the two weeks of her training running and building up her stamina. She approaches the next obstacle to see huge canyons in the earth connected together with rope bridges. She is quick to move, creating a large ice slide that she effortlessly skates on to the other side. She turns around, melting the sculpture as she notices Todoroki using it to cross. He is quick to recover, freezing the ropes and skating on them to the other side. He sneers at her tricky moves, and she is able to close her eyes and quickly reclaim his Quirk.
Her eyes widen when she looks behind Todoroki to notice that Bakugo has finally fueled himself enough to join the party. She quickly grabs his Quirk for her own, and begins launching herself into the air with explosions igniting from her palms. "That's my move you damn nerd!" she barely hears him over the sound of blasts.
Katori turns when she notices the field of mines and explosions before her. She pants from fatigue as her purple eyes dart between each mine. She can clearly see them buried in the ground when she looks for them, but trying to launch herself over this field is not her safest bet since she will not be able to aim a precise landing.
Todoroki joins her, panting wildly as his two-toned eyes search the field with the same worry as hers. They listen to Present Mike explain the minefield to everyone watching as the two students begin to carefully walk between the mines. Neither of them is interested in launching themselves in the air and risking a potential hit from the mines, and with the lead they have over the others, they decide to work carefully.
Katori closes her eyes more often since she has no need for using Todoroki's Quirk. He watches her carefully, seeing the bloodshot in her eyes and wonders why she is working so hard to get in first place. She does not have anyone in the stands shoving their Number One Hero ideals down her throat, so why is she making it so difficult for him?
They both jump at the sounds of blasts approaching them as their heads shoot over simultaneously to see the approaching explosions of a red-hot blonde flying towards them with a vicious speed. "He cannot seriously be stupid enough to think he can launch himself into here without getting hurt," Katori says with wide eyes.
"Seems like he is," Todoroki grunts.
"It's over!" the wild boy calls out as he blasts himself between the two students. "Bastard!" he calls out turning towards Todoroki, "Your declaration for war was to the wrong person!" he cries out as he pushes an attack straight at the two-toned boy.
Katori jumps back from the tremors of the blast, covering her face as lifting debris gets into her eyes. Tears begin building in her eyes as she tries desperately to wipe them and get back into the fight. She looks up, seeing blasts of explosions and shards of ice being shot between the two sparring boys as they quickly forget about her.
She growls as she pushes forward, eyes still watering from Bakugo's attack to be able to effectively grab a Quirk and compete. She begins jumping between free spots in the ground as she attempts to gain faster footing on the others, but knowing that she does not have a chance to beat Todoroki or Bakugo unless they end up taking one another out for her.
She hears an earth-shattering explosion that rocks the area behind her, and she looks up with wide eyes as she sees Midoriya flying above them on a piece of scrap metal from the robots before. She watches frozen as the green-haired boy cries out wildly while he is flung above them all. She wonders what his plan was for landing, or if he even had one.
Bakugo begins launching himself towards the finish line while Todoroki creates an ice path to catch up with the two boys. She begins running towards Todoroki's ice path, using it to her advantage as she runs after the three boys with a chance of reaching the finish line before them.
She runs as fast as she can, knowing that she is faster than both Bakugo and Todoroki in a standard run. She pushes herself as fast as her body will take her, feeling the ache in her side as she continues to run with painful force. She watches as Midoriya begins his landing, and notices that he will not make the end of the mine field as he may have intended. She smiles to herself, figuring that he will blow himself along with the two boys, and she will gain the lead.
Katori runs faster, pressing herself with a quicker pace at the excitement of winning this thing when Midoriya grabs onto the scrap metal and hurls it to the ground between the two boys, forcing an explosion between them and flinging him out of the mine zone. She watches with wide incredulous eyes at how he is so quick to knock his friends out of the race so viciously.
Todoroki and Bakugo are quick to recover and she is able to catch up to them. She glances at Bakugo, grabbing hold of his explosions as she uses them to push herself at the final stretch of the race. They all fly through the threshold of the final doorway together.
"Woah that was a close one for the second place holder! Let's take it to the slow-motion cam to review!" Present Mike says as the three of them pant and hold their sides from the pain of overexerting themselves. She looks up at the camera through her lashes as she remains doubled over holding her knees. To her dissatisfaction, there is clear space between Bakugo and Katori to Todoroki as the two-toned boy snags second place.
She squints her eyes to see as they zoom in that Bakugo managed to push past the threshold just a hair before she did. She looks at him with a dissatisfied look on her face knowing that she lost to both of them.
Katori's heart is still beating wildly as Midnight goes over the scores of the previous round, trying to keep herself from visibly frowning from the results. She knows the importance of smiling and appearing to be unbothered by anything. Every good hero smiles at the worst circumstances, and that is what the pro agencies are looking for.
They all listen in on the scoring and Katori almost doubles over with wild laughter when she finds out that because he came in first place, Midoriya is worth ten million points. She finds the sweet justice in this and cannot help but smile now.
They are dismissed to pick their teams and Katori wonders who she will want to be on her team. A part of her thinks about being on Midoriya's team, eager to have a little bit of a challenge, but worries that she will not advance to the next round if they are targeted so quickly.
She glances over at Todoroki, figuring that he will not approach her, but when she looks over at him, she notices that he has already chosen his partners. Her heart races as she has to find someone who is willing to partner with her. She knows that a lot of people will not want to partner with her since she is just a copy of an existing Quirk, and does not add any additional support, let alone draining the Quirks of her teammates if she cannot manage to look onto the other teams for support.
She groans as her eyes meet Bakugo's, wanting anyone but him to be on her team. She cannot deny his drive to win, but he is selfish, and being on his team will not allow her a moment to shine above him.
Hordes of her classmates pile around Bakugo as they beg for him to pick them for his team. She shakes her head, knowing that they only ask him so they can ride his fame into the next round. They try desperately to pitch themselves to the blonde while he drowns in their words. Panic begins settling into the pit of his chest as he suddenly becomes the center of attention. He grows hotter and angrier until his eyes reach hers.
His lips turn upwards as Kirishima speaks to him and he begins his approach towards her. She exhales as she sees the intent in his stride, knowing that he wants her on his team, and she is in no position to argue. "Copy-Paste, you're with us," he says with a flat tone.
"That so?" she asks in a condescending tone as she turns to him. "What's in it for me?"
"I don't kick your ass!" he returns with aggression in his tone as the whites of his eyes take over his vision.
She scoffs at his hostile tone, "I don't know, I feel like you can sweeten that deal a bit more."
"Ah come on Katori," Kirishima begins. "Join us and let's kick some ass!"
"You don't really have anyone else clawing at you," Bakugo points out with a cock of his head.
She glances over at Bakugo, "You realize that if I am on your team, we will have to fight one another in the one-on-one battles in the final round?"
A sinister smile creeps up the right side of his lips as his face his shadowed by his hair. "Oh, I am counting on it, Copy-Paste!"