"IZUKU MIDORIYA PLACES FIRST IN THE OBSTACLE COURSE!"
Cheering erupted from the stadium from the majority of the spectators while Midoriya looked around, smiling nervously trying not to focus on the dying surge of adrenaline.
His eyes skirted over Endeavour, the world's number two hero who was standing in one of the specators stands, looking unseemingly unamused. Midoriya never had liked the man, he was in many ways the opposite of All Might despite his number two position.
Beside the flame hero was a scrawnier man who looked equally unamused, though his eyes seemed to bore into the soul of whoever locked gazes with him, causing Midoriya's hand to twitch. 'Odd.'
He continued looking around until he found what he was looking for, the teachers stand. His smile became more certain as he saw his mentor, applauding with the rest of the staff.
After that, he had took a seat on the grass near where Miss Midnight was set-up, ready for when she had to announce the second event. After a couple moments, Todoroki sprinted into the stadium, followed a moment later by a green-haired girl who was violently batting away at a fire on her plant like hair.
The likely cause of the flame burst out a moment later, Bakugou radiating so much rage Midoriya didn't even need his empathy for the headache to set in. 'Guess I set him back further than I thought….'
More and more people came through but Midoriya busied himself with the laces of his shoes, trying not to look in Bakugou's direction for all the negative emotion he was projecting.
His attention turned to Todoroki, who stared right at the greenette with his emotionless eyes. As Midoriya was finding out though, unlike Bakugou Todoroki didn't struggle to hide how he felt.
Disappointment, anger, annoyance….self-loathing? And something else….
"Todo-" Was as far as Midoriya could get, considering asking then and there when the hetrochromatic teen turned and walked away. "-Roki…..Why…..is there so much pain?"
Midoriya sighed, and turned his attention to the voice shouting on him. "DEKU! THAT WAS AMAZING!"
He smiled as he saw Uraraka running towards him. At least she wouldn't set off his new power.
New power…..He really hoped there would be a break in the competition before the next event. Just what was that before the race?
"It….wasn't anything special. I just put everything I had and did what I did best…." Midoriya said, shrugging it off. Just behind Uraraka, who was sitting down on the grass herself now trying to recatch her breathe, Iida stood muttering something to himself, looking defeated.
Beside the blue haired teen, Jirou and Hagakure were walking towards them, similarly tired out.
"God that was intense…." Hagakure muttered as she crashed into the floor next to Uraraka. "People really started getting vicious once you finished Midori….."
"Speaking of…..Good going dude." Jirou added, clutching her knees but smiling none-the-less. "Guess…the whole abbey thing was good for something after all, you made half of us look like wusses when you dived into that pit."
Midoriya was just silent, smiling at his friends praise. Unfortunately, as was becoming a pattern in the boy's life, nothing was simple and something was always bad.
Even setting the Todoroki situation aside, despite how much it was starting to bug him, His hand ached, and he was really starting to worry. Every time his hand was hurting, without being used, something bad inevitably happened. Usually to do with magic. So why was it so irriating right now?
'Maybe I should try to sneak away and talk to the outsider befor-'
"The first game for the first years is finally over and what a game it was!" Midnight suddenly announced, pulling the teen out of his thoughts as he turned to the woman, a frown forming on his face. '-Before that. Crap.' "Now let's take a quick look at the standings, shall we?"
The screen behind Midnight flashed up with a picture of Midoriya, a green number one emblazoned behind him. Next was Todoroki, showing his number two spot. Then the green haired girl, who turned out to be called shiozaki had managed to place third, Bakugou then came in fourth.
Midoriya then tuned out for most of the rankings, only concerned with his friends. Iida placed 6th, Uraraka came in another ten places behind, Jirou placed just behind her. Hagakure was the last of his friends to come up on the list, placing 37th.
"Only the first fourty two who have made it will proceed in the tournament, but don't feel too bad if you were just a little too slow. We still have other opportunities for you to shine." Midnight announced and Midoriya looked around.
Every single member of his class was still in the running, and as such was also still capable of taking him OUT of the running. His eyes settled on the two real threats.
Todoroki the greenette only lingered on, his emotions still the same as he absorbed what the teacher was saying.
Bakugou on the other hand had calmed down enough that the rage wasn't the only thing the marked boy's empathy picked out, though it was certainly the most prominent emotion. Amidst it though was a disappointment as expected, and even more self-loathing though the boy could guess exactly what that was about with the blonde.
To publicly lose to anyone, especially Midoriya would drive the explosive teen mad, and as a result he was going to be out for blood, even more than usual. There was one emotion though that had truly caught the greenette off-guard, or rather the lack of the emotion.
It was closest to lonliness but it was more…..hollow, non-descript…..empty. It was a feeling of emptiness. Why was Bakugou of all people feeling that?
"It's time for the second event now! The chance to fully move into the limelight, to prove yourself to those before you, give it all you have and then some students! Now, lets see whats up next!"
The wheel from before appeared spinning on screen once more. The students held their breathe, Midoriya's eyes narrowed, ready for whatever was about to pop up.
"CAVALRY BATTLE!"
…..Shit. Teamwork based event.
"Wait how is that gonna work?" Mina questioned from nearby.
"Allow me to explain. The participants will form teams of two to four people as they see fit. It's more or less the same as a normal game."
"Ok so it's probably not to bad if you can get to your friends first. This should be fine-" Midoriya began to mutter before Midnight continued, catching him off guard.
"Each player will be wearing a headband that holds a point value on it. These points are decided by your ranking in the exam, naturally, 1st place has the highest score."
"I need to learn to keep my mouth shut." The magic teen groaned, face palming as all eyes turned to him. "At least the point value can't be that bad-"
"The point value's start in increments of fives, starting from the bottom. For example 42nd place is worth five points, and 41st is worth ten. Oh and the first place student? Ten million points."
All eyes were definitely on him now. Sweat dripped down his neck and he had but one thing to say. "WHY DID I OPEN MY MOUTH AGAIN?!"
'You'd never be able to hang with the best of the best!'
Bakugou's words, from what felt like a long time ago played through Midoriya's head as people started to disband, getting ready for the event. In the corner of his eye, he could see Jirou and Hagakure playing rock paper scissors to decide something.
'I'm here now, with everything I could want. Still, even with everything, I've got a target on my back. Is that really what my fate in this world is supposed to be? A target?'
He saw Uraraka and Jirou making their way towards him and he decided one thing, here and now.
'Target or not, I can't go down easy. In this cavalry battle, the reasons are superficial but….I got to make sure no matter what, I'll always get up. I need to be ready to take every hit the world has and give it back without flinching.'
"I just need one person, and I'm good." He muttered as he looked around. Of course, having more than one partener would be ideal but if what he had in mind would work, he only needed someone who could support his body weight and move fast enough to catch him from a fall.
He had tried to find a few partners already, but they had all refused. It wasn't surprising, no one cared about their own headbands with a much higher value one in play. Still he struggled not to grin at that attitude.
"Deku, we should team up!" Uraraka said, beaming. Jirou nodded as well beside her but remained wordless.
"You sure? These ten million points are gonna be targeted, it's gonna be annoying as heck." He asked, as looked arounf the field.
"I'm sure, with your strategy skills and all our more tactical quirks, not to mention your range with your Far Reach and I think we can really have a shot of taking this." Uraraka said confidently, fist pumping.
"I can keep people away from us with my earjacks. There fast and precise enough, it's a bit like a set of bee's stinging you, just without any venom. Annoying, and will make them move which gives us distractions we may need. Not to mention I can steal some" Jirou said, crossing her arms and Midoriya nodded.
"Yeah, that will be useful. Do you think you'll be able to deal with holding me up? I have a plan but I need to be the rider for it to work…." Midoriya asked as he looked at his marked hand.
The plan was both smart and yet stupid, reckless and if it failed would be a total disaster. It was patened Midoriya.
"I think we can manage, especially If I can manage to nullify your gravity." Uraraka said confidently and Midoriya smirked.
"Then I think we can all agree our team needs just one more person. I trust you guys with most of what I'll need but we need someone who can catch me almost definitely from the air….." Midoriya muttered and the two girls looked at him questiongly. "Fortunately I know exactly who to ask!"
"No."
Midoriya gaped at Iida, so sure the taller teen would have been his beacon of hope.
"Please don't think this is personal, Midoriya. You're a great friend, but if I continue to just follow you, I'll never get stronger." Iida explained, re-adjusting his glasses. "They may have been the ones to outright challenge you, but they aren't the only ones who see you as a rival. All I can promise is I'll do my best to beat you."
With that, the engine quirk wielder walked off towards Todoroki's team.
"Well that fell flat." Jirou muttered and Uraraka nodded. "That's not your whole plan collapsed now is it?"
"No…..Just a small setback." Midoriya said, shaking his head. He looked past the girls where not to far away Tokoyami stood brooding. "I did have….one other idea."
Midoriya cut past the two of them, walking towards the bird teen. Tokoyami seemed to sense his approach as his eyes flew open and he turned to look at the greenette questioningly.
"I have a plan to win, if you'll join me."
"Intresting, and what would my role be? What is this plan?"
Midoriya explained and the bird boy's eyes seemed to shine with comprehension as the marked teen got further into his explaintion.
"So, you need me to use Dark Shadow, both to defend the team and to serve as a a catcher?" Tokoyami questioned and the greenette nodded. A smirk passed the darker teen's beak. "Intresting. Most would propose I use Dark Shadow primarly as an offense. Unbeknowst to them, Dark Shadow's skill is not in offensive capability during the day. The more light around, the less power he has. You can't have possibly known this and yet, now in the middle of the day when he would be weakest, you proposed the correct call of tactical and defensive use. Alright then, count me in."
Midoriya grinned as Tokoyami made his way towards the girls. However it faltered for a moment as his hand suddenly ached. He looked around, for any cause yet found nothing.
His eyes did set upon Endeavour though, and the man beside him. The man seemed to be grinning which set him on edge but he ignored it, turning and walking to his team.
He must be getting paranoid after all these incidents.