i should've stayed in bed.
「私はベッドにいるべきだった。」
Waiting Room 1-A. A room that only consisted of locker-lining walls and four big grey tables. The only liveliness in the room were the twenty students that sat at the tables. All students were in their Yuuei tracksuits, all dressed for the occasion of the Sports Festival. Countless days of training just for this day all of the Yuuei Academy classes had endured.
And, how were they spending their time now, after such training? Why, talking about yaoi manga!
"So, that basically wraps up the first two volumes." Akagawa concluded, seated at the table with Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, Bakugou, and Todoroki. Todoroki sat at the table by chance, being antisocial and whatnot, but despite the new addition Akagawa didn't cease talking about his rather comfortable topics.
"Honestly, that sounded like a good plot." Kaminari said.
"I know, right?" Akagawa giggled. Suddenly, Iida slamming the front door of the waiting room open silenced all students in said waiting room. Akagawa deadpanned, wondering why Iida left the room just to come back in, yet again. "Will you quit doing that?" Seriously, sometimes he wished Midoriya stayed Class Representative.
"The event will be starting soon!" Iida announced as if they couldn't tell by the giant flat screen mounted on the wall that showed a countdown to when the Sports Festival began. Akagawa glanced around and saw his classmates with either two expressions. Nervous or ready to haul ass.
Akagawa watched Todoroki leave their table, him and Sero the only ones noticing as the rest of their tablemates had a conversation about Iida's antics. They watched Todoroki approach a student sitting down at one of the tables.
"Todoroki? What it is?" Midoriya's words gathered the attention of the class. Perhaps due to the fact that his voice sounded wimpy, or because Todoroki was about to say something. Todoroki, being antisocial yet uncaring at the same time, seemed to get everyone's attention when he occasionally does choose to speak.
Everyone looked inbetween Todoroki to Midoriya with tension. Uraraka grew nervous for Midoriya. Akagawa caught a glimpse of intrigue on Bakugou, however. Akagawa felt the same.
"Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you." Todoroki opened with, already thickening the tension of the conversation. Midoriya was thoroughly caught off guard.
"Huh?" Midoriya then gave a defeated nod. "Y-Yeah..."
"But... All Might has his eye on you, doesn't he? I'm not trying to pry about that," Midoriya gave a shocked grunt. "But I'm going to beat you."
"Oh? Is the best in the class making a declaration of war?" Kaminari smiled despite the concern laced on his face.
"Hey, hey, hey!" Kirishima advanced toward Todoroki, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden?"
"Yeah, calm down, ladies," Akagawa called. "the event starts in just a few minutes. Why don't we use our skills as our words of threat?" Akagawa smiled slyly, making all watching uneasy.
"We're not here to play at being friends." Todoroki stated, shoving Kirishima's hand off his shoulder. "So what does it matter?" He asked rhetorically before walking away.
"Todoroki, I dont know what you're thinking when you say you'll beat me," Midoriya's voice made Todoroki halt before the door. "but of course you're better than me. I think you're most capable. Looking at it objectively..."
"Midoriya, you probably shouldn't talk to negatively!" Kirishima gave a nervous grin.
"No, Kiri, he's onto somethin'." Akagawa commented.
"But, everyone... the students from the other courses are aiming for the top with everything they've got! I can't afford to fall behind." Midoriya gave a narrowed expression toward Todoroki. "I'll be going for it with everything I have, too."
"Yeah." Todoroki agreed.
"Huh." Akagawa said with intrigue as Bakugou merely gave a small "tch". "Leave it to Midori to turn tension into inspiration! Yup, I think this event might be more fun than I thought! Hey, anyone wanna place bets on who wins? I love gambling! Woohoo!"
"Nothing surprises me with you anymore." Kirishika sweatdropped with a defeated look. Akagawa only giggled giddily in response.
It was then that the flatscreen blasted on with the live broadcast from the stadium studio, pro hero and commentator Present Mic appearing on the screen with Class 1-A homeroom teacher, Eraser Head, at his side.
"Hey! Pay attention, audience! Swarm, mass media! This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love, the Yuuei Sports Festival, is about to begin, everybody! Are you ready!?"
That was their cue to leave the waiting rooms and head down to the arena as a class.
"It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!" Present Mic exclaimed shortly after Class 1-A came through their designated tunnels and out onto the field where they would be displayed to the massive audience and live cameras. Even the pro heroes in their VIP boxes. Not to mention any evildoer watchers.
"The Yuuei Sports Festival! The huge battle where fledgling heroes sharpen their swords once a year! Anyway, these are the guys, right? The miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course, Class 1-A, right!?" The audience charter loudly as the class walked through the field.
Midoriya shook. "Th-Th-There are so many people..."
"Will we be able to give our best performance being watched by so many people?" Iida questioned in awe. "This is also part of the training required to be a hero."
"Man, he's going overboard with that praise! I'm getting nervous!" Kirishima griped. "Aren't you, Bakugou?"
Bakugou looked up to reveal a wide grin. "No, I'm just getting more into it."
"Yeah," Akagawa chuckled. "I can't wait to give them a real show, like nothing they've ever seen before!"
"These two scare me more than the amount of people watching us right now." Kaminari grimaced at their smiles.
"They haven't been getting as much airtime, but this class is also full of talent!" Present Mic introduced another class that entered the field. "Hero course, Class 1-B!" He introduced as all classes B-K entered the field, all with their respective courses. General studies, support, and business classes and stood on the field with the hero classes until all first year classes had asembled.
All classes made their way to the middle of the field in front of a giant stage where the pro hero Midnight was waiting for them. The classes did their best to stay in a huddle.
"Time for the player pledge!" Midnight announced.
"What is Midnight Sensei wearing?" Kirishima blushed, as well as all males that were into that kinda thing. A tight bodysuit and more than one piece to let her chest breathe. And breathe, it did. Even some of the girls flushed for the outfit, too.
"That's an R-rated hero for you." Kirishima gulped.
"Is it okay for her to be at a high school even though she's R-rated?" Tokoyami inquired.
"Yeah, what the fuck is she doing here? Actually, what even is her Quirk? Is it, like... sexual, like her—" Akagawa trailed.
"Quiet, everyone! Representing the students is Bakugou Katsuki from Class 1-A!" The entire class glanced at Bakugou with "oh no" faces, all the while Bakugou looked uninterested as he walked up to the stage.
"It's Kacchan?" Midoriya breathed.
"But, Deku is class representative." Uraraka commented.
"Bakugou did finish first in the entrance exam." Sero shrugged.
"Yeah, show 'em whose number one, Blasty!" Akagawa shouted after Bakugou.
"Akagawa, you're gonna make it worse!" Kaminari whisper-yelled.
A female from the general studies class sighed loudly and glared at Class 1-A. "In the hero course."
"Y-Yeah..." Midoriya trailed after seeing her glare at him.
"It's obvious she hates us." Sero winced.
"And it's all Bakugou's fault." Kaminari says.
"You do realize that she probably would hate us even if Bakugou didn't say shit, right? She probably hates us because lady luck gave us heroic Quirks and not her." Akagawa crossed his arms. "They're just as capable as anyone else if Quirks aren't involved, but since this event relies on Quirk-oriented advantages, they're naturally gonna be pissed about participating with offensive Quirks like ours."
"As much of a fool as Bakugou is, Akagawa is right." Todoroki agreed. "We can't help what we were given. All we can do is use it to its fullest extent."
Akagawa smirked, making that of a cat face, and hovered beside Todoroki. "He agreed with me—"
"Do not speak." Todoroki demanded.
"I just wanna say," Bakugou's voice boomed through the microphone, letting everyone hear him loud and clearly. "I'm gonna win."
About the entirety of Class 1-A shouted in disapproval. "I knew he'd do that!"
Not only that, but the other classes boo'd him as well. Even a lot of the audience disliked how conceited he made himself out to be, and for good reason. He did sound like a jackass.
"Why are you doing something so disgraceful!?" Iida scolded, waving his arm around in his signature disapproving motion.
"At least become a nice bouncy step for me to jump off." Bakugou said, giving a thumbs down.
"How overconfident can you get? I'll crush you!" The silver-haired kid from Class 1-B shouted in anger. Bakugou walked back to his spot whilst ignoring Iida's lectures and bumping shoulders with Midoriya. Akagawa hummed as Bakugou stood beside him again, his hands shoved in his pockets and an emotionless expression as he glanced at Akagawa.
"What?" he demanded.
"Why do you want people to hate you so badly?"
"Shut up." Bakugou demanded. "I hope we get put against each other. Then I'll show you how serious I was when I said I'd make your life hell."
Akagawa chuckled. "Looking forward to it."
"Now, let's get started right away." Midnight started as the monitors displayed the First Game sequence. "The first game is what you call a qualifier! Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game!"
As she waved her whip in the air, a giant monitor clicked on behind her, which was previously just a transparent plane of glass. Now it showed a spinning wheel that seemed to pick a first game by chance. A click sounded as the spinner landed on something.
"...This!"
"An obstacle course race." Midoriya breathed.
"All eleven classes will participate in this race. This course will be the outer circumference of the stadium - about four kilometers! Our school's selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do! Now, take your places everyone!"
The classes all darted off toward the gate, all jumbling together into one clusterfuck of Yuuei students. Now, as everyone else ran to their little legs content, the select few like Akagawa said "screw that" and used their Quirks to do the distance closing for them. Akagawa used his Quirk to make a flat surface of energy to ride on. Much like that of surfing, the waves were the students and Akagawa was a stylish surfer.
"Okay, here's the play-by-play!" They could all hear the voice of Present Mic through the stadium speakers. "Are you ready to do the commentary, Mummy Man?"
"You're the one who forced me to come." Aizawa Sensei's ever-so-enthusiastic voice responded.
"Let's get started right away, Mummy Man. What should we pay attention to in the early stages?"
"This part right now."
Yet their voices were completely drowned by inside the tunnel by the students. They were jammed tight and rowdy, pushing one another and trampling those that made so much as a slow step. Akagawa was glad that he could fly above the crowd, although it was difficult. He had to leave the tunnel quick if he wanted to maintain energy for whatever is ahead of them.
"Hey! Hey!"
"This is too narrow!"
"Hey, move!
"Oh, they exploded." Akagawa said to himself as he watched the students below erupt into an icy blue explosion. Akagawa could feel the overwhelming cold that came with it. Everyone below Akagawa was frozen stiff inside the ice. They will not be moving unless they have some sort of Quirk that could get rid of the ice.
"It's freezing over, I can't move!"
"So cold!"
"Outta the way! I can't get it off!"
Akagawa noticed none other than Todoroki run straight through the ice. Since Todoroki was confident no one would catch up for a bit, he was easier to get to Akagawa smiled and glided toward him, letting himself hover just beside Todoroki.
"That was a bit mean, wasn't it?" Akagawa chuckled when he saw Todoroki's dissatisfied expression to seeing the redhead beside him.
"Take that!" Bakugou's voice broke the two's attention off one another and instead behind them, where Bakugou soared through the air on explosions, a select few of more students behind him. Yaoyorozu with something she created, Aoyama and his laser, and Kirishima with his Quirk activated.
"Great, the gang's all here!" Akagawa shouted, giving them a wave and wide grin.
"Naive, Todoroki!" Yaoyorozu shouted.
"I won't let you two get away so easily, Half n' Half, Vampire, Bastards!" Bakugou created two rocket-resembling explosions at his hands to propel himself toward the two.
"Oh, shit." Akagawa went to the very top of the tunnel.
"You got me with that once!" Ojirou shouted from behind, him and a few others also making their way through the icy hell that Todoroki had created.
"More people outside of Class A were able to dodge that than expected..." Todoroki muttered, seeing Midoriya, Uraraka, Ashido, and the purple-haired kid being carried by his classmates as if he was their savior or something.
"Okay, them carrying him is just plain weird- ah, motherfu-!" Akagawa shouted as something knocked him off his board. It felt like metal, but what? Akagawa landed on his feet with his knees bent, the board evaporating into red particles before vanishing completely. Akagawa was too caught up looking behind him that he hadn't realized that this was the end of the tunnel, and was awaited them outside of it were the same giant faux villains from the entrance exams.
Akagawa smirked. "That means the ones who took the entrance exam have an advantage here! Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, are at a disadvantage! Perfect!"
"Akagawa!" Midoriya shouted after the redhead, clueing him in that the faux villain was getting ready for another attack on him.
"Target found... lots!" The robot called.
"Fuck!" Akagawa shouted as his did his best to dodge the attack that was sent flying at him.
"Ah, uh, let's not forget that children are watching, participants! Now, obstacles have shown up suddenly!" Present Mic announced. "Starting with... the first barrier! Robotic Inferno!"
Everyone stopped in their tracks as they saw the faux villains approach, creating dust at their rolling feet. There were three of them, and they were huge. They looked bigger compared to the entrance exam. Then again, they were worth zero points in the entrance exam, so they were avoided. Yet, here, they were completely unavoidable. Or so they want them to think.
The faux villains began to engage onto the closest, Todoroki, by slamming its hand down onto him. Todoroki put ice onto his feet at the ground, extending his hand to reveal ice forming at his fingertips and down his arm.
"If they went through all this trouble, I wish they would've prepared something better." Todoroki growled, putting his hand on the ice to expand it. He glided on the ice underneath the robot hand, leaving a trail of the coldness with his speed and distance, until he finally stopped and swished his arm up to create a barrier of ice that travelled from the hand of the robot to the entire thing, completely freezing it over.
"He froze them!"
"Between their legs, we can get through!"
"I wouldn't if I were you," Todoroki called from in front. The ice around the robot began cracking and the robot began leaning. "I frozen them while they were unbalanced. They'll fall over."
Sure enough, the robot fell over.
"Todoroki from Class 1-A! He attacked and defended in one hit! How elegant!" It sounds like Present Mic slammed his hands on some surface. "Amazing! He's the first one through! It's, you know, practically unfair!"
"His actions are logical and strategic." Aizawa interjected.
"As expected of someone who got in through recommendations! He'd never fought them before, but those Robo Infernos couldn't get past his elite moves!"
"That easy baked oven bitch!" Akagawa shouted as the other robot villains made their way to the front, ignoring Aizawa telling him to watch his language over the speakers.
"Hey, someone's trapped underneath!"
"Wouldn't that kill them?"
"Will people die at this Sports Festival!?"
Suddenly, the ice cracked until a body popped out, screaming wildly. "Like I'd die!" Kirishima had his Quirk activated.
"Kirishima from Class 1-A was underneath! That's crazy!" Present Mic shouted.
"That bastard, Todoroki! He timed it on purpose so it's be right when they fell. If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!"
Suddenly, someone else erupted from underneath. "That Class A…" out popped the silver dude. "...is really filled with bastards!"
"Tetsutetsu from Class B was also underneath! That's crazy!"
"If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!" Tetsutetsu exclaimed. His Quirk turned his body into steel, much like Kirishima's hardening Quirk.
"Deja vu." Akagawa shuddered.
"Our Quirks are pretty much the same!?" Kirishima cried. "I have a hard enough time standing out as it is!"
"Wait, you little-!" Tetsutetsu shouted, catching up to Kirishima as they both bolted through the obstacles.
"Those guys are lucky…" Kaminari trailed. "They can get through without being afraid of getting crushed."
"Anyway, let's work together for now to clear a path!" someone shouted. Suddenly, explosions rang out and Bakugou blasted his way to the tace of one of the Robo Infernos. He evaded its punches and soared through its backside.
"Class 1-A's Bakugou! Since the bottom's blocked, he goes overhead! Clever!" Present Mic announced.
"You seem like the type to plow straight through," Sero exclaimed, going above Bakugou with his tape. "but you can go around when you need to, huh?"
"I'm going to hitch a ride!" Tokoyami shouted, being beside Sero.
"Hey, that's a good idea!" Akagawa smirked and made an energy rope. He latched it onto the villain's head and pushed himself into the air using his adrenaline, and using the rope to throw himself over until he was overhead like Sero and Tokoyami.
"Heya, Blasty!" Akagawa waved, only making Bakugou scowl more. Present Mic explained all of their Quirks as they came onto the screen. Bakugou jumped down with the three on his tail with him. The crowd was going wild.
"Hey, hey! The first barrier's a piece of cake? Then what about the second?" Present Mic inquired as they got to the second barrier, a giant pit. "If you fall, you're out! If you don't wanna fall, then crawl! It's "The Fall"!"
It was mountains of small flat ground, and connected by thin rope. The distance of it must've been something along the lines of nine - no, ten, football fields.
"When did they build this stage?" Uraraka gasped as Asui kneeled beside her. "Tsu?"
"Ribbit!" Asui exclaimed as she jumped across, landing on the thin rope and climbing across without much effort at all. Then there was an insane chick from the support class that used her gadgets to get ahead.
"A lot of different people are working hard for their chance, huh, Eraser Head?" Present Mic inquired.
"What are you idiots waiting for?" Aizawa groaned.
Todoroki used his ice to glide across the rope, Bakugou used his explosions, and of course Akagawa just drifted across on yet another platform. Hey, it was handy! Still, Todoroki was in the lead.
"And now, the leader of the pack is easily getting through first!" Present Mic shouted. But Bakugou and Akagawa weren't far behind. Bakugou was rapidly approaching and Akagawa was just a bit behind Bakugou, not being faster than explosions. "But Bakugou is on his tail, and so is Class 1-A's Akagawa! The lead pack is a step ahead, but below them, everyone's clumped together! They haven't announced how many people will make it through, so you can't relax! Push forward!"
Todoroki was first to make it above The Fall, only to be met with a dirt field, free of grass and filled with dark spots. It was just as long, if not longer, than The Fall in distance.
"And now, we've quickly arrived at the final barrier! The reality here is...that it's a minefield! It's set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, these landmines are for games, they're not that powerful, but they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!"
"That depends on the person." Aizawa grumbled. Akagawa hummed, and got off his platform. He then smirked, watching Todoroki get ahead. Bakugou was at his side and glanced at him with a deadpan.
"What are you doing, you idiot? Why'd you stop? Did you do something out there!?" he demanded.
"Nope," Akagwa popped the 'p'. "But I'm about to, just as soon as the rest get here. Leave while you can!"
"Don't take too long, Cherryblood, or else I won't be able to fight you later!" Bakugou boomed, using his explosions to propel himself forward above the mines. Akagawa chuckled darkly and ran about the field as to not draw attention to himself. He then kneeled down and pretended to tie his shoes.
"Wait," Midoriya froze, being with the first crowd that arrived. He looked at Akagawa with fear. "we don't have shoelaces in our tracksuits."
Explosions going off and people screaming regained his attention and that's when he realized what Akagawa was doing. "He's blowing people up!" Midoriya screamed in disbelief.
"It appears the Akagawa has stopped racing to be part of the head pack and has instead began tampering with the competition!" Present Mic shouted, and Akagawa swore he heard Aizawa give a deep and long sigh in the background.
"Haha!" Akagawa cackled, running ahead of people just to blow mines up in their faces. "I needed this, I felt so stressed!"
"We have to stop him!" Uraraka shouted.
"He's making our class look worse!" Kirishima grimaced.
"And now, we've got someone new in the lead! Rejoice, mass media! It's the kind of development you guys love!" Akagawa then hummed out loud, halting from blowing other people up and instead began running toward the end.
"Well, it's been fun!" he waved back toward the people who got scared of the pink explosions and were on their arses.
Akagawa was outran soon by Iida as he began jet running through the mines. Akagawa activated his adrenaline and was on Iida's tail. Until Iida stepped on a few mines and lost his balance, at which Akagawa took the role of third place once again.
"Hey, hey, hey, the rest of the pack is also speeding up! With Akagawa reclaiming third, the rest of the pack is right on his tail! And...probably pissed from being blown up by him! However! Even as they push and pull at each other, can the two at the top remain in the lead?"
As Akagawa was about to catch up to Bakugou and Todoroki, who were slapping each other as they ran, a giant explosion of pink all at once made them all look back.
"There's a huge explosion in the back!?" Present Mic shouted. "What's with that force!?"
From the pink explosion, at the very top, a figure popped out of the smoke. It was Midoriya riding a piece of armour from the faux villains.
"Was it an accident, or did he do it on purpose? Class A's Midoriya is in hot pursuit with that blast!" Present Mic shouted in disbelief. Midoriya used the blast to propel himself ahead of a frozen Bakugou and Todoroki. "Actually, he's taken the lead!"
"Woah! Well, there goes third place." Akagawa chuckled, hoping that this wouldn't change his position in fighting Bakugou. He could hear the audience losing their shit. Bakugou was quick to charge at Midoriya using his explosions, and Todoroki with his path of ice.
Akagawa had to think of something quickly if he wanted to at least beat Todoroki. Adrenaline was already kicking in without him having to activate him, for once. This was real adrenaline. This was fun. He ran faster in hope of catching them, but he just ran in their dirt. He would need to create something, but there was nothing he could think of to create that would help him in this situation.
"The two formerly in the lead have stopped trying to slow each other down and are chasing Midoriya! Now that they have a common enemy, they've stopped fighting! The fight's not over yet, though! Akagawa is closing in at a ferocious speed from behind!"
Midoriya was losing speed, however, and began falling to the ground while losing hold of the armour, letting Todoroki and Bakugou be neck-and-neck with him. This was Akagawa's chance, if he didn't do something now, he never will be able to!
Akagawa used all the adrenaline he could muster, feeling his own heartbeat get louder, thump harder, tighten his chest so painfully. It felt worse than when he was at the USJ. But this was all he needed. He was already catching up at a steady pace, but they were still moving. He can see the finish line, he wouldn't catch up in time.
Holding his hands out, he created two flat surfaces under his feet to catapult himself in the air. He glided through the air, and while airborne, he retracted the flat surfaces and instead created a different flat surface at his back that further launched him forward by smacking himself in the back with it as hard as he could.
As he landed next to all three of them, Midoriya maneuvered around the armour and slammed it down onto a mine that was under them. Pink smoke erupted into their faces, but Midoriya, who used the bounced off the armour to get himself ahead of them, similar to what Akagawa had done. Akagawa, Todoroki, and Bakugou emerged from the smoke around the same time.
"Midoriya swiftly blocks those behind him! Would you believe it? He cleared the minefield in an instant! Eraser Head, your class is amazing! What're you teaching them!?"
"I didn't do anything." Aizawa stated. "They got each other fired up on their own."
They all ran as fast as they could, but Akagawa couldn't rely on his Quirk anymore. If he did, he would surely go into overdrive. He ran at matched speed with Bakugou and Todoroki, with Midoriya at the front, and the finish line drawing closer.
"The Yuuei Sports Festival, first-year stage! Who could've predicted the developments at the beginning or this conclusion?"
They entered the tunnel, where the finish line was directly after. But Akagawa found himself falling behind. With Bakugou's explosions and Todoroki's ice, he didn't have the Quirk abilities to get him through. "Right now, the first person back in the stadium is that man…Midoriya Izuku's made a huge splash!"
The race ended with Midoriya in first, Bakugou in second, and Todoroki in third. The light never blinded Akagawa more than in that moment as he caught up to them a second later. He dropped to the grass after shuffling toward Bakugou, bouncing off his back and hitting the grass with a long sigh, causing Bakugou to growl as he caught his breath.
"Damn…! Watch it, Cherryblood...you...idiot!" Bakugou breathed, anger making it hard to catch his breath.
"Aaaaawww….!" Akagawa whined whilst panting as he laid in the grass. "I'm sorry, Blasty… that I didn't come in third...!"
"It's your own fault for not taking it seriously!" Bakugou shouted. "You took a couple minutes to stop just to blow people up!"
"I thought I had time!" Akagawa fake cried. "You can't tell me you expected Midori to prance through like that!"
"You idiot!"
"The first game of the first-year stage is finally over." Midnight declared. "Now, take a look at the results!"
"The top 42 made it through to the next round. It's unfortunate, but don't worry even if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine! The real competition begins next! The press cavalry'll be over it! Give it your all!"
"This is so tiring... I should've stayed in bed..."