There was a break for lunch before the afternoon festival. The people who had passed the battle were excited, chipper, and enthusiastic. The students who had failed had a more somber attitude with their spirits much less high.
"Most of Class B failed too besides that dude on the general student's team, but man, I'm a bit bummed out about getting out so early." Jiro admitted, as her, Yaoyorozu, Toru, and Mina sat down at lunch.
Uraraka was eating with Iida and Tsuyu. Tsuyu looked particularly bummed about losing and probably didn't want to be around the cheerful energy that Toru and Mina carried constantly.
"I'm sorry about that…" Toru pretended to be apologetic. "I feel like since I was the head this was kinda my fault."
"No, no. Of course not!" Jiro was quick to try to reassure Toru that it wasn't her fault. "The strategy we had was a good one…And even if it hadn't been I would have been happy to be on your team!"
Toru raised her arms and pretended to brighten up. "R-really?"
"Y-yeah. You've got this sort of naïve personality that I just kinda want to protect. My heart kinda leaps out of my chest thinking about what would have happened if I wasn't there to convince you all that you should keep your pants on." Jiro looked a little stressed.
Toru did have to give her credit where credit was due. Jiro had helped her out of that mess.
Yaoyorozu looked confused. "Were you planning to ride fully naked, Toru?"
"The original plan was for her to. But I managed to convince Sato and her out of it." Jiro responded.
Yaoyorozu looked horrified. "That would have been so uncomfortable…" She didn't know how else to respond. Jiro nodded, Toru could tell by the horrified look in her eyes she was imagining just how uncomfortable and awkward it would be.
"Well, never mind all that! Let's focus on something more cheerful! Like the fact that you and Mina are going to make it to the next round!" Toru pointed out.
Mina perked up. "I told you! Top ten is my goal! Choosing Bakugo's team seemed to be the right choice for me, even if he did just want to use me against Todoroki."
"I'm amazed at Todoroki's planning myself. Our team actually managed to snag the ten million points although Midoriya's team gave us a run for our money." Yaoyorozu smiled. "I'm proud of all of us!"
It's interesting how all the students with pro hero parents passed to the final round. Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Kaminari and Iida all formed a team. I wonder if they had more advantages than the class B students because of their riches from their family offering them earlier training? Everyone else had a whole three weeks of training, but Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Iida seemed a little bit more used to the world of competitions than the other students.
Jiro perked up at seeing Yaoyorozu's smile and started asking her questions like "Who are you most scared to face and who least?" Judging by the tone of her voice softening and her smile, Toru could make some clear-cut observations about Jiro.
You know, I've been so focused on making my classmates, particularly the girls, my allies that I haven't really mapped out their relationships with each other aside from Midoriya's little squad of Iida and Uraraka. But I think knowing who everyone's allies are is very important. I'll keep a lookout.
"Well, I think I'm most excited to face Todoroki in battle." Yaoyorozu answered. "As another recommendation student I think he and I are on similar levels and I'd love to face him." She thought harder, "I think I'm most worried about facing Midoriya. Not only does he injure himself if he uses his quirk, but he's observant. I sit near him and I see him taking notes frequently. I think that sort of cunning could pose a challenge."
Mina nodded. "I would have said I'd do easiest against Midoriya. I think I can beat him up no question asked. Todoroki too." Mina sure was confident. "I'm a little worried about facing Kirishima or Bakugo though…I don't know if I'd melt Kirishima's hardness with my acid but Bakugo's just kind of a monster and a tough opponent to face, you know?"
Toru and Jiro nodded.
"What about the class B student, Shinso and Mei? Are you worried about facing them?" Toru asked.
Mina blinked a moment. "They don't look too tough…I mean Team Shinso did come out of nowhere, but I assume they'll be easy enough to beat. But…Ochako and I ran into the support studies student earlier and she could be tough."
Yaoyorozu nodded, agreeing with her. She then glanced at Toru. "Are you close to the supports student, Toru? You're on first name basis with her so I assume you two have a history…"
Everybody looked rather interested. Mina especially because she wanted info on the competition.
"Yep! We're friends! In fact I was a little late to the waiting room because I was checking up on her. I'm proud of her for getting so far!" Toru took a sip of her juice box.
Jiro frowned. "Should…We invite her to eat lunch with us then? I feel kinda bad that you aren't able to spend time with your friend and we're kinda stealing you away…"
"No problem! Mei eats most of the time in the support room, fixing up her babies. I assumed right now is no different. I'm sure she doesn't like distractions." Toru said cheerily. Mei never ate in the lunchroom.
"Why didn't you two team up together on the cavalry battle if you're friends?" Yaoyorozu asked, curiously.
"Mei's goal in this sports festival is to get all eyes on her. Partnering up with the ten million points made perfect sense. And I thought Midoriya would lose for sure, so I avoided his team like the rest of you." Toru nodded.
Everyone smiled and giggled. Sure, enough they had thought Midoriya would lose. Mina nodded, everything Toru said made perfect sense.
"Do you think she could be tough to defeat?" Yaoyorozu asked for advice.
"Honestly yeah!" Toru replied, "When we first met, I thought she was trying out for the hero course because she was so tough. If you face her YaoMomo, there might be a chance for you to lose. Mina on the other hand…."
"I'd just burn her babies." Mina smiled. "So, I'd probably win."
Toru's shoulders drooped a little. Yeah…That's probably true. It would devastate Mei for her babies to burn in acid. She hoped Mina and Mei never faced each other in battle.
They continued having meaningless chatter until Yaoyorozu got up to get her third serving. She needed to eat a lot to prepare for the next battle. Jiro got up to accompany her.
Those two are really joined at the hip. Toru noticed again.
Before they could get far, Mineta and Kaminari approached them.
"Jiro, Yaoyorozu!" Kaminari waved.
Yaoyorozu stopped in her tracks. "What do you need?" She asked.
Mineta was smiling, so was Kaminari. "I'm sure you already know since you're class rep and all, but they said everyone has to wear those clothes to do a cheer battle in the afternoon." Mineta pointed over to some cheerleaders.
Jiro started blushing, her earjacks buzzing startled. "Eh?"
"I didn't hear anything about that though…." Yaoyorozu responded.
Mineta turned his back to her. "You don't have to believe me, but we heard from Mr. Aizawa. I thought you might have forgotten so I decided to tell you just in case."
Kaminari nodded.
"Thank you." Yaoyorozu smiled, "I'll start making the costumes right away." And she returned to the table.
"A cheer battle, huh?" Mina said. "Do we compete over who's the loudest or do we like….actually fight in cheer outfits? I wish Aizawa had told us himself so we could practice our formation but I love dancing so I guess it's cool…I can teach you guys some moves real quick if you need me to."
Toru's mouth felt like it was going to crack off her mouth. Are they not aware they're getting tricked? Mineta just wants us all to be in sexy outfits…And I guess Kaminari's the same! That made sense. There couldn't just be one sleezy guy in their class. Maybe Kaminari was better at hiding it but he was just as excited as Mineta.
"Ah…I can't wait to see Iida cheering too! I'm sure he'll be making lots of funny movements!" Toru said loudly enough to make Yaoyorozu think she should make the male outfits as well. If the girls had to suffer, Mineta might as well have a taste of his own medicine.
Yaoyorozu nodded. "I'm sure Iida will be very excited for this development. He loves cheering for the class." She stated making the male outfits too.
"I'm so pumped up! I'd love for Mina to come up with a method of pyramid for us!" Toru chattered, "Should Bakugo be on the bottom? He seems very sturdy! And I think maybe Kaminari should be on the top making a light show or something!" Then he'd use up all his energy before the main battle and likely would lose.
"Oooh that would be a really cool idea!" Mina agreed. She got a piece of paper out and started sketching ideas.
"I think it would be funny if we put Mineta on the bottom of the pyramid too." Jiro pointed out. "It would be unique if he had to hold up so many people with his size and would sure to let us win."
"I don't know how I feel about putting Mineta on the bottom when we're all wearing skirts…We could stack boys above him though." Yaoyorozu pointed out, "Like Shoji! Shoji I'm sure would be able to stay up by creating more arms to anchor him down! And Mineta carrying Shoji would be sure to make a splash!"
The great thing too is we have so many straight laced boys in our class, Shoji, Iida, Ojiro…Kirishima…They'd all agree to this. And it would make being tricked a lot less awful.
Yaoyorozu smiled "Let me go inform Iida of our plans! I'm sure he's already got his own since Aizawa told him directly. Iida's the prepared sort."
Well…I guess Mineta and Kaminari are about to be exposed. Toru would watch and observe just how mad Yaoyorozu got for getting tricked.
Mineta and Kaminari were watching the four of them with a look of horror on their face. Kaminari slid forward to salvage his and Mineta's plan.
"Actually Yaoyorozu…It's only the girls who have to participate in a cheer battle. It's uhh…Kinda embarrassing that you didn't already know that."
Yaoyorozu looked startled. She was the type who didn't realize what normal people found normal and instantly believed that.
"Cheerleaders are only girls, didn't you already know that?" Mineta drove his reasoning in harder.
Mina sighed. "That is true…I've rarely seen any male cheerleaders." She was aiding Mineta and Kaminari's story accidentally. "Oh darn, now I have to craft my designs up all over again."
Yaoyorozu was blushing. "I'm sorry! I wasn't aware. I'll go get Tsuyu and Uraraka immediately."
Kaminari and Mineta smiled. "It's all right." Kaminari said, "You couldn't help it! I doubt you've seen many cheerleaders anyway on TV. They're more of a sports program thing and mostly an American sports program thing at that." Kaminari reassured. "So it isn't your fault!"
Yaoyorozu nodded, believing every word. A classmate wouldn't lie to her, after all! "Thank you for the reassurance…"
"Ugh…He might be right. I don't watch any American sports programs. Just Japanese ones…" Jiro rubbed her forehead.
"I watch American ones! And yeah, can confirm everything he says is mostly true." Mina nodded.
Kaminari just smiled wider. They were falling for it!
"I don't see why we can't have male cheerleaders. If they just need to wear a skirt or something I'm sure Iida would be all over that." Toru pointed out. "He's the kind of guy who's happy to help the class no matter what!"
Kaminari's smile fell and he started started sweating, because that was true. If Iida's dumb enough to fall for our lie he'll drag the rest of us into it too! I don't want to wear a cheerleading outfit. There was a good chance Iida would expose them though, since Aizawa telling Iida was a big part of their story. And then Kaminari and Mineta would get the scolding of a lifetime.
Iida was going to make their entire cheerleading plan fall apart! Kaminari tried not to make his stress visible.
Mineta gestured to Kaminari and had Kaminari knelt to his level.
"What do we do? Iida will ruin the aesthetic of cute girls in cheerleading outfits! We can't have them go telling Iida! And also also…..Isn't Iida's family like super big and rich and famous? What if they hire a hitman to get revenge on us or something for getting his son into a cheerleading outfit on TV?" Mineta was sweating now too.
Toru was pretty good at deciphering whispers. Jiro glared at them, also hearing what they were saying thanks to her quirk.
"What do you mean ruin the aesthetic?" Jiro glared.
Kaminari's eyes widened. "Well…We just mean…Not many people like dudes cheerleading! Aizawa himself isn't a fan of the idea!" He lied his butt off.
"And imagine if Bakugo and Todoroki were put in cheerleading outfits!" Mineta added. "Bakugo would blow us all up!"
"And Todoroki's family might sue the school. It would be in tabloids for a year. Endeavor's son is actually a cheerleader? He doesn't seem like the type who would just smile and have a good time with that. I don't want the number 2 hero getting mad!" Kaminari nodded. Since he was also a pro-hero's kid he knew how strict they could be about their image.
"We don't want to risk that when all Mr. Aizawa wants to do is give you girl the chance to have a cheerleading battle and cheer up people from 1-A." Mineta added, trying to sound kind and like he was giving the girls an offer of a lifetime.
Yaoyorozu was falling for all these lies hook line and sinker. "Endeavor probably wouldn't be happy to see Todoroki in a dress…That's true. I've read a few articles about his rigid world views."
Toru did get a chuckle from the idea of Bakugo doing the cheer battle instead of her.
"Come on. I believe Kaminari and Mineta." Yaoyorozu gestured. "It's my duty as class representative to do what Mr. Aizawa asks to cheer up the Class A boys to help them succeed." She said passionately.
What about you, Yaoyorozu? Uraraka, Yaoyorozu and Mina are going onto the next round. Shouldn't they be cheered on along with all the boys moving onto the next round? Toru knew this was a lost cause. She's so gullible.
"If Yaoyorozu believes them I do too…Even if I don't really want to do it." Jiro reluctantly tried to back Yaoyorozu up.
Kaminari started smiling again.
"I'm down." Mina was excited.
Ugh. Since Mina is peppy too, I probably have to act more excited than her. "Yeah! I think it could be really fun! And I did want to stand out! Let's go find Ochako and Tsuyu!" Her voice got a little higher as she tried to drop to the other girl's level of idiocy.
It was easy enough to find them and inform them.
"Now that lunch is over it's finally time to reveal the last game!" Present Mic announced. "But before that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is a sports festival! So, we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in too! We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up."
As Toru had predicted, nobody besides class A was just standing on the field awkwardly in cheerleading outfits. The only cheerleaders besides them were the American cheerleaders.
"Huh? What are they doing?" Aizawa asked.
"What's the matter Class A? What kind of fan service is this?" Present Mic asked over the loudspeaker.
Yaoyorozu's first emotion was anger, not embarrassment. "Mineta, Kaminari! You tricked us didn't you?" She shook her pom poms, angrily.
Mineta and Kaminari looked away, sleezily smiling, fully clothed in their gym clothes.
The shame set in and Yaoyorozu dropped to her knees. "Why do I always get caught in Mineta's schemes?" There wasn't just shame in her voice, there was despair. "I even used creation to make these outfits!"
Uraraka pat her back in sympathy.
Jiro threw her pom poms to the ground angrily. "Those guys are so dumb!"
It would be great if we all left now but I think refusing to participate with these outfits on would make us look strong willed and interesting. Toru thought to herself. She knew her Master, Shigaraki and Kurogiri were watching this and her every move that came on camera. It would be better for her identity and cover of Toru Hagakure to look like an idiot and just someone who focused on unimportant things like cheerleading instead of hero work.
"There's still time before the finals, and it would be a pain if things got tense!" Toru was waving her pom poms and started shaking her whole body so everyone could see. "It's fine! Let's do it!"
"WHAT?" Jiro started blushing at Toru's excitement.
"You like this sort of thing, don't you, Toru?" Tsuyu falsely observed, deciding that Toru was super into cheerleading.
"Okay…I guess Class A will be cheerleading for the other classes during the recreational….How lucky of the general, business and support courses!" Present Mic seemed to give Class A the okay to cheer for everyone.
"All right, let's move onto the recreational games then! This will give the other classes a time to shine! When that's over, the sixteen from the four teams who made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style one-on-one!" Present Mic announced.
This was of no surprise. They did this every year having a one-on-one type of battle. Last year it was a sports chanbara match.
"Now let's draw lots to determine brackets and then we'll have the recreational events!" Midnight determined, aboard a podium holding a box of names. "The sixteen finalists don't have to participate in the recreation. They can choose to save their strength."
Of course, Mina, Yaoyorozu and Uraraka had already been forced into cheerleading exhausting their strength.
"Now from the first place team-" Midnight was cut off by Ojiro who raised his hand.
"Um excuse me, I'm withdrawing." He said aloud.
Everyone in Class A seemed surprised. There was a chorus of whys.
"This is a rare chance to show pros what you can do!" Iida tried to convince him out of it.
"I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until the end." Ojiro admitted, "I think it was that guy's quirk." He pointed at Shinso. "I know this is a great chance to get pros to notice me and its foolish to waste but…Everyone else competed and gave it their all! I can't…I can't compete against everyone knowing I just lucked out and made it to the final round without knowing how I succeeded."
So Ojiro's the kind of guy with those sorts of rigid morals. He had just made himself even more exploitable. It was very important to Toru that she kept a friendship with someone so easy to exploit.
"You're worrying too much!" Toru told him, shaking her pom poms to cheer him on. "You should just make sure you produce results in the final round!"
Jiro nodded, agreeing with Toru.
Mina looked uncomfortable. "If you're going to say that I didn't do anything either. It was all Bakugo that got me to the final round."
Bakugo looked a little proud.
Ojiro covered his face, shaking. "That's not it…I'm talking about my pride here…I can't…"
A man's pride is such a loose concept. It's something people boast about often and it gets them in trouble but it's super easy to exploit. Toru thought to herself.
"Also why are you guys in cheerleading outfits?" Ojiro was super confused and couldn't fully finish his thought because of it.
All of the girls aside from Toru looked ashamed.
The class B student stepped up, a shorter pudgier guy with white hair. "I'm Nirengeki Shoda from Class B. I'd also like to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability don't you think it goes against the sports festival for those who did nothing to go to the final round?" He argued.
Class B surrounded Shoda and tried to desperately convince him out of withdrawing. After all, he was the only one in Class B who had moved onto the final round.
Kirishima was crying. "These guys are so manly!"
"This is an unusual turn of events…" Mic observed.
"We'll have to wait to see what Midnight says…" Aizawa agreed.
"I like that sort of youthful talk!" Midnight declared. "I accept your withdrawal!"
Aoyama put a hand on Ojiro's shoulder. "I'm gonna go ahead and do it anyway, okay?" He sparkled. He had also competed on their team but wasn't going to waste his chance.
"We'll have to move up two people from fifth place…" Midnight decided.
Kendo raised her hand, "If that's the case…Team Tetsutetsu should go. They fought to stay in the top the entire time, unlike us."
Tetsutetsu was also crying, like Kirishima. "Kendo…"
It was decided that Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki, the girl with vine hair who had stolen Mineta's headband would take Ojiro and Shoda's places.
And with that they moved on from that discussion and Midnight drew the names. Toru wasn't too excited or interested in who would face who.
Just like everyone else is saying either Todoroki or Bakugo will win. Todoroki's very strong and Bakugo doesn't care about his opponents' injuries and won't hold back. Also, explosions do well against ice.
Still, she took note that Mina was fighting Aoyama in the first round, an easy victory for her, and that Mei was fighting Iida.
I think she can take him! I'm sure she'll move on to the next round! Toru was excited at least to see Mei's battle.
As the girls scurried back to the corner of the field to cheer for the recreational activities Toru noticed Midoriya and Shinso trying to talk. Ojiro had covered Midoriya's mouth with his tail though to prevent any conversation.
So his quirk is powerful but kinda a one-trick pony sort of thing if Ojiro has already figured out how it works and is able to prevent others from being affected by it. Mind control didn't seem nearly as powerful as Toru had originally thought it would be if even Ojiro could figure it out.
Still that sort of quirk was something her Master might be interested. Hopefully he'd have a good time watching Shinso and Midoriya's match.
Once Mic announced it was time for the recreational activities, Toru went back to pretending to be an over excited cheerleader.
She jumped up high to act as excited as possible, trying to act the life of an excited schoolgirl. Uraraka and Mina were also having fun. Mina looked to genuinely be having the time of her life dancing.
Yaoyorozu and Tsuyu seemed to be having less fun, just trying to go along with the movements of everyone else's pom poms. Jiro had just given up and was crouching.
"Wow, Toru…I didn't realize you were so acrobatic. That's a high jump." Jiro noticed.
Did I perhaps over-estimate what the jumping height of a normal girl was? I was just trying to express my excitement with my body. There was no high jump in the quirk exam, so it didn't create any inconsistencies but she reminded herself to tone things down.
Toru just moved her pom poms faster. "Yeah! Things like cheerleading just gets me super excited! And I worked on my ability to move to show off in the sports festival since people can't fully see me, you know!" She said, pumped up.
"Ah. That makes sense." Jiro didn't further question it. "You really do love cheerleading, don't you? I just can't help but think about how Kaminari and Mineta are benefitting from this and can't get into it."
Yeah. That's frustrating too. "It's just fun to move!" Toru said innocently.
Jiro smiled from Toru's infectious nature.
There were many events that some of Class A participated in, tiring themselves out before the actual tournament. There was a scavenger hunt, which Toru was glad she didn't have to pretend to fail. There was a ball rolling race along with an eating competition.
Yaoyorozu could have probably benefitted from that if she wasn't forced to cheer. Toru thought. I'm guessing Yaoyorozu and Uraraka will lose in their first round. Not only because they expended all their energy cheering but because they're both facing powerful opponents. Tokoyami and Bakugo both hold a lot of power. When Yaoyorozu lost she'd probably get depressed too. She was clearly overconfident due to being a recommendation student she thought she was on a different level.
Well…Everybody takes losing differently. Tsuyu still looks a little sad about losing. She probably thought that if she could overcome her weakness and work with Mineta she wouldn't have any holes in her ability. But she didn't rely on the fact that Mineta had a good share of weaknesses and his headband could be stolen anyway. Toru glanced at Tsuyu, who seemed to be not fully mentally there as she cheered.
Mina however didn't look like she was getting more tired at all. Mina has a lot of experience dancing. This is probably the equivalent of a stretch to her. She'll probably pass her first round and this cheerleading isn't a detriment to her fighting.
Toru continued cheering, dropping her energy levels a little so as to not outshine Mina. She wanted to look like she was trying to make a splash and was relatively ditzy but not too interesting to any heroes. She didn't need to be recruited.
Soon the sports festival would be over. Cementoss gestured for them to get off the field and he prepared the stage.
And with that the final part of the sports festival was upon them.
I split the chapter in two again, and I think I'm going to scrap most of what I had for the other half of the chapter since it's mostly recapping/observations and I got VERY lazy, although if I can't think of anything better I might keep it and just polish it up. My question to all of you, do you have any ideas how to finish the sports festival since Toru isn't really in the final tournament? What would be interesting to you besides recapping?
I would have loved the cheerleading scene more if Iida had also been cheerleading. A chance to cheer on the rest of the students? Why that's the job of the class rep. He would have been ecstatic. And with his fun movements it would have been really fun to see him cheer too.