School was closed the day after the attack on the USJ. Even my brothers' schools were shut down, and they stayed home with me. My parents still had to work; and my dad was back in the Hero business for a while.

I helped Taine and Tait with a stupid amount of homework, which their teacher had assigned yesterday. Hades and Mienai were playing chess game after chess game, almost always ending in a draw. Eichi and Eiito were napping most of the day. Once or twice, I tried to join my brothers at chess, but they completely destroyed me. And they weren't going to let that go. The entire rest of the day, they made snarky comments about my chess ability, even going so far as to poke at my intelligence.

I whipped out my calculus homework to shut them up.

Then Mom got home, her golden waves cascading over her shoulders. She crammed a granola bar in her mouth as she kicked the door closed. "Hey, Mom," my brothers and I said collectively. She paused, halfway through slipping off her high heels. Mom swallowed her granola and said with a laugh, "You all might as well have a hive mind! It's kind of creepy." I set down my pencil and stood up from the kitchen table, which was strewn with my brothers' homework, "You and Aunt Kora do the same thing," I pointed out. Our mom had a twin sister, who lived in America- the Hero capital of the world! We'd visited her and our cousins once or twice in Chicago.

Mom smiled, her eyes crinkling. She had blue eyes. As clear as the sky. Taine and Tait did, too. They were kind of unnerving paired with Papa's coloring. In my left eye, I had a little squiggle of blue. I liked to think it looked like a lightning bolt. "Well," she said, looking for words, "You know I'm not the best at Japanese, but the best words I can find for it are: it's a twin thing." My brothers nodded, each pair at the same time. "Twin telepathy," I deadpanned in English. Six heads swiveled in my direction. "Now you're just being creepy on purpose," I snapped, back to Japanese.

Mom laughed and disappeared into her office.

The next day, we were all back at school. Everyone in 1-A was buzzing about the fact that we'd been featured on the news. Well, the attack had, anyway. Hagakure was whining that she couldn't be seen in the shot of the class. "You're invisible, honey. It's pretty hard to see a floating pair of gloves," I pointed out. She whined and flopped back in her chair. At least, I think she did. I sat down as Iida raced (pun intended) in. He stuck his hand in the air, "Sit down! Class starts in five minutes!" I snorted as someone snapped, "You're the only one standing up." He turned beet red and stomped to his chair. "Don't sweat it, man," I said over my shoulder, "You were doing your best." His head landed with a bang on his desk as Aizawa moped in, wrapped like a mummy in bandages. "He's up!" I said under my breath. Murmurs of surprise and shock drifted around the room.

Aizawa's bloodshot eyes peeped out through the bandages on his face, "My pain isn't important." I frowned at that. "The most important thing is that your fight isn't over yet." My feathers prickled. Not more fighting! "The UA sports festival is about to start." I let my breath out in a windy gust, ruffling Aizawa's hair, "That's a hell of a relief!" I heard Kirishima shout, "Yes!" behind me. Mina squeaked, "Why would you scare us like that?!" Kirishima continued his mini-celebration until Kaminari planted a hand on his face, "Hang on." Jiro picked up his train of thought (Minorly interesting. They'd been doing that a lot lately.), "Yeah, why would they hold the festival so soon after the attack on the USJ?"

I turned in my chair to meet her gaze, "I catch your drift. Couldn't they attack pretty efficiently with all of us in one place?" Aizawa tilted his bandaged head, "This is the faculty's way of showing that the threat has been neutralized and our school is safer than ever. This event is a huge opportunity for all students of UA. It's not something we can cancel." I heard Mineta sniveling in the corner. He would probably have a tough time going against some of the tanks (myself included) with wicked powerful Quirks. I ran through a quick assessment of his skills. Nope. Hopeless. I was actually kind of curious how he managed to pass the entrance test. No one really liked him, and his Quirk wasn't really up to snuff.

Momo snapped me out of my thoughts with, "This is where you get scouted." Apparently Mineta had no clue what the festival was for, either. "That means you better not slack off when you're training," Aizawa finished. My dad had gone to UA, once. He'd only gone to the Sidekick level, and he was satisfied with that. I'd always thought that he could do more, but if he was happy, I was happy.

At lunchtime, most of the class decided to remain in the classroom after Pro Hero Cementoss left after math. I'd plopped down on the desk next to Uraraka's, watching as she steeled her shoulders. "Let's go, guys! We'll win the sports festival!" she nearly growled. I made a face, "Geez, Ochaco. That was intense." Mina echoed with, "Yeah, usually you're so laid back!" She pumped her fist into the air, flexing her Quirk, "Everyone, I'm gonna do my best!" My clothes drifted upward as I whooped and mimicked her pose. Everyone else's hair was standing on end. "Whoops," she said, back to her bubbly self, "My bad!" She deactivated her Quirk and everything fell down limply.

I sat with my usual crowd, which now included Sero and Tokoyami. "I'm really happy for you, sparkles," I said around a mouthful of rice, "You've finally assembled quite a nice little clique for yourself." He growled and stabbed his food. I looked up and saw Momo and Todoroki wandering around. I grabbed them with some wind and blew them over, doing the same to two chairs. Bakugo scowled at Todoroki's startled expression, "Why'd you have to bring the half-'n'-half bastard and the 3-d printer?" Momo blushed, and I flicked a piece of beef at Bakugo's head, "Stop being a jerk, Bakugo. You have me, you have them. Enjoy it. Or it won't last." He snorted and went back to his food.

"So," I said with a sly smile, "Who's ready to kick some ass at the sports festival?" Everyone smiled. Even Todoroki's lips pulled up.

Back in class, the day flew by. On my way to open the door, I heard a weird shuffling outside. I yanked it open to find a crowd of like fifty students in other classes blocking the door. They roiled away as pissed, tall me stared them down. I heard my classmates mumbling, but Bakugo shoved past. A spark of lightning appeared at the corner of my eye, "You really intend to piss me off even more, sparkles?" He huffed, "They're just checking out the competition." I rolled my eyes and plowed my way into the crowd, "I'm not an idiot Baku-brain." I popped up a bit, "Ooh, I like that one." Bakugo made an angry noise as I snorted and moved past him.

I saw a tall (almost my height) purple-haired boy make his way to the front of the crowd. He looked like an asshole, so I avoided him. "Damn," I hissed as someone jabbed their pencil into my arm. I looked up with lightning eyes to a bland face framed by messy purple waves. "Um, ow," I said wrenching my arm away from his pencil. It had left a little mark. "My apologies, Hero." I planted my feet, "Hey, I recognize you- you're in the General Studies course, right?" I shook the lightning out of my hair, sticking out my hand, "Haruto Arashi, at your service." He stared at my hand, "I'm going to join the Hero course, and I'm going to make sure that you egotistical class 1-A students don't get a chance to become Pros," he deadpanned. I blinked and bristled, "You ought to watch how you use the word 'egotistical.' You seem pretty hypocritical to me. Nice meeting you, General!" I saluted and turned on my heel, stomping away. What an ass.

Until the festival, we trained like our lives depended on it. (Which, I guess they kind of did. If we lost our Hero course spot, that was the end of our Pro career.) I'd flown a ridiculous distance, and thoroughly swamped the UA training ground. Iida used the mud for training, straining through the ick. After that, I let a tropical sun out for break (and to dry up that mud). We spent a lot of time in the test city, demolishing anything in our path. I trained mostly with Kaminari, building up a resistance to non-natural electricity and recharging him anytime his moron version showed up.

I buckled to my knees as his strongest surge yet hit me, hissing a curse. Ow ow ow ow ow ow ow. Staggering to my feet, I recycled his energy and blasted it back at him in a blaze of white lightning. He flinched as it hit him. I could swear I saw sanity leak back into his eyes. That was the last his body could handle though, and he flopped forward, snoring. I left his limp form for Jiro to collect and flew home.

My family was buzzing. All of them were at the kitchen table when I got home, loudly arguing about something. They froze as I dropped my backpack with an audible thump. "Haruto!" one of the little ones shrieked, "We're gonna record the whole festival so you can watch it when you get home tomorrow!" I muttered a flustered thanks. Then I saw what was on the table. A huge poster board that read in messy paint- "GO CLASS 1-A! KICK SOME ASS (this part was crossed out) BUTT!" I smacked my hands to my mouth, tears running down my face, "You guys…"

The next morning, we suited up in our gym uniforms and gathered in a waiting room. I propped my elbow on Todoroki's shoulder, "I bet you're excited," I commented, looking out of the corner of my eye to catch his reaction, "To freeze some ass." He glanced back, "Solid." I jammed my fist in the air with a "Hell yeah!" He shoved me off and stood in front of Midoriya, "In fact, it's clear I'm stronger than you." The class looked up. "I don't know how or why, but All Might is helping you here." Midoriya's hands trembled. I carefully edged myself between them, looking dead into Todoroki's eyes, "I'm not playing games anymore. Quit it, ice cube. We'll need allies." He sidestepped me and scary-faced Midoriya. I rolled my eyes and plopped into a chair next to Bakugo, mumbling about testosterone and idiocy.

When it was finally time to enter the stadium, we tightened our formation. I could hear the roar of the crowd from the waiting room as Present Mic announced us. As the sunlight hit our faces (perfectly angled thanks to yours truly), the cheering crescendoed. We marched majestically to the center of the field. The stands were packed with citizens and Pros. Fireworks exploded in the sky. Midoriya looked terrified. I nudged him with my wing, "Chin up, hotshot," I said under a grin, "You've got your gusto, and that's all you need." He managed a weak smile.

None other than Bakugo was forced to give the opening speech. I facepalmed as he said, "I'm going to win" to the world. I was really starting to feel like he needed some sense knocked into him. Maybe some snow. No, ice. Wait, got it: hail. And man, was I going to enjoy it.

The first challenge was an obstacle course. As long as we didn't leave the track, we were free to do whatever we wanted. Really? No, like seriously. They just told a flying Quirk-user that she could do whatever the hell she wanted as long as she stayed over the track. The tall steel walls, however, made me rethink that statement. They were so very… hallway-like. As the lights blared on, the entire first year of UA surged forward in some kind of human wave. I was squished and shoved into the hall. "Damn you all!" I shouted, blasting upward with wind and soaring through the other side. A cold wind followed me out. Todoroki had shoved his way through with ice and was skating behind me. I flew faster, letting the sun out and combatting his ice.

Nice try, ice cube. But it was going to take more than that to catch up to me.

My flight pattern faltered as a giant metal fist took a swing at me. Damn. These must've been the testing robots from the other students' entrance exams! They were huge, easily two or three stories tall each. I slammed two out of the way with wind. Another was blown over by a wave of ice. I could see that Todoroki had frozen it while it was off-balance. He was purposefully trying to screw over the other students. Two could play at that game.

I distractedly conjured a tiny blizzard to follow Todoroki around. With any luck, he'd get too cold and have to pause and warm himself up. My wings were starting to get a little tired from being airborne for so long, but no way was I going to let ice cube show me up. For good measure, I set a lightning bolt on a third robot. As it toppled toward the other students, I genuinely felt bad. "Sorry, guys," I shouted back over the rush of the wind.

I heard loud, percussive booms as I soared ahead. Momo must have used her Quirk, Creation, to Create some kind of large-scale weapon. Smart. But not smart enough to pass me. I was fast and strong, and my Quirk gave me a huge advantage in this challenge. Especially the next obstacle, a huge canyon spiderwebbed by tightropes. I barely stifled a scoff as I breezed over it. Then I glanced down and saw Todoroki- personal blizzard still following him- icing his way through the canyon. Bakugo was blasting himself over it, not far behind. I jerked Bakugo to the side with a huge gale, which also messed with the other students. This was easier than I thought it would be.

The third obstacle might as well have been a joke. A minefield. Ha. Ha. I didn't even look down as I shot over it, but I decided to be a little devious. I called off my wind and made a small rainstorm above the dirt ground. Now the other contestants couldn't see where the mines were buried. That was actually pretty fun. To hear flashy explosions and startled screams behind me made me smile a bit. When the minefield was thoroughly swamped, I let the sun out to dry up the ground. Maybe a bit too far, but hey, I was under pressure. Any Pro Hero could be watching. I needed to get scouted if I wanted to be one.

I pulled into the stadium and set down, then loped across the finish line unceremoniously. Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo rushed past, their slipstreams ruffling my hair and feathers. As they stood glaring daggers at each other, the crowd went insane. Midoriya started crying, grinning his face off to the crowd. I yelled and flung my arms around him, bouncing up and down. Then I wrapped Todoroki and Bakugo in my wings, squeezing them so they couldn't escape. Delicate snowflakes drifted down in the stadium, swirling like tiny ballerinas. Wow. I paused to look at the sky. There was a snow cloud, obviously, but the sun also shined down and a huge double rainbow sliced across it.

Pro Hero Midnight got up on a podium and slipped off her eyemask, "Now the real fun is about to begin." She licked her lips. Was she really the best Hero to conduct a high school festival? A huge screen appeared with a spinning wheel of challenges. I held my breath and watched as the colors whirled dizzyingly. Cavalry battle. "Hell yeah!" I whooped, nearly elbowing Bakugo in the face. Cavalry battles were right up my alley. I was able to keep myself safe while simultaneously screwing everyone else over. My 'hell yeah'-ness quickly dissipated though, as Midnight showed the point values assigned to each student. I was at… TEN FREAKING MILLION?! I felt 42 students' eyes turn to me as Midnight continued. Damn. That put a hell of a target on my back. It made me really nervous.

Thankfully, I was able to muscle Todoroki, Kaminari, and Momo onto my team. I would work the best with Kaminari's Quirk, and Todoroki and Momo were amazing strategists. I tied the red headband with 10,000,000 on it over my forehead and grinned at other students' reactions. They would have to deal with me flying if they wanted my points. "Come and get me," I said with a dangerous smile. I saw some other students start to sweat. Good.

Todoroki turned to me, "Arashi, you're at the front of our formation. We'll use your height and Quirk to protect everyone else." I slipped the headband off my head and jammed it over his half-and-half hair. He flinched and threatened me with his ice hand, but a glare from me stopped him. I hoisted him up on my shoulders, spreading my wings over his legs. Momo and Kaminari flanked me and took a little of Todoroki's weight. "Are we gonna see any hellfire today?" I asked over my shoulder. Todoroki glanced into the crowd. He was looking at his dad, Pro Hero Endeavor. The huge, flaming man was standing in the Pro booth, glaring down onto the field. "I don't use my left side in combat," Todoroki said simply. "Way to hold a grudge," I commented.

As the countdown timer clicked to zero, every other team of students turned in our direction. "Lightning, or not yet?" I shot over my shoulder. Todoroki said quietly, "Both of you. On my signal." The other teams were coming at us in a nice neat circle. "3." Deep breath. "2." Alright, here we go. "Now!" Kaminari and I sent out a ginormous surge of electricity, covering a good eighty square meters. I strained to keep it away from Momo and Todoroki, but it was hard with so much. When the energy dissipated, the other teams were thoroughly fried, and even Momo and Todoroki were a little singed. I quickly recharged Kaminari, and we moved forward as fast as we could.

We managed to snag a low-point headband from a group of class 1-C before everyone was mobile again. Midoriya's group- Ochaco, a pink-haired girl, and Tokoyami- burst into the sky. Wait… did they have a jetpack? Bakugo burst up after them. I shot a look at Todoroki. He nodded with the tiniest of smiles. I laughed and broke away from our formation, whooping as I launched into the sky. "Welcome to my domain," I shouted as I zipped past Bakugo. I caught the tail of his headband and pulled, but only succeeded in yanking his head back and pissing him off. With a muttered "Shit!" I pulled away and circled back again. This time I managed to grab his actual headband, tucking in my wings and diving back to the ground before he could blow out my brains.

I slipped it over my head (damn this guy had a big noggin) and rejoined my team. "Nice," Kaminari said, "That was really cool!" I grinned, but didn't look back, "It's all part of the plan." Momo Created some kind of sharp rudder, and Todoroki iced it over. A wake of ice followed us as my wind zoomed us forward. Most everyone behind us was frozen in place, ice crusting their legs. We swerved through the stuck students, Todoroki nabbing two more headbands. "Arashi, time for some sun!" Todoroki shouted as we neared team Midoirya. I let the sun out completely, wincing as it hit me square in the eyes. Todoroki blocked off their exit with huge walls of ice. As we powered forward, I saw them conversing discreetly. "Watch out, guys," I muttered, "They're planning something." My team grunted in agreement.

Midoriya's team moved decisively to our left. Todoroki's fire side. They were definitely playing on our weaknesses now. "I can't attack them without freezing you," he said over my shoulder. "Then freeze me," I snapped, "I can take it." Before he could attack, however, Iida and Shoji launched over the ice walls and nabbed Midoriya's headband. "Wow! That speed," I said over my shoulder. We kind of stood around, dumbstruck, until the timer beeped to zero. Apparently, Iida had been hiding a kick-ass secret move from us all. That really stung, but I still congratulated him for his acrobatics.

As my team and I relaxed some, we were simultaneously psyching ourselves up for the challenge yet to come.

This arc is split in half. I know, I know, I've been really awful lately about posting. But no worries, because on Monday next week, you'll get to see Haruto in one-on-one combat. Something to look forward to. :P Also I'm sorry this half is so short. Really having motivation troubles.