Last edited 15 December 2021


"So, you're here."

Enji Todoroki leaned against the wall a few meters away from one of the stadium's first-level exits. His arms were crossed over his chest as his eyes intently watched the floating holo-screen closest to him.

The live feed showed a bird's eye view of the two students leading the obstacle course race as they used their Quirks to drive themselves ahead of each other.

A tall and rather broad-shouldered woman approached from his right. Her long, white hair was pulled up into a high ponytail that swished behind her with every click of her high heels on the floor. The color of her ice-blue pantsuit stood out, pale but vibrant, against her snow-white skin.

The women of her family—and quite a few men, to the chagrin of many—had always been exceptionally beautiful, radiating light like every inch of their bodies was dusted with fresh snow.

The only things about Tsurara Himuro that didn't glow were her stone-gray eyes.

Enji grunted as she halted in her steps a meter away from him. He could feel her piercing gaze sliding over his face before she turned her head to look at the same screen he was pointedly watching.

"So are you."

"I'm on the clock," she replied breezily.

He glanced at her from the corners of his eyes. "Eraser Head's here. Ms. Kasuka's boy is probably around somewhere as well."

She hummed. "That doesn't really change a thing."

Loud bangs suddenly resounded all around them, momentarily making Enji's body tense. He quickly relaxed as the crowd erupted into cheers and applause, and colored smoke rose into the air from the far edge of the arena.

All the holo-screens flashed to display the picture of a brown-haired girl with sleepy pink eyes and a crooked, deceptively carefree smile.

"Do you think that this is your limit?" he remembered someone who had worn the same expression asking him once, long ago. "Do you think that your body, mind, and soul are already at the absolute peak of what you could ever hope to achieve? Do you think all the effort you've exerted so far already amounts to that?"

Back then, it had. But disgustingly enough, out of sheer spite, he found a way to break past his barriers and go beyond what he thought were his limits.

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

But then he learned all the different ways those words could be construed.

The holo-screens flashed again, and now, they displayed the blank yet slightly scowling face of a familiar, scarred boy.

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

He couldn't help but ask what he should have at the time.

"Are you sure?"

Tsurara brought a hand up, twisting a lock of hair from her ponytail around a manicured finger.

"I'm not my older brother," she said.

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

Then she added, "And you're not yours."

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

"I know."

"Do you?"

Enji turned his head. His eyes were narrowed into a mild glare. Tsurara just continued playing with her hair and directed her hooded gaze forward.

The contours of her profile were sharp enough to cut diamond.

"It was an order from above," she told him without even looking at him.

Enji frowned, the area between his brows creasing.

"Did something happen?" he asked.

"No," replied Tsurara as breezily as ever. Her smile as she glanced at him was lazy and just the tiniest bit sardonic. "Or should I say not yet? You see why they're all on pins and needles now, don't you?"

Enji grimaced. The screens flashed once more, and this time, they played a zoomed-in video feed of the first- and second-place winners of the obstacle course race as they interacted with each other.

"Sesera Miyaka" stood in front of his son with her hands clasped behind her back.

"Other people have and will always be born different from you."

He glared.

"Sorry. I messed up, Todoroki."

There had once been a man.

That man wore a bluish-gray kimono as he stood inside a small, cramped, white room. He looked out a window that was barred from the outside, his back straight and his hands clasped tightly behind him. The slightest sliver of sunlight cut his face in half, drawing attention to how one eye shone gold and in his other, there were two black pupils surrounded by a gleaming red iris.

Faint wisps of steam curled up from the thin tea in the glazed cups that sat forgotten on top of a small dresser.

"In the end, he and I weren't so different after all."

Once upon a time, there was supposed to have been a pair of twins.

"Don't worry," Tsurara told him, assuredly and confidently, as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder. "The boss has a plan."

Enji sighed, resigned.

"Ms. Kasuka always does."


vii. watch me walk into empyrean


Four years was a long time, and a lot of things could happen in that period.

Normal kids could graduate from elementary and experience what middle school and that little something called puberty had to offer. They could experience joys, hardships, and whatever else that allowed them to transition from slobbery, snotty little brats to fake young adults on the verge of blooming into this corrupted society.

In that same amount of time, Sesera Miyaka had her entire life turned upside-down twice over. She was instructed on how to think, speak, and act like a functional human being. She was taught the ins and outs of this world that teetered on the precipice of a cliff that no one could see the bottom of. She was told what to become, instead of what not to become.

Her mother finally, finally died.

A lot of things could happen in four years, and a lot of things did happen.

But upon seeing Endeavor in front of her once more—seeing his same tall and broad figure, his same radiant flames, his same sea-glass eyes—it felt like she was once more thrust back into that garden on fire, watching the world as she knew it burn to ash all around her.

The Endeavor in her memories was a larger-than-life figure. He was the first example she ever saw of the concept of a "hero." Ranked number two on the Hero Billboard Chart JP and holding a record-breaking crime resolution rate, he was an elite who stood atop the most treacherous mountain a person could ever hope to climb.

The Flame Hero Endeavor existed as the standard she measured herself against.

"All Might is useful, but he's not so easily used," her aunt had once told her. "Things would be easier now if he'd just retired when he could."

The living legend that was All Might was akin to a natural disaster. One couldn't predict when someone like him would arrive or leave, and the best way to deal with it was to just let it run its course. Precautionary measures could be taken, but in the end, it wasn't the sort of thing that human hands could control. The most they could do was buckle down and do their best to minimize the damages while waiting it out.

After that, it was just a matter of cleaning up and moving on.

For all that heroes were seen as the supers of superhuman society, at their cores, they were still just supposed to be humans. When extraordinary individuals like All Might swept in like hurricanes to disrupt the status quo, small and gradual changes would continuously pile up until one day, people would just suddenly realize that the paradigm had already shifted tremendously from what it had been without them even being aware of it happening.

It wasn't like change was unwelcomed. Change invited conflict, which in turn invited evolution—this was the natural course of life. It was why human beings instinctively sought out discord. If there was no available enemy, then they would strive to create one themselves—within themselves, if necessary.

"Don't you want revenge?!"

That was just how this world worked.

"Hmm? Oh. My bad."

Sesera held her breath as Endeavor stepped out into the hallway and closed the restroom door behind him. He turned his body to face her and Seaweed Head, and the heat of his flames spread throughout the empty corridor. He towered over them and was broader than even the two of them put side by side.

He crossed his arms over his chest.

Seaweed Head stuttered. "E-E-E-En-End-Endea—"

Sesera breathed out.

"Endeavor."

Even in ultra-high definition, television screens and print items could only do so much to capture his likeness. The sheer heat radiating from him made her blood thrum, and just standing in his presence made her feel like she was basking in direct sunlight.

Sesera's vision was swimming. Up close like this, she couldn't help but see the similarities he shared with his son.

They had that same sharp taper to the corners of their eyes. Junior had a smaller face than his father, and she couldn't be sure with Endeavor's beard on fire, but it looked like their jawlines were cut the same as well. Their noses definitely matched.

She didn't know what Junior's mother looked like, but he was certainly his father's son.

Most noticeable of all was that they shared that same brilliant but jagged sort of aura—a presence that was like a giant, blazing bonfire. Its light attracted people to it, but at the same time, the sheer heat it emanated and that silent threat of being burnt kept others at bay.

Sesera wanted so badly to touch it; she felt like a moth drawn to a flame.

"You're the boy that was on my Shoto's team." Endeavor's eyes looked over Seaweed Head's stiff form. "I didn't notice you in the first round, but you made a good showing in the second. You have impressive power. Some form of superstrength?"

"U-Uh… Y-Yes…?" Seaweed Head stammered. His nervous gaze shifted this way and that as his fingers rapidly twirled around each other.

"It reminds me of All Might," said Endeavor, and Seaweed Head stilled like time had stopped everything except his sweat glands—which looked to be on overdrive judging by the amount of water he was leaking. "I would like to see you go up against my Shoto in the next round. It will be a good experience for him."

"I… see…?" Seaweed Head furrowed his brows in confusion. "Um… Thank you…?"

With a final, imperious nod at him, Endeavor slid his gaze over to her.

"So, you're the girl Ms. Kasuka took in," he said, and Sesera inhaled with shallow breaths as his eyes curiously inspected her form. A frown formed on his lips. "You… Weren't you blond?"

Her heart stilled as she realized that He remembers me. He's looking at me. Don't be fuckin' dumb.

She brought up a hand to one of her pigtails, twirling a lock of brown hair around a finger.

"Well, I was told that the color made my complexion look washed out," replied Sesera airily, "so I dyed it."

She'd always had a kind of sickly pallor, and dyeing her hair was infinitely easier than trying to change her skin tone. She'd almost backed out when her stylist suggested plain light brown, but she eventually caved when she was told that they would add a slight purple ombré for depth and golden highlights to bring out the gold flecks in her eyes and make touch-ups a bit easier. The results were actually pretty good, and Sesera had had no complaints about it.

And so here they were.

"I see," said Endeavor a bit blankly. He cleared his throat. "Congratulations on winning the first round. It was a close race between you and my Shoto."

"Thank you very much," she replied slowly, giving herself enough time to think up more topics to lengthen the conversation. "Todo—um, Shoto is… uh, a formidable opponent."

Sesera wanted to slap herself in the face. Lying was usually easy, and if she'd been faced with literally anyone else, there wouldn't have been any problem.

But this man's first impression of her had been formed when she was at her absolute lowest point, and any blatant lie would have been easily figured out.

Though something needed to be said about how hard finding a parent-safe compliment about Junior was. Especially when the only reasonably nice thought she still had about him at this point was that she liked his face.

Imagining it kind of pissed her off now, but it was admittedly a very nice face.

Endeavor nodded. "He still hasn't grasped the full potential of his Quirk, and as a result, his performance is quite rough around the edges. I want to teach him how to properly use his fire abilities, but he's in his rebellious phase and keeps ignoring me. I'm hoping he grows out of it sooner rather than later."

Sesera smiled tightly.

I suppose "rebellious phase" is one way to put it.

Facing the pro hero Endeavor was one thing, but facing Papa Todoroki was kind of…

"It's a good thing that he has people like you two as his classmates," said Endeavor. "Once he reaches the limits of his stubbornness, he should be more receptive to my offer to teach him. As his father, watching him flounder about disgracefully is frustrating."

Sesera found herself in a bit of a confused state.

On one hand, she'd had no problem at all believing Junior's words about his father being the shittiest parent that ever existed. Because she looked up to Endeavor, she was perfectly aware of all his shortcomings and the criticism that was directed at him. But morality was just a social construct, and personally, she didn't care either way. Still, Junior had managed to elicit a bit of sympathy from her, and there were standards she needed to adhere to if only in public.

On the other hand, all she could think as she listened to Endeavor drone on about his son was What a doting parent.

Granted, there was a faint hint of something oppressive in the undertone of his words. The surface impression probably wasn't all there was to it. After all, if ever there was an iceberg with more hidden depths than the one that sank the Titanic, it was Junior.

Sesera knew a lot about Endeavor, but she didn't know much about Enji Todoroki other than what she heard from his obviously biased and bitter son.

"Parenting must be difficult," she finally commented. "I'm sure he'll come around eventually."

"I suppose it's just a matter of time," said Endeavor with a sigh. "As his classmates, please get along well with him."

Sesera smiled her business smile. "We promise to take good care of Shoto."

Endeavor's eyes shifted, and there was a look that flickered onto his face, but it was gone before she could even grasp its meaning. For someone who was infamous for going at his own pace, he hid his emotions pretty well.

I guess that's what working for Aunt Kasuka does to you, thought Sesera.

"I've kept you two long enough," said Endeavor. "Good luck in the final round."

He gave the two of them one last nod before stomping down the corridor. Sesera's eyes followed his back until it disappeared into another hallway.

The thought suddenly struck her like lightning. I should've asked for an autograph, dammit.

Sesera cursed under her breath. At the same time, she heard Seaweed Head gasp out the air he'd been holding on to.

They turned to each other.

"He was really intense, wasn't he?" said Seaweed Head with a wan smile. "I can kind of see where Todoroki gets it from now…"

Sesera understood the sentiment.

"Which reminds me—how'd you even get Todoroki to be part of your team in the first place?" she asked.

Seaweed Head looked up at her with wide, bright eyes. "Oh, ah, well… He actually approached Ida to invite him into a team, but Ida had already agreed to team up with me and Uraraka, so… He just kinda joined in to make four people? We couldn't exactly turn him away…"

Junior was a fighting asset any way one looked at it, so the decision to include him in their team was perfectly rational. But from Seaweed Head's tone of voice, Sesera couldn't help but think that there was some pity factored into how he and his friends let Junior join them.

Endeavor Jr. didn't exactly put in much effort to befriend anyone in class, and his constantly standoffish aura made it hard for others to approach him. He exuded a quieter, more solitary kind of charisma than Bakugo, who, despite his rough attitude, was actually pretty easy to interact with.

Bakugo replied with more than one word when spoken to at least. They might not always be polite words, but they didn't kill conversation on the spot either.

Honestly, that confrontation in the hallway earlier was the most she'd ever heard Junior speak in one go. She didn't even realize he had such an expansive vocabulary, let alone be the type to monologue about his own tragic backstory.

It was funny in hindsight, and she kind of wanted to laugh, but considering the mixed pity and ruth she now had for him, that felt like it would be inappropriate. Just because she'd decided to forgo the angsty drama in her own rebellious phase during her second year of middle school didn't mean that she should expect others to do the same, no matter how similar their circumstances were on the surface level.

"I don't think you're the type to care, but consider this a declaration of war."

A petty, one-sided, symbolic vendetta like this hardly counted as a "war" in Sesera's books; however, Junior was fully determined.

"You have your circumstances, and I get that. But beating someone like you with just my right side will have meaning for me."

What he didn't know—because she hadn't told him—was that losing to just his right side would have meaning for her as well.

"This is what's called 'fate,' " she'd been told as ice seeped into her chest and stole everything she was made of. "Don't you think it's romantic?"

Chills went up her leg, crawled up her spine, and froze her heart.

Sesera touched her left cheek.

It was warm.

"Todoroki almost didn't join us though," Seaweed Head told her. "He said he wouldn't use his left side in battle, and I… couldn't really agree with that. We, uh, sorta argued a bit before coming to a compromise."

Sesera turned to him with curious eyes. "What do you mean argued?"

"Well…" He laughed awkwardly and brought up a finger to scratch his cheek. "I was feeling a bit depressed after scoring so low in the obstacle course race. I guess hearing Todoroki say that he only intended on using half his power hit a sore spot for me."

If Sesera remembered correctly, Seaweed Head had gotten… twenty-fifth place, was it? Just a bit below the halfway mark. It wasn't a comparatively bad ranking if one considered the entirety of U.A.'s first-year population, but for someone in the Hero Course, it wasn't anything to boast about either.

"Do you, uh, remember what we talked about before the first round?" he asked. "About those who always aim for the top and those who don't? It was, um, my trainer, Mr., uh, Yagi who told me that. He was a great hero—he still is, really. I know I said I didn't expect to do well today, but getting twenty-fifth place when I'm being trained by someone like him felt like a harsh reality check. It made me realize quite a few things."

Sesera squinted at him. Huh.

It seemed like Seaweed Head really admired his trainer. She'd only met the man once, and their initial interaction wasn't very substantial either. The biggest impression he made was coughing out blood.

He was associated with U.A., and the Recovery Girl respected him enough to see him in regular sessions. He must've been one hell of a hero, but looking at his current state, he must've also been pretty reckless during his active years.

She looked at the boy in front of her, and the fleeting thought of Ahh, that feels a bit dangerous passed by her mind before being shoved into the tightly sealed mental compartment containing the rest of her unfaced inner demons.

Seaweed Head met her gaze head-on. "Miyaka, you said before the first event that you were feeling nervous."

"Well…"

It was technically true. She had indeed felt nervous, but it hadn't exactly been because of the event.

"We were in the same boat, and yet you won first place while I was somewhere in the twenties." Seaweed Head gave her a dry smile. "Don't tell him I said this, but I've… always looked up to Kacchan as a sort of standard. He's the one who's always been ahead of me. But then suddenly you and Todoroki finished about five minutes faster than him.

"That made me realize how complacent I've been since getting in to U.A. My starting point is already way behind everyone else's. Like Mr. Aizawa told me before, I can't keep making excuses. I may be improving bit by bit, but at this rate, it's not enough. To reach my goal, I have to do more than my best.

"That was the conclusion I came to after the first round, so when Todoroki said he wouldn't use his fire in battle…" Seaweed Head's voice drifted off, and he looked away, pursing his lips. "I may have been a bit too sensitive."

Seaweed Head was fairly tolerant, and most of the time, he just took whatever insult Bakugo threw at him. He was neither violent nor confrontational, but he wasn't exactly submissive either.

Overall, Seaweed Head was actually a bit of a go-getter. It was true that he shrank back when faced with aggression, but for the most part, it didn't seem like he had a problem speaking up when needed. Though awkward, he was friendly enough in social situations, not to mention he was kind of a teacher's pet in class.

When the right buttons were hit, he apparently even had enough nerve to argue with Junior as well.

Thinking about it now, his timid reactions to Bakugo seemed more like the exceptions. Well, the two of them seem to have known each other since childhood, so it was probably some sort of conditioned behavior from before their Quirks manifested.

Disregarding the implications that had on Bakugo's twistedness even as a child, there was just absolutely no way that someone with a Quirk like Seaweed Head's would remain fainthearted. Especially one with that kind of backlash.

After all, just using these kinds of equivalent-exchange Quirks required a certain level of determination.

Of desperation.

"But you managed to work it out," said Sesera.

"Ida and Uraraka helped smooth things over between us," he said with a smile. "Honestly, the two of them were the key figures in our plan for the cavalry battle as well. They basically carried us through the round."

"Hmm, is that so?"

Glasses and Gravity Girl did seem like the type to be peacemakers. Their inherent energy was enough to make up for Junior's lack of it, and their straightforwardness balanced out Seaweed Head's tendency to overthink things.

The four of them made a good team.

"You all worked pretty well together in the cavalry battle," commented Sesera. "It seems like Todoroki's warming up to you guys too."

Seaweed Head scratched his chin with a finger, smiling sheepishly.

"You think so?" he asked. "It'd be good if that's the case. We may have clashed at the start, but Todoroki seems like the type to be a trustworthy and reliable friend."

"It's just a matter of time," she replied. "Just keep hitting that cold wall until it breaks. You've already started, so might as well finish it properly."

Seaweed Head let out a bit of an awkward chuckle as he followed her down the hall.

She promised Junior's father that they would take care of him after all.


Sesera and Seaweed Head eventually made it to the stadium's cafeteria.

Being open to the public, it was fairly packed, but not to the point of overflowing. Food stalls were set up outside the stadium as well, and plenty of popular chains that sponsored the festival set up booths of their own.

Sesera knew from experience that there was more variety offered at the stalls than in U.A.'s cafeteria, and there were enough benches and seating areas set up outside to accommodate the crowds. To be perfectly honest, she usually spent more time wandering around the booths than actually watching the events when she came to support Hokuto, but as a participant, she found herself hard-pressed for time.

"Midoriya!"

Glasses waved from one of the long tables on their left. Sitting beside him was Gravity Girl, and Frog Girl was on the latter's other side. Surprisingly enough, Junior sat with them at the same table despite not looking all that enthusiastic about it. A few other people from their class filled out the rest of the seats.

Sesera spotted a familiar head of striking red a couple of tables away. Spiky Hair #2 caught her eye, and he smiled, raising a hand and waving her over.

"I guess this is where we split up then," said Sesera. "See you later."

"Ah, yes." Seaweed Head nodded at her as she stepped away. "See you then, Miyaka."

He headed towards the table occupied by one half of their class, and Sesera headed towards the one occupied by the other half.

She took the seat beside Ponytail on which a canvas bag hand-painted with blue azaleas was saving her place.

"You took a while," commented Ponytail as Sesera sat down beside her. Her dark eyes discreetly slid over to where Junior sat on the other table. "Is everything all right?"

"Fine, fine." Sesera dismissed the matter as she took out her multitiered lunch box from the bag. "Just got held up a bit in the halls. There're a lot of people today."

"I know, right?" said Invisible Girl. "I was so nervous thinking about having all those eyes on me!"

From beside Ponytail, Earlobe Girl gave Invisible Girl a weird look. "Uhhh…"

"Bakugo really stole the show in the second round though," said Pink Girl with a heavy sigh. She turned to the aforementioned boy with a pout on her lips. "I mean, the way you one-upped Miyaka—and to a degree, Todoroki and his team—at the very, verrry end was just pure saltiness."

"Just like this ramen," commented Bird Boy, and Spiky Hair #2 coughed on his noodles.

"I hear ya," said Tape Dispenser Elbows with a grin, raising a slice of chashu in toast.

Bird Boy wordlessly raised a cord of noodles with a nod.

Sesera looked up from her food, and from across the table, so did Bakugo. His eyes met hers, and immediately, a smug, smackable grin slid onto his face. He turned his chin up at her, shoulders lowering as he straightened his back.

The rest of the table fell silent.

Sesera just pursed her lips, arching a brow at his clearly confrontational body language.

Bakugo scoffed.

"You and Half 'n' Half act like elitist hot shit all the damn time," he said, "always thinking you're naturally above others and looking down on everyone else just 'cause your Quirks are a little strong. Well, newsflash: neither of you is any more special than the rest of us."

"We are though" was the reply that automatically came to Sesera, but she bit down on her tongue to stop the words from escaping.

"That's kind of rich," she said instead, "coming from Mr. I'm-going-to-be-the-number-one-hero-and-the-rest-of-you-are-just-damn-extras."

Kaminari snorted.

"She's kinda got you there, man," commented Spiky Hair #2 with a faint grin.

Bakugo sneered. "Because I'm actually gonna put in the effort to do so. I don't hold anything back—not like you and Half 'n' Half do. If either of you think you can win it all without even using your full power, then you've got another thing coming."

Sesera covered her frown with a hand, her brows furrowing slightly as she took a good look at Bakugo.

I feel like I just had this conversation.

She'd never considered herself the competitive type. Winning or losing didn't have any inherent value to her—only accomplishing the objective. There was no point in asserting her power over others.

In the first place, it was fundamentally impossible to compare her to them.

"In that sense, we're a bit alike."

Pride was meaningless, but revenge wasn't.

She ignored the itch at the back of her neck.

"You know"—Sesera leaned forward, lowering her shoulders and angling her chin up to look into Bakugo's blazing eyes—"if you want me to make you get down on your knees and lick my shoes, then all you need to do is beg."

A series of snorts and gasps went around the table. Tape Dispenser Elbows gave Kaminari a loud thwack on the back to help the latter dislodge whatever food item it was that got stuck in his throat.

Earlobe Girl groaned and ran a hand over her red face.

"Are they always like this?" she asked grouchily. Her voice had come out muffled with her mouth smothered by her palm.

"Unfortunately," replied Ponytail. She also had a hand covering the lower half of her face, and a bit of red dusted the apples of her cheeks.

"How chaotic," commented Bird Boy flatly.

Bakugo's scowl was deeper than usual, and if Sesera wasn't mistaken, the faint red color spreading over his face wasn't from his usual anger.

"That's your answer for everything, isn't it?" He scrunched up his face at her. "You're on the same mental level as Balls-for-Brains."

"Making people uncomfortable amuses me," she replied with her usual business smile. Besides, topics that made people uncomfortable were some of the most useful tools for distracting others and redirecting conversation. "And, well, to be honest, even if you don't beg, I'd probably still do it."

Bakugo clenched his jaw. "I'd like to see you try."

"You're gonna have to at least be able to keep up with me to see it though."

"What makes you think I fucking can't?"

"There is suddenly waaay too much belligerent sexual tension in this table for my tastes," suddenly muttered Pink Girl. Her pink complexion had darkened into a dusty-rose shade, and she shook her head exasperatedly.

Spiky Hair #2 laughed awkwardly.

"Y'know, Bakugo, you're a surprisingly good flirt," commented Invisible Girl.

"Huh?! Which fucking part of that conversation sounded like damn flirting to you airheads?" he shouted.

Kaminari gave him a look. "Uh, everything?"

"What a skill for the talented Mr. Bakugo to show off," muttered Tape Dispenser Elbows with a shake of his head.

Ponytail glanced at Sesera thoughtfully.

"You are being rather more suggestive than usual," she told her.

"Eh, might still be kinda pissed off from the last round," replied Sesera with a shrug.

"So, you're a sore loser." Bakugo clicked his tongue. "Big surprise."

"You're just jealous that your eternal rival Midorikawa caught my attention."

He sent her a glare, but there was a bit of an upward twitch to the corners of his lips.

"Like hell I have anything to be jealous of damn Deku for," he said with a snarl.

She smiled placidly. "Then, if I get to him before you do, can I beat him up?"

"Do what you fucking want." Bakugo scoffed and then dug back into his meal. "Not like beating that shitty nerd is any accomplishment."

"I'm gonna need more sugar then," said Sesera. She glanced at the girls on either side of her. "Are we still up for the stall tour?"

Ponytail suddenly frowned. "About that—I don't think we'll have the time."

"We still have around half an hour for lunch," replied Sesera. "They usually put on a few recreational games before the final round as well, and it's not like we're required to join those or anything."

"Mr. Aizawa said that we're required to participate in the cheer dance competition," said Earlobe Girl glumly.

Sesera blinked twice.

She raised a brow and tilted her head. "I was not informed?"

"Neither were we, but you know how he's like," said Invisible Girl with a titter. "I think it'll be fun though!"

Earlobe Girl furrowed her brows at her. "You're the type who likes this kind of stuff, aren't you?"

Sesera had never seen a cheer dance competition during the U.A. Sports Festival before. She'd seen amped-up versions of the usual sports festival events like tugs-of-war, bread relays, and ball-toss games, among others. Sometimes, they also played normal sports like basketball, volleyball, baseball, and soccer—albeit with special rules.

There'd once been a very intense koi-koi mini-tournament and an utterly convoluted team-versus-team scavenger hunt–cum–poker round, but she'd never seen a cheer dance competition before.

U.A. did like mixing things up though.

"What do you even do in a cheer dance competition?" she asked.

"Cheerleaders' outfits and pompoms," answered Kaminari immediately.

Ponytail frowned. "We weren't able to prepare anything though. I suppose I'll have to make them with my Quirk…"

"I'll treat you to some festival food then," said Sesera, quickly pulling out her smartphone. "Let me message my chauffeurs. If we don't have the time to go around, then I'll just have them buy the stuff for us. They know all my favorites anyway."

"Chauffeurs, says milady," said Pink Girl with a wistful sigh.

Kaminari pointed his chopsticks at Sesera. "That, my friends, is peak bourgeois right there."

Ponytail squirmed in her seat. "Is… having chauffeurs… so… odd…?"

"Fuckin' rich kids," mumbled Bakugo.

"Public transportation is a pain," commented Sesera flatly.

While cramped spaces were indeed risky for her, that wasn't the only reason her aunt had assigned two people to accompany her everywhere she went. Feng Lang and Zusa Miyama were nominally Sesera's chauffeurs, but they'd been chosen and hired for purposes beyond just driving her around.

Practically though, they were her gofers.

Once they were done eating, Pink Girl and Invisible Girl went with Ponytail to recon the details of the cheerleaders' outfits and props, and Sesera went with Earlobe Girl to fetch Gravity Girl and Frog Girl and explain the situation.

When Ponytail finished Creating the clothes, they threw out the boys idling in their class's waiting room so they could change.

"Ahhh, this's so embarrassin'." Gravity Girl covered her exposed midriff with her hands. A pink blush was high on her cheeks, and her Kansai accent seeped into her words without filter. "I can't believe my folks're gonna see me like this…"

"Don't worry, Uraraka!" Invisible Girl waved her pompoms in the air. "You look super cute!"

"Yeah!" added Pink Girl. "We're all wearing the same thing, so there's no need to be so self-conscious!"

Earlobe Girl's eyes narrowed onto Sesera. "Hey, Miyaka, what's with that undershirt? If the rest of us have to go on national television like this, then you do too."

Unlike the other girls, Sesera had a dark-gray, long-sleeved, high-necked undershirt beneath the revealing orange top of the cheerleaders' outfits they wore.

Even though all her clothes were made out of the special conductive fiber developed to contain her Quirk, she normally still wore an undershirt like this for extra insurance. It was even more imperative for her to wear it at this time since the outfit Ponytail had Created was made of normal materials.

"It's a registered Quirk-support item," she replied blankly. "I'm medicolegally mandated to wear it."

"That's so unfair." Earlobe Girl furrowed her brows and pursed her lips. "You're decently covered up with high socks as well. We're so exposed compared to you."

"I can put on lace high socks and a garter belt if it makes you feel better? I have a set made of conductive fiber in my bag," Sesera told her, pointing to the bag sitting inside her locker.

The other girl just ran a hand over her reddening face. "I don't want to know why you consider that an equal compromise. I also don't want to know why you have such things just sitting in your bag."

"Just in case of emergencies."

"I said I didn't want to know!" shouted Earlobe Girl. She crouched on the floor, burying her face in her hands with her shoulders hunched forward. "What kind of emergency would even require those kinds of things anyway?!"

Soon enough, an announcement signaling the end of the lunch break played on the speakers. A call for all the participating students to gather at the arena went out right after. Gathering up their pompoms, the 1-A girls marched out of their waiting room and headed for the arena.

They got more than a few weird looks from the other students heading the same way. It was glaringly obvious that none of the girls from the other classes were dressed up the same way, and their group's walking pace slowed as dread and suspicion began to build up inside of them.

They were at the edge of the entrance to the arena when Frog Girl suddenly stopped in her tracks. She grabbed onto Gravity Girl's arm, making the other girl stop as well.

Everyone turned to them before following Frog Girl's line of sight to the sheets of paper pinned on the giant bulletin board by the players' entrance.

They were advanced registration sheets for the different recreational games that would be held.

"…Come to think of it, didn't they put these up even before the start of the first round?" asked Frog Girl with a croak. "I don't see a cheer dance competition anywhere, ribbit."

"Hey, Miyaka, Jiro." Gravity Girl's voice and face were equally blank as her dead gaze roved over the sheets of paper. "Who said we were required to join a cheer dance competition again?"

"Eraser Head, apparently," replied Sesera airily.

Earlobe Girl and Ponytail shared a meaningful glance.

Ponytail bit her lip hard before she made a grave admission.

"Kaminari and Mineta delivered the message," she said in a quiet and shaky voice.

Ah.

"Ummm…"

The boys from their class walked up to them with different expressions on each of their faces. Kaminari and the small boy exchanged a loud high-five as Spiky Hair #2 and Tape Dispenser Elbows took several hurried steps away from their immediate vicinity.

"W-W-What…?" Seaweed Head sputtered, covering his red face with his hands as Glasses gestured wildly with his arms from beside him.

"What on earth are you girls wearing?" asked Glasses in an unnecessarily loud voice. "As class representative, I did not hear anything about this!"

Ponytail pointed her pompoms accusingly at two specific boys. With a blotchy, red face and uncharacteristic hysteria, she shouted, "Kaminari! Mineta! You tricked us!"

The two of them grinned and gave each other a thumbs-up. They looked absolutely unrepentant.

Ponytail slouched over in shame. "I can't believe I let them fool me like this…"

Gravity Girl and Sesera patted her hunched back consolingly.

Earlobe Girl harshly threw one of her pompoms to the ground with a dirty glare. Through gritted teeth, she made a solemn vow. "You jerks are so going to get it."

"Well, we're here already, and there'll still be time to change before the main event," said Invisible Girl as she waved her pompoms around. "Let's just go out there and have some fun!"

"You're really enjoying this, aren't you, Toru?" commented Frog Girl.

"Ah!" Glasses suddenly held both his arms straight out. He glanced over his shoulder at the crowd of people gathered behind them. "We're blocking the entrance! Make way, make way! I deeply apologize for the inconvenience!"

No one from the other classes was brave enough to interrupt the scene they were making, watching their antics curiously but cautiously from a safe distance. Glasses ushered their class out into the arena without further ado, and it didn't take long for Present Mic to notice them and interrupt his spiel just to comment.

"Hey, Class A girls! What kind of fan service is that?!" Following his words, the holo-screens around the stadium suddenly pulled up live feedback of them, displaying their outfits for the world to see up close.

Ponytail hid her face in her pompoms with a low moan.

"Gosh, Mr. Mic needs to learn how to take a hint," muttered Pink Girl as she brought her pompoms up to cover her front. Even for someone like her, it seemed that this kind of attention was a bit off-putting.

"Huh? Eraser? Where'd you—wait! Stop! Not the fa—!"

The sharp, screeching feedback of a microphone falling over echoed from the speakers before suddenly being cut off. The holo-screens all went black.

"Mr. Aizawa's always so reliable, ribbit," commented Frog Girl.

Midnight smoothly took over.

"Before we start the recreational activities, we'll draw lots to decide the matchups for the final round," she said, gesturing to a lottery box set atop a tall, rectangular stand on the stage. "It's up to each of the finalists to decide whether or not they want to participate in the recreational games. I expect that some of you may prefer to rest and save up your strength. Now, for the lottery, we'll start with the first-place team—"

"Um, excuse me!"

Sesera turned her head to find Tail Boy's hand raised high in the air.

His brows furrowed together in the middle of his forehead. "I… would like to drop out."

Everyone expressed their surprise at his statement differently. Sesera's eyes drifted over to where Hitoshi was standing, and for the first time since their first meeting, he met her gaze evenly.

There was no shame or regret on his face, but there was a tinge of bitterness and maybe some resignation in the slight upward curve on the corner of his mouth.

He did what needed to be done, and Sesera had no particular reason to begrudge him for that. In a one-on-one fight, Hitoshi could probably get through the first round if all his stars aligned perfectly, but after that, he was out. Mind control was an impressive Quirk on paper, but that kind of ability tended to have a lot of prerequisites and other conditions in practice.

Direct mental abilities didn't usually have the kind of freedom of control that, say, an elemental type had. Psychic abilities had been compartmentalized by Quirk doctors and counselors into strict categories early on because of the inherent danger such free-form power over the mind posed, especially in the hands of young and impressionable children.

It was safer to have kids fixate and assume they had limited abilities when first discovering their Quirks. It was best to start them out small and simple, and then let them slowly explore their abilities, upping the scale and adding to their repertoire as they grew up. The ideal was that the levels of the Quirk, mind, and body matched each other as the individual matured.

This was the safe, healthy, and internationally approved method of Quirk counseling and education.

After all, doing something like dumping a Quirk compounded with several generations of baggage and history onto a young child's fragile body and immature mind was just begging for a disaster to happen.

From what little Sesera had seen, Hitoshi tended to be a bit reliant on his Quirk to get things done. They'd only really had that one conversation, but it was clear that he was the intellectual type. It was a rational outcome considering the nature of his Quirk, but that only meant he really should've put in a bit more effort into balancing out his physical abilities.

Much like Eraser Head and Midnight, he had a Quirk that didn't really contribute to his attack power, so improving his martial prowess should've been higher on his priority list if he was really serious about becoming a hero.

Well, mind control was a bit of a jaundiced Quirk category, so he probably had some kind of complex about it. His overreliance and tunnel vision was probably a result of that as well. It was likely that he only ever underwent the mandated Quirk counseling sessions during elementary and middle school. It would have been better if he'd at least seen a counselor specializing in mental Quirks, but those kinds of specialists were fairly uncommon—and thus too expensive and inaccessible to the laymen.

Still, now that he was in U.A., he could just knock on Snowdrop's door during any free period. Sesera could vaguely remember Midnight and Hound Dog being among those who had Quirk counseling licenses in their credentials as well.

If Hitoshi talked to his advisor, he could probably get at least one meeting with the vice principal too.

Honestly, he had quite a few options available, so it was a bit of a wonder to her why he was so obsessed with the Sports Festival and the Hero Course.

She was aware of the trend of seeing the Department of General Education as "a cut below Heroics" or as the "sidekick classes." She'd even joked about it on a few occasions herself since that was basically expected of someone from the Department of Heroics.

In any case, U.A. was still a top-tier institution, and a good amount of graduates went on to study in prestigious universities and build successful careers even outside heroics. The school had more than enough resources to pump out people who could make differences in all kinds of fields.

Heck, the president of her Tea Ceremony Club was a third-year Business student who was the heiress to the lifestyle company ranked third in Asia and Europe and second in the Americas.

Hokuto might've been able to take advantage of the festival's system despite being a Support student, but he was an exception among exceptions. Besides, he already had the foundation to succeed even without making a splash in that particular stage. To him, winning the Sports Festival was less about actually winning the Sports Festival for any kind of gain and more about… fulfilling certain requirements.

Sesera was more or less in the same boat. At least, in terms of the festival just being a way to fulfill certain requirements. But unlike Hokuto, she didn't need to aim for first place. If she could put on a good enough show, she could even quit right after the first round. Her tentative goal was second place, but if the bouts got too bothersome, then she wouldn't hesitate to forfeit even in the middle of a match.

After Tail Boy spoke up, the Class B boy who'd also been in Hitoshi's team announced his own forfeiture. In comparison, Sparkles brazenly kept his own place.

Definitely an electric type, that one.

The final decision rested on Midnight as the main referee, but she accepted their reasons without issue and allowed them to forfeit. In such a case, the standard protocol was to bring up people from the next highest-ranked team to fill in the missing slots, but because of Sesera's heavy-handed initial attack, all the teams below fourth ended the last round with zero points.

They had a schedule to follow, so they couldn't exactly do another preliminary round just to get an additional two people. But moving on with only fourteen finalists would also require some last-minute adjustments to the tournament brackets.

Eventually, after a short discussion between Midnight, Cementoss, Eraser Head, and Vlad King, they decided to just take people from the team which, at one point in the game, had the next highest number of points.

In other words, the team of Class B boys who had, for the better part of two minutes, stolen Bakugo's headband.

Bakugo was all teeth and snarls as the team's blond rider stepped forward while sending him a lazy but provocative smirk. After a brief three-way round of rock, paper, scissors between the other members, it was decided that the gloomy-looking one with hunched shoulders would fill out the other slot.

The first-place team was called up to the stage. Ironically, even though Bakugo was the first one of all the finalists to pull out a number, out of everything he still got sixteen—putting him in the very last slot of the tournament brackets.

Is this what they call poetic justice?

At the very least, Sesera definitely wouldn't consider this as an instance of fate saving the best for last.

The others on his team were evenly spaced out across the matchups. Seaweed Head's team went up next, and Gravity Girl nearly fainted on the spot as the first fixed bout was decided.

She would be going up against Bakugo.

Seaweed Head and Glasses gave her words of encouragement—with both of them even waving one each of the pompoms she had dropped in shock—as she shed dry tears into Frog Girl's shoulders.

"I mean, even if it is Bakugo, he'd go easy on a girl, right?" asked Earlobe Girl worriedly.

Sesera twirled a lock of hair around a finger, giving her a sidelong look. "I highly doubt that."

"But you're… you," said Earlobe Girl lamely. "No offense to Uraraka, but if we're talking about fighting ability, you and she are on different levels. Honestly, you and Bakugo are on a different level from the rest of the class entirely."

She wasn't exactly wrong.

The standards of U.A.'s Hero Course's combat training were nothing to sneeze at, and against anyone else, even a non–combat specialist like Gravity Girl would've had a fair chance at winning.

But Bakugo was truly something else.

"Well…" Sesera touched the ends of the strands of hair she had twirled around her finger. "At the very least, he probably won't cause her any permanent injury?"

It was a bit of a low bar considering U.A. had Recovery Girl, but the gap between their skills was big enough that Bakugo's victory was pretty much set in stone even if he didn't go all out.

Besides, he was a fairly serious and conscientious fighter, and he wasn't the type to play around even with a much weaker opponent. Yes, he was aggressive and oftentimes a bit more violent than what was mentally healthy, but it wasn't like he was sadistic or anything.

He had pretty decent battle conduct, even if he tended to run his mouth at times.

Earlobe Girl frowned. "That's not as reassuring as it should be."

"It's a tournament; there's supposed to be cannon fodder," commented Sesera dryly. "Her horoscope's probably just unlucky today."

Not like her own was any better, but her chauffeur Feng Lang was cautious by nature, and more importantly, he had a crush on the fortune-teller lady from channel six.

Since the two of them fell under the same zodiac sign, he had magnanimously provided Sesera with their lucky item of the day. Her misfortune could be considered somewhat mitigated, though apparently it would be best for her to stay away from the earth signs.

Earlobe Girl side-eyed her. "Didn't expect you to be into that, but it's not actually that surprising."

Sesera just smiled her usual business smile.

Her teammates were called up next. The Support girl went first, and she would be going up against Glasses in the first round. Ponytail would be going up against Spiky Hair #2, and Bird Boy pulled out a number in the last empty bracket, so he'd have to wait to find out who his opponent would be.

Sesera stepped up beside the lottery box's stand and shoved her hand inside.

"Sesera Miyaka picks out number one!" shouted Present Mic. "Hoo-boy, our first matchup of the tournament pits Class A's top two big guns against each other right off the bat! They've been butting heads since the first event, so you could say this grudge match is fate! Who will come out as the final victor?! I'm getting excited!"

Sesera angled her head to stare up at the holo-screen over the stage displaying the tournament brackets. Her name filled out the very first slot with a flash.

Her eyes drifted. In the number two position right next to her name were the kanji for "Shoto Todoroki."

"This is what's called 'fate.' Don't you think it's romantic?"

She smiled.


Extra Scene:

Sesera descended the stage, returning to where she'd been standing with her classmates. As she slowly walked over, her usual group welcomed her back with all the fanfare of a funeral procession.

She brought up a gloved hand to cover her twitching mouth.

"What is this incessant beating in my chest?" she asked no one in particular.

Pink Girl glanced at her once before letting her eyes drift over to the holo-screen displaying the tournament brackets.

"It's love." Her declaration was confident and utterly irrefutable.

Earlobe Girl looked at the two of them and furrowed her brows. Her gaze shifted to glance at the direction from which Sesera could feel the icy daggers shooting the back of her head were coming from.

"You sure about that…?"