"Make no mistake about it! I'm going to come in first place!" Katsuki Bakugo shouted at the top of his lungs, nearly causing the mic to spike before he ripped it off and marched down the stage with an indifferent look on his face.

Izumi found herself smiling, not at Katsuki or what he said, but at the simple thought that had come into her mind. She was going to crush him. All of that self-confidence that he had built up from bullying her during their youths was going to come crashing down around him. She just needed to make it past the qualifiers.

Their eyes met, and Katsuki's indifferent glare changed when he saw her, the determined look on his face becoming more cocky. He pushed his way towards her and stood in front of her, hands in his pockets, sloppy posture making the difference in their height both lesser but more pronounced than it would otherwise be. "Izumi."

"What?" She glared at him, clutching her broom with enough force that her knuckles went white.

"Before the tournament, I want to talk." He took a short breath and looked at her for a moment. "I'll find you."

"Don't bother." Her hands were shaking, but her breath was steady. She was afraid. She was still afraid of him. But more than that. She was angry. "I don't want to hear it."

"I—" He extended a hand towards her and frowned. Then, he turned, hands deep into his pockets as he powered forward.

The moment he was gone, Izumi found her legs nearly gave out as she grabbed onto her broom for support. Bastard. What the hell was he doing trying to talk to her? Why? What did he want to say? If he wanted to apologize, why the hell didn't he just say so? Why wait until now? Besides, it was a bit late for that.

It didn't matter if he apologized to her. She would never make the mistake of being his friend ever again.

"Izumi!" Momo's voice tore through the crowd, and a moment later, Momo and Itsuka appeared beside her. Somehow, Momo knew exactly what Izumi needed and pulled her into a hug that just felt right. "Are you okay?"

Izumi hugged Momo back and then let go, a big smile on her face. "I am now, thanks for the recharge!"

"Recharge?" Momo asked, then she shook her head and frowned. "Well, that's good, but what did he say to you?"

Izumi glanced towards the way Katsuki went and shrugged. "He said he wanted to talk before the tournament."

Momo looked at her for a few seconds and then looked towards Itsuka, who only offered a shrug. "Well, I guess that's fine. Are you going to talk to him?"

"Not if I can help it. I think most of my time is going to be spent hanging around class 1-B. Sorry Momo."

"No worries. I wish we could hang out too, but I think seating is divided by class." Momo gave her a second quick hug and then nodded towards Itsuka, "Best of luck, you guys."

Itsuka nodded back and then punched the palm of her hand. "Thanks, but we won't need it."

Before they could continue the conversation, the buzzer sounded and Midnight's voice carried over the speakers.

"Racers, to your positions!"

There was no calm before the storm.

Everyone moved, rushed, trying to get the best spots before the others did so. There was shoving, shouting, and a fight was on the verge of breaking out between a dozen or so students at any given moment.

Bzzzz-red

She found the calm within the coming storm. Towards the back away from the crowd, away from her class away from her rivals, away from the front. Focus on the broom. Focus on her runes. Focus.

Bzzzz-yellow

Focus on victory. This was her chance to show everyone what she could do.

Bzzzz-green

"Gooooo!"

A burst of ice and wind marked the start of the storm and thunder sounded soon after. Her classmates were knocked to the side, pushed back, or stuck to the ground by ice as three people took the lead.

"It's too tight!"

"Why's the gate so narrow!"

"Stop pushing!"

"Perv!"

The entry gate was taller than it was wide, and that was perfect.

She pushed her broom up fast, pulling herself up and spinning to a perfect sitting position before she moved forward as fast as she could. She moved over the crowd, avoiding the clumps ice and the myriad of other quirks that had appeared. She saw Momo pole vaulting over some others, Itsuka using her giant hands to throw herself forward like a great ape, and Setsuna's bits floating about.

Inasa, Shoto, and Katsuki weren't that far ahead of her now.

She needed to go faster! Inasa would beat her nine times out of ten in a race of speed, and both Shoto and Katsuki were keeping up with him.

Fortunately, a wall of massive Zero-Point robots rose up to impede them.

If only for a moment.

With enough power to make her a bit jealous, Izumi watched as Shoto bent down low like he was scooping something up, and then launched a massive ice wave towards the robot, freezing it in a matter of seconds. Inasa sent one flying back with a tornado, and Katsuki darted around the robots, using his explosions to give himself boost after boost.

She wasn't going to be shown up by the likes of these guys!

She charged forward, her broom a few meters above the ground. She could fly over them. She could just avoid them.

But that wouldn't be showing people what she could do!

Barrier, sphere, target

She summoned a sphere in front of her, just large enough to land on for a few seconds. Her feet nearly slipping as she ran forward on the slick surface. With the tip of her broom lit up she drew a massive rune and aimed right at one of the robots heads.

Force, forward, arrow.

A maximum power force bolt appeared in front of her and was launched forward. It slammed into the robot's massive blocky head and completely shattered it, sending bits of debris in every direction. A second robot got its shoulder torn off and cleared the way for Izumi.

She reached the end of her sphere and pushed off of it, falling for less than a second before she caught herself with her broom and sat back down on it.

She needed to thank Midnight-sensei for letting her have a broom!

A massive pit opened up before her with large rock pillars connected by thin strands of cable. While that would be an obstacle and a half on foot, Izumi felt like she was cheating when she flew right over it, but then again, so did Inasa, and Shoto looked to have made an ice bridge, leaving Katsuki to explode from rock to rock.

She heard him roar, the constant pops of his explosion almost distracting her from moving forward.

"I'm not going to let you two win!"

Two?

But.

There were three ahead of him?

Unless.

That bastard didn't consider her competition!

Izumi growled and pushed her broom faster, sliding a few feet just above the ground, and reaching a turn before the final obstacle, she kicked off the wall and saw Inasa jumping into the air and flying towards the finish line while Shoto was slowed down by the minefield.

Couldn't he just make an ice bridge over it?

Or just—

A net launcher fired from just outside of the minefield and snagged Inasa, sending him to the ground and into an explosion that sent him into the fourth place.

"Talk about unlucky!" Inasa shouted.

How was he still conscious?

Oh, right, he had a hard head.

Izumi landed onto her feet and looked at the minefield. She could see about where the mines were buried, but the further away it was, the harder it was to tell, so she'd either have to step carefully or try to out-fly the net gun.

Or.

She smiled and grabbed her broom again, this time holding the brush end in front of her.

A trail of a dozen lights emerged from her broom as she spun it through the air, ignoring Katsuki as he blasted past her only to get caught in an explosion and then blasting himself forward. The net guns didn't trigger if the target was knocked up with a mine? That's useful.

Barrier, sphere, target.

A trail of barriers appeared on the ground and Izumi leapt across them like they were rocks in a stream, and just about as slick, with her broom to keep her balanced she was able to catch up.

"Izumi!" Katsuki shouted, he was actually angry this time. "Get back here!"

She heard the ground explode behind her when she reached the safe ground.

Broom in hand, she spun, quickly drawing another couple dozen runes in the air.

Barrier, Wall, Target.

Countless shimmering barriers appeared in the air in front of Katsuki, forcing him to crash into it as the net guns activated, pinning him to the floating barrier like tiles that embedded his path.

If it was anyone else, she would have apologized.

Unfortunately for Katsuki, she had a race to win.

Back on her broom, she doubled her speed and was the first to arrive in the stadium.

"What an incredible finish! All eyes were on those three power houses from 1-A, but coming from fourth place to finish in first we have the Witch of 1-B! Izumi Midoriya!"

The Witch of 1-B?

Izumi smiled and let out a laugh as she waved at the people cheering for her.

She liked that name! She liked that name a lot!

"What on earth is her quirk?"

"No idea, it's pretty cool though."

"Not to mention versatile, being able to fly, create barriers, and having the stopping power to disable two zero pointers? It almost feels like she has a dozen quirks wrapped up into one."

"Not to mention she's a hottie."

"Dude, she's a 1st year."

Was it wrong that she was enjoying being the center of attention so much?

The rest of the contestants came pouring in, Shoto was in second, Inasa third, Katsuki fourth, and then Ibara and Juzo managed to get into the top ten with Itsuka barely making it in the top thirty. Overall, the results were simple, 1-A was ahead.

"And now the main selection really begins!" Midnight shouted, and once again the large screen behind her began to light up showing several different events before stopping on Cavalry battle.

The rules were explained, teams of two to four would battle for headbands, with each team's total point value being based on where each person ranked in the last event.

Which meant that—

"First place is worth one million points!"

That was more points than everyone else combined.

Oh.

Maybe being the center of attention wasn't so great after all.

XXXX

"Uhh," Reiko looked down at the ground with a slightly silly look on her face. "Not that I'm complaining."

Izumi hummed and kept her legs on Reiko's shoulders while her broom supported her butt.

"But, isn't this cheating?"

Izumi looked down at the chaotic battle that was happening below them and shrugged. "Would you rather be down there actually trying?"

"Nope."

"Then we're good, besides, this was technically your idea."

Reiko had been the first to grab her and presented her simple and ingenious plan.

Float high enough up that it was hard for people to reach them, and then put up a barrier.

A few students had attempted to attack them, but Inasa was either being a good friend or was being opportunistic and taking out anyone that dared to enter the air.

Was it a cheap, boring, and ultimately unsatisfying victory?

Yes, yes it was.

But, it was still a victory.

AN: I didn't want to write the calvary battle... and like... I mean... why would Izumi not do this?