Disclaimer: Boku no Hero Academia characters and plot events belongs to Horikoshi Kohei.

To Be a Hero

start!

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In the announcement cube, Present Mic was absolutely enthralled by one daring pledge after another. "That's class 1-A for ya, everybody!" he shouted, nudging the companion seated next to him. "The first-year stage really is where it's at this year, huh, Mummy Man?"

"You don't even need me here, do you?" Aizawa deadpanned.

"Now!" Midnight announced from her position in the center of the field. "Let's get started right away. The first game is what you'd call a qualifier... Every year, many drink their tears here! Here is the fateful first game!" she whipped her flogger up as a digital screen appeared behind her. The options spun like a lottery-style number generator. "This year, it's..."

Suspense hung in the air as everyone's eyes zeroed in on the generator. No matter what the qualifier was going to be this year, one thing never changed. Less than half of the students will pass to go onto the next stage.

"...an obstacle race!" the R Rated hero introduced as graphics appeared on the screen to explain the race. "All 11 classes will participate in this race. The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium—about 4 kilometers! Our school's selling point is freedom," Midnight's lips turned into a sadistic smirk as her blue eyes narrowed with anticipation. "As long as you stay in the course, it doesn't matter what you do! Now, take your places!"

At the hero's order, Shiro and the rest of the students turned towards the door that rumbled open to lead them out of the stadium. She stood besides Kirishima as they waited for the go signal.

"Shiro-chan, what you said up there..."

She stared into Kirishima's serious red orbs curiously, wondering if her pledge had sounded too overconfident in the male's opinion. She had tried to make it sound less obnoxious than Bakugou's, of course, but what she said was truly what she wanted to aim for, so she wouldn't apologize for that.

"...it was pretty damn manly!" he finished with a glint of a teardrop in his eye. "So I gotta do better, too!"

"Ah," Shiro nodded at his enthusiasm and offered him a fist of encouragement. "Good luck then, Kirishima-san."

"Yeah, you too!" he bumped his fist with hers with a wide grin.

They watched as the three green lights on top of the door slowly dimmed one by one. At the last light, the hero announced, "Start!"

Everyone took off.

Immediately, Shiro knew the tunnel was too narrow for all of the students to get through at once like they were all trying to do, and she did not want a repeat of what happened during the security breach. It doesn't matter what we do as long as we stay on the course, right? Activating her right eye, she jumped up above the packed crowd as her Quirk allowed her to make those in her path work favorably in becoming like stepping stones for her to leap across.

"Ouch! Hey!"

"Oi, that's my head!"

"What the hell?!"

She was, in the very form, embodying Bakugou's statement.

Sorry... But I can't fall behind!

Making it towards the very front, she suddenly felt a burst of cold air and knew exactly what it was. He's sifting out the competition already, huh? She propelled herself off of someone's head with a push of force from her arms. Landing just a few feet behind Todoroki, she worked to catch up to him. Behind her, she saw that all of her classmates had anticipated Todoroki's total freeze-over and also got out safely.

"What made you think this trick would work the second time when it didn't work the first?" she challenged as she ran side-by-side next to the male. Todoroki offered her a cold smirk.

"I expected nothing less from class 1-A. Though, more people outside of our class were able to dodge that than I expected..."

On their tail, Mineta was bouncing his way over with his sticky purple spheres. He was laughing wildly as he started falling towards them in preparation to throw his spheres. "I've outwitted you, Todoroki!" He was going to first stick Todoroki to the ground and then stick himself onto Shiro. Two birds with one stone, muahaha!

"Take my special attack! Gra—!"

WHAM!

The short boy never got to execute his "perfect" plan because a robotic arm had suddenly swung down on him and nearly knocked him off track. "Targets found..." the many zero point faux villains from the entrance exam focused its red laser eyes on the students, "...lots!"

"Obstacles have shown up suddenly!" Present Mic's voice boomed over the speakers. "Starting with the first barrier... ROBOT INFERNO!"

Shiro's ruby eyes narrowed at the amount of zero pointers. Passing them would not be easy, especially since they were too large for her to destroy. Plus, using both of her eyes so early in the game would only set her up to fail for the next round. All I can do is try to pass them!

"So this is what they used in the general entrance exam?" Todoroki said as he stepped forward with blocks of ice forming underneath his feet and hand. "If they went through all this trouble, I wish they would've prepared something better."

"Easy for you to say..." she trailed off as he swiped his arm across the area to encase the entire row of robots in ice. But damn...

"He stopped them all! We can get through it!"

"I wouldn't do that..." Todoroki called before taking off. "I froze them when they were unbalanced. They'll fall over."

I'll take whatever I can get at this point! Shiro's left eye swirled and she immediately followed behind. The frozen robots came crashing down, but she was not going to get herself injured this time around. However, she quickly found that running on ice was a challenge in itself. If it wasn't for her Quirk lowering her chances of harm by steadying her footing on the least ice-slicked portions of the ground, she would've not been able to dodge the parts crashing down at her. Another robot part landed right next to her and she twisted her body away just in time.

"You're sure not making this any easier for us..." she gritted her teeth as she tried to balance her footing behind the male.

"Of course not," he said with a glowering look. "Not when my stupid old man is watching."

She fell silent briefly after that since she knew it was a sensitive topic. Finally passing the first barrier, the ground below her feet was no longer froze over and she could focus on catching up to the bicolor haired male again. One of the zero pointer's tail came smashing down on the ground and a piece broke off, and Shiro jumped up to catch the long rod-like metal and grinned. Perfect, at least now I have a weapon!

"Todoroki from class 1-A! He attacked and defended in one hit! How elegant!" Present Mic relayed the play-by-play. "And he's the first one through! It's practically unfair!"

"His actions are logical and strategic," Aizawa answered simply.

"As expected of someone who got through recommendations! Oh wait, is that—?!" the Voice hero slammed his hands down on the table excitedly. "It looks like Aisaka, also from class 1-A, is hot in pursuit! What's she going to do with that metal bar, though?!"

Behind the two leading individuals, the others were still trapped on the other side of the fallen robots along with the new ones that had gathered again. Kirishima, who got crushed beneath a robot, smashed his way through angrily.

"That bastard Todoroki! If it hadn't been me under those robots, someone would've died!"

At the same time, the gray haired male from class 1-B also smashed his way out with the same look. "Class 1-A is really filled with bastards! If it hadn't been me, someone would've died!"

Kirishima Eijiro, Quirk: Hardening. Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, Quirk: Steel.

"Those guys are lucky..." Kaminari said as they took off into the "robot inferno", as Present Mic called it. "They can get through it without worrying about getting crushed!"

A fiery blast from behind rang through the students' ears as Bakugou soared over their heads with an angry scowl. "As if I'd let these bastards get ahead of me!" he shouted, propelling his way up the robots with his explosion as his vision zeroed in on the two that were far ahead of the race. "I'm coming for you, Pigtails, Half and Half!"

Following his example, the other students in class 1-A used their own Quirks to assist them through the obstacle. After first-handedly experiencing what it was like to be faced with real danger, they were not one to stand around and wait for something to happen. They're giving all they've got!

"Hey, hey! The first barrier's a piece of cake? Then what about the second?"

Being among the first to reach the second obstacle, Shiro took a second to take in the sheer depth of the canyons. If she fell down one of those, there will be no way up. But a smirk made its way to her lips.

"See you on the other side!" she called as she took off before Todoroki. With the handy rod in her hands, it worked to increase her rotational inertia and aid in maintaining stability while her left eye served as an extra precaution against falling while running.

"The roles have been reversed! Aisaka just left Todoroki in the dust!" Present Mic announced. "With her probability manipulation Quirk, she can lower the chances of her faling to less than 1% as she expertly pulls off this tight-rope stunt!" he shouted with full energy. "But it looks like Todoroki is easily right behind her as he glides across the ropes! What is he, ice skating?!"

Shiro passed through to the other side and continued to run, but Todoroki was barely milliseconds behind her. As expected, he's hard to shake off... Behind them, Bakugou was hot in pursuit as he blasted his way through the canyon.

In the crowd, the audience were awestruck at the powers and techniques the students were displaying as they made their way through the obstacles. Many eyes were especially on the two that were currently leading.

"Those two are way ahead!"

"That guy's Quirk is really strong, but his natural athletic ability and judgment are also a cut above everyone else's."

"Of course it is. That's the Flame Hero: Endeavor's son!"

"No wonder... But what about the girl? How is she able to keep up with the blood of the guy second to only All Might? Incredible!"

"I haven't seen her do anything really extraordinary with her Quirk though, so it's dull compared to the ice Quirk."

"It's a rare Quirk, isn't it? I've never heard of it."

"Well, rather than keeping us guessing... At least we know for sure that the Flame Hero's son will be the one that the pros will fight over to get as a sidekick after this!"

Aizawa scoffed softly as he took in some of the comments. It wasn't that Shiro was incapable of making her probability manipulation flashy and strong; it was just irrational to use up precious energy in the first round. She was aiming for the final match, so it was smart to conserve energy now. Besides, he was impressed that she was still able to keep up with Todoroki.

She's showing off, too.

By the time Shiro reached the last obstacle, she was slowly getting out of breath. Todoroki was stronger in nearly every aspect; it took everything in her to merely keep up a few steps behind him. Right now, he was already inside of the obstacle, but she wondered why he had suddenly slowed down...

"And we're at the final barrier! The reality here is..."

Her eyes then widened at the faint circles littering the ground before her. Don't tell me...

"...That's right! A minefield! It's set up so that you can tell where the mines are if you look carefully! So you have to exploit your eyes and legs! By the way, the landmines are for games, so they're not that powerful," the Voice hero chuckled. "But they're loud and flashy enough to make you wet your pants!"

"That depends on the person," came Aizawa's deadpanning mutter.

If they're not that powerful, then it's only here to slow down the person in the lead... Heh, perfect! Shiro thought and started to hop around the mines with her eye activated to naturally lead her towards the favorable gaps at a much quicker pace than the careful male before her. It was times like this that she truly appreciated her Quirk. A few more steps and she will be caught up to—

"Oi!" Bakugou was suddenly right behind her since his explosion worked in tandem with the landmines—both propelled him forward at a blinding speed. "Don't think that Half and Half is your only competition! I'm right here!" he shouted, sending another blast of energy from his palm as he reached towards her.

Shiro managed to dodge his other ignited hand while her Quirk worked quickly to make sure that she landed on a safe spot. "And you should be back there!" she snapped and swung the metal bar at him, forcing him to back off. She had been so close to Todoroki, damn it!

"We've now got Bakugou coming in hot as he ties with Aisaka for second! Todoroki is still in the lead, but the two are fighting their way over for first! Rejoice, mass media! It's the kind of development you guys love!"

"I gotta give that bastard a piece of my mind! He shouldn't be declaring war on the wrong person!" Bakugou flipped over and used his explosion to launch his body off the ground. "So get out of my way!"

"As if I'll let you get ahead of me!" she shouted and jumped forward.

"I fucking will!"

With Bakugou quickly blasting up to her again, she needed to change up her strategy because she knew she couldn't keep fending off the blonde; the finish line was just a third of the way ahead of them and she needed to get ahead of Todoroki now. With her hands gripping tightly onto her weapon, she suddenly got an idea.

This isn't flexible, but it'll have to do...

Taking a deep breath, she ran forward with a hop as both of her hands gripped the highest part of the rod. Searching for the perfect spot and then digging the rod into the ground, she raised her right knee as her left foot stomped on a mine below. The pressure from the explosion added enough force to swing her forward.

"Todoroki-san!" she shouted just as she aimed her right foot at him, her right eye spinning to land the hit. The male widened his eyes and used his arms to block, but he played right into her plan and she used the opportunity for her foot to push off his arm and she flipped over him with her hands on his shoulder. "Thanks for the boost!"

Landing a few feet in front of the male now, she didn't waste any time and took off again.

"Did you see that, audience?! Aisaka just pole vaulted her way over and used Todoroki like a vaulting box to steal the lead! These are familiar moves everyone should know! This is why your junior high physical education is important!"

"Aisaka..." Todoroki's heterochromatic eyes narrowed into slits. A part of him was impressed... While the other part of him was now very angry.

"Hey, bastard!"

A spark exploded right next to his ear as he twisted his body to the side. Bakugou wasn't playing around, either; his expression nothing but pure and pissed determination. Todoroki found himself head-to-head with the blonde with one goal in mind: to catch up to the girl who was ahead of them.

I've made two dangerous enemies... Shiro furrowed her eyes as she continued to jump around the landmines. Now that her only weapon was gone, so was any other backup plan. Todoroki had started to use his ice again to run full speed ahead, and Bakugou was using the explosions to quickly decrease the distance between them. She was clearly at a disadvantage here since her Quick can only make her avoid the mines, not excel her speed.

"First place is mine, Pigtails!" Bakugou reached over from her right with sparks in his palms. She quickly jumped aside, her hair nearly getting caught in the sparks.

"Hey! Watch it!" she growled.

"Prepare yourself, Aisaka!"

Todoroki was on her other side, his ice working towards her and forcing her to jump back. However, with that came the inevitable as she started sliding sideways. He did this on purpose—! Catching herself by staying low on the ground, she managed to gather enough inertia to save herself from flying off and landing on a mine, but that made her fall two steps behind once again.

"That's right people! This is a reminder that chivalry has long died with the knights!" Present Mic announced urgently, his brows raised high on his forehead. "Todoroki and Bakugou, after ruthlessly ganging up on Aisaka, have now taken the lead!"

Shiro gritted her teeth and was immediately on the run again. She was determined to not use her reality rewrite on the first round, so there was no time to lose and the only thing she could do for now was catch up to them as fast as her legs could possibly take her. I'm close behind, if I can just—

An incredibly loud explosion suddenly resonated across the entire field and she could see a giant pink mushroom cloud erupt behind her. What in the world...? Her ruby eyes shot up when Midoriya, equipped with a slab of metal he was riding like a sled, shot through the air.

"Was this an accident?! Or intentional?! It doesn't matter because class 1-A's Midoriya is now in hot pursuit with that blast! We may just have ourselves a new lead!"

As she ran through the field behind Todoroki's ice path, her eyes zeroed in on the flying boy above the sky. At the speed that he was going, she calculated that he had a great chance of passing both herself and the two currently in front of her, and that's when she realized that this was exactly what she needed at the moment.

Midoriya... The black dial on her left eye spun rapidly as she focused on the curly haired boy's landing. I'm sorry!

"Woah! It's like Midoriya's ride suddenly lost all velocity! What are the chances?!" the Voice hero exclaimed. "This can only mean one thing...!"

I lowered his chance of passing Todoroki and Bakugou, and instead... she moved a few steps to her right to get off of the ice path and then continued on her way. He's now headed straight for them!

With Midoriya quickly plummeting towards the two leads, Shiro was finally able to run past them since they suddenly had to focus on trying to get rid of the curly haired male coming their way. And just like that, she cleared the minefield!

"Hell truly hath no fury like a woman scorned! Aisaka, scorned of her first place just a minute ago by Todoroki and Bakugou, is now back in the game and subsequently, back in the lead!"

"Shit—! Get out of my way, Deku!"

Bakugou shouted as orange flames sparked dangerously from his palms. He was ready to blast Midoriya out of the way. On the same boat, Todoroki tried to increase his speed by sliding on the ice he made to avoid a collision with the male. However, Midoriya was not giving up yet. He braced his body back with his two legs pushing off of the two males' backs before swinging his metal shield down in front of him, thus detonating another forceful blast from the mines.

"Following right behind is Midoriya, who swiftly blocks those behind him! Would you believe it? He cleared the minefield in an instant!"

Shiro turned her head back just to see the bloom of pink smoke quickly rumbling in the background, and suddenly, Midoriya shot out from the smoke and tumbled down a few feet ahead of her. "Seriously?!" she widened her eyes in surprise, but there was no time to stop as the two that she left behind were angrily in pursuit.

"Aisaka!"

"Pigtails!"

"They're relentless...!" she scowled and picked up speed.

"The four that are leading the race are all from class 1-A! Eraserhead, your class is amazing! What're you teaching them?!" Present Mic exclaimed.

"I didn't teach them anything," the Erasure hero insisted. He watched the four give their all as they raced towards the finish line. "They got each other fired up on their own."

"U.A. sports festival, first-year stage!"

"You're not even listening?!"

Present Mic stomped a foot on the table as his shoulders literally shook from the thrill of watching the scene that had unfolded. "Who could've predicted the developments at the beginning or this conclusion?" his eyes watched with anticipation as the four leading students were temporary blocked from view when they entered into the tunnel that lead back into the main stage. Suddenly, the result was clear.

"Right now, the first person back in the stadium is...!"

As soon as Shiro passed through the tunnel with the last burst of speed that she had mustered, she immediately collapsed into the soft grass once the light hit. The crowd was cheering loudly as confetti rained down into the field.

However, it wasn't because of her.

Midoriya, despite everything, had managed to rise above and rightfully won first place. This of course meant that she was second, and right behind her was Todoroki in third and Bakugou in fourth.

Accepting her defeat, Shiro walked up to the male as he stared at his hand. "Midoriya-san..." she called out as he immediately jolted to look at her. "Congratulations," she said earnestly before she rubbed her head sheepishly. "And... Sorry for using you to fend off the other two. I hope I didn't actually hurt you."

"Oh no, you were just doing what you could! It's okay!" Midoriya insisted as he waved his hands around. "I-I'm not hurt, either!"

Shiro blinked at him before a small smile appeared on her face. "That's good... You really deserved the winner title since you were able to override my probability manipulation," she said. "You're actually amazing."

"I-It's not that! I just happened to be able to use something I thought I could use. What's amazing was my luck... It was a lucky punch," Midoriya blushed deeply at her praise, insisting that he wasn't all that great. My real ability will be tested after this...

Not giving into his humbleness, Shiro merely shook her head.

"Well, it doesn't change the fact that you did a great job," she concluded definitely. The male could only meekly accept her praise thereafter, since she was not leaving any room for discussion.

Suddenly finding her throat incredibly dry, Shiro then excused herself and went off to find a water fountain as Midnight announced for them to hang tight as the results will be posted after the rest of the students have made their way across the finish line. Feeling the refreshing chill of cold water run down her throat, she sighed contently as she greedily gulped it down.

"Aisaka."

Gulping down the last mouthful of water, she turned at the sound of her name being called. "Todoroki-san!" her lips quirked up at the male. "Hey, you almost had me back there. Congratulations on placing thir—"

"Friendly chit-chats mean nothing to me. Just know that this won't happen again," he cut her off clearly, his tone lacking any ounce of friendliness that he'd given to her days before. "I am aiming to defeat Midoriya, so I don't intend to let anyone get in my way. What you are is a distraction from my goal."

Geez, harsh. And I really thought we were friends.

"If you understand, then—"

This time, Shiro cut him off.

"Look, I intend to stay out of your way because your sudden grudge against Midoriya-san has nothing to do with me. But don't be mistaken," she stepped up towards him as her ruby eyes narrowed at his icy heterochromatic orbs. "I'm also trying to prove myself out here. If I do 'get in your way', I won't be sorry for it. It's only natural when you're aiming for the top... Nothing personal."

Todoroki's brows furrowed, and he was about to say something else when he caught sight of a classmate in the background coming towards them.

"Shiro-chan! What are you doing over there?"

Uraraka's sudden and unknowing intervention effectively ended the conversation short. It was a good thing, since it was already leaving a bad taste to her mouth. Before Shiro left to meet up with the rosy cheeked girl, however, she felt that she needed to add one more thing just because she was stubborn.

"Also... I won't assume to be your friend anymore since you're obviously not looking for one."

I hope I did the obstacle race justice... I enjoyed writing this part a lot! Special thanks to those who reviewed - I'll continue to do my best with the future chapters! ^_^