And like I've said, this chapter was almost complete beforehand. I will also put out another databook entry so I someone could easily catch up on Maribel's character at this point in the story if everything wasn't so clear.

Alone in his house, a boy with quite dark and green hair stood by. Gazing at his microwave, thinking.

The egg explodes as steam builds up inside rapidly, pressuring one point until the egg has to release it. Tearing it to pieces...

Rapidly...

If I do it gradually, then I can find it...

The sweet spot that I can control.

Midoriya Izuku's body quivered as his quirk activated, tensing every muscle in his body.

"Izuku! You have to eat breakfast now, or you'll be late for school!"

His focus was interrupted, and he was thus forced to cringe in pain. But it wasn't as bad as it usually was.

"C-coming!"

"I'm going without the costume for now. I'm supposed to be practicing for the sports festival. Aren't I?"

"Ah, perfectly understandable then! Having some preemptive experience always gives someone an advantage!" All Might supported Hearn's decision making. Although this was the hero course and they were supposed to be generally taught, there was the exception with her. While not the biggest problem in the world, making sure U.A. looked good for the media was crucial to making sure that they minimized the damage, they could cause. And with a figure so central to the USJ incident, it was perfect.

Truthfully, Hearn was very worried about the sports festival, but very good at hiding her worry. If she disappointed the school and the media, then their efforts would all have been in vain. What would the teachers think about her then?

"Well, let's get to it then! I'm going through the movements with you again so you can imprint them where they belong. Not in your thoughts, but in your procedural memory!"

Although most of the lesson was just repetition, Maribel's free time from lecturing gave her some much needed moments to experiment. With it, she confirmed a few things about the 'trick' she learned. It let her use a lot more power in a blow, but as logic follows, it would hurt more the harder she hit. Secondly, she could glide far whilst she was on the ground. And she had discovered an ability to jump especially high. Of course, it couldn't be maintained for long as she'd previously found out, but softening the aura helped her maintain it for longer. As a drawback, she had to reach a certain point before there was any noticeable effect in the trick. Just focusing a little wouldn't do anything, she would have to focus until just before she hit the breaking point.

She held an uneventful lunch with Momo and Kyoka, where she discussed with them the sports festival above everything else. Explaining in more detail what the school wanted from her. Kyoka was somewhat empathetic to her troubles. All of this made some thoughts go through her head. It'd be best if she got some information on the potential big players. Maribel knew Todoroki would be included in that group simply due to his quirk. At least from what she'd heard of it. Bakugo was fast, and she learned from asking Momo and Kyouka that he managed to blow out a big part of a building. Outside of that, she couldn't think of someone who'd legitimately surprise her. There were, of course, a few people she didn't know the quirks of in the class, and also out of class, but nobody had made any big fuss yet. Maybe Midoriya could be there too, although that'd just be due to his overpowering strength.

After that, the principal requested her presence for a media interview of all things. It wasn't all that important, but she told him what to say.

The last hero lesson since Thursday was one where she didn't request any help, instead the whole lesson was dedicated to experimenting with her border spaces. The spaces that gaps could create between each other. She had ballooned them, created tight cannon-like spaces and whatever you could think of. There was a thought in her mind though, a sub-space. This would be a space where she could access the things she wanted through a sort of proxy. And if she could control the space within, she could control that world. A crazy thought, but Maribel couldn't come up with a way for it to work. But basing off of this idea, she began testing things.

Ten minutes before the class ended, she sat on a rooftop and thought.

Shinso declared war on the class, so he has some confidence. I couldn't find him after lunch a few days back, though. And I haven't seen him since, I've had some bad luck if that's the case. Currently my idea is perhaps to bring some of them onto a friendlier side in the middle of the bout. I know Shinso would consider me a friend before a foe, so just aiding him along the way might swing him over in the heat of the moment... Still, if he declared war on the class, I'll have to be somewhat discrete about it.

Hmm...

I was thinking about Bakugo earlier, Bakugo. He might be worth keeping an eye on.

There was a distorted space forming just on the wall next to where Bakugo had been blasting before. And peeking out of it was one of his classmates. She looked innocent and calm, probably like she wanted to be portrayed that way. This was but one of the ideas that crossed the ash blond's mind as he stopped his personal exercise.

Waving his oversized gauntlet-like equipment at her, it looked like he was threatening to bonk her on the head. "Hey! Stop spying on me! Don't come thinking I'll offer you some kind of advantage, bitch!"

"Stop calling me that." The voice of Maribel Hearn called out mildly irritated. Her rather unnatural looking eyes met Bakugo's red ones, which immediately prompted him to back off. If she had to guess, her aura could leave some kind of impression through the eyes. And it wasn't merely that, her expression wasn't exactly friendly.

"Why are you here? You could've taken your stupid mouse hole anywhere else!" He continued shouting, their faces were oddly matching. Why the hell does the principal need her for anything?! Any classmate performing exceptionally could take her role. You shouldn't get special treatment or a bunch of teachers helping you on every lesson!

Hearn stepped out of her gap and straightened out. "I'm experimenting. My quirk isn't as blunt as yours. I have to think hard to find its value." She somewhat conceitedly compared them. In response, he leveled his face with hers, the three-centimeter difference lessening the impact of this.

"You moan about how fucking confusing your quirk is and how HARD it is to learn all the time, I don't give a shit! And I bet none of the classmates do, either." Flexing his muscles a little, he pointed at her intimidatingly and with an insultingly angry look. Hearn's posture changed from being less stiff to something more useful for walking away, even if she wasn't about to do that. Now shouting less and speaking as angrily as he could, he looked almost ready to attack her. "Don't think I don't hear shit from the rest of class. The principal wants you to be his little star. You think you can just walk over everyone because of that and get first place?"

Hearn kept a still expression for a bit and didn't move.

Katsuki was extremely petulant and hitting exactly the right points to piss Maribel off. She hadn't expected him to be a good judge of character, but she also felt he was merely guessing in large part. "Even if you win, you wouldn't have earned shit. It'd be as fake as your mood half the time! And I'll enjoy crushing you before y- Hrah!"

Whoosh. Maribel's fist flew through a gap, almost colliding with Bakugo's face. A few bursts of explosions sent the boy back and out of the way, putting a good seven meters between the two. Staring him in the eye, Maribel couldn't help but give him something back. "If I was born with a quirk mature enough to cause pretty explosions, I might've been just like you. Luckily enough, I wasn't that unfortunate." The girl mockingly remarked and threw her fist down to her side and tilted her head back a little, allowing her to properly 'look down' on him. "My quirk's a lot more than it looks like. I only started out with these eyes. The gaps and everything else are something I've pushed my quirk to do. It's not like you. I haven't banged my hands together like an ape since I was a little kid and gotten all the praise for having an amazing quirk. Frankly, I hate the praise too."

He broke eye contact and activated his quirk like firecrackers to intimidate her. Twisting his angry expression into an eager and aggressive grin. It was safe to say, he was ready for a fight.

She'd sneer at him. Sighing and calming her voice just a little to exert an air of authority. "And don't think I'm duping anyone. I want this over with. The sooner I'm off of the news, the better. If that means talking to the people I like and love, I will." She declared proudly, the wording would be enough to make her blush if only for a particular word, but she was angry. "Maybe you're resentful of that, given you barely connect with anyone here."

The bombing king flew off in her direction, and Maribel was truly stressed this time. He was fast enough to dodge her first attack, but he didn't see things like she did. As a start, she'd have to break his velocity. So she made a very blunt swing of her arm from an easily noticeable distance through a gap. Not entirely unexpectedly, Bakugo dodged it by deflecting his momentum sideways to the left. In a follow-up maneuver, he blasted himself at her again, angling his hands behind him. Although the short distance and the close proximity to the wall would prevent her escape, it also prevented his freedom of movement. In the same instance the girl began sliding to the right and slipped partly through a gap and appeared very close to Bakugo's left. It was perfectly possible for him to reorient himself to counter, but her appearance would be somewhat unexpected.

Placing her right leg down just between his own, her arms appeared through another gap and tightened around his right. She was trying replicating what All Might had taught her. Maribel's leg performed something similar to a pigeon stretch and caught Bakugo in a takedown. His momentum was largely stopped, but their fall was slow because of it. Allowing his free hand to reach out and sock her in the head with a soft explosion, which wasn't enough to budge her. Once falling on top of him, she tossed her upper body closer to his head to keep him down.

Her inexperience with Bakugo would cost her the valuable position she just got herself into.

Blasting off into a spin, he tossed Maribel off of himself and made her roll away. Her recovery from something like this was far quicker than it was at USJ, but Bakugo was also quick to get up. He spun up like some sort of firework and landed on his feet. This time it seemed like he wanted to keep his distance. ...Confident in close quarters, definitely stronger than she's given credit for. And she's not clueless about fighting, either, despite the sloppy takedown. Bakugo cursed under his breath. And she can approach me however she likes... Tricky.

Running her eyes across him in the same moment, he would even begin thinking of doing the same. Maribel jerked her hand to the side and created a border space gap. Enveloping a part of his leg, and specifically his costume in it and tightening up especially around the top of it. This way, she wasn't injuring him seriously. The metallic part of his costume, near his knee, started bending unnaturally as the sight of it was warped by her gap. Wha- Shit! He grimaced angrily at the situation and pointed down into the gap with both of his hands, firing off an explosion and blowing that part of the suit off. Just enough to let his bare leg slip through.

It also saved him from a clean hit that Hearn could've landed on his head as her fist passed through a gap, something he barely noticed. Now, he wasn't quite in the same position as before. Since he had tossed himself into the air, he had blast himself down instead. And he did so in a spin of explosions. They would in turn, gather together a lot of oxygen and Maribel realized this by the familiar sound it was creating. Her expression eased for the second before it hit, filling Bakugo with uncertainty to be proven right. Instead of colliding with Hearn, he passed into the sky above Ground Beta just as his quirk ignited an explosion with all the air he'd been carrying. Bouncing him even farther into the air, easily twice the height of an building in the surrounding area.

"Hrrrngh!" He groaned as he tried stabilizing his velocity and began to slowly let himself down. Touching down on the rooftop of a building soon enough.

I'm going to kill that bitch at the festival...

Next week, Maribel and her friend met again. Much closer to night time. Maribel took Renko out for a walk to the nearby forest that featured the shortcut to the public transport. 26th of April was a day of interest because of the full moon, an occasion when Maribel had always found herself somewhat energetic. Before she started at U.A., or even manipulating boundaries, there had been times where she felt like she had a sugar rush. There was no confirmed connection between her quirk and the state of night and day, but they had to go outside anyway and the hours they were available to meet were close to the evening.

"Let's begin. Can you show me how you tried to trap an object outside space?" Renko asked, setting herself down on a nearby log.

Her blonde friend looked around for something in the meanwhile, acquiring a stick off of the ground and inspecting it. "Just a moment." She said and created two gaps, controlling them like a single cylinder, she moved the stick inside and tightened the gap in the boundaries. There was the sound of wood twisting and tearing for a moment until Maribel stopped focusing on just that. It stuck out on one end and not on another, so everything was ready. Hearn swung her hand down as a way to easily mentally snap one end of the gap out of existence. Turning the space inside into a null and shunting the stick out so fast that it sounded like a bullet. The boundary girl herself almost jumped in surprise, and Renko definitely did.

The physics student raised both her hands and jumped from her seat a little, throwing up her arms in front of her face. There was a couple of seconds of silence, but it was broken by the blonde. "Come on Renko. It wasn't that dangerous. Anyway, that's how it's always been. I usually do it with air in large quantities, but firing projectiles also works. I've been thinking about calling it Fight the Ocean."

"Uh..." The brunette lowered her hands and sat down on the log again. Curling a hand into a fist and clearing her throat. "It needs documenting, but I believe you." Renko said and stood up. "But let's move onto that aura thing you've been talking about. Have you ever tried manipulating a boundary whilst using it?"

A drop of sweat made its free journey down Maribel's forehead. "Oh, no. Not really..."

"Well, try."

Spinning on her heel, Hearn faced Renko properly and pointed at her with the palm facing up. "Alright." Continuing, Maribel closed her eyes and focused on her senses. Then the base of her spine and coalesced her aura from there into a sort of bubble around herself. Opening her eyes, a purple glow emanated from Maribel. Now, she looked a bit burdened. "I'm going to try focusing on this for a bit..."

I'll try my hand at the subspace again...

Raising her hand into the air in one swift motion, the purple afterimage follow and cut open a large gap in the sky. Out from its edges, the space inside ballooned to massive proportions as the other end expanded into the night sky. Barely visible to anyone who couldn't see it. There was a faint outlying glow around the edges of the gap. Soon enough, what was visible started shrinking, leaving mostly the space for the boundary girl to feel. It was easily the largest she'd ever created.

Air started being sucked up, but it only sounded like a high pitched screech and nothing else. Such a small entrance prevented the usual effects of Double Boundary.

...

"I could use it, but it's a bit too big to be applicable. My idea was to hide in one as a defense, but I might as well just use a normal one as a shield. Even if it makes it harder to attack at the same time." Hearn pondered over her ability, placing two fingers upon her chin.

Renko patted Maribel's back for a moment. "You never know when things come in handy. There's a lot of equipment that's only slightly different from other things, but it works a hundred times better with such simple changes."

"I know, but I'm just thinking of something inaccessible to an enemy." And I don't want to experience something like that... Ever again. The blonde thought back to USJ. Slowly, the glow around her ended, making her ache all over for a moment and cringe in pain. "Gnh...!"

Snapping her fingers, Renko came with the thoughts faster than Maribel ever could. "Look for another boundary, then. You can already go to the Dream World, why not somewhere else? Why not a dream, or why not just think of your own world?"

Taking a few deep breaths, Hearn recovered from the sudden shock. "...I'm not sure if it's that simple. But I'll never find out if it is without trying..." The friend smiled. "Thank you for being so encouraging, I wouldn't be at U.A. without you."

Renko took the gratitude wholeheartedly, but it seemed like Merry's quirk was on her mind. "It's no problem, but you should be looking for that boundary, yeah?"

Maribel nodded. "Hm." Once more, her sense of atmosphere and sight focused. Boundaries and auras tuned into focus and she searched her surroundings, her inner self. Time was a standstill for her in these moments.

The boundary of the dream world.

The boundary of a dream.

The boundary of a thought.

The boundary of a self.

I am separated from the rest of the world by boundaries and so are my thoughts, they give me form. And so do they everyone else.

All the boundaries she saw and felt filtered out from her sight, leaving her only with what separated her from the rest of the world.

Why not think of my own world?

One boundary came into existence, a world confined to her own mind. Fit for her purposes, a black void, a subspace.

Focusing, the atmosphere changed as she started glowing. And she sent her hand up slowly, creating a large gap in place of the moon. Emanating the same glow as her along its edges, it was apparent that the trick had some impact on her ability. There was no light inside it, and cast a shadow down on them. It didn't take long before the gap started to suck things in and Maribel looked perplexed.

Renko held onto her hat as the wind began pulling on her skirt and almost her entire body. "It's getting a bit windy! Stop!"

"...-Let's!" Hearn burst out and extinguished the gap. The wind stopped, dumping some leaves and dirt down onto the surrounding. However, there was a lot less of it than she thought there would be.

They only stood there for thirty seconds straight as Maribel unfocused herself again. Breathing heavily, it felt as if all her strength was gone, she couldn't stand up anymore and so fell back onto her bottom and then carefully laying down. "Let's... Uh..." She tried to find the words, dizzy. "...Go back home..."

The days came and went. What was most unusual was her lack of a normal dream, however. Since Thursday, her dreams had felt disembodied yet as experienced as could be. As if she was a third person watching through someone else. A plethora of figures had come and gone through the short-lived memory of her dream. Her recollection of them had faded, but there was one she could recognize. Renko or someone that looked suspiciously like her. It was all so clouded, and nothing she could revisit. The one actual dream she had on Wednesday was just the dream of a baku. But it just didn't reach to her, she couldn't remember any of it aside from that. Maybe her dream self was having some fun interactions with Doremy? She couldn't know.

Nonetheless, her 'real' dreams were unique although she couldn't interact with them properly. It was like a lucid dream where she couldn't do anything and everything, and what she wanted wasn't sure to happen. Clearly, her dream and real selves weren't in synchronization.

As for the teachers she requested, there was a set of teachers she asked for. Both because she knew they were great, and because they might teach her things that should be applicable to her just as they are applicable to them.

All Might's combat prowess, genius and experience lent themselves well to support the physical side of things. Eraserhead was good when it came to adapting her attacks to a situation, which helped her advance her focusless gaps to an extent and train the gap-centered techniques she had picked up. Her body and mind hadn't quite made an acquaintance of their styles, strategies and movements, but it was a great boon even for a beginner.

Out of curiosity, she brought in Snipe, who advised her to start using rubble and the like as projectiles in her gaps. He told a few things about how a barrel made aim precise, helped her experiment with velocity and such. Her knowledge still remained imprecise, but just as before, a very good starting point.

Ectoplasm was the last teacher she overtly asked for. Just like her, he had the ability to engage a target from many different angles at once. Their means were different, Maribel couldn't duplicate herself, but a leg and an arm attacking from two sides is just the same. His strategy was what she was out for. The result wasn't all that great, attacking and controlling the opponent from multiple directions was pretty difficult. Not to say she didn't understand it, but if she learnt it then it would have to be in the heat of the moment.

For the final lesson. Her first intention was to experiment with her quirk, where she attempted more exotic moves. Then she decided to seek Iida out again. Over the course of the two weeks, she had tried to get a bit closer to him in their free time. Sending him pictures of herself and engaging in some friendly conversation over their phones. When she wasn't preoccupied with something in school, she usually hanged with him too. Either that or Momo, who helped her lessen the burden of schoolwork through these intense times for her.

Due to Maribel's extreme focus on her capabilities unique from her normal Boundary Manipulation prowess, she had forgot to think about its larger versatility. A mastery over spatial gaps was good, but it was all she'd been working on. No, for once she tried experimenting with what drained her most. Flipping the other boundaries. At first she tried it by flipping the boundary between things. It was human perception that something could be on one side of something else, but nonetheless, Maribel saw a boundary. Tossing a rock, she found herself in the air just before landing, falling down out of confusion and trying again.

After a bit of thought, she wanted to show it off to Iida. So she searched for him and asked him about trying it out. The street they were on was empty like the last time she looked for him during one of these classes. "In short. If I flip the boundary between us, we change location."

"You did talk about flipping boundaries a while ago. Although I never really understood it." Iida calmly offered his thoughts on the matter. "Just don't hurt me, okay?!"

"No, no! I won't. This isn't a spar like last time." Hearn's gleeful smile brought an ease to Iida's concern. It had hurt a lot when she used a drop to kick him on his back, apparently he didn't want to go through that again. "Could you stand on the sidewalk there?" Her hand jump up and pointed at the asphalted sidewalk on the side of the road. Not in a hurry, Iida turned his head and began walking on over there.

"Please don't surprise me either!" He let out after he got in position and bowed almost like a robot. It was kind of cute to look at.

"Alright." Maribel sighed and focused her quirk, turning her eyes into their familiar ghostly state. All of the boundaries around her became clearly visible, and she could feel them, for a moment she imagined an infinitely extending pane between her and Iida.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

With a quick thought she spun it or more rather, instantly inverted. In the visible wavelength of light, Maribel's vision changed as she had experimented earlier. Her feet stood perfectly still on the sidewalk, and Iida stood in her former position. Hearn didn't speak at first and instead just thought. Just what can I do now? I tried this just after I started manipulating boundaries, but it didn't work. Now I can do it flawlessly. "...Well, that's that."

Maribel closed her eyes to unfocus her quirk, which she spent 10 seconds doing. Whilst she did, Iida put his own words out there. "I haven't seen anything like that before. Nobody's going to be able to counter it, are they?"

Opening her eyes, Maribel was greeted to Iida having walked closer to her. With his helmet on and everything, it was challenging to notice his mood. She didn't quite like it, but it was moderately stupid to complain about. "Well, aside from that warp gate. I haven't encountered anyone with a quirk like mine. ...To tell you the truth, I don't think I have any competition. Since I'm pretty good, maybe I can help the rest of the class?"

Iida held out a hand as he spoke. "I don't believe they've put up any rules about cooperation between people in the sports festival, although it's not very sportsmanship like. The agencies that have an eye on the festival may not like it." And then placed it on his hip as he continued. "But if you're just looking to win, there's nothing stopping you. And if you really want to help other classmates, I suppose that just makes you more of a team player, some people like that."

"That sounds accurate. But anyway, I'm going to take some time sharpening my skills. The festival's tomorrow, right?"

"Yeah."

"Hmm..." Maribel looked away from Iida for a moment and cupped her hands together, letting them harmlessly land on her lap. "Hey, Iida. Maybe we could do something on the Tuesday after?"

"EH!?"

The night before the sports festival was once that Maribel would've expected to be calm, wished for even. But so it would not be. That she had little presence in the one dream where she was sure that youkai was involved in was probably a fluke. And the amount of 'real' dreams too. It was in these moments where she wished she had dedicated more time to mastering the boundary between her and her dream self. It didn't seem like the baku went to the real world, or at least, didn't prefer doing so.

But it was too late for regrets, she had to deal with the situation she was just forced into.

ZUN - Touhou 15: Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom - A World of Nightmares Never Seen Before

"You see, there are rules here. You are not allowed to interfere with the dream world without permission. I will not have it." Doremy told Hearn as they floated through a familiar space consisting of oddly colored grids and celestial bodies. The baku was in perfect control of her orientation, whilst Hearn spun like usual. This was a bad situation that Maribel wouldn't want to be involved in, but she simply didn't comply out of her own curiosity.

"Excuse me then. I'll stop manipulating this boundary." The boundary girl retorted. Doremy's usually smug look mutated a frown. It looked somewhat disturbing to look at in all honesty, not because of the way it looked but because of how it felt.

Doremy Sweet sighed and looked oddly satiated for a moment before smiling devilishly. "Good, I'll make sure of that." Before beginning a slow glide towards her. It felt... threatening, and Hearn didn't know what she was actually going to do. It would've been quicker if not for Maribel's eyes being able to pick up on these small instances. They were two meters away, if Doremy's usual speed wasn't just for movement, Maribel had no chance if she attacked.

But she had to try before attempting an escape. ...Would I even be fast enough to do that? In an attempt to throw the first attack, Hearn jerked her leg into a kick without a proper spin and created a gap at the point just before extension. Since she had actually trained for this kind of stuff, it went through and was abruptly stopped by the baku pulling out her book just in its way. The impact hurt and Maribel was sent spinning as she enlarged the gap for her passage to avoid getting stuck. Trying to pull away from the youkai, Maribel created another gap to grapple and pull herself away with.

Smack!

Doremy spun around in a half circle, stopped and let her unreasonably long night-cap do the work for her. The puffy ball on the end flew and smacked Hearn in her chest faster than she could react and did the gap's job for it. "-Guh!" Hearn let slip as the air was knocked out of her lungs. In a quick follow up that she could only imagine All Might replicating, the baku turned into a streak of colors as she spun around on her vertical axis.

Puff!

Came another blow. For such a normally harmless part of a hat, it hurt a lot to be hit with. Especially in the face. Worst of all, Maribel could tell that the baku wasn't quite trying. Having received the impact, Hearn started drifting away a little, noticing some blood trickling down from her nose. Recovering from the reeling, she glanced in Doremy's direction to see she just kept the same smile. Taunting. I could, I could... I could lure her into a gap.

Maribel reached out and grasped at a nothing, a transparent gap forming and bending inwards to create a space between things. It wasn't all that big, but no air seemed to funnel into it either. Maribel had figured a while ago that there was no air here although you could still breathe. Grasping the wall of space, Hearn tossed herself forward into the gap which led just behind Doremy. The baku was just about to turn and send the end of her nightcap flying at her again. Thankfully, the starting movement was all Maribel needed to capitalize.

Boundary between Maribel and Doremy...

Unexpected by the enemy, Doremy replaced Maribel and vice versa. With just a moment to act, Hearn started to compress her gap as hard as she could as she drifted away and carried her former momentum. There was a sound, but not of crushing limbs or anything. Where the gap was, instead, purple clouds of stuff. It looked like a dream soul. Coming to a conclusion, Hearn knew she had likely not ended anything.

Gathering like rain drops, it all formed into one big pink bubble and burst to reveal the dream youkai once again. "This may take a while." The baku commented as she frowned again and pulled out some kind of trumpet out of thin air.

"..." Hearn didn't say anything, instead pulling on the boundary between real and dream self. But something was preventing her. Hearn didn't notice it at first, but she felt that god. Panting a little, her stress overcame her and Hearn pulled on the boundary between her and her dream self. Doremy lunged in her direction whilst her vision blurred into a mixture of dark and imagination. A dream.

"Get back here!"

Song: End

For a moment, it felt like she was going to return to the fight. Doremy had her own power over dreams, and as long as she stayed connected to her dream self, that was made certain. But at just that moment, it all turned bright in her eyes.

"She won't bother you for now." A most memorable voice resounded all around Maribel. She barely recognized where she was until her vision cleared. A familiar silhouette presented itself, a god. "Welcome to this place, where destiny is made. As I've said, we meet again."

Hearn was still floating around, but it was a lot less like being stuck in space. It was just them. She wiped her nose to get rid of whatever blood had been spilled, but there was none, contradictory to what she had seen earlier. With a rapid glance, Hearn appreciated her appearance properly. The god looked more like a phantom, but there was certainly color and shape to it. Okina Matara wore a green skirt that reached down past her knees, a yellow tabard lined with a familiar set of symbols. ...So that's it. Hearn though back to the cube-like object. Rather than standing this time, she seemed to be sitting on some kind of throne that floated around, a backdoor positioned just behind it. Other than that, she emitted a radiant glow.

"Uh..." I call a god -sama, right? "Matara-sama. Where am I?"

"This is the land of the backdoor. My realm."

"Like the dream world."

"It is of my own creation. Someone of sufficient power should be no stranger to such works of wonder." The god explained, calmly placing two fingers on her chin as her arm balanced on the armrest of her throne. "Listen to me..." She spoke, her mature voice reverberating from every location. "...I've been looking for someone who can fulfill a certain purpose for a very long time, and you are exactly that. That is why you are chosen. I'm not letting a mere youkai get in the way of me, even if I'm not as worshiped as I once was."

"-I see... Matara-sama, can you tell me what the trick Nishida-san taught me actually does?" Maribel asked. The words came naturally, and although Maribel wanted to be hesitant about what she asked, there was clarity and confidence in what she could say. If spoken normally, she would've probably been far more reluctant to ask these questions. If this god was capable of manipulating mental energy, then that would be her doing. So it's what she wants.

"Hmm. Your 'quirk' as you call it, allows you to feel the auras of people. The entirety of your family has some sort of variation of this quirk, and you've had for generations. In truth, anyone could do it. It's just a matter of... training, discipline and wisdom. By focusing your aura and creating a proper spiritual form of yourself, your latent energy is released and you would become much stronger. One of many beginnings into other arts. Unrelated to your Boundary Manipulation." The god monologued calmly and confidently. She straightened out, the phantom figure of her 'body' showcasing her form. Her hair, although apparently blonde like Maribel's own, was almost like gold as it settled on her shoulders. "The only trick to mastering this is experience, and you will find plenty of that soon enough."

Hearn's eyebrows raised. "The sports festival, Matara-sama?"

"Yes..." Yes... Yes... Consider it all a test. Can you find the mood, your spirituality, the method, the song? I will help you, if you do your best.

It echoed through Maribel's mind. A feeling inside of her was overwhelming, a disembodying feeling.

Maribel woke up.

The sports festival was today. She had woken up extremely early in the morning, at 04:00. But she didn't feel that different from having rested well. It was exactly like when she traveled into the dream world for an extended period of time. Even though she barely slept.

Hearn packed her backpack and went on over to U.A. High just after eating breakfast. When she arrived, it was still an hour before they were actually supposed to be there, but the teachers didn't really reject her presence. While she had the time, she went to talk with Nezu.

"I was just wondering what we will actually be doing during the festival. Or am I not allowed to know that yet?"

The two of them were sitting in the sofas located in the Principal's office, Hearn was treated to some tea whilst Nezu enjoyed his coffee. "Despite the efforts we've put in, I hadn't intended for you to know all the activities beforehand... That said, it's only a couple of hours before they are announced. While it may appear that the activities are randomized, we have to have some level of preparation to hold a festival. So if you see anything implying the opposite, it's for show. First, there's the obstacle course. I presume you may understand what that implies, but the obstacles won't exactly be typical. If I may ask, avoid trying to win it all instantaneously."

"Why?" Hearn raised both her eyebrows.

"Sportsmanship. If you win it just like that." Nezu snapped his fingers. "Then there may as well never have been a competition. It comes across as cheating, something the media will enjoy exploiting. Especially if the other students feel a sense of defeat over it."

She nodded. "I was going to attempt and bring forth those I want to see in the second round. That way, I'd have more knowledge on my competitors. If I do that, I'll have something stopping me from just taking it home."

"Wise. Still, helping other participants might give them a perceived unfair advantage." He replied and sipped some coffee.

"My gaps don't make much sound. If you don't point the cameras in certain places and don't talk about it, then you certainly won't be hearing anything about it from the media. Or are they the ones providing footage?" Her right arm was held out to Nezu so that his full attention was given. Thereafter she sipped her tea.

Placing his cup down, Nezu put his hand together into his lap. "Oh, we'll do that. But the other participants might still have a thing or two to say, so you should be picky about who you decide to help."

"So be it."

He raised his index finger. "The second round consists of the cavalry battle. All forty-two who managed to pass the obstacle course will take part in a four-per-team battle. You are given points based on your position in the race. Displayed via headbands, you're supposed to try and take these from each other. There are a few more details, but this is the general gist of it. Each team will have to carry each other."

"Mhm."

Numbering the final round, he brought out his middle finger. "At last, you will compete in a one-on-one setting. For this year, we've selected a simple battle. The first four teams from the last round will be participating."

Nodding, Hearn decided to quickly slurp down all the tea in her cup, putting it down and standing up. Bowing respectfully. "Thank you for informing me. I should be getting ready. Have a good day." To which he could only respond with a neutral look as she turned and left the office.

The class should be coming to school now.

The door where the class was starting to gather was already open. Stressful is what it was to see all of her classmates right now, just like she imagined it to be. But at the same time she felt like she could bear it.

Honestly, if it wasn't for the school's efforts, she would only halfheartedly participate. She wasn't even thinking about the sports festival that much as she stepped in. No, the events from this night were far clearer in her head. That baku wouldn't stop creeping into her thoughts.

Maribel stepped inside the room without saying anything, she looked around and met Bakugo's eyes for a moment. She gave him a subtle frown as she moved away from his direction and sat down next to Momo. "...I've a feeling this will be very irritating."

"It's a big day for everyone. We've got to do our best." Momo looked at her, placing her cheek in her hand and balancing her head with her elbow.

Sighing, Maribel straightened out a bit and stretched. Despite the odd lack of sleep that she could feel, she was still energetic. It didn't mix well and almost made her feel dirty, like she had bags under her eyes. "Yes. Yes... Where's Iida?"

"Iida-san? He went to go and check when we're up. He'll be back to tell us." Kyouka walked on over and sat down on the other side of Maribel. "Must be tiring for you, with all the media presence around."

"Maybe I haven't spoken much about it... The media has interrupted me on my way home, asked for interviews within the school and so forth. It's all so tiring, I just want to toss them all over a bridge and be done with it..." Hearn faceplanted into the desk. Keeping a neutral and unfeeling expression as she did.

Chatter was prevalent among the class, even as some were lost in thought. But it would wall be broken soon enough.

The door opened to reveal Iida, whom Maribel instantly set her eyes on. "Everyone! are you ready?! We will be entering soon!"

In response, she pushed her chair out and turned, walking on over to him. "Yes!"

Whilst she was on her way towards Iida, her eyes suddenly started following Todoroki who returned the favor. But he'd soon enough break eye sight as he stood a few meters from the doorway and looked down towards Midoriya. "Midoriya. Looking at things objectively, I think I'm stronger than you." He began, somewhat dramatically as if he wanted to drive home a point. Hearn titled her head to the side in mere confusion. Even hinting at your intentions in such a competitive environment is quite foolish, even if you may call it disrespectful. "But all might still has his eye on you, doesn't he? ...I'm not going to pry about that. But I am going to beat you."

Kaminari leaned back and twisted his head to look at the sudden conflict. "Oh? Is this a declaration of war?"

"Hey, hey, hey! Don't pick a fight all of a sudden, we're about to star-" Kirishima tried to shine in on their little bout of words. But was pushed back by Todoroki.

Hearn gave one glance at Iida, who was eagerly waiting for everyone to finally start leaving the room.

"We're not here to-" Todoroki was interrupted.

With a stomp on the floor, Hearn's hero costume's shoes dominated all other sounds with a loud clack noise. "And we're not stupid enough to expose who we're targeting. Stop acting like a little kid and don't keep us waiting." She spat in his direction, which was enough to put a stop to him. He turned around and glared at her, something she didn't even bother returning. Almost everyone in the room felt that the tension shifted over to the other half of the room and whoever was going to speak next felt silenced. "1-A. Let's move." The blonde declared, turned around and put a hand on Iida's shoulder.

He raised his left hand and signaled for everyone to follow. "Right, let's go!"

Most of the class stood up and started leaving after the two as fast as they could. Bakugo stayed for a little bit, just eyeing Midoriya and Todoroki before leaving.

"I'll see you out there." Todoroki declared in a coldly menacing demeanor before walking out the door. Midoriya was the last to leave.

Through the long corridor they went, while Present Mic's voice echoed all over the place. Maribel steeled her heart and focused, an overwhelming heat washing over her in a moment of self-discovery. Her heart beat faster, and her breathing became more frequent.

"Hey! Pay attention, audience!" It echoed.

"Gather around, mass media!"

"It's time to see the High Schoolers you know and love revel in their youth! The U.A. Sports Festival is about to begin!

He changed into English. "Everbody, ARE YOU READY!?"

"It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!"

Fireworks resounded across the sky as the class stepped out. Maribel herself was in front. It wasn't like the media was going to ignore her even if she stood in the back.

"The U.A. Sports Festival! The one time each year when our fledgling heroes compete in a grand battle! First up, you know who I'm talking about! The miraculous rising stars who were central in repelling a villain attack!"

"Hero course!"

This is it...

"Class 1-A!"

Maribel didn't want to turn her head around, but her eyes told her all she needed to know. The seats were packed, and the entire stadium being as big as a large hill didn't help the impression. There were easily thousands of viewers, not even counting online presence. She felt like she was supposed to be stressed, but nothing ever came to her. Mental energy? Her eyes went to the other tunnels around the place.

"They haven't been on the news as much, but this class is also full of talent! Hero course, 1-B!"

They looked quite a bit different than their class. But looks didn't tell much.

"Next up! General studies, C, D and E!" Present Mic announced, Maribel's eyes darting to get a look. There's Shinso. She thought as she spotted someone with familiar indigo hair, and messy to match.

"Support course! F, G and H are here too! And business course, I, J and K!"

"All of our first years are here now!

They all started gathering in the middle of a square red plain. In front of them stood Midnight, one of her teachers, waiting for them to assemble. Once they were organized into a neat square, she raised her whip and spoke out loud with her voice being boosted. "Time for the player pledge!"

Maribel didn't normally have much of an issue with Midnight. But for a top of the line school, having a hero centered around being revealing showcased a lack of class or decency. It wasn't a big complaint, but she'd much prefer someone more formally dressed. "Was it necessary to dress up in her hero costume?" Hearn asked nobody in particular.

"Yeah, what the hell is she wearing?" Kirishima agreed with her sentiment.

Kaminari stated the obvious. "That's the R-rated hero for you."

"At a high school, though? Is that okay?"

"YES!" Mineta let out, almost sounding like a rubber duck and earning a death stare from Maribel. Which made him tense up.

"Quiet, everyone! Representing the students is-"

Maribel's ears honed in on what she was saying, and it felt like everything slowed down. "M-a-e-r-i-b-e-r-r-i H-a-a-n" She heard. And everything seemed to resume. ...Did it really have to be? Nezu...

"-From Class 1-A!" Midnight cheerily announced. Whilst Maribel somewhat irritably stepped away from the spot, she was on and didn't look back at anyone else. Her ascent was a little slow, but once she was up she'd align herself with the microphone. For a brief moment, she paused. Cameras pointed at her from practically every direction and gave everyone a view of both her face and body. She wore the gym uniform that you'd receive at U.A. and her hair had grown significantly along the last tow weeks, stretching down just to her shoulders now. One could say she forgot to go to the barber.

And so the time to speak came. Maribel wasn't going to pledge anything about playing it fairly, it would be totally unfitting. "I pledge to eliminate any doubts placed on this school."

She paused.

"Cheer me on, Renko." Maribel finished, turning around gracefully and sighing with some relief. She was very close to saying something much more aggressive. Then she walked back down the steps.

First, all the first years stared at her. Her class was particularly neutral, though. Of course they would, they actually understood what she was talking about and many would probably have expected it. Except for one thing, that thing was Renko. Unlike if she boasted indiscriminately or displayed total arrogance, people resorted to chatter among themselves.

"Who the hell is Renko?" They asked rhetorically. "That's the girl who saved Eraserhead, right?" They inquired from their classmates. "How did she recover so quickly?"

Maribel was content with what she'd said. It was innocent to everything but the media, and may deflect some of the bad reputation that the others could've given them. So she made her way back into the line, making sure not to bump into anyone.

One of the screens at the top edge of the arena shifted. First game. It spelled.

"Now, let's get started right away." Midnight started speaking again. "The first game is what you'd call a qualifier!" The obstacle course. "Every year, many drink their tears here! Now, here is the fateful first game!"

Midnight swung her whip up and a holographic display lit up behind her. Featuring a slot machine-like spin between different games. But they have already picked them, no? "This year, it's... THIS!"

"An obstacle race!" Midoriya couldn't help but say.

"Hmm." Hearn mumbled to herself.

The screen shifted to display the event in question and was narrated by their teacher. Right now it was showcasing all the different classes. "All eleven classes will participate in this race." The frame changed to display the course itself, which went around the entire stadium. "The course will be the outer circumference of this stadium. About four kilometers!" Midnight finished explaining and turned to the class again. Licking her lips in a way that Maribel wasn't at all comfortable with. "Our school's selling point is freedom! As long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!" The hero posed for the class by pulling her whip back just above her shoulder and holding out an open palm to them. In turn, the audience cheered loudly and Maribel sighed once again.

If it wasn't the sun, the people or the event itself. It was the prelude that was getting to her nerves. Hearn sighed and prepared to focus. "Now, take your places everyone!" One of the larger gates' lights lit up, the red door frame indicating exactly where they were supposed to be. Maribel made her way there quickly and tried to get in front so she could easily leave everyone behind before she was swarmed. So she prepared to run, lining up among her classmates.

Bwuuum. One light went out, Hearn's muscles tensed a little. Bwuuum. The second one went out. Bwuuum.

"Start!"

Everyone ran. She ran. Eyes turned into an eerie violet as she suddenly slipped past everyone and right past the entrance. Sprinting out onto the dirt with nothing stopping her. Even without relying on her gaps, Hearn was very quick on her feet. If nobody would come out soon, then she'd be leaving everyone else behind.

"Okay, here's the play-by-play! Are you ready to the commentary, Mummy Man?" Present Mic asked, resounding from the speakers. Hearn continued running now that she was past everyone, but slowed down a little to keep track of what's behind her.

"That's why I'm here, isn't it?" That's Aizawa-sensei.

"Let's get started right away, Mummy Man. What should we pay attention to in the early stages?"

"...This part right now."

Icy fog welled out of the entrance.

And finally, I've gotten it started. I'm planning to keep each of the first two rounds to single chapters. They might get a little long, though.