Chapter 6 - The Thrill of Competition
The weeks leading up to the Sports Festival blew by in an instant. In the past, Tomo had never really paid attention to Sports Festivals. It was a national holiday and he'd rather spend the precious daylight hours sleeping than watching. Therefore, his plan for this one was to relax and put in a medium amount of effort. Enough so that Mr. Aizawa wouldn't accuse him of slacking off, but not too much to the point where he would tire himself out unnecessarily.
Soon enough, the day of the Sports Festival came and Class 1-A gathered in one of the waiting rooms. Tomo sat slouched in his seat with his arms crossed, eyes closed but ears open as he listened to the conversation around him.
"Man, Bakugo, you look pretty calm about this. Aren't you any nervous?" the voice of Kaminari rang out nearby. It took him a while, but Tomo finally learned the names of all of his classmates. A fact that Toru learned with absolute horror as she drilled into him the names of their classmates during their past few weeks. It was probably the closest thing to practicing Tomo had done.
"Of course I'm not nervous!" Bakugo's voice exploded from his right. "What kind of shitty question is that?! Why would I be nervous?! I'm going to win this whole thing!"
"What about you, Sero? You any nervous?" Kaminari moved on as he ignored Bakugo's outburst.
"Yeah, man, of course! Just being able to hear the soft roar of the crowd from here is nerve wracking enough. I just hope I can stand out a bit," Sero replied from Tomo's right.
"Man, I wish I could be like Tomo, though. He's so calm that he's sleeping!" Kaminari exclaimed.
"I'm actually awake for once," Tomo replied with his eyes still closed. "Just resting my eyes."
"Oh? So what about you then? Any jitters?" Kirishima asked from across the table.
"Meh, not really. I don't care much about the Sports Festival either way."
"What? Seriously? How can you not care about one of the biggest events of the year? It's the best way for us to stand out!" Kirishima asked in shock.
"It's too much effort. If I get out early, I can take a longer nap," Tomo replied like that was a common opinion to have.
"You can't be serious…" Kaminari said in disbelief.
"That's one less extra to get in my way," Bakugo commented offhandedly.
"But don't you want to try to win? Are you just going to drop out as soon as you can?" Kirishima inquired.
"I'll try a bit I guess but not too much," Tomo replied honestly.
That response wasn't enough for Kirishima, who continued to egg him. "Come on dude, that's not very manly! At least make it to the one-on-one portion. I wanna fight you! Man to man! Don't chicken out! Was all of our training together for nothing?"
"Training? I just watched you jump off a building a bunch of times. I wasn't really training with you…" Tomo tried.
"Come on, bro, don't sell yourself short! And that's besides the point!" Kirishima replied. "You have this opportunity to fight against the rest of us and prove your skills. Don't hold yourself back! If you go far enough, maybe even All Might will notice!"
That was something that made him open his eyes. "Hmm…" Tomo hummed in interest as he pondered the idea. There were a few people in his class that he had entertained the idea of fighting. And the added fact that All Might might be watching was just another bonus.
The sound of the door opening interrupted his thoughts. "Everyone, are you ready?" Iida asked. "We will be entering soon!"
The class stopped their idle chattering and prepared to head out.
Tokoyami walked up to Tomo. He put a hand on Tomo's shoulder before he could leave the room. "Your shade has been getting darker these past few weeks. Good job." He then walked away without elaborating.
Tomo looked around at the other students on the field around him as Bakugo walked up to give his pledge.
There's definitely a few people I want to fight. Bakugo has been giving me an annoying look every once in a while. Toru talked about how powerful Todoroki was at the USJ. And Tokoyami's Quirk is interesting.
After Bakugo painted a target on the entirety of Class 1-A's back with his pledge of beating everyone else, Midnight announced the first event: an obstacle course.
Of course they would pick something that requires so much physical effort.
The students were told to gather up at the starting line and wait.
"Start!" Midnight announced.
All around Tomo, students scattered to try and get an early lead in the race. Tomo stayed behind and looked around, both analyzing the situation, but also trying to gather the mental strength to begin running. He felt tired already. There were a few students like him who were also looking around and deciding what to do. Up ahead, the tight corridor made all the students crowd up right into each other.
How well do I want to do in this? Need to show Mr. Aizawa that I'm trying but going for first place is too much effort. Maybe top 10? 20? How many can even pass? Wait a minute.
An idea popped into Tomo's head. He closed his eyes and reached for the Darkness around his back. Like always, it responded to his call and two wings of Darkness were summoned at his back. With a mental tug, the Dark Wings flapped and he started jogging. While he couldn't exactly fully fly, his Dark Wings let him move with much more speed and mobility. He could also stay in the air for a longer period of time.
Ahead of him, the students were all frozen in ice. Tomo could see several of his classmates already in the lead due to all of them managing to avoid the ice attack from Todoroki. Some of them, like Bakugo, seemed to easily zoom through the course. Perfect. As long as I keep pace with them, I should pass.
Right as he approached the crowd, Tomo clenched his leg muscles and prepared himself. He flapped the wings at his back and jumped at the same time. His Quirk allowed him to soar up in the air with all the forward momentum he needed to clear the first hurdle by jumping over the traffic beneath him. His landing on the ice was poor, but it was nothing that couldn't be saved by two quick poles of Darkness being slammed into the ground to stabilize his balance. He continued jogging.
Everyone near the lead stopped at the next obstacle: giant robots. Tomo stopped nearby his other classmates who paused as they tried to figure out how to best proceed. The robots were huge, numerous, and menacing enough to make everyone slow down. Many of the people who fell behind on the ice were beginning to catch up to them. Why couldn't I fight one of these during the entrance exam? Could I just run past these guys? How fast are their reflexes? Probably good enough to catch a runner but I don't think anyone here can move as fast as me. Maybe besides Bakugo and Todoroki. I guess I'll just wait and see how the others proceed before deciding for myself.
Todoroki made the first decisive move. In one motion, he summoned ice to freeze all the robots over and easily ran through them. As he ran past, he warned the people behind him of the dangers of following too closely due to the imbalance of the robots.
Whatever, good enough for me. Standing around doing nothing is boring and everyone else is so slow.
"The first one through the first barrier is Shoto Todoroki from Class 1-A!" Present Mic announced. "But wait! Tomo Hagakure, also from Class 1-A, trails right behind him! How did he follow him?! Turns out it's not a one-man show!"
"If you paid attention, you would have seen him jump over the robot in the middle of the chaos," Aizawa mentioned offhandedly.
Present Mic seemed to ignore his explanation as he continued commentating. "Class 1-A's Bakugo! Since the bottom's blocked, he too goes overhead like Hagakure!"
Tomo slowly trailed Todoroki. His slow jog meant Bakugo quickly passed him, along with several other classmates. This is so boring. The entire lead is just people from my class. None of the others are even competitive. At this rate, I'll take the lead by accident if Todoroki slows down. I hope something interesting happens soon.
Present Mic spoke again, "Hey, hey! The first barrier's a piece of cake? Then what about the second?"
The second barrier was a giant canyon with tightropes being the only way to trek across. The pool of competitors at the front had slowed down again as they tried to figure out the optimal way to cross the barrier. Todoroki decided to use his Quirk to freeze the ropes and skate across them. Most of the others were beginning to reach the sad conclusion that they would have to just cross the barrier as intended by using the tightropes.
Tomo watched the first dejected few who began the trek across the canyon with the tightropes. If I wait around here too long, I might be accused of slacking off. Especially because I know how to cross this. Man, why does the most efficient way to cross have to be so tiring?
"Our current leader, Shoto Todoroki, chooses to ice skate across the canyon, but Katsuki Bakugo is FLYING over the canyon in pursuit!" the commentary continued. "WHOAAA! Tomo Hagakure is just… JUMPING from platform to platform?! Who knew he had hops?! HE'S TAKEN THE LEAD!"
Tomo easily passed the fall obstacle with Todoroki and Bakugo right behind him. All that jumping is so tiring. How much more of this is left? Can something interesting happen already? Tomo briefly glanced behind him at his two classmates to see their reactions. He could see a look of pure determination and seriousness on Todoroki's face now that he had been overtaken. Bakugo looked furious at being in 3rd place. Tomo couldn't hear him but he saw Bakugo shouting at them.
Present Mic's voice boomed across the arena again. "And now, we've quickly arrived at the final barrier! The reality here is that it's a minefield!"
A minefield? I need to be careful where I land. Stepping on a mine sounds painful and tiring. Wait a minute… Stepping on a mine does sound eventful. And Ms. Midnight said anything goes as long as we stay on course. Tomo stopped right before the minefield and looked back at his two competitors, now with a growing smirk on his face. His boredom was reaching peak levels and two sources of entertainment were right behind him. His smirk and pause seemed to motivate them to try even harder. Bakugo looked like he wanted to explode. He finally came within hearing range. "WHY ARE YOU STOPPING, BAGGY EYES? YOU THINK YOU CAN LOOK DOWN ON ME AND LET ME CATCH UP?! KEEP GOING! I NEED TO BEAT YOU WHILE YOU'RE TRYING!"
"Let's make this a bit more… eventful, why don't we?" Tomo called out to the two boys. When they nearly caught up to him, he took off with his Dark Wings again and jumped backwards to glide in the air and faced his opponents with a mocking wave. As he flew, he swiped his arm twice to throw two Dark Slices at them.
"Class A's Tomo Hagakure turns around to fight his competition! Mass media, you better be paying close attention! This is the kind of drama you've been waiting for!"
Both boys called upon their respective Quirks to easily destroy the Darkness launched at them. They glanced at each other with a silent agreement and then looked at Tomo to chase after him.
"GET BACK HERE!" Bakugo screeched at Tomo.
Tomo looked at him and nodded. "Okay!"
He put a buffer of Darkness on the floor incase of a mine, landed on it, and then leapt back towards Bakugo and summoned a Dark Bat in his right arm. Bakugo looked a bit surprised at the speed at which Tomo flew towards him. Right as Tomo swung at Bakugo, the boy responded by shooting an Explosion downwards to contort his body over the swing and get within Tomo's guard. In one swift maneuver, Bakugo countered by bringing up his free hand right at Tomo's face, an Explosion ready with it.
Shit. Darkness comes out too slowly from my hands to block this. Tomo focused on the other exit point Darkness had that wasn't his hands: the top of his spine. He brought his Wings out and forward to shield his face from Bakugo's attack. The impact of the blast sent him straight to the floor.
Bakugo, however, didn't stick around to continue his attack. He used Tomo's distraction to leave him behind as Todoroki continued running ahead of them, leaving behind a trail of ice as he realized both his competitors didn't really need the help of a clear path to advance. Tomo got up with a grunt and chased after them.
"It's turning into a free-for-all, king-of-the-hill battle for first between the three boys!" Present Mic called out. "As soon as one takes the lead, the other two stop fighting each other and fight for first. We've had more lead changes in this one barrier than every other one combined! Who's going to come out on top?!"
As the three boys were fighting each other, a separate giant explosion occurred behind them.
"It's Midoriya! Class A's Izuku Midoriya decides he'll take the lead with that blast! How will our three former leaders respond?!" Present Mic commented as Midoriya zoomed past all three of them.
Tomo, Bakugo, and Todoroki all stopped fighting each other and raced to catch up to Midoriya. As soon as they got in close, Midoriya slammed his metal sheet into the floor right where a landmine was. The resulting explosion sent him way forward while sending the other three competitors backwards.
The commentary continued, "Midoriya swiftly blocks those behind him! Would you believe it?! He cleared the minefield in an instant!"
That was when Tomo finally faced the consequences of his fooling around. As Midoriya blew up the ground around them, the other three boys nearby each used their powers to defend and readjust themselves.
Todoroki spawned some ice to slide on, smoothly pivoting from falling backwards to sliding forward.
Tomo summoned a pole of Darkness in his hand to jam into the ground, using it to stop his backwards momentum. Then he summoned his Dark Wings again to take off into a flying start.
Bakugo ruined any chances Tomo had of finishing first in the race.
Perhaps it was because he was the fastest to react. Perhaps it was because he was used to Midoriya's antics. Maybe he really hated Tomo at that moment. Maybe he just got lucky. Like the others, Bakugo's response to the chaos was to use his Quirk to shift his momentum. However, instead of immediately going forward to immediately chase Midoriya, Bakugo turned to Tomo and launched a final attack on him, catching him mid-air by surprise with a devastating Explosion as all of his focus was on Midoriya in front of him. The speed and efficiency with which Bakugo moved made it seem like he was just gathering momentum and Tomo happened to be in the way.
Tomo hit the ground hard, reeling from the pain of Bakugo's attack. As he lay on the ground on his back, a moment of introspection came upon Tomo as stared at the sky above. Do I even want to get back up? Man, I'm so tired. I told myself I would take it easy, but messing with them was kind of fun. Is that what people mean when they say competition is fun? Well, it was fun while I thought it was competitive but there's no way I can catch back up now. And losing like this when it isn't on my own terms... I can't believe Bakugo pulled a fast one on me.
A few students passed him without a glance before he eventually picked himself up and jogged towards the finish line but it was already too late.
Tomo angrily listened as Present Mic started calling out placements as he crossed the finish line. The crowd was cheering loudly but all of his focus was on Bakugo. His classmates had completely defeated him in the race, and while Tomo thought he wouldn't care about how well he did, it was the fact that his placement wasn't on his own terms that made him furious.
I did it again. I really did it again. I had it. I could have won but yet again I messed up and fumbled my win. Bakugo completely destroyed me. Why didn't I see him coming?!
The tired voice of Toru interrupted his thoughts. "Hey Tomo, how'd ya do? I heard the name Hagakure a bunch of times but that obviously wasn't me so I guess you did well?" She seemed completely out of breath.
"16th, actually," Tomo answered. "I was in the lead for a while but Midoriya and Bakugo ruined any chance I had at winning, haha." He tried his best to mask his frustration as he saw how tired Toru seemed to be. She must have been trying her absolute hardest the entire time. I hope the next event will be something more suited towards her Quirk.
"Wow...16th, huh? Not… bad," Toru replied in between breaths. A hint of sadness was layered in her voice. "I finished 38th… I hope that's within the cutoff range…"
Tomo gave her a pat on the shoulder. "I'm sure it'll be enough. This event wasn't suited for your Quirk like it was mine. I'm sure the next one will have something that helps you out more."
"Yeah…" Toru didn't seem convinced by his statement. "I'm gonna go catch my breath. If I don't get a chance to talk to you in the next event, good luck."
"You too," Tomo replied with a frown as he watched her walk away.
A/N: Thanks for reading. The Sports Festival is way too long to fit into one chapter so the next few will be covering it. Any thoughts, comments, or feedback are greatly appreciated. See you next week.