[Kill Your Heroes]
"Welcome to U.A. Sports Festival!" Present Mic boomed from his booth up top in a large stadium. "It's our grand yearly melee, where everyone aims for the top! You all came to see them-- the class that shrugged off villains with wills of steel! Class 1-A!!"
Rin stared up at the cheering crowd, but could only think of her parents. They'd be watching her on tv only if they could, but she wished it was normal. They could both happily sit in the stands, but that wasn't the case. It was stupid to wish for it, it made her stomach ache more.
A woman walked up to take the stage in front the students. She wore a bodysuit and garters, somewhat of a dominatrix outfit. Midnight the "18" hero, whatever that was supposed to mean. "Now, now, it's going to be fair play!" Midnight announced. "Bakugo Katsuki of 1-A!!"
Unfortunately, Bakugo was their representative because he placed first in the exam. So he walked up to the stage, taking mic. "I pledge..." Bakugo began. "To win first place."
Of course, Rin thought, rolling her eyes.
"Well, with that we are on to the preliminaries!" Midnight announced. "Lots of good people end up choking on their tears! So our first event is..." She pointed to a screen, waiting for the event to pop up, "This!"
It read "obstacle race" to Rin. She'd have to find how far her wind carried her, that'd be the only quirk she'd have at her disposal. Being legitimate, she could maybe make top four. There'd be Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo fighting with no cease. She could glide on by, and they wouldn't pay enough attention to her because she'd not been their target quite yet. Bakugo will be pissed off about lacking the attention from Todoroki, the strongest in the class. She'd try to drawn herself away— but they'd know as soon as she'd make it.
It was four kilometres around the stadium, and they were free to do whatever they wanted as long as they stayed on course.
The whole first year students waited in a narrow gate corridor for the light to flash green. It would be troublesome if she got stuck, Rin knew. The light flashed green. She dropped and launched herself with an explosion of wind behind her feet, startling students and having them get caught up in the strong gusts. Some weren't able to stand or got knocked into someone. Then there were the few who made it out with their quirks.
She soared through the air, pushing herself with more blasts of air so she could kick off the walls of the corridor before leaping to the very front. She cushioned her fall with air quickly, and stuck her foot out to stop herself from sliding when she'd landed before rolling over and upright. She kicked the dirt aside quickly and started at working a pace while others began to spill out of the first filter.
She looked back and saw ice darting her way, and Todoroki on the tip of it. She jumped as he sped past, breaking the ice on impact as she managed not to slip. She kept going, a little annoyed but she wasn't going to try to blast ahead the whole time and kill her body using her quirk.
"Here come the obstacles, so suddenly!" Present Mic said over speakers. "The first barrier will be a robo inferno!"
Rin looked up, not even stopping for a moment. She wasn't going to waste her time fighting these, she wasn't saving anyone but their own trouble. This must have been what they fought in the first exam, but right now it wasn't necessary to destroy them, just to get through. However, she could steal some electricity while she was at it.
She leaped on top of a fist that tried to smash down at her, running up the arm and gathering wind en masse, forcing it so hard at the red light-littered face so the bulbs shattered. She tapped each filament that was still on, getting a slight shock and storing what little she could in her body-- the inconvenience of not having her suit.
Ice threatened to grab her feet as Todoroki swept all the robots out in one blow. She jumped, sliding down the back as it came crashing down and blocking the rest of the students. How was he still ahead of her? She should be pro at this-- maybe wind wasn't amazing for battle, not yet at least, but she knew how to move it, and make it move her expertly for running situations. The two faced bastard still ahead of her-- she was getting annoyed, and she was feeling competitive.
That stress she felt at the USJ was gone, and would only surface if she stopped moving, if she ran out of options again. But this was just a game now, it was something she knew she could beat. Her feet would just keep moving, and she'd think on the go.
"Nice job, students! But can you make it through "the fall"?! If you fall, you're out," Present Mic said.
Rin looked over a great chasm with assorted rock platforms and tightropes intertwining all over the place. She couldn't believe she was beginning to enjoy herself, she felt like she was breezing through middle school again. Just don't get cocky like then too, she though.
She took a deep breath, filling her wheezing lungs with extra air so she wouldn't have to take in as she went, and leaped, flinging her body to the first platform with wind, and kicking off again with her second step. They weren't so terribly far, if you took the right route. She just had to be incredibly co-ordinated. There was a moment when she went for that second step, right into the abyss, but caught hold of the tightrope before she fell. She'd take care to stay close to all physical things for options. She held the rope tight and monkeyed over to the next rock, climbing on and starting up with her leaps of faith once again till she reached the end.
Mom, Dad, just watch me!
She was beginning to tire, placing a hand over her chest as her lungs were feeling a little fluxed out. She thought to her studying, counting the time of her breath before she started hiccuping to regulate her breathing. She snapped her fingers too-- to make sure she still had charge.
She did have to put in a request for special sneakers to avoid all electrons constantly flowing out and grounding. She looked down at the scruffy black shoes she had gotten when she was eleven. Still worked fine.
She stopped before the next obstacle. The 'mine field' right out of 'rambo 3'. She could see where the mines were placed, but it was such a hassle to move through them all cautiously and she was still wobbly from pushing herself with her quirk from plat form to plat form from the last obstacle. She groaned, rolling her whole head before breathing and taking short jumps and only balancing herself slightly as she maneuvered cautiously through. At least Todoroki was doing the same, just a step behind her.
She hadn't even realized she'd caught up.
"Out of the way, Half and Half bastard!" Bakugo yelled, coming with notably loud blasts and moving over the landmines like so, by blasting himself into the air. "You think you're sneaky, don't you, shady loser!"
She kept on pushing through, ignoring his taunts. Suddenly, she had to duck, playing a game of twister on the ground to avoid the dots as he blasted over, then Todoroki slid on by. She'd come so close to fire, she almost stopped there frozen in fear. Then she was snapped out of it by another event, getting up as she realized something very abnormal that involved Midoriya was happening.
He was blasting overhead, large noises of the harmless landmines behind going off in unison. He was on a metal plate, from the first obstacles, and passing Todoroki and Bakugo, who rushed to pursue him.
Screw it, she thought, tearing up all the landmines in front of her despite it making it easier on the people behind her. She sent them at the three in front of her and ran the last quarter running now in the top four.
She could see the three ahead of her, and the light of the corridor ahead and started sprinting. She flicked a quick jet of air at Bakugo, basically blowing his own smoke in his face so she could pass him. Her own declaration of war-- and just letting him know she was pissed off about him being responsible for bringing more than a single flame anywhere near her. It reminded her too much of past trauma and she wouldn't take it lightly.
A rush of adrenaline filled her, bursting through the finish line then slowing with a jog. She finally relaxed, taking a deep sigh as she placed both hands on the top of her head. Her boxing sensei's advice to keep her lungs open-- and it also helped with the drawbacks of her quirk. She'd have to be a little more cautious, timing herself before use again. Fifteen minutes, at least for now to recover.
"The results are compiled!" Midnight announced, pointing up to the screen.
Rin hadn't bothered to stay aware of her place when she ran through the corridor, adrenaline driving her. There were the three strongest boys, and she just needed to get among them so her parents would have no doubts about her entering U.A. So she looked at the scoreboard and gasped. She'd made it to second. She was just thinking top ten! Todoroki was third, then Bakugo fourth.
She covered her mouth to hide a slight smile. She hoped this would move her to a good metre with the hero agencies. This was all to fufill her dream, and show her parents what she really could be.
"The top forty-two make it to the next round. But don't worry if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine," Midnight said. "The real competition begins next. The press will be all over it! So give it your all!" She pointed to the screen again, "Behold!"
"Human Cavalry Battle!" It read.
[Zephyr]
"The rules are like this; you can form a group of two to four people. It's the same as a normal human cavalry battle, swipe bands and earn points. Except! Everyone will receive points based on their last performance!" Midnight happily explained. "You're worth five points if you placed forty second, forty one would be ten, forty is fifteen and so on-- with the exception of first place. First place is worth ten million points!"
She smirked, licking her lips. "If I were you, I'd aim for the top guy. It's the chance for the low to become high, welcome to our survival game! Those who reach the top will face new hardships. Those enrolled here will know this saying; plus ultra!"
She went on to explain more, "The person on top will wear a headband of the groups accumulated points. You may not clip your headband besides anywhere above your neck! Even if you crumble in formation or lose a headband, you are not out! If you attack anyone with malice, you are out with a red card! You have fifteen minutes to form your teams!"
Rin looked around and froze. Having no friends was for her convenience, and it was also the advice she followed from Aizawa-sensei. Now it was inconvenient, because of her high points everyone was an enemy. She was definitely on Bakugo's less passive-agressive side today, suddenly no longer a good idea to outright fight him.
Groups were filling up fast, and she looked around in frantic panic to see three together. Ojiro, the purple haired annoyance who showed up to their class, and Aoyama. She shuffled over there, and saw the purple haired kid talking to Ojiro a moment before his eyes went blank, he became silent. The boy told him to be the left, and he immediately got into position.
"Woah, woah, don't brainwash me too since I was going to ask to team with you," Rin said frantically as she approached. "I've got things useful to say."
The boy turned, "You already figured out. You're from 1-A, huh? The one who came second. I'm Shinso Hitoshi. You wanna be rider instead?"
She hesitated to answer, unsure if that meant he was going to brainwash her or not. Figuring it out wasn't accurate-- she didn't know how it worked, she just knew he had just managed to do it to Aoyama and Ojiro somehow.
"I can't brainwash you if you are going to be top," He said.
She sighed a breath of relief. "Okay, I'll be the rider. I'm Hinata Rinko, for reference and I don't particularly enjoy talking, so just order for the better."
Once they'd gathered, Rin tied her band around her forehead and hoodie with sweaty fingers. Hopefully this guy wouldn't take over her mind-- but she hoped Bakugo and Todoroki were more occupied with Midoriya so she didn't have to deal with them. By Shinso's suggestion, they'd just go for top four by taking bands from everyone else but if there was a chance to steal without risk, it was fine to take Midoriya's but that could only happen in the last two minutes, or else they'd be a target and overall screwed.
It was anti-climatic, because they were not in the heat of the battle from the get-go and Rin was exceptionally sensitive to the air around her, knowing when someone was close and doing her favourite thing-- evasion. Dodging, avoiding, every swipe.
"Track that blonde there-- the last five minutes, we'll steal his bands," Shinso said. "It's okay if ours gets taken right now, we won't be a target."
She obeyed, finding rational in his plan. The blonde was Monoma Neito, showing off that he could steal quirks and use them himself. He was taking quite a couple bands, she was sure she could snatch it if she started gathering wind enough to slip through the knots and sweep it all the way to her. They weren't being chased, they weren't stationary. Just observing the targets they could take in one fell swoop.
"Shit... that bomb head's target is the blonde too," Shinso growled. They had seven minutes.
She audibly groaned, looking around for juice. Kaminari must be attacking somewhere, she wanted some of that, but it could hurt the three at the bottom. She pointed around the back of Midoriya, where she could pick up the stray charge without hurting the rest of them. That's what they did, moving out of range once she was adequately charged and hunting for one of the top four. Electricity in her left, wind in her right, hidden up her hoodie sleeve.
Two minutes.
"The metal lashes there, get him," Shinso ordered. "Wait a minute, then move."
She scanned over to the many headbands around the neck of the boy with long eyelashes from 1-B. She waited till the mark hit 0:50. She motioned Shinso to move the group further forward before she swiped up, releasing air and flinging all the headbands at once from his neck. She caught them on the breeze she used to funnel them towards her, quickly flipping them inwards and putting them around her neck.
She was back to dodging, Shinso making sure the two under his control in the rear were keeping up on defense while she pushed anyone away with wind.
Then time was up before she knew it.
She jumped off, just in time for Ojiro and Aoyama to get back their senses. She felt pity for them, but it wasn't a bad team. They wouldn't remember anything. But they came in 3rd.
"Shinso-san, your quirk works really well with someone at your back," Rin said. "You'll make a good hero... so good luck."
"Well, easy for you to say. Aside from that, your help is much appreciated," Shinso said back nonchalantly.
An hour lunch break meant she could go get a cold drink.