Soon enough, preparation week was over, and it was the day of the Sports Festival. "There's so many booths," Minoko marveled as she passed by the many people coming to watch, on her way to the 1st Year Stage's preparation room. "Ah! Takoyaki!" She hopped over to the stand, where the savory smell had led her.

"It's only 500 yen!"

"One order please!"

Minoko hummed contently as she munched on the food. She neared the building when a blurred figure passed her, then ran back to her again. "Kaeda! This is not the time to be eating! You should have gotten a proper breakfast before leaving home," Iida reprimanded, legs still in a jogging movement, "The preliminary events are going to start soon and it will do you no good if you get a stomach ache! Also, please change into your PE uniform as we are not allowed our costumes!"

Minoko gave him a mock salute, "Will do," she said before sticking another Takoyaki in her mouth and walking past the boy. She threw away the container in a garbage can near the changing room. She entered and was met with Jirou putting on her shirt. "Good morning," Jirou greeted.

"Morning," Minoko greeted back, placing her bag on a bench and walking over to her locker. "Are you excited?"

Jirou shrugged, "I mean yeah, it's exciting, why won't it be?" she chuckled, "Then again, it's quite nerve wracking, ya know?"

"Mhm, definitely," Minoko nodded, zipping up her uniform. "Have you seen how many people there are?! Not to mention how many pros are gonna be in the stands."

"Watching our performance."

"Evaluating our performance."

"Judging our performance."

"Judging us."

The two shivered at the thought.Nerve wracking.The girls chatted as they walked towards the waiting room where everyone else was. "I wanted to wear my costume," Ashido whined as they entered—Jirou excusing herself as she walked over to Yaomomo.

"We can't since we have to be fair," Ojirou said.

"Why dotheyget to wear parts of her costume!" Mineta pointed a finger at Minoko and Aoyama.

"I was given explicit permission as my wonderful belt is a necessity for my quirk to function!" Aoyama exclaimed.

"Thesearen'tpart of my costume though?" Minoko tilted her head, fiddlin with her bracelets.

"Yes they are!"

"These are my actual accessories," Minoko clarified, "not like the plastic ones my costume has. I'm not even wearing my gloves sincethoseare part of it. If anything, this gives me a disadvantage considering these actually have weight on them."

"That's still cheating!"

"There's nothing against wearing normal accessories in the rules!" Minoko exclaimed, "It's like telling Yaomomo to remove her hair tie!"

"It doesn't matter, remove them! And your clothes too while you're a—"

Minoko grasped the closest chair to her, ready to hurl it at the boy—who immediately squealed and hid away—when another hand pushed it back to the ground. "Mineta, what is wrong with you?!" Kirishima asked, making a face towards where the small boy was hiding, before facing Minoko. "Please don't get disqualified before we even start."

"He had it coming," Minoko huffed, pulling on the same chair and sitting down at the same table as Kirishima, Kaminari and Bakugou.

The door to the waiting room opened, "Everyone, are you ready?!" Iida asked. "It's almost time before we are called."

Minoko took a deep breath and before she could even wish her friends luck, Todoroki grabbed everyone's attention. "Midoriya," he called the shorter boy as he approached. Everyone watched the scene intently.

"Todoroki?" Midoiriya turned to face him, "What is it?"

"Objectively, I am more capable than you," Todoroki stated, leaving Midoriya with no room to argue. "But you are favored by All Might."

He's not wrong,Minoko thought.He's Endeavor's son after all.But what stood out to her more was the comment about All Might and Midoriya.Despite Ochako's reasoning as to why he was invited by All Might to lunch, Minoko couldn't help but think that maybe there's something amiss here. She had seen the two talking in the hallwayswaybefore USJ. Not to mention how All Might acted while watching Midoriya during the Battle Trial.Then again, that's not really my business.

"I won't inquire about that," Todoroki continued, "but I will beat you."

"Eh? The best in class declaring war?" Kaminari asked, as Kirishima walked over to the two.

"Yeah," Minoko said from her place beside him, her head still tilted back, watching as Todoroki shoved off Kirishima's hand. 'We're not here to make friends,' he said. It was now Midoriya's turn to speak. She couldn't help notice Bakugou's scowl growing deeper and deeper as Midoriya's speech went on.Oh boy.

The class stood in the passage leading to the middle of the stadium, waiting for Present Mic's introduction. "Everyone, the U.A. Sports Festival is about to start! Are you ready?!"

"First year students will enter now!"

"Let's go, everyone!" Iida led them to the passage's exit.

Minoko followed behind her classmates, squinting her eyes as the bright sun welcomed them to the stadium. Fireworks exploded as Present Mic hyped up the event, "From the Hero Course, Class 1-A."

"That's a lot of people," Minoko said, looking up at the stands.

"Tell me about it," Sero—who she was hiding behind of—said. "They expect us to not be nervousnow?"

"Though they may not be getting much attention, they also have great talents, Class 1-B!" Minoko looked over to the other passage and watched as the 1B students came out.

"Now, from General Education, Classes C, D, and E!" Shinsou was walking in front of his class.

"From the Support Course, Class F, G, and I!" Students wearing various gadgets walked out of another passage.

"And finally Management Course, Class I, J, K!"We have a management course?Minoko thought in surprise, she doesn't really see them around.Makes sense when you think about it. Someone has to keep heroes in check.

Once everyone was gathered in front of a small stage, a whip in the air was heard. "Player's Pledge," the woman up front started.

"What is Midnight wearing?" Kirishima asked, trying to keep his head down and listen at the same time.

Kaminari on the other hand was staring ahead, "As expected of the 18 hero."

"Is an 18 hero even allowed to teach high school students?" Tokoyami asked.

"Kinda defeats the purpose of the '18'," Minoko said.

"Quiet!" Midnight said, calling for their attention. "Student Representative, 1A's Bakugou Katsuki."

"Kacchan's the representative?" Midoriya asked in surprise as Bakugou walked up to the stage.

"Well," Sero started, "He did place 1st in the entrance exam."

"In the hero course," a girl from General Education said.

"We're doomed, " Minoko said, watching Bakugou climb the stairs.

Everyone watched as Bakugou faced the stands, mic up to his face. "I pledge…that I will be number one."

I knew he'd do that!Minoko reached for Kaminari's shoulders, carefully as to not make him disappear, and shaking him, "We're doomed! Fish food, remember!"

Booing came from the crowd of students."Why are you degrading this event!" Iida asked, walking up to the front.

Bakugou faced them, "At least make yourself useful and be a decent step stool."

Despite the commotion, Midnight continued, "Now then, let's get started right away! The fateful first event…" A screen appeared behind her. "Is this!"

"Obstacle Race Course?" Minoko read the words displayed.

"All 11 classes will participate in this race running 4 kilometers around the stadium," Midnight said, "And as freedom is U.A.'s selling point, anything goes as long as you stay on course!"

Minoko followed everyone towards the red arc with three green lights in the middle of it. She watched as one light went out…then two…and finally…"Start!"

Everyone, including Minoko rushed into the passage. It didn't take her long to realize how bad of an idea that was. "Ow," she said, "not again."Was the cafeteria rush not enough?Minoko scanned her surroundings, trying to look past everyone's heads.

Suddenly, she felt a familiar feeling. The temperature was dropping. She scrambled to remove a bracelet from her arm and threw it as far as she could above everyone's heads. She could feel the cool air increasing followed by a burst, as she tapped herself. She didn't waste time in the room before exchanging the bracelet.

She landed right outside the passage where everything was covered in ice. "Too soft, Todoroki," Yaomomo said.

Minoko grinned, "Can't get me with that again, Todoroki!"

Bakugou let out another explosion, blasting himself into the air, "I won't let you get away half 'n half bastard!"

Minoko ran on the ice, careful not to slip. To her right she spots three students carrying someone.Is that Shinsou?! What the hell?She shook her head, getting back on track.Right, don't slip.

She reached the end of the icy ground just in time to see Mineta get shoved away by a robot.Sweet sweet Karma."These are…from the entrance exam," she said to herself. No way was she putting any of those 0 pointers in her inventory after last time. Not to mention she only has space for one of them.

"Where do they get the budget for all of these?" Yaomomo commented at the sheer ridiculousness of the amount.

"Now you're asking the real questions," Minoko said as she watched Todoroki crouch to the ground, freezing it and sending ice up to the robot.

"He froze it!"

Todoroki rushed forward. "In between its legs! We can get through there.".

"I wouldn't if I were you," Todoroki called back to them, "I froze them in an unstable position. Intentionally."

"WOW! Todoroki Shouto from Class 1A was the first one to get past!" Present Mic announced. "As expected of a recommendations student! He was not at all fazed by the Robot Inferno that he has never fought before!"

The robot started tipping over, making everyone scramble to get out of its way. Minoko paid no attention to his warning and went under the robot's legs anyway. "Are you crazy?!" she hears someone yell at her.

Minoko used the ice on the ground to slide her hair clip outside the danger zone. Before the robot could crush her, she activated her quirk and swapped with the hair clip. She continued running, callin out to Todoroki, "It's dangerous ya know," she said, with a grin, "I feel like I've told you that before."

"What's this?! Someone else got away! It's Kaeda Minoko, also from Class 1A," Present Mic yelled. "So cool! I didn't even see her!"

Todoroki looked back for a moment before picking up his pace. "As if anyone's stupid enough to actually get caught in that."

"Did someone get caught?! Are we gonna die here?!"

Minoko turned to see Kirishima rising from the middle of the robot, "I'm alive!"

"You were saying?" Minoko asked.

"It's one person."

"Class 1-A is full of jerks!" Tetsutetsu emerged from the same robot.

"Two people," Minoko corrected.

She could feel Todoroki roll his eyes just from looking at his back. As if compensating for the boy's cold responses, a hothead passes her. "Come back here IcyHot!" Bakugou yelled.

Judging from Present Mic's commentation, the other students should be catching up soon as the robots were apparently destroyed. Minoko halted in her steps as she reached the next obstacle, which was ceremoniously introduced as 'The Fall'.

"When the hell did they get time to make this?!" Minoko exclaimed, trying to find her way across. Naturally, Bakugou just blasted his way across, and Todoroki apparently had good balance as he was walking across the thin rope with little to no problem.Oh, wait,she narrowed her eyes at his feet. Small bits of ice helped him hang onto the rope, which he melted as he moved.

Minoko could hear the wave of students steadily approaching. She has to move or she's gonna get thrown to the back of the leaderboard. Minoko took a gamble and tried to balance on the rope.Ribbon dancing, don't fail me now,she thought, recalling another activity she had tried during her 'Self-discovery Journey'.

She crossed the rope carefully, albeit slower than she wanted, she did manage to get to the next platform. She repeated this across the other ropes, hand holding on to another bracelet, ready to throw it in case she slips.

Minoko reached the second to last platform, clicking her tongue as a 13th person passed her. Before she could try crossing the last rope, she heard a loud laugh behind her, then above. She raised her head and saw a girl with pink hair wearing goggles fly past her, a device around her middle shooting out a wire that held onto the last platform—pulling her across, finishing the second obstacle.

14th, she counted as she resumed crossing.

"We're already at the final barrier!" Present Mic announced.

Todoroki is ridiculously fast!

"It's a minefield!"

"Of course it is," she muttered, finishing the second stage.

Minoko reached the said minefield just as Present Mic finished explaining that they weren't strong, just very flashy. And the next moment, she sees someone flying to the air as he sets one off.Not strong my ass.She scanned the field, trying to find where the bombs were, but they're well hidden.

Minoko crossed her arms, humming to herself as she thought of a way to get through. She couldn't exactly swap places with people since there's a possibility that they were just about to trip off a mine. Her eyes lit up,Why bother for mines, if the bombs are already set off?She exchanged the bracelet she was still holding with a jar of rocks. Where did she get it? It was a souvenir from that beach resort that sold her dad a mystery jar of 'shells'.

She tucked the jar to her side as her left hand reached for a handful of rocks and chucked it in front of her, making the safe path clear as the mines around it exploded. Of course, she could've done this easier with a bigger item and cover more ground.But that would make it too easy on them.

She continued this method and soon enough, she's back in the top 10. She was about to chuck another set of rock out when a loud explosion was set off a few meters back. She craned her head back and saw Midoriya flying through the air on a robot piece.Seriously? How did he even think of bringing that here?!Minoko hurried, not wanting to be set back again.

She watched as Todoroki, Bakugou and Midoriya duked it out for first place. Midoriya set another powerful explosion by smashing the robot scrap to the ground as he pushed himself upward with Todoroki and Bakugou's bodies.

I can literally teleport,she thought as Midoriya went flying.Why the hell am I back here?She eyed the robot scrap that flew up after Midoriya.

"Midoriya clears the landmine obstacle!"

Next thing she knew, Minoko was falling from the air—below her, she spotted Bakugou and Todoroki emerging from the pink smoke. Not wanting to break anything upon landing, Minoko reached for a hair clip and threw it as far as she could, downwards, and swapped with it.

"Oi! Where the fuck did you come from?!" Bakugou yelled as Minoko appeared in front of him and Todoroki.

Paying no mind to him, Minoko continued running. She tried looking for Midoriya, but he was still too far ahead for her to see. Behind her, she hears more explosions and feels the temperature dropping. Minoko hurried her pace, hoping to catch a glimpse of the boy.

She clicked her tongue when she heard Present Mic's next announcement.

"The first to return to the stadium is…Midoriya Izuku!"

Minoko reached the passage, the last stretch before the finish line. To her right, she felt someone pass her.Todoroki.She runs faster as she hears Bakugou's explosions closing in.At this rate, I'm gonna place behind them both.Minoko eyed Todoroki's figure.No hard feelings.

She brought her right hand up to her arm and brought herself in her pocket dimension, then once again swapping herself back to the real world. Minoko found herself in Todoroki's place, in between the ice. She could hear Bakugou yelling profanities in the background as she pulled off a bracelet and tossed it towards the blond as it was exchanged with Todoroki. There was a yelp as they crashed into each other. Minoko ran before either could compose themselves.

She stepped into the bright light as cheering filled her ears.

Minoko sat on the ground, chugging a bottle of water she had stored in her inventory, as she watched as the rest of the participants passed the finish line. From somewhere in the arena, she could feel two pairs of eyes on her. One calmly watching, the other ready to murder her with looks alone. Minoko would rather mind her own business and pretend that they don't exist.Maybe they'll go away,she thought, the urge to glare at both of them slowly increasing.

"Ah! Kirishima!" Minoko called out to the red haired boy who's expression quickly shifted from exhausted panting to a wide smile. He walked over to her and she exchanged the empty water bottle she had with a new one. "Good job coming in 8th," she tossed the bottle to him.

Minoko could barely make out the 'Thank you' before the boy began drowning himself in water. "Oh mighty and divine Keada, would you please bless this poor soul some water to clench his unfathomable thirst!" Sero dropped in front of her, making the girl laugh.

"If you can spout out so many words, I doubt you're as thirsty as you say you are," she said. "Give me your uniform jacket." Sero happily obliged, leaving him in his black undershirt as Minoko exchanged the jacket with another water bottle. "Just give me the bottle if you want your jacket back."

Minoko handed Sero the bottle, "Thank you, your divine majesty!" He immediately downed the bottle.

Kirishima sighed as he finished his water, "How many water bottles do you even have that you're just giving them away?"

"24, I bought the umm, what do you call it? The ones in bulk? Yeah that," Minoko said. "It's a sports festival, and I'm not sure if the staff's gonna hand around water after the stages, so I just brought my own."

Sero sighed, "I wish I had an interdimensional bag, I'd just bring my room with me," he said before releasing a hum, eyeing Minoko as he nodded to himself. "Yeahh, like a snail. Kaeda, you're like a snail!"

An eye twitched, "How the heck did I go from divine majesty to snail real fast?"

"Ah!" Kirishima snaps his finger, "Yeah, textbooks always say snails carry their house with them all the time!"

Minoko's head snapped towards Kirishima, "Oi."

"Right?!"

"Do I look like I have a shell on my back?!"

"Where's the snail?" Kaminari—who she didn't even notice was finished already—bursted into the conversation, sitting next to her.

"Here," the two pointed a finger at her.

Kaminari looked at her, face slowly scrunching up as he thought about it, "I don't get it."

"Kaminari's now my favorite," Minoko announced.

"I thought I was your favorite!"

"How is that fair?!"

"Score!" Kaminari cheered before taking note of the bottles Kirishima and Sero were holding. "Where'd you two get water?" He asked, only to get a growl from the two.

"Give me your jacket," she said, allowing a confused Kaminari to give her his jacket, which she promptly exchanged with a bottle. "I brought some just in case."

"Thanks!" Kaminari drank his water, letting out a refreshed sigh as he brought it back down. "You're so lucky that you can just bring anything you want around, it's almost like you're a—OH! I GET IT!"

"I hate all of you," Minoko declared. "Give me back those damn bottles, I have decided you do not deserve them."

Kirishima huffed out a laugh, "Mines empty anyway," he handed it back.

"Mine too," Sero tossed it towards her.

She caught both and exchanged Kirishima's with a bracelet and Sero's with his jacket before tossing it to his face. "Kaminari," she said.

"Hey, hey," Kaminari said, slowly standing up, "finders keepers!" he rushed out of her reach.

"You didn't even find that!" Minoko exclaimed, going after him. "You can't just call me a snail and get away with it you idiot!"

"I didn't even say anything!"

"You thought it!"

Sero and Kirishima watched them chase each other—not even going far, just circling the two. "So energetic," Sero commented with a sigh.

Soon enough Midnight called the participants to gather around making Minoko and Kaminari stop with their shenanigans. Kirishima handed her the now empty water bottle, which she had swapped out with his jacket. "The first game of the first year stage is finally finished!" Midnight announced. "Now, let us view the results!

A leader board flashed up into the air. She moved away from the group to see it clearer., and just as she thought, Minoko found herself sitting in 2nd place. "Kaeda, you got second place?!" Jirou exclaimed.

"What did you eat for breakfast, woman!" Ashido cheered.

"You even beat Todoroki and Bakugou, ribbit," Tsuyu pointed out.

"Is that way they've been looking slash glaring at you this whole time?" Ochako asked.

Minoko looked around, "They're still doing that?"

"Well, it's mostly Bakugou now, glaring that is," Ashido said.

"Kacchan's sending you an 'I'm gonna beat you' look, I think," Midoriya weighed in. He looks her in the eye, "Good luck."

"Oi, Midoriya," she scolded, "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Ohoho, will you look at that, the first 43 students to get back," Midnight said, "Let's start with the second event, shall we?" The holographic screen was once again behind her, spinning around to choose the next game.

"Cavalry Battle!"

Notes:

Eyy! Cavalry Battle is next, I wonder who she's gonna be teamed up with :D

TRIVIA!!

Minoko's favorite food is Takoyaki, and her favorite dessert is Strawberry Parfait. Both are cmfort foods for her and can usually cheer her up when she's in a slump.