"Lunch time! Lunch time! Kaeda! Hurry!" Ashido waved both hands in the air, trying to get her attention from where she, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero were.
"Alright, alright," she giggled. "Congratulations on getting to the next stage!"
"You too!" Ashido wrapped an arm around her shoulders, dragging her as they walked towards the cafeteria.
"I wanted to team with you earlier, but you suddenly disappeared," Kirishima said.
"I did too," Minoko sighed.
"How'd you end up with that Gen Ed. guy anyway?" Sero asked.
"Let's just say it was a sudden alliance," she said.
They arrived at the cafeteria which was filled with more students than usual. Understandably so, everyone must be hungry after all that quirk use and running around. Minoko eyed the food Lunch Rush was serving as they fell in line.
"Wasn't Ojirou with you, and that 1B guy?" Kaminari asked, mouth connected to a cord.
"Yeah, they were sudden alliances too," Minoko said.
The four looked at her with eyebrows raised, but didn't push it. They reached the front of the line, and they got their food. Minoko got herself a simple omurice. One, because she was reminded of it because of Iida's earlier comment about something something breakfast, and two, she was tempted by the smell. Omurice it is.
They took a seat on one of the tables, with Minoko beside Mina and across Kirishima who had Sero next to him, then Kaminari. "Who are you looking for?" Minoko asked, tilting her head at Kirishima's wandering eyes, before popping rice into her mouth.
"Ah, I was hoping Bakugou could join us for lunch," Kirishima said.
"Ehh?" Kaminari narrowed his eyes at the red haired boy, before stuffing his face with food, muttering 'scary' under his breath.
"I wouldn't say scary, more like passionate," Kirishima said.
"Of course you will," Kaminari said, "You can take his explosions,wecan't!"
"I won't deny that he's scary," Minoko said, before chuckling, "But seeing him throw a mini tantrum after getting second makes him a little less scary."
Ashido laughed, "Yeah! He's like…an angry puppy!"
"A scary angry puppy!" The two chorused.
"...I will never understand how a girl's mind works," Sero sipped his bowl of soup.
They continued eating when Kaminari excused himself. "Wonder where he's going," Ashido said, continuing to eat her noodles.
Next thing they know, Yaoyorozu and Jirou were collecting the girls. "Where are we going exactly?" Minoko asked.
"To the changing rooms," Yaoyorozu said. "We're going to have to change into cheerleading uniforms for the cheerleading competition later."
"There's a cheerleading competition?!" Ochako exclaimed.
"I didn't know we had those, ribbit," Tsuyu said, opening the door to the changing room. Inside, they were met with seven identical orange uniforms.
"Well, Ididsee some girls wearing cheerleading outfits," Tooru said, raising the top of the uniform to see them better.
"Still though, we don't have anything prepared," Jirou said, frowning at the style of the uniforms.
"We can always improvise!" Ashido exclaimed, clearly liking the uniforms as she immediately removed her PE jacket to start getting changed.
"I don't think I'll be any good with improv," Minoko commented as she changed into her cheerleader outfit.
She didn't mind the clothes, she wouldn't call herself fashionable. She's more of an awkward teen with no clue how to dress unless it's the combination that her mom had already dressed her in. That said, she was rather used to skirts. Her wardrobe consists mostly of skirts and shorts because she absolutely hates the feel of pants and how they restrict her knees from bending. She has two pairs, purely for occasions that require them.
"These are so cute Yaomomo!" Tooru exclaimed, waving pom poms around.
"I still find this suspicious," Jirou stated.
"Suspicious how?" Ochako asked.
"Well, it was Kaminari and Mineta who told us about this," Jirou said.
"Kaminari and Mineta?" Minoko repeated, before looking back down at their uniforms. "Yeah, no, I totally agree. There's something suspicious about this."
"I thought so too," Yaoyorozu said, "but I didn't want to risk Mr. Aizawa getting angry if it happened to be true."
"Why don't we just ask him then?" Tsuyu asked.
Jirou sighed, "We don't know where he is."
"Well, in any case, there's no time to dilly dally," Ashido said. "We need to get back to the arena!" She opened the door for them to get out.
The girls followed along, with Ochako trailing near the back. "Is something wrong?" Minoko asked, falling back to walk with the brunette.
"Hmm?" Ochako looked up at her, "Ah, it's nothing. It's just Deku said he was going to be back since Todoroki wanted to talk to him, but I haven't seen him at all during lunch."
Minoko hummed, raising her hand to block out the sun as they reached the arena. "I don't think Todoroki's gonna do anything to him, especially with his dad watching the festival." She pointed to the flaming man in the stands. "Then again, icing the body would beveryeasy for him."
Ochako gave her a look, "Tha—that wasn't what I meant."
Minoko let out an awkward chuckle, "Well you describe the situation like that of course that's how people are gonna interpret it!"
Ochako laughed, "I just hope he's had lunch. It's gonna be tiring to battle without any energy."
Minoko looked at Ochako before humming, "Ah, so that's it," she said.
"Ochako hummed, "What?"
Minoko shook her head, "Nothing."
"Ah!" Ochako exclaimed, "That reminds me! Todoroki's dad is Endeavor?"
"Uhh, yeah?" Minoko said, stopping where the other girls did, somewhere near the edge of the arena.
"How do you know this?!" Ochako asked.
"Well, the most obvious would be their surnames, but there could be other Todorokis I guess," Minoko said. "The wayIspecifically know is 'cause Mom had made a few support items for heroes working in his agency and they tend to go off topic when discussing business. Also, Dad has met Endeavor multiple times out in the field, and the man talks so much about his son that my dad could recite Todoroki's features and abilities in one go."
"He must be very proud of Todoroki then?" Ochako said.
Minoko hummed, "Maybe."
"I always forget that your parents work closely with pros," Ochako said, "Have you met many heroes?"
"Not really," Minoko sighed, "I don't go along with my parents to their offices a lot. But Ihavemet a few. Most recent would be Kamui Woods…AH!" She exclaimed, "and I've met Hawks once!"
"Hawks?!" Ochako exclaimed.
"Yeah, I don't remember how long ago exactly, but I'm pretty sure he was just starting out as you know officially a pro," Minoko said, "I was over at Mom's company when he walked in. Apparently he went to check out the place since a lot of Endeavor's sidekicks went there to get costumes and equipment."
Their conversation was cut short by Present Mic's yelling. "Lunch break is over! Time to announce the final event! But before that, there's good news for those who didn't qualify! This is a sports festival, recreational events are organized so that everyone can participate and have fun!" He gestured to one side of the arena, "We even brought in cheerleaders from America to liven things up!"
"Cheerleaders from America," Minoko repeated as she watched the girls at the other end of the arena raise their pom poms. "Wait, does that mean—"
"Oh! What's this?!" Present Mic exclaimed, "Class 1A! What kind of service is this?!"
In the distance Minoko could see Kaminari and Mineta giving each other thumbs ups. She let out a low growl before exchanging one of the pom poms with a slingshot, and the other with a ball. She aimed it and let it hit Mineta which bounced up to Kaminari with a smack.
"I can't believe I fell for their schemes again," Yaoyorozu sighed, dropping to the ground. "I even used Creation for these outfits."
"They're idiots," Jirou said, throwing her pom poms to the ground.
"I'll take those," Minoko said, exchanging them with more balls and launching them at the two, who were now yelping and asking her to stop.
"Well, there's still time before the finals, and being stressed is tiring so…" Tooru said. "I say we go for it!"
"Hah?"
"Tooru, you're really into this huh?" Tsuyu said.
"I agree with Tooru! These outfits are cute and we shouldn't put them to waste!" Ashido laughed.
"They wouldn't go to waste if you give them to me," Minoko said, aiming another ball towards the two.
"AHH! Kaeda! We yield!" The two dropped to the ground. "Sorry!"
"Time for recreational activities!" Present Mic announced, "And afterwards our participants will be battling each other in one on one battles!" A bracket appeared on the screen above the arena. All with blank slots.
"Now, we'll draw lots for the pairings," Midnight stood in front of them with a yellow box labeled 'Lots'. "Once the pairings are determined, recreational activities will begin. Those sixteen that will be in the final event may choose whether to participate or not on the recreation," she explained. "Now, shall we start with the first pair?"
"Um, excuse me?"
Minoko tilted her head to the side to see who was raising their hand. It was Ojirou.
"I want to withdraw," he said. His statement made the surrounding students gasp.
"Ojirou, why?" Midoriya asked.
"The pros will be watching," Iida reminded.
Ojirou nodded, "I know, this is a big opportunity. But the circumstances of our win, and for me to advance…I don't think I deserve this. I don't even remember what happened the first few minutes."
"I want to withdraw for the same reason," Shouda raised his hand. "I didn't really do much, and if I'm being honest I was confused most of the time we were in the battle. If we didn't do much, that sort of defeats the purpose of the Sports Festival, doesn't it?"
"What's up with them, they're so manly!" Kirishima exclaimed.
"Are you gonna withdraw too?"
Minoko hummed at the sound of Shinsou's voice, "Of course not," she said. "I did my all to keep that trainwreck of the team together, you think I'm gonna withdraw after that?" She looked back at him. "It's not my fault your shitty plan backfired."
"My shitty plan huh?" Shinsou echoed.
"Yeah, brainwash other people to join your team," she could see Shinsou about to talk back, "I don't fault you for that by the way," she said.
"What?"
"I don't fault you. It's just another tactic, plan, whatever. My concern is why would you even try to use my quirk when you don't even know what the heck is going on when I do," Minoko chuckled. "Very shitty plan. I adapted into that situation and I'm not going to let my efforts go to waste."
Shinsou hummed, "Just a reminder, we're no longer teammates, so I'm free to use my quirk on you anytime."
"Of course, it's your quirk," she shrugged, "and itisa competition. I'll be concerned if you don't."
"I just said—" Shinsou sighed, "You're a weird one ya know."
"Sure,I'mthe weird one," she laughed.
"That kind of youthful talk is something I like!" Midnight exclaimed, "I accept Shouda and Ojirou's withdrawal!"
She decided with her personal preference.
"But with them gone, there are two spots open, which will go to the next team, Team Tetsutetsu," Midnight said. Their team looked up at the stage stunned. "Please talk amongst yourselves and choose two representatives that will move to the next round."
They ended up choosing Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki for the spots. The lots were drawn and the pairings were presented on the screen. Minoko craned her head back to see who she was up against. "Ah, I'm against Ashido," she read.
"Kaeda! Don't think I'll be going easy on you!" Ashido exclaimed, pointing her pom pom at her.
Minoko grinned, "Same here!"This is bad,she thought. She would have been a whole lot luckier if she was up against someone who fought close combat. She just has to touch them then poof, they're out of the game. With Ashido, she can attack from afar. Minoko would have to dodge her attacks while trying to get close.So bad. Oh well, it was a fun contest.
A squeak from beside her caught Minoko's attention. "What's wrong, Ochako?" Ochako was staring up at the screen.
"Uraraka? Who's that?" They hear Bakugou say.
Then again, my match up could be worse,Minoko thought, patting the girl's back.
"Let's put aside the tournament for now and take a break!" Present Mic said. "Let's have fun with recreations!"
One of the recreational activities was a scavenger hunt, which she particularly enjoyed. The student that can accomplish the most cards within the ten minute mark wins.
"Ahahaha!" Minoko laughed as she grabbed another card. 'Books' it said. She exchanged a bracelet with a stack of books. She brought it over to Midnight and she raised her score. Minoko went to look for more cards, and this one had the word 'Chair'.
"This is too easy," she smirked, bringing a chair that she swapped the books out with to Midnight who raised her score again. So far, she was in the lead with 12 items.
"Kaeda!" Kaminari exclaimed, "I know you have a toaster!" He showed her his card which indeed had the word toaster on it.
"No way!" She stuck her tongue out at him before running off for another card.
"Children I tell you," she hears Sero say.
Minoko got another card and exchanged the chair with a ball before bringing it back. Then she got a kettle, a rope, a potted plant, a mirror, a t-shirt, and then a cactus.
"Why do you have a cactus?!" Her classmates exclaimed as they watched her carry a small potted cactus up to the stage.
She looked at them and raised an eyebrow, "Why don'tyou?"
"She has more random stuff stored in her inventory than usual, right?" Sero asked. "It wasn't just me that saw her drag out a whole bicycle earlier, yeah?"
"Yeah, definitely," Kirishima said.
"And time!" Midnight announced. "Our winner is from Class 1A, Kaeda Minoko!" She handed her the prize, a 1000 yen coupon for any of the stands outside the arena.
"Sweet sweet food," she said.
"Kaeda, are you joining the next event?" Tooru asked.
"Ah, no thanks," Minoko said, "I'm gonna put this coupon to good use."
"Oh, alright, have fun!" Tooru waved as Minoko walked towards the arena's exit.
On her way out, she went over to the locker rooms and got her wallet. "Ah, Midoriya," Minoko waved as she passed the waiting rooms. "Goodluck on your match. You're up first right?"
"Yeah," Midoriya nodded, "Actually, about that, do you mind if I ask you a few questions?"
Minoko hummed, "Sure. But, I just won one of the recreational games, so" she raised up the coupon with a smirk, "You're gonna have to come with me outside."
Midoriya gave her an awkward smile, "S—sure."
Minoko cheered as she led Midoriya out of the building and into the semi crowded path that led to the stands. "One strawberry crepe and," she faced Midoriya, "what do you want?"
Midoriya immediately waved his hands around, "I can't—"
"Come on," Minoko laughed, "It's not like I'm even spending money on it."
"Still—"
"Is strawberry fine or do you want another flavor?"
"...strawberry's fine."
"Make it two strawberry crepes please," Minoko said to the vendor.
"You got it!"
Minoko was handed the crepes and she held one of them towards Midoriya, "Here ya go."
"Thank you," Midoriya timidly held the crepe in two hands, making Minoko giggle.
"So," she started as she led them around, "What was it that you wanted to ask me?"
"Oh, that's right," Midoriya said, "You were in Shinsou Hitoshi's team for the cavalry battle, right?"
Minoko took a bite of her crepe as she nodded.
"Ojirou told me about what happened to your team and about Shinsou's quirk," he said. "He mentioned he didn't remember anything until after you made your team stumble, but he said that he thinks you had a memory of when you were under Shinsou's control?"
"Yeah, I remember everything," she said. "That's weird, I thought that was normal."
"I thought it was weird too," Midoriya said, "that you two had different experiences under Shinsou's quirk. Do you think he did something different when he brainwashed you?"
Minoko hummed, tilting her head to the side as she wondered. "None that I know of. It's just a call and response thing." She stopped in front of the Takoyaki stand and got another order for her to eat later.
Midoriya sighed, "I was hoping you'd know so in any case, I'd still have a chance to think."
"Well," she trailed off, leading them somewhere else, "what if the reason I still have my memories is because I have a pretty good hold of my subconsciousness because of my quirk?" Minoko suggested, "If that's the case, maybe knowing how his quirk works will be enough for your mind to like make a shield to lessen the effects of Shinsou's quirk or something like that?"
"That's not a bad theory," Midoriya said, "I guess awarenesswouldplay a factor in this…"
And there he goes,Minoko thought with a smile as Midoriya trailed off murmuring and making theories of his own.
Minoko brought them over to another stall as she brought sweets with the remains of the coupon before letting out a sigh.
"Is something wrong?" Midoriya asked as they made their way back to the arena.
Minoko shook her head, "Not really, it's just, I know this isn't unfair or anything 'cause the logical thing to do when you have an unknown opponent is to gather information about them, but I can't help but feel bad," she said. "Shinsou's only advantage is the element of surprise and that's basically thrown off the roof. He's trying his best here to get transferred to the hero course 'cause he didn't pass in the entrance exam, which to be honest feels a bit unfair."
"Unfair?" Midoriya prompted her to continue.
"Yeah. I mean, offensive quirks clearly have an advantage since the goal is to, you know, destroy robots," Minoko said, "Objectively speaking Shinsou's quirk would be really useful in hero work. Just talk to the villain and poof, the heroes have the advantage." She sighed, "Rescue points are the only reason I passed, 'cause without them, 22 points aren't gonna be enough to pass. I guess I was just lucky."
"I don't think it was luck," Midoriya said, making Minoko raise an eyebrow at him. "I mean, I think you're really strong. Your quirk may not be conventionally strong, but it's very complex and you use that complexity to your advantage by applying it in unique ways that your opponent wouldn't even have thought was possible. Your creativity mixed with your quirk makes you a very formidable opponent, so I don't think it was luck."
Minoko stopped walking and just stared at the boy. A few seconds of silence were enough to make Midoriya's face as red as a tomato as he started flailing in embarrassment. "I uh—I—" he stuttered trying to fill the silence.
Minoko let out a laugh, "Here," she handed him a lollipop. "Thanks. You really know how to give someone a pep talk ya know that? This is like the second one you gave me."
"Ah, thank you," Midoriya accepted the lollipop.
"Let's hurry, your match is starting soon!"
Just as Minoko said, the main event was about to begin, they were just waiting for Cementoss to finish making the stage. The classes had gone up to the bleachers where Minoko took a seat in front of Kaminari and next to Kirishima in the front row.
"Kaeda! Why do you have so much food here?" Iida reprimanded Minoko who had an entire seat that was supposed to be Sero's if he wasn't in the waiting room, reserved for the food that she bought.
"What? There's no rule that we can't bring food up here," Minoko countered. "Besides, if I wait 'til later after the tournament, all the stalls would be closing up!"
"I—that is true," Iida said.
Minoko laughed, "Here you go Pres. Lighten up a little," she reached to the side to hand him a pack of gummy bears.
Iida sighed, taking them, "Thank you. But still, please refrain from making a mess."
"I will," Minoko waved as Iida got back to his seat."Do you guys want some too?" She asked Tokoyami who was sitting next to Kirishima, and Ochako who was next to Iida.
"Isn't your match the fifth one?" Kirishima asked, as he passed around sweets and took one for himself, "Are you supposed to be eating so much before a battle?"
"I'll be fine," Minoko waved her hand dismissively. "It's for stamina!"And for the nerves,she added in her mind.
"HEY GUYS ARE YOU READY?!" Present Mic exclaimed. "IT IS TIME FOR THE FINAL EVENT OF THIS TOURNAMENT. ONE ON ONE BATTLES!"
Notes:
I actually never learned the whole thing with remembering the time under Shinsou's quirk, but yeah, we go along with this 'cause fanfiction. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed the chapter! We'll go back to the tournament on the next one!
TRIVIA!!
Minoko purposefully brought a bunch of stuff with her, more for the scavenger hunt which is very likely to be played since it is a sports event, rather than the actual tournament. This way, she can still win something.