My Hero Academia - Under Pressure - Season 2- Chapter 2 - Preparing For The Festival
An alarm went off, and Tonen Keitomo reached over and slammed it off. He groaned heavily and slowly got up from his sleep.
"You'd think after that blast I did that I would've slept great..." he mumbled to himself as he rubbed his eyes in an attempt to wake up more.
Now mostly awake, he got up and started to get ready for the school day. As he finished putting on his school uniform though he noticed a piece of paper on the ground right under his door. He read it to himself.
"Class meeting at 8AM in the main area, your presence is required. Pertains to the Sports Festival. - Kuroda"
Intrigued, Tonen looked at his clock and noticed he only had a few minutes to go before the meeting started. He hurried through the rest of his preparations so he could go meet up with his classmates.
As he got to the main area, he could tell that he was the last one to arrive, or at least, he thought so. But a quick headcount made him realize that there were two key people missing from the class. Before he could follow up on it, Kuroda pointed to him.
"Tonen, nice of you to join us," she said in a teasing way.
He shrugged as he went to sit by Azujima, "I wasn't expecting the meeting! Besides, I was tired, wanted to sleep in."
"I wonder why...?" asked Fenella with faux curiosity. "I guess yesterday was a...blast...for you..."
"Well you know he's under a lot of...pressure...recently," joked Ebirima.
The two snickered while the others groaned. Tonen let it slide though as he was happy to see Ebirima back to her usual state, "Laugh it up, ladies. So what's going on, K-Rep?"
"I wanted to talk about the Sports Festival," she answered, a look of fiery excitement plastered upon her face. "Yesterday we were all in our own little worlds because of what Angel Wings said, likely thinking about what we'll do if we do well in it. But now that we're back on terra firma, I think as a class we should plan out what we honestly want to do to prepare for it."
"About that..." interjected Eri, eyeing Kuroda with clear curiosity, "You said 'as a class', but I notice Goya and Chuya aren't here."
"Right you are, they weren't invited. As far as I'm concerned, they're excommunicado."
"We're cutting them off? Isn't that a little...extreme?" wondered Doza.
"No. When Tonen was kidnapped, WE stepped up. WE banded together to get our classmate back. I would trust each of you with my life, I mean that. This is a group I can be proud to be a representative of, and I want us all to succeed if possible at the festival. Those two though? I could care less."
Anno gave a shark-style laugh at the statement, "I'm with you, Kuroda. We may have different styles and personalities, but that doesn't mean we turn our backs when one of our own is threatened. Even sharks can hunt in packs despite being Apex Predators. Cannibalism only happens occasionally amongst us."
"Way to muddy the metaphor at the end," groaned Hana. "Kuroda, I know you're angry at Chuya, and that Anno want to rip Goya asunder..."
"I'm thinking of mounting his head on my wall..."
"BUT...I'm with Doza, isn't this a bit extreme? They're still our classmates, even if we don't like them."
Kuroda's demeanor shifted as she looked at her No.2, she adopted a look of honesty as well as showing she was thinking clearly, "Hana, your advice always means a lot to me. But this goes beyond liking someone. Goya didn't do the mission because he didn't have 'skin in the game', and Chuya thought we were nothing more than 'casualties of war' if we died. Do you really want to work with someone who doesn't even view you as a real person?"
Hana hesitated with her answer, but then shook her head, "No, no I wouldn't."
"Neither do I. But in the interest of fairness, I leave it to a class vote. All in favor of cutting them off until further notice, raise your hands."
Kuroda was the first to raise her hand. But she wasn't the last. Hana followed, as did The Twins, Ikaim, Azujima, Kanagita, Anno, Eri, Sanda, and many of the others. Tonen was one of the last to raise his hands. But by the time he did, everyone in the group was in agreement.
Kuroda was overjoyed at the unity, "Unanimous then, I'm grateful. They're excommunicado."
"So...what now exactly?" Ueno asked, head spinning.
"As I was stating before, I want to discuss with you all about the Sports Festival. Angel Wings said this would be a good chance to showcase our skills for not just the school, but the Pro-Heroes out there. How we go about that though...is honestly up to us. Yes, the teachers are going to help, but call it a hunch, we're going to be asked to do the heavy lifting in regards to our training."
"I can confirm that," Ebirima said. "I got to watch my brother train for his three Sports Festivals at times, he even asked for my help via my Quirk."
"Exactly. So, since I want nothing more than this group to succeed, I want to ask you all, how should we handle the festival? I'm open to all suggestions."
At the request, they all went into their minds to think about how to handle things. Tonen did his best to hide a smirk, but Azujima caught it, "TK? Everything alright?"
"It's fine, Azu. I have a suggestion, but..."
"But...?"
"I'm not sure everyone is going to like it."
Sanda laughed at the notion, "Come on, man! Kuroda asked for suggestions, give us yours! I doubt it's bad. Then again...I guess everyone has a bad idea once in a while it's just that we've never really heard one coming from you and-"
"SANDA!" shouted everyone to make him stop.
"Right! Right, my bad, go on Tonen."
Tonen couldn't help but laugh at the now repeating pattern of Sanda and the others, but he sobered up to address the others, "My suggestion is simple. For the next few weeks, we work hard within our group. In team exercises, one-on-one, whatever we feel is best to improve ourselves. But once the festival starts? We agree that we are on our own unless told otherwise."
HIs suggestion did indeed shock many of the students, Ikaim whistled lowly at it, "Wow, I wouldn't expect a 'solo act' request from you, Tonen."
"It is odd, brother," noted Ryo.
"I'm sure he has a reason, sister" expressed Ryu.
"Indeed I do, dear Twins. The answer is about what happens AFTER the festival."
"You mean working with the Pro-Heroes who dig us?" put out Oshibu as he looked at Tonen over his shades.
"Exactly. The heroes that are watching are going to be looking at us to see what we can do. But that's not 'we' as a team, but 'we' as new students and potential heroes. We're the bottom of the totem pole right now and we each need to show off our stuff. How we handle a situation, how we can use our powers to avoid things, overcome obstacles, and when the time comes, use them in a fight."
Eri pieced together his intent, "So thus we focus on ourselves, to show off ourselves."
He touched his nose to show she got it, "Yes. Think of it like this. Imagine we do work together, and in the course of one of the tests we have to jump a chasm. Because we're working together, I grab onto say, Copycat and Up Down and fly them to the other side. What did that prove? That I can do that act...but the other two needed my help. Not exactly a great showing of talent."
"I'd welcome the help, I can't jump far," deadpanned Iha.
"It was just an example, Up Down. But the point stands. You could've showed your ingenuity in that situation, but I took that from you by working together. Understand?"
"Yeah."
"Ok, time for a counter," piped up Fenella, "Outside of obvious team competitions where we have to work together, what if a challenge pops up and its beneficial to both parties to work together?"
"In that case? Go for it. Let me go back to the other scenario. Let's say there's a mile wide chasm to cross somehow. I'm low on air pressure, but Up Down is there. She uses her Quirk to power me up, and we get across easily. That's her Quirk and my Quirk working together to showcase our skills."
"Or if say..." started Kanagita in her usual quiet voice, "I team up with Anno to break through a barrier because of our combined strength being enough to do it?"
Tonen smiled at her to comfort her and nodded, "Indeed Kana, just like you two did at the USJ."
Wasuke cleared his throat to get Tonen's attention, "I still fail to see how working together before the Sports Festival and not doing so unless told to during it is beneficial to the class."
"Because Shield Hero, we're not going to be together in the Pro-Hero world more than likely!"
His very blunt statement rattled many of them, he calmed down and addressed them again.
"Think about that class with Angel Wings where we all talked about why we wanted to be Pro-Heroes. Shifty wants to travel all over Japan, you still want that?"
"Yeah, I do," Hana said with a smile and a nod.
"Then you need to push for that. Mako wanted to show off his shark skills, Copycat wanted to go and learn from as many Pro-Heroes as possible to up her own arsenal, I want to save as many people as I can, and on and on we go. This Sports Festival is the first true step towards accomplishing our dreams because we can show ourselves to the Pro-Heroes that are out there in the world right now...and show them that we're worthy of their tutelage. Yes, we could work together and advance together, but it won't get us all the way. Plus, we paint a target on our backs by the other students trying to compete. And we all know that some people will complain that we worked together instead of pushing ourselves individually. We're not going to be together forever. I love that many of you are willing to work together for this festival, but in this case, I think it's honestly best that we try and push ourselves in it instead of trying to skate by as a class. Understand?"
He looked at each of the classmates in the room and many nodded their heads. When he finished with a look at Kuroda he gave her a simple motion of the hand and she knew what to do.
"All in favor of Tonen's suggestion?" she asked before raising her hand.
This time the entire class raised their hands in near unison.
"Another unanimous motion, it shouldn't be this easy."
"We'll fight about something else, I'm sure," joked Tonen.
"Ok, so in the festival we work on our own unless a unique situation or specific test allows for help. But training we're open to helping each other, right?" asked Doza with a look to both Tonen and Kuroda.
"Exactly."
"For example, Doza," stated Kuroda with a point to him. "A good training partner for you might be Sanda. You can use his earth to push your resonance abilities and see how quickly you can shake them apart."
Doza and Sanda looked at each other and nodded in approval of the suggestion. Tonen added onto this, "Kana, I'm sure you and Mako could work on strength tests and techniques together. Dizzy? You and Blitzer could have some fun testing out your Quirks on one another."
"Fun..." remarked Ueno with his head very much still spinning.
"Oh, I wouldn't miss this for the world," Oshibu said licking his chops.
Tonen wagged his finger at him, "Just don't beat him up too bad. Anyway, find someone, or a group of people, to go and train with. Push your abilities in big ways, small ways, any which way you want. That way, when the Sports Festival comes, we'll be at our best to challenge the best. Which hopefully will be all of us when all is said and done.'
The class enjoyed that praise and got into good spirits. Kuroda looked at her phone and hopped up, "And with that, let's head to class. Once we're done for the day? Find some people to train with. If you need suggestions on who to partner with or what to work on? Ask Tonen or me, got it?"
"Got it," they answered back.
"Ok Class 1-B, move out."
They all grabbed their stuff and headed out. Unbeknownst to them, lurking on the other side of a wall was Goya, twirling the metal spheres he always kept with him, "Training together...supporting one another...how foolish. Challenging the best? Ha! You better pray you don't have to face me in that festival, I'll put every single one of you down to prove my superiority."
He laughed and then went off in his own direction to head to class.
The day consisted of their usual lessons in regards to academics, but it also featured some light training from the teachers. Armed Guard had them do some strength tests while Big Brain pushed them mentally with another virtual reality situation. Though neither teacher said it, the students could tell that they were using scenarios that might be featured in the Sports Festival.
After all was said and done Class 1-B did indeed start to talk amongst one another about how to further train for the festival. Tonen was in a chat with Azujima when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He turned to see Fenella before him.
"Hey boyo," she said with a smirk, "mind being my training partner today? I want to see how my glyphs can stand up to your air pressure."
Tonen thought about it and shrugged, "Why not? To be clear, I'm not at full power, but this will give me a chance to try some new stuff out with what I got."
"Great, come on then!"
She turned and left without waiting for him. He gave another shrug, this time to Azujima, before he left to join her. As Azujima packed up his stuff, he heard quiet footsteps behind him and when they stopped he turned to see Iha looking at him with her usual blank expression.
True to form, she said, "Hey."
"Hey Iha," Azujima said with a kind smile. "Everything alright?"
"No."
"What's wrong?"
"I don't know what to train."
"What do you mean?"
"I don't know what to train.'
Azujima muffled a laugh as he knew he caused that repeat phrase, he refocused and asked, "Do you mean your Quirk? Or just in general?"
"Both," Iha replied.
"Fair enough."
"Do you feel the same?"
"Uh..."
He paused and thought about it. Azujima hadn't really considered during the big meeting earlier, but now that Iha was before him he realized that both he and her were at a disadvantage compared to the others. All of their Quirks were external or useful in a way that could befit both a battle situation or an obstacle situation. But his and Iha's were more support-based. They always helped in missions, but the others did the heavy lifting for them.
If they were to excel in the Sports Festival, that wouldn't work unless in a team situation.
The more he realized the truth, the more it worried him, "Come to think of it, I guess I do feel that way."
"We suck," she lamented.
"We do not suck! We're just better in certain situations. Without you, the Twins would've gotten cut by that villain, and together we found Tonen! What we need to worry about is how to go beyond what our Quirks can do and help us in the Sports Festival."
"Like get physical?"
"Yeah, that's one option. TK would tell me to push myself in ways I wouldn't think of...and come to think of it, I never really learned how to fight."
"Me either."
Azujima took comfort in this, "See? Now we know what to train! The only question is who to teach us..."
He paused again and thought about it, the obvious answer was Armed Guard, but he was...intense. He wanted someone for him and Iha that would work with them without scaring them. As if to answer his question, he turned and saw Eri talking with Kuroda and Hana and his expression lit up as she started to walk towards the door.
He grabbed Iha's hand and raced towards her, "Eri, wait up!"
Eri was surprised by his call but was fine with asking, "Hey you two, what's going on?"
"Can you teach us how to fight? You know, like with our fists?"
"Uh...yeah, I guess I could. This for the Festival?"
"Exactly! While our Quirks are useful..."
"They're not exactly combat or course effective at times. Yeah, I can see that. What do you say, Iha?"
"Please help us not suck," she said in monotone.
Eri laughed at that, "Sucking would be bad. Alright, I'll help. I can't guarantee how good you'll be in a few weeks, but if you work with me, I promise you'll be able to at least be a little stronger."
"That'd be great," said Azujima, relief clear in his voice. "And if we can help you, we will!"
"Hmm...I might have a way for you both to do that. Ok, let's change into our gym clothes and head out to the practice field, we start in 10."
"You got it!"
"Ok," Iha said with a shrug.
The three exited the room, each feeling very different about the situation.
Outside in a forest clearing, Fenella and Tonen stood a good distance apart from one another each one waiting for the other to make a move.
Fenella struck first.
Her exposed arms glowed and some of her runes shot out. Once sized to her liking she launched them at Tonen.
Usually, Tonen would've gone and put up a wall of air to knock them out, but with him being on the lower end of his power scale, especially after a day of practice, he decided for a more direct route. Channeling his power differently he used his arms to send out smaller and more focused bursts of air at the glyphs, either stopping them in place or knocking them off course.
When he did he charged at Fenella to see what she would do. Not surprisingly, she brought up another glyph and used it to shield herself. Testing a theory, Tonen sent another focused burst at the glyph, but this time he focused on sending the air through the glyph via its openings.
The glyph she was shielding herself with was more circular than the others and yet had internal gaps that he could see her through. By putting the air through that, he felt he could attack her from a distance away.
He was right and got blasted down to the ground by his air.
"Ow!" she said as she got back up, "that hurt, boyo!"
"You've called me that a lot today, is that my nickname?" asked Tonen with a smirk.
"Just felt right, I try to keep my native tongues in check but things leak out. Speaking of which, nice trick getting the air to pass through my sigils, I wouldn't have expected that."
"Happy to help. Something to remember as we get closer to the festival. I might not be able to break your runes, but getting around them? That I can do, and so will others if they see what I saw."
"Fair enough," she said as she stretched out to prepare for another round. "Let's go again, I'm not going to let you beat me like that twice."
His smirk returned and he gestured for her to bring her best, "Whenever you're ready."
She gave a smirk in reply and launched more sigils off of her arms. More than before, in fact. This time though she kept them moderately sized and flung them at Tonen with scary accuracy. They swarmed him and he did his best to not get caught by them. But it was difficult.
His focused blasts were keeping them at bay but because of his limits, he had to continually be on guard and try to look for them no matter where they were.
Which is what Fenella wanted, as eventually, he had to do a wall of air to stop them in their tracks, but when he did, she kept one out of his range, and she directed it into his back, sending him to the ground this time.
"Got'ya, boyo," she teased after her win.
"That you did, Rune," Tonen remarked as he got up and rubbed his back. "Did you have to have that thing plow into my back though? I didn't blast you down that hard before."
"Eh, it's all relative. Besides, that's what they call a "hard lesson", one you won't forget, right?"
"Right."
"Since you gave me advice, I'll give you the same. You're really good, even in your weakened state, but you have techniques that can be predictable. Like that blast of air in most directions. I was counting on you doing that because it would leave the air you didn't blast in available to strike. Something to keep in mind going forward."
Tonen laughed as he thought about it, because she was right. He was so comfortable with his powers that he typically would use them in predictable manners because they were effective. In truth, that was part of the reason he weakened himself before training as he wanted to push his bounds, but he never thought of it in this way. This proved that his advice to the class about working together to grow was not only accurate, but useful.
He stretched out his back to make sure it wasn't too banged up and he motioned to Fenella, "Again?"
"Sure, why not?" she said before sending out even more runes at him.
Their training session went on for a while as each one tried to push the other to their limits and beyond. They each would do different techniques to try and trip the other up and get creative in their approach. Fenella constantly switched up the size and number of her runes that she used. Tonen meanwhile did his best with the air that he had to do precision or minimalistic attacks in order to get the job done.
Eventually though, Tonen could tell he was out of air and motioned to stop. Fenella was fine with this as she was tired as well. She sized up one of her runes and laid on it as it floated off the ground, "Well, that was fun."
"That's one way to put it," joked Tonen as he laid against a tree.
"Sometimes you need to cut loose, especially when you've been 'under pressure'."
She gave him a knowing look and he laughed again then shook his head, "So that's why you wanted to train with me? To check in on me?"
She shook her head, "No, I honestly wanted to train, but the lass was a wee bit worried, so I thought I'd pull double duty."
"Lass? Oh, Bubble Gum? I was more worried about her."
"Yeah, that kind of rattled her, that hug REALLY rattled her..."
Fenella snickered and Tonen rolled his eyes, "It was a hug to show support, nothing more."
"Good to know. But yeah, I thought I'd do the work of two and test myself while seeing how you were. My clan is known for doing loads of work for others."
"Is that a boast?"
"You bet, boyo. I may be a joker, but my family pride is my strength. Ma and pa are Pro-Heroes, good ones, and they expect me to carry on their legacy, so I will."
"Yeah...I get that."
She rolled to one side to look at her friend, "I forget, aren't your folks Pro-Heroes?"
"More or less," he said after some thought, "My mom is a sidekick to my uncle who is a famous Pro-Hero in his own right, and my father is a Support Hero. They're fine with that though, and like your family, mine supports me in what I do."
"Good, are they excited to see you at the Festival?"
"Oh yeah, they might even drop by in person depending on how it goes. Yours?"
"Ah, no. They're too far away, but they'll be watching from me home."
"I always wondered about that, you're the lone transfer student from out of the country. That couldn't have been easy for you, pride or no pride."
Fenella gave an angry groan, "The language barrier was rough, but my family saw my potential and wanted me to be trained by the best, and they felt that was at UA. They know some of the teachers here, and figured I could learn from them. They weren't wrong."
"We got some good ones, especially Angel Wings."
"I prefer Armed Guard."
"...really?"
"He's tough, reminds me of me pa. Minus the yelling only one word in a sentence."
They both chuckled at that. Tonen watched her for a bit before getting up, "Well, I'm done. I need to recharge. I appreciate the test, I'll keep what you taught me in mind for the Festival."
"Likewise, boyo," said Fenella as she righted herself up. " Should be fun."
"Indeed, and please...tell Bubble Gum I'm fine."
"Will do. Bye, bye!"
With a wave of her hand her hand, her sigil rose into the air and floated above the trees and to the dorm.
Tonen couldn't help but roll his eyes at the display, "Show-off."
On one of their practice fields, Eri was showing Iha and Azujima how to fight. She started with basic techniques as neither of them had training before. Eri had them do various footwork and positioning and then worked on strikes.
She took a very hands-on approach with them, ensuring that she wasn't telling, but showing. After an hour of basic moves they took a break.
"How's this feel, you two?" Eri asked them both.
"Ok," Iha said with a shrug.
"Doing alright so far," added Azujima as he worked out his arms. "Already feeling the strain on my muscles."
Eri was pleased with this reveal, "That's good! As you do this, you'll be training muscles you don't usually work with. That was a big deal for me early on and it helped inform my more physical workouts. Which...I realize I'll have to outline for you so you can do as much as you can."
"Yay..." replied Iha with a sorrowful tilt of the head.
"It'll be fine! It's going to build you both up physically, which is what you both still want, right?"
"...yeah."
"Oh Iha..."
"We do appreciate this Eri, truly," said Azujima quickly.
"It's fine, I haven't trained anyone before, so this is fun."
"Really? Why not?"
"The opportunity didn't arise. Remember, my Quirk is about learning before using, so before I came to UA I was doing everything I could to try and learn everything I could..."
Eri flashed back to her time before UA, working with martial arts masters, watching videos of skills on the internet or TV or in movies. Each time going and teaching herself and pushing herself to do something she couldn't before.
She smiled and performed some acrobatics and other intense movies for the two to show how the level she had gotten to now.
"...to be the best I could. If I had been lazy I likely wouldn't have done as well as I did in the entrance exam. I had to be proactive and not reactive. So...teaching was just never an option, until now that is."
"Happy to help," said Iha with her monotone.
Eri laughed, "...somehow I don't believe you when you say that."
"I mean it."
"You sure...?"
Eri leaned over to look Iha in the eyes. Iha maintained her usual blank stare before hanging her head in sadness and shame, "I wish my Quirk was better."
"Better? Iha, you have one of the best Quirks in our class! You can supercharge us or de-power a villain, which you've done multiple times."
"That's what I said!" chimed in Azujima.
"Reactive, not proactive," mimicked Iha, not amused.
"Oh Iha, for me, being reactive was bad, you're different than me," pointed out Iha.
"Duh."
"Oh gosh...look, yes, sometimes having powers like mine, or Tonen's, or Kuroda's, or Anno's is cool, but all of us have limits on what we can do in a fight. And lest you forget, you were the reason I lost my fight against Tonen. My body is so infused with my Quirk that when you powered me down, I was a klutz! I was tripping over my feet in seconds! Do you remember that?"
"...yeah."
"Good, because I certainly haven't forgotten it. And whether you want to believe me or not, I want to learn from you once you have the basics of fighting down."
"Say what now?" asked Iha confused.
"When the time comes, I want to train myself under your dampening aura. To see what I can and can't do without my Quirk. I'm a realist, and realistically, there's going to be another person out there with a Quirk like yours. I need to be ready for that. So training with your help will help me to that goal, understand?"
"...yeah. I do."
"Good," she said relieved. "Look Iha, my teaching you? It'll help you think of your Quirk in different ways. Like tricking opponents into thinking you don't have a good Quirk, then powering them down, and taking them out with the moves I train you in before they realized what happened. Doesn't that sound cool?"
"Yeah...it does," admitted Iha.
Eri smiled and then faced Azujima, "And as for you Azujima, your senses could be a godsend in a fight beyond what you've used it for in the past. I saw what you did with Anno and locating his weakpoints in his gills, but you can do more than that. Imagine having your senses so refined that you can sense how a person is about to move...and then react to it and strike them down. Wouldn't that be useful in a fight?"
"Definitely!" exclaimed Azujima, "I'd be much more helpful to everyone."
"There you go! I'll admit, when you asked me to teach you, I wasn't sure how it would go, but the more I thought about your abilities, the more I realized I could help you evolve and then you can do the same for me. Which is what these next few weeks are going to be for in regards to the Festival prep. So, are you ready to get back at it?"
"Oh yeah!"
"Yep," added Iha.
"Great, back into positions then!" she ordered and they quickly snapped to.
Their training continued, this time though Iha was really into it and did her best. Eri herself was surprised by her own motivational prowess, perhaps that was something she picked up from Kuroda or Tonen, she didn't know, but she didn't mind the extra skill.
The next few weeks passed in a blur for the students. Between their studies and their training for the Sports Festival there was a lot to do, and a lot to get ready for.
With the continued encouragement of Kuroda and Tonen most of Class 1-B worked with one another to harness their Quirks and abilities in various ways.
Kuroda and Hana worked long and hard on their body and object-shifting abilities, often working together to try and trip the other up into thinking quicker and how they could adapt to their situations. Anno and Kanagita would do various strength and endurance tests against one another and with others to push their own limits. Wasuke got in on training sessions with the heavy hitters to push the strength of his shield and what he could do with it.
Ueno worked with his classmates to get his momentum powers to expand, including being able to move heavier objects (like Anno and Kanagita in their bulk forms) or multiple objects at once (like Fennela's runes). Ebirima teamed up with many members of her class to create techniques for her bubble gum abilities. She perfected her web, and even used it once to keep Oshibu stuck in place during a speed exercise. Much to his chagrin.
Ikaim worked on increasing his ink's effectiveness, Doza continued to refine his resonance touch, Sanda learned to move more ground without having to work as hard as it, The Twins expanded their mechanical arsenals with the help of The Tinker too.
And even though they didn't participate with the group, both Chuya and Goya worked on improving their own skills in their own way. Chuya especially worked with her Aquabody skills with an intensity that was unmatched by her classmates. Goya worked on his psychic abilities and focused on being able to move more objects no matter the strain on his mind and body.
By the time the Sports Festival drew imminent, every student in Class 1-B felt they were ready.
The morning of the festival came, and there was a sense of anticipation amongst all of the students. This was their time to shine, and they knew it.
Outside at the Festival Stadium, people and heroes big and small filled the place. Each of them talking about what they expected to see from the classes and the students in the various tasks assigned to them. Many Pro-Heroes were on guard as well, ensuring that no one dared attack the facility while it was so filled with targets.
Class 1-B was put into a waiting room where they donned their gym clothes once again for what was to come.
As they waited for the signal to go, Kuroda stood in front of her class brimming with confidence, "Ok everyone, this is it. Are you ready?"
She looked around and the students gave her various motions or words to show they were good.
"You've trained for this, and I'm proud of all of you who worked together to build one another up. But that was the easy part. Because it's easy to train when you know what's going to happen more or less. Out there? We don't know much of what to expect, what challenges await us, who we're going to face if we make it far enough. Don't let that discourage you though. Let that be your drive. A drive that'll push you so that you can show all those Pro-Heroes watching out there and at home that this is what you can do, THIS is why you deserve their attention. And I sincerely hope that no matter who it is, that a member of Class 1-B is on the top podium when it's all done. Preferably, I'd like Class 1-B members on all three steps of the podium...but I won't be greedy."
This got a snicker from the class in general. Tonen looked at them and saw that most of them were encouraged and relaxed due to Kuroda's speech. He looked at her and gave a nod to show she was doing great.
Before she could continue, a light came on and the signal was given.
Kuroda raised up her arm in excitement, "Alright Class 1-B, let's go show the world what we can do!"
Most of them roared in agreement and followed her out onto the stage...the festival was about to begin.
*credits*
