Being the first to step onto the field for the UA sports festival sure had its appeal. The audience would be on the edge of their seats, cheering fanatically for whichever showboating teenagers would come prancing out, and said students could make their first impression on the scouts from hero agencies. The benefit of arriving first had more to do with the detriment of going last; by the time Present Mic announced Class E, the audience was practically asleep. At least, Kuri was bored.
Class 3-A had the privilege of walking out first, and while Kuri waited alongside her classmates for everyone else to get on the field, she realized that it was a gratingly slow process. All she could do was stand around and let her mind wander while she waited for her second but last-ever sports festival to start.
The year before had been astounding because she both teamed up with Katsuki and landed a work study at Endeavor's, so she hoped to make this year count as well. Even if she wasn't interested in new work study offers or making a name for herself as a future hero, Kuri still looked forward to this chance to have fun with her friends!
Kuri glanced at Katsuki, standing beside her with his arms crossed. He looked lost in thought, wearing a focused frown that indicated he was plotting how to win. Katsuki probably wanted redemption after last year. Kuri nudged him with her elbow, and he looked at her, his expression immediately softening.
"Hey, Katsuki, do you think I could win again this year?" Kuri asked with a grin.
"Not if I do," Katsuki replied with a smile.
"Oh, wow, you're gonna snatch the first-place title right from your girlfriend's hands?" Kuri acted offended, placing a palm to her chest.
"It's not like I'll be snatching anything when I win fair and square," he shrugged. "Anyway, we're one-for-one right now, so whoever gets first this year will be the ultimate champion."
"What? So we're actually going to try hard for this? I was kidding," Kuri chuckled. "I'm not even aiming for the top three."
Last year was a fluke. Sure, she got first after competing in fair games, but Kuri never felt she deserved to win. Someone as dispassionate about heroism as her shouldn't be a symbol of the next generation of UA alumni.
"Why? It's not like you couldn't win again," Katsuki said, glancing at her. He spotted a stray hair that had fallen from her ponytail and tucked it behind her ear. "Will it motivate you if I say that, between us, whoever places higher gets a kiss from the other person?"
"Sounds like you just want a bet where you win either way," Kuri giggled. "But, I guess I'll have to give it my all if you say that."
Just as she said that, Principal Nezu hopped up the steps to the umpire's stage and stopped in front of a tiny microphone stand.
"Hello, students, faculty, and all those watching the UA sports festival for the third years!" his voice projected throughout the arena, reaching the thousands of excited attendees. Kuri's classmates cheered as well, and the upbeat atmosphere made her smile. "Before the games begin, a student will come and speak to represent the entire class body. Kuri Nakano, please come onstage!"
What?!
Time froze as Kuri's jaw nearly dropped at the sudden utterance of her name. She looked at Katsuki frantically, her eyes wide and body unable to move, and he wordlessly gave her a gentle push on the back. Kuri's feet miraculously unglued themselves from where she stood, and she jogged up to the stage.
As Principal Nezu detached the microphone from its stand and handed it to Kuri, her mind raced as she came up with things to say but kept running into reasons why she did not deserve to speak at all.
"Hi, everyone," Kuri tried to put on a smile and sound cheery. She didn't like hearing her voice from the speakers surrounding her. "This is our last year, so let's have some fun! I'll be trying my best and I hope you all will, too. Thank you."
She awkwardly handed the microphone back to the principal and hurried off the stage, keeping her head down as everyone clapped. Some of her friends caught her on the walk back to give praise and pats on the back. Kuri couldn't help but smile, even though she knew it was the biggest mistake in UA's history that they'd let her speak for everybody. She was the one person in the school who didn't want to be there.
"That was unexpected," Katsuki said once Kuri found her way back to her spot. She linked her arm with his and slumped her head against his shoulder.
"Ugh, I already feel exhausted because of that. Public speaking is the worst."
Had they chosen her to speak this year simply because she got first place in the last sports festival? Perhaps her performance in the sword fight was memorable, but Kuri wasn't sure that meant she was a voice for the people. Or did it have to do with the vigilante investigation from months ago? She had no idea what criteria they used to pick students to speak, but whatever algorithm they had was surely broken if they selected Kuri.
"Hang in there. The first round is about to start," Katsuki said, patting her head.
"Now, let's see what the first event is…!" Principal Nezu said excitedly as he turned to look up at a large screen behind him. It rapidly scrolled through a list of events before stopping to display three words. "It's the bean bag toss!"
Kuri grinned to herself.
Oh, I've got this one.
"At other schools, this is usually a team event, but in our case, you will compete individually," Principal Nezu said. The screen changed to show cartoon representations of objects and people on the field. "There will be several baskets of varying heights around the interior of the stadium, and each contestant will have a sack full of one hundred bean bags. Both the sack and the bean bags will be labeled with a unique number so they can be tracked as yours. The different baskets around the field are assigned point values based on height. If you land a bean bag in a short basket, that is worth five points; in a basket of medium height, twenty points; and a shot in a tall basket is worth fifty."
Kuri scanned the arena, examining the baskets being set up as Principal Nezu spoke. Sure enough, this was a game she was perfect for. The tallest baskets were perched on a pole that looked about thirty meters up—a height most people could not throw to. Even the shortest baskets were nearly ten meters up. Luckily for Kuri, she had hops.
"With that said, throwing the entire sack of bean bags into a basket is not allowed! Please throw the bean bags individually. Or throw several at a time if you'd like. After all, there will be a fifteen-minute time limit to this game. The twenty-four contestants to get the most points will move on to the next round. Now, any questions?"
Kuri felt Katsuki's body shift as he raised his hand. Principal Nezu called on him excitedly.
"Can we destroy other people's bean bags?" he asked, clearly intent on exploding the competition's resources.
"No, please refrain from doing so!" the principal said. "However, you may block other contestants' attempts to score points."
Katsuki grumbled in frustration, but Kuri uprighted herself and patted him on the arm. He wouldn't need to go that far anyway because Kuri knew that, with their quirks, they could easily get the maximum amount of points.
"If there are no more questions, let the games begin!" Principal Nezu declared before directing the students to teachers on the sidelines who would deal out the bean bags.
While in line, Katsuki tilted his head down to Kuri's ear and covertly whispered.
"I know we're doing a challenge, but let's avoid each other during this round," he said. His breath tickled her ear a bit, and Kuri instinctually brought a hand up to touch it. She turned her head to glance at him with a smirk.
"Oh, afraid you won't move on to round two if I get in your way?" she whispered in retort.
"No, Bunny," Katsuki sighed as they moved forward in the line. "I want to work with you in the next game. Like last year. The second round is always a team event, you know?"
"Oh!" Kuri didn't know why she was so surprised. Katsuki was her boyfriend, after all, not just that ultra-competitive boy she partnered with last time. A warm smile spread across her face. "Alright, sounds like a plan."
After receiving their sacks of beanbags, Kuri bid Katsuki farewell and they walked to opposite sides of the arena before the game began.
When she found a good spot to set up, Kuri put down her sack for a second and examined the contents, picking up one of the small yellow bean bags labeled with the number eight in red font. She dropped the bean bag back with its companions and picked the sack up again.
Present Mic was actively counting down to the commencement of the game when Kuri decided to actually test her theory that she could easily win this round. With the sack in hand, she hopped once and found that the sack didn't weigh her down too much.
Oh, yeah, I'm winning.
The game began with the loud blare of a horn and shouts from the crowd, and Kuri couldn't help but smirk when she blasted off into the sky with her sack of bean bags. Her positioning at the start of the game had been intentional; she was right next to the tallest basket on the field.
In one smooth motion, Kuri shot up beside the basket and emptied the contents of her sack into it. All one hundred bean bags toppled into the mesh basket at once, and Kuri landed softly back on the grass with the empty sack in hand. She discarded it quickly and dusted her hands off before glancing at the other contestants standing slack-jawed around her as Present Mic started rambling about her "unrelenting winning spirit."
Perhaps she'd been too showy with her jump, but it had led to an automatic skyrocket to first place, so the unwanted attention was worth something. Now, she had a guaranteed ticket to the second round—a time to bond with Katsuki! But first…
Kuri scanned the masses of people creeping in closer to the tall basket, having diverted their attention away from Kuri and toward the basket, which they attempted to score in. Many of their throws were far misses, but a handful threatened to get high enough to fall in. One even did while Kuri was watching! That meant it was time to act.
Kuri spotted a particularly strong-looking girl from the general course wind up her arm to throw, and as the bean bag left her hand, Kuri shot back up to the basket and swatted her hand to deflect the bag. The force of her hand sent it flying back to the ground in a direction far from the girl who threw it. When Kuri landed, she looked at her hand in awe.
I really did that… Guess I wasn't the volleyball team captain for nothing.
Kuri spent the rest of the allotted fifteen minutes jumping up and down to block bean bags. It got exhausting after a while, but she was pretty successful and knew it would pay off. After all, she had to make sure Katsuki would be able to move on with her by sabotaging the competition. Though she was sure he could make it on his own, Kuri wanted to take extra precautions because she wasn't watching him during the first round.
Kuri wondered if it was cheating to technically team up during a battle royale. However, even if they hadn't discussed anything beforehand, she probably would have avoided confronting him in the first round. Kuri wouldn't want to disrupt him anyway, but she also knew that going head-to-head would make things awkward. Katsuki had a very competitive nature that occasionally rubbed off on Kuri, so their fight could get heated. In a hypothetical scenario, it would just become a showdown between Kuri and Katsuki, which would be messy. Not in the sense that it would be a bloodbath, but they would probably hurt each other's feelings by starting a fight.
Luckily, that didn't come to pass because Kuri stayed on the opposite end of the field from Katsuki, as planned. Once the game ended, the students cleared away, and the points were automatically tallied on the scoreboard.
Kuri and Katuski both became part of the twenty-four contestants to move on to the second round. Both had scored full points (Katsuki later told her he'd used a method similar to hers, using explosions to propel him up). In the end, Kuri did not need to deflect all those bean bags, but at least she gave the impression that she cared about doing well in the sports festival. That mattered, considering her parents were watching everything from back home.
Kuri wasn't sure if she was grateful or disappointed that Mayu's spring break didn't fall on the same week as the sports festival that year. At least it postponed a face-to-face interaction between her parents and boyfriend. Since Katsuki agreed to join Kuri on her summer trip back to California, she couldn't put off their official meeting for much longer, but at least she had more time to think of what to say. So, how should she tell her parents the truth about her career goals and her desire to stay with Katsuki no matter what…
Katsuki shook Kuri out of her thoughts with a pat on the back.
"Hey, were you even listening?"
"Hm, what…? Sorry, spacing out," Kuri muttered.
"I think those two wanna be on our team," Katsuki said, pointing a thumb toward Izuku and Shoto, who were quickly advancing toward them from across the field.
Kuri waved to the two of them as they jogged over.
It figured those two would team up with her and Katsuki for a relay race, considering they won the three-legged race the past year. Although, Izuku and Shoto might've just been approaching them because the four of them were buddies. But, that wasn't to say they wouldn't make a spectacular team for this event.
When Principal Nezu began explaining the second event, Kuri expected it to be a regular relay race, with teams of four running the path around the exterior rim of the stadium that led back into the arena for the finish line. She predicted quirk use would be permitted for speed boosting, but to her surprise, the principal allowed quirks for sabotage as well.
"So, we're teaming up?" Kuri asked once the other two arrived beside her and Katsuki.
"Yeah, let's work together!" Izuku beamed. His smile was contagious for everyone but Katsuki. "What order should we run in? Our strengths might make us more suited for certain legs of the track."
"Well, Kuri's fast and can evade attacks with her bouncy running," Katsuki said. "I can attack and propel myself simultaneously, and Shoto can trip people up with his ice. What should we do with that information?"
"You forgot to mention Izuku," Shoto said.
"I didn't forget anything," Katsuki deadpanned.
"Anyway, Izuku is a good runner 'cause his legs are strong," Kuri interjected. "Maybe he should be the anchor. He's good to count on in a pinch."
"I'm fine with that," Izuku said. Shoto concurred with a nod, while Katsuki looked indifferent.
"If you really want someone to count on, Kuri should be first up," Katsuki said, crossing his arms. "She's fast and can dodge enemy attacks without going off course."
"Thanks for hyping me up, Katsuki," Kuri laughed, patting him on the shoulder. "In that case, you and Shoto should go all out on offense during the second and third legs of the race. Izuku and I will just be there to tie everything together."
"Sounds like a plan. I'll be third," Shoto said. He dropped his voice to a mumble as he tilted his head to address only Kuri. "We need to keep your boyfriend separate from Izuku so he won't cause trouble."
"What'd you just say about me?!" Katsuki grumbled, suddenly on edge.
"Nothing, don't worry. Let's go win this thing."
A few minutes later, Kuri stood at the start line alongside the five other contestants who would run the first leg. She was in the third lane, so she would have to expect attacks from both sides. Kuri gripped the baton tightly in her right hand as she prepared to leap at the sound of the pistol. She vowed to put her all into this sprint—not to self-aggrandize later, but to guarantee that her friends could move on.
The race commenced with a sudden bang! and Kuri was off in a flash. Her arms pumped and her legs pushed her body quickly down the path, her frame flying high above the track with each stride. At first, Kuri felt like she was in her own world, just running along the curved path to Katsuki and leaving her opponents in the dust. Then, she heard the unmistakable noise of two people simultaneously tripping and face-planting on the track behind her. The groans of pain coming from her schoolmates were sympathy-inducing, but only the sight of something white zipping out toward Kuri's feet was enough to make her turn her head.
Luckily, she dodged the mysterious white object in time because when she glanced back, Kuri realized only she and Sero were left on the track. Left to try and scramble to their feet were the four other racers several meters behind them, tape sticking to their ankles.
Sero sent out another tendril of tape toward Kuri in an attempt to trip her up, but she managed to skirt her feet away from his tape attack in midair.
Kuri's chest pounded, both from the sprinting and the stress of Sero's attacks, but she tried to focus her mind forward as she dodged his tape and outran him because Katsuki was finally in sight. He was in a lowered stance, watching Kuri as she approached and then starting to jog once she got closer.
Once Katsuki was nearly at a sprint and Kuri was nearly out of breath, she slapped the baton into his outstretched hand.
"Go… Katsuki…!" Kuri huffed as her boyfriend zipped away. She slowed herself to a walk in the same amount of time it took Sero to hand off his baton to Momo. He rolled up beside her, hands on his head as he caught his breath. Kuri glanced at him and shook her head. "I can't believe you made everyone else fall on their faces."
"Yeah, I feel kind of bad about it," Sero said sheepishly. "It must've hurt, but I guess we're expected to be hardcore this year since Nezu is allowing all this sabotage."
"True, and I guess I can't judge you anyway. We planned to have Shoto trip people up, too," Kuri chuckled.
By then, the four other contestants from the first leg had passed their batons off, and they all walked back to the interior of the arena together to see how the race would end. With a smug grin, Kuri listened to the crowd and Present Mic's commentary as she strolled back inside. She didn't need to know exactly what was happening to be sure of her team's success. Kuri was glad to be of service.
Kuri and the other five entered back into the arena just as the leading anchor pulled through the front entrance on the way to the finish line. Upon recognizing the green hair of the runner, she grinned and sped up to a jog to meet Izuku at the finish line. Kuri whooped loudly for her teammate, realizing he was the first and only one to arrive in the arena at that time. Katsuki and Shoto had really pulled through.
Oh, scratch that. Izuku isn't alone.
Out of nowhere, thundering footsteps and a cloud of dust zoomed through the main entrance and passed Izuku, who was mere steps away from the end, snatching first place in a flourish. Kuri's jaw (and likely many others') dropped as she watched the dust clear, already sure of who had won.
Tenya stood proud beside the fluttering paper ribbon he had plowed through while Izuku finished second, confused. Kuri bounced over to her teammate while Sero ran over to Tenya and patted him on the back.
"Woah, he really came out of nowhere," Izuku said between breaths, hands on his hips as he cooled off. He glanced to the side, and Kuri followed his gaze to two figures jogging over to them: Katsuki and Shoto. The two looked even more confused than Kuri and Izuku when they peered at the scoreboard and saw their team was second.
"How did we lose?" Katsuki asked, bewildered. "We were in the lead when I passed the baton off. Momo was the only other person near me, but she wasn't really catching up."
"And I froze the track over," Shoto added. "No one should have been able to move."
"So it's Deku's fault then," Katsuki grumbled.
"It's not anybody's fault why we were second," Kuri said, attempting to defuse Katsuki's anger. "Kendo was on their team, right? She must have busted out somehow, but that doesn't matter because we made it to the last round! Great work, team."
"Yeah, good job. I'll meet none of you on the podium," Katsuki taunted.
"Don't be so sure, Kacchan!" Izuku warned with a smirk. "Remember last year?"
Izuku's antagonizing sparked Katsuki's rage again, and this time Kuri stepped back and let them argue. Not only because Izuku had brought this upon himself but also because they only fought like little kids anyway, so there would be no real harm done. At least not while they were in the public eye.
With a live audience and cameras all around them, Kuri burst into an incredulous laugh. Even with these two opposing personalities on the team, they still managed to get second place. When she looked at the three boys standing beside her, it was hard to believe they were barely acquaintances a year ago. Time had only let them grow closer, and she suspected their final year at UA would be another to remember. Leaving them all just to return to California would be devastating. If she were lucky, she might see them once a year, but her trips would likely be less frequent.
There was so much joy around her, here and now. Kuri couldn't believe her parents would make her leave. Unfortunately, change is the one guarantee in life, and her happiness was fleeting anyway since she still didn't have an alternate career plan. Kuri still needed to choose another job, then get her parents on board with the idea of changing her career and permanent location. So much to do…
"Whenever you two finish fighting, come and eat lunch," Shoto said, pivoting away from the group and walking toward the main gate with everyone else for the intermission. Kuri chuckled and followed after him.
"Come on, you two, let's eat together!" Kuri called, beckoning them with a wave. She grinned as the two hurried over, and she linked arms with Katsuki when he reached her side.
"Bunny, let's ditch those other two," Katsuki uttered, causing a giggle to escape from Kuri's chest.
Oh, well. Those problems can wait for another day.
An hour later, Kuri and the other seven remaining contestants returned to the field in front of the umpire's podium. Principal Nezu's upbeat voice reverberated through the stadium as he introduced the final game.
"It's tug-of-war!" the principal declared excitedly. "In this rendition of the classic game, you'll be on your own instead of with a team, so it might seem more difficult than usual. Additionally, you will stand on a split platform suspended 1.5 meters above a pool of water. You win by pulling the rope far enough to make your opponent fall off the platform into the water. So, the penalty for losing is getting soaked! As with the previous rounds, quirk use is allowed for enhancing one's performance and attacking one's opponent. Though, that may mean taking a hand off the rope."
The principal giggled gleefully (and perhaps sinisterly?) while Kuri sighed. She did not seem fit for this round. Her upper body strength was slightly above average, but she paled in comparison to the others in the third round. Plus, if Kuri wanted to use her quirk, she'd need to take a foot off the ground—something she couldn't afford if she needed to stay stable and pull.
Then again, if she'd made it this far, did she really need to try hard to win anyway? Her only mission was to beat Katsuki for their frivolous challenge, but even he would likely have trouble during this game. After all, he couldn't use his quirk either because he would need to keep his hands on the rope.
"There really is a lot of foul play allowed this year…" Kuri overheard Momo mutter.
Beside her, Shoto tilted his head to gaze up at the umpire's podium.
"Principal Nezu lives for the drama," he said.
Kuri stifled a laugh and turned her attention to Katsuki while the principal checked if any of them had questions.
"Are you still sure you're winning this year?" she whispered to Katsuki. His brow was pinched in frustration, but he nonetheless looked determined.
"I'll figure out a way…" he muttered.
"Now, then, it's time to show our matchups for the first round of this game!" Nezu announced, turning toward the digital display again as it brought up a list.
Iida and Todoroki, Nakano and Midoriya, Kendo and Yaoyorozu, Sero and Bakugo…
At that point, Kuri knew for sure that she would not win. She had witnessed Izuku's prowess with his quirk up close on many occasions, so she knew very well just how strong she was. Only an idiot would pick a fight with him, but Kuri was still willing to put decent effort into their match. She was lucky they were only playing tug-of-war, so she would likely be allowed to lose gracefully, unscathed.
Kuri wished her friends good luck with their matches before she and Izuku were directed to separate waiting rooms. They would go second, after Shoto and Tenya, so Kuri had a bit of time to wait and mentally prepare her battle plan, which mostly consisted of defense measures so she wouldn't immediately plunge to her watery loss. She was ready to lose but not humiliate herself with an automatic fail!
Once Tenya beat Shoto in their match, Kuri and Izuku were quickly shuffled out onto the raised platform and handed the thick rope. Kuri gripped it tight between her hands, even though the rough fibers irritated the soft skin of her palms. She gritted her teeth but managed to smile at Izuku before the match began.
"It's kind of silly to face off so soon after teaming up!" she said to him.
"I know, right! I won't be going easy, though," Izuku said playfully.
The principal began a countdown from three, and Kuri readied herself to pull.
"Don't worry, just give it your all," Kuri said. "I'll be fine."
Just as she finished speaking, the match began, and Kuri pulled the rope back with all her might. She clenched her abdominal muscles, and her legs planted her feet firmly against the ground, but she felt herself immediately pulling forward.
Damn, Izuku is strong!
Kuri tried to lean back further as she felt her feet sliding forward on the metal grating of the platform, hoping that shifting her weight back would resist more movement, but it didn't work out. She was clinging so desperately to the rope that it was as if she were glued to it. Yet, her arms ached as if they'd give out at any second.
Izuku had finally pulled her all the way to the edge of the short platform, and it hadn't even been thirty seconds yet. The noises from the crowd had reached a fever pitch at that dire moment, yet she still managed to hear Izuku mumble an apology before he delivered the final tug that sent her over the edge.
Kuri fell shortly into the water below with a splash and burst her head above the water to take a much-needed deep breath. The pool wasn't so deep that she needed to swim, so she tiptoed along the bottom toward the ladder as she listened to Present Mic's commentary on Izuku's stunning victory and Kuri's unfortunate loss.
"You okay?" Izuku asked from above, and Kuri peered up at him.
"Yup!" she said, throwing him a thumbs up. At least she'd tried her best. Her parents watching back home would be proud, though they would probably suggest more upper-body strength training for her after this incident. Despite whatever criticisms or pitying words there were in store for her, Kuri was happy about the events of the day. It didn't matter that she hated hero work as long as she had a fun time and, at least on a surface level, made everyone believe she belonged at UA.
Katsuki knew it would be nearly impossible for him to lose the first match of the third game. After all, he had succeeded during his first and second years. Not to mention, he had the strength and wit to beat any UA student in a fight. And, as he suspected, his match with Sero was a cakewalk.
The first disadvantage Sero had was that Katsuki was just plain stronger than him. Regardless of quirks, Katsuki had more muscle mass. However, what led to Sero's downfall was actually his arrogance. From the angle his arms were at when holding the rope, Sero could not use his quirk to affect Katsuki; he had only secured himself to the platform ahead of time. Perhaps Sero noticed Katsuki struggling to pull the rope since his feet were fastened to the floor, so he believed it was his own strength that Katsuki could not compete with. Sero thought he had enough strength in one arm to hold the rope while he maneuvered the other to shoot tape, but he was sorely mistaken because Katsuki used that chance to rip the rope from his arms and pull it out of Sero's reach.
Though his opponent didn't tumble into the water below, Katsuki won his first match and headed back to the waiting room to prepare for his second match. Sero walked with him on his way back to their class' seating section. He joked that Katsuki could consider this payback for attacking Kuri earlier since they were dating.
"I don't need to get revenge for her," Katsuki told him. "She already avenged herself by outrunning you, slowass."
Sero laughed, and they parted ways before Katsuki spent the next several minutes thinking about his next match. In hindsight, he should have used that time to plan more accordingly. Katsuki knew, based on the results of the previous matches, he'd be up against Kendo. Stupidly, Katsuki was high off his win in the first round and failed to tamp down his ego enough to realize he needed a strategy.
Instead, he spent that precious time twiddling his thumbs and worrying about how Kuri might feel about losing in the first tug-of-war match. It was unfortunate that she was pitted against Deku, that annoying nerd…
Needless to say, his head was full of irrelevant thoughts when he was finally back on the platform in front of countless eyes. When he took hold of the rope and looked into his opponent's eyes, only then did Katsuki realize his fuck up.
The next few seconds were the most embarrassing ones of his life.
As soon as they were told to start, Kendo enlarged her hands to the point that they obscured her body from Katsuki's vision. In a quick yet immensely powerful yank, Kendo pulled Katsuki out of what he thought was an immovable stance and over the ledge into the water.
His face burned red with humiliation as he emerged from the pool, but the chilly water did not help cool his emotions. Katsuki nonetheless tried to keep himself under control—lest he be muzzled again—and took the towel offered by a teacher on his way back to Class 3-A's seating section.
Katsuki trudged all the way back in his sopping wet clothes, a frown settling deeply on his face. He had done his best to utilize the towel, yet it wasn't completely effective, so Katsuki was stuck with the uncomfortable feeling of damp clothing adhering to his skin. A droplet descended from a lock of his hair and struck his cheek in the most irritating fashion. Katsuki felt ready to throttle whoever decided to have them fall into water.
Once he finally made it back to the class, Katsuki wordlessly plopped down in the seat beside Kuri. She had been chatting with Mina before he arrived, but they paused their conversation upon Katsuki's return. Mina turned away to talk to Denki while Kuri shifted in her seat, adjusting her towel wrapped around her shoulders and looking at Katsuki.
"Seems like neither of us made it to first place," Kuri said, delivering the irritating reminder with a gentle tone. She wasn't aiming to annoy Katsuki but rather commiserate with him. "Oh, well, once is enough, isn't it?"
Katsuki gritted his teeth and continued looking at the field without really paying attention to what he was watching. He wrapped his towel tighter around his shoulders, using it like a blanket to soothe his anger.
Kuri put a hand on his shoulder to comfort him, and as she gently petted him, Katsuki realized he was being an asshole. Kuri lost, too, but Katsuki was too busy moping to think to immediately console her.
In return, he placed his hand atop hers and brought it down to her lap before intertwining their fingers.
"This year was totally rigged," Katsuki grumbled.
Kuri squeezed his hand as she hummed in thought. With her other hand, she reached to push Katsuki's chin so that he would look at her. Her small smile immediately entranced him, and he couldn't glance away. It was like they were alone, despite the raucous cheering and dozens of people within eyeshot.
"If that's the case, how did you win this?" Kuri asked.
In a few slow movements, she slid her hand from Katsuki's chin to the back of his head and closed her eyes before pulling him into a kiss. In the hecticness of the third round of the sports festival, he had nearly forgotten their challenge!
Though a tad surprised, Katsuki closed his eyes and enjoyed his prize for the dare he'd devised on the spot. Despite the sweetness of the kiss, Katsuki knew he was red in the face again for that blatant display of public affection.
Breathless, Katsuki pulled back and looked at Kuri in astonishment. She slyly grinned at him while Katsuki realized how undeserving he was of her. Though she had a habit of teasing, Kuri sure knew how to cheer him up when he needed it.
"I guess 'cause I'm pretty lucky," Katsuki answered.