Suri gets some healing and finds out her opponent for the semi finals. She also makes good on her resolution.

Mmmwuah!

"There. Give it some time and you should be good as new."

Suri flexed her hand, watching the muscles and tendons in her forearm move as Recovery Girl's sat back from kissing her arm. The blackened skin tissue had managed to fall off from the scratches and the old lady's Quirk would help. However, given that the wounds were made with trace amounts of silver… there would be scarring.

Not that Suri was new to that.

She had just expected the scars to start after she'd gotten her hero license.

"Thanks, Recovery Girl."

She sat back as she watched the old pro begin to wrap some bandages around her forearm to hide the injury and finish up her work. The two of them hoped that it would be able to be unwrapped before her first match in the third round. All they could do was wait and find out. As Suri looked at her bandaged arm then turned her focus to some of the other beds in the nurse's office and wondered why she was alone at the moment.

"Hey Recovery Girl, how is Kamakiri doing? Is he going to be alright?"

"Mmm, yes, he'll be fine, though he nearly tore his ACL from the fall he took."

"Damn…"

Recovery Girl shook her head and sighed as she looked up at the young woman.

"Dear, don't blame yourself for the unfortunate accident. You both were injured and still managed to survive the battle. I'd call that a good thing."

"Yeah, sure, but what about his chances in the finals?"

"That will be up to him, dear," she reassured. "Now, get some rest, get some fluids and some food in you and go get yourself ready. You've got a big rest of the day ahead of you."

"Yeah yeah yeah," Suri sighed and stood up. Her stomach did sting a little and she gave it some thought. "Food does sound good right about now. Thanks for everything, Recovery Girl."

Suri gave the older woman a smile and waved as she left the nurse's office and slid the door closed behind her. She managed to wander to the cafeteria and wound up with a small plate of rice, chicken, and steamed vegetables before finding a seat with the rest of the girls from her class. They had been in the middle of conversation about the cavalry battle when Suri joined them and they instantly pounced their attention to their class rep while she ate.

"Congratulations on doing so well in the cavalry battle," Tsu offered up first.

"Hey, you guys didn't do that bad yourselves," she replied before taking a quick bite and swallowing it down. "Momo was on the first place team with Todoroki. And Uraraka, Mina, you guys got in too."

"If you ask Bakugou, we might as well have been in last."

Suri rolled her eyes.

"Nothing is ever good enough for him, is it?" Tooru sighed. "At least your teams got in."

"Hey now," Suri and Mina said in unison, turning a caring eye to their friend.

"Tooru, you still managed to end with points. You had a 125 point headband at the end there," Suri wrapped her right arm over the invisible girl's shoulder and gave her a light squeeze.

"Yeah, ribbit, you didn't end empty handed."

"Sorry about that, Tsu," Suri gave a weak smile. "That was Shiozaki's doing. I had no idea she got yours and Mineta's headband until after she had done it."

And speak of the devil himself.

"Hey Yaoyorozu, you guys need to hurry and go get changed for the cheerleading battle."

Cheerleading battle?

Suri's eyes then noticed a group of Americans in cheer outfits walking through the cafeteria towards one of the far contestant tunnels. Then her eyes focused on Mineta and Kaminari and she half chuckled and rolled her eyes as she continued eating.

"It's a good thing Mr. Aizawa sent you. I had forgotten all about it," Momo said with a touch of fear and worry in her voice.

She… actually fell for it…

Suri gave a look to Mina and Tooru who realized the same exact thing. The three of them shrugged and smirked. The outfits were kinda cute.

Soon enough, no surprise to the three of them, Momo was frantically unbuttoning the front of her uniform and exposing her smooth belly to the rest of the girls. Suri watched with fascination as one after the other, UA cheerleading outfits just materialized with a white glow as they spilled from her abdomen.

"Do we tell her?" Tooru leaned in and whispered.

"Nope," Suri giggled and quickly ate the rest of her meal and all but chugged her gatorade. The girls quickly followed Yaoyorozu to the 1-A locker room and promptly slipped themselves into the orange, green, and white uniforms. Suri gave a smirk to herself as she eyed the final piece of the costume that had been offered up and knew Mineta had added it on. Then again, she didn't mind wearing chokers in the least.

As she looked to her friends she grinned and shook her head as she soaked in the sight. Could she blame Mineta for wanting this and setting them up?

Nope, not in the least.

Which brought up a thought; since when did she have a cheerleader fetish?

Suri shrugged and was the one to lead the rest of the girls from the locker room out onto the field. Honestly, with how much fun this distraction was, it nearly took her mind completely off of the battle ahead. Was that dangerous? Maybe a little, but the distraction would buy time to heal her arm at the very least.

So she had fun with it.

She laughed as it finally dawned on the rest of the girls that it was a prank. Laughed even more as Jirou went completely red from embarrassment and then even more red as she thought of stabbing and pummeling Kaminari with her earphones. She shook her head as she watched Momo go from happy and confident to feeling like a fool for being had by the resident pervert.

"Sorry, Momo," she knelt beside the taller girl and placed a hand on her shoulder. "I should have said something from the get go but you looked like you were having fun making these."

"You knew?" she whined and looked mortified.

"Yeah… I mean it was Mineta after all but you know what," Suri gave Momo a pure and sincere smile. "We can have fun with this. I mean look at us. We have these cute outfits that you made and they're perfect. So let's have fun. Look cute doing it. And then we corner Mineta and Kaminari and let Jirou at them."

She grumbled and then seemed to think about it a bit. Her eyes looked over her friends and looked at how much the girls enjoyed the outfits she made them. And then thought about watching Jirou get payback for taking advantage of her innocent nature. She smiled then.

"You're right! Let's have fun with this while we can then!"

"Atta girl!" Suri cheered and stood up to offer a hand.

Despite the initial embarrassment most of the girls had, they ended up having fun with the costumes Momo had made them. They cheered on their classmates during the side games and at one point got to dance with the real cheerleaders from America. They had turned out to be a mix of professional cheerleaders from various basketball and American football squads so it had been nice for Suri to speak in English for a little bit. She felt a pang of homesickness but that quickly faded away as she surrounded herself with her friends again.

To be frank, Suri didn't mind one bit about being a bit of fanservice to the rest of the first years. She wasn't shy about herself, gods knew the truth to that. She knew Mina had the same sentiment. They knew they were good looking cute, hot even, and enjoyed the attention and flaunting what they had. That said, she saw it as an opportunity for the others who maybe didn't feel that way at least get attention they didn't know they wanted. For example, it had taken Jirou a while to come out of her shell in the outfit, but once she did, Suri loved watching the energy she had and how much fun she had dancing around. Uraraka and Yaoyorozu took to having fun with it as well.

And then there was Tooru.

Out of all of them, she was the one that wanted to be seen the most and was the most energetic of the group. Suri couldn't blame her. And she found herself smiling a little wider each time she watched the invisible girl. Then the thought of what had almost happened last night hit her and her smile faltered ever so slightly. A fire in her flared and it made her cheeks burn. Shit, she was crushing like a schoolgirl wasn't she? And then the other thought from last night hit her, the one that had said if the two of them were ever alone together, she wouldn't hold back.

But…

Did Tooru feel the same? Would she really take advantage of her friend, arguably her best friend, like that? Gods, she hoped not.

"She'd let us feed," Atiena purred from inside Suri's mind.

"No," Suri sternly growled inside her head. "We are not doing that to her."

"She's seen us in all our glory. Quite literally in fact," the beast giggled. "And she never hesitated when I took her to our bed."

"Probably cause she was, and possibly still is, terrified of us and just doesn't want to make us mad. You ever think of that?"

"Suri, dear little one," Atiena sighed. "Do you really doubt her?"

"No. I just… I don't…"

"Want to hurt her," the beast finished and Suri felt the small caring smile cross the animal's lips. "I do not wish that either. I quite like this one. I think the bubbly, girly fashionistas are, as you would say, our type"

"Is it bad that I kinda forgot you've seen all my adventures?" Suri chuckled internally.

"Seen? Honey," Atiena laughed, "I've been in the driver seat for half of them."

Oh yeah.

"Whoops," Suri rolled her eyes and the two of them internally laughed together.

"Suri!"

Speaking of the bubbly, girly fashionista.

"The final 16 contestants need to head to the center stage," Tooru called out. She ran up to the taller American girl and grabbed both of her hands in hers though no one could truly see what was going on, not even Suri. "The rest of us are going up to our student box."

"Ooo~ We have our own box section? That's pretty fancy," Suri answered with a grin.

"Mhmm. So we'll be cheering from there! Oh," Tooru exclaimed excitedly. "How's the arm?"

Whoops. Forgot about that.

Suri quickly picked up her arm and began unwrapping it until the bandage was clear and dangling in her right hand. The two of them eyed where Tetsutetsu had raked her forearm. It had taken two sets of healing Quirks to fix most of the damage. It was healed. Mostly. Suri now had five thin tracks running down the outside of her forearm. The skin was a shade lighter than her dark bronze complexion and it was raised in thin rough lines. It took a second to register that Tooru had run fingertips along the scars and traced them. The slightest of shivers ran through both of them and then a split second of eye contact confirmed the quickest of thoughts; they liked the touch and being touched.

"I-I um," Tooru stammered and quickly pulled her hands away. "Looks like you're good to go!"

"Yeah."

"Well, I better get going so I can get a good seat to watch you guys!"

"Yeah... I better go get ready with the others."

The awkward silence only grew more awkward as the two turned and went their separate ways. Even more so for Suri as the voice in her head began snickering and she could just see the shit eating grin on the beast's face. It was such an 'I told you so' look and Suri grumbled under her breath for Atiena to shut up and wipe the smile off her face.

She didn't.

"All right everyone, for this final stage for the first years, the final sixteen participants will go one on one in brackets until only one of you remains!"

Midnight energetically flung her flogger towards the giant holographic screen again, now showing a set of blank brackets. She grinned down at the students and continued.

"Now, before we get started, we'll draw lots to see who you will face in the.. oh, yes? You have a question?" she asked cheerfully.

Suri watched to see who was raising their hand and her stomach dropped. She was filled with guilt and sorrow as she looked to see Kamakiri raising his hand, head bowed in defeat.

"I'm going to have to withdraw. I don't want to but," he sneered and growled under his breath. "I haven't fully regained movement in my leg. It would be pointless for me to enter and not be able to give it my all. I have a standard for competition," he said, side-eyeing Bakugou. "And I just wouldn't be able to live up to that standard."

"Hmm, Kamakiri, my boy, this sort of talk is naive but incredibly admirable. Such honesty is a turn on! You are withdrawn!"

Suri walked through the crowd to her former teammate and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave him a sincere and apologetic look.

"Seriously, Kamakiri, I'm so so sorry. Are you sure about this?"

"There's no need for the pity party, Kuroyashi. I'm just not fully healed yet," he shrugged. "Besides, I know this is a big opportunity but it's not my only one. I'll just whoop all of your class' ass next year. That includes you."

"You know what," Suri smiled and held up a fist which he promptly bumped. "You're on."

"Hmm, now then, we need to find a replacement for Kamakiri by moving up a member of the fifth place team," Midnight's eyes moved over to the members of said team and then nodded with a grin. "Hitoshi Shinso! You will be advancing!"

Shinso?

Suri followed Midnight's gaze and her eyes narrowed as she laid eyes on who she could now put a name to a face to. It was him. Her and her beast both glared daggers into Shinso and a low growl

"Now! Everyone look ahead to see who your first match will be!"

Suri looked across the board to find herself and eyed a few matches that seemed like they'd be interesting. She wasn't used to having the seeding done by random, it was different from what she grew up on watching basketball with her brothers. The two conference, eight seat brackets had been ingrained in her. She tried to ignore what she was used to and focussed on the name of her opponent.

Fourth match of the day against Sero.

Her grin faded as she saw who Deku would be facing and then trained her eyes toward the greenette who had a visitor standing next to him. Shinso was trying to strike up a conversation and Suri ran as fast as she could. She got to her classmate just in time and slammed her hand over his mouth before glaring hard at Shinso. He simply smirked and walked away.

"Shit, that was close."

"Kur- I mean, Suri," he gulped, still not used to being on a first name basis. "What's up?"

"Not here," she shook her head and guided her friend toward the 1-A locker rooms. They were silent until the door clicked shut and she turned on her heels to face the shorter boy. "This Shinso guy, you need to be extremely careful of him."

"W-Why, what happened?"

"During the Cavalry Battle," Suri began pacing. "I think I damn near gave him all of our headbands. No joke, I just about handed him second place."

"How? That's definitely not something you'd do."

"Pretty sure it's his Quirk. We got banged up because of Todoroki's ice wall and he asked if we were all right. As soon as I went to say something, I blacked out. Hell, I even got locked out of my mind forest for a sec."

"Mind forest?"

"I kinda made the name up on the fly but you know how I've got my beast right? It's where she lives when I'm not bringing her to the surface. And when she's got control of our body, I end up going there."

"Interesting. So, you talk to yourself sometimes like I do, are you actually communicating or something? Like inside your own head?"

"Basically. Like during a full shift, this body you see now goes there to rest while she's out completely. I can sort of sense and feel what she does when my conscious is… well… conscious… so I've gotten used to that. But this time? I think I almost lost my mind completely and I'm not sure he even realizes it. So from what I can tell, as soon as you answer a question from him, you're gone."

"Wow. That's a super useful and powerful Quirk. How'd you beat it?"

"Atiena."

"Ati-eh?"

"Atiena," the beast herself answered in a layered voice. "That is my name. Pleasure to properly introduce myself to you, Izuku."

"Ah!" Izuku jumped in shock and stayed stiff as a board and wide eyed as he stared at the girl in front of him. "N-nice to m-meet you t-too!"

"Heh, I think I see the appeal Suri has for you. I'm becoming fond of her attraction to the cute ones," Atiena snickered and, almost instantly, Suri took back control and growled at her inner self for the takeover.

"Sorry about that!"

"N-no, it's no problem!"

"Anyway, it was thanks to her. I think she was able to have enough control of our body to break his hold on us."

"How'd she do it?"

"Pain. She bit into our arm hard enough to draw blood. I don't think it's necessary to go that far but I think any sort of distraction from his focus on you would be enough."

"Interesting," Izuku began thinking and mumbling aloud.

"Look, just don't say anything to him. Promise me you'll keep quiet."

"Right!" he said sternly and gave Suri a smile. "And thank you for the advice."

"Sure thing, green bean. Just doing my job as class rep," she gave him a smile and then waved as she turned and headed for the door. "Anyway, I better get up to our box so I can watch your match. Go kick this guy's ass, Deku."

There was a second of pause and then the broccoli head grinned wide and nodded.

"Right!"

As she walked towards their student section she couldn't help but notice the feeling of her beast having something on her mind. Did she want to ask? No. She figured she knew what she would say but if she left it alone…

"What's on your mind, furball?"

"Thinking of our dream not too long ago," she smirked. "I knew the appeal of seeing the side of him when he's determined and has a peculiar manly side to him. Now that I've been around his more… cute side? I think your ideals of suitable mates are rubbing off on me."

"Are you really fantasizing about him right now?" Suri grumbled and let out a growl. "Seriously, girl, get your head straight. We've got fights of our own coming up."

"Dear, you and I both know we're far from straight," she laughed and teased.

"Not the point."

"The point is, you can't keep running from this particular hunger. We need it so we can continue this balancing act you and I share. Normally I take care of the hunger during the Lupanar but since we've been here we-"

"Haven't had any selection of lovers at all because the Pard don't want to dirty their purity more than mom and dad already did," Suri hissed. "Fucking, prejudiced bastards."

"Couldn't have said it better. So if the Pard is not an option, we either woo the few friends that we obviously know we really like. Or…"

"We go looking for one night stands elsewhere," Suri sighed and brought her hands up to rub her temples. "I'm just scared of losing them, Atiena. I like my friends and classmates, I don't want to fuck that up by… ya know… fucking them…"

As Suri rounded the corner and entered the student section for Class 1-A she started looking for open seats and found one waiting for her. Tooru had seen her come in, waved, and motioned towards the seat next to her.

"I don't think we'll lose that one, honey," Atiena purred contently and smiled a warm smile. It made Suri's cheeks heat up as she found a smile curling through her lips.

Suri hopped from the landing down into the last row of seats, taking the one her friend had offered. She sunk into the seat and got comfortable, putting her right foot up onto the empty chair in front of her and curling her left leg along the front of her chair. Finally she laid her elbows across the back of her chair, her left arm nonchalantly laying itself across the back of Tooru's chair. Once it was there she felt Tooru lean back and felt the thick silk curtain of hair lay over Suri's forearm and the comfortable weight of the back of her friend's head nestling into the bend of Suri's elbow.

She couldn't help but smile as Tooru snuggled into her and she let her eyes fixate onto the floating, shadowy shape that rested against her. Atiena was right, wasn't she? So why was Suri so hesitant to pull the trigger and make a move now when she had never hesitated in the past?

"ALRIGHT SPORTS FANS! LEMME HEAR YOU SCREAM!"

Her thoughts were cut off instantly as Present Mic's voice blared over the loud speakers above them followed by the thundering roar of the audience. Their class soon became no exception to the thunderous noise as everyone began cheering when Midoriya walked out of his tunnel and towards the center stage.

"Let the first match begin!" Midnight called out after the two were introduced.

They watched as Suri kept to his and Suri's strategy as much as he could as he began striding forward towards Shinso. He was saying something that Suri could barely hear, something about being a match of wits and spirit. When he saw that Izuku wasn't going to give him the pleasure of getting him to say anything, Shinso started taking shots at their classmates.

"Don't you dare say anything bad about the-"

Their class heard Midoriya scream at the top of his lungs. If there was one fault about Midoriya it was how much he cared about his friends and classmates. A good guy to a fault.

"Shit! What are you doing, Deku!" Suri sat up and partially stood as she yelled for her friend.

The others looked from him to Suri and then back and all turned their faces into ones of confusion. Deku was frozen mid step and then turned around and began walking calmly the other way towards the edge of the ring.

"What is he doing?" Iida asked in bewilderment.

"That would be his Quirk," Aoyoma spoke up. "You could say, monsieur has a way with words."

As he got closer and closer towards the edge, Suri found herself and Uraraka down at the bottom of the box, gripping the handrail tightly and watching intently. The gravity girl was the first to begin shouting, trying to snap him out of the fog.

"Deku! Stop, you're gonna go out of bounds!"

"Goddammit, green bean, fight it!"

"You can do it, Midoriya!" Tooru yelled as she leaned over the handrail next to Suri.

"Come on, Midoriya, I thought you were stronger than that," Kirishima called out.

Soon everyone was shouting something similar, all rooting for him, all trying to get him to get a hold of himself. Everyone watched and gritted their teeth as he got to the edge of the ring and suddenly a massive gust of wind erupted. It flooded the arena with intense wind pressure and kicked up a giant cloud of dust that faded to show that he had stopped a mere inch from the line. Deku glared back at Shinso and gritted his teeth as he turned around and started back towards his telepathic opponent.

As Deku started back, Suri heard Shinso become more desperate and began shouting off a lot of nonsense. He was bitter about the Quirk he was born with from the sound of his tone and some of the things he said. If only he knew the truth about the greenette.

She just shook her head and sighed.

"Yeah, dude, cause none of the rest of us have struggles or downfalls of our Quirks," she muttered under her breath.

"What's he saying?" Tooru asked.

"He's telling Midoriya that he's lucky and blessed to be born with such a great Quirk and how he must have gotten in so easily. He's basically saying everyone in our class was just given their spot here on a silver platter."

"Yeah, we all have such awesome Quirks," she replied with a thick layer of sarcasm and bitterness in her voice. "It was so easy getting in on nothing but rescue points…"

Suri found Tooru's hand and gave her a gentle squeeze and a small smile.

When Suri turned her attention back to the ring, she and her class got the opportunity to cheer as they watched Midoriya go. He was pushing Shinso backwards towards the opposite side of the ring. Even after taking a hard punch to the jaw, he kept pushing. Then, just as they got to the line, Shinso tried to counter Midoriya only to get grabbed and thrown over the greenette's shoulder out of bounds.

"Shinso, is out of bounds," Midnight called out, jerking her flogger to the air. "Midoriya wins!"

Once Midoriya and Shinso had gone their separate ways and gone back to the locker rooms, Class 1-A had no time to quiet their cheering as the next match got prepped. The girls more than happily cheered and screamed for Momo as she came out of one of the tunnels and headed towards the center.

She was massively nervous.

And for good reason.

Out of the other tunnel came her opponent and fellow classmate, Shoto Todoroki.

"I'm nervous for Yaomomo," Mina said quietly.

"I am too," Suri answered. "If she wants to win this, she's gotta be really fast. I'm hoping she can come out of the gate quick, hit him hard, and maybe take him by surprise."

"Only one way to find out," Uraraka said nervously.

"Match two! Begin!"

Momo quickly sprouted a metal shield from her left forearm and was able to take a step forward to brace herself. She fended off one outcropping of ice that quickly engulfed the ground before screaming. An ice flow the size of a glacier filled the entire side of the arena behind Momo and left everyone frozen. Some quite literally.

"Jesus… fucking… christ…" Suri said in a quiet terror.

Their class remained silent as Midnight finally broke the silence after being stunned in silent shock as well.

"Wow.. umm… Todoroki is the winner!"

Todoroki looked solemn and apologetic as he walked towards the giant iceflow and began melting the ice surrounding Yaoyorozu. She was on the verge of tears and looked utterly defeated and broken as she was forced to wait for her captor to release her from the prison he had created. Suri took a deep breath and turned to walk out of the student section.

"Where you going? You're gonna miss the next match," Tooru queried.

"Oh I already know Tsunotori's gonna win that one," Suri smiled and then nodded towards the ring. "Besides, I think she could use some cheering up."

Tooru paused and then looked back and forth between Suri and Yaoyorozu before giving an audible nod.

"I'll come with you. Oh," the invisible girl gasped. "There's an ice cream stall on the way, should we get some for her?"

"You know what," Suri grinned and began leading her friend out towards the contestant locker rooms and tunnels. "That's not a bad idea."

By the time Suri and Tooru had gotten a few small bowls of ice cream, and found the waiting room that had been designated for Momo they spotted her sobbing in a corner. Some people can still look refined and elegant when they cry. What you call a pretty cry. Momo Yaoyorozu was definitely an ugly crier.

The two friends looked at each other sadly and then turned back to the usually so proud and refined girl in the corner and went to her. They went to their knees on either side of her and both reached out to touch her arms. The sudden touch shocked her and she lifted her head to finally notice the two girls in front of her. Then came the action of trying to rapidly hide the fact you had been crying, frantically wiping and smearing the tears from her eyes and cheeks. Once she thought she was presentable, which had taken a few moments, she looked at the girls and put on a fake smile.

"Oh, hi girls, I didn't hear you two come in," she sniffled. "Aren't you missing the next match?"

"Eh," they both shrugged before Suri continued. "It's Kaminari. I'm pretty sure Tsunotori's gonna kick his butt. Hopefully knock him down a peg or two after the stunt him and Mineta pulled."

"And while that would be fun to watch," Tooru added. "We wanted to check on you."

"I-I see. I appreciate the thought but really, I'm okay."

"You sure," Suri and Tooru asked in unison.

"Y-yeah, I just… He was too fast. I couldn't even do anything, I barely got a chance to move."

"That could have been any one of us, Momo. With how insanely powerful he is, he'd give all of us trouble. That includes me."

It was now Momo and Tooru's turn to look at Suri with incredulous looks.

"Especially if he pulled his fire out on me," she scoffed to herself. "Tooru knows this a little better than the rest of the class but my Quirk comes with its own healing factor. It's handy, sure but I have two major weaknesses that'll get me killed someday out in the field."

Suri held up her arm, showing off the scarred tracks down her forearm.

"Silver. And fire. If Todoroki pulls fire on me, I could very well die."

"But what about Recovery Girl?" Momo asked with a frightened tone.

Suri gave a weak smile and fingered at her new scars.

"These are brand new as of less than two hours ago and these are as close to healed as I'll get. And that's after Recovery Girl healed me. None of us are invincible Momo but all we can do is just do the best we can, even if it doesn't seem very good at the time."

Momo looked at Suri for a few long moments and then blinked, nodded and looked down.

"Thank you, Kuroyashi and Hagakure."

"Ah! Don't thank us just yet," Tooru chirped cheerfully.

Suri and Tooru held the bowls of ice cream up in front of Momo and grinned.

"Take your pick," they said in unison. It took a moment but after Momo calmed down a little more she reached out and took the bowl of oreo ice cream. Tooru took the chocolate, which left Suri with mint.

Needless to say the three girls were happy campers.

As they ate, they heard the crowd roar again and the three gave each other a look. Suri looked at her half eaten ice cream and then looked at her two friends.

"If this is gone when I come back, I'm gonna kick your butt."

Suri sat her ice cream on one of the tables in the waiting room and turned to face the door. She took a deep breath in, held it, and then let it out slowly. She let her happy and fun mood that she had settled in slip away, her eyes growing cold and focused while her voice dropped that warm edge to something serious.

"Wish me luck."

She was out the door into the tunnel before either of the girls could respond. Her eyes were focused on the blinding light at the end of the dark entry tunnel as she walked towards it and the swell of the crowd.

"ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT ALL RIGHT! LET'S GET READY FOR OUR FOURTH MATCH OF THE DAY! THE FIRST THREE WERE OVER PRETTY QUICK AND KINDA BORING, LET'S HOPE THESE TWO BRING THE EXCITEMENT!"

Ouch. That's not harsh at all.

"ON ONE SIDE WE GOT THE KID WITH THE FREAKY LOOKING ELBOWS! FROM CLASS 1-A OF THE HERO COURSE, IT'S HANTA SERO!"

Sero let his usual wide smile falter hearing his entrance and Suri couldn't blame him.

"Sheesh, that was kind of a low blow," Suri offered.

"Right? Kinda rude," Sero answered back.

"ON THE OTHER, ALSO FROM THE HERO COURSE'S CLASS 1-A, IT'S THE MONSTER GIRL WITH A BITE EQUAL TO HER BARK, SURI KUROYASHI!"

"Wait, did he really just call me a loud mouth?"

"I think he did."

"Shit, hello pot, meet my friend kettle," Suri rolled her eyes and then focused onto her opponent.

Suri took the moment to unbutton her uniform top, exposing the black cami underneath as she crept down into her pouncing position. As Midnight walked to the middle to begin the match, Suri let her power roll and make her shift. It was as quick and smooth as the one she had done earlier, one moment a completely human Suri, the next she bore claws, fangs, a tail, blackened eyes, and elongated ears. She half ignored Midnight's instructions and focused all of her attention on Sero. Sure he looked like he was taking it easy but that might be to distract her.

"Man, you're crazy strong, I dunno if I have much of a chance ya know?"

"Begin!"

"Hah!" Sero quickly laughed and two long straps of tape shot from his elbows towards Suri.

She dodged the first one by going over it, rolling her back over the top side of the thin strip and then bounced her weight the opposite way to dodge the second one. She had initially dodged both and was on her way towards her opponent when she felt a tugging motion on her body. She looked down in time to see one of the strands of tape wrap around her waist and tighten itself. She growled and tried to swipe at the sticky material with her claws and soon found her right arm trapped.

Suri glared at Sero who grinned wide and began turning his body and started swinging the adhesive strands that Suri was trapped inside. Her feet skid along the ground as she started orbiting around Sero and soon she was aware of how close the spinning was going to get her to the out of bounds line. She had to do something, and fast, or else she was going to get flung out of bounds. Suri jumped high into the air and let Sero have the momentum he wanted as he began spinning her in the air above the ring.

Before Sero could let out more adhesive to send her closer to the line, she began rapidly wrapping the line that had her right arm around it. It shortened the distance between her and Sero and gave the two of them a sure bond that Sero hadn't intended. Her left hand then swiped at the adhesive around her waist and she began falling towards the ring.

"Nice try Sero!" she growled out as she hit the ground, rolled using the momentum of the motion Sero had set her on and then planted her feet.

"Hey, I had to try someth-Ah!"

The momentum finally caught up to both of them and Suri let out a yell as the muscles in her upperbody rippled. Sero was the one to leave the ground now as Suri's right arm swung him around in the same fashion he had been doing. Instead of swinging him and letting the line out to send him out of bounds, Sero found the resolve to shoot the line that had once been around her waist out again.

Suri saw the line coming and ducked, putting her knees to the ground as she let the line around her right arm cross the other line which she grabbed with her left. With the lines tangled, Suri pulled, hard, and jerked the airborne Sero towards her. He screamed as he headed towards her like a meteor and cut his lines to try and steer himself away from the waiting beast girl.

It worked.

Mostly.

He missed Suri, flying past her and began skidding along the ground towards the edge of the ring. He pulled a move from a certain American hero and crossed his arms, shooting tape towards the corners of the ring to create a net for himself. It worked perfectly and he stopped just shy of the line. Sero laughed and cheered as his plan had worked only to shriek as he turned around.

When Sero turned around, Suri was already speeding towards him on all fours, zig zagging so he couldn't get a clear shot. He couldn't stop her even as he fired strips of tape randomly to try and create some sort of barricade or something to stop the speeding ball of fury coming for him. He started shooting lines of tape across the ground to try and catch her as she came for him but she hopped over most, flipped herself over others, and then just took long strides to avoid them as she came within a meter of him. She took one last leap, turned her body in a sort of standing backflip motion with her knees cradling to her chest before she shot them outwards with full force. She rocked Sero in the chest and sent him flying backwards, first out of bounds until he stopped with a hard crash against the arena wall.

When she landed, she tried to stick the landing on her toes and her arms up. Falling forward meant she too would end up out of bounds. She wobbled and her arms flailed before giving her enough motion to fall backwards onto her butt staring towards where she had dropkicked Sero. It was thanks to the added flailing of her tail that had saved her and she nearly jumped out of her skin as she was made very aware of Midnight's presence.

"Sero is out of bounds! Kuroyashi wins!"

Suri sighed and stood up, her eyes focused on Sero before she turned around and started walking towards her tunnel again. A shiver of fear ran down her spine as she just realized something. There had been a split second as she was rushing him that the memory of Hyrum crossed her mind. She had rushed him in the same way. She had come down on him at full speed and went for his throat for the first time in their fight. If she hadn't stopped and decided to dropkick Sero, would she have gone for his throat?

It terrified her.

"Suri, that was amazing!"

Suri shook her head and swallowed hard. She had made it back into the darkened tunnel and back towards the waiting room when she ran into Tooru. She had no idea that she had followed Suri out and had watched the match from here. Suri smiled at the thought of Tooru watching her from here, that she had waited down here with her. Her eyes focused on her invisible friend.

Then something else terrified her.

She had seemingly blinked but several things happened in that microsecond her eyes had been closed and now, she was struggling to fight herself. Her eyes went wide as she refocused her eyesight and found that she and Tooru were against the tunnel wall. Suri was pressed against Tooru, her left claws digging into the concrete behind her friend's head, while her left was wrapped around something warm. She could feel a fast pulse behind her thumb, heavy breathing against her skin, and her nose flared from the scent of fear mixed with something else. Her eyes found the shadowy shape of her friend trapped between her and the wall and she had a flashback to seeing the ghost of lips from last night.

What had she promised to herself the next time she and Tooru were alone?

"S-suri?" Tooru whispered, a hint of fear in her voice.

Suri had already begun to lean in. Her lips parted and her own breathing and heart began to quicken their pace.

"Tooru, tell me to stop."

"Suri I…"

"Please tell me to stop," Suri whispered back.

"No."

"No, what?" Suri whispered even quieter. Her forehead was resting against Tooru's, their noses brushing against one anothers not long after that.

"Please."

As Tooru pleaded, Suri felt the girl wrap her arms around her. One hand found its way to the back of Suri's head while the other slipped into her still unbuttoned shirt to cradle the bare skin of Suri's waist. The invisible girl closed that last inch of space, pressing herself tight into Suri's touch and wrapped her lips onto Suri's. The beast girl closed her eyes and purred into the kiss as, for that long breathless moment, Tooru's and Suri's lips were locked onto each other.

They broke enough to take another breath and then crashed into each other again, Suri gripped gently to Tooru's neck which made the girl whimper into Suri's mouth. Both of them shivered in each other's embrace as the second and then third meeting came harder, a bruising kiss that parted with Tooru being coy and catching Suri's bottom lip between her teeth and pulling ever so slightly. She let go and Suri couldn't help but grin and bite her lip. She got her payback in their next meeting as Suri caught Tooru's bottom lip and pulled, making the girl whine before Suri attacked again, then pulled back and planted an ever so gentle kiss on the girl's nose.

The two took long deep breaths as Suri rested her forehead against Tooru's.

"That was," Tooru sighed softly.

"I umm… I'm sorry, I don't know what came over me," Suri said between breaths.

"No," Tooru sighed, a joyful tone lingering in her voice as she pressed tighter to Suri. "God, I've never been kissed like that before."

"Yeah?" Suri asked as ease started to come back.

"That umm… that was actually my first."

"Wait, seriously?" Suri couldn't hide the shock in her voice. "No one-"

"Can see me, let alone see where my lips are," she giggled, interrupting Suri. Her fingers danced along the back of Suri's head idly while the beast girl enjoyed the soft touch where her hair was shaved and then the feeling of soft fingers playing with the soft curls of her hair.

"Well, how was it for your first," Suri smirked softly and let her eyes try to find the definition in the shape directly in front of her.

"A-ma-zing," she whispered. "I'd love another~"

Suri grinned and wasted no time as she pushed back into her friend, happily trapping the smaller invisible girl between her and the wall. The soft grip of Suri's hand around her throat made Tooru make sweet little sounds and moans that were music to Suri's ears. Tooru gripped the back of Suri's head tighter and left nail marks against Suri's back as they kissed again and again. The raking made Suri half moan and half growl and deepen the kissing even further. Each kiss grew heavier and harder as each minute passed until they were ready to collapse on the floor from shortness of breath.

There was a long moment of silence where the two panted and looked deeply into each other's eyes. Suri had made a feast out of Tooru's lips and drank down the other girl's desire and longing. Atiena was happy, finally getting that last meal the two of them needed to keep their balance. Though Atiena wasn't exactly reserved to being a passenger, she let her power rise to the surface and let her voice purr into Tooru's ear.

"Mind if I have a turn, Tooru," she spoke in that husky, thick voice that sent a shiver through the smaller girl's body.

"God," she whispered and then crashed her lips back into the wolpard's.

That would be, yes.