Chapter 6: It's all fun and games

I didn't hear a single thing once the staff started speaking, I was too nervous about the crowd. It was bigger than I imagined and it was televised! Which means that more people are watching at home. Nope, I don't like the spotlight. I can't do this. Hizashi leaned over and whispered, "if you don't do better than me then I'll never accept you as my love rival." Why the fuck that woke me up and gave me new purpose, I'm not entirely sure why he said but it worked.

"I'll wipe the floor with you, and win this whole thing. Just you wait."

The first event was an obstacle course, and somehow I got separated from all the guys and stuck at the back. I couldn't see why everyone was getting held up, but I couldn't get through people to find out. Taking a moment, I focused on finding a water source and I sensed tons of freshly watered plants along the trail. Using a bit of effort I get enough to gather a good size blob, about the size of a small child. I made it as solid as I could and jumped on top of it and used it to travel above all the students. I hadn't done this much, it was shaky and I kept slipping through the water. I got through most of the course by using that method but right as I passed the last obstacle, still a good distance from the finish line, I lost control of the blob and dropped on the ground. Noticing people passing me as I lay on the ground, I got up and dust myself off and took off running and luckily my trick worked so well I was pretty far up front and didn't do too bad. I got 10th place overall and the other boys made the first cut, I didn't pay much attention to their places just if they made it. Immediately I hydrated as they started to explain the next event, some kid wanted to start a fight with me about carrying a water bottle. Making me miss what the next event was, luckily, Shouta was around. He got our classmate to leave and then explained what I missed. I swear he keeps giving me false hope that he could like me back but alas not going to happen.

"The next event is partnered up and one is blindfolded and has to collect flags from other pairs, the pair with the most flags wins."

"So who are you pairing with?"

"I was hoping for you. The other two were fighting over how we would divide and I walked away and saw you getting hassled by our classmate."

"You could still pair with either of the other two, they would be happy to have someone with as good eyes as you."

"Nah, they're too loud and would try and go off on their own."

"Well if we're going to do this then I'm the one blindfolded. I can sense things better without sight and think through things better too."

"Fine by me, but I forgot to mention you would have to carry me on your back."

"Unless you are made out of pure metal under your clothes, I think I can carry you on my back."

"Shouta, be my partner?"

"Too late Hizashi, Alesha is mine."

"Damn."

We were given blindfolds and our flags, after we found a decent spot away from everyone we got set up. Shouta has to have some serious muscle cause he wasn't lying about being heavy. But it was not so heavy that I couldn't move around but it wasn't a walk in the park. Due to being blindfolded it was so much easier to sense where other people were and how to avoid them. Unfortunately, flags have no water so I can't detect them and had to rely on Shouta to tell me where they were. It was pretty easy at first, but Hizashi wasn't going to let us win even if it meant taking Shouta down along with me. When he used Voice on me it almost knocked me over and drop Shouta. Thank God Shouta canceled his quirk as fast as he did or we would've been toast. Hizashi, shocked that his attack stopped mid shout, didn't realize that I grabbed his flag and jetted off before he could retaliate. Someone else got close to taking our flags but somehow Shouta and I made an amazing team and were able to avoid them. Couldn't grab their flag but they didn't ours. At the end, I think we had like 10 flags, Shouta and the teachers counted not me. I was trying to rehydrate some more cause that took more out of me than I thought it could. We didn't get first but were in the top five while Hizashi and Oboro got like 7th or 8th so I counted it as a win.

The last event like always is a one on one tournament. Luckily none of us were facing each other in the first round, but after we could definitely compete against each other. My problem was access to a water source to attack with, but good thing the group taught me hand to hand combat and trained how to kick ass without needing my quirk. Hizashi was up first and just yelled at his opponent until he flew out of bounds, lasting like ten seconds. Show off. A few other people went and I didn't care enough to pay attention so I just drank water until my turn. My turn, I faced the jerk classmate who yelled at me about my water bottle that I had on me. Guess what, he complained at our match to the teacher who was acting as referee. The teacher knew of my quirk and my need to stay hydrated, had a hard time making the decision to allow my water bottle with me during the match and had to call the principal to make the decision. The principal, for whatever reason, decided that I was allowed to have it. I was shocked that he allowed it but I wasn't going to fight him on it, this made the asswhole mad as hell. Thing is I didn't plan on actually carrying the bottle into the fight, I was going to give it to the teacher to hold it as a just in case thing, but the dude had to start something so I became petty as hell. Then the fight started and he came at me full force, I evaded then stuck at the back of his head knocking him out instantly. I didn't even have to use my water bottle or anything. The teacher fought so hard from laughing at the irony of the situation as he declared me the winner. I just walked off to the viewing area with my other classmates.

"It took more time for him to complain about the water bottle than the actual fight and you didn't even use it. Classic!" Oboro shouted at me as I sat down and started laughing hysterically. Shouta was down preparing for his fight, Oboro was about to head down but he wanted to congratulate me first. When he left, Hizashi slyly gave me a fist bump, showing his approval of showing up the asswhole. There was one match between Shouta and mine, and it took awhile. So long that I dozed off. Hizashi nudged my shoulder to show me that Shouta's fight was about to start. He looked so calm, but I worried if he was going to get hurt. "He's going to be fine, he's stronger than he looks and is great at strategy."

"I know, it's just hard to watch someone you care about fight."

"Yeah I know." We watched silently. Luckily his opponent had a quirk Shouta could 'erase' which gave him the advantage. And the kid relied heavily on his quirk to fight which made this match pretty easy. They still exchanged a few punches, but it didn't take too long for Shouta to win. Oboro was next and was doing well until he accidentally stepped out of bounds and lost. It was so stupid but he laughed at himself more than got upset which caused the rest of us to laugh. Second round was much better. Hizashi had someone who couldn't be easily blown away but wasn't ready for his fist to the face. Dude went down hard and though he didn't get completely knocked out, he couldn't see anything cause Hizashi got him square in the eyes. Not sure if that was where he was aiming, but he won because of it. My next opponent was an annoying girl with a flower quirk, immediately at the start of the fight I learned she could spray poison out of her flowers. It threw off my senses badly but I could still stand and fight. Trying not to breathe in the poison as best as possible, I chose to use my water bottle to attack her from a distance where the poison was less dense. She didn't go down easy and it took longer than I wanted to finally get her. I somehow tricked her to keep stepping back to avoid my bottle, and eventually stepped out. Not how I wanted to win but I took it. I was declared the winner, then I asked for the nurse and passed out from the poison.

I woke up hooked up to an IV, and freaked out that I was kicked out of the tournament cause I passed out. "Relax child, you still can compete. The second round is still going on, I just wanted to flush out the poison as much as I can before you fight again. So until it's your turn again you're staying hooked up to this IV." I realized I only missed Shouta's match which was directly after mine, he won by the way. Two more matches then that round was done. And I peed, which I thought was good enough to be disconnected but no she was serious about me staying hooked up until my match. Oboro sat with me to keep me calm and cause he was the only one who could. I had to face Shouta in the next match and I was not happy about it and let everyone know. Oboro said to see it as a training session and a way to better ours. I still didn't like it.

I got unhooked and got released to go to my match, Shouta looked sad to face me. Apparently he wasn't happy about facing a friend either. We just stared at each other when the match started not knowing how to attack a friend. "Ok just attack me or this isn't going away. "

"Nope, not making the first move, Alesha. " He had to make this hard.

"Fine but I gave you a fair shot at me so don't complain later when you lose."

"I would never complain about that."

"And don't go easy on me or I'll stop being your friend."

"I promise Alesha." I sighed loudly, then ran toward him. Knowing that my quirk is one that he can 'erase' I couldn't rely on it to beat him, though that would make it better. I had to fight him hand to hand. Thing is he isn't a bad fighter, he knew how to tire out his opponent to weaken them which was what he was doing to me and I knew it but I wanted this over and fast. I could tell he was holding back his punches on me to not hurt me too bad. "I thought I told you to not hold back, I'll stop talking to you for real if you keep pulling your punches."

"I'm not pulling them."

"Yes you are, I've seen you train. You're pulling back, stop it."

"Fine, but if you get hurt I don't want your family to come after me."

I laughed so hard, "I promise they won't." We went at it for a good bit, neither of us wanting to cave. Somehow I got behind him, and I kicked him hard in the back of his leg. *Snap* Shouta went down and I froze.

"Shit I think you broke my leg."

"Oh shit Shouta I'm so so sorry." The teacher asked him if he could continue, and he said no. Robots came to carry him to Recovery Girl, and I was declared the winner. I didn't feel like one, I just broke the man I loved. I felt like shit.

Hizashi and I were the only two from our quartet that got into the quarterfinals. And the way the bracket was set up, unless we both got to the finals we wouldn't have each other. Neither of us were happy about it. Shouta was fine, Recovery Girl healed his leg almost to 100 percent. He needed like a week or two to fully recover but he was ok. Which was good, but I still felt like shit. During Hizashi's match he got pushed out of bounds and no one saw it happen until it was over. Everyone was confused, including Hizashi. Mine went by as fast as my first, a girl came at me and instead of knocking her out, I kicked her hard in her stomach and sent her flying out of bounds. No one was more shocked than me that it happened. Girl tried to fight it since she barely stepped out, but the teacher said she was out and declared me the winner. You could hear Oboro and Hizashi laughing their asses off throughout the whole stadium. Semifinals were hard as shit, the guy had an electric quirk, and it was not fun getting hit with that thing. No matter what I did, he was able to counter it and it looked like I was going to lose. Eventually I was able to sneakily get the water out of my bottle and get it behind him, just as I got it to hit him in a weak spot to knock him out he fired another thing of electricity and we both went down at the same time. I woke up in the nurse's office again. She gave a sad look telling me that I lost. Telling me later, that though my hit landed it wasn't strong enough to truly knock him out just down for a second. Since he didn't lose consciousness and I did, he won and I lost.

Shouta showed up on crutches, sat down and handed me my phone. "It keeps going off, someone is desperately trying to get a hold of you." I checked it and saw that my whole family was trying to reach out. Half were seeing if I was ok, the other half was telling me how awesome I did and that I should've won.

"It seems my whole family saw my match and commented on it."

"Good or bad or both."

"Good so far, it's either praise or worry messages so far."

"That's good, you should have won. You're so good. You deserve first place."

"You're just saying that cause I kicked your ass."

He laughed, "no I mean it, your skill is unbelievable and your quick thinking is almost impossible to match."

"Well, that butt face was able to out smart me and out fight me so I'm not all that great."

"That guy is top of our class, and got in by recommendation."

"How the fuck does that work? Shouldn't that mean he sucks and needs an outside source to get in?"

"No more of him was scouted out to attend the school."

"Great. I want a rematch."

Shouta laughed hard at that, before he could respond the other two came in. "Ali-chan, you did so great, everyone is shocked you didn't win."

"You did ok."

"Hizashi, you flatter me." We all laughed. Then Recovery Girl yelled at the boys for taking valuable space in her office and kicked them out. I was going to leave too but with the poison then being electrocuted to a crisp, drained so much out of me I couldn't stand on my own. So I got another IV and passed out again.

The dude I opposed won the whole thing, and his opponent in the finals didn't last anywhere close to as I did. So I guess that's a win? Eventually my dad was allowed back to pick me up and take me home to rest.

By the time we had classes again, both Shouta and I felt much better. He could walk on his own with no problems, and I didn't have weird twitches. Then our teacher said something I wasn't prepared for, we were going to pick our hero names in class. Do they not realize how immature teenagers can be? We had to pick a name to be recognized for the rest of our career, even our lives with a teenage brain? Did no one in this country know it takes until our mid 20s to have our brain fully develop? But I digress. I'm not very creative but I tried to correlate my want to be a doctor and my water quirk into one name, the best I was coming up with was Dr. Aqua.

"Dr. Aqua? What the hell does aqua mean?" I jumped out of my seat, then turned to see Oboro reading over my shoulder at my board.

"Aqua means water in Spanish."

"Oh right, Spanish is your second language."

"Yeah, what is your name? Let me guess, Loud Cloud, no, Cloud Boy, no, Sky High?"

"Actually no, I couldn't think of anything but I like Loud Cloud. I think I'll do that."

"Wait, are you serious? I was completely joking."

"Dead serious, Loud Cloud it is."

"What did the other two pick?"

"No clue, let's ask." Then he leaves to where the boys sit on the other side of the classroom. I reluctantly get up and follow him.

"Dude, you should be Eraserhead!" And these people are why teenagers shouldn't have this power.

"Hizashi, he can do better than that." I scold yellow hair for trying to give Shouta a lame name.

"Eh it's ok Alesha, I kinda like it. Plus I can't think of anything better, can you?" He had a point. But I didn't want to admit that to them. So I just looked away and huffed.

"See, I'm awesome at picking names."

"Oh yeah yellow hair, what is your name then?"

"Present Mic." He said very proudly. Sounded lame to me but it kinda fit him so I just shrugged my shoulders and started to walk off.

"Hey! Don't walk away, you didn't tell us what you picked."

"Ali-chan picked Dr. Aqua."

"Really Oboro? You had to sell me out?"

"What it isn't bad, once you learn what aqua means. It fits you perfectly."

"What does aqua mean?" Shouta casually asked.

"It's Spanish for water. I'm basically calling myself a water doctor."

"Didn't you want to be a doctor? So I think it works." How did he know that? I don't remember telling any of the boys my dream let alone Shouta. I guess he saw confusion on my face because he explained, "I overheard a conversation you had with Recovery Girl about you becoming a doctor."

"Oh" so I guess the cat is out of the bag on that secret. Then again it wasn't really a secret, I just didn't like telling people in fear of being made fun of. But Shouta isn't one who would make fun of someone no matter what, he's too kind for that. The teacher started up the class before we could continue talking, and we had to present our names to everyone. I was the last one to go and I hated that, but I wasn't volunteering to go at all.

"Miss Zinski, your turn." I grabbed my board and slowly walked to the front of the class. I just held up what I wrote and didn't say anything. As I tried to walk back to my seat, a classmate asked "what did it say?" Like dude can you not read? Yeah I know it's not in Japanese lettering but still we read and write in English for class. The teacher said to read to the class, the guy was no help.

"It says Dr. Aqua."

"What does that mean?" The girl in front asked, I recognize her as the flower girl I beat in the tournament.

"Aqua means water in Spanish."

"Why Spanish?"

"It's my second language and I like how the Spanish say water."

"Wait, how many languages do you speak?" That was from the jerkface that beat me in the tournament, I hated that guy.

"English is my first, Spanish is my second, Japanese is my third, then I started learning sign language, then attempted Italian and now my new interest is in Russian."

"What's sign language? " flower girl asked bluntly.

"It's a language the deaf and mute use to communicate, it involves using your hands and body language to convey what you need to express."

"Ok children that's enough grilling Miss Zinski, you can ask her more about her magnitude of languages later." Finally the teacher saved me from more harassment. Rest of the day was everyone talking about their new names and nothing else. A few classmates wanted to try and grill me more on my language skills, most were confused since my grades reflected that my language skills should be subpar. They were, in reading and writing but speaking is a whole different ball of wax. And no one could understand that.

The only thing that bugged the boys was the fact that I never told them about my interest in self learning languages. Which I thought they would have guessed since they knew I self taught myself Japanese. But I digress. I was actually surprised that no one asked why I chose those languages to learn, just how. Later that week Oboro finally asked.

"So we know why you learned your first three languages but why did you take interest in the others? I mean they don't have any similarities at all."

"I was wondering if someone was ever going to ask that, except for Yuuto and my dad no one knows." Taking a deep breath, I look at the guys. "I'm showing signs of hearing loss, Recovery Girl confirmed my suspicions but I've been showing signs for a few years now. I figured it was being so close to loud engines but anyway. When I started noticing the loss I started looking into what I could do if I lost my hearing completely so I discovered sign language and started learning that."

"Shit that's intense, why didn't you tell us before?"

"Eh I don't like admitting it, plus most people figure that when I don't respond it's cause I didn't understand not because I couldn't hear so I never actually have to explain myself."

"Well that explains one thing about the others?"

"I got into learning our deep history of the world, like ancient Rome, and wanted to travel to Italy. So in preparation for if the chance ever came along, I tried Italian. Know as much as I do Spanish, which isn't a lot but if I ever go I'll be able to do basic conversations. Russian, well I read a book about a guy who was from Russia and seemed like a badass so I wanted to try learning that language since the book made it out to be awesome."

"What book?"

"You wouldn't know it. One of my friends from America found it and lent it to me, it's a romance novel."

Shouta, who had been quiet this whole time asked, "what's it called?"

"Vampire Academy." I said with my face turning red as a tomato.

"Vampire Academy? It's about a school of vampires?" Hizashi asked smugly. I'm going to find something to bug him and piss him off.

"In a vague sense yes it is, but the characters hardly ever go to class and most of the story takes place outside of school. But again Mickey I doubt you guys would ever read because one it's in English and two it's supposed to be a romance novel."

"Mickey?" All the boys looked confused and Hizashi aka Mickey looked on the verge of being mad. Jackpot.

"Yeah you want to be called Present Mic, Mic is similar to Mick and Mickey is a cute version of Mick. So your new nickname is Mickey and no longer yellow hair." I said proudly, and Mickey looked like he was going to explode.

"Seriously, you had to turn my cool hero name into a lame American name."

"Yep, oh look at the time class is going to start soon. Don't want to be late again," I started to skip away before he could retaliate.

He still yelled after me, "this isn't over and you're not allowed to call me that!" I think I won that round.