Chapter 9: Sports Festival Stage 1
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1A Classroom, Monday Morning
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The school day was finally about to start, but the atmosphere inside the classroom was much different than it was the previous week. Most were quiet and subdued. As Ichigo looked around in his classroom, he could see how much of an affect the villain attack had on everyone. Most of the boys were barely keeping their eyes open with heavy bags under their eyes. On the girls, he could just barely make out the heavy amounts of makeup they had used to hide their lack of sleep. Even Mina, being the most talkative, seemed tired and was most likely only talking to keep her mind off her nightmares.
Even when Kirishima, Kaminari and Sero brought Bakugo into their conversation, his response, while still in his typical angry tone, lacked the edge it would normally have.
"I wonder who will be in charge of home room, kero." Came the voice of Tsuyu.
"Yeah. Aizawa-sensei was pretty banged up after fighting that Nomu." Said Jiro. "But what about the rest of you that fought that thing? How are your injuries?"
Near Bakugo's desk, Kirishima grinned and flexed his bicep while activating his quirk on that arm. "The doctors said I got out fine. Just some heavy bruising, a mild concussion, and a cracked bone."
Tokoyami raised one of his arms, displaying how heavily bandaged it was. "My arms should be properly healed after a few more visits to either the hospital or Recovery Girl. Until then, I have been ordered to refrain from heavy strain."
On the other side of the room, Iida spoke. "Our family physiotherapist has instructed that I refrain from putting any weight on my leg for the next few days."
Behind him, Ochako gasped and then exclaimed. "You're loaded!"
Several seconds of silence followed her yell until with a snort, Mina burst into a fit of laughter. Following this, the rest of the class laughed as well, dispelling the depressive aura that had permeated in the room. The only one not laughing was Iida that held a flushed expression on his face.
Conversation was halted by the ringing of the bell. They quickly made it to their seats and waited for their instructor. Half a minute later, they felt the rumbling of an earthquake until the door burst open revealing All Might wearing a stripped yellow suit, a blue necktie, and a white dress shirt.
"GOOD MORNING STUDENTS! I HOPE YOU HAVEN'T MISSED ME TOO MUCH!" He said and then posed, making a peace sign and held it over his left eye.
"Good morning sensei." The class chorused.
"Now, I have a few announcements for you all today." He pulled out a few flash cards from one of his pockets. He cleared his throat and lifted his head to speak but saw Tsuyu with a hand raised. "Yes, Young Asui?"
"How is Aizawa-sensei, All Might-sensei?"
"Ah." He chuckled nervously in response. "Well, he is currently on campus. He was on his way to class, but Recovery Girl found him and had principal Nezu ban him from doing any work." Some students chuckled at hearing this. "Let me start with the announcements. First, you will all be receiving half days for the next week. Class will continue as normal during the first half of the day, though with a lighter load, and during the time you would have spent in Hero Foundational Studies, some of you will be taken to Midnight and Hound Dog for counselling while the rest of you will be allowed to use the facilities on campus or return home if you so choose.
Secondly, you may have realized that we have two empty desks. Young Shouji had gone through an intense surgery over the weekend and has been put under a medically induced coma so his body could readjust to the stress of the operation. The doctors are planning to wake him up tomorrow. We will be notified when visitations are allowed, and we will inform you when you can visit. As for Young Mineta, he and his parents had a meeting with principal Nezu over the weekend and had decided that it would be best if he were to be transferred into the General Studies course. Please do not think that he has abandoned you. You all have personally experienced the horrors of our profession. Some however are not strong enough to handle it. For those, it is better for them to find this out early on in their careers, so even though what happened to you all is terrible, Mineta-san may have benefited from the experience." The classroom was left in a stunned silence.
"Finally, two weeks from now, the UA Sports Festival will be taking place."
Kaminari's hand shot up. "Uhm, sensei. Are you sure that is safe for the school to do this so soon after a villain attack?"
"Yeah. Like, what if more villains attack." Spoke Jiro.
"Fear not my dear students. Principal Nezu is making preparations for the event. There will be several heroes guarding the surrounding area. I believe that there will be at least five times the number of guards compared to previous years."
Shortly afterward, the bell rang, and classes began.
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Time Skip (Lunch Break)
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"Come on guys. Are you as hyped as I am. The sports festival is gonna be so MANLY!" Kirishima spoke and ended in a yell while pumping his fist into the air. Next to him, Mina, Sero and Kaminari did the same. Kirishima then bounded to Bakugo and slung an arm over his shoulder. "Come on Baku-bro. Aren't you as excited as we are?"
"Get the fuck off me Shitty Hair."
On the other hand, Ichigo was having a more subdued conversation with Momo as they approached the door. Once they opened the door the saw multiple students from the various other first year classes.
"Oh my." Momo gasped. "How can I help you?"
"Hey, what's up with the crowd?" Came the voice of Kaminari.
"Isn't it obvious? The extras are scoping out the competition." Said Bakugo.
"Huh. What do you mean?" Questioned Uraraka.
"What do you fucking think I mean, Round Face. We survived a villain attack and now they're trying to figure us out." Bakugo then made his way. Once he reached the crowd, he spoke again. "Now get the fuck out of my way, you goddamn extras."
The crowd felt insulted and made their displeasure known by yelling back at him. Amid the commotion, a boy with shaggy purple hair made his way to the front of the crowd. "So, this is what the hero course students are like. Must say, it's disappointing. To think that the heroes could be so arrogant. A lot of us in the General Education Department wanted to be in the Hero course but were sidelined for all of you. I heard that if those in Gen.Ed course do well, we could replace some of those in the hero course. So, you better watch yourselves or you might find yourselves booted to general studies."
"The fuck are you on about, Sleepy. You're not worth my time so, get the fuck out of my way." With that said, Bakugo pushed right past the purple haired student while the others shuffled away to make a path for him.
Following his exit, Momo bowed slightly to the gathered crowd. "I apologize for his words. Now if you'll please excuse us, we will be leaving as well. Come on, Ichigo-san."
"Sure, lead the way."
From behind them, the two heard Mina and Tooru talking about how the first class 1A couple had already been formed, which caused a hot blush to form on both of their faces.
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Two Weeks Later (UA Stadium Locker Room)
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After two weeks of gruelling training, the day of the Sports Festival had finally arrived. Most of the class were waiting in their assigned locker room while waiting for Present Mic to announce the start of the festival. This however excluded Shouji, as his doctors prohibited him from participating.
Shoto slowly approached Izuku and Ichigo, who had become close during their stay at UA. "Midoriya." That got the attention of everyone in the room. "I've noticed that you've managed to catch All Might's eye. Between the two of us, I believe that I am the stronger. I have a purpose that I need to accomplish, and to achieve it I will be using you as a steppingstone." He then looked at Ichigo. "As for you, Kurosaki. This won't be the same as the Battle Trials."
"Oooohhh. Is this a declaration of war?" questioned Kaminari.
Izuku took a confident step forward, holding eye contact with the taller teen. "I don't know why you're after me, but I won't be losing to you. Your quirk is Half-Hot Half-Cold, and yet I've only ever seen you use your ice. Everyone here is going into this with everything they've got but you're only going at it with 50%. If that's what you're going to continue doing, then there's no way I will lose."
"Yeah. If you're going to do the same thing you did during the Battle Trial, then there won't be much difference in the outcome." Stated Ichigo.
"Class 1A, please make your way to the entrance."* came the voice of Present Mic over the intercom.
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UA Sport Stadium
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"GOOD MORNING LISTENERS. WELCOME TO THE ANNUAL UA SPORTS FESTIVAL. THIS IS WHERE OUR LITTLE LISTENERS AIM TO SHOW THE WORLD WHAT THEY CAN DO.
FIRST, LET'S INTRODUCE OUR GOLDEN STARS THAT WERE ABLE TO REPEL A MASS VILLAIN ASSAULT. FROM THE DEPARTMENT OF HEROES, CLASS A!!!!!!!!!!"*
"W-w-w-wow. T-th-there's s-so m-many pe-people." Izuku stuttered out.
Uraraka then bounced up to Izuku and slapped his back. "Hey Deku, what happened to that confidence you had in the locker rooms."
"I-I've j-just ne-never b-been in front such a l-large crowd."
"NEXT, ALSO FROM THE HERO DEPARTMENT IS CLASS B."*
From a separate entrance came the students of class 1B
"NEXT IS THE DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL EDUCATION, CLASSES C, D AND E. THE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT, CLASSES F, G AND H ALONG WITH CLASSES I, J AND K FROM THE MANAGEMENT DEPARTMENT."*
The announcement was followed by the arrival of the mentioned classes. Once everyone was lined up in front of the podium where Midnight was standing.
She cracked her whip and spoke into the mic provided. *"Welcome students. Before we kick off the Sports Festival, let's have a word from our student representative, Bakugo Katsuki from class 1A."*
Bakugo slowly made his way to the podium with a slouch and his hands in his pockets. He cleared his throat and got the attention of everyone in the stadium. *"I… am winning this." And with that said, he began walking back to were he had been standing previously. After a few seconds of silence, the crowd of students erupted in a chorus of boos and jeers, all of which Bakugo ignored.
With another crack of her whip, Midnight refocused the attention of everyone back to herself. *"All right. Let's get right into the first event."*
On a screen behind the R-rated hero, the words OBSTACLE COURSE was displayed. *"The obstacle course is a four-kilometre ring around the stadium filled with various things you will either have to dodge, outthink or power through. Here at UA, we are given free reign to everything we need to help our students grow and mature. So, now we give you all permission to g all out to win, so long as you remain within the borders and do not attack one another."*
Once everyone was in position, a red light flashed on in front of them.
"Get ready in…
3…
2…
1…
Start!"*
And with that the race began.
The first thing to occur was that everyone not in class 1A or fast enough to react found their feet frozen to the floor while Shoto took the opportunity to sprint ahead. Then the rest of class 1A and a few others used their quirks in various ways to jump over the crowd of students that were stuck inside the tunnel. The next most noticeable person to escape the tunnel was propelled by loud explosions trailing his path.
The following pair to escape the tunnel however quickly drew the attention of the spectators. One was an orange haired teen shrouded in black running and catching up to the leading pair of Shoto and Bakugo. Just slightly behind him, was a shorter teen with green hair with green electric sparks surrounding him.
Izuku smiled. 'Finally. I can show the world that I am here. That I will be the future Symbol of Peace.' He remembered back to how he was able to finally gain control of One For All.
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Flashback – Four days after Moving into UA
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Late one night, Ichigo was making his way back from the bathroom when he heard the sounds of crying coming from Izuku's room. Remembering how his sisters reacted to the death of their mother, he decided that he should help Izuku, but he knew that he couldn't treat him the same way he treated his sisters. So, he knocked.
"Hey, Izuku."
He waited for several seconds while Izuku tried calming down. "Y-yes?"
"Are you alright?"
"Y-yes, K-Kurosaki-san."
"Hey. You mind coming with me. And put on your training gear." Not waiting for an answer, he then went to his own room to change.
Minutes later, he was met by the nervous boy with red and puffy eyes.
"Uhm, K-Kurosaki-san. W-why a-are we in o-our t-training gear."
Ichigo began walking, Izuku falling into step beside him. "I have a feeling you won't be able to sleep much further without any more nightmares. So, let's use our time better and train a bit."
"O-o-ok."
Once they reached one of the indoor training fields, the two focused on basic fitness training and some quirkless sparring for the next five hours.
A bad thing about their training session was that they didn't have any further sleep and could barely stay awake for the entire day.
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Time Skip (Several Days Later)
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During another training session, a more confident Izuku had finally finished his final set of crunches and decided to question Ichigo.
"Excuse me, Ichigo. Could I ask you a few questions about your quirk?"
"Uh, sure."
Suddenly, Izuku had a book and pen in his hands that he didn't have before. "So, your quirk's name is Fullbring, right?" He received a nod in response and then continued. "What are the black flame and the white ribbons that form from your quirk?"
Ichigo scratched his head in confusion and then responded. "I don't actually know what the white ribbons are made of, but the black flames are actually my stamina being burnt off."
Intense scribbling followed his response and then another question followed. "Uhm, how does it feel when you activate your quirk? I mean Kirishima explained that for him, it's like flexing a muscle."
A slight blush formed on Ichigo's cheeks. "So, yeah." He then formed a large manji in his right hand. "For this I just focus a portion of my power into my hand." He then shrouded himself in the black flame-like shihakusho. "For this, I use about ten times the amount of energy I use for the first stage and cover my entire body in it like a blanket. And then for the last stage," suddenly the white ribbons then spread and surround his body. "I just increase the amount of energy I'm putting out by a factor of ten again. But the first few times just increased my output, I burned through my stamina in a few minutes, so I compressed it to my body, though until the mask formed at the USJ, I didn't know why I got the white armor. At this point It feels like I'm wearing a weighted blanket."
Izuku on the other hand looked as if he just had an epiphany. "So that's how it is." He then focused One For All into his arm. Red lines started forming on his skin and Ichigo could see Izuku cringe in pain. "Ok. Just need to lower the output." Slowly the lines started to recede, and he didn't feel the overwhelming pain in his arm. "Next I need to spread it over my entire body." He started to focus on spreading the power, but was smacked in the back of the head, forcing him to lose concentration.
He rubbed the back of his head and looked up at Ichigo with a question in his eyes. "There's no need to rush Izuku. You don't want your heart bursting from the strain, do you?"
Conceding the point, Izuku decided to wait until a later date to try again.
"For now, just try and get used to it in one limb at a time."
"OK, Ichigo."
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Time Skip (Three Days Later)
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"Ok. Now that you've gotten used to using your quirk in one arm, let's see if you can do it in your entire body." Ichigo spoke.
Izuku nodded his head and slipped into a slightly crouched position with his arms flexed out in front of himself. Slowly, Izuku's muscles bulged slightly, starting in his forearms then his upper arm then his chest and finally his legs. After this, red lines spread across his entire body, originating from his fist. Suddenly, the lines vanished, and small sparks of green lightning jumped from his body. Initially only being sporadic, until it became more consistent.
Izuku began started moving, each movement being slow and robotic. "W-wow. Th-this… I feel so strong, and it doesn't hurt like it usually does."
"Alright. Now that you can control it while standing still, we'll start with slow movements until you can move at your maximum speed."
"Q-quick question, Ichigo? I-is this how you were trained, like you mentioned on the bus to the…" Izuku then paused, his mood becoming more melancholic.
Ichigo nearly snorted. "No, this is how I would have liked to be trained. If we were to train like I was trained back home, there wouldn't be so much standing around."
"Well, could you demonstrate how it went?" Izuku questioned.
"Are you sure? It was hard." Ichigo responded.
"Yeah."
"Alright. We'll do this every time we spar until the Sports Festival. After that, we'll stop if you don't want to continue." Ichigo received a nod in response. Before more was said, a black flame erupted from Ichigo's right arm and solidifying into the manji again before he concentrated on it, and it shifted into a sword. Izuku opened his mouth to speak but was cut of by Ichigo's voice. "We're not stopping until you land a punch on my face." He said while tapping his forehead with his left thumb.
A moment later, Ichigo swung his sword at Izuku's midsection, which was barely dodged when Izuku had to deactivate his quirk to remove the stiffness of his muscles.
"Oh, and every time you stop using your quirk, I'll start going harder on you."
Izuku looked up in freight, seeing a blank faced Ichigo, but he could just imagine him having a vicious smirk on his face.
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Flashback End
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Bakugo looked back and saw both Ichigo and Izuku gaining on him. Shock crossed his face and internally he began to panic slightly. 'The fuck. How is fucking Deku doing that?' He refocused on the path ahead of himself and saw how Shoto flash froze the zero pointers. He decided to increase the strength of his explosions and went over the falling robot.
Ichigo on the other hand increased his speed again and sprinted underneath the robot. Within the next few seconds, he completely overtook Bakugo and took second place with Shoto barely a few steps ahead of him.
By the time they arrived at the pitfalls, Ichigo had taken first place, Izuku had taken second, followed by Shoto and Bakugo. Instead of using the provided ropes to cross the pitfall, Ichigo just flash stepped over the gaps to each successive pillar. Behind him, Izuku jumped from pillar to pillar with great acrobatic ability. Bakugo put extra strain on his arms by increasing the strength of each explosion and simply flew over the entire pitfall, taking third place. Shoto fell back into fourth, having to travel over the pitfall via the suspended ropes.
Ichigo had reached the mine field and couldn't see any way for him to run across it without triggering them. He took a ready stance and disappeared in a burst of speed. Every time he ended a flash step, he used it again and disappeared just in time to avoid the shockwave of the explosion. Behind him, Izuku began sprinting at his maximum speed on the edge of the minefield where the concentration of land mines was lower than any other place. Back in third place, Bakugo had taken a few seconds to rest to allow the feeling in his arms to return. Once he felt ready, he sprang back into action and launched himself over the mine field. The break he had taken however did allow for Shoto to catch up once again and now Bakugo and Shoto were tied for third place.
Back in first place, Ichigo had just reached the end of the mine field. Slightly winded from the number of flash steps he had taken and the close succession between each, Ichigo had just decided to run the rest of the way to the finish line. Once he reached a distance of fifteen meters from the tunnel signifying the end of the race, a metal pillar came up from the ground behind Ichigo and shot out a rope that wrapped itself around his legs and tripped him.
Because of this, and the difficulty in untying the rope, Izuku was able to surpass him. Then Shoto. Then Bakugo. Then two students he did not recognize and finally Iida. When he finally managed to untie himself, he ended up in seventh place.
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Time skip (End of First Event)
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"AAAAAAAAAANNNDD THAT'S THE FIRST STAGE OF THE UA SPORTS FESTIVAL, AND WOW WAS IT EXCITING. ALL THE SUSPENSE, THE ACTION. IT'S ENOUGH TO KEEP ME ON THE EDGE OF MY SEAT. WHAT ABOUT YOU AIZAWA? WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THE STARTING EVENT?"*
"Calm down. You're being too loud."*
"WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY ABOUT THEIR PERFORMANCE? I'M SURE YOU'RE PROUD OF YOUR STUDENTS. FROM THE LIST, IT SEEMS THAT ALL YOUR PARTICIPATING STUDENTS HAD PASSED."*
"If they couldn't even pass the first stage, then they should transfer out of the Hero Course."*
"WOW, THAT'S COLD. BUT WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT THE FINAL UPSET?"*
"Heroes are supposed to be aware of their surroundings. It only proves that Kurosaki needs more training if he was so easily taken down by an attack from behind."*
"AND THERE YOU HAVE IT LISTENERS. AIZAWA CARES JUST BARELY ENOUGH ABOUT HIS STUDENTS TO REPRIMAND THEM. FOR NOW WE WILL GIVE ALL THE PARTICIPANTS A FIVE MINUTE BREAK."*
On the field, a grinning and teary eyed Izuku was shaking in excitement as he looked at all the spectators that were cheering. "I did it." He then clenched his fist over his heart. 'I did it, All Might-sensei.'
Several steps behind him, a panting Bakugo was raging internally. 'How?!' His eyes shifted up towards Izuku, who was smiling brightly, making him even more angry. 'How the fuck did the useless piece of shit beat me?!' His then glared at Ichigo. 'And if that fucker wasn't caught in that trap, I wouldn't even have made it into the top three!'
Ichigo on the other hand was only slightly annoyed at the trap that UA had sprung on him as he approached the tunnel that had signified the end of the race. He decides that instead of focusing on his loss, he would congratulate his newest friend. "Hey, Izuku!" He called out. Once Izuku turned in his direction with his beaming smile, he spoke again. "Congrats on the win."
"Thank you, Ichigo. Though, it seemed that you were very determined to place first place. I'm sorry that happened."
"Nah, don't worry about it. I'm more annoyed at the trap than at not winning. So, how are you feeling, Mr Number One?"
A blush spread across his face, which only intensified when Ochako came to him and started bouncing around him while congratulating him. "T-t-t-tha-thank y-y-you, U-U-Ura-Uraraka-san."
"You were so awesome. I mean like, you were all like BZZZZT and SWOOSH and then the way you jumped from pillar to pillar was AWESOME!!!"
On the receiving end, Izuku could barely stutter out a response.
Behind them, Ichigo had been joined by an exhausted and flustered Momo. "So…" he started but when he gazed over Momo's form, but had to look away with flushed cheeks, when he caught sight of her open top which displayed everything not hidden by her sports bra. He cleared his throat and tried to regain his composure. "How was the race?"
Momo merely stood in front of him and leaned her head against his chest. She took several deep breaths. "I… *pant* …six… *pant* …tired… *pant* …carry… *pant* …Mineta."
"Sorry. I couldn't really understand you."
pant* After a few seconds of deep breaths, Momo breathed out the answer again just barely louder than previously. "I came sixteenth, but after I got to the pitfall, Mineta attached himself to my shirt with his sticky balls. I couldn't get him off and had to carry him passed the finish line."
Indeed, when he looked, there on her clothes were sticky balls on either side of her. Not knowing what to say, he merely raised a hand to place on her head while searching for the smaller figure with an evil glint in his eyes. Once he found Mineta animatedly talking to a few other students, most of them wearing similar perverted grins on their faces. An evil smirk then spread across his face. "Hey, Momo…" When she heard the restrained excitement in his voice, she looked up at him in curiosity. "How about, depending on the next challenge, I help you get your revenge on him?"
An excited sparkle appeared in her eyes and just as she was about to start bouncing in place, it died out and a contemplative look replaced it. "But as hero students, we are expected to be representations of law-abiding citizens."
"Sure, sure… But as teenagers, we are expected to be at least slightly rebellious. Come on. If you tell me right now that you don't want to do it, I'll stop. It doesn't have to be anything big, just something that could give you some satisfaction."
A small amount of pink appeared on her face as well as a slight smile. "Ok. But how will we do that?"
"We'll have to figure that out once we find out what the next challenge is. Looks like Midnight-sensei is ready to make an announcement."
True to what he said, Midnight was standing on the podium with the microphone in her hand. *"Congratulations students. You've all done well in completing the obstacle course. However, you all know that not everyone can be allowed to pass to the second phase of today's festival. Before we continue on to the second phase, allow me to show you the forty students that will be passing on to the second stage."*
On the screen behind the instructor, a grid displaying the images and rankings of every passing student.
Izuku Midoriya (1), Shoto Todoroki (2), Katsuki Bakugo (3), Ibara Shiozaki (4), Juuzou Honenuki (5), Tenya Iida (6), Ichigo Kurosaki (7), Tokoyami Fumikage (8), Hanta Sero (9), Eijiro Kirishima (10), Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu (11), Mashirao Ojiro (12), Yousetsu Awase (13), Tsuyu Asui (14), Ochako Uraraka (15), Momo Yaoyorozu (16), Minoru Mineta (17), Mina Ashido (18), Kouji Koda (19), Jirou Kyouka (20), Sen Kaibara (21), Kosei Tsubaraba (22), Denki Kaminari (23), Kojiro Bondo (24), Reiko Yanagi (25), Hitoshi Shinso (26), Itsuka Kendo (27), Jurota Shishida (28), Shihai Kuroiro (29), Yui Kodai (30), Hiryu Rin (31), Nirengeki Shoda (32), Kinoko Komori (33), Togaru Kamakiri (34), Neito Monoma (35), Pony Tsunotori (36), Tooru Hagakure (37), Setsuna Tokage (38), Manga Fukidashi (39), Mei Hatsume (40).
"Now for everyone not mentioned on this list, there will be further events for all of you. For now, we will be continuing with the main event. The second event will be…"* The screen displaying the passing competitors shifted into a rapidly changing list of names until it slowed down and stopped. *"Domination. The rules are as follows,
Cementos will be creating large walls in a maze-like structure within the bounds of this field. With this, he will create four larger rooms that be labelled A, B, C and D. You are to divide yourselves into teams of four and stand on the marked areas on the ground. Those are your starting positions."* As each of the participants and crowd members could see, several X's were marked across the entire field at various distances. *"Your job in this game is to find and maintain control one of these rooms until the end of the game. Whichever team has dominion over a room will pass on to the third phase of the Sports Festival. You gain dominion over an area when all your members are standing within the room for thirty seconds without any member from another team opposing you.
As for our watchers…"* Around her, ten drones were launched into the air and various monitors activated, displaying the group of students. *"We will be providing an aerial feed of what will be occurring to make sure that you don't miss a single thing.
Now, students. You have fifteen minutes to arrange yourselves into teams. START YOUR PLANNING!"*
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CHAPTER END