Amari's calves screamed in protest as she attempted a downward facing dog position. She let out a pained groan as she held the pose for several more seconds before collapsing into the soft grass.
"I think this counts as torture."
She scrunched her nose, the grass tickling her face as she moved her head to the side to stare enviously at Momo's perfect posture as she held the pose effortlessly.
"Agreed." Mina's voice piped up from her left as she crumbled into a heap next to her.
It was two days before the sports festival and Mina had invited over Momo and Amari to hangout. In her words, she was in serious need of a distraction from the upcoming sports festival. Momo had quickly suggested a nice relaxing yoga session.
Amari's protesting muscles were definitely not feeling relaxed though.
"Let's try a seated forward bend next." Momo chirped happily as she stretched out of the downward facing dog and sat down on the grass with her legs straight in front of her, motioning the two girls to follow her lead.
Grumbling under her breath, Amari mirrored her friend's pose, blanching as Momo bent over and touched her nose to her knees.
"You've got to be kidding me." She mumbled.
Mina, who had heard the little quip snorted quietly as she bent over, nose hovering a meager 5 cm over her knees.
Not to be outdone, Amari took in a nice deep breath and moved into the stretch as she exhaled just as Momo had instructed them to do. Her legs were burning as she strained to move her nose closer to her knees. Trembling, she managed to hold it for a few seconds before letting herself fall on her back.
"I give up." She spoke, looking towards the bright blue sky above her. "I'm done."
"But there's still the cobra and the wheel to improve back flexibility." Momo protested.
"Thanks, but no thanks."
"I agree." Mina piped up. "I think we've done enough yoga for today."
Several moments later all three girls were sat on the porch sipping on a fruit smoothie Mina had whipped up in her kitchen.
"I just hope one of the girls makes it into the finals." Mina lamented, uncharacteristically downcast. "I think we could use some recognition."
Amari winced, knowing exactly what her friend was talking about. She had heard several of her female classmates mention that they didn't feel entirely taken serious by their male classmates. The boys were often too afraid of hurting them to spar with them properly, which took the chance of actually learning something right out of their hands.
Even in the current hero world, the lack of female heroes compared to their male counterparts was glaringly obvious. Not to mention the fact that most of those few female heroes around worked in rescue or were otherwise relegated to support work.
Especially Mina, who had the full intention of going into combat specializations, was often given 'helpful tips' by All Might on how one might use her quirk in the rescue field during class. None of the boys ever received these tips from the man.
Overall, the age old stereotypes of men being stronger than women still reigned in the country. Such a thing might have been true a long time ago, when there were no quirks and only pure muscle mass counted. However, now that quirks ruled the world, that had all changed. There was no scientific proof that girls received weaker quirks than boys at all.
"It's about time they realized that you girls are just as capable as the boys in class." Amari mused wistfully, sipping from her drink.
She realized that she herself was practically a walking stereotype with her full support quirk.
"We'll show them our best." Momo agreed.
Excited whispers echoed through the halls as Amari briskly walked towards her class's waiting room. Her classmates had been training their asses off over the last weeks and today all their hard work would finally be put to the test.
The door creaked as she pushed it open but no one seemed to notice the sound over the nervous chatter happening in the locker room. Some students, like Sato and Koda, were quietly staring at seemingly nothing. Midoriya was nervously rambling on and on about who's quirk would have an advantage in certain types of tests to Ochaco, who was looking more and more green by the second.
Amari quickly located Mina who was locked in a serious conversation with Jiro and made her way over.
"Hey girls." She spoke, playfully bumping her hip against Mina's. "Good luck out there today. Show them what you can do."
"Thanks, I'll need it." Her friend responded.
"Are you competing too?" Jiro inquired, giving a meaningful look at the gym uniform Amari was wearing.
"Luckily not." Amari shivered. "That would be so embarrassing."
She quickly turned around and moved her pony tail out of the way to show the red cross printed on the back of her vest.
"I'm only walking out with you guys and then I'm heading into the nurse's office with my grandma."
She had actually strongly requested to be excluded from the opening ceremony but apparently the principal had insisted on her attendance.
"Midoriya." Todoroki's monotone voice broke through the murmering of the class, drawing multiple eyes in his direction.
The normally stoic boy looked tense, his hands clenched into fists at his side and his back ramrod straight.
"Objectively speaking I'm stronger than you."
Amari exchanged a quick look with Mina. Who says something like that? Why pick a fight before the individual rounds?
"All Might has his eyes on you, right?" He continued as Midoriya stared back with open mouth. "I don't know why that is, but I'm going to beat you."
"What's with the declaration of war?" Kaminari chuckled breezily, piercing through the thick layer of tension in the room.
"Yeah, what's the big deal?" Kirishima put a hand on Todoroki's shoulder.
The boy roughly shoved Kirishima's hand away from him, finally turning his unwavering dark look from Midoriya onto the redhead.
"We're not here to make friends. Don't forget that. There can only be one winner at the end of the day."
"Suddenly Bakugou's nickname makes a lot more sense doesn't it." Amari whispered to Mina and Jiro, who huffed in amusement.
"Wait a second, Todoroki." Midoriya finally replied. "I don't know what's going through your head or why you told be you're going to beat you, and well yeah, of course you're better than me. In fact, you probably have way more potential than anyone in the hero course..."
Amari blinked owlishly at the negative spiral she could see going through the boy's mind as he put himself -and the rest of the class for that matter- down.
"Uh maybe you're being a bit too hard on yourself." Kirishima butted in uncomfortably.
"He's right, you guys." The boy gestured around. "All the other courses are coming for us with all they've got. We're going to have to fight to stand out and I will aim for the top too."
It was quiet for several painfully awkward moments before the door swung open and Iida stuck his head inside.
"It's time to walk out. Please be mindful that you are representing this prestigious institution on national television."
They all huddled behind their class president as he ushered them to a tunnel opening into the arena like nervous little lambs.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Present Mic's voice boomed through the stadium. "Welcome back to the annual U.A. Sports Festival! Where upcoming heroes leave everything on the field as they fight for the chance to be recognized worldwide. This first group is no strangers to the spotlight. You know them from withstanding a villain attack: The Hero Class students of class 1-A!"
Amari blew out a shaky breath as the class moved out of the tunnel and into the stadium under the loud cheering of the audience. The sunlight was nearly blinding compared to the relative darkness of the tunnel as she put a hand over her eyes. The audience had to be several thousands of heroes and civilians wide.
"Present Mic sure gave us an entrance." Kirishima spoke to Bakugou just in front of her. "Kind of makes me nervous. How are you feeling, man?"
"I'm going to win this shit." The blonde scoffed, but Amari could see his hands twitching at his sides with nerves.
Finally, their class came to a stop at the edge of the field in front of a raised stage with Midnight, wearing a precariously risky outfit, on top of it with her whip in hand. They slowly waited for every other class to be called out, walking in with ever decreasing enthousiasm.
"Now it's time for the student pledge from the class representative." She declared, motioning towards a speaker desk at her side.
Amari wondered what cliche speech Iida had come up. She merely hoped it was less than the eight pages he had read to their class for their two page Japanese essay.
She nearly choked on her spit as Bakugou made his way up the stage instead.
"Uh shouldn't someone stop him?" She muttered to Kirishima.
"Yeah probably." The redhead replied uncertainly.
"I just want to say." The blonde's gruff voice echoed through the stadium. "I'm going to win."
With no further ado, the boy put back the mic and walked off the stage as the crowd booed him.
"Oh my god." Amari was unsure whether to be annoyed or amused.
"Now before we get started." Present Mic swiftly interjected the angry crowd. "I'd like to draw your attention to a special student who won't be competing today."
Her spine stiffened as she could already feel her classmates, and very soon the rest of the world, looking in her direction.
"Class 1-A's own guardian angel. The girl with the healing quirk: Shuzenji Amari!"
Amari gulped as she felt the blood rush to her cheeks. One of the camera's panned in on her face in the crowd as the audience clapped politely. She awkwardly waved into the camera lens, while making desperate eye contact with Midnight to continue.
"Without further ado, it's time to begin!" Midnight took the hint with a wink in her direction. "The first game is where you start feeling the pain."
The big screen that had previously projected Amari's red face to the crowd now showed a roulette.
"What could it be?" Midnight asked like she didn't know exactly what it was gonna be.
The roulette beeped for a few awkward second before stopping on the words 'obstacle race'.
Once again, Amari thanked the heavens that she wouldn't be participating. Her subpar stamina and muscle strength - though improved since the USJ happening - would have surely made her a laughing stock.
"All our classes will be competing in this contest. The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium. As for the rules? As long as you stay within the bounds of the track, everything goes!"
The crowd cheered wildly at that statement, while the students were shooting each other dubious looks.
"Please take your places!"
"Well, good luck guys!" Amari called cheerfully, turning around and making her way back into the tunnel and through the building into the nurses office.
"Hi grandma." She waved as she entered.
The room was big enough for a dozen beds as well as some chairs. Her grandma was already checking the stocks they had been provided with. Amari was pleased to see a small TV screen broadcasting the sports festival.
The race had just started and Todoroki had frozen the entrance, instantly taking out at least half of the competition (not that, she suspected, the majority of thebusiness classes cared much for the event).
"That boy." Recovery Girl muttered grumpily as she pointed her cane at the screen. "Gonna make us overrun with frostbitten students."
A/N: Hi everyone! It's been so long since I updated this story that's it's been hard to get back into the flow. That's why this chapter might be a bit wonkier than usual. I'll try to get back into the flow for the next chapter