The rest of the students didn't hesitate to run off towards the ramp now that the doors were open, some even using their quirks to get ahead of the others, the support course also took some of the lead with their inventions.
Tamaki on the other hand had frozen, standing like a deer in headlights as the stampede of people rushed around him, and in a few seconds, he knew he'd be dead last if he didn't move, but his feet were firmly locked in place. *Why can't I move? I need to do something, but I can't bring myself to do anything... * Tamaki thought, feeling even more pathetic as his body continued to stay where it was.
Then in a parody of the entrance exam Tamaki suddenly felt Miyake's head force itself between his legs and a bit dazed Tamaki only squeaked as Miyake ran off with him on his back "M-Miyake!" Tamaki cried flustered that his friend would do this knowing that the world was watching.
*Would you look at that? It seems that a couple of the class 1-A students have taken advantage of the lack of rules to team up for piggyback riding!* Mic-Sensei called out, no doubt drawing hundreds of eyes to the two of them making his embarrassment worse.
*Oh, Kami what if mama is watching? Or my aunts!? I'll never be able to show my face at the shrine, and I'll never see papa again!* Tamaki whined in his head burying his head in Miyake's shoulder when he saw Mirio, and the blonde whistled at them with a wink. "Nice ride Sunny!" he playfully yelled as Miyake overtook him on the ramp. *You're not helping Mirio!* Tamaki yelled back in his head since his voice wasn't working.
Even if he wanted to Tamaki couldn't keep his head buried, he raised his head planning to jump from Miyake's back once it was safe to do so only for his stomach to drop when he saw the topsy-turvy and warped "road" made of yellow brick. It started off normal, but its design quickly became more akin to a roller coaster track out of a game than a road, and he only knew that because of a game he played with Mirio from time to time.
The support students really did put a lot of work on this year's track judging from all the crazy twists, turns, and gaps in the track. It was making him dizzy looking at it, forget about going through it on his own. Miyake was having considerably less trouble with the whole thing as once they got to where the track turned into multiple thin paths with hip high barriers, Miyake dug his claws into the nearby dividers and used those as a path instead since the road was too small.
And if that wasn't bad enough the paths reformed into one of two paths directly after that. The first curved up and around multiple times taking the shape of a spiral or a corkscrew with large gaps, and the second was one that went up and down with steep hills. Miyake took the first path, easily jumping across the gaps without looking down, something Tamaki did and immediately regretted it when he saw how far up they really were, even if there was a safety net.
*Miyake really is a beast out on the field! Heh, I know professionals that can't jump rooftop-to-rooftop much less move with that kind of confidence, right Gen?* Mic-Sensei praised as Miyake jumped over multiple gaps that were at least a meter long each as he learned now given he was close enough to see much to his dismay when there was another way across, granted it was a longer path, but less risky.
There was an odd gurgling sound that resounded through the stadium speakers from General-Sensei, and Mic-Sensei laughed heartily *Good point Gen! But we were young back the- Woah! Looks like Hado's blasted herself off course and if she doesn't correct soon, she's gonna lose her chance to move on to the second round!* Mic-Sensei shouted, and Tamaki's head shot up.
Hado had been working on using short energy blasts to help her "double jump" as she put it but she was still working on her aim and while it allowed her to gain quite a lot of ground in the beginning she must have miscalculated and was now moving away from the stadium, and even though Tamaki knew there were more than enough people to catch her if she missed the safety net his heart lurched in his chest at the sight.
Drawing onto the fried crickets Mirio fed him Tamaki didn't even think as he jumped using Miyake as a springboard. Even with the help of his cricket legs Tamaki wasn't going to reach Hado and he forced his hand into becoming an octopus tentacle and took advantage of the muscles elasticity to force the limb to extend by some miracle he got it long enough to wrap around Hado's waist making the girl yelp.
"Amajiki-Chan what are you doing?" she called clearly confused to see him, and it was at that moment that Tamaki remembered that he didn't quite have a plan to get back to the track and likely had just gotten himself disqualified alongside Hado. "I d-don't know!" he yelled back, and Tamaki began panicking knowing the ant wings he could make couldn't get himself off the ground much less fly with Hado in tow.
"Amajiki, catch!" Oswald shouted and looking behind him Tamaki saw Oswald's hand stretching reaching out for him and he acted quickly to grab it with his other hand, as soon as their hands met Tamaki felt Oswald retracting his arm and subsequently yanking them back to the course, with their momentum he and Hado ended up swinging up and over the course.
Knowing gravity was going to drag them back down in few moments Tamaki searched for something to grab onto with his quirk and chose the top of the last loop in the corkscrew a bit ahead of them, he turned his other arm into another tentacle and shot it the road and got himself a grip on the beginning of a rail and finally brought them back onto the track though they both stumbled and fell over.
*Oh yeeeah! Did everyone see that? What an unexpected but utterly spectacular rescue of their classmate by class 1-A!* Mic-Sensei gushed and there was more gurgling from General-Sensei *Well you're right they need to work on their tactics, but it isn't every day we see such gumption from the first years.* Mic-Sensei told General-Sensei.
Recovering enough, the two of them sat back up. Hado pushed her hair out of her face then hugged him "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, for saving me Amajiki-Chan! I can't believe you did that just for me! I promise to make this up to you!" Hado cheered as she dragged him up to his feet then began running with him since she hadn't let go of his wrist.
Tamaki's guts were still trying to readjust themselves to being on semi-solid ground again, but he could follow after Hado as she led him through the seemingly random path, he jumped however when he felt someone lightly smack his shoulder and turned to see Haya had caught up with them "Nice work out there Amajiki!" she told him looking relieved to see them in one piece.
"As proud as I am of you for getting yourself out there Amajiki, do you think your next daring rescue can involve less arm strain?" Oswald requested as he swung over to them, the comment making Tamaki go red "S-sorry Oswald-San!" Tamaki muttered and that time Haya smacked the pinkette "Don't listen to him Amajiki, you were awesome out there." Haya proclaimed and Tamaki became tempted to throw himself out of the race by going back jumping off the track through one of the gaps.
As if sensing his thoughts Miyake appeared and again swept him off his feet with Tamaki once again on top of Miyake "Oh! Can we get a piggy-back too Miyake-Chan?" Hado asked and instead of answering Miyake used his tail to grab Haya and placed the girl behind Tamaki on his back, so she had to hold onto Tamaki to stay on, seconds later he scooped Hado up by slotting her in front of him and Tamaki had to hold onto her keep him and Haya from falling.
"Woo! Onwards to victory Miyake-Chan!" Hado cheered pointing to where the lap turned into a series of different poles to jump onto, and Miyake began running again seeming not to notice the difference of having three people on his back instead of one "Hey wait for me you big oaf!" Oswald shouted using his quirk to stretch out his limbs and swing himself forward to keep up.
*Well, well it seems those in the rescue have all joined together for a team piggyback, it's not often we see this kind of thing during this part of the sports festival right Gen?* Mic-Sensei pointed out and General-Sensei gurgled some more.
Getting to the poles Miyake only paused for a few seconds turning his head slightly behind him towards Oswald, as soon as the pinkette was within reach Miyake wrapped his tail around the boy's waist and put him behind Haya. He turned back to the field of poles and crouched down preparing to jump, the next second Miyake leaped forward and landed on three of the poles because he couldn't stand on just one with how big he was.
"Okay, fuck this is nerve-wracking. How do you do this Amajiki?" Oswald questioned tersely as he clung to Haya and the only person not panicking other than Miyake was Hado who seemed to be cheerfully enjoying the entire thing. Tamaki personally felt dizzy and buried his face in Hado's shoulder "I-I can't… " he mumbled, squeaking when Haya's arms tightened on the next jump Miyake took.
Hado laughed at them "Oh come on guys, this is so much fun. Like a roller-coaster ride, go Miyake-Chan!" Hado told them throwing her hands up in the air, something that wasn't expected, and Tamaki had to lean back, which made Haya jolt back and Oswald unfortunately hadn't had enough balance and on the next jump he was about to fall off "Ahh!" he yelled making Tamaki's heart drop "Oswald!" Haya cried quickly turning and grabbing onto his shirt.
Haya's arm still wrapped around him made his already upset stomach closer to throwing up from the extra pressure. But he said nothing as he was far more worried about Oswald falling and possibly hitting his head, Haya wouldn't be able to keep Oswald from falling but Miyake's tail shot up and pushed him back into place, they had all stopped for a moment to breath and process.
"Oh my gosh! I'm so, so sorry Oswald-Chan! I swear I didn't mean to do that, are you okay?" Hado immediately spouted apologies. Oswald took a deep breath "I-I'm fine, thanks for the catch, Miyake." Oswald said, tightening his hold on Haya. Miyake didn't move, he waited another few seconds before moving again by carefully moving pillar to pillar instead of jumping like before.
It took a bit longer to cross the pillars since Miyake wasn't jumping anymore, but they still made it in good time and moved on to the next part of the insane course. Looking at the multiple overlapping thin strips of the track forming something like a jungle gym Tamaki couldn't help wondering how the Support course could've made this from bricks.
Miyake, in a continued show of indifference was not fazed by the change of footing underneath, and managed to crawl up, over, and under the structure while keeping them all in mind because Tamaki only had to duck his head once or twice so far.
Suddenly something whirled past his face cutting his cheek and striking Hado in the shoulder at the same time Miyake's body stopped moving "Ah! What?" Hado exclaimed and Tamaki turned back to see one of the Support students quickly gaining on them.
"Oops, sorry darling. I'm still working on some bugs, no hard feelings, right?" the blonde told them as she overtook them using some kind of wire system coming out of her backpack "Tootles~" she called over her shoulder with a wink.
Tamaki had the distinct feeling the girl wasn't sorry as he looked down and saw Miyake's foot caught up in a separated wire, and he wasn't the only one who must've felt that way. "Amajiki, Hado, duck." Haya said and Tamaki glanced back only to squeak when he saw she had made an arrow and leaned forward as far as he could, also forcing Hado down.
The next second Haya threw the arrow hitting the dead center of the girl's backpack and causing it to malfunction and leave the girl stranded. "Nice!" Oswald praised giving Haya a high-five and Haya puffed up with a bit of pride. But the moment was short-lived as Miyake yanked his foot free and was moving again.
"Might need to work on the casing there darling." Haya sarcastically called over her shoulder as they passed the blonde as she tried to get herself free of the backpack. Oswald being at the end of the chain happily stuck out his tongue at her "W-we shouldn't be m-making enemies with t-the support course." Tamaki managed to sputter at them, and Haya frowned "Probably not." Haya admitted looking away.
"She started it, we were just returning the favor Amajiki." Oswald told him with a shrug before his eyes got wide "Damnit! Everyone duck!" Oswald ordered and not hesitating Tamaki again ducked, just in time as a few bricks were sent flying overhead and would've hit them in the head if Oswald didn't warn them.
Tamaki looked up to see just what threw those bricks at them and saw one of Mirio's classmates weren't being that considerate as they literality tore through the next part of the track that had a bunch of walls they were meant to run around "That guy is being such a dick." Oswald spat and Tamaki didn't quite disagree with that statement as even more bricks came flying back at them.
Hado pouted, pushing her hair out of her face when she sat up the second time, and Tamaki felt bad she had to be pressed between him and Miyake when he ducked. But Hado seemed more miffed with the other person, as when the bricks were coming at them for a third time she brought her hands up then blasted them into dust with her quirk. "It's my turn to protect you guys, so don't worry about what's ahead Miyake-Chan and just go full steam ahead." Hado instructed locking her legs around Miyake's neck.
Something that was a pretty good idea since Miyake did start going much faster and they all had to hold on to Hado to keep from falling off. Hado herself was too busy blasting away at the incoming bricks to notice how the rest of them were fairing, to be fair though Tamaki didn't know either since his face was buried in Hado's back and his eyes were closed. *This is too much… * Tamaki whined in his head when part of a brick hit him in the head.
This event was obviously inspired by the yellow brick road of the wizard of oz, and I think that making things for the big events like the sports festival is used as a regular part of their course work.
Working on different things but having the same parameters would be a great recurring project and could be put on future portfolios for the students, and for working on specific things that aren't of their own design in mass we have the robots from the entrance exam.