The field was alive with the clicking of cameras, and the incessant talking of high schoolers, but not because they were eager to get started with their respective demonstrations. They were much more interested in the police officer standing against the wall near the sidelines. She was adorned with two blades of equal size on either side of her, each one connected to her belt buckle through a wire. The word Iblis was transcribed on the left blade, while Morgana was written on the right.

The woman herself was slightly taller than most, and there was barely a reference to her affiliation with law enforcement visible anywhere. The only thing to tip off she was such was the badge on her violently pink denim jacket, her hands inside each pocket. From a distance, her colors would almost suggest a child-friendly hero with a penchant for all things cute, on account of her apparent love for the color pink. The one trait that dismissed this idea entirely was her face, devoid of emotion whatsoever.

"You should've told me you were coming today, Rinasa! I would've tried to dress up a bit more." Ranika hugged the side of her sister while minding her blades. For her part, it looked like a normal sibling interaction. On Rinasa's side, there seemed to be no facial movement whatsoever.

"Where's father?" When Rinasa spoke, her detached tone mirroring her face.

"Still inside. Really don't know why he bothered to show up at all. All he did was just be an asshole as always."

A firm slap on the hand forced Ranika to pull away, exclaiming in pain. "Ouch! Geez, you hit way too hard, it's just a word."

"Behave. I have to finalize the schedule with father and Kanshi."

"Wait! You haven't met my friends yet, you can't leave!"

"I can leave. I'm doing it now."

Ranika facepalmed while letting a burst of air escape her mouth. "I mean, yeah, technically you can, but just let me…uh…"

The appearance of Kyoya inside the field entrance eyeing them took Ranika's voice from her, and instead she opted to silently return to where the rest of her fellow classmates were gathering. Rinasa meanwhile, held a stare with him for a time before approaching him, joining him in the darkened hallway. The atmosphere grew much darker as well the closer she got, his smile not fading even as she held her own stoic gaze.

"Hello, my dear sweet daughter. First time I've seen you since, when was it? Ah, yes, when you took my job. Fired me actually. Your gratitude has no bounds."

Her voice staying steadily monotone, she went on as if he hadn't even spoken. "I'm here to ensure you understand that-"

"Your over-the-top friend already made me well aware; I can't forbid you from using my arena. And I bet you're just elated to see me bit on the ass by my own law, eh? Come to throw it in my face? I'm quite aware of the irony at play here, but make no mistake – this is not my loss. I still have this rotten town in the palm of my hand, and if you try anything funny to-"

"That's not on my mind. I'm here to tell you that you're barred from spectating the event."

"…what?" His voice began to shake at the revelation.

"Come the day of the tournament, due to how "erratic" your quirk can be, the board and I have come to an agreement: Kyoya Nomura is not allowed 300 meters of the stadium."

Rage built up on his face as he pointed a finger to the woman. "Ridiculous! You mean to tell me I'm not allowed inside my own property?! This is authoritarian! This is Orwellian! How dare you- I should…I even gave you those damned blades! You should be more thankful, considering everything I've ever done for you!"

"What? For trying to use me to get more children in your hospital? Manipulating me every day of my life? I'm so grateful to you."

"Mordred and Iblis were the only reason you were able to get as strong as you are, and you've betrayed my trust time and time again by using them to get in my way. And now you've even taken my job! I should demand you return both right this instant!" A horn signifying the start of the day's activities caught Kyoya's attention, and with the students in mind, a sly smile creeped onto his face.

"Now there's a thought. That would do it, wouldn't it? After all the hard work you and Erina did to let Ranika participate, how terrible would it be if an 'accident' were to occur?"

A drop in her vocal pitch made her next sentence sound almost like a growl. "What are you implying?"

Putting his hands in the air as he regained his composure, he innocently shrugged. "Of course, these things can just happen out of nowhere! Who's to say Ranika couldn't lose control and, I don't know, hurt someone? Or even worse? Do you really think they'd let her fight after seeing something like that?"

A split-second later, her right arm had him against the wall, her left on her sheathed blade. "Choose your next words carefully, they might be your last."

"Choose your next actions carefully. They might be her last."

She pulled out her left blade and aimed it right for his throat, but a wire wrapped around her arm, restraining her from doing so. Kyoya grinned as several more wires snaked around her body to keep her from escaping.

"Don't play into his game. He's just trying to get you to attack him." Satori said while he kept a firm hold on her.

"Doing a pretty good job at it too. Let me just wipe him off the face of the earth and be done with him."

"And where does that leave us? With you out of your job, while he's still able to make his moves unchecked. We could end up with someone who isn't as willing to investigate his actions. It's clearly not worth it. Personally, I'd rather you than anyone else."

"Tch." Gritting her teeth, she stopped struggling against his wires and went back to her unemotive face, though the malice was still in her eyes if you looked hard enough. Satisfied, Satori released her from his grip, retracting his tethers back into his skin.

"Oh, thank you, sir!" Kyoya mockingly thanked Satori. "I'm happy someone on her team has their head on straight. If it weren't for you-"

"As for you, Kyoya. Based on the previous implications, you will have to be escorted off the premises to protect the children's safety. Now." Satori grabbed the man's arm and led him away from the field.

"…outrageous. On my own property. My own property! Do you enjoy doing this to your own father, Rinasa? Damn it all! You spiteful bitch! I won't forget this! Ouch, you're holding me too tightly! I can walk on my own, let me go!" Being problematic the whole way, Satori managed him until he was out of earshot, his complaints falling on deaf ears.

"Mrs. Sei!" Rinasa turned to see Erina coming down the hallway towards her. "Mr. Nomura, where is he? I thought he came this way."

"There you are, Kanshi. Satori just led him out the building."

Checking for any signs of blood, she blew a sigh of relief when she discovered none anywhere. "Thank goodness it didn't end in bloodshed this time. Why can't you two just sit down and have a serious discussion about your relationship one day? You're an extremely smart individual-"

"I doubt Rinasa is even considering such action." Ikasaki said from down the hall, ambling his way towards the two. "Don't expect this little one to be nice anytime soon. Just look at that face! Isn't that right, my hateful little teacup? Oh yes you are!" He pinched her cheeks the same way you'd do a child. Weirder still was the fact Rinasa barely seemed fazed by this behavior.

"I don't know how she lets you do that without murdering you. I touched her side once and she almost chopped my finger off."

Ikasaki feigned horror at the story, downplaying the severity of what she'd said. "No wonder! Don't you dare defile the pureness of my pink haired mushroom ever again, you fellbeast! Where did she touch you?" He covered her body with his, the only sign she disliked this being a noise of discomfort emanating from her body.

"Are you deciding the bracket?" Rinasa asked, ignoring her playful partner's antics.

"I won't be. I'm leaving it up to the student council president to decide how that will happen. Give the students a bit of self-autonomy. Why?"

"The student council president. Wouldn't a conflict of interest arise from that? I've heard about him from Ranika. He sounds dangerous. Knowing you, you won't help catch him if he does do something, so we'd be unable to act if there weren't witnesses. He could get to a lot of people before we even open an investigation." She paused to pull Ikasaki's hand off her head.

"I don't like the way you're trying to put it, sounds like you're calling him a murderer."

"There's no way I'm 'trying to put it'. That's the way it is. If anything happens to those children because of him, I'll be at your doorstep first. And I will make you tell me everything." Pushing the groping man off, Rinasa said not another word and followed after Satori, presumably taking her leave.

"It's always a joy working with her." Erina sighed, being head pat by Ikasaki as he comforted her. "I really don't see the point of her coming at all. Wouldn't you, Satori and Hanako be enough? Didn't you say Coriette would be there as well?"

"She's just worried." Ikasaki plainly said. "Ranika was pretty hurt after she got rejected at the exam. She really wanted to follow in her big sister's footsteps. She's always been so proud of Rinasa's accomplishments. Can't say I blame her. Not many people can say their sibling is a U.A. graduate, top of her class, no less."

BOOM

The loud noise from the field grabbed Erina's attention. Giving a slightly worried look towards him, she briskly walked to the field, where several students were on the ground reeling from whatever happened. Ikasaki laughed as a certain pink haired girl was already making excuses, despite not being asked.

"You see, we were trying to find out if I could-"

"Ranika! Save it for your demonstration!"

"Me?! It wasn't even…okay, it was me, but-!"

Kisho walked about before the activities were to start. Most of his class were talking about the weird woman who they'd learned was Ranika's older sister. Some mentioned her blades had a special name for their type. Chimera weapons. Mako had heard that the blood of children was used to get their quirks on different objects, yielding powerful weapons that could shoot fire, freeze the ground, create material from thin air – all manner of things.

"Of all the ideas these people can conjure up, that is one of the more desperate of the lot. Who cares about two knives and, I must say, a wretchedly pink color palette? The real topic is how that monkey stole the show from my prepared statement. Erina even forgot she called on me after he came in."

"So Suiiki totally interrupted your speech. And? Like, it wasn't going to be that important anyway. Everyone who matters already knows you, so no big deal." Mako could barely see the point in toiling over such a trivial matter.

If it weren't for him already staring daggers at Suiiki from afar, Kisho would've shot an intense glare at his flippant cohort. "It's not about the speech itself, it's about sending a message, and he definitely sent one to me, loud and clear."

"You seriously think he did it on purpose."

"Every time I try to do anything, he seems to get in the way and make it about himself. Without even trying. My whole life I've struggled to get the recognition I so richly deserve, meanwhile that pig gets it served to him on a silver platter. It's like he's mocking me with how easily he does it."

Kisho waited for a reply from Mako, only to find the young boy's hormones had taken priority as he strained his neck to get a better view of the stone-faced lady on the sidewall.

"The younger one isn't much besides her quirk, but she wasn't lying. Ranika's older sister's got a hell of a look to her, wouldn't you say? Unfortunately, seems being flatter than a washboard runs in the family." Mako ran his eyes up and down the body of the woman, to the point that even though Kisho scoffed at the thought, he too tried to get a better look to see what the fuss was about.

"She barely looks alive over there. Seems to me she didn't want to be here at all. Probably obligated by their parents. Wasn't that rude man earlier related to them? Seems like nothing but trouble. Unnecessary trouble." Kisho's statements had little effect on Mako, who still was glued to the police woman, now walking away from the small group that had formed around her. She seemed to be approaching a dark figure inside the hallway leading to the field.

"I don't know, but that's trouble I wouldn't mind dipping my toes in. Getting my hands dirty, or "stirring her pot" if you will."

"Bleh, I will not."

The horn called to order the beginning of the qualifiers, and no one was more excited than Suiiki. Having worked tirelessly on several techniques, he was certain this time he'd win over the judges hearts. He also felt much more at ease knowing the dummy would only stand there., allowing him to showcase more of his powers than just defensive.

Erina explained the rules at length. There were three zones across the field spread equidistant from each other with numerous metal dummies in each one. Upon request, dummies made from a different material could be supplied, either wood or heavy cloth. However, the stronger the material you used, the more points you were awarded, incentivizing most to stick with the metal default. You had 5 minutes destroy them in any way you knew how, and then your time was up, followed by the next in line. Special conditions for most of the students had already been taken into account by Erina herself to allow for maximum potential to be seen. For example, if the weather was cloudy, a light user was supplied flashlights and lightbulbs. They would go one at a time to avoid distractions or interference from other students, and having three zones expedited the process of waiting to clear the zone each time someone finished.

"Come on, Genso! The hell's wrong with just trying? Watsuji's even doing it and I'm pretty sure he ditched for like two weeks, so you know he's rusty."

The boy continued scribbling from behind, ready to take notes on his peers abilities. "Unlike your shredding power, I have no means of offense whatsoever. Best I can do is a small explosion from a mixture of water and potassium, or some other alkaline metal, and even with that in mind, it takes about thirty minutes to procure even four of those relatively weak ordinances."

Contrary to Genso, Tsubame was much more pumped than usual. "I'll represent him at the festival. I'm sure at least a couple hours of his non-stop lecturing are lodged inside my head somewhere."

"Well, at least someone's all geared up. You know Kisho doesn't have to do these qualifiers? Perks of being a president, I guess, but there's no way that bastard's got anyway to fight. Like, hydration? Really?"

Fixing his glasses, Genso corrected her. "Osmosis to be precise. Also don't write it off. If we follow-"

"Details, he's still got nothing on most the people here."

Suiiki was unsure about that statement. That's true for most people, but if I have to fight him ever, there might be some problems for me. Ah, but what are the chances of that anyway? And who's to say I'd lose still? I've gotten better than that blowhard by now. I've got water manipulation, for goodness sake! Everyone always says it's overpowered to have an elemental quirk, and I'm inclined to agree. His efforts to reassure himself were slightly effective, though he still had a bad feeling in his stomach.

Erina called out three names at a time at random. "First we'll have the upper class. Watsuji, Fukuma, Ranika. Fukuma, you have a cloth dummy as requested."

The three approached their respective zones. The boy on the far-left side, Watsuji was up first. Cracking his fingers, he summoned a card deck from his hand. They began levitating around his body as he prepared to attack.

"Don't really feel like being shown up by Ranika straight away, so…"

Immediately Watsuji started slinging his cards at each dummy, tearing through the metal with relative ease as his cards picked up speed, spawning more and more. A whirlwind of cards soon encapsulated every dummy, slicing their limbs until they finally started breaking apart. First the arms fell, then they collapsed to the floor as the legs were removed as well.

"Alright, that was a pretty good exercise. Bring on the rest!"

Bigger and most likely sturdier, several others took the place of their fallen brethren, and like their predecessors, were met with the same onslaught as before. This time, they stood up to the challenge, faring much better. As the cards fell about useless, the class started murmuring with critiques.

"Bit stronger, huh. Didn't want to let you guys see this, but I've gotta get in anyway so…" With that, he brought the cards back and formed them into a deck once more. "Ace of Clubs!" He pulled out every card with a club and put away the rest of his deck. The clubs flew at the dummies again, each one giving a tremendous boom when it collided with the metal. Wrenching into them with brute force, he pounded them relentlessly, with every one that respawned another card made quick work of it. Pretty soon, the bell sounded to let him know his time was up. Impressed with his quirk, the class applauded his showcase as he feigned haughtiness and bowed for the audience. Cameras snapped and pencils scribbled as the judges and cameramen got a sense of his power.

"16 defeated. You've done quite well, Watsuji, for missing three weeks of class." Erina said coyly, as his faced dropped from a proud smile to slight shame. "I'm not really upset, but I'd appreciate your participation in the future. You're shaping up to be quite the hero, and I'd like to help guide you."

"Yes, Mrs. Erina. Sorry." Watsuji called in his cards and left the zone as she called the next person on her list to take his spot.

"Zone 2, Fukuma, you're up. Name and Quirk, please."

"Fukuma Yaichiro. My Quirk is Marionette, though I can do other stuff with my strings that's unrelated. Honestly, I think it's a bit misnamed, because I'm pretty sure-"

"That's all I need, thank you." The judge interrupted his spiel, to the snickers of the class.

"Yes Sir. Sorry sir." Shaking the embarrassment away, he threw a quip at Watsuji, still grinning from his performance. "Watsuji, you should've gone a little easier. How am I supposed to match that?"

"I don't know, maybe you can't. I might just be too strong." Fukuma responded by sticking his tongue, which Watsuji returned with an added raspberry.

"Ready? Time starts…now!"

Fukuma sent out many strings from his hands, hooking onto the fabric of his requested clothed dummies, then he proceeded to rip them all into pieces, flinging them all over the place, including the crowd. The judges shook their heads at one another and jotted down notes, presumably not very flattering. The students were somewhat underwhelmed, and even Erina had confusion written on her face as Fukuma looked pleased with himself. "How about that? Didn't even need the whole five minutes."

"You understand you need to show-off parts of you power, don't you? It's great you can…dismember opponents with ease, but we're looking at what gets people excited, and I don't think you're selling yourself well with that."

"Oh. Well, in that case." Fukuma repeated his previous actions on the next set that appeared, except this time he hooked his strings in only one. Then, he used it as a puppet to attack the others. Instantly, it earned more intrigue from the judges as they talked amongst themselves, changing their opinions on and scratching out their previous remarks, though there were still notably less snapping of pictures from the camera crew.

As Fukuma finished up, thanked the judges, and took his leave, Ranika was welcomed to her zone with much chatter from everyone. The judges especially sat up in their seats, ready to take a look at the girl who'd proven too dangerous for even U.A. She was definitely one of the people they'd looked forward to the most.

"Name and Quirk, please."

"Ranika Sei. My Quirk is Shredding. And some healing, I guess?"

The judges slowed their scribbling, raising an eyebrow. "And healing?"

"I heal from damage done to me from my own attack, and also just being cut in general. I'm not sure-"

"Resistance to your own quirk is not uncommon. Go ahead and get ready for us."

Even though she was slightly offended at his interruption, she made sure she didn't show it by taking a deep breath. These people were going to be much harsher on her than the others, so she had to be on her best behavior. "Okay Erina. Let's do this."

"Best of luck. Your time starts…now."

Spinning around to face away from the targets, she aimed slightly downwards, jumped, and performed her shotgun blast at full power, propelling herself backwards at breakneck speed. Twisting her body as she approached the dummies, she kicked the head off of the one in front while simultaneously punching another. She pointed at yet another to fire another blast, propelling her to a fourth, which she picked up and slung towards the last dummy standing. In a few moments, the second batch rose from the ground as she restarted the process all over again.

Suiiki and his classmates looked on in awe as she tore through wave after wave, in a matter of two minutes exceeding the amount destroyed by Watsuji earlier. Even Kisho, who needn't be there for any reason than formalities, was quite stunned by the new skills she'd acquired in just two days. The only one who wasn't surprised was Genso, not even writing as he simply enjoyed Ranika's onslaught.

"Wait wait wait!" The middle judge yelled, fervently skimming his notebook as he scratched his goatee. "Your registered quirk was supposedly an unstable, destructive wave of shredding! Yet, not only is that not happening, you've performed moves impossible for you to have accomplished! I suspect foul play! Explain this!"

Suiiki stood from the back of the crowd. "Foul play!? On what grounds, you loony mmph mpgh!" Daisuke drowned out Suiiki's mouth with his watery hands, which obviously didn't last long considering his quirk.

"Suiiki…" Erina called out, prompting him to restrain himself before he potentially caused undue trouble. The judge thankfully made no remark of his outburst, still in disbelief at what Ranika had done. The girl herself had remained completely calm, almost expectant of this reaction.

"It's quite simple actually. I just put my hand on my arm, let 'er rip, and voila!" Demonstrating on the very panel he stood at, she released a gust that blew his cheeks and eyes wide open, a murmur of disapproval emanating from his other peers. "Completely harmless! Relatively speaking." A smirk creeped onto her lips, one she was unaware Genso shared with her as the judge straightened his clothes and beard before taking his seat.

"Ahem. Although that little show was uncalled for…now that I see it in action…" Referring to her healing the cuts on her arms, which was now happening at a much faster pace. "…you have an odd power, but I must say…you've admittedly made a great showing. I apologize for my earlier judgements. Well done." As he sat back down to jot down several more notes, the other judges, astonished at his words, joined him in erasing and editing their own notes. It should be noted that Suiiki thought he saw many more cameramen appear from the sidelines, much more willing to take closeups of the girl.

"Thank you! Now may I continue?"

"With all due respect, that will be unnecessary. I believe we've seen all we need. Please move onto the next student, if you would."

Not wanting to celebrate prematurely, she thanked them for their time and left the zone, her replacement coming not long after. Meeting up with her friends, she played an innocent role while the others were dumbfounded with her prowess. "What? Haven't you ever seen a great power before?"

"What was that!?" Suiiki ran up and gave her a noogie, which she didn't exactly like but went with in the moment. "You must've put some real effort into that training, two days ago you were all mopey and dopey sad-faced 'I can't go to the festival.' Now, you're like a whole different level! I should've stayed behind to watch instead of playing at the arcade…" He lowered his voice into a growl from gritted teeth. "…which I still haven't done because they closed the instant I finally got there."

"Thanks, but Genso's the heavy lifter here. He worked me to the bone, but all his input really transformed this into something I can actually use. Who would've thought, 'less power isn't weaker.'" Turning her attention away from the others, she singled out Genso and gave him a sincere hug, making him blush. "Thanks, you big nerd. I really owe you for this. You ever need a favor or anything, just ask."

"Awwww." Their voices oozing with typical teen snark, she broke from the flustered boy, a slight blush on her own face after it was over.

"HELL YEAH! Let's get it on!"

Being alerted to the sound of raging fire, they focused on zone 1, where a smaller girl appeared to be having the time of her life incinerating the dolls.

"Stop, please."

Until they ended her run right then and there. "Huh? What? What's wrong, I was gettin' fired up!"

"Should we see what else the girl can do?"

"For what? It's fire. I think we've seen enough."

"Aye, a fine quirk, if a bit bland. I'm sure you'll do well in the tournament."

"Agreed. Let us move on."

The girl turned around, upset at the early end to her show. "I just started! I can do-"

"What's your name, Hiro? Hiji, Hinote, Himana, it's gotta be something starting with Hi, right?"

"…Hinote."

"Thank you, get out. Runoso, take Zone 2 please."

Without missing a beat, he stepped up. "See you at the festival, though fire's a bit dull, don't you think?"

"I didn't choose this for myself!" The cameramen had already hogged their vision with her face. "Get away, dammit!"

They snickered as they continued getting shots of her. "Fire's an easy sell to the masses. Those suckers eat up lame powers like this for breakfast."

"Got that right. Hey babe, look this way."

Defeated, irritated, and completely blown off, she stormed off the field into the building. Erina looked sympathetic to her, but she was preoccupied with watching the students. The teacher shook her head as she returned to the second zone, where Runoso was flipping a watch battery in his hand.

"Full name and quirk."

"Runoso Ishido. Amplifier."

"Ah, this is the electric type Erina was talking about. I'm expecting something good from you. You're all set. Whenever you're ready. Do try and refrain from any bad puns."

Taking a moment to deeply breathe, he gripped the battery hard, gaining a charge from it that engulfed him in lightning. Flipping the battery into the air, he positioned his hand in a way you'd flick a coin. When the battery fell in front of it, he unleashed all he'd gathered and decimated the dummies, and the field along with them.

"How about that? Pretty shocking, huh?"

"Ugh, next please…"