(A.N)
Yo. I'm alive.
Haven't been in the mood to write in a while. I noticed that at least the start of this arc will be a pain to write.
Also went into a bit of a depressive state, but I'm okay now.
Fanfics and gaming always lift me back up :D
I also wanted to finally finish off with this chapter since MHA finally came to an end! I would write about how much I love this series, but that's too much work.
I'll just say that I love it enough to consider a re-read.
I know MHA isn't generally considered an amazing series, but I'm an SAO enjoyer. What do you expect from me?
Finished writing this chapter while listening to "Heaven" by Shihoko Hirata.
Anyway.
Enjoy.
"Midoriya," Todoroki called, inadvertently attracting the attention of the rest of the class in the prep room.
"Todoroki… what is it?" Midoriya said, a little bit nervous because of the soon-to-begin event, and also confused about why he was calling him.
"Objectively speaking… I'm stronger than you. More capable." He said, as if stating a fact… Currently, it is.
'Ego much? He doesn't sound as egotistical as I thought he would, though… Wonder what happened?' Yeah, I wonder too…
In any other case, she would've been listening attentively at the scene playing out currently, but she had more important things to worry about… Kei raised her hand to eye level, seeing how it was slightly trembling in nervousness. 'I hate you, sadistic but cute principal Nezu…'
She checked and double-checked the paper in her hands, making sure she remembered every little detail of the oath. "Do it for the internship, Kei… For the Qipao…" She said in a low voice.
"Inari," a voice said from behind her, she didn't notice it though.
"...We are all here for a single… we are…"
"...Inari," He said, now a little bit louder.
"Hm?" She turned around to see who was calling her; it was Todoroki. She also noticed how the rest of the room was looking at them; one of the looks from farther away in the room was especially searing. "...Is something wrong?"
Todoroki looked slightly miffed, probably because she ignored him, but that was rapidly replaced by a look of determination—Todoroki determination mind you, which was almost invisible on the teen's face. It reminded her of Yui.
"The same goes for you. You already beat me once, even if it was by surprise. I won't let you triumph over me again." Todoroki said, looking at the fox girl with determination in his eyes.
Kei looked at the troubled teen in surprise, not expecting the sudden declaration of war. "...What's with this all of a sudden?" She said.
"..." Todoroki didn't know how to respond, clearly not expecting such a response. Kei noticed this and decided not to make the situation more uncomfortable.
"... Well, I do have something at stake in this festival, so don't expect me to go easy on you. I expect the same of you." She said, looking directly into the eyes of the teen.
"..." He looked back at her for a moment, then nodded before walking off.
'That was really cheesy…' She thought, looking back at her response with a bit of embarrassment.
With the weird interaction out of the way, her attention was brought back to the paper in her hands.
"...
…
José Maria se casó~
Con María José~"
Scratch that, she was having an ADHD moment.
~Stadium~
"First up… You know who I'm talkin' about! The miraculous rising stars who brushed off a villain attack with their steely willpower!" The voice of Present Mic blared from beyond the tunnel, shaking Kei out of her mindscape.
'... Oh shit…' She patted her gym uniform… '... Oh…'
"The first years of the hero course! It's class A!" Present Mic said at the same time as class 1-A walked out of the tunnel. The class was greeted by loud cheering.
'I already forgot the oath…' Of course she did…
Putting her hand on her chest, she took deep breaths and did her best to remember as much as she could of the oath, she could figure out the rest.
The loud cheering did not help, though. 'Should have asked for ear plugs…'
The rest of the classes entered the stadium as Present Mic announced their presence. She noticed how the students of the general classes—at least some of them—looked determined.
Her sights crossed Shinso's, him giving her a challenging look. She returned a foxy smile and a flourish of her tail. 'It's good to know he's motivated!' She thought , seeing the blushing Shinso and conveniently ignoring the piercing stare she felt coming from where 1-B were grouped.
"Now for the athlete's oath!" Midnight said from atop a platform overlooking the students.
'Conchetu-' Breathe in… breathe out… 'Relax, it's going to be easy…' With her hand resting on her chest, she tried relaxing herself.
"Should she really be in high school?" She heard Tokoyami ask.
"Pipe down! Your student representative is… From class 1-A, Kei Inari!" She announced, using her whip to indicate the girl.
"Huheee…" Shaking off her anxiety, she walked up to the stage and looked towards the students.
She looked at the students. Compared to what she remembered from the anime and manga, they were clearly more motivated. They were still throwing some nasty glances at the two hero classes, but they were more subdued, and instead of exclusively envy, there was determination. Clearly, the ones who had heard her knew that their path as heroes had not ended when they didn't enter the hero course.
She took a deep breath, and… "I pledge, as your representative, that I will give it my all. And I expect all of the present to do the same. All of the students that did not make it to the hero course, I see your determined stares, and I'm excited for the challenge you will bring me and my peers in the hero course. The same goes for the ones in the other departments, who I'm sure also have things to prove in this competition. I await your challenge." She said, finishing her oath… She waited for a couple of seconds, the silence eating her alive, before the stadium was enveloped in clapping.
'...Huuhhh… No more public speaking in forever for me.' She thought, looking at Midnight for permission to leave the stage, which she granted. 'I want to bury myself in a hole and never ever see the light of day again.' Weirdly enough, the prospect of making a hole and living in it seemed quite comfy to her.
She could feel the stares coming from her peers and even from far away on the stands. 'Don't look at me don't look at me don't-'
Waiting for a moment for the audience to stop clapping, Midnight proceeded. "Without any more delay, let's get this event started!" She announced, the massive monitors around the stadium turning on.
The image finally showed the words "Obstacle course race"
'No different from the anime? What are the chances?'
"A race between all members from all classes! The course is a four-kilometer lap around the stadium itself!" She announced at the same time as the massive doors behind the students opened."Our school preaches freedom in all things! So as long as you don't go off course, anything is fair game!"
Looking up at the countdown, Kei breathed deeply. 'Little to no sand close enough to help me here… I do feel some outside, but it won't help me get out of the tunnel fast enough. Also, Todoroki.' She thought grimly, looking at her classmate. 'He's definitely going to pull something to fuck with everyone else, I can see it.'
Ding-!
'... I'll take it slow for this first part, I guess; there is no rush to get to first place…'
Ding-!
'... Anyway.' Forming a plan in her head, she waited for the final ding…
DING! "Start!"
Hearing the final ding, everyone instantly bolted for the exit, but Kei stayed back.
'...Sardines?' She thought, looking at the tightly packed group of teenagers trying to leave the "First filter"
With a mental flex, she pulled all of the sand she could reach. '...hehehe' An idea came to her mind.
The rapidly approaching sand coalesced into the form of a scythe that hovered beside her, but this wasn't a normal scyther… It had a seat.
A witch's broom—'Witch's Scythe?'—made out of glass.
Without wasting more time, she sat on the seat of her creation and flew, rapidly passing by the other students.
A sudden rush of cold hit her. 'Todoroki?' Briefly looking down, she saw how the floor had been layered with ice. "Glad I'm not down there…"
It was a fairly uneventful ride, with her surpassing the rest of the students. That was until the first real obstacle appeared. "Every obstacle course needs obstacles! Starting with—The first barrier—Robo Inferno!" Present Mic yelled.
"Shiiiit!" She yells as she dodges the fist of the frontmost robot. "It's trained on me?!" The massive robot's head followed her as she tried to evade it. "It seems the young witch is struggling to evade the swarm of robots! What will she do?!"
'The eyes are made out of glass, but it would be too dangerous to approach… Also, not enough sand to try and pull at least one of the robots down…' Another rush of cold, and the robot was frozen. "Huh, that solves that, I guess." pushing her shame at not doing something herself, she rapidly flew over the frozen robot at the same time as it fell over. Even when the area was covered in sand and whatever other material the floor was made of, she just used it to her advantage to know the location of the remaining robots while she remained invisible.
"1-A's Todoroki! Busting through and sabotaging the others in one move! This guy's cold! And what is that?!" He said at the same time as Kei busted out of the sandstorm. "And Inari is taking advantage of her classmate's move!"
Seeing as the path was about to become narrower, she decided to fly closer to the ground to make sure not to go out of bounds. As she was not flying that fast to not overexert herself, she soon was met side by side with Bakugo, who looked at her with an incredibly angry face. 'Shit, faster it is'
It felt a little cheap to just fly through the obstacle course. But why should she handicap herself for the other contestants?
All for that Ryukyu internship.
"GET BACK HERE, YOU FURRY BITCH!"
"BITCH?!" She yelled, offended.
"Careful with your language, kids! We are trying to keep this broadcast PG!"
She was soon met by "THE FALL!", a massive expanse of pillars, only connected by ropes.
Todoroki expertly surfed the ropes by freezing them on his feet, making those same ropes unusable as he passed through them.
And Kei…
'This is not really an obstacle for me…'
"It seems this obstacle wasn't much of an obstacle for Inari!"
As she approached the next obstacle, she paused. 'There's something under the dirt…' With the little amounts of sand in the dirt, she could feel something not quite sandy hidden below it. 'It seems dangerous… Maybe I can show off a little?' Finally deciding to pass Todoroki, she briefly paused in front of the next obstacle and turned her scythe back to glass.
"What is she doing?! She could've easily just flown over the obstacle!"
'Sorry!' Lifting all of the sand in her reach, she covered the whole obstacle in a sandstorm, obscuring the already barely visible mines.
"It's a sandstorm! Inari is making it almost impossible for the rest of the contestants to pass this obstacle! But what about her?!"
Without hesitating, she entered the sandstorm, taking her time to make sure she didn't lose her footing and land in a mine.
"This crap can't slow me down!" The sound of rapidly approaching explosions brought her out of her focus halfway through the minefield as she was passed by Bakugo.
"Conchetumare!" She cursed as she tried to not fall over. 'Not good!' Deciding to forego her leisurely pace, she released her control of the sandstorm and formed once again her scythe to catch up with Bakugo.
"And the sandstorm is gone! Everyone is covered in sand and, Bakugo has passed Inari! What a turnaround!
"Get back here, you rabid dog!" She yelled, sending a chain that wrapped around Bakugo's arm, but it was quickly blown up by an explosion. Bakugo responded by sending an explosion her way, which almost threw Kei out of her scythe.
They struggled this way for part of the race. Kei sent chains or blocks of glass to throw Bakugo off, and he responded with explosions in her face. They were soon tailed by Todoroki, who gave up on trying to not give a path for the rest of the contestants and was rapidly approaching the two. "No time to worry about them…!"
A massive explosion brought the three of them out of their fighting, and a figure flew overhead. 'Midoriya?!'
Getting out of his stupor at the scene, Bakugo was the first to resume the race, quickly followed by both Inari and Todoroki. "DEKUUUU! GET THE HELL BACK HERE!"
"Our former leaders have called a cease-fire to chase down Midoriya!"
All three of them overtook Midoriya, the protagonist, falling in front of them, but they were abruptly stopped by an explosion that threw all three of them off. Kei could swear she heard a light crackling sound followed by some type of green lightning before being wildly thrown off her ride by the explosion.
She was about to fall on a landmine, but she caught herself with her somehow still intact scythe. "Ugh… My tummy…"
She quickly looked around to see the that other two had miraculously not fallen on any landmines. "Lucky bastards…" All three of them soon resumed the chase, trying to catch up with Midoriya, who was running and hopping while weird, tiny green lightning surrounded him. 'A bunny!?'
They soon reached the entrance to the stadium. 'Almost… there!' "GhhhrAAAAA!" As a final, futile attempt to snatch first place, she sent a chain at Midoriya's legs to trip him, but…
"U.A. sports festival, first-year stage! Who could've predicted the developments at the beginning or this conclusion?! Right now, the first person back in the stadium is…!" Mic paused for a moment, making all spectators watch in bated breath at the entrance… "... None other than Izuku Midoriya!" He loudly announced as a mop of green hair entered the stadium, quickly followed by a wild dog, a less wild fox, and a teen with daddy issues.
As she entered the stadium, she lost her strength, and the scythe fell to the ground, sending the fox tumbling. "Gah! Ugh!... Duele más que la chucha…" She whined, rubbing her arm.
Her sights landed first on the big screen, displaying her placement as "3rd place… Guess I can't complain; that was actually kind of fun…" After that, they landed on Midoriya, who was rubbing his arm, clearly in pain.
She was going to go ask him if he was okay but was beaten by a concerned Uraraka, who arrived moments later along with a group of other students, mostly from the hero class.
'No point getting in between; maybe this way they get together early. It kind of hurts seeing them interact with each other.' You have no right to say that.
Seeing as there was not much to do while the rest of the students arrived, she decided to just lay on the ground, relishing her victory over her other classmates.
'My arm hurts…'
(A.N)
I'm not the biggest fan of this chapter, but whatever. I had a crazy writer's block, and couldn't come up with anything at all.
Sorry if the quality is extra low in this chapter.
Not many changes from canon in this chapter, but Deku did use full cowl for the first time! Quite early too. It's not as strong as it was when he first created it originally, but still quite strong. I would put him at 1% currently. It may not seem as strong, but when he originally invents Full Cowl, he starts using it at 5%, and he was already quite strong at only that level of power.
I was thinking of making a change on the battle part of this arc. I usually like to keep most things canon, but I personally think the change I have in mind could add some nice spice to what is essentially the same thing in every MHA fanfiction.
If you've watched RWBY, then you may know what I'm referring to.
It could also be a good excuse to make this arc longer by writing some of the fights that are not exclusively the ones Kei participates in.
But tell me what you think, I'm okay with either.
A good writing challenge for me too.
I was going to introduce a new OC for these chapters but decided to save him for later.
I also haven't thought of a good hero name… uhhhh… help? 3
The word she was going to say when midnight announced the athlete's oath was "conchetumare", a common Chilean (I think also in Peru, but I haven't investigated. Only going with my own knowledge as a Chilean) swear word.
I think this would be a good moment to mention that the language Kei uses in her thoughts varies from Spanish, to English, to Japanese.
At least that's what happens to me as a bilingual.
Maybe I should mix in some Spanish words in between her thoughts? Nothing actually important. I think it would be funny.