(A.N)

Sorry for the short chapter…

…

Also for disappearing…

…

Uhhh

More of a setting up type of chapter.

Anyway,

Enjoy.

"Khh… ugh… I… I did it!" Midoriya said in between pained breaths. "Akh…! It… hurts!" He tightly clutched his arm.

'That was dangerous… I accidentally used too much of One for All… But I did it! I can't believe I figured it out in the middle of the race!' When slamming the piece of metal in a desperate attempt to hold back his classmates, he accidentally released more power than he could safely use.

'That was only 1%…' It was both impressive and depressing. Impressive because only 1% had already given him so much power—'One for All is truly amazing…' —and also depressing because he could only use 1% without hurting like hell.

'How much did I use there? Like 5%?' He had only used a fraction of his quirk, and he was already feeling the repercussions. 'Well… I may have overexerted myself just a little in the last stretch… But I didn't want to lose!'

Looking up at the bleachers, he could see All Might—His mentor and Idol—in his skeletal form. He was looking at him with a concerned look, one a father would give to his hurt son.

Midoriya, even in his hurting state, stood up, raised his fist to just below his face, and smiled. A smile that bore his pain as a trophy to his achievement, a smile that stood to defy the odds against him.

Red, vein-like lines coursed through his body. 'Look at me, All Might! I did it!' He said in his mind. His mentor smiled back at him, proud.

He released One for All and fell back to the ground. 'It's still hard to use, but I'll just have to get used to it.'

"Deku…! That was awesome! What was that green lightning?! Was it your quirk? You were so cool!" Uraraka said in between breaths, still clearly excited. Ida trailing behind her.

Midoriya couldn't hold back his embarrassment, opting to instead cover his face with his arms.

'Still, this is nice…' He thought with a small smile.

"And now, they're finishing one after another! We'll make a list of the results later, but for now, good work!" Blared the voice of Present Mic throughout the stadium.

'Rest? Thank god. Everything hurts…' She felt something trickling down her right eye. She touched it with her hand and brought it in front of her. '… Blood?…'

Memories of her previous fight with the Nomu came to her mind. 'This also happened last time now that I think about it.' With everything happening so fast, she had forgotten about it. '… Is it a drawback? I've never needed to push myself this much ever since I got my quirk, so it's probably just that…' Still, it was concerning. 'Hopefully it'll get better with training.'

Footsteps brought her out of her musing, and a shadow was cast over her. "Ah, Yui!" She said, her face instantly brightening.

"Are you ok?" She asked. Her eyes trailed her body, searching for any injuries. Her face relaxed when she noticed the fox girl didn't seem injured; that was until her eyes found the now faded trail of red running down her eyes and into her hair. "What happened?" She instantly asked.

Kei, confused for a moment, tilted her head until she noticed that the Kudere was looking at the blood. "Uhh… I think this is supposed to be a drawback to my quirk. It also happened during the USJ incident, only worse. I was coughing blood and all that." She said, unconcerned.

Yui didn't seem as unconcerned as her, though. 'Ah, I think I shared a bit too much…' "It's ok, really! This only happens when I push myself too much!" She tried to reassure the girl, who only looked at her.

"… If you say so." She finally responded after a long 5 seconds of intense staring, opting to sit beside her just in case.

"…"

"…"

After some moments of silence, Kei stood up, walked in front of Yui, and plopped her tail on her lap.

"Are you sure? There are a lot of people here." Yui asked.

"Don't care." She responded, completely and utterly serious. "My tail is completely frazzled from the race, and I don't have enough sand to make a comb."

Dirty liar.

Nasty little thing.

But Yui won't say no to fluffy tail, so she got to work. 'Stop being cute for a moment, will you?'

They descended into pleasant silence as Yui worked her magic.

… It really shouldn't have been that weird to do this in public. 'So why? Why is Miss Midnight squirming and blushing while looking at us?!'

"The first game of the first-year stage is finally over. Now, take a look at the results!"

The screen started scrolling through the results of the race. "3rd place… nice." The screen kept scrolling, passing through Monoma in 13th place, Setsuna in 15th place, and Yui in 20th place.

"My quirk isn't really made for these types of things…" Yui lamented.

"You still did great." Kei said, giving Yui a reassuring smile.

The screen passed through Shinso on 24th place, and after a while, it landed on the last placements.

"The top 42 made it through the next round. It's unfortunate, but don't worry, even if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine!" Midnight said, licking her lips.

'Why?'

"The real competition begins next!" She said, a hint of sadism coming to her face. "Now, on to the second event! I already know what it is, of course…" The screen rapidly scrolled through multiple unintelligible events until it finally landed on one. "This!" She said, as the screen showed the words "Cavalry battle"

'Huh, that sounds fun… Wonder how it will work, though.'

Midnight proceeded to explain the event. The participants will form teams of two to four people, and everyone will be assigned a point value depending on their placement in the race.

The screen shifted to show everyone's point value, with first place being hidden for suspense.

'200 points…' She already knew she was going to become a target for this event.

"And the point value assigned to first place is… Ten million!"

'… Oh… Well, I'm glad that's not me!' She thought, looking at Midoriya, who was shaking in place. 'How does he even make that ridiculous face?!'

The riders would wear a headband in their forehead with the combined point value of the whole team, and other teams would need to steal other teams headbands and wear them while defending their own.

"Sounds tough…" Yui said.

"Y-Yes…"

As the students figured out their own strategies, Kei pondered. 'Who should I team up with?' Looking to her side, Yui was still standing there. She looked back at her and gave her a smile and a nod. 'Well, there's one, but we are still missing two…'

Her ears twitched as she heard the footsteps of two people approaching, and she smiled as she noticed who one of them was.

"So… you ladies in need of teammates?" One of them said, "Also, I found this big guy pacing around like a lost puppy. If not me, you should definitely include him in your team." He said, slapping the back of the towering teen.

Looking up at the unknown student, Kei could only say one thing. "… Can I ride on your shoulders?" That earned her a sharp elbow jab from Yui.

~POV Change~ ~–Bleachers–~ ~Minutes before~

"Did you see that, darling?! Look how our little kit has grown up! Can you believe we raised her?! Kyaaah! She looks so cool!" Mayumi said, shaking her husband in excitement.

Takumi tried to respond, but her wife's violent shaking would not let him. 'I still wonder how I survived up to now with how hyper she can be…' He says that, but he wouldn't have her any other way.

That's the woman he fell for, after all.

"It's a shame she didn't get first place though; she was so close… Hopefully she's not too bummed about it."

"And the point value assigned to first place is… Ten million!"

Both were silent at the mention of the point value of first place. Looking down at the group of students, they could almost see the pressure building around the poor kid that placed first.

"Maybe… It was for the better…" Said the fox-eared man. Mayumi silently agreed.

(A.N)

I'm SOOOOOO (not) sorry for once again disappearing.

Also for the cliffhanger. I honestly didn't know how to finish this chapter.

Getting motivated to write is hard, man.

The next chapter we resume with the action.

Still, don't expect the next chapter anytime soon… though maybe it'll come sooner?

I'm actually planning how I want this fic to go just so I don't get stuck as much. I always kind of knew how I wanted this fic to go, but now I want to plan it completely.

The same goes for my other story, "Lavender". (Especially that one since I have less to work off of since it is more original than this shitty creation of mine) (Also figuring out the routes I want her to go through is hard, there's so much in Kalos when counting the anime exclusive locations holy shit… So many possibilities!)

Anyway, I wanted to at least get this chapter out before going full planning mode and disappearing again. At least that way, you guys know that I did not abandon this.

Kei will reach the end of her story, whether she wants to or not.

Kicking, screaming, whaling in pain, shame, regret… She will reach the end.

Umm…

Also, I wouldn't want to keep Eri waiting too long for fluffy tail, because god knows she needs it, that poor child.

Anyway, see ya!

Hopefully soon.