Mina Ashido was on a hunt. A hunt for what, you might wonder. Well the horned girl had a sixth sense when it came to the people around her, or so she liked to think. And she knew, she knew, something had changed. Something... something.
… No one said it was a particularly precise sixth sense.
Regardless, something had happened in the past few days and she would not rest until she figured it out!
She worked diligently, sniffing out any change in her classmates, trying to figure out where the change occurred. Should she have been spending this massive amount of time and energy in preparing for the sports festival? Pfft! … Well... Probably. But this was important! Whatever it was!
Her first clue was Uraraka. The cheerful girl was a little less cheerful than usual. She tried to hide it, succeeded for most people. But Mina's variably useful sixth sense let her see through the slightly too stiff smiles. The pink girl had her first lead and she intended to follow it wherever it may lead. Maybe it was one of the girl's in-group? Iida or Midoriya?
Oh! Maybe she had a crush on Iida and he turned her down! That would be so juicy! The two of them would be so cute toge–... Actually no. That wouldn't work at all. Super stiff Iida and bubbly Uraraka? No, blegh, all wrong.
It was at lunch that Mina's first clue bore fruit. The small group of three seemed to have quietly grown by one. And there was where Uraraka's frustration came from. Iida sat alone on one side of the cafeteria table. Directly opposite was Midoriya. On Midoriya's right was Uraraka, looking with an uncharacteristically sharp smile at Kyoka Jiro on Midoriya's other side.
She gasped from her hiding place behind a magazine. Love triangle! Love triangle! This was even better than she could've hoped!
… Wait. There was more. Maybe she was reaching but there was still something off...
Cautiously, the increasingly invested gossip-seeker crept around to get a view from Midoriya's side of the table. Her eyes widened when she found what she was looking for, letting out a noise like a cheap kettle, a nearby boy with a dog's head whining in pain. "Sorry," she whispered, the boy glaring at her but not making a fuss. She couldn't help it!
They were holding hands under the table! It was so sweet! She knew there was a reason she couldn't see their hands! They were already a couple! She had to tell– She had to–
And then she saw the look on Uraraka's face again. Uraraka didn't know yet.
Oh no. Poor Uraraka.
She had to do something. Uraraka was like a bucket of sunshine and puppies! Mina didn't think she could take seeing that girl go through a heartbreak! It would be like watching a squirrel cry!
The girl with the acid quirk put on her resolved face. She was invested now, not just to ferret out a juicy story but to make sure this situation didn't end in tragedy! Putting down her magazine, she fetched her food tray and dropped down in the seat next to Uraraka. There wasn't that much room at that end of the table but she would bear it. "Hey!" she greeted with a smile.
"Ah, Ashido, right?" Midoriya asked nervously. Oh, he was probably remembering their last talk where he got all flustered and shouted about how hot all the girls are.
It almost made her want to tease him all over again but that wasn't why she was here this time. "Right! And you guys are Uraraka, Iida, Midoriya and Jiro, yeah?"
"That's right," Iida answered. "You are aware there's plenty of room on this side of the table, yes?"
"Yep!" she answered, choosing not to elaborate on how she had to sit next to her living marshmallow of a classmate. She was here out of solidarity! They couldn't be solid if she was all the way over there!
"Oh, we're sitting here? Okay." From Iida's left, Tsuyu Asui hopped over the bench to sit there, Kaminari dropping next to her.
"Oh, Jiro! I had been wondering where you were!" Momo smiled as she took Iida's other side, smile directed at the punk girl then at Midoriya. "Hello again!"
"Ah, hi?" Midoriya asked, looking about as confused as Mina was at what exactly was happening.
"Hey guys!" a perpetually unseen girl chirped as she put a stool down to sit at the end of the table.
"Where did you get that?" Kaminari asked giving the stool a funny look. The cafeteria was all bench seating.
"Chemistry lab," Hagakure answered simply, happily tucking into her lunch.
"That seems highly improper–" Iida started to complain.
Before Momo cut in with disarming geniality. "I'm certain it's fine so long as we aren't causing a disturbance for the other students."
Not causing a disturbance. Well Bakugo's table was at that very moment host to a literally explosive arm-wrestling match between him and Kirishima so they were probably safe. And Mina couldn't be more pleased! She had only intended to distract Uraraka but with whatever this had turned into, there was no way the girl would realise her crush was already taken! Victory! This was totally her plan all along!
Izuku meanwhile was left baffled as to what exactly had just happened, but then he felt Kyoka's fingers squeeze his hand and the confusion was set aside for warmer thoughts as the table erupted into carefree chatter.
-(-)-
The opening of the sports festival was everything Izuku thought it would be. Students put on display for the entertainment of an enormous crowd, general education students angry at even being forced into it and directing that grudge at hero course students.
He hadn't expected Midnight would be the judge but he wasn't going to complain. She was very pretty, her costume was amazing and she terrified every student present (even if that terror wasn't always a bad thing). All in all, she was probably the best choice for the job.
And then of course Kacchan did what he always did. Got up on stage and took the opportunity to brag. Izuku knew why he did it of course, that didn't stop everyone else getting pissed at his antics. Izuku knew the one and only way to put an end to that kind of talk. That was to beat him. It worked the first time.
Finally, once all of the ceremony was done with, the competition was ready to start. The first round a straightforward obstacle course around the stadium. Over two hundred students at the starting line. For more than two thirds of them this exercise was a waste of their time. For the remaining third it was an event that could dictate their futures.
Eyes up, watching the lights, waiting for the starting siren.
Beeeep!
"Begin!" came Midnight's voice over the loudspeakers and over two hundred students of UA rushed the gate wide enough for maybe eight people. It was the perfect opening moment to thin out participants, clear out the ones who couldn't compete. If they couldn't even force themselves forward in a crowd they weren't going to get very far.
However, Izuku realised his problem the moment he realised the true reason for this cramped space. It was a cramped space. Even being charitable, the gender split of UA was eleven to nine, boys to girls. He was in serious danger of getting caught up just in this leg of the race! He had to be careful even as he used his enhanced strength from One for All to push forward he had to avoid the girls! They would be his downfall!
Steady!
Steady!
"Come on, move!" he heard behind him, a feminine voice. He paled, blood fled from his face as he looked over his shoulder and saw a pretty redheaded girl barrelling towards him!
"No no wait!" he pleaded as he redoubled his efforts to move forward! Not again! But in his terrified flight, he didn't watch where he was going. His arm made contact with soft skin. His eyes locked with a female student he didn't recognise as he tried to pull his arm free in the constant jostling–!
"Make way!" the grinning girl behind him shouted as she leapt forward through a momentary gap.
The elation of getting his arm free was short-lived as he felt a pillowy softness press against the back of his head. "Ah! Sorry– Wait, what the–?" It was a mad series of instants, confusion, realisation, attempting to pull away, pulling him back into her, making the situation worse. "What the hell!"
A mass of conflicting feelings fell on Izuku all at once. Despair at getting into yet another situation with a girl stuck to him. Elation at how she was stuck to him. She had somehow managed to land on him boob first, her soft breast pressed against the back of his head, a position that quickly turned into his head pressed into her cleavage. Frustration that this race just got far more complicated and he wasn't even out of the starting gate yet!
"What's going on?!" the girl yelled at him, still trying to pull away which was only doing wonderful things with the softness he was guiltily enjoying. By necessity her legs had wrapped around his waist from the side just so they could stay upright and not get trampled.
"It's my quirk, you got yourself stuck to me," he lamented, even if his despondent tone was completely at odds with the peaceful smile on his face.
"Then unstick us!" she demanded, "And look like you're enjoying this less!"
"I can't do that!" he answered both questions at once, "Not while we're stuck in this crowd!"
The girl looked around, guessing he was telling the truth. If she got stuck to him there was nothing to stop them getting stuck again even if she did get free. "Fine, get ready to move," she grumbled, her hands suddenly increasing in size as she swept them through the crowd and shoved them aside. "Go!"
"On it!" he shouted, glad for the short-lived opportunity, kicking forward. Only a second of surprise at the rapid pace showed on the girl's face before she kept pushing students aside, sweeping competitors aside to make way for themselves, almost appearing like they were swimming through.
It was at this point that Todoroki made his power move, freezing the floor to slow everyone down and likely trap dozens of students on the starting line. But for Izuku and the mysterious girl it wasn't even a problem. Their momentum alone kept them moving and then it was just a matter of using the slipped students as footholds. Before they knew it, the two were early frontrunners.
Skidding to a stop as they reached open air, Izuku nodded without thinking, nestling himself further in marshmallow heaven. "We can-nnnnnmmmm..." he trailed off, his thought escaping him.
"Hey!" she scowled as she pulled herself free from him, first her limbs, then her body, shoving him none too gently away when she was finally free. Looking at how far ahead they were, she frowned, grudgingly saying, "Thanks for the assist, I guess," before running off.
"Ah!" he tried to respond but she was already long gone...
… Right! Race! That's what he was doing!
Finally free of any distractions, he rushed onwards using One for All at its highest safe level. It gave him speed enough to easily outpace most competitors. Iida still blitzed past him when he finally escaped the tunnel, as did Bakugo. But that was expected. It was an obstacle course so he still held hope that there'd be things they wouldn't be able to handle so easily as a straight sprint.
Up ahead he could see the next obstacle, as well as how easily Todoroki overcame it. The giant robots from the entrance exam were no match for the boy's ice. It didn't seem to matter at all to Todoroki as he kept running. Soon after the frozen robots collapsed to block the road.
A nice start for slowing down the less agile competition Izuku thought, scampering up and over the fallen machines, bashing away at any others that came his way as he continued to rush ahead.
Todoroki and Bakugo were still well ahead, Izuku leading the pack behind them for the moment as they approached the next obstacle. Rock plateaus connected by single ropes. Neither of the frontrunners even seemed to notice the obstacle, passing over it with ease. All Might's successor only had a little more trouble, making an attempt to leap right across the chasms to skip the ropes entirely. It only mostly succeeded. He felt his stomach drop as he misjudged a jump, going just over the edge of one plateau. He heard a scared shout of "Izuku!" from behind him. In a moment of unthinking panic he kicked off the wall of the rock pillar he had missed, lunging forward to grab a nearby rope. Carefully clambered along the rope to get to another platform.
Reassessing the situation, he saw Bakugo and Todoroki still far ahead. The crowd of students behind him. Uraraka with a look of relief on her face, Iida... grinding across the ropes? Asui easily crawling along them.
He couldn't slow down now. And he knew he could recover. Taking a step back to get at least a little run up, he took another leap forward, bouncing across the platforms until he reached the other side.
The green-haired boy could practically feel the adrenaline pumping through his system. He took a single second to catch his breath from the near miss before forcing himself to keep going. The end was close. He couldn't stop yet!
Another long sprint, then warning signs up ahead. Not that they were necessary with Todoroki and Bakugo demonstrating what the warning was for with the occasional explosions just ahead.
A minefield.
That was... Not good. He couldn't use his speed here. Not after what happened with the platforms shook his confidence in his agility. If he tried to rush this like he had the platforms he'd trip a mine for certain.
… He couldn't go full speed. But maybe a more measured approach would work fine. Looking at the track, he could see the frontrunners had left a small path slightly cleared. Bakugo's doing no doubt. He never did like the subtle approach. Taking a steadying breath, Izuku traced the path he wanted to take...
And moved.
Step. Step. Left. Leap right. Short steps. Hop. Hop. Left. Left. Step. His mind quickly worked to figure out the ideal path as he moved as fast as he felt was safe. He was making progress. He didn't need to look back to know how few would manage this obstacle so well.
But it wasn't enough.
He could see them. They were ahead. And they were staying ahead. At his current pace he wouldn't catch up. But if he sped up he'd miss a step. He'd get stopped and they'd be gone.
He had to do something. He wanted to win! He wanted to prove All Might was right to choose him! Was this really all he could do?!
… No. It wasn't. There was something else he could do, he could stop Bakugo cold. Maybe even Todoroki. But... It didn't... It didn't feel right. It didn't feel like something a hero would do. Hampering another student? But then, Todoroki had done exactly that at the entrance. So had the mystery girl. This wasn't in any way a test of how self-sacrificing they could be or the hero course students wouldn't have even crossed the starting line. This was a contest to show their skill, their strength, their determination to win!
"I want you to announce your presence and say 'I am here'!"
His arm reached out.
Katsuki Bakugo's attention was entirely focused on the boy he had been battling for first place for the entire race. At least, until he heard that voice shout, "KACCHAN!"
And just for an instant he looked back.
And saw Deku with his arm reached out for him. His eyes widened as he realised what was about to happen and how little he could do to stop it. "Deku don't you fucking dare–!"
Izuku's reaching hand tightened into a fist as he pulled it back, and in that moment, Katsuki Bakugo stopped being in the running for first place as he was yanked backwards. With no control over his movements he dropped the second Izuku released him. Right into the minefield.
BOOM!
Izuku made a leap of faith as he dove through the cloud of dust kicked up by the explosion, fighting to find good footing the second he was on the other side. And then he kept running without looking back.
All that was left was Todoroki.
Todoroki wasn't hot-blooded like Bakugo. He wasn't hot meaning attractive. Well...? No, Izuku wasn't exactly a good judge of such things and in the end Izuku didn't find him hot in that sense which was all that mattered. And in his general temperament, Todoroki was as cold as the power he so liked to use.
But that was just it. It was the power he liked to use. He had another, he just didn't use it for whatever reason. And that other power was exactly what Izuku needed. Once again, his hand reached out. He had never seen it in action except the one time Todoroki melted his own ice. Izuku knew he would need to work harder to make this work.
He chanted silently to himself. Todoroki's quirk was hot. Todoroki's quirk was hot. It was literally 'half-hot'. Todoroki's. Quirk. Was. HOT.
Grasp. And pull!
A blaze of fire suddenly erupted from Todoroki's left side! The boy spun as he was dragged backwards to land in the mines, getting a single look at Midoriya as the other boy blew past him. A moment of realisation as he felt the heat of his own quirk and the satisfaction on Midoriya's face.
And then it was over, Izuku focusing all of his attention on the little of the minefield left, sprinting the instant he escaped. The finish line right ahead!
"And we have our winner! Coming in at first place: Izuku Midoriya!"