𝐁𝐄𝐋𝐈𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐑 ᵏ. ᵇᵃᵏᵘᵍᵒ

.35.

THE NEXT FEW DAYS TRICKLED AWAY LIKE SAND IN AN HOURGLASS. She watched the valuable time disappear in a whirl of training, studying, and wandering with Tokoyami. The boy had noticed her need for a little quiet distraction and invited her to join him on his usual walks around the park. His calming presence and amiable silence was a nice reprieve from the overflowing excitement of her training group.

The school itself was abuzz with nervous energy. Kendria's classmates tried to hide their nerves behind loud encouragement and smiles, but she could see the emotions swirling inside of them like hurricanes. The classes stayed away from each other, the 1-B and 1-C kids shooting looks from their huddles across the cafeteria. As far as she knew, the only ones to break the unspoken "no fraternizing" rule were Himura, Saitou, and, strangely enough, Silver.

The pretty girl ran up to her in the hallway one day, dragging a shorter girl by the arm. "Hey! I need to talk to you really quick!" Kendria raised an eyebrow at that and told her friends to go on to lunch. Silver clapped her hands together and bowed her head, careful not to poke anyone with her horns. "I just wanted to say that I'm really sorry for how my classmates and I acted towards your class. Especially me. I lost my temper and made a scene."

"It's fine," Kendria said, waving a hand. "You didn't do anything wrong." Silver's yellow eyes widened and she flashed a sharp-toothed smile, similar to Kirisima's. "Thanks for stopping Bakugo from trying to kill that lilac boy."

"Lilac?" Silver thought for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Oh, you mean Shinso! Right, we never actually introduced ourselves. My name's Kyokan Aka. And this," she gestured to the girl she'd brought, "is Kimiko Yoshida. That boy from before was Shinso. We're all in 1-C."

Yoshida spared her a glance with narrowed amber eyes. "If you're finished, Aka, I'd rather eat before the lunch hour ends." She swept a few strands of black hair away from her face with a gloved hand. Aka blinked and nodded sheepishly. The three of them ended up walking together to the cafeteria, and Kendria was pleasantly surprised to see the two sit at Midoriya's table with Ochaco, Tsuyu, Iida, and Saitou.

Perhaps she'd have some new allies soon.

Except for these three oddities, the first years of U.A. were divided. She didn't particularly like the tension that swam through the air, but it didn't bother her much, either. She was confident in her abilities and her strength after training with her friends. There was little chance of her actually winning the Sports Festival, of course, seeing as how Midoriya, Todoroki, and Bakugo were absolute powerhouses. But she believed she would fair well against the other top students.

And yet something nagged at the back of her mind throughout it all. Kendria didn't know exactly what caused this sudden agitation. As the days before the Festival dwindled, she found herself glancing over her shoulder, searching for something that wasn't there. When her friends asked what she was looking at, she answered truthfully: "I don't know."

The feeling made it hard to sleep, leaving her to toss and turn until she finally drifted off much later in the night than she wanted. It irked her, because she was going to need as much energy as possible for the Festival. She had grown used to getting a full night's sleep, despite Uncle Shota going in and out of the house for what she now knew was underground heroism, and suddenly the hours lost were taking a toll on her.

Perhaps it was just how tired she was, but she swore she saw someone dart around the corner as her group left their final training session.

They were walking back to Uncle Shota's apartment, Mina and Sero arguing over what movie to watch, when she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and she whipped her head around. There. Broad shoulders, sandy blonde hair, the tail end of a brown leather jacket flapping in the wind. She couldn't see their face, and from a distance she couldn't tell if it was a man or a woman, but there was something suspiciously familiar about them as they disappeared from view. Of course, it could have been a random citizen enjoying an evening stroll that happened to be on the street at the same time as her. There was something, though, something that made the dread from the USJ slither back into her mind for a brief moment.

"Ken?" Mina called out, the new nickname from their girl's day popping her out of her bubble of concentration. "Is something wrong?" The group had come to a stop, watching her with looks of mixed curiosity and concern. Kendria blinked and met the girl's gaze before glancing once more at the empty street corner.

She swallowed. "No. Just ... my eyes playing tricks on me." She offered a small smile as Mina skipped over and threw a pink arm around her shoulders. The strange feeling was pushed back as Mina dragged Kendria into the movie argument, rambling about how the classics were better than modern interpretations. She gladly took the distraction, adding her two cents and smirking as her taste in movies stirred a rage in Bakugo that had him ranting all the way back to the apartment.

---

The living room was dim and quiet when Shota finally got home. The evening had been spent grading assignments with Hizashi, Nemuri, and Akemi. Well, he graded. The other three wasted most of their time squabbling over who they thought would win the Sports Festival. Hizashi and Nemuri both favored Shota's class. As expected, with their success in staving off the attack on USJ until the other Heroes arrived. Akemi, though confident in the Hero Course students, expressed her belief in her own class quite thoroughly.

"1-C may be less flashy than the others, but don't underestimate them!" she had shouted, thumping her fist on the table and sending papers flying into her fluttering wings. "My kiddos are gonna shine in that Festival, just you wait!" Akemi's eyes flashed with white light and her wings picked up speed as her excitement grew.

Shota sighed, locking the door behind him. It was always ... fun, he supposed, when Akemi let her excitement peak, but when that happened her wings left a mess of what they deemed "pixie dust" that took forever to clean up. He should have been used to it by now, having swept and vacuumed the dust from his own floors too many times to count, but still.

The sound of a snore made him snap to attention.

The kids were all curled up asleep on his couch. They looked packed together, most likely because the floors weren't comfortable enough to lay on (as Kaminari had so graciously pointed out the last time they all came over). Kirishima supported a snoring Sero on one end of the couch. Ashido, legs across their laps, slumped sideways into Kendria, cradling her arm like a stuffed animal. On the other end, Kaminari hung halfway off the armrest. Bakugo and Kendria made up the middle of the pack, peaceful expressions on both of their faces as she leaned against his arm draped across the cushions.

He rolled his eyes and hunted down a blanket, then turned off the movie that was frozen on the end credits. Try as he might, he couldn't even feel annoyed. This wasn't the first time this had happened. Besides, it was good that they were asleep. They'd need the energy.

Shota spared one more look at the group and indulged himself with a smile. Kendria had picked her friends well. They were good kids, all of them. And he knew they would all blow the competition away tomorrow.

----------------------------------

lol remember when i actually thought that we were near the end of the book akdjfaks

it is FINALLY time for the sports festival!! sorry if it feels like that took way too long, but this book is a slow burn in every sense

plus i feel like in the show everything happened really fast, so it's nice to stop and explore the possibilities of the time between the scenes we get to see, especially since the events of the festival are pretty short tbh

i'm probably gonna be tweaking some details of the festival (like how many people can be on a team, how many teams can move on to the battle tournament, etc.) so when you see that happen just go with it 

in the meantime enjoy the last of ken's relaxation before all the drama starts :)

also aether's name reveal :))

(no banner wattpad is stinky :/)

-- fash