The students were given two weeks to prepare.
And those two weeks were up and Arisa was now sitting in the waiting area with the rest of her classmates, resting on a chair with her arms crossed and eyes closed. She had spent the entirety of her two weeks training, finding and testing her limits — surpassing them. She might have accidentally destroyed Aizawa's livingroom wall and he nearly blew a fuse but that was how she figured out another way to use her quirk. To her surprise, her quirk could close up the damage and it made her realize that perhaps her quirk had power over singular atoms—she didn't delve further much into it because she was scolded for hours after the incident.
"Everyone, are your preparations complete? We're set to enter in no time!"
She jumped slightly at the voice and huffed, being forced to awaken from her nap. She shifted in her seat and tugged on the sleeve that covered her her inner arm and stretched to the centre of her forearm, covering her birthmark. Unfortunately, the sport's uniform had short sleeves so she had to be cautious.
"Hayashi-san," she looked up, sensing Midoriya choosing to sit in the vacant chair beside her, a nervous yet excited smile on his lips, "Are you ready for today?"
"Yes. What about you, Midoriya?"
"A little nervous but I am," he grinned and she returned the gesture, albeit smaller. Arisa eyed him for a second and his cheeks tinged the slightest pink, "I haven't seen you in two weeks. I assume you have been training?"
"Mmhmm," he agreed but then his eyebrows twitched downwards, "Hey, Hayashi-san. We've never actually exchanged numbers, have we?"
Arisa's features slackened for a moment and settled to a one of realization, "You're right. Guess watching Supernatural that time together really distracted us, huh?"
He chuckled, "Yeah," he pulled out his phone, unlocked it and passed it to her. She did the same and she quickly punched in her number, saving her name as it was without a single emoji. Midoriya returned her phone and to her surprise and amusement, his name was saved as Midoriya with multiple All Might emojis. She didn't even realize those emojis even existed. Arisa glanced at him but he just smiled happily, his legs swinging as he looked at his phone, telling her, "I'm putting in blue delphiniums after your name."
She quirked an eyebrow at him, "You know they're poisonous flowers, right?"
His smile never left, "But they also symbolize dignity and are used to communicate encouragement and joy."
She seemed surprised by this, "Do you like flowers, Midoriya?"
He flailed and his cheeks reddened as he stuttered, "No — well — uh, you see, I guess? Um, I used to read about flowers to pass the time."
"I see. That's nice to know. No need to be embarrassed about it."
He chuckled, his cheeks still red as he kept his hand on the back of his head, posture clearly shy and embarrassed.
"Midoriya."
A shadow was cast between them and she turned to see Todoroki, the boy she couldn't bring herself to like. The boy had his gaze fixed on the boy beside her and Midoriya's features settled to a solemn one when he noticed how serious Todoroki looked, "What is it, Todoroki?"
"Objectively speaking, I'm above you in terms of practical strength," he began and her expression soured, "You managed to get All Might's eyes on you, right? I won't pry into that but I'm going to beat you," he wasn't done it seemed because he turned to Arisa who was lounging on the chair, arms now crossed and eyes narrowed behind the fabric that obscured her eyes, "And you, Hayashi. I know how powerful you are so I will beat you and I will find out what you're hiding behind that blindfold of yours."
Why am I suddenly a target?
The class bristled, clearly listening in and Kaminari asked, "Oho, what's this? A declaration of war from one of the strongest in class?"
Kirishima stepped up, placing a placating hand on Todoroki's shoulder but he shrugged it off, "Hey, what's with this all of a sudden? Don't spring this on them right before —"
Todoroki rudely interrupted him, "We're not here to make friends."
"Just don't lose after all this big-talk, Todoroki," she yawned and he narrowed his eyes at her, about to speak up when Midoriya cut him to the chase.
"I have no idea what you want with me by telling me all that. I know you're stronger than I am. I think the vast majority of people here are no match for you, except for Hayashi-san — I know that so I won't just sit back while you speak to her that way," Kirishima was about to cut in, holding out a placating hand, as if trying to become a mediator but her finger moved faster and she pushed his arm back to his side, urging him to keep quiet and let Midoriya speak. Nobody noticed this except for him. Midoriya then continued with Arisa gazing at the side of his face, her fingers fidgeting with the edge of her elbow sleeve, "Everyone — even kids from the other departments are doing their very best so not even I can just let myself lag behind the others," his features steeled and grew more determined, making her smile slightly, "So, I'm going to go for it with all my might too!"
Arisa laughed and gave him a pat on his back but she didn't realize her hand was heavy on impact so he stumbled forward slightly, "Way to go, Midoriya but the long speech was totally unnecessary. Borderline cringe but it was good. Good job."
"Hayashi-san," he cried comically, embarrassed.
"Hmph," was all Todoroki said as he walked away and she made a face when he turned away.
The tension had dispersed and Iida called out loudly, "Everyone. It's time!"
Arisa walked out the room but was captured by the girls. Ochako hung on her right arm while Mina hung on her left. Surrounding her were the rest of the girls who immediately dragged her away towards the tunnel which connected to the arena. Ochako jumped up and down beside her, "That was so tense back there!"
"Can't believe Todoroki is targeting you," Mina exhaled.
"Let's go, girls. Let's go do our best," Momo cut in as they all walked to the edge of the tunnel, already hearing cheers echoing about the large stadium. She could hear Present Mic's voice echoing outside.
"You're here to see them, right? The freshly formed miracle stars that shrugged off a mass villain assault with wills of steel — the department of Heroics, freshman class. You're here for class 1-A, right?!"
She sighed as they walked out, immediately hit by the cheers and energy from the people that came to watch.
Way to go painting a target on our backs, Present Mic.
"Whoa," she could hear someone shakily exclaim. Honestly, she was uncomfortable by the attention and the hundreds pairs of eyes currently on them right now. Arisa was used to working in the shadows, never put on a pedestal so this was slightly jarring for the girl. Even so, she tried her best to move and carry herself confidently — Arisa wasn't someone meek. She always stood tall. It would take more than this to intimidate her.
Present Mic's commentary continued, "And following class B, here come classes C, D and E from the department of general education. Now, here are classes F, G and H from the department of support!"
Arisa stared up to the commentators' booth, questioning Present Mic's actions, making Class 1-A seem more special than the other classes. She knew her guardian, Aizawa was sitting up there as well but she knew he would never step in unless necessary. Smiling slightly, just as Midnight strolled up the stage, she recalled his words of encouragement that morning. He had trouble saying it because it wasn't in his character to be so soft towards someone else. Seeing him try so hard motivated her to do her best throughout this festival.
" — now, class representative, Bakugou Katsuki of Class 1-A!"
Midoriya's eyes nearly popped out his head, "Eh, our representative's Kacchan?!"
"Yeah, he placed first in the entrance exam, remember?"
She blinked and everyone bristled. She made a face, wishing she participated in the entrance exam so Bakugou wouldn't come up there and paint an even larger target on the class' backs. Arisa, just like Todoroki and Momo, had entered UA with a special recommendation from a hero. No, it wasn't Aizawa's doing but rather, it was Sir Nighteye's.
A student from another department scoffed, clearly bitter, "Yeah, the heroics' entrance exam."
Bakugou went up and all he said were, "I'm gonna place first."
Chaos ensued and she sighed, wishing the event would just begin so she could kick some asses and make both Aizawa and herself proud.
" — obstacle race!"
Arisa at this point was just existing and waiting. There were way too many dramatics. She was itching to run. Soon enough, they headed towards the starting area and it was getting packed really quick. Displeasure appeared on her features and at the same time, Mina asked, "Are you gonna keep your blindfold on?"
"Yeah, why wouldn't I?"
"Oh, are you gonna wait for a dramatic reveal?"
She laughed as they inched further towards the edge of the tunnel, "I'm hoping to not take it off at all but if I have to, yeah, a dramatic reveal would be preferred."
The countdown began and she halted any talking and focused. She watched the lights on the start gate, flashes of blue appearing on her hands as she tensed, her heart pounding, adrenaline rushing through her veins as she waited. She hadn't felt this way in a very long time. How exciting, she thought.
"START!"
So she did.
She ran past the narrow starting gate and her blue energy exploded by her sides, sending her upwards, scaring a few students when she did. She soared over their heads, seeing them all look up when she flew by. Todoroki sent her a look of irritation and she would have winked at him if her eyes weren't obscured. She shot forward, not a care in the world and Present Mic excitedly commentated, "Oh, would you look at that? Hayashi Arisa of Class 1-A is taking the lead!"
"GAH, YOU AIN'T GETTING AHEAD OF ME, YOU BLIND WITCH!"
She made a face upon hearing Bakugou's booming voice, the boy who made her his rival the moment school started. She avoided him, though because she treasured her eardrums and sanity.
Chaos ensued below but she continued to move forward until she came across the first obstacle of the race.
A large, looming robot stood before her and she commented, "UA's loaded. Not that I didn't know."
She glanced down below and realized most of the students were held captive by Todoroki's ice so she was the first to encounter this robot.
"— the first barrier would the Robo Inferno!"
Quickly, violent blue energy wrapped itself around the robot. Gazing beyond, she could see that there were more but they were slightly smaller than the one that stood before her. She glanced back to see them gaining on her so she made a split second decision to fling the robot sky high, grunting slightly but laughed loudly when it landed right in front of their path.
"Oooh, there goes Hayashi, blocking the path for the rest. How cruel!"
As she flew forward over the army of robots, she could hear crashes and yells behind her.
"It seems Hayashi Arisa is unrivaled — oh, wait, 1-A's Todoroki has forged forward and blocked the others in one fell swoop. Just like Hayashi, harsh!"
Arisa continued to fly, unhindered and getting bored. This was no challenge for her.
She passed over what was similar to a grand canyon.
"Boy, Hayashi's quirk sure is convenient. She's currently passing over the next obstacle, The Fall!"
Her eyes suddenly widened when she felt something whirling towards her. She screeched to the stop midair and instinctively put up a force field, seeing a large chunk of ice crash against it before falling below in separate pieces. Her eyes zeroed on a smirking Todoroki and she grinned menacingly.
This half-n-half bastard.