Her turn finally came.
Arisa stood at the edge of the tunnel, gazing at the stage at the centre of the stadium, her eyes mindlessly looking at Midnight and Cementoss, the referees that overlooked the event. Arisa was both nervous and excited — it had been a while since she fought with someone one-on-one. There was the heroics class that All Might did but that wasn't one-on-one but rather, her forte, assassination. She took down the opposing team before they could even realize what hit them. Swift and clean, completely unrivaled.
"NOW, ONTO THE NEXT PARTICIPANT—THE HEROICS DEPARTMENT'S VERY OWN MYSTIFYING WITCH, HAYASHI ARISA!"
Cheers greeted her upon her entry and she felt all eyes on her. It was a thrilling yet uncomfortable sensation—she was a hunter in the shadows, not a fighter in the open. Arisa kept her wits about herself and stood at her end of the stage, pulling on her blindfold slightly, adjusting them.
"AGAINST HER IS A STUDENT FROM CLASS 1-B, SHIOZAKI IBARA!"
The girl stood on the opposite smile, a light smile dusting her features. Arisa returned the gesture. Deadly intent obscured by smiles, they awaited for their cue to begin.
"BEGIN!"
Vines from her hair shot forward quick, giving her no time to react. She stood with her hands clasped before her as if performing a prayer, apologizing, "I know what you're capable of, Hayashi-san."
The vines captured her.
"OH, HAYASHI GOT CAPTURED BY SHIOZAKI'S DEADLH VINES. IS THIS THE END?"
"Without your hands, you won't be able to cast me out."
Arisa threw her head back and laughed before her gaze returned to Shiozaki, "Is that what you think?"
A part of her vines melted just as she was about to throw her out. Her hand broke through the vines and immediately, an eerie blue wrapped itself around the girl's body and she froze. Arisa lifted her and slowly, the vines around her loosened and retracted back to its user. Arisa landed with a soft thud, a hand on her hip and the other pointing a single finger towards her. Arisa was thrilled by this—the adrenaline that rushed through her veins felt familiar. It was welcomed.
"It's my win. Sorry, Shiozaki."
Arisa lowered her finger, gently dropping her out of bounds and the girl looked stunned as she stood on the grass. Meanwhile, the stadium erupted in cheers.
"Shiozaki's out of bounds. Hayashi advances to round two!"
Arisa moved towards Shiozaki, a hand outstretched, "No hard feelings, right?"
"Right," her hand clasped hers and the two left together.
As they left, she heard Present Mic speak.
"Man, makes you curious what she hides under that blindfold, don't it?"
Very professional, Present Mic.
Arisa and Shiozaki went their separate ways and she went towards the waiting room, wanting to get a quick nap before her next match. On her way, she stumbled upon an explosive teen, Bakugou Katsuki who went out of his way to shove her with his shoulder as he walked past. Arisa's eyebrows rose up in irritance as she whirled around to face the boy who did the same, "Got a problem?"
"You better not lose until you fight me, you blind witch," he grumbled, "And I'll win."
Arisa wasn't sure if he was being nice but coming off as rough or he's threatening her in an incredibly mild manner. Either way, she couldn't help the smirk that tugged on the corner of her lips, "You better not lose either, explodo boy."
"Who the hell are you calling explodo boy, huh?!"
Oh, there's his usual rage.
"Tch," he turned around, hands in his pockets and shoulders hunched, typical Bakugou stance, "You cover your eyes because of your quirk, don't you?"
"I thought I made it obvious, yes."
With a glare from the corner of his eyes, his swore, "I'll make you take it off when we fight."
"That sounds highly inappropriate."
His eyes widened a fraction and he furiously walked away without a word. Arisa let out a short, huff of laughter before walking away towards the commentators' booth at the last minute, realizing her waiting room would've been far too risky to nap at. She knocked and quietly let herself in — upon her entry, Present Mic who was commentating for the current match, glances at her. The match was Iida against a student from the support department, Hatsume Mei. Aizawa looked at her both questioningly and disapprovingly, "What are you doing here?"
"Do you not stop to think that I come here because I like being around you, Aizawa-san?"
He rolled his eyes at her cheeky smile, "We live under the same roof. You see me everyday, so tell me, why are you here?"
Present Mic would have butted in but he was busy commentating. The match was ridiculous. Hatsume was using Iida to promote her devices and creations. Arisa sighed, relenting and finally telling him the truth, "I don't like being around others. Conversing is way too exhausting. I don't wanna run into any other heroes either. Especially after I ran into Endeavour earlier today."
This piqued his interest, "You ran into Endeavour?"
"Yeah he mentioned... You know."
Aizawa sighed, exasperated, "Of course he would. What happened after?"
"Todoroki heard."
His eyes narrowed behind his bandages, "He what?"
Casually, she waved a dismissive hand, "I played it off. He doesn't know."
If his hands weren't bound by casts, he surely would have ran a hand down his face. Present Mic glanced at them a few times but was still busy overlooking the match. She wasn't concerned about speaking of this topic in his presence because the hero often spent his time at their home—he always came over to provide her art supplies and would do art however horrid his might be, with her. Aizawa and Yamada were most present in her life so they both were aware of her true identity.
"He better not," Aizawa exhaled loudly, "Be more careful from now on."
"Of course. Now," she inched further into the room, "Can I sleep here until my next match?"
"I'd normally say no," he inhaled, "But just this once. I brought you a sleeping bag too."
Arisa's eyes sparkled but was obscured by the fabric. She grinned brightly, "I feel honoured. Is it yellow like yours?"
He rolled his eyes and ignored her, choosing to point towards the couch in the corner where two yellow sleeping bags sat, "Yours is on the right. Knock yourself out."
"This is why you're my favourite person in the world, Aizawa-san. No offense, Yamada-san," the man before the mic only held up a thumbs up, his lips moving. Arisa shuffled towards the sleeping bag, unfurling it and quickly climbed into it, a small smile on her lips. It wasn't a big deal but she secretly looked up to Aizawa and was practically her idol so having something in common with him made her ecstatic.
"Wake me up, 'kay?"
"Yeah."
"Just don't touch me."
"I know."
°°°°
"Arisa."
Arisa had an odd dream. It was her first dream in years—no. She didn't think it was a dream. It was as if she was awake and was watching the matches that happened while she was asleep. It was odd and it gave her an intense headache. She believed it was her quirk branching again. It was a horrible sensation and she had a feeling that her sleep will forever be robbed after this but perhaps it was the consequences she had to bear for having a psionic quirk —
"Arisa!"
Her eyes shot open to see Aizawa crouching down beside her. Her eyebrows furrowed and she sat up, wincing at the headache that plagued her head. She reached up and massaged her temples, her eyes closing as Aizawa concernedly pointed out, "Your nose is bleeding."
"And my head feels like it's about to split."
"You're going against Yaoyoruzu soon," his eyes searched her pained ones, "Are you up for it?"
"Yeah," she mumbled just as Aizawa said, "Reach into my pocket. I got pocket tissues. Wipe your nose with it," she reached over and dug through his pants' pocket, hearing the rustle of plastic and pulled out a mini tissue packet. Arisa pulled out a few plies and shoved it up her nostril, listening to Aizawa voicing his concern, "Are you sure you're alright? You've never bled before, have you? Are you having a fever? If it's too much you can pull out —"
"Hey, chill out, dadzawa," Yamada popped up from behind him, "You won't do her any good bombarding her with questions like that," his eyes fell on the pained girl, "How about you go get yourself checked? Go to Recovery Girl downstairs."
"I'm fine. It's just... My quirk. Acting up. I'll be fine," she peeled herself away from the sleeping bag, nostril still stuffed with tissue.
"Your quirk's acting up?"
"I don't know. Just a guess. We'll discuss it later at home, okay?"
"No. No, if you're not well and if you're going out there risking your own health, I'm gonna have to stop you from participating. This is a festival, relatively harmless battles. Not a death match."
Arisa stood up, ignoring the piercing headache eating away at her head and insisted, "I know you're concerned and I appreciate it. Really but I'm fine. I'd never lie to you. I'd tell you if anything was extremely wrong," as she spoke, she was inching towards the door, hand now on the handle, "I'll talk to you later. I got a match to win."
She left, closing the door after her with a click.
"You really love her, huh, Eraserhead?"
"Shut up. Go do your job."
Arisa trudged through the hallway, went down a few flights of stairs and stumbled upon Midoriya with both his arms in a cast. Right then, images flashed before her eyes—images that she had seen while she was asleep, the match between Midoriya and Todoroki where the green-haired boy absolutely destroyed himself and got smacked against the wall by Todoroki who finally used his flames for the first time ever since the festival began.
"You busted your arms."
"And your nose is bleeding."
"You lost, huh?"
He gave a small, sad smile, "Yeah. You were watching?"
"In a way," she still didn't understand what happened while she slept. She'd delve into it later once the festival was over.
"It's your turn now," he grinned, "Good luck. I know you'll win."
"How sweet of you," she chuckled and gave him a gentle pat on the shoulder as she passed, heading towards the tunnel that led to the stage. She made sure to wipe any evidence of blood on her skin and tossed the crumpled up tissue into the nearest bin. Enduring the headache, she stood by the edge, waiting for her name to be announced and while she did, she pondered over her opponent, Yaoyoruzu Momo, a girl who's IQ surpassed everyone else's in the class and was able to create anything from her body. She might be a tricky one to face but Arisa always noticed that she was always unsure of herself and although it was cruel of her, she sought to exploit that weakness.
"WITHOUT FURTHER A DO, HERE WE HAVE THE NEXT MATCH—HAYASHI ARISA AGAINST YAOYORUZU MOMO, THE TWO BRIGHTEST OF THEIR CLASS!"
Arisa scoffed as she walked out.
Her intelligence was dull compared to Momo.
She had to be cautious this time around. Even more so than when she fought Shiozaki.
Arisa now stood on the large, elevated platform across Momo who held a look of determination. The two girls only exchanged a single nod and Arisa could tell the girl was nervous for this match.
The moment the match began, Momo tossed something, almost too fast for the eye to catch and it caused an explosion that obscured her vision—a smoke bomb. She was smart. She needed to see her target in order for her to manipulate them and she made sure to take advantage of that but unfortunately for Momo, her senses were great. Even if she were blinded, she'd be able to sense anything aimed for her.
"A QUICK MOVE FROM YAOYORUZU. THIS WILL BE A BATTLE OF WIT BETWEEN THE TWO BRIGHTEST! WHAT WILL BE THE OUTCOME?"
A pole tore through the smoke but she halted it in time, her hands glowing a bright blue as she parried it, moving as if she danced. It was now a melee and her arms moved, controlling the clearly heavy, steel pole that would hurt quite a bit if it landed. Arisa realized that she was at a disadvantage and took to the sky, upside down and calmly observed below for the girl within the impossibly thick smoke.
"HAYASHI TOOK TO THE SKIES!"
She observed and there she was, halting in the smoke. Arisa quickly captured her, arm outstretched and pulled, lifting up a surprised Momo out of the smoke. Arisa straightened herself in the sky and winced, feeling a new wave of a headache coming in so she quickly decided to end it. She uttered, "It's over, Momo. You did well."
Arisa tossed her out of bounds, gently but she landed ungracefully, rolled a bit and landed in a crouch.
"THAT WAS AN INTERESTING MATCH, I SHOULD SAY. HAYASHI DISPLAYING EXCELLENT BATTLE PROWESS AS USUAL!"
Stop sounding so biased, Yamada-san.
"Hayashi will advance to the next round!"
Arisa lowered herself and landed on the platform softly, feeling quite nauseous and decided to follow Yamada's advice to go see Recovery Girl. She left a trail of cheers and applause in her wake—it made her felt proud of herself. She never had anyone react so positively to her fighting ever.
A reason would be that they were too dead to speak.
And the people that surrounded her were cold-hearted, unforgiving people.