Third person pov
After the high that came from realizing they'd won wore down, they all realized that they were absolutely nothing short of ravenous. Well, Harper had gotten over their win far before, but decided not to mention anything until Hagakure and Kirishima were done whooping happily and clapping Shinso on the shoulder. Said purple-haired teen was grinning so widely his face looked as though it would split. "Maybe this is what it's like to have friends." His thoughts pondered. It was actually pretty depressing. "Not that they'd ever really want to be friends with me. I'm... me."
Sad as it was, Harper could relate to it. She wasn't a positive or particularly fun person to be around. That didn't stop Hagakure from insisting the four of them eat lunch together, nor did it stop Iida from cautiously inching her way with anxiety painted clear as day across his face. "Does she even want to talk to me? No, why would she. She's probably upset I got first. I should have been on her team. No, then we would have lost. Nothing makes sense. I can't-"
"Congratulations, Iida." Harper said once he was close enough. The teen jumped slightly as Harper offered a tired smile. It felt fairly genuine to her, but she could never be too sure these days. "I knew you'd do well on their team, and I was right. You got first place. Good job, man."
Iida smiled at her. It was definitely a real one this time. She invited him to come sit with her and the other three she'd gotten wrapped up with, but he declined politely. He made an excuse about already promising to sit with Midoriya and Uraraka, but she knew that wasn't actually the case. He didn't want to interrupt her time with her 'new, better friends'. It caused a pang, but she wasn't sure how she could insist without giving herself away or seeming like a complete and total annoyance. You win some, you lose some. She had to let this one go.
"Milk, milk, milk!" Ochako darted past her, shooting a quick congratulations verbally as she did so. Harper spun around to follow her with her eyes, brows furrowed. Was she lactose intolerant? No, she was getting milk, not rushing off to the bathroom. Maybe she just really liked milk. Though, there were times when Ochako would retrieve her vast amount of dairy-filled cans only to not touch them at all. In contrast, Harper had witnessed her chug four in almost less than a minute in the past as well. Maybe it depended on her mood.
"Come on, Harper! Before the lines get too long!" Kirishima called from where he and their other two companions were waiting. "Holy shit I just called out. To her. With my voice. And told her to get over here. This is insane. Like, normal-friend stuff insane. She looks really tired... I should ask if she's okay. I'll definitely pay for her lunch and drink. I wonder what her favorite snack is. That way, I can start carrying it around! She'll never be peckish with me around. That would be so manly."
Harper trudged over tiredly. A part of her desperately wanted to forfeit this entire thing. It was confirmed by Aizawa's thoughts that her quirk had indeed been announced during the obstacle race as a reflexive quirk, which meant she didn't have to worry about that part anymore. But she'd already made it so far. Of course there was no way she'd win. She'd learned a lot of useful things in hero training, and her quirk usually gave her a pretty good heads up, but that only did so good. If she got placed against someone like Todoroki or Bakugo, she was fucked. Hell, pretty much everyone in her class could easily take her down.
Harper still didn't know who she was up against. She'd seen the brackets pop up on the jumbo-tron, but there were question marks in place of where their names should have sat. The suspense was frustrating. Everyone was full of tension. The cafeteria would've been unbearably loud any other day, but the chatter was at a minimum with most people shoveling down their food. Most were sulking over their loss, but a lot were frantically trying to figure out who they might be up against and what they could do to win.
Hitoshi hid his utter joy pertaining to the situation well, his thoughts rolling over one another happily at the obvious acceptance and prospect of possible friendship. Hagakure was her usual cheery yet somehow dark self, and Kirishima was still stuck on her mentally. Why he'd latched onto her in the way he had, Harper really didn't know. She wasn't a psychologist by any means, but she'd be damned if she didn't know at least a little about how the human mind worked. She'd bore witness to a vast palette of of mentalities over the years. She'd seen people with obsessions, but on another person, and so intently? It was odd and maybe even concerning, even if Kirishima was relatively harmless in nature.
"She's so cute! I can't believe we're eating together. She's right across from me. Man, this is amazing. I'm being weird. By staring. And thinking. Ugh, why am I even like this? This has never happened before with anyone! She has to be my soulmate. Or maybe I'm just going crazy..." Kirishima trailed off, head propped up on his hand and dazed stare trained on Harper. She didn't acknowledge it, but had to admit that the him being batshit would explain a lot. She kept the opinion to herself.
Lunch went by too fast, and if they really thought Harper was going to participate in those extra games they had 'for fun', they were dead fucking wrong. She slunk off to the stands to collapse in a chair and silently wallow. The thoughts clashing around her send sharp waves of pain through her head. Harper was seriously considering a visit to Recovery Girl. At least then maybe she could get the pain down to a more manageable level. Maybe. Did Recovery Girl do headaches? She had no fucking idea, but it was impairing her ability to function.
On top of her general distress, she was anticipating physical injury. Harper had never actually broken a bone before. She really wasn't looking forward to the moment when she did, because she damn well knew it was coming. She wasn't an idiot. This was the hero course, and she'd been thrown into the deep end. If it didn't happen here, then somewhere close down the line it would. And she'd be fucked six ways to Sunday. Just- ugh, she didn't not want to be a hero, but she wasn't really looking forward to being one either.
"Damn, Deku. Looking hot as hell. I haven't gotten a reply to my note, you know. Cute ass motherfucker probably thought I was joking. Jokes on him, actually. I was dead fucking serious, and he's going to see that eventually." Bakugo's thoughts were absolutely booming. She didn't hook onto them, though. They'd devolve into something inappropriate, and she'd grimace, and then they'd get worse, and she'd grimace some more. She continued to prod around her classmates, looking for someone low-key.
Hooking onto a single person's thoughts and focusing intensely on them really helped to block the others out. It gave her quirk something to do. The damned thing couldn't be turned off, and repressing it was just as hard as trying to listen to the constant cacophony of noises. It was an invasive approach, but desperate times called for desperate measures. Harper knew most of her classmate's deep, dark secrets anyway, so it wasn't like there would be anything new to learn. Unless she found the traitor by chance, in which case, hurrah. Now that would be nice.
"I can eat bees, but if they sting me I have an allergic reaction. What's up with that?" Tsuyu's thoughts weren't too bad.
"If anyone found out how much I like Taylor Swift, my reputation would be ruined." Jiro was having another music-related crisis that Harper didn't want to deal with. Shake It Off was playing in the background of her consciousness, which was not what Harper needed at the moment.
"I could easily kill Sero with his own tape." Okay Koda. Okay. Harper, once again, was choosing not to touch that one with even a ten foot pole.
"IF YOU DO THE COOKING BY THE BOOK, THEN YOU'LL HAVE A-" Harper flinched, eyes briefly widening. What the fuck was up with Sato? And more importantly, why? Whatever. She didn't even really want to think about that at the moment.
She roved through more of the louder minds sparsely littering the surrounding area, UA students and those here to watch the festival alike. Aizawa's were excitedly admiring Mic and how hot he was. Harper really wished they'd just kiss already. Mic liked him back. Should Harper mention that to Aizawa? Would he be pissed at her for invading Mic's privacy? Who the hell knew. The guy was too flippy. One moment it was one thing, and the next it was another. His outer persona... she couldn't tell if it was genuine or a construct. There was a chance he outwardly projected his joy in a dull, cold, bored manner. It was impossible to tell.
There was a high possibility he was just fucking with everyone, but Harper didn't want to entertain that idea too much.
"I wonder who'll make it to the final part of the third round. I'm betting on that Todoroki kid, or maybe the explosive one..." It was the thoughts of a hero. Harper dug a bit. Kamui Woods, maybe? Whoever it was, they were lazily patrolling the hall.
"C is for cookie, and cookie is for me." Someone's thoughts said plainly. If Harper squinted, she could see a woman happily shoving one of the said baked goods in her mouth very contently. It was sort of pleasant to linger on for a bit, but it was making Harper hungry again.
"It's Britney, Bitch."
"I spend twenty bucks on knee socks with socks on them, and she doesn't even comment."
"I should dye my hair that shade of blue..."
"I'm so pumped! I'll be rooting for everyone on the underdog team, Team Rye!" Aw, how nice. Too bad Harper was going to severely disappoint by not caring.
"My money's on Tensei's kid brother."
"That Bakugo kid has potential. Maybe I'll send in an internship offer to him..."
Harper paused and processed that for a moment. Someone wanting Bakugo to intern with them wasn't really a surprise, but were they... you know... doing internships for first years this time around? Harper as hoping and praying they weren't. Who the hell would she intern with? Why would she ever want to intern with like, literally anyone? Fuck, more work, less sleep. Dammit. Fuck. Ugh, now she was stressing. The possibility of broken bones and other injuries just increased as well, which wasn't what Harper had been looking for.
"I saw it. For a moment, Shoto revealed his true potential. Soon he's stop being such a petulant child and see what his true purpose is..."
Harper's blood ran cold. Great. How nice. To top off the immense amount of anxiety, stress, and overall exhaustion she was undergoing just by being here, now a dick had entered the chat. Just what she needed! God, she should have ducked out when she damn well had the chance. She'd come to completely despise Endeavor during her time sitting next to his son. She'd never had direct contact with the Flame Hero or his thoughts, but Todoroki's fears alone were enough to create a simmering rage in the pit of her stomach.
Harper continued to lazily bounce about people's thoughts. Iida showed up after a while and took a seat next to her, engaging her in idle conversation of his own accord. It took no prompting from her. It was a step up. Sure, he thought he was annoying her severely and was contemplating dying, but at least he'd engaged her on his own. It was a step up even with the severe thoughts present.
He was surprised he made it past, but pleased. He even hesitantly alluded to the fact that there was "maybe" a possibility that his brother was a "little" proud. Harper had nearly laughed right in the guys face before telling him that though she didn't know Tensei, she was pretty damn sure he was probably off watching somewhere, absolutely beaming over his younger brother's performance. She'd heard of Ingenium. He was a pretty stand up guy from what she understood.
"Alright, alright! It's time for the finals to begin! If everyone but Hitoshi Shinso and Izuku Midoriya would leave the field, we can go ahead and get this show on the road!" Mic crowed. Mentally, he was chirpier than before. "Shota's in such a good mood today! He only rolled his eyes at me once!"
Aizawa was silent as usual, though his thoughts weren't. "I accidentally only rolled my eyes at him once! He's got to be onto me."
Yeah, his whole hardass demeanor was just him fucking with literally anyone and everyone. Harper didn't know how to feel about that. On one hand, she was impressed. On the other, she was vaguely terrified at how good he was at it.
Harper found herself leaning forward a bit as the fight progressed. Or more how it didn't. Izuku suddenly stopped, and she could feel his brain disconnect from function. But he was still conscious. That was the main difference she noted. With all the people Shinso had gotten to in the cavalry, they'd all just go blank slate on him. Sometimes there'd be a minimal 'what the fuck' before they were ordered to turn around or give up their headbands, but for the most part they were completely zombified.
Harper felt overwhelmed suddenly as she focused on Izuku. Something bright and heavy crept up on her and caused her breath to hitch entirely in her throat. Her whole body tensed without her meaning it to as eight figures flashes before her conscious. They weren't in front of her, but she somehow saw them anyway despite her eyes being wide open. They were just outlines, their voices mere whispers. Familiar whispers. She recognized seven of them as the extra voices All Might had in his head but couldn't hear, and the eight... she could swear...
She could swear the eighth voice belonged to the Number One Hero himself.