~Maria's POV~
It's been three weeks since Mr. Aizawa told us about the sports festival and ever since that day our Heroics class has been spent as personal/individual training. During our training periods during Heroics class I trained in different ways with my friends, slowly improving my abilities along side my friends and classmates. I improved my speed some by racing with Iida, improved my durability, combat and strength by having fighting matches with Ejirou, I got better at using my webs by training with Sero since his tapes are similar to my webs. As for my agility and danger intuition I trained with Tokoyami a few times, I blind folded myself and had Dark Shadow attack me. I had to solely rely on my Spider Senses, reflexes and agility to avoid his quick and precise attacks.
As for Dark Shadow he got better at attacking quick moving targets. As for the rest of my abilities I trained them on my own time. Within these three weeks it unquestionable that I've gotten a closer with most of my classmates since I would offer to train with them if our abilities some how matched up and if they didn't then I would help them in any way I can whether it be combat training, target hitting practice or anything else. Well, I did stray away from Mineta during this week. I don't really like him because I quickly discovered he's a little pervert with no restraint so whatever. A few times I had to web him down in Heroics class cause he tried to get a little too touchy with me. But can you really blame me? When a small horny teenage boy tries to group my butt and feel up my legs during training I think I have a slightest right to web him to the ground.
Within these three weeks I've grown surprisingly close to Denki and Ejirou and now we're something like best friends, all of us. We've also been hanging with Sero and Mina a lot along with bothering Bakugou none stop. Although when I'm not hanging with those guys I'm always seen with Izuku, Ochako and Iida. We've all grown close as well, if Denki and Ejirou are my male best friends then Ochako is basically my female best friend. We've surprisingly got a lot of things in common as well. I've also gotten closer to Izuku and I've started to notice how sometimes he would make my heart skip a beat or make my stomach flutter when I'm around him. It's weird how cute I find him, if I didn't know any better I'd say he's actually attractive. Oh who am I kidding? He is attractive despite his really plain appearance. But I wouldn't say I like, like him. Just like him.
Currently everyone in class 1-A is hanging around in our assigned waiting room and mentally prepare for the events ahead of us. "Aw man! I was totally hoping to wear my costume!" Mina whines as she looks down at her gym uniform. "Well at least everyone will be in uniform, that'll keep things fair won't they?" Ojirou says as he stretches his arms across his chest. "Yeah just think about it Mina, some of our costumes give us aid and advantages while other's costumes are just for show. It wouldn't really be fair if we all stood on unequal grounds" I tell my pink themed friend. "Yeah you're right" Mina sighs out and I turn back to Denki and Ejirou who are sitting on ether side of me at a table. "Ehe, I'm kind of nervous" Denki says and lets out a dry laugh of nerves. We're talking with each other trying to distract ourselves from our nervousness and so far it's working, at least for me.
"Don't be man! We got this, we trained hard for a week and it's going to show!" Ejirou encourages his friend with a confident smile and I nod my head in agreement. "Yeah Denki, we got this! Just think, after this is all over we'll be famous just like you wanted!" I encourage the nervous blond as I place my hand on his shoulder. "Everyone! Get your game faces on! We're entering the arena soon!" Iida shouts as he opens the door to our waiting room open. Everybody starts to get more skittish hearing this but some of us remain calm and just try to breath despite our nerves. "You nervous Izuku?" I ask my green haired friend who stands near the table I'm at. "Yeah, is it obvious?" He asks me sounding a little embarrassed. "Don't worry, we all are!" I tell him but before he can say something Todoroki walks over and interrupts our conversation.
"Midoriya" Todoroki suddenly says loudly, catching everyone's attention. "Huh? Yeah Todoroki?" Izuku says as he turns around to face the taller male, everyone looks at the two wondering what Todoroki could possibly want. He's one of the kids in the class that sticks to himself rather than try and make friends. I tried to approach him a few times over the past week but he ether shot me down with a cold glare or shooed me off with a rude comment. Honestly his attitude towards me is starting to bother me slightly, I really don't know what he has against me other than being a foreigner. If I could talk to him I would but currently I seem to be one of the people Todoroki wants to speak to the least. "From an objective stand point I think I'm fairly stronger than you" Todoroki claims making Izuku flinch slightly at the harsh tone of his words.
"Um, yeah?" He agrees softly with Todoroki but I only narrow my eyes at the male. 'What is he trying to get at?' I think confused as I look up at the duel haired male from my spot. "However, you've out All Might in your corner helping you out" Todoroki says lowly but the entire class still manages to hear him. 'Okay and what's your point?' I ask in my head as my eyes narrow even more at Todoroki, All Might has been paying a little more attention to Izuku lately but I thought it was because their quirks are so similar and Izuku has the least amount of control over his quirk so maybe our heroics teacher was just trying to help. Why does Todoroki even care about this? "I'm not here to pry about what's going on between you two but just know. I will beat you" Todoroki says seriously, a determined fire lighting in his heterochromia eyes.
Everybody looks at Todoroki in with different emotions on their faces. "Woah, what's with all these declarations of war?" Denki says looking a little on edge after hearing Todoroki speak. "Woah now, let's just all calm down here. There's no need to get so aggressive right before the festival" Ejirou tells Todoroki calmly as he stands up and places a hand on the taller male's shoulder. "Yeah Todoroki, it's okay to be determined but we're all classmates and friends here, we should try to get along right?" I tell the tall duel haired boy with a friendly smile as I stand up from my seat and walk with a few feet of him. Todoroki doesn't say anything at first and throws Ejirou's hand off of him with a stern glare. "We're not here to play friends. Don't forget this isn't a team effort" Todoroki tell the red head before turning his icy cold glare onto me.
"I don't want to hear about being friends, especially you Davis. You have no place here so why try getting along with us? You need to just pack your things up and leave, you're not welcome here, Foreigner" Todoroki tells me harshly as he glares down at me. I don't say anything as I look at Todoroki with wide eyes, can't say his words didn't hurt a little cause honestly they did. I take a step back as I look at the duel haired boy with a mixed expression I try to think of something to say but in the end nothing comes out. "Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" Ejirou says sounding a little aggressive and stands in front of me, blocking me from Todoroki's death glare with his slightly taller body.
"Yeah man, that's not cool! So what if she's a foreigner? She's our friend and classmate, it's not right to talk to her like that!" Denki speaks up as he too steps over stand stands in front of me. Todoroki doesn't say anything and only stares at the two males with an uncaring expression on his face. I sigh after a small pause before stepping around my two friends and looking up at Todoroki since he's half a head taller than me, a look of resolution shining in my eyes. "Look Todoroki I know you don't like me because I'm a foreigner. I don't know what you have against me or foreigners in general but that doesn't mean I'm going to lay back and take this disrespect from you! Say whatever you want but since we're decelerating war on everyone then I'm doing the same. I challenge you!" I tell the duel haired boy sharply with a tone of confident and slight arrogance in my voice as I step close to him, glaring at him with determination in my eyes.
"If I get a higher placement in the festival than you, you have to treat me with the respect I deserve not only as a person but as your classmate. But if you win then feel free to diss me all you want!" I tell him boldly, a confident and smug smirk taking over my face as my eyes show nothing but a sense of strong resolution. "Hm, fine" he tells me with a blank look and begins to walk away but before he can Izuku calls out to him. "Wait a second Todoroki" Izuku says quietly but loud enough for people to hear him causing Todoroki to stop in his tracks and look back at green haired boy. "I don't know what's going through your head or why you feel like you need to tell me you're going to beat me but I know you're better than me in everyway. In fact you probably have the most potential in the whole hero course" Midoriya says.
"Midoriya, maybe you're being a little hard on yourself and us. We-" Ejirou says with an awkward smile as he tries to calm Izuku down.
"No! He's right you guys. All the other classes are going to be trying their best out there and coming at us with all their might so we can't go out there with only half our efforts! All the classes against us are aiming for the top!" Izuku half way shouts, grabbing the attention of all our classmates. I look at him with a slightly shocked expression before a smirk overtakes my face. "And I'll be aiming for the top too" Izuku says lowly, his expression turning serious as well. "Fine" Todoroki says firmly, accepting Izuku's challenge as well. "Come on everyone, it's time for us to step out!" Iida tells the class as he motions for us to get moving out the door. Hearing this everybody ether looks more tense or nervous than before and we all quickly leave the room.
'I hope you're watching everyone, cause I'm going to sweep the floor with this festival and show them that foreigners aren't to be messed with!' I think as I tighten my fist in determination. "Let me hear you scream as our students make their way to the main stage!" I hear Mr. Hizashi shout excitedly as our class exits the tunnel that leads us to the field. "This group of students are no strangers to the spot light! You know them for withstanding a villain attack, the hero course students of class 1A!" Mr. Hizashi announces excitedly as our class exits our tunnel. "Present Mic sure did talk us up a lot, kind of makes me feel nervous. How you feeling man?" Ejirou asks Bakugou since he's walking next to him. "I'm not worried, makes me want to win this thing even more" Bakugou tells him with a dark look on his face.
"How about you Maria-chan?" Ejirou asks as he turns to face me. "I'm all fired up!" I tell him, repeating the line of the mina character from one of my favorite animes. "Hey isn't that line from F**** T***?" Denki asks and I nod my head yes. "Cool! I watched that one" he tells me excitedly and I smile at him happily. "We'll talk later, now isn't really the time" I tell him as our class quickly makes out way to the center of the field and he nods his head in agreement. Once we make it to the middle of the field where all the classes are suppose to be gathering Present Mic introduces the second class in the hero course. Class 1-B, walks out of their tunnel and makes their way to the middle of the field with us. Soon after Mr. Hizashi announces the remaining classes of the first years.
The moment he's done speaking the field is filled with classes A-K of the first years making it fairly crowded. "Now for the introductory speech!" The Modern Hero Art History Teacher for class 1-A, Midnight, announces. "Um, someone should talk to Midnight-sensei about what she's wearing" Ejirou says as he tries to avoid looking at Midnight, a light blush on his cheeks. "Yeah, that costume should come with a warning" Denki agrees as he openly looks at Midnight with a blush. "Pervert" I tell Denki a I give him a stern look. "Silence everyone!" Midnight commands and everybody gets quiet as told. "For the student pledge we have Katsuki Bakugou!" Midnight announces causing our entire class starts to freak out.
"Oh Lord please don't let him do anything he would normally do" I mutter a quick prayer as I watch Bakugou climb the stairs to the small stage Midnight is on. "He's the first year rep?" Izuku asks surprised, "well he did finish first in the entrance exam" Sero says and unfortunately he's right. Man I wish I got first place instead, I can only imagine what Bakugou's going to say! "If I knew the first place winner would be giving the speech I would have tried harder to get it instead of him. I was only a few points behind him! Only the Lord knows what mess this boy is about to say. Why did he have to get first place in the entrance exam?" I tell my two classmates, a sense of dread coming over me. "Only for the hero course exam" a random chick from another class tells us rudely.
"Um, right" I tell her awkwardly and look away from the random person, like seriously who is that chick? And the way she spoke was just plain down disrespectful. She must not like the hero course much. "That girl obviously hates our class" Sero mutters, "yeah and we got Bakugou to thank for that" Denki says as he narrows his eyes at the ash blond boy making his way onto the stage. "I just wanna say..." Bakugou begins to say but trails off causing a small sense of anxiety to spike within me. "I'm going to win" he finishes and our entire class freaks out even more than before while the rest of the frst years throw all kinds of insults to not only both class 1-A and Bakugou. 'Why did he do it?' I think as I hang my head in shame, trying to ignore all the stabbing glares coming my way.
"Why are you being so disrespectful?! You're representing us all!" Iida yells at Bakugou as the ash blond walks back over to our class. "It's not my fault the rest of you are just stepping stones to my victory" he says and looks at us like we're the most distasteful thing he's ever seen. 'Can he get any worse?' I think as I shake my head, already somewhat used to his snide comments and remarks by now after a month of being the same class as him. "Without a further to do, it's time for us to get started!" Midnight announces which quickly grabs my attention. I grip my fist in anticipation, wondering what the first round could possibly be. "The first fateful game of the festival, what could it be?" Midnight says and a holographic screen appears behind her and starts spinning like a wheel of fortune.
After spinning for a few minutes the wheel finally stops and lands on an option. "Look like the first round will be an obstacle course!" Midnight announces excitedly as everyone looks up at the holograph with different expressions but as for me I feel nothing but joy! "Yes!" I whisper shout happily as a large smile breaks our on my face. "What has you so excited Maria-chan?" Ejirou asks me jokingly and I turn around to face him, my smile becoming even larger resulting in my canines being revealed to the world. "Back in America I would always do obstacle courses with my friends and at family gatherings. And guess what? You're looking at the undefeated champion!" I tell him proudly as I poke my chest with my thumb, a prideful and confident smile on my face.
"Well then you're surely in you r element, can't say the same for me" Sero says from next to me. I turn to face the black haired male and pat his shoulder with a friendly smile on my face. "Don't be like that Sero, I'm sure you'll do great! Especially after our training together, we're both gotten better at using our webs or tape to our advantage" I encourage him as I lightly pat his shoulder. Sero smiles at me shyly before nodding his head in agreement. Midnight explains to everyone how the obstacle course is going to work and it seems fairly simple once you break it down. "I don't want to restrain anyone so, as long as you stay within the court boundaries you're free to do whatever your heart wants!" Midinight says loudly causing the entire audience watching us to cheer loudly.
"Alright, contestants! Take your place!" Midnight tells us and motions towards a large red gate that leads to a tunnel. Everyone quickly moves over to the startling line and gathers around the entrance of the tunnel. "Hey Deku!" I call out to my freckled friend as I tap his shoulder from behind. "O-oh Ri-chan, hi" Izuku says nervously as he turns around to face me, a small blush dusting his cheeks. "Are you ready for this?" I ask him excitedly, a look of determination shining in my eyes and he sheepishly nods. "Yeah but I really nervous" he tells me nervously as he plays with his hands. "Don't worry about it Deku, you're smart and fit so I'm sure you'll be able to get through this easily!" I encourage him energetically and fist pump the air excitedly, trying to hype up my anxious friend at least a little.
"Y-yeah but I get scared easily and I feel like a nervous wreck. Man I'm so nervous right now!" I cries out and he's right. He looks like a nervous, sweaty mess right now. But oddly enough he reminds me of a scared bunny, bunnies are cute and adorable, just like he is! His boy is a fluff baby! He's so adorable! I'm glad he's my friend. He has so many cute habits, he's just like an adorable baby animal! Sometimes I just want to hug him tightly and never let go! Not to mention sometimes his cuteness sends my heart into a fluttering overdrive! "Then how about I give you a good luck charm?" I tell him and he looks at me confused, "a good luck charm? What do you mean?" He asks me as he tilts his head to the side like a puppy. I hold in a squeal at his adorableness.
Instead of answering his question I take my one of my white ribbons that's holding up my hair, allowing one of my puffy pig tails to fall down my back. "Here, a good luck charm!" I tell him as I tie the white ribbon around his right wrist securely, tightening it so it doesn't fall off but not tight enough to cut off the circulation to his wrist. "When you get really nervous just look down at this and think of me!" I tell me as I smile brightly at him and give him a wink. Izuku stares at me with wide eyes before his entire face poof red like a strawberry. He quickly hides his face behind his hands as he avoids looking at me, for some reason seeing him react like this I feel my own cheeks start to slowly heat up.
"Thinking about someone I care about and that's close to me when I'm nervous always helps me calm down!" I quickly tell him as I wave my hands around, my cheeks getting even more red the more I talk. "So I thought it might work for you too, since we're friends and all" I add shyly, looking down at the ground as my face quickly becomes completely red. Thank God for my dark skin otherwise it would have been really embarrassing if Izuku saw me blushing! "R-really, th-thanks the-then" Izuku says just as shyly as he lowers his hands from his face but we both refuse to look at each other, too shy and embarrassed to even take our eyes off the ground. "W-well then I'll talk to you later Deku!" I say after a somewhat awkward silence and quickly walk away from the blushing boy, my cheeks still red hot.
As I walk I take out my other ribbon and secure my hair into a low ponytail, allowing my curly dark brown locks to fall in waves down my back. Soon the count down for the race to begin starts and I force myself to calm down. I take a few deep breaths and somehow calm down enough to focus on the race but I can still feel my heart running a marathon in my chest! Actually, I'm not sure if that's from my interaction with Izuku or because I'm simply too excited. "Begin!" Midnight's voice suddenly shouts the moment the count down ends and not a second later everyone takes off.