"The afternoon events will resume in one hour, after lunch. Later!" announces Present Mic, cuing the exit of majority of the viewers to take a break. "Hey, Eraser Head, let's go have lunch," he whispers still audible from the microphone.
"I'll sleep," Aizawa nonchalantly responds.
It was followed by low whistle.
By a far corner, Kei sees a familiar group lamenting over their lost. She scoots over, wanting to satisfy her curiosity.
"What happened? Before we knew it, we were zero points," says the white-haired one with really long eye lashes.
"Is this a punishment for playing dirty and taking that little guy's points?" follows up the vine-haired female, referring to her trick in sneakily snatching the grape juice's points from them.
"I don't understand!" complains the white-haired male.
Kei snickers at their reactions, which brought the attention of the four Class 1-B students to her. "Oh," the female muses a smirk, letting her eyes glimmer a lighter shade of mint green as she gazes daringly at the bunch, "but it was fun though."
The female has been restricting her quirk since the second phase as it dawns to her that attracting too much attention would be the downfall to Hitoshi's perfect plan so her quirk is unintentionally being poured at the moment. Kei's suave voice reaches the ear of the quad, making specific males blush.
"Please marry me!" proclaims the one with the eyelashes. He gleefully extends his one hand towards Kei as he bows a full 90 degrees.
Kei was taken back by the sudden reaction, letting her aware of her quirk's condition.
"And who might you be?" the vine-haired lady asks cautiously.
"Kei Yagami, from team Shinso," the female reaches her hand up on the air, waving curtly.
"I'm Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu, 1-B! Please think about my offer, Yagami-san!" the long eyelashes guy grabs Kei's hand, intensely staring at the female.
"Calm your horses, Tetsutetsu," Kei laughs.
"First name basis already!" Tetsutetsu squeals, the red tint spreading wildly on his cheeks.
"Uhm, your first and last names are basically the same though..." the spiky-haired guy wearing a headband sweat drops as he scratches his cheek. The exposed-teeth male across him silently nods.
"I see that you are one of the qualifiers for the next battles. What was your trick?" questions the vine-haired lady.
"Oh ~ but where's the fun in that ~" Kei coos. "Although you might witness his abilities sooner or later, ancient plant ~"
"Ancient--? I have a name and it's Ibara Shiozaki," the lady calmly states.
"Well, nice meeting you then, ancient plant ~"
"You are impossible, child," Ibara sighs.
"Why, thank you," Kei retorts. "See you later then," she says, releasing herself from Tetsutetsu's grasp as she walks away, "or not."
Kei hears the words along the lines of "I'll cheer for you later, my goddess!" as her presence leaves them. She then hears murmurs of some students from class A.
"Congratulations, Mina."
"Bakugo only chose me to defend against Todoroki's ice attack. I don't know if my ability is worth it."
"Iida. It's not fair that you had a secret trick!"
"Unfair? I just used it the wrong way. I just wanted to battle with Midoriya."
"It's a manly thing!"
Kei hums as the conversations fade on her ears, "Oh yeah, where's my favorite vegetable at ~" She turns right, looking for a quiet place to rest.
"—since the cafeteria will be packed," Kei hears a familiar feint voice from a tunnel. She halts, rethinking whether to continue her supposed path. "Um..." Izuku's voice trails off, as if waiting for whoever he converses with to reply.
"I was overwhelmed," says a monotone male voice.
Kei know this voice too well that her heart almost stopped beating. She found herself in a frozen state.
"So much that I broke my own promise," the voice continues.
The female's eyes widen in shock, fully aware what the male is referring to. "He—used it?"
"Iida, Kaminari, Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, and Uraraka didn't feel it. At that last moment, I was the only one that was overpowered. Only me, who has seen All Might's full power with my own eyes."
"That... means...what?" Izuku pushes the conversation through.
"It means that I felt something similar coming from you." There was a short pause. "Midoriya, are you..." Shoto's voice becomes firmer. "Are you All Might's illegitimate child?"
Right after his remark, Kei's nerves are instantly reawakened. Her hands immediately fly to cover her mouth. She had her eyes partially tearing up from holding her laughter. She was even shaking.
Suddenly, a hand taps Kei's shoulder from behind. "Hey, are you okay?"
Kei gulps, basically sweeping her ecstatic state under the rug as she turns to the blonde male with a completely stoic demeanor. "Neito, wanna have lunch with me?"
The male was slightly confused about her switch but smiles nevertheless, "Sure, I'll tell you how I blasted Bakugo's face with his own quirk."
The female raises an eyebrow as she pauses a bit. She then stifles a laugh, starting their merry way off, "In detail, if you may."
"Well, that goes without saying!"
Kei smiles at Neito, internally grateful that she bumped into him at that moment.
—
The duo set themselves on a table filled with 1-B students, with a few familiar faces. Neito introduces Kei to a bunch and starts his tale. The group had their chat afterwards, putting more colors to the lively table. The topic then turns to Kei.
"So, from what class are you in?" asks the girl who happens to be their class representative, Itsuka Kendo.
Neito glances at the Kei, shooting her a knowing look.
Kei hums, "You could say, I'm under the General Studies right now."
"Right now?" Itsuka tilts her head, wanting to go further.
"Right now, because she's climbing her way up the Hero Course, of course," Neito backs up as he grins at the female.
"Well, how about that?" Sen Kaibara muses. "It's the first time I'm seeing him rooting for someone," he says, pointing at Neito.
"You beat me into saying it!" Kosei Tsuburaba says quite enthusiastically.
"Are you crushing or something?" Shihai Kuroiro smirks mischievously as he gives the main topic of the conversation a side-glance.
"I—"
"Alright, stop picking on him already," Itsuka interrupts.
"Alright, mom," the three boys uniformly respond. They then realized what they said, freezing at the second.
"You called me what now?" Itsuka says, already forming a tick mark on her head.
"Oomf," Kei and Neito simultaneously comment, containing their hilarity.
—
"Lunch break is over! And now we'll announce the final event! But before that, there's good news for those who didn't qualify. This is a sports festival, so there's a recreational event planned for everyone to participate." Present Mic announces.
Kei now walks with the 1-B bunch, interacting with the group as her eyes wanders the arena.
"We even brought in cheerleaders from America to liven things up...what?" Hizashi pauses.
Kei stopped along with the 1-B class, lightly bumping against Tetsutetsu's back. "Oh, sorry! Are you okay?"
The female nods. "Although, what's the fuss about?"
Tetsutetsu points at Class 1-A girls in front of them.
"What are they doing?" Aizawa says through the announcers' booth.
"What happened Class A? What kind of service is this?" Present Mic exclaims, referring to the group wearing cheerleading outfits.
"For a 'service', they seem pretty out of it," Kei comments to Neito who eyes them mockingly. "Ne Nei-chan ~ do you think I can pull that off ~" the female teases.
"Of course, you're way better than—" Neito's eyes dart on Kei's glimmering ones, which causes him to pause. His thoughts immediately shifted to a specific scene with Kei wearing a cheerleading outfit.
"Hmm ~" Kei leans forward, "you were saying?"
Tetsutetsu breaks the almost non-existent gap between the two as he lightly shoves the blonde away. "Of course, my goddess! You can pull anything off, even a trash bag!"
Kei leans back with a sly smirk. "I'm having a lot of de ja vu in your class today," she says, remembering her mentor's same words.
"Mineta, Kaminari, you tricked us!" the ponytailed girl yells.
Then the commotion on 1-A resumes.
Kei, on the other hand, has her grin still plastered on her face. "Witty, dear knight. It works," she murmurs to herself. She then positions herself to the back of the gathering crowd.
"Now, it's time for a fun recreational competition! After this, sixteen players from the four teams will compete in the final stage, tournament style one-on-one battle!" Present Mic declares, to which the audience went wild.
"Now we'll draw lots on determining the pairs!" Midnight announces as she holds up a yellow box. "Once the pairings are determined, the battle will start after recreation. The 16 finalists can choose whether or not to participate in the recreation, as some may want to rest or save their strength. Let's start with the first team—"
"Um... excuse me?" the tail man interrupts, raising his hand. "I want to withdraw," he says, gluing his eyes on the ground.
A few of his classmates reacts.
"I barely have any memory of the Cavalry Battle until the very end," he says, bringing down his hand. "I know that this is a big chance. I know it's foolish to throw this chance away. But..." his voice trails off, "this is where everyone has fought giving their all. I cant stand there while I don't know what's happening."
His last remark riles up encouragements from his classmates.
"No, this is about my pride. I can't do it," he says, covering his face with his hand. "Also, why are you all dressed as cheerleaders?"
The faces of the group of female behind him turn into grimace.
"I'm Shoda Nirengeki from Class B," a short blue-haired guy steps in. "I want to withdraw for the same reason. Despite our ability, if someone who didn't do anything is advanced, doesn't it defeat the whole point of the sports festival?"
Some people from the crowd reacts positively at his thought.
Kei, on the other hand, bores her eyes to a specific indigo-haired guy. "Someone might think of this foolishness as otherwise though I can't blame him. We're on the same wavelength."
"Something strange is happening..." Present Mic comments.
"We'll have to see what the referee, Midnight, decides to do," replies Aizawa.
Then silence.
"That kind of youthful talk is something that I like!" Midnight says, displaying her signature air-whip. "I accept Shoda and Ojiro's withdrawal."
The crowd internally comments, "She chose by preference."
"Then two participants to replace their spot will be from the fifth place Team Kendo..." Midnight thinks out loud.
"If that's the case," Itsuka interjects. "Instead of us who can barely move during the Cavalry Battle, it's them, right?" she addresses a female with a mushroom-shaped bob hair, a girl with a silver hair covering half her face and another with dark moss green hair behind her, to which all nodded. "Shouldn't it be Team Tetsutetsu who fought to keep their top spot until the end?"
The said team jolts their muscles, reacting on the shocking consideration given by their class representative. "Kendo..."
"It's nothing suspicious. This is how it should be," Itsuka coolly states.
This statement stirs up Tetsutetsu. "You guys...aaah!"
After a few moments, Team Tetsutetsu finally chooses their pick.
"And so, Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki complete the 16 finalists." Midnight announces. "The pairing based on lots looks like this!" she says, pointing at the monitor.
"Oh, we're up to a great start, alright ~"