The U. A. Sports Festival was to be held in two weeks. It was also going to be broadcasted live on the television. Of course, that meant that those who would do well have a much better chance of becoming Pro-Heroes. The festival itself was going to be a surprise as no one would know what the events they'll be participating in until the day of. But everyone was working hard from day one.
Well, everyone but Kimitsuki – whose ribs and legs were killing her every time she attempted to do more than a jog with them. As such, the day number one of her training was spent trying not to cry and soldier through her pain as she joined Izuku for an evening run along the Dagoba Beach.
"Are you okay, Tsuki-Chan?" Izuku asked for the umpteenth time as he tried to keep a pace with the lagging white-haired girl. "You should rest if you're hurting! It'll get worse if you continue with this!"
"This is okay enough!" Kimitsuki grunted, wiping the sweat off of her forehead. "Recovery Girl suggested that I exercise well to get back on my feet properly. I'm sure I'll be fine in a week,"
"I think you're going to get worse," Izuku admitted in concern as he watched the girl throw some medicinal candies into her mouth. "You're taking a lot of medicines, aren't you? You're not –"
"I'm in my right mind, Izu-Chan," Kimitsuki insisted. "Come on, let's go – race you to the pier over there by the edge of the cliff, come on!"
Aizawa wasn't as relaxing when it came to the situation that Kimitsuki had brought on herself.
"This is all the more reason for you to learn how to work this capture weapon," Aizawa told the girl as he stood in front of her with his scarf. "Individuals with Quirks like ourselves must adapt,"
"Yes, Sensei," Kimitsuki replied quietly, her Quirk activated as she kept an eye on Aizawa's movements so she could memorise them and copy them. "I'll be careful from now," She looked at him uncertainly. "Sensei... I don't think I'm going to use my sword or my scarf at the festival,"
"You don't sound very certain about that," Aizawa responded, eying her sudden strange declaration. "Are you going to be a one-trick pony now? You should send in a petition for at least one of those. You can't rely on just your eye Quirk – there are students with Quirks that will counter you easily,"
"I know," Kimitsuki replied. "But I'm going to look rely on my Quirk!" She looked at him eagerly. "I've been practising well. It's a bit difficult to keep a hold on it at times but I'm better now,"
"Whatever you decide is up to you," Aizawa droned. "But I need you to pay attention to what I'm trying to teach you here. I don't want any slacking off in any case," Kimitsuki nodded quickly.
"Yes, Sensei," Kimitsuki answered, getting back into her stance so she could show off what she had just watched Aizawa attempt. "I'll do my very best,"
It took a week for Kimitsuki to completely recover from her injuries.
Of course, it wasn't an ideal situation but Kimitsuki was relieved when the bandages came off – at least she wasn't walking around as mummified as Aizawa was. The Nomu had really screwed them.
The rest of the class was having a better time with practises. Kimitsuki could hear Katsuki using his Explosive Quirk not far from where she practised with Aizawa at the school's forested area. Izuku and her were reutilising the Dagoba Municipal Park Beach for their training sessions.
Among her other friends, Tenya was working on his speed in the school P. E. Grounds while Ochaco was working on her Gravity and Mina on her acid in the U. S. J. Ruin Zone with Yuga and Eijirou. Tsuyu was using the indoor pools while Mezo and Toru were hitting the school gym. Hanta and Mashirao had taken over Ground Beta while Koji and Rikido also used the forest.
Denki tried to utilise any and all locations that he could find to practise his electricity capacity and Fumikage was trying to deal with the strong light with his Dark Shadow. Kyoka was training her earphones while Momo studied up. Shoto went home early for practise and Minoru...
Well, Kimitsuki didn't know what he was doing at his home and frankly, she didn't want to either. She doubted he was doing much because all he did in the classroom was complain about stuff.
Kimitsuki had been trying to watch her classmates with her Quirk activated to see what was up.
It was obvious that she would never be able to copy their Quirks but she wanted to get used to the way they carried themselves. She liked to people watch and her invisibility at times helped her out.
But it was unfortunate that she couldn't go out of her way to check out other people in the school while they practised. And being around Tenya at all times, she was discouraged by the diligent student regarding using her Quirk to recognise other students' Quirks as they passed them by.
"I'm not going to use my Quirk in corridors, Iida-Kun," Kimitsuki assured Tenya for the umpteenth time as they walked over to the cafeteria together. But her eyes were out looking for that person.
Shinso Hitoshi
There was something about him that really made Kimitsuki want to check him and his Quirk out. She hadn't expected someone to go out of their way to actually challenge them with a declaration of war. But he had done that. And that piqued Kimitsuki's interest regarding his abilities and ambition.
However, there was no sign of that boy anywhere. Kimitsuki wished she could seek him out but she only knew his appearance and that he wasn't from the Hero Course. What will she tell people for it?
Can you tell me where I can find an indolent boy
with tufty purple hair and threatening tendencies?
You should wait until the Sports Festival, softie.
🤍
It was finally the day of the Sports Festival and Kimitsuki was anxious, having been unable to sleep properly the night before. She had packed up her essentials in her waist bag – which mainly included medicines in any case that she started to have a panic attack again or struggled with any other problem. And she headed out of her home, deciding that she would like to have a walk before it.
However, before she could really head out of the building, Kimitsuki was informed by Granny Haruna that the Oba-San in Apartment 117 wasn't doing good again and the white-haired girl decided to go up to her and help with cooking and eating breakfast before she went off for her Sports Festival.
"You're going to appear on TV, Kimitsuki-Chan?" asked the elderly woman as Kimitsuki carefully fed her the last spoonful of porridge and placed the bowl down.
"Yes, Oba-San, I'm going to be on the television," Kimitsuki answered gently as she gathered all the dishes onto the tray and stood up. "My school is going to have a sports festival today,"
"What channel is it going to be on?" Oba-San asked as Kimitsuki walked into the kitchen to place the dishes in the sink to be washed. "Can you leave the channel on for me?"
"Of course, I will," Kimitsuki replied. "Wait just a moment, let me wash these dishes really quickly," She hurriedly but carefully washed the dishes she had used and wiped them clean. "Let me help,"
Switching on the television that was in the bedroom to the proper channel, Kimitsuki returned to the living room and helped the elderly woman across the room to her room, taking a hold of most of her weight so she wouldn't get hurt. Kimitsuski carefully laid her down in the bed and made sure that –
"Are you comfortable, Oba-San?" Kimitsuki asked and the woman nodded. "I'll be leaving now, please take care of your health... remember to take your medicines, I'll set some water nearby,"
Quickly finishing up with the rest of the work in the apartment – mainly cleaning up the mess – Kimitsuki placed the pitcher of water on the side table and then bid her goodbye with a deep bow.
"Good luck, Kimitsuki-Chan!" called the elderly woman after the white-haired girl as she left the apartment. Kimitsuki and bowed her head in gratitude. "I'll see you on the TV,"
"Oh, my, you're still here?" Granny Haruna asked when she saw the young girl come out of the creaky elevator and into the lobby. "You should hurry to school! Your festival is going to start!"
"Yes, I'm going to head out right away," Kimitsuki replied. "Please check on Oba-San in a few hours. I've given her breakfast and placed medicines on her side table, please take care of yourself, too,"
"Of course, I will, you big softie," Granny Haruna said. "Come on, let me see you out. Good luck with your Sports Festival, okay? I'll be keeping a watch on the TV! Do your very best!"
"Thank you very much," Kimitsuki said, bowing deeply and parting ways with the woman by the street and heading off toward the bus station to catch a bus rather than a train.
It was mainly because Kimitsuki knew that the trains would be crowded to the brim with people heading to the same location and she didn't want get caught in that. She was pretty sure no one was going to help her out like Katsuki did in the cafeteria corridor. So, taking the bus was her only way.
The streets by the school were also very crowded but Kimitsuki, along with the rest of the students, were asked to take the backway inside the school to avoid the crowd, media and other trouble.
Kimitsuki took the back gate and got her student card checked out with others before she was let inside, hiding herself right behind the giant Sports Festival arena. She was pointed out to the 1st Year locker rooms to join her classmates. She felt flustered at the sight of her seniors walking around.
At her class's locker room, Kimitsuki found out that she was supposed to dress into the school P. E. uniform rather than the hero costume that she usually wore. This made her a bit uncomfortable.
The P. E. was still a bit form-fitted and she hadn't gotten around to getting herself a larger size yet.
In the end, Kimitsuki pulled on a white tank-top beneath her blue tracksuit, leaving the topmost button of the shirt to loosen it a bit on her chest. She felt she was being a bit informal and that was a problem. Yet still, Kimitsuki just gathered herself and headed off to the Class 1-A waiting room.
"Man, I wanted to wear my costume," Mina was saying as Kimitsuki entered the waiting room, and the white-haired girl bowed in greeting to those who noticed her.
"To keep everything fair, we can't," Mashirao pointed out.
"I wonder what the first round's gonna be..." Rikido lamented.
"No matter what comes, we have no choice but to deal with it," Fumikage replied sagely, and Mezo nodded in agreement with him as per usual.
Kimitsuki's eyes met with Katsuki's as he sat on a table to her left but as soon as she did so, he huffed and looked away. She rolled her eyes and looked away from him to see Izuku and Ochaco by another table, and decided to go to them. She had barely closed the door behind and walked over –
"Everyone, are you ready?!
We will be entering soon!"
It was Tenya who had shouted all this and Kimitsuki jumped slightly as he slammed the door open to their waiting room. Minoru, who was standing near her and Izuku, salivated at the female's chest.
"Hey, Izu-Chan," Kimitsuki breathed as she reached him, noticing how anxious he looked. She felt like her expression mirrored his. "How are you doing? It's hard to sit down, huh?"
"Midoriya – Kuroyanagi,"
Both Kimitsuki and Izuku turned to look at the person who had approached them and it was –
"Todoroki-Kun?"
"Um," Kimitsuki said, sharing a look with Izuku and glancing around to see that everyone was staring at Shoto in surprise, too. "What is it? Is everything okay? Do you need help with something?"
"looking at thing objectively," Shoto said as he looked down at the two of them. "I think I'm stronger than you both," Kimitsuki stared at him.
"That's... obvious, isn't it?" Kimitsuki asked. "You're a lot stronger than a lot of us here, actually," She had often stared at his body with her Quirk activated, seeing his swirling dual Quirk.
"But All Might has his eye on you two, doesn't he?" Shoto said and Kimitsuki frowned, her eyebrows knitted. "I'm not trying to pry about that. But I'm going to beat you – both of you,"
"Oh?" Denki asked as he spun around in his seat to face them. "Is the second-best in the class making a declaration of war against the best?"
"It's nothing like that, Kaminari-Kun," Kimitsuki said tensely, not taking her eyes off of Shoto, unsure what really prompted him to do this. "I may be the best in class, but it's not because of my Quirk,"
"Kuroyanagi-Chan, you shouldn't talk so negatively about your Quirk," Hanta said as he turned to look at them as well. "Your Quirk is pretty cool!"
"Hey, hey, hey!" Eijirou said as he walked over to where Kimitsuki, Izuku and Shoto were in the middle of the room. "Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? Not now, we're about to start!"
"We're not here to play at being friends," Shoto replied, brushing Eijirou's hand off of his shoulders before stepping away from them. "So, what does it matter?"
"Todoroki-Kun," Izuku spoke up. "I don't know what you're thinking when you say you'll beat me, but of course you're better than me. I think you're more capable than most people... Looking at it objectively..."
"Midoriya, you probably shouldn't talk so negatively, either..." Eijirou said, unable to understand why both of the childhood friends were being so pessimistic regarding themselves.
"But, everyone," Izuku spoke up finally. "The students from the other courses are aiming for the top with everything they've got! I want to become the greatest hero! I can't afford to fall behind. I'll be going for it with everything I have, too,"
"Yeah," Shoto replied.
"In that case..." Kimitsuki said, swallowing slightly and looking at Shoto with resolution. "... I'll do my very best, too. Let's all work hard to become great heroes. I want to stand with everyone on the stage. My Quirk isn't very... nice, but I want to be a great hero, too,"
🤍
Kimitsuki nervously played with a strand of her hair as she stood behind Katsuki and in front of Izuku, waiting for their class to be called out. She glanced around the rest of her classmates standing in the corridor in wait and could see that many of them were as nervous as she was, but others weren't.
Why can't I be like that?
Izuku had often mentioned to her that her charms didn't lie in being authoritative and unapproachably expressionless. He had always told her that she suited someone understanding.
In the end, I am a big softie, huh?
There were times when Kimitsuki wondered what her classmates would've thought had she not been on TV, had All Might not praised her, had she not helped people out during entrance exam...
Family-Killer Kimitsuki
In all honesty, Kimitsuki was waiting for that nickname to return to her one day, and she feared that day immensely. She wasn't even sure if she liked the renewed interest in the murder of her family.
"Hey! Pay attention, audience! Swarm, mass media!
This year's high school rodeo of adolescence that you all love,
the U. A. sports festival, is about to begin!
Everybody, are you ready?!"
Present Mic's sudden loud announcement made Kimitsuki jump slightly, extracting her from her thoughts and she blushed deeply when several of her classmates turned to look at her curiously.
"It's time for the students to enter the first-year stage!"
Kimitsuki followed her friends as they finally made their way out of the corridor and out to the arena. She shook her head to make her bangs cover her face slightly as she peered up at the stadium. It was filled with thousands upon thousands of people – all of them looking down at them.
They're already cheering, huh?
"The U. A. sports festival!" Present Mic was speaking. "The huge battle where fledgling heroes sharpen their swords once a year! Anyway, these are the guys, right? The miraculous new stars who overcame enemy attacks with their hearts of steel! Hero course, Class 1-A, right?!"
"Th-Th-There are so many people..." Izuku stammered out from next to Kimitsuki while he looked around with eyes as wide as saucepans. "Isn't that right... Tsuki-Chan?"
"Will we be able to give our best performance being watched by so many people?" Tenya questioned, quite as taken by the amount of people around them.
"Um, I believe this is also an important part of training to become a hero," Kimitsuki breathed, blushing slightly. "It's quite difficult... but I suppose a hero must know not to be fazed..."
"Man, he's going overboard with that praise!" Eijirou exclaimed. "I'm getting nervous!" He looked at Katsuki, who was walking right in front of him. "Aren't you, Bakugo?"
"No, I'm just getting more into it," Katsuki replied and Kimitsuki glanced over her ash-blond friend to see a rather intense expression on his face.
"Ka-Chan... really is the greatest when it comes to nerves, huh?" Kimitsuki mumbled to herself, and she looked away when Katsuki turned his red eyes to meet with hers.
"They haven't been getting as much airtime, but this class is also full of talent!" Present Mic said. "Hero course, Class 1-B! Next up, general studies Classes C, D, and E! Support course, Classes F, G, and H are here, too! And business course, Classes I, J, and K! All of U. A.'s first years are here now!"
"We're just here to make those guys look better, huh?"
"I'm not really feeling it..."
Those were the words that met Kimitsuki's ears as the students from other courses made their way to the arena as well. Her lilac eyes met with Shinsou Hitoshi's purple eyes as he walked a few feet ahead of his classmates – not leading but seeking solitude. His face was expressionless as he stared.
I wonder what he's thinking?
Kimitsuki wanted to use her Quirk on all of these people around her but she took in a deep breath and removed her eyes away from Hitoshi and back in the front as Pro-Hero Midnight took the stage.
"Time for the player pledge!" Midnight called out to the audience once all students were in front of her. She whipped around her flogger whip to catch everyone's attention.
"What is Midnight Sensei wearing?" Eijirou asked as he blushed at the sight of their Modern Hero Art History teacher in her Pro-Hero costume.
"That's an R-Rated Hero for you," Denki replied, and Kimitsuki was not surprised to see that he and most of the other boys were blushing at Midnight, too.
"Is it okay for her to be at a high school even though she's R-Rated?" Fumikage questioned, not sounding much bothered or impressed by this.
"Yes!" Minoru cheered, and Kimitsuki grimaced at the way he was leering at their teacher with salivating mouth and sparkling eyes. She would never get used to this.
"Quiet, everyone!" Midnight called out, swiping her flogger-like whip to interrupt their chatter. "Representing the students are... Bakugo Katsuki and Kuroyanagi Kimitsuki from Class 1-A!"
🤍
A/N: Thank you for all the kind words ^^