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[21] Sports Festival (4)
🕑 Added 2025-05-30 16:37:22 +0000 UTC(Kata POV – Sports Festival Stadium, Cavalry Battle)
"Let’s get a battle cry! Here comes the starting signal!" Present Mic announces, his voice booming over the stadium. "Blood begets blood in the U.A. grand match!"
I stand with my team, my hands stretched back to hold onto Momo’s and Mina’s hands, as their other hands rest on my shoulders to support Mei, who sits atop us.
"Three!" Present Mic begins his countdown.
"Are you all ready?" I ask calmly.
"Yeah! We've got this in the bag!" Mina cheers, full of energy.
"We’re sure to win," Momo says with confidence.
"Everyone will see how amazing my babies are!" Mei grins, perched on my shoulders with a headband that reads 10,000,380.
"START!"
As expected, nearly every team rushes toward us.
"Ashido, you're up." I instruct.
Without hesitation, Mina secretes a large amount of high-viscosity acid, which I telekinetically rotate around us at high speed, forming a spinning shield. The glowing, swirling mass forces several teams to halt, unwilling to risk getting caught in it.
Then, Juzo uses his Quirk to soften the ground beneath us, causing our footing to become unstable.
"Brace yourselves," I warn, quickly tethering us together with telekinesis. "Hatsume, your turn."
Mei cackles, "It’s time for everyone to witness the brilliance of my babies!" She presses a button, and her jetpack ignites, propelling us into the air and away from the softened ground.
As we descend, the hover boots—one strapped to Momo’s foot, the other to Mina’s—kick in, ensuring a stable landing.
"Momo, get ready," I say, noticing Dark Shadow darting toward us from behind.
She nods, swiftly generating several flashbangs and tossing them into the air. The explosion of light forces Dark Shadow to recoil with a pained shriek, momentarily blinding several nearby teams as well.
We continue moving, avoiding getting pinned down while our acid barrier keeps most competitors at bay. The smarter teams wisely back off to find easier targets.
Then, I sense it—Bakugo, rocketing toward us through the air.
He claps his palms together, no doubt aiming to blast away our acid shield.
'I don’t really feel like humoring him.'
Without so much as a flick of my wrist, I telekinetically grab him and fling him higher into the sky.
"DAMN YOU, SLOW GLOBE!!!" he roars.
'The rules say I can't make him fall... but they never said anything about making him fly.'
We hold our ground for a few minutes, easily managing the competition. But then, Todoroki—who had been preoccupied securing additional headbands—returns.
We face off.
"You can’t beat us, Todoroki," I say plainly.
His eyes narrow, resolve hardening. "We won’t know until we try."
A cold breeze sweeps across the field as jagged ice spikes rush toward us, while Dark Shadow lunges from the opposite side. They’re attacking from two directions at once, aiming to corner us.
With unspoken understanding, Momo tosses another flashbang toward Dark Shadow, forcing him to retreat. At the same time, I shatter Todoroki’s ice mid-air with telekinesis.
They press forward. We evade effortlessly, Mei’s jetpack carrying us above their attacks, while Momo and I work in tandem to keep them at bay.
Then, just as they pass beneath us—
"Thanks for the gift," I say, holding their most valuable headband, freshly stolen during the exchange.
Todoroki stiffens, his teeth gritting in frustration.
"Keep in mind, you’re not doing this alone," I say evenly.
He blinks, finally noticing the uncertainty in his teammates' expressions. The frustration in his eyes dims as realization dawns. He inhales, then exhales.
"Let’s go."
With those two simple words, he pulls back.
Bakugo keeps trying to ambush us but gives up after the third time I fling him away. He hurtles through the air, spewing curses and threats.
'I wonder how Team Midoriya is doing?'
Scanning the battlefield, I spot them. They’re actually doing well, having teamed up with Shoji and Tsuyu.
With even Todoroki and Bakugo backing off, the rest of the teams lose their courage. They settle for fighting among themselves while we wait for time to run out.
And eventually, after a short countdown, Present Mic’s voice booms across the stadium.
"TIME'S UP!"
The chaos of the battle grinds to a halt.
"Let's see who our top four teams are!" Present Mic announces. "In first place, Team Okada! In second, Team Todoroki! Third place, Team Bakugo! And in fourth, Team Midoriya! These four will proceed to the final event!"
I glance around, noting everyone’s reactions.
Todoroki’s team looks relieved, though he himself is unusually quiet. Ida, Kaminari, and Tokoyami celebrate their second-place ranking, oblivious to his brooding.
Bakugo, on the other hand, looks pissed. He’s glaring daggers at me, his entire body radiating frustration, but his teammates—Kirishima and Sero—are too busy celebrating to care.
Midoriya’s team is all smiles, Izuku happily chatting with Uraraka, Tsuyu, and Shoji. Their excitement is almost contagious.
Shinso also makes it through, having taken fifth place. His team was entirely under his control, so like canon, they have him the spot.
"Guys! We did it!" Mina jumps up excitedly, her face glowing with happiness.
Momo takes her hands, nodding and jumping along with her. "Yes, we did!"
I let out a small sigh. 'At least Mei is calmer—'
I turn and see her standing in front of a camera, already advertising her support items.
Another sigh escapes me. 'Should’ve known.'
Present Mic’s voice cuts through my thoughts. "We'll proceed to the afternoon portion after a one-hour lunch break! See you then!"
With that, everyone begins dispersing.
I expect Midoriya to be pulled aside by Todoroki, but no—Todoroki walks straight toward me instead.
'I just wanted to enjoy my lunch in peace,' I lament internally, keeping my expression neutral.
"I want to talk," he says. "Can we go somewhere private?"
It’d be easier if he were an asshole about it. I sigh. "Sure, lead the way."
We walk toward the waiting room in silence, tension thick between us. He’s clearly frustrated, though I don’t know if it’s directed at me, himself, or something else entirely.
After arriving, he glares at me for a few seconds.
"If you've got nothing to say, I’ll leave." My time is better spent elsewhere.
He exhales sharply. "...You overwhelmed us during the match. You could have taken all our headbands. Why didn’t you?"
'Ah. He’s mad that I didn’t go all out. Or maybe he thinks I took it easy on him.'
"It's nothing special." I shrug. "There wasn’t any reason to."
His brows knit together. "What does that mean?"
I lean against the wall, arms crossed. "At what point should I have drawn the line? I could’ve left every other team with zero points, but then what? I'd be seen as malicious or petty by heroes, which is opposed to the purpose of the Sports Festival." I analyse logically. "Besides taking one of your headbands or all of them wouldn’t have made a difference to me as I'd still be first."
His fists clench, glare sharpening. "...Are you saying you view me the same as everyone else?" His voice is slow and controlled, but there’s a hint of anger within it.
My eyes narrow slightly. "That’s an arrogant thing to say, Todoroki." My tone turns cold. "You say that as if you’re different from everyone else. You’re not." I push off the wall, my gaze steady. "Neither am I."
The words come out harsher than I intended. 'Why does this bother me so much?'
Mina’s words pass through my mind, before I realise what's bothering me.
'It's similar to the sense of superiority my parents had over me.'
Not as bad, nor directed towards me, but enough to annoy me.
Todoroki blinks, visibly surprised by my response. "I never said I was different from them."
"It's not always about what you say. It's about how you act." The words leave my mouth before I can fully process them—then the realization hits me.
'I'm a hypocrite.'
I’ve justified so many of my choices with the excuse that I know what’s supposed to happen, even as the future shifts beyond recognition.
'Have I been looking at everyone like that too?'
The thought slams into me like a truck. I have. From the moment I arrived, I’ve seen them as characters in a story—variables in a timeline I thought I could control. I risked their lives when I let Kurogiri teleport them, all because I believed it would play out the same way.
But this world doesn't actually have a script, and I’m not some omnipotent overseer.
'I'm not a god.' The word rings bitter in my mind, dragging up an old memory of that smug ROB. My jaw tightens, and Todoroki frowns at my sudden shift in expression.
I shake my head, setting the thoughts aside for later. Now’s not the time to spiral.
"You know, talking to you has helped me realize something important." My voice comes out steadier than I feel. "Thanks."
Todoroki’s eyes narrow, suspicion creeping into his features. "Are you mocking me?"
"I'm not." I meet his gaze evenly. "But tell me, what's the real reason you called me here?"
Silence stretches between us. Then, finally, he speaks.
He tells me about his father. About Endeavor’s obsession with surpassing All Might, the quirk marriage, the childhood training, the scar. The resentment in his voice is thick, years of pain layered into every word.
I listen without interrupting.
"In short," he finishes, his tone sharp with conviction, "by rising to the top without using my father’s quirk… I'll have denied him everything."
I exhale slowly. 'Yeah. That’s tragic. But…'
"You’re not the only person who’s suffered," I say, my voice serious. Images of a few people flash through my mind as I clench my fist. "Plenty of people have had it worse than you."
Todoroki stiffens.
"I’m not saying what happened to you wasn't terrible," I continue before he can respond. "But right now, you're no different from your father."
The shift in his expression is immediate. Anger clouds his features, his entire posture tensing, but I press on.
"You're obsessed with proving Endeavor wrong. He’s obsessed with surpassing All Might. You have different goals, but take similar paths."
I turn away, letting my words sink in.
"Your quirk is half-hot half-cold. Not Hellflame. And until you realize that, you’ll never escape his shadow—even if you surpass him."
I walk off without another glance.
In the distance, I sense Bakugo and Izuku listening from different spots, each of them undoubtedly drawing their own conclusions.
I sigh. 'I just need somewhere to sit and think.'
I find a relatively quiet area and sit down, exhaling deeply as I reflect on my behavior. I need to change a few things.
There are 40 minutes left until the lunch break ends, but I don't get much time to myself before I sense someone approaching.
And who else but Mina?
"Hey, Pres!" She greets me cheerfully, dropping down beside me without hesitation. "You looked down. Everything okay?"
She doesn’t push for an immediate answer, just sits there, letting the silence settle. It lingers for a minute or two before I finally speak.
"How’d you find me?" Not the question I most want to ask, but it’ll do.
"You were walking around with a frown, which is new, so I followed you to see what’s up." She says it with a cheeky smile, but her voice is soft.
I sigh. "Most would be creeped out by that, you know?"
"Most would be flattered to have a cute girl looking out for them," she quips back without missing a beat.
Another silence settles, but Mina doesn’t press further. She just stays.
'I get that she’s trying to comfort me, but…'
“…Why?” The word slips out before I can stop it, heavier than I intended. Mina seems to pick up on it instantly.
"You seemed like you needed someone," she answers simply.
"Is… that enough of a reason?" I ask, genuinely unsure.
She winces, as if my words physically hurt. "Yes, it is."
I don’t respond right away, and neither does she. Normally, my voice is calm, detached—even collected. But right now, I can hear the cracks in it, and so can she.
"I’m sure you have questions," I finally say. "Go ahead and ask them."
She just smiles. "Then I want to know more about you."
I brace myself for the usual questions—about my past, my mood, my scars—
"What’s your favorite color?" she asks instead.
I blink, caught off guard. "…Don’t you have more interesting questions to ask?"
She shakes her head, a smirk creeping back onto her face. "You know, Pres? I hardly actually know you. That’s something I realized recently. Other than that day we did introductions, I don’t think I’ve learned much about you."
She folds her arms, adopting a mock lecturing tone. "Sooo… let me get to know you more. Okay?"
Her usual cheeky grin is in full effect, and despite myself, I chuckle "You're Ridiculous."
It’s not much—but the sound makes her freeze, eyes widening in surprise.
My voice… sounded amused?
Normally, that wouldn’t mean anything. But for the first time, I’ve broken past my usual monotone. I can see it in her expression—she noticed.
I push past it. "It’s white," I say simply. "I find it peaceful. What about you?"
"I like pink," she responds, launching into a passionate explanation as to why.
From there, the conversation flows naturally. We talk about pointless things—movies, favorite foods, hobbies. She teases me when I admit I don’t like sweets, then immediately starts listing recommendations anyway.
Somewhere along the way, I stop overthinking and just listen.
Before I know it, lunch break is over. As we head back to the stadium, I realize something.
I feel lighter.
