𝑇𝑜𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑤

- Chapter 23 -

It was a bright and crisp summer morning when the sports festival was about to begin. The front gate to the academy was crowded and filled to the brim with news reporters, as well as people who came to see the festival in person. There were fireworks everywhere, as well as dozens of booths that contained prizes, food, posters, etc.

Seeing the sports festival in its entirety for the first time was overwhelming as well as exhilarating, your stomach used to flutter with nerves and you could hear everyone's excitement for the activities that were about to commence.

Your excitement was innocent, however common amongst the rest of the students who were also participating in the festival. Especially the first years, specifically class 1-A, who had hundreds of eyes drawn to them due to their encounter with real villains at such a young start to their heroic careers.

Nevertheless, you loved the festival the first time you participated. You were able to strengthen your relationships with your classmates, as well as begin to fall in love with a particular green haired boy. You learned more about your quirk as well as its limits, you also witnessed the potential the rest of your friends had.

It was one of the best days of your life.... That is it used to be.

After having to go through it 28 times, the sports festival became more of a nuisance rather than an exciting event. The songs of laughter and excitement from the crowd became loud and incoherent noise that made your head swell.

Instead of focusing on your heroic career with your friends, all you thought about now was how you wanted the sports festival to go to create the future you were so desperately fighting for.

You needed to win, more for your own personal satisfaction rather than to alter the future. Because the sports festival didn't change much, every time your classmates would do the same attacks, make the same mistakes. The team ups will be the same, the match ups between the students for the final rounds are always constant.

The only variable in the sports festival is you.

At least, that's what you believed.

Walking into the 1-A locker room, you were purposefully the last one to enter. You wanted to be in the stadium as little as possible, the noise due to all the emotions that were whirring around the students and the crowd made your head practically want to implode.

The festival used to be enjoyable, now it was absolutely and unequivocally awful.

"Man, I really wanted to wear my costume." Mina pouts while tugging at her blue uniform.

"To keep everything fair, we can't." Ojiro says while stretching out.

They all turn their heads to the door opening and you appearing right behind it. You had a neutral, almost uninterested expression, and your wings were released.

You also wore your headset, which made Mina ask in a confusion.

"Hey, Y/N! Why are you wearing something from your hero costume? Doesn't that give you an unfair advantage?"

Everyone looks towards you, all interested in your response.

You usually participated in the festival without it, however it would leave you almost crippled due to the emotional stress others would give you. You also wanted to keep your empathy quirk a secret, but at this point you couldn't care less.

The latest sports festival you participated in also allowed you your headset, and you passed it off as it was to help you regulate your quirk. Which wasn't entirely a lie, but rather a blanket term to hide the real reason.