Heartbreak Girl

survivors ready?

The UA Sports Festival. I really tried to ignore it until the last minute. But now it's here, and I'm more nervous than ever.

I bounce up and down on the balls of my feet as Bakugo gives his whole speech about how he's going to win and chaos ensues. Soon after, Midnight announces the first challenge—an obstacle course. I tune her out as she explains, too deep in thought to be conscious of what is going on around me.

I have to be in the first 42 to get through the obstacle course. Just 42. Or 30. Top 30 is safer to aim for. Which means I have to be top 15. Top 15. I can do it. Focus, Maris.

I shake the feeling off and get ready for the course. Luckily, I'm near the door. People start pushing to get out, but I stay rooted in place. There are about two rows of people in front of me.

I focus on the group of people in front of me as everyone continues to move. I listen in to their hearts, quickly lowering their heart rate. They fall, and a path opens for me to get out.

Just in time, too. As soon as I step away from the crowd, ice covers the hallway. This is fucking amazing.

The walls around the ice seem to be 5 and a half feet tall, and maybe 3 feet wide. Perfect.

There's a little ledge on it about a foot and a half up, and I hop up onto that. I press my palms onto the top and raise myself up to it. I stand up on the ledge, and instead of trying to slide on the ice, I run on the side. 

When the wall ends, I nearly fall off. I don't.

I jump off, and that's when I fully take in what is in front of me.

So these are the robots from the entrance exam. I can confidently say I would not have passed that if I took it.

I watch Todoroki freeze and get past them in a minute, and I sit there and wonder why I didn't run with him when I had the chance.

I notice the few robots like the one Todoroki froze reaching down to grab students without any luck. The metal on their hands aren't smooth—the fingers bend like human hands.

Seeing these two things, I wait until the robot reaches down again and grab onto a ridge in the metal. I'm on the back of the finger so the robot can't grab me, and I make my way to its arm as it tries to throw me off. I get to the shoulder and start to descend again.

I just want to be done with this obstacle course. 

I think I zone out for a good part of this course because before I know it I'm halfway across the ropes.

I stand on a pillar, frozen. How the hell did I do that?

Thankfully, the ropes seem tight. I step onto them, testing out my balance. I take a few steps, cautious at first, but get into a groove and speed up quickly.

At the end, I feel myself tilt a little (nearly falling off at the end seems to be a common trend here), but steady myself. I'm honestly surprised I've made it this far.

Brushing that off, I keep going. When I reach the landmines, I'm faced with Midoriya piling them all together. Instead of watching him, I start to pick through the path, making my way towards the end. I'm going as fast as I can, but it doesn't seem fast enough.

I hear an explosion, and Midoriya sails over me. Not much later, Nat follows suit.

I pick up my pace, and soon I'm sprinting.  A familiar face catches up to me, and before I know it I fall behind Tetsutetsu. That just won't do.

Maintaining my speed, I knock him unconscious right where he is and jump over his body.

I manage to place 10th.

Thank God.
______________________

You know when a teacher says get into partners for a project in class and you don't have any friends so you just sit there and hope someone will approach you?

Yeah. That's how choosing teams for the calvary battle feels like.

I just try to avoid Midoriya, because poor boy is worth 10,000,000 points.

While weighing the pros and cons of asking Kirishima if I could join the team he's on, I feel a tap on my shoulder.

I turn, and it's the guy from General Studies that was talking about possibly transferring up earlier.

"Do you want to join my team? You don't seem to have one and we could use you," he motions his thumb behind him to where Ojiro and Aoyama stand.

I look back at Bakugo's team, then to this guy.

"Yeah. Thanks. I'm Maris, by the way."

"Shinso," he says, and walks back to the team.

The battle ensues, and we manage to steal Tetsutetsu's points. That results in us getting third place. Which means we move on.

While Tetsutetsu is still figuring out how we stole his team's points, I go up to Shinso.

"Hey, um. Good job — you're a really good teammate. And thanks for managing to snag those points," I say.

I don't know why I'm saying this. I feel like I'm over compensating. I probably am.

"You're not so bad yourself," he rubs the back of his neck, "And I've been meaning to ask, what the hell is your quirk? I can't figure it out."

I laugh.

"It's heartbeat manipulation! I can hear your heartbeat and change it, basically."

He nods.

"That's pretty cool, actually. Is that how those guys at the start all passed out?"

"Yeah it is. One of the only tricks I have but it works well, so..."

After a beat I speak again.

"Yours is brainwashing, right? I saw you with Tetsutetsu. How does it work?"

"Oh, uh, they pretty much have to talk to me in order for me to brainwash them. I just tell them what to do."

"Remind me to never get on your bad side."

He smiles at that.

Then, a break is called and Shinso and I split up into our respective groups.

After this starts the actual tournament.