TWO POWERS (Todoroki Shoto x Reader)

Chapter 14: The Show

"Hey, that was a great pledge," Kirishima says after you've made it down the stairs and re-joined the mass. "I couldn't agree more! You truly represented us!"

"Well, no one threw anything at me so I guess it was OK," you say half-jokingly.

"Now, without further ado," Midnight interrupts you at a time you probably shouldn't be talking anyway, "This is the first game. I wonder what it will be."

Yeah, I wonder.

"This is where you start feeling the pain. The first fateful game of the festival." A screen pops up behind her, displaying a twirling slot machine of games, you assume. You watch as it stops on "obstacle course". Running. This will be a piece of cake.

"All eleven classes will participate in this treacherous contest. The track is four kilometers outside of the stadium. I don't want to restrain anyone, at least in this game, as long as you don't leave the course, you're free to do whatever your heart desires! Now then, take your places, contestants."

Everybody starts moving to the front of the big doors, about to be opened. It just got real. You think back to your pledge and what you promised All Might: no holding back. You are going to become the next symbol of peace, and you're about to prove it to the world. It's that simple.

As the final light goes off and Midnight announces the start, people gun it for the exit.

"And we're off to a racing start," you hear Present Mic's voice loud in the stadium. "What should we be paying attention to during the early stages of the race?" he asks Mr Aizawa.

"The doorway."

He said it a second later you had realized that you're absolutely stuck. People are awkwardly moving, or would it be more accurate to say pushing forward as one mass. You know you could jump up and propel yourself out of the doorway into the unknown. That's exactly what you do, powering up One For All and making it to the sunlight.

With some breathing room, you are now dashing forward at your maximum comfortable output. The 0-pointers? Oops, already past them. A ravine? Nothing a jump won't fix. A landmine area? This is the only place where you slow down to navigate around the explosives, but you're still moving much faster than usual.

Present Mic is having trouble keeping up with you and is expressing his surprise with loud comments like, "How is this... Huh?! Aizawa, what have you been teaching them??"

With such ridiculous commentary you make it to the final stretch, covering it in seconds. And there you are back at the stadium, basking in the crowd's cheers. You just covered the four kilometers in mere minutes. Is this what they call ...overpowered?

"Not to state the obvious but," Present Mic continues his commentary, "the first student to finish is Y/N Tsukauchi from class 1-A! What an amazing performance! She indeed did not hold back! Now back to the other students still on the track."

Hands up waving, you do your best to look at everyone who is cheering for you. Everything is really loud, you can barely hear your panting. The cheers are soothing the aches in your muscles and pain in your throat.

The cheers die down and Present Mic's commentary continues as usual. Now you can feel the weight of your breathing and notice the pains in your body. Why is this happening?

You hide your discomfort and do your best to stand up straight while looking around for a place to awkwardly stand and wait for others to finish. It is a relatively bright day, but it doesn't make a difference to you anymore since you can't restore your energy. You continue panting, but you calm yourself with the thought that it's to be expected after pushing yourself physically. You look around, and one of the volunteers offers you a bottle of water. You greedily gulp the cold water down, refreshing and cooling you a little bit. Much better, you can go on now.