Nature's Beautiful Smile

Chapter 15

I sat criss-cross in the corner of the waiting room, levitating at least a foot off the ground as I spectated everyone. Today's the day... I thought, staring at my peers intensely, studying their movements down to the way they breathed. Just because I had told people I wasn't going to train doesn't mean I didn't. The past two weeks, I had worked on endurance and the extent of my quirk. No one had dared to approach me, let alone try and speak to me. "Midoriya." Shouto suddenly piped, catching everyone's attention since he was usually quiet. "What is it Todoroki?" Mido asked without any timidity in his voice, rather a more curious tone. "On an objective basis, I think I'm stronger than you in terms of practical strength." He started, shocking Mido a bit. "You've managed to get All Might's eyes on you right? I feel no need to pry into that but... I'm going to beat you." He said plainly.

"So I'm gonna go at it with all my might to!" Mido said more boldly than he's ever said anything to someone other than me. "Ooh." Todoroki said unamused. "Don't expect me to go easy on you either Dia. I will surpass you." Kat let out a silent short growl at Shouto's challenge before the door opened and Present Mic's voice boomed over the intercom. "The freshman stage! And the students are making their way now!" A shadow cast over me as everyone else began walking out. I slightly glared up at the figure. "Let's do our best today, Dia. I bid you good luck, though I won't go easy on you." Iida said, extending his large hand towards me. I smirked up at him and took his hand. "Ditto."

~

"Whoaa so many people." Mido said in an extremely shakey tone. "Can you draw out your best performance with so many eyes gazing at you? May the fervor engulf you and make students true warriors!" Iida said, catching the attention of Mido and seemingly making him a little more nervous as we gathered in front of the stage. Oh yes. THIS is what I'm here for. I thought as I looked up at Lady Midnight, eying her in her costume up and down. "Whoa D, getting an eyeful I see." Kirishima teased, giving my arm a small nudge. "Hell yeah." I responded, continuing to stare. "Eh?! D... Do you uh... Swing that way?" He asked, tugging nervously at his collar. "For her I do. People are people, man." I said, putting my gaze on Kirishima who looked relieved. "KATSUKI BAKUGOU OF CLASS 1A!" Lady Midnight suddenly shouted, calling the king of hotheadedness to stage himself. Oh God. "Sensei. I'm gonna place first." He said, making the whole crowd of students boo him while other shouted insults. "You all will make great stepping stones." He said, dragging his thumb across his neck in a slicing motion. I sighed and facepalmed. If you're gonna deliberately corner yourself don't make the rest of us look like pricks. I thought as he stepped down, bumping shoulders with Mido in the process. "And with that we can move on to our first event!"

From the start, the passage way was to narrow, acting as the first filter. On top of that, Shouto immediately froze the ground and a few others to it. "Nice try." I said, taking to the wind and landing in front of Shouto, sprinting with my cheetah form and gaining a lead just to be stopped by a wall of 0 pointers from the entrance exam. I jumped up, taking to the wind again and flying over them while Shouto froze them and continued past, right behind me. So cool. I thought as the robots fell over, block in the path of everyone else and leaving just us two ahead. I arrived at the fall first and only relied on my agility to get through to test my own ability. I was a little surprised at my acrobatic skill level since it was something I hadn't practiced in a while. Nonetheless, I got through no problem without sparing Shouto as much as a glance. Present Mic along with a few pros praised Shouto and I on both our physical prowess and our quirk skill. By the time Shouto got to the end of 'The Fall', the rest of the competition arrived at the beginning of it. To my surprise, Kat began catching up by rocketing forward with his explosions. Thanks to my naturally heightened senses, I could smell the mines, giving me an advantage when it came to dodging them; plus my speed gave me a good lead. The issue was... The fact that Shouto was kind of chasing me with the ice, which almost trapped me a couple of times. And Katsuki, who was slowly gaining momentum. He's gonna hurt his arms if he keeps that up... I thought before running faster. A large explosion went off behind us and shortly after, Mido joined the party. Well, kind of soared over it. As he was about to land right in front of me, Katsuki and Shouto got a sudden burst of speed, chasing after him and ending up right beside me. Mido waited until we were beside him and slammed the metal slate he was on into the ground, detonating a bomb that sent us flying and slowing down the three of us. He quickly recovered and got first place. I got second, Shouto got third, and Katsuki placed third. I quickly engulfed Mido in a hug and spun him around. "AW I'M SO PROUD OF YOU! THAT WAS SO CLEVER AND COOL!" I cheered loudly as I swung the flustered boy in my arms. "D-d-d-dia! Y-you think so?" He asked with a red face as I put him back on the ground. I nodded, giving him a large smile. I suddenly felt my own body being lifted off the ground as Mido happily spun me, prompting me to let out an amused giggle. He set me down, leaving his hands on my hips and put his forehead to mine. "Deku! Dia! You two were amazing!" Uraraka said just as Mido opened his mouth to tell me something. I noticed him clench his jaw, gritting his teeth a bit as he shot her a glare. Woah! What's with that sudden mood change?! She was congratulating you.... I thought as I Iida also ran up, muttering about his quirk being fit for something like this. Mido's grip on my waist got deadly the closer gravity girl and Iida got and it was almost enough to make me wince. "Uraraka, Iida!" He said a little passive aggressively, continuing to slightly glare at the oblivious duo. "Congrats on first place! But damn it stings!" She said before taking a moment to look at us. "Woah Deku, you look like you're about to crush Dia's waist... Doesn't that hurt Dia?" She asked, causing Mido to quickly remove his hands. "Ah! I'm so sorry! Are you okay?! Do you think it'll bruise? Dia- I didn't mean to- I just got... Sorry." He said, looking away. "I'm not hurt you two, it's fine. Though it probably will leave a bruise." I replied, causing Mido to look guilty. "Don't sweat it! I'm a tough girl!" I assured, playfully flexing. "There you go again! Taking things lightly! I don't want to hurt you at all! Those aren't the kind of marks I'd want to leave on your body..." He muttered under his breath, but my ears picked it up. I raised a brow and decided to dismiss it as Lady Midnight explained the post preliminary game.

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