ｓｅｖｅｎ

ｒａｃｅ

Footsteps clamored into the small doorway as all the children ran inside. Zero's classmates shot through all the other children and began racing towards the front in hopes of getting a head start on the obstacles.

"Okay, here's the play-by-play!" Present Mic's voice rang through the intercoms. "Are you ready to do the commentary, Mummy Man?"

The other announcer, Eraser Head (who was wrapped head to toe in bandages) finally made some noise since the start of the festival.

"You're the one who forced me to come" Present Mic smiled wider at his commentary and continued.

"Well, let's get started! What should we pay attention to in the early stages?"

Eraser Head smiled underneath his bandages and chuckled lowly. "This part right now."

***

Izuku took his words into play and noticed that the tunnel was getting smaller and smaller. He wasn't claustrophobic, but he didn't like being squished against one another.

Izuku looked up and realized he still had the air currents slithering around him. With little effort, Izuku lifted his hands into the air and managed to push himself into the air. He shot out like the puss from a pimple. Izuku smiled himself and was about to continue to the exit when he had an inkling to cover himself with defense. Acting on instinct, he swooped his hands in front of him and made a hamster ball of air that protected him from all sides. He looked over the students one last time before riding the air currents above everyone.

Not a moment after, a cold wave of air hit them all and left the students on the ground frozen in their tracks.

Izuku looked ahead and saw Todoroki running with ice glittering his path.

"Sorry, but-" Todoroki started.

"Naive, Todoroki!" Yaoyorozu cut him off. Behind Todoroki was Kaachan, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and Aoyama- all using their Quirks to catch up to him.

"I won't let you get away so easily, you half-and-half bastard!" Kaachan yelled with a crazed look in his eye. He blasted his way forward. Izuku knew that they still didn't notice him high up in the sky yet, so he kept his distance but made sure that he was in between Todoroki and Kaachan's group.

"You didn't really think that was going to work against your classmates now did you?" Izuku heard Ojiro speak from behind. Alongside him was Tokoyami and they didn't seem to notice him either. One by one, his classmates were getting free and leaving students from other classes in their dust.

It made him smile that his friends were doing so well amongst others.

"More people outside of Class A were able to dodge that than I expected," Todoroki told himself.

"Oi, Todoroki" Zero spoke from above him. Todoroki slightly jumped and looked up at Zero while running aimlessly. "I saw what you did back there. Pretty sneaky," Zero smiled cheekily.

He looked at Izuku in the air and blinked a bit before looking back at the winding path. "I did what I had to do to secure my head start," he replied coldly.

Izuku heard his serious tone but ignored it. "Well, I want to see you try to win. I'm bringing out the big guns to win this Festival."

"I have something to prove in this Festival, so I must win" Todoroki used his Ice Quirk to run ahead at full speed.

"Something to prove?" Izuku thought but dismissed. He saw Todoroki stop up ahead and decided to dismiss his air currents. He fell right next to him and studied their first obstacle.