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"Are you for real?" [____] had to ask. "We only have five minutes to get to the other side! Shouldn't you be more worried about that, right now?!"

Retorting in a playful-like tone, Toru took off her gloves, one out of two things from her hero outfit that were visible to the naked eye. "I have to wonder if you ever get tired of being so fake. Even when I'm challenging you, like this...You pretend to care about what I should or shouldn't do."

"I could ask you the same thing, Hagakure." [____] was beginning to get tired and extremely annoyed of the unnecessary comments her envious classmate could make.

The more time she remained around her, the less she had to find her two teammates, who she knew were probably searching for her as well. "And I'm not that caring! If it's you, then I really don't give a crap what happens. This is more about Katsuki and Todoroki. I rather go in there and help them, than stay here just to chat. So—"

That reply hit one of Toru's nerves; She waited no more than two seconds to punch [____] in her face when she wasn't expecting anything to happen.

"Who said anything about us, chatting?! I'm here to show you just how weak a girl like you can be!! Bakugo is bound to lose interest in you, if he sees it!"

[____] touched the tip of her nose in surprise; Blood trickled down to her top lip and she even saw a bit of the red liquid on her fingertips. 'She hit me...She's asking for it, really. There's no choice but to defend myself in this situation.'

Before she considered getting stabby with Toru, [____] took note in her head that she only had about three minutes or so left on the timer.

'I gotta get inside the maze, somehow.'

"If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do it right. I will not fail because of you, Hagakure!!" [____] prepared a portal under Toru's shoes to make her completely disappear first, before jumping inside of it herself.

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Katsuki was enraged.

Not only did he lost sight of Shoto as soon as the walls started moving from the inside of the labyrinth (he didn't care much for him from the start) but his crush was nowhere near him and he couldn't comprehend why he felt so guilty about it.

'I shouldn't of kept my eyes off of her at all. She's an idiot, but she's a quick thinker...My gut is telling me she will be fine. In the meantime, I'll search for the exit on my damn own and then go back for her once I find it.'

"Half and half can go fuck himself." He proclaimed to himself as he angrily walked to a concrete wall and place his hand on it, igniting an explosion to help him keep walking in a straight line with no more issues.

Every now and then he'd encounter his classmates and other students from class B. To which most would walk past him and keep going on their own, others asked to join teams to make it easier for themselves. He had the same answer for those people, though.

"Fuck NO, I have my own team to worry about!!"

"Eeh, if it isn't Bakugo from class A." The far-away voice of a know-it-all struck a cord in his head.

Katsuki raised an eyebrow at Monoma Neito, who was smirking all the way from a corner of the wall he was facing. "What do you want, extra?! Why don't you speak up?! I can barely hear you!!"

"What's that? I can't seem to understand where all that arrogance comes from— You are so insignificant that I cannot hear you!" Neito lied, he actually couldn't hear him because he was, in fact, purposely keeping a certain distance from Bakugo.

"Tch." Katsuki eyed the timer from the corner of his eye, two minutes and thirty three seconds left. "I have just enough time to kill you, if I hurry up."

"Such powerful words from a guy who will soon be trapped by the floor!" Unknown to him— Monoma's tactic was to stall the guy who won first place in the sports festival by mocking his ego while his partner, Honenuki Juzo, used his quirk to turn the pavement into moving dust.

'Quick sand?! Fucking shit!!'

Bakugo tried to move his feet a couple of times, which was obviously making it easier for him to sink in. "Arr..I'll kill you, both!!"

Neito gave him a smug look. "Kill us?! But you look so helpless right now. Twisting yourself and kicking like a child throwing a tantrum, even while knowing that with every move you make— The harder it gets to escape.

Ahahah, hey...You DO know that, don't you? Or are you an idiot, too blind sighted to see the obvious? Class B is catching up to you, Acers, and with each passing minute that— Uh?"

"Quit monologuing, Monoma!" Juzo rushed to be next to his partner and interrupt his provoking words to ask him something important. "I wonder if we can get by with this guy's quirk. He was using it to perforate a large space— Enough to pass through the walls without struggling. Should you copy it?"

"Eh? Are you mad? I'm not standing near the moving floor; unless we—" Neito stopped speaking as he noticed a bright light coming from thin air; it blinded the three students for a few seconds.

They heard two people grunt, but only saw one particular girl getting up from the floor. "Who is that? Did she come from the sky or something?"

"Who knows...It looks like she's fighting with no one."

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The second time [____] punched Toru back; she more or less knew what she was doing.

The timer was on four minutes when she began to push the invisible girl into a portal in between their quarrel. She did this just so she could make some type of progress inside the labyrinth.

Toru was a good fighter. [____] hadn't taken the time to admire any of her movements, though, especially because she was using them against her and in a very violent way.

Kick after punch, after punch, after punch.

They were swift, powerful and most importantly— Invisible. [____] tried to make much of what she could to defend herself.

Portals; punch, grab and pull, portals again.

At some point, they both hit the ground thanks to a dislodged position of her gateways, which caused both of the girls to fall no more than five feet down from midair.

[____] tried catching her breath but Toru wasted no time to get on top of her and hit her with more strong strikes to the face.

If punches were just emotions trapped inside a person who couldn't get them out through words; [____] felt as if she could understand what Toru had to say.

'I hate you.'

'I wish I could be you.'

'You don't deserve him.'

'I'm jealous of you.'

'Why can't he notice me, instead?'

'Why do I feel this way?'

'...How can I change?'

[____] didn't want to fight. She really didn't see any reason to hurt her, when she was already in so much pain by her own actions.

In the perfect world, [____] could try befriending her. Toru needed somebody to talk to; she first felt like this was the truth. In the perfect world, [____] would be able to get Katsuki out of her mind whenever she thought about how rude he acts towards others.

But [____] knew this wasn't a fairytale land, after all. People get hurt, and they start to take it out on others, even those who don't have anything to do with the problem at all.

Nobody chooses who to fall in love with— and if [____] had any choice, anyway, she would still pick Bakugo over anyone else.

'Because he means this much to me...I will not let you beat me!'

[____]'s rage temporarily gave her the extravagant strength and courage to flip herself around and be the one throwing the punches, instead.

'I'm not giving up! Never!'

This lasted about twenty seconds or so, until the girls finally noticed the guy they were fighting over, was right in front of their eyes; sinking into the sand and yelling at them for getting too close.

"YOU'RE GONNA MAKE SHIT MORE ANNOYING IF YOU GET TRAPPED IN HERE, OI!!"

"Katsuki!!" — "Bakugo?!"

The guy only answered to one of the girls on purpose. "Get away from here, cheeks!! These assholes are trying to stall us!"

"— And it's working, isn't it?! Ahahah!" Monoma was being basically carried like a princess by his partner; who kept insisting they'd move forward but Neito was too busy watching the cat fight between a stranger and an invisible person.

"What's happening?!" [____] asked, and the moment she quit hitting Toru, the invisible girl pushed her off to help herself stand up.

"Bakugo, how can I help?!"

Katsuki grunted as the sand began to reach his elbows. "Who the fuck asked you to help me?! I DONT NEED ANYBODY'S HAND OUTS!! I'M GETTING OUT OF HERE ON MY OWN!!"

Hagakure sighed after hearing his response. "Of course, you'd say that..."

She looked back at [____], who was standing uncomfortably due to her untimely cramps, that were worsening for some reason. "Hey, you!! Could you stop standing there and use your quirk underground?!"

"Wha— Huh?" It was the first time [____] heard of such a thing. "What are you saying?"

"I'm asking if you are able to open a door underneath Bakugo and get him out of there, without hurting him?!"

Up until that moment, [____] had only used her quirk to open doorways in mid-air. Nothing through solid items or near underground levels. But this was not a time to stand there and think about it; either she could or she couldn't.

& [____] knew there was only one way to figure it out. "I can try! Katsuki, sorry but try not to move much while I do this, okay?"

"What do you think you're doing?! You're not doing shit!! I told you I don't need either of you, weirdos, to fucking help me!!"

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Even though he was still struggling and yelling like a little kid, [____] followed through with Hagakure's plan to get their crush out of the moving sandpit.

'Oh no! He's stuck!!' [____] could feel herself getting weaker; something that happens when she uses her quirk for long periods of time. Though, it wouldn't make sense since she hadn't reached her limit at all, for one day. 'My portals are getting smaller! They might close, and then I don't know what will happen to him!'

"What are you doing?! Quit it, cheeks!! Put me back where I was or else I— mfmm, fffm!" When the quicksand reached his mouth, his threats and insults were no longer distracting [____].

"Why did it stop?" Toru was watching the leader of her crush's group trembling as she had the palms of her hands stretched in front of her; it was clear that she was beginning to frail away, like some type of elderly person.

"I- I can't seem to make my portals any bigger, anymore. His top half is stuck, because of his gauntlets and—"

"— He will suffocate to death if we don't get him out of there soon!!" Hagakure intentionally exaggerated on that part; just to see what kind of reaction [____] would do.

"DIE?! No! I don't want anything bad to happen to him!!"

"Should we just wait until the timer goes off and the arena goes back to normal?" Toru asked her, more calmly than [____] could expect. "There's a bit more than a minute left. What if we— Nope. This is what's gonna happen, [____]. Listen to me. I'm going in there. Keep your portals open, whatever happens: Do. Not. Give. Up."

"But what about you?!" [____] was surprised to hear herself ask. "If you go in there, Hagakure...Wouldn't you get stuck, instead?!"

"As soon as the timer goes off, whatever is going on in the arena will wear off and in case it doesn't, Aizawa-sensei will erase that guy's quirk to make this sand stop moving. I'm gonna be just fine so stop caring about others and focus on him!!"

"I just don't want anyone getting hurt!"

"It's a hero exam, of course others are gonna get hurt, dummy." Hagakure flicked [____]'s forehead, this time, it seemed more gentle than the first time she ever did it. "Leave that portal open until Bakugo is out, got it?!"

[____] nodded.

'I can't believe I'm doing this, after he rejected me so coldly for this weak person.'

Hagakure looked back one last time to [____]; she had tears forming in the corner of eyes while looking at Bakugo's bottom half, dangling from her gateway. He was starting to struggle less and less, due to suffocation.

'I guess this means I'm seriously willing to let go— for you, Bakugo.'

With nothing to say to [____], and so much to think about her unrequited first love, Toru jumped into the moving sand hands and head first and tried to swim down to locate the guy's upper body.

Sharp pebbles scratched her face, but they weren't as honed as the back part of Katsuki's eye mask. She felt as if it could cut through her skin if she were to held on to it— Then she ruffled his soft hair.

'He must be passed out. He is allowing me to touch his head...'

With more energy than before, Hagakure knew she had to remove his grenades to help him get out through [____]'s tight portals (that she was having a hard time keeping intact, out there.)

'Seriously...What do you see in a girl like her? She can barely get a hold of herself.'

Seconds later, Toru was able to get a gist of where Katsuki's shoulders were and helped him move his body out of the way with her full force.

'Bakugo, goodbye.'

She held on to both of the grenade-shaped gauntlets as she saw the gateway immediately close once he was gone.

'Thanks for being my first love. Even when you didn't know it, you've taught me so much in so little time.'

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💥KATSUKI LOVE METER💥
+5 points!
85/100

"...."

💜SHINSO LOVE METER💜
+15 points!
35/100

"To cast your feelings aside and save a teammate like that... I wonder if he's only just a teammate."

🌸NEW FRIEND🌸

🌼HAGAKURE FRIENDSHIP METER🌼
+ 5 points!
5/100

"....Maybe you're serious about him, after all."

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[an; ooof that was a lot to write in one chapter. I'm so bad at fight scenes pls don't hate me <3

Less fight scenes. More fluff. Let's do that pretty soon yeah?

Sorry for mistakes

WHO IS EXCITED FOR HEROES RISING ??? I bought the tickets as soon as I could I can't wait to see it with my husband and 2 friends who don't even watch anime but are going with me anyway cus I'm paying lmao 😂

I'll see you guys soon!! I'm working hard to go back into updating daily again I just suck at writing these last few days and I wanna give y'all the best only!!]