even the strongest people become weak

THE SECOND GAME OF THE SPORTS FESTIVAL was a cavalry battle. Midnight explained the rules and gave the group of students fifteen minutes to build their teams. "Start!"

Immediately, Serena was surrounded by her classmates. "Serena, join us!" Uraraka called from her spot next to Izuku, waving her over with a gleeful look on her face. Serena nodded, making her way over to them until she was yanked into someone's chest.

"No way, round face! She's with us," yelled Katsuki as he held Serena close to him. Kirishima and Mina nodded, standing behind the explosive blonde.

"Who says she wants to be with you?" Jiro asked, grabbing Serena out of his hold, pulling her into hers, only for the blue-haired girl to be snatched away by Kaminari.

"Soz, but Rena's pairing up with us," he said as he stood by Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. Bakugo felt his eyes twitch in annoyance.

"Huh?! And who the fuck decided that, dunce face?!" Bakugo yelled, storming over to get Serena, only for a wall of ice to block him.

"Back off," Todoroki warned, his expression still aloof as usual. Serena sighed, watching as her classmates all fought over her. She snuck away, ignoring them.

"Hey!" Serena looked up to see one of the students from class 1-B waving to her, a broad grin on his face. "Wanna pair up with us?"

"It depends," she spoke, turning to look at the three males in front of her, recognising one of them from the recommended entrance exam and the other from the week before. "Can I be the rider?"

The group looked at each other before nodding. A smile broke out onto Serena's face, and she nodded, making her way over to them. "I'm Tetsutetsu!" the male from before introduced, shaking hands with her. "These are my classmates, Awase Yosetsu and Honenuki Juzo."

"It's nice to meet you. I'm Akari Serena," she greeted, smiling softly at them. "So, what are your quirks?" They quickly filled her in on their quirks. Tetsutestu quirk allowed him to turn his skin into steel, much like Kirishima's quirk. Juzo's quirk allowed him to soften any non-living thing he touches while Yosetsu's quirk gave him the ability to fuse objects together at the atomic level.

"What about you?" Yosetsu asked after they finished telling her everything she needed to know. "What's your quirk?"

"I can control ice," she answered, purposely leaving out her second quirk. She didn't want anyone else to know about her quirk.

"You were so cool in the obstacle race!" complimented Tetsutetsu. "The way you blasted your way across the minefield was so awesome!"

A small blush appeared on her cheeks. "Thank you."

The group of four began to hatch a plan, the three males aware of the jealous glares they were given from the blue-haired girl's classmates. They knew that she was liked by many, the way her classmates fought over her told everyone that she was theirs and theirs only. Serena Akari was the love of class 1-A. She was the goddess that tamed their beasts, that shed light on their darkest moments.

"Everyone good?" Serena asked just before the countdown was about to start. Her teammates all nodded, holding onto the girl tightly.

"Three, two, one," Midnight counted, slashing her whip in front of her. "Begin!" As soon as the buzzer went off, many teams began targeting Midoriya and his team, including Serena's team.

They charged after him, watching as Izuku yelled to run away. "Juzo, now!" the said male activated his quirk and softened the ground under Midroiya's team, effectively trapping them. Serena grinned, but that was wiped off her face when Izuku flew away.

"Damn support class!" yelled Tetsutetsu. However, before they could make their way over there, Serena told them to stop. "Huh? What's wrong?" the grey-haired male asked.

"Instead of chasing after Midroiya and his headband, we should be stealing some of the others," she told them, scanning around the arena, watching as many targeted Izuku. "Especially those in my class. They're all so distracted by stealing the number one's headband that they've forgotten that they're worth something too." A sly smirk spread across her face. "I have an idea."

Even though Serena's class was smart, they weren't more intelligent than her. Using her ice quirk, Serena froze the ground, trapping the contestants by her. "We need speed, guys!" she said, her hair glowing faintly from the activation of one of her quirks.

"Got it!" the three males pushed themselves forward, their bodies pumping with energy, the need to win this race filled them with determination. Creating a long ice rod, Serena used that to grab the headbands of those far from her. She grinned as she stole the headbands of her classmates, winking at them when they glared at her, realising she was the one who stole it. They stopped in their tracks, rushing back to retrieve theirs.

"We're in fourth place, that's good," Serena muttered glancing up at the leader board. "We've got this, guys. We just need to avoid anyone taking our headba—"

"What just happened?" Serena asked, looking around in confusion. She blanked out for a second and judging by the looks on her teammate's faces; they must've blanked out too. Serena then looked up to the leader board and didn't see their names up. She glanced down and didn't see any of the captured headbands. "What the actual fuck?" she was so confused. One second she was running away from her team with a few minutes left, and the next the race ended with them losing.

She saw that Team Todoroki was in first place, no surprise there, Team Bakugo was in second place, also no surprise there. But what did surprise her was Shinso's team came in third. That's when she realised he must've used his quirk on them.

"Damn it!" she yelled, her body filled with annoyance and anger. She let her guard down, and the purple-haired zombie took their place.

"It's okay, Serena," reassured Yosetsu, patting her back in comfort. "We did our best."

The blue-haired girl sighed, feeling dejected. "I guess you're right."

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"You alright, Shoto?" Serena asked the two-colour haired male when she spotted him in the hallway, a pissed off yet sad expression on his face. The said male snapped his head up, surprised to see the blue-haired girl.

"Yeah," he said, returning back his usual cold expression. Serena sighed. She could tell something was bothering him, but he was keeping it to himself, and she knew all too well how much energy it took to keep away negative thoughts.

"You know," she started, walking over and standing in front of him. "You don't always have to keep things to yourself. Sometimes, it's nice to let things out."

Shoto turned his head to the side. "You wouldn't understand." Serena looked at him with a gentle expression.

"Believe me, Shoto. I understand more than you know," she said, capturing his attention. "I know what you're going through, maybe not the situation, but that pained expression? I know it all too well," she offered him a kind smile. "So, tell me, what's wrong?"

"It's my old man," Shoto started. "He's ambitious; he aims for the top. He used his power to make a name for himself as a hero, but he was never able to best All Might, so the symbol of peace is living proof of his failure. He's still at it, though. Trying to take down All Might. One way or another."

"What are you trying to say, Shoto?" Serena asked, taking a step forward. She knew there was something else that was bothering him. Something that affected him deeply.

"Have you ever heard about Quirk Marriages?" Serena shook her head. "They became a problem in the first few generations after superpowers became widespread. There were those that sought out potential mates solely with the intention of creating powerful children." The blue-haired girl's eyes widened in shock. "Many people were forced into relationships. They were simply viewed as old fashioned arrange marriages, but clearly, it was unethical. My father not only had a rich history of accomplishments but plenty of money to throw at his problems. He bought my mother's relatives to get his hands on her quirk. And now he's raising me to pass All Might. It's so annoying. I refuse to be a tool for that scumbag."

"Shoto," she mumbled. She was at a loss of words. She never expected him to have a past like that. Serena always hated his father because he was an asshole, and this just intensified her irritation towards Endeavour. How could someone as cruel as him be the number two hero?

"In every memory of my mother, I only see her crying. I remember, she called my left side unbearable," he raised his hand, using it to cover the left side of his face, where his scar was. "Before she poured boiling water on my face."

Serena gasped. "W-what?" She took a step forward, reaching up to touch his left cheek. "She did this?"

Todoroki didn't reply; instead, he looked away. "I'm going to show my old man what I'm capable of doing without having to rely on his damn fire quirk. You see, I'm going to show him that I reject his power and I can take first place without using it." he proclaimed, making a vow to himself right then and there.

Bakugo, who stood behind the wall, was shocked to hear about icyhot's past. What his parents had done to him was extreme but judging by the tiny shift in his voice when talking about his mother, both Bakugo and Serena could tell that he forgave her for what she did.

"Shoto, I've seen what you're capable of first hand." Serena started, brushing a few strands of his hair out of his face. "You are amazing, with or without your fire quirk. As long as you try your best, nothing else matters," she smiled warmly up at him. Todoroki's eyes widened. His heart began to race, and his face heated up at the sincerity of the smile. He could practically feel the warmth surround him like a comforting blanket. "Now, go, get ready. You have asses to kick and a dad to prove wrong."

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Serena decided to skip the side games, not really in the mood to mess around. She was upset that she lost, but she knew she could make up for it next year and the year after that.

Before Midnight could commence the drawing to determine the pairing for the tournament event, she was interrupted by Ojiro Mashirao, who rose his arm. "Um, excuse me, sorry, but I'm withdrawing." Serena, along with the others, stared at her classmate in shock.

"Ojiro?"

"It just wouldn't be right," she heard him say. "I barely remember anything from the Cavalry battle until the very end of it; I think it was that guys quirk." Serena glanced over to see Shinso looking away.

'He must've used his quirk on his teammates too,' she thought.

"I know this is a great opportunity. I wish I could take advantage of it, but my conscious won't let me."

"Just think about this." Midroiya tried, but it only angered Ojiro even more.

"I have, okay?" he snapped, taking his classmates by surprise. "Everyone gave their all in round two, but I was just someone's puppet. No way. I don't want to advance if I don't know how I got here. It wouldn't be fair."

"You're making way too much of this! Just kill it in the finals and prove that you're meant to be here." Serena sighed. She could see that the comments of the girl's in their class were irritating Ojiro.

"That's not it. I'm talking about my pride here. I refuse to give that up. Also, why are all the girls dressed like cheerleaders?" he asked, covering his face. Serena chuckled. 'There's our Ojiro.'

"Nirengeki Shoda from class 1-B," said another one of the students as he walked forward. "I think I should withdraw for the exact same reason. Regardless of how strong I am, this isn't how I wanted to get here. It would go against the values of the festival to advance without earning my spot."

"Listen to these guys. They're so manly!" Kirishima yelled, tears welling up in his eyes. Serena shook her head in amusement.

"This sort of talk is incredibly naive, my boys. That turns me on," Midnight smirked, slashing her whip. "Shoda, Ojiro. You're withdrawn."  Serena and the rest of the class all sweatdropped. "Now, let's see. We'll have to move up two students from the fifth place cavalry team, so we have enough contestants."

"We were frozen most of the time," commented Itsuki from class 1-B. "Honestly we barely did anything in the cavalry battle. Isn't that right? Girls?" she looked back at her teammates, who all nodded in agreement. "You should choose from the group that kept fighting all the time. Team Serena."

The said team looked at the girl in shock. "Kendo?" exclaimed Tetsutetsu in surprise. 

"I'm not doing this as a favour. It's just fair," she shrugged.

Tetsutetsu clenched his fists, holding back the tears welling in his eyes, reminding Serena of Kirishima. "Seriously, you guys. Thank you!" 

"Very well," spoke Midnight. "Team Serena. Please choose two people from your group to move forward." The four glanced at each other with Yosetsu and Juzo glancing at each other, an answer already formed in their minds.

"I think you and Tetsutetsu should go up," said Yosetsu. "You two were the ones that put in the most effort." Juzo agreed, nodding his head.

Serena looked to the two in shock. "But you two also gave it your all as well!" The other two shrugged their shoulders.

"Yeah, but if anyone deserves to be in the final, it's you two." They grinned at her. "So give it your best," Serena felt her own grin stretch across her face. She wrapped both of them in a big hug, thanking them over and over again, along with Tetsutetsu, who also joined their hug. The students of class 1-A all stared at the four in jealousy and envy. They didn't like how Serena was giving all her attention to them.

"So, that's it. Tetsutetsu and Akari will be moving on to the finals!" Serena felt her whole body burn with excitement.

She was in the finals!