CHAPTER THIRTEEN

      "This cavalry battle is going to be something, alright."

      Natsume quietly murmured as he and Megumi snuck away to a less crowded part of the field. It was also relatively quieter, though the noise from the arena crowds still remained. It was fairly obvious that the two would be teaming up together, having grown up knowing each and everything about the other's quirk.

      "Definitely," Megumi answered, crossing her arms. "I pity Midoriya though."

      "I do too," Natsume said. "But clearly, his team is going to be the main target. So, the two of us need to target the other teams while they are hunting Midoriya and grab their bands."

      "Use the distraction they create against them."

      "Exactly."

      Megumi looked around. It seemed that a lot of their classmates were gravitating towards Bakugo and Todoroki, seeing as they were the second and the third place from the race. Never had she been more glad to be fourth place. She doesn't mean to be offensive towards her class, but none of their quirks would really be compatible with the strategy she and Natsume had in mind. It was a strategy of stealth and unfortunately, a lot of people in their class were the exact opposite of what the word meant.

      Together, they currently had 355 points; 195 points for Megumi and 160 points for Natsume. They would need at least triple of that to make sure they got through the next round.

      "The two of us together will be able to manage, I'm sure," Natsume said, a contemplative look on his face.

      Megumi nodded. "With you having your barely detectable footsteps, and me having my flexible hands and my flames, we'll probably be able to sneak up and steal the headbands from behind."

      "We just have to figure out which teams to target."

      In the midst of their strategising, they had not noticed the two people walking towards them. One of them coughed.

      "Umm...excuse me?"

       Megumi and Natsume turned at the same time. The one who had spoken was a girl, with soft bluish-green hair and light blue eyes. Standing next to her was a tall, brown haired boy (probably the same height as Natsume) with dark brown eyes. The girl's eyes though; they immediately caught Megumi's attention. The light blue appeared rather strange, almost like it was shimmering in the light.

      "There's no easy way to put this, really," The brown haired boy spoke, looking like he didn't want to be here. "Are you two willing to pair up with us for this round?"

      "Yuu, ask a little more politely," The girl scolded. She looked at Megumi and Natsume and slightly bowed her head. "My name is Mika Tanizaki and this is Yuu Ouma. We are from class 1-B and we were hoping we could be a part of your team."

      Megumi looked at her cousin, who had an equally curious stare. "Um...I guess...but why aren't you pairing up with someone from your class?"

      "Listen, we managed to overhear some of your plan and it is definitely better than what a lot of people in our class prepped," Yuu said, very matter-of-factly. "Their strategy is a little reckless and yours is a lot smarter."

      "And with my quirk, I'm sure our team will have a high probability of winning," Mika said, tapping her temple with her index fingers.

      Natsume, suddenly, looked a lot more curious. "What are your quirks?"

      Yuu stepped forward. "My quirk is Laser Blades. I can summon anything ranging from a dagger to a giant, four feet sword, but they will be in the form of a laser. I can also absorb their power to give myself a speed boost, though that only lasts for three minutes at max."

      "My quirk is Misdirection," Mika said, sounding rather proud. "With this quirk, I direct people's attention away from myself and onto other things, essentially deleting myself from their presence. This misdirection can last as long as I want it too and my range is 500 metres. And at max, I can do it in a group of twenty people. Basically, I'm good at sneak attacks."

      "Huh. That's not a bad quirk, especially not for something like this," Megumi said, rather thoughtfully. "Why didn't anyone from your class ask you to be a part of their team then?"

      "Technically, Mika already has a very low presence," Yuu said. "Her quirk helps her in reducing it further. I guess our class just forgot about her."

      "Ahh, it's okay. I'm already used to it." Mika let out a soft, sheepish laugh.

      Megumi suddenly felt a swell of pity rise up inside her, hearing Mika's words. She pinched the bridge of her nose and sighed, before nodding. "Okay. The two of you can be a part of our team. Your quirks can be an advantage, I think."

      "You just need to find a way to fit them into your plan," Natsume suddenly said. Megumi nodded.

      "Come closer," She said. Natsume, Yuu and Mika all huddled together, shoulders touching. "Listen closely. I'll be the rider. Natsume and Yuu-san, you both carry me. And Mika-san will be our front horse so that she can direct away people's attention. What we are going to do is find the loudest team, not Bakugo's though. He's gonna be too dangerous to tackle early."

      "The loud, screaming blonde?" Mika suddenly asked. Natsume nodded.

       "There will be teams that will be loud and rushing to get headbands, which means they will make mistakes. What we will do is target those teams and grab their headbands. And as we go, Mika-san can redirect their attention to another team so that chaos is created and we'll have even more of an advantage. Do you all understand?" Megumi finished her explanation, pulling away from the huddle

      "Yes," The other three spoke in unison.

       "Good. Let's strategize further. And figure out which teams we are gonna target. Let's use this time for our advantage."

       Suddenly, Megumi realised that she was sounding a lot like her father and honestly, she was starting to feel like him too. It was one of his great qualities; to be able to work with any hero in a team. Had she inherited that from him? It felt like she had.

      But it wasn't the time to think about that. It was the time to think about winning.

      And Megumi and her team were ready to win.

      "READY?! Begin!"

      Midnight exclaimed as the timer ran out. As Megumi and Natsume had guessed, everyone was already going for the ten million point headband, chasing after team Midoriya. And a lot of teams, thus, were open targets. Balanced on top of Natsume and Yuu's shoulders, Megumi had tied up her team's headband around her forehead, displaying it prominently. With Mika at the front, they were ready to grab headbands from the other teams.

      "Natsume, Yuu-san, start running," Megumi instructed. She definitely felt like a leader now. "Mika-san, on my signal, use your quirk. If we are lucky, we might be able to pass between any two teams and get two headbands in one go."

      "Got it," Yuu said. He glanced sideways, at Natsume and both of them nodded. They started running ahead, Mika at the forefront.

      Once they were part of the crowd and surrounded by the other teams who were in a mad scramble to get points, Megumi yelled her signal. "Now!"

       "Misdirection: Activate!" Mika murmured. Nothing fancy happened; nothing of show, but suddenly, it was like their team had fallen out of the attention of all the others. Almost like they had been forgotten.

      "Let's get to Tetsutetsu," Yuu suddenly spoke up. "And since Shiozaki-san cannot use her vines to make us fall, we can easily grab their headband." He pointed towards a team that was currently squabbling with another team, that of Jiro,

      "Huh, we can take both their headbands," Megumi said out loud.

      "Don't get reckless," Natsume warned. "We need to be careful about our team too."

      "Yeah, yeah!"

      The moment they neared this Tetsutetsu person and his team, Yuu activated his quirk. With his right hand, he summoned a thin sword, made purely of laser and tossed it above to Megumi. In a rather complicated move, Megumi used the sword, pulled on the headband and tossed it in the sky. With a snap of his fingers, Yuu made the sword disappear and then Megumi caught the headband in her right hand. She quickly put the second headband around her neck.

      "Huh?! Who the hell took our headband?!" The grey haired boy (Tetsutetsu, in all probability) suddenly yelled. His team was thrown into confusion as they scrambled to look around to find the culprit.

     As they disappeared to hunt other teams, Yuu suddenly yelled out. "Sorry Tetsu bro! It was me and Mika! But we wanna win this!"

      "Oi! Ouma! Tanizaki! What the hell!? Come back here!"

      Tetsutetsu's voice faded into the background as they ran away from him.

      "Good work done," Megumi complimented. "But the fight's not over yet. Let's get everyone's headbands and win this damn thing."

      Team Okumura cheered loudly.

      "Seven minutes have passed! Let's look at the rankings now!" Present Mic announced. Screens with the current ranking appeared all around the stadium. Surprised murmurs broke out all over the stadium at the rankings.

      Because while Team Midoriya was still at the first position, the second position belonged to Team Monoma and the third was a tie between Team Tetsutetsu and Team Okumura.

     "What?" Even Present Mic sounded surprised. "Hold on a second. Aside from Midoriya and Okumura, Class 1-A isn't doing too hot."

      "Oh god," Mika suddenly said.

      "What's wrong?" Natsume and Megumi asked in unison.

      "Shit!" Mika cursed. "I completely forgot. The effectiveness of my work starts wearing off after ten minutes and it's already been seven. We need to hurry and get that ten million as well, before I completely lose the effectiveness of my quirk."

      "I guess we should start targeting the stronger teams, then?" Megumi said, slightly fearfully.

       "Megumi! Flame Wings, now!" Natsume suddenly said. The fierceness in his voice...Megumi immediately listened to him and pushed all her energy into summoning the wings.

       With that, they floated a few feet above the ground. Seconds later, Kaminari's electrical attack struck all the teams, except those who were careful enough to dodge it. Once the electricity died down, Megumi gently floated down, setting her team back on the ground.

      "There's going to be even more chaos now; let's take advantage of it!" Natsume said, voice full of determination.

      Megumi concentrated on the fight, ignoring the cheers that were coming from the spectators (one of which was potentially her dad) and Present Mic's commentary and the fights that had broken out between the teams. Her only aim, at the present, was to get as many headbands as they could and maintain their position at the third place.

      Battles progressed.

Fights happened. Headbands were stolen and as teams snatched headbands, Team Okumura was pushed down from their third position. People were now able to see them and attack their team. It looked like Mika's quirk was at its limits.

      "I'm so sorry, guys! My quirk's...I've got only a minute left in me!" Mika apologised as they dodged Team Kendo.

      "Don't apologise!" Megumi yelled over the shouts of Kendo and the green haired girl from the opposing team. "Ouma-san! Natsume! Time to attack."

      The next few moments in the battle passed so quickly that Megumi missed a lot of it. They skidded past Todoroki's wall of ice, dodged another one of Team Kendo's attacks, bypassed the team of the boy with weird pale purple hair (Team Shinso?). Things happened so quickly that Megumi didn't even realise Present Mic was counting down from ten till he finished.

      A loud bell rang just as Megumi melted through Todoroki's ice wall.

      "TIME'S UP!" Present Mic yelled.

      "Oh god," Megumi facepalmed herself as she made the flames on her palm disappear. "Do any of you even remember what happened in the last few seconds? Because I honestly can't."

      Yuu let out a tired laugh. "If I did, I'd tell you, Okumura-san. My hands and my legs both hurt."

      "Same here," Natsume added. With Mika's help, Megumi soon found her feet on the ground. She panted heavily, hands on her knees.

      At the same time, Present Mic was starting to announce the winning four teams.

      "In first place, Team Todoroki!

       In second place, Team Bakugo!"

      Suddenly, Present Mic faltered. "In third place is team Tetsutet-wait, what?! It's team Shinso! When did they come back from the dead?!"

      "WHAT?" Megumi exclaimed out loud, eyes shooting towards team Shinso, which was comprised of that purple haired boy, Aoyama, Ojiro and one more person she did not know. "When did they even-?"

      "And in fourth place, it's Team Midoriya!"

      "We didn't even figure in the top four?! Dammit!" Natsume punched the ground in frustration. Next to him, Yuuma stomped on the ground with his feet, cursing their luck. And Mika looked like she wanted to apologise a thousand times.

      "This is frustrating! This is frustrating! This is so freaking frustrating!" Megumi started slapping her cheeks angrily.

      "These four teams will advance to the final stage! We'll pick this up in one hour right after lunch!"

      "I'm so sorry! I'm so sorry!" Mika profusely apologised, bowing so low that Megumi thought her head would almost touch the ground. "It's my fault. If I could have used my quirk for longer."

      "Don't say that!" Megumi immediately patted her shoulder, glaring at the ground. "It's my fault too. I should have had a more iron-clad strategy than anything. I should have changed it."

      "No no," Yuu shook his head, looking just as frustrated as the other three. "Your strategy was pretty damn good, Okumura-san. I should have covered the right side more."

      "No, the left side was pretty weak," Natsume said. "I almost let that green haired girl from Team Kendo take one of our headbands."

      "I was the one who made the strategy so I'll take the blame," Megumi said, brushing her hair behind her ears. "Don't argue with me on that. Now, let's go to the cafeteria and grab lunch. I'm sure all of us were hungry."

      As they walked alongside the rest of the teams that were exiting the stadium, Megumi clenched her teeth in frustration. She ignored the sounds of Natsume and Yuu arguing about who was the one to blame. Because, really, it was her. She had let herself get too arrogant; her overconfidence cost her a place in the final four. And damn, it really hurt.

      Losing out in the second round and not even getting into the last round? It was a real blow. A real blow to Megumi who had really wanted to win.

      (An hour later, things would completely change.)

As mentioned in the part two divider, Yuu Ouma and Mika Tanizaki are my two OCs who are going to be a part of class 1-B, just like Megumi and Natsume are for 1-A. I know this chapter seems a little bit rushed, but I wanted to get through the cavalry battle quickly so that we can finally move into my favorite part of the Sports Festival arc a.k.a the tournament battles

And yes, Megumi will be a part of it hehe.

Till then, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!

https://appreciatingmylife.carrd.co/ << also, this is a super-super important carrd with various resources regarding mental health that I think everyone should go through at least once. it has helped me a lot and I'm sure it'll help you all as well. link to this will be in the comments