Kita's POV

Crack.

A branch snapped under Akihiko's foot. The boy with amethyst hair looked exasperated. He had been searching for nearly an hour with little luck. If they had let me be "it" this game would have been over in fifteen minutes tops. But of course, because of my Quirk, they wouldn't let me be "it" for hide-and-seek. The same went for Mori. Our eyesight and hearing made us too powerful for this game. It would be a miracle if anyone was able to find either of us either for that matter.

My ears twitched, alerting me to approaching footsteps from the opposite direction Akihiko was coming from.

"Pssstt, Kita," came Ale's voice from far below. He was stationed at the base of the red cedar tree I was sitting in. Even from the branch where I was perched near the top of the tree, which was nearly eighty feet tall, I could make out Ale's outline clearly.

What is he doing?! He's going to get caught!

Before I knew it the slight rustling of branches indicated Ale was ascending the tree. He climbed surprisingly fast for it being so dark. When he was only a few feet below me I finally dared to speak, if only a whisper.

"What are you doing up here? I thought we were supposed to hide and stay put?"

"Yeah, but I got lonely. I thought it'd be much more fun up here with you," Ale's velvety voice was hushed. His brown eyes were illuminated by the silvery light of the moon as he stared up at me, grinning widely.

"Well...okay, but be quiet. I don't want to be found. I take hide-and-seek very seriously." I replied as I brushed a cluster of leaves away from my left ear.

Ale chuckled a hearty chuckle, which earned him a glare from me. "Sorry, it's just that you take every game seriously." He continued his climb up.

"So I'm a little competitive, sue me," I shrugged, swinging my legs gently from the branch where I sat. In the distance, I could hear the beating of wings that could only mean Mori was somewhere nearby.

"Why would I sue someone as beautiful as you?" when Ale spoke it sounded like he had songbirds stuck in his throat. How could everything he says come out so smoothly?

I felt heat rise to my cheeks and opted to look out over the mountainous forest we were located in rather than Ale's intense stare. I waved a hand dismissively. "You say that to everyone."

In the distance, I could see Sanada looking from side to side frantically as Akihiko drew closer to his hiding spot. Just as Akihiko approached Sanada's location, the blue-haired boy liquified himself, sinking into a puddle on the ground. The question was would he be able to hold that form until Akihiko moved on?

"Hey, I don't say that to everyone, just stunning ladies such as yourself. But hey, could you give me a hand?"

I looked down to see one of Ale's hands outstretched toward me. I reached out to grasp his hand, but instead Ale placed his palm flat against mine. His hand was larger than mine, and quite warm. There was a stark contrast between my ivory skin and Ale's tan, brown skin.

"Awe, we're a perfect fit!" Ale exclaimed as quietly as he could manage, which wasn't that quiet. I was sure my face was red from Ale's comment. I could only hope he wouldn't be able to see it in the surrounding darkness.

Snap!

As I was in the process of pulling Ale onto my branch the one he had stepped up on snapped. Suddenly we were plummeting towards the ground, snapping more branches on the way down. Suddenly, there was a woosh of air and I wasn't falling anymore. I cracked my eyes open to find myself cradled in Mori's arms.

I sighed in relief. Mori was always there when I needed him. Hopefully Akihiko didn't hear that. I can still win this!

Before I had a chance to thank Mori we were yanked downward. The impact was a lot softer than I expected. I looked down to find Ale sprawled on the ground face first, dirt smudging his cheek. Mori was laying across Ale and I was sitting on Mori's back.

"Why the hell did you grab my leg‽" Mori seethed from beneath me. His anger was directed towards the fire user under him.

"I needed a lift." Ale gave Mori a shit-eating grin.

"You are such a pain in the ass," Mori said, aggrieved.

"Looks like I'm in luck," came Akihiko's voice. I had to squint at the moonlight reflecting off his crystalline hair. He had a smug look, a rare sight, as he gazed down at us.

"Awe man," I sighed, propping my chin on one of my fists. "You got us."

The rules mandated that we had to help Akihiko find the other players now, which would be no trouble for Mori and I. Ale suggested that he and I pair up for our search. I was more than capable of finding our friends on my own. Though I guess I wouldn't mind the company as long as he could keep up. Mori however, protested this idea. I had to agree with Ale though, it made more sense for Mori to search from the air and us two on foot. In the end, Mori begrudgingly took to the sky in search of the other players.

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When I awoke the next day Asia'a foot was planted in my ribcage and Aoi's arm was slung across my midsection. I groaned and shielded my eyes from the bit of light reflecting off Tanami's amethyst hair.

I crawled on my hands and knees to the front of the tent and unzipped it. To my shock, when I climbed out of the small opening my feet were wet. Water from the lake we camped beside had crept up just inches from our tent in the middle of the night. How was this possible? It hadn't even rained to my knowledge.

I found an equally concerned Hinata and Akihiko in quiet discussion while Hinata prepared breakfast. "This isn't normal. Something feels off," I said, joining their conversation. "We should ask Sanada when he wakes up. He has a water Quirk so maybe he knows something about this sort of thing."

"That's a good idea," Akihiko mumbled, still deep in thought.

Sanada unfortunately didn't know what was causing the sudden swelling of the lake.

As Hinata, Sanada, Akihiko and myself sat around the smoldering embers of last night's campfire worry and confusion gnawed at it. I rubbed one of my horns, glancing at the puddle in front of the girls' tent.

"We should wake everyone up and get a move. Whatever the case, getting to higher ground is probably a good idea," Hinata suggested while poking around the embers with a damp stick.

"I agree, but I'm getting an uneasy feeling about all of this," I sighed.

"I'm sure there's a simple explanation for this," Sanada offered reassuringly, "let's just try to enjoy the rest of our trip."

I nodded, though not entirely convinced. Regardless, we set about waking the others and eating breakfast.

"This is lightweight," I said loud enough for Yamamoto to hear me as I hoisted Sanada and Tami's packs on top of the other bags I was carrying, including the girls' tent. Yamamoto glared at me as he slung a bag full of pots and pans onto his shoulder. I threw him a smug grin.

"What are you smirking at?" he asked, annoyed. He knew full and well what I was doing.

"I was just thinking about how I can totally carry more weight up this mountain than you," I said nonchalantly, stretching my arms over my head.

"You wish. You couldn't even get close to my limit," Yamamoto retorted.

"Wanna bet?" I knew there was a competitive glimmer in my eyes as I grinned once again. "Sakura!" I called, turning on my heel and hurrying over to the green-eyed girl. "Can I borrow your pack?" There was no way I was going to let Yamamoto beat me.

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We were nearly at the top of the mountain when the smell of smoke stopped us all in our tracks.

"Oh no," Sakura breathed, eyes wide in horror as she looked down at the forest below. I followed her gaze to find red and orange flames engulfing the lush greenness of the forest. Pillars of smoke were rising high into the sky.

"A forest fire, how can this have happened‽" Argo asked more to himself than the group.

Before anyone could respond violent tremors made us sway on our feet. My ears twitched at the sound of boulders tumbling from above, a very distinct sound.

"Everyone watch out, there's a landslide coming!" Mori shouted, always a step ahead of me thanks to his bat-like hearing.

A blast of fire shot through the air, smashing a large boulder into pieces before it crashed down on Jasper. My eyes widened at the sight of Ale standing alone, fearlessly blasting the larger boulders apart before they could reach us, but even Ale couldn't hit all of them.

"Watch out!" my feet moved before my mouth did. I jump up, allowing my head to collide with the underside of a particularly large boulder. It made an awful noise as it shattered so close to my ears. I landed in front of Ale, my back towards him. The next thing I knew his hand was clasping mine, dragging me back towards the group. A shower of boulders rained down on the spot where we had been standing seconds ago.

Ale and I were now huddled with the rest of our friends in a tight circle. Out of nowhere, a sapphire dome appeared above us. Not out of nowhere, it was Tanami's doing. I released a breath I hadn't realized I had been holding. My relief, however, was short-lived.

Growling noises caught my attention. I turned my gaze towards the cliff to find a brown bear with a large, bloody hole in its head snarling at us from only a few yards away. Normally I would have heard it approach sooner, but with the rockslide, I could barely hear a thing.

It has a hole blown through its head. How is it standing and walking? How is it even alive?

The behemoth bear reared back on its hind legs and roared so loud it my hair stand on end. The creature wasted no time charging towards our group. There was no time to think, only to act.

"Kita don't!" Mori reached a hand out to grab me, but it was too late. I was already sprinting towards the bear.

I rushed in close to its body and delivered a diagonal kick to its midsection. The brown bear flew backwards but seemed otherwise unphased. It quickly got to its feet and charged me again on all fours. As it swiped at me with its massive paws I blocked the blow with one of my horns before delivering a spinning roundhouse to its gut. The bear was sent rolling by the force of my kick and just barely came to a stop at the edge of the cliff.

I couldn't make barriers to keep everyone safe or blast the boulders away with fire, but I could get this freaky bear out of the way.

I darted forward, tucking my chin and pointing my horns straight at the monstrous creature. It roared again, raising its paw to slash at me. The curve of my horns connected with the lower part of the creature's sternum and I could hear the air woosh out of its lungs as it was launched backwards and over the edge. I had been just barely faster. A second later and it would have got me for sure.

"Phew, that was clo–" I never finished my sentence as the ground beneath me crumbled away and I fell into the cloud of smoke below.

This chapter is written by sd1229