More Aoi art for the soul <33

Also, finally!! I have some chapter art in this one!!

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"Now that lunch is over, it's finally time to reveal the last game! Before we get to that, there's good news for all of you who didn't make it to the finals! This is just a Sports Festival, so we've prepared recreational games that everyone can participate in. We even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!"

Sure enough, dozens of girls were dressed in tiny orange shirts with bold letters U.A. printed across the chest. They flaunted even tinier skirts and waved around bright yellow pompoms.

My eyebrows shot up. What the...

"Huh?"

"What are they doing?"

I covered my mouth. "Oh..."

"What's the matter, Class A? What kind of fan service is that!" The girls of 1-A (excluding myself) had just entered the field. Lined up in a row, they were all dressed in identical cheerleader outfits.

Yaoyorozu flushed bright red. "Mineta, Kaminari, you tricked us, didn't you!"

Connecting the pieces instantly, I loomed over the two snickering boys.

Feeling my gaze, they turned to look back at me. Kaminari's face dropped in fear. "A-Akiharu..." he stuttered, "C-C'mon, yell or something... Please... just, d-don't make that face..."

I tilted my head to one side. "Make what face?" I beamed. "I'm not making a face."

At my pleasant expression, the two boys paled with horror.

I turned to Yaoyorozu brightly. "Hey, Yao-momo! May I trouble you for two more cheerleader outfits? One... Hm, let's say medium. The other an xx small?"

Yaoyorozu's picture-perfect forehead creased. "Um, sure..." Two perfectly folded orange outfits shot out from her exposed stomach. "Here..."

I took them with a pleasant smile. "Thanks!"

Maintaining my smile, I stepped over to Kaminari and Mineta and grabbed each of them by the collar. Wordlessly, I dragged them toward the nearest tunnel.

"Wh-what's this...?" Present Mic stuttered. "It looks like a kidnapping..."

Once I stepped inside the dark tunnel, my smile dropped. I shoved the uniforms into the two guys' chest and boxed them in with four concrete walls. "You have twenty seconds to change, or I'm dragging you back out there naked."

"H-HUH?"

"Twenty," I counted, "Nineteen, eighteen..."

"O-Okay, just slow down, please!"

Within half a minute, I pulled down the walls, revealing two shivering idiots dressed in cheerleading outfits. I clapped my hands together, sounding a deceptively cheerful hum. "Listen here, you two idiots! Since I'm nice, I'll let Kaminari change out of those when the recreational games end, as he's in the tournament. Mineta, you're wearing that until the end of the festival. Now, if I catch either of you hiding or changing before then, I will be writing a formally-worded email to both of your parents citing all of the times I've witnessed you sexually harassing the female student body. And Mineta," I turned to the boy in question, my smile spread wider. "I will convince Nezu to have you expelled. Understood?"

"Y-Yes ma'am!"

"Great." With a wave of earth, I shoved them out of the tunnel and into the limelight. Stunned giggles and soon rolling laughter filled the audience.

"It looks like justice has been served!" Present Mic guffawed.

"I figured those two idiots had something to do with it..." grumbled Aizawa.

Jiro inched closer to my side, muttering softly. "Thanks, Akiharu..."

"It appears we are no longer the laughingstocks." Yaoyorozu nodded tastefully. "Your quick thinking is much appreciated."

"It's nothing, really..." I cracked my knuckles, watching the quivering backs of the two idiots. "I was just getting tired of their bullshit going unpunished."

"All right, everyone!" Midnight snapped her whip to regain everyone's attention. "Let's have fun competing in the recreational games! When that's over, the sixteen from the four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style: One on one! Now, let's draw lots to determine the bracket! Once we've finished with that, we'll have the recreational games, and then start the tournament! The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreation – I'm sure some of you want to rest and save your strength."

In an unusual turn of events, Ojiro asked to withdraw. "I know that this is a great chance, and it's foolish to waste it... But everyone here competed by giving it their all! I can't... I can't be up there without knowing what really happened." He said he didn't remember much of anything during the match he spent on that Shinso guy's team, and his pride wouldn't allow it. Though Mina and Aoyama had been on the same team, they elected to continue on to the tournament.

Midnight allowed the withdrawal, citing Liking his youthfulness as her reason. With that, this silver-haired discount Kirishima was pulled up from one of the other teams, due to how close his team remained to the top for the entirety of the match.

With all of that settled, the tournament brackets were drawn. The first match was Midoriya versus that Shinso fellow, and my first fight was with Kaminari. If I won that, I'd face either Iida or this Hatsume person from the support course.

"Akiharu!" Hagakure called as she saw I hadn't left the arena. "Will you be participating in the recreation?"

Most of the tournament participants wouldn't be, but I had a part to play. What kind of upbeat go-getter would throw away this opportunity for fun? "I don't see why not!" I decided to participate in a few of the recreational games, build my reputation, and hopefully improve my mood while I was at it. After that, I'd take it easy until my match.

The first game was a scavenger hunt. Cards were scattered all over the field. We were to pick up a card, source the thing on it, and then deliver it for points.

I flipped one of the cards over and stifled a laugh. "Hey," I called to the audience above, "Does anyone have a three-toed shoe?" A bird-like woman tossed a shoe to me from her seat. Laughing, unsure of why this is the strangest thing I've ever had to do, I scooped it up. "Thanks!" I got several other cards, each one odder than the last. A prosthetic arm, a glass eye, and a whole cat. I flipped over my last card and hummed. A perverted person...

"Hey." I stopped above Mineta with a threatening glare. "You're coming with me. Looks like you have a use, after all."

He squeaked. "P–Please be gentle..."

I scowled, feeling my stomach churn. No, this wasn't even worth it. "Never-mind, you damn good-for-nothing."

The next game was a footrace, where teams of up to three people had to push an eight-foot ball around a track. I made a ramp as we ran, while Mina reduced the track's friction with her acid, and Sero pulled the three of us using our tape. Sero, Mina and I ended up covered in semi-melted mud, but it was all a good laugh. To relieve their own stress, some of the 1-A girl even cheered us on in their outfits.

If you could ignore the crowd, it felt like a normal sports festival. For a fleeting moment, grinning back at my cheering friends, I felt like a normal high-school student.

It was almost enough to forget.

Almost.

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I was gonna do screenshot art of the bozo (and the scum) in the cheerleading costumes, but my wrist was hurting, so here's my peace offering:

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