FIVE consecutive days of the same routine, same training, same strictness.

today, is the first day of the competition. every advisor, ladies, and their significant others were there to watch the show.

the three princesses were dressed in a warrior-like style, standing proudly in front of their mother, queen nemuri.

nanako looked around, seeing tomura with dabi, toga, kurogiri, and a few others she didn't recognize. then there was eri and ochako, with the rest of her knights standing behind them.

eri gave nana a kind smile, causing her to subconsciously touch the little keychain eri had gotten her for good luck.

it was a little white cat with a quiet bell. eri has given it to her the night before today. nanako thanked her and strapped it on her pants for luck.

nanako then looked towards her knights and ochako, to which they all gave her a nod or smile, which in bakugo's case, a grin.

looking over at tomura, he gave a very small smile. nanako had to calm her breathing and remind herself that this was just part of the bet. the bet. the bet.

momo and itsuka looked at nanako then to tomura. both didn't like what they were seeing, both for different reasons.

they were going to take nanako down, one way or another.

✿.｡.:* ☆:**:. nanako's pov .:**:☆ *:.｡.✿

I was nervous. if I didn't care, it would've been a whole other story. but there are so many people rooting for me that if I don't do well, I feel that I've failed them and wasted their time.

"ahem. thank you everyone for gathering here. today, is day one of the princess competition!", hizashi, one of my mother's louder knights announced.

"today, we will be racing on horses! however, there's a twist. there are two bells hanging on the same tree. whoever gets those two bells will get a point", yagi explained.

"but do not fret if you don't immediately get the bell. there's a ten minute time limit in which you can try to steal the other person's bell", yagi continued.

"no weapons and the only other rule is that you must stay on your horse. now if you're ready, princesses. on your mark, get set. GO!", hizashi yelled.

I immediately jumped on my horse, yuki. she's white as snow and was a present mother gave me on my seventeenth birthday.

"okay yuki, let's win this", I said as I patted her mane. she galloped towards the forest, while I scanned for any bells.

itsuka and momo were head to head with each other. once I saw a faint gold and heard a quiet ring, I slowed down my horse, pulling on the reins.

snatching both bells, yuki galloped further into the woods. now itsuka and momo would have to fight for the last one, unless they plan to team up and steal both from me.

jingling the bells, I purposely threw one about 50 feet right of me, letting them figure out what they wanted to do.

momo went after the bell while itsuka continued chasing after me. I tied the bell on the left side of my pants.

reaching the end of the road, yuki stopped. itsuka and her horse stopped too.

"I hope we don't harbor any bad feelings towards each other", itsuka said while smiling.

"of course not sister. after all, all's fair in love and war", I replied with the same smile.

"good good".

"want to play a game of chance? see who catches the bell first?", I asked, smirking.

"hm? fine, let's play", she replied.

getting our horses next to each other, I took a bell and threw it up in the air. as soon as it started dropping, I squeezed yuki's stomach, signaling for her to go.

yuki immediately started running, bringing me towards the gathering, where everyone is.

"good job yuki", I said smiling.

"I see you've returned with one minute left, princess nanako", yagi said.

I nodded my head. opening my hand, I held out a dangling bell.

itsuka arrived a moment later, holding the other bell. she looked at me shocked.

"I...I thought you threw the other bell. what was momo chasing after?!", itsuka asked.

momo arrived just in time. "andddddd times up!", hizashi announced. "please hold out the bells".

itsuka and I both showed hizashi our bells. itsuka asked what momo had in her hand. momo showed her the trinket eri got me. the cat with the little bell.

momo looked at me and scoffed. "isn't this cheating?", she asked hizashi.

"well...technically it's not a weapon so it's not breaking the rules...I'm sorry princess momo", hizashi replied. "however you could still win by winning the next two matches tomorrow!!"

"fine", momo huffed as she threw the keychain towards me, in which I caught. getting off our horses, we had the rest of the day to prepare for tomorrow's matches.

"one point for princess itsuka and one point for princess nanako!", yagi announced.

"alright everybody, thank you for coming today! we will continue this tomorrow. same time, same place. see you all!!", hizashi said as everyone started to disperse.

"good job mommy!!", eri said as she ran towards me.

everyone turned towards us. "MOMMY?!"

"nonbiological", I explained as I sighed. everyone nodded and 'oh-ed' as they headed off.

"and it's all thanks to your lucky charm", I said, smiling at eri while picking her up.

"good job", tomura said. dabi nodded along with the congratulation of others.

"thank you", I replied to all those that wished me a 'congrats' and such.

"and who's she?", toga asked, looking at eri who was still in my arms. eri seemed to look kind of scared when she saw toga and her crazy look.

"why don't you tell her your name? she's not scary, look", I said as I pinched toga's cheeks to show how harmless she is.

she smiled wider, causing a few chuckles around us. eri seemed to understand and said, "u-um...m-my name is e-eri".

"what a beautiful name for a charming little girl", kurogiri said. eri smiled shyly.

"eri, this one is toga, and the one that just complimented you was kurogiri. this is prince tomura and that's dabi", I explained while pointing to each member.

"that one is spinner and the other one is twice", tomura said. eri nodded, seeming to be tense again, after hearing tomura's chilling voice.

"don't worry. this one's the least dangerous", I whispered as I grabbed one of tomura's hand while still holding eri.

everyone around us stood frozen.

"alright. let's all go have dinner, I'm sure you're hungry, right eri?", I asked.

eri nodded before nuzzling into my neck. pulling tomura along, the rest followed behind us, whispering.

"got something to say, dabi?", I asked.

"yeah, you three look like a family", he said nonchalantly.

tomura and I stopped walking. letting go of each others' hands, we blushed.

"tch", tomura scoffed before glaring back at dabi for his comment.

continuing to walk without anyone talking, we arrived at the second largest dining hall. we all sat down with eri in between tomura and I.

I allowed my knights and ochako to dine with us at the same table while tomura did the same for his people.

"where's mina been? I feel like I haven't seen her in a while", kirishima asked.

"she's on a special assignment", I replied, keeping my answer short.

kirishima nodded before going back to eating. although it was awkward at first, everyone soon got acquainted with each other.

turns out toga really likes midoriya and dabi and todoroki seem to have some similarities. bakugo and spinner are both stubborn and compress and kirishima seem to converse well.

everyone was chatting and eating happily. seeing this sight in front of me made my heart feel warm.

I then felt a poke on my arm. looking beside me, eri was eating. I then looked at tomura who held his hand out to me, behind eri.

I smiled and enveloped my hand in his.

'what a happy yet odd family'