Enigma

007. Sports Festival

【ＥＮＩＧＭＡ】

***

"Everyone! Are you ready? We'll be entering soon!"

Iida's time warning caused the immediate sink in Y/n's stomach. She threw her arms over her stomach and her legs shook, teeth clattered as she pulled in a steady breath.

Her training did absolutely nothing and she wasn't prepared, not in the slightest.

And despite the fact she stood there vibrating like a leaf in high winds with her overwhelming nerves—Midoriya, who was next to her, also vibrating, somehow seemed far worse off than her.

She supposed that could be their thing, suffering and failing together. She was getting flashbacks to the first day of UA.

Y/n took in a deep breath and grabbed at Midoriya's arm, shaking him a little.

"I'm nervous, Midoriya. It's like the quirk fitness test times a million."

"Yeah, I know - me too," Midoriya sighed.

She could feel his nervous energy all around him as he hopped up and down a few times, probably to rid himself of the jitters; She could tell it wasn't helping.

"We should calm down and take, uh - take deep breaths. Yeah! It'll be fine, probably." Midoriya pressed a hand to his chest and followed his own instruction. "We just have to try our be—"

"Midoriya."

Both Y/n and Midoriya startled at Todoroki's voice. A little man-to-man talk, she assumed. Preparing for the battle. Y/n held in her quiet snicker as she backed away a little so Midoriya could turn around and speak.

"Todoroki? What is it?"

Y/n could feel the energy around Todoroki. Whatever he was thinking and whatever he was planning to say - it wasn't going to be anything good.  Maybe not anything bad, either. He just felt intense. Moreso than usual, which Y/n thought was kind of impossible, but she supposed not. His resolve must have been multiplied because of the festival.

Y/n's shoulders tensed a little and she drew her brows, ready to throw hands should Todoroki pull anything. Granted. he was much stronger than her, but still. She held a grudge and that should be enough to fuel her movements for at least a few seconds before someone separated them.

"Looking at things objectively," Todoroki started, "I'm stronger than you."

Y/n's brows shot into the air, jaw dropped even, but Midoriya didn't seem bothered by it. It seemed like a truth he'd already accepted.

"Huh? Oh. Uh, yeah."

"But All Might has his eye on you, right? I'm going to pry about that. But I'm going to beat you."

"What?" Y/n's eyes widened: she was going in. She stomped forward purposefully and placed a heavy hand on Midoriya's shoulder, expression twisting sourly. "Did you just declare war on Midoriya?"

"Yeah dude," Kirishima had the same idea as Y/n and got close to Todoroki. "Why are you picking a fight all of a sudden? Not now, man, you know? We're about to start and—"

"We're not here to play at being friends so what does it matter?"

It was the same thing he said to Y/n when they first met, but the word 'friends' was spat out with far more venom and disgust, harsh and cold in a way that rubbed Y/n the wrong way. She assumed he'd started warming up to her and their (non-existent, she supposed) friendship, but that clearly didn't seem to be the case.