Era

34

With her own equipment, the jetpack, and now Shinsou settled on her shoulders, even Era had to admit that she felt a little overburdened. It didn't matter, though; as everyone got in position for the contest to begin, Era focused on isolating any and all discomfort and shoving it into boxes, cutting it from her mind. Useless information. She knew her limits, knew that she could handle this. And if she couldn't... her quirk would fill in the gaps.

She barely shot a glance Midoriya's way, more focused on scoping out the smaller teams, the easy targets. Though she didn't know their quirks they had to have less firepower just by virtue of being made up of only two people. Based on the snippets of conversation she'd heard when she'd passed them by, the girl on one of the teams was American, or at the very least was a native English speaker.

Midnight and Present Mic were still drawing out the starting announcements, going over rules and hyping up the crowd as the teams maneuvered into their starting positions. Era looked up at Shinsou, catching his eye.

"Repeat after me. Fuck you."

He stared down at her quizzically. "...What? Is that English?"

"That horse girl speaks it. We're going for them first. Fuck you."

"Why do you know English?"

Era rolled her eyes, shifting the weight on her shoulders slightly. "Fuck you. Say it back to me."

"Fine. Fuck you. That's like a curse right?"

"Don't worry about it. Just say it to her, and maybe she'll respond."

"If she doesn't?"

Era shrugged. "Then say something else. We'll keep the rider occupied. When she responds—"

"Tell her to fall over, I know." Shinsou nodded, glancing up towards where Midnight had raised a hand into the air. Era felt Asui's and Hatsume's hands tighten around her upper arms. "Let's do this."

"BEGIN."

It was instant chaos, every team racing towards a grim looking Midoriya in a desperate bid for the ten million points. Era led them away from the initial crush, keeping one eye on the horse girl's team and another on anyone else who hadn't immediately rushed the center. Monoma and his team, predictably, hung back as well. Hopefully they could avoid his attention.

"She ran towards the center," noted Asui as they slowly circled the commotion. "Do you think—"

The arena rocked with sound and force, an echoing boom accompanied by a vengeful gust of wind all radiating out from Midoriya's team. Era looked up, blinking the dust from her eyes, and could make out the vague shape of Midoriya, Uraraka, and a third student from 1-A who she didn't recognize. Midoriya was clutching at his wrist, and Era could only assume that that massive burst of power had come from him.

"Well," muttered Era. "Time for the free for all."

Though some teams persisted, most gave up the chase after it became clear that Uraraka was somehow managing to keep them all in the air. The landing would be awkward, but in the meantime those on the ground were quickly beginning to turn on each other. Time to strike.

"Let's go." Era marched them forward, towards where the horse girl's team was beginning to spin away from Midoriya and the ten million. Her rider was a complete unknown, and all she knew of the girl herself was that she had some kind of animal mutation. They would have to be careful.

As if on cue the 1-B rider seemed to notice their approach, reaching down to tap his classmate on the shoulder while throwing his other arm behind him, the skin splitting with long blades that burst into the dazzling sunlight.