The wheel spun and spun and spun.

Nova briefly wondered if the first challenge was actually random at all, or if it was predetermined and all of this was for show. It would make sense if the teachers already knew beforehand what it was.

"Nova?" Shoji mumbled, glancing down at her. "If this... Isn't a team game then... Let's just agree to do our best alright?"

Nova glanced up. She remembered what Todoroki said to Shoji and Kirishima in the waiting room.

"This isn't a group effort."

Shoji seemed to be politely saying they should go their separate ways. Nova swallowed nervously.

"Right... Of course." She nodded. It made sense, they'd have to split up eventually anyways. But the prospect of being left alone made her nervous.

The spinning stopped.

An Obstacle course.

"All classes will participate in this competition!" Midnight explained. "The track is four kilometers around the outside of the stadium!"

Nova took a breath. She could easily run four kilometers. She did that and more all the time no problem, but since it was an obstacle course she assumed there would be much more too it.

"I don't want to restrain anyone, at least not in this game... As long as you don't leave the course you're free to do whatever your heart desires!" Midnight continued.

Nova chewed her bottom lip nervously. That meant attacking other players didn't it?

"Now then... Take your places contestants!"

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

The crowd of students stayed infront of the gate. There were so many of them. Nova was shoved backwards and to the side as everyone pushed as close as they could to the starting line.

The race hasn't even started yet, and everyone was already pushing and shoving each other. Nova was forced farther back when she didn't fight it herself. Bumping into someone behind her.

"Ah! Sorry!" She yelped, pulling away as best she could.

"Don't be." The boy said, he glanced at her with a smug smile she couldn't quite interpret. He was the blonde boy from class 1-B she saw earlier.

His hand brushed her arm just under her sleeve. The contact was brief but still made her feel... Odd for some reason.

"Start!!" Midnight suddenly yelled, pulling both their attentions away from each other.

"Perfect." The boy mumbled as the crowd surged forward. Causing Nova to lose sight of him.

She yelped and turned quickly, carefully making her way to the too small entrance. But quickly realized that was no easy feat. The challenges really did begin immediately.

Nova felt her chest constrict. Her breathing get quicker. She wanted to get out of this crowd as soon as she could. Thankfully this was the sports festival.

And quirks were allowed.

She grit her teeth and concentrated. The boots she chose to wear had metal parts in them. She used these to lift herself up. Balancing carefully as she pulled herself above the crowd. Not a second later she heard a crackling sound, and a wave of cold air spread through the doorway.

Ice.

Todoroki was pulling the same truck as before. Nova grit her teeth and landed outside the doorway, spikes appearing on the toe of her boots as she ran. The ice breaking just enough to give her grip in every step.

She wasn't the only one who got out though. Several more students from her own class and a few more were still charging forward.

"Nice trick Todoroki!" Momo said, flying forward with a pole she made. When she landed Nova pulled it away from her seconds before it touched the ground.

Quirk metal.

Nova gripped the pole. It was her name for the metallic material made from quirk users. It was the same type of metal that was in Iida's legs. Nova could manipulate it just fine, in fact usually it was on the weaker side. Not nearly as tough as steel.

"Ah!" Momoa yelped as it was taken from her.

"Sorry!" Nova called back. She tried to rationalize it. Momo could make more right? Nova couldn't, she could only use metal she found.

Nova wasn't in first or second. But she was infront of most of the other contestants. Bakugou and Todoroki infront of her and Momo.

Even Mineta was ahead of her.

Until he wasn't.

He was suddenly slapped aside by a massive robot that came as the second obstacle. The same kind as those found in the entrance exams. Nova and several others stopped for a second in shock.

Not only were they from the entrance exams, but they were the ZERO pointers. The massive distractions that almost flattened Jirou. Nova hesitated.

"Your quirk was perfect for the mock battles but you scored far too low. You could have easily taken the top spot."

Aizawa had said that... When he was talking about her performance in the entrance exam. Her fights against these robots.

She grit her teeth. He was right! Why was she hesitating? This was what she wanted! These were robots, she could destroy them no problem without hurting any actual people!

She breathed carefully, trying to keep her nerves at bay before she ran ahead of even Todoroki. Taking first place without even realizing it.

"Target acquired-" The robot said in a mechanical drawl. But Nova pushed with her quirk. Similarly to what she did to attract metal. But instead of pulling it towards herself she pushes it away the same way like ends of a magnet push each other apart.

She brushed one with her fingers, scrunching the metal and molding it to be a platform. She landed on it and shot up between to robot's heads. The one to her right swiveled to try and punch her, she dodged and let it hit the robot to her left as she cleared them completely. Leaving the mass of robots in her wake.

She knelt down on the platform she made before it dropped her to the ground completely. She glanced backwards to check on everyone else, only to see ice cover the robots too.

And an angry Todoroki hot on her trail.

⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘⫘

"Would you look at that! Two students from class 1-A cleared the massive robots without breaking a sweat!" Mic yapped in the announcement area next to a very bored Aizawa.

"Nova Kurayami has experience with these boys and the perfect quirk to deal with them! Meanwhile Todoroki met them for the first time and still cleared it with a huge power move! It's no wonder he got in through recommendations!" He said in excitement.

"Todoroki's move was both offensive and defensive... While Nova Kurayami simply used her quirk to avoid them completely." Aizawa muttered, mainly to himself. His voice was too low to be caught by the microphones.

"You gotta speak up man!" Mic whined.

"No I don't."

Mic watched the screens intently, watching for the students to do something for him to commentate on.

"WOULD YOU LOOK AT THAT!?! Todoroki cold-heartedly freezes Nova Todoroki and advances to first place once again!!" Mic says holding both sides of his head mock shock.

"She'll get out eventually."

"BUT OTHER STUDENTS BAKUGOU, IIDA AND YAOYOROZU ARE PASSING HER QUICKLY!!!"

"...right."