Nozomi idly walked around the halls. After getting some water, she felt much better. She was about to head for the cafeteria before she remembered seeing Fuyumi discreetly trying to put a bento in her bag. Her sister's action warmed her and she decided to eat the bento instead. Besides, Fuyumi probably understood her usual diet and nutrition better than Lunch Rush.

She walked to the waiting room. Patting her pocket down, she realised her phone was in her bag. Not that she'd be needing it right now but she was bored and her phone was the only thing she really had for entertainment. Nozomi sighed. 'All the more reason to hurry up, I guess...'

Turning a corner, only to be met with Endeavor, was not on her schedule.

"Forfeit."

One word. One command. Maybe she would've obeyed if it was her mother saying so. But it was the one person she hated more than anything in this world.

She gritted her teeth before replying, "No."

She began walking away. Endeavor didn't follow, only glaring at her from behind.

"You shall not embarrass me further. Should I remind you why your siblings were born? Why Shoto is different from the rest of you? Why—"

Nozomi clicked her tongue. "Leave me alone. I told you already. You don't need to remind me about your greedy acts. About how you ruined my life even before it started. Who're you to tell me what to do anyways? You're just the No. 2 hero."

Endeavor's glare intensified as his flames flickered. If commanding didn't work, then his next tactic surely would.

"You're weak. Like your mother. Like your other sibli—"

"Touya-nii was gonna be a hero before you ruined it."

Endeavor didn't want to lose his composure and attack Nozomi in public. There was too much of a risk that someone would see. He surely wouldn't be a hero after that. So he took a deep breath, lowering the hand he had outstretched.

Nozomi had flinched when she saw how he brought a flaming hand up. She still wasn't relieved when he put it back down. She gulped. How was she supposed to go home now?

"You won't amount to anything. You're nothing more than a useless, weak and hopeless child. Forfeit before you embarrass us bo—"

Endeavor was once again cut off. It had been happening a lot in this conversation. Only this time it was by a boy with red hair.

"That's not a very manly thing to say and to do." Kirishima had yet to realize that he was talking to a Pro Hero. The No. 2 hero at that.

The tears in Nozomi's eyes remained unshed as she recalled her childhood in random flashes. Her head was bowed down to hide her watery eyes. She blinked the tears away before looking up at where Kirishima was standing. 'That idiot...'

Kirishima walked up to her and held her wrist to pull her away. Before they could make even a step, Endeavor interjected.

"This isn't a matter of concern. It is between me and Nozomi. A family matter and I'd appreciate it if you didn't interpose."

Nozomi furrowed her brows, eyes narrowing and her lips turned down into a frown. 'Family?' Nozomi scoffed.

"The people here at UA..." Nozomi began speaking, turning to glare at Endeavor, "... Are more of a family to me than you will ever be."

She pulled Kirishima along and she walked away from the flaming man, "Come on let's go."

After a minute or two of walking, the events that had just happened finally clicked in Kirishima's mind.

"Oh no, I talked back to the No. 2 hero."

"I doubt he'll do anything. But I guess I owe you an explanation..." Nozomi removed her hand from his to play with the end of her sleeves, her head still down, unable to really make eye contact with Kirishima.

"Oh, you don't have to. But... I think it'd be good for you to get it off your chest too so it's really up to you. Don't need to feel like you owe me anything..."

They had reached the waiting room and entered the room. Nozomi closed the door behind her and went to sit in front of Kirishima.

"Well... Where should I begin?" She talked mostly to herself, eyes down cast. She looked up and locked eyes with Kirishima. "You've heard of Quirk Marriages, right?"

Kirishima looked a bit confused but nodded nonetheless. He didn't really know much about it.

Nozomi sighed before explaining, "Basically, strong individuals would search for a partner with a quirk that complemented theirs or one that could strengthen their quirk for the sole reason of passing down that quirk to their children. It was mostly a problem in the second and third generation after the appearance of quirks. As the No. 2 hero, Endeavor has many achievements and so, with his wealth he bought my mother's hand in marriage."

"That wasn't manly of him! Forcing someone to do something against their will..."

"Well... my mother wasn't really forced into the marriage. She had a choice but her family was lacking in money so I'm sure she still felt somewhat pressured into accepting. She knew why my father was asking for her hand too. Because of her ice quirk." Nozomi clenched her trouser fabric while looking down at her lap. "They had children but apparently none of my siblings met Endeavor's expectation. Until Shoto-niisama, that is..."

Kirishima listened to what Nozomi was saying, his brows furrowed as he tried to grasp the situation. He hoped it didn't hurt her to speak about it. She did say it was fine, after all.

"I don't really know what it was... but ever since I was a baby, there was always a drift between my siblings. The others weren't really allowed to interact and play with Shoto-niisama. I'm pretty sure the only reason I could was that my mother had to take care of both of us. That and she somehow managed to convince Endeavor. He wanted a child who'd inherit both his and my mother's quirk, effectively cutting out the one drawback of his quirk. That child is Shoto-niisama. Ever since we were children, Endeavor trained him while neglecting his other children. I wasn't really affected by it, but I remember my eldest brother strived to get Endeavor's attention. To become a hero who'd surpass both him and All Might. He's actually the reason I want to be a hero. For him and my mother. Although it seems that Endeavor is against it."

"Back there," Kirishima spoke up, "he tried to degrade you. He was saying some pretty mean stuff."

"Yeah... That's nothing new though." Nozomi fiddled with her fingers. "He's been doing it ever since I was a small child, it grew after I first lost control of my quirk. Constantly abusing mother, over working Shoto-niisama and neglecting his other children. That's all Endeavor does. It's because of him that my brother... isn't here with me... anymore..." she trailed off, hands shaking. Memories of her childhood flashed in her mind. Playing ball with her siblings, spending time with Shoto, being with her mother. Darker memories of Endeavor hitting and abusing Rei, degrading her, training Shoto until he passed out and pushing Touya away so much that he'd constantly break down. She remembered quite well that Touya would ramble on and on about how fake of a hero Endeavor was. She shook her head to get rid of the thoughts.

"Sorry for your loss... And it's fine, you don't have to push yourself to say more," Kirishima assured.

Nozomi took a look at her watch, only to see that lunch was almost over. "Have you eaten yet?"

"No... I was looking for you and Bakugo so that we could go and eat with the others."

"Sorry for taking up so much of your time... I don't think they'll be handing out any more food so..." She took out the bento Fuyumi packed for her and handed it to Kirishima, "You can eat this. I'm not hungry so it's all yours."

Kirishima's eyes widened and, taking her word for it, opened the bento and began scarfing it down. With his mouth full, he exclaimed something that sounded close to 'it's delicious!'

"I'll leave you to it. I have to... get more water...? Uh yeah, bye." She closed the door passing Bakugo as she made her way to the infirmary.

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"Bakubro! There you are! You haven't eaten right? Here, have some of this!" Kirishima extended the bento towards Bakugo—who had just entered the waiting room—and gestured for him to eat some.

"I'm not taking your shitty food. I already ate lunch."

Kirishima shrugged, "More for me, I guess."

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"Before we get to the final event, I've got good news for all those out of running! This is still a sports festival, so we've prepared a recreational activity for all participants! We even shipped in cheerleaders from America to get you pumped up... Hmm? What's this?"

Nozomi watched from the infirmary screen as the camera moved from the American cheerleaders to her own female classmates in cheerleader gear. She caught sight of Kaminari and Mineta giving each other a thumbs up and connected the dots. She sighed. 'Perverts.'

"Class A? Why?!"

Present Mic quickly got over the shock.

"Hope everyone enjoys the little recreational competition! Once that's over, we'll move on to the final event. Between the sixteen members of the four winning teams... we'll have a formal tournament!!

A series of one-on-one battles!!"

A little edit I made