Y/n's POV

I was standing on the edge of the cement platform awaiting the signal to begin. I already knew how I wanted to take on Sero, so all I needed was for him to make a move. I began to tune out the sounds of the audience cheering and got in the zone.

"Bring on the injuries! We've got our very own Recovery Girl waiting on standby!" Said Present Mic, giving some final comments before we began the match, "Put your morals and ethics aside for a moment! But of course, anything life-threatening is crap! It's not allowed! Heroes should only use their fists to catch villains!"

"I'll stop things if they go too far." Cementoss added.

"Ready... Start!"

"Well, I don't feel like I can win..." I heard Sero say. "but I don't feel like losing, either!"

He fired his tape right at me as soon as the match started. It wrapped around me cleanly as he yanked me towards my right. He wanted to clear me out instantly. He had also bound my legs together, limiting my movement.
Before he could take me all the way out of bounds, I stuck to the floor using my Quirk, holding myself in place. 

"Well this is a sticky situation, huh?" I quipped.

"Seriously? That was lame, dude." Replied Sero.

"Oh, believe me, when it comes to mid-battle quips, sometimes its about quantity more than quality."

I shifted the placement of my feet to get the tape to move further up my legs, giving me more flexibility in my knees. Then, I twisted my body swiftly, sending Sero flying since the tape was still attached to him. He didn't get sent out of the ring, but I started spinning in the opposite direction to keep him confused before he detached the tape from himself. 

I noticed a long strip of tape hanging off of me, so I decided to take advantage of that. I rushed towards him, dodging the tape he fired at me. When I closed the distance I charged into him with my full body, sticking the loose piece of tape onto him. Then, I spun once more peeling the tape off the upper half of my body. After that, I freed my legs, so now we were back on even ground.

Okay, so now I know. Sero's tape is much stronger than your typical store-bought tape. I should be careful not to get caught again, or else it might be wraps, no pun intended. He's not a physical fighter though, so if I can close the distance again, it'll limit his options.

I started sprinting at him again, watching his elbows more carefully this time. As soon as he made a move to fire tape at me, I dodged out of the way. He sent another stream at me, and I caught this one. I used it to yank him towards me so I could close the distance quicker. Once I got right next to him, I grabbed him by the collar, spun around for momentum, and threw him out of the ring.

"Sero is out of bounds!" Midnight called, "L/n advances to round two!"

"In the finals, the first person to advance to the second round is Y/n L/n from Class A!" Present Mic yelled excitedly.

The people in the audience cheered for the display Sero and I put up. I walked over to where Sero was and helped him up.

"Man, I knew I wasn't gonna win..." He said. "But it was still a pretty good game."

"Good game to you too." I replied, before going up onto the concrete stage with him. We bowed to each other in front of the audience and left back to our respective corridors.

While I was returning, I heard comments from the audience.

"What a quick thinker! I wouldn't have gotten out of that one!"

"It all went kind of fast, I could barely tell what was happening!"

"Let's not count out the tape guy, he was pretty good too!"

"I'd sure love to have that kid as an apprentice!"

I'm not one to bask in my own glory, but I had to admit, the praise was kind of nice. It's weird that all these people that I don't know are cheering for me. Well, not just me, but you know what I mean. I went right back up to the stands where my friends were at. They started congratulating me as I sat down next to them.

"That was some real quick thinking!" Said Midoriya. "Your moves were so cool!"

"Yeah! I thought he had you for a second," Hagakure bubbled. "But then you went all like 'wham!' and then you tossed him out! I was on the edge of my seat!"

"Ah, well, I don't know if it was all that." I said, playing it cool. "Besides, the praise shouldn't all go to me. Sero put up a pretty good fight."

Next up, Kyoka would be going up against Shiozaki from Class B. We wished her luck as she made her way out to get ready for her battle.

This could be a bad matchup for Kyoka. If I remember correctly, Shiozaki's quirk had to do with her hair. I think it was something like extending her hair like vines. If so, it'll be hard for Kyoka to get any ground on her, since she'll be blocked out by the vines.

We were all hopeful for her, but sure enough, her earphone jacks were stopped by Shiozaki's vines, so Kyoka ended up getting wrapped up at the end of the battle. Unfortunate.
Ojiro was next, and he had to face off against Iida. This matchup would be interesting.

Iida's quick, but he only has so much energy in those engines. If I were Ojiro, I would try and hold my position. By staying in one spot and playing defense, Iida would have to approach, basically conditioning him into fighting on Ojiro's terms.

Right as their battle started, Iida went straight for Ojiro, trying to take him out quickly. Ojiro was able to react in time and blocked Iida's attack. He was being patient, waiting for Iida to slip up somewhere in his offence. Ironically, Iida's best option here was to move in over and over again until Ojiro messed up with his defence. The match had turned into a war of attrition.

As sound as Ojiro's passive play was, Iida was the only one actually getting hits in, because there just wasn't enough time to counterattack after blocking. Soon, Ojiro's tail had taken enough punishment, and he found that he lacked the energy to bring it back up again. Iida moved in and pushed him out of the ring while he was defenseless and secured himself the win.

When they both returned to the stands from the nurse's office little bit later, we all congratulated them for their performance.

I wonder what Midoriya's thinking while watching all these. I'm sure he's loving the free analysis time that he's getting right now.

"Hey, Mido-" I started, before I realized I had no idea where he was. He must have gone off somewhere. Maybe he wanted to steel himself for his match, since it was right after the next one. Speaking of which, Hagakure would be fighting Aoyama now.

"Apologies, mademoiselle," Said Aoyama extravagantly. "But I won't be holding back in our battle. Good luck."

"Help me, Y/n..." She whispered to me. "I don't wanna get lasered. What do I do?"

"Don't get hit...?" I offered, unsure. "Maybe if you pay close attention to him, you can see where he's aiming since he has to put his whole torso into it. Try to back him into a corner if you can."

"Okay..."

"Don't worry, you got this! I believe in you."

"Right."

She left the stands and came out of the corridor shortly after. Her body language was a bit tense, but she worked up a bit of nerve and walked confidently the rest of the way to the stage. She stood up there, a fair distance away from Aoyama, so it could take some effort to approach him.

Present Mic called the start of the match, and Aoyama immediately leads with a quick laser. Hagakure sidesteps this one barely. She dodges one more and then hops over one that was aimed at her feet. She's starting to close the distance, but the closer she gets, the less time she has to react to his projectiles.

Then, the worst happened. She tripped over while trying to dodge a laser, and Aoyama now had a clear shot at a nonmoving target. 

Come on! Get up!

I almost wanted to avert my eyes from the scene, because I know for a fact that Aoyama's lasers are super strong. If Hagakure got hit, she would get absolutely blasted out of the ring, with severe burns at that.
Aoyama fired again, giving Hagakure no time to fully step out of the way. But then, something curious happened.

Hagakure only barely moved, but the laser flew right past her. She still got nicked, because there was a huge tear in the side of her clothes, but she was still standing just fine. Even Aoyama looked flabbergasted. He sent one more, only this time, he predicted Hagakure's dodge attempt, and was about to hit her dead on.
Even so, the laser didn't even connect. It almost looked as if it curved right around her.

Am I seeing this right? I could have sworn those were about to hit her, but it's almost as if the lasers themselves moved out of the way...

"Is Hagakure the one doing that?" Iida pondered. "I've never seen Aoyama's lasers move like that before. Almost like the lasers are bending around her specifically."

And right then, it all clicked.

"Science!" I shouted.

"What?" Uraraka asked, confused.

"The way eyesight works is that the light from all surfaces bounces off and towards our eyes." I explained. "But since Hagakure's body is invisible, there's absolutely no light reflecting from her; meaning that all light must completely avoid her in some way."

"And since Aoyama's lasers are light-based, they're affected by Hagakure's invisibility properties as well!" Iida finished.

"Bingo."

Aoyama continued to try and land a hit, but to no avail. Hagakure looked like she realized this, and started making her way to her opponent. Aoyama's stomach had to be hurting by now, since he's been taking potshots the entire match. Hagakure was closing the distance, but right before she got really close, Aoyama attempted to fire one last beam from near point blank range.

"Hagakure!" I yelled, as I sat forward in my seat. I knew there was nothing I could do to help her, so I had to just hope she'd be okay.

Right before Aoyama used his laser, the light coming from his belt fizzled out, and he fell back. Hagakure stood back in shock. She leaned over to check on Aoyama, but he was out cold.

"Aoyama can no longer battle!" Midnight declared. "Hagakure advances to round 2!"

The stadium erupted into cheer as I leaned back into my seat, breathing a sigh of relief. That one was close.

"Did Aoyama just faint?" Pondered Iida. "Perhaps the overuse of his Quirk caused his body to shut down..."

"Must have really been pushing himself to win, then." I said. "Good on both of them."

Hagakure walked off the stage and back into the corridor she left from, still looking a bit shaken. A few minutes later, she comes up to where we were sitting.

"You were amazing, Hagakure!" I commended as she sat down.

"Really? Even though I was panicking the entire time?" She said.

"I mean, you won, right? Even better, that's the kind of Quirk interaction that gets crowds going. Especially types like Midoriya. I know he'd be all over that match if he saw it."

"Is he still not back yet?" Uraraka asked.

"I saw him go off somewhere with Ojiro" Kyoka said. "He's gotta come out soon though. His match is about to start."

"I suppose he's preparing his nerves, and studying the possible matchup." Iida chimed in.

While we were talking, Ojiro had come back and took his seat near us. When we asked where he was, he explained that he was telling Midoriya about his opponent's Quirk. Apparently, Shinso's brainwashing is only activated if you respond to him, so all Midoriya had to do was keep quiet.

"Audience!" Present Mic boomed. "The first match of the second round is about to begin! Even though he's done well, what's with that face? From the hero course, it's Izuku Midoriya! Versus! Sorry, he hasn't done anything to stand out yet! From general studies, it's Hitoshi Shinso!"

"Let's go, Midoriya!" I cheered.

"You got this, Deku!" Said Uraraka.

Once they both got onto the stage, Midoriya took a fighting stance and stared towards Shinso. He started saying something to him, but I couldn't make out what.

"Ready? Start!" Present Mic announced.

Midoriya's facial expression suddenly shifted as he started approaching Shinso, speeding up along the way. A smirk crept onto Shinso's face, as Midoriya had suddenly stopped in his tracks.

Ojiro stood up in his seat, with his hands on his head. "I went through the trouble of warning him, too!"

Goddammit, Midoriya. Not like this...

The whole stadium had practically went silent now. Shinso started saying something else to Midoriya. Shortly after, Midoriya started turned around and began walking away from Shinso. Just before he crossed the out-of-bounds line, a strong gust of wind rocketed out from where he was standing. It kicked up dust everywhere and it was so strong I could feel it all the way up here in the stands.
When the dust cleared, we saw that Midoriya had stopped walking. The stadium exploded into cheer. He turned around, clutching his left arm.

His fingers are broken again. Could it be that he forced himself out of it using the shockwave? But how?

Shinso kept trying to speak to Midoriya to try and brainwash him again. Midoriya didn't say anything and started charging towards his opponent, not falling for any more of his tricks.

"Come on! Don't let up, Midoriya!" Said Hagakure.

"Go, Midoriya!" Shouted Iida, still doing his hand movements.

Midoriya finally closed the distance and was able to grab hold of Shinso and start pushing him out of bounds. Shinso threw a punch right at his face, but that didn't stop Midoriya. Another punch was thrown at Midoriya's injured fingers before Shinso turned out of the way, making Midoriya lose balance before almost getting pushed out. Right before they crossed the line, Midoriya grabbed hold of Shinso's arm and flipped him over his shoulder. 
The stadium had went silent again. 

"Shinso is out of bounds!" Called Midnight. "Midoriya advances to round three!"

We all cheered in the stands, exchanging high-fives and hugs with each other for Midoriya's insane comeback win.

"I was so nervous..." Said Uraraka relieved.

"Turning the tables at the last moment! As expected of Midoriya!" Commented Iida.

Midoriya and Shinso spoke with each other a bit before leaving to head back to their respective corridors. 
A little bit later, Midoriya returned to the stands with us. His two injured fingers were bandaged up after seeing Recovery Girl.

"Yo, Midoriya." I called. "Good stuff out there." 

"We saved you a seat!" Said Iida.

"Thanks, you guys." Midoriya walked over to sit down.

"Well, I guess I'm going." I said, getting up from my seat. I patted Midoriya on the back as he passed me. "I'd say wish me luck, but I don't want it. This match is personal." My expression shifted to a more serious one as I left the stands and headed for my corridor.

Normally I don't like being serious like this when it comes to rivalry, but that Todoroki dude really pisses me off. He picks fights with people when it's completely uncalled for. He makes half-assed apologies and acts completely apathetic towards others. It really boils my blood.

I made my way to the corridor and awaited the signal to step out. I did some stretches and thought over some strategies.
After a short wait, a staff member in the corridor gave me the signal to head out. I walked out onto the grass of the stadium and made my way up to the stage. The torches on the sides of the arena lit up. I stared over at Todoroki, who looked like he was just watching the floor.

"Thanks for waiting!" Present Mic shouted. "Next up is... these guys! This guy's been running through with a smile the whole time, but he looks pretty serious now! From the hero course, it's Y/n L/n! Versus-- Taking second, then first in the prelims! You're way too strong, kid! He wasn't recommended for admission for nothing! Also from the hero course, it's Shoto Todoroki!"

I took a wide stance, ready to move out of the way of any attack. I knew Todoroki would pull out some absurd attack, so there was no point in throwing myself at him. I just had to wait for him to make the first move.

"And now, for the second match of the finals-- Ready... Start!"

Neither of us made a move. The stadium had went quiet in anticipation.

"So, are we just gonna lock eyes lovingly?" I joked at him. "My bad, I'm not that good at breaking the ice."

"Sorry." I heard Todoroki say under his breath. From his foot, he sent a sheet of ice spreading rapidly towards me. I jumped forward but found my whole body stuck in place. He had frozen my back and legs in the ice. The whole audience went silent at how quickly he caught me.

"L/n, can you move?" Midnight asked, shivering.

"Take a look at him." Said Todoroki. "Of course he can't-"

"Who told you that?" I retorted, cutting him off. "My arms are still free, you know."

"I wouldn't do that. Even if you took your jacket off, your legs are still stuck. Struggle too much, and the skin on your ankles will come off. Give up."

"Heh. Good point you have there." I said, looking down. "One small issue: I missed the part where that's my problem."

I unzipped my jacket and pressed my hands against the ice that was behind me to force myself out. I was able to rip my legs free. It stung, but it would heal. I lunged at Todoroki, who had a look of disbelief on his face. I tried to kick his face but he managed to catch my leg with his right hand to try and freeze me again. I clung to the floor with one hand and whipped my leg across, trying to force him out early. He stopped himself with an ice wall, and while he was down, I ran back and pulled my P.E. jacket out of the ice and put it on to keep warm.

Don't let up, Y/n. Keep the pressure on him. The best course of action would be to target his left side, because he's practically Quirkless on that side, at least in battle.

Todoroki created a bunch of jagged stalagmites from the floor to keep distance between me and him. I dodged all of them and clung to the side of one of them. Strangely, he had let up on his attack. Could he be getting tired?

"You know, my clingy fingertips don't work if they're wet." I yelled over to Todoroki, "If only we had someone here with the ability to melt the ice and make it wet so I can't climb, but alas..."

"What are you getting at?" He asked.

"Do I gotta say it? It's pretty simple."

"Why tell me such a weakness? I don't see why."

"Use your fire, dumbass."

His expression grew serious once again and he tried to catch me again in another ice attack like before. This time, I jumped up high, since I knew he could only freeze things if something is making contact with him or his ice. I landed and started getting physical. I threw a punch at his left, making him block again. He tried to reach out with his right arm, but that left him open and I landed a clear hit on his face.

"Come on! Just use your fire!" I yelled, trying to provoke him. "You expect to win with just 50% of a Quirk!? Then what? If you make it big, no one's gonna take you serious because you half-assed everything! Is that what you want?!" I threw a punch at his right this time, hoping to land a hit on his liver. He blocked in time, and tried to freeze me once more. I stepped back and he ducked behind the ice stalagmites. 

This isn't good. He's trying to stall. He made a correct assumption about my Quirk and is trying to take advantage of it. He guessed that I can't perform as well in the cold, which is why I have to keep moving to stay warm. But by moving, I'm also tiring myself out...

I sensed something coming from above me while I was thinking. I looked up and saw that he made an ice wall and was trying to bring it down on top of me. I stepped out of the way, and calmed my senses to try and figure out where Todoroki was.

Slow and steady wins the race.

Hagakure's POV

I wonder what's gotten into Y/n. He's acting super serious right now. I know he's joking and quipping and doing all the usual Y/n shenanigans, but there was a different air about him when he walked out.

"L/n is giving it his all, but Todoroki's Quirk is so wildly powerful that I don't know if he can keep up." Said Iida. "What with the current field advantage Todoroki has, along with the amount of pressure he can apply from a safe distance, L/n will have to be extremely smart."

"He already is," Midoriya corrected. "Look at those punches. He's prioritizing Todoroki's left side. Whenever he goes for the right, he's aiming for biological weak points like the lower ribcage or the collarbone to try and shut him down."

"Dude, they're scary..." Kirishima commented.

"Todoroki's great, but look at him right now," Yaoyorozu pointed out. "There's frost forming on him, and his body's wavering. Even given the nature of his Quirk, he's not immune to the cold. If Todoroki overdoes it, L/n could have a better chance at winning."

I just hope he can hold out for that long...

Y/n's POV

"Dude, you really need to chill out." I quipped at him while hiding behind an ice wall. "Real talk: What's your problem, man? Are you doing this to prove a point?"

I heard no answer yet. The sound of more ice crackling rang out, indicating another incoming attack. I rolled out of the way and was able to catch sight of my opponent once more.

"Don't you want to win?" He said to me while preparing one more attack. "Stop trying to throw your advantage! Are you that confident?!"

"Nah, it's not like that. If I really wanted a win, I would have gone for a cheap shot. But that's not what I'm trying to do. Even if I did win, I wouldn't feel good about you handicapping yourself." I jumped up and maneuvered between the large jagged ice spikes jutting from the ground.

"If I'm being honest, I don't like you." I continued. "You're distant from your fellow classmates. You keep talking about 'proving this' or 'vendetta that'. What's the point of being at the top if you end up regretting the path you took to get there?"

His eyes widened at me before he sent a cluster of ice spikes at me. 

"You think you understand because you lose every now and then!" Todoroki shouted back. "But you don't! You wouldn't get why I have to get stronger, and why I need to do it this way."

"If you want to get strong quickly, work smarter! You've got tons of people who'd help you. Life sucks, I get that. I won't pry into your reasons, but at least find others who'd probably understand."

Both of our offensives ceased for a short time. He looked towards me with a sort of pondering expression. I was out of breath from all the dodging and yelling I was doing, but Todoroki looked like he still had some wind in him.
He put his right foot in front of the other and spread one last sheet of ice across the arena. He had gotten used to my dodging patterns so he had made sure to block all of my possible exits with the expanding ice. He effectively walled me out and had finally forced me out of the ring.

"L/n is out of bounds!" Midnight announced. "Todoroki advances to round 3!"

I rested my hands on my knees as I tried to stay standing up. I felt tired in a way, but at the same time, I also feel like I could have kept going if I willed myself to. Almost as if my body was trying to come up with some excuse for losing. I gritted my teeth and bowed to Todoroki before I slowly walked off to my corridor.

Hagakure's POV

"No way! L/n lost!?" I exclaimed, rising up out of my seat. "I was so sure he had it..."

"It did look like L/n was winning for a lot of that fight too." Said Uraraka.

"He was, at first." Midoriya added. "Todoroki likes to stay in one spot when using his Quirk, but he had to go on the defensive when L/n got close and started getting hits in. That was the only reason he lost."

"I guess it was just an unfortunate matchup, then." Said Ojiro. "I hate to say it, but I guess Todoroki simply adapted to the situation better."

"He still held up pretty well though. So manly!" Kirishima said, gushing.

Our class talked amongst ourselves about the match as we waited for the next one to come on. Strangely, Y/n still hadn't come back for a while. I got up from my seat and looked around to be sure, but he wasn't in our section of the stands.

"I'm gonna go look for L/n, okay?" I said to the others as I left.

I wandered around the stadium floors and checked each of the stands. Eventually, by chance, I found him resting on a balcony that was a floor above our class's seats. He was leaning against the railing while overlooking the venue.

"There you are, Y/n!" I called out to him. "Why are you all the way up here?"

"Hagakure?" He said, turning around. "How'd you find me?"

"I walked around. What are you doing?"

"Uhh... just checking out the view from up here." He said with a slightly antsy expression.

I stood there and just looked at him without saying anything.

"Okay, you got me. I'm frustrated is all. I could barely land any good hits on him, so I was kind of just live target practice in front of a huge stadium full of people."

"That's not true! You were doing all sorts of cool dodges and stuff! I could never."

"But that's not the point. This was my first big chance to be successful and I blew it."

Successful? That's  a weird word to hear from Y/n. Usually he never talks about that kind of stuff.

"Y/n... why do you want to become a hero?"

He sort of froze and looked at me for a couple seconds. Then he turned his head out towards the middle of the stadium. He looked as if he were gathering the words to speak.

"Well the goody-two shoes side of me wants to say, 'It's because I want to help people!' But the desperate, kinda shitty side of me wants to admit, 'It might be the only option I have left.'"

"What do you mean?" I asked, resting on the balcony with him.

"I-It's a long story."

"We've got time."

Y/n's POV

Those words struck a bit of a chord in me. She was really willing to listen to me, even though it's probably something that doesn't really concern her in the first place? Maybe, she wants to hear it because it's an opportunity to get to know me better. I'm probably overthinking it anyway.

"Alright, then." I said, taking a deep breath before speaking more. "I'm an only child in my household. Which means that I alone have to carry on my parents' bloodline to the next generation. If I don't, then I'd feel like I didn't accomplish anything, and I thought that it'd be disappointing to my ancestors if I ended up not doing anything with my life.

I looked down at the palms of my hands for a split second. I was a bit anxious to tell this story, since I hadn't told anyone else before. I looked up at Hagakure and saw that she was listening intently, encouraging me to finish my story.

"The only issue was, I was a pretty average kid growing up." I continued. "I had no skills, no particular hobbies that anyone would consider impressive. Even my Quirk isn't really all that."

"Your Quirk is amazing though. And you're plenty smart." Hagakure replied.

"These days, what with all the flashy Quirks going around, intelligence is seen as less of a skill and more of a trait. I wanted to make sure my parents could be proud of their son, but I wasn't quite sure how. I tried out volleyball in middle school, but they kicked me out immediately because they said my Quirk gave an unfair advantage, even though I was fully capable of holding back."

"What?! That's so messed up!" Hagakure exclaimed. "They didn't even give you a chance?"

"Nope. The same thing happened for basketball. And soccer. And baseball. The list goes on. It got so bad to the point where the only thing left for me was the hero course. I wanted to be a kid that my parents could be infinitely proud of. I guess I messed that up too. Heh heh..."

"Y/n..." Hagakure trailed off.

"I know I can't possibly be the best hero around, but if I can at least make it as a pro hero, I'll feel like I've accomplished enough."

"But you've already accomplished so much!" Hagakure replied. "You made it into the most prestigious school in Japan! You went face-to-face with Endeavor's son! Y- You saved me! I know it's easy to count up the losses, but think about how much good you've done."

My eyes widened. I couldn't find the words to speak. I knew that what she was saying was true, but I found it hard to admit it. I never liked to talk about things I've done, no matter how cool or impressive, out of fear of being seen as arrogant.

"Ah- Did I say too much? I'm sorry..." Hagakure apologized.

"No, no. It's no issue. I was just a bit taken aback." I said, waving my hands in front of me to keep her from getting the wrong idea. "I needed to hear all that. I'm still gonna be a bit pissy about losing, but it feels a lot better now."

Hagakure always tends to insist that she's not all that smart or strong, but in my eyes, she is. She just spoke to me from the heart, and that's something that comes from experience. She may not seem like it, but she's got some real spirit in her.

"I'm glad you're always looking out for me." I continued. "So, thanks... Toru."

"W- Wha? Oh, you're welcome..." She replied, fidgeting again.

"What? Is it too weird for me to call you by your first name? You're sounding all nervous."

"O-oh! It's nothing. I suppose it's only fair since I can call you by your first name."

I eyed her for a split second. "Well, okay then. Let's head back." I brightened my expression before turning to walk off. "No point in me moping around anymore. I kinda brought that loss on myself anyway, what with all the talking I was doing."

"There's always more opportunities. Just try harder next time!" She said, catching up to me. "I'll be sure to cheer you on when that time comes! For now, keep doing your best!"

I smiled brightly at those words. I didn't have many friends growing up, let alone those who'd stick by me and encourage me when I'm feeling down. I couldn't help but stare in her direction as she cheerfully skipped ahead of me.

I'm lucky to have her by my side.

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Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. Final exams hit me like a truck. I hope I'm able to make up for the super long wait with a longer chapter this time around. Also, thanks for 100 votes on this story! It always surprises me with how many people are supporting this story, and I'll try my best to keep it up.

With that being said, I'll see y'all in the next update. Peace.

5299 words. Finished and published on 6-4-23