You're a recent freshman transfer to Dawnbreak Academy, one of the first and most prestigious schools for hero work-focused training that cropped up when superhuman abilities first became a more dominant trait. Things have been going smoothly, but you've been doing more studying than actual practical training as of late, so much to the students' dismay, they haven't been able to show off their skills in full swing yet. That said, you've been eased into it, and you've finally found yourself in more competitive training.

The students are drawn by raffle and paired with a random teammate to go up against another randomly selected pair in a winding maze-like complex with a "base" on each far side that they start from. Each side is given a "bomb" and whichever side places theirs in the enemy's "base" first, or seeks out and incapacitates the other team first, is the winner of their round in the exercise. For the first round of the afternoon, two of your classmates are selected, and then your name is pulled. You wait to see who you'll be partnered with, and hear "Nico Matoi" next. You didn't have much interaction with her, but her upbeat mood and "tough girl" energy made an impression regardless. And on top of that, she was one of the top performers, so it should be a breeze, right?

You stand in your "base", waiting for the signal to start. Nico stretches, clearly energetic about this.

"Alright! Let's get this done! Geez, I've been waiting so long for something like this. I know it's good to be booksmart, but it's also boring as hell, right? Finally gettin' a chance to prove myself for real! And hey, we're the first up, so we'll be setting an example for the rest of the class and their rounds. Don't get cold feet, partner. Crap, I feel kinda bad now, I was zoning out when your name was called... Who are you again, anyway?"