Chapter 9.4- High Priest

I hit the water like a bullet, and allowed the initial momentum from the dive to carry me forward as far as it could, and then I swam towards the surface while still moving forward and then broke the surface of the water with my hands and my heels while leaving my head completely submerged. I could hold my breath for as long as I needed to. In seconds, I had reached the wall of the pool, and was flipping smoothly to push off with my feet. As I swam, I kept my head forwards and could not risk a wandering eye for fear of slowing down, but I did know that no one near to me had hit the first wall before I did, and when I hit the second soon after, I could still see some forms moving to hit the first in the distance.

Keeping up the pace, I managed to lap Aoyama and Kirishima as I crossed the distance and completed my third length of the pool. For the last lap, I thought better of my approach and swapped minor shapeshifting for hydrokinesis and commanded the water to carry me across the distance far faster than I could have moved under my own power. The same water lifted me out of the pool and plopped me down on the very same diveboard that I’d kicked off of to begin the race. Turning back to my swimming classmates, I found Tsuyu swimming the last few metres to finish the race herself. Doing some quick calculations, I found that she had either been very slightly behind me or very slightly ahead of me when I’d changed approaches. It turned out to be for the best that I did. I was first position, and undisputedly so.

Tsuyu came second as expected, and Momo came a shocking third with jet boots attached to her ankles. Considering she had to manoeuvre to turn them off at the end of each length and then turn them on again meant that she had lost precious seconds that allowed Tsuyu and I creep in ahead of her. The rest of the room did not have quirks terribly suited for swimming of all things, so the rest of the race seemed to be decided by physical fitness more than it was by quirks.

With that said, it was no surprise that both Bakugo and Todoroki were neck and neck for fourth place. Mina came in at an easy sixth, and the rest of the pack struggled to complete the test in the end. After the last person finished, I turned to Aizawa, waiting for him to decide on the next task.